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noona-clock · 4 years

Text

Him - Part 2

Genre: College!AU, Enemies to Lovers

Pairing: Jinyoung x You (Female!Reader)

Warnings: None

Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 | Words: 1,726

Unfortunately, by the next morning, he -- Jinyoung -- was not 100% completely and utterly and positively forgotten.

You would say he was probably... 40% forgotten, but even that would be a very generous estimate. Much to your chagrin, you were still thinking about his annoying, arrogant smirk and his obnoxious, perfect face. It was seriously irritating.

Thankfully, it was Friday. And last night you’d sent a pretty satisfying email to Professor Stewart letting him know you had applied for the TA position on his colleague’s recommendation and that you would be an excellent choice for the job. So, as you slung your backpack over your shoulder and headed out to meet your best friend, Teddy, for your usual Friday morning coffee, you tried your best -- your absolute best -- to focus on that. And only that.

But... it didn’t quite work.

By the time you arrived at the coffee shop in the student center on campus, you were practically bursting to tell Teddy all about what had happened. Since you’d been determined to push it from your mind yesterday, you hadn’t even sent him one single message about it. But seeing him in person, you knew you had to get it off your chest, and Teddy was the perfect recipient for this sort of news.

First of all, he loved to gossip. Second of all, he typically gave pretty good advice and insight into a situation. Third of all... he was a drama major. If you ever felt like you might be blowing things out of proportion, Teddy was always there to assure you that you were not.

Since you had arrived at the coffee shop early and paid for both of your drinks last Friday, Teddy was already sitting at a table with your latte ready and waiting for you.

You wasted no time in taking off your backpack and sliding into the chair across from him. “Oh, do I have a story for you,” you told him in lieu of a greeting.

Teddy’s eyes immediately widened, and a eager grin tugged at his lips. “I’m ready.”

You took a quick sip of your latte before crossing your arms over the table and leaning in just a little bit. “Okay, so -- yesterday as I was leaving my class, my professor stopped me and gave me this application for a TA position.”

“Ooh, perfect,” Teddy gasped.

“I know! That’s exactly what I thought. Even though I’ve never taken a class with this professor, and he teaches medieval literature, I still thought it was perfect! Which is why I filled out the application and took it up to the professor’s office almost immediately.”

Teddy nodded quickly, letting you know he was ready for you to continue.

“When I got to his office, there was this guy.”

And with the words ‘this guy,’ Teddy’s eyes lit up. “A guy?! Oh my god, is this a meet-cute story?!”

“No,” you answered immediately, reaching out and placing a hand on Teddy’s arm. “No, it most certainly is not.”

Instead of looking disappointed, Teddy looked intrigued. “Oh, I see,” he murmured through a growing smirk. “Do continue.”

You proceeded to relate the conversation you’d had with Jinyoung, starting with the awkward stepping to the same side to let the other pass by and ending with you practically slamming Professor Stewart’s mail slot shut and marching away from him. You did your best not to leave out any detail, but you also genuinely tried not to exaggerate Jinyoung’s arrogance. You couldn’t remember every single word he said, but you remembered enough.

Unsurprisingly, Teddy’s mouth was agape. He blinked at you a few times, apparently speechless.

But you knew Teddy better than that.

“Oh, my god,” he breathed, letting out a chuckle of disbelief. “Are you -- he really said all that?!”

You nodded as you took another sip of your latte.

“Wow, I cannot believe --”

But you had to cut him off because after you’d set your latte back down on the table, your gaze had wandered over toward the counter...

And who did you see but the man himself.

“Oh, my god, Teddy,” you hissed, your eyes widening as you reached out and grabbed your best friend’s wrist. “It’s him.”

Teddy nearly choked on his cappuccino before whipping around to follow your gaze.

“Which one?” he whispered.

“The one with the dark hair and glasses,” you whispered back.

Teddy didn’t say anything back, but he did slowly turn his head back around to face you.

And you did not like the look on his face.

“What?” you asked warily.

“That’s Jinyoung.”

“I know -- wait, I don’t remember telling you his name.” Your forehead wrinkled immediately in extreme confusion.

“You didn’t,” Teddy confirmed. “I know him. We went to high school together.”

Your jaw dropped, and you sputtered out a “What?!”

Teddy nodded, his lips pursed in the sassiest, haughtiest way possible. “Yep.”

Your best friend looked far too pleased about this, and you honestly had no idea why.

“Are you, like, friends?!”

“Oh, no. I wouldn’t go that far. We know each other, for sure. But he was one of the popular smart kids. Not, like, a popular kid who’s smart, though. Out of the whole smart kid group, he was the most well-known. And, obviously, I was a theater kid. Our groups didn’t really overlap or mingle, but it was a super small school. Everyone still knew each other.”

Of course he had been in the smart clique in high school. How annoying.

...Let’s not dwell on the fact you had also been in the smart clique in high school. That’s entirely beside the point!

“What was he like?” you asked instead. “Was he super arrogant and irritating back then, too?”

Teddy raised his eyebrows, and you could tell by the look on his face that you weren’t going to like his answer.

“Actually... no,” he shrugged. “He was pretty nice.”

Your jaw dropped yet again.

What?!

“Okay, don’t get me wrong. It’s not like he was the President of the Humble Club or anything. But personally, I never would have described him as cocky. He was super smart, and he knew it, sure. But he was also really funny. Like smart funny. Witty. Clever. ...Actually, if he’s anything like he was back then... he’s kind of right up your alley,” Teddy said with a somewhat guilty (but also very gleeful) expression.

“Excuse me?!” you chuckled in disbelief. “I don’t want any part of him up my alley!”

Teddy rolled his eyes and let out a tsk. “Oh, come on. You know what I mean! He’s your type!”

“Since when is arrogant my type?!” you scoffed, extremely affronted -- and also very confused.

“Not arrogant!” Teddy sighed, and you knew he was starting to get annoyed with you. “Witty. Smart. Clever. Extremely good-looking. Maybe he was just having a bad day yesterday! He’s really not that arrogant once you get to know him.”

You pursed your lips and lifted your latte up to your mouth. “Well, I have no intention of getting to know him,” you stated, trying to sound as flippant as you could.

“Oh, well, excuse me little miss close-minded!” Teddy chuckled.

Obviously, you were just about to argue that you were not close-minded -- you just had your pride! But before you had the chance, a shadow crossed over your table as somebody walked by.

...Of course.

That ‘somebody’ was Jinyoung.

And you knew Teddy. He wouldn’t let --

“Jinyoung!” your best friend called out, lifting a hand to get his former classmate’s attention.

See? You knew Teddy.

Jinyoung paused, his gaze quickly shifting to see who had called his name. And when his eyes landed on Teddy, a soft smile actually tugged at his lips.

Damn it! Why did he have to be so attractive?!

“Teddy,” Jinyoung greeted in a surprisingly friendly, polite tone. “Hey. It’s been a while.”

He turned his head slightly, obviously noticing Teddy wasn’t alone. But when he saw exactly who was sitting with Teddy... his smile fell.

“It has!” Teddy replied before hastily adding, “This is my friend, Y/N.”

You locked eyes with Jinyoung, and he replied to Teddy with the most monotonous, unemotional voice. “We’ve met.”

You pressed your lips together to stop from sneering at him, and so much anger was roaring in your ears that you didn’t even hear Jinyoung and Teddy saying their good-byes.

Once Jinyoung had left, you shot Teddy a ‘See?!’ look, your eyes wide and the corners of your lips caustically turned down.

“What?” Teddy chuckled.

How could he be so casual about this?! Jinyoung was clearly evil.

“You heard him! His tone when he said ‘we’ve met,’” you grumbled, doing your best to imitate Jinyoung’s emotionless voice. “He was so cold and mean and arrogant.”

Teddy immediately quirked an eyebrow at you. “Uh... are you sure about that? Because that’s not at all what I heard when he said that.”

You simply looked at Teddy as if he’d temporarily lost his mind.

“I mean, he did say ‘we’ve met,’ but I didn’t hear cold or mean or arrogant. I heard nervous!”

At his words, you bit your lip, raised your eyebrows, and began to avoid his gaze. “I, uh... I think the health center is open, Teddy. You should... probably go get your hearing checked.”

Teddy just rolled his eyes, and you let out a soft, breathless chuckle.

“Seriously, though,” you continued. “I don’t know how you got nervous from that. He was clearly not nervous. He clearly does not like me. And you know what? That’s a-okay with me! I’m not a fan of his either!”

“Well, I think you should give a chance,” Teddy stated with a definitive nod.

“And I think my coffee is getting cold, and if I don’t leave now, I’ll be late for class,” you retorted, standing up and grabbing your backpack and coffee cup.

“All right, whatever,” Teddy sighed. “But you know that when you change your tune, I’m going to rub it in your face. ...Like, a lot.”

It took everything in you not to burst out laughing at his supposition.

When you changed your tune.

Sure. Okay, Teddy.

“That’s not going to happen,” you assured him as you slid your arms through the straps of your backpack. “I can promise you that.”

Part 3

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tigerkirby215 · 3 years

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I’m a particular fan of wasting my time so I decided to rate all the Half-Feats for no real reason

(Artwork from the Acquisitions Incorporated 5th Edition sourcebook, because I can’t just use artwork from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything.)

If you have been around my blog for any lengthy period of time you will know two things about me.

I often fall into flights of fancy mostly under the guise of attempting to branch out with this blog, even though the real reason is that I wish to publicize any and all work I do for this hobby.

I really like half-feats.

And who could blame me (at least for the second point.) It’s always exciting when you can get a feat, and half-feats allow you to round out a stat of your choice while still allowing you to diversify your character with unique abilities to make them your own. Feats are always strong and even the most basic half-feat still provides you with unique traits to differentiate yourself from the standard adventurer. But it can be hard to choose when they are all so diverse which is why I’m making this list for myself and anyone who may find it useful.

I would also like to thank LudicSavant from the Giant in the Playground forums for their organized list of Half-Feats. It has made the creation of this list far easier and I frequently reference it when making builds.

WHAT IS A HALF-FEAT?

For the sake of understanding (because the last time I used the term “half-feat” on Reddit a lot of people got confused) I will define a half-feat here: A half-feat is any feat that gives half of an ability score improvement (+1 to a given stat) along with its regular features. They are obviously good choices for any player with an uneven stat, as they can make that stat even (for the increase in ability modifier) while also gaining an additional bonus.

HOW IS THIS LIST ORGANIZED

This post is split into 6 sections, one for each stat. (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma.) The feats are organized in alphabetical order. Basically I’m lifting the formatting from LudicSavant.

Each feat will be shown as follows:

FEAT NAME

Description

Summary

Rating

Feats that can be applied to varied ability scores will be mentioned multiple times, however unless the feat changes based on the ability score chosen the entry will simply be shown as a redirect to where it was summarized earlier.

And I guess it also has to be said: This list is just my opinion and is in no way an objective ranking of the half-feats that currently exist in D&D 5th Edition. Feel free to make your own decisions when designing your character: this post is merely meant to share my opinion and provide a reference resource for people making characters.

(Artwork still from the Acquisitions Incorporated 5th Edition sourcebook. Damn this book has some nice artwork.)

STRENGTH

Athlete

Grants you the ability to stand up from prone faster, climb more easily, and jump further.

You’d think with the amount of builds I’ve included this feat in I’d have more positive things to say about it. But no: this feat is trash. Climbing is rare and jumping is pretty much never used in D&D. Even if it was there are low level spells (Spider Climb / Jump) that allow you to do what this feat does.

The only really useful addition to this feat is the faster speed to get up from the prone position. Being prone sucks and it can heavily restrict your movement when it happens. Putting yourself prone is also helpful in a ranged build to give enemies disadvantage to hit you from range. (You can technically knock yourself prone after attacking to make it harder to hit you.) But this strategy loses effectiveness quickly and it isn’t worth taking a feat to combat the rare possibility of being knocked off your feet.

Ultimately if you genuinely see any of the features of the Athlete feat as being useful chances are that either your DM forces way too much jumping / climbing, really likes knocking people over, or you really like knocking yourself prone.

2/10

Crusher

Grants extra utility to bludgeoning weapons, allowing you to move foes into more favorable positions.

RIP in piss Monks am I right lads? To be fair there aren’t any Finesse Bludgeoning Weapons with the only exception being the Sling. But regardless: this feat has two features along with its Ability Score Improvement:

The pushing ability is situational at best. Displacement abilities in 5th edition rarely have a significant impact. You may push an enemy off a cliff on occasion but unless your DM makes a significant effort to present these opportunities to you it won’t come up often. There is some niche use for this feat to work as a poor man’s Mobile feat, as you can push a foe back 5 feet before running away without needing to disengage.

But perhaps the biggest problem with the displacement ability of Crusher is that Shield Master does everything it does almost objectively better, all while providing additional benefits to Dexterity saving throws. Shield Master isn’t a half-feat, granted. But one could get one of the better +1 feats to STR / CON along with Shield Master.

The effect on a crit is incredibly potent. Giving all allies advantage to hit a foe will lead to more damage being dealt and an even higher chance to crit. However relying on crits usually isn’t a smart idea, and crits are already deadly enough without a feat to boost them.

7/10

Dragon Fear

DRAGONBORN EXCLUSIVE FEAT

Allows you to roar with your Breath Weapon ability, frightening nearby enemies.

This feat singlehandedly makes Dragonborn viable. I’m not even joking: being able to replace your CON based, low damage Burning Hands-lite with essentially the Fear spell which comes back on a Short Rest and is based on Charisma is insanely useful for any Charisma character. The most obvious use is for the Charisma casters: Bards and Sorcerers can get an extreme amount of value from this feature. But other Charisma classes like Paladins, Swashbuckler Rogues, and any other class that requires Charisma can use it well. Warlocks get a little less use out of it than most since their abilities already come back on a Short Rest but it’s still nice to have in your pocket.

It’s less useful for non-Charisma classes but it can’t be flawless. But it removes the problem of choosing between a subpar AoE damage ability or just attacking with your weapons / spells, and instead gives you a utility ability to give yourself space. It doesn’t scale well late when most enemies resist fears, but neither did your breath weapon. Especially with the Dragonborn subraces from Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount this feat is extremely good.

I mean, you could just play a Leonin and get the fear without investing in a feat, especially since Tasha’s lets you move ability scores around. But Dragonborn have more fun roleplay and other abilities that the Leonin lack.

10/10

Dragon Hide

DRAGONBORN EXCLUSIVE FEAT

Your AC is equal to 13 + DEX and your unarmed strikes do a d4 + STR damage.

The Mage Armor feat / the worse Tavern Brawler feat. What confuses me about this feat is how at-odds it is with itself. On one hand your AC is still based on DEX but on the other hand your natural weapon is based on STR?

Let’s just ignore the Unarmed Strike damage because let’s be real here: you can just pick up a dagger instead of slashing people with your dragon claws. Is Mage Armor really worth losing half of a feat? If you have nothing better maybe, but this list alone shows that there are better options. There are some very specific niche scenarios where Unarmored Defense is more valuable than actual armor but those scenarios are usually campaign-specific or a choice done more for roleplay, and you could just as easily accomplish the roleplay by taking the Magic Initiate feat to get Mage Armor along with two useful cantrips.

Honestly this should’ve just been added as a base feature for the Dragonborn, and most DMs I know give this feat to Dragonborn at level 1. (Minus the half feat ASI.) Lizardfolk have innate AC, crafting skills, and a healing bite; Dragonborn should get innate AC, damage resistance, and a crappy breath weapon that can be upgraded by the Dragon Fear feat.

3/10

Heavily Armored

Gain proficiency with heavy armor.

The vast majority of classes that are expected to wear Heavy Armor have Heavy Armor Proficiency. In fact the only Martial class that doesn’t have Heavy Armor proficiency (minus Barbarians and Monks who can’t wear Heavy Armor) is the Ranger, so this feat is good if you want to play a Ranger like a Paladin. Huhn. Ironic that I am playing a Horizon Walker Ranger like a Paladin in one of the campaigns I’m in.

(Artwork by Bo “chenbowow” Chen. Made for Riot Games.)

Like, you can grab this feat for Clerics and Druids I guess, but why would you? Medium Armor is on-par with Heavy Armor, and 14 DEX is far more useful than the 15 STR required to wear Platemail.

The only other two (well technically three) subclasses I can think of which could grab this feat are the Hexblade Warlock and the two Martial Bards. (College of Swords / College of Valor.) For Hexblade... why do you need Strength? You can swing your sword with Charisma. Bard however... I guess if you want to play a Strength Bard it’s an option?

But yeah: the only time I ever used this feat was to play a Ranger like a Paladin. And saying “I used this feat to play one of the worst classes in the game like a better class” isn’t exactly an accomplishment.

1/10

Heavy Armor Master

While wearing heavy armor, bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage that you take from nonmagical weapons is reduced by 3.

The word that kills this feat is “nonmagical.” I can tell you as a fact having had a Fighter use this feat in a level 1 - 5 campaign that it is TORTURE for any DM. “Oh boy I finally hit the 20 AC Fighter annnnd I did 5 total damage, even though I rolled max damage.”

But this feat literally becomes useless past level 8 or so when enemies start getting magical weapons. There are a few enemies that still technically do nonmagical damage at high levels, but even then this feat isn’t going to save you from foes that are normally doing upwards of 15 damage per swing. It adds up yes, but it’ll rarely add up in my personal experience.

Take this feat on a Variant Human at level 1 if you’re doing a level 3 one shot, just to be an asshole.

2/10

Lightly Armored

Gain proficiency with light armor.

?????

Mage Armor exists. The only classes in the game that don’t get proficiency with at least Light Armor are Sorcerer and Wizard. You can afford to lose a spell slot for Mage Armor. Seriously.

1/10

Moderately Armored

Gain proficiency with medium armor.

The best of the “armored” feats because (hot take time) Medium Armor is the best armor in the game. It requires the least investment which makes it the most easily accessible armor in the game. If you have a 13 in DEX I’d highly recommend grabbing this feat. If your DEX is at a 16 (+3) or higher I’d honestly maybe just recommend Light Armor / Mage Armor instead?

8/10

Orcish Fury

HALF-ORC EXCLUSIVE FEAT

Get the ability to choose to roll an additional damage die once per short rest. Additionally, you can use your Reaction to make a weapon attack after being knocked down to 1 HP via your racial trait once per short rest.

Anyone find it amusing that this feat is only available to Half-Orcs but not full Orcs? Anyways: having the ability to essentially crit on-demand is nice. Having the reactionary attack after being knocked to 1 HP is situational, but still alright. I think if I was playing a Half-Orc and I needed to round out either my Strength or my Constitution (more likely my CON since there are far better feats for STR) I wouldn’t be upset taking this. Is it worth playing a Half-Orc just for this feat? Not by a long shot lol.

6/10

Piercer

When you deal damage with a piercing weapon you can reroll one of the damage die on one attack per turn. When you crit you can roll an additional damage die.

Savage Attacker as a half feat, proving that Savage Attacker is a bad feat lol. I’m actually going to talk more about this feat when I go into the Dexterity section which makes this the first feat where I’ll actually rank it lower for a specific Ability Score.

3/10 (if using STR)

Resilient (STR)

Gain proficiency with Strength saving throws.

Strength saves are common and pretty bad, but not as bad as Wisdom or Dexterity. What’s more is that most classes that will be forced to make Strength saves have proficiency in Strength saving throws already. If you have an uneven Strength score this isn’t the worst way to round it out, but I’d sooner get a stronger feat for another ability.

3/10

Revenant Blade

Essentially Dual-Wielder for the Double-Bladed Scimitar.

A very specific feat to the Eberron setting, and even though I use Eberron content frequently in my builds I’ll be honest: I know very little about the setting. The DBS honestly just seems worse than uh... wielding two scimitars? 3d4 damage is about on-par with 2d6. This feat is something you take more for roleplay than actual practicality with your character, though I have played with people (outside of Eberron lol) using a double-bladed scimitar and it seems like a cool weapon. Dual Wielder is also a good feat and it seems you can use the DBS without grabbing the Dual Wielding Fighting Style.

5/10

Skill Expert

Learn a skill and gain expertise in a skill.

A very good skill to round out any build. Expertise can actually shape your character quite a lot, as it allows you to be good at things even if your Ability Scores are bad. A good go-to feat to round off any uneven Ability Score if you have nothing better imo.

7/10

Slasher

Slashing weapons lower the speed of the target hit by 10. On a crit the target has disadvantage on all attack rolls until the start of your next turn.

Easily the worst of the weapon damage type feats, which is a shame because I like slashing weapons. The slowdown effect is rarely useful: the only class which I really think can use the slowdown effect well is hit-and-run Rogues, but Slashing weapons are heavily restricted from Rogues for some reason. The crit effect is nice but you shouldn’t be banking on crits, even as a Champion Fighter. This feat at least has a niche if you plan to play a Whip Rogue but that’s about it.

3/10

Squat Nimbleness

Increase your movement speed by 5, gain proficiency with Athletics or Acrobatics, and gain Advantage to escape grapples.

It is actually goddamn hilarious how good this feat is. +5 movement is already nice (especially if you’re playing one of the later-added small races [or a Homebrew race] that has 30 feet of movement) but you also get a free skill proficiency in either of the two most commonly used skills in the game, and to top it off to my knowledge this feat is the only way to gain a bonus to escaping grapples. (Outside of like, the Freedom of Movement spell.)

Take this! Good lord take this! If you have an uneven ability score and are small don’t even hesitate!

10/10

Tavern Brawler

Gain a d4 unarmed strike and proficiency with improvised weapons. After striking a creature with an unarmed strike or improvised weapon on your turn you can grapple them as a bonus action.

This feat will either be the best or worst feat you take depending on your DM. If your DM lives up to the Dead Rising promise of “anything is a weapon” and lets you pick up a stick off the ground and use it as an improvised weapon: congratulations your Wizard now has an infinite supply of short swords!

The grapple after making an improvised or unarmed strike is... interesting. I’ve expressed my distaste for grappling in the past but on its own at lower levels its not the worst option. The main problem is really just that the Grappler feat is bad, but if you want to keep an enemy from running then grabbing them isn’t the worst option!

5/10

Weapon Master

Gain proficiency with 3 weapons.

Just take a single level in Fighter. Honestly upgrading your weapon’s damage die isn’t worth losing the ASI. Even in the most extreme example of upgrading a dagger (d4) to a rapier (d8) you’re only getting +4 damage potential max.

The only application I really think is worth it for this feat is Rogues, because for some stupid reason Rogues don’t get proficiency with either Scimitars or (more importantly) Whips. So if for whatever reason you want to play a Reach Weapon Whip Rogue but still get Stroke of Luck from the 20th level of Rogue then I guess Weapon Master has some use? But you could just as easily grab the Mobile feat to reap similar benefits without being forced to use a d4 weapon.

1/10

DEXTERITY

Athlete

See above.

Elven Accuracy

ELF / HALF-ELF EXCLUSIVE FEAT.

Roll 3 d20s instead of 2 when you have advantage and are attacking with DEX or a spell.

Otherwise known as “why Elf Samurai is secretly overpowered.” If you have a reliable way to get Advantage this feat is absolutely nutty. If not well... It’s still a nice way to round out an uneven Ability Score, and it works with spell attack rolls too which gives it plenty of versatility!

Basically if there’s any semi-consistent chance that you’re going to get advantage I’d take this feat. If not? There are better half feats out there. Really a shame this doesn’t work with STR attacks but I guess they didn’t want Elf Barbarians to be the most overpowered shit in the game.

8/10

Fade Away

GNOME EXCLUSIVE FEAT

Use your reaction to become invisible after taking damage. You remain invisible until the end of your next turn unless you perform an aggressive action.

Invisibility is never a bad thing. This feat gives you what is essentially a stronger version of the Shield spell once per Short Rest since (rules as written) enemies can’t target you if they can’t see you. Now of course a lot of this depends on your DM (how many enemies with Blindsense are around, and if enemies will swing where you just were because metagaming) but this feat is almost exclusively why you should play a Gnome as opposed to something else.

This feat plus Squat Nimbleness is honestly worth losing an ASI for. Fade Away, Squat Nimbleness, and Moderately Armored combined can be three very good feats for a Gnome spellcaster who already has a high casting stat.

9/10

Gunner

Crossbow Expert for guns.

Crossbow Expert for guns. The only part of this feat that affects non-firearms is the lack of disadvantage in melee range which I mean... if you’re not planning to use crossbows it might be useful? But I’d sooner take Piercer, Elven Accuracy, or another more useful feat.

GUN/10 3/10

Lightly Armored

See above.

Piercer

When you deal damage with a piercing weapon you can reroll one of the damage die on one attack per turn. When you crit you can roll an additional damage die.

The first and probably only feat where increasing one Ability Score is far more useful than the other! Let’s start with the obvious: Savage Attacker doesn’t work with ranged weapons, but since all ranged weapons (minus the Sling) do Piercing damage this feat affects them! For most ranged weapons this isn’t that big of a deal but if you’re using one of the ranged weapons with a bigger damage die (Longbow / Heavy Crossbow) it’s still nice to have, especially if you have multiple attacks and will henceforth have a higher chance of rolling low for damage.

The triple damage effect on a crit is also very nice for a ranged weapon, and lets you live out that sharpshooter fantasy. But again banking on crits is unreliable. Overall this feat is a very nice way to increase an uneven Dexterity score and get some benefits for your ranged weapons. It’s not something I’d go out of my way to get but it does feel very good to grab.

7/10 (if using DEX)

Moderately Armored

See above. Slightly better when increasing DEX because DEX is more universally useful than STR.

Resilient (DEX)

Gain proficiency with Dexterity saving throws.

Dexterity saving throws are some of the most common saving throws in 5e. Being able to halve the damage of a Fireball is always worth it.

9/10

Revenant Blade

See above.

Second Chance

HALFLING EXCLUSIVE FEAT

Force an enemy that’s attacking you to reroll their attack once per combat.

This feat interests me because (to my knowledge) it’s the only feat that replenishes when you “roll initiative at the start of combat.” But regardless: being able to force an enemy to reroll a hit on you is really nice, but mind you that there is the chance to turn a regular hit into a crit.

If your class already has reactions this really isn’t worth it. But if you’re playing something like a Fighter this can be a nice way to shrug off a hit or two over the course of the day. A good way to round out your stats and give yourself some safety, but not something I’d go out of the way to get.

7/10

Squat Nimbleness

See above.

Skill Expert

See above.

Slasher

See above.

Weapon Master

See above.

CONSTITUTION

Aberrant Dragonmark

Get one Sorcerer cantrip and one level 1 Sorcerer spell. Constitution is your spellcasting modifier for these spells. Additional effects when you cast your level 1 spell.

Veterans of this blog will know how much I love Aberrant Dragonmark. If you’re taking Magic Initiate to have a ranged attack then Aberrant Dragonmark is pretty much just universally better than Magic Initiate. The only real flaw with this feat is that you can only take from the Sorcerer list... oh and that it’s very Eberron specific. It’s unlikely that you’ll be allowed this feat, but I would recommend it for just about anyone who needs a ranged backup. Constitution becomes a lot more exciting when it’s used for more than just health.

8/10

Chef

Allies heal more during short rests. Prepare treats allies can use to gain Temporary hitpoints as a Bonus Action.

Song of Rest? Never heard of her! A fairly mediocre feat on its own, though admittedly fun for roleplay. The treats are actually not that bad to give allies a tiny bit of bulk. The definitely-not-Song of Rest feature is also good in its own right.

It’s a nice way to round out your Constitution or Wisdom if it’s uneven, and is very fun for roleplay. But it’s not the most impressive in terms of utility.

6/10

Crusher

See above.

Dragon Fear

See above.

Dragon Hide

See above.

Durable

Add double your Constitution modifier to rolled hit die while Short Resting.

I mean, it’s nice? But the only real use I see for this is for a Barbarian. It can definitely allow you save up on your hit die but unless you have a 13 in CON (14 with this feat) I wouldn’t recommend it. I’d much rather not take the damage in the first place: an ounce of prevention beats a cure!

5/10

Dwarven Fortitude

DWARF EXCLUSIVE FEAT

When you take the Dodge action you can heal with a hit die.

Otherwise known as “Dwarf Monks are super legit for no good reason.” It’s a very interesting feat that allows you to tank in interesting ways, and it’s particularly good if you know your DM doesn’t let you frequently short rest. It can be nice to heal in a pinch, but much like with Durable I’d rather negate the damage than heal with hit die.

And if your DM allows frequent short rests? This feat is objectively worse than Durable, since it doesn’t really matter when you heal with hit die.

5/10

Infernal Constitution

TIEFLING EXCLUSIVE FEAT

Resist Cold and Poison damage, and gain Advantage on saving throws against Poisons.

You already resist Fire damage, which is extremely common. This feat adds two more common damage types to that list, and also helps you against a common debuff. This is just a very good way to give your character more bulk! Of course if you aren’t fighting a lot of poisonous or cold enemies this feat won’t be too practical, but in a standard campaign with varied foes this will quickly carry its weight!

7/10

Orcish Fury

See above.

Resilient (CON)

Gain proficiency with Constitution saving throws.

Constitution saves are extremely common, most notably for Concentration checks. Other people have done the math that Resilient scales better than War Caster to help with Concentration checks. This feat is a must-have for spellcasters, and very good all-around.

10/10

Second Chance

See above.

Skill Expert

See above.

Tavern Brawler

See above.

INTELLIGENCE

Elven Accuracy

See above.

Fade Away

See above.

Fey Teleportation

HIGH ELF EXCLUSIVE FEAT

Learn Sylvan. Cast Misty Step once per Short Rest.

Otherwise known as LITERALLY THE ONLY REASON TO PLAY A HIGH ELF. Holy shit if you’re playing a High Elf take this feat! A free language is nice and all but Misty Step is one of the most useful utility spells in the game, and you have near-constant access to it!

10/10

Fey Touched

Learn Misty Step and one additional first level spell from the Enchantment or Divination schools. You can cast both of these spells once without using a spell slot.

Misty Step is one of the strongest spells in the game: if your class doesn’t normally get it I’d definitely recommend Fey Touched just to get Misty Step. Being able to grab strong first level Enchantment and Divination spells like Hex, Hunter’s Mark, Bless, Heroism, and Detect Magic are also very useful.

9/10

Flames of Phlegethos

Reroll 1s when dealing Fire damage. Surround yourself in Fire when casting a Fire damage spell.

Otherwise known as “Elemental Adept lite.” Only really useful if you’re planning to consistently be in close range, but very fun and flavorful if you are casting fire up close.

I honestly wish this feat wasn’t Tiefling exclusive because it’s cool as shit but so situational: I’d love to see a version of this feat that’s damage type exclusive and race exclusive. Hm maybe that’ll be a Homebrew project of mine.

7/10

Keen Mind

Know some information you should probably already know.

Otherwise known as “hey mister DM I forgot to buy a compass or a watch in town, and I’m too stupid to take notes.” This is the feat for bad players, and most DMs will ignore it even if you do take it.

1/10

Linguist

Learn 3 languages. Write cyphers.

The languages are honestly useless: Comprehend Languages is a first level spell, and Tongues is a third level spell. The cyphers are a lot more interesting, but they’re admittedly extremely situational outside of specific campaigns. It also really sucks that your feat can be undone with the Comprehend Languages spell, which can be cast as a ritual.

4/10

Observant

+5 to Passive Perception / Investigation. You can read creatures’ lips if you understand the language they’re speaking.

The ability to read creatures’ lips is honestly really interesting for espionage, but let’s be real: you picked up this feat for the increase to Passive Perception. Honestly if you don’t want to be ambushed just take the Alert feat.

7/10

Resilient (INT)

Gain proficiency with Intelligence saving throws.

Intelligence saves are rare. Devastating when they occur, yes. But I’d sooner take Observant, Linguist, or one of the Tasha’s feats over Resilient.

5/10

Shadow Touched

Learn the Invisibility spell and one additional first level spell from the Necromancy or Illusion schools. You can cast both of these spells once without using a spell slot.

Invisibility is less universally useful than Misty Step, and Necromancy / Illusion spells are weaker than Divination / Enchantment spells. (At least if we’re talking first level.) There are some nice ones like Disguise Self and Inflict Wounds but generally speaking mobility is more useful in my humble opinion.

7/10

Skill Expert

See above.

Telekinetic

Learn the Mage Hand cantrip. If you know it already, increase its range by 30 feet. You can make the Mage Hand invisible. Additionally, you may shove a creature 5 feet towards or away from you as a Bonus Action on your turn.

Mage Hand is one of the best cantrips in the game and being able to make it invisible was a subclass feature restricted to just Arcane Trickster Rogues previously. Having an invisible grabbing arm is insanely useful, and extending it to 60 feet is even better.

And that isn’t even the best part! Being able to shove people around isn’t necessarily the most overpowered thing but it still gives you a way to use your Bonus Action every turn! If you play on a tabletop you can use this feat to push enemies back into AoE damage abilities or pull allies away from danger! In Theater of the Mind however this feat isn’t as strong and I wouldn’t recommend using the shove too much as its liable to annoy your DM.

8/10

Telepathic

You can speak telepathically to a creature within 60 feet of you. They have to understand the language, and don’t gain the ability to respond telepathically. Additionally, you learn the Detect Thoughts spell, and can cast it once per Long Rest without using a spell slot.

Detect Thoughts isn’t that great of a spell, though granted this is just my personal experience. That being said having telepathy is extremely useful, and this is speaking from experience!

I will say right now: take this feat if you are a Druid. Unless your DM is a real stickler for the rules this will let you speak to people while Wildshaped! This opens up a whole world of possibilities for your Druid! I unironically consider this feat mandatory for a Druid, and fairly useful for any other character who wants to speak quietly and stealthily. And you know: doesn’t have access to Message.

8/10 - Mandatory for a Druid

WISDOM

Chef

See above.

Elven Accuracy

See above.

Fey Touched

See above.

Observant

See above.

Resilient (WIS)

Gain proficiency with Wisdom saving throws.

Wisdom saves are very common, but most Wisdom classes already get Wisdom saving throw proficiency. If you have an uneven Wisdom score it can be worth it to get the proficiency, but Wisdom saving throws are arguably the most common saving throw to be proficient with.

7/10

Shadow Touched

See above.

Skill Expert

See above.

Telekinetic

See above.

Telepathic

See above.

CHARISMA

Actor

Gain advantage when pretending to be someone else, and become capable of mimicking someone’s voice after listening to them.

A very good feat if you plan to do any infiltration or other political intrigue stuff. With the Disguise Self spell this feat can be used by just about anyone, but the real value comes for Changelings. Having Disguise Self as a racial trait means the “be better at fooling people” feat is insanely useful. Inversely this feat isn’t as useful for Kenku since you can already mimic voices more-or-less perfectly.

This feat is inherently situational but it’s beyond useful for the campaigns where it can be used. And again: it’s near-mandatory for a Changeling or a Warlock with the Mask of Many Faces invocation (or anyone who takes Eldritch Adept for Mask of Many Faces.)

7/10 - Mandatory for Changelings

Dragon Fear

See above.

Dragon Hide

See above. (How the hell this feat increases Charisma I have no idea.)

Elven Accuracy

See above.

Fey Teleportation

See above.

Fey Touched

See above.

Flames of Phlegethos

See above.

Resilient (CHA)

Gain proficiency in Charisma saving throws.

Charisma saving throws are extremely rare, and more often than not they’re more of the “don’t get to play the game” variety and less “die super bad and become a living vegetable” like Intelligence saving throws. Even if looking to round out uneven ability scores feats like Skill Expert and Telepathic are better.

3/10

Second Chance

See above.

Shadow Touched

See above.

Skill Expert

See above.

Telekinetic

See above.

Telepathic

See above.

HELPFUL CHART OR SOMETHING

#dnd #dnd 5e #dnd guide #dnd feats #feats #half feats #tier list #list

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kbstories · 4 years

Text

Ontological

on·to·log·i·cal (adj.) Existing as such; metaphysical.

Eustass Kidd and Killer, during and afterwards.

(Or: Alliances are made. Killer and Zoro take care of some unfinished business.)

Tags: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Aftermath of Violence (and SMILE), Worst Gen Reunion Pre-Party

Chapter 1. Chapter 2. No additional warnings apply. Read Chapter 4 here.

***

The Kidd Pirates arrive as one: Kidd up front, grim-faced and radiating Haki, with Killer to his right and Heat to his left and Wire trailing behind, eyes on their backs. Ahead, a handful of houses cluster around the slow trickle of a stream and cherry trees that dot the ground in gentle patterns. Everything about it whispers sweet promises of harmony, of a place to rest their weary heads and heal wounds barely starting to scar.

Kidd doesn’t trust any of it one fucking bit.

People are gathered in a loose group, conversations hushed and hard to make out from afar. A Marine’s wet dream, really, with how many bounties Kidd recognizes at a glance – or their worst nightmare, given Monkey D. Luffy is one of them.

That straw-hatted head turns and keeps turning into an angle that would snap any neck not made of rubber. A smile, bright with surprise.

“Oh? Spikey! And Spikey’s friend!”

Completely unaffected by the wave of tangible will Kidd pushes on them all, and after days of sharing a prison cell it just makes Kidd’s mouth tug into a grin. “Strawhat.”

(Through his mask Killer mutters, “Spikey’s friend”, like he’s contemplating if he likes it or not. Not that Strawhat would change a thing about it either way.)

Both Strawhat’s and Trafalgar’s crews are there, at least partially. Kidd spots the polar bear and those two idiots staring right at him – one of which jumps to his feet and runs inside – while that blonde guy with the kicks and Zoro flank their captain with little subtlety.

So they’re alive after all. Seems like Strawhat is not the only one capable of surviving an encounter with Kaido.

Still, Kidd isn’t here for handshakes and kisses. This is business and the way Strawhat’s expression turns a little pensive proves the brat has some braincells rattling in the attic, dusty as it must be up there.

“Where’s Trafalgar? We gotta talk.”

Strawhat just groans. “Another meeting? It’s lunch time! Sanji, you promised lunch.”

“That I did”, says Blondie around a mouthful of smoke. He nods at Kidd, curly brow raised. “You. Spikey. Any of you got a problem with eel? We’re having unagi.”

One more annoying than the other. Heat oohs behind Kidd, however, quiet enough it stays between them. That una-stuff must be good, then.

Kidd gives Killer a look; Killer tilts his head. Your choice. Kidd sighs.

“Fine, whatever. Hurry it up, we’re not staying.”

“Hey!”, the bear pipes up from the sidelines. The very moment Kidd’s eyes land on him, his frowned ferocity turns bashful and he looks to his feet, ears folded. “Sorry, um. I think we should wait for Captain.”

Strawhat makes an indistinct noise around the something-on-a-skewer he just shoved in his mouth. Once done, he uses the stick to point in Kidd’s general direction. “Nah, they’re okay. Right, Spikey?”

Before Kidd can utter the fuck you already on his lips, the swordsman to Strawhat’s right hums. “Luffy”, Zoro murmurs in that serious voice of his, one that demands to be heard without much effort. “Bepo’s right.”

And his gaze is focused on Killer, not Kidd, an arm casually coming to rest on his swords – there’s a similar tension in the way Killer holds himself, on his guard despite the lack of aggression in the air. (Breathing shallowly like he does when he’s trying to maintain the little control he has these days, like it’s better to go without altogether than laugh in company like this.)

Kidd glares. The metal around him starts to tremble.

“Eustass.”

Only one person says his name like that. The snarl on Kidd’s lips doesn’t go anywhere, especially with the indifferent glance Trafalgar Law acknowledges him with as he steps out of the shadows. All disgruntled like Kidd disturbed his beauty sleep or crashed a particularly boring match of chess or… any other thing a guy with that long a stick up his ass might do in his downtime.

Eugh, maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.

“Trafalgar. Sure took your sweet time.”

The guy’s eyes narrow a little; Kidd smirks. The gears are already in motion under that ridiculously fluffy hat of his and well, Kidd did promise Killer he’d be civil. For the most part.

“You’re the one trespassing.” Trafalgar’s voice is all smooth disdain, no nonsense. “What do you want?”

Straight to the point. There are some qualities to be appreciated about him, arrogant prick or not. Kidd spits on the ground.

“Alright, listen up. Strawhat, you too.”

Strawhat actually does, giving him a curious look over the bowl of sauce-drenched rice he’s currently tearing into. Lunch time, right. Trafalgar merely blinks, unimpressed.

Rolling his shoulders, Kidd lets himself feel the ache of metal on scars, familiar, anchoring him in his body. The presence of his crew around him settles his senses, solid and always there in the periphery.

For days he’s breathed around the wrath in his lungs, spoken every word with the thrumming of his pulse in his throat. When Kidd smiles, it’s with lips red as blood and teeth bared like fangs.

There was a decision to make, and Kidd has made it.

“That war of yours? We want in.”

Later, much later, Kidd turns his back and Killer follows.

Heat and Wire are long gone, sent back to let the others know and prepare the Punk for battle. There’s much to be done still and little time to do it – Kidd thinks of the hell that will rain upon those who dared cross them and knows it will be worth it. This time, there will be no retreat. No mercy. Whatever the outcome, be it victory or death, it will be painted in shades of red.

Tomorrow, they sail for Onigashima.

Killer is next to him until he isn’t. Kidd blinks, stops, glances over his shoulder to see Killer's hand fall to the swords at his side.

“You.”

Amidst the sprawling fields between them and the hideout stands Zoro. The wind makes the grass surge like waves; it touches upon a face that has lost the guise of civility to reveal the demon underneath. This isn’t happening, shoots through Kidd’s mind, not again, and he growls as Haki gathers within him, ready to burst–

“Wait.”

Killer’s hand is on his chest, big and strong over the war drum of Kidd’s heart. “Wait”, Killer repeats and the calm of his voice cracks apart on a chuckle. Kidd’s gaze moves from the tension in Killer’s arm to Zoro’s eye and the recognition that sparks there.

Kidd remembers: Cuts across Killer’s chest, overlapping, all three of them deep and guaranteed to scar. Killer’s tightlipped silence over who did it, who hurt him–

“Come closer and I’ll tear you apart”, a venomous hiss more than strained with how hard Kidd’s jaw is clenched but he listens to Killer, always has when Killer’s this serious about something.

All Zoro does is stare at Killer’s mask, a gaze sharp enough to pierce layers of paint and welded metal. He says: “Those swords aren’t yours to wield. You should give them back.”

Killer huffs out an amused breath and for once, it’s genuine. “It can’t be helped. Someone took my scythes.”

An amusement that Zoro seems to share with the slightest uptilt of his mouth, “Is that so”, idle yet the threat in his stance goes nowhere. “What was it again? ‘Don’t talk down to the shogun’… or something along those lines.”

Killer’s fingers clench where they’re tangled in Kidd’s shirt. Zoro looks from that up to Kidd, smile growing all the more lethal.

“You didn’t tell him?”

Worded like a question when it’s not even close to one, and Kidd tries not to bristle, he really does. As if Zoro knows shit about anything, about them, about the living nightmare Killer’s been stuck in since–

Half a step and Killer shifts between them, sword half-way out of its sheath. Hisses, “Leave him out of this”, and Killer laughs despite the anger begging to be heard in there somewhere.

“Orochi means nothing to me. Nothing. He’ll die a dog’s death just like the rest of them.”

Kidd might not get what the hell they’re going on about but there’s real hurt in it, too, and suddenly all he wants is for Zoro to laugh. To mock Killer so Kidd can make good on the promise he gave his partner the day they went to sea and slaughter him like all the bastards that came before him.

Then… Zoro hums and that aura is gone, snuffed out with a blink and a scratch to bright green hair. “I kept the scythes, y’know. Would be a waste not to let them taste a fair battle.”

Killer doesn’t relax as much as he exhales a tired sigh. His sword is sheathed; a moment later his hold on Kidd drops and Kidd almost stumbles, only now realizing how hard he was pushing against the immovable line of Killer’s arm.

With steady hands, Killer unties the two shortswords from his waist and crosses the distance to hand them over. “A bit far to go for some stolen blades”, Killer tells him, an edge of annoyance there that Zoro shrugs off casually.

Kidd watches the interaction with narrow-eyed focus, waiting for the step out of line that never comes. Zoro meets his gaze only briefly, the eyebrow over his blind eye twitching upwards. As cocky and infuriating as his captain, Kidd’s mouth opens before he can stop himself.

“Try a stunt like that again and you’re dead, Pirate Hunter.”

The swordsman smirks, “I’ll take my chances”, before he turns to leave. Damn-near strolling back to his crew with a jaw-cracking yawn, and Kidd grinds his teeth and lets him.

Fucking Strawhats.

Yet Killer is still staring after him, still hesitating. “The girl”, he calls after Zoro. “The one who laughed. Is she alive?”

Zoro stops, glances over his shoulder, a little puzzled. “Toko? Yeah, she’s safe.” A pause. “They executed her father. A good man.”

Killer’s head lowers. “What a shame”, he agrees, too quiet for the other to understand him. Zoro walks on and so does Killer, a step or two ahead before he tilts his mask at Kidd, waiting.

“You coming, Captain?”

Kidd banishes all thoughts of their rivals – allies, for now – out of his head and joins Killer.

And Kidd stays close, perhaps too close; their hands brush every few steps. With a fond huff, Killer’s fingers hook around Kidd’s and doesn't let go all the way to the Punk.

>>Chapter 4.

#one piece #eustass kid #killer one piece #roronoa zoro #kidkiller #fanfiction #one piece fanfiction #i swear the fluff is coming... next time...#this fic is also on AO3!!#my stuff #one piece spoilers

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echodrops · 5 years

Text

Why You Should Be Shipping Shigaraki/Ochako

No, no, hang on a second--I see that side-eye you are throwing hard enough to ruin your peripheral vision. I feel the shade you’re casting like a thundercloud rolling in. But you didn’t read wrong. I meant what I said.

I’ve never made a secret of my love for rare pairs, but for once in my damn lonely shipper’s hellscape of a life I would love it if my favorite crack ship in a fandom had more than two fics (I’m NOT JOKING) to its name.

What can I do to correct this egregious oversight before the entire summer passes with nary a whisper of the most romantic ship since Juliet wherefore art thou’d Romeo?

Well, what else? I was forged in the fires of early 2000s’ fandom, and I know that desperate times call for desperate measures meticulously researched and extremely rose-tinted

Shipping Manifestos.

Fam, I am about to blow your minds, align your chakras, open your third eyes--because Shigaraki and Ochako is the most slept on ship in the entire BNHA fandom, and if you give me ten minutes like an hour (holy shit, this is long), I can prove it.

Disclaimer: @mistystarshine is the enabler who convinced me to write this but we were both enabled by @ohmytheon’s Reconfigure (on AO3) so you know who’s really responsible.

Spoilers to Chapter 231, watch out.

First off, I know what you’re thinking. Maybe you’re still reading from pure shock. Maybe you’re doubt-reading to get your daily fix of internet skepticism. Maybe you’re waiting for me to say these two characters are meant to be because she wears pink and his hair is blue. Maybe you’re already freaking out about age gaps but like that is what future fics and AUs are actually for!!!

I’m not telling you to give up your IzuOcha or Kacchako. I’m not gonna pry ShigaDabi out of your eager little villain stan hands. But if you’ve never considered multi-shipping, now is the time my friends, because I’m totally serious heartfelt here! I’ve got VALID reasons for shipping Shigako--ten of them, in fact:

1) Midoriya is taken for granted as Uraraka’s love interest--but Shigaraki is incredibly similar to him.

There are reams of meta on the parallels between Midoriya and Shigaraki, with plenty people noting how Horikoshi specifically set the two up as foils to examine similar character development despite their drastically different circumstances. Yet for all the meta pointing out that Shigaraki and Midoriya are basically the same character through a mirror darkly, I’ve never seen anyone bear that thought out to its logical conclusion: there are traits Uraraka admires in Midoriya that are extremely apparent in Shigaraki too.

Multiple times in the manga, Uraraka expresses admiration for Deku’s resolve and refusal to give up. His determination in the face of impossible odds and his sense of dedication to his cause are powerful motivating factors in Ochako’s storyline, and Deku’s behavior--his willingness to charge straight into danger and his unflinching pursuit of his goal to be #1--have basically become the standard to which Uraraka holds herself.

Her crush is literally founded on an appreciation for Midoriya’s drive, earnestness, and constant growth as a person.

But these are all traits that Shigaraki also explicitly possesses. Shigaraki’s unwavering resolve is so strong that even though everyone around him says dream is unattainable... they follow him anyway.

Ujiko flat out tells Shigaraki he’s chasing a pipe dream, but he’s willing to come along for the ride strictly because of how committed Shigaraki is to making that dream a reality. The strength of Tomura’s conviction alone persuaded a collection of the most volatile and difficult personalities in the manga to band together and become found family the most well-known anti-establishment organization in all of Japan.

Shigaraki never, even in the face of overwhelming threat, backs down from a challenge, and he approaches each impossible task with absolutely as much effort, ferocity, and refusal to quit as Deku. He is just as dedicated, just as much of a shounen protagonist main character, and just as willing to push himself above and beyond as Deku.

The traits that motivated Uraraka to become the character she is today, many of the exact same traits that formed her crush on Midoriya, are all there in Shigaraki. In another world, the person who inspired Uraraka to go “Plus Ultra” could be Tomura himself, and if 1) no sense of self-preservation, 2) ZERO CHILL, and 3) dogged obsession are what Uraraka finds attractive, Shigaraki clearly has 'em covered. Oh no, he’s meeting all my standards.

2) Being serious though, Ochako’s role in the plot would be vastly improved by more meaningful interactions with the antagonists, even if just in battle.

I’ve written before about how badly the writing of BNHA treats Ochako, and why her constantly being out-of-focus is a hallmark of the genre’s crippling inability to handle dynamic female characters, but it bears repeating: in her current position in the story, Uraraka’s character has minimal agency. She exists to fill the role of Deku’s love interest (at worst) and an emotional crutch (at best). Again, absolutely no hate on the IzuOcha ship--it’s clearly canon endgame and “wholesome” I guess is what they’re calling it nowadays. But the way IzuOcha’s being written in canon is actually the worst possible thing that could happen to Uraraka’s individual character, because Ochako’s crush on Deku has been given virtually no bearing on the story’s main plot and allows Horikoshi to consistently reduce Uraraka’s personal accomplishments to “inspirations from Deku” (in order to, likely, fulfill young male readers’ fantasy of having a girl fixated on them).

Is Uraraka about to do something cool in the manga? Wait for her comment about being motivated by Deku.

Does Uraraka actually get to see some action and get involved in a fight? Wait for someone to bring up her feelings for Deku.

Is Deku about to have a dramatic clash with the story’s villains to advance the main plotline? Wait for Ochako to entirely vanish (at worst) or get sidelined into a three panel clip where she’ll use the same martial art move she’s been using since like chapter 10 (at best).

If I have to read “Gunhead Martial Arts” one more fucking time... Give Ochako her OWN supermoves goddammit!!

The story of the comic itself continually pushes Ochako out of any position of relevance. She’s not one of UA’s strongest fighters (despite having a quirk that, if applied like ANY of the male characters, has incredible potential), she’s not given half the emotional depth or attention even side characters like Kirishima get, and her backstory lacks the development many of the male characters’ get (I’m looking at you, Todoroki).

As a “good girl,” she isn’t allowed to get her hands dirty like Toga, she isn’t allowed to get as bloodied or ugly as any of the boys, and she can never be allowed to surpass the main male characters in coolness or plot relevance because girls can be “heroes” but they can’t be The Hero™. (I’m literally gagging, guys.)

Which is EXACTLY why a plot involving Shigaraki and Ochako--in ANY capacity, even just a flat out fight against each other!--would actually be a fan-fucking-tastic addition to BNHA.

Skip the token Toga vs. Ochako chick fight where they squabble over who loves Izuku more. Let Toga talk to Izuku as herself for once. Let Uraraka throw down with the League’s leader. At least once, Horikoshi? Just once?

Literally any form of plot that puts Shigaraki and Ochako into contact would mean moving Uraraka into a more central position within the manga’s plot, would boost her screen-time, increase the likelihood of her contributing to the story’s primary conflict, and would give her more to do and emotionally engage with than just repeating the same lines about Deku being amazing on an endless loop. There is untapped character development potential in spades here if Uraraka was given chance to genuinely interact with the other half of the story’s cast!

Give👏 Uraraka👏 something👏 meaningful👏 to do!👏

Putting the story’s foremost female character on out there on the frontlines with the manga’s actual main character antagonist would finally break her out of the mold she’s been forced into by genre stereotypes and set her on an even playing field with the male heroes at last.

A meaningful encounter with Shigaraki could be Ochako’s ticket to being treated respectfully by the story itself (and hell if giving underappreciated characters a real place in the world isn’t Tomura’s freakin’ calling card already).

3) Okay, I know the words “subverting expectations” leave a bad taste in everyone’s mouth nowadays, but there is a huge difference between “throwing inexplicable plot twists at the audience just for shock factor” and “averting stale cliches in an emotionally rewarding manner.” Sure, cliches do exist for a reason, but there are still many instances where actively avoiding a cliche plotline is a great choice. A shounen manga’s token love interest ending up with someone other than the hero--namely with a (reformed) villain--would be an interesting flip on the trite “hero gets the girl” script.

Look, we all know how it goes: Hero clashes with Bad Guy. They duke it out all over Kingdom Come. RIP like fifty square city blocks. The Hero wins, heads home triumphant, sweeps his Princess off her feet, and sails off into the hero rankings sunset. End of the same story we’ve seen a million times. Sometimes it’s done well and the audience is left satisfied. Other times, the heroine involved is reduced to the hero’s reward, less person than wish fulfillment. In either case, tying up a romantic subplot with a hero is the go-to way of resolving female characters’ storylines and, at this point, pretty much a given in manga, even when the romantic subplot is never given the development it deserves, leaving audiences bewildered at how and why the hook-up actually happened.

I’m not saying every comic should “subvert expectations” and cancel its romantic subplot between the hero and heroine, of course not. But I am saying that it would be pretty refreshing to see something else for once.

By virtue of their role, villains don’t usually “get the girl.” Even redeemed villains rarely end up in happy, healthy, well-written relationships. It’s not impossible but it is unlikely that a series’ designated female lead ever wavers in her attentions from the main hero to a new romantic target.

So it would be pretty cool if one did, if the moral of the story’s romantic subplot wasn’t just "token love interest completes painfully shoehorned romantic gestures.” A good romance with a redeemed ex-villain instead of a hero would take a lot more explanation. It would demand, by its very nature, more work on the author’s part to suspend disbelief. The characters would have to develop an entirely different rapport from the normal interactions between designated love interests, and, to a certain extent, strong character growth would be required in order for such a romance to even get started. There’s more moral complexity and conflict to a subplot like this, and a greater sensation of choice--if the heroine doesn’t have to end with the hero by the end of the story, well hey... That means she could end up with just about anyone. Whoa.

Even more so, in the specific case of Shigaraki, who has lived a life of misery and manipulation, the idea that he could come out on the other side, grow as a person, redeem himself, and eventually enter a healthy relationship with someone who isn’t going to hurt him is an idea I find deeply appealing. I think there are a lot of villain stans, myself included, who see parts of themselves in Shigaraki. If a character who has been so severely impacted by abuse can still heal and ultimately end up happy, to me, that’s a far more hopeful and heart-warming conclusion than the alternatives. I did warn you this manifesto would be rose-tinted, didn’t I?

I want storylines that prove that none of us are beyond saving. That people who make bad choices can still change. That romance isn’t a reward for playing the “right” role. That heroines have options. That there are still pleasant surprises to be found in romance plots.

4) But why Shigaraki and Ochako, in particular? It’s not like they have any remotely shared life experiences--

Oops. Friendly reminder: Ochako is the only major character in the manga besides the villains who is overtly described as, I quote, “poorer than poor.” Todoroki, Yaomomo, and Iida can all make it rain; Kaminari, Mina, and Jirou can afford stylish clothes; Kirishima can drop a stupid amount on night vision googles... Even Midoriya, whose father “works overseas,“ can afford plenty of All Might merchandise. One of the popular fandom theories for a while was that Ochako could be U.A.’s traitor specifically because of her desire to help her parents financially, and I think that most readers at this point can discern a clear divide in BNHA’s society: heroes are the “haves” and villains are the “have nots.” To be a hero in this story is to attend a prestigious school, have access to expensive support items, gear, insurance, fame and glory, etc.

Meanwhile, with the exception of All For One, to be a villain in BNHA’s story is to be marginalized, live in unfit conditions, lack access to basic safety and nutritional resources, and struggle to make ends meet. When ability to thrive in a hero-centric society is synonymous with being a good and worthwhile person, anyone who doesn’t just naturally excel in the hero-driven economy is treated as flawed at best and suspect at worst. Poor characters in the story are ignored, and, as demonstrated with people like Twice, left essentially to fend for themselves.

Uraraka’s status as lower income is mostly played for laughs. She’s still a privileged character in that she can attend U.A., receive hero items for free, has a safe place to live, etc. But it is important that the story acknowledges her family’s situation, because her financial status does set her apart from her classmates.

She is less privileged than the others. Being “the poor character” situates Uraraka in the interesting divide between those who couldn’t cope and chose to rebel against hero society instead, versus those who conformed to the hero system in an attempt to improve their situations. In different circumstances, if Uraraka’s family was just even the tiniest bit worse off, we might be seeing a very different character here, one who had to make some much harder choices to keep her family afloat.

Having been in the position of "going without,” Uraraka also has a unique understanding of the “real world” that many of her heroics classmates might lack. She understands what it is like to go hungry, to not be able to afford to keep up with the newest trends, to be constantly anxious about the future--to feel unsuccessful, overlooked, and under constant pressure to perform. As someone who wasn’t raised in the lap of luxury or even really a middle-class home, Uraraka has more insight into--and would likely have more empathy for--the plight of the downtrodden daily criminals of the BNHA world. Just based on her own life experiences, Ochako is more likely than her classmates to recognize how harsh reality can be, and understand the temptations that lead people to make terrible decisions.

This makes Ochako an especially interesting character in terms of her pro hero future. Would she be able to sympathize and reach out to struggling "villains” more effectively than others from her class, who lack her humble background? Would she be able to better see the big picture of BNHA’s society, and the way it actively creates villains from its marginalized populations? Would she be able to look at the League not just as criminals, but also as people who never stood a chance within the confines of a rigged social structure?

Uraraka’s background shifts her closer to the story’s villains than many of the other hero characters, and puts her in a unique place to both empathize and become motivated to change the flawed system that produced people like Shigaraki and the League in the first place.

5) Likewise, Uraraka’s background actually makes her more palatable to Shigaraki than other heroes. At least at the beginning of the comic, Uraraka isn’t shy about admitting that one of her reasons for becoming a hero is to help her parents financially. Ochako’s original motivation for heroism isn’t portrayed as nobly as others’ like Deku--Deku has no ulterior motives for being a hero; he just wants to save people and wouldn’t care about personally benefiting.

Instead, Ochako is presented as someone who (initially) sees heroism as a means to an end. It’s not that she doesn’t want to save people, but that she’s not doing so only for the intrinsic worth... the hefty paycheck that comes from heroism is a big draw.

Over time the manga has shown her shifting away from this (which actually makes her character less unique, unfortunately), but I’m sure it’s still a thought for her, and she’s definitely going to send paychecks to her parents in the future. At the end of the day, heroism is still going to be Uraraka’s ticket to a better lifestyle, even if she’s committed herself to it honestly by the time she leaves U.A.

But it’s this exact form of personal motivation that Shigaraki is much more likely to understand than the “goody-two-shoes” motivations of people like Deku. Multiple times in the comic Shigaraki has expressed confusion with society’s habit of clinging mindlessly to symbols, of their blind faith in the virtues of heroism, and their ability to simply overlook suffering because “surely a hero will do something about it.” Stain’s ideals about “true heroes” go straight past Shigaraki, who seems to hate heroes who are earnest (All Might, I’m talking about All Might) far more than those who are simply faking their way through for fame.

Shigaraki understands humans who are driven by personal gain. He respects the individual desires of people he cares about. Someone in the hero industry explicitly seeking tangible benefits would likely, to Shigaraki at least, come across as more genuine than someone who claims they have no ulterior motives, and a person who is blunt about their needs and grounded in the reality of BNHA’s world would likely be much more acceptable to Tomura than someone who spews trite lines about peace and justice.

Shigaraki’s feelings for heroes have been irreparably damaged by his conditioning from All For One, but there are certainly some heroes that he would find less loathsome than others. He will probably never understand Deku’s selflessness. All Might’s saccharine symbolism actively infuriates him. But a person who became a hero to put food on the table? To provide for her parents (maybe especially because it is her parents she’s trying to provide for)? That’s at least understandable. If the manga’s future does see Shigaraki redeemed, my thought is that the only type of heroes we’ll ever see him willingly interact with would still be heroes just like Ochako, with more “down to earth” personal motivations. Uraraka, your codename is “If I had to date a hero”...

6) While we’re talking about shared life experiences, there’s another very obvious similarity between Shigaraki and Ochako: neither one of them can touch things with all five fingers.

Cute/fridge horror observation: Shigaraki is even daintier about touching things than Uraraka is; Uraraka usually lifts just her pinkies, but Shigaraki frequently uses as few fingers as possible.

Yeah, yeah, they both have to be dainty and careful with everything they hold. It’d be cute to watch them eat together. They could mutually gripe about the annoyance of video game consoles not designed for four-finger use. More than that though, neither one of them can touch other human beings without the risk of causing death.

Uraraka, as a hero, has the more privileged quirk design (she can turn her quirk off, while Shigaraki can’t) and until recently, the comic was always very careful to portray Uraraka’s quirk in a way that no one was endangered by it. But dropping Zero Gravity into the hands of a villain for a single chapter reveals the truth: Uraraka’s quirk has just as much lethal potential as Shigaraki’s.

Like Shigaraki, Uraraka has to face the reality that her touch alone could jeopardize the safety of anyone she comes into contact with, in her daily life and in her hero work. Drop some debris without looking twice? Just crushed a civilian. Release your quirk without thinking? Now the villain you floated is paste on the sidewalk. Thought that it was safe to float away the building? Oops, you crushed someone still trapped inside. Yikes. In a one-on-one battle, Uraraka is actually at a disadvantage not because her quirk is weak, but the dead opposite--in an outdoor fight, she would have to actively work not to accidentally send people off into outer space.

Having an auto-activate touch quirk means that both Shigaraki and Ochako have to be conscious of every single thing they touch all the time. Both of their quirks require constant bodily awareness, and both come with the lurking knowledge that “My touch causes problems.” Even for Ochako, who would merely be a nuisance if she accidentally floated objects indoors, it’s easy to internalize frustration and negative associations with one’s own body. Every day, Ochako has to be careful with herself in a way that few of her peers do, another factor that sets her apart.

One of the story’s overarching themes is the idea of “self-acceptance” and what it even means to “accept yourself” in a world where (almost) every human being possesses a distinguishing feature, often built into their bodies at the expense of standard human functioning. For people with limited control over their quirks, who can’t choose when the effect activates, a quirk is a constant burden and facet of their identity that entirely re-shapes how they interact with the world. Both Shigaraki and Uraraka face the practicality of having burdensome, even lethal, auto-activate quirks that require constant self-awareness. This is a similarity that, of the major characters, only Shigaraki and Ochako possess so far. (Even other major characters with touch-based quirks like Overhaul appear to be able to choose when to activate their quirks).

The “funny” way Shigaraki and Ochako hold things seems like just a small similarity until you remember the amount of practice and frustration it must have taken to internalize a four-fingered touch. Until you remember that this similarity marks them both as very careful and self-conscious characters. Until you remember that Shigaraki’s got a one-touch instakill... but so does Uraraka Ochako.

7) Okay, similarities are cool and all, but you know what they say: opposites attract. And if we’re talking character motivation, there are no cleaner opposites in the entire series. Shigaraki and Ochako are actually even better emotional foils than Shigaraki and Deku, because Ochako’s central motivation is “Make as many people smile as possible” and Shigaraki’s is, literally, “Make it so no one can ever smile again.”

I know I ragged on it earlier, but now I’m going to use it to my full advantage: as the story evolved and characters grew, Ochako’s “true” motivation to become a hero revealed itself: she feels a deep, intrinsic happiness when witnessing the happiness of others. Her desire as a hero is to spread relief, the sense of security that allows people to go about their days smiling. She literally feels happiest when everyone around her is happy.

Even more so than Deku, this casts Uraraka as Shigaraki’s diametric opposite in the story, because Shigaraki’s entire pipe dream goal also hinges on the smiles of others--and how absolutely much he hates them. Shigaraki’s goal is total world destruction because he just resents the happiness of others that fucking much.

On the surface alone it’s more fascinating than the story will probably ever live up to: Ochako, the heroine who wants to spread smiles; Shigaraki, the villain who wants to destroy them. Even if we’re just talking canon, zero romance involved, that would still be an interesting conflict to explore. The story could cover a lot of deeper ground by drawing the comparison between these two characters more directly. It would definitely validate Uraraka being involved in more major plot events, at the very least.

BUT this was supposed to be about shipping, so of course I can’t leave it there, and leaving it there would only be half the story anyway, because nobody is born hating smiles. Everything we’ve seen of Shigaraki’s past so far indicates that he was a kid with a cute dog, a warm relationship with his sister, and an interest in heroes--i.e., a decent life that probably included his own fair share of smiles. Shigaraki’s hatred and resentment are direct products of the traumatic manipulation he suffered at AFO’s hands. He despises the idea that people around him can smile and act upbeat, even when they objectively know villains are lurking all around them. He is actually sick to his stomach at the idea of people blindly putting their faith in heroes, knowing what he does: that heroes often fail, that there are many people who desperately need to be rescued and are instead overlooked. The world failed Shimura Tenko and then had the nerve to keep on smiling without him.

Other people’s smiles represent nothing but the joy, security, love, and peace that Shigaraki Tomura hasn’t experienced since the day his quirk manifested. The sight of any living thing fills Shigaraki with rage because everything bright and beautiful, everything good and calm and kind and soft and warm, is everything that Shigaraki has lost and believes he will never, ever get to experience again.

Shigaraki doesn’t really hate the pure happy smiles of others; he hates the fact that the world has taken away every single thing he ever had to smile about.

It is my belief that Horikoshi is hinting at a redemption arc for Shigaraki, especially as we see the League become closer allies. But Shigaraki can’t be completely redeemed, can’t be persuaded to give up his world-destruction plan, until he can look at the smiles of others without scorn. Until the bright, upbeat attitudes of heroes other people no longer feel like a personal attack. Until he’s happy enough that the happiness of others no longer hurts. Until the weight is lifted.

And I can’t think of any character more obviously suited to helping lift an immense weight than Uraraka, the zero gravity hero who wants nothing more than to spread smiles.

8) Speaking of lifting weights... Kacchako is a popular ship stemming in large part from Bakugou’s refusal to treat Uraraka with kid gloves. He faces her head-on as a real opponent and views her like any other hero hopeful.

As I’ve said before, this is pretty much the most respectfully the series itself has ever treated Uraraka Ochako, and it caught a lot of attention because it was one of the rare occasions that a female pro hero-in-training was really treated as an equal to the male characters. Kacchako shippers had something awesome to work with.

But... You know who else treats women as equals? (Hell, you know who treats literally everyone as equals, from those with mutant quirks to trans people to those with severe mental health issues?) You can say what you want about Shigaraki’s habit of, you know, mass murder, but in terms of viewing others equally and respecting (okay, let’s be real, it’s probably closer to just ignoring) differences, Tomura is about as open-minded as BNHA characters come. The League is an equal opportunity employer.

Unlike actual hero characters, Shigaraki has never once suggested that Toga is incapable of keeping up with any of the male members of the League, and in fact has entrusted her with many of the League’s most dangerous and crucial missions. He explicitly has faith in her ability and skill.

Toga’s right there in the fight against Gigantomachia and the QLA, as much an equal member of the League as anyone else. In terms of gender equality, the villains seem to be light-years ahead of their hero counterparts, and Shigaraki in particular doesn’t discriminate, among his allies or his opponents either. He’s not a “spare the women and children” kind of guy; every hero and villain challenger is treated with equal violence (and equal snark), whether they’re male, female, a long-time pro or a student in training.

In whatever context--canon opponent, AU ally, or a future romantic interest--Shigaraki would take Ochako just as seriously as Bakugou did. If you like Kacchako because Bakugou doesn’t dismiss Uraraka, that same dynamic would be present in Shigako too.

9) And on the topic of Shigaraki and women... It doesn’t feel accidental that every single female character who ever had love for Shigaraki has been taken away from him. A distinct part of Shigaraki’s storyline is that all positive female role models have been systematically removed from his life. He lost his grandmother, a hero he could have looked up to; he lost his mother, who he now has no memory of; he lost the older sister he clearly held dear... All For One’s control over Tomura has always been total, but this particular detail feels especially insidious: was All For One’s spite for Nana so strong that he delighted in deliberately destroying every single relationship Tenko had with women connected to Nana’s legacy? (Or is AFO perhaps just a raging misogynist? Every single one of his known associates is male and he seemed to despise and mock Nana particularly hard...)

In any case, the point I’m trying to make here is that, even ruling love interests out, Shigaraki’s storyline would be enriched by forging a meaningful connection with a female character like Ochako. Acceptance--maybe even some grudging admiration--for a female hero? A fantastic opportunity to show just how different the “villains” are from the discriminatory society that produced them. Supporting friendship while he’s on the road to recovery? A+ way to diversify interactions between the male and female cast. Send a tough girl to Tartarus to question his motives? Nice chance for tense dialogue and some good old noire-esque foe yay. Hostage situation that takes a turn for the surprisingly cordial? Fun way to explore different dynamics and humanize the villains because hey, they treated the “damsel” to dinner shortbread cookies. My god, Shigaraki could even develop some positive sense of rivalry with a woman, for example! The possibilities are endless if you’re actually willing to give female characters a shot!

Being more serious, Tomura’s life has been dramatically marked by the loss of his female family members, and--at least from what we know so far--his entire youth was spent without the presence of reliable friendships, let alone any form of “love” that wasn’t disturbingly fake. Beyond his fragmented memories, he has no models for healthy relationships, romantic or otherwise.

Letting Shigaraki develop to the point that he could form a mutually positive relationship with a female hero character would be extremely cathartic for me as a reader. I don’t mean “rewarding redemption with a last-minute happy ending romance”--I mean actually getting the opportunity to watch Tomura rediscover what it means to be genuinely loved and realize he has the capacity to give love and be happy in return...

Reaching that level of mutual support and closeness--especially with a female pro hero--would be the biggest “FUCK YOU” that Shigaraki could give to All For One, short of, you know, actually killing him.

Shigaraki Tomura has a critical (and deliberate) lack of healthy connections to women. BNHA, coincidentally, has a criminally under-utilized female lead just twiddling her thumbs over here, waiting for a meaningful plotline to be thrown her way.

Sure, putting AFO in prison is cool and all, but have you considered... crushing his pride and legacy of evil by helping the boy he tortured for years learn to love again? I’m just sayin’!

Uraraka Ochako, snatching Shigaraki right the fuck out of AFO’s hands:

10) Basically what the whole thing boils down to is this: Shigaraki Tomura needs a hero.

Don’t mistake my meaning. A lot of “girl meets bad boy” plots end up amounting to “girl becomes emotionally responsible for fixing bad boy’s issues,” and that’s not what I’m gunning for--Shigaraki has to redeem himself because redemption is only meaningful when it stems from the character’s own inner desire to change; I’m not quite rose-tinted enough to buy into the Love Redeems trope myself. I’m definitely not advocating anyone dump Shigaraki Tomura as he is now into Uraraka Ochako’s lap and expect her to turn him from a beast to a beauty. It’s not an unrelated woman’s responsibility to fix a broken man.

But! From a reader’s perspective, I think we can agree: Shigaraki’s redemption cannot be complete until he learns to believe in real heroes. He doesn’t have to like them. He doesn’t have to support hero society. But he has to be able to look at real heroes like Izuku and Ochako and admit that they are doing what’s right--that society is a better place because they are here. Shigaraki’s path to recovery can’t even begin until he’s capable of at least acknowledging that the world has things worth saving in it.

If Horikoshi moves forward with a redemption arc for Shigaraki, it will probably be Deku who Detroit Smashes the message of truly noble heroes into Shigaraki’s head. That’s his job as the resident Warrior Therapist, I suppose. But you know... to me, it might be even more meaningful if Shigaraki’s hero--if the hand that reaches out to rescue him--isn’t The Hero’s™ but just a hero’s. We all know Deku is selfless and good to the core. As All Might’s perfect successor, he really has nothing to prove. It’s everyone else who is in question. It’s the whole rest of hero society that owes Shigaraki Tomura an explanation for the suffering of people like the League’s members. It’s everyone else who needs to prove they can do better--that in the future, there will be no bloody children left abandoned in back alleyways.

Uraraka Ochako’s conviction is to save people. As a female hero who hasn’t lived a privileged life, she’s uniquely situated to think about those who are most often overlooked. In a world where violence begets violence, where only those with strength and flash excel, what a powerful message it would send for the terrifying antagonist to effectively be rescued by someone the story itself has called “a frail girl.” At the end of the day, heroics isn’t supposed to be about mountain-destroying explosions and mach punches--heroics is supposed to be about heart, about reaching out a gentle helping hand, about spreading smiles to those who need them most.

Tomura’s faith in heroes has been brutally stripped from him, and every part of his conflict is tied up intimately with his misdirected hatred: it wasn’t actually heroes who isolated and hurt him--it was villains. In order to move forward, he will have to come to that horrible realization, deal with that means for himself and his place in the world, and recognize the truth: there are goodness and good people in the world. Selfless heroes, those who wouldn’t turn their backs on a crying child, do exist. There are people, even now, who would extend a kind hand to Shigaraki Tomura and do their best to bring a real smile to his face. Because that’s what’s really going on, after all.

Shimura Tenko is still waiting to be saved.

And I know just the person to do it.

433 notes · View notes

zer0pm · 5 years

Text

Imagine V’s posture actually taking a toll on him, his muscles tensing to the point where it is painful. You offer to help him by giving him a massage.

Part 2. You can find Part 1 by typing “V Posture” on the search in my blog. This piece is a combination of these two asks! Thanks again for submitting @daemongal. Had to change it up slightly from what I shared earlier but hope you find this piece enjoyable regardless :) You may find Part 1 in my blog by typing in “V Posture” in the search.

“Are you sure you’re fine?”

You: “Huh?”

His voice pulls you out of your reverie. Apparently you had been staring at him longer than intended as you noticed that his offered hand was now back at his side. V’s brows quirk up slightly, his eyes holding slight concern. Not a great start.

V: “I asked you how you wanted me. You offered to help but perhaps it is you that requires remedy.”

He leans closer to you, raising his hand to touch your forehead. With how close he was, you can smell the natural musk from his bare skin. Your eyes could not help but admire the tattoos across his torso, how they swirled like soft waves rising up from below his-

V: “You’re warm and your cheeks are beginning to red. Are you running a fever?”

You see the flash of concern in his green eyes and had to force yourself to pull away from him to regain your composure, taking care not to breathe too deeply and give away the fact that you were blushing.

You: “No, no. I’m fine! Sorry, it’s just hot in here.”

V: “Understandable. I gather the demons do not care for maintenance after trashing the place.”

You chuckle in which he smiled in satisfaction in turn before continuing with a small sigh.

V: “And unfortunately this room does not have windows to ventilate the air.”

He speaks with a practicality that relieves you as it drew attention from your growingly anxious state. Your attraction to him was beginning to get out of hand and you had no idea why or where it came from. Instead of dwelling upon it, you decided to actually help out V as you had planned. You’ll deal with these feelings another time when you wouldn’t make a fool of yourself. You add onto his statement.

You: “And we can’t exactly crack open the door either.”

V: “Not unless we plan on inviting the demons in.”

You: “Aha. Yeah, let’s not. We can go somewhere else. A different room with a window?”

You move to do exactly that but his hand on the door stops you, his body heat dangerously close to yours.

V: “No, it is better to keep close to the others. If this room is satisfactory for you, I can handle a bit of heat.”

Not if you say it like that! And why are you so close!? Quick, think of something before you jump him, dammit!

You: “O-Okay. Umm...lay down on your stomach. O-On the bed, I mean.”

If he heard the blatant shakiness in your voice or the raspy huff in your breath, he didn’t point it out and followed your command without question. V turns his back to you and walks towards the bed. After feeling the softness of the mattress, he places himself on his front as instructed, using his forearms to rest his head. The way he looked with his sleepy green eyes, he was almost...adorable and you almost giggled at the thought.

V is eyeing you expectantly and you made your way to him before you could give him another chance to question you.

You: “Right.”

You stretched out your arms and wrists, giving your fingers a good crack to loosen your nerves and stiffness.

You: “Let me know if I’m hurting you.”

V: “Duly noted.”

With that, you went to work. You won’t lie, once you had your hands on him, you were surprised at how incredibly soft he felt to the touch. Truthfully, with the lean muscle he had, you expected to feel some sort of toned toughness, but no. V felt rather...delicate? As you were working on the knots in his back, you were almost afraid to break him.

V: “Hmm.”

You: “Something wrong?”

V: “Nothing of the sort. It just feels like you’re holding back.”

Is he mind-reading now?!

You: “I’m just trying to get a good feel for you, that’s all.”

V: “I see.

You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough.”

It sounds like he is quoting again.

You: “And what does this one mean?”

V: “It means I’m not made of glass. With all due respect - go harder.”

The cheek on this devil of a man. Still you decided to knead harder, doing so, it was definitely easier to feel the tension of his muscles, especially around his shoulder and lower back. Doing so earned from him a gratified groan and you could not stop to pride-filled smile on your face. There we go! Don’t worry, V, you’ll feel as good as new in no time.

Determination set before you, you gave special attention to all of his sore spots. It was easy to indicate, V was surprisingly vocal when handled like this, as if signaling to you where he wanted to be touched. A tense muscle, a deep groan; when it is tended, he’ll sigh; a spot that doesn’t need attention, silence; and a sensitive area-

“Ah...!”

His body jerks and you moved your hands from him immediately

You: “Hm? Oh, sorry. Did that hurt?”

V: “No, forgive me. Please continue.”

But...you didn’t explain why...? Rather than question him further, you placed your hands back on his sides. Your fingers apply pressure to that same spot where you thought you felt some stressed muscles when suddenly his body twitches again. You hear V suppressing what almost sounds like coughing, but you suspected something else...

You: “V...are you ticklish?”

You can the man move his head to bury his face in the sheets, barely allowing you to make out the muffled words.

V: “Do not be silly. That spot is just sensitive is all.”

Your brow quirks up. Is that right? It felt like messing with him but you wanted to get that reaction again. You press your fingers to the same spot, rubbing slightly harder against it when you felt the usually composed, mysterious man fidget uncontrollably beneath your hands. His head raises slightly to allow him breath and that’s when you heard it. His laugh - unabashed, loud, genuine.

You’ve never heard him laugh like this before. Before, he did so mockingly to the demons you both have fought against. But this...this is a different side of him. You couldn’t place it, but the sound was like a symphony to your ears. The man had an amazing laugh.

He twisted beneath your fingers and grabbed onto your wrist. You stopped as soon as he did this. His laughter died quickly and you caught the infuriating blush on his cheeks from his laughter.

V: “What are you doing!?”

Oh, great. Now he looks annoyed.

You: “I-I’m sorry. I just...I’ve never heard you like that before. You’re always so composed. Seeing you like this was-”

V: “To break my calm and make a mockery of my exposed state?”

You: “What? No! I just wanted to see you happy! You look better like that. I like you like that.”

You didn’t mean to blurt it out like that. But as soon as the words left you, the guarded look in V’s eyes began to fade. He scans over your face as if to read the truth from your eyes and expression. There was a growingly uncomfortable silence between you two.

V: “Is that why you offered to do this for me?”

The question that has been running through your mind for who knows how long. You don’t even remember when, where, or how you decided that you fancied the man. But you couldn’t dodge this question now, not when he looked at you so intensely.

You: “Yes.”

He is sitting up now until he is upright next to you.

V: “Out of pity?”

Your head snaps up when he asked this. Is he serious? Pity? Where did that come from? The glare in his eyes told you that it was indeed a serious question and you shook your head.

You: “No.”

You had meant to say more, but you felt solidarity in your answer. You felt nothing like that towards V, only that you wanted him to feel nothing but uplifting emotions in contrast to the cold, distant air he keeps around him. You wanted that warmth that he just displayed to be with him always. You couldn’t explain this to him but you hoped he understood.

His hand comes up to cup your cheek. You weren’t sure if it was because there was no circulating air in the room but he felt warm.

V: “How curious.”

The way he looked at you, his green eyes burning into yours as if he was trying to pierce his gaze right through you compelled you to dare not tear away. He leans closer to you.

V: “It would have been easier if you had said yes.”

You: “What do you mean by th-”

His lips cut you off, stealing the words and your breath away from you. Your eyes widen, he is kissing you. His mouth moved against yours in such a way that made you go dizzy, you had to bring your hands up to hold onto his bare shoulders to keep yourself steady. With a huff, V nips on your bottom lip, forcing your mouth to open with a moan, but he muffles the pleasured sigh with a thrust of his devilish tongue stealing away into yours.

Fuck, does he know how to kiss...! You felt yourself falling but he pulls you towards him with such a strength that you found yourself lifted onto his lap, your thighs on each side of him. Your hands begin to roam, tracing random patterns across his skin that made him purr in appreciation. At the sound, you grew bolder, applying pressure at certain points on his body that turned his purr into a growl. As things were beginning to heat up between you two, you kneaded his lower back in which he suddenly jerks. This time, not out of pleasure, rather he hisses in apparent pain.

You: “Damn, I’m so sorry! I forgot!”

Despite him wincing, he hushes your apologies with an assuring kiss.

V: “Forgiven. It appears that you have your work cut out for you still.”

You: “Apparently.”

A chuckle is shared between you two and you found yourself sinking further into his arms. This felt nice... V must have sensed you were at peace and tightens his embrace, one of his hands resting against the back of your head while he plants soft kiss upon the top of your head.

You: “Why did you agree to my helping you?”

V: “Perhaps I just wanted an excuse to be close to you. I did not think such an opportunity would fall on my lap.”

You: “Literally.”

V: “Haha. Quite.”

You pull away from him slightly to look up at him and he looks down at you. You were not certain if it was adoration in his eyes but the way he looked at you made you feel as if you were the only thing that existed to him.

You: “Would you like me to finish?”

A genuine smile graces his lips at your offer. He takes your hand in his and kisses each finger with a feather-like gentleness that behooves you with warmth. A soft side of V that you knew was reserved only for you.

V: “If this is to be our last moment together, then I never want it to end. Please. Continue.”

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monkey-network · 4 years

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Good Stuff's Best of 2019

WARNING: Just wanted to say cheers to you for making it through another year. I send you best wishes for next year to be fruitful. Thank you, take care out there, and enjoy. (Best of 2017) (Best of 2018)

Dedicated to Russi Taylor, John Witherspoon, Rip Torn, Tartar Sauce, Caroll Spinney, Peter Matthews, and the many of KyoAni lost in the arson incident. You all did wonderful; rest in peace.

Welp, I figured the last year of this decade would be the most chaotic one by far, then again everything peak after 2012. As for now, I am counting down the best cartoons/animations/comics I’ve seen and loved this year in no particular order other than #1. Same rules apply: No sneak previews of future projects, no repeats, and this time anything goes.

Runner Ups: Superman Smashes the Klan, Marvel’s Aero, Infinity Train, Enter the Florpus, Amphibia, Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart, Helluva Boss, Meta Runner, Lego Movie 2, Forky Asks a Question

Anyways, Badda boom bang whiz, let’s do this shizz...

10. Super Mario Bros GT

Nostalgia can be quite a mystery, especially one that can come out of nowhere. Super Mario Bros Z kicked so much ass as a kid that now, it still frustrates me to this that it got a cease & desist from Nintendo, even the reboot from the same person couldn’t last long. But the gods have offered a slight miracle in the form of this new spiritual successor that has heart and soul put into every pixelated frame. There is much to celebrate with Youtube animation, where many say it’s dying due to the algorithm and all of the site’s corporate bullshit, but it’s stuff like this which helps me understand why we should celebrate. Against all odds, channels like Smasher Block willfully put their works out their for the people and continues to because on top of getting a little dough, it’s what they want to do.

9. DC SUPER HERO GIRLS (2019)

Awwwwww yeah, this is She-Ra and the Princesses of Power done right. Diverse female squad, each given a quality screen time to truly shine (Beecher especially) on their which makes the episodes where they’re all together feel earned and joyous to watch. Certainly reminds me of Friendship is Magic, which is coincidental since they were created by the same woman. I’d like to think this and MLP G4 were the answers to Faust’s cancelled project Milky Way and the Galaxy Girls where multiple personalities collide to one extraordinary superhero team of girls capable great feats that are lifted from their insecurities or drawbacks. And on top of this being a fun series to kick back to all around, it’s a comforting, somewhat aspiring thought to consider.

8. JOKER

I am somebody that rarely goes to the theaters to watch a film; you have to hook my tight just for me to even think of buying a ticket, no less plan to. But honestly, Joker was worth the hype, the ticket, and the fact that it wasn’t the incel uprising that buttfuck normies tried to make it out as. It’s lower on the list because in thought, there definitely could’ve been some tweaks to the dialogue and a couple scenes that I felt didn’t work in the long run. But really, this movie to me worked because of the escalation that leads to a cathartic climax and ending that left me in actual tears. I don’t give a shit if it “doesn’t fit”, having Frank Sinatra sing the film's credits put me in shambles. Joaquin Phoenix was phenomenal as Arthur, and this movie felt authentic in its many details. This is definitely up there with my favorite comic book films of all time. Good thing, too, Spider-Man was taking up most of that shelf.

7. TUCA & BERTIE

This series being what I can’t help but say is a spin-off to Bojack Horseman, a show I respect, was enough to pull me into watching it. But it being like Bojack where it’s tight-roping between a bouncy comedy and a grounded drama was what kept me around for more. It is a damn shame this was cancelled after one season (while 13 Reasons Why gets FOUR seasons like what the fuck), because while this did feel enough like a complete series, I was certainly interested for more because I really enjoyed it all. I have my issue with a couple choices in the show, but I am sure this series would’ve addressed them later down the line. I can see why some women would find this personally endearing, it felt like the personal stories of actual people, and it deserved better. Either way, I enjoyed this series and I recommend it just as much as Bojack.

6. PRIMAL

Genndy Tartakovsky is that kind of cartoon creator where you feel he’ll go beyond if you give him the right amount of space. He’s not a perfectionist like John “Dirty Diddler” Kricfalusi, but with things like Hotel Transylvania and Samurai Jack, he certainly has proven to have the range in animation where you know how he plays. Primal showcasing his noted skill in dialogue-less storytelling and dynamic action scenes, able to convey everything clear with its ruthless yet careful protagonist and his dinosaur friend, all on top of the most luscious backgrounds. This is a series that definitely feels like Genndy’s taken what he’s used from his previous works and putting it together for a brutal yet passionate look at the prehistoric life. He truly brought us an adult series to enjoy and to look forward to more in the coming year.

5. SPINEL

Bet you didn’t expect a character to be on this list, eh? Spinel is the best thing to come out of Steven Universe in general; makes me wish she was in a better movie. The crew certainly did their darndest to make her not only an enjoyable and connectable character through and through, but a very versatile character that the fandom could take in any which way. Call it corny, but Spinel perfectly represents SU as a whole: a lovable goof that can certainly mean business but deep down is deserved of a hug because of what she’s gone through. Wish she had a more satisfying resolution in her respective debut, but really it’s the balance between those three elements mentioned that makes Spinel almost eternally wonderful.

4. MOB PSYCHO 100 II

As someone that doesn’t like reading, I’m a firm believer that the best animations or visual medias elevate the writing to a memorable degree; the visuals hook to the point where you want to think about what you saw and how it was conveyed. Mob Psycho 100, for two seasons now, does this in spades where Studio Bones throw them bones in animating one of the most dynamic animes of the modern era, providing the writing and characters a proper chance to flex its muscles. The characters are especially what makes this and MP100 as a whole work so well, the story being about a boy learning to be more sociable as well as emotionally stronger all while helping others understand maturity and empathy. For more on this, I recommend Hiding in Public’s video(s) on Mob. But with the animation, Bones was able to provide a sense of impact and immersion to the moments that matter, not making it an overstimulating mess, and putting some respect on ONE’s webcomic art style.

3. KLAUS

Hands down, this is a great Christmas movie. Take away the animation and you have a charming, wanna say ground and authentic, story about the makings of Santa Claus. With memorable and likable characters, a nice escalation in terms of the plot, and moments that are/can be so satisfying, they can bring you to tears. A couple overdone tropes in the road that doesn’t make this the most perfected story, but those sincerely minor compared to everything else that makes this story the best. Now. Add in the animation, and you have a gold, nay a platinum animated story of the year where the visuals definitely enhance the story to a degree where they’re undoubtedly inseparable. The visuals alone is enough to check this movie out and it’s eye-opening when you learn of how it’s all done. Klaus is a film that did it’s job and then some, and I hope this will be well remembered as a classic holiday film for it deserves that status.

2. BEASTARS

I’ll be fair, I’m mostly referring to the manga and not the anime but since the anime premiered this fall, it counts. Because be it the anime or the series overall, Beastars has such well intricate world building all while offering a little something for everyone (violence, romance, slice of life). The story is well paced and even when we aren’t focusing on the main characters momentarily, Itagaki is surprisingly able to make every supporting/side character we come across memorable in their own way; like I said before, the city is much a character in this story. Oh yeah, and the mangaka is the daughter of Keisuke “Grappler Baki” Itagaki, that in itself is a treasuring bit of trivia for this. Everything about Beastars is enticing and Studio Orange certainly helped in giving this series more of a following.

1. GREEN EGGS & HAM

Well, well, well. Guess Netflix is three for three in terms of bringing its best foot forward among its few steps back each year. The best term to describe this series is surprising. Surprising that this is a Dr. Seuss story that got expanded a 13 episode series, that has fleshed out characters, fun hijinks, an easy story, lovely emotional, more quieter moments... on top of being 2D hand drawn animated. I mean, what else is there to say? Green Eggs and Ham is to Dr. Seuss what Seven was for Final Fantasy, what Friendship is Magic was for MLP, what watermelon was before a nice menthol cigarette. This definitely took the top spot because to me, it was able to bring many good elements from the previous entries and knot it all together into a well kept bow that I never knew I wanted until now. I’m genuinely glad this show got to exist the way it is and I am hoping, praying, that the second season keeps that momentum up.

That leads us to the actual number one which is

1. STEVEN UNIVERSE FUT-

Total Dramarama is now the two time World Heavyweight Champion, babey. Will 2020 give us a quality contender? Will the streak last another year?

Stay tuned, and always seek out the Good Stuff.

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mllemaenad · 6 years

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Not your final exam: The Harrowing

Okay then: to prove I’m not dead. I am, however, without my sources. So I need to do this with alternate references.

I’ve talked, previously, about Tranquillity. About what it is and what it’s for. But what about the other side of that terrible choice young mages are asked to make? What about the Harrowing?

When people talk about abolishing the Circles, one not-uncommon rebuttal is that Circles are needed to train young mages. Without education mages may be dangerous: they may misuse their magic; they may lose control of it; worst of all, they may become possessed.

The answer to this, generally, is that no one said that the educational system for mages should be abolished. Rather that the Circles are too tainted, too abusive, too tightly controlled by the Templars and the Chantry to be entrusted with this task.

That’s a good answer. But it’s not, I think, the whole answer. It’s an answer that sort of misses the point of the problem. Which is this: Circles are not schools; they are not fundamentally designed to teach magical proficiency, to make mages productive members of society, or to determine that they are unlikely to be possessed by demons. At times, yes, they may accomplish these things incidentally, just as Templars may incidentally apprehend a genuine maleficar. But that is what they are for.

1) What the fuck is does the Harrowing do for mages?

Let’s talk about Harry Potter again for a minute. I know I use that one a lot, but it’s a good, broad example. Hogwarts is a school: it may well be a screwed up school with a headmaster who makes questionable staffing decisions, but its goal is to educate young witches and wizards. Hogwarts has two important sets of examinations: the OWLS and the NEWTS. You take your OWLS in your fifth year and your NEWTS in your seventh. Your OWL scores determine the NEWT subjects you can take, and the NEWT courses represent more advanced courses of study. You may leave school after you take your OWLS and will leave after you take your NEWTS. In either case, you may present your scores to prospective employers as part of your resume.

This is all very familiar to me. Where I’m from, you take your School Certificate in year 10 and your Higher School Certificate in year 12. Same basic rules apply, although the real world has more expansive tertiary education options.

My point is not to argue that exams are good (I hate exams; they make my hands shake) or that they are the best way to assess students, but rather to point out that, broadly, they are a means of establishing an outcome. We taught you to do A Thing. We told you it was important, and that you needed to demonstrate you could do The Thing. We are going to assign you some tasks to demonstrate that you can do The Thing. Now that you have done The Thing to our satisfaction, we will give you a piece of paper confirming that you can indeed do The Thing, so you can either get a job doing The Thing or be admitted to tertiary courses on The Thing.

The Harrowing does not do that.

a) The Harrowing does not reasonably test what Circle mages have been studying

The Harrowing does not follow a course of study. You don’t have different Harrowings for warrior mages and healers. You can’t be a bit shit with spirits, but excellent at fire magic so you come out ahead in the end. The Harrowing is a single test, applied to all mages, without warning or any advisement of what, exactly, they should be preparing for:

I found myself on a plateau of swirling smoke and mist. I could not see my feet, or perhaps I had no feet in that place. Each step was treacherous. I had to believe there was a ground. If I didn't, there wouldn't be, and I would fall into nothingness. I was protected only by my will and my magic.

The demon they made me face took the shape of a great cat. As we battled, it spoke in my mind. It told me that I would eventually stumble, and then it would pounce. The demon talked to me of the templars beyond the Veil, standing over my paralyzed body, their swords pointed at my heart, waiting for the moment of my failure. All it would take was a splinter of fear, a seed of doubt, and I would be unmade. The demon would devour my mind, and the templars would destroy what was left of me.

This was my Harrowing. They force this upon all mages and call it good. But it is neither good nor right. It is evil and unjust.

—From a partially destroyed journal bearing no name, found in a Kinloch Hold cistern.

– Codex entry: Walking the Fade: A Harrowing

The details of a mage’s experience in the Fade will vary, of course, but in outline it’s always that. The Harrowing does not allow you to pick your course or to specialise; it is not a demonstration of your chosen areas of study in the Circle. I mean – good luck defeating a demon in the Fade with alchemy.

b) The Harrowing does not serve as proof that a mage has completed a course of study within the Circle, and is now ready to apply their skills in the real world

The Harrowing separates skilled magic users from those too weak or unstable to be be trusted with their gift. The Chantry considers mages who have passed the Harrowing no longer a danger to society – until they prove otherwise – and gives them a limited licence to practise magic.

– World of Thedas I

That does sound as though your Harrowing is your final exam. You have passed it, you have demonstrated yourself to be a competent and qualified mage, and you are free to go.

Except ... none of that is actually true.

Practically speaking, nothing changes for a mage after the Harrowing. Unlike your NEWTS and your HSC, you can’t just take your shiny new Harrowing papers and go out into the world. You can’t just take up a post as a town healer or join the army; you certainly can’t decide that magic just isn’t your thing and apprentice yourself to a baker. You are not free to marry and raise your own children. You are not, really, free to do anything now that you couldn’t before – except not be Harrowed again.

Assisting the first enchanter will be the senior enchanters, a small council of the most trusted and experienced magi in the tower. From this group, the next first enchanter is always chosen. Beneath the council are the enchanters. These are the teachers and mentors of the tower, and you must get to know them in order to keep your finger on the pulse of the Circle, for the enchanters will always know what is happening among the children.

All those who have passed their Harrowing but have not taken apprentices are mages. This is where most trouble in a Circle lies, in the idleness and inexperience of youth. The untested apprentices are the most numerous denizens of any tower, but they more often pose threats to themselves, due to their lack of training, than to anyone else.

– Codex entry: Hierarchy of the Circle

Here ‘mages’ are effectively lumped in with ‘apprentices’ as the children of the tower. Mages are young because they seem to be Harrowed in about their late teens, and they are inexperienced and idle because they aren’t allowed to do anything or go anywhere. One must be an enchanter to be even worth knowing.

At the end of Broken Circle, Wynne must ask permission to travel with the Hero of Ferelden:

Wynne: Irving, I have a request: I seek leave to follow the Grey Warden.

Irving: Wynne, we need you here. The Circle needs you.

Wynne: I appreciate the sentiment, Irving, but the Circle will do fine without me. The Circle has you. This man/woman is brave and good, and capable of great things. If he/she will accept my help I will help him/her accomplish his/her goals.

Irving: You were never one to stay in the tower when there was adventure to be had elsewhere.

Wynne: Why stay, when I can be of service elsewhere?

Irving: Then I give you leave to follow the Grey Warden, but know that you always have a place here.

– Wynne and Irving Dialogue

Great big grown up lady Wynne. Senior Enchanter Wynne. Veteran of Ostagar Wynne. Just saved the fucking Circle damn near by herself while the Templars cowered outside the door Wynne. And she still needs her bloody permission slip signed before she can do what most people would take for granted: walk out her own front door.

Oh she gets it relatively easily; there’s no dispute about that. But the Fereldan Circle is described as ‘one of the most liberally run’, and Wynne has spent decades building a reputation as the kind of Chantry faithful mage who can be let off the leash once in a while.

At the other end of the spectrum lies the Kirkwall Circle:

I have heard that in the Kirkwall Gallows, mages are locked in their cells with barely room to stretch, let alone exercise. I can promise you that any mage of the Anderfels would be stark raving made after a week of such treatment. We Anders are not a people to sit idle. Besides, fitness of body builds the strength of the mind. How can you stand against demonic possession if you’re never given a chance to sweat?

– No Idleness for Mages, World of Thedas II

In Kirkwall, mages, from tiny apprentices to elderly senior enchanters, are largely confined not just to the Circle but to their rooms. And you see this when you finally enter the Gallows in Act 3 of Dragon Age 2: the utter absence of mages, even where mages are supposed to live, is stunning – and a stark contrast to their relative prominence during the Circle scenes in the mage origin of Origin or Witch Hunt.

Even the first enchanter, the highest ranking mage in the Circle, may be forcibly returned to it:

Elthina: Of course not. Young men, would you show the first enchanter back to the Circle. Gently, if you please.

There's nothing a mage can do to prove himself. Everyone needs to be protected from you. The end.

– Anders Dialogue

Anders’s bitterness stems in large part from the Chantry’s gross and constant lies. He is a Harrowed mage. He passed their test. Apparently he is ‘no longer a danger’. That’s the whole fucking idea, right? But may he leave? No he may not.

Wynne did not get her permission slip signed because she was Harrowed. It was signed because she had obeyed and obeyed and obeyed to the point where the Chantry considered it highly probable that she would neither do anything they disliked (for good or ill) while she was out, nor leave them permanently.

Anders had repeatedly demonstrated that he wanted to leave. That he was not what they would consider Chantry faithful (he is, of course, Andrastian, even devout, but that is not the same thing). That he would definitely not come back, and might not even obey their rules – not the ones he believed were morally wrong. So no permission slip for him.

Damn near no one gets a permission slip signed in Kirkwall. You have to be the sister of the Champion of Kirkwall to even get out the front door for a minute for a family emergency.

A human mage Inquisitor may indicate that they were allowed to visit home just because, even as an apprentice:

Inquisitor: My parents made arrangements. I visited home from time to time.

Josephine: What parent wouldn’t want to prevent their child from growing into a stranger?

– Inquisitor and Josephine Dialogue

The same dialogue also indicates that the Templars in Ostwick were being bribed to keep their hands more-or-less off the mages: “Templars in Ostwick’s Circle were as discrete as they were well paid”.

For a mage, the ability to leave is dependent on:

the local attitude toward mages

the characters of the local Templars – especially the knight-commander

the mage’s ability to perform the role of devout servant of the Chantry

their personal social status.

The Harrowing has nothing to do with it.

For a mage, there is effectively no advantage to passing the Harrowing. Rather, in the extremely short time between finding out what the fuck this thing actually is and deciding what to do about it, many mages elect to be Harrowed to avoid the other, worse options. If you are not Harrowed, you are Tranquil or dead. So I guess tonight we’re fighting some random demon the Templars summoned. Goody.

3) What, exactly, is the Harrowing supposed to test again?

If a demon takes control of a mage, the powerful creature created is known as an abomination.

Although rare, abominations are usually created when a mage of weak constitution enters the fade and is directly exposed to a demon’s influences.

– World of Thedas I

So, in theory, the one big important thing the Harrowing is supposed to test is whether or not a mage is likely to become possessed. They catch a demon, they make you fight it, and winning demonstrates that you are good at fighting demons. It’s something of an odd test, since ‘abominations’ are apparently a rarity. I appreciate this kind of thing may be hard to believe from gameplay, but Warden, Champion and Inquisitor are operating on heroic arcs: they not only run toward fire and screaming, they live in times and places where fire and screaming really are the norm.

Possession is apparently rare, and the Harrowing is supposed to test mages for susceptibility, and yet out list of known ‘abominations’ includes Wynne, Uldred, Anders, Fiona, Grace, Evelina, Enchanter Boson, Enchanter Prist, Enchanter Fonst, Enchanter Luvan and Rhonus. There are senior enchanters on that list. The actual grand enchanter herself is on that list. While the mass possession scenes, notably Broken Circle and The Last Straw are too chaotic too track the identity of every mage, it seems likely that some of the possessed are Harrowed mages.

"We arrived in the dead of night. We had been tracking the maleficar for days, and finally had him cornered... or so we thought. As we approached, a home on the edge of the town exploded, sending splinters of wood and fist-sized chunks of rocks into our ranks. We had but moments to regroup before fire rained from the sky, the sounds of destruction wrapped in a hideous laughter from the center of the village.

There, perched atop the spire of the village chantry, stood the mage. But he was human no longer.

We shouted prayers to the Maker and deflected what magic we could, but as we fought, the creature fought harder. I saw my comrades fall, burned by the flaming sky or crushed by debris. The monstrous creature, looking as if a demon were wearing a man like a twisted suit of skin, spotted me and grinned. We had forced it to this, I realized; the mage had made this pact, given himself over to the demon to survive our assault."

—Transcribed from a tale told by a former templar in Cumberland, 8:84 Blessed.

It is known that mages are able to walk the Fade while completely aware of their surroundings, unlike most others who may only enter the realm as dreamers and leave it scarcely aware of their experience. Demons are drawn to mages, though whether it is because of this awareness or simply by virtue of their magical power in our world is unknown.

Regardless of the reason, a demon always attempts to possess a mage when it encounters one—by force or by making some kind of deal depending on the strength of the mage. Should the demon get the upper hand, the result is an unholy union known as an abomination. Abominations have been responsible for some of the worst cataclysms in history, and the notion that some mage in a remote tower could turn into such a creature unbeknownst to any was the driving force behind the creation of the Circle of Magi.

Thankfully, abominations are rare. The Circle has methods for weeding out those who are too at risk for demonic possession, and scant few mages would give up their free will to submit to such a bond with a demon. But once an abomination is created, it will do its best to create more. Considering that entire squads of templars have been known to fall at the hands of a single abomination, it is not surprising that the Chantry takes the business of the Circle of Magi very seriously indeed.

– Codex entry: Abomination

Possession is a complex thing that the Chantry has made simple. Uldred’s possession, for example, matches Chantry belief: he lost a fight with the demon he summoned and then became trapped within it, while the demon ran around torturing the very people Uldred was attempting to liberate. But Wynne’s spirit possessed her in a desperate life-saving measure, and doesn’t actively bother her thereafter. Anders and Justice are a kind of partnership – although not always the most functional one – and the same may be true of Grandin, although we’ll see how that goes. For Avvar mages possession is a sacred act, as well as a completely normal part of their education.

There’s no practical way to test whether a mage will become possessed in their lifetime because possession is highly context specific. It may be a good or bad thing, or simply a complex relationship between two people. A spirit may overwhelm a mage, a deal may be struck, the spirit may just ask nicely, or there may be a ritual invocation that accomplishes the whole thing. A mage may resist in one context but not in another and that resistance may also be good or bad: sure, we all wish Uldred had evicted his demon before the Warden got there, but if Wynne had fought off the spirit that possessed her, she would have died.

Grand Enchanter Fiona was possessed during The Calling:

Dismay filled Duncan as he saw something rise up out of the skeleton, like gossamer wisps of smoke that lifted up from its bones and swam across the air to sink into Fiona.

The elf threw back her head and let out a horrible, keening wail. Her entire body tensed, her hands flying out at her sides. Her skin became a pale white, and then began to change. It bulged, and twisted. Her body grew, and took on a hideous form, her head becoming something gnarled and fanged even as she shrieked in torment.

And then the transformation was done. A demonic abomination now stood where Fiona once had, a thing of rent flesh and claws, its gender no longer even apparent. The thing’s eyes glowed with menace, and it regarded Duncan with amusement.

– Dragon Age: The Calling

Fiona was assaulted, overwhelmed and tortured in the worst possible way. Only some backup from her friends allowed her to fight the demon off. And yet – it has never happened again.

With a wave of his hand, the Templars attacked. Even prepared as the mages were, they weren’t ready for the wave of disruption unleashed – the powers of a Templar are uniquely designed to counter a mage’s spells, and here that counted for everything. Blades came down against magical shields, shattering them and sending blinding sparks flying about the hall.

It did not stop the mages. The Grand Enchanter shouted in rage, unleashing a ball of blinding energy at the nearest group of Templars. Several raised their own shields in time, but that didn’t stop them from being scattered as the ball exploded. The concussive wave shook the entire chamber.

– Dragon Age: Asunder

Nothing about Fiona suggests she is weak in character, weak in will, weak in purpose, or weak in magic. Asunder, the story of the start of the mage rebellion, goes out of its way to tell us that, by the way, the grand enchanter can and does overcome the Templars’ powers of suppression in an utterly spectacular way. She is fierce and resolute as the mages fight for their lives and their freedom. That she was once possessed tells us nothing except that bad things sometimes happen to good people.

I don’t mean to suggest, of course, that every mage who is possessed will come out of it as well as Fiona does. She is one of Thedas’s wildly underappreciated heroes, so of course she’s awesome. Connor, for example, when seen in Inquisition is clearly traumatised (although given that he seems driven by guilt, at least some of that likely has to do with how he was treated after becoming possessed, rather than the event itself). But by that point in time, Connor was likely Harrowed himself – so is he likely to be possessed in future or not?

I also don’t mean to suggest that spirits, possession and the Fade are not things that mages should study, understand and be appropriately cautious in handling. A lot of possession seems to come from fucking up, although the person who gets possessed and the person who fucks up may well not be one and the same (see: Fiona, who neither made not summoned that demon and only encountered it out of bad luck).

What I mean to say is, like Fiona’s case, what happens to a young mage in the Harrowing Chamber, whether they pass or not, demonstrates only one thing: that very bad things can and do happen to good people.

4) Okay, so why are we doing this, then?

From the ... many, many previous paragraphs, you might think that I am arguing that the Harrowing in insignificant. I am not. It is a test; it revolves around demonstrating resisting possession; it is a vital rite of passage in a Circle mage’s life. My argument is that it is not a practical test. Rather, it is a religious rite.

Those who had been cast down, The demons who would be gods, Began to whisper to men from their tombs within the earth. And the men of Tevinter heard and raised altars To the pretender-gods once more, And in return were given, in hushed whispers, The secrets of darkest magic.

– Threnodies 5:11

No matter their power, their triumphs, The mage-lords of Tevinter were men And doomed to die. Then a voice whispered within their hearts, Shall you surrender your power To time like the beasts of the fields? You are the Lords of the earth! Go forth to claim the empty throne Of Heaven and be gods.

In secret they worked Magic upon magic All their power and all their vanity They turned against the Veil Until at last, it gave way.

Above them, a river of Light, Before them the throne of Heaven, waiting, Beneath their feet The footprints of the Maker, And all around them echoed a vast Silence.

But when they took a single step Toward the empty throne A great voice cried out Shaking the very foundations Of Heaven and earth:

And So is the Golden City blackened With each step you take in my Hall. Marvel at perfection, for it is fleeting. You have brought Sin to Heaven And doom upon all the world.

– Threnodies 8.13

– The Chant of Light

The Chantry believes that the ancient magisters of Tevinter – specifically Corypheus and his fellow priests – doomed the world by entering the Fade physically and trespassing in the Golden City. This created the Blight and, the Fifth Blight excepted, the Blights are effectively mass extinction events that have (so far) barely been halted by massive sacrifices of people and the death of the Warden who takes down the archdemon: the world is fucked because of mages.

There’s certainly some truth to the story: we have independent evidence of the mass sacrifice of slaves that allowed the magisters to walk into the Fade. There’s also plenty of reason to doubt the Chantry’s story: the Chant of Light was written centuries after the First Blight, by people with every reason to hate Tevinter. The presence of red (i.e. Tainted) lyrium in some really weird places, plus the fact that the dwarven thaigs fell to the Blight first, not Tevinter, suggests the Taint may have been around a lot longer than anyone currently suspects. Corypheus himself will insist the Fade city was black when he got there – and he is, as it stands, the only eyewitness to the event who’s willing to talk about it.

This story is a matter of Chantry dogma, and there are layers of ... let’s say historical dubiousness stacked atop it. That the magisters entered the Fade may be fact. That the gods they worshipped were in fact demons who envied the living and sought to destroy them, envious of the Maker’s love for his new children, is an idea that has not been supported by any spirit we’ve met so far. Every sign we have of spirits becoming demonic is as a result of trauma, not malice, and none of them know more of the Maker than could reasonably be learned from watching humans dream.

But in many ways, the magisters and the Blight are the cornerstone of the Chantry’s faith. They are more important than Andraste, whom they mostly think about as the hero who fought Tevinter – and who was then murdered by Tevinter. Mother Giselle will note that Andraste is usually thought of as a grim warrior, and not giving a shit about Andraste’s war, to instead focus on her relationship with her god, is regarded as the grossest heresy by the Chantry.

Greagoir: “Magic exists to serve man, and never to rule over him.” Thus spoke the prophet Andraste as she cast down the Tevinter imperium, ruled by mages who had brought the world to the edge of ruin. Your magic is a gift, but it’s also a curse, for the demons of the dream realm – the Fade – are drawn to you, and seek to use you as a gateway into this world.

Irving: This is why the Harrowing exists. The ritual sends you into the Fade, and there you will face a demon, armed only with your will.

– Greagoir and Irving Dialogue

These are the very first words a mage Warden will hear after Duncan finishes his introduction. They are clearly ritual words, spoken to every apprentice mage before they are Harrowed. Even Templars don’t tend to start conversations with ‘thus spoke the prophet Andraste’ on a normal day.

And here, in these words, we can see the shape of the Harrowing. It is a reenactment. In this moment, the apprentice mage is a Tevinter magister. They are about to enter the Fade, as the magisters did, and be faced with demons, whom the magisters worshipped. In the story the magisters listened to the demons, offended the Maker, and doomed the world to corruption and death.

But this time? This time it will go right. It will go right because the Templars are here, and because the Chantry owns, controls and indoctrinates the mages. Either the mage will enter the Fade and reject the demon, as Chantry faith requires – or they won’t reject the demon, and the Templars will kill them. It is a ritual demonstration of the rightness of the Chantry faith, and the necessity of Templars. It demonstrates that mages are made safe through submission to the Chantry.

It is also the moment an apprentice is fully initiated into the Circle. And that’s a thing. The Chantry is big on submission. For mages more than anyone, obviously. But choice is not important to them. If we cut through the bullshit, the Chantry employs three kinds of magic users: mages, Templars and Seekers.

From a treatise on lyrium and its varied forms. Ser's words make one passage stand out:

The means and usage employed by the templar are far stronger than even the droughts of magi, and are of considerable danger to the uninitiated. It is not something that is introduced in gradual fashion. Rather, it is a great infusion that is daily held in check by ritual maintenance.

An account:

We entered the makeshift chantry, and my comrades-to-be were arranged as though an honor guard - the trainer waiting to receive me. I was invited to pass among them, and it seemed important that each step be my will. Any reluctance would have signaled that I was not ready. They were boisterous and encouraging, slapping hands upon my shoulders as I passed. Upon reaching the trainer, he turned to me. Before him was the boxed philter I had prepared. He nodded, as if to ask if I was ready, and I returned the gesture. His eyes were solemn as he raised a mailed hand. It was bathed in the shapeless glow of lyrium far too strong, prepared in a way I did not know.

The hands of my fellows, still on my shoulders, gently turned from welcome to restraint, and my arms were made immobile at my sides. I felt a rising alarm, but my certainty beat it down, as it would many times in my career. The trainer pressed the glow against my chest, and in an instant all was pain and white. When next I had my senses, there was much camaraderie and rejoicing, but also knowing looks. Each day, I felt a hunger deeper than I had ever known, and woe be me if it went unfed. I cannot imagine bearing it without the support of the Order and my certain purpose.

Several instructions for handling lyrium follow.

– Way of the Templar

Templars are not brutalised quite the way mages are: they are not hauled from their beds in the dead of night and offered a choice between a fight to the death and mutilation. This initiation ritual includes something like the illusion of choice – but ultimately the young trainee is restrained and forcibly fed a highly addictive substance. His addiction will control him, and ultimately render him senile. Your savvier ex-Templars, like Alistair and Samson, are keenly aware of this

Every day in Kirkwall, a revered mother gave the templar recruits their lyrium—blue lyrium—in a little chalice with Andraste’s face on it. Like the muttonheads they were, the recruits drank it unquestioningly, because they loved the Maker, or because they wanted to serve, or because they trusted the Chantry. At first, it seemed like a real blessing. The lyrium took away your fear and left power in its place.

But like any power, it was addictive. At least the red had… compensations. The Chantry lyrium? You never realized it was taking more than just the fear, slowly, painlessly, until one day you woke up and you couldn’t do without the stuff.

Samson let the empty vial roll out of his hand.

– Paper and Steel

The initiation ritual involves a massive dose of lyrium, to ensure addiction, and thereafter the Chantry doles out enough to prevent Templars from going into withdrawal – although we can see in Kirkwall that some seek more of the stuff on the black market. Mages have magic, and the Chantry chains them; Templars are granted magic through use of lyrium – and the lyrium also functions as a chain.

Obviously the Seekers are a little different: they serve the Chantry and are effectively accountable to no one. They are highly secretive and, as a group, may be more powerful even than the Divine. And yet ...

This is Cassandra’s view on her initiation, both before and after she knows what the fuck they did to her:

Cassandra: [Prospective Seekers] train vigorously for years. Our bodies and minds must be elastic to undergo the vigil, and most fail even then.

Inquisitor: Is the vigil some kind of Initiation?

Cassandra: It is the rite every Seeker must go through in order to summon their gifts. A full year of fasting, prayer, and separation from all distractions – including other people. We empty ourselves of all emotion, focusing only on the purity of our devotion. And the moment it finally ends ... it’s wonderful. Faith realised. I cannot put it into words.

– Cassandra Dialogue

...

Cassandra: We created the Rite of Tranquillity. To become a Seeker I spent months in a vigil, emptying myself of all emotion. I was made Tranquil, and didn’t even know. Then the vigil summoned a spirit of Faith to touch my mind. That broke Tranquillity, and gave me my abilities. The Seekers did not share that secret ... not with me ... not with the Chantry ... not even with ...

– Cassandra Dialogue

Initially Cassandra regards her vigil as a sacred and spiritual experience. It was a thing she chose to do, in order to become a Seeker. She succeeded, she was affirmed in both her faith and her skills, and she is proud of what she is, and how well her training prepared her for a year of solitary meditation.

Except ... that’s not what happened. They made her Tranquil, and then later they undid it. The touch of a Fade spirit gave her her abilities. Everything else was window dressing. She was not warned of the risks. This was not a trial she proudly accepted and faced. It was a thing done to her. And all those ‘failed’ recruits? They were made Tranquil, and they didn’t recover. And then comes a worse question: what did they do with them after?

Seekers are the most independent magic users the Chantry has. They are the ultimate judge of what a Templar may or may not do to a mage. Cassandra explicitly states that her powers allow her to bend both to her will. And thus, theirs is the most literal trial of faith. They are stripped of their emotions, and then a spirit of faith is summoned. If the spirit is attracted to the faith they see in the candidate, they are restored. If not? Well ... do we want to think too much about that?

I do not dispute that faith may be important to a person; even an integral part of their character. But a Seeker with doubt is a Seeker who will be destroyed. And that doesn’t strike me as a very reasonable position.

A test of commitment to Chantry doctrine is common across all Chantry magic users, and there is a ‘succeed or perish’ element to all of them. If you will have magic, the Chantry will own you, body and soul. The Harrowing does not, practically speaking, test your ability to resist possession because there’s no way to do that. No one behaves as though it does, either, because a Harrowed mage is just as imprisoned as an apprentice.

Rather, it is an affirmation of perhaps the Chantry’s most important tenet: Magic exists to serve man, and never to rule over him.

4) Okay, so if the Harrowing is a religious rite, not an exam, then what does that make Circles?

I would certainly never suggest that a thing being religious and a thing being practical are mutually exclusive. There are cultures where the distinction between ‘secular’ and ‘religious’ would be an incoherent concept. Cammen, for instance, is a Dalish elf concerned with passing his hunt. This is a boy with no vallaslin, and this is clearly a rite of passage for him. It is however, also clearly a practical skill he needs to demonstrate: he is showing his clan, and his prospective love, that he can handle himself and help provide for the People.

Dalish clans, however, seem to be fairly egalitarian in their social structure – and the art of survival is integral to their culture. This is very, very different to the place mages hold in the culture of southern Thedas.

The thing is, there is a place where everything I have said does not apply. Where Circles are schools, and likely among the best places in Thedas for learning magic. That place is Tevinter.

Imperial Circles, in contrast to the Circle of Magi, are places of honour where the art of magic is freely passed down to young mages. Attendance at a Circle in Tevinter is not mandatory: it is a privilege.

– World of Thedas I

Moreover, the Tevinter Circles predate the southern Circles of Magi:

Before it became the Imperium, Tevinter was ruled by a dynasty of kings. And long before the Chantry there was a Circle of Magi: the society of mages in each city. The titles our modern Circles use—enchanter, senior enchanter, first enchanter—all originated here. But above the first enchanter, the Circles of Tevinter had another office: magister.

– Tevinter: The Magisters

I think it’s worth looking at the creation of the Circles:

It is a truth universally acknowledged that nothing is more successful at inspiring a person to mischief as being told not to do something. Unfortunately, the Chantry of the Divine Age had some trouble with obvious truths. Although it did not outlaw magic--quite the contrary, as the Chantry relied upon magic to kindle the eternal flame which burns in every brazier in every chantry--it relegated mages to lighting candles and lamps. Perhaps occasional dusting of rafters and eaves.

I will give my readers a moment to contemplate how well such a role satisfied the mages of the time.

It surprised absolutely no one when the mages of Val Royeaux, in protest, snuffed the sacred flames of the cathedral and barricaded themselves inside the choir loft. No one, that is, but Divine Ambrosia II, who was outraged and attempted to order an Exalted March upon her own cathedral. Even her most devout Templars discouraged that idea. For 21 days, the fires remained unlit while negotiations were conducted, legend tells us, by shouting back and forth from the loft.

The mages went cheerily into exile in a remote fortress outside of the capital, where they would be kept under the watchful eye of the Templars and a council of their own elder magi. Outside of normal society, and outside of the Chantry, the mages would form their own closed society, the Circle, separated for the first time in human history.

--From Of Fires, Circles, and Templars: A History of Magic in the Chantry, by Sister Petrine, Chantry scholar.

This is a Chantry source, so it needs to be read carefully. Sister Petrine is no fool – got herself on Sister Lilian’s banned book list in World of Thedas II and everything – but honestly the tone of this entry edges close to blatant sarcasm, so I don’t think we need take words like ‘cheerily’ seriously.

Imprisoned Chantry mages attempted a rebellion. The outcome of that rebellion was that the mages were taken to remote locations – often towers – and locked up there permanently. It doesn’t sound as though they won. The word Petrine uses is ‘separated’. That word can be misleading, because you can read it as ‘free’, as mages operating outside of the Chantry. It does not mean that. Rather it means that once, mages were within the ranks of Chantry sisters and brothers – though probably very subordinate and painfully oppressed. They were ‘part’ of the Chantry in the way Vivienne is if she becomes Divine (although obviously that puts her at the opposite end of the power structure). As a result of the rebellion a separate order was created: the Circle of Magi. Circles are ‘outside’ the Chantry proper as Templars and Seekers are; they play a distinct role in Chantry society.

At the time, the “nation” his mother ruled over was not even half the size of modern-day Orlais, and unified only in their love of Andraste and shared hatred of everyone else.

– World of Thedas II

A mage who does not receive the teachings of the Circle and who does not have the words of Andraste in her heart is an apostate, and a danger to us all. Without the guidance of the holy Chantry, a mage may foolishly dabble in the darker arts—blood magic, or demon summoning, thus becoming maleficarum. And a mage's mind will ever be a doorway to spirits of the Fade; without proper instruction, this doorway remains open and unsecured. If a demon should come through this doorway and possess a mage, an abomination is created. Abominations know only madness. They cannot be reasoned with and will slaughter man, woman and child without thought. Whole cities have fallen to these creatures. Thousands have died at their hands.

The Chantry and her templars have a duty to ensure that this does not happen.

If I knew a better way to deal with magic, I would seize upon it immediately. You say we should let the mages guard themselves. I tell you that this is no solution. Look at the Tevinter Imperium. Their magisters do not know restraint. Without Chantry oversight the magisters abuse their power. Those without magic are trampled underfoot and forced to serve. Slaves are slaughtered by the hundreds to feed the magisters' hunger for power. Even some mages are not spared, for in mages as in all humans, there exists a spectrum—on one end, the very powerful, on the other, those that can barely light a candle. The Empire cares only for the strongest, and those who do not compare favorably are thrown to the wolves.

Imagine your children growing up in such a world. If a mage asked it of you, you would have to give him your daughter, not knowing what his plans for her might be. You could not resist him, and neither could she. Without our templars and without the Circle, the common man would have no defense against magic. We must deny the mages certain freedoms for the common good. I wish there was another way. I tell the apprentices this is a test of their faith, that it is the will of the Maker. Many understand that we do what we do for their own good.

—Excerpt of a letter from Grand Cleric Francesca of Starkhaven to Lord Guthrie Abholz.

– An Honest Answer Regarding Apostates

Orlesian culture is appallingly xenophobic – and has been for centuries. It has gone so far as to obliterate most interpretations of Andrastianism that differ from its own, and driven the remainder into hiding. The version of the Chant of Light it embraced, perhaps unsurprisingly, places great emphasis on Andraste’s war. Thus, Tevinter is the great enemy of the Chantry, and Tevinter culture is defined by its veneration of magic.

I have said before that mages tend to perform religious functions in Thedosian cutures: Dalish Keepers, Rivaini seers, Avvar augers, Chasind shaman, Nevarran mortalitasi. It’s ... easy to think of the Chantry as exempt from that rule, because you see no mage revered mothers or grand clerics; their faith seems different to the norm. It ... is, but not quite like that. Orlais’s hatred of the other, combined with the myth of the start of the first Blight, has created a terrible fear of the Fade and those who can interact with it. The role of a Circle mage is almost purely religious – just not in a sense that is any good for anyone involved.

In Chantry culture, mages play the role of ‘the devil’. Every mage is a potential magister, every spirit a potential archdemon ready to tempt another fall. And Circles facilitate that role: they steal the name and ape the structure of Tevinter Circles, but the goal is not to teach, but to indoctrinate and control.

At the head of each local Circle is a First Enchanter, implicitly the leader of all mages in that Circle’s jurisdiction. He or she assumes this position for life and retains the right to choose a successor, taking into consideration the ‘strong suggestions’ of the Templars. Only in recent years, amid increasing friction, have First Enchanters denied Templar choices for succession.

– World of Thedas I

Everything about the Circle is an act: while there have absolutely been rebel First Enchanters who fought for the wellbeing of their people, those are anomalous, and a sign of the disintegration of the system the Chantry devised. Just as in the Harrowing every mage is Corypheus, but casting aside Dumat because they have ‘the words of Andraste in their heart’, every mage in the Circle is playing the part of the evil Tevinter mage brought under control by righteous Templar authority. The study of magic, the robes, the idea of mages as soft and coddled, the power structure that is nothing but a Chantry puppet show.

Of course a Circle mage may teach an apprentice spells; of course a clever mage, with nothing to do with their time, may attempt scholarship and study within the Circle. Real people live in Circles, and they try to live their lives. But that is incidental. I would argue that the existence of Circles is religious and racial persecution. Not because mages are a race or a religion – they aren’t. But rather because the Circles attempt to impose both the Chantry faith, and the Chantry view of magic and the Fade on everyone – and indigenous cultures and peoples fall before them (and even in game, many of those peoples are non-human and/or non-white).

Orlais absorbed and converted most of the lands in its immediate vicinity. It has spread its tendrils over most of Thedas. There’s resistance, yes: survivors like the Dalish and Chasind, living on the margins; nations like Nevarra and Rivain that managed to maintain some of their traditional practices by making accommodations with Orlais but managing to resist occupation. But if you think of the Dales as an example case:

When the holy Exalted March of the Dales resulted in the dissolution of the elven kingdom, leaving a great many elves homeless once again, the Divine Renata I declared that all lands loyal to the Chantry must give the elves refuge within their own walls. Considering the atrocities committed by the elves at Red Crossing, this was a great testament to the Chantry's charity. There was one condition, however--the elves were to lay aside their pagan gods and live under the rule of the Chantry.

– The City Elves

Keepers are priests. Keepers are mages. If you want to kill a faith, burn the books and relics, burn the temples or holy sites, and take away the priests or elders. A city-born elven mage-child is taken to the Chantry, away from their people. They face years of indoctrination and separation from their own culture. Unless they escape, they can never be a Keeper. Orsino and Fiona are heroes of the mage rebellion – they are great elven mages, but they are not Keepers, and they could not simply walk into a Dalish clan and take over the role. That was stolen from them. So there are no Keepers in the alienages, and the elves lose a chunk of their ability to practise their own faith. Repeat that, across every distinct culture in Thedas. Imagine every child from every conquered village taken to the Circle, and not taught the magic of their ancestors – but rather made into pretend Tevinter magisters, cowering beneath holy Templar blades. That is what the Circle is for.

One must keep in mind the state of Thedas prior to the Chantry's creation: a world where the only source of order—the Tevinter Imperium—had fallen apart. People blamed magic for the death of Andraste, the Blight, the terror they saw every day—and not without reason. Abominations and demons rampaged the countryside. No one was safe. Disparate groups of men and women initially formed the Seekers of Truth, determined to reestablish order because no one else would do what was necessary. The truth they sought, the question they tried to answer, was how to restore sanity in a world gone mad.

– The First Inquisition

When you hear the word ‘abomination’ it’s easy to think of this:

The Chantry certainly wants you to. But you must remember, they may also mean Sigrid here:

... and when they say ‘demons’ they may well mean the gods of the Avvar people. They want to destroy them because they are different, and Orlais abhors difference.

So, when I say that Circles should be brought down, I say it because they are not schools: they are a religious Order dedicated to both reaffirming the Orlesian view of magic and destroying rival faiths by stealing their mage children, and the Harrowing is not a test of a mage’s ability to practise their craft safely in the real world, but rather an initiation rite that cements the mage’s place in the Circle and reaffirms Chantry belief that their way is the only one.

Let there be no more Circles in southern Thedas. Let them build their own damn Hogwarts instead.

#dragon age #chantry critical #Mages #mage rights

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thechaoticwonderland · 6 years

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I finally have time to write, damn it! I have been MIA for the longest time (and Twitter has been basically my place for word vomit) but I swear I have been trying to write something here -- as proven by my numerous drafted posts. LOL. 😓

If you’ve been following me on Twitter or Instagram, I TURNED TWENTY FOUR a few months back. Yup, I have officially changed my profile every where to 24. I still can’t believe I am THAT old but meh.

I celebrated my birthday walking dogs and getting drunk around Sheung Wan and Central Hongkong with my boyfriend -- super low key but probably one of the best birthday celebrations ever! 💜 But I’d probably save a different post for that -- WHEN I FIND THE TIME AND ENERGY TO DO SO. (Possibly never, but let’s see lol)

And since I am T W E N T Y F O U R (ack!), I have decided to come up with a blog post on 24 life realizations I have at 24 - some are realizations I’ve had leading up to my 24th but you get my point. 😂

1. Love comes when you least expect it - cliché, I know. But I met my boyfriend at this random birthday party I gate-crashed AKA his 30th birthday. 😁 Long story short, we’ve been going out for over a year now. We both weren’t looking for anything then since he just got out of a toxic relationship, and I was casually going out with random people. But here we are. 😜

2. No need to rush things, do things at your own pace - I started my Masters over 2 years ago, and you’ve guessed it, most of my batch mates have their Masters degree already. 🙆🏾 At some point, I wanted to study full-time cos I’ve gotten envious of my friends. But since my parents are still (yep, I know. Shame on me) paying for my tuition fee, I don’t want to burden them with allowance expenses + my living expenses (If you’re new here, I actually live alone lol) so I need to keep my job. Now I’m 1 subject away from defending my paper! I’m almost there! And it’s actually not bad. 🤗

3. Don’t live beyond your means - Ahh, my dad’s favorite life lesson. I never thought about it then since I was living under my parents’ support, but now that I live alone I have to make ends meet month on month. In layman’s terms IF YOU CAN’T AFFORD IT, JUST DON’T.

4. Don’t put your eggs in one basket - I know I am not the best person to be all preachy about money (cos I am bad at handling my own finances, but I try) but I have 3 savings accounts in different banks. It comes in handy when one bank fucks shit up (like goes on a nationwide shut down *cough BPI*, or one that just eats up your card and your money from time to time *cough BDO*).

5. Your past doesn’t define you or how you’d succeed in the future - Another cliché saying, but I swear you get to realize why people say it often. I’ve done so much shit when I was younger but believe me when I say such experiences will help you realize stuff later on. After all, we learn from our mistakes and such mistakes will push us to be better people tomorrow.

6. Your choices in life are your own, don’t let people tell you otherwise - You will never share the exact same beliefs with everyone, I’m sure about that. Just do you and brush off other opinions, they don’t matter - believe me.

7. Keep your circle close and small - Your real friends genuinely care, the others are just curious. Be cautious.

8. Always be kind - And this applies to everyone: guards, maids, janitors, etc. Believe me, if you’re nice to everyone, it’s easier to ask for favors. 😜

9. Travel alone - You should try this at least once in your life, me thinks. It gave me a sense of liberty and independence! I did this when I was trying to mend my cracked heart - and I came back to Manila feeling all refreshed and happy. I guess I learned that I don’t need a man to survive! HAHA! 😂

10. Don’t complain, do something about it - Ranting is fine, human nature. But if you will just sit down and whine when something could actually be done, then maybe you should rethink your life choices honey. Instead of wasting your time and energy complaining, why don’t you stop and think? Things and answers won’t always be served to you on a silver platter, FIND WAYS. 😊

11. Don’t forget to remove your make up at the end of the day - PLEASE. Do yourself a favor and let your face breathe! 😛

12. ALWAYS MOISTURIZE AND PUT SPF - *i-capslock mo para intense!!!* I couldn’t stress this enough. I actually keep various moisturizers depending on the weather, I have intensive moisturizers for when I travel and light ones for the Philippine heat. Just please, never skip it!

13. One at a time - My boyfriend would always tell me this when I’m stressing over work, school, among other things. It helps, actually. Stop, arrange your thoughts, and do things one at a time.

12. Treat yourself - Now before you go crazy and tell me that this is a bad thing, I didn’t say you have to buy that expensive bag you’ve been eyeing on for so long because “I DESERVE IT”. Going back to point number 3, if you can’t afford it - IT’S A NO. It can be as simple as “I did a great job today, I deserve good coffee - not my usual pantry coffee”, which is my usual way of treating myself. If you can afford to buy that expensive bag to treat yourself, BY ALL MEANS DO IT. But always remember POINT NUMBER 3!

13. Family will always come first - Ah, this is one of the many things I realized growing up. Of course I was super excited to grow up so I can go out with my friends whenever I wanted to before. But when I moved out, I always look forward to weekends so I can come home to my family. What a baby, I know right?

14. Let go and let God - I am not the most religious person in the world, heck I barely even hear mass (I’m busy, but that’s not an excuse I’m sorry). But I really believe in greater power from above. I always find myself in hopeless situations, where I find my shitty ass crying myself to bed on most nights (add that I also live alone so imagine how bad it must be lol). But I usually find myself just getting through the worst days with little miracles. And I always thank God for that.

15. If you feel so happy with the wrong person, image how happy you’d be with the right one? - Eep, another cliché saying c/o me lol. But seriously, I thought I couldn’t be happy anymore when I once got my heart broken HAHAHA. Cut to mid-last year, I’m extremely happy -- waaay happier than before. Not saying I’m already with the person for me, though I really do hope so (HAHAHA yuck cheese) but I’m happier than before and I’m sure the person I’m with is a better person amongst all the guys I went out with before.

16. Take long walks. - I enjoy this so much especially abroad. I went on a birthday trip in Hong Kong and I spent 70% of the time walking - thinking and reflecting. 😅 I think long peaceful walks are good for everyone’s sanity.

17. Cut off toxic people. - Not everyone you lose is a loss. If they aren’t doing you good, what’s the use of keeping them?

18. Life is what you make it. - If you want something to happen, the first step starts with you. 😅 If you don’t take the first step, nothing will happen. SERIOUSLY. Everything doesn’t happen by chance!!!!!

19. You don’t have to have a reaction on everything. - I believe there are things better left unsaid. I know a lot of people would disagree. But I still think the saying “If you have nothing nice to say, just zip it” is still superior. Lol.

20. Work isn’t everything. - I recently had to stop working for a week and a half due to some health concerns. It sucked balls. But I came to realize work isn’t everything -- YOUR HEALTH (mental health included) IS WAY MORE IMPORTANT.

21. Quite connected to the bullet prior, Work can wait. - I have learned to keep work within working hours. Remember, work will always come and it will never be done. Know what’s most important and prioritize! That’s the key. Whatever’s left can be done tomorrow. You don’t have to spend 12 hours in the office all day and stress out on work, tbh.

22. Choose your battles. - Not everything is worth stressing over. (remember point 19!) 😋

23. Respect begets respect. - Respect opinions, respect people - young and old alike. Sometimes we just have to learn to agree to disagree.

24. Live life to the fullest. - Another cliché saying, but honestly you’ll never be as young as you are today. Make mistakes so you will never make the same ones in the future, learn the ropes of life through the decisions you make everyday. Not everything will go our way, that’s for sure, but life is only what we make of it.

I hope you got to pick something up from my blabbing. To be honest, it took me months to finish this list since I barely have time in my hands. Lol. 😬

I missed you, Tumblr! ✨

#Filipina Blogger #Filipino Blogger #Adulting #Growing Up #Thoughts #Life Lessons #Work #lovely #Self-love

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comic-critic-squad · 6 years

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NaCl 001: The Meteor Tribe

Welcome to the first post in what I hope to turn into a semi-regular thing.

These may come in two types—individual examinations of certain things in individual comics. For now, Home is easy as hell to do this with (and there is a lot to say), but I’d love to take a deeper look at comics I like (I have a tiny few criticisms of Scurry, but there’s obviously way more things I think Mac did well; I’m an enormous fan of Ghost of the Gulag), comics I’m so-so on (AFRICA, Frostbite; Off-White), and comics I think are total trash (Home, obviously; Legacy; The Flightless Bird).

Without further ado, welcome to my thoughts on why the Meteor Tribe is poorly written and not all that well thought out, beginning with the dude right at the top: the jarl.

1. There's no reason to respect/follow the jarl—especially Ranach.

Rulers rule through two means: love or fear. Hate doesn't work, and we have evidence none of the members liked Ranach: Fuss says he was mocked in his absence and told Ulfr he would make a worse leader than Ranach (implying they saw Ranach as a terrible ruler), Vigr showed their feelings toward him when Ranach was denied entry and said Ranach had lost his mind during Three Ranach Moon, obviously none of the female dogs cared for him, and so on.

While we're given the impression Brodir and Arenak were genuine tyrants (and the MT had more members then, but since we know nothing about Brodir and barely more than nothing about Arenak, they’re mostly irrelevant), Ranach was pathetic. It’s amazing anyone actually listened to him post-Arenak since he wasn’t really liked...not that he did much anyway.

The most evil thing he did as ruler? Tell someone else to kill his father...a worse character. Outside of that, he ordered Rogio killed for betrayal—which would be in-character had Kique not suddenly sprung that bullshit "THIS HURTS ME MORE THAN IT HURTS YOU I LOVE YOU SO MUCH ROGIO" and then make Ranach completely pathetic afterward.

(Also—Ranach does not have NPD. Even if he did, congratulations for playing right into ableism. Characters are never assholes on their own, but this is also coming from a guy who thinks the only requirement to be a villain is being a rapist.)

He got pissed at Galti, ordered his papa killed, conned Ronja into joining, captured Ferah and Kargo, ordered the death fakeout of Rogio, and...oh. That's it. All he’s done recently is give evil looks.

He didn't even let the spirit take his pups.

Damn, wouldn't that have really shown his supposed NPD and "he really misses the way Rogio made him feel" we've had hammered down our throats? Wouldn't that have actually been a good way to subvert the whole "everyone fucking survives and this story is goddamn predictable and there's no need for three additional characters that are all obviously going to get their own POVs/screentime."

Nope. Instead Ranach doesn't go through with it...you know, a good thing. It's not like he could've been really shown to be heartless if he'd been like "lol take 'em gimme back my Rogiboy."

Anyway, back on topic.

Essentially, Ranach was hated (even though he didn’t really...do much...) by the members, and they had no reason to follow him. Dogs like Fuss (oh, good ol’ Good Guy Fuss) could have led a coup or something. (I mean...Fuss loved the MT’s broodmare so much. I’m sure he would’ve done anything to free his love.)

We’re not given much about the MT’s culture and history, and I’m not going to give any “well maybe years ago...” credit. As far as we know, all these dogs have been 100% fine listening to a jarl who treats them like shit and abuses them. We’re not given any indication of severe brainwashing or cult-like indoctrination, and so while one or two (like Ulfr) may be in it to get their kicks, all of them are okay with that way of life? (Of course, until they weren’t okay with it--like when they suddenly get screentime and need to be a good guy.)

Regardless, even if all those dogs magically follow the same hivemind despite zero indoctrination and are a-okay listening to someone who abuses them, there’s an even bigger issue: the Meteor Tribe is small.

2. The Meteor Tribe isn't large.

We're given the impression early in the comic that the MT has numbers. Well, that's quickly ruined—and no, Kargo the Killer and retcon "actually, x number died before the story" are excuses.

They’re not a threat, and it’s amazing everyone is oh-so terrified of them considering they don’t really do shit. (Let. Me. Repeat: FOH with “it happened before the story.” There has been AMPLE TIME to flesh out the MT, explain their past, or even just imply how it used to be, because right now, the only difference seems to be they were starved in the past.)

Something else that goes with the MT being small? Their ranks spread them too thinly, and some of them ranks are fairly arbitrary. Why are hunter and warrior separate? What is the obscure difference between healer and herbalist? Artisan and caretaker really need to be separate—or a thing to begin with?

a. Hunters/warriors. They're not constantly at war. Actually, we haven’t been given any indication these dogs ever fight—check out the allies list on the wiki—and while Vigr says they’d face an attack if they didn’t meet the Guild…what? The wiki itself tells us no one actually has to listen to the Matriarch:

Throughout the years, the Matriarch has set out a set of guidelines, to keep life in Aedra as peaceful as possible. No tribe has to follow these guidelines, but doing so will grant them access to get more help from the capital if needed, and ally bonds with other tribes can be created.

Even if they were out and about, it'd be a bit essential, don'tcha think, for warriors to know how to hunt. Otherwise they'd have to bring hunters with them...and that's just extra weight. Or are hunters meant to stay at the tribe and bring food there? Well, in that case, then the warriors HAVE to do their own hunting—and if the answer is that they already do, why have a separate hunters rank?

b. Herbalist/healer. Let's get one thing out of the way: the limits on healing bark haven't been established, and apparently that shit can heal everything from falling off a fucking waterfall to decades-old scars. It's Applied Phlebotium. That said, it really ignores how primitive the rest of their medicine is. Herbs are not that simple...nor are they always strong/effective. In real life, holistic/herbal remedies are trashed for a reason.

This could've been a really interesting point to expand on. I would even accept Aedra has stronger herbs, like an opium-like plant the dogs use as a painkiller. Eat too much of it, it'll kill you. Of course, I'd lean toward "well, we hope these herbs will work, but there's a 40% chance you'll live. Cross your tail!" (Or toes, since they can probably do that.)

Another thing—you know how people say you shouldn't guess if wild mushrooms are edible? That's because many of them look nearly identical. And one is edible, and the other will cause violent stomach cramps. Or kill you. Give me a dog who's a healer and fucks up herb identification and kills a packmate. Makes skilled herbalist-healers valued. Since Aedra’s as dangerous as a stapler, though, there’s really no use for them either.

More on topic, why are healer and herbalist separate ranks anyway? The healer would just need the herbalist right beside them saying what to do and use. Doctors still know about medicine. They're not pharmacists, of course, but this is a primitive medical system in Home. They’re not messing with fentanyl.

Combine the damn ranks. Maybe make herbalists the healer’s apprentice and they gain that rank once they’ve mastered herb identification and can move on to putting the herbs to use.

Hilariously, this is what the wiki has to say about it:

Both the Herbalist and Healer will have about the same knowledge when it comes to herbs, but the Healer will always stay with the tribe while the Herbalist will go out on long travels to collect the various herbs the tribe is in need of. Healers are often well rounded when it comes to healing the sick and wounded, while Herbalists may also know what herbs can be used to keep meat stored and fresh for a long period of time, how to craft poison and even how to summon malevolent spirits.

So basically, “Basically these ranks are the same.”

c. Artisan/caretaker.

Couldn't be more useless.

Akleja and Ronja's WIP pups weren't in the story at the time those ranks were conceived (no pups at all, actually), and the MT hasn’t had pups in a while...so clearly the caretaker has fuck-all to do most of the time. Mothers would be the caretakers, and during the moments they want to get away from the pups, someone else could watch them for a bit—does there really need to be an entirely separate role for something so brief and rare?

A Caretaker will be in charge of taking care of the young in the tribe. They will stay with newly born offspring and help the mother out if needed. If the parent is absent, the Caretaker will teach the young how to read and write, the laws of the tribe and everything else there is to know.

Oh, silly me. They also teach the young how to fucking read and write.

And artisan? Christ. Worst rank, hands down. Apparently tribes living in the harsh world of Aedra have enough resources to waste on a rank devoted to painting markings for an hour (and how long does this shit last anyway?) and then clocking out. See ya at the timeclock tomorrow, Alva.

According to the wiki, this is what they do:

An Artisan is in charge of keeping the huts strong, re-applying paint to the members and repairing clothing.

Yeah, guys—these dogs can repair clothing. Kique even says they could mend clothing by attaching a tough thread to a piece of bone. Fuck the fact threading a needle requires tying it.

Then again, given we have a tribe whose leader says they need to hunt frequently—yet his tribe regularly holds community LARPing—is anyone surprised no intra-tribe resource/energy economy is taken into account?

d. Gendered rank pairs

Why do we need a male/female pair for lead hunter and lead huntress? Whoever’s best at the job, give it to them. Hunter is gender neutral, for fuck’s sake. Adding –ress/-ess to words that are otherwise neutral is unnecessary.

(But speaking of painting…)

3. The paint is useless.

Okay, two questions:

1.) How are these dogs deft enough to apply paint? In Fjordor’s case, how the fuck is his paint applied? HE LITERALLY LIVED ALONE. (Don't @ me with "it's long-lasting" or "he's been alone for a week." Then again, that last explanation actually works considering how these characters face major life events and fall in love within days. Remember: 100 pages = two hours.)

2.) Why is the paint even necessary? It'd be one thing if they had a splash of color to mark them out to other tribes, but differentiation within? The tribes aren't large enough to need rank-identifying paint. They would know each other by sight. If the tribe was so massive it’d be impossible to know all packmates intimately, sure. In that case, it would be necessary to know someone's rank by sight, especially if the system were based off a strict hierarchy, like passage keepers being the lowest of the low or warriors honored like deities when they stride into camp.

4. All tribes follow the same hierarchy. Even when they have no reason to.

All the tribes follow the same ranking system, apparently no dogs live as loners or in tribeless family units, everyone is allied sans the MT, a jarl always leads, they use identifying paint within their own tribe—not paint that would mark them out to other tribes—and so on. What kind of networking is going on that makes all these tribes—all of whom seem to inhabit different biomes—follow the same system even when the standard tribe setting may not be beneficial to their culture/survival?

But more on that latter point, the MT was characterized as problematic rebels with no allies, yet they still listen to the Guild...even though they don't respect Axilyah and her group...and while it was said they'd face attack if they refused, we were later told ACTUALLY…—no one has to listen to the Guild! Fjordor even tells Axilyah she's in no place to question him...so exactly what authority does the Guild have?

Oh, right.

None at all.

Maybe “no one actually has to listen to them” shouldn’t have been created after the pages where Vigr expressed fear of the Guild’s arrival. (Also, so much for the Guild anyway if everyone else turns a blind eye to what goes on in the MT yet still demands those arbitrary scrolls. “We need to know your population but fuck the suffering going on within.”)

5. None of the female MT dogs have lasting trauma.

If there's one things fans on DA loved screaming anytime anyone criticized the female MT dogs' lack of trauma, it was "Not all victims act the same!"

Well, they're right. Not all victims act the same...yet that same exact logic can be applied to Home, where all victims act the same. Literally no one is traumatized. It's obvious they're trying any argument they can (without thinking about what they're actually saying. Congratulations, you played yourself.) to get the opposition to shut up.

This point alone could turn into it’s own thing, but its better lumped under the much larger discussion surrounding sexism and the female characters.

6. Productivity and unnecessary brutality.

The Meteor Tribe: *complains about infertility and health problems* Also the Meteor Tribe: *abuses their members capable of furthering the population*

So who wants to tell me why abuse even goes in the MT? The answer can't be "because they're just assholes." I'm looking for something along the lines of "cheap drama and the creator is as unimaginative as every other male creator out there with a rape fetish." Really, I’m curious—give me a good reason they abuse their female members, especially the ones capable of reproduction.

Abused creatures aren't productive creatures, and we were shown the mothers starving and skinny in flashbacks, yet...

1.) …none of the current members are in an emaciated state.

2.) …why would you abuse members who've proven they can reproduce? You think you'd want to treat them like royalty.

7. The tribe isn't really that inbred.

Yeah, this is another one of those things we've been given the impression is happening but...isn't. If you’ve seen one of the various fan-made family trees, you’ll notice there sure is a lot of outside blood. The inbreeding happens in really only one line—Ranach’s family.

Maybe it's just the science/genetics nerd in me, but this could've opened a lot of interesting and unique plot points—someone's condition starts acting up at the wrong moment or it has dire consequences on themselves or those around them—and it would add an actual sense of urgency to the tribe. As it is, they've been living...just fine and dandy. Ranach says they've been plagued by infertility and inbreeding, yet the tribe isn't actually experiencing any negative effects. Supposedly they have an issue with infertility, yet the tribe is full of outside blood (Fuss, Rogio, and other dogs shown on the chart to have come from outside the tribe)...and their numbers looked fairly large before Kargo the Killer singlehandedly decimated them.

8. Ferah and Kargo were involved in and led the only escape attempt.

Don’t come at me with “we don’t know that!” because nothing implies otherwise. “Actually, there were ten attempts at liberation before Home started” is meaningless. You can pull any explanation on the spot when your story is so shallow. What was it about Kargo and Ferah—both of whom grew up in the same environment as all the others—that made them have the guts to escape?

Aside from being the protagonists.

9. M-m-m-missed opportunities to make the MT threatening.

This story had the potential to be so much deeper had anything been put into it. The MT doesn’t really do much except take others captive…but with so many surrounding tribes, all it’d take is one war to get rid of them. While the MT would have the defense advantage due to their wall, the dogs have fire. Burn that shit down and kill they asses. Everyone else is allied anyway, for fuck’s sake.

Cannibalism. Worshiping dark spirits. Sacrificing caught outsiders. Ambitious for more territory. Rumors they’re not fully canine. Maybe Aedra dogs are very suspicious. Who the fuck knows.

We do know the MT sucks.

10. Ulfr and Ranach pose no threat.

So...why are Fuss and the others afraid to go outside? Because of Ranach and Ulfr?

Okay, they could be a threat...if it weren't for a few things.

1.) Ulfr and Ranach are two dogs.

2.) The tribe has Rogio, Roamer, Vigr, Javo, Galti, Fuss, Fremja, Inna, Alva, Vandi, Ronja, and Jonna. Even if you argue "but the female dogs can't fight!", that's bullshit for two reasons:

a. Rogio, Roamer, Galti, Vigr, Fuss, and Javo still outnumber Ulfr and Ranach.

b. Goddamnit, they're dogs. They know how to fight. It's not like Inna suddenly doesn't know how to use her teeth. It’s not like they’re even traumatized, either, and would freeze up when faced with one of their abusers.

3.) Even if they wouldn't fight well as individuals—and that’s a mighty big “if” since Rogio, Roamer, and Ronja have killed motherfuckers—there's goddamn six times more MT members than Ranach and Ulfr. They could overwhelm them by sheer number.

11. Ulfr's personal code of conduct.

I have one thing to say about this: it was done to avoid drawing a fight scene between Fuss and Ulfr. Like the recent bullshit with Roamer the Mature & Wise and Kargo.

Okay, I have a bit more than one thing to say about this, but it’s not restricted to Ulfr and this sudden character revelation.

12. There’s no depth to the MT characters.

See, the issue with Kique waiting so long to show us individual characterization for the various MT members is that so much of it comes as an ass pull, and we’ve known these characters since the early comic, but they were just background fodder and existed to waste space.

I can’t even give thumbs up to Jonna since she was shown to be bubbly and peppy and switched to demon overlord in a second…and then that was also forgotten, and now she’s against the guys. Or is she? We saw it with only Ulfr.

But according to Vandi, Javo, Vigr, and Fuss are totally good guys. Once again, none of that was shown. Let’s look at a few things first:

· Vigr

With Vigr, actually, we got the opposite of what Vandi said. He was among the dogs who roped Ronja, and he was specifically the one who held her down for Arenak—held her down to be raped.

“He was scared of Arenak” doesn’t fly. While we know little of Arenak (and this is something I consider a massive failure, too; we didn’t need tons of screentime—or really any screentime at all—to know he was a super feared guy), and these dogs were all too eager to follow along.

When Ronja was coming into the tribe to be roped, there was no moment of hesitation on Vigr’s part—even a brief moment of him being reluctant and the other dog telling him to do it would’ve shown not all of them were comfortable.

But that didn’t happen.

· Fuss

Good ol’ Fuss. Another we’re-told good guy…yet he joined a rapist cult, had ample opportunity (just like Rogio) to leave and didn’t, and rather than busting out his woman, he impregnated her. All while under Arenak’s rule. So he knew from the beginning what environment his offspring would grow up in: the boys would become rapist murderers, and the girls would be sex slaves.

You think his priority would be freeing Vandi rather than fucking her.

· Rogio

Oh, Rogio, Saint Rogio. He’s going to get his own post probably, but I’ll sum up his being a good dude:

Rogio was retconned into not having a choice to join the MT even though he had opportunity after opportunity to escape with others or even by himself but he didn’t because his love for Raniboy overpowered his horror at what went on in the tribe so he stayed and led the patrol that fully intended to capture Alva’s sister and said sister’s pups and he was mad at Ronja being made viscountess because that meant Raniboy wasn’t solely his anymore and then he left the tribe and fucked Roamer who was fresh out of a relationship after they had a long retconversation about who was the bigger saint and then he went back to the tribe and is now back at his baron position and no one has any lasting bitterness toward him and Ronja even apologized to him for treating him badly even though she never did.

Yay for Rogio! Such a great guy.

· Inna, Fremja, Jonna, Alva, and Vandi

They were a hivemind. Not a single one of them wanted to leave during the second freedom run—and Jonna flip-flops on characterization depending on how much Kique needs his fans to say some gross shit—yet now Fremja is having an orgasm over the wilderness, and Vandi, who could’ve been portrayed as a mentor/motherly figure from the beginning, is now doing it. Alva is still pure background fodder and seems to exist just to stare around and be the resident Golden Retriever.

Inna needs to stay off-screen since she has a nice design and I don’t want her to be ruined once she says more than ten words.

Anyway, I can’t talk about this anymore and am now actively aware of how shitty Rogio is so I’d rather scream about him. If there’s something obvious I missed, let me know. Thinking about that half-assed comic has me braindead.

Or even if anyone just wants to comment/discuss it, go ahead.

#nacl #001 #meteor tribe #asmundr #sodium chloride

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bedlamgames · 3 years

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Q&A #109

Today we have an amazing harpy, the never ending hangover, a statement on Whorelocks, and a bunch more.

[Anonymous said:] re: the Aruviel answer from the last Q&A: Thanks for the answer, and to be clear, what I meant by the chastity text variations is the ones where Toy With Them specifically talks about teasing their chastity, which I can get with slaves in chastity or slavers with the As You Like It belt, but not with Aruviel. (I even personally wouldn't mind if it occasionally drove her to distraction like the belt from As You Like It can do to a slaver, but I recognize that might be a bigger ask.)

- Ahah, I get you. Sure I can look at that.

[jamex590 said:] now sure if this is how you gut your bug report's or not but with the latest nohaven version sometimes when your smith make's a armour when you go to make a decicion on what to do with it it tell's you that you have no armour when you click on the armour i had that happen with 3 seprate armour's.

- Here’s fine, also that should be sorted in the update I believe.

[Anonymous said:] A slaver gold as camp bitch will be freely used by any other slavers but "make use of" still triggers the same "that doesn't seem like a good idea." Similarly you can't make use of a golem bedwarmer but they're still working away under your table when planning out assignments. Perhaps this may be intentional but it does seem kind of silly?

- Dang amazed you were able to convince one to take either role. Will check that as you’re entirely right, cheers.

[Anonymous said:] Got this option on a Marauding levelup, both Agile and Clumsy: Choice 4: Jazel Dragongood - Ogre Female - Inexperienced Duellist - (Mon)(Str+)(Agi)(Fnd)(Sed)(Agg)(Clu)

- Thanks for the spot.

[Anonymous said:] A possible bug I noticed on No Haven 0.932, in that I ended up having a slave have a permanent Hangover set on her. The way I had it happen, was turning a slaver that obtained the enchanted pony gear (from the race mission) into a slave without having that gear removed. Once that ex-slaver became a slave, it wouldn't regenerate it's will naturally, and having a healer heal ended up giving them a Hangover that won't go away. You also loose the ability to remove the gear later.

- Huh, that’s a very random very specific thing. Thanks for letting me know how they got there as that’s really helpful for working out what happened. Will see if I can recreate what happened.

[Anonymous said:] Does putting a slave in a chastity belt actually serve a purpose? Even after locking an "innocent" one into one, it doesn't seem to stop slavers from sampling the goods after training.

- Innocent isn’t just about physical virginity but a state of mind so any training after basic obedience it will be removed.

[Anonymous said:] Is whorelocks officially abandoned?

- Ooof, now that’s a question. Honnestly I don’t know? I’d not be happy if that’s the case, but practically yeah it kind of is. The whiplash of the reaction to the RAGS version (Highly positive) to Twine (fuck you, also why is this different game not exactly like another game) was dispiriting to put it lightly. Even more so as even content incomplete I personally think the Twine version is already far superior.

It’s also a lot of a mess codewise. Was very much still learning when I first attempted to RAGS > Twine. Hell, even doing NH to Twine had a bunch of issues due to making errors in the conversion so you can just imagine what WR is like.

There’s also that NH is waaaaay more popular, and takes so much of my time along with that getting a conversion too. Man I just hope history doesn’t repeat itself where suddenly things get so much more harsh when you remove the big barrier to entry that is RAGS.

Soooo, again I don’t know? Honnestly the best way to make it happen is to let me know there’s an audience for it still.

[Anonymous said:] Can you PLEASE look into something that will prevent slavers being sent out without assignments it's way too damn common and costs you a slaver or several and if one happens to be your leader your scrwed if nothing else an option to recall slavers from assignments as a workaround.

- I genuinely have never heard of this issue? If you could let me know of an assignment that it happens on or ways to recreate it that’d be really helpful.

Other than that RAGS is a finickity program so make sure you follow the warnings at the begining of the game which can cause serious issues.

[Anonymous said:] I can't seem to find a way to start as a convent race aside from the unique scenario. Is this currently possible? If not any plans on adding that in in the future?

- For now to play as Convent there’s the scenario, or losing your encampment to a Convent slaver. If you’re on the Patreon TF Edition however you can play as the scenario one in a regular playthrough, or start as the Promoted Slaver portraits which also include a Neko one.

[From the patreon:] two questions 1- what happens if you ambush the ensnared rose rep 2- is there some kind of secret catch if you accept the slaver? :)

- 1 that's purely there for RP purposes and 2 there's not (for now at least anyway)

[From TFGames:] Same. I really, really love No Haven, but RAGS is just so f***ing awful. I understand that converting it to HTML is impossible without just starting from scratch, but holy f*** is late game unbearable.

- A conversion is well on the way to twine so hopefully you won't have to put up for it that much longer. In terms of progress technically everythings converted from what RAGS understands to what Twine understands, and I'm in the progress of making all that conversion actually work and having a workable UI.

[From TFGames:] And why isn't there an option to bribe the slaver with gold or first dibs on the slaves or whatever?

- I do mean to add both of those sometime as an option. Likely when I expand bedwarmers so you'll have a slave immediately to hand to 'persuade' them with.

[From the Collective:] Not a bug per se but a funny thought: Slave - Kyurlina - Carakarr Harpy Female - - Examine

Name: Kyurlina Madclaw <==== Very appropriate name Race: Carakarr Harpy - Sex: Female - Status: Slave Traits: Flying - Seductive - Perceptive - Singer - Friendly - Werebear Condition: 84 Will: 78 Estimated Value: 189

A harpy flies in the sky Night Happens Oh It's full moon A bear falls from the sky

First thing to do: pick the aspect that makes you immune to wounding !!!!

- Hahahah, that's an amazing win from the generation.

[From the Collective:] Magc Blight is negative despite Aspect: Unbreakable Honour that says it shouldn't

- Given it was a Magic: Any check rather than Blight specifically I'm calling that one working as intended.

[From the Collective:] once again sometimes a re-roll with probabilities under 90%[/quote]

- That's the 1-100 roll being changed which is different from the probabilities. It first was a result over a 90 so you're getting a second go to get a better one thanks to the Watchtower bonus.

[From the Collective:] Deluge of Ooze - Rewards - New slaver acquired! - Zoe Valleyborn - Ooze Futanari - Inexperienced Lycanthrope - (Res)(Mon)(Tcl)(Slt)(Fnd)(Per)(Wer)(Lgl)

The Were Ooze 13 is still there !!!! A blood curse on a Ooze needs explanations

- Heh, Were is well weirder than that and so a ooze were is totally viable.

[From the Collective:] Sky shaman I have a probability problem ... You add this slaver with positive traits and ends with bad probabilties

- Any odds you see before the final odds are the 'in progress' ones using a different more free calculator, which is why it can go into minuses and the like, the final person you add locks in the final odds and so it that case where you have odds better than the caps it will make them worse even if they're contributing only positive stuff.

[From the Collective:] Some missions have Gown or Formal Wear (Oft:For) as positive factor but can't ask your camp to produce it or buy it at cutprice roses like with maid outfits

- I've just got a commission done for an assignment where you will be able to do that, and that's also a good shout for Cutprice.

[From the Collective:] When the Week end comes - Fel Tainted (Fel) assigned: +10% rejection chance applied Even with shadowplay aspect

- Yeah it's a different check so doesn't apply. If it helps it's hard to keep the tentacles and the like hidden while in a short skirt and shaking pom poms ;)

[From the Discord:] How common are wyverns, and are they related to the far more impressive dragons? :wondering:

- They’re not exactly common, but not the kind of thing that would raise serious comment. They’re not at all related to dragons, and are pretty much just animals and not all that brave or bright either. They’re more big scavengers who look impressive, but aren’t up to much in an actual fight unless you manage to corner one and they can’t fly away.

[From the Discord:] Since we did get the Veil (:victory:), anything horny planned for this Year of the Ox?

- Well Horned Ones already exist, and I’ve got no other bull themed races that could be added, and certainly aren’t already a part of the lore along with playing a very big part in WR. Nope no ideas whatsoever for what I could do for that.

[From the Discord:] Since Convent sneks are coming, what would be the next more likely candidate race for dedicated Shallya worship? (Holy bunnies? :ohmy: :KaltMimi: )

- Oh man I’m getting flashback to when it seemed like everyone wanted a civilised city based Lago’Mae which completely and utterly clashes with their in-setting lore :D

So definitely no convent bunnies. Other than that not sure. Theoretically could be any race which are on the more common side and have non-males in there.

#Q&A

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mermaidfan76 · 6 years

Text

Homeless Autistic Girl

Hey guys... this really kills me to ask, however right now I’m homeless at the moment.

Technology, I’m living with a long time friend who is hounding me to find a job since she believes it’s just so damn easy and move out by The end of February. I’ve put out application after application and only maybe a couple have called back for an interview. Only for them to tell me the same exact thing over and over, “You don’t seem like you will do well for this job.” With out even giving me a garsh darn chance to show them I’m willing to work my butt off.

Yet, they hire people who are literally ALLERGIC to manual labor, and pay them twice the wage to appease them so they don’t get sued. It pisses me off. I have Autism and PTSD, I watched my mother and fathers beloved dog get run over by a car, I know these people have mommy and daddy’s that coddle them. My parents died on September 22, 2013. My sister’s threw me out in the cold and said I’m on own. I’m still here, sadly. Not one day goes by and I don’t think about giving up and killing myself. Love to give that bayberry (under a new name) Bitch and all the rest what they wanted in the first place! With heartless pieces off shit like them in this world, I definitely don’t feel it’s worth the aggravation!

You push, you kick, you fight, you bite, you bunch, but guess what you end up someone else’s lunch! It’s survival of the fittest and you’ve won the game if you have Money, Fame, and/or Power! Just 1 on these gives you the right to control poor peoples lives!

You can play the advocate for good all day, but turning a blind eye to the innocent people that are truly in pain by the very people you are advocating for. Who’s the real villain? Saying the people who did nothing deserve it because someone said its poetic revenge... read a book. Get your facts straight, you really think they would attack now? Why didn’t they attack back then? People don’t postpone revenge -_-...

(if I had a grudge against a person, I’d want to get them now, not expect my descendants to attack his descendants. 1. How do I know if they’ll follow through? 2. What if everything is patched up and my other descendants didn’t know that and still desire to take their revenge? (They don’t even know what the whole argument is about... could be about stealing the last slice of pizza) This is about taking over the world just like before! We stopped them once! They’re trying again, however they fooled you!)

So with politics, islamphopia (more like not wanting an ideology of woman haters who desire to take over any free country and turn it to a world of oppression and insanity), racism (a political term used when a white person doesn’t agree with you), feminist (because women are oppressed because they have tits and a vigina), fatphopia (because veggies don’t taste like cake, if they did we’d still become fat, why? Because we’d get sick of sweets and want savory tasting veggies that you only get from cake... oh the irony), LBGT without Q (Queers are just feminist men who are really flamboyant gays... and real gays try to avoid, ever heard the term, “Queer as a Clock work Mouse.” Man I miss my English mother! The LBG, The Les, The Bi, and The Gay, do as you wish... Hey I’m you Bi, I find shapely girls just Be A U Ti Ful to draw, have to get that full body motion. Gays, love ya, best guy friends and you give perfect fashion advice, Lesbians, you’re very easy going and easy to talk to, al yal are A O Kay in my book. Trans, um... look umm... I’m female... I have more of a male mind... we can find common ground here can’t we?) and that’s what I go through everyday. Half the words I’m called... how do they apply to me? Like racist? I judge by character, not by skin tone.

(All I see is another human being in front of me. If you act like you’re above a human being, than I’ll treat you the way you treat me. Not one human is above another. If you have earnt that privilege than you are granted that only by the people who gave you such power, however they have the power to take it away. That is the true purpose of the second Amendment! In short; “a president is a civil servant to the people of his/her country that he/she has sworn to protect! As such nothing is beneath them!”)

I really wish people would do their homework...

My friend I was talking about earlier; well she’s not only getting on my case about finding a job, but she’s also pissing me off about politics. Her plan is to be an American History Teacher. She wants to teach her class how America was founded on the “Socialistic” Principles we use today and that’s bullshit! We wouldn’t have many of our largest company products that I bet everyone of you see every single day, more than likely every minute of your day.

(For Starters:

Let’s start off with Ford, if America was a Socialistic Society, well then all of you who drive a Ford let alone a car in general, would walk everywhere. If it wasn’t for Ford’s Model T being a Successful test run clearing the way to Model A. Ford’s company could only up from there. (Btw: anyone who drives the VMW Bug- just a little trivia for you did you know that the original design was created by Adolf Hitler himself? Adolf Hitler was the original Designer for the shape of that car the VMW Bug, just a little tid pit I know from Graphic Design School, hope that doesn’t ruin your VMW driving experience:D)

Another one I’d like to point out: McDonald’s, that famous Golden Arches fast food places started as a ma and pa rest stop, now it’s one of the biggest fast food chains in the world! Mickey D’s started again in America! Again how is that possible in a Socialistic society?

Socialism is structured to where everyone is equal... equal pay... equal healthcare... equal quality of living... doesn’t count the politicians! In this system if you work you’re an idiot. Those who sit on their ass get everything handed to them, those who work their asses off barely survive. So why bother putting yourself through that much torture. Because:

No one working:

No power

No cable

No doctors

No teachers

No police

No food

No safety

No security...

Why? This would have been a good thing! This here proves Socialism doesn’t work!

If everyone decided to not work because they’re getting ripped off; than America shuts down! The government is screwed! And so are the moochers!)

Those are only two examples of capitalism being a good thing.

There is so much more... not to mention the feminist aspects like Susan B. Anthony: Voicing her “opinion” by voting for who she thought would be a good president. Of course the judge was going to let her off with a warning because “woman privilege” (woman today would be like okay and do it again), however she, Susan B. Anthony, A Real Feminist, (no Feminist is an insult to her, She a Real Woman, The Genuine Wonder Woman!) demanded she was sentenced to jail just like any man who broke the law! (Please oh please can we do that to these modern, pussies who call themselves women!) The first woman to fly a plane over the pacific Amelia, or the women who rose up against unjust treatment Rosa Parks, I mean come on. Worst of all is, she’s being taught tha John Wilkes Booth was Republican and Abraham Lincoln was Democrat... and it’s reversed. There’s a saying the liberals came up with: “if those damn n$&@€ must vote then they should only vote Democrat!”

My friend has become heartless and greedy, I’m in a fucked up spot because of a malicious brat who played innocent and didn’t understand what happens when you compromise. It’s not one side surrenders and the other gains, but what do I expects from the preppy college school type, (not all preppy girls are mean, I just have this personality that sends the wrong vibes and makes them more territorial)AKA mean girl type... however, this girl demanded everything goes her way or else. She’s from Georgia, yet she comes to higher elevation part and in the middle of the US, it’s winter yet she expects sunshine and beaches? All of us to be drinking out of a coconut? Yes, her hair is blonde at the roots, and she smokes pot in the apartment. Kind of gives you a clue on the person she is. Of and her Boy Toy is always there... when I stayed there. She blamed me for her messes, and her food she didn’t eat. Thing is I hate fish. Well another one to count she has a low IQ from the Mercury poisoning... and here I thought fish helped with brain development.

Anyway, it was hell, so my friend volunteered on the condition that I find a job and move out ASAP. I’m tryin as hard as I can here.

Being told no everywhere I go is very discouraging. I’ve made a gofund me campaign to maybe to maybe help a little... I don’t expect anyone to donate really... if anyone could click the link and share it to a friend they know and spread it around.

By February the only place I’ll be staying is my car on the side of the road... just sharing the story helps. Thank you.

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deathbytitanium · 7 years

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The Wildcat and the Bear (Part 5)

This might be the longest chapter I have ever written, so long in fact, I had to cut it in two. Sorry. Here's part one. Enjoy, my beautiful readers!!

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 (AO3)

Naming Ritual - Day 1 (Part One)

She'd woken up warm again that morning. Much to her surprise, the reason she was waking up warm was that Cassian had his arms wrapped around her. More surprising still, she hadn't immediately drawn away from him, falling back asleep instead.

The conversation that came after she woke and they had a simple breakfast had been a little less pleasant.

“Yesterday… you called me your mate, to Mor.” Cassian had started carefully.

“That's what you called me, isn't it? I assumed that was the name of what we are.”

“It is… but, why did you call me that? You hadn't before.”

She'd sighed, “I haven't talked to anyone but you since the bonfire ritual and I was following your lead. I'm sorry if I make things more difficult for you both.”

“What's that supposed to mean?” He'd asked indignantly.

“I know you love her Cassian. It was one of the reasons I'd distanced myself from you in the first place, I assume it's the reason you distanced yourself from me as well. I understand, after the naming ritual we go back to the way things were,”

“What? Just stop for a second. I don't love her, if I ever have it's been years since I've stopped. You've already given up then? Is that what you're saying? We spend one day trying to get to know each other, trying to work together and you're done?”

"Whatever it is you and her have, I don't want to get in the way of it. It's fine.”

"We don't have anything, you stubborn woman. That's what I'm saying, we never have. I don't want her. I want you. I'm not in love with her, I'm in love with you. You want to know why I distanced myself from you after the war? I was scared because I'd never felt that way before and I didn't think I was ready for it. And I wasn't. But then I was sitting at the bonfire the other night and I see that wildcat and it turns into you and I realized it was chance to start over, to do this right, to try Nesta. Don't give up, please, not yet.”

And what was she to say to that? How was she to walk away from another plea? So she hadn't left, though she said nothing in return. Why was it so hard to leave him? Some time later, while quietly contemplating the variables, she'd decided that she would try for the week, this one week. It should have been against every fiber of her being to be so compliant, but it wasn't, not when it came to him and that fact was extremely infuriating to her.

So there she was, in that cursed tent, thinking, while he hunted with his brothers. She should have gone hunting with them… If it weren't for her damn pride she would have.

She had no idea what to do now but she did know she wanted to get out of this tent. Right now. She sighed and lifted herself from the floor. She’d… go visit Feyre. She felt a little bad for using her sister as her last resort, but she was close to calling defeat and it was the only idea she’d had all day that didn't make her stomach turn.

She quietly walked over to her tent and listened for a second, to make sure she was alone, then entered.

“Oh, Nesta! I hadn't been expecting you, come in, sit.” She did as Feyre asked, not knowing what else to do. She was too caught up in her head, too caught up in herself, in Cassian’s words, of the meaning behind them. She was just so… confused? Conflicted? This was a mess.

Feyre’s smile was blinding. Her little sister was happy, genuinely happy. It was almost strange, after everything, to see her be so effortlessly happy, “So,” Feyre continued in stride, despite the fact that she had said nothing, “How is everything? How’s it going with you and Cassian?”

How were things with her and Cassian? She didn’t understand it very well herself. At all, she didn’t understand it at all. Before she knew it she’d said, “Cassian told me he’s in love with me,” and it had slipped out before she could control herself.

“Well, that’s good isn’t it?” she said hopefully, her face showing surprise, but maybe not the same surprise Nesta was feeling. No, her surprise was different, hers wasn’t hopeful or happy, it was just unexpected. She didn’t know how to react.

She shrugged, all her emotions were in that one shrug. “I don’t know.” she answered, finding herself needing to talk to someone, “I… we… I think we were about to start fighting.”

Feyre’s brows bunched, “Why? What happened?”

Nesta rubbed her forehead, feeling almost foolish for saying this at all, for sharing her own problems with her younger sister when they weren’t even that big to begin with, sighing, she started to explain, “Mor… she came over yesterday. She screamed at him, I think. Then she tried to intimidate me, but I just brushed it off, walked away.”

“And that led to a fight?” she asked as diplomatically as she could. Mor was a close friend of Feyre’s and Nesta felt even more stupid when she remembered that.

She swallowed hard, “No, not that, not really. It’s just… the way that he just ran to her, the moment her heard her voice. He left me behind and it was so effortless, it’s always so easy for him. I just… told him that, that I knew and understood. He loves her and everything is going to go back to the way it was after all this is over.”

“And then he told you he was in love with you?”

She nodded quietly, “And that I shouldn’t give up yet… on getting us to work.”

“What did you say?”

“I didn’t say anything… I didn’t know what to say.”

“Are you in love with him?”

“I don’t know, Feyre, that’s why I didn’t say anything. And even if I was, he’d still pick her over me, any day, any time…”

“I don’t think so, Nesta. But that is just my opinion and it’s obviously more complicated than that… Did you agree to try?”

“Yes… for the week.”

Feyre smiled, “Of course you’re only giving it a week.” Nesta just rolled her eyes, but a little smile peeked out. Feyre enveloped her in a hug, “Everything is going to work out.”

“So how is life now that you're newly mated?” Rhys asked, smirk and eyebrows wiggling.

“Interesting.” Cassian said curtly.

Azriel laughed quietly, “It seems married life is a touchy subject.”

“Mor visited yesterday night.” He bit out, bitterly, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

“Oh,” From Rhys.

“After she was done with me, she confronted Nesta.” He growled.

“Not good.” Azriel muttered.

“You think?” He grumbled, “This morning Nesta tells me ‘it’s okay, Cassian, you love her and I'm leaving you as soon as I can,’” he said in a poor imitation of Nesta’s almost expressionless voice this morning.

“Got worse,” Azriel muttered, earning a glare for Cassian.

“What did you do?” Rhys asked carefully, his honest concern evidence on his face.

He sighed, “I told her I was in love with her. For her not to give up on us… yet.”

“And?” Azriel prompted.

“Oh, she said nothing. Not a word. Just went on doing what she had been doing. She did not, however, leave, and that I am calling a victory.”

“With Nesta? That is definitely a win, I’ve never seen her unable to find a biting remark to throw at someone.” Rhys input.

“You left her speechless… Brother, you deserve a prize.” Azriel agreed.

“Be that as it may, I feel bad about it. Mor was…”

“Out of line.” Rhys supplied.

He pointed at Rhys, “Yes. That.” He rubbed his eyes with the palm of his hand, “Why does all of this have to be so incredibly complicated?”

“It is complicated, Cass. But when it settles, when everything falls into place… it’s worth it. Very worth it.” Rhys settled his back on a tree, his eyes gleaming with his own memories, his own experiences with both love and an Archeron sister.

“You’re just a big sap,” Azriel scoffed.

“Maybe,” he granted, “But I just so happen to be the only one that has been able to have a successful relationship.”

Cassian rolled his eyes, “Truly impressive considering the odds of finding a woman that can actually stand to be near you for more than a night.”

“Nesta is rubbing off on you, brother.” Azriel chuckled with a snort, “As for all the other complications, maybe you should consider speaking to Mor and explaining the change in circumstance to her.”

“Sounds like the best possible outcome,” Rhys agreed.

“Weren’t we supposed to be hunting?” Azriel asked cheekily, “When did this become a ‘let’s discuss Cassian’s relationship problems’ party?”

“Let’s hunt then,” Cassian grumbled. This was going to be a very long day, wasn’t it?

Cassian was in a decidedly bad mood when he had finished hunting. The night had ended on a good enough note, with the nightmare and the holding, but this morning had been a disaster and had erased any positivity that might have arisen from the situation. It only made things worse that when he got to their tent Nesta wasn’t there. She’d probably already left him and that was why he had no idea where she was.

He decided laying down on the furs and giving up on his dreary existence was the perfect plan. He sprawled down with his arms out and sighed long and hard. That was the position he was in when Nesta walked into the tent. “Hello.” she said.

“Oh, hello. Don’t mind me, I’m just awaiting my death. How was your day?”

“Not half as dramatic as yours, I’m sure. What exactly brought out this quest for death?”

He sighed again, “Nothing, nothing at all… I have the clothes you’ll need for the week. And the paint. If you don’t mind, I’d be more than happy apply them on your pretty face. Though I’m afraid it might lead to you biting my hand off or my head off… or worse, my hair off. They’re such pretty locks.” He lamented, petting his second favorite feature.

“ What happened to you today that you are in such a morbid mood?”

“Oh, my mate just said that she was going to leave me at the end of the week because one of my best friends thought she had the right to speak to my mate like she owns this fucking tent. And then, now this is the funny part, ready for it? I told my mate I was in love with her and she said nothing at all. Not a word.” he sighed dramatically, “Now I’m morbid.”

“You’re a whining fool.”

“I told you I was in love with you and you said nothing!”

“Cassian stop whining.” he glared at her and she just rolled her eyes. He sprawled back onto the furs, hating himself and his situation. She walked toward him and kicked him in the side, “Get up.”

“Leave me to my death, Nesta. You don’t even answer me when I open up to you. There is no more reason to live.”

She rolled her eyes at him again, “I need help getting dressed.” he made a noise like a dying animal. She sighed again, “I need help getting undressed .”

He lifted himself in the same moment, “I can help.”

“Pathetic.” She shook her head, “Get yourself together, we have to get through this week. And like it or not, I need your help.”

Cassian gasped dramatically, “You lied ! I demand to help you undress at least one piece of clothing.”

“No. But you can do my paint for me, after I put on the clothes I need.” She looked pretty when she was being authoritative. Even prettier when she was screaming at him, though he did appreciate that this had not yet escalated to that point.

“You are depriving me of my Cauldron given right as your husband-”

“Don’t even dare finish that sentence.” Nesta growled.

He came close to her, leaning slightly as he got close, “It’ll happen, just wait,”

She flicked him on the nose, “Down boy. I need to change, and I need you out of here until I’m finished. I’ll shout when you’re allowed back.”

“This is my tent!”

“ Our tent, for the time being.”

“I’ll leave on one condition. Where were you today?”

Her brows bunched in confusion, “I was with my sister. You see, my supposed husband’s best female friend thought it was a good idea to try to intimidate me into leaving him. Then, when it was mentioned in conversation in the morning, the idiot I have to call my husband thought that the solution to that problem was to tell me he was in love with me. I had a lot to talk about.”

“Isn’t it a solution?” he asked quietly.

“It’s not Cassian. It’s just one of the variables.”

He deflated a little as he saw the hardness in her eyes, the truth in them, “I’ll be right outside…” He left the tent and stood there like a fool. Was the entire endeavor a big waste of time? Was she ever going to open to him… love him? He was so close to loving her… and she… wasn’t.

“You may re-enter,” Nesta said, and he rolled his eyes as he went back in. And she called him dramatic. When he got back inside, she was looking down at herself with a frown, “I don’t like it,” she mumbled. He understood why, considering she was so conservative with her clothing and this left a lot of skin bare, as the skirt ended at her knees and her arms were bare. She threw her arms up, looking up at him, “And I’m going to be cold all night.”

His eyes lingered on the skin he was unaccustomed to seeing, “I got you fur lined boots for tonight. These are the clothes the ritual demands… on the bright side, we’ll be beside the fire and you’ll be warm enough.” He gave her a sympathetic smile, which quickly turned to a smirk, “I’ll be right next to you and I’ll be shirtless.” He winked for good measure.

She lifted her eyebrow looking down at his torso then she sighed, but said nothing. “And now I get to do your paint,” he said with a smile, taking the paints from the pouch he had put them in. “I brought you some berries, if you'd like to snack on them.”

She smiled and pulled the smaller pouch of berries from his hand, humming happily as she plucked a few berries into her mouth. “Turn toward me, please.” He said, opening the jars and placing them in front of them. “Look up, so I can look at you. You’re surprisingly short to be my soul mate.” He started dabbing in the paint, finding the colors he needed, mixing the colors slightly to get them just right.

She rolled her eyes, “I wasn’t aware that was a big factor in soul pairing.”

“Shush. I need to get this right,” he said, starting to paint. “Believe it or not this is important. Each different pattern is for a different purpose,” he started following the contours of her face. “Close your eyes for me,” a red stripe over her eyes and the bridge of her nose almost like a mask. A thin dark blue stripe coming down from her hairline, over her eyes, ending perpendicular to her mouth. “Close your mouth,” he said in a seductive voice, which prompted her to open her eyes just to shoot him an eyeroll.

He winked, smiling at her, “Mouth closed.” She did as he asked, so he drew the line from right below her nose, down her chin. “What did you mean?” he asked quietly as he started the lines on her clavicle, “Earlier, I mean… When you said that what I said wasn’t a solution?”

“Cassian…” she sighed, “It’s more complicated than just feelings, it’s… Sometimes, they’re not enough. I wish it was that easy, just a few words and all problems solved.”

“And you didn’t answer because you don’t feel anything?”

She looked up, seriously as she’d ever been, “I didn’t say anything because I don’t know how I feel…” she swallowed hard, “I’m sorry… I just don’t know.”

He concentrated on his painting, “It’s alright. Everything is happening so quickly… I can’t blame you. It’s okay you don’t feel the same way.”

“I don’t know how I feel… that’s exactly the problem.” she shrugged, “I’m confused…”

He nodded, finishing the paint on her arms, the almost black blue pattern of vines and thorns ending at her wrist, “I was confused… right up until I saw you in that fire. But I understand how it’s different for you, all of our traditions and customs. Of course you’re confused, you’d be insane if you weren’t.”

“Thank you…” she bit her lip, “for being understanding.”

“I happen to be amazing man, thank you very much,” he pat her on the hand and turned away, “And an amazing body painter,” he said with a wink. He reached into the pouch once more, taking out his totem and extra feather necklace, “We have to wait until the paint dries to put the necklaces on.”

He got up and took his own trousers from where they were neatly folded. “Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to change, so you better stop ogling me before you see more than you bargained for.”

“Very presumptuous of you to assume that I was ogling you.” Nesta dismissed.

Cassian looked back with a smirk, catching her turning her back on him quickly, “I'm not presuming. I watched you track my marvelous behind from the mirror I just happen to be standing in front of.”

Once he had finished slipping on his special pants, he turned back to the paints, knowing that he'd have to embellish his tattoos by himself. The paint for mated males was different than what he was accustomed to doing so he'd had to ask for help. Rhys had graciously told everything he needed to know, so here he was. Traditionally, his mate would have been the one to do the painting, but since everything between them was so… complicated with them, he didn’t really expect her to.

He’d finished drawing the vines and thorns on his chest and was changing from the dark blue paint to the red paint when Nesta walked over and sat in front of him. “Can I help?” she asked, her voice quiet and unsure, her eyes looking straight into his.

“Yes, of course.” he nodded, handing her the paint. Cauldron, those eyes of hers were so intense, it was like looking at the ice on top of the steppes, where the lights touched the earth. The more he looked the deeper he fell… all he could hope was that she someday felt the same.

“Teach me how?” Gods and spirits both, the way her quiet voice just sank into his bones and rattled him to his core.

He took her hand in his and guided her through the designs. She concentrated on him the entire time, her movements precise and controlled. Gentle… so gentle it almost hurt him. Once she had finished his chest she looked up at him. They locked eyes, as she lifted her hand to his face to continue. She lifted her hand to his eyes, but her eyes lost focus from his, going to his lips. His followed suit going to her full, painted lips… And before he knew it she was on her knees, starting the line under his eyes.

But then her eyes locked on his and the intensity was palpable and in that moment all he wanted to do was look at them for the rest of his life. Then she was closer than she had been before and their lips were almost touching, just a little closer and… Her lips were on his before he could take another breath. Their eyes were closed and their lips were fused. They were apart again in a couple breaths and she was painting his face again.

Next Chapter

#nesta archeron #cassian #nessian #fanfic #nessian fanfiction #the wildcat and the bear #my writing

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tenscupcake · 7 years

Text

my first, and possibly only, official statement on the new doctor.

i've honestly been truly and thoroughly baffled, and rather disappointed, by the lack of discussion occurring around this polarizing issue. in fact, in my brief experience on various social media platforms, discussion is rarely, if ever, allowed. the tiniest expression of discontent with the new doctor immediately elicits a slew of insults and accusations of misogyny. i have yet to have an actual conversation with anyone about this, aside from close personal friends who share my views, because those who don't share them will not even engage them. they instead immediately resort to name calling and shut down any attempts at conversation i make. honestly, it has driven a wedge between me and doctor who and its fandom like i've never experienced, not even in all my suffering through the moffat era.

i hesitated for a while about coming back on here at all. but i figured it would be wrong of me to not give my friends and acquaintances here a chance to really hear me out, since before i took a hiatus i hadn't really properly articulated my reasoning (for the aforementioned reasons). so to anyone interested in my thoughts on the matter (and let me explicitly mention here that i am referring only to rational people who are willing to either read silently and go about their day or else engage in a polite discussion with me, not people who are just going to send me vicious anonymous asks), here they are.

i’m sure it’s no surprise to any of my followers that i haven’t been actively watching the show for some time now. in fact, i stepped away indefinitely sometime early season 8, not because i had any issue with capaldi, but because i didn’t feel moffat’s writing had improved any since the last season.

so, it may have come as a surprise to many of you that i even had a strong reaction of any kind, be it positive or negative. and i can certainly see where you’re coming from, if that’s the case.

when it was announced early last year that moffat would finally be leaving, i threw a party. i literally did. i got together with my one other real-life friend who watches the show, watched rtd episodes, and made blue cupcakes (that were supposed to be TARDIS colored but turned out more of a pale teal and baby blue combo). i can’t even explain how happy i was at the mere suggestion of him leaving. because in my eyes, he took my favorite show and turned it into something i resented. it was such a slow and painful process to come to terms with the fact that a show i once loved was causing me so much grief, and finally part ways with it (at least in the sense of following along with the new episodes; i’ve obviously remained active in the rtd sect and continue to devote a significant chunk of my life to the doctor and rose *blush*). but i just couldn’t deal with the constant disappointment and rage anymore. i knew it was for the best.

i liked broadchurch well enough, with the exception of the second season, and i thought there was no way chibnall could be worse than moffat. and best case scenario, he could potentially resurrect the show into something i’d enjoy again. maybe it was foolish to hope for such a thing, but i owe far too much to this show after all it’s done for me to not give it a second chance under new leadership. so when, a few weeks ago, they told us the date they’d be announcing the new doctor, i got properly excited again. to put a face to my renewed hope in the series? it was hard not to get excited. the sound of the tardis still makes my heart swell with joy and gratitude. i’m still invested. just look at my room or my wardrobe. i’m a self-proclaimed doctor who geek through and through. if i wasn’t, i don’t think it would be possible for me to be genuinely upset about anything that happened to the show. the things we love are the things that can hurt us the most.

so, without prolonging the inevitable any longer, i’ll try to explain why i was/am upset by the casting announcement.

i really have three main reasons.

1. the issue of representation.

let me start out by saying i am a passionate advocate for better (i won't say more, because i don't think that's the issue at hand) female representation in media. especially film. i desperately want more intelligent, strong, powerful women in fiction. but what i absolutely do not want is to recycle traditionally male characters into female ones. doesn't this seem counterproductive to anyone else? its almost as though a man always has to pave the way, and only once he's established a character can a woman potentially take over. it’s trite and more than a little insulting.

give me more original female characters who kick ass. give me more natasha romanoffs, more reys, more elle woods, more leslie knopes.

don’t give me more batgirls or supergirls. don’t take a character as prominent and culturally significant as the doctor and morph him into a woman after 50+ years (or 2000+, depending on your perspective).

and you know, i've actually seen people say (addressing people who are upset about the casting): ‘a character’s gender doesn't have to match yours to be a good role model for you.’ you know what? to an extent, i actually agree. as a matter of fact, i strongly identify with and take inspiration from the doctor, even though he's a man. does nobody hear how hypocritical it sounds to say you want a woman to play the doctor purely so girls can have another role model, and then turn around and in the next sentence say gender is irrelevant to role models? yeah, this one really floored me.

but though i do think that one’s role models don’t have to match one’s gender 100% of the time, it is important to have some that do. and i do think there is an imbalance in the number of strong male leads in tv and film versus the number of strong female leads. keyword: strong. i’m tired of sexist stereotyping and failed bechdel tests, too. probably more than most, actually. but i think taking existing male characters and gender bending them is the absolute worst way to go about rectifying this imbalance.

2. the issue of the nature of gender.

i want to preface this by saying that, until fairly recently, i was something of a fundamentalist when it came to gender. but over the years, i’ve realized how problematic such views are. i’ve invested hours upon hours of my free time scouring reddit threads and watching documentaries about trans issues to understand this crucial part of the LGBT community. to learn. and what i’ve gathered from my thorough research, and heard from the many personal experiences of transgender individuals i’ve read, is that gender is something distinct from biological sex that is immutable. the gender you’re born with is the gender you are for life. (and yes, as i understand it this does also apply to genderfluid individuals - they’ve always been genderfluid even if it was not always expressed.) and changes made to physical appearance are merely affirming one’s gender, not changing it.

changing the doctor into a woman flies directly in the face of this very concept. and to me, it really, truly feels like an insult to the trans community.

it’s going back to the regressive fundamentalist view that sex = gender. that because the doctor has a woman’s body now, he must therefore identify as a woman. though this hasn’t been explicitly confirmed in so many words, given the widespread use of feminine pronouns and the term ‘woman’, i think it’s safe to conclude this is the case for the show. and this is so contrary to the whole message the LGBT community is trying to put out.

now. i’ve heard several potential counterarguments to this, so bear with me as i go through them.

first, people say ‘but the doctor is an alien, not a human. our gender expectations don’t apply.’ true. yes. he is an alien. but is the show really about his alienness? i think you’d be hard-pressed to convince me that it is. the truth is, though it’s told through tales of distant planets and creepy aliens, it’s really a show about humanity, and always has been. doctor who has always espoused a meaningful kind of secular humanism. it’s explored what it means to be human in so many impactful ways. and it’s because the doctor looks and acts human much of the time, succumbs to human emotions and has such human flaws, that he is so relatable. yes, it’s a sci-fi show about time travel and regeneration and spaceships, but if the doctor were completely alien and had no human qualities, it wouldn’t have become such a hit. don’t try to deny that. trying to distance the doctor from humanity is a detriment, not a benefit, to the show.

and though some may argue we ought to hope for and potentially work towards a future where gender is irrelevant, the fact is in today’s society gender is exceedingly relevant. and important. transgender people and feminist movements wouldn’t exist - wouldn’t need to exist - if it weren’t.

second, i see people say ‘the doctor has no gender.’ this one admittedly really throws me. no gender? where is the evidence for that?

for one thing, what point would there be to differentiating between time lords and time ladies if gender was not of import on gallifrey?

there is also a plethora of evidence to the contrary: the doctor has in fact consistently identified as a man. starting JUST with ten:

in ‘the christmas invasion’: he says ‘same man, new face. well, new everything.’

also in tci: ‘oh, that's rude. that's the sort of man i am now, am i?

also in tci: ‘no second chances. i’m that sort of man.’

in ‘fear her’: ‘look at my manly hairy hand’

in ‘evolution of the daleks’: ‘the only man in the universe who might show you some compassion’

in ‘utopia’: ‘i was a different man back then.’

in ‘voyage of the damned’: ‘i’m the man who’s going to save your lives’

in ‘the end of time’: ‘even if i change, it feels like dying. everything i am dies. some new man goes sauntering away.’

a couple of these quotes actually indicate that he has an innate sense of being a man that transcends regeneration. depending on his current level of angst, it seems, he sees himself as a different man or the same man, but the ‘man’ part remains the same. he doesn’t say ‘person’ or ‘character’ or anything to that effect. he says ‘man.’

not to mention, the doctor consistently objects to being called a human (or martian), and corrects those who mislabel him as such, but never once objects to being called a man (which is quite often).

and just so that no one accuses me of singling out one doctor too much, here’s a quote from the first doctor from the pilot, an unearthly child: ‘i’m an old man. how can an old man like me harm any of you?’

right off the bat. the doctor has been identifying as a man for literally thousands of years.

sorry for lingering on that sub-point for a while. it’s just so mind-boggling to me because there’s so much freely available evidence to the contrary.

third, i’ve noticed there seems to be some level of collective amnesia of the backlash from when the master made a comeback as missy. given what i’ve observed of people praising the decision retroactively, no one seems to remember the fandom’s response from that revelatory episode anymore. but i remember it vividly. a number of people were furious, the trans community and its allies in particular. and this outrage returned with a vengeance when missy kissed the doctor (12) later on. though i had already given up on watching the show by then (at least as long as moffat’s hellish reign continued), the anger and frustration i was seeing really resonated with me.

i have never forgotten that, and it is undoubtedly a big part of the reason i’m so angry and frustrated now. i am at least consistent, if nothing else. but conversely, there seems to be a lack of consistency among much of the fandom, as i sense none of the widespread ire from the past making a resurgence now, and it’s unclear why. the same issues regarding gender are at play. it’s leading me to assume that many people are embracing this decision purely for perceived representation, while disregarding potential cultural issues it may raise, which i think is dangerously selfish and shallow.

3. the choice of actress.

i’m not going to pull any punches here, since i’m already putting my blog’s reputation in jeopardy by making this post at all. i don’t like jodie whittaker, specifically. i think she’s a terrible actress.

this is based purely off of watching broadchurch, because it’s the only thing i’ve seen her in. but her performance paled miserably next to david’s and olivia’s, and even some minor characters’. i mean, beth’s life thoroughly sucked, and everything in it went from bad to worse for a while, but i didn’t really care. she didn’t make me care. i think that’s a huge red flag for any actor. because, i mean, compare that to olivia’s performance. i mean, SHIT. miller made me feel things every episode. intense things. and beth didn’t. at all. ever.

so, even IF the other two issues were somehow resolved, i still wouldn’t be happy with the casting choice, because i am not at all impressed with this person’s acting ability. the doctor is a huge role. a critical one. and i’m honestly not sure what she did to earn it.

so, that’s it. it’s not every nook and cranny of my position, but it’s the gist of it.

as my final thought, i’ll reiterate what i said at the beginning, to anyone considering responding to this: hostile ad hominem responses will be resolutely ignored, but (time and volume of responses permitting) polite intellectual debate will likely be engaged. but let it be said that though i’m willing to listen to reason, it’s highly unlikely anyone will change my mind.

i don’t want this to widen the chasm between me and the fandom. i already feel so distant from it already, like i’m hanging on by a thread. in all likelihood, i won’t discuss the subject at all any more after this post, save for when responding to others’ comments or questions about it. and even then, i will do so privately whenever i can. because i really don’t want to dwell on it anymore. i’ve finally sunk myself back into ep after an extended hiatus due to surgery and work, and that’s what i’d really like to dedicate my free time to from here on out. that and my other d/r fics. that’s what makes me happy; not bickering with people who don’t agree with me.

so please! feel free not to respond to this at all. it is completely optional and even somewhat discouraged, because i am tired of thinking about it and being yelled at and insulted for it. i’d love to forget about it and move on, at least until i’m forced to confront it again this christmas. i want to get back to what my blog is all about - nine and ten’s era. david. the fun smattering of friends and parks gifs. but above all else, the doctor and rose. the couple i’ve dedicated the past four years of my life to.

no matter what happens, i’m going to stay with them. whether or not i stick around on tumblr, i’ll continue posting my fics on ao3. they’re my happy place. these characters mean the world to me. and doctor who will always be very dear to my heart, regardless of how the future of the show pans out. i hope my followers never doubt that.

#please do not reblog #negativity cw #if you don't want to see it #don't read it #i know it's long #but it's me #i'm nothing if not thorough #meta #hope i don't regret this #there's also a substantial amount of anti moffat talk in here #fair warning for that too

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tea-and-cardigans · 7 years

Text

What Fools These Mortals Be. Chapter One

Multi-chapter AU

The Riverdale Community Theatre Company is staging its greatest production to date: “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. Betty Cooper sees this as an opportunity to make the company’s most sought-after actor, Archie Andrews, hers. Unfortunately, new girl in town, Veronica Lodge has scored a lead role, putting her directly opposite Archie. Behind the scenes, Jughead Jones has returned to his usual role back stage but is soon drafted into the play when one of the actors has an accident. Meanwhile, director Kevin Keller just wants to stage a successful play and keep his actors private lives separate.

Big shout out to the awesome @jandjsalmon who is beta'ing and is amazing. She is a cornerstone of this fandom and I am so happy to have her help with bringing this story to life.

Also thank you to @zombiekittez who is answering my questions around the intricacies of community theatre, it has really helped me in visualising and creating this story.

Chap 1 / Chap 2 / Chap 3 / Chap 4 / Chap 5 / Chap 6 / Chap 7 / Ao3 / FF.net

I will be attempting to update this regularly as possible with at least one update per week, possibly more depending on my brain’s co-operation.

“I cannot just stand by and watch you do this again,” Kevin Keller huffed, watching his blonde best friend as she adjusted herself in the mirror. Betty Cooper had asked him to come by before the first meeting of their community theatre group, to give her a pep talk and to help her choose an outfit. He was not entirely holding up his side of the bargain though, instead he was trying to talk her out of whatever elaborate plan she had this time.

“You make it sound so dramatic, Kevin.” She looked at him briefly before turning back to her reflection. Betty was trying to decide between two lip shades, ‘perfect pink’ or ‘seductive red’. Her fingers itched to choose the scarlet shade, but as she applied the colour she immediately changed her mind and wiped it off, returning to her signature shade. She liked to play it safe, and tonight she needed the comfort of the usual.

“Every year you make moon eyes at him and every year he ends up bedding another member of the cast,” Kevin said, not unkindly, more matter of fact. He didn’t like to hurt her, but sometimes he had to tell it like it was.

“Well then it’s about time that it’s my turn,” Betty answered in her typical, self-depreciating humour. She knew pining was a silly thing for a grown woman to do. Chasing the boy around like a puppy, begging at his heels for any bit of attention he would throw her way.

Kevin scowled, upset that she thought so little of herself.

“Oh don’t look at me like that, it was a joke,” she added rolling her eyes, a half-truth.

“Betty, you know I love you, but don’t make a fool of yourself this year.” His tone was serious. He swore everyone in the damn group knew the feelings that Betty had for Archie, except Archie – who was a great actor but extraordinarily oblivious on the best of days.

“God, Kevin! You make me sound like a silly school girl,” she huffed, twirling her flaring skirt as she faced him, her make-up now flawless, looking every bit as perfect as everyone thought she was.

“Your words,” he quipped with a smirk before she grabbed a cushion from the nearby couch and threw it at him. Chuckling, Kevin caught it before it could hit his face and threw it back at her gently.

She knew what her friend was saying was true, it wasn’t like this was new thing. It happened every year without fail when the gang got back together to perform. Good old Betty Cooper was there being her perfect self, waiting for any tiny glimmer of an opportunity with Archie Andrews to roll around... but every year it was like she didn’t even exist to him as more than just a friend. Another year and another production meant yet another chance for him to see what he had been missing, for him to see her.

“So, great director of ours, what play are you having us do this year?” She asked, finally taking a seat next to him on the couch. She was flattering him to change the subject, and not being so subtle about it.

Kevin knew what she was doing, but let it go for now. “I have something special planned, a classic, Shakespeare,” he answered with an excited smile. He looked forward to these plays each year. The RCTC was a small community group with only enough funding to produce one show a year, but every year he made sure it was as grand as it could possibly be. Auditions were always open to the entire community but the usual suspects seemed to always turn out – of course, Betty being one of them. She had been performing with him in them since they were in high school, side by side until Kevin had been offered the position of director which he had been only too eager to accept.

Not that the job was easy by any stretch of the imagination. Keeping the private lives of his actors separate from the production was usually his main challenge. The ‘Betty and Archie Saga’ was a perpetual thorn in his side. He loved Betty, he did, but the poor girl just did not know when to quit. Most people would have been turned down once and accepted it, but good old Betty Cooper always came back for more.

If it wasn’t for Archie’s ability and talent to bring in the crowds, Kevin would have eliminated him from the show completely just to spare her - and in turn himself - from the heartache and drama. But he was talented and handsome and that combination brought in the young girls and their mothers which just so happened to be their main audience in town.

“O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?” she pronounced dramatically, her hands making flourishes as she collapsed back onto the couch, with a giggle. Kevin couldn’t help but smile back at her. She was sunshine. Bright green eyes and blonde hair, with a laugh that made the birds envious and a heart that was genuine and kind. All he wanted to do was find her a nice man, a good man. All he wanted was for her to be happy and content. That plan did not and could not involve Archie Andrews.

“I don’t think so, Juliet. I can only imagine the torment that you would inflict upon me if I gave the role of Juliet to anyone else.”

“Yeah. Probably for the best,” she confirmed with a snicker.

“Something a little light though. I think a comedy.” He noticed her eyes light up at this. “Something with clever dialogue and witty banter, deception and disguise. Mistaken identities and twists and turns. Something fun.”

“Well, now I am intrigued, are you going tell me?” she asked, sidling closer to him on the couch, her bottom lip pouting in that way that girls do subconsciously when they want something from the opposite sex. It was something that never worked on Kevin.

“And take away the surprise? I think not,” he replied, and Betty slumped back on the couch, defeated.

“You do have a flair for the dramatic, Kev,” she sighed but with a smile.

“I think that’s why they made me the director,” He chuckled at her eye roll and helped her up from the couch.

***

Betty had arrived to the theatre for their meeting early to help Kevin with set up. She was busying herself with setting out the teas and coffees when she saw him enter the room. It was cliché she knew, but she could swear her heart skipped a beat when she saw Archie Andrews walk through the door. She had worshipped him since high school. Back when she had been the nerdy girl with the glasses with the gay best friend. He hadn’t even given her a second glance back then. When she had first seen him turn up for auditions, a year after graduation, she knew that this was her second chance.

Betty had grown up in that year apart. Her confidence in herself had become secure, a year in New York had enabled that. After a year of studying at Columbia, she had returned home for the summer to take part in one last performance, imagining that once her education was finished and her career took off that she wouldn’t have time to indulge in this guilty pleasure. Little did she know how soon she would be returning to this town to never leave again.

She broke herself out of her reminiscent thoughts before they took her further down a path that she couldn’t deal with right now, and focused instead on the red-headed man who had entered the small community theatre. She swore each year he was more handsome than the year before, and a familiar heat rose to her cheeks.

“Archie, hey,” she called out with what she hoped was a nonchalant smile. Her fingers brushed down her skirt as she tried to make her nerves still. She jogged over to him as he continued his path to the stage.

“Oh hey, Betty.” He slowed down a little for her to catch up.

“So, what have you been up to?” she asked, trying to simultaneously catch her breath and sound as casual as she could. She was twisting a strand of hair from her pony tail in between her fingers, a nervous habit that she could only hope played off as flirtatious.

“Well, working on my music mostly. Helping Dad out at the construction site. Had some gigs in New York too,” he offered, and Betty nodded eagerly.

“Wow! So this music thing is really taking off then?” she exclaimed. Of course, Betty knew full well that it was. She was a regular Facebook stalker and Archie literally had nothing private.

“Yeah, well it was just a few gigs, nothing big.” He shrugged.

“Still you’re out there making an impact.” She assured him.

“You still at Riverdale High?” She knew he was going to ask, but was happy that he had at least remembered where she worked.

“Yeah, I mean I have some extra responsibilities, team leader for the English department.” She said proudly, even though she was very aware of how her achievements stacked up to his. She wasn’t exploring New York, following her dreams like he was. She had followed her dreams once and it hadn’t quite worked out, but she was happy with her teaching position, she enjoyed imparting knowledge and being able to open the world of literature to her students made her happy.

“Do you have any idea what Kevin is cooking up for us?” Archie gave her that charming smile and she felt the ground fall from beneath her feet yet again.

“Only that it is a Shakespearean comedy. He wouldn’t divulge anything further,” she sighed and unconsciously tucked a loose bit of hair behind her ear.

“Well, you got more out of him than me.” He smiled again at her and she took a deep breath. This was it, she was going to do it, before she lost her nerve again.

“Anyway, Arch I was thinking…” she started but was curtailed by the ruckus of the other theatre members on the other side of the stage.

“Okay, guys, gather round. I think all the RSVPs are here. Reggie, you can have more of the snacks in a minute,” Kevin shouted over to the snacks table where Reggie was currently shovelling food into his mouth.

He grabbed a few more items in a napkin before walking over to the centre of the stage to stand next to Betty. Characteristically, Reggie Mantle’s eyes lingered a little too long, drifting momentarily over her body, causing her to cross her arms over her chest subconsciously and glower at him. She watched Archie, who was now standing next to one of his old football buddies, Moose Mason. Kevin had dated Moose briefly during the production last year but it had ended on closing night much to Kevin’s dismay. He and Betty had sat on the couch both eating triple fudge sundaes from Pop’s that night, commiserating in each other’s heartbreak.

“Techies, you too this way, don’t slink off into the background. I can see you.” The tech crew looked at each other nervously before making their way over to where the actors had already gathered. “And welcome back, Jughead. Glad you decided to join in again this year.” Betty looked towards the sullen figure that she had been trying to avoid eye contact with since he had arrived. Trademark beanie secured on his head, a passive look to his face as he, reluctantly moved from his position against the wall to stand with his fellow tech members.

“You may have heard some rumblings that we will be turning our hand to something a little more theatrical and classic this year.” Kevin threw a pointed look at Betty who he was sure had already divulged information from their chat that afternoon to the majority of the company by now. She shrugged her shoulders at him, blinking her big doe eyes and feigning innocence. “This will be the first year we attempt something from the great Bard himself, but I have faith that you will all be able to handle it with the same poise and dedication with which you have handled every other production.”

“Well don’t keep us waiting, Kevin, which play are we doing?” Cheryl Blossom piped up, her patience wearing thin already with Kevin’s monologue.

“Thank you, Cheryl. I was getting there.” He mumbled under his breath. “This year Riverdale’s Community Theatre Company will be staging a production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

Betty let out a squeal and immediately clapped her hand over her mouth, attempting to muffle the sound. The other members looked at her with wide eyes following the outburst. Blushing and somewhat more subdued, she shuffled her feet in excitement instead. It was perfect! Kevin gave her a knowing nod, before he continued to outline the play and the schedule for the next few weeks. Everyone nodding attentively.

While the rest of the company followed along with Kevin, Jughead Jones continued to stare at her after her outburst and she mouthed an irritated ‘What?’ at him. When he shook his head at her, his expression something she couldn’t quite read. She stuck out her tongue at him, childish as it was. He rolled his eyes at her, looking away and continued to chat with Dilton Doiley, sharing a private joke, chuckling between themselves.

When Kevin had finished and the company had been dismissed she made her way over to her friend and director.

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream! Kevin it is perfect.” She gave another delighted squeal as she hugged him tightly. “You know that is one of my favourites.” She smiled brightly up at him and once she released him from her hold he was able to resume breathing.

“So, can I presume that you plan on auditioning?” he questioned already knowing her answer.

“Do you even have to ask?” Her eyes scanned the room looking for Archie only to find he must have already left with the rest of the old football team, probably to catch up, probably to pick up girls that nagging little voice in her head told her. She couldn’t hide the disappointment on her face.

“Come on, Blondie. Sundaes at Pop’s to celebrate. My treat.” Kevin put an arm around her shoulder and she leaned against him as the two friends left the theatre together.

Chapter 2

#bughead fanfiction #aubughead #bughead #riverdale fanfiction #my work #betty x jughead #kevin keller #cheryl blossom #archie andrews #what fools these mortals be #moose mason #reggie mantle

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