#it's basically his own child being forced by circumstances to be the adult | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

tum-bakery · 3 months

Text

I've decided to solidify more of Exis' lore because... Ya know what I CAN!!! And some of it is gonna be different from what I might have posted before because... I also can.

OFFICIAL EXIS LORE GO!!!

Exis was quite literally born into a thieves guild, his parent sought refuse there, gave birth to him and left him there. To this day he still doesn't know quite why. All he knows is from his earliest memories he's been a shapeshifter. He has forms that are more natural to him, but he's never been static, and he never can force himself to be just one way. They were loosely raised by... well, whoever was there. They didn't really have a parental figure aside from an odd mentor here and there reminiscing about their own children.

As a child he often helped on jobs, his ability being seen as quite useful. They had a lot of chances to learn about it and were encouraged to test out their capabilities. He was raised as something unique though and it felt incredibly isolating.

He became a staple for the guild, more than it's leadership or location. Wherever home base was, that was Exis' home, trained to be respectful, kind and useful, and frankly well known by seasoned thieves.

When he was an older teen was when he met Avanth and Omylia.

They came together seeking work as it was one of the few places a young tiefling and drow could find that would very willingly accept them for who and what they are.

They had done crimial work before to survive, and were proficient in it, though they preferred to work on their own. As their skills increased though, the need to work alongside larger groups became more apparent, and it was only a matter of time before Exis got his chance to work with them.

The trio quickly became a tight knit team, but there was an odd air of professionalism around them. The entire trio felt like they needed to preform at their best to keep their roles within the guild, even when they were barely older than children.

It was a couple years into them working together that Exis found out about Avanth and Omylia being a couple. They were terrified to have anyone know but... Exis didn't quite care, and it made the two of them feel a lot more comfortable. For Exis it made them feel like a third wheel to the people closest to them... but that was about it and they kept it a secret. The group stayed professional around others, but Avanth and Omylia began to open up a bit more.

It felt like the three fo them against the world.

Along the way other party members came and went, a kobold here, gnome there, a goliath on occasion, but eventually they settled with Laghad and Hannaria. Laghad appreciated their no nonsense additude, and Hannaria basically took on the young adults as if they were her kids, keeping an eye out for the whole group.

All the While Exis... somewhat kept everyone at arms length, they didn't really know how to be close to people, but they found a select few they were comfortable with. Home was with their party.

Once the group was more established, Exis had their first run in with another shifter. A werewolf. They met and pretty quickly hit it off, Exis finally feeling like someone... got it. They bonded, but as lycanthropy is rare and often taboo, they agreed to keep everything between them a secret. Eventually the werewolf worked with the party on a couple jobs, and things went alright.

But they never really felt like the group was for them and sought out somewhere else, leaving without much warning at all. Exis was left deeply... unsure and distraught at losing the first person they found that could relate to them...

They moved on, but something was different.

It was subtle at first, headaches, sensitivity to smells, a bit of dizziness. Exis wasn't feeling like themselves. They were putting on weight they had to consciously hide if they didn't want it seen. It was all so foreign.

Through a series of unfortunate circumstances, being mistaken for gravid livestock and a run in with an old old healer on a solo mission... they found out they were pregnant. All at once the churning in their stomach was movement, and the flutters weren't just anxiety.

and Exis had no clue what to do. Sure Hannaria was experienced with this but he couldn't tell his party! He... didn't think he could tell ANYONE. No one even knew about his relationship, and he didn't want to reopen wounds or have to explain how everything happened. Overwhelmed, he did the only thing he could confidently do; he hid it.

Omylia discovered Exis' pregnancy after a particularly rough battle a few months later. He was in bad shape, and she watched him unshift in pain, and as soon as he realized what she was witnessing he starts begging her not to tell anyone. Omylia... refuses to make any promises, if something happens she won't lie... but so long as he's okay she'll keep quiet.

She does however, warn him against going on any further missions with the group. It's not safe and he's gotten hurt enough already.

Exis however... stays with the group. It's the closest they have to a family and they can't stand the idea of being alone. They take on slightly lighter work as a group at Omylia's request, more solo jobs for everyone - but a job comes in that they can't refuse.

Exis assures Omylia he'll be fine for this last assignment, and he promises that this will be it for him for awhile. She warily agrees.

While spit off from the group, Exis stumbles upon their partner again.

(I'll be honest and say I'm still not 100% sure about anything with Exis' partner but here's a couple ideas that I'd be interesting in exploring with them at this point in the story:

Their partner is happy to see them, over joyed even and offers to bring Exis into their new "pack," of accepting folks! but... it all feels off. Exis tries to decline saying they're happy with their party, and they express the hurt they felt about their partner just... leaving.

Exis' partner's demeanor shifts.

And at some point they find out about the twins. They're... so conflicted, they DO want to run away and take Exis with them, raise their pups together but Exis notes the fact that he wsa abandoned and never told why. He'd been dealing with this all alone for MONTHS.

There's a point where Exis shows what they REALLY look like, and their partner's hands hover by their belly, so unsure how to even process what they're seeing.

Exis' partner is in some way on the other side of whatever job Exis and their party took and that mounts on the tension exponentially.

Exis might even get into a physical altercation with their ex partner at some point during this.

and/or... Exis goes into labor of some kind, and is TERRIFIED. They feel so alone, and betrayed.

After a mission, an underwhelming success, Avanth checks on Exis having not left their tent since the group returned. She finds him shaking and visibly distressed, and her cold demeanor melts away. "Exis? Exis, hey! HEY! what the hell's going on with you?!"

Labor... looks VERY scarey sometimes even when you KNOW what it is... and without even knowing Exis was pregnant, Avanth is horrified.

She's about to run to get Omylia when Exis actually reaches out to Avanth for support and... she's caught because he doesn't DO that, she's worried, but she wants to be there for him.

When she gets the chance though the BOLTS to find Omylia.

The twins are born and it's a tearful affair, with Exis feeling guilty for lying about ... everything, and exhausted from the entire ordeal. Everyone's there and Exis truly feels at home with his found family as they fret and try to help him.

and after some tough deliberation Exis keeps the twins and the story goes on-)

As the twins grow up, the group grows tighter. Avanth and Omylia welcome Exis into their relationship and the three of them are deeply bonded. At a certain point though Avanth an Omylia get a bit of... baby fever. They both try on their own but nothing seems to be going as planned.

Exis is more than happy to carry for them when they finally work up the corage to ask. and there's so much doting sappy goodness from start to finish.

Not only that but Exis having the ability to show off their pregnancy... they get BIG. The teifling and drow babies they have end up both being fairly large babies. Omylia's baby starts small for the majority of the pregnancy but swells Exis up towards the end and they end up massively overdue. It's just how elven babies are. Avanth's baby is big as well, but moreso active. Kicking hooves and a thrashing little tail that would NEVER let Exis rest.

They evolve a bit into a big happy family, Exis proud of his kids as he watches them grow up. And that's about all the canon I have extablished.

(Also if the pregnancy with the twins got to be explored more: they are fairly small babies until the very tail end of the pregnancy, save for... full moons. Exis needed to spend time away to cope on his own with two rowdy shifted kiddos that it feels like double in size whenever the moon is in a certain phase.)

#bakerspeakin #goods from the ba.kery #Nbpreg #Mpreg #implied mpreg #Exis & co.#shapeshifter oc #Ask to tag?

35 notes · View notes

kurisus · 10 months

Text

Chapter 106-2 thoughts

sorry this is LATE but this chapter did horrible things to my brain so let's all yell about it under the cut.

Daikoku continues to be the best character. And the Kofuku/Daikoku reunion I feel kinda got swept under the rug with everything else that happened but I'm glad they're back together. Even if the circumstances are less than ideal.

But before I move to talking about other reunions under less than ideal circumstances,,, I'm glad the shinki have rallied. It goes along well with the manga's message that shinki are responsible for shaping the morals of their god, and I would really hate to read a manga that ends with a massacre of the human race, besides.

On to the Father section, the meat of this chapter, I wonder why Kaya is nowhere to be found. Though her death was sudden, I suppose she didn't become a shinki nor an ayakashi, so Father's dimension can only create a facsimile. So was she satisfied with her life until that point? Or was she so afraid of Father she didn't want to become like him? The latter seems more likely to me.

The parallel between Father looking for Kaya to Yato wanting his shrine hurt me deeply. The difference, though, is that Father would stop at nothing to achieve his goals, whereas Yato had people to stop him and steer him. Like I speculated last month, too, I am not convinced that Father even believes in his own mission. It's more like he got drunk on power and enjoyed causing collateral damage, to me.

In any case, Yato was happy to settle and keep improving himself once he got his shrine, giving up his dreams of being the most-worshipped god since that wasn't really what he was after. Meanwhile, no amount of reparations could fix the damage Father has done, and unlike Yato, he wouldn't stop his behaviors even if Kaya was miraculously here. More likely, he'd try to force Yato and Hiiro back into their roles as his submissive children, and kill everyone who doesn't belong in his facade of a family portrait.

But Kaya is not here, Father has discovered that his will is not all-powerful, and now he's right back to where he started. Ruling over nothing.

The reminder of how Yato sees Izanami in the year 2023 was honestly so rude. And even more rude was that apparently Father knew Hiyori was here, and made an educated guess that Yato saw Izanami as her.

HERE'S HOW THE HIYORI SAKURA CONVERSATION CAN STILL WIN--

Okay so now we're at the Yatori reunion. I think "long-awaited" hardly covers this. It's been more than 5 years for us, and over a month in-universe, and even worse, Yato basically told Hiyori the next time he saw her he would have reincarnated. And now she sees him standing before her as a child. So. That's going well.

A couple things concern me about this. First of all, Hiyori's in poor condition, so something tells me she's going to believe he died and not find out the truth for quite some time. Which would break me beyond repair, so I hope that doesn't happen and I will not elaborate on what's in my head. Second, the reason she's like that at all is because of trash dad's interference. Yato still doesn't know about him setting wolves on her. He's going to quickly put two and two together, and on top of that, Yukine is also dissolving.

So, will Yato kill Father with his own two hands at long last? Will he revert to being an adult once he does? Will Hiyori realize the truth before they part ways forever? CAN WE HAVE A GOD DAMN BITTERSWEET ENDING? I'M GOING TO BE INCONSOLABLE IF WE DON'T.

I think. we will be fine. It's quite late in the game to kill any of the main characters now, but I never look forward to seeing how Adachitoka inevitably plans to hurt me. So with that in mind, I'll see you all next month for another round of screaming.

#Noragami #Noragami spoilers #Noragami manga #I have been coping with the ending by remembering there are still chapters to go #but now we really are at the end and it hit me with this chapter. it's terrifying #live update

63 notes · View notes

o-uncle-newt · 5 months

Text

Cabin Pressure Advent Day 13: Molokai

(Or shall I say, for some reason, Moloquai?)

It's always fun to listen to a holiday episode during the holidays! By which I mean Chanukah, of course (I listened to Molokai on an hour-plus car trip between two Chanukah parties). Now, as someone who is not a Christmas person I always judge a Christmas episode by how well I'm able to enjoy it despite not being a Christmas person. For the record, most episodes pass pretty easily. But Molokai is an interesting one, because it passes despite being very, very, very Christmassy.

Why does it pass? Well, first of all, it helps that it's on a British show, which means that some stuff I genuinely can't tell whether it's a Christmas thing I don't know about or a British thing I don't know about (what the hell is a sugar mouse?), and the latter is something I basically have to be okay with to listen to the rest of Cabin Pressure to begin with (I'm still not sure what a Wimpy is over a decade after first listening to this episode, after all). So it's just kind of immersing in another culture, except it's really two cultures, English culture and Christmas culture (as, of course, epitomized by The Auspicious Pig and Whistle of Tokyo).

The second (and bear with me, it gets a bit involved) is that it might be very specifically about Christmas, but it's also just about happiness, community, and, best of all for me, ritual and the way that that can make holidays even better. To a certain extent, that's something that I know is subjective- I grew up in a religious culture which values religious and holiday ritual very strongly, and so that's something that I'll always find to be meaningful, even if sometimes that comes from creating your own meaning or emphasizing the parts that mean most for you. But at the same time- lots of the "ritual" that I prize on various holidays isn't religious at all, but just the product of family tradition in ways that bring us all together. Particularly as an adult, I've found that holidays make only as much of an impact as you WANT them to- and including ritual makes that impact stronger, because it forces you to DO something that separates this day from other days, and that, incidentally, keeps you busy and absorbed.

It's why I found Martin's disliking Christmas in this episode, only to get really into it when it comes to creating the rituals of Christmas for Arthur, so interesting. I don't recall any real REASON being given for Martin disliking Christmas- it could be an affectation along the lines of Arthur's attempt at sounding grown-up by calling Christmas over-commercialized, but it sounds more like, as an adult living in shitty circumstances (we don't really KNOW what kind of shitty circumstances yet because we haven't heard Qikiqtarjuaq yet, but still) who isn't super close with his family and for whom any Christmas he has, he'll have to make for himself, he doesn't have much reason to like it! What, indeed, WOULD make Christmas different than a typical day for him? But as soon as he's given a reason to cling to the trappings and rituals of Christmas, he gets into it, and I really do love that.

Now of course, Arthur is really the poster child for the whole above concept. But- I was going to say that that's almost too obvious, but that's not really it. It's that Arthur is the one who does this ALL THE TIME. We know already that he's the heart of this show, and what it seems to really come down to is that a large part of that is creating a life around rituals or practices that bring joy. On the most basic level we have that list of events and holidays that he likes, all of which are defined by ritual in some way (I admit to not knowing much about Lent). But I think it goes beyond that- first of all, he CREATES ritual: while it's unclear who exactly invented the name Birling Day, he's the first one to use it in Edinburgh and he's the one who creates a "Happy Birling Day" song in Paris. Even more than that, though, we know his life philosophy from Fitton- create meaning and happiness from things that you DO (sinking into a bath at just the right temperature) rather than from things that happen to you (happening to be in the moonlight with the love of your life). In so many ways, that's what ritual is- rather than treating a time of year or a life cycle event as a thing that happens to you, you create your own meaning through your own actions. You're active and in control of your own joy.

So anyway, all this to say, Molokai continues the Arthurian tradition of Cabin Pressure which is that we have power over our joy by creating and expressing it, and just so happens to apply it to Christmas as a specific example. Gah. I have no idea if that makes sense written out- it does in my head.

And I've barely gotten to the actual episode!

One thing I'd forgotten til I turned it on- Molokai is the first post-Sherlock episode to be recorded. I'd heard a lot from people that the laughter gets louder as a result, which leads to the show seeming funnier as you laugh with the audience. I was skeptical- and I was SORT OF wrong. I do think that the show gets funnier in no small part because JF becomes a better and better writer, but at the same time... the laughter DEFINITELY gets louder. Oh my gosh. I'm not sure how I'd never noticed it. Like, it's loud in Limerick, but this is another level. And what's nice is you can kind of hear the actors feeding off the crowd energy, which is yet a third reason why S3-4 might seem even better.

(On that note, I don't know how much JF pre-planned his rendition of Get Dressed, but it is note perfect. It would have just been normal-funny if he'd sung it, but the Chri-i-i-i-i-stmas/Chri-hi-hi-hi-hi-hi-histmas Days took it up another level. Kudos to him- and his "you'd better not pout, you'd better not cry" is just as great. Incidentally, as a non-Christmas celebrator I didn't get that joke until way later, but his performance is so funny that honestly it didn't matter.)

Of the two plot lines (each with its own set of Chekhov's Guns) in this episode, I vastly preferred the Secret Santa plot. Not that there's anything wrong with the Mr Alyakhin plot- but the resolution, however clever, is just a LITTLE bit too unlikely and over the top. Which, again, sounds weird to say about Cabin Pressure, a show where in a few episodes they'll be dragging a piano to a pub in Devon, but I do still believe that it's all about proportionality- a crazy antagonist justifies a crazy resolution, and this resolution was just a trifle too crazy for the antagonist (and relies a little too much on him missing some major red flags). But it genuinely doesn't matter, because it's still hilarious and sweet, and ends on just the right outrageous note- in particular, the note in Roger Allam's voice (playing to the audience beautifully) as, after an almost-too-long pause, he says "mulled it." Just beautiful- all of the setup and the pitch-perfect payoff.

There's probably other stuff, but please excuse me, I have some latkes to eat. Tomorrow, we're off to Newcastle, one that I haven't listened to in AGES- and I'm dying to know what I'll think!

#cabin pressure #cabin pressure advent 2023 #cabin pressure advent #molokai #john finnemore

24 notes · View notes

antianakin · 9 months

Note

Out of curiosity how do you think the Caretaker Luke AU of yours would work out if Luke were the last living Jedi? In other words, Luke has to be the one to rebuild the Jedi Order himself.

How successful do you think Luke would initially be at it with a pacified Anakin in his care?

Oh that's an intriguing twist. A devastating one, but intriguing.

I imagine the only Force sensitive students he'd be able to recruit would be the VERY desperate or the very young and orphaned. Basically I don't think any parent is going to pass off their child to someone with Darth Vader hovering over their shoulder (Luke can't just leave Anakin behind on an isolated planet, he HAS to be with Anakin at all times). Or if they did out of fear of Darth Vader's wrath, I feel like Luke would be able to pick up on that and would then have to refuse to take the child out of principle because it's not actually being done willingly anymore.

He MIGHT get lucky enough to find a Force sensitive orphan somewhere who's young enough to not know who Darth Vader is. He MIGHT get lucky enough to find an adult who has nothing left to lose and so is desperate enough for say food and shelter to accept the hovering Sith that goes along with the deal (they're about to die of starvation or something else anyway perhaps so death by Sith might actually be quicker and less painful depending on the circumstances).

How well this would go with Anakin just kind-of simmering away in darkness nearby at all times is... questionable, depending on how your interpretation of the Force looks. Like how much does Anakin's inability to let go of his anger and fear and grief and guilt impact Luke's ability to teach these new Force sensitive students? Are the students just as impacted by those negative emotions and darkness as Anakin is, kind-of like a second hand smoke giving someone lung cancer? Does Luke completely fail because Anakin's presence actually completely undoes everything he tries to teach anyway because none of the people he brings in are strong enough or prepared enough to protect themselves against Anakin's darkness in the way Luke's been taught to do?

But it's also just as likely he never finds ANY Force sensitive people willing to take him up on the offer willingly for as long as Anakin is attached to him at the hip. He builds a community maybe, he works on a school, he reads the texts and practices and comes up with lessons and what not, but he has no one to teach. Not until Anakin finally dies and he can go out and speak to parents of young children on his own. Which honestly might actually be the kinder thing to happen for all three of them.

Quite honestly, I just can't see a successful new Jedi Order or Jedi school being built with Anakin sitting at its center alongside Luke, my heart and mind rebel against it. Even if the possibility is there for Luke to somehow end up miraculously successful, I don't want it. The Jedi have suffered enough, they do not need this, too. So Luke waits or he fails, that's how successful he is if he has to do this alone. The Jedi Order has to wait.

The last alternative I can see is that effectively the responsibility passes away from Luke and on to Leia. Because there's quite literally nobody left. There are other politicians presumably who can help build up the New Republic, but there is absolutely nobody left to help the Jedi Order rebuild and Leia is convinced by someone to train with Luke until she's trained enough to basically start her own Order. They set up some sort of system to go out and find Force sensitive people, to try to find students who need them, and Leia takes them somewhere else, somewhere she doesn't even tell Luke about just to be safe. They start creating their own little community and Leia passes on what she knows as she trains with Luke and then takes over training the new students when she's finished her own. And so it goes much like the original AU, Luke just has to wait until Anakin dies and then he has a happy community to join that's been learning and growing without him.

And yes, this means that Han and Leia would not get married, they wouldn't have kids. Which quite honestly is an AU for them I like better anyway, happy endings don't all have to be marriage and kids. They can still be in a relationship together, they can love each other and work something out, it just looks a little different.

Leia becomes the face of the Jedi Order so that Luke can protect Anakin and protect the rest of the galaxy FROM Anakin. He sacrificed his ability to create the new Jedi Order so he could take on that responsibility but Leia understands how important it is to regain the Jedi's presence in the galaxy and in the Republic, so she takes that on herself when no one else can.

#star wars #luke skywalker #leia organa #anakin critical #anakin skywalker critical #anti anakin #anti anakin skywalker #caretaker luke au #jedi #pro jedi #jedi order #new jedi order

28 notes · View notes

dynamightmite · 2 years

Text

It's my own fault for going on reddit to read people's opinions about the manga (I'm sorry in advance, this is gonna be long) but I swear to God if I see one more half-assed hot take about someone hating Bakugo that effectively boils down to "overt violence being casually dismissed bad" I'm going to start smacking people over the head with a newspaper.

Like. Yeah, bro. That's literally it. I mean, it's kind of hard to talk about the violence inherent in the system without, y'know, showing you the violence inherent in the system. It's almost like Bakugo was being used as a vehicle to get that message across from an early point (Deku vs. Kacchan 1, specifically) in a way that is mitigated by circumstance so that it can later be dissected and eventually forgiven.

The entire purpose of characters like Bakugo and Endeavor is to show the audience the cracks in Hero Society's shiny facade that will eventually lead to its downfall. In fact, it's framed as being inevitable; hero society actively selects for competetive, ambitious, powerful people, and the obvious end result is heroes like Endeavor. Like what Bakugo could have been without intervention. The implication, however, isn't that characters like Bakugo and Endeavor are inherently evil, but began from a point where their actions and goals were understandable, if not admirable, but eventually devolved based on the encouragement they got from the system.

The big difference between them is Endeavor is a character who didn't recognize the flaws in hero society until it was too late, whereas Bakugo did. Unlike Endeavor, Bakugo is designed to be forgiveable. He's a child, he's placed in a situation that frequently encourages violence between unpracticed children who have questionable control of their quirks, he's got a quirk that can almost exclusively be used as a form of excessive force, and he has a lot of personal issues that stem from the society he grew up in.

Like it doesn't strike you as relevant that Bakugo attacking Midoriya was put in the context of them being in a facility designed for children to fight in, at a school specializing in teaching children to fight as part of their future career? Under supervision of an adult hero who chose not to stop them from fighting when he could have? When Midoriya and Bakugo both have equally destructive quirks and, if they had actually wanted to kill each other, they absolutely could have, considering Bakugo's control of his quirk and Midoriya's comparative lack? You don't think maybe, just maybe, there was an underlying purpose to that?

Now, Bakugo is supposed to be like Endeavor in the sense that you see how, from a young age, these types of people can appear and become heroes despite their flaws and the dangers they can pose to the people around them, and why it is so important that they have some kind of early intervention to prevent them from taking advantage of a position of authority for their own gain. Can you imagine if there was no Midoriya for Bakugo to measure himself against, and find himself lacking? If nobody showed him how to hold himself accountable? He probably would have ended up being the kind of hero who only cares about winning in the sense of coming out on top, rather than doing so to protect people. Instead, the manga basically provides a step-by-step instruction manual on how to evaluate your life choices and appropriately atone for past misconduct. It has Bakugo choosing to work towards compassion and empathy as a motivator, as opposed to following Endeavor's path towards attempted greatness, which is framed as being the correct choice, because, well—it is.

"But the narrative sometimes still glorifies violence—" for fuck's sake, yes, I know. And guess what, it does become convoluted by the narrative's mixed attitude towards violence. I am not the first person to acknowledge that a lot of BNHA's worldbuilding and general themes contradict each other, nor will I ever be the last. Horikoshi is not exactly a master class on writing critiques of society, okay, and a pacifist superhero story has some fundamental problems that aren't really addressed or worked out in the manga. None of that negates how important it is to have a main character like Bakugo, who visibly and consistently struggles with trying to learn how to be a good person in a system that is set up to allow him to succeed without having to make any real changes to himself. That matters. Not only because it shows the flaws in hero society, but because it helps acknowledge how baked-deep societal ideologies can become, and how incredibly difficult and unrewarding it can be to break out from them. If all the characters were like Deku—ready to throw himself out of the mold at a moment's notice and be aggressively compassionate all over everyone—there wouldn't really be a conflict for the story to deal with. Just because Bakugo's character development can be painful at times doesn't mean it's not important for it to occur the way that it does.

#bnha #bakugo #bnha meta #bkdk #i guess

204 notes · View notes

yanderefairyangel · 10 months

Text

Rafal deep dive part 2

part 1

Yes because he, he, HE.... there is so much to unpack about he... (HOW DID ENGAGE MANAGED TO MAKE IT TO A T RATING WITH HIM ???)

Until he switch back to creep smile then dragon mode. Basically during the ENTIRE DLC we don't get to see Rafal as he is, but only behind a mask, behind Nil or the son that almost became like his dad.

6- So what makes Rafal different from Sombron ?

Many people wondered why Alear forgive Rafal when he commited crimes that even Sombron didn't get to do yet (like destroying an entire world), and having shown they are incredibly similar, this would make things even more confusing but ... remember what Alear's says to Sombron when they fight

And guess what the devs said about it in their interview for Nintendolife ?

Alear will not abandon someone who is capable of chaning their ways, no matter what that person has done in the past. This is exactly what I explained in my long deep dive for The hounds : Marni is redeemable as well as Mauvier because they were willing to change their ways, something that Zephia and Griss could'nt do.

The crucial difference is that Rafal wants to change whereas Sombron will repeat the same mistakes, heck as he died, even dying he still refuse to acknowledge his mistakes, he is still in his dellirum. Rafal however, was shown early to not being totally in control and when defeated, you can see all he waited was for Nel to give him the last blow. It's Nel's death, ultimate proof of love, the acknowledgement he was seeking that he snapped and that's the moment where he is FINALLY being himself.

He doesn't run away from his resposaiblity even though he was possesed. And also, Rafal isn't given the same treatement as Veyle by the narrative. Veyle was an innocent girl manipulated who is really unaware of her actions, Rafal, albeit influenced, still had his agency since, unlike Veyle who always forgot her double's bad deeds, Rafal had all the memory of what he did. And even if Veyle is 1000 year old too, she is still mentally a child. Alear may be 17 year old, but they display all along a great maturity that Veyle simply don't have due to her circumstances. Compared to Veyle and Alear who are still children, Rafal is an adult and his mentally mature, even if slightly mentally perturbed (slightlyisaneuphesim). Once he realized he lost the only person he ever loved, Rafal decided that he had to stop hanging to something that happened in the past and had to tried to gain a second chance, but this begin by admitting his mistakes and wanting to take responsability. And what he did for Nel is actually something big. I remind you that he spend half of his life alone and even then there is hint at him being scared and hating loneliness. For instance, when he watched an inconsious Nel and remembered how he always used to wait anxiously for Nel to wake. He also mentionned how the world was full of foes to him, people that would not accept him, and the only one he had he though was loving someone else through him, someone he isn't. He wasn't scared no to make it, but having lost 2 siblings, he was scared that the same would happen to Nel. Now I don't need to mention how this element was used for the Rafal has to wait for Nel to wake up for 1 000 years, which makes his punishement an ACTUAL punishement because his anguish of having to wait for Nel and she doesn't wake up became reality. What's more, the B support that he has with Alear focus on this and draws a parralel with his situation and Alear/Lumera's since like Lumera he lost a family member when they could have been family and hang unto the hope they would wake up one day and they could become a real family. Except he did it all alone, the thing he hates most, in a world of dead. That's truly when he arrive in the Somniel that he is allowed to be his own character, hence why his support seems to do him more justice then the DLC because in the DLC he was really forced to put up a mask. Once it's over, he is finally himself.

So let's now dig unto the Rafal supports

7- Rafal supports and bond link

His intereaction with humans and Emblems shows his evolutions.

The support he has with Gregory make him appear as cold compared to the other he has (but the localization took it to a whole new level) however his unusal coldness can be explained very simply. Gregory isn't his knight, but Nil's. And he was responsible for Mauvier's death so of course, he puts up a cold face because he feel like he doesn't deserves to have him as a friend. That's why their bounding doesn't appear right away in the A support but his implied to be post support. After all, unlike the rest of his partner in support, Gregory was the only one to have known him as Nil and as Evil Nil so obviously, it makes their intereaction a bit harder to built up. This support was written to mirror the one Nel and Zelestia has and while the two have their frienship acknowleged at A support, for Gregory and Rafal, it's not outrightes stated but infered. However, in his support with Alfred, a bound is established right in the B support once he noticed Alfred was like him : a weakling trying to become stronger for the sake of those he loves, their friendship escalated from 0 to 100 so quick they even call each other brother in the A support, and in the jpn dub, they even refers to each others with the title (much like Clanne and Veyle' A support). This support is made to mirror both Timerra/Nel because of the light hearted topic and Nel/Veyle about the bounding, emphazing and the sibling bound. His support with both Mauvier and Ivy are about him showing he seeks redemption, difference being he approaches Ivy frankly whereas with Mauvier, he only admitts it in support A. Those are the occasion to notice that Rafal deeply regret his actions. His intereaction with the Emblem he controlled as well. He avoid Lucina because he is Fell dragon and don't want to remind her of what she went through. In the one with Chrom, he mentions how Alear's invitation allowed him to be himself and that Chrom shouldn't be trying to be someone else, since he knows what it is and that's pain. Really. His intereaction with Soren are interesting. I have never played any Tellius game, but I am 100% sure that Soren implies that Rafal reminds him of Naesala with the sole difference that Naesala is really a prick while Rafal is all bark and is essentially making pranks once he arrived at the Somniel but they are similar in the fact that they still have a human side (even if they aren't humans character)

8- His relationship with his sister, Nel

Nel is the most important person to Rafal since she was the only one to show him love in his world and when he realized she always saw him as who he was despite not knowing his name, he immediatly drop the Sombron act. Now Rafal still speaks in the same way, but this time, you feel he isn't emulating Sombron anymore but doing it because it's how he is. In his support with Alear, the B one, still focusing on how he spend time untl Nel woke up, you can feel how much he cared about her with simple lines such as "I will never forget the smile she gaves me upon the day she finally awoke". Now, remember all that I said earlier and imagine how he must have felt when his beloved twin finally awake. Probably the same way Lumera felt, and luckily for Rafal, Nel still remembered him. His support with Nel is a parallel to Alear and Veyle's in the sense it's about Nel and Rafal builiding a new bond as sibling. Rafal's worry and wish to protec his sister even at the cost of his life appear in both C and B, however in A Nel give him the same treatment to convice him to take care of himself and let her protect him too so that they can really be equals, half of a whole, Chrom and Robin. Moreover, Nel's skill, Protective, switched very naturally from Nil to Rafal, a little like how Wounded Pride was Rivalry in disguise, is probably the most explicit piece of evidence that they are allowed in this world to truly become a family, much like Alear's and Veyle's support. Their intereaction in the Somniel also proves that. Would you meet with Nel at the orchard, she will for example talk about how Rafal is likely to like those fruits, and she is right.

9- His intereactions showing developpement

One thing that's peculiar about Rafal is how I sometimes can't take him seriously due to him being an obvious gap moe. I spoke of his supports and characters, his intereaction in the Somniel are something else. Despite what I said about him being a mature and an adult, compared to Alear and Veyle, needless to say he didn't add a childhood, nor Nel as a matter of fact and that they had both to grow up quickly, his life in the Somniel allows him to make up for that. Like the fact that he will literaly jump at your throat with saliva drolling out of his mouth because of how tasty the fruit in the garden looks, or laughing has he tries to fish. His interaction on the battlefield aren't very interesting, but he does provide information about Nil such as the two of them sleeping outside as they gaze at starry sky etc. So that basically illustrates his human side (?) or rather soft that he sorta repressed due to circumstances and that Gregory and Alear both claimmed to feel in him even if he doesn't want to admit it because... well, you know... he is a tsundere/oujidere*

That aside, his switching to Rivalry in the context of the Somniel is different then when he tries to kill you. He isn't the Wounded pride anymore, in the map 5 it was a fight for superiority based on a wounded pride and a deep wish to prove to Nel he is her equal. Now, it's simply is his nature and a stimulation for him as shown through his support with best boi (I am obviously speaking about Alfred)

Basically his entire character shows his redemption arc being a huge success since it's only after the DLC we really get to meet the real Rafal, no more mask etc.

10- His relationship with Alear

(Ok disclaimer because. Look, I am going to have to speak of it because Rafal is still one of Alear's friend and an optional romance for them and that their pact ring support+wake up event still show some important characte, and I know that sadly some people are uncomfortable with their ship due to the weird narrative, so while their pact ring support confirms their lack of siblinghood since they are in a paradox situation of having the same dad but at the same time not since they come from a universe where Alear isn't their siblings due to Sombron not being Alear's dad, I can get being a little confused about it. However, if you feel that you don't want to hear about it even for an analysis, then it's time to stop right away. If you think you can bear it, then I hope you won't feel to uncomfortable about the thing I will say cause, pact ring or not, Alear is still someone important for Rafal as a friend)

Alright, now that is said let's go. Their c support is essentially Alear thanking Rafal and him, being Rafal, as a similar reaction to Gregory as in he tries to pass off as cold, but when Alear talk about how they like him, he obviously feel uncomfortable because of everything he's done after all he repeat to Alear that after what he did, being friendly to him is literaly unconceivable but Alear, being the sunshine they are, still tries to bound with tsundere dragon. In their B support, they follow him as they are intrigued to know the real him, a little like how Gregory's support went, but with Rafal being more opent to Alear since in this convo, after telling them the whole story, he thanks Alear for the words they said (and for other stuff to be mentionned) with Alear being a cutie, once again, tease him on his love for his nee san and for how much they look alike. The A support his a different tone, with Rafal approaching Alear this time, claiming to have been forced to make sweet for them and this support is actually the occasion to show the facetious side of him since ... he purposefully gives Alear sweets that are made of his tastes and the difference with Veyle is that Veyle doesn't realize she like think that are too spicy for a human tadte bud while Rafal his AWARE of his tastebuds being more of an iron stomach for sweets. But anyway, he also made special sweets suited for Alear's palate, and what he sawy implies that MAYBE he wasn't exactly coereced into making those sweets since he talks about how "actions is the best way to show gratitude" etc and seeing how Alear comment about how it felt like he poured his heart into it, it doesn't take two cent to understand those sweets are actually a gift for Alear, as a thanks for everything they did for him which he mentions in his pact ring supports. Now the important thing is that pact ring or not, his friendship with Alear's is already showcasing that when he has a friend, he does care since woudl you get the A support with Alear, one of his wake up events involve him sneaking confections under Alear's pillow. And that's something consistant since his solo ending is essentially about him sharing sweets around. And this solo ending is also showing his suicidal tendencies + will of atonement

Would Alear not give him the pact ring, his ending is literally this : he disappear without a warning after a century however, bones of a Fell dragon different then Sombron were found and turns out it is said that Rafal sacrified himself to save the world. Get it ? he became what Alear and Veyle wanted to be, a good dragon ready to save the world, but at the cost of his life. You get it ?

*sight* seems that one A support with Nel didn't help his self sacrficing tendencies huh ?

Anyway, pact ring support has nothing peculiar, except he just shares his though on Alear and how it's unthinkable they can be a fell dragon because they are essentially a sweetie, helpful to a fault and too kind for their own good (i am not making this up, he literaly says it). But when Alear offers him the ring, he violently refuses saying, i quote "You fool ! Give it to someone else ! I get that you find me attractive but... it's wrong, your partner deserves to be someone much more pure"

From this you can deduce that regardless of the pact ring support happening, Rafal actually respects very much Alear and treasures them as a precious friend (basically the canon evidence that Alear is a cinnamon roll too pure for this world) even if he is to proud to admit it. This also link up with what I said about fell children feeling undeserving of love even if they are ready to give it (will one day their support convo stop being one of the best written in this game ?) and Rafal in particular since he feel like he didn't do anything worthy of being someone that stands by Alear's side. But Alear, being Alear, insits that they want him to continue to fight by their sides and he accepts at the end in a tsundere fashion however what he says about his feelings since he claim he will say this only once.

This line proves pretty much what I said about him never being himself until the dragon stone broke, until he reveal his actual name. Pact ring or not, Alear and Nel are important character in his life; Nel because she is his only family and most beloved person, Alear because they are the one who helped him get back his true name and real identity. Even if he tries to scares Gregory and Alear by repeating he isn't trusthworty, we all know it's a lie, it's because, as he bond with Camilla point out, he thinks he is unworthy of Nel and Alear's forgiveness. But what Alear did for him was actually something big, because not only do they allow him to repent, but also to finally be able to regain his lost identity, to be himself and be seen who he really is.

Now let's focus on his last line and others stuff and uhh....

Most threatning pact ring ever ... man, we got another yandere... great

Anyway, the last lines are actually supposed to connect with him being described as someone who is possesive of the things he likes since his diary entries mentions how he is actually quite jealous when Alear speak to someone else but because he won't admit it, he just glances from afar, and he won't admit it because "he is shy"... WHAT ?Ok, never mind that, but basically the actual reason why I am bringing that up is because his PR 2 event consists in him admitting that, just like when he was a kid scared that Nel would'nt wake up, leaving him all alone again, he fears that this might happen to Alear too saying he would probably lost his sanity if he had to wait for a 1 000 years for Alear to wake up and he also says how he won't forgive them if they sleep forever before he does.(aka begging them to let him die before they do which means that you will never cease to be amazed at how fell dragon in this game were traumatized) This right here means he also has abandonnement issues, that his jealosy comes from never have been able to protect anything precious to him and scared that somehow, in someway he would lost it and find himself alone again hence the "don't leave my side", and that's not even me making things up... he does call Alear "precious"... ok, little break for a second but can we all agree that any relationship he has with Alear, romantic or not, should be the two of them having a therapy session with Alear feeding him hot cocoa ?!

Now, let's get back to the main point. We Rafal cherish something or someone, he ends up becoming incredibly scared at the idea of losing it or them. That's why imo his solo ending shows his redemption. Cause you see, in the diary, if you give him the pact ring, it's said he keeps it in a vessel made of his own scales (why) so that others won't see it let alone touch it. Well, this ... (God, i don't even know how to call that) shows what I mean by wanting to protect what he holds as precious with any meaning. Him creating a literal vessel to protect the ring reminds me of a kid wanting to hide on of his favorite toy fearing that others approaching it may damage it. But he made it out of his freaking own scales !! Just like his support with Nel had him mentions how he would take a spear for her if that means Nel could survive. When Rafal wants to protect something or someone, he wants to be the literal shield !! His solo ending about him sacrificing himself to save the world is literaly the same as him sacrificing a part of his body to protect the symbol of a bond he cherishes. This sacrifice showed that Elyos became something precious to Rafal, that he came to love this world since when he love something, he wants to protect it no matter what happens to him. Even when he shares his fear that Alear wouldn't woke up, through his mentions how probably not being able to wait a millenia for them, it's implied that Rafal would still wait for them to wake up and seeing how that was somethin he always did for Nel as a child, this makes all of his wake up events strike harder in general, because while some of them are the occasions to show his facetious side (like when he threatenens to turn into a fell dragon lest Alear wake) or caring one (the one where he tries to sneak confection under Alear's pillow which is not even a S support one), overall he still does what he always did up until now, waiting for a dear person to wake up...(wait, lemme check just to see if he doesn't have insomnia because of this, i know that Veyle does, but him, i gotta check) with the neverending fear of losing them. What's more, is that his doing it purely genuinely and selflessly since in his paired ending with Alear, it's mentionned how he support them in the shadow and goes to save and help around in his dragon form, as an "unknown" dragon, meaning that he nevers stays long enough for people to learn about his identity. That my friends, is what a real second chance looks like.

To summ it up, Rafal isn't the regular redeeming villain we had up until now since he was always forced to embrace an identity that wasn't his when he was our antagonist, but as himself, he is just a very lonely person who is capable of loving his family and friends even if he thinks himself as undeserving of this, yet still stive to atone for his sins and to protect those he cares about. Like all of Engage's villian, he shares common motivations with Sombron, which are themselves resonating with Alear, Veyle and a great part of Engage's cast. The major difference between him and the others is his capacity to redeem himself.

(Also on a side note but I realized that his narrative really suck because his relationship with Alear's is breathtaking, I have no other way to put it, he is like one of the literaly only character along with Nel to have actual chemistry with Alear and this is going to be an underrated gem because sadly, he is the scamcest in Engage sight, dang it IS

*an oujidere is the male equivalent of a himedere, very alike to a tsundere, but with the difference of sounding arrogant and being actually a sweebean, especially to their s/o

** ok when I said that him being an alternate version of Alear's potential half sibling was a touchy subject, I am refereing to the fact that we have 0 info about Alear and Veyle's other sibling, and as a matter of fact, on this version of Nel, Nil and Rafal. If you have already read my theories post about this, you know that imo it may be that fell children are splitted into twins in XenElyos but because it's IS we are talking about and that Rafal and Nel have 0 relevant intereactions on that matter, nor the slightest plot relevance i don't think we'll ever get any confirmation that they ever existed in Elyos too. Moreover, Rafal and Nel's physical age which could have been a hint falls flat. They get bonus from the "younger" bonus in the Somniel which could mean they are younger then Alear since the CG of 1 000 year ago showed them as being kids whereas Alear was already 17, however, we don't know exaclty when those CG are supposed to take place, that is to say, whether it was 1 year before the war 1000 ago, or a century before the war, or during the war etc. Same for Alear, as Nel and Rafal had to be around the same age as their Alear and there is no reason for this Alear to not have been the same age as our Alear 1 000 ago. Moreover, physically while Rafal and M!Alear are around the same height with Rafal being thinner, Nel's body looks way more mature then F!Alear and F!Alear's body is within the same range as character her physicall age, such as Citrinne, while Ne'ls body type seems closer to Ivy and finally Nel and Rafal wear the pact ring on the ring finger, which is something only character over 18 do. I aslo mentionned in a theory post that seeing the only 1 year age gap btw Alear and Veyle, all of Sombron's kids were having a age difference of scarecerely a year. So, keepin in mind that being twins, Nil and Nel are of the same age and that Rafal looking exaclty like Nil means he happens to be of the same age as him and therefore Nel, it would make Rafal and Nel, by those tokens, around the age of 18-19 since this makes them indeed older then Alear and Veyle and at the same time makes them enter in the range for the younger character. In that case then they'd have to be siblings Alear never got to meet when they were alive seeing how Past Alear doesn't react to them, meaning they definitely aren't the 4 siblings Alear mentionned.. if they even were but given how low chances are they could;.. yeah, but they definetely are around the age of 19

#fire emblem #fire emblem engage #fe engage #fire emblem emotional damage #rafal fire emblem #fe rafal #why must he be the scamcest when it's that good #and IS pushing Nel

10 notes · View notes

edoro · 2 years

Note

An idea for how they realize belos is Phillip (other then babybel deciding to screw around with them) is perhaps when he's sick with something like the common mold since it'll probably hit him harder than Luz, since he's in the body of a young child from the 1600s and while resting has the mask off (either taken or fell off while sleep), Luz or someone goes to wake him up and notices the lack of pointy ears and freaks out(which could get the job done of waking him up just in an extremely stressful way) and probably realizing how much this kid looks like Phillip, wanting to question him as soon as possible. So she'll probably create some theories about it (all but belos being a child of Phillip since that implies that Phillip had gotten someone to have kids with and she doubts it so hard).

Also the instant they take babyBel’s mask off or try to get his hair out of his face they’re going to realize he’s human which… he wants this? He thinks? He wants everyone to admire his cunning wiles. But under these circumstances his reaction to vulnerability is No Actually I Will Scream. Meanwhile everyone else is having a minor crisis.

(i have no idea if you are both the same anon but since it's basically the same concept i'm gonna toss you both together in this ask here. l-love connection?!)

anyway, yeah, i'm mulling this one over - i think they're gonna figure out he's human pretty much the first time the mask comes off, which, he's gonna have to take it off to eat, so that's going to happen pretty quickly.

at that point the question becomes "how quickly is Luz going to be able to put the pieces together and figure out that this weird little human moppet they pulled out of the Emperor's brain is in fact baby Philip Wittebane?"

(sidenote, also: at what point are they going to realize this isn't just a manifestation of an emotion but, in fact, the actual inner Belos? i'm sure that's also gonna happen relatively soon there, and it's going to be very interesting)

so - as far as Luz knows, there's only ever been one other human in the Boiling Isles. and she met Philip as an adult, so she knows that he's a white guy from the 1600s with brown hair and blue eyes, and here's this little white kid with brown hair and blue eyes who's dressed in very antique clothes (the fact that he doesn't talk might draw it out a bit, since she doesn't have an archaic accent/speech pattern to further drive the point home)

she might remember seeing some of those childhood portraits in the Emperor's mindscape, depending on how far they got, and it certainly seems like a different time. little motherfucker was churning butter in one of those. she might remember some of the ones where he was a bit older, and looked more like adult Philip, and have a realization there.

i don't know if she would jump immediately to "oh my god, Belos is Philip" - i think that the idea would probably occur to her, because she's only ever known of one other human and the general time period seems to fit and the kid looks like he could plausibly grow up into Philip, but i can imagine a similar sort of denial going on, and this time she doesn't have him forcing the issue to taunt her.

(let's see if i manage to remember this, but i'd like to go into my thoughts about why i think she was so upset to realize Belos is Philip - i've seen a lot of people suggesting reasons why, and other people feeling like it fell very flat, and i've definitely got my own personal take on it, but this post isn't really the place)

so she might be trying to find ways to believe that he isn't Philip, that maybe this is some other human who ended up in the Isles. after all, she's only heard of Philip, but travel between the realms is totally possible, and he can't be the only person who ever fell into a pool of Titan's Blood, right?

i wonder if she would outright ask him, and what he'd say. actually, you know what?

here's what i think. they're going to find out he's human within, probably, a few days at most if he's sneaky and secretive about eating and doesn't manage to lose the mask somehow. once they do, it's just a matter of time before Luz puts the pieces together that this human is probably the same other human she met.

(sidenote: what the fuck is up with Philip's timeline? no one has even brought up the fact that he's apparently four hundred fucking years old, but i'm starting to question if he actually is?

the BI era he ended up in was the Deadwardian, and in our world the Edwardian era was 1901-1910, and those were definitely not colonial fashions we saw on the BI residents; but we've also not gotten any indication that the Boiling Isles and the human realm are asynchronous with each other.

the BI calendar seems to be very different (forty days in a month?? how long is that week we've got left before the Day of Unity? Dana i have so many questions -) but we have no indication that one day on the Boiling Isles =/= one day in the human realm, which would have some disturbing fairy circle shit implications for Luz's time here if that was the case.

so when he and Caleb came through at Eclipse Lake, were they transported in time as well as space? Philip's diary entry in s2e12 suggests that he thinks it's the 1660s or 1670s back home, but that's just him figuring based on the passage of time and conversion between calendar systems - was he, unbeknownst to himself, already cut off from any hope of ever actually going back home? would that portal have spat him out into the early 1900s?

however, the sheer number of grimwalkers he's made and killed suggests that he has in fact been around for quite a long time - @samael-i-am has that post counting up the masks which suggests it's more like 20+, and someone else did the math and suggested that each one only lived somewhere into their teens or mid twenties at most if you account for seventeen grimwalkers (including Hunter) over 350ish years

but that also assumes that the grimwalkers are born as babies and grow and develop at a normal rate, which might not be the case - it could be that he can control what age they come out as, and makes them at whatever age he thinks is best for raising them to be loyal and devoted and also useful. can't pop one out fully grown and expect to mold its mind, gotta get in there when there's still some good neural plasticity and rewire that development!

but the sheer number of them still implies he's been at this for more than fifty years, unless most of them really didn't make it more than a couple of years.

anyway. anyway.)

so anyway - Luz tries to put this realization off. she doesn't want Belos to be Philip. she doesn't want to deal with that. but it's where her mind goes, because there are a lot of connections, and well - she asks him.

he can't talk, but he can draw and write (did actual Philip Wittebane at this age know how to read and write? no, probably not, or if he did then Caleb had only just started teaching him. but adult Belos does, so Babybel can, although he struggles a bit with the motor control and his spelling is... interesting to say the least) and he's pretty expressive with that when he wants to be, although getting him to actually directly respond to or acknowledge anyone is a crapshoot

so she asks him, works up to it maybe - "when and where were you born? where are you from? what's your name?" - and he does tell her

because the thing is, right, the thing is - he wants a human on his side. he wants to hear her say his name. he wants another human to know that he's here, know who he is, know what he's doing, support and agree with him, talk to him.

and this whole thing, where she thinks he's just a kid version of himself and doesn't know how much he does or doesn't remember of his adult self? this is perfect for manipulating her! he could not have engineered a better chance to get her on his side if he'd tried, actually! because she likes him as a kid. she's sympathetic to him. she thinks he's cute and she relates to him and she has this hope that maybe they can raise him to be better than adult Belos, that he can change, that this can be a re-do.

so how much more sympathetic is she going to be if he tells her, yes, he's Philip Wittebane - he's little baby Philip, and she's sure getting some glimpses of how he might have grown up, what it might have been like for him, how he was treated, and they aren't good glimpses, and she was already sympathetic to Philip - she thought he was hurting people because he was so desperate to get home, after all.

so Philip as a kid? not the adult man who manipulated and betrayed her and said it was fun, but just this angry, troubled, weird, difficult - the same way Luz, neurodivergent herself, has been difficult her whole life - kid who is also obviously traumatized and expects to be abused?

she doesn't stand a chance. she's going to see herself in him. she's going to imagine what it must feel like to be a little kid, trapped so far from home, away from his family and friends and everything familiar, disabled and traumatized and struggling to communicate with anyone around him or understand what's going on, and she's going to feel sorry for him.

and because the reveal comes to her in the form of this weird fucked up cute little kid who she relates to and likes, rather than in the form of Belos psychologically torturing Hunter in the process of revealing his evil plan and then 'killing' him and stalking her as he delivers a creep-ass villain monologue, she might start to think maybe she's wrong about Belos.

oh, not that he's fucked up and evil and needs to be stopped - but maybe he doesn't just want power. maybe he really does just want to go home. maybe he's just been lost and stuck here this whole time and his loneliness and desperation corrupted him. maybe he actually is still someone she can understand, even if she can't agree with him.

and maybe if someone steps in and helps this kid, who clearly needed it and didn't get it - maybe then he can be different.

#emperor belos #luz noceda #philip wittebane #babybel au #babybel in the physical realm what crimes will he commit #asks #toh spoilers

87 notes · View notes

dragongutsixofficial · 2 years

Text

I found this back from a year ago and since it still looks ok, here's another one of my fe3h ocs (and perhaps my favorite): Loki Blaiddyd von Hresvelg !

As the name indicates, he's related to both the Hresvelg and Blaiddyd families, though he is actually the son of Lambert and Patricia and possesses a crest of Blaiddyd. During the tragedy of Duscur, he was in his mother's carriage and got abducted by TWSITD: but instead of outright killing the kid, they decided to raise him as one of their own, as to have a royal replacement with a semblance of legitimacy in case Edelgard turned against them too soon and they had to get rid of her. However, even though he was forced to do terrible things at the hands of TWSITD from a very young age and was essentially brainwashed by them, he never forgot his older brother, and deeply wished to be reunited with him. During his eight/nine years amidst their ranks, he basically became a child soldier, as well as good at magic: however, he also suffered a major injury under mysterious circumstances which left his right arm badly burnt. As a result, TWSITD came up with an artificial relic, his glove, which channels the power of his Crest and boosts his magical attacks instead of his physical ones- his favorite spell being an altered version of dark spikes.

A little after the start of the war, Edelgard manages to learn about her little brother's existence and reveals to him the manipulation he's been subjected to his whole life. Though still in the clutches of TWSITD, who he now really wants to see dead, he sides with his newfound family (Edelgard and the other Hresvelg siblings), never giving up the hope to see his older brother Dimitri again- and trying very hard to prevent him and Edelgard from killing each other. Along the way, he learns again what it is like to just be a kid-and to be a sibling.

He's really distrusting of adults and other people in general and is sarcastic af, but he's also really sweet and caring towards those he trusts-and also a massive sucker for hugs.

I'll probs get into more details later but here's a quick rundown ! =D

#fe3h #fe16 #fe3h oc #edelgard von hresvelg #dimitri alexandre blaiddyd #since they're mentioned #my oc #hresvelg siblings #loki blaiddyd von hresvelg #dgix art #lambert fe #patricia von arundel #basically all of the ppl i talked about here for context

21 notes · View notes

tryingtimi · 2 years

Note

Happy Blorbo Blursday!! Tell me about the relationship between Adran and Dane. What's one of their fondest childhood memories together? Did they get along as children? Etc. I want the deeets.

Thank you, @aschlindartroom! 💙 Deets you want, deets you shall recieve. Buckle up, legend, this is gonna be long and spoilery, as everything I always give you. Side note: I've tried to write about both of them, but I kind of got biased and wrote more about Dane. So maybe, next time, I'll talk more about Adran lmao.

CHILDHOOD: LIFE OF THE DEEP CORPS' BABIES

Adran and Dane had a very good relationship when they were little, even though they have a seven years age gap. Adran always looked after tiny Dane, who mostly tried to prank his big bro all the time. He used his advantage on being more into science-y stuff, so he surprised him with harmless bombs — that their dad helped him build it — or weird, little creatures hidden among his stuff. Adran also returned the favour, but since he never were much of a sneaky person, he just wrestled with Dane, tickled him, challenged him etc. Adran was always very touchy and loudly affectionate, so he gave lots of hugs to Dane, always sat close to him or behind him so he could massage his shoulders (what Dane loved) and brought him gifts from wherever he went, even if it was only the grocery store. And Dane always shared the gifts with Adran. He had his silent care attitude as a kid too though, so he tried to seem cool while he did that. He was never a loud kid, but he was mischievous, because he knew how to use his head well. He also told everyone that how cool brother he has. Plus the "fact" how cooler his gonna be when they both get into the Corps; Adran as a soldier, Dane as a mechanic. Just like their parents — even though their dad was never part of the Corps, but he figured he'll be one in there anyway. PARENTS. Kallista Cohren and Hido Riordan

side note: on Ionera, if your a child of a Corps memeber, you always inherit their family name. In any other cases, your parents can choose. Hido was a talented mechanic, who managed to move from the Aquor Sector to Terrana. He was a strict, mute man, who owned a humble workshop, where he repaired stuff for a very low price to people who couldn't really afford it. He also maintaned and made Kallista's mechanical hand, which is basically how they met. Kallista was a fearless woman in the water, but a more gentle, cool mom at home. Dane and Adran got a lot from both of them. They even got to learn how to swim (which is rather rare, considering the circumstances) with the help of Kallista's suit that could change to the shape of any wearer, thanks to their dad's little hacking in its technology. The boys were also taught to not fear the water. It's dangerous, but it's also part of their life and it's always gonna be. So, it's better to be on good terms with it. This was Kallista's philoshophy that Hido seemed to support, even if he always kept his distance from the water. Adran tried to ask him about his parents, past and get him to learn swimming together, but he never budged, which Dane somehow understood more than his brother. He took the lessons with his mom and Adran and enjoyed it, but then always joined his father sitting far from them alone, watching them contently. They had a kind of understanding, that Adran found more in Kallista.

This is why, their fondest childhood memory is probably a holiday, when they were all home through the whole day. Kallista tried to make a secret plan with Adran to prank Dane and Hido, while the said two also did the same. But, when the time of the pranks came, the two adults found themselves "attacked" by their own ideas, because the two kids secretly ganged up together against them.

They were also half a religious family. None of them forced Dane, nor Adran to believe in the same thing as they did, but the latter automatically joined Kallista in believing the Almighty. Corps members had a tendency to become a believer anyway. However, Kallista used to tell the boys that Hido was never really into God before he met her and he never really joined the church either (but went to preaching with the family anyway). Dane liked his father’s take on the subject, though, which said he did not deny the existance of a higher being, but he didn’t think it had any intrest about them, lessers.

TEENAGE YEARS: LOSS AND SLIENCE

Dane was ten, Adran seventeen, when the famously high Rising and a very messed up transfer occured. They lost both their parents through the process. Hido and Kallista died helping the desprate aquorian people get into Terrana, while Dane also lost one of his leg fully when he tried to dash after his sinking parents. Adran saved him, but from that point, Dane did not speak for months. He also refused to leave their apartment and engage in any kind of social or physical interaction, so young Thaddeus offered to help Adran and they switched each other between training days, so there was always someone who stayed with Dane. They got no professional help because of the chaos that the event followed.

Adran never gave up on Dane, though. He asked for advice from all the older Corps members how to run a household, took care of Dane, talked to him everyday, tutored him of the things he should learn in school and got him a prosthetic, finally. That broke the ice. Dane treated Adran as a stranger through this time, his eyes hollow, not even looked at him once. But, with getting the prosthetic, he was puzzled at first, then furious and then devastated. He shouted, thrown the mechanic leg at Adran and yet again, refused to use it. The next day, Adran found him sitting on the sofa, prosthetic nicely seated beside him (not attached yet), Adran’s favorite food on the table, even though it was burnt a little. When Adran sat beside him with the food, clearly touched by the gesture, Dane did “thank you” in their own sign language, not looking at his brother, before they spent the rest of the morning in a comfortable silence.

Important note: They have this thing that they never say “thank you” or “I love you” with words. They use sign language for that, which they got taught because of their father. They also made up their own signs for it, because there were times when they didn’t want their parents to understand what they were talking about. They made this into a habit and now it’s something that connects them. Dane, however, never uses “I love you” anymore.

From that point, Dane slowly came to terms with wearing the prosthetic outside (never at home), going out etc. Their connection, however, transformed. Dane wasn’t near to being better, because when he got back to school finally, he provoked others to beat him up (as Adran later figured out), he shouted at Adran a lot, trying to provoke him to hit him too (which he never did, nor said a word when Dane got this worked up) and spent a big amount of time in his room, alone. He refused to go to a professional to get help with everything he was going through, so Adran — secretly — tried to use all the mental training methods he got to know through his Corps training. Which Dane could spot very easily and they had a big fight after that.

Dane was ruthless with his words by the way, but Adran never spoke to him like that. When he had the urge to say something hurtful, he stayed quiet instead, even though his face could tell everything.

Nevertheless, they always aplogized and cried together after a fight. Dane eventually got out of his room, while Adran sat beside the door, waiting for him. Those moments were the only ones when Dane let anyone to touch him, because Adran always hugged him tight. They also never talked about their parents or what happened. At least with each other, because Adran needed to, on his training.

As they grown, Dane changed more, and he would have been popular in school if he wasn’t cold and unfriendly with everyone. Adran saw that some were afraid of Dane because he never ran from the bullies, but some got very interested in him, even admired him. Adran saw Dane’s transition when he reached the age of 16. He got quieter, their arguments got more rare and he stayed in school more. Turned out, his teacher showed them some things in the lab about their water and the sealife. Dane became obsessed with examining all these stuff in his free time. Which Adran thought strange at first, considering how Dane bacame completely incapable being even near the Everocean or any kind of water since The Events. But, if this helped Dane, then who was he to stop him. In fact, he got Dane all the stuff he needed for researches to one of his birthday and started to save up for his education. Which Dane did not ask for, and he even secretly started to work to save too. Either way, Adran spoiled Dane, because he didn’t know how could he support him more.

Dane wasn't blind though, so he take up all the chores from him and most of their arguments transitioned into arguing over why Adran wants to do anything at home, when it's Dane's job. Also, Adran tried to lure Dane into their religious community, since the day he got back to him, but he was furiously against it. At the end of his teenage years, he switched to questioning things about it, though, intead of plainly attacking it. He also seemed to completely forget what happened with their parents by this new obsession over studies and sience. (which we know isn't how things work, so)

ADULTHOOD: SAVING AND SERVING

Dane and Adran had no problem with living together still when Dane started university. In fact, all the people who was sound of this and suggested Dane to move out (his partners usually), was generally destroyed in a very thoughtout and seemingly unassailable debate about why he has no intention doing it and that's okay. He also payed the bills before Adran could, from all the scholarship money he got or won on competitions. Which Adran was always a little upset of; he wanted Dane to spend on anything else.

Also, with being more and more educated, Dane stopped to start arguments with Adran, and instead, he tried to debate. He questioned his worldview, morals and his belief, which Adran didn't mind; their parents did that a lot anyway and he had answers and liked that his brother began to talk more. Unlike the people in the university where he successfully got in; Dane was insufferable in most people’s eyes. He was intelligent and quick minded (not a true genuis though) and he wasn’t afraid of being sound of someone’s lack of skill in something if that hurt the community too. He seemed to got a hold of his emotions, but was still not be able to stay in control, when he got frustrated. So, he got into a lot of trouble because of his sharp tongue.

Anyway, Dane moved into a closer place to the lab at last, because of his research projects and the frequent overnight stayes, but he still talks to Adran everyday through holo calls and Adran still uses their sign language everytime, especially the "I love you" at every message he leaves for Dane, or at the end of every meet up they're having. Dane do not uses any of it anymore and calls Adran childish for doing it, but never tells him to stop.

#blorbo blursday #well #i didn't even know i had a this specific image of them in my head #so thank you legend <3 #anyway #i probably left out a lot of things #for example Zev who's gonna be a key character for the brothers #and Eran #but it's already way too long #if something seems disrespecful towards anything #tell me please #it was hard to stop at a reasonable length #Adran Cohren #Dane Cohren #IQRUS #IQRUS character dynamics #oh yeah the parents' name were placeholders #:)#a long time ago

8 notes · View notes

a-mom-y-nous · 1 year

Text

So, having grown up in, what many would call, the perfect home, life has certainly not been perfect at all. After I had to be taught, at age 11 to basically "be human" (again).

After a car accident (I thought) ruined my life, left me paralyzed on the left side of my body, blind in 50% of both of my eyes on the right side (only being able to see 50% of everything on the left side (only), and a spastic left hand; I didn't have much hope. At least at age 11, 12, and 13, I didn't quite think of a future - the world of a disabled person looks so much different.

I think it looked much different even for the people with serious, for real disabilities (not that my disabilities was not serious or real) but I grew up different. My dad had ALWAYS believed in me, and pushed me forward to be the best version of me, even in the bad circumstances I found myself in.

There has been innumerous challenges, but also more victories and breakthroughs, I'm sure, I ever thought there would be...

Though, having lived the life of a disabled person in that world was not something anyone would choose, it was comfortable and surely easier than it is as an adult - as an adult who is now regarded as "normal" in a "normal" society.

There's no cushioning against the fights in this society, bullying, bills, responsibilities, and a responsibility to one self, having health challenges With the same issues and problems as the rest of society, but having limitations, such as not being able to drive, being a big challenge.

I have received the same measure of grace though - favor, personality and a sense of humor, for which I am eternally grateful. With a deep sense of appreciation and true love for what matters.

A very strong sense of determination has always been a strong driving force together with a childhood, where the rolemodels back in the day, were determined people too.

A very big breakthrough/achievement was going to college. It was made out to be much harder than actually was.

Another very big breakthrough happened gradually over a period of 11 years. Surviving (living) as an independent adult

In the same time as the high-school where I attended school and was bullied, I realized that I would have to work twice as hard as the average person to make a success of my life (this was way before the internet and digital knowledge)

While in high school, I started delivering bread & milk. I walked to where I needed to be as my parents, especially my dad, refused to feel sorry for me

I did my purchases and deliveries by foot. Sometimes my dad would give me a ride, but I enjoyed the process and the feeling of accomplishment. It became like an addiction. When I realized the bread & milk deliveries was not working, I started processing & delivering the fresh, processed vegetables.

Years later, my parents passed away, and after that time, I ran a cleaning service my mother owned. The solutions to the challenges I faced at that time, came naturally. Hiring transport (much more expensive than Uber and bolt), was the obvious solution, which I did for 3 years, and it felt great. Until it started interfering with my family.

Bearing in mind I was a single mother for nine years, and experienced the fullness and joy of being a single mom; when my child and husband mentioned that my business seems more important to me than they seem to be. I had a choice to make... It wasn't without a fight ... in myself first, and with my husband...

Then covid came ... another bittersweet chapter.

For very long I wished my husband could work from home with me. When covid "arrived" in South Africa, my husband lost his job. The warehouse where he worked was vandalized, so he lost his job. We prayed like never before, and believed even more... Then he started Phoenix Business Solutions

https://www.phoenixbusinesssolutions.co.za

The more he liked what he did, the more I learned from him and got inspired. I soon started doing his marketing, until I got very sick one night in my sleep.

He told me not to work, but working became second nature. I couldn't do nothing. It was just impossible, so I tried sewing...which I have the skill to do, but not the precision it takes to work for clients. So I was back at the desk sooner than later. Stay tuned to learn more

#love #inspiration #persistent #perfect #in spite of #smallbeginnings

0 notes

crellanstein · 4 years

Text

Prodigious

I find it odd how the fandom focuses so much on Aang’s childhood being ruined when he learned he was the Avatar at 12, but there’s very little talk about how discovering she was the Avatar as a toddler affected Korra’s life and how she was raised.

But we’ll circle back to that...

Because this is a good starting point to talk about one of the most prevalent themes in the story, which the mainstream discussion of tends to only focus on a few characters -- That is the Child Prodigy.

We’ll start with the two most obvious. The ones we always talk about.

Azula.

The clearest example of your typical child prodigy (if there is anything typical about a prodigy). Azula showed early mastery of very advanced Fire-Bending techniques, and is the only Fire-Bender to use blue flames, which was intended to make her stand out amongst the other villains but is also indicative that her Fire-Bending is more pure and powerful (blue flame is produced when burning pure O2 or fuel without contaminant at a very high temperature).

All this lead to her being praised and favored by Ozai as a child, but as double-edged swords go, this also meant she had a lot of pressure on her shoulders to never fail, and she rarely did. Her ego matched her talent, and let’s be honest she was the baddest bitch the show had ever seen. Conquering Ba Sing Se, defeating the Avatar in combat, and dropping some of the most devastating lines of dialogue in villain history; she was a force nobody wanted to reckon with.

And that become a problem for one asshole in particular...

Being jealous of his own child is just one item on a laundry list of reasons why this guy is the worst father in the history of fathers. Azula had begun to outshine him with her victories, and Ozai’s maniacal ego couldn’t handle that, so he left her behind to babysit the Fire Nation while he went out to burn/conquer the world, which also was her idea.

And while this wasn’t the only thing that aided in her demise, it certainly was the final straw which sent her spiraling down into this...

In the end Azula is a sad example of how certain unfair expectations are placed upon talented children, and the more they succeed, the more these expectations grow and weigh on the them until they either disappoint those looking down on them or surpass and embarrass their elders.

It is a lose-lose situation which inevitably destroys them.

There is a similar example of the child prodigy, but his story goes a little different.

Aang.

Even as a twelve/thirteen year-old boy Aang by far has the most impressive stats among any character in the Avatar universe.

Basically mastering 3 of the 4 Elements in less than a year, after mastering Air by the time he is twelve (not to mention inventing his own Air-bending move, the Air scooter).

Aang is an example of a child prodigy who had too much thrust onto him at too young an age because of the talent he showed; because of this he panicked and ran away, and the world was worse off for it.

Aang/Sokka/Katara’s story is all about how in times of War, responsibilities normally handled by adults are pushed onto kids who then have to grow up very fast in order to deal with it all.

The message is clear. War robs the young of their childhoods.

Now, let’s talk about a different kind of child prodigy.

The Unacknowledged.

Yes, of course I’m talking about Toph, the greatest Earth-Bender to ever live.

Because of her blindness, Toph’s family tried to keep her sheltered and safe by hiding her from the world. Refusing to believe she could ever be more than helpless. Anyone who has seen the show knows that is far from the truth.

But because her potential went unseen, there were some negative effects to her personality. Initially, she resented her parents, and rebelled; which established a certain level of independence, a bad attitude, and a hot-headed streak. Over time spent with the Gaang these behaviors subsided because she finally had friends and they accepted her for who she was. By the end of the series she was fully willing to accept aid from them when she needed it, like holding on to Sokka’s arm in environment where her bending couldn’t help her “see”.

Toph’s story is a foil to Azula’s, both showed immense talent and badassery, but while recognition of Azula lead to ever-mounting pressure for her to succeed; the lack of recognition for Toph created a need for her to be acknowledged and set an undercurrent of frustration which leads to her acting out in the ways she does.

The lesson to take from Toph’s story is not to shelter your kid from the world out of fear for their safety, and to be open to recognizing their talents, not shun them.

Next are two more Unacknowledged.

Katara and Sokka.

Their story, and the reason behind their circumstances, is one of the more complicated and nuanced ones in the series, so here we’ll focus on how it fits into the subject of discussion.

Because of the War, Katara was robbed not only of her mother but also of any Southern Masters to train her, and any role models Sokka could have looked up to left with his father to fight. Because of this Katara’s potential and Sokka’s genius went unacknowledged not due to neglect but rather due to circumstance. (Yes, I think Sokka is a genius, how many 15 yr olds do you know that can plan an invasion, design submarines, and spit poetry off the cuff?).

This is a further example of how War robs kids of necessary childhood experiences, and these two robberies had particular effects on both Katara and Sokka’s character developments.

Sokka had the responsibility of protecting his home put upon him at a young age. The men of his tribe leaving prevented him from completing his rite of manhood until the Gaang ran into Bato of the Water Tribe, and early on Sokka was constantly trying to prove himself as a man and a leader. Sokka is one of the smarter characters of the series, but he rarely got credit for it until the third season. Not to mention that because he wasn’t a bender he often seemed less useful than the others. The circumstances of war made his talent go unnoticed and because of that he often was unsure of himself and overcompensated to prove something.

Speaking of talent going unnoticed.

Katara is definitely one of the more talented benders of the series. After training herself for years with little progress, she essentially mastered Water-Bending in a few weeks under Master Pakku. While her anger towards the Fire-Nation mostly centers around the loss of her mother, it can’t be ignored that the delay in her training was a direct result of the Fire-Nations’ actions. Toph’s anger and frustration vented itself as rebellion. However, the same frustration and anger is within Katara, but because she wasn’t as natural a bender as Toph she sought to learn and be respected, and when that was denied to her is when that anger bubbled to the surface in some terrifying ways.

While Toph’s talent went unnoticed because of her families neglect, Katara and Sokka’s wasn’t acknowledged because there was nobody to acknowledge it. Because of that both brother and sister wanted to prove themselves to the world.

And then there is Zuko.

I know what you’re thinking. Zuko wasn’t a prodigy, his Fire-Bending skill didn’t catch up with Azula’s until the finale and he never mastered Lightning-Bending, but this section is about the Unacknowledged.

Zuko had many other talents besides Fire-Bending, he was a master swordsmen, and was able to successfully break into every secure facility he attempted in the show (which was almost every secure facility the show featured). Unfortunately, these talents were never recognized, because the only thing the royal family cared about was bending ability (It’s possible the reason he learned the sword was because he lacked skill in Fire-Bending).

As per usual with Zuko, this part of his tale is quite sad. Many can relate to being outshined by a sibling, and when it becomes all too clear that one cannot match another’s talent it’s quite understandable to focus on what they do excel at, but even then there is no promise of recognition for their own talent. Zuko was even mocked by his father during the solar eclipse when Ozai tried baiting him into attacking with his swords.

This lack of recognition is one of many sad aspects of Zuko’s early life, but it is a definitive example of one of the hardest unacknowledged prodigy’s cross to bear. The Outshone prodigy, one whose talents are never noticed because a bigger and brighter star stands in the way of such recognition, and arguably the most frustrating type mentioned here. Toph/Sokka/Katara all came from situations were there was no recognition being given to them or anyone, but Zuko had to bear watching massive amounts of praise be piled on to his sister while he and his accomplishments went by the way side.

Ozai summed up the situation best.

“Azula was born lucky, Zuko was lucky to be born”

Alright now where have I been going with all this?

So, far we’ve covered a lot of wrong ways to treat a child, whether they show talent or not, and how the circumstances of war can also take many things from children.

But what happened to Korra?

(Before we get into to this I should state that I like Korra, and the purpose of this is not to bash her as a character or her arc, but rather to give a little of my insight into it.)

It’s well established that Aang was told of his heritage too young, and that was a detriment on his development into an adult, but what would have happened if he realized his powers himself not long after he could walk? We’ll never know, but we do get to see the effects it had on Korra.

When she revealed herself as the Avatar, Korra set her entire life in a new direction, and because Aang tasked the White Lotus with finding and training her that direction was out of her control. There are two key differences between Korras’ and other Avatars’ lives.

1. She grew up in isolation on a White Lotus compound.

Every Avatar before Korra we know of spent a portion of their early lives traveling the world in order to master the elements; along this journey they not only learned how to bend the other 3 elements, buy also many things about the 3 other nations and the world they are tasked to protect as a whole. By confining Korra in safety and bringing the masters to her the White Lotus deprived Korra of this opportunity to learn and grow and understand the world and the people within in. It also deprived her of learning modern bending styles until she reached Republic City.

While this might have kept Korra safe from the Red Lotus, it grew within her a naiveté about how the world worked, and because of this when she actually did venture out into the world she was terribly unprepared for it.

2. She was trained and mastered 3 of the elements by the time she was 16.

Most Avatars don’t know they have this power until they reach 16 and then they spend several years learning to control it. Korra’s natural talent in the bending lead to her training being expedited not by necessity like Aang’s, but due to her talent and eagerness. Korra excelled at the physical part of being the Avatar and because of this by the time she reached maturity she had become over-confident in her abilities and true to what her Fire-Bending master said in Ep.1 she lacked restraint.

I’m not saying her bending isn’t great, but rather because it is so great it’s her go-to solution to anything, and she enjoys that so she uses it with enthusiastic gusto and not a lot of thinking before striking.

This overconfidence coupled with her naiveté of the world is what lead to many of her rash decisions and actions, most of which had negative consequences, and I believe are the reason behind some fan are dissatisfied with her. Aang had been almost the complete opposite, even by the age of twelve he was an experienced world traveler and an incredibly humble guy.

Some may have been dissatisfied by these character decisions, but they served a purpose, they are only the beginning of her arc. The internal challenge Korra must overcome through 4 seasons is to humble herself before the world, and learn from it. This was finally achieved in the 4th season when the metal poisoning in her body forces her to face others in the world as equals, only then had she completed her journey.

And why did it all go this way?

Because she is a very unique child prodigy, what she demonstrates in the first episode of LOK would be akin to a toddler playing the violin or hitting a three-pointer; she could bend 3 elements close to just after learning to walk. That is the kind of prodigious talent rarely seen because it is mostly impossible. How does a rational person handle a child like that?

It’s a tough question, and something this essay has been circling around the whole time. Each example here is the wrong way to handle talented and different children, but what is the right way?

As always look to Iroh.

Who treated his surrogate son Zuko with both respect and compassion.

Unlike Toph’s parents, Iroh worried over Zuko’s well being, but also allowed him to be independent, make his own decisions, and take his own risks.

Unlike the Nomad Leaders, he didn’t want Zuko weighed down by his position in the world and the responsibility that came with, and always encouraged him relax and take advantage of the moment.

Unlike Ozai, Iroh would always be there to support Zuko in his victories and his failures. Iroh shows him the right path but does not force him down it.

And even after Zuko betrayed and abandoned him.

Iroh was never angry with him, and embraced him upon his return.

He wanted Zuko to grow and be a better man. Even if Zuko wasn’t a prodigy like his sister.

And that is the answer here. The way to raise a prodigy is the same way anyone should raise any child. Love, Support, a Guiding Hand rather than a Forceful Shove, Recognition of What Makes Them Unique, and Forgiveness When They Falter. The problem comes along when you start treating children differently because you see them as different or special. All children are different, all children are special.

Kids are kids, and they all deserve a proper childhood.

24K notes · View notes

btsqualityy · 3 years

Text

Magnolias in Springtime

Namjoon x Reader

Genre: Arranged marriage!AU, ABO (Alpha/Beta/Omega) dynamics, fluff, smut, and just a smidge of angst

Warnings: Talks of arranged marriages, brief mention of polygamy (nothing comes of it, promise lol), oral sex, fingering, unprotected sex, knotting

Author’s Note: This fic is based on a prompt from the Spring Fest “Spring Will Come Again” hosted by @bangtanarmynet! I really hope you guys enjoy it! P.S: There will also be a part two to this fic so stayed tuned for that!

Prompt: While their parents discuss behind closed doors the terms of their arranged marriage to each other, they meet in the blooming garden to go over their own conditions.

Your pack was your entire life.

Growing up as what some of the elders in your pack referred to as the spoiled only child of the Pack Alpha and the Pack Omega, you were doted on by everyone. As a child, you marveled at the Alphas when they brought back the animals that they had haunted for the pack’s dinner and now as an adult, you were having Alphas dedicate those kills to you as a sign of intention to marriage.

As a child, you tried to take notes on how the Betas seemed to be able to de-escalate any and all types of conflict, always seeming to have a solution that would placate everyone. Now that you were an adult, you found yourself going to those same Betas whenever you had conflicts with your parents or your best friends, because you knew that they would understand you.

As a child, you thought that it was the coolest thing when you watched the Omegas essentially hold the pack together. They were the ones who gave birth, they were the ones who mostly took on child rearing and cooking (even though the Alphas and Betas in your pack always helped out as well), and they were always there when you happened to skin your knee as a child or just needed comfort. Once you became an adult and presented, you found yourself gravitating more towards the Omegas as you were also one now, and they took you under their wings as you learned just what it really meant to be an Omega.

So in short, you loved your pack and you were extremely grateful for everything that they had taught you. Oddly enough, that gratefulness is exactly how you ended up in this situation.

“We really appreciate the fact that you’re doing this for us Y/N,” your Alpha father, Byung-hoon told you as he, you, and your mother Deiji waited on the edge of the Kim Pack’s territory.

“I told you that it’s fine Daddy,” you muttered, bouncing yourself up and down on the tips of your toes.

“Taking on this huge responsibility for our pack isn’t fine, but we’re grateful that you’re willing to do it,” Deiji said. Instead of answering her though, you decided to change the subject.

“Their territory really is beautiful,” you pointed out as you looked around, seeing multiple bushes of plum blossoms and azaleas. “At least I’ll have something pretty to look forward to once I move here.”

“That you will,” a deep voice added and when you turned around, you saw a large, muscular man walking towards you and following behind him was an almost equally tall woman who was easily one of the most beautiful women you had ever seen in your life.

“Ah, hello Pack Alpha Ho-jin,” your father bowed and you and your mother followed his lead, holding the bow for a few seconds before straightening up again.

“Hello Pack Alpha Byung-hoon,” Ho-jin replied as he and the woman bowed as well. “This is my wife, Pack Omega Eun Kyung.”

“Nice to meet you all,” Eun Kyung smiled.

“This is my wife, Pack Omega Deiji and this is our daughter, Y/N,” Byung-hoon introduced.

“Hello,” Deiji smiled.

“Hello,” you echoed, even though your smile was a bit more forced than your mother’s.

“Oh, you are absolutely gorgeous,” Eun Kyung gushed as she stepped forward, reaching out and grabbing your hands. “Our son is a lucky man.”

“I’m sure that I am lucky as well, Pack Omega,” you replied.

“Please, call me Eun Kyung,” she corrected you. “I am going to be your mother-in-law soon.”

“Speaking of, where is Namjoon?” Your father wondered.

“He went off hunting with some of the other Alphas and Betas in our pack,” Ho-jin explained. “We plan on having a very big feast in order to celebrate their impending nuptials and he decided to go and try to find some extra meat.”

“Yeah, or to avoid meeting the wife that he doesn’t want,” you thought to yourself.

“He sounds like he’ll be an amazing provider and Alpha,” your mother smiled.

“Well, why don’t we all go into my office so that we can go over the terms and conditions of their marriage?” Ho-jin suggested before turning to look at you. “Y/N-ah, feel free to look around our territory and get a feel of the place. This will be your home soon, after all.”

“Of course,” you nodded. “Thank you.” After receiving a kiss on your head from your father and a pat on the hand from your mother, you watched silently as the four of them walk away together. As soon as they were out of sight, you let out a large rush of breath that you didn’t even realize you were holding. Even though you weren’t completely excited about this arrangement, your inner Omega wanted the parents of your future husband to like you and after meeting them, you were happy that you could seemingly not have that to worry about.

Deciding to take your future father-in-law’s advice, you walked away from the front of their territory and ventured around. You were amazed at how vast their territory seemed to be in comparison to your pack’s, large buildings and houses searching as far as your eyes could see. As you walked, you took notice of what seemed to be a schoolhouse, a building that seemed to be a sort of meeting hall, and even a building that looked like a store front with mannequins in the window.

The thing that caught your attention though, was a large archway that was covered in gorgeous magnolia flowers. When you stepped over to it, you gasped at what laid behind it: A large wall full of nothing but magnolias stood a few feet beyond the arch, a small bench placed in front of it.

“Gorgeous,” you whispered in awe as you stepped over to the wall, reaching out and gently touching the flowers.

“Who are you?” A deep voice called out and you jumped up a little, your heart almost beating out of your chest as you turned around to find the source of the voice. Standing right underneath the archway, was a tall, tan skinned man whose presence seemed to command attention.

“I-I’m Y/N L/N,” you replied, still feeling a little hesitant and the man’s eyes widened.

“You’re Y/N?” He wondered and you nodded your head. “Well, you’re a lot prettier than I thought you’d be.”

“I’m sorry, who are you?” You questioned.

“I’m Kim Namjoon,” he said, smiling at the soft gasp that escaped you. “Your future husband.”

“Oh,” was all you could utter in response because holy shit, your future husband was hot.

“Where are your parents?” Namjoon asked as he stepped closer to you. “I assume that you didn’t come here alone.”

“Um, they’re talking to your parents about the ‘terms and conditions’ of our marriage,” you told him and he scoffed out a laugh.

“Of course they are,” he chuckled as he took a seat on the small bench. “Well, I think that while they’re doing that, you and I should probably go over our own terms and conditions.”

“Our own?” You echoed as you sat down on the bench as well.

“Seeing as though we’re both fundamentally being forced into this, I figure that there’s things that you don’t want and that you do want,” he said.

“That’s..true, I guess,” you nodded. “You go first.”

“Well, seeing as though you weren’t raised in this pack, I’d like for you to learn the ways of the pack and just be a proper wife,” he began.

“I’ve been learning about your pack since the discussions of a possible arrangement started,” you told him. “I have to wonder though, what exactly is your definition of a ‘proper’ wife.”

“Basically, just keeping house, cooking and cleaning,” he elaborated. “As my father plans to step down once we’re married, I’ll be too busy running the pack.”

“Well, sorry to burst your bubble but I wasn’t raised to be a docile Omega and I don’t plan on becoming one once we’re married,” you huffed.

“Why not? I mean, surely you don’t expect to run the pack with me?” He laughed.

“Actually, that’s exactly what I expect,” you smiled.

“How can you expect to lead this pack when they don’t know you?” He asked.

“Since I’m going to be here for the rest of my life, then they’ll have every opportunity to get to know me,” you shrugged.

“We’ll talk more about that one later,” Namjoon sighed. “Anything that you wanted specifically?”

“I know that your pack is going to be providing aid to mines once we’re married and as much as I plan on being involved in this pack, I also hope that you don't expect me to never see my pack again,” you said.

“That’s the custom when you marry into another pack though,” Namjoon pointed out. “Plus, no offense or anything, but your pack is broke in terms of both money and resources and I don’t imagine there to be much to even go back to.”

“I am my parent’s only child and my pack is very close knit so I’d love to still be able to see them and for them to come see me,” you continued. “At least three or four times a year.”

“Alright, I guess that’s reasonable,” he relented. “Especially under these circumstances.”

“Thank you,” you smiled.

“Oh, another thing,” he said suddenly. “I know that this marriage isn’t exactly something that either of us want but you cannot have any...uh, lovers on the side.”

“I’d never do something like that,” you frowned. “But I hope you know that the same goes for you.”

“That’s fine,” Namjoon nodded. “It’s not my style anyways.”

“In addition to that, I read your pack’s history and the whole taking more than one Omega as a wife thing isn’t going to fly with me,” you stated firmly.

“It’s tradition though,” he shot back. “Every leader of this pack throughout its’ history has had more than one spouse.”

“Your father doesn’t,” you pointed out.

“Because he didn’t want one.”

“And you do?” You demanded to know and Namjoon just chuckled.

“You really meant that whole not a docile Omega thing, huh?” He wondered and you nodded while smirking.

“You’re going to be Pack Alpha,” you said. “You have the authority to change tradition.”

“Fine, no additional Omegas,” he agreed. “I hope that means you’re going to be willing to have lots of pups then, since that’s what the whole multiple Omegas rule was for.”

“How many?”

“At least 5,” he replied and you just laughed.

“5 is a pretty big number coming from a man who’s not going to be pushing them out,” you giggled. “Two, at most.”

“Three?” Namjoon bargained and after thinking for a few seconds, you nodded your head.

“Deal,” you answered. “Anything else?”

“Just one more,” he added. “No roses at our wedding.”

“What? Why?”

“They’re overrated and cliché,” he shrugged.

“What about magnolias?” You asked. “Those are my favorites.”

“I like those,” he smiled.

“Well, it’s settled then,” you announced. “No roses.”

“You know, this marriage thing is easier than I thought,” Namjoon said thoughtfully, making you giggle at him. “Do you have anything else you wanted to bring up?”

“Nope,” you shook your head. “I’m good.”

“Shake on it?” He extended his hand out to you and you let him grab onto yours, shaking each other’s hands.

“Namjoon?” A deep voice called out and Namjoon sighed heavily.

“That’s my dad,” Namjoon told you. “Should we head out there?”

“Yeah,” you nodded, standing up and waiting for Namjoon to do the same before the two of you walked back towards the front of their territory. As you did so, you couldn’t help but to Namjoon hadn’t let go of your hand the entire time.

“Ah, I see that the two of you met and are getting along!” Ho-jin announced happily.

“I’d say that we are,” Namjoon nodded as he looked down at you, and you nodded as well.

“Well, why don’t we all move into our house?” Eun Kyung suggested. “We can have dinner and get to each other more.” After receiving nods all around, the group of you began to move towards the large cluster of houses that were a few yards away from where you were currently standing. As you let Namjoon lead you, you thought that maybe all of this actually wouldn’t be so bad.

..........................................

A few days later, your time visiting Namjoon’s pack was winding down. After the first day, your father had happily told you that the negotiations between him and Namjoon’s father went off without a hitch and that the wedding could move forward immediately so the last few days of your visit had been spent planning your wedding.

“So maybe you and Namjoon can have your ceremony closer to the evening?” Eun Kyung suggested. “So that way we can move right into the reception afterwards.” You, her and your mom were currently in the dining room of Ho-jin and Eun Kyung’s house, going over some wedding details.

“That’s a good idea,” Deiji concurred.

“Yeah,” you agreed. “Having the ceremony around 5pm sounds good.”

“Great,” Eun Kyung smiled as she wrote some things down onto the notepad that was on the table in front of her. “A later ceremony will hopefully ease some of the anxiety you’ll have that day.”

“Anxiety?” You asked.

“About your wedding night,” Eun Kyung clarified and your eyes widened. “When Ho-jin and I got married, we had our ceremony in the early afternoon and I was so nervous waiting for the reception to come because I knew what was going to happen afterwards and I had never been to bed with anyone before.”

“Oh,” you murmured. Of course, you knew that it was expected that you’d have sex with Namjoon on your wedding night and if it were up to your parents and Namjoon’s parents, get pregnant immediately but you had done your best not to actually think about it.

“Anyways, I think maybe roses for the flowers,” Deiji changed the subject and you gave her a small smile in thanks.

“Oh, that would be gorgeous,” Eun Kyung gasped. “Namjoon’s grandmother actually has a garden full of red roses and I’m sure that she won’t mind us using some.”

“Actually, no roses,” you spoke up and both older women looked at you.

“I thought you liked roses, Y/N-ah,” Deiji said.

“I do, but Namjoon doesn’t,” you explained. “We agreed on magnolias instead.”

“You both agreed?” Deiji repeated and you nodded your head, making her smile. “That’s great.”

“You know, it’s so nice to see you actually trying to make the best of this whole thing Y/N,” Eun Kyung said. “I know it’s not ideal and you could be fighting this tooth and nail but the fact that you’re not says a lot about your character.”

“Thank you,” you smiled lightly.

“Alright, magnolias it is,” Eun Kyung muttered as she wrote that down onto her notepad as well. Before the conversation could continue any further though, there was a sudden knock and when you looked up, you saw Namjoon standing in the door way to the dining room.

“Hey, you all back from hunting so soon?” Eun Kyung wondered, referring to how Ho-jin, Namjoon, and Byung-hoon had decided to go off and hunt right after lunch.

“Animals weren’t really out,” Namjoon shrugged. “Dad wanted to show Pack Alpha Byung-hoon our warehouse and I decided to come back here to spend time with Y/N.”

“With me?” You echoed in awe and Namjoon nodded.

“I wanted to show you around a little more, if you’re willing,” he offered. Before answering, you looked over at your mother who immediately waved her hands at you.

“Go, go,” she encouraged you. “We’re here for another two days so we can pick this up again later. Right, Eun Kyung?”

“Absolutely,” she agreed, turning to look at Namjoon after. “Show her the river.”

“I got it Mom,” Namjoon chuckled. “Y/N?”

“Sure,” you replied before standing up, walking over to Namjoon and grabbing his outstretched hand.

“We’ll be back by dinner,” he called out to your mothers before turning around and leading you through the living room and out of the house.

“Thanks for getting me out of there,” you said as the two of you walked down the front steps and began to walk away from the cluster of houses. “All that wedding planning was starting to get to my head.”

“I figured, which is why I got out of there right after lunch,” Namjoon laughed. “But I also genuinely wanted to spend some time with you too. It feels like I haven’t had a moment alone with you since the first day you got here.”

“I think our families are making sure of that,” you pointed out. “I think they’re afraid that we may realize that we hate each other if they leave us alone together for too long.”

“I think that’s actually a great assumption,” he chuckled. “They don’t have to worry about that though, at least not on my end.”

“Mines either,” you murmured shyly. “So, where are you taking me?”

“Well, even though my mom suggested that I take you to the river, I think that there’ll be plenty of time for you to see that later,” he told you. “I actually want to show you something that I’ve been working on.”

“Cool,” you nodded as the two of you continued to walk and you noticed that he was still holding onto your hand. On their territory, there were a few different clusters of houses and Namjoon was leading you over to a different one, stopping in front of what seemed to be the largest house.

“What do you think?” Namjoon asked and you took a second to look over the outside, liking how it was painted a light brown color, had a large porch that already had a swing attached to the ceiling of it, and a large set of stairs.

“I think it’s beautiful,” you smiled. “You built this?”

“Yeah, for us,” he revealed and you looked over at him in shock. “What? I hope you didn’t think we’d be living with my parents once the wedding is over.”

“Namjoon, I don’t even know what to say,” you murmured in awe.

“Want to take a look inside?” Namjoon wondered, reaching down and pulling a set of keys out of his pocket. You nodded your head rapidly and he chuckled before leading you up the stairs and unlocking the front door. Walking inside, you let out another soft gasp as you looked around.

As soon as you walked into the front door, there was a little open space which could be used to place your shoes and jackets and then a staircase that led upstairs to the second level of the house. On your left hand side, there was an archway that lead into the dining room and kitchen and then on your right hand side, there was another archway that lead into the living room and another room that Namjoon said he planned on converting into a study. Once you went upstairs, you saw that there were a total of five bedrooms and the master bedroom was the largest and complete with an en suite as well.

“I love it,” you gushed as you turned to look at Namjoon, who was leaning up against one of the walls in what would soon be your shared bedroom.

“I thought I’d leave the decorating up to you,” he said. “That way you’ll have control over something here.”

“Good, because I already have ideas,” you grinned, deciding to throw caution to the wind and walking over to him, not waiting for him to ask what you were doing before throwing your arms around him. He hesitated for a second before hugging you back as well, and the two of you stood there for a few seconds with your arms around each other.

“I’m happy that you like it,” he whispered and you craned your neck in order to look up at him.

“I really appreciate it,” you told him.

“Anything for my future wife,” he smiled and it was when he said that that you realized how close the two of you still were. You dropped your arms from around him and stepped back, forcing him to let go of you as well. Feeling your cheeks warm up from embarrassment, you turned your back towards him and walked over towards the window to look outside.

“You know Y/N, I’ve been meaning to ask you,” Namjoon began. “Why did you agree to all of this?”

“What, marrying you?” You asked for clarification and Namjoon nodded.

“I mean, I know the basic reason why but I feel like there’s more to it than that,” he said. “A lot of packs run out of money and resources at some point but their leaders usually figure something out instead of marrying off their children in return for more resources.”

“True,” you sighed before turning to look at him over your shoulder. “Long story short, I don’t want my pack to die out just because of my father’s mismanagement. I love every member of my pack and they have all been so vital to how I grew up and how I’ve become the person that I am. If me marrying into another pack will guarantee that those people can continue to live comfortably, then I’ll do it.”

“That’s incredibly selfless,” Namjoon replied as he walked over to stand next to you.

“I guess so,” you shrugged. “But to me, I’m just repaying the people who gave me so much.”

“That’s amazing Y/N,” he muttered.

“What about you?” You reversed the question. “Why did you agree to this?”

“Well, my reasoning was a lot more selfish than yours,” he chuckled. “It’s always been my dream to lead the pack and when my father came to me a few months ago saying that he was getting ready to want to step down, I was super excited. However, it concerned him that I’m 26 and not mated to anyone yet so he made it a stipulation that I meet someone and get mated before he allows me to take over for him. Since I planned on getting married at some point in my life, that stipulation really didn’t matter to me so I agreed.”

“Ah, I guess that explains why you weren’t too keen on me wanting to run the pack with you,” you said.

“Kind of,” he shrugged. “Although, after hearing why you agreed to all of this, I have to admit that I’m reconsidering that.”

“Really?” You smiled hopefully.

“Of course, you’ll still have to get to know the pack and our ways,” he pointed out. “But I don’t think it would be the worst thing to have you by my side.”

“Great!” You exclaimed happily and Namjoon couldn’t help but to laugh from how excited you clearly were.

“Do you want to go look in the other bedrooms?” He suggested. “Maybe see what you might want to do with them?”

“Mm, we don’t have to. I don’t want to overwhelm myself,” you giggled. “Why did you make so many bedrooms anyways?”

“Well, for our future children,” he confessed and you felt your cheeks immediately become hotter.

“Oh,” you whispered.

“Is that ok?” Namjoon wondered. “I know it might’ve been a little presumptuous of me, especially since I did it before we had our conversation about what we both wanted the other day.”

“No, no, no, it’s....it’s fine,” you shrugged.

“Oh, I get it,” he smirked. “You haven’t been with anyone, have you?”

“Namjoon!” You shouted in surprise.

“You’re nervous,” he surmised.

“Can you blame me?” You scoffed. “I mean, it’s already embarrassing to have basically everyone know that I’m a virgin but knowing what’s expected of us on our wedding night....it’s nerve wrecking.”

“It’s not that big of a deal Y/N,” he shrugged.

“Aren’t you nervous?” You asked him, only to see him shake his head. “Why not?”

“Because I’ve thought about filling you with my knot since the first day that I saw you,” Namjoon confessed. “So if you let me have sex with you on our wedding night, I’d consider myself to be a very lucky man.”

“Really?” You whispered.

“Of course, but I’m not going to push you,” he told you. “If you deicide that you don’t want to, then that’s completely fine. If you do though, just know that I’ll be more willing.”

“Good to know, I guess,” you muttered, more so to yourself but Namjoon still laughed at you.

“Cute,” he smiled widely as he reached down and grabbed your hand, intertwining your fingers with his.

..........................................

A month later, your wedding day had finally come. After spending a week in Namjoon’s territory, you and your parents had traveled back to your pack’s territory where you prepared for the wedding alone. The only other time that you were able to see Namjoon had been when he and his parents decided to visit your territory in order to sign the treaty that would make the connection between your two packs official.

Fast forward to now, you were standing in the guest bedroom of Namjoon’s parents’ house, getting ready with your mom and your two best friends.

“I really wish you would’ve let me make you a more form fitting dress Y/N-ah,” Taehyung sighed as he pullzed up the zipper on the back of your dress. Your dress was pure white, with long billowing sleeves, a scooped neckline, and a loose, long skirt with a small train.

“You know that I hate tight clothing,” you pointed out. “This feels more like me.”

“And you look beautiful,” Jimin spoke up, taking a second to stick his tongue out at Taehyung.

“That you do,” Deiji grinned widely as she placed a crown of magnolias on top of your head. “You look like a dream.”

“Thanks Mommy,” you giggled. Just then, there was a sudden knock on the door.

“Everyone decent in there?” Your father called out and Jimin walked over to the door and opened it up, making your father gasp when he saw you.

“Oh Y/N-ah,” he murmured as he paced over to you, setting his hands on your cheeks. “My baby girl.”

“What do you think?” You asked him.

“I think that Namjoon is a very lucky man to be marrying such a gorgeous woman,” Byung hoon replied, leaning forward and pressing a kiss to your cheek. “You ready? There’s still time to back out and we can always figure something else out.”

“I’m not gonna do that Daddy,” you huffed with a smile, reaching out and taking the bouquet of magnolias that Taehyung was handing to you. “I’m gonna do this.”

“We can’t thank you enough,” your father murmured and you just leaned forward, giving him a kiss on the cheek as well.

“What’s done is done,” you said. “So don’t stress about it.”

“Well, let’s go get you married,” Taehyung smiled as he reached up and pulled your veil down over your face.

“Let’s,” you whispered as you wrapped your hand around your father’s arm and let him lead you out of the bedroom.

The ceremony was an unrushed affair once you met Namjoon underneath the little archway that had been placed near the large wall of magnolias where the two of you had first met. You found yourself not even paying much attention to what was happening during the ceremony and before you knew it, you were facing Namjoon as the preacher pronounced you man and wife.

It wasn’t the first time that you’d ever been kissed, but it still felt different all the same. Namjoon was so gentle as he reached out and grabbed the hem of your veil, lifting it up and over your head to reveal your face. He then placed his hands on your cheeks, cradling them as he leaned forward and kissed you softly. You found yourself kissing back on instinct, your hands reaching out and grabbing onto his suit jacket.

The reception was definitely more fun than you imagined it to be. The food was amazing and so was the music, and you couldn’t help but to smile at how everyone in your new pack danced around happily as they celebrated your marriage. You found yourself having fun as well as you allowed Eun Kyung and Ho-jin to lead you around, introducing you to some members of the pack as well as spending time with your own family and friends as well.

Now that the night was over though, you were quietly walking back to your new house with Namjoon, which had been decorated to your liking.

“Did you have fun?” Namjoon asked and you looked over at him, nodding your head.

“I did,” you smiled. “Your pack sure knows how to throw a party.”

“It’s your pack now too,” he pointed out and you hummed in reply. Once your new house came into view, Namjoon helped you walk up the front steps before pulling out his keys and unlocking the front door.

“Wait,” he said when you moved to step into the house and before you could ask what he was doing, he leant down and picked you up bridal style.

“Namjoon!” You shrieked as he carried you into the house and you reached out to shut the front door for him. He then carried you up the stairs and into your bedroom before setting you down on the ground.

“What was that?” You giggled as you looked up at him.

“Well, I couldn’t let you be deprived of a prime wedding experience,” he shrugged, making you smile. A somewhat awkward silence then settled over the two of you then and it wasn’t until then that you felt your nerves kick in. You had been successful in not thinking much about your wedding night for the past few weeks but now that the two of you were alone, it was all that you could think about.

“You know,” Namjoon spoke up suddenly. “We don’t have to do anything tonight.”

“Namjoon, we talked about this,” you replied.

“We did and I meant what I said then,” he said. “We don’t have to do anything just because people might expect us to.”

“Really?”

“Really. Plus, it’s kind of insulting if you only have sex with me because you’re expected to,” he joked, making you giggle.

“You have a point,” you smiled. “What if I said that I wanted to though, because I want to?”

“Do you remember what else I said to you when we had that conversation?” He wondered and you felt your cheeks warm up immensely as you recalled his words.

“Yes.”

“What did I say baby?”

“You said that you, uh, wanted to....uh,” you stammered and Namjoon smiled, deciding to take pity on you.

“I said that I wanted to fill you with my knot,” he finished for you. “And I still mean that.”

“You’ll be gentle?” You checked.

“Absolutely,” he stated firmly. “And I’ll go as slow as you need me to.” You knew that this was a big step, losing your virginity. However, something about Namjoon made you feel so at ease and besides, he was your husband now.

“I want to,” you announced, causing him to grin widely.

“Can I kiss you?” He requested and you nodded your head. He reached up and placed his hands on your cheeks before leaning down and pressing his lips against yours. You immediately moved closer to him, placing your hands near his waist. He then took one of his hands off of your cheek and before you could ask what he was doing, he reached up and took the crown of magnolias off your head before throwing it over his shoulder.

“Someone seems eager,” you teased.

“You have no idea,” Namjoon chuckled deeply. He kissed you again, this time much deeper as he walked you backwards towards the bed. Once you felt the edge of the bed hit the back of your knees, you pulled away from his lips and looked up at him.

“Help me take this off?” You whispered, taking a second to turn around so that your back was facing him. Without any hesitation, he reached out and pulled down the zipper on the back of your dress. The feeling of his fingertips against your skin made you shiver and when your dress dropped down to the floor in a pool around your feet, the feeling of his eyes on you made you get chills.

“Did you wear this for me?” Namjoon asked before leaning forward and pressing kisses along the curve of your shoulder, referring to the white, lace bra and panty set that you had been wearing underneath your dress.

“Maybe,” you breathed out, his lips on your skin making it hard for you to focus.

“Gorgeous. Lay down for me?” He said and you nodded before bending down and crawling onto the bed. When you flipped over to lie on your back, Namjoon was working on taking off his suit jacket and unbuttoning the white dress shirt that he had underneath.

“You still ok?” He checked in as he climbed onto the bed as well and you smiled as you reached up and wrapped your arms around his neck.

“I’m ok,” you confirmed, leaning up and kissing him again. The kiss quickly became heated, your mouth falling open as Namjoon slipped his tongue inside. He then pulled away from your mouth, moving down to press kisses to your jaw before moving down to your neck.

“Been thinking about this, about you,” he whispered against your skin and you just blushed as you looked up at the ceiling.

“About me?”

“Mmhmm,” he hummed. “Been thinking about your scent too.”

“What do I smell like to you?” You wondered, doing your best to keep your eyes trained on the ceiling as you felt him start to move down again.

“Like...pineapples and bananas,” he murmured as he grabbed the cups of your bra, pulling them down so that they sat right underneath your breasts. He then leaned down and sucked your right nipple into his mouth, making you arch your back up from the bed.

“Holy, huh,” you moaned and Namjoon chuckled at you, which automatically made you pout. “Don’t laugh at me.”

“I’m sorry,” he apologized after popping your nipple out of his mouth. “You’re just so cute.” You couldn’t find the words to say anything else because Namjoon reached underneath you and you lifted your back up so that he could take your bra off completely, and he didn’t waste any time before taking your left nipple into his mouth.

Once both of your nipples had stiffened to a peak, he moved downwards again, trailing his lips across your skin until he made it down to the line of your panties.

“Lift up for me?” Namjoon asked and slowly, you lifted your hips and waited until he had grabbed the waistband of your panties and pulled them down before lowering your body back onto the bed. Once he pulled them off of your legs and threw them off the bed, you watched as he sat his hands on your knees and looked down at you.

“Still good?” He wondered.

“Seriously, stop asking,” you giggled. “I’m nervous as hell but I want to do this so I’m good.”

“I just, you know you can tell me to stop at anytime and I will, right?”

“I know, and that’s why I want this,” you smiled. “Want you to give me a bite.”

“Fuck, ok,” he exhaled harshly. “I want to eat you out first though.”

“Ok,” you nodded and you allowed him to push your knees apart, exposing your folds to him. He laid down on the bed so that he was right in between your legs, and you let out a loud gasp when you felt his tongue make contact with your clit. He used the tip of his tongue to make slow circles around your clit and even though he wasn’t placing a lot of pressure behind it, you felt like you were going to lose your mind.

“Holy shit, that feels...good,” you huffed and you felt Namjoon hum against you as he closed his entire mouth around your clit. The feeling was almost euphoric, and you couldn’t believe that you had been missing out on this for the last few years since you presented as an Omega.

“I’m gonna give you a finger ok?” Namjoon spoke up after taking his mouth off of you and you nodded, wincing lightly when he began to push his pointer finger inside of you. He then began to slowly pump the digit in and out of you, which made you moan lightly.

“Feels good?” He asked.

“Yeah. Weird but good,” you told him.

“Good,” he smirked. “You’re getting wet.”

“Don’t say that,” you groaned.

“Why not? It’s a good thing,” he shrugged. “It’ll make it easier for you to take my knot.”

“You’re insufferable.”

“Good thing you’re stuck with me,” he smiled before leaning down and taking your clit back into his mouth. As he fingered and licked you simultaneously, you found it a little harder to breathe because of the pleasure that was building in the pit of your stomach.

“Wait, wait, wait, wait,” you hissed when he tried to ease his middle finger inside of you.

“It’s ok baby, we just gotta get you stretched out a little bit,” he whispered and you just decided to be quiet and let him do it. Admittedly, you admired how much time he was taking making sure that you were properly ready and it made your heart soften because you had never had a man (other than your father) be so gentle with you.

“Namjoon, I-I think I’m going to come,” you whimpered and Namjoon took his mouth off of your clit for a few seconds.

“Go ahead baby,” he encouraged you before placing his mouth back on you. Sure enough, it didn’t take much longer before your body seized up, your orgasm washing over you. Namjoon continued to stroke you through it and by the time that it passed, you were reaching down and pushing him away from you.

“Holy shit, that felt good,” you giggled, making Namjoon laugh as well.

“That’s good,” He replied as he sat up onto his knees. When your eyes trailed downwards, they widened a little at the sight of the bulge in his pants.

“Should I, um,” you stammered as you motioned towards his pants and he looked down, chuckling before looking back up at you.

“You don’t have to and besides, seeing you come turned me on and I doubt I’d last,” he admitted.

“Oh, ok,” you smiled shyly. He then pulled off the dress shirt that he had on, letting it fall onto the floor before moving onto his slacks, unbuttoning and unzipping them before pulling them down. He pushed them, along with his underwear, down his legs and your jaw dropped a little from the sight of his cock.

You didn’t know what you expected, but you definitely didn’t expect his cock to be so thick and long. You had to admit, actually seeing it made you even more nervous.

“Hey,” Namjoon called out and you looked up at him. “It’ll be ok. I’m still going to go slow.”

“O-Ok,” you whispered as he climbed between your legs. He reached out with two fingers and gathered some of your slickness from your orgasm before using it to lubricate his cock.

“Ready?” He questioned as he positioned his cock right in front of your entrance and once you nodded, he slowly began to push into you. The stinging pain hit you immediately and you yelped out loud, reaching up and clutching onto Namjoon’s forearms. “Y/N?”

“Hurts,” you muttered through grit teeth.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized, bending down and pressing a kiss to your forehead. He didn’t try to push any further, he waited until you gave him a small nod before pressing his hips forward again. You were almost ready to tell him to forget the entire thing as the stinging pain seemed to become worse the more he pushed into you. Before you knew it though, he had bottomed out and was looking down at you intensely.

“What?” You asked him.

“You just, you look so beautiful,” he complimented you.

“Are you just saying that because you’re inside of me right now?” You joked.

“I mean it,” he laughed.

“Well, thank you,” you responded and he leaned down to kiss you again. He then slowly pulled his hips back before pushing back in, which caused you to let out a stuttered moan into his mouth. The pain was still thee but as he began to fuck you, it slowly went away and was replaced by what was probably the greatest pleasure that you had ever felt in your life up to that point.

“So tight baby,” Namjoon grunted after he pulled away from the kiss.

“F-feels so full,” you whimpered.

“Good. I’m gonna fill you even more with my knot,” he said gruffly as he looked down at you. “You want that?”

“Yes.”

“Say it,” he instructed you.

“I-I want your.....k-knot,” you stuttered and he literally groaned at your words. He began to fuck you a little faster, making you grip onto him and wrap your legs around his waist.

“Been thinking about this,” he moaned. “Been thinking about how good you would feel wrapped around my cock.”

“Me t-too,” you confessed.

“Fuck, you’ve been thinking about me baby?”

“Yeah,” you nodded. “Since you told me that you wanted to...fill me with your, uh, knot. Thought about you calling me baby too.”

“You like it?” He smiled.

“Love it.”

“Then I’ll call you that as often as I can,” he promised. He continued to fuck you, and you realized that you were feeling the same buildup of pressure that you did when he was fingering you.

“I-I’m gonna come Namjoon,” you announced breathily and he sighed.

“Thank god,” he huffed as he began to thrust into you both faster and harder, and your grip on him became so tight that you were sure you’d leave marks on his skin. “I wanna knot you so fucking bad.”

“Do it,” you encouraged him. “Want you to bite me too.”

“Come first,” he shot back as he focused all of his energy into making sure that you did so. After a few more thrusts, you were coming right onto his cock, your essence covering more of his cock every time that he pulled it out and then pushed it right back in.

“Ready for a bite?” He asked and you nodded your head numbly. Leaning down, he stuck his face in your neck and began to suck on the skin there. As soon as you released a moan at the feeling, you felt his teeth sink in.

You had heard a lot about mating bites and how it would feel when you finally received one, but you could truthfully say that the feeling was indescribable. You truly felt like you were now connected to Namjoon in a way that you had never been connected with any one before and the feeling was almost so overwhelming that you almost didn’t recognize that Namjoon’s knot was pushing its’ way inside of you.

“God damn,” Namjoon groaned deeply as his knot fully popped into you, and you gasped when you felt his cum pouring into you right after. You leaned up and after finding the perfect spot, you sunk your teeth into his neck as well, giving him a mating bite too.

Namjoon collapsed on top of you and the two of you stayed like that for a while, at least 15 minutes, basking in the after glow of your new matching mating bites.

“No offense or anything,” you spoke up. “But you’re heavy and it’s hot in here.”

“Some offense taken,” he laughed as he lifted himself off of you. “My knot has gone down but it’s gonna hurt when I pull out.”

“Go slow, ok?” You requested and he nodded, looking down in between your legs and slowly pulling out of you. It did hurt a little and you even winced a little bit, but it wasn’t that bad all in all.

“Y/N-ah?” He called as he laid down next to you and you gently turned over onto your side to face him.

“What happened to baby?” You simpered with a teasing smile, making him chuckle.

“I’m still gonna call you that,” he assured you. “But I wanted to talk to you seriously.”

“Ok, shoot,” you shrugged.

“I know that you didn’t necessarily choose all of this and neither did I, but I don’t want you to worry,” he began. “I take this marriage and this relationship just as seriously as if we met in the conventional sense and I really mean it when I say that I can see myself falling in love with you.”

“Really?”

“Really,” he smiled. “Even though we haven’t known each other long, I can already tell that you’re kind, selfless, loving, and the most gorgeous woman that I’ve ever met in my life. I’d only be so lucky if you fell in love with me.”

“Well, I think that I can fall in love with you too,” you confessed, making him grin widely. “And I hope that I do.”

#BAspringwillcome #bangtanarmynet #bts #bts namjoon #bts rm #abo bts #namjoon x reader #rm x reader #namjoon smut #namjoon fluff #namjoon angst #rm smut #rm angst #rm fluff #bts x reader #bts smut #bts fluff #bts angst

796 notes · View notes

linkspooky · 3 years

Photo

Who is it who really needs saving?

is the question Dabi asked when Tokoyami came to rescue Hawks in the middle of the raid war arc. Dabi asks this question just after Hawks stabbed twice in the back with the justification that it would save people, despite the fact that Twice was also a victim too, and also someone in need of saving. Dabi’s question is especially poignant because it asks who is hero society invested in saving, a question that is repeated by Twice who believes Hero Society only saves the good victims, and Himiko as well who asks if Heroes save people, then was Twice not a person.

I bring this up because chapter 299/300 end on another parallel between Dabi and Hawks. Both of them have their backs being shown, however, Hawks is already healing due to the nature of his quirk, whereas the permanent burns on Dabi’s skin has already gotten worse. Hawks and Dabi also have opposite goals at this point, Hawks to support Endeavor, and Dabi’s ultimate goal is to bring him down. However, Rei’s words over Endeavor’s panel add another layer of complication to this. “Those regrets and guilt, the rest of those have borne that burden much more than you have.” Endeavor is suffering, but he’s not the one most in need of saving. I believe next chapter rightly, Rei is going to point out that the ones most in need of saving are the ones who suffered the most because of Endeavor’s actions. Endeavor was never the one in need of saving, and in need of redemption in the first place, rather it was Dabi.

1. Started From the Bottom Now We’re Even Lower

Hawks and Dabi are seeming opposites even from their origin points. Hawks was born in a poor household the son to a minor villain, Touya a rich household the son of the number two hero. Hawks family name basically means nothing to the point where the hero commission easily erased it, whereas Dabi’s family name has dominated his entire life. Touya from a young age was given everything he needed to become a hero and his father even encouraged him, while Hawks was on the run from the law and couldn’t even leave his small house without getting yelled at.

At first, Hawks was born with a quirk that both of his parents disapproved of as they constantly asked him what his wings were even for, and seemed disgusted by his mutation. While at the same time, Touya was born with a quirk that his father was happy with, a fire quirk even stronger than his own which Enji thought gave him enough of a potential that he didn’t need to worry about finding an ideal hybrid quirk. He could pass all his techniques onto his firstborn son who seemed eager to learn.

The only real similarity between both of them was that for both children, Endeavor was clearly their favorite hero. Touya was eager to please his father and train with him in order to inherit his hero techniques, and when Endeavor captured Hawks father, it convinced Hawks that heroes were real.

However, both of them experienced a sudden reversal of fate. This is where circumstances for both of them flipped. Touya’s quirk was in fact revealed to be a very harmful hybridization of his parents two quirks, he inherited his father’s flames but even hotter, while at the same time inheriting Rei’s sensitivity to fire which made th overheating flaw even worse on him causing his quirk to deliberately harm his body. Hawks however, is an ideali hybridization of both of his parents quirks. His mother Tomie has a quirk that creates eyeballs and seems ideal for searching, watching and locating things, while his father’s feather quirks on his arms that could sharpen into blades turned into wings on his back that were both capable of searching and detection like his mother’s eyeballs and sharpening into blades like his father’s.

At first it seems destined that Touya was ging to become a hero, while Hawks had no hope for him, but because of the nature of their quirks the opposite happened. When Hawks was young he was able to save a busload of people from crashing which got him recruited by the hero commission. While it’s implied that Touya kept trying to train on his own even after Endeavor stopped the training and abandoned him in favor of Shoto, and because of that Touya had his training accident at Sekoto peek and burned to death.

Dabi and Hawks are seeming opposites, but they’re actually quite similar if you think about it. Both of them grew up in abusive households that are intentionally paralleled, they have controlling and physically violent fathers, and mothers who are coded as mentally ill, Tomie was unfit to take care of a child, and Rei was eventually pushed to a breaking point where she was unable to anymore and then forcibly separated and institutionalized by her husband. Both, also experienced a separation from their mother, Rei was hospitalized around the time Toya finally died, and the Hero Commission promised Tomie support if she cut all ties from him. Both of them also dreamed of becoming heroes, and tried their best to, even Touya after his father rejected him kept training on their own.

The only difference between them is circumstances, Hawks was saved because he was born with a useful quirk, Touya despite his father being the number two hero was never saved.

2. We’re the Heroes, Who Don’t Do Anything

In fact it’s implied that Enji intentionally looked away and forced himself to forget Touya’s suffering. For instance, the first time Touya trains with Enji he’s shown wearing a sleeveless shirt. Every time after that, Touya has long jacket sleeves on. When he’s crying to Natsuo, when he’s pulling out his hair, and the last memory from before his death, every time Touya is shown hiding his arms. We also know that Dabi, has burns that go all the way up his arms which is exactly where his flames emerge from. It’s also the place where Touya burns himself when Enji remembers training with him for the first time.

It’s likely that Touya was walking around with burns up his arms from the training he was inflicting on himself, and Enji simply didn’t notice because his unreliable narrator status, he forgets everything he has done to other members of his family, or intentionally downplays the severity of it in order to avoid the guilt and consequences of his actions. Hence why he can say things like “I never meant to neglect you” to Natsuo, when we saw him call Natsuo and the others failures from Shoto’s perspective, because in Enji’s perspective he’s just a good father who went wrong somewhere along the line, whereas from Natsuo’s perspective he never really acted like a father towards him at all.

Enji only ever sees his own intentions, and not the impact his actions had on others. He only saw his heroic ambitions, and not the way he taught Touya that his only value was his quirk, and then completely tossed him aside as a failure and ignored all his suffering when Touya kept trying to get his attention. That he intentionally neglected Touya until either an accident or a suicide claimed his life.

Either way it’s a running theme that Endeavor hesitates when it comes to saving his own sons. Despite seeing himself as both a hero and a father, he completely fails in both roles to them.

He froze when it came time to save Natsuo from Ending, and the second time when Shoto was begging Endeavor for help against Dabi, Endeavor chose not to do a single thing. In fact the only thing that moved him was Deku’s pep talk that exclusively stoked his ego and called him a good mentor, which caused Endeavor to finally move into action.

Endeavor is a hero in name who has no interest in directly saving others, because his number one priority has always been to stand at the number one spot and feel like he’s accomplished something. He didn’t notice Touya was most likely continuing the training on his own, and was spiraling that badly until after Touya had died, and even after that happened he still continued the training with Shoto like nothing happened, even mentioning that Touya was a small mistake.

When the wounds from Touya’s death were still fresh, it seemed like barely anything more than an afterthought to him. There are some people who even theorize that Enji only believed Touya was always alive because he had never truly faced the guilt of Touya’s death and his role in it, that it was a comfort to him to believe his son was still secretly alive out there.

The signs were obvious that Touya was spiraling, but he was neglected so much that Endeavor the number two hero who prides himself on most cases resolved didn’t notice what was going wrong with his son until he literally burned himself alive, and even then that wasn’t enough to stop him from mistreating his other son and forcing him into painful training.

Touya’s neglect is as much abuse as Shoto’s favoritism and training, that’s the point of the golden child / scapegoat dynamic, they are both being abused. Enji was the only parent in the household, and if his kid was burning himself, and injuring himself all the time and it got to the point where the child literally died because of a lack of adult supervision, Enji could be prosecuted for manslaughter in a court of law. There are cases where adults just, do absolutely nothing for their kids, and those kids sometimes die of neglect, starvation, because of their parents completely failing to take care of them. It’s just as sinister a form of abuse as physical abuse. In both cases a child’s needs aren’t being provided for by their parents.

Dabi is someone who could have been easily saved by his father paying attention to him, and should have been saved by the man who prides himself as the number two hero, but he was left to rot. This is a running theme with Endeavor, he’s a hero who continually fails to save his family.

Dabi’s situation is also a metaphor for hero society at large. Who are the types of people that Hero Society prefers to save? Those who are useful to it like Hawks. It intentionally turns a blind eye to cases like Touya, Tenko or Twice. If Touya did have burns on his arms from training but was able to cover them up just by wearing long sleeves, and Natsuo was the only one who knew then that goes even further to explain Dabi’s specific obsession with discrediting Endeavor.

If Dabi’s father had just acted like a hero, or acted like a father then he would have been saved. If Dabi’s father had noticed the person most in need of saving was right next to him, the incident where he burned to death never would have happened. Which is why Dabi’s grudge is specifically against heroes who do not act like heroes. Heroes who, cannot save anyone because they are too self involved to perform the duty of saving. He shares Stain’s obsession with ideologically pure heroes, that only heroes who put saving others selflessly over everything else should be allowed to exist and the rest are pretenders to the title.

Notice how Dabi pulls on the scars on his face when begging the people to think about this, about who should really be allowed to call themselves heroes.

Dabi’s entire arc revolves around this question. Who are the real victims? Who are the ones that really need to be saved? Dabi is a character of mystery and subversion who is constantly hiding his real feelings.

Dabi is commented on being heartless about Twice’s death, but his actions contradict his words. Dabi goes out of his way trying to avenge Twice even after it’s already too late to save him, even burning up his own body to do so. He tried so hard we see literally there are new scars growing on his back the next time we see him Post-War Arc.

I’d also like to bring up that while Hawks accuses Dabi of feeling nothing about Twice’s death, Hawks is the one who killed him, and who after the fact shows no regret in his actions because he’s completely justified it to himself. He even remembers Twice like he’s some kind of old friend he took inspiration from, and not a person he manipulated into trusting him then killed. My point is it’s a reversal, Hawks is set up as the one who cares about Twice as a friend, but really was only using him. Dabi claims he was only using him, but he’s the one who showed an actual emotional reaction to Twice’s death and made an effort to save him.

If I were to say this is one more point of foiling between Dabi and Hawks. They both don’t see themselves as victims and because of that they deny the victimhood of the other.

Dabi accuses Hawks of becoming a murderer because his father was a murderer. Hawks when he learns the truth about Enji, takes Enji’s side over Dabi’s, believing Endeavor being the true victim in need of help in that situation. This is because Dabi and Hawks both deny their own victimhood, and they project that on each other. Dabi denies his victimhood and pretends to be the villain instead, he’s the villain who is going to take down Endeavor and therefore he’s not suffering. Hawks denies his own victimhood and his abusive past and pretends to be a hero, he’s helping Endeavor become a better hero, so therefore all the abuse Endeavor committed is in the past so therefore he doesn’t have to think about it. Both deny themselves and therefore deny any similarity in one another.

They’re also two people fatally wrapped up in their own circumstances they turn a blind eye to the suffering of others. Dabi assumes that Shoto is “good” and therefore, must have been raised with love and had it better than him and was raised with love. Whereas Hawks assumes that Twice is “good”, and therefore worthy of saving because he helps other people. In both cases, neither Dabi nor Hawks really understand Shoto or Twice, they’re just judging them by their own projected standards. Dabi only understands his childhood as Touya desperately trying to work for Enji’s attention, so Shoto who had Enji’s attention must have had it good. Hawks was saved because of the bus accident where he saved people as a hero, so obviously it makes sense he reach out to try to save another good person who just had bad luck.

Despite the fact that both of them are pretty much emotionally dead and in deep denial of their true feelings.

Dabi has also made a show of how little he cares about Natsuo, while at the same time his most famous line from the pro hero arc is “overthought things and snapped...”

Dabi is also the only one who notices it’s dangerous to bring Tokoyami onto a battlefield. This is when he asks the question, who is it who needs saving.

We learn at around the same time, the hope from the Pro Hero arc was intentionally a set up by Dabi to bring Endeavor down, and show everyone eventually that Endeavor hadn’t truly changed.

These are all small details yes, but keep in mind we’ve really only gotten crumbs of Dabi’s characterization so far because his perspective is one that has deliberately been kept from us. We see his past through almost everyone else’s eyes but his own - because so far the focus has been on Endeavor.

Just like Dabi set up Endeavor’s earlier success only to bring him down, this might also lead to a reversal in the narratives. In 299, Hawks believed Endeavor to be the one in need of help. We are also as an audience set up to believe that the narrative arc will focus around Endeavor’s redemption. This is before the series revealed the circumstances of his son.

However, Endeavor and Dabi are literal opposites. They’re inversions of each other. Dabi pretends he doesn’t care any more for his family and will go out of his way to hurt them, that all he cares about is revenge, but at the same his ideals are heroic. In his actions and ideals he’s the one calling for a better society. Dabi is the most independent and distant from the league it’s true, and so far he’s denied their friendship, but at the same time it’s Dabi who is the most idealistic of the league. Shigaraki wants to destroy the current society, Himiko wants a society that’s easier on her, but it’s Dabi who has the ideals for a society he wants, one where heroes are held to standards and act like Heroes. It’s dabi better than anyone else who makes the standards for mass appeal. Because, deep down Dabi still has heroic aspirations and drive even if it comes from Stain of all people he’s inspired by. He has some sort of ideals, a world he’s trying to create.

Whereas, Endeavor doesn’t have any heroic ideals at all. His idea of being a hero has always centered around fame, status and the ranking of number one. He’s a hero unconcerned with saving people, only defeating villains to prove his strength. Endeavor presents himself outwardly as someone who is trying to do what’s best for his family, and working towards being the best hero he can be but his intentions are revealed to be selfish, at the same time as Enji’s narration is revealed as unreliable. It may have been set up for an inversion all along, with the setup being that Enji is the one who needed to redeem himself, when Dabi was pushed to the background. Around this time Rei also tried to reassure others, that he was trying to carry his regrets with him.

However, as soon as Touya’s identity is revealed, Rei’s stance reverses. Now she properly calls out that, Enji hasn’t been carrying his regrets at al.. Instead, he’s been forcing his family to carry the burden of it while he gets to go play hero in front of the public.

As soon as Touya is revealed to be alive, it’s not Enji who is the center and focus of conversation but rather Touya. In 299, Hawks believes that it’s Endeavor whose in need of saving, but we’re shown that Endeavor only really seems to pity himself in this situation.

It’s Rei who shows up to remind us, who really is in need of saving in this situation. Not Endeavor but rather those who have been burned the most by Endeavor’s actions.

Which may be the ultimate parallel between Hawks and Dabi as well, Hawks can’t see himself as a victim so he can’t realize who the victims who need his help the most is. Whereas, Dabi in the future may receive the change of heart he needs to reopen his heart again and accept others, and therefore learn to accept himself. Dabi is set up for a reconciliation between his two selves, Touya the victim and Dabi the villain. While ultimately, Hawks will intentionally turn his back on Keigo the victim, because he can only ever see himself as a hero.

I’m not suggesting that Dabi is good or Hawks is bad, or the other way around, not something as simple as that but that Dabi is open to change, and this will lead to him eventually opening up to others. Whereas, Hawks who is given practically every opportunity to change, and even escapes killing Twice with no permanent consequences, (his wings are growing back, and he even is freed from the hero commission) chooses to support Endeavor once again. It’s Dabi who calls others to think and reevaluate, and is actively trying to create a change in the world, whereas Hawks only interest is protecting other heroes and not the victims that heroes themselves create. Because in his mind heroes are good and that fact will never change.

Because Dabi is the one trying to create change, while Hawks continues to cling to Endeavor I believe we’ll eventually receive a reversal for both of them. Just as the narrative around Dabi has changed from irredeemable villain to person in need of saving, we may see exactly what was foreshadowed in this panel happening. Dabi walking towards the light, while Hawks falls further and further into the shadows - because it’s Dabi who is looking for that light, while Hawks chooses to remain in the dark. Hawks was saved once, and now he believes that everyone who is good gets saved, unless they are unlucky like Twice. It’s Dabi who knows the truth, that there are heroes who don’t save people, and it’s Dabi who is at least trying to confront that truth head on and change it rather than just ignoring it.

In a way Hawks is someone who has gone blind from looking too closely at Endeavor’s light, whereas because Dabi was failed by Endeavor and fell into the shadows he at least knows the truth about what it’s like for those who don’t get saved, and unlike Hawks can’t keep deluding himself that this is a world where everyone who deserves it gets saved.

#dabi #hawks #toya todoroki #touya todoroki #takami keigo #mha meta #my hero academia meta #my hero academia theory #bnha 299 #bnha 300 #mha 299 #mha 300

788 notes · View notes

sandlessdesert · 3 years

Text

mxy recovery in yiling au

resident mo xuanyu liker here to give yall more mxy and his found family in yiling.

please check out the other parts first!

PART 1 | PART 2 | ADD. INFO (you are here!)

im not super concrete on the timeline/how things play out, as this is more just driven by the whims of me wanting to see mo xuanyu happy :D. i’d love to hear your ideas on how this comes to be.

as previously stated, wei wuxian and the wens manage to live in relative peace in the burial mounds.

five years after wwx dies in canonverse, a sixteen year old mo xuanyu is removed from the lanling jin sect, and escapes mo manor a few months after his mothers death.

wei wuxian begins teaching mxy safe practices for demonic cultivation given the few times hes tried to demonstrate it for him gave wwx a heart attack and nearly sent both of them to wen qing.

wwx would have preferred to NOT teach him demonic cultivation, but mxy at this point isn’t really used to relationships where he isn’t explicitly being used for something and therefore is trying to be “useful” so he doesn’t get discarded. wwx would prefer to let him have a choice over what that use is than force him to do something.

over time mxy realizes what wwx is doing and that he really just wanted for him to have a means to protect himself. this takes a long time though.

shortly after, a 9 year old wen yuan is a bit jealous that mxy is stealing his xian-gege’s time and being allowed into the demon slaughtering cave when no one else is really allowed to. wwx explains mxy is allowed in because he’s his disciple. a-yuan declares himself wwx’s new disciple on the spot!

wwx, unable to say no to his a-yuan, wwx takes him in as a “student” aka just letting him run small errands that are safe. (although eventually, wwx does begin teaching him basics of cultivation when he’s old enough)

two years later, (i’m a bit unclear on the canon timeline here so correct me if this doesn’t make sense) xue yang defects from the jin sect through boredom or inconvenience, before he actually kills anyone, eventually seeking out the infamous yiling patriarch. his ability for demonic cultivation is much lower than the canonverse given that no one has been able to raid and sieze wwx’s research post-mortem because he isn’t... well, dead.

some character relationship things under the cut! this got longer than i thought it would fhsdjhf.

as wwx has three students and TECHNICALLY xue yang joined last, actual child wen yuan calls adult xue yang “mei-xiao shidi” and xue yang nearly threw hands with the kid in response. wwx and mxy bribe xy with candy or something to call him “yuan-shixiong” he is 100% doing this to be a little shit because he’s being raised by wwx, not lwj here.

similarly, mxy is “da shixiong” but more often just “yu-ge/yu-gege” according to wen yuan.

the three disciples have been trying to get wwx and lwj together after watching them somehow not get together for literal years and its EXHAUSTING.

everyone thought maybe a-yuan’s innocent teases of calling lwj nd wwx father and mother would have done something?? to hint at it? but it doesnt work?

xue yang tries being direct with wwx but wwx clearly doesnt take it to heart. obviously he’s just being rude or playing a prank or something.

mxy is in pain seeing someone as pretty as lwj throw himself at wwx where wwx doesnt even notice meanwhile his own love life is absolutely awful, not really being able to shake the reputation of his past life in the jin sect or his current life where he lives in the burial mounds with the wen remnants.

mxy and wwx work together to create spiritual devices and sell/distribute the safer and more practical inventions to the locals of yiling to make money.

xy and mxy are fiercely loyal to wwx, but do not hesitate to chew him out to wen qing. xue yang will also physically fight him if he’s spouting bullshit and mxy isn’t in the vicinity (both for mxy’s sake and because he would try stopping xy.)

i wanna be clear, while this is a recovery au, wwx and everyone else in the burial mounds are not perfect nor are they therapists. all of them are dealing with their own trauma, wwx in particular can be unstable and explosive from time to time. being in the burial mounds is HARD and they will occasionally unfairly lash out at each other or do the wrong thing. they can never “fix” mxy or his trauma or erase his past abuse. but the point of this au is that despite their issues, despite them sometimes unintentionally hurting their loved ones they are found family and they care about each other deeply. through mutual love and respect and patience he didn’t get before, mxy does get to recover :)

random other things (mostly just wen yuan stuff because he’s my favourite character)

wen yuan is learning the basics of normal cultivation as well as demonic cultivation and is developing a golden core. wei wuxian gifted him suibian since it’s sort of useless to him.

lan wangji visits from time to time to check in and play cleansing for them all. one day he teaches wen yuan how to play it on the xiao when he’s not around (lmao you think they have the ability to maintain a guqin given the circumstance?). everyone in the burial mounds loves when lwj comes around to play since it usually ends up with a small concert of three echoing out of the cave.

#mo xuanyu #mxy recovery au #mdzs #mo dao zu shi #grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation #written as gen ship but the more i work on this the more it seems like subtle xueyu #ryn talks a lot

197 notes · View notes

i-make-fun-of-spn-characters · 3 years

Note

I feel like you've given most spn related things some lil spice but I always love the spice on this : hot spicy take on the "Dean is the most horrible character and ruins everyone's life and Sam and Cas are poor little meow meows who only do bad things sometimes because tyran Dean farted in their direction" takes that are not really only said by anti-Dean peeps ? Obsessed with that incredible thesis and would love the added spice ❤

SPICY HOT HOT GHOST PEPPERS CAROLINA REAPERS HELP I'M BURNING

I really try to respect other people’s opinions, and I believe there are a wealth of ways to interpret a story, and I think that’s a deeply beautiful thing. This applies to interpretations I don't agree with and outright dislike as well. That said, some opinions are simply and objectively bad, dishonest, and/or demonstrably false, and I truly do not believe you can sit down and honestly watch through the show with an open mind about all the characters, truly pay attention to what they do, say, and believe, and come to the conclusion that this show is about an evil manipulative abusive man terrorizing his pure and sinless brother and friend. It is an interpretation built from cherry picking facts to suit an ugly, miserable theory, making Mount Everest out of a bunch of the tiny mole hills, making the worst possible presumptions of feelings and intentions, and holding characters to completely different standards in order to neatly divide them into "abused" and "abuser" in a way that, frankly, fetishizes the abused person. I despise this interpretation of the story with every fiber of my being, and I have absolutely no respect for the opinion of anyone who peddles it, regardless of who they cast as villain/victim (because people have also done this with the others—it’s just more “popular” to do it with Dean... I mean... does anyone else remember how people were shitting on Sam after his emotional reaction in 14.12? Calling him an evil abuser? Because I do).

The thing that always gets me about this take isn't just how dishonest, unfair, mean-spirited, and compassionless it is in its treatment of Dean’s feelings, circumstances, and intentions... but how deeply reductive and offensive it is toward Sam and Castiel, sucking away their identities to turn them into effigies to mourn for their sad, Stockholm syndrome-esque attachment to their "abuser". Further, it grips the heart of the show—the relationship between Sam and Dean, and then the relationship among TFW as a whole—in a tight, uncompromising fist and pulverizes it. It literally rips out the heart of the show (the RELATIONSHIPS) and replaces it with something unprepossessing of any merit: A miserable, 15 years long story about a malicious abuser getting away with terrorizing those closest to him for his entire life, while his poor abuse victims suffer through until they die for him/happy to be reunited with him because they “don’t know any better” and never ever learned better, I guess. What a stupid, sad sack of a story.

Castiel is a thousands of years old celestial being who has literally beaten Dean into the pavement under no form of mind control, and has shown over and over again that he will do whatever the hell he wants, regardless of whatever Dean thinks about being sidelined. If he thinks whatever he is doing is in Dean's best interest, he literally does not care how Dean feels about it. He will nod and smile and then fly off and swallow thousands of souls with Dean begging him not to, shove Dean out of the way to attack the big bad, leave Dean alone in Purgatory, refuse to come out of Purgatory so he can self-flagellate, fly off with the angel tablet, help Sam with the Book of the Damned, let Lucifer possess him without anyone's knowledge or agreement, come into Dean's room under the guise of apologizing for ghosting him so that he can steal The Colt out from under his pillow and murder someone, decide not to murder that person and still prevent Sam and Dean from helping by knocking them both unconscious, get himself killed, make a deal to trade his life for Jack's and never tell anyone, hide information and worries and ignore phone calls, ghost Sam and Dean, and bicker and fight with Dean as if they are a married couple. Love sickness and feelings of worthlessness (which Cas has a wealth of reasons to feel—many of which aren’t even related to Dean but to his heavenly family) are reinterpreted as the result of some sort of constant, terrorizing emotional abuse. Power and authority that Dean does not actually have is forced into his hands by these fans. Maybe listen when Cas says, “Hey—not everything is your fault.” Maybe listen when he says “I loved the whole world because of you”, calls Dean a role model, says he enjoys their conversations, offers to die with him and dies for him multiple times. Maybe treat these feelings as genuine and valid and HIS and not as the delusions of some poor manipulated baby.

Sam is framed this way even more often than Cas, and it's a damn shame, because what I typically see is this: Sam’s development into a mediator and peacemaker is twisted and reinterpreted as coming from a place of weakness and/or fear. Rationality, maturity, wisdom, and compassion are not the traits of a scared, powerless child. They are the traits of a mature adult, who has been beaten down by life, and fought and raged against his circumstances, and somehow come out of it with more kindness and understanding and strength instead of less. He has made his own decisions whenever it was possible, within the set of circumstances doled out to him. From telling his dad to go fuck himself and going to college, to getting back into hunting to avenge Jess (NOT because of Dean—Dean took him home without complaint at the end of the woman in white case), to continuing to hunt after their father died because he wanted to feel close to him (Dean was actually weirded out and sort of disgusted by this), raging and fighting to save Dean from his deal against Dean’s wishes, continuing to hunt and working with Ruby (directly against Dean’s dying wish), drinking demon blood, jumping in the cage, leaving hunting to go be with Amelia, coming back to hunting to save Kevin, fighting with Dean over what he had with Amelia and threatening to leave if Dean didn't shut his mouth, leaving Amelia to go back to hunting (Dean ultimately suggests he go back to her—Sam chooses to stay), trying to kill Benny, demanding to be the one to do The Trials and saying he is going to SURVIVE them—that being the ENTIRE POINT, losing that resolve in a fit of depression but choosing to drop the knife, demanding space from Dean (and being given it), fighting to save Demon Dean who didn’t want to be found or saved, using the Book of the Damned against Dean’s wishes, telling Charlie that this is what he wants—that he used to want normal but now all he wants is to hunt with Dean and that he doesn’t know what he’ll do if he can’t have that, unleashing the Darkness in his desperation to keep Dean with him and even saying, “I would do it again” in the aftermath, saving the town being destroyed by Amara, getting into The Cage with Lucifer, leading a team against the British Men of Letters, nurturing Jack, punching Dean in the face when he was going to sacrifice himself, leading more hunters, wielding a gun against Chuck... and that’s just some highlights. Sam Fucking Winchester does not need your bullshit about him being some sad, scared, helpless baby lorded over by mean old Dean who has never let him do anything he wants.

Yes, in the text itself, there is jealousy and resentment at times, and there is legitimate and righteous anger on Sam’s part on a few occasions. There is blame cast on Dean by Sam for some of these choices/circumstances. Some of those moments where Dean is blamed are legitimate, and some of them... frankly, are not. Within the framework of the fucked up dynamics of the way they were raised, Sam and some fans bristle when they feel Dean is casting himself as the parent he is not, but Sam also has been guilty in the past of trying to reframe himself as Dean’s child when things got tough. Neither of them is responsible for the origin of that dynamic, but they BOTH have responsibility to change it, and they both, ultimately, succeed in doing so. For Sam, his part comes in recognizing and learning to fully own his own choices. Recognizing that he is not a child, and he is certainly not Dean’s child, and it isn’t just “Mummy—loosen the grip”, but Sam has to too—not claim independence only to blame Dean for his choices when his own decisions have an ultimate outcome he is unhappy with. That is a legitimate arc that Sam goes through imo, but he comes out the other side of it, and he and Dean relate to each other much better as peers from then on—and I’d like to note that throughout the entire series, when they don’t relate as perfect peers and teammates, it isn’t always Dean “bossing Sam around”, but Sam also trying to sideline Dean and yes—boss him around. And when they lied and hurt each other and yes, even manipulated each other, Dean most certainly wasn't always the one doing the lying and hurting and manipulating. Always, always, ALWAYS, they both had an understandable point of view, and it was complex, and you could understand why they made the choices they did, even if you thought of those choices as being wrong ones.

I also would like to point out (because this is basically what I see all of the time) that Dean being hurt by someone or simply voicing his feelings or opinion is in no way abusive or manipulative. Dean is certainly charismatic and loved and his returning love and respect is often deeply desired, but he is not an actual siren, who bends people to his will simply by speaking or being. People are, in fact, able to tell him “no”, and frequently FREQUENTLY do. Further more, no one is owed his affection, his unwavering loyalty, or his trust. He has a right to his boundaries, regardless of if it makes some poor sad sap feel deprived of the “wellspring of coveted love” while he works through things. He can be hurt and angry, and he can wear his heart on his sleeve at times, and he can be flawed, and broken. [Insert Castiel's speech from 15.18 here]. So can Sam. So can Cas. None of them are manipulating each other by virtue of getting angry, feeling hurt, being traumatized, needing space, or having differing opinions or feelings. Sam didn’t punch Dean in the face in 14.12 because he's a cruel, manipulative abuser trying to force Dean under his thumb. He didn’t work behind Dean’s back with Ruby, insist on doing The Trials, beg Dean to use Doc Benton’s alchemy, use the Book of the Damned to cure Dean, pump him full of blood to cure him of being a demon despite the fact that it might kill him, or scream at him and fight him for wanting to get in the Ma’lak box because he “doesn’t respect his autonomy” and “wants to control him” and “doesn’t respect his right to his own body”. He did it because he loves him desperately, and Dean could stand to fucking hate himself less, and he fiercely wanted Dean to live even when Dean didn’t want to or couldn’t picture what that could be like. He didn’t force Dean to do anything simply by opening his mouth to voice disagreement and swaying Dean when he did so. Now reverse that.

Cas didn't beat Dean into the ground in season 5 because he wanted to terrorize him into never going against Castiel ever again. He didn’t go behind his back dozens of times, sideline him, go MIA, all because he wanted to manipulate and control Dean and punish him. He didn’t throw sassy remarks at him to shatter his self-esteem. Now reverse that.

*Breathes*

Anyway, fuck "X is abusive” interpretations.

#being serious for 5 seconds #RANTING RANTING RANTING #spicy spicy ghost pepper extract #mail

126 notes · View notes