#learning to break the control set in place by the people in power | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

reverieparacosm · 10 months

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hi! could you please write yandere!sauron x fem reader hcs? maybe sauron had a dream of this woman who fulfills a prophecy he read that would make him more powerful so he sends his minions to bring her to him and when he meets her there is a magical bond between them and he is obsessed with her

Prophecy: Yandere!Sauron x F!Reader

Warnings: Yandere, possessive behaviors, manipulation, gaslighting, kidnapping, slavery, (Sauron is already a red flag -)

Note: Your wish is my command! I am weak for Yandere Sauron.

Remember kids - please do not enslave people just because you saw them in dreams

Sauron's thirst for power is unending

As the Dark Lord of Mordor, he is always on the lookout for ways to increase his influence and rule over Middle-Earth

One night, he is visited by a vision of a woman who would help him fulfill a prophecy that would grant him even more power. This vision ignites a fiery determination within him, and he sets his minions on the task of finding her and bringing her to him

His servants search far and wide, but the woman is elusive and hard to find. Months pass without success, but finally, one of his minions stumbles upon her during a routine scouting mission

He brings Sauron the news, and the Dark Lord is overjoyed. He immediately orders his minions to keep a close eye on her and bring him regular reports

But Sauron's desire for this mysterious woman grows stronger with each passing day. He wants her for himself, and orders his minions to bring her to him

She is everything he has hoped she would be - powerful and capable of fulfilling the prophecy. The moment they meet, Sauron feels a magical bond between them that he has never experienced before. He is immediately obsessed with her, unable to tear his eyes away from her

With a single glimpse, he is captivated by her beauty. So much so that he takes her face in his hand before she has even noticed his presence. His ice-cold mental glove caresses her cheeks and he absorbs every delicate detail, leaving her with an unsettling sensation

When she turns her head to the side, Sauron becomes more aggressive. He grabbs her chin with one hand and held her neck with the other, forcing her to look into his eye

Despite being an evil, dark lord with a reputation for cruelty, he develops a soft spot for her

He tells his minions not to harm her and threatens those who do with severe punishment. He does not want to lose her or drive her away, for he knows that she is the key to fulfilling his ultimate goal - becoming the most powerful being in Middle-Earth

"I would rather burn the world than see it harm you."

Sauron spends every waking hour with her, pouring his heart and soul into their relationship. He is desperate to learn everything he could about her, her abilities, and her place in the grand scheme of things. He is certain that she is the one he has been seeking for so long, the one who would help him achieve true greatness

As the days pass, the bond between them only grows stronger, and Sauron's obsession with her only deepens. He knows that the prophecy is within his grasp, and he would do whatever it takes to fulfill it with her by his side

The woman is initially reluctant to trust Sauron. But as he charms her with his words and gifts, she begins to fall under his spell

Sauron soon begins to see the woman as his property and becomes increasingly possessive and demanding. He expects her to devote all of her time and energy to him, and becomes violent when she tries to resist

"Your heart beats in harmony with mine, the two inextricably linked in a bond so strong that no other force can break it. You are mine, and I am yours, our destinies intertwined forevermore."

Sauron is constantly monitoring the woman, using magic to invade her thoughts and dreams. He knows her every move and thought, and he uses this knowledge to control her

Sauron revels in her obedience, especially when she sits at his feet as he holds court with his many war generals. It is a constant reminder of his power over her, and he loves having her as his symbol. Even when he is deep in conversation, he still takes a moment to stroke her hair, relishing in her submission. He senses the tension in her body, and it only increases his satisfaction

"There is no one like you, my beautiful darling. The way you bend to my will pleases me greatly. You are a constant reminder of the power I have over you, and it thrills me to no end. Even in the midst of battle, I cannot help but take a moment to stroke your hair, relishing in your submission. Your body trembles with tension, and it only increases my satisfaction. Never forget who you belong to. I am your master, and you will forever be my symbol."

The woman is conflicted about Sauron's behavior, but she is unable to resist the powerful bond between them. She tries to convince herself that she can change him, but as time goes on, she realizes that he is too deeply engrained in his dark ways to change

If she tries to escape, Sauron would likely use his powerful magic to track her down and capture her

He would stop at nothing to keep her under his control. If the woman manages to escape his grasp, Sauron would likely become more obsessed than ever, and he would use all of his resources to find her and bring her back to him. He would stop at nothing to keep her by his side, even if it meant using his most dark and nefarious tactics to do so

"You are my most prized treasure, my greatest possession. No one on this earth or beyond it will ever take you away from me. Our love is eternal, a bond that cannot be broken or tarnished by any force in existence."

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bestworstcase · 17 days

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the only purpose of the shock collar was to subjugate, enforce cinder’s status as an object the madame owned. she neither chose it nor wanted it—and in the end, it was just a necklace. cinder breaks it with ease, with one hand. anyone might have set her free at any time with, literally, no more effort than it would take to lift a finger.

(do not try the bullshit nonsense about cinder’s enslavement being legal with me. slavery was abolished after the great war, and when the madame is displeased she brings cinder into the kitchen to torture her behind closed doors. adopting an impoverished orphan from a foreign country and using a collar made to look like a pretty necklace is how she gets away with it, enabled by the complete indifference of her wealthy patrons to the plight of the "adopted child."

the thematic point of rhodes is that he enforces the law only when it’s convenient for him to do so: he knows cinder is being abused, but he’s a regular patron of the hotel and he chooses not to say or do anything to intervene until he recognizes cinder as a threat to the madame. “hurting them won’t make your life any easier.”

we see this pattern reoccur again and again in atlas, that those who hold political or economic power flout the law without consequence or contort it to work for them while those beneath are subjected to strict, unforgiving enforcement. everything robyn does before the election is legal and above-board but the ace-ops openly treat her like a criminal and hound her about obeying the law, while ironwood misappropriates construction materials earmarked for mantle. this is the idea that rhodes embodies.)

so the greatest injustice of the collar is that it had no real power, by itself, over cinder. she could take it off whenever she wanted, except that she was not allowed to; no one willing to help her, no safe haven where she could find refuge after, and when she becomes desperate enough to resort to violence to free herself she is immediately prevented from doing so by a huntsmen—exemplars of moral virtue as they are intended to be—who tells her that in order to be good she must endure seven more years before she is allowed to leave without her guardian’s permission.

as an instrument of control, the collar can exist only through the willingness of the hotel’s patrons to participate in the fiction that cinder, having been lifted out of poverty by the madame’s generosity (look, she even gave the girl a lovely necklace!), is now earning her keep, learning the value of hard work. pay the scars no mind. rhodes intervenes to keep protect the madame, and his fondness for cinder is circumscribed by that motive.

the first time he leaves after he begins to train her, rhodes says goodbye by placing his hand on top of her head; cinder flinches—

—and the scene cuts right to the collar:

in the same mode, the madame electrocutes cinder in a panic as cinder strangles her, and rhodes’ final act is to place his hand on cinder’s head, scaring her—

—after which she cuts him down and stands upright to remove her collar:

the collar and the gentle (unwanted) hand are one and the same, two faces of a single instrument. carrot, stick. neither figures cinder as a human being. rhodes is only gentle until she disobeys him, whereupon the covert violence of their first meeting is reified: he enters her only ‘safe’ place to catch her in an unlawful act; his first action is to pass judgment; his second, to draw his weapons.

now, that’s not yours, is it?—huntsmen are called to embody a heroic ideal, to protect others who cannot protect themselves. rhodes places his own weapons into cinder’s hands and declares that he will train her as a huntress on the condition that she agrees not to protect herself; he releases himself from his duty to protect her by moving her into the category of people who do not need to be protected, and thereby makes her both guardian and grimm: as a child who will become a huntress it falls to her to protect her family from the monster of herself.

thus she’s forced to become an active participant in her own abuse; before she can break free of the collar, she has to bite the hand that held it in place.

now to the grimm. during the montage of cinder’s training-and-abuse, there is a particular sequence that goes like this: rhodes and cinder spar with wasters late one night, he disengages and gives her an approving nod; we cut to cinder kneeling before the madame in the empty lobby, dusting a glass statuette of a sabyr for inspection. her work is found inadequate, and the madame finds quiet satisfaction in reminding cinder of the power she has over cinder:

then the madame walks away, and although cinder strives to maintain the performance of being unaffected—indifferent—she can’t:

in contrast to the scenes preceding cinder’s bargain with rhodes—wherein the larger-than-life glass statues looming over the lobby alternate between prominently visible or just protruding into frame and cinder’s face is an open book of angry resentment—this is the only instance of a grimm figurine being clearly visible and in focus during the montage, and also the one time cinder’s mask slips to reveal her anger.

similarly, in the time-skip at the end of the montage, the glass sphinx sitting on the coffee table in the mid-left is removed to signal the passage of time, with no other changes made to the decor:

but guess who’s back as soon as the situation reaches critical mass?

glass wolf. glass dragon. glass shoes.

the point is, throughout the flashback midnight leverages these glass-grimm to symbolize cinder’s true self, her anger which protects her and which the gentle hand demands she extinguish. the fantastical gilded opulence of the glass unicorn depends on cinder staying quietly in her cage. no, it isn’t fair—the gentle hand admits this—but it is her moral imperative to serve others. in this distorted unreality the defenseless and the indefensible become commingled. a huntress, as salem would have it, is a defender who lives and dies to protect a lifestyle. or she is, as ozpin defines it, one who guards the peace by killing monsters.

cinder’s instinctive understanding that this is not fair—that she is not nothing—that she has been wronged—is the monster she must slay to become the hero of this story, the story of the glass unicorn and madame and rhodes and all of atlas. and in the end she can’t.

rwby has never been precious about depicting blood, but there is no blood in this scene: not not on the floor, not on the bodies, not on her weapons, not a single drop upon her white shirt. her hands are clean. in shadow, the monster snaps the chain around her throat and turns to looks up at the moon—and its light reveals what is true. her tears, her scars. a child who deserved better than she was given. a child who did nothing wrong.

ahem.

Keeping [grimm] in captivity has proved to be an understandably difficult task, as the creatures tend to either die, or kill those who imprisoned them in the first place.

hm! anyway. the narrative function of this flashback is to provide context and contrast with the scenes that follow.

to review:

the collar’s power is enforced by communal indifference and complicity.

the madame, though unaware of him, depends on rhodes to keep cinder under her control; rhodes intervenes to protect the madame from cinder.

the gentle hand is an equal to the collar, a mechanism of control by which cinder is made to participate in her own abuse, and when she disobeys, it turns to iron and inflicts violent punishment. even when he is gentle, cinder flinches under his touch.

by training cinder to fight but forbidding her to defend herself, rhodes casts her into the role of both guardian and grimm: she is expected to protect the madame by slaying her anger and turning the other cheek.

the glass grimm figurines symbolize cinder’s anger, which protects her. when she defends herself, cinder metaphorically becomes grimm: the monster of the glass unicorn is destined to be hated and hunted for the rest of her life, and the monster of the glass unicorn is a blameless child who refused to let herself be hurt. grimm, in this story, are good.

also note

the similar framing here.

now!—from the moment cinder wakes up, it is abundantly clear that she expects to be met with brutal punishment for her failure. “you—you brought me back here… we failed.” she’s horror-stricken at finding herself in this place and that hardens into terror as the reality sinks in that she is within salem’s reach.

later, on the bridge, she affects calm until salem pauses in front of her; her eyes snap open. she shrinks into herself at the sound of salem’s voice but hangs on every word. when salem mentions the winter maiden, cinder grits her teeth and braces herself.

cinder associates salem with the madame: that is why without you, i am nothing falls out of her mouth so easily when salem tears her down in 8.1 and again when salem threatens her in 8.4—those are the words to make the pain stop, to appease, to demonstrate that she is contrite and repentant and grateful. she believes that this is what salem wants to hear when cinder has displeased her. and she is, at the top of the bridge scene, waiting for the torture to begin so that she can choke it out again and survive this humiliating ordeal.

except that is not what salem wants to hear.

by now salem knows beyond any doubt that “without you, i am nothing” is what cinder believes she wants to hear, and it is obvious to anyone with eyes that cinder expects to be tortured. whether salem knows cinder’s history or not—i don’t think she does, not in any great detail—she knows people well enough to put two and two together. salem knows, then, that cinder expects to be tortured into groveling self-denigration.

she doesn’t want cinder to expect that from her. there’s no other reason for salem to be so thorough in dismantling the expectation.

if she wanted to make cinder afraid, the more effective way is to decline to torture her at all: cinder is so certain that salem will hurt her that withholding punishment entirely will only convince her that salem intends to wait until the moment she lets her guard down, or some other form of deferred retribution all the worse for being delayed.

whereas the most efficient way to puncture cinder’s terror of being tortured is—somewhat perversely—to actually torture her a little bit. because cinder does not BELIEVE there is any possible outcome in which salem spares her, if salem wants to introduce the possibility of mercy she first needs to enter cinder’s reality, where mercy doesn’t exist, by proving she can and will inflict pain to answer both defiance (“you chose to disobey my specific instructions”) and failure (“just to fail again…”)

a brief burst of pain to express displeasure instead of holding cinder under torture until she breaks isn’t really merciful, but it’s the lower bound of what cinder will be able to trust and it eases her into the idea that salem is lenient.

then, “and i’ve realized it’s all my fault. you’ve fought your whole life unwaveringly for what you want, and here i am holding you back, instead of lifting you up; you deserve so much more than i’ve given you.”

aside from being a straightforward subversion of cinder’s clear expectation—cinder thinks she will be abused without mercy until she breaks, salem stops and absolves cinder by reframing cinder’s disobedience as a natural consequence of her own failures—salem has a few specific things in mind here.

the most obvious is the reversal of what she said to cinder in 4.11: “i thought you were the girl who wanted power. did you lie to me? then stop holding back.” and she’s also pointedly walking back things she said yesterday, in 8.1 and 8.4: “all you need concern yourself with is your ability to act when i tell you to” and the “she thinks; she wants…” bit are here flipped into implicit praise for cinder’s tenacity in pursuing what she wants and implicit apology for standing in her way.

but the most interesting angle to consider is that this is salem’s response to “without you, i am nothing.” salem does not verbally respond either of the times cinder says that to her in 8.1 and 8.4; the first time, she dismisses everyone with a gesture, and the second time she just walks away. both reactions are in line with what cinder expects—after all, the point is to remind cinder that she is nothing.

however, cinder has—from what we’ve seen—never spoken to salem this way before, and given she seems genuinely taken aback when salem shuts her down in 8.1 i do think it’s likelier than not that salem has never demeaned her like this before, and that together with having been in atlas for months is what surfaces the trauma association with the madame and thence the appeasing behavior.

so consider how this looks to salem.

the last time she spoke to cinder, she said “you’re free to speak your mind,” and cinder whipped around from the window without hesitation, outraged: “i don’t understand! working with bandits? leaving ruby alive? what’s the point? we’re strong enough to take what we want by force!”—not even a ma’am in there. cinder addressed her like she saw herself and salem as equals, notwithstanding that salem had final say, and salem clearly didn’t have a problem with that.

several months pass. salem is displeased about the loss at haven but trusts that cinder will make an effort to recover the lamp; she is also worried enough for cinder to toss her plans and divert nearly everything to atlas, not that she’s willing to admit that’s why.

cinder walks onto the bridge and the first words out of her mouth are “my queen.” a few minutes in salem curtly informs her that no she will not go rampaging after the winter maiden and cinder’s answer is a demure, “of course; without you, i am nothing.” and then a few hours later they quarrel about it and cinder repeats those exact words in exactly the same tone again.

unless salem knows cinder’s history in far more granular detail than i believe cinder would be willing to divulge, that’s… a really strange shift in behavior with no clear reason; yes, she had to make up the loss at haven (and she did), and yes, salem was unusually mean to her, but neither of those things add up to this plainly well-practiced self-abasement from the girl who only a few months ago did not appear to have a humble bone in her body. once might have been sarcasm; but twice within a few hours?

whereafter cinder ran off to attack the winter maiden and almost died again and salem had six hours to pick all of this apart in her head while cinder lay unconscious.

why didn’t she respond to cinder saying “without you, i am nothing,” if that is not what she wants from cinder? well,

“you disobeyed my specific instructions, just to fail again, and i’ve realized it’s all my fault.” both times cinder said that, it was in response to the specific instructions that cinder disobeyed when she went after penny: you will act when i tell you to, and you will remain here. six hours, salem had to think about this. “you’ve fought your whole life unwaveringly for what you want, and here i am holding you back, instead of lifting you up; you deserve so much more than i’ve given you.”

salem does not think of cinder as nothing. even when she is deliberately being mean, she makes a point to say that she values cinder (“just because you’re more valuable to me than a pawn–”). cinder holds the key to her victory and cinder is also important to her in ways she cannot bring herself to admit except that she keeps bending her plans further and further for cinder’s sake. the first time cinder says “without you, i am nothing” to her, she seems bemused (brows up) and then wry. the second time, she doesn’t react at all.

then because she left it there, cinder nearly dies and is unconscious for hours. and once she wakes up salem hits her with:

this is my fault

what you want matters

i should be lifting you up

you deserve better

i will help you

IN A CLASSIC SALEM MOVE she does not actually say what she means, which is “you are not nothing,” but she finds an impressive number of ways to say it without saying it in just a handful of lines. and:

she doesn’t touch cinder, but instead she offers, gives cinder a choice to take her hand or not, and this matters because no other character has ever given cinder that.

in 2.1 cinder touches roman’s face to assert her power over him; she does the same to pyrrha in 3.12 right before killing her; she slaps emerald in 3.7.

in 5.9, cinder reacts to watts grabbing her wrist like this—

—and then sets his hand on fire. in 8.1, emerald starts to run over to embrace her, cinder snaps her head around and snarls “quiet.,” stopping her in her tracks. and after she wakes up in midnight, when emerald rushes into the room and grabs her, cinder tenses and verbally lashes out before jerking her hand away.

cinder really does not like to be touched and that all traces back to:

rhodes patting her head. which is what he’s reaching down for when cinder kills him, because this time she senses him moving to touch her and can’t take it.

cinder bristles and retaliates whenever anyone touches her, and outside of grappling during fights the only times cinder ever touches other people is to hurt them or to remind them of her power to hurt them, because that is what touch means to her; it’s something those with power do to those beneath them, and something the weak must endure.

for salem to offer her hand to help cinder up is strange and unsettling; it breaks the rules. and cinder is very hesitant to take it—her fingers shake—but she does, and it isn’t a trick, salem pulls her to her feet without hurting her.

whereupon cinder’s whole demeanor transforms from terrified incredulity to calculation. she doesn’t understand what just happened, but she knows touch is an instrument of coercion and a way to inflict pain. if salem were like the madame, she would not have done any of that; if salem didn’t touch her with the intent to harm her, then there are only two possibilities:

one, that salem’s resemblance to the madame is superficial and she is actually much more like rhodes; or two, that salem is the weak one and cinder holds some unknown degree of power over her.

the instant this thought enters cinder’s head, it becomes urgently important to figure out which it is, hence the murdering of colleagues and stepsisters and lying to salem’s face that cinder gets up to immediately afterward. BUT THAT IS NOT WHAT THIS POST IS ABOUT THIS IS A POST ABOUT THE GRIMM ARM. AND THEMES.

wheeze. okay

in the glass unicorn, cinder has two parental figures—the madame and rhodes—who act in synchronicity to keep her in her place. shock collar, pat on the head. stick, carrot. she is tortured and made to refract this violence inwards, against herself, by turning the other cheek. within this narrative, the symbolic purpose of the grimm is to protect cinder and cinder herself is symbolically identified as grimm; just as black glass is her signature in in the present, the white glass of the hotel’s grimm figurines reflects cinder’s starkly white-and-grey uniform.

glass, cinder. glass grimm, glass shoes.

unicorns, classically, are said to be ferociously wild and dangerous beasts tamable only by the touch of a maiden. those who hunt unicorns, then, should solicit a maiden’s assistance. she goes out into the woods alone; the unicorn finds her and docilely, fearlessly lays its head upon her lap and goes to sleep; and thus the hunters take it. this manner of hunting unicorns is called entrapment, and among medieval and renaissance depictions of unicorns it is by far the most common motif.

in the world of remnant, if unicorns are real then they are undoubtedly a kind of grimm.

gestures at cinder, the fall maiden, who can tame the grimm. who feels for them. maiden. unicorn. maiden. unicorn.

the story of the glass unicorn is a story about a maiden-monster whom a huntsman instructs to tame herself lest she be hunted forever; an entrapment of the self; in the end she hears the baying of hunting dogs in the distance and awakens to the truth that she too will be killed, in spirit if not in body, if she obeys the huntsman. the unicorn is not to blame, and the maiden is right to protect it, and the unicorn is, has always been, grimm.

bearing all of this in mind,

is the grimm arm another collar?

i don’t think it…is, actually, in any sense except that cinder forms an association between the madame and salem in 8.1—the collar and the arm are diametric opposites, mirror-images of each other:

where the collar was fragile and easily removed, the grimm arm is part of cinder’s body. where the collar derived all its power from pretense (it’s only a pretty necklace!), the grimm arm is impossible to mistake for something other than what it is. where the collar’s sole purpose was to inflict pain and remind cinder of her place, the foremost purpose of the arm is to replace cinder’s missing limb. where the collar was forced upon her and she hated it, cinder trained hard to master her new arm and has grown more comfortable with it in every new volume.

paired with the way grimm function symbolically within the glass unicorn narrative, as representations of cinder’s justified anger and desire to protect herself… well. maiden, unicorn. lol

is it then an iteration of the gentle hand? that’s a more interesting question, because salem’s abuse of cinder is really quite a lot more like rhodes than the madame, but then there’s also… the reversal. rhodes’ affection for cinder is restricted by his interest in protecting the madame, and when cinder disobeys him he attacks her presumably with the intent to arrest her for murder. whereas salem has repeatedly and increasingly rearranged her plans for cinder’s benefit, and when cinder disobeys her, she reconsiders her treatment of cinder and offers an apology.

and obviously—

—we have the way rhodes touches cinder’s head, which at best makes her tense up in discomfort and at worst scares her so much she kills him to make him stop, mirrored in the same episode by salem offering her hand and cinder choosing to take it.

salem is not by any stretch of the imagination good to cinder, but midnight places her in juxtaposition with the madame and rhodes in order to clarify the difference between salem and the parent-figures of cinder’s childhood. it’s salem who tells cinder that she isn’t nothing, that she deserves better, that she was right to become defiant when salem was cruel to her. it’s salem who gives cinder a choice to let salem touch her or not.

everyone who gets where the wind is blowing with cinder understands, because it is obvious, that her turnaround is going to be incited by someone showing her mercy, which will shatter her view of the world and open a door for her to change. but… that “someone” is salem. it is literally already happening.

the first crack is salem telling her you deserve so much more than i’ve given you, as she pulls cinder to her feet.

and cinder doesn’t know how to parse that, she has no frame of reference except the madame and rhodes and she’s superimposed them both onto salem; the discrepancies, the pieces that don’t fit, are small right now. they will get larger, and the cracks will keep widening until the looking glass breaks.

which is why the grimm arm is related to the collar in the specific way that it is, with cinder flashing back to her childhood and the pain salem inflicts ending when cinder shifts emotionally from helpless fear to defiance and salem then explicitly affirming the rightness of cinder’s anger. the moral of the glass unicorn narrative according to rhodes is that what cinder did is unforgivable, and she will never escape it; the moral according to salem is that cinder did the right thing, and deserves better. the symbolic function of the grimm figurines in the glass unicorn narrative is to represent cinder’s self-protective anger. salem, grimm, uses cinder’s grimm arm to make a point that cinder should get angry when salem mistreats her, and then rewards her for being defiant.

is that a really fucked up way for salem to make that point YES OBVIOUSLY but no one else is even trying. lol

little steps.

(whispers into a cup) the grimm arm is also a metaphor for learning to be vulnerable and trust others not to harm you

cinder feels its pain. when it’s severed, it hurts, but also grows back. it’s both powerful (superbly strong, inhuman flexibility) and vulnerable (aura can’t protect it). salem can use it to hurt her; it connects them both together, so salem knows she’s alive and cinder knows when she’s back. it refused to bond with cinder until she let go of her fear and welcomed it.

the shattering trauma that made her what she is now was rhodes telling her that defending herself made her an irredeemable monster. the grimm figurines in her childhood story symbolize cinder’s desire to defend herself. the grimm arm is part of her body that connects her to salem in a way that salem can abuse to hurt her, but salem is also the first character to look cinder in the eye and tell her that she is right to defend herself. both cinder and salem are in the early stages of developing villain -> hero arcs.

your newfound strength brings with it a crippling weakness, salem says. remember that it comes with a cost. take care to protect yourself; there is only so much i can do to aid you. cinder wants to be strong, but she is terrified of weakness, and it is the terror of weakness that drives her, that must be faced, that must be resolved before she can find peace. her story isn’t about “learning to be satisfied with the power she already has” it’s about learning to be okay with being vulnerable. with having weaknesses.

like an arm she can’t shield with aura, that grows back when it’s severed, which she feared and then hid in discomfort and now accepts as a part of herself. just because salem can hurt her doesn’t mean that salem is incapable of choosing not to. salem could also, like, smash cinder into a gory pancake with a snap of her fingers.

it’s a story. about trust.

#blah blah blah ''but her shoulder—''#cinder doesn’t care.#v8 is HER volume and not one #single solitary HINT that cinder is #even a little bit concerned about #this thing putting up roots?#none of you would survive sirin hárohȧm lmfao

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im-totally-not-an-alien-2 · 1 year

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Lost son of catbat au where Danny learns who his bio parents are and freaks out. Batman was notoriously observant and would find him out in a heartbeat. Not to mention if it came to a custody battle he would win against the Fentons easily, or worse, someone would get overshadowed and the situation could get messy.

Batman might also seek ways to control or contain him which was terrifying. He spent his entire life feeling like he was in a cage, trapped by his adoptive parents. He didn't have many friends because his parents would scare people off with thier high tech weapons and neon jumpsuits and the ones that did stay...well they did more than look down the barrel of the sci-fi guns they touted, even if they were only covered in goo, getting shot at must be a traumatic experience. The rest of the time he felt like he was trying to creep across landmines without setting them off.

No one wanted his parents undivided attention not even thier children. That combined with the fact his house was mixed with a lab resulted in it being a giant cluster of Osha violations. Opening the fridge was dangerous long before the portal opened and the food inside it would come to life, this was because they often stored dangerous and volatile chemicals inside of it and something as small as the light bulb flicking on inside could cause something to explode.

Danny had never felt safe in his house. Tuckers place had always been his safe haven and his parents had practically raised him as thier own. Thank the Ancients for Mr and Mrs Foley. He didn't know where he would be without them. This, of course, changed after the accident. Now he didn't feel safe anywhere.

After six months with his powers he began making contingency plans for everything. His friends called him paranoid but were forced to eat thier words not even a three days later when one stopped a new ghost from taking over the city.

Danny had always been good at making plans when he actually had time to sit down and think things through. He was also excellent at sneaking around and stealing. Now he knew why.

He might not want anything to do with his parents but he very much wanted more siblings. Jazz was great but she helped raise him since she was a baby. She felt way more like a mom than a sister. Dani was self explanatory. It hurt him to know that his siblings didn't know about him-couldn't know about him.

That is, until Red Hood appeared on the scene. At this point Danny had given up on his human life and found he had so much more free time. Sure he was technically still going to school, but that was to fight ghosts, he didn't attend classes. He set up alliances with other ghosts in the zone to help defend his territory and now Amity Park had a thiving ghostly undercity that few of the living knew about.

Danny finally had time to himself, even though Sam hated it. She kept telling him it was wrong. This was a hot topic of debate between him, Sam and Tucker with the boys both against her. Sure, watching the people who took him in and -well, not raise him exactly but fed and clothed him for years- drive around the city desperatly calling his name did make him feel kinda crappy.

Red Hood gave him hope. He was estranged from Bruce but was still his brother. Jackpot! Plus he was older than him and a known killer, so he wasn't likely to tattle on him to the big bad bat about Danny making Vlad "disappear" a few months ago. Hood made people disappear all the time so who was he to judge anyway?

Still, he could admit just showing up unannounced in his apartment was kinda dangerous. There was no garentee Hood would shoot him, brother or not. I mean, he's been violent with Robin lately and no one knows why, and he's thier brother.

Just as he was about to talk himself out of this and go back to his own city he heard the tell tale click of a gun. Crap.

"So, who are you?" Hood asked, seemingly aloof even while being confronted with a stranger breaking into his home.

Danny nervously gestured to the cookies he had made for them, "If i tell you will you promise not to tell Batman?"

#fanfiction prompts #prompts #dp x dc #danny phantom #danny fenton #jason todd #red hood #this is fresh back to gatham red hood #crime lord with severed heads in a bag red hood #danny why #tw: guns #tw: blood #tw: murder #tw: death #to be fair this is two fandoms about death and violance #tw: child neglect

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uptoolateart · 11 months

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The Miraculous Child

So, in 'Representation', Felix talks refers to ‘the miraculous boy’ a couple times. He also calls Adrien’s conception ‘a miracle’, meaning Adrien too is ‘miraculous’.

The second I heard this, it hit me that the title of the show has had this extra meaning from day one. If we look right back to the start of the series, it has been a story about children and adults, especially parents, some a little overbearing (like Tom) and some neglectful or downright abusive.

The message I take away is - life, bringing a child into the world, is a miracle. Science tells us how it works, but the fact that it works is almost like magic. Yet, there are people out there who fail to see this and don't value the gift they've been granted.

There will be people reading this and thinking, ‘Yeah? So what about Chloe?’

I hear you.

Audrey is a terrible person, and Andre is no better. When he hauls her off at the end of ‘Revolution’ and says he needs to correct his mistakes, he just sends her away with her mother. He’s washing his hands of ‘a problem’, just like he’s done with everything else, e.g. when he resigned as mayor. He walked away from responsibilities, after creating a mess for the people who voted him into office. Likewise, he walked away from his responsibilities as a father.

Does that excuse Chloe's behaviour towards others, especially Marinette? No. Does it explain it? Yes.

So, let's talk about choice, which has been mentioned several times in the series. Chloe has a choice to become just like one of her parents...or to become something better.

Because, if you think about it, at some point in time, Audrey and Andre and even Gabriel were all children. And children aren't just born nasty. They learn nastiness as they grow up. To become who they are today, they had to have started out in a similar position to Chloe, for example. They represent the potential future for their children.

If we saw them as kids, we'd probably see them being mistreated by the adults in their lives and we'd all sympathise with them and hope for their redemption. But we're seeing them as adults and our instinct is to say oh well, too late, they're just awful people. In fact, they could redeem themselves at any point, as demonstrated by Nathalie's turnaround in Season 5. It's just that, the more awful things you've done, the more you have to atone for. Gabriel would have to do a lot - maybe even have a brain change - to be redeemed. But you see my point.

So, at the end of 'Revolution', we see Chloe at a crossroads. She's on that plane, annihilated by her mother, and hiding by herself in a corner. She browses her contacts and hovers over Sabrina's entry...and her face crumples like her heart is breaking with regrets. Oh, it’s sad.

But she passes over Sabrina and moves onto Marinette. She makes one last attempt to bring her down. It’s an act of desperation – redirecting her own suffering onto another, trying to keep control over things when she’s completely out of control of her own life.

Marinette finally puts her in her place, and we see Chloe fall apart in a real way - for the first time ever. I don't know about you, but I found that very uncomfortable viewing. It was a relief to see Marinette stand up for herself, and it needed to happen...but Chloe's despair was also painful. I think all of those were emotions were intended.

Let’s set Thomas aside here. I don't want to get into debates about what was said on Twitter. He’s not the only writer for the show, anyway. I am just speaking about my personal perception of that scene. Chloe gained heaps of sympathy, after she’d been appalling all season, which was pretty powerful.

The fact is…Chloe needed to be put in her place. But that doesn’t mean she deserved everything she went through. Even so...sometimes these moments are necessary and revelatory. They can be the catalyst for great change.

What I mean is – if you're in denial about your position, redirecting your pain onto others, sometimes you need that wakeup call. You need to hit rock bottom in order to start climbing back up into the light. So, when Chloe fell apart, it was painful...but I also saw it as her potential turning point. As long as she maintained her delusions to escape into at school, it was impossible for her to transform - because she refused to see that there was any change needed. But when you have nothing left…that’s when you might begin rebuilding yourself.

Every episode in Season 5 has had multiple meanings. Looking at 'Revolution', when Chloe was akumatised, she trapped her victims in a maze, going round in endless circles (revolutions). Notably a lot of them were adults.

I think if this had happened early on in Season 4, Adrien would have been trapped morosely in that loop with the others. We saw this kind of thing in 'Guiltrip'. So, it spoke volumes about his growth as a character when he was the first one to seek a way out of Chloe's maze. He immediately used his cataclysm and broke a hole, escaping and letting everyone else out. Metaphorically, what he did was break the cycle. If we think about cycles of abuse, this is what the next generation always has the chance to do - to revolt against the past.

it's interesting, then, that when we got to 'Representation', we saw Cat Noir completely lose it with his father. He needed to let it all out...but he was in danger of going too far...and deep down, he knew it. His worst nightmare was of losing all control, to the point of letting his rage destroy everything he loved. Unconsciously, he's well aware that he runs the risk of becoming like his father. However, his complete breakdown, begging his father to take his miraculous to make it all stop, tells us he won't become like his father - because his conscience is too strong. He wants to break that cycle.

Felix has also done some bad things - but he's begun the journey of redeeming himself and changing. He too is trying to break out of that cycle so he doesn't become like his father.

Kagami is embracing her passionate side, rejecting the coldness and isolation her mother has attempted to breed into her, no doubt due to her own upbringing once upon a time.

And I think there’s definite potential for Chloe to do the same. There’s no reason for anyone to remain caught in these patterns. The trick is to recognise the pattern is there in the first place - because you can’t break free of something if you don’t know you’re imprisoned. At the end of Revolution, I think Chloe finally saw her prison, saw that she was already trapped in her own maze, going round in circles. Now it’s up to her to pull an Adrien and cataclysm the bars that hold her in.

Because like Felix said, over and over – each child is miraculous simply for existing. And miracles should be cherished.

PLEASE NO POST-REPRESENTATION SPOILERS IN COMMENTS :)

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hana-no-seiiki · 1 year

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YANDERE! BATFAM W/ MILES MORALES (BUT GENDER NEUTRAL) ! READER

[ PART ONE ] [ PART THREE ]

GENERAL CW/TW: Spoilers for Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse. Typical Yandere themes of stalking, violence and whatnot.

PART CW/TW: Reader gets called a beauty (beauty/beautiful is gender neutral fite me).

EXTRA: also uh mind you most of my knowledge on the boys come from reading fics so if i get any of my info wrong feel free to correct me

current status: unedited

summary: reader gets into multiverse related hi-jinx and almost gets their ass broken if it weren’t for a tired, definitely sleep deprived senior catching them. (it’s tim you guys)

Reply if you’d like to be added to the taglist!

WHAT’S UP DANGER

(PART TWO)

“I like tall buildings so I can leap off of ‘em,

I go hard wit’ it no matter how dark it is.”

Turns out being a hero is hard skill to learn. Especially if you were working on a time limit.

You had recently gained the ability to uh- well you didn’t know what exactly. All you knew is that somehow you were at least 5x as strong as you were before and a lot more sticky.

Not to mention your senses were all over the place.

It’s like you could see, hear, smell and feel everything.

You didn’t really want to avoid Damian, but whenever you came across him — or just went within his immediate vicinity. Your “tingles” and enhanced “senses” would flare up and make you dizzy.

Usually it’d only be that bad when there were projectiles or insects around you. You surmised it was probably your powers warning you of the dangers he may potentially bring. Whether it’d be from himself (the heir must have some sort of self defense skills) or his name (you didn’t want to think of the target you’ve put on your back both in school and life in general by being his acquaintance. Jesus [Y/N]. Being distracted by your future and planned failure in academics doesn’t excuse letting that happen. Stupid.).

You were mostly stumbling around with your strange set of abilities until you met this girl named Gwen.

First of all, she was just — incredibly pretty. You couldn’t but just stare at her sometimes and—

Getting back on track — !

After getting some spidey sense feedback loop and ripping off a massive chunk of her hair. You find out that you’re this universe’s “Spiderman.”

And that she, was from another universe entirely.

Even a big sci-fi junkie like you had to doubt her words, but as she showcased her abilities you pretty much went on your knees and begged her to teach you.

The both of you get to work quickly. Investigating how she got to your universe and practicing the use of your powers.

The first part went really well. You even met a few other dimension traveling spider-people (and animal) along the way. After sneaking into a lab, you found out that it was a rich man’s, King Pin, “bring his family back project” that brought you all together. But that his actions were probably going to destroy the fabric of reality if he kept going.

The second part, not so much. Your stickiness was something you just couldn’t control.

Luckily it was winter break and that prevented you from ripping another schoolmate’s hair off.

Your “universe specific” abilities, as the other spider-people called it, like invisibility and bio-electricity only came out at random. Sometimes at the most inconvenient times.

Your webbing abilities were subpar to say the least. Many attempts led to you breaking several bones.

Praise super-regeneration and all

But f u c k did it still hurt.

and it was during one of those web-swinging practice sessions when you fall into the arms of Tim Drake.

Tim was just trying to get some fresh air.

After passing out on duty last night and having to deal with Damian suddenly abandoning his missions for some reason. He decided that maybe it was time for a break.

He didn’t exactly expect to have a young adult falling into his arms during said break.

He was just talking a casual stroll really. In a relatively quiet part of Gotham, he didn’t expect much to be happening much less a pretty/handsome giving him a small wave as they sheepishly laugh at their . . . strange encounter.

“ Hey. ” You smiled at him. Praying to all that is holy that he doesn’t notice the bits of undissolved webs you have littered across your hoodie. Thank goodness you didn’t wear your makeshift mask today. He was going to think you were even more of a weirdo than you already are!

“ Hey. ” Tim replied. Praying to all that is holy that you don’t notice his heart rate picking up and his ears turning red. It was the cold he swears! The cold!

“What’s a beauty like you doing around in a place like this?”

They both ask in sync with completely awkward delivery to boot.

Taglist: @vanessa-boo @w31rdg1rl

[ PART THREE ]

#yandere batfam x reader #yandere x reader #yandere batfam #yandere damian wayne x reader #yandere tim drake x reader #yandere jason todd x reader #yandere dick grayson x reader #yandere robin x reader #yandere bruce wayne x reader #yandere damian wayne #yandere tim drake #yandere jason todd #damian wayne x reader #tim drake x reader #jason todd x reader #dick grayson x reader #bruce wayne x reader #yandere nightwing x reader #yandere batman x reader

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xaphrin · 7 months

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Midnight Promises Broken at Dawn

It's Halloween! (just barely) and this is part of the colab I was working on with @inverted-typo. We decided to go with an Eros and Psyche theme.

There's so much more that's set to come out, because (of course) it got way out of control. I am aiming for the next part in two weeks, and I will post it to AO3.

Thank you so much for everything, and for being patient!

---

Damian felt the tug of someone breaking the seal that lined the wilderness of his estate. It was like a spider web thread snapping in the back of his mind, the delicate fiber straining until it broke and hung limp and loose against someone’s skin.

Curious.

The seal was designed to create a barrier along his sacred land so that wandering humans would have the sudden urge to panic and flee in the opposite direction. Anyone who managed to break through was either very powerful or very stupid. Or, maybe even a little desperate. After all, desperation bred fools.

He glanced up from the sketch he’d been working on and stared out the window into the dark gray of a blizzard at twilight, a mild annoyance creasing his brow. Damian may have been the grandson of a god, and have some minor powers of his own, but even he couldn't command the weather when it was like this.

Unfortunately, whoever had broken through his barrier would be allowed to remain close to his land until the storm calmed down.

Damian frowned and let go of a heavy sigh, glaring at nothing in particular. What an annoyance.

Raven could at least say that she had been given some small graces, even tiny ones. She had managed to harvest a few late mushrooms and set up additional traps in the woods farther from her cabin. It would have been better to have the traps be a bit closer to where she was currently taking shelter, but the storm had moved in faster than she anticipated, leaving her food sources scarce, and her choices even moreso.

The wind whipped overhead, shaking snow loose from the trees and scattering it over her shoulders. The noise was somehow both ear-deafening and eerily quiet. It shook her bones, but somehow never made a real sound.

With a curse staining her lips, she picked her way back along the path she created, making her way back to the dilapidated cabin she was taking shelter in. Her feet couldn’t move her fast enough. She felt strange being on this land, as if she wasn’t supposed to be here. It felt like a tug in her chest, a panicked feeling that made her breath short and her body shiver hard. But necessity drove her this far away from the cabin, and her options were growing more and more limited.

"Someday," she muttered to herself, brushing snow-wet hair from her eyes, "I am going to learn to live with others. In a society. With people."

It seemed more like an empty promise than a real one, and it was one she made at least three times a week. It had been well over a year since her bastard of a father had thankfully died, but his heavy shadow remained on her shoulders - oppressive and domineering. Her world should have opened up and grown larger with possibilities and friends, but the fingers of his crazed fear sank too deep into her own mind. And if she was honest with herself, she doubted she would ever be free of them.

For the protection of the world, you must remain alone. You are a stain here, Raven. Nothing better than a whore of Babylon.

Fuck him. Cursing his grave (wherever it was), she kicked at a rotting stump and made her way back to the abandoned forest ranger cabin that had become her temporary home. It didn't have much in the way of modern comforts, but at least it had a hand pump for water outside, and an outhouse. After some of the places she had stayed with her father, four walls around her while she did her business was practically palatial in comparison.

Raven made her way through the snow, following the marks she had left in the trees to show the path. The storm continued to rage around her, growing more and more violent and bitterly cold with each minute. Even the shelter of thick, ancient pines couldn’t shield her forever. She pulled her worn coat tighter around her, and eventually found her way back to the cabin.

When she stepped over the threshold, the pitch black of night had fallen, and the storm eased marginally. Small blessings, even if they were a little late.

Walking carefully over the packed dirt floor, Raven stoked the coals still smoldering in the fireplace, and sank down into the ragged remains of an armchair by the hearth. She looked through her ever thinning supplies until she located her last can of soup. Sighing, she tucked it near the coals of the fire, warming what was left of her food. She wasn't sure when she'd be able to go on a supply run into town, and she didn't feel great about the traps she set today, so she was going to have to make this last as long as she could.

Raven pulled herself close to the fire and tucked her thin blanket around her legs, feeling every muscle in her body ache with exertion. She was weary, and not just from the daily struggle of trying to survive. She was weary of being so utterly alone and isolated. Her father, in spite of all his bullshit, was at least some small amount of company. After he died, she had no one.

Her chest grew tight, and grief filled her until it was so heavy she wasn’t sure if she could bear the weight. A cold tear spilled over her cheek and she wiped it away with her sleeve. She wasn’t sad for his loss, but was sad that she had no one to turn to - no one to help her move forward in the world. She was, for all intents and purposes, alone.

Raven watched the coals' red glow fade, her mind drifting in and out of consciousness as she slipped into a half-sleep, where her dreams seemed far too real.

"A human. How pathetic."

Raven grit her teeth against the insult. She might have been a pathetic human, but she would survive out of spite, and that was a threat.

Her head rocked to the side, staring into the dark shadows of the half-rotted cabin. Hearing phantom voices and seeing unexpected things became a usual occurrence after being alone for so long, but this voice sounded different than it ever had before. "You're not any better…" She paused, trying to think of something to call this new hallucination. “…you ass.”

Very clever.

The was a soft grunt, proving that it was obviously not insulted by her weak name calling. The shadows moved like smoke, staying tight to the deepest part of the darkness. Raven felt something staring at her, as if trying to understand what she was. She turned her head and stared into the rafters, hearing the creak and groan of the roof under the weight of snow.

“What are you doing out here?”

“It’s public land. I am public.” She closed her eyes, trying to let herself fall deeper into sleep, but the shadows kept talking, much to her annoyance. Sometimes she wished her phantoms would just shut up.

“Not all of it is public land. You stepped past those boundaries.”

“Oh, please.” Raven snorted. “Will some absurdly rich recluse really know if I trap a few hares on their thousands of acres of unused land?”

The shadows responded with a strange breathy noise, as if it wasn’t sure whether or not she made a valid point.

“See?” Raven let her point seep into her tone. “Even you agree.”

There was another long pause, and the darkness spoke again. “Perhaps there is a reason to keep you off the land.”

“To make sure that their investment of land holdings is properly protected?”

“Hm.” The shadows moved like ink in water, spreading out against the walls as the coals’ light dimmed even farther. Finally it moved closer to her. “You seem to think you know a lot for someone who lives in a stolen hovel on public land.”

“Circumstances don’t always dictate the totality of a person.”

The shadows didn’t seem to know what to make of that comment, and stayed silent. Raven closed her eyes and let her body sink into the remains of the armchair, wrapping the threadbare blankets tighter around her. She shifted onto her side and faced the fading heat of the coals. The world grew heavy and dark, and Raven felt her body finally succumb to exhaustion, as she slipped into a dark, empty dreamless sleep.

But, she swore she heard one last word from her half-dream of shadows along the wall…

“Curious.”

She haunted his thoughts and that infuriated him more than anything.

This ragged slip of a human, who squatted in abandoned cabins and had the gall to tease him. Him. The grandson of a god, and a demigod in his own right.

And yet, he couldn’t stop thinking about her. He wondered if the traps she set remained bare, if she had managed to find food or warmth, and even if her firewood was dry enough. It was unbearable. Every moment he wasn’t completely focused on something else, she entered his thoughts.

Against his better judgment, Damian found himself visiting her again a few nights later, unable to stay away. He thought that if he saw her again, he might be less enamored by her - at least, that was what he kept telling himself.

She was interesting, even if he didn’t admit it out loud. There was something about the way she spoke to him that piqued his curiosity. It was as if she thought he was an echo or a dream, and not real in any sense of the word. He had spent most of his long life being surrounded by those who worshiped his grandfather, and while Damian appreciated the reverence and kowtowing, it felt almost refreshing to have someone treat him… normal.

Almost.

She should still have some verneration for him. He was technically still a god.

When Damian slipped into the shadows of the abandoned cabin, he found her floating in that space between awake and sleep where things seemed almost real. Her eyes lifted to the dark corner where he stood, trying to discern his shape from between the shadows.

“You came back.” Her voice was a slow drawling sound that slid over his skin like a spell. “I thought you’d disappeared. It’s been a few days since you’ve haunted me.”

Part of him wished he hadn’t returned here, and he had forgotten all about the trespasser on his land. But, here he was, watching a strange woman sleep on a rotting armchair. “You’re still here…” He trailed off, leaving the question unspoken in the air.

“Raven,” she muttered with an annoyed sigh. “I would have thought you would have at least known my name since you insist on following me around and invading my inner peace.” There was a long pause and he thought she had fallen asleep. Finally, her words slipped from behind her lips. “I’m here because I have nowhere else to go.”

He blinked and continued to watch her, letting her words settle. There was a story there he wanted to know, but he wasn’t sure if he should pry. Prying meant that there was a part of him that cared about her, and he didn’t. But… perhaps he was a little curious.

“You have no home?”

“Even if I did, it would not be a place I would go back to." Raven sighed, as if this conversation was exhausting her. “And, if I can't find strength in myself, then who else could I possibly find strength in?”

Damian was about to say something brave and gallant, but he stopped himself. He was not the type of person to offer platitudes and words of encouragement, and he certainly wasn't the type of person to offer help in any sense of the word. He liked his solitude and his privacy, and the only reason he was here was because this human was upsetting his perfectly manicured life.

Still…

“Seems to be a lonely life.”

“It is.” She gave a dry laugh, her blunt answer cutting through the weight of the room. There was a sorrow that clung to her, and a longing for something more than she had now. “After all, I'm talking to the shadows on the wall about my lack of home.”

He wondered if she would believe him if he said he was real, but chose to keep silent instead.

“You should go away, you’re keeping me from my well deserved sleep. You’re like an annoying fly buzzing around my head.” She gave a halfhearted wave, as if shooing him away, before she turned her face to the warmth of the fire. Her breath deepened, and Damian stood there for a long while, watching this curious human sleep.

There was an odd, uncomfortable stirring in his chest, as though his heart was waking up after a long, deep sleep.

His lips twitched in annoyance, and he glanced around the small cabin, taking stock of what she owned. It was so little, that it seemed as though she had simply walked out of a place one day with whatever she could carry on her back. A few clothes, a threadbare blanket, a backpack that had certainly seen better days, and…

His eyes rested on several beat up paperback books poking through the holes of her bag. That seemed like an odd choice, having books when she seemed to have such limited resources in the first place. Damian turned that observation around in his head for a moment, unsure of what to make of it.

Ultimately, it didn't matter. Mortals were of little concern to him.

Raven included.

Ignoring that strange flutter in his chest, he slipped back into the shadows and disappeared from the cabin.

#damirae #demonbirds #damian and raven #I WROTE A FIC #HOLY HADES #eros and psyche au

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deaddovestellnotales · 4 months

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BG3 Companions and the Abuse Cycle / Trauma - Astarion

It has been itching in my fingers to write an analysis about the main cast and their trauma (responses). As it happens, Baldurs Gate 3 stumbled into my life at the very time in which I began my trauma recovery, and as such seeing the very struggles I go through represented so well in the game, it will forever hold a dear place in my heart. Alas, enough about me, I will begin my analysis with Astarion, because his trauma (response) is the most like mine, followed by Karlach.

Astarion

From what I can gather of his background, his dialogue, and his actions, Astarion's greatest traumas stem from being controlled and sexually, as well as physically abused. Ever since he had become one of Cazador's Spawns, he had no say about his own life. He was a plaything to be messed with. His opinions did not matter, they were mocked and ridiculed. His boundaries didn't exist to Cazador, neither sexual nor moral ones. Astarion had to live feeling powerless for centuries, made to use his body as a tool for his vampiric abuser.

But that changes when he gets infected by the tadpole. For the first time in so many years, Astarion can make his own choices, can feel in control over himself and his own body. And he relishes in it!

He doesn't want to hold back anymore, he wants to experience everything that was denied to him; The rush of being your own master not being held back by moral obligations, judgments, or most importantly his very nature as a spawn, any longer, is intoxicating.

But Astarion is at the beginning of his trauma recovery journey and suffers from Cazador's bad influence still. So, Astarion doesn't know how to set proper boundaries yet, he doesn't know how to respect other's boundaries either and he enacts what his abuser did to him onto other people. He says he doesn't care about saving others, finds killing fun, and finds hurting other people entertaining if it gives him an advantage. And why? Because this is how Astarion learned to be powerful! Nobody has been kind to him for centuries, or respected a simple word like "No". It's been a big fight, his life is "kill or be killed".

His relationship with his "siblings" is also interesting in that context. He was Cazador's "favorite", reminding me of a Narcissist's golden Child. So even experiencing a healthy relationship with the other spawn was denied to him and this shows as well, as he pities them but he is willing to throw them aside if it means he will gain power (over them).

And if you let Astarion ascend and don't set a good example in his life, by simple respect of his boundaries, he will not break the cycle. He will become Cazador, he will become the abuser.

Now, in contrast, if you respect Astarion's wishes, if you don't force him to do things he doesn't want to do if you stop him from ascending, it is interesting to see his reactions.

For example, if you don't involve yourself with the Drow twins, and read between the lines, recognizing Astarion being uncomfortable, you can see the relief in his facial animation and hear it in his voice (props to the voice actor!), being glad that you are respecting his wishes. Or if you don't rat him out to the blood alchemist in Moonrise Tower (i forgot her name, sorry!), he will be surprised by someone respecting his boundaries for the first time! All those actions change him for the better, the change culminating in his final romance scene - in the case you are dating him - where he will openly state how you showed him that he has a voice even without being all-powerful and abusing others. That you changed him.

Astarion's trauma journey is about learning to set boundaries and using the freedom he has without at the same time becoming what he hates. Astarion's trauma response is fight!

And I find both of these awfully relatable.

There is honestly so much more I want to write about him, but I will save this for another post.

If you want to see where I am going with this about Karlach, await my next rambling post!.

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #astarion #bg3 astarion

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wesavegotham · 1 year

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I could make an even longer post including panels to explain all the reasons why I don't agree with the people I've seen online who act like the recent stories of Tim saving Bruce at the end of Batman #135 and Damian saving Bruce at the end of Batman vs Robin are very similar and treating Tim and Damian equally good, but that would probably end up being too long. So here is the slightly less long version to explain what fundamentally sets them apart:

Tim is simply allowed to be good and heroic with no drawbacks. And Damian is not.

There was no argument before Bruce vanished that Tim saving him is an apology for. Bruce didn't get lost because of a mistake Tim made. Tim's way of travelling through the multiverse didn't require him to do anything bad to get it and his travels don't have any negative consequences for him or the places he goes to. Tim didn't only manage to save Bruce after asking for help from a bunch of other characters he met during his journey through the multiverse.

He is simply allowed to be Batman's shining saviour.

Now that alone isn't a problem. The problem is that the other character currently wearing the Robin mantle gets treated very differently.

If Damian was the one trying to save Bruce in the same arc I'm pretty sure some of the things I've listed above, if not all of them, would have been done. Because making Damian at fault for the problem he is trying to solve, punishing him repeatedly for messing up and not letting him solve the problem simply through the power of his own abilities is a pretty persistent pattern in Damian's stories.

Like in Batman vs Robin, a recent story some people try to argue gave Damian a "Robin saves Batman" story equally as nice as the one Tim just got.

Let me break down what Damian's role in that story actually is:

He opens the tomb of Nezha because of his recklessness, Mother Soul only had to arrange for the key to fall into his hands (thus causing all the following terrible events)

He gets possessed by Nezha

He tries and fails to kill his father multiple times, not because Damian is successful in fighting back against Nezha's possession, but because Bruce is simply shown to be superior to him in every way

Bruce dons the helmet of fate and frees everyone possessed by Nezha from his influence, including Damian

Damian begs Bruce for forgiveness

Damian and Talia try to defeat Mother Soul but she simply jumps into an abyss

Damian tries to stop Nezha from killing Bruce, but Nezha then just tries to shoot Damian instead and Bruce jumps in front of the blast, causing him to die

Black Alice and Pigsy manage to revive Bruce, but he's still in a very bad condition

Damian flies them all out of there and crashlands the plane into the Hall of Justice

Damian tries to explain to the heroes what is going on, but everyone turns to (a barely conscious) Batman and they only start listening to Damian once Bruce tells them to do so

Damian comes up with a very vague plan that...I guess one of the two teams had success? The other part of the plan failed and had some unintended consequences though, like Nezha taking full control of Bruce's body, which turned Bruce into nothing more than a husk for Nezha.

Damian remains at the Hall of Justice while the other heroes leave to execute his plan

He gets attacked by King Fire Bull and is completely useless the entire fight even after gaining temporary powers (seriously, it's stated in the book that his heat vision does nothing against a magic being like King Fire Bull)

He yells at King Fire Bull that if he learned anything these past few days it's that you will never be better than your father

The freed magic users defeat King Fire Bull

Nezha in Batman's body returns to the Hall of Justice without the rest of Batman's team, but Damian doesn't become suspicious of him

Damian wakes up captured by Nezha

He manages to escape but Nezha chases him

Monkey Prince explains to Damian the longer Nezha stays in Batman's body the stronger he will get, so they have to get him out of Batman and into his old body fast to banish him, but Nezha is the only thing keeping Bruce's body from dying. If they want to save the world Damian has to kill his father

Damian calls the rest of the batfamily for help to capture Nezha/Batman

After the batfamily wears him down first Monkey Prince uses his cloning ability on Damian to make 20+ (?) clones of Damian that wear Nezha down even further

Zatanna, Enchantress and Pigsy arrive to shackle Nezha and transfer his soul back into his original body on Damian's orders, leaving Bruce dead

Damian then asks Enchantress to transfer his life to Bruce to revive him, arguing that the world needs Batman far more than it needs him. She replies that his sacrifice wouldn't be enough to bring Bruce back, shocking Damian. Zatanna says countless people would need to give parts of themselves to revive Bruce.

Damian asks the entirety of Gotham to give a part of themselves to revive Batman, reminding them of all the times Batman has saved them and to shout "we are Batman" to transfer a part of their lifeforce into Bruce

Bruce comes back to life and they hug

The concluding sentence tells us that this story serves as a lesson to the world that there is no more formidable team than Batman and Robin

Even though we never saw them truly working together as Batman and Robin at any point of the story and the only lesson I took from this is that Mark Waid really wants you to know that Bruce is the greatest and that Damian will never be as good as his dad. How uplifting.

But hey, they hugged in the end, surely that makes up for all of it, right?😑

Who needs Damian to not be at fault for yet another disaster? For Bruce to say something nice about him that goes beyond "well, he's my son, so I guess I have some love for him even though I can only describe him with bad attributes"? To simply see Damian filling the role Robin is supposed to serve in a story?

Or why let Damian enjoy the privilege that all other male Robins enjoyed? Which was to be Robin without sharing the mantle and getting to be Batman's main crime fighting partner?

Why do that when you can just use Tim for these things instead, right?🙂

And I want to make it clear that it's not just because "the characters are just like that". The characters are fictional, they have no free will.

A writer could simply let Damian have a story where he's not at fault for the problems he faces, where his own abilities allow him to solve the problem and he doesn't have to make shitty decisions because he's been forced into dilemmas other character simply don't get subjected to.

They just constantly choose not to.

#damian wayne #bruce wayne #Tim Drake

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curiousquirks · 8 months

Text

Caught Your Attention (18+)

Pairing: AFO x Fem!Reader

Content Warnings: Non-Con, Pegging, Fem-Dom, Reader referred to as Female and AFAB, Aphrodisiacs, Degradation, Mommy Kink, Overstimulation, Orgasm Denial, Blackmail, Light Collar Play Word Count: 4,755 A/N: Reader has a quirk (meta ability) that allows them to produce an aphrodisiac from their body. This is also set back in the day when AFO was far younger but was gaining power rapidly. Other than that, there wasn’t any specific plot because this is shameless smut. Requested by @jennoah

The spontaneous creation of Quirks also saw the creation of people willing to selfishly use them for their own gain. Exceeding amounts of power and influence carried All for One quickly through the ranks of rising villains. He was no stranger to people wanting to compete with him to try to topple him from his growing tower. Being younger and on the front lines of people scrambling to gather as much as possible left All for One having to learn as he went. Naturally he was bound to make some mistakes in his early days. He still fared better than most though. Some would say it was natural born talent that gave him an edge most people didn’t have.

All for One was a very charismatic man, he knew exactly how to talk to people. It allowed him to sway conversations and manipulate people precisely how he wanted. It wasn’t fool proof though. It didn’t work on you; and you were such a mystery. He had interacted with you a few times, but heard plenty in passing. You had a Meta Ability too, but he just didn’t know what it was. You weren’t interested in any of his tactics and you were certainly self-sufficient and powerful on your own. You never accepted anything he had to provide, you certainly had no desire for another Meta Ability. So, what could he possibly offer you?

Nothing.

He was a cocky, arrogant and narcissist bastard who you wished to never have to interact with. You didn’t want him dead. That was too extreme, especially when he could still have his uses. He had a lot of influence and power, more than you have gained especially considering how young he was. It irked you. His web of connections was too strong to sever, leaving you with little options to even try to dismantle him. Leaving you with a crazy idea that honestly could humble him. Afterall, breaking someone this proud gives you more room to get better negotiations right? Especially when you leave room for easy blackmail. Proud men like him don’t want to look bad, let alone be humiliated by a woman.

Since he had such a complicated network building, it only seemed fitting to try to catch him like a fly in that little web. He wasn’t the only one with contacts and he can’t have his guard up all of the time. You didn’t even have to worry about him trying to break free or potentially killing you. Once you had him in your hands, the last thing he’d want to do is leave. Outside of the effects of your meta ability, men were always really easy to control with sex. It would take time, but thankfully you were patient. Setting yourself up and carefully positioning yourself, waiting for the right timing. Which landed you in your current perfect position.

You pressed your back against the wall, taking a glance around the corner. Your vantage point in his place gave you a view towards his open bathroom door. Either he’s really good at pretending to not notice you or you were successfully evading his detection for the moment. Who knows what he has up his sleeves right now; it was always hard to figure that out. Subtly and mystery saved him, not letting anyone know what he had to utilize at any given moment. Worked the same for his meta abilities as it did for his emotions. He was busying himself with personal grooming it seemed, his hand delicately holding a shaving razor. His frame leaning closer to the bathroom mirror to keep attention to detail.

He briefly paused, putting you on edge as you expected his eyes to lock onto yours in the mirror from your hidden position. He didn’t though. You weren’t too far away, just far enough to be safe but it was still in range of your Meta Ability. You lifted your sleeve allowing a faint mist to float off your skin letting it drift into the room towards him as you kept eye contact on him. You had been doing this subtly for a few minutes now. Your ability worked better with direct contact, you had figured that out through trial and error. Soon enough you’d be able too. He placed the shaving razor down as he moved to rinse his face. You watched expectantly as you waited for your ability to affect him. He turned off the facet and reached for a towel to pat his face dry. He seemed to pause again, making a subtle adjustment in his posture.

He seemed to brush it off as he made his way out of the bathroom, turning the light off and closing the door. He made his way towards his kitchen. You could barely see him but thankfully you still could keep some watch over him. You mentally cursed, normally it shouldn’t take this long. Shouldn’t be surprising that this insufferable man had a high tolerance for this type of thing. It would allow him to not be easily distracted. Just another thing that had you gritting your teeth in annoyance. Your eyes slightly widen in surprised amusement when you see your work starting to pay off; there’s a flush spreading across his skin and growing bulge in his pants. He adjusted his posture again, shifting on his feet as his eyes narrow.

His fingers reach for a cup drying on the rack, which he holds for only a second before slamming it down on the counter. Your body slightly jolted from the sudden movement but you held steady. You blinked rapidly as you watched him intently, making quick work to continue into the next phase of the plan.

He made a quick but annoyed click of his tongue as rolled his neck, seeming to try to shake off some unexpected tension. He paused again before making a quick move to turn in your direction just in time to feel a sharp sting in the back of his neck. His body started feeling as clouded and fogged as his mind, a clear sign that the potent sedative was working. His heavy lidded eyes locked onto yours, only briefly, before he collapsed onto the floor. You stood triumphantly above him, observing your prey as your grin was full of mystery and maliciousness.

━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━

The first thing he noticed through his blurry vision was your form standing over him. He then felt hot fingers pressing ever so lightly into his skin. He tried to sober up, but his brain couldn’t catch up fast enough. He let out a sharp hiss when the slightest pressure touched his clothed aching cock. He tried moving his arms, barely registering that they were tied behind his back. His eyes snapped to the movement in front of his face, taking multiple seconds to register the fingers snapping clearly aiming to get his attention. His eyes blinked as slowly as his mind was moving.

“Good morning, princess.” Your voice echoed in his mind, followed immediately by your intoxicatingly cruel laughter. “Glad to finally have your full attention,” Your hand gently palmed his cock, his hips immediately bucking up against you as a shiver ran down his body. “Especially since certain parts of you woke up already.”

“What do you–” He began before taking a sharp intake of breath as your fingers glided over his bare skin again. “What do you think you’re doing?” His tone was full of venom, and it wasn’t hard to see the hatred in his eyes.

“I’m taking my time in getting some justified blackmail as I watch you fold and crumble beneath me.” You heard his scoff before he gritted his teeth. “You, on the other hand, are going to lay here on the floor and obey my every command like a good boy.”

His breathing got more ragged, it was hard to fight off the pure lust consuming him he had to admit. Before he had even had the chance to make a snide comment back you had run your bare hands along his skin. That faint mist from before radiated off of your skin infecting his mind, body, and soul. Every touch of your fingers against him radiated electric sparks that made him want to ravage every fiber of your body. He felt hot, the fabric of his pants feeling too tight as the layer of sweat coating his body forced them to stick to his legs. He felt weak.

“How are you feeling now, huh tough guy?” You teased, your fingers grabbing his chin as you forced his frantic and distracted attention back onto you. Your voice alone caused his throbbing cock to twitch with every syllable. “I bet you wish you could just sate your desires, to just sink your cock deep inside me.” You mocked, your other hand making quick work of undoing his pants.

If you kept talking, that might have just forced him to finish on the spot. His eyes fluttered the second the cold air hit his cock once it sprung free. His breathing hitched as your fingers ghosted against it, every shred of what little willpower he had left was preventing his hips from bucking up. He cursed the very molecules of your existence but he lacked the ability to voice anything out loud. It was a strong Meta Ability indeed. He tried focusing on what little sanity he had left to try to figure a way out of this.

“I’m just trying to focus on figuring out which end goal you’re trying to achieve here.” He spat out, struggling heavily as he tried wiggling his body slightly to assess and figure out the type of restraints you used. “Do you intend to kill me after you’re done toying with me? Extort me some more for power?”

“If I was going to kill you, I would have done so when I had the chance. I got your guard down, I had every opportunity to do it at that very moment. You are on the right track though. I want your resources. I want you to owe me.” You explained as you straddled him. You could feel his heart rate increase dramatically as you grinded down against him. It took everything in him not to react, to give you the satisfaction. His cheeks were flushed as a bead of sweat dripped down his forehead. “Actually, no. I want to own a powerful man such as yourself. Men would kill to be in your position right now, you know. You’re a lucky man.”

He scoffed again, his eyes narrowing dangerously at you. “I’d much rather be in control than be–” He began before you interrupted him.

“Humiliated?” You asked, a grin playing at your lips. “Every powerful man like yourself secretly loves this shit though, don’t you. You just want a woman taking control to give you what you need, not what you think you want.”

“I’m afraid you’ve got that wrong, my dear.” He retorted, fighting back a shudder as your hands ran up and down his bare chest. “You just look like a desperate whore. Having to do these depraved embarrassing acts just to get your hands on a man, because no one wants to touch you.”

“Oh?” You could admire how much willpower this man is managing to hold onto. There was so much venom in his voice, he was using all of his power and using it to fuel his anger towards you. If you respected him, this would be impressive. You scooted yourself down his body, resting on top of his lower legs as your fingers curled around his cock. “We’ll see how you really feel soon enough.”

Your thumb swiped over the tip of his cock, feeling the twitch immediately against your hand as you gave it a few strokes. You locked eyes with him for only a moment before you had dipped your head down, running your tongue against the throbbing vein along the bottom of his cock. You then circled the tip before wrapping your lips around it. You heard him gasp out a sharp breath. Your moment of triumph was soon upon you, surely he wouldn’t last long at all. His hips bucked up, forcing his cock deeper down your throat. The warm wet feeling engulfing his every thought.

“G-Get off me–gah…” He choked out, followed immediately by a curse under his breath.

His words fell on deaf ears, your attention focused on creating suction around his sensitive tip. Your hand grabbed his shaft and created a steady rhythm. You could feel the muscles in his legs tense up, as his breathing got more ragged. You suddenly and without warning pulled yourself off of him. He let out a gasp of air as his muscles clenched tightly, his release so harshly delayed leaving him aching.

“You bitch…” He whispered, gritted through his teeth, but you heard him. “Enough with your games.”

Your fingers wrapped around his cock again, using your own spit as a lubricant as you started pumping it at a fast pace. You watched with sick glee as his eyes snapped shut, his muscles tensing up at the exhilarating pleasure coursing through him. At a much faster rate than before you had pulled your hand away suddenly, causing a choked noise to escape his lips. Your fingers ghosted over his twitching cock, his hips instinctively bucking up towards your hand. A growl reverberated somewhere deep within him as his eyes shot open to glare at you.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, now that’s not very nice of you.” You mocked, softly wrapping your hands around his cock again. You set a painfully slow pace as you positioned yourself against his legs to prevent him from moving them too much. “I didn’t say you could come yet.”

“I…don’t need–stop” He scrambled everywhere in his brain to get something cohesive out, but his brain was foggy with thoughts of your body, your mouth, your voice. Every possible scenario comes up with that involved drilling his cock deep inside of you; warm, wet, dripping and consuming.

“You really want me to stop, you seem close? Hm, you sure you don’t wanna come?” You teased, focusing extra pressure near his tip since he is extra sensitive. Even though you’re only doing soft slow strokes, every touch feels magnified. His body is on fire. He whispers a simple please beneath his breath and your hand immediately retracts from his cock.

“Fuck...” He grits out behind his teeth, his chest rising and falling at an accelerated rate. His aching cock twitches again, more pre-cum leaking from the tip. He deflated against the floor again.

More mist floats off of your skin and into the air and he swears he can see stars. He honestly thinks that if you even ghost your fingers against his cock again, that’ll be it. Every fiber of his being can only think about you; in every carnal way, in every primal way. His glassy eyes locked onto yours, completely fucked out of his mind. The future most feared man in the entire country, looked like a desperate puppy beneath you. Like a desperate whore.

“Are you gonna behave now?” You asked, testing to see just how far gone he was. He nodded quickly and eagerly, his light hair sticking against his sweaty forehead. “You're gonna be a good boy for mommy?”

You could see the gear shift, something in him changed. The name, the title; something unlocked. He groaned as looked ready to come on the spot. A grin quickly spread across your face. You knew it. Perfect.

You got off of him and stood up. You snapped your fingers and made a gesture that asked him to sit up. He quickly obeyed, with some struggle, and perched himself onto his knees. You cooed at him and cupped your fingers under his chin, tilting his head up.

“Such a good boy.” You praised, taking in his breathless flushed face. “You want mommy to make you come?”

He nodded and you wasted no time in laughing at his misery. His face burned with humiliation and growing defeat. The ache deep within himself was too strong, he couldn’t focus on anything else. You walked over to the bag that you had brought with you and reached in to grab something, his eyes watching you intently the entire time. You pulled out what looked to be a collar. You walked back over to him and attached it around his neck. You grabbed and attached the leash into place too, giving it a good tug. He held his place well, almost like he had expected it. Your Meta Ability can’t cause people to suddenly be into shit that they’re not. So to say you’re surprised is an understatement. You expected some fucked up shit, but it was more of a joke thought.

“Don’t you look like such a pretty boy.” You praised, knowing it was so degrading for him to be referred to in such a way. You wrapped the end of the leash around your hand a few times before leaning down towards his face. “Are you going to behave for me? I’ll give you exactly what you want if you do.”

He held an intense stare, multiple strong emotions swirling in those piercing red eyes. His face held a stoic expression but the deep flush spread across his face gave him away. A layer of sweat was coating his body, his hair matting against his forehead. He was struggling to keep a steady breathing pattern too. A sick grin spread across your face, relishing in how you didn’t even have to do anything to get him in such a state. He had some strong willpower but he still wasn’t as compliant as you would’ve hoped.

“I didn’t hear an answer.” You said, irritation apparent in your tone. “You’re not getting shit from me if you don’t give me an answer.”

He just held that same intense stare, clearly trying desperately to hold onto his resolve. Well, it’ll definitely feel more fulfilling to break him completely. You were hoping it wouldn’t come to this but anything for your mission at hand. You used your other hand to roughly grab his chin as you yanked the leash towards you, forcing his face closer to yours. You didn’t give him much time to process, barely allowing the shock of the situation to surface before you crashed your lips onto his. You could immediately feel his discomfort and disgust as you forced your tongue into his mouth. The second your tongue brushed against his, that’s when you felt the shift in his demeanor. Your meta ability affects your body fluids too.

He melted into your kiss, a stifled groan catching in his throat as you melded together. You didn’t stay long, just long enough, pulling away as a thin line of saliva broke between both of you. His eyes were softer now, his breathing more noticeable and his panting louder. His face attempted to follow after you, chasing you like a puppy. A smile pulled at the corner of your mouth as you loosened the leash wrapped around your hand. That should work perfectly now. Only one way to really test that theory though.

“Are you going to be good for mommy now?” You mocked, eagerly awaiting his reaction.’

“Yes.” He said breathlessly and immediately.

You held your surprise well. There was just something in the way he said it. You had figured that he would completely cave at this point but something about this man submitting to your will was different from the others. You moved backwards, tugging the leash to signal him to follow you. His lust filled body moved to stand and follow after you towards the bed like a love sick animal, his legs shaky and wobbly to stand on. In a clearer mind he would finally register what room he was in. He couldn’t care less at the moment about the details, only doing whatever he had to in order to appease you for his own selfish needs.

“That’s a good boy,” You praised, reaching your hand out to pat your hand on the bed. “Now get up here and lay down on your stomach for me.”

He seemed hesitant, moving slowly but still following your commands. He struggled slightly, with the restraints holding his arms in place behind his back but he managed to do exactly as you asked. He groaned as his throbbing cock pressed against the comforter, the friction driving him insane. You cooed from somewhere behind him, having moved away. He tried turning his head to see where you went or what you were doing, but the angle wasn’t providing him with much.

“No peeking, wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise.” You teased from somewhere behind him.

He waited for what felt like ages, resisting the urge to press himself against the bed to gain some relief. He didn’t have to wait long though, his brain too muddled to focus on much aside from his raging desires which kept him thoroughly distracted. He felt the weight difference on the bed as you pressed your knee into the mattress. You placed your hands on his hips as you used your knees to push his legs apart. He didn’t resist at all, letting you move his legs. In one forceful motion you dug your fingers into his skin as you lifted his hips into the air. One of your hands left his hips as you snuck it between his legs, wrapping your fingers around his cock. He shuddered, his hips jerked at the sudden contact. He bit back a moan, as your hand skillfully set an agonizing rhythm.

He hadn’t noticed your other hand left his body until he let out a surprised choked gasp as your finger placed cold lubricant against his entrance. His eyes shot back towards you, surprise clearly evident across his face despite the fact that you can’t see most of his face. You circle your finger around the rim before slowly inserting your finger inside of him. Your other hand never stopped your pace, despite how much he started squirming against you. You pumped your finger in and out of him for a minute before inserting another to help stretch him.

“Look at how you’re sucking me in, you must love this.” You teased, feeling his legs tense up. “You’re into more kinky shit than I thought. You poor thing, never getting to express yourself in such a depraved way because of that pride of yours.”

You heard him curse on his breath, feeling that building heat that was robbed from him multiple times already. He fully expected you to do it again. Your fingers curled inside of him and he pressed his face into the mattress. You could feel the shakiness of his legs as you worked him into a beautiful release, hot spurts of cum shooting against the comforter. His groans were muffled into the fabric but quickly became choked as you continued stroking him and pumping your fingers inside of him.

“F–Fuck…Stop–” He tried to cry out, almost biting down on his tongue. His body shook underneath you, his cock painfully twitching against your hand as his body tried desperately to get away from you.

“Aw, look at you baby. I thought you wanted to come?” You mocked, finally giving him some peace by removing both of your hands from him suddenly. You watch his body collapse against the bed, gasping for air. “You look so pretty.”

His brain struggled to regain any control once he was able to breathe again. He didn’t have much time before your bare hands were running along his ass, groping at his body, your meta ability still actively at work and continuously affecting him. His groaned, electric shocks jolt through his body as you move his ass into the air again. He didn’t have the time to process the foreign object pressing against his ass before he heard the shutter noise from your phone’s camera. He turned his head towards you to look at what you were doing before your hand was on his face pushing it back into the mattress.

“Ah ah ah, what did I say before?” You chastised, gripping the strap-on in your hand and rubbing it against his asshole. The slick cold feeling of the silicon against him had his body jerking forward. His eyes widened as they glared back at you. Despite the anger trying to show through his eyes, the lust was far stronger. “You are going to lay here and take mommy’s cock like a good boy.” A grin spread across your face as you felt his leg twitch as a jolt of pleasure went straight to his cock. “And you’re going to love every second of it.”

“I…I already finished.” He tried to retort.

“You don’t get to decide when I’m finished.” You told him, lining the strap-on with his entrance as you slowly started pushing it into his twitching hole. “Now, you’re gonna sit here and fucking take it like a good boy.”

You felt his entire body tense up as you pushed it all the way to the base. You dig your nails into his hips as you savor his muffled groans and whines. “You’re taking this better than I thought you would, you must be a real whore.” You mocked, slowly pulling out the strap-on before slamming it back into him. “Fuck I can’t even feel it and I know your hole is tight and just sucking it in. You love getting fucked like this, huh?”

The pain was burning, but your meta ability was forcing his brain to only focus on the lustful enjoyment. Morbidly twisting the painful stretching into blinding pleasure. He bites back any noises that threaten to spill from his lips, his heavy breathing escaping through his parted lips. His face shoved to the side, desperately trying to keep a little grasp on his sanity. One of your hands reaches down to grasp his weeping and throbbing cock, the jolt of his hips causing one of the hidden noises to finally escape his lips.

“There you go, let mommy hear you.” You attempt to coax him, setting a rhythm as you stroke his cock and slam your hips into his. “You're taking me so well.”

He finally started letting those noises slide past his lips, the vulgar and dirty noises filling the room were too late to actually cause him more humiliation. He was too far gone, lost completely in the pure pleasure coursing through his entire body. “Please–...” He choked out, his muscles tensing up as he felt that burning feeling building for his release. “Mommy, please–”

“Come for me, baby.” You cooed, making one last slam into his ass as you gave quick strokes to his throbbing cock. More hot cum spurts out against the comforter again, causing a worse sticky mess. Your hand didn’t relent in its torture of his cock though.

“S-Stop–” He cried out, his body violently twitching. “Fuck–”

“I want to make sure I get out every last drop.” You teased, continuing stroking his twitching, throbbing, aching cock. His whole body was tensed up, strangled gasps escaping him as he tried with every fiber of his being to pull himself away from you. The struggling was moving his hips against your strap-on though, causing more jolts of electric pleasure surging through him. “Just a little longer.”

You watched him struggle and writhe beneath you, completely losing control over his body. You didn’t make him struggle much longer though, watching as his body completely collapsed against the bed. He struggled to catch his breath, more sweat coating his body as his chest heaved. You pulled the strap-on out of him, smirking at the noise he made when it was fully removed. He squeezed his eyes close for only for a moment before they snapped open when he heard that shutter sound again.

You quickly sent this photo away too, having it stored safely away for the perfect blackmail. You looked down at him, more menacingly than before. “I can do this any time I want and you’ll let me. I own you now and you love it.” You said, not threatening him at all as you were simply explaining exactly how he felt. You bare hands run softly over his back, a shutter wracking his body. “Rest up, I’m not done with you yet.”

#afo x reader #all for one x reader #all for one smut #afo smut #bnha smut #bnha fanfiction #curious writings

88 notes · View notes

niqhtlord01 · 1 year

Photo

Humans are weird: Human Politics

“Session is called to order,” the human speaker announced in a booming voice, “prepare to seal the hall.”

Xindi took note of how quickly the human senators rushed into the room and took their seats as pairs of guard took up station at every entrance to the chamber. He had expected one or two of them at least to argue or ignore the speaker as he was technically of a lower status then they were, yet all of them finished whatever they were doing and rushed to their seats like children in a school.

The speaker slammed the butt of his staff into the ground three times and in unison the guards began closing the doors. A few senators who were unlucky enough to still be outside tried to force their way inside but the guards would not let them. Xindi could hear them arguing and pleading with the guards but still they remained unmoved until one by one the doors closed shut.

“Those absent will be noted and chastised in the following session.” The human speaker announced as they quietly scanned the room and wrote down those missing from their vacant chairs. When this was finished they looked towards Xindi and motioned for him to stand.

“This emergency session has been called to hear the proposal for assistance by the Drenari Federation delegation.” The speaker then motioned to the opposite side of the chamber where another group sat waiting. “We shall then hear the Ken’dar delegation’s response before beginning open debate.”

Xindi glared towards the small group opposite him in the hall. He had not been aware that the Ken’dar would send a delegation as well, but he imagined that they had learned of the Drenari’s plan to seek assistance from humanity and sent the delegates to block any hope for an alliance between the two powers.

With this the speaker stepped down from the central podium and Xindi walked over. He could feel every pair of eyes in the room locked on him as what should have been a short distance suddenly felt like an eternity.

He took the podium in stride and felt the warmth of the lights bearing down upon him. The heat made him wince in pain as his people had evolved deep underground and were averse to intense light sources. He could have made a comment to the speaker to adjust the light, or worn thicker clothing to dull the effect; but he wanted to show the humans that he and his people were not so fragile that light alone could break their resolve.

“For the last month,” Xindi began, “my people have endured a series of constant attacks from the Ken’Dar fleet along our borders.” He removed a small holographic display unit from his robe and placed it on the podium. With a few short key entries it hummed to life projecting a large image at the center of the room.

The hologram showed a territorial map displaying the systems controlled by the Drenari in green, and the Ken’dar in red along an extensive boarder. Markers appeared at several points to highlight the border skirmishes between the two powers.

“These attacks we were able to contain with little effort but within the last week the nature of the conflict shifted drastically.”

Entering a new set of keys the hologram showed a long stretch of red suddenly appear and carve its way through the green territory nearly cutting it in two with how far it expanded. “The Ken’dar launched a massive invasion force that overwhelmed our fleets and put to siege several of our primary worlds.”

Several of the human senators murmured amongst themselves and those around them as they took in the new information. “While this attack was sudden and unexpected, this is not the reason I stand before you.” Xindi continued.

“On each and every world the Ken’dar have set foot on we have received reports, both transmitted and carried first hand by survivors, of the brutality and senseless destruction they have carried out against my people.”

Yet again the hologram changed from a star map to playing hastily taken footage. From behind chest high cover the camera holder watched as Ken’dar soldiers kicked in door of hab units only to then fire wildly into them before moving on to the next one and repeating the horrific process. Screams could be heard from inside each unit that sounded like women and children.

The feed cut away to another scene of horror as Ken’dar soldiers lined up several Drenari civilians against a wall and executed them one by one. The backs of their heads exploding out like popped balloons before slumping over into a pool of their own blood.

Xindi didn’t have to look at the faces of the human senators; their gasps and more vocal bodily movements were enough to tell him that they were equally surprised and disgusted at what they were seeing. Precisely the reason Xindi had chosen those records for viewing out of the collection of gathered intelligence. He knew that humans were visual creatures, and seeing such horrors would do far more to reinforce what he was going to ask.

“I come before this august body and ask for the Terran Alliance to intervene and end this senseless violence that has been unleashed upon my people.”

There was no thunderous applause or cheers at the end of his speech; only the hushed murmurs of conversations. Xindi let his eyes wander over the gathered senators but only saw their undecided eyes looking back. From the side of the room the speaker struck his staff three more times and Xindi stepped down and returned to his previous spot.

“We will now hear the Ken’dar delegation.” The speaker announced as the Ken’dar stepped forward to the podium. Their robes were elaborate and richly designed, highlighting a certain level of status and nobility.

To Xindi the delegate looked like a sofa had learned to be a real biped and decided to walk.

Just like Xindi, the Ken’dar delegate pulled out a holographic projector and activated it. To Xindi’s surprise the footage shown was the exact same he had just played to the delegates.

“This footage,” the delegate said as the feed of the soldiers kicking in doors played, “was taken during a raid of a suspected Drenari resistance cell that was responsible for twelve bombings; many of them civilian targets of those that supported our occupation.”

Moving along the images showed the same soldier kicking in the door, but this time the sounds of screaming women and children were oddly not present. Instead, there were the angry shouts of man Drenari before the soldier opened fire again. “As you will have noticed, this is the original audio from the raid; not the manufactured material that my Drenari opposite has played for you all.”

“That is a lie!” Xindi shouted as he stood to his feet. Before he could say another word the speaker struck his staff again and Xindi fell silent.

“The Drenari delegation will remain silent.” The speaker announced. “You were allowed to speak uninterrupted; you will provide the same curtsey to the Ken’dar.”

Xindi gritted his teeth and returned to his seat. “My thanks to you, honored speaker.” The Ken’dar delegate spoke before resuming the feed. It switched to the Drenari being lined up and executed.

“What you see here is indeed as it seems.” The Drenari said, much to the surprise of everyone. “We have recently learned of this incident were one of our officers went against military orders and began executing civilians.”

More murmurs as the Ken’dar delegate continued. “Once our military was made aware of this horrible outrage, the commanding officer was immediately arrested and will be brought up on charges of war crimes.”

Xidni observed the gathered humans. Some nodded in agreement; others looked unconvinced, and many remained neutral and allowed the Ken’dar to finish.

“I am sure many of you today view the Drenari as the victims of this sudden and seemingly unprovoked act of aggression; yet they have carefully forgotten to inform you of what truly drove us to this conflict.”

“Delegate Xindi makes special mention to the last month, and yet he fails to mention that within the last year his people have conducted numerous raids on our shipping lanes in open acts of piracy.”

This time the projector shifted to show what appeared to be an exterior camera feed on a Ken’dari freighter. Several bright flashes shot past the camera before it turned to show a fast approaching vessel bearing down on it. As it drew closer the design could clearly be seen and it was of Drenari design.

Firing another volley, the freighter took a few hits and multiple cargo containers were blasted off the ship. The freighter began to trail a thick trail of smoke before the feed went black and terminated.

“That ship was the “Comoto” and was carrying food stuffs to Milon III that was experiencing a food shortage.” The Ken’dar finished. “It was destroyed enroute and the death toll on the planet skyrocketed.” With that the holographic projector shut down and the light was focused on the Ken’dar delegate as he gave his final statements.

“What my Drenari opposite will call “senseless violence”, is actually the result of countless unprovoked strikes against the Ken’darian people by their own forces; and now that we have finally stood up and said enough is enough they have come before you crying foul.”

“We ask you to not to be swept up in a wave of misguided emotion and join us instead to put an end to Drenari threat once and for all.”

Xindi had heard all he could stand and rose to his feet to denounce the Ken’darian when the speaker took the podium once more.

“We thank both delegations for their petitions and information that has been laid before us.”

The speaker pointed his staff towards a set of doors at the end of the hall which slowly opened to the outside waiting area. “You will wait outside until we have finished our discussions. Please take care that we will not end this session until a resolution has been reached.”

Human guards ushered the two alien delegations outside and Xindi watched as the chamber doors closed behind them. --------------------

Several hours passed before the doors opened once more and the delegations were allowed back in. Both groups were led to the center of the great hall once more were the speaker resided.

“After going over the details from both parties and examining the information each has provided before the hearings began, we have decided...”the speaker paused for dramatic effect as the tension in the room built up, “that we shall reject both proposals.”

“What?!” both delegations let out at once.

“It is the determination of the senate, that both delegations have provided altered facts to suit their own needs rendering any information you provide us questionable and unreliable.”

“But-“ Xindi began before the speaker banged their staff three times to interrupt him.

“We will continue with new fact finding missions, but we will not send our forces to aide a cause that has misled us.”

With that the senate doors opened once more and the senators shuffled out signaling the end of the special session. Both alien delegations stood dumbfounded at this turn of events; unable to grasp the outcome they had just been dealt.

Both had been so sure of themselves that they could manipulate humans into helping them by preying on their nature, and yet each one had been outdone by the very nature they sought to control.

#HUMANS ARE WEIRD #humans are insane #humans are space orcs #humans are space oddities #scifi #story #writing #original writing #niqhtlord01 #ai generated art #deviantart dreamup

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devondespresso · 9 months

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writing my silly little fic and again im struck with how much opportunities they missed by pretending the s2 stancy breakup wasn't messy, specifically for Nancy's guilt about barb and forcing herself to grow up too fast

like s1 Nancy spends one night being a stupid teenager goofing off at her boyfriend's party and staying over to get spicy while Barb goes home. then she later realizes Barb disappeared and died that one night she was letting go and having fun. this is widely recognized trauma for her and informs a lot if not most of her actions through the rest of the show

in season 2 she's feeling the weight of it more around the first year anniversary. steve trys to help by taking her to a party to forget for a little while and 'be stupid teenagers' for a night. a perfectly set up parallel already

the way the show wants it to go, we get the bullshit argument, they fight, allegedly break up at some point, and nancy sleeps with Jonathan. later steve tells her to go with him and we're supposed to read it as Steve stepping back so jancy can happen. we're supposed to be seeing this as a happy ending.

but with the material we're given this would have been the perfect place for an emotional repeat of season 1 for nancy. she and steve go to the party and pretend to be stupid teenagers for the night. but oh no! nancy lets lose too much, lets herself relax and drink and dance, and the next day her boyfriend's pissed. hes saying she said things she never remembered saying and its hurt him and she doesn't know what to do. and kids around school are talking about them breaking up at the party, and that fits with Steve's anger she saw, so they must've broken up right? it sucks, even if she wasn't in love with him, that'd be the worst way to break up with someone (especially if she's confusing platonic and romantic feelings or convincing herself it has to be romantic when she really just values him as a friend)

and then she doesn't have time to work it out, she needs to go with Jonathan to avenge barbs 'disappearance' to give her family closure. She's got a lot of conspiracy shit to do and its stressful. so when murray starts going off about how she's not really in love with steve, how she actually likes Jonathan and he seems to like her back. they finished a lot of the hard work with the conspiracy stuff, she can let her guard down and have a quick good night.

then the next day is chaos. demodogs and labs and will being possessed. It a rough fucking day. Steve tells her to go with Jonathan while they get the mindflayer out of Will, civil like they're on good terms so she does (and thank god she did because that was rough and they needed all the help they could get)

and then everything's fine again, with the upside down. and it looks like she handled things better this time, was about to relax occasionally and still made it through.

except apparently she and steve didn't break up. he thought it was just a few fights, that they put their shit aside for the apocalypse and now they can work things out.

and it could ruin nancy. a year later and she's still hasn't learned her lesson, that letting her guard down hurts the people she cares about, that relaxing and having fun makes her lose people. its her fault for the messy breakup with Steve and its her fault that barb is gone. she's the reason she's lost friends close to her, 2 for 2, and now she only has Jonathan left (and what do you know, season 3 has her conflict with Jonathan and in season 4 she's not let anyone else get truly close to her and fred still dies)

you see what i mean?? by having conflict magical resolve itself in the background we loose so much powerful, painful character drama for her. our girl who thinks she has to keep the world around her up solely on her shoulders because she can't handle the loss of her best friend in season 1. Nancy who desperately wants to be normal and have people she loves but keeps losing them, through factors both in and out of her control, but feels like everything has to be her fault just because some things were.

and to be fair, that story is still present in the show. its there and definitely compelling, but it could've been even more so. i feel like if maybe there was less 'nancy has to be a strong independent girlboss' in there (abd it's definitely there, they want to make a point of making her a Strong Woman Character so bad) and she was allowed to have mistakes acknowledged by the narrative, this is the direction it would've gone. She could've been an excellent example of well written women who are strong and awesome through their own right instead of the narrative trying to make us like her

#nancy wheeler #stranger things meta #stranger things thoughts #platonic stancy #stranger things #platonic stancy because while this could definitely be used in a jancy breakup then stancy fic #my personal theory is that she thinks she should like him romantically because he sees her like that but she actually likes him as a friend #and the bullshit scene was just the worst way for her to say it because she waited so long and refused to when she was sober #also didn't tag anti-nancy because i don't think it is really? like its anti-canon-depiction-because-i-think-they-did-her-dirty #also this is kinda nancy pov so its not like she's actually at fault for everything but in her mind she blames herself anyway #so yea #the fic is my Steve Henderson AU btw for ppl who've never seen me before #stancys not the focus (its steve pov with the Hendersons being main characters) but i want to do a serious platonic stancy workthrough in i #so this is just my headcanons (technically canon compliant based on what we see on screen but not following the narrative direction y'know)#devon's steve henderson au #steve henderson au rambles #hoping praying to god this doesn't make people angry but if it does feel free to block me i don't mind and i really dont want to argue #no disc horse for me just silly little thoughts and headcanons thanks for understanding #devon thinks sometimes

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istadris · 6 months

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The Princess' Pet

( @scribeprotra @yourstatera @dei-ryuu since y'all seem interested by the idea)

A Twilight Princess AU where, years before the main story, a rift manages to be opened between Hyrule and the Twilight Realm (maybe through Ganondorf influencing another fool before Zant?). Notably, that rift opens in the Palace.

Through that rift falls a 5 yo Link who, exposed to the Twilight's influence, immediately turns into a wolf . Confused, scared and overwhelmed by his new senses, not to mention the entire situation, Link runs around and gets chased by Twili guards around the palace, all set on capturing or killing that beast from the World of Light.

Meanwhile, a 7 yo Midna is sulking and hiding away from her tutors, not wanting to act like a proper princess that day and having a spoiled tantrum. Until a weird little animal runs into her, hiding with her; as every grown up seems to look for the animal, Midna then decides to take it back to her room and hide it there. Why ? Because she wants to outsmart grown-ups ! She'll sneak a pet right under their noses!

Of course, it doesn't take long until the jig is up and the wolf cub is discovered in the Princess' bedroom. Midna then whines and begs her parents to keep the cute animal, she wants to have him for herself, pretty pleaaaase!!!

The Twili king doesn't want his daughter exposed to a Light-Dweller and is about to take away the beast by force...but to everyone's surprise, including Midna, the queen agrees to it. Yes, Midna can keep the creature...but only if she takes care of it. That means not dumping it on the servants or getting bored of it after a week. Midna is thrilled and doesn't think twice about it. She has an exotic pet now !

Except, when she does get bored of taking care of her new pet (because she's a young kid used to get her way), she tries to demand her servant to bathe it...but they tell her that the queen forbid it. And no matter how much Midna cries or begs, the queen doesn't bulge : she wanted a pet, she has to accept the responsibilities coming with it.

The king is a bit more understanding and, understanding that his wife wants their daughter to learn the burden of duty coming with a crown (if Midna does prove she is powerful enough for the throne), gets Midna used to her new responsibilities by helping her here and now ; bathing the wolf cub together, researching archives about Light-dwelling beasts to better take care of him, giving her tips to train him..

And slowly, Midna grows attached to the baby wolf. It helps that he proves to be much more intelligent than any animal in the Twilight Realm; while the servants and the court smile when the princess talks to her pet as if she expects him to answer, the king notices the wolf cub seems to understand his daughter. Sometimes, looking at them play, it feels less like a child and her pet than two young kids playing together...

And then one day Midna announces she finally has a name for her pet : a fearsome one, the name of one of the infamous Champions of Hyrule, these cruel people who cursed their tribe and exiled them into the Twilight.

"I'll name him Link ! So anyone who hears about him gets scared ! No one will EVER mess with us!!"

It suddenly clicks into place for the king. Ans after some research, he confronts the queen about it : there is a very ancient, half-forgotten legend about a divine beast from the Light who could save their people...and that beast isn't only a beast, is it ?

The queen doesn't bother to hide the truth. Yes, she didn't allow Midna to keep the wolf just to please her or teach her about responsibilities. If that Light-dwelling beast is the one foretold by the prophecy, it must be under the control of the Twili, one way or the other. If Midna can't tame it, she will break it, but one way or the other, it will serve the interests of their tribe before the Light-dwellers's.

She finds Midna's idea of giving the name "Link" so deliciously ironic. A "hero" of the cursed Goddesses who banished them here, now brought to heel and leashed by a spoiled brat of the Twili tribe. She relishes in the idea.

The king objects that the beast might not be one after all. It's too smart, too empathic. But it's clearly a young one, barely more than a baby...are they to the point of using a cursed child for their goals ?

"Haven't you forgotten ? Our entire race is cursed," the queen answers coldly. "I will do anything to break that curse. And so will she."

She adds this as she looks at Midna chasing after her companion in the palace courtyard.

The king doesn't approve. But he sees the queen's point, and remains silent. Distance himself from the wolf cub so he's not reminded of the price for their future freedom (if "saving" the Twili does mean bringing them back to the Light Realm).

But now Midna has actually grown fond of her friend and treats Link much better without any adult to push her.

The years go on. Link grows used to his life; he barely remembers the time where he was human, and as his wolf form makes him more suited to the Twilight Realm, he never thinks too much of it.

Midna is still a bit of a spoiled brat but she has matured thanks to her friendship with Link. She doesn't treat him like an animal ; she couldn't explain it but she knows he understands her, is much smarter than any creature in this realm. Is it because he's a Light Dweller ? When she asks Link, he just huffs. He doesn't remember anything but loneliness. He likes his life here. He likes being by Midna's side. He belongs with the Tribe.

At least at one point Link even proves his value by defending Midna from an attack (a spawn of Ganondorf trying to please their master, maybe).

I'm not sure how the events of the pre game would go but I'm sure of a couple of things :

The king and queen are killed before Zant tries to take over.

The portals are open to Hyrule, Midna is cursed and Link is flung with her to Hyrule.

They land in separate places.

Link is now lost in a strange place, wandering for a while, chased and hunted by Hyrulians who see him as a monster...

And then a Light Spirit turns him back into a human. Tells him he's a Hero chosen by the Goddesses to defeat "Evil" (which he's told is the Twilight Realm as a whole).

As you can imagine, he doesn't take well any of this.

#legend of zelda #Twilight princess #wolf link #midna #Ista writes #tell me if you have any ideas to add to this verse !

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that-ari-blogger · 1 month

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Spiraling Upwards (The Price Of Power)

Repetition is the bread and butter of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. The series is about cycles of abuse and trauma, and the tragedy inherent in that. It's about breaking out of those rythms, and to do that, it needs to establish what is holding its characters back.

But, showing the same thing over and over again is boring. It's stale, and overplayed, and stale, and overplayed, and stale. See what I mean?

Season three of the series shakes things up. It is a masterclass in twisting a formula to its breaking point, and that starts with The Price Of Power.

Let me explain.

SPOILERS AHEAD: (She Ra and the Princesses of Power)

The title of this episode has so many meanings that it's impressive. The price of power is what it says on the tin, but it could relate to almost any character in this.

Shadow Weaver finally has her villainy catching up to her (side note, the animation of SW's magic side effect, which I will be referring to as "death juice", is stellar), and it is sapping her life. Catra is realising that her security wasn't as solid as she thought. Adora is making a Faustian bargain with her abuser. Even Angella is weighing up decisions about her family and her kingdom.

Angella's compete lack of willingness to let Adora near the source of her trauma sets her up as an actual maternal figure for Adora, rather than the simple source of authority that she has been up until this point. Remember this, it will come up later on in the season.

That reframes the conflict between Angella and Shadow Weaver's conflict, turning it into mother vs mother, and their ideologies come into conflict. Altruism vs selfishness. And, with that in mind, I'd like to do a shot breakdown of that scene.

The principle I will be using here is screen presence. Typically (I am using the word "typically" here because this isn't a rule, its a generalisation. There are exceptions), the person who takes up the most of the screen has the most control in the scene. This stems from a few places, but mostly it's just that humans are hardwired to associate "big" with "powerful", so the person who is the largest in your perspective has the most power.

Stable, wide shot. Nothing is really happening yet, Shadow Weaver is learning her surroundings and how trapped she is. She is small, and crouched, and boxed in by that barrier and forcefield. Simple stuff.

This shot is diagonal, bending backwards so that the audience can look over Shadow Weaver's shoulder at Angella. The two are roughly equal in screen presence, so the angle sells the power dynamic, mostly. It is a bit up in the air at this point, the audience isn't sure which way this interaction will go.

"This is a prison?" "Why does everyone keep...? Of course this is a prison."

Look who's the largest now. Shadow Weaver looks down on Angella, as she finds a crack in her psyche, and the queen reacts predictably. Now Shadow Weaver has a weakness she can exploit, and she takes control.

We are closer to Shadow Weaver than either Angella or Castaspella, reflecting the immediate change in dynamic. Now Angella and her sister-in-law vie with each other for control, disorganised against a monolithic force.

These two are powerless against her. She frames them in the smallest possible space, her very presence confining them and removing their agency.

This should be Castaspella taking control. She accuses Shadow Weaver of something concrete, but Shadow Weaver takes that away. The camera draws in, removing Castaspella from the frame, literally siphoning off her control of the scene.

This scene wasn't the point of this post, but I felt it needed a little more time, as it shows just who Shadow Weaver is. She is a parasite, who feeds on other people's trauma and wounds. She leads with the fact that she has hurt this woman's daughter, then plays on her deceased brother, then turns that same blade into Castaspella.

It is also worth noting that this is Shadow Weaver at her worst. She has been given a chance to try something new, to gain empathy and healing from people who would probably give it to her if she was honest with them. But Shadow Weaver is two things: cruel, and ambitious. She is awful to the people she needs, in order to get to the person she wants.

That person is Adora, of course. This season shakes things up by changing the trajectory of the arcs. Instead of Catra falling further and further, with Adora managing to climb out of her own trauma, it's the reverse. At least until the end.

So, Adora begins in a good place, and Catra begins at rock bottom. Adora has a support network, and feels in control of her own life, but Catra wakes up in a jail cell, reliving her recent punishment at the hands of Hordack.

This is also the season in which ideologies get challenged most overtly. Starting with Glimmer and Bow.

Bow believes that good people do good things and bad people do bad things. Which is a neat sentiment and I kind of agree. The problem, is that he has associated "bad people" with "the horde", and has rationalised Adora as different because of She-Ra. To his credit, when he is confronted about this, he rethinks things. Bow is a simple character, and he needs to be to contrast with the rest of the cast.

Glimmer has that black and pink morality that I mentioned in my post on Rolling With It. She believes in a very distinct idea of good and evil that doesn't really match up with the rest of the series. She skirts the edge of being an anti-hero at times, which is a phenomenal choice for a story about war. Most obviously:

"Listen up, lady. After all your kidnapping and mind-wiping, I am just looking for a reason to serve up a little payback. So, if you do anything to hurt Adora..."

So, at this point, Glimmer thinks Shadow Weaver is working for the Horde, which would make her a prisoner of war. I'll let you decide what this means.

Adora believes in redemption, and this is where things get funky, because Adora has done the same thing as her friends. She has associated morality with allegiance, and this is a false positive, mostly.

I want to stress that the Horde destroys environments, levels settlements, and definitely kills civilians off camera, amongst other things. I am adamantly not trying to both-sides this conflict and I don't want any of that nonsense in the replies to my posts. What I am saying is that switching sides without changing behaviours doesn't immediately make someone a good person.

Shadow Weaver switches sides to the princess allegiance, but then routinely pressures the protagonists to corrupt themselves and actively get themselves killed. Shadow Weaver does not get redeemed, she gets a sea change.

It is also notable off hand that Adora thinks she has switched side, therefore her own redemption is finished and she has fully healed. But Shadow Weaver still moves her like a puppet on a string.

That is core to Adora's arc in this season and the series, the idea of personal agency vs the influence of others. Adora received a similar change in circumstances when she discovered she was She-Ra, so she thinks that Shadow Weaver will change as well.

What Adora is missing is the balance. Yes, her circumstances helped her, but she made a choice to be better. She was given the information about the Horde's evil, and made an informed decision to become a hero. Later on in the series, this will come up again with the Old Ones and their weapon, and again, Adora will make a decision to do what is right, not what her side thinks.

This is, however, more complicated, because the question of redemption is more complicated than a Tumblr post can properly address. I can try, but I recommend literally any philosopher ever to philosophise. So here goes my attempt.

Anyone can be redeemed, but "can" is the operative word there, not "will". Redemption is an informed choice to be better, and in my most humble of opinion, the truly evil people are the ones who refuse it. I think that She-Ra as a whole agrees with this premise.

This episode sets up a ton of thematic ideas in direct opposition to each other, telegraphing to the audience that the season will go into these in detail, but also that the season will be about dissecting preconceptions.

Most notably, the third season of She-Ra will discuss Adora's idea of redemption becoming more nuanced, as Shadow Weaver actively disproves her premise, and she has to rethink things.

Which brings me to Catra, who is on the receiving end of all of these themes in quick succession throughout the season. For the moment, however, she is confronted with two. Connection, and preconception. Catra wakes up from a nightmare, in a cell. She believes that having friends will only cause her irreparable pain, and as a person who craves safety and emotional security, that isn't a risk worth taking.

Then Scorpia and Entrapta actively try to rescue her from death and succeed. It is imperative to understand that this catches Catra by surprise. She is used to that conditional acceptance that was Shadow Weaver's style, and has internalised Adora's departure to match those behaviours. Hordack hasn't helped.

But here she is, at her lowest so far, and Scorpia and Entrapta stick their necks out for her, and it pays off. This is the power of friendship crystalised in its most pure and realistic form.

Season three centres around Catra almost achieving her own healing, and she does it on her own terms, accompanied by Scorpia, the embodiment of unconditional kindness. In essence, her spiral downwards has been reversed.

Redemption is weaved throughout Catra's entire journey, and while it isn't explicit in this episode, it is still an important element to bring up, because Catra is an explicit link to Shadow Weaver here, as well as Adora.

Shadow Weaver is given the chance for redemption, and intentionally refuses it. Catra is being given a similar opportunity to get away from the place that is directly causing her villainy, and improves, mostly.

It doesn't succeed, though, does it? Neither spiral completes. Catra almost heals, but comes crashing down, and Adora nearly succumbs to nihilism, but manages to claw her way out at the last moment. They try to break the mould and fail, but they rupture the neatness of this tragedy in the act, and if it can be torn, it can be broken.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Ok, here we go. Season three is my favourite season of She-Ra, so this is going to be a fun set of posts to make, because I have a lot of things to say.

This season fully eschews simplicity and revolves around having as many moving parts as possible. Everyone gets an arc, everyone gets a different thing that they are dealing with. Some stories don't even collide directly, but have massive impacts on each other.

This season shows that the story can be subverted while characters try and fail to do so. It's possible, but they can't do it without each other.

There's a storm coming, there's nuance in the air, and the winds are starting to change.

Next week, I will be looking at Huntara. The episode, not the person. I mean, kind of the person, but in an analytical sense. That got weird. Stick around for more analysis of this series if that interests you.

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cheekinpermission · 2 months

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Happy 500 followers!!

How about 1 and 10 for the ask game?

Thank you for you participation, anon! Ask game is here! Send them in if you want <3

1. Who's hand did you first grab? Why? Would you choose someone else if you could do it over again?

I grabbed Idia's hand! When I first got into TWST, I had absolutely no clue what I was getting into so I really just went based on which voice actors I recognized LOL. I know Kōki Uchiyama from a ton of different anime (JJK, Buddy Daddies, Haikyuu, BNHA, Yuri on Ice, etc.) so I just went with his character. While Idia doesn't crack the top 5 for me, I don't think I'd choose again. The only reason I would is if it impacted the story somehow but I really doubt it will. I'm COMITTED.

10. Top five favorite characters?

Grim occupies all top five spots. BUT since that's boring, so I'll limit my choices to the main cast lmao. (My love for the dire beast is PROFOUND) I got VERY wordy here so here's the short answer: 1. Riddle Rosehearts

2. Vil Schoenheit

3. Malleus Draconia

4. Ruggie Bucchi

5. Kalim Al-Asim Explanation below the cut! (I got very excited to talk about my favorites and wrote a lot so I figured I'd condense it for people who didn't want to scroll through it all lol whoopsies.)

1. Riddle Rosehearts - I have no explanation for this?? He's pretty much the opposite of my usual favorite characters so idk what happened here. I've always been drawn to the Alice in Wonderland aesthetic so maybe that has something to do with it? He's got such great character writing, too?? Everything about his personality just makes sense when you know his backstory. When we learn that Riddle's tyrant of a mother was strict and controlling over him, the pieces just seem to fall into place. His whole life was just following her rules and studying like a good little boy, and when he stepped out of line even a little bit he was reprimanded harshly for it. Of course, he's going to the exact same thing once he's in a position of power. It's all he knows. He's just another version of his mother. Not only does he uphold the tradition of punishing rule breakers rather severely as he was when he was younger, I think there's also an element of fear there as well. Like, his mother just instilled an innate fear of breaking rules because bad things would happen if he didn't follow them exactly. I really do see Riddle as a scared little boy who is suddenly realizing that he was set up for failure by his own mother. And THEN he makes an honest effort to improve himself post-overblot?? His transformation after the fact is one of the more obvious ones and I'm just so proud of him. A THOUSAND HEAD PATS!! Okay, I'll stop rambling about him lmao I love Riddle sm (Also want to make clear I'm not saying Riddle was right for anything he did, only that I appreciate how his character was handled. Added for legal purposes so people don't come after me :c ) 2. Vil Schoenheit - This one comes as no surprise to me. Pretty boys who challenge gender stereotypes are RIGHT up my alley. Like Riddle, I think Vil has some great character writing is one of the more complex characters in the game. He just feels so compassionate to me?? I don't know how to explain it - he just gives such nurturing vibes. I'd trust this man with my drink at a bar fr fr. And then he tells Epel off for saying ballet is too "girly" for him?? Thank you TWST for bringing me this man. I pray at the altar of Vil Schoenheit. 3. Malleus Draconia - Doesn't Malleus top everyone's lists LOL I think my favoritism for the dragon man is more to do with his relationship with Yuu than anything else tbh. He's like one of three characters that actively engages with the main character and I think they've got such a fun relationship. Two people who feel very alone in the world finding friendship (or something more for you malleyuu shippers) in each other is so beautiful. I'm glad they can be there for each other like that. Side note: I adore romantic Malleyuu for sure, but I think it's equally as endearing if all of Malleus's flirtatious lines were never meant to be romantic but he's just really bad at communicating his feelings in a platonic way. Like, he doesn't mean to flirt he's just socially inept. 4. Ruggie Bucchi - Gremlin hyena boy is just too good for words. Ngl, I started off not really liking Ruggie all that much because of what he did in the Savanaclaw book. My mans was basically shoving people down flights of stairs?? I'm not really sure where the turn around happened tbh. Mischievous personality types do tend to draw me in in fiction so that probably has a lot to do with it. I also felt really bad for him at the end of the Savanaclaw book when Leona was ready to Thanos him out of existence despite everything Ruggie had done for him (and continues to do for him). I appreciate his work ethic, I can respect the hustle, and he's got such a cute little laugh. I wanna pet those big ole ears of his. Leona - pay this man more smh 5. Kalim Al-Asim - SUNSHINE BOY!!

He's such a breath of fresh air in this game LMAO. As much as I love the fact that most of the cast are unapologetically flawed, it's nice to have a few characters that are genuinely good people. His VA (Kazuki Furuta) absolutely kills it imo. I can hear his laugh in my head as I'm typing this - it's just so warm and happy :D He also breaks the sterotype of most rich characters in media by just being a nice person? He's not evil or greedy (although naive and entitled) and he just wants to be bffs with Jamil. Break his heart Jamil and we're gonna have WORDS. Also just like FORGAVE JAMIL??? His bfffl yeeted him across the desert, brainwashed him and admitted to wanting to get him kicked from the school and Kalim didn't really hold it against him. He was so understanding and sweet about everything AHHHHH

#I TOLD YOU I GET WORDY AJDKSAJD #twst #twisted wonderland #disney twisted wonderland #disney twst #twst riddle #riddle rosehearts #twst vil #vil schoenheit #malleus draconia #twst malleus #ruggie bucchi #twst ruggie #kalim al asim #twst kalim #cheekinrambles #thank you for the ask!#twst ask game

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writingintheshadowsforever · 1 year

Text

Imagine being the child of Namor and drifting to close to the surface

The number one rule your father made sure you knew to follow and not to break under any circumstances was simple.

Never ever go to the surface for any reason whatsoever.

The surface world wasn't your home and you had no place there. If the people up there were to ever see you. They would try to capture you and look for the rest of your people as well. As the child of the King of Talokan keeping your existence a secret was part of your duty. Those reasonings worked best when you were young and stuck to your father's hip. But the older you got the more independent you came, and for some reason Namor gave you more freedom. While he was very protective of you he still wanted you to get out and know your people. He wanted his kingdom to not only love and adore his child, but see you as his true successor.

But the problem was you were born with the same abilities and features as him. Wings on your ankles and able to adapt to the oxygen in the air. You would watch your father from the water as danced around in the sky feeling the power of the real sun. You wanted to know what that felt like. Namor saw the childlike wonder in your eyes when you watched him, and he knew he had to keep a close eye on you. In order to insure that you kept following the number one rule. But he was a king and sometimes his duties would pull him away from Talokan.

Most of the time he left Attuma or Namora behind to look after you and the city. But this particular mission had to be a big deal because he was taking both of them this time. He left another one of his men in charge of overseeing the city, but asked you to keep a eye out on things as well.

"Really" you asked swimming circles around him in excitement.

"Yes my child come here" your father said in a stern voice. You came to a halt right before him with a giddy smile on your face. "I know you're excited but this no game. You must be on top of everything and keep your eyes open for any kind of threat. While I'm gone I'm counting on you to neutralize any threats that get too close to Talokan."

Your face fell at his last statement a bit worried about the possibility of a real threat without your father around. While he had trained you in combat and helped you learn control over your ability to manipulate water. You had yet to participate in a real battle, or take a life.

He reached out to grip your chin gently bringing your face up to look him in the eyes. "You can do this my child."

You gave him a nod.

He smiled ruffling your hair a little bit, and just like that he set off with his two Generals and a small army.

You spent the rest of that day and the next one stuck in the same routine. In the morning you would wake up early to go around the city checking up on all your people, and later on you would patrol the waters outside of the city. So far the only people you saw were those on a boat and it was a rare occasion. Talokan was located in a part of the ocean that didn't see very much surface life in the waters. So while you were taking your role of leadership very serious. At the end of the day you were still only a teenager, and when boredom set in. Curiosity got the better of you.

The surface was clear not a boat or the sound of a plane in sight. You let your head bob above the water for just a few seconds to catch sight of the beach shoreline. It seemed to vacant of people and it wasn't like you wanted to go onto land anyway. You only wished to test out your wings like you've witnessed your father do so many times. He wasn't here to stop you this time, and no one was here to report back to him.

You took a deep breath gathering up the courage, and willed the wings on your ankles to move. As they fluttered back and forth your body started to rise out of the water. You made it so far as getting the top half of your body out of water. Before a hand latched onto your ankle in a strong grip pulling you back underwater. You let out a gasp attempting to fight the predator off. But then a familiar voice filled your ears making you tense up.

"Y/N what are you doing" Namor roared from below relaxing his grip a little. Once you finally stopped struggling to get him off. When your body was fully submerged in the water again he swam up to look down at you. "Is this what you do when I leave in charge my child? Break the number one rule?"

You looked away afraid to answer him hearing the disappointing tone in his voice, but there was a hint of fear as well.

"I asked you a question answer me" He shouted drifting down so he was on eye level with you now.

"Father I only wanted to practice flying like you do" You finally told him.

He shook his head unsatisfied with your answer. "You risk the discovery of your people for childish games."

You frowned at the accusation. "I did no such thing I made sure there was no one up there that would see me. I was cautious father I swear."

"It doesn't matter I told you the day would com-" Namor started.

"When daddy because you've been making those promises since I was eleven promising to take me to the sky. You always make me watch below the water, and its not fair. If I am to rule one day you must trust me and show the way of the outside world father. I would be at a disadvantage if an enemy came from above and you weren't here" You exploded in anger.

Namor was taken back at your outburst at first. You had never yelled or stood up to him before. Another sign that maybe it was time for him to stop being so overprotective, but it came from a place of love. He didn't want you to be comfortable with the surface world too much, because he was afraid of the possibility of. You venturing out too far without him one day to explore and getting captured. Namor would tear the heavens apart themselves for you.

"My child I only to wish to protect you from harm" He whispered taking your face in both of his hands. You gripped his wrists leaning into his touch. "I know father and I'm sorry but do you think you can start teaching me soon. I promise to never go up there without you."

"Soon my child" he whispered the promise.

#mcu imagine #marvel imagine #namor imagine #namor x reader

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