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spicyvampire · 3 months

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Okay so after the whole Sakuna/Wansarut and Phaya/Tharn "characters description" fighter (protector)/healer+protector(mediator) post, now imma talk about about our resident Snake (PhD), Doctor Chalothorn being a fighter and well how do you convince a fighter to not fight?

I've already made a whole gifset about this but I needed to put the stuff into words cuz u just can't say everything in a gifset so this post is gonna be about a few things, first of all, the way Charlothorn's goals shifted in the last 2 episodes, from wanting to kill Phaya so he can have Tharn, to wanting to save Tharn and Phaya's end not really mattering anymore, and second of all Tharn's role in this shift and where have we saw something similar to this shift before aka Wansarut and Sakuna and how Wansarut even did that

Same disclaimer as the last one applies : pulling this out of my ass from watching the show, these are raw out-of-order thoughts, ill try my best to separate but like the last post because I'm going to have to go back and forth between Wansarut (love of my life, talking about Wansarut has to be my favorite activity rn), Sakuna, Tharn (smooching him smooching him), Phaya and Chalothorn this might get hard to follow but hey that's what it's like inside my brain so welcome to the mess

Putting it under keep reading

So like I said in the last post, Chalothorn is a fighter, like you can't get more fighter than this, the man is literally the prince/ruler of Nagas and he is right in the middle of the battle field anytime there is a fight to be had, and like I said in Sakuna's part of the post he is a level that can probably can only be rivaled by Sakuna's brother, you can't be a higher level of Naga fighter from what I understand, so like how do you fight this man if you are Wansarut and Sakuna? (ep. 8)

Keep in mind that : the answer is that they never were supposed to fight Chalothorn

SCENARIO 1 : Chalothorn wins

This is what we've seen in the show, Sakuna/Wansarut/Phaya/Tharn would never win against him in a fight because they just aren't strong enough to began with, Sakuna and his Garuda were not Chalothorn's level when he was alive, Wansarut is a healer/protector not a fighter, Phaya can only do ✨Sparkles✨ of Garuda powers as of rn and while Tharn can do some powerful protecting he is of the gang the person who is the less in contact with his past and magical self (other than for protecting Phaya magic, we have not even seen his Naga in this lifetime) and also his past self wasn't even a fighter, so it makes sense that Chalothorn just keep killing them and every single one of their reincarnations, he kills them so much that it was destroying his own soul (ep. 8) because surprise he is getting affected by the little cyclic karma thingy they got going on too, this isn't just about Wansarut/Sakuna and PhayaTharn, Chalothorn is trapped in this shit too

Clearly fighting is not the answer, because even if you win, which Chalothorn has been doing a lot of, you still lose, Chalothorn is losing control of his Naga form, not only does it destroy his soul (ep. 8) but he might just not be able to turn into his human form anymore aka would be forced to be a Naga forever (ep. 9)

Another lost of this is that he keeps losing Wansarut and having to wait for the cycle to start again so he would get another chance, like the level of psychological damage getting done to him because he kills the one he loves and he is always left behind alone to wait is enough to drive anybody insane (ep. 11)

And I think that's one of the reasons why it took him so long to understand that he should let Wansarut/Tharn go, because when you do something so despicable and keep doing it over and over again you have to justifies your bad actions to yourself so you don't break and the more you justifies them the harder it becomes to see clearly through them, so you just keep doing it, like Chalothorn probably hates himself more than he even hates Phaya or love Tharn at this point because he keeps killing reincarnations of Wansarut, like this is his reaction to killing Wansarut the first time, falling to his knees screaming and everything (ep. 8), the cognitive dissonance in that man's brain must be insane

SCENARIO 2 : Phaya wins

Now let's imagine for a second there that they did win, Phaya succeeded in killing Charlothorn, and then what? Isn't Charlothorn just gonna reincarnate and come back for them again? Like yes it might take some times but it will happen, and then Phaya and Tharn would be the one destroying their souls and making their karma worst, that's just not a solution

Also we saw with Narong's case part of the show that "victim turned attacker" is not the answer (anyways that's what the show says), when Tharn and Phaya are talking to the abbot at the end of episode 5 the abbot keep repeating that over and over again killing is not the answer

When Phaya Says "Those victims are left with no choice but to fight back in order to survive. They have to kill." The abbot answers "The basic code of moral conducts for human beings like us is the 5 precepts. One should be abstained from killing other living beings. These precepts can bring peace and happiness to your family and the society. Undertaking the 5 precepts will benefit not only yourself but also the people around you." Basically straight up telling them that [not killing] is the only answer that will bring peace to everyone

Also so many parallels can be made between Narong and Chalothorn (which is probably why it was easy for Chalothorn to possess Narong to attack Phaya but let's not get into that), because like isn't this Chalothorn? (ep. 5)

His mind is so clouded by anger and wanting to kill Phaya and getting Tharn that he is obsessed with it, he literally do not see anything else, specially if Phaya is in the room and/or mentioned, like I said a bit higher in this post, he hates Phaya, but he probably hates himself too, and so much hate and anger just blinds people

Also sidenote that I'm not really gonna dive into : How do you think Tharn would feel about Phaya killing Chalothorn, knowing what u know about him? like Tharn loves Chalothorn as a friend, and that's even if Chalothorn is responsible for all the bad things in his life (ep. 12)

Tharn may be looking at Chalothorn saying this but he said "Please stop killing each other." he could not be more clearly talking to both of them, he doesn't want Chalothorn to kill Phaya but he also doesn't want Phaya to kill Chalothorn

SCENARIO 3 : Tharn Wins

Now lemme say this, you can literally never convince a fighter by fighting him, like if you've ever had a fight/argument with someone you know that you cannot reach a compromise in the heat of the fight when everyone is angry and losing the control of their emotions, it just doesn't work, but what does work in the context of the show?

Wansarut and Sakuna

And now I'm back to Wansarut (<3<3<3<3<3<3) and Sakuna because well Wansarut did change a fighter's mind before already, this is part of Wansarut's power that's why I also describe Wansarut as a mediator, and what did Wansarut do exactly?

Well Wansarut healed Sakuna, even if he is from the enemy side, and took care of him and acted in a way that was protective of him, even if again Sakuna is an enemy of Wansarut's people (literally brother of the Garuda king) because that Wansarut's character, Wansarut is a healer/a protect/a mediator that's how Wansarut fights (ep. 8)

Then Wansarut tough Sakuna about Naga culture (Naga offering and breathing fire to pay respect to Buddha, on the 15th nigh of the 11th waxing moon)

And while being in love with each other did facilitate this change of view in Sakuna (which would later turn him a bit into a protector of Wansarut), you really do not need to be for this to work, like the best way to change people views on some things truly is just to expose them to the thing from the POV of the people living it, when nobody is in any immediate danger

And that is exactly how Tharn succeeded in convincing Chalothorn that the love between Phaya and him is good, by being there for Chalothorn and taking care of him, and being patient, until Chalothorn was ready to let him go on his own, not in the heat of of fight when everyone is angry and putting the blame on each other, which was again so healer/ protector/mediator of him like I talked about in my other post

Tharn and Chalothorn : the final

So with Wansarut and Sakuna we saw how Tharn could change Chalothorn's mind and what really does work, now imma dive into the last 2 episodes of this show aka the shift in Chalothorn

So in episode 6, Chalothorn says this

And at that time I think those words were true cuz that's literally what he has been doing isn't it? Like everytime he lost, both Wansarut and Sakuna's reincarnations died, so he was "okay" with killing Wansarut, as long as it meant that Sakuna was also dead and they weren't together (crazy way to fight cognitive dissonance if you ask me) but then something changed around episode 11 because Chalothorn started saving Tharn even if Phaya was still alive? (Ep. 11) (ep.12)

The importance of Chalothorn saving Tharn those 2 times, is that 1) now Tharn knows what the fuck is going on and 2) (like I said in the other post) Tharn end up understanding that Chalothorn can be talked too and reasoned with (the abbot would call it enlightenment), because in that 2nd saving he told Chalothorn to not kill Montee, and Chalothorn listened

Sidenote : Wansarut also did tell Chalothorn to not kill Sakuna and Chalothorn did listen that time too, like Wansarut has a BIG influence on this man (wish we saw their relationship before the mess), the only reason why the fight did continue was because Sakuna did not let Wansarut go

Why did he listen then? because he loves Wansarut, it really is as simple as that, and that's why he also listened to Tharn with Montee, because our chronically involuntary celibate man is head over dick for Tharn (valid and relatable)

So remember when I was talking about cognitive dissonance and stuff, well by ep 12, Chalothorn cannot justifies killing Tharn anymore, he is tired, he is turning into a Naga, and he cannot stand seeing another reincarnation of Wansarut die again, but most importantly he cannot stand to see Tharn die by his own hands

It's easy to concentrate on Phaya's distress in this scene but Chalothorn is in as much distress as Phaya, you can hear Chalothorn's voice break when Tharn is dying in both Phaya and his arms after asking them to stop killing each other, they are both screaming Tharn's name, and this time Chalothorn just listen because this is too much, his hatred for Phaya is just not important anymore, killing Phaya is just not as important anymore because anyways Tharn did choose him didn't he? isn't that what he wanted? even if Tharn clearly is in love with Phaya, Tharn did choose to come with him, so in a way none of this shit even fucking matters anymore

So for the 3rd time, he saves Tharn, this time by literally giving Tharn his soul so he would live (wish we saw him breaking down over Tharn dying in his arms in the Naga caves until he ended up giving Tharn his soul tbh), Chalothorn chooses to save a life instead of ending one and thus ending the curse on his part

#the sign the series #the sign #mjtag #tagging you mj cuz u liked my chalothorn gifset so you might like this #hope this makes sense i kinda did not re-read after i was done writing it #my only critic of this show is that i needed them to huminaze chalothorn more #by showing me wansarut interacting with chalothorn before the whole sakuna situation #and also by showing me chalothorn crying/breaking down/panicking over Tharn dying in his arms in the Naga caves #until he decides to just give Tharn his soul #this show needed to be 14 episodes SO bad #i ended up not putting my critic in this cuz it was just too long #but what i just said in the tag is basically it my critic is that it needed to be 14 episodes #i can elaborate in an ask if asked about it #anyways this show really makes my psychology and character lover brain tingle

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sculptural-renaissance · 8 months

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SGU Week Day 2 (I promise I can count; I'm just behind!!): Favorite Character

Leave it to me to get fixated on a character who only shows up in 4 episodes of a show that got cancelled 12 years ago. 😫 I thoroughly enjoyed SGU from its inception, but Amanda Perry is what took the show from something I really enjoyed to my current hyperfixation (yes, it's her fault I'm here, this fictional lady). She lives rent-free in my head. 💖

(Also fair warning this is gonna be long as hell)

I'm aware that her primary function is that of "love interest," but her character resonated with me on a much deeper level. Maybe I didn't travel a billion light-years to be with the person I love, but I did move 1,000 miles away from everything I knew to make a life with the man who became my husband. I know what it's like to feel rejected because the person you love shows their love differently (though I've been married for almost 6 years now after 3.5 years of long-distance, and then a lengthy engagement, so I know from experience that loving differently doesn't mean loving less). I know what it's like to feel like I'm not valued as a person, though in my case, I was mistreated because I'm autistic as opposed to being paralyzed, and I was regularly used and taken advantage of for my musical abilities, with little respect for my health or needs. I wasn't a person, I was a thing. I've been targeted by people I couldn't fight back against, even for things I didn't do. I know what it's like to be left behind for a lot of social milestones (driving, dating, etc.) I know what it's like to finally find that one safe person who sees you for you.

Amanda is relatable as hell to me. I do want to focus on her specifically in this post, though obviously her romantic endeavors are a factor. Tbh one of the main reasons I like her so much is, in addition to all the other stuff I just mentioned, is that she was the one to initiate things with Rush. I have little dating experience, myself, but I was the instigator in most of my relationships, especially with my husband. Gotta love those ladies who are active instead of waiting around for a guy to make up his mind!

Anyway, I make a lot of SGU memes and dumb lil comics that I share on Facebook, and a decent chunk of them are about Amanda (she even has her own multi-episode arc!!), so I'll share some of them here. I guess if people like them, I can put them on tumblr. I'll add that the vast majority of my content takes place post-stasis, so this Amanda inhabits her own meat body, cloned from DNA the SGC had on file, and is not a computer ghost or a body-swapper with questionable ethics. 😂

I have generated A LOT of memes lmao

Well that didn't turn out to be a metaphor for anything... 😏 I didn't catch this the first time, but I ugly-laughed on my second watch-through.

When the lockdowns were first imposed in my town, I had no idea what that meant, and I was literally about to get in my car and commit a crime because I thought my husband was going to be trapped at work for 2 weeks. Obviously, that wasn't the case, but I felt this scene.

Since my brain has chosen to attach itself to a character with minimal backstory, I'm obligated to fill in the blanks. One thing I find disappointing in media is that even the nerdy women tend not to have nerdy interests, which absolutely is not what I've experienced in real life. My thought is that Amanda was already something of a prodigy ("Little Miss Brilliant" probably isn't a nickname you get for being a regular genius lmao) before her accident, probably skipped a grade or two in school, private tutors in math and science, that kind of thing, and was later homeschooled before starting college as a teen. She was probably pretty lonely because of that. I'm not quite a "genius" (I have a Master's in music and an Etsy shop, and I uhhhhh make memes about an old TV show for fun), but I am a former gifted kid. Even though I took gifted classes from 4th-12th grade (academics, not that pull-out enrichment crap), I felt very lonely even among my gifted classmates, and I struggled with making friends throughout school because I was just too different. I was weird. I liked weird stuff. The girls were mean. The boys that were my friends didn't like the girly stuff I enjoyed, so I had to lock that part of myself away to fit in. The kids a grade ahead of me obviously left, and the kids a grade below me didn't want to keep in touch when I moved on to high school or college. It was lonely. I see similar things in Amanda's brief appearances. She's on the Destiny for 3 weeks, and she pretty much just sticks to Rush because he's "safe." She tries to be friendly with Eli, but he ends up making fun of her, and he's not very nice to her later on, either (sometimes for good reason; she's my fave but she's no saint). TJ isn't exactly in a position to be socializing during a complicated surgery, so she gets a pass. 😉

This was rambly, but my point is that a lot of lonely nerds are drawn to sci-fi, even the girls. I know for a fact that I'm projecting, but come on, she designs hyperdrives. You really gonna sit there and tell me she never watched Star Trek? 😂

As a side note (oh boy even more rambling), in my fan content, she and Eli have a very sweet friendship based on their shared nerd interests. I really don't think they'd get along in canon as things were left.

Speaking of sci-fi, I like to think that, after getting recruited for the Stargate program, Amanda watched all of Wormhole X-treme to prepare herself. I also like to think that no one else on Destiny's crew has seen it except Eli, who saw a handful of episodes randomly. I just really need him to see a stargate for the first time and be all like WOW JUST LIKE WORMHOLE X-TREME 😂 These are two separate excerpts, one mentioning the show and tying it back to actual events in SG-1, and the other showing a snippet of an episode. Replicators are kinda like Legos, so of course the humanoid Wormhole X-treme versions would be Lego people (I'm not creative, I'm just silly).

Going back to feeling lonely, I do think Amanda would be pretty imaginative, even if she's kinda one-note. In a fic I'm working on, she confesses that all of her fantasies involve Rush and having working legs (disclaimer that there's obviously nothing wrong with using a wheelchair and that disabled people can and do have fulfilling romantic relationships and sex lives, but it seems clear in the show that she would like to be able to walk again, so I have stuck to that for this particular story), and the narrative quality of her fantasies is very much on par with dollar store romance novels. She reminds me a little of Tina from Bob's Burgers and her "erotic friendfiction," so I made a few crossover memes. That's Tina's copy of "Buttloose" in the 4th panel. Panel 3 is also a borrowed quote from Tina. I do think Amanda might struggle with tidiness since she spent a good 25 years not being able to pick up after herself at all. I also struggle with this due to executive dysfunction and growing up in a borderline hoarder environment, so I guess I'm projecting again RIP 😅

No, really, Camile, what do you mean????

I guess in Amanda's defense, she doesn't find Rush off-putting in any way since he's not unnecessarily mean to her. 😂

I'm not sure if I'll ever complete my fic, but one thing I'm exploring, both there and, to a less complicated degree, in my memes, is Amanda's use of the neural link while she's a computer ghost. In Seizure, she seemed to use it with ease (apart from that one colossal fuckup lmaooooo), and I'd really like to see what she could do with it after her file is no longer quarantined. I've done a lot of cringe rambling and infodumping (congrats to anyone who's actually made it this far), so I won't go into detail, but she does work on expanding use of the link so she and Ginn can use it at the same time and connect to multiple people so they can socialize and function more as crew members instead of something like a guardian angel or familiar spirit. I'd also like, as mentioned in a previous post for this event, if she could help Lisa "see" again via the neural link. Another possibility, as alluded to in the above photo, is making "holograms," which aren't really holograms, but are more like skins for the ship's AI. What's cooler, accessing a medical database in the infirmary, or asking the EMH from Voyager to give you the info you need? If you're a loser like me, it's absolutely the second one.

More backstory!! My hc is that Amanda's parents were killed in the accident that paralyzed her (on the way to some math tournament with the high school mathletes or something idk I'm a musician I don't know what STEM people do for fun), and she was raised by her grandparents. We all love to make our faves suffer, and I'm no exception. This is just a silly little comic, but there is a certain sadness of being intellectually advanced but emotionally immature, something common among gifted kids and neurodivergent people (and I'm both, wheeeee). Things are thankfully getting better now. I love seeing more acceptance. But it was difficult in the early 00s when I was a teen, and I'm sure it would have been harder for Amanda in the '80s and '90s. It's also difficult when you have to rely on someone else for transportation, but they are unwilling to take you places (I went nowhere in college except school and church and my parents were still always mad at me, which is weird of them because they actively discouraged me from driving and would not teach me or help me get over my fears, so uhhhh yeah).

Last one~

So yes, I'm definitely salty that my top 2 SGU ladies got fridged twice (Ginn's my second fave because of course she is). I do think it opened up a lot of interesting possibilities for both characters, but as the show was tragically cut short, we have to rely on fan content. Anyway, the point I'm trying to make here is that Amanda and Ginn would have been fine had Amanda simply studied Bobby Hill's Guide to Self-Defense. Yes, it's bad, but I am a bad person and I generate irreverent things.

If you made it this far, then congratulations, you're an obsessed weirdo like me!! I know Amanda isn't exactly popular, nor is SGU, especially not so long after the fact, so I don't really expect anyone to read all this. If you do, I hope I was able to convey why she is so special to me. If nothing else, I hope you enjoyed the memes.

Also this took me like 5 hours to write, Jesus Christ I need to sleep

#sgu week #amanda perry #sgu #stargate universe #wormhole x-treme #shitpost #sgu memes #sgu amanda #sgu headcanon #sgu spoilers #look it got cancelled 12 years ago but i didn't even know it existed until about a year ago #THAT'S MY PURSE I DON'T KNOW YOU #i just love her so much #and I'm glad I'm finally free from RWBY because it sucks being hyperfixated on something you don't like anymore #now I have a new thing to like and be obsessed with!#long post #very long post

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yurawrites · 2 years

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🌼Underworld flowers🌼

canon x oc

Episode 2

The garden of the king

-Your Majesty - the guard announced - Miss Pheobe has arrived-

-Let her in- Ordered the king with a listless expression. This morning was not particularly interesting.

The little florist entered the throne room. she carried a basket on her left arm. The throne room was as big as she had imagined, perfectly matching the size of the King. This time, though, she wouldn't let him intimidate her. Before this meeting, Miss Pheobe had mentally prepared herself for this meeting, remembering the words Sugi once said to her:

"Status doesn't matter when it comes to business."

She had never thought much about this phrase, or rather, she didn't have to do it since before going down to the underworld, she only dedicated herself to the care of flowers, not to their sale. All the way from her hut to the throne gates, she repeated that phrase to herself like a mantra. Partly not to forget and partly to relax.

Sitting in a very informal way, the man who she had seemed as terrifying, looked much less intimidating, in fact even she found it a little funny, he reminded her to a large lazy dog who was too bored to do anything.

For his part, Desha felt somewhat uneasy. He still wasn't sure of what he was about to do but he had already had made this woman to cometo the palace. There was no time to back down.

Miss Pheobe bowed to Desha, feeling more confident. “Status doesn't matter when it comes to business,” she repeated to herself once more.

-Mmmm I see that you had come very well prepared, right?- Desha smiled. This change in attitude seemed to say the least…interesting.

-That's right, your majesty, I even took the liberty of bringing you some samples of my best seeds, you know, one has to always be prepared for every occasion - Which was not true, Phoebe had actually taken the seeds of various types she had because she had no idea what the king was about to negotiate with her. Desha noticed this almost immediately and burst out laughing.

-Ah .. you majesty? -Is something wrong? -Asked the surprised woman. This man was nothing like the stoic king who had requested her presence the day before. She wanted to think that because he no longer saw her as a threat.

-It's nothing, it's nothing- Said the King as he wiped away a tear due to laughter- it's just that...

Miss Phoene looked at him keeping a smile but her eyes showed a clear confusion.

-Bah, forget it – said the King as he stood up. Without the roof of her flower shop preventing him from standing fully upright, Phoebe could see just how tall Desha really was. - Follow me ma'am, I'll tell you about the project somewhere else -

Phoebe followed the king through the corridors of the palace; behind her were a couple of guards. Phoebe looked around her taking in every detail of the tour. She was very surprised that despite the fact that everything looked neat and luxurious, it lacked ornaments or decorations and above all, flowers.

-It's not like the castles from outside, right? -Said the King as he continued walking without turning to see her -Surely you must be used to castles full of luxuries and unnecessary knickknacks-

- Honestly my lord- answered Phoebe who was still absorbed looking towards the ceiling that was very high- This is the first time I've been inside one. I couldn't tell you if your palace has the necessary ornaments or not.

Desha hadn't expected such an answer. Apparently this woman, being so distracted, did not notice the way she had responded to him.

-And what made you settle in my domains Miss Pheobe? It's rare that someone from the surface wants to live here.- Desha glanced sideways at the florist who was so distracted that she hadn't noticed that she was already walking beside him.

-Well, I needed a change of scenery-

-Hmm… a change of scenery, huh?- Desha was trying to read Phoebe again but, suddenly she realized that she, in her distraction, ahe was walking even in front of Desha.

-Oh, I'm so sorry- Phoebe walked quickly behind the king -Let's continue-

Desha laughed once more - Don't apologize, we're close anyway-

The small group kept walking until they reached a door, very different from the rest of the others. This one was made of wood, covered with some details of polished metal. In addition to being very small compared to the rest. Phoebe had a feeling this door wasn't meant for the King to use. With one of her big hands, Desha opened it.

Across from Phoebe, there was a good-sized yard, albeit small for a palace garden. There were few places in the underworld where the sun barely reached and this was one of those. It wasn't such a dramatic difference but it was certainly much brighter than the rest of the palace.

-This is the project I want us to talk about Miss Phoebe- Desha went ahead - This place is not like it used to be few years ago but I trust your skills to make it flourish.

- This whole yard?! – The florist exclaimed in surprise.

- Of course. It wouldn't be a garden if only one part is cared for and the rest isn't.- Desha tried not to laugh again. This woman's expressions were always side by side with her thoughts. She was like an open book.

Phoene looked around the yard. The place was dry. Did nobody maintain it?

– Well… a job like this… taking into account how dry the land is… - Phoebe walked a little further to the center of the yard trying to calculate how far away the sun's rays were. Curious, Desha followed her with his eyes.

- The lighting is not enough to make it bloom soon- Phoebe was still looking up - You have a deadline for…-

- Not at all, I imagine that a job like this will take time. There is no rush for now - Desha replied following the small woman.

Phoebe walked around the rest of the yard studying it. There were some stone benches and some metal arches that she imagined had once been filled with flowers. She could tell there was some vegetation but it was clearly the invasive type that doesn't let anything else grow. In the center of this yard there was a fountain that was not activated at the moment.

Desha could see how this woman thought of a whole process to start preparing the land. The strange thing was that at no time, she had thought of using magic, would she do all that with her own hands?

-What kind of flowers would you like to have in your garden my lord?"- Phoebe turned to face the King.

-What kind?- Desha put his hand on his chin - I hadn't thought about it…I guess any kind would be fine-

-Any kind? Your Majesty, this will be your garden. I can't be the one to decide what kind of flowers are going to decorate this place-

- What do I know, flowers from abroad? -

- There are hundreds of flowers both outside and in the underworld to choose from sir-

Suddenly the mantra of "status doesn't matter when it comes to business" made sense to Desha. This petite woman was…questioning his knowledge of…flowers? Who did she think she was? However, he was in no position to be ofended. After all, he had been laughing at this little woman's attitudes. He supposed he deserved it.

-Alright, alright, you caught me, flowers are not my thing - he said sarcastically - And that's why I brought you here. You are the expert -

Phoebe looked at the king for a few seconds. Before Desha could read her thoughts again she set her basket down on one of the benches and from it she took out a red covered book.

-In that case, I think I should give you this before we agree on anything- Pheobe said as she offered the book to Desha. -A project this big also requires you to be more clear about what you're looking for-

-What is this? – asked the King

- It's a catalog I've been working on for undecided clients- Phoebe smiled - It has some flowers that I usually work with. I tried to order them by popularity…-

This little lady was making him uncomfortable, as long as the topic was about flowers, both her thoughts and her words are in sync. It was a bit overwhelming having to pay attention to both of them. Phoebe for her part kept talking about how she found it strange that people in the underworld preferred daisies over roses.

-Fine, fine, I'll read it as soon as I can- The King interrupted her - Really you can't just... make flowers grow?

- I can do it... but if so, this garden would not be special-

Desha arched an eyebrow.

- I mean – continued Phoebe – I can tell that this project is special for you. Otherwise, I don't see why you would have bothered to meet me at my flower shop. Also this place doesn't look like the rest of your palace, even the gate is different. I don't want to be nosy but… who is this garden for? For you? For your wife? or...

- Enough, I'll read the book tonight and you come prepared tomorrow - The King interrupted the florist - I'll have the budget for your work too.

-Oh... well then... we have a deal, right?- Phoebe extended her hand towards the King.

Desha looked directly into her eyes. He hadn't noticed but these were green and very large. Some wrinkles were marked under her eyes and next to her mouth, surely, she would have been very popular in her youth. Desha smiled and took her small hand.

-It is right. I hope you don't feel like just another employee when you start working in the garden, after all... Status doesn't matter when it comes to business, right?

Phoebe felt the color spread across her face, she had completely forgotten that Desha was able to read her thoughts. Who knows how many more things he would be able to read.

- M-majesty! - she stammered somewhat annoyed as Desha chuckled.

From now on, she would have to be more careful about what she thought.

#ranking of kings #king desha #canon x oc #fanfiction #fanfic

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coolwali · 1 year

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Minor Gaming Pet Peeves: Mandatory Story Breaks in Open World Games.

Hello everyone, today I want to talk about a pet peeve of mine I've seen in 2 open world games in particular, Spider-Man PS4 and Cyberpunk 2077. The feature in question is that certain points during certain missions, the game will tell the player to wait for a while before the next stage of the mission can begin. In Spider-Man's case, it's mostly limited to the main quest where after a major climactic event, Peter will say something like "that was intense, time to cool off for a while and go on patrol". Then the next main mission will not pop for a while, encouraging the player to partake in side activities. In Cyberpunk it's a similar case, only it can happen for any class of quests, not just main and the time to wait isn't consistent, seemingly being anywhere from a day in-game to several days + a few minutes.

Let's consider the pros; firstly it allows for story sanctioned breaks that may allow for more optimal pacing than if the player took the break during say, an urgent series of quests. It communicates to the player they can take a break now and it encourages the player to do some side content. It's also a nod to realism that some stuff takes a while to happen

But I find it not worth it and more annoying than anything.

Firstly, I like to play open world games by doing EVERYTHING before touching the main story and then blasting through the main story. So in Spider-Man, the game expects me to go out and do some side activities like finding backpacks or research labs, but I have already done everything. So I'm left just sitting there playing on my phone until the game lets me play the next story mission. For Cyberpunk, it's often not clear how long I have to wait. So I have to use the in-game sleep thing to sleep for 2-4 days at a time and then go around walk around for a while and hope the mission updates with the call. I imagine most players probably have some quests left when these breaks pop up so it's less of an issue but still.

Secondly, I find it interrupts the story more than it helps. Like in Cyberpunk, I want to see more of Panem's story, but there's frequent breaks and even if I have other quests to do, it feels like an interruption so I either have to go do other quests for a while or sleep for 4 days and then go and do another quest before I can finally get back to the storyline I am interested in. I'm going to go do all the quests anyway. This just feels unnecessary and it takes my agency. Plus it can seem punishing if you do some side questing before you get one of these waits, like if you had done your questing a couple missions later, your time wouldn't be wasted.

Imagine if you're watching the Mandalorian and part way through an episode you have to go the bathroom. Instead of just pausing the show to go to the bathroom, the Mando turns to the camera and goes "If anyone wants to go the bathroom, go now, I'll do nothing for the next 7 minutes aside from stand here and polish my guns or something". While that is generous, it wouldn't really be a fun or efficient idea. And if it did do that, most people would probably fast forward through it every time it happens because they don't have to go the bathroom at that moment. It's the same with video games, if I want to take a break to go do side quests, I'll do it anyway. I don't need the game to force me to do them. Plus if I do them early, I should be set for the rest of the game.

Now, I understand this is a minor issue in the grand scheme of things. The time wasted in doing these waits isn't so long. But regardless, are there ways to compromise so you maintain the positives while minimizing the negatives.

Solution 1: The Cyberpunk approach (ironically).

Cyberpunk has a solution for this. Some quests that ask you wait have a marker at the mission start area where V will sit and wait at and the next quest will start automatically. As an added bonus, it also adjusts the setting depending on the quest (like spawning NPCs and cars that are required for the quest). This helps because it maintains the appearance that time has to pass while still letting the player play on.

Solution 2: The Batman Arkham Knight Approach.

In Batman Arkham Knight, instead of asking the player to wait at certain points, the game just goes "Master Bruce, things have gotten quiet for now, you can use the time to go do side quests or keep investigating the Arkham Knight/Scarecrow i.e the Main Quest". The beneifit here is that it tells you the story is taking a lull for a short while but still gives the player full agency in what they have to do without wasting any time whatsoever.

But if we must have some waiting, there is one option:

Solution 3: The GTA V approach.

In GTA V, quests for heist prep activate after a while with a text message. But normally you have other quests also active or given to you at the same time so you always have something to while you wait. The smaller number of timed quests given at specific times also mean there is way less of a chance the player has nothing to do but wait even if they do all the side content first. Personally, I'm still not fond of this because it means I have to step away from the heist missions I'm so interested in.

So what are your thoughts?

#video games #open world

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gaycey-sketchit · 2 years

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(Gary anon) Sadly not the worst I've seen out of fandoms, but at least this particular case got stomped out quickly. But I doubt the storm is over, we still have 5 months left. (People were already saying that about Leon since the ride to Sword/Shield's release, with "not Charizard again, GF" to boot) Criticism I get to an certain extent, especially for a series that you're passionate, but I have legit seen quite of a bit of friendships that were formed from this anime get broken or

(Part 2) strained over the past 1.5 years because of the same anime. Even seeing an increase of people complaining to the official Twitter; last thing I want to see is it going private cause of fandom backlash. Kinda glad for this 2-week break, everyone sorta needs it right now. (But yeah, plenty of time for Alain to leave on a semi-high note, even it won't be battle-wise) My mind's kinda foggy on Adventures, but I don't remember Oak being too bad in that; more active than he was in

(Part 3) the games. The anime version is definitely the kookiest and friendliest version of him. (Considering how stingy they were about showing Gary's 200+ Pokemon, much less interact with anything that wasn't Blastoise, Umbreon, Electivire and Arcanine, it doesn't surprise me it took this long for an on-screen capture. To this day, we never seen him with his full team out, like some rivals have. Including Paul) Right now, I just want his current team, besides Blastoise, to get a longer

(Part 4) and better showcasing. (I've been thinking lately whether Ash will use all 3 gimmicks against Leon or he will be regulated to just 1. If not Leon, who would they do a battle like that with if they go through with it? Right now, Gary's team seems capable of all 3 too and he's been traveling the world, sooo... Honestly, him showing how he learned to do a Z-move will probably the closest we'll get to seeing him in Blue's Alola wear)

(Part 5) I think Iris vs Cynthia is the one I'm looking forward to the most; though I do wonder which gimmick Ash will use since Gengar and Pikachu are here. (Since Team Rocket tend to have a new gig each series, not quite sure about the radio show surviving. Maybe if this was their endgame, yeah. But they've always been good hosts) Yup! The man himself even made it into the after-story of that episode. Hopefully it comes full circle.

Yeah, at least it ended quickly enough.

Hm. Not a fan of how some people in this fandom are clearly looking for any excuse to hate Leon.

Yeah, it's... really sad that a series that's connected so many people is now something people get heated enough about to sever those connections. Like, Pokemon is one of my favorite things in the world, I'm passionate about it and have a lot of feelings about it, but I could never bring myself to end a friendship over it? Or harass people on social media over it? Why does a cute series about superpowed animals and the power of friendship make people act so horrible to each other?

Yeah, this fandom definitely needs time to cool down.

I've only read the first few volumes of Adventures myself (and it's been a hot minute since I've done that) so I really don't know a whole lot, though yeah, I do remember liking Adventures Oak and his relationship with Blue in those early volumes. (And yeah, anime Oak is the most fun incarnation of him.)

True, I guess it shouldn't be that surprising, but I still saw "this episode marks the first time Gary has caught a Pokemon onscreen" and was like "wow, really?" because like. It took 25 years for that to happen? Though it also took like six years to even reveal what his starter was, so like... I guess the writers do that sort of thing with him.

Yeah, hopefully they get some time to shine. Yearning for Umbreon moments.

Yeah, I wonder. If not Leon, Gary would totally be a good option for that. And yeah, his current team has two Pokemon each capable of mega evolution (Blastoise, Tyranitar) and gigantamax (Blastoise again, Hatterene) and of course, any of them could use a Z-move, so like... it's a viable possibility.

Oh yeah, Iris vs Cynthia should be fun. And yeah, Ash has options for what gimmick to use in his battle, I wonder what it'll be.

Alas. Well, it's a fun concept and I guess we'll see what they get up to next season!

Thought so! Yeah, here's hoping!

#Andrew answers #Gary anon

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abusylittlezebra · 2 years

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Dissecting the murder of Annie May Lawson

(tw: discussion of assault and murder below, including images of stabbed, bloodied women- not real, of course, but if that kind of thing bothers you, scroll on by)

I've often wondered how Dale pulled off his first murder, and finally I have a working theory to serve as canon on this blog. Let me break it down for you.

Dale followed Munch and Fin from the courthouse at a distance and diverged from them after they lost track of Harrison. From there, I imagine he:

A. went back to the lab to get the items he would need to stage a crime-scene (I don't know how one goes about planting fingerprints and I'm not trying to know, Mr. NSA), as well as the murder weapon (possibly stolen from the evidence room) and gloves.

B. went directly to the boardwalk and committed the murder using a knife he happened to already have on his person (possibly a pocket knife, which is somehow way scarier to me), and planted the evidence when he returned to the scene with CSU later on.

At the boardwalk, he located Annie May Lawson and subdued her from behind with his left hand over her mouth to silence her. I think the first stab was to her right breast (1), where most of the blood on her clothing is located. When he pulled back to stab her in the chest again, she deflected the strikes with her right arm, resulting in defensive wounds (2).

When she struggled, he stabbed lower, into her upper abdomen, severing her aorta and causing her to bleed out (3). Then, as she was incapacitated and dying, but before she was dead, he opened her shirt and made the slashes on her chest to replicate what Harrison had done to Rachel Nauss (4).

From there, I imagine he staged the scene, writing "GUILTY" on her forehead (one of the reasons I believe he was wearing gloves, which he could have disposed of in any number of ways) and then cleaned up and got out of there.

As for how he managed to do this all without getting blood on his clothing: some people just live a charmed life, I guess. He's wearing the same clothes when the crime scene is processed that he was wearing when he left the courthouse, so I don't imagine he changed.

I think he just rolled his sleeves up like he did when he stabbed O'Halloran and tortured Stabler. It's also possible that he knows how to position himself so he won't get blood on his clothes. It's also possible that he took his shirt off, but I personally think the image of being stabbed by a pallid, franatic man in business attire is way more frightening, so that's the direction I'm leaning.

One last thing I wanted to mention before I wrap it up: when Rachel Nauss's body is found, Stuckey says her clothes are slashed up, which Harrison more or less confirms under interrogation. I couldn't find any frames that really show her clothing, but it's stated as fact in the episode.

However, Stuckey wasn't in the room when Harrison was interrogated and possibly didn't know that he slashed Rachel Nauss's clothing because he thought she was wearing a wire. So, as far as I can tell (despite what Fin says to the contrary), Annie May Lawson's clothing isn't really slashed up the was Rachel Nauss's was; instead, Stuckey opened her shirt and slashed her bare chest.

I can only assume he did this because he wasn't aware of the significance that slashing the clothing itself had when it came to Harrison's delusions, so he thought the chest slashing was just part of his M.O., but I'm kind of surprised that this detail escaped the notice of detectives, since Annie May Lawson's clothing is only torn in the places where she was stabbed.

Honestly, I think this detail points to the detectives' tunnel vision in the episode*. Sure, if you hear hoof beats, you shouldn't immediately look for zebras, but maybe if you're seeing stripes you shouldn't rule them out.

*or it's an error in the costuming department, but let me have my fun.

#ooc #thank you for coming to my TED talk #I'm not a homicide investigator or a medical examiner #so anything I just said could be wrong #but that's my theory

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aj-anime-blog · 3 years

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Deca-Dence - Review!

Wooooo Deca-Dence!

Deca-Dence was a summer 2020 anime, and that’s when I originally watched it! I've watched it about a dozen times since, as it landed itself right on my roster of my favorite animes, if not my favorite of all time.

Deca-Dence is an original piece, so no manga source material (whaaat!) and comes from the genius brain of Yuzuru Tachikawa, the director of other fan-favorites like Mob Psycho 100 and Death Parade (a review for Death Parade is in the making!). Original mangas are such a hit-or-miss recently, and I think that this one got the bullseye!

What's our concept?: Set in the future, the world is now plagued by monsters known as Gadolls. In an attempt to keep humans safe from them, mobile fortress Deca-Dence was constructed, where Gears, who live near the top, fight the Gadolls, and Tankers, who live at the bottom, provide support from inside Deca-Dence. Our protag, Natsume, is a Tanker who wants to fight with the Gears, but her prosthetic arm keeps her out of battle. That is until she meets Kaburagi, an older Tanker who seems to know his way around fighting and might have more to him than he lets on.

It's gonna be hard to go through this without spoilers, but I promise that I'll keep it spoiler-free until the section at the bottom!

So overall, what do I think?: 10/10! I've already said it, but Deca-Dence is one of my favorite animes of all time, and it deserves the spot! It has incredible characters, a story that keeps you hooked even through twists and turns, and a pace that manages to cram so much plot into only 12 episodes without feeling overwhelming or rushed! Deca-Dence presents ideas that, at the surface, may seem overused or old, but spins them in such a way that they're completely original. It follows through with character relationships, making them worthwhile and fulfilling.

Let's start with the story this time!: 10/10!! It's going to be really hard to explain the beauty of Deca-Dence's plot without spoiling it, but I'm doing my best! I really do recommend just giving the show a try, though, as it's really worth it! (Don't just drop it after episode 2, like a lot of people did :( That's just judging it wayyy too early!!)

Deca-Dence has a story that's thrilling and new. Everything that happens builds off of itself in a way that's natural and smooth. The elements of the story, no matter how different they may seem, play their part and work together well. The show isn't predictable either - don't go in thinking that you know what's going to become of it. Each twist feels surprising and new without feeling like they're coming out of left field.

I won't say much more in fear of ruining it, but Deca-Dence's story holds up well, and with its strong cast of characters supporting it, it becomes absolutely suburb. I think a lot of people fell into this pit of seeing only the beginning and tossing it aside, but no matter how strange the concepts in it may be, they wind together to form something really unique!

So those characters, huh?: 11/10, I love them so much! I'm a character nerd through and through, and Deca-Dence sends my little character-obsessed heart wild. The protags, Natsume and Kaburagi, are both fascinating, have incredible development, and engage in a character dynamic that is so natural and well-written that I never doubted it.

To be honest, Natsume doesn't have a personality that's anything new. She's young, determined to a fault, naive, and a complete sweetheart. She wants to fight the Gadoll and she'll do anything to achieve that dream. She's not a natural at fighting but her motivation to do so makes her believable and relatable. She's looked down upon because of her prosthetic arm and forced into a job that she doesn't like, but she never gives up on her goals. Even though she's so simple, her interactions and energy make her lovable and a wonderful protagonist.

Kaburagi follows the washed-out warrior trope, as he's an older man assigned to clean-up duty who keeps to himself and never shows too much emotion. While this type of character can sometimes get annoying, the show gives Kaburagi enough time to show his real feelings and explain how he got to his position. This proper development keeps him down-to-Earth and shows him as even more flawed than Natsume. Kaburagi's motivation, which I can't explain for spoiler reasons, is entirely believable and explains perfectly why he decides to put up with Natsume, even though she's his polar opposite.

The relationship between the two characters is balanced and beautiful. It's given the proper time to grow, mature, and ends up being extremely worthwhile. Natsume relies on Kaburagi, as he sees the potential in her and continues to support her in ways no one else ever has, and Kaburagi understands that Natsume is everything that he's trying to rebel against. Their relationship is emotional, runs deep, and leaves you wishing that there was more of them to watch, even after the show has ended.

The villain! The villain. I cannot talk all that much about the villain at the risk of spoiling. He is evil. I really really hated him, and that is a very good thing because it means that he's well-written. His motivation makes sense, his actions make you want to strangle him, his design was really really good! He's not the most interesting thing in the show, as his character is really only there to move the story along, but not every villain needs to be incredibly deep for a show to be good.

Lastly, our supporting characters! While none of them are as wonderful as Natsume or Kaburagi, they're still interesting and hold their own. They play important parts in the show and all of their interactions with the main two feel natural. Their conflicts make sense, their resolutions feel well-earned, and their personalities are all unique! For a 12-episode anime, there's a larger cast of supporting characters than you would think, and nearly all of them are memorable and loveable.

Time to shut up about characters, what about the art?: 9/10, ooooh yes the art! Deca-Dence is gorgeous! It's animated by studio Nut (bwahahhaha), who haven't done that much else in the anime world. Still, for a relatively new studio, it's absolutely amazing! The characters all have unique looks that make them stand out and the fight scenes are to die for. They lose a point on the CG, since it's a little bit less than amazing, but again, for a new studio, it's definitely not the worst I've seen!! (Admittedly, I also don't like CG much at all, so I'm always harsh towards it when it's used).

Deca-Dence switches between two styles that vastly contradict each other, one which is a colorful, happy-go-lucky style, and one that's the more typical anime style. I'll speak more about them in the spoilers section, but they do a wonderful job at maintaining the tone of the show, as to not let it get too dark, and forming a clear divide between the events of the two parts.

Oh goshhh the Gadolls look so cool. I'm so obsessed with cool monsters in anime and woah they look awesome!! They're original, with cool designs that I haven't seen elsewhere. The show could've so easily slapped in some pretty typical-looking dragons or wolves or whatever, but they instead spent time on these epic creatures, and it's so worth it! It makes the setting that much more unique and allows it to stand out from other animes.

Surely there's a flaw in this anime? The pacing, maybe?: 9/10. Yeah, I would argue that the pacing is Deca-Dence's weakest point. Not that the pacing is particularly bad compared to other shows! I still think that, for a 12-episode anime, it does a wonderful job of fitting in a large amount of plot into only about 5 hours! But, at some points, parts felt rushed or confusing, as the show would zoom into them. I never felt like I was truly lost, though. Even if I did wish that there was a break from the action, I never found myself really thinking that the show was leaving me behind in the dust. It's not the kind of show that you can turn on and leave running while you multitask, though. Blink for too long and you might miss something important, which can ruin some of the hard-hitting twists that the anime works so hard to build up.

OK! Time for spoilers! I beg you, go watch the anime before you read past this, because it's totally worth it!!

Woahh episode 2 am I right?? I thought that I clicked into the wrong anime when I began it, it took such a wild turn, and so soon in the anime too. This is what I really mean when I talk about a show not being what it appears to be! Again, I really encourage you to watch it for yourself, but if you're that stubborn on reading this through before you turn it on:

Deca-Dence is not about the heart-wrenching battles between Gears and their desperate attempts to keep humanity alive, because Gears are just avatars for cyborgs! You see, there's a civilization of cyborg people who are living above the Earth, who log in to fight in mobile fortress Deca-Dence as a game. So the Gadolls are genetically grown as prey for the Gears and the entire story surrounding Deca-Dence's battles are scripted. Crazy right!? The best part: the Tankers aren't in on this at all. You heard me: Natsume and her human friends have no idea that Deca-Dence is staged.

From here, Deca-Dence has two distinct parts: we'll call them "Natsume's half" and "Kaburagi's half". Natsume's half refers to the mobile fortress, the Tankers who live unaware of the cyborgs, and the art style that premiered in the first episode. Kaburagi's half is the Solid Quake organization, the Gears who are avatars of the cyborgs, and the goofy, stylized art style with big lines and bright colors.

The twist and the diverging sides of the story set this show up as not your typical sci-fi anime, but as something a little deeper. The stakes are the same, as humanity is in just as much peril as it was before - it becomes abundantly clear that the Gears and cyborgs don't care about them - but the name of the game completely changes as you realize that our so-called "heroes" aren't really all that heroic, and there's a lot more going on.

Kaburagi is, of course, one of these cyborgs, cursed to live among the Tankers because of a mistake he made while playing as a Gear. Now, he's in charge of eliminating "bugs", or mistakes that the system finds. He's upset with his life, frustrated at what he's doing, and contemplating suicide. But when Natsume walks into his life, a little girl that the system considers legally dead, Kaburagi sees a chance to rebel, even the slightest, against the system. He's supposed to kill Natsume, but instead, he takes her under his wing, determined to protect what he's been instructed to eliminate. This development gives their relationship a deeper meaning, even if Natsume doesn't know it.

Deca-Dence does a wonderful job at showing the watchers both sides of the story but keeping Natsume's side in the dark. Even though we see scenes from Kaburagi's side, Natsume knows nothing about them. When Kaburagi leaves after Hugin kills his avatar, Nastume doesn't know where he's gone and has no reason to believe that he hasn't run away. There's no way she could guess that Kaburagi's new form - his weird orange Gear avatar - is the mentor that she once knew. And when Kaburagi, back in his original form, is killed in front of her, she really believes that he is dead. When Natsume finds out about the truth of the Gadolls - that the world she knows is fake - her horror is palpable and realistic, because there's no way she could've known any better.

Kaburagi's world has a goofy style to it, with the cyborgs looking cartoonish rather than realistic. While it might initially seem off-putting, I think that it ends up balancing the tone of the story much better. Consider the hellscape that is the reform facility that Kaburagi visits. Imagine how dark it would've been if it was not in a silly style! By keeping the style cuter rather than realistic, the show doesn't dip too far into dark and gritty, and I really liked it!

It also set up this harsh divide between Kabruagi's half, where things are easygoing, done for pleasure and fun, and not nearly as harsh as Natsume's world (Look at the name of the series! Decadence literally means living in excessive luxury!). Even when the cyborgs are in their Gear forms, which are drawn in Natsume's style, they're still a lot more colorful and vivid, showing that their lives aren't as harsh as that of the Tankers. The art styles reflect the differences between the two halves and give them both distinct tones and personalities!

& finally, let's take an in-depth look at one scene!: I had a really hard time picking what I thought summed up the series in a single scene. In the end, I think that Natsume and Kaburagi's discussion at the end of episode 7 was the best. Here, we see a culmination of a lot of the character development going on. Kaburagi, in this scene, is in a Gears avatar that Natsume doesn't recognize, meeting her for the first time since his normal avatar was killed. Natsume's been working with the Tankers to protect them from Gadolls that infiltrated the fortress, and she's motivated them all to rise up and fix the hole in the fortress themselves.

Kaburagi has encouraged Natsume to be a stronger person, even though she had to be independent and not rely on him any longer. His pessimistic view on the world - that they'll never defeat the Gadolls - has rubbed off on her, but it's only made her more determined to be stronger to stand up to them. In this scene, we see her breaking down as she considers that Kaburagi might be right, and that she'll never kill them all, but that she needs to continue fighting.

Though Kaburagi previously doubted Natsume and her endless determination, he now feels filled with the same motivation. Natsume has convinced him, time and time again, that he can't give up, and so he decides that he's willing to do anything to make sure that she never loses that hope. He wants her dreams to come true, and he knows that she can't accomplish them alone.

This perfectly shows the effects that they have on one another. Natsume is now stronger than she's ever been: independent, able to take down Gadolls on her own, and determined enough to patch up the hole that no one else thought could be fixed. Kaburagi, in stark contrast to his suicidal thoughts from episode two, is now completely devoted to make the world a safe place for Natsume. Their relationship has shaped one another into being the best versions of themselves, and this isn't even the end! They still complete their growth in the last few episodes, but I've rambled about them enough.

We're done!: That's my review of Deca-Dence! I really believe that it's one of the masterpiece animes in recent years, and I wish it got more attention. I'm sure that there's plenty of anime out there like this one - forgotten diamonds in the rough - that I'd love to dig up and fawn over. Tell me if you know any! Or, if you disagree with my review, tell me where you think I'm wrong!

#time to go rewatch deca-dence #writing about it has made me miss it so much #its sooooo good #please check it out #it's so worth it #studio nut #bwahahah #studio NUT #lmaoooo #please tell them to get a better name #deca-dence #anime #anime review #summer 2020

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itsjustmyfantasyroom · 4 years

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Some Hot Shot

Back to the Fresh Starts Series continuation. This piece is a rare one that isn’t episode based. This is more of a Background to the reader.

Warning: Most life situations. Mentions talks of death of a parent, death of a grandparent and touches very very light on a verbally abusive ex boy friend.

Enjoy, its a softer side of our Barba xx

Rafael walked in from work, mentally drained and overly tired. He could smell the amazing smell that was your cooking coming from the oven. As he walked into the kitchen, he seen a white pearl envelop sitting on the bench, on top of some other mail with your address written in fancy gold lettering.

"Hermosa" he yelled out

"One second" you walked out of the bathroom freshly showered in navy track pants and his grey Harvard t-shirt.

"Hey Rafi, I missed you today. Dinner shouldn’t be much longer" you said as you walked over to him.

"I missed you, so much" he hugged and kissed you Hello. "Just let me have a quick shower" you smiled at him and kissed his nose.

By the time he came out, you had just sat dinner on the table. You made a pasta bake, one of Sonny's recipes. He came and sat down and started to eat. He seen the pearl envelop sitting on table next to you,

"Mi Hermosa, what's that?" He nodded towards the it. You took a deep breath, how would you sell this to him.

You didn't have an overly big group of friends, but you had friends none the less. Your group wasn't unpopular but wasn't popular either. Your best Friend Gwen, who you still kept in contact with here and there, you guys were always together, joint at the hip your Mum's used to say.

But Gwen always wanted everything to be handed to her, you guessed that's pretty much what life did to her anyway, so she was used to that treatment. She always caught the eye of boys where ever you guys went. You were always the token friend who the guys that were hooking with her, their friends had to "deal" with.

That was life pretty much till the highest years of high school, until you met Jeff and Rodger. They were best friends in the same grade as you. You guys had never taken notice of them before, till they hit puberty and the game changed.

Of all the girls they could have picked, they picked you guys. Jeff was from old money, so of course Gwen made a bee line to him. Rodger was softer, kinder and down to earth, at the beginning anyway. He came from a long line of police officers from both sides, and that was his goal, which was yours also. That was really the only thing you guys had in common. His home life was good. He lived together with his grandparents, his parents and little brother. Because his Mum and Dad's were both officers for the next town over, his grandparents were the main care givers, but when his parents were around they were amazing.

Your future goals became your relationship goals. While Gwen and Jeff were just skipping through life, not really worried about the future because of Jeff's family money, you and Rodger worked hard. You were both accepted into the academy straight out of high school. Moving there off campus and into a small studio apartment, just enough for you both for the time you guys would be there. Everything was going great. You both wanted to move to the big city, you of course wanted to be a Detective and Rodger wanted to work his way up to Chief.

After being there about 2 months, Rodger got a phone call to say his Grandfather had a heart attack and didn't make it. That was start of everything falling apart. He was very close to his Grandfather, it broke him in half. You both went home for the funeral and then went back pretty much straight away.

Rodger started skipping classes and staying in bed all day. You tried to get him help but he didn't want it. Then he started to take things out on you. Not physically, but verbally. If you passed you got in trouble, if you stayed up studying you got in trouble, anything you did you got in trouble. He got 3 warnings to pick up his game, which he took no notice of. He was kicked out and sent home. Lucky they had an empty dorm you could move into after he left.

You did long distance for the remaining of your study, if that’s what you would really call it, talking maybe once a week if that. He didn't come to your graduation, and when he saw you after your first shift in your police uniform he broke up with you, he couldn't handle it.

Gwen was still with Jeff, it was hard to be away from Rodger and still be friends with Gwen. Before you knew it he turned bitter and twisted towards you, so you started to keep your distance. You did what you had to do to study and pass and then put in for the job at SVU. Which you got and you started your new life. You moved to New York for the love of your career, but you found the love of your life and amazing group of co-workers that were now your best friends. Rafael knew all about this relationship as did the squad. Gwen also knew about Rafael.

"Well--you know my friend-my best friend Gwen from back home?" He nodded at you. "She is getting married in a couple of months, and we have been invited-- I have also been asked to be her maid of honour" Rafael looked at you sensing you had more to say. "I have to go up the weekend before for her hen’s night and then stay that week till the wedding. And I wanted you to come with me for the week. We can stay with my Mum and I can show you around town." You paused and could see him thinking it over. "There is just one thing I'm not happy about, but there is nothing I can do about it" he raised one eye brow at you "Rodger is best man, so-- he will be my partner"

He put his fork down on his plate and sat back in his chair.

"I'll have to ask the DA for the time off, but I would love to come. It will be great to see where your roots began, and see your Mum again." he said with a smile.

"You don't mind about Rodger?"

"What's there to mind? Your with me now, if you can stand up to my ex the way you did, I'm sure I can too if I need too" Rafael winked at you.

You got up from your seat, walked over and sat on his lap, wrapping your arms around his neck and kissed him lightly on the lips.

"And anyway way Hermosa, why would be I worried about someone that doesn't wear suspenders.” His famous smirk came to his face.

****

You spoke to Liv the next day and she approved your week, Sonny was going to cover for you. Rafael put in the dates with DA and it was approved by the end of week. You booked your bus tickets there and back, your Mum was going to pick you guys up for the bus station and drive you home.

"I need to get fit" you sighed as you took a bite of pizza.

"Why? You look fine" Nick scoffed back

"You know what it's like when you go home for the first time in a while, you have to look your best"

"Start running with me before work" Amanda smiled at you.

You took Amanda's suggestion and that's what you started to do. Every morning you guys would meet up, run then be home in time to shower and head back in with Rafael for work. He didn't quite understand why you were doing it, he loved you just the way you were, but it made you feel good and way your body had started to change shape he found it hard to keep his hands off you, even at work.

Gwen told you to pick your own dress, but she told you the colour she wanted. Amanda offered to go with you one weekend to try on dresses, and she gave the tick of approval when you picked the one you could both agree on.

"Running has done wonders for your body, if that's even possible" Amanda rolled her eyes “You look stunning. I bet your ex is going to be pissed" she laughed as you giggled back walking out of the dress shop.

"I don't think he will be pissed at that. He is already pissed that I'm in SVU, once he founds out Rafael is the ADA. I’am worried, he is nasty" You rolled your eyes.

"And if I were him I would be worried about your smart ass mouth, you have balls girl and that boyfriend of yours when it comes to you Barba doesn't hold back. Good luck to him if he starts" Amanda raised her eye brows at you.

****

You guys had packed for the week on the Thursday night and you both finishing early on the Friday to get your bus.

Rafael hadn't seen your dress yet, but he was excited. Gwen had told you that Jeff had invited him to the buck’s night which was on the same night as the hens at a different bar. You both decided it wasn't the best idea, so he was going to stay home with your Mum and he would pick you up when the night was over.

Your mum was waiting for you both as the bus pulled up. You both got off and she couldn't contain her excitement. She walked over to Rafael first and gave him a big hug.

"It’s so nice to see you again Rafael"

"Like wise" he gave her a big smile.

"Hello Sweet heart" your Mum gave you a hug and kiss on the cheek.

"Hey Mum, I've missed you"

"Same sweetheart. Get your bags and let’s go, I have some fried chicken to make, hope you’re hungry"

Your house wasn’t much, but it was home. It was just two bed room. It was just enough for you and your Mum. Your Dad passed away when you were 16 and your Mum had to work two jobs to pay it off.

Rafael walked in and felt warm and cosy straight away. There were photos of you everywhere at different stages of your life. But the one that made his heart swell was of a big one of you above the TV. It looked like your graduation. You were in your full police uniform looking down at a photo you held in your hands in a frame, a photo of your Dad. You saw Rafael standing there looking at it, so you walked over and put your chin on his shoulder, wrapping your arms around his waist.

"I wish you could have met him. He would have liked you" Rafael lent his head on yours, a small smile coming to his face.

"I'll start dinner, you guys freshen up" Your Mum shouted from the kitchen.

"Come Rafi, let's put our stuff in my room"

You took his hand in yours and led him down the hall. Your door was at the end. As he seen it he giggled to himself. It was just how you left it. It was covered in posters of your favourite bands and theatre shows. You tuned the knob and pushed it open.

It was an average size room. You had a built in to the right, with a white desk next to that, and then a book shelf next to that with every shelf filled with books and some photo frames in front of the books that you had left behind. Either side of your bed was a bed side table, and on the left side wall, roof to floor with more posters.

Rafael put down his bag and walked over to the wall in awe.

"Wow, mi Hermosa, where did you get all these posters?"

"Mostly magazine" you smiled.

"Y/N can you come and set the table please?" your Mum yelled out.

"Come on Rafi, I'm starving”

****

"How do I look?" you walked into the living room to your Mum and Rafael sitting having a coffee together. Rafael’s eyes widened and his mouth slightly dropped open.

You had a dark purple dress on with short puffy sleeves, an elastic waist band, with a low scoop neck, which came down and rested just below the start of your breast. The dress flowed down to your mid thighs. Your heart necklace rested around your neck, diamond studs in your ears, black strappy sandals, light make up and your hair in big curls.

"Wow sweetie, you look pretty" your Mum smiled over at you.

"Beautiful mi Hermosa"

"I almost feel like you shouldn't be dressed like that going out when your boyfriend is at home with your Mum" your Mum and Rafael both laughed together.

"Ha Ha…. Rafi are you ready? I'm going to be late"

"Let us know when you’re ready and we will come and pick you up" Your Mum said as you kissed her on the cheek.

"Rafael dinner will be ready by the time you come back"

The ride to the bar was fun, you guys laughed and joked, and you pointed out different things as you drove past, telling him a couple of stories along the way.

"I' am going to miss you tonight Rafi"

"I'll miss you too" he grabbed your hand in his and kissed the back. "Don't drink too much OK" he laughed at you

"That's if I even drink at all" you huffed at him. Just then you guys had pulled up at the bar.

"You call me as soon as you want me to come and pick you up. Have a great night, I love you" he lent over and grabbed your face with both hands, pulling you to him and kissed you deeply.

"I love you Rafi" you opened the door and got out. You shut it waved at him and blew a kiss walking towards the door.

"Y/N" You heard from the back of the bar, you knew that voice, Gwen. She came running towards you and jumped on you wrapping her arms around your neck. You wrapped your arms around her waist.

"I've missed you so much. Welcome home"

"I've missed you too G" You said into her ear.

She let you go and grabbed your hand and pulled you towards the back, where there was a table set up along the back wall.

"Everyone can't wait to see you" Gwen smiled at you.

It was mostly her cousins that you had grown up with and Jeff's not so little anymore sister. Everyone was happy to see you, all getting up to kiss and hug you Hello. Dinner was severed and you all had a glass of wine served to you.

"So little Y/N, living in the big city working for SVU, that must be fun" said Nancy, one of Gwen's cousins sitting next to you.

"Yeah I love it actually. It can be hard, but it's the best move I ever made" you smiled back.

"Gwen told us you have a boyfriend" said Lucy with a smirk, another cousin.

"Yeah, his name is Rafael. Rafael Barba, he is the Assistant District Attorney"

"You never told me that. When you said his name was Rafael that didn't even click" Gwen sassed back at you, "He's a big deal. I have seen him on the TV, he is so handsome" Gwen giggled.

"Thank you" you smiled back

"So how did that happen? He's older then you right? He looks older" Gwen said. All eyes were on you waiting for an answer.

"Age is just a number" you answered back and went on to tell them how it happened and how you guys got together.

"Rodger is going to be pissed when he hears about this" Jeff's little sister Wendy laughed, “He hasn't been in a relationship since your break up. My Daddy gave him a job at the bank and helped straighten him out a little, but he drinks like a fish in his down time. But in fairness, he may not have been in a relationship since you, but he has been in a LOT of women" they all started to laugh around the table. You smiled slightly and took a sip of your wine.

The night was fun you guys laughed and danced and had a great time. You saw a few faces around that you knew and had some small talk. You didn't drink anymore after dinner.

It was 1 am and Gwen was off with the fairies. Mostly everyone had left, it was just you, Gwen and Wendy. Wendy wasn't a big drinker so she was good. But Gwen couldn't even stand straight. You sat her down on a chair,

"I’ll message Rafael and get them to come and pick us up, my Mum will drive you guys home" Wendy nodded.

You messaged Rafael and he replied straight away that they were on the way. It was only 10 minutes from your place too the bar. You waited 5 minutes and then helped Gwen stand. You put an arm around your neck and one around her waist and led her out, Wendy following close behind. When Rafael and your mum pulled up, he could see Gwen laying on you, he got out and opened the back door.

"Do you need help Hermosa?"

"I'm good thanks Rafi, that's Wendy by the way" you nodded towards her

"Hey Rafael, nice to meet you" she held out her hand to shake his.

"Nice to meet you Wendy" he smiled.

You sat Gwen on the seat and pushed her back and shut the door, you walked around and slid into the middle and Wendy got in next to you, Rafael back in the front.

"Hey Mrs Y/L/N, thanks for taking us home" Wendy said from the back seat.

"Hi Wendy, No problems" your Mum smiled.

On the drive to Wendy's, which Gwen was staying there the night, she moved her body towards yours and wrapped her arms around your neck. The smell of the alcohol from her breath made your stomach churn.

"Why did you leave me? You are my best friend and you just up and left. You never call—you never message, you’re always busy with work and that handsome boyfriend. I bet he's good in bed. I wouldn't mind a go! Let's swap for a night before Saturday, you can have Jeff and I'll have Rafael" Gwen slurred while Wendy was laughing loud.

"Gwen, my Mum is here, and so is Rafael" you gave her a warning tone "And I don't like to share you know that, he's mine. Your drunk, go to sleep"

TBC

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blackfemmecharacterdependency · 4 years

Text

BFCD Reviews by Nesha: Summertime on Netflix

This is what I’m gonna do... I’ll be doing more structured reviews later and most likely liveblogging suggested stuff and tagging with “Nesha Watches (Insert Title) for all liveblog posts. For this first review, I won’t be as structured, because I didn’t really plan on reviewing, so this is basically all of my comments to friends @chenoahchantel and @daintyurbanprincess that were made whilst I was watching this show suggested to me by @rbaifzau

It didn’t take me long to be annoyed with the white boy in this show. It doesn’t take much anyways, but one episode in and I’m over him already. This dude saw her at a party, she got pushed into the pool accidentally, he gave her a dry shirt, and two minutes later tried to kiss her… TF..

Girl, this bout to be IGNANT...

Chile... She was like, "What are you doing?" And he looked surprised. Like whet. And in episode 2 after having seen her thrice and spoken to her once, he telling his best friend, "I'm pretty sure I like her a lot." I HATE stuff like this. Why did I tell old girl I'd watch this and discuss it with her? 😭

But she like him, so like??? 😭

And her daddy, who we haven't seen yet is presumably a rolling stone. Only one negro in this town and the nigga gotta be probably running around on his wife? 🙄 I'm like, OH, so the one Black man in the show gotta be a rolling stone? And even though his wife is also highly irresponsible as a parent, she's sort of made out to be the victim of his dreams. They never portray Black mothers doing things on their own as victims. That woman was messing up left and right and it's all on her husband not being there, when that's only part of the problem.

Also, if she IS the only present parent and made the decision to do that, she should be doing it instead of leaning on Summer all of the time.

And she got a close friend that have an obvious crush on her but she seems oblivious. I hate dis

This dude reminds me of Max Theriot. He always looked musty to me. 🤣🤣🤣 He look like him breaf stank. Him and Jack Griffo were working on something where they play soldiers and I absolutely said, "He still look like he stank" when I saw him on Instagram…

This is basically the same mold of dude and it looks moldy and should be tossed out. None for me, thanks.

But, there are moments in this show that's really cracking me up. 🤣🤣🤣 It's like, I feel like I should enjoy it for the messiness of it, but the main characters can be infuriating.

She called him an asshole and he said, "You don't even know me." No duh dipshit. She ain't know you when you tried to kiss her neither. NOR when you was talmbout you like her.

This girl kissing her friend!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. She's gonna hurt this boy! My Gwad. He finna be discombobulated. 😭😭😭 He all happy today and she don't even see him like that. Lordt.

He walked up and she look uncomfortable AF. Her younger sister is like, "You're being weird." 🤣🤣🤣 Even SHE hip to something. He on the beach talmbout "It's hot today, don't you think?" And took his shirt off. 😭😭😭😭😭😭

I like Summer's friends and feel bad for them because she really didn't treat them kindly. She used Edo whenever she was upset by Ale and then she just completely ditched Sofie on her birthday and didn't even text her or anything. Just had her waiting on her and didn't even apologize. Like, I love that she gets a chance to be human, but being an asshole to the people who you're supposed to be friends with is such an upsetting trope to me.

And the connection between her and Ale is so weird. He comes across as super predatory in the beginning and I don't understand why she liked him in the first place, but also whenever he does something by mistake, she is so angry at him, even though she's been just as inconsiderate when it comes to her friends.

NOW... HE HARASSING HER AT HER JOB.

WOTTICE DIS HUNNY???

Talmbout if she got a boyfriend he'll "take care of him" 😖 After she told him to leave and he said he'd wait for her outside, she asked her coworker, "What do you do to let a guy know you like him back?"

NOW, she went outside and he's there, but her friend showed up to surprise her after work. 🤣 Whoever made this HATES me

He stole a book out her locker and left a card with his phone number. How is this the start of a romance???

OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. FRIEND IS TALKING ABOUT THE KISS...He said it was perfect........

Chile... And she don't even wanna tell their other best friend. Bruh. He said, "What we have doesn't need to be discussed." Summy PLEASE tell this young man...HE TRIED TO KISS HER AGAIN AND SHE SAID, "We just talked about last night's mistake" 😭😭😭

And she done hurt my friend this way, but she worried about Maxface because his mama can't reach him on the phone??? Girl.. go.. girl...

The gag is that she got mad at Ale because she saw him talking to his ex and she had to cover for him at work, but you've now ACTUALLY put your best friend in a bad space. And he ran into her mom and little sister and looked so uncomfortable but kept it short and sweet. These are people he loves. Idk. I feel bad for him and also like she kind of a hypocrite.

That was what REALLY bothered me. I don't expect her to be perfect, by all means. Black girls should be allowed their imperfections and their mistakes, but the fact that she knows what it's like to have the people you love be so absent and that she would treat her friends this way because of one guy who she's only known for a couple of months was disappointing for her character. She could have been written imperfectly without this glaring problem that I don't believe a real person in her position would actually have.

I think in real life, the girl who raises her sister and basically has to lift her mother up all the time would overextend herself to her friends, but instead, she just leaves them in her dust as soon as she gets some dick. 😭

He is now hanging out with her little sister. 😭😭😭She goes to school with them but she looks tiny. I'm cringing at everything.

BRUH. Like... I can't tell if they're trying to or not, but I wouldn't be surprised because he's cool with the sister too, but they've been friends a while, so I didn't think much of it until Summer hurt him.I thought she liked him earlier, so idk if he is noticing her or I just EXPECT it.

OAN, this man realized his son had a motorcycle accident on purpose and got mad instead of concerned

At one point, they say he's been riding bikes for 20 years, and whenever his father is mad that he had his accident on purpose (which I'll come back to) he says that he's never made a mistake like that, not even was he was 4, so Ale is AT LEAST 24 and she JUST turned 18. Which is WILD to me, even though at 18 I dated someone who was 23 (he was possessive and abusive, so I have a real suspicion of age gaps).

But, aside from that - she gets mad at him any time she sees him with his ex when It is perfectly fine to speak with your ex and whenever she did see them together, it was always innocent and she didn't give him a chance to explain.

But then, when he does something questionable, like whenever he tried to kiss her the first day they met, or whenever he came to her job to ask her out and she told him to leave but he said he was going to wait outside (toxic AF and presumptuous) she is fine with those things.

Now, back to Ale's accident. I really felt so bad for him whenever we discover he did this on purpose, because his father is mad, when they should be concerned. His mother says, "You could have died" and he agrees...

How did they not notice that meant that this young man was so disappointed with his life as a biker that he was literally suicidal? They just grazed past it and whenever he vanished on them, there wasn't a huge call to find him,even though he'd just admitted to purposefully filling a possibly fatal mistake.

I'm prepared for nothing but disappointment. ALL these people outta there. Ale's best friend is in love with his ex. 😭 IT'S SUMMER'S 18TH BIRTHDAY. MYNIGGA She really stood her other best friend up to go get some dick on a little ass boat

The little sister shot her shot! 😭😭😭 He told her she's like his little sister and she burnt off mad denna muffugga

This child drunk, walking down the street in the middle of the night without her glasses...

OMG AS I WAS TYPING THAT SHE GOT HIT BY A DAMN CAR

I was really upset by these things coming to light, and also whenever Blue gets hit by a car, because all of the reviews that I've seen on this site have been that it's a cute love story with likable characters, but nobody mentions the problematic content, the dark portions of the story that can be triggering - like suicide and alcohol incidents and literally seeing a young Black girl be hit and run by a car???

I wasn't prepared for that shit in a "cute love story." I think that this story is less cute and more dark than people have made it out to be, and that's one of my problems with it. It isn't marketed as a dramatic coming of age story. It's marketed as a romantic comedy, when it is more serious than that and has a lot of issues that should be considered.

The lesbian best friend is in love with her too??????????????????? I. Hate. This.

My favorite person in this whole thing is the lesbian in the background, Irene. And also Dario.

I was entertained a lot of the times. Just heavily confused because I couldn't figure out what the tone was supposed to be. 😁

In conclusion - it's maybe a dark comedy, not a cute comedy, IS a coming of age about a young Black girl who is kind of an asshole, but Black girls should be free to be assholes too. White dudes do it all the time and are valued characters. The dude is weird AF for chasing around this 17 year old girl and he's in his 20s. Idk if that's normal in Italy. It's nasty to me. Their beginning is young people foolishness and there's not much that we see their relationship built upon, but that happens, yanno. You young, tired and silly and some pushy dude makes his move whenever he see you. Slap some discount sex in a dinghy on it and you have this show. I don't recommend it, but a lot of folk loved it, so I guess it did what it meant to do.

#BFCD Reviews by Nesha #Nesha Watches Summertime with Regrets #Nesha Watches Summertime #It's just called Summertime. I watched it with regrets but #Here was my takeaway #Summer Bennati #Summertime #summertime netflix #Nesha Watches

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malenamoonlight · 6 years

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I watched the first couple episodes of Vikings and I love Lagertha. I also love writing, and I'm really excited about doing a crossover fic with her. My challenge is this: Lagertha, at least from what I've seen, is on-screen for less than half of each episode. That makes watching the show for her seem like a chore; I'd rather be writing! But I want a better sense of her character and her voice for my fic. So, are there Lagertha-centric episodes that you recommend?

“Trial” (1x04)

She left her children in Athelstan’s care and went on a long trip to raid with her man. She’s constant in a conflict with her duties as a mother and her inner warrior desires, her true nature. This is, actually, a modern conflict that thousands of women face every day (job X maternity/marriage). We see a extremely brave woman that kills to protect another woman (Lagertha and saxon woman X Knut). And, at Ragnar’s trial, who took the blame for Knut’s murder, she couldn’t see her man being wrongly accused, so she assumed that she’s the guilty one, and she even cursed Earl Haraldson lol (may Thor strike you dead).

This is LAGERTHA. Her true nature.

A King’s Ransom (1x07)

Since she became the Queen of Kattegat, it’s very common to see people on the fandom calling her dumb. I saw people even comparing her to “Donald Trump”, because she decided to build a wall to keep Kattegat safe, and because Ivar is a “genius”, so everybody else is dumb for those people. So, I chose a scene to suggest otherwise… but, unfortunately, I didn’t find the scene on Youtube, so I will transcript it:

What is the problem here? The problem is her! What has she done? She has had a child - the boy in her arms.What of it? He’s not my child. We tried for many years to have children, but without success. And then, just over a year ago, a young man came to the door. I remember the day, I was making a loom. The young man said his name was Rig. He gave us some good advice on our work and stayed at our house. After three days, he left. And then nine months later, she gave birth to a son.Whose child is it? I do not know, my lady. We were all in the same bed. I was too scared-you see? She is not an honest woman. She had sex with Rig, and could not bring herself to tell me the truth! Do you know who this Rig was? No. He was just a young man.On the contrary. We know from our ancient stories that Rig is another name for Heimdal.The God Heimdal? My lady! Yes, the God Heimdal! You are fortunate that he chose your household to appear in. That’s just a story! Our whole lives are just stories. You should be ashamed you did not trust your wife, despite the joy and comfort she has brought you, and the fact that a God chose you of all people to visit.Do not punish her, but rejoice with her.Drink wine with her.And sacrifice one of your animals to Heimdal the God.But if I hear you have harmed this woman, or this child, you will answer for it to me!

She was so sensitive to this woman’s situation. She put herself in her place, and did her best to settle the matter. Ragnar left her pregnant, taking care of Kattegat, while he was raiding in England. She’s far from being a dumb ruler.Here’s one more fact, she faced the spread of a deadly disease, that wiped out several people in Kattegat, including her own daughter, while Ragnar was away, doing his own stuff and f*cking Aslaug.

Yep, she’s a good ruler.

“Answers in Blood” (2x05)

After four years since she left, hearing about what Ragnar was going through, she went to help him.In that same episode, Princess Aslaug was very insecure with Lagertha’s presence in Kattegat. Even so, Ragnar asked Lagertha to stay, but she denied and took off.

Lagertha: Regarding my son, I don’t know what to do. Ragnar: Then he should stay. You both should stay. Lagertha: Your wife would not be happy. Ragnar: I imagine not.

“As for me I must go back to my husband.I have a duty; I am a responsible person.But I leave my son in your good hands.Look after him, Ragnar.He’s all I have left.”

She respected Aslaug, who’s in a vulnerable situation, pregnant, and still trying to establish herself as Ragnar Lothbrok consort.

Aslaug: Lagertha! Thank you. There are no possible words to describe What you have done for us. I will always be in your debt.Lagertha: The debt is already paid. The future is open. Trust in the gods. Live for each moment.

Another two facts from season 2 that shows the true Lagertha’s essence:

- Kills her abusive husband in self defense;- And this:

Lagertha: How’s your baby? How’s Ivar?

Aslaug: Do you know?

Lagertha: Yes. And I tell you this, what you’re doing is far more courageous than fighting in a shield wall. I just want you to know.

Aslaug: Thank you.

(02x10)

…

I hope that answers your question. I feel so happy doing that, wrinting about the Lagertha I madly fell in love :)

#lagertha #ask

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roccinan · 3 years

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I finally had the time to start watching lcdp and I'm trying to savour it (what is there to savour unfortunately, it reads like a Hollywood action movie). I've just seen the first 2 episodes.

I was extremely touched by Marsillia's scene with Sergio in the 2nd episode. Like, the man genuinely smiled because he thought Sergio was finally resting?? He tucked him in?? He gently touched his face? Omg! I was just so glad that Sergio still has someone to take care of him a little! Like, he's always the one who had to be strong, has to have all the answers and look out after the others. Andrés looked after him but he's not here anymore! Maybe Marsillia took one look at Sergio burning at both ends at the monastery and was like "My friend Andrés in not here anymore to take care of his brother, I shall honor him by doing it in his stead. That's what he would have wanted."

I miss Andrés & Sergio together! There aren't any flashbacks with them yet...I really don't give a fuck about Andrés's child that appeared out of nowhere. Andrés is only capable of parenting 1 child ever and that's his weird, too smart for his own good little brother. Like I will not accept a neglect of THE relationship of the series in the last season of the damn show.

Hi anon! If I had the patience, I would have waited until December to watch lcdp 5 vol. 1 and 2 at the same time, but alas, I'm not that patient XD There's still so long to go, so do take your time! You're right in that there isn't... much to savor this time around. It does feel like a Hollywood action movie tbh, that randomly cuts in the middle to turn Andres into Indiana Jones. BUT the episode 5 is super powerful and the vol. 1 finale at the very least made me remember why I loved this stupid show so much in the first place lol.

re: Marseille and Sergio: SAME. I thought it was so cute when Marseille tucked him in and went, "aww, he's sleeping!" Then I laughed when he just dropped his guard and Alicia came at him XD But I found that a heartwarming little moment. Marseille's been taking such great care of Sergio since S4 that he's naturally stepping into the big brother role Andres left behind :')

And I had the exact same thought omg. I'm sure this implies that Marseille was closer to the brothers than we thought and he was especially fond of Andres' soft spot for Sergio. It's just a very sweet implication and I want to see more of it. Taking care of Sergio is exactly what Andres would have wanted. Marseille is just *clenches fists* such a great friend.

asdasf I literally could not give less of a shit about Andres' child or his dumb storyline. You can't just introduce a new character in the last season and expect us to care about him over the characters who are already there asdfasdf. The problem isn't that Andres has a son, the problem is that we, as an audience, don't give a shit!! Literally everyone sees the character as a waste of time.

The only person Andres ever correctly parented was Sergio, and their relationship has been one of the pillars of the series (at least when it comes to Sergio, literally the protagonist after Tokyo). They BETTER make it up to us with plenty of hermanos content in vol. 2.

#anonymous #hermanos superiority #it was just wild that sergio's two most important relationships got pushed aside this time #(arguably 3)#we barely saw him interact with his girlfriend #OR his brother #and he didn't even really talk to his 'daughter' until the finale??

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sulietsexual · 7 years

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I've seen people constantly asking about buffy/spike/angel!!! But what about Cordy and angel? Thoughts?!? Any meta? I love ur meta

So, I personally don’t ship Cangel, for me the chemistry was never there and the ship felt very forced. Butif you’re after an in-depth meta on the ship, here is an old meta of mine never published on Tumblr,polished up a bit, exploring what I believe went wrong with the Cangel ship.Warning – this is a loooong read.

Angel are a ship that, in theory, reallyshould have worked. The audience watch them evolve from strangers to friends tofamily, growing closer and learning more about each other in the process. Theyhave amazing chemistry as friends and are addictively watchable in theirinteractions. Moving their relationship into romantic territory seemed like themost natural step for the writers to take. Unfortunately it all went terriblywrong. The question is why? It doesn’t seem right that this particular pairing,with their chemistry and history, didn’t work onscreen.

The initial seeds of the Cangelrelationship are sown throughout the early episodes of Season 3. Season 1introduced their friendship, Season 2 established it and Season 3 is where itstarts to move towards something more romantic. We start to see the small hintsthat Angel’s feelings may be changing when Cordelia starts receiving physicalmanifestations of her visions in 3.2 That Vision Thing. Angel’s concern andrage over what is happening to Cordelia are similar to the emotions heexpressed when he was with Buffy. We also see a change in Cordelia’s feelingsas she tearfully tells Angel of her fear that he won’t need her anymore.Whereas in previous seasons she may have said that the group didn’t need her,or she didn’t know her place in the world, she now focuses on Angel and what itwill mean for him not to need her.

In 3.5 Fredless we are given more smallbut priceless gems to indicate the furthering of Angel and Cordelia’s feelings.Just watching Angel’s face when Cordelia calls him over to be patched up isadorable and her affectionate look along with her teasing “What adork” comment are equally touching. We are also treated to thedelightfully droll “I could sooth your ass off, pal” comment fromCordelia, along with Angel’s petulant “You think I’m fat?” line. Allof these separately do not indicate more than friendship but when put togetherstart to form a picture of what’s to come.

Episode 3.6 Billy gives us one of themost natural and beautiful scenes in the construction of the Cangel relationship.The episode opens with Angel and Cordelia working out in the basement as Angeltrains her to fight. As Cordelia brings a sword up over her head, she and Angellean into the blow together, moving in perfect synchronisation. Angel touchesher hip as he moves with her and she leans into him. The scene is notoverflowing with sexual tension (although there is enough to please viewers)but rather showcases the naturalness with which Cordelia and Angel interactwith and touch each other. This one scene shows the beauty of Cangel and theconnection that lies at the core of their relationship, highlighting how intune the two are with each other.

With the return of a very pregnant Darla,Cordelia and Angel’s budding relationship is sidelined. Not only does Darla’sreturn bring up Angel’s unresolved feelings towards her, it cuts through thetrust that has been building between Cordy and Angel since Season 2. Cordeliais horrified at what Angel has done, not from jealousy but because of the trusthe has betrayed. She is deeply hurt that he lied to her and equallydisappointed by the way in which he treated Darla and it’s only natural for herto take a step back from him.

With the next few episodes focused onDarla’s pregnancy and the birth of Connor, little attention is paid to Cangel.It is not until episode 3.11 Birthday that we are tossed another scrap. Twovery small moments underline the growing feelings between Angel and Cordelia.The first comes when Cordelia is being shown the moment she first encounteredAngel in L.A. The love and affection on Cordy’s face as she watches the replayis beautifully understated and needs no further exploration. Her eyes say itall. She is looking at a man she loves and respects and it shows on every inchof her face. Likewise, Angel’s quiet moment with Cordelia as she lies in a comais equally understated and touching. In angry tones he tells her off for nottelling him how badly the visions are affecting her. Underneath his anger isthe very real fear of losing her and realising what she has come to mean tohim. At the end of the episode his joy when she wakes up is beautiful.

If things between Cordelia and Angel hadcontinued to unfold in this manner they would have ended up in a beautifullyconstructed relationship, built on trust, friendship and mutual respect, whilestill keeping their core personalities in place. It could have been thestrongest ship on AtS. Unfortunately the writers had other ideas.

Cue 3.13Waiting In The Wings, the episode which kick-starts the assassination of thispairing. Waiting In The Wings is not a strong episode to begin with and theridiculous route that they take Cordelia and Angel down only adds insult toinjury. All the way back at 3.7 Offspring, Fred introduced the term“kyrumption” in reference to Cordy and Angel, explaining to Angel howit means that he and Cordy are destined to be together. In Waiting In The Wingsthe writers’ felt the need to echo it, this time from Lorne. What’s problematicwith “kyrumption” is that it takes away the audiences’ enjoyment ofdiscovering where the relationship is heading, opting instead to push the relationship onto the viewers.It’s almost as if the writers were worried that they were being too subtle anddecided they needed to make it absolutely clear that Cordy and Angel were meantto be. This was completely unnecessary, as fans were already on board withCangel as a ship and had so far enjoyed watching the build-up. To drop an anvilso obnoxiously onto the viewers lessens the connection between Cordy and Angeland the connection the audience has to the pairing.

Waiting In The Wings continues to murderthe Cordy/Angel dynamic with the plot involving the “echoes” of theprima ballerina and her lover. At this point in the relationship Cordelia and Angelhave not even admitted their feelings to each other and have only just startedto display physical tendencies that would indicate growing romantic feelings.The relationship was not ready to be taken to a physical level, much less thelevel this episode took it to. Laced with obnoxiously dramatic dialogue, Cordyand Angel get hot and heavy in the ballerina’s dressing room, in a scene souncomfortable it’s a wonder the actors didn’t demand a script rewrite.

While it’s not the first time a potentialrelationship has gotten to a physical level before its’ time, the way the scenewas written made for very difficult viewing. Overdramatic dialogue has no placein the Cangel relationship, even via a spell (more on this later). If theepisode had played out in comedic fashion, along the lines of Spike/Buffy inBtVS episode Something Blue, it would have been easier to handle. However, thewhole scene in the dressing room comes across as just another way for thewriters’ to say “Look! Look at how these two are meant to betogether!”. It’s made even worse by the fact that Charisma and Davidseemed to have lost all their chemistry when filming the scene. Whether that’sdown to the dialogue, the storyline or the actors not being comfortable withthe scenario is open to debate.

The cherry on top of the awfulness thatis Waiting In The Wings comes right at the end of the episode. At first we aregiven hope that maybe Cordelia and Angel will finally get to start arelationship, as Angel tentatively starts to tell Cordelia about his feelingsfor her. He is unfortunately interrupted by the arrival of the Groosalug andwith him a ridiculous plot point designed to throw a spanner in the works. Whythe writers’ felt the need to turn Cangel into a love-triangle is beyond me.Bringing Groo back onto the show seemed to serve no purpose other than keepingCordy and Angel apart, a curious move for the writers, given how strongly theyhad been pushing Cangel onto the audience in the very same episode. Whatfollows the Groosalug’s return is an almost complete demolition of therelationship that has been building between Cordelia and Angel. Cordy is senton vacation and Angel is left to brood silently until the biggest tragedy ofhis life occurs; losing his son.

It is completely unforgivable that thewriters’ left Cordelia out of the episodes that centre on Angel losing Connor.She is the one person who has been with him from the beginning and the oneperson who has always been there for him. He has now reached a point where he lovesher and she him (even if they haven’t admitted it) yet she is not present whenhis son is taken from him. That is a travesty and underlines how badly thewriters’ had lost the plot (pun intended) when it came to the Angel/Cordydynamic. To remove the heart of the group and the woman Angel loves during sucha pivotal time in the series was a huge mistake and furthers the destruction ofthe Cordelia/Angel relationship. They have been through everything together yetthey are separated during one of the biggest losses in the show and that hasnever sat well with me.

The tail end of Season 3 takes the messalready created and, if possible, seems to make it worse. When Cordelia returnsfrom vacation she is out-of-character and veering dangerously towards Mary Sueterritory. She has traded in her sarcasm and bluntness for “wiser”, softerstatements, which are very jarring. Her romance with the Groosalug seemsincredibly shallow, her interactions with Angel and the other characters areawkward and she is used as a Deux Ex Machina in several episodes (3.19 ThePrice comes to mind).

In the midst of being treated to an OOCCordelia, the writers resume their campaign to show us how much she and Angelare meant to be together, with Groo now weighing in on their relationship. Thewhole tail-end of the season comes across as being rushed and badly written,including the awkwardly set-up meeting between Cordy and Angel which, ofcourse, neither of them makes it to. Season 3 ends with the completeassassination of Cordelia as a character as she suddenly decides that leavingeveryone she loves and everything she cares about to go and float around in theHeavens is a good idea. The fans were left on a cliff-hanger, wondering whatthe hell happened to their ship and fervently praying that Season 4 wouldresolve all the issues. Unfortunately this was not to be the case.

Season 4 opens with Angel at the bottomof the ocean and Cordelia floating around in the Heavens. For the first threeepisodes of Season 4 we are treated to (very small) doses of the old Cordeliaas she bitches about being bored and fruitlessly yells at Angel to help her getback to earth. When she finally descends back to earth, she has convenientlydeveloped amnesia and stays in this state for several episodes, thuseliminating any hope the fans had that maybe their ship would be repaired.

4.4 Slouching Towards Bethlehem treats usto uncomfortable and slightly hostile interactions between Angel andAmnesia-Cordy. In trying to find out more about her former life Cordy grillsAngel about her identity and Angel in turn decides it would be best to lie toher for her protection. In a very OOC manner he seems to ignore the fact that,memory or no memory, this is Cordelia Chase, an incredibly strong and capable womanwho is one of the least likely people to need protection. Cordelia is, rightly,pissed off by his lies and ends up rejecting him and going to stay with Connor,creating the first of many rifts that occur between these two over the courseof Season 4.

4.5 Supersymmetry shifts the focus fromCordelia/Angel and onto Fred/Gunn, however a scene at the end of the episodebrings us back to Cordy/Angel, in an exchange which smacks of the writers onceagain trying to push Cangel onto the viewers. Cordelia sits Angel down to askabout the nature of their relationship. Rather than ease in with a mildquestion such as “Did we have feelings for each other?” or “Werewe a couple?” Cordy is given the God-awful line “Were we inlove?”. No subtlety, no hedging. The writers just can’t seem to grasp theconcept show don’t tell and decideinstead to shove this relationship down our throats. This question is onceagain brought up at the end of 4.6 Spin The Bottle, with Angel this time posingthe question to Cordy just after she receives her memory back. With a tearfulchoke in her voice she replies “We were” thus smacking the audiencein the face with the obvious (yet again).

Season 4 continues the slow destructionof Cordy/Angel as Cordelia once again rejects Angel in 4.7 Apocalypse Nowish.In a scene overflowing with ridiculously dramatic dialogue and wangst thatrivals the Buffy/Angel relationship, Cordelia informs Angel that while sheloves him, she can’t be with him because of all the horrifying things he did asAngelus.

Time out. This scene is one of the mostdamaging in the entire Cangel destruction. I previously mentioned that dramaticdialogue has no place in the Cordy/Angel dynamic and this scene emphasisesthat. Cordy and Angel have always had one of the most natural and drama-freerelationships in the Buffyverse. Their exchanges are usually quick, intelligentand razor-sharp, bouncing back and forth and staying refreshingly real. Eventheir more intense discussions stay very close to earth, reminding the audiencehow in tune they are with each other and how well suited they could be as a pairing.

This makes the scene in Apocalypse Nowishextremely OOC for both of them. The dialogue comes out sounding unnatural andstilted, leaving the audience cringing. Additionally, everything Cordy isactually saying to Angel is OOC. Cordelia has always been aware of what Angelcan become. She lived through Angelus’ reign of terror in Sunnydale, so sheknows exactly what he is capable of and she will protect herself and othersagainst him without hesitation were he to lose his soul. However this has neverclouded her view of him nor has it ever changed the way she feels about him.She knows that he is a good man who, yes, has a dark side, but she acceptsthis. For her to turn around and claim that Angelus is standing in the way ofher being with Angel is ridiculous, to say the least.

Season 4 then offers us the biggest andgrossest OOC moment for Cordelia, as she seduces and sleeps with Connor.Thousands of fans were left wondering what the hell just happened as theywatched Angel stumble onto the sight of the woman he loves having sex with hisson. The rift that this action causes ensures that for the rest of the seasonCordelia and Angel don’t stand a chance of reconciling and the dozens of Cangelshippers out there were left stunned and outraged. Of course the biggest revealwas yet to come.

Over the course of the next severalepisodes, the focus is shifted away from Cordy/Angel and onto the group as theyface battle after battle, strip Angel of his soul, recruit a Slayer to save himand finally bring in Uber Witch Willow to re-ensoul him. In the midst of allthis, two bombshells are dropped in quick succession ““ Cordy has turnedevil and is pregnant with Connor’s child. Both of these plot points furtherdrive Angel and Cordelia apart, leaving the fans with little to no hope forthis pairing.

The revelation that Cordelia isn’t evensteering her own body brings both relief and anger. On the one hand, at leastwe now know why Cordelia has been so OOC for the entire season and a reasonableexplanation is given for all her indiscretions. On the other hand that meansthat Angel went through all of this pain for nothing. The woman he loved nevertruly came back and once this discovery is made Angel is then faced with makingthe decision to kill her in order to save the world. In the end he escapeshaving to do so however Cordelia is left in a coma with Angel not knowing ifshe will ever return to him. The ship was seemingly sunk, with fans leftdevastated. Luckily the writers were busy gift-wrapping one last offering.

Cue 5.12 You’re Welcome, anappropriately-named episode which finally restores the natural and beautifuldynamic of the Cordy/Angel relationship. Cordelia returns, completely back incharacter and does what she always does best – steers Angel down the rightpath. Everything is restored, from their sarcastic banter, to the realness oftheir more emotional scenes, to Cordy being back in Action Girl mode. The scenewhere Cordy bluntly but beautifully reminds Angel of who is his, of what hestands for is played out in the most natural and understated way, with bothcharacters struggling to express their feelings but still managing to get theirmessages across. The final scene of the episodes is possibly the most amazingand wonderfully written Cangel scene in the entire show. Cordelia reaffirms herbelief in Angel before quietly explaining that she can’t stay. Their final kissis truly the only Cangel kiss that really shows how well they work together,being natural and full of chemistry. Their relationship, which went through somuch destruction at the hands of the writers, is allowed to end on abittersweet note and fans and shippers alike are finally given closure.

#angel #ats #ats meta #cangel #cordelia x angel #long post #meta #Anonymous #answered

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