#seriously the morals of this game are messed up no matter what you believe in or who you are | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

chishiyae · 1 year

Text

— HIS LOVE FOR YOU ! [𝙛𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜] e42! miles morales.

𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬 ┊ a ten headcannon summary on what it’s like being the prowlers girlfriend. a man whose demeanor is cold but heart is warm.

a/n. — pretty sure it’s been…what? five months since i’ve last been on here? damn that was a long time ago, but i’m back and after restarting my layout and things, i’m writing 🤍

E42!MILES, will never tell you how he feels about emotional matters in your relationship. and by this, i mean that if you were to lay on his chest one day knowing he's had a rough day, instead of saying thank you or how much he loves you (or anything like that), he'll massage your back and close his eyes in contentment. he's been more reclusive to himself than ever since he lost his dad. and, as much as he loves and appreciates you, it's difficult for him to be so honest. so, he does that slowly…but even then, he holds a few things back. because he can never just show you all of his love.

when it comes to “i love you”, he takes that phrase very seriously. he believes it’s more than just a catchphrase and hence only says it when the situation really calls for it. that way you feel the meaning. like when he's leaving to do his duties as prowler, not knowing if he'll return. there have been a few occasions where he’s said it when the situation "didn't call for it" — by few, I mean less than five. although, as the relationship progresses, he says it more frequently than he normally would.

don't let him not saying it all the time mislead you for rejection. he fills that hole with a plethora of reassurances ranging from presents to nicknames. looking at "ma," "mamas," "baby," and "princesa," and you'll know he's serious when he uses your real name.

in arguments, he has a small tendency to forget that you have feelings. not to the point that you wanna end the relationship, but enough that you need to ignore him for a day because if you tried more than a day, he wouldn't be able to handle it anymore. you each have a day to chill out and that's all. he values communication. always has been — even before his father died — but now that he's allowing another person into his life, his priorities are shifting and you’re definitely in his list of people to cherish and protect. so he does everything he can to talk things out and apologize. arguments don’t happen often.

he’s not possessive, but rather protective. I mean, can you blame him with this fucked up city? every time you two go out, it’s either holding hands or him putting an arm over your shoulder so no one messes with you. if you’d ask him if a revealing outfit you're wearing is okay, he'd answer "doesn't matter, I can fight." for sure.

for your safety, he never includes you in prowler-related activities, talks, or general topics, but of course he told you about him being the prowler. he told you the instant he realized he loved you. and only tells you he loves you after you’ve accepted that reality. disregarding his uncle's advice not to tell you anything. communication is key right? and that’s a big part of his life.

just like physical touch. he loves kissing you. your forehead and neck especially. passionate kisses are his favorite, slow and sweet. his kisses always aimed at determining what you ate or placed to your lips prior so he could get a taste and guess. regardless of how horrible or delicious it tastes because it's a tiny game he made. did that have anything to do with wanting to kiss you longer? yeah. but what did the first headcannon have to say about his emotions? plus, he liked it after the first time he tried it, and now it’s his favorite portion of any day.

meeting his mom would almost certainly be by coincidence. he wouldn't have planned for you to meet her for at least three months, so he knows it's serious, but she’d meet you sooner. you'd walk by her house and she'd say something like, "i've seen you around miles before," knowing he doesn't let many people in. and is curious about you. she'll naturally ask you as many questions as she can before miles interferes, but even if she likes you, don't address her by her first name.

it doesn't matter when, but whenever your finger is in his way? he’s gonna bite it. there’s no hesitation. as well as engaging in play fights with you whenever possible.

and last but certainly not least, encourages you to do things he’s never done. no elaboration. just gonna let you think on that one.

#「𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐘𝐀𝐄 𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄𝐒」#well look who’s finally back & writing #and in her astv era #don’t be scared to send request i’m opening it up rn #「𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐘𝐀𝐄 𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄𝐒 𝟏𝟎 𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐎𝐍」#across the spider verse × reader #spider man: across the spider verse #across the spiderverse #spiderverse × reader #spiderverse spoilers #into the spiderverse x reader #into the spider verse #miles morales earth 42 × reader #earth 42 miles morales × reader #miles morales x reader #earth 42 miles morales #miles morales × you #miles morales x yIn #miles morales

679 notes · View notes

heavenlymorals · 15 days

Text

How a Modern Perspective Skews Historical Characters: A Mini Rant on the Hatred of Female Characters in RDR2

This isn't that organized cuz it's more a rant than a retrospective but fuck it it's my blog, I do what I want-

There are so many people who have actual hatred, not criticisms, for Abigail, Molly, Grimshaw, Mary, and other female characters in the Red Dead universe.

And honestly? I find it very interesting. Sure, men will probably always find a reason to hate a female character, but what I find interesting is how many women also hate these wonderfully crafted characters.

It could be so many reasons as to why this may be the case but honestly? I think it's because people forget that they CANNOT analyze this game authentically through the modern lens of morals and behaviors. This game takes place in 1899 America. Let me say it again. This game takes place in 1899 America.

One more time, just for good measure- this game takes place in FUCKING 1899 America. Women had to be dependent on men because otherwise? They'll either be in poverty, exploited, killed, or all three. There was also the honor system. When had to be the moral high ground for their family so them messing up has consequences on their fathers, mothers, siblings, cousins, and anyone connected to their family name.

Abigail getting pissy at John for getting in trouble all the time? If course it'd feel annoying if you're looking at it through the modern perspective but when you don't, it's a woman telling her man to act like a man and be careful because if he doesn't, she and her son will be destitute and destroyed.

Mary not getting with Arthur but using him? What's the likely hood that the law would bother to help Mary when the two people she needs help with are her father and brother- two grown men who can make their own choices that she literally can do nothing about because as a woman, it wasn't her place to dictate what they do. Arthur was her only option. "Girl, what her family thinks doesn't matter, she still should've gotten with him" girl no, because it's much harder and difficult than that- it's like tearing away an entire identity that you depend on to fucking survive.

"but what about Sadie? She was also living during this time period and she isn't drowned by societal expectations-"

Seriously. Do some research, read a book, expand your knowledge of gender roles and what that entails for people because it explains so many things about these characters in such a human way. They aren't "bitches", they are women of their time and people have to understand that.

No. Sadie isn't a part of this discussion because though she is a fun character and an amazing character, she is a mishmash of historical women who did masculine things to survive at one point but then went back to traditional roles, even if they did occasionally go back to to those old activities for sport sometimes, like Anne Oakley or Calamity Jane. Sadie's entire character is basically "but what if they didn't and committed to the nontraditional lifestyle". There are many inconsistencies that Rockstar did regarding the time period that they established earlier to accommodate Sadie's character better. Sadie is a great character but she doesn't belong in this discussion.

Edit: Ok, since this was a rant, as mentioned previously, I was a bit too rushed with the Sadie aspect of this post and ignored some crucial details. I'm not gonna change the post besides just this though. @hillbillyhipster84 made some great points that Sadie was a reference to Appalachian women and real outlaw women who did run and were accomplices in men's crimes, that I was too ignorant to mention prior beforehand because I didn't do much research. I still don't believe that People should use Sadie to bash the other women though, because those women mentioned above were not the status quo and thus were more trivialized because of it.

So many cultures still operate like this too so if anything, you're just learning something new about another culture.

But I swear, anytime someone talks shit about these characters, y'all got me looking like this-

#rdr2 #red dead redemption 2 #abigail marston #mary linton #susan grimshaw #molly o'shea #arthur morgan #rant post #historical #guys should i do a full post analyzing all the girlies from a historical period to better understand their character?

88 notes · View notes

missnight0wl · 2 years

Note

So the latest TLSQ was... something. Once again not surprised Merula was involved considering what a fucking nightmare she is to share oxygen with but I'm really disappointed by a very clear plot direction not being taken.

(!! Spoilers for "The Tale of Pumpkin Johnny" TLSQ !!)

MC has a nightmare of Pumpkin Johnny attacking them in the Forbidden Forest. Later, when the group is talking about how Barnaby also had a nightmare, MC is given the option to say if they had a nightmare as well or not.

I chose not to tell. We later find out and see that people get attacked in locations they saw in their dreams. Much later, MC goes with Merula to the Duelling Room, where they both get attacked after finding a note that says they are next.

It's when I thought to myself "A-ha! MC getting attacked in the Duelling Room instead of the Forbidden Forest like they dreamt shows that this isn't something supernatural! I bet this is that pumpkin seller dude pulling a Scooby-Doo scheme or Merula doing a prank!" I can't remember if we learn about the pumpkin dude before or after the attack but my suspicions laid between him and Merula.

Except... this never comes up. Our decision to whether tell we too had a nightmare or not did not matter, and MC never mentions it.

I also have issues with the supposed moral of the story but I was like "Whatever, this TLSQ blows" by that point with how the writers clearly missed out on actually showcasing MC's intelligence.

I now get why MC is such a moron if their writers are like this.

(I don't get why the idea of Pumpkin Johnny is so odd considering this story is of fantasy/supernatural genre? We have curses, ghosts, ghouls, all with such insane origins that the idea of a student being teased into running away into the Forbidden Forest, dying there and returning as a vengeful spirit is the most basic story ever.

The moral of the story is also fucking stupid and unfair considering how the person who called him forth is not only the biggest bully of the cast, but she also got away with everything. MC & Co. were terrorized emotionally and actually got physically injured, but Miss Merula Snyde gets to eat pumpkin pasties with a slap on the wrist! Fuck this bullshit.)

I was actually planning to do this quest because I thought I’m missing some points for this month’s Magical Milestone. But then I opened my game yesterday and it turned out I completed it already after all, so… I don’t think I want to waste my time on Pumpkin Johnny anymore, to be honest. Because it’s not the first negative opinion about it I see.

Seriously, I don’t know what it is with Halloween TLSQs, but if you ask me, none of them was good so far. The first one wasn’t bad, but I can’t stand the stupidity of first-year MC defeating Fenrir Greyback. I believe on the second Halloween, we got only Chiara’s friendship TLSQ, which is admittedly not a seasonal quest, but I’m still gonna count it. And here, I just can’t accept that Remus Lupin would tell a twelve-year-old child: “The power of friendship will help you survive the night with a deadly werewolf!”. Then we had the Deathday Party TLSQ which was just boring, and the one where Merula decided to steal Gryffindor’s Sword which was just a hot mess. And like… why they’re all so bad?? Halloween is such a great topic to work with!

I’m sorry I’m not addressing your plot-related comments, but… I don’t even know if I want to learn about this plot. That being said, I do think that your concerns sound valid, even without this knowledge. Especially the one about the supernatural genre.

It just…

*sighs*

#hogwarts mystery #hphm #hphm spoilers #pumpkin johnny tlsq #jam city #ask #anonymous

8 notes · View notes

elderemorune · 4 months

Text

A Diatribe

I'm fucking tired.

Just wiped.

I haven't written in days and my brain is a mess. I don't know how to process some of it, so I've just been mainlining the MSQ in FF14. I love the game, but I'm worried I've been doing escapism too much lately.

I have an Atlas complex. Hero complex, whatever you wanna call it, I'm the guy who's right there, ready to help every goddamn time. I am the tank, the one who takes the hits and backs up the party by making sure they can do their Jobs well.

My whole life, I've been told that my value is tied directly to helping others. I've always made it my goal to help people. It's not where I derive all of my value these days, but I find it telling that my preferred form of entertainment/relaxation is still doing that job.

I am a good tank. Not a great one, but a good one. I know my Job well, and take it seriously when I'm in game. It matters to me that I do well in the dungeons and during raids. I'm not even to HW yet, and I still can't wait to try Dark Knight, because swords are cool. Gunbreaker is also high on my list, almost entirely because Slicks will look way too cool with a Gunblade.

I have another character too. His name is Rassjan Starlight, he's married to Persephone Starlight, and is the toon I wear when I play with my wife. Where Slicks is a Warrior, Rassjan is a Paladin, a Job I identify more with, likely due to my incredibly strong sense of justice, a sense that was honed in my ten years being together with my wife.

And I've been thinking about how that happened. I've always cared about others, not what they think mind you, but in general. I don't want people to get hurt or to die, and generally believe that people are good. This has always been where my morality comes from, even when I got sucked into the alt-right pipeline. For a long time, all I could see was other people getting hurt, but I didn't see how they were hurting others.

I'm fairly certain that I'm the tank because I'd rather be the one getting hurt. I can take it, I know I can. Shit, I've lived through enough at this point to know that short of murderous violence, I can take it. I've seen 'mothers' decry their children as selfish solely because they want to live differently. I've been beaten, stepped on, elbowed punched, you name it. I've borne witness to the transformations of friends, the loss of enemies, and the shifting of cultural tides.

And I can take it. It's a lot, but I can.

It's not even a saviour thing. If I can buy my allies just a few seconds, just a scant moment, so that they can escape or deal the killing blow, I'm there. But I didn't save anyone, I've only enabled them to save themselves.

Like my wife. She says all the time that I saved her from a miserable life, but that's not true. She saved herself, I just extended the hand. I took the fights she couldn't so that she could get strong enough to take them on later.

Five years ago, if I'd proposed that I never want to speak to her mother again, this would have posed a problem. But now she's on board. Three years ago, I never would have envisioned my father trying to apologize for being a bad dad, but because I took the fight and enabled him to grow and heal, he did.

And the thing is, I've never done this alone. I used to say I raised myself, which is only half right. While my mom has always been distant, and my dad wasn't the best growing up, I still had people around me. Family friends who wanted to see me succeed. They took the fights I couldn't. My wife does it too now, sometimes. She encourages me to step back from dealing with my father when I'm drained. To take time for me from time to time, even with me caring for her full time on top of my job.

(Side note, is that why I'm always so goddamn tired?)

I think it feels similar in FF for me. The story is fun, but the meat of my love for the game is in exploring the world and seeing the incredible setting and in diving headfirst into dungeons across the land, fighting monsters and buying my party the time they need to dispatch our foes.

Real life, like FF, cares about our party composition. A tank to buy time for the DPS to take care of threats, and a healer to put them out when they all inevitably catch fire. A poorly constructed party may clear a dungeon, but it's harder. A poorly constructed friend group may be helpful sometimes, but it's still harder.

I dunno.

I think I've lost the plot, and don't recall what I wanted to say anymore. I tend to bullfrog anyway, you know? Talk just to hear my own voice or whatever.

Eh screw it.

1 note · View note

onebizarrekai · 3 years

Text

v3′s art is comically terrible for a professionally distributed game in a series: a compilation

in this not-essay I will list all of the mistakes and problems I have spotted in v3′s art. don’t worry, it’s entirely for fun and I’m doing this on a whim, so please feel free to not take this seriously but also it’s hilarious and embarrassing how ridiculous this is like what happened did they speedrun the whole production or what

see, there are some things you can take as meta like “they made it bad on purpose to allude to the downfall of tv shows that have been on air for much too long” but I have a very strong feeling this is not the case due to the nature of some of these errors

disclaimer, the more I study this art, the more I fear that the artists were underpaid and underslept, so if this is in fact the case, I am so sorry to all of them but also I’m going to make fun of the art anyway

anyway let’s get started!

if you study this image for longer than 5 seconds, you will see that kaede is the only one fully shaded and keebo is literally just his normal sprite pasted into the image. every other character is just an ordinary ref, hence most of them facing the exact same direction with neutral expressions on their faces. it looks like a bad edit, and is probably one of the worst pieces of art in the game. it kind of gets better from here on, but my roasting will not.

with that out of the way, here’s the problem that officially bothers me the most and clarifies my viewpoint of “this is not meta and an actual lack of company communication”

this freaking cg, which seems normal at a glance, but some wiseass was like “oh, kaede is a girl, so obviously she’s going to be shorter than the Male Protagonist™” ah, that’s funny. because if you look at the character bios, kaede is, in fact, one inch taller than shuichi and not like 6 inches shorter as she is shown here.

also shuichi’s shoulder is disproportionate and horrendous and he looks vaguely like a jojo character, but I wasn’t even thinking about that until right now.

thanks guys, 50% of the fandom who has never bothered to check these bios thinks that kaede is like 5′3 (did the developers really put so little thought into her to the point where drawing her correctly in the game didn’t even matter??)

also I would like to point out that, even though this isn’t related to the art itself, yes, a character kaede’s size being only 117 lbs is unfeasible, but this applies to literally every character in danganronpa ever and it’s not new news that it’s unrealistic

update: someone in the tags informed me that in versions of the game that use centimeters, like the japanese version, kaede is actually shorter than shuichi, which just adds another thing to the list of weird decisions the localization team made for no reason. that said, after confirming this, kaede is 167 cm in the original, while shuichi is 171 cm, which are approximately 5′6 and 5′7 respectively, but one inch is still nowhere near as drastic as it is depicted above. (in spite of this, I would rather depict kaede as slightly taller, so I’m probably going to keep doing that.)

the journey continues!

bro if you want kaede to have shoulder length hair then stick to it to begin with

you can pretend this is at an angle all you want but they definitely committed the shorter kaede sin a second time

wait a goddamn second.

DO YOU SEE THIS

no………… it wasn’t kaede who shrank. it was shuichi who got taller

speaking of which, can we talk about how shady the perspective is in this elevator pic? look at shuichi and kokichi in comparison to kaede. kokichi, who is canonically 7 inches (edit: or 5, if you’re loyal to the original) shorter than kaede, looks taller than kaede. he’s growing too. what steroids are these gays taking

running into the room, electric boogaloo: I don’t think tsumugi is supposed to be the same height as kokichi

gonta… gonta you’re lookin a bit like a jojo character there

I love how kaito’s head looks kind of like it was pasted onto his body. why is he the same size as shuichi? shouldn’t he be high school bully size or something? his torso is teensy

ah yes, white angie.

I love this cg but why is shuichi’s right hand so much bigger than his left hand

I also love how this cg looks like they literally took pictures of trees and pasted them into the background, especially on the left. the shadows are so weird, especially closer to the ceiling, it’s difficult for me to believe they didn’t do exactly that.

return of Enlarged shuichi

puberty update: kokichi is now taller than shuichi in spite of shuichi never missing leg day. what crimes will he commit

I have to mention it, guys. this has to be one of the worst danganronpa cgs. kokichi’s facial proportions look atrocious. look at the way his face sticks out like his jaw is in the wrong place. his scarf is a pasted texture. that’s it. this moment was so iconic but the cg just looks so… so… off. like something is terribly wrong, but you can’t put your finger on it.

you know what? let’s get into that ‘pasted texture’ thing.

let’s imagine you’re an artist working on a professional game. you’re assigned to draw cgs of kokichi ouma, who has a checkered scarf from hell. sure, it will be terrible to draw, but you only have to draw it once at a time! plus, perspective is pretty important, right? can you be bothered? nah, actually. let’s just copy paste a checkered pattern into the cg, because I’m sure nobody will notice. it’ll blend right in with the other cgs that someone actually put effort into drawing his scarf in, right?

no. the answer is no and I very much noticed. this genuinely looks terrible and I would understand taking a shortcut like that in fanart or even an indie game but this is a full price pc and console distributed game

(an addition: look at kokichi’s TINY HANDS in that last one)

meanwhile, they straight up forgot to color in kokichi’s scarf in this cg.

dude. I forgot about whatever the hell this cg was. anyway look at keebo please just look at him

lovin kaito’s baby arms

real talk, maybe you could argue that he’s missing muscle because he’s deathly sick, but most of his cgs don’t line up with this, and his arms just look disproportionate to his torso size (granted this is a consistent problem across all danganronpa games and a lot of characters have this weird problem, like hajime, but also kaito is bigger than hajime so I kind of have higher expectations of him) maybe it’s his stupid goatee and the way he reminds me of yasuhiro?? it creates this illusion that he’s older than he is and so I keep expecting him to look more like an adult

oh, also rantaro is missing some of his accessories in that video he made–you know the one–but I don’t wanna go back and screenshot it

also you may have noticed that I’m skipping all of the monokub cgs because I literally do not care about them and I’m not even bothering to check and see if they have artistic mistakes in them

JIMMY NEUTRON???

hey um uh kaito you seem to be missing your neck

hey guys do you like my pregame fanart

so, that done, the sprites are also pretty terrible at times. they’re not as interesting to go through, however, and downloading the full sprite sets for every character and studying every single one of them will drive me insane, so I’ll just sum some of the ones I noticed up. I made things for kaede and shuichi before deciding I wasn’t going to get into it, so here are these.

that said, other mistakes include kokichi missing his purple highlights in all of the sprites encompassing a specific pose, stray pixels all over the place on everyone, and everyone also has heavily inconsistent shading, but literally all I think about is how pregame shuichi is unshaded and two of kaede’s pregame sprites have glaring outfit change mistakes in them

anyway, thank you for taking the time to read my ridiculous ramble. in all seriousness, there’s this looming presence of some lack of communication in the development team, like with all the art and design inconsistencies, pieces and sprites that look rushed, stray pixels, and missing basic proportional stuff. these are the kinds of things that you supposedly have to pretty much have in the bag in order to get jobs in professional businesses, so it’s really weird to me that this game suffers from so many of these problems. it’s like they tried to make the art so much more crisp than the other games, but it fell on its face as they realized it was going to take longer to draw everything and they started to rush. it’s weird, because the coloring itself looks normal–it’s just sloppily drawn, and the proportions are a mess once put into the context of perspective. many of the cgs look like they were drawn by different people, and I’m still not over the fact that half of kokichi’s cgs have his scarf pasted in as a texture.

the moral of the story is that if you’re selling a game at full price that also happens to be in a series that has had 3 very good games in it already the stakes should probably be higher than this. v3 has been out for more than 3 years and it’s still $40 (did it cost more than that before? I sure hope not), and the overarching quality of the game is just not as high as the other games. I’m not saying that the other games don’t have any problems with their art at all, they’re just not as glaringly obvious and every artistic choice in those games feels intentional.

regardless, I had a blast roasting the art at 2am, so maybe you got a kick out of all this chaos.

#god I keep telling myself I'm gonna stop rambling about v3 #v3 spoilers #drv3 spoilers #ndrv3 #random stuff #but making this… it sounded so fun #danganronpa

659 notes · View notes

thecarnivorousmuffinmeta · 3 years

Note

how do you think edward would react if he was in the same truck-baseball game time loop bella was in (either if bella was in it or wasn't, whatever you prefer)

For reference, that one time Bella's stuck in a time loop.

Are we asking to make Edward even crazier than usual? Well, that will surely go... interesting places. Let's do it.

Edward In the Loop With Bella

Loop One

There Edward is, facing off with James, Victoria, and Laurent, gearing up for the fight of his life as he realizes exactly what it is James wants and is planning and then...

Then he blinks, he's in the parking lot, Bella's about to be hit by a van.

Edward panics, desperately saves her life, and has no idea what's happening. Did he... hallucinate those months? Were those his lovesick dreams of having Bella for himself?

Of course they were, he says as he drives to the hospital in Bella's car, sobbing as he listens to George Michael's Careless Whisper. For Bella, this bright, beautiful, angelic girl, could never love a beast such as him. He desperately tries to put his love for Bella out of his mind, for it can never be, what they had was a dream and nothing more.

BEEEEEELLLLLLLAAAAAA!

Bella ruins this noble, romantic, tragedy in two seconds when Edward enters the hospital and goes, "You're not going to believe me, but I'm from the fuuuuuuutuuuuuuure!"

Well, Edward doesn't actually like that, makes all of this a little anticlimactic. He questions her extensively, tries to convince her that she's just hallucinating, she hit her head pretty hard, but eventually gives up. Their memories seem to match up exactly, he and Bella are actually from the future.

Edward's not even sure why he's disappointed himself, yet, somehow he is.

He goes home and gets to be the one to tell the Cullens it's all fine, he's from the future, Bella is too, they're not going to kill her because Edward's in love with her, can we skip this?

The Cullens stare, Alice really doesn't know how she feels about this, but we get a similar reaction to canon. Where Carlisle says, "Alright then... I guess this means no moving."

Edward sighs, for the first time, he doesn't really feel like going to Bella's that night. He instead sits at the piano, playing Chop Sticks, wondering why he feels so despondent.

Bella loves him, he loves Bella, they're dating, he has everything he ever wanted. Why isn't he happy?

He gets to school and Bella's very clingy and seems to want to pick off exactly where they left off. She wants Edward to sit with her at lunch, she's talking about visiting the Cullens as soon as possible, she wants to go on a real date.

And Edward realizes that he doesn't have to battle with himself to stay away from Bella anymore, he's done that. He doesn't have to rescue her in Port Angeles, Bella's not going. He's not taking her to the meadow, he's done that too.

Edward's been there and done that for all of this. This isn't even a chance to redo his mistakes, if he'd really made any, because all the things he'd want to do again involve Bella who came back with him.

Edward throws himself into dating Bella, trying to shake himself loose from this strange sense of apathy. Bella doesn't even seem to notice the difference in him, something in Edward... grows a little cold.

He finds himself to returning to his plans of how best to nobly leave her. Something he always acknowledged he would do, but before looked at with reluctance. Now he actively schemes when and how it should occur.

He should wait until summer, that will be easiest on the family for the pretext of "moving", and that way he can go to Prom with Bella. She'll get over him quickly, move on with her human life, while Edward watches her from the shadows.

Bella finally starts to notice that Edward is... distant. She tries to confront him, ask what she's doing wrong, and desperately throws herself into the relationship. That just makes it worse for Edward.

The pair start fighting, Edward insists Bella does not come to the baseball game, and just then they loop again.

Loop Two

Edward's back in the parking lot, Bella's about to be hit by a van. Edward once again heroically saves her, but he feels as if he's going through the motions.

In the hospital room, neither Bella nor Edward say a word to one another, both realize exactly what has happened. After a moment of silence, Edward suggests that, perhaps, what they need is distance.

Just a few weeks apart.

Bella says nothing.

Edward consults Alice, telling her what's been happening to him, and Alice tells him that as far as she can tell nothing is wrong with time itself. Her visions work as usual, it's just that Edward and Bella's decisions have changed.

Though, not the outcomes, Alice confirms that either Bella will become a vampire or she'll die. Alice suggests, hesitantly, that if this keeps happening perhaps Bella has to be a vampire to stop this.

Perhaps that's why Alice only sees two futures. Because any future where Bella remains human, they loop.

Edward refuses to accept this in a rage. This, this cannot happen, he will loop for all eternity rather than turn Bella! HE IS NOT A TOY OF FATE!

There's a fire in Edward now, he returns through Bella's bedroom window, and restarts their passionate romance. Bella's thrilled, the love of her life has come back for her, she cries tears of joy.

For months, Bella and Edward are back in the honeymoon stage of their romance.

They loop again.

Loop Three

Bella points out that they're still looping. This is... starting to get weird. Maybe they should figure out solutions to this?

Edward says THIS IS FINE, with Alice's words ringing in the back of his mind. Bella can never know.

Too bad for him, this is Bella's first guess. Maybe, if she becomes a vampire, somehow the loops will stop. EDWARD WILL NEVER TARNISH HER LIKE THAT.

Bella is very hurt, and upset, and asks if Edward will seriously spend forever, trapped in these few months, unable to move forward rather than turn her.

Edward desperately tries to convince her that these months are wonderful. You love being trapped in this timeframe, Bella.

He romances her harder than ever, only this time, Bella's the one that's not thrilled.

She and Edward have no future. Edward would literally rather be trapped in this utterly absurd scenario, never able to move forward with their lives, rather than turn her into a vampire.

A lot of fights happen. In desperation, Edward proves that they can move forward, that this endless loop is what vampirism itself is like, where time ceases to have meaning. He proposes to Bella, they will marry.

Bella flat out says no, she doesn't want to marry, and god marry while she's still in highschool? Can she even legally get married right now?

Edward... did not expect that answer.

The pair end up on and off fighting up until the loop happens.

Loop Four

This time, distracted by his own ire, Edward forgets to stop the van. Bella is crushed, Edward and the family have to hightail it out of there to not slurp her blood off the asphalt, and Edward is horrified.

He... murdered Bella. She's dead, because he allowed petty arguments to distract him. Oh god.

To his horror, the loop keeps going, and he lives in terror that it will proceed past the baseball game. What if Bella's dead forever? What if, rather than turn her, the only other way out of the loop was her death?

Edward's an utter mess, clawing at the walls, and the family doesn't understand at all because Bella Swan is simply a girl who had a tragic death.

To Edward's horrified relief, he loops.

Loop N

Bella remembers Edward failed to save him. She does not blame him for it, but Edward certainly blames himself and there's now... a wall between them that wasn't there.

Nonetheless, they try again. This time, they'll go back to the basics.

Edward eats her in the meadow.

They loop.

Edward keeps accidentally eating her.

It's horrible and then he realizes... it doesn't matter. It never lasts, he's a monster yes, but he always was one. It seems he's doomed to eat Bella Swan. And at least he knows she'll be here tomorrow.

And if he's damned anyway then he might as well enjoy it.

He starts eating her on purpose.

Soon, they get a little routine down.

Bella nearly gets hit by a van, Edward saves her life, they go to the hospital, Edward drags her into a closet, eats her, then throws her corpse out the window and tells Carlisle she committed suicide.

Such a tragic end.

Bella starts desperately trying to save herself, but it's all over so quick, now her life is endlessly getting eaten by Edward.

Given this loop seems to be infinitely long, and thus all remote possibilities will eventually occur, there will be a timeline where Edward accidentally turns Bella into a vampire.

However, Edward can't do math, so he hasn't figured that out yet.

In the meantime, now that he's let go of all morality, he's having a great time.

... And it's probably best we leave Edward looping on his own for another post. That got long.

#twilight #twilight meta #twilight headcanon #twilight renaissance #edward cullen #anti edward cullen #bella swan #edward/bella #anti edward/bella #time loop #meta #headcanon #opinion

130 notes · View notes

ramblingguy54 · 3 years

Text

True Colors: An Emotionally Fantastic Serious Game Changer.

If we’re to look back at Reunion as Season 1′s dramatic pay off for Amphibia’s message of toxic friendships, as Anne & Sasha’s conflicting dynamic showed us, then True Colors is a colossal expansive note on this big theme of the series. True Colors makes Season 1′s finale look like a walk in the park for what angst goes down between our three main heroins in Season 2′s climatic resolution. Everything that can go wrong does go oh so painfully wrong for these three kids. Anne, to no one’s surprise, gets double crossed by Sasha leaving things between them a Hell of a lot more bitter than they were previously, as if that couldn’t already be topped when Sasha tried to kill the Plantars before. Anne has had enough of her lies and manipulation not being afraid to tell Sasha straight up how awful of a friend she’s been in general, even hitting her where it hurts most of all saying, “No, I’m done listening to you! I’m done trusting you! You’re a horrible person and I am done being FRIENDS with you!”, going so far as to get a shaken reaction out of Sasha dropping her brave face act, making this girl try to wipe away the frog family.

Right off the bat, True Colors makes it highly evident this isn’t just another story of stopping a bigger threat, but one hitting much closer to home, overall. Yes, King Andrias is certainly a dangerous villain, who makes his presence and intimidating nature known to the others by True Color’s final act, which despite this Amphibia isn’t entirely putting him at the forefront, rather focusing on a more intimate study of Anne, Sasha, and Marcy’s big emotional conflict. This finale knows exactly where to put its focus of importance on, so I love that instead of it being action packed we’re getting the spotlight shined on just how screwed up these three of a friendship have, in spite of Marcy claiming in The Dinner episode, “We’re supposed to be friends for life. We don’t split up!’ . Very ironic stuff right there, indeed.

True Colors’ most powerful strength it adds to Amphibia’s ongoing profound story about healthy friendships is the thorough deconstruction of these girls defined “ideal relationship” as people. Before Anne came to the world of Amphibia this kid was afraid to stand up for what she believed in, even knowing especially well that stealing the calamity box was morally questionable, but did it anyway. Sasha was super manipulative, abusive, and used her power to control people, like she did a lot of toward Anne in their lives. Marcy, while very smart, wasn’t the most competent physically, who soon grew into being more independent without needing to rely on Anne always having to be there for her. These three were changed immensely by the events of being thrust into this world of sentient amphibian creatures. Anne benefited morally most out out of all three in taking up the mantle of responsibility and ironing out her own issues. She’s become a much stronger person all around.

This episode asks us an important question though in nutshell with, “Have Sasha & Marcy truly changed for the better?”, since Anne has reached a point in her arc feeling genuinely content with who she’s become and the bonds that have been made with the Plantar family shown most notably with Sprig Plantar. Hence the whole purpose behind the song, It’s No Big Deal, with Anne feeling proud for who she is, yet not noticing a bigger issue right underneath her nose. That previous episode was meant to bring Anne’s happiness up only to bring it all crashing down in a devastating display of new revelations in True Colors. Every dramatic emotional beat isn’t just earned. Each significant moment is completely knocked out of the park by terrific voice acting, beautiful animation, and music composition that gave me serious emotional goosebumps. True Colors did exactly as Not What He Seems accomplished for Gravity Falls in shaking up its own respective dramatic stakes just when you thought it couldn’t get any higher for these protagonists. Shit seriously hits the fan here.

Did it ever occur to you, Anne? Sasha? That one of you knew more, than she was letting on? That ONE of you might’ve gotten you stranded in Amphibia on purpose...?

The big bombshell twist of Marcy playing a part too in getting them into this whole debacle completely flips everything upside down. Sasha pushed Anne into taking the Calamity Box, yes, but if Marcy never sent that photo because of her desire to stay with them together forever, then they wouldn’t have been stranded in basically a world full of dangerous creatures and who knows what else. Easily my favorite part of the episode, considering it adds more nuance to a situation that defined Amphibia’s story. It wasn’t just one person’s fault at the end of the day. Sasha bullied Anne into taking the box, Anne didn’t put her foot down to make a stand for something morally questionable, and Marcy took advantage of them both to benefit her own selfish desires for supposedly a “happy ending” not involving them staying apart, due to her parents moving away for a new job. All three girls played an important part on why they got landed into Amphiba. It’s why Anne’s statement to King Andrias, “The three of us may have made some mistake, but you...You’re evil and I’m gonna stop you!”, holds such a real weight to it, as this story continues to solidify how genuinely fleshed out their dynamic is.

Marcy’s super desperate plea to be understood by Anne & Sasha when Andrias revealed her getting them thrown into Amphibia purposefully was hard to watch. On one hand, I felt for Marcy because she didn’t want real life circumstances to tear apart that close connection she had to Sasha & Anne. Sure, she could’ve just kept in touch with them over the phone or chatting online, too. However, Marcy had known them since very early childhood. When you’ve been so attached to someone it can be a devastating thing, depending on just how vulnerable you are emotionally, to start drifting apart. Marcy represents that embodiment of toxic need for togetherness and couldn’t bear to let a possibility, like moving away, throw a wrench into her happiness and friendship, as well.

Never mind Marcy wanting to stay permanently in a different reality, rather than face her’s, but it made this person feel like something more. It gave her a chance to feel truly special in being able to live out a fantasy dream of having such power and freedom that a kid, like herself, couldn’t have had. The freedom to know she is plenty capable of making it out there on her own without Anne having to watch this kid like a hawk. So, to have someone, or something, try taking it away from her terrified Marcy of facing a terrible truth. That she isn’t strong enough after all to live a life without Anne & Sasha by her side completely, where Marcy will never feel truly worthy enough to blossom into her own person. It’s why that line, “I just...didn’t want to be alone...”, carries such a deep pain to it all. Marcy just crumbles into pieces accepting her greatest weakness. As much as Marcy fumbled the ball big time, it’s so easy to empathize with her on the idea of feeling competent enough. Marcy never meant to hurt Anne or Sasha, but the sad crushing punchline is she very much did.

Speaking of which, Anne had every right to be upset and mad, obviously. Anne has been missing so many things from her life before everything went off the wall. Hopping Mall especially highlighted Anne’s emotional desire to give anything just to hear her mother’s singing again. This teenager has been really dealing with a lot of grief in general quite honestly. Anne got into a high stakes battle against Sasha to save new friends, who’d practically became like an adopted family, which left the poor girl traumatized and heartbroken over the end result. She thought finding Marcy would help compensate for it and eventually be able to mend those complications with Sasha to boot. It’s simply painful to see it all blow up in Anne’s face to know not only Sasha betrayed her trust yet again, but realizing Marcy also played a part of responsibility in getting them thrown here. Matt Braly really just decided to slap future trust issues onto Anne finding out Hop Pop, Sasha, and Marcy were all super dishonest in their intentions at one point or another. Damn, I feel so bad for her.

It makes their embracing hug back in Marcy At The Gates so much harder to watch. Anne was super glad to see her again. Anne had wondered what became of Marcy or even possibly started to think she could even be alive at all. Then come to find out later on Marcy having intentionally ripped her away from a normal life must’ve felt worse then what happened with Sasha. Anne, already done with all of Sasha’s bullshit, thought she could at least expect better from Marcy not letting her down, but that too wasn’t the case. Marcy is very much as flawed as Sasha in what she has done. To think, Anne wanted so badly to get back home, yet she’s staring the very person dead in the eye, who ripped her away from it to begin with. Marcy knew Sasha would talk Anne into taking the box from that thrift shop, even if she wasn’t completely certain it would successfully teleport them away. Regardless of whatever good intentions someone can have in why they did what they did, it still doesn’t absolve them of said mistake. Fact of the matter is, Marcy tragically made her own bed, by choosing to mess with forces she couldn’t begin to comprehend and now has to face consequences, in spite of her not deserving them.

What really got to me was when Marcy tried to spin around Anne’s personal growth and close friendship with the Plantars as all entirely thanks to her. When she said, “I gave you this! I gave you everything!”, I was like, “Nope, that couldn’t be any further from the truth.”, seeing everything that has culminated in Anne’s journey of bettering herself. Marcy didn’t give Anne anything, but a one way ticket to cutting the kid off from her family, presuming she’d be fine with this idea. It’s all kinds of messed up, however what it boils down to is Marcy undermining Anne’s independence and agency. Anne’s moral judgement in decision making was what allowed her to create this new life she made for herself in Amphibia. Anne’s honesty as a whole led her down a path of togetherness, while Marcy’s lying landed her in a result of not wanting to be alone, costing her so much.

“I don’t believe this. We were so focused on each other we couldn’t see what was right in front of us!”

True Colors excels at earning each of its emotional beats because they line up with character motivations down to the last letter. Anne doesn’t want to trust Sasha anymore because of their already rocky past, which leads to her helping King Andrias regain control of his kingdom. Sasha not keeping a lid on her temper, wanting to rule over Amphibia, and trying to reinforce that power dynamic with Anne & Marcy only made things worse for her image of a changed good friend. There wasn’t a chance in Hell Anne would hear Sasha’s reasoning after she flat out tried to take away her frog family, by attempting to use the Calamity Box a bit ago in the episode. Marcy wanted to believe there was a happily ever after in seeing this world traveling idea as their only chance for salvation as friends for life, but it turned out to be something much more sinister, when learning of Andrias’ backstory and his true scumbag nature. All three of their motivations come clashing together, blinding them from a much bigger danger. Something that effectively puts everyone at stake.

Amphibia’s Season 2 finale works so excellently, given it covers important dramatic elements it’s been stirring around since Season 1′s early rumblings. Amphibia is a story centered around people’s need for emotional connections. True Colors builds miraculously off what Reunion already did quite well in showing friendships can become rough and they are never easy to deal with. When you have to make a stand it can be a tough pill to swallow on the reality check of maybe this “good friend” of your’s isn’t as nice as you previously thought them to be. Anne having been hurt one too many times now by her former friend sends that message close to home, so much so even Sasha begins to question her morality as a human being. It poignantly encapsulates how this trio’s complex friendship is a serious growing issue needing to be reexamined, overall.

What if Anne’s right..? What if I am a horrible person...?

Something I absolutely love to pieces about True Colors, also a testament to Season 2′s darn good writing, is how much introspective we get from each character on what they’re feeling. We’ve seen plenty of Sasha’s vulnerability before in other episodes centered on her issues, but now we’re getting to the root of it. Sasha is really taking everything more to heart, little by little. Sasha’s understanding what kind of an effect she has on people, seeing the damage it has caused made evident by Percy and Braddock in Barrel’s Warhammer. Grime once told her, “Some dreams have a price and not everyone is willing to pay it.”, where she’s questioning that idealism every passing minute the invasion plan proceeds further into reaching success. Sasha isn’t sure what to do with herself anymore feeling aimless. Those previous episodes had a real impact on her priorities more than she cared to let on with Sasha’s typical tough girl act. This kid has let her guard down more, which scares and confuses Sasha. She’s always used to playing the role of protector it contradicts everything Sasha stands for when the roles are totally reversed because now Anne has made her feel the tremendous change in their growth as individuals.

Sasha’s lifestyle has been all about control that after somewhat learning to be more considerate to Anne & Marcy’s feelings she feels beyond conflicted about what truly matters to her. The most screwed up part of it all is Sasha didn’t want to fight anymore, taking up a pacifist approach after seeing what King Andrias had been hiding from everyone. It’s a fitting punishment for Sasha to try bringing Anne over to work together once more, but getting her pleas for companionship outright ignored. Anne was correct that Sasha had wasted all the chances to be reasonable. Boonchuy tried to hear out Sasha before at The Third Temple. One wanted to start things over again to iron out their serious issues, but the other was driven by bitterness, while only remorseful to a degree at best, of seeing their once weak friend become so independent, mature, and stronger that it drove her up wall. Sasha wanted to take away that “problem” being the Plantars, since in her eyes they’re the source of Anne’s strength, driving a wedge further between the two girls in their heated Reunion 2.0 battle.

True Colors demonstrates the horrific price of no trust, communication, nor teamwork from the three main girls that Andrias smoothly took advantage of, as if they were fiddles.

“That’s the thing about friends isn’t it? The more you love them, the more it hurts when they go.”

King Andrias is quite literally what I wanted Lunaris to be, where DuckTales’ Season 2 finale didn’t impress me on doing. He’s a serious big baddie to the main cast, who follows through on his threats of violence to demonstrate his wide array of arsenal and power. Andrias doesn’t just emotionally manipulate characters, like poor Marcy, but utterly crush them without an ounce of remorse for his actions. When he dropped Sprig out that window after Anne willingly let him have the Calamity Box back I thought they were legit gonna kill this boy off. The way Anne’s flashback montage of her good times with Sprig were eerily shot really didn’t help either on that note. Anne’s Calamity power finally activating is easily up there among stuff, like Dewey risking his life for Della’s disappearance in Last Crash, where the cinematography is shot and animated brilliantly. You feel Anne’s blind raging sadness in every hit she landed on those robots and Andrias. If anyone didn’t believe Sprig was like a little brother to Anne, then I dunno how anyone couldn’t view their bond anymore as such after this hugely defining scene. Anne went bloodthirsty when she believed Sprig to be dead further evidenced when she hugged him in relief afterwards exclaiming, “Sprig!? You’re alive!? Oh, thank goodness...”, which cuts deep so damn much.

Anne was ready to fight every one of Andrias’ troops in that castle to the death, if need be. Before Sprig came back from falling, thanks to Marcy’s quick acting, to comfort Anne, her only goal was to slaughter every opponent in that throne room, along with making Andrias pay dearly for even daring to lay a single finger on anyone of the Plantars. I’m not gonna lie, this pivotal power up reminded me so much Gohan turning Super Saiyan 2 after Cell curb stomped Android 16 into pieces with a smirk on his face. Anne Boonchuy’s maddening outburst is a classic testament to the idea of, “Piss off the nicest person and they’ll make it their mission to instill the biggest kind of fear/terror into you.”. showing this kid at her most vulnerable mental state, yet. Sprig & Anne’s cathartic embrace really messed me up in reinforcing just how these two respect, love, and would go above any of their limitations to help the other out. Sprig’s “death” scene was a masterful bait by the writers into making us think someone was gonna die and it was gonna be a poor kid, no less.

However, it was actually all just a bait and switch for the real, “Oh, shit. They really just did that”, moment with Marcy unexpectedly getting run through with Andrias’ gigantic sword. In a last ditch effort, Marcy wanted to atone for what she had a hand in getting them all into. Marcy was ironclad determined in making her own stand for what was right trying to save the people she endangered. Akin to what Sasha did in Reunion for saving Anne’s life, Marcy does the exact same here. Although, unfortunately this time, no one is here to protect Marcy from escaping death, like Grime catching Sasha from plummeting at Toad Tower. Marcy couldn’t react in time because she was so focused on helping her dear friends out. She wanted to prove to herself at least one time, “I’ve screwed up so much stuff with my friends. Maybe, just maybe. If I get my friends back home, it’ll prove I’m not an entirely crappy person for setting these events into motion.”. Marcy’s own deep seeded remorse is what saved Anne & the Plantars, while being the cause of her own untimely demise at Andrias’ hands.

This scene is what no doubt encouraged the warning sign for younger viewers Disney decided to make for them. It’s impressive how far Matt and his crew are willing to go for intense dramatic content. Andrias trying to crush Polly with his fist after destroying Frobo with casual ease, dropping Sprig out of the window from up sky high, and stabbing Marcy with his powerful sword displays his cold blooded brutality. Doesn’t matter who you are. If you get in the way of Andrias’ plans for multiverse domination, then he’ll throw anyone into their own grave, be it man, woman, or child. That’s the mark of a truly terrifying antagonist.

Andrias didn’t care who had to be hurt or manipulated to get back the box, so he could invade other worlds with Earth being his next prime target for invasion. Marcy’s fate is a horrifyingly poetic statement, since Sasha stated to Anne in a flashback from Marcy At The Gates, “One of these days, she’s gonna get herself killed.”, with True Colors tying back to this line in a disturbing manner. Something that sends chills down my spine is we get to see the full extent of how far Andrias shoved the sword through her body. We don’t just see the entry point of where it hit her, but it even zooms out to show the whole thing. Real talk, I got serious Avatar The Last Airbender vibes from this scene. Reminded me so much of Aang getting suddenly zapped with lightning by Azula when he tried to enter the Avatar state. Marcy didn’t want to be alone so badly she ended up inevitably dying alone trying to send Anne back home to their reality. One Hell of a way to close off Marcy’s last moments in Season 2, until her inevitable resurrection happens in Season 3 now that King Andrias has her in a tube tank that looks tied to his master.

True Colors ends on a deeply bittersweet cliffhanger leaving the fates of Sasha & Grime totally unknown if they’ll get away by the skin of their teeth, or get captured by Andrias’ soldiers and robots. Anne finally returned home with the Plantars, but at a deadly cost of leaving her other close friends behind in Amphibia. After all the isolation, heartbreak, and endurance she went through with her frog family Anne finds herself at a total loss for words. Once again, Anne is in a state of solitude of not knowing if her friends are really okay or not, mirroring the start of Season 1 when she landed into Amphibia’s world. It’s safe to say to say that, “Finally me and it’s no big deal.”, lyrics have aged terribly for Anne’s realization of finding her own identity came at the expense of getting separated from friends she’s known since kindergarten. Definitely see Anne becoming a lot more protective of the Plantars now more than ever after watching Marcy drop to the ground from being stabbed in front of her eyes.

Amphibia’s Season 2 finale is exactly how you capitalize on a winning story telling formula of dramatic writing, lovable characters with layered depth, and increasing the stakes of your story in an organic manner. True Colors is a finale that should be talked about for a long time to come, as it not only showed how worth the wait it was, but reinforces why Amphibia is a truly great series. It’s unafraid to take its characters to dark places in a way that feels totally earned.

Amphibia Season 2 is everything a sequel to a first film should be.

#amphibia true colors #amphibia spoilers #amphibia season 2 #anne boonchuy #marcy wu #sasha waybright #sprig plantar #polly plantar #hop pop plantar

69 notes · View notes

sintreaties · 3 years

Note

Can you do an analysis of Yumeko's character?

I can try, though as always keep in mind that I’m more of a creator than an analyst and I don’t believe my comprehension of these characters to be above anybody else's.

(cut cause long post)

For the longest time Yumeko was and still is one of the most enigmatic characters I’ve ever seen. We know nothing about her past and now that with the latest chapters her role in the story seems to be changing, the only thing we are sure about is her addiction now.

Yumeko, as the series name clearly states, is a gambling addict. Now, in a word being an addict means that a compulsive behavior takes over one's whole life. We can oversimplify it in two statements: 1) I can’t stop doing this 2) No one can stop me unless I truly want them to.

In a setting like Hyakkaou’s this is twice as dangerous. Not for Yumeko herself — Sayaka’s background check tells us she’s quite loaded in terms of money — but for the people around her. There's a pretty obvious duality to Yumeko's character: on one hand, we have the sweet, childish, almost naive Yumeko, who’s able to befriend even her worst opponents; on the other we have a “plague” who’s unable to keep herself under control and who would do anything to get what she wants, ruining whoever is in her path.

The contrast is interesting to see in scenes like the one in which she offers her tissue to Sayaka because she was crying, knowing that she hates her with all her guts vs the way she completely lost her facade when Yumemite refused to play seriously against Sumika, or when she pressured Itsuki into gambling her Life-Plan. This is simply another consequence of her addiction. Try to politely tell a smoker to quit smoking, see how they react. Amberlynn Reid, a youtuber who’s become a lol-cow during her failed weight-loss journey, suffers from BED (binge eating disorder) and when she can't keep her impulses in check, she calls that part of herself “the binge eating monster”, stating that it pushes her as far as to abuse her own partner if she doesn’t get to eat what and when she wants to.

Here’s the thing though: addicts usually want to stop. Most importantly when their behavior starts to take its toll on them. Although they’re often forced to ignore them, they do have feelings of shame and regret when they end up to do things that average people wouldn’t do (i.e. stealing to have more money for their dose). They know that what they’re doing is bad. They have constant reminders of it. Just like Amberlynn has the hate comments and smokers have the warnings on the packages, Yumeko finds her reminders in her own sister, who ended up in a mental institution precisely because of gambling, and in everyone at Hyakkaou, the main example being Sayaka (I speak about this a bit more here).

And yet, here’s the odd thing: Yumeko never really showed the desire to stop nor a hint of true remorse for anything she’s done. People are calling Kirari a sociopath and a narcissist only because she doesn’t show herself as the usual cute anime girl. Yumeko isn’t that better than her in these terms.

The whole premise of the KKG movie revolves around Suzui trying to convince Yumeko to join the Village, where gambling and money are banned, only for the latter to say, “No thanks. I have only two desires: better desserts at the cafeteria and watching Murasame gamble.” (Full on expression of her duality once again).

Because of gambling, her moral compass is sort of all over the place. She never wanted to liberate the House-Pets destroying the system, that’s Tsubomi who got the wrong idea. Yumeko was an anti-hero for a while, but only out of pure coincidence. Simply, her goal of taking the Student Council coincided with the wishes of whoever wanted to see the SC fall.

Clearly, this could be because Yumeko came at Hyakkaou with a specific goal in mind. At the Academy gambling is often your only mean of survival and it would be foolish to give it up. As Murasame says, “Kirari’s a monster and only another monster can defeat her, hurting everyone else in the same manner.”

That does fit Yumeko’s character, doesn’t it?

So why does Yumeko give up gambling altogether when Kirari refuses to play with her and calls her an ‘impurity’? It would make sense if she came here specifically to defeat Kirari. If she was certain that Ririka would win, that would prevent her from obtaining what she wants, throwing out of the window everything she’s done so far. This is the only possibility I can think of for now, so the next chapters will hopefully clear that up.

Now, Yumeko said that she won’t gamble, but if she’s truly an addict, no matter how stubborn and displeased she gets, she won’d be able to stop just like that. The addiction will either take over or find another mean to express itself, just like sometimes smokers turn to food when they try to quit and how people with BED can end up becoming addicted to shopping, resulting in hoarding behaviors. It’s all about that kick of dopamine.

Rest assured though, that as long as her addiction remains, Yumeko will never fully be able to be one of the good guys. Not like this, and not in a world in which adults can’t plan a fucking intervention. It makes sense for her to be holding the Election under her heel now and going on it could only get worse, with Yumeko hindering her own allies — if she ever had any.

Which brings us to a final point: the way Yumeko builds her relationships and why.

Her first connection at Hyakkaou is Suzui, who’s in so much debt that he’s considering dropping out. He’s a naive guy, too good for his own good. He’s easy to mold in Yumeko’s hands and that’s eaxctly what she does in more than a gamble (ESP, Zero Nym-Type). Is this also because of the “monster” inside of her, preying on the weak to take as much as it can? I don’t believe their friendship is completely “pure”, though I also don’t think Yumeko is harmful by nature. She might not even be fully conscious of this.

We have Saotome, who believed herself so sleek and ended up as a House Pet. Why would Yumeko befriend someone who tried to ruin her on her very first day? Did she see a powerful ally and a perfect opponent in order to seek the thrill of the risk, or is she really just that naive? Yumeko isn’t stupid. Intelligence also comes through emotional values. Again, I don’t believe her connection with Mary is devoid of secondary reasons, though just like in Suzui’s case, the latter come into play only when they hinder Yumeko’s gambling.

Tsubomi and Itsuki were practically shouldered and then used with the promise of obtaining something better for themselves. Sayaka? She called Yumeko a “plague” and yet Yumeko never really resented her. Sure she almost caused her death, but that was a collateral matter. Yumeko harbors no ill intent towards her, notwithstanding Sayaka’s hatred. Yumeko doesn’t show hate for Kiwatari either, and yet he never acted right around her.

Midari, on the other hand, deserved her indifference and dislike because she messed up their gamble and there’s nothing that Yumeko dislikes as much as a set result in her games. The two cases of Midari and Sayaka/Kiwatari are perfect to show the contrast between the kind of person Yumeko would be without her addiction and the kind of person she is now that her life is ruled by gambling.

What about Kirari then? In terms of risks, Kirari too showed a similar appetite. Perhaps Yumeko herself would like to see her own addiction consume her, just like she thinks Kirari would — thought I’m starting to believe the supernova talk was more about the clan than about herself. Maybe, just like Kirari with Ririka, Yumeko wants to fight the part of Kirari that resembles her the most and Kirari’s refusal proved that she had been very wrong in judging her character. Apparently Kirari “killed” her sister, but that’s Terano’s word, Yumeko never expresses herself on the matter.

In all these examples, the main thread is still the same. The gambling addiction has always been Yumeko’s core in the series and as of today it would be impossible to consider Yumeko’s character whole without it. People tend to forget its extent.

I do hope flashbacks and such will let us see how Yumeko was before she became a kakegurui, because in the end, addictions are only a part of who we are — unless we let them consume us.

I hope this answer was as satisfactory as it could be.

#kakegurui #jabami yumeko #tw// addiction #tw// ed #sintreatiesreplies #anon

47 notes · View notes

zeldasayer · 4 years

Text

I transcribed and translated Pedro’s interview from GQ Germany for all of us. I tried translating as good as possible but bear with me, English is not my mother tongue. By @sixties-loser

Pedro Pascal, the star from “Game of Thrones”, “Wonder Woman” and “The Mandalorian” talks about becoming an adult, film, fashion, corona – and a painful surgery in the exclusive GQ interview.

It seems almost eerie how empty the streets of LA are in the sunshine. Meanwhile a new normality seems to be coming to Europe, most people in L.A. are still cutting their own hair. Many have not seen their friends for half a year. The pandemic is out of control. The reaction towards it too. Inviting someone into their garden for a “distance drink” can cause the same distress as suggesting to switch spouses.

Therefore, it was particularly surprising that Pedro Pascal immediately accepted. He accepted the drink, not to switch spouses. He is one of the rising stars and newcomers this year – if it wasn’t for corona sending the whole film industry into a forced vacation, there would most likely not have been time for said drink. After having his skull crushed in “Game of Thrones” followed the lead role as a DEA agent hunting Pablo Escobar in “Narcos” in 2015 and now he is stepping towards big Hollywood films. From the 1st of October onwards the Chilean-born actor will be starring in the blockbuster “Wonder Woman 1984”. Moreover, the second season of the “Star Wars”-series “The Mandalorian” on Disney+ starring him as the lead is going to air in October this year – but he will be underneath a helmet. Well, we all are under a helmet in 2020 in one way or another. We want to meet the man who a few years ago still worked as a waiter in New York, whose parents were political refugees who found asylum in Denmark and settled in Texas and whose son one day signed up for a theatre group in High School.

Then, the cancellation! While we were in the middle of fixing up the house and the garden for the drink with Pedro and organizing the fashion shoot, which was not easy considering the safety measures in L.A., his management called with an unfortunate message: Pedro – no, not sick with corona – had to get emergency surgery because of a damaged tooth and was lying in bed with a swollen face that was hindering him from speaking and taking pictures. The sun is shining onto empty streets. And our empty garden.

A few days later he nonetheless arrived at our front door without a swollen face but still with threads in his mouth. He was not chauffeured by a limo-service but he came with his own car – he even picked up his make-up artist. He is helping her carrying all of her utensils into the house and declares: “I’ve got time today!”. What a celebrity! It seemed like we did not want to ask him how he made it to the A-List of Hollywood but he wanted to ask us how we made it to the A-list. Pedro Pascal! Yes, what kind of a celebrity?

Pedro Pascal: Sorry for messing with your plans. The surgery was an emergency.

GQ: Really? We were wondering whether the swelling wasn’t the product of a secret visit to the plastic-surgeon. Apparently, they are drowning in work because of the quarantine in Hollywood.

PP: I have to disappoint you. A few days before our appointment I was rushing to the hospital with a fractured tooth and the worst pain in my entire life – a hospital in which treats people with severe cases of corona. I was unable to reach any dentist! Right in front of the parking lot a specialist called me back. The pain was hell despite the ten injections I got. The doctor said I was not an exception because a lot of people are grinding their teeth because of all the stress.

GQ: What are you most afraid of at the moment?

PP: How the government is handling the pandemic is worrying me more than the virus itself. This shortage of intelligent management of the crisis is a moral shame. The leadership crisis in this country is turning us all into orphans – destitute and abandoned.

GQ: How did you spend your time over the last few months?

PP: I spent it with frozen pizza and sweatpants in Venice Beach. I live in a rear house that’s in a family’s garden. Actually, there are a lot of good takeout places nearby but for some reason I just love pepperoni pizza from the supermarket.

GQ: That does not really sound like movie star-lifestyle. What does it feel like being suddenly stopped from top speed to zero?

PP: Regarding what is going on around the world one should hold back one’s own mental turmoil. I would be lying if I was saying that I am not disappointed. The whole team put a lot of heart and work into the production of “Wonder Woman 1984”. We had a lot of fun on set. I wished to travel around the world and introduce the film with the same lively energy.

GQ: You come from a politically engaged, socialist family that fled from the Pinochet-regime in Chile. What do you remember from that time?

PP: My sister and I were born in Chile but I was only nine months old when we first found asylum in Denmark. From there we quickly came to San Antonio in Texas where my dad started working as a doctor at the university clinic.

GQ: Texas is not known as a socialist utopia. How did you assimilate?

PP: San Antonio is not a Cowboy-town but very diverse with big Asian, black and Latino communities. I remember it as a romantic place, culturally open. The culture shock only came as we later moved to range county in California. There the atmosphere was suddenly white, preppy and conservative.

GQ: How were you received in California?

PP: I’m still ashamed of the fact that I did not correct my classmates when they kept on calling me Peter. I am Pedro. Even if I didn’t grow up in Chile the country and the language are still a part of me. I was very unhappy in that environment. However, I was fortunately able to go to another school close to Long Beach where I felt more comfortable. Through the theater group at that school I found my way.

GQ: Were you able to visit Chile as a child?

PP: Yes, when my parents made it to the list of expatriates that were able to travel to Chile without consequences. First, there was a big family reunion and then my sister and I stayed there for a few months with relatives while my parents went back to Texas. They likely needed a break from us. They got us when they were very young, had a buzzing social life and my mother was obtaining a PhD in psychology.

GQ: Was your mother a typical young psychologist who wanted to apply her theoretical knowledge at home?

PP: You mean, whether I was her guinea pig? For sure! I remember strange tests and sittings that were disguised as games where someone was watching me react to different toys. I cannot have been older than six but I was already aware of the dynamic. My favourite thing was being questioned about my dreams. That was a wonderful opportunity to come up with fantastic stories.

GQ: Was that your first performance?

PP: Of course! My mother worried about my strong imagination because I was living in my own fantasy world rather than reality. I hated going to school. I was always categorized as the troublemaker. At one point, the topics at school became more interesting and my grades also went up. There are so many kids that are unnecessarily diagnosed with learning disabilities without considering that school can be abhorrent. Why is it so accepted to be bored in class when there are so many stimulating ways to convey knowledge?

GQ: Considering al that has happened this summer around the world: Do you believe that we can seriously demand social change now?

PP: I Hope so. After lockdown, the first time I went out was to protest for “Black Lives Matter” on the streets. The energy was peaceful and hopeful until the police provoked severe conflicts. Nevertheless, we cannot run from problems like we used to this time and we cannot distract ourselves from them either. It seems like the pressure of the pandemic led to a new clarity: We cannot go on this way.

GQ: The “Wonder Woman 1984” Trailer revives the optimism of the 1980’s. From today’s point of view, it seems almost nostalgic.

PP: That’s right. You really are happy for two hours. The director Patty Jenkins created a film full of positive messages. We shot in Washington D.C., then in London and Spain – this sounds like I am talking of a past time.

GQ: Do you miss traveling?

PP: I’m just now realizing the privilege of just packing up one’s stuff and being able to fly anywhere. An American passport used to guarantee unlimited travel. And that’s why it the small radius of our lives is actually unimaginable. Over the last years I often retreated for a break after shootings because I was constantly on the move and overstimulated. My friends were already complaining I had become too comfortable. We all took social contact for granted and are only realizing now how dependent we actually are on human contact. Over the last weeks I often longingly thought about all the parties and dinner invitations I declined.

GQ: In L.A. people spend more time at home or nature than in other metropolises that are more geared towards public life. Could this city become your second home after New York?

PP: My Real Home are my friends. I have been a nomad since I was little and I do not have a place where I have put down roots. Up until not long ago my physical home was a place in between departure and arrival. Therefore, it was something I did not want to complicate through the accumulation of stuff. On the contrary: Without having read Marie Kondo’s book I have freed myself from excess baggage over the last few years and I lived relatively minimally.

GQ: Is there nothing you collect or something you just can’t throw away?

PP: Books! I even still have the literature I read when I was a teenager and when I was in college. Recently, I stumbled upon a box full of old theatre manuscripts and materials from my time at the New York University. I also cannot part from art easily, just like I cannot part from lamps or old photos. On the other hand, I can easily get rid of furniture and clothes.

GQ: Do you remember roles that were really only completely defined through the costume?

PP: Yes, I am particularly thinking about “Game of Thrones”. At that time I understood for the first time what it meant to be supported by a look. This is thanks to the costume designer Michele Clapton. She created very feminine robes and brocade coats for my character that nevertheless looked masculine when worn and I felt very sexy in them. Of course, Lindy Hemmings power-suits and Jan Swells bleached hairstyle for the tycoon-villain in “Wonder Woman 1984” were very important as well. At first I did not really see myself in the role because the cuts and colors of the 80s do not really fit my body. I’m more the 70s type.

GQ: Do you incorporate those inspirations into your personal wardrobe?

PP: In my free time I choose comfort over a cool look these days. Sometimes I miss the times when I expressed myself through a certain style. It is hard to imagine that I went to Raves as a teenage in the 90s; I was a real club kid with ridiculous outfits: overalls, balloon pants, football shirts and a top hat, like in Dr.Seuss’s “Cat in a Hat”. Later in New York I was hanging out with a group of people that felt it was very important to have a certain style. The fact that I am basically only wearing sweatpants everyday is actually tragic.

GQ: whoever plays roles in comic book adaptations becomes a bodybuilder and eats ten chicken breasts a day. You don’t?

PP:My body would not agree with that. It is hard enough to stay in shape normally. When you’re in your mid-forties you have to live with a lot more discipline. Up until before my tooth-incident I worked out with a trainer in my garden multiple times a week to keep the quarantine body in check.

GQ: Apart from the personal trainer, are you in a steady relationship?

PP: I am not ready for that yet. Maybe at some point I will be but until then I’ll let it be. I can’t even offer you absurd corona dating stories.

GQ: What would annoy you the most if you were your own roommate?

PP: I can be quite controlling. I have to conjure all my humanity to prevent myself from going through my entire film collection. When I don’t want something I cannot keep it to myself or be passive-aggressive, I always have to take it to the frontlines. Other than that, I tend to have tunnel view: when I am not feeling well I cannot imagine to ever feel better again. I have trouble relativizing my emotions or to wave off problems. Method-acting would really not be for me. This is why I try to only work on projects that feel good, where there is mutual support and encouragement.

GQ: When we were trying on the clothes earlier you spoke of a lack of self-confidence. How does that get along with a career like yours?

PP: Isn’t it interesting how these characteristics and circumstamces relate? Self-worth comes from inside but it is also influenced by what society values because we often internalise the public gaze. I have lived in New York for 20 years, I studied there and made a living by working as a waiter until my mid-thirties because the theatre and film jobs I got did not pay the bills. There were so many times I was almost there. The disappointment of having missed the perfect role or opportunity by a hair’s width can be crushing. When should you give up and what is plan B? That is a question that is not only on many actors‘s minds but also on many others minds who struggle for a living – no matter how much potential they have or how close they seem to be to the top. We are seeing now how our narrow definition of success destroys society. At the same time, we are realizing that where we come from and the color of our skin still decide whether we can exist with dignity.

GQ: What are the positive aspects of a relatively late success as leading-man?

PP: I feel like I can decide over my own life without the pressure of having to accept projects or to have to present a certain identity on social media. This is for sure also because I am a man. Regardless of age, Women have to try harder to stand out.

GQ: Life always consists of risk management – now more than usual. For what would you risk losing something?

PP: Generally, when you never risk something you might never get ahead. That is for friendship, love, work and creativity. I have to be ready to take risks for the things that really matter to you.

#pedro pascal #THANK YOU MY LOVE!#submission

263 notes · View notes

musical-chick-13 · 3 years

Note

In Hannibal, a mentally ill man isn't abused by his therapist. Get your understanding and your facts right. If you don't enjoy dark subject matters like cannibalism and murder, why were you watching Hannibal, from where you get the right to talk about 'moral compass' in fiction ? I won't write to you again, just letting you know you understood nothing about the dark layered parabolic style.

OMG, finally, my first accusation of incompetence by an anon!! What a momentous occasion, I can’t believe it took 4 years!! I should celebrate this tumblr milestone.

Look. I actually have been a victim of psychiatric malpractice. I see that relationship as a tangle of emotional and psychological abuse. You can disagree with that, that’s fine. But don’t come in here telling me I’m watching a show wrong. But also, art is subjective. I’m the last person who’s going to try to moralize a ship or a show. Like. I like Game of Thrones. Jaime and Cersei are one of my favorite romantic pairings, and their relationship is a MESS. One of my favorite movies is Ex Machina, and that one ends with a robot lady stringing along a perfectly innocent man and then leaving him to starve and die in the middle of nowhere. Another one of my favorite movies is Earthquake Bird, which is about a love triangle that ends in death and ALSO involves a dishonest serial killer.

HOWEVER, it’s all in the framing. When I talk about these works, I’m not calling them a secret rom-com. I’m not saying they’re the Height of Romance. I call them for what they are: two horrible people in a horrible relationship. The point of my pinned post is not and has never been to “call people out” for shipping a “bad ship.” I SHIP DAVOS AND MELISANDRE AND ALL HE DID THE PAST FEW SEASONS WAS TALK ABOUT HOW HE WANTS TO KILL HER. I DON’T. CARE. ABOUT. “BAD.” SHIPS. It’s how we as fandoms TALK about neurodivergence in fiction. It’s how I and all the other people like me always get left out of these talks. It’s how I get anons like you telling me I have a lack of reading (or, I guess watching?) comprehension and accuse me of being an anti over a post about how I don’t like sacred show Hannibal and sacred ship Hannigram, but every time I actually try to have a conversation about neurodivergence representation, I get ZERO kind of interaction at all. It’s the fact that everyone in all fandom circles I’ve ever seen is ALWAYS more than willing to talk about the ups and downs of queer representation, but when I try to talk about having more mentally ill characters, they tell me to shut up and that I should be content with neurotypical gay characters because that’s more important. The point of my pinned post is that people are more than willing defend “problematic” (I really hate that word, but I can’t find a better one at the moment) gay characters and gay ships, but the SECOND I try to talk about mentally ill/neurodivergent characters, I always get criticized and picked apart for whatever I have to say about them. The fact of the matter is that OFTEN, queer ships are frequently seen as “perfect” or “sweet” or “healthy/an expression of realistic love everyone should strive for” instead of just ADMITTING THAT THEY’RE PROBLEMATIC. Literally if I saw even ONE post where ANYONE admitted that these dynamics/characters/whatever are dark and screwed up, I would be fine. But I keep seeing y’all seriously call Hannibal a rom-com. Like. Not even as an inside joke. A completely serious label. Not even a dark rom-com or a black comedy. Just. A rom-com. That’s the thing I take issue with, not the fact that Hannibal is “dark” or “problematic.” I don’t care. I legitimately cannot reiterate that enough.

Also...where you see Dark Layered Parabolic Style, I see pretentiousness to the point of silliness because I don’t think that style was effectively done. Art is subjective. I can understand something and still not like it, that’s literally the whole point of what art is.

This is NOT ABOUT SHIPPING. IT’S NOT ABOUT BEING A PURITY POLICE OFFICER. It’s about the discrepancy of how we talk about one underrepresented group I am a part of versus another one I’m also a part of. It’s about the fact that, at least in my own personal experience, part of me has ALWAYS been erased. EVERY SINGLE TIME I have tried to have a broader conversation about representation I have been told that “I should wait for neurodivergent representation because right now gay representation is more important.” I am tired.

You can hate me, or think I’m stupid, or whatever. Honestly, I don’t really care, especially since you can’t even say it to my face and hide behind the fact that I have anonymous submissions on for the sake of any followers who might have social anxiety. This anon post suggests you aren’t actually interested in having any kind of respectful discussion about mental illness in fiction and its stigmatization in real life, which, I remind you, reflects THE WHOLE POINT. OF THAT POST.

You want to accuse me of being a moralizing idiot? Come off anon and say it to my face. You have a problem with my opinions on a COMPLETELY FICTIONAL PAIRING? Then just block me. I haven’t decided if I’m going to answer the Ratched post because I only have so much energy and I know you’re not reading these anyway.

#hey! my first anon hate! someone should bake me a cake LMAO #tbh I have a feeling who this is so if it's her...sorry girl just unfollow me #asks #anti hannibal #anti hannigram #am I a Controversial Blog™ now?#have I officially become Bad Bisexual Rep™?#the real horror was the ableism we found along the way

26 notes · View notes

rwbyvein · 3 years

Text

Firen Lhain: Chapter 803: Échecs: Part III/III

Yang eagerly followed Ren and Nora down the stairs, Blake with a cheshire grin following them.

* * *

They walked into the library. "Oh, Remnant!" Yang exclaimed, "You're on, Sis!"

"Me and Blake are going to kick your ass!" Ruby replied.

* * *

Aurora arrived with a large carafe of coffee and a platter with several cups.

"So, who called the Little Bit?" Yang asked.

"Called her?" Weiss asked, "I don't believe I've ever called her."

"She simply comes out of the mists." Blake quiped.

"With coffee." Ren said, looked Aurora in the eyes, and nodded.

"If you are going to bring us coffee?" Ruby asked, "Could you?.."

"Cookies are already in the oven." Aurora said with a smile.

"Man, what did we do to deserve her?" Yang asked, causing Aurora to blush, though hard to see through her treefrog colouration.

Weiss moved over to sit on Jaune's lap.

"Hey!" Ruby exclaimed, and Weiss simply stuck out her tongue.

"Did she just do that?!" Yang asked.

"Perhaps my wives are rubbing off on me?" Weiss asked.

* * *

Jaune moved a single piece and then ended his turn. "Is that it?" Weiss asked.

"The first few turns are about building your army." Jaune replied. "You don't want to get too spread out?"

"What happens?" Weiss asked.

"Well, for one, Grimm can attack. And units too far away from the kingdom risk running out of supplies. It lowers your morale."

"I would say it would." Weiss quipped.

"Your morale is how strong your units are." Blake said, while Ruby and Yang were glaring at each other.

"This is why," Jaune added, "the game often takes hours."

"Hours?" Weiss asked, "But, our game..."

Jaune kissed her on the cheek. "You didn't know what you were doing, and let Yang lure you into a trap."

"With her Nevermore." Weiss stated. "Wait, does that mean you can control Grimm?"

"Ehn." Jaune stated.

"Since you got Ladykiller," Yang stated, "you probably won't be so easy this time, I guess I can be honest. The Grimm cards are traps."

"Forced encounters." Ren stated.

"And they all have a chance of backfiring." Yang continued.

"I believe," Ren voiced and paused for a moment, "it represents luring your enemy into a group of Grimm."

"I suppose that makes sense." Weiss stated, "Well, what about Ruby and Blake?"

"Blake wasn't paying attention." Jaune said, "And Yang is too used to fighting Ruby, so she knew how to counter her."

"Is that what happened?!" Ruby asked Yang.

"Shakin' in your little booties, Sis?" Yang asked.

Ruby put her right boot up on the table. "Suck it."

"Only if you win." Yang shouted.

"Seriously?" Weiss asked.

"Okay?" Yang replied, "Maybe I'll lick it, how about that."

"You're on, right Blake?" Ruby asked.

"What do you plan to lick in return?" she asked.

"Hm?" Ruby asked her, and then looked at Yang,

"If I win, you can do what you want with my hair."

Ruby and Yang reached across and shook.

* * *

Emerald paced across the common room in the turret. "If you can't even go inside, how can you possibly get him to trust you?"

"By sucking his cock?" Mercury asked, causing Emerald to scoff.

"You would suggest that."

"I'm actually hoping she doesn't." Mercury added.

"Well, for one, he's not neutral, he actively doesn't trust me." Cinder stated, "For two, he already has plenty of girls on his list."

"None of them can hold a candle to you." Emerald soulfully said to Cinder. Cinder in reply reached out to craddle her face.

"Unfortunatlely, he doesn't agree with you."

"But." Emerald tried to say.

"This is his house, literally." Cinder said. "While we're not allowed into the house, we are allowed?.."

"What?" Mercury asked, "In that mess they call a garden?"

"Bingo." Cinder delightfully stated. "He might not trust me, but he does believe me, and that's a start."

Mercury glared at Emerald, "Which means that any of your bullshit and we lose everything we've gained."

"My bullshit?" Emerald asked.

"Petty theft," Cinder stated, "and your Semblance."

"But?.." a wounded Emerald asked her.

"But, my dear, they are the opposite of trust."

"But... before?.." Emerald asked.

"I recruited you because of your useful abilities." Cinder simply stated, "I'm keeping you because... you both are dear to me."

* * *

Raven walked into the basement to see Qrow and Taiyang.

"Hey, Rae?," Qrow asked her, "did you talk to the kids?"

"Why would I do that?" Raven asked.

"Just admit you're a big softy," Taiyang stated, "and didn't want to interupt their game."

Raven huffed as she walked over. She nervously leaned down to kiss Taiyang on the lips, before looking over at the cell. "Just so you know, I'm the Spring Maiden. If you try to break out of here, you'll have two Maidens to face off against."

Neo used her hand to mimic annoying chatter, causing Raven to glare at her, and the boys to start giggling.

Qrow and Taiyang stood up. "See you, Rae." Qrow stated. Taiyang dipped her to give her a passionate kiss, and the two walked off. Raven struggled to regain her semblance of authority. She looked at Neo, whom was smirking at her widely.

"Don't you have anything better to do?" Raven asked, and Neo looked about her cell. She then looked back at Raven and shrugged.

* * *

Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury were standing in the garden. "It's been all day!" Emerald exclaimed, "Where are they?!"

"We are losing the light." Mercury stated.

"We'll have to try again tomorrow." Cinder voiced.

* * *

Weiss let out a disappointed sigh. "Sorry." Jaune stated, "This is my first time ever playing as Vale, so I honestly don't know what I'm doing."

Weiss gave him a peck on he cheek. "You certainly know far more than I do."

Ruby and Yang aggressively glared at each other while Blake moved pieces on the board. Yang looked back at the board. "Wait, what?"

"You're going down, Sis." Ruby said to her, "That's what."

"I do believe it's our turn." Ren stated.

* * *

Aurora and Taiyang placed blankets on the kids whom had all passed out on the table.

"Shouldn't you be getting to sleep, too?" Taiyang asked her.

"I am my mistress' personal assistant." Aurora replied, "It's my job to assist her with everything she does."

"Everything?" Taiyang asked.

"Everything." Aurora nodded.

"Even?.." Taiyang tried to ask.

"If she asked me to, yes." Aurora replied.

* * *

Yang started to rouse, slowly pulling herself up from the table, looking around. Ruby and Blake were cuddled together over the table. Ren and Nora were cuddled together over the table. Jaune was somehow laying on the table, sleeping, but still holding himself from crushing Weiss. How the hell could she be so elegant in such a strange position?

She looked around the room and saw someone sleeping on a couch. It was Aurora, who seemed to know when Yang had awoken and was looking her in her eyes. Yang tiredly waved at her. She slowly stumbled to her feet. She groped around, managing to pull the blanket over her shoulders and shuffled over to the couches. She slumped down onto one of them. Breathing for a moment as her thoughts returned to her. "Okay," Yang whispered, "I know you're like really into this assistant thing, but you don't need to be like, sleeping on the couch here if we need you."

"I'm more comfortable than you guys are." Aurora whispered in reply. "Besides, I started with nothing. Everything I made that wasn't putting food in my belly was developing the skills I would need to join the corporate elite. It didn't matter how good my skills were on paper, though."

"Why not?" Yang groaned.

"The moment they saw my face." Aurora stated. "I wasn't lucky like Blake, who could hide her Faunus nature with a bow, or like my mistress, who had the resources of one of the most powerful families on Remnant. Whenever they saw my face, they knew exactly who I was. I got good at seeing through the token effort they went to pretend like it was an interview. I actually thought that my mistress was one of them."

"But?.." Yang asked.

"Until I held the contract in my hands." Aurora stated, "I still didn't believe it. It was a pretty standard, ironclad, no wiggle room contract, except for one thing."

"Hm?" Yang asked, huddled under her blanket.

"Termination clause. On a one year contract, being paid several years salary upon termination is... actually understandable for an executive... except..."

"Except?" Yang asked.

"My face." Aurora simply stated.

"They would never give it to a Faunus?" Yang asked, and Aurora subtely nodded before sitting up. She slipped from the couch, adjusted her clothing, and walked over to Yang.

"Relax your weary head." Aurora stated, and guided Yang's head to a pillow she did not know was there. Aurora adjusted Yang's blanket, adjusted her beautiful hair. "Sleep tight."

"Mmm." Yang positively moaned.

* * *

Yang woke up with Blake laying on her. Blake looked up in her eyes and smiled, making no movement to get up. Yang looked over to see Aurora's couch empty, except for a folded blanket. She found Ren and Nora together, along with Ruby and Weiss sleeping on Jaune's massive chest.

"Does anyone remember?.." Yang tried to ask,

"Little Bit left you a note." Blake stated, and passed her the note.

Yang read the note, 'It's your turn, Yang. Breakfast will be ready by 0700.'

"Oh, shit, the game's still on." Yang said, and sat up.

#rwby #firen lhain #faunus au #pollinated knight

6 notes · View notes

slytherinknowitall · 4 years

Text

To Bed A Death Eater

Chapter 2: Doubt

(Click here for chapter 1!)

Disclaimer: I don’t own the “Harry Potter” book series. The story of “Harry Potter” is the property of J. K. Rowling, it is not my intellectual property. There is no financial gain made from this nor will any be sought. This is for entertainment purposes only.

Less than ten minutes later, there was a timid knock at her door, and Hermione would have been lying if she had said that that sound did not make her heart skip a beat.

Putting aside the book she’d been absentmindedly flicking through, she walked to the door with a rather stiff and unsteady gait before pulling it open to reveal the familiar figure of the Potions Master.

“Professor Snape,” she whispered breathlessly, trying hard to ignore the sudden lump in her throat. “Um, please, come in.”

Stepping aside, she watched as the man hesitantly took one cautious step into the crammed room; and the unusual sight of his visible wariness made her mentally smack her own forehead.

Of course. He can’t see!

“Here, let me help you,” she offered, reaching out her hand without a moment’s thought. When she touched his forearm, he drew a sharp intake of breath. “Oh, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to startle you, sir.”

Snape did not say anything in response. For an agonizingly long time, they just stood like that in the doorway of her bedroom, her hand on his arm, the awkwardness in the air virtually palpable. It was only when there was suddenly the sound of commotion coming from downstairs that Hermione summoned up the nerve to pull him inside, locking the door behind them. Getting out her wand, she applied a silencing charm as well as some protective wards for good measure.

Better safe than sorry. It certainly wouldn’t do any good to have someone just barge in.

Turning back around to face him, she tentatively grabbed his elbow and guided him towards her bed. She could not help but silently cringe as she saw him there, seated on her tiny twin-size bed, thinking about what might be happening soon in that very spot. But alas, her small bedroom, which she had moved into a mere two months earlier, did not offer any other sitting accommodations. And so, though her heart was trembling so very terribly, she went and sat next to him.

For a while, neither one of them spoke. Kneading her fingers, the young woman struggled to ignore how uncomfortably close she presently was to her former teacher as she stared out the window overlooking the deserted street outside. Looking back, she could not have said with certainty whether it had only been a few minutes or several hours, but by the time the streetlights came on, she finally plucked up the courage to say, “I’m glad that you decided to come here so that we can talk in private.”

“I did not have much of a choice,” Snape admitted huskily. “Alastor practically pushed me upstairs while Albus tried to contain everyone else in the kitchen.”

“They’re still not very thrilled about this, aren’t they?”

He gave an affirmative grunt. “Most of them were ready to jump at my throat and kill me with their bare hands right there and then.”

“Oh …” Hermione had to swallow hard. “I’m sorry. They really ought not to treat you like that.”

“I don’t blame them. I truly have half a mind to turn my own wand on myself.”

A troubled frown creased Hermione’s forehead. There was an obvious hint of blatant self-hatred dripping from his words, and she did not like that. She did not like that one bit.

But before she even had the chance to respond, he continued, “I will be honest with you … I do not even know what to say to you right now.”

Vaguely tracing the diamond pattern of the quilt they were sitting on with one finger, she tried her best to sound nonchalant as she mumbled, “Well, why don’t you simply tell me whether or not you accept my offer.”

“Miss Granger, I –”

“Would you mind if we used first names?” she interrupted him. “Just for today. It’s just that formalities would make this whole thing even weirder than it already is.”

She saw him hesitate for a second.

“All right … Hermione,” he ultimately conceded, and it was so weird to hear him properly address her by her given name for the very first time – though she had to admit that it sounded quite nice coming from his lips. Something about that deep voice of his made her stomach clench up into knots. “As much as I appreciate it, I obviously cannot accept your proposal.”

“Why not?”

“Even forgetting the fact that you were my student for seven years and that I am a lot older than you, I could never in good faith make you endure such a thing. This, this curse,” he spat out the word with disgust. “Is a lot more powerful than you could ever even imagine. It would strip me of all control and force me to do unspeakable things to you that could very well destroy your sanity.”

He turned away from her in an unsuccessful attempt to hide his facial expression which was filled with nothing but self-loathing. “Even now, I can feel the dark magic coursing through my veins, tugging at my mind. It senses your presence. I can hear it whisper to me, bidding me to just rip off this stupid blindfold and take you right here. Merely sitting next to you already requires more will power than any time I have had to shield my mind from the Dark Lord.”

The witch’s breathing hitched in her throat. His crude confession made her heart beat so fast that it was almost threatening to break out of her ribcage. Willing herself to take a deep breath, she squeezed her eyes shut and forced herself to stay put.

No. No, you can do this. For the Order. For Harry.

“I don’t believe that Professor Dumbledore would have sent you up here if he thought that there was a chance of me being seriously harmed,” she said softly, her eyes still closed. “And I also don’t believe that any kind of dark magic would ever be able to entirely overpower your morals and your good heart.”

He snorted with biting laughter. “Then you clearly do not know me well at all. Or him, for that matter. All that old madman cares about is the cause. We are all nothing but mere chess pieces in that little, rigged game of his he likes to play.”

“Don’t say that –”

“But it’s the truth! Don’t you see?” His tone gradually got louder and louder. “Any reasonably sane man in his position would have simply hired an unsuspecting prostitute, slipped her a couple of potions and then sent her back home with an altered memory and a nice, big bag filled to the brim with Galleons, blissfully unaware of any specifics. But not Albus. No, in his mind, raping the Muggle-born third of the Golden Trio is the perfect way to feign loyalty to the enemy and thus securing his plaything’s rank among the Dark Lord’s inner circle. Ha! As distraught as he might have acted, he knew from the beginning that you’d be the one to volunteer. Only you’d be foolish enough to let the greasy git of the dungeons fuck you in an attempt to save his pathetic, miserable life. You and your stupid saviour complex. So please, don’t be so naïve. This is all just a fucking charade to that bloody bedlamite!”

What followed that angry outburst was silence – complete and utter silence. Not even the rustling of the trees outside or the rapid palpitations inside both of their chests seemed to be able to penetrate their noiseless bubble. Hermione could feel her own pulse thumbing in her ears, and her mouth felt almost disgustingly dry. Wordlessly counting to a hundred, she at last opened her eyes and dared to cast a glance at the wizard. He was sitting in a hunched-over position, his face buried in his hands. Never before had she seen him like that, so evidently helpless, so vulnerable. For some reason, it nearly made her feel physically sick to witness him in such a state.

“I understand your apprehension, I really do,” she muttered gently. “I’m not quite keen on having to do this either. But I honestly don’t see any other way out of this mess. Somehow or the other, the curse must be broken … and time is running out.”

“I know,” he croaked out, the words muffled by his hands.

“And for all his faults, Professor Dumbledore is right. We cannot put ourselves before the cause. Especially not during dark times like these.” She could not stop her face from twisting into an anguished grimace. “Besides, I dare say that you are being a bit naïve yourself if you think that tricking a stranger would not weigh heavy on your conscience, too.”

Snape slowly lifted his head a little, allowing his chin to come to a rest on the pressed-together tips of his fingers, which were horribly stained from years of daily brewing.

“I don’t think that you are fully aware of what you are getting yourself into here. This would not be like any of your previous sexual encounters, Hermione. There would be no romance, no pleasure, no satisfaction. It would be hard and fast and downright animalistic.” He squared his shoulders. “And though I have never made it a habit to keep up with my students’ private lives, I do not think that it would be wrong of me to assume that an ever-busy academic like you most likely has little experience with such things.”

Hermione felt the warmth creep into the apples of her cheeks as her whole body stiffened, and that movement did not go unnoticed.

“I mean, you do have some experience, right?”

No answer.

“Oh god, you aren’t still a virgin, are you?” Snape rasped despairingly before letting his head fall back into his hands.

Hermione shifted her weight with unease. “I do not attach any value to my virginity if that is the problem, sir,” she was quick to assure him, glad to know that he could not see how awfully red-faced she was at that very instant. “When you think about it, it’s really nothing but a social construct. Will I be a different person afterwards? No. Will you be dead should I refuse? Most likely. So the decision is easy, really. The only reason why I … why I haven’t done it yet is because such a situation has simply never arisen before.”

“No! No, this is deranged!” he cried out as his entire body seized up and started to shake. “How could I ever live with myself knowing that I took something like that from you?”

She bit her lower lip. “I very much doubt that it would be that much better to wait for my first true love or maybe even just a drunken night out to come around first,” she argued with furrowed brows. “Because even in that case, it would be awkward and fumbling and, in all likelihood, disappointing. With you, now, it would at least serve a bigger purpose. It would be special – in its own absurd way.”

“I can’t,” he whispered in a quivering voice.

Suddenly feeling bold, Hermione grabbed his wrists and pulled his arms towards her, forcing him to face her.

“You don’t have a choice,” she told him in a beseeching yet stern manner. “You are far too valuable to the Order to stupidly risk your life like this.”

Snape opened his mouth as though to say something in response, but then he quickly closed it again. Pulling free from her grasp, he leaned back until his shoulders were touching the wall against which her bed had been pushed. He looked like a picture of misery. His complexion was of a deathly pale colour, his jaw was clenched, and a few beads of sweat could be seen running down his forehead.

“I do not want to do anything against your will,” he insisted weakly.

“I wouldn’t be too concerned about that if I were you. I –“ She dithered for just a second. Come on, Hermione. Don’t lose him now. “I am rather physically attracted to you.”

His head jerked up in surprise. “You are?”

“Y-yes,” she replied bashfully, all at once feeling dreadfully shy. “I find you quite handsome, actually.”

She was not lying just to make him feel better either. Truth be told, she’d had a slight fascination with him ever since he took over the Defence Against the Dark Arts position during her sixth year, when his passion for the subject really started to shine through – particularly during his more physical demonstrations.

Still, she was glad when he did not ask her to elaborate any further. Watching as he ran a tremulous hand through his jet-black hair, she heard him say, “Surely you are aware of the fact that some men would not take kindly to the fact that you are not chaste anymore?”

“Good!” Hermione huffed exasperatedly. “If they truly measure my worth as a person by who I have given my body to, then I’d rather have them think of me as used goods and leave me alone all together.”

“And what about Weasley?”

She looked at him with confusion in her eyes. “What about him?”

“He seemed … very much opposed to the idea.”

“Oh, he can sod right off!” she snarled angrily, leaping to her feet. “I don’t want anything from him. I never have.”

Walking the short distance to her nearby dressing table, she pulled open one of its drawers and fished out a black hair tie which she then used to fasten her brown curls into a low ponytail at the nape of her neck. Checking her appearance in the half-tarnished mirror, she could see the man rub his hands across his thighs in obvious discomfort.

“It could hurt,” he said in what sounded like a last-ditch effort to keep from having to yield himself to his fate.

Turning around, her mouth twisted into a wry smile.

“I’m sure that I have experienced worse,” she told him calmly, and for a moment, neither one of them said anything. Hermione sat back down next to him. “But like I said, I don’t think you’d ever be actively out to hurt me. I trust you, you know?”

Even though they were mostly hidden behind the blindfold, she could still see his eyebrows lift in surprise. It was abundantly clear that even the mere notion of someone like her trusting someone like him seemed utterly unfathomable to the dark wizard.

There was another short moment of heavy silence. Then, a deep sigh escaping his lips, he finally asked, “Are you really sure?”

The tone of his voice nearly broke her heart. He was normally such an assertive and stern man, but now he just sounded so defeated. It made for an easy choice.

“Yes.”

(Click here for chapter 3!)

33 notes · View notes

tsarisfanfiction · 4 years

Text

His Collection

Fandom: Thunderbirds Rating: Teen Genre: Humour Characters: The Hood, Scott, Virgil

The Hood knows what he wants, and will stop at nothing to get it. International Rescue have other ideas.

No idea where this came from; it’s not meant to be taken particularly seriously, just a stupid idea that wouldn’t leave me alone so I wrote it (with some musing help from @gumnut-logic - I have no idea how you put up with some of the ideas in my head, Nutty!). We’re playing a little with the flirty side of Scott that seems to show up from time to time when he’s rescuing women here, which is not a side of Scott I usually play with, so be warned. There might be more to this later, who knows.

Technology alone wasn’t enough to assure access to some of the world’s most secure facilities. No matter how much it had advanced, there was still no true substitute for retina checks, fingerprints or DNA scans. He knew this, of course, and constantly looked for ways to add to his collections.

There was a locked vault – ironically linked to his own DNA scans, retina and fingerprints – in the heart of his home. Inside it were vials of saliva, and a strictly unconnected computer terminus whose memory core contained retina scans and fingerprint data, ready to be used when required. Obtaining such things could be difficult, but with them, he could do anything.

That desire to continue expanding his collection, as well as the gaping hole in his samples, was what led the man who had shed all names except the moniker Hood – gifted to him by a once-friend whose own samples were decidedly useless now the man was several years dead – to his current situation.

He smoothed his skirt down, the fabric torn and ragged after his dramatic rescue from a collapsing building, every inch a woman determined to gain some fragile control over her hysteria, and set his eyes on his target.

His current disguise was, if he might say so, one of his best. Auburn once-perfect curls, now more of a frazzled mess, and tanned skin framed eyes that sat somewhere between blue and green on the colour wheel. Sculpted lips, but a small white scar on the cheek, marring what could otherwise have been a breath-takingly beautiful face. Breasts of a modest size and mostly covered up, no provocative cleavage on show, and a waist pinched but not enough to look unhealthy completed the figure. Just verging on the edge of a classic beauty without being obnoxious about it, he had already had the… pleasure… of dimpled cheeks smiling at him as he’d been carried out of the collapsed building.

Scott Tracy, Commander of International Rescue and CEO of Tracy Industries, was one of the most powerful individuals on the planet. Once upon a time, the Hood had had his father’s data – still had it, locked away in the safe – but with the great Jeff Tracy’s unfortunate demise, using it would draw unnecessary attention and indeed was no longer guaranteed to work. Competent places would have removed him from authorisation upon his demise, replacing him instead with his successor.

The Hood finished adjusting his skirt, and resisted the impulse to check that the moulds being used to change his body shape were still attached to the relevant places. Technology was wonderful for disguises, but fell apart at physical contact. Physical contact that was, unfortunately, required in this situation. He had even gone as far as to don a wig to ensure his disguise’s hair had a physical presence.

Scott Tracy had been most helpful so far. Hidden behind the cloaking visage, he’d obtained a perfect scan of his eyes with his own technological eye as he’d been carried to safety. One item down, two to go. Unfortunately, the young man had opted for full cover gloves on this particular rescue, meaning that he would need to get persuasive. And, of course, there was always the matter of obtaining a DNA sample.

The Hood had been playing this game for too long to be distracted by things such as posing as a wrong gender, or indeed to be phased about the idea of seducing anyone, regardless of their appearance or his personal feelings. Sources indicated that Scott Tracy was not immune to feminine wiles if that was what it came down to.

Inside his mouth, a capsule waited. The Hood supressed all his inner feelings of disdain and hatred for the young man and International Rescue at large, and pulled on the guise of thankful rescuee. Jeff’s sons were naïve to the point of foolishness.

“Oh, Mr Tracy!” he simpered as Scott Tracy passed him on the way back to his Thunderbird. The rescue was over, a resounding success with no casualties, and while the Hood sneered in the depths of his mind, on the surface he was just another pretty young woman who now owed International Rescue her life. Scott Tracy paused, as he’d known he would, smile on his face. The Hood had spent enough time around Jeff as he bumbled his way through wooing Lucille to recognise the flash of interest.

Perfect.

“Mr Tracy!” he simpered again, throwing himself at the blue uniform. Strong, blue-clad arms caught him, muscles flexing at the movement and rippling the fabric, but that was of no concern. “Thank you!” He gave the young man no time to react, pushing forwards for a firm kiss.

It was a move he’d utilised many times before. Generally the most efficient way to get enough saliva for a solid DNA sample, the advantage of a surprise kiss was that no-one ever expected it, and even if they did, they didn’t react fast enough to stop him. With Scott Tracy’s obvious attraction to his current disguise, there should be no issues.

His lips connected with smooth skin instead of the slightly cracked lips he’d been aiming for, but before he could properly register that Scott Tracy had turned his head to the side fast enough to evade the kiss – or that he’d even wanted to evade it, despite his attraction – hands were on his shoulders, gently pushing him back a little.

“You’re welcome,” the infuriating young man smiled, “and call me Scott.” The smile flashed briefly into a grin the Hood couldn’t describe as anything other than flirtatious.

How dare he flirt whilst denying a kiss? Where was the sense in that?

“Jennifer,” he replied with a matching flirtatious look, pulling the name of this disguise to the fore. His hands were still looped around Scott Tracy’s neck coyly, and he tightened his grip as the young man made to dislodge him. “I didn’t get a proper look at you in the building, but…” he trailed off and licked his lips, an action that definitely didn’t go unnoticed. “You’re quite the Adonis, aren’t you, Scott?” He purred the young man’s name, and was rewarded with the slightest widening of those bright blue eyes. Mesmerising, Jennifer would consider them, if she were real. Scott Tracy’s eyes had darkened, ever so slightly.

“So I’ve been told,” the young man replied, not looking away from him.

He could certainly work with that. Those gloves still covered his fingers, after all, so the young man was decidedly overdressed for his tastes, if not in the same way Jennifer considered him overdressed. It was Jennifer’s opinion that he channelled openly as he plastered himself against the skin-hugging blue uniform.

“I’d be interested in getting to know you,” he purred, leaning in. For just a moment it seemed like his target would surrender, but then his lips made contact with a cheek, again.

It took far too much effort to turn his groan of frustration to a rejected whine. Why was Scott Tracy being so stubborn? It was obvious the young man was interested.

“Maybe later,” his target murmured, hands gripping his arms to try and dislodge his grip. Determined not to lose this opportunity, the Hood clung on tighter. Despite being smaller than Jeff’s successor, he was still strong and the leverage was on his side. “Hey-”

“What’s wrong with now?” he demanded, adding a flare of petulant fire to Jennifer and watching as Scott Tracy’s eyes darkened again. The young man was definitely warm blooded, and interested, so what was stopping him from giving in to his desires and giving the Hood what he wanted?

“We’re still in the danger zone,” Scott Tracy reminded him, giving another gentle tug to try and dislodge his grip. “And I just saved your life.”

“So l need to thank you properly,” he insisted, going in for a third kiss but once again being met with a cheek as Scott Tracy turned his head away. Why? Why was he being so frustrating?

“I don’t save people for thanks,” the young man told him. “You’ve given me more than enough.”

“But-”

Gentle hands caught his and lifted them over Scott Tracy’s head, forcing him to release the young man.

“Sorry, miss,” the deep voice of the third Tracy son rumbled. “I’m afraid my brother is needed elsewhere.” Concerned brown eyes looked his disguise up and down, before Virgil Tracy put a hand on his older brother’s shoulder and pulled him away.

No!

“No- wait-”

Scott Tracy paused, and the Hood saw his chance, lunging forwards again.

He was caught by Virgil Tracy, who pushed his brother on with a muttered “I’ll handle this.” No, no, no, no, no! He needed that DNA, those fingerprints… The retina scan alone wasn’t enough!

“Scott!” he wailed, but Virgil Tracy turned him around and began to walk him towards where the rest of the uninjured civilians had been herded.

“I’m sorry, miss,” the large man said, “but International Rescue has a rule about not taking advantage of the people we rescue.”

A thousand curses on International Rescue and their morals.

“I just want to thank him for saving me!” he protested, Jennifer pouting. “That’s not Scott taking advantage of me!”

“Sorry, miss.” Virgil Tracy was kind but firm. “None of us accept that form of gratitude.” He handed him over to a uniformed official. “These people will make sure that you get home safely.”

The Hood couldn’t believe it as he was absorbed into the group of useless, whiny civilians. All his planning… the disguise, designed to appeal to what his sources said Scott Tracy liked – and succeeding, from how the young man had been looking at him. Thwarted by morals.

One out of three was pathetic. The other two were much harder to obtain, but the Hood wouldn’t give up. Clearly, a different approach was desired; a shame, as rescues were the most fool proof way of meeting the young man.

If he couldn’t catch Scott Tracy, Commander of International Rescue, then he’d need to catch Scott Tracy, CEO of Tracy Industries, instead. This was not over.

#thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds are go fanfiction #tsari writes fanfiction #scott tracy #the hood #virgil tracy #his collection #thunderfluff

22 notes · View notes

seyaryminamoto · 4 years

Note

I recently saw a heavy criticism of The Beach saying "it's the single least realistic portrayal of teenagers on television: spoiled, rich kids don't actively shun Zuko for having a disfiguring scar on his face, no one tries to start shit with Azula over the volleyball game, teenagers referring to themselves as teenagers, a teen boy tells people not to make a mess, a bunch of 14-16 year-olds sit in a circle and psychoanalyze each other, everything else about the campfire scene." Your thoughts?

:’) that someone looks at the Beach and dismisses it for being “unrealistic” by whatever their cultural standards are is probably enough of a sign of the irrelevance of said person’s opinion. I mean, obviously they’re free to think what they will, but...

Fire Nation society is not American society. I’m going blind here, maybe this person isn’t American at all, but somehow I mostly see such kinds of narrow-minded criticism from first-worlders who are seldom exposed to lifestyles outside their particular, contemporary bubble of experiences.

Now then, let’s get into the actual debate: Fire Nation society values violence quite a lot. Fire Nation society is full of people who saw Zuko’s literal Agni Kai burning scene, and didn’t look away: the only character who does is Iroh, a very obvious hint by the writers that Iroh has discarded the cruel moral values the rest of the Fire Nation upholds.

With this in mind, a boy with a scarred face might earn all sorts of “ews” from our societies, damn right. From Fire Nation society, though? If even watching how the burn is inflicted didn’t bother most of them, why would the result be a problem? If anything, I wouldn’t be surprised if people with burn scars are even seen more attractive because it implies they were caught in violent scuffles with fire and still survived? Of course, the argument might go that Zuko’s burn is meant to be a mark of shame... but it’s a mark of shame for PRINCE Zuko. For that mysterious boy with the emo haircut in Ember Island, whose real identity is a mystery? It is shown, instead, to result in this reaction:

Now then, we could say that this is meant to be a jab by the creators and writers at Zuko’s hordes of fangirls, because frankly, Book 3 has several instances of groups of girls swooning over Zuko and it might be what they were going for. In this case, though, they’re swooning over him WITHOUT knowing who he is, as opposed to the fangirls in Nightmares and Daydreams. So, while it absolutely can be inspired on the many Zuko fangirls the staff knew about, this actually ends up serving to characterize a society, a culture: they don’t think his scar makes him unattractive. It’s blatantly stated that their reaction is the opposite. So, instead of thinking “oh god that’s so unrealistic”, how about we actually stop trying to measure everything by our standards and consider that this could be an element of WORLDBUILDING...? :’)

(Also, I’m pretty sure there’s a fair share of privileged young women in our current society who think Kylo Ren was hot as hell with a huge scar across his face... are those people not real, by any chance? :’D If anything, they’re living proof that girls swooning over a scarred boy in ATLA are absolutely feasible, no matter if not everyone shares their opinion)

Continues under the cut becasue this got long....

Now then, Azula is shown to take the Kuai ball game too far. She outright causes the ball, in the final kick, to burst into flames and burns the net. Going by Chan and Ruon Jian, these kids are privileged idiots, why lie... but are these privileged idiots stupid enough to see a girl flying three feet into the air, kicking a firebent ball and then giving a foreboding speech, and say “OKAY WE’RE GONNA PICK A FIGHT WITH YOU FOR BEING SO COMPETITIVE!”???? I mean... honestly. Why would anyone do this? Azula turned an inoffensive Kuai ball game into a battlefield singlehandedly: THIS, as well, is meant to be a display of characterization. That people don’t take the game so seriously, that they wouldn’t pick a fight with her because she’s dangerous or because they just don’t care as much as she does... it’s characterizing Fire Nation people every bit as much as it characterizes Azula.

Azula and Zuko are both shown reacting in ridiculous ways to casual things in this episode: Azula takes the game too far, potentially stages the burning down of a house in retaliation for being rejected by a boy, Zuko is hysterical and jealous and snaps at Mai over stupid things... it’s, again, a matter of showing how poorly adjusted these characters are. They’re not normal kids. They DON’T behave like normal kids. Normal, privileged kids in the Fire Nation, are kids like Chan and Ruon Jian. The episode literally gives you the chance to see Fire Nation society for what it is, in a way no other episode does... and because it’s not like our societies, it’s somehow wrong?

... Also, teenagers referring to themselves as teenagers is somehow unrealistic? I mean... is it nowadays? I don’t think any teenagers had a problem with saying they were teens in my youth :’DDD literally remember MCR released a song called Teenagers and a lot of us loved it to pieces. What exactly is so outrageous about it? Might be that this worked better in the mid-00′s, but I hardly think this makes no sense? Aang refers to himself as a kid earlier in the show, is that unrealistic too and worth rebuking a whole episode over? Are all teenagers supposed to be pretending to be grown-ups, like so many 16-year-olds on Tumblr who always talk like they’ve figured out the world and try to impose rules on fully-grown adults upon whom they have absolutely no power? :’DDDDD Yeah, I think this particular point is a stupid thing to make a fuss over. Honestly, it is.

Chan tells people not to make a mess = unrealistic. Ha. Did this person ignore his reactions at the chaos Azula, Zuko, Mai and Ty Lee caused in his house? “YOU BROKE MY NANA’S VASE!!!”, anyone? Like... I’m sorry, but this IS characterization, yet again! This shows Chan is a spoiled brat who wants to stay in his family’s good graces. The party isn’t at all as crazy and wild as you’d expect from, again, an American teenage party... and why? Because, for one thing, Chan is clearly afraid of the consequences of too much chaos in the beach house: this implies fear of authority, of his parents, perhaps even his grandparents.

For another, again, FIRE NATION SOCIETY: what does this clever critic know, by any chance, of Nazi Germany’s Hitler Youth? I’ve watched a few documentaries about it, and basically if you were a boy and you weren’t in Hitler Youth, you were no one. You were worthless. And what happened in Hitler Youth? Conditioning to the extreme. These kids were taught all the alt-right ideology that Tumblr despises, and they were made to believe it was an undeniable reality. Were there cases of kids who didn’t like it, kids who didn’t approve of it? Surely. But the general idea of Hitler Youth was to educate every kid to behave in the way Hitler considered appropriate, to the point where “the notion "Germany must live" even if they (members of the HJ) had to die was "hammered" into them.”

This is, of course, an extreme example and I’m sure Fire Nation education wasn’t that extreme because we saw it for ourselves, it’s not. But a slightly milder version of it? That’s absolutely feasible and consistent with what we see in The Headband. Therefore, kids getting high and drunk at a party? Maybe that kind of thing simply DOESN’T happen in a Fire Nation party? :’) Maybe they’re taught that those kinds of things are off-limits to anyone under a certain age (or outright forbidden, might be the case with drugs), and as they live in a tyrannical society that priorizes the Fire Lord and his decrees above all else, where his word is treated as that of a god, even mischievous teenagers refuse to act out? :’D oh, what an implausible concept, this just can’t possibly make any sense! Hitler Youth is unrealistic too!

Lastly, that a bunch of kids would sit in a circle psychoanalyzing each other seems implausible to this person is actually laughable for me. Not only have I constantly found myself, from my early teenage years to current days, serving as some sort of unofficial therapist for many of my friends, who share their woes and ask me for advice (whether they’ll heed it or not), most importantly, I once had an experience with a friend, back in high school, much like what happens with these kids in The Beach, after I’d spent years doing a lot of post-depression introspection. I shared a lot of stuff I didn’t often talk about, and beats me WHY I felt completely comfortable sharing it with my friend that day, but I did. She understood me, listened, offered her opinion, and we talked about her problems too. This happened when I was 15-16. If this person has never experienced such situation... why, that’s not anyone’s business. But it’s certainly not their business to determine this just DOESN’T happen, to anyone, ever. I can safely say it does, to people who do have problems and who sometimes just need a friendly shoulder to rely on. Maybe this critic’s life is just so perfect they’ve never had to share their woes with anyone else :’) I’m afraid that doesn’t invalidate those of us who are different, and it doesn’t invalidate the possibility that those four could talk, as they did, without breaking characterization, in the scene of the fireplace at the beach.

ANYWAYS...

Saying that a show about a group of kids who save the world and then effectively become leaders of such world, facing very little opposition in the process, is unrealistic because “teenagers aren’t like that becuase I wasn’t like that as a teenager” may be one of the most ridiculous and shortsighted things I’ve seen in this fandom, AND I’VE SEEN A LOT OF RIDICULOUS AND SHORTSIGHTED THINGS. A person’s experiences are NOT universal, regardless of how widespread their culture may be. More importantly, fiction does NOT have to abide by rules established by our current society’s state and cultural values. ATLA, as it is, is a completely different world from our own, regardless of its inspiration in many Asian cultures.

I, personally, find it a lot more unrealistic that Fire Lord Zuko can become Fire Lord without much in the way of visible protesting or boycotting when he was a banished prince who didn’t even win in his Agni Kai against Azula since it’s Katara who ends up defeating her and, as far as the rules go, Azula technically won even if not in the most dignified of ways. I find it even more unrealistic that LOK tells us Zuko was Fire Lord successfully for 70+ years and the Fire Nation has been fully reformed into a non-warmongering country despite the 100+ years of indoctrination started by Sozin’s rule. That this gets swept under a rug, not only in the neatly wrapped finale that leaves a thousand unanswered questions, but in the sequel show that merely confirms Zuko succeeded and shows NOTHING of how he managed to reform such a fucked up society...? That is a thousand times more important to me than “privileged kids aren’t acting like privileged kids OMG!”. Honestly, you want privileged kids abusing all their privileges in our society? Go watch Gossip Girl, I genuinely recommend it. You want something that proposes a completely different possibility and a glance at what a society guided by a tyrannical dictator looks like? Feel free to watch The Beach again with a completely different focus and MAYBE you’ll understand what the writers were going for.

If this person happens to see my answer, I hope they learn that worldbuilding, for a storyteller, entails CREATING a world that isn’t necessarily like the one we’re familiar with. There are multiple layers to such a world, and society and culture are some of them. Not all cultures and societies work the same way, which is part of why sometimes you’ll find behaviors from people who belong to wholly different cultures and wind up perplexed because whatever they’re doing is completely unfamiliar for you. Are there any universal behaviors in humans? Maybe! But in a work of FICTION, even the most universal of behaviors can be changed, deleted, altered however the writer sees fit! :’D it’s not a novel concept, and as far as logical fallacies are concerned, this show features a whole slew of those that have nothing to do with this peculiar sense of “realism”, fallacies that absolutely can and should be called out. Namely, things that contradict the internal logic of the show, rather than things that are incompatible with OUR world. Portraying a world that’s very different from ours, on virtually every level you can think of? That’s called creativity, not lack of realism. Please learn the difference.

#anon #... excuse me #but I got really unnerved by this one #just wtf #if this is supposed to be some sort of important critic #rather than a random someone on Tumblr #please don't ever watch anything they do ever again #realism ffs #BELIEVABILITY and realism are not the same damn thing #and solid worldbuilding requires the former not the latter #god I'll just #go chill #why #just why

39 notes · View notes

missfay49 · 4 years

Note

So... Thoughts on the new episode? :)

Nonnie, I could write an essay on this episode. And i just might.

There I was, just “supes caszhj” as Griffin McElroy would say, watching Patton sincerely trying to be less strict, pleasantly surprised that everyone was not at each other’s throats...

C!Thomas busting in all hotheaded was a bit of a misdirect, but it let us know he was actually really upset about it, so the rest of the characters could be more measured.

Then Logan pops in, trying to be “less distracting” and failing completely because, honestly, were any of us anywhere able to read any of those speech bubbles without pausing? Roman knew it, he couldn’t even keep up while narrating. It was extremely distracting!

I was not quite getting the theme yet, but I could see that they kept dead-ending at each example. It was like (and turned out to be) Patton wasn’t addressing the problems that were being presented. I actually got pretty frustrated, because it felt like they were stuck in a loop (you can say that again).

He kept pushing the complicated problems aside for more clear cut problems, and trying to extrapolate from there. But it never worked, the answer was never satisfying. Because some problems just can’t be simplified.

The Trolley Problem was really the sign, for me, that things were getting out of control. The most accepted answer (I think) is that you should pull the lever, because 5 lives are more important than 1 life, and choosing to not act is still a choice. They never even got to that conclusion. And that’s because solving the Trolley Problem didn’t actually matter. What mattered was seeing the extremes to which Patton would go to put others first, because he couldn’t let go of his black and white view of the world. His views literally (in game) knock C!Thomas out. His views were symbolically self-defeating.

And I, a fool, foolishly thought it was wild enough when LilyPadton’s video game attack K.O.’d video game C!Thomas. But Then! THEN! Deceit puts all his cards on the table. In a throwback to the courtroom scene, he raises his right (human) hand and speaks the truth. His name.

(Yes I thought there was something written on his hand and yes I thought he said Janice, I am only human, so sushi.)

If you recall, Janus never really swore to tell the truth back then. He says “I know I do,” but he himself had not put a hand on a book to swear by. (Fun side note: neither does Virgil. He never touches the book offered and just says “whatever.”) So, symbolically, this moment is the first time we see him make a conscious effort to be honest.

I. Died.

Or at least I would have, if Roman had not immediately pushed the scene forward again. (seriously, could someone make a video edit where, instead of being mocked, there’s just silence, and pictures of random movie scenes where ppl are smiling and saluting?) And while the words that followed were unanimously heartbreaking, the timing of their responses was more important to the video.

The constant pushing, rushing, struggling that all the characters were going through was so true to form for emotional turmoil. You’re trying so hard to figure it out, but each possible solution comes up short and you just keep leaping to the next option, looking for the answers. All these thoughts keep popping in unannounced (Logan), and your mind is a mess.

That’s not necessarily a bad approach, because without going through so many examples, they may never have reached their realization. The reason why nothing was working: It was because they were trying to fit complicated problems into simple boxes. But you have to stop and step back eventually. It took the shock of Roman and Janus’ exchange to make everyone realize how far off track they’d gotten, and really take a look at the whole approach instead of just the individual problems.

Patton did suddenly side with Janus, but it wasn’t out of nowhere. Patton has known for weeks that he’s missing the mark. Months, if you count his smaller interactions with Virgil. Upon Janus appearing in the Megaman sequence, he continued his normal behavior of arguing against whatever Janus stated, up until he saw he had hurt C!Thomas himself.

This is the climax of the show. Not anyone’s individual arc, but the entire series. C!Thomas’ moral backbone, a thing which is arguably our first and most strongly instilled cultural support, was shaken. Patton could not waste time. He saw he had hurt C!Thomas so he immediately changed. He saw in that moment that Janus was protecting C!Thomas, and changed how he spoke to Janus.

As shown clearly in SVS, Patton will do just about anything to get his way, including bribary. He is not lawful in his approach to morality. He is an “ends justify the means” type of person, just like Janus. The difference was just in what ends they want to accomplish. But, seeing the video game results of his means, he realizes that the ending wasn’t going to be a good one if he kept going that route. He has now decided that in order to “win” the game, his means must change, and he aligns himself with Janus because Janus was visibly in the position of C!Thomas winning.

In conclusion!

We have the Stated Theme: It is not wrong to prioritize your mental health, even when it means putting yourself before others.

But we also have the Unstated Theme: Trying and Failing and Why that’s Okay

Every. Single. Side. In. This. Episode. Fails.

Logan fails to be either convincing, inconspicuous, or detached. His arguments sway no one, he’s very noticeable, and he gets upset at the end.

Patton fails to be more flexible. His strict viewpoint gives him an actual breakdown.

Roman fails to be the ‘hero’. Although the rest might still happily give him that title, his actions did not match up to the role. He mocks a part of C!Thomas in a moment of vulnerability, and believes they would openly, knowingly lie to him. He does not act with faith in himself or others.

And Janus. That sweet baby. He fails to tell the truth. And it’s not because he wasn’t telling the truth in this episode. I firmly believe his nod was meant to encourage Roman and indicate that C!Thomas meant what he said. But Janus failed to take into account the effects of his past actions. They are suffering now for his past mistakes and, careful planner though he is, he didn’t see that coming. You can’t just Start being honest one day and expect everyone to go along.

But it’s okay.

It’s okay because a person cannot undergo drastic, necessary change without first falling apart. And please understand that this is all in a metaphorical sense. A person doesn’t need to have an actual mental breakdown to change, but the structure, that is, the strict mental guidelines that we have erected for ourselves and are desparately clinging to cannot stay standing if change is to take place.

Patton, Roman, and C!Thomas experience a complete change in their worldview in this episode. They each react to that change in their own way:

Roman is angry. He’s mad at the time spent trying to follow a path that was eventually determined to be wrong. He doesn’t yet see the value in the time spent. He’s a man of action, after all. He’s focused on the past.

Patton is sad. He already misses the times when things were simpler. He’s nostalgic for the past even as he tries to make things right, right now. He’s focused on the present.

And C!Thomas? He is all of us after the dust settles. Tired, yet hopeful. Resigned to face another day, another sunrise, after a much deserved break.

He’s focused on the future.

23 notes · View notes