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breakonthroough · 5 months

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Three Captains

Monkey D. Luffy, Trafalgar Law, Eustass Kid. Three Captains from the Worst generation. I love their relationship and interactions so much, because they remind me a lot of siblings! All their rivalry, jokes, malicious teasing on the sly and infuriating with snide comments. Inciting and dared eachother to commit illogical, absurd and actually stupid actions.

What’s especially funny is that Luffy, Kid and Law, despite their undoubted mutual respect, recognition of each other’s strengths and moral qualities (which, however, they will never say directly or show clearly), simply cannot be around without pissing each other off. Like three mischievous idiot brothers constantly poking each other with sticks.

We certainly know how Luffy’s childish spontaneity affects Trafalgar and how it can triggered our stern Surgeon of Death. But what about Eustass Kid?

Always cool and calm, Law instantly becomes a bully just by looking at his competitor in the Worst Generation, as was the case when they first met. It’s as if he’s a 13-year-old teenager again: his middle finger extended towards his opponent, and his mischievous grins in a verbal spat with him and quite ambiguous remarks and jokes about his battle tactics against Big Mom. At these moments, even the younger Kid seems like his older brother next to Law.

If Luffy simply infuriates Trafalgar with his childish spontaneity, like a real little brother, Law’s relationship with Eustass is more like a squabble between the same age kids or twins. Well, or at least classmates. And they are both, for a moment, quite adults!

One of them is always angry and aggressive, the second is cold, somewhat arrogant and unsociable. But both seem to happily and unconditionally succumb to the adventurous provocations to which this rivalry pushes them. But Law, even as a child, never succumbed to emotions like that, was a calm and serious older brother for his little sister, and he behaved almost the same way in the Doffy family, before getting closer to Cora. Only with Cora-san his emotions manifested themselves much more vividly and diversely. Who knows, maybe Kid evokes in Law some hidden associations with his benefactor, at least externally, since he can feel so relaxed and spontaneous in his presence.

So I'm very interested in what kind of chemistry is between the three Captains. Is this the influence of the power of Luffy’s fruit, or the influence of D. It still seems to me that Kid may also very well turn out to be a representative of this clan, because we don’t know anything about him yet (and besides, that’s exactly how I explained that erroneous the disappearance of the second letter D from his name, ha ha). Or is it simply a clash of similar sides of independent and free characters, but at the same time I get the feeling of precisely brotherly ties with all their feigned hostility and causticity.

I really hope that in the future they will remain comrades on the same side of the barricades, and that the fight for the Main Prize will not make them real enemies. I find their stupid relationship very valuable and touching. After all, this is a real, albeit not blood, brotherhood. And One Piece is wonderful in precisely these interactions and relationships.

Love these dorks so much.

Russian translation below 👇

Морепридурки.

Монки Д. Луффи, Трафальгар Ло, Юстасс Кид. Трое из худшего поколения. Мне так нравятся их отношения и взаимодействие. Они мне очень сильно напоминают отношения сиблингов! Всё это их соперничество, подколы, ехидное поддразнивание исподтишка и доведение до бешенства едкими комментариями. Взятие на слабо и подстрекательство к совершению нелогичных, абсурдных и, чего уж там, действительно глупых поступков.

Что особенно забавно, Луффи, Кид и Ло при несомненном взаимоуважении, признании сил и моральных качеств друг друга (о которых они, правда, никогда не скажут напрямую и не покажут явно), просто не могут находиться рядом, не выводя друг друга из себя. Словно три вредных брата-идиота, постоянно тыкающих друг друга палками.

Мы давно знаем, как действует на Трафальгара детская непосредственность Луффи и как это триггерит нашего сурового хирурга Смерти. Но что насчёт Юстасса Кида?

Всегда хладнокровный и спокойный Ло моментально заводится и включает хулигана, только взглянув на своего конкурента по Худшему поколению, как было при первой их встрече. Словно он снова 13-летний подросток: и этот его средний палец, вытянутый навстречу сопернику, и шкодные ухмылки в словесной перепалке с ним и вполне себе двусмысленные замечания и шуточки по поводу его тактики боя против Большой Мамочки. В эти моменты даже более младший по возрасту Кид кажется рядом с Ло его старшим братом.

Если Луффи просто бесит Трафальгара и выводит из себя непосредственностью, как самый настоящий младший братишка, с Юстассом у Ло отношения больше похожи на перепалки погодок или близнецов. Ну или хотя бы одноклассников. А они оба, на минуточку, вполне себе взрослые люди!

Один — мрачно-злобный, вечно сердитый и агрессивный, второй — холодно-отстраненный, несколько высокомерный и нелюдимый. Но оба словно с радостью, безоговорочно поддаются авантюрным провокациям, на которые их толкает это соперничество. А ведь Ло, даже будучи ребенком, никогда так не поддавался эмоциям, был спокойным и серьёзным старшим братом для своей сестрёнки, практически также он себя вел и в семье Доффи, до сближения с Корой. А вот с ним как раз его эмоции проявлялись куда более ярко и разнообразно. Как знать, может Кид и вызывает в Ло какие-то скрытые ассоциации со своим благодетелем, хотя бы внешние, раз он может себя чувствовать настолько расслабленным и непосредственным в его присутствии.

В общем, мне очень интересно, что же это за химия такая между тремя Капитанами. Воздействие ли это с��лы фрукта Луффи, или же влияние Ди (мне до сих пор кажется, что Кид тоже вполне может оказаться представителем этого клана, ведь мы ничего про него пока не знаем, ну и, к тому же, я именно так себе и объяснила то ошибочное исчезновение из его имени второй буквы Д, ха-ха). Либо же это просто столкновение схожих сторон независимых и свободных характеров, но при этом у меня возникает ощущение именно братских связей при всех их напускной враждебности и колкости.

Очень надеюсь, что в будущем они останутся боевыми товарищами по одну сторону баррикад, и борьба за главный приз не сделает их настоящими врагами. Мне кажутся очень ценными и трогательными их дурацкие отношения. Ведь это и есть настоящее, пусть и не кровное, братство. А Ван Пис именно такими взаимодействиями и отношениями и чудесен.

Обожаю этих морепридурков)

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enbyleighlines · 4 months

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Radiant Dawn Unused Supports

I thought I would go through the loooong list of unused supports in Radiant Dawn and share a quick thought or two about each one. This list is long, so sorry if this post is super long.

Also, apparently due to the high volume of possible supports, they only planned to write one conversation per pairing, which would be unlocked at A rank. A little disappointing, but I would have preferred that to what we got…

Boyd x Brom: They have a support in PoR, so this makes sense. It would probably just be a continuation of that.

Boyd x Ike: Interesting. Maybe they would have referenced that rivalry between them they established early in PoR and then never mentioned again.

Boyd x Rolf: They’re brothers, it makes sense. It would be cute if it referenced their brotherly spat in the earlier base convo, plus the thing with Rolf’s mom (if the player managed to get that.)

Boyd x Mist: Cute. I wonder if it would have been Mist confessing her feelings to Boyd like it says she does in her paired ending.

Boyd x Oscar: Again, makes sense. They would probably discuss the past, probably? Maybe Boyd would even encourage Oscar to follow his dreams of becoming a knight again, since he and Rolf can take care of themselves now?

Boyd x Titania: I wonder if they would reference the fact that Boyd accidentally calls Titania “mom” in their supports in PoR.

Boyd x Ulki: Didn’t they have a support chain in PoR? It would probably be a continuation of that.

Boyd x Mia: Ahaha, this would have been cute. I can see them being good friends.

Aran x Laura: Makes sense. They think of each as brother and sister, right? It would have probably been cute if a bit generic.

Aran x Makalov: What would these two have to talk about???

Aran x Micaiah: Again, not sure what these two would talk about but at least it makes more sense than the above.

Aran x Mordecai: Oh, I can kinda see this. Maybe they would be good buddies.

Aran x Nealuchi: Hmmm. Not sure what to make of this one. Could be cool, though.

Aran x Nolan: Interesting. I can see Nolan kinda becoming a father figure to Aran.

Aran x Sothe: Again, makes sense, but idk what they would talk about. Maybe they would compare their respective relationships to Laura and Micaiah? You know, the whole “kinda siblings but also kinda not” thing. Except I never got the sense that Aran had romantic feelings for Laura, so idk.

Caineghis x Elincia: Aww I kinda want to see what they intended to do with this. Maybe they would reminisce about Elincia’s father together.

Caineghis x Giffca: Another missed opportunity. I would have liked to learn more about their relationship.

Caineghis x Ike: They probably would have talked about Greil together.

Caineghis x Kyza: I imagine it would be something to do with Kyza’s work ethic?

Caineghis x Ranulf: Same as above, but probably a less boring version.

Caineghis x Renning: Ooooh another opportunity to reminisce about Elincia’s father, or else gushing about how much Elincia has grown.

Caineghis x Lyre: Huh. Not a clue what this conversation would entail.

Caineghis x Mist: Hmmm. It would probably be kinda cute, I suppose.

Caineghis x Mordecai: Another version of his conversation with Kyza probably.

Caineghis x Nailah: Oooh, this one would have been neat to see.

Caineghis x Lethe: Why does Caineghis have so many support convo options?? This is getting kind of ridiculous.

Caineghis x Skrimir: Well this one just makes sense, yeah. It would probably be Caineghis congratulating Skrimir on his growth.

Caineghis x Stefan: Oooooooh. Considering Stefan is probably part Gallian royalty, I would have loved to see this conversation.

Caineghis x Titania: Would they have talked about the good old days together? I would have loved this one also.

Calill x Geoffrey: Geoffrey apparently visits her place a lot, so I guess this one makes sense.

Calill x Heather: Would Heather hit on a married woman? The answer is… yeah, probably.

Calill x Muarim: Oooh, they could talk about being adoptive parents.

Calill x Nephenee: It could be a cute continuation of their support chain in PoR.

Calill x Soren: Um, what? I guess they could talk about magic…? OR WAIT. Soren could recognize what Amy is and they could talk about that, omg. Wait no now I want to see this conversation, dammit!

Calill x Tauroneo: Huh… not sure what they would have to talk about.

Calill x Tormod: Adoptive mother asking Tormod for tips on how to be a better parent, maybe?

Calill x Mia: Hmm. I guess this one could be good. They seem like complete opposites, though.

Calill x Danved: Well, supposedly Danved is a friend of Largo’s, so this makes sense.

Brom x Elincia: Aww, it would probably just be Brom giving Elincia a nice ego boost.

Brom x Heather: Maybe Heather will admit that some men are okay?

Brom x Janaff: I… haven’t a clue what this one would be about.

Brom x Meg: Father and daughter reuniting at long last! Honestly, why don’t they get at least a base convo together when they finally unite???

Brom x Nephenee: They’d probably talk about missing Ohma.

Brom x Zihark: Brom apologizing to Zihark for promising Meg that she could marry him, maybe?

Shinon x Gatrie: Makes sense.

Shinon x Ike: Oooh, this one could have been good, actually.

Shinon x Janaff: A continuation of their supports in PoR, perhaps?

Shinon x Rhys: Weird choice, but okay.

Shinon x Rolf: Just makes sense.

Shinon x Mist: Hmmm. Odd choice, but I respect it.

Shinon x Oscar: I know they must have conversations sometimes, considering they work for the same merc company, but I honestly don’t know what they would talk about.

Shinon x Sigrun: Huh??? Why????

Shinon x Titania: Titania would probably scold Shinon or something.

Edward x Leanne: Odd choice, but okay. I am guessing he would vow to protect her or something.

Edward x Leonardo: Again, makes sense.

Edward x Micaiah: Makes sense, even if it doesn’t interest me personally.

Edward x Nolan: Edward chats with father figure.

Edward x Sanaki: What??

Edward x Stefan: Edward seeks a swordmaster sensei and winds up with a second father figure.

Edward x Sothe: Makes sense. Theoretically they are friends, but idk what their dynamic would actually look like.

Ilyana x Gatrie: Gatrie hits on a pretty girl, gets rejected.

Ilyana x Laura: Okay, wait a second. Actually, these two would be good friends, I think.

Ilyana x Lucia: Lucia saves Ilyana by giving her leftovers, and remains politely confused when she learns how often Ilyana needs to eat in order to survive.

Ilyana x Micaiah: Hmm. I guess this could be cute?

Ilyana x Mordecai: Don’t these two have a support chain in PoR? If so, this would be a continuation of that.

Ilyana x Oscar: Hmm, a food lover and a chef. I wonder what the topic of this conversation would be…

Ilyana x Mia: Again, a continuation of their PoR support chain.

Ilyana x Zihark: Hmm. Do these two have a support chain in PoR? I feel like they do but I can’t imagine what they would have to talk about. Traveling, maybe?

Ena x Gatrie: Would Gatrie hit on a woman still mourning the loss of her fiance? The answer… yeah, probably.

Ena x Gareth: I imagine they have some relationship, but idk what it is.

Ena x Kurthnaga: Reminiscing about Rajaion, most likely.

Ena x Leanne: Hmmm… this could be really good, I think.

Ena x Mist: Huh. A belated apology for asking Nasir to steal her amulet?

Ena x Nasir: Makes sense. Maybe they would discuss Ena’s parents?

Ena x Volug: I am imagining that this whole conversation takes place in the ancient tongue, which would be hilarious.

Ena x Rafiel: Hmm. I suppose this could be good, also.

Elincia x Geoffrey: Maybe they address the rumors the Crimean nobles brought up at the beginning of part 2 of RD?

Elincia x Ike: Best friends discussing life, most likely.

Elincia x Kieran: Kieran being over the top and Elincia indulging him.

Elincia x Ranulf: Huh! I think this would be cute. No clue what it would have been about, but it’s a cute idea!

Elincia x Leanne: Cute! I love their friendship in RD.

Elincia x Renning: Makes sense.

Elincia x Lucia: Of course. Can’t exclude this obvious matchup.

Elincia x Marcia: Awww! I love that they become friends in RD.

Elincia x Mist: Elincia chatting with yet another good friend.

Elincia x Nephenee: Neph awkwardly but fiercely giving Elincia an ego boost.

Elincia x Nailah: Omg, wait, I want this, actually. Two queens, both drastically different. I would have loved to see what they might have spoken about.

Elincia x Pelleas: Oooooh, very interesting. I wonder if the dialogue would change whether or not you viewed this convo before or after Pelleas realizes that he’s not the true Daein heir??

Elincia x Sanaki: Makes sense.

Elincia x Tibarn: They could have that talk Tibarn wanted to have with Elincia and never did.

Elincia x Bastian: Politics, probably.

Fiona x Laura: Hmm. I suppose they would be friends?

Fiona x Leanne: Odd choice, but okay.

Fiona x Leonardo: Again, I am assuming they have talked before, but idk what about.

Fiona x Micaiah: Micaiah would probably want to know more about Fiona’s dad.

Fiona x Pelleas: What would they have to talk about?

Fiona x Tanith: Odd choice, but okay.

Fiona x Tauroneo: Obviously they would discuss Fiona’s father.

Fiona x Danved: Huh… I am confused but also vaguely intrigued.

Gatrie x Marcia: Gatrie tries to hit on a pretty girl and fails.

Gatrie x Mist: This one would have either been super wholesome or oh so creepy.

Gatrie x Muarim: Ummm… what would they talk about, exactly?

Gatrie x Oscar: Makes more sense than the above, but my question still stands.

Gatrie x Rafiel: Please tell me they intended for Gatrie to mistake Rafiel for a girl. That or he wants to know how Rafiel managed to land a woman like Nailah.

Gatrie x Astrid: Gatrie tries to hit on a pretty girl and fails… Though, tbh, Astrid would have been better off with Gatrie.

Geoffrey x Kieran: Bros being bros.

Geoffrey x Kyza: Weird choice, but I kinda dig it.

Geoffrey x Renning: Obviously.

Geoffrey x Lucia: Makes sense, they are siblings.

Geoffrey x Bastian: Makes sense, they are best friends.

Giffca x Gareth: I… have no words. I guess they can bond over being silent protector types?

Giffca x Kyza: Huh. Okay.

Giffca x Ranulf: This one makes sense.

Giffca x Mordecai: I’m surprised they planned so many Giffca conversations. Did they intend on fleshing him out into a full-fledged character?

Giffca x Lethe: Still confused.

Giffca x Skrimir: This one makes sense.

Giffca x Tauroneo: Huh??

Giffca x Janaff: Why does Giffca have so many planned support convos??

Giffca x Bastian: I am assuming this one would be 100% politics.

Gareth x Janaff: Wait they planned for Gareth to have a bunch of support convos too? Did they intend to flesh him out, too?

Gareth x Kurthnaga: This one makes sense.

Gareth x Renning: Okay…

Gareth x Nasir: Makes sense, I suppose. They would probably discuss Dheginsea and it would be very sad.

Gareth x Vika: Wait, why??

Haar x Heather: Ummm, why?

Haar x Jill: Obviously. I don’t care for this pairing, but since they have a paired ending, I am unsurprised that they were intended to have a support convo together.

Haar x Makalov: Two lazy people discuss how much they enjoy being lazy.

Haar x Volug: Why, though?

Haar x Pelleas: I can kinda see this one being funny. If anyone would tell Pelleas to grow a spine, it would probably be Haar.

Haar x Sigrun: Supposedly they know each other, so this makes sense.

Haar x Tauroneo: Hmm. Makes sense, I suppose, but I don’t think I would care to read it.

Heather x Lucia: How would Lucia take to being hit on by a devilishly beautiful female rogue, I wonder?

Heather x Mist: Huh. Maybe they would talk about their moms together?

Heather x Nephenee: Yessss. Though if they had included these conversations and this one didn’t end in lesbian makeouts, I would have been very disappointed.

Heather x Vika: Ooooh. Yeah, Heather would hit on Vika, and I don’t blame her.

Heather x Volke: Hmm. I guess they could discuss being thieves?

Ike x Kurthnaga: It would probably be similar to the base convo they have together, with Ike thanking Kurth for sparing them before.

Ike x Ranulf: It would be super flirty and I would love every second of it.

Ike x Micaiah: Oooh. This could have been really cool to read.

Ike x Mist: Awww. Some sibling bonding.

Ike x Nasir: Makes sense.

Ike x Nailah: Omg, yes. I really want to see what their dynamic would have been like.

Ike x Oscar: Ike and his surrogate big bro having some sibling bonding.

Ike x Lethe: A continuation of their PoR support, perhaps?

Ike x Reyson: Same as the above, most likely.

Ike x Soren: Probably the prelude to the secret cutscene where Ike admits he doesn’t actually remember them meeting as kids, or else Ike teasing Soren about essentially tutoring Skrimir on tactics 101.

Ike x Sothe: Aww, this could have been cute.

Ike x Titania: Ike and surrogate mom have a family bonding moment

Ike x Tibarn: Ike taking advice from Tibarn on how to confess to his gay crush??? Probably not, but I can dream.

Ike x Volke: Strange choice, but okay.

Ike x Mia: Yes!! Their friendship is so cute, I wanna see more.

Ike x Zihark: Would they discuss beorc-laguz relations? Most likely.

Janaff x Lucia: Odd, but okay.

Janaff x Oscar: Hmm. I suppose I can see them getting along?

Janaff x Tibarn: Obviously.

Janaff x Vika: Oooh, Janaff interacting with a crow laguz that isn’t corrupt? This could be interesting, actually.

Janaff x Ulki: Obviously.

Jill x Mist: Obviously. They would probably talk about Jill’s feelings about deserting the Daein army (for the second time).

Jill x Nealuchi: Huh?

Jill x Lethe: A fine choice. It would be interesting to see what they would have to say after the three year gap.

Jill x Sigrun: Huh. I guess Sigrun knew her dad, so there’s a connection there?

Jill x Tauroneo: Hmm. Logistically I can see them having stuff to discuss but idk what it would be.

Jill x Zihark: Similar to the above, but I would be curious to see this one.

Kieran x Rhys: Aww, what if they discuss Rhys’s dreams of becoming a knight??

Kieran x Renning: Hmm, makes sense.

Kieran x Lyre: Huh?? I suppose this could be funny but… huh.

Kieran x Marcia: Sure! I imagine they are friends. And their supports in PoR were pretty funny.

Kieran x Oscar: Well, duh! They are boyfriends lifelong rivals, after all!

Kieran x Reyson: Wait. This could be cute. Kieran inviting Reyson to train with him, since Reyson wants to be stronger.

Rhys x Rolf: Makes sense.

Rhys x Mist: Makes sense.

Rhys x Nailah: Omg, wait. Actually, hold on. I actually am upset we didn’t get this. I actually have a (unfounded) headcanon that Rhys is into women who could snap him in two (aka Titania). So him meeting Nailah would be hilarious, if only because of my own headcanon (completely unfounded, really, it’s based on no canon content whatsoever).

Rhys x Oscar: I bet these two are good friends, so this makes sense.

Rhys x Titania: Ahh, the pairing that I was so devastated didn’t have a paired ending back when I was 15. Seriously, from their very first conversation in PoR I was like “oh these two should date.”

Rhys x Ulki: A continuation of their support convos in PoR, most likely.

Rhys x Mia: Awww! Yeah, we need a continuation of their supports in PoR.

Kyza x Ranulf: Ahaha, yeah. I can only imagine how gay this convo would have been.

Kyza x Lyre: More fighting between love rivals, most likely.

Kyza x Meg: Huh. Okay. Hmm. A weird choice, but I am curious as to what they were intending to do with this.

Kyza x Mordecai: This probably would have been super wholesome, ngl.

Kyza x Muarim: Ooh, interesting!

Kyza x Zihark: Oooooh, okay. I like the sound of this one, too.

Kurthnaga x Micaiah: Okay, sure. I can see the idea behind this.

Kurthnaga x Nasir: Makes sense.

Kurthnaga x Pelleas: Oooh. Again, would the convo change whether it happens before or after Pelleas finds out he’s not the true heir of Daein??

Kurthnaga x Skrimir: Oh, okay. Odd choice, but I think it could be interesting.

Kurthnaga x Sothe: Huh.

Laura x Meg: Aww, sure! I can see them being good friends.

Laura x Micaiah: Sure, why not?

Laura x Nealuchi: Why??

Laura x Nolan: Nolan adopts yet another teenaged orphan.

Laura x Tanith: Oh. Okay. I… cannot see this ending well. I feel like Tanith would hate Laura’s guts.

Ranulf x Lyre: So much simping. And I get it, I do. Ranulf isn’t just a snack, he’s a three course meal. So I really can’t blame Lyre.

Ranulf x Mordecai: Wholesome.

Ranulf x Lethe: Makes sense.

Ranulf x Skrimir: Obviously. I am curious what it would have been about, though.

Ranulf x Tibarn: Oooh, okay. I can dig it.

Ranulf x Zihark: Oooh, yes.

Leanne x Leonardo: Weird.

Leanne x Naesala: Of course! This one would have been so cute, too!!! Ughhh.

Leanne x Nealuchi: Makes sense.

Leanne x Nailah: Oooh, Leanne getting to know her sister-in-law, I can dig it.

Leanne x Oliver: Good god, no. No. Burn it with fire.

Leanne x Sanaki: Aww, this could be cute.

Leanne x Tibarn: Leanne teasing her brother-in-law, yes please!

Renning x Lucia: Makes sense.

Renning x Bastian: Of course.

Renning x Vika: Weird. Why??

Leonardo x Micaiah: Okay, sure.

Leonardo x Nolan: Makes sense.

Leonardo x Pelleas: Hmm. Okay.

Leonardo x Skrimir: What, why??

Leonardo x Sothe: Sure, I guess.

Lyre x Nephenee: What?? Weird, but okay, yeah. I kind of want to see where they were going with this.

Lyre x Pelleas: Huh. Another character who would tell Pelleas to grow a spine. I approve.

Lyre x Lethe: Awww. Sister bonding time

Lyre x Astrid: What? Would Lyre be able to convince Astrid to give up on Makalov? If not, I don’t want to hear it.

Lyre x Titania: What???

Lyre x Zihark: Ohhhh. Ohhhhhhh. Yes, actually. I want to read this one.

Rolf x Marcia: A continuation of their supports in PoR, perhaps.

Rolf x Mist: Best buddies.

Rolf x Oscar: Awww. This one would have been so cute and wholesome, I can feel it.

Rolf x Rafiel: Huh? What would they even talk about??

Rolf x Tauroneo: Don’t they have a support convo in PoR? If so, I suppose this would be a continuation of that.

Lucia x Astrid: Can Lucia convince Astrid to give up on Makalov. Pretty please?

Lucia x Bastian: Yeah, I knew this one be here, but I am still disappointed.

Makalov x Marcia: Yeah, makes sense.

Makalov x Naesala: Weird… but okay. I guess I would be curious to see what they intended to do with this one.

Makalov x Astrid: Okay, yeah, I knew this one was coming.

Makalov x Bastian: Huh.

Makalov x Volke: Omg, what??

Marcia x Sigrun: Awww, I bet this would’ve been cute.

Marcia x Astrid: I approve of them being friends.

Marcia x Tanith: Ahaha, I bet this wouldn’t be hilarious.

Marcia x Ulki: Strange, but okay.

Meg x Micaiah: Cute!

Meg x Nephenee: I imagine they know one another, so this makes sense. Maybe Neph used to babysit Meg?

Meg x Astrid: Okay, I approve.

Meg x Vika: Oooh, okay. Unlikely friends, but I approve.

Meg x Zihark: Would it involve them agreeing to be platonic friends? If so, I approve!

Micaiah x Naesala: Yes, please. Give me those literary parallels.

Micaiah x Nailah: Ahaha, yes.

Micaiah x Nolan: Makes sense.

Micaiah x Volug: Again, makes sense.

Micaiah x Rafiel: Omg, this one would be so sweet, I just know it.

Micaiah x Soren: YOOOOOOOOO. Excuse me??? I was DENIED a support convo between Micaiah and Soren??? Excuse me, Radiant Dawn. This is unforgivable. What the fuck. Why would you do this to me. Or, I guess, why would you not give this to me? I have been ROBBED.

Micaiah x Skrimir: Huh. Odd, but I can dig it.

Micaiah x Stefan: Yessssss, please.

Micaiah x Sothe: Of course.

Micaiah x Tauroneo: It makes sense, but man, I can only imagine how boring this conversation would have been.

Micaiah x Tormod: They would share Sothe stories, for sure.

Mist x Oscar: Awww! Wholesomeness for certain.

Mist x Titania: Yes, please.

Mist x Mia: Awwww!! You’re telling me I missed out on a Mist and Mia friendship??

Mordecai x Oliver: Umm. No, actually. I am glad this one never saw the light of day. Mordecai doesn’t deserve that.

Mordecai x Lethe: Makes sense.

Mordecai x Stefan: Good.

Mordecai x Ulki: Sure, why not?

Mordecai x Danved: Aww, okay, yeah. I can see these two becoming friends.

Mordecai x Zihark: Sure.

Muarim x Lethe: Interesting. This one would probably go into the history of laguz slavery and be very sad, but it would be educational, so…

Muarim x Sothe: Muarim attempts to adopt another teenaged orphan.

Muarim x Titania: Okay. I can see this.

Muarim x Tormod: Obviously.

Muarim x Vika: Sure! I want to know what their dynamic is, actually. How did they meet?

Muarim x Zihark: Okay, sure.

Naesala x Nealuchi: I guarantee that there would be at least one usage of the word “Nestling.”

Naesala x Oliver: Omg, actually?? I think this would be interesting to read

Naesala x Rafiel: Naesala tries to warm up to his future brother-in-law. Though, they probably already know each other, right? Maybe Rafiel was a big brother figure to Naesala back in the day?

Naesala x Reyson: Oooh, interesting. I would like to see them be friends again.

Naesala x Sanaki: Oooooh, yes. Cute.

Naesala x Sothe: Hmm. I suppose…?

Naesala x Tibarn: Ahahahaha. Yeah, idk how this would end with Naesala not torn to shreds. But I would have liked to find out!

Naesala x Vika: Ooooh, okay! This could be interesting.

Nasir x Stefan: Hmm. I guess I can see it?

Nasir x Volke: No, too weird.

Nasir x Ulki: I guess??

Nealuchi x Nolan: Okay, actually, I can see this one.

Nealuchi x Rafiel: Oh, yes! I imagine they knew each other once. I would have liked to see Nealuchi get all nostalgic about Rafiel as a young princeling.

Nealuchi x Reyson: Okay, makes sense.

Nealuchi x Tauroneo: Huh.

Nealuchi x Vika: Ooooh, very interesting.

Nephenee x Pelleas: The world’s most awkward conversation. Seriously, what would they even discuss?

Nephenee x Danved: Okay, I can kinda see it.

Nephenee x Zihark: Huh, okay, sure. Why not?

Nailah x Volug: Makes sense.

Nailah x Rafiel: Yesss. I wanted more of them interacting, so yes.

Nailah x Reyson: Nailah trying to impress her brother-in-law? Or would it be the other way around?

Nailah x Tibarn: It would have way too much sexual tension for two people who are in-laws.

Nolan x Sothe: Okay.

Oliver x Rafiel: Ugh. Yeah, okay, I understand why this was planned, but why?? Why do this to Rafiel??? Hasn’t he suffered enough?!??

Oliver x Reyson: Should have seen this one coming. If it doesn’t involve Reyson breaking his fist on Oliver’s face again, I don’t want to read it.

Oliver x Tanith: Why, though???

Oliver x Tormod: No. Absolutely not. Don’t do this to Tormod.

Oliver x Danved: Huh. Okay. Hear me out. It could be funny, especially if Oliver is like “didn’t I hire you once?” and Danved resolutely denies it.

Volug x Rafiel: Sure! I wouldn’t mind seeing them interact.

Volug x Soren: Ummmmmm, what? Actually, no, why? Why was this a planned thing?? What would they even talk about??? Unless it was about… how the branded are treated in Hatari???? Wait actually that would have been sick as fuck.

Volug x Tormod: Sure, this could have been cute!

Volug x Mia: Omg, wait. Yeah, this would have been adorable.

Oscar x Tanith: A continuation of their convos in PoR, no doubt.

Oscar x Titania: Sure, why not?

Oscar x Mia: Omg, yes. I guess I am just a fan of Mia interacting with people in general.

Pelleas x Tauroneo: Hmm, could be interesting, actually.

Rafiel x Tibarn: Rafiel and Tibarn both trying to impress their brother-in-law and both failing at it.

Lethe x Sanaki: Okay, could be cute.

Lethe x Skrimir: Yes, actually. I want to know what their dynamic was like.

Lethe x Zihark: I feel like Zihark has a planned support convo with every beast laguz. I’m not complaining, I’m just pointing it out. This one makes sense, tho.

Reyson x Tanith: Hmmm.

Reyson x Tibarn: Yes, please. Especially if it has some underlining sexual tension.

Reyson x Tormod: Sure, okay.

Reyson x Ulki: Okay, yeah. This could be interesting.

Sanaki x Sigrun: Sanaki and surrogate mom number 1.

Sanaki x Tanith: Sanaki and surrogate mom number 2.

Soren x Skrimir: Ahahaha, yes. Man, I would have liked to have read this one. Sad it doesn’t exist.

Soren x Stefan: Obviously. Do you think Stefan would have tried to convince Soren to go with him again, or no?

Soren x Titania: Awwww!! Wait, no, I really want to read this one.

Sigrun x Skrimir: Huh. Weird, but okay.

Sigrun x Tanith: Awwwww, yes! Man now I’m really sad we didn’t get this.

Skrimir x Tibarn: Omg. Just imagine.

Skrimir x Mia: Yes!! This would’ve been adorable, I just know it.

Stefan x Vika: Okay, could be cool.

Sothe x Astrid: I think they had a support chain in PoR, so I guess this makes sense?

Sothe x Tormod: Awww, buddies catching up!

Sothe x Volke: Odd choice, but okay.

Tauroneo x Volke: What?

Tauroneo x Zihark: Okay, sure.

Titania x Tibarn: Omg, wait. I like this one a lot, actually?

Tibarn x Ulki: Sure.

Tibarn x Mia: Mia trying to duel the King of the Hawks. RIP Mia, but at least you died doing what you loved.

Tormod x Vika: Yes, please!

Tormod x Danved: Sure, why not?

Bastian x Volke: Okay, yeah, this one works.

We kind of ended on a low note there, but anyway. That’s my thoughts on every single planned support in RD. Sad they didn’t have a Ranulf and Soren support planned. Nor a Pelleas and Soren one. And actually, where is the Pelleas and Micaiah support?? Shouldn’t that one be a given????

But I suppose it doesn’t matter, since they left support convos out of the game entirely. Which I get, that would have been A Lot of writing. Still, it’s a shame. Oh, what we could have had…

Anyway, that’s the end of my super duper long post. Thanks to anyone who read the whole thing!

#tellius #fire emblem radiant dawn #radiant dawn #fe10 #long post

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blxetsi · 3 years

Note

do you write for zeke? if so could you please do some boyfriend!zeke (modern au) hcs? thanks🥺

tysm for requesting !!!

modern zeke jaeger dating headcanons

lowercase intended !

zeke jaeger x gn!reader

- biggest tease ever.

- i think you two wouldve started off as friends to lovers yk 😌✨

- v funny v teasing will make fun of you no matter what

- but its all lighthearted and you can genuinely tell hes joking and doesnt mean what he says

- hes a coffee person. all the way.

- almost always seen with a coffee in his hand

- after you keep stealing sips of whatever hes got he finally just caves in and will bring you your own drink whenever he sees you

- if you dont drink coffee, but prefer a sugary drink or something he'll tease you about it

- hes a very relaxed person and doesnt get jealous, hes not someone that will go balistic and get angry when you hug a friend he doesnt know or whatever

- also would be really cool with your exes if youre cool with them, like "oh yeah i remember you telling me abt them, congrats on your engagement btw" just a very civil man

- if he does have insecurities about your relationship he just kind of, wont say anything ???

- not that he doesnt want to he just doesnt know how to bring it up

- bae pls learn how to talk abt your feelings 😁👍

- anyways after a little bit youll notice somethings wrong, but he'll try and act "strong" bc thats what he thinks hes supposed to be for you

- baby no u can be vulnerable its okay 😐🤚

- he finally lets everything go and has a really long and progressive conversation with you about everything, and you guys work it all out !

- you assure him its okay to be honest and that hes always welcome to talk to you about how hes feeling and his heart just swells

- im also a firm believer in that zeke genuinely doesnt care what you look like, if he finds you cool he finds you cool, he dgaf

- poc ?? he loves you. plus sized ?? he loves you.

- if you even THINK of being like "lol im insecure" hes shutting it down and talking abt how beautiful he finds you

- hes also someone that likes to push you out of your comfort zone, but in baby steps ?? like hes not going to force you to do something when you say "zeke im genuinely not comfortable with this" but if youre very shy he'll try and help you kind of,, not be as shy (hopefully this makes sense 😁👍)

- also loves to cook with you.

- his favourite types of dates are just when you two go to each others' homes and just cook dinner together ?? maybe drink some wine while you chop vegetables and work together (if you drink obv, if you dont he wont drink either even if you say its okay)

- he thinks it makes the food taste better because "it was made with our love" yeah ok ig 🙄🙏

- his family is really cool !! his dads a doctor and his step moms a social worker, and theyre really nice people !! his younger brother is in college but after a while he grows to love you like a sibling

- his mom lives a couple hours away, so he only gets to see her during holidays, but shes a very kind woman who owns an art shop !

- hes a very family oriented man, and really likes that you like his family and vice versa, he thinks its really important that his s/o and family get along

- when hes with you he sees himself being with you for the long run, im talking marriage and kids (if thats what you want) but definitely marriage

- if you two had different friend groups i think it would be hard for either of you to kind of fit in with each others friends, but after a while you two get the hang of it and it gets easier to see them !!

- is the kind of guy who'll wake you up with kisses on your cheek 🤩

- also likes to spoon you or have your head on his chest. will NOT be the baby spoon no matter what.

- also the kind of guy who dramatically stretches and yawns in the morning

- likes it when you hold his hand, even if you guys are just sitting together on the couch watching something, its so simple and subtle but it makes him really happy

- if you have an office at home that you work in a lot, he'll come and check on you when it gets late. will just rub and pat your head and ask what youre working on, and ask if youll be done soon

- if youre stressing on something that needs to be done THAT NIGHT he understands and will just leave you to it

- when you come to bed late it wakes him up but hes glad it does bc then he can pull you into his arms 😌✨

- zeke has very warm hands, to the point where sometimes theyre sweaty and clammy, so when you have a stomach ache or cramps he has no problem just laying down behind you and rubbing your stomach where it hurts

- if you have a weird interest or hobby he wont discourage it as long as its not hurting you or anybody else, he'll try and get into it to but if he cant no harm done, he'll respect it and you

- i think he would have some acne scars on his cheeks from highschool (puberty am i right 🙄😤⁉️) and thats one of the reasons why he has a beard, just to make it hard to see

- its mostly bc hes cool though, and although he started growing it out BECAUSE he found the scarring weird, as hes gotten older he just doest care anymore

- if you think he looks hot clean shaven he'll do it for u, and he loves the compliments you give him

- zeke is the kind of guy that will flip through the tabloid magazines at checkout

- "babe did you know that jennifer lawrence has a dark secret ??" "i- i did not 😁"

- also the kind of guy that will laugh if he sees kids falling in public

- if he was a father he'd help his kid up obviously, but would do it while giggling the whole time

- has dad handwriting (u know what im talking about)

- everytime he calls his brother he answers with "hey asshole" ??? brotherly love 🙈✨

- is very into horror films, but ONLY good ones

- so like hereditary, midsommar, and black swan are some ones he loves

- the kind of guy that has captain crunch for breakfast every morning

- theres this guy at the law firm he works at that he has a "rivalry" of sorts with, his names levi and from what youve been told hes actually very intimidating ??

- loves to read and will read to you if you ask, would have you in between his legs with your back to his chest on the bed, and he'd have one hand in yours and the other holding whatever book you choose

- zeke needs to be in complete darkness to sleep but needs to have a room as bright as possible to be productive. so every morning after he stretches and gets out of bed hes immediately opening his curtains and letting light into the room because "its the only way he'll actually get ready"

- if he was ever to pop the question he'd do it alone at a very mundane time, just like "wow this is the moment" and ask you to marry him. doesnt matter if he has a ring or not, hes ready, and he realizes this, and he finds the beauty in just doing something so simple with you. hes content and happy, and you make him see life in things he hasnt before, and hes ready for the commitment that comes with marriage, and hes in love with you.

hope u all enjoyed 🤩🤩🤩 asks r open so request if ud like !!! okay love u all stay safe 🤩

#attack on titan #attack on titan fanfiction #erwin smith #hange zoe #levi ackerman #zeke jaeger #zeke yeager #zeke yaeger #zeke jaeger x reader #zeke yeager x reader #zeke jaeger headcanons #zeke yeager headcanons #zeke x reader #zeke jaeger x gn!reader #shingeki no kyoujin x reader

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sxrrandomfanfics · 3 years

Text

I want to rewrite Lego Ninjago but I'm not really that invested and have too many writing projects so here's some concepts:

Kai (at least in the pilot) is the son of a man who forged weaponry. As such, he and Nya are very skilled in that and create the armor that the Ninja outfits are given later in the series. Kai uses his fire abilities and is a bit of a scavenger when it comes to finding scrap metal.

Nya is a lot more talented than her brother when it comes to forging but instead uses it to create the Samurai suit. Nya and Kai can be seen tending a forging fire in the monastery when not training. It's actually very theraputic and great sibling bonding for them.

Jay is still a try hard cool guy, but it comes out very early to the other ninja that he has very limited knowledge of things that were not received very well. Jay is mainly a ninja not for his own talents (although he was the second-to-last scouted ninja), but he wants to be recognized and given money. He doesn't want to be in the junkyard that his family owns, but he does get plenty of mail from his parents and he loves them dearly. Jay and Kai have a brotherly friendship, though Jay still likes Nya because she's the first girl besides his mom he's ever met. Jay's learned stories that are very... old fashioned and thrown away into the junk yard so he's "old fashioned" or has old fashioned ideas.

Cole is the most senior ninja, and he takes that very seriously, trying to force himself into the leadership role. He's also one to pick up techniques almost as quickly as Zane, so there's a one sided rivalry there. He's also lived with Master Wu the longest, and usually is able to decipher his lessons the quickest.

Zane is... Okay I really like Zane's story within Lego Ninjago so he's probably going to change the least. Not caring about typical social norms that Jay harps on him about and doesn't really see the one-sided rivalry that Cole is trying to push. Zane is a loner, but Kai seems to be able to break him out of his shell and enjoy some other things with his team (insert a joke on fire melting an icy heart here).

Lloyd is a character who is a good kid at heart. Born from Garmadon though, Lloyd is separated from his mother and raised at the disciplinary school that is in the series. He tries his best to be "the bad guy" but the most he really wants is positive attention. He's always been told: "You are the son of the evilest man who has lived. You MUST be just like him." In some scenes where Lloyd is at the school, there's something strange about the boy. Being doused in water during the winter and not feeling cold, even drying off quickly; the hand-buzzer trick not working on him; wearing his dark clothes in the summer heat and not feeling it; anyone trying to trip him soon trip from a crack in the floor.

#ninjago #lloyd garmadon #kai smith #zane julien #cole brookstone #jay walker #nya smith

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danaduchy · 7 years

Text

NPCs about Seeds

Full script of Far Cry 5 (except cutscenes)

* What were those Seed brothers like? Can't imagine there's anything like a healthy sibling rivalry going on there. * John's the baby of the Seed family. His brothers turn a blind eye to his more sadistic indulgences. * Joseph and John show why it's hard to have a family business. Money and blood mix weird. Even when you're not tryin' to be a messiah. * When you escaped the bunker... John didn't say it... but you could see it in his face. Failure. Things got worse from there... Like he was trying to make up for something. Prove to his brother he could... * Kim and I used to throw these weekend BBs. Open invite. All you had to do was bring something. If you can believe it, the whole Seed family came once. They brang watery mac and cheese. I shoulda knew they were monsters when they did that. * John's on edge 'cause his brother-Father is getting' cranky. What a fucked up sibling relationship those two got. * Maybe John will go crying to his "father". I wanna see Joseph give John a spanking. * Joseph's pissed the hell off. I hear John's sweating like a piggy. * Word's out - Joseph's had it with John. That little punk is backed into a corner now. * Good thing for us John and Jacob haven't sorted out their brotherly nonsense. I mean if we're lucky, they'll just take each other down. If not, well, I'm going to keep some grenades around with John's name on 'em, eh? It's comin' to a head man. * Says somethin' that Joseph didn't save his brother. Family really doesn't mean shit to these people. * Wonder what Daddy Seed is feelin' right now. Oh. Shit. What if he WANTED John dead? Fuck man, I can't think about the big game. We did it here. We kicked ass. That's gotta matter. Okay that’s what I'm telling myself. Yeah, that’s it. * I'm just sayin': If I was Joseph and I had the ability to see into future occurrences, I woulda warned my boy John that he was gon' get murdered... and made some good bets. * I'm sure it's only a matter of time before Joseph tries to spin John's death to his own advantage. * John Seed never had the Father's full confidence, what I heard. But the Joseph loves little sister Faith, and gave her everything her twisted heart desired. * Jacob always tried to look out for his little brother. Imagine what he's gonna do when he finds out you killed him.

* John was always the runt of the Seed family. I'm not surprised that you were able to get him. But I gotta warn you, Jacob's a whole lot meaner than his little brother. * Joseph adopted Faith into their family. She's going to be madder'n a wet hen that you killed her brother John. * John liked to throw his weight around, tryin' to prove how strong he was. Jacob knows he's strong. His actions are more controlled, and he's a lot scarier for it. John was always super emotional, but Jacob's buttons won't be so easy to push. * All this could have been avoided if only a mid-level cable channel gave the Seed family the reality show they deserved. * You know, if any of these Seeds ran for office, they'd win in a landslide. Mind control charisma just oozes off of them. * Come to think of it, the Seeds work just like a political office. You got Joseph, the mayor, and John, Jacob and Faith as his city councilors. It's no wonder they forced me and my people out of office - they already knew how to play the game! * Each of the Seeds has their own bunker. They call them “Gates”. * Know how I sniffed out Eden's Gate's bullshit early on? Only the Seeds were allowed to be angry, everybody else had to be calm--even though we all had our asses in that church because we were mad at the same shit too. But now everybody gets to be angry, 'cause it's a weapon pointin' where the Seeds want it. Protect the project. Transparent motherfuckers.

John

Resistance

* John's always been obsessed with the people in Fall's End. And with Mary May in particular. * Deep down, I think John wants to die. That man has scars that run deep. * John's got a particular ritual he sticks to. You get marked with a video, then you get dunked in the water. When John wants you found, he doesn't stop. Ever. * Nowadays, if you're caught huntin’, John Seed'll have ya' killed. * John's got people getting baptized all across the valley. In rivers, creeks, hell, even in puddles. * John scrawls a fucking tattoo on your chest, then flays you the fuck alive. He nails it to a wall. * If the peggies wanted a heap of food, why didn't they drive a ways to the wholesale club and take that over? Everythin' would be canned and ready for them instead of still in the ground. You can tell John Seed never had to raise a kid. * The cult takes people and then sorts out where they go. Whoever John doesn't keep, he sends to Jacob. Or Faith. * John really puts the dick in dictator. The fucker just loves calling and leaving answering machine messages, too. * John's always wearing a key around his neck. He calls it the key to paradise. I don't wanna know what it unlocks. * I'm pretty sure the family that used to own this farm is long gone. John Seed made an offer. They refused. That's that. * This fertilizer company was bought by John Seed a long time ago. They ran it as a legit business. * This one guy, Les Doverspike. House is northwest. He thought he could prepare for everything... Din't count on... JOHN SEED'S LAWYERING SUPER POWERS! In the blink of an eye, Eden's Gate owned Les' land, bunker, arm, leg, dingleberries, ....EVERYTHING! * I've heard some pretty brutal stories about what happens when John wants you to confess. * The peggies had to have planned all this way ahead of time - they're harvestin' at record speed. I guess they had little meetings... John probably hunkered over his map gettin' a hard-on for the sound of his own voice. Hm... now there's a thought... * The thing that always bugs me about John Seed is, who goes to a lawyer that’s tatted up more than a gangbanger? * You're attractin' a lot of attention, especially from John Seed. John's paying special attention to you. * John wants you real bad. Have you considered maybe he's in some kinda love with you? He oughta killed you like two or three times already but he's playin' cat and mouse. Just sayin', if you find yourself alone with him maybe a good long somethin-or-other could save our necks. * Man, that John, he sure does have a hard on for you. So I'm thinking, you guys should probably just fuck and uh get it over with. * I bet you John gives the best spankin's. Sorry I know that's messed up. What can I say, he brings it outta me. I'm just sayin' maybe we don't kill John is all. Seems a waste of a perfectly good set of buns. * Before you, John never lost his cool. You're driving John literally crazy. * I drank with Joey Hudson back in the day. She doesn't take shit from anyone. John's gonna eat her alive. * I know how these things go, man. Deputy, you better keep skeleton keys and wire cutters and a swiss army knife and anythin' that'll get you outta a hogtie on you at all times, because John is gonna truss you up like a dinner turkey real soon. * Always thought there was somethin' kinda twisted about John. * John the Baptist is an amoral predator, end of story. * John Seed's not gettin' what he wants, so he's pitchin' a fit. * Keep an ear out for John's fucken' plane. He loves buzzin' around in that hunk of shit. * I've known men like John Seed before. Real charismatic. They'll sell ya poison and convince ya it's a health tonic. He'd fit in real nice in Washington... * I had one conversation with John Seed and I knew! I knew... He masks his words as guidance, but deep down there is a selfishness that could only come from pure evil. * John Seed's a piece of shit. When news spread that I was expecting, that scumbag spread rumors that HE was the biological father of my baby. I don't know if he was trying to create a wedge between me and Nick or if he was just doing it to laugh at us. * I hear John Seed was a lawyer or something. Used the rules to buy up stuff in the Holland Valley. The cult must have been running damage control already, because think of what a story that'd make. Unless we're already all tapped out of giving a fuck about the shitty economy and its parasites. Huh. Yeah. He's same old, actually. Same fucking old. * I remember the first time John Seed set foot in this bar. I'm wiping down counters and Ma's countin' the till when I hear her bark, 'What the fuck do you want?' I look up and he's standin' in the doorway. Eyein' me like I'm a meal. Some people 'round here said give the Seed's a chance. I knew they were bad news from the start. * Eden's Gate took this town right from under us. They started buying up all the land, forcing business to shut down and foreclosing on homes.... My parents and me fought back, but John wanted this bar. Told 'em he'd have to pry it from our cold dead hands. So, the cult paid off the county and made it illegal to transport alcohol. We fought back with lawyers, but those leeches bled us dry, too. * Whenever there's a neighbor in need, everybody around here pitches in. A couple days after we told some people I was pregnant, we got all this secondhand baby shit from everybody. John Seed stole all of it the next day. * Heard Pastor Jerome had you saving people from being kidnapped. John Seed did that to me. The fucker made me think he was going to torture me, too. Had me wait in a room for half a day thinking he was going to do it. All that fucker did was give me one of those ink jobs. It was messed up. * John Seed is just a man. He seeks glory and riches. He immersed himself in a sea of self-aggrandizement. He pounds pulpits. He professes principals he neither believes nor practices. He stokes fear. But he is just a man. * Before you came along, John Seed kidnapped me. He has his way of getting a person to say things. It's not about my words. It's about what's in his head. When he was done, I was beaten, toed in the woods, and left to die. * A long time ago, in peaceful times, I asked John Seed what was driving him. He gave me so many answers. All of them lies. * John Seed is a cruel soul who can't be reasoned with. He enjoys making people suffer. * John and the Peggies are taking everything and everyone that ain't nailed down. Even then they just come with crowbars. * After you're marked for baptism and dunked in the fucking river, John drags you to his bunker. God save us from whatever he does in there. * There must be a reason John almost drowns people in the baptisms. It's a power play but there's more to it. * If John really wanted to, he could wipe Fall's End off the map. He's toying with the people there, like a sadistic cat. * John's got a singular mind. Dug up from a serial killer's grave, but still, singular. * There's something really wrong with John. I don't have a name for it but you can see it in that creepy smile of his. * When I first saw him on the cult's videos, John seemed pretty harmless. But when I met him in person, he made the hairs on my neck stand up. * John bought up all the businesses 'round here and promised us jobs but the only people who got work were cultists. * When John asks you for somethin', he's not really askin'. He'll get what he wants from you one way or another. * John wants us all to say yes, but I think he actually really likes it when they say no. Gives him an excuse to get mean. * Anyone who doesn't confess to John gets killed and put on display as a warning to others. It's inhuman. * John doesn't just mark people with a sin, but their houses too. You can see his calling cards all over the valley. * I got a package from John Seed the other day. // What was inside it? // A note that said I was favored and that if I admitted to my sin, I'd be cleansed. * What does John Seed do exactly...? // He messes with your head. Asks you questions. Makes you say shit you don't want to be saying. I... I really don't want to talk about it. * John was right, we all do have one sin that tends to run our life. In a weird way maybe he did give us a second chance. * My old house was a piece of shit. It would creak at night, so bad I thought for sure some boogie man was coming to get me every night growing up. // Heh, aw, that's cute. // Yeah. John gutted and burned it to a crisp last week. * Okay, I need to lighten the mood. This is unbearable. // Oh Lord. // John Seed is so uptight, he takes a ruler to bed to see how long he sleeps. // I'm not in the mood. // John Seed is so uptight, he fell down a coal shaft and found a diamond in his ass a week later. // Okay that's pretty good. * You seen that John guy? Most aggressive grin I ever seen on a human being. Like a chimpanzee before it bites ya. // God what a creep. // I hate to think what kinda life he's come from. // Who gives a shit? He's evil. // What makes a guy that evil though? // It doesn't matter. There are loads of people out there with troubled pasts but they manage not to run an apocalypse murder cult. * Not like John was the peak of sanity before, but he's going straight up coo-coo bananas with all you're doin'. * Sounds like Broseph's mad! Ouuuu, family probs! John's like that little brother who gets held down and farted on, and then curls into a ball and cries. * One thing about John -- the more you ruffle his feathers, the angrier he gets. He can't deal with embarrassment; being made to look bad. He'll start sending out search parties to grab people like us, so we gotta stay frosty. * John's lustin' for a dogfight with you, huh. I bet that kid jerked it to Top Gun or something and now it's the only way he can get a stiffie, is in a dogfight. If you have to kick the bucket I hope that's one of your last thoughts, its a good one. * John's playin' a strange game with you. Dunno what's worse, that sometimes he seems to want you dead, or sometimes he seems to want you alive. * John's no better than his brother's dog, and we all know what needs doin' to a mad dog. * John's huntin' you like an animal. He catches you, you're probably gonna join his other trophies on his wall. * Hey dep, I just wanna say I'm sorry, I heard John's got a partner of yours It's gotta be scary, you know. Probably heard about how John cuts people up and knows all these pressure points and can make you feel pain beyond anything you ever imagined. Anyways don't think about that. I'm sure... I'm sure she's fine. She'll be alright. * Was John dead behind the eyes when you met him? It's not my imagination, there's no soul back there. * I heard there's no spare key for the bunker prison. Just one for John. Control freak. * John Seed, what a fuckin' self-absorbed dick, huh? You just KNOW he jerks off in the mirror, and marvels at his fuckin' facial expressions. * That's John Seed's Ranch. I heard he loved hiding in that castle of his. * John had this place built just for him. Even got a hangar for his fucken' planes. * Look at this place. John's got the worst case of younger sibling syndrome I ever seen. * John's such a neat freak, it's inhuman. * Ugh. John Seed's temple to himself. Fucker's got a tennis court. I ain't never seen anybody play. Just another way he's a hypocrite. * I know everyone's got a bunker out here, but John's is ridiculous. * John's taste in home decor is... awful. * John's been stealin' the planes from all over the Valley. He keeps the best ones at the airstrip next to his ranch. * Of all the Seeds, I think I understood John the least. Inferiority complex, maybe? But he was a lawyer, he could have gone out and, I don't know, been a Wall Street megalomaniac. I guess economic murder isn't as satisfying as direct murder. * John made tattoos look real bad man, I'm glad he's six feet under. You gotta respect the ink. He didn't even learn a proper letterin' or font techniques or nothing, man. No way I'd have even trusted him to touch up my tramp stamp. * With John gone, Jacob will have a harder time building up his army. But he's already got a strong force at the ready.

Peggies

* John Seed's a funny guy. But not 'ha-ha' funny. * Dang, John's bunker is so luxurious. There's parts of this bunker that only John can access. * Deputy Hudson is one of John's "special projects". Every time John leaves here, he's got a big smile on his face. * John's got the only key to the deeper parts of the bunker. We really oughtta make a copy of John's key. What if he loses it? * John knows the human heart. He's been through a lot. It's why I trust him. * I wonder if John's place will survive the Collapse? * I could get in trouble for saying this, but it smells funny in John's house. * Haven't seen John here in a long time. He's super busy. * I knew John loved planes, but I didn't know he also loved boats. I bet John's boat costs more than my old house. * I've never seen Brother John on a boat, but I know he likes to get wet. * You think John fishes? * We need to keep this place tidy. You know how John gets with his baptisms. * Bet we're guardin' John's unreleased films. * I hope Brother John takes me for a plane ride someday. * John keeps all of his favorite things stashed in the hangar. * John wants the word Yes plastered all over this place. Gotta attract new brothers and sisters. * Taking this scrap metal is good forward thinking. John's left nothing to chance. He's a smart man. * Bet John'll be a king after the collapse. * If you're marked, John believes you can be saved. I didn't want to admit my sin at first, but John showed me how to accept it gracefully. * Feels weird turning those people into Angels. I mean, they worked in the store here with us. They cooperated. // Sure, they cooperated. But they were still sinners. There's no going back at a certain point, you know? John said that this was the only way to save them. * I know it's John's will, but...I don't like killing dogs. * John's made catchin' that deputy our top priority. Wonder why John wants the deputy alive. * That deputy's fixin' to get taken into John's special room. * John's relentless, that deputy don't stand a chance. * John's gettin' awful mad. I pity anyone who has to deal with him face to face. * I don't know what's goin' on in John's head, but it's embarrassing. * I thought John had control of things, but lately it feels like he's got no idea what he's doin'. * John's got that look in his eye, I almost feel bad for the people of Fall's End. * John will make everyone atone, even if it kills him. * John was right, they never saw us comin'. * John's so smart. Burnin' what we can't take, so people know they need us, spirit and body. * Last I heard from John, he was real angry. Never knew he had that amount of righteous wrath in him. * Pray you never see John lose his cool. // He never does. // He has though. Some sinner a while back had words with 'im. I couldn't hear exactly, but I heard 'em say the Father's name - I never seen John go so red so fast. // What'd he do? // Well he gets in his plane and wipes the sinner's property off the goddamned map. He rains fire on'em. They're scurryin' everywhere, screamin'. Like a magnifying glass on an anthill. * The Seeds lost a good brother in John. * Maybe John wasn't part of the plan? Maybe this is still what the voice told Joseph? * John's faith wavered, but mine's never been stronger. * I'll miss John's pep talks. * John did so much for the project. He can never be replaced. * John proved his devotion in blood. How can we do any less? * John was always larger than life, it felt like he was immortal.

Joseph

Resistance

* Joseph doesn't like it when his family goes off-book. * I know this is an unpopular opinion, but what if Joseph's right about the end of the world? * That's the first place Joseph ever built. Back when they pretended to be good. Joseph used to preach here. We could have saved us some trouble if we had just set fire to it years ago. * Joseph Seed and his whole family are like the politicians who ran this country into the ground. They sell ya hope and change and all these people buy into it thinking it's gonna be different this time. It ain't. Might as well be buyin' magic beans. * These people in Eden's Gate have been led astray. Joseph Seed claims he loves everyone. Wants them to know the truth. The truth is he preaches vengeance and sows lies. But the words of an evil man ring louder in the minds of the weak... * You know what really gets me? Cult leaders are usually always in it for the money. Just like a pyramid scheme. Joseph ain't like that. I keep tryin' to break this guy down into what he wants from people. If it ain't money, and it ain't sex, what the hell is it? * Joseph's a charismatic son of a bitch. I mean, you've heard him. The pitch. The tempo. The way the words roll off his gentle lips. His mannerisms. I mean he's been speech trained, probably more than any politician I've ever seen. That's how you know he's a government guy. * I know the people of this valley. They're good, hard workin' people. But in bad times, people get scared, start lookin' for someone to blame. Joseph Seed fed on that fear. Told folk the end of the world was coming. Lot of 'em believed him. Truth be told... way things are now? I sometimes wonder if he's right. Folks felt abandoned, grew weary, they needed our help. And we didn't listen, but Joseph Seed did. Joseph Seed wooed people. He told them EXACTLY what they wanted to hear. With those falsehoods, lies, his poison. It's driven a lot of good folks away from the righteous path. * I knew Joseph Seed was bad business when he wormed his way in here a few years back. I imagine the fucking mainstream media would paint us as two sides of the same coin, because they're either lazy or corrupt or both... But to me, it's simple: I'm willing to sacrifice everything for my family, while Joseph Seed wants to burn down the world for his. * Y'know, I had a dream last night that involved me, a bed, whips and chains, and Joseph Seed. Suffice to say there were a lot of conflicting emotions and sensations... * Did you have a vision? Faith dosed me with bliss, and I saw the Father come to me, personally, and tell me terrible things. * I have a lot of pity for Faith. Joseph is the true monster, manipulating that young woman into a weapon. * Who the heck is Faith, y'know? Joseph treats her both like his daughter and his sister. How much does she know? How influential is she? It's all twisted together. * I wonder how many other secret bunkers there are in the county? Joseph procured a whole missile silo and no one saw! * Faith came to Hope County to detox. Like tourism of hillbilly country for rehab. But Joseph took a shine to her and she was reborn. Hell, her real name ain't even Faith, but something rich, like Riley or Rachel. * Joseph believes in Faith. He's entrusted her with all manner of heinous activity out here. We need to take her out. * I can't see what kind of method to the madness Eden's Gate has goin' on. Three heralds of the Collapse? What are they even doin'? // They got a system. Faith sows, John reaps, Jacob... // Steps on your neck? // Deals in belief, I guess. // Nah, that's Joseph's job. He's the charismatic populist motherfucker. Jacob just wants to cull people. * Joseph's just a nobody from nowhere. How'd he get this many people behind him? * There was a time no western religious leader would be caught dead with a goddamned man-bun. Fuck I miss those days. Listen, I get that he's runnin' this big old cult and all but if you're gonna run a big old cult you gotta look the part! Long robe that's a weird color, like puce or something, stringy moustache, head shaved bald like a baby. Not like some kind of lovechild between a hipster and a country singer. * Joseph Seed's family is gone. He's gonna be vulnerable and running on emotion. He won't be thinkin' straight. If we're putting this to a vote, I'd say we close this chapter for good, as soon as possible.

Peggies

* The father's takin' a personal interest in those deputies now... Maybe his visions told him somethin'. * Joseph said that deputy is special. I wonder what he meant by that. * Despite everything they've done to us, I know Joseph would still forgive them. * We have to love the sinners. It's what Joseph would want. * It's been too long since I've seen our Father's face. * Joseph is a gifted songwriter. You haven't lived until you've heard Joseph sing this live. * I heard that the Father got the idea for the Judges in a vision. * Jacob might teach us to shoot, but Joseph guides our aim. * President Seed has a nice ring to it. Wonder if Joseph has political aspirations? * I see why Joseph liked this county. Plenty of silos for what we need to store. * Everyone knows Joseph will not tolerate idle hands. * The Father keeps all the best stuff for his Chosen. Leaves us the scraps. * After the collapse, we won't hear the Father on the radio anymore. * Joseph's disappointed in us, I can tell. We gotta do better. * I hope the Father doesn't take this out on us. * I can't imagine how Joseph feels now, with his brother gone. * With Jacob gone the Father has to have a backup plan for us. He has to. * Our Father was supposed to save us. Joseph wouldn't ever abandon us, would he? * Joseph will know what to do. I just have to find out where he's hidin'.

Jacob

Resistance

* We're in Jacob's territory now. Know how I know? Wildlife is scarce. I'm not one for hunting but this area in particular used to be home to quite a few species. They've either been driven away or taken in for experiments. It's sad. * Jacob Seed's in charge out here. He's ex-military, he's a combat veteran, and he's a psycho. * Faith was Joseph's favorite, but Jacob is his toughest soldier, bar none. * Jacob's got this Chair. He straps people in and breaks them down until their souls are gone. Then he controls their mind. Don't end up in that chair. * I know Jacob's the bad guy and all, but every bad guy thinks they're this misunderstood hero, right? Has anyone ever tried to just, you know, take him for coffee and talk to him? * Strippin' people of their mind and freewill to build an army for The Father, that ain't right. I still can't believe Jacob and Joseph are brothers. * The mind is the most dangerous weapon and Jacob knows that all too well. No one was really prepared for this. * I've seen him up close once and I'll tell ya' Jacob Seed is one scary motherfucker. * Jacob had one thing right. Things are only goin' to get worse and you gotta be ready for it. * I had a dream once that Jacob took me on a hunt. We shot some deer and he asked me to skin them. As I was cutting them open they changed... it wasn't deer. I... I don't think it was a dream. * Whatever you do, don't listen to the music. That's how Jacob gets you. * One of the first places Jacob took over is the old Veteran's Hospital. No one thought much of it at the time. * Careful. Jacob likes to play mind games with ya. * This was an animal sanctuary until Jacob took it over. Looks like he's got some freaky deaky shit goin' on. Jake-n-Bake Seed really had his fingers up in everything up here. * Jacob's completely insane. He's not even trying to hide what he's doing anymore. * Heard that Jacob has been doin' some weird stuff with animals over here... and not just wolves this time. * Jacob's been putting people in cages. Keepin' them there with no food or water for weeks! Almost better if they just killed you. * Eli worked on Jacob's special bunkers, did you know that? Turns out they didn't get along. Who would've thought? * No one is immune to Jacob's fucked up conversion. Once they hit you with that you ain't ever the same. * Jacob, he's knows everything that I'm thinking. He's got the key to my mind and he twists... and twists... and twists. * Jacob... his experiments... he takes us... owns us, speaks to us. He hears us. Jacob... he's in control. He controls everything. * Jacob knows how to get into your head. Twists things around so you don't know what's right anymore. * If Jacob can't find a use for you in his army, you become target practice for troops. * Be careful out there. Friends might not be friends anymore after Jacob's done with them. * I bet the Peggies got an armory here, too. I can't believe how Jacob got them so organized. * Jacob's using everything he learned in the military and twisting it to suit the needs of Eden's Gate. Son of a bitch is a poor excuse for a soldier if you ask me. As long as he's alive my Pops will be rolling in his grave, all bitter and mad. * Have to say, you've ticked Jacob off something fierce. * You wanna bet that Jacob had that three-wolf moon poster as a kid? I bet he was a cub scout, too. Now he's getting his badge for people-skinning and brainwashing. * I'm seeing a lot more choppers in the air. Looks like Jacob's using them to move troops and supplies. * You know, I was dumb enough to work for Jacob a few years back. Who you think built him all those Peggie bunkers? You think I saw any of this comin'? Hell no... * Jacob's new recruits gotta kill someone they care about, just to prove their loyalty. That's messed up on so many levels. * Jacob will be pied that you and the Cougars freed the Henbane River. He'll need a new source of soldiers. * Jacob sees himself as beyond the other so-called Heralds. He views his work as the most important, and that the others' purpose was to support him. * Jacob will break every bone in your body to convert you. He lives for pain. * Jacob would happily sacrifice everyone and everything in Hope County to feed Joseph's Collapse. He doesn't care about Faith. * Between John, Faith, and Jacob, I'd say our mind control freak is the worst. He makes people kill their own family. His own mind's twisted. He's a damn maniac. * I hear Jacob's looking everywhere for you. * You gotta save us from all this darkness. All this death. Jacob's losing it and he's out hunting down more people. He's gonna do anything for Joseph's plan to work. * Cult's got the wrong idea 'bout sacrifices. My neighbor killed his old man 'cause Jacob said so. For fuck's sake, you don't do that. * Jacob's gone nuts 'cause he lost a lot of his precious, mindless soldiers. I'd say it sucks even more to see our own teammates turned against us. * Jacob's pissed. That's new. He's always been the crazy type, but I'm afraid of what he'll come up with next. Stay sharp. * Using music to control people is so in bad taste, but Jacob's song pick, that's gotta say something about him. * How much do we know about this Jacob fella? He seems strong. Got a good setup going on... We ought to take some photographs of him or somethin'. Preferably shirtless... Y'know, for intelligence purposes. Know your enemy. * If Jacob he had an experienced woman in his life, this shit would not be happenin'. I'll take one for the team if it comes to that. Just don't tell Xander I said that. He'll get jealous. * I knew Jacob was trouble as soon as he showed up. I mean, did you see his face? It's all burned and twisted like his heart. * Jacob's got training grounds all over the place. I've seen them out there, shooting anything that moves. * I can almost understand why people follow Jacob. He's knows what he's doin', that's for sure. Mind you he's also a fucken' psychopath kind of a deal breaker for me. * Honestly, Jacob scares the shit outta me, even more than the Father. I've seen Jacob up close, I've looked him in the eyes they're empty, not a single shred of humanity anywhere. * Jacob's one sick fuck. Nailing up bodies? Burning people alive? That's just messed up. * You know what? I think Jacob's scared of Eli. That's why he's tried so hard to get him. * Jacob must be getting desperate and crazy. More troops out here than ever. * Jacob's plan worked. I tried to warn them. I told them not to go back. Jacob's going to win. He always wins. * Jacob was the big, mean, brute of the Seed clan. * Jacob was an example of how a vet can go bad without any help. Still glad he's dead of course.

Peggies

* Hope Jacob doesn't have another surprise inspection. Last one didn't go so hot. * Jacob asks for sacrifices from us all. I gave up my son just so I could understand the Father's pain. * Jacob can turn these animals into weapons for the Father, I've seen him do it. * Jacob calls those wolves of his Judges, 'cause that's what they do. If you're not worthy, they tear you to shreds. * Jacob takes us, molds us and lifts us up to realize our potential. Just like this Judge. Once, it was just a simple wolf. Then it heard the voice of the Father. Now look at it. Stronger, faster... a killer. That's what Jacob does, he makes us better than we were, because only the very best of us will pass through Eden's Gate and on to salvation. * Jacob has asked us to find more recruits for the Project. We have to make them see the light... by force if necessary. * Jacob taught me how to bring a boar down will one killshot. Now I just apply the same logic to sinners. Easy. * Trust nobody, that's what Jacob told us. * Last time I was here Jacob himself complimented me on my shootin'. * Jacob will whip the strong ones into shape. The rest of 'em won't survive training. Jacob sure puts you through your paces here. It's how he makes us strong. * Jacob only wants the strongest of any creature. * Some of the converts have a hard time losing their old notions, but Jacob has a way of getting them to see the light. * If you've ever been in Jacob's presence you know just how powerful he really is. * There is no way anyone would dare stand up to Jacob. They'd be dead in a second. * Jacob's got this county locked down. There's no way they're gonna take him out. * Jacob knows what he's doin'. If he says he's got this bastard covered, I believe him. You know Jacob. He's not gonna give up. * I hear Jacob is furious. We have to try harder. We can't fail the Father. * Jacob's not dead. There's no way. He's too strong to die. * The sacrifice of Jacob must be part of the Father's great plan; we must trust in him. * The guy who killed Jacob. He fucken' cheated. You know Jacob. There's no way he would've lost in a straight up fight. Can't do anything for Jacob, but we can make sure Pratt pays for letting that bastard get away. * Do you think this the father knew about all this? // Of course. It's all part of his plan. // Even losing Jacob? // Do you doubt the Father's visions? // No! Of course not.... it's just... the guys... they have questions.... // Questions? Now's not the time for questions! It's time for action! Do you want to die a sinner? // No! Or course not! // Then get back to your post. The Father needs us now, more than ever! * So what the hell are we going to do now? // What do you mean? // What do I mean? Jacob's dead! That's a pretty big deal, if you ask me. // We still have the Father. It's his plan after all. // Sure, but he had Jacob and the others to help. He can't do it all himself. // That's why we're here. We have to step up, do whatever is asked of us. We can't give up, not now. // Yeah, you're right. Especially with what's coming. // Exactly. Get back to your post, this isn't over yet.

Pratt

* Jacob's caught himself a Deputy. I think it's Pratt. Poor bastard, he's not gonna last a day in there. * Deputy Pratt always came off as a bit of a douchebag, but that doesn't mean he deserves what Jacob's doin' to him. * I'd sure hate to be that Deputy Pratt right now. Jacob's gonna rip him to pieces. He tried to arrest his brother for God sake. * Pratt's days are numbered. One of these days Jacob's gonna have him nailed up on some billboard or something just like the others. * I keep thinking about Pratt, and what Jacob's doin' to him. That poor man's brain's gonna be totally fucked. * Can only imagine what it's like to be left in a cage with nothing to eat for days. God, do you think that's what they're doing to that Deputy of yours? Poor bastard. * I don't think that Deputy's gonna live much longer. I hear Jacob's furious and you can be sure who he's gonna take it out on. * Next time you meet your friend Pratt, be careful. Jacob does things... to your mind... he might not be the same person you remember. Don't say I didn't warn you. * Can you fuckin' believe that guy? // Who? // The Deputy. Pratt. He was wanderin' around behind the cages. // What the fuck was he doin' there? // Who the hell knows. Jacob's probably got him off doing some shit. // Yeah, he's lucky to be able to put two words together after what Jacob did to him! // Seriously. Sometimes I think it's a mistake to put too much trust in these converts. You should come willing to the light, or be struck down. * I.. I was told to feed the Judges but I didn't know where their food was. // Jesus, Pratt. Does nothing stick in that brain of yours? Over there, where it's always kept. // Right! Th..thanks Phil! It won't happen again! // It better not. * I just want go out and hunt down the bastard that killed Jacob and beat them to death.//Don't worry. They'll be here soon enough. We've got their buddy Pratt down here. Pretty sure we're next on the list.//Aren't you worried? They were strong enough to take on Jacob...// Fuck 'em. With the number of guards we got here? They'd be crazy to try to take us on. * Good thing Pratt's out man. He was lookin' like a hipster in a bullfight man. * There's not much of the old Deputy Pratt left, Jacob made sure of that. Almost would've been better that he'd died in there. * Yeah, the Deputy might be free, but I won't say he's okay. No one is okay after they've been through the trials. No one. * Jacob sure did a number on Pratt. Not sure there's much of him left in there. * It's gonna take a while for Deputy Pratt to recover from this... if he ever does.

#far cry 5 #joseph seed #jacob seed #john seed #staci pratt #reference

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theeurekaproject · 3 years

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So I’ve been thinking a lot about fictional royalty, and

you know what I think is a really underutilized character type? The High Queen trope. The regal, elegant, beautiful monarch who is always at the forefront of her nation’s court, who knows how to come across as unspeakably regal and eloquent while never appearing submissive or weak-willed, who runs her kingdom well and captures the hearts and minds of her people without ever making obvious mistakes or facing serious public criticism. I know this archetype appears a lot in fiction, especially in fantasy and anything else set in a vaguely medieval world, but these women are so rarely the protagonists—more often than not, they’re background characters who act more like aesthetic props than actual people, quest-dispensing machines who outsource everything to the resident band of actual heroes, or mentor types who only exist to educate the real MCs or serve as foils to Rebellious Princesses. And that really disappoints me, because The High Queen just has so much potential as a POV character. I mean, honestly, consider:

How does a monarch rule so well that they’re universally beloved by everyone in the kingdom, especially in times of widespread discontent? What must this woman do every day to ensure her people continue to adore her no matter what happens? Which strings does she have to pull to keep her approval ratings so high all the time? This isn’t a sarcastic criticism of these characters’ in-universe popularity—I genuinely think it’d be really interesting to explore what a monarch has to do in order to be beloved by literally everyone. After all, there’s no way to really please everybody at once; the laws that benefit the wealthy and powerful do not benefit the commoners and vise versa, and for anyone on the throne, keeping your keys to power happy while ensuring the poor are fed is a delicate balancing act. How does this woman keep herself in power and avoid upsetting the noble class, while ensuring that the peasantry still adore her?

How does The High Queen feel about monarchy in general? High Queens are often educated, benevolent, and well aware of the power they hold. It’s not too far-fetched to think that someone in this position might understand the issues inherent to absolute monarchies, especially if she has family members or peers who take advantage of their statuses and abuse their power. If The High Queen knows that autocratic monarchies are not ideal forms of government, how does she cope with the cognitive dissonance of acting as a monarch while knowing that it’s a bad system? Does she try to justify it in her own head, claiming that alternative forms of government like democracy are just too inefficient? Does she say that she’s a good ruler, and that’s all that matters? Does the thought of her children inheriting her power disturb her?

What does she feel about governing in the first place? Does she enjoy it, or does she view it as her duty—something she was born to do, even if she hates it? Does she take pleasure in commanding people around her, or does she secretly wish she could have a different life? Does she envy commoners for their perceived lack of responsibilities, or does she pity them because they don’t have wealth and power like her? Many High Queens have a certain humility to them—they don’t look down on the lower classes or make their power obvious, but it seems like everyone recognizes them as being noble anyway, no matter how little they actually try to cultivate that image. Is the High Queen really humble, or is she playing a game of humility, knowing that to be humble is to be popular and sympathetic? How does she maintain her image as a beautiful, ethereal royal without coming across as a snob?

How does she maintain her pristine image? Beauty takes time, effort, and work, and so does cultivating a perfect reputation. What maddeningly expensive and time-sucking routines does she have to complete in order to appear so perfect? What tricks does she use to ensure she’s never anything but gorgeous and graceful? In modern settings, I kind of love the idea of a woman who’s constantly surrounding herself with beautiful people, manipulating camera angles, and hiring entire teams to help her keep up appearances—not because she’s vain, but because she’s a role model for so many people, and she understands that image matters. If you want to be seen as a dainty, effervescent, delicate beauty, you have to put in an enormous amount of work and time so everything you do flatters you and contributes to that image.

How does she cope with potentially having to break her own moral code? No matter how competent you are as a leader, you’ll probably have to face a problem where there are no good solutions at some point—especially if you’re ruling an entire country during a time of conflict. What does she do when every option is bad, and every decision she can make will wind up hurting someone? And autocracies are corrupt almost by nature, because if you want to stay on the throne, you have to convince your keys to power that you’re worth keeping there. In an absolute monarchy, the keys aren’t voting blocs, they’re important men and women who can stage rebellions against rulers they don’t like. How does The High Queen deal with having to pay off and favor influential people, sometimes at the expense of her own citizens? If she refuses to pay the keys, they’ll rebel, but every cent she gives them could have been spent on the innocent commoners she’s supposed to be protecting.

How has her position affected her relationships with her family and loved ones? She probably has siblings and cousins who rank lower than her at court; are they envious of her? Is she envious of them? Does she even get along with anyone in her family on a personal level, or does the jealousy and awkwardness of having siblings and cousins that outrank one another mean that having positive relationships in the family is next to impossible? Does she have to watch her children develop rivalries over who will inherit the throne, and does it worry her when they squabble, because brotherly disagreements can spiral into all-out wars? Does she have to tell her younger children that they will simply never achieve the rank their eldest sibling will one day inherit? Does she see anything wrong with this? If she does, does she do anything to change it?

I don’t know, this post went on a lot longer than I expected and it’s kind of a wall of text by now. But I think it’d be really interesting to take a closer look at characters like The High Queen, because there are so many cool dynamics and personal struggles to explore here. I tried to do some of this with my Acidalia, but I still wish I saw characters like these more. Rebellious Princesses are fine, but they get kind of cliche after a while, you know?

#writing #tropes #tvtropes #royalty #my thoughts #acidalia

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notveryglittery · 4 years

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mistakes are made

summary: maybe don’t prank your boyfriend’s brother, especially if he already doesn’t really like you. ships: romantic roceit, brotherly anxceit, rivalry (?) prinxiety / words: 1,500 warnings: technically, a character gets shot by what is technically gun, but no one is actually hurt. lemme know if anything needs tagging! notes: wrote this to bribe @sher-soc-the-famder into finishing homework >:3 human au, i guess sort of youtuber au, too? it’s kinda plotless, just some good old fashioned fluff!! enjoy!! (i know the tenses are messy lol sorry)

@fandersfic-roceit @fandersfic-anxceit @fandersfic-prinxiety

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Roman thought he was perfectly charming, thank you very much! Why, it was right there in his last name. Roman Prince. Prince Charming. See! He was an absolute gentleman, if he did say so himself. And, well, if you didn’t believe him, you could always ask his big brother! Patton said it all the time! He said that Roman was kind and chivalrous and passionate. He said that Roman cared about the people he loved!

If only all older brothers were as sweet as Patton was.

It hadn’t even been Roman’s idea, first of all! … Mostly. Okay, so it hadn’t been his own original idea but it might have been his idea to give it a try. He’d done plenty of research, though, in making sure that it was safe and that neither of them would get hurt! He was far too attached to Damien to even imagine letting him get injured. It was going to make for a really cool video, okay? Both of their channels had been lacking in content lately, what with being busy with college; this way, they’d each have a video to post! The plan was that they’d be shot from very different point of views with titles that were just enough clickbait without actually being false.

“my boyfriend shoots my brother” was true, technically, even if it was going to put Roman in Virgil’s bad graces for a little while. It wasn’t like it’d be all that big a difference, to be fair, since Virgil definitely still kinda sorta hated Roman on some level. No amount of insisting from Damien would convince Roman otherwise. Despite the fact that they’d been dating for nearly a year now (with even more time as each other’s closest rivals), Virgil still had yet to warm up to Roman. He wasn’t sure what he’d done to deserve the dagger-filled glares, to be honest, but Roman was nothing if not resilient!

(And charming, in case you forgot. He’d worm his way into Virgil’s heart eventually!)

“confetti cannon gone wrong” really didn’t even begin to cover the premise of Roman’s video. Listen, though, you don’t just find a pretty pink confetti cannon slash gun at the thrift store and not buy it. He’d checked online afterwards and found that they ran well over two hundred dollars and this one had only cost him fifty! The best part was that it actually worked. After he and Patton had cleaned up that mess, Roman had video called Damien and… Alright, well, between you and me, this really had all been Roman’s original idea. He wasn’t one to half-ass his vlogs but if asked, surely it had been done before by some other popular Youtuber, and look Virgil, it wasn’t all him, he’d just been inspired!

“What if I shoot Virgil with a confetti cannon? I’ll even get it in purple and black!”

Damien normally had a very good poker face but apparently the idea of messing with his brother had peaked his interest. Roman swooned at the grin that lit up his boyfriend’s face. “That is a terrible idea. Let’s do it and see what happens.”

Which led them here, cameras hidden in Virgil’s room to capture every glorious second. It’d have to be quick, Damien had said, because Virgil was far too aware of his surroundings for them to successfully sneak around for long. Making the executive decisions to skip classes that day, Damien and Roman cleared enough space in Virgil’s closet for Roman to hide in. It was significantly more difficult to make sure there was enough room for the confetti cannon, but they managed. Somehow. Let’s chalk it up to the fact that they’re both dangerously creative.

If Virgil was suspicious of Damien being home on a day he’d normally have rehearsal, he didn’t say anything about it. If anything, it was the fact that Damien was filming in the kitchen. Nothing good ever came from Damien’s vlogs. Virgil shuddered just thinking about the sibling tag video they’d done last year. Sure enough, the moment Virgil was kicking his shoes off in the entryway, Damien was sidling up beside him.

“Oh dearest brother, won’t you tell my darlings what antics you’ve been up to lately?” Damien asked, practically simpering.

Virgil squinted at him before turning the distrustful stare towards the camera. “You know, the usual. Putting the fear of God into freshies, inciting agitation in my professors for being opinionated, hacking Lyft reviews and fixing driver ratings if they got one star just for ‘not smiling enough.’ Nothing new.”

“Truly, a man of the people.”

Virgil rolled his eyes.

“And how’s starboy?”

Damien delighted in the way his brother went red at the simple mention of his crush.

“I’M GOING TO MY ROOM,” he announced loudly, disappearing from the frame so quickly, he might as well have been a cryptid avoiding being caught on tape.

Which… isn’t entirely inaccurate.

“Too easy,” Damien said, laughing under his breath. “Now, darlings, comes the fun part.”

Now imagine with me, if you will, cutting to Roman’s video. Virgil storming into his room, muttering things like “stupid soft hair” and “eyes like glittering constellations.” Throwing his backpack aside and then throwing himself onto his bed and screaming into a pillow.

Roman very nearly lost his composure at the sight of normally so stoic, so edgy Virgil having a meltdown over a cute boy. He would cut this while editing, of course, it wasn’t like he needed Virgil to hate him any more, but like hell he didn’t plan on using it as blackmail in the future.

You might be wondering, “where does the ‘gone wrong’ come in?”

Well, nowhere in their plans had they anticipated Virgil opening the closet doors himself. Roman shooting his boyfriend’s brother was supposed to be from a distance, maybe with him sitting at his computer, or while lounging in bed. He was not supposed to have shot Virgil directly in the chest while screaming half in terror and half in shock. Virgil was not supposed to stumble backwards, trip over his backpack, and fall onto the pile of blankets and pillows he’d shoved off of his bed and onto the floor this morning. This puts him entirely out of shot, by the way, leaving the viewer wondering whether or not he’s alive.

Roman, still screaming as he scrambled out of the closet and grabbed the camera, running out of the room would not ease any worries the viewers might have.

Of course, Roman screaming was not part of the plan either, and so Damien had some concerns. “I wonder if my brother has finally murdered my boyfriend,” he would say, perfectly casual despite the sudden racing of his heart.

“I SHOT HIM,” Roman shouted the moment his eyes landed on Damien. “Oh my GOD, he’s DEAD.”

Before either could say much else, Virgil came stomping into the living room. “I’m not dead but you’re about to be.” (The threat didn’t carry much weight seeing as he was covered in confetti but we won’t tell him that.)

“Now, now,” Damien said, stifling his laughter at the fact that Roman was cowering behind him. Oh, his poor sweet brave prince. “Maybe instead, Roman could do something to make it up to you?”

“Babe!” Roman hissed.

Virgil crossed his arms over his chest. “He could break up with you so I never have to see his stupid face ever again.”

Damien double checked to make sure his camera was still running. He couldn’t wait to use this to humiliate Virgil in front of Logan.

“That’s hardly fair,” Damien responded, pouting. “I love him, you know.”

Roman squeaked.

“He owes me Chipotle for a month.”

“Wh-!”

“Two months.”

“I am a broke college freshman!”

Virgil’s raised eyebrows and his slow lifting of three fingers shuts Roman up.

“I think that’s acceptable,” Damien concurred solemnly. He looked over his shoulder at Roman. “Is that alright with you, dear?”

For a moment, silence followed as Virgil and Roman glared at each other. Damien would interrupt with a loud, over exaggerated sigh if he wasn’t getting such a kick out of this.

“Fine,” Roman said finally, pouting.

“Fine,” Virgil echoed, smirking. “Still don’t like you, though.”

“I’m perfectly likable!” Roman cried as Virgil turned and left, brushing the confetti out of his hair.

“Yes,” Damien hummed, finally turning the camera off. He turned to his boyfriend. “I’m inclined to agree.” Kissing Roman tasted as sweet as it always did, especially when he went and carded his hand through Damien’s hair. However, it could be made better…

“I meant it, by the way,” Damien murmured, brushing his fingers through the curls at the nape of Roman’s neck. “About loving you.”

Ah, yes, there it was. Roman blushed, bright and pretty, stammering through at least five responses before he finally gave up and just pulled Damien back in for another kiss. He had no doubt that Roman would have his own poetic declaration figured out eventually, but for now… Well, Damien had nothing to complain about.

#sanders sides fan fiction #roceit #anxceit #prinxiety #ts deceit #romantic roceit #dani writes

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littlefallenrebel · 5 years

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My love and feels for Skz 🌹🖤

I was tagged by my dear @pikachulein (thank you for doing that btw) to do a post about my feels for Skz so here it is!

I’m just gonna say that this post is probably a bit cringy and makes zero sense because I have a hard time putting my feelings/thoughts into words :p Also... this ended up being.......1,2k+ words long, whoops 😌

Woojin:

I see Woojin as an older brother he’s 3 years older than me so there we go even tho it’s not that much, anyway so with him it’s definitely brotherly and sibling-like love. It would be awesome to have him as my older brother can i swap my annoying bro with him please and I feel like he would be someone who I can rant about stuff and ask advice. Since he’s also super loving towards his members and takes care of them, I can sort of relate to that since I’m lowkey the mom-friend in my friend group. He’s such a sweetheart and I’m so soft ;-;

Bang Chan:

Ah, it’s mister ”here to wreck your bias list once again”. Chan is probably the one who confuses me the most, I mean he’s my bias but at the same time he’s my bias wrecker and I really don’t know how I feel about him?? I just feel drawn and very attracted to him. But despite being attracted to him, I seriously admire and respect Chan a lot. To me, he’s such an inspirational person and I would love to spend time with him talking about lyrics meanings and deep things. I think we're both that sort of people who sometimes think about stuff too deeply and maybe stress over small things. He's still so young and has a lot on his shoulders and i just sjdhsh. I would probably say my love for Chan is intellectual/magnetical type of love.

Lee Know:

Ohlord it’s the pisces+scorpio duo with minho it’s definitely the best friends/playful type of love, absolutely. I feel like if we two were best friends we would be that super salty duo who throws shade at everyone. Minho is someone who I would love to just hang out with and share some hot tea ☕ about stuff. Also, I feel like minho would appreciate my super bad jokes and puns no one ever likes my puns and i bet my friends are ashamed of me lmao and we could throw awful pickup lines at each other. I would love to just go on a random shopping spree with him or mess around in a park in the middle of the night. Where do I get a best friend like minho?

Hyunjin:

Another sweet child o’ mine, my fellow Pisces son. I relate to Hyunjin a lot on an emotional level since I feel like we’re both emotionally sensitive so I’ll say I have this similar people/affectionate type of love towards him. I want to watch those overly sappy and cheesy movies/dramas with and cry together when something bad happens. Also, you know that face he does when he thinks his face is bloated?? I swear to god I do that exact same face 24/7. he's an affectionate person imo so i think he would make a nice hug/cuddle buddy, heh. and we both have a thing for weird noises too Hyunjin is probably the member who I relate the most to and he’s sometimes such a mood.

Han:

oof, the ultimate bias wrecker. My love for Jisung is probably the affectionate kind of love and he is another member, who I admire. Jisung is quite deep and poetic person in my opinion and I’d love to discuss and write lyrics with him. I adore his positive and goofy personality and his shenanigans always make me giggle and lift up my mood. I sometimes just get distracted by him and then I find myself thinking “what an adorable bean you are”. He’s such a kind-hearted and sweet person, I just want to squish his cheeks and ruffle his hair. But sometimes I feel like he doesn’t really feel that confident about himself, so I would want to just comfort and support him. I want him to know he’s doing well, that he’s talented and he’s more than just the mood-maker of the group. I just want to cheer him up with my very shitty jokes and drag him to the nearest arcade. Yeah, I just want to be friends with Jisung and have a blast.

Felix:

Felix, my sweet sunshine baby boi, a precious puppy with a deep ancient God voice, I love him so much i might cry. Felix was my first skz bias and is now my second bias, so I do have a sort of special soft spot for him. I would say my love for him is a mix of affectionate and pure love. Felix is such a soft sweetheart and pure, I just want to hold and cuddle him. Like?? i just can’t imagine anything bad or nasty about him??? that boy just radiates sunshine and happiness ;_; Like I would just love to play video games and make goddamn vine references with him, that would be life.

Seungmin:

With Seungmin it’s friendship like love. I just see him as a good friend who I would have a blast hanging out with I lowkey wanna have a roast battle with him, don’t ask why i just do also, as a fellow myday, we two could just scream and fangirl about Day6 together lmao. me and seungmin singing more like screaming the lyrics to shoot me at 2am? sign me up. He’s such a cutie squish. Seungmin is kind of a mischievious person and he lowkey brings out the mischief in me too, so I kinda want to prank the other members with him lmao.

Jeongin:

Okay, Jeongin is not that much younger than me but he feels like a younger brother to me, so with him, it’s probably sibling-like love I would say. He’s so cute and precious and I just want to look after him and I’ll fight anyone who dares to corrupt this smol bean. I also lowkey want to have that friendly, sibling rivalry -like relationship with him, idk why. I want to make sure he’s doing well and offer my help if he needs it. Jeongin is such a pure baby and his smile is worth fighting for.

baby boy culture uwu

*sigh*

now,

this next part is gonna be the cheesiest thing ever and probably a bit cringy so you've been warned. bear with me and my feels

Changbin:

oh my god, where do I even start with seo changbin. I'm sure everyone and their ancestors know that my love for him is definitely romantic/true type of love. That boy makes my heart burst and I'm just so damn whipped. im so sorry but i must expose myself and admit that there is some sexual love here too sometimes cuz boi i've had some rather heated thoughts/dreams with bin, anYWAY BACK TO BEING SOFT I love that we share the same kind of aesthetic with all the "i love dark" stuff and wearing mostly black, but then actually being the softest. Since we both have had the thought of becoming a tattoo artist, it would be so cool to draw and design tattoos together! andthengetacoupletattoo I would want to spend time with him at the studio, bring him food and make sure he doesn’t overwork himself and even though I don’t know much about making music but I would love to help him with writing lyrics too. I would support and hype him all the way and make sure he’s healthy. I want to make sure he’s eating and resting properly. Also! Since I love the height difference between me and Bin, I just want to give him all my hoodies to see how smol and soft he would look in them!! I honestly just love everything he does, every little thing. His aegyo, his cute nose crunch, his adorable laugh, his smile, his fierce stage presence,…. I could go on forever. I want him to know he’s doing well and I want to be there for him. I want to have those random, sleepy 3am conversations with and hold each other close. I want ruffle and run my hands through his hair and boop is cute nose. I want to share soft kisses with him and kiss that jaw goddamit. I just can't properly put it into words how much I love Changbin and how much he means to me. I could honestly just spend hours talking about him and he just makes me go all ajdhshswg. This got rly long and it's very cheesy and cringy sorry. I just love Seo Changbin with all my heart ♡

so yeah, here it is then. this post is a goddamn mess tbh but so am i so 🤷

#jsdhdhs brb i im gonna hide #this turned out really cheesy #soph rambles #tag #tagged #stray kids #bang chan #kim woojin #lee know #seo changbin #hwang hyunjin #han jisung #lee felix #kim seungmin #yang jeongin

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rebelsofshield · 5 years

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Star Wars Resistance: “The Platform Classic” -Review

Resistance returns to the race tracks for a story of brotherly rivalry and forgiveness in the series’ best episode to date

(Review Contains Spoilers)

youtube

The Platform Classic is soon at hand and to commemorate the event Captain Doza has enlisted hotshot off world racer, Marcus Speedstar, who happens to be the brother of Jarek Yeager. Jarek and Marcus haven’t spoken in years after a tragic incident during their post-war racing careers. As the race threatens to bring up old wounds, Marcus’s current debts to a deadly gang find their way to the Colossus.

Jarek Yeager has long been Resistance’s standout character. Scott Lawrence’s subdued, hardnosed voice acting combined with a past that is both mysterious and compelling had led to a mentor figure that at times outshines the actual protagonists of the show. “The Platform Classic” offers us up our first centric episode for the veteran racer and the results prove to be one of the most well realized episodes of the series to date.

Like episodes of Star Wars Rebels such as “The Honorable Ones” or “Trials of the Darksaber,” “The Platform Classic” foregoes action plots surrounding the series’ main antagonists for a more personal story that is driven almost entirely by character. While it may not reach the heights of either of those standout installments, Kevin Burke and Chris “Doc” Wyatt’s script proves to be refreshingly emotional and mature in its exploration of fraternal rivalry, grudges, and pain.

Due in large part to a great voice performance by Keston John, Marcus Speedstar very quickly steps into the scene as a fully formed character. John helps to craft a man who is cocky and talented but also burdened by guilt and insecurity. Marcus’s attempts to reconcile with Yeager feel heartfelt and earnest even before we learn the true horror of what occurred.

Considering that much of Jarek’s characterization to date has been marked by stoicism and a lack of patience for Kaz’s hyperactive tendencies, it is a nice change of the status quo to see him so off balance and erratic. Marcus’s presence dredges up upsetting memories and threatens the escape that he has crafted the Colossus to be. When we learn that Marcus was responsible for the deaths of Jarek’s family, the reveal is a shocking one that brings to light the nature of the pain between these two siblings. While the moment may get lost in the midst of the episode’s titular set piece, it is nonetheless sobering and surprisingly human.

Speaking of the race, Resistance has always excelled at aerial action sequences and The Platform Classic proves to be the best that the series has filmed to date. Director Steward Lee blocks this extended chase sequence in clear and exciting fashion and as always the starships carry with them a tangible sense of speed and distinct personality. While it would still be nice to get more out of the various Aces as characters, seeing the various racers play off one another like an airborne episode of Speed Racer is beyond fun and it makes for a great episodic climax that is smartly paired against the episode’s emotional core.

What is refreshing about the conclusion of “The Platform Classic” is how it handles the subject matter of forgiveness. Marcus may have done a reckless thing that lead to some truly tragic consequences, but this has hung over him for years. He lost people he loved too and has been forced to live with the consequences. Smartly though, “The Platform Classic” doesn’t deny Jarek’s pain either. Forgiveness is a process and one small race isn’t immediately going to make things better, but it offers a start to repairing a frayed relationship. Resistance would be smart to make this a recurring dynamic as there’s much potential for emotional personal drama in future stories.

Also, how cool were those Guavian Death Gang guys?

Score: B+

#Star Wars #Star Wars Resistance #reviews #review #jarek yeager

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raftels · 6 years

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As requested, here’s a masterlist fic rec for the following categories 1) ASL brothers; 2) mugiwara nakama feels; 3) some shippy fics; and for those not really falling into any of the requested categories, I put in “others”. I took some liberty in the categorization whelp but hopefully this will do. And you didn’t ask for it but I put tiny notes on each rec’d fic bc I felt like it haha

If you wanna rec some fics that aren’t here, please, by all means, send them to me. If any of the link is wrong/broken, do tell me as well. If you want to rant/talk/squeal/cry/etc over any of the fics, I’m forever open to messages and let’s cry together.

aaand, if you haven’t been following fyeahonepiece, please do so (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

anything about the ASL BROTHERS some might be toeing the line of shipping but i’ll put a warning for those

The Best Responsibility by echaryn Summary: Watching Luffy and Sabo bond makes him...envious. Their obvious love and affection, the way they are always together, the trust between them... it makes Law anxious, and jealous at the same time. He lost his sister before...before he could even start to understand what being an older brother means. He's nobody's older sibling anymore, but it's still inside him, isn't it? Notes: clicked on this not really expecting much but jfc oda please let this be canon i beg you like i didn’t know i needed bigbro!law until this

Brother Complex and How It Traumatizes Others by Alsheon Summary: In which, Ace let nothing be in his way to boast about his dear baby brother. Not even in the middle of War. And not agreeing means death. A painful death. Or in another sense, Ace stopped running but for an entirely different reason. Notes: WHAT DO YOU MEAN THIS ISN’T CANON LMAO this is legit my all-time favorite

What Happens When You Assume by revolutionarykoala Summary: The Straw Hats are overjoyed to finally meet Luffy’s elusive brother Sabo. When they finally lay eyes on him however, they realise that assumptions are best to be avoided when it comes to the D. Family. Notes: in which asl confuses the shit out of everyone and yes it’s forever a mood and my aesthetic

Little Spitfire by VictoriaJL Summary: My take on Ace raising Luffy with his caring and loving tendencies. Garp is an old geezer. Dadan throws tantrums. And the bandits are helpless, Oh, did I mention that the whitebeard pirates are completely and utterly in love with adorable little Luffy? Notes: i live for ace and sabo’s adventures in raising baby luffy lmao

The Three Admirals by Miqila Summary: What if Sabo, Ace and Luffy were the three admirals? Notes: i need more marine!asl fics

Triple Switch by Pachimew Summary: In which Luffy can't find his hat, Ace is on his brother's ship, and Sabo is very confused. -Kinda self-indulgent. No ships. Pre-Saobody. Notes: swapped!asl loool another all-time favorite of mine

Through Time by xXDia-RoseXx Summary: Ace and Sabo looking for Luffy wander into a cave and end up 12 years into the future. Through the craziness they meet their Little brother now 12 years older than them. What are two kids suppose to do when their Older-Little Brother looks at them sadly but smiles at them with glee? They try and make him happy again that's what! Notes: *screams into the sun* ASL!!!!!!!!!!!

To be made into Adults by The Eternal Empress Summary: "When will you let me to adult things, Ace?" you ask, eyes shining bright and ears still wet behind. I pat your head as I smile. "When you're old enough." But, I know that isn't going to happen because I'll never let you become an adult (In which Ace and Sabo's brotherly love is contorted to a degree of no return) BrotherlyASL. AU. Notes: me, at the ending: oh shiiiiit i didn’t expect that???

Same Difference by Beyond Kailani Summary: AU. One small change can make all the difference...Someone thought lost returns Notes: the canon my asl babies deserved

The Legends of Kintaro (and Gintaro and Dotaro) by jamie15 Summary: It's Children's Day in the Kindgom of Goa, and neither Ace nor Sabo could care less. That is, until they find out what other day it is ... Notes: *slams fist on the table* this was so damn cute!

Moby Dick’s Tales by FreeFan1412 Summary: an AU where ASL ends up in the moby dick Notes: this one’s a series so just click on the author’s page and asl + whitebeard pirates is always a good laugh

(Wh)y is equal to 45 by The Eternal Empress Summary: Ace is drunk, Sabo crashes into his room, their cat, Sunny, has been sitting by the doorway for days, and Luffy forgets the answer to (wh)y. (In which Luffy tries to find the value of y as well as the reason behind his brothers' and Sunny's mundane behavior, and the TV makes him remember the answer). Modern AU. Brotherly!ASL. Notes: i don’t wanna spoil anything but i was shookt asdfghjkl this was so beautiful

Magical Messes and Panicking Professors: Welcome to Hogwarts by ScarletteSorceress Summary: What do you do when you have three mischievous brothers sorted into three different houses? Well according to Headmaster Whitebeard and Professor Shanks you drink as much rum as you can before Marco can get to you. Magic spells, overturned cauldrons, and inter-house prank wars fueled by sibling rivalry; look out Hogwarts, life's about to get interesting. Hogwarts!AU Notes: asl + harry potter yes two of my favorite things

Bonds of Sea and Fire by Mithril Lace Summary: After the fire in Gray Terminal, a worried Luffy sneaks out to go looking for Ace, only to wind up captured by Bluejam and taken from the island. When Ace finds out Luffy's been kidnapped, he sets out to retrieve Sabo so they can go after him, and a chance encounter at sea drastically alters their plans. Notes: my asl feels + them ending up with the whitebeard pirates

Not everyday is a good day, live anyway by cand13 Summary: Not everyone tells the truth, trust anyway. Not everyone will love you back, love anyway. Not every game will be fair, play anyway. How else could anyone survive what they have and still be that lively? Notes: ASL growing up with Whitebeard story

Somewhere to Belong by Pizza yum Summary: Garp and Whitebeard strike a deal and Luffy, Ace, and Sabo are sent to live with the Whitebeard Pirates for six months. The trio and crew alike do not know how to handle the situation but eventually they figure each other out and the brothers find somewhere they feel like they belong. Notes: young!asl alive together is what i breathe for

Twist of Fate by Takuku Summary: A One Piece AU where Luffy and his brothers set out after the fire in the Gray Terminal, and they come across Marco and Thatch of Whitebeard's crew. Things go differently from the original. Notes: it’s not as if im saying im weak for young!asl with the whitebeard pirates..........but i am

Ten Years Make No Difference by YohoAruto Summary: What if Luffy was instead ten years younger than Ace himself? But as anyone would know,a life with Luffy is much more crazier and troublesome than it should be. It's just that the 'soon to be pirate king' is much more cuter. Notes: baby!luffy raised by ace and sabo YES also lmao at luffy’s first word

Come Morning, Together Again by mapplepie Summary: One day, Ace woke up and decided shirts were overrated. Apparently it was contagious, because Luffy soon thought the same. Sabo just hoped he didn't catch whatever it was that was going around (but he does in the end, and he couldn't be happier). Time-travel. Notes: sabo is fucking done and this is the fix-it we all need

Surprisingly Addictive by ReluctantlyBratty45 Summary: Just a story of Luffy being Luffy, but as a girl. Wacky adventures and awkward situations abound. fem!Luffy. Alive!Sabo. Notes: all i can say is that luffy’s lucky to be a boy in canon bc imagine how more protective his brothers could have been

Start of a Joke by loosingletters Summary: A pirate goes to Impel Down and shares his cell with a political bargain chip and a wannabe noble. What sounds like the start of a really bad joke has just become reality for Ace. Notes: if asl never grew up together well there’s always impel down as a good meet-up point, i guess

Fix it, Sabo! by InsanelyWriteful Summary: Sabo comes home to find that he really can't leave Ace and Luffy alone without some catastrophic event taking place in his absence. Now it is up to him to deal with the ultimate horror: A crying Luffy. Notes: ace trying to act cool despite panicking over making luffy cry lol

Sharp Knife of a Short Life by saraku Summary: The Blood of the Covenant is thicker than the water of the womb. Notes: asl short series in which i live for my boys being alive

Meet the Family by siqwithaQ Summary: Luffy's was probably the most interesting proposition Zoro had ever heard, so naturally, he just had to go along with it. Notes: PITBULL - that’s it, that’s the fic.

Family Reunion by Eiliem Summary: After Ace's rescue from Marinford, the Straw Hats hitch a ride on the Moby Dick so Luffy can check up on his brother... and because they forgot to secure transportation of their own. Notes: what should have been canon before/during/after marineford arc tbh

Saving Ace Together by firefistphoenix Summary: What if all the straw hats come together to save Ace? set after impel down and immediately towards Marine-ford. Also Thatch is alive and I intend to keep Ace and Whitebeard alive too. Notes: everyone alive is my kink

wish by spirit if by yes by midnightluck Summary: Mostly, Sabo likes his job, even when it means trying to chase down pirates like Whitebeard in the New World to discuss important Army affairs. Okay, maybe especially then. Notes: Reunion AU where Sabo's a lucky little brat, everyone's happy, and nothing hurts. Well, okay, some stuff still hurts. BUT THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN HOW CANON HAD GONE ;___________;

Immortality is What We Leave Behind by BedlamAnjelle Summary: The lines between mythos and humans were very clear cut, and Marco liked it that way. Everyone knew that the great Suzaku had deemed humans savage and was content to have nothing to do with them ever again. Which is why the phoenix lord buying two humans- young boys, no less- at the auction came as a shock. Especially to Marco. Just what was he thinking, yoi? Notes: all the kid!acelu feels and reluctant papa!marco ++ izou & thatch

Wild Blood by siqwithaQ Summary: In a world where the King never died, Roger and Dragon try to raise their sons away from the government's eye. Secrecy turns out to be more of a challenge than they bargained for. Notes: im sad this hasn’t been updated bc we were getting to the really good part of toddler!ace and baby!luffy finally meeting

Young and Built to Fall by fingers-falling-upwards Summary: Ace will save his nakama. He will save his father. And he will save his little brother and ensure Luffy's happiness even if it kills him. Again. Thankfully, he won't be doing it alone. Together, he and Luffy will change the world. Notes: a timetravel fix-it fic

Learning Freedom by elri(angelrider13) Summary: They were slaves. One who had known freedom and lost it; one who had been born without it. Will a chance meeting give them something to live for? 15yo!ace and 3yo!luffy Notes: ughhh this remains as one of my all time favs jfc it’s so beautifully written and my heart aches on how young and innocent luffy is and how ace raised him up; warning for heavy themes; it’s been discontinued though bc people kept plagiarizing it asdfghjkl

Ten Years Difference by Stormy1x2 Summary: It's amazing what differences there would be if there were a ten-year age difference between Ace and Luffy. For one thing, how on earth could Ace possibly feel good about himself leaving Foosha Village if his brother had been six-and-a-half instead of the canon fourteen? Notes: older!ace and younger!luffy + one piece canon sign me up

Ace in the Hole by Reign of Rayne Summary: Raised as an assassin with no knowledge of his father and holding no drive beyond the orders he's given, Ace finds his whole world flipped by one small boy and a promise. Notes: older!ace and younger!luffy fics is my kryptonite

Gang Wars by samettikettu Summary: In order to protect his most treasured possession, Ace joins the Whitebeard gang but soon finds out that protecting his brother is much harder than he had thought. When gang wars rampage and child welfare officers knock the door, Ace is lucky to have friends around him who are willing to help him and his four-year-old little brother, Luffy. Notes: ace raising luffy hell to the yes

A Pirate’s Resolve by Anjelle Summary: Luffy has finally reached his dream of becoming the Pirate King. He goes to visit Ace's grave to finally finish his journey. But really, there's more adventure awaiting him. When he arrives on an uninhabited island with his crew, he's attacked by a stranger. However, perhaps this boy isn't a stranger after all. [AceLu brotherly. No pairings] Notes: did someone ask for acelu feels??? here you go

Adopted by Default by Kitsune Foxfire Summary: Moby Dick is anything but peaceful on a regular day. The crew is just well used to their special brand of crazy, however. So when an unexpected guest arrives, it throws everyone into disorder. Really, where the hell is this cheeky brat's crew? Someone needs to tell Ace that his ship-brothers are NOT babysitters! Notes: another all-time fav bc i live for luffy breaking the whitebeard pirates

Drunken Brocon by DemonKittyAngel Summary: It isn't until the first time Ace gets drunk that they learn he has a brother. Doting on him has become a favorite pass time and they can see him thriving under the attention. Such a cute little brother. Which is why it comes as such a shock that he's a big brother. "Did I tell you about the time he got swallowed by the alligator, again?" Notes: Drunk!Ace Brocon!Ace Family!Whitebeards

Breakout by Karukyuu Summary: After being momentarily stopped during his invasion of Impel Down, Luffy wakes up one hour earlier. Not only does this spell the worst trouble Impel Down has ever seen, but also bestows the Marines with a most unwanted surprise. Notes: what do you mean this isn’t what happened

Never Save by siqwithaQ Summary: Ace's guardian angel might be something other than an angel. Notes: alternatively titled as “hurt me more dot jpg”

Soulmates!verse by Elri (angelrider13) Summary: There was always one Angel and one Demon. No more, no less. One was pure, the other tainted. They were never meant to co-exist, and yet, they find themselves inevitably drawn together. Notes: there are 3 stories in this universe with basically the same theme of angel!luffy and demon!ace; warning (?): this also toes the line of being shippy between ace and luffy but well it depends on the reader i guess

Forgot to Hide the Bodies by siqwithaQ Summary: Despite being lovers and sharing an apartment, neither Ace nor Luffy ever found out what the other does for a living — not to say that there haven't been close calls. Because, really, some skeletons in the closet are more literal than others. Ace/Luffy Notes: warning (?) acelu is shippy; but ok goodness this one made me laugh

Brave and Strong by samettikettu Summary: Everything made sense now, why Sabo hadn't hugged him back and why he didn't say much to him during their brief meetings. Or why he hadn't waited till he woke up. Sabo blamed him for Ace's death. Notes: i didn’t know i needed yandere!sabo until this

Borrowing Days by Strange-Charms Summary: Sabo was determined, he'd do this right. To make up for all those he'd missed. Notes: ahhh such a “quiet” and nice sabo and luffy brotherly bonding

Detective Loomes and the Phantom Thief by samettikettu Summary: Detective Sherlock Loomes is the greatest detective in all England and he's tracking down the murderer who took his friend's life, a man called Moriarty. During his investigations, another criminal catches his eyes and messes up his head with his charming smile. It's the Phantom Thief Lupin! Sabo/Luffy Notes: everyone’s roles are great; warning (?): shippy sabolu

The Monkey Clan by loofahlover Summary: Zoro had never thought that going out with Luffy would be easy. But that knowledge had not prepared him to meet with a senile old marine, an ex-mercenary, a half-drunk traveling salesman, a fireman with a questionable skillset, a shady government agent, and an even shadier sociopath. Notes: this was tagged as zoro/luffy but the focus was on the “monkey clan” and this was fcking hilarious and literally has been a rollercoaster from start until the end lmao I LOVE THIS

The Hat by Taisi Summary: About a year before the Corrida Colosseum in Dressrosa, Sabo met one of Luffy's nakama. Well, they didn't actually meet. They spoke, but names weren't exchanged; other things were. Notes: so simple but sooooo good; AU drabble

NAKAMA FICS ALL of akurosa’s fics are a must-read!!! but let me list down my top ones from this author this is the price that has been paid in full (Some days, it's the ridiculously small things that break them and make them start over again.) moments like this (simple and sweet Zoro&Luffy nakamaship moments) Next Time Won’t You Sing With Me (The Straw Hats' ABCs. Short stories, all Luffy-centric with crew member interactions and sometimes, with Ace. notes: the last chapter (letter z) killed me hence, this) Like When a Fox Falls (Last time, he saved them. This time, they'll find him. A modern-reincarnation fic)

2 Things by The StoryBooker Summary: Zoro contemplates the things he does for his captain. Then he has a conversation with Rayleigh about what it means to be a first mate. Notes: im weak for first mates complaining about their captains

A Light Against The Dark Sky by zealousfreak27 Summary: In which Robin Nico adopts six squirming children, becomes an object of interest for a famous elderly violinist, makes the acquaintance of a very interesting demolitionist, and learns to live again. Notes: pretty sure im gonna rec all kid!luffy fics tbh

Already Forever by Taisi Summary: Hundreds of years from now, historians will never know what her captain was thinking, when he brought Enies Lobby to its knees with a declaration of war, when he attacked a Celestial Dragon on an island in an archipelago, and she won't be there to explain, "it was for a friend, you see?" (In which Nami comes to understand that the world will never understand Luffy.) Notes: nami’s thoughts are pretty much the fans’ thoughts

Always Gold by kokune Summary: He's tied to a tree, his swords and crew are missing, and now some ten-year-old brat calling himself Sabo is waving around a lead pipe, demanding to know what happened to his little brother. Zoro closes his eyes and wonders if a bottle of booze will appear out of nowhere if he wishes hard enough. It's not like the day can get any weirder, anyway. Notes: post timeskip!SHs encounter young!ASL on Dawn Island

Copycat by Taisi Summary: And then, so quickly no one saw it happen, the man is reeling back with a broken nose, the creature is swept up and away, and Luffy- cradling it safely against his chest- looks as surprised as the rest of them. (In which there are absolutely no miraculous returns, and old wounds ache before a rain.) Notes: *wraps luffy in a burrito blanket*

Calendars and Kings by Taisi Summary: "When I was little, all the other kids got treats and candies on my birthday too, so I didn't know it was special for me. Ace always said it was, but I thought that was just 'cause he was my big brother. I thought that since it was already a holiday, it didn't count!" Notes: just some nakama feels for all of us

Inversion by siqwithaQ Summary: "He wished things were different. He wished things would change." Notes: did someone ask for an ocean of angst in 1 chapter??? here you go

Inanition by Taisi Summary: in·a·ni·tion, noun; lack of mental or spiritual vigor and enthusiasm; exhaustion caused by lack of nourishment. Notes: [In which Luffy's metabolism is faster than his doctor understands.]

Linger by Duzzie Summary: AU. They're just a bunch of lonely kids in a hospital ward before he comes along: the boy with a smile like sunshine. Notes: what was that you wanted more angsty fics??? here you go

Smile Again by Taisi Summary: His eyes are bright, and his mouth is stretched into a grin as wide as the world, and looking at him Usopp could cry. Notes: Modern AU, Nakamaship; there’s a lingering ache bc of the loss but the support of the mugiwara family is there

The Straw Hat by EmberEvolution Summary: The straw hat Shanks had given Luffy all those years ago finally fits on the boy's head. For anyone else, it would be an exciting event as it proves that they've grown from before. For Luffy, it's an event that triggered a panic fit and the reason behind it is simple: What if he outgrows his treasured straw hat? Notes: luffy has legitimate concerns ok

S We Walk the Beaten Path by soomin Summary: They were so close to the end that a few of them have actually begun to think about the ever after. However, Sabo warns the Strawhat crew that one of them will not make it to the afterwards if they go to Raftel, the crew thinks. It has always been pirate king or death. Not a single one thought that the “or” could one day be “and”. Notes: The highlight would have to be how each of the crew member reacted and tried finding a “solution”.

In The Bag by Kamu Summary: All pirates have hordes of treasure.It just so happens in this life, cats are the treasure in Luffy's. Notes: luffy as the owner of mugiwara!cats but this def needs the next part to update

Kizuna by YokoHogawa Summary: Usopp carefully watches Luffy over the sandwich he is biting into, and he can’t help but worry. Sanji has an anxiety problem. Something wakes Zoro at the crack of dawn. Notes: nice approach immediately after the crew’s 3d2y reunion

Exclusivity by Taizi Summary: A stranger flirts with the oblivious Luffy, and the Straw Hat Pirates reveal a possessive streak. Notes: ngl i’m weak for people being protective over luffy

Breadwinner by siqwithaQ Summary: Because when the trouble doesn't find the Straw Hats by itself, the Straw Hats have to go looking for trouble. Notes: im still choking with laughter especially with the law-luffy-nami scenes lmao

Nothing but Trouble by Kitsune Foxfire Summary: Marco and Thatch have had just about enough of the Moby Dick's newest passenger. Whenever Ace isn't trying to kill Oyaji, he's driving the rest of the crew insane with his bizarre habits. They're not even sure if they've picked up a feral dog or a person anymore. Who the heck raised this kid, anyway? Wolves? Notes: oh, ace, i love you

Unexpected Emergencies by blueh Summary: Luffy had been alone most of his short life, with no one to love and no one to rely on. This all changed, however, when the Whitebeard Pirates stumble upon his lonely little island and take the four-year-old boy under their wing. Who knew that the little rubber brat would become one of Oyaji's strongest commanders when he grew up? Ha. The Whitebeard Pirates sure didn't. Notes: ahhh the bonding of luffy and the whitebeard pirates as he grew up was so nice

SHIPPY FICS aka i didn’t know i shipped anyone in one piece but damn these fics are good

An Interesting Proposal by petiteneko Summary: If anybody told Smoker that he would have a casual conversation with his boss at a pirate's wedding, he would have thought them beyond insane. Law/Luffy Notes: wherein smoker’s sure he didn’t sign up for this bullshit and the wedding hall has got to be the “most wanted area in history”

Her Pace by Arithra Summary: When Trafalgar Law first met Strawhat Luffy in the auction house on Sabaody, he like everyone else, assumed her to be male. It was a simple fact. A fact that would not survive their second meeting. Law/Luffy Notes: genderbent!luffy and as usual he/she is still so damn cute

Stow Away Captains by xairylle Summary: Law sneaks into the men's quarters of the Thousand Sunny. Zoro contemplates on how to deal with it. And Luffy, well, Luffy is just Luffy. Notes: screaming over the predicament of zoro, sanji, usopp, and brook lmao

Youthful Years by grayclouds Summary: Snippets and bits of seven years in Hogwarts during which Law hopelessly pines for Luffy. Law/Luffy Notes: the hp au every fandom needs

We’re Not Nuns by deadhemoglobin Summary: Luffy went to prison. [[ZoLu, LawLu, Prison AU, warnings inside]] Notes: explicit Zoro/Luffy y’all and the premise was interesting

A Clash of Blades by Arithra Summary: Mihawk had lived by the blade, had lived for the blade and the moment she lost her title she would die by the blade as well. Only Shanks ever dared to disagree. (fem!mihawk; Shanks/Mihawk) Notes: i thought mihawk looked pretty in oda’s genderbent drawing so i casually looked for a fic then this happened and jfc ngl this works sooo well and the fact that the author managed to keep them in character was super nice

ASL in Love by Kereea Summary: Three things would be true about the ASL Brothers’ relationships: they would be spectacular, they would be weird, and Shanks would not approve of his kids’ love lives. Marco/Ace Sabo/Koala Law/Luffy Notes: papa!shanks is the best and him raging over his kids’ “special others” is the best Hey, Mr. Star, I Think I love You (Please Love Me Too) by JuHuaTai Summary: Rising star actor, Marco Newgate, and the darling of the music industry, Spade, are just friends. Good friends who met in the most awkward of circumstances, and hold great respect for each other’s craft. Okay, a whole lot deal of great respect, and there might be a shade of crush here and there, but it’s a celebrity crush and that’s all there is to it.At least, that's what they kept saying. The whole world sure doesn't buy it one bit. Marco/Ace Notes: fluff goodness literally this is what you’d need if you wanna have toothache from all the sweetness also i cry over luffy being a youtuber

We’ll Look Back and Laugh at Ourselves by JuHuaTai Summary: Between his new boyfriend and his workaholic boss, Marco felt like he was surrounded by family issues of the father and son dispute variety. Maybe it was just a coincidence.Or maybe he should've listened to the office gossip more. Maybe then he'd figure it out sooner. Marco/Ace Notes: i relate with whitebeard and (later on) rayleigh

Thwarted by a Malign Star by DeadSkullB Summary: “Fuck pirates, they're scum - except for Luffy, Luffy's fine… But he's not a pirate yet… that means it's fine, yeah, pirates suck,” Ace said matter-of-factly. Then his brain slowly caught up and he looked at the man - his face, not his very, very nice chest - with narrowed eyes. “Are you a pirate?” Marco smirked and pointed down at his chest. “You’re Marco the pine- Phoenix,” Ace stumbled over the word, heart having leapt to his throat and filled his ear with constant drumming. He didn't realize he spilled his drink - when had he gotten a refill? Marco/Ace Notes: came for the summary bc ace doting on luffy even as a marine is gold and stayed bc damn that was hot; nsfw & explicit obv

One Piece Soulmates AU by Charlie_Mou Summary: You have the name of your soulmate tattooed on your body but it's the name that will have the biggest impact on the world. Marco/Ace Law/Luffy Notes: The variety of One Piece Soulmate AU, mostly MarcoAce, LawLu, and others which isn’t written yet.

OTHERS of doughnuts and meat by dami_an Summary: "Where's my MEAT?!!" Behind the counter, Katakuri looks up from the sales ledger. He sighs, "Told you; this is a bakery. We don't sell meat here." "But you have meat buns!!!" Luffy whines. Notes: “in which katakuri's a baker and ends up befriending a seven-year-old luffy”; the exasperation of katakuri ftw and kid!luffy is the cutest basically a very wholesome shit i live for

The World Goes Around by WinglessCrows Summary: "How come you're called the pirate hunter, when you're a pirate yourself?"- How Zoro got his nickname and how his stupid captain was somehow involved. Notes: a headcanon i accept

Grandfatherhood by Keereea Summary: Sengoku and Garp chat about Sengoku's discovery about Law. Notes: “Like Sengoku wouldn't tell Garp "crap I've join the 'my grandson's a pirate' club." warning (?): there’s a tiny bit of lawlu at the end

An Old-Hat Rivalry by lunarshores(damichan) Summary: Three times Marco met a different man wearing the straw hat, and one time he decided to follow it. Notes: i just love the takes of authors on how marco and luffy’s dynamic is going to be and ugh the ending was so cute

A Song for the Heartsore and War-Weary by Summary: "Sorry, Ace," Marco murmured to himself as he riffled through the stack of old newspapers. "I don't know how it happened, but... I think I'm stalking your little brother." Notes: another take on marco and luffy’s dynamic asdfghjkl

Unsinkable by RikoJasmine Summary: The Straw Hats find out that their captain has one hell of a family. When asked about his mother’s whereabouts, Luffy simply grins and throws his arms out, gesturing to the endless expanse of sea around them. With complete sincerity, he replies, “The ocean is my mother!”An AU where Luffy isn’t entirely human, and water affects him differently than other Devil Fruit users. Notes: an interesting take on who luffy’s mother might be

Take It From Another Savior by JadeFlicker Summary: "You realize, by saving Straw Hat-ya, you may very well have indirectly changed or saved a lot of lives.” “You think?” “I know.” On their way to Wano, Law and his group just happen to meet the Red Hair Pirates. Notes: ahhh, i loved the “quietness” of this fic and some interactions between characters i didn’t think i’d be interested in seeing (hence this)

Like Cats and Dogs by PitViperOfDoom Summary: It should be easy to judge a man by the shape of his soul, but Strawhat Luffy spits in the face of logic and predictability. Notes: i finally found a daemon fic yes

Law’s Adventure in the Thousand Sunny by LuffyForKing Summary: Law's thoughts on the crew's antics. Rated T for some swearing. Notes: basically, the strawhats broke law lmao

About You by pitchblackfingernails Summary: “Is he serious?!” He heard faintly from Eustass-ya’s direction. And it seemed that he was. Because “Straw Hat” Monkey D. Luffy, dodged one, two bullets that flew in his direction, formed a fist, pulled his arm back, and then, with a shout, hit the face of one of the World Nobles with a force that sent the sucker flying halfway across the room, completely shattering the benches that were in the way in the process. And grunted in satisfaction, a fierce and proud look on his face. Law would be lying if he claimed that the sight didn’t make his heart skip a beat. Fucking hell. So that was Monkey D. Luffy. Notes: warning (?): it’s tagged as law/luffy but so far, it’s more on showing law’s pov on luffy pre timeskip

Every You, Every Me by tokyonightskies Summary: “Did you know, Roci…” Doffy begins in a voice that only spells out trouble. As if he knows something Rocinante doesn’t, has never thought about until it’s said and done. “That Sengoku keeps your marine file in his desk?” There’s something comforting about how unpredictable his brother is, something he can count on at least when there’s nothing else to rely on. He grabs a commentary on their great-great grandmother and puts it on top of the others, on the pile of papers he doesn’t really suspect his brother to read thoroughly. “I didn’t.” He responds tiredly as he shuts the drawer and leans against the wall, “Do I want to know how you know?” Doffy comes to stand next to him, tilts his head back until Roci can glimpse at his eyes from the side, and teases, “I looked, of course.” Notes: interesting take on what if roci wasn’t allowed to infiltrate the donquixote family and continued being a marine but it has only 1 chapter whelp; there are pairings tagged but then again no shippy thing at all since it’s not updated

Black Scab by tofu-melon Summary: Having been raised by his grandfather since a young age, Luffy grows up powerful and intelligent enough to become part of the CP9... more precisely, he becomes their Chief Director. Notes: warning (?) it was tagged as Lucci/Luffy but so far it doesn’t have any yet

Drop-In Voyage by Lily Noire Summary: So how does one go about visiting family on the other side of the globe? Easy: just board a ship. There's a pit stop on the way, you say? Dangerous, is it? No biggie, simply wreak havoc. And watch out for that fist! Strongest man in the world? Really? Then, surpass him it is! - Luffy did always have his priorities straight... somewhat. Notes: ahhh i wish the author would continue this bc i wanna see everyone’s reaction to their visit lol

My Family Can Beat Up Your Family by rose7anne101 Summary: Big Mom decided she needed to make an unforgettable example of one of the Worst Generation, her chosen target: Straw Hat Luffy. Alive!Ace Notes: this is the canon we deserve wherein nobody died and luffy’s still wrecking havoc

Oh God, My Eyes! by Kitsune Foxfire Summary: No one could ever really be sure what went on in Garp's head. So they weren't sure if his new cloths were some kind of strange D-related tactic, or if the man had actually lost his mind. If they'd just look at the date, they'd know. His cute grandsons always sent the most thoughtful gifts for his birthday. Notes: garp the grandpa ftw

Pets by clarobel Summary: AU. Zoro was a stray until Shanks picked him up and adopted him. Now in a house with reindeer, kittens, fish and dogs, the green cat doesn't know who to trust. Luffy's delighted to have a new friend to play with, though! Notes: mugiwara as pets hell yes

The Justice of Freedom by Stelra Etnae Summary: Garp is a pirate, Roger is a Marine? The Marine top-tiers are full of slacking drunkards and the Yonko are obsessed with rice crackers? Just what kind of chaos will unfold in a world such as this? A role-reversal AU where everything is upside down and no one is quite sane. Drabble series. Notes: im sCREAMING loool

Storm by Kuroshi44 Summary: Because even across the seas he would find a way to let his child know he cared. Notes: i can’t wait for a legit dragon and luffy reunion

Supernova Family by YohoAruto Summary: There are laughter, shouting, fight, all the halabaloo. It's what families do! But we all have to wonder if this family can survive with eachothers? Just a regular Supernova Family. Notes: ok but i really love the supernovas and this modern au fic is gold

The adventures of the Supernova pirates by WhimsicalAnimeFan Summary: This is the story of the Supernova crew, under their captain, Strawhat Luffy! Join Luffy as he travels the east blue and through the Grand Line to collect pirates for his crew! Notes: thank the heavens they’re not under one crew

Throne Without Direction by Som3on3 Summary: "You have an old soul," Benn said and Luffy wanted to laugh, that's one way to put it, falling from the heavens and chained upon the earth. Instead he only gazed at the unchanging sky before smiling, "I'm just a free spirit." Notes: this had so much potential especially after the reveal in the latest chapter but it hasn’t been updated ;________;

**will add more from time to time

#one piece #fic rec #monkey d. luffy #portgas d. ace #sabo #what do you mean this is mostly asl fics.............i mean yknow #ANON SAN IT IS FINALLY HERE so you can stop spamming my inbox now lmao

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aidyjamespokemon · 6 years

Text

I’m on spooky. I’m so pretty: Card of the Day #5

Now would be a good time to tell you about something cool I have planned. Why now? You’ll see soon enough! From next week, I’ll be making a weekly video post in which I talk about a very special card indeed - a higher accolade than Card of the Day, if you will. Rather predictably, this will be called Card of the Week! Which card will be our first Card of the Week? I’ll drop a little hint today... Maybe I’m biased towards ghost-type Pokémon. I’ve always loved them throughout the Pokémon franchise and I really like the way their sense of mischief often translates so well into the TCG. Today’s card of the day is one I like for exactly that. It’s not just more of my bias towards my beloved spoopy guys - I promise! Say hello to Banette!

Stats

Banette is small by any measure in the TCG. 90 HP isn’t surviving much, to say the least, and it falls behind many basics in this regard. In a sense, Banette could be described as a glass cannon. It’s not going to stick around for long, but it’s going to make quite the impact while it’s around.

Although, being a stage 1, it does have access to Bodybuilding Dumbbells, an item that gives it an extra 40 HP. 130 is a much more workable number in most cases, as many attacks hit for 120 damage. Unfortunately for Banette, the most common of these attacks is Zoroark-GX’s Riotous Beating, which hits for weakness. If you’re not facing down a Zoroark deck (lucky you!), you may want to slap some Dumbbells on this little guy to give it an extra turn to cause trouble.

Dark is an unfortunate weakness to have in this Zoroark-heavy metagame, but this is balanced out by a resistance to the ubiquitous fighting type. Taking 10 damage from a Jet Punch is rather nifty, by any measure! I guess this is one of those “high risk, high reward” situations and it seems on-flavor for Banette to be prone to risky behaviour!

A single energy retreat cost is very nice indeed, especially in the post-rotation metagame, where Escape Board is the closest thing we have to Float Stone. Not only is Escape Board compatibility incredibly useful (retreating through sleep and paralysis is very strong), but the image of a Banette rolling around on a skateboard is delightful.

Ability

Ability: Red Eyes When you play this card from your hand to evolve a Pokemon during your turn, you may play a Basic Pokemon from your opponent’s discard pile to their Bench.

It’s easy to underestimate this effect on paper, but trust me - it’s likely to be the bane of your opponent! See what I did there? I’m proud of that one! Think of it like a Sudowoodo GRI that you can turn into prizes. For example, you an KO that Tapu Lele-GX all over again and your opponent won’t see any benefit from it!

In its most basic utility, it stops your opponent from placing something more useful on their bench, which is how I imagine many people will read this ability. However, I see it from a more aggressive point of view: a means of knocking the same Pokémon out over and over again. I imagine that Banette will see the most use in Zoroark Banette builds. The ability to OHKO the same Dawn Wings Necrozma-GX or Necrozma-GX over and over again (with Zoroark-GX or Banette-GX, respectively) has the capacity to win games very quickly indeed.

Attack

[P][C] Enemy Show: Count the number of your opponent’s Pokemon in play. Put that many damage counters on your opponent’s Pokemon in any way you like.

Softening up your opponent’s battlefield is almost as underestimated as the effect of Red Eyes. In a deck like Zoroark Banette that’s hitting for 150 or 160 with Choice Band - just a hair short of a OHKO on most basic GX Pokémon - this sort of attack is incredibly strong. While 20 damage here and 30 damage there may seem inconsequential in the short-term, it can quickly close the gap between a Riotous Beating and a OHKO on a Tapu Lele-GX. Being able to allocate up to 60 damage wherever you please every turn can become ludicrously strong very quickly.

It’s quite flavorful, in a way. It’s very ghostly and mischievous to lay little traps for your opponent that can snare them when they least suspect it!

Synergy

The most obvious home for Banette is as a 1-of in a Zoroark/Banette build. It’s perfect for setting up surprise knockouts, whether it’s by resurrecting a basic GX Pokémon for an easy 2 prizes or by softening targets up for a Riotous Beating or Shadow Chant. Indeed, these knockouts can be even easier to attain with Banette-GX shadily moving damage counters around, too! As a single prize attacker, it makes ideal front-line infantry for this sort of deck; just watch out for opposing Kartana-GX in the late game! There’s also a spread deck that’s coming together slowly, but surely. I imagine that Banette will be quite at home with Flying Flip Tapu Koko, Tapu Lele, and Latios. Of course, I’m eagerly awaiting Mimikyu-GX in November’s Lost Tunder set - as is Banette! The question then will be which Tapu Lele to run!

Counters

They’ll be all over the table! Oh - you didn’t mean DAMAGE counters... Acerola and Max Potion are Banette’s mortal enemies. Imagine meticulously laying the groundwork for a KO by Riotous Beating, only for your target to be back to full health in an instant. It’s not pleasant! Sky Pillar also thwarts Banette’s attempts to soften up benched Pokémon, besides asking its bigger brother to use Shady Move to transfer damage counters to them one at a time - tedious, to say the least. Be sure to pack a Field Blower or two to deal with this scourge! Funnily enough, there’s a little sibling rivalry in the Banette family. Whilst they’re usually the epitome of synergistic brotherly/sisterly love, things turn sour when Banette and Banette-GX are on opposite ends of the battlefield. Imagine being poor little Banette, meticulously setting its opponent up for a swift knockout, only for its bigger brother to come and move one of those counters to someone else, ruining Banette’s perfect damage math! Fellow siblings - we’ve all felt like that sometimes, right?

In Conclusion

Baby Banette may stand in the shadow of its flashy GX relative, but it can certainly steal the spotlight with its own talents - or even complement those of its sibling in a rather heartwarming display of battlefield family bonding. Sometimes, it can take a while for players to read a card in the context of a game, rather than assessing it in a vacuum. That said, it still amazes me that I’m not seeing more hype surrounding this card. Trust me - give it a try. I’m certain that you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the tricks that this little ghost has up its sleeves. I love flavorful cards and Banette takes the cake in every possible way, from its mischievous play style to that delightfully cheeky artwork. Yes, Banette, you’re very pretty. Now, let’s clean that up before Mommy catches you going through her makeup bag! Do you do voodoo? Perhaps you should!

#pokemon #pokemon tcg #pokemon cards #gaming #gamer #banette #ghost #gx #zoroark #mimikyu #tapu koko #latios #tapu lele #cards #competitive #standard #review #card of the day #aidyjames

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How I Got Into Stand-Up Comedy - A Personal Memoir

I got into comedy because my Probation Officer made me stop smoking weed.

Alice Corrigan, a wicked witch of a corrections officer whose reputation was well known in my high school. “You got Corrigan?! Fuck, sorry dude.”

I loved weed, and continued to smoke through my first year after sentencing, carelessly trying to fool the tests via substances like Goldenseal, Test Pure, and/or gallons of water the night before each meeting. I’d strain to abstain from my beloved herb for 24 hours, then on the ride home from the Corrections office light up in joyous release, rapping along to some rap lyrics that denounced authority.

But Corrigan was no fool, probably why everyone hated her. After about 18 months of our cat-and-mouse game of urine testing, my mother woke me up one morning holding the (portable) phone in my face.

“It’s Alice Corrigan.”

Rude awakening.

“Hello?” I answered, trying to invoke sounds of maturity and sobriety all into two syllables.

“Hi, David. I need you to come in today by 2:00 for a random drug test.”

Long pause: Random drug test. Isn’t that an oxymoron?

It was my friend, Nick’s birthday the day before, and we spent the night on my porch listening to the new Cypress Hill album, attempting to match their lyrics in actual smoke. Alice filled my reflective gap.

“These are mandatory, so I’ll see you as soon as possible.” She was so cold, so adult, so stern and unforgiving. I hated her so much.

“Oh, okay, no problem,” I answered, trying not to reveal my devastation.

“I’ll see you later,” she hung up.

I proceeded to pound gallons of water, desperate for a miracle, only to be told at our next scheduled appointment that my hyper-hydration was for naught. I came up positive, much as I apparently had in many tests for several months prior. One more positive test would constitute a “violation,” which meant at least a brief period of jail time, which was a line for me.

I enjoyed the adrenaline rushes of graffiti writing and shoplifting but wasn’t cut out for prison. I was rambunctious and experimental, arguably damaged and angry - but with a 1240 SAT (imagine if I hadn’t smoked weed all night the night before) I knew I was better suited for zoot suits than jumpsuits. A prison sentence, no matter how brief, was out of the question. I quit smoking weed.

For a while I was bored and depressed, confused as to how to fill this void that copping, rolling, smoking and occasionally selling weed had done before. Fortunately it was around this time that I met E and moved into Manhattan.

The 90’s were arguably New York’s “sweet spot,” when it was becoming safe enough to always go about your business and enjoy yourself, but also pre-7-11 stores and gentrification, and the culturally rich neighborhoods that once made the city into the capital of the world still retained their integrity. The Lower East Side was still inhabited by broke artists, and E had grown up in Greenwich Village, which believe it or not still boasted some shady blocks where you had to be street smart.

E’s crew of friends could have shown up in a picture under “cool” in the dictionary. They were the best of both worlds, mostly private school educated, but equally street savvy: A racially diverse group of 18 year olds who’d grown up as much on downtown pool halls and hip hop as they did on independent film study and fine literature. They had nicknames for one another and secret handshakes and genuinely scoffed at ideas of style or dialectic parameters based on skin color. I thought they were perfect. I was as quickly accepted by them as I was influenced, and before I knew it my wardrobe was more urban, dialect more slang, and for the first time in my life I wasn’t embarrassed about sounding smart.

E and I became inseparable besties, literally overnight (on a magic mushroom trip), and frankly, I wanted to be him. He was mixed, Hispanic and white, but when you grew up in New York, dressed in all Polo and North Face gear, and referred to all guys as “niggas,” you’re just “Spanish.” He was the most charismatic, which made him the unofficial leader of our crew. His energy dominated every cypher, and he was as popular with the film nerds as he was with black thugs and girls of all backgrounds. Handsome and stylish, E didn’t need to be hilarious to get laid, but he was – funny bordering on psychotic even. We had many drunken nights downtown with the local pool hall crew that would leave my head spinning the next morning, not only in literal hangover, but also psychological reflection of who I was, who I’d been to this point, and wanted to be going forward.

Without weed I felt mentally clearer, sharper and wittier, more creative. E’s words began coming out of my mouth and mannerisms through my body. I noticed people laughing more at my jokes, gravitating more to my energy and deferring to me in conversation, and what 18 year old wouldn’t enjoy this?

Funny is a muscle like any other. We all have it, though some of us with a greater potential than others. Two guys can go to the gym together every day for two years and do the same exercises and will come out not looking the same. One’s biceps will be bigger than the other’s. Maybe the other’s legs will be stronger. One will have lost a lot of hair. The other did not. They look at each other constantly, almost as much as they do the mirror, coveting that which contemporary women deem more attractive. They go home and listen to bad music. They have simple jobs and terrible conversations, small penises and an embarrassing medicine chest. They’re unhealthy, too big, uninformed. I digress.

E introduced me to Manhattan Public Access, which up until the advent of Youtube and iphones, was a reputable vessel amongst our generation. Everyone who was anyone was up on the few dope shows that aired weekly on one of the free (uncensored) networks. Spic N’ Spanish, Sam Kellerman Live (RIP), and most close to home, Baby Show, which was produced by another crew of arrogant Greenwich Village kids that E knew from childhood. They would run around town with their video camera making comedy sketches, then air them as a half hour variety show, a pre-recorded, low-budget, uncensored SNL, if you will. Skits were hit-or-miss (also like SNL), but they were always interesting, vulgar but smart, and obviously having tons of fun. I decided for the upcoming Christmas to ask my parents for a video camera.

Over the next two years E and I made about 50 sketches (with the help of our crew). We wrote our first (awful) screenplay and laughed harder with one another than either of us had before in life. We worked hard and often, and my mind’s generation of ideas seemed infinite in the absence of weed. I understand many other artists have the opposite experience, which is just one example of how one size can never fit all, whether with diet, medicine, or otherwise. Marijuana became as distant a memory as an ex-girlfriend you know you’d made the right decision about.

We became instant stars (within our crew). Everyone looked forward to seeing the next joint. We’d hold screenings at crew headquarters, and a subtle “sibling rivalry” even developed, i.e. Who do you like better? Q-Tip or Phife? Havoc or Prodigy, etc.? E or Sauce?I knew I could never compete with E, though others would occasionally say otherwise.

Sadly, I don’t think our friendship was as emotionally rewarding for him, but served as more of a temporary band-aid for his own inner turmoil. When we turned 21 E got more into alcohol and girls, and who could blame him? Girls loved him and he loved liquor, and apparently handled them both very well. I was slightly less tolerant of booze and much less attractive to the opposite sex, subsequently less enamored with the bar and party scene that didn’t seem to reflect the urban identity I’d always aspired to anyway. For the first time a divide had formed between my best friend and I that I didn’t know how to respond to. E would regularly wake me up in the middle of the night with drunken messages on my answering machine, often times a girl’s equally intoxicated laughter in the background; a live audio reminder of my un-coolness and unattractiveness, and worst of all, the inception of my falling out with my brother.

“Saaaaauce! Where are you, Sauce?

Hot, drunk girl: “Where are you Sauce?!”

“Come out, nigga, we miss you!”

Long pause, as I lay in the dark room staring at the answering machine, feeling 40 years old at 20, probably angry that I didn’t believe he really did miss me.

“Aight… pussy-ass nigga,” and I feared that he meant it, or that I agreed, or it was objectively true.

Was I was a pussy-ass nigga?

E became an alcoholic. He would black out and have episodes where he’d insult or try to fight me, spewing whatever resentments he apparently harbored in sobriety. I never knew how to respond, whether to laugh it off as brotherly jabs and repress the upset I felt, or react more alpha, consistent with the hip hop culture we’d all immersed ourselves in. Usually I’d get stuck in the middle, leaving me more confused and insecure in my identity than I had since freshman year high school. E’s behavior grew more erratic and I would shut down, unable to compete or keep up with his intoxicated mania that would occasionally embarrass me in front of mutual friends. After one such incident that took place in my room I looked out the window at the sun coming up on another drunken night and saw him and Tre still downstairs on 13thStreet, leaned up against Tre’s car smoking cigarettes. I was unable to fall asleep, too angry and hurt and unable to make peace with how insulted I felt. Finally, I ran downstairs with the intention of attacking and fighting him, but by the time I got to the block they were gone. I was glad it apparently wasn’t meant to be. Eventually my anger transformed into sadness, and although our tight knit crew continued to chill, our brotherhood was over. E was the worst best friend I’ve ever had.

As I sought to fill the void left by the video camera collecting dust in my closet, my college Film Writing teacher suggested to me: “There are other routes to success in entertainment besides improv skits. Have you ever tried stand-up?”

It sounded preposterous, and I was naïve enough to think my teacher must not have been aware of the shy little boy that still existed within me – also young enough to believe that shyness or anxiety are mutually exclusive to courage.

One year later I started dating a girl whose mom had been a heroin addict for 17 years. Over the course of our time together I heard many stories from both sides, of the hell Mom put her daughter through growing up. They were probably the biggest fans of my jokes I’d ever had, hysterically laughing at nearly everything I said and did, thus encouraging me with their loud Nuyorican flamboyancy. We dated just long enough for me to realize how funny I was, also how lucky I’d been to have the parents and opportunities I did. I was given everything (tangible) a human being could ask for. Why should I not pursue the most difficult thing in the world?

One night shortly after we’d broken up I stayed home to watch a Richard Pryor special, in hopes of lifting my spirits. Not only did it obviously achieve said goal, I was mesmerized by his ability. While on stage Pryor seemed to me to personify “alive.” He looked so free and engaged, so courageous and perfect in his proverbial dance with the crowd and his material. I watched him take risks and rule his space, all the while exhibiting the joy of a child, and thought to myself: That’s it. That is the perfect vessel by which to taste life. I had no choice. The following week one night while E was out drinking I hit my first open mic.

If you’ve never waited three hours to do three minutes for three angry people in a dimly lit room devoid of any energy then you’ve never lived. Actually you’ve never metaphorically died the comedy death that is most open mikes. Truly it is awful, piercing deeper into our souls than just performance nightmares, but as existential crises, stomping on our egos, leaving us with the indigestible knowledge that we can never get back those few minutes of life. For the moment all worry and doubt of our talents are replaced with a bittersweet conviction that we are in fact definitely wasting our time.

A number of comics seated gaps apart from one another around the periphery of the room, faces buried in their notebooks, preoccupied with their own creative agendas while your material through the microphone resonates as nothing more than white noise. Every joke seems to receive the same one or two laughs from the same two or three sweethearts, their sympathetic contrivances bouncing around the room, ironically transforming its tone from awkward to dismal. Once in a while pops in a more veteran comic, unforced to wait his turn and the nerds perk up, temporarily uncovering their faces to actually pay attention. Consistent with their greenness, laughter is given as automatically as it is from laypeople to the Chappelle’s and Seinfeld’s of the world. They either assume his punch lines to be funny before they arrive, are just desperately attempting to connect with the comic in any way, or both. As soon as the popular guy leaves you can practically hear the plunder of energy, the re-separation of attention, sighs plunging back into future discarded material and half-attention (at best) to the poor schlep forced to go next.

The only thing harder than performing for fellow comedians is performing for fellow comedians who are waiting to go on stage; and the only thing harder than that is performing for comedians who are waiting to go on stage and don’t know you enough personally to give your new banter any shred of credence. These are not real people, for all intents and purposes, which can make it impossible to get an accurate read on how your new material or yourself will ever be received by real people. Maria Shehata once posted a joke (on Facebook) I’ll never forget. Some well-built, grown man challenged her to punch him in the stomach as hard as she could. She did so, and caught him off guard with her strength. “He didn’t realize how many open mikes I’ve done.”

Wednesdays’ “Train Wreck” at The Parkside Lounge on Houston and Attorney St. was appropriately named. Located so distally on the outskirts of the Lower East Side, by the time I arrived I barely felt like I was any longer in New York, especially because the inside of it always reminded me of some Midwestern bar. Fat, old, white men in beards and plaid shirts lined most of the bar in front of a thin, buxom blonde who looked good only at first glance, the TV’s above her head showing sports highlights or the News. The occasional Bud Light-guzzling, 50-year old black guy walks by, his afro not at all kept to uphold any of the standards of contemporary urbanites. The jukebox played a lot of Lynard Skynard, or maybe it was just stuff I thought was Lynard Skynard, and my post-adolescent mind could do nothing but define myself via harsh (silent) judgment of it.

As if some illegal black market we partake in, the comedy room was located through a dark narrow hallway of bathrooms, then behind a curtain in the back room. Sign-up was at 5:30 with “showtime” at 6, and I can recall some weeks walking purposely slow to the venue so as to convince myself that I’d tried my best, but arrived too late for sign-up. The handful of times I braved to punctuality ended up being awful bombs of silence that ate at my core for the remainder of that night.

“Sauce, have you ever been racially profiled as a wigger?” the host once asked after my set, and everyone laughed for the first time since I’d gotten on stage.

I wasn’t prepared to feel so small and didn’t know if I should risk retorting. Instead I remained mum, and it reminded me of the drunken, belligerent insults I’d had to absorb from my best friend during the past year. I felt like the new kid being pointed and laughed at by all the other cookie-cutter students who’d known each other for years. I felt I was being made fun of by the lames for being different, but I had no way to prove so, and was unable to laugh at myself.

In my 15 years in comedy to come, at the Parkside was the only time I was heckled by a comic. It was an Indian girl, a bit older than me, a regular, familiar face in the front row, who interrupted midway through my set: “Do you know that you’re white?”

Her remark got only a couple of laughs from the room, I assumed because even if the majority appreciated her sentiment, her timing was inappropriate. You don’t heckle fellow comics.

“I do,” I responded to her, able to muster only a hint of sarcasm through my lack of confidence. She’d hit a nerve. As my blood boiled I quietly finished my set, minutes later walking home, cursing out the Indian girl, as well as myself, rationalizing that I was “too real,” too authentic, and the act of stand-up was too contrived for me. It wasn’t for me. I figured I’d return to improve. A few months would heal this wound, and eventually I made my way back in time for sign-up.

At home life was worse, as I’d made the mistake of moving in with E. Our dynamic was fractured, probably by both of our hatreds for him, and I’d completely lost track of my voice. I felt like I was always bombing. I had no confidence, no sense of identity, and practically walked on eggshells when E was home, for fear of being derided in a way that emasculated my vulnerable ego. I’d gone from expressing the best version of myself to the worst version of myself and it was the inception of my anxiety disorder: An overwhelming head rush that would come on either at random and linger throughout the day, or during acute moments of social anxiety. I had no idea how we’d gotten to this place, and at 23 years old even less of an idea of how to climb out of it.

I consider February 13, 2002 to be when I actually started doing comedy. It was a different open mike, Gladys’, on W. 46thSt. in Times Square, known to be “one of the better mikes” in town – a spot I’d already bombed at once the week before.

For some reason beyond my awareness, for the first time in my life I killed from the first sentence out of my mouth. Something must have clicked, or maybe it was just dumb luck of the first joke hitting then riding the wave of confidence instilled by the unanimous laughter. From start to finish the entire five minutes was an out of body experience, watching myself delivering my words and the crowd responding as if I knew what I was doing; almost reminiscent of how it feels to lose our virginity. It isn’t that we’re unable to enjoy the moment, but the experience is clouded by the mental joy for its significance. It is literally unbelievable.

As I walked on air to the back of the room, overhearing my name repeated into the microphone by the host and the sincere applause that followed, I was stopped by a tall, friendly black dude, Max.

“That was great, man.”

“Thanks.” This must be what happens when you don’t suck.

“Are you available tomorrow night?” he asked.

Huh? “Sure,” I responded with a contrived calmness, and he booked me for a $25 spot on a Valentine’s Day show at some local bar in Castle Hill in the Bronx.

He’s gonna give me $25 to do comedy?! Literally 10 minutes ago I had under my belt about 15 shitty spots over the course of two years and no clue as to whether I could ever have a good one. Ha… sucker!

“Thanks, man, I’ll see you tomorrow!”

I invited Tre to the show, and it wasn’t only because he’s black. He was also my other roommate, had nothing else to do and a car, which would save me a late night train ride home from the Bronx (something I had no idea would be in store on a weekly basis for years to come). I purposely did not invite E – not that he would have come if I had – but his presence would have made me that much more nervous. Instead, Tre was neutral.

The show was at a typical Castle Hill neighborhood bar, probably 60% Puerto Rican, 40% black, and one white person. Familiar hip hop blasted from the DJ booth as the majority of the patrons all fraternized and flirted, or freaked each other to the funky rhythms filling the fortress. How fun! A quaint little room, though not offensively so, the “stage” was set next to the bar and facing out to a handful of tables while the rest paralleled the bar traveling stage right.

The bouncer was friendly enough, and gratitude washed over me when I saw Max immediately after walking in the door. Like I’d just spotted my friends’ table in the school cafeteria, I gave him a pound and hug that I hoped everyone else in the room noticed. He greeted Tre and directed us to two empty seats at the bar, almost directly in front of the wooden box they’d be using as a stage. We ordered a couple of beers and I tried to act like I wasn’t terrified.

I was told I’d be going on second and instantly wished I could get up and walk around, go outside to pace, or just be anywhere besides the confined physical position I was in. I learned later in my career that I absolutely could have. Instead I sipped my beer and felt it mildly settle my nerves as I struggled to pay attention to one word anyone before me said. I remember a Puerto Rican comedian making a joke about my being the only white guy, though amiably padding it with a compliment and head nod of camaraderie. He had a decent set, and none of this had any impact whatsoever on my internal state. As he finished and Max came back up my panic set it, and I realized I wasn’t seated far enough way from the stage for this degree of nervous energy to be walked off.

As Max introduced me the DJ played the new hit single by Jadakiss and Bubba Sparxxx, a white rapper from down south (surely not a coincidence), and for some reason I felt like I’d look more nervous if I didn’t dance. My nerves produced some idiotic, upper body dance moves that had to be atrociously caught somewhere in between serious and mockery. I was a damned fool, surely looking as amateur as I did white, but I got lucky. The crowd bought my faux confidence, misinterpreting it as organic from this goofy white boy with whom they were too unfamiliar to detect the difference.

I did the same jokes as I had the night before, which was really the only jokes I had, which was five minutes about the perks of dating a girl who already had a boyfriend (the ex-heroin addict’s daughter). It was hacky and simple and delivered with a hokey animation, but for the setting it was perfect. Every joke hit even harder than the night before. I got laughs on set ups and punch lines, and in between bits even my defense mechanism persona of laissez faire facial expressions sent many of the women into hysterics. I “had them,” as we say, and it became fun. I was killing.

I’d never experienced anything like it before. Once killing, we reach a point where the crowd no longer cares how clever each joke is, but instead they’ve fallen in love with us. Who we are begins to shape our material instead of the material shaping who we are, and our listeners reward us with a benefit of doubt not dissimilar to what we get from close friends. I’m sorry to break the news, but this is also why it’s erroneous when laypeople take pride in having just “made the comedian laugh.” First, we’re not necessarily funnier than every non-comedian in the world. We’re just the ones who chose stand-up comedy as a pursuit. Second, and more to the point, in a social engagement there’s a good chance that welikeyou,your personality and energy. We might even love you and/or are warmly responsive. This doesn’t mean our laugh is sympathetic or your joke is not funny, but “making the comedian laugh” is not the equivalent of knocking out the boxer. In the exchange of humor the importance of connection cannot be overstated. I digress.

Tre and I stuck around until the end of the show, basking in my glory. Max paid me the $25 in cash, and it felt like $25,000 in my hand. I couldn’t believe someone had just given me money to do comedy, but even more appreciated were the pounds and hugs I received on my way out. I could feel Tre proudly walking behind me; also some of the women in the room eyeing me, and I didn’t want the night to end. I suggested to Tre that we go to Club Passion, downtown. “My treat!”

Club Passion was a ghetto strip club on 8thAvenue. For clarification purposes, “ghetto” strip club does not imply only the strippers’ ethnicity, but also the nature of the club. Instead of a traditional strip club setting, Passion functioned basically like a party filled with male customers and extremely forward, sexy women in thongs and lingerie whose job it was to “work the floor.” Whoever happened to be on the stage and pole at any given time was usually the least paid attention to, as fly girls were all over the room grinding on guys for dollars at a time; and most touching was permitted, if not encouraged.

It was one of the greatest nights of my life, instilling in me a pride and self-confidence that seemed to heal all of my wounds from my fractured friendship with E, and filled the void left by our defunct skit productions. His habits and lifestyle continued in the same direction but our friendship began to feel like a friendship again, mostly because I’d discovered in myself a strong sense of purpose and pride, and even my anxiety symptoms got a lot better and less frequent. I was a comic, better yet an “urban comic,” and (thought) I was good at it! I felt happy for the first time in two years, and we developed a new dynamic, where the student had sort of surpassed the teacher.

#stand up comedy #friendship

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