#[[ but he doesn't really have a big or strong moral code ]]

[lagoonalake]

enhypen ideal type pls

ENHYPEN IDEAL TYPE

HEESEUNG

Personality: justice, 8 of cups, ace of cups

Someone with strong morale and integrity, who has no time for pettiness, Focused on doing their thing and follow their own rules and code, someone deep, with strong powerful emotions, who follow their heart, very giving and who could only help if they’d see suffering around them, someone who knows what sacrifice is, who understands pain, who is a bit detached from all things shallow and materialistic, someone with a strong sense of justice who wants to help the needy pisces, scorpio, aquarius, virgo

Appearance: king of wands, 3 of cups, strength

Someone who could have a rather heroic appearance, bright, warm colors, a more masculine style, short hair, or disheveled big hair, a fierce determined look, looks aren’t his primary concern, he is more about the vibe of the person and that they can connect on an emotional level fire signs especially aries and sagittarius, aquarius

Turn offs: ace of pentacles, the magician, 5 of wands

Someone opportunistic, interested in him for his money, a manipulator, a trickster, someone who talks big and makes false promises, someone overly ambitious and competitive who wants to win at all costs, and would be ready to lie, trick, use and manipulate others in order to do so.  negative taurus, capricorn, gemini, leo

JAY

Personality: 2 of swords, 4 of wands, queen of cups

He wants something rather traditional, a balanced, calm individual, someone who can help him make decisions and is intelligent, moderate, astute, calm. He wants someone who would be fully committed to the relationship, he isn’t really interested in anything non serious. A homebody, an understanding, nurturing, motherly, kind, caring partner. Someone who could understand him without him having to talk about it, a very intuitive partner. A soothing, healing partner, with whom he’ll have this perfectly balanced cozy life where everyday is a celebration, someone who can help him find joy in the little moments. libra, cancer, taurus, leo, pisces

Appearance: queen of wands, 8 of swords, queen of cups

He likes someone who looks rather feisty, confident, sporty and physically strong, someone who carries themselves with a lot of confidence but behind all of this he actually also wants to perceive vulnerability, humility and softness. Both fierce and sweet at the same time. Could be someone with striking features but a round face, or someone really athletic but with very curvy body. He would prefer a curvy partner, hips and butt especially should be rather wide. A siren sort of look, could prefer darker skin with more revealing outfits. Full lips, wider features. Long luscious hair. aries, pisces, taurus, libra

Turn offs: king of pentacles, queen of wands, 8 of swords

Someone who would want to be the man, especially when it comes to money. Someone who wants to control everything, who is too concerned with finances, career, someone with no time to chill, with no spontaneity. Someone who is too independent financially, he wants to be the provider. Vanity, arrogance, a bully.  capricorn, taurus, negative leo

JAKE

Personality: 6 of swords, knight of wands, 4 of swords

Someone very simple, not too attached to him, that would be fun, adventurous, up for anything, and would help him relieve his stress. He isn’t looking for anything serious right now. He likes his partners confident and feisty, a bit wild, very straightforward. Light hearted but sassy and a bit reckless sort of energy. He likes a challenge but it shouldn’t be too tiring either. Sporty, loud, who enjoys the outdoors, full of life, competitive, hot headed partners. People who aren’t too emotional or sensitive, nor too boring or too deep, at least he doesn't want to have to deal with that side of them. Someone he has a lot of chemistry with. sagittarius, gemini, aries, mars

Appearance: 8 of wands, 7 of wands, ace of swords

Sharp, athletic, a more masculine appearance, tall height or someone impressive physique, fierce eyes, big, bold movements, muscles. Strength. Warm colors, like red, orange, brown. Short hair. Simple style. Could prefer more revealing outfits. Sexy. mars, aries, scorpio, sagittarius, leo

Turn offs: 8 of swords, 10 of pentacles, queen of wands

Insecurity, shyness, passivity, someone too serious or mature, snobbish people, someone looking for something long term, someone who is high maintenance, someone who comes with all their bagages, he just wants something very simple cancer, virgo, leo, libra, taurus, capricorn

SUNGHOON

Personality: the lovers, knight of cups, page of pentacles

Someone romantic, a very calm, sensitive, compassionate person, a beauty, someone not afraid to express their feelings, someone more quiet, who may not be a celebrity, but still a beauty, very feminine presence, sweet, kind with animals, who loves nature, a certain innocence, very caring, affectionate, physically demonstrative, friendly, accepting, open minded, non judgemental. Someone he can build something stable with. I’m hearing “a fresh spring”. Someone who he’d want to protect and cherish. Just a sweetheart!  pisces, libra, virgo, cancer

Appearance: the world, 6 of wands, temperance

Someone he’d be proud to be with and would want to show the world. Someone who could look like him a bit or match him physically, he want to hear people say “they look so good together”. Someone calm, with a peaceful, serene energy, very symmetrical face and harmonious features. Could enjoy jewelry and accessories. Warm bright colors, pink, red, orange, yellow, gold. Feminine appearance, long hair. Dignified and regal. Good proportions and good posture. Warm, sunny smile and face. Could like a foreigner too. libra, sagittarius, leo

Turn offs: judgement, 3 of wands, page of cups

Someone too intense, invasive, who wants to change his lifestyle or habits, who wants to control everything, someone who is extremely focused on their goal and vision and has no time for the relationship, someone too naive and disconnected from reality, with a delusional sense of self importance, it’s giving delulu sasaeng energy to be honest XD  scorpio, pluto, capricorn, neptune, leo

SUNOO

Personality: justice, 5 of wands, high priestess

Someone fair, honest, with strong moral integrity, who sticks to their beliefs, who is open minded and treats everyone equally, still someone who could be rather competitive, confident, assertive, protective, possessive, he wouldn’t mind someone a bit jealous. Someone who is a bit mysterious, magnetic, sexy, alluring, seductive. Someone who can be very charismatic and impressive. I feel like this could be a specific person that he’s still trying to get to know. He wants that karmic soulmate type of relationship, maybe a secret relationship. He wants to stare at someone across the room and know that this will be the start of a passionate affair.  libra, aquarius, scorpio, aries

Appearance: justice, king of pentacles, 10 of wands

Someone who looks impressive, important, of high status, someone who looks in charge, boss energy, rich, very stable, grounded, rather slow energy, someone who looks like they can carry a lot of responsibility, and physically strong. Calm, grounded body language, symmetrical, balanced features, tall, clean cut, short hair, well dressed, brands, luxury, structured shapes, someone who stands out. Black and white colors. Nothing too flashy, simple but high quality, sophisticated, modern, sleek.  capricorn, taurus, leo, virgo, libra

Turn offs: the magician, 8 of cups, 8 of swords

Someone manipulative, too chatty, detached, two faced, someone who would use him and leave him, someone insecure, shy, scared, depressed. Someone cowardly. Someone not from the same circle as he. Someone outside of his comfort zone. negative gemini, aquarius, pisces, cancer

JUNGWON

Personality: 10 of wands, 4 of wands, ace of pentacles

Someone fun, playful, who can shoulder a lot of responsibilities, who can help and support him, and at the same time celebrate life with him. Good marriage material, the manager type. Could be someone older who can help him in his career, shoulder responsibilities with him, help him deal with stress. Someone committed and loyal. Practical and who always has a solution. A good advisor. Mature and realistic. Intelligent, efficient, honest, positive. Practical, helpful, crafty. Could be someone in his circle or from the staff. An assistant sort of energy. virgo, aries, capricorn

Appearance: 6 of swords, high priestess, 6 of cups

Someone who looks calm and wise, with a seductive mystery. Not a show off but effortlessly, quietly magnetic. A kind face. Soothing voice. Looks intelligent and deep. A bit curvy, especially chest and hips. Beautiful, deep eyes, long eyelashes, refined, gentle features. Foxy face, can look a bit mischievous, in a cute, sweet way. Smells good. Relaxed feminine style.  pisces, gemini, virgo, libra

Turn offs: 3 of swords, 10 of swords, 9 of wands

Cheaters, manipulators, backstabbers, people who are all talk and no action, who make false promises, people who are overly complicated, unhealthy (both physically and mentally), people who play mind games (he doesn’t have time for this and really wants a partner that can help him, and accept his help), someone always on the defensive, provocative, who has too many baggages.  scorpio, negative gemini, cancer, pluto

NIKI

Personality: 3 of cups, judgment, 4 of swords

Someone he clicks well with and who makes a strong impression on him, who can help him evolve. He doesn’t really have a specific type of person he is attracted to and he’s not too picky. Just that this person is positive, honest, fun to be around, friendly, not too complicated, independent. A bit all or nothing, strong opinions, what you see is what you get, easy to understand or figure out. Rather proud, confident, passionate, feisty, still with a lot of humor and playfulness.  aries, leo, aquarius, sagittarius

Appearance: queen of pentacles, the lovers, death

Someone sensual and sexy. Not shy to reveal their body. Someone with a romantic quality. All skin tones, all hairstyles. Feminine appearance. Very magnetic and alluring. Someone with a lot of intensity, hypnotic eyes. The color red. Wider features, big smile, strong defined bone structure, square jaw. Can be both fierce and soft. Darker aura and appeal, a bit of a femme fatale, with a natural earthy quality. taurus, scorpio, aries, sagittarius

Turn offs: 6 of pentacles, queen of swords, the magician

Someone high maintenance, an ice queen, someone too posh or snobbish, someone a bit too moderate and calm (he prefers people who are a bit more black and white and intense), someone uptight, a bit mean, cold, detached, impossible to get to know. Someone hesitant, too serious. Someone manipulative, a smooth talker (he doesn’t trust them), cunning and mischievous, two faced, who plays games with him, someone who gives too much in a way that he'd feel endebted. air signs, virgo

[baby-tini]

Hi!!! Not a request, just a question if you don't mind. Ever since I found your account and read your SSK poly work, I've been thinking about this for a while, what would happen if Chuuya and Dazai found out you killed someone?

I like this question, simply because I've thought about it a lot, but context is needed for this situation. Although I will say, despite the context, Dazai and Chuuya would still protect you, whether this murder were too be premeditated or not. You mean more to them then the law, especially if it's PM!Dazai and Chuuya. But I'll give a premeditated and accidental murder scenario for them.

TW- Murder, Manslaughter, Implication of Assault.

Premeditated-

If the murder was premeditated, PM!Dazai and Chuuya would surely have contradicting reactions, especially if you were also working for the Port Mafia at the time. If you are working for the Port Mafia, it isn't gonna be a big deal, and while Chuuya isn't too big on killing, he does it because it's his job. PM!Dazai on the other hand, really doesn't care, you're in the mafia, murder is apart of the job. Now, if you're not apart of the Port Mafia then you're gonna get a different reaction from both of them. From PM!Dazai, instead of nonchalance, you'll get interest. He knows people have a plethora if reasons why someone would commit murder, but he wants too know yours. What brought you to that point, of taking the life of another, were you angry? Vengeful maybe? Perhaps you were owed something and came too collect, he's not sure but he wants too know. With Chuuya, he'll be sad about it, you're not involved in their job and he doesn't want you too be, and this is one of the reasons why. Although Chuuya has a strong sense of loyalty, he also has a pretty strong moral code. Although this won't make him dislike- or even hate you, depending on the reason and who you killed, but he may look at you a little differently for a while.

But when it's ADA!Dazai in the situation of you premeditatedly killing someone, I think that he would give you a different reaction, as opposed to PM!Dazai, again depending on whether you work for the Port Mafia or not, would vary ADA!Dazais reaction. Simply because, and this is assuming you met ADA!Dazai after he left the Port Mafia, and Chuuya depending on if this a poly or not. But if you did meet him after he left the Port Mafia and you committed this murder, he'd use his position too protect you, but he'd also want too know why you did it. He'd feel a bit melancholic, mostly for you. Merely because he understands what it feels like too take someones life, especially with him trying too do better, become a good man if you will. He doesn't want you too live with the potential guilt, but because it is premeditated, I don't doubt that he'd have an inkling that you were up to something. He'd try too convince you not too, and too just let the police deal with it, but even he knows that people don't always get the justice that they deserve. So, if it was something that you felt you had too do; a last resort of sorts, he'd help you out, he'd be more efficient at getting away with it, given his experience. If you did work for the Port Mafia, which he'd do his best too get you too leave, he's not too thrown off, that's apart of being in the Mafia; committing murder.

Accident-

If you accidentally murdered somebody though, PM!Dazai, in my opinion, wouldn't care and I say that simply because, he, himself, has stated that he's not a virtuous person; meaning that he is someone who habitually does wrong to his own detriment and takes pleasure in it and he also, very obviously, lacks a moral compass. I think he'd be more intrigued about what about lead up to the murder, instead of the murder itself. If it were too be because they were trying too hurt you, or assault you, he'd give evenless of a fuck, because realistically, if he found out that someone was trying too hurt you, he would've killed them himself. So you doing it, actually prevented hours of torture for that person, especially if it was quick, they should thank you in the afterlife. PM!Dazai would just simply have the body gotten rid of, disposed of, like trash as he brings you back to his, cannonic, shipping container. Chuuya though, he'd have a more extreme reaction, depending on the context and circumstances. If it was someone trying too hurt you, he'd be pissed, gently taking you away from the scene as he barked orders at his men too get rid of it, hushing you as he let you cling to him in either shock or tears as he pressed gentle kisses to the top of your head. He'd get you counselling if you need it, obviously under the guise of the Port Mafia, he doesn't need this being reported. But if it were more of a recklessness on your part and you were playing around, Chuuya would be a little pissed at you. Scolding you for a while, but he knows things accidents happen, so he'd just have his men get rid of it and you're forbidden from doing the thing that led to that accident in the first place.

The reaction you would get from ADA!Dazai, really wouldn't differ from PM!Dazai in this specific scenario, because it was an accident, he'd want it too be taken to the police, seeing as you've done no wrong. Especially if that person was trying too harm you, you had every right too defend yourself and although he's proud of you for being able too handle your own, the chances of you being out of his sight are very low now. Now, if it was a reckless mistake on your part, he wouldn't let it get out, because that is no longer self-defense, but is now Manslaughter. Which you could go to jail for, he wouldn't be happy with you but he's not mad either, and I say not mad because accidents do happen, but also not happy because you've essentially put yourself in a situation that he now has too get you out of, while he'll still protect you with everything he has, he'd like you too refrain from having anymore of these types of... accidents.

[all-pacas]

If you could make any changes to House MD what would they be?

that is suuuuch a broad question and encompasses so much, so i'm just going to give my stock reply: i would keep cameron on the show.

i truly think writing her off was one of the show's biggest errors, and i think the show even realized it: masters and adams are both remixes of cameron, and even thirteen is a take on the same archetype (bonds with patients, cares about the moral/ethical problems and tends to over-emphasize with patients). actually, thirteen takes on a lot of cameron's role of the show: her relationship with house isn't romantically coded as cameron's was, but fulfills the same "i see you and our connection is different and special" niche cameron did to house. clearly the show thought cameron was important - she had far more focus and screentime than chase after s4, and more dedicated episodes and subplots in s5 than, like, actual members of the team. we know how deeply important cameron is to the show and the show's dna: she is a major part of the series finale despite it having been three years since she was on it. she is the final shot of the ending montage, smiling as she looks back on house and the original team.

the show also did a lot of work to position her as a future cuddy, as a clear parallel/successor to her: from s1 we hear that cameron's real strengths lie in administration and organization, in s4 she's on the hospital budget committee, in s5 she runs community outreach programs and literally gets a subplot about being dean of medicine for a week. had she not been written off, and had cuddy still gone, cameron absolutely would have been dean of medicine in s8. had cuddy not left, cameron probably would have been shown still taking up the role, maybe stepping in in some sort of unofficial second in command role during s7, dealing with house while he and cuddy were dating for example. i would have loved to see this, by the way. cameron has a pretty strong character arc and a very interestingly evolving relationship to house -- from naive idealism to treating him as and being treated by him as a peer -- and i think the arc of "underling to boss" makes a lot more sense from her and for her than it did foreman.

the official reason they wrote her off really does seem to be "we didn't know what to do with the character anymore." respectfully, i call bullshit: there was so much you could have done with cameron post s5, and it could have also opened up some fascinating other storylines. like, just imagine the chaos of still married cameron and chase, with chase back on house's team and cameron drifting further and further towards hospital administration. imagine a s8 with dean cameron and chase having to figure out how to deal with his boss house and his boss's boss, his wife. imagine the same chaos with them divorced. i'd love to see cameron struggling to define herself as herself, and learn to be in charge: this is a storyline we saw hinted at in s2, we know she wants to supervise and be a leader, but while we get to see foreman and sort of chase (in s8) struggle with it, we never get to see her: the two cases she brings to house in s5, she defers to him totally. she does a good job playing house in big baby, but doesn't ever step up and lead. i would have loved to see her management style. her leadership style. i would have loved to see her with masters and park (two young doctors who don't fit in and who i bet cameron would love mentoring). i would have loved her weird little friendship with wilson explored in the back half of s8, to hear the advice she gives him on his diagnosis. cameron was written off just as she was really coming into her own as a person and going in some incredible directions, and i will hate forever that we were robbed of seeing her go.

[late-draft]

Hello, Dema here!

First off—I have fallen desperately in love with your artworks. You have a very particular style, strong and fluid all the same, and I can't help but admire the way you draw and how you approach character design.

And talking about character design...

I saw your post about Zuko's bold design in S1 when compared to what we got in S3 and—as much as I love S3-Zuko—I completely agree with you. Something I've always loved about Zuko in S1 is just how striking he was, how much of a presence he had, even when he was being tossed around by a twelve-year-old. That being said, I love Zuko, I love him in armor and pointy shoes and with a ponytail, and I loved your alternative design for him.

What do you think about his S2 character design? How does it flow with the story beats and his overall character arc? Much has been said about the Hair-Growth-Means-Character-Growth (and I find it interesting, also, that he cut his hair again before joining the Gaang), but I'd like to know your opinion on how that translates to character design and how the decisions made in the show could be either good or bad in that regard.

Sorry about the long ask! I've just been thinking about this a lot, lately, and would like to know what you think. Hope you have a good day ❤️

AAAA Dema hii!!! I'm so happy I got a message from you, I didn't expect it!!

I'm super glad to hear, I'll wear it as a badge of honour and I must tell you that I also love your art, you wonderfully do volume and the shading done through a contrast of sharp and soft areas! Super solid anatomy too and I'd be lying if I said I didn't look up to your art!

Yess the character designs in the show actually are rather strong, I like a good balance between memorable and functional. Zuko is just *chef kiss* but, considering just how many appearance changes he goes through, some are bound to be weaker than the starting one. That said, I'm gonna go through a few of his S2 looks and make this reply long, ha!

The starting one when he ends up huddling with uncle Iroh with other poor refugees, fits extremely well for the narrative at the moment. It's actually one of my least liked looks for him, and that's great!! It's precisely how it should be, because he's also arguably at one of his two lowest moral points in the story - he basically lost almost all hope, no clear goal, nothing to fight for, he's desperate precisely because of the lack of orientation and thus his morals degrade and sink veeery low. He gets on my nerves so goddamn much in this period LMAO I want to beat him up, he looks like a recovering drug addict... annoying, entitled whiny jerk stealing food and anything shiny for his uncle, but even then he just does not cross the moral event horizon. Excellent characterization. He just looks atrocious and it's great because it fits this low point.

Next he gets the standard boyish square of a hair, no notes here...

But theeeen, he arrives at one of my favourite looks of his, and it's not just because the clothes fit him very nicely (I've seen fandom say they look too big for him which, maybe?? But it doesn't look like he's swimming in them to me) And a thing I've noticed which, maybe it was just an accident on design part but I'm not sure considering they colour coded the entire cave scene; in this part his clothes match the shape of Katara's, first one in bottom then the one in top. The collar is the same haf-circle design but I don't know, maybe there was a limited pool of clothes designs guide which they cycled through. Or, he really is meant to come close but miss Katara by a beat, like sine and cosine chasing each other.

But besides this outfit fitting the inconspicuous Earth Kingdom customer service persona, it also (perhaps inadvertently) does this VERY cool thing:

It makes his shape look closed off and guarded, supposedly non-threatening. It's most visible in his fight against Jet, whose shape is open and goes in many directions like an aggressive star. But then look at what Zuko's shape does:

When he attacks, it opens up to reveal the hidden aspect, again the aggressive star shape shows up! The same thing happens in "Zuko alone" episode but I think it's most clearly visible in this fight against Jet because here he has a direct contrast and comparing with Jet. I think this is an example where the outfit, whose similar design exists irl, overlaps with a great visual metaphor and enhances the narrative at that moment in story. He's still that combative firebender but he has to keep that aspect concealed most of the time. Plus it just looks badass as hell!!

Animators really knocked it out of the park with many frames. I think Jun was too early and missed his better hairstyle, but Katara was just in time.

I agree it's super funny how his hair in the Beach is awfully long, covers his face to an uncomfortable degree and then he apparently shortens it before joining the Gaang, insane behaviour Truly an "I'm so angry and depressed I won't show my face nor be capable of seeing anything because there's nothing nice to see in my life" look...

I guess all his appearances in S2 cover his mental states, but only one of them is extremely Extra (the tea server, doesn't even take the apron off and goes to fight) and I don't see any spot where a similar tier design could be shoved in, narratively speaking. So all in all, S2 did as much as S2 could have. More tea server arc please though, the Guru episode really feels like it skipped 800 km of plot and everything that happened in it is so crammed and pretty sus in terms of character behaviour.

[rottenjuice]

I’m loving the lore on the realm, because it all really stems from that bad and foolish did their usual ‘immortal’ arguing, that neither takes it very seriously, for everyone else to choose a side or allied and take it VERY seriously. IDK if it was meant to be more red vs everyone or the server vs the keepers + snails, but it's interesting how we ended up here because of old feuds.

everyone in the kingdom is so close-knit together and truly appreciates each other like sneeg only showing the members of the kingdom his twohickey and the constant ‘i’ll be there if u need me’ mentality which has grown because of how they have felt a bit targeted by pili bad pangi with how they've stormed the castle and touched their stuff (also red in general).

it makes sense as to why viewers + bad have called them a bit cult-ish AND with ros immediately saying she’d sacrifice herself for the kingdom really makes it seem even more like that from an outside perspective. but I believe they wouldn't let her, that's just not how they operate, like how they wouldn't let her be the test dummy.

while pili, pangi & bad all care about each other and help each other out, have the same bases and so on. they put themselves before their group, which makes sense as that’s how they survive. while the kingdom has it’s own morals to stand up for, especially since they want to be seen as honest and strong and in the right.

I think foolish sacrificing himself is such a great example of the server's dynamic, as the first thing the kingdom did was assume foolish wouldn’t sacrifice himself, that he’d for certain did not do that. when he did. because out of the whole kingdom, the king is under the least danger and doesn't understand the stakes of what's going on around him as everyone keeps on protecting him which must make everything seem like No Big Deal. why should foolish be scared of a cat that exclaimed their undying love for him or the fallen angel/demon that wants to sleep in his bed or a silly pangolin?

the 31st will be interesting, with something going down with aimsey that I'm pretty lost within what it could be, and then pili and clowns big fight. pili has asked pangi to kill clown if he dies. which pangi was confident in that he could manage. I just really hope it can be a clean fight with no others as pili want to prove himself to everyone on the server, and even if he does good and trips on the finish line, he still won't get a “fresh” start with the kingdom if pangi runs in and kills clown, if that makes sense.

and then we have the blues. cpk and aimsey are very family-coded, coy deciding to have hate for bbh for no reason but his existence and hates pili for killing him, and then tubbo who got killed twice by pili and once by pangi who isn't very bothered.

[dragqueenstarscream]

hey, its me again, back with more Starscream thoughts, so you just know things are about to get uncomfortably real and introspective! Again, prefacing by saying that a lot of my analysis is based on my own eerily similar experiences to Starscream, so I'm not 100% sure how much of this actually rings true and what is just me projecting.

I have entirely fallen down the StarOp rabbit hole thanks to you, at a speed I never could have expected. When I first finished TFP and started browsing the tags, I'd see the occasional StarOp post and at best be like "alright, sure" and at worst a little confused on where it was coming from, given the infrequency of interactions between the two after like, early season 1. But since I sent that first ask in it just clicked and like.

Before, I was always of the opinion that Starscream joining the autobots was something that could never really work from a character perspective, not just because of his dependency on Megatron like I talked about last time, but like, even if Megatron was completely out of the picture I never felt like the full on redemption and becoming a functioning member of post-war society that becoming an Autobot would entail would particularly be desirable to Starscream (if even possible for reasons both in and out of his control.)

I sorta felt like any good ending for Starscream would have to entail him moreso escaping the narrative than anything else, given the extent to which he's stuck in this cycle almost on a cosmic level, with how he's unable to escape it in any universe, any continuity, which of course ties into wider thoughts on how this franchise seems uninterested in letting Starscream ever escape that cycle. A sort of El Camino style ending, where leaving behind everything you know and running away to Alaska is considered a good ending, all things considered. That naturally led to me shipping him with Knockout, given their chemistry and the fact that they were this close to running away together, it just felt like the most compelling option, narratively speaking.

But now that I've caught onto the StarOp agenda, I've sorta cracked the code and realized that you can make a compelling and believable path to Starscream becoming an Autobot by having him getting together with Optimus initially be on a subconscious level an outlet to recreate the cycle he was in with Megatron purely because he's used to it and doesn't know how to live without it.

Outside of the obvious ideological and moral differences, Optimus and Megatron have a lot in common, especially from the perspective of Starscream. They're both big, strong, masculine figures, and natural-born leaders that effortlessly compel those around them to fight for their respective causes. They both radiate power in a way that I imagine you can almost feel when around them (and in a way I know it, because that's often how it felt being around my personal Megatron, it's why it was so easy to fall back into his arms over and over.)

All this to say, when Starscream gets with Optimus, he's not escaping the cycle, he's changing his target. If he became an autobot he would instantly become the most dedicated autobot, not out of any ideological reasoning or particular desire to be good, but out of an intense loyalty he effortlessly placed in Optimus. But of course, the loyalty phase is only half of this cycle.

This next part I'm heavily basing on what I've realized about my own experiences, so bear with me for a second, (I also doesn't think it exactly applies to TFP as much as it does some other continuities, G1 maybe but I haven't seen much of G1 so idk for sure) but I feel like sometimes Starscream almost tests Megatron in a way when he feels like Megatron's priorities are drifting away from him, (since remember, he needs to be the most important bot in his life, Starscream is desperate for Megatron to be as obsessed with him as he is with Megatron.) so Starscream will sort of do something stupid, maybe he comes up with some harebrained scheme that's probably not gonna work, or he makes some tactical or administrative decision entirely based on what he's feeling on an emotional level, to see "will Megatron back me on this?"

because Megatron does stuff like that all the time, he's far from being a better tactician than Starscream, (notice how the moment Starscream leaves in season 1, the decepticons stop winning like, at all until he comes back?) and he makes rash decisions out of anger all the time, and Starscream goes along with all of it, every single time, so it's only fair that Megatron lets him get away with doing something kinda stupid this once. and when Megatron inevitably doesn't, either because it would work against the Decepticons own goals, or purely because he doesn't want Starscream to think he has power over him, (and despite how good he is at hiding it, Starscream does have power over him in a lot of ways, I might talk about that some other time.) Starscream lashes out, betrays Megatron, and leaves, because once again all the loyalty he gave to Megatron got him nothing in return.

and let's be clear, Starscream doing this is toxic as fuck, but at the same time of course it is, it's almost impossible not to become toxic in an environment like this. And that really comes back to bite you when you get out of that environment, but on a base level still have these habits and base level impulses that might have helped you survive back then but are terrible for the actually decent people you've surrounded yourself with now.

With that, we cut to today, where Starscream is an autobot and he tries to pull one of these "tests" on Optimus because the honeymoon phase is over and Starscream is instinctually ready for things to start getting worse, maybe they had like, one minor argument and Starscream instantly assumed the worst. and I imagine Optimus "fails" the test, says "no, I'm not backing you on this, I'm not gonna let you do that", but unlike Megatron who does so while prioritizing his own ends and his control over Starscream, Optimus is saying no for moral reasons. And I imagine he tries to explain that to Starscream, but that answer isn't hitting him properly because again, Starscream's only thinking in loyalty.

Everything Optimus thought was progress on Starscream's part in living up to autobot ideals was really just newfound intense loyalty to Optimus, his growth was really just him doing what he thinks Optimus would want him to do and what he thinks would gain him Optimus's loyalty in return. and, from Starscream's perspective, it didn't work, so he's thinking "obviously Optimus doesn't care about me at all, fuck him, I'm out of here." so he makes this big display of betraying the autobots and running away.

and from there, it's the question of if Optimus sees through what this is really about. The other autobots are probably no help in that regard, they all probably fall into one of two groups, the "At no point in time was I not 100% sure that this inevitably was going to happen" group, and the "I mean, I had hope for him, and it seemed like he was doing good, but I'm still not that surprised" group.

But of course, Optimus isn't Megatron, he does care about Starscream and wants him to know that, so I imagine he actually tries tracking down Starscream to have an actual conversation with him to try and figure out where his mind has really been at these past few months, and if he catches on to even a little bit of the subtext of what I've been saying here, he's gonna be like "oh shit, there is a lot more we need to work on than I thought."

and yeah, Megatron fucked up Starscream in ways that its gonna take years to properly unpack, so Starscream is lucky to have found quite possibly the best person to help him through it in Optimus. It's gonna be a rocky road, but Optimus is in for the ride.

and I do think this relationship could eventually become healthy, and I like reading fics where they've managed to make it healthy, but I do think at first it really wouldn't be, and as someone with the autism that makes you obsessed with themes and motifs and subtext, the process of seeing it become better, of seeing Starscream have to unlearn these old harmful defense mechanisms, THAT is really what makes my brain vibrate, especially because I've had to go through that same process myself after finally getting away from my personal Megatron for what I'm thankfully certain now is the final time.

also kinda realizing a lot of this kinda sounds like borderline personality disorder, which. that might be something I have to look into in regards to myself, damn. anyways, yeah, thanks for letting me kill the vibe again, appreciate it! I'll probably try and keep these shorter in the future, I imagine it's kind of a lot to suddenly have 1500 words of deep character analysis with hints of traumadumping suddenly thrown in your askbox lol. If this actually was a bit too much then I'm sorry, you can tell me to dial it down a little if you want.

and this, right here, is why starop is my favorite transformers ship.

you really hit the nail on the head with this one. when done well, it's not only cute and fun to explore, but it's also a deep dive into starscream as a character and what could possibly lead to a redemption arc. sure, you don't need starscream to fall in love with optimus to redeem him, but how that would actually play out is so fascinating.

sure, i love aus where starscream is an autobot spy the whole time. yes, i love aus where they were in love in the past and got separated. but the idea of starscream replacing megatron with optimus in his mind fits him so well, because, as an abuse victim myself, it's easy to find yourself drawn to people who remind you of your abuser.

and that's where optimus' kindness sets him apart, because when starscream pushes back on him, optimus doesn't do what starscream expects. he doesn't lash out or hit him or verbally berate him. he responds with honest concern, trying to figure out what's wrong.

and that kindness, that sincerity, is something starscream doesn't even realize he's been missing the entire time.

i do believe they have the potential to be healthy, but the fight towards them actually becoming healthy and helping starscream get out of his toxic mindset is part of what makes these two so damn compelling.

always happy to have another starop fan.

(also you don't have to worry about toning it down lmao, gods know i ramble like a maniac about my favorite things. i'm not gonna be the one to judge)

[raven5056]

On Maedhros

My take on his character, and me trying to figure him out.

Maedhros is not a good guy. I think that much should be obvious by his deeds and while I think some of that can be attributed to The Oath™, definitly not all of it.

But I think he's not an inherently bad guy either. Tolkien is big on characters "turning" to evil rather than being evil by nature, so the same must be true with Maedhros.

And I don't think Mae can be classified as evil at all. He's an antagonist in much of the story but in the overarching plot he takes the role of a tragic antihero.

In my opinion Maedhros tries to be good. He tries and fails over and over again. He does something great and shows strong morals and the next thing you know he's kinslaying all over the place. He renouces The Oath™ and goes on to sack Doriath and Sirion anyway, and it's not just his brothers making a mess of things. It's a cycle.

To me he tries to adhere to a moral code up until the point where things go significantly downhill, instead of going down with his morals he throws them out of the window.

And later he hates himself for it. And I truly believe he wants this to change, but given a situation his stubborn will (inherited from his father) to achieve his goal is stronger than his ideals (due to his more tempered spirit via his mother) and he fails over and over again.

The fact he willingly gives up the crown of the Noldor to me speaks at least of a certain awareness of his inherent character flaws.

That to me makes him so tragic.

I've always have had a darker take on Maedhros. I generally don't think of him as redeemable. Not because he would not find forgiveness, but because he would never forgive himself. Because he thinks he is broken beyond repair and does not allow himself to heal. He will never leave Mandos because he believes he has no right to set foot in Aman again and walk among those he has harmed.

While Maitimo in his youth is generally a pleasant person he is also generally not okay.

Being the eldest son and heir to the guy the whole species literally peaked in in every possible way imaginable, and who also happens to be the crown prince, there is obviously a lot of pressure.

It doesn't really help that in his early youth —aside from his looks— Mae is utterly regular. He doesn't show any great talents or interest in a craft. (He had to take care of six younger siblings and fulfill his duty in court, he has little time to figure out what he actually enjoys) His grandfather teaches him about diplomacy in court and he is decent at it. Speaking comes easily to him. So he latches on to that. He tries to be the best at something (aside from his dad of course, no one beats Fëanor)

He can't be as good as his father but he can be good at one thing if he tries hard enough. (Whether he enjoys it doesn't matter if you've got Fëanor to live up to)

Slowly he is building up a facade of the perfect Son, Brother and Heir but underneath he grows more and more desperate for (his father's) approval. When his mother leaves he wants to go with her. He was always closer with her. But that means tearing down the entire facade so he stays with his father. Later he will regret that and think that maybe, just maybe had he gone with his mother (some of his brother's might have followed his example) some of the suffering could have been prevented.

When he comes out of Angband he carries a certain resentent towards his brothers.

He knows why they decided not to rescue him but he can't help but be angry after all he has done for them. Because he hates that he hates them, he keeps them at distance. He doesn't want them to know.

I also think he comes out of Angband a very different (very dark) person and the Nelyafinwë Maitimo is dead. His brothers realize that and there is a certain resentment towards this Meadhros Person. Especially through Maglor. I think Maglor absolutely hates who Mae has become but tries to not let it show, he knows it's not Mae's fault. (Mae knows of course, he always knew what Mags was thinking)

After Fingons death Maedhros gives up. (I vary between seeing them as romantic and platonic, so this works either way)

He knows the world is cruel, sure but seeing Fingons fate, the gruesome death of such a kind, brave and unendingly loyal person, his last hope dies. The Union of Maedhros is defeated and the one person who was able to look upon Mae with love, even after everything, is dead. He who deserved the world, died an undeserved horribly gruesome death and Maedhros is still there.

At this point he stops caring. He doesn't pretend to be a good person anymore, he knows he's not. He stops trying.

When Maglor decides to take the twins, they are terribly afraid of Mae. Of Maglor too, but they warm up to him. Of Mae they are still afraid. They sense the darkness in him. But they also sense the pain. One night, Maglor isn't home the kids are scared of a storm. With no other choice they turn to Mae. He does his best to comfort them. After that they warm up to him a bit more. But the uneasyness stays.

As The Oath™ is fulfilled and the Silmaril scorches his remaining hand, Maedhros feels empty. His biggest fear has come true: everything was futile in the end. He gave up everything including himself and any future he could have had for nothing.

There is no point in going on. And the twins are old enough to not need their protection. They are better off on their own. He has burdened their lives long enough.

He will not leave Mandos.

He cannot forgive himself. His Mother will try to see him, he doesn't want her to see what he has become.

Fingon will try to see him, he thinks Fingon hates him for giving up after his death (Fingon does, but he can forgive)

Eventually Elrond will come to the Halls to tell him about Elros' fate and Elronds own family. Elrond knows Maedhros will not return. He just wants to tell him.

[tonguetiedraven]

Your thoughts on the dynamic between Amaimon and Rin? Do you think it's "valid" for Amaimon to hold a grudge against Rin? Or logical, at the very least?

My thoughts on Amaimon are probably unpopular and at odds with a larger part of the fan community. I don't particularly like him. I can see his motivations and how he's been manipulated, but understanding a character and jiving with them don't always go hand in hand. ┐(´-｀;)┌

To answer your question of if I think Amaimon is valid or logical for holding a grudge against Rin: not in the least. Rin is not the source of any of Amaimon's problems or issues, and Amaimon has been a source for several of Rin's.

I'm normally the first on the 'Rin makes mistakes and please don't erase them' train, but here's one situation where I see very few if any real mistakes.

Rin was unaware of Amaimon's existence before the Amusement Park incident, even if he should have been aware of him as a general demon king. (If there's one thing Rin does not thrive in, it's school and knowing things he should already have learned in said school. We love the ignorant guy for who he is. Umaimon and all.)

He was not aware that Amaimon had essentially been stalking him for a while and waiting. Amaimon gets to know a lot about Rin and Rin knows nothing about him.

Until later on in the manga, Rin remains ignorant of most everything about Amaimon outside of the fact that Amaimon is strong and dangerous. Honestly, god love him, I'm not sure Rin still gets that Amaimon is a Demon King half bound by Shemihaza. He knows he came into his current body during the Blue Night, but I don't know if the whole Shemihaza thing has come up.

Rin fought him in the park after his sword was stolen. Amaimon instigated that situation. He was ordered to, but we the readers are the only ones that really know that. Rin fought him in the forest after Shiemi was stolen and he got backed into a corner. Rin forgot about him until Rin had to fight him in Gehenna at Mephisto's beckoning. Rin then forgot him again until he showed up in school and then he intervened when Amaimon started to harass Shiemi.

When you look at the events from Rin's pov, he's basically just getting pulled into these fights and not initiating them. He hasn't sought out interactions or fights, but he hasn't backed down from them. He might be overly aggressive, but I don't think so. No, in my opinion, if Amaimon is holding a grudge then it's because Amaimon is being illogical about this for a lot of reasons.

There is a BIG power difference between these two for most of the manga. Rin is half sealed and unaware of how to fight or use his flames efficiently. Amaimon has been using his body and fighting with his powers --full and restricted -- for a long time. He knows how to do it and doesn't have the same moral code Rin does to hold him back.

Amaimon is ANCIENT. There's some disagreement on his actual age, but there is a manga volume extra where Amaimon states he's been in his current body for a 1000 years. That's questionable since we know he received his current body in the last 40 years, but who knows what time shenanigans Mephisto has pulled on him. So 40 or a 1000 years old, he's already older than Rin. However, we also know that Amaimon had been in his previous body for at least 400 years. (Shemihaza tells us this when she's pleading for Lucifer to just let the body go and come back later when they've fixed the clone nonsense.) Point being that Amaimon is sooooooo much older than Rin. He should, by all accounts, be more mature than the 15 year old he's been ordered to harass.

Rin is not the source of any of Amaimon's problems. Amaimon, Mephisto, Shemihaza, and Lucifer are the source of Amaimon's problems. Not Rin or Shiemi. They were not around for most of the bad deals he got himself tangled in. He accepted deals from the devil that is Mephisto and got himself endlessly tied up in favors and demands, and he lost a fight after destroying the earth so Shemihaza sealed him to save the earth and cost herself her own form to do it.

Amaimon is a victim in some ways. He is manipulated by Mephisto and often abused quite brutally by him. All because of a body he got from Section Thirteen that put him in Mephisto's debt. (Though there might be another deal in there. If there's one thing Mephisto loves, it's deals.)

He wants to be free but he's bound partially by Shemihaza to stop him from destroying the earth like he wants to. He is also an emotional and impulsive and often childish Demon King who has gotten himself into several of those situations, and to treat him like he's a hapless baby who is being abused by everyone takes away his own hand in his fate.

What Amaimon is, is emotional more than he is logical. He is more aware of the way Gehenna and Assiah work than Rin is, or indeed a fair chunk of our exwire cast is, but that doesn't mean he's more logical than them. Amaimon wants to have fun and he wants to fight and he gets mad if he's stopped in doing that. He's easily insulted and hates not having attention on himself. He's petty. He wants to tear Rin a new one and feels like he's always being stopped and leashed from his goal.

But Rin is not at fault for that. Amaimon can blame him and harass him and hate him for being free in a way Amaimon doesn't think Amaimon can be, but that doesn't validate his actions. Especially since Amaimon's perception of Rin isn't entirely accurate. No more accurate than Rin's always is of Umaimon.

I think their dynamic is fun, and a great change from his relationships with the other Demon Kings, and an interesting way of showing the other ways the kings are immature or not emotionally developed in the same way the humans tend to be than Mephisto and Lucifer. I think he can't quite be trusted yet, and honestly shouldn't be until he makes a choice of his own instead of one he's manipulated or forced into. I don't think we've seen the last of him or the real heart of him quite yet, but I think he's got something coming. Something that will determine more of where he really ends up in this endless war between Mephisto and Lucifer.

But no, I don't think he's valid or logical for holding a grudge against Rin if he is holding one. He's kicked Rin's ass two of the three times they've fought and he's the older and more powerful party for most of that. Rin has friends and allies where Amaimon doesn't seem to, and he's got a cause where Amaimon doesn't seem to.

I think he shows some of what Rin could be if he was to give in fully to his demon side, but I don't know that Amaimon, at least currently, could ever be Rin. I don't think he's there emotionally and I don't think he's able to swallow his pride enough to apologize and reach out and make all this about someone other than himself. At least not yet, and Rin is.

[nabi-unveiled]

Catching Up: Let Free the Curse of Taekwondo (Ep 3)

Ep 1 React Ep 2 React

So fun facts....I haven't found a place to buy garlic ice cream locally, but there are A LOT of recipes for garlic ice cream on the internet. I do own an ice cream machine. We make homemade ice cream a lot in the summer. I sense an experiment coming up soon.

Anyways, onto episode 3. I am not doing a live reaction for this one. I had to wait over two hours for an oil change and decided to go ahead and watch episode 3. Controlling my facial expressions has never been harder. Although maybe I didn't need to try. Half of the people I know think that I'm a robot anyways. LOL. Anyways, I FELT like I was making a lot of facial expressions because...well just look at them!

There are no more qualms about sharing saliva. I love it btw that Dohoe keeps showing up with his chapstick. These kinds of small details are what make characters seem like real people. I'm known as the person who always have sunglasses (safety glasses really) on my head. No, I don't need them for work. It's just a habit. I'm also LOVING the color-coding. I haven't dove into the posts about this show, but I guarantee there was talk about them being color-coded.

THIS is what I want from a date sequence in a show people. THIS RIGHT HERE. GIVE ME MORE. I said in one of the BL Challenge posts that I frequently fast forward through the dating montages. Because typically they DON'T add any narrative or even show your characters really deepening their feelings. I want dates that FEEL like dates. This was it, and there was ice cream too! I should've just stopped the episode right here.

But alas, I didn't. And somehow, I'll still have to get work done today.

We got confirmation that Sunshine got expelled for fighting.

We got confirmation that Dohoe REALLY hates violence.

On the surface, this line SEEMS sweet. It IS sweet. But it's a bittersweet. Because what Dohoe is admitting is that he loves Sunshine enough to compromise his morals. And just like he didn't want to care to begin with, he will be conflicted about it. It WILL be a problem for him down the line. Because even if you're willing to overlook something, it doesn't necessarily make you feel good about doing it.

And we know that promise will be broken. I knew he would get in trouble for violence before this episode ever started. The foreshadowing has been strong.

Just like the foreshadowing on this line is strong. As soon as they said it, I was like crap. We're not going to be together. Either one or both of them is going to get their plan screwed up royally. My biggest fear was that Dohoe would be the one left behind. Because Sunshine? As much as he SAYS he doesn't have options, he really does. His family may have "abandoned" him, but they are still financially supporting him and calling him every day. Dohoe? Nada.

The watermelon is great here. I LOVE how much food is depicted in this show. This was a cute scene and reminded me that I need to finish my deep dive into soccer/football positions/rules before the next episode of FC Soldout. It also immediately made me think about the World Cup scene in Wild Chives and Soybean Soup.

It's a het drama that I don't recommend. Them as teenagers was great, but the rest was not. I guarantee it has aged poorly. However, I enjoyed that flash from the past. I looked it up. Apparently that drama was 10 years ago. Eesh. The feelings in both of these scenes were similar in that they are very young love and people just not sure how to handle it.

I love that they're training together and having secret meetings in the van. Everything about this feels SO much like what two teenagers in love would do. I squeed internally way too many times.

I'm beginning to sound like a broken record, but the amount of food in this series makes me SO happy. Real people eat. Real people making connections eat together. It's probably personal, but eating a meal with someone is a BIG deal to me. Many of my best memories with both friends and my children are over shared meals. Oddly enough - that doesn't include my husband. We don't enjoy the same foods and he eats super quickly. Fine, I'll revise. MOST people build connections by eating together, and these two DEFINITELY do.

Whoever chose RED for the phone understood the color assignment.

This guy has a problem. I'm assuming we'll learn more later about why this friendship went so badly south. Still...choices HAVE been made. Do-hoe is being a lot more civil than I feel he should; however, that seems in character for him.

It was at this point that I knew we were headed for trouble soon. Anytime the word "always" gets used, that's a red flag for me. Plus, look at HOW happy Do-hoe is at this moment. It shocked Sunshine, and you KNOW he was wanting to pursue that kiss further.

I'll be honest. I haven't figured out why we're seeing Sunshine in a school uniform just yet. The bike was when Do-hoe said he could succeed here. The other was in the scene where Sunshine was being beat, and it LOOKED like he was actually holding the Dad back. Was Daddy Dearest going to try to stop Do-hoe from taking the exam? Or am I reading too much into it. Either way, you can tell that Sunshine snapped.

Which led to our frenemies in the snow. Snow has definitely been a running parallel throughout the show. Typically, it's been hope, connection and even innocence. But it feels like the hope has been tainted through this scene. It also feels like this means we're getting a new beginning for these two frenemies. I can't be sure of that though.

My only question here was "WHO THE FUCK TOLD HIM?!?" Let the boy FINISH the exam before telling him anything. Whoever told him - you are on my hitlist.

We got new information that Sunshine was adopted. That's interesting. It could explain some things about why he so desperately wants his parents to be proud, but I don't have enough evidence. It's not uncommon for kids to want to please their parents after all.

This camerawork is SO good. Do-hoe has scared himself. He's seeing his reflection while his dad leaves the shot. It's him and his rage left behind. Plus, he doesn't like this reflection. This is NOT going to go well. Because THIS? This will scare him. He'll begin to think he could become his dad, and that's going to get all kinds of entangled with his feelings about Sunshine. It's real world feelings depicted well.

And now we have HISTORIC cold. And yes, it snowed. But everything is messed up.

And while I generally dislike time skips...

This one feels appropriate. This is when a time skip SHOULD be used. Based on where they were in life, the technology in that time period, and the situation that has occurred, this time skip makes sense. It'll be interesting to find out where they are now in life.

We know Sunshine is smiling. But sunshine characters often smile even when in pain (he's already done that frequently). We don't see Do-hoe. That feels purposeful. In some ways we knew sunshine would be okay. (I'm not saying emotionally okay.) It's Do-hoe, who didn't finish his exam, who had no other options, who is stuck. He's the unknown. Hopefully, he found a way out. But he's going to be scarred either way. I'm hoping now that we've had the time-skip that the rest is them overcoming the past and growing together as mature adults. We'll see.

AHHH. Why do we have to adult? Can't I just take a day off and binge-watch? This is infinitely more interesting than what I need to write this afternoon. Oh well. Bills must be paid.

[thebibliosphere]

Im glad you had a relatively good time playing the Batman telltale games but now.im wondering have you played Wolf Among Us? I think it also speaks to that critique you have of like, the illusion of choice and how nothing you do can fully change an outcome but I think it sort of works better for that storyline specifically because of who the character you play is in a way. Also bigby wolf is just Insanely hot

God, I love Bigby, both in the game and in the graphic novels. (The voice actor for Bigby can get it too, but specifically when he starts to go feral. Read me the phone book, you sexy 40-pack-a-day wolf man.)

And yeah, the lack of actual choice works a bit better for Bigby, given who he is and the circumstances they're in. They're basically living under enforced magical segregation where deviation from the rules can get your entire community killed. Bigby's moral choices are essentially "enforce the cruelty of the rules" or "let people die."

If he smuggles a bit of compassion in under the radar, it's also not necessarily expected because Bigby is a monster. He's the Big Bad Wolf. He got picked for the job of law enforcement because the other fables are terrified of him. He's eaten people. And he's pretty blunt about it. He might not enjoy when people suggest he enjoys violence, but the violence comes easy to him because he understands the necessity of being the biggest, meanest, baddest wolf around because that's how he survives. You see that in the graphic novels when he stops at nothing to defend his children. Not even his own siblings are safe from his wrath. Bigby is a creature of limited outcomes, and the limited nature of the game plays into that.

With Batman, whose entire identity is built around his moral code in defiance of the world around him, it doesn't really work. Not even when you pull the rug out from under him and proclaim his father to have been a villain, he's still got this strong sense of dedication to Gotham and the people closest to him.

And while you could make it interesting by highlighting his "bad" choices in the game, it doesn't have the same impact if there's no difference in outcomes. If Batman becomes a villain, treat him like a villain. But if your Batman stays true to himself, which is possible to do, it makes no sense to have Alfred treat him like he's given into all his worst impulses when he hasn't.

It's honestly kind of baffling and doesn't work for his character, not even when Bruce is behaving out of character and hurting people beyond his usual limits, it's because he's undercover and under extreme duress.

Treating him like the big bad villain because he punched some law enforcement out instead of letting Harley Quinn shoot them dead doesn't work. You see him hesitating and struggling in those moments. He hasn't abandoned who he is. Even if you pick the meanest dialogue, the character is still clearly emoting distress and regret. He's still Batman. He's just having a very not good terrible bad awful year and needs people to give him a Fucking Break.

[violetjedisylveon]

Rotten Fruit Character Profiles - Sun Paramita

The firstborn child between Macaque and Wukong, Paramita was thought to be a single baby until his twin made her dramatic announcement after he was born.

His adult fur color is the same as Wukong's, physically he's a curlier furred Wukong with six ears.

Sexuality:

Demi sexual gay

Personality:

To most people, he's stoic, cold, and nearly emotionless. He's always cool and collected with an air of professionalism about him.

To his family, he's expressive and emotional with his heart in his sleeve, they can read him like a frickin billboard. He's very subtle with his expressions, not intentionally that's just how he is, his ears are the real key to how he's feeling and every twitch or movement has a different meaning to how he feels.

The most emotion he shows is a little smile, to his family that's a big, giddy toothy grin. He's extremely supportive and passionate of his family, they would call him their little cheerleader when he was little, and he's very empathetic to how his family is feeling.

He knows when something's wrong, whether that be sickness, his Papa having a bad pain day, someone's period is starting, whatever, and he'll be with that person until they tell him to go. He really loves his family and wants to make the hard things they are going through better in whatever ways he can.

Fitting his name, he's a perfectionist, but more in the way of failure teaches you how to do better than 1 failure meaning you are worthless. He wants to get things to be the best they can be, there is always room for improvement.

He's brutally honest and extremely good at picking up on people's flaws and insecurities, he doesn't hesitate to point those things out, it's usually not out of malice, more of an “I observed this thing about you and want to make sure you know about it”, he's trying to help. People don't tend to take it well.

He is, however, capable of weaponizing this. He only does it to people he thinks deserve it or who fuck with his family.

He really doesn't like bullies, he doesn't usually get violent, he prefers words over fists, but anyone insulting or flirting with his baba is getting hit.He really hates the way monkey demons and lotus eared macaques are treated, he has a very strong sense of justice and fairness so their mistreatment really pisses him off, especially because his parents suffered so much from it.

And he really doesn't like how living in that world like that affected his older siblings, Chao-Xing through Luohou still almost always wear headscarves when they go out, despite being old enough to be safe, they never leave the house alone, and seem to always be at least a little on edge when they are out.

He really cares about his siblings and really doesn't like the world that treats them like trophies or prizes to be won. He feels a bit of guilt over growing up in a world, or at least a city that is slightly safer than his siblings did, it isn't fair they grew up constantly looking over their shoulders.

He has a strong internal moral code and he won't associate with anyone who violates his personal morals.He gets along well with most of his siblings, Tao and Lizi were the closest in age to him and his twin for a long time so they were always close, and he gets along very well with his little sisters and brother, he's very protective of them and doesn't want them to experience any of the bad things he or his siblings have.

He does not get along with his twin very well, there's no malice or bad blood between them, it's just they have very different personalities, he's a perfectionist, Ziqi is not, and he gets annoyed with the way she handles the situations they're in, she doesn't take them seriously.

He doesn't like this much, he wants to be closer with his sister but he doesn't know what he can do to change it, they're like night and day.

He's extremely proud of his ears and always has been, he had six ears like his Baba and his jiě jie, why wouldn't he be proud of that? He doesn't like that he has to hide his ears for his own safety, and he hates the looks he gets while he's out with his ears covered. He knows it's important, he's got very young siblings who need to be protected, but he hates it.

He's got big ambitions to change things, and he's planning on using everything at his disposal to do it, including the ears that others have been enslaving his people over.

He also really fucking hates Xiangliu. He is the biggest Xiangliu hater in the family after Yuebei. Xiangliu was really creepy around him as a kid, and the dude has done absolutely deplorable stuff to his family, and they can't do shit about him because they're in debt to him.

Biggest Xiangliu hater.

He's the worst flirt in the entire family, he can't flirt for shit, or handle be flirted with because he just turns into a puddle of gay blushing monkey, the gay panic is real.

Likes:

Encouraging his family

Seeing his family's shows and performances

Politics and law

His ears, he's very proud of them

Weaving

Being with his family

Granddadsy's cooking

Taste testing Luzhen's pastries

Scheming with Chao-Xing

His siblings' pranks

Sweet foods

Dislikes:

Xiangliu

His family being in debt to Xiangliu

Xiangliu being creepy about him, his baba, Wei-Chen and Chao-Xing

His sister's “contract”

Monkey demon discrimination

LEM hunters and traffickers

Mangosteen (he's got a mild allergy)

His family being targeted

Being kidnapped/held hostage

Immortal politicians and lawmakers

Wearing his headscarf

Evil textures

Hobbies:

Political scheming

Screwing with Xiangliu

Joining his siblings in their hobbies

Weaving with his papa

Sneaking sweets

Goals:

Dissolve his family's debts to Xiangliu

Get rid of Xiangliu

Fully illegalize the hunting and trafficking of LEMs

Get LEM “adoption” recognized for what it is(slavery) and banned(new world building dump:)

Over turn the Justice system that screwed over his Papa.

Closest/Favorite sibling:

Chao-Xing, he wanted to be just like her when he was little, and she's the only one he can scheme with on a political level.

Closest/Favorite parent:

Diplomatically says he doesn't have one.

Favorite fruit:

Persimmon

Trauma scale:

On a scale of 1-10, how traumatized is he?

6, he has the Snake Boi gunning for him, and was nearly kidnapped by the guy a couple times when he was 5, which led to the situation his family is in now.

He's got a really big sweet tooth. And yes, he is wearing a skirt.

Liu'er as a name is taboo to use so none of Macaque's kids with Wukong got that name.

@sakurablossoms-world the boy is done!

Previous (Lizi)

Next (Ziqi)

Rotten Fruit AU Masterpost

[styluswritesdc]

Oh oh oh . How about some headcannons of how would react the rogues to vigilant who is holding back their strenght ? In a battle against a great treat, Vigilant show their true strenght, their capacities and powers of great destructions.

amazing prompt! if I left anyone and/or you'd like me to flesh out anything lemme know!

Bane

is obsessed. strength is the way to his heart.

genuinely infatuated with you. he loves that he doesn't have to worry about you. in fact, its a big weight off of his mind.

bane needs someone of equal or even bigger strength and power than him, even if that strength is not physical.

he might question you on where you obtained this power, whether you're a meta human or you were trained. bane wants to know about it! out of curiosity more than anything.

Riddler/Edward Nygma

OH- well brilliant darling! now if the bat comes along he wont have to worry about being beaten to a pulp!

speaking of... he's going to try (as hard as he of all people can) to not get on your bad side.

is curious about your power too! like a riddle he wants to solve the cause, limits and origins of this power, especially if you're a metahuman!

he's the type of guy to clap his hands and ask you to perform whatever abilities you have! more applause will ensue if you feed his curiosity and show him what you're capable of!

Scarecrow/Jonathan Crane

how beautifully terrifying!

Oh this opens many opportunities to spread fear! i mean your power! it could be utilised for world domination! but he does respect your existing morals and beliefs.

he sees you as some brilliant force for good that oh so wonderfully contrasts with him.

you're a warrior of peace and valour, whereas he is the harbinger of fear and woe.

thinks of you highly, as he did before this great display of strength.

TwoFace/Harvey Dent

Already respected you for your morals and code. this will only make them respect you more.

you've faced trauma and violence head on and now you're a liberator of sorts. They can remember a time when they were that person for Gotham.

they almost feel a sense of peace that you are the one now who is there to protect Gotham's citizens and bring justice to those who deserve it.

does get that sense of "oh shit that's the person I've been fighting?? they've been going EASY on me?"

Harley Quinn

oh my hero!! she loves it! you're so strong and hot hehehe

please please please punch joker in his narstie little face for her please.

Strength is a good thing for her too! she admires how strong you are after all you've been through.

and now you've got these super cool powers! how fun!!

she's already telling you about some schemes or ideas she has involving your powers.

she really hopes you'll take her up on them even if you stay as a vigilante.

Clayface/Basil Karlo

that's hawwtt.

sorry! I'm just telling you that its 100% his first thought about it.

like excuse me but now he admires you even more! (somehow)

he's got posters of you and everything.

he forgets who's side he's on and is suddenly a superhero/vigilante lover!

honestly, he might as well since know he knees THAT power and person has been his enemy?? he's finished.

Killer Croc/Waylon Jones

genuinely that one meme of the guy grabbing either side of his head, mouth agape in shock.

has the same thought as basil where he's like "omg what the fuccckk? he's been trying to fight you and you can do THAT?!

besides that... its cool.

he definitely has even more of a crush on you now.. what can he say? he loves a person in power!

its nice to know you can handle yourself!

also good that you probably wont break if he touches you

[daniablazin]

Hi.

Asking you to go on for hours about Nexus

That song keeps consuming all of my brain functions even hearing one note will bring on "SO SPEND SOME TIME WITH ME! I REALLY LIKE YOUR COMPANY!~" Obsessed with that lyric in particular

You asked and I shall deliver! Putting it under the cut cause I wrote it down on desktop and I have no idea how long this will look on mobile

Don't expect any sort of proper analysis or anything, this was literally just me passionately rambling about my feelings about this song and the movie in general, with anything that came to mind as I wrote, so..... Enjoy..............?

Honestly, since you sent me this my brain's gone BLANK cause I feel like there's nothing I can't say here that hasn't already been said or thought by someone else in the past almost-6 years since Promare came out

BUT YES. THAT LYRIC. Honestly, the only reason that lyrics isn't on my top of the tops for Promare songs is because the line "Uncertain flame of hope I found" exists and THAT. THAT lives rent-free in my head and makes me go AAAAAAAAAAAAA every time I remember it

BUT MAN. Nexus is so ridiculously gay. In an already very gay-coded movie, the songs somehow manage to be even gayer and Nexus is honestly the ultimate gay of them all, it's ridiculous! And it doesn't help that it's from Lio's perspective, which— I've mentioned before, I think Lio at first gives a lot of aloof, edgy angry vibes until you start understanding his character through the movie and then the further down you analyse, the less that's true

And Nexus is a big example of that, cause you'd think Galo would be the one going like "omg Lio's cool I enjoy his company his has a soul like mine" but hey, here is Lio, being the one blatantly spelling that out and equating Galo to himself and saying they're two sides of the same coin

And it's interesting cause the song starts with Lio talking about his people, specifically. He's there talking about the burnish and how they suffer and lamenting their situation and it's honestly burnish propaganda galore (/j /pos) and it's also great

But then suddenly the chorus comes and it's about Galo, and then after the chorus, it's about Galo again, and it's like—

Okay??? Let's fucking go????? Sure, give me you thoughts on himbo man, tell me about your feelings, and Lio DOES AND HE'S VERY POSITIVE ABOUT IT AND YOU'RE LEFT WONDERING WTF JUST TRANSPIRED and then you gotta listen to it again to make sure you're understanding this right, no I'm not speaking from experience, this movie in general threw me for a loop when I first watched and expected jack shit about it in terms of queerness—

REGARDLESS

I love when it seems like he starts addressing Galo specifically, when he recognizes Galo's experiences and pain, and then motherfucking ends up with saying that "WE'RE CONNECTED YOU AND I" NO I'M NOT OKAY WITH THAT LINE EITHER.

It's all but confirmation of the partnership they form in the movie. Though Lio may have his reservations at first, the moment he feels kinship with Galo, he's ready to fight alongside him, and we see that as the fight progresses, and further beyond. They are connected, through their experiences, through being wronged by Kray. They are two sides of the same coin, and I adore that about them, because even though they seem so different at first, deep down, they're one and the same

They both are empathetic to all hell and back, and have strong sense of morals, even if Galo's may seen a little more black-and-white-ish than Lio's at the start. They both feel incredibly strongly, as is evident with not only Galo's— well, everything, but with Lio's passion and determination towards the burnish, enough that he loses himself in grief and nearly burns down an entire city. They both care for people so, so very fucking much and have a strong desire to save them, regardless if we're talking about the burnish or not (I'd argue that Lio does care for more than just his people, though they're obviously his priority, but that's neither here nor there). The end of Promare is literally these two motherfuckers throwing empathy at each other's faces and growing to care about each other through this chemistry and partnership that they discover and saving the world as a consequence and I love it so much

And Nexus kind of just... Spells it all out. Through Lio's perspective no less. And I also adore it. I love having this little extra insight into his mind

That's all, okay, I just have a lot of feels

[kookaburra1701]

This week Sujamma wants to hear all about your big ideas. What’s a new story idea or OC idea you have? Maybe you haven’t fleshed it out yet - this is a great opportunity!

Thank you for the tags @moriche! I think I will tag @gilgamish

I have a new story (working title Cadmus' Harvest) that I made a rough outline for and started on this weekend. It was supposed to be a silly smutty Galmar/Ulfric deflowering story about how Ulfric Stormcloak, who went to be a monk and live with a handful of old guys who do not speak when he was 7 or 8 years old, and then immediately went to Legion Boot Camp at 17-18, must have been the most sheltered, religiously homeschooled kid you've ever known. And Galmar was going to fuck the piety right out of him.

What I've got outlined: a story starting from Galmar and Rikke meeting Weird Religious Homeschool Kid Ulfric at Legion Boot Camp and following them to the Great War where Ulfric turns from the Way of the Voice and veneration of Kynareth to embracing Talos and develops into the leader that Galmar is eventually swearing he will "follow to the depths of Oblivion." But don't worry Galmar will still fuck the piety out of him. There's just going to be a lot more manly warrior angst about it.

KB write a story that doesn't end up an examination of religious trauma challenge(IMPOSSIBLE)(GONE SEXUAL)

This all got kicked off because of a post on r/teslore asking if Ulfric had PTSD. Aside from the "Well, duh," and "Tamriel is PTSD: The Continent" flippant answers, it got me thinking about how the common lay parlance catch-all "PTSD" really doesn't encompass what I think is actually Ulfric's major malfunction. So I started jotting down my notes and references and now I also have a very long meta post in the works about how Ulfric's reaction to the White Gold Concordat culminating in a Berserker State during the Markarth Incident is very explainable through the lens of Moral Injury, not PTSD.

He has a very strong personal moral code: he was pious enough that he was accepted as an acolyte of the Greybeards probably before his 10th birthday, and despite being raised by pacifists (so certainly not on tales of glorious bloody combat) he felt strongly enough about what was happening in Cyrodiil at the hands of the Aldmeri Dominion that he broke his monastic vows and joined the Legion to fight.

The shock of going from a life devoted to non-violence to the horrors of war would cause anyone psychological injury, but then he was captured and interrogated and made to believe that he was responsible for the fall of the Imperial City. All of the killing, rapes, looting, burning, and other horrors that are visited upon a civilian populace after a siege are heaped on his shoulders. But I don't think that was the "killing blow" to his psyche, so to speak.

After the war, he talks about returning to a Skyrim he didn't recognize. At first one would think, well, naturally: he last saw Windhelm and Eastmarch when he was a small child. Of course it would all seem different. But Moral Injury requires a person in rightful authority to create a system where someone cannot help but go against their moral code: I think this is what happened when Ulfric returned to Eastmarch and discovered that his father Hoag had taken the gold in return for agreeing to and enforcing the White Gold Concordat. And as an "extra" son now whose only skill is in fighting (surely they figured out the line of succession when Ulfric was first sent to High Hrothgar) what's the best use of Ulfric's time? Why, heading up the local Windhelm militia, of course! And then Hrolfdir, exiled Jarl of Markarth gets in his ear to tell him about a way he can make all the deaths of his comrades in Cyrodiil mean something again by getting free worship of Talos in Skyrim again...

“The berserker's manic obsession with revenge is not only destruction to gratify rage. At some deep cultural and psychological level, spilling enemy blood is an effort to bring the dead back to life. One veteran recalls the following interior chant to his dead friend at every kill: Every fucking one that died, I say, "____, here's one for you, baby. I'll take this motherfucker out and I'm going to cut his fucking heart out for you.” ― Jonathan Shay, Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character

[promoxie]

What if I told y'all that Jericho and Beast Boy from the 03 series run of Teen Titans had spectacular dynamic potential. This post goes on for far too long but we die like fanfiction writers.

Parts of this rant come from my headcannons about Jericho in his original material, as well as personal headcannons about Jericho because Jericho doesn't get much screentime in 03, but Jericho's personality, in my opinion is pretty much what you'd expect. Jericho is someone who's very kind and empathetic, he is also someone strong-willed, morally adhesive and extremely honest. He's not a strong physical fighter, his powers are very situationally dependent, but he makes due with what he has. I also headcannon that he's nomadic in the 03 version because he only has his dad, Slade, for family but that he doesn't want to live with him. He also doesn't know anything about his father's villainous life. However, if he were to discover his father's villainous lifestyle, as well as his father's intentions to destroy the Teen Titans, I have no doubt that, like in other material, 03 Jericho would totally reject him because he is a good sweet boy.

Here's the thing, what I'm getting at here is that this interpretation of Jericho's personality and theming and his moral code and actions in this fanfictiony 03 setting is entirely opposite of Terra 03's cannon personality and theming, her moral code and actions. I've always been big on the opinion that Terra sabatoges herself on multiple occasions, that her actions and opinions and cruel behavior are not just products of Slade, but are inherent signs of metal disorder within Terra, disorders that she is aware of and chooses not to fight, which ultimately divides her from the Titans. The Titans were people that she never truly trusted, nor got over her jealous biases with. She pins her feelings of lost opportunities and spiraling lifestyle on their successes and abilities to move forward, is envious of them, and she utilities manipulative behavior with Beast Boy and Beast Boy most in particular. Her "Do you trust me", and "If you're really my friend I can tell you anything and you won't be mad at me", "I have no choice", ECT, are requests for him to accept her for who she is, forgive her, run away, which would cause him to lose his home, his life, and the trust of his loved ones. He denies them, he has to, yet Beast Boy still tries to change her and appeal to her. He stands up for her, he tries to make her a better person, but in the end, she still chooses not to be a Titan.

This isn't a criticism of Terra's character, I love Terra's portrayal as someone who is inherently toxic and flawed, someone who knows that they have these problems but doesn't work to fix them and instead, feeds them until she self destructs. Terra's not stupid, she knows she has these problems, she just doesn't try to get better. You cannot help or save a someone who is mentally ill if that person is not willing to be better, and I love how those things are represented well in the actions of Terra. Her problems are a whole nother reason why I don't think Terra could have ever been real Titan, and that's because one of the principal things that a Titan requires is empathy, and empathy is an emotion that Terra detrimentally lacks, likely a direct result of mental disorder.

Back again, Jericho is the opposite of all these things and qualities, most particularly the one about empathy. He's considerate and forgiving, he is not easy offended as we saw when Beast Boy ranted at him about climbing mountains and Jericho just gives him a little pat on the head when he stops yelling and collapses. If Terra's toxic personality and tendency to not be truthful were all contributions of a negative gain for Beast Boy's well being, then Jericho's positivity, honesty, and a desire for connection, could all be net positives. They are also, in 03, the same age, similar builds and heights, in prime positions as a well written duo dynamic if they were to share other interests, like comics or video games. They are both at stereotypical ages to where they would seek out other peers, and while Beast Boy does have friends while Jericho appears not to, his friends are all older, more mature, and do not share most of his hobbies or interests. Beast Boy also has an extra bed in his room that he never uses, and it wouldn't be strange for Jericho to sleep over there, should they become friends.

Now I wanna talk about Slade, and this is another one of my big points on why a Jericho and Beast Boy duo would be fantastic, and it's because the relationship between Slade and Beast Boy is a relationship of total hatred and personal disrespect. Beast Boy hates Slade on a major level, more than he hates any other villain. We see this in Things Change, as well as every other time Beast Boy deals with Slade post his involvement with Terra. He hates Slade because Slade successfully managed to gain a creepy relationship with Terra, telling Beast Boy things like "You couldn't give her what she wanted", hitting Beast Boy where it hurts and taking advantage of his youth and immaturity to the point where Beast Boy is the most vulnerable to Slade's actions, words and taunts, causing him to lose his head while in battle. Beast Boy is not like Robin, though Robin is affected by Slade just as well, he claims that he is not affected by Slade when he very clearly is, but Robin does eventually heal from Slade, and he does eventually triumph over Slade, and their rivalry, though still alive, does receive some closure.

Beast Boy and Slade's relationship does not end like that, if anything, Beast Boy gets another slap in the face right before the series ends. He tries to get revenge against Slade in Things Change, creating total havoc in his animalistic rage to do it, but that Slade was just another robot, a trick, one last laugh Slade can hold over Beast Boy. Another thing I'd like to point out is that Slade does not like or respect Beast Boy in any way, it's not like Robin, where Slade sees qualities in Robin that he likes, Slade Hates Beast Boy, and that makes a lot of sense. If Robin is a paragon of someone who is mature for their age, someone smart and cool and capable, then Beast Boy is the paragon of someone who is immature, someone who is silly and not serious, and someone who likes to have a lot of fun and good times. He is exactly the kind of person that Slade would dislike, AND, he also hates Beast Boy for his relationship with Terra. It's true. Slade is very creepy about Terra, the whole scene that occurs in the hall of mirrors shows that, and he insults Beast Boy, calling him a "pet" and belittles his relationship with Terra. He tells Beast Boy that he doesn't know Terra, insinuating that He does by contrast, claims that Terra never actually liked him to begin with. Slade is jealous, and that adds to his hatred for Beast Boy.

So what am I getting at here? Well, Slade's son turning out to be a reliable friend for Beast Boy is a fantastic way to turn it around and bring this animosity back into the spotlight but in Beast Boy's favor. Jericho would not betray his friends to gain face with his father, and for someone like Beast Boy, who has been betrayed for Slade once before, that could be a huge deal for him. Finding someone who has a connection to Slade in such a meaningful way, in a way that is even stronger than Terra's apprenticeship, then showing that person as a person he can trust is such a thing that could help Beast Boy heal, giving him too some back up when it comes to his personal animosity towards Slade. Robin receives tons of support from his team when it comes to his trauma with Slade, but Beast Boy, probably because he is not sharing his personal grievances, is completely alone when it comes to his trauma. If it mattered to Beast Boy, then Jericho might want to help Beast Boy defeat Slade, or would want to stop Slade for his own reasons, in the original comics he's that kind of hero.

Nevermind that if 03 Slade cares about Jericho being his son in any way at all, then the idea of Jericho betraying him for a boy that he despises would be icing on the cake, cause wow. What the hell. Slade just went though all this effort to traumatize the boy, then his own son comes in and starts undoing all his hard work? Ironic much?

[theredhairedmonkey]

Morality in the Dragon Prince

TDP does an excellent job weaving in several ways of moral reasoning without outright stating whether any of them are right. To wit, there exist the Big Three types of moralities: consequentialism, deontology, and virtue ethics, which we will call here (1) Outcome-driven, (2) Rule-driven, and (3) Character-driven. There are main characters who are influenced by each of these three camps.

Outcome-driven morality focuses on the ends. Creating the greatest good for the greatest number. Actions don't have values in of themselves, all that matters is what the result of those actions were, and what the benefit was. The characters who mesh most with this morality are Viren, Claudia, and Karim.

Rule-driven morality focuses on following principles and duties (like don't lie or steal), rather than consequences. Actions are inherently right or wrong, depending on whether our moral obligations were fulfilled, and are universal and impartial. The characters who mesh most with this morality are Ezran, Rayla, and Janai.

Character-driven morality rejects both of these camps. Morality isn't about achieving good outcomes or following good actions, but about cultivating good character traits such as compassion, courage, and wisdom. The idea is that pursuing virtuous behavior leads to personal flourishing, which in turn leads to good conduct. The characters who mesh most with this morality are Soren, Callum, and Amaya (i.e. the ones who are training or learning all the time).

But each of these moralities have serious pitfalls, which in turn influences the flaws of each of the characters above.

Under outcome-driven morality, the ends justify the means. It doesn't matter if Viren has to kill the princes, Claudia has to do unspeakable things, or Karim has to kill his sister. The outcomes (bright future for humanity, saving one's family, or saving one's people), at least in the minds of each person, are good, so any action taken, no matter how terrible, is justified. Hence why each of these three descend down the slippery slope of villainy pretty quickly.

No matter how dangerous. No matter how vile.

Rule-driven morality avoids this problem, but instead creates a different one: these characters become rigid and inflexible, and unable to deal with nuanced situations. Hence why Ezran gives up the crown: violence is bad, so he does what he can to avoid bloodshed, which only leads to a much larger war in Xadia. Whereas Viren and Claudia can justify too many actions, Rayla and Ezran can't justify enough to do what they should be doing.

How can I let this happen?

Character-driven morality, meanwhile, has two big problems that matter here, one impacting Soren and the other impacting Callum. The first is that virtues don't really provide clear guidance in complicated situations, so people may get roped into situations that are hard to justify. Such as...a plot to kill the princes.

The right thing? I don't know if I can do that.

The second is that what's virtuous often differs based on roles. The virtues in being a soldier (bravery, strong will, etc.) is going to be different from the virtues of being a scholar (intelligence, wisdom, etc.). But what if you are both things? What happens when what's virtuous in one role is wrong in another?

This is where Callum often finds himself in. On the one hand, being a good primal mage involves integrity, and adherence to ethical standards when using magic. Dark magic is a clear violation of that, yet on the other hand being a good prince means Callum should display duty and courage, especially in defense of those people he's loyal to. So in that case he should use dark magic if it means he can fight to protect those same people. Thus, Callum's character gets splintered into two, hard-to-reconcile halves.

Look at you. Slave to your friends, your loyalties, your pride.

There aren't any easy answers to any of these, let alone which moral code is most correct. But where these moralities succeed or fail parallels pretty closely to where these characters rise or fall.