#AND the remaining backstories of the women army

[lastofthe20thcenturygirls]

the more the time passes the more mad i get over the lack of nayanthara in the second-half of jawan

[starcurtain]

Female Guidance in Aventurine's Life

One thing I haven't seen discussed in much depth yet, but which I think is especially interesting, is the consistency of female guidance in Aventurine's life: Every single person who we have seen on screen offering Aventurine assistance or making a positive difference in his life is female (with one exception, yes, I'll get there).

Under the read more cause it's longggg:

Before even diving into his family, let's just get the obvious out of the way: Aventurine is, at least supposedly, blessed by a goddess. The very origin of his good fortune--be it actual blessing or curse--comes from the literal "mother goddess" who watches over him. This is one of the only instances in Star Rail where a god character is specifically given a gender, and Gaiathra is not ever ambiguous. She is the classic female fertility goddess with all the trappings of other famous triple goddess figures of the real world. Aventurine's personal belief in the goddess may be shaky, but he nevertheless continues to treasure his people's faith. Thus, at the core, we can say Aventurine is a character who is guarded by the most quintessential mother figure possible.

Now, with the most obvious out of the way:

We know that Aventurine's father died before Aventurine was even born, and therefore he would not have any memories of his father, leaving him to be raised by his mother and sister.

Both women clearly made an enormous and lasting impression on Aventurine; they haunt every single one of his memories of Sigonia and are the key elements of the family Aventurine longs to return to. While he flirts with the concept of death as a way to see his family members again, it was also his mother and sister who instilled in him any sense of self-worth and meaning to his existence, the only things keeping him from giving up on living. His mother believed him to be blessed; his sister insisted to his face that not even the only remaining remnant of their mother had any value in comparison to his life.

It is for his sister that Aventurine first begins expressing a self-sacrificial nature, and from his sister that this self-sacrifice is reinforced when she uses herself as a shield to help him escape massacre at the hands of the Katicans.

It is also from his sister that Aventurine learns many of the deeply meaningful actions he holds onto to the present day, despite having been so far removed from his own culture.

Conversely, every one of Aventurine's early negative experiences on screen appear to have been driven (at least primarily) by men.

Although the Katican tribe of course would have both men and women, the tribal societies on Sigonia appear to be on the fairly traditional side, with Aventurine's mother staying at the camp with her child while his father was the one to go out and hunt for offerings for Gaiathra. This is also supported by Aventurine asking Jade to take him to her "chief" later on. Therefore, it is likely (although of course not guaranteed) that a majority of the Katicans' army was male, and that Aventurine's early experiences with outsiders consisted almost entirely of indiscriminate pillaging and massacre at the hands of what the Avgin viewed as savage, invading warriors. In separate instances, Aventurine was traumatized by these warrior figures three times--first with the loss of his father, then his mother, and then finally his sister.

And even their hope, supposed to come in the form of the "men in black" from the IPC, completely abandoned them, leaving Aventurine once again betrayed by masculine figures that were supposed to be there to protect him. Led by Oswaldo Schneider, another cruel male authority figure, the Marketing Department of the IPC permitted the wholesale slaughter of Aventurine's people--something which we know Aventurine is now aware of.

Then, of course, the next piece of Aventurine's backstory we're given is his male slave master. I don't really need to say anything about this, do I? This man violated Aventurine's human dignity and bodily autonomy, and forced Aventurine's hand in a life or death battle for which Aventurine still punishes himself mentally, even years in the future.

In part to escape the difficulty of his situation and rise to a position where he would have enough resources to--he thought--help his people, Aventurine joins up with the IPC. But when he attempts to make contact with a powerful man in the organization, Diamond, he is instead met by a woman, Jade, who against Aventurine's own expectations determines that she will raise Aventurine up (or use him as a tool, depending on how you currently choose to interpret Jade's motivations), granting him wealth and status beyond his imagination.

(And this line in particular is interesting, because you can take it one of two ways: 1) Aventurine comes from a patriarchal planet that traditionally put men into positions of power [thereby making his own slavery an emasculating act, aligning him further with disenfranchised women]; thus, he is making the assumption that to get anywhere in this organization, he will need to work with a man; or 2) He actually was counting on Jade taking his bet and helping him right from the beginning, because Aventurine perceives women as inherently more likely to protect and aid him than men would be.)

In the end, Jade does exactly as she claims she will, launching Aventurine into a position of power while also closing golden handcuffs around his wrists. She positions herself not only as his supervisor, but as his advocate and ally. She entrusts him with her Cornerstone, a sign of significant faith in his abilities. She even seems to be keenly aware of his bias towards the mother figure, referring to him as "child" in their conversations.

Whether this is genuine or a manipulation tactic can certainly be debated (and I'm not inclined to think at this point that Jade is a genuinely good role model or selflessly supportive person in Aventurine's life), but whatever the case, women are the only people Aventurine even remotely considers to be "in his corner."

We see this even earlier, in Aventurine's call to Topaz. Like with the example of his mother and sister, Aventurine trusts in Topaz's ability implicitly, and considers her above anyone else when it comes to completing the mission in Penacony.

Although of course we don't know if Aventurine has any other friends or allies among the Strategic Investment Department, it seems very likely that Topaz, yet another woman, is the one he is closest with. At the very least, she is the only IPC character (so far) that Aventurine has a complimentary voice line for, one that shows his respect for her talent:

Over and over again, the story aligns Aventurine with female figures in positions of authority, and demonstrates that he is comfortable (although maybe not too comfortable, in the case of Jade) with relying on them and trusting their judgment, just as he did with his mother and sister.

And this pretty much goes off the charts in Penacony, where Aventurine has more involvement with the female cast than virtually any other non-female character (even the Trailblazer!). We set the pattern off right away, with Aventurine immediately being placed into a negotiation situation with Himeko, respecting her role as the Express's leader and working to get himself aligned with the Express by acquiescing to her request for support.

Then there's the fact that Aventurine is the one who finds Robin's body, an event which, although he didn't let it show too much, was almost certainly traumatic for him, given the violent death of his own sister.

Next, twice in Penacony's story, we see Aventurine seek out Sparkle for information. He may not personally like her and her comments may be both racist and dehumanizing, but Aventurine does rely on her--being the only character explicitly seeking her aid, which no one else in Penacony seems to want.

In 2.0...

And in 2.1.

Now, say it with me, guys: Aventurine built an entire portion of his grand plan around the idea that if he looked pathetic enough, a female character would absolutely come and help him. And sure enough, the women come through for him, always! Sparkle gives him the exact last clue he needs to confirm his belief that he could use "Death" to reach the true Penacony, sealing the deal for the rest of his plan.

His plan which also hinged significantly on Black Swan's involvement too, another woman that he views as, if not trustworthy, then at least intelligent and hyper-competent.

Contrast all this, of course, with the treatment Aventurine receives at the hands of Sunday, the lone opposing male character he faces in Penacony.

Sparkle implies that Sunday would humiliate Aventurine in an unmistakably sexual and degrading way, and Sunday himself professes this same desire to see Aventurine humiliated.

Then we're "treated" to the moment in which Sunday uses the Harmony's (or perhaps actually the Order's?) power against Aventurine, in a scene which is supposed to reflect an interrogation but is also, very clearly, another nonconsensual violation of Aventurine's bodily autonomy and dignity by a man. While ostensibly seeking confirmation of the Cornerstone ruse, Sunday instead subjects Aventurine to unnecessary questions about his past on Sigonia, which recall and force Aventurine to re-endure memories of his trauma.

Even if this is what Aventurine prepared himself for and planned to have happen, the pain he experiences is very real, and he suffers both the physical and emotional consequences of Sunday's assault all the way up to his "Death" and possibly even beyond.

(Also, Sunday fans please don't get too up in arms with me for this; I also like Sunday! It's okay for characters to be morally grey!)

I think there's one other interesting example I would bring up here too, and that's Aventurine's conscious decision to weaponize his own masculinity against the Trailblazer. Through the 2.0 and 2.1 Trailblaze missions, Aventurine deliberately acts in an off-putting manner to the Astral Express crew, particularly the Trailblazer, in order to build up to the 2.1 climax where the Trailblazer is supposed to view him as an unrepentant villain and attack him without hesitation.

In order to achieve this uncomfortable, villainous effect, what does Aventurine do? Exactly what other men have done to him.

This is especially apparent if you're playing Stelle because of the ingrained societal taboo of a man entering a woman's personal space without consent, but even as Caelus, it is very clear that Aventurine is leveraging behaviors typically used to show dominance: In a complete 180 to all Aventurine's other body language in the game (normally quite withdrawn, frequently in defensive postures with his arms crossed or hand behind his back, almost always standing several feet away from other people), Aventurine violates the Trailblazer's personal bubble, looming over them (Caelus was sitting in this cutscene, lol), forcing eye contact, and commanding the space while informing them that they will have no choice.

For someone who was hunted, enslaved, had his movements restricted with chains, and due to his own slight stature has very likely been towered over by others who were intentionally asserting their power over him all his life, it is clear that Aventurine associates dominant, typically more masculine-coded physically-imposing behaviors with discomfort and even villainy.

Any girl who has ever had a man loom over her like this will realize very quickly: Aventurine wanted to make himself scary so he made himself act more like a bad man.

(Yes of course I know "not all men." I'm not saying every man behaves in this domineering way or that women cannot be domineering too, obviously, just that Aventurine had a very specific image in mind when constructing a "villainous persona," and the physically controlling tactics most typically used by aggressive men toward women was his immediate go-to.)

But where does that leave Dr. Ratio, the one male character actually on Aventurine's side?

Frankly, I don't want to derail my post about how intensely Hoyo chose to hammer on the message of "Women will protect you" in Aventurine's story with a discussion about a mlm ship, but the take-away here is going to lead in that direction anyway--so yes, Dr. Ratio is the exception.

What is interesting is that he does not come across as an exception at first, and in fact initially appears as another male character being rude and dismissive to Aventurine. Like, there are still people out there calling Ratio an unrepentant racist for this one.

Of course, it's later clarified that this is an act--likely even these insults were scripted specifically to give Sunday's spying ears the "insight" he needed to exploit Aventurine during the interrogation.

But even though it is an act, Aventurine still has noticeable trouble putting his faith in Ratio. He does genuinely doubt him a few times, despite knowing that they are working together to fool the Family.

Even his voice line about Ratio confirms that he doesn't think Ratio particularly cares for him; rather, he thinks Ratio simply tolerates him because he's slightly less unintelligent than those around them.

Ultimately, the entire act with Ratio ends up being a mirror of the real scenarios Aventurine has been experiencing with men his whole life (at least as far as we are shown his life). Men abandon him to fend for himself (unwillingly, like his father, or willingly, like Diamond leaving Aventurine to deal with Penacony alone on the inside). Ratio keeps leaving Aventurine completely alone. Men attempt to humiliate him and violate his boundaries (like Sunday and his slave master). Ratio insults Aventurine's appearance and intelligence repeatedly. Men betray him (like Oswaldo Schneider and his men leaving the Avgin to die). Ratio "betrays" him.

I'm not saying when Aventurine devised the plan for their act, he consciously drew up a list of all the ways men had hurt him in the past and had Ratio re-enact them one by one, but like... that's what happened, whether or not Aventurine intended it.

And okay, the shrinking scene in Dewlight Pavilion was just for fun and probably only slightly fetishy, the devs promise; yes, it was supposed to be a joke! ...But it's also not a mistake that this is yet another instance of a male character in a glaringly metaphorical position of power over Aventurine. Aventurine's tiny in this scene! He's completely vulnerable! He's in a dangerous position and the male character could very much hurt him in this moment.

But Ratio doesn't. (In fact, his line here is supposed to be sarcastic, very ha ha--but also, what is Ratio really saying? "I won't do anything to you without your express consent." What a good guy.)

Virtually everything negative that we see in 2.1 is Ratio doing these things as an act at Aventurine's own request. He doesn't actually disdain Aventurine; his own voiceline about Aventurine reinforces that he sees Aventurine as talented and intelligent.

Whatever you think he was apologizing for in their early scene, he's the only person we're ever shown in-game apologizing to Aventurine at all.

He worked hard to "betray" Aventurine but only as he was instructed to do, and immediately checks in on Aventurine's well-being afterward, even urging him to give up the plan if it becomes too much to handle.

And then, of course, there's the note: "Do stay alive. I wish you the best of luck."

After this point, it cannot be denied that Ratio is unequivocally on Aventurine's side, wants to help him, and is not doing so out of any sense of self-gain but largely because he is a good person who simply cares about Aventurine's fate. By the end of 2.1, it can no longer be doubted that Ratio is the exception to the "gender rule" of Aventurine's life, which--the story shows us again and again--was that guidance, protection, and care for Aventurine come from women, while men repeatedly represent dismissal, betrayal, or pain.

Ratio is, at least as far as Aventurine's story shows us, the proof that men can be good, that things are not as black and white in Aventurine's life as they might appear, and that--if you do choose to ship him with or see Aventurine as attracted to men--his attraction could be validated (and potentially reciprocated) by a male figure who would not bring additional harm to Aventurine's life. Aventurine makes the final decision to live after seeing Ratio's note--the exception to the rule ultimately proves to be the last piece needed to keep him alive.

But I promised I wasn't going to derail my own post about w o m e n, so let me get to the final point, and the one I really wanted to talk about: Although Ratio gets virtually all the credit for "saving" Aventurine in the fandom, Aventurine was actually saved by, you guessed it, another woman.

Not going to lie, the reason I started this post was specifically because I wanted to talk about how Acheron and Aventurine's dynamic was completely unexpected but actually fits flawlessly with the theme of feminine guidance in Aventurine's story.

Despite the fact that Aventurine made Acheron's life much harder and actively used her as a chip in his grand gamble, she doesn't blame or chastise him for those actions. Although she expresses some incredulity that Aventurine is actually that lucky, she then turns around and congratulations him for his ingenuity, immediately supporting him despite the fact that they don't even truly know each other.

Then it gets even more interesting. Acheron, who frequently hits her companions with deep and sometimes very emotionally fraught questions, asks Aventurine: "Have you never wavered?"

We as players know for a fact that Aventurine is constantly wavering, constantly doubting himself, his luck, and whether he'll even live--or even wants to live--to see tomorrow. But we also know that Aventurine is not forthcoming about those truths, refusing to express them to anyone, even himself. The only way we hear those dark truths is through his "future" self (who by the way, is once again another male figure cutting Aventurine down--of course it's himself but it's also, from the player's perspective, once again reinforcing the message that he isn't going to find safety or kindness in an adult male presence). Aventurine almost constantly deflects and diverts when his emotions or struggles are brought to the fore (unless he's divulging them for the specific purpose of allowing someone else to weaponize them). "I'm fine," he says, like a lying liar who lies.

But he doesn't lie to Acheron.

He chooses to be completely candid with her, to lance open the deepest wound of his life--that he can win and win and win and still have lost everything. The glitz and the glamour has all been stripped away here, at the end of everything, and Aventurine finally feels safe enough to admit that he fears he has absolutely nothing in his life worth living for.

And then, we get this direct parallel: Aventurine looks to Acheron, the woman now before him, for guidance, for explanation, exactly as he looked to his sister in the past.

He needs help, he needs answers, and he is continually seeking that help from the female figures in his life, whose support and kindness echo the lost care of his mother and sister.

"Go where you should be," Acheron tells Aventurine, guiding him across the river of death just as his sister insisted that he flee through the rain toward life.

Look guys, Acheron's even the one who reminds Aventurine to look at Ratio's note in the first place because apparently being an emanator of Nihility gives you x-ray vision, but my girl just gets no credit at all for being Aventurine's real savior, come on now!! Yes, Ratio's note was the final reminder Aventurine needed that someone would be waiting for him on the other side, but Aventurine would never have even gotten to the point of being willing to read that note if Acheron hadn't stepped in and provided him an answer to his question.

She feeds him back his own answer: "Why does life slumber? To rehearse the death for which we are not currently prepared." It is Acheron who reminds Aventurine that giving into the Nihility is pointless, and that rather than simply embracing a meaningless death, it is up to humanity itself to find and make meaning by living. It's this, not Ratio's note, that Aventurine gives as his reason for choosing to go on when asked by his own younger self. It's Acheron's words that finally give Aventurine an answer--why do we live just to die? Because there are people we can still make proud. Because when we go into death, we should do so with our heads held high, having achieved our own sense of purpose in this life.

Ratio gave Aventurine a promise: Someone is waiting for you to come back.

But Acheron gave Aventurine a reason: If life is inherently meaningless, doesn't that just mean you are free to give it meaning yourself?

She saved him, as women have been saving him all his life.

Anyway, this has already been horrendously long, but really what I wanted to say is that I think it is absolutely fascinating how consistent Aventurine's writing is when it comes to portraying where his support comes from and who he seeks guidance from. (Psst, just in case you still haven't figured it out, it's women!) In virtually every instance we are shown, we see the message reinforced that women are Aventurine's greatest allies and role models, while male figures are continually positioned to intentionally or unintentionally let him down and cause him distress.

"But women playing the supporting role to a male character is nothing new, Star, why are you so excited by this?"

Because the role women are playing in Aventurine's life is not the subservient supporter and emotional crutch role that female characters all too often play to male counterparts. None of the women in Penacony or Aventurine's past were there to do the emotional labor for him, to be a trophy or prize, or to cater to his needs. They don't exist solely to help him fulfill his character motivations; they aren't following him around waiting for his next request as their only role in the plot.

Instead, with Aventurine's story, we almost have an inversion of gender roles, where the male character eschews the stereotypical "men are leaders, fighters, and stoic heroes" archetype. Instead, no matter how hard he tries to hide it and keep a stiff upper lip, it is clear from 2.0-2.1's story that Aventurine is a deeply insecure, lonely, and explicitly traumatized survivor of genocide, slavery, and exploitation. Unlike most male characters, who are very rarely portrayed as genuine victims--because come on, shouldn't men be strong enough to fight back? Shouldn't men be able to shrug it off when they are hurt, emotionally or physically? (Of course I'm rolling my eyes here!)--Aventurine is belittled, humiliated, emasculated, and victimized on-screen, roles almost exclusively reserved for women, for whom surviving victimization in fiction is seen as noble.

Meanwhile, the women in Aventurine's life take on the roles traditionally given to male characters. They're both emotionally and physically his protectors. Aventurine's sister gave her life to guard his safety; Acheron ensured he could safely pass beyond the river of Nihility into the Primordial Dreamscape. They give him the tools necessary to succeed where he could not succeed on his own. His plan could never have gotten off the ground without Topaz and Jade entrusting their Cornerstones to him. The knowledge and capabilities of the women around him--not their "feminine charms"--are what allow them to help keep Aventurine on the right path even though he does waver. Even women who disrespect him, like Sparkle, still play a positive role in his life, able to provide him insight gained with their own intellect and talents.

When he has no one to rely on and doesn't know what to do, Aventurine is able to continually turn to the women around him, asking for and receiving not servitude or fawning, but their genuine wisdom and guidance.

tl;dr: If nobody else has him, Aventurine knows this random woman he met two minutes ago on the street will have him, because the women in his life literally never let him down.

(It's just so, so good, and ultimately, it should be very clear why Aventurine's story is as popular with women as it is! A+, Hoyo!)

[stealingyourbones]

The starter profile picture on tumblr can be a square. One might even say, a box. Would Boxy, Lord of the Rectangular, The Box Ghost Himself, be able to intrude upon Technus's domain and seize control of the bot army of Tumblr?

@bonebrokebuddy responding because twin showed this to me and I became enraptured with this ask.

It really depends on what you consider a box, or the abstraction of a box. In my opinion, The Box Ghost would be able to force his control of boxes upon whatever he perceives to be a box.

The real issue is that nearly all bots I find have profilers of random women. So I’d imagine that a good portion of the bots would remain untouched.

But again, we must ask the question, “what would the box ghost consider a box?”

I’d argue personally that Boxy would be able to control not just the blogs of tumblr users or bots with the standard starter profile images, but every ask box that is enabled on the site.

I’d imagine it would open a “hey pee brain, you teleport?” type timeline where tumblr users would at first be confused to this flood of similar messages invading their askbox, then discover that this mysterious ‘virus’ that’s been taking over people’s blogs to use their ask boxes seems to have an actual person behind it and isn’t just a bot.

A massive surge of users would likely try to uncover the mystery behind who is behind it all, getting slowly pieces of information from the person behind the ‘virus’ who’s obsessed with boxes and all things rectangular. Eventually, bits of personal information releases, that the man behind the virus is dead and died in a box related incident (y’all can choose how, I’d imagine there’s multiple hc backstories for boxy), and the town & GZ he lives in. People would praise this absolutely insane ARG (and condemn. To many the ‘Box Ghost’ was a hacker that took over blogs and rendered them unusable for a period of time. rightly so, a good section of the website would dislike Boxy, especially of their blog or mutuals of theirs got affected.) until a user leaked that The Box Ghost was in fact, an actual being sighted often in Amity Park.

Then another user found a website of a government department funded to hunt ghost that listed a ‘box ghost’ as a dangerous ectoentity.

The discoveries from there came rapidly.

- papers by the Drs Fenton were found outlining how ghosts functioned

- posts from people in Amity Park complaining about frequent ghost attacks and drills

- social media that condemned and praised a ghost named “Inviso-Bill” for destroying public property, stealing, saving, and fending off ghosts.

- the mysterious election of the town’s recent mayor

- stories of the Box Ghost’s past encounters with Amity Park citizens

- information of other ghosts that also existed within Amity Park began being revealed and discovered

- attempts at contacting Amity Park citizens to discover more information, often yielding confused responses from those wholly unaware that those asking thought that the ghost attacks their town experienced were apart of an ARG

- the ‘#only in amity park’ tag revealing Loads of information about the town and their ghost troubles

then, an announcement on the GIW website thanking tumblr users for their help in providing information to capture the Box Ghost.

Immediately all asks from Boxy ceased. Panic and horror began to spread. What had they done?

[moononmyfloor]

My Year End C-drama Review (2023)

Part 1

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17. Actors I newly discovered in 2023

Hong Yao, Wang Yinglu, Marcus Li, Tian Jiarui, Qin Hailu, Wang Ke

Some of these are new actors, some are already very experienced but I discovered only now. All of them provided phenomenal performances in their roles this year.

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18. Favorite Child Actors of the Year

Wang Haoze (Ou Zimo- Be Your Own Light), Phoebe Sun Yichen (Duoduo- Stay With Me)

Child actors in C-ent always baffle me, I have zero idea how they are SO good. Impeccable performance. I want to take them home. 🥺

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19. Feminist Cdramas of the year

Be Your Own Light, A Journey to Love

The premise of the first is about women to begin with, the second only partially. Most of the time the self-identifying feminist stories fail massively in realistic depiction of women, let alone idol dramas where the focus is elsewhere.

But these two shows really understood what women think and say, their priorities and what they want in life, how they conduct themselves....and not through the eyes of men who assume women crave xyz things only. The arcs and growths of women in these two shows felt very organic and relatable.

(I hear there were few other such dramas this year as well, eg: Faithful. But this is all I managed to watch huhu)

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20. A drama that let me down

Destined

The chemistry of the real-life pair Bai Jingting and Song Yi was adorable, but the story just wasn't my cup of tea.

I absolutely loved their spacious bedroom tho!

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21. Favorite BGM

Be Your Own Light- I Only Wish to Face the Light by Liu Yuning

Stay with Me- Stars Shine by Zhang Jiongmin, Xu Bin

I Am Nobody- Sea of Time by Zhou Shen

Young Blood 2- Lending a Ray of Light by WineQ (圈9)

Romance On the Farm- Letters from Spring by Su Yunying

Silence of the Monster- Cross a City Just to See You by Huang Yi

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22. Favorite wardrobes

Sui Yi (Sun Yihan)'s wardrobe in Silence of the Monster and Pang Hongmei (Peng Xiaoran)'s fits in Unshakable Faith

Oh they looked so delightfully vintage and exactly my style! 😍

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23. Best Breakups

Moxi and Jiagui (Gone With the Rain), Xiangyi and Wanmian (Mysterious Lotus Casebook)

I HAD to include this category simply because of these two pairs. I LOVED those two scenes. So mature! Such thorough discussion about how their feelings have changed over time, the frank admission that there are indeed some remnants left (because contrary to popular depiction, feelings don't POOF overnight), how they'd always consider the other as a special someone that they were lucky to have met in their lives, the wish to remain as tight friends in the future as well.... 🤌🤌🤌👏👏👏

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24. Worst character designs

Road Home

Gods know I only sat through this for Jing Boran in army gear and snow. The characters were so mind-blowingly flat despite the actors giving their best to "understand" their roles and make them relatable but there was only so much they could do. All the interpersonal relationships happened just because the writer said so. There was a child character who was passed from hand to hand for whenever the writer wanted a "warm childcaring and family moment" but was discarded without a glance the next second, I got second-hand abandonment issues from watching that lonely kid. I did not understand why anyone was doing anything at any given moment.

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25. Most convincing villains aka characters I loved to hate

Yuan Hao (Young Blood 2)- Gotta be one of the most dangerous villains I have ever seen. He was insanely smart, unpredictable and cunning AND strong, and it took all the heroes of the story to defeat him and still it was barely enough. He was so well written and portrayed, till the very end of the show the viewers weren't sure of the outcome of the battle.

Jiao Liqiao (Mysterious Lotus Casebook)- AHH Jiao jie! We all love a good unhinged female villain who isn't uwufied in the name of some weird "women should always be portrayed with tearjerking backstory" notion. Let her go crazy all over the place, we support women's wrongs as well as rights! She always meant what she said and did what she meant and it was terrifying to see.

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26. Favorite murder kittens of the year

Gong Yuanzhi (My Journey to You), Li Tongguang (A Journey to Love)

Oh these two bois were VERY disturbing individuals and I wouldn't go within 1 mile radius around them but were them such delightful affection starved meow meows with killer (ha!) hair and eye acting? Heck yes.

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27. A drama that I wished was longer

Romance On the Farm

I really appreciate how 3D and empathetically portrayed all the family members are. We are shown all their sides and what made them what they are today without making a mockery of Asian family values, but rather constructively analysing + celebrating the good parts.

And then there is a political thriller story arc.

And then there is "this is all but a game" part which I had to try very hard to pretend like it's ignorable.

And then there was the basic premiere of the pastoral country life story.

Clearly the dramamakers had LOTS of ideas. And you can see none of them were empty bite-more-than-can-chews but had actual potential.

If only.... it didn't try to do all this at once under the guise of a 26 ep lighthearted fluffy romcom genre.... it would've made such a difference.

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28. A drama I wanted to watch but couldn't

SO many! For all sorts of reasons.

Ray of Light, Butterflied Lover, The Road to Ordinary, Pledge of Allegiance, Where Dreams Begin, There Will Be Ample Time, Faithful, Stand By Me

ARGH!😭

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29. A drama I wish more people watched

Stay With Me

This is a Chinese BL, with Chinese cast, Chinese locations, but produced by a TW company. That's all I'm going to say about it, give it a try. You won't regret it. (Maybe don't watch last episode tho lol)

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30. Most favorite Cdrama of 2023

Mysterious Lotus Casebook

Why? Because... well if you are in the fandom you'd know, if you aren't... I can write ESSAYS about it so I won't 😂 In short, it was such a healing watch.

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31. A Cdrama I'm excited to see in 2024

JOL 2. Obviously.

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Conclusion

2023 served to solidify my belief that there's really no 'perfect' drama, what I can do is listening to the stories people have to share and then take what I want from them, and leave what I don't want behind. Some may resonate more with me, some less. Some may teach me new things, some may feel redundant. Sometimes you will enjoy only 50% of a drama and hate the rest, but that won't diminish the impact that 50% had on you. It could be a totally different experience for another viewer and that's fine. I watched all the DMBJ shows this year as well (but didn't speak about them in this list since my focus was on 2023) and it really was an exercise on not being overly critical and going with the flow or you would totally miss out on all the good things DMBJ had to bring.

Overall I enjoyed 2023 Cdramaland a lot. I hope this review helped some of you to try out dramas that you didn't know existed/were hesitant to press play or continue on!

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More Posts by Me

[thenomadclan]

My God of War OC Lore

Andreas (Ἀνδρέας) Backstory:

•Andreas was born in Athens Greece when the invasion of the Barbarian of the East began, and the Spartan Army held them off. Out of fear, his family moved to Dion, at the foot of Mount Olympus to be protected by the Olympian Gods. When Andreas grew to a capable child, he was taught the ways of the blade and the art of the hunt by his father, a former Spartan who married a Athenian women. However in his free time, Andreas would study the arts of Ancient Greek Wrestling (Pále) winning a couple tournaments in his young growling life. His skills grew so great that it caught the eyes of the local soldiers, he’d be shipped off to military camp till he was a capable young man to defend his cities boarders. 

Oftentimes Andreas was a part of religious figures transportations, helping “Seers” safely travel the Wildlands of Greece. Little did he run into humans but ran into many monsters, in his platoon he was known as “The Monster Slayer” for the amount of creatures he put down. A couple of years later Andreas had gathered a high reputation, being considered the greatest sword for hire when not defending Dion. He made sure to have his family live comfortably and safe…that was till tragedy struck, when Andreas was walking home he felt the Earth shake and a storm randomly emerging.

Rocks began to fall hitting civilians, instinctively Andreas looked up to see titans long thought to be dead climbing Mount Olympus. Quickly Andreas ran toward his home, upon arriving he found his family thankfully safe, hugging his wife and child as well as his old parents. He’d escort them towards the lifeboats, when almost arriving near the docks he saw his mother's head get caved in by a falling boulder. His Father crumbled to his knees in hysteria, as he tried to convince him to get on his knees he heard his Daughter and Wife scream, and when he turned around he was met with a punching wave of water. 

Upon awakening and coughing up the salty water, Andreas found himself on top of a mountain peak, surrounded by black waters and tornados screeching across the area. He could barely see out of his right eye, being that side of his face was covered in blood leaving him confused and disoriented. Though something did catch his blurry vision, a man with white skin and red markings stabbed himself in the distance with a blue glowing sword, releasing a blue like energy into the sky. Andreas would then collapse exhausted, watching as the man flung himself off the mountain into the water. When eventually coming to, he was in a medical bed, healers surrounding him.

When he asked where he was, they all looked at each other and showed him what remained of Dion…which was nothing but broken ruins and tents of those they could find. Andreas' family didn’t make it, saying how it was a miracle or what remained of the Gods blessings that he managed to survive the crashing tsunami of a wave. Andes would hear everything of what happened, how Kratos…the Legendary General and Ghost of Sparta had killed the major Olympian Gods and claimed that he still lived. Something inside Andreas snapped, he grew angry, resentful, and hungry for vengeance. Upon arriving at his tent which was on top of his home, covered in rubble, he was visited by 3 Gods…Alastor (God of Avenger of Evil Deeds), Astraea (Goddess of Justice), and Nemesis (Goddess of Revenge).

They explained how they have been watching Andreas for a long time, noting his feats and victories in wars, battles and skirmishes. They also explained how what they were about to offer him, would bring Andreas life purpose. The remaining Gods of Olympus want a strong warrior to hunt down the one responsible for the chaos, and bring him to death. The Gods pointed out that Andreas was the one to be their sword, their bounty hunter, their Vengeance….and that’s what Andreas wanted. For the better part of 700-800 years of training with Artemis (Goddess of the Hunt), Nike (Goddess of Victory), Asclepius (God of Medicine), and Circe (Goddess of Sorcery & Magic) the only Gods who would lend Andreas their blessings, powers, and skills they could spare. 

Andreas was molded into being the perfect warrior, the perfect hunter, and executioner of justice and revenge. Now that remained was an oath, a pack that can’t be broken until what is asked is done. Artemis held a weapon of two swords and chains, using her godly magic she had the weapons levitate above Andrea’s with him holding his arms out towards the Gods. He made his oath to hunt down and kill the “Ghost of Sparta” and would not stop what he’d have to do till it was done, with that Artemis dropped the chains, having them wrapped around and burned into Andrea’s forearms. He winced, but refused to show weakness or pain to the Gods that had given him this chance. 

Andreas would hold the weapons tightly, refusing to let its otherworldly nature overpower him, he held the blades tightly and clashed them together then revealing to have transformed them into one long blade ... .The Blade of Artemis. The Gods smiled in pride, with his final test complete Andreas was immediately sent off to hunt Kratos but before he left, the Goddess of Justice marked his skin with the blood of those who lost their life when innocent, forming in the swirl that Kratos had in a form of mockery. Upon reaching the docks to begin his travels, one last God, one from the shadows made his appearance. Moros (God of Impending Doom) offered Andreas one last gift, one that would secure his victory against the “Fate Breaker”. He offered his power of an Undying Soul as well as the power for whoever he faced, would not defy fate ... .Eventually his foe will be defeated and killed by his hand if he so chooses. Despite his speculations, Andreas needed this and took the deal, feeling a disgusting feeling of his soul being tainted and darkened, when he ripped away from Moros the God disappeared. 

Andreas would never feel the same, feeling like something was inside him, something disgusting and foul. When arriving at the docs to take his ship to the location found west of Greece, the water…spoke to him, Triton (God of Waves) and the Son of Poseidon offered his small powers of the waves on the Andreas Ship, blessing it to be the fastest ship in all the 7 seas and strong enough to weather any storm. With that final blessing, Andreas made his way to what would be known as Midgard to begin his tale of revenge.

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GOW OC’s Greek Gods & Goddesses Allies:

•Artemis (Goddess of the Hunt)

Gives Andreas the “Blades of the Hunt” which when combined turns into the legendary “Blade of Artemis”. She also trained Andreas in Warrior and Hunting Combat with the help of her Amazon Worshippers.

•Nike (Goddess of Victory)

Her Siblings (Personification of Power & Personification of Glory) transferred their life force to the Andreas, being a personification of Power & Glory. Nike trained Andreas in the style of Warfare and once earned after defeating the Goddess of Victory, they transferred their power to the Andreas to ensure the Avenging of the Greek Pantheon is secured.

•Asclepius (God of Medicine)

Gives Andreas the knowledge to know all ingredients to make medical or poisonous herbs potions even in foreign lands.

•Triton (God of Waves)

After the death of Poseidon (his son), Triton helps Andreas by gifting him a boat to cross over all the 7 seas in the world quicker than any man made boat.

•Alastor (God of Avenger of Evil Deeds)

After the events of GOW3, Alastor was the first God Andreas met and convinced Andreas to be brought up to Mount Olympus and trained to Avenge the Greek Pantheon once discovered that Kratos still lived in far away lands.

•Moros (God of Impending Doom)

When Andreas was about to set sail to hunt down the Ghost of Sparta, Moros was there to strike a deal with the Andreas for Moros’s Power, setting Kratos against insurmountable odds that his “Fate Breaker” abilities can not escape his impending son to come Death.

•Astraea (Goddess of Justice)

After the Events of GOW3, rightfully Justice wasn’t served, but once the OC was brought to what remained on Mount. Olympus to hunt down the “Ghost of Sparta” she channeled her Godly Blessings onto the Andreas to bring Justice to all who suffered at the hands of Kratos, even giving the Andreas a red marking similar to Kratos that was the blood stained innocent lives forever as a reminder to the Andreas of what he is fighting for.

•Nemesis (Goddess of Revenge)

After the Events of GOW3, Revenge was the only thing on Andreas’s mind to the point it was maddening…they lost everything…someone had to pay for this, good news being that Nemesis, Astraea, and Alastor were there to give what Andreas craved…a chance at Revenge. 

•Demeter (Goddess of Agriculture)

One of the Gods/Goddesses who gave their “Blessing” or “Power” of their assigned gifts to Andreas. Demeter gave her power of Agriculture to Andreas, not so much to grow food but to grow vegetation, vines or trees to OC’s command for either living off of or defense/attacking capability. 

•Circe (Goddess of Sorcery & Magic)

One of the hardest Gods/Goddesses to convince of relinquish their “Blessing” or “Power” to Andreas, teaching them the ways of Magic, even teaching how to drain and possess power of their opponent, like a leech. 

—————————————————————————

OC/Mascots Weapons, Armor & Magic/Powers:

•Blades of the Hunt (Abilities include: Being able to understand Animals or Creatures when holding the hilt, Summon the Souls of Greeks Creatures that Andreas has Slain, and to call upon any Creature or Animal within close proximity to Andreas to take control of. They can also harness the power of the elements with their most powerful elemental combo involving lightning, the last of Zeus Power.)

•Blade of Artemis (When Blades of the Hunt are Combined, has the same abilities as the “Blades of the Hunt” even when combined.)

•Gungnir (The Spear of Odin, the spear is said to always hit its target regardless of the targets skill, as well as have the ability to grow at any length required by the user for its effectiveness. Andreas found the spear in a Draugr’s graveyard, the only thing left after the war on Asgard.)

•Jarnsmida Noble Placket Armor (Made by the only member of the Huldra Dwarf Brothers “Sindri”, used Royal materials from the mines filled with deadly creatures, was said to be made to be indestructible like its wearer, able to tank blunt objects and sharpe weapons without a scratch.)

•Olympian Rage (Which is similar to Kratos' Spartan Rage, but turned up to 10 all the way as the remaining Olympians transferred their rage onto the Mortal to give him godly strength to rival the Ghost of Sparta.)

•Plant Manipulation (Given the gift of Demeter to control not only Plant Growth but control to his will, similar to that of Freya’s Plant Magic.)

•Leeching Magic (The Ability to extract magic the user is withholding in their body can be transferred to OC’s Blades of the Hunt.)

•Undying Soul (OC has a tainted soul that can’t be killed, can’t be trapped, and can’t be dragged into the underworld. As long as Kratos is alive, so shall OC, only then will the curse be lifted.)

•Doomed Victory (Whoever decides to fight the OC will have the fated ability to be beaten or killed, the curse of never ending victory till his revenge is fulfilled to then have the curse be lifted.)

•Healing Factor (That range from surviving simple stab or slashes to dismemberment and life ending actions.)

•Super Human / Godly Strength (The Strength of Andreas was always limited when human, but slowly began to break limits for a normal mortal, with each day of hatred and vengeance. Even going into this fight it’s unsure how strong Andreas is but surely enough to match Kratos.) 

•Super Human / Godly Durability (With all the training he received from the Gods and those who were tasked in training him, his skin went from soft flesh to steel like armor skin.)

•Super Human Speed (Sadly due to Hermes no longer alive, the speed Andreas would have to obtain would be through the hard work he put in, training himself to be faster in reflexes and striking.)

•Super Human / Godly Agility (When training with Artemis & her Amazons, Andreas had to learn to travel through dense jungle, having to run through obstacles without stopping if he didn’t want to get caught.)

•Super Human / Godly Stamina (With all of Andreas' challenging labors and training, his stamina grew past peak human, while he could run through Greece from top of the border to the bottom without stopping. The same could be said of his ability to never get tired in a fight, and to manage to stay awake for many nights without the hint of requiring sleep.)

—————————————————————————

(That’s all I have for right now! I’m having my good artist friend Kuran on my Discord, to give you guys a physical look at my OC Andreas. I hope you guys enjoyed this little sample of what I got so far, but if you would like to know more by all means comment or “ask a question” to know more ^^)

[masterthespianduchovny]

It’s really fascinating that whenever people are pressed by a ship it’s always 1. Why can’t men and women just be friends??? 2. Shippers clearly weren’t paying attention to the story.

Just say you don’t like the ship and own that shit. Stop trying to condescend and pretend people who ship two characters aren’t paying attention or, in the case of Freya and Kratos, are ignoring their backstories, which is far from the case.

When it comes to Kratos, just because he’s still mourning his wife’s death doesn’t mean he cannot move on or that he wouldn’t fall in love with someone, in this case Freya, unplanned. Faye tells him to open his heart and himself to the world so that he has an actual relationship with his son and fulfilling relationships with others in general. It stands to reason that a man who is in the process of doing that might fall in love with someone, esp someone he has such a deep connection with.

Before Kratos found out that Freya was a god, he clearly distrusted her the least and was opening up to her in a way he hadn’t with anyone besides his wives. Then he finds out that she’s a god and is angry with her and closes himself off again. When Atreus gets sick, despite his poor behavior, he goes to her and literally trusts her with his son’s life. Literally the most important person to him. Kratos is distraught and goes to HER. If he truly distrusted her that wouldn’t have happened. He felt played and was angry as a result.

He believes so much in the goodness of Freya, despite his past with gods and her concealing her identity, that he kills her son against her wishes. He regrets hurting her, but not choosing her life over Baldur’s. Kratos’ care is so deep for her, it extends even years later when she’s actively trying to kill him. Kratos literally refuses to hurt or kill her and only fights back to defend himself.

Kratos unashamedly compliments and comforts Freya and isn’t coy about it in the least bit. He finds her admirable and says it’s plainly.

Yes, men and women can be just friends, but honestly, these two are tinged with sexual tension. There’s this intimacy that exists between them that makes it hard to see it as remaining just platonic.

Which leads to Freya. Although Kratos killed her son, deep down she knows that it was necessary and that her anger at him was a projection of how her actions led to this as well as her shit marriage with Odin. As much as she loved her son, he made the world as worse place. This was partially (or mostly) a consequence of her trying to protect him from all harm, which fucked up him mental then emotional state. Add to having Odin as a father, a monster was created.

Because of her banishment at the hands of Odin as well as the shit he pulled during their marriage—only giving her a child to control her, I believe—all she had ti keep her going was Baldur’s safety and protection. Her mind was distorted due to her hostile circumstances. She literally couldn’t protect herself even if she tried and was locked away in an u familiar land. Cut off from her brother and her people.

We get hints that Freya doesn’t hate Kratos as much as she wants to believe. There’s so much subtleties and nuances in their interactions and how she has to fight his advice and being endeared to him. When he helps free her from Odin’s spell, she calls a truce between them. After that, her hostility melts towards him even though she says she can never forgive him.

Freya pleads for Kratos to fight against Odin and even makes him head of the army. She explicitly trust him with her life and of that of the nine realms. After she is free from Odin’s magic, she never uses Baldur against Kratos at all.

And I honestly do believe she forgave him completely because kratos knew what it was like to be betrayed and manipulated by a god and lose a child. He did not want to kill Baldur, it was a necessity, one that I believe she accepts. Him revealing that personal stuff about his daughter softens Freya in her assessment of him.

Freya reveals to him that she’d have another child if the opportunity presented itself. Considering that he’s the man that killed her only child, that says a lot. Why would she even reveal this to him? It has nothing to do with romance, but her trust in him. He’s a confidant and someone she feels not only comfortable around, but is okay with being vulnerable with.

She constantly laughs and jokes with him and feels more comfortable around him than Mimir. Again, Kratos is the man who killed her son, where as mimir suggested the marriage between her and Odin. Later, she is friends with mimir, but it’s telling that she’s closer to Kratos before she is with mimir. She’s also very complimentary towards him as well.

Rather than going off and doing her own thing, Freya chooses to help Kratos rebuild society, which isn’t some light commitment. She’s literally going to be spending fucking years alongside Kratos helping him rebuild society.

Like it’s so obvious that she forgave Kratos, esp when compared to Odin who she admitted to relishing in the reality of watching him lose everything in the end.

And we also see her defend and protect Kratos against Gna after ragnarok.

Like, yes, they’re friends, but this can evolve into something else considering their histories with each other, how deeply they care for one another, and even though lose informs their behaviors, they’re no longer defined by it. Both see paths as to having futures after their losses and despite how they were defined/perceived in the world. So we can’t fall back on him still needing to mourn Faye or Freya being unable to forgive him for Baldur.

This is all assuming that they get together right away rather than over time. I don’t think those feelings would be obvious, but would make sense once they realized that something has changed for both of them.

So it’s really strange how shippers are framed as ignoring context and backstories to push a ship when the narrative makes it clear that Freya has forgiven Kratos and will being spending a shit ton of time with him. She can’t forgive him for Baldur, but literally put the life of humanity in his hands, protects him, travels alongside and rebuilds society with him, compliments him, reveals her deepest secrets to him, served as support about him wife and son (even the first set of wife and child), yet the idea that she could never move past him killing her son is the crux of the argument as to why Freya would never get would Kratos?

Although some arguments can be made, imo, there’s more evidence that that’s just not the case.

And Kratos moving on isn’t impossible since he has done so before. He needs someone who he trusts and that understands him and that he cared about…hmm…wonder who fits that criteria.

[platonically-loving-alastor]

Hazbin Top 5

I was going to make a top 10 character list, but realized after the first 5 I didn't know where to place anyone- But in case you're curious, some contenders for the remaining 6-10, in no specific order, were Angel Dust, Charlie, Emily, Niffty, and Sir Pentious. Now here's my top 5 with reasonings and appreciation for them all!

5. Lucifer

Obviously bro is relatable, not only for his awkwardness and hyperfixations, but he also happens to be the same height as I am at about 5'2" (according to the sources I've seen). Being the same height as Lucifer is my biggest flex lmao- I still have no idea why his hatred of Alastor seemed so instant. Like yeah, Alastor was trying to annoy him by being a better dad to Charlie, but the whole 'fuck you' moment happened before any of that started. Did he just sense the bad vibes off of him or what? Anyway, his awkwardness and desperation to connect with his daughter make for probably my favorite lines of the episode, such as the "Hey bitch!" and the whole "You like girls? So do I!" situation followed by him being so distracted he called Vaggie by the wrong name. Perfect comedy

4. Lute

I love her an insane amount for someone who shows up so relatively little with so few lines, but here we are. I've already made an entire post about her, here it is if you want it, so I'll keep this short (Spoiler alert: I failed). I actually don't think I mentioned just how attractive this woman is, so let's get that out there right now. I know I'm not the only one who thinks this, about half the people I've seen react to Episode 6 have seen Lute without her mask, took a pause of recognition, and we all knew what they were thinking before the pressed play. Istg my taste in women (and sometimes even men, thanks Vox) is just "Can they murder me without a second thought? Yes? That's hot". My favorite line of hers is when she's hyping up the army with Adam and says "Rip Vaggie's cunt mouth out her ass!" and even Adam has to be like "damn girl chill what the hell-" She's so feral I love her so much

3. Rosie

Everyone needs a Rosie in their lives. I don't just mean a regular therapist, I mean a person in your life, friend or family member, who will talk you out of your downward spiral and gently call you out on why those paranoid thoughts are actually pretty unrealistic (the other side of the same coin would be Husk, he's just more blunt about it). I'm also still completely convinced she has some interesting and sad backstory based on how she was talking to Charlie and I need to know about it so bad. "It can be difficult to admit to things you're not proud of, especially if those things hurt the ones you love" Ma'am what did you do? I find it hard to believe it's just about the cannibalism. I don't know if in this instance, she's the one who hurt someone or someone else hurt her and she was the one who failed to forgive them, but either way I need answers.

2. Vox

Y'all know I love this man in more ways than one, he one the hottest Hazbin character poll for a reason. But I swear everything about this man makes me love him as a character more. First, I always love a technology based character, his electricity powers and literal screen head are the coolest thing in the world to me. He's voiced by Christian Borle, which was a fantastic choice, along with the glitched effect his voice gets when he's mad, I love to see it. Apparently it's also canon he can fly (with rocket shoes)?? He just keeps getting the best character design choices possible, this can't possibly be fair- The fact his first introduction was being done with Val, telling him to call tf down, and treating him like a child ("Now that's why they pay you the big bucks!") was a pretty good first impression for me lol, made even funnier when it was followed by him losing all sense of rationalism when Alastor entered his line of sight.

1. Alastor

The character my blog is named after, this should not be a surprise. Shockingly enough, despite my obsession for him and acknowledgement of his charming nature and generally attractive design, I' do not simp for him in the slightest'm not personally attracted to him in the slightest. I simp for a TV and yet apparently deer man with permanent smile is where I draw the line idk- The most I want from him is to be as good of a friend to him as Rosie is (well that and to touch his ears but that's a given). But this is another character I love literally everything about. Who would've thought the concepts of 'radio host', 'serial killer', and 'literal deer' would work so well together to create this dapper yet terrifying fucking cryptid. Not only can he be either incredibly scary or a silly guy, he can and has done both at once. Example: Episode 3 when he's just casually eating a deer carcass in his room (in which he summoned a whole ass bayou). I was genuinely so glad when the 'this face was made for radio' thing happened in episode 1, confirming that they were still gonna lean into his creepy-as-fuck distortion and general vibe he had in the pilot. He's horrifying and evil and I love that about him. Meanwhile he also says shit like "Now he's pissy, that's the tea" (definitely taught to him by Rosie) and kicks his legs on the bed like a schoolgirl as if he hasn't committed countless atrocities. My favorite character, everyone-

Wow I wrote more than I meant to for this, sorry about the essay-

[balteren]

{amy james-kelly, 27, cisfemale, she/her} We are so glad to see you safe, QUEEN WINIFRED GLYNDWR of CARDIFF! It’s dangerous out in the world these days, but I hear that you are CONFIDENT and FREE-SPIRITED enough to handle it. Just don’t let your IMPULSIVENESS bring you down! Stay on your guard, because with your secret being at risk for exposure, you wouldn’t want everyone to find out YOU DISCOVERED YOUR LATE BROTHER WAS SUPPLYING WEAPONS TO THE REBELS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE RECKONING.

Name: Queen Winifred Glyndwr Aliases: Winnie, Fred/Freddie (to her family) Country: Cardiff Gender/Pronouns: cisfemale, she/her Sexual/Romantic Orientation: bisexual, biromantic Age: 27 Occupation: Queen of the City-State Cardiff Faceclaim: Amy James-Kelly Inspiration: Jo March (Little Women), Carrie Bradshaw (Sex and the City), Ivy Lynn (Smash Loyalties: Cardiff, Scotland, The Stuarts Pets: A bay mare named Cerridwen, a raven named Sanddef

tldr; Winifred is a bit of a live wire, and not skilled in taking things seriously. In the words of Hozier, she’s a giggle at a funeral. That’s not to say she is incapable of tackling serious matters- she’s really quite impressive under pressure- she just prefers to keep things light. Winifred is rarely found lounging, and if there’s nothing to do, she will create something. She’s a bit of a glutton, and loves everything in excess, especially when it comes to excitement, adventure, lovers, and wine.

backstory:  Winifred was many things, all at once. To some, she was a whirlwind, always on the move, bringing with her a flurry of activity, always armed with a smile and a joke. To others, she was a hurricane, blowing through people’s lives without much regard for the disarray she brought with her. She was unable to be contained, unable to be adequately described without a litany of contradictions and asterisks. She remains this way now, even with all the new weight on her shoulders.  Being third in the line of succession allowed Winifred quite a bit of freedom, and that was freedom she coveted greatly. Ambition was never something she struggled with, because ambition was just another chain to tie her to something. When she came of age, she took a place in the University of Cardiff, studying literature and poetry- but her real dream was to join the army, just like her brother had. And because she wanted to, she did. She spent three years in the military before the Reckoning, where she learned order, discipline, and how to wield the weapons her city was so famed for crafting.  The Glyndwr family was always tight-knit, and their parents took every effort to ensure their children had a harmonious, healthy relationship with each other. Even after they passed, the eldest brother, Carwyn, continued the tradition. He was a provider, and more than happy to bear the full burden of his station and allow his siblings to live a softer, carefree life. Winifred adored him, truly believing he was the best of them, and wanted nothing more than to watch him take his place in the sun. The two were incredibly close, and after his death, the light in her world dimmed forever.  Winifred left the army after his death, choosing to stay close to her family while the world recovered from the great tragedy. She stood by her older sibling as they became Ruler, unaware the mantle would be passing to her in a matter of weeks. The Glyndwr children had no idea how heavy the crown was, and how great a sacrifice their eldest brother had made by allowing them to live such carefree lives. Winifred’s sibling was unable, or unwilling, to carry the weight of the crown, and abdicated, leaving a grieving Winifred the honor of being Queen.  Her adoration of Carwyn came to be a blessing and a curse. She was forever cursed with missing him, holding the memories and dreams she had for him close to her heart, unable to turn to him for a friendly word or sage advice. But it was her adoration that allowed her to step gracefully into the role of Queen, to emulate him in every way she could, and to keep his memory alive in the way she ruled. The death of the king, followed so closely by the abdication, had made the people of Cardiff restless, and their faith in their leaders had been shaken. Her reputation was positive when she was third in the line of succession, but now the qualities that endeared her to the public were turned against her. Her free spirit was no longer charming- it was a liability. It was up to her to regain stability and trust, and to show Cardiff she could be everything the late king had been. She has no doubt in her ability to rule, she just needs time to prove to the world that she was more than capable of filling her brother's shoes.

Now:

Soon after taking the crown, Winifred was looking through the financial diaries her brother kept, when she noticed a page had been torn out. Her initial instinct was to disregard it, but the missing figures haunted her. Later that night, she tore into a chest of his personal belongings, where she found the missing page, folded, sealed, and hidden under the lining. The contents detailed a trade deal with rebels, a deal made only weeks before the Reckoning. Carwyn had sold a significant number of weapons to the rebels at a fraction of their normal cost- it was a deal that likely lost money for the family. It was a deal with the people that would take his life. 

Winifred is now tasked with understanding why Carwyn made the deal. Was it blackmail? Did he truly support the rebels? What was he not telling her? What else does she not know- and would it change her own beliefs it it was uncovered? 

[theconstantsidekick]

Captain America: The Winter Soldier ft. Static (4) | s.r

Pairings: Steve Rogers x Stark!Reader, Tony Stark x Stark!Reader (sibling)

Genre: Fluff and a pinch of angst if you squint

Summary: As Steve drives to the location where the info on the flash drive originated—his old army base—he gets to know the two women he has decided to become fugitives with.

(These scenes incorporate y/n, codename—Static, into the pre-existing story as a character without making drastic changes to the plot or mythos. All the major plot points from the MCU remain in place with the addition of the reader as Static, who is not only a Stark but also enhanced. Whatever events from the canon aren’t mentioned, take place without much change.)

Warnings: Swearing? Lesser than usual though.

a/n: read Age of Ultron (ft. Static) to get a better backstory. Highly recommended. But it’s fun. I promise.

sidenote: I am weirdly fond of this one.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier ft. Static (3) | Captain America: The Winter Soldier ft. Static (5) | Series Masterlist | Age of Ultron (Static Origin Story) | The Avengers (ft. Static) | Static Verse Masterlist

“Where did Captain America learn how to steal a car?” Natasha asks from the passenger seat next to him.

“Nazi Germany,” Steve replies, adjusting himself in his seat. Natasha hums at his answer dismissively, so he adds, “And we're borrowing.” He looks at her feet. “Take your feet off the dash.”

Natasha obediently takes them off, but the smile on her face indicates she feels anything but. “How did you get out of there?” She asks.

She had met up with the pair, after striking out on her lead. Now here they were, in a 'borrowed' car.

Steve brows furrow, confused.

“There was a homing beacon on the flash drive, so S.H.I.E.L.D. must have sent reinforcement, but I didn’t hear anything about a fight at some mall,” she clarifies. She looks at him then. “So, how did you two get out?”

He shifts uncomfortably in his seat, hands gripping onto the steering wheel a little harder. “We...” Oh lord, “improvised.”

Natasha isn’t satisfied with the answer. She stares at him unrelentingly.

But two can play at this game. He can do this all day.

Well, he could have if she hadn’t pulled out the big guns.

“Either you can tell me, or I can ask her,” Natasha threatens with a teasing smile.

Why the hell does he get stuck in places like this?

“Fine!” He gives in. “We—” he exhales heavily, “—kissed… as a distraction.” His voice is low and almost muffled. It’s awkward, alright? He’s not really good at these things to begin with. So. Yeah. Awkward.

Natasha, though, keeps the smile up and nods easily, pretending that it’s the most normal thing in the world. But the glint in her eyes tells Steve he’s in for trouble.

“Alright, I have a question for you,” she says eventually, and hell, if Steve didn’t see that coming. “Oh, which you do not have to answer. I feel like if you don't answer it though, you're kind of answering it, you know?” She asks hypothetically, rambling on.

“What?” Steve asks, glancing at her once. Better to get this over with.

“Was it your first kiss since 1945?” She asks, coyly.

Steve hates it here.

“You’re asking if I was bad at it?” He asks, annoyed.

“I didn't say that,” Natasha defends.

“Well, it kind of sounds like that's what you're saying.”

“No, I didn't. I just wondered how much practice you've had. Cause she’s had plenty.”

What do you mean, she’s had plenty?

And why does that make his jaw clench?

“You don't need practice,” he argues.

“Everybody needs practice,” Natasha replies.

“It was not my first kiss since 1945,” Steve acquiescence. “I'm ninety-five, I'm not dead.”

“Nobody special, though?” She asks.

Steve's eyes automatically flick over to the rearview mirror, glancing at the back seat. But then he looks away. He scoffs as he says, “Believe it or not, it's kind of hard to find someone with shared life experience.”

And then there is a loud cackle from where his eyes were fixed only a few seconds ago. It’s Y/n, chuckling loudly from where she is lying in the backseat, with her feet hung on the edge of the slightly ajar window and her back resting on the other one.

Steve can’t see her laugh cause she has her face covered with his cap but it sounds too sweet regardless. Her hands are tucked behind her head, supporting her neck and to Steve, she genuinely looks far more unbothered than anyone should be, while being in the situation they are in. She looks just as cocky and unbothered as she had when she came to recruit him. She looks inert and cosmic. She reminds him of Peggy.

“What’s so funny?” Natasha asks, pulling Steve out of his thoughts.

“You wouldn’t get it,” Y/n dismisses.

“How long have you been awake?” Steve asks, eyes flicking back and forth from the road ahead back to the rearview mirror.

His question is code for, how much of that did you hear, and she reads between the lines fairly easily.

Because she chuckles again as she says, “Long enough to let you know, you weren’t half bad, Captain.”

Steve can spot Natasha wearing a weirdly smug smile. But he’s got more concerning issues to deal with. “But it wasn’t great…?” His words fall somewhere between a question and a statement.

Y/n clicks her tongue, “You know, I don’t think I remember it all that well, what with Rumlow being on our ass,” she says evenly. Only for her tone to change as she adds, “Care to try again?” He can practically hear the smirk on her face, reflected in her words.

“God,” he grumbles. “Do you ever stop?”

Please don’t?

“No, she does not,” Natasha confirms, smiling. “You two should date.”

Excuse me?

Before he can do something like drive the car off the road in a state of pure bewilderment, a snort sounds out from behind them.

“God no,” Y/n says.

And sure, yeah. That doesn’t upset Steve at all. Why should it? He’s fine. Absolutely fine.

“Ouch,” Steve mutters.

“Why not?” Natasha asks, turning in her seat to get a better look at Y/n. Though Steve doesn’t understand what that would achieve, seeing as his cap is still covering her face.

There is a pause. It shouldn’t be as heavy as it, for as brief as it. But Steve has a hard time carrying the burden of it. And he can deadlift over 6000 pounds.

But eventually—

“Same reason you don’t trust me,” Y/n states solemnly, her tone nowhere near the usual jovial one he’s become used to. “I’ve had… an interesting life. It’s corpulent, I suppose. Filled with history that I don’t feel mighty open to sharing right now… or ever.” The indication of the fact that she is unwilling to share her history in the present company hangs heavier than the silence had before. Steve might seem pretty clean but Natasha’s history is infamously not clean at all. So whatever Y/n wishes not to share— “Besides,” her tone back to being lighthearted. The sudden change almost gives Steve whiplash. “I’m not his type.”

What the hell is that supposed to mean?

“My type?” Steve asks, face scrunching up.

“You know? Smart, intelligent, fierce women who could kick your ass in a fight,” Y/n explains.

Natasha snorts. “And you don’t qualify because...?”

“Don’t have the accent for it,” Y/n retorts.

Both women chuckle and Steve can’t help the smile that blooms on his face.

“But I’m with Natasha on this one,” Y/n chimes in once the smiles subside. As Natasha cocks her brow, Steve has to check back in the rearview mirror to see if the cap is still covering her face because her answer to Natasha’s brow is instantaneous. “Not that we should date, but that you should date.”

“Like I said,” Steve sighs. “Hard to find common ground.”

“That’s alright, you just make something up,” Natasha suggests.

“What, like you?” Steve asks, looking at her.

“I don't know... The truth is a matter of circumstance, it's not all things to all people all the time,” she replies. A melancholy smile graces her face as she adds, “And neither am I.”

“That's a tough way to live,” Steve states.

“It's a good way not to die, though,” Natasha justifies.

“You know, it's kind of hard to trust someone when you don't know who that someone really is.” Steve isn’t trying to be malicious. He’s not trying to antagonize her. He’s definitely not trying to insult her. He just needs her to understand, if she were ever to take it, his hand is extended.

“Yeah,” Natasha agrees. “Who do you want me to be?”

Steve looks at her then, “How about a friend?”

Natasha’s face breaks into a smile, mirth mixed in with fondness. ”Well, there's a chance you might be in the wrong business, Rogers.”

“I’d like to disagree,” Y/n chimes in from behind them. “I think he’s exactly where he’s supposed to be.”

Natasha huffs, “He’s an open book, Stark. Those don’t really last that long in our line of work.”

“I think you’re forgetting that he’s the oldest one in the car,” Y/n throws back with a grin audible in her tone.

“You know what I mean,” Natasha says exasperated.

“Yeah, yeah I do,” Y/n placates her with a small chuckle. “But that isn’t the point.” She still hasn’t moved. “The point is, this world might be far different from the one he had but it’s still his. The fundamentals remain the same… and so does he. Unchanging, unmoving righteousness. And as misplaced as it might be from time to time—” Steve grumbles under his breath to make sure his disagreement is noted. But she barrels on paying him no mind, “—we need it. You and I have a habit of looking at life and only seeing the dirty bits. We’re gloomy—”

“Realistic,” Natasha interrupts. “I’m realistic. Optimism gets you killed.”

“Exactly what I mean,” Y/n urges, her tone more imploring. “We have no patience for optimism because we have lost hope somewhere along the line. But he—he hasn’t. Where we see reckoning, he sees potential. Where you fight to survive, he fights for what he believes is right.”

“And you?” Steve asks, cutting in. “What do you fight for?”

“Tony.” Her reply is instantaneous. “I fight so he can be safe. I fight so someday he doesn’t have to anymore. The fact that the rest of the world gets saved in the process is just… collateral damage.”

There’s something brewing inside Steve he can’t quite name. He doesn’t know if it’s the unwavering resolve in her answer or if it’s the ferocity of her faith in him that he didn’t even know she had to begin with. Or maybe, Steve ventures, it might just be the combination of both because whatever is brewing inside him is burning, igniting. Whatever is brewing inside him, has only been lit aflame but he already knows it won’t extinguish anytime soon. He also knows that he might be inclined to disregard her lack of accent if ever the chance arises.

“Not a righteous bone in our body, is there?” Natasha chimes in, grinning.

“Not a single one.” She finally sits up. Setting her feet down, she takes the cap off her face. Her eyes meet his in the rearview mirror and Steve can see the smirk on her face as she says, “That’s why we’ve got the Captain.”

Read the next part here. Find other static verse works here. Find her origin story here.

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[panlight]

What are the top three ways that the story breaks belief by giving Bella whatever she/Meyer wants? What are the top three ways that the story does great at showing the realities of vampirism?

1. The baby. Yes, I know, SM technically didn’t address a male vampire and female human and whether they could have a child or not, but all her comments pre-BD heavily, heavily implied that vampires couldn’t have children, to the degree that the whole fandom believed this and would comment on fic where they had kids as being unrealistic. She also wrote Bella as not liking/wanting kids, easily giving it up when Rosalie warned her, being dismissive of Esme and Rosalie’s longing (”they get by just fine”) and then . . . gives her a kid and she’s instantly on board and fulfilled being a mom at 19 (although Edward is still her priority in a lot of ways). Also SM’s justification for Edward being able to conceive is an entry on a 1990s vampire website on Angelfire about the incubus which isn’t even really a vampire and if you look into that mythology the incubus’ children aren’t his biologically but that’s a whole other point. It just makes no sense to me that one half of the species is 100% infertile full-stop but the other half retains the ability to conceive children but ONLY with the species they are supposed to eat. What kind of biology is that, that’s so weird. It all feels so contrived just so E/B *specifically* can have a kid and honestly they would have been fine without one, it wasn’t THEIR great desire, it was Rosalie’s and Esme’s. 

2. Letting Charlie in on it. I know, it would have been sad and awful for her to have to fake her own death or just disappear but that’s what she was signing up for and getting to keep Charlie around with some loophole about not using the word ‘vampire’ does not feel realistic to me. Honestly the whole idea of secrecy is just so inconsistent. We need a convoluted plan to steal multiple cars because omg secrecy! the sun! the cops! but then they can go to a hospital where somewhere knew forever 23-year-old Carlisle 14 years ago and secrecy? What secrecy? We’ll just let him think it’s plastic surgery, whatever. Likewise Charlie. Oh no humans can't know, it’s not safe, we’ll have to leave him in the dark to protect him! And then it’s just like “Charlie conveniently doesn’t want details and as long as we don’t actually use the word ‘vampire’ we aren’t breaking any rules” feels too easy. 

3. Pretty much instant self-control. She passes it off as Bella being “prepared” and “braced” for it, but then in Life and Death, Beau is also pretty much instantly in control too and he didn’t have time to prepare at all. And sure, you can come up with reasons, her aversion to blood as a human being a decent one, and by itself it might not have bothered me too much, but because it’s combined with all the other ways Breaking Dawn lets the air out of the balloon after three books of build up about how much Bella will have to give up and what a struggle it will be to be a vampire, it feels too easy. I WANTED the newborn stuff! I was excited for it! I was stoked to get to see first-hand what it was like to go from human to vampire and what kind of adjustments you have to make within yourself, so Bella just being instantly great at it and loving it with zero angst was anticlimactic and boring for me.

But vampirism is pretty terrible for like, virtually anyone else? I mean, pick a backstory! They’re all dark and awful and sad (at BEST bittersweet) and fit perfectly in the vampire genre (could do without the violence against women, though, since she doesn't apply it in the same way to the male characters. Life and Death makes that glaringly clear). 

1. Alistair was turned into a vampire after his power-hungry father enlisted the help of a shady vampire who went by Astaroth, Prince of Hell, but was actually some blond dude named George and fed him his wife and daughters in exchange for Alistair to become a vampire and then eventually King (how was THAT supposed to work? Oh well). Then Alistair accidentally kills his father, his horse breaks his neck trying to get away from him, and all his beloved falcons are terrified of him and abandon him.

2. Within the Cullens, you have Carlisle, the son of a monster-hunting pastor who was turned during a vampire raid, knew he could never return to his father like that, tried to destroy himself, and ended up trying to starve himself, as a newborn, in the forest, for months. The angst! The crisis of faith! The horror! This is a compelling vampire story right there! A crime it wasn’t in the movies!

3. Everything about the newborn wars. That’s all terrible and brutal and violent and like, thank you, this is a vampire story, we need that. The idea of creating armies of new vampires, at their strongest and most feral, and then killing them when their power wanes after their first year is so dark and awful. Gaslighting the few mature vampires who remain into believing that it’s the way ALL vampires live so they’re no point in leaving. Just eternal, constant warfare and killing--not only killing humans for sustenance but your own kind. And it bucks the trend of a lot of vampire stories where vampires grow more powerful with age; the idea that NEW vampires are the strongest is actually pretty terrifying, it makes turning anyone into a vampire to join you as a companion or partner a pretty big gamble--can you control them until they Calm Down? Will their instincts overwhelm them and they’ll see you as a threat and destroy you? 

You read about these things and you’re like “the same lady who gave Bella a baby, a fairy tale cottage and a sexy brand new car upon her conversion to vampirism came up with THAT?” 

[mercurygray]

As some of you may know, I participate in a military history book club with some other volunteers at my museum. It's a lot of fun for me because it forces me to read about a wide variety of conflicts and perspectives and discuss them with a group of pretty smart people.

At least once a year we try to read a book that's been adapted into a movie. So far we've done The Great Escape, which was pretty accurate to the book, and Monuments Men, which wasn't. This month our selection was Enemy at the Gates, by William Craig, and the 2001 movie of the same name.

I wasn't expecting anything amazing from the movie version of Enemy at the Gates - Hollywood has a specific set of goals for storytelling and historians have another, and it's just the way of the world that they don't often meet in the middle.

I feel like I should start by saying that I didn't like William Craig's book. Written in the 1970s, the big draw factor for Craig was that he was interviewing and quoting men and women who were actually at the battle, much in the same way Lyn Macdonald chronicled the First World War. While this gave a lot of insight about the lived experience of the battle, I didn't feel like I understood the context of Stalingrad and how the armies actually moved and fought. The other thing I didn't like about the book was the way it ended - Craig used many, many more German interviews than he did Russian towards the end of the book, and as it wrapped up I found myself feeling sorry for the Germans, which isn't necessarily the way one wants to end a book about a battle the Russians won.

Which brings me back to the movie. This was my second time seeing Enemy at the Gates - I watched it a long time ago when I didn't know much about World War Two in general, and the one thing I remembered about it was the love story, which, obviously, doesn't really show up in the book.

But the one thing I *did* notice this time around was the way Rachel Weisz's character Tania is written, and I feel like she can offer us a lot of food for thought on the way we write OFCs, because Tania - and I hate to say this - is a bit of a Mary Sue.

The character is based, loosely, on Tania Chernova, a young medical student who fought as a partisan and trained as a sniper under Zaitsev, later becoming his lover. According to Craig, she "embarked on a relentless war against the enemy, whom she always referred to as 'sticks' that one broke because she refused to think of them as human beings." She seems like she was a pretty tough lady. (There are other historians who think Craig may have made her story up, so we should probably take this with a grain of salt.)

The movie's Tania, however, is first presented as a pretty face on a train car as Zaitsev and his fellow soldiers are carted off to the city. Later they meet again in an underground apartment. She's a student of German literature - a language skill that the political officer Danilov can use. Her role in the story, immediately, is to cause friction between Danilov and Zaitsev. Later in the movie she reveals she knows how to fire a rifle because her family are Jews who would need to defend themselves, and they were planning to emigrate to Palestine. The backstory sounds like we're checking a box, like we can't have a World War Two movie if we don't have a Holocaust narrative in there somewhere. Don't get me wrong - stories like the Bielski partisans and the Ritchie boys are important and should be told, but the inclusion of this detail doesn't serve this story at all except to garner pity from the audience - which can be accomplished in so many other ways.

There's just too much about Tania that's convenient - that she already knows how to use a rifle, that she speaks German but her political bona fides are never questioned, that she's a Jew who watched her family die, that she's pretty and remains pretty for the rest of the movie. These things come up exactly when it serves the story - not before. We need a compelling emotional moment and Danilov magically figures out Tania's a Jew, at which point she shares the story about watching her family get shot. It's a little too neat. And there's nothing in the movie to reflect some of the things that made the historical Tania interesting and compelling - the line about sticks, her grit and courage, her unwillingness to show mercy to the men occupying her city and her country.

And, of course, she dies beautifully and tragically to inspire Zaitsev and Danilov to help win the battle. None of the action she takes in the story is for her goals or dreams - it's always for the two leads.

So, where does this leave us with OFCs?

Good characters need motivation - they have reasons for being where they are and doing what they do. Sharing that with your audience helps us understand them, take their side.

On a related note, characters need backstories. They don't need to be groundbreaking or filled with trauma, but they do need to be consistent, and they need to be brought up from time to time. These folks started somewhere before the story began, and they'll need to end somewhere when the story stops. Write nobodies. Write medical students who have to learn to be snipers. Write characters with skills they will never have to use.

And, lastly, Let people get messy - with their emotions, with their uniforms, with their lives. The movie makes a real hash of this love triangle, but real Chernova apparently crawled through a sewer and bluffed her way out of a German field kitchen. No artful Hollywood dirt smudges here.

[madmanjive]

Shinji, Asuka, and QRei wander until they are picked up by a truck, transporting them to a nearby Lilin settlement.

Toji is a village doctor and father of a young child named Tsubama (with Hikari, who is also alive).

Kensuke is also there. He’s an avid survivalist and works for a smaller sub-organization within WILLE called KREDIT, developing and refining the re-vitalization tech used for Angel Sealing Pillars.

Shinji stays with Kensuke and Asuka. Asuka wanders around naked and has a few suspiciously intimate moments with Kensuke, who she refers to as Ken-Ken.

Shinji is nearly catatonic. He refuses to eat or engage, still shaken by what happened with Kaworu. At one point, he gets a glimpse of Asuka’s DSS Choker and vomits, having been reminded of Kaworu’s head exploding. Kensuke cleans up the vomit.

Asuka marvels how he can manage to throw up without eating anything. Frustrated, Asuka and other villagers try to forcefeed him meals. Village elders scold Shinji for not trying hard enough. Hikari implores that the elders go easier on him.  

Meanwhile, Shinji is slowly recovering from his initial shock. Asuka is protecting the village perimeter.Kensuke teaches Shinji how to fish, elaborating more on the Angel Sealing Pillars. According to Kensuke, ASPs do not run indefinitely. Their failure will mean the end of the Lilin settlement and its inhabitants. Here, he introduces Shinji to “Ryoji Kaji” - Misato and Kaji’s 14 year old son, who works with Kensuke on KREDIT.Ryoji wears a light blue/white radiation suit. Here, it’s explained that Kaji died during 3rd Impact by closing the Door of Guf, while Misato was pregnant with Ryoji. Presumably, the Door of Guf can only be opened and closed with a Key of Nebuchandezzer, so Kaji could have procured two Keys from SEELE, one that he gave to Gendo, and one that he kept for himself.Ryoji has no clue who his parents are - allegedly thinks of himself as orphaned (parallels with Kaji’s own childhood post-Second Impact). Misato had abandoned him shortly after he was born. 

Turns out, Rei has an LCL deficiency in need of constant maintenance. Her body deteriorates the longer she remains outside her tank. With Tsubama near, Rei starts crying as the realization dawns on her. She has no idea how to process her death and doesn’t understand why it makes her so sad.Before she dies, Rei finds Shinji and gives him the SDAT. She thanks him. Her plugsuit changes color from black to white and she explodes in a pop of LCL.Shinji decides to return to WILLE and help Misato restore the world back to its pre-Impact state.WILLE does not react to Shinji well. They quarantine him again, though this time without a DSS Choker. Asuka and Mari visit him in his quarantine cell.Mari re-introduces herself to Shinji. Asuka admits to Shinji that she’d “liked him a long time ago” when she was still a child. Asuka is relieved to be long past those childish feelings, and happier still she had the opportunity to get them off her chest.Gendo starts to make use of Eva 13. The Wunder embarks to destroy him and 13. Here, a battle ignites between a skull-Eva army and Units 02 and 08, repaired with the spare parts WILLE salvaged from Paris in AVANT.Asuka attempts to destroy Unit 13′s core, first by removing her eyepatch to unleash an energy bolt from her Bardiel-corrupted eyesocket.When that doesn’t work, she goes beast mode, only for Unit 13 to destroy her after she injects Angel blood into 02 for an emergency upgrade. Asuka dies.  

Gendo successfully merges with 13, ready to start the final Impact. Shinji demands that Misato let him pilot Unit-01.Misato agrees; the time has come for Shinji to face off against his father in Unit-01. However, Sakura and Midori are vehemently opposed to the idea.Sakura, terrified and panicked, tries to shoot Shinji. Misato intervenes and takes a bullet for him (just like in EOE).As Shinji rushes to Misato’s aid, they have a heart to heart. Shinji tells Misato he met her son, Ryoji, and liked him. Shinji hands Misato a photo of Shinji and Ryoji smiling together that Kensuke had taken moments before. Misato smiles, relieved.Mari retrieves Shinji and transports him to Unit 01. Inside 01, sits Rei II with long hair. Shinji goes berserk.Shinji and Gendo duke it out in Units 01 and 13. Shinji is positioned as someone capable of growth, someone who can move on from the past, versus Gendo, who is escapist, stagnant, trapped in old memories. Shinji resolves to create a new world without Evas. During their fight, Shinji and Gendo’s memories cycle through, pulling in random scenes from their pasts: Shinji’s middle school, Sachiel stage, inside Misato’s apartment, etc.WILLE is baffled how Shinji can pilot despite his synch ratio reading “zero” - until Maya and Ritsuko realize “zero” actually represents the number closest to zero; that is, infinity.At one point, Gendo and Shinji stop fighting and the setting transforms to reveal a train, where they both confront each other. Gendo’s backstory is explored: he was alone and didn’t care about people, until he met Yui, who made him feel for the first time. When she died, he decied he’d do anything to get her back again.  

Shinji gets right up in Gendo’s face and pops his AT Field. Gendo protests, incredulous and resisting. We see a flashback of Gendo sending Shinji away.Shinji gives Gendo the SDAT through the AT Field. Gendo, defeated, departs the train  

Shinji and Rei brainstorm how the new, Eva-less world will look like. Shinji says, in English, the new world will be a “Neon Genesis.”Rebuild is set up as a sequel/loop of the original TV series. Kaworu is the same character in every Evangelion story: when he dies in one universe he gets brought back in another.Shinji remembers the original anime inside Unit 01, which contains both the Lance of Longinus and Lance of Cassius (the lances of hope and despair, together).  

Shinji attempts to impale himself as we get flashbacks from End of Evangelion. Giant Rei returns in hyperrealistic/fantastical CGI.Misato sacrifies herself and the Wunder by colliding the ship into GNR’s giant head. Before she dies, she says “I’m sorry, Ryoji” - a parallel played straight with Gendo in EOE.Yui blocks Shinji before he can impale himself with the Spears. Two sets of arms wrap around 01, including Eva 13 (Gendo). Gendo and Yui reunite, smiling fondly at their son.Shinji gets transported into the sea of LCL from End of Evangelion. Asuka is there, her plugsuit in tatters. Shinji tells Asuka that he once liked her, but now she needs to take care of Kensuke.Asuka has an Instrumentality sequence where she confronts a giant, human-sized doll as a child. The doll removes its head to reveal Kensuke, who affirms her existence  

Final Impact commences. Shinji says “Goodbye, all of Evangelion.” Unlike EOE Impact where everyone explodes into puddles of LCL, everyone, already having exploded, regains their forms through self-discovery.Evangelions turn into humans. Humans become men, women, children, animals, and nature.Shinji is alone on a quiet, blue beach. Mari’s Evangelion appears and says, “Goodbye Evangelion 3.0+1.0.” We’re treated to another train station. Adult Shinji, wearing a business suit, waits on one side of the tracks. Adult Rei and Kaworu are on the other side.Adult Mari comes up from behind Shinji and goes “Guess who?”Shinji replies: “a woman with a big chest.” Mari asks him if he’s “ready to go” and Shinji responds with an affirmative. Then, the shot pulls back to reveal a shot of live action Ube, Japan - Hideaki Anno’s hometow 

There you have it. After all these years kensuke get to be whit the girl of his dreams. Kensuke is the man.   AsukaKkenken LIVES!!!! Good things comes to those who wait.  

[itonje]

hey sexy stranger who is not me would you like to talk about therese

hello sexy stranger who is not me i WOULD like to talk about therese aka theresa but i changed her name a little bit cause it didnt sound like. idk french enough

anyways therese florien is louis florien (oc)'s younger sister and also the last monarch of the northern empire (actually when she became queen she was the last monarch of just the north because the south and the west had broken off by that point but we'll get to that).

in the main story, 20-30 years after all these events ill be telling later take place, samira and the rest of the continent know her as 'The Coward Queen/Tea-time Queen' because she only ruled for a couple days and immediately forsook the throne when the southern and ko'bi army approached the capital. currently, she resides in the florien ancestral home (summerhead) on the northern continent, and she's converted the castle into both a prayer place and a place where travelers and vagabonds and so on can stay for safety. and she's basically become like a priestess . long long long backstory under the cut

anyways . the first we know of her is that she's louis' younger sister, she's very religious, she's very timid, and she's very close to her father gareth...there are reasons for the last two that have to do with her late mother lorete. so like. louis is a sorcerer which lorete discovered when he was just a child (northern sorcerers are believed to be willingly practicing dark magic against their religion or whatever) and the florien family is already in some deep shit with the royal family (tldr floriens used to be the royal family, were deposed and murdered and so on and also gareth pissed off his cousin back when they were in their twenties or whatever, this will all be relevant later) and so lorete knew that her son would be taken away/the family wld be punished or whatever adn devoted all her attention towards her son and towards concealing his magic from everyone, including his father.

and when she gives birth to therese, her attention is still all lazer focused on louis, and gareth, who doesn't know why she's ignoring her in the first place basically raises his daughter alone up until lorete dies of an outbreak of plague or whatever when therese is four and then he's raising the eight year old louis AND therese alone. therese's timidity comes from both the paranoia her mother exuded when she was little, lorete's death, the fact that when she was young she saw a jousting accident involving her father in which a man died. her piousness comes from the fact that the only thing she really did when she was younger was pray and read while her father was out doing knightly duties (cough cough colonizing) and it provided an outlet for her to vent her emotions ab her upbringing

also, there's a conspiracy the floriens were involved in with a couple other families set up by gareth's grandmother to restore the florien family on the throne (re: louis would become king when the time came) so like even then everyone always gave her brother attention over her because they were convinced he would be king and she was just the second child they didn't care about. in this world like women are as eligible to inherit and own land just as much as men btw louis was just the eldest

anyways because of her very like. kind of stuck up religious nature, her fear, and because the floriens are already kind of pariahs her first friends are just louis' friends, charicle elaphin (the elaphins are a family close 2 the floriens) and the strange iloro girl whos in training to be a knight (kidlat, but her 'northern name' is claire), but they get along very well, making a little sort of friend group.

as the years get on, therese really keeps herself busy just by taking care of her, who's very infirm, and reading more theological stuff (like by her hero, her ancestor aveline florien who was a priestess and religious reformer) and even writing a bit of her own stuff. to the outside world though, her interiority is looked down upon and royal family supporters (ie, against the floriens) even spread rumors about her, like that she's a secret sorcerer or something (the florien family has always had accusations of sorcery flung against them, little do they know there is a witch in her family but it's her brother who's actually the sorcerer)

we mostly either see her thru the perspective of kidlat, who likes her but feels a bit alienated to her like how kidlat feels alienated by everything northern, or louis who is like. apathetic towards her like he feels some affection for her because they're siblings of course but he's not really close to her and he thinks her piousness is self righteous and finds her deep fear and timidity unpleasant to deal with...tho, his greatest resentment towards her comes from the fact that he's always felt his father has preferred her over him (he does btw. like louis isn't wrong lol)

anyways the royal family sets up a wedding for her because louis refuses to be married, and claims this is out of love for their cousins, but this is just really a ploy to royally piss off gareth by taking his other child away from his household (something they already did to louis), and therese is um. well she's very angry and upset about this, which louis (and no one else, except for her father ofc) doesn't realize until the day of her wedding when he's getting her ready. she doesn't want to leave her father and summerhead, she wants to devote her life to the Goddess instead of some random husband, and she, like the rest of the floriens incl louis feels very humiliated and cheated by the way she's being treated when she has the right to the throne, when she and co should be in charge....this surprises louis because. he didnt know other people had feelings. also at some point therese wants to ask charicle to marry her instead because he's very religious as well and he's gay so neither of them would have pressure to feel love for the other, but louis tells her to not do that by saying oh well he's half western you're a florien almost-princess which convinces her to not do that

anyways she does get married to this guy, and has a kid (eventually), but continues to constantly visit her own family and gareth dies of like. natural causes or whatever (also stress because of louis being a cunt asshole or whatever and therese leaving him and colonizer guilt and a bad leg infection and honestly the man had a lot going on tbh) which really really bums her out, louis also yells at her because again, poorly hidden resentment over his father's preferential treatment of her which makes her even more upset

also later on when the king is dying she tries to pray for him at his bedside but the queen, who again, does not like the floriens, gets mad, calls her a witch and devil or whatever whos killing him, tries to beat her etc, and finally therese has had it she's HAD it and her big joker breaking point moment is. throwing a shoe at the queen and calling her a 'very godless lady'

anyways later later after aeetes (yeah remember him) kills prince edouard, who was about to be crowned king, and the west, galvanized by the south breaking off and the death of the Sort of King, breaks off as well and starts waging war against the northern forces, the remaining northern lords are like. well shit. whos going to be in charge. maybe the floriens again? but..... louis has already ran off chasing after the deserter kidlat (and unbeknownst to everyone, has died in a tragic mysterious Axe Murder Accident) so the crown goes to...you guessed it....therese! anyways she's crowned, only of the north, which is the only nation the crown has juristiction over at this point, but when the southern and ko'bi forces annihilate the remainder of the loyal northern knights (many northern families have tried to start their own factions to try to reconquer the continent, even fighting each other..this is not working) and move up to take the throne a couple days afterward, her deep fear that she's always carried with her leads to her immediately forfeiting the crown and running away....

i wrote a little something from her perspective on her coronation, basically she believes that the goddess has put this in her hands for a reason, she believes and knows she's truly the heir to the great florien kings and queens, she's apathetic towards the (supposed) death of her brother because um. the way he treated her for all of her life, though she does feel a great emptiness now that he's gone, she wishes her mother and father were there to see her, but there's always that. undercurrent of anxiety and uncertainty she's always had. so you can kind of see what she eventually does coming from a mile away

[shoshiwrites]

could i get the commentary thingy on this piece from in bloom? i really love how vivid this description is, and it remains one of my favourites 🧡 (i might also send another one of these in for something joe/jo if you don’t mind 😅)

Spring had begun again, somehow. The melted snow told her as much, the softened ground under her boots.

Back home in Michigan, Faye had found almost no reminders of the past three years. How could she? It was easy to say things were different now, back home. She washed her hair under a faucet instead of out of a helmet, attended church services down the street instead of on a mountainside. The oranges on her mother’s table bore no resemblance in color nor taste to the ones of Mostaganem, their deep red flesh and sweetness.

But now, walking here, she couldn’t help but think of Caserta, where the platoon had stopped in their slow trek up the boot of Italy. The crumbling palace where they’d slept, worked, ate in the damp cold. She pulled her jacket closer now, fingers fiddling with the cloth-covered buttons. Her clothes fit her here, at least, but she still favored darker colors, heavy fabrics, mimicking the makeshift uniforms of her time as Private Jordan.

And just as the coolness reminded her of unheated marble, bombed-out wings cordoned off, the trees reminded her of Sparanise. Last week’s warmer days meant they’d bloomed early this year; their petals flickered in the lingering chill like white lights on a backdrop of gray. What a relief it had been to be outside there, spending spring among the apple trees. Miriam Shaw and Delores Philips had even planted a victory garden in front of their tent. Faye thought of them then, the letters sitting on her dresser awaiting reply.

Tsym Cora, for your words and for sending this !! 💕 and I would be DELIGHTED if you sent something for Jo/Joe, no minding at all!:)

[send me a fic snippet and I'll give you the director's commentary!]

So this section (and the fic in general) really could not have happened without these two things (in addition to @mercurygray's Blind Date Challenge back in February and her Central Casting generator, which started it all).

1. These photos of WACs among spring blossoms in Italy (1, 2) — the biggest inspiration right here.

2. This thesis (was calling it a dissertation, oops) on the 6669th Women's Army Corps Headquarters Platoon.

When I say that that thesis wrote the fic for me, I am not kidding.

Pretty much everything in this section is from there (Caserta, the palace that housed the WACs, Sparanise where they enjoyed living outside much better than their previous drafty accommodations). The 'makeshift' uniforms, where WACs either made do with what they were issued (which could be incorrect sizes and/or badly designed), or simply overrode the rules in the field and wore men's fatigues instead of what was officially approved. The only exception is the mention of blood oranges in Algeria, which comes (at least in part, I may have tweaked the location?) from June Wandrey's memoir Bedpan Commando.

For this section, I really wanted to (a) introduce Faye and her backstory fairly quickly, and (b) draw these quick little comparisons between home and 'over there,' since we weren't doing a longer dive into her time in the service.

I try in my writing to be really..sensory? And especially during a time of year like early spring, where everything's thawing, there can be these really vivid images and sensations to draw on. Having never been to either Italy or Michigan, I wasn't sure if the reminders for Faye were really 'accurate,' but I think they work here (not sure I'd have it be Michigan if I wrote this now, since that's an RL thing but. It is what it is for this). I am fond of the line about oranges, too, and that visual.

I also wanted to convey this sense of hesitancy, hedging, that little bit of stilted, "well, I'm home now. What does that mean?" So we see her making these observations, comparisons, fiddling with her coat, thinking of her fellow WACs and the letters they've sent her, which she hasn't answered yet. We don't know if she will, but she hasn't closed anything off at this point. There's that sense of possibility, which I wanted to come through not just there but in the entire fic, working together with the setting of spring.

[mythgirlimagines]

As the creation of two calming waves crashing together, a calm ocean breeze is quickly birthed through them. And that calm ocean breeze is commonly known as Myth Anon, Former Ultimate Swimmer!

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BACKSTORY

Born to two happy owners of a beach house on a scenic and heart-rending beach, Myth knew how to swim, before she could even crawl, much like her older sisters before her. Upon entering middle school, she was encouraged to enter her school’s swim team and quickly became the star of the team. However, because she only likes to swim for fun, inner peace, and poetic inspiration, Myth eventually quit competing, but still managed to get enough coverage from the media to gain her Ultimate status. In her adult years, she is currently working part-time alongside her sisters at her parents’ beach house, and is currently studying to become a marine biologist, which she (unsurprisingly) turns out to be both very passionate and a veritable expert about.

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RELATIONSHIPS

Wyre Anon, Former Ultimate Detective

Wyre and Myth have been only the best of friends ever since they were children and have met one faithful day on the beach. Although Wyre is also known for their criminal sketchworks and their skills as a physical enforcer/bodyguard, it’s Wyre‘s skills as a homicide detective that made Wyre gain their Ultimate status, that is still going strong (and even stronger) in their adult years. For the eternally scatterbrained and innocent swimmer, Wyre is usually around to watch over both her and her belongings and to prevent weirdos from trying anything funny with their friend. Myth really appreciates Wyre’s help in finding misplaced items and she just loves walking across the beach with them all the time.

Outfit: A brown overcoat and a light green and yellow striped vest and a black tie over a white button-up shirt, pants that match their overcoat, darker brown leather gloves and loafers.

Anon Scar, Ultimate Programmer

Famous for creating one of the first ever instances of self-sufficient, self-teaching, and ultimately benevolent AI (known by the code name “D-3M-0N”), Scar is also a big name in online role-playing groups, where she is known as “Mother-Board, the Master Technomancer”, a ruler of a tech-based science-fiction realm who is in charge of all the high-end technology in it. On particularly busy and sleepless nights, she can even be caught acting as Mother-Board herself. Because Myth lived in a tech-less beach house, she is absolutely clueless in the ways of modern technology, and that is where heroic Scar swoops in and tries her best to teach the swimmer the way of the computer.

Outfit: Messier hair that is done up in two messy side buns, a purple hoodie worn hood-up with black and white striped sleeves, a ruffled purple skirt, black and white striped stockings and purple boots, the mask from her original design.

Fusion Anon, Ultimate Affluent Progeny

Despite only striking it rich very recently, Fusion’s business acumen helped expand his father’s failed company into a multi-million dollar industry and it also ensured that his noveau-riche parents’ finances would stay with them for a long time. He may get constantly underestimated by equally influential but longer-running business magnates, due to his situation and age. When not performing business operations, he loves gorging himself on lavish buffets and learning all he can from the massive library installed in his house. Upon entering the Kibo-Con, he began showering his fellow con-mates with lavish gifts. Needless to say, Myth really appreciated the life-sized plush walrus.

Outfit: Hair tied into a ponytail, a blue overcoat (that has a pocket watch in his right lapel) over a white button-up shirt, a pink vest, and a yellow and red striped tie, white gloves, pants that match his overcoat and the glasses and loafers from his original design.

Fusion Anon II, Ultimate Moral Compass

Fusion II attended a school with a rather high rate of delinquency, and, by the time she left for Hope’s Peak, all instances of delinquency have diminished in an instant. Claiming that she became a public moral committee because “you can‘t break the law, if you are the law” and ”I just want power”, Fusion II wishes to rise to the top of the corporate ladder and become like the rich magnates that she idolised so much, all to prove to her classmates that she is so much more than just a mousy little overachiever. Myth may not understand the moral compass’s dreams and ideals, but anyone who praises Myth’s mindset and thought process (read: actually unread sarcasm) must be a good person in her book.

Outfit: Fake reading glasses, a grey blazer over a white button-up shirt and a light blue and dark blue striped tie, a red armband indicating her position, a long skirt that matches her tie, black stockings and brown Mary Janes.

Just Anon, Ultimate Fanfiction Author

With a sparse and sporadic uploading schedule, Janon’s (or as he is known online, ”JustInThisForFun”) fans and followers commonly refer to the times he actually bothers to upload one of his fica as “Random-Time Rapture”, for you could never really predict when he will upload a fic, but anyone who reads his fanfiction would know that they are veritable masterpieces that can almost match the quality of the original works. Despite their differing temperaments, Myth and Janon love to relax together and introduce entirely new ways of relaxing to each other. Myth’s suggestions of relaxing on a particularly warm rock and lying face-up in the Con’s fountain are Janon’s two new favorite relaxation methods.

Outfit: Same outfit as the original, but with a bandolier of pens and other writing supplies.

Sparkle Anon, Former Ultimate Baseball Player

Considered a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to both Little and Major League Baseball, Sparkle catapulted her all-girl’s softball team (called The Shimmering Meteors) into stardom, with both her skills in the sport and her bombastic and dramatic personality, when on the diamond. Despite both being pioneers in women’s athletics, Sparkle and Myth‘s personalities and philosophies couldn’t be any more different, much to the confusion of the two girls. While the loud yet intelligent Sparkle plays mainly for the glory and thrill of competition, the calm yet ditzy Myth only swims for fun and for poetic inspiration. Sparkle and Myth just can’t comprehend each other’s athletic philosophies and motives.

Outfit: Hair in a bobcut, orange and pink sports jacket with her team’s logo on the back (and matching hat on her head) over a black and white baseball uniform, black cleats and a sparkly pink bandana around her neck.

Egg Anon, Former Ultimate Idol, and Wet Sock Anon, Former Ultimate Fashionista

With their twin as their loyal costume designer in tow, Egg takes in to the stage with such cursed songs as, “Deodorant Push-Pop” and “Discord DM Detonator”, which have garnered quite the cult following online, and quickly became one of the most infamous idols in show business, thanks to their song’s subject matter, as well as being one of the few ever NB idols. Egg and Wet Sock regularly love to antagonise Myth, but thanks to her ditzy and unaware nature, any and all cursed comments uttered by the twins would either be unintentionally ignored, giggled at and agreed to, or even getting used in one of Myth’s poems much to the ire of the duo who live off of attention, positive or otherwise.

Egg’s Outfit: A garishly covered fedora, a t-shirt with a cursed meme on the front, green and red striped upside-down pants, pink crocs.

Wet Sock’s Outfit: Hair over one of their eyes, pink eyeshadow, a black hoodie with white fluff, tight jeans, white and black converses.

Curious Anon, Jr. Ultimate Clairvoyant

Raised in a family that are all experts in supernatural powers, Curious stands out amongst the rest of their family with their clairvoyance powers being far above that of any other ancestor before them. This caused the fortune-telling booth that was passed down from Curious’s parents to them to skyrocket in popularity, and earn Curious a free spot in the Hope’s Peak Middle School roster as the “Jr. Ultimate Clairvoyant”. As a lover of the spiritual herself, Myth found herself fascinated by Curious’s powers, and Curious was all too happy to show off and teach the awestruck swimmer all about their powers. But than again, one could ask Curious to do anything, and they’d do it without hesitation.

Outfit: A green and off-white kimono with a red obi, brown prayer beads around their neck, white socks and brown geta sandals.

Anon Nerd, Former Ultimate Soldier

Born and raised in a territory that was eventually wracked by the spoils of war, Nerd was drafted into his cruel nation’s army, thanks to a combination of his natural anger-induced strength and his natural talent in piloting, repairing and even inventing war weapons and machinery. All the time spent combating both potential and certain threats made him constantly hostile and quick to anger, even in his adult years, when the war was long over. Taking sympathy on her fellow chaperone, Myth decided to teach Nerd all sorts of relaxation techniques (that mostly just involve wading or lying in water), but to no avail, for Nerd has feelings for someone that he would much rather blast with his scouter (read: Myth).

Outfit: A black suit of armor with built-in-weapons and the scouter from his original design.

Eldritch Anon, Ultimate Novelist

Under the pen name “R.C. Wells” (because he doesn’t want evil corporate executives to trace his location), Eldritch particularly specialises in dystopian novels that seek to expose the real world for the apocalyptic wasteland that it‘ll become, if the sheep (read: his audience) remain oblivious to all the horrors of the world they’re living in. Despite Eldritch’s blatant dislike and constant insulting of his audience, he only has the best of intentions for the world, and he thinks that the written word is the best way to combat against the propaganda in the media. Needless to say, Myth‘s relaxation tactics doesn’t exactly sit well with the constantly-worried novelist, so he avoids her like the plague.

Outfit: Reading glasses, a pencil behind his ear, a brown overcoat over a white dress shirt and a red tie, dark brown pants and matching shoes.

Dream Anon, Ultimate Gambler

Despite what her age and her childish personality would suggest, Dream is a veritable genius, when it comes to turning the odds to her favor, and winning boatloads of money at the gambling tables and betting on sports. Dream is infamously referred to, by her foes, as “Lady Luck’s Lovechild”, for her seemingly supernatural ability to make luck fall into her favor and guarantee her automatic wins, against otherwise dangerous odds. Just like with Curious, Myth found herself fascinated with Dream’s supernatural luck-changing powers and likes to sneak under the gambling tables and watch Dream gamble to uncover her secret, much to the embarrassment of the gambler.

Outfit: A grey and white fedora and pantsuit with card suit-themed buttons, a pink undershirt and heels.

Iris Anon, Jr. Ultimate Martial Artist

As current heiress to the Ryuseitai Martial Art’s Dojo, despite what her clumsiness and regular slip-ups suggest, Iris is regarded by martial artists everywhere as a prodigy in combat, who is able to take down foes that are at least a foot taller than her. Iris is also quite the excellent instructor, teaching her elementary-aged students all about mindfulness and positive thinking, which helps breed a brand new generation of strong martial artists. Because of their shared interest in mindfulness and odd philosophies, Iris gets along very well with Myth, who has a similar nature to her, and they have regular meditation sessions underneath a waterfall hidden in the forest behind the Kibo-Con.

Outfit: Hair tied into two Sailor-Moon-esque buns, a pink gi with a big purple star on the front and back, pink sandals, bandages all over her body, the hoodie from her original design tied around her waist.

Purple Anon, Ultimate Lucky Student

Being from one of the more wealthy families in her neighbourhood, Purple was signed up to Hope’s Peak’s annual Lucky Student raffle by her parents, and her supernatural luck meant that she was the lucky girl selected to attend. Because Purple was sheltered a lot, she is very timid and regularly speaks in old-fashioned and archaic terms. Because of a majority of these qualities, Myth and Purple get along very well, thanks to their shared interest in writing poetry, and Myth’s fascination with both Purple’s supernatural luck powers and her odd mode of speech, which sounds much like her own. Whenever they get together, hardly anyone can tell what the two girls are saying.

Outfit: The original outfit, but without the beret and a four-leaf-clover pinned to her sweater.

Watch as this oddball swimmer either befriends or baffles the people around her!

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PERSONALITY

Needless to say, Swimmer!Myth is one hard-to-read swimmer, for she has quite the odd thought process and an equally eccentric vocabulary, often speaking in odd poetic terms about water or marine life, and always searches for inspiration for her poetry. Swimmer!Myth also has a strong love for the supernatural, and can usually be seen learning about and getting in touch with her calm and spiritual side, if she’s not swimming or lying back-up in shallow bodies of water. Swimmer!Myth also gets easily distracted, and regularly wanders off, requiring a buddy to help ground her back to Earth (read: Detective!Wyre). Swimmer!Myth is also heavily empathetic, and, in spite of being an athlete, actually hates competition, which is why she dropped out of being an Olympic-level competitive swimmer years ago, and she really treasures her loved ones.

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APPEARANCE

Swimmmer!Myth has long and wavy brown hair with a French braid tieback, that she can put up in a ponytail while swimming, and blue swimming goggles on her head. Swimmer!Myth swims practically all the time, and her simplistic outfit reflects that perfectly. She wears a pink, blue, and purple wetsuit with blue frills on her sides, a pink translucent shawl and a seashell necklace around her neck, along with purple flip-flops on her feet.

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Now that I’m finished with this AU, I’d love to hear your opinions on the talentswap! In the meantime, look out for more content made by your’s truly!

-Fusion Anon

[bellaslilpapercut]

Eclipse reread part 3 bewr bewr bewrrr! Covering the entire rest of the book in ONE post so buckle on in baybee: 

1. Absolutely everything about chapter 15 (wager) is disgusting. To a certain extent I appreciate how successfully meyer captures how frustrating assault is as a woman, how futile it feels to fight against it. But at the same time the way she handles the aftermath is unbelievably disappointing and infuriating. Charlie doesn't get up to help his own daughter, Jake trails after Bella into the house and sticks around, there's just no relief or reflection that feels satisfying. Bella can ask where the justice is when she finds out Jake isn't aging but just ignores Charlie defending her assailant? And to some extent I get it, I've shut down after assault before to the point where it took years to recognize that some of the things that happened even were assault. But when there's a pattern within the series of men being narratively rewarded for assault and abuse and women being punished for reacting to abuse it feels like the narrative is reinforcing the status quo of women<men. I'm not stupid, I understand when a book is trying to make me uncomfortable and I don't need villains to be punished to know that they're villainous. This doesn't come across that way at all. Meyers handling of misogynistic abuse and violence lack the nuance to make me believe that she sees this violence as something to be critical of rather than something that just happens to women. And again, because it's a pattern in her writing, women getting no reprieve from gendered harm, I don't believe she's making a statement. There's just no self awareness and that's the key difference between a story like Brave New World or Lolita and Twilight.

2. Also this quote that precedes the assault is just so so frustrating:

Bella is not mean for setting boundaries! She isn't stringing you along! I would love to hit meyer in the head with a rolled up newspaper. Anyway.

3. Bella keeps saying things like "this would be annoying if it weren't so scary" in regards to having her clothes stolen by vampires that want her dead and having to lie to people around her, again because dozens of vampires want her dead. And y'know after the third time she said she would be annoyed if she weren't scared I'm just left to believe she isn't scared at all. I don't feel rising tension, the newborn army feels like a minor nuisance and even after they connect it to victoria (who still hasn't shown up at all) I'm just like...okay well get on with it then! Meyer makes bella "shudder" (I'm still tempted to make a comp of every time she shudders in this fucking book lol) instead of showing us her actual fear. I don't believe she's scared, I don't care about the "threat," and I don't believe anything bad will happen to Bella. There are Literally No Stakes here. I'm not invested in this story at all.

4. Alice is a bad friend lmfao

Girl, you're psychic you know she wanted to wear red why are you just dressing her up for your brother.

5. Okay returning to point 3 because I read chapter 17 and had an epiphany: Bella says she isn't scared for herself and I get that I do. But smeyer also hasn't shown us that she's selfless- just that she doesn't care if she dies. If bella actually cared for her human friends, in any way, I would believe that the newborn army was a scary threat because the people she loves might get hurt. But I don't believe that she cares about that I only believe that she- like Edward- has a weird martyr complex.

6. The Mirror chapter also reinforces this. I can’t stop thinking about how much more impactful it would have been narratively if it had been Angela in Bree’s position (because she’s the only human friend Bella seems fond of but if Bella showed interest in any of the other humans, honestly any of them would do). Imagine the moment where the newborn vampire first lifts her head to look into Bella’s eyes and it’s someone she knows. Someone she cares for. There should have been consequences for Bella beyond “Jake got some bones broken and now I feel bad :(” which was also a shitty punishment because smeyer is inflicting physical trauma on an indigenous character just to make Bella feel bad. Okay. Anyway, it would have built the tension I was missing for- quite literally- over 300 pages of this book if Bella’s friends and classmates and Fork’s residents had been going missing the whole time. Suddenly, at the end of the battle, there’s Angela. Or Jess. Or Katie fucking Marshall. Someone Bella knew should have been there and maybe I would have cared about this book at all.

7. Going back in time to this quote which comes before the battle:

UGH!!! SHUT UP SMEYER! She literally poisoned Jake’s character from the moment she made him a main character and she has zero self reflection to see the damage that she’s causing here. I’ve said before that I don’t think Jake’s actions were a romantic deal breaker and that stands out now more than ever after reading Eclipse. THIS is the moment that Bella realizes she’s in love with Jake too. Smeyer not only sees abuse and aggression as romantic, she also lacks the braincells and reflection to see that she’s playing directly into racist stereotypes. Edward got to grow up- marginally- but Jake had to remain aggressive. I still don’t think she ever once meant to villify Jake- I think that there was no way in a hell a racist woman could ever successfully portray an indigenous character. His tenderness is tainted by the aggression she forces on his character and in the end he never had a chance because- again- he was being written by a racist woman with fucked up views of indigenous people.

8. Okay, I get it. They’re like Cathy and Heathcliff. Fine. I buy it.  

This isn’t even the last time she compares them to Cathy and Heathcliff. Kate Bush isn’t gonna write a song about you, meyer! Give it a rest! (Also lol at “like wuthering heights”)

9.  Jumping right to the end here because to be completely honest the only actual event in the entire book was the newborn battle. Jane was a bitch, fine. Edward talked at Victoria and bored her to death (presumably) and the action never felt very action heavy. I knew if from the “best friend (and werewolf)” line that this book was presumably written for idiots given how little is left to the imagination at any given time. I can’t stand when books treat the audience like dummies and I especially can’t handle YA books that do this. Teenagers aren’t stupid!! Young adults can pick up on subtlety in literature!! AND young adults can handle suspense and action. smeyer doesn’t do either well and the editors never once said “hey you know teens aren’t stupid right? like your audience will pick up on hints that you scatter you don’t have to forcefully explain everything?”  

10. Smeyer can’t stop interrupting herself even in the very last sentence of the book proper:

What, pray tell, is wrong with “Where it would stay for the rest of eternity.” Why did you have to sow doubt in the sentiment right after Bella made her For Real Final Decision???? And why the em-dash!? Again: the editors of the twilight saga are my nemeses but also my favorite conmen. What were they paid for?

11. Back to the editors real quick: if i was given a draft of eclipse I would instantly say: this story is almost 400 pages of nothing, you need to play with the structure of the story. You need to build suspense and if that means playing with POV like you randomly start doing in the epilogue, then do that. Or you can play with the plot. Nothing happens for 300 pages. It takes 300 pages to get to the newborn battle and nothing that happens before the newborn battle makes me feel worried about it. Again, kill off some humans, raise the stakes, do SOMETHING. This was so painfully slow to read because meyer tried to center this book on a love triangle that I didn’t even believe in myself. And even then, it took 14 chapters for the love triangle to get real action (as in an Event, not necessarily physical action). 

12. The epilogue. Oh man. Was the r-slur really so acceptable in 2007 that not one single editor questioned its use? I won’t type the quote in full but Jake refers to his fake arm sling as r-word. Like??? What? And THEN smeyer has him call Leah a “bitter harpy.” Shut up. 

In conclusion, nothing felt like a bigger waste of time than Eclipse. Genuinely, to be completely honest. Two (2) important things happened, at least in Bella’s narrative (I agree with Vinelle that the Volturi debacle was important from Carlisle’s perspective, it adds nothing to Bellas and Bella learns nothing important from it.): 1. Bella made a decision, she chose Edward. Who could have seen that coming? Whaaaat? 2. Rosalie told Bella her backstory. Not that Bella even used that to reflect on her decision to become a vampire but hey, at least it felt like an important moment. Jasper’s backstory only mattered for the newborn battle which didn’t matter at all (and it never informed his character and no one ever brings up that the confederacy was a terrible dark stain on US history (along with the rest of US history but that’s a full dissertation or two on its own)). I can’t imagine a way to improve this book as a standalone book. You could split up the plot (using that term loosely) so that New Moon and BD are both a little longer and BD a little more organized. But without completely changing the plot beats in Eclipse, its just pointless.