#ARGUABLY he should be more worried about her ability to manipulate him

[royaletiquette]

Nunnally (passing it gently to him): "One bingo, so we have at least a little tiny chance." - it is always better than nothing.

Are you their type? | @lured-into-wonderland

He's eyeing the unchecked manipulatable, debating if he wants to argue against it or not. "I'm sure you can be a smooth talker when you want to be."

[juniorgman187]

Malchance (Reid Fic) - Part 2

Summary: The only thing reader can count on is her bad luck and what it’ll get her into. In this case, it’s the lioness’ den - the lioness being Cat Adams.

Category: Angst, Fluffy Ending Pairing: Fem!Reader x Spencer Reid Content Warning: Canon-consistent trauma, brief mention of daddy issues, blood, manipulation, yelling, deceit (Let me know if I missed anything) Playlist: Call Out My Name by The Weeknd Word Count: 5k

READ PART 1 HERE!

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　

“There’s going to be a key to cracking Cat,” Ms. Prentiss explained to me. 

“A key?” 

“You’ll know it when you find it.” 

That was probably the most ambiguous advice I could’ve gotten, but it’s the one she sent me into the field with and the one that loomed in the back of my head as everything unfolded.

The plan the team and I agreed upon, which ironically Dr. Reid knew no part of, was that after Cat and him went to the rink, they’d come back to his apartment, where I would be waiting. Posing as his concerned girlfriend, the unexpected presence of competition would enrage Cat. With the wrath of a woman scorned, she’ll be furious enough to slip up and make a mistake. 

I’ve heard that she’s done her best, or arguably her worst, when she’s prepared, so this curveball might just put an end to the reign of Queen Cat. 

As far as the outlined plan of events went, sure, it was simple. As for me? 

No shot in hell that I’d be able to pull this off.

There was seemingly no feasible reality where I could outsmart her until she made a mistake or keep on the facade long enough to deceive her. The entire success of the plan hinged on my abilities or her lack of propriety. Not exactly betting odds, if you ask me. 

And yet, against everything, I was still walking into the lion’s den on my own volition, making myself right at home, acting like this was exactly where I belonged. When in reality, this was the last place I should’ve been.

“You got this, okay?” Someone in my earpiece chirped. Just out of paranoia, I pressed the device further in, un-tucking the strands of hair behind my ear to better conceal it. Even that wasn’t enough to lower the specter of my doubt. I prayed that she was lax in her vetting tonight.

“Spencie!” A giggly shriek from outside the door sent one large shock wave through my entire body. It was so sharp like they were right there. The sound of heavy footsteps followed, and my stomach churned in anticipation. I already hated this.

How did I even get here? 

Oh, right - malchance. 

I contemplated cracking my knuckles to self-soothe, but then I remembered what Ms. Prentiss told me about ‘tells.’

“Bodily tells are how people can read the emotions you’re not directly expressing. A majority of what profilers use to study behavior is your body language. Unfortunately, some of the best profilers are the unsubs themselves. She’ll know what you’re feeling if you show her. So stay strong.”

Stay strong. 

Try as I might, I couldn’t keep the fear from washing over me when the pair of muffled voices outside became clearer as they entered the apartment. 

I must’ve caught them in the middle of something, but I couldn’t exactly deduce what, seeing as they stopped when they saw me, which was before I turned around.

Dr. Reid was floored by my being there, but at least, he had a look of recognition. It wasn’t enough that he merely distinguished me to settle the worry I had about the fact that the BAU hadn’t told him I would be here. If I could, I would have, but they each advised against it. They needed his raw reaction just as much as they needed her’s. 

One ghastly look up and down and I could tell she came to the exact conclusion the team anticipated she would - that I’m her new competition. 

“Spencie - who is this?” 

Her dehumanization of me made Dr. Reid viscerally guilty for having extended an opportunity to let yet another person suffer the corollaries of her cruelty. He shook his head softly at me as though to say, ‘I’m sorry.’ An interesting choice - that that was what he chose to nonverbally say to me first. He didn’t even ask me with his eyes why I was here or what I was doing - he just apologized. 

What has this poor man been through?

“I’m his girlfriend,” I answered for him before the silence could get suspiciously long. By inserting myself in the conversation, I was following what the BAU suggested I should do earlier. Stand your ground. You can’t be afraid to speak up to her. “I’m (y/n). You are?”

I held out my hand for a handshake that was never returned. Instead, all I got back was an ice cold stare. 

She’s reading your body language, an inner voice I didn’t even recognize called from within me. Soon after I realized it wasn’t my conscience speaking - it was Ms. Prentiss. I’d forgotten I had an earpiece, much less that there were micro cameras littered all over the apartment so they could have a firsthand view of this train wreck. How could anyone voluntarily watch this mess unravel? 

“And when did this happen?” Her voice went up an octave as she tilted her head with morbid curiosity, then let it roll back in Dr. Reid’s direction. “Spencer?”

“Five months ago,” he replied without missing a beat, keeping his eyes steady on mine. If I hadn’t known any better, I would’ve believed him, but that stare he was giving me said something more. What’s going on? He wondered.

Oh, Dr. Reid, if only I could tell you.

“Why didn’t you tell me you had a girlfriend?” She asked through gritted teeth and a clenched jaw. Suddenly, the surface of her expressions liquified then melted away until I could see well beneath the anger, revealing the bodily tells of humiliation. 

I was profiling her, and I didn’t even know that I could. 

“You made me promise not to talk about anyone else except you tonight, remember?” He remarked with an uncharacteristic amount of edge behind his words. 

His outer mask was liquefying and transforming in its own right, too. As Cat became easier to read, the Doctor was slowly morphing into the man I first met - the man who was furious enough to throw an entire set of books off a table. The man who’s darkness made him impossible to read - made it impossible to think he’d ever been seen or touched by the light. 

She huffed and spun her head around so fast, it made her hair whip up and over her shoulder. The stern look upon her face fell for the briefest moment, and if it hadn’t been for everything I knew about her, I would’ve thought she looked pretty. She was pretty. But her soul, her sensibilities, they just ruined her. It was a shame really. 

She was tainted by wickedness in a way that I never would be, and for that, she had already come to the decisive determination that she hated me. 

“So how old are you, (y/n)?” Like a hawk hovering over its prey, she began to walk around me in a tight circle so she could scrutinize my every angle, discover every flaw, and poke at every button she could find. Precisely why she asked that question, too. She wanted to know where the similarities started and ended between us. She wanted to compare herself to me. Size me up, tear me down - lioness v. lioness. If she was gonna play dirty, then so be it. Two can play that game. 

“I’m 28.” A flat out lie. I’m 26. 

“Wow, I didn’t realize you had a type, Spencer,” She ruefully chuckled.

“And what’s that, Cat?” I couldn’t see him, but he sounded so unamused. 

“Jailbait.” 

There wasn’t much I could do besides move on from the subject. “Cat? Is it?” Considering she hadn’t told me her name before, I think Dr. Reid purposefully included it in his response so that I’d have a reason to know what it was. 

Smart move, Doctor. 

I wanted to smile from the way he was helping me out and working together with me, but my poker face stayed on.

“Catherine Adams,” She drew out the name to assert herself. I didn’t get to call her Cat like Dr. Reid did. That was his name for her and his name only. She made that point crystal clear. When I finally shrugged, she pounced once more.

“You really have no idea who I am? I’m hurt.” She fake pouted and put a hand to her heart to feign offense. “Spencer’s never mentioned me? Not once in your five months of dating?” Her emphasis on the timing of our ‘relationship’ showed her knowledge of the deceit, but she needed to do more than just put stress on one word. I wouldn’t back down that easily. 

“Why would he? You mean nothing to us.” Nastier words have never left my lips, and yet, I still made sure they were coated in the harshest tone I could muster up the courage to use. 

She scoffed and stopped walking around me to pull on Dr. Reid’s arm and force her mouth to make contact with his ear. Despite the closeness, he still refused to meet her eyes. He kept them locked on mine. 

“I mean nothing to you? Is that so?” Her breath was a jarring enough sensation on his neck to make his eyes shut. He was beyond uncomfortable. “Why don’t you go ahead and tell her what you told me at the rink?”

“What did you tell her, Spencer?” I was forcing him to speak, not because of the case, but because I wanted to know. Was that wrong?

“I …” The words got caught in his throat. “I told her that there’s some part of my brain, some part that she somehow inhabits.” 

A pang in my chest told me there was still more. That pang would be correct.

“No, go ahead, Spencie. Tell her the rest. Don’t be shy now.” 

He forced himself to look away from me as he said, “And no woman, no matter how good, no matter how kind, no matter how …”

“Say it,” She demanded, firmly tugging on his arm harder. 

“No matter how sexy she is, can ever get her out.” He looked repulsed by his own admission, and if I was being honest, so was I. 

“Are you in love with her?” Although I was venturing far off script, it felt like an appropriate response as his ‘girlfriend.’ It was my response. 

“No. I’ve never loved anyone the way I loved you.” 

He’s such a pretty liar. 

Cat must’ve been annoyed by her lack of involvement in the conversation as she felt compelled to step in. “Prove it. Kiss her like you kissed me out there and I might believe you.”

Pretending to be hurt wasn’t hard. Not when I didn’t have to pretend. 

“You kissed her, too?” I had to ask.

Imagine if I were actually this poor guy’s girlfriend. Forget me - God help that girl. Even if this was all for the sake of the job, that wouldn’t have made it any better hearing what he’d confessed to her or what they did. 

Dr. Reid looked incredibly apologetic for someone that had nothing to apologize for. Sure, I was playing his girlfriend, but I wasn’t actually anyone of value in his life. So why did he look like he felt so goddamn guilty? 

“Ugh hurry up and kiss already!” Cat stomped her foot impatiently. 

As she released Dr. Reid, she gave him a strong shove in my direction, causing him to stumble right into me. He’d caught himself by grabbing onto my hips, while I stabilized him by clutching onto his forearms. 

His eyes were piercing through mine. I won’t kiss you unless I have your permission. His eyes read. 

Fighting against every reflex in my body that was resisting, I leaned closer. Then, right as I closed my eyes, I felt it. 

Not his lips. 

Blood.

My blood.

The coin-like taste shocked my eyes wide open so fast you would think I never even closed them in the first place. Abandoning my grip on his arm, I used my hand to block the sight of my bloody nose. 

(Y/n), what’s going on? Ms. Prentiss asked in my earpiece. 

“My nose is bleeding,” was my answer for everyone listening - Dr. Reid, Cat, and the BAU alike. 

“Are you alright?” He unhesitatingly shifted out of the role he seemed to be playing. His guard fell down to the point where it felt like nothing else mattered but to know that I was okay. It wasn’t Spencer and his fake girlfriend talking anymore, it was Dr. Reid and me again. 

“HELLO?! What’s going on?” The minute Cat’s shrilly voice hit the air, Dr. Reid shut it down with a steadfast hand. 

“Not now, Cat! Time out.” He motioned a T before he let an invisible magnetic force freely connect his hands onto my hips again. It seemed like he didn’t even touch me on his own accord but instead, it was the mere gravitational pull that brought his body back to mine. “This isn’t a game anymore.” His tone was unwavering as he walked me away from Cat and into the bathroom. 

“Are you sure you’re okay?” He whispered in a familiar tone after shutting the bathroom door behind himself. “You can leave now. You don’t have to keep doing this.” As though I were his grandmother’s delicate china, he hoisted me in the air momentarily to help me onto the sink with an almost unnecessarily large amount of caution. 

“I’m fine.” While I attempted to wave off his concern nonchalantly, traitorous butterflies swarmed my stomach at the feeling of his touch. 

“Don’t tell me you’re fine!” He scolded through an outpouring of laughter. “I can see the blood!” He underlined his words by pressing the toilet paper he retrieved on the spot under my nose where the blood was centralized. 

“Then don’t ask!” I just as playfully responded. 

“Alright, fine, fine,” He jokingly put his hands up in surrender. “What should I ask you then?”

I wish I was more uncomfortable than I truly was. Maybe then it would’ve been easier to lie to him. But there was something about how close he was to me or how unrelenting his stare was that made sincerity spill out from my every seam. 

“‘Why are you even here if you’re just ruining things?’” 

He looked so hurt despite the fact that the depreciation was directed at me. “Why would I ask you that?” 

“Because it’s true, isn’t it?” My eyes flashed to the door to ensure it was closed, but without the ability to guarantee that Cat wasn’t right outside listening in, I lowered my voice. “I’m way in over my head here. I have no idea what I’m doing and I feel like I’m just making things worse.” 

“None of that is true,” It sounded like a reprimand, the way he was defending me to me. “The team wouldn’t have asked you to be here if they didn’t think you could do it … and anyway, it’s kind of nice having a partner in crime.” 

He needed to watch his step before he began charting dangerous waters from which he could never escape. I was already playing with fire by allowing any real genuine emotion seep out around Cat. Except now that he’d thrown me a lifeline with his insinuation of liking my company, I knew, at least to some degree, that the feeling was mutual. I briefly calculated the risk until I ultimately decided to let my boldness rear its ugly head.

With the speed of light, I clicked off my earpiece with one hand and turned off Spencer’s with the other. He caught my wrist only after I’d successfully disabled the devices from allowing the team to hear us and us to hear them. 

“What are you doing?” “Why didn’t you kiss me?” 

Our questions came at the exact same time, and yet I didn’t repeat myself. 

I knew he heard me.

It was out of turn for me, given that I’d only briefly calculated the risk of asking this before doing it. It came out suddenly and then I couldn’t take it back. But I blame his gaze for my oversharing. It brought me so much comfort that I failed to recognize the discomfort my question had posed. 

He sort of laughed, saying, “Your nose was bleeding.” 

Under any other circumstance, I would have believed him. Unfortunately, he was exceptionally unconvincing, precisely because he didn’t look very sure of that explanation himself. 

While I’m sure my nose bleeding was a reason not to kiss me, it was most definitely not the reason. My honesty itself felt something like a nose bleed. For one thing, it annoyed me and was beyond my control. But for another, I wished I could find the source and pinch it off to make it stop. Stop it before I spilled out the words, “Oh, I get it ... you just didn’t want to kiss me.” 

“That was definitely not the problem,” He said a little too quickly and a little too adamantly that it made my head spin. In that response - he sounded very sure of himself, a complete contrast to his previous demeanor. 

“So why didn’t you?” I wish I could tell you why I was pressing the subject so hard. I’d like to think that if you were in my position, you’d want to know the answer as badly as I do now, which is the best rationale I could possibly come up with to justify what I said next.

“If you weren’t scared and if you didn’t not want to, then why didn’t you?” 

“(Y/n),” He averted my eyes by turning his head to the side, revealing a side smirk of contempt. I should’ve been mad that he was visibly frustrated because if anything - he was the one being frustrating. Instead, all I could think about was how I wanted to kiss that smirky mouth. Maybe to make the smirky-ness disappear. Or to control it.

Make it mine. 

“You’re running out of excuses, Dr. Reid. You’re going to have to kiss me eventually, so let’s just get this over with already.” Did I really just say that? 

“I’m not gonna do that.” 

“Kiss me!” Yes, I really did. 

“I’m not going to kiss you.” 

“Just kiss me!” 

“(Y/n), stop.” 

“God, Spencer, just kiss me already!”

“No!” His eyes found me again; This time they were wider. “Not like this!” 

Silence. 

Then he cleared his throat as if they’d somehow cover the confession that had already been said. 

“Not - I didn't mean - I just. We can't like that because that's not … do you know? Like it's very ... that's not what-" He continued to stammer until he mouthed one last “What?” to himself in complete disbelief of the words that had left his lips and the words that were still struggling to. 

Our brains must’ve been working at the exact same speed because while he couldn’t find the right words to say, I was still trying to process everything he already had. 

Without waiting for my response, he fled from the bathroom. When the door slammed shut, I whipped my body around to face the mirror, my fist tingling with the urge to punch the stupid girl staring back at me in the reflection. 

I knew I couldn’t take refuge in here for much longer unless I really wanted to piss Cat off. Which I totally did, but not if I couldn’t guarantee that Spencer wouldn’t be caught in the crossfire. As confused and pissed off as he made me, I never wanted to hurt him.  

Once this realization dawned on me, another one had followed.

This was the key to cracking Cat. I’d found it. 

Like an overexcited bull bursting through the gates, I pushed my way out of the bathroom door seeing red. I saw Spencer first, standing in the corner of the room to monitor Cat from a distance. The aforementioned lioness herself was perched in an armchair, slouching in it comfortably as though she’d sat in that very seat a hundred times before. Not a single display of care in her conduct for the people whose lives she was actively trying to ruin. 

“So you finally ready to kiss your boyfriend yet?” If sarcasm were a liquid, it’d be dripping from her lips. She was so casually destructive when she spoke, like a loose-lipped bomb capable of going off at any minute but deliberately delaying the blow until it was guaranteed to wreak the most havoc on the most number of people. Seeing her in that light only made things easier.

“Forget the kiss, Cat. In fact, forget Spencer all together,” I waved my hand in his general direction behind me. Like him, I was standing, giving me all the power I needed to assert myself effectively. “It’s just you and me now. Exactly what you’ve wanted since the minute you stepped in here.”

She laughed ruefully, if only to make me insecure. “What are you talking about?” 

“Don’t think I haven’t noticed the way you scoped me out. You were doing that to figure out how alike we are, right?” 

She straightened a little more to sit up in her chair. She was hooked. “Why would I want to do that?” 

With my right foot, I swiped the foot rest out from underneath her legs, making her feet fall flat against the floor. Caught off guard by my swift movement, her upper body hurled forward while I took my seat on the foot rest, placing me directly across from her.

It wasn’t for a lack of dominance that I sat down. No, it was that I knew I had power over her, and I didn’t need to stand up anymore to prove it. 

“Feel free to stop me when I’m wrong,” I told her emphatically, knowing that would never happen. 

“You have always wanted Spencer. That’s just a fact. But deep down, you know he’s never truly wanted you. Sure, maybe he likes, even loves, the allure of your forbidden connection, but he doesn’t like or love you. And now that I’m here, the person he claims he loves in a way he’s never loved anyone before, you want to know just how similar we are. Because the more similarities you find between us, the more it kills you inside to wonder why he would love me over you if we’re practically the same. But you’ve only judged me from the outside, and we both know looks only go so far. So I’ll make it easier for you, Cat. I’ll tell you anything you want to know that way you can come up with an answer to the question you’ve been asking yourself the entire night: ‘Why her and not me?’”

She couldn’t pretend to be unfazed anymore. I had moved her beyond that. She was finally starting to react. 

“You would only be this confident if you already knew the answer to that question.” She concluded through gritted teeth. Her body was shaking all over, like the rage inside of her was boiling and her body was the feverish, bubbling water. “Do you know the answer?” 

I had nothing to hide. “Yes, I do.” 

“Tell me!” She threw down an iron fist against the top of her thigh. “Tell me what the answer is.” 

“You have more confidence in my answer than you’re ability to figure it out yourself? Come on, Cat. You couldn’t have gotten this far without your intelligence.”

“I don’t want to figure it out. I want you to tell me.” Her fist clamped around itself harder. 

“You don’t trust yourself to ask the right questions?”

“Just. Tell. Me.” Jaw clench.

“Alright, I’ll give you one similarity to start. We both have daddy issues-”

“I don’t care! Just give me the answer.” Foot tapping. 

“My grandma used to call my dad a ‘Bastard’ in French actually -” 

“Tell me!” Bodily tell after bodily tell, and I knew, I had done it. 

I beat the betting odds. 

“Fine, Cat. I’ll tell you what it is,” I had her undivided attention, and if I had eyes at the back of my head, I’d see I had Spencer’s, too. 

“The fundamental difference between you and me is that no matter what - I would never, ever, do anything to hurt Spencer. I have no compulsion to hurt him as a way to assert power over him or to make him fall at my feet. I can do that without ever having to go to the lengths that you’ve gone to. The power you wield over him is borne from a long-standing vendetta, whereas the power I wield, I resist using against him for revenge because that is what a morally sane person does. While I use my influence to help Spencer believe that he is a good person worthy of good treatment, you are constantly trying to prove that he is a bad person deserving of bad treatment. That he is anything like you.”

Her eyes just barely starting to water marked the last semblance of emotion I’d seen from Cat before the team swarmed the apartment and whisked her away. Then, the proverbial veneer of her mask had glazed back over her face, never to come off again. 

As Luke escorted her out in handcuffs, she gave me one last look over her shoulder. 

“How did you know about my dad?” 

You might think I slipped up when I told Cat that we were similar because of our daddy issues, therefore accidentally revealing that I knew more about Cat’s backstory than I led on, but that was purely by design. I had done that with the specific intention of setting this exact moment in motion. 

This moment where she would recognize that she’d overlooked my ‘mistake’ because of her lack of propriety. This moment where she would have to face the fact that she’d been deceived and outsmarted by me. 

This moment that she would think about until the day that needle went into her arm - the moment she realized - she let me win. 

_ _ _ 

As twisted as it may seem, the end to the reign of Queen Cat called for celebration. Penelope - she told me to call her that and not Ms. Garcia - had prepared cocktails galore in the round table room, which I’d actually been invited to enter this time. 

“You exceeded any expectations we had. The best we could’ve hoped for was no casualties, so I’m thrilled with the way things turned out tonight, and we couldn’t have done it without you,” Ms. Prentiss pulled me aside to say. “If you want it, there’s a spot waiting for you here on the team, and I really think you should consider taking it.”

To her proposal, I said I’d have to think about it, given that I’d hate to bestow my bad luck upon the team, but after tonight, I was about ready to declare my malchance a thing of the past. 

At this rate, I couldn’t distinguish whether I was dizzy from the alcohol coursing through my bloodstream or the job promotion from Secretary to Supervisory Special Agent. In any event, I knew I needed air. I slipped out of the conference room, past the glass doors of the bullpen, and waited patiently for the elevator. 

I must’ve caught Spencer after coming back from his ride with Cat to the prison because when the elevator doors opened, he was standing just on the other side of them, looking lost in thought. 

“Oh, hi!” I chirped, realizing then that he and I hadn’t said a word to each other since the “Kiss Me Bathroom Incident.” 

“Hey,” he called back, his voice already sounding unfamiliar after its lack of use towards me.

“Long time no see,” I joked to first lighten the air that seemed heavy between us. “I was just going to go down to get some fresh air.” 

“I’ll join you.” 

Because I hadn’t expected him to say that, I fumbled awkwardly into the tiny space that seemingly got smaller by the second, especially now that he was filling the space with me. 

The silence was a little too suffocating for my taste, and I couldn’t afford to have my breath be any more restricted by that than it already was being in this slender cage next to Spencer. Just to occupy the absence, I started rambling. “You know I was thinking -” 

No sooner did I start speaking than my words were cut off by the sweet, sweet shut of my mouth because of Spencer’s. His lips wholly encompassed mine just as his hands did to my face. I was surrounded by him and for that my breath had truly been taken away this time, but in the absolute best ways possible. 

There was simply no air. 

His ivy-like enclosure around me somehow made the claustrophobic elevator expand. Or maybe it felt like it had fallen away entirely. Nothing else around. Just us. 

His hands moved wherever they pleased and I followed suit, letting my hands go where they wished, never staying stationary in one place for too long. 

I had to feel him everywhere. Filling everything. 

He’d pulled away first, biting my bottom lip with blunt teeth to take me with him, and then he forced my lip in its place by kissing it back, pushing his lips impossibly closer like he wasn’t close enough. He wasn’t just trying to restore my bottom lip, but rather fuse ours together forever.

He pulled away for real this time but not far. His face and mine were centimeters apart, our breathes mixing in the microscopic air betwixt us. 

Still breathless, he rasped, “I meant something like that.” 

Now, I can say with absolute certainty that my malchance was a thing of the past. 

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　

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[thefairyletters]

Showdown

Naruto and Hinata versus Sasuke and Sakura

According to stats: Naruto and Sasuke are almost equals, and Sakura is the most powerful Kunoichi, only second to Kaguya who is not a Kunoichi but a goddess. But if in Boruto, these two couples were to face each other for real (and not just spar) then it wouldn't be Naruto vs Sasuke while Sakura faces Hinata, contrary to what most of you may think.

Sasuke and Sakura have an extreme Intelligence advantage. The 3/4ths of the total brainpower in this fight would be coming from their team. Sakura is the second smartest shinobi in the Leaf village as an adult, only next to Shikamaru, and Sasuke is arguably a close third. It has been like that since their genin days. The amount of tactical planning going on from their side of the battle would be ridiculous. Naruto and Hinata are both the type to charge headfirst through sheer willpower and pressure, but this isn't going to work against any plan Sasuke and Sakura manage to think up. Brains are always one step ahead of brawns.

As an adult Sasuke shows us that he is capable of using the Rinnegan in far more versatile ways than he did in the war arc, when he was new to the power. He can jump dimensions, swap places with another body, affect the gravity around a person, throw immensely powerful genjutsus with a single glance, see any invisible barriers, predict movements, recognize patterns/codes/signals, and much more. Like holy shit y'all. You really think Naruto would preform as well as he did against war arc Sasuke now that Sasuke actually has a full understanding of his Rinnegan and frequently UTILIZES it?

Gravity and pull. Sasuke's Rinnegan gives him limited control of the gravity around a person or between him and another person. Using this, Sasuke has the ability to tap into some Deva path shit and yank Hinata towards him. It is immensely difficult to resist the pull, and someone as physically weak as Hinata would be easily ripped forward away from Naruto. Once they're separated, Naruto has no surefire way of getting Hinata back to his side and safe in enough time, because she would either be led right into a fatal punch from Sakura or a chidori or sword through the gut from Sasuke himself. Either way, if Naruto lets his watch on her slip even a little bit, she probably already dead or close to it. This could also be a support tactic. Sakura gets separated and is in danger. Using his Deva path pull Sasuke can drag Sakura out of a potentially dangerous situation and back to his side. Same works with the body swap. If Sakura is in a nasty situation, Sasuke can swap places with her in his Susanoo to easily tank a hit that may have killed her. That or he can swap her place with a rock if need be.

Two words: Summoning strength. Sasuke and Sakura hold two of the three boss summons in the three way deadlock. Naruto holds one. Hinata holds…nothing. It doesn't stop there though. Sasuke has at least two other powerful summons that we know of, and while they aren't as powerful as Aoda, they still give him some fair advantages. For example, Sasuke's hawk, Garuda, gives him an aerial advantage should he ever need to take to the skies as a countermeasure against Naruto. Naruto and Hinata have no summons who could reach Sasuke, and this gives him many solid opportunities. Sakura, on the other hand, has Katsuyu. Katsuyu can be spread out across the battlefield in various sizes to heal her allies wherever they may end up on the field. She could also be used in her original form to spit acid or protect the two from any taijutsu and most ninjutsu attacks. Katsuyu is stated early on to be extremely resistant to taijutsu and ninjutsu, and for fucks sake she can tank Pein's attacks with ease while protecting people inside, plus she survived Naruto's corrosive 8 tails chakra just fine. I see absolutely no taijutsu attacks that Naruto and Hinata pull getting through or truly damaging her, and Naruto would have to really put some effort into his more powerful ninjutsu techniques to take her down (also note that since Katsuyu has a very jelly like body type and is resistant to taijutsu and ninjutsu, Naruto's summons wouldn't be terribly productive on offense). But this leaves him wide open for counterattacks if he focuses too much on Katsuyu. And then of course Katsuyu can heal fatal injuries or at least sustain the life of a person fatally injured until help is given. The ultimate win for Sasuke and Sakura in terms of summoning.

Being an Active Shinobi is very important. Sasuke is an active shinobi. Very active. He is constantly on B through S rank missions, and Sakura has traveled with him on some of these. His teammate for this battle, Sakura, is still an active medical shinobi who easily accepts an S rank mission in the Retsuden novels and is originally dealing with part of it on her own before she teams up with Sasuke, who is also present. We have seen her fight in Boruto too. It shows that she is 100% still at her peak performance. Well, what about Naruto and Hinata? Hinata is a housewife who hasn't gone on anything above a C rank mission in years. She takes a B rank mission with her father and sister when Boruto is a toddler, and this is all we hear of it. She's rusty AF and doesn't have the experience nor mission bulk that Sasuke and Sakura have under there belt, nowhere NEAR it. Naruto is somewhat similar. He is, for lack of a better description, out of practice. He was only recently taking on S rank opponents in Boruto, and other than that he's been doing desk work and some minor shinobi guard training over the past few years. Sasuke and Sakura are more in shape and have more recent shinobi mission experience than Naruto and Hinata's combination, both by themselves AND as a team in a fight, which is immensely important here.

Everyone is always forgetting about how important Support can be. Sakura is a first class, kage-level healer at this point in the series. Her medical ninjutsu surpassed Tsunade's back in her own canon novel and is confirmed in the novelization of Boruto's movie a second time. Her ability to constantly heal or boost Sasuke's chakra in battle is important. Whereas while Naruto can amp up Hinata with a chakra cloak, Sakura can go even further. We see with Obito that Sakura can transfer her Byakugou seal markings with all it's chakra to another person she is touching, and in the Retsuden novels this is looked into further. By applying her seal to Sasuke, he becomes an absolute terror for even Naruto to handle. Imagine this: super fast shinobi w/ the Rinnegan abilities and Susanoo suddenly not only getting a chakra boost, but being able to automatically heal potentially fatal wounds completely over and over again for as long as the chakra exists. Sakura at this point has 15+ years of chakra stored in her Byakugou seal (we know this because she notes briefly in the canon novels after The Last that she has not stopped storing chakra and plans to continue doing so just in case she ever needs it). But let's say she didn't continue after that though. She would still have around 6 or 7 years of chakra in her seal. 6–7 YEARS OF CHAKRA. I don't care how much chakra you think Naruto has, it isn't anywhere close to the amount of chakra currently inactive within Sakura's seal, considering the fact that she could completely replenish Naruto's chakra with only 3 days worth of her general chakra. Sasuke would be a BEAST. Absolutely nightmarish on every level if this fight. And Sakura, so long as the chakra exists, would also be nightmarish - especially for those people who think Sakura and Hinata would end up dualing it out at some point.

Have we gotten to the whole dimension portal thing yet? Nope and this is a crucial winning point for Sasuke and Sakura. If in danger, in need of a new plan or simply to dodge away from a particularly crazy attack from Naruto, Sasuke can pull both himself and Sakura into a completely different space in the blink of an eye. He can also use this to jump around the space Naruto is in and really screw around with them. And if you're worried about Sasuke's chakra levels diminishing quickly, don't be. Once again, Sakura's Byakugou seal is the ultimate support ability. Remember that whole “she has at least 6-7 years of chakra even if she, for some reason, wimped out on her plans” spiel? Yeah…that's an easy fix. She helped Obito actually hold open AND SEARCH (people seem to forget that he had to use chakra to search dimensions) multiple dimensions when she only had 3 years of chakra in the seal, and even the she still had enough chakra left to reform the seal on her forehead soon after. Sooo…keeping Sasuke's chakra level high wouldn't be a problem. They can also use the dimensions for Sakura to heal and repair them both. Hinata can't heal and Naruto can't truly “heal" so much as his life force is just really strong, so they're at yet another disadvantage.

Terrain manipulation and swaps. This is where it gets really technical. Sasuke has the Rinnegan, and with it he can do serious damage very early on in the game when his opponent is not expecting such a rush. Try to imagine a scenario like so: Sakura winds up for a full power punch directly behind Sasuke as soon as the fight begins, or otherwise as early on as possible. She fires off the punch at Sasuke. Sasuke, at the last possible second he can manage, swaps his place with Hinata, and BAM. That's one down for team Naruto. Hinata would either be dead or close to it immediately after she hits the ground and stops. Same applies for a switch with Naruto. At that close of a range with literally zero time to dodge at that point, even Naruto would be fairly damaged from a point blank shot, and a damaged Naruto from the start spells bad news for Hinata - the girl basically fully depends on Naruto in the fight, she can't do anything to Sasuke or Sakura without his constant support.

Overall, we can go into arguments if whether Naruto is stronger than Sasuke or Sakura stronger than Hinata, but the truth of the matter is that it doesn't really matter. What matters is that Sasuke is at least competitively close in power to Naruto, and Sakura arguably the most powerful kunoichi in the series at the moment. Their power gap is extraordinarily close, so at this point it all comes down to who is best tactically suited and best prepared for this kind of nuclear fight. And honestly, with their ability to manipulate their surroundings and work more with the terrain and constantly replenish, there's no doubt about the victory. 80% of the time it'll be Sasuke and Sakura if they play their cards like they should.

Answer credits goes to Alex Hendrix, Quora

[strangertheory]

I'd love for Will to be able to have the power of reality alteration because him being the most powerful one would be a very nice plot twist. But. Do you really believe they make him more powerful than El? I keep finding crazy comments on social media, suggesting it's the "El show" 😪 *sigh*. And I know some people who say it'd be anti feminist since Will is a boy. Thx

That’s a lot of interesting questions to think about.

I’ll attempt to address each thought that you’ve shared one at a time and provide you with my own opinions and theories about each:

You said: “I'd love for Will to be able to have the power of reality alteration because him being the most powerful one would be a very nice plot twist. But. Do you really believe they would make him more powerful than El?”

I have a lot of conflicted feelings about the way that the fandom often talks about characters’ powers and supernatural abilities in Stranger Things. (I also really dislike the way that the fandom has decided that they can’t appreciate and support both El and Will’s happiness and that their happy endings and successes are somehow mutually exclusive, but I’ll address the topic of their powers first.)

Fans often focus on the abilities and superpowers of characters as something desirable and cool but fans rarely spend time considering what it cost those characters to develop their abilities in the first place. Neither El nor Will suddenly woke up one day and had superpowers that they had conscious control over.

Certain impressive skills that people have in the real world might also be developed under extremely traumatic and undesirable circumstances and not because they wanted them: the powers represented so far in Stranger Things are very much like that variety of skillset.

El’s powers and her ability to control them are canonically shown to have manifested during her imprisonment, abuse, isolation, and manipulation at the Lab. As Kali says “They stole your life, Jane!” Due to El’s isolation from society and from love and affection and from having a family and from everything else in the world beyond the Lab she has a significant amount of early childhood social and psychological development that was stolen from her that she can never truly get back. A healthy, loving, safe environment for development and self-actualization that children deserve to have was not provided to El and she has suffered so much and she has had significant delays in her opportunity to grow and become her own person because of what was done to her. So yes, El has psychic powers that give her a variety of unique abilities that are very useful. But at what cost? If El were given the choice to abandon all of her powers in exchange for a loving family, a community of friends that she’d had the opportunity to know and spend time with since early childhood, a variety of passions and hobbies that she chose for herself over the years as she was growing up and engaging with the world, an extensive understanding of the world outside of the Lab based on her own exploration of the world and not only what people tell her or what she sees on television, and most importantly a sense that she is treated kindly because people truly love her and not because they want to exploit her and her powers for their own purposes: wouldn’t she make that trade?

Do I currently agree with the theory that Will’s subconscious mind created the Upside Down, the Mindflayer, the demogorgon, and even most probably created many other characters and fantastical plotlines that exist in the story? Yes. But I believe it has (so far) been unintentional, entirely subconscious, and is a mental coping mechanism in response to extremely traumatic circumstances that Will has faced throughout his life. Would Will’s subconscious mind creating significant parts of the Stranger Things universe represent a certain level of “power” that is greater than El’s? I don’t personally think they’re comparable. There are things that Will can probably do that El cannot, and vice versa. They will surely each have their own strengths and weaknesses and their own limitations that we may or may not always be shown in the series.

But what does "more powerful” really mean to us, and why does that question even matter? It was not El’s choice to have powers and it was not Will’s choice to have powers. Much of what I believe Will has incidentally created is creating a lot of confusion and suffering for him and for others that he cares about. If the story were about real people I’d be offended at the question of who’s more powerful and feel as though that question and debate is the sort that Dr. Brenner and his colleagues would have: “How useful is this child to me? Which child is more powerful?” I dislike the question because it feels like asking a parent which child is their favorite. I care about them both, and I don’t care about them because they happen to have superpowers: I care about them because they are nuanced characters that are very well-written and that I can empathize with as if they were real people. I respect why it’s a popular thing for fans to debate over which X-Men is the most powerful, for example, but that’s never been what draws me into scifi and fantasy stories. What characters choose to do under unusual circumstances and with unique resources (such as superpowers) is far more important to me than the nature and intensity of the powers themselves. I believe that the Stranger Things fandom does these beautifully written characters a disservice by focusing too heavily on their abilities and not enough on their feelings, choices, relationships, dreams, goals, and experiences that humanize them.

I love Stranger Things because of the humanity of each of the characters and not because some of them can throw cars through walls.

You said: “I keep finding crazy comments on social media, suggesting it's the "El show"”

El is definitely an important character in the story at this point in the show and she has some really fascinating abilities in the Stranger Things universe that often give her iconic moments and provide her an opportunity to be in the spotlight.

I believe that there is a reason that the writers have decided to develop many characters in the story and in my opinion it can seem hard to pin-point a “main” character at times. I think this is absolutely intentional on the part of the writers, and I predict that we will learn how Will’s, Hopper’s, and El’s storylines intersect in season 4. I think we will learn something new about each of the characters.

I do not personally believe that it is the “El show” any more than it could be argued that this is the “Steve show” or the “Hopper show.” But I do appreciate that fans have grown to love El’s character.

I strongly disagree with anyone in the fandom that insists that Will is not important. I can tell that the way that he was quieter in season 3 inspired some fans to dismiss his role in the series entirely, but I think they’re mistaken. Quiet and less assertive doesn’t mean irrelevant in a story like this one. I believe that much of what Will has been through is at the heart of the entire series, and I think that he will play a very critical role in future seasons. If some fans passionately dislike Will then they might need to steel themselves for some severe disappointment.

You said: “And I know some people who say it'd be anti feminist [for Will to be more powerful than El] since Will is a boy." 

I would argue that El embodies many traits that are often presumed to be stereotypically masculine by certain incorrect and outdated schools of thought: assertiveness, the ability to win in combat, determination, resilience, and bravery (among others.) There were eras in which these traits were not always valued and respected in women, and arguably there are still many circumstances under which they still aren’t. El is a complex character who is not written as a gender stereotype and I think that is powerful and important.

We need more characters of many different genders that are written as people. Complex, multi-faceted, and capable of many different things regardless of their gender.

Yes. Will is a boy.

Will is a young boy who has been bullied for having certain traits that are very often stereotypically seen by society as feminine. As being “womanly.”

I believe that feminism needs to be intersectional and seek to address the ways that all people and all genders are harmed by a society that devalues women and devalues traits, work, and skillsets that are associated with femininity.

Feminism should not be reduced and oversimplified to “girl power.” Anyone that reduces feminism to that does not, in my opinion, understand feminism.

“Feminism is the belief in the social, economic, and political equality of the sexes.”

Devaluing admirable traits when someone of one gender expresses them but then deciding to value those exact same traits when they are expressed by a person of a different gender is prejudiced and anti-feminist because it maintains the false idea that certain traits only have value in people if they are a specific gender. 

El is a wonderful, empowering character and I appreciate that she is very well written and admired by many fans. But I worry when certain fans are more willing to appreciate a kick-ass fictional young woman that defies outdated and incorrect gender stereotypes but are not also willing to embrace gentler, more sensitive, less stereotypically masculine young men like Will with similar enthusiasm and affection.

Will is bullied and devalued by his small-town community for having traits and interests that are perceived as feminine and therefore, according to closeminded bigots like his dad, not allowed and are deserving of abuse and bullying. Will is arguably also devalued and dismissed by the Stranger Things fandom because he has traits that are perceived as feminine and undesirable in a young teen guy in the eyes of certain fans, too.

The devaluing and dismissal of gentle, kind, emotional young men is a feminist issue.

A character doesn’t have to be a girl in order to represent feminist ideals within a story. I know that there are probably plenty of feminists that will disagree with me (because there will always be people with their own opinions) but I strongly believe that Will's story is feminist as it has been explored so far (just as El's is.)

Anyone in the fandom that considers themselves a “Feminist” but that spends significant amounts of time criticizing Will Byers by dismissing him as “boring” and criticizing him for being quiet, sensitive, gentle, and emotional should take a good look in the mirror and reflect on what their personal brand of feminism stands for and whether their goal truly is “the equality of the sexes” or if their goal is simply hating men and only valuing and promoting stereotypically masculine traits in our society.

Feminism’s goal is not to make women more powerful than men or to make men less powerful than women, it is about the promotion of the “equality of the sexes.” 

Stereotypes are constructs our society has built and that impact the way we all currently relate to each other. Until society stops treating traits associated with society's currently constructed idea of femininity as something weak or bad then it is important to appreciate these traits in characters of many different genders and to value these traits in men (both in real life and in fictional stories) too. Anyone of any gender can be sensitive and sensitivity should not be seen as a weakness but rather as a strength and as something that's a valuable aspect of our humanity, and the same can be said for many other beautiful traits that society has wrongly decided to put into boxes and assign gender stereotypes to.

This complicated topic is incredibly important to me as a fan of both El and Will. I believe that both El and Will are feminist characters and that the series is very empowering and is challenging society’s gender biases through both of their stories. I hope that my response to your question was successful in communicating how I feel and resonates with you and with perhaps other fans who also care about El and Will and feel their own experiences, feelings, and identities validated by their story arcs.

Will some fans still whine and cry “sexism” and attempt to brand Stranger Things as “anti-feminist” if their hope that El will be the solo main character of the story and not have to share the spotlight with a boy is dashed? Sure. But I think they’re wrong, that their concept of feminism and sexism is incorrect, and that their priorities and their understanding of El’s value as a character is unfortunate. El is more than her superpowers. El doesn’t need to be “the strongest” or “the most powerful” in order to be an inspiring, complex, well-written, relatable, and empowering character.

Thank you for your Ask! I hope you don’t mind how long this response is. You mentioned a few things that I have some very complicated opinions about.

[argentdandelion]

Grace Monroe is a Liar (And Why That’s a Good Thing)

Note: this article does not sufficiently weigh Simon’s bad behaviors in Episode 11, “The New Apex”. This article has been kept unmodified for posterity.

Grace Analysis

“You know Sheena...you were right. Chloe shouldn't smile until her parents can afford to give her braces."

Grace is not simply a liar, however: she is also, to put it plainly, fake. She’s something of a social chameleon, but rather than drastically changing her presentation to fit in, she dons a fabricated, friendly and encouraging persona to make others “fit” her own desires. She even has variants of her persona for different audiences. She sounds like a friendly “cool kid” to 15-year-old Jesse, claiming he was a “natural” on his first raid although he only halfheartedly kicked a cube. She acts like an adoring parent to the younger Apex kids, squatting to the level of shorter Apex children, praising their offerings, and telling them she’ll keep the offerings someplace special. To Hazel (and Tuba) she acts like a kindergarten teacher at the first day of school, simultaneously making Hazel excited about The Apex and acting assuring to Tuba.

The most striking evidence for Grace’s lying social-chameleon-esque acts is how much her mannerisms and very voice change when addressing the Apex kids and Jesse compared to addressing Simon. In the first and second episode, she feels open to banter and bicker with Simon, such as exchanging unflattering nicknames or saying she doesn’t want his “ripeness” (body odor) giving away their position; she treats no one else as a friend like this.

Grace is not simply an insincere “queen bee” highschooler-type, either. As Uncivilized Elk has pointed out in “Cult Recruitment in "The Mall Car" – Infinity Train Analysis & Review” (warning; profanity), intentionally or not Grace’s tactics with Jesse show a step-by-step plan to indoctrinate Jesse into the Apex’s worldview. She praises Jesse and acts as if she cares about him, but is only manipulating him to a particular end. For example, when Jesse thinks the candy tastes bad, she convinces him to throw it to the wheels of the train, telling him he can “do what he wants”. However, this is almost certainly a precursor to making Jesse accept “wheeling” (killing by throwing them to the train’s wheels) denizens. Furthermore, in “The Jungle Car” she misdirects Hazel on who’s to blame for an unpopular decision, minimizes it (saying Simon was “confused”) and “resolves” the problem almost immediately: very suspicious abuser or cult-like behavior.

Initially, she engages in cognitive empathy (internal emulation of the emotional states of others) without really caring about others, to figure out how people work and so manipulate them. She has a utilitarian sort of approach, changing her persona to make others do what she wants and change them. To be fair, it’s possible not all of her kindness and empathy is faked. When Jesse took his exit, Simon calls him “weak”, but Grace says he wasn’t weak, but misled, and says: "We just lost another human, Simon. Show some respect.” Still, she’s certainly not sincere, overall. For example, despite teaching him he can “do what he wants”, when what Jesse wants goes against The Apex, Grace and Simon immediately try to stop him.

However, over time, Grace's temporary, utilitarian approach of altering personas to her goal makes her "become the mask". She eventually finds it hard to justify her continued kind and compassionate acts to Hazel in relation to her Apex worldviews, and the contradiction causes her distress.

Simon Analysis

Simon, in contrast, lies much less than Grace and is more open about how he feels, especially in his disdain for Denizens. While he initially seems friendly, when Jesse’s off on a raid he has no patience with MT’s concerns and outright tells her to “get out of here before Jesse gets back. You can’t help him like we can.” (Possible: it didn’t occur to him that Jesse might still trust Lake, so being too mean to Lake would come back to bite him.) He is also more open about his disdain for nulls around Hazel, though it would clearly benefit him to tone it down before they can “ditch” Tuba.

Two of Simon’s more important deceptions are notably half-truths, not outright claims. He claims MT broke Todd’s ankle, which is technically true: Todd kicked MT’s metal body and in the process broke his ankle. Arguably, him saying “no one knows” where the passengers go is him honestly saying he doesn’t know exactly where they go; how could he know Jesse Cosay’s home was in Arizona, and which specific location? Indeed, sometimes he does not lie even would it be very practical to do so. For example, although acting as if he “couldn’t save her in time” and pretending to be deeply unsettled by Tuba’s death would have gotten rid of Tuba and not put Hazel’s cooperation into question, he outright tells Hazel he wheeled her. His attempt to comfort her about “never hav[ing] to worry about that null again” could suggest obliviousness to the viewpoints of others, but it could also be his version of trustworthy, straightforward honesty, in accordance with his own beliefs.

It’s important to note that, though Simon is more honest than Grace, he still lies, deceives, and manipulates others. The difference between them is finesse, speed, and frequency. Though Simon may think of Grace as his plaything, or come to think of her as such, it’s Grace who’s effective at making others her playthings, by manipulating her social presentation like a social chameleon.

Root Causes

Arguably, both Grace and Simon do not treat people as means in themselves, but means to an end: in essence, other passengers are treated as tools for their own goals. It’s interesting to see how much Grace and Simon treat Apex members (and each other) like they treat nulls: that they are “only good as they are useful”. When they stop being “useful”, in the sense of helping the Apex or each other according to plan, they eventually become aggressive. Admittedly, the change to aggression is slower and more complicated for Simon to Grace in Season 3; Simon’s end goal for Grace could easily have been “comfort and companionship”, which friends naturally give anyway.

Grace emphasizes Jesse’s ability to choose for himself, but when Jesse’s decision strays from The Apex’s values and Grace’s plans, she doesn’t let him go with a “you’re missing out, buddy” lamentation. Instead, she says: “I wanted to go for the easy way, but you made it hard” and shows the Flecs where Lake is, presumably so they can do the dirty work for them. Jesse has value to Grace as an Apex member, one under her control, and not in any other sense. Grace’s logic for showing Lake to the Flecs parallels Simon’s actions in trapping Grace in her own memory tape; he says “you made me do this”. The Cat outright says Simon treats Grace as an object with: “and how should she be acting? She’s not like one of your toys.”

Grace Monroe is a liar, and much more so than Simon. And it’s because she is, in the words of the Memory Tape’s Hazel, a “coward leading cowards”. Grace’s lying comes from her fear: her fear of being wrong, of not being enough, of being alone. Her kindness to the Apex kids, faked or superficial as it may be, probably comes from the desire to give them what her parents would not. Adding onto her cowardice and fears, she initially hid her dropping number from Simon in “The Chat Chalet Car” because she "didn't want the Apex...or you...to see me like this...and think less of me." Though her fear Simon would think less of her for it was unfounded, as Simon sincerely supported her then, afterwards she hid her number from Simon. She “cut him out” (in Simon’s words) from her lack of courage to be open and honest. As Memory-Hazel points out, when Grace had the “chance to make it right”, by revealing she knew about Hazel’s condition when it was obvious she was a turtle, she did not.

Conclusion

Grace and Simon are both villain protagonists messed up by unresolved trauma and eight years of being on the train with no guidance whatsoever. One starts off slightly worse than the other, only to get much better discard her animus for nulls. One starts off slightly better, only to get much worse and expand his animus for nulls to humans as well: his former best (and only) friend, at that. It’s the tiny differences in how they relate to others and operate that cause their slightly different moral starting points and massively different end points.

[toku-explained]

The Immortal Swordsman Reborn

SSSS.DYNAZENON: Fuuma explains that Kano had a.ways been cheerful, but she became more withdrawn prior to her death, which is believed to be due to someone called Futaba, Yume never heard of him, he had been club vice president and started dating Kano, and after her song was picked she may have been bullied by other girls, and agrees to share some other videos from the time with Yume. She tells the team she wants to learn more about Kano. Juugabis now willing to kill the team in Order to get Gauma back, Mujina has no opinion of her own and Sizumu is against killing them, believing Dynazenon is the reason kaiju keep appearing. Koyomi meets again with Inamoto-san, recalling him running away after she showed him a hidden bag she'd found, before their table is joined by Arata, her husband, and spend several hours talking, Ararat keeps getting his surname wrong. In Koyomi's room, Chise finds a white seed. Koyomi by chance runs into Mujina. Yomogi and his mother dine with Kamijo again, trying to ignore the conversation. At a bar, Mujina apparently paying, Koyomi moans about Inamoto-san leading him on with her complaints about marriage but then inviting Arata, Mujina says she herself has no wants for herself, which Koyomi relates to, at home Chise continues to brood. Yume gets sent a link for a video of a questionable prank on Kano, arguably bullying, which Kanae was the ringleader of. As Koyomi continues stewing, Mujina spots DynaStriker next to him. Yume thinks in class while watching Ranka and Kaneishi tease Yomogi. Chise decides to train in place of a hungover, who realises he's lost DynaStriker, Gauma is naturally furious, and Koyomi realises Mujina took it. Onija wants to use it to rampage, Juuga wants it to bargain with Gauma, Sizumu wants to return it, asking what Mujina wants. Gauma is able to use DynaDiver to track it, Yume rejects help from Yomogi, and the argument continues to Mujina's annoyance as Gauma and Koyomi arrive, Chise sneakily followed. Koyomi charges in and tackles Mujina, enabling Gauma to grab DynaStriker, his attack attempt fails. Sizumu asks if Yume is okay, then passes Yomogi as he leaves, the pair soon get called. The current Kaiju, Bullbind is not responding to Onija's attempts to Instance Domination, Sizumu convinces Mujina it needs her, and she awakens the enormous quadraped, shared with Onija. Gauma is bothered by the whole team seeming depressed before they jump into action. Dynazenon is helpless against Bullbind's gravity manipulation, and as Mujjna asks if that's all they've got even Onija notices a character change in her. The pilots sans Gauma are also crushed under the weight of their worries, but Gauma is able to pull through and switch to DynaRex, but even then it's hopeless against Bullbind. As Sizumu senses something, from the sky appears a purple giant. I definitely expected a guest appearance from at least somebody from SSSS.GRIDMAN before the end, we know that Gridman, and now the Assist Weapons can appear in various worlds. But the fact that it's GridKnight appearing, maybe we're in Akane's world after all?

Heroes' Odyssey: Z joins Zero while Haruki is asleep, and tells him about Ultroid Zero, and the reaction of Kaiju to it, the 3 way battle between Z, Juggler and Celebro, Ultroid Zero's rampage, it's evolution into Destrudos and defeat of Z, followed by the beginning of STORAGE's operation against it.

Saber: The Northern Base members regroup. Kento notes that minor details of the future are changing, but the end remains the same, this time there's a vision of Sophia seemingly deliberately taking Luna's place in the spell tight before the world is unmade. Master Logos orders the Shindais to watch Touma and capture Luna should she appear, and hints he may release Bacht, which Ryoga is against. As soon as the siblings leave he releases Bacht, refusing to give him the Book of Ruin, but offering him the chance for revenge on the Swordsmen, Bacht is intrigued by how different he is from past Masters. Saber and Saikou duel, Touma hoping to recreate the conditions to see Luna, but while Rekka glows, Wonder Story doesn't react. Bacgt arrives, Yuri stating his intent to seal him again. Saber and Falchion fight, Reika watching at a distance, when Touma's books, Rekka and Wonder Story all react Falchion takes note and stops, intrigued that Touma is the chosen one. The void opens again, but again vanishes before Touma or Reika can do anything. Rintaro, Ogami and Daishinji look for Ren. Yuri explains that he, Bacht and another were Swordsmen, until one day in a battle against Megiddo, one of their own killed Bacht's family, causing him to lose himself, believing humans would always betray one another and so sought to end the world, leading Yuri to wield Saikou and Kurayami against him. Ryoga confronts Rintaro, who is able to use his new abilities to counter Kaiji's time ability, when Falchion arrives, initially fighting Durandal until he flees, he then survives Blades to backstab, preparing to kill as Touma, Mei, Yuri arrive. Bacht tells Touma he'll become more powerful and destroy everything, something Kento affirms on arrival, Yuri admonishes his lack of faith in Touma, leading Bacht to call him a hypocrite, Yuri acknowledging he had not had faith in humanity before meeting Touma. Jaou Dragon battles Eternal Phoenix, soon joined by X Swordman and Elemental Dragon, Saikou asks Caliber to help seal Bacht, but he refuses, and a finisher from Caliber and Falchion strikes Saikou, who expresses his envy of Kento for the faith Touma has in him before vanishing, leaving Saikou and his books. Caliber does prevent Falchion from attacking Saber, but in the confusion Reika manages to steal Saikou, Kin no Buki, Gin no Buki and X Swordman. As Saber and Caliber face Falchion, Touma's emotions flair, causing the reaction of his books again, and as they defeat Falchion, Luna appears behind the Swordsmen, returned at last.

Zenkaiger: As part of his promise, Zox is making the others pay for things, he spots Mahiru World and chases, a squad of Kudakks holding the Zenkaigers save Zyuran and Kaito. When Mahiru World takes a hostage, Zox doesn't care, Kaito arriving uses Megaranger to Cyber Slider in to save the hostage. An annoyed Kaito chases Zox onto CrocoDaiOh, demanding explanations until a frustrated Flint shows a picture of the Goldtsuikar family, with Riki and Katana as humans. Flint was able to reverse engineer Tojitendo tech so they could travel between worlds, and while they were in SDtopia the brothers got trapped in their current forms, and they can't get back to undo it because SStopia is now a Tojiru Gear, and they can't get into Kikaitopia to steal the gear, Kaito brings up his parents. Boccowaus is annoyed about Twokaiser still being a threat, Gefe trying to calm him, Barashitara believes an alliance is possible. The team discusses things, Zyuran and Magine don't know if they're worth worrying about. It's then people start noticing it's still noon, and start feeling the effects, still working well past they would normally, but the team doesn't realise anything is actually wrong until seeing a news report from Brazil, where it's also noon. Being in space, the Goldtsuikar's have been unaffected, but there are many lights in the sky. Zox hunts down Mahiru World, and fights him as Twokaiser, there being plenty of collateral damage as the Zenkaigers arrive, saving civilians from rubble. Zox thinks this risk of life is stupid, risking never finding his family. As Twokaiser uses Shinken Form, the Zenkaigers change, taking deflected bullets, but still defend the crowd. Switching to Ohren Form, he uses he Choriki Star Knuckle to finish Mahiru World, restoring night. Dai Mahiru World summons way more suns, now the light is blinding, Magine flips out and has ZenkaiOh VrooMagine form, Kaito at the control is barely awake, they darken the sky briefly, but sun viewing glasses do the thing, allowing them to finish things. Everyone falls asleep, Zox fells Flint to leave them as long as they don't get in the way.

Dogengers Nice Buddy: Maid Shitsuji wakes Tanaka up, and shows that Yamashiron and Fukuokaliber have gone to a Great Z show, Ohgaman grabs various items for a day out and drags Tanaka off, nobody noticing he's left his changer. The show is pretty formulaic, Great Z fighting some Karamis, until right as Great Z is meant to get his heroic wind there's the sudden arrival of Yamashiron Kugakusei Mode, inserting himself in the role of the Villain. Aoiron and Daidairon give advice or rebuke, causing I believe Yamashiron to mentally apologise to Midoiron, and then Fukuokaliber appears to highjack the hero spot. Tanaka and the disguised Ohgaman are confused on arrival, Fukuokaliber making a point about heroism to Yamashiron, using the crowd to do so. Gulf appears via Affect System, evidently mid attack on Kitaqman, and is shot by Fukuokaliber. The pair leap into battle, Yamashiron demonstrating his specially modified Nice Buddy gun, Gallia attends to his brother, wondering how they got there. In flashback, immediately after they were teleported away, Great Z admonished El Brave and Kitaqman's heroics while beating them, after knocking down El Brave he gives Kitaqman the chance to fight, expecting him to run, Kitaqman instead relates El Brave's backstory. Great Z gives El Brave some acknowledgment, and an emboldened El Brave fights with all his might, grabbing El Brave, Kitaqman shoots and destroys a drone, thanks to switching with El Brave. Great Z is about to fight harder when he gets a call, and warps all 3 of them. Kitaqman and El Brave appear right next to Fukuokaliber and Yamashiron, while Great Z appeared nearby, next to the Great Z onstage, who he turns to face.

[diatriblicaljottings]

How significant is the representation of masculinity to the way Othello functions as a tragedy?

Literature review

Believed to be written in 1603, the existence of ‘Othello’ has not only been disputed to be one of Shakespeare’s most successful plays due to the “treatment of such timely issues as race, gender, homoeroticism and domestic relations” (Evans, 2015), but also one of the most controversial – mostly due to how the aforementioned topics were approached. This is particularly surprising as Othello is widely acknowledged as “the least political (Shakespeare play) and even the least philosophical but also as the most domestic and personal” (Evans, 2015). Perhaps this disdain comes from a place of misunderstanding towards Shakespeare’s often critical yet atypical approaches to what could be described as sensitive topics. However, the representation of masculinity throughout ‘Othello’ can be linked to most of the mentioned analytical approaches, particularly masculinity and race, in a way that enriches our overall understanding of the text, and how it fit into the genre of tragedy. A critical essay by John R Ford reads, “the play powerfully critiques the racist and misogynist constructions of Venice by making its codes and conventions so visible to the audience” (Kolin, 2001) Othello’s extreme desire for achieving an ultimate state of masculinity directly correlates with the gender politics of the time, a time in which the misogynistic attitudes Ford refers to were rife in popularity, yet still unidentified as problematic and were therefore routinely normalized. In their masses, men synonymous to Othello encouraged and expected each other to actively participate in the discrediting of women to obtain their dominance and in turn, their sense of masculinity, or at least, what they believed to be attributes of masculinity. Whilst they have been greatly unacknowledged for thousands of years, both gender and race have still influenced political structures, including the ‘constructions of Venice’ addressed in Othello and Ford’s critical essay. This directly contrasts with Evans’ earlier observation of Othello being ‘the least political’ play to come from Shakespeare, as it could arguably be one of the most.  Alongside political ideals being a key function in the representation of masculinity, there are many contributing factors as to why Othello as a character could be protective of his masculine ego (the manipulation he endures at the hands of Iago being a namely one), though it is undeniable that as a person of colour with the ability to exist in such a high rank of power, despite living in a racist society, he faces much harsher judgement from other characters. Naturally this would also have significant impact on Othello’s personal difficulties with his insecurities, or when approaching threats to his masculinity. This becomes one of many tragedies described in the text – one that is very much involved in how the fundamentals of tragedy are incorporated into the thematic structure of Othello. “Culture is a masculine region, and everything that lies beyond its purlieus ± untamed nature, the sea, forests, brutes, cannibals, foreigners, belongs to the domain of the wild” (Wells, 2000)  – in this case, ‘the wild’ could be referring to the existing fear of the unknown, but more importantly it could be used to define ‘the Other’ - a term that refers to “the creation of a dichotomy between Europe and its ‘others’ … central to the creation of European culture… part of the process of maintaining power over them” (Loomba, 1998). This coincides with the social context of Othello, particularly with the reference to ‘foreigners’ in the culture Wells speaks of.  The often subliminal struggles that Othello faces as a black male character propel the tale of tragedy depicted within the text – as it is these very struggles that are used against him consistently, driving him to a point of ultimate self-questioning: when he makes the decision to kill Desdemona. Burning “with a desire to avenge the imagined loss of his masculine honour” (Wells, 2000) is quite a bleak outlook, given that many would dispute that this ‘imagined loss’ is not imagined at all. Societal norms, especially in the historical setting of this play, are so very much ingrained into the typical thinking patterns of many of the characters, that it is certainly realistic for the character of Othello to predict the tarnishing of his name or reputation. The vengeance referred to by Wells would not appear to be Othello’s true motive to kill her, as he denies having any knowledge of her death, so it plays no part in the restoration of his honour. It seems to be, however, a result of extreme expectations that Othello has internalised becoming a malformation of fear and unattainably high levels of self-respect.  The main tragedy at the core of the play depicts the impact of unrealistic and limited implications of masculinity being a motive for murder. Othello had been systematically brainwashed into believing his only option was taking drastic measures to prove his worth in terms of his masculinity, threatened with the negative societal impacts the alleged misdemeanours of his wife would cause. Whilst his actions may not be remotely excusable in any way, they serve the purpose of truly representing how toxic masculinity can result in tragedy – and the lengths a man of his tragic circumstances may go through to preserve his ‘masculine honour’.

   Analytical essay

The importance of masculinity in “Othello” is crucial to the genre of tragedy, as the desired trait of authority, achieving a true masculine status, is shared amongst the primary male characters - a persistent battle that eventually results in disastrous consequences. Iago’s personal lack of masculine identity is the cause of the downfall of multiple male characters, as he so clearly uses it as a tool of manipulation. Othello being such a high-status character, linking to his "manhood and honour" - is quite vulnerable in terms of becoming increasingly paranoid and suspicious of Desdemona betraying him. While Othello is being manipulated by Iago, Iago creates insinuations of Desdemona committing adultery in order to pressure Othello into a state of jealousy - before proceeding to essentially warn Othello not to worry about it. Iago’s mockery of the very concept he introduced into this discussion proves just how manipulative he is, and how he is manifesting Othello’s insecurity in his own masculinity proves this - "Oh, beware, my lord, of jealousy! It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock. The meat it feeds on." (Act 3, Scene 3). Othello’s perceived ‘fragile masculinity’, which has been even further amplified by Iago’s antics, births the creation of what would become Othello’s hamartia in the tragic events to come. Furthermore, Iago creates the lie of Cassio being a violent alcoholic. In order to steal his job, Iago persuades Cassio to partake in heavy drinking, which leads to him being disgraced from his job, and in turn, his reputation. Iago’s discrete manipulation is used once again in the form of reverse psychology “"I had rather have this tongue cut from my mouth than it should do offence to Michael Cassio" (Act 2, Scene 3). This becomes a tragic flaw in Cassio’s story, continuing to destroy not only his masculinity, but also his self-worth and livelihood. With all of this being due to Iago’s jealousy of Cassio’s higher-ranking position, it reinforces the link between the pressures of maintaining masculinity and how highly men rank in both works, but also society. “Iago seems to have too many motives for his evil and thus paradoxically, no motives for it at all." (Evans, 2015). Iago's own drive - to gain a higher rank - pushes the ideology that honour equates to your level of masculinity, something which Shakespeare is almost critiquing through his creation of Iago’s character – a erratic, self-serving and desperate person whom projects his own masculine insecurities for personal gain.  

  Within the play the character of Emilia is a key part of how masculinity is portrayed, with strong opinions and an understanding of the masculine ideology she said some of the most noticeable things about how significant masculinity is within the tragedy. “They are all but stomachs, and we all but food, They eat us hungerly, and when they are full / They belch us” (Act 3, Scene 4). This phrase clearly shows that for the men within this play, women are the source of sexual satisfaction and not much more than that. Not allowing women to have any position of authority or experience a liberty of decision-making - clearly shows how society’s obsession of masculinity at the time built a hierarchy, in terms of gender. Women only really had each other to rely on, and Shakespeare progressively shows Emilia's loyalty to Desdemona only growing stronger. As a woman of practical intelligence, shown to not be led by her emotions, Emilia becomes a key character in relation to masculinity within the tragedy. The juxtaposition between Emilia and her partner Iago creates the potential of her strong-minded personality being one of many causes towards Iago’s pathetic drive to emasculate himself. Although Emilia stands by Iago through the play, in the end she denounced his lies to defend Desdemona’s reputation after her death. With regard’s to Desdemona’s murder, after being severely wounded by her husband and close to death, she remains adamant on her refusal to reveal Othello as her murderer and claims it was suicide – “Nobody. I myself. Farewell. Commend me to my kind lord. Oh, farewell!” (Act 5, Scene 2) This may be because of how much she loved her husband, but it was primarily due to the extreme effects of Othello’s desire to achieve true masculinity – a virtue Desdemona herself intends to assist with as to prove her true loyalty in her final moments.   Othello’s goal to prevent other men from being betrayed by Desdemona, further perpetuates the idea that truly masculine men must adhere to the heroic stereotype and make sacrifices for the sake of other people, even when it concerns the love of their life.

During Shakespeare’s life, there was a strict social construct of gender norms, as well as a hierarchy of sexes. As each gender experienced their own role in society, it was only logical that they'd be shown within Shakespeare’s plays. Throughout Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’ the ideology of masculinity is presented to us through the different themes that are addressed, whilst being set in a regressive and male-dominated world. The unachievable goal of obtaining an elite state of masculinity results in many conflicts of character, with horrific atrocities being committed as a result of this - from degradation of race and gender, to the sheer manipulative nature of many characters, there are a stark amount of negative consequences that can be construed as being tragic. Alongside the more obvious defining factors of tragedy within Othello, masculinity - and the constant urge to exude it – is the most consequential catalyst that results in the melancholic epilogue of this play.

 Bibliography

Evans, R. (2015). Othello: a Critical Reader, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

Kolin, P. (2001). Othello: Critical Essays., Taylor & Francis Group.

Loomba, A. (2015). Colonialism/postcolonialism (Third ed., New critical idiom).

Wells, R. (2000). Shakespeare on Masculinity, Cambridge University Press.

[hellobrockie]

Some very long Rambly TROS thoughts

Holy fuck there is so much wrong with this movie.

Let's start at the beginning. Kylo tracks down the wayfinder/holocron crystal thing that will lead him to the sith homeworld. We learn that Palpatine was behind both the Snoke and Vader voices in Kylo’s head-basically the dude has been manipulating him for 30 years. Kylo states very clearly he's gonna kill this motherfucker. This is very in line with the Last Jedi- Kylo wants to destroy everything- the Sith the Jedi the Resistance- because he’s tired of the constant push-pull of rejection and manipulation. BUT THEN HE DOESNT KILL PALPATINE???? At first the film argues that he doesn't kill Palps because Palps promises him the big FINAL ORDER fleet? Okay...but I don’t think Kylo really gives a shit about a big fleet of ships when it's offered by the fucker who has been scrabbling his brains for shits and giggles. Once the ‘Rey Palpatine’ thing comes to light, we are lead to believe Kylo went along with the whole final order plan because he wanted to kill Palpatine together with REY???? Ahh okay? 

So now we switch back to Rey. She's basically a jedi, cool. And I guess the Skywalker saber just fixed itself, with literally no scars or anything. A great visual representation about how this film feels about character development that happened in The Last Jedi. So Rey breaks concentration and fails the courses. According to the film, this happens because sheisapalpatine. If you had two brain cells you would realize Rey could be upset for normal reasons ...like that in order to the Resistance to win she’s going to have to put Kylo down like a dog. Its kinda cool that Leia is her teacher (more on that later).

Soo then we spend the next hour on a pointless adventure with the Trio™. Which would be fun, if they were ever established as a Trio. Arguably the real trio might be Rose-Finn-Poe. More on Rose later. Here is a list of incomprehensible things that happen here:

Kylo reforges his mask. Because Reasons? The knights of Ren. Because Reasons?

A handful of force bond scenes. The first one actually isn’t half bad. By wearing the mask, Kylo is rejecting the intimacy inherent to the connection because he is about to  defile it. Grabbing Rey’s necklace is a physical and emotional violation. It's the first time he has ever used the connection for personal gain.  The other connection scenes mostly just play around with the two of them being able to pass each other stuff. They lack the careful editing of TLJ connection scenes. Disclaimer: I’m a pretty hard core Reylo and these scenes really lacked the magic they previously had.This might be un-purpose Kylo is clearly pretty lost as this point.  Dull, lacking in heart like so much of this film. 

Kylo becomes a cartoon power ranger villian spouting Palpatine exposition and attempting to create suspense by almost catching the trio a couple times. Some of the dialogue is almost Revenge of the Sith Anakin level awkward.  It lacks both the unstable angry energy of FA or the sad tired boi energy of TLJ. 

Rey makes force lighting because I guess she was upset and it's a genetic ability now???

Poe gets a female love interest, becuase hes heterosexual. HeTeroSeXUal.

Poe and Finn flirt for a whole hour while Poe checks out some new chick and Finn now has a harem thing kinda. 

Poe is now a spice trader. BECAUSE YOU KNOW HE'S THE HAN SOLO OF THE TRILOGY. Let's just forget that TLJ establishes that Poe is his own character, probably loyal to the resistance since birth. His parents are rebellion alumni.

Two death fake outs. I don’t know why they had to give 3PO his memories back. He lost them at the end of the Prequels and R2 loved him anyway. Chewbacca capture was a missed opportunity to get some resolution to him shooting Kylo in the gut. 

Hux is the spy. Lovely. He is the ultimate weak bitch. Tbh the most consistent character development. Arguably my favorite detail on the entire film. Perfect execution. Domhnall Gleason is a gift. 

Now onto Endor. Endor has so much potential and squanders most of it.

Finn meets other people who left the stormtrooper program. Cool. Weird how it's tied to force sensitivity. I like the idea of the force putting Poe and Finn in the right place at the right time, but I think to imply people’s ability to escape slavery is tied to force sensitivity brings us to the problematic terrority of the sequels. Also the only one who talks to Finn is also black. And Clearly has a romantic vibe. Okay…..

The Rey Palpatine thing is made explicit. Even though anyone will half a brain figured it out 90 minutes ago. More wierd implications…..who would agree to fuck an old man Palpatine? So Rape i guess. Rey’s parents were normal...is this some kinda side material hook to read more about them or some shit??? Kylo refers to Rey’s parents as ‘filthy junk traders’. He's right. THEY SOLD HER INTO FUCKING SLAVERY. However Rey’s parents are good people??? WTF THIS IS THE JEDI COUNCIL ALL OVER AGAIN.

 Soo Kylo destroys the wayfinder to force Rey to work with him. Anti-Reylos will often get their panties in a twist about how it’s an ‘abusive relationship’. This is the only scene that really comes off as manipulative- in a way it never did in TLJ. Partly because they play up this idea of power-hungry Kylo (which has little basis in reality. In FA he just wanted to make Snoke his daddy. And TLJ Kylo is just soo fucking lonely) rather than sad boi Kylo trying to hold onto someone. Damn the TLJ throne scene is soo careful with getting that energy right, balancing the heartbreak with a little gaslighting (sorry off topic).  Then They Fight. Kylo doesn’t even pull out a saber at first because he literally has no intention of killing her. Rey fights because she's mad. Leia decides to intervene at this time, which is weird because Kylo still has no intention of hurting Rey. Apparently Leia sending Kylo a text is enough to freak him out. THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN THE TIME FOR FLASHBACKS, MAYBE A ‘YOU’RE MY ONLY HOPE’ TO TIE HIM BACK TO HIS NAMESAKE. 

Instead Rey gets him in the gut. She then heals him, something that should have been really intimate. This would have been time to kiss him in that wistful ‘ I wanted to know what it would be like before I exile myself forever way’. This is one of the scenes that desperately needed more breathing room AND GIVE KYLO SOME FUCKING DIALOGUE YOU COWARDS. Healing him combined with Leia stuff should have reduced Kylo to a pile of tears. I think he would find it completely overwhelming that someone thinks he is worth it, worth a part of their life source, worth their final breathes. 

Oh woah surprise Han Solo. This kinda works for me because unlike robot Leia and fairy godmother Luke, Han looks alive. Plus Han is only a memory so Kylo has to save himself, make his own choice. Aww fuck this got me the closest to tears becuase he looks so fucking sad about the fact that he can’t go home. Damn you Adam Driver and you’re big weepy eyes. His mother is dead and I don’t think he ever truly realized that she wanted him back. I guess with the way things went with Luke, he just assumed he was unwanted. Even now, Han is the only one of the 3 Ben can really imagine taking him back. Who knew Han was such a softie.  At the same time there is something so unintentionally sad about the fact that Ben’s whole family can become force ghosts and not a single one gives enough of  a shit about him to show up at the turning point of his life. 

Also the implication that Ben turns to protect Leia’s lifework is strange. Leia’s legacy is the Rebellion, a democratic senate, a planet wiped off the map, NOT SKYWALKER JEDI #2 JJ!!!!! Ben doesn’t even interact with any of the larger powers at work, he just saves Rey. 

Also while Ben’s guilt and shame about killing Han (his true sin) keep him on the dark side, this doesn’t address the 8 million other reasons he left the light. Also why do Leia and Rey never discuss this???? His own fucking family repeatedly rejected him because of his ‘Vadar-ness’ which is ironic considering…….

Then we cut to Rey’s fairy godmother-esque trip to Ahch-To where she arms herself with all of the Skywalker’s personal effects:

Mad that Rian Johnson denied you that ESB fanservice call-back of Luke being able to pull his x-wing out of water?? Don’t worry JJ has got you covered. 

Mad that Leia didn’t have lightsaber? Don’t worry JJ has got you covered, Leia was always prepared to be a back up to Luke because she doesn’t have her own perspective or anything or like a whole fucking political system to run. Also she stopped training because apparently completing her journey would end in Ben’s death...ooo SmArT foreshadowing that Rey using her lightsaber will end in one dead Ben boi. 

Leia and Luke ALWAYS knew about Rey Palps. Which is funny because they threw their own flesh and blood in the trash because he seemed kinda Vader-y. I guess it's wrong to judge people by their bloodlines unless its your own bloodline. I can’t even. 

There is no mention of Ben at all- even though Leia and Luke both died for him and Rey put her whole heart into saving him.  

Now to Exeger or whatever again. Almost two hours in and we’re back at the planet we were on in the first 5 minutes.

Spaceship stuff happens. Take out your checklist to get those pilot and ship cameos. Ooo look its The Ghost! OG trilogy pilot! Lando is there! WOOO! Poe’s girlfriend lived somehow! 

Ben’s last words are ‘Ow’.

Palps wants Rey to kill him because I guess that will make her evil? Since when does killing people make you evil? I don’t think killing Palps to save the world in the same as ‘striking your enemies down in hatred’ or whatever. 

Oh Hey Ben is here. Palps doesn’t care much I guess even though trolling Skywalkers is his whole life’s passion. 

Palps drains the life out of Ben/Rey. They don’t die. Ben goes flying into a pit. Rey has to face Palps alone because I guess even though Ben/Rey are stronger together and are cosmically linked the lone jedi thing will happen anyway?? Is feminism about doing everything on your own rather than building meaningful connections with your equal partner. Honestly only Men would think a women has to do everything alone to prove her worth, Rey has been wanting allies and family her whole life LET HER HAVE IT. 

Also okay sooo Palps did technically kill Rey’s parents and she had about a whole 5 minutes to think about that. Multiple generations of Ben’s family have been tortured by this guy, so I think it would be rather cathartic to see him play a bigger role in the end of Palp.

Rey enters the Avatar State. Cue more fanservice cameos (I love you Ahsoka, but you said it yourself, you ain’t a jedi). In another backhanded slap to TLJ were back on the TheJediDidNothingWrong line of thinking. Anakin is present ...I wonder if anyone else is interested in talking to him…...

Rey dies. I’m not sure why. Palps legit sucked the life of her and she lived, but the Avatar State killed her. 

Ben crawls out of pit. Damn Adam Driver has legs for days. He heals Rey, its kinda sweet but it's also really really weird that he hasn’t said anything. Not saying we need an over the top love declaration but even his emotionally constipated parents managed to get an ‘I love you’ out. 

Ben saves Rey. The thing Anakin thought the dark side would give him the power to do. Interesting bookend. Sad that my boy has such low self preservation, he gives her his life without hesitation. Why do we have to die for other people? It’s much harder to have to live for other people. To move and grow beyond the past. To try and be our best everyday, even when its hard. Isn’t that real redemption? 

Ben kisses Rey. Awww. Its missing some of the elements of a big romantic drama kiss, which I would be okay with ...if it was followed up with a big romantic kiss with a sunset on a new planet before the credits roll. Alas this does not happen. The audience is somewhat befuddled since their had been almost no dialogue referencing their emotional connections. The ‘no one knows me./I do.’ dialogue from the trailer did not appear in film. 

Ben smiles. It has all the boyish charm and innocence Anakin wished he had in the prequels. Aww he really has never kissed anyone. I wonder when the last time he smiled was. HAS THIS MAN EVER HAD A GOOD DAY HIS ENTIRE LIFE. I am emotionally moved until approximately 2 seconds later….

Ben dies. There is no funeral. No mention. Rey doesn’t shed a single tear. This dude literally gave you his life without hesitation. Is Reylo one-sided? Or at least not equally felt? Ow. U The Resistance doesn’t wonder what happened to the Supreme leader. We know at the end of TLJ Luke became a legend, I do not think this happens to Ben. 

The Resistance parties. Cue Return of the Jedi film reel. Poe and Finn are heterosexual. No resolution to the stupid ReyFinn force sensitve thing. Two women kiss. It will be cut out of the Chinese release. 

Rey buries the lightsabers on Tatooine because you know Luke lived there and Leia once wore a metal bikini there. Rey choose the name Rey Skywalker. Which is interesting because she didn’t get along that well with Luke. She finished her training with Leia Organa Solo, Princess of Alderaan who just happens to have been a result of a sperm donation from Anakin Skywalker. She found a father figure in Han Solo. She loved a guy named Ben Solo. I’m not saying she should name herself Rey Solo, but it certainly is better than Rey Skywalker. I mean it's almost like a person's worth and ability aren’t dependent on either a bloodline or acceptance into the galaxies most powerful family. Rey nobody would have been fine.  I’m not going to get into the feminist angle of a self made women tying herself to the legacy of a man. Cue theaterwide groaning. 

Twin suns. Cool. I liked them better in The Last Jedi.

Rey has a yellow-ish lightsaber and maybe made out of her staff. Wonder where she got the crystals from and why they didn’t introduce it earlier. Possible implication she's going the way of the ‘grey’ jedi? idk some Jedi have yellow actually. Ahsoka had a yellow one. Not sure since this film is back on the JediwayisBest bullshit. 

We see Luke and Leia's force ghosts. Ben’s last word was ‘ow’.

In Summary, some odd implications:

Rey Palpatine is quite possibly the worst idea of all time. Worse than midichlorians. The highest level of fanboy pandering and Rian Johnson erasure. Rey has a lot of very real things to be angry about - her rough childhood, the deaths of her mentors, loving someone as dense as Ben Solo, having to come to terms with the fact that her parents didn’t love her. 

Return to prequel-esque thinking on slavery. Apparently it is not that bad if you sell someone as long as you do it with LOVE. 

Making Finn force sensitive is not character development. Its just half assed pandering and additional exposition in a film filled with exposition.

There is some truly awful dialogue in this film. Its shot composition and editing is so sloppy compared to FA or TLJ. 

The force in balance means killing everyone on the darkside. 

Rose is completely sidelined. She is the only Asian character on screen. She is seemingly replaced with a black woman who has a similar background to Finn and is a scavenger like Rey. Yikes. Why does this feel like an anti-interacial relationship thing. 

Said Black women Jarrah talks to Lando, another black character in a bizarre dialogue that vaguely implies all black people are related. I might be really misreading this, but its weird. I would have liked her to talk to Rose instead because female solidarity. 

FinnPoe is played up a LOT. But we are also repeatedly reminded they are attracted to women. This does not feel like woke Bisexual culture. This is pandering without making a commitment. 

Rey’s worth as a character is related to her connection to powerful people in the Star Wars mythos, not her own traits. 

Ben’s character resonates really strongly with abuse victims and outsiders. His lack of dialogue strips him of a lot of his agency.  His estrangement from his family is not resolved. Vader, who arguably did a lot worse things gets a whole dying monologue and force ghost thing. 

Oh hey C3PO said the festival is every 42 year old….OG came out 42 years ago. heh.

In Summary:

Watch the Clone Wars animated series

Fall in love with Ahsoka

Watch Star Wars Rebels or at least all the episodes with Ahsoka and also the series finale, it's got some cool force stuff in it. 

Think about the cool force stuff in Star Wars Rebels and the cool force stuff in The Last Jedi. Woah.

Apply all this cool force stuff to your own personal version of the Rise of Skywalker

Wait for clone wars finale Feb 2020

Rinse and Repeat

Peg Kylo Ren

Oscar Isaac is the Captain on the FinnPoe Ship. 

The Last Jedi was the Best One. Fight Me. 

Find the fanfiction where Rey tells him what a good boi he is which reduces him to a puddle. Find the fanfiction where he cries during sex the first time, the second time, every time. Find the fanfiction where his force ghost gets a hug, where his family welcomes his back. 

Read Fanfiction:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/21852886

What I would do instead:

Delete Rey Palpatine

Ditch the mask. You have a fucking Oscar nomiated actor hiding under it. 

After the Endor part, have Kylo join either Rey or the Resistance. Personally I think him hitching a ride on the Falcon would have been wonderfully awkward. And maybe give some closure the calling Finn a ‘traitor’ thing. This is fanservice-y, but no more fanservice-y than the rest of the film. And maybe finally answer the question of who does/doesnt know who Kylo Ren is. Would like a verbal declaration that he identifies as Ben Solo or least Ben or something. 

Ben can still die I guess but maybe give him some kinda funeral. Or reuse the golden dice symbolism. 

Slow everything done. Let the audience feel sad, feel happy. Oh and cut out those fucking death fake outs. 

[rookisaknight]

MBTI and the Seeds

Religious bullshit, meet personality bullshit. I took to 16personalities for a direction on this and was actually pretty convinced by the majority of the results (which is whack because 16personalities almost always gets at least one letter off), but I have an unfathomably large amount of information about this test stored in my grey matter so I’ll be hopping off a bit to fill in my own blanks. Also notable is the severe trauma each of the Seeds have been through

This is going under a cut because it's a long post and honestly might be more worthwhile as a reference for myself and how I write the Seeds, but I can’t be the only personality nerd in this fanbase.

Jacob Seed: ISTJ. The Logistician

I wasn’t sold on this one initially given that Jacob seems far more comfortable with out of control situations than most Js generally are, but I find the overall profile fits him better than ISTP. My explanation is that his time in the juvie, the military, and the foster system has forced a maturation of this particular function due to constantly feeling out of control, which makes him more open to adaptation than he would have been otherwise. 

Strengths:

Honest and Direct: Notably Jacob is arguably the least manipulative Seed. He “tricks” you in a sense with the conditioning but that is more a strategic concealment than any deception. Unlike the other three, Jacob does not pretend that his actions come from any sense of love or divine calling. He is always straightforward with the deputy, even if that doesn’t restrain his cruelty.

Strong-willed and Dutiful: Basically see all of the Book of Joseph, as well as his “you think I care if I die” comments. I lump very responsible under this. 

Calm and Practical: I don’t think I have to explain this part. Jacob never reacts from an explicitly emotional place. The “did you think you were free” is the closest to losing his temper I think we see from him. He has expectations, and failure to meet them will be punished. He doesn’t see a need to get emotional about it, preferring to detach himself

Create and Enforce Order: Well, culling the herd is an unconventional tactic, but...

Weaknesses: 

Stubborn: As Joseph said, Jacob has been getting into it since he was a kid. Even with the brother, he’s willing to die for, he explicitly argues with him. And even in the face of his own death, he refuses to rescind his own philosophy, or even demonstrate any regret for the path he’s chosen.

Insensitive and Judgemental: Jacob’s a shithead no I will not elaborate

Always By the Book: an illegal paramilitary cult, yes, but one that holds to Jacob’s exacting standards. 

Often Unreasonably Blames Themselves: Loath as I am to woobify Jacob at all, there’s a pathos to him. As Joseph says, he thinks of himself as a “weapon without a purpose. A soldier without a legacy”. As a child, he protected his siblings and as an adult, he views himself as little more than a meatshield. There’s a sense that he objectifies himself, reduces himself down to simply the function of violence and protection, and those high standards mean that he views death as simply another failure.

can bastard be a personality type

Joseph Seed: ISFP- The Observer

The test originally gave me INFP, but I find that unconvincing for two reasons. One, INFP’s are predominantly defined by an open-minded approach to life and to ideas, which doesn’t fit well with a guy so convinced he got religion right that he was willing to kidnap and murder people. Two, while Joseph is definitely contemplative and deals with the symbolic, his “visions” are not flights of fancy but are in some sense practical. He doesn’t really appear to engage in thought experiments, merely interpret sensory (or in this case extrasensory) information that he is presented with.

Strengths:

Charming: The man runs a successful church for a reason, and it can’t just be good cheekbones and dogwhistling

Sensitive to Others: Joseph has a keen insight into other people’s emotional state, which is what makes him so effective at manipulating them. He tends to meet people where they’re at with a certain deftness that would be impressive if he didn’t use it the way he did

Passionate: about the LORD. No, but I’ll give this to the man, he’s certainly got a vision, and sticks to it with intensity.

Curious: I think anyone working in the business of people has to have an inherently curious mind, and while Joseph may believe he has all the answers, his fascination with the Deputy to me indicates that he has an inherent draw to things that disrupt his world. I also think about how he would get in trouble as a child for seeking out forbidden material, such as Spiderman comics. those Satanic webs...

Weaknesses:

Fiercely Independent: He’s developed a supportive community now but Joseph has always marched to the beat of his own awful, awful drum, which has gotten him kicked out of at least one job and lost him at least one set of foster parents. He doesn’t seem to need people as much as he acquires them 

Unpredictable: Sometimes with blood, sometimes with forgiveness, it's hard to say how Joseph will respond to disruption on any given day. Where the spirit leads, I suppose. 

Easily Stressed: This one I’ll actually argue that his turbulent history and the demands of his job have at least taught him to cover this up, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t cracks in the armor. “yOU HAVE TO BELIEVE ME!!!!!”

Overly Competitive: He’s a sore loser with a tendency to punish people for failing him (see: Faith and the statue)

Fluctuating Self-Esteem: He’s dealing with a joint worldview where he is at once God’s chosen and a “no one from nowhere with nothing”. How much of that is genuine we may never know, but I don’t think the fluctuation is outside the realm of possibility

John Seed: ESFJ-The Consul

I was a little on the fence about N vs S but ultimately found that John’s a bit more concrete than conceptual.

Strengths:

Strong Practical Skills: I mean, the man orchestrated a hostile takeover of an entire county, he knows how to get things done when he wants

Strong Sense of Duty, Very Loyal: This part is likely underdeveloped given how tempestuous forming relationships was for most of his life, but given how bound he feels to Joseph its clearly in him.

Good at Connecting With Others: He’s a shitstain, but according to Joseph he had business connections everywhere and was basically a walking secret storage bin. John can probably be very charming if you don’t know how he spends his weekends in the bunker. 

Sensitive and Warm: again, underdeveloped given his background, but there’s clearly a lot of emotions broiling just below the surface given how volatile he can be and how easily Joseph can access them. Joseph also describes him as a very sensitive kid, for what that’s worth

Weaknesses

Worried About Their Social Status: The boy is a climber

Inflexible:  He holds pretty firmly to his headcanons on Hope County (for fuck’s sake John Nick’s sin isn’t Greed, its Sloth) and has a very definite view on how things should be. Not to mention he seems very particular, just based on the state of his home and his clothes. He has rituals and habits, and will not deviate.

Vulnerable to Criticism: If you say anything about his future receding hairline he will cry. He just will. Not to mention I’m citing that look he gives you when you’re apparently costing him paradise by not converting

Often Too Needy: He will either get attention or he will die trying. 

Too Selfless: Honestly, selfless isn’t the right word here, but I’ll copy the way 16 personalities describes it because I think it fits really well for John. “ Consuls sometimes try to establish their value with doting attention, something that can quickly overwhelm those who don’t need it, making it ultimately unwelcome. Furthermore, Consuls often neglect their own needs in the process.” John is a deeply selfish person but he does act like someone who tries to get affection by giving everything of himself, often to the point that he makes the other person uncomfortable.

I literally love this dramatic edit it's so good

Faith Seed/Rachel Jessop: ENFP-The Campaigner

I have nothing to add, it just fits. At the most, I think Faith is a little more pragmatic than she lets on (given that whole “if violence is the only language you choose to speak”) but to me, that can easily be an extension of the ENFP’s ability to connect emotionally. It means they know how to cut people off 

Strength

Curious: I mean you don’t end up in a cult willingly without a little curiosity. Faith also seems mildly intrigued by the Deputy’s resistance, and while this eventually culminates in frustration with our intractability, I believe there’s a genuine investment in the journey to conversion

Observant: Faith is cued into her public perception, both from the resistance and the cult, and consciously constructs it. She also shares Joseph’s ability to tune into emotions and exploit them.

Energetic and Enthusiastic: How much of her ray of sunshine persona is constructed for the benefit of converting people will probably never be answered, but I don’t believe it can be constructed whole cloth. I think Rachel always was a person with a lot of heart and enthusiasm for her passions, even if it's not as constant as Faith Seed wants you to believe

Excellent Communicators: There’s a reason she’s regarded as the Siren. She can talk people into things even they don’t want to do. Certainly left me shook

Know How To Relax: *insert weed joke here*

Very Popular and Friendly: Again, her Siren persona may not be 100% genuine, but you can’t fake that level of charisma

Weaknesses:

Poor Practical Skills: Listen, Rachel is smart as hell (definitely smart enough to develop a drug and orchestrate mass production thereof), but her planning skills? Not great. Up until Burke gets taken out of the Bliss her plan seemed to be “talk with the Deputy over and over until they change their mind”. She kicks it up a notch after she finally gets annoyed with us but it seems a bit more “making it up as she goes”, and she falls back on strategies that have worked for her before but aren’t really effective for the Deputy. In fairness, I don’t think any of the Seeds are strong in the planning department

Overthink Things, Get Stressed Easily: Unlike with John and Jacob, Faith doesn’t really let us in to see her darker side. She prefers to speak of her flaws in the past tense. Yet clearly anxiety has been an issue in her life, given how deeply her isolation sat with her and her sense of worthlessness. Using drugs as an escape from stress also makes sense for her character, at least from my perspective

Highly Emotional: Faith communicates in emotional terms, manipulates people through emotions, and unlike someone like Jacob Faith loses her temper. She shouts at us, demonstrates her frustration very openly, even screams at us that we couldn’t possibly understand her.

Independent to a Fault: Her personal history gives her some interesting codependent issues with Joseph but based on what we hear of her from Tracey Rachel resented anyone trying to control her, even if they had her best interests at heart, and was perfectly willing to burn bridges over people questioning her choices. 

If people are interested I can develop these out more. I may eventually do these for the police force members too but frankly, we’re given less to deal with for them, in particular with Joey and Staci, so who knows.

[mothermaidenclone-blog]

Avengers: Infinity War or Just by Force of Numbers This Has to Work out, Right?

I had my trepidations about Avengers: Infinity War; there were so many characters to squeeze in that I worried a cameo-fest might take the place of a cogent plot My fears, however, were unfounded, as I felt the story held together well and the characters’ interactions were a good balance between genuinely personal and goofy one liners. The women - although vastly outnumbered, there are roughly three times as many named male characters as female - continue to be the strong heroes we know and love.

*Avengers: Infinity War spoilers follow*

Perhaps most prominent of the female line up is Gamora (Zoe Saldana). Once again, she demonstrates a variety of admirable qualities, including martial prowess and perhaps the most pragmatism out of any of the Avengers - she is quick to break up the man-off between Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) and Thor (Chris Hemsworth) by reminding them that the whole universe is at stake; “Enough! We need to stop Thanos.” Gamora also demonstrates incredible strength of will and appreciation of the greater good, she possesses secret knowledge that could endanger everybody if Thanos (Josh Brolin) finds out, so she makes Peter promise to kill her rather than let her be captured. To do this, she holds Peter to the most powerful force she can think of, a female entity, the memory of his mother. Gamora is willing to sacrifice herself to protect innocent lives, and her only motivation that outweighs this is her love for her sister, Nebula (Karen Gillan). The sight of Nebula being tortured is the only thing powerful enough to move Gamora to divulging her secret.

Unfortunately, Gamora meets a tragic and untimely demise at the hands of Thanos. Even worse than dying so a man can have something to be sad about, she is murdered so a man can obtain mystical powers to use for evil. Gallant to the end, once Gamora realises Thanos’ intentions, she tries to kill herself so that his sacrifice will fail. Her death is all the more heartbreaking seeing as she has spent two films escaping, recovering and developing from not only the stigma of being Thanos’ adopted daughter, but also all the trauma she suffered at his hands. So, to be murdered by him out of a deluded sense of him mistaking a lifetime of abuse for love is such a cruel end for a magnificent and accomplished hero.

Nebula herself contributes a little to the good fight, violently despatching a few goons, but as far as the space-faring women of this film go, Mantis (Pom Klementieff) definitely comes in second after Gamora in terms of prominence. She is also one of the two female characters who have actual super powers - she is an empath and can manipulate people’s mental states to a certain extent, such as sending people to sleep. It was good to see her as the lynchpin of a plan, and not the butt of a joke, as she is one of the few characters who has any effect at all against Thanos, controlling his mind for an impressive amount of time. Mantis is also a source of comedy in Avengers: Infinity War, sometimes slightly at her expense, for example when she messes up the line, “We came to kick names and take ass,” but sometimes innocently too. One of my favourite moments was Mantis serenely enjoying the simple pleasure of low gravity in the background of a shot.

The only other female character with super powers is Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen). She is portrayed as one of the most powerful characters in the films - the only one with the ability to destroy an infinity stone for example. She is also one of only two characters with the strength of will to kill a person she cares for deeply to keep Thanos from finding an infinity stone - Peter Quill is the other, but his assassination attempt is thwarted by Thanos. This is no mean feat, as her target, Vision (Paul Bettany), is not only her lover, but one of the few individuals on Earth who is as far from being a normal human as she is. Prior to this, Wanda not only has the capability to protect Vision in battle, but also to heal his wounds. Other than Thor, who is a literal god, and Thanos, who has a magical glove with the six most powerful objects in the universe stuck to it, she performs some of the most impressive feats in Avengers: Infinity War.

Other female characters openly admire Wanda’s talents; when she enters the fray in Wakanda and displays what she is capable of, General Okoye (Danai Gurira) exclaims, “Why was she up there this whole time?” Furthermore, Okoye and Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) support Wanda in combat. It filled me with joy to hear Natasha proclaim, “She’s not alone,” as she joins in the battle against one of the children of Thanos. It was a little strange how the fighting seemed to be gendered: female characters mostly only battled the one female child of Thanos, Proxima Midnight (Carrie Coon). As a side note, I did have to look her name up as I don’t believe it’s said out loud in the film, which is dumb, because it’s a very cool villain name. Also, the ratio of male to female children of Thanos introduced in this film was also 3:1. Proxima is portrayed as a strong and loyal adversary, her design as an alien was visually interesting and I think she was the last goon standing - the sheer number of different concurrent battles and the three toilet breaks my broken body had to take during this movie confused the timeline somewhat, so feel free to correct me if I’m wrong about that.

Natasha mostly showcases her multitude of combat skills in this film, which are undeniably remarkable, but we see very little of any other side to her. A slight nod to her brief romantic involvement with Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) is the only glimpse to another side to her personality that we get. I do appreciate that this is a very ambitious ensemble movie, and that some male characters, for example Sam Wilson aka Falcon (Anthony Mackie), receive similar sidelining treatment. Speaking of romance, there does seem to be a need to couple everyone off - Peter Quill and Gamora unquestionably confess their love out loud and Wanda and Vision are established lovers since we last saw them. Part of this is natural character development, but I can’t help but imagine the vast, corporate hand of Marvel picking up its action figures, smushing them together and demanding, “Now you kiss, and you kiss.”

A good example of a woman who does manage to show different facets of herself in the limited screen time she has is Okoye. As previously mentioned, she is an adept soldier and remains a loyal general to T’Challa aka Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), but she also has a sense of humour. She is responsible for one of the moments that made me chuckle, confessing that her expectations regarding a public Wakanda were different to reality and included, “The Olympics, maybe even a Starbucks.”

Okoye’s fellow Wakandan, Shuri (Letitia Wright), princess and chief scientist - what a combo - also makes a reappearance. Once agin, she does not have a huge amount of screen time, but in it she accomplishes the notable feat of establishing herself as possibly the most intelligent person and distinguished scientist in the MCU. She forces Bruce Banner to admit that he and Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), arguably the previous holders of that title, didn’t use her more effective solution to a problem because they, “Didn’t think of that.”

One final named female character makes an appearance in Avengers: Infinity War, although she is the first one we see on screen. The long suffering Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). Pepper makes a very brief appearance alongside Tony, reasserting her position as probably the most sensible, level headed and pragmatic individual - characteristics that could easily be underestimated in a universe of ridiculous super heroes. She successfully talks the somewhat manic Tony down from thinking they should have a child, arguing - quite rightly - that having a dream about becoming a parent is not a good enough reason to actually do so and basically that Tony can’t be trusted to be enough of a normal, sensible human to be a father.

It should also be noted that many of these women don’t make it out of Avengers: Infinity War alive, what with Thanos instantaneously disintegrating half of the population of the universe and all that. I’d like to point out the alarming order in which we see people die: Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), a physically disabled - if not possibly ageless - and deeply traumatised man; T’Challa, a black man; Groot (Vin Diesel), a non-human alien; Wanda, a woman; Sam Wilson, a black man; Mantis, a female alien; Drax (Dave Bautista), a non-human alien and then finally three able bodied, white, human men - Peter Quill, Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Peter Parker aka Spider-Man (Tom Holland). We also see Agent Maria Hill (Colbie Smulders) and Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) - you guessed it, another woman and black man - disintegrate in the post-credits scene. I just wanted to take you on the emotional roller coaster that I went on, when I thought we’d just be left with mostly white dudes for the sequel. I doubt that any of these characters are permanently dead, as Marvel has many more money-spinning movies up its sleeve, and I’m willing to bet they wouldn’t do away with so many lucrative franchising opportunities in one go. Hopefully, the same can be said of Gamora - I’m already working on a theory that she is the soul inside the soul stone and, when the time is right, will somehow escape and be the one to end Thanos. Just floating some ideas about, Marvel, feel free to use them.

Overall, despite battling a terrible gender ratio on top of the forces of evil, the women in Avengers: Infinity War showcase an incredible smorgasbord of wondrous attributes between them, including: martial prowess, empathic talents, the weaponisation of pure energy, scientific aptitude, humour, loyalty, common sense, healing powers and selflessness to name but a few. They are exemplary heroes who mange to stand out and hold their own in an overwhelmingly large ensemble cast, in which they are vastly outnumbered by men. I’m just still pissed off about Gamora’s death though - can we not reward triumphant survivors of trauma with murder at the hands of their abusers, please?

And now for some asides

I love how much all of the Guardians of the Galaxy characters, regardless of gender or species, completely adored Thor - he is like a pirate had a baby with an angel!

The continuity of Rocket’s (Bradley Cooper) obsession with prosthetics is beautiful, it’s so good that it was actually useful in this film, and the plot I’m most excited about in the sequel - other than resurrecting all the ladies please - is will Rocket ever get Bucky’s arm? The people demand to know!

My favourite part of this whole film was the sign that said, “We will deep fry your kebab,” in the Scottish chippie.

[425599167]

Do you have any advice on writing Barriss? I got recommended you as the person to ask, because I was thinking about writing something with her.

Really? Alright, here are some guidelines for her and the other canon/legend characters I’ve included. Let me know if it helps.

Barriss:

Barriss embodies every contradiction and failing of Jedi philosophy. Pacifism when convenient, fear of the dark side despite fear being considered a path to it, all of that. Training her whole life to become a Jedi has left her mired in that mindset and she can’t see her way out, because she’s stopped wanting the thing she’s always wanted, and that would make all her efforts “pointless”.

Barriss is completely self-aware. On some level, she knows about #1. And it gnaws at her. Constantly. The reason she’s seemingly the first Jedi to have doubts about the war and act on them is because the contradictions became too much.

Barriss is resourceful. Combat-wise, she is scarily good at using the environment to her advantage, either through improvised weapons or use of terrain. This was obvious in her fight with Ashoka, hiding behind industrial machinery, creating distractions, and then the steam trick. This was also noticeable on Geonosis: it was her initial idea to use the enemy’s own tank against them. Depending on how much control the brain worm had, using shards of broken equipment may have also been her idea. Being weirdly proficient at combat is just another thing about herself that confuses and worries her.

Barriss isn’t dark-sided. Alignment in the Force is usually treated as dependent on intent, not consequence, that’s why dark sides rely on emotions like anger and hatred. Killing alone isn’t what draws on either side of the Force, motivation determine that. Barriss does not want to be what she is. She still killed those people, and has to be held responsible for it, but there wasn’t any real malevolence behind it, just fear and desperation. That’s not darkness on its own.

Barriss is highly intelligent, arguably the smartest padawan we see, probably one of the smartest people in the Jedi Order. Her memory is keen, and with adequate prep time, she can come up with detailed and extremely effective strategies. Improvisation isn’t her forte, but she can at least adapt fast enough to accomplish her goal. The only reason her plot failed, even after things started getting beyond her control, was because she let Ventress live and kept her sabers, which could charitably be interpreted as an act of self-sabotage.

Barriss is isolated. Sure, she gets along enough well with others, but Ahsoka was probably her only actual friend. Her self-image revolves around what (she thinks) Luminara thinks of her, and has no other role models. She hates being touched, but needs to be hugged.

Barriss is self-loathing. She’s a murderer and a hypocrite and she knows it. It’s important to note she considered herself those things before the bombing due to her participation in the war. She also has no idea what to do about it. No matter what opinion people have of her, in-universe or out, no one hates Barriss more than Barriss hates Barriss.

Ahsoka:

Ahsoka doesn’t like being jerked around. Attempts to manipulate or use her in any way really irritate her, especially after the events leading up to her leaving the Jedi. Any kind of foul play or indication of such will immediately tick her off. 

Ahsoka doesn’t like being alone. She was raised in a communal setting, and throughout the Clone Wars, there probably wasn’t a single day that went by without her interacting with Anakin, Obi-Wan, R2, other Jedi, the clones, or Padmé, all of whom were practically family to her. Now she doesn’t have them. At best, she knows they’re alive but can’t reach them, at worst, she knows or believes they’re dead. She’s getting new people in her life and mending her relationship with Barriss, but it’s difficult.

Ahsoka won’t hesitate. Her development didn’t just teach her restraint, it was gaining experience so she knows what to do immediately when split-second decision making is required. She’s a survivor, and will kill people if they’re a threat. Killing isn’t her go-to option, but if her opponent has to die for her or her friends to live, it’s the end for them.

Ahsoka is tough. Should go without saying at this point, but she’s extremely strong and is an experienced soldier and survivalist. She can whether harsh environments, and use weapons other than her saber with a reasonable degree of skill. The destruction of the Jedi and the Republic shook her, but she kept going. She hurts, but she endures. Somehow.

Ahsoka learns from her mistakes. She has combat experience both in space and on the ground, in infiltration and direct attack, some of which nearly killed her and those around her. Every lesson about what it means to be a Jedi, or a leader, she is paying attention and learning, even if she doesn’t get it right away.

Ahsoka is much like Anakin, except better. As her master, he’s had more of an effect on her than anyone else, acting as her primary role model. And she’s better than him. She’s less arrogant, more in control of her emotions, less aggressive, more self-reflective, and isn’t possessive of the people she cares about like he is. 

Thrawn:

Thrawn is a static character. That’s not a criticism of the writing behind him, Thrawn’s lack of personal development is the reason he’s a villain and the eventual cause of his death. He has immense intelligence, but never, not once at any point in his life does he commit any of it towards becoming a better person. He’s completely certain he’s thought everything out and chosen the best option. Throw whatever impassioned speech you want at him about the evils he’s committed, he won’t change. Rukh killed him because he kept the Noghri enslaved, even when he had all the power in the Empire and could’ve freed them, could’ve stopped compromising morality, could’ve stopped lying to himself, and he didn’t. 

Thrawn is a master of psychological warfare and counterintelligence. He understands others easily, but that skill is completely dedicated towards finding ways to bring them down, often by feeding them information which will cause them to act in a way that furthers his plans, or simply causes groups of enemies to lose cohesion because they don’t trust each other. He doesn’t just anticipate his enemies, he makes them do what he wants. Also the art thing is over-exaggerated. If you can come up with an interesting way to include it, great, but it’s really the least interesting or menacing thing about the character.

Thrawn has just enough noble qualities to make people think the Empire is something worth fighting for. While the xenophobic higher-ups in the Empire may loathe him, one of his greatest strengths is how he’s seen by people who serve under him. He values the lives of his soldiers, and won’t waste them. Through his skill as a strategist, he gives them hope of victory. He respects their work, and they know it. And it’s not an act. Vader is feared, Thrawn is respected. Palpatine controls, Thrawn leads.

Thrawn is only as evil as necessary, but he’s still Evil. Don’t ignore that.

Thrawn is alien. While he may be closer to human than many Star Wars species, he has an uncanny-valley creepiness to him in contrast to more overtly terrifying villains like Vader. One thing I wish Rebels had kept was that his eyes don’t have pupils; I understand it was so the audience can see where he’s looking, but not being able to read him would work in the show’s favor. Don’t show his inner thoughts unless it’s absolutely necessary. Keep his exact mindset and motivations unknown to everyone, including his allies. With Ahsoka, despite being non-human she still acts and emotes like one, and her alien features correspond to human ones i.e. hair and eyebrows. The audience is intended to treat Ahsoka like a human, while they should be given reminders that Thrawn is definitely not.

Talon Karrde:

Karrde honors his deals. If he says he’ll do something, he’ll do it, even if he does so at a loss, and he won’t pull any exact-words bullshit to wriggle out of it. He’s a good foil for Hondo Ohnaka.

Karrde is fair. His employees are paid well, and there are significant benefits to working for him, especially in comparison to other criminals. The agreements he makes with people that are mutually beneficial, and he’s open to renegotiation. Still, that’s all it is: an agreement. Working with him doesn’t make him your friend.

Karrde came from nothing. It’s never established in Legends, but I think this guy grew up poor, and now that he has considerable funds at his disposal with more coming in, he wants the bestest, highest-quality ships and equipment and supplies. For himself, and for the people who work for him. Looking down on him for being a smuggler is one of the few things that can get under his skin. Brings back memories. 

Karrde is nondescript. He’s got a lot of money, but nothing about his appearance and residence are ostentatious. It’s all part of keeping a low profile, not drawing more enemies by showing off his success.

Karrde keeps calm. Even in dire situations, the guy keeps a cool head and tries to see his way out of it. He’s in complete control of his facial expressions and body language, and gives nothing away. In Legends, he was able to keep out of Thrawn’s clutches for a while, and his abilities should reflect that.

Karrde tries to act True Neutral, but he’s actually Neutral Good. He doesn’t like people knowing this.

Oh boy, do I have thoughts on Revan:

Revan is not good or evil. In my opinion, it’s best when “Revan the Prodigal Knight” and “Darth Revan, Lord of the Sith” are only a hair’s breadth different from each other. Close enough you wouldn’t be able to tell which is which until you’ve had a very long discussion. My “light side” Revan holocron has not lost a step and is still one of the baddest (ex)meatbags in the galaxy. If they’re being written as a perfect hero or a remorseless monster, you’re missing a lot of opportunities.

Revan thinks in the long-term. The extreme long term. It wouldn’t be unusual for them to lay groundwork for objectives which are years, decades, or in the case of my Revan, centuries away. This is also a factor in how their sense of morality got warped, willing to sacrifice millions if it means the galaxy will still be populated in a thousand years. That big-picture thinking lets them shrug off the “small” stuff. Like the trail of corpses they leave.

Revan is a polymath. Much of what makes them so improbably hypercompetent is that, unlike many characters, they are not overspecialized either in skill or general knowledge. They don’t know everything, but they can be considered to have taken a 100-level course in basically any subject you want to bring up. They’ve canonically shown knowledge of strategy, tactics, politics, history, economics, sociology, linguistics, and multiple fields of engineering ranging from functional to expert, in addition to detailed understanding of the Jedi and Sith.

Revan is pretty laid back most of the time. They’re probably the least dramatic Sith… for however much that’s worth, and are pretty forgiving. While Malak was giddily prepping the stage for their climactic final duel on the top deck of the Star Forge, Revan was probably standing alone in the elevator during the long ride up the megastructure, humming their own made-up theme music or something. Among Star Wars characters, they have one of the more deliberate senses of humor, intentionally making jokes rather than incidentally doing things the audience might be amused by. Even when explaining something deeply philosophical, they speak with a casual tone and vocabulary you’d expect of an average person. They know bigger words, in several languages, but if the intent is communicating a point to people, there’s no need to act sophisticated. They’re not overly polite or sesquipedalian, and they’re not reserved about profanity.

Revan doesn’t depend on the Force. I have no love for Kreia, but this is consistent with what you might expect from her training. While stronger with it, Revan is fully capable of fighting without supernatural aid, or lightsabers for that matter. In-game, they show skill in using vibroblades, blasters, and various explosives, and the game allows the use of advanced cybernetic implants. Even after becoming a Jedi again, Revan is the one operating the gun turret and regularly shooting down whole squads of fighters. They’re also capable of talking their way out of most situations either through negotiation, bribery, lies, or threats, to the point where a high persuade skill is arguably better than the mind-trick power. For all the jokes about how most players approached the final battle with Malak with mines, to me, it’s completely in character for Revan to have been using grenades and mines both out of practicality, and to mock Malak with the fact he’s getting a taste of his own medicine by getting blown up from a distance.

Revan doesn’t care for your rules. This isn’t some juvenile “rebellious” attitude. It’s logically picking apart constraints and flawed processes, not for the sake of doing so, but because they are wrong, Revan can prove it, and they are superior to those who refuse to address their own mistakes as a result. No one and nothing is above criticism or ridicule, ever. And that includes Revan themself. They can take (useful) criticism.

Revan is a control freak. Their core flaw is immense confidence in their own superiority over everyone driving them to control everything because they can clearly do it better than anybody else can. People don’t often pick up on this because a) it’s a fun and necessary part of the game and b) Revan usually does do a better job than everybody. This behavior is obvious as a Sith, but even as a Jedi, Revan is someone who takes it upon themself to solve every single problem they encounter. Revan was the only one who could stop the Mandalorians. The only one who could save the Republic. The only one who could control the Star Forge. The only one who can beat Malak. You could make jokes about how everyone else in the galaxy is too incompetent to do anything right, or you could see various unnecessary sidequests as examples of Revan needlessly inserting themself into every situation they come across to exercise their power, benevolently motivated or otherwise. Revan didn’t need to hunt those bounties on Taris, or become swoop champion on two planets, or literally beat every professional pazaak player in the galaxy at their own game, or decide the outcome of the Sunry trial, or do every single thing possible to get prestige on Korriban when half would do, or hunt down and kill that woman’s fuckbot. That last one didn’t even have any reward, but they do it all anyway. The ultimate end of a light-sided Revan’s character development is to give up on this mindset, summed up with one really underrated line in the tomb of Naga Sadow, directed at Sith who consider themselves so much better than other people and think you should, too: “I don’t believe you. I don’t feel superior to anyone.” If Revan is dark-sided, they never learn when to quit and the entire galaxy suffers for it. Even if you’re writing them as light-sided, those are tough habits to break.

Avoiding pronouns is surprisingly easy and I recommend doing so.

[talkbroadcast]

Licensing Attack in Lieu of Public Statement

By InDaCarSeat DaTGuY Terry Dwayne Ashford

I am going to reiterate what happened in the vehicular licensing and registration crimes that has been identified. This reiteration comes as indications has been revealed that vehement attempts have been made behind the scenes in methods of attacking the innocent person.

See the statement below from InDaCarSeat DaTGuY’s DatGEETV vis BlabberNEWS by clicking here or seeing it attached below.

Upon the InDaCarSeat DaTGuY’s last DL renewal with perfect DL records, the victim arrived 3 days early before expiration date to RENEW a perfectly recorded driver’s license. Knowing that, moved in confidence as would anyone. He arrived inside of the DC Motor Vehicle Department- and a black lady behind the counter denied his renewal efforts. The black lady outright without any answers unsuspectingly denied the renewal of the InDaCarSeat DaTGuY. That was the third day before the expiration date.

This is where decent law binding citizens show urgency to beat the upcoming expiration date. With two days left, the InDaCarSeat DaTGuY went back into the DC offices of motor vehicles department; which was, at that time, operating out of the “C street” location right next to the police department, and spoke with management. As usual the lady who denied the renewal came back and said “I am the manager” and that lady appeared to have had malice of unhappiness denying legal services and rights to a DC citizen, who neither knew her personally or was expecting her to know or be targeting him. The lady denied again having developed an erroneous account of parking ticket. That was resolved and even found that there were no parking tickets, she then said there were back-charges of another ticket. In that case, I showed where there should have been no tickets at all as I didn’t even work in city during the time the tickets were supposed to have been issued- working and parking in VA and MD. The DC Employee was vehement in knowing she was manipulating rights through citizenship ability to own properties and commute back and forth. The employee was vehement in “her matter of fact” way of addressing the InDaCarSeat DaTGuY’s concerns and refused to even talk on the issue any longer at that time-Arrogant blacks who had finally been given a job.

Having seen the abuse and found intensified concerns, that had turned into worry over the vehement black abuse on an unsuspecting person- ONLY one day left before expiring date, Terry Dwayne Ashford went back into the DMV. Having to take days off work to address a renewal, which would have gone smoothly, for a law binding citizen. This time Terry Ashford had documents showing that he had no fees, however the journalist came to bite the low class behavior and had decided to pay the more than $500 errors in a DC Government Approved Payment plan at the window. Guess what y’all! The black DC DMV employee then denied the payment, fee arrangement and the payment on that day exceeded the percentage amount required by law as the employee arrogance and appears to have been an ugly faggit lover; wouldn’t even place the InDaCarSeat DaTGuY on a government ordered payment plan, as stated as an option by the DC government. OMGOSH. That means you had a person who backed up tried to diffuse a fight after low class illiteracy added daily erred fees from someone else’s tickets, same as taxes going to a child support for a child that InDaCarSeat DaTGuY does not have, that means the DC Employee denied payment even for wronged tickets which that illiterate employee had increased since the first day.

See the first day of entering the office for renewal, there wasn’t any fees. Then InDaCarSeat DaTGuY showed that there wasn’t any record, which would have denied his renewal. Then the DC employee created some other denial alibi - having a target in mind. That is when the second day came upon us - and the InDaCarSeat DaTGuY returned to the office. Only to find what? That there were added tickets and more incurred fees of tickets of other people fraudulently placed on his account within a day - as the record had rightfully showed no tickets at all. Then on the third day when Terry Dwayne Ashford went back to the DMV (this was one day BEFORE the expiration date) the badgering black lady seemed to have been waiting and arguably right when the victims got ready to approach the counter, the bad-ass black bully ordered “okay its time for your lunch break” and who but the same illiterate black lady who thought she was bad, was given to serve him, without options of speaking with even another supervisor. Wow what a sickening arrangement. That arranged black dc government employee was mad then refused to accept my payment. Then denied payment arrangements which was a citizen’s rights by DC government. The DC employee would not renew the citizen Licensing account, which was aimed to place InDaCarSeat DaTGuY Terry Dwayne Ashford’s Rightful Privileges that could have provoked jail time. The DC Government employee was risking the InDaCarSeat DaTGuY Terry Dwayne Ashford’s life, unsuspectingly by not knowing, by illegally denying the InDaCarSeat DaTGuY Terry Ashford’s licensing to drive. This fact was indicated in the federal law suit against the District of Columbia and labeled as “Endangering the Life” of Terry Dwayne Ashford.

The InDaCarSeat DaTGuY Terry Dwayne Ashford had been living in Washington DC without family for years and relied on LAWS: Regulations to protect his own rights that was to aid the InDaCarSeat DaTGuY maintaining jobs, travel to jobs and life qualities: while living in the area. Never did Terry Dwayne Ashford expect such deceitful illegal primitive ways were even possible in what was then a “beautiful America”. Never would anyone have believed such crazy seemingly psychotic attacks could happen in America. Being unsuspecting made attacks possible; while victims were trying to figure out in their own civility what was happening. Petty manipulation was happening right in the victims faces, with smiles just as the stolen phone from the CVS and the small money thefts from the victims accounts. Witnessed and “I testify”.

The DC government employee deny renewing Terry Dwayne Ashford’s Licensing even after he agreed to pay the fraudulent charges of the three day long contest that occurred three days before expiration date of his licensing. Notice that the licenses expired - and was not at any fault of the citizen. The DC government employee denied the renewal that shows through that employees behavior, a citizen’s rights to commute even back and forth to work was jeopardized by crimes and fraud.

Terry Dwayne Ashford walked away feeling deserted even by the laws of dc government.

The licensing renewal denial was supposed to have seen a targeted innocent person jailed - in collective collaborative attacks by blacks working with police and DC government. And strangely this black was yet “Another Ashford!” The federal law suit was filed that shows all of this- there is no “alleged” this time showing fear- these are FACTS.

Terry Dwayne Ashford reiterating that a federal legal case against DC and the DC MPD houses facts about licensing manipulation of driving privileges of targeted people.

After they did all of that, Y’all; the DC Governments instructed parking meter maids and other parking enforcement to follow the InDaCarSeat DaTGuY’s parked car and plane tickets upon his parked vehicle, that the journalist broadcaster InDaCarSeat DaTGuY believes was to tally up to the erroneous charges that the dc employee had tried to deny his licenses for - only to get payment arrangement in his civility and knowledge, which the vehement deceitful black employee refused to place him on. The government’s payment arrangement plan as recalled - required a minimum one-time fee to setup and a percentage of the amount owed to initiate and that would a citizen’s right to renew licensing for accounts which was said to have had fees attached. That TOO was denied by the black DC employee.

Then the fraud tickets was used to deny the registration of the vehicle in the tags. Unsuspecting people trusting was their prey - So now “Stay Away From Me” forever. This was done to an person who loved America and came to DC to elevate his journalistic career upon graduating. Totally illiterate and sickening.

This information was brought forth as behind the scene information came to to the victim that retaliation was in-play to the public statement on November 8 by InDaCarSeat DaTGuY Terry Dwayne Ashford. The retaliation was aimed at next action to use “I didn’t know” by another Rogue Disgusting Wash DC MPD instructive attack - stating not having the facts. That has been Sniped. Review your federal cases, cop or ask your Sargent to do it for you. Don’t even talk to or come near the victim of this Federal Case!

In closing, the parking meter employees of dc were instructed to ticket parked InDaCarSeat DaTGuY car to talkie up ticket fees to the set amount denied by the dc government employee. Sorry it is so damn sickening what you had going on here in the national Capitol. Sickening.

Now with all that said and displayed before the eyes of the entire world, the people who did these things tried to take away OPTIONS linked to an innocent person’s ability and RIGHTS to live a free, quality life. The targeted options was targeting the person’s life of options that were owned by the citizen Terry Dwayne Ashford, the InDaCarSeat DaTGuY. And that was done saying such attacks behind the scene was “The Way”. Well your way is goddamn illegal. The targeting of the options were aiming at taking freedoms of life which was aimed at taking away democracy. The right to live free uninhibited based in the individuals own skin. See the tennis courts-you have people rushing to try to block on a tennis court with a soccer ball. Playing soccer on a tennis court - nope move out of my way. Smile smile your ass - you so slick you damn disgusting. You are some disgusting pieces of shit. Problem with that?

See the federal law suit currently in U.S. District Court. “Stay away from me” forever. When “Mom” told you to sat your ass down somewhere, you Faggit tried the wrong person and made a BITCHBOY’s day. You should have tried me first instead of my Mom- but you saw I wanted YOU as bad as you thought you wanted ME! You saw I was ready to do come demolition on your faggit ass! So the faggits skipped over the one they wanted-and went after his mother. Faggit - I will Demolish you!

[1d20ocs]

Backstory: Shyntaghar “Shy” Ranyine

Wordcount: 1,251

CW for implied sexual abuse

Shyntaghar was a disappointment to his family. His household, a commoner’s abode barely more than a cave, held five generations of tailors from great-great-grandmother to a middle sister. The eldest and youngest sisters were in the priestesshood, one already under Lolth and one with much training to go, and Shyntaghar also had an older brother who had been sent off to the military. His father, who his mother had discarded her last husband for, was a wizard with useful but unremarkable talents chosen to round out her children’s prospects. But as Shyntaghar grew to an age where he should have shown potential, he was found weak in both the arcane and martial arts. It was bad enough that he was a boy, albeit healthy for his small size and as receptive to the teachings of Lolth as any decent drow should be, but his lack of talent was almost enough to make him more valuable to his family as a sacrifice offered to Her.

What kept him alive was dumb luck and his matron’s cleverness. By some quirk of genetics, not seen elsewhere in his family lines, he was beautiful in face and body; a look that some noble families bred for, though he certainly wouldn’t make good breeding stock. But with the right turn of phrase, his uselessness in combat became a reassurance of good behavior, and his common blood just meant that he was much more accessible than those from noble houses. Spinning such words around like spider-silk, his mother had found a use for him after all. While he had a childhood interest in tinkering, vague aspirations of being an artisan when he grew up, his family instead tailored him to entertain. He could sing, dance, and play music by the time he was old enough to apprentice; but more than that he had learned well to submit, almost completely lacking the natural superiority drow believed in, with no skill for manipulation like his mother’s.

He fetched a decent price the moment he hit puberty, and his family profited while he was sold to more fitting operations than a clothing shop. The art of seduction was added to his talents, learning how to say yes or say nothing. He learned his place from nobles who paid his mistresses for a turn torturing him in the many ways drow women knew, though only his owners made permanent alterations to his body - any damage from clients was eventually healed to keep him cute. As one of the lowest rungs of society, he was sometimes left with non-drow slaves, the only thing marginally less respected than he was; he learned from them, too, about life outside. His world expanded from one drow city into the vastness of the Middledark, the Upperdark, and even the Surface above. The word for what he felt was not quite hope, but it urged him on.

Shyntaghar grew quite good at his so-called occupation, numb enough to it for his mind to be on other things. A constant as slaves were moved in and out, he was able to work secretly to further bigger plans than he or they could have alone. The god Vhaeraun was certainly with him and his prayers to do better than a male in bondage, and the cult of the goddess Eillistraee sought to save them all. Many of the slaves had partial plans for escape, and Shyntaghar helped enough pieces come together to become a viable whole.

No one would expect a servant to pretend to be a slave, and that was how he had made it out with a few others. To farmland outside of the city’s walls and then the untamed Underdark, the ex-slaves found allies who understood their plight and led them towards the surface, using any help they could get as well as their own skills to survive.

-

Driders had been a worry as they first escaped the drow. Aberrations soon became a bigger concern, with Shyntaghar in particular learning to fear mind-flayers from what he was told of their powers to remove people’s free will; mimics were a nuisance with supplies so scarce. Those that started the journey with strong morals found them weaker.

A dwarf among them spoke of Shar, who was turned to in the dark and despair usually only known to dwarven-kind during long nights spent mining, and from these slaves this Lady of Loss won several converts; though many found hope in Eillistraee instead, and still others held stubbornly to their gods who had given no divine rescue from their enslavement. Shyntaghar did not voice his interest in Shar, but he quietly accepted She whose interests aligned much with his own, better than his similar options of Lolth’s too-same son or too-different daughter.

A human made friends with Shyntaghar, who he nicknamed Shy due to a difficulty with elvish. This ranger wanted to make use of Shy’s sole magical ability, dancing lights, to combat his lack of darkvision. It became a sort of rushed apprenticeship, as Shy was taught to make bows and arrows from scrap and they exchanged tips on staying hidden and doing whatever it took to survive. Shy learned that their tolerance of each other, outside of necessity, was because the ranger had a young orc woman waiting for him. She’d taught him race did not define people. Shy watched him die, a death that was arguably Shy’s fault; a death he tried to think of as more arrows for himself, struggling not to let himself be distracted as he took over as their only far-ranged attacker.

Eventually, the surviving half of them made it to the Upperdark. Though the rest sought to continue to the surface, either to their homes or to meet their goddess in the moonlight and find a new home there, Shy looked towards the drow merchant houses. He parted from the party on good terms, though he had not been very close with any of them, and turned to his childhood dream of living as an artisan of the Underdark. He had not gotten much better at tinkering on the long, long trek, having more important things to have worried about, but those dangers were finally over.

-

The dangers of the Upperdark markets were surprisingly similar to what Shy had experienced before them. He had no delusions that they would be free of cruelty or slavery, but had underestimated the similarities between a drow merchant and drow noble. He was stronger now, honed enough not to be at risk of simply being tossed back into servitude like an unresisting ragdoll. He actually took well to the organized crime family of affiliated merchants. But the cutthroat infighting, and his inability to find any guide to fix his inexperience, made him soon regret losing contact with the assortment of people he’d bonded with in the Middledark. When word circulated that his slaver would pay for the return of her property, it was merely the final straw rather than a devastating change.

As he left for the surface, he stole a magical item, knowing it would make little difference if more people wanted to hunt him down. As a drow, he hated the very idea of the surface and its sun, but as someone running from the drow it stung like a life-saving medicine. He hoped that Shar might protect him, as he sought to empower himself and so live freely, whether it was to be below or above. Moving forward, Shy cast Disguise Self.

[spiteweaver]

I know I'm like a million years late to the party but I've been reading those number things and they're entertaining /as hell/. So I've got a few numbers for you (if you're still doing them of course): 23, 38, & 51? Also your lair spreadsheet is cool af I'm going to make one right now.

(aaah thank u ;w; 51 was already done, but i’ll do the other two!)

Under the cut for length!

(Send me a number, y’all!)

23 is Europa!

1. What is their romantic history like?

Seeing as Europa spent much of their life in total isolation, dedicating themselves wholly and entirely to the moon, romance has never really been an option for them. They’ve had partners in the past, typically travelers who came upon them in their temple and sought solace in their arms, but never anyone they were romantically invested in.

2. What songs would you put on a playlist about this dragon/what songs would they put on a playlist of their own?

Voice of No Return - Keiichi Okabe (current theme)

You Are The Moon - The Hush Sound

Hikari - Aoi Teshima

A Dedication to…Everyone - Riei Saitō

The Dragon Boy / The Bottomless Pit - Joe Hisaishi

Magic - Mystery Skulls

3. What are their guilty pleasures?

None. No shame.

4. If they have a bipedal form, what does it look like? Do they have a faceclaim? What kinds of things would they wear?

Europa has a few “human” forms they can take on. All of them have white hair, of varying lengths, and either pale blue or amber eyes. They’re fair-skinned, and usually tall and lithe. Their favored form is the more androgynous of the lot. All of their forms are unsettlingly beautiful.

They prefer to wear silks and loose-fitting clothing, typically in white or blue, and almost always have either flowers or a wreath in their hair.

5. What is their most traumatic memory?

Their transformation from common dragon to lunar deity was a violent one. I wouldn’t say it traumatized them, but it’s as close as they have to a traumatic memory.

6. What kinds of dreams do they have?

Much like Dreamweaver, Europa does not appear to possess the ability to dream.

7. What foods do they like? Which do they dislike?

Europa isn’t picky, but they favor rice dishes.

8. What is their best physical feature?

Their hands or their lips; men have been lured in by these alone.

(It doesn’t hurt that they can use both to great effect, if you catch my meaning.)

9. How do they fight/what weapons do they wield?

Europa is a lover, not a fighter, but they can call upon the power of the moon to devastate their enemies. They can also influence the tides to a non-negligible degree, so if you’re fighting them anywhere near the sea, you may want to reconsider. They aren’t quite as merciful as they let on.

They carry a staff with them as well–mostly for amplifying their magic, but it can be used to administer swift justice if necessary.

10. What are their thoughts on the Beastclans? Do they like them? See them as allies? Nuisances?

They view Beastclans simply as beings they must coexist with. It is easier and more comfortable to live peacefully alongside them than it is to war with them. Europa has no particular attachment to them, but they have no real reason to be prejudiced either, and would much rather they all just get along.

11. What are they like in bed?

Versatile, casual, experienced. They give off the air of one who has spent many nights in the arms of strangers–and, indeed, they have. They do not hesitate. They know what they want, and they have the uncanny ability to know what you want just as well. They are extremely confident in bed. You won’t be able to throw them off easily.

The quickest way to fluster them is to flip the script on them. Take control away from them and assert yourself. They find it very attractive, and they won’t be expecting it, as they’re accustomed to doing most of the work themself.

They’re a tender lover. They enjoy holding and being held, and the quiet sweet nothings partners whisper to one another in the afterward.

12. What are their biggest turn-ons/turn-offs?

Turn-Ons: assertiveness, confidence; facial hair; emotional vulnerability and availability

Turn-Offs: the usual suspects (watersports, scat, etc.)

13. Do they have any kinks?

For the most part, they enjoy whatever their partners enjoy. They aren’t especially squeamish or picky, and, to them, sex is sex. If it feels good, they don’t mind if it’s a little unorthodox.

BUT they do enjoy bondage quite a lot. Giving or receiving, it doesn’t really matter, they’ll have fun either way.

38 is Satin!

1. What is their romantic history like?

Satin has only ever been physically involved with other men. Although he’s a romantic at heart, commitment is somewhat daunting to him. He worries he may not be able to keep a long-term relationship afloat, for a variety of reasons.

There is one man who will claim he was romantically involved with Satin if ever asked, but Satin violently disagrees.

2. What songs would you put on a playlist about this dragon/what songs would they put on a playlist of their own?

Warriors - Imagine Dragons (current theme)

Fire, Fire - Flyleaf

Gasoline - Halsey

Hurricane - Fleurie

Elastic Heart - Sia

Earth - Sleeping At Last

3. What are their guilty pleasures?

Do kinks count? He struggles a bit with some of them in relation to his abuse, and a lot of people may look at his enjoyment of them as unacceptable.

(Mostly things like bondage, masochism, etc.)

4. If they have a bipedal form, what does it look like? Do they have a faceclaim? What kinds of things would they wear?

I haven’t 100% decided on a “human” form for Satin. I do know he’s somewhat androgynous, probably has golden hair, and has the pale eyes of an Ice dragon. He also dresses mostly in silks, because, well, they’re his trade. He can’t sell customers clothing he won’t wear himself.

Other than that, he likes anything gold and delicate.

5. What is their most traumatic memory?

The first instance of abuse he suffered at his former master’s hands. It was, arguably, the worst occasion out of the lot of them. Even now, so many eons later, he still has triggers relating to that specific instance.

6. What kinds of dreams do they have?

Putting it kindly, not very good ones. He’s made a great deal of progress in his recovery over the years, but spending more than half of your life as a slave to the wealthy elite leaves scars that cannot be fully undone.

Dreamweaver does what they can for him, but that is very little.

7. What foods do they like? Which do they dislike?

His favorite foods are sweet fruits, particularly cherries. You won’t often catch him without a jar of cherries within reaching distance. He likes most sweet things, but fruits in particular. The juicer, the better.

He doesn’t like mushy foods. The texture disagrees with him.

8. What is their best physical feature?

If you ask him, his smile. If you ask everyone else, his incredibly gorgeous legs.

(He doesn’t mind that people like his legs, though. On the contrary, he’s quite flattered, especially if it’s a handsome man saying so.)

9. How do they fight/what weapons do they wield?

Satin picked up a variety of skills during his time serving under his former master’s wife. Manipulation is one of them, and it is assuredly his greatest weapon, but the art of knives was another. His mistress thought that, seeing as he tagged along with her everywhere she went, he should be able to defend her from ruffians–and so she had him taught in defense and self-defense.

(A risky move, given how desperately he wanted to see her husband dead–but an opportunity never arose for him to stick a knife in the bastard.)

He keeps several knifes on him, usually smaller blades for easier concealment and maneuverability. They’re wicked sharp, and he cares for them like they’re his children.

10. What are their thoughts on the Beastclans? Do they like them? See them as allies? Nuisances?

He has more pressing matters to worry about than the ongoing conflict between dragonkind and Beastclans. If a beast is good to him, he’ll return the favor. Simple as.

11. What are they like in bed?

Experienced, playful, oftentimes a bit controlling. He will always ensure that his partners know who’s boss (i.e. him), usually by teasing them until they can’t do anything about it. He is V E R Y good at turning men to jelly, and he uses it to his advantage in the bedroom, to keep a tight leash on his partners. If he doesn’t know you well, you’ll be bending to his will and whims, not the other way ‘round.

If he does know you well, however, he’ll give up some of that control, little by little. His fear is that, by giving up control, he’ll be making himself vulnerable, and so he clings to it zealously when he feels he cannot trust a person. Once you’ve earned his trust, he’ll quite happily play whatever kind of submissive you wish of him, the full spectrum, from innocent to wanton slut.

His favorite thing to do in bed is kiss, so expect a fair few marks on your neck come morning.

12. What are their biggest turn-ons/turn-offs?

Turn-Ons: desperation; pampering; open-mindedness; equally experienced partners; noticeable size differences between himself and his partners; romantic settings

Turn-Offs: undesired or unexpected forcefulness; degradation/humiliation; disrespect for his boundaries; the usual suspects

13. Do they have any kinks?

Satin’s flexible, the sort who will try anything once and who, even if it isn’t his kink, may still gain enjoyment out of one of his partner’s fantasies. His own kinks are many and varied. He’s into bondage, both giving and receiving, and enjoys a bit of role-play now and then.

Probably his favorite kink is spanking. For obvious reasons, the stereotypical master/slave scenario you see involved in a lot of spanking scenes doesn’t set well with him, but he certainly doesn’t mind a lover telling him he’s naughty and proceeding to bop the sinfulness right out of him.

He’s been a bad boy. Time for this very handsome man of high morals and upstanding character to set him straight.

[lady-thor-foster]

A Little Too Much // Steve x Reader

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Inhuman!Reader, Clint Barton x Inhuman!Reader (platonic) Word Count: 2k+ Warning: Severe angst, mentions of self-harm (nothing explicit), brief mentions of torture at the hands of HYDRA (in passing, nothing too explicit), talks of depression, fluff, language. Please do not read this if you could possibly be squicked or triggered by any of the above.

Summary: Reader has never been one to talk about her pain with others, always opting to handle everything on her own. What happens when everything becomes too much to handle alone?

A/N: I’m choosing not to tag anyone in this because this story is incredibly personal and I needed to write in order to help me work through some things I’m dealing with. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for reading.

Inspiration: “A Little Too Much” ~ Shawn Mendes

“She would always tell herself she could do this, She would use no help it would be just fine, But when it got hard she would lose her focus, So take my hand and we'll be alright,

And she knew that she would be okay, So she didn't let it get in her way…”

“I’ve had worse,” you always said, “I’m fine. Don’t worry about it.”

Steve was never sure if he should be proud or worried that you never revealed the true extent of your injuries after a mission. You were quiet, reserved. He’d never even heard you complain about anything. You were a damn fine agent, arguably one of the best he’d ever had the luxury of training with, but no one knew much about you beyond what was available in your file. To everyone else, you were just like their beloved Cap: A hero. Heroes never broke.

You were a master at keeping a titanium grip on your emotions. You were forced to learn at an early age that people rarely cared about how you were truly feeling, just how you made them feel. Gaining the ability to sense emotions and manipulate them after your Terrigenesis only served to further your distrust of other’s motives.  Your circle of trust was all but nonexistent. Beyond Clint, you had no one. Despite how often you were there for everyone else, how often you served as a ‘therapist’ for everyone else, you couldn’t remember the last time anyone was truly there for you. Was anyone ever truly there for you? Was anyone ever truly there for anyone?

So, you learned how to create your mask of emotional stability. You learned how to smile even when you were screaming in agony. You learned how to laugh despite the death you carried in your soul. You learned how to seem to care despite the hollowness of your heart. You learned how to be what everyone expected of you despite the cost to you. It was the only way you knew how to survive.

Even when you’d been taken by HYDRA, nothing they concocted could ever match the misery you’d spent your whole life living with. Even when they shattered every bone in your legs, you never screamed. Even after three impossibly long weeks suffering at the cruel hands of your physical tormentors, you never even shed a tear. It’s impossible to break what had already been shattered.  

Steve knew. Steve recognized the façade you wore because it was one he wore himself. Steve could see the anguish in your eyes despite the blinding smile on your face. Steve could hear the echoing screams of undiluted distress behind your voice every time you laughed. Steve could see you. You didn’t believe anyone would notice, but Steve could see you.

He didn’t know how he could approach you. No one, other than Clint (and that was just barely), knew you outside of your sterling reputation. No one knew the person behind the name. He longed to someone you could trust further than a partner on a mission. He longed to help you realize you weren’t as alone as your mind made you believe. He longed to give you the love you were long overdue to receive. You kept yourself guarded better than any fortress he’d ever seen. God be willing, he hoped one day you’d choose to let him behind your walls and maybe, just maybe, into your heart.

When the Avengers rescued you from your captors, you were the living embodiment of numbness for months. Naturally, everyone expected you to be sullen and withdrawn after your ordeal so when you ‘bounced back’ rather quickly, Steve took notice. What should have taken you at the very least a year of recovery only took a handful of months. Sure, your innate accelerated healing gifted to you by your Kree ancestors helped you along, but even then, the rate of your recovery was unprecedented.

“Can you believe that [Y/n]? She’s a superhuman! She’s a real champion!” the agents said about you.

‘Champion’. That’s what they called you. [Y/n] [Y/l/n]. Code name: Champion. Your successes in the field, your rapid rise through the ranks, your reputation as an agent and a person meant people idolized you. They put you on a pedestal you could feel beneath the very ground you walked on. Living up to their expectations was more than stifling. You were drowning on land under the well-intended words of the people around you. But you could never let them see.

You never let them see how you fought your hardest to breathe unencumbered every time you closed your bedroom door behind you. You never let them see the silent sobs that racked your body as you succumbed against your will to the demons lashing your very soul in wicked amusement. You never let them hear the screams that ravaged your throat while you fought your monsters to just survive.  You never let them notice the scars that littered your body as you tried so fucking hard to get the malignant thoughts determined to make a permanent home in your mind to finally, finally give you some peace. You were their Champion. You were their knight who slayed the dragons and protected the kingdom. You were their light in the dark when the shadows decided it was time to play. You, like Steven Grant Rogers, were their Captain in a war you would never be free of. You could never let them see.

It was a strange sight to see Steve leaving small gifts at your door. Clint, the closest thing you had to a best friend, smiled to himself as he watched the large, yet surprisingly nimble man leave a small basket filled with snacks, comics and what he suspected to be a mix tape from his hideout. Could the good Captain have a crush? 

Clint waited semi anxiously for you to return from your meeting to see the gift Steve left. He too knew that you’d changed irrevocably after your rescue from HYDRA. He also knew that you’d never open up about it until you absolutely had no choice. So, he’d taken to keeping an eye on you from a far if you decided you needed someone to help you. You never knew, and he was okay with that.

To say that you were stunned to find a small gift basket lying in front of your suite door was the understatement of the century. You initially suspected Clint, but he was more prone to leaving ‘gifts’ attached to your wall via a well-placed arrow. It was his way of loving you from afar. Crouching down, you were shocked even further to see the patient scrawl on an envelope from your commanding officer: Steve Rogers. You picked the basket up gently and headed into your suite; a rare curiosity had taken root. Further inspection revealed 4 of your favorite snack bars (how did he even know?), the latest editions of a comic series you swore no one could have ever seen you read and a cassette tape entitled “When things are too much”. You could feel tears welling up in your eyes in surprise and gratitude. For the first time since you could ever remember, someone had made an effort to be kind to you without ulterior motives. It was such a foreign emotion, gratitude, that it actually took you several minutes to recognize what it was. Sliding the tape into your cassette player, you braced yourself for the praising words of your Captain. What you heard was completely unexpected.

“[Y/n]…uh, hi,” Steve stuttered, clearing his throat, “I’m not really sure how to go about this, actually. I would have told you in person, but you are a surprisingly hard person to pin down.” You chuckle softly at this; a self-defense mechanism developed in your early years.

“Anyway…the reason I’m making this tape is because I wanted to let you know that I want to be here for you. I want you to know that you’re not alone. I understand what you’re going through,” his voice continues. You scoff at his words. How could he understand?

“I know you’re probably rolling your eyes in that adorable way of yours, but it’s true. Not many people know the burden of being a hero like you and I do. Despite the kind words of grateful people, it’s hard to find a moment to breathe and just exist beyond the symbol they’ve turned you into.

It’s hard to be yourself when literally every single person around you is expecting you, pressuring you, to be some idealized version of yourself that you have to fight every damn day just to even reach. God, even when I’m alone at home in my underwear for crying out loud, I’m still goddamn Captain America. Now don’t get me wrong; I love being your Captain. I love protecting the people I care about but sometimes I just need a damn minute to just be Steve.

I know you know what it’s like to never be able to fail. I know you understand how impossible it is to be anything beyond your code name. Shit, I’m probably rambling by now, aren’t I? I’m sorry. I just wanted you to know that you’re not alone. I understand. And if it ever gets to be too much, I’m here. I’m here, [Y/n] and I’m not going anywhere.” You could hear Steve fumbling with the buttons for a moment before the tape clicked off. At some point during his speech, you’d started crying. Relief flooded through your body when you felt the sheer sincerity in his words; he understood.

You should have put it together sooner, really. If anyone understood the burden of reputation and expectations, it was Steve Rogers. Your shoulders shook as you hugged your body in a feeble attempt to keep yourself together. His words echoing in your ears unlocked the floodgates you’d once firmly locked yourself behind. Falling to your knees, mournful sobs echoed through your suite. You couldn’t keep it contained anymore.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y.,” you called out weakly.

“Yes, miss?” the A.I. replied softly.

“Get Steve, please.”

“Right away, miss.”

Steve was in the middle of a debriefing when F.R.I.D.A.Y. alerted him to your request. He didn’t even hesitate to put Director Fury aside to rush to your side.

“We’re not done with this, Rogers,” Fury stated, half annoyed and half concerned. He too recognized the signs of depression you exhibited. You never let it get in the way of your job so he never pressed you about it. He was no stranger to mental illness.

“I understand sir, but right now, someone more important needs me.”

“Fine. Go tend to her.” Before Fury had even clicked off the conference call, Steve was racing to you. A pit nestled in his stomach as every single one of his instincts screamed that you were in trouble. He hardly even noticed the people he narrowly missed crashing into during his frantic dash through the halls. He always wanted you to let him in, but not like this. Never like this.

As per your request, the A.I. allowed Steve access to your chambers the moment the showed up outside the door. He was pained to find you in a corner, curled into yourself, sobbing profusely.

“[Y/n],” he called gently. You lifted your head to see Steve crouched in front of you, palms out in an attempt to ease you into accepting his presence.

“I can’t do it anymore, Steve,” you murmured, “I can’t hold it together by myself anymore.”

“It’s okay, sweetheart. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere, I promise.” You watched warily as he slowly inched closer to your huddled figured. He kept his eyes on yours, palms outstretched. It was almost like approaching a nervous animal.

“I’m not okay. I don’t think I’ve ever been okay.”

“I know darlin’. I know.”

“What’s wrong with me, Steve?”

“Absolutely nothing,” he assured you, “you just need a little help, that’s all.” He saw you stiffen when you noticed his hands were mere centimeters from yours. Freezing in place, he waited until you relaxed and met his eyes again.

“Will you help me?” you whispered.

“Sweetheart, I’ll do anything you ask me to,” he promised.

You weren’t sure if it was the sincerity in his voice or the tenderness he was unknowingly projecting, but you could feel the walls around your heart weaken. So you reached out for his outstretched hand, grasping firmly. Steve’s reassuring and comforting grip was a life raft to your hurricane. It was time to stop braving this storm alone. 

End.

[roksanalyasin]

Long personal rant about female agency in fiction below. Mostly venting.

This comment was left on my True Blood fanfic, and I wanted to take a moment to talk about it.  I’ll preface this by saying that this is not a call out for hate because, although the first line seems to be a complaint, it’s not, and I actually really appreciated this feedback.

Way back when I started writing fanfiction in 2008ish, I chose to write OCs.  I like them because it’s a fun challenge to create a character.  There are so many considerations that come into play: how do they fit in the world? Who are they? Why are they important? Who would they get along with? Who would they hate?  Now, I also write romances.  They’re fun, and (in my case) it’s nice to fantasise about formidable, attractive men doing wicked things.

As I’ve progressed in my fanfiction journey I’ve continued to write OCs, developing female protagonists and letting them loose in the fandom universe of my choosing.  The comment above and my recent experiences with popular fiction have made me realise that my motivation wasn’t just to write a badass lady character.  I'm tired of stories, romances, in particular, being centred on the male character even when a female character is supposed to be the protagonist.  In so many romances that I read by authors (outside of fanfiction) that I adore, they're so intent on making the romance work that the woman's personality/identity, desires, and even choices are neglected or forgotten entirely to suit the man's desire.  For the sake of this discussion, I’ll use ‘agency’ to describe this.

I’ll start with an example from a book I was reading today, the first book in a series called Bewitched and Bewildered.  Now, I can be very critical about what I read if only because I’m critical of my own work, and personally I didn’t find that it was a particularly well-written book but the premise was interesting enough, it was sent to me by a friend, and I was stuck in a boring seminar and needed something to do.  The thing that was most frustrating, though, was that the main female protagonist, Meryn, loses all of her agency within the first 1/4 of the book.  Here’s a brief outline of the events:

Meryn is kidnapped and detained by the main male, Aiden, because she is his mate. She is not given an explanation for this until after her kidnapping and detainment.

She has to resort to ambushing him with a toilet block to escape.

She doesn’t make it out, and he throws her in a car.  When she makes too much noise and kicks at him (I’ll note here that he’s an immortal shifter over 6 feet tall and she’s a tiny human), he puts her in the boot because he’s “not going far.”  His friend protests about this but doesn’t actually stop him.

Aiden drags her to his parent’s place, where rather than freaking out, they look at her apologetically and say that “he’s a good boy.” 

Oh, and then she kisses him because he takes his shirt off, and she apologises for hurting him.

Then there’s this line: “She felt conflicted. This man was a growly, horrible brute who had manhandled and kidnapped her. But he was also gorgeous, pouted adorably, and lit her body on fire. To call the police or not call the police: that was the question.”

His mum is too sweet for her to get him arrested, apparently. 

This is the first 10 percent of the book.  There’s hardly been time to form the personalities of each character, and already Meryn’s entire characterisation is being neglected in favour of meeting Aiden’s desires.  By 47% through, when they’ve spent two days together, she’s ‘in love’, and the Meryn that was introduced at the start of the book – fiery, independent, headstrong – has ceased to exist.

This happens in almost every book I read, even in books by my favourite authors.  I was incredibly disappointed the latest book in a series called Immortals After Dark.  I loved the concept of Lila, the female fey protagonist.  She was independent, headstrong, intelligent, witty, and inventive, but while she keeps many of those traits when it’s useful for the story, like in the previous example, they are slowly broken down.  

Here are some of the key events:

Lila is kidnapped and imprisoned for a ‘crime’ her previous incarnation committed.  You read that right: the male love interest, Abyssian, exacts vengeance on Lila because her previous incarnation, of which she has no memory, broke his heart.  

She is locked in a place in which she faces repeated injury.  At this stage she’s not immortal, so she is in danger of serious injury or death for most of this time.  

She is emotionally and physically manipulated and abused by Abyssian (demon overlord of the Hell plane), and this continues throughout the novel.  

She hates him and states this repeatedly.

Guess what happens by the halfway mark.  If you guessed ‘getting kinky’, and ‘falling in love’ you’d be right.  Don’t even get me started on the 10,000 year age gap.

I’m not guiltless in this. The original version of the fic that was commented on is almost 10 years old, and I’ve changed and grown a lot since I wrote it.  I have kept a lot of the main structure of the original fic, but I’ve been addressing a lot of the ideological problems I now have with it and I’m working to strengthen and, in some cases, restore the female protagonist's agency.  For example, the female protagonist, Sarah, is arguably held against her will for a brief time.  I say arguably because there is a mutual attraction between her and Eric, and after she’s seriously injured in an accident he’s concerned first and foremost for her health.  They also both know she has the ability to fight back should she choose to due to her own powers, and her anxiety about the situation stems mostly from low self-esteem and her desire to contact her brother, in case he is worried about her.  Even when Eric asks to drink from her, she reasons that it’s a fair request because he had to give her blood to revive her.  Her agency is tested but she does not allow it to be taken away, and she sets her own terms first which he must comply with.  When things get heated in the moment, and they both lose themselves to their attraction, she remains in control of the situation. 

Now, I’m skipping over a lot here because I could ramble for days on this, but I’ll jump ahead a little and get to the point.  Eric is a possessive, horny vampire by his own admittance, but even when Sarah and Eric begin to date – after a formal face to face apology and explanation by Eric in which he does not expect to be forgiven, and acknowledges his failings, rather than blaming her for his actions, as seen in both of the books I mentioned above – it is on her terms, at her pace, and she retains her agency in their developing relationship.  It is only her low self-esteem (which is steadily explored throughout the fic) that makes her initially regret some of her early actions with Eric, and even this is rooted deeply in her personality and she is the one to break this down and later look upon events in a different light, with the understanding that, had she been more comfortable in her own skin, she would have happily indulged in Eric’s offers without hesitation - they were attracted to each other, and she is an adult who is not afraid to admit that she has her own needs and desires sexually.  Thus, her perceptions about that rocky first encounter change over time in response to their developing attraction and friendship but, importantly, she doesn’t magically forget about Eric’s initial transgressions, and he doesn’t dismiss the significance of them either.  

As the comment writer stated: “It jumped out at me in the previous chapter when Eric tried to make plans to get together but Sarah said she already had plans with Sookie. It’s refreshing to see that she’s crazy about him but that she hasn't lost her identity in him. So often it's like the main character suddenly has no friends/family/job/hobbies and only the love interest and the other stuff gets thrown in only during the inevitable fight/cheating/drama etc.”  The chapter this refers to is very self-indulgent in a lot of ways, but a romance doesn't just form in a vacuum, and while it’s reasonable to argue with paranormal romances that there are different social and moral conventions that factor into the treatment and development of a romance even that argument has limitations: I know that even if I was immortal, if I had been kidnapped, thrown in a car boot, imprisoned for long periods, or emotionally or mentally abused by my partner in the ways that the books above represent their characters as being treated, we would not be in a relationship.  So, in regards to Sarah and Eric’s relationship, its important to me that I make it clear that 1) Eric regrets his actions and even when he is forgiven, the actions themselves are not and he acknowledges this, 2) Sarah retains her agency over the direction, pace, and existence of their relationship, and 3) Eric will personally terminate the relationship if he even suspects that he has failed to respect her boundaries.

I guess, to cut to the chase here because I’ve rambled a lot, the whole point of revamping this particular fic was to allow me to really delve into Sarah's character and to also explore some of my growing issues with recent representations of female characters in fiction and popular culture more broadly.  It’s so important to me that, to the best of my ability, I make substantial female protagonists, and sometimes that means a night with their bestie is just as important as date night with their man.  And I’m tired of authors telling me it’s romantic to be abused and kidnapped, that men should be automatically forgiven for actions made in the name of lust or love without any effort to repent, and that women should sacrifice their identity for the sake of ‘love’.