karmacop

[penofwildfire]

Just saw someone say that Geo is "annoyingly clingy" and that Cole's character is completely different???? They said/implied Cole should've just abandoned the Finders to go look for the Ninja???????? Bitch are we talking about the same Cole????

[tangymac]

i think something i adore abt geode / lostshipping as a whole is just how much they could be a parallel to lou / lilly as a couple. especially in the quest for lost powers! what i love about geode & the finders is that it’s always been inevitable to Me that cole would get a family of his own with someone to love nd raise kids with his whole heart, you can spot it all over his writing and how his parents raised him.

in the quest for the lost powers we get a moment between lou and cole where he tells him about his past concerns of his worth when it came to what he meant to lilly, and if he really brought anything to the table for her if he wasn’t directly helping in battle and such. i re read it recently and there is just an undeniable familiarity to the first time we’re introduced to geo in TLoLT. he keeps the secret about cole s rock form in fear of cole Leaving him if he didn’t need him for something like a power boost. lou worries that he may not be enough for lilly unless he had powers. it’s a Heartwrenching parallel in my eyes ..

it isn’t until lilly returns home, worried out of her mind, that lou realizes that lilly needs him just as much as he needs her because they keep each other grounded. their FAMILY keeps them all grounded and if that isn’t just the Biggest premise of the finders then i don’t know what the fuck is! the finders have each other when no one else wanted them and it’s each other that allows them to never feel lost or forgotten again. geo shouldn’t need to worry about his self worth because cole doesn’t care about how powerful he is or if he can help him in battle, what he cares about is making sure geo and the other finders are SAFE. he wants to be there for them as long as they’ll have him OUGH I LOVE THEM. i enevr would’ve thought lou and geo would parallel in this way but it ties up everything into a nice little bow . Geode are perfect for each other in ways People do not Comprehend

(tldr this section of cole s chapter is something i can vividly hear geo saying, cole s entire storyline when it comes to family and geo s abandonment issues align like no other ship for me)

[enavstars]

May you bliss us with your angst ninja headcanons?

mainly kai pls

Sorry for the delay. You asked mostly for Kai's so I delivered. If anyone wants more hcs about the others I can work on it some time in the future (I also have more of Kai).

Now the hcs:

• All the ninja have PTSD from everything they’ve been through

• And abandonment issues

• Cole has an eating disorder and eats when he’s stressed, this is one of the reasons he is very insecure of his weight. People online poke at him for it

• Jay's terrified of losing his loved ones again because of him. That is another reason why he went absolutely crazy post Seabound, as he thinks it was his fault Nya had to resort to sacrificing herself

• He used to be bullied for living in a junkyard before becoming a ninja and that's why he was ashamed of it

• Zane always shoves down everything wrong that happens to him (e.g being the Ice Emperor for way too long to be ok about it) because he puts the team and their needs first.

• Nya has nightmares from the time she died in skybound but doesn't tell anyone.

• She had to keep her work and love life secret from her brother for fear that he would shut her down to protect her. Her fear persisted well into s1 and that's why she felt she had to hide Samurai X even from Kai

• Lloyd still admires his uncle despite his obsession with the green ninja (and all the neglect that came with it) because he's the only relative that actually took him in

• All of the ninja have at some point hidden an injury at least once. But Kai and Nya are the ones that do it more often (Nya specially when she was samurai X), and know how to treat mild wounds because of it.

• Kai and Nya do physical activities when they’re stressed or have emotions they don’t want to process. They can do their thing like Kai working in the forge and Nya doing mechanics but they usually train, however they can go on for hours (Kai has passed out a few times)

• Kai and Zane have a very poor sense of self. Zane’s comes from him not valuing his life and thinking he’s expendable since he can be rebuilt, ignoring all the trauma that comes from getting severely hurt or “dying”. Kai has problems seeing his worth as a human being because he’s never lived for himself; everything he does is for someone else and so he thinks his value resides in what he can do for other people. 

• Kai is terrified of the idea of being alone, it’s his worst fear.

• He has THE WORST coping mechanisms and Zane is confused on how his body was able to go through all of them (Alcoholism, illegal fights, smoking…)

• Kai is an insomniac, he barely sleeps most nights and instead just waits until he passes out (He has very deep eyebags because of it but hides them with make up, covering his freckles too). He sometimes bumps into some other ninja at night since they all have fucked up sleep schedules. 

• Lloyd also has a lot of problems sleeping because of nightmares and goes to Kai or Nya’s room where he feels safer (mostly into Kai’s). Sometimes they stay up at night chilling or they try to sleep. In those cases the nights with Lloyd are the ones where Kai sleeps the most because he feels safer too.

• Kai has chronic depression because of his fucked up childhood

• Lloyd thought he had depression too for a while but it turned out to be autistic burnout because of the stress of being the green ninja. But he can’t properly rest or heal from the burnout so he’s exhausted most of the time.

• When he’s stressed Kai forgets to eat and can go days with very little food because he’s used to it from being poor in his childhood.

• Genuinely forgot what it feels like to be a kid and have no responsibilities so it’s his personal mission to not let that happen to Lloyd. Kai would be devastated if Lloyd ended up like him.

• Kai sometimes feels insecure about his face scars and contemplates hiding them with make up.

• Kai’s touch starved but terrified of letting people in.

• He hides his negative emotions as anger and when the others try to reach out to him he pushes them away by getting angry at them until it's mutual and they leave him alone.

• Never told the others about what he did after Zane’s “death”. He fixed himself up, alone.

[xseekingsaturnx]

the ninja and their various traumas: a headcanon(?)

jk some of these are def canon

kai!

shouldered far too many responsibilities after the disappearance of his parents

from this stemmed a Phat Ego & deeply ingrained need to prove himself…

…and fiercely protect everything & everyone he cares about because he trusts precious few people and as a child he felt like everything could fall apart at any second

is constantly fighting against impulses that would drag him into darkness if he followed them

nya!

permanently rooted fear that she’s an inconvenience AKA fear of abandonment

mad social anxiety bc homegirl was not in school like she should’ve been

anger issues bc childhood was so unstable & she finds anger easier to comprehend than fear

fear of failure bc what if she looks stupid and what if she’s in her brother’s shadow forever and what if she’s not good enough (see: fear of abandonment)

died one time and no one remembers but her and jay

jay!

anxiety in every shape and size and color

insecurity that he’s “too much” from years of being called loud & annoying by peers

history of investing too much of himself into things and people/hyperfixating bc he only knows how to love & feel with every cell in his body and he’s constantly terrified of overwhelming people

and this doesn’t come in til later but the revelation he was ADOPTED?? he & nya are “fear of abandonment” twins now

watched nya die one time and no one remembers except her

cole!

loss of his mother AKA the softer presence in his life; unrealistic expectations from his dad and constantly facing lou’s disappointment

shitty coping mechanisms. would rather physically over-exert himself than process his feelings. also a stress eater

under a lot of pressure and often behaves too mature for his age bc he’s afraid everything will collapse if he doesn’t hold it together

is competing w kai for mom of the group bc he feels immeasurable responsibility for everyone he cares about

zane!

literally is a robot

and found out he is a robot after years of having LOST HIS MEMORY

always a little nervous he is going to annoy someone/offend someone/further alienate himself (fear! of! abandonment!)

on that note: afraid he will never understand the human experience and will always be lacking in some important quality or ability to connect with others

exploded and was rebuilt and had to regain his memories

lloyd!

actually invented the fear of abandonment.

severe mommy & daddy issues. like “severe” doesn’t even BEGIN to cover it

quite literally grew up too fast

keeps finding out his lineage contains more weird mystical components and is fighting off identity crises with a broken broom

was possessed

and that’s just the tip of the iceberg, feel free to add to it. there’s also PTSD across the board & various deaths/near-deaths & FSM knows what else.

[thephantomcasebook]

So why are the writers destroying Aemond in S2? Like show us what immediately went down between Aemond and his mother right when he returns from Storm's end, not a few days after, if you want him as a straight up villian, you know. Aldo rumors are he even murders Heleana. That's how bad the writing is. Thoughts?

They fumbled the transition ...

Book!Aemond and Show!Aemond are two different characters.

Book!Aemond is loud, brash, and in your face, with a streak of cruelty and ruthlessness that was needed and fostered as a way to protect his family. Aemond made the hard decisions and took ownership - good or ill.

Show!Aemond in Season 1 was just Daeron in Aemond cosplay. All the attributes of Aemond that made people like him, quiet, brooding, devoted unimpeachably to Alicent, close to Criston. These are all Daeron's characteristics from the book. I think people have this misconception of Daeron - because he is the youngest - of him being light, fun, and innocent. But the book says that he was quiet and cerebral, that he was courteous, but brooded alone with only Alicent - and probably Criston - being the only one who knew his true mind.

Book!Aemond is never going to sit by the fire alone and brood thoughtfully in the shadows of the flames or seek the council of Criston Cole for a private talk. That's 100% Daeron behavior. Book!Aemond is completely unrepentant about anything and everything he does. He takes ownership and flaunts it. The dude is pure unreptant swag.

The problem the show has is that now that Daeron is coming and GRRM insisted that they add Daeron - cause the symmetry would be fucked for the entire story - "The Butterflies" - they had to basically strip Aemond of Daeron's qualities and reset the character to factory settings. The problem is that they both fumbled the realignment and also didn't give him enough time to become the character he became in 2x05-2x08. They fucked around so much with unnecessary plotlines with riots and Mysaria and dragon seeds, that they rushed the transition or gave just enough time to do "Well enough" for the character's story arc.

They also broke Aemond's character to put over Alys and Daemon. In the book, it is extremely clear that a lot of Aemond's odd and psychotic behavior toward the end is being influenced by Alys. Aemond starts going completely off book and out of character once Criston and he take Harrenhal. Aemond abandons Alicent and Helaena, he leaves Criston and Daeron twisting in the wind, he starts burning the Riverlands in a reign of terror that even by the time of "Game of Thrones" they still haven't quite recovered from. All of these things is clearly from Alys's influence through spell craft or just preying on his worst aspects.

Now, Aemond is burning cities because the show is trying to convince us that it was always in his nature, when, if you read "Fire and Blood" a lot of it has to do with whatever Alys is planning. But now, because of this childist "Men are stinky and Women are good" trash their pushing, now Alys is this wise, sage-like, witch, rather than an extremely dangerous and mercenary figure who has her own agenda that is not for the good of the realm, but what is good for Alys Rivers.

The main problem is that the writers woefully misunderstand Aemond as a character and basically reengineered him to fit their bullshit political agenda and message that they want to push. They're trying to set up that 'Yeah, Daemon is bad, but his redemption is that he kills that meanie Aemond, cause Aemond is just pure evil!'

Mark my words, that's the simplistic childish thinking of these hacks.

[burningdreambanana]

An analysis on how the show turned Alicent into an accidental villain (part 2)

The portrayal of Alicent in season 2 is bizarre to say the least. On one hand, it seems like the writers are trying to keep her as a "good" character. On the other hand, it seems like they are trying really hard to humiliate her.

First of all, this desire to “humble” Alicent seems very strange considering they’ve went out of their way to portray Alicent as possible by making her crown Aegon based on a misunderstanding, she wasn’t aware of the plan to crown him, she refused to have Rhaenyra killed. 

Second of all their attempt to make Alicent sympathetic or a victim also fail spectacularly.

Alicent's behavior this season is utterly self-centered, delusional and stupid. To the point that it's comical at times

In this season she :

sleeps with Cole while leaving the door unlocked

barely gives a shit when her grandson is brutally murdered. Seriously, Alicent's lack of care for her grandchildren is disturbing, does she even know their names?

recognizes that Aegon is eager to please, proceeds to do nothing about it despite her "intelligence" and later insults him while he's already down and causes him to put himself in danger

feels very shallow guilt for that

doesn't take time to help her children with their grief, even though it's not even like she feels any grief herself that would overwhelm her

never proposes any plan of action at the council, yet expects not only to be taken seriously but to made regent, even though making Aemond regent makes perfect sense since he's the heir and the Green's biggest advantage

has the enemy near her, unprotected, and lets her go because of sentimentality

after not being made regent, instead of trying trying to leverage her influence in other ways, she just abandons, and then soon after betrays her entire family and faction

SHE CONDEMNS HER FAMILY TO DEATH. Seriously, Aegon, Aemond, Daeron and Otto are all dead if Rhaenyra becomes queen.

She doesn't even have the decency to share their fate (since she's admitting her mistakes), she is ready to just go live her best life in peace (where and how exactly, we don't know)

In the show, she is largely responsible for the beginning of the Dance, since apparently Rhaenyra would not have done anything to her siblings if Aegon was never crowned and the King's word is the only claim considered valid, yet she acts all season like she has no responsibility for it and condemns violence (like what did you think would happen when you dragged Aegon to the throne????). Which also feels very shallow because as a youtuber pointed out in their video about s2 of HOTD, just because we believe war is bad, doesn't mean we will automatically buy that medieval characters would believe that. They needed to establish in s1 that Alicent and Rhaenyra care about the innocents, not just be like we'll they are woman of course they care ! That's lazy

Plus all the random things Alicent does while her family is tearing itself apart like getting eaten out before a council, taking baths, lighting candles, swimming fully clothed, which many find boring but I just find very funny in how absurd it is.

In conclusion of both parts of this analysis, Alicent is a crazy, petty, bitter, jealous, self-centered, dumb, incompetent, delusional, hypocritical, judgmental, treacherous abusive mother with no self-awareness who doesn't love any of her children except Helaena (and that's debatable considering she was willing to let Daemon get away with what he did to her, she's more of a prop to her than a daughter), doesn't care about her grandchildren, doesn't care about her father, brother and lover, who refuses to take responsibilities for her action and is ready to sacrifice tons of people for her "freedom".

Which is fine, but then go all in, make her a soap opera villain and make us love to hate her. They could do that by stressing the comedic elements of a character like that, example: Joffrey is horrible but he is often very funny to watch, Lucille Bluth is another good example of a horrible but incredibly entertaining character.

[horizon-verizon]

Is it just me or does TG's argument that Criston Cole is a victim of Rhaenyra seem like really demeaning? Like the fact that their argument hinges on the fact that Cole is played by a poc/is Dornish. Pretty much everything I've seen from them about that scene is how Rhaenyra, who is white, took advantage of a defenseless poc. It's just infantilizing him purely due to his race. I might be reading too much into it, after all every TG argument is them grasping at straws, but this one just really rubs me the wrong way.

@pessimisticpigeonsworld

"Infantilization":

over-simplifying explanations, using demeaning nicknames (e.g., "sweetheart" or "honey"), or suggesting that the infantilized person would not understand a topic without reason to treat a person as if they were a prepubescent child with no experience whatsoever in worldly matters treat (someone) as a child or in a way which denies their maturity in age or experience

Yes, it should be demeaning, but it is a way of them applying victimhood where there was none in either show or book. Its more uwuing him bec he's a man than PoC, as he's not PoC (the Dornish are "spicy" "whites" in-universe, "olive" skin is a trait many Mediterranean Europeans have). Even if he was, it'd still be more bc he's a man than bc he's PoC. to them.

They make as if Criston was totally helpless when he is both Kingsguard and a man where the girl approaching him is a girl in a court that some think she should never be heir on account of her gender, and women/girls both already have to fear their entire reputation being ruined by mere well placed rumors (and have less chance of marriage, bc marriage was the way they most likely could stay economically secure for their futures). Criston could threaten Rhaenyra quite easily to make some gains on her. Or get into an affair with her, sleep with her while she's inebriated, and threaten her and she'd be the one blamed by both her father ad larger society!

She'd be labeled the seductress largely, and Viserys would, like he did abt Daemon, that Rhaenyra's "desires" or "allowing" to have her virtue ruined even just by name and repute hurts herself & the monarchy. Viserys explicitly tells her the truth doesn't matter, only the image in epi 4. Really, the only good thing that we can draw from his image-loving self is how he decides to protect her and her kids…but even then a lot of it is also so he retains his chosen heir…and yet it's is true that he genuinely loves her and his grandkids [bk and show]. (What a mess)

So it's not really the same sort of infantilization people commit against grown women to make them seem weak and thus "need" a man to "guide" them, but closer to the sort of "infantilization" that is designed to give white women the "privilege" of being seen as the eternal victims who can do no wrong as well as masters of others' bodies (Cole can demand Rhaenyra to run off with him & abandon eveything bc she "owes" him; she can't request him to sleep with her when she teased him). And I mean that it mirrors this by the green stans' intent, not necessarily the nature of the infantilization that is not infantilization--green stans intend to make Cole seem helpless and cutely dumb in order to make Rhaenyra seem a predator and that become the lynchpin of her being bad for rulership. Bec she somehow reinforces all that classism, instead of Alicent/the greens reinforcing all that classist-sexism for personal, baselsss "revenge" and order-keeping.

It's the green stans doing something that I learned concerning peoples switching between ideas or phrases in bad faith to support another contradictory thing--something integral to bigoted talking points.

[dragonagecompanions]

Could you do like a head cannon for like 1920 noir inquisitor companions/romances

You have to listen to this while you read.

Cassandra: She's a hardened murder cop with a hidden love for romance and no mercy for the criminal underground. She wrote the book on playing by the rules, but when things get tough she'll stab the book and do what's right.

Varric: Sometimes an author has to know his element to discover the truth. Few people would expect the renowned serial novelist to be caught dead in a speakeasy as seedy as the Hanged Man, but with a pencil behind his ear (and a hand always ready on a pistol with his lover's named carved into the barrel) he's always on the hunt for a story.

Solas: A bartender more comfortable with spirits than people, the elf behind the bar at the Dread Wolf is a hard man to read. Good for stiches in a pinch and no slouch in a fight when it suits his fancy, he owes no power in the city alliegence-- and no one knows his end game.

Blackwall: It takes guts to fake your way into a gang like the Wardens, but Thom Rainier's in too deep to back out now. With a dead man's name and street rep to keep the dogs at bay the hardened enforcer can only try to atone for his past-- and fight for a better future.

Vivienne: Very little is known about Madame de Fer, owner and operator of the more exclusive brewery this side of the Tevinter boarder, except that her gin has never seen a bath tub and the Templars don't bother her supply.

Any resemblance to the renowned socialite Vivienne the Enchantress is rarely commented onl; those who do rarely repeat the mistake.

Sera: With the gang warfare, the police cracking down on the littles and the templars hunting any unregulated booze for their prohibition on alcohol someone has to look out for the little guy. No one is really sure who Red Jenny is, but everyone knows that the street kids and pick pockets and beat down element knows her name-- and she is always watching.

The abandoned warehouse on the dock is her headquarters, full of her ill gotten gains and home to the fences who turn it into cash. Nobody starves and everyone profits. A tidy business, yeah?

Dorian: Everyone knows that there is more going on behind the scenes of the Halward Pavus Memorial Library than meets the eye, but no matter how many times it's raided the head archivist is always completely above suspicion. Books and learning are all that linger in those hallowed halls--please try to be quiet on your way out.

But everyone knows that at night Dorian Pavus puts down the index carts and hard backs to pursue his true passion-- and that the Tevinter will pay up to four sovereigns for a fresh corpse*. Medical science is varely stumbling into the light, and if his books on anatomy -so accurate as to be used as reference during surgeries- then the long hours spent on the dissecting table are well worth it.

The Iron Bull: Someone needs to make sure that the beer, wine, whiskey and gin finds its way from hidden distilleries to the thirsty patrons of the city's illicit watering holes. The Chargers are the best, expensive but worth the money to get things where they are going. With a sapper from the wars on tap rumor says they have their own tunnels under the city, but no one knows anything for certain. He runs a clean crew, dependable and honest. Madam de Fer makes frequent use of them.

And if The Iron Bull also reports to the higher ups in the Qun, the north side gang just waiting for a chance to take it all, that's his own business. Straining loyalties may bring it to a show down, but for now he's willing to ride the knife edge.

Cole: No one can really remember when the fortune teller's shop opened at the edge of town. One day it was simply there, mysterious and festooned with gauzy curtains and wreathed in fragrant incense. The nug motif is...a little odd, sure, but tame compared to the figure behind the crystal ball.

It's hard to see his eyes behind the wide brimmed hat, and those who do meet his gaze can't claim to enjoy the experience. But Cole has a way of getting into your head to the deepest thoughts and secrets waiting there and finding the best solutions. Whether he can see the future or not, enough people are willing to try to keep the doors open.

For now.

(I really couldn't figure out the romances. Hope this serves!)

(*in Canada and the US, the resurrectionist movement was still going strong into the late 1950s!)

Mod Fereldone

[kitkatscabinet]

Rapunzel

Aegon II Taragaryen x f reader

Summary: Aegon Targaryen is a good-for-nothing prince, a stain on his family's name. But she doesn't seem to see him that way. She looks at him as if he put the stars in the sky, this strange girl locked away in a tower.

Word count: 350 (short I know, sorry but I just need the backstory)

A/N: ok i was going to base this off the brother's Grimm version of the tale, but everyone seems to be vibing with the tangled version. If anyone would like to see the Grimm version as well let me know

INTRODUCTION

Aegon had always dreamed of escaping from King's Landing, of flying far away from Westeros and the duties his mother and grandsire kept trying to push on him.

He has dreamed of doing so for years, flying away on Sunfyre one day to just never return. He never goes through with it though, because doing so would mean abandoning his younger siblings. Leaving them at the mercy of Alicent and Otto.

But with Daeron in Hightown and Helaena on Dragonstone, shielded by Jacaerys and Rhaenyra he finds it harder and harder to stay.

He loves his younger brother Aemond, but he doesn't like the twat. So Aegon continues to be the family fuck up, drinking and whoring, or rather letting people believe he's doing so.

The older he gets, the more he begins to truly crave love, and the more his skin begins to crawl when the whores touch him. So he pays them and simply lays alone, falling asleep to the debauched moans.

He is reaching six and ten, and it is on the off day that Aegon had fallen asleep in his own quarters that his mother finally confronts him.

Betrothed she tells him, no room for argument in her tone as her hand clutches painfully at his jaw. He doesn't fight, simply watches as the Queen walks to the door.

"I never asked for this you know" his words cause the both of them to freeze. "And I know you didn't either, but maybe if you'd even tried to love me a little we wouldn't be here" the confession startles him, but his mother recoils as if she'd been struck. He sees guilt, and shame cover her face and for a second he thinks she is going to say something. But then Cole is banging on the door and dragging the Queen away.

Aegon never finds out what his mother had wished to say. Because five days before his sixteenth birthday Prince Aegon took to the skies on the back of his mount Sunfyre and was never seen in Westeros again.

[asherbakugou]

Sample

Still not sure if I'm going to make this a series but this kind of a sample of what it would be about.

The old Blackwood Monastery loomed ahead of them, a shell of its former glory with crumbling stone walls, rotting wood, and vines climbing along the sides.

"Why the heck have we never seen this place?!" Jay demanded, as Sensei Garmadon pushed through the rotting, rusty black wood and iron doors that led into the main courtyard. The man sighed at the moss that had overtaken the stones and the miature lake forming off to the side where the dirt had sunk over the 50 years since it had been abandoned.

"We abandoned it after the Emporers Army attacked us to get our main forces away from the Monastery so they could . . . So they could steal the children. Unfortantely they managed to succeed and took one of my closest friends son. Her and her husband died trying to rescue him," Garmadon admitted, closing his eyes as the image of Eteri and Aryan flashed in his vision.

"The Emporers Army?" Kai asked, wrinkling his nose. Sensei Garmadpn tool the distraction, turning to them.

"Wu has not–" He interrupted himself at the deadpan look he recieved. "25 Years or so before the Serpentine Wars the Emporer made a decree that all Elemental Masters were enemies of Ninjago and were to be imprisoned or killed."

"What?!"

"How was that allowed?!"

"They were killed!!"

Lloyd raised his voice above them all to be heard, "What happened?"

Garmadon sighed, leading them into the Monasteries halls as he spoke, "We believe a rogue Elemental Master attacked the capitol, killing the Emporer's wife though it was told to the masses that it was an accident. Seeking vengeance, he wanted every Elemental Master dead so there would no longer be those with the power we hold."

"But an Elemental Power passes on after death. Does it not?"

"It does, Zane. But he refused our talks of peace, even when Wu stubbornly clung to it and continued to try to find peace when war was inevitable." Sensei Garmadon could not help the old anger that seeped into his voice.

"Why did Sensei want peace so badly?" Cole asked.

"Our father taught us to keep the balance, and Wu took that to mean we had to keep the peace. Using our fathers old Monastery, he sheltered Elemental Masters who refused to fight or were simply to old or young too. Blackwood Monastery became a symbol of war. I took those who were angry, who had lost family to the massacre and began forming a group of my own."

Garmadon gestured to the wall of the library he'd led them too. Taking up an entire wall, surprisingly undamaged, was a painted picture of 9 people all holding weapons and posed with their weapons.

"Whoa," was the agreed upon sentiment. The picture itself was surprisingly detailed and they all gathered closely to get a better look.

"Who-whose that?" Nya asked, reaching out to lightly touch the figure of a woman holding a spear and very obviously controlling water.

"Jiang Daiyu, the Master of Water and known as the Tide-Bringer," Garmadon stated, a fond smile ticking up the corner of his lips.

"Jiang?" Kai asked. "Like Jiang Mei Lien?"

"Mei Lien was her daughter, and her children would be Daiyu's grandchildren."

Nya turned back to the picture in awe, "That . . . That's my-our grandmother?"

"Yes."

"You've known this entire time who our grandmother is! How could you not tell us?! You're just as bad as Wu!" Kai snarled, the air warming in his anger.

"I did not tell you because I had wrongfully assumed you would be aware. And by the time I realized I was wrong, you did not need to know about the previous holders," Garmadon stated, shaking his head.

"We want to know," Zane said. "So tell us everything."

They all nodded, so Garmadon did.

The picture of a man in armor holding a knocked bow with flames curling around his feet, "Keahi Kalama, the Master of Fire. Known as the Wildfire Archer, and was Ray Kalama's father."

The picture of a man in little armor with a war-hammer balanced on his shoulder with what looked like cracks beneath his feet, "Gerald D'Angelo, the Master of Earth. Known as the Unbreakable Shield, and was Lily D'Angelo's father."

The picture of a man in little armor and a kimono holding two long blades with spikes of ice by his feet, "Aspen, the Master of Ice. Known as the Bringer of Ice, and was the last known Master of Ice until Wu found you, Zane."

The picture of a young man in a kimono top, holding no weapons as lightning curled along his exposed hands, "Petir, the Master of Lightning. Known as the Blue Serpent, and was Libby's father, likely your grandfather Jay."

The next picture was a man in samurai armor with a rice hat covering most of his face, as smoke curled around the twin katana's in his hands, "Aryan, the Master of Smoke. Known as the Ghost of the Samurai, ironic considering his son."

All of the ninja frowned, trying to figure out what that meant as Garmadon tapped the last picture.

It was a woman, levitating in the air with a ninja GI on, long sleeves exposing the Tessens in her hands as her hair flew around her face, a vivid green streak the center piece, "Eteri, the Master of Wind. Known as Tempest, and was Aryan's wife. She and Aryan had a son that was taken from them. They named him Morro, after the way the wind curls around a mountain."

Morro had gone completely still, staring at the two pictures. The only movement any of them could see was the tremble in his fingers. "You- You knew my parents?"

"I did. I considered Eteri a sister, and had she lived it is likely she would have been Lloyd's Godmother as she was also close to Misako. Unfortunately I was not close to Aryan, but I believe the only one of us close to him was Eteri," Garmadon explained, smiling slightly at the pictures. "Aryan was a Samurai, one of the last, and he preffered to be alone but Eteri . . . She was stubborn. Eventually she managed to convince him to come to the Monastery and he became a part of our group, of . . . of the family we'd created."

The smile fell away as Garmadon remembered the tragedy that had befallen them. "Morro, your parents did not abandon you. You were kidnapped from the Monastery and they did everything they could to find you but it wasn't enough. They died, Morro, fighting to get to you and they were not the only ones. Keahi and Petir died trying to find you, leaving behind their own children because of their loyalty to Eteri." Reaching out, Garmadon set a hand on Morro's shoulder as the teen stared at him with trembling green eyes. "Your mother, and your father loved you with everything they had. Never doubt that."

Morro pulled away, stomping deeper into the Monastery as they all watched.

"So, my grandfather seriously died trying to save him?" Kai asked, jerking a thumb in Morro's direction.

"Keahi considered Eteri to be his younger sister, and was named Morro's Godfather. All things considered, had things gone differently, Morro likely would have been your uncle, and even your godfather because of their close relationship," Garmadon stated, amused by the way both Kai and Nya recoiled in shock.

"What?!"

"No way!!"

Jay cackled, loudly, so Garmadon turned his gaze on him, "Your mother likely would have named him as your Godfather as well, especially if Morro had been raised by Aryan and Eteri." That shut the ninja up real quick.

"Is the same true for Cole?" Zane asked, tilting his head.

"It is likely yes."

"Wait, my mother seriously would have . . ."

"Lily's parents were close to Eteri as well. We all were. As I said earlier, we became a family becaise of the war, a bond we forged in blood, death, and sacrifice."

[ekingston]

I was gonna be cheeky and ask for 10 and 19 again BUT I shall resist that urge… for now.

I will be sneaky (critical failure) and ask for three (I lied) 28. 30. And 37.

And what the hell, everyone should be proud of their work/s so a 33. (Feel free to pick a couple if this is just asking for a lot - I feel like it is 😅)

I feel like I’m order takeout or reading lotto number here

haha thank you! and the bonus number is…

Any writing advice that works for you and you feel like sharing?

today i’m reminding myself to practice mindfulness! and not in the sense of breathing exercises or lengthy meditation sessions (although I’m sure those have their benefits too) but by making myself be in the present, paying attention to all of my senses, and remembering that my characters would do the same. you’ll need that material to fill in the little details that draw the reader into your work, that tricky thing that makes them feel like they can’t just see it, but like they’re actually there. life is a sensual experience, and i think our stories should reflect that!

Describe a fic that almost happened, but then didn’t.

this got long, so…

i once scribbled down a dream i had that was a sort of trippy time travel/repeating day type of thing, where Lena was part of a small crew of criminals that used Lena’s tech to travel back in time to aid them with their heists. they would simply rewind time over and over, taking note of the details, learning every possible outcome, eliminating obstacles along the way, practicing the motions often enough to nail the final, perfect execution.

the first scene was a very bloody one, and i came in right in the middle of it, not understanding how Lena and her people could be so callous about the people laying bleeding and dying at their feet, especially because Kara was one of them. Lena’s crew just kept saying they’d ‘fix that next time’, like some sort of cryptic mantra.

in the dream Lena ended up looking for Kara in every run through, charming her in a thousand different ways, always the same, Kara falling for her every time. there were a few rewinds that took her back so far that Kara was still a child, immediately smitten but completely lost on earth, abandoned and alone, and Lena lobbied hard to make sure her crew fixed that, too, even when it meant Lena would never meet her again.

i saw Lena’s crew running down a dark alley over and over again, at least one of their crew dead or dying, at least one other gravely hurt. Kara turned out to be the reason their plan failed every single time. Lena ended up having to turn against her team to save her before they could eliminate her from their timeline completely.

in the end Lena lay dying in child-Kara’s arms, telling her ‘we’ll fix it next time.’ this was when she’d finally discovered Kara wasn’t human. the line i woke up with was Lena telling Kara to promise her, ‘if you figure it out someday���fly up’. the theory being, i think, that if Kara somehow were to fly high enough, fast enough, she’d achieve the same effect Lena did with her tech, and Kara could go back to save Lena instead.

my dreams get pretty elaborate, but they rarely come with as tidy of a plot as this one did, so i bet it already exists somewhere.

Do you research before writing or while you write? Is it fun or boring for you?

i don’t feel i write the kind of stuff that requires a lot of research and that’s probably a good thing! because i will go down absolutely every rabbit hole the internet has to offer when i do and zero writing will get done. my longform WIP TFOT has been brewing since—let me check—December 11, 2022 (thanks @mooosicaldreamz) and i’ve written less than 20k words, including my outline. instead i have spent my time working on it ‘studying’ veterinary medicine, learning about sustainable agriculture, planning trips to Wyoming and wondering alongside Paula Cole where all the cowboys have gone.

Give your writing a compliment.

i can’t tell you how happy it makes me when people tell me i managed to write something that made them laugh out loud. several times even! sometimes waking up their loved ones or startling strangers! i love that so much.

[literallybyronic]

disorganized DA lore rant beneath the cut:

*puts on my tinfoil hat* so hear me out-

True Elvhen are a symbiotic race that in their natural state are both Elf and Spirit combined.

Morrigan's ritual is an adaptation of a process that would normally be used to invite a willing spirit into an unborn child- perhaps a spirit that is the reflection of the parents' love or values they both hold dear. but this version forcibly impels the spirit into the fetus. the evanuris could also have discovered they could use lyrium to perform a similar kind of imprisonment, along with the vallaslin, to force many spirits into constructed bodies made from lyrium to act as a slave/work force. trapping them in corporeal forms and then branding them with spells so they could never escape. That's why "they made bodies from the Earth, and the Earth was afraid"- the Evanuris were strip mining Titan blood to create their slave armies en masse, and it was too much for the Titans to bear, hence the Titan war. The Evanuris used the Blight against the Titans, and the war threatened the whole world, but the Veil sundered the Titans from the Dwarves and put the Titans to sleep as well as what we know happened to the Elvhen. We know lyrium is basically condensed magic- what if the Titans need the Fade to "breathe" or absorb somehow, and their blood is that magic condensed, but when the Veil is put in place they lose consciousness, almost like blacking out from lack of oxygen?

The Blight is Andruil's "weapon from the Abyss"- but for all we know the Abyss could be "my gf Ghilly's creepy ass underground laboratory where she makes fucked up creatures" bc we definitely know those exist, and the Archdemons could be the Evanuris' physical forms sundered from their spirits, since we know there is a "shape of the Divine" that is winged/flying (and it sure seems like that big boy in the new trailer is Elgar'nan), and when they manage to regain some control over the physical form, they cause a Blight invasion bc mass death weakens the Veil that is imprisoning them. Potentially this is why we only have two Evanuris to deal with- the other Evanuris has their spirits stolen by the ritual and put into an unborn child. This would make sense with Andraste being born the year Dumat was slain, and why Mythal wants the Old God soul so badly. She may even have used this soul in Flemeth's body as a bait-and-switch with Solas, putting the true Mythal spirit through the Eluvian beforehand.

This is why Solas feels like the whole world is Tranquil- because to him, they are all missing half of themselves, not just bc they're not all mages. And why spirits are just as much people to him as mortals, because they are each one half of a whole. And the spirit is what made Elvhen immortal, it wasn't just "the Fade in general", but when the spirits were locked away along with the Fade, it all became impossible to continue as they had. or it's like the Trill, where the host body wasn't immortal, but the symbiotic spirit carries the essence of each person forward into the next life in a new body. That's why "he did not want a body, but she asked him to come"- Solas was a spirit who was convinced to be born as Elvhen by Mythal, and some part of him regrets that terribly, and that's why he feels about Cole the way he does. It would also explain why he gets so upset about the Grey Warden plan, bc to start with it's a perversion of what to him should be a rather sacred act of joining/creation, and they may be just accelerating the release of the two most dangerous Evanuris left. And that's why the village he claims as his home is what it is, because it really was his home, where he grew up after being born as Elvhen. If it were a cover story, why would he choose somewhere that's been abandoned for centuries, which would immediately be suspect? (if Leliana had done her damn job anyway🤬)

Of course there are many other little things here and there that feed into this- Fenris' lyrium tattoos, Sandal's whole deal, Mythal resorting to human hosts to survive the centuries, uthenera being something only Elvhen can do, the Sha-Brytol existing to protect the Titans from the "impure", basically everything from the Avvar religion and culture... And probably at least twenty other things i won't remember until after I post this. But damn I gotta get it out somewhere on the off chance that even a tiny bit of it is right 😅

...yes, the inside of my brain does look like Charlie's corkboard from IASIP right now, why do you ask?

[averygayplant]

You ever think about how, like,

themes of abandonment and found family and breaking cycles and loss and grief and realizing that having emotions is okay and that bettering yourself as a person upon realizing than you're more than your generational trauma and just overall that learning and growing from past mistakes is normal just...

Run rampant, in Ninjago?

Cuz like,

I sure fucking do-

Like-

Lloyd is the obvious example, right? He tried to continue Garmadon's legacy as an evil and deeply feared dark prince of pure evil and it just didn't work out. Instead, he broke that cycle. He created a place for himself in a dysfunctional family of other runaways and orphans and ambitious children who set out to be more than they were told they could be, found a strange team of people who all cared in their own unique ways, and ended up being exactly the opposite of everything he thought he was destined to be

Which comes with it's own problems. Cut to later, closer to the end of the series, and by then you've gotten to a point where most, if not all of Lloyd's traumas are from misdirected anger and violence, actions based in blind rage and seeking vengeance as closure. Lloyd's worst fear is being just like his dad, but... that's not quite it, is it? He's afraid of anger and how it consumes people, afraid of how easily it blinds others. He's afraid of allowing himself to feel anger because he doesn't want to be like everyone he's ever been forced to deal with on that level, and it ties into how seasons 9 and 16 both resolved.

But that.

That's just Lloyd briefly summarized.

It continues.

Zane is another good example. He had no idea who he was for a good long time, and yet he too found a new home for himself among others who seemed just as aimless, had Wu not come along and offered them his training. Even when he did find out, the others just suddenly had a lot of context to the weird things he would do and moved the fuck on, like, that fast. So fucking fast. It wasn't an issue.

But let me stop you right there.

It was usually used in gags, but it's emphasis repeatedly that Zane's primary objective is and always has been to protect others.

Translation: He was built and programmed to have a savoir complex UNRIVALED, and that makes itself PRETTY DAMN APPARENT, PRETTY DAMN FAST. Like, do I even need to give you examples? Zane actively puts himself in harms way SO OFTEN that he literally, no shit, HAS A REOCCURRING THEME THAT SIGNALS GREAT HARM HAS BEFALLEN HIM.

It's never said directly, but Zane puts himself into a lot of dangerous situations under the logic that it's better him than anyone else, his skin is made of metal and thus he's harmed the least. Which is. So bad. Like, I really hope I don't have to explain how bad that is, because wow.

This never really goes away, but he does get a lot better at thinking about the risk certain actions pose to himself. Just based on his actions during early crystallized, he now prioritizes the well being of his family above all else- even with his emotions turned so low that he's effectively only capable of taking the most logical of approaches. Breaking into the high security cell to release one of the highest priority villains of the city? That has no rhyme or reason, nor does it ensure the safety of the city- it actively endangers it.

And yet.

He does it anyway. Because of Nya.

Zane is fucking built different bro. Literally.

Oh, I'm sorry, did you think I was done?

Idiot.

...I mean, I am done, I'm tired and it's late and I have shit to do in the morning, but I could go on. I could. Cole and Harumi and Kai and pretty much everyone are sweating in their fucking boots right now.

I probably will.

...Later, when I have more time.

TL;DR:

Basically, Ninjago is a fucking masterpiece and should really sacrifice their PG rating to explore some of these topics a touch better because DAMN THERE'S POTENTIAL HERE

[jyndor]

here's something I need people to understand about the hypocrisy of alicent or crispy ass cole, as well as conservative and/or fundie repressed people in general - hypocrisy is not something they give a flying fuck about.

it never has been- its always rules for thee not me, always always always. whenever they don't abide by the ridiculous rules that they hold others to (and I do mean Others - those in some sort of out group) they don't see it as the same as the people they judge. they justify ALL of their actions, and often those justifications for their own rule breaking is fairly reasonable (since their rules are usually bullshit, of course it does make sense for most people to not be able to hold to them).

but see we, people who have been Othered by these institutions like alicent's definitely-not-catholicism, see the hypocrisy clear as day because we already have been victimized by the rules that people like alicent conditionally follow.

this is how patriarchy harms us all - alicent isn't able to live her best queer life and have lots of passionate sapphic sex with the hottest women in the realm because of how she has been raised to serve at the altar of patriarchy.

it is easy for me to have immense sympathy for a character like alicent hightower, a girl whose father basically forced into child marriage with his old man friend in order to gain political power and influence. even if she is jealous of her girlfriend's sexual liberation* (which alicent clearly both reviles and craves) and ultimately falls further into a religious conservatism that I am never gonna be down with, as a queer myself who has only ever been harmed by that christian conservative bullshit.

anyway at the same time, I see that abused girl become a woman with real power because of her refusal to break a system that has done nothing but harm her. because that system ultimately serves her in many ways too.

this goes for rhaenyra, the liberal feminist hillary to alicent's conservative christian phyllis. rhaenyra ultimately doesn't have a liberatory bone in her body if it isn't about her own rights to exist as she is in a patriarchal world and reap the benefits of being at the top of that hierarchy. the closest any noble person in this canon gets to an actual liberatory political theory of power is daenerys (which... lmao - it's still based in her belief in a divine birthright, even if she would want to use that birthright to get as close to being a class traitor as one gets in asoiaf).

and so while she is a compelling and sympathetic character (thanks to olivia, and yes emily as well) she would be my enemy irl, make no mistake about it. (so would rhaenyra ofc I'm not here for girl boss feminism).

and because she's my enemy I know how she works. for example, these freaks irl are always pointing fingers at queer or just regular old non-fundie people trying to live because they've got a bad translation of a religious text that they likely haven't even read, a text which would also condemn these same people for any sexual act that isn't marital PIV. like a blow job. lmao do you think for one second conservative christian/fundie/fundie-adjacent women aren't giving their husbands head??? okay nancy 'throat goat' reagan lol

they genuinely do not see it as the same thing, and they don't care if it's close to the same because They are righteous and saved and justified in their kinky shit. (that is more of a protestant grace over works thing; alicent's faith of the seven is clearly more of the catholic sort, especially given that westeros is akin to pre-reformation europe but I mean its not a one to one comparison).

hypocrisy is not a good weapon to use against anyone. conservative white christians in the us won't hear about trump fucking a sex worker while his wife is pregnant and then giving her hush money and suddenly abandon ship. sure, plenty will lie to themselves about it being fake news but plenty of others legitimately will never give a fuck about that, even if it seems counter to their whole pretense of morality.

they do not give a shit. alicent hightower likely sees herself as a newly widowed woman who did her time and can fuck her hot guard (his being a misogynistic incel likely is not a problem for her because his inceldom is based in a morality she believes in herself - that his oath was broken by some nasty snake bitch seducing him or whatever, but of course when he and alicent fuck it is moral and good sex, no excuse me it is probably ~making love lmfao) until it's time to say a few hail marys, and she's forgiven! except ofc she's not, but it's fine! because she did everything the right way, right???

the hypocrisy is not going to bother her because she can justify her behavior. however the reason these fundies feel the need to justify shit to themselves is because deep down they know they're not actually following the standards they have set for themselves. there must be a good reason for them to break those standards. those standards that must be followed no matter what. it's irrational and brain breaking.

the hypocrisy won't bother a person like that, but the cognitive dissonance? that's another story altogether. that will bring shame and disgust and self-loathing, which may result in them re-evaluating their ideology but also may just make them double down on that ideology.

getting caught up in the team sports of it all seems very contrary to the thesis of this story and frankly all of asoiaf - that this patriarchal hierarchical divine right of kings ass absolute monarchy system is so oppressive and harmful that even those who benefit from it the most are also certain to fall victim to it in time. and that one team may be marginally or even greatly better than another, but ultimately these teams still exist to keep a fundamentally cruel and inhumane system in place.

anyway rhaenyra stans stop saying alicent is a hypocrite for getting her nut with crincel. alicent stans, watch yourselves because some of you seem to forget that alicent is basically a sympathetic phyllis schlafly.

*obligatory rhaenyra was a victim in many ways; her exploration of her sexuality with crispy ass cole was technically consensual (ofc it was messy all around, even for crispy due to the power dynamics, but ultimately she was a teen girl who had literally just been groomed by her uncle, and he was a grown man so... come on folks)

[dawnthefox24]

Yay! I've got more fanon interactions for The shimada brothers mother Rumiko! Anyways here's part one if your interested. Also @wildissylupus love the idea of Cass calling Kiriko a kit. Thus none the less enjoy the fanon interactions >w<

(Also I want information on my wife Rumiko shimada guys...You have no idea how much I love her TvT)

~~~~

Ana: Are you boys alright, you seem to be distance...This isn't about your father now is it? Hanzo: No, someone else actually... Genji: Mainly you remind us of our mother... Ana:*sighs softly* Well you shouldn't be looking at me like her, If anything I'm more like your father....

Genji: Ana I have a question for you... Ana: Ask away Genji. Genji: How do you feel about meeting Fareeha again after all these years.. After what has happened with you... Ana:*sighs sadly*...Remorse and Regret....What brought this on? Genji: Something I hope my mother would feel....

~~~~

Doomfist: You know Shimada- Hanzo: Why can't you leave me alone, I have no desire to join Talon. Doomfist: But that's where your wrong, after all you do desire something...Or in fact someone, a certain mother that you oh so desire.

Doomfist: You know Genji you can join Talon with your brother. Genji: Me and my brother have no desire in joining you of all people should know that and stop... Doomfist: Yet your desire to find your own mother is something you both need, Talon has the resource for it. Genji: My brother and I would rather die then you use OUR own mother against us!

Doomfist: All this useless hope a mother whom abandon you,Someone who has never returned to see your or your brother. Hanzo: YOU WILL NOT SPEAK OF HER LIKE THAT!

~~~~

Zenyatta: What is wrong my student? Genji: Master...I...If you have hope that someone you know who is alive but they left for a long time to never be seen again...How does one live with themselves? Zenyatta: That is up to you on how would you feel Genji, for we don't know whether or not if the person you seek doesn't have the fathom on whether or not YOUR alive. Genji:...I see

Zenyatta: You think loudly Genji, is something on your mind? Genji:...I've told you about my mother right master? Zenyatta: You have my student, what brought this on? Genji: If my mother...How would I tell her...I...when she left the clan did she know about what happened? If so how do I explain to her that I allowed the clan to fall allowing the Hashimoto to power... Zenyatta: You tell the truth, it may scare you but in the end, she might also tell you her truth on why she left. Genji: Master, how do you handle something that you aren't prepared for a moment you have no idea when it'll come. Zenyatta: being patient my student, patience is they key. It may or may never come all you have is time. Genji:*sighs* Alright thank you master.

~~~~

Cassidy: You know kit, you seem to be doing a lot of digging for someone you have no idea they might be alive. Kiriko: W-what are you talking about? Cassidy: Look I ain't gonna sugar coat things, but it has something to do with both brothers and all I'm going to say is this. Kiriko: And what would that be? Cassidy: Their mother may not want you to find her.

Genji: Cole have you ever been nervous before? Cassidy: Most of the time, yeah anything interesting happened? Genji: You know nothing ever gets past you...So you've heard about Hanzo and I mother right? Cassidy: Yes and Genji just a fair warning she may not want you to find her...

Cassidy: Heard you've lost your touch Sombra! Sombra: I haven't lost my touch vaquero(cowboy) Cassidy: Well I've heard through the grape vines that your struggling finding one civilian mainly a mother. Sombra: Of course the fox would say something like that! I should charge her double the amount of wasting my time and efforts!

~~~~

Brigitte: How come you don't talk about your mother Hanzo? Hanzo: My mother was very important in my life...then she just disappeared... Brigitte:..I'm sorry, if you want I can ask my mom to invite you over for dinner! would you like that? Hanzo: I wouldn't be opposed to it, thank you Brigitte.

~~~~

[saline-coelacanth]

Since I have the Bad Endings Au on the brain, I wanna ramble a bit about Jay and Cole because every time I think about them I start to go feral (in a good way)

I'll put some of it under a cut since this gets pretty long

Jay and Cole parallel each other soo well that it's kind of crazy since it wasn't entirely intentional, it just sort of happened that way. So looking at their backstories, they're pretty similar. Both of them felt mistreated by the other ninja to the point where they wanted to take revenge on them. Both of them defeated the ninja when given the chance, but in the end they both handled it in completely different ways.

Cole very quickly was overcome with guilt. Morro called him out on what he did and it immediately hit him like a brick. He didn't feel good about what he did and it began to spiral into some self hatred and he eventually became very apathetic. He had killed his friends without thinking things through and now they were gone forever. Although to give him the benefit of the doubt, he was manipulated into doing so as he was in a very vulnerable mental state at the time and Yang took advantage of that to try and 'help' Cole be remembered. But that doesn't change the fact that Cole still did it and it haunts him every day of his life. He also ends up isolating himself afterwards, not wanting to face any of the family he has left even though he desperately doesn't want to be alone. That's the main reason he joins the other BE!Ninja in the first place, because for the first time in a long time, he isn't alone. And even though he doesn't want to go through with the others' plan, he stays with them since he has nowhere else to go because he thinks there's no way the normal ninja would accept him after what he's done.

And then we look at Jay who trapped the remaining ninja in his sword after he overthrew Nadakhan and became the new captain of Misfortune's Keep. Jay felt no remorse from trapping his friends. In fact, once he had finished the job, he smiled. He was happy about it. Jay truly believed the others didn't care about him, that they left him on Misfortune's Keep to rot for months. And by the time they had finally shown up to save him, he had gone through so much that no amount of explaining was gonna get him to change his mind. He had already saved himself, he didn't need the others to swoop him and save him after they treated him so terrible and abandoned him for months. And after everything was done, Jay didn't have anyone to tell him he had fucked up. Nobody on his crew would ever suggest anything like that, obviously none of the ninja were left to call him out, there was nobody to make him open his eyes to what he had become. And after living life as a pirate captain surrounded by people who would listen to him without question, people who were scared of him, he grew to love it. The ninja never took him seriously, but his crew HAD to take him seriously because they were terrified of the consequences. And when he met the BE!Ninja, he was mainly just uncomfortable seeing the other ninja again because he had grown so angry at them, but he was willing to help out with the plan to take out the other ninja because he was just that far gone.

And when the two of them meet each other for the first time, Cole is just completely shocked to see Jay at all since the Jay from his timeline is dead. And though he acts pretty cold towards him since that's just how Cole is now, he also doesn't want to leave his side because he misses Jay so much. And even though this isn't his Jay, it's still Jay. Meanwhile, Jay is angry and annoyed at having to deal with Cole. He wants nothing to do with him and turns down any offer Cole makes to help him since he doesn't need help from anyone, especially Cole. He eventually 'comes around', but that's really only because they team up with the other BE!Ninja. And yeah, over time Jay does genuinely grow closer to Cole and both of them open up about their pasts and what happened to them, but Jay always has more walls up than Cole does. He's more vague, he snaps more easily, he quickly shuts Cole down when he starts asking too many questions. Cole on the other hand lays everything down for Jay, (although he is still hesitant to open up) He lets his guard down and lets Jay realize just how lonely he's been in his timeline.

And the two of them realize just how similar they are, but they both end up going different paths. Cole realizes more and more that what he's doing is wrong, that he's just gonna end up making another terrible mistake if he continues down this path. He realizes just how messed but the other BE!Ninja are, he realizes that they must be hurting deep down, just like he is. But Jay just continues to spiral further and further. Once again he's with a group that doesn't take him seriously. The only one who seems to do that is Cole, but even then Cole still doesn't always treat him like the threat he is. Even worse is that Nya, the one he felt the most anger towards, isn't even helping. BE!Nya wants nothing to do with the others and actively treats Jay like he doesn't matter (though she treats everyone like that, her only real loyalty is to the Overlord). So Jay just gets more snappy, more violent, more determined to defeat their good counterparts because that'll prove to the others that he is a threat and that he should be taken seriously. Cole grows and slowly betters himself while Jay only gets worse.

God I just have so many thoughts about these two. I mean, I have a lot of thoughts about all the BE!Ninja, but Jay and Cole especially love to live in my head rent free. And there's one last little detail that I wanna point out with these two because I just think it's neat.

When Cole took out the other ninja in his timeline, the first one he went after was Jay. When Jay trapped the other ninja on his sword, the last one he trapped was Cole.

Idk I just think that's a neat detail. Anyway, I'm done rambling for now. Maybe I'll ramble about some of the other BE!Ninja in the future. I guess if there's anyone specific you want me to talk about let me know, but otherwise I'm just gonna end this post here.