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jackoshadows · 4 years ago

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@currentlyconfused16

So I didn’t want to reblog this post:

https://currentlyconfused16.tumblr.com/post/618980963706355712/jackoshadows-reganx2

you commented on since it had other reblogs and comments and I thought I would make a separate post on this since I have received similar comments on other posts, namely that:

I actually do think and hope that Sansa will end up as the Lady of Winterfell in the books (maybe Queen of the North, idk) but she’ll be much more prepared, as her current arc in the books is about learning how to play the game of thrones and being in charge of her own destiny, surrounded by her family. Which is why her show ending is so disappointing. Yes, she ends up on a throne in Winterfell, but she’s alone, with no family or true friends around her, surrounded by bannermen who hardly know her. The books have always put emphasis on the Starks being and working together in the end, and they all end up alone.

So let me address why I think that Sansa is not going to end up in charge of Winterfell at the end of the books. This is just my interpretation and speculation based on the books and the author’s thoughts and opinions.

I am coming at this from the perspective of a book reader. If you have not read the books, then just skip to the tl;dr version at the end 😁

First, note that the only ending on the show confirmed to be from the books/GRRM is Bran being King on the Iron Throne/7K. D&D have variously explained the badly written other endings of the show as being there to ‘subvert expectations’ and because ‘it would be different’ and ‘it would be unexpected’ and to ‘surprise the audience’ etc.

Second, playing the game ≠ ruling a kingdom. The show equated the two in order to push their Queen Sansa narrative. But that has never been a thing in the books. GRRM has clearly shown this with the narratives of the actual rulers and entire books on what it actually takes to rule city states. What Littlefinger does in the books and what Dany, Stannis and Jon do are entirely different things. The one has no connection to another. Do you think that Littlefinger or Varys would be good rulers?

Sansa’s ending has been particularly criticized because it makes no sense - it’s like fitting a round peg into a square hole. D&D knew the book endings from GRRM before they wrote season 3 - if Sansa is going to end up in charge of Winterfell, he would have have given them a path to queen Sansa and they could have figured out a way to do it on the show.

In contrast to Bran/Isaac Hempstead who sat out an entire season, was sidelined and basically given nothing much to do on the show other than exposition, D&D have admitted in interviews that they wanted MORE Sophie Turner on the show and therefore gave her the plot of another book character.

Their exact words:

“And it’s because of Turner’s strength, Benioff continued, that it made sense to give Sansa a dramatic storyline this season and to use Ramsay’s engagement for that very purpose. In fact, the showrunners first thought about putting Sansa and Ramsay together back when they were writing season 2. “We really wanted Sansa to play a major part this season,” Benioff said. “If we were going to stay absolutely faithful to the book, it was going to be very hard to do that. There was a subplot we loved from the books, but it used a character that’s not in the show.”

https://ew.com/article/2015/04/26/game-thrones-sansa-ramsay-interview/

To re-iterate, Sansa will have nothing to do with the battle of the bastards or retaking Winterfell in the books. She is stuck in the Vale and will not be going North anytime soon. Ramsay Bolton is Theon Greyjoy and Jon Snow’s nemesis. They are going to be the ones taking him down along with Stannis Baratheon.

Out of all the Starks, Sansa has the least connection to the North in the books. She grew up revering the south and learned from a Septa. Every other Stark (Other than Rickon) knows more about the North and how it works than Sansa Stark. We can read it in their POV chapters. Every other Stark has a living Direwolf - the symbol of house Stark. Sansa lost hers after siding against her family and with the Lannisters.

The show just put the Starks into boxes: Sansa - politician, Jon - warrior, Arya - fighter/Killer, Bran - warg. This is not true in the books. Arya and Jon are also strong wargs and connected to Rickon and Bran through warging via their direwolves. Something that Sansa cannot do because Lady is dead.

Jon Snow is planning Stannis’ entire Northern campaign, advising him on the finer details of Northern politics and battle. He has learned the same as Robb from the same people. So has Bran. Bran Stark has actually ruled Winterfell as the prince of Winterfell. Arya Stark sat by her father Ned Stark and learned from him as he worked with the people of the North. She is currently learning manipulation, reading emotion, languages and courtly manners from the Faceless Men.

There is no way that Sansa is going to be in charge of Winterfell over these other Starks who have actual experience and knowledge in how the North works as opposed to her. Does Sansa know how to attack Deepwood Motte? Does Sansa know how to approach the Mountain clans? These are things that Jon has learned from Ned Stark - the man that Sansa calls stupid on the show.

Then there is the fact that GRRM has put a couple of obstacles in the story to prevent Sansa from getting Winterfell as Ned’s eldest daughter.

She is still married to Tyrion in the books - a marriage that cannot be easily annulled. There has to be a friendly regime in KL before this marriage can be undone. Until then she is disinherited by Robb Stark’s will and no ruler friendly to the North will want to see a Lannister get Winterfell.The show ignored this marriage.

Jon Snow has been legitimized as Jon Stark by Robb Stark’s will. That makes him the eldest living Stark child and his age, experience and knowledge of the North makes him a strong contender to be Lord of Winterfell as opposed to LF’s protégé in the south. If he becomes KITN by Robb’s will in the books, he will also be the Lord of Winterfell. The show ignored all this to make Sansa Lady of Winterfell.

Robb’s will is binding. Meaning that once Jon is legitimized, there is no going back on this. Catelyn makes it a point to warn Robb about this - which indicates that it will be important later on in the books.

Bran and Rickon are still alive and well in the North. GRRM reminded everyone on his blog that Rickon was still alive in the books after the show killed him off to make Sansa the Lady of Winterfell on the show. Bran randomly tells Sansa that he cannot be lord of anything, only to go on to become King on the show. Garbage writing to once again justify Sansa in charge of WF even if it makes no sense.

Now, one can make the argument that if Rickon dies in the books as he does on the show, Bran is king of the 7K at the end and Jon is exiled as in the show, then Sansa can end up in charge of Winterfell. I disagree. Why? The answer is Arya.

Arya is arguably GRRM’s central female character in the books. She is the female character with the most POV chapters in the books after Jon and Tyrion. She was one of the first characters he created and other characters like Sansa were created around her. Sansa was created as a foil to Arya and because he wanted that one Stark family member who did not get along with the rest of them like for all the other houses.

Because of D&D’s open preference for Sansa over Arya - they have said as much in interviews - they gave over many of book Arya’s narrative themes, plot significance and relationships to show Sansa. The entire reason for why Sansa ended up in the North on the show is plot borrowed from the books for another character that is all about Arya’s importance to the North and several characters and houses fighting over Arya Stark to hold the North. The North is rising up for Arya in the books. They basically erased Arya from her story to put Sansa in there. Thematic words like - ‘The lone wolf dies, but the pack survives’ belong in Arya’s story in the books, not Sansa’s.

So basically the show had to co-opt Arya’s story and hand it over to Sansa to give her a path to QITN/Lady of Winterfell on the show. It could not be any more clearer here which character is headed towards being Lady of Winterfell and possible Warden of the North in the books. Hint: It’s not Sansa.

Arya still has a strong connection to her Direwolf Nymeria described thus:

“She says there's this great pack, hundreds of them, mankillers. The one that leads them is a she-wolf, a bitch from the seventh hell."

"Some will tell you that they are demons. They say the pack is led by a monstrous she-wolf, a stalking shadow grim and grey and huge. They will tell you that she has been known to bring aurochs down all by herself, that no trap nor snare can hold her, that she fears neither steel nor fire, slays any wolf that tries to mount her, and devours no other flesh but man."

“Wolves. Hundreds of the bloody beggars." He'd lost two sentries to them. The wolves had come out of the dark to savage them. "Armed men in mail and boiled leather, and yet the beasts had no fear of them. Before he died, Jate said the pack was led by a she-wolf of monstrous size. A direwolf, to hear him tell it. The wolves got in amongst our horse lines too. The bloody bastards killed my favorite bay."

And as per GRRM, Nymeria and her pack of wolves will have a major role to play in the North where they are headed. We already know that direwolves are going to be taking on Ramsay’s dogs in the battle of the bastards from GRRM’s notes. Which direwolves? Ghost? Shaggydog? A Bitch from the seventh Hell with her pack of wolves? All of them?

Arya is symbolic of the North. The other daughters of the North - Lyanna Mormont, Wylla Manderly, Alys Karstark etc. - are all Arya types in terms of personality and looks. The Arya/Lyanna comparisons have been strongly made in the books for a reason.

And finally Arya is the only Stark to have the Stark look. The only one. Think about this for a second - who would GRRM have end up as the last Stark in charge of Winterfell if Bran, Rickon and Jon are out of contention for the position? The Stark with the traditional long face and grey eyes of House Stark or the Stark with the red hair and blue eyes of house Tully?

Who will be Lady of Winterfell? The Stark with the Direwolf or the Stark without one? The Stark who has learned how the North works from her father or the Stark who has not learned this? The Stark who is still following her father’s words - ‘The man who passes the sentence should wield the sword’ while far away in Braavos or the Stark who is complicit in her little cousin’s slow poisoning in the Vale?

And lastly Arya has a lot of foreshadowing/hints of becoming a leader in the books. She is one of the rare nobles in the books who is friendly with the small folk, sympathizes with them and actively helps them - hallmarks of GRRM’s leaders like Dany and Jon. Varys’ description of a perfect ruler fits Arya to a tee:

Aegon has been shaped for rule before he could walk. He has been trained in arms, as befits a knight to be, but that was not the end of his education. He reads and writes, he speaks several tongues, he has studied history and law and poetry. A septa has instructed him in the mysteries of the Faith since he was old enough to understand them. He has lived with fisherfolk, worked with his hands, swum in rivers and mended nets and learned to wash his own clothes at need. He can fish and cook and bind up a wound, he knows what it is like to be hungry, to be hunted, to be afraid. Tommen has been taught that kingship is his right. Aegon knows kingship is his duty, that a king must put his people first, and live and rule for them"

Of course Varys is describing Aegon here, but everything he says holds true for Arya as well and is basically GRRM laying the groundwork for leader Arya. Arya’s ability to connect with the common folk, to identify with them, to work with them, to know them personally, to sympathize with them, is all leading to a path towards her becoming a leader of all the people.

And finally why am I saying that this Queen Sansa is D&D giving Sophie Turner her desired ending? Because that’s very evident from all their interviews. Sophie has wanted Sansa to be Queen and has been pushing this narrative since season 6 - talking about how every other character was useless except for Sansa - something that Sophie seems to actually believe in.

D&D have openly stated in interviews that at a certain point they stopped adapting Sansa and Arya from the books and based these characters on what Sophie and Maisie wanted for them. And Maisie clearly takes her lead from Sophie. That’s why the show versions resemble a self insert Mary sue propped up at the expense of other characters.

Queen Sansa at the end makes absolutely no sense when her brother, a Stark, just became King of the 7K. You mentioned as much in your post. So why was it there? In an interview they gave in Japan after the show ended D&D talked about being most interested in the Stark sisters and their endings because they had known them as child actors and seen them grow into adults from tiny children. (Isaac for some reason gets no such consideration from them even though he was an even younger child actor).

So it was not really about the characters at that point but more about the actors. It’s not that hard to put two and two together and come up with four here. It was a completely nonsensical ending for Sansa in a long list of other nonsensical endings on the show that they just put in there to make Sophie happy. That’s all. It’s clear they had just given up on making a well written show for the final season with shit like ‘Well Dany just forgot about the Iron fleet’ . So what’s one more garbage writing in there to make their child actress happy?

And to be clear, I am not blaming Sophie here. I am blaming the adults, the supposed expert writers of a big budget HBO TV show adapting a popular book series. Who, instead of adapting the book characters, decided to let a couple of teenagers dictate the writing for their characters on this show.

TL;DR: The show reduced and took away Jon, Arya, Bran and Rickon’s important roles in the North in the books and replaced it with Sansa from season 5 onwards in order to give Sophie Turner more to do on the show. They gave away book Arya’s narrative themes, plot significance and importance to show Sansa, then kicked Arya out and gave the North to the least deserving Stark on the show. The only logical conclusion that can be made from all this is that Sansa will not end up Lady of Winterfell/QITN in the books.

#Arya Stark #Bran Stark #Jon Snow #Rickon Stark #House Stark #Asoiaf #GOT #anti D&D #Book Sansa

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elopez7228 · 4 years ago

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Scenic Route 44/45

The chapter count drastically went down, I somehow counted them wrong at first !!!

”Read on AO3 : https://archiveofourown.org/works/18268208/chapters/43229774

Start over : https://elopez7228.tumblr.com/post/620919089893933056/scenic-route-0147

***

July 10, 9:00 AM

Galen Erso walked through the sliding doors at the foot of a monolithic glass tower overlooking San Francisco Bay. The gate emitted a welcome beep as he pressed his badge to the reader, and walked towards the elevators, his cup of coffee in hand. His face was pallid, unfortunately accentuating his bloodshot eyes and dark circles. The elevator emptied floor after floor and he was alone in the cabin as the counter hit fifteen. The doors were creeping to a close, when suddenly a silk-gloved hand interrupted their progress.

Galen nearly spat out his coffee at the sight of Armitage Hux, dressed in an immaculate black suit with his hair slicked back into a neat red swoop.

“Hello, Galen Erso” he said politely as he walked in, trying to sound natural as he eyed the other man’s badge.

******

Hux turned his head a fraction to glance at the truly unkempt employee in the elevator. His upper lip twisted in a grimace of disgust. Whoever Galen Erso was, he did not deign to answer his greeting.

The shabby stranger went all the way up to the twenty-seventh floor, home of the engineering and IT departments. Hux’s brain was still processing when he left; he was vaguely sure he had passed this idiot in the hall before. Additionally, if he managed to remember the name of his supervisor, he would be able to send a warning for egregious violation of dress code.

In the meantime, he had other concerns.

Phasma had not shown up to his office at eight o'clock, despite her usually exemplary punctuality. It was abnormal, something must have happened. Even more alarming, her phone went directly to voicemail every time.

But it had been an hour—barely an hour—since he last heard from her, and it could easily be nothing.

Syed Ren wasn’t responding either, and had been MIA for a few days; Hux knew with near certainty that she must have been silenced by the other Knights of Ren. Skylar Ren was no longer of any use to him at all. The bastard was currently strapped to a chair in the basement, where he kept repeating that he had never sent the message to Valorum, that he was framed. In absolute terms, it was a credible story. But whether he had sent the message himself or not, he was already guilty of recording such a video and keeping it.

And where the hell was Kylo Ren? The Director of Operations was apparently no longer operating. They’d lost track of him in Nevada. All the roads led to Wells, an insignificant desert outcrop which was now the final scene of a disappearing act. It was there that Kelsi Ren's empty Lincoln had been found, and where Syed’s SUV had vanished. It was also where agents last sighted Earth Soldiers debutante Rey Jakku. Some witnesses even report that they saw Kylo Ren himself there, or at least someone who looked like him. Given that Kylo was still rockstar royalty in the eyes of most people, Hux was inclined to believe that the risk of misidentification was low.

On precisely July 8th, everyone in that godforsaken desert had disappeared without a trace.

At first, Hux was incredulous enough to wonder if an alien abduction had occurred. A flying saucer, a ray of light, and presto, their bodies would be floating around in the ether.

It would suit him perfectly, actually. Because what worried him most wasn't really that Syed, Kylo, or Rey had disappeared. It was what they would probably return one day. And his instincts told him that when they reappeared all hell would break loose.

He stepped out of the elevator and strode to his desk, removing one glove with his right hand.

Pulling out his phone, he dialed Kylo Ren's cell number. He picked up for once.

“Seven hells, Kylo, what do you think you’re doing?!” He yelled. “Have you forgotten that until further notice, you are bound by contract to the First Order? Your sorry arse better be in my office before noon!”

“Mr. Solo is not available,” said a male voice Hux didn’t immediately recognize. “And to whom do I have the honor of speaking? Armitage Hux I presume?”

He froze, shocked. “Who are you? Get me Kylo Ren right away!”

“You may call me Master Windu. Congratulations on your impressive career, Armitage. I always knew that you had the means to channel your ambition. Unfortunately Mr. Solo no longer answers this number, I take care of that now. What you say to him, you can say to me. I take my client's privacy very seriously.”

Armitage hung up.

Master Windu half-smiled as he handed the device to Ben Solo.

“What did he want?” Ben asked, taking the phone.

“To threaten or blackmail you, probably. Nothing he can really do anyway, now that I'm here. In your interest, Mr. Solo, I forbid you to answer the phone from now on, until further notice. You don't know who’s recording what. All your communications will have to go through me.”

Ben Solo nodded, moistening his lips.

“You received a text earlier,” added the lawyer. “I erased it. No more texts, understand?”

“Who was it?” Ben asked, his heart pounding suddenly.

“Rey something or other. It was quite romantic too. You haven't forgotten to mention a mistress to me, I hope?”

“It's none of your business,” Ben muttered defensively, fighting the blush rising to his cheeks. “It’s unrelated to the case. Your services don’t come with an abstinence clause, do they?”

Mace Windu took a step forward. He was just as tall as Ben, his deep brown complexion drawing even more attention to his muscular frame. He turned his immaculately shaved head, his gaze piercing the young man and evaporating any pretense of confidence. For once, Ben was outmatched. He had long been used to overtaking everyone, physically or otherwise, watching them shrink in his presence. There was something new and intimidating about standing in front of someone of the same height, eye to eye. It would be perfect for the trial, but presently he felt like a kid being called out in class.

“Absolutely everything is my business. And especially the girls you fuck. Lest you find yourself with a honey trap who’ll make a confessional out of your pillowtalk. Additionally, I'll be keeping your phone.”

That hit too close to home. What if Rey had been a honey trap, sleeping with him for gain? The thought made his stomach churn.

He suddenly felt unhappy, and helpless. He’d gotten used to the idea of not seeing Rey again until she left, maybe until the trial ended, and maybe even a few months after that, just to be safe. But he had counted on their calls and texts. Didn't he promise to call her every day? Would she understand the circumstances that prevented him from answering her? She was smart. She would understand. As long as she didn’t think he was pulling anything (or anyone, he shuddered). He’d gone through a lot to gain her trust again after his betrayal at the camp that night. Their relationship wouldn't survive any more lies.

The lawyer glanced at his watch, a fine Breitling.

“We have two hours left to review the situation, then we'll go to lunch. The rendezvous at the courthouse is at 2 o’clock. Whatever happens, you let me speak.”

Windu had reserved a meeting room in the San Francisco courthouse. Beside him, in front of a large lacquered wooden table, sat Ben Solo, in a suit and tie, newly clean shaven. He silently twiddled his thumbs while waiting for the others.

The door opened and they both stood up.

Although he was prepared, Ben paled when he saw Amilyn Holdo enter. And behind her, the slender figure of his mother.

They shook hands.

His mother's hand was tiny, soft and warm, but firm. He quickly withdrew his own handzz a; he was more overwhelmed than he wanted to admit.

She sought his gaze but he looked away.

“Thank you for attending this interview,” began Ben’s lawyer, “were you able to take note of the documents that I sent you this morning?”

“Yes, but we hardly had time to review all of them,” Holdo replied.

There was a silence. Master Windu waved his hand impatiently. “And? What do you think of our proposal?”

“Following his appeal, I advised Mr. Erso to involve his own lawyer. But the offer deserves reflection nonetheless. After much discussion, we agree that this is a positive development for my client—or rather his sister—who will also represent Mr. Erso’s interests in this meeting.”

Ben Solo rolled his eyes. This conversation bored him already. He’d never been able to sit still behind a desk. Windu expected him to stay there all prim and polished like some kind of show pony. He hated the formality. Justice this, Mister that, the colleague in charge of representing the interests of whatshername...

He stood up.

Mace Windu frowned. “Where are you going?”

“To smoke.” Ben grunted. “Either way, you’re the one talking. Gimme a summary sometime.”

“I'm keeping the phone,” Windu annunciated.

“Lucky for me, I don't smoke phones.”

Without waiting for an answer, he left. Leia stood up too. Amylin Holdo put a hand on her arm. “No, Leia, stay. Let me handle this. Don’t talk to him.”

But Leia pulled it away. “He's my son, Amylin!”

Her dress swished as she left the room in turn. The two lawyers rolled their eyes, both knowing that nothing good would come of this. Mace Windu laid out the stack of documents on the table in front of him.

“Let's start over,” he said.

Ben walked down the flight of stairs at the entrance to the courthouse and sat down to light his cigarette.

His little excuse had worked, but his phone was still missing. He desperately wanted to call Rey. He wanted to hear her tell him that everything would be fine. He could say a few naughty words to make her blush and hear her chuckle.

He didn't even realize he was smiling. But his smile froze when he heard his name being called from behind.

“Ben!”

It was his mother.

His heart hammered. The hand that held his cigarette trembled imperceptibly. He turned around. She came towards him, slowly descending the steps with the help of her cane. In his memories, she was this indestructible superwoman, an infallible force of nature with shining chesnut hair.

In front of him stood an old, greying woman with weary eyes, leaning heavily on her cane.

His heart sank.

He said nothing, lips sealed tight. She walked closer, reaching out to touch him, but he stepped back abruptly.

“Did you come here to tell me you forgive me?” he spat, “that you want to save my soul?”

Leia shook her head, but he continued.

“You always knew, didn't you? That history would prove you right. That I wouldn't make it one day.”

A tear beaded on the old woman's cheek.The words were stuck in her throat. She felt like she was seeing her son for the first time. She found him tall, and handsome. He got it from his father. A wave of tenderness swept over her.

“Ben Solo-Skywalker,” she said softly, “I’m proud of the man you’ve become. I know I can't take credit myself—I wasn’t there. I was never there. But I see you now and I'm proud of you.”

He had planned everything. He had prepared for this confrontation a million times. He had repeated the words he had saved for this moment so many times that he lost count. But nothing was going as planned.

“You don't know anything about me,” he stammered, taken aback.

”That’s true, and I regret it.” Rey was telling me about how you’re always smiling and I...I can't remember the last time I saw you smile. I realized that I missed out on the most important part. I’m sorry, for all this time.”

“It's too late,” Ben croaked, troubled by his mother's sudden vulnerability, “we can't go back.”

“We can’t change the past, but the future remains. As long as I'm alive to watch you grow, then it's not too late. I'm tired, Ben. I won't be here for long.”

Ben managed a small laugh tinged with disdain. “So that’s what it is, it's not my soul you want to save, it's your own!”

The old woman's shoulders slumped. “I failed a lot of people in life, and you more than anyone. I'm sorry.”

“Save it. That's not going to stop you from doing everything you can to get me locked up for the rest of my life,” Ben said, taking a drag of his cigarette.

“It's not against you. It was never against you. Ben, I’ve tried all my life to protect you.”

“And it’s been very effective,” he hissed.

Leia smiled. “And I was wrong, you don't need to be protected. You do very well on your own. And even better when it’s the two of you.”

Ben raised an eyebrow.

“I sat down with Rey,” she explained. “I saw the glimmer in her eyes. The same one you had just now, when I mentioned her name.”

He pretended to know nothing. He didn’t want to know what his mother knew, or imagined, about his relationship with Rey.

“And I wanted to thank you,” she went on. “You were the one who drove Rey, safe and sound, to Winnemucca. Isn’t that right? So you knew what she was carrying, and the consequences. You could have stopped her half a dozen times, but you didn't.”

“I didn't do it for you,” he cut off, uncomfortable with where this conversation was going.

“I know. But it wasn’t for you either. It was for another reason, the best of reasons. And even if I regret the consequences for your future, I'm glad you did it.”

She reached out again to take his hand, and this time he let her.

“I know,” she said again, “that you sacrificed yourself for her. I understand what it has already cost you, and that it will cost you again.”

“I would do it again without thinking twice.”

“No doubt about it. And that's why I want to help you. Holdo will negotiate with Mace Windu to help you. We’ll fight this, together, and get you out of this trial with your head held high.”

Leia could never pass up an underdog, could she? Even as a widow, and mother of an orphan. She was exhausting.

“I'm not one of your lost causes, Mom. I don't want you to treat me with whatever cocktail of pity and lofty grace you save for the others. I’m a grown man, I know what I’m doing, and it’s going fine. I take responsibility for the consequences of my actions.”

Of all the words that came out of his mouth, the only thing Leia heard was that he had called her "Mom". She stifled her tears.

“Okay. I trust you,” she said.

“Thank you.”

He threw away his cigarette and crushed it under his sole. They were done here. She turned to go back inside, but stopped when he yelled from behind:

“Wait!”

“Yes?”

“Can I borrow your phone for five minutes?”

*******

Everything was going smoothly.

Rey put her phone back in her pocket, a smile on her face.

She was sure this was the last time she could speak to him in...a long while, but she didn't feel sad. A strange sense of serenity overtook her..

Ben Solo had spoken to his mother.

Even better, he had called her from his mother's phone. It would take time, but the curse was finally broken. They would talk to each other. They both had a lifetime to make up for. Against all odds, the trial that threatened to tear them apart forever was going to bring them together.

He’d asked her where she was staying. Vertigo Hotel, Union Square.

“I'll meet you there.”

She knew he would. Probably in the middle of the night, escaping the watchful eye of his lawyer to join her in the literal flesh. Both of them like lovesick teenagers, who snuck out of their bedrooms at night because being apart for more than a few hours was unbearable.

He no longer had a phone, at least until the trial, probably longer. It didn't matter, she wasn't worried. She didn’t doubt him. Her friends would think her naïve—but no one could understand the depth of their relationship. Within days, he’d sacrificed everything for her, and she’d fought for him too. There was something intoxicating about their bond, almost mystical, like the blood ties in ancient lore. Lestat and Akasha, Tristan and Iseult, or Hades bewitching Persephone.

She had no doubt that he would return to her when the time came. First he had to rebuild his life. Brick by brick. And she would be there for him after.

BB8 nuzzled against her leg, the happiest furball alive. They were leaving the vet again.

They had jumped through all the hoops to make sure BB could travel now: vaccines, certificates, a shiny new carrier. Rey had the best souvenir she could hope for from the States—so much better than a few measly postcards!

The look on Jessika’s face would be priceless. Rey could just imagine it:

Hey, I’ve got a new dog. But not just any dog, this one saved my life on multiple occasions and went on a secret road trip with me to escape a bunch of violent criminals, anyway how are you?

Leaving BB behind would have been unthinkable.

Rey took a few more steps, finding herself in the middle of the Golden Gate Bridge. Everything was perfect right now. The warmth of the afternoon sun on her skin, the blue skyline of San Francisco in the distance. The crisp white sails of the boats lazing in the bay, the endless horizon of the Pacific reaching into the vastness of the sky. The bright towers of the bridge, grand monuments to the creativity of mankind, connecting the sky and earth, bay and sea, mountains and cityscapes. The salty breeze on her face and the wind in her hair. When she closed her eyes, it almost felt like a caress.

Everything was perfect.The world was in total harmony. Her heart was finally at peace.

Her phone vibrated.

It was a text from Poe: Finn just woke up.

#reylo #fanfiction #scenic route #modern AU

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this-is-a-podcast-fanblog · 5 years ago

Note

Hello! Lemme just say, I /love/ your writing. For a prompt, and cause I’m soft for hurt/comfort fics, maybe you could toy with the idea of Peter comforting Juno after a nightmare or vice versa?

*ears perk up* person likes my writing??? Oh!!!! *hops up and down* Person?! Likes my writing!???? Oh oh!!! Person likes my writing!!!!!!11!!1!!!

Thanks for the prompt!

we’re all drinking our Stan Jupeter juice here on tumblr.com huh.

TW for nightmares. This gets a little intense with the hurt (but comfort follows very soon after!)

“Darling, are you aware that you talk in your sleep?”

“Oh yeah? Well, you snore.”

“I do not snore.”

“You do.”

Over the past few weeks, I’ve gotten used to sharing a bed with another person. I haven’t had anything like this for a while. My last longer-than-a-one-night-stand relationship lasted a grand total of three days, ending right before I got the case with the damn cat. She left when she decided a bedmate who mutters someone else’s name in his sleep wasn’t her type.

The owner of that name is in bed with me every night now, which just goes to show, I guess.

He hasn’t left. Yet.

I’m sure he’ll kick me out at some point. I walked out on him last time before he was able to find out enough about my sleep patterns to get annoyed, but now it’s just a matter of time. He’ll be polite about it, obviously. Gently indicate that it might suit us both better if this weren’t a regular thing. Offer to carry my things back to my room for me. Always be the gentleman.

And that’s the thing - he’s so goddamn gentle. He’s fantastic in bed and for once I don’t mean that in a sexual way. He spoons me, or cuddles with me, or on nights where I want a little more space, he tucks the blanket around me before retreating to his side of the bed; murmurs, “Good night, darling”. In the mornings he wakes me up with forehead kisses and hot coffee made exactly how I like it even though I literally never told him how I like it.

In the mornings, he looks softer. His hair is messy, and his makeup gone. Sometimes there’s a sloppy line of hickeys trailing down to his collarbone. When I kiss him good morning his face scrunches up in a little smile.

“Dream anything interesting?” he’ll ask, reaching across the pillow between us to stroke my hair. I never tell him what I dream.

I haven’t woken him up with my nightmares yet. But I know I’m on borrowed time.

It’s tonight, and we’re in bed, and I can feel his back pressed against mine, moving slightly up and down as he breathes in sleep. I’m tired after a long day. It’s so peacefully easy to drift off and not care about anything. Until -

I’m having one of those dreams again, where I know I’m dreaming but still can’t snap awake. It’s the blood chair, it’s draining me, and I can hear three voices around me all arguing while my heart races to compensate for all this blood I’m losing - and it’s like I can taste it, hot and thick and salty in my mouth -

I’m falling through dark, open space, until I land with a sudden jolt. I can hear a banging like fists on a solid surface; and I can hear laser bolts, feel my body aching, my eye throbbing - Nureyev screaming and Miasma fighting me - and then I’m falling again, this time through open dark space, frigid on my skin. “Let me wake up,” I gasp. “Please -”

I can feel my eyes freezing and icicles in my hair, numbing me, stabbing me, the stars rushing past me in these terrifying blurs of cold light. It’s like I’ve been sucked out into space, and now the void is drawing me in, it feels so vivid and real -

-and then it’s over and then something new is starting. I feel absolutely nothing, and I know this means that I’m dead. I can hear everything, all the sounds of a fight, like a bunch of thunder and drums sounding all at once, but I’m away from it, away from everything - I’m gone I’m finished. “Let me wake up, let me wake up, please -”

“Juno!”

I gasp as I feel myself snap awake. My shoulders are held between Peter’s hands where he’s been shaking me. He sighs in relief when he sees my eyes open. “Darling -” He makes a surprised noise when I crumple against him. I burrow into his arms, crying for all I’m worth, shaking like a goddamn child. His arms are tight around me a moment later. He cradles me, whispers, “Shhh, shh,” and runs those slender fingers through my hair. “My love, what is it? Did you have a bad dream?”

“I, I-I-”

“Shhhh.” Peter pulls me onto his lap in a sitting position and kisses the top of my head. “Just nod or shake. Nightmare?”

I nod weakly.

“Alright. Relax, I’ve got you.” I press my face closer to his chest while he keeps caressing my hair, like his heartbeat’s going to keep the inevitable from happening. He knows now. He knows that this is what he’s signing up for by loving me. He knows what a mess I still am.

I sniffle, drawing out of the embrace. This is kind of awkward since I’m still sitting on his lap. “I’ll just, uh.” I wipe my eyes on my shirt. “I’ll just -”

“Lie down.”

Although that surprises me, I oblige. He brushes back my hair to kiss my forehead, tells me he’ll be right back, then vanishes. When he returns he has a glass of cold water, a washcloth, and a clean shirt in hand.

“Drink.” Once I’ve drained the glass, he dabs the sweat from my face, then helps me take my damp shirt off and pulls a new one over my head. It’s too big, and it smells like him. He’s taking care of me. He should be angry that I woke him up with my weeping, but he’s taking care of me. “There. A little better?”

“Yeah. Thanks.” I hug my arms around my knees. Then I lean over and lie down on my side, so I’m lying across his lap with my head on his thigh. “Play with my hair?”

He runs his fingers over my scalp, tracing, stroking. “Talk to me, darling.”

“I have a lot of repressed trauma.” I shrug, which makes my shoulder bump against his knee. “Most people would be out that door by now.”

“Not me.” His thumb sweeps in an arc over my forehead. “Sometimes,” he murmurs, “I have nightmares too.”

I turn my head so I can look at him. In the dim light, his eyes still seem to shine. He’s not asking me to leave. Somehow, I don’t think he’s going to.

“Come here.” He guides me up and moves with me so we can get under the covers again; and I snuggle right back into his arms, because I don’t want to be away from him for even a second. “I don’t know what you dreamed about, goddess,” he murmurs to me. I love when he calls me that. “But whatever it is, whatever you have to work through, I’ll be here. Please don’t ever doubt that.”

“I won’t,” I whisper. “And I’m - I’m here too, you know that, right?”

“I’ll never doubt it, dearest.” He kisses me very gently on the bridge of my nose. Right over my scar. Here in his warmth and his arms I can feel myself falling asleep again. “Sleep, Juno, love. Shall I sing to you?”

What did I do in a past life to deserve this guy? “Yeah,” I yawn. “That’d be… nice.”

“Alright. Go back to sleep.” He sings: “Sér- sí, tye are varna

Ni indóme mel tye

Tenna i elena úr- eth“

I recognize the language, though I’ve only heard him speak it once or twice. Brahmese. On his lips it’s more beautiful that anything I’ve ever heard.

And his heart beats under my head, and his arms wrap around me like shelter… and I know I’m safe here… and I know he’ll still be here when tomorrow night comes, and every night after for as long as I want him.

For forever, if we choose.

#now i have a confession to make #i didn't feel like making up words for brahmese #so the song?#it's written in tolkien elvish #i pulled up a fucking elvish translator #not sorry #the penumbra podcast #jupeter #juno steel #peter nureyev #fanfiction #my fanfiction #fanfic requests #asks #tw: nightmares

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wesker20 · 6 years ago

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Fallen Hero 1.5 Episode 7: Memories of a Deadman

Years ago, Night – Amelia Neighborhood – Puerto Rico

There was little you could have done different. In fact, there was nothing you could have done differently. Your plan was ready and able, Zeta was on a roof overlooking the neighborhood, Alpha was on the back of the house, and Kappa and you were inside sneaking in. Kappa turned invisible as always, while you began sending small telepathic waves that made the goons not notice you. Everything was going fine until you heard gun shots and shouting.

The place turned into chaos, Kappa and you were left staring at one another wondering what the hell had just happened. Not that your confusion lasted long of course as Zeta contacted all three of you and let you know that Delta had begun his attack. Way earlier than he told you. The worst part was that you knew that Delta was not smart enough to lie, which meant he just received orders to attack sooner; probably General Asshole. The attack forced you and Kappa to move fast, getting in before Jeremy could escape. Kappa, of course, went faster. You had forgotten how fast she could move. Even with his teleportation, Zeta could not keep up with how fast she reacted. Between the two of you, you left a trail of bodies behind as you made your way to the bedroom as fast as you could.

By the time you reached the room, however, the bed has been moved and the secret tunnel opened. Kappa and you rushed into it where a big fight began. It was chaotic to say the least, cramped into a small tunnel with dozens of goons standing between you and your target; and all wanted you both dead. In this field of battle, Kappa shined. With her speed and invisibility, she sliced and diced with her sword, cutting down her opponents with no trouble, dancing in between their attacks, tricking them into hitting each other, cutting open their necks and stomachs, painting the tunnel red with blood. By the end of it, a dozen goons laid dead atop of each other, her sole blue figure standing among them victorious, and your target just some meters away, stunned. He tried one last ditch effort to defend himself, shooting a blast from a strange weapon you did not recognized. Kappa dodged effortlessly but you did not fared as well, taking the brunt of the blast. You were surprised to find yourself relatively unharmed, physically anyway. Mentally speaking, you had the biggest headache in the world. And you could not feel any thoughts at all. Not Kappa’s, or Jeremy’s, or even Alpha’s as you finally noticed her standing beside you, worry written all over her face.

You were later informed that the weapon temporarily disabled your abilities. That was just the prototype. The “Guardianes” were planning to mass produce this. You wondered where they got this type of tech but that’s for your owners to figure out. You did your job, as good as could be done given the circumstances. The battle had attracted the attention of neighbors and soon probably the media. You’ve already been cleared and ready and you can feel your powers slowly coming back. You stare at the barricade made of cars and trucks, where people stand wondering what just happened. Zeta, Alpha and you stood in the open, your gear covering all of your bodies so no one could tell what you were. But Kappa was inside a truck and covered to make sure no one saw her skin. Too public. The higher ups were not going to be happy about this.

And of course the general was the first one who’s voice you heard. But before he could approach you Mrs. Trevor stood in front of him. You could not hear what they were saying but you could tell they were arguing. Trevor turned and made a motion for Alpha to come. You followed her too, curious to see what was going to happen.

“Unit Alpha 203 report,” he said with an accusatory tone, as if he expected her to deliver all the evidence he needed. Alpha reported everything that happened, taking extra care to make sure Delta was the one that carried the blame, and in turn whoever ordered him to attack earlier. It took all of your strength that day to hold back a grin. “Unit Alpha, if I find out you are reporting wrong-” he begins but Trevor stops him from saying anything further. You and Alpha traded glances; you were not the only one holding back a grin.

Unsatisfied but defeated the good General turns to walk away. But he leaves with a warning, “The cuckoos program is a danger General. It is unwise to teach these weapons emotions and have them live among people. One of these days I’ll prove it and take this whole farce down. When that happens you will fall with them.”

It was strange, you remember, to hear handler Trevor being addressed by her rank. To you she was always handler Trevor or Mrs. Trevor. You always wondered why, why she never asked you to address her as such. Truth is you never knew who Vanessa Trevor truly was. At the time you respected her, you looked up to her. She always protected all four of you.

Hideout, present – 8:30pm

But now you wonder if she ever did really cared or if she was simply manipulating all of you. Out of all the people in your past, she’s the only one you are not sure if you want to hurt. You stare at her picture on the file you paid a hacker to get. It was expensive; after all hacking into government files is the equivalent of putting your head on a guillotine, but you had to. There’s only one other person left alive from what happened all those years ago. It comes back to you, the blood, the screams, your screams, the fire surrounding you, Trevor aiming a gun at you before telling you to go and never come back. The look on her face, cold and calculating, but the tone of her voice betrayed some care, whether that was genuine or not you don’t know. At the time you did not thought of reading her mind.

You pass the page to see her accolades ever since. Despite what the General said, Vanessa Trevor did not fall, she rose. Despite the fall of your unit the Cuckoo program continued and she got promoted as one of those responsible for its success, even though she neither founded it nor was the head of it. You got to love politics. Overall she turned things around better than you did.

But you did not get this to reminisce of those times, when you were little more than a slave. You got this because one person from your past is after you, and you want to know what happened after you escaped. Still, your hand shakes as you hold your untraceable phone. You swore you would never visit those years again, that you would forget about it all, should you really go back now? It’s too early and you could probably take the voice down without knowing what happened. But you want to know, you need to know what happened. You know what probably happened, they were taken and tortured. “Reeducated” as they called it, their minds erased to make space for a new one. But after that, you don’t know. And why would you? You left, abandoned them, because you wanted something. Because you dared to wish.

Years ago, the Farm – 9:30pm

“What do you want, Jeremy?” Alpha asked as the two of you sat on the rooftop. You had snuck out, as you both did several times over and just stare outside in the night. Kappa always said that you were being too reckless and one day you will be caught. Still, she along with Zeta always took guard, and sometimes even joined you two. Despite the danger, you liked it, being here, outside of your four walls room, not being cramped with the other Re-genes. Alpha knew that, she knew you better than you knew yourself.

“Are you seriously going to keep going with that?” you asked. As much as you liked having a name, Alpha used it way too freely and too much for your liking. You have barely gotten used to it yourself, but she appears to have gotten used to it in mere seconds.

“Yep. That’s your name now, remember? And you did not answer my question.”

“Just being here, quiet. And not answering stupid questions.”

She looked at you and chuckled. “I meant out there. You clearly want something out there.”

You thought about her question for a few moments. What did you wanted? “Have you ever thought about all of this? About us? We constantly go out there and see how those people live, we are trained to feel how they feel and yet we are here and they are out there,” you told her. It was true. They trained you to read body language, relate to others, understand how a person feels, but to do so they had to teach you to feel it as well. It turns out you cannot make a good infiltrator that does not understand emotions. Otherwise they might as well send a regular Re-gene to do the job. But that training was a double edged sword, the more you felt, the more you wanted. You can’t just make someone feel and tell them they should ignore those feelings. And so you felt, and so did Alpha, and Zeta, and even Kappa. You felt, you cared, you loved.

“Sometimes,” Alpha finally answered after a minute. “Sometimes I want to run and see how everything is. But then I remember.”

You stared at her with curiosity. “Remember what?”

She turns back to you, the softest look you have ever seen on her face. “That you guys are here. No way would I leave without you guys.” You smiled back at her. Of course she wouldn’t. She would never abandon any of you, and whatever any of you wanted, she would try her hardest to get. Damn the consequences.

Present

You stare at the phone, Trevor’s number already dialed; all that is left is press green. Your breath slows down, your body freezes, a drop of sweat slides down you face, and your eyes twitch. Seconds turn into minutes, their faces flash on your mind, Alpha’s smiling and cheerful face, with a hint of strength hidden beneath, Kappa’s cold but soft stare, always hiding her emotions, and Zeta’s eyes avoiding yours, looking the other way, face on the verge of panicking but still smiling that timid smile. They all flash in your head, one after the other, memories of times long gone, times of fun and excitement. Times of sadness and despair, hugs long forgotten, cries long buried, kisses long erased, memories of a dead man.

“Yes?” her voice sounds on the other end, older, stronger.

“It’s been a while Mrs. Trevor.” The silence tells you that she recognizes your voice. Could she really remember it after all these years?

“I thought we would never speak again,” she says, her voice cold and professional, no hint of frustration or anger.

“So did I, but something came up.”

She snorts, almost as if expecting that response from you. “You want to meet, don’t you?”

“I do.”

“You are not afraid that I will set a trap and capture you again? I doubt you’ll escape a third time.”

“Would you believe me if I said I’m not?”

“I would tell you you’re a damn idiot, and learned nothing of what I taught you about trusting people,” she says with a hint of anger.

“I never said anything about trusting. I said I’m not afraid that you will set a trap. You wouldn’t.”

“How do you know?” she says, you hear water on the other end, probably from the sink.

“You win nothing.” Silence reigns for the next few seconds before she finally agrees. You agree on a meeting spot on a dock next week. Even if you know she will not set an ambush, you still decide to send your crew this week to scout out the area, just in case. In the meantime you decide to finish your “interrogation” of the man your crew brought. He knew quite a bit, you ripped out of his mind transactions made, to a Mr. Alex Moore. You checked him out but it turned out to be a bust, a fake person, a fake account. One of many. After all, money had to go somewhere, especially when you did mercenary work. That is why you could not find much about the Voice, they were a mystery, an assassin, hired only by the richest of the richest. Interesting. They took employment as an assassin in order to get the money they needed to pull off what they are doing now. You almost feel bad for not thinking about it yourself, definitely would have made it far easier to hire Mortum.

Admiration aside, The Voice made one mistake; they trusted this guy for one of their accounts; one that you just checked and to your pleasant surprise it was filled with enough money to keep you going for several months. That makes you wonder if the other suspects are also responsible for other accounts. But you doubt the Voice is just going to sit and watch as you steal their money. By this point the money must have been transferred to another account. But it doesn’t matter, you’ve scored a victory. Now all that is left is move to the next piece; The Army of Mastermind. And you have the perfect person in mind for the job.

Rangers HQ – Day

The fight between Argent, Mastermind and Red Doll plays out on the screen time and again. Argent watches with a frown, arms crossed, finger tapping her arm slowly after every move made in the fight. She turns away from it, disinterested already after hours of reviewing the footage. She stares out of the window, into the city. “Where the hell are you?” she whispers. She looks down and notices someone on the sidewalk, someone familiar. It’s one of Mastermind’s henchmen. She turns in a flash and heads out of the room and outside, ignoring everyone around her. As she arrives at the lobby she hears a familiar voice, it is that man, the one Ortega has a crush on, what was his name? It does not matter. She steps out of the HQ and across the street, but the henchman is not there.

She looks around, ignoring the people pointing at her and searches for him, until… there entering an alleyway. She sprints after him. This reeks of an ambush, she knows, so she takes careful but confident steps. She is surprised to see him just standing there the middle of the alley. “If this is supposed to be an ambush, you are doing a very poor job,” she says, but not to him. She expects to see Mastermind spring out from whenever they may be.

“Sorry to disappoint you, but it’s just me,” he says, face still, no emotion.

“Your boss sends you… you, to fight me?” she scoffs and chuckles, at the same time.

“No. I’m here to give you something you might want to know.”

“And what is that?” she says, taking one step closer, her fingers twitching, itching to get its claws out.

“Bloodmoon Ave. 430.”

“What’s that?”

“You want to find out, go there,” he says, turns, and leaves. Argent lets him. He is inconsequential, not the one she wants. Is that where they will be? Mastermind? But if so, are they setting a trap? It’s way too obvious though, and if she has learned anything, it’s that Mastermind is anything but obvious. So what is their plan? What do they seek? And why do they want her at that place? Maybe there is something there. If it was not important to them, then they would have never told her. If so, what? What is there? But what if it’s actually a trap? What if they expect her to think it wasn’t a trap only to ambush her there? But this could be her only chance to finally get them. And if she does not go, she could lose that chance.

She retreats back to HQ, determination in her face. Right beside her passes him again, Ortega’s friend.

“Everything alright?” he asks, but she ignores him. “Fine keep ignoring me,” she hears him say, but it doesn’t matter, what matters is Mastermind.

#fallen hero: rebirth #fallen hero: retribution #fanfiction #mc #oc #past hurts #lady argent #i'm almost done with this semester and summer is just one class. so i'll be able to write future episodes faster #please let me know what you think #enjoy

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wooblesnyamain · 3 years ago

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I see you post a lot of BLM posts, but I've never seen you post anything about this stuff happening in a country you've never heard of! That's very suspicious, I think you're actually performative! You don't really care about helping people, you just want "woke points" so you don't lose your 2 followers! Either that or you just care more about the poc in your own country than you do these other people in a country you have no control over! How dare you only be able to be useful in your own country! Absolutely abhorrent! (This is sarcasm btw, the sarcasm on my part is over past this point)

But seriously and nonsarcastic now, like I hate when people do this. It's always on posts with a lot of good information and sources too but I can never bring myself to reblog it cause it's just not cool??? People will reblog your posts without the guilt tripping, there's plenty of posts that get to the point and give sources that don't attack people. It's also always on posts that are the first ones I see like?? Dang chill, this is the first I'm hearing about this. Also not everyone's blogs are about politics, and they don't have to be!

You gotta remember, not everyone is able to even help to begin with? Some people come here for escapism, some people are literally children, some people aren't even from the country that's being effected, some people cannot handle looking through and reblogging every tragedy, and sometimes it just never shows up in their feed!

You're not being intentionally ignored by everyone here. You're rightfully upset about these injustices in the world, but random users on Tumblr.com who don't reblog every tragedy aren't to blame for this. Like fr, how do you know they're not helping elsewhere? There's other platforms besides Tumblr, y'know? While most of us are here to support and uplift voices, we cannot do everything at once. we're all trying our best in this fucked up and evil world, don't come at us if we don't get to every topic ever.

Some of us even have our own things we have to monitor and worry about as well. Lgbtqia rights, disability rights, reproductive rights..ect. We will continue fighting together and for eachother, but we all have a limit on what we can do, especially during one of the biggest historical event most of us have ever gone through.

Pretty fucked up that you, personally, reading this post don’t give equal attention to every tragedy that happens on the planet every day. I heard that you, personally sometimes only hear about things that news sources in your specific cultural sphere pick up on. That’s pretty fucked up of you, personally.

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songless-siren · 6 years ago

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The Death of Rael Kertia

Title: The Death of Rael Kertia

Summary: Inspired two Tumblr posts I found online. What happened in the aftermath of the disaster that was Rai’s first visit to Lukedonia since he fell asleep?

Inspired by:

http://ceata88.tumblr.com/post/148066501354/14-hello-fellow-noblesse-fan-i-just-want-to

http://darkicedragon.tumblr.com/post/115866349449/noblesse-canon-divergence-au

Rael Kertia was confused. In his brother’s battle against the blond modified human, he had offered Rajak his soul weapon, Grandia. And his brother refused. Rael couldn’t understand why.

In his eyes, Rajak Kertia was both a brother and father figure. He was responsible, strict, and the best family leader Rael knows. It was because Rajak was so dedicated to being the best family leader he could be that his little brother wonders why he would refuse the chance to get stronger. Granted, Rael had his own ambitions. He didn’t want to give up Grandia but he treasures his brother a lot more than himself. Still a child at heart, he took advantage of the confusion in the aftermath of the fight and ran away to sort out his feelings and thoughts on the matter.

Why had his brother not claimed Grandia?

Why did he not want to get stronger?

During his travels throughout the human world, Rael also took the chance to practice what his brother and other nobles had displayed: cool indifference, sophistication and empathy. In his attempts to be polite to humans and understand more about them, he only found himself more disgusted than ever. Humans grow only at the destruction of others and it was every man for himself outside of Lukedonia.

Why would anyone want to hurt others in order to make themselves feel better?

Why would any self-respecting noble would ever bother protecting them?

He had gone through half of North America and most of South America before traveling to Europe. It was there where he ran into his first crush and a traitor to Lukedonia.

It was late. The faint rays of sunlight were minutes away from vanishing completely and people were hurrying home to escape the cold. Rael himself was jumping from roof to roof, leisurely heading back to his hotel. He was only halfway there when he heard an explosion from a couple of kilometers away.

What did the humans do now? Deciding to investigate instead of ignoring the insignificant beings-he was bored anyways-he changed his course. Minutes later-there was no hurry-he stopped in his tracks, shock coursing through every vein in his body. “Ignes?”

The raven-haired beauty turned. “Oh? Look who’s here: Rael Kertia. What brings you to this part of the world?”

Rael was not a traitor to Lukedonia. During his escape, he did not once consider himself betraying Lukedonia in any way, shape or form. “What are you doing here, Ignes Kravei?”

“Nothing much.” She waved a hand flippantly, not at all bothered by his tone. “Just collecting some more test subjects. How’s Lukedonia?”

“None of your business.” He couldn’t, wouldn’t, tell Ignes that he had ran away. And she doesn’t deserve to know anything anyways, he thought pettily.

A plan was already forming in Ignes’ head. She could use the power of another noble and, if Rael turns out to be a disappointment, she can still use him for experimentation. “Why don’t you come with me?”

“What?” Red eyes widened in disbelief before narrowing in suspicion. “Why do you think I’ll want to associate myself with a traitor like you?”

She smiled gently, with as much care and love she could muster, a look of understanding taking place on her face. “I could help you learn more about humans if that’s what you’re after. You’ll learn more from me than by yourself. Besides, you’re lonely right? We could spend time together, just like the old times.”

It was this argument that won Rael over. The present was confusing. Everything was changing and he didn’t like change. Nobles are constant beings after all. His brother was upset at him, Seira had rejected him, the Lord was very possibly angry at him. He was barely 500 years old, too young to be dealing with all of this, and, with a nod, he agreed.

Ignes was delighted. Rael was young, insecure, and eager to please just so he’d be accepted and loved. Rajak Kertia had helped as well. His most recent encounters with Rael had left the child lost and upset. His lack of emotion, or rather, his ability to hide his emotions so well had led his younger brother to believe that he no longer cared and never cared about him to begin with. She could still remember how much time the two had spent together, how much Rael had idolized Rajak. Rajak’s approval had been everything and now that he’s “abandoned” Rael, Ignes was fully prepared to take his place.

She lavished affection on her little duckling. Despite being slightly annoyed that she doesn’t have as much time to spend on her experiments, Rael was amusing. His stealth was useful in capturing more experimental subjects and she’d only encouraged his ever-growing hatred of humans, showing him nothing but their dark side and all their faults.

Rael was content for a while. Ignes hadn’t tried anything on him and their interactions hadn’t changed much from when they were younger. He knew that spending time with a traitor was betraying Lukedonia, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. Much, anyways. Compared to Ignes, who was pretty much his big sister, Rajak was nothing more than a stranger. He had changed so much since becoming family leader that Rael wonders if he’d ever truly known his elder brother at all. Perhaps he was only acting to humor him and decided to stop now that he’s a leader.

He had expressed his doubts to Ignes and the older noble had given him hugs and cooed that she cared. What Ignes gave so freely was such a rare luxury with Rajak that Rael couldn’t help but bask in the attention.

It took a few months for Rael to understand that Grandia was somehow transmitting Rajak’s emotions over to him. There wasn’t much for him to work with as what few emotions there were were rather muted.

Fatigue, stress, remorse, guilt, anger.

Rael could only contribute these emotions to the the aftermath of the battles when all the misunderstandings had been sorted out. Rajak was probably overworked and working hard to fix his mess in the human world. While there hadn’t been any human casualties, he had destroyed several buildings and caused quite a large commotion.

This only cemented the idea that his brother never cared and never will. Nothing changed except for the desire to teach Rael a lesson. Ignes had kindly kept him informed of what little news she could garner about Lukedonia and it seemed like Rajak was sent to look for him, probably to drag him back for punishment like he did ten years ago. So Rael hid on Ignes’s island, careful to cover up his tracks whenever he went out. He was determined to not suffer the humiliation of being dragged back and punished like a child again.

Yet, he was drowning in guilt. He shouldn’t have left Rajak alone to deal with the consequences of his actions. He was the one who made a fuss in Korea and tried to use underhand tactics to win. To add to his conscience, he had kept his soul weapon to himself, not allowing Rajak to gain the full power of a family leader. Rael was sure it was a crime despite it never happening before. It should be one. As far as he was concerned, Lukedonia was down one family leader and it was all his fault.

Ignes did not want Rael to return to Lukedonia. She had done so much for him when he was lost and confused and this is how he repays her?! By getting himself killed?! She didn’t spend so much time nourishing him only to lose him in the end. Deciding that it would cost too much to let him go, she prepared several drones made especially for fighting family leaders, just in case it came down to that.

“I have to, Ignes. Please understand that.”

“I don’t see why you have to, Rael. We were having so much fun together.” She smiled charmingly. “Hearing you talk so seriously, you really have grown up. So much unlike the insecure little boy I first met.” It was true. Dressed in his Lukedonia clothing, he was a shorter version of Rajak and bear slight resemblance to Rayga Kertia, his father and former family leader.

“I know. I don’t want to leave either.” His sad look grew stern. “But you’re still a traitor.”

She shrugged. “By association, you are one as well.”

He nodded solemnly. “I know, which is why I have to go back. I have to take responsibility for my actions.”

Ignes’ lips curled into an ugly sneer. It was this honor that made the nobles weak. While the rest of the world grew, Lukedonia stayed the same, relying on their original power to keep them safe. Instead of being at the top of the food chain, they were falling to the bottom. “Pride and honor won’t save you. Why don’t you let me modify you? I’ll make you stronger.”

Now it was Rael’s turn to be disgusted. “Absolutely not! I would never lower myself to being a mere human toy.”

“Didn’t you say that you and your brother fought a stalemate with a modified human? I check the Union records. He goes by the name of Frankenstein and his weapon was created by sacrificing the lives of many of his people. Don’t you want to surpass him? If he’s modified, then why can’t you be? It’ll even out the playing field.”

“Because I have standards! If you won’t let me go, Ignes, I won’t hesitate to fight you.”

“Oh?” She raised a delicate eyebrow. “But will you win, though?” She snapped her fingers and her robots came out of hiding. “I didn’t want to do this, Rael, but you left me no choice.” One of those was a match for a Union Elder. Three might be overestimating Rael but Ignes was not about to take any chances when Kertias are known for their speed and stealth. Rael will give her what she wants, one way or the other.

Rael felt betrayed. He really did think that Ignes understood him as he had confined in her and she him. But he also knew that she had her secrets and he kept certain things to himself as well. It was foolish to trust a traitor with news of Lukedonia. He didn’t think that she’d go as far as to attack him for wanting to leave but judging by the strength of these attacks, they were aiming to kill or, at the very least, maim him. Regardless of a noble’s regeneration ability, he would like to live his life without knowing that kind of pain, thank you very much. He summoned Grandia in a moment of panic and sliced one of drones into pieces.

Ignes’s original amused stare turned into an absolutely frightening glare, dark with the promise of pain. She stalked forward slowly, like a predatory cat. Rael was suddenly felt very small. “Is this why you refused all my offers, Rael Kertia? Because you’re already a satisfied pig?!”

Rael wisely kept silent. No matter how much he wants to deny it, Ignes was scaring him. She was acting like a completely different person and he wasn’t sure what was the right reaction.

“Why do you have a soul weapon when Rajak is the family leader?” She let out her aura in a show of power. “Why do you have a soul weapon when I don’t?!” She lunged forward to join the fight personally, showing absolutely no mercy. It was all Rael could do to avoid critical damage. Running away was hardly an option right now; when one retreats, the other two move forward to attack, not allowing him a single moment to catch his breath.

“How dare you harm my babies?! How dare you have a soul weapon?!” As much as Rael wanted to talk back, he knew that there was no way he could defeat Ignes even at the cost of his own life. She was older than him, older than Rajak as well, modified and better trained.

“Why so quiet? You were so talkative before. Poor little Rael. No one loves you anymore.” She cooed, sickly sweet as she managed to rip off one of his arms. Tossing the limb somewhere, she returned to glaring. “I’ll make you scream.”

Not wanting to give her that satisfaction, Rael gritted his teeth and keep quiet. Leaping back to avoid another attack from one the two remaining toys, he managed to fall into Ignes’ trap and impaled himself on her arm.

“You’ve gotten lacking, Rael.” She withdrew her arm and he crumbled to the ground as his legs gave out on him. “Is it because your brother always fought your battles for you?” She tore off his legs, sweet composure fading into uncontrollable rage as he still refused to let out a sound and had actually tried to fight back.

Nothing was fair in this world. Rael has a soul weapon when he wasn’t a family leader. Someone had done something so extraordinary while she was the genius. And to rub salt into the wound, she did not take part in any way in the process of splitting a soul weapon and neither does she have the data.

Each thought was punctuated by the removal of another limb. And Rael still wasn’t screaming! She stomped down on his ribs, infuriated at the fact that she had failed to break the child. However, Rael’s body was broken beyond belief and his own ribs had stabbed into his heart, stopping any chance of regeneration. Temper sated at last with his oncoming death and newly-gathered data, she knelt down to caress his soft cheek. “Any last words you want me to pass onto Rajak? I’ll give him a message for you.”

Rael smiled sadly, determined to stop the traitor from getting any satisfaction with his defeat. “Tell him that I apologize for disappointing the family leader of the Kertia Clan, for keeping Grandia to myself, and for constantly disobeying his orders, that I’m sorry for not living up to his expectations and for never addressing properly him as family leader and never acting like a pureblood of the Kertia Clan should.” Despite his efforts, a tear rolled down his cheek, causing Ignes to smile. “For not being the little brother he deserves to have.” The last of his body faded away and the dual daggers disappeared as well, seeking out Rajak to rejoin Kartas.

Ignes laughed loud and hard, gleeful that she’d managed to poison Rael so much that he’d still believe Rajak doesn’t love him. What a conceited child. He got away with disobeying his family leader and having a soul weapon, but still believes that he wasn’t loved. But he did die blaming himself so at least he grew up a little. What would Rajak do if he hears of this, she wondered thoughtfully, making a mental note to actually pass on the message when she has the chance just for the show. Smiling sadistically, she skipped off to collect her babies. Finding the extensive damage on them, a vein nearly popped in her temple. The data was satisfactory but did he really need to destroy her babies? They were so hard to fix. I should have kept him alive for experimentation. This data is great but keeping him alive would have been far more beneficial. Perhaps I do need to work on my temper a little.

Rajak was training with Karias when a sudden burst of sadness emitting from Kartas caused him to pause. It hadn’t taken him as long as Rael to realize that the split soul weapons created a link between their bearers. He knew as soon as he felt contentment when he was stressed. Choosing to ignore the emotions (he can’t just cancel the training session when Lukadonia’s enemies were getting stronger), he pulled back his fist for a punch.

BAM!!!

The sudden surge of power caused the Blerster family leader to fly back and crash into several trees. “Really, Rajak?” He picked himself off the ground and rubbed at his numb forearm. “How do you still have so much energy left?”

For his part, Rajak stood shell-shocked until he came to a very upsetting conclusion. He quickly summoned Kartas, noting the power and sad whisper that came with the summoning of his soul weapon. “I’m sorry, family leader.”

Karias held out his hands, attempting to placate his self-proclaimed best friend. “Can we stop for today?”

His best friend nodded mutely, quiet and thoughtful like he usually was. However, they wouldn’t be best friends if he couldn’t find something wrong with Rajak. Karias noted the way his hands tightly held Kartas and the way he walked much more stiffly than with his usual grace. He swung his arm around Rajak’s neck. “Want to eat something now?”

Rajak couldn’t hear a thing. His little brother was dead. His sweet, naive little brother who insisted on calling him big brother despite his protests. The one that would always watch him train with wide, adoring eyes and used to snuggle in with him for naps after a long day of studying when they were younger. He had failed his father, failed as a family leader to protect Rael from the rest of the world. It was only thanks to his deeply-ingrained training that he didn’t break down right there and then. No matter what happened, he also has a duty to the Lord and the rest of his clan. Shrugging off the arm, he went off as if everything was alright.

But it wasn’t.

Ignes was very quite surprised to hear the 13th Elder mention that the nobles were crawling out of Lukedonia. While Rajak’s excursions were excused because his little brother had ran away, the other little worms do not have any reason to butt into their business. If they decide to isolate themselves on Lukedonia, then they should stay that way. It was time for a little trip of her own.

Although Seira was one of the last nobles she’d expect to leave the island as she is a family leader, Ignes was ecstatic. Seira J. Loyard had grown into a beautiful young woman. Yet, she was still so weak and lack the experience that Ignes has. Sending Regis away was the only smart decision she had made in the fight. Ignes watch the young leader wield the Death Scythe with fascination and felt her anger levels rising. It wasn’t fair. She was so much stronger than both Seira and Rael. Why couldn’t she have a soul weapon as well?

But Ignes was still impressed. Seira had actually managed to survive this long fighting against the Union. However, Rael, who was not a family leader, had managed to destroy one of her drones and injure the other two and herself with an incomplete soul weapon so Seira was still a weakling. “Do you like them?” Ignes draped herself over her soldier, hugging it close. “I modified it with the data I got from Rael.”

At the mention of the other noble, Seira paused and her eyes widened. “Rael...helped you?” The moment of surprise costed her another injury.

Ignes giggled. “Of course. He was such a helpful little boy. By the way, you wouldn’t know where Rajak is, would you? Rael wants me to pass on a message.” Deciding that enough was enough, she stepped into the fight and quickly knocked her opponent unconscious. In her haste to return to her experiments, she was unaware of Regis on her tail.

Karias watched Rajak worriedly, as did everyone else. Yet, the silent noble went about putting the dishes away as if nothing had occurred, like Regis didn’t just tell them that Rael had been working with a traitor all along. That wasn’t completely true; Rajak did pause for a moment there. He conceded.

“I got it!” Their heads all snapped around to Tao’s direction. The hacker was busy tracking Regis’ cell phone signal and managed to lock on. He quickly told Frankenstein the location of the little island.

The blond man was quick to create a plan. “Master and I will go. Rajak, you-”

“I’ll come.” He removed his pink apron and gloves, hanging them in their appropriate spots.

Frankenstein moved to stop him. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. If Rael is-”

“Rael isn’t there.”

M-21 looked as if he was about to argue but decided to save his breathe at the determined stare on Rajak’s face. Karias joined the others in watching the house with little protest. As much as he would love to go along, it is true that the house may come under attack and three modified humans are no match for what the Union can dish out.

“Where’s Rael?” Regis’ head snapped back against the wall as Ignes stuck another needle into his arm.

“You should learn to keep your mouth shut, Regis. At least Rael knew how to do that.” Ignes had a lab assistant roll in a cart filled with dissection tools and enjoyed the flinch from Regis. He is definitely more self-confident than Rael but she’ll break him soon enough. Ignes was just about to proceed with her plans when she realized that some of the drugs she needed were missing and left the room to get them.

Ignes had managed to escape during the confusion of Muzaka’s awakening. Rajak wished that he had been there with the Noblesse but the werewolf warrior had kept him occupied. Perhaps he should have trained harder and used the techniques his father had taught him, just like Frankenstein had advised him to, instead of being ashamed of fighting from the shadows.

Nonetheless, their visit to the island on been somewhat successful. Roctis Kravei was dead and they had rescued Seira and Regis before the scientists had been able to experiment on them. The awakening of the former lord of the werewolves only gave Rajak more motivation to train. Things were about to get a lot more complicated and he can’t expect the Noblesse and his blood-contracted to solve every single problem.

Rajak feared that someone else may possibly get to Ignes before he does and leave him forever in the dark of his brother’s passing. He wanted-no, needed-to know exactly who to blame for Rael’s passage into eternal sleep. Nobody, not even the Lord and Noblesse, can keep him from finding out once he gets his hands on Ignes Kravei. He had searched the island once more after everyone had left but was unable to find any trace of the traitor and werewolf. And as computers were not his forte, he didn’t manage to find any information regarding Rael either. Despite his limitations, he made sure to destroy the lab to keep other Union members from retrieving any information they could have stored here. Unfortunately, as he wasn’t familiar with Union architecture, Dr.Crombel’s employees had managed to retrieve some data.

Rajak walked quickly. There was no time to waste with all the conflicts with the Union. Somewhere out there, the Union were creating more modified humans that were stronger and faster than ever. Werewolves were also getting modified and the Noblesse can’t last forever. He needed to train more and learn how to control his newfound strength as well.

“Rajak.” He stopped and turned his head to glance back at the three other family leaders behind him. “Are you leaving now?”

He nodded and tensed when Rosaria Elenor asked if he was going to continue his search for Rael. He was going to look for Ignes to find out more about his brother so that counts, doesn’t it? Rajak wondered when he had started hiding information from his colleagues.

They conversed a bit more before parting their separate ways and Rajak continued on his way, until he meet Gradeus and the other traitors along with three other werewolves.

There was no way they were going to reach Lukedonia before him. He was determined to warn the Lord and the other family leaders. And there was no way he’s going to die here either. Rajak needed to know about Rael, absolutely needed that information before he died.

To his advantage, the Union thought that he was weak because he still had an incomplete soul weapon. Them looking down on him became their downfall as he hid his presence and killed his opponent before anyone of them realized what he had done and had a head start back to Lukedonia. Seeing the other family leaders again couldn’t be soon enough.

The next couple of hours passed quickly with the adrenaline rush. The werewolves and traitors were dead, the Noblesse was weakened even more and Claudia Tradio was made family leader. The truth about Edian Drosia came out and her clan was pardoned. There were no casualties on their side and Lukedonia has less enemies to worry about. Not that it really made a difference with all the modifications everyone else in the world seemed to be getting.

The next major event happened on werewolf territory. M-21 was kidnapped and probably subjected to experiments like the 5th Elder had said when she was trying to convince them all to help. Nothing remotely interesting was going on until he encountered another werewolf warrior. He might have been a challenge provided that the werewolves stopped underestimating him but apparently no one got the notice that he was fully Awakened. After that talk with Frankenstein, he was very uninclined to test his opponent and draw out the battle.

He’d arrived at Rai’s location first, not waiting. Calmly observing the situation, he began to worry as both the noble and the modified human were clearly injured and up against a monster that was a match even for the Noblesse himself weakened as he was. And there was Ignes, laughing loudly and boasting about the abilities of her newest creation. Rajak made his presence known by appearing a few steps behind Rai. Considering Titan’s strength, he held Kartas tightly and shifted so that the light caught on the sharp blades.

The raven-haired scientist widened her eyes and smiled. “Rajak Kertia,” she acknowledged. “I see that Kartas is finally complete after all these years? Are you here to ask about Rael?”

By now the other nobles had arrived and all were staring at him in varying stages of shock with widened eyes and not Ignes or her creation like they should have. Perhaps, if he survives this fight, the Lord will punish him for keeping the news to himself. He knew that Rael was dead and every cell in his body was itching to let go of his self-discipline just this once and wipe that smile off her face but she was the only one with answers. “You fought with Rael.”

“Not at first.” The others watched their interaction intently, taking the chance to take a slight rest. Titan won’t attack without Ignes’s orders. “I met him in Europe and took him in.” She giggled. “He was like a lost puppy since you abandoned him.”

Rajak didn’t react save for the tightening of his fists. Ignes took childish pleasure in watching him lose composure bit by bit. Wouldn’t it just be hilarious if she was the one to make the ever-stoic Kertia family leader cry?

“We spent a few months together but,” she pouted, “he wanted to leave. He refused all the offers I gave him and wanted to go back to Lukedonia. I couldn’t understand why. After all, I was more like an elder sibling to him than you were. So we fought and he destroyed one of my babies.” She gestured a bit. “You couldn’t understand how upset I was. I doubt you ever cared about anyone or anything besides duty. So I killed him.” She launched into a graphic description of how she did so, loving the way Rajak’s look of cool indifference turned into hot-blooded murder, narrowed eyes nothing more than mere slits and hands clenched so tightly around his soul weapon that his knuckles were white.

She thoughtfully placed a finger on her chin. “He didn’t scream at all though. Such a shame that was. He had such a lovely voice.” Shrugging, Ignes continued. “Oh well. He did give me a message to pass on to you. Can you guess what he said?” She laughed loud and hard, manically. “He apologized. For not being a good enough little brother and a pureblood who wanted to protect humans. Because he kept Grandia hidden. He didn’t think you loved him at all or ever, really. And all because you were so good with keeping your emotions in check. Such a cute little lost duckling.”

“I did get a lot of data from him though. He didn’t even realized that he was helping me. I really did want to continue my experiments on him but he made me so angry. It’s not everyday you get a pureblood to play with. Pity father stopped me from completing my experiments back on Lukedonia. Perhaps that was why he had a soul weapon to begin with. To protect him from getting taken advantage of again. Not that it helped him any.”

Ignes wasn’t sure what to expect from Rajak. Whatever possibilities her mind had generated, the dark assassin letting out an absolutely feral snarl and charging straight at her before anyone could recover from their surprise wasn’t one of them. Titan could hardly slow him down, an arm in pieces within seconds and the rest of his body quickly following.

The panic made Ignes hysterical though she still had faith in her creation. “You can’t kill him! He has the best regeneration ability there is and once he recovers, Titan’ll be even stronger than before.”

As expected of a Noblesse, Rai stepped in to help. “If he can keep healing himself, then I’ll just destroy his entire body at once.” His left eye flashed and he began his work. Thanks to Rajak’s work, Titan was severely weakened and the pieces of his body were relatively easy to get rid off. Ignes had barely enough time to scream before her body was in pieces and fading away.

Rajak knelt, head down and panting hard. He couldn’t believe his ears. Was he such a bad elder brother? Did he really neglect to show Rael how much he had mattered and still does matter? Rael didn’t disappoint him at all. He was proud of his little brother though he didn’t show it. He had thought that Rael was too arrogant and more praise would just go to his head. And was he really so neglectful as to not notice Ignes experimenting on his brother back when they were younger? How was he going to explain to his mother that her youngest son was dead at only a mere 500 years old?

Rajak was grateful that he had stopped with his back to the rest of his allies. It would have been awkward to turn away from them and rude to turn his back on the Lord and Noblesse. A single bloody tear dripped down his face and he discreetly wiped it away.

Frankenstein stared at Rajak with sad eyes. He understood what it was like to lose someone close and empathized but Kertias weren’t the type to accept comfort. Rajak pushed Karias away and asked the Lord for punishment for Rael’s behavior which she denied. Even when he was upset with his brother’s death, the family leader was still ready to obey.

Rajak walked down the halls of his home with a purpose; he was headed to Rael’s bedroom. His brother was a neat freak and no one was allowed in except to place his clean clothes on his bed. He preferred to do all the cleaning by himself and will always do it promptly, no matter how tired he was after the day was over. Rajak had respected his brother’s privacy and didn’t allow anyone to enter the room despite the large amounts of dust that were sure to be gathering on every surface.

He opened the double doors and stepped onto a surprisingly thin layer of dust. The bed was still made and everything was well-organized. Locking the doors firmly behind him, he collapsed into Rael’s bed, breathing in the dust and the faded scent of fresh laundry. He mourned there in private because he’ll never have a chance to apologize to Rael for not protecting him better and allowing him to become a family leader.

“He wouldn’t want you to be like this, you know.”

His head snapped up at the sound of Karius’ voice. The other family leader stood by the balcony, staring at him with sympathy. “Rael would have liked it better if you-”

“If I what? If I hadn’t failed him?” Grief made Rajak more talkative, it seemed, angrier too and more likely to show his emotions rather than hiding them. “I failed my father and I failed Rael. I couldn’t protect him. He didn’t even think I cared for him.” His voice began to crack.

His best friend moved closer. “At least he didn’t enter eternal sleep hating you. He still cared for you and you can tell him everything you want to say to him when you enter eternal sleep.” He gingerly gave Rajak a hug. Karius was never awkward in any situation. “That doesn’t mean you should try to get yourself killed. He most definitely wouldn’t have wanted that.”

Rael wandered around on Lukedonia, knowing that he was dead and wondering why eternal sleep looked so much like his home. Perhaps eternal sleep meant that they turn into spirits or ghosts? The halls of his home was empty and he couldn’t detect anyone within the manor. He started to inspect every room and it wasn’t until he reached his brother’s study did he find someone.

“Father?”

Rayga Kertia looked up from his book and his eyes widened in surprise. “Rael?” He bookmarked his page and placed the novel down on the table, rushing to give his youngest son a hug. “What are you doing here?” If anything, he was expecting his wife or eldest son to be here first. Despite having no sense of time when one enters eternal sleep, Rael looked too young to be anywhere close to joining him, much less actually joining him.

“I-I-” Unable to find the words to describe his own crimes, the boy pushed away his father and ran away to where he knew his room was and locking the door behind him. However, as his father was stronger and faster than him, he was already waiting inside his room. This time, Rael had no escape. “Father-”

“It doesn’t matter what you did, Rael. You’re still my son and I love you.” Perhaps it was too cheesy a line for a Kertia to use but Rael had always been insecure and needed reassurance.

The words tumbled out of his mouth before he could stop them, as well as the tears from his eyes. “I went to Ignes Kravei and helped her with capturing humans for her experiments. But I wanted to go back to Lukedonia and she killed me.”

Well, that was certainly worse than what he had expected to hear. Rayga pulled his son into another embrace. He did not regret following the previous Lord into eternal sleep. What he did regret was not having his sons sooner so that he was capable of spending more time with them and for not realizing that Ignes was experimenting on his littlest. Despite accepting Roctis apologies for his daughter’s actions (he understood a father’s need to keep their child happy), he did not forgive the noble for hurting his son. He’d hoped that by giving Rael a soul weapon and making certain that Rajak was capable of watching over him was enough to protect him. Obviously, he was wrong.

Unsure of what to say, he hugged his son closer and patted his hair soothingly. It had been a while since he had done this, and he was a man of little words. Everything was going to be alright and he would hope that Rajak was going to be fine as well.

#Noblesse #Rael #Rajak #Kertia

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star-vs-the-forces-of-hawkmoth · 7 years ago

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The fall of Queen Moon (the rise of Queen Star Butterfly)

Over the past year I have speculated the death or fall of Queen Moon. Here’s why, over the past three seasons a common reoccurring theme was Star becoming queen. You might think “well she’s a princess of course they are going to talk about it.” Yes while that may be true. You have to admit, every season the queen topic has gotten stronger and stronger. Especially this season.

Recently, we have seen Star take the role of being a ruler more seriously than ever before and this is evidenced in her line “it’s time to be a better princess.” Aside from that we also see her become more politically motivated especially regarding the Mewmans and Monsters

The reason for this might seem simple, the war between Toffee and her kingdom. However it’s more complicated than that. During the war, Star had to put a lot of things into perspective, her feelings and her responsibilities. The battle itself made her almost lose her life. Furthermore, at this time of war Star began to really understand what her mother went through and why she was so strict with her. But the reason the war is so significant, is because Moon talks about how her mother died in a war about monsters VS Mewmans and how that changed her.

However it is not until Moon says the words “I was a happy go lucky princess like you and then Toffee and his monsters killed my mother.”It is at this moment she sees her mom for the woman and queen she is. It is also at this momen I came to the conclusion that Star will also face a form of loss. In the past it was her wand and then her life on Earth. Each season increases the stakes and the loss Star faces. This season it will most likely be her mom. And I hypothesized that this would happen in a similar manner with the same issue Monsters VS Mewmans.

Throughout the season we have also seen Star take her role as a princess more seriously than ever before. This is because of loss she felt before and throughout the war. But mostly because of what she learned from her mother. She is now trying to act more dignified for her mother.

Star hasn’t always been an advocate for monsters and Mewmans. It wasn’t until after living on Earth and seeing things from an outside perspective.Moon on the other hand, has always been prejudice against Monsters and only started to see the light after actually meeting one.

What does this have to do will moon losing her power or her death? Everything. Recently we found out that Miss Henious is Eclipsa’s daughter. Which was something I also predicted. Find that theory here https://elahstar39.tumblr.com/post/167549168419/elahstar39-heinous-is-eclipsas-daughter

But now that we know that Miss Henious or Meteora, is Eclipsa’s daughter that means that means that monsters are involved in the royal family on the bloodline level.Now we know that Meteora was not only abandoned. But her birthright to the throne stolen by the royal family itself. That leads to pent up anger and a desire for revenge. This brings me to my main point.

The battle of Meteora and Moon Butterfly.

This battle will be life altering on both sides of the equations. For one Star will be mixed about he Ho she sides with because of duty to the throne and her core beliefs. Not to mention a part of her doesn’t think she deserves the throne anymore because of her true family history.

But Star will be forced with a choice about who she wants to be. A princess (queen) or a civilian. I’m the past Star has expressed her disdain for being queen in Mr. candle caress. But warmed up the idea after Marco explained she could rule her own way.

Star now is taking her royal duties to the next level and trying to make social change through policy regarding Mewmans and Monsters as a princess. Therefore she is trying to make Shan he even though she isn’t queen yet. This shows her readiness for the throne. And while she said that things aren’t as easy as she thought. She’s still trying to makes a change.

Now for Moon she is being forced to re-examine her entire life and beliefs because of Star and now Eclipsa. However Moon is also a perfect ruler and queen and knows that her duty is to her people and her family. She won’t let her history affect her command.

But once it’s brought to her doorstep. Literally. She will be forced to ask herself these tough questions. And while she will try to be diplomatic, Meteora is filled with anger and hate and willl initiate the attack that will overall kill Moon.

Now I am very into symbolism and my previous prediction about Meteora’s mother was correct. So I will explain what brought me to this conclusion.

1. The crown.

The crown has been shown in multiple different ways and each significant. However no more significant than in Total Eclipsa the Moon

This picture shows her crown being stolen and the primary focus of this episode was about Meteora and who Eclipsa’s daughter is. In the scene between the spider and crown we see the spider look at the crown. And this is in the royal archives

He then succeeds in stealing it.

The fact that is was stolen is a huge indicator that she will lose her throne. However, the reason I know this is because of multiple other indications in this episode alone but the big indicator is in the scroll that they steal in the records room. Which brings me to my second symbol

2. The scroll

This scroll represents meteora and her right to the throne. Remember there was also a struggle in getting that scroll. That fight for that scroll represents the fight that will later take place between meteora and Moon.

But the big indicator for moons fall in power come back to the spider and her struggle in getting her crown back. Also if you look at the scene you see both objects fall but the one that falls first is the crown

This shows that moon will die first. But then so will Metora. This is shown in the photo below.

This photo no only Shows the fall of Moon and Meteora, but the rise of the one true villan. And I will to that in moment. But, the scroll is symbolic because it contains the proof of false history and the crown shows that this is the downfall of it all. In other words Meteora will Be Be the end of Moons throne.

My last symbol which is the most important is

3. The spider AKA the true villain.

The spider is a symbol of the true villain and that villain is Ecplisa. There are multiple reasons that this spider misrepresentative of Eclipsa. For one, the color of the spider is purple and Eclipsa’s magic is not only purple but her color scheme as well.

The other indicator is the spiders mischievous tendencies. Namely her suspicious nature. However, despite being suspicious, Eclipsa still manages to fool Moon into thinking she is trustworthy. This is shown through the Spider and how the spider tricked Moon into giving up her crown. This interaction shows us what Eclipsa is truly after. The throne. It’s also made clear that the fall of Moon is not only the rise of Queen Star. But the fall of Meteora is the rise of Villain Eclipsa.

4. Diamond

Finally the diamond symbol has been shown to quite a bit of an extent this season especially in Booth Buddies.

As you can see the Diamond open is the shape of a star and that and to me that symbolizes the birth of Star’s power and strength. But it also is showing that Star will have to soon shine as reigning queen

This photo shows diamonds and stars in the background. not even mentioning the moons themselves on Marco’s cheeks. This photo symbolizes the future king and Queen of Mewni, and the fact that she kept it, means that she accepts the responsibility and destiny of her future.

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knightofbalance-13 · 7 years ago

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http://saltwukong.tumblr.com/post/173979310856/miles-luna-is-unequivocally-the-poster-child-for

Well then, let’s give you a bit of criticism yourself then.

Miles Luna is unequivocally the poster child for immature assholes who should not be in charge of other people or creative writing and the sooner people realize that the better.

Says the guy who threw a fucking fit over Scarlet being gay and calling it ‘insulting’ like a whiny bitch. (http://saltwukong.tumblr.com/post/174002001031/actually-let-me-say-this-clearly-no-praise-is)

Be polite in your criticism” fuck off. Miles is every bit as immature as his fandom who have famously taken every bit of criticism, no matter how it was phrased, as hate. Miles Luna and his rabid fanboys can fuck off.

Of course, rationally sitting down and explaining why something went wrong and showing it like in Faboover’s ‘Thoughts-RWBY Volume 4′ Series (https://www.youtube.com/user/Fal3oover/videos) is the same as flailing your arms around and crying like a child who was told no. I mean, only a whiny, immature, self obsessed, selfish, sociopathic piece of shit would say that because they are so far removed from what defines a human fucking being that the concept is foregin to them.

By the way, you seem to have uh, blocked me for criticizing you once (https://knightofbalance-13.tumblr.com/post/167961927725/a-girl-with-sparkling-lies-saltwukong). I mean surely, this must be a mistake. After all, why would you block me unless you’re even more immature than Miles?

I’m tired of dancing around this, I’m tired of being nice. I’ll be nice some other fucking night. All blind RWBY stans can fuck off. MKG can fuck off. Rip the goddamn veil off. Acknowledge that your favorite content has a flaw or five. Acknowledge that your favorite “writers” are people too, which doesn’t just mean they’re people with feelings, it also means they’re people with flaws, who are responsible for those flaws and doubly so if they refuse to work on them, and triply so if other people have to sit through the results of them.

Okay then!

Miles has a SEVERE tendency to put in more characters than necessary. I have said this multiple times.

The time skip retcon is an ACTUAL retcon and was fucking stupid. I have also said this multiple times.

And they need a professional writer on staff to teach them how this is all done. I have said this multiple times...

No veils here. I’ve always seen them as people with flaws....

But I guess you don’t want me to see them as people with feelings though.

Okay then, let’s test this out on you people:

You are a fucking coward. You sit there acting all high and mighty while you block everyone who might disagree with you because god fucking forbid any hurt your pwoor prwcious fweelings while you preach hate and destruction on a level that would make the KKK question their life choices.

You are also a fucking hypocrite, saying that Miles and Kerry should be held accountable doubly and triply so when YOU refuse to work on your flaws and I have to sit through it with you. And yet, YOU fucking hide like the cowardly little shit you are behind a blocklist because the mere thought of someone even saying in the most polite manner possible that your ego is fucking massive and wholly undeserved.

You’re also a fucking sociopath since you think that people sending Miles DEATH THREATS and ACTUAL HARASSMENT are JUSTIFIED and that Miles should eat up this shit without realizing that a skill a writer MUST have is discerning constructive criticism from DECONSTRUCTIVE criticism. But god fucking forbid someone post Sun hate in the sun tag when you can just ruin a man’s life (http://saltwukong.tumblr.com/post/173391967376/dont-fucking-post-sun-hate-in-the-sun-wukong-tag).

In general:

You’re all fucking bigots. I have not met a single RWDE poster who wasn’t racist, sexist or hetero/homophobic. Dudeblade outright thinks that the writing is bad because they’re white men, Soku thinks Jaune being white is a flaw, Invested In Your Future adamantly REFUSES to see a female character as anything other than in the right ect.

You’re all fucking cultists. You people will regularly attack anyone with different opinions than you while preaching your opinions as right. You religiously hate on Miles and Kerry to the point I’m pretty sure youd hear their names if I said ‘satan.’ And you indoctrinate people into your line of thinking all the damn time.

And you are all fucking SHIT at your jobs. Name five flaws in RWBY? I can name FIFTEEN!: Villians need a bigger presence, Aura needs to be explained, more racism against the fanaus needs to be shown, the fight scenes need a LOT of improvement, Ruby needs more focus, We need to spend time in locations in order to get a better feel of them, show don’t tell, the Maidens need more clarification, Volume 4′s plots were messy, Yang needed more screentime in Volume 4, Salem needs more focus, they need to show Aura breaking more, Ozpin’s morality needs to be more defined, the actual retcon of Volume 4s time skip, we need more interactions between Ruby and Blake.

RIght fucking there, I just made a list THREE TIMES LONGER than what you asked for. Thing is, I didn't lie about them, they aren’t formed from my delusions, they have an actual Impact on the quality, they are reasonable for RT to handle and I didn’t use misinformation to make them. That’s ALL YOU PEOPLE DO. You lie out of your asses so much if I hadn’t left I would have drowned in your bullshit, you demand fucking shit that would contribute to NOTHING except your egos, you demand RWBY handle shit more than RT can handle (which is one of the biggest problems with RWBY) and you rely on people forgetting certain parts of the show to make them work. You people aren’t getting shit for pointing out flaws: you’re getting shit because you are so BAD at it that you make people want to forget about them and thus enforce the idea that RWBY has no flaws. That AND as someone who tries to be critical of RWBY, I have to deal with you asswipes.

Actually, let me repeat that for the hard of hearing: “the writers are people too” means they are as deserving of criticism as the rest of us, no more, and definitely no less.

So...none at all, considering you people think you’re all SO flawless and perfect that if anyone criticizes you, they MUST be wrong.

Let me inform you of something: You DON’T see them as people. You see them as fucking SLAVES, you arrogant stain on the face of the Earth. You see them as slaves that you can beat and abuse and harm and harass and belittle all while expecting them to do as you say. You people are so fucking removed from humanity that unless people think like you, have ZERO empathy towards them.

Start thinking critically.

How about you lead by example?

Oh wait, if you thought critically for even a single moment of your life: You’d realize that half the shit you say is fucking delusional, that you sound like a ravening sociopath with zero humanity in him, that you are surrounded by people who will turn on you in a fucking instant if you step out of line, that 99% of the shit you preach if applied to you would make your life miserable and that you have likely driven away anyone who actually cares about and isolated yourself in a cage of hatred that you have no one to blame for but yourself. And when that all hits you, you’d try to scream but end up choking on whatever fatty soda is in your gullet and you’ll die choking on it, cold and alone. So you completely turn off every single part of your brain that performs critical thinking because let’s be honest: Critical thinking requires self awareness and said stuff is basically LETHAL to you at this point.

... Oh what, you have a problem with what I am saying? Well, all I’m doing is following YOUR rules. I’m just treating you as YOU treat Miles. You OBVIOUSLY don’t want things like compassion and empathy applied to you because you’ve never even shown a capacity for such a thing, let alone towards Miles. You wanted this and now you have to fucking take it, because even you know no one listens to a hypocrite.

Now how about you unblock me eh? Let’s see how you handle your veil being ripped from you.

#saltwukong

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teensocial786 · 3 years ago

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Black And White Interracial Dating

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer and do not reflect the views of The Black Detour.

To be pro-Black is to be for the advancement of Black people in the form of social, political, economic, and cultural issues. This means you are actively fighting for the advancement of Black people in all those domains. It is contradicting to be both pro-Black and in an interracial relationship. Black White Interracial Dating is an app that is looking to revolutionize the dating scene by bringing something new, fresh and exciting to put the spark back in dating.

To be pro-Black is to be for the advancement of Black people in the form of social, political, economic, and cultural issues. This means you are actively fighting for the advancement of Black people in all those domains. It is contradicting to be both pro-Black and in an interracial relationship. I don’t doubt that love can exist between you and your spouse, but love is not purely blind. Love is a function of your priorities and values. If your priorities and values are centered around your culture and Black identity, you will marry within your race. You can’t be pro-Black if your actions don’t reflect that ideology.

Black White Interracial Dating Apk

Well, that can present a steep learning curve that few of us are willing to talk about — especially if you’re a Black woman dating a White man. But given the growing number of interracial dating sites (such as interracialmatch.com and interracialdatingcentral.com) and the fact that interracial marriage within our community has tripled since.

All kinds of men and women are logging onto our website. People from all over the world, of all different races and skin colors, log onto our interracial dating site looking for their one and only. From white men to African American women, to Asian women and black men. Join a website that makes you feel comfortable.

Succinctly, middle class African Americans often experience different dating and marriage patterns, leaving black females with fewer dating and marriage options if they only seek partners within their racial/ethnic group. The primary purpose of this book is to tell the stories of black women who are dating, married to, or divorced from white males.

In response to a thought-provoking question on Twitter: “Black women, would you date a white man,” my response incited controversy. My reply was “No, I’m pro-Black. A white man can’t understand my struggle and definitely can’t love me like a Black man can. I want my children to be Black and proud of it. Black love is beautiful and I refuse to deny myself of it.” I then followed that statement by clarifying “I’m not insinuating that you can’t be half Black and proud of your Blackness. I’m just saying that I want my child to be fully Black & proud of it, which is my prerogative.”

SEE ALSO: Opinion: Will Black Liberation Ever Happen?

Non-Black men don’t understand the struggle or systematic oppression that Black people face. A non-Black man can only be sympathetic to my struggles with no deep level of understanding. Contrastingly, a Black man can empathize with me because we have faced and continue to face similar struggles. My pro-Blackness is defined by loving a Black man. I believe that is one of the highest forms of resistance against the system. It is my choice to prioritize and preserve my own culture and Blackness. This being said, if you date outside your race, I will question the degree to which you are pro-Black.

If you are mixed and a product of an interracial relationship, I recognize you may have identity issues regarding your race. However, if you fully identify with your Black side, you should also be held to the same accord and marry Black. I bring this up because it has been a common retort to my perspective. I address this to say that I have nothing against mixed people and this is not about mixed people. My tweet was not addressed to them, nor was it an attack on their Blackness. Best bi dating sites.

Many Black women are distracted by the belief that Black men do not love and support us as a collective. To those women I bring up the fact that 85% of married Black men are married are to Black women, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Some Black women even suggest that Black men cannot understand our struggles. I ask them: Ever think about the struggles Black men go through that we don’t understand? There should be an equal effort on both sides to gain an understanding. We should have unequivocal support for each other. You should want to see Blackness reflected in your spouse. As articulated by Dr. Umar Johnson, “There is no greater symbol of your loyalty to your struggle than marrying a man who shares that struggle.”

You can’t fight white supremacy and contradict yourself within your mating practices. The problem with procreation within Black interracial relationships is that it dilutes the Black race. The Black family in America is at risk of becoming obsolete. Our goal should be to uplift and empower the Black family. Marriage is not just about love, it is a political statement. A code of conduct needs to be established. In the words of Dr. Umar Johnson, “When you marry someone you marry their culture, their community, and their people.” Black people need to understand the implications of dating outside their race. You are not just dating a white partner, you’re dating their family as well. Culture, which plays a large part in our history, becomes diluted when we mix races. When we integrated, the appropriation of our culture was greatly increased.

Additionally, there’s generational value in keeping wealth within your own race. Black people are in a dire situation economically. Statistically speaking, “The typical black household now has just 6% of the wealth of the typical white household,” according to Forbes. When Black people were separated there was financial gain. For example, after integration, Black entrepreneurship and businesses declined. As a pro-Black person, you should want to preserve your culture and generate economic power towards your own people. We need the Black dollar to circulate within the community. If you’re pro-Black you have to understand that marrying within your race is part of the agenda of advancing socio-economic conditions.

Illustrated Black And White Interracial Dating

SEE ALSO: Was Integration the Worst Thing To Ever Happen to Black People?

In the end, my place is with my people. https://teensocial786.tumblr.com/post/658095439340519424/mobile-adamforadam. I will continue to direct my energy towards the advancement and empowerment of Black people. I’ve never dated outside of my race and I never will. There is hypocrisy within preaching Black empowerment and dating someone who does not emulate that agenda. If you say that you are pro-Black, there is an image you must uphold, actions you must take, and a certain agenda you should have to preserve and empower Blackness.

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freedom-of-fanfic · 7 years ago

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Mildly off-topic, but what’s your pet explanation for sexist dudes who like Fight Club, racist South Park fans, or those Rick and Morty fans who went berserk over McDonalds Szechuan sauce? (Inspired by a tumblr essay that read discomfortingly like anti rhetoric)

I don’t really have a pet theory for this. I guess people who are insecure tend to band together and act like jerks when people poke them in their insecurity - especially when society tells them they’re not allowed to be insecure at all (men in particular) or they think they’re supposed to be at the top of the mountain but they don’t feel like they are (white men in particular). does it excuse them? no. but I can see why it happens.

this is why intersectional feminism is so important for everyone. men are hurt by being forced to be macho and what happens when they’re perceived as not macho. being feminine is ‘bad’. if association with the ‘female’ stops being considered bad and being seen as ‘not a man’ stop being a reason to be attacked, there’s no longer the same toxic bs harming guys. They too are allowed to be sensitive and it’s not ‘bad’ just because ‘that’s what women do’ (all silly stereotypes anyway. And these messages affect people of different races, physical/mental ability, sexualities, etc differently.

you bring up an interesting point re ‘sounding like anti rhetoric’. it’s easy to want to censor people for ideas that seem so incredibly hideous that you can’t see anyone thinking of them as having a good side, particularly in politics, and particularly with how highly polarized (for good reason!) the US political system is rn. there’s things outside of freedom to write fanfiction that are much more difficult to talk about with any kind of nuance in a very progressive space like tumblr.com*. When talking about those things, even non-antis will sometimes be led to sound like antis.

That said: there are some ideals that just shouldn’t be tolerated because they are, themselves, intolerance idealized. Naziism/the ‘alt right’ is intolerant of non-whites and Jewish people: that ideal cannot be given a platform. anti-LGBT+/queer groups are intolerant of non-straight/non-cis people: they must not have a platform. MRAs who support violence against women are intolerant of women: they must not have a platform.

If your ideal involves blaming a group that you’re not part of for all your problems and trying to wipe that group from the earth/your country/your space, your ideal is intolerant and should not be given room to exist.** otherwise, it might just be a bad ideal.

*fandom tumblr spaces are still pretty liberal even if some of the authoritarianism of far right spaces are leaking in.

**The intolerance has to be explicit. Yes - a lot of US GOP ideas promote harm to marginalized groups - but they’re often supported out of a genuine blindness to the ways that it’s harmful (I know it’s hard to believe, but trust me: they really are just that ignorant.) otoh the open attitude that immigrants are stealing our jobs and need to gtfo, be deported, or worse? that’s intolerance.

#current events #paradox of tolerance #feminism #real feminism cares about men and nb ppl too #Anonymous

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mp100secretsanta2017-blog · 7 years ago

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Snowflakes & Such

From: Mustdang (mustdang-100.tumblr.com)

To: Lovi (lovigal.tumblr.com)

Message: Hello and very happy holidays Lovi! Here is a gift fic for you; it was great fun to write and I hope you enjoy!

“One last stop!” Serizawa said eagerly, eyes running down his neatly checked-off list of holiday cookie recipients. Reigen tried not to sigh with relief, brushing at the snowflakes that had settled on his coat and checking the heavy gray sky anxiously.

“Ah, good. If this stuff keeps falling we might have to worry about train delays.”

For the first holiday season in years in which Serizawa was neither trapped by the fear of his own powers nor a member of a terrorist organization, he’d apparently decided to fully embrace every festive tradition he could get his hands on. Last week he’d enlisted Mob in helping him decorate Spirits & Such with paper snowflakes of various geometric designs, dangling them from the ceiling tiles by paper clips stolen from Reigen’s desk. Serizawa had illuminated their artworks with ropes of tiny white lights that he strung through the office. And most recently, he’d flexed his burgeoning cooking skills and baked enough cookies to hand-deliver some to everyone he knew in Spice City.

Reigen had never been particularly interested in the holiday season before now, always regarding it with more annoyance than pleasure. Yet Serizawa’s joyous enthusiasm was infectious, and Reigen found himself offering to join the cookie-delivering spree just to continue basking in the glow of Serizawa’s delight.

However, Serizawa had made a surprising number of friends and acquaintances in the short amount of time since he’d left Claw; Reigen hadn’t realized quite how many houses they’d be visiting. Confronted with house after house of “Happy Holidays!” by strangers who welcomed Serizawa and then peered at him with polite uncertainty, Reigen was very ready to turn in for the day. The steadily-increasing snowfall made him all the more eager to return home to lonely but familiar solitude.

He peered over Serizawa’s burly shoulder, trying to see where they were going next.

“Who’s the lucky recipient of the last plate?”

“Kageyama-kun’s family!” Serizawa was practically buzzing with excitement. “I saved the best batch for them, they’re hardly burnt at all.”

Reigen brightened; finally, someone he knew. He picked up his pace, not only eager for the chance to see Mob, but also for the excuse to see him at home, double check that everything was going okay for him there. Reigen didn’t see Mob’s family very often, and Mob’s little brother in particular had always viewed him with suspicion. Reigen welcomed any opportunity to correct this impression.

An unpleasant thought struck him at this, and he glanced at Serizawa uneasily.

“Ah…crap. I probably should have brought something for them, too.”

Serizawa beamed. “Don’t worry Reigen-san; I put both our names on the gift tag!”

Reigen was taken aback, but squinted at the tag pasted to the red cellophane-wrapped paper plate. Sure enough, both their names were there in Serizawa’s clear, careful writing.

“Oh.” Words failed Reigen at the kindhearted gesture. “Thanks, Serizawa.”

Serizawa grinned wider, shaking the fresh snow from his curls. “No problem!”

They continued down the peaceful street in the direction of the Kageyama’s house, footsteps crunching in the snow. Fat flakes drifted all around them, muffling sound, blurring the landscape and lending it a strange sense of isolation, like they were the only two people in the world.

Reigen grinned at Serizawa, feeling suddenly a little giddy. “You ever catch snowflakes on your tongue as a kid?”

Serizawa’s eyes rounded. “No! I never spent much time outside, even as a kid. Other kids thought I was weird – I hid a lot.”

Reigen’s heart panged at that, but he froze the grin to his face, holding the pains of Serizawa’s past at bay and eager to help him make up for any lost time.

“You want to try it now?”

“Doesn’t that seem a little, you know, immature?”

“Serizawa, you spent two days last week doing arts and crafts to hang in the office.”

“That was to help bring in business!” Serizawa protested. “I heard customers love those kinds of gimmicks.”

“Ok, sure. Of course. Still, no one’s watching now, eh? No reason not to be a little silly? Here, I’ll try it first.” Reigen closed his eyes and opened his mouth wide, waiting for the soft, cold sensation of a snowflake on his tongue.

Instead, a well-packed clump of snow smacked him square in the face.

Reigen rocked back at the impact, sputtering and choking at the snow that filled his eyes and mouth.

“What the–!?”

He swiped at his snow-covered face and glared out at his surroundings, searching for the culprit. Serizawa held a glove-clad hand clasped over his mouth in shock, but was clearly trying not to laugh. Reigen followed his line of sight, turning around just in time to see a spiky black head duck behind a mound of snow.

A second head poked up from another snow mound a few meters away, one sporting a very familiar bowl-cut that peeked out from under a woolen winter hat.

It seemed they had arrived at the Kageyama’s neighborhood.

“Ritsu, I don’t know if that was very nice. Shishou wasn’t expecting it.” Mob blinked, trying to free the snowflakes that clung to his lashes as he looked up at Reigen. “Hi Shishou, what are you doing here?”

Ritsu’s head slowly rose back up over the top of his own snow fort, just enough for his eyes to peek over. They regarded Reigen with a predatory gleam, and Reigen would have bet money that another snowball was being held out of sight just below. Reigen pasted on a smile and shuffled a bit closer to Serizawa, just in case.

“No, no, Mob. It’s fine,” he said, wiping the last of the snow from his face. “We just dropped by to bring your family some treats, didn’t mean to interrupt your epic snow battle.”

Serizawa stepped forward, clutching the cookie plate, looking back and forth between the two forts with eyes bright with interest.

“Were you having a snowball fight? Like on TV?”

Mob nodded, and tossed a snowball in demonstration. It flew about two meters before landing on the snow-covered lawn, breaking into pieces with a soft psh.

Mob contemplated the location it had fallen, as though trying to understand where he’d gone wrong. Ritsu finally abandoned his post and stood up straight behind his snow fort. He walked to his brother, squeezing a snowball between his hands as he packed it tighter.

“I told you Nii-san, I think you’ll do better if you aim high up. Then your snowballs will at least go farther.” Ritsu tossed his snowball up and towards their own house in demonstration. It flew high, traveling much farther than Mob’s had. Mob nodded seriously, taking his brother’s advice as absolute fact.

Reigen saw an opportunity, and jumped on it before he could second-guess himself.

“Ritsu’s right, Mob. Here, let me show you my special technique for throwing snowballs–”

Ritsu whipped toward him, eyes narrowing.

“Oh, interesting. You want to try teaching my brother something else you know nothing about.”

“Hey, now,” Reigen said, hands flying up in a placating gesture. “I just think that, with my advanced knowledge of both natural and paranatural physics, I–”

Ritsu’s second snowball hit him in the face.

Reigen spluttered loudly and indignantly, but he didn’t miss the quickly-smothered guffaw from his left. He also saw, as soon as he’d cleared enough of the snow to see, a spark of humor in Mob’s face, the likes of which he hadn’t seen in weeks - not since Dimple’s abrupt and mysterious disappearance.

A new idea formed swiftly. Reigen wanted to encourage this light-hearted mood of Mob’s, and if Serizawa’s attitude towards holiday activities thus far proved anything, he would have an absolute blast having a snowball fight.

Reigen glared huffily down at Ritsu, who was looking smug.

“Oho, I see how it is. Young Ritsu, I do believe that was a challenge.” Reigen drew himself up to his full height. “What do you say–myself and Mob versus you and Serizawa for a snowball fight the likes of which you’ve never in your young life encountered? Unless, of course, you’re too timid?”

Fire flashed in Ritsu’s eyes. “I think that’s the most intelligent idea you’ve had yet, Reigen-san,” Ritsu said, too calmly. “Nii-san and I would love to participate.”

“Excellent. Um, and no psychic powers allowed,” Reigen added hastily, eyeing Ritsu’s expression. “With my skills, it wouldn’t be fair to the rest of you.”

Mob wandered bemusedly to Reigen’s side, clearly keen to join whatever Ritsu wanted to do. However, Serizawa hesitated.

“Reigen-san, you’re sure this isn’t too childish? What if a prospective client sees?”

“Come now, Serizawa, snowball fights are winter holiday tradition!” Reigen said firmly. “We must defend our honor! And we can’t disappoint the boys, can we?”

“Oh,” Serizawa said, his expression clearing as he nodded solemnly. “You’re right. I will do my best, Reigen-san.”

***

Reigen had miscalculated.

“Run, Mob! Run!” Reigen panted, legs flying as fast as they would go as he pelted down the Kageyama’s street. Mob ran beside him, panting a little but otherwise seeming far less concerned than Reigen thought was warranted. Of course, that might be because the barrage of snowballs being flung their way all seemed to be aimed at him.

He chanced a quick look behind him. Ritsu was only a dozen or so meters back, Serizawa keeping pace right beside him. They both had snowballs in hand and equally-determined looks on their faces.

Serizawa’s enthusiasm plus Ritsu’s teenage vindictiveness were, it seemed, a devastating combination. A snowball hit the street with a more solid sound than Reigen thought a snowball had any right to make, barely missing his own churning feet.

“Serizawa, you know this suit isn’t meant for running!”

“Then stop running and defend your honor, Reigen-san!”

Reigen managed to dig up more speed.

The Kageyama’s house rose before them; at some point, they must have turned back around. As if on cue, Mrs. Kageyama opened the door just as he was racing up to it.

“Ah, hello!” Reigen huffed as he darted in close to the doorway, too close for Ritsu and Serizawa to risk the civilian casualty. Mob followed, and Serizawa and Ritsu joined them a few feet from the doorway, both looking pleased as punch, snowballs mysteriously vanished.

“We… just came… to drop off… some cookies!” Reigen continued, between breaths. Serizawa nodded earnestly, the picture of a generous visitor, as the plate of cookies dropped into his hands from the air above them. Mrs. Kageyama didn’t bat an eye, clearly accustomed to random psychic phenomena occurring in her house.

“Oh, how kind of you!” She smiled warmly at them. “I know how much Shigeo looks up to you, Reigen-san, and Serizawa-san, he’s told us so much about you! I was just about to call the kids in for dinner, but there’s plenty if the two of you’d like to join us?”

“Oh! I, uh,” Reigen was at a loss for words for the second time that night at this offer. He found himself looking to Serizawa, whose broad grin had reappeared.

“We’d love to, thank you!” Serizawa said, taking Reigen’s look as an invitation to accept for the both of them.

Reigen found himself ushered in with the rest of the group, and before he knew it was seated at the kitchen table with the entire family. No probing looks on this visit; instead, Mrs. Kageyama cheerily questioned him about his business while Mr. Kageyama added more rice to his plate. Serizawa had managed to draw Mob into a conversation about his athletic club, complimenting him on his speed that day. Even Ritsu, who’d been studying his brother’s minutely-cheered expression, passed Reigen his silverware with something that was almost a smile.

Reigen started when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He twisted to see Serizawa offering him a chocolate-chip cookie, edges only a little too dark.

“Thanks for coming with me today, Reigen-san. I – I can’t express my gratitude enough, on top of how you’ve helped me, giving me a job, and helping me with school and with getting used to interacting with other people…Especially,” he swallowed uncertainly. “Especially since I got the feeling you didn’t care much for the holidays…”

“Oh…it’s no problem Serizawa! Happy to help, of course!” Reigen took the cookie, waving a hand airily as Serizawa beamed at him before turning back to rejoin his conversation with Mr. Kageyama.

Reigen bit into the cookie, munching contemplatively. Not half bad, he thought, relaxing into the conversation and company, his concerns about the train schedule forgotten despite the snow softly piling up outside.

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coolman229 · 7 years ago

Note

Hello, I've seen others state that the Star Wars sequel trilogy is just a redo of the original trilogy where they tear down the original characters just to build up the new characters so they can achieve the exact same things (which seems fairly accurate). If you were the head writer of the sequel trilogy what would you do for the main plot?

I’ve actually wrote out how I would do The Force Awakens a while back in this post

http://coolman229.tumblr.com/post/137998912812/my-the-force-awakens-au

But basically I’d take a lot of the concepts from The Force Awakens and overhaul them. (though it’s been a while since I’ve written it so I don’t remember if I’ve changed anything since then). Under the cut is a lot of stuff about how I’d handle the trilogy.

The First Order still exists, but it’s a fairly small group that was pulled together from the remnants of the Empire post RotJ. The leader is an adaptation of Thrawn with a vendetta against Luke for being the reason the Emperor died and the Empire fell apart. While Thrawn is the Supreme Leader of the First Order he has to play political games with the New Republic Senate by pretending that the First Order isn’t a bad group and helped people out in a Post Empire galaxy. He’s super evil and has confrontations with Leia. The Senate is so wrapped up in bureaucracy and red tape and paranoid about another Clone War that no one can do anything decisive about the First Order, so the OT trio start doing things on their own by creating their own group outside of the New Republic to combat the First Order.

Luke is the Grand Master of his new Jedi Order, which is made with rules he felt made sense. There’s no limit on love and marriage (he married Mara Jade and had children who I’ll talk about in a bit), and he’s very much against forcing any student into a specific path, opting to tackle things personally and focuses on helping young Jedi learn how to resist the Dark Side without completely restricting them, drawing on his own experiences to teach them the best way to handle things. I’d bring in several expanded universe characters into Luke’s Jedi Order like Mara Jade (who if I had my way would be played by Sigourney Weaver), Ahsoka, Bariss, Kanan, and Kyle Katarn (who would eventually mentor Finn as someone who knows a thing or two about being a Stormtrooper). Obi Wan, Anakin, Yoda, and Qui Gonn assist Luke in helping avoid the mistakes of the past.

The Jedi Temple was attacked 12 years before The Force Awakens (which is 18 years after RotJ) by the First Order and the Knights of Ren led by Kylo Ren and to the public at large everyone except Luke was killed. But Luke got his students out and no one died and the other teachers went into hiding with at the ancient Jedi temple with Luke to keep the students safe. Rey, who is Luke’s daughter and second child, was taken because Thrawn wanted to manipulate her and turn her into a Knight of Ren. So he brainwashed her and was going to have Kylo train her in the Dark Side, except a First Order officer decided he didn’t sign up for brainwashing a child and fled with her. He was shot down on Jakku and died, leaving Rey there with no memory. Luke disappeared with Mara 5 years before the start of TFA, which you find out at the end of the movie is because he realized that the First Order were focused on him so in order to take the target away from Han, Leia, and the rest of his friends he went out on his own (though Mara refused to let him go alone) to combat the First Order and draw the attention of Thrawn to force him to search the galaxy instead of attacking. This way he’d buy Han and Leia more time to deal with the First Order.

Kylo Ren’s real name is Darnel Dameron, and he’s Poe’s brother. Poe has the storyline of trying to redeem his brother, who in this is far more sympathetic because of his relationship with Poe despite his internal conflicts about the Light and Dark sides of the Force. Finn is largely the same in concept but his brainwashing plays a huge role in his character development. You discover that he’s Force sensitive and the “Awakening” (which is the surge of Force sensitive people connecting into the Force) is what was responsible for helping him break from his brainwashing along with the shock of losing his friend in battle. He will struggle throughout the movies to truly break free from habits and things that were drilled into him since he was a child, to the point where he has to unlearn the idea that Luke Skywalker is evil and must die. He connects with Poe and Rey and they help him find his own humanity.

The Knights of Ren are basically Thrawn’s own Inquisitors. They started out with no Force users but over the years Thrawn added more and had them trained to be Jedi killers. Kylo was the first Force sensitive one and was put in charge of them. The only other important member I’ve come up with is Drulo Ren, who I imagined as being played by Nicholas Hoult. He’s a Force sensitive Knight of Ren who’s Kylo’s second in command and often handles diplomatic meetings in place of Thrawn (the opening for episode 8 would be him visiting Mandalore to get support for the First Order). Drulo acts calm and collected but he’s really a violent sociopath, and he’s pretty power hungry but he’s very loyal to Thrawn. He hates Kylo and has a significant issue with him being in charge of the Knights of Ren. They have a conflict during Ep 8 and 9 culminating in a fight between them.

In this Luke and Mara have three children.Ben, Rey, and Biggs Skywalker. @angelrin89 and I worked on the Skywalker and Solo kids. Ben is pretty hardcore jedi (but like Obi Wan hardcore where he talks smart but then leaps out a window) and spent a lot of time with Obi Wan’s Force Ghost and adores his father. He immediately joined Luke, Han, and Leia’s group to help fight the First Order. Rey was forced to survive on Jakku, and to make a living did a lot of different jobs. Aside from scavenging she also did repair work on ships (she did all the work on the Millennium Falcon), and even doing a taxi job to drive people to and from the main spaceport on the planet. Biggs ultimately wants to be a pilot, though he does Jedi training as well.

The first of the next generation that we’ll see in my version of TFA are Han and Leia’s kids. They have four kids, three biological and one adopted. Aya, Bail, and Anakin are their biological children, and they adopted a girl who was orphaned by the First Order and Han trained her to shoot. He loves that she’s not Force sensitive so he’s not the only one in the family who isn’t. Aya Solo is the eldest and she’ll be the main one in TFA. She shows up on Jakku with Chewie looking for the Millennium Falcon while Han is off looking for Luke. The Falcon was stolen and traded so while Han took another ship to find Luke (cause he cares more about finding Luke than the Falcon) Aya and Chewie went to look for that and have spent the last couple years looking for it. Aya has… quite a bit of her parents in her and uses blasters and her lightsaber equally. She’s got that trademark Han Solo confidence and is pretty quick to pull a blaster. Bail Solo is the next child and he’s much more of a diplomat than his sister, though he’ll still jump right into a fight without hesitation. He shows up at the end of TFA on Starkiller Base to fight Kylo Ren and save Rey and Finn. He’s definitely inherited his father’s piloting skills even if that means being as dramatic as possible (when you mix Han Solo with the Skywalker line you’re bound to end up with dramatics). His entrance is literally crashing a ship into Starkiller Base as he jumps out of it. Anakin Solo is the youngest and is arguably the most Jedi out of all the next gen kids. He is very reserved and thoughtful, mainly because he grew up terrified that he’d turn to the Dark Side because of his name, but after talking to Leia and Anakin’s Force Ghost he realized he didn’t have to worry but did a lot of training with Luke.

Poe, Finn, and Rey all stick together throughout TFA from the beginning on Jakku because Poe shows up at the trade outpost Rey works out of. He also takes the control of the Millennium Falcon after Rey nearly gets them killed. He’s the best darn pilot in the New Republic and he grew up on the Falcon. Since Poe’s parents were friends with Luke and Leia he grew up with the Skywalker and Solo children. He and Aya knew each other since they were kids.

Episode 8 would mostly focus on Rey training with Luke and the rest of Luke’s Jedi Order, and Finn starts realizing his Force sensitivity (and meeting Kyle Katarn). They’d have proper conflicts with the Knights of Ren, but I haven’t put much of the story together outside of general ideas. Importantly Rey meets her brother Ben Skywalker, who of course is introduced dressed as a Stormtrooper and comes to rescue her when she’s surrounded by First Order Stormtroopers. You’d also get things like Force Ghost Anakin/Obi Wan/Yoda/Qui Gonn appearing and talking, specifically Obi Wan and Anakin talking to Rey and Luke. We’ll see Ahsoka in the movie as another Grand Master in Luke’s Jedi Order. She’ll call Luke “Jedi Master Skyguy” and talks to Force Ghost Anakin and Obi Wan.

Episode 9 would be the finale where you get to see Luke show his stuff. It leads to an all out battle between Luke’s Jedi Order/Leia’s rebel group and the First Order ending with the death of Thrawn and the full destruction of the First Order. Rey, Finn, and Poe help fight alongside the rest of the Skywalker/Solo kids. I only have a few parts of that figured out but by the end the day is saved and peace returns to the galaxy.

#superryunosukeyuki #TFA AU #ask #ask me

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kyloxox · 7 years ago

Text

Loving You (Peter Parker x plus size reader)

Warnings; Some cursing, asshole boyfriend, kissing

Notes; This is probably the last part of this imagine. I know it’s kind of short but I hope you like it.

Part 1: https://fandomimagines131.tumblr.com/post/162033798757/thinking-of-you-peter-parker-x-plus-size-reader

Part 2: https://fandomimagines131.tumblr.com/post/162190354267/dreaming-of-you-peter-parker-x-plus-size-reader

Part 3: https://fandomimagines131.tumblr.com/post/162343874582/missing-you-peter-parker-x-plus-size-reader

Tagging: @wannabe-weasley @

Peter’s Pov

“She literally hates me now Ned.” I complained to my best friend. He turned to me and was about to speak but then Michelle interrupted.

“Yea well, you did ditch her to have 7 minutes in heaven with Liz" I turned to Michelle raising my eyebrows.

“7 minutes in heaven with Liz? What are you talking about.” My mind began to race. That’s why y/n said that I chose Liz over her. Oh god that’s why she hates me.

“That’s what y/n told me what happened. She said Evan saw you and Liz leave.”

“Well I didn’t I had to-” Ned nudged me in my arm to warn me to not say my secret “Umm, um get some fresh-h air.” Michelle just rolled her eyes at my lame attempt.

“Whatever happened, you better go talk to her about it. She can’t be with Brian he’s an asshole, and he’s turning her against us.” I just nodded my head as she got up and left our table. Then I turned my head when I heard laughter coming from the back of the hallway and I saw y/n and Brian making out. She looked so happy when she was with him, it made me sick to my stomach. That should be me with her. Then I turned my head back towards Ned who rolled his eyes at me, realizing I was staring at Y/n and Brian too long.

“Seriously Peter, you either need man up and tell her what really happened and hope she will forgive you. Or don’t tell what happened, live with having to see her with Brian everyday and try to forget about her.”

“That’s the problem I can’t forget about her. She as beautiful plump lips and those gorgeous y/e/c eyes. Her smile is so perfect. And her-”

“Alright Peter I get it, you really like her. So I guess you have to tell her the truth.”

“Yea like she’ll believe when I tell her I’m spiderman.”

“Hey Peter.“ I turned my head to who called my name.

“Hey Liz.” I politely waved to her then turned back to Ned.

“Can I sit?”

“Ummm I’m not trying to be rude, but I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Please I need to tell you something it’s about y/n.” I nodded my head and she sat down. “Alright I just want you to know I didn’t mean for any of this to happen but Brian had this whole plan to get y/n back, which included me and all his friends. His plan was to make it look like you left her for me and I’m sorry.”

“Whatever but come with me.” I got up and Liz followed me “We need to find y/n.”

Regular Pov

You really didn’t know what to think anymore. You still liked Peter but after what he did, it felt like you shouldn’t anymore. Also you had Brian, sure you loved him, but he just wasn’t what you wanted anymore. He got really weird after you both got together again, he became more possessive and meaner towards Peter.

He probably knew that you still liked Peter and knew that his plan didn’t work completely. Sure he got you back but he didn’t completely get you back. You walked out of the library with Brian and began to walk down the hallway. Then you heard someone calling your name and you both turned around to see Peter and Liz running your way. Peter ran up to you and hugged you which was awkward but Brian pushed Peter away.

“Y/n, please listen to Liz please.” He looked at you in the eyes pleading.

“Fine.” Liz then told you about Brian whole plan about getting you back. You then turned to Brian with tears in your eyes. How could he do this to you? He knew you were happy with Peter and he ruined it. He made Peter seem like the asshole but really he was the asshole.

“Brian in are they telling the truth?” he opened his mouth to say something but then closed it, looking down at the ground “I can’t believe you did that.”

“Y/n you don’t belong with a nerd, you belong with me.” you scoffed.

“I knew you had been acting weird since we started dating again.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Come on you don’t know what you’re talking about, you’ll have a better life dating me than a dork.”

“God can’t you just let go of your ego for like one minute.” He rolled his eyes “I don’t care what you say I’m done with you.”

“What? You can’t do that.”

“Yea well I am.”

“Sure you aren’t in a week you’ll come crying back to be me and crying about how much you miss being popular. Cause y/n let’s be honest if it weren’t for me you wouldn’t be popular, you would be a no body that people make fun of.”

“I don’t care, Brian. I think I finally realized that everything that I had to go through made me realize what I actually wanted.” Before Brian could say anything else, you took Peter and pulled him into a kiss. As you smashed your lips into his, his eyes widened but then closed as you began to kiss you back. You pulled back from the kiss and smiled at Peter who was a blushing mess.

“Now you’re going to get it Parker.” Brian then swung a punch at Peter but blocked it with his hand and pushed Brian back into the locker. Brian got up and swung many punches that Peter couldn’t block leading Peter to have a bloody nose, and many bruises.

Peter then swung many more punches at Brian causing him to fall to the floor. The bell rang signaling them to go to their next class. Peter went up to you. “Hey meet me after school at my house.” He kissed your cheek. You watched Peter walk down the hallway with a blush on your plump cheeks. You then looked down at Brian who groaned as he looked up at you and held his side.

“Bye Brian.” You laughed as you walked down the hallway to your next class.

During the last couple classes of the day you were so happy realizing that you finally had what you wanted from the beginning. Peter. You didn’t see him in the hallways after school ended, so you just started walking towards Peter’s apartment. You finally reached his door and before knocking you checked your hair. You then knocked on the door and a couple seconds later Peter answered the door.

He was shirtless and had an ice pack of this shoulder. You looked at his eyes then looked at his abs and then back to his eyes you stifled out a laugh of his expression. His eyes were wide and his face was bright red.

“Umm oh-oh I-I ummm…… I didn’t realize the time.”

You laughed “It’s fine Peter.” you lifted your hand over one of his bruises on his right bicep “Are you alright” Peter laughed nervously and his face became more red.

“Yea I’m fine.”

“That was cool, I never knew you could fight.”

He scratched the back of his neck “Thanks, umm do you want to go back to my room.” You nodded your head and followed Peter into his room. When you both got in his room you told him to sit down so you could help ice his bruises. You took an ice pack and started to ice his bruises.

“You know I thought someone like you could never like someone like me. I mean you dated one of the most popular guys in the school. Who had big muscles and abs…..”

“Well you aren’t doing too bad yourself, Parker.” You laughed as he blushed.

“But still, I was just a nerd who liked Star Wars, read books and didn’t know anything about girls, but then I realized you were so much more than a pretty popular girl, we had a lot in common.”

“I wouldn’t say I’m pretty…” You blushed.

“I think you’re beautiful….and smart….and amazing.” Peter said as he pushed a piece of your hair out of your face. He then leaned in and placed a kiss on your lips. He then took his hand and caressed your cheek. He then he grabbed your hair in his hands and pulled you further into him. You lightly moaned at the sensation. You then pulled back from the kiss.

“I wouldn’t say you were that bad with girls.” You both laughed.

Then you continued to help ice his bruises. He was laying on the bed but he then sat up. “Thanks.” he smiled at you and you smiled back. “Hey could you grab me a shirt from my closet.” you nodded and got up from the bed. You went over to his closet and opened it. Something then fell out of the top and you caught it. It was raveled into a ball but it looked like a spiderman suit. So you then held it out and it unraveled into a spiderman suit.

“Hey, I didn’t know you did spiderman cosplay. This is just like his suit.”

“Oh yea-a, spiderman-n cosplay, that’s what-t that is.”

“It’s totally cool.” Then a voice came from the suit that surprised you ‘Hello Peter, you have 576 possible web combinations.’

“Something tells me this isn’t cosplay.” Peter scratched the neck of his neck and chuckled.

“Well……” he started fiddling with his fingers and then he looked up to see your smirking face.

#peter parker x plus size reader #peter parker x you #peter parker imagine #peter parker x reader #peter parker #spider man x reader #spiderman imagine #spider man #spiderman #spiderman homecoming #Spider-Man homecoming imagine #marvel #marvel imagine #the avengers imagine #the avengers #iron man #tony stark #Liz Allan

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sol1056 · 7 years ago

Link

I can’t seem to reblog the response directly, so I’m just linking to it. All of @aquaburst07′s comment is worth reading, but I’m replying to this part in particular:

I still think [GoLion] was an attempt to cash in on what Gundam [did] a million times better, along with another attempt to shock the audience into thinking it is mature and edgy, but it still does show how the people behind that series see war. In addition to that, it’s less about defeating the Galra, but more about Altea defending themselves from the Galra.

Thanks to its numerous reboots and long history, Gundam is a really interesting comparison-point. So with all apologies to @nelsonbrandela‘s attempt to watch all the series, here’s a severely truncated summary of how empire is presented across a sampling of Gundam series over the past 30+ years.

First generation gundam (UC), broadcast from 1979 with continuations and sequels through the late 80s. The UC continuum has a strong anti-war sentiment, thanks to Tomino’s childhood during the war. It establishes the basic components: earth, space colonies, and revolution. Its protagonist is both Earth-born and implied Japanese ethnicity, standing in as the Everyman character, fighting the rebels. As I recall, pacifism doesn’t loom quite as large over this story, and the focus is more on the cost of war. (Also, the death rate is brutal.)

In the 90s, we got the AC timeline (Wing). Again, earth, space colonies, revolution. But in reflection of changing political sentiment, Wing flips a few things. Now the ethnically-Japanese everyman protagonist is one of the rebels, from a space colony, and earth is the antagonist. The politics also gets muddier, with a debate about the role of pacifism.

Just to compare the first two major timelines and the political and economic atmosphere at the time of their airings: the first timeline ran during a period of massive economic and cultural productivity for Japan. There was a sense of ‘we produce, others consume, and what do we get for that’, coupled with tensions among the five tigers in terms of economic power, bolstered by US nuclear support. Ergo, the theme of a once-great power now getting trampled by the political/military might of what had once been a subjugated colony.

In contrast, Wing was broadcast after the bubble popped, and Japan hit hard times. Now the everyman protagonist could be an outright aggressor, fighting back against crushing (economic) defeat. Keep in mind, too, that as Japan’s economy plummeted, the American economy was experiencing growth like it hadn’t seen since the end of WWII. The tables had effectively turned, from ‘we can outdo our previous overlords’ to ‘we are losing the (economic) war and being ground under someone’s heel’.

And then onto the CE timeline and SEED, broadcast in 2002-3, The (again, ethnically Japanese) protagonist doesn’t just live on a space colony. His colony is both explicitly identified as Japanese, and pacifist, and neutral. Remember, it had only been a year since 9/11, and the US was chest-thumping for war. Japan’s position was basically, hey, Article 9, people (look it up). Where the UC and AC timelines center their POV on one side or the other of rebellion/war, the CE timeline places the POV as a pacifist outsider.

By 2008, we get Gundam 00, which iirc was also the first major Gundam series whose core protagonist (Setsuna) was not ethnically Japanese. (He’s not even much of an everyman; that POV is provided by another character.) 00 was directly influenced by the personal experiences of animators who’d provided JSDF support to the war in Afghanistan, and their fingerprints are all over the first season of 00. No space colonies here; the factions are both muddier and more pointed in reference to the political climate of the late aughts; the US is canonically one among several superpowers looking to colonize, meddle, extract resources, and then destroy in their wake. It’s possibly among the most immediately-relevant of any of the Gundam series. (It’s also the first time I could ever recall seeing a Gundam character showing explicit, consistent indications of PTSD.)

And most recent is the PD timeline, with Iron-Blooded Orphans. We’re back to space colonies, this time on Mars, but instead of the colonies producing resources that Earth consumes, the colonies are dependent on Earth to provide. (A flip of the colonial position in AC/Wing, where the colonies argued Earth was sucking them dry.) Our protagonist is implied Japanese, and a rebel, fighting to gain resources denied by superpowers. It’s a curious parallel to the rising debates about Article 9 and a growing undercurrent of dissatisfaction with pacifism as a viable political position. In a way, one of the arguments is that this imposed pacifist neutrality is blocking Japan from achieving equal standing among the world’s powers. Gundam just takes that current political atmosphere, maps colony and overlord to it, and crafts a story from the backdrop.

It’s important to remember that colonialism has variations; the economic version most common today is neo-colonialism, which uses capitalism and globalization (cultural imperialism) to hold power over developing countries. Think World Bank or the IMF: if you want loans for development, you must enact the following policies in your own autonomous state. Classic imperialism is the use of direct military control (ie Japan’s occupation of its neighbors or the American occupation of Japan), while hegemonic colonialism uses indirect political control (ie US control of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, etc).

Coming back around to VLD, it’s effectively skipped a whole lot of development in (and representations of) empire. That’s a big part of why it feels so naive and shallow to me. VLD reboots a story whose core understanding of empire was rooted in pure defense against an aggressive upstart; the implication was that if Voltron were unleashed, there would be no contest. Hence, it had to be held in check by a morality that defined it as ‘for defense only’ (much like the perception of the JSDF, and Japan itself).

But changing the Paladins’ efforts to offensive maneuvers hollows out that original paradigm. In the absence of that morality of pacifism and self-defense, there are no brakes on Voltron, so the Galran empire must be made supremely overwhelming, or else the story would be over as soon as Voltron formed. And that means the dynamic -- the discussion -- of ‘empire’ has changed, yet none of this is reflected in the VLD reboot.

The most we’ve gotten is a classic imperialism: military occupation, designed to drain resources in a strictly-controlled one-way consumption from colonized to colonizer. Yet military occupations are massive efforts. There’s a reason they’ve been mostly tossed aside in favor of neo-colonialism, where control of resources keeps the colonized in check, rather than actual boots on the ground. Frankly, given the model VLD has presented, the Galran empire would have to have a gajillion bots to control every outpost and far-flung galaxy in such a micromanaging imperial style. (Which makes it even more stupid that you can overthrow a single base just by shutting down power. Why is it Voltron’s the first one to think of doing this? I strongly dislike stories that only know how to make the heroes seem smart by making everyone else be stupid.)

Related to that, it’s possible Lotor’s idea of colonial agency isn’t meant as a federation of planets/systems, but as a hegemonic colonialism akin to the current American empire. Puerto Rico has self-rule, after all, excepting that (like Washington DC) it is still ultimately voiceless when it comes to its own fate, against decisions by the US Congress. I just don’t know if the EPs/writers have enough savvy to catch onto the fact that ‘self-rule’ doesn’t automatically mean true agency, or even having a voice.

Furthermore, when you scale up empire to the level of planetary control (much like the US/EU/UK western juggernaut) -- let alone galactic control -- there’s a huge cultural impact. We should see regular civilians (including prisoners) dressed in Galran styles and colors; their food, architecture, fashion, historical records, whatever -- everything should be Galran or Galran-influenced. That cultural power should be everywhere, undeniable, unavoidable. That’s the core of neo-colonialism. You no longer expend your own resources controlling every last bit of the colonized. Instead, you hold out your (superior) culture and make the colonized jump to gain capital, whether material, economic, or cultural.

And the most important aspect of that is that empire doesn’t end just because the occupation has -- this is possibly Japan’s greatest lesson (and biggest struggle) after what really just amounted to only about five years of occupation. It’s that having been colonized, the effects last for decades. Centuries, even. The oppressor is no longer omnipresent, but the oppressed continue in the same patterns, chasing after the oppressor.

Americans don’t just lack an understanding of direct warfare, we’ve also conveniently blocked out, dismissed, or outright silenced any of our marginal communities who could show us the impact of our imperial control. And not just on external lands/people, but on our own peoples. Throughout our history, we have effectively treated our Black, LGBT, Hispanic, and Indigenous communities as subaltern colonized classes, if we didn’t just try to exterminate them utterly. Whether classic imperialism, hegemonic control, or capitalist neo-colonialism, we’ve done them all, and we’ve done them all to our own citizens. That’s an uncomfortable truth for a lot of people, especially those who continue to benefit from those systems.

So it doesn’t surprise me that American writers be clueless, at first. It just pisses me off that they don’t even seem to be interested in understanding the cultural and moral arguments in the source material or its source culture.

Tangentially, I saw a response elsewhere on the various downstream threads about how the US can’t (or shouldn’t, it wasn’t clear) be compared to the Galra, who had eradicated an entire people, leaving only two overlooked survivors. I direct you to the histories of indigenous peoples in America. If you think the US Govt wouldn’t have cheered at the thought of complete and total genocide of every single indigenous person in US territory (and we did put a damn lot of effort and time into trying to achieve it), I suggest you are long overdue for learning about America’s blood-soaked history.

What indigenous cultures remain in the US are absolutely in spite of the US Govt, and not because of it.

#voltron legendary defender #voltron meta #gundam #went long again #sol thinks about stuff

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