#He thinks he’s not important enough to DIE
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so-i-did-this-thing · 2 days ago
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You're the only person I know on Tumblr who I feel like I can send this ask so I hope this is ok.
I'm absolutely sick to my stomach terrified. People keep talking about not acquiescing early and to keep fighting and that's good but... I'm a trans person married to a trans person and we have a kid. We are so, so scared that we are going to lose our parental rights and have him taken away, even if he's biologically my partners. We are pretty fucking sure that the only way we could even possibly stay in the US and even possibly keep our family together is to detransition. But then we would still be queer, and I remember the 90s and how it was pretty recent that gay couples were considered unfit parents.
And this isn't us blowing things out of proportion, we have an education in politics so we've got a pretty good freaking idea about how bad things can and will get, but also we don't feel like we can afford to NOT take things extremely seriously. The worst case scenario is pretty horrific for us, so we've talked at lengthe about leaving the country. Which is it's own basket of heartbreaks because then there's a real chance we will never be able to come back. And I don't really feel like I can talk about it because a) the Internet doesn't feel safe to be trans on and b) there's been SO much chatter about how we need to stay and fight and people who can leave are privileged etc etc
I just... I'm scared and heartbroken and angry and I feel extremely hopeless. I guess I don't really have a question after all. I just needed to talk about it because it feels like not enough people are seeing this kind of true tragedy that could come from all this.
I wish there was actual help we could get. But there doesn't seem like there's anyone who can.
You're right, Anon - you're not blowing things out of proportion.
I want to say that I'm relieved in a sense that you are talking about where your lines in the sand are are and what you plan to do if they are crossed. There is hope and comfort to be found in a plan, even if it is a plan for the next generation's survival, instead of our own.
Every trans person needs to start thinking about real answers to the following questions:
What will I do if I'm fired tomorrow?
What will I do if I'm denied a loan? Housing?
What will I do if I lose my HRT?
What will I do if information about trans people is considered illegal to circulate?
What will I do if I I'm declared an unfit parent?
What will I do if my marriage is annulled?
What will I do if I'm declared unfit to own my own property or make my own legal decisions?
What will I do if I'm about to be arrested?
There are answers to all of these questions that aren't just "give up and die." But there's no one-size-fits all solution. People will have varying priorities based on how they see their role in fighting fascism and what resources they have access to.
Community is going to become incredibly important. Trans people have always existed. Sympathetic cis people have always existed. Trans people have always found ways to survive and even flourish, even though it often meant not being able to pursue their original dreams.
If you don't know where to begin with strengthening our community, the Trans Literature Preservation Project is a good place to get ideas. The virtual book burnings have already begun on .gov websites, so maybe doing a little preservation work will give you more hope that you're working to make a difference.
Because the work is important, even if the progress won't happen until after our time.
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skhv67 · 3 days ago
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SFW and NSFW Relationship Headcanons with Nam-gyu and Thanos / Choi Su-bong
wc: 2k words overall
tw: NSFW (only +18 please), substance abuse topics, fluff, angst
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nam-gyu
• SO, in the beginning this man is not gonna trust you in the slightest no matter how friendly and nice you seem. BUT he won't appear distrustful, if anything he's gonna be friendly with you to see what you have to offer that he could take from you.
• No love at first sight, I don't think he usually thinks outside business or convenience, so it's possible that in the beginning he uses you for his benefit. But as he gets to know you, the connection deepens and he stops seeing you as an object, he's down horrendous.
• Not a single person around him will not know about you, I feel he talks about their partner to anyone willing to listen to him.
• His love language would be physical touch and gift giving. Hands on you ALLLLL the time, he's CLINGY clingy. He'd also use the contacts he makes from the club to take you to cool or fancy places or get you expensive stuff.
• Unfortunately he's an addict and of hard drugs so this will affect his mood and life style 100% in the worst ways. I doubt he'd stop even for his partner because he's exposed to these substances in his job at the club all the time. Still, he doesn't seem the type to offer you to join him in this, the most he could do is offer you weed as a one time thing to have some extra fun.
• Will probably try to sabotage the relationship constantly because of his addiction, because he believes you deserve something better or because he's having insecure thoughts against you. Reasure him!! Drugs can make you paranoid and fuck your mind up so he's gonna need tons of reassurance that what's on his mind is not real and that you love him.
• Unfortunately it will be impossible to not find him during a trip. He's obviously happy when he's not sober, but I think if he was with you during these moments he'd feel guilty and try to harm you verbally to make you leave him or will just hurt himself.
• Suuuuuper prideful. If you've hurt him or you've argued he's definitely more prone to be hostile and close off instead of trying to solve the problem. Like the scene of him eating Thanos pills after he died, he'd probably dismiss your importance in his life to try to make himself feel better about the situation (he fails). He'd probably need someone super patient and understanding of his personality so this doesn't end up in a break up.
• Despite this I feel there's gonna be a lot of splits during the relationship, ypull be apart at least for a few days until one reaches out. He'd rather die than calling you while he's sober to ask you to come back but this man is definitely calling you during an episode and begging you to go help him.
• Masks his pain and protects his true feelings with desdain. In his worst moments (never to your face of course, only when he's using substances by himself), he will insult you and make himself think he's better off without you. This is only a way of self harm, he'd probably sob after thinking that because he'll make himself believe you don't love him and that he's not enough for you.
• Might look like he only looks for his own benefit (which he usually does with most people) but if you've won a spot in his heart he's such a puppy. He'd give you whatever you asked, and he's so soft spoken and sweet when it's just the two of you.
• If you're down for it, he'd want at least one subtle matching tattoo. He's already got a few and as soon as he realizes his feelings he'll be wanting to have you in his skin the very next day (and it'll happen even if you don't want to match with him).
• Hes the jealous type but he won't show it in public. The most he'd do if he got jealous in public would be not talking to you until you're home. A toxic trait of his is that when he's jealous he gets mad at you instead of the other person. He's aware it's not your fault, it's just a reaction of his insecurity.
• If you're ever sad or have a problem he'd handle it. He's not good with words or feelings so his way of comforting would be trying to get revenge on whatever has made you sad. If it's no one's fault he'd be a bit more awkward about it but he'd just hug you until you stop crying.
NSFW
• Heavily sexually driven relationship. He's the type to be infatuated with someone to the point to wanting to be inside their skin and what better way to do that than through sex :D Obviously he won't want you just for this but he sees sex as the most perfect way to show his feelings. He usually struggles with talking about his feelings sober, so this is the easiest way for him to be vulnerable with you.
• He's quite sadistic and if he feels safe with you he'll be less scared of showing this side to you. He loooves calling you slut or whore and overall has quite a degrading dirty talk. If you're sensitive he'll try to bargain about praising you while still using degrading pet names but he's totally fine with dropping this and leaving this side of him outside bed business if you sit down with him and reject it.
• Please fuck this man at least once while you're high. He doesn't want you to do this stuff often like he does but give him a treat every once in a while
• He's into sexting, specially when he's outside hanging with people or working because he's bored out of his mind. Spam this poor man with pics wearing revealing clothes (doesn't ask for nudes just in case he loses his phone) and he'd be texting you the nastiest shit in the middle of a hangout. The best part of this is that this man can't have a poker face for his life so you can clearly picture him smiling and trying to cover his face while looking at his screen.
• Loves worshipping you but let's be honest here, this man loves being praised. He doesn't ever feel appreciated enough so talk about how much you need him and he'll have a boner before you finish talking. If you praise him while he's degrading you in bed he might get a bit shocked at first and even a little shy but this will make him cockier and more confident in himself, which translates in more pleasure for you
• Treats you like royalty during aftercare. And once he's finished and goes back to bed with you, take advantage of how soft he is before he comes back to his shell. Maybe trace his freckles or his tattoos and caress him tenderly and you might even make him want to cry.
choi su-bong / thanos
• This man does NOT have a type, he will try to get with you no matter what. Girly? Into it. Masculine? Into it. Soft spoken? Into it. You curse like a sailor? Into it. You even dare to be unappealing to him? Don't careeee
• In the beginning it's gonna be like all the other relationships or flings he's had: chasing after you trying to charm his way into getting a date. He probably won't even think at first that you're gonna be so special to him but when you two connect he will make you know from minute one that you two are already together.
• He's quite shallow. Not in the sense that he will only care about your looks but they're important to him. As he doesn't have a type, this doesn't mean he won't like you if you don't fit with certain beauty canons, don't worry.
• Quite more thoughtful and softer than Nam-gyu. He might be a bit self absorbed but he's still quite understanding of feelings and he'd handle you with utmost care always.
• It's absolutely impossible having an argument or being mad at this man. Unless you betray him tremendously (please don't), a relationship with him is quite lighthearted and you won't have to be walking on eggshells around him because he never takes anything too seriously.
• Once you two make it official this man is putting you in all his music videos and cd covers. He won't be scared to show you off to his fans either, or to anyone. There's no louder man in this world so you better believe everybody's gonna hear about you (mainly against their will).
• His love language is words of affirmation but you probably expected it because this man is yapper3000. Expect corny improvised raps about you and just pick up lines even when you're already together. Will be flirty with you most of the time so don't worry about the relationship getting dull at some point (he'll make sure it won't).
• He's a user but I feel like he doesn't let it be a problem for him like Nam-gyu does. He sure uses substances for stress or when he's in pain but mainly for fun, and it doesn't really leave any awful consequences on him. It wouldn't affect your relationship and he would be quite protective with you about it, he wouldn't even let you try them under any circumstances. If you already do drugs, he still will worry about you but won't say anything about it unless it gets serious.
• Lives for impressing you, he loves to get a geniune praise or reaction from you. He'd probably push himself to be better just to make you proud of him, because he has you in a bigger pedestal than himself.
• He might be disrespectful to other people but if he loves you best believe you're never getting rid of him, he's the most loyal person you're gonna meet. Won't say a bad word about you under any circumstances and will make sure you know where he stands with you.
• I'm deeply sorry for you if this man gets jealous in public because he's gonna make a scene. He's definitely gonna try to fight the other person to 'defend your honor' so please keep this kid out of trouble.
NSFW
• You could quite literally convince this man to do whatever the fuck you want during sex, seriously. He obviously has his own kinks but whatever you want to try he's up for it. He won't be weirded out about anything and is willing to take whatever role you propose him.
• Make out king. He loves sex but what he loves more than sex is starting it. Both the initial make out and the foreplay are where you'll find him enjoy himself the most. Might elongate the make out session just to do some dry humping tbh, he won't feel ashamed of cumming in his pants. Geniunely, try to make this man ashamed of anything, I dare you
• The give and take is quite balanced in your relationship but he'd be lying if he said he doesn't have a preference for being between your legs. As I said he's more into foreplay than sex itself so good luck when he's trying to get the seventh orgasm out of you only with his tongue.
• The sex is QUITE dynamic... He's too active, the most slow he's gonna be is when you're making out. Enjoy getting manhandled to the moon and back, and good luck with the next day's leg pains.
• Quite chill with aftercare, probably cracking jokes or trying to make you laugh just being himself while he cleans you up. Will watch some TV with you or play some games when you're both finished because he's still quite active.
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dividers credit: muffiinss
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protect-namine · 2 days ago
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YE6's butterfly effect. AKA: how did vein "die"?
I'm trying to puzzle out the butterfly effect in YE6, and here is my interpretation so far. if this theory is correct, it would also answer the question of who has the faking death ability and what exactly was liu xiao doing during the whole arc.
of course, feel free to correct me if I got this wrong. I could be missing some key information. I'm just writing this in an attempt to figure it out myself. also, this is gonna be a long post, sorry.
a lot of people are speculating that lu guang directly killed vein somehow through an ability, but I don't think that's what actually happened (although I wish that was the case). I also don't think the situation is as simple as "lu guang wanted vein dead" because I also think that liu xiao is interfering with the same events. there are two puppeteers in YE6, imho.
let's start with lu guang. for one thing, we know he can't directly kill vein with any of the abilities he has, since both scanning 12 hours of photo history and diving into the past require, well, a photo, which lu guang did not have. yingdu even stressed the rules of how both abilities work. if lu guang directly killed vein through ability use, this would imply he has another ability up his sleeve, and I really don't think we've been given enough evidence that points to that. if he always had this ability, why hasn't he used it before on vein in other timelines?
remember that yingdu has a lot of visual metaphors in its storytelling compared to other seasons. I believe lu guang caused the chain of events to happen in such a way that vein would die, but he was not the one to kill him, and that's why there's the animation of him orchestrating vein's death through wang qing, like a ventriloquist would control a puppet. in fact, I would go even further: lu guang and wang qing never got the chance to kill vein, although lu guang certainly thinks he did. we will circle back to this under the cut later, once we've built up the evidence to reach this conclusion.
another thing is the info we learned from an interview with director li. it is unfortunate, imo, that we had to learn this through an interview and not from the show itself (I feel this is yingdu's biggest writing flaw), but whatever. here are the key points to know though:
vein doesn't have an ability during yingdu arc
liu xiao has more than one ability (we know one of them already, which is interestingly enough, heartbeat related)
(not from the interview, but hinted in the show) someone has a "faking death" ability
before we go into the butterfly effect and how vein died, let's go over the details of his death:
from the autopsy report: vein's cause of death is myocardial infarction. aka a heart attack
xia fei later says there were no external injuries and no signs of poison
also, tiny detail, but vein was holding something like a tranquilizer gun in the clinic. the "bullets" he fired on both wang qing and cheng xiaoshi were meant to put them to sleep, not to kill them.
finally, let's lay out some character motivations. this will be important later.
liu xiao wants to get the notebook that belonged to cheng weimin. vein is working with him on this.
lu guang wants to avoid cheng xiaoshi's death node, and he plans to do it by killing vein
now, for the analysis. how did vein "die"?
let's establish something first. since xia fei doesn't know what happened to vein and is looking for the true culprit, we can rule out his involvement. he probably doesn't have the faking death ability, since it was used on vein. and vein doesn't have an ability. so the most likely person to have this ability would be liu xiao. he is also most likely the one to open the body bag with vein in it.
so we can now assume that liu xiao has two abilities:
he can sense someone's emotions and intentions through hearing their heartbeats
he can "fake death" (it is unclear how this works)
well. what an interesting combination! let's put a pin on that for now. remember this for later.
okay. now. let's switch over to lu guang. the big important question here is this: how did lu guang know that delaying vein from entering the clinic would lead to his death through a butterfly effect?
for full context, let's look at what lu guang says in his conversation with vein (I'm using ani-mi's translation, but I watched the bilibili one first and there aren't any drastic changes imo):
do you know the butterfly effect? in a dynamic system, event the smallest changes in initial conditions can lead to vastly different outcomes. I've been wondering, how do you alter a destined ending? what would happen if, before the conclusion, we added another fixed point? another unchangeable node? instead of avoiding deviations, why not let it deviate completely? I know I can't stop you. but I can make you stay a bit longer. now, you can go in.
two things here. first, the mention of an unchangeable node. aka a death node. lu guang for sure wanted vein to die. because if vein dies first, he can't kill cheng xiaoshi. simple logic; great plan.
next, from this speech, we can infer that lu guang planned to create a small change (a butterfly effect) that will lead to a big consequence (vein's death).
it's the second part that should clue us in. he said, "I can make you stay a bit longer. now, you can go in." he knows he can't stop vein from entering the clinic. but he can stall him. he can add a small bit of delay, long enough that it actually matters that vein went into the clinic later than usual.
lu guang knows the effect he wants (vein's death) so how does he know what event (stalling him) would cause the domino effect that leads to it? why does that small delay matter?
let's look at what that extra bit of time actually changed. by delaying vein, another important event happens: cheng xiaoshi has extra time with wang qing, long enough for him to meet his mom, shao yuanyuan. cheng xiaoshi then learns that shao yuanyuan is trying to save cheng weimin. he promises to wait for them and to stop investigating. it is after he makes this promise that vein enters.
we can now infer one more thing here: cheng xiaoshi did not meet his mom through wang qing in the original order of events. this event only happens because lu guang stalled vein.
most likely, in the original order of events, vein incapacitated wang qing too early for her to do anything to him. we don't know what her ability is, but it doesn't matter for this post. all we need to know is that lu guang believes wang qing could kill vein if she was never put to sleep. that is the point of stalling vein from entering the clinic early.
so here's part one of my theory. from lu guang's perspective, this is the plan to kill vein:
stall vein from entering the clinic
because vein entered late, wang qing was possessed by someone with better fighting abilities, allowing her to hold out during the fight
she is then freed from possession, and is still awake when vein tries to leave with the notebook
I don't think we have enough information to really explain what happens next, but what's supposed to happen, imo, is that wang qing kills vein, either through her own ability or someone else uses her to do it. it doesn't really matter how, but this is what is supposed to happen. this is what lu guang wanted to happen. for the sake of this post, we will assume wang qing has an ability to kill vein
vein dies, therefore he can't go to the time photo studio in the future to kill cheng xiaoshi
that's lu guang's butterfly effect. stall vein -> vein dies -> cheng xiaoshi lives.
simple? not quite. I did mention there's another person interfering with these events.
everything I mentioned above is from lu guang's perspective, and that this is what's supposed to happen. but let's look at the actual order of events.
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wang qing wakes up (is freed from possession), notices the notebook on vein, and calls his name (interesting point: she knows his full chinese name). at this point, her eyes have NOT changed color yet.
vein gets a heart attack
only after that does wang qing's eyes change color
we know that changing eye colors is not diegetic, meaning this is more for the audience's benefit. their eyes don't really change color in-universe. sometimes they don't even show us eye colors changing. but when they do show us, we have to pay attention.
therefore, I believe that the timing of the shift in eye color matters.
so here's part two of my theory. liu xiao knew lu guang is going to interfere, so he already arranged a "fake death" for vein in advance (which he doesn't tell vein about lmao, but he seems to have figured it out when he gets the heart attack)
this is how, I believe, yingdu happened from liu xiao's perspective:
he wants cheng weimin's notebook. wang qing has it, but would never give it to him. but she might for cheng weimin's son
he baits cheng xiaoshi into going to bridon
he heard lu guang's heartbeat in the airport, which tipped him off that he's someone he should watch out for
he confirmed that cheng xiaoshi and lu guang are investigating cheng weimin
he assigns xia fei to keep an eye on their progress
he planned to use cheng xiaoshi to bait wang qing into giving up information about the notebook. this is why when xia fei told him that cheng xiaoshi was about to meet her, liu xiao reacts like this is the expected outcome
he assigns vein to get the notebook because wang qing is about to reveal the location. but he also knows that lu guang is kinda shady, so when lu guang stalls vein (and tells him! bro don't tell your plans to your victims! don't tell him you're trying to make a butterfly effect!), liu xiao either just knew this would happen or vein tipped him off before going in
now, notice that vein gets a heart attack before wang qing uses an ability (or is used, whatever) to kill vein. and what have we established before at the beginning of this post? liu xiao has a heartbeat related ability and can fake a death. we don't know the mechanics of the second ability, but we know that compatible abilities can combo with each other. it's not far-fetched to think that liu xiao can fake death with a heart attack
later, we see vein wake up after someone (most likely liu xiao) opens his body bag
so now who's fooled? the police arrives and even does an autopsy. they declare vein dead. lu guang is relieved, and for years he believes this. vein doesn't even visit the studio in 2021 (though li tianchen does, through liu min, but that's neither here nor there). he avoided a death node by creating another one. we can let him believe this lie for a little while...
TL;DR lu guang created a butterfly effect by stalling vein, and that creates a domino effect that should have led to vein's death. except he's not the only one interfering with the timeline. while this is happening, liu xiao orchestrates a fake death for vein before his supposed death actually happens, allowing him to act dead during the autopsy and "revive" later
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phoenixyfriend · 12 hours ago
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Okay so we have like. An unusually high ratio of royalty/nobility among the Jedi. Dooku, Quinlan, Oppo, you can sort of count Adi or Xanatos or Bruck, etc. Lots of Jedi 'just happen' to come from royal, noble, or incredibly wealthy/powerful families.
So from this I want to posit four things:
If a royal family has a Force-Sensitive child, and hasn't had one in generations, they may think that sending that child to the Jedi would be a little like sending a child to join the Catholic Church in the middle ages: you get to influence the political choices of the highest religious power in Europe the Galactic Republic Government. (That said, Dooku was sent to the Jedi because his parents didn't want him and ||left him to die of exposure, basically, so that if the Jedi arrived too late they'd be picking up a baby corpse|| because they were so disdainful of Force-Sensitive individuals, and Quinlan wasn't sent to the Jedi so much as he escaped to them.)
They are all incredibly wrong about this, and royals raised as Jedi generally do not give any more of a shit about their home planets than any other planet. They care, of course, but they are not attached, because they are Jedi. Xanatos was an exception (afaik his dad sent him to the Jedi because he wanted to do the Catholic thing? and then Xanatos lost his mind). (Don't correct me on this, it's not really important if it was actually intended or not.)
This is achieved by way of Jedi from royal backgrounds having a mandatory high-level political class on how to handle royal court politics and general intrigue. It's not exclusive to the royal kids, but it is a prerequisite for them. They usually end up doing their home planets as case studies for capstone projects, in part because
Sometimes the planets try to call their errant royals back. It might be because the planet is struggling and genuinely running out of heirs/needs a change in leadership (Serreno) and it might be because it was the plan all along, but on the off chance that the Jedi decides they HAVE to leave the Order and take up a throne to keep an entire planet from kind of imploding on itself... that royal Jedi has to be ready to play the game. OR if they don't actually think they're REALLY needed there, they have to be trained on how to go, and be polite/avoid getting trapped/play the game until they can get the hell out of there, while also installing that cousin that nobody thought was strong enough but DOES understand how to run the treasury as the new king.
I'm just imagining this like. Very specific set of classes that are open to any Jedi that's taken the necessary prereqs, but is mandatory for people like Quinlan and Dooku and Oppo.
This was inspired by a post of mine that's getting circulated regarding QuinObi stuff and my thoughts about how Quinlan might have needed preventative training in case of political upheavals trying to pull him back to his home planet. I want to mess with the Politics Classes that Quinlan is taking because he has to and Obi-Wan is taking because Qui-Gon said he should.
Qui-Gon: You should take this class because I'm training you up as a negotiator and diplomat, and you will need it to interact with people when brokering trade deals or peace treaties. Tholme: You are taking this class because your aunt is insane and you have to be ready in case she tries to pull you back into the bullshit.
And as @firebirdeternal offered:
Quinlan: God this is the worst. So boring. At least Obi-Wan is stuck here too. Obi-wan: This is fascinating wow, I can't believe I almost didn't get to attend, Quinlan is so lucky he's automatically in these classes.
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poisonf0rest · 20 hours ago
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genuine question because youre one of my favorite writers, you seem to really have a thorough grasp of the characters: what do you see in rafayel that makes him appealing? i try to get past his entitled brattiness because i really want to enjoy all of the guys, but i cant see anything else. please help me understand 🥲
Oh boy, baby, darling, sweetheart, you opened a can of worms. Come do a little bit of character analysis with me~
About Rafayel:
Rafayel is a brat, yes. But that means he wears his heart on his sleeve, outright when he needs your attention or sulking when something is bothering him or faking a dramatic accident to get your attention. There's no silent guessing or fake "I'm fine's," just his overdramatic, raw emotion that's easy to read. He's has anxious attachment stemming from hundreds of years of betrayal and loss.
Rafayel is a romantic, a yearner. And yes, while I also agree his attitude was annoying at first I am very unfortunately into people who get on my nerves, especially when they are flirty and funny as well. I folded during his hospital scene.
Entitled? He is a god. He has been trying and failing to save his entire civilization for over 800 years and still simply can't because he refuses to hurt the one he loves. While all the boys have been through pain there's something about Rafayel's story that really gets me. I think it’s because if I— as mc— knew the sacrifice he was making, I would give myself up. So to have someone selfish enough to place me first is heartbreaking, devoted, and cruel. 
Also there are plenty of scenes where Rafayel is serious, especially if you read between the lines. The brattiness and sass is a playful cover to someone who's been through pain and understands it. Someone who chooses to still see joy and happiness in his life while fully understanding how cruel the world is.
Simply, I'm a sucker for doomed character archetypes. There is no version of Rafayel's and mc's story where they both end happy. Millions of people will die or if mc kills herself Rafayel will live forever as a husk of his former self. Using a sassy, filirty, bratty attitude to cover up such a genuinely depressing story is so juicy to me.
About Me:
I'm a Zayne irl. Work is honestly the most important thing to me outside my family, I'm devoted to my hobbies and leadership positions, and I have a close circle of friends I would do anything for. I'm also fucking hilarious subjective.
I'm the eldest sibling, the guard dog, the de-facto leader for almost everything. I'm the person who had to grow up fast, to parent my immigrant parents at times, who never made space for love, and who is by default independant and comfortable with it.
I prefer to listen-- I love my yapper friends. Don't get me wrong I can talk for hours about anything, but day to day I tend to get exhausted talking after a while so I surround myself with people who can do the easy talking for me.
My irl partner is a mix between Rafayel and Sylus I'd say. He's the one who pulls me out of my work spirals by nagging me until I give in, someone I'm comfortable yapping about my current hyperfixations too, someone who my inner child can come out to. But I also enjoy being a caregiver, that's always been my role and I relish in it, I like being relied upon as much as I appreciate having someone in my life that lets me take a step back. The only part that's Sylus is how his love language is bullying me and his vibe/looks lmao, but usually I am more into raf-stereotypical pretty boys.
So, overall, the appeal of Rafayel to those that choose him:
Rafayel is for the eldest daughters who needs their inner child to be free, who needs a little bit of ridiculousness and impulsiveness in their lives.
Rafayel is for those who never got praised for their effort or strength, for those who success was the only option, who had to be perfect, reliable and serious all the time. He makes it so clear how much simply being with you means to him, constantly complimenting, flirting, and reassuring you just how much he needs you. Showing you how obsessed with you he is.
Rafayel is for those who didn't think love had a place in their lives due to shit family or life circumstances. He proves time and time again that you're the only one he loves. Even though he's lived forever, you were worth the wait and that he would wait again for you, no matter how long it takes. He proves you can be loved, and that it comes easy.
Rafayel is for those who always placed others first. He's more than willing to show you again and again you will always be first in his mind. He needs you more than he does water. Sure, you can take care of him, but he wants to be with you and take care of you, too.
Rafayel is for those who need someone else to drag them out of work/school/spiralling even when they don't want to admit it, bringing in laughter, color, and a little bit of dramatics.
Rafayel is for creators who dedicate themselves to their craft, who are scared of losing this "spark," who want to get better but constantly feel that what they create isn't enough or must be more. 
Rafayel is for hopeless romantics, those that go out of their way to surprise their friends during their birthdays, those who plan platonic dates for those they care about, those who put out so much love into the world and suddenly break when they get that love back.
Rafayel is for those used to having little siblings or those to take care of in our lives. Only while Rafayel relishes in the attention, he's also ready to give it back five-fold.
Rafayel is a switch for switch (brat for brat) lmao. He's for those who like to start on top, teasing and pushing his buttons to get all those cute reactions out of him, just until he breaks. Then he can take control and finish us up. We love vocal men.
Maybe projecting, but Rafayel is the perfect bi-girl's boyfriend. He's a classic pretty boy, unafraid to be in touch with his feminine side, a little dramatic, a little artsy. But he's also super romantic, sensitive, loving, and intense. And gosh, who could say no to those big puppy eyes?
I could probably continue to talk about Rafayel for hours, but ya, hopefully this helps answer why I and others love this man. Just continue on with the main story and read between the lines with his dialogue and I'm sure you'll pick up on it too~
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colorlessjay · 1 day ago
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During any of s6Cas’s future deaths, does s6Dean think “fuck he wasn’t real was he”? about meeting s16Cas and him being around in the far future? Or does he think that they’ve changed timelines so Cas being dead is Dean messing up and losing a future that has Cas in it (and therefore a future where Dean grows old because how can he keep going without him���)
Or does he desperately cling to the idea that Cas WILL be back, he’s SEEN him…
Oh definitely the third one
I think it would make Cas' death more devastating for Dean. I mean, think about it
Dean's experience with future time travel (especially with Endverse) made him believe his present-day actions influence the future. So seeing Cas die is not just seeing his best friend die; it's seeing his best friend's future happily married self die too. It's knowing he's killed Cas in more ways than one
it's not just the feeling of loss anymore, it's the feeling of ripping away something amazing from one of the most important people in your life. It's the feeling of destroying someone's happiness because you were careless and crass
Like, at first, S6 Dean would think his future is guaranteed to be good. I like to think Dean clings to the idea that "If Cas' body is still here, it means we can still bring him back"
So, I think Castiel's Death to Lucifer felt like a nail (the first of many) in his coffin. His anger towards Jack is his own anger towards himself. His resentment towards Jack is because he thinks Jack is powerful enough to destroy the happy future Cas had.
Which makes Cas coming back from the Empty the first time to be so funny, cause in this AU, it's basically Dean celebrating that his guaranteed happy future isn't too far away. That Cas and Sam are gonna be okay and married and happy
Then the thing with the final confession happens, and Dean has reached a form of acceptance that he'll never see future Cas ever again
but that's angsty. Ask me funnier questions
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silence-ofthe-llamas · 2 days ago
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TexAid returns and comes with the gore! Whooo!
They were all fucking insane.
First Aid staggered down the hallway armed with nothing but the flare gun they kept in their cockpits for emergencies. He didn’t know how much damage this would even do – it would probably hurt him more when he fired it than it ever would against a quintesson, but he had to hold some form of hope. If he didn’t have hope, he had nothing.
Vortex was offline. His last words to him still echoed in his head, bumping around between his ears and ringing in his ears.
GET LOST. I HOPE YOU DIE.
Stupid idiot. Stupid, stupid. First Aid wiped his face. He didn’t know if he was wiping away sweat, or if they were tears. He could feel that he was dying. He didn’t need to make any stupid grand gestures to try and hide it, to get him to unplug before he felt his core splutter out. He knew that if he’d stayed connected, there was every chance that he’d die too. He knew it, he wasn’t- he wasn’t a fool. He knew where to get help and he wasn’t about to go ahead and die before he’d even tried.
Damn it. God damn it. He was so, so terribly fucked.
The usual tell for a quintesson being in the vicinity was the smell of one. It hit the back of the throat and burned like alkali, clawing through the soft tissues of the nose. It tingled in the lungs, popping and pinging against neurons in the brain, activating the fight or flight instinct more powerfully than anything had before. And he was bathing in it right now. Each direction felt exactly the same, he didn’t know if they were just behind closed doors, or were stood waiting for him around a corner, and he didn’t know what scared him more – the fact he was so vulnerable, or the fact that Vortex wouldn’t even know.
They were all fucking insane. Each and every one of them in their command structure. Nobody seemed willing to acknowledge what was happening right now – in what fucking world was it fine to leave a medic and a pop idol in a fucking enemy space ship? To tell them that they were on their own, that they’d figure it out? That their mechs would be more than enough? Because they weren’t. He’d last seen Blast Off and Cosmos getting launched off the starboard port by a cannon and Vortex was in a crumpled heap in the storage room he’d managed to stagger him into, totally inoperable. He was on his own, nobody was coming to help, and he was furious. He had no idea what he was meant to fucking do, and no doubt if he miraculously made it back, they’d grill him and berate him for not doing enough. For not doing more than survive. For not having any ideas or plans magically pop into his brain whilst he tried not to think about the state of Vortex and the impending sense of doom that fell upon him, crushing him under its weight. He was going to die out here, and all he could think about was how pissed he was about it.
He didn’t know the first thing about mechanics or engineering or how he was built, but fuck if that didn’t stop him from trying. The two repair droids who Vortex had reprogrammed and kept stashed in his shoulder were hard at work when he’d managed to drag back his first offering. He didn’t know what it was, but it looked mechanical and it looked useful, and he vaguely recognised some of the bits inside it, so that had to count for something, right?
The droids seemed to think so. They were scavenging from it before he’d even put it down.
His third trip had him panting and shaking and almost vomiting from exhaustion. He dry heaved in the corner, coughing and cramping as his body tried to empty itself of a toxin that wasn’t there. Is the air poisoning me? He wiped his mouth and swallowed, legs shaking as he steeled himself for what was to come next. He’d need to go and help with the repairs. The droids weren’t fast enough, they were squabbling – if he could just get the important parts in place, he’d stop that leak and protect his core. If the core was protected, he stood a better chance of getting him back to Earth in a state they could properly repair him in.
Toolkit in hand, he stood by the gaping hole in his abdomen. The core whirred, visible tendrils of light and energy reaching out towards him. His eyes flew over the wreckage, assessing what could be salvaged. The droids helpfully began putting the disassembled parts at his feet, ready for the human to deal with it. A smile tugged at the corner of his lips, and he swallowed nervously.
He couldn’t get this wrong. He’d never forgive himself if he did, and he didn’t want to die like this. Vortex had promised him his death – he couldn’t deny him that.
It took over an hour until he could get the big, red visor to flick online, Vortex’s systems groaning and slowly whirring as he booted back up again. The crackle was audible, electricity arcing over his frame.
“You’re awake!” First Aid exclaimed in delight, slumping down to his knees in exhaustion. “Oh, Tex, I am so glad-”
His hand slammed down just behind him, and First Aid froze as the sudden blazing heat registered, the head-splitting sound of a quintesson gun being fired resonating inside of the cavity of Vortex’s abdomen.
“I thought I told you to go fuck yourself.” Vortex’s voice sounded in his helmet, and First Aid could have sobbed.
“You actually told me to die.” He corrected. “I guess you didn’t want me dead that badly.”
“I didn’t want them to shoot my core, actually. Now, what’s your plan with the squishy?”
“Uhm.” First Aid looked down at the flare gun on his hip. “I guess shoot them?”
Vortex’s laugh sounded pained, and his helm thunked back down against the floor.
“Oh, we are so dead.”
He heard something bigger and heavier behind him, and a familiar choom. Gasping, he threw his head around, peering around Vortex’s arm-
“Blast Off!” He leaned against Vortex’s too-hot arm, not caring how it burned him through his gloves and the tingle of it against his cheeks. “Vortex! They survived!”
“Yippie.” He sarcastically replied.
First Aid’s eyes fell to the alien corpse. Fresh. Ready for harvesting. An idea slowly formulated in his mind as he looked between Vortex and the body.
“Hey, listen… I’ve got an idea.”
“Does it involve filling me with corpse organs?”
“You make it sound so weird.” First Aid grimaced. “I’m just saying… I think I can splice your two systems together. Just enough to get us back to Earth.”
“I’m game if you are.” He softly swore in Ukrainian. “As soon as we get back, I’m killing the lot of them.”
“I’ll try and find you a new gun too, then.”
“You know the way to my heart, darling.”
First Aid stood and waved up to Blast Off, gesturing for Cosmos to come down. Blast Off knelt, visor opening, and Cosmos slipped out, carefully climbing down before sprinting over to him.
“Oh, thank god you’re both still alive!” She hugged him tightly. First Aid awkwardly patted her back.
“Not for long if we can’t get that corpse over here. Can you guys move it for us? Vortex’s nervous system was severed, he can’t move his legs.”
“What?” She pulled away, holding his shoulders tightly as she frowned. “What do you want that for?”
“I want its spine.” First Aid said matter of factly.
Cosmos grimaced. “Its… spine? Alright.” She nodded firmly, expression setting into determination. “We’ll help.”
Work went much more quickly when a mech was involved. Cosmos watched and handed him tools when it came to the fine-tuning, Blast Off sat back and silently watching. First Aid got the impression that he hadn’t figured out how to move independently yet – a feat Vortex had only managed with time and effort himself. So he silently watched them instead. He wondered what he was thinking.
“Is… is he okay?” He quietly asked Vortex when he was deep in his internals and Cosmos was out of ear shot.
“He’s fine.” Vortex replied a bit too quickly. “Just adjusting.”
He left it at that. Vortex was sounding weak, his voice strained. He double and triple checked his work before he went to make the final connection, the one that would have Vortex’s system finally shake hands with that of the quintessons. And with that, he quickly scrambled out to look at him and assess his work.
The organic flesh twitched and glowed a sickly blue colour. Black oil smeared and pooled on the ground, pearlescent and pungent.
“How’re you feeling, Vortex?” First Aid nervously asked. Blue was bleeding into the red of his visor, a bright toxic blue that was so much like the blood the aliens bled. He didn’t reply, and all he heard over their comm link was static.
“What’s going on?” Cosmos asked. “Why is he blue?”
“I don’t know.” First Aid frowned. “He’s not speaking to m-”
Vortex’s hand shot out faster than it moved naturally, catching them both by surprise. Without thinking, First Aid roughly shoved Cosmos out of the way, her head bouncing off of Vortex with a loud bang, her helmet splintering as cold metal fingers closed around him.
His helmet was suddenly alive with sound. Morse code. The same pattern he’d filled Prowls with all that time ago.
MINE.
He couldn’t breathe. The fingers were too tight around him, crushing him like a snake. His lungs burned, his vision swimming. He faintly heard a cracking sound and pain bloomed in his chest and something wet ran down his chin.
The mechs will keep you safe.
His mech was currently crushing him, and yet he’d never felt so safe in his life, so assured in where he stood in the universe.
“Tex, I can’t breathe.” He gasped. First Aid didn’t know if he was yelling or whispering – the beeping was so loud in his ears he couldn’t even hear his own thoughts. “Please stop, I can’t breathe-” he wetly choked, blue splashing down his chin.
Fuck. He had been poisoned. This just couldn’t get any worse, could it?
Vortex made a loud groaning noise, wet and spluttering and threatening. His hands tightened, and he couldn’t even scream.
The black spots were starting to overwhelm his vision. “I’m all yours, Svastjan.”
That much he was certain of. Everything else struck him as being distinctly wrong. The idea of belonging to someone had always turned his stomach, but if it was Svastjan? It felt like a warm blanket, a firm hug, like everything was going to be okay.
His helmet took the brunt of the impact as he hit the floor, Vortex’s grip suddenly releasing. It cracked, and First Aid whimpered, curling in on himself to cradle his wounds. Shit. Why did it all have to hurt so much?
He needed to get inside of him. It possessed him, overtook all common sense and thought. Shifting to be on all fours, his stomach cramped and he emptied its contents, red mixing with blue in a mirror of Vortex’s visor. Suddenly, the pieces slotted together in his mind and he was on his feet and staggering towards him before his brain caught up with his vision.
Vortex had been poisoned too. He’d done it. It was his fault, it had been his idea. He should have known better. Blue ran down his helm in a mockery of tears, and he felt his heart wrench.
First Aid didn’t know how he got there so fast. He’d blinked and he’d somehow managed to scale up his shoulder to his face, his hands pressed against the glass of the cockpit. “Let me in!” He banged against it, his ribs screaming at him to stop. He didn’t listen. “Let me in, let me in, let me i-!” He yelped as it suddenly opened and he fell in, back bending awkwardly as he ended up like a scorpion on the floor. Loudly groaning, he forced himself up and staggered to the pilots seat. Exhaustion was starting to settle in, adrenaline just not enough to keep him going any more. He tried to shove it to the back of his mind, to keep himself going for as long as he could, to do as much as he could before the broken bones and split flesh registered and he passed out.
[RUN] flashed on Vortex’s visor aggressively. First Aid ignored him, fighting with the harness to get into the pilots seat. Vortex was fighting back aggressively, trying to keep him away.
“Stop it!” He shouted. “Fucking- let me help you!”
[CAN’T STOP IT]
“Then I will!” First Aid roughly ripped the harness away, the stitches giving out. He threw himself into the seat and grabbed the controls, taking command of his arms. What remained of the harness tightly wrapped around him, holding him in place. The cable that connected him to Vortex’s systems roughly shoved itself into the port on the back of his head, and he screamed at the feeling of sharp digits shoving themselves through his skull. He let go of the controls to grab his head, to try and keep it together as it split and burst. The harness tightly wrapped around him, holding him still as he thrashed and tried to rip the cable out.
It wasn’t Vortex. There was something else in there, something that was roughly shoving him and his hands out of the way. It made his skin crawl, to think of something else in there with them, interrupting them and sullying their connection with its infected hands. Through the pain, through his screams through gritted teeth and the burn down his spine as his body twisted and arched and bended in ways it wasn’t designed to, through the searing burn over his skin, he reached inside to find out where they came from.
He knew quintesson biology. He’d cut up enough of them to feel confident and familiar with it, it was the only reason he felt comfortable splicing their organic systems with Vortex’s artificial ones to keep him alive. But he’d missed something. Why was the quintesson in his system? Why were they still alive?
The mechs hands moved with his mental search, tracing down over his chest and to the gaping hole in his abdomen. The fingers dug into the new flesh, still wet and oozing and wriggling. Pain wracked through him and he whimpered, brow creasing and teeth gritting, but he persisted. They’d missed something. There was something they’d not seen before, something new to be explored. Quintessons had two brains. One in the head, and another down at the root of their lower limbs. There must have been a third one, an even more primitive brain that they hadn’t ever been looking for before, one that they’d never spotted, one that had made its way in as he mixed blood and bone and metal. The pain stung and burned like he was being slowly flayed by a scalding hot knife. The sharp claws dug into his skull twisted and turned, pulling him this way and that in a desperate attempt to get him to stop. He felt wet, his vision was obscured by bursts of white and bright colour, but he didn’t stop. He couldn’t. He was a medic, his job was to save people, and he needed to save Vortex.
The panic became intense as he explored the spine. His own popped and cracked, his body seizing and his vision spluttering in and out. He faintly heard Vortex’s voice, but he couldn’t stop, he couldn’t let himself get distracted, not when he was so close. Digging in deeper, blunt digits slowly mapped it out, tracing over familiar structures and shapes until they bumped against something foreign and unknown.
Fear flooded him, and he faltered. Found it. He felt familiar hands wrap around his own, and suddenly he didn’t feel so afraid any more.
Vaguely, he wondered if they’d have any issues if a third consciousness died whilst they were connected, but he didn’t care. He wanted it gone.
“Get out of my body!”
It came out with a wet squelch. First Aid felt his consciousness tremble, he felt Vortex’s flickering in and out of being. His throat felt raw and his chest weak, all he could manage was a broken whimper as he reached out towards him to try and grab onto him, to hold him there, to make sure he was still a part of him.
He felt the pressure of someone pulling him into a hug, oh so very gentle against the remnants of his body. He didn’t realise how fragile he felt until he was being held like he were made of glass. Stubble brushed against his cheek, a rough scratch against softer skin. A hand tangled in his hair, brushing it back away from his face, and a clammy forehead pressed against his own with a sigh of relief.
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angelinthefire · 3 days ago
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Ekko, Viktor, and dialectics
Ekko is a really fascinating character because he has comparatively so little screen time, but is so important to the story of Arcane.
I started to get into my thoughts on him in this post, and I wanted to expand on those ideas some more. And to especially focus on the question of why Ekko is the one who's able to stop Viktor (and give Jayce the opportunity to do his thing), and the significance of Viktor's line, "that device can't be."
To start, let's talk about what Ekko represents.
(As before, I'm going to recommend watching these two videos about Ekko, they're really good)
Ekko occupies a unique place in the narrative. In a story about duality, he exists at the point where dualities meet.
For example with time. Arcane is full of characters who are either very focused on the future, or very focused on the past. You have Vander who can't get over the failed rebellion, and Silco who invests everything in his vision for Zaun. You have Jayce and Viktor who are all about progress, and Vi and Jinx who struggle to escape their past. etc.
Ekko is the one character who fully embraces the present. He honours the past (as we see with the mural), but as he tells Vi, brooding on the past will just make you go crazy. Nor does he have great dreams for the future, his focus is giving people a good life now. He doesn't think that far ahead because he sees the potential in the present moment.
I would also argue that Ekko exists at the intersection of order and chaos, which is probably the greatest duality that exists in Arcane. Partially by virtue of being in the present: Entropy states that systems move from order to chaos over time -- in the past there's order, in the future there's chaos, the present is where they meet. But also because of what he's actually doing in the story.
One of the manifestations of Order vs. Chaos in Arcane is the conflict between Piltover and Zaun (obviously Piltover representing order, Zaun representing chaos). There's an interview with Silco's voice actor where he says something along the lines that he didn't really give up his dream of Zaun for Jinx, because to him, Jinx embodies all chaos that he sees as Zaun's strength, that makes Zaun what it is. Ekko and the Firelights are definitely Zaunite, but they reject Silco's chaotic vision of Zaun; and they reject the oppressive order of Piltover as well. They aren't entirely removed from the situation though, they live on the edges.
I'd also argue that Ekko represents life. In his fight with Jinx, the show really plays up the animal imagery that's associated with them, with Jinx's crow as a harbinger of death, and Ekko's firelight bug, that brings light. Of course there's his whole thing of "It's not enough to give people what they need to survive, you need to give them what they need to live." And then there's the tree. Ekko's commune is probably the most organic-looking location in the show. (I think Caitlyn is the only other one we see in natural surroundings - there's the shooting grounds in her flashback [which takes place in fall when evereything's dying] and then there's the very manicured garden that she goes to. Both of which contrast with Ekko's tree).
And then of course there's Ekko's season 2 story arc. He gets what he thought he wanted with Silco dying, but then the chem barons fighting to take his place makes things worse (which Ekko seems to have never thought ahead to the future enough to consider). He's losing hope, and the tree starts to die. His trip to the alternate universe shows him what kind of potential exists in the things he gave up on (in Zaun, and in Jinx), so that he can go back and fight, not just for his isolated anarchist commune, but for his whole city. He learns that "It's never too late to build something new" - the potential exists now to do that.
That's also when he gets his special power, the Z-drive, that lets him fully make use of the present moment.
Now that that's established, let's talk about dialectics.
Stick with me, I promise this is relevant.
So dialectics is basically the philosophy of change.
It started with the Greeks. Think Heraclitus, "the only constant is change", “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man” etc. Everything is flowing, interconnected, transforming into each other. But dialectics as a form of thought was formalized in Socratic argument. "Dialectic" comes from "dialogue". You have a thesis, and an antithesis, and they come together to produce a synthesis. Two opposites coming together to form something new.
Fast forward to the late 1700s/early 1800s, and we get Hegel. Who's into dialectics, but sees the Socratic form of it as a "lifeless schema" - it's too formulaic. For Hegel, dialectics is a way of explaining an ongoing process of change through contradiction. All motion is created by contradiction, and motion is inherent in all things.
So for example, there's the unity and interpentration of opposites. Two things that mutually oppose and condition each other. Like two poles of a magnet, prey and predator species that evolve in response to each other, or the working class and capitalist class. They are opposing forces, but neither would exist as such without the other. This also often involves things turning into their opposite, like the polarity of the earth reversing every so often, or someone's greatest strength also being their greatest weakness.
There's the process of the negation of the negation - that is, progress takes place, but not in a straight line. It's more like a spiral, that moves upward while also circling back on itself. Things repeat, but never the same way. Cycles of life and death are a classic example of this, one generation has to die for a new one to take it's place, but the new generation is not a repetition of the one that came before, it has new mutations, or takes on new lessons, or there's more individuals.
And there's the process of quantitative changes building into qualitative changes. This is the idea that change happens slowly, and then all at once (often caused by a shock to the system). Like supercooled water that freezes when it's shocked. Or tension building up in continental plates until there's an earthquake. Or mutations building up in a species until it becomes a new one. Or evolution more generally takes place through punctuated equilibrium, stages of stability, large extinctions, and rapid diversification.
Now, Hegel would not have used any of the examples that I just used, because he was a philosophical idealist - that is, he thought ideas were the driving force of history, not material forces. He also thought that he had developed the Absolute Idea, which capped off the long historic process of development. And that the German state was the realization of the Absolute Idea.
Karl Marx was the one who took Hegel and said, the stuff about change through contradiction is very useful, but the Absolute Idea stuff is ridiculous, let's apply the logic of dialectics to the real world. And then he wrote Capital.
And that's dialectics! Change happens through contradiction, contradiction and change are inherent to life. Contradiction is inherent to life, which means the potential for change is inherent to life. (seriously though, it's really useful analytical tool, if you want to learn more about dialectics, start here)
Back to Arcane!
So, I'm sure you can see how dialectics is incredibly relevant to the themes of duality in Arcane. Like how Zaun and Piltover mutually oppose and condition each other. How there's so much repetition, but each instance has a new layer of meaning. How characters develop along a path and then there's a shock that accelerates things, and how a lot of them became their opposites in season 2.
And this brings us to Viktor.
There's a few characters who make very explicit statements on the theme of the show. Viktor is the one who monologues the most extensively about it though.
His little speech about evolution having an end point is interesting, because it shows even before the attack on the commune, he didn't really get it. The "glorious evolution" is very "Absolute Idea" of him, imagining history has an end point.
But of course the more important part is his monologue at the end of the episode.
To quote directly: "I understand now. The message hidden within the pattern. The reason for our failures in the commune. The doctor was right. It's inescapable. Humanity. Our very essence. Our emotions. Rage, compassion, hate, two sides of the same coin, inextricably bound. That which inspires us to our greatest good, is also the cause of our greatest evil."
Very dialectical, right? He's talking about the unity of opposites. But what's interesting is where he goes from there.
Viktor sees that contradiction, and thinks the solution is to resolve the contradiction, to end it, to solve it like a puzzle.
But what's essential about the unity of opposites is that they don't resolve. They don't cancel each other out, they don't form some lukewarm whole, they co-exist as opposites. A magnet isn't a homogenous mix of positive and negative charges, it has two poles, that's what makes a magnet what it is. The contradictions of a thing are what give it it's characteristics, what give it its movement, and its life. Life itself is a contradiction, an ongoing process of decay and rebirth.
Viktor talks about "The sublime intersection of order and chaos," but he doesn't get what's important about it, that the contradiction is the source of life.
But that's something Ekko does understand.
Ekko's experience is not entirely dissimilar from Viktor's. They both saw the problems in society, and for both of them their response was to try to build these idylic little communes. But they couldn't wall themselves off from broader society, the conflicts of the world made their way in.
But while Viktor concluded that the thing to do was to eliminate contradiction, Ekko learned that the inherent contradiction of life means that there is inherent potential in everything, potential for change, for good alongside bad, and that you can fight to make the potential good into reality.
An end to contradiction means an end to change, which means an end to life. Imperfection is life, perfection is static and dead. This is something that Viktor learns eventually, with future Viktor saying, "I thought I could bring an end to the world's suffering. But when every equation was solved, all that remained were fields of dreamless solitude. There is no prize to perfection, only an end to pursuit."
Ekko represents the true, living intersection of order and chaos, the potential that exists in the contradiction. He represents life. And it's because of that that he's able to stop Viktor.
Viktor is insanely over-powered by the end of the show. It's not sheer power that stops him. It's Ekko using the potential of the moment with his time power who's able to get in a hit against Viktor. And to hit him with the thing that Ekko has mastered, the Z-drive, the physical embodiment of the present, of the meeting of past and future, of potential, of contradiction.
For all of Viktor's efforts, he can't erase contradiction. He thinks he's fixing humanity, but then all of a sudden he's hit with this thing that shouldn't exist. "That device can't be." But it is. It exists because of the potential within humanity, it exists because of Ekko.
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cicerfics · 3 days ago
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(@rudolphsb9)
This is very true!
Now, there are some scenes in the films where it kind of feels like it's implied Bond has his own money to spend. Like, he owns a flat in London and he seems able to manage even when M freezes his credit cards. And she makes such a point of telling Tanner to freeze all of Bond's cards, which I always took to mean his personal cards as well as (presumably?) his 'company' cards.
But I don't know! Perhaps the London flat is owned by MI6 and it's a perk offered to active-duty double-ohs (and thus rescinded/sold when the agents die or are retired)? Maybe Bond just scrounges up money via gambling and other illicit sources, and uses that for his personal funds?
I don't know! It is very possible that Bond is from an 'old money' family, but by his generation, the wealth has disappeared and nothing is left but a crumbling old estate that costs more to maintain than it generates in revenue! This is a common enough situation!
I do think it's interesting if Bond doesn't actually have any money of his own but he's held onto the Skyfall estate. I mean, presumably keeping it actually costs money, no? So, if he doesn't have money to burn, I am interested to know how/why he hangs onto it.
The film tries to make us believe that Bond has no attachment to the estate, but that's never held water with me. Just doesn't feel consistent with Bond's character somehow, or even his choice to use Skyfall as an improvised safehouse. His very choice to return there made me feel like he has some attachment to the place.
And, of course, if he's gone to the trouble/expense of keeping the place, when he could more easily sell it and have some money to play with, that must be an emotional decision, surely...? All the more so if keeping is actually an expense that Bond has had to find a way to shoulder!
...Now I'm interested in a situation where, post-Skyfall, Bond is pretty much reduced to having to sell the land, simply because there's nothing left of the estate he can even use to generate enough income to cover the taxes and so forth.
And now I'm imagining Q being very concerned about this decision and asking Bond if he's sure he really wants to sell. If Bond's kept the family land all these years, surely it's important to him? Surely he doesn't want to sell...?
And Bond bluntly states that it's just a matter of cost: he can't afford to keep it, so it's got to go. That's that. Decision made.
And Q blurts out, "Oh. Well, if it's just about the money...I could buy it for you?"
And Bond stares.
"Q," he says. "The estate agent has listed the property at £2 million."
"Oh!" Q says. "Oh, that's well below what I would've expected, really, given the size of the acreage...I suppose the incident with Silva must have knocked down the price quite a bit...well, but it's something of a bargain, at that price. Do you want me to buy it? Or give you the money so you can buy the property back?"
And Bond just...bluescreens.
And that's how he discovers that his new quartermaster has money-money.
...I am too lazy to go digging through my blog and find my previous posts about sugar-baby!Bond, but. I really do love him with my whole heart and soul.
Spoiled brat. Useless creature. Always pestering his husband for new toys and watches and shoes until he gives in. Proudly presenting himself as arm candy whenever Q has to go to a fancy dinner or something.
I love he. 💖
The canonical evidence for 'does Bond actually have money?' is sooooo inconsistent. Post-Skyfall, I've always worked under the assumption he does.
But there was that scene in Casino Royale where Vesper did her little cold reading and guessed that Bond was a scholarship kid who had a fancy education but effectively was a charity case who was contemptuous of rich people, and it's implied by Bond's reaction that she was right.
And then that scene where Bond basically told Vesper 'lol let's run away together!! until we run out of money and somebody has to get a job to support us. which will be you. because i don't know how. 😍'
So, IDK. I like old-money Bond, but I also like a Bond who has no actual money of his own and just lives large at the taxpayer expense.
And needless to say, I like a Bond who's just flouncing around HQ like 'i don't really understand how money works! or how to pay bills or take care of myself! but i like pretty things!!! 🥰'...until Q decides he has to take pity on him, and agrees to let Bond fulfill his ultimate destiny of Useless Trophy Husband, with all his needs provided for by Q and his tech-patent money.
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blanket-fish · 3 days ago
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Squid game season 2 characters ranked by whether I think they'll survive season 3:
(in order of most to least likely)
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My girl Jun-hee is the only one I'm reasonably sure is surviving this thing. She's gotten this far in late stage pregnancy, so she won't die easily, and she's got so many peope in her corner (possibly including Mr Frontman himself, though it's hard to be certain).
(am I delusional? maybe. Maybe.)
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My reasoning is this: Her co-character (Young-mi) is dead already, so Hyun-ju, as the only remaining member of the pair, has a higher chance of surviving. Also, she's the coolest person in the cast, and that power will shield her from death. Because I say so.
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HES NOT DEAD. HES NOT DEAD. WE ONLY SAW HIM GET SHOT, HE COULD SURVIVE THAT!!
Ahem. Anyway, triangle 11 is gonna get him through this. Trust me.
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These two are together because the most likely scenario is that one of them survives and the other dies. Which one is which? Honestly not sure. You could argue Yong-sik because thematically, he could make amends for putting her in this position in the first place, and you could argue Geum-ja because she's said she doesn't want to live without him and the potential foreshadowing during mingle. Could go either way.
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Full disclosure, I forgot about her when making this. Middle of the list she goes. She's not really important enough to survive, but the potential bitterness of her surviving, when other characters that aren't assholes don't, feels very squid game. So.
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Oh Min-su. He could easily die. Maybe saving someone, to thematically "make up" for Se-mi, or maybe for another reason, but I don't think he's likely to survive. But, ultimately, I can imagine it happening, unlike anyone lower on this list.
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Losing Thanos means that Nam-gyu is now the default asshole within the players (apart from player 100, I guess), so he's probably gonna die. The only way I see that not happening is if he joins the resistance because he's mad about Thanos's death, or something. But yeah. That's not likely.
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This hurts. I want Dae-ho to survive so badly. But if I'm really honest with myself, it's not gonna happen. He's got so many death flags. He didn't bring the magazines back, so he's already gonna be guilty about that, and he doesn't even know Jung-bae is dead yet. That screams redemptive sacrifice. I just- This one kills me.
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This man is dying for Jun-hee.
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adilqalbi · 23 hours ago
Text
It Could Never Be
my submission for the first prompt of 14 Days of Love
I chose idiots in love
pairing: alexandre bontemps x renee de noailles
rating: g
summary: alexandre is in love with renee but he's in denial.
word count: 826
tagging: @rc-catalog
author's note: i think i have a thing for men who will die for their loves but are in denial about it.
additional note: this was written in half an hour, it's not beta - read because we die like men around here
Alexandre sat on his sturdy armchair at his table, teacup in hand, filled almost to the brim with the piping hot beverage. He placed the cup gently on his desk and flexed his shoulder and neck muscles, groaning with relief. He leaned back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling.
It had been another long day of courtly duties. Advising the king, attending meetings, holding celebrations. God, there were so many extravagant celebrations and he had the burden of ensuring everything ran smoothly. 
He loved being the valet to his king, but sometimes he regretted his life choices. 
Alexandre took a sip from his tea, savouring the rich flavour. 
Tea. 
He suddenly remembered Renée liked her tea with cream. 
Renée. Lady Renée de Noailles. 
Brilliant Renée. Playful. Bubbly. A pain in his damn ass. Why did he take her in? He should have reported her thievery to Lady Suzzanne the moment he caught her. But he hadn’t. There was something in her eyes. A spark. Potential. She was meant for something bigger. 
Alexandre took another gulp of his tea. 
Of course, he had to be the one to take on the responsibility to guide Renée to achieving her potential 
He was sick and tired of her antics. She was a magnet for trouble. And he always did his best to get her out of trouble. She was resourceful enough to do it herself but - 
No. 
Alexandre could not go down that line of thought. 
He did not dare to try to entertain it. 
Renée…
He wanted her out of trouble because it would be a hit on his reputation. He was responsible for her and her wellbeing. He had to use her to get to what he wanted. That was the point of their deal. 
He scratches her back and she will scratch his. 
A business transaction. 
So then why did he care so much?
Well, it wasn’t like he hated her or anything. Sure, trouble was her friend and she was annoying with her sharp quips but she was also brilliant. A brilliant orator, a brilliant spy…brilliantly beautiful. 
Wait. That’s not important. 
Alexandre sipped at his tea thoughtfully. He imagined brewing tea for himself and Renée every evening after a long day of work. He would make it perfectly. Hers with cream. He would hand it to her and watch her smile at him as she always did. Her mischievous grin. And they would spend every evening like that, bickering lovingly, drinking their warm tea. Maybe there would be sounds of giggles as young children tip toe around the house past their bedtime. 
Alexandre blinked. What was he thinking? It could never be. He was nothing but a measly valet and Renée… Renée was a noble lady…way past his station. It could never be. 
Never. 
But still, it wouldn’t hurt to delve in imagination. Maybe in another life, where he wasn’t a valet and she wasn’t a noble. 
After a few minutes of living in this fantasy world, he snapped himself out of his reverie, sipping again at his tea. 
Right then - as if she had read his thoughts - came the scratching sound on the adjoining door to the next room. Renée’s room. She was here.
Alexandre masked his surprise immediately, after all, he was always used to wearing one. He straightened up and looked calmly at the woman who had entered his room. He never told this to her, but Alexandre loved that she trusted him so much. To be able to enter someone’s private chambers shamelessly, without fear of humiliation or discomfort, was perhaps the greatest form of intimacy one could have. Sure, there were higher forms of intimacy than that, but Alexandre will take what he can get.
Renée hopped slightly from foot to foot, nervous. After a moment of silence, she finally broke it: ‘I apologize for the intrusion, Alexandre. It’s just…I did not know what to do.’’
Alexandre immediately stood up from his place, concern evident in his eyes, concern he didn’t care to hide, not in front of her. ‘’What’s wrong?’’ He asked softly.
Renée bit her lip, ‘’I had a…nightmare. And I don’t know why I came here, but you were closest to me.’’
Alexandre paused. A nightmare. And she came to him. 
He pressed his lips together. Slowly, he put forward his arms and even slower did Renée walk to him and sink into his chest. 
A moment of intimacy. 
A secret that burned his throat begging to come out. He pressed his lips together, tighter than before. It would not come out. He would take it to his grave if he had to. 
Because it could never be. But at the present moment, it was. 
He rubbed Renée’s back. Repetitive motion. Up and down. Up and down. 
He felt his neck wet with warmth as she sobbed softly. He let her cry and cry and neither of them knew how long they stood there. 
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leafnyx · 14 hours ago
Note
I definitely need a part 2 of the Nam-Gyu x male reader you posted! It was subtly cute asf
Death Games and Attachments # 2 (Nam-gyu x male reader)
Word count: 5.5k
Warnings: American reader ‼️, gunshots, betrayal, canon divergence, no forks 🍴, no use of y/n, dead characters in canon don’t die, probably ooc, Nam-gyu & reader aren’t together but have feelings for eachother, not proof read
Setting: Season 2 Episode 6
A/n: omg my first fic ask!!! I was thinking about writing a part 2 anyways but this gave me the push to do it :]
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Faint music plays over the speakers in the room as you slowly begin to wake up. You open your eyes, your sight still a bit fuzzy, and see the blank ceiling of the game’s sleeping room.
The music is now louder as you realize you aren’t at home but at this game. You do somewhat wish you were back home but you push that thought to the back of your mind, you have more important things to worry about, with the man who is sleeping next you you and who you are hugging.
You quickly untangle yourself from Nam-gyu, your bodies craving the warmth of the other while you were sleeping.
Nam-gyu still seems to be sound asleep, snoring quietly, but you decide to wake him up. The next game will probably be staring soon.
You shake Nam-gyu softly, then a bit more rough when the first doesn’t wake him up.
His snoring stops and he lets out an irritated groan as he pushes your hands away.
“Fuck off bitch, let me sleep” He says towards you, probably trying to sound intimidating but he doesn’t at all because of how much he slurs his words, still half asleep.
“The next games starting soon, come on” You say, tapping him on the shoulder for emphasis.
He opens his eyes, blinking away the tiredness, more willing to get up after hearing your voice. He seemed to not realize the fact that he was in the games previously as now a look of dread somewhat crosses his face. You question that, since you haven’t seen him with that expression yet. It’s probably the lack of drugs.
“Why do they make us do these games so early” Nam-gyu groans and pushes himself up into a sitting position beside you.
You shrug. Nam-gyu quickly scans around the room, his eyes landing on Thanos and probably his drugs.
“Let’s get with the rest of the group” Nam-gyu says, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and onto the stairs. He puts the white shoes on and quickly rushes towards where Thanos has gathered with Se-mi and Min-su.
You quickly follow suit, putting your shoes on and tailing behind him.
“Nam-su, [name], good morning!” Thanos says excitedly, in English. Nam-gyu doesn’t bother correcting the name as he sits down beside Thanos and whispers something to him.
You sit down beside Nam-gyu and Se-mi gives you a deadpan, knowing, look. Most likely referring to Nam-gyu.
Thanos pulls out his cross and opens it, handing one of the brightly colored pills to Nam-gyu who quickly pops it into his mouth.
Thanos tucks the cross back under his collar.
The drugs seem to kick in quickly, a minute or so later Nam-gyu is already looking more up beat.
Right on time too, the masked guards walk into the room and announce that the next game is starting.
“No matter what game is next we’ll kick ass” Nam-gyu says, practically bouncing from where he’s standing. He goes up beside you, now directly talking to you. “I’ll help you through the next game if you don’t know what to do, ok?” He’s close enough to you that your arms are practically rubbing against each other.
“Alright” You reply, glad for the assured help.
You and your team get into a line, following one of the guards through the maze of stairs. You have to admit, as weird and terrible as the games are, the sets are pretty cool looking.
You reach the end of the stairs and walk into a large room with a bunch of doors on the walls, too many to count at first glance. There’s also a circular platform in the middle of the room with three statues of horses in the middle, it looks like a merry-go-round.
“Your next game will be mingle” The almost robotic sounding woman’s voice rings out through the room.
“Mingle?” Nam-gyu says.
“Mingle!” Thanos yells suddenly, making the people around him, including you, flinch. “I remember this game! They call out a random number and you have to get into groups with that number.” Thanos says.
“Oh yeah!” Nam-gyu says. “I remember this game! We’ll be fine as long as they don’t call out a number less than 5.”
“They definitely will” Se-mi says.
Nam-gyu doesn’t pay her any attention as he hops along beside Thanos who is now sprinting towards the circle.
You follow behind the two of them with Se-mi and Min-su.
The 5 of you huddle up on the circle as the lights turn off and the circle suddenly starts rotating.
You get pushes off balance slightly, holding onto Nam-guy’s shoulder so you don’t fall over. He doesn’t seem to mind.
Lights turn on in the middle of the circle and music starts up. Thanos begins beating his fist upwards to the beat of the music, Nam-gyu grinning and nodding his head beside him.
You feel nervous, worried that they’re gonna make you split up the first round. Suddenly the platform stops and the woman’s voice calls out a number. “10”
You look around frantically. You need five more people.
“We need five more!” Se-mi calls out, taking initiative.
“Five!” Nam-gyu yells.
A person bumps into you in all the chaos but you don’t fall over.
“How many” She quickly says.
“Five” You reply.
“We’re five too! Come with us!”
“I found a group!” You yell towards your team as the girl rounds up her group.
“Let’s go!” Thanos yells out in English, running towards a door labeled 47. Everyone follows him, dashing into the room. 10 seconds left.
You run into the room, being the second to enter after Thanos. You’re not able to slow down in time and slam into the back wall. Quickly, you turn around to see the rest of the group.
Nam-gyu runs in with Se-mi and Min-su, the other group of five following suit, all running in. The last person in shuts the door as the timer hits zero.
You let out a sigh of relief as Thanos cheers. Nam-gyu begins cheering as well, seeming to do everything Thanos does now. The other group with you looks uncomfortable, you see that all of them have red X patches.
“Let’s go team!” Thanos yells out in English again. No one seems to fully understand what he’s saying but they get the message.
“Woo!” Nam-gyu yells.
After yelling towards their hearts content the two go quiet, the room now silent. You can hear the gunshots outside. People from the other team flinch slightly at the sound. You begin to wonder how many people just died but you push that thought to the back of your mind.
Nam-gyu goes to stand beside you, nudging his shoulder against you, grinning. You do your best to replicate and smile back.
Thanos raps under his breath, hoping his head almost violently. You can hear the sound of machinery outside. They’re most likely bringing coffins in for the bodies.
You hate how the coffins look like gift boxes, it feels disrespectful but you suppose it doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. The game is horrible itself, what does it matter what coffins the brutalized bodies are put in.
The lock on the door clicks open and Thanos immediately rushes out. You follow after him, walking, with Nam-gyu beside you. You step into something sticky, blood. Your face twists into a look of disgust as you look at the sole of your shoe.
Nam-gyu stood infront of you and looks back. You quickly walk forward towards him and the two of you step onto the circle where the rest of the group already is.
The room goes dark again, the circle moving. You now expect the jolt do you don’t move as much, your feet planted on the ground. The middle of the circle lights up and music starts.
Out of the corner of your eye you see Thanos nudge Nam-gyu and say something to him, though you can’t hear it over the music. Nam-gyu looks confused but Thanos links arms with him and begins dancing in a circle. Nam-gyu quickly catches on, grinning and shaking his hand as he skips around.
You’re somewhat jealous of how carefree the two of them are. You know it’s the drugs working but still. You now somewhat wish you’d asked Thanos for drugs. Before you can finish your thought process the circle jolts to a stop and the number is called out. “Four.”
You panic, there are five of you. All of you look around at each other, one has to leave. You want to sacrifice yourself, say you can go and find a group, but you’re frozen in place out of fear.
“Min-su” Se-me says. “Come with me, we can find a group.”
Min-su glances around quickly before grabbing Se-mi by the hand. The two of them run off leaving you as a group of three.
“That fucking bitch! I knew we couldn’t trust her!” Nam-gyu yells out at the same time as Thanos yells, “Min-su! My boy!”
You quickly glance around and your eyes catch on to a man yelling that he needs a group of three, his patch reads 001. You quickly rush over to him. You look back for a second and you see a look of betrayal on Nam-guy’s face. You quickly look back forward as you come to a stop before 001.
“We’re a group of three!” You yell above the chaos. His head quickly turns to you and he nods, following you as you run back to Nam-gyu and Thanos. Nam-gyu looks relieved as you run back.
“Come on!” You yell, running towards the first room you see with an open door. You don’t look back, knowing the three will follow you.
You run into the room and Thanos, Nam-gyu, and 001 follow in quickly. 001 shuts the door as you look towards the timer, 2 seconds left.
As the door clicks shut Nam-gyu begins to speak.
“I knew those pussies would betray us! You can’t trust women, man, and Min-su basically a woman.”
001 looks irritated. You now remember on the first day where 001 broke up a fight between Thanos, Nam-gyu, and that crypto bro. He was probably the worst person you could have brought but at least you’re all alive.
Thanos pushes up against the door, looking through the crack.
“Min-su!” He yells, acting like he actually cared for him.
Nam-gyu lets out a huff and leans against the wall beside you. His arm touching yours again. You only now realize how touchy he’s been. With anyone else you’d assume they might like you but you think this is just how Nam-gyu is. After all you saw how clingy he is with Thanos.
“Fucking bitch..” He mumbles, still not over the betrayal. You sigh.
“It doesn’t matter,” You tell him. “We’re alive and her and Min-su are off somewhere else. We can survive with just the three of us, we don’t need them.”
He looks over at you and lights up slightly. “You’re right, we don’t need those fuckers.”
“Hell yeah! Thanos team!” Thanos barges into the conversation, not caring about Min-su anymore.
He puts his hand face down in the air, after a second you realize what he’s doing and place your hand onto of his. Nam-gyu puts his hand over yours.
Thanos counts from three and the three of you lift your hands up and Thanos yells “let’s go!” In English.
Somehow, that made you feel a bit better. Just barely, as you can hear the fading gun shots in the background.
001 stands off to the side, not talking, just observing.
“We don’t need any girls!” Thanos says, bringing your attention back to him.
“Yeah, girls are weak anyways” Nam-gyu continues.
You don’t add onto what they’re saying, Se-mi seemed fairly strong but that doesn’t matter anymore. It’s just the three of you.
The door unblocks and once again thanos is the first to rush out. Nam-gyu bouncing along behind him. You follow Nam-gyu with 001 behind you.
Before you can say anything to him, 001 rushes off, probably back to his own group.
“What do you think the next number is gonna be?” Nam-gyu asks you, putting his arm around your shoulders.
“Hopefully three, then we wouldn’t need any more or less.” You reply.
Nam-gyu hums as a response as you glance around, unconsciously looking for Se-mi and Min-su. Your eyes lock onto them, walking out from a room with a random player. Min-su locks eyes with you but immediately looks away, probably for the best.
It starts up again, this time though Nam-gyu and Thanos don’t dance along to the music, the just stand there.
“3”
“Let’s go team Thanos!” Thanos calls out, making a sprint toward the door. Nam-gyu grins at you, your prediction correct. The two of you follow behind Thanos. You enter the room with 20 seconds left to spare.
“You were right!” Nam-gyu says, paying your shoulder.
“We got lucky.” You smile, somewhat genuinely for the first time since you joined these games, relieved that you don’t need to give anyone up.
20 second pass, the door locks, and gunshots ring out. To your shock, and slight disgust, you’ve gotten used to the gunshots and screams.
Your smile fades from the sound.
“We’re good at this.” Nam-gyu says.
“It’s cause we’re fast, and young, we can get to the rooms in time.” Thanos replies, shifting from foot to foot, unable to stand still.
“Hell yeah, it’s good that the weaklings got left behind, we don’t have to get dragged down by them. They’re probably dead by now anyways.”
“Do you think mg coin is dead?” Thanos asks.
“God I hope so”
“Why do you guys hate him so much?” You ask.
“He scammed us man!” Nam-gyu exclaims.
“That piece of shit scammed me out of all the money I got by busting my ass rapping!” Thanos says.
“You both bought the crypto?”
“He said we’d get more money.” Nam-gyu says.
“Huh, alright” You refrain yourself from making a comment about how stupid it is to trust some random guy on the internet with your money, especially when it comes to crypto.
The door clicks open and all of you walk out, Thanos first. As he steps out of the door he says “welcome back, my friends” in English, followed by Nam-gyu saying “skrrt!” You hold back a laugh.
You’re shocked with how quickly you’ve gotten attached to Nam-gyu, a warm dealing spreading through your body. You suspect it’s because you’re stuck here in this horrible place with him. Your mind latched on to the first person you got somewhat close with.
But you don’t feel nearly as close to Thanos as you do with him. You push this thought off, deciding to deal with it after the game.
The the of you reach the circle again and the process repeats.
“6”
Three more.
“We need three!” Nam-gyu yells out.
“Three people!” You yell alongside him.
Your eyes look frantically around and you spot three people. Se-mi, Min-su, and one other. You have no other choice.
“Come on!” You grab Nam-gyu and Thanos and run towards them. Se-mi spots you and begins running with Min-su and the other guy towards an open door. You run in behind her with Thanos and Nam-gyu, shutting the door once the six of you are in.
The awkwardness is immediately palpable, everyone seems uncomfortable. Except for Thanos, of course.
“Min-su! My boy! I was so scared you died!” He goes over and hugs Min-so, who tries to wiggle away from him.
Nam-gyu scowls.
“This means nothing.” Se-mi says. “We split up again after this round.”
“Yeah, I’m not being with these pussies again. They’re just being us down.”
“Calm down” Thanos says, putting his arms out.
“We weren’t-“ Nam-gyu gets cut off by Thanos again.
“Se-mi is right, we don’t talk about this, the Thanos team doesn’t include Se-mi, Min-su and the random.” Thanos says, suddenly sounding serious, but you know that he isn’t actually.
Nam-gyu seems disappointed that Thanos remembers Se-mi and Min-su’s names but not his. Se-mi seems disappointed that she’s agreeing with an idiot like Thanos.
The room goes quiet again, Thanos nodding his head a beat only he can hear and everyone else feeling too weird to talk.
The door clicks open and the six of you walk out.
“Final round” The voice calls out. You let out a sigh of relief, glad that you have to only deal with one more of these rounds.
You step onto the platform, Thanos and Nam-gyu beside you. Se-mi and Min-su walk to the other side of the circle.
The lights shut off and the platform begins to move. The light in the middle turns on along with the music.
You begin to zone out, the bright colors all blurring I your vision and the music getting quiet.
The music stops.
“2”
You quickly snap back, two. There’s three of you. One has to go.
You look wide eyed at the two men beside you.
Thanos quickly shakes his head from side to side, between you and Nam-gyu. He’s still not taking any of this seriously and it’s beginning to piss you off.
Thanos quickly stops and grabs Nam-gyu by the arm, running off. You freeze in place as Nam-gyu looks back at you. He looks regretful, being dragged along more than actually following.
But his survival instinct is stronger than any bond you thought both of you had.
A wave of betrayal goes through you, more than you’ve ever felt before, more than when Se-mi and Min-su left you.
You thought maybe Nam-gyu was as attached you you as you were to him but you were wrong. All he cares about is survival, not you. You suppose you can’t blame him though.
Suddenly, snapping you out of your thoughts, someone grabs you and drags you towards the one empty room, pushing you in and closing the door before the timer stops and the door locks.
The man lets out a sigh, you recognize him as the person with Se-mi and Min-su.
You don’t care all that much, though. Emotions crashing down onto you, all the adrenaline leaving your body leaving you feeling deflated.
You lean up against the wall, exhausted even though it probably hasn’t been more than an hour. You just want to go back to sleep, you want to go home.
You don’t think about the fact that you won’t even have a home if you don’t get enough money. But that doesn’t matter now.
The minute or so you spend in the room feels both like an eternity and lite it was over in a second. The lock clicks open and you walk out, not bothering to speak to the guy who saved you.
You don’t look around the room, not wanting to see Nam-gyu or Thanos now. You keep your head down and follow the pink guard out and back into the stairwell.
After a minute of walking you enter back into the ‘bedroom’, you’re one of the last people in. The mood is somber, theres not many people left.
“[Name]!” You hear someone rushing towards you, you recognize the voice as Thanos, the last person you want to see right now.
He hugs you, a feeling that makes you want to crawl out of your own skin, and of course Nam-gyu is behind him. Though Nam-gyu doesn’t look very happy.
“I’m so happy to see you again bro!” Thanos says in English, smothering you in a hug. You give up trying to escape as he unwraps from you, still holding on to your shoulders.
“”I thought I was running with you the I looked back and saw I was with this idiot” He points to Nam-gyu who tries his best to smile and laugh.
“Come on, let’s play just one more game, alright?” Thanos says, wrapping an arm around your shoulder and walking you towards you guys’ spot on the stairs. Nam-gyu follows.
Right when you guys reach the spot, guards enter through the front and announce that it’s time to vote. It’s from last number to first.
The voting starts with 456 who votes X, from then the votes seem fairly split.
Thanks goes up to vote and kisses the blue button. The thought of how many dirty hands had touched that before him makes you grossed out.
Nam-gyu goes up, but not before telling you once more to vote blue, sounding less convincing than he was before.
“Just one more game”
It’s your turn to vote now, you walk up to the podium and stare at the two brightly colored buttons before you.
Even though Thanos and Nam-gyu had just betrayed you, leaving you for dead, their words keep repeating in your head. ‘Just one more game’. The button lights up blue under your hand and you walk over to your side.
Even if you did go home now, you have no money. The amount that they’re offering now is good, but it’s not enough. You’ll soon be back to where you were before this game.
Either way you’ll probably end up dead, if not literally then figuratively. But still, you can’t help that part of your mind that yearns for home, even if that home is a shitty studio apartment that you can barely pay for.
You don’t pay attention to Thanos patting you on the back, saying that ‘he knew you would make the right choice’ and ‘he’s proud of you’.
Nam-gyu continues to stay unusually silent, almost like he feels bad for leaving you. You remember the look on his face as he ran off with Thanos.
The drugs are probably just wearing off.
The last person goes up to vote, 001. He stands there for a second, like he’s contemplating which button to push, but in the end he pushes red.
You look up at the board and it’s 50/50. A tie.
The guards say that you will all be able to vote again tomorrow for a tie breaker. You don’t mind this all that much, it gives you some time to get your shit together and hopefully even if you do say there will be a break from the games for the day.
The voting buttons are taken out and food is brought in. You, Thanos, and Nam-gyu are some for the first few people getting food so it’s not soon before you walk off with it to your spot on the stairs.
You do want to split off from these two, but it’s probably better to stay in a team, just in case. And now atleast you know that you can’t fully trust them, so if you get too suspicious you can break off and find someone else, maybe Se-mi and Min-su if they’re willing to let you back in.
You don’t acknowledge another part of the reason you want to stay with them. You’re still attached to Nam-gyu, you don’t want to leave him. Even though you’re pissed at him, you still want to stay for whatever reason.
You unwrap the food you were given and see sushi inside, atleast it looks good.
Only now do you realize how hungry you are. You haven’t eaten since yesterday and even then it was just some bread. You quickly eat one of the pieces of sushi. It isn’t amazing but it’s food. You scarf down the rest of it.
Once you finish your food you wish there was more, you’re still hungry, but there’s nothing you can do.
You drink the soda that you had forgotten about the second you saw the sushi.
“This soda tasted like shit” Nam-gyu says, breaking the silence.
“It’s like knock-off coke” You reply.
“Yeah! They tried to make coke but it just tastes like dirt.”
“I think dirt would taste better than this.”
Nam-gyu snickers and you smile faintly. You hate how easily you’re talking to him, like none of the last hour happened. You wish you could hate Nam-gyu, but you know that you don’t. Well maybe you do a little bit but not enough. Thanos, though, you do hate. But there’s nothing you can do about that, the two of them are basically a package. Buy one get one free.
As if on cue Thanos speaks up. “Those fuckers voted red”
You look to where Thanos is pointing and see Se-mi and Min-su.
“I knew that bitch was bad news from the beginning, we should kill her.” Nam-gyu says.
“Let’s just talk to her and Min-su first” Thanos replies.
You know that ‘talk’ will probably lead to a fight so you bud into the conversation.
“Let’s not, we should just leave them be, they aren’t worth our time” Both Nam-gyu and Thanos look over at you. “They’ll probably die in the next game with how weak they are, let’s just let nature take her course.”
You say the last part to save face, trying to not seem like the odd-one-out of the three of you.
Nam-gyu gives in easily, agreeing with you. It takes Thanos a bit more time though, but be eventually agrees.
The peace doesn’t last for long though. A group of O’s and X’s begin arguing in the middle of the room.
Thanos seems too eager to join the argument. Before you can stop him he jumps up and runs forward.
You lean back, giving up trying to stop him from being stupid, it seems like it’s just part of him.
To your shock Nam-gyu doesn’t follow Thanos and stays put in his seat.
“You’re not going with him? That’s a first” You say, jokingly bashing Nam-gyu.
“I don’t feel like arguing right now, I’m too tired.”
“That’s fair. You just usually follow along behind Thanos like a lost puppy.”
“No I don’t, I’m more like a guard dog. People see Thanos and they’re like ‘okay this guy looks stupid and weak’ but then they see me and they’re like ‘oh shit I can’t mess with him!’ Ya know?”
You barely hold your laugh in until Nam-gyu finishes his spiel, then you can’t help how you laugh in his face.
“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard” You say, gasping between breaths before laughing again.
“Oh come on! It’s not that funny.” Nam-gyu looks embarrassed, that makes you laugh even more, until your stomach hurts.
“Oh my god, I haven’t laughed that hard in so long.”
“Asshole”
A feeling of disgust passes through your brain, you’re having this much fun with some asshole who just left you for dead, but you don’t dwell on it, preferring to focus on the good mood.
“You’re not an attack dog, look at you!”
“What do you mean look at me?!”
“You’re more like a tamed hyena, you follow behind Thanos and snicker and taunt along to his comments.”
“I’m the leader of the group, not him.”
“As if”
Nam-gyu rolls his eyes.
“Then you’re like a ratty street cat, we picked you up and you just stuck with us”
Before you can think of a comeback Thanos sits back down.
“Those asshole X’s” He says, practically pouting. “Who do they think they are.”
The fight looks fully broke up, everyone back in their previous spots with their groups.
“Thanos,” Nam-gyu says suddenly, having just remembered something. “Can I have another, you know”
“Yeah yeah, a reward for getting through the game.”
Nam-gyu grins.
Your stomach twists at the mention of the game but you ignore it.
Nam-gyu looks over at you and motions towards the cross Thanos is taking out of his jacket, as if to offer you one again.
But your mind hasn’t changed since yesterday so you shake your head.
“Hey man you can’t just go offering up my pills, we’re running low on stock.”
“I know I know, just gimme”
Thanos hands Nam-gyu a pink pill and Nam-gyu immediately puts it in his mouth and swallows it. Thanos grabbing another for himself and doing the same thing.
It feels a bit odd being the only sober one here but you’re not gonna give in to your fomo.
“After this game I should have enough to pay off my debts.” Nam-gyu says. But you know in reality it’ll never be enough, it’ll always be ‘just one more game’.
You’re gonna click X after the next game. Probably.
“Yeah bro, and then mg coin can pay us back” Nam-gyu eagerly nods along to Thanos’ words. You don’t bother to comment on the fact that they said, earlier today, that they hoped he was dead.
The woman voice on the speaker says you have 30 minutes until bed and the screen lights up with the timer.
It hasn’t felt like a whole day has passed, maybe the game took more than the hour you thought it did. Or maybe you just don’t have a good internal clock.
Thanos lets out a loud, dramatic, yawn.
“I’m tired man, that game took too much out of me.”
“Yeah, I’m ready pass out.” Nam-gyu says, agreeing with Thanos as per usual.
“Mhm” You hum, but you’re not all that tired, similarly to last night.
“Do you think any of the X’s are gonna switch sides?” Nam-gyu asks Thanos.
“Nah man, they’re all stubborn as hell, they won’t listen to reason.”
“Shit, well we can’t have another tie, it’ll drag this on longer. I just wanna be out of here with my money.”
“Yeah bro, I miss my vape” Thanos says, speaking like this vape is his child.
“I’m craving a cigarette so bad” Nam-gyu says.
You still don’t fully know how you got caught up in this group of junkies but it doesn’t matter now.
“I need to piss” Thanos says suddenly, not holding back with how he speaks.
You realize that you haven’t peed all day so you decide to go along. Nam-gyu follows the both of you.
The three of you enter the bathroom and piss, you finishing first.
You go up to the sink and wash your hands before getting some water and splashing it on your face, getting a bit into your hair too but not drenching it. You grab a paper towel and wipe your face as well as your hands.
You look back to the other two to see if they’re done and you catch Nam-gyu staring at you. Once he realizes you saw him he looks away, pretending like he wasn’t ogling at you.
The three of you walk out of the door, through the hallway, and back into the main room.
You look up at the screen which says 20 minutes.
“I’m gonna head to bed early” You say even though you aren’t too tired, you just don’t want to sit around for another 20 minutes.
“Goodnight bro” Thanos says in English. Why does he speak in English so much?
“Night” Nam-gyu says.
You nod towards them and walk up to your bead, taking your shoes off and climbing in.
You get yourself under the covers and just lay there, staring at the ceiling. You can hear the noise of 99 people talking around you but you’re not close enough to any conversation to hear what exactly they’re saying.
Soon enough the timer says 10 minutes, the chatter dying down, then it hits 0 and the lights go out. Everything is now quiet, almost eerily so.
You hear footsteps walking up the stairs and you think you already know who it is if yesterday was any indication. You look over and see Nam-gyu who says nothing this time but you scoot over in the bed and he quickly gets in.
He isn’t even trying to make an excuse this time, and you don’t fully know why you’re letting him sleep beside you. You think part of you craves the closeness, especially in this situation.
Nam-gyu gets under the sheets and turns away, lying on his side and looking towards the other beds.
You move your arm over and lay it over Nam-gyu’s body. You immediately regret it, feeling somewhat embarrassed at the thought that he might not reciprocate, and try to pull your arm back but Nam-gyu grabs it. He hold your arm to his chest. You don’t try to move it away anymore.
You don’t know why you decided to hug him in the first place. Could you have developed feelings for him in the span of a day? Maybe, and It seems like he might have caught feelings for you as well.
Like yesterday you begin to get tired with Nam-gyu there with you.
After a few minutes you give in and fall asleep.
——
A/n 2 - I don’t plan on writing a third part because if I did it would probably be them out of the games (majority voted X) but if anyone would want to read that lmk
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candyswirls · 24 hours ago
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Can we get Neoth panicking about Lilith's existence and thinking her a monster before realizing she's just like any other ten year old when she starts purring in his lap?
Well, and animalistic as well as cannibalistic due to the blood drinking, but she's fine, she just has the same markings as some African grass finch chicks have-
He rested his head on his fist, watching his grandchild. What did he do to merit this within her?
She had happily given him a wide, opened mouth smile. Those spots within her mouth and cheeks... inhuman. He felt guilt as she saw his expression and quickly pulled back.
What did this mean, though?
His mind ran through all the various gene-splicing he'd done when creating his sons. Was it his decision? What about Amar and Erda? No, he closely monitored the project.
This had to be his fault. Sanguinius had been worried. She wasn't growing and was turning a sickly pale shade. Weaker than usual. Duller.
She seemed interested enough in her hobbies, and he gladly indulged in it. He offered her a skull to carve into. He'd have been worried if this interest had Dorn not told him how they bonded over the shared aspect of each other's cultures.
Still, he questioned if this was the surface of something for more morbid.
She sat at the base of the throne steps.
"I usually use the tibia or humerus," she stated as she inspected the designs around the eye sockets.
"Not the femur?" He questioned, trying to keep the conversation going. He wouldn't ignore or dismiss her.
"No," she said. "It's too bulky for the types of designs and artistic vision I have. The really hard part is the small bones, though, like fingers. Lots of little details, and I am bigger than baselines. You have to be careful not to break them. It's considered bad luck and disrespectful to the dead."
He nodded slowly even though she couldn't see.
She continued, "Some say that I could just use astartes skeletons, but they don't offer their own for such purposes, and the ceramic infused bones are hard to carve into."
He raised a brow, "The bones are donated. An interesting aspect."
She looked up at him, "It's seen as a great honor to become a work of art and its also an honor to do it for someone. If you ever wanted I could carve your bones."
He stared a moment, and she laughed, "As if you'd ever die! No, but I think it's important to have that promise there."
He had seen the markings again but forced a smile through, "I am flattered at your offer. No doubt you would do well with my bones."
He was the master of mankind but right now, he had another important duty. Being a grandfather.
She stood and skipped up the steps. She kneeled at the throne, resting her elbows on his lap.
"Since it won't happen, I can show you what I'd do," she stated excitedly.
She pointed out each carving on the skull and what it meant. What she would do for him. How she would do things differently than this skull and others she'd carved into.
"I could use xenos or animal bones too and make you something," she offered. "I just need to find some really good ones."
Her glee was obvious.
He stroked her head, "Your father is very proud, I'm sure. I am as well. You take great care in your work. A worthy endeavor."
A smile crossed her face and she rested a head on his lap.
"Thank you," she said quietly.
He got the distinct impression that she needed to hear that. He continued stroking her head and hair and noticed a low and soothing rumble coming from Lilith. Purring. Like so many of his sons could do.
This put himself at ease as well. She'd be alright. She was very much a child. Only caring for her interests and wanting to have validation. She bore no ill will, and he'd have time to figure out something if anything did happen.
He just hoped there wasnt any romantic traditions with this. Throne forbid the day she developed a crush.
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basilpaste · 19 hours ago
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hey i got into a Media you know what that means.
(im classpecting the beebos. lmao.)
this is not!!!! going to be super in depth!!!!!! im lazy and theres a lot of characters to go through. gonna !!! put it under the cut so its not super long, though.
Beebo - Rogue of Light Light is fortune and information and Rogues steal their aspect for the sake of others. Oliver would be the puzzle solving classpect, taking information and using it for the benefit of the people around him. Rogues also do the stealing thing passively, though. In giving his information away, he also gives away his luck. He's an awfully unlucky guy.
Ángel - Heir of Void Look I know this is Equius's classpect. I try not to overlap. But look at him. Void is the aspect of secrecy and Heirs become their aspect. Things kinda work out for him, but it's not like he fades into the background. He's surrounded by obscurity but his actions are known - it's just the guy himself who's a mystery. Everything Ángel is is a lie.
Vivi - Knight of Heart Heart players are self oriented and Knights serve others. Which makes a Knight of Heart sound oxymoronic. Unless its someone who uses their knowledge of people and their own importance to serve others. Like, I dunno, a reporter who gets someone jailed? The photobook also screams Heart.
Nina - Sylph of Hope Sylphs are considered the 'healer' class, Hope is the aspect of belief. Gestures. She believes in the good of others and on multiple occasions her convictions lead to them bettering themselves. She's also very willing to believe in people who others think don't deserve it. She'll throw herself away for the sake of others.
Marigold - Witch of Mind Witch of Mind is a scary classpect lmao. But more than that Witches are manipulate their aspect. Mind is logical but not always rational. Mari's smart and knows when to put her foot down, she also plans real carefully. But more than that, the combination can lead to her sometimes coming off as cold or uncaring even when she knows she's making the correct choice.
Eugene - Bard of Doom I think being a passive class would piss him off. I think being an aspect associated with death would also piss him off. But for serious: Bards tend to reject their aspect and he lives life like it's a checklist. Like Doom can't come for him if he works hard enough. The house plays into that, he can't die! He passes the Doom onto others. But he can't run forever. Eventually it will catch up to him.
Nadia - Mage of Rage Rage is volatile but Mages have a clear understanding of their aspect. Nadia's an angry kid, y'know? But she uses that to her advantage. She pushes peoples buttons when she needs to and she's not often very outwardly afraid for herself. She serves her own whims but she's still more than willing to go out of her way for people she cares about!
Simon - Page of Blood Pages are the class most likely to be written off and also the one most desperate for approval. Blood is about bonds, connection. Simon tries desperately to gain and maintain the approval of his father only to be repeatedly sidelined and hurt for his desire for that connection. It makes him feel worthless.
Owen - Prince of Light There was bound to be some overlap at some point. And I think it's sweet for Owen's aspect to mirror Oliver's. Princes destroy their aspect with their aspect so they mirror their opposite. Owen takes information and shrouds it in mystery while still giving that information away. He also, unfortunately, ends up pretty unlucky.
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miyakazashi · 3 days ago
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The Burning Hell that is Yingdu Episode 6
I have no idea where to start, so I thought I might as well just write down something like a live reaction, basically how I reacted to the main parts of this episode- not much theories just plain thoughts and yes 44 minutes after the episode finished airing... took me a while, uhh I'm still not okay though, anyways
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Omg this scene was so hilarious, but honestly when I was first watching it I was so stressed out about the whole "someone is gonna die thing" that I processed the joke, but couldn't really laugh, it basically went like- oh haha😆, okay serious talk who's gonna die 😀 but now that it's all over, damn that's hilarious 🤣🤣🤣 they really were not on the same track as Vein and Xia Fei huh🤣
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This whole model scene was so wholesome🥺 and honestly made me chuckle a little, since I was still really stressed- like, you can't tell me someone in the fandom really forgot the main deal of this episode while watching these more lighthearted scenes, no way- anyways I love how cute they are here, plus the song (which I really liked btw) gave me mad idol anime vibes 😆and Lu guang throwing the flower pedals for Xia Fei with a dead pan face is hilarious, will go into detail with this part in another post
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This part freaked me out, like it was definitely the first death flag of the episode for Xia Fei, when he just disappears? Obviously from the trailer we know he's with Liu Xiao- but that's even more unsettling
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The fact that Liu Xiao just shushes him, I can't, I was even more stressed out here, but like I just had a nagging feeling he wouldn't get his hands dirty by killing him so-
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Look, I just find this scene really REALLY odd, like Vein's favoured model of his company disappears and he's just like, "nah it's fine don't worry about him, we have more important stuff here" my first thought was that, I think he's conspiring with Liu Xiao here, they have a plan, and he knows it's succeeded since Xia Fei is gone. I was scared, and started to second guess whether Liu Xiao would kill him or not- but alas with this episode we do not get enough thinking time
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And this just further proves my thoughts when Xia Fei first "disappeared", I bet the one on call with Vein is Liu Xiao. This whole episode was probably their plan I think.
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With Wang Qing ( or rather probably Cxs's mother in Wang Qing's body ) just saying she doesn't have much time left, I was scared it was another death flag, plus the other obvious death flag Cheng Xiaoshi in the room my heart was racing here, like literally I knew I wasn't gonna be prepared for whatever kind of sh*t was about to go down.
Continuing in the next post, cause I don't know anymore
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chunkypossum · 23 hours ago
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Awww thanks for listing me alongside all these amazing fics!!
I'm going to add so I hope anon is looking at reblogs!
Just Enough Light to Cast Shadows by @jules-writes-stories
It just completed and it's so important to me
Eris Vanserra has been plotting to overthrow his father for centuries. But when the High Lord’s removal becomes a matter of life and death, Eris allies with the Day Court. In his desperate quest, he unearths secrets that will change the course of Autumn Court history, and all of Prythian's, even as his mating bond pulls him towards a male who will only ever see him as a cruel prince. Rhysand becomes suspicious, ordering his spymaster to keep watch of the Autumn prince. But the more time Azriel spends with him, the more he is drawn to Eris’s cause. When desire and duty collide, the Shadowsinger is faced with an impossible choice. Will Azriel take Eris at his word, or fulfill his role as Night’s brutal enforcer? And what will become of Autumn’s heir?
A Court of Covert Desire by @fieldofdaisiies
The way she writes them is so soft it makes me want to die
In order to finally bring about change and rule over the Autumn Court instead of his father, Eris has to go to great lengths: Beron must die. Adding to the complexity is his love for someone tied by a bond they desperately want to break. Azriel, the Night Court's shadowsinger and spymaster, disrupts Eris's life unexpectedly. Will Eris succeed in his mission while navigating the turmoil within, or will destiny choose another path for him? .
Decode This Case by @witch-and-her-witcher
couldn't stop reading this one once I started. It was that good!
There couldn't be worse timing for the new allegations against Night Co's coder as Azriel struggles with his emotional state of isolation and loneliness as his family and friends seem to move on without him. Enter Eris Vanserra to make Azriel's life even more complicated, smug and regrettably handsome as ever. Eris has impeccable timing - or is it all just careful calculations? Whatever has aligned their reunion, he knows nothing will be accomplished until he can pull Azriel from his fog.
Betting Like You Know the Odds by @fourteentrout
Masterful yearning and so emotional and delicious
"But, if you so choose to believe my display of weakness was entirely genuine, then perhaps a rematch is in order." Eris suggested to Nesta, his mouth twisting into a smile a bit different from his others of the night. Something less soft around the edges, less weighed down by inebriation. "Well, then, one could argue that it would be just as unfair. You're a High Lord now, after all." Rhys pointed out. Eris' smile melted away naturally, and he reclined back in his spot, throwing a hand around the back of the sofa. "Why don't we ask him what he thinks? Shadowsinger," Eris called, jutting his chin right towards where Azriel stood, wreathed in shadows. "What are the odds that you could hold up in a fight now that I'm a High Lord?" Azriel stood rooted to the spot, as if he were in a nightmare. He stared directly at Eris' smoldering eyes. Eris stared back.
Autumn's Shadow by @the-darkestminds
Not completed yet but so worth following along with it. Go on, get your heart ripped out, you know you want to
A covert meeting between Azriel and Eris to exchange valuable intel leaves Azriel reeling—and questioning everything he has ever felt for the Heir of Autumn. Azriel finds himself inexorably drawn to Eris, unable to resist his captivating allure. With the threat of Koschei and Beron looming ever closer, can their forbidden love endure in the face of such danger?
A Song of Bonds and Legacies by @mistandmemories
Also not completed but dammit I am HOOKED. Can you say holy edging, Batman?
Azriel and Eris have engaged in a dance of animosity for centuries, but when they’re forced to team up and find a hidden treasure, they discover more about each other than either of them could have ever expected. The story picks up around 10 months after the events of ACOSF. It contains spoilers for the Crescent City-series.
The Beginning and End of Friendship by @unanswered-stars
I had a real life breakdown in the comments of this one. It's seriously so special
Letters exchanged between Eris and Azriel post ACOSF that show the beginning of friendship, and maybe something more.
Tried to pick a few from creators that haven't been mentioned yet. Every Azris creator is my favorite Azris creator! There are so many I hven't had a chance to get to yet either! Hopefully there are so many more recs coming your way.
hi! I am very new to the Azris fandom (the ship has consumed me) do you have any fic recs?
Hey! Welcome to the fandom <3
There are more fics than I can possibly name, so I pinged some of my Azris buddies to get some recommendations to share with you. Here are fics they've written or recommended. And be sure to check out @azrisweek for past azris fics (and future fics coming to you this June!)
In no particular order:
what hath night to do with sleep by @iftheshoef1tz
In 1968, Eris Vanserra is leading a double life. In West Berlin, he is a promising new doctor who frequents queer clubs, fucking his way through his friend circle. In his parents’ village, though, he walks the thin line between success and failure under his father’s brutal repression. Eventually, he realizes there can be no way forward unless he takes matters into his own hands. He summons a demon.
All Things End by @acourtofladydeath
Eris struggles with losing his memory due to complications from traumatic brain injuries caused by Beron's abuse. He forgets parts of his life and steps down from the mantle of High Lord. Azriel and their children take care of him the best they can, until he eventually passes away. After losing his mate, Azriel tries to move forward, but eventually dies from a broken heart. This is a very sad fic, but they love each other very much. Based off a tumblr post and written with permission from the creator of the original idea.
Red Ferrari by @ysmtttty
Azris AU, where Azriel is a mechanic and has his own service station. One day, Eris comes there because something is wrong with his car.
Collateral Damage by @g00seg1rl
Eris is having a bad day. His twerp of a little brother, Lucien, crashed his car into a motorcyclist. Eris expects chaos and insurance nightmares. Instead, he gets a hot date.
I Need You by @neciebee
Azriel had always wanted a mate. Both of his brothers were so happy with theirs. It used to be the three of them together, but now his brothers had their own lives and wives and Azriel could not contain his envy. All he had was this. Dirty, secret, meaningless. Perhaps he could pretend it was something, if he’d just take one bite.
Once More to See You by @buffy-vanserra
Days after Feyre and Lucien are rescued from the Winter Court border, Eris finds Azriel snooping in his father’s woods. They fall into old habits and discuss a path forward. Or: The story of how Eris entered his alliance with the Night Court
Fall by @gravitysthrall
Eris knew cruelty and kindness could grow in the same soil. The existence of his parents fruitful centuries under the same roof was proof enough. Fall in love. Fall from grace. Fall through worlds. Azris series continuation of ACOSF / HOFAS. 3rd person multi-POV
What We Deserve by @chunkypossum
Once upon a time, Eris thought that he and Azriel could be mates whose bond just hadn’t settled yet. It didn’t make sense for him to be so drawn to the male when they were at odds in every other way. It had to be the Mother, had to be fate. Now he knew for sure, it had been none of those things, only simple, stupid want. What happens when Azriel finally finds his mate but it isn't the male he is already in love with?
What Lies Inside by @ofduskanddreams
Like a cloak of heat and flame, the power of the Autumn Court settled on his shoulders. The air crackled and sparked as the very foundations of the Forest House trembled beneath the blood-spattered boots of its new High Lord. Eris Vanserra opened his eyes, expecting the world to be shrouded in flame. Instead, he saw the shadowsinger standing near the foot of the dais, wreathed in wisps of darkness. The Illyrian's green-bronze eyes glinted with curiosity and caution and flecks of burnished gold. There was only gold. A golden thread spooled out of his chest towards the winged male. The one who'd been his sworn enemy for over five-hundred years. Rhysand's spymaster. The feared shadowsinger. Azriel. His... mate.
Caged in Gold by @aurorasleeps-27
Adorned in Eris’ gold, shadows streaming down his face, Azriel is the most beautiful thing Eris has ever owned.
If you want some VERY dark stuff, and don't mind Nesta being thrown into the mix, read And The Hounds Bayed 🐶🐶🐶
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