#I am just absently like yeah I will corrupt her and make her my personal fucktoy thar will be convinced it wasn't her idea

[whereisthedamndaddymanual]

I still get tripped out when I look in a pack of cigarettes and the label is some kind of elongated license plate telling me some fucked up story sometimes.

[amorphousbl0b]

Arcane does a fun thing with its narrative Darkest Hour.

Or: yet another post about how insanely smart this show is and how absolutely genius its writers are (and how jealous of them I am).

For the uninitiated, the Darkest Hour is the moment just before the climax in which the heroes are at their lowest point. When the Avengers are scattered and Loki opens the portal in NYC, when the Falcon has escaped the Death Star but lost Obi-Wan, when the Fire Nation is set to annihilate the Earth Kingdom, when Frodo fails to destroy the Ring at the Crack of Doom. The heroes must confront their flaws and change for the better for a happy ending.

Arcane’s darkest hour is, of course, in Act 3. One might place it at the very end of episode 9, and that’s certainly where the story is at its most hopeless. But I’d contend it starts as early as the end of episode 8 and carries on through the entirety of episode 9.

After all, that’s when Caitlyn and Vi have separated, lost all hope, and Cait is kidnapped by Jinx. Jinx’s mind is fully gone and throughout the episode everything falls apart around her. Silco is losing control of his chembarons and may well have lost his daughter, the thing most precious to him, and is only barely keeping his powerful façade in line. Zaun has realized how ridiculously outmatched they are in a war with Piltover and the revolutionary cause has become almost impossible. Viktor has manslaughtered his assistant and may never be cured. Jayce has manslaughtered a child and finally realizes how quickly he’s losing his morals. Mel and her mother are fully separating and she is struggling with her warlike destiny. Sevika gets the absolute snot beat out of her and limps to an empty office without a boss.

So yeah. Lot of personal Darkest Hours going on.

“But what’s the interesting thing?” I hear you ask in my ear. I don’t know why I hear you. Shut up. I’m writing. Are you even real?

Excuse me.

Arcane’s interesting twist on the Darkest Hour lies in part of the trope that I didn’t mention. That’s in the villain.

Most stories with a clear-cut villain have a plot structure something like this:

Whether things are going well for one side is inversely proportional to the other. During the Darkest Hour, when the hero is at their weakest, the villain is at their most dominant.

Wait… isn’t Silco the villain of Arcane? Not to be too blunt, but he’s having a shit time. Things are falling apart for him just as badly as for everyone else.

That's the trick. Caitlyn and Vi are suffering. Jinx is suffering. Silco is suffering. Jayce is suffering. Viktor is suffering. Zaun as a whole is suffering. There is only one party in the whole story that isn't suffering, that actually is benefitting from this horrid state of affairs...

EKKO AND HEIMERDINGER

Kidding. They're not really a part of this dance. A big part of Arcane's theming is that acting to help people without an agenda is simply more virtuous than fighting for any invariably-flawed nation that innately perpetuates the cycle of violence.

No, the side that is doing fine is the other that is conspicuously absent from my two prior lists. While the characters that make up its leadership are experiencing personal Darkest Hours, the organization itself is essentially on top of the world, having just scored a huge victory and getting set to bring the war to an end before it even begins. I mentioned how poor the situation for the Undercity looks, but not its counterpart.

Piltover.

Wasn't it so that Piltover started this whole mess? Didn't their oppression cause the revolt that orphaned Vi and Powder's parents? Isn't it their actions that drive Silco to ever greater extremes? Isn't it their normalized political backstabbing that causes Jayce to sacrifice his principles because that's the only way to get ahead? Isn't it their corrupt police force that lets Silco operate his drug empire with impunity?

Silco might look the part. He might be the most personally evil character, might be the one who causes the most misery for our main protagonists Vi and Powder.

But structurally, the shining city of Piltover, its political machine, and its Enforcers are the actual villains of Arcane.

[universal-quoteland]

HAZBIN HOTEL THOUGHTS

[SPOILERS]

==============================

1) Can we talk about the fact that we just hear Alastor say "FUCK YOU" to the king of hell without stuttering?! .Ma' man look at devils eyes and cursed him ! ... and if am correct is the first time we hear him saying any bad words in the show ! Fuck YEAH!

2) I love the fact that we know more about Alastor personality , like he actually cares for people or at least Charlie the must , am not sure what is my man up to, but ! I clearly saw him been anoyed to the fact that Lucifer hugged Charlie like " Man the fuck are you hugging her ,you aren't even in contact with your own daughter and you have the audacity tu hug her ! Yeah not on my watch ".

It was just as if him was pissed at the fact that he knows that he have done more for Charlie than her own father, and he is clearly not having it.

3) Love the father Daughter relationship Alastor and Charlie showed that was so sweet.

4) Lucifer was just so sweet like , i can be mad at the man , he was so exited to see his sweet girl , which only leave me with more doubts , he is clearly over protective type of dad, all jealous over Alastor stealing his little girl from him .

BUT why have him been absent in her life, was his depression that bad that he didn't have the courage to look at his daughter in the eyes ?, maybe he feels responsable for not giving her the best life she could have had in heaven ?

Also what with the Blitzo vibe, Lu y so Blitz.

5) Who have Alastor on a leash ? Why did he make a deal that make him been under others rules ? Could it be Lilith ?.

Maybe that is why he looked so down on Lucifer ? Beacuse we know this man don't do nothing with out a reason.

6) VAGGIE WAS AN EXTWRMINATOR!! the theorys were true and that was why she knew so much about Alastor and why she is the way she is ! .

7) Heaven dosn't know how souls get on heaven or Hell! That is so messtup like only the head knows that ?! So much for a corrupted sistem !

But i love how we know that not all heaven is a piece of shit! Emily is so sweet . But this just show us how grey things actually are and how Adam got to heaven because am sure we all agree he is as shitty as Valentino... well maybe not that much , but you all get me !

8) Also my boy Angel have done so good! He is actualy making progress !

CONCLUSIONS:

Even thought we have so much info in two episodes we can just wait and see for more , i hope they stop with the fast information drop , they could have given us this info in so much more episodes but maybe they know what they are doing , so far i have love it all and the characters personalities growing and letting us know that there is more on them that we can see at first.

Also i think i saw Molly on heaven :0.

[fodlaneverafter]

FEA character mini-analyses: blue lions as royals

Here is part 2 of explaining why I cast characters the way I did in FEA (my ongoing 3H/EAH crossover fic)! Part 1, about the Black Eagles, is linked here.

Now without further ado, let us begin!

Dedue as Hunter Huntsman: even though canon Dedue wasn't raised with Dimitri, his loyalty does suit the Huntsman's duty toward Snow White. And that's not even the half of it. Hunter's love of nature, his friendliness with animals? Such a Dedue thing. Plus, they're both axe wielders. That has to count for something.

Felix as the Charmings: I know no one could've seen this coming out of the left field--I certainly didn't. Now, Felix may not have the razzle-dazzle of Daring, or the awkward sweetness of Dexter, or the epic heroism of Darling, or... any sort of charm whatsoever, but hear me out, this is about the call of duty, yeah? It would make sense for Felix to despise the corruption of chivalry if he lost his brother to it. (Oh, and yes, of course, Glenn dies in this AU too!) This puts him in a precarious position as a Royal, since it looks like he could be swayed to the Rebel side, but let's be honest; bro's always been like that anyway.

Sylvain as Hopper Croakington III: he's... *gestures wildly* HE'S A TOAD. Having to be kissed in order to change back into a human is more Sylvain than anything else in the fairytale world. As a human, his personality is very much the opposite of Hopper's though, so in honor of that, and also because I delight in clowning Sylvain, he becomes panicky and clumsy in frog form. Only pain for Sylvain.

Ingrid as the O'Hair twins: Ingrid's dedication to her knightly duties mirrors Holly's dedication to mastering her destiny. I honestly can't say she's anything like Poppy though, other than their down-to-earth vibes. I don't know, I just felt like that long blonde hair worked well as a Rapunzel thing, okay?

Annette as Ashlynn Ella: oh now THIS is where it gets good. As the daughter of Cinderella and a Royal, Annette's every perfectionist, ambitious, overachieving quality can be maximized to their full potential, and I just love that. Not to mention, her absent father being a Cinderella thing? Stepsisters who would make her feel like she always needs to prove herself to be taken seriously? Her weird love of cleaning? Such a Cindy vibe.

Ashe as Blondie Lockes: I struggled with Ashe for a long time, but Blondie's lockpicking talents, earnest ways, and innocent-girl front were what eventually got me. And yes, I am aware. Ashe has no head of gold. But with that heart of gold, isn't anything possible? Huh, maybe I should've made him the son of Robin Hood... *remembers Sparrow* Never mind.

Mercedes as Farrah Goodfairy: the greatest tragedy in casting the FEA characters was that Mercie was too old to fit into a high school setting, no matter how I tried. But literally what would she be if not a fairy godmother! She's very powerful but unable to access most of her abilities, simply because of destiny. As a Royal, she's not bothered by this, which only slightly echoes her passive attitude toward her canon backstory, but we take what we can get. Anyway, it's also a perfect reason for why she's best friends with Annette.

And that, my folksies, is that!

The Blue Lions have such iconic dynamics, and I needed to preserve as much of those as I could through these castings. They've got that Royal story, and they do it so well.

Next up: Golden Deer!

[twistedthings]

          ――――――――――― ⌽ ―――――――――――

Eliora was a contradiction to everything her mother had ever managed to craft and mold for their lives. She wasn't a daughter to the senator, a child that had been wanted for more than just a biological product to complete the look of a happy family. The blonde knew what she meant to her mother and it was no more than any of the Senator's employees and staff, perhaps even less, they got paid to put up with the insufferable politician. El shifted in her chair, fidgeting a little before she was comfortable in a position that was not the most commonly seen in such an establishment. With one leg tucked up underneath her Eliora leaned back against her seat and glanced back up to spot Alice studying her, pink lips ticked upwards in an amused grin as she busied her mouth with drinking some more from her flute of champagne.

"Mmm, yeah, I've yet to find anyone that can keep up with me, least of all men," she mused, a slender finger tapping absently at the side of her flute. "-- luck you, though, he has to be something of a man to have married you." Brow muscles flexed just a bit in an arch as Eliora dropped her gaze over Alice briefly before once again preoccupying her mouth by sipping at the alcohol inside it. "I mean, I of course like to think so but no one's really dared to tell me anything honestly to my face for most of my life so..." half a challenge, Eliora was always looking for people who pushed her just as much as she pushed them, not many stood up for the intensity that could be Eliora Slater.

Unusual behavior for a Senators daughter, a headline in a tabloid had once said about Eliora. She had it framed and in her living room in the apartment her mother didn't pay for. "I'll let it slide since you've been so kind and tolerant of my brazen antics," she motioned to the table between them, meaning the impromptu dinner date. Another sip and a nod of confirmation, "--yeah, that's the Senator's kind donation to those without food tonight," she replied with a nod, the less reported hobby of the Senator's daughter, charity work and helping those that didn't have titles or family money or privilege in a corrupt sick system, Eliora wouldn't call herself a Robinhood but at times she could act like him. "I mean, my mother was so kind as to offer a tab to make this whole date, match... thing happen, might as well make use of the money."

"What?! Nonsense, what kind of person just lets someone rudely join them for dinner?" The blonde offered a mischievous grin and nodded towards Alice with amusement touching her gaze. "I'm sure your kids keep you on your toes, that's hardly mellow, but I am curious to know when the last time was you really just... let loose."

settling back in her chair, alice continues to study the woman across from her & mentally comparing her to what she knows about the senator's public life; it's safe to say el is very different from the image senator slater paints of her family, which, really, isn't much of a surprise. what would be a surprise is if there wasn't a big name politician out there that didn't fudge at least part of their image. another sip of her wine, the glass is placed back on the table so alice can resume looking through the menu.

"you're not wrong about men," she hums in agreement, that smile widening, "though i think i managed to grab one of the good ones." just like eliora, alice has a proclivity for men & women, even if she did eventually end up with the man of her dreams. "i'm sure you are a fun date that likes to stir things up a bit, huh?" if the not-quite-appropriate outfit choices for their location of choice, & her brazen decision to join alice purely because has anything to say towards that.

"i apologize, el," she offers up just as the waiter returns. once more, brows raise in response to the absurd amount of food the blonde orders, & she just barely manages to get in her own single order before the man disappears again. "that is a lot of food for one person. who are you planning on sharing with?"

"i'm afraid i'm a rather boring date these days," alice sighs, perhaps a little dramatically. "kids & a marriage mellowed me out a little bit, so my proclivity for trouble is a little lost."

[c-is-for-circinate]

Ok, Hades gameplay reaction time!

(Because I have been terrible this quarantine year about posting thoughts about stories I've been invested in, and I'm really enjoying this game, and I'm playing basically blind and I have theories, and what is tumblr for if not recording those things to look back on later.)

I love this specific kind of fantasy/speculative fiction, that straddles the line between 'allegory clearly designed to explore a real-world issue' and 'the themes of this reflect real-world issues but also everything is times one million for drama and setting's sake'. I love it so much. Because, look, this is a story about a teenager/young adult trying to gather up the skills and resources and help he needs to escape his controlling, possessive, emotionally abusive father's house. That's it. Strip away all of the trappings, and that's what the story is about. By comparison, I think about Star Wars. (I love Star Wars too.) That's also a story about a dysfunctional fucked-up family dynamic. But that family is fucked up because dad went on a magic-corruption-induced killing spree, and his twin children were separated at birth to be raised in seclusion with the intention of someday taking him down, and look, that's cool, but it's definitely not how people actually are. All of the dysfunction in that family is an outgrowth of the fantastical setting, which means it is fantastical dysfunction. It can occasionally mirror or remind us of real-life interactions, but it's a fantasy. Which is great and fun to watch and very comforting and so on, but I don't necessarily want that in every story, and I love Hades because it is not that, at all. When you extend out the basic 'kid trying to escape his toxic home environment', Hades is the story of Zagreus trying to get out with the help of his dad's estranged, complicated, wealthy and powerful family, who are absolutely part of the reason why dad is Like That in the first place, and may not be any more reliable in the long run but who he needs right now. And his stepmom and teacher, who love him enough to help him leave, unconditionally and supportively (ask me how many feelings I have about 'look, Hades can't hurt me for helping you, don't worry about me, I am going to take care of you and that means helping you get out of this house' coming from an adult authority figure, ask me). And his dad's employees, who like him but also have to fear the old man's wrath, and walk that line in different places the best they can. And stepmom's long-estranged parent, because this is a story about families and how they split apart and come back together. And all of that is so real, so grounded in actual, concrete, this-is-how-humans-work family dynamics. But it's also individual. The story works so well because Hades isn't just a silhouette of the controlling asshole father; he is clearly The Way He Is for reasons, complicated ones, good and bad alike. The Way He Is has details, particularities, paperwork, a dog he pretends not to love and rely on. He is specific. Nyx and Achilles are specific, not just generic kind stepmom here to be a trope inversion and cardboard cutout teacher. Nyx has backstory and personality of her own, Achilles has a complex history, opinions, a missing lover, and they BOTH have very particular relationships with Hades that aren't just boilerplate script. Yes, there's abstraction there, you meet these characters in brief visual novel-esque three-line conversations over the course of dozens of escape runs, of course there's abstraction--but there's the very real sense that all of these people have nuance, have good and bad days, that they've made choices to be who they are, even if we don't know what those choices are yet. And, like Star Wars, some of the ways in which this story is so specific rely entirely on the fact of the otherworldly setting! I've seen stories that go the other way, that try to use their setting entirely as window dressing, and they end up feeling so flat I can't even remember them right now because they don't let the environment lend complexity and nuance to their characters at all. The environment these characters live in matters. The absolute control Hades exerts over his surroundings is a divine power. The fact that everyone Zag runs into, for or against him, is either immortal or immortally dead, changes how the react to

one another and to the situation at hand. The shape of his attempted escapes (gauntlet combat with a variety of legendary weapons) might be an allegorical construct of the genre, true, but it doesn't work in any sort of real-world setting where there exists the possibility of authority figures above or aside from Hades and his extended fucked-up family. That's part of why the family is so fucked-up in the first place. But these changes still fit well within the realm of, 'yeah, if you took this extremely real-life dynamic and added these factors to it, I can envision people doing this thing'. I can envision these specific people doing this thing. They add to the specificity of these characters. Letting them be influenced by their unreal surroundings makes them more real. So hell yes for good storytelling!!!!

I'm still relatively early in the game (by which I mean I'm like thirty runs in but only just got past Meg for the third time, because I am not good at this game, although in my defense it's only the seventh video game and second button-mashing game I have ever played in my life so there's that), but I'm starting to develop suspicions about Persephone. Because, look, outside of Persephone's absence from the underworld, this story knows its Greek mythology, uses it, revels in it. And there is some kind of mystery still shrouding Persephone leaving in the first place. She left a goodbye to Cerberus in her letter but not to her own son. Nyx has warned Zagreus multiple times not to let the Olympians know she's his mother. He literally never even knew she existed. That's complicated! Add to that, Persephone left--the exact thing we are trying and failing to do again and again and again. She left with one note, which means either she managed a one-shot speedrun out of the entire realm or she had some other way to leave, because if she'd washed up in the Styx pool to plod back to her room and try again, she wouldn't've needed to leave the note in the first place. And, you know, she's Persephone. Really quite famous for leaving the Underworld! Also quite famous for being forced back. So. I'm wondering if Zagreus, so conspicuously absent from her goodbye, has something to do with it after all. Six pomegranate seeds condemned Persephone to six months, half a year, half her life. I wonder if a child that's half of her her constitutes a fitting trade instead. Which, of course Hades would be even more resentful and dismissive and cruel to the kid he got in place of the wife he loved (who he chased away by being cold in the first place). Of course Persephone would have difficulty saying goodbye to her son in those circumstances. It would make sense. The tricky thing here is how the Olympians fit into it, because I also suspect the rift between Hades and Zeus sprang from Persephone's departure. And yet, if the Olympians never knew Zagreus existed, let alone that he's Persephone's son--how can he count as payment into the deal in their eyes? So in that case, what does Zeus think is the justification for Persephone leaving, after the pomegranate thing? Or are we just not doing the pomegranate thing at all? It would be a shame to lose it entirely, out of a story that really seems to enjoy the myths it's playing with. And there should be something complex here, something more than simply 'mom fucked off and left because dad sucked and now I'm following her because same'. It feels more complex than that. 'Mom and dad had a baby to try and save their marriage, it didn't work, but when mom left she had to leave me behind because otherwise dad would have gotten the cops and her extended family involved' feels more right, while still just as grounded in reality as the story has been so far.

I sort of want to write some meta about how each of the six legendary weapons corresponds to their original divine wielder, but I haven't unlocked all of their codex entries yet (look I am very bad with ranged weapons in this game ok, I am working on it), and I still need to think about the details. Aside from, of course, fuck yes of course Hestia's the one with the railgun. Leave drama and elegance and traditional weaponry to her brothers and sister (Demeter, who knows how to get her hands dirty, gets a pass). Hestia is out here to get shit done. With a grenade launcher.

[chilled-ice-cubes]

My top 10 fics read in 2021

guess who spent like an hour making this instead of studying. might as well turn this into a tag game at this point.... @jangiri @epanije @pirate-and-swan and all my followers plus anyone else who wants to give this a shot, go ahead (really PLEASE go ahead, this is just an excuse for me to find new awesome fics) :D it physically pained me to leave certain fics off so that the list could be 10 fics long 😔

*

The Northern Caves by nostalgebraist

An online message board devoted to a cult fantasy author wrestles with his baffling final book

i feel like this is cheating because this is an original work hosted on ao3 and not a fic but a) it IS on ao3 and i DO have it bookmarked and b) it’s really fucking good and i spent days thinking about it so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

*

Wisely, I Say, I Am A Bachelor by Mithrigil

How Cinna became a revolutionary, and other stories; most notably, how he deconstructed Finnick Odair.

THE cinna fic. so i reread thg this year and i found this gem and it made me cry and also see finnick and cinna in a new light. warning for canon typical dystopic stuff and also finnick’s whole life.

*

I Was Screaming Your Name Through The Radio by ElectricSplatter

“Four months from now will be the seven year anniversary of when you and Osamu Dazai released your hugely successful first and only album Double Black and its diamond single Corruption. After performing with Dazai earlier this year, are you planning anything special to celebrate?”

“Corruption is insanely overrated, and I would prefer to never hear Dazai’s voice for the rest of my fucking life.”

sooooo i actually don’t ship soukoku that much but this fic is hands down the best bsd no-powers au i’ve ever read. like they don’t have powers but they’re all traumatised and effed up as they are in canon! and they work through their issues by making bad life choices and writing songs about each other.

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the ghosts won't matter cause we'll hide in sin by soapboxblues

wherein rhaegar wins the war, and jaime manages to keep his head by taking a stark for a wife; or five times jaime lannister braved his marriage and the one time he was brave for its sake

okay i know the premise sounds bizarre but THIS FIC IS JUST. BEAUTIFUL. jaime gets so much character development in like 10k words and i know that lyanna doesn’t even have a canon personality but this fic gave her so much depth and flavour

*

Were I That Burning Star by californianNostalgia

An old panic gripped me—the breathless fear of being forgotten, being lost. Would anyone remember me when I was gone? Would someone think to lay a flower down on my grave and say some fond nothings like, “Was a pretty cool guy, that Lester,” while wiping off a single dramatic tear rolling down their cheek?

Oh, who was I kidding. So what if no one remembered? There wasn’t much I was proud to be remembered by anyway.

After defeating Python and bringing down Nero, Phoebus Apollo reclaims his godhood. He is glorious once more. But for some reason, he can't quite make himself go back to how things were before.

(A Character Study of Various Gods, including but not limited to: Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, Aphrodite, Ares, Athena, Hephaestus, Dionysus, and maybe Zeus)

so this is the fic that made me cry for the pjo-verse greek god. yeah, actually sob for the perpetually absent bad parents and sympathise with them. if that doesn’t tell you how powerful this fic is...¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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The Disappearance of Midoriya Izuku by town_without_heart

Fifteen years ago, a boy disappeared. Ripples in the water, the butterfly flaps its wings, and everything changes.

The notice is unremarkable, one face lost among a sea of lost faces. It is a yearbook photo of a young boy in his school uniform. His eyes are wide, shadowed by dark half-circles. His hair is green, wild and curly. He does not smile as he stares into the camera, and the somber expression makes him looks far older than his purported thirteen years. The text below the photo reads: HAVE YOU SEEN THIS BOY?

i feel like this is one of those fics that is best enjoyed reread years after you’ve forgotten everything about it so you can be absolutely bowled over by the twists again. A+ outsider perspective, a case fic about—you got it, the disappearance of midoriya izuku.

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the darkness of the depths is forgotten in the surf by poisedwalrus

If people won’t stop saying that personal loyalty is Percy’s fatal flaw, then he might as well show them how fatal it can be.

time travel fic which obliterates the typical tropes of every time travel fic i’ve ever read. also if u are a luke apologist who wanted him to be a good big bro to percy this is the fic for you. percy literally drags luke kicking and screaming into being a good big bro.

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Iron, Fire, Mirror-Glass by PurpleSoot

When Bruce Wayne barely survives a brutal confrontation with the villain known as Bane, he comes away with a broken spine and the terrible certainty that his days as Batman are over. An unexpected discovery among his mother’s old things might offer him a second chance—but at what price?

The story of a man willing to risk his soul for the sake of his mission, the dangerous creature he decides to call Robin, and the unlikely partnership that will come to shape the legend of Gotham’s Dark Knight.

um so basically robin is a murderous amoral fae creature that bruce binds to himself and the gets emotionally attached to. this fic made me cry so here it is on the list.

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These Gifts That You Have Given Me by thearrogantemu

“We are not so foolish as to believe that evil is ended forever. But we do not place our hope in secrecy, but in strength. Strength is found in trust, and trust in openness. So be welcome among us, Annatar Aulendil."

The story of the meeting between Celebrimbor and Sauron, of the trust that grew between them and how it was broken.

this is not redemption fic. this is like, anti-redemption fic. failed redemption fic. “dude you do NOT wanna do this PLEASE try to be a good person for once in your life anddd he’s gone and done it”-fic. and it’s glorious.

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the final cut by Wildehack (tyleet)

A boy is going to die.

The only question is: what is Huaisang going to do about it?

i like my nhs characterisation amoral and unhinged. this is canon compliant sooo uh try not to get too attached while reading? (i totally got too attached to mo xuanyu)

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you make a really good girl (as far as girls go) by suzukiblu

“Oh spirits,” Azula says, grinning widely. The Water Tribe is full of idiots. “You don’t want to marry Zuko, he’s useless. Also, he’s already engaged.”

“He is?” Yue blinks at her.

“Of course he is, he’s going to be the Fire Lord, he’s been engaged since he was twelve,” Azula says. A useless Fire Lord who she’s going to have to prop up, if not outright usurp, but Fire Lord all the same.

The things she does for this family, she swears.

this fic singlehandedly made me ship yuezula. also i am a sucker for chivalry in femslash and azula makes yue a betrothal necklace and fights a duel for her so 😍😍😍 this fic is just pure serotonin

*

[mexican-honeymoon]

I can’t find your ask box, so I hope this is the best way to send this! Dialogue prompt options: 14, 23, or 37? Or all three if you want 😂 I’m so excited for more SethKate from you!!!

@yossariandawn this is for you! My love for this ship has just reignited over the last week and I’ve missed writing for them. Hope you enjoy! 

14. “You’re never going to let that go, are you?” 

37. “Lie to me then” 

He doesn’t know how he’s ended up here; hunched over an oak bar, light headed and with a clenched hand wrapped tightly around a bottle of whiskey, nothing but the distant thrum of traffic and the silvery glow coming through the windows for company. Actually, scratch that, he does know how he’s ended up here, but if he thinks on everything then he’s just going to fall further and further down the neck of the shiny bottle and he doesn’t want that. Seth doesn’t want to drown in the amber contents that now slosh against the glass as he moves the bottle from side to side, because he knows if he does end up getting as drunk as he wants then he’s just going to fall even more apart. 

He’s tried to hold it together since Matanzas, tried to ignore the dull ache that rests in the crease of his elbow like a taunt - like a fickle craving that’s just about ready to burst at the seams or pop like a balloon. But he can’t do that to himself anymore, he can’t give in to that destructiveness he used to so readily clutch. But most of all he can’t do it to her. 

What would Kate think of him if he stuck a needle inside his arm and filled it up with venom? How would she see him then? He can’t ignite her trauma anymore than he has with the bitter memory of all those months in Mexico - the time he was strung out and irritable, just about ready to give up and crumble. 

He shuffles a little on the bar stool, looks around the dark expanse of Jed’s bar and tries to roll the memory out of his head with a brisk movement of his shoulders. No, he’s promised himself that he would just get drunk enough to forget every shitty thing he’s done since he came across a beat up Winnebago, not swim down memory lane and learn to hate himself even more. 

But it’s all really for nothing anyway, he concludes to himself, because no amount of alcohol or shitty drugs can do away with the memories. They all live inside his mind like little demons that scratch and dig with sharp claws, and they burrow holes inside his heart and his very torn up soul and there they live and fester. He just can’t get away from them - can’t get away from his guilt no matter how hard he tries. 

That point is proven when he’s met face to face with the very object of his torment as he turns back around on the stool. Kate. 

A dark silhouette cuts her shape within the doorway, and her shadow falls, elongated and warped, right over to where he sits. Seth just peers towards her with whiskey bleared eyes as she comes into view, and somehow his very worn out heart does some sort of a somersault inside the caved in shell of his chest as she leaves behind the darkness and begins to walk towards him. 

She’s tired looking, with dirt brown indents carved under her green eyes and porcelain pale cheeks that hollow just a little under the bone. Her fiery hair is tickling her shoulders, ruby red and glistening in the dark light that swathes her. Seth knows the frustration she went through after defeating Amaru, he knows the bitter tears she had cried while reconciling with her new appearance. But now she wears the red well, won’t go back to brown because deep down Seth knows she’s too afraid to look in the mirror and see the girl she used to be - the girl she could have been. But she had taken a rusty scissors to it and chopped off the long ends after Seth had sat with her for hours and combed out the unruly tangles and after she had scrubbed herself of any lingering war paint around her eyes. So now, she’s some version of her old self and this new, trauma wielded woman that looks like the ghost of an Xibalban queen. 

“Hey, princess" his voice sounds more like a sigh than actual words, so heavy with the things he really wants to say to her and punctured with the apology he aches to give her “Why are you up so late?”

“Couldn’t sleep” she tells him as she sits down on the stool beside him, her emerald eyes flickering towards the bottle that sits atop the bar like an uncut gem, glistening with the way the moon shadows across it. But she doesn’t say anything. Whatever discontent Kate has for Seth’s late night drinking stays hidden behind her cherry lips - or perhaps she can understand why he’s trying to wash away his pain with straight whiskey. 

Her answer is leaden, lingering between them like a heavy anchor that’s just about ready to bring them down. Seth knows that there are a million unsaid things hidden behind the curtain of her words - that she can’t sleep because of the nightmares, the guilt she has festering inside of her because of all the crimes Amaru made her hands commit, and of the grief that has consumed her like a wave. 

She shuffles even closer to him then, and he freezes in his spot at the way her presence just bursts whatever protective bubble he’s tried to encase himself in. All he can feel is the electricity off her skin that bounces off of his and crawls right up his spine, and he can smell the apple scented shampoo he had grabbed for her in a convenience store coming off of her hair - and the entirety of her being just wraps around him like an embrace. He shivers a little where he sits. 

He’s tried so hard, these past two weeks, to stay close to her but remain distant at the same time. Seth has hovered around her, watching protectively from the shadows or staying close to her but never really talking much. He wants to make sure she’s safe, that she’s not falling into shards of broken glass but he doesn’t want to push her too much and be the cause of her downfall. He won’t do that, not again. 

He heard what she said in that cave. In the eyes of the people I love. He had seen the sincerity flicker itself inside her jade eyes. He remembers how much his heart had soared, but he knows he’s not worthy of her love. Not at all. So he’s resigned himself to be miserable without her, so she can eventually move on and forget all about him because Kate deserves to be in love with someone good. Someone that isn’t him. 

But he’s weak, always has been when it comes to her, so he can’t help it when he feels his body lean closer to hers. He wants to curse loudly or down the contents of the bottle in front of him in one swift go. But he refrains - just locks his elbows tight and slowly moves away from her again. 

“What about you, huh? Why are you up so late?” Kate asks him, her voice trying to sound light and playful, but it comes out winded like someone’s just punched her in the chest. Seth looks at her then, flickers his eyes all over her face and takes in the way her bottom lip is dry and chewed, and how a very painful sort of worry swims deeply in the expanse of her eyes. 

Something stills within his chest, and his breath is squeezed from him like someone’s just stuck their fist between his ribs and clenched his lungs. He hates seeing so much anguish shadow itself across her pretty face, because he knows he’s the cause of it and he can’t bear the vision of all his wrongdoings reflect within her eyes. 

“Ah, I’m not tired” Seth shrugs, looking away from her and towards the label on the bottle, reading it absently in an attempt to fill his mind with something that isn’t the all consuming devastation he feels whenever he looks at her. 

He loves her so much, and he knows he shouldn’t, he knows he’s no good for her and that he’d just ruin her further if he was to ever reach out and hold her like he wants to. So he just slinks further into the shadow of his soul, and lets his own self deprecating values completely swallow him. He needs to just put distance between them and brush off all conversation with something like indifference, but this is Kate Fuller who sits beside him, and she’s talented at prodding and poking the tight stitching of his soul and causing it to unravel within him. 

She does so with one scoff and a roll of those wondrously magnetic eyes, and somehow Seth feels as transparent as the whiskey bottle. 

“Alright, lie to me then” Kate says, her voice crystal and tight and it bounces off of him and reverberates somewhere deep inside him. He chances a glance at her and when he does she’s sitting rigidly in the stool with her face cupped between bone white hands. 

“I’m not lying” he dumbly answers her, calloused fingers drumming impatiently against his glass that is now half full, the amber liquid looking dismal and forlorn as it sits there undrunk at the bottom. He picks it up, brings it to his lips and downs the burn of it in one go. 

“Seth, you’re just as tired as I am. I know you, and I know you’ve not been sleeping and I know it’s because of me and -” 

“Woah, slow down, princess” Seth tells her with a concerned shake of his head “don’t think that this is your fault, alright? I’ve got my own shit crammed into my head, and yeah alright, I haven’t slept properly in two weeks but it’s not your fault” 

“Seth, you haven’t looked at me properly since I’ve come back. Every time we’re alone you come up with some excuse to leave me, you won’t look at me and you barely speak to me unless you have to. I know I’ve put you through a lot and I can’t help feeling like you can’t see me as….me anymore” her words are like an uncapped rush, like a flowing river that gushes out of her and Seth just sits there frozen when they reach his ears. Because fuck, she’s blaming herself for this as if she has anything to be held accountable for. 

All he had wanted was for his shitty excuse of a personality to be completely detached from her, because he just can’t corrupt her or ruin her any more than he already has. He’s the cause of all of this, the reason for her trauma and her pain, and Jesus Christ he’ll be damned if he ever allows himself to be the reason again. But now here she sits, still completely broken, thinking that she’s the reason why he’s wallowing in a pool of whiskey, as if she’s caused him pain. It’s the complete opposite really. 

“Kate” Seth groans, pinching the bridge of his nose between his fingers, his head pounding now with the weight of all the things he wants to blurt out “that is not the reason for any of this, alright? You’re you, and I’m still me and I…I just can’t allow myself to be near you anymore because I don’t want to hurt you, okay? All of this is my fault. Mine, not yours, princess. You need to heal and just get over all of this shit, and I can’t ruin that for you. I’ve done enough damage to you” 

“So that’s what this is about? You blaming yourself? I thought we were over this, Seth” Kate sighs heavily, her eyes intently studying him as he climbs off the stool on heavy legs. He paces a little in front of her, one hand clasped around his hip like he always does when he’s preparing a speech that is always prominent with his own self hatred, or when he’s ready to lash out something she doesn’t really want to hear. 

“I did this to you, how can you not see that? I can’t sleep with the guilt of it, Kate. Every time I look at you I see somebody I fucked over, someone I should have protected and look what happened to you. I walked away from you and the fucking Queen of Hell took you, don’t you see how this is my fault? I never should have left you…fuck I never should have taken you in the first place” Seth tells her, his pacing coming to a stop as he stands in front of her. Kate looks so small, so shadowed from where she sits, with her wide eyes peering at him with that all too familiar glimmer in them that makes him feel like she can truly see his soul. But he’s reminded then that she already has seen it - she’d cleaved it from him and tasted it on the tip of her tongue when she’d been possessed. 

“You’re never going to let that go, are you?” she almost whispers, her voice like a delicate breeze that kisses against his skin. 

“I’ve gotta live with what I’ve done, and I’m okay with that because I deserve to feel like shit. But don’t ever think that this is your fault, or that I don’t see you as you because you’re still Kate. No matter what. You’re Kate, and you’re wonderful and beautiful and I can’t destroy that anymore” he doesn’t really know why he feels like he can say all this, but he guesses the gold whiskey that now swirls in his veins is making his lips looser. 

“Listen to me very carefully, alright?” Kate jumps off the stool, her hands a little shaky by her sides as she comes to stand before him. He looks down at her, his whole body sagging in on itself with how close she feels to him right now. If he wanted he could reach out and touch her, run his fingers through her red hair and down her pale face. He could lean down and kiss her. But he doesn’t of course, he just nods dumbly and crosses his arms in front of him. 

“You didn’t destroy me, Seth. You fought so hard to get me back, and any guilt you have shouldn’t matter because I’m here now because of you. You’re the only one who can piece me back together, and you won’t even look at me” she tells him with a wobbly lip “I thought….I just thought that you’d understand how I felt for you when I said all those things back in that cave. I wouldn’t have said any of that if I blamed you or if I didn’t want to be near you again” 

“Kate, I’m not good for you, alright? You need to just forget about me and move on. You should just leave here and go back to wherever and put all of this behind you” 

“You’re not even listening to me, are you? I don’t blame you. I forgive you and I need you, Seth. You think you’ve broken me? Fair enough, I can’t change how you think, but man up and help me put myself back together. I can’t do that without you” she tells him, her slight shoulders now tightly squaring up like she’s gathering all of her courage under her skin to turn it into steel. He just looks at her for a second without speaking, just staring into her eyes and trying to see any flicker of insincerity but there is none. Whatever she had meant when she’d confessed her love at the mouth of Hell is still evident within her now. 

“I don’t deserve to do that, Kate. I don’t deserve you” Seth shakes his head, his voice hard like he wants to try and convince her to run a mile from him and never look back. But her face just falls a little, some sort of pink tinge colouring the apples of her cheeks as she peers up at him. 

“I saw into your soul, remember? I could feel how you felt for me then, but if you don’t feel like that anymore I understand” she whispers, her words like a window that’s just shattered into splinters and her pretty face crumples into furrowed lines. He can’t help himself then, he instinctively moves towards her and cups her lovely face between his gun roughened hands. He can see it swimming in her eyes - that uncertainty and rejection - as if his words of defiance are an inclination that he doesn’t want her like how she wants him. 

“Kate, you’ve no idea how much I want you. But I’d be selfish if I allowed myself to be with you” he tells her with a shaky voice, his heart hammering inside of him. She just peers back at him with green eyes that are filling with tears, and he collects the pooling at the corner of them with his thumbs. She doesn’t deserve any more tears, she’s cried enough already, and he especially doesn’t want her to cry over him. 

“We’ve been through so much, Seth, we deserve this. We deserve to be happy, and I’m happy when I’m with you, and I know you think you’re no good for me, but let me decide that, please” Kate almost pleads, her hands now coming to trace over his wrists that are pressed to her face. He lets a sigh out of his lips at her touch, and he knows then and there that no matter how much he’s tried to convince himself that he shouldn’t be with her, he’s not strong enough to deny his love for her when she’s so close. 

Maybe she’s wrong and she’ll live to regret this decision that the both of them are at the precipice of deciding. Maybe it’ll be too much for her to be with an older man, a criminal and someone who inadvertently destroyed her life and she’ll wake up some morning and decide to bolt. If she does then Seth will just allow her to, because she sure as hell deserves better than him. 

But maybe he’ll end up being the wrong one. Perhaps he can be good for her, and be the one to knit her broken pieces back together and she can do the same for him. Maybe they’re soulmates, and all of the shit that they’ve been through had been the universe’s cruel way of testing them and bringing them together. 

“I love you” he hears her say, and he’s brought back to reality then and he wonders just how long he’s been standing there wordlessly. But she’s looking at him with the most endearing look in her eyes, and the most kissable lips parted towards him and he thinks for one maddening second that if a girl like Kate Fuller thinks he’s worthy of her love then perhaps there’s a small semblance of truth to it. 

He has been trying so hard not to hurt her, but he knows deep down that pushing her away right now when she’s so vulnerably confessing to him will just hurt her even more. And it’s just going to hurt him too, and he wants to believe he deserves pain, but he also wants to be a good man and he wants to prove to her that she’s lovable and worthy and not some broken and tormented soul. She’s right, he thinks, they both deserve to be happy. 

“I love you too, Kate” he whispers to her in the dark “I really fucking love you, princess” 

“Then be with me?” she asks him as she gently pries his hands away from her face and holds them in her tiny ones. She starts walking them backwards then, well away from the bottle of whiskey that Seth would have allowed to consume him, and towards the doorway. 

Somehow she doesn’t look so tired anymore, like the weight that has been tied to her small shoulders is all but dissipating with every step they take together, and there’s something hopeful in her eyes that radiates out of her when he nods to her with a smile. 

“Always” Seth tells her honestly, but there’s still some sort of doubt that perches itself in his heart so he finds himself asking “Are you sure you want to be with me?” 

Kate just stops before the doorway, lets his hands drop as she takes a step closer to him. She’s so small and warm as she wraps her arms around his neck and presses against his chest, and before he can even let out a tight breath he feels her lips press gently against his own. It’s sweet and short, but he knows it’s going to be the first kiss of many and he relishes in the hope of that as she pulls away with a small smile. 

“I want to be with you” Kate tells him “Always” 

[plounce]

my Concepts for aj2

so these are my thoughts and ideas about the game that would follow aa4 in a timeline where we got a coherent apollo trilogy rather than aa5 and aa6. as such, i am discarding aa5 and aa6′s apollo backstories because i find them incoherent as an arc and only slapped onto him for the plots of the games. etc etc. theorizing on squandered potential is me-bait. trucy and klavier get to have THEIR place in the narrative as important characters!! (sorry athena. you will get your own trilogy with good writing and a better design in this timeline too)

this is very stream of consciousness and while i think it’s fairly coherent it is also not chronologically organized as i build on ideas. i am genuinely sorry if the read more doesn’t work on mobile because this thing is stupid long.

containing:

apollo, trucy, and klavier being a firm Trio and getting character development and growing closer :)

themes about found family, letting yourself love/be loved, performance and persona, love giving you strength to do good, you being the one to determine your identity

exploration of the trio’s backstories and the development of their skills

prosecutor franziska chipping away at the corruption within the legal system

klavier being the assistant for a case

kristoph continuing to be a corrupt bastard

buildup to the sibling reveal & canon klapollo in the conclusion of the trilogy

- apollo is the main character

- phoenix is absent for like the entire game besides maybe a couple tiny flashbacks, later revealed to be working with edgeworth on anti-corruption stuff (which is also tied to kristoph & kristoph’s ties within the legal system, “old boys club” etc)

- trucy is assistant for first half of the game

- klavier is assistant for second half of the game. his hair is in a little bun or ponytail :) no drill hair for THIS individual person

- klavier is prosecutor for trucy assistant cases. in the 3rd case klavier was supposed to prosecute against apollo but things keep getting fishier and fishier and things keep reminding them of kristoph. klavier is ordered off the case from on high. mysterious replacement. klavier is too invested in seeing truth & justice come to light so he helps apollo

- franziska prosecutes cases 3 & 4. she has short hair and it’s super sexy and hot.

- kristoph set things up so that klavier is implicated in things. dig into how klavier and apollo feel unable to escape kristoph’s influence - “he’s too foundational”

- 4th case klavier is on trial. oh maybe 3 isn’t about kristoph but it’s just background stuff about the rampup to the 4th case - klavier is put on probation while things are investigated but he doesn’t know WHY, but he’s still committed to his ideals

- trucy is pursuing her magic career, klavier still loves music - has been releasing solo stuff maybe, just some EPs for free/charity, but isn’t touring. focusing on law

- case 4 has a family friend (NOT A WOMAN FOR THE LOVE OF GOD... A MALE DAMSEL PLEASE) get accidentally poisoned through something klavier gave them. that’s the trial itself. kristoph was the source. klavier is arrested. it’s more complicated that this but it gets to this point. day 2 of the trial is when klavier is implicated and he gets yanked into cuffs from the defense bench

- one of case 4′s pillars is a memory from the gavin brothers’ childhood. discuss how kristoph was as a child. klavier has been realizing how... odd certain things were, and trying to pass it off as like “haha yeah kristoph would dissect dead birds and convince our parents that every mess was my fault. i guess that makes sense considering how he ended up haha? I Don’t Feel Strongly About This I Just Think It’s Funny :)”

- apollo’s perceive abilities expanding to be able to perceive general emotional states as well - along with learning to practice more empathy, being considerate. No Klavier And Trucy, You Are Not Fine. this is kind of like athena’s thing actually huh

- trucy, meanwhile, is learning to be more like. emotionally... independent? no. emotionally... self-caring. both independent in that she’s a young adult and also caring in that she is trying not to force herself to take care of everyone all the time and show her less pretty emotions to apollo. take care of herself

- case 1 has to do with something happening at trucy’s show/her career/her school etc. she’s still a real person etc. trucy’s friends mostly being adults, her feeling isolated at school. nah wait this is a slightly absurd world she’s not overly weird for her classmates necessarily. yeah ok it’s about magic

- case 2 has to do with klavier being a rockstar, the pressure of celebrity and public fascination with his persona. stalker fans, music industry, talk shows, etc. someone trying to convince him to come back to music. klavier has to arrest someone he’s fond of again. no big stadium performance in this game

- the trio all dealing with themes of hiding and trying not to feel “bad” emotions: apollo going “im fine” and suppressing his problems & just trying to do his job so he can cope with how overwhelmed & stressed he feels constantly etc etc + trucy hiding the secrets of her magic which is sort of representative of her hiding a lot of her sad/”ugly” feelings because she thinks she needs to because she thinks phoenix depends on her being cheerful all the time + klavier dealing with having a public persona and the pressures of being Himself, trying to be the person others see him as/want him to be, who is klavier when he is not performing? who are all of them when they are not performing? who are they performing for?

- yes i am a “woman” yes i am obsessed with the idea of performance

- trio all dealing with/feeling lonely wrt family: apollo learning more about jove (possibly during the music industry case - someone knew his dad, who refused a big contract), who he was & one of the cases involving someone from his past in the foster system - maybe it’s even clay! - but in general feeling very disconnected from “family” in general esp compared to trucy&klavier’s family troubles being so immediate and raw for them + trucy feeling lonely and kind of abandoned as phoenix is increasingly gone in this game and seeming very distant from her, similar to how zak abandoned her, and also the pains of growing up + klavier’s parents either are dead or are somewhat estranged after he got kristoph imprisoned, klavier feeling very lonely in general after his pursuit of truth&justice has snipped many of his connections from him

- yes i am gay yes i am obsessed with found family

- franziska having a moment of “i get how it is and it sucks” with klavier about Complicated Feelings About Family

- she eventually does realize during case 4 that klavier is guilty but has to hide it in order to push one of kristoph’s allies out into the open. sorry kid uh... what do you like. i will buy you. an ice cream? or something. look do you want a gift card i’ll buy you a gift card

- kristoph’s lawyer shows up near the start of the game to give things to apollo which he is deeply suspicious of but ema tests them and they come up clean. guy shows up here and there throughout the game. maybe tries to bribe apollo or something. apollo gets invited to a Fancy Lunch because he’s the one that bested kristoph gavin and that shows Promise. in a sense. or something. apollo being manipulated by people who refused to hire him when he got kristoph convicted etc

- themes about being young in a world full of secrets and webs of alliance that you feel barred from because you have ideals and won’t compromise them and also either come from nothing or burned all your bridges. just aa protag things <3

- oh maybe there’s a new judge who is also In On Nefarious Plots

- catching these people doesn’t fix everything but - it’s something. they got a couple shitheads

- trucy continues developing her gramarye abilities. more emotional depth. more exploration on complex feelings wrt phoenix and her childhood and her adolescence and how she’s fairly well-adjusted as one can be but also... the shit still hits yk... she’s like 16 years old so she’s maturing

- ema is there. she and apollo get along a bit better. asks after phoenix. provides evidence against klavier, and then evidence for.

- followup on apollo-edgeworth klavier-phoenix parallels - who is the one bringing them further into the light, chaser/chased, the one who wants more/the one who pushes away, etc etc

- follow through on implied gramarye mafia connections

- klavier isn’t super in the first case besides the courtroom and maybe one appearance, but he is like. worried about trucy if there is cause to be worried about her. set up their dynamic beyond trucy just liking the gavinners

- trucy&apollo and klavier&kristoph compares&contrast

- franziska is(/appears to be) very doubting/dismissive of apollo’s belief in klavier bc it’s like... are you pursuing the truth? or trying to shield your friend?

- apollo does end up almost very close believing klavier was in kahoots with kristoph/kristoph’s friends because it just looks. really bad. like it genuinely looks VERY BAD. and he’s like “i have to find truth like prosecutor von karma said”. yknow how with a lot of aa cases it starts out “oh no it looks open and shut” and then is like “NO WAY THEY COULD HAVE DONE IT... BUT HUH”. this one is reverse. and then straightens back out again. dig the hole then climb back out

- yeah the theme is like. “are you trying to find truth or do you want to protect your loved ones. what is your duty as a person, your job or your loved ones.” this carries through on klavier’s thread from aa4 where he has to work against his loved ones. meanwhile apollo, who is a bit more cool-tempered irritable grump, is the one going “oh god, am i biased towards my friends?” so it sort of flips. what kind of stories will you weave to clear your friends of blame? kristoph’s boys club.

- echo back to “evidence is everything” - this line of thinking (in a certain way) is what saves klavier when kristoph is trying to punish him for his betrayal

- since phoenix is away, the gramarye siblings aren’t revealed yet. but more info is dropped to compensate - stuff about jove and apollo’s childhood in the foster system and how that’s shaped him into someone who keeps people at arm’s length to keep himself safe; trucy and apollo getting closer despite that, trucy busting down those barriers because she needs his support and he’s like “oh my god i have to support her.” older sibling stuff.

- maybe the trucy case involves like. a mafia guy trying to collect on debts or smth and tries to ruin trucy, and threatens apollo. there’s a hint that is very obvious to the audience but is like “wow apollo he thought you were my brother!” like the mafia guy calls apollo “the other child” and apollo is like “hey, i’m 24!” which is humorous but also the audience is like Oh My God I Know What That Means

- there isn’t a deliberate withholding of information from phoenix - he literally is not there to withhold it. but there is still tension and stakes and weight to their relation - apollo keenly feeling his absence of family and trucy feeling sort of abandoned by phoenix

- phoenix is like “ok trucy you’re almost an adult so i’m trusting you to stay safe and responsible while i’m away. apollo will technically be in charge but i’m still trusting you” and privately to apollo is like “If Anything Bad Happens To Her. Your Head Is On The Line.” so it is just them making it on their own

- klavier drops the line “watching you two is like what kristoph and i should have had” and then there’s a couple “...” dialogue boxes as the audience is like I KNOW WHAT HE MEANS and then apollo is like “... are you for real comparing me to kristoph.” haha funny but also THERE IT IS

- very carefully walked tightrope. acknowledged enough that there is still tension/suspense around it but not too much as to be slightly infuriating

- before the last case trucy gets mad at apollo for something - trucy is allowed by the narrative to be angry for real. stand up for herself. trucy and apollo come back together to defend klavier. they see each other in the detention center when theyre still mad at each other - trucy was visiting klavier (he wasn’t there for the fight). “you made fraulein trucy very mad, hm?” then during the trial trucy busts in dramatically with important help when things look very bad for klavier

- aj3 has emotional revelations/high points of the trio - siblings reveal and klapollo canon. aj2 is a lot of building of these connections and building suspense and tension. more more more of these relationships before they emerge fully formed in aj3

- the last trial echoes the “im the only one who can save prosecutor gavin” or whatever gay thing apollo says in the last trial of aa4 because he literally is. just a lot of hinting and them getting along. case 3 is very important because that’s when it’s just them and it’s “oh! we work well together! we’re complementary!”

- implement the dual investigation mechanic from dgs so it does feel collaborative

- just build on the fact that klavier is the first friendly, helpful, cooperative prosecutor. he wants to help you. make that a very positive, very important feeling while still making it extremely enjoyable

- resolves in “you can have truth AND the ones you love”. or smth like that but more nuanced. it’s very inspirational and sentimental etc

- you get to meet vongole and it’s a Pet The Dog moment for klavier. look! how nice he is. he truly loves this insanely sweet and lovable dog. trucy is enamored with vongole as well. “it’s strange that she was kristoph’s dog, hm? with how affectionate she is.” “well, i guess being owned by kristoph doesn’t means she’s an equally bad dog ... ER i mean--” “hm, you always struck me as a cat person, herr forehead?” “uh - well yeah, you’re right. but... that doesn’t mean i don’t think vongole is a pretty great dog.” IMPLICATIONS. SUBTEXT. TASTE IT IN THE AIR

- oh there’s definitely a moment in case 2 when you get to examine klavier’s apartment and you can look at a couple albums and for a gavinners album apollo is like “ugh” but then you get one of his solo eps and apollo is like “trucy made me listen to this. it... was okay. not as bad as the gavinners stuff. sounds more honest. or something like that.”

- oh also when you examine the guitar klavier offers to teach apollo some basics. hee hee (BUT ALSO... JOVE!!)

- maybe for case 2 The Industry Suits want klavier to stop releasing his eps for free/total charity so it’s a whole coordinated scheme. his manager, a devoted fan who hates to see him going his own way and being happier for it, etc. “we want you to be the person you were. the one we could possess.” be more like gavinners klavier instead of honest relaxed current klavier. be who we want you to be so we can make you dance like a puppet. music industry kristoph parallels.

- “i’m sick and tired of being a plaything for other people!” >:( face moments

- a fan broke into his house and defaced the solo stuff etc. >:( face.

- who determines who “you” are? what role do your loved ones have in your life? those who truly love you can save you and make you better. loving and being loved sincerely and genuinely and truly have positive effects on your life. letting people love you and letting yourself love them is good.

- ugh but this kind of contrasts with the “the old boys club is controlling and using/shaping the institution of law to amass wealth and power for themselves while throwing others under the bus.” well actually wait

- lunch with apollo = they don’t actually care about each other, would throw each other under the bus for their own benefit

- contrast between sacrificing the weak to protect the strong and protecting the weak to depower the evil strong

- love and bonds can motivate/enable you to chip away at the system and can help you make a difference. les mis etc etc etc

- the old boys club are all putting up fronts of appearing strong and tough and above everything and in control. real love and friendship let you show vulnerability and weakness and help you & your bond come out stronger for it. (tumblr voice) the mortifying ordeal

- additional stakes of “if you are found aiding this criminal and hiding evidence etc etc we will disbar you” or smth. stakes for sticking with klavier, for winning the trial, for demonstrating care. franziska is kind of like “... apologies. but you had nothing to worry about so don’t worry about it.” 

- klavier and apollo damned by association with kristoph, especially as a kristoph scheme was just found to happen, and it depended on kristoph being in jail, so maybe they were the ones to enable that part of the plan... it’s a long con...

- it feels like there should be another legal reform here to make aa4′s jury implementation but maybe this one is more about how reform is often very gradual and like chipping away at a mountain

- in aj3 the death penalty gets reformed. (tension there about kristoph being on death row and this game piles on a lot more GOD KRISTOPH SUCKS but then it’s like. no. we have to fight for True Justice and the legal system is extremely imperfect (how many of our clients narrowly avoided a wrongful guilty verdict!) so we have to prioritize protection over punishment)

- “it’s like chopping heads off the hydra. it feels like we’ll never actually change anything.” “yes, but hercules didn’t defeat it by himself. he had a partner that burned the stumps after he sliced off the heads. ... one person to hold the sword, one person to hold the torch.” NARUMITSU KLAPOLLO PARALLELS. HI

- okay i had some really good discussions on twitter w @henriettamarias about this and here’s a couple more things

- trucy’s case involves her inheriting the gramarye secrets and the legacy. the weight of tradition and the burden of what has happened in her family. trucy’s estranged grandmother shows up - it’s kind of similar to the feys kind of. the grandmother is a complex maternal figure who doesn’t know trucy and trucy doesn’t know her and it’s sort of the idea of... even if your “new” family is related by blood, you still have to choose them. and trucy’s like !!! because she’s openhearted but the grandmother disappears - doesn’t choose trucy. it’s not a Villainous Action it’s just... it’s complicated. maybe it’s to protect trucy or something. it wasn’t done to hurt trucy is what i’m getting at, but it still hurts

- one of the music industry people in klavier’s case is a gavin uncle/aunt/cousin who is pressuring him to go back to being an Extremely Profitable Rockstar. and klavier has to deal with more disappointment from a family that values extreme success and is sort of cold (this contrasts with the warmth of the WAA found family). they liked klavier when he was very successful and famous on two fronts but now he’s opened the door and invited in shame on their family’s name so everyone’s kind of mad at him. trucy and apollo get to be really defensive of him

- apollo’s case is one i’m still thinking on what it’ll be about because i’m deeply uninterested in his aa5+aa6 backstories but there’s not A Concept to go deeper into like trucy magic and klavier music... it does involve his past from being the foster system. i think maybe there’s a teen who he was kind of the older brother of for a while before the kid got adopted who contacts him for help defending himself.

- while trucy and klavier’s stories are about rejection from their blood family, apollo’s is about warmth with a boy who he met and made a familial bond with

- at the end of this case there’s some piece of evidence that mentions kristoph and this is never resolved within that case but it sort of leads into the next kristoph-focused case

- trucy doesn’t get angry at apollo over being like jealous there’s something else that happens in this case... it doesn’t end super satisfyingly and tidily wrapped up in a neat bow. there are a lot of lingering questions and it makes everyone uneasy

- in case 3 apollo gets injured and is feeling really defensive and kind of scared and trucy is upset with him for putting himself in harm’s way to save her and they have a fight and they’re both kind of hiding their true feelings with anger to cover up how scared they were (gramarye secrets) and it just. boils over. klavier tries to mediate but it’s... a lot. they both say some things they don’t mean. :(

- oh my god. the person who got poisoned in case 4 was apollo’s foster brother from case 3. and it HURTS because we’ve spent a whole case getting to know him and working so hard to save him from a guilty verdict and it’s like :D yay he’s ok! and then he just. dies. and it’s so fucking sad

- he got poisoned because kristoph looked through papers and found that him and apollo were close so he’s like “oh i can use that ^_^” because he’s a bastard. but klavier was the one in constant contact with him recently so it’s like UH OH! UH OH! plus other aa level complications etc

- the tightrope of trucy being mad at apollo and the tragedy of apollo’s foster brother dying is one that will have to be very carefully walked bc we don’t want trucy to look like an asshole because above all she does love apollo

- i guess it’s also apollo pushing her away because I’M FINE. STOP TRYING TO MAKE ME CONFRONT MY TRAUMA. IF I THINK ABOUT MY PROBLEMS I WILL GO INSANE. yeah that works

- OH and also she’s mad at him for not telling them about the lunch with kristoph’s lawyer friends. klavier is kind of mad about that too so apollo is like STOP GANGING UP ON ME

- so the setup of case 4 is: day 1: apollo and klavier investigating, in court klavier is implicated and is put in detention, day 2: apollo investigating by himself and missing his friends :(, franziska being like “where is your sister” and apollo being like “ok first she’s not my sister. second IM FINE I CAN BE ALONE, I CAN’T TRUST ANYBODY ANYWAY” and franziska is like “... yeah being betrayed sucks, i get it, but like. are you sure about that. fine whatever you idiot be a fool”, but then in court trucy busts in at a dramatic moment and narrowly saves klavier from getting a guilty verdict, day 3: trucy and apollo investigating and Saving The Day!!!!!

- for franziska in case 4 there’s this tension between her belief that klavier is guilty (because shit looks BAD and also kristoph sort of sent shockwaves through things etc) and franziska being older (she has short hair and it’s hot) and more emotionally mature and being like “baby lawyer. it’s okay to chill. it’s fine. you’ll be okay”. but also being extremely wary and hating the corruption and collusion within the law community because MvF dealt with a lot of that and she will be BETTER than that, she has to work hard to erase the harm that her father did. she’s kind of a superhero in terms of tackling a lot of corrupt-lawyer/cop cases - it’s her specialty now. god she is hot

- aw in case 4 ema is like. kind of reluctant to help implicate klavier. because while she thinks he’s annoying she doesn’t think he’s a bad guy. she feels really conflicted :( like she blusters to cover it up but she does say to apollo at one point “hey... you better do your job right. don’t slack. defend your client.” awww she care him

- kristoph gets brought out from prison as a witness in case 4. this really negatively affects klavier (and apollo too kind of but less so), but the strength of Found Family helps him be strong :) yay

- there’s mention made of kristoph having Secrets, but since apollo doesn’t have a magatama and phoenix isn’t there, the black psyche-locks aren’t explored. it gets revealed in aj3

- apollo does have a conundrum similar to the aa5 stuff where his perceive ability is going haywire at klavier’s entire emotional state because BOY is it screwy (suppressed memories from childhood??) so he just has to rely on plain old logic

- (cw animal death) god what if one of those childhood memories is kristoph poisoning klavier’s pet - experimenting, doing trials. klavier realizes that during the trial. jesus christ. evil bastard kristoph i hate his guts. at least klavier gets to go home and pet vongole so so much

- OH on a happier note we get to meet mikeko... mikeko loves trucy and klavier so much. it’s like a big gooey hint that LOOK APOLLO LOVES THESE PEOPLE - HIS CAT IS PURRING AND CUDDLING ALL OVER THEM :) Express Your Feelings, Apollo

- i think for aj3 it’s apollo & co having their own schemes and plans sort of. bc in this setup, klavier and apollo (and trucy too) are being yanked around by the machinations and plots of the older generation like in aa4. i think in aj3 is when they finally get a leg up and have control over things for once. good for them! good for them

- oh also in aj3, it’s revealed that thalassa has been held hostage by some bad guys, which is why she didn’t come back after some time away to figure herself out to tell them. and then apollo and trucy get to know they’re siblings :)

- okay that’s it. maybe i’ll add more if i think of more. hope u enjoyed :~)

[hutchhitched]

Social Commentary on The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Part II

I made it through Part 2 before I attempted to go to bed last night. I didn’t end up sleeping, so apologies for any half-baked (pun intended) ideas and commentary. Admittedly, I don’t have as much on this part, but it’s certainly not because I don’t love every speck of this book. It’s so good, and it’s brilliantly woven and presented to us. If you want to read my commentary on Part 1, it’s here.

Spoilers below:

 It didn’t take long into Part 2 for the third book title to appear. Lucy Gray mentions mockingjays, and Snow seems lost. It’s convenient that she can’t explain what she means because I’m positive that’s going to come up again in the next part, and I’m sure it’s going to have a very important role. Otherwise, Snow wouldn’t be so put off by and intrigued by one (Katniss) in the original trilogy.

 One thing that stuck out for me in Part 2 is the December 15 date, a sort of Memorial Day for fallen military heroes mentioned in chapter 12 (National Heroes Day). The date itself didn’t ring any bells for me, but I know by now that Collins doesn’t do anything without it having a meaning, so I googled…wait for it…the date of the Sandy Hook Massacre. December 14. The next day is December 15, when Panem honors the fallen and delivers a gift basket full of luxury items to the families who lost loved ones. A gift basket full of “thoughts and prayers” would do just about as much good as we memorialize the dead in the days following a mass shooting but then allow the war to keep raging. The same could be said for the way we say “Thank you for your service” to military vets but do a terrible job of helping them with PTSD and re-entry into society. I do love the turkey story, though. At least Snow got some food out of the deal.

 I really love that we know now where the muttations come from in this world. Dr. Gaul is absolutely wacko, and I can’t quite figure out how much power she has. In fact, I can’t really figure out how much power anyone has. The President is remarkably absent. Dr. Gaul is there and seems to like Snow, but there’s no sense that she can protect him from Dean Highbottom, who seems to have the most direct influence over Snow. I just can’t figure out why. What kind of connections does Highbottom have that allow him to manipulate Snow’s life so completely? Clearly, there’s some bad blood between Snow’s father and Highbottom, and I’m waiting anxiously for that reveal. Also, that wasn’t a throwaway in Part 1 when we find out Highbottom was the one who came up with the idea of the Games in the first place. That’s got to factor in again. He’s hiding something, and Snow’s father is most likely a Very Bad Man.

 Dr. Gaul’s name is fabulous, too, although I’m sure there’s a lot of symbolism I’m not really getting about it. Gaul was a Roman province during the Empire—basically where the country of France is today. Gaul sacked a Roman city or two and embarrassed Rome, and Rome retaliated by conquering Gaul for the next few hundred years. I’ve oversimplified it, but that’s the gist. Why does Dr. Gaul have that name? Not sure, but maybe that’s coming in Part 3. I love that she’s a woman, too. Suzanne Collins doesn’t have time for that BS about women being naturally more nurturing and good than men.

 Which brings us to Lucy Gray. That snake charming thing she had going on was absolutely amazing. Lucky Gray is manipulative and charming and a performer and hiding something, and I am here for it. She’s smart, and she uses all the weapons at her disposal to survive while still retaining some humanity by caring for Jessup after his demise. I do not think she’s a hero. I’m not even sure she’s a flawed hero. I don’t trust her at all, but I admire her plucky spirit. She’s got levels I haven’t seen yet.

 And Snow loves her, which is just…I’m waiting for the climax. I think Lucy Gray is playing him, and I’ve felt that way since she first met him. There’s a connection there, yes, but Snow’s proven many times in this book that the world doesn’t work the way he thinks it should. He’s been surprised too many times. He’s tried to hold on and control things, but events happen that he doesn’t want, and all he can do is respond to them as best he can. He’s not doing very well at that. At all.

 The Games take second place for me in this book, which I think is pretty deliberate. This is Snow’s story, after all, and he’s not in the Hunger Games. Except he is because Dr. Gaul sends him into the arena (and Highbottom says they’re all in the Games, which is another throwaway that will come back, I’m sure). She wants to teach him a lesson and then gives him a homework assignment on it. It’s telling that he admits he wanted to kill the tributes. Not for self-defense but because they’re a perceived threat. He admits he wanted to kill them even after he’s back to safety, which shows his slide. And the homework assignment of having to write about Chaos, Contract, and Control, which he can’t do. And his attempt to extort money from the Plinths that he can’t execute and simply accepts their thanks and food. And his resolve to stop cheating and win the right way, his examination of the slippery slope and his justifications and so on. Because we’ve all been there. Justifying something and saying “no more!” and then messing up again. It could be any of us. It really could.

 Random things before I stop:

 The Capitol citizens are not the vapid, materialistic, soulless people we see in the original trilogy. Sure, there’s some of that there, but it’s nothing like it will be 64 years later.

 The development of the Games is interesting. The drones and betting and sponsors and the first intervention with the snakes and lack of cameras are all things that develop over time. The Tenth Games are a completely different world than the ones Katniss and Peeta experience.

 Snow really, really, really cannot convince people that Sejanus is not his friend. Ever felt like you’ve screamed something into the void a million times and no one takes it seriously? Yeah, I hear him on that one. Perception, not reality, is everything, in this case.

 After the housing crisis of 2008, I can understand the fear Snow has of losing his home. The war destroyed his family’s fortune and will result in losing their home and status. That (and really bad deregulation of industry and a lot of mismanagement and corruption) did that for a lot of people when the housing market crashed.

 Snow hopes for so much as the Games wind down. He wants Lucy Gray back (as his girlfriend? as a possession? as someone who finally “gets” him?), and what he gets is a peacekeeper position instead of the Plinth Prize and a relationship. I’m positive his interaction with Lucy Gray isn’t over. Perhaps he’s shipped off to District 12 where she breaks his heart all over again? The Covey’s coming, isn’t it?

 There’s so much to cover in Part 3. Onward!

 (PS, I don’t like Snow, by the way. I don’t think he’s evil in this book, but he’s no angel. He’s reacting poorly to circumstances and making bad choices, but he’s also trying to hold things together just like any person does. Nothing excuses his later behavior, but he’s becoming a villain, not born one.)

[bellatrixobsessed1]

From Chin To Yon Rah (Part 9)

She sees him standing at the edge of the garden. She thinks that he has probably been there for quite some time. She can’t say just when he’d gotten there having been so absurdly invested in this one stubborn turnip. She has gotten this far without getting so much as a smudge on her face and she would like to keep it that way, for once. She huffs and, without taking her eyes off of Hajime, gives it one more sturdy pull. It gives way with more force than she had anticipated and she is thrown back. She lands in the dirt with a soft thud and a wince.

She hears Hajime stifle a snorting laugh before leaping over the fence and holding out his hand. She ignores it, stands herself up, and brushes off her pants.

“You alright?”

“Perfect.” She mutters. “Where’s Atsu.” The boy would have been howling with laughter.

“With Caihong and her father.”

“Wong-Fin is supposed to be here. Helping me.” She frowns.

“He said that you told him last night that you didn’t need his help and that you are more than capable of harvesting this whole damn garden yourself.”

Azula slightly purses her lips. “Yes, I said was capable, not that I wanted to.”

Hajime quirks a brow. “Well, ‘I don’t need your help’, sure is a funny way of saying that you don’t want to work alone.” He leans back against the fence.

She presses her lips together and wraps her fingers around the leaves of another turnip. It is a hot day. Her stomach gives a little flutter; since when has she ever thought the Earth Kingdom to be hot place. The turnip leaves nearly slip from her fingers. She gives it a pluck and it comes up roots and all. Roots. She is losing hers.

She chucks the vegetable into the wheelbarrow without turning around.

“Nice throw.” Hajime comments.

She absently reaches for the next turnip. She wonders doesn’t know why she is so upset, isn’t that what she has been wanting? To slowly shed her roots until there is nothing left of them? But now that the first signs of them browning and curling have shown up, she isn’t so certain.

“You alright?” Hajime asks.

She shakes her head. “Fine. I’m just…”

“Overworking yourself?” He asks.

“Perhaps a little.”

“Here, let me.”

“Ojihara will…”

“Just be happy to know that the job is getting done. Actually, he doesn’t have to pay me so he’ll probably love this.”

“Yes, if you do it right.”

“How hard can plucking a turnip be?”

What an innocent man he is. “Take a basket.” She gestures to them. “And once we finish with the turnips we have to get the radishes and the carrots and…” she sighs. “My hands are going to be so rough by the time I’m done.”

He takes one of her grimy hands and runs a finger over her palm. “They’re still pretty soft.”

“Yes. I said that they won’t be when I’m through with this garden.”

He tilts his head. She can sense him observing her as she fusses with the next few turnips. After a fifth comes free she tosses a glance over her shoulder. “What?”

He shrugs. “Just trying to figure out where you come from. I don’t know many people who have ever had the luxury of worrying about having soft hands.”

Said hands tense around the turnip. She curses herself inwardly for another careless slip up.

“It’s fine, you don’t have to tell me. It’s probably bad enough having Atsu constantly digging for answers.”

“He’s fine.”

“That’s not what you said when we first met.”

“I didn’t say that he wasn’t fine. I said that he is unruly and undisciplined and I stand by that.” She shrugs. “But he also believes me when I tell him that I was born in the woods and fought four sabertooth moose-lions at once.”

“In his defense, I feel like you very well could have taken on at least two.”  He pauses. “I guess that explains why he’s been begging me to ask you to take him moose-lion hunting.”

“I already told him no.”

“He’s very persistent.”

“Undisciplined.” She corrects.

Hajime rolls his eyes and she wonders if she is pressing her luck. She wishes that she could shake this habit of antagonizing people who mean her no harm at all. People who, she looks at a fully harvested turnip garden, only help her. “I’m not good at this.”

“Not good at this? You’ve only been here for about an hour and we have the turnips completely harvested.”

She shakes her head. “I’m not good at being…” sociable, friendly, warm, lovable. “A nice person.”

“What are you talking about?”

He has been here this whole time and she can’t even swallow her pride enough to truly thank him for his help. “You’re tired of me telling you how to raise your son.”

He slightly purses his lips and tilts his head as if to indicate ‘so-so’, “eh, a little bit, yes.”

She makes her way towards the radishes and he follows along.

“You know what’s good about being a dad?” He asks when she doesn’t reply. “It teaches you patience.”

“Are you...comparing me to a child?”

He laughs, “I guess, sort of. Yeah. Children also don’t really regard how others feel, they just say what they think.” He shifts his weight. “For all of your secrets, you’re very forthright.”

She doesn’t think that this is a compliment. “I’m not a child. I know how to curb my tongue.”

“But you don’t know which things to curb.”

He isn’t exactly wrong.

“I guess it’s more like, I don’t know...sometimes you just say things that are…” he looks upwards. “Offhanded.”

“Yes.” She agrees. “As I said, I am not good at this. And that is why I like being alone.” She yanks a radish free. “That’s why I should be alone. I don’t like it.”

“You shouldn’t be alone.” He says. “You should talk to more people until it starts coming easier.” He smiles.

“You’re the first person who’s willing to put up with it.”

“The first, maybe. But not the only person. He might not seem it, but old man Oji will. He’ll fuss and argue. He might tell you not to come back on his doorstep ever again but when you knock the next time, he’ll let you in.”

Her fingers curl around the pendant hanging from her neck.

“What’s that?”

“Ojihara gave it to me. An apology present.” She stoops back down and the necklace falls forward, glinting in the light as it swings about.

Hajime smiles. “See my point?”

She rises from her crouch and releases the radish. “I might.” She gives a soft pant and wipes her forehead. She thinks that she has only added dirt to the mix.

He stares at her for some time.  She fidgets with the necklace before turning back to her work.

“You’re pretty.”

Her face colors some.

“And your son didn’t come from nowhere.”

“You might not be nice but I know that you’re not a bad person.” He remarks. “I wouldn’t be flirting with other women if his mother was still around.”

Her face colors further. It would seem as though she hasn’t been reading things to deeply, over analyzing them to the point her head hurt. And by Agni, she wishes that she were.

“Oh, man.” He rubs the back of his head. “I came on a bit strong, didn’t I?”

She shakes her head. No stronger than she would have came on, anyhow. But that doesn’t mean she is comfortable with it. It doesn’t mean that she is entirely off put either.

“I know that you’ve only been around for a few weeks and that we spent the first one bickering…”

He thinks that she is pretty. With sweat slicked at her brow and mud caked on her face and clinging in clumps to her disheveled hair. He thinks that she is pretty. That she is worth being patient for.

“Thank you.” She mutters before she loses the compulsion to say it.

“For making you hate this village for the first week?”

She rolls her eyes. For making her feel like she has a chance. For making her feel hopeful for the first time in a long time. For not writing her off after a whole week of snubbing, judging, and resenting.  For patience. “For helping me with the turnips.”

He laughs, “that’s what you want to thank me for?”

She opens her mouth but only nods. She thinks that he knows that it is more than that. Somehow he knows.

“I know that you’re busy with the harvest. But, once it’s over, I’d like spend more time with you. Atsu does too. We can attend the harvest festival.”

She swallows. He is getting much too close and in such a short span of time. She still has to get to Chin. She shouldn’t let herself get tethered down and attached to someone like him. Someone with a genuinely kind soul. The sort that hers isn’t compatible with for any other reason than corrupting it. She has acquired more than enough coin to last her through the year, she ought to leave in the morning. “I’ve never been to a harvest festival…”

She hasn’t said yes but his face lights up and she can’t bring herself to steal it away after sowing it, however unwittingly. “I suppose this one would be a good place to start.”

“You’ll love it.” He promises. His hand wraps around her and he squeezes. “It’ll be a chance for you to socialize some more.”

“If you say so.”

She’s never really been hugged before. Not in a long while. Not like this. If only Ojihara hadn’t clamored down the porch steps, demanding that she start giving the radishes that much attention.

“I’ll see you at the festival.”

She nods. And now it is a promise.

That day she learns what it means to be gracious.

.oOo.

At first she thinks that it is just her. But it isn’t, Capital City is larger. There are walkways that weren't there before and stores that she has never shopped at. Granted she has never done much shopping for herself before fleeing, but she doesn’t recognize these ones.

“It’s different, Sokka.”

“You like it?”

“Not at all.” The world has moved on without her. Somehow she always imagined that the world would come to a standstill for her. Afterall, how could a nation function without its princess. She supposes she isn’t nearly as important as she had imagined.

She had been important to someone. Several someones. She was for a short blissful burst. She is once again important to no one.

“Are you okay?”

“Why do you ask?”

“I don’t know you just…” He trails off. “Your eyes.”

“What about them?”

“They always look so sad. You used to be…”

Powerful, bold, lucky. She used to have a promising future. At the very least she had an illusion of potential. She isn’t so sure that her luck was ever genuine. How could it have been when so much was missing. How could it be when those things are missing again.

“Are you sure that you don’t want to talk about it?”

She nods quite vigorously, as though she can shake the blood soaked memories from her head. “Let’s just…” she gestures to a food cart. “What do you want?”

“I’ll have whatever you’re having.”

She sets a few coins on the wooden countertop. “Two servings of rice balls, extra spice.”

“Okay, take some spice off of one of those!” Sokka calls to the cook.

Azula rolls her eyes. “You really can’t handle a little spice?”

“I can’t handle extra spice.”

Azula shrugs. “Most people can’t.” Hajime could.

The cook comes back with their rice balls. She takes a bit and closes her eyes, they water some as the spices tickle her nose. How she has missed that burning tingle in the back of her throat. She will have to build her tolerance up again.

“They’re too spicy for you too!” Sokka jabs.

“Are not.” She grumbles. She damn near shoves the rest of the rice balls into her mouth just to prove a point. She might have were she still in the Earth Kingdom. In the Fire Nation she has more dignity than that. “They’re spiced perfectly to my liking.”

“Then why is your face red?”

“Because you are aggravating and it’s making me angry.”

He cringes and her stomach plummets. There is a new burning tickle in her throat. She misses when people can tell when she is only jesting. “You’re still afraid of me.”

“N-no.” His stutter doesn’t help his lie. “Maybe a little.” He confesses. “It’s just hard for me to…”

“Tell when I’m actually unhappy.”

“Yeah.” He rubs the back of his head.

“I’ll make it easy for you. I am unhappy more often than not.” She is almost never happy.

“Well if you ever want to get it off of your chest…”

She almost does. The story and its memories runs circles in her mind. The words are always there waiting at the very edge of her tongue. But the fact remains that he is still one of several people that she has tormented in the past. And yet his eyes offer nothing but earnest warmth. She has learned to forgive and be forgiven. She doesn’t understand why she is afraid to put this lesson to use. And then she does understand; she has learned another more profound lesson and it has led her to a darkness like no other.

“Thanks for the offer.”

“But you’re declining?”

“I am.”

“Alright.”

“You’re not going to push it?”

“I’m just glad that you’re giving me a chance at all, even if I ask too many questions.” He laughs. “To be honest, I don’t know what made you decide to do that.”

She doesn’t tell him that it’s because he didn’t leave her. Agni knows what she would have done if he left her alone that night. She shrugs, “I need someone to talk to and you’re willing.”

She hears a chuckle from behind. “You’re willing.” He repeats. She thinks that she recognizes him. She has seen him at several war meetings in the past. He is older now, his hair greyer. “Can you repeat what you just said?”

“For what?”

“Just humor me, princess.”

She crinkles her nose. “I’m your princess, not an entertainer.”

The general chuckles again. “Yer. Yer princess.” He repeats again. “It’s always a shame when culture slips away. And from such an embodiment of our nation. What happened to you, princess?”

“Nothing that I can’t make happen to you, if I so please.”

“Nothin’...” The man’s mouth is caught between a sneer and a grin. “Nothin’...” he tsks. “I did hear it going around that you have spent much time in the Earth Kingdom. Welcome home princess, you should probably work on -re-assimilating.”

“I can have you cast to the lowest rings of the Earth Kingdom. I can name several slums suitable for you.”

“Have you lived in them, princess? Groveled in them?”

She gives a haunty sniff. “My lodgings were comfortable.” Very comfortable. Perhaps warmer and cozier than anything she has ever found here. “And, by all means, I have taken well to living in luxury again.” She sweeps a generous curtain of expertly groomed hair over her shoulders. A waft of citrus ebbs from her tresses. She wishes that she truly has readjusted as well as she boasts. “The palace does fit me, wouldn’t you say?” She crosses one leg over the other and fixes him with a smirk that doesn’t breach any further than the surface. And that might just be exactly why he takes a step back with a stumbled, “of course, princess.”

She waves him off with a lazy flick of her wrist.

“You uh...haven’t lost your touch.”

Part of her wishes that she has.

.oOo.

“I suppose that, that’s agreeable.” Sokka hears her conclude.

Mostly, the conversation seems to be going well for her, minus a rather stiff manner of speaking.

“You’re talking to your friends, Azula.” Zuko laughs. “You don’t have to be so formal.”

Azula rubs her hands over her face. When she brings them down again it reveals a face riddled with confusion. It is almost endearing. Sokka can’t remember her ever being so expressive. “But they aren’t. We just agreed that we aren’t friends yet.”

This time it is TyLee who laughs. “Maybe we should show her some mercy, Mai?”

“You can.” Mai grumbles. “Friendship is earned and it’s going to take more than a few bewildered expressions. A lot more.”

Azula shifts in her chair.

“Mai.” TyLee says as the woman stands.

“It’s fine, TyLee.” She shifts again. “I understand. I think.”

“Well it’s progress, right?” Zuko asks.

“Yeah...yes, sure, progress.”

And then it strikes him. It strikes him that it isn’t just a stiffness in her voice… He waits for Zuko and TyLee to stand up and leave; TyLee to fetch some pajamas and Zuko to spend some quiet time with Mai. Azula rises from her chair. “Did you enjoy the performance, you can’t get entertainment like that from the Ember Island Players.”

“Not really, Azula.” He is well aware that it is only a rather dry joke but it falls short, swept away by the distress that birthed it. “It’s hard to watch someone force something.”

“It wasn’t forced.” Azula frowns. “I meant all of those things.”

He gives a sad laugh. “I know. That’s not what I’m talking about. I was expecting that to be all kinds of awkward. I didn’t expect you to care so much about that general.”

She furrows her brows.

“You don’t have to force it, I’m sure that after you’ve been here and around it for a while you’ll have your old accent back.” He pauses. “But until then, I kind of like your new one. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a blend of Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation nobility speak before.” It’s unique. It’s her. A more authentic her. He’d wager that Zuko no longer hears his father in her voice. “If you ask me, it’s like keeping a little piece of...of everything. Of where you’ve been and who you’ve talked to.” Of change. He thinks that maybe, just listening to her speak has reassured him. That, that might be, at least in part, why he has been so quick to open up to her.

A muscle in her jaw works. “A piece of everything, huh?”

He nods.

“Maybe yer right. I’ll think about it, Sokka.”

He doesn’t think that she will. Even if she doesn’t know it, he thinks that she has already decided.

[tomahawk-swing]

Dingo was on edge. He glanced above his shoulder every ten seconds, and checked the street twice before he made a turn. He kept a firm hold on his delivery box, as if it might try to slip away from his grasp. As he looked down at his tomahawk, ready to throw it again for directions, Dingo couldn’t help letting his thoughts drift away.

He had to keep his guard up. His body already ached in too many places - not to mention, his pride was wounded too. 

Dingo knew that couldn’t keep this charade going forever. Every time he returned to the restaurant empty-handed, he could feel Maha’s patience grow thinner. Maha was the only one who still believed in him - Hinoken and the others surely believed that he just kept the curry for himself, and dumped the delivery boxes in a dumpster.

The first time, he had claimed to have fallen into the canal, and hit his face on a pillar underwater. The second time, he had gotten lost outside of town, and fought with a fight with a wild animal. The third, fourth, fifth times ... He had run out of excuses.

He couldn’t tell anyone who the real culprit was. Tomahawkman had agreed to stay silent, but Dingo doubted that he could trust his Navi with the truth much longer. If they couldn’t do something about Netto by themselves, they would have to let the adults know. Each of Dingo’s attempts had resulted in pathetic failure, and insult added to injuries. Netto’s punches had left bruises worse than any adult had ever inflicted him in a fight.

As Dingo looked down at the weapon in his hand, he spotted a long shadow rising behind him. Dingo swiftly turned on his heels, and brandished his tomahawk at his opponent. 

It wasn’t Netto. His aggressor was a tall, bald bloke, dressed in a black suit, and equipped with sunglasses. A second man stood behind him, equally intimidating.

“Are you Dingo-kun ?” The man questioned, his deep voice matching his looks. He didn’t seem impressed by the blade in the kid’s hands. “We are the NetPolice.”

Dingo stood motionless for a moment, his weapon still turned towards the man. The realization struck him after a few seconds - he was pointing a weapon at a police officer.

I’m gonna get arrested. Dingo thought to himself. He couldn’t get his arm to lower.

“Apologize now, Dingo !” Tomahawkman hissed from Dingo’s sweater pocket. It was already bad enough that Dingo carried that weapon on his person, but now he had almost attacked a policeman with it. 

Finally, Dingo found the strength to move his arm, all while ignoring his Navi’s words. He quickly tucked the tomahawk behind his back, and stared the man up and down. He looked like a secret agent right out of a spy movie.

“Y-yeah. That’s me.” Dingo stuttered. 

“Please come with us. Your presence is required at the NetPolice headquarters.”

Dingo spotted the second man tucking a piece of paper into his suit’s pocket - probably a picture of his face. Was it already too late ? Was Dingo getting arrested for a crime he didn’t even know he’d committed ?

He followed the two men back to their vehicle, trying to ignore the glances they were getting from the crowd. Two tall men dressed in black, and a young kid with a hood covering his face, clutching a delivery box to his chest ... Dingo wanted nothing more but to prove all these judging glances wrong, but he couldn’t risk making his situation even worse.

He climbed up at the back of the car, while the two men sat at the front, not even exchanging a glance. The silence weighed heavily on Dingo’s shoulders. He could already picture himself being shipped back to Ameroupa, and forbidden to return to Japan. What if he was thrown in jail for good, this time ?

“From now on, everything you will see and hear will be stricly confidential.” One of the men spoke. “As such, you must let your family know that you will be absent for the upcoming two days. You will not be able to go home tonight.” 

Dingo almost retorted that he had no such thing as a family, but the image of Maha popped up in his mind. For a second, his panic washed away. Surely, Maha could get him out of this mess ... No, he couldn’t rely on anyone right now. 

“Do you understand ?” The man insisted. “Officially, you have left for two days of vacation. You may give a single call to the authority figure of your choice. Now.”

It took Dingo a moment to figure out what the man meant. Was he going to jail after all ? Why just for two days ?

“Dingo, you should call Maha.” Tomahawkman’s voice tore Dingo from his thoughts. “We’ll ask questions later. Don’t get yourself in even more trouble ...”

For once, Dingo listened to his Navi’s advice. He initiated a call with Maha, aware that no matter what he said, the man would find it suspicious.

Maha picked up the call after just a few rings. His expression was never easy to read, but for once, Dingo could immediately see the concern in his boss’ eyes.

“Dingo ? Is everything all right ?” Maha questioned. If Dingo was calling to get himself out of trouble, it meant that he had already exhausted every other option. Dingo was usually too proud to ask for help.

“No, no, I’m alright ! I’m just calling ‘cause, uh ... I need some time off. Right now.” He glanced at the policemen, and thought that he should try and add more details. “It’s just for two days. Remember my friend Shanka ? She’s in town, and she wants to see other parts of Japan, like the mountains and stuff ... So imma take her around the place. I’m already in a taxi to meet up with her.” 

For a long moment, Maha remained perfectly silent. Dingo was a fool, but he wasn’t stupid - he could tell that Maha had bought none of his lies. For some reason, though, Maha eventually nodded.

“That is fine. I will call Hinoken in to replace you in the meantime.” Maha announced. “Have a nice vacation, Dingo.”

Maha ended the call, and Dingo could finally breathe again. 

“You’re a terrible liar.” Tomahawkman commented. “Shanka was here a couple weeks ago. They’ll never believe she came back all of a sudden-”

“I know !” Dingo hissed. He slammed his PET onto the car seat, screen down, to let Tomahawkman know that this conversation was over. He already felt enough guilt as it was.

By the time the car stopped again, Dingo had time to imagine all kinds of scenarios. He mostly wondered why he hadn’t been handcuffed yet. He was invited to climb out of the vehicle, and for a split second, he considered running away as fast as his legs would allow.

“Follow us.” The bald man announced, bringing Dingo’s focus back to reality. It was already too late to run.

Dingo followed the men into the police building. The group earned a few curious glances again, pushing Dingo to giving a tug at the brim of his hood. They climbed up a short series of stairs, and walked inside the elevator. Dingo took a deep breath, and fought a short outburst of claustrophobia. 

One of the men pushed the button to the highest floor. Dingo knew what it meant - they were going to meet with someone of importance. Surely, this wasn’t the way to the prison cells.

As glad as he was to get out of the elevator, Dingo found his nervousness skyrocketing again. He was led to an office door, and didn’t have time to try and decipher what the nameplate said. 

A round-faced man sat behind a large desk, right across the door. Behind him, a wall-wide window revealed the landscape below, and allowed light to pour inside the office. The man looked up from papers scattered across his desk, and had a kind smile for his visitors.

“Ah, you must be Dingo-kun. Thank you for taking him here, officers.” The man had a nod of gratitude. “You may dispose. I will take things over from here on.”

The two men gave a deep bow, their heads sinking below Dingo’s eyeline. He watched them make their exit and close the door behind them, leaving Dingo alone with the affable-looking man. 

“Please, take a seat.” The policeman gestured at the seats by his desk. “I hope that my subordinates did not scare you too much. They tend to take their job quite seriously ...”

“I wasn’t scared !” Dingo proclaimed. Shame immediately stung at his cheeks, and as he searched for an anchor, he realized that he had left his delivery box in the police car. With no other choice left, Dingo finally sat down.

“I am Commissioner Kifune, head of the NetPolice. It’s my pleasure to meet you, Dingo-kun.” The man had a warm smile. “I’m very glad that your village’s heritage could be taken back from its thieves, and returned to its rightful owners.”

Dingo blinked a few times. “Why do you know about this ?”

“I was alerted of the totem pole’s theft by the museum. The theft of an exhibition’s central piece is no trifle matter.” Kifune had a long glance for Dingo. “I’m afraid that for a moment, you were on our list of suspects, along with Neo WWW’s Yamashita Hidenosuke.”

“What ? I’d never team up with those guys !” Dingo protested. It was already the second time he yelled at the police chief, and it surely wouldn’t be the last. “I was only tryna take back my village’s pride !”

“Yes, of course. Your name was immediately cleared by Hikari Netto.” Kifune’s smile faltered. “Which brings us to the reason why you were brought here.”

Dingo’s anger faded in a second. He recalled his last encounters with Netto, and felt his face sting with a dull ache. His black eye still hadn’t faded.

“I suppose that his ... disappearance may have reached your ears already. You may also be familiar with the NetSavior initiative, in which Netto was taking part.” 

“Netto’s not disappeared. I saw him.” Dingo blurted out, unconsciously reaching for his sore face. “He’s just ... he’s gone crazy. It’s like all the goodness’ gone from him. Like he’s just causing evil for fun.”

“That is a correct guess.” Kifune replied. He watched Dingo’s eyes widen in shock, and went on : “The circumstances are still unclear, but it appears that Netto-kun has fallen into the hands of the Darkloids, and has been corrupted to join their ranks.”

"I’ve heard about those.” Tomahawkman spoke up, prompting Dingo to set his PET on the commissioner’s desk. “There’s a lot of rumors about them ‘round the Net. They’re kinda like Navis, except they’ve been corrupted with Dark something ... evil energy. I heard they were a big thing a moment ago, but everyone kinda forgot about them, with the Asteroids and whatnot ...”

“You are correct. Darkloids feed on the energy provided by DarkChips, which typically offer a Navi with a tremendous boost in strength, but leave their program badly corrupted. The Navi will lose sight of their moral compass, and even turn against their friends. We believe that Netto-kun was tricked into taking in some of that dark energy.”

“But Netto’s not a Navi !” Dingo protested. “How can he get corrupted by a Chip ?”

“With the use of CrossFusion, most likely. You have already seen it in action, haven’t you ?”

Dingo nodded. That explanation did nothing to make his insides stop squirming. “So that’s why everything about him felt so ... wrong. It wasn’t really Netto."

“Possibly.” Kifune agreed. “Unfortunately, his absence leaves a large dent in our defences. With its other two members stationed abroad, the NetSavior initiative no longer has a member in Japan. After discussing it with Dr. Hikari, and revewing a list of potential candidates, we wanted to offer you the position.”

Once again, Dingo found himself lacking words. His brain struggled to process the implications of Kifune’s offer.

“You want me to replace him.” Dingo repeated. “I’m gonna be in charge of protecting this whole city.” 

“You and your Navi both, if you accept. Given your prowess against the Neo WWW, you seemed to me like a very solid choice. If you were to accept, you will be trained to master CrossFusion under Dr. Hikari’s guidance. And if the opportunity were to present itself ... You would be called to help us capture Netto-kun.”

Dingo’s brains were about to explode. With CrossFusion, surely, he could stand a chance against Netto - even with the freakish strength and speed his former friend had displayed. With CrossFusion, he would have the strength to protect all the people he cared about. Everyone would have to take him seriously.

“I’ll do it.” Dingo stated. He didn’t need to consult Tomahawkman - he knew for sure that they share the same sentiment. “I’ll become a NetSavior.”

“Very well.” Kifune nodded. “To be perfectly honest, we had expected a positive reply, and have already prepared the terrain for your training. Arrangements have been made for you to spend the next two days at the Ministry of Science’s facilities. Given the circumstances, we will have to speed up your training, but you have the option to opt out at any moment.”

Dingo shook his head. He wasn’t going to give up halfway through - not when he was the only one who could rescue Netto. He could feel the weight of everyone’s expectations pushing down on his shoulders.

“I don’t mind. I ... “ Dingo glanced at his PET. “We can handle it.”

“Good. Very good.” Kifune nodded, obviously relieved. “May I take your PET ? I will grant you the NetSaviors’ authorizations right now.”

Dingo pushed his PET towards the commissioner, his heart pounding under his ribs. He already imagined himself clad in a cool armor, wielding Tomahawkman’s axe, and slashing through his enemies with his own hands.

He’d finally be able to pay Netto back for all the punches. 

“There. You’re good to go.” Kifune announced, and handed Dingo’s PET back to him. “My subordinates will drive you to the labs. Dr. Hikari is waiting for you there.”

Dingo pocketed his PET, and stood up from his chair. He took the hand that Kifune offered him, ahd shook it with vigor. His eyes met with the commissioner, letting Kifune read his determination.

“Thank you for your cooperation, Dingo-kun. And welcome to the NetPolice.”

“I won’t disappoint.” Dingo promised. He wouldn’t be ridiculed anymore. Dingo felt his skin itch at the thought that he was now part of the police, but he was only using this chance to accomplish his goals. They were his stepping stone.

With Tomahawkman’s strength added to his own, Dingo would protect the city, and prove his worth to everyone who doubted it.

And at long last, Netto would have to pay for all the curry he had stolen.

[skylanders-after-the-end]

Truth or Dare

The mabu was feral. Like a wild animal it scratched and jumped around the room it was caged in. Through all that, the haunting black eyes remained the most terrifying feature. Spyro, Stealth Elf and a few other Skylanders stood in front of the imprisoned creature and stared at it with shock and horror.

“This is… disturbing.” Stealth Elf shook her head. She couldn’t keep her eyes off the mabu, no matter how horrible it was to look at. “How could this happen?”

“I have no clue.” Even though Spyro was able to finish his spa day, he had to endure a sleepless night thinking of all the lingering evils out there, and this was one of them. Everyone wondered what the cause could be, but Spyro’s choice was quickly made. “But if I had to guess, I would say this was-”

“Malefor.” Cynder finished Spyro’s sentence. “This is undead magic, I can feel it in my bones.” The dragoness shuddered after being reminded of the time when she was just like this corrupted mabu - nothing but a mindless beast.

“It adds up. Golden Queen can turn people into gold, not monsters.” Smolderdash’s look was as certain as it was concerned. She could only think about what could happen to Sprocket with enemies like these out there.

“And we’ve never seen anyone do anything like… this.” The mabu slammed its small body against the glass window while the Skylanders were conversing. “Malefor is one of the most powerful beings in Skylands, it wouldn’t surprise me if he was possessed this kind of power.” Spitfire backed off when a small claw dug into the door and moved downwards with a long, ear-piercing sound.

“If Malefor really did do this, that can only mean one thing…” Spyro’s suggestion caused the group to go silent and for everyone to take their best bets.

“He could never, you know Hex.” Cynder didn’t want to believe that Malefor was able to escape from the one person who defeated and trapped him. “He must have done something, but she couldn’t be…”

“If he did kill her, we need to find another way to restrain him this instant!” Stealth Elf already began looking for anything useful inside the isolated room of the Academy.

Cynder on the other hand was speechless. The elf glossed over Hex’ potential death as if it didn’t matter, regardless of the urgency. “We need to find out what happened first. Malefor is cunning, a strategist. He wouldn’t just corrupt people and disappear afterwards.”

“It doesn’t matter what happened, all that matters is that we find a way to stop him!” Stealth Elf raised her voice at the insulted dragoness. The two arched their eyebrows and gave each other threatening looks as they were about to open their mouths again.

“Guys! This is not the time!” Spyro interrupted the argument, causing his closest friends to move further away from each other. “Malefor is out there, that’s only possible through Hex. He’s alive because of her powers, so he couldn’t have killed her without perishing himself.”

A reasonable argument that eased Cynder’s mind, unlike Stealth Elf’s.

“We can’t defeat him. If Hex isn’t able to restrain him either we have to find another way to do it.” Spyro focused and thought of possibilities to trap the dragon, but knowing him, he would always find a back door, that’s what he did with Hex as well.

“Some Skylanders are already out on missions, we need to warn them before anything else.” Spitfire reminded the leader of the things he’s missed during his free day and wanted to protect the Skylanders just like him.

“You’re right. Smolderdash, Stealth Elf, deliver the news of Malefor’s escape. Cynder, Spitfire, try contacting the absent Skylanders about it.” Stricter than ever before, Spyro fulfilled his leader role by immediately dishing out orders.

His allies nodded and parted their ways, with Cynder and Stealth Elf leaving only after another angered look at each other. Spyro turned around to see the mabu one last time. This is exactly what he was afraid of. The reason why he couldn’t take a day off, there was always someone out to get them.

In order to prevent further villainy, Tidepool, Boom Bloom, Buckshot and Wild Storm were facing a feisty fight during their mission at Scholarville. The Senseis have been here before, looking for the Helm of Ultimate Wisdom, where they were already confronted by the local enemies, only this time there were far more of them.

Tidepool and Wild Storm remained to avoid any contact, which their friends found ridiculous at this point. Nevertheless, they did watch out for each other and fought the enemies as always, even though they kept their distance. While Buckshot and Tidepool eliminated the approaching warships with magical portals and powerful whales, Boom Bloom and Wild Storm took the smaller enemies on. Surprisingly, the ninja and knight were a perfectly harmonized team, jumping over each other and timing their attacks into impressive combos. After the monsters were defeated, the silent heroes nodded at each other rather than smile, since neither of them had a visible mouth.

The female Skylanders reunited and Boom Bloom immediately noticed that something was off, and she already had an idea what it was. “Don’t tell me you two will continue to give each other the silent treatment.”

Tidepool rolled her eyes, which was hard to see due to her lacking pupils. “I told you Bloom, there’s a time and place.”

“This is the time and place, Tide!” Boom Bloom usually sounded calm and collected around anyone other than Krankcase, but for the first time she was upset with one of her friends. “We’re all on this mission together! Not talking could jeopardize it and put both of you in danger!”

“It’s not like I will stay quiet when there’s an enemy about to stab him from behind!” Tidepool turned around to follow the others who were heading further into town. “I couldn’t live with myself if I did.” The Quickshot silently said to herself.

As the Senseis were strolling across the brick road and passed the suburban houses, Buckshot suddenly grew anxious. His fur rose and he was struck by a feeling of unease.

“Are you feeling kinda… creeped out?” The faun asked his silent companion. “I mean, the helm is gone and the people released the sea monster into the sea, but something feels… off.”

“I don’t know what you mean.” Wild Storm looked over to a mabu standing in the corner of an alley, covered by shadows. “Everyone’s outside, no one is panicking, there’s nothing to worry about.”

The girls passed the lonely mabu as well after a brief look, not giving it a second thought.

“The inhabitants are very knowledgeable, they might be able to tell us where Golden Queen could be. Her family used to own many desert islands, so she must have gone to one of those.” Wild Storm informed himself about the goldling and her heritage, hoping it would help with the search.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Even though Buckshot trusted his friend, after seeing another motionless mabu with its face turned away, he was certain that there was something wrong.

As the Senseis continued their journey, Buckshot was trying to figure out why all the inhabitants were acting so ominous, but the determination and hastiness of the others kept him from investigating the situation.

Across the connected islands and large vines spreading throughout the place, the Skylanders have finally reached the castle. There was no hint of anything suspicious, which was unfortunate since that’s exactly what they were looking for. “Alright team, we will take a short break here to plan our next steps.” Wild Storm stopped to inform his allies.

The heroes put their weapons aside and sat down in a circle. There was that awkward silence whenever Tidepool and Wild Storm were in each other’s presence, something both Boom Bloom and Buckshot have grown tired of. They moved closer to each other and started whispering so that the other two couldn’t hear.

“How long do you think will they keep this up?” Boom Bloom asked Buckshot, who’s always been a good friend of hers as well.

“Wild Storm could live the rest of his life silent.” Buckshot got to know the knight better after his separation from Tidepool, yet he remained very closed off and secretive. “And Tidepool used to be a spy, so I’m guessing she’s not any better.”

“She wants to talk again, but she doesn’t want to make the first move.” Boom Bloom was looking for ways to start a conversation between them, but by now she knew that every attempt would lead to them growing further apart. Then suddenly she thought of something that could make them talk. All of them in fact.

“Who’s in the mood to play a game?” Boom Bloom spoke up so that everyone could hear.

Buckshot, though perplexed, has been looking for an opportunity to take some tension off, so he happily agreed. “I am!”

“Boom Bloom, we’re on a mission!” Wild Storm cut through Buckshot’s enthusiasm and reminded them of their responsibilities. “We don’t have time for this.”

“We all know that all we will do is go into the castle behind us, look around and leave.” A sappy response from the mutant that Wild Storm couldn’t argue with.

The Knight Sensei looked over to Buckshot who gave him the expectant eyes, which he knew all too well. “Fine.” He groaned and leaned his head onto his hand.

All eyes turned to Tidepool who kept staring at the report card in her hand until Boom Bloom coughed to get her attention. “Oh. Yes, why not?”

The group listened eagerly, some more than others, as Boom Bloom was about to explain her spontanious game. “So, since we’re supposed to be a team, I thought we should play truth or dare.”

The group was silent. Tidepool and Wild Storm were anything but impressed by that idea, meanwhile Buckshot already thought of questions and dares to ask his companions.

“Who wants to go first?” Boom Bloom looked from one side to the other until she stopped at Wild Storm. “Wild?” Boom Bloom and Buckshot looked over to the knight, while Tidepool tried to avoid eye contact at any chance.

“Just to get this over with.” As unpleased as he was, Wild Storm agreed and started the game. “Truth.”

“Okay.” Boom Bloom tried to think of a suitable question. One that might even get Tidepool interested. “Tell us a secret that no one here knows of!”

“A secret…” The knight expected to have an answer right away, but thinking about it, there wasn’t much to choose from. He could tell them about how he’s been losing control over his beast form, but Tidepool already knew that. And he shouldn’t be thinking about that anyway, that’s what triggers it in the first place. So Wild Storm thought further, further back into his past. “I guess… I used to be a mercenary.”

“Everyone knows that Wild, try harder!” Boom Bloom looked over to Tidepool, hoping she would show some reaction, but the humanoid avoided looking into the knight’s direction.

“Ugh, I don’t know. I used to play with kites as a kid?” One of the few happy memories from his childhood. And even though he would never admit it, thinking about it made him slightly nostalgic.

Buckshot giggled before being caught by a sharp look from Wild Storm. Boom Bloom was happy to hear a genuine answer. “There! That’s better!” The ninja looked over to Tidepool once more, but she kept staring at the bricks underneath her. The Sensei sighed and continued. “Now Wild Storm asks Buckshot.”

“Dare!” Before Wild Storm could speak, the faun already announced his decision.”

“Fine.” Wild Storm had to come up with a task. He wanted his friend to do something challenging, since he’s been very lazy during their recent training sessions. After a few more seconds, he had the perfect idea. “Get to the top of the roof in less than five seconds!” He pointed to the roof of the castle behind them. The only way to get up the rather high building was by climbing the vines surrounding it, but five seconds was nearly impossible.

“No problem.” Without any doubts, the goat got up on his legs and jumped on the spot with a cocky smile, pretending to warm himself up. Wild Storm started to count down from three. When he yelled one, Buckshot quickly created a portal, jumped through it and appeared on top of the building. “Dare completed!”

While the faun was cackling, Wild Storm palmed his face. He forgot to mention that he wasn’t supposed to use his powers. “You win this one, but I won’t be as inattentive next time.”

Once Buckshot returned to his spot, he had to ask Boom Bloom. “Truth or Dare?”

“Hmm…” Boom Bloom wasn’t certain if she wanted to tell a secret or do something embarrassing, Buckshot had no mercy when it came to such things. “Dare.”

“I was hoping you’d say that.” Buckshot already had a smile on his face and didn’t hesitate to dare the plant mutant. “Do your Krankcase impression!”

Boom Bloom looked at Buckshot with disbelief. “I will not do that!”

“You have to, it’s the rules.” Buckshot’s smug smile made Boom Bloom shift her bewildered expression to an angry one.

The Life Ninja sighed before clearing her throat and taking a deep breath. “Boom Bloom! What did I tell you about rebelling against your creator? You are supposed to obey!” One of Boom Bloom’s skill not many knew about was the ability to distort her voice, so it sounded exactly like the mad scientist. Even the villain himself wasn’t sure why she could do that, but it was always very entertaining for Buckshot. Once the Magic Skylander stopped laughing due to his stomach hurting, Boom Bloom moved on with the game. “Your turn Tide.” The mutant thought of another question, one that could involve Wild Storm as well and finally break the silence. Ultimately, she decided to go with the same one as before. “What’s a secret of yours that no one here knows?”

“What?” Tidepool was confused. “I thought we could choose truth or dare?”

“Yes, but since we already had two dares and it’s four of us, you have to take truth.” Boom Bloom felt a little guilty for sealing her friend’s choice, but it was just a game after all. “It’s the rules.”

Tidepool looked up. Her eyes went from one member of the group to the other, until she saw him. She looked Wild Storm straight into the eyes, something she hasn’t done in a long time. Was this it? Would she finally confess the feelings she kept hidden for years? Even though she tried to forget them, whenever she looked into the knight’s glowing white eyes, she couldn’t deny the feelings. “I knew about the Aqua-Marines’ plans.”

“What?” Buckshot and Boom Bloom asked in sync.

Tidepool realized what she just said. She was so focused on not confessing her love for Wild Storm that she just revealed another secret. “No… I mean.” Tidepool didn’t know what to say. She had to give them an explanation, otherwise they would take it the wrong way. “I knew that they were planning to overthrow the Skylanders all along.”

There was silence. An unpleasant tension filled the air.

“I… I was going along with the plan.” Tidepool wasn’t proud of her past, but she wanted to clarify that it’s behind her now. “Until I met… you.” Even though she was addressing all of her allies, her eyes kept shifting more and more to Wild Storm.

“I have to go.” Tidepool got up and hurried away from the group without another word.

The others looked after the Quickshot, most of all Wild Storm, as she made her way back to the city. “Tide, wait!” Boom Bloom snapped out of her petrified stare and quickly ran after her friend.

Lost in thoughts, Tidepool pushed herself through the crowd of mabu that suddenly appeared in the center. “Why did I say that? I should’ve just admitted my feelings already!” She thought to herself with frustration.

“Tidepo-” As Boom Bloom was catching up to the Water Skylander, she saw the hoard of mabu, and what exactly was going. “Oh no.”

Tidepool remained unfazed and just continued walking, until she bumped into one of the creatures. She looked down to investigate the mabu’s face and what she saw caught her off guard. It had deep black eyes with no sign of emotions, or life in that case. It unleashed an eery screech before it jumped onto the Sensei.

“Tidepool!” Boom Bloom started running towards the ambush and used her whip to smack the creature off her friend. “Are you alright?” She fell onto her knees to get a good look at Tidepool, who, besides a few scratches on her arm, wasn’t injured.

“I’m fine. I can’t say the same for the citizens though.” The Skylanders looked behind themselves to see that all of the mabu possessed those terrifying black eyes.

Wild Storm and Buckshot soon appeared as well to check on the missing members. “Is everything alright?” Buckshot yelled across the center of the town.

“There’s something wrong with the people!” Boom Bloom answered. “They’re cursed!”

Buckshot was struck by a shiver when he saw the mabu as well. “I knew there was something wrong here.”

It was a quiet moment, seemingly frozen in time. Everyone stared at each other blankly without moving, until all the mabu went feral. They dashed towards the Skylanders with the intent to kill them. They started to fight, trying to keep the mabu away from them while also not hurting them, they were innocent people after all.

“We have to get back to the ship! Whatever’s going on here we can’t fix it now!” Wild Storm advised the group, to which everyone nodded and pushed themselves through the wild creatures to get back to the ship they arrived in.

On their way back, mabu launched themselves at them from left and right, which they could all dodge easily. However, Tidepool saw a bigger mabu on top of a house, eyeing Wild Storm as he was leading the group back. It was about to pounce the knight, and Tidepool was the only one who noticed. “Wild Storm watch out!”

The knight looked back at his ally before looking up and moving out of the way before the mabu could hit him. They proceeded their flight and he kept looking at Tidepool for a few more seconds after nodding in gratitude.

The Senseis entered their ship and turned the engine on. They flew away from Scholarville right before the mabu could latch onto them.

“What was that?” Buckshot asked with utter shock. “It’s like they were…”

“Monsters.” Boom Bloom finished. “It looks like there’s another enemy out there causing chaos as we speak.”

While Buckshot and Boom Bloom discussed their theories, Tidepool tried to contact the Academy and Wild Storm was steering the ship. In the same moment, both of them looked over to each other and their eyes met once again, only this time they didn’t turn away. They just kept staring at each other, almost like they wanted to say something. Suddenly a voice answered Tidepool’s device and she looked away to answer, while Wild Storm directed his sight back to the front.

Guilty, yet far away from the Skylanders’ troubles was the destructive duo of Hex and Malefor. After corrupting her first victims and unleashing Raven and Zion to hunt her prey, the witch moved on to spread her deadly powers across more villages and kingdoms of terrified creatures, all of them meeting the same fate.

Watching as loved ones turned against each other under her curse, Hex was levitating at the edge of the town she just ambushed. Malefor, always by her side, dwelled in the terror his nemesis was orchestrating. That wasn’t the case for Hex however, she just kept her usual neutral expression. “Aren’t you enjoying your work?” The dragon had yet to figure out why Hex was doing all this. “I thought the screams of those pitiful creatures would satisfy you.”

“I’m not you, Malefor.” Hex responded with an ice-cold tone. “They deserve this, but that doesn’t mean I enjoy it.”

“Then why are you doing it?” Malefor was skilled at looking through someone’s facade, but in his current position he couldn’t allow himself to make any false assumptions. “What is your plan? Cursing them until they’re all dead?”

“Of course not.” Hex kept her sight at all the people going up against each other. The ones who weren’t possessed were overwhelmed by their emotions and the incoming attacks, unable to choose between their own life or their loved ones. “This world has treated creatures like me and you exactly like this. Going after them blindly, not caring about who they are or what they’ve done. I want them to know what it’s like to become a monster. One way or another.”

Malefor didn’t expect the sorceress to be this spiteful towards the mortal world. Yet, it was what he was hoping for when she left the underworld as an undead. “And what about the Skylanders? They will find out about this eventually.”

“They should.” Hex responded. “They’re not any different, they shall meet the same fate as those before them.”

Clenching her fist, Hex showed a sign of anger for the first time since she left the underworld. Malefor used that opportunity. “So why don’t you destroy them right away?”

“It would be foolish to attack them now. Even the two of us can’t win against all of them.” Hex was aware of what the Skylanders were capable of, since she did spend many years with them and knew all their strategies. “They need to destroy each other, only then may we be rid of them.”

“And when they find out that you’ve turned against them?” Malefor already thought in advance. “They will find a way to stop you. To stop us.”

“They will, yes, but they won’t be able to do so if we play our cards right.” Hex has precisely figured her plan out and made sure that there were no flaws in it. “The only way to destroy you is to destroy me, which would go against their moral law. They know that my powers can be taken from me, so that is their only option to take both of us out.” Even though she always kept her distance, Hex has picked up and memorized the way things work with the Skylanders and is now using it against them. “All we have to do is occupy them with a greater threat. Compromise their forces and keep them from getting close to me, then we will prevail.” Malefor’s sinister smile was all the approval Hex needed. “And the Skylanders will fall.”

[beelas-bees]

AU TIME

I had an idea for an AU since the newest episode!

So I’ve always thought Patton was being very unfair recently and he really needs to be stopped plus I’ve also heard of a “twisted sense of morality” and couldn’t help but get an idea once I pieced the two together. 

Plus everyone knows I love my snakey boi! So of course he’s the protag here! I don’t hate Patton (Although I do make him the villain in my head alot) I just think it fits him as a bad character!

So I tinkered with the idea of Patton being kinda evil but not realizing the consequences of his actions, causing Thomas to spiral down a path of self-destruction and the other light sides fiercely defending Patton at every turn (Much to Deceit’s despair).

So I practiced writing a little prologue for the AU. It takes place a bit before Accepting Anxiety where Anxiety is slowly leaving the dark sides to the light. Deceit is noticing more and more that Morality isn’t seeming like he should and goes to confront him.

Spoilers for the new episode! Some blood and violence and just angst. Lemme know if I need to add any other warnings!! <3

Twisted Morality AU: Prologue///

Thomas was being swayed more and more towards Morality's agenda. And that was bad. Morality might believe he is righteous but if anyone would listen to me, they would understand that his judgement is corrupt. Anyone's sense of morality can be twisted but Thomas' was corrupted and no one even knows. Except for me, Deceit. Of course, no one will trust the actual concept of dishonesty, but I have to try to save Thomas. He's my host too, and I will stop at nothing to make Thomas a stable person again. Morality has his grasp around Creativity and Logic tight and now 'Anxiety' is being tricked too. I need to speak to Morality, before he convinces them to shut me out for good. I stepped into the 'light' realm but I didn't get far down the hallway before I encountered the all powerful side. I don't know how he knew I was here so fast as the others couldn't detect me until the kitchen, maybe he was getting stronger... "Morality!" I spoke to the man, standing tall and still in front of me "I wasn't looking for you at all!" I tried to sound strong but the truth was shining through. I'm absolutely terrified of Morality. Morality stared at me, gaze ice cold "Deceit, you know you're not allowed here." he started walking towards me. I backed up "Whaaat!?~ I didn't hear of that rule." I cleared my throat and continued to back out as Morality showed no signs of stopping. "Do you want to speak in the Void?" Morality smiled, but the warmth was absent from his expression "Yes, that'd be great!" he said in his usual tone but knowing the context made it scary. Morality led us to the door I had just walked through and into the Void where the others and I lived. He cracked the door behind him and stood guard in front of it. "So Deceit, what do you need to speak about so badly as you would have to tread on our territory?" I blinked, only a little confused but I wouldn't show that to him "Your territory?" I laughed, unease creeping up on me as Morality dangerously narrowed his eyes at me "I-i thought the mind was free reign to us all?-" "No." Morality shut me down immediately, knocking the breath out of me. "O-oh! I- uh-" I stuttered but Morality cut me off once more. "That's enough, Deceit. I'm sure you're intelligent enough to tell what's going on here." Morality said in a stone cold voice, one that sometimes reminded me of myself. "So, you need to stay out here." Morality started to turn away, holding his right hand purposefully away from me, I grabbed him by his shoulder "Morality! We still need to talk!" I felt Morality stiffen under my grasp and turned quickly to face me again, I stepped back as fear took hold of me. Morality didn't say anything at first, but he didn't need to as his actions spoke a thousand words, words of demise. "Deceit." he spoke, finally, turning to face me fully and taking his hand from behind his back. A barely visible glint of silver metal was my only warning before Morality lunged at me. While I was frozen solid, Morality grabbed me by my shoulder and roughly cut my scales with the kitchen knife he held, as if he knew I was coming all along. I hissed at the sudden pain in my face, I was pushed to the ground as I tried to check the condition of my face. Morality knew he couldn't kill me, of course, but he could still cause me a great deal of agony. "Deceit." Morality breathed heavily "NEVER! Touch me again!" he screamed, as no one but me would hear him. I blinked away the tears before they could even form, I stood up, shaking. "Morality, you listen hard and you listen good, because these words will be the truest I've ever spoken." Despite the pain and the blood on my hands, I stared at Morality ready for anything. "You are unjust and you are leading Thomas down a path of self-destruction and you are not letting me tell you how to fix your way of thinking! I just want to help and you are preventing me!" I was letting out everything, desperate for Morality to understand and change his ways. "You have to understand..." Morality's gaze didn't soften "Heh, no, I don't. You are Deceit, the literal embodiment of lies. I am Morality! I know that you are bad and that's that." I blinked, thoughts becoming gritty "Morality, huh?" I seethed and laughed as the blood continued to trickle down my face "I don't think I can even call you Morality anymore. You've fallen so far from your path, you are... so, twisted now. Your reign of terror will be stopped, Patton, and I will be the one to stop you." I used his real name, to appeal to his sense of humanity but to no luck.

Morality laughed crazed, his face speckled with my own blood and he held up the knife threateningly "Try your best, Deceit. But I'm a light side, you're not. They'll always believe me before you." Referring to Logic, Creativity, Anxiety and Thomas hurt my heart, he chuckled before continuing "Besides, I'm Morality. I decide what's good and bad." He smiled an unfamiliar evil smirk.

I stared, fearful of Morality once more as he laughed. He took a sharp step towards me, making me fall back. "Know your place Deceit, and stay out of the light." he stepped through the door and shut it behind him. I scrambled to get up and tried the door knob but to no avail, Morality had locked me out of the light. Away from Logic, Creativity, Anxiety. Away from Thomas. I screamed and scratched at the door until my claws broke, tears streamed down my face as I finally gave up. I sat for awhile, trying to recover, once my breaths were back to normal, I checked my face. running my now broken claws along the cut line from my ear to my mouth. Angry, I stood up and headed towards the others. Walking in the Void alone gave me plenty of time to think about how to act next. I rushed in to see the Duke still in the kitchen "What are you doing in here?" I hissed at him, it was late and he needed sleep, plus I didn't want anyone to see me hurt. The Duke turned, alarmed, but settled once he saw it was me "Oh! Snakey! It's you. I was just, uh, getting some nice juicy eyeballs to eat." he winked. Without thinking, I used my hand that was covering my face to slap the 'eyeballs', which was actually cold pizza, out of his hands. "You shouldn't eat before sleeping!" a gasp sounded from the Duke, but not because of the pizza. "Deicy! What happened to your face!?" The Duke was panicked, rushing to sit me down and conjure up something to help me. "Gotta take care of mom when she can't care for her kids!" I laughed nervously "I wasn't just scratching at my scales again and scratched too hard!" The Duke looked back at me "I thought you didn't scratch your face? Just your arm- OHMYGOSH!" he grabbed my hands, covered in blood and my nails split horridly. "Your claws! Were you scratching that hard!?" "Uh. Yeah..." I felt too sick to continue, gulping down any bile that dared to rise up. The Duke continued to work in silence until my face and hands were patched up and I began to get drowsy. "Are you sure you're okay, Dee?" The Duke looked at me, sincere. I shook my head "I'm fine. Really! I'm just kinda tired now." The Duke nodded "Oh, okay. Get some rest, please." I stood and stretched, taking off my cloak and hat. "Okay, but don't let me catch you up this late again!" I gave him a toothy grin "Or I won't have to do something about it!" The Duke laughed "Alright! Alright! Let the bed bugs suck the blood out, Deicy!" I smiled "Terrible night, Remus." I headed to my room, setting down my cloak and hat and undressed until I was comfortable. I laid down and let the weight of what just happened slap me in the face. I was barred from the light realm for good. Maybe I could get Remus or someone to go over there and get the door open. But until then, I should work on a plan to stop Morality. He was doing too much and whether he knew it or not, he was destroying the others and Thomas, and I refuse to just stand by any longer. I touched my new scar with my bandaged claws and thought again before drifting off to sleep. I will take down Thomas' twisted sense of Morality!

///

Sooo! That was it! I hope you enjoyed as I’m not good at writing (As my writing sometimes has to be read a certain way ahah) or concepts pfft but I was glad to create the art in between it!

Also! Here’s a concept drawing for the AU I did!

I hope to add more soon! Bye bye!

[mittensmorgul]

Hi, Mittens! I’m very confused now. From all this things about Chuck creating one world after another that Michael said in 14.10 it follows that there’s only one Chuck, right? Then it’s logical that there’s only one Amara. So in AU world there shouldn’t be any Mark and Lucifer hasn’t been supposed to spoil, right? Sorry if it’s silly question, but i am really not good in thoughts about realities and spaces.

Hi there! It might be silly, but you’re not the only one thinking these sorts of thoughts. This has been in my inbox since last week:

Okay, so, if Death existed with God at the beginning of time, how come there’s an AU Death but there’s no AU God?

And I’ll start with the disclaimer that I’m no Stephen Hawking or whatever, but I have spent an inordinate amount of time thinking about Supernatural…

(I sound like a Holiday Inn commercial… which probably conveys the degree of ??? associated with how everyone should treat this post, especially considering the degree of handwavery probably underlying the big map of the universe the Supernatural writers work with…)

I think, going back first to Death’s statements to Dean in 5.21:

Death: As old as God. Maybe older. Neither of us can remember anymore. Life, death, chicken, egg. Regardless – at the end, I’ll reap him, too.Dean: God? You’ll reap God?Death: Oh, yes. God will die, too, Dean.Dean: Well, this is way above my pay grade.Death: Just a bit.

which seems to directly contradict his statements in 10.23:

Death: Before there was light, before there was God and the archangels there wasn’t nothing, there was the Darkness. A horribly destructive amoral force that was beaten back by God and his archangels in a terrible war. God locked the Darkness away where it could do no harm, and he created a Mark that would serve as both lock and key, which he entrusted to his most valued lieutenant, Lucifer. But the Mark began to assert its own will, revealed itself as a curse and began to corrupt. Lucifer became jealous of Man, God banished Lucifer to Hell, Lucifer passed the Mark to Cain. Who passed the Mark to you, the proverbial finger in the dyke.

But since then, we’ve actually learned things that OG Death apparently did not know. We learn in s11 that God and the Darkness existed in tandem, in opposition to one another– light and dark– before all things were created. Unlike Death’s previous understanding that this was the only universe, I think we gain a better understanding, a fuller understanding, after she’s released. I mean, it wasn’t just HER that was locked away, but the TRUTH about her and Chuck.

Which is also why, along a parallel tangent, I found it FASCINATING that in order for Amara to be freed, Death had to die. Almost as if Death had only been a stand-in for the balance of powers Amara had provided for Chuck before Creation was left to unroll. Then, once balance was restored between Chuck and Amara, the Mantle of Death’s powers was able to “resurrect” itself into our Universe, falling upon the first reaper to “die” after Amara and Chuck retired to their former stasis.

And here’s where we move to the portion of the program that consists of Mittens unraveling. This is just how I hold the universe together in my own head to keep it from exploding, you know? This isn’t Concrete Canon Fact, but simply how I personally fit all the puzzle pieces we DO have together.

Before all things, there was Light and Dark, aka Chuck and Amara, respectively, for the purposes of this post. Chuck said in 11.20 that “I am being, she’s nothingness.” The two of them were locked in stasis– connected, balanced, and yet fundamentally opposite to one another. Chuck had a need to create, Amara had a need to destroy. As soon as Chuck created something, Amara would come along and end it. Alpha and Omega.

Who knows how long they existed in that state, until Chuck’s need to create, his need to do more than just begin before having his creation torn apart, grew too strong, but Amara couldn’t stop being what she was. She destroyed. So… Chuck locked her away and unbridled creation began.

I mean, even back in 6.15 when we first found out about the a canonical alternate universe that existed without angels, demons, or apparently any magic at all, the notion that other universes exist became canon. We didn’t have any further explanation for how or why that universe existed until much, much later.

We know now that as Chuck pushed the Go Button on each new universe, those universes all needed to continue to obey the laws of creation– that all things created must eventually come to an end. But with Amara locked up, a new force sprang up in each new universe.

As Michael said in 14.10, in his universe they “locked Death away and enslaved the reapers.” So that was… clearly not Billie, and not OG Death. Not OUR universe’s Death. Because OUR Universe’s Death was bound to Lucifer back in 5.10, and oddly enough, freed from that servitude by Dean. But Dean didn’t exist in the AU to save Death from that fate.

So while I believe that Chuck is the primary force that created the universe, now reunited with Amara and returned to their original state of balance, allowing the multiverse to continue as it is, I think that in the creation of each new universe along the way (with the possible exception of the AU from 6.15 since there was no magic in that world at all, and all of this balance was simply built in to nature, the cycle of birth and death, beginnings and endings, etc.) a Force manifested to counter unbridled creation and usher all things into their eventual ending. We call that force Death. So in that respect, yeah, universe by universe, there’s a largely-absent “God” figure who initiated Creation, which was an act that by the laws of physics would generate its own opposite force when the potential of Creation was manifested into reality, you know? Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

The concept of Creator, therefore, would be inherently evident to each new universe’s concept of Destroyer, but that seemed to have been the extent of OG Death’s understanding of the cosmic order, of existence in this singular universe being the totality of all creation, you know? Because that was his genesis, and his sole reason for existing.

Think of it on a larger scale but a direct parallel to how Chuck Kilgore Trout’ed himself into our universe in 4.18. Chuck-as-overarching-creative-force-of-the-multiverse… Kilgore Trout’ed himself into the being that Death knew as “God.” He wrote HIMSELF into the universe, in a way he simply hadn’t written himself into the 6.15 AU– the world that had no literal Divine Figure or Angels or Demons… no magic at all. Just as back in s4-5 Chuck successfully passed himself off as a mere prophet and only eventually revealed himself as God in 11.20, I think he pulled an even longer impersonation of a lesser force than his True Being, as equal to the force of Death in each universe (or at least each universe where he inserted himself in this way as God, Death sprung up in that universe as the natural, necessary balance to his power).

Now we understand a larger picture. Chuck didn’t just make ONE universe while Amara was locked away. He continued creating universe after universe, unchallenged, and then just sat back and watched all of them evolve. We saw universes such as The Bad Place, that now have a strange feeling of “a more primordial” form of creation. Like Chuck tweaked the recipe after each new universe, experimenting with a different combination of ingredients, a different set of instructions. And each of these experiments had just a slightly different result, gradually progressing to the universe we know from Supernatural. After all, this was the universe that “worked.” This was the universe that sprouted Winchesters.

This was the only universe where Free Will won, where Sam and Dean existed (along with help from Cas) to tear up the ending and take over writing the Grand Story.

This was the universe that began having its “Great Levers” pulled, as Metatron described it in 8.21. It’s entirely possible that this was the ONLY universe that manifested the Mark of Cain that locked away the Darkness was hidden in current time, you know? As Chuck moved on to create each new universe in turn, its theoretically possible that only this “final” iteration of creation before Chuck was reunited with Amara, where he was able to show her the “proof” of the value of his creation in the form of Dean Winchester (in 11.22), that the Mark moved with him. That every universe up to that point was perhaps abandoned– not as “failed draft,” as Michael suggested, but as a story that failed to reunite him with his ending, you know?

I’m personally LOVING this metaphorical parallel between the universe and the Author of the Universe. Because Chuck has always struggled with Endings, you know? Because he’s fundamentally incapable of actually writing one. That was Amara’s job. Each universe in turn was left to write their own “ending,” and so far, the universe that contains Sam and Dean Winchester is the only one that became self-aware enough to implement Free Will to wrangle the original story from Chuck’s hands and begin writing itself. I don’t think that’s something that’s ever happened in any of Chuck’s other universes. This universe truly was different…

But back to the original question above, I’m not sure if the Mark had existed in some form in each of the other universes created before this one, but it seems plausible that at the point where each of those other universes initiated the equivalent of The Apocalypse– which I see as a sort of self-destruct button built into each creation– that Chuck picked up the Mark and moved on to the next cycle of creation, beginning again with a new set of beings he created for that purpose.

But it seems equally plausible that “our Lucifer” was indeed the first to bear that Mark. Chuck said in 11.21 that the Mark didn’t “turn Lucifer,” it only magnified what he already was. Like in Michael’s universe, the Lucifer he was able to successfully kill didn’t ever bear the Mark. I mean, he wouldn’t have died in the first place if that had been the case. The Mark would’ve endured, and likely Lucifer would’ve then slain AU Michael in turn. The things that happened in Michael’s world would’ve been rendered impossible if the Mark had existed there in the same form it did in our world.

I’m not sure if it truly matters, considering the wibbly-wobbliness of even the concept of a multiverse. I don’t think that the concept of linear time necessarily applies to the creation of successive universes, either, you know? Like, from the point of view of Chuck and Amara, standing outside of space and time (a concept touched upon in a smaller scale with the example of the Soul Eater in 11.16), that we actually need to consider the possibility that from that perspective, Chuck created ALL the universes simultaneously, with the standard Supernatural universe as a sort of “Ur Universe” that was the one specifically chosen to bear the Mark, the lock and key, the Alpha and Omega. Both the first and last, metaphysically.

A conceptual ouroboros, if you will.

It’s not necessarily the “ultimate” universe in that respect, just the one that had all the necessary ingredients to function as lock and key.

And in Michael’s limited perspective, from a “nearly complete” universe, he was inherently incapable of grasping the larger picture, from outside all universes. He thought of himself as equal to God, or at least the next best thing to God in his own universe, but he can only conceptualize this within the confines of the particular version of creation that he arose in, and is fundamentally incapable of stepping out of that perspective and into the “God As Author” viewpoint. Like OG Death who thought of himself as the balance to a God, who sprung together from the Primordial Darkness. He wasn’t wrong, from an in-universe perspective, but he was fundamentally able to see the bigger picture from his place inside that universe. From Michael’s perspective, God abandoned his universe and then moved on to create others. But from God’s perspective, it’s possible that all universes sprung up at once.

It’s… brain-hurty a lil bit to try and conceptualize it. I feel like every prophet ever, or maybe like everyone who ever had a psychic vision in the show:

But I hope this at least offers a sort of general overview that might help. This is how I generally justify everything, based on what we know in current canon as of 14.11. All of this may change, or we may be given further insight into how all of this works that could invalidate all or part of what I wrote above, but at least for the time being, I think this is at the very least, a decent jumping off point for understanding the structure of the Supernatural universe.

Oh, and one last thing… What unites all of this? What eventually had the power to restore the original balance? To heal the divide that touched off the creation of the multiverse?

Love.

Okay. I think that’s it for now. I’m gonna go lie down for a while.

[sieben9]

“changelings” impressions

{Quick request to anyone reading: I’m watching OUaT for the first time, and I want to avoid spoilers. So, if you want to discuss something spoilery, I’d be grateful if you could start a new post for that. Thank you!}

Well, damn.

Where do I even start?

Ah, yes, ridiculous fashion choices. Thank you, that’ll do nicely.

Seriously, what is up with this belt? Is there a funny story/deep significance I missed here? Did the Evil Queen get really into wrestling while off-screen? Is this a Fight Club thing?

So many questions, and neary an answer in sight…

…yeah, OK, I’ll get to the actual episode. Under the cut, though. Be warned, this wasn’t a happy one for multiple reasons. For one it’s so long and I am really sorry. I just kept going “and another thing…!” until we got to the current state of things. There are some “skip here” suggestions in the text, though. For another… yeah, just go ahead and read the thing. Short version right here: I did not like this episode, and its also a microcosm of this show’s issues with character continuity. (As in “which bits are canon this episode”)

OK, brief shout out to the whole scene at the barn house. Regina threatening the Evil Queen with crushing her own heart was deeply worrying, but also kind of badass. Good on her. Also, the conversation afterwards. It’s nice to have it all out in the open for once.

Next up: the flashback!

names displayed to silently accuse the guilty (not really they just happened to be in the shot)

Which was… alright, I guess? I mean, the Rumbelle dynamic was completely off compared to what we’ve seen from anything but their very earliest days (I’m thinking about the Robin incident, which was… maybe Belle’s second day there?), but compared to all the other nonsense going on in that area, this is barely a blip on the radar.

This had definitely the only moment of much-needed comic relief of the episode, namely Blue’s dress. I mean, she wears it with commendable sincerity, but that thing just doesn’t get any better with prolonged exposure.

So, Rumple can read Elf, but he can’t read Fairy? OK, I guess, but you’d think that over a 200-year-long rivalry, he’d have made the effort. Well, if nothing else, the “Belle knows Fairy” thing is a nice fanfic fact.

Anything else here…?

Oh, yeah. Rumple’s mom.

Alright, it might be a little early, but I’m calling it now: viewed by quantity, Rumple has The Worst Parents on this show. Simply because both of them were evil, child-stealing assholes who abandoned their son. …you know, despite the very obvious irony in that sentence, I’m shocked Rumple turned out as good as he did. All praise the two spinning ladies.

By the way, how many parents do we have who didn’t abandon their children? Obviously, there are some, but I highly doubt we’d get as much as an even split. Yes, I realise that this is part of the show’s theme, but that is still a lot of absent parents.

He didn’t get much out of that conversation, though, did he? Well, looks like he’ll have another opportunity this season, at least… (If I sound a little underwhelmed, it’s just because of my general mood, I’m actually pretty excited to see more of her. “Sometimes you have to choose power over love”, huh?)

::long groan:: I don’t wanna do this. Because I feel like this should be a serious, in-depth analysis, when really all I want to say is “this episode hurt me and not in the good way”.

I think a large part of the problem is this: I wasn’t there with the story. I think Rumple and Belle’s actions both grew… sort of organically to the point they reached by the end of the episode, but getting there was such a janky, half-baked mess that I just. Didn’t. Buy it.

Right up until the end of that really, really disturbing scene in the library, there are some giant leaps of logic I’m supposed to just follow along with. Like “the best way to get my son to love me is to speed up Belle’s pregnancy” or “Rumple wants to cut our son’s destiny so that he can be corrupted ‘or worse’.” Also, what the hell is “worse” supposed to be in this scenario? What, exactly, did he think Rumple would do to his own child? Ugh!

Also, this didn’t happen until later, but “Just because he did the right thing today doesn’t mean he’ll do the right thing tomorrow”? Really, Emma? Isn’t hoping people who do the right thing today will do the right thing tomorrow kind of at the core of your entire moral system?

::dons hardhat::

OK, outright: The library scene was painful, and deliberately cruel on part of the writers. Because there were so many options for this to play out that didn’t involve Rumple chasing Belle into the elevator that’s been an established “Thing” in the narrative of this couple. I’m not saying this is bad writing (I want to, but let’s face it, I’m hardly objective), but it’s definitely a deliberate punch to the gut. And then there’s the bit where Belle has to talk Rumple down, which…  ::shudder:: yeah, not a good look.

What annoys me about that conversation… OK, one of the things that annoy me about that conversation is that I can’t even properly analyse anyone’s character motivation here, because I have no fucking idea which bits of canon I’m “supposed to” remember this week!

Some canon dissection at this point, skip if you’re bored.

So. Belle told Rumple that “all she wanted [him] to do was try”, which is reasonable enough on its face. In an ideal world, I’d assume this refers back to his comment in s5 where he basically said that the darkness was irrevocably part of him and that he had no intentions of changing that. Which is a… bold choice of words for someone who was literally, straight-up cursed with that amount of darkness. But I digress. The thing is that I don’t actually know if that’s what Belle meant, because, like I said, there’s been a very clear trend of “please only remember selected pieces of established continuity” in recent seasons episodes, and if you’re going to play it like this, that makes any kind of analysis really hard.

Because here’s the thing: he absolutely did try after that. Right after that, you might say. He and Belle worked together (using Belle’s method rather than gunning for Hades directly) to get their child back from Hades. And when Belle decided to put herself under a sleeping curse so as not to risk Hades stealing their child (because Belle does impulsive shit when she feels cornered), Rumple not only got their child back, he also tried to kiss her awake afterwards—something he previously said would require too much of a change from him to even attempt! And when that didn’t work, he did what she’d asked and brought her to her father, who refused to wake her, because his child being worse-than-dead was apparently still better than her being with Rumple. (And no, words still cannot express how much I hate Moe French. He started out a shitty father and then got worse.)

And then he kept trying to wake her up, because that’s what you do for a person you love. I’d even say he was about to succeed in waking her up, when what I can only call a diabolus ex machina turned up to tell her that Rumple is bad and will “destroy his family” (in a frustratingly unspecified manner that was never elaborated upon). And I’d be happier with this if it was framed as the kind of self-fulfilling prophecy the season 2 seer girl made—that Belle trying to avoid a future where Rumple destroyed their family would put them on the path to destroying their family—but I’m not sure that’s what’s going on. And if it is, then the writing in that one bit of the show is certainly a lot subtler than everywhere else.

I don’t care how cute a baby you are, adult!you is still a douchebag

So, at this point, Rumple has tried really hard to be a better version of himself, but somehow none of that work is recognised in narrative. It’s perfectly fine for Belle not to recognise it for several reasons (it’s also a bit weird, considering how she still seems to feel about him), but the narrative never acknowledges that all of this can definitely be filed under “striving to be better.” Which, again, brings me to the “so which bits of canon are canon today?” question. (Also, hi, I have a strong suspicion that the people involved in planning this show are a lot better at short stories than ongoing series with open sequel hooks. No pun intended.)

And then, like I said, things took a pretty sharp turn towards the end of last episode and at the top of this one. I’m… not even touching that any further. I’m tired, and not in the “I woke up early to get this writing done” sense.

::sigh:: Remember The Bear and the Bow? Good times, that, huh?

Alright. Deep breath. It’s uphill from here. Kind of. The hill is inside a hell-pit, so it’s not a great climb.

The post-library bit of the episode kind of works as far as internal logic goes. The episode had pretty much lost me by then, to the point where I was just relieved it actually wasn’t Rumple who spiked that tea. Because, let me tell you, I know I said I didn’t see myself quitting the show, but that version would have been hard as hell to watch. So. Glad I don’t live in that version of reality.

Still, at that point, Belle has no reason to think someone other than Rumple would have wanted to give her that potion. Which meant he was still after the baby, so sending the little bean away was… still not a great idea, really, but I can see how she arrived there. Belle does impulsive shit when she feels cornered. If she thought Rumple had really sunk that low… yeah, it’s still not a great option (and, again some really good acting in that scene), but not completely out of left field.

And Rumple was obviously afraid something like this would happen, which is why he tried to barge into the convent like that. Didn’t exactly make him look more innocent, but he was in a hurry.

at least you’re pretty to look at, I guess

At least one person acted entirely consistent with prior characterisation, meaning the Evil Queen. Because that potion was such a classic move that I’m a bit surprised Rumple didn’t see that one coming. My guy, this is basically the same woman who convinced you Belle was dead before locking her in a cell for thirty years. She knows where to hit you and how to make it stick, and you should know that!

And this is not me saying that it’s Rumple’s fault, but he sure got a good hit from the idiot ball when he unceremoniously dropped the Evil Queen as his partner/”partner” without going “hm, could she possibly feel the urge to screw me over for this?”

And so, Rumple missed the birth of his second child, Belle had her first child without her husband to support her, and while Gideon is a lovely name, I can’t help but think that picking a name for your child is something couples should do together, playfully bickering back and forth for weeks that no, we are not naming our son Immanuel, why is this even a discussion? (…I had several friends get pregnant over the last three years and you hear some weird stuff. The little guy is called Immanuel now, by the way. Among other things.)

Oh, and speaking of the little guy’s name...

WHY WOULDN’T SHE TELL HIM? Seriously, the name wouldn’t do anything to find him he couldn’t do with blood magic. Which he has readily available, since it’s--and I know this comes as a shock--his child. Seriously, that just seems... nedlessly cruel.

Also, to close this out with some (semi-)humour, I want to make this a callout for one Belle Gold, who decided that of all the people present this was the best person to hand her newborn child:

I think I am on record for saying that I would not trust the Blue Fairy with taking care of a gerbil, nevermind a human being. Frankly, if she told me the sky was blue, I’d go outside and check, just in case the apocalypse had gone off while I wasn’t looking. That’s how little I trust her.

Now, I do know that this is not the story of how Blue has been evil all along, but there is a world where that’s the big twist at the end of this episode.