#I do tend to operate inside canon things. Most of my characters could probably be NPCs | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

rococospade · 3 years ago

Text

Regarding my characterisation of Laurence, the First Vicar

Okay so anyone who’s had to talk with me for more than five minutes knows I have *a lot of feelings* on the First Vicar and while I’m going to try and keep this to stuff I can support via lore, that will almost certainly bleed over in here and I apologise in advance. I’ll try to stick to things I can support from canon.

Other notes: I will be referencing deleted content for this, and it is a long post because I have a lot of thoughts. So post under the cut, beware of spoilers, so on.

(As an aside, if you read my fics, dear god does this post have spoilers for those too, since a lot of my fic world building is me trying to piece lore together!)

@fishbowlcarnage thanks for getting me to write this. It’s incomplete and unfinished, and I’ll definitely want to add to it as I play through DS3 and the Fishing Hamlet in BB, but I hope it’s enjoyable as it is. Also thanks to Marie for gently pushing back on my assertions so I have to find a basis for them, and to every lovely person who’s chatted with me about lore and this strange and beloved game.

General notes:

Most of this is predicated on a handful of things:

Laurence was probably a Choir member. He stole the Choir from Byrgenwerth, and it’s noted that the church uniforms are based on Byrgenwerth’s. And if you look at it, what does it most closely resemble? Willem’s clothes. So either Willem had disciples’ outfits designed to look like less fancy versions of his, or else Laurence chose an outfit that visually conveyed “I’m taking your job” for himself and his own minions.

Laurence was not from Yharnum: it comes up in deleted lines that the person who founded the Healing Church was a foreigner. While that line was cut, we do still hear the huntsmen blaming foreigners for their plight, and while I will admit that nationalism and xenophobia are a big part of Bloodborne it would make an… interesting sort of sense if the Healing Church was actually headed by one. Also, Laurence and Willem have different accents to the rest of Yharnum, at least to my ear. I’m also a filthy American, so feedback on this point is very welcome.

Laurence was probably a combatant: this is probably my hardest argument to make because it relies on the most abstract points. Laurence is found with the Gentle Beast’s Embrace rune. That’s a combat rune. Even if he’s trying to heal the scourge, if we operate on the presumption that he did want to help people, and he found a rune that seemed to safely turn him into a stronger bestial form, don’t you think he’d take up arms if he hadn’t already? Aside from that, the clerics use a lot of blood. Now, @msoftserved has pointed out to me that that was probably a religious thing as much as a functional one, but I’m still fascinated at the idea that the clerics could somehow take enough blood to over a long enough period to become giant beasts without also being hunters (since hunters are noted for their extreme willpower, and being able to do things like force themselves to stay awake under the effects of blue elixir). I also suspect the clerics fought, since it’s noted that the Hunters of the Healing Church made the Hunter’s Workshop redundant, and the hunters we see from the Church are dressed like… clergy. I may add to this section later, as my brain is currently refusing to articulate my thoughts in any sort of useful manner.

Actually! Coming back to this, with something a little less tenuous: the Vicar’s Pendant has a blood gem inside for hunting beasts. Why would they have that if they weren’t actively hunting beasts themselves? It’s not on display, you have to break the amulet to get at it. So… if it were purely decorative, you’d expect it to be visible. And if it weren’t, one would expect them to have something support based. But no, it’s an attack up specific to beasts. Which to me implies two things: the amulet could be used for offensive casting/spells, and the owner of the amulet was expected (at least some of the time) to fight.

In addition to this, Gehrman also refers to the Clerics of the Healing Church as “the guardians” of Hunters, and cries out for Laurence to help him in his sleep. Even if Laurence was not a combatant, I found that to be a really interesting detail; it speaks to Gehrman’s belief in Laurence’s competence. Especially once you finish the game. He’s not crying out for a god to save him. He’s crying out for Laurence, and Willem.

About Laurence’s personality:

I think it’s fair to argue he was probably charismatic. He managed to repeatedly amass a following; first at Byrgenwerth, where he stole Willem’s best students from under his nose (including Micolash, someone who seems to fundamentally disagree with Laurence on how to ascend humanity? Which is pretty wild in and of itself) but also convinced several major characters to help him, including Gehrman (who seems to have had heroic intentions, though he’s of course Not Okay because this is a Soulsborne game) and freakin’ Ludwig (first Church Hunter! First man to organise the hunts instead of having everyone do whatever with 0 coordination! And canonically stated to be from a long line of knights, which implies Ludwig was probably a noble or at least a member of the gentry, but signed on to work with this foreigner.

Laurence was likely either ostentatious, or found the appearance of being so valuable: dude has a weird skull elevator and I’ve never been able to forget it. I thought it was weird when I found it but wrote it off as typical Bloodborne… until I read “fool me”, which pointed out that the elevator was probably, in fact, something Laurence either designed or commissioned. It was definitely way more expensive than just installing a ladder or stairs… But organisations thrive on symbols. And the Healing Church is rife with symbolic imagery, from the architecture to the decorations to the uniforms. There’s really no functional reason to have the members dress like they do, which means it was likely a case of needing to present a certain image or be immediately recognisable to the public. (On a loosely related note, the Church Giants wearing items from the Black Church Set is… kind of cute in a weird way. Who made the clothes? Who dressed them up? These questions haunt me.)

Laurence may have been capable of miracles or pyromancy: this one is a big stretch, but I’m going to bring it up anyway. Laurence’s attacks in his Cleric Beast form (specifically the ones that leave lava in their wake) resemble a pyromancy from the Dark Souls series. We also see patients from the Research Hall that cast miracles in the Hunter’s Nightmare. Seems like a jump to attribute miracles to Laurence from there, right? Well… the Vicar’s Pendant that Amelia uses to heal herself is noted to have been passed down amongst the Vicars of the Healing Church. Presuming she’s using the ‘heal’ miracle, then the pendant is apparently her talisman. She had to have learned the technique somewhere, and talismans in the Souls series aren’t unique to one caster — anyone with sufficient faith can utilise a talisman to cast miracles. So it stands to reason that if Laurence had the necessary faith, he could have wielded the amulet in the same way.

Misc notes:

Willem was doing some horrifying stuff at Byrgenwerth. I’m kind of surprised more people don’t seem to address that? Byrgenwerth is the only area with the garden of eyes enemy in the main game. Those things are wearing patient gowns. “What we need… is more eyes” seems rather chilling in the light of that particular enemy, and its official name.

In addition to that, at least two of his prized students turned out to be… you know… insanely charismatic cult leaders. I’m talking about Micolash and Laurence, of course. What are the chances he collected two dangerous twinks that would betray him entirely on accident? Oh, but two’s a coincidence, right? Except… Gehrman. You know, the First Hunter. He was apparently rather attached to Willem too, since he calls him ‘Master’… so that’s… three students of Willem’s that decided, actually, let’s do this extremely morally dubious thing in pursuit of knowledge/power/good of mankind? Oh! And Gehrman amassed a following too, actually. The original Hunter’s Workshop. That’s… That’s definitely a pattern by now.

The Gentle Beast’s Embrace rune grants reduced fall damage. I ran with the idea from there that cleric beasts (probably beasts in general) have an instinct common to both canines and felines — get the high ground. Now. This is also supported (as much as anything is supported) by where you find Cleric Beasts — the first one is sitting atop a roof over the great bridge, essentially the highest suitable platform in central Yharnum, while Laurence the first Vicar is sprawled dramatically in the arms of a statue over his altar in the Hunter’s Nightmare. So I tend to depict him perching in high places when left on his own, especially once he’s begun falling to beasthood.

#bloodborne lore #bloodborne lore discussion #laurence the first vicar #long post #note to self #character discussion #character headcanons

26 notes · View notes

mimik-u · 4 years ago

Text

Fragments III, 1-100

300 drabbles about Steven Universe/Future, 100 words each! These are the first 100 prompts and writer’s choices that have been fulfilled.

Asterisks are placed next to my personal favorites that I’ve written.

Baggage* — Steven meets his new therapist!

Eternity —How about a Bellow interaction you've always wanted to see in canon but didn't get to?

Foe —Jasper is simultaneously satisfied and yet left deeply empty inside by her self-isolation on Earth, and doesn't understand how to even begin to process this dichotomy. (So she doesn’t.)

Letter — Young Greg's POV when he wrote those letters to his parents Steven found on Mr. Universe episode.

Sword —Connie interacting with someone she doesn't usually talk to by herself (ex Jasper, Bismuth, Lapis, etc.).

Reconciliation — Idk about you but I wanna see more Mega Pearl. The others have not met Mega Pearl.

Marks —How about... Spinel, and the tiny, everyday baby steps towards healing?

Tangled — Peridot finds out/is told about PD/RQ? (And is confirmed in her guess that Pearl is fancy...?)

Challenge* — How is Steven’s TubeTube channel doing?

Bruises — Priyanka tends to Connie's wounds after training sessions with Pearl. [Writer’s Choice]

Rest* — Yellow Diamond gets to relax. (She's the one who most expresses regret and real understanding. Let her take a nap! She deserves it!)

Barbecue* — Post-movie, during cleanup, Steven and Lars talk and plan the BBQ we got a glimpse at during the final song.

Ghost — Yellowtail and Greg talk about fatherhood and how it can be ruined (mentioning Marty and Greg's father subtly).

UNO* — Date between Pearls (platonic or otherwise).

Height — The pebbles!!! They're so small???? Where are they? *Sobs, points at the Heaven and Earth Beetles.*

Embrace — Steven gets a well-deserved cuddle pile from family and friends.

Constructs — Bismuth and Peridot have a lot more in common than they think.

Horns — Amethyst makes an unexpected new friend at Little Homeschool. (Whichever other character you feel would fit best!)

Garden — Pre-show scene. While having a funny chat, Greg mentions something that reminds Rose about her abandoning Spinel, which makes her regret more of her choices.

Advice — Garnet can tell when Stevonnie has a lot on their mind. [Writer’s Choice.]

Hum — Yellow and her relationship with music.

Love* — Pearl considering her romantic feelings towards someone and thinking about how she's finally moving on from Rose. (Doesn't mean she'll ever forget her.)

Kid — A glimpse into “Sadie Killer.” Maybe when they played their first show, while Steven was still in the band. Celebrating afterward or a discussion on why Steven didn't stay IN the band?

Troubleshooting* — Integration of gem communication networks and Earth Internet and phone lines and the resulting inevitable disaster.

Fairytale — Connie gets a tour of Little Homeworld.

Hope — Jasper finally starting to let her guard down and realize her self worth.

Song* — As for prompts... Steg? Like, him in general, just being himself. It's a bummer we only got to see him in the movie.

Mistakes* — Steven talking to someone (not a therapist, just another character) about his trauma?

Forgiveness — The Topaz fusion reconnects with the Crystal Gems at Little Homeschool and apologizes for her role in the kidnapping all those years ago.

Visions — Sapphire and Ruby reflect on the events of "Together Forever." [Writer’s Choice]

Reunited — Maybe a scene where Yellow comes home from a long escapade and is reunited with a worried Spinel?

Beginnings — After CYM, Lapis and Peridot discuss where to live since the barn is destroyed.

Pet* — White Diamond happily announces one day that she has decided to take in a small creature (of your choosing) as a pet.

Together — What were Doc, Army, Navy, and Leggy doing during Future?

Desert — Steven meeting Lion from Lion's perspective. I dunno, I think it could be neat.

Freedom — For a post-CYM/SU:F prompt, what do you think about the exact moment it hit either Blue or Yellow Pearl that they were completely free to follow their whims?

Apologies — Greg apologizes to Steven due to the incident in “Mr. Universe” and both have the talk they should've had in that episode.

Change — Blue and Yellow Zircon's relationship has improved even if they are now rivals in the new democratic Homeworld. This last tiny bit is related to the “Homeworld Bound” episode.

Hug — Bellow cuddling. Yellow has no idea what to do, but Blue is loving it.

Valentine* — Steven gives Peridot a Valentine's Day gift. [Writer’s Choice]

Spite — Aquamarine and Eyeball are distraught at knowing they won't be rewarded for their actions because their worst enemy, Steven Universe, has been labeled a hero and royalty by the Diamonds.

Reevaluation — How about more Peedee and Steven friendship? Like, Peedee noticing Steven’s change in demeanor the farther along the show we get?

Camp — Connie kicking ass at space camp.

Family — The night after the events of the movie, Steven gets some quality family time.

Homestretch — Peridot, Lapis, and Bismuth spend time together while preparing Little Homeworld.

Enough — We know what Jenny, Sour Cream, and Buck are gonna do for their futures, but what's Kiki been up to? Is she gonna take over the pizzeria?

Spillage — Vidalia and Amethyst catch up after Steven's monster episode.

Reformation — White Diamond has learned how to be so extremely empathetic to the point that she literally becomes another person, but has she really begun to understand others?

Comment* — Sardonyx makes some Internet videos.

Unicorn — While traveling through California, Steven encounters two fishermen arguing about unicorns. [SU/GF crossover.] [Writer’s Choice]

Worry — Andy and Greg stay in touch.

Homerun* — I hopal for Opal—perhaps she will attempt some baseball.

Skydancer — Post-CYM, Pearl getting to “truly” take Steven out for a joy ride through the cosmos in a properly operational ship of her design.

Mercy* — The shattering-is-wrong discussion between Rose and Bismuth that led to Bis being bubbled.

Happy — Smoky Quartz hasn't made a self deprecating joke in a while—is it Steven's therapy?

Electric* — Yellow’s gloves—I feel like they’re covering something up, maybe.

Cake — Fusion Cuisine 2: Electric Boogaloo.

Belonging — The Rose Quartz sisters visit again.

Transcendence — Fluorite offers someone wise caterpillar grandma advice.

March — Connie and Steven reflect on changes in life after the pandemic. Not canon compliant. [Writer’s Choice.]

Understanding — Onion be doing Onion things.

Ocean* — Andy and Steven post-”I Am My Monster”? I love their relationship, lol.

Ignorance* — Does Lapis even realize Bismuth was probably the one who poofed her?

Reflection — Did I already say more Mega Pearl? ‘Cause there can never be enough Mega Pearl.

Possibility* — Yellow deciding she should try putting shattered gems back together. (She probably broke the most.)

Storyboard — Peridot’s budding career as a storyboarder.

Fall — Lapis and Steven talk about trauma and recovery. Pre-The Future.

Limbo — How the dismantled gempire has affected the lives of noble gems like Emerald, Holly Blue Agate, and others.

Now — Garnet reminds herself to live in the present.

Grief* — Alexandrite forms for the first time. [Writer’s Choice]

Inauguration — Wait, did Connie's parents ever meet Stevonnie?

Please — Did Kevin ever learn anything? Naaaaaah....unless...

Friend — General prompt? A sequel/prequel to this, please [White D’s panther].

Treatment — Greg starting to learn more about gem stuff to be more involved in Steven's life if something ugly happens.

Numbers — Pearl, please do something with all those phone numbers in your head.

Generations — Rose continues to discover the wonders of Earth, even after all this time. (No angst allowed in this one, just pure wonder.)

Survival — The Off-Colors used to have more members in the past.

Acting — How did Rainbow 2.0 even get invited to babysit Onion?

Kindness* — Former Mayor Dewey coming to terms with his new position in town.

Play — The Gems and Greg try to capture Steven's first moments on a bike. [Writer’s Choice]

Documentary — Ronaldo makes a real actually informative documentary about Little Homeworld.

Rain — Blue Diamond still cries sometimes.

Zoophobia — Also, I saw Z and my immediate thought was "Zoophobia.”

Echo* — Why does the tiny floating whale have Rose's voice before Steven ever heard it in the tape?

Sketch — Steven and Connie discover an anime character/mythological figure who bears an awfully similar resemblance to Obsidian.

Unironically — Why does Buck wanna be a doctor?

Club — How did Bismuth, Lapis, and Peri become such tight friends?

Nostalgia — Greg considers a comeback tour.

Pressure* — The creation of the Diamonds, maybe?

Coping — Amethyst and Pearl grapple with Rose's pregnancy. [Writer’s Choice]

Theatre — Sugilite, meet Rainbow 2.0.

Dadhood* — Whatever happened to Mrs. Fryman? IS there a Mrs. Fryman, or was it only a passing on-and-off thing that resulted in kids?

Lingering — Jasper finally lets Malachite go.

Human — Steven talks to his therapist about his mom, the feelings of before and the now. (It was left open-ended—his relationship with his mother.)

Words — Kofi is proud of his daughters.

Quest — [Letter prompt] Quest.

Picture — Sour Cream and Steven talking about absent parents and bad parenting. Post-The Future.

Bittersweet* — Shep finally gets to meet the notorious Lars.

Gemini — Spinel discovers memes and we're all doomed.

Weird — When he's younger, Steven doesn't quite know how to label the Gems.

#mimiku #steven universe #100 fragments!!!!!#fragments iii

15 notes · View notes

skybird13 · 5 years ago

Text

Why I Think Fair Game Works

So we’re coming up on the midway point in this mini RWBY vol. 7 hiatus, and I have a serious addiction to Fair Game. With no more canon content coming out for another week (😭), I thought I’d provide some self-indulgent rambling in-depth analysis as to exactly why I think Qrow and Clover work so well together. I’ll be pulling off of what we have in the show so far (because I tend to base my ships off of canon context), but I’ll also be making some reasonable assumptions regarding Clover’s character since we don’t have a whole lot on him yet.

[Note: I’m not really trying to sway anyone with this post, so if you don’t agree or don’t like FG, feel free to scroll right on by and have a nice day. I’m all for discourse but that’s not the point of this particular post. Make your own and invite me to engage and we can have a convo.)

That being said, and without further ado, here are my top reasons for being Fair Game trash. Be forewarned, this is loooong. Damn thing turned into a dissertation.

Reason #1: Clover is a source of stability

One of the biggest criticisms I’ve seen aimed at Fair Game (aside from the more inane ones, which I will not dignify with an acknowledgment on this post) is that Qrow hates specialists. And people are right. It’s one of the first insights we get into his character in his volume 3 debut episode, right after the fact that he’s an alcoholic. I completely agree that if these two men had met in volume 3 or even 4, there is no way they would have gotten along. Clover is a soldier. A military man. He goes by the book and, in his mind, there’s not a lot of wiggle room when it comes to doing things the right way (see: his conversation with Robyn). He would have driven volume 3 Qrow up the wall, and not in a sexy way.

But the fact is, Qrow has been through a hell of a lot since then. He lost Ozpin twice (once to death and once to the lies Oz himself told), lost his way and sense of purpose because of it, almost died on multiple occasions, fell into deep emotional darkness, came under the influence of the Apathy, and had to finally acknowledge his own depression and poor coping mechanisms, or lack thereof, as a result. Shit like that changes you in deep and fundamental ways and, while I would have loved for a bit more in-show focus on this transition, I think RT gave us enough to infer the rest.

Thanks mostly to Ruby, Qrow is finally in a place where he is trying to heal for the first time since we’ve known him. He started the show as an impulsive– albeit manipulative and brilliant (see: him baiting Winter into a fight)– alcoholic who had no problem whatsoever with getting under people’s skin. The only relationships he really seemed to value were the ones he had with his nieces and with Ozpin, and everyone else could take a flying leap. Now I can’t deny that there was a certain charm to that. It’s one of the reasons I think he became such a fan favorite so rapidly; a lot of us can relate to that desire to not give a shit. But the underlying implications of that type of behavior are, I believe, pretty damn dark and serve as the earliest signs of Qrow’s depression and emotional isolation. Consider: his only functional relationships were with people who were incapable of really knowing him on a deeply personal level. Oz couldn’t because he was the one to give Qrow a purpose, thereby establishing a certain power imbalance in their relationship, no matter how close they were (I love Oz despite his mistakes before anyone comes after me for that statement and have nothing against Oz x Qrow, these are just my thoughts). And Ruby and Yang couldn’t, and still can’t, because they’re his damn nieces and being the adult in a relationship with kids means you maintain a certain distance between them and any insecurities or struggles you might have. Anything else is just not okay. He bungled that in volume 6 but he has clearly been trying to re-establish that supportive adult role in volume 7, which is amazing all by itself.

This brings us to Qrow’s emotional and mental state at the start of volume 7. Again, he’s in a place where he’s trying to heal. I don’t know how many people can relate, but that place is friggin’ terrifying because it’s the place where you have to stop lying to yourself about your problems and commit to dealing with them. But it also comes with a weird level of mental… stillness? Peace isn’t the right word, but when you’re not constantly fighting yourself anymore, you are able to breathe a little and that’s worth a lot to someone who has been trying to suffocate themselves for most of their lives. I think this has a lot to do with his shift in outlook. He’s less antagonistic because it no longer serves to feed the self-loathing monster inside him. Or rather, he’s trying to make sure he doesn’t feed it. The fact that he comes into Mantle, gets arrested for doing his job, and doesn’t immediately get in James’s face, or Winter’s for that matter, attests to the fact that he has changed. Qrow isn’t the one to call James out on the embargo or the state of things in Mantle. Instead, he steps into a role that we have never seen him in: the gentle voice of reason. He points out that James doesn’t need an entire military presence to build and launch the communications tower, and when James reveals his plans to tell the world about Salem, Qrow doesn’t outright disagree or go after him for it (as he certainly would have in earlier volumes). He simply points out that Oz spent every lifetime he had keeping that secret and then lets James explain his reasoning (flawed as it might be).

In short, all that outward anger he displayed in earlier volumes was most likely a manifestation of the self-hate storm he had brewing inside. Now that he’s decided to try to move away from that, he’s different. Of course he is. It would be completely unreasonable to expect otherwise.

Enter Clover Ebi. By sheer virtue of being who he is, Clover provides a source of stability for Qrow that he both sorely needs and has severely lacked up to this point in his life. Healing is an internal and independent process for the most part, and Qrow is going to have to sort out his issues on his own, but having someone in your life during that process who is solid is invaluable. And so far, Clover has been nothing but solid. He has been the one to pull Qrow back from bad old habits (self-deprecation and self-hate regarding his semblance). He’s been the one to take Qrow’s semblance in stride and even to get him to joke about the whole concept of having luck, good or bad, for a semblance. And so far? He’s done all of this with absolutely no strings attached. He’s not like Oz, who needed Qrow to be functional enough to carry out his spying missions, and he’s not like Ruby or Yang, who reasonably need Qrow to be solid for them because he’s their uncle. Clover is the first person who doesn’t need anything from Qrow, and so he is able to offer the type of emotional support that Qrow has never received from anyone else. They’re not even official battle partners, despite them being paired quite a bit. The lack of strings, of ulterior motives, of complicated and messy ties, and even of familial bonds, means that Clover can be the solid one. He can be a safe place where Qrow can fall apart and put himself back together if he needs to, because nothing is going to cave in if he does. Qrow won’t be putting too much weight on his nieces or on someone who relies on him for information and support. He can lean on Clover without having to worry about any repercussions.

Reason #2: Qrow is a source of disruption

Now for the fun flipside of my first point. While Clover provides a source of stability for Qrow, Qrow has the very real potential to provide a much-needed source of disruption for Clover, thereby balancing out what we have gotten of their relationship dynamic so far.

Being a military man, stringent structure and unconditional loyalty to his superiors are likely major aspects of Clover’s character. We have enough in the show so far to assume that’s accurate about him even if it hasn’t been blatantly stated.

Clover carries out his orders without fail, to the point of arresting a bunch of kids and Qrow in Mantle for operating outside of official parameters. His conversation with Robyn is also extremely telling. He doesn’t have a problem with what she wants; he has a problem with how she’s trying to get it. He doesn’t believe that the ends justify the means and, in that same vein, probably also believes that institutions are there for good reason. He is the epitome of lawful good.

Qrow, on the other hand, has never operated within official parameters. He was a spy, for god’s sake, and therefore is intimately familiar with the inherent grayness of the world. He’s not someone who is going to see things in black and white, and because of this, he could offer a sort of push back against Clover’s blind loyalty to Ironwood.

Not only is Qrow not in the military, and therefore not bound by its restrictions and dictates, but he has known James for a long time. He, more than anyone, is in the perfect position to call James out on his crap, and he’s probably the one with the best chance of actually getting through to him. Not with the same aggression and vehemence he displayed in volume 3, but with more of a tough-love approach. I fully expect this to happen at some point (and will be very sad if it doesn’t. I like James and want him to snap out of all this).

So how does this relate to Clover? Well, it forces him to acknowledge that, military or not, always trusting that the people above you are doing the right thing or the best thing is never a good way to go. He would have to step back and re-evaluate his general approach to life, which is the core of character growth. Clover never questions authority (that we’ve seen) whereas Qrow’s existence has always been in stark contrast to it. If anyone is going to act as a catalyst for Clover’s potential evolution from strict military man to a more free-thinking, free-acting individual, it’s going to be Qrow. And I think the pieces are set-up for that exact thing to happen.

Obviously, we’ll have to wait and see where CRWBY takes this one (if they take it anywhere) but the potential for growth from Clover is there because Qrow has come into his life. One of the best things couples can do is challenge each other, and these two are primed to do exactly that.

Reason #3: Opposites attract for a reason

We’ve all heard the phrase, right? Opposites attract. Sometimes I think this statement falls victim to a lot of misunderstandings so let me clarify what I mean by this. I don’t mean their chosen routes in life (rogue and spy vs. structured military man), or their semblances, or even their different combat styles. I’m talking about the complementary nature of their personalities.

Qrow has always been a bit impulsive. It’s been established that he sometimes doesn’t fully think things through, or if he does, he doesn’t care about the consequences and is willing to deal with them (see: his battle with Winter again). Don’t get me wrong. The guy is brilliant. He baits Winter knowing it will give him the opportunity to pick a fight with James as well and call him on his shit. But I’m pretty sure he also does this knowing full well that’s all he’s going to get: a fight. He’s not going to convince James not to bring the full Atlas military presence in for the Vytal Festival by shouting at him. He knows this and does it anyway. In his fight with Tyrian, you can see more than one instance where he’s planning his moves so his semblance has the chance to work on his opponent, but it’s at the risk of his own safety as well (see: the roof stunt). There are plenty of other examples throughout the show. Qrow runs off instinct and momentum.

Clover, on the other hand, strikes me as someone who exercises a bit more caution in his life. He thinks through a situation before he steps into it and overall just seems a little slower to take action. This is true in combat situations, as the whole mine mission was meticulously planned out beforehand. You can also see this approach mirrored in the way the Ace Ops work on the whole. Vine and Elm definitely don’t rush in when they encounter Grimm in the mine, and while Marrow and Harriet might be a bit faster to go after the main target, they don’t do it without a fully formed plan. It’s not foolproof, obviously. Marrow does cut off that piece of Dust with no one there (that he knows of) to catch it, but the point is still valid.

This tendency to go slow and feel his way is also true in Clover’s personal life. In the truck scene, you can see him watching Qrow while he talks, gauging his reactions, trying to find the best way to reach him. Nothing he says is mere chitchat. It’s all meant to pull Qrow into a conversation, which Clover tries to keep focused on Qrow himself. His opener might be Ruby but he ditches that line of thought as soon as Qrow gives him the opening to do so and shifts his attention to where he really wants it to be: getting to know Qrow.

Then you also have Qrow’s penchant for falling into dark mental places balanced against Clover’s good mood and playfulness; Qrow’s willingness to be a little more open with his emotions and Clover’s tight emotional control; the fact that Qrow feels things fully and deeply while I suspect that Clover might have emotional walls he hasn’t learned how to lower yet; Clover’s ability to follow orders and Qrow’s ability to question. And that’s all out of only 3-ish minutes of total interaction between them so far. I think as the volume goes, we’ll only get more insight on the ways in which they balance and round each other out.

Reason #4: Shared semblances

So this has been the biggest kicker for people so far, and I’ve seen it as a point both in favor of and against FG. Some people theorize that Clover’s semblance might have some balancing effect on Qrow’s, making it much safer for Clover to be around him than it is for others. Others think that it might be more of a trade-off: good luck part of the time and bad luck the other part (I’m in favor of this). And yet others seem to see Clover’s semblance as a negative thing for Qrow, somehow dampening his own semblance or countering it to the point that it’s mentally or emotionally detrimental for him. I personally don’t quite see the logic behind this given what we’ve seen so far, but I’ll just make my point and get out of this debate because the truth is that we still don’t quite know how their semblances function together.

What we do know is that they are two sides of the same coin, and as such, are not nearly as far apart as they might have seemed at first. They both carry around luck semblances, which I assume is pretty damn rare. Almost every other semblance we have seen has existed more in the practical realm (Yang’s damage absorption, Blake’s shadow self, Weiss’s glyphs, Ruby’s rose petal thing, Marrow’s ability to slow time, Tyrian’s ability to rip through Aura, etc. etc. etc.) And then we have these two who operate in the realm of chance, something intangible and completely unpredictable. They are fairly unique in the RWBY-verse in this sense, and uniqueness usually breeds a certain degree of separation.

A ton of theories are floating around about how Clover’s semblance has affected him throughout his life. I’ve posited a few myself. We obviously have no idea what the canon backstory for Clover is, and while I do think it’s pretty safe to assume that while Qrow has dealt with ostracization because of his semblance, Clover might have experience with some sort of idolization or even over-reliance (which can be damaging in its own right) because of his, there isn’t a whole lot we can speculate on without more information.

So where does that leave us? With the scene depicted above. Regardless of how their semblances might play off each other or what these two have suffered (or enjoyed) as a result of them, one thing is certain: they understand one another. Qrow may not know what it’s like to be able to draw good luck to himself, but he knows what it’s like when his semblance does work in his favor and screws over an opponent. Clover, by the same token, probably doesn’t understand what it’s like having to constantly watch out for misfortune, but he most likely does know what it’s like to have his semblance flip on him and give the edge to his opponent. Additionally, them both having such similar semblances means that learning to look for signs of each other’s being at work won’t be much of a stretch for them. They would be able to adapt pretty fast to working together. Note, I’m assuming their semblances function in the same way and that Clover has no more control over his than Qrow does because it just makes narrative sense.

This puts them in the unique position of being together in their semblances, even if they’re on opposite ends of the spectrum. Qrow has not exhibited any jealousy or bitterness towards Clover because of his semblance, and Clover sure as hell hasn’t put any distance between them out of concern for Qrow’s semblance. They get each other, and after only half a season, they have developed a level of comfort with one another that already allows them to joke about it. An inside joke that no one else could possibly understand. And that is some powerful shit for two people who have potentially (one person we know for certain has) been isolated in one way or another because of their semblances throughout their lives.

Reason #5: Clover is new

Okay, if anyone partial to a different Qrow ship has somehow made it through this monster of a post, you might want to skip this bit. Because I’m going to make an argument for why bringing in a new character to be Qrow’s love interest is actually a good idea. This is not to hate on I//ronqrow or S//nowbird or any other popular Qrow ship, but it might annoy the shit out of you so… fair warning. I’ll keep it brief, though.

I think Qrow getting involved with someone who he has no past connection to would be insanely good for him. When it comes to James or Winter or, really, anyone else who knew him before this volume, there is a lot of baggage there. And I mean a lot. At this point in his life, Qrow is dealing with enough of his own internal shit that throwing external interpersonal baggage on top of that probably wouldn’t help him in any way. Sometimes, you just need to start over somewhere (especially when you’re trying to pick up the pieces of yourself and figure out how they go together), and Clover offers Qrow the perfect opportunity to do that. There are no preconceptions that Qrow has to deal with, nothing he has to make up for or prove. Clover won’t be hovering over him anticipating a relapse or using his past behavior to interpret his current actions, or wondering why he’s changed, or holding things against him. He can figure out who he is now without the pressures of who he was hanging around his neck. And that, like so many other things these two have going for them, is unbelievably powerful.

Reason #6: They already have the nonverbal thing down

This one is more for funsies than anything, but come on. They’re already communicating non-verbally?

It took me a while to pinpoint that expression on Clover’s face but I finally got it: his brows don’t lower in annoyance or anger. They furrow: the universal sign of concern. What exactly he’s worried about, I’m not completely sure. It could be any number of things at this point, from a hint that he’s not totally supportive of this particular order he’s getting (bringing Robyn into custody) to a concern that he and Qrow might be approaching a clash point (not so far, though if Qrow is going to be the disruptive force Clover needs, that point is probably coming). Either way, this look speaks volumes. I’m just not entirely certain how to read it yet.

But in the interest of keeping up on the analysis, note his answer to James. It’s not a “yes sir” or a “whatever you say, sir”. He says “we’ll figure it out”. Qrow looks at him and only then does Clover shoot him that sideways glance thing. Is he making it clear that he means to include Qrow in this? That he wants Qrow’s help? That he knows they’re all in a crap situation but the Amity project is stalled and they need to try something so they should at least try this? They’re communicating something here and just because I don’t know what it is yet doesn’t mean this is any less significant in terms of their relationship. This kind of thing only happens when you click with someone and these two definitely click.

Bonus: They’re just so damn cute together

If you made it through that nonsense, congratulations! Have some Fair Game goodness as a reward. These two are adorable together and you will never convince me otherwise:

#fair game #qrow branwen #clover ebi #lucky charms #fairgame #rwby7 #rwby #holy shit this became a thing #it's seriously a behemoth of a post #enter at your own risk #cute pictures at the end #analysis #maybe a little too much #i don't care this was fun #took me all afternoon but whatever #enjoy!!!

479 notes · View notes

sonderrow-moved · 4 years ago

Text

LINK TO QUINN LINK TO JAEL LINK TO ARCHER

LIKE for a preestablished relationship/plotting line with Roy… BUT have at least one category in mind before I hop in your IMs !

I entirely get the urge of wanting to roleplay, expand our muses together, and this is my personal starting pack for Archer! If you’re hooked to one category but don’t think your muse can fit still HMU about it and I’ll see how we can work that out!

REMINDER I HAVE A LOT OF THREADS. Like often a lot. Roleplaying is something that effortlessly really relaxes me, but I am still one human. I like to see all my threads through no matter how long the wait is and do my best ! Thus we might not be threading right off the bat depending on how much stuff I have, but everything established can get into asks, dash shenanigans, etc. What matters is that it shapes our characters. 🙏

FRIENDS. Ha. Good joke. Roy has no one he’d consider a friend.

ENEMIES. Despite having part of his power stolen by his past disciples, Roy is still a man of incredible talent and martial prowess, being able to take down groups that are even made of supernatural beings through millenniums of trained strategy, paired with a perfect knowledge of his own body and abilities. He uses those abilities to fight corruption in the world, and anyone who does wrong is a target. However, he is still only one man, with time against him. Despite not making your character’s life entirely crumble, he is definitely someone who eradicates any operation he decides will end, even if it is a hydra who will regain its end shortly afterwards.

RIVALS. Even with his idealistic virtues and actions, Roy is still a strong realist, who realizes the limits of what he can do. This means mingling with people of questionable morals to attain a greater goal. Your character is one of those people. An informant or maybe a lawyer, who probably judge his way of being, but as long as he pays you back (be it with money or something else)...

EXES. Due to social pressure, Roy has had at time to date the occasional girl who fancied him. It, however, always tended to only last a few months and not even be a consummated relationship, as Roy’s partner would, past his dazzling qualities of “marriage material”, figure he never liked them, despite not having done anything wrong during their relationship. This profile fits any presenting female muses who are the upstanding citizens type and would be willing to give Roy a shot at love !

PROFESSIONAL PEERS. Roy studies and work in environmental research, with an emphasis on mammals protection. The field is one where he socializes with many people, from other researches, interns, staff on the field or out of the field, professors or even people involved in politics to get projects funded and approved. It is a notable environment, because it is a field that is truly, deeply important to him, and both his straightforwardness and passion for duty shine the most there... even if his personal life is entirely walled off from this one. Quite self explanatory !

SUPERNATURAL PEER. Roy is not the only one who has lived longer than what is now nowadays’ humans life length expectation. Even if none are from his time or went through the same thing as him, they can always relate to a brand of pain and obstacles which no others can imagine. This profile fit supernatural beings who wouldn’t fit in other categories, beings which are more defined by their nature than mimicking a mortal lifestyle. They’d usually be relatively neutral people who’d be willing to approach Roy to give him some form of company. Even if it is in the most silent, mundane way, those relationships are of significance. They can have seen the end of mankind once and its rebirth, or they can also be a few centuries old in this era.

COLLEAGUES AND REGULARS. Roy is a masseur at a hotel spa. Despite being seemingly a mundane position, those are people who still get to socialize with him on a regular basis... which basically never happens in his personal life. Witness his peculiar character different moods, and maybe want to get involved with it, or comment on it.

DISCIPLES. In one of his most significant lifetime, Roy had four disciples in a temple set in East Asia. As he grew himself immensely powerful to the point he’d been labeled a deity for the generations to come, so did the students he took under his wing. Tales even imply that those disciples might have come from other time and worlds, as the concentration of lifeflow in the temple affected reality itself. Despite their betrayal, it would be no wonder if such powerful beings, having taken away a piece of power from their master, would be reborn. This profile fits muses with a strong sense of virtue and justice who’d be willing to dip their muse into my canon ! I’d be more than happy to tell you what I set as a reason for Roy’s disciples to turn on him, but if you find an even better idea I am all for it; I am, after all, roleplaying here and not just writing on my own, it can be OUR story too ! The idea here is for Roy’s disciples to have taken as much lifeflow from him as they could for themselves out of his remains, giving them the ability to be reborn with their abilities and appearance, albeit at a much, much slower pace than Roy can do, and without their concrete memory or very little of it (unlike Roy who slowly recalls them at all time).

PAST LIFETIME. Not everyone who supported (or not) Roy was a chosen one, or even a martial artist. In his past lives, Roy had numerous bonds, like them or not. Usually from local villages as he preferred much more tranquil and calm areas to settle, atop of borrowing the local blacksmiths’ workshop at times for his own work. This profile fits muses coming from ancient type of settings as their main asset and would like to interact through Roy’s past lifetimes, who’d, in his own way, potentially carry their own legacy in the next one.

ANOTHER LIFETIME. Roy’s idea of being the last of his civilization is set in stone. However, he has lived many lifetimes, some which were entirely lost and there is no real telling how much he’s been through as he, himself, lost touch with the world and time. The life cycle goes on, even if it is not the same. And people are reborn from the essence of others, maybe to meet again in another lifetime. This profile can truly fit anyone, mortals or not, who’d be willing to have Roy and their muse having met in another life, with the mental memories gone, but the physical ones staying. Energies will naturally bring them close to one another, like they know each others but they actually don’t, not in this lifetime yet.

THE HIGH PRIESTESS (?). The High Priestess’ lifeflow fused with Roy when she decided to give him her gift to be eternal. Although she remains inside him alongside their civilization, life works in mysterious ways. And there is no telling that, somehow, her, but not her power, her as a person, can someday find him again. This profile is not something I’m actively looking for, but definitely an option for someone who wants to go KNEES DEEP in this with me hahaha. It is most likely to fit muses who already has a backstory of being reborn from power, and have a very close persona than Roy’s biography describe. The High Priestess DOESN’T have to be limited to only female muses, they can be of any gender, both in the past and present, or have been a woman in another lifetime and be reborn another gender, etc. since the Firsts’ mentality were in deeper levels than individualistic labels. The matter was of no real importance to them, and the appellation Priestess, as in feminine, was chosen out of a tone that whoever held this title was to be motherly. Despite their strong bond, the Priestess is not the same as she was anymore, and so is Roy. They will never be the same again. Despite this plot running deep, it doesn’t guarantee any form of relationship with Roy, and will develop on chemistry through interactions.

MISC.I’ll add more when I think of them! DO THROW ME YOUR IDEAS LET’S GO.

Like with any interaction, relationships are officially in the singleverse timeline if it is roleplayed to a minimum extensively. Looking forwards to write with you !

#preest #I think this is the messiest one I made I apologize #long post

3 notes · View notes

cruddyborderlandstheories · 4 years ago

Text

U know how ppl were able to make their own BL1 maps and with a bit of playing around u could use them urself. I'm gonna do that but with Bl3 but I'm gonna make junpai-7. Not actually, because it's probably not technically possible, but I will threaten it because give me water planet.

Here's the deal

I have already designed the eridian compass which will be the focus of the dlc and I plan to design the vault n monster both of which have been discussed previously on dis blog so I won't go in depth bc I have other things I wanna ramble abt.

Cutlord Karuu is gonna be the main villain. The Driver will control some misc fodder enemies as well before she eventually turns to the Raiders side and Karuu takes over all the villain bits. Because I love my vampire pirate queen (because gearbox looooves to name drop but not give them any character!!!) and I'd die for her, actually.

Also Clay makes a return bc I already decided his and Zane's smuggling job on Junpai-7 was related to the compass and Cutlord Karuu, so he'd have insight and potentially be the reason the VHs go to Junpai in the first place. And I love clay because he's one of the best new characters imo. Originally the VHs were going to go because Hammerlock wanted to finish a hunt he had started there (Commander lily shows he did go there) but I figured he already had his dlc this game and the last game that also featured a whole hunt thing soooo. Bring back Clay instead because I love his voice and I wanna learn more about the Vault shaped scar on his forearm.

The maps will be a mix of seaside towns (like guns love and tentacles- also a lot have abandoned Dahl structures since Hector mentions his unit visiting Junpai-7 in Commander lily) but notably they don't fish even tho the planet is 80-90% water (also there are a lot of wanted posters, and some are of a younger Zane and Clay and Karuu), a big pirate ship hub on the water that has the quick change ammo dump zeds meds etc and captain Scarlett hanging out for shits and giggles, jungles to hike through, a moon pool for Eridian lore, beaches + coves, and underwater parts for the Vault (not truly underwater bc swimming mechanics hard), imagine forcefields holding the water back kinda like that one scene in Pirates of the Caribbean except the water is over the top, too, and everything is bioluminescent and the brightest light is from the Eridian markings, crystals, and any entities glowing in the dark because it's pretty and I want it and if we're going to have magic glowing powers and glowing crystals we NEED a dark area for them to truly SHINE

Also yes there's a moon pool on junpai-7 because H2o is cool and it makes u have big dick energy and I wanted to work on my Driver/Eridian experimentation lore and I figured the moon pool should be her main base of operations and part of the reason the townspeople don't move beyond their coastal towns and into the jungle (because everyone who goes there comes back Different)

Also because the moons on Junpai-7 are so feared, they have the Sun Festival (mentioned by digby v in handsome jackpot). I'd like it a lot if the VHs showed up during one, during like a solace or smth where the sun is out for a full day and then as the dlc progresses they finally learn why the people of junpai-7 fear the night (hellllloooo Driver)

So anyway the dlc's main story would focus on finding the Eridian compass and opening the Vault before Cutlord Karuu does- as most borderlands themed content tends to go. I prefer it that way because it makes you be more creative with it... Like they say 'judge not the premise but how it is executed' or something n sometimes they do it really well n sometimes they... Don't. The side story is about the Driver and the mystery of what's going on under the surface (literally!!! Hahahaha) of Junpai-7

Clay is the main helper for Cutlord Karuu and the compass

Tannis is the main helper for the Driver and Eridian lore

Captain Scarlett is there on the main base of operations ship because if we're having another pirate dlc she better fucking be there. I just personally don't want her to be the 'bad guy' this time around, I wanna go for something new. She'll probably be missing from the hub with a few random decorations missing/'replaced' by the end of the story or after a side mission she sends us on. Because it'd be funny and fit with her character. Some electronic thing just has an 'out of order' sign taped to it because she stole all the valuable insides and dipped

Also if H2o Au is canon then I need to come up with a way for the luneshine to not have any effect on Zane during the dlc or else his voice lines are going to be EXTRA entertaining I'm sure Tannis can help somehow if we let her study the moon pool lmao

#Give it to me #Giveeeee #borderlands #bl3 #borderlands 3 #H2o au #Oh yeah did I mention I'm calling it luneshine now because of tps #Nice.

7 notes · View notes

helbramstrauma-main · 4 years ago

Text

Elevator Operator

Masterlist

Albert DaSilva x Reader

Canon Era

It is not my job to get involved in my patrons’ personal lives, but sometimes I can’t help it.

Word Count: 1971

Ever since I can remember I have been working, if they were odd jobs or stable jobs I always needed to support my family in some way. Whether that is helping people carrying their groceries or working at the bakery, my income was always needed. Everyone in my family works to keep us out of tenant housing. My dad works in the factory, my younger sister works with textiles, my brother works in the mines, and Mom does laundry for the elites on the East Side. However, with all the income we still can only afford a two-bedroom apartment in lower Manhattan. Even then it is iffy, ever since they cut my brother's pay I have been working in the elevator. It is nice, I do not have to go anywhere all I have to do is get dressed and then I wait for people to join me.

Being an essential part of all of my neighbor's day is interesting, I am always in on the drama. People tend to vent to me and I have to listen so I don't get reported for "friendliness", I also get to know who the quite people are and who to avoid. It is a nice job for someone who enjoys talking to strangers but I would much rather work in solitude, or at least have patrons who are not my neighbors. As much as it is nice to have an inside scoop on your apartment building it is also incredibly draining as the lines in between working and not working are blurred. Sometimes I see a neighbor outside of my working hours and I have to keep up the show so it is not awkward when I help them to work in the mourning.

However some neighbors I wish I see more of, for instance, Albert is my favorite person to guide. We talk briefly every day but not about anything personal, it also helps that he is easy to look at. Even though I do know that he has two older brothers and he lost his mom which is why he works as a newsie. That being said as we talk it does not seem like something to do for the brief time we see each other, it seems like I would actually talk to him outside of the elevator, which I can not say for most of my neighbors. So when he does not return at his normal time after his shift I begin to worry. Normally when he decides to spend the night at the newsboy lodging house he will mention it in the mourning. However today he never mentioned staying anywhere else. What if he got hurt? It is not my responsibility to make sure my patrons return safely, but I need to make sure Albert is okay.

The end of my shift could not come fast enough when the night boy arrived I practically ran out of the building. Maneuvering my way around New Yorks busy streets I eventually find the place that Albert describes as his second home. The Newsboy Lodging House's lights were on and you can hear the rowdy boys from the end of the street. Once I make it to the door I question if I should even enter. My favorite part about Albert is how he makes it easy to separate my work from my personal life, so I should not get involved in his. However the more I think about the more I realize we do talk about our personal lives. He does tell me things about his family and his work life, as I tell him things about mine. The only difference is, he makes it feel like I am not working.

With a sudden boost of confidence, I walk through the door to the loud area. As I walk in the place quiets so you could hear a pin drop. They look at me as if I am a specimen in a lab, I am unknown to them, well all except one who breaks the silence.

"Y/N, what are you'se doin' here" Albert slurs his words. You can tell he has been drinking heavily, he smells like cheap whiskey and poor liquor management. Albert wobbles his way over to me and the former rowdiness of the room resumes with a few looks my way. "Ya miss me that much, you'se just had to see me again," Albert says, taking a few pauses in the middle as his ability to form sentences is limited at the moment.

I have never seen Albert drunk and I know his family well enough to know if they say him like this, he would be in for it. I have no idea what to do. Our relationship has never been discussed out of the elevator after he leaves he does not think about me, and I think about him for the rest of the day. It is just how things are. I do not know what to say to him though, it is out of place for me to criticize his decisions, but at the same time, he clearly should not have any more to drink. After I have not said anything for a while he hand makes its way around my hip pulling me into a side hug. "Why don'ts you'se have something to drink, enjoy you' self," Albert says into my ear, holding me close to him.

Thinking quickly I say, "I'll have something to drink if you promise to stop drinking". Albert clearly thinks this over for a second before agreeing. Not wanting to partake in underage drinking knowing the wrath of my parents' if they would find out, I decided to fill a shot glass with water. Albert was too drunk to notice. It was nice getting to know the people Albert talks about, even if they are drunk, I can still get a good feel of their character. Albert introduced me to all of his peers with his arm seldom leaving my side. It was nice having the warmth of Albert's body against my own, it was nice being this close to Albert for even a night that he won't even remember.

The night goes by and Albert cannot seem to keep his hands off of me, and I don't stop him. He would occasionally whisper things I could not understand in my ear throughout the night. Even though I cannot comprehend what he is saying it still sends shivers down my spine. However all good things must come to an end, the boys who live at the lodging house spend head upstairs signaling for us to go.

After we say our goodbyes and leave the establishment I am suddenly burdened with the task of getting him home safely. Albert's arm is around my waist as he attempts to find balance for the entire walk back to the apartment building. He is desperately holding on to me pulling me closer every time he trips over his own two feet. Along the way, however, Albert takes it upon himself to whisper in my ear again. This time however his speech is not as slurred as it was in the noisy house, this time I can hear him.

"As anyone eva told you'se how stunning you are," Albert says the first time, however, I do not respond I just keep walking. He is drunk he does not mean what he is saying, do not get your hopes up. However, the whole way to the apartment he continues to whisper in my ear sweet nothings, he continues to flirt. However, I keep telling myself not to get too excited however the success rate of that diminishes as time goes on. I know that I will lay up all night thinking about what he is saying right now.

Eventually, we say our goodbyes and I make my way to my apartment barely able to contain myself with the amount of joy I am feeling. It does not matter to me that he was drunk, for one night I got to live out the scenario that only occurred in my imagination. Even if in my imagination he was not drunk and he meant it, but it was still nice to hear him say the things I have only ever previously thought of him saying. I go to bed but only to lay in it, only to come up with more situations, only to live out what will never happen.

Eventually, the sun raises leaving me to take over my post at the elevator. I walk downstairs to start it up and begin my shift. The day starts out normally until I realize that Albert is going to need my assistance at any minute. He probably will not remember last night, but I do, I remember what he said to me. Do I confront him about it? Do I pretend it never happens? Questions fill my brain again that I am only brought out of my thoughts when I see the light signal that someone has called the elevator. It reads the floor that Albert is on, and I know it is him. Who else could it be? When I reach the floor, I am not surprised to see an extremely tired Albert. His hair is not combed as it usually is, nor is it tucked under his hat. Visible bags are under his eyes, and his usually beautiful eyes are bloodshot. It looks like he did not sleep a wink last night.

A shows a small smile as he enters the elevator only to look down at his feet again. "Rough night last night," I ask as I usually would, but this time I know what happened and he doesn't.

A blush quickly appears and disappears on Albert's face and he looks at me with his bloodshot eyes, that still somehow remains innocent. He looks at me for a few seconds, like he does not know what he is going to say, "Like you'se don't know". A smirk creeps up to Albert's lips but then quickly fades and his eyes soften. "I didn't want to tell you'se those things last night the way I did. I had everything planned but I messed it up". I understood what he said but I lack the ability to comprehend it. Did he mean what he said last night, was it not the cheap whiskey talking? Does he really feel the same way I feel about him? This can't be real.

"Oh, you don't mean that. Don't feel bad about it," I say defending myself from getting my hopes up. He probably just feels bad, there is no way he could like me.

Albert takes a step towards me suddenly causing me to stop the elevator between floors. His eyes are still softened, showing vulnerability. Albert looks nervous like he does not know what he is going to do next. "I meant everything I said last night" is all he said before taking a step back, before looking down at his worn-out shoes again.

The blood pushing through my veins knowing that he feels the same way about me is giving me the confidence I need to let him know that I reciprocate them. However my body is moving quicker than my brain, words are not coming to me. So what I do is I take two step forwards so our chest our touching, quickly going on my toes I connect our lips for only a second before coming back down and taking half a step back. Albert's eyes flicker over with their usual confidence and his signature smug smirk returns to his lips. He makes up the space between us and reconnects our lips this time for longer. Eventually, we disconnect and all I could think of to say is, "I like you too".

#newsies #newsies broadway #new york #newsies x reader #newsie fanfiction #newsies fanfiction #romanticfanfic #fanfic #fanfiction #albert dasilva #newsies albert #albert newsies #Wattpad #canon era #newsboy #albert dasilva x reader

33 notes · View notes

mittensmorgul · 5 years ago

Note

MoC anon again, hi! (also, eek, sorry about those two hours you lost) i think sam’s history with anger issues is actually kinda WHY he would handle it better, because he’s been practicing controlling it his whole life. (and i think he’s a lot better at it in s11 than he was in s5, ya know?) whereas, like you said, dean builds walls to keep the bad OUT, but he tends to act on emotion a lot more than sam, and his emotions are more explosive, and a lot less regulated. 1/2

(and while dean works very hard to hide his softer emotions, he’s never been particularly bothered with showing his anger.) i just can’t picture sam losing control the same way dean did. not saying that he wouldn’t lose control at all, of course, it’s gonna be messy either way, and obviously sam is not a paragon of mental health, but he has experience controlling the “darkness” inside him in a way dean never did 2/2

Hi there! and yeah, I’m doubly sorry now that my original post was eaten because I did cover this, as well. I think you and I read Sam and Dean very, very differently. I don’t think Sam HAS had a lot of practice controlling his anger, is the thing.

Yeah, Dean has exploded in frustration and anger, but so has Sam. Because Sam kind of runs on anger (or he did, especially in earlier seasons), it feels to me like adding the mark to that would’ve been throwing gasoline on a fire. And once we saw how Amara operates, we know she used the same sort of lure on Dean that Ruby had used on Sam. Similar to Lucifer whispering to him from the cage in early s11. Retroactively, I guess I’ve applied that same sort of enticement to how the Mark called out to Dean in s9 and s10.

Because it also didn’t come down to “control” in those moments where Dean “snapped” into murderousness. It didn’t seem to have anything to do with rage at all. He “woke up” from those acts (like the first time he held the first blade in 9.16, when he killed Abaddon in 9.21, when he killed the shapeshifter in 10.06, when he killed the group of men who’d literally had him at gunpoint and were trying to kill him in 10.10, for example), It was never framed as “Dean gives into the rage,” or “Dean fails to control his anger.” It was always framed as him being compltely taken over and basically controlled by an outside force. When Dean would fight his way back to the surface after those incidents, he was shaken and afraid by what he’d done.

Like Dean when he was struggling with Amara’s control of him in s11, we saw how insidious her influence was in his presence, but take that same capacity to influence someone and literally insert it directly into their brain. That’s the Mark. But when Dean confessed this to Sam in 11.13:

Dean: Honestly? You seriously think the sister of God is my deepest darkest desire?Sam: She isn’t?Dean: No! She can’t be!Sam: Why not?Dean: Why? Because if she is that means that I’m…Sam: Means you’re what? Complicit? Weak? Evil?Dean: For starters, yeahSam: Dean. Do you honestly think you ever had a choice in the matter? She’s the sister of God, and for some reason she picked you and that sucks, but if you think I’m gonna blame you or judge you…I’m not.Dean: You know that I want her ass deadSam: Yes. Of course. And I know you’ve also probably beaten yourself up a hundred times over it, but where has that gotten us? (Long silence) Just how bad is it?Dean: Standing here right now, every bone in my body wants to run her through. Send her back to that hole she crawled out of. But when I’m near her, I don’t know. Something happens and I can’t explain it, but to call it desire or love…it’s not that. I’m screwed man. We wanna kill the darkness. We need to kill the darkness. And I don’t think I can. I’m sorry to do that to you, ya know, but when it comes right down to it…

He’d still been working through this when he talked to Cas(ifer) about this in 11.11, but he was working his way to this exact point. It had very little to do with anger.

Sure, anger was effectively Amara’s baseline motivation for revenge against Chuck, and her tool to do that was effectively “destroy what Chuck created,” which is an effective way to act out anger, you know? But I think that anger would’ve found a far more fertile breeding ground in Sam than it did in Dean.

I mean, just think back over the last few years to the outbursts that look like anger on the surface for Dean, and honestly, they have ZERO to do with RAGE. They’re frustration, grief, defeat… like punching the sign in 13.01, like yelling about how he should’ve stayed behind in the AU if they had no way to get back there and save Mary and Jack in 13.18. The only time I felt like one of Dean’s outbursts could be described as “angry” rather than “frustrated” or “grieving” or “defeated” was in 13.03 when he yelled in Sam’s face about Cas. And there was still that well of grief there pushing him to that outburst.

Honestly, I think a fairer comparison to how they each would’ve dealt with the Mark isn’t tapping in to their emotions, but how well they compartmentalize in the face of possession. For example how long Dean casually managed to keep Michael locked in his brain fridge in s14. Michael only escaped because Dean was literally knocked unconscious. This notion that Dean lacks control of his own temper I think just seems far more pronounced in him because it’s so rare for him. It’s… not rare for Sam.

Like I said in the previous post, Sam’s rage was a major plot point for years. It fueled s4, it fueled s5, it fueled Sam’s half of the s9 and s10 story.

I think the main difference between Sam’s anger and Dean’s anger is that Sam’s tends to simmer cold, while Dean’s just boils over with heat on rare occasions, making them seem that much more out-of-character, or startling.

I don’t see it as Sam better able to control his rage than Dean, I see it as different ways of expressing said anger, because they are different people with different personalities, you know?

Sam’s just as capable of lashing out in anger as Dean, but it tends to look different when it happens. Dean just lets himself have his little outbursts before he gets to the point where he breaks from it. Sam… when Sam bursts like that, it feels more shocking, because he typically expresses his anger differently. Like when Sam punched Dean in 14.12, for example, people were SHOCKED. I read so many “wow that was out of character” posts I was honestly baffled by the fandom’s reaction to this. Because that punch was pure frustration and grief, and it’s just about the most emotion Sam’s let himself express in a long time.

I know I keep defaulting to talking about s4 and s5 here, but I’m watching 5.02 in the background while I’m typing this, so these seasons are what’s currently freshest in my mind right now.

The wraith in 5.10:

SAM: You did this to me!WRAITH: Well, I helped. But that rage? No, no, no. That’s all you. (stands, walks to the side of the bed) I don’t make crazy. I just crank up what’s already there.

The show has always, always paralleled Sam’s rage with Dean’s fear. The thing is, how they each express these underlying feelings. So, no, I really, really don’t think Sam would be better at controlling that rage under the effect of the Mark than Dean was.

and this entire post is just undercaffeinated rambling at this point, so I really don’t know what more I can say without going incident by incident through the entire series documenting the vastly different nature of Sam and Dean’s anger, and their respective outbursts. Their anger just… manifests differently, because again, they are different people with differing personalities. Sam’s anger tends to come out “cold,” and Dean’s tends to boil over more loudly. And Amara/the Mark was nothing if not cold and patient rage, you know?

Sam has traditionally gotten angry and run away, as if isolating himself from the problem could fix things. In the past, he would’ve sooner walled off the vast majority of his life to pretend at being normal that he would face it. I don’t know if I’d classify that as “having more control” of his anger. He’s just got different outlets in general than Dean does. Dean just yells, gets it out of his system, and then moves on. Sam… can’t seem to do that. Or at least he hadn’t been able to do that for the vast majority of canon.

Someone wrote an excellent piece years ago about Sam’s Rage vs Dean’s Fear, and I guess it’s stuck with me. But when a character’s primary motivation, his primary driving force through years of character development is a baseline simmering rage, I have a REALLY hard time feeling like he would’ve had more “control” over a possessing entity that literally fed on that sort of feeling.

Amara found BALANCE through her relationship with Dean. I don’t think she could’ve found that with Sam. I think that entire storyline only worked because it was Dean, and not Sam. Because Dean recognized this as something being done TO him, rather than just a manifestation of himself. (Yes, at first he thought it was a curse, and that it was his own inner “monstrousness” coming out, but it ALWAYS felt foreign to him, something he couldn’t truly identify or relate to, because it was literally not his own. And Sam would’ve had a lot more difficulty making that distinction, I think.)

As I’ve typed this up, I do realize that viewers see different things in each of these characters. We identify with them differently, based on our own experiences, and since I mostly identify with and feel like I understand Dean better than Sam, I think I’m probably looking at this from a different angle than you are. I, for example, see Sam REPEATEDLY losing his shit to his rage throughout the entire series. He gives in to it far more readily than Dean has over the years, but it tends to be less “explosive” as you said. But it motivates his entire character in ways it never, ever has for Dean. And I think Amara/the Mark would’ve eaten him alive because of it. Because she was the Mark, and she was motivated by the same cold, simmering rage.

#sam sympathizes and dean empathizes #Anonymous

27 notes · View notes

why-this-kolaveri-machi · 5 years ago

Note

Um.. you already had a lot of questions about Dick, but I have a different issue with him and his fandom/ canon portrayal that I want to know what you think about, which is Dick being a cop. I know it's romanticized a lot, to some he was being the good cop, to me personally I feel like Dixon was a conservative old man who thought jobs in police force or army was masculine n respected. But when fandom also loves poc Dick, wouldn't it be ooc for him? If not that, a 9-to-5 job, no freedom should be

frankly, anon, my inbox has been a dick grayson party over the last couple of days, and i have loved every second of it.

a few caveats before i answer your question: 1) my reading of 90s nightwing is a bit patchy, so i might be missing important details, 2) i’ve grown up (with a fair bit of privilege) in a place and culture where discrimination and class divides look a bit different from the usa. i’ve seen/heard/read enough to understand what you mean, but if i’m oblivious to certain nuances, this is probably why. that’s not an excuse for if i say something wrong/ignorant; feel free to call me out on that.

work-wise, dick’s kind of been all over the place; he’s been everything from a bartender to a fitness trainer to a museum curator. from what i’ve read, most of dick’s choices in his education and career have been secondary to, or in service of, his vigilante alter-ego. it doesn’t seem to me that any of his rl jobs were written in to emphasise his masculinity or respectability in society, but i can’t deny that this was present on an unconscious level. and, correct me if i’m wrong, while dixon’s run had him become a police officer, it was when devin grayson took over that his romani heritage became canon.

on a watsonian level, i can see why this would be in-character for dick: he’s starting out as a solo hero, wanting to be to bludhaven what batman is to gotham, but better. he correctly identifies the systemic rot that allows crime and depravity to fester in bludhaven, no matter how many “bad guys” nightwing trusses up during patrol. he’s seen jim gordon care and do good for his city even while waist-deep in corruption. he’s spent a good chunk of his formative years as a vigilante hero among other vigilantes, in a universe where individuals can literally save the entire world. besides, he’s just the kind of person who would put as much as he possibly can on his plate, constantly trying to elevate and reinvent his own standards. so: in an act of cheery, youthful hubris, i can absolutely see him insinuating himself into the bludhaven police department, trying to battle its evils from both inside and outside the system. if anything, it seems to me, the fractious history between law enforcement and people of colour and minorities and memories of his own family’s experiences would motivate him further.

tl;dr: at this point in dick grayson’s life and nightwing’s career, it doesn’t seem to me like an ooc thing for him to do.

early successes imbue him with confidence, make him reckless. he makes some valuable allies, but also plenty of enemies. he stretches himself thin with both his day job and night job, to the point where he gets sloppy. and finally it all ends not merely in failure, but outright catastrophe. far from working out, his stint as a cop is a very humbling moment for dick, and one i think that not only reveals the limits of what he can realistically achieve, but also just how deep systemic injustice goes.

(there’s also a thorny but interesting ethical question re: a vigilante working as a police officer, when, as nightwing, he has information and resources that he accessed as a cop, but operates under none of the rules that regulate cops. this issue has come up again very recently, when after the ric grayson fiasco, a bunch of law enforcement officials took up the nightwing identity to dispense vigilante justice. there’s been no attempt to delve into this issue in the current run, and i don’t remember dick really wrestling with this in the 90s/’00s run either.)

i do think fandom tends to romanticise that part of dick’s life, but of all of dick’s various jobs, it was probably the one that crossed over the most with his life as nightwing. even if the comics were mostly uncritical of the implications of dick grayson working as a police officer, i think the experience was important and transformative for him, and could be talked about with a great deal more nuance.

#dick grayson #nightwing #meta #anon ask #(i don't know what that last sentence is about; sorry anon!)

21 notes · View notes

imperialsea-a · 5 years ago

Text

ELIZABETH’S IN-DEPTH RP PLOTTING CHEAT-SHEET.

Want new-and-exciting plots for your character? Long to reach out to more of your followers, but don’t know where to start? Fear not! Fill out this form and give your RP partners both present and future all the of juicy jumping off points they need to help you get your characters acquainted.

Be sure to tag the players whose characters YOU want more cues to interact with, and repost, don’t reblog! Feel free to add or remove sections as you see fit. Template here.

Mun name: Rem (not that blue-haired anime girl or DN, it’s from my old blog!) OOC Contact: Contact me through the Tumblr IM system or my Discord! My Discord is: imperialsea#1818. Please tell me your URL if you message me there so I know who you are!

Now, onto the heart of the post!

♛ Who the heck is my muse, anyway? Elizabeth Eva Alexandria Cross, the only biological daughter of Kaien Cross, her father (a canon vk char), and Eva Liliya Cherie Cross, her mother (an oc muse)! Elizabeth is a vampire hunter by blood like all in her family before her! But, shh! Your character isn't supposed to know that . . . unless they're also a hunter . . . or a perhaps a vampire (since her family from both sides are famous hunters, but even then they don't have to know she's a vamp killer if you don't want them to) . . . or they're some sort of ally to her / the hunters association since she can't just tell anyone her actual work on a whim. Where she's from, the existence of vampires are a secret from most of humanity and it's her job to kill the dangerous people-hurty ones and keep that nice and secret so as to avoid a world war! 'Nothing about her is complicated at all', I say, lying through my teeth like Bethy does to society every day by keeping her job and true lifestyle hidden :'D

Further information below the cut, please take time to read if you’re stuck on what to plot and how Bethy operates!

♛ Points of Interest: - She was born and raised to fight against unruly beasts and composed foes alike. Despite her youth, she's a one-woman powerhouse and is not afraid to take herself down with an opponent if she deems it necessary. She's like the Smash player who hits the fake smash ball to take out an enemy on their last legs, even at the expense of her own life. She'll do it! Except in Smash she'd probably just win the match because she had an extra life and not, you know, not die forever for real in a last grand battle.

- She's got vamp genes all over the place and is rare among hunters. She's biologically immortal like a Pureblood despite not being a vampire herself and is living testimony of what her predecessors took from Purebloods both by honorable bestowal of blood from the mysterious Hooded Woman, and straight up [insert painting of Jupiter Devouring His Son here]. Her great grandparent is 3k+ years old, her father is 200+ for devouring his own twin-- it's messy as mythology, but anime :'D She herself is only 18 on default though (19 in K Crossover--), the youngest of her entire bloodline, and she can still be slain in battle even if she is much hardier than a typical human being. She's also sensitive to auras, and capable of sensing vampires.

- Things characters might notice? She's ghostly pale and kind of looks like she stepped out of The Last Unicorn. She looks cold, sophisticated, and vaguely otherworldly-- she really doesn't radiate the friendliest of vibes unless she's doing something she loves, and the calculated yet seemingly effortless grace of her movements are prominent in and outside of combat. She is descended from an ancient royal line, and those posh, stuffy mannerisms and formal speech pattern live on through her even if the Adrasteian monarchy no longer exists.

- She truly isn't a trigger-happy person, whatever the title of 'hunter' implies, and keeps a level head in most situations. Sure, Bethy looks as if she could bite someone's head off and can display some seriously threatening flashes of anger, but she's not going to do something rash and will only resort to drawing her weapons in a serious matter. She's here to save lives, maintain peace, and keep order, not disrupt it and set off a war! No pressure on her, right?

- She is also notably, NOT a high school student, though she may be mistaken for a high school senior or young college student since her age fits the bill. Elizabeth actually graduated from her high school at age sixteen and took to hunting full-time immediately after. She was convinced to slow it down by her grandparents and began preparing for college when her assignment at Cross Academy arrived and, uh, pretty tragically, hasn’t been able to attend any classes due to her work demands. Come to choose between the world and personal fulfillment? Her conscience only let her have one choice; a hunter must hunt.

♛ What they’ve been up to recently: - Work. There's hardly a time when this girl isn't working or planning what to do next, and the workload only grows after the previous president is outed as a dishonorable, self-serving traitor to the hunters. She's seriously injured after trading blows with him and is promptly benched to deal with the fallout and mental agony, but she's back within a year (and in K's crossover? Only six months later!).

- Having said that, Elizabeth does have days off and will spend them quietly with her friends, or alone with music and a rejuvenating swim.

- Depending on the time in her life? Her life circumstances vary drastically-- she can go from a young huntress travelling on her own as duty demands, or she can be a mother of five children and trusted right hand of the new hunter president, Zero Kiryuu. She lives for a long time, so she's always up to something! And of course, she's always motivated to fight for a better future.

♛ Where to find them: - Aside from work, check the beach! Or find her on methods of cross-continental transportation since she travels around the world for her job (she walks whenever possible, so it's rare to see her on a bus, but she’ll begrudgingly take one or a train)! Otherwise, a place like an aquarium, clothing store, or coffee shop, or any place in a city is your best chance.... write w me pls... q-q she is Around Somewhere.

- If not found in any of those places and your character is someone inside Cross Academy, she can be found there, helping the prefects in some way and is familiar enough with the building to help out new students if they ask.

♛ Current Plans: - Elizabeth is chained to her work as a hunter for as long as she draws breath, or until there is no need for her to end hostile vampires. Her ultimate goal is to keep the world from falling into a repeat, all-out war between vampires and humanity. Her living and family situation might change through the years, but that will always be her primary drive-- she's got an indomitable will.

♛ Desired Interactions: - please ovq

- In all seriousness, I’m up for pretty much anything. She needs more friends, more enemies, people to protect, people to be protected by, people she looks up to, people who legitimately unnerve her, everything! I just don’t feel comfortable killing her. Elizabeth fought really hard to get her future and deserves to find comfort after her entire childhood-young adult life was spent thinking the only thing of worth she had was her role as a huntress. I do really, really love angst though, so anything else goes, really c:

♛ Offered Interactions ( please sit tight for this! it will be divided into multiple sections! ) : - IF YOUR CHARACTER IS HUMAN: - She’ll assume your muse is an average civilian until shown otherwise (be it with unusual powers, whacky aura, combat prowess, or prior knowledge from a report or something-- a plot specific thing). Unless they truly know about vampires / work with the Hunters Association, Elizabeth will not be sharing any information about who or what she is without a legitimate reason (such as the human character being bitten by a Pureblood and thus is being turned into a vampire themselves). However, the other party being kept in the dark about vampires can open the door to a more relaxed Elizabeth without her professional, perfectionist mindset. She’s more likely to have a pleasant conversation with humans since they have no part in the hunt-- but in that same vein, she does aim to keep them at a certain distance and not develop a deep emotional bond (but she’s also a lot softer than she looks and acts and tends to care for others quickly, should they get along). It’s a tricky slope . . . She’s thawed out and the nicer aspects of her personality are far more prominent, but at the same time, she’s not being entirely genuine. Give her time and she’ll become more open about personal things, just, not her work.

- Applies to her K Proj. Crossover. Working with S4, Elizabeth takes some time to adjust, but ultimately loves the organization and the people within it. They’re an exception to her ‘no ties with average humans’ rule because....errr.... they’re not the average human she’s used to protecting and in that verse they’re aware of her occupation and peculiar heritage. She’s not as cold first impressions might suggest and loves Reisi’s weird af team building nights, it’s hard for her to not have a soft spot for them, even as an outsider and unofficial member (as in, she has none of the abilities the Blues have, but she has her natural abilities).

- IF YOUR CHARACTER IS A HUNTER: - Elizabeth is a known figure in hunter society; her great grandfather, grandfather, and aunt were previous heads of the organization and each are still alive at present. So, it probably makes more sense if your hunter character at the very least knows about her-- unless they’re an off-series muse in which case go wild and do what you think is best! I always did like the idea of two vampire hunters chilling together with neither one knowing the other is a fellow hunter until they’re attacked by a vamp and they’re both like ‘Oh!’

- A simple but always reliable plot idea is two hunters on a joint mission! It’s really important to know that Bethy does not take kindly to poor performance and expects her partner to take whatever assignment they have seriously. If not? Things get tundra-cold really fast-- o-o;; People’s lives are at stake and in her opinion, if a hunter wants to mope or complain about their blood-given obligation, they’re not fit to be hunters in the first place. ‘Can’t do the job? Then finish what you started with me if you have any shred of integrity, and get thee gone’ sort of thing. Otherwise, uh :’D;; she’s highly cooperative and always aims to reach the outcome with the least amount of damage.

- As a teenager, she attended a hunter-run private academy in Adrasteia for four years. If it’s possible for your muse to attend (as in, they are from a vampire hunter family and can pass the rigorous entrance exams), throw em in for a slightly younger, less stringent Bethy? A national fencing champion at the top of her classes, and great granddaughter to the legendary hellfire headmaster, Elizabeth’s not easily missed! It could be the start to an amicable relationship to carry into future interactions?

- IF YOUR CHARACTER IS A VAMPIRE: - Bluntly put, for vampires, it’s probably better to interact with Elizabeth after Cross Academy has fallen in the large battle that took place there. Her mother is revealed to have been alive and held captive as a vampire, she’s already friends with a hunter/vamp, her two friends turned out to be Purebloods, and ‘oh....my mother and father got together again and now I’ve got a younger vampire brother’ .....and her boyfriend’s half sister is also a vampire who marries the former vamp senate heir..... so...vamps everywhere; she simply accepts them as part of the family. Prior to that, while she isn’t hostile to vampires and certainly has no intention to attack a vamp unjustly, it’s not a place she’s eager to put herself in. Depending on how threatened she feels, she’ll even swallow her pride and keep her head down-- mostly.

- If your muse is a hunter-turned-vampire, she doesn’t treat them as a vampire, rather, she still sees them as a compatriot, like in the case of Zero Kiryuu. Whether or not your muse received the blood of their keeper is up to you, but in the case that they haven’t-- she’s always there to assist in granting mercy whenever the time comes :’)

- IF YOUR CHARACTER DOES NOT FIT INTO ANY OF THE ABOVE CATEGORIES / REGARDING OTHER VERSES: - Please help me find something that works, I’m willing to try! Memes are incredibly helpful! Send one in, the tag is here, and we can go from there!

- My currently finished and ready-to-use Crossover Verse is K Proj., which can be read about right here.

♛ Current Open Post/s: Linked right here. There's no expiration date to these, and it doesn't matter if another person has replied to one, you are more than welcome to reply to one if it catches your eye at all.

♛ Anything else?: YEAH, wow I am so sorry that got so long. Please note that this post may be updated periodically!

#( blog info. )#( SUPER LONG but if you're lost on some plotting things and aren't from VK #this should hopefully give you an idea of Elizabeth and her interactions? She's a tough one q - q )

4 notes · View notes

strider-headcanons-ahoy-blog · 5 years ago

Text

Okay, so, a continuation of my last post, now focusing more on Bro in this AU. The two variations of him I’m working with are A) the version of him who is more canon-compliant and treated Dave poorly. Lil’ Cal was an influence and an issue, and I’m operating under the headcanon that Cal did affect Bro’s mental state. Not to the point of mind control, but to the point of heavy influence and possible disorientation.

The other variation is B) a completely non-canon version of Bro who never abused Dave and did his damndest to be a good guardian, even if he may not have been the best or used the most orthodox methods at times. I’ll make a separate follow-up post for B, since this post is already huge enough as it is.

This is going to be less of a synopsis or in-depth investigation into Bro as a character and more my personal headcanon for how things could go in these situations, btw. Now, let’s play this shit on the nose and say version A is Meat and version B is Candy. (No epilogue content will be included in this post but I’m already taking pages out of Hussie’s book already, why stop now?)

With the MEAT route, Bro wakes up on Earth C minus Lil’ Cal and the influence that came with him. I personally think that Bro as a person already had the potential for cruelty and abusive behavior, given what we’ve seen of Dirk’s controlling, egotistical, and narcissistic nature in the comic.

But Dirk also tried to keep those (and other) negative aspects of himself either toned down, in check, and generally acted with his friend’s best interest at Heart (wink nudge) for the most part. Bro, however, didn’t have the same damper on all of that, in no small part thanks to Cal exacerbating the issues.

That being said, I don’t think Bro didn’t care for Dave. He IS still a Dirk, after all, and we know what sorts of extremes Dirk has gone to for the people he loves. But Bro’s love came out in extreme strictness and far too intense training. “Preparing” Dave so he could survive and getting lost in that focus to the point that it became an abusive extreme.

(Okay enough character analysis, I said I wasn’t gonna get into that. On to the bullet point HCs.)

- Bro is not kind when he first comes back, and he’s extremely jumpy. Having Cal gone is both a blessing and a curse. No longer having that guiding, oppressive force in the back of his mind 24/7 leaves him feeling confused, aimless, unsure of what to do with himself, and his nerves are frayed. But in the same breath, he finds his sleep more restful, when his insomniac ass actually DOES sleep.

- Seeing both the younger Daves afraid of him brings up a whole mix of emotions. Anger, confusion, concern, grief that he can’t explain, shame, guilt. The defensive reactions of the other guardians and most of the kids only makes him more mixed up inside. He keeps his distance.

- His memory is a bit blurry, a bit patchy, but it hasn’t failed him. It only takes a couple days of hard thinking and contemplation to piece together pretty much every reason why his kid (kids now, holy shit, he has two kids to- well, not take care of, and that burns at him) is afraid of him. Probably hates him.

- He fucked up. He knows he fucked up. He hates that he fucked up so badly. He wishes he could take it back as much as a part of him insists that everything he did, he did so that Dave would survive the Game. A lot of inner conflict as his warped rationality starts to mend itself and clashes with beliefs he’s force fed himself (and been force fed) for much of his life.

- Dirk approaches him first, for the sole purpose of telling Bro he’ll kill him if he goes anywhere near the Daves. Unfortunately, this doesn’t help Bro’s mental state much. Dirk Striders just don’t tend to get along with each other, after all. It doesn’t escalate into a fight, though. Bro tells Dirk he wasn’t planning on it before not so kindly telling the kid to piss off. Bro becomes more reclusive afterwards.

- Bro doesn’t go anywhere near the Daves. It’s Davesprite that goes near him, eventually. The kid is as scared as he is curious, and he sure as hell won’t admit it, but he is concerned. And he hates that he’s concerned, but. Well. Emotions are Frustrating and he wants to know why the most oppressive guy he’s ever met has suddenly stepped way off.

- Talking to Bro is like getting water from a stone when you’re trying to open him up. It takes a lot of increasingly anxious prodding on Dave’s end before he manages to piece together a few things. Primarily that Bro has changed considerably, as much as he hasn’t, in part thanks to Cal’s absence. Dave think’s he’s hallucinating when Bro gives a slow, halting apology. An imperfect one, and not anything that would earn forgiveness by a long shot. But an actual, probably-not-ironic apology.

- Davesprite is still pretty understandably nervous around Bro, but continues to seek him out now from time to time. Usually when it’s been a long time since Bro’s after image has hazarded his periphery. Bro doesn’t get why the kid would willingly go anywhere near him. After watching how the other guardians interact with the kids (from afar, naturally), it’s become even more starkly apparent to him how badly he fucked up with Dave. He doesn’t think he deserves Dave’s company, but he doesn’t chase him away either. They tend to sit on an out of the way park bench at night and drink sodas while they talk.

- Davesprite makes a habit of reporting all progress back to Dave. They’re keeping the meetings between themselves for now, for rightful fear of a shitstorm. Bro is in mild disbelief when both Daves show up for a meeting one night. Definitely uncomfortable, very cautious. He tries not to do any of the things he’s noticed that freak out Davesprite (raising his voice, going dead quiet + perfectly still, tapping his heel, etc) for both the kids’ sakes.

- It becomes a more regular thing for both Daves to show up. They aren’t willing to forgive him, he definitely doesn’t expect them to (a part of him doesn’t even want it). The Daves don’t know what the hell they’re doing, and neither does Bro. They’re just kind of all. Going with it.

- Dirk nearly herniates when the Daves do finally tell him. Mostly wanting to know What The Hell they were going near that asshole for and checking that they’re both alright, they haven’t gotten into any strifes with him, right? Fuck, fuck, he’s gonna kill Bro again. The Daves manage to calm him down and do their best to explain (when they themselves don’t even fully understand what the hell’s going on). Dirk is still very suspicious and protective, but he loves and trusts his lil’ bros enough to not try and stop them. He may or may not tail them the next time he notices them sneaking out at night. Definitely doesn’t watch the meetings from within the trees like a creep. Definitely not.

- Everyone is in major disbelief when the Daves actually allow (read: awkwardly kinda-sorta invite) Bro to join them for any kind of event. Bro is Extremely Uncomfortable the whole time, but he goes along with it because his kids asked, and that’s the sort of thing a. Good guardian does, right? Lots of side-eyes sent his way, but a miracle occurs and no fights break out. It’s a while before Bro’s invited to anything again, mostly because everyone had to recuperate after the first time. It’s a little less awkward the second time around.

- Bro is still horrifically uncomfortable around groups of other people, but it slowly gets easier with time.He’s trying, honestly trying, to be better, even if he slips into bad habits or doesn’t know how sometimes. Mostly, he watches the other guardians and tries to learn, too prideful and awkward to just ask.

- Mom-londe is the most likely to give him (unasked for but secretly appreciated) advice, even though she herself wasn’t guardian of the year. He plays it cool, but honestly appreciates it.

- Bro’s still definitely not perfect, and what he did to Dave isn’t forgotten, or forgiven, but it seems like there’s something new to be built, maybe, in this new world.

#Bro Strider #Dave Strider #Davesprite #Dirk Strider #Homestuck #Abuse mention #not epilogue compliant #I C A Big Reunion #I C A Big Reunion - Meat #long post

11 notes · View notes

segadores-y-soldados · 6 years ago

Text

(Original post)

@freckledmccree I don’t believe it’s every been formally stated when the actual Petras Act was made official. My guesstimate is that it occurred soon after the Swiss Base explosion. TL;DR: I personally tend to put the Swiss Base explosion near the end of the calendar year of 2070, and the Petras Act “shortly after”, either in late December 2070 or at the very beginning of January 2071.

(source)

I do my best to interpret things that are “in-game canon” based on their seasons or other “real world events” that occur near or around the map. For example, Dorado + the Sombra ARG puts that the Festival de la Luz (in the year 2076) occurs very shortly before Día de Muertos, which is when Sombra launches her official statement on the LumériCo website:

(Source)

Festival de la Luz is (canonically) a festival celebrating the end of the Omnic Crisis and the official end of Mexico’s “La Medianoche” blackout period. So the official end of the war occurs sometime in October, in 2050-ish. The objective of the map is to get the last fusion generator/fusion core to the LumériCo Power Plant: the defenders are siding with Sombra, trying to stop it, and the attackers are trying to help LumériCo get the core there.

Similarly, the Hanamura map and “Dragons” animation occur during cherry blossom season in Tokyo, which is typically late March or early April.

Maps are usually “set” around specific timeframes or reference specific important moments - which is legitimately the reason why the dev team won’t “fix” the Numbani airport, even though the museum and payload have been updated.

But now we cross into speculation territory.

For the sake of ease, I tend to place the actual explosion of the Swiss Base late in the calendar year, probably October - December of 2070. This could be wrong, obviously, but it kinda sorta depends on how you interpret Ana’s comic “Legacy” and possibly the Practice Range:

(More under the cut.)

A lot of people automatically assume that Mercy’s “base of operations” represents where she worked for Overwatch. This is not true. For almost all of the Hero Profiles, “base of operations” represents where the character is currently. When a hero does NOT currently live/work there, the profile says “(formerly)”.

For example, Zenyatta’s profile lists the Shambali Monastery, but also says (formerly). Interestingly, Genji’s does not, which is indicated by his room in the Village map. As another contrast, Brigitte’s says: “Gothenburg, Sweden (formerly)” - this is because she’s currently traveling with Reinhardt.

It is certainly possible that the “Swiss Base” was located in Zurich.

But I have defended - and will continue to defend - that the “Swiss Base” was located near the real world United Nations regional headquarters in Geneva:

Though this map is very small, the dot of an “active investigation” on Jack’s situation display appears closer to the French border than Zurich.

(Before people ask, no, it is not referencing Chateau Guillard. Widowmaker did not live at the estate, she was a ballet dancer in Paris. In fact, she did not purchase the estate until “very recently” (post-Recall, likely post-“Masquerade”). Chateau Guillard has one of the missing Aphrodite statues from Ilios as well, making it mostly contemporary in time with Ilios, Rialto (post-Masquerade), Petra (the map), and Ayutthaya).

As another intriguing detail:

Between the open beta period and the final live release of Overwatch, the developers specifically changes the environment of the Practice Range. During the beta period, it used environmental assets found in Watchpoint: Gibraltar, including depicting what appears to have been an open sea or open ocean.

The current practice range is now on a land-locked, semi-frozen lake surrounded by high mountains.

The practice range currently has Winston’s log in set up on the “active” PCs in the Hero selection room. The Hero selection room also appears to be in a state of semi-disarray, and has a wide-variety of “official” Overwatch documents scattered on the ground:

The practice range also has what might be the most obscure little “environmental story-telling detail” in the entire game:

Someone has brought what appears to be several bottles of hard alcohol - maybe whiskey - and a magazine about current events to the very top of the left-most tower.

...I’m gonna take an educated guess and say it’s NOT Winston or Tracer.

It IS the exact same “bottle of whiskey” and exact same magazine that can be found in Soldier: 76′s room in Necropolis:

Closer shot:

...Interesting.

As an aside, the practice range is - as far as I know/am aware of - the only map with a “weight room.” And Soldier: 76 somehow has a dumbbell with him in the Necropolis of Giza, of all places.

As part of his entire “renegade vigilante” backstory, Soldier: 76 is also actively raiding old Watchpoints for supplies - he even took his new Heavy Pulse Rifle from Watchpoint: Grand Mesa.

Soldier: 76 has not joined Recalled Overwatch. In fact, he actively thinks the entire concept is a bad one, and expresses this in his interactions with Winston and in his voicelines on Watchpoint: Gibraltar.

What exactly is he doing in “the practice range” of an unknown Watchpoint while possibly getting drunk (or attempting to do so) as he reads about the current state of global affairs?

And lastly - whether it is simple oversight from when the beta practice range was part of the Watchpoint: Gibraltar map or not - all the boxes and crates are labled:

WP-G.

A lot of details points to Jack entering whatever Watchpoint the practice range is set in, possibly getting full-on drunk as he reads about how crime is getting worse and his former agents are being targeted by Talon and governments alike, and then taking a ton of supplies from the remains of the base.

The Soldier: 76 Origin video shows what appears to be the complete destruction of the main part of the headquarters, but obviously, some buildings and other parts are still standing in the background. If the practice range IS part of the base, then it may have been sheltered from total destruction by being built into the side of a mountain. Granted, the video itself was made in 2015, and likely existed before the developers fully conceived of the practice range itself. The final “layout” of the Swiss Base might be completely different at this point.

While the practice range is obviously set at or around Recall, it’s interesting that the emphasis is on how cold and frozen it is, especially when it is contrasted with the scenes from Uprising, where it is clearly warmer, possibly in the springtime (wherever it is set).

There is a time-span between Ana’s “death” in “Legacy” and the explosion of the Swiss Base where we know effectively nothing about what was occurring inside Overwatch. We don’t even know if Genji and McCree left before or after Ana’s “death”, nor do we know when Reinhardt was pressured into retiring (possibly as a consequence of his leadership during Uprising). We also don’t know when exactly Akande’s arrest occurs, but it is before Genji leaves (but possibly after Reinhardt retires, since Winston is on the Strike Team).

I continue to hope that an eventual Archives mission will be a co-op mode between Jack and Gabriel as they attempt to flee before the Swiss Base explodes.

Asymmetric gameplay has actually been experimented with by Blizzard in the Yeti Hunt mode and the different Deathmatch modes: it would be relatively interesting to have a few small teams of “allies” (e.g. Jack and Gabriel (??) vs Talon agents (??)) attempting to either smuggle the bomb in (Talon side) or attempting to get out (Jack and Gabriel). A major constraint to this concept is that if it occurs inside the Watchpoint, it would be very “linear” in physicality, which is something Blizzard disliked about Uprising.

Something major occurred which Blizzard is not yet ready to reveal: whether that is Gabriel’s “betrayal” or a “super plot twist” where he and Jack attempted to flee the explosion together (or some other twist), I would actually much rather see it in gameplay than in a comic or animated short.

#long post #soldier: 76 #jack morrison #gabriel reyes #reaper #practice range #overwatch #ovewatch swiss base #watchpoint: geneva?#necropolis #resources #references

116 notes · View notes

ganymedesclock · 6 years ago

Note

Have you seen the screenshots of Season 6 that were released as well? What do you think of the Paladins' "Dungeons and Dragons" personas? What races do you think each of them are portraying?

I imagine they’re not going to worldbuild this fantasy world too hard, but I would guess Pidge is a dwarf and Allura is possibly an elf while Lance is some kind of... animal person.

There’s more about the characters, however, that interest me, especially in context of s4e4 and what we know about these characters and how they tend to respond to roles.

Shiro is... for all intents and purposes playing himself. This is him, exactly as he is, with a thin coat of fantasy paint. He’s not flexing any muscle away from his comfort zone here, depicting himself exactly as he is, which makes sense with the whole black paladin thing- a lot of those virtues come back to an ironclad sense of self that comes with considerable difficulty really operating away from that. It’s likely he’s chosen a paladin or fighter as a character- I wouldn’t be surprised if his attempts at RPing a character are either nonexistent or a little stilted.

Allura’s very much herself- she’s playing to a different skill set and my previous thoughts about how much that outfit resembles the queen’s attire still stand. As a result, I genuinely have to wonder if we’re going to get juicy details on Allura’s mother and their relationship in this episode- if Allura modeled her character after her mother. But she’s still playing hypotheticals a little more, she’s still herself but trying out a new thing or flexing a side of herself that doesn’t normally see the surface.

Hunk seems to have more of a built character- that odd haircut suggests ecclesiastical inclinations and he’s likely either the party wizard or party cleric. (or both). Either way, he’s breaking more from his real self creating a fantasy persona.

Pidge and Lance are the ones most clearly engaging in transformative fantasy- actual role play if you will. Pidge’s is fairly predictable- even though she’s canonically a rogue personality, we’ve seen her on many occasions indulge in imaginings that frame her as stronger and more important. She would enjoy a fantasy that lets her feel self-sufficient and strong, especially with the idea that, as party tank, the team will rely on her.

Lance? Look at how effortlessly Lance is swinging this punk rogue animal-eared guy. The casual squat. The lazy grin. This guy is 100% in character here like he’s just gonna pluck a bit of hay off the ground and chew it for pure aesthetic effect and not even miss his train of thought. Sorry, lookin’ for Lance, Blue Paladin of Voltron? Ain’t heard the guy. Now, if you’re lookin’ for directions to the thieves’ guild, he might be your fella, see?

That bracelet is probably cursed, he has a twelve-paragraph backstory, and derails the DM’s campaign because he incidentally goes way back with a major NPC.

TL;DR you could probably just, all hologram technology inside, dress up Lance in this outfit and hand him a prop weapon and he would just start LARPing with zero hesitation.

#voltron legendary defender #vld #vld spoilers #season 6 #thenorthernphoenix

324 notes · View notes

bronyinabottle · 7 years ago

Text

SCHOOL DAZE THOUGHTS

We have now reached the 8th season of the show. The 2nd to last season before things are over for good. We only have 50 episodes left after this two-parter now. Let’s hope they can make at least most of those count.

Every season opener of MLP tends to set the tone and/or set up some kind of arc throughout the season. And this season’s theme seems like it will center around this School of Friendship Twilight opens up just a day or more after the end of the Movie.

Which speaking of which, oh yeah in case there was ANY sort of doubt that the movie was going to be canon to the show or at the very least be given the Equestria Girls treatment of “Ignore it ever happened, not even a significant character name drop”. Within the FIRST TEN SECONDS they explicitly reference something that happened in the movie. About 30 seconds in, Tempest is mentioned and even told what she’s doing while also telling why she likely won’t appear much if at all this season (I suppose the real reason is they probably couldn’t afford Emily Blunt for too long but good to have something in-universe at least). Reminder that we still have not heard Sunset Shimmer get named in any episode of the main show while within the first minute of the first episode that takes place chronologically after the movie both references events and names a significant character. That’s the clear proof you need to determine a movie canon. Equestria Girls might be considered canon by the Staff and by now probably accepted as such for the most part by the fandom as well. But until something like Sunset appearing or at least mentioned in the main show, or at the very least the mirror makes a cameo appearance in the spot it does in Twilight’s castle. Then there’s going to remain that little seed of doubt of Equestria Girls may not be canon the main show. But in it’s own universe where the main show is canon to it. Even the appearance of the Sirens in the Season 7 Finale, while surely significant is hardly as confirming as what the first minute of this episode did for the MLP Movie. I’m not saying myself that EQG is non-canon, as by now I think it’s at least a little clear that it is. But they haven’t made it any easier to really say EQG has much of an impact on the main show. There’s room to doubt events of the EQG series happened, there isn’t any for the MLP movie after the first minute of this episode.

But anyway, time to get to the point of the episode. Twilight is opening a friendship school that isn’t just for ponies, but also many other races/species in Equestria in an attempt to spread the ponies way of friendship to regions outside of Equestria. It’s an interesting idea, time will tell how it all goes down. There’s some execution of it that might be a little questionable by making all of the Mane 6 the only teachers in the school. Some have already brought up that obviously some of the Mane 6 already have full-time jobs of some sort. Rainbow’s a Wonderbolt who’d likely have to be called in for shows and such sometimes, Rarity owns a business so weighing that and being a teacher sounds kinda difficult, AJ works on a farm with so many chores to do, etc. Perhaps it could of been better if they had included more teachers other then the Mane 6 to have available, mainly already fully established characters. I can’t exactly speculate which ones would work as some may have the same issues of bringing in some of the Mane 6 as teachers. Another solution would be to have new characters, but that does come with the problem of character overload. There was already a lot of new characters with the students as well as the EEA’s leader. Imagine having a full slate of new characters for the purposes of teaching as well. That’d be an absolute nightmare to try to cram that all in a 44 minute special in terms of introducing both teachers and students. At least with the Mane 6 we already know them well, even if that comes to the detriment that there would be cases where the characters would be far too busy to teach. But maybe they’ll have substitutes for when they can’t come in? That could be a potential solution. Overall though we’ll just have to see how this season plays it off and maybe even how the Final Season coming up continues on with the school as things wrap up to overall determine how well they execute this idea. It has potential for some fun stuff, but it could also turn up to be a disappointment. We’ll see how things go down.

On to the EEA though, I’ll touch on a certain subject later in this thing with them. But right from the get go when Twilight is giving her presentation you can tell something’s not quite right with the committee. And that’s before we find out about something later in the episode. Besides the admittedly hilarious closeness to one of the most despised gaming companies (Or even companies in general) EA, it’s mostly old ponies giving a skeptical glare as whomever is presenting their idea. Chancellor Neighsay (Voiced by the well-renowned voice actor Maurice LaMarche, famous for being the voice of The Brain from Pinky and the Brain. Neighsay’s voice is even strikingly similar, though not exactly like The Brain’s) being the towering figure that him alone sounds like he just has that exterior about him of a really skeptical person. He skims through Twilight’s proposal, and then presumes that Twilight’s school is about protecting the ponies way of life from dangers rather then Twilight’s plan of having Ponies get to know different creatures from outside Equestria. This obviously foreshadows the big plot point with Neighsay later, but I’ll get to that when I get to that.

But anyway time to get to the new students! I’ll leave a thoughts on each of them

Sandbar: I think I need to get to know Sandbar in more episode to really know what he’s about. But he’s fine thus far. And hey for once Vincent Tong gets to voice a character that’s NOT a love interest nearly universally hated by the fandom! (In case you’ve forgotten, he’s voiced not just Flash Sentry, but also Prince Blueblood and Feather Bangs)

Gallus: Gallus seems like a neat griffon granted he’s going to be a bit jerkish being that’s what most Griffins seem to be. But he’s obviously going to be the Dash in the group of friends in terms of sticking up for them when they need him.

Yona: A clumsy Yak that has a few endearing qualities for sure, I know not everyone’s a big fan of the Yaks, but I feel Yona may have potential to be more tolerable then most of the other yaks.

Smoulder: AKA The newest ship for Spike pretty much. Maybe some people thought Ember is just a little too old for Spike. If so, then Smoulder might be their answer. She’s obviously still older then Spike but she’s still closer to his size. So might make it a bit easier to see a ship between them.

Ocellus: Well ain’t she a pretty adorable changeling. Not too bad design for a nu-changeling either. Plenty of potential of fun situations for a recurring changeling character so we could see some good things from her later too.

Silver Stream: She’s perhaps my favorite out of the multi-species six. And not just because she’s connected to the seaponies from the movie. She’s full of energy, and her excitement for mundane things like stairs is charming and meant as kind of an odd to the fish out of water tropes we saw back in The Little Mermaid when forks were called Dinglehoppers. I’m certainly excited to see more of her after this two-parter

As we progress we get the natural events of what happens when a school about making friends seem to focus more on being a boring normal school with teaching guidelines that doesn’t quite work for every one of the students. Especially the non-ponies involved. And the group we saw earlier skip out on what happens to be the most important day for Twilight to show the EEA how things are progressing. But what happens as a result when Neighsay discovers the non-pony student that is no doubt a big subject that anyone surrounding the very volatile political climate right now could see this as quite awkward.

There’s no way around it, Neighsay is pretty much a racist. As soon as he sees there are non-pony students he sees Twilight as not going by his standards that the positive teaching be meant only for Ponies. And thinks other species are not as capable of learning friendship like Ponies can. There have been episodes before that are vaguely or could be considered from a point of view a bit political. Some episodes even are hit with political controversy even if that might of not been the intention. But it feels like in this case it is very intentional, especially in this volatile political climate. This is very much the equivalent of a high-up bureaucrat shutting a school down because the school is allowing students from places that either been enemies in the past or have otherwise rejected co-operation that benefits their country more and letting them mingle with those inside the country. I wouldn’t be surprised if in many red states if their parents were watching the episode with their kids. They’d turn off the TV and tell their kids to do something else knowing very well what this episode was implying. I wouldn’t even be surprised if there are kids who are now no longer allowed to be watching the show or buying MLP toys because their parents see this episode as attacking political beliefs. It honestly makes Neighsay perhaps one of the most realistic, and because of that one of the more scarier antagonists in the show. Neighsay’s not exactly a villain, he’s not trying to take over the world but he’s nonetheless someone with beliefs that is at odds with the message of Friendship for all that the ponies often try to send. And it’s likely he’s probably not the only pony in Equestria like that if he got such a high position. Despite the ponies having dropped their racism in the past for each other’s type since Hearth’s Warming Eve. It seems to have shifted at least for some regarding non-pony species. There’s some understandable reasons why for ponies to distrust them such as Dragons terrorizing ponies, Changelings only having recently been made mostly good but the Canterlot invasion as well as kidnapping all the princesses and the rest of the Mane 6 is likely still a sore spot about them, Yaks are destructive and don’t have the best tempers, Griffons seem non-caring about a lot of things, etc. But in a society that seems to be easily forgiving, apparently there’s some ponies unwilling to give the same 2nd chance that they gave formerly evil ponies even if they did worse things then any of the non-pony species did. Looking at Starlight especially, nearly ripped the ENTIRE present timeline but is given no more then a slap on the wrist, yet we don’t see Neighsay challenge the fact she’s involved with the school. He demonstrates far more anger that they just included non-pony species into the school when those students themselves and even the older representatives that brought them there didn’t really do anything to harm Equestria. It’s this very type of hypocritical feeling that has come out in recent political firestorms.

I don’t want to get too further in this, as I’ve for the most part avoiding posting about politics on my modblog. I do not want to get into any political debates, that’s not what I use Tumblr for even though there are certainly a lot of blogs that ARE very heavy political wise on Tumblr. But that’s not why I chose to use Tumblr. I just want to have fun giving my thoughts on things I’m excited for and episodes of MLP, and making fun little sprite comics of stories I want to tell. This is a brief escape from the minefield that is today’s politics where there’s no winning no matter where you stand. I’m only mentioning this now, because it’s kind of an unavoidable subject after this episode. There’s just no sugarcoating it to the point we can deny it’s at least somewhat political.

Heading into Part 2, I did really like the scene of Twilight trying to be cheered up by her friends. It doesn’t exactly work, but it really shows how much Twilight cared about the school that not even her friends could do much to really help how down she feels that her school was closed. It’s an entertaining scene to me too. Can’t exactly pinpoint why. But it’s a good scene.

Small note, but I found it amusing Pinkie has a themed cannon for each of her friends. Even Starlight and Spike. I don’t even know why she does, but it’s funny.

A fun note to see that the throne room in Celestia’s castle (Or should we say Celestia and Luna’s) has changed to the look it has in the movie. Luna finally has her own throne again and everything. Kinda cool.

And what will undoubtedly be the meme of the episode, Silverstream’s fascination with Stairs. Although there are a few occasions that maybe Silverstream should of seen Stairs earlier. Like in the school or even earlier in the same castle they were hiding in. And I believe the Mane 6 go down a pretty huge amount of stairs to find the entrance to the sea pony kingdom. Though I think maybe the reason for that is for most of Silverstream’s life she was a sea pony. We don’t know how long the Storm King was threatening the places outside Equestria. It could very well be an entire decade. Long enough for Silverstream to mostly see things that were underwater rather then the stuff that is normal on the surface.

Speeding up a little, we know Twilight and the others find the students. And then stand up to Neighsay. (Though Maurice has already said this won’t be the last we see of him) And finally get the School put in the direction that it should be. Setting up the rest of the season with the new non-pony characters that I think at least a few will become new fan favorites. It’s a nice start to the season, some things certainly got political and that’s not going to be an easy conversation no matter what. But we got some neat new characters and the rest of the season to look forward to.

Next time is yet another Maud Pie episode. I’ll seeya then!

3 notes · View notes

sharksfood · 8 years ago

Text

so this thought just came into my head and i want to explore it.

in my life i’ve only seen 3 films so far that i read as books before they became movies. im not counting comic books/graphic novels that became movies bcs thats a little different, books that became tv shows, or plays that became movies. but its interesting to think about that.

i didnt read harry potter until well after the films (all of them lmao) were released, i’ve never read how to train your dragon, i’ve never read the hobbit/lotr, the animated alice in wonderland came out in the 50s, i have only recently read the last unicorn, i read World War Z after the movie came out (and ive never seen all of the movie), and i read the neverending story when i was cast in the play.

the books that i read before they came out in film are; The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, Warm Bodies, and Goosebumps.

Goosebumps kind of fits but it was made into a tv series first, and im not sure if i read the books or saw the shows first. i did both, i know that much.

I read Warm Bodies only bcs I wanted to see the movie but thought the book would be cool to read (its amazing and has a completely different feel from the movie), and Lion Witch Wardrobe was bcs my dad read it to me when I was younger. That and The Magician’s Nephew are the only Narnia books ive ever read.

I was going to try and read Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children before the movie came out, but that work out for me.

if you want to count comics and graphic novels, then the list gets bigger. but comics already have the characters drawn out, so unlike books, you dont have an idea in your head on what the character looks like. that is so often changed in film, plus you loose so much detail and nuance when you go book to screenplay to film (this is also true with comics, but its still different)

However, and the biggest reason as to why I’m thinking about this, two movies will be coming out in the next few years, and both of them are based on my favorite books of all time (aside from the alice books of course).

The first is Captain Underpants! I know that this is a book series with words and pictures, so technically its a graphic novel series, but they’re kids books! and those tend to have an awful lot of pictures. This series was my FAVORITE (other than the alice books) as a kid!! they were fun, hilarious, relatable, and just all around super great. So when i saw the trailer for the animated film that’s coming out this year based on the series i was ECSTATIC!! Were it live-action i would be bummed out since kids picture books usually fair better when animated (im not a fan of the diary of a wimpy kid movies....) but this animation is handled a lot like The Peanuts movie. The animation look like a color and 3D version of the exact art style!! its wonderful and im SO EXCITED

The other one, and this i am VERY VERY nervous about, is Ready Player One. that is my favorite sci-fi novel ever. i often say its my favorite book ever bc it deserves more love! and i do so much love it. ive reread it i dont even know how many times. and what do you know, they’re making it into a movie!! when i heard about this i had so many mixed feelings, and most of it has to do with the style of the book and the characters.

-Ready Player One Spoilers-

In Ready Player One the protagonist starts out as a dirt poor, fat, unattractive teen boy, and later he gets more physically fit/healthy and rich. he claims to still be unattractive at this point (mostly bcs he jues doesnt like how he looks and he looses all his body hair). this is very important to the character! i’m afraid that in this movie hollywood will do as they always do and make him a skinny conventionally attractive teen from the get-go. people will probably pull the Holes excuse of “the filmmakers didnt want to make the actor gain a bunch of weight and then loose it all” BULLSHIT they can cast a fat actor! and through his training and as they film the movie he can loose some weight or they can use movie magic (like when they made chris evans a scrawny little thing). its not that hard, people.

Another character, and this was super important to me and was a big subplot, is that Wade best friend, Aech, whom he only knows through the game (OASIS) plays as a white, straight, guy avatar, but they’re actually a black lesbian named Helen. And she plays this avatar to protect herself and to get a job and be taken seriously within OASIS. is super sad she has to do this, but its a big part of her character. she’s also fat as well, and im REALLY worried that in the movie she’s going to be a skinny straight white girl.

Two other characters who have important characteristics are Art3mis (Samantha) and the creator of OASIS James Halliday. Art3mis is Wade later love interest and GF. She is notable bcs her avatar is just like her, a chubby girl with black hair, but sans her port-wine birthmark. I know they’ll keep her birthmark, since its an intimate reveal, but they’ll probably make her skinny and i hate it. Now it’s only half canon in the books, but i’ve chosen to go with it, but at one point Wade talks about James Halliday’s childhood and his personality and all that, and mentions that he might have been autistic. Now, since it’s only he “might have been” in the books, the filmmakers will probably not make him autistic. That’s fucking sad to me, I mean, it would be amazing!! This character is one of the smartest, most famous, most prolific video game programmers/designers in history!! And he’s autistic! That is some wonderful representation and the filmmakers should jump on that opportunity. It’ll inspire so many autistic people who have a passion for video games to pursue their dreams. But, i have a hunch they wont go with it.

Two other characters, Daito and Shoto, are Japanese young guys who claim to be brothers (and their characters are) but are just friends in the real world. My initial hunch was that the filmmakers would keep them Japanese, but given the recent whitewashing of important Japanese characters, I have my doubts.

My few other concerns are that this movie won’t have 80s pop culture as the main style and focus of the era they book is set in, not to mention OASIS and most of people’s interests. It’s incredibly important to the novel, but so many dystopian movies choose to go with gritty, futuristic, edgy stuff. The other concern is how they will handle the real life vs OASIS look, since over half of the book takes place inside a VR video game. I’ve seen news that they are utilizing VR technology, but i havent read too much. I’m wondering if they’ll animate all of OASIS and the avatars and action and anything in the video game! That would be awesome.

So these are all my thoughts. I havent looks at who they’ve cast yet, so I’m going to do that right now. I do know that Steven Spielberg is directing it, which could be fantastic or terrible. Okay, cast time.

------

So the IMDB doesnt say who is cast as Daito and Shoto, but Wikipedia says that Win Morisaki of PrizmaX will play him, which is great! I hope that’s what happens.

Art3mis/Samantha will be played by Olivia Cooke, who in my opinion is way too old. She’s older than me! The character’s age (i think) isnt mentioned in the book, but she’s got to be 17-20, and Olivia Cooke looks older than that. She’s also not chubby, but hey, maybe they’ll fit that. She also doesnt have the birthmark, but that’s gonna be makeup. (wouldve been cool if they found an actress with a port-wine stain on her face...)

Parzival/Wade will be played by Ty Sheridan. He was Cyclops in X-Men Apocalypse. He’s the right age, but way too fit and attractive. DAMN IT Well, I guess there’s always makeup and special effects, but i’m 80% sure now they wont make Wade fat.....

Aech/Helen will be played by Lena Waithe who is almost PERFECT. She’s much older than Aech, who is around 18, but like Samantha i imagine they’ll have make up and acting to cover it. My biggest concern is that she’s not fat like Aech, which means they’ll use a body suit or effects or Lena will gain weight, or they wont do anything.....

T.J. Miller will be playing I-r0k, who is another OASIS player and a bigtime douchebag jerk. This is perfect. We don’t know his age, or really anything other than his personality and avatar, and T.J. Miller is hilarious so this/ll be great.

Mark Rylance will be playing James Halliday, witch is fine by me. He’s not quite what I imagined, but thats what makeup and wigs are for. He’s worked a lot with Steven Spielberg, so that makes sense as to why he’s cast here. I just hope he can portray an autistic character well and with respect.... (would be better if he IS autistic but ya know.....)

Simon Pegg will be playing Ogden Morrow, the co-creator of OASIS, and thats perfect. No complaints.

Nolan Sorrento (the antagonist of the book and head of operations at Innovative Online Industries) will be played by Ben Mendelsohn, who was Director Krennic in Rouge One. He is much older and not quite and slimy as I imagined him, but this can totally work. I pictured Nolan Sorrento as Andrew Scott in my head, since he seems like the perfect evil, charismatic, slimy, attractive but ugly inside business man.

----

So, after looking at the current casting choices im a little let down, but still excited! I’ll have to wait patienly for the trailer, since this thing is coming out in 2018. Dang, this turned into a Ready Player One post, but its been on my mind recently.

If you read through all of this, good job! let me know what you think! i probably dont talk about Ready Player One very often but thats bcs i dont know anyone in real life (other than my dad) who has read this book, and the online fandom seems nonexistent. Who knows?

But yeah, I guess I made this post bcs I wasn’t able to share the collective nervousness, complaints, and excitement of Harry Potter or LotR or Percy Jackson fans when their fav books became movies.

#babble #i talk a lot about books and movies #mostly ready player one lmao

2 notes · View notes