#I honestly doubt anyone else has ever considered comparing the two much less make any connection | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

smolstarthief · 3 years ago

Text

Persona 5/Persona 5 Strikers: Pro-Police or Anti-Police?

Hoo boy... So this honestly has been a LONG time coming on my end because I have seen so much of that debate on social media (Twitter namely) and I can see the points of BOTH sides but there have been moments where it just got out of hand... Especially whenever people tried to put in a more grey/nuanced take only to be slammed and taken out of context. Even repeatedly mentioning the interrogation at the beginning of P5 which, I will admit has gotten tiresome. At least for me, I do still feel for Joker and I wished the game acknowledged his trauma more but there's a thing called, "beating a dead horse" and this is one along with "Haru says ACAB" in Strikers (which was done THREE TIMES in the same arc and it got annoying fast, like shut up already! We get it!). So, let's dive in a little bit:

MAJOR SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT!!!

Persona 5/Persona 5 Royal

Now let me just say I know! Police in Japan are just as bad if not worse than the West and I STILL hate the idea of Makoto wanting to become a cop for such naive reasons (especially with what happened to Sae, her own sister!)... But there are at least some of form of nuances sometimes and by that I mean, I can see what they were trying to do? I do agree that P5/P5S backpedaled SEVERELY by deciding to sweep issues under the rug after addressing them and not continuing from such. In fact I feel like it could have been a hell of a lot better. But P5 did something different compared to previous games and addresses the issues DIRECTLY right at the beginning of said game! It was tense and horrifying, but needed. Of course... They then sweep it under the rug and act like nothing traumatic happened to our protag which is NOT a good look at all and I'm still pissed off about it. In the main game's case, it's portrayed as more black and white with only a SMALL amount of nuance like that cop that was trying to help Futaba when she went out by herself and got lost (which people ignore entirely by the way). So I CAN see where people got the "anti-police" message from... But that's only the tip of the iceberg as it's ACTUALLY more about Systematic Corruption, not exactly or JUST police corruption. Namely in politics with Shido and the Conspiracy (which is apparently still somewhat around in Strikers until Owada's downfall) controlling everything all the way to law enforcement. The force had been basically under his payroll (including the corrupt SIU Director before his death) whether by force or not (mostly not in this case though). Now honestly, the police depicted there are undoubtedly rotten to the core save for a VERY SMALL handful (the cop that was trying to help Futaba which, again, gets ignored by several). Look at the interrogators who ruthlessly beat and drug a minor without any second thought or remorse for example. But again, the black and white narrative the game kept unwittingly doing ended up being to its detriment in a way. I'm not defending those assholes AT ALL! They deserved every punishment given to them! But for a game that goes on about grey morality... It doesn't quite deliver on that. Still though, it does emphasize that it's more of the fault of the whole corrupt system, not just one part of it. There needs to be change and reform which is what our MCs were trying to do in a way (more like inspiring change but still). In the end, it's all about the following:

Corruption and abuse of power.

Again the police depicted in this game were incompetent at best, corrupt at worse with very few silver linings. But it's not just them but rather the one person responsible for the whole mess. Who had them under his payroll? Who controlled them and by extension all of Tokyo? Who was willing to dispose of anyone who "outlives their usefulness" or is perceived as a threat to what he wants (including his own family)?

SHIDO AND BY EXTENSION THE CONSPIRACY

Bottom line: They are definitely a problem but it's not just them.

"But, Joker and his trauma?"

I definitely understand that and still do. I fully believe he has and still has trauma with the police. Easy! But... I do feel like people go too far with it sometimes. It's hard to explain but there have been moments where people either use it as a justification/argument against someone trying to provide a more nuanced view of things or... Dare I say, depict him like a "uwu soft traumatized boi." Like I said, it's hard to explain on my end so feel free to ignore it. Everyone deals with trauma differently so there is STRONG chance that I'm overanalyzing it. I just remember moments where I just feel a little, I guess annoyed? I'm not sure exactly but final thing: I understand what he went through and I can't imagine how long it would take to recover but I hope he DOES overcome it.

"Sae? Akechi?"

Yep, even though their jobs are different, they are by and large members of law enforcement no matter how you spin it. Both were broken in a way. Akechi is pretty easy to explain with how Shido negatively impacted his life but not much about Sae, who dealt with sexism/misogyny at her workplace along with the trauma of her father's (also a cop) death. She no doubt had some idealism only to be hit with the fact that she's gonna have to use underhanded/downright illegal tactics to get by and even rise up the ranks. She, therefore ended up (well, nearly) corrupted herself before coming to her senses. That's honestly one of the BIGGEST REASONS why I felt like Makoto joining the force to become a police commissioner isn't a good, even a downright naïve, idea. I honestly would have been somewhat fine with it if it weren't for that fact among other things. Regardless of her willpower, it will go south fast.

Now... Onto Strikers!

Persona 5 Strikers

Since the game came out and I started playing it, I still feel like the system is still beyond saving, especially when attempting to do it from the inside. But I don't mind the added nuances that P5 didn't do much of. It's still continuing the critiques, just shows more of what does happen within said system and even has an ACTUAL officer (Zenkichi) say, "Yeah, my job sucks, everyone's corrupt, there are much better ways to do things and make a change but not this. I'm only staying because I have a daughter to take care of and it's all I know. I'm no different from them." Was it all handled well? I wouldn't say "yes" (Joker's trauma is BARELY addressed at all of course) but a little better than what P5's narrative did which only addressed the issues but not exactly follow up on them. Now to be fair... In the system, regardless of where you live, any one within it who remotely tries to do something or speak against it either lose their jobs or even go "missing" irl. Those have happened and it's more proof that yeah, it's rotten to the core. There's no denying it but regardless, that's NOT what the game is about at all. At least that's what I feel about it as it's only PART of the narrative. I think Zenkichi puts it best here:

Speaking of Zenkichi... Oh boy... Now I definitely understand some of the criticisms with him but honestly, he was the best written (PT) character I've ever encountered! He was honestly the perfect representation of those that genuinely want to help and do good, only to be held back by an extremely harsh reality. It was already hinted at with Sae but here? It 100 percent confirms just how harsh and even cutthroat it can be if it could break someone's idealism so badly. Even Kaburagi of all people thinks the same thing Zenkichi said:

Then there's his past and it's a tragic one! But let's look more at the decisions he ended up making:

While it was no doubt done to protect his daughter, he ended making a selfish decision along with a selfless one (which was brilliant!) with not only allowing the cover up of his wife's death and denying justice for her, but also ruining an innocent person and their family's lives.

It's horrible, but also... There's a grey area/nuance as with the rest of his character. It was both understandable, but also wrong as he, as Akane's Shadow puts it:

He sacrificed his values, his morals, all for the sake of having a peace of mind. Speaking of Akane, she's also an interesting case in a way that she more or less perfectly represents the more "black and white" views on justice in general. Namely the more toxic/biased kind. Her reasons are also understandable but she was also acting selfishly by only focusing on how SHE was effected by Aoi's death and not even considering those that were also grieving her death and/or that people grieve/handle grief differently than her. But back on topic.

Her own views and beliefs that law enforcement basically SHOULD be dismantled (mostly out of said childish bias and black & white views) and it's framed as WRONG and it's very much correct on that. Chaos and order are two sides of the same coin, one can't exist without the other. When I say ACAB, I'm calling for reform, defund, have the corrupt held accountable for EVERYTHING and even face jail time for their crimes! Defund the police, have the ones that arrest, harm, and even murder out of bias (race, gender, etc.), lose their badges/jobs and locked up, make improvements! It's saying that there IS still corruption out there and there's no denying it. But fully eliminating the law in general will just lead to more problems. Now granted, she's young and clearly doesn't fully understand why those views are ultimately wrong but still... It was a very interesting subject to tackle and I feel like they handled it well.

Now back to Zenkichi, he was at first in denial about his decisions ultimately being the wrong ones too and even tries to justify it. Of course, his Shadow said otherwise and that was when he finally admitted that he really did act no different from the criminals he despised. But it also doesn't mean he can't redeem himself and that's what ultimately leads to his new resolve:

That right there along with everything else! There's the nuance! And ultimately despite some hiccups, Strikers handled the grey morality and nuance beautifully! Especially regarding law enforcement! Dare I say, even better than the base game! It continues the critiques with no problem but also showing different sides and areas of it! There is good and evil, but what about in-between? What about the more greyer area? It still says that there IS corruption, sometimes even beyond saving but... Sometimes a small silver lining is hidden somewhere.

Now, the ultimate question:

Is P5 & P5S (namely the latter) Pro-Police or Anti-Police?

Personally, my answer is this: Neither.

Why? What theme do they both have in common?

JUSTICE

Someone puts it best on Twitter that the games are more pro-justice and I fully agree!

P5/P5S gives the idea about following your OWN justice, your OWN moral code and rules, paving your OWN path and not let others dictate it! That's what the MCs ultimately start to learn in both games. Therefore it's pro-justice. Again, do I agree that the system is beyond saving? Yeah. Do I at least acknowledge and understand what the narratives are trying to say and nuances regardless even if I don't agree with some writing decisions (ex: Makoto wanting to become a commissioner despite everything)? Also yes. But at the same time, don't judge a book by its cover for other people (not just law enforcement and politics mind you). Especially some that genuinely DO want to help at best. That there is nuance and greyness, just have to look closely. Some of the MCs are still TERRIBLY written and executed (even annoying) but the message was still somewhat there.

Final Thoughts

Now I fully understand how you all feel of course! I still believe in ACAB and even I agree that maybe I'm one to talk and have a lot more to learn about the world... This is just my own attempt at putting my own two cents in. If you disagree, that's fine! This is just what I've felt should be at least talked about more often. And I tried to phrase it as best as I can without coming off as insensitive or ignorant and if I did, I sincerely apologize for that! I'm not trying to say, come off as a "bootlicker" or any of the sort. I'm just trying show discuss more of the grey areas and nuances that are, more often than not, constantly overlooked. How one interprets both games is ultimately up to them. You, the player. And this is my own interpretation. Simple as that. I hope you all have a good day/afternoon/evening!

#starchild rambles #analysis #persona 5 #persona 5 royal #persona 5 strikers #p5 #p5r #p5s #p5s spoilers #p5r spoilers #p5 spoilers #long post

31 notes · View notes

stemgaysupreme · 4 years ago

Text

On Carrying Capacity - A Critical Role Math Problem

I’ve been getting kind of annoyed (read: extremely anxious about the m9′s survival) every time Matt doesn’t let a polymorphed giant eagle or giant owl carry three party members (one of which is Veth) without their speed being halved, so I wanted to do some digging on the rules for carrying capacity and see if Veth’s weight was actually pushing the party over the max the creature could carry at full speed. After I did all of this I really felt the need to share it so... Here you go...?

I’ll go into specifics of things under the cut but for those who just want to know the answer, technically a giant eagle’s max carrying capacity is 480lbs and a giant owl’s is 390 lbs. Based on some math and some guessing of some character weights, the party, excluding the polymorphed Caleb and Jester, can be split with Yasha and Fjord on one bird and Caduceus, Beau, and Veth on the other and have their total weights be 386lbs and 380lbs respectively.

Even if they were playing with the variant encumbrance rules (explained under the cut) their speeds would only drop by 20 feet rather that be halved, so the eagle would still be going 60 feet/round and the owl would be going 40 feet/round rather than 40 and 30. Heck, if they’re eagles, as long as Veth is on the bird with three people, they would both be able to do 60 feet/round. But I SERIOUSLY doubt they’re using encumbrance because, if they were, heavily encumbered creatures (like the birds would likely be when Matt halves their speed) would have disadvantage on all Dex, Str, and Con ability checks, attack rolls, and saving throws. So, really, if they aren’t playing with encumbrance, either they should be half speed when only carrying two people, or they should still be at full speed when carrying three people.

TL;DR: Matt, please, either let them fly faster, or tell me what the rules you’re using are.

I broke this up into sections so that if you already know the rules of carrying weight, or don’t care how I got character weights, you don’t have to read that bit.

Carrying Weight Rules

Ok, so, first things first, how much are these birds supposed to be able to carry? Well, the player’s handbook says a medium creature’s max carrying weight is 15 times their strength score, and twice that amount for a large creature (which is what the birds are) so we get

Giant Eagle (STR: 16) : 16 x 15 x 2 = 480lbs

Giant Owl (STR: 13) : 13 x 15 x 2 = 390lbs

If they are using the encumbrance variant rule, they either become “heavily encumbered” at 10 times their strength score, or 20 times, depending on whether you interpret the rules to say that this value is doubled for large creatures or not. This doesn’t really matter for us because, either way, even just two party members usually means they would be considered heavily encumbered, meaning their speed would decrease by 20 feet, and they would have disadvantage on all Dex, Str, and Con ability checks, attack rolls, and saving throws.

Important to note: I couldn’t find any rule that had a creature’s speed cut in half due to carrying weight, but if someone knows of one, let me know, as if it exists, it’s likely what Matt is using, though I suspect he is just making it up (WHICH IS 1000000% VALID)

Character Weights

Some character weights were much easier to find than others, and honestly, all but one is an estimation, but in general, I followed the same process.

1. How tall are they? - While some characters have their exact heights, others are guesses, and a few are basically me saying “I swear I remember so-and-so saying they were this tall in-game”

The exact heights (from Crit Role Stats) are:

- Yasha at 5′11″

- Veth at 3′6″

The “I swear I remember so-and-so saying they were this tall in-game” ones are:

- Caduceus at 7′0″ (the fandom wiki backs me up on this one)

- Beau at 5′5″ (It’s either this or 5′4″ I think, but I went with this)

The only true guess:

- Fjord at 6′0″ (Fjord thinks he’s not very big but Ashley insisted on Talks once that Yasha was shorter than Fjord so this is the best compromise I had)

I didn’t bother with doing Caleb or Jester because, well, they’re the owls usually.

Shoutout to Crit Role Stats for existing and having like, half the character’s heights. If a height or weight seems off, I’m sorry, I did what I could to get a good guess. If there is a CONFIRMED height/weight that I don’t have here, let me know! But if you think Jester is an inch taller or shorter than what I have, I don’t know what to tell you other than “sorry???”

2. What is their race’s average weight for their height? - This is the most math intensive part of all this, but it’s not too bad. Each race has a base height, base weight, height modifier, and weight modifier. The base height and weight are just numbers, so for humans their base height is 4′8″ and their base weight is 110lbs. The modifiers are determined by rolling dice associated with the race, so for humans their height modifier is 2d10 and their weight modifier is 2d4. Your final height would be the base height plus the number you rolled for your height modifier in inches. Then, your final weight would be the base weight plus your height modifier times your weight modifier. By knowing the base heights of each character’s race, and having their height, we can find their height modifier, and use that to determine their maximum and minimum weights, and use those to get their average weight. This is a lot of information, so I made a chart for it

A note on Halflings: Turns out, Halflings are one of the races (others being Gnomes, Goblins, and Kobolds) that don’t multiply their height modifier by anything when applying it to their weight.

3. Adjusting for body type - Based on what we know about these characters, some of the average weights just don’t feel right, so I ended up changing some of them.

- Veth: I left hers as is because Halflings always have a weight modifier of one.

- Yasha: I left hers alone as well because it feels pretty good for a buff barbarian. She’s all muscle.

- Beau: I took her weight down because, as a 5′5″/5′6″ ish woman, I really don’t think someone built for speed and agility is going to be 155 pounds. I guessed roughly 130lbs, though it could be closer to 140lbs, I have never been the owner of a six pack, so I don’t entirely know how much weight that much muscle adds.

- Caduceus: Once again I’m going to mention that the fandom wiki backs me up here by saying that Caduceus is “not necessarily healthily thin” so I took him down to 210lbs. I probably could’ve gone down even a bit more but opted to play it safe to balance out any issues with Beau’s weight.

- Fjord: He’s a notoriously small dude, no way he’s 238 pounds, and given how large his possible weight range is, and his less than impressive strength score, I bumped him down to 195 which seems fair for a guy that’s 6 feet tall, but when you compare it to Yasha, either hers is too high, or his is, but since all of my adjustments are decreases from the average, I’m hesitant to lower either any more.

4. Final Weights - After all that, we’ve got the party sitting at the following weight approximations:

Yasha - 185lbs

Beau - 130lbs

Caduceus - 210lbs

Fjord - 195lbs

Veth - 46lbs

Putting It All Together

As it turns out, based on these weights, Fjord and Yasha combine to be just six pounds lighter than Veth, Cad, and Beau combined at 380lbs versus 386lbs. In fact, this combination is the only way both groups stay under the girant owl’s maximum carrying capacity of 390lbs. So effectively what this means is if Caduceus has ever been on a giant owl with Fjord or Yasha, the owl shouldn’t have been able to move. That is important. Because if Caduceus has ever been on an owl with Fjord or Yasha, it means that the determining factor of whether or not a giant bird can fly is not the total weight it is carrying, rather it is the number of people it is carrying.

Personally, the best part of this whole thing is knowing that they combination they used at the start of c2e124 was one of only a few that wouldn’t allow both eagles to move at full speed.

Also, when it comes to encumbrance rules, all of the combinations still only reduce speed by 20 feet per round, so even with those rules they would be going faster than Matt is allowing.

And One More Thing

I did this because I found it interesting, not because the way Matt is doing things is “wrong” or something. He gets to decide. End of story. But in the case that Matt doesn’t know (lol Matt Mercer not knowing every DnD rule ever? wild) what the rules “technically” are, then I’d love it if he found out and changed how he ran things.

Basically I’m saying don’t start fandom discourse with my fun DnD math problem. I did it for me and anyone else that cares, and Matt can do what he wants. For all I know I’ve gotten a character weight wrong and it completely ruins the entire thing.

#critical role #critrole #critical role campagin 2 #critical role theory #critical role spoilers #matt mercer #dnd #lots of math #i did this instead of homework

30 notes · View notes

warsmith-38 · 4 years ago

Text

How I would do RWBY Pt. 0

Disclaimer: It is easier to improve what already exist than it is to create something new. Boy howdy do I know that. That being said, I believe that RWBY has more than its fair share of flaws and this is how I would do it differently if I was behind the reigns. This is just a collection of my opinions and ideas which in the end will probably amount to nothing. I felt the need to do this because my brain just decided ‘nah motherfucker, you ain’t thinking of anything else from now on’ and this is the end result for nothing else would satisfy my rage.

I wouldn’t quite call this a complete re-haul, but more rather a rework with some of my own brand of polish. It’s not a compete rebuild from the ground up in a different world with different concepts and themes, but how I would go about a second go around with the series from the base that is already there. If a detail is missing from my musings then assume it is either unchanged or removed, depending on context.

If some of my complaints were addressed after I stopped watching, I honestly don’t much care. If it takes longer than 4 seasons to fix what I view as fundamental problems, then it’s far too little too late for me. I paid scant attention to the series post my stopping point and liked little to none of what I saw.

Please do not take this as a specific attack on anything other than the writing of the show itself. This is not directed or targeted against anyone, regardless of position or feelings on the topic at hand. If you ignore what I just said and decide to take this as an insult, then I say that you need to be more self-secure in your tastes and interests.

Things I would remove + reason why

Silver eyed warriors as a concept- it’s more or less the same concept as dojutsu from Naruto. It’s the fucking sharingan (rubygan). It’s not quite chosen one level, but crap like this is the blight of good protagonists. It’s fucking eugenics that makes you awesome not your own skills or training but on your bloodline. No need for personal development or life-changing hardship when you have a built in power that can be cultivated like a fucking bumper crop.

Maidens- Wasn’t intended originally and only made the overall story more cluttered with power creep and plot device. It’s a similar problem as above. No need for training or anything if people can just kill the person who has the power currently and take if from them. Which, at that point, why do you want that power if you’re already strong enough to kill and take it from the person who has it to begin with? It’s something someone just shouted out and they rolled with it because it sounded cool in the moment.

The Relics- McGuffin dragonballs that serve as plot device and little else. A story can be told without needing to monotonously race for Excalibur or the holy grail. Considering the Maidens, I doubt that the relics were intended in the first place and as such if you can’t tell a story without throwing something in after a few seasons because you realized that you didn’t have a plot, then you’re not that good at telling stories.

Oscar- The show didn’t need more main protagonists when what was already there wasn’t being given enough characterization to begin with. For that matter-

Quite a few characters- The cast is cluttered and convoluted enough as is with seemingly important characters getting the shaft in favor of yet another new character that would barely do anything. Time and effort seems to be put into one-off schmucks that would be better served making the story not need poochie the dog, let alone several. Character integration is not ‘create a character to do one thing and then pretend they don’t exist’. There’s already plenty of characters than can be used wherever.

The overt shipping bait, especially if it’s just going to be taken up or abandoned on a whim- I don’t mean relationship building, I mean the obvious baiting of a relationship that, in the end, might not even happen. All it does is dumb down characters and character arcs, draw out pointless scenes, and make the fans have conniptions one way or another. People are pissed off whenever things don’t go their way with shipping so the only winning move with these people is not to play their game. Looking at you Klance and Zutara. Either don’t do anything or have a fucking plan and stick to it and not make complete swerves when fans get uppity. If it genuinely matters to you, then pretend whatever ship happens at whatever point, I don’t care.

Changes to the world that I think would go over better-

Everyone has a level of aura with a naturally high level generally meaning that they might be able to unlock a semblance. A semblance is unlocked through some sort of specific event, typically a stressful one IE: Yang and Ruby are caught in the woods by grimm and Yang gets frustrated and scared at not being able to defend her sister before getting angry and her rage mode semblance unlocking. Not everyone who unlocks a semblance goes into combat schools but it is a requirement for acceptance into most of them. Having the potential to unlock a semblance seems entirely random but has a higher chance with genetics.

There are two types of semblances: 1 is hereditary like the Schnee glyphs, changing only slightly, if at all, through the generations. 2 is a random personal power like Yang having her rage mode as compared to Raven’s portals. Whichever you get tends to be random with the occasional exception depending on genetics and the specific semblance.

Every 1 in assumedly 10 people who have semblances have the potential to have two semblances, often times, but not necessarily, being one hereditary and one random. The process of unlocking the second semblance involves immense emotional distress and in some cases might not even happen for the individual who has the potential, period, thus skewing data. This gives an enhanced type power but isn’t protagonist exclusive. It shows a higher than average power capacity, but isn’t a gamebreaker to the same level as a fucking kekkei genkai or getting the powers of a fucking demigod. A good amount of characters would only have one semblance and be considerable badasses despite it and even be able to beat a couple of the few that have two.

Establish Menagerie as the official Fifth Kingdom, the newest of the great kingdoms. Maybe not the singularly strongest or most influential, but make it so Menagerie and its people, the faunus, have a considerable role in the world’s affairs, if even from an isolationist standpoint. Don’t have them as even a semi thriving entity that isn’t a kingdom because that only begs the question as to why the kingdoms are so important to begin with then.

Make the White Fang a faunus supremacist group that has very little support, if any, from the faunus people as a whole. Faunus right issues are history for the vast majority of the world and the White Fang as a whole is only using the problems in Atlas with the SDC as a means of trying to gain power. There are actual faunus rights groups trying to make things better for their race in Atlas and other marginalized areas but the White Fang dislikes them on the grounds that they go against their goal and it makes them look even worse.

Fucking pronounce names correctly, I mean, Christ. Weiss, the word, is pronounced like ‘Vice’. It’s an actual fucking word. It’s the German word for white. It’s like saying tor-till-uh not tor-tee-ah. Blake is Bella-doe-nah not Bella-dawn-uh. Shit like that. No you don’t need to put on a heavy accent to say these words but pronouncing things so inaccurately just makes you look like an ignorant rube (no, that was not a pun). I don’t fucking care what your reasons are. Why use these words in the first place if you’re not even going to try to say them right?

Ozpin is order to Salem’s chaos. Ancient demigods of both archetypes vying for power across the ages and the innocent peoples of the world be damned in the crossfire. Neither are entirely good nor evil but both are not exactly helpful to the free peoples on the world and the continued livelihood thereof. Their progenitor god created them to try and guide humanity in a balanced way. That seemed to work at first, but then failed like a bad marriage and they waged war ever since like a bad divorce. The grimm are a creation of Salem’s to test humanity and make then stronger through conflict. Ozpin ranges from the lawman to the fascist fairly duplicitously. The two can only be permanently killed by each other but neither wants to get too close to the other because of that exact same reason. If killed by other means, they will resurrect after a fashion no worse for wear.

Overt changes to (and complaints about) Ruby Rose- It is a crime that the titular character has so little actual character beyond just being ‘Hyperactive Anime Protagonist #235’. Most of her (few) character traits are tell not show, and of course she’s got the fucking rubygan bloodline ability crap. She has next to nothing that isn’t allotted by default to most anime protags on the grounds of the stereotype. For the main character to have less character than any of the members of the fucking B-team is a travesty.

1. Give her a clear rebellious streak, a distinct problem with authority, and a headstrong attitude. Daddy doesn’t want her to be in danger, so she decides to become a huntress. She’s told to stay put, so she hunts down Roman. She’s told that she needs to stay home and recover, so she sets out on her own not thinking about the exact consequences. Make her the impetus for the team’s involvement with the problems of the world in the early seasons. Make her a driving part of the plot, not just being along for the ride or because someone else said so.

2. Give her blood knight tendencies. Make her VERY willing to get into a fight with the bad guys, not just fights in general, but fights against bad guys. Nothing over the top, but enough that she has a scene or three where she says “Shut up bad guy, skip to the part where we get to kick the crap out of you,” or something of that nature. Hyper combative characters are fun and ethical.

3. Give her more traits as a mechanic and weapon nerd. Include scenes of her fixing everyone’s weapons for fun or being able to analyze an opponent’s fighting style based on the type, design, and/or wear & tear of their weapon, make her a polyglot of weapons that can be at least proficient in using just about any weapon. Come to think of it…

4. Anything that could give her actual character traits. They don’t even have to be all that major traits, just give her enough so that we actually have a character with more definition than printer paper. She’s the main character, the titular character at that. This isn’t a video game with a blank-slate protagonist. If the main character isn’t even really a character, like, at all, then what’s the fucking point?

5. Convert silver eyes power into a second semblance for white fire vision that kills grimm like nothing else. Gotten as a hereditary semblance from Summer. Which is also why Summer was specifically targeted by Salem on the grounds that it makes her just a little too dangerous for her long-term plans. This makes it so she isn’t just the fucking chosen one, but still has a clear definitive reason to be involved against the big bad because, y’know, dead mom. Yes, this kinda goes into the whole ‘bloodline is what determines importance’ thing I wanted to be rid of, but it’s only a chance two generations instead of a massive lineage of nonsense and keeps more of the onus of involvement on Ruby herself.

6. Give her a very clear motivation that’s deeper than surface level. ‘Oh, I want to do the right thing’ is a flimsy as balls motivation especially compared to the rest of her team that has that AND an actual reason for thinking that way. Why does she want to be the good guy? What happened in her life that makes her this motivated to doing the right thing? Yang has her desire to find her mother (which, come to think of it, doesn’t necessitate being a good guy), Blake has wanting to make up for being a terrorist, Weiss has her desire to step out from under the shadow of her family’s reputation, even fucking Jaune, the b-team protagonist, who wants to live up to his family reputation, has a proper motivation to be involved in the story. WHY is Ruby involved beyond ‘I’m the main character’ level reasoning? As much as admitting it makes me wish to commit Sudoku, even SAO has better main character motivations. Good god, I need hooch after typing that.

Overt changes to (and complaints about) Yang Xiao-Long- Her arc was mostly fine, barring some of the pacing. Raven being a maiden undercut the message of ‘screw that deadbeat bitch, go to your real family’ by making her important to the overall world state and confirming a measure of later relevance but that’s more a flaw with Raven than Yang.

1. Keep her motivation about getting strong enough to find her mother but add in the clear desire to kick her ass for leaving her and Tai. Of course it’s more about just getting the answers to her questions, but the ass-kicking should also be a major component.

2. Amp up the rivalry between her and Mercury. Mercury was designed as an opposite to Yang, I mean for fuck’s sake, look at him. Consider their respective backstories too; both raised in a single father home yet one was supported and loved (if a little neglected) while the other was horrifyingly maimed and abused. Punch vs kick. It works.

3. Make her more protective of her little sister, explicitly going along with her personal crusade to keep her safe (safer, rather). If she’s supposed to be the good older sister, maybe just maybe, something more than lip-service to that idea should be done. Hell, maybe she can be overprotective like their father, or even the exact opposite, not really giving a shit and then learning to give one. That might lead to a little tension and growth between the two of them.

4. Make her semblance consistent. Is she supposed to have super saiyan rage mode or is it energy buildup and dispersal? Is it supposed to be both? Just make it rage mode, for the sake of fuck, and don’t flip-flop. Speaking of…

5. Give her anger issues. Flesh out her being the kind of gal that would start a fight in a nightclub when she doesn’t get what she needed with little justification. This would stem from abandonment issues from Raven, Summer (inadvertently), and Tai and her general thrill seeking personality. This could lead to tensions and dramas until she overcomes it and learns to use her aggressive feelings and not let them use her.

Overt changes to (and complaints about) Blake Belladonna- Shitty-kitty is shitty, here’s why.

1. Do something with the hypocrisy of being, more or less, princess of Menagerie, a world power albeit a minor one, and joining a band of terrorists that do more harm than good for the people they claim to represent. It’s like a trust-fund baby joining some charity organization in Africa for a few weeks, doing jack-shit to help, joining some jihadists, and then acting like she’s Mahatma Gandhi.

2. Make her arc less about running away and fighting Adam, more about realizing that running is for assholes and try to find her team to at least apologize for cutting and running like she did. Doing that and stopping Adam are not mutually exclusive. The friend thing should be the priority. As it stands she is almost rewarded for abandoning her team just to focus on her own problems.

3. Make her arc involve going from ‘There’s no such thing as pure evil’ to ‘Okay maybe some people are just too evil to work with’. Some people are too far gone and, despite still having good traits, will only ever continue to do evil things and don’t deserve the benefit of the doubt. Not everyone has some sort of good motive beneath the surface and, even then, does that matter when the only action they do is objectively evil? Still, y’know, save who you can, like Ilia.

4. Have Belladonna not actually be her last name. If she’s the daughter of a the chief of Menagerie, the closest thing the faunus have to a unified racial leader, then how the unholy shit does nobody recognize her name? She is, again, princess of Menagerie, yet nobody recognizes the name in a grander context. Have ‘Belladonna’ be a cover name so she can hide her identity better so that she’s using what should be a very recognizable real name in a tournament that is broadcasted worldwide. Her real family name could be “Nightshade” or some shit like that.

5. If she’s supposed to be ‘The quiet one’ maybe actually have her be quiet and not make big speeches every season or have loud arguments with her team. Just a fucking thought. If she’s still supposed to do that, then make her ‘the opinionated one’ or ‘the kind of mean one’ or even ‘the one who doesn’t shut up’. Blake, as seen, or rather heard, is not the quiet one.

6. Have her actually fucking interact with Ruby. Maybe they have a two-person book club. Maybe Blake teaches Ruby to meditate or something. Anything, anything at all would be fine, anything more than nothing at all. Blake’s whole interaction with the team shouldn’t just be through Yang and cursory scenes with Weiss.

Overt changes to (and complaints about) Weiss Schnee- You can’t solve racism with like two scenes.

1. Make the racism thing a much more gradual decay rather than more or less disappearing after a single conversation. Hell, make jokes about it, ‘oh, no, one of my best friends is a faunus,’ stuff. It’s hard to unlearn an upbringing of hate, but she’s trying type stuff.

2. Involve her at least a little with the White Fang plot. It only makes sense that the heiress of the company that still more or less has slave labor is at least semi-involved with the plotline involving terrorists that want that company destroyed. Make her subject to assassination attempts at a young age, or even have her been kidnaped at a young age and held hostage, getting her scar in the process.

3. As evident by some of the intros, her rival was supposed to be Emerald. This could be serviceable, at the very least. The street rat pickpocket that had to learn life lessons the hard way and was taken in by the baddies VS. the rich heiress born with a silver spoon but raised by a dickhead. There’s potential there and it is a crime that it is not explored in the slightest. Even Yang and Mercury had a minor fight.

4. Like Yang, make her semblance consistent. Is it supposed to be summoning or physics altering magic symbols? These are two completely different powers, it’s not like super speed also giving super reflexes or whatever. Just make it one or the other, don’t bullshit us on these things. Or, hell, make it a second semblance she gets during the course of story.

5. Emphasize her loneliness. Make the main onus of her personal arc be about how she goes from this prickly, spoiled, opinionated, brat to a warm and caring friend who only wants the best for everyone. Yes, this might be the main intention in canon, but I feel it could have used a little more refining.

Overt changes to (and complaints about) Cinder Fall- If she’s supposed to be Ruby’s chief rival and foil then she needs a lot of work to even be close. She shouldn’t be nothing but the rival, but at that same time she should have that be a considerable part of her characterization and role in the series. I feel the best way to do it is to have their similarities highlight their differences in both character and design. Basically, make her the Vergil to Ruby’s Dante.

1. Make her Ruby’s age. Being the same age as Ruby while initially outclassing her, and even veteran hunters, provides risk and contrast between the two. Throw in an evil sadistic streak compared to Ruby’s happy-go-lucky personality to further the contrast and you’ve got a good little yin-yang thing for them. It also shows just how bad someone can turn out if raised to be a killing machine.

2. Keep her using the bow/twin swords as a comparably simple weapon in contrast to Ruby’s, even in universe, overcomplicated Scythe/Sniper rifle. Both weapons are long range marksmen’s weapons as well as vicious close combat weapons but are still very different in essence. Also make sure she keeps the red with black and gold color scheme is contrast with Ruby’s Black with red and silver. Even minor visual cues can work to the rival schema.

3. Make her one of the people who have two semblances. Pyromancy (pyrokinesis? Fire bending, she has fire bending) and dilated perception (bullet time) so that Ruby’s super speed and the dilated perception cancel each other out, adding a little extra tension to the fights now that both parties’ signature abilities are moot points against each other.

4. Make her competent. She kills Ozpin and Pyrrha and then she either fails or draws every fucking fight she has afterwards baring nameless jobbers here and there. Even before that, she needed help to take down Amber and even manages to fuck that up. The more failures she has and the less intimidating she is. Too much of that and she’s just a jobber that makes you wonder why she was ever seen as intimidating in the first place. When that happens then Ruby beating her is just the status quo and not a triumph of any sort.

5. Make her Ruby’s long lost fraternal twin sister. Incredibly cliché, I admit, but siblings make the best rivals, especially twins. Once again, it’s all about adding the similarities and the contrasts. In this case it creates the ‘there but for the grace of god go I’ idea with the two of them. Ruby seeing it as how evil she could have turned out and Cinder seeing it as how weak she could have been (Eventually becoming how good she could have had it because I’m a sucker for redemption arcs) Who said that?

Overt changes to (and complaints about) Team JNPR- JNPR was fine-ish but the over focus on Jaune and the underutilization of Ren + Nora early on are both issues. B-team should not get jack shit before the A-team gets the lions share.

1. Downplay Jaune’s screen time. I doubt this is a particularly controversial statement. Jaune is not the titular character. This is (technically) a shoujo not a shounen. It’s supposed to be about the girls more than the guys. It kind of undercuts that idea when the guy (the side guy at that) gets the lion’s share of characterization, attention, and growth before the girl (the main girl) does.

2. Make Ren and Nora actual characters earlier on. Comic relief is all well and good, but either extend that to the whole team or make these two characters more than just comic relief in the early parts of the story. Make them, y’know, actual characters. They ain’t gotta be all that important, but they do have to be actual characters.

3. Make Pyrrha’s deathflags less blindingly obvious. We all knew Pyrrha was going to get clipped. The self-sacrificing type, all the musical and visual cues throughout, being based on Achilles, and ‘oh she just confessed to the boy she likes’. Homegirl was waving deathflags like an insecure redneck with the confederate flag. When you foreshadow obvious things that much it’s not a surprise to the audience when it happens and the reaction of the in universe characters seems overdone. If it’s not supposed to be a surprise then, whatever, but that’s clearly not the case if you’re going for just shock value. It’s fine for a character to die, but for the love of Jaysus you got to do something with it more than ‘this character’s sole purpose is to die for the angst and to up the stakes’. Pyrrha was just a plot jobber.

4. Make them a little more independent in the overall plot. Give them their own full sub-plots, have them go on their own little adventures, have them do things completely separate from RWBY that has plot relevance but not overtaking the main story in grandeur or importance. B-team gets B-plots and are cool in it of themselves.

Overt changes to (and complaints about) Qrow Branwen- Take or leave this, I just felt the need to include this because reasons.

1. Just make him Dante from Devil May Cry. Just make his personality the same as Dante from Devil May Cry. Make him stylish and cool but low-key a massive dork. He’s too cool to drink or smoke or anything harsher than PG-13. This series could use a guy like that, says I.

2. Make his semblance something that makes sense and isn’t just an angst generator. How do you even quantify ‘bad luck aura’ as a power? Make it short range teleportation as a connection to Raven’s portals. Make it so that he can direct the bad luck at will. Do SOMETHING with it that isn’t just an excuse for mostly pointless character angst.

3. This technically also counts as a Raven change but whatever. Make the Branwen family old nobility and not a loser bandit tribe from nowhere. Or at least make it so they used to rich or something. They come from a family that had a good amount of cash and even a chateau in Mistral. After the money dried up and the chateau ransacked by grimm, the Branwen twins had differing opinions on how to proceed. Qrow fully integrated into the hunter thing while Raven ran away and became a bandit, using it as further excuse to skedaddle on Tai and a recently born Yang.

#RWBY #RWDE #I guess #Ruby Rose #Weiss Schnee #Blake Belladonna #Yang Xiao Long #Ozpin #Cinder Fall #Tagging this as much as I please #Team JNPR #Jaune Arc #Rewrite #Hate if you wish #How I would do...#Pyrrha Nikos

13 notes · View notes

llewey-watts · 4 years ago

Text

Work in progress post:

Detective Watts Best Quotes

Concocting A Killer

Watts: “Ah, so you’re the one who botched it.” Murdoch: “Excuse me?”

Watts: “Well, that’s why I’m here, isn’t it?”

Brackenreid: “Listen, Detective Murdoch did nothing wrong. The Crown is just worried that Shanley may claim prejudice if the same detective reinvestigates the case.”

Watts: “Right, right, right. You’re just biased. The coroner’s the one who botched it. Coroners. Odd lot. Far from reliable to say the least. Not to mention the smell.”

Murdoch: “Our coroner has a flawless record. And she also happens to be my wife.”

Watts: “Good God, man. You’re married to the city coroner?”

Murdoch: “Yes.”

Watts: “Oof. Is she pretty? Ah, she’d have to be pretty. I don’t know how else you could tolerate being married to a colleague.”

“The streets of this fine city are my office.”

Crabtree: “Should I read these files?”

Watts: “Absolutely not. The less you know, the more pure you remain. From purity emerges truth. From truth emerges justice. Knowing nothing allows one to see everything.”

“Our mind is where we live our lives. The only home one needs is the human skull.”

Watts: “Oh, no. You interviewed a witness?”

Murdoch: “Oh, no. She called on me.”

Watts: “Your involvement was to cease entirely. Instead, it appears you are continuing to seek a conviction. And based on what? A visual test done 12 years ago by a neophyte coroner?”

Murdoch: “Dr. Ogden is my wife.”

Watts: “Which makes it all the more likely you’re blind to her mistakes. No, it appears this dinner was a poor idea. Good night Detective.”

Watts: “The detective was wrong.”

Ogden: “About what?”

Watts: “You’re not pretty.”

Ogden: “Excuse me?”

Watts: “Look at you. Classic, Romanesque bone structure, excellent physiognomic symmetry. You’re not pretty. You’re beautiful.”

Ogden: “Well, I suppose I’m flattered.”

Watts: “Why? It’s merely an objective assessment. But that necktie **shakes his head**.

“Honestly, Inspector, how does anyone work with this man? He is some kind of renegade to whom rules are a foreign concept.”

“Let’s suppose for a moment that Mr. Shanley is guilty of this current murder. Now, does that make him more or less likely to be guilty of the first? Are you the same man today you were yesterday? Your hair is not the same. You cut and discarded it. Same with your fingernails. Over time, our entire body falls away and is reconstituted. How, then, can you be the same? Oh, but our thinking changes with maturity, with experience. In truth, the continuity of personhood may be nothing more than a delusion. In fact, it makes me question our whole profession..."

“We need to get out of doors detective. The truth is in the air. We must **deep breath** breathe it in.”

“We both know you didn’t do it. — We have to blame someone. The function of the police is to attribute blame on behalf of the community, but the community doesn’t particularly care if we blame the right person. — Why not? Man has been using scapegoats since Leviticus. The sims were placed upon the goat, the goat was banished to the desert, but mo one cared that the goat was innocent.”

“The ignorami at Station One have done it again. I clearly told them to release the man who looks like Karl Marx. They’ve let out some fellow who’s as clean-shaven as bloody Kierkegaard.”

Hades Hath No Fury

“How could I have been so unaware? My sister was in distress, and I suspected nothing. Age is no excuse for inattention. -but, sir, you found her. Your sister’s alive.- Yes. So I’m at peace.”

“Yes. Well life is but a cruel sport for whatever maker you are forced to believe in. -Detective Watts I understand...- Would your sister forsake you for a house of women who have eschewed the world in which you live?-my sister was a nun.-“

“Truth is absolute, unyielding and eternal, Jackson. It is our one constant in a turbulent universe.”

“Your face is *pause* symmetrical, but that hat *shakes his head*”

Merlot Mysteries

Watts: “Wine is proof that God loves us and wants to see us happy.”

Murdoch: “I highly doubt that”

Watts: “Oh, you reject the words of Benjamin Franklin?”

Murdoch: “Even a clever man is capable of a bad idea. no. wine, like any alcohol, is a depressant. It hinders the mind.”

Watts: “Ah, but ‘in wine there is truth.’ -Pliny the Elder.”

Murdoch: “Writers and Philosophers are seldom the best of judges. Especially when it comes to alcohol.

Watts: “Well, no one less than Louis Pasteur called wine, ‘the most helpful and most hygienic of beverages.’ Is it that you don’t enjoy the taste?”

Murdoch: “Ah.”

“Oh. Wait right there. I’m going to show you how wrong you are.”

“‘Wine can of their wits the wise beguile, make the sage frolic, and a serious smile.’”

“In the words of Diogenes, ‘What I like to drink most is wine that belongs to others.’”

Murdoch: “Spectroscopic analysis.”

Watts: “Ah, yes. Not reliable in my experience. How’s it meant to help us?”

Murdoch: “By comparing the wine in question to the light profile of other varying ages, we’ll be able to discern precisely how old it is.”

Ogden: “The older the wine, presumably, the light the color, thanks to the blanching effect of sunlight.”

Watts: “Mm, but it was kept in a cellar. Depending on conditions, two bottles of the same provenance could be wildly different. There’s absolutely to way to determine —“

Murdoch: “Thank you, Detective. Please.”

Watts: “All right.”

Ogden: “Ready?”

Murdoch: “Yes.”

Ogden: “It’s 4.3.”

**Watts waiting + messing around.**

Ogden: “It’s 5.2. 8.5.”

Watts: “Well?”

Murdoch: “[Sighs] They are all different.”

Watts: “Really?”

Murdoch: “Every grape, every year, every bottle.”

Watts: “Hm, you don’t say.”

Murdoch: “It compares to an 1880 Merlot...a 1902 Tempranillo...and...several others.”

Ogden: “Well, I suppose you told us so, Detective.”

Murdoch: “All right. Call in your expert.”

Watts: “Uh, not my expert. My sommelier.”

The Talking Dead

“No one intends to get murder **scratches his beard** and yet.”

Crabtree: “Sir, are you not concerned that you yourself are marked for death?”

Watts: “Oh, I don’y like it, but the truth is death could come to any one of us any day.”

Crabtree: “Still, no need to hurry it along.”

Watts: “Well, very little of life is under our control. Very little death as well.”

Crabtree: “Watts, have you ever been to Paris?”

Watts: “Ah yes, The City of Light.”

Crabtree: “I thought that was Buffalo?”

Watts: “No, I believe Paris came up with it first. Why do you ask?”

Crabtree: “Nina’s involved with a show that’s preforming there. She wants me to go.”

Watts: “Forever?”

Crabtree: “No, no, just a short while.”

Watts: “Well, the world is only an oyster if you choose to open it.”

Crabtree: “So go to Paris today, for tomorrow I might die?”

Watts: “Precisely.”

Crabtree: “What about you? What would you do with your last day?”

Watts: “Just this. Talk to a friend.”

Crabtree: “Who? Oh me?”

Watts: “And solve a crime.This is what were looking for.”

Crabtree: “Brilliant.”

Watts: “The City of Love with a beautiful woman. You’d be a fool to say no.”

Crabtree: “Thought you said it was the City of Light.”

Watts: “Light. Love. Are they not one and the same?”

Crabtree: “I prefer to love with the lights off, sir. I fear I’m bashful.”

Crabtree à la Carte

“A shame. It looks terrific. I think I’ll go out for lunch. Anyone care to join me? —- This disappoints me. But I soldier on.”

“I’ll work with her. People are not to be defined merely by their words, thoughts, and actions.”

“KRRRKRRRKRRRSHING SHING SHING SHING SHING! a moleta.”

“[speaking Italian] RESPONDA TO ME!”

That man’s look tho.

Watts: “It may once again be safe, but I’m not sure I’ll ever regard meat with the same enthusiasm again.”

Cherry: “Perhaps you should stick to freshly butchered cuts.”

Watts: “I thought the same. Then I read up on the abattoir conditions in the stockyards.”

Cherry: “The Shelleys subscribed to a Pythagorean diet. Da Vinci too.”

Watts: “Pythagorean? You mean vegetarian?”

Cherry: “I do. ‘My body,’ said da Vinci, ‘will not be a tomb to other creatures.’”

Watts: “Yes. Yes, it’s the only way to live, isn’t it? Join me, Miss Cherry. From this day forward, we shall follow the ranks of all moral men in our strict adherence to vegetarianism.”

Cherry: “Uh, I don’t think so. What, are we cows?”

Murdoch Schmurdoch

“Are you being facetious?”

“**To Constable John Brackenreid** Let me guess, you invited a lady to accompany you on an outing and she declined. — I would counsel you to persevere. Ask again. As Lord Nelson wrote, ‘the boldest measures are the safest,’ although I suppose a woman is quite unlike a Danish Fleet. — Yes. Tread softly, Young Brackenreid. Let her know that if her inclination changes, your offer still stands.”

Game of Kings

Ogden: “I see. Well, I don’t much fancy being stared at for the next five months.”

Murdoch: “Julia...”

Ogden: “Inspector, I couldn’t help but notice that you and all of the men were staring at the us both. Is there something you’d like to ask?”

Brackenreid: “Uh, no.”

Ogden: “Constable Crabtree?”

Crabtree: “What? [Chuckles]”

Ogden: “Higgins?”

Higgins: “No, ma’am.”

Ogden: “What about you, Detective Watts? You seem like a curious fellow.”

Watts: “Well, there is one thing.”

Murdoch: “What is that?”

Watts: “When’s the baby coming?”

Crabtree: “Oh!”

Brackenreid: “Bloody hell, Watts! They wanted to keep it a secret.”

Watts: “How could they do that when everyone clearly knows what’s going on here?”

Free Falling

Watts: “One hopes this won’t put too much of a strain on their relationship.”

Crabtree: “How so?”

Watts: “In the face of great loss, emotions can be misdirected. Feelings amplified. I knew a young couple who experienced a similar issue. They never recovered.”

Watts: “The secret to dealing with gruesome remains is to replace natural instinct with logic.”

Constable Brackenreid: “Okay. How?”

Watts: “Consider an ant. Imagine you trod upon one, crushing it, and leaving it’s body mangled beyond recognition. Now, does this disturb you?”

Constable Brackenreid: “Not really.”

Watts: “Exactly. So we simply apply the transitive law. If we are not disturbed by an ant, there is no reason to be disturbed by a beetle. If not by a beetle, then not by a caterpillar. Nor a butterfly, nor a sparrow, nor a fish, nor a rabbit, not a dog...nor a human. What we have here, then, is no more disturbing than the squashed remains of an ant.”

Hart: “What’s this?”

Watts: “A reminder of the inhumanity of man, Miss Hart.”

Hart: “How poetic.”

Watts: “Constable? It seems something’s troubling you.”

Crabtree: “How so?”

Watts: “There’s an expression on your face that suggests you have a thought in your head.”

Crabtree: “Do you remember I asked you about visiting Paris?”

Watts: “No.”

Crabtree: “And then I was away for some time?”

Watts: “No.”

Crabtree: “No. Well, in any case, I did. I went to Paris with Nina.”

Watts: “Mm.”

Crabtree: “And she wants to go again, but for good.”

Watts: “So you’re considering leaving us all behind?”

Crabtree: “I don’t want to. My whole life is here. But I could imagine a life there. I don’t know. If I...If I don’t go, I lose Nina. If I do, I lose everything else that’s dear to me.”

Watts: “One loss doesn’t outweigh the other?”

Crabtree: “The enormity of either seems too great to contemplate.”

Watts: “Oof. Well...I can’t give you any advice. But I can tell you what I know. I know that we spend our whole lives holding on to what we have. We fear loss as much as death itself. But without loss, there is no change. Without change, there is no? Life.”

Crabtree: “Detective. You realize there’s nothing written on the blackboard, right?”

Watts: “Uh, yes, but it provides a frame of reference.”

Crabtree: “Ah.”

Brothers Keepers

“Of course I’m not certain. Memories are fragmentary impressions at best. The mind moves like a flock of starlings. It’s hard to pin down a thought, let alone a memory.”

“Did I have reason? Nigel Baker tortured and killed a man I...A man who was in every way my brother. Someone who deserved my protection. I had ample reason to kill Nigel Baker. But as I have already made clear, I didn’t recognize him. So did I kill him with intention? No. Am I sorry he’s dead? No, I’m not. To be honest, even if given the chance to exact my revenge, I’m not sure I’m capable of it. Obviously, my philosophy rejects that very idea. No one asks to be the way they are, not even boys like Nigel Baker.”

In reference to justice being found:

Watts: “Where is that to be found? I’ve been asking myself that. To be honest, I’m unable to think of much else.

Murdoch: “You seek justice.”

Watts: “I crave it. If I could, I would demand it. I want the man who killed my brothers to feel their pain. To feel my grief at what he did to them. But he’s dead. At the hand of his father. Did he even know why? And now the father will likely hang. Is that justice?

Brackenreid: “Of a sort, I suppose.”

Watts: “Then why don’t I feel better?”

Annabella Cinderella

Constable Brackenreid: “Do you think I’ll get a chance to meet him?”

Crabtree: “Who? The lawyer? What do you want to meet him for?”

Constable Brackenreid: “I-I followed the trial. I felt sorry for her.”

Crabtree: “John, she killed her mother with an ax.”

Constable Brackenreid: “Harriet Rawlins wasn’t her mother. Annabella was a home child.”

Crabtree: “So that makes it alright?”

Constable Brackenreid: “She was beaten and tortured. Her home sister admitted as much.”

Crabtree: “The home sister that Annabella then tried to murder?”

Constable Brackenreid: “Rosemary Rawlins was abusive as well.”

Watts: “That’s what made it such a brilliant defense. The victim was painted as a villain, the villain painted as a victim. Annabella Cinderella.”

Crabtree: “So you’re a fan of the lawyer as well?”

Constable Brackenreid: “He took her case for free.”

Watts: “Oh, nobody’s motives are purely altruistic. It’s all in the service of his political aspirations. He running for mayor, don’t you know?”

Crabtree: “Thank you very much, Detective Watts, for everything. You as well, Mr. Daniels.”

Constable Brackenreid: “And I’m terribly sorry about all of this.”

Watts: “Of course you’re sorry. It doesn’t change anything, so why waste energy in saying it?”

Constable Brackenreid: “Does Detective Murdoch know?”

Watts: “No, he doesn’t. And that’s not the question you should be asking right now.”

Constable Brackenreid: “Sorry, I...”

Watts: “Nope.”

Constable Brackenreid: “W-What is?”

Lawyer: “How do we find her?”

Watts: “Ah. On the train over, I went through the file from the Crown prosecutor. There’s one more person we should protect.”

Lawyer: “Who’s that?”

Watts: “The doctor who filed the death certificate and attended the case.”

Lawyer: “Dr. Beattie was never called to testify.”

Watts: “He provided evidence that helped convict her.”

Lawyer: “Good point. Let’s go.”

Watts: “No. You stay. **waves gun in the air** This is police business. All right.”

Constable Brackenreid: “I’m not saying she’s innocent. I just pointed out that there are other people who may have wanted to kill her mother.”

Watts: “Which, if they did, would ipso facto make her innocent.”

Crabtree: “Did she say she was innocent?”

Constable Brackenreid: “She did, yes.”

Watts: “‘Twas ever thus.”

Constable Brackenreid: **opens the door** “Oh, my God.”

Watts: “Still think she’s so innocent?”

Constable Brackenreid: “This is my fault.”

Crabtree: “It’s jot your fault, John.”

Watts: “Losing the prisoner was your fault. This is merely a consequence. One cannot be accountable for every consequence, because the consequences of every action are infinite.”

Constable Brackenreid: “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

Watts: “Your feelings are irrelevant. It’s simply the truth of it.”

Crabtree: “It does confirm our fears. The girl’s out for bloody revenge.”

#llewellyn watts #murdoch mysteries #jack walker #george crabtree appreciation society #detective watts #quotes

46 notes · View notes

dangan-meme-palace · 4 years ago

Note

I realy like your analysis on the kaito-maki-shuichi relationship. So i was wondering who in your opinion has the best relationship dynamic within the cast?

Aaaa thanks! I'm more or less pleased with how it came out :D probably could be shorter though haha

-tech

As for the best dynamic... hmm.

Judging based on what I mentioned in the previous post about strengths being highlighted and weaknesses being dealt with in one way or another and believable emotional bonds that help each other, I'd have to say...

Kokichi and Gonta

For sure, it's gotta be them.

Narratively:

They are canonly a dynamic duo, working together and using their different strengths to help one another in areas the other is lacking in. It feels like they can both truly shine when they cooperate, and that's exactly how it should be.

It's very nice to see them work together because they both bring something different to the table that truly helps the other, and not always in ways you would expect at first glance. The brain and brawn thing is expected, but the extent to which they compliment each other is unparalleled by any other dynamic in the game.

Kokichi -> Gonta

Admittedly, Kokichi does less for Gonta narratively than Gonta does for Kokichi, but to be fair I would expect someone like Kokichi to be the one others help shine, not the other way around. Kokichi, as the Ultimate Leader, is more like the protagonist while Gonta is the supporting character.

For the most part though, Kokichi's narrative role relating to Gonta is to show us that Gonta isn't the happy-go-lucky himbo the rest of the cast thinks he is, allowing us to see that Gonta has depth, specifically that Gonta's morals are definitely different than what one would normally expect from someone with his personality.

The rest is something that relates more to their emotional bond, but for now I'll just say that Kokichi allows us to see Gonta's insecurities, flaws, and dedication to his friends (both the cast and Kokichi) and this improves Gonta's character immensely.

Gonta -> Kokichi

Gonta, as a character, shows us just how human Kokichi can be, especially during chapter 4 but also in little moments throughout the game as well. Whether it be lashing out at the others, being soft (like, so, so soft) with Gonta, his cooperation skills, or the depths of his sadness and loyalty, Gonta drags these reactions out of Kokichi one by one like it's his job, which it is! Narratively, Gonta's job is to allow us to see glimpses of what goes on in Kokichi's heart, something incredibly rare and precious to me.

Gonta also really allows Kokichi's ability to strategize and lead people to shine. Like, really shine. Chapter 4 was the best showcase of Kokichi's talent of leading people, but that's because he had Gonta following him. Any captain needs a crew and any Ultimate Leader needs helpful and supportive followers that believe in him. This goes alongside Kokichi's major weakness throughout the game.

Kokichi's biggest weakness is that he's placed himself into an antagonistic position. Seems smart, until you realize that hes the Ultimate Leader and he just alienated himself from literally everyone, losing any potential bonds/followers he could have made. He shot himself in the foot by forsaking some leadership options when he's the Ultimate Leader. It's the thing he's best at, but he put limits on himself anyway to protect everyone from Monokuma's attempts to break them apart.

He can still get the group to do what he wants, but it takes a considerable amount of effort on his behalf in order to do so. Gonta makes up for that by being the follower that Kokichi desperately needs. Gonta believes in Kokichi enough to go along with both of his plans, to the extent that he still goes along with them even they involve kidnapping and killing the other characters.

There's also the fact that Gonta's dedication to the others might've helped Kokichi decide to keep helping everyone, but I'll get more into that in a bit.

Emotionally:

This dynamic also makes a lot of sense from an emotional perspective. You can actually see why these two outcast characters would want to come together and hang out with each other, and why they view the other so positively: they are each other's ideals.

Kokichi -> Gonta

When Gonta needed a friend and someone to take him seriously/not dismiss him, Kokichi was there to hang out with him, seriously listen to him, and explain things to him that he didn't get the first time. Where the other kids were scared of him due to his size and talent, Kokichi had the confidence to ignore Gonta's natural intimidation and the kindness to hang out with Gonta, despite being so scared of bugs he literally foams at the mouth when they touch him.

Kokichi still regarded Gonta as a friend after that incident though, when most people (justifiably) would've held a grudge and cut him off. Gonta has some very obvious rage issues and reacts pretty impulsively to the things that upset him, but Kokichi is very patient with others, and almost forgiving to a fault at times, so he's willing to stick with Gonta and try and work through their problems instead of abandoning him. This would no doubt be something that Gonta desperately wanted from a friend, seeing as he's very self conscious about appearing as scary.

He loyally sticks by Gonta and readily offers advice, support, explanations, patience, etc... I mean the list goes on. I really do think that his relationship with Gonta is a showcase of how Kokichi would act around someone he really likes, like I'm talking about this being the basis for how I think Kokichi would act around DICE levels of emotional intimacy. I think this is Kokichi at his best, friendship wise. Especially because even during events that take place outside of the main story we never see Kokichi act this way around anyone else, even with the people I would also consider to be his friends (mainly Miu, but also sorta with Kiibo as well.)

They didn't know each other for long, but if you really look at it, it's plain to see that Kokichi really valued Gonta as a friend. I mean, I dont think someone who yells about wanting to live during his FTEs with Kaede would willingly offer to give his life for (no discernable goal) for just anyone y'know? Plus, throughout the game, he uses some of his friendliest and softest sprites during his conversations with Gonta. Even visually you can see their bond.

It's a very subtle relationship when compared to some of the more overt pairs throughout the game (aside from some key moments in chapter 4) but it's there, and honestly I can think of very few characters that share this close of a bond in the whole series game.

They actually kinda seem similar to Aoi and Sakura in a way, but somehow they compliment each other more... damn.

Gonta -> Kokichi

Likewise, Gonta also became Kokichi's friend and didn't seem to mind the lying at all, something that means a lot to Kokichi based on his Harmonious Heart Events, because it means that Gonta doesn't want to be friends with someone different, he wants Kokichi, lies and all. This is Kokichi's #1 wish.

I think that meant more to Kokichi than anything else, because this is his way of life. He leads with lies, he plays with lies, and he protects himself with lies too. He wants to keep lying and Gonta not being bothered by that is literally the exact thing that Kokichi yearns for in the best ending for his HHE.

Gonta also caught on to the times that Kokichi was extending olive branches and accepted him. It's subtle, but Kokichi did try and befriend people as long as he could do it without having to change himself and Gonta was one of the people that responded to that positively. Gonta readily befriended Kokichi, probably understanding first-hand what it's like to be an outcast because of misunderstandings and personality traits.

This is why Gonta's death (especially since Kokichi felt like he was fully responsible for it, despite what Gonta said) was so traumatic for Kokichi and why he reacts so negatively to it, he lost someone he never thought he would ever meet in the first place. More than a few of his dialogue lines have him imply that he's used to being hated for how he chooses to live his life and that he expects this kind of treatment from people, so finally finding someone who won't hate him for that and then losing that friend so quickly with his own plan had to have hurt immensely.

Going off that, Gonta is the one to convince Kokichi to remain friends with everyone and try his best for them despite how they treat him, and he also desperately begs for the others to do the same thing for Kokichi. He knew he was leaving Kokichi alone, and he wanted to try and protect him.

While the other members of the cast don't seem to remember this or care much about it after the whole "I'm the mastermind" bit, we do see Kokichi trying to protect the group after chapter 4 by trying getting rid of the motive to leave (therefore "ending" the killing game by making sure no one plays it) and by trying to remove Kaito, who has shown himself to be a harmful influence.

I think Gonta's words really got through to Kokichi, and while it did unfortunately lead to Kokichi dying for everyone's sake, Kokichi might not have tried to save everyone if it hadn't been for Gonta's last wishes. Why would Kokichi want to help people that actively hate him and bully him if not for the pleading of his greatest friend in the game telling him to keep protecting them.

In a sense, Kokichi during chapter 5 fulfills Gonta's original wish to be useful and protect everyone even at the cost of himself, with Kokichi doing exactly that.

Interested?

If you asked me for moments that I feel showcase their bond nicely so you can get a feel of it for yourself, I'd point you towards the dialogue they share during the 4th trial investigation and their meeting before the Insect Meet and Greet was very nice (you'll have to read between the lines for the former though!) If you want to see what I'm talking about, I would definitely recommend rewatching those. The moments prior to Gonta's execution are also always a good look at how much they meant to each other.

If you're really interested, I'd also recommend watching through their bonus content (LHEs, FTEs, HHEs, etc) and thinking about how their desires are reflected in each other, it's interesting to think about at the very least.

TL;DR?

Overall, they have an amazing, yet unsung, dynamic between the two of them and I would like to see more people recognize it. It's very brief and doesn't have a lot of story time, but it feels more meaningful than any of the "main" dynamics in the game with 10x the screentime. It has substance to it. It's satisfying and gratifying to watch.

It also makes fucking sense, unlike a particular dynamic that takes up a majority of the fucking story for nOTHING–

#asks #kokitea #my thoughts #ive had 3 hours of sleep so i cant proof read well. but i hope this is good enough.#the gist should at least be apparent #also take a shot everytime i say Ultimate Leader lmao #gonta temp tag

51 notes · View notes

tracynotabi · 3 years ago

Text

Riptide Day 2 / Undertow

September 11, 2021

D-Day.

Kevin, Ivan, Joey, and I were getting a ride from Spencer, who was also taking Narq to the venue, while Robert and Parker got a ride from someone else. Well, at least we didn’t have to walk to the venue. I didn’t pack sunscreen.

At 9am, about half an hour we were supposed to leave, Kevin gets a stomachache.

Me: He just needs to poop. Spencer: The classic.

We end up going to the lobby to wait for Spencer in Narq, which was fine considering we actually didn’t want Spencer, our ride, waiting for us.

Spencer: Okay, Narq’s just using the bathroom rq lol Me: Is he also having tummy problems Spencer: Nah just bein stoner and forgetting to do stuff lol Me: The classic

We go get Chick-fil-A and I’m sitting underneath the dashboard again by Kevin’s feet. I think the employees were very bewildered, as the woman on the other side of the window did a double take. I would, too, if I saw a smaller-than-average person just hiding underneath the dashboard sipping on a cup of Coke.

Some time after I get to the venue during doubles, I end up talking to Jimmy (j u m), when Kevin comes rushing over to me, a panicked look on his face.

Forgot to mention, but Kevin actually couldn’t get all of his poop out before coming to the venue and now it is back with a vengeance.

He tells me that he’s unable to go to any restroom because there were three stalls in the men’s restroom: two were occupied and one was clogged with poop.

He had tried flushing the poop one but it only made it worse. It just clogged more and the water level rose. If he had sat down and insisted on finishing, his balls would be touching the water and that’s a no-no.

He tried asking the front desk for other restrooms, but he was informed it was the only one. He was desperate and you could just see it in his eyes that he was about to break.

Me, using the big, wrinkly brain that I had, told him to use the women’s restroom. He froze, not even realizing that that was an option.

Now before anyone complains, hear me out.

I would rather be in a restroom with a male in the stall next to me, than exit the restroom and see someone standing outside the men’s restroom trying to wait for a stall with a shit stain in his pants. Excuse the vulgarity, but it’s true.

If you’re ever at one of my tournaments and you need to go and no male restroom is unoccupied, for the love of god, please fucking use the women’s restroom. I do not need this mess on my hands and you best believe I’m shoving myself in the men’s restroom if I gotta fucking go expel unicorns and rainbows.

I go to the restroom with Kevin and stand awkardly on my phone to keep watch, because he didn’t want any of the staff members actually seeing him and risk himself getting kicked out of the venue.

That would’ve been extremely unfortunate.

Luckily, nobody else needed to go use the restroom while Kevin was in there and he was able to safely compete his duty (lol).

If anyone is upset at my suggestion, I’m sorry, but I wasn’t about to not provide such a simple solution for Kevin’s emergency.

Anyway, the tournament start shortly after that.

First match I pay attention to is Kevin vs. Wombat. In my head, I think it’s pools so I shouldn’t worry too much. I try to watch Kevin’s sets, but it makes me physically ill sometimes because my anxiety is wracked up like crazy and I just want to throw up. Many have witnessed me walking away and trying to distract myself multiple times at multiple different tournaments.

It’s like that gory horror movie that you can’t keep looking away from.

Besides knowing that I get sick, I figured it would be fine since I actually enjoy trying to support my boyfriend and watch him come out of pools winners’ side. Not meaning any disrespect by Wombat, by the way. He’s great. Just realistic. It’s like how I expect Kevin to lose to Bob.

Kevin loses Game 1.

Ooh my tummy’s doing barrel rolls like the way Twisty did with that pullout bed. I look away but I’m just so distracted by the crowd noises.

I totally get it, though. Obviously, it’s sick that Wombat’s holding his own against Kevin, who is seed 3 of the tournament. I’d be excited, too, if my friend was making an upset on someone else. But Kevin’s my boyfriend, so obviously, I want him to win.

Kevin barely wins Game 2 and I’m like ooooh boy. My tummy’s going to town and I think I gag a little by how sick I feel. Gotta focus on getting Joey his next match. *deep breaths*

When heartswaptv airs the whole tournament, definitely check out the set. It was really good (as far as I can hear, I couldn’t bring myself to watch the rest of it).

Kevin comes over to me after he’s out of pools and I scold him for making me worried.

AND YOU NOW WHAT HE SAYS?

Kevin: Babe, it’s fine - I almost lost to Zeddy at Redacted City and I got 2nd. I’ll be fine. Me: T____T *incoherent whining noises*

Does Kevin thinks he’s fucking cute for saying that or something? I was not amused.

Since I didn’t have to volunteer TO the entirety of the tournament, I bounced around mingling with other people.

At one point, I get a message from Suvir in our group chat about how he, Sosa, and Narq were planning on coming to visit NorCal. Of course, since Narq was already here, I decided to just go up to him and ask.

Me: So I heard you’re coming to NorCal? Narq: I am? Me: That’s what Suvir said. *shows phone* Narq: I guess I’m going to NorCal!

Suvir: Narq doesn’t actually know. Sosa just said he’d take him with him and said Narq would agree to go because he’s Narq. Me: Oh that makes sense why he had no idea what I was talking about.

It wasn’t until around top bracket did things start to pick up. Not too many spoilers, because (1) no spoilers before they upload the vod and (2) I have a terrible memory when it comes to the matches.

I remember holding up Kevin’s phone to stream to our Discord because we had some non-PM player friends who wanted to see and I think Kevin wanted Thomas (ThundeRzReiGN) to give him some advice throughout the tournament. Not actually coach, but to critique his play.

As more and more top players fell, Kevin made it a goal to do his best not to fall into the landmine that was Losers’. So many heavy hitters were large threats to him: Techboy, Malachi, Akimi, Cloudburst...

Not to say that Winners’ side didn’t have their fair share of monsters: Peter, Parker, Kumatora, Twisty, Nogh, Lunchables...

Kevin’s first match in Top 32 was against Bongo, who people sleep on quite a lot. For those of you that don’t know him, he’s a Captain Falcon from NY who actually beat Kevin at Flex Zone 3 in 2018. Kevin had beaten him at Encore, but it wasn’t easy.

Not to mention Falcon is a pain the butt for Mario. Unfortunately, the match was not recorded (as far as I know), and it was a very exciting match from what I heard. I avoided watching it because based on how long it took, I knew it had to have been a Game 5. During that time, two matches have been finished on “stream.”

Kevin had said his match against Bongo was the toughest one he had - not to discredit his other opponents, of course - but according to him, it was the scariest and closest. Also the threat of being put into Losers so early would’ve made the climb to Top 8 a lot harder.

His overall goal was actually to make Top 8. Despite being a third seed and rank 5, what I’ve noticed about Kevin is that he does have doubts about himself quite often. He’s never complacent in his opponents and worries all the time about being upset and I don’t think anyone puts more pressure on him more than himself.

As I watched my friends progress through bracket, all I can think is there’s not much I can do. I don’t understand the game very much, despite my heavy involvement in the scene. In fact, more often than not, I believe I understand the game the least compared to everyone else.

A tangent from the actual tournament itself is coming, but I think I should address why I’m even in this community:

While everyone loves the game, I love the community behind it. I find it worth it to sit/stand in one location for hours at a time because it allows my friends to enjoy the game they love comfortably without worrying how the tournament is progressing. They can focus on their own growth and passion.

I think what I see is completely different. Like I said, I don’t really understand this game - I can’t differentiate uairs, bairs, d-smashes, etc. I compute it in my head, but can’t visualize it. I don’t recognize most combos - in fact, more often than not, I’m sitting there just staring at the screen kind of blankly. Sometimes, it does make me wonder if I really am part of this community because I don’t really understand the game.

I can’t say I particularly care too much about the game, but I understand how much of an impact it’s made on me and for that, I’m very thankful for this game because it’s led me to some great people.

Back to the actual event and less sap. lol. Is anybody still even reading?

For something put together in a mere two weeks, Trin and their team did an amazing job. Three recording set ups, graphics, a pot, a venue... props to them for gathering the scraps and making a whole out of it. And to think we almost didn’t go.

Madeline (Swanner) ended up coming and it was honestly so good to see her. We aren’t particularly close, but she’s someone I’ve come to care for and just want happiness for her.

Major spoiler, but I don’t think anybody who cares about PM/P+ doesn’t know Kevin won the tournament.

Everyone expected a pop-off, but Kevin just sat there, crying.

I don’t think there’s ever been anything that Kevin has been more passionate about. He loves this game; he loves this community. Never did it ever occur to him that he would win.

I wish I could say more, but honestly, him winning stunned me speechless. And if you didn’t know, the first thing he said after was that he had to call his mother.

His mom is one of his biggest supporters and I love her to death. She has such a huge heart and has never, ever frowned upon Kevin’s love for the game, whole-heartedly supporting it.

I hugged Maddy, because I can’t even imagine how heart-breaking it must be for her to see what could have been on the mainstage. I imagined how much it must’ve hurt her because she just loves the game and the community, but to see it constantly be torn down by Nintendo and her unable to do anything... Give Maddy a hug and thank her if you see her. She deserves the world.

We ended up walking home with PNW, Bob, Mar, Bongo, Cameron (LoyaL), Ivan, and a few others, honestly too dark to completely see and name. It was a very nice night.

We did, however, pass by the rundown house that definitely looked like if we were to talk in there, we’d be killed by the axe murderer that lived there.

Kevin also lagged behind a lot because his phone notifications were going off like crazy and I was worried he was going to just get lost in the darkness or get hit by a car. Stop looking at your phone when you cross the street, dammit.

We got back to our hotel room and ordered pizza - it was bad. God-fucking-dammit, Ohio, why do you suck so much? Kind of a shitty dinner to end the day on, but nothing else was open at 2am. FeelsBadMan.

#Super Smash Bros.#Project M #Project Plus #Nintendo #Riptide #Undertow #Fuck Nintendo

2 notes · View notes

wordsablaze · 4 years ago

Text

10~ the chance to see the light

tell me your problems (i’ll chase them away) Internal scars can be difficult to deal with but Eskel vows to heal any that Jaskier is weighed down by if it’s the last thing he does…

A/N: 2021 is lowkey already a mess so here some good vibes with these two dorks being almost the exact opposite !!

@random-nerd-3 @betaray-jones @w-s-kibela @cloudspeck @in-love-with-writing002 @screaming-flapjacks @havenoffandoms @lasaga666 @mayastormborn

previous chapter

The market is loud.

So incredibly loud.

Eskel has rarely ever come across a market so loud and even if he has, he’s never stayed longer than just passing by for necessities or just travelling through to leave town. Crowded places can never exactly be a witcher’s best friend due to all the mutations so no matter what, Eskel always feels a little on edge in markets.

Jaskier on the other hand seems to be in his element from the moment they enter the crowds. He greets practically every merchant they see even though he buys nothing from them, which baffles Eskel, who’s used to often buying things he doesn’t remotely need from various people because he feels bad for wasting their time, but it seems to be the norm for Jaskier - he figures it’s a bard thing. And a pretty endearing bard thing at that.

Well, it’s endearing until Eskel bumps into someone, swivels on the spot as they both apologise to one another, and then turns back to find Jaskier gone.

“Jaskier?” he asks, but said bard is nowhere to be seen.

Eskel groans, his mind unhelpfully reminding him of the siren incident, and cranes his neck to look over the people around him to try and spot either Jaskier’s lute or his bright doublet. When he can find neither, he sighs and starts moving, mumbling apologies every time he has to literally push past the sheer number of people that he didn’t even think could fit in this town and hope none of them think badly of him for it.

He’s just beginning to think Jaskier had used the market as an excuse to be rid of him when someone crashes into him but instead of immediately jumping back, latches onto his arm with a surprising amount of strength.

“Eskel, there you are!” Jaskier grins, steadying himself but still not letting go. “I am so sorry for disappearing, I didn’t know you’d stopped walking.”

Eskel exhales slowly, nodding. “That’s okay. There’s just, uh, a lot of people here.”

Jaskier’s expression softens into sympathy. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know it would be so crowded. You can never really tell which towns go for the morning rush until you’re part of it, unfortunately. Do you want to leave?”

Eskel blinks at being given the choice. He’d figured that, the same way he’d taken responsibility whilst hunting a siren, Jaskier would decide their plans whilst hunting a mirror. “No, that’s fine, just… let me know where you’re going next time?”

He means for it to be a joke but Jaskier frowns, biting his lip as he slowly lets go of Eskel’s arm. The small distance that creates between them doesn’t last long because Jaskier hesitantly slips his hand into Eskel’s, not quite gripping it properly but carefully holding his fingers in place as if waiting for approval.

As much as Eskel wants to provide said approval, he hesitates. “Are you sure? That’d send a pretty clear message that we’re… that you’re friends with a… with me.”

Jaskier smiles softly, somewhat sadly. “We are friends, darling.”

“But this is different and-”

“I know,” Jaskier interrupts, “but I can’t promise I won’t get distracted again and I don’t want to get overwhelmed with your witchery senses and all.”

Oh, so Jaskier is just being considerate. Eskel chides himself for thinking anything on the contrary and nods, returning Jaskier’s smile as best as he can because he’s not about to refuse him when he’s just trying to help. “That’s very kind of you.”

Another frown flickers across Jaskier’s face but he doesn’t explain it, only nods and gently squeezes Eskel’s hand as he firmly interlocks their fingers, so Eskel doesn’t question it, letting himself be guided to the different stalls.

If later asked, he wouldn’t be able to recall what anyone was selling at any of the stalls. What he would be able to recall is the way their hands may as well have been made for being held, the way he could feel a firm tug all the way up to his shoulder every time Jaskier turned to admire something or the other, the way Jaskier turned around with a look of concern if Eskel didn’t move fast enough when being pulled along.

He genuinely has no idea how much time passes before Jaskier comes to a complete stop with a rather dramatic gasp. “That one! Oh, Eskel, isn’t it lovely?” Jaskier asks, gesturing to a small, circular mirror.

The merchant seems a little sceptical to hand it over at first, presumably not a huge fan of witchers, but Eskel watches as his gaze travels to their connected hands before his doubt morphs into amusement. When he looks up again, he’s smiling and offers the object up with no hesitation, which is a little confusing but it’s not like Eskel is going to question it.

“Well, what do you think?” Jaskier asks as Eskel takes the mirror, squeezing his hand in what could be excitement or support but is appreciated either way.

It’s a pretty simple design, with one side smoothed down perfectly to create a reflective surface and the other side curved outwards with a flower carved into it. He shrugs. “It’s really nice.”

Jaskier rolls his eyes. “Melitele save us from witchers and their limited reviews. It’s a rose, Eskel. It’s not just really nice, it’s perfect!”

Well, if Jaskier is so determined to continue comparing him to roses, he’s not going to complain regardless of how much he disagrees. And yes, upon further inspection the carving is an impressively delicate rose, so he smiles. “It’s really perfect?” he offers.

Both Jaskier and the merchant laugh, and Eskel is so distracted that he forgets to pay attention to how much Jaskier is spending on the mirror, on him. He’s drawn out of his thoughts when Jaskier tugs on his hand again, grinning.

“You’ll be happy to know we can leave now!” he announces. Although Eskel is more than relieved to finally get out of the sensory mess otherwise known as a market, he selfishly doesn’t want to let go of Jaskier’s hand yet.

“Are you sure you don’t need anything else?” Eskel asks.

Jaskier shakes his head. “Not really, no. I replaced my lute strings not long ago and we just ate and I don’t really have much coin left anyway because the patrons of this town aren’t particularly generous so there’s nothing keeping us.”

With a sigh, realising there’s no excuse for them to stay attached any longer, Eskel releases his hold on Jaskier’s hand and starts walking back the way they came. He makes it about three steps before the scent of honey he’s so quickly become comforted by turns sour. Though when he turns to see what’s happened, Jaskier is smiling as if there’s nothing wrong.

“You forgot your mirror, Eskel,” Jaskier tells him with a nervous chuckle, holding out said object.

He takes it from him but that can’t have been the matter because Jaskier still smells the way Lambert does when Vesemir withholds his brewing privileges. Before he can ask, Jaskier brushes past him and speeds up so quickly that Eskel almost loses sight of him again before he manages to catch up.

“Jaskier? What is it, did something happen?” he asks eventually, by the time they’re nearer the inn and there are less people around.

Jaskier shakes his head but doesn’t stop walking. Eskel glances between him and the mirror, which he then pockets so he doesn’t break it, before sighing, confused. “Do you need more coin?”

That seems to have been the wrong way to go about fixing things because Jaskier turns on his heel and folds his arms, all but glowering at him. “I do not and will never need your pity coin, I am perfectly capable of covering my own expenses, thank you very much!”

Eskel wants to disagree, considering that Jaskier is currently wearing his spare clothes, but he also has the feeling that Jaskier wouldn’t take too kindly to him pointing that out. Instead, he just shrugs. “I’m sorry, bardling, I didn’t mean to imply-”

“Don’t even finish that sentence,” Jaskier interrupts once more, but this time he just sounds tired, his previous determination long-gone. “Just tell me honestly, was it really that bad?”

“What?” Eskel asks.

Jaskier gestures vaguely to nothing in particular and yet somehow looks surprised when Eskel doesn’t seem to catch on. He sighs quietly. “You know, holding hands?”

Wait, what? Oh gods, Eskel seems to have completely missed something here. And apparently Jaskier has too, because he seems equally as lost when he sees that Eskel has no idea what he means, his glum transforming into uncertainty.

“How about we go inside first?” Eskel suggests, which he feels is the most logical course of action since the inn is within sight.

The second they’re back in their room, having deposited their respective lute and swords on the floor, Jaskier whirls and gives Eskel a pointed look. “You let go of my hand. I think it’s better you explain why instead of me standing here and guessing.”

“I thought that was what you wanted,” Eskel says honestly, “you said you were helping me in the market and I didn’t want to take advantage of that kindness once we left.”

Jaskier scowls, but it’s clearly not directed at him because the next thing he does is launch himself forwards and throw his arms around Eskel, who definitely doesn’t stumble in a not entirely unpleasant shock, no sir.

“All due respect, darling, but you witchers can be so stupidly obtuse,” Jaskier mumbles into his shoulder and Eskel laughs, letting himself relax into the embrace and waiting patiently until Jaskier eventually pulls back, thankfully free of any sourness.

“Just to clarify then: this is permission to uhm, hold your hand even when we’re not in markets?” Eskel asks, swallowing down the awkwardness he can sense burning inside him even as the words leave his mouth.

Jaskier grins. “Yes, even the mightiest of witchers are allowed to engage in the more ordinary act of hand-holding.”

Although he’s sure his doesn’t have quite the same charm to it, a matching grin blooms on Eskel’s face. “You know, I thought it was rather extraordinary, actually.”

Just as Eskel had predicted, there’s about three seconds of confusion before Jaskier blushes and his grin once again widens in a way that seems impossible and highly dangerous. He’d say it must be another bard thing but he’s beginning to think it’s just a Jaskier thing and he’s almost afraid of how many Jaskier things he’s been keeping track of lately.

“You’re quite the flirt for someone so obtuse,” Jaskier informs him, raising an eyebrow.

Eskel shrugs. “Must be the company I’m keeping.”

“Hey!” Jaskier protests, but the accompanying giggle just makes it sound adorable. As soon as he thinks that, though, Jaskier smirks at him. “So you’re keeping me?”

Ah, not again. He truly has no idea how he’s meant to react to what he’s almost certain is flirting and unfortunately, that fact only seems to amuse Jaskier instead of discouraging him. Not that Eskel has any idea why anyone, especially this bard, would want to flirt with him in the first place.

“You’ve got your thinky-face on again,” Jaskier accuses him quietly, poking his chest. “Do you really have to think so hard on the concept of keeping me?”

Eskel finds himself shaking his head just a little too quickly. “No, no. I would be honoured to continue keeping your company, I just- I don’t know how to do this.”

Jaskier tilts his head to the right, raising an eyebrow. “With ‘this’ being what, exactly?”

That’s exactly what he wants to ask.

“This… this flirting thing,” he settles on.

“I wasn’t really considering it to be a thing so much as just the flirting,” Jaskier says, so quietly that it’s barely even a whisper.

Eskel can literally feel the way his eyes widen. He can also literally smell the way Jaskier begins to doubt himself so, without thinking, he reaches out and grabs the bard’s wrist, instantly regretting that choice when Jaskier flinches.

“I’m sorry,” he says, letting go immediately, “just, uh, just don’t leave yet. Please.”

With a slow exhale, Jaskier nods. “Yet?”

“You can leave whenever you wish,” Eskel clarifies, relieved when all Jaskier does is smile rather than take him up on that offer.

To his credit, Jaskier barely even moves as Eskel tries to compose himself. He rubs his fingertips together before just wrapping his arms around himself and shifts from one foot to the other but he doesn’t leave, giving Eskel as much time as he needs to choose an answer that doesn’t come across as something else that can be taken in the wrong way.

In the end, he just sighs. “I don’t- I mean, I haven’t been flirted at for longer than I can exactly remember. You’ll have to forgive me for not knowing the difference between the typical bardic reputation and the- and anything more… serious.”

“Bards can’t be serious?” Jaskier jokes, but it seems like an automatic response rather than his genuine response if the frown on his face is anything to go by.

“I wouldn’t know,” Eskel replies, very much wishing that he did.

Jaskier nods, reaching out for and taking both of Eskel’s hands. “I can assure you that despite also holding the uhm, the typical bardic reputation, I was being entirely serious about flirting with you.”

Eskel was a little afraid of that, to be honest.

“But if you don’t- that is, if it were to make you uncomfortable, I would be happy to uh, take that problem off your hands and stick to less serious flirting,” Jaskier adds, “or no flirting at all, even. That one may be considerably more difficult since flirting essentially becomes second nature in my trade but I can certainly attempt such an endeavour if it would ensure that we continue to travel together. And I’m aware you’ve already told me you’re happy with that arrangement but it only feels right to make sure in case-”

“You can stay sure,” Eskel cuts in before Jaskier rambles himself into a mess, “It doesn’t make me uncomfortable.”

“But?” Jaskier asks, raising an eyebrow.

Amazed at how the bard somehow knows he needs to continue, Eskel smiles a little. “But I don’t know how to flirt and be serious about it.”

And he genuinely doesn’t. Obviously. He’s a witcher, he’s more than lucky if anyone at a brothel wants to keep their eyes on him, never mind maintain a conversation, and even then, that’s only if he goes to one in the first place. It’s not like he’s never been flirted at before, but it’s a little hard to take any of it seriously when it’s usually accompanied by undertones of fear or curiosity or mocking jest.

“It’s not like I’m an expert,” Jaskier scoffs and immediately, inexplicably, some of the tension in Eskel’s body melts away.

“What about all those romantic ballads of yours?” Eskel asks, frowning.

Jaskier shrugs, his thumbs drawing tiny soothing circles on Eskel’s hands. “Just because I sing about relationships doesn’t mean I’m in one, darling.”

Eskel is honestly a little baffled by how that can be possible. He can’t imagine being blessed with someone like Jaskier and then deciding not to try and keep him around - which reminds him to violently berate his brother for doing so - but frankly, he’s pretty glad nobody else has because if they had, he’d never have been given the chance himself.

“You look nice in my clothes,” Eskel blurts and, going by the redness that bridges over his nose all the way to his ears, Jaskier mercifully seems to understand what he’s trying to convey.

“I hope you’re aware you’re not getting them back now,” Jaskier teases.

Eskel shrugs. “A loss I’m willing to endure.”

Jaskier laughs brightly, throwing his head back with his hair arching messily in the air above him, his hands tightly clutching onto Eskel’s to stay balanced, and Eskel doesn’t need to be an expert on relationships to know that he’d happily lose any of his belongings if it meant being able to keep Jaskier in his life.

Well, maybe not his mirror.

...in retrospect, i may have made them a tad ooc by projecting too much but hey, it be like that sometimes :)

thanks for reading! masterlist | witcher sideblog: @itsjaskier | next chapter

#jaskel #jaskier #eskel #fanfic #the witcher #not all witchers are as emotionally constipated as geralt #jaskier and eskel deserve each other and they're finally getting there #hurt comfort #fluff #idiots in love #awkward flirting #actual communication occurs thank the gods #slow burn #my writing #tmypicta

15 notes · View notes

regrettablewritings · 5 years ago

Note

Can I please request B, F, and O for Benoit Blanc? I’m simping for this gentleman sleuth so hard.

I’m surprised you didn’t put DNUT just for the sake of reference 😂 Stuff is below the cut!

B = Baby (Do they want a family? Why/Why not?): While he isn’t against the idea to the point of fighting it, Benoit doesn’t strike me as someone actively looking to start a family, either. At least, not in the most traditional sense of what a family could be. He knows he’s not ancient, but he’s certainly not the very picture of youth, either. There’s plenty of things he’s not afraid to do in fear of appearing odd, but he can’t help but wonder if, perhaps, becoming a father at his age would appear peculiar.

Technically speaking, there’s nothing wrong with it, of course: He’s sure enough men his age have become fathers, and he knows plenty celebrities had at much older stages of life. But no matter what The New Yorker may think, Benoit knows he’s not exactly a celebrity; becoming a father at his age might appear less glamorous. And as flattering as the theory might be, he’s not so sure he’d be comfortable with the world knowing his virility in practice.

But, of course, things don’t always go the way we plan for them to. Just because he’s not actively looking to grow the family doesn’t mean it won’t somehow happen. It’ll catch him by surprise, no doubt, especially given how he’s so used to being able to predict things by calculation and logic, but it’s nothing he’s necessarily going to fight, either. If the great Benoit Blanc is to become a father to an actual baby instead of just a fur baby, then he’s going to accept that position with pride and zeal. (And much confusion, but that’s nothing a lot of research and a handful of classes and Youtube tutorials couldn’t fix.)

Benoit knows the impact a loving parent can have on a child, and he wants to assure any progeny of his is granted that chance. He won’t be a perfect father, he knows that, but he most certainly would want to make an effort to be one that they wouldn’t hate. He’s encountered way too many patricide cases to go lax on it all.

More to the point, however, he’s honestly just content with his family as it currently appears to be. He may come from more traditional and decidedly old-fashion means, but this doesn’t exclude the sleuth from possessing an open-mindedness toward the ever-changing image of what a family could be decreed and recognized to be. And sometimes, a family is just a peacockish gentleman with a thick drawl, his more grounded and snarky partner, and their handsome pet cat who is either plotting their deaths or actually enjoys it when they sing show tunes to him.

There are times when he looks back on his life so far and feels ribbons of regret, however. How might things have turned out if he’d settled down before? Would things have been better? Worse? More or less the same?

Well, whatever the case, he doesn’t intend to dwell on it too often or for too long; you’re here now, and if that’s all there was meant to be, then he’d take it without a moment’s hesitation.

F = Feelings (When did they know they were in love?):

He’s not sure, if truth be told. There wasn’t really a precise moment or even necessarily one singular action that offered him any confirmation. The sting of Cupid’s arrow never actually radiated through him, so much as the realization flitted into his mind as a random memory might. It was simply a matter of fact to him one day: He absolutely adored you.

Part of him wanted to go into detective mode, to use that brain of his and search for a specific date that might have triggered the sensation, or to pester Elliot and Marta by using them as soundboards for his monologues and conclusion. Benoit Blanc is a self-aware man, he’s too old to be caught off guard by his own feelings like a schoolboy. But thankfully for all, he stops himself from doing so when he considers the stance that perhaps the feelings had already been present for months now, that there wasn’t any suddenness to the realization. A sense of jamais vu, but of the emotion. Jamais réalisé. Still, the ever-inquisitive spirit in him thirsted for an answer. He tried to satiate it.

Maybe it had something to do with the fact that unlike most, you appeared to enjoy his monologuing. Most people would normally just sit there, the only feedback offered being blank expressions or ones that displayed how thrown off they were about his strange analogies. You, on the other hand, were always listening even when your eyes weren’t directly on him or if you appeared to be busy with something else. Sometimes, if you deemed it necessary, you would even throw in your own input. When he joked about how invested you were, you reasoned that you tended to do the same when you infodumped.

Going off that, he liked when you infodumped: Your entire person would gain a sprightliness to it, particularly in your eyes. The detective truly believed in the value of all sorts of knowledge, and he genuinely did appreciate whatever you had to offer, even when it only appeared to be trivia. The only downside to this was that you almost always would catch yourself and, casting your sights elsewhere, all that vibrancy from before would snuff out like a light. It would darn near break his heart to hear you apologize for “babbling on about such silly things.” He would always insist that it was quite alright, that you needn’t apologize, but you always assumed deep down that he was simply being courteous as all others in his position would be. The truth always was that he was being genuine, you deserved that much.

Maybe he thought you deserved that much because you were relatively patient with him. He didn’t think of himself as a nuisance but Benoit knew that to many, he was more of an acquired taste. He always tried to be polite and considerate but sometimes, his more abrasive traits would come to the foreground, especially when he was on the case. But you never seemed to get especially testy with him as Elliot would. If anything, you were quick to put him in his place with a gently-worded but sternly-spoken reminder that he needed to mind himself.

“The truth can only soothe you so much when you got a foot up your ass,” as you put it once. It got a smile out of him. Of course, he always knew you had some kind of wit about you; one that, while a bit more blunt than his, never failed to make him laugh yet force him to acknowledge the truth. He might’ve been known for his rich vocabulary, but he couldn’t help but admire your own, more direct means of getting the point across. He knew damn well that you understood everything he said, and sometimes he questioned if maybe your responses to him were so straightforward as a means of taunting him over his perceived verboseness.

Even if this were true, he found himself amused every time you opened your mouth. In fact, you were quickly becoming his favorite person to speak to. And he even dared to consider the possibility that, based on how you lit up every time he came to the office, perhaps the same could be said on your part . . .

Well, whatever the case, Benoit never got as far as he’d wanted to whenever he pondered the cause of his feelings for you. Much to his dismay, every effort was thwarted by himself: Every time he came to a theory, he would quickly become sidetracked by other thoughts of you. Eventually he became distracted to the point where every consideration he made could be counted on to be accompanied by some appraisal of your character. In short, he was simultaneously coming up fruitless and fruitful.

But then maybe those were the answers he was looking for. Of course, they weren’t in the usual format he was familiar with but he supposed it was for the best: Feelings weren’t the same breed of mystery as, say, a murder investigation. He didn’t count it as a failure on his part, however (given that Benoit Blanc wasn’t one to quit). No, he decided that perhaps it might’ve been better to keep his work and his play separate. He’d spent enough of his life revolved around solving mysteries, after all; this one, he concluded, was best enjoyed just being experienced as it was.

O = Orange (What colour reminds them of their other half?):

It’s hard for you to choose, really: Benoit is a rather colorful man, after all, with his bright blue eyes and lack of fear regarding certain male accessories. But you do tend to veer towards shades of green. Specifically, peacock green because not only does he own a suit of similar shading, but also because frankly, due to his dandy-like nature, you couldn’t help but compare him to a peacock in your head. Sure, he lacked the arrogance associated with the bird, but what else could you compare a man with an assortment of floral ties and pretty-patterned pocket squares to?

Similarly, Benoit associates you with the color cranberry because of something in your wardrobe: Specifically, the red cardigan you were wearing the day you both met. Admittedly, he’s a twinge embarrassed that he couldn’t associate you with something more overtly romantic: He remembers that you like pink Starbursts but still give him half of yours; he remembers how you argue that black Converses are “the only valid converses” next to glittery ones; and he has no choice but to remember that godawful brown scarf you refuse to discard because “it’s still a good scarf and you’d already had it for this long.”

But you don’t mind. In fact, you’re elated and nearly swept off your feet at the fact: He remembers all the little things from the moment you two became acquainted, even though at the time he was under no awareness or intention that you would become so important to him. You know that, technically, it’s a part of his job to just commit things to detail, but you’ve seen this man forget website passwords and his own keys. Yet, if anyone were to demand that he recall three things from that fateful day, he would immediately recite about how you had a frog Beanie Baby resting on your computer monitor; that you were stabbing your Chinese takeout lunch with one hand and typing up a report with the other; and that you were wearing a cranberry-colored cardigan.

Sometimes, the first two bits were swapped with different things he remembered (all being true), but the one consistent memory that he would always bring up with be the cranberry cardigan. And frankly, you're satisfied with that bit alone.

Thanks for your patience!

#benoit blanc #benoit blanc x reader #benoit blanc imagine #benoit blanc imagines #knives out #knives out imagine #knives out imagines #regrettablewritings #fluff alphabet #fluff headcanons

95 notes · View notes

lore-of-the-silvereyes-rwby · 4 years ago

Text

Paranoia over reason

Now we move onto the source of Ironwood's problems his new dominent trait of Fear. Now there could be an argument for pride or strength of will but in all honesty fear has been the core value of his entire personality. For It is human nature to fear death above all else.

Before I delve into why fear may be his most dominant emotion at present, let's take a look at several definitions and meanings of the word.

Fear;

an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat.

a feeling of anxiety concerning the outcome of something or the safety and well-being of someone.

the likelihood of something unwelcome happening.

a mixed feeling of dread and reverence.

Now that we have the clear definition and example of what fear is let's proceed.

I think we can all agree that the first signs of Ironwood's fear were first seen in volume 3. Due to the events of the Fall of Beacon where he was completely and utterly out maneuvered by Salem and Cinder despite his best efforts to stop them, Ironwood now appears to suffer from a degree of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), an increased sense of paranoia, and an increased desperation to stop Salem by any means.

This, now coupled with his typical bullheadedness, arrogance and bluntness has made him make several decisions that have led to many of his own people from Atlas and the world in general to outright despise him due to the countermeasures he had implemented and the severe secrecy he has exhibited to the people, even his fellow Councilmen.

Even those in high positions or highly influential within the Kingdom have begun seeing him in a bad light, as seen with Jacques, Robyn Hill, Pietro Polendina and Councilmen Sleet and Camilla have begun doubting his state of mind and the honesty of his intentions.

Fundamentally, fear of death is the governing principle of human action. Fear is also one of the main motivator for most if not all of Ironwood's decisions that have affected the main plot of the current RWBY storyline.(For more details about this proceed to the hero section) His paranoia assuming he was already a paranoid individual before his debut has grown from worst to the extreme. So much so that it has warranted the concern of most of his allies.

Below are a few selected quotes and dialogue from some characters that evidence this reasoning and observation.

“James was no different. I couldn't tell you exactly what it was he saw there, but it changed him. He's…”

“He's scared.”

“Paranoid would be the more appropriate term.”

Pietro Polendina, & Qrow Branwen/ The Greatest Kingdom

“I'm not sure what happened to James in Vale, but it seems to have only worsened some of his more unfortunate tendencies. ”

Lionheart/ Welcome to Haven

“General Ironwood.... he looks.... tired.”

“James... what have you been doing?”

Yang, Ruby & Qrow/ The Greatest Kingdom

This more or less was a call for concern for the mental health and state of Ironwood’s mind. Fear is the main survival trait of all living things and it's okay to have it. But for Ironwood he had relied on fear too much to the point that it had consumed him and influenced every choice he had made. Not a very good trait to rely on.

Especially when you concern yourself more with uncertain and possible threats instead of the current and known threats that are in front of you. For Ironwood he ignored the current issues at hand in order to prepare for uncertain threats thus escalating the problem to the extreme.

Now we know how fear has motivated Ironwood and how it has led his situation from bad to worst. So we will now look at the possibility of how he might use his fear and the fear of others to his advantage.(Can’t be a General if you can’t motivate the people under your command to follow you without question)

“But ask yourself this: do you honestly believe your children can win a war?”

—Ironwood, before leaving Ozpin's office

“Discreet wasn't working. I'm here because this is what was necessary.”

—Ironwood, about the military presence in Vale

“The people of Vale needed someone to protect them, someone who would act. When they look to the sky and see my fleet, they feel safe, and our enemies will feel our strength.”

—Ironwood

Basically Ironwood is the class A example of Machiavelli in terms of philosophical ideals of security and control. Specifically relating to these 2 main ideas of Machiavelli’s philosophy;

Famously asserted that while it would be best to be both loved and feared, the two rarely coincide, and thus, greater security is found in the latter;

Viewed ambition, competition and war as inevitable parts of human nature, even seeming to embrace all of these tendencies.

But in the case of Ironwood he took these to the extreme. To the point that he became a fear monger; someone who spreads fear, or needlessly raises the alarm. This is what he did in V2. Now why would I assume this. As stated before his actions have more or less influenced the current course of events that has shaped the current world of RWBY for the worst.

This might also explain why Winter the Ace-Opts and even the members of Ruby’s group(@ v7 beginning & specifically Ren & Qrow) were willing to follow Ironwood. Not because he has the plan or because they trust him but because Ironwood has prayed on their fear and insecurities. As such they surrendered control of themselves and consented to Ironwood's authority.

For Winter it can be assumed that Ironwood had used her fear and anger of her father to his advantage. Thus gaining a loyal obedient servant. This might actually explain winter's line in the enemy of trust;

“What are you doing?! My life doesn’t matter!”

—Winter, to Penny after she saves her

Because she had consented to following Ironwood and accepted that her life has no value unless her assumed savior gives her a purpose. Basically Winter feared that she would end up like her father and so she rejected him in favor of Ironwood. To her Ironwood was the father she had always wanted. But her fear of Jaques had blinded her to the truth of Ironwood. Blinded her to the point that she had consented to a paranoid tyrant that will put his own agenda before everyone else.

Ironwood groomed and conditioned Winter from the start to be his right hand and be wholly loyal to him even against what’s right and against those Winter loves so she would carry out his orders even if they were morally dubious. He had brainwashed her to the point that she said, out loud, that her life doesn’t matter compared to Ironwood’s goals.

This same logic is also quite possible for the ace-opts as well as they all seem to have more fear dwelling within them more than the main heroes that they hide behind a false façade of confidence while relying and believing that Ironwood can ease their fear because he has made them believe that he can.

This is also shown in Ren where he seems to be the only one of the main heroes to actually join Ironwood’s side without hesitation in the worst case scenario. Not because he thinks what Ironwood is doing is morally right or if it's the pragmatic choice. It's because he is afraid and has no idea what to do. Add in the fact that his usual leaders (Ruby/Jaune/Qrow/Oz) have no idea what to do as well. Hence this quote;

“We spent so much time worrying about how Ironwood will react to the truth about her, but have any of us considered how we're even going to beat her if we manage to work past that?”

—Ren, to Ruby and Nora

The fear of losing Ironwood’s trust is secondary to his main fear of Salem and how he and his allies have no idea or plan to combat her. But despite that he is consenting to Ironwood because of how hopeless he believes the situation to be and thinks Ironwood can relieve him of some of the despair. And chances are that this was shared with the rest of the main heroes but at varying levels.

This is also more evident with Qrow. Prior to this, Qrow has hated Atlas and what it stands for, and was never afraid to call it out. But Qrow was the character most devastated by the revelations in Volume 6, as it shatters his entire worldview and causes him to doubt his entire life’s work. A life’s work that has both fulfilled him and given him purpose, while also putting a strain on many of his relationships. So with his entire world thrown into chaos, he clings to the stability and security Ironwood offers and ignores the warning signs he would’ve caught at anyone other point in his life.

This is also true in real life: where groups that try to embed unthinking loyalty into their followers always try to recruit people at their most vulnerable. This even works on a macro-scale, where whole nations can fall under the sway of strongman leaders after massive social upheavals.

Okay we have covered how Fear has influenced his actions as well as how he may take advantage of the fears of others to achieve his desired goals. Now we will cover how Ironwood’s fears, and paranoia may be unfounded.

To start we will take a look at an overall summary of the final 3 episodes of Volume 7 that displayed the extreme limits of Ironwood’s fears and paranoia.

As of "Gravity", once he learns Cinder Fall is on Atlas, and taking into account the lies from Ruby's Group and that Salem was coming, Ironwood caves into his paranoia. Now more distrustful than ever before, he believes the entirety of Ruby's Group is betraying him, leading him to commit many unethical acts in order to prevent Salem from winning.

He was willing to abandon Mantle despite the people not being fully evacuated and use the Relic of Creation to raise Atlas into the sky instead of Amity Tower, deciding he'd abandon his original plan to solely save his city instead. He was even willing to have Fria killed in order to make Winter Schnee the next Winter Maiden.

His paranoia had reached a level where he now plans on using his immense influence as both General to the Atlas Military and Headmaster to the Academy to now put the entire kingdom of Atlas in a state of martial law without the kingdom's council's consent or approval due to now no longer knowing who to trust as seen where he ordered the arrest of Ruby's Group when they refused to go along with his extreme plan of self preservation. He was even willing to go so far as to shoot Oscar Pine without any hesitation or remorse afterwards so he could proceed with his plan.

This is pretty much a summary of the events that happened in the final episodes of the last season and where the controversy of his character begins in the rwby fandom. Basically arguing whether or not he's a hero or a villain. Well as stated his actions were all motivated by fear and paranoia instead of actual reason or logic. Sure it can be argued that he made the rational choice but he wouldn’t have had he not been motivated by either his fear or ambition. Thus he had unnecessarily escalated the situation and did more harm than good.

And as stated by Ozpins speech at the end fear is just like alcohol the more you are consumed by it the more your real self is revealed.

The single quality that is common across every living creature on this planet... is fear. It’s funny then, that as common as fear is... we so easily underestimate its power.

But fear itself isn’t worthy of concern, it is who we become while in its clutches.

Will you be proud of that person? Will you forgive them? Will you understand why they felt the need to do the things they did? Will you even recognize them? Or will the person staring back at you be the very thing you should have feared from the start?

I suppose we all find out... sooner or later.

And as stated by Ozpin's speech at the end, fear is just like alcohol the more you are consumed by it the more your real self is revealed. And his true self has been revealed to be nothing more than a scared barley competent man that should have never been put in power in the first place

For it was his insistence that his way is what’s best for everyone has been the source if not all of the main cause of all the conflicts in the story. Because of this he has done more harm than good to Remnant and its people.

You had me with your words but you lost me with your action

#rwby #world of remnant #general ironwood #rwby ironwood #james ironwood #rwby atlas #rwby mantle #rwby analysis #rwby theory #rwby spoilers #rwby salem #Ironwood analysis

34 notes · View notes

randomguywithwords · 4 years ago

Text

As The Dust Settles: Chapter 23 (Geten X Dabi Slowburn)

Chapter 23: A Beating Heart

AO3 Link

Previous Chapters: 22, 21, 20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

–––––––––––

“Are you feeling better?” Geten’s head whirled around at the unexpected question to break the silence. Dabi was trailing behind with his hands in his pockets, glancing around.

“Chest hurts less and I can walk without limping. So the answer would be yes,” She said. After a pause, she continued, “What about your injury?”

“Good.”

“That’s...good to know,” She responded, relieved that she was at the front so Dabi couldn’t see her heated face. How was she to respond to that? It was the first time that she asked someone about their condition, or was even concerned about them.

She only quickened her pace back to the hotel, hoping to start talking about the more important matters at hand that had been on her mind for the past few days.

“Wait, we’re going to your place? You still live at that hotel?” Dabi seemed to recognise the street that lead back to the temporary lodgings in the aftermath of the first Resurrection Festival.

“Yes, although I haven’t actually returned there in a while because of everything that has happened.”

“Why haven’t you moved back to the mansion?”

She tensed up. So much had happened that she forgot the lurking threats within the PLF. Takame was unanticipated. Skeptic, Trumpet and possibly Yotsubashi seemed to be watching her, identifying her as a rogue weed in the garden. Trumpet in particular made his intentions clear when he held her at gunpoint.

Then a thought came to her like a silent blizzard. Why wouldn’t her room be under Skeptic’s gaze? Suddenly the Deika City Hotel looked darker under the night sky.

“Actually, can we go there instead? You live in one of the rooms, right?” She halted, her eyes darting around to see the numerous street cameras, functioning both to catch speeding vehicles and as Chikazoku’s mechanical eyes.

Dabi bristled, but he followed her gaze to also notice how exposed they were.

“So you’re that paranoid, huh?” He whispered. “How much of a threat is he?”

“I don’t wish to take any chances.”

Dabi gestured for her to follow, walking back the way they came. He said nothing until they reached the gates, and a nauseating feeling arose in Geten’s gut, crawling up her spine like a centipede, reaching her head. The sight of Re-destro’s inheritance triggered this, along with more memories.

In the centre of the courtyard where the two were striding across, Geten watched a team of construction workers assemble a statue of Shigaraki. In its place was once a similar statue of Re-destro. She had a feeling the Grand Commander could not care less about useless monuments built to honour him, but the idea was, now that she thought about it, definitely Yotsubashi’s.

The statue was intimidating, portraying Shigaraki with all his disembodied hands, sitting atop his throne in a lanky manner, his elbow on the armrest and his face resting on his fist. She could not see his eyes; the statue was erected using black marble, compared to the gold sheen of the predecessor’s. The contrast in colour, alongside Shigaraki’s emotionless expression here made the hairs on her skin rise. She quickened her pace after Dabi.

–––––––––

“Okay. Now, spill.” Dabi relaxed on one of the armchairs, while Geten sat on the sofa. His room was unusually clean, until Geten remembered that there were servants to help with the housekeeping. She doubted the man in front of her would even make his own bed, but to be fair, neither did she.

She paused, picking her words carefully. She had so much to say, she found it difficult to start.

“You were right,” She blurted out.

“You’re welcome,” He replied, “About what?”

“The Liberation Army. I understand what you mean now.”

A smile tugged at his lips. “About time.” He sounded like he meant it, and the smile looked as if he was truly glad for her. It was only a biting feeling; Geten was surprised how she surmised it at all. Dabi expressing genuine happiness at something was unorthodox, to say the least.

“So…” Dabi tapped his chin. “That means you’re not going for the Festival. Fine by me.”

Geten froze. She wanted to say that. She needed to say more than that. To verbally express her anger, her pain, her betrayal at the PLF. A burning desire had arisen in her throat at the notion of declaring how the Festival was a totem of everything she despised about the Front, and she wished to burn it in effigy.

But instead Dabi incinerated all of that to ashes, and the ashes wrote, That means you’re not going for the Festival. He surely had his own manner of expressions.

Sometimes she forgot how perceptive he was, like when he understood her reasons for not abandoning the Takame assignment, without her even saying much. But his qualities ended before empathy. Then again, she figured she possessed little amounts of it too.

“Yes,” She said. “Which brings me to what you’re doing next Monday.”

He bristled, silent for a while in possible contemplation. He opened his mouth a few times before closing them. Finally, he sighed and said, “It’s another assignment Shigaraki put me up to. An escort mission for that guy you saw me with.”

“I’ll come with you, then.”

“S’cuse me?” Dabi raised an eyebrow. “Since when could you just budge into anything you want?”

“Well, I did it the last time.”

“You’re absolutely right,” he deadpanned. “That will be the last time.”

Geten allowed herself to scowl at his snark. “Come on, I’d have nothing to do. I can watch your back, at least.”

Dabi eyed her for a while, his expression reeking of annoyance.

“Fine. There’s really no arguing with you.”

Geten shot a glare at him, but before she could retort, Dabi added, “Come to think of it, now that you’ve stopped following all that bullshit liberation crap, why are you still here? Why not just pack your bags and leave this place?”

She blinked. That question had been on the back of her mind ever since she picked up Destro’s book and threw it, but she had never given it thought. It was as if she knew the answer, but never verbalised nor phrased it in her mind.

“I suppose...there are many reasons,” She said. “Leaving the PLF would raise many alarms within. I’d be considered a traitor and hunted by them forever. Their influence is still to be respected and feared. Japan as a whole is polluted with soldiers following the ideology. Another is Shigaraki.”

Her voice trembled as she spoke the Grand Commander’s name. “I’ll admit that I’m fearful of him. I can’t say the same for you, I suppose.”

She took a deep breath. “Lastly, I think it’s because of you. I respect you as a colleague and fellow soldier, and I trust you.” She swallowed. “You saved my life.”

Dabi’s head dipped. “Shut up.”

“What?”

“That’s not true.” His tone was uncharacteristically soft. “You saved mine. I haven’t said this yet but...thank you.”

Her internal circuitry froze up at the words. She opened her mouth but nothing was said. What could she say in response to that?

“I think…” She said her thoughts out loud. “We helped each other. That’s all.”

She surprised herself at said thought, realising how unprecedented that was. Before this, she always operated alone, and if she ever worked with other soldiers on assignments – well, she hardly noticed the difference between missions with or without them. All she ever focused on was the task at hand. They were like the air rushing past her ear.

“Yeah, yeah.” Dabi coughed. “Don’t tell anyone I said that.”

“You said that the last time, when you let me lean on you. Are you that shy?” Geten observed dryly.

That seemed to strike a nerve. His eyes immediately hardened into a snake’s glare. “Shut up.”

Geten bit her lip to stifle her giggle, but she changed the subject.

“How did you know about what the Liberation Army was really like?” Geten said.

“Easy. I talked to you on the first night, and…” A thought seemed to cross his mind, souring his expression. “Other things.”

Geten frowned. Was that guilt?

“What’d you do?”

He averted her gaze. “Something I can’t say I’m proud of.”

“Interesting. That’s a lot, coming from you, but I won’t pry.”

A silence entered the conversation, but Geten found it comfortable, unlike the silence that presided over the past few days where she was cooped up in the hospital. Although she had the peace and quiet, a part of her was always on edge. It was the same part that kept her ice at the ready, prepared to defend herself from anyone.

But here, as she thought about it, she realised she had let her ice melt into her parka, but she wasn’t alarmed. The vigilant side of her was resting, feeling —

Safe. That’s the word. I feel safe with him.

“I still owe you that soba, by the way.”

“Huh?” She stared at him. “I honestly assumed you were joking.”

“Nope. Tomorrow night. Keep your schedule open.” Dabi met her gaze, a smirk returning to his face.

“Thanks, I suppose. I hope it’s good, and friendly to you.” She gestured at his form.

“Oh yeah, it’s villain-friendly. Don’t worry about it.”

“You call yourself that?” The word was strange to apply to herself. Villain.

“Well, everyone calls me that. I’ve simply accepted it. I mean, I am, but I’m not.”

“That is totally illogical.”

Dabi gave her a weird sort of smile, as if he knew something she didn’t, but it soon faded. “Well, you’ll figure it out. Anything else?”

She did have other things to talk about, but it was enough for tonight. She shook her head.

He gestured at the door. “See you tomorrow then. Good night.”

Geten acquiesced to his request, despite a churning feeling in her stomach. She murmured a “Good night” in return and stepped out of the room.

She was met with a rush of cold air prickling her skin, as if reminding her she was no longer in friendly company. She pulled her parka close to her and began her journey back to her room.

I wish Dabi was here.

The thought came from nowhere, stopping her in her tracks. The crowd parted around her without question.

That’s not normal. She wasn’t one to depend on others, much less wish for their presence. But the feeling of solitude felt more bitter to her than usual.

I’ll go train. It’s been a while anyway, and I’m still a lieutenant to Violet. I’ve yet to inform the other two of the deeds of Takame.

She changed her direction, walking towards her usual spot. The city was still somewhat populated at this time of the night. Soldiers and citizens were walking alongside her or past her. It occurred to her that they kept sparing her sidelong glances, both of curiosity and fear.

I’m walking with them. Her footsteps felt heavier. To tread upon the same ground as them, as opposed to flying overhead on her platform of ice, it made her feel more…akin to those around her, as if they were all cut out from the same cloth. The cold truth? They were. All puppets in the hands of Destro and his ideas.

She thought about Mihara Takame. If she was here, how would Geten have differentiated her from any other soldier?

“Ah!” Geten collided with someone, a young man about her age. She stumbled back, but he quickly caught her by the arm, before instantly dropping his grip once she was stable.

“I’m so sorry, Apocrypha! I was too careless, it will never happen again, I assure you. I’ll watch myself better!” He bowed, voice quaking, along with his arms. No doubt he was part of the younger generation of soldiers who learnt who Apocrypha was, the ice-man. Geten hated that now.

She took a breath to steady her instincts that demanded he bow lower in shame. But it was her shame that she felt those thoughts still rise up in anger when she was knocked back.

“No, I was too mired in my own thoughts, my apologies.” She held him upright and gave a slight bow in return, then she continued onwards, leaving him stunned.

I’ll be that Apocrypha no longer.

#ATDS #bnha #mha #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #dabi #geten #bnha geten #mha geten #mha dabi #bnha dabi #bnha fanfiction #mha fanfiction #geten x dabi #dabi x geten #dabiten

15 notes · View notes

make-it-mavis · 4 years ago

Text

Homesick (Entry #33)

(cw: discussion of addiction) ----------

01/21/88 3:30 PM

Hey.

So… therapy.

Therapy, therapy, therapy.

If you were here, you’d no doubt want to hear how it went. Or how it didn’t go. How much I botched it, or what garbage mumbo jumbo it was. I wouldn’t blame you. Me, going to counselling? Group counselling? No way.

But I would also tell you to hold your horses, because before therapy came detox. Oh, yes. Me and my good friend, withdrawals. Not fun to hear about, I know. Less fun to experience.

I won’t get into the nitty gritty of how sick I was. I’ve described it enough times by now. Let’s just say that it was twice as bad as the worst withdrawals I had ever had before. It had all the usual intense illness, but peppered with little blackouts. I also practically went insane over the need for GC. But, being confined to my game, there was no way to get any. Fix-it endured a whole lot of my screaming and breakdowns… again. At some point he took away my brush for my own good, and as outraged as I was, I think that mostly snapped me out of it from then on out. I could have my brush as long as I stayed calm. I was being treated like a freakin’ child, but I had to just roll with it. I was too weak to fight him, and I couldn’t be without buffs and without my brush.

As I started to come to my senses, I began to remember and understand the memory that I saw in my trip more and more. But what was strange to me was that I could hardly manage to feel anything over it. I knew for sure that those memories were packed full of emotions that could have wrecked me. But at the time, I felt numb to them. As if they just weren’t a priority compared to all else I’d been dealing with. The whole concept of counselling was taking up a whole lot of space in my brain, and I guess I could only feel so much at once. I suppose I ought to have felt thankful for that, but honestly, I felt kind of guilty.

Why? I don’t know. Maybe I felt like you deserved to have someone hurting over you, even though I’d already offered up so much pain. And even though I knew I still had more to give.

Still, slowly but surely, I recovered. It took the full two weeks for me to fully detox. Even then, I wasn’t at 100%. I was, maybe, 85%. I wasn’t shivering and throwing up anymore, but I still felt like a damp, moldy rag.

It was around that point that I finally told Fix-it that I would try counselling.

I think he tried his best to play it cool so that I wouldn’t be embarrassed out of my decision by his enthusiasm, but I could tell he was overjoyed. Not disappointing him for once felt… different.

He went to tell Surge as promised, and he came back with a little pamphlet about the program for me to look over leading up to the first session. Just looking at the thing nearly turned me off from the idea, and actually opening it up and reading it was… so much worse.

The program seemed to be built upon twelve ‘steps’ (hurdles, more like): Honesty, Hope, Surrender, Courage, Integrity, Willingness, Humility, Love, Responsibility, Discipline, Awareness, and Service.

Yeah. That’s a lot of gross words.

As if that wasn’t enough on its own, so many descriptions for these supposed steps were so explicitly Devout, like my faith in the Devs would be what pulled me through this whole thing. Reading it, I almost wondered if I was being tricked into some kind of cult, or enlisted in some kind of military conditioning. Everything about it screamed that I would not fit in. At all. It wouldn’t work, I’d just humiliate myself, and I’d be locked up for two years anyway.

I wanted to quit. Really badly.

But one thought of Tapper was all it would take to guilt me back into it.

When I was ready as I’d ever be, I met Surge in our cord station, and he let me know just how things were going to work. Sessions were on Tuesdays and Fridays from 10:30 PM ‘til midnight, and they would be held in the center of Pac-Man. Yeah, Pac-Man, where some of the best GC is, and where I had my last hit that had been so devastating. I pointed out the bad decision to Surge, and he assured me that he was aware of the risks. He had a few volunteer guards attending all the meetings, making sure no one slipped into the maze to get high. Besides, the whole thing was run by that little orange ghost, Clyde. Why? I don’t know. I guess he’s a philanthropist or something. But keeping him in his own game seemed like the safest option on his part, which seemed fair.

I still think it was stupid.

Surge would escort me to and from the meetings, but I would go in alone. He has too much work to do to sit in on a group therapy session for an hour and a half. But then he told me the worst part -- I could not bring my brush and paint can to the meetings. My tools were to remain in my game. They were considered weapons, which, in the right context, they can be. That much was fair. Less fair was the fact that when too much distance is put between me and my tools, my code gets stretched out. I glitch, I get very, very uncomfortable, and am definitely put in a far less receptive state to counselling that I already don’t want to attend. I explained as much to Surge, including the fact that my brush didn’t even have its full spectrum at the time, but it was no use. Defective or not, I’m too powerful with my brush.

It would have been flattering if it didn’t suck so damn much.

But, I agreed to it. I just wanted to get it all over with. It felt so humiliating and futile. I’ve never been the sort to tolerate being locked in with a bunch of losers blubbering about their feelings, or whatever the hell. I automatically reject pretty much any and all advice, just by reflex. I could not imagine having someone tell me what to do about deeply personal, painful feelings and having it help literally anything. Knowing me, it might have just made it worse.

Yet, despite all that, there was a very real, very conscious part of me that was willing to give it a real shot. I was almost at the end of my rope, just holding onto fraying strands. I wanted to get better, I really did.

So I went into this experience holding onto that will like a lifeline.

Surge escorted me to Pac-Man that night, and, obviously, I went in alone. Inside, right off the train, there were these two big army guys from Front Line waiting at the entrance of the maze. Seemed like a good choice for guards, with how beefy they are. They walked with me into the dark maze, and as we wove through the bends and corners, I just kept thinking about how easily I could drop both of them and run off for a sweet hit of GC if I had my brush. Which just validated Surge’s decision to ban my tools, I guess.

We arrived at the conference room, and my burly chaperones opened the doors to show me in. When I entered, I jumped. Everyone was already there. A group of around nine or ten sat in a circle, and all eyes among them were fixed on me. Along with the eyes of that little orange ghost himself.

“Make-it Mavis,” he called calmly. “Welcome.”

I did not feel particularly welcome, not with the nervous looks and spiteful glares pointed my way. I just stood there, waiting to be told what to do. I was not interested in pleasantries. I just wanted to do the work and go.

Sensing that, Clyde nodded to an empty chair next to him. “Come, sit. Don’t be shy.”

I wanted to throw a retort at him, but I just went with it. Every time I got the urge to screw it all up, I remembered Tapper, and hot shame in my belly put me back in line. I had to do everything I could to ensure that I would never do something like what I did to his game again. I had already spent too long thinking your blood was on my hands. I did not need to throw someone else’s into the mix.

I walked into the fluorescent-lit meeting room and took my seat, and noted immediately that the space around it was far more generous than anyone else was getting, like even the chairs were scared of me. I felt so low, so hot, so embarrassed. I was in a massive hole that I’d tunneled my own way into, putting me on the same level as all those other miserable suckers. I was only there because I had been too weak to stop myself from taking my last buff. I couldn’t stop berating myself over it all. I was lethargic, sweating, ashamed, with my code stretched clear across the arcade. At least the cold metal chair felt pretty good on my feverish ass. I had that going for me.

“Alright, everybody,” Clyde addressed the group in a non-threatening voice, “let’s open up this evening by welcoming our newest member, Make-it Mavis.”

Silence. There were a few hesitant murmurs, so quiet that I definitely would not have heard them if the room was not already silent as the grave.

“Come on now,” Clyde prompted gently. “Say hello, everyone.”

I folded my arms and sighed. “They all knew I was coming,” I grumbled to Clyde, before saying to the group, “Yeah, I know. I’m here. And you don’t like it. Well, TS, ‘cause neither do I. Better learn to deal with it.”

“Actually,” Clyde responded, “there is some truth in what you’re saying, Mavis. None of us wanted to find ourselves in these situations, but everyone in this group did. And maybe we don’t understand each other as well as we could, but that’s just because we don’t know each other’s stories. That’s why we share them here, so we can recognize that addiction arises from a feeling that all living beings share -- pain. We are stronger against pain when we are united, rather than divided.”

There were a few appreciative claps. I wanted to blow my brains out.

“Everyone did know you were coming,” he told me. “But why don’t you give us an introduction in your own words? Maybe let us know why you’re here?”

He was already placing way too much trust in me. Still, I sighed loudly and stood, looking out over the group. Some were big, some were small, most I’d seen in passing, but all were looking at me with full understanding of who I was. An introduction felt superfluous and quite daunting at that point.

"You…" I said slowly, leading into a sigh. "You all know. Or you think you know. There's no point. Just-- just forget it and get this rollin', okay?"

I sat down.

There was no applause, not even awkward and scattered. There was only silence, while some glared at me and others squirmed anxiously. Even Clyde was silent for a moment, but I could see him studying me out of my peripheral.

He then spoke as pleasantly as ever, “You’re not feeling ready to share. That’s alright. Everyone’s expected to participate, but we go at our own pace. Remember that there are no judgments here, and nothing leaves this room.” He then addressed the group, “Why don’t we welcome our newest member with our own introductions? We’ll go clockwise from my left.”

The introductions began, and I made a painful effort to listen. For the most part, they seemed to be the same basic sob story. The unplugging on the 7th put the fear of Litwak in them, and buffs were the only way to escape the existential horrors they had been plunged into. It was supposed to make me feel welcome, but it seemed to just piss me off. It felt like a punishment. I was supposed to sit in a room with a bunch of random losers and pretend we were going through the same thing. All of them could go home after the meeting and have a life waiting for them in the morning. They had roles. They had purpose. They probably still had plenty of sprites who loved them. I didn’t see how I could stand to benefit from the same treatment as sprites who had not gone through the hell I did. Sprites who could walk down Game Central free from harassment or attempts on their life. Who were not being blamed for a tragedy they had nothing to do with. Whose dead best friend was not being remembered as the most hated, corrupt, murderous sprite in history, while they barely had the space to mourn.

But as they carried on, I began to hear things I didn't understand. There was grief in their voices. Some said that buffs were their only escape from how much they missed someone. They talked about loved ones and game mates being lost to the 'Roadblasters incident,' and at the time, it made no sense to me. Up until that point, I thought that you, the twins, and all of Roadblasters were the only casualties. But according to these sprites, some were 'mowed down,' 'caught in the blast,' or even 'burned to death.' Apparently, you'd killed a handful of innocent bystanders somehow, which is… I mean, I’m not gonna lie to you.

That’s horrible.

Obviously, I remembered none of it. Well, I thought I didn’t. But there were things buried in my brain that burned like coals with every story that came. My mind didn't feel right, like it was suddenly struggling against the hold of reality, desperate to fly into another time. I felt so distressed by what I was hearing, so physically ill, that my sensitive, stretched-out code glitched slightly. Not enough for anyone to notice, but enough for my hand to clip into the seat of my chair where I was gripping.

That was just what I needed. Another way to humiliate myself. It kept me distracted from the harrowing stories, at least, as I tried to find a subtle way to tug my hand out of the pixels of the chair.

Then... she spoke.

The sound of one of the group member's voices startled me so deeply that my hand glitched free again. Her voice was not abrupt or loud or frightening -- in fact, it was fairly low, just a smoky, raspy mutter. But I felt it wriggle down into the crevices of my brain, trying to connect with a memory.

I looked at her, but it did not help much at first. I had never seen her before, as far as I could recall. She was a bipedal insect creature, modestly bigger than me, with a dull, lavender carapace and yellow wings folded behind her. She had huge red eyes that took up most of her head, but her tiny slit pupils never seemed to look my way. I still remember exactly what she said.

"My name's Worluk, and I'm an addict," she said, as if she had said it many times before. "Senseless violence killed a sprite I considered a sister. I can't just accept a reality where that's allowed to happen. Where someone so innocent can just die and there's nothing I can do about it. Everything's wrong. There's nothing I wouldn't do to make it right. Buffs took the edge off, but… they didn’t end up righting any wrongs."

As she spoke, I watched her serrated teeth and mandibles move, and stared at her weird spindly fingers that gave me some disembodied, distant ache. I knew her voice, I swore I did. But it sounded off-key. Out of context.

She finished her speech, "Committing crimes alone is one thing, but, then I got my friends involved and, y’know… that’s on me."

Then it hit me. It hit me like an ice-cold tidal wave made of everything I'd been through, everything that had led me to that moment. The nightmares. The trips. The echoing voice in my head that blamed me for your death. I should have recognized that voice the second I heard it.

It was hers.

My attacker, the ringleader of the attempt on my life in Dragon's Lair, that sick, disgusting psychopath who broke my brush and carved your name into my skin, was sitting just across the room from me.

The blood in my veins froze. My heart clenched. I could feel every sick, weak muscle in my body tighten with intent to spring, like an animal with prey in its sights. I stared at her, and she finally met my gaze coolly.

I thought getting through counselling was going to be hard before. I had no idea.

#fanfiction #fanfic #wreck it ralph #make it mavis #original character #homesick

6 notes · View notes

monkey-network · 5 years ago

Text

The Fiasco Finale of Future [1/2]

So in the penultimate episode of Steven Universe 2, the climax of both the season and series as a whole... is a group hug. As I expected, plenty were not too pleased with this turnout. Some felt it was anti-climatic, some felt it was resonating, and others tried to own the critics by digging deep into the scene like they always do sucking this show’s co- Coming from nearly a month later, I’m... split. One hand, I didn’t mind the climax. On the other hand, it was pathetic compared to plenty of other finales I’ve seen in media. It’s like this show as a whole, I enjoy it, but I also enjoy smacking it upside the head cuz it made some Karen-esque, All Lives Matter type stupid shit that I just cannot get behind. So you know what, Perry the Platypus, let’s mix it up. I wanna express the good and bad of this climactic end to the show and see where we can go from there. You ready?

What’s Good:

You truly wanna know what makes that final hug a great scene? A real showstopper? I have the truth, the best truth behind this, you won’t believe me but here goes. The climax worked because A Hug Is Nice. That’s it, there’s nothing else to it beyond a hug being nice. “But Monkey, you incel troll, there’s should’ve been more to that. The episode shouldn’t have taken that long to get to that point.” Well, in typical fashion, let me put it this way by talking about Spider-Man 2 (better than Spiderverse, don’t @ me). The whole movie is centered around Peter’s life getting shat on. He’s getting fired left and right, his people are abandoning him, he even loses his powers, he’s just at his utter lowest. But at his apartment, while contemplating, in comes his landlord’s daughter, Ursula, who offers him some chocolate cake and a glass of milk.

We can say the scene comes out of nowhere and that this is all that happens, feeling pointless, but I say this is an important scene because after everything that happens to him before, this one gesture from somebody out of nowhere to be honest was one of the nicest things he’s received in a while. It’s the seedling of a scene that keeps Parker going before Doc Ock comes to make him truly spring back into action. Above everything, it was nice. Like a hug.

I don’t need to be philosophically deep with SU2′s meta to tell you that a hug can be a worthwhile thing to get more than anything. It doesn’t resolve all the baggage Steven has in his mind, but a group hug from the people closest to you (and the Diamonds) can be a gesture so nice, it can numb you out, if only for a moment. Only other times where Steven got a hug was when he felt everything could be okay. With Lars, Peridot, and Connie after her “rejection”, and it’s after that “rejection” where he slowly loses it in his attempts to shake off that harsh feeling of abandonment and that everything can be okay. It is something where he can turn to the others for help but the concern of their response makes him reasonably suffer in silence. That last part is a little dumb, but I’ll get to that later. He can’t really hug himself because it doesn’t work like that. The point being that Steven, at his lowest, just needed something nice to consider. And a hug from everyone who loves him (and the Diamonds) can be that piece of chocolate cake he needed to be at ease, again, if only for a moment.

Like let me tell ya, as a deliriously depressed man that constantly wishes for death, a hug shouldn’t be spat on. Whether it be from your friends or mommy, a good hug can, at the very least, keep you sane and going. It isn’t medication, let’s not get it twisted, but a healthy remedy nonetheless, especially if you’ve ever felt touch-starved like I have before. It’s an affectionate gesture that for what it’s worth, should never be taken for granted. And while Steven could’ve well gotten this big type hug at almost any time he desired, I can at least appreciate the show for saving that at the right time. Whew. But, while the moment itself is nice, it’s predictably almost everything around it that unfortunately puts the moment in a vacuum and me with a bad taste in my mouth.

What’s Bad:

Let’s get this out the way, because I’m such a literal bastard... *inhale*

Penis. Penis. Penis. Penis. Penis. Penis. Penis. Penis. Penis. Penis. Penis.

MUSHROOM! MUSHROOM!

Congrats on those with the corrupted!steven theories who no doubt had it hard on when this horned trunk ascended, hung its head high, and beat its meaty chest with blind rage, the crewniverse certainly had the balls to go with this design and a long discussion of utilizing Monster Steven’s full potential. And if you think I’m nasty about this, hoo boy, be glad that words are all you’re seeing right now because artists no doubt had a field day potentially ruining this design for you even more. I’m surprised Tumblr’s flagging system hasn’t taken down whole posts with this. HEHEHEHAAAAAAAA!

As you can probably tell, I’m not a fan of this Diamond Dinodildo’s design (say that 5x times fast). I mean Rebecca could be as horny as she pleased with this show, but this is next level, I tell you. But seriously, it honestly sucked that this is what they came up with when it served no purpose to Steven thematically other than him being a literal peen of a monster. Said this before, but what does becoming a corrupted looking amalgamation mean to him beyond “he’s a monster”? Corrupted gems weren’t the worst things in his world, they were products of a even worse thing. Turning into a diamond like figure would’ve said something about the cycle of abuse making you not feel like yourself, but a reflection of who you not only resent more than anyone, but were the indirect causes of your newfound issues. That would’ve took his struggle in the Diamonds Days arc to its next logical extreme, and brought most of Future’s episodes centered around Steven’s issues to a sensible turning point. Being a warped Diamond version of himself would’ve meant finally embracing inhumanity, and that would’ve conveyed the peak of Steven harshly feeling less like a human over the course of the season, especially when we had several episodes and new powers centering around him being inhuman. And a previous episode had him try to shatter a Pink version of White Diamond, two beings generally responsible for everything that’s happened to him. And it isn’t the design that made this a turn off.

What was Steven even gonna do as a monster? He does nothing to the town, he never even makes it pass the cliffside. He doesn’t even try to attack anybody, the only times he does is when he’s provoked by either the Cluster, the Diamonds, or any of the gems. Spinel raised more hell than Steven. So on the look back it’s insultingly sad they hyped up this big dick energy only to do... genuinely nothing. He already didn’t deserve turning into Pinky the Phallisaurus, but having him not even do anything as a monster left far more to be desired. Mob Psycho 100 did this nearly identical, but better. You can’t deny that it would’ve worked better with 22 minutes, actually give him something to do beyond screech and stomp like he’s Scrat from Ice Age. As much as I don’t like Change Your Mind, 45 minutes worked to its favor to do everything it did. Oh wait, this episode did make good use of time... with a fucking pity party.

They wasted my baby

This is. The WORST scene in the entire series and I’ll stand by that 100%. It’s one thing to show something offensive, but it’s another to have something be completely pointless. Yes, Connie talked some sense into them, but we didn’t need to waste time having White Diamond and the others bitch about something everyone who isn’t a toesucking simp should’ve figured out at that point. Not like it mattered, the Diamonds and Spinel never show up after this episode anyways, so good job making them count for something, I guess. This as well as minorly acknowledge the fact that the gems had a lot to do with Steven’s mental trauma because hey, we don’t have to hold these gems too accountable for child neglect. Speaking of which, where was Jasp- This plays well into my previous point, we aren’t shown what Steven was gonna do as a monster, so what else is the episode to do beyond holding him back in time to just make the characters go “All is lost” for one second before getting back up like this is Marvel’s Captain Driftwood?

Friendship is Magic had this type of moment in its penultimate finale but in that, more time was given to show the villains getting the upper hand, Twilight at her low point, her turnaround with her friends, and the lead in charge to defeat the villains. While some moments felt convenient and downright insulting, they made the most of their limit. The same can’t be said for this and it makes no sense. Speaking of things that make no sense:

Was this shapeshifting or corruption? Rushing or dragging? This personally bothers me because people are saying he shapeshifted even when they were also on board with him corrupting. But what was the point where monster Steven cums cries into the ocean turning it pink?

Now if Steven got himself corrupted, this would make sense since the three Diamonds are there with so fully turning him back to normal wouldn’t be an issue. Questions would arise about how corruption can happen to a human, then again this is Steven Universe, fans never really wanted you to ask questions. But if this was shapeshifting, then why have this permanent monster form? It would’ve made a little more sense of Steven changing his shape depending on his emotions, like what we’ve seen before. Additionally, Steven should have been capable of talking normally instead of roaring and growling like he switched brains with an actual animal. Just because he kinned Godzilla’s joystick doesn’t mean he was unable to speak to anybody, that is if he shapeshifted. Lastly, and this is more implicit than my previous points:

This season shouldn’t have tried tacking mental issues and trauma onto this dickslap of a climax. I’m on the side where we should’ve seen more from monster Steven, but what does this tell me for the topic of mental health? Nearly killing people on three separate occasions didn’t help, but having him transform into a near mindless beast is a backhanded way to convey post traumatic stress. Let me put it this way, if we didn’t get that episode where we learn Steven had held up trauma and stress from Doctor Priyanka, everything surrounding it afterward wouldn’t feel as fucked up as it did. Yes, understanding a root of a character’s problems is good, beneficial even, but having your character nearly, sporadically, commit MURDER THREE TIMES only to then have him become a wildin’ creature does nothing, if not disgust. It's disgusting when you talk about PTS one minute and have your main character be socially dangerous the next. You’d feel sorry for him, sure, but I gotta say nearly killing people is not something we should just hand wave. That is not a good or realistic depiction of depression and post traumatic stress; especially when you trying to discuss this with children. And don’t try to justify it by saying it was necessary for his downward spiral. Having to think and see death before my own eyes in real life, there should’ve been a better way to make Steven hit rock bottom without putting other’s lives on the line. It wasn’t compelling or resonating to see him become a witless creature after saying he could get away with anything, it felt jarringly hallow and teeth gritting sadistic to think this was acceptable. It took him turning into a literal creature to finally go to therapy or a throwaway line about therapy in this show’s case? Are you kidding me?

The hug is a nice moment on its own, but it took far too many kneecaps to get to this point and think it’s believably or justly earned. I can make fun of the monster design all I want, but what they put Steven through to get to this point is the most insulting writing I ever have to think about. Because you know what that hug told me, personally? It’s that you can commit near irrefutable atrocities, you can behave like a blithering rampaging beast all you wish, but that won’t matter. Because you’re valid and your people will love you. That is not only asinine, but it kinda pissed on what I went through growing up. Like, as idealistic as that felt, it didn’t add up because it made the mentally unstable come off as more unstable than they mostly are. You can disagree all you want with this, it won’t change the baffling fact that I came to this conclusion in the first place when I didn’t want to. “But the crew said in an interv-” NO, just nope. If the message the show gives is this polarizing for those that invested or were concerned with it, maybe the message wasn’t clear enough, who knows? I can believe Mr. Rogers never fucked this up when he made his show. I tried thinking of this differently, but I can’t excuse what they did and how they did it. Bojack Horseman never pulled this with its main lead and when it truly did, that was given more time to sort out; not an 11 minute epilogue in its final moments. The hug was nice, but this episode was trash.

Speaking of which, next time...

We Finally Look to the Future

Here’s Part 2, if you’re up.

#su critical #su criticism #su critique #su #steven universe #steven universe future #su future #suf #analysis #reviews #Good Stuff #dumb #I am my monster #long post

33 notes · View notes

btsandvmin · 5 years ago

Text

Collection of asks 2 - BTSandVMIN

I had to make a second one because the length of the first one was getting way too long. If you are curious about some of my older asks here is the link to my first collection post - Collection of asks - BTSandVMIN

I have this post because I feel some of the asks I answer are worth saving, for me personally, and perhaps for you as well. But I don’t want to put them all in my Masterpost where I want to keep it a bit more structured for my longer posts and analysis. So for asks that are more about answering specific questions or about general things or my feelings I will put them here.

Asks are written more in the moment than my usual posts, so they might be less accurate as it’s all mostly from the top of my head. The newest ones will actually be on top, and then they will get older going down the list. I’ll update it regularly as I answer more asks. :)

Look at jhope's interaction with maknae line

Sorry for spamming with asks

You're so right about how any ship can be possible if you focus on it

I reject any idea of a couple being pushed to protect another

What do you think of vmin’s busan forehead kiss?

About tae changing the choreo of fake love

What do you think of that famous ji/kook trip together ?

"Friends" doesn't speak about a friendship to me and the title seems like a way to "hide" the true meaning. Thoughts?

I honestly do feel his "best" friend is only ever needed when it's convenient to him

When j/k wore matching shirts asked them something like are u guys dating Its so differnt from his rn to vmin

Looking at th and jm for what they are or represented to be their bond shouldn't be taken at face value. Just reminding that jealousy amongst bandmates do exist

Jimin kissed tae on the pretext of kissing tanny. tae blanked out for a few secs after that

Jin in Jimins Festa profile this yr called Tae his "Bf" and then the next word is "best friend"

I dont think vmin or any other ship in bts for that matter are in any form of relationship right now.

Kind of agree with vmin not spending much time together outside of work & things they do/say barely even give off that "possibly a couple" vibe in general

IF feelings are involved, who do you think fell first and why?

You already said that you ship them, but do you think that they're real?

I found it kinda weird how jimin apparently "didn't know" 4 o'clock was inspired by him

Have u seen that one radio interview in the past Th openly called out jm for liking men?

We never see them hangout tgt I mean we have seen ji/kook tgt more often and tae with his wooga squad

What did you think about jimin playing the video game using tae's acc while the latter looked from behind?

When tae posted 'lets keep going for a long time i only have u' they probably only knew e/o for about 2 yrs and now we also know that at that time they still argued and fought with e/o alot. Yet they felt so strongly for their frienship.

What are your thoughts about tae choosing " my time " to recommend it to a non army.

If we look at their personalities tae is more of introverted and shy these days while jimin is more outgoing and loud. But when it comes the them jimin is always the one who seems cautious

Is it my imagination or is Jimin VERY loud lately? I feel like the roles have somehow been reversed.

The timeline of the dumpling incident really confuses me.

Why do i feel like vmin dont hangout outside of work anymore

Just read your ji/kook vs vmin post regarding festa and I agree. you can tell that jm gets very serious when it comes to tae

A possible sexual relationship between Jimin and Tae. I've seen subtle hints where this might be happening behind the scenes like the recent bang bang con

Whenever joon says stuff like 'what a nice friendship/bcoz he is your friend' vmin have a very neutral or blank face

When do you think their friendship turned into something more?

Did u see how tae coloured jimin's name on the soft board with purple.

Jimin recently in this festa says jk is his soul brother

Nj nearly always tries to underplay vmin's bond.

Sweet Night: “Sharing my fragile truth That I still hope the door is open Door'

I feel like jimin was reluctant to talk about the dumpling incident probably bcoz it involves him getting drunk?

Your opinion on the whole "that's smth a couple would do" "you two look like a couple" for ji/kook vs "it's cause he's your friend "

What ur opinion is on the new kdrama that is based on homosexuality.

Tae has many a times mentioned wanting to have kids or wanting to be father.

Taehyung has always talked about having a family, children and wife etc.

I personally feel the maknae line in general have been advised not to do lives alone tgt bcoz of the intense shipping

I spend hours reading your posts and I could never get tired of it

I have a doubt about vmin recently V is so close to JK it seems like V avoiding jimin

Taehyung talked about the movie Call Me by Your Name and its soundtrack

I honestly like how unpopular vmin are.

Let's say JM and TH have other partners - do you think said partners would be okay with a whole song of vmin declaring each other as soulmates?

In the end there is no moment that is unique to a ship. do you agree?

Some vlives are arranged by the company and sometimes members themselves when the find free time they go live.

What was the point of making a decision tght to come on vlive tgh infront of the fan to then not do it?

It cant be the company stopping v and jm from doing a live can it?

Do you the think the reason vmin dont do vlive is because taehyung's feelings are one sided?

Theory on a possible reason on why vmin has not gone to do a vlive on their own for so long?

On bon voyage 3 j hope mentions how v and jk were hugging each other in their sleep.

Ji/kook is obvious (ear nibble) and Tae reacting blank to Vmin moments

But why they dont have funny bro handshake like v/kook?

You are so delusional like seriously how do you function in real life

You know how vmin called eo soulmates. The term can also be taken in a platonic way too right

If there’s a real ship in bts, can you give me your opinion on who?

Tae kissing jimin's cheek after they won an award in some music show (About ship edits)

I think vmin is real. Can you do a Sweet night analysis because in my opion the song dosen't match with the drama

Why are you a Vmin shipper if you don't think Jimin is gay or at least bisexual?

I don't blame V and Jimin for not doing Vlive together

You know that blurry picture of vmin in 2014?

Tae and jk seem like the members who are most non straight to u and also that jimin might be straight so then isnt it more possible for t**k***k to be the couple?

Do you think that vmin are straight?

Can you tell me what makes you think jk is not straight

Ppl connect sweet night and 4 o' clock with vmin After tae's live yesterday n i m also seeing some ppl being offended by it.

Why do I sense that Tae has more of crush on Jimin (and realized it) but Jimi is oblivious?

Will you still publish that long vmin and lgbt in korea analysis.

Even namjoon said they should go live to discuss about their song.

I dont really consider minjoon vlive as one they did themselves. it was mostly organised by the company

Maknae line avoid vlives and its really weird that jimi would do it with rm but not tae

Shouldnt it be easy for them to go live tght than anyone else?

Tae is very reluctant or scared to do a vlive with jimin

In the past month when vmin did mention about the song they just made superficial comments

Hi 💙 do you write vmin fics?

I also feel that jm is nervous to talk about the song even though he said he will in the comeback show

If jimin doesn't go live today as well maybe we can get a vmin live?

Vmin antis say vmin are not friends irl and use the fact that they are never spotted hanging out offscreen as "proof"

Will you do a Vmin throwback - 2019?

Can we even be considered delulu anymore for thinking not all of this is a coincidence?

Sweet night doesn't really fit the couple relationship in the drama

What do you mean when you say 'not being delulu'?

I dont know why after listening to sweet night i feel very nervous?

Maybe the lyrics to SN are very well just about the drama/webtoon.

Do you think the songs lie and stigma are related ?

Namjoon talking about Friends 2 - Making excuses

Namjoon talking about Friends 1 - Can’t write about them

About the “Hello my alien” line in Friends

Do you think they gone do fansing this period of promoting?

Jm said when he wants to make and gift a song if he finds someone he loves and he actually helped write n produce the melody of chingu

Omg Ive been crying over the vmin song lyrics ever since they came out.

Thoughts about the song and what you took out of it

Its not a light hearted thing to call each other soulmate

This kind of debunks the christmas song theory… i feel sad like they are commercialising their friendship

Jimin is partly involved in the making and it will be about Jimin and Tae’s bond

I fear that vmin will become the next larry

Chrismats song, smile awards. Arent those awards previously decided and even the words written for them by the company?

I was wondering if you're going to write something about bv4 and all the vmin we got there

Do you think that vmin say they love each other truly or for fan service?

Recently i watched a vkook video to compare

Do you know how exactly vmin met?

Whenever I do get the chance to focus on Vmin it’s usully one of three things

At the airport Tae had his arm around Jimin's shoulder but removed it quickly when they arrived in front of the cameras.

I don’t care if people don’t ship Vmin romantically. But with Vmin doing things like this you can’t really blame us if we do.

I got a looooot of asks on the Christmas song and I will adress the ones I have left all in one go

The reaction in bv was probably cause he wants to visits there and jm got there first

Vmin talked about tannie and how they went to visit tannie at tae's parents house

Just do it how you feel comfortable, we are waiting for your analysis

What video is the gif you post with this : Jimin and V talking about going to the Sapporo snow festival and playing in the snow together

This break was an opportunity for them to be around other friends and family so maybe they just wanted to spend this time apart

Do you really think vm are soulmates? Sometimes i feel like we might be over using this word for them

Once again thank you for all the asks you send! And also sorry for not being able to keep up and answer them all. I’ll try to answer some old ones as well whenever I can, and I will keep adding some of them to this list. I hope you found something interesting. Thanks for reading!

#vmin #vmin analysis #btsandvmin #Btsandvmin ask #btsandvmin masterpost #vmin masterpost #Btsandvmin answer #95z is love #my post #keep loving vmin

43 notes · View notes

atiny-piratequeen · 5 years ago

Text

Against the Tide: Second Voyage (Ch.2)

Pairing: Eventual Poly Ot8

Genre: Heavy Angst, Eventual Smut and Fluff mixed in

Rating: 18+

Tags: DemonPirate!Au, Supernatural, Eventual Poly Relationship, Violence, Blood, Elemental Powers, Past and Modern Day AU, Mythical Creatures, Character Death

Chapter Specific Tags: Semi-graphic Violence, Blood, and Character

Chapter WC: 8.8k

A/N: There could be tags added later, especially if there’s something I write that potentially triggers my readers. The last thing I want is for that to happen, so please don’t hesitate to give me feedback if there’s something I write here you’d like me to tag

Tag List: @coffeekpopandcookies @wonderlandsobsession

AO3 Link

Taglist

← Last Voyage Next Voyage →

=Age 7=

“I don’t like it.”

“I know, my love, but we have to, if our country is going to thrive and stay afloat.”

He stomped his foot, puffing his cheeks out as he looked at his mother. She sent him a gentle, yet patient smile, petting the top of his head. He crossed his arms, looking away defiantly.

“I don’t want a new father. I only need mother. I don’t want a new family.” He huffed. The hand petting his head stilled and she leveled him with a calm look, her bright gray eyes staring into his narrowed ones. She didn’t say a word, and after a few moments, he lowered his eyes, uncomfortable.

“You...you won’t love them any more than you love me, right?” He muttered hesitantly, biting his lip as he balled his hands up at his sides. She sent him another smile and shook her head, kissing the top of his forehead.

“I’ll never love anyone as much as I love my little Prince, Seonghwa. Now come, we have to make preparations.”

=Age 17=

“There he goes! The young prince!”

“He’s so handsome, he’ll grow into a fine man.”

“I hear he and his mother were enchanted by the gods, and that’s why the have such unusual hairs and eyes.”

“Isn’t he much too stern for a child? He’ll be old and gray in no time if he doesn’t enjoy life more.”

Seonghwa kept his head up as he and his horse trotted through the town. He’d heard the whispers for years, always the same thing. His looks, his demeanor, how he didn’t act his age. His people meant no harm by it, so he took no offence.

Besides...compared to the other prince, someone had to be the mature one.

Prince Zafer was the reason Seonghwa had ventured out of the castle in the first place. The boy, a mere year and a half older than Seonghwa, was his brother by marriage. You’d be hard pressed to find anyone who acknowledged him as the superior brother, however.

Seonghwa excelled at his studies, learning a myriad of languages under both his mother’s gentle guidance, and the strict tutelage of the king’s instructors, and earning himself a seat in the room when the king and his tactitions went over the kingdom’s next moves. He kept up with his combat training, though the king always assured him that there was no need for such a thing, with a kingdom as powerful as theirs. The blonde prince had gotten in food graces with the people of his new kingdom, often stepping out of the castle for strolls amongst them as a sign of trust and good faith, coming out without any guards to protect him.

His stepbrother, however, was his polar opposite.

Zafer cared nothing for the diplomacy that came with being the older of the two princes. He often shoved his work onto some poor unfortunate soul in the kingdom while he slipped into town to try to court the girls easily swayed by his status. Aside from the fact of him being a prince, Zafer had little else to offer anyway.

Unfortunately, the thought of being the kingdom’s princess was enough for many to ignore that small detail.

Seonghwa found Zafer where he usually did, sitting in a higher end tavern in town. Once the owner took one look at the teen prince’s unamused expression, he cleared his throat, nudging Zafer to catch his attention before the inevitable argument was to ensue, hoping they’d take it outside.

The brunette waved him off, leaning closer to kiss the had of the fair girl across from him.

“If you’d like, I’d love to take you into the castle, sometime.” He cooed, wiggling his brows at her. She blushed, giggling from behind her hand before she looked up, her eyes widening in wonder at the unhappy prince that had appeared at the foot of the table.

“I find humor in the idea of you taking someone else into the castle for a leisurely stroll when you yourself can’t go two minutes without sneaking out and neglecting your duties, Prince Zafer.” Seonghwa’s voice was even and level, but the noticeable twitch in his thick brow was enough to betray his true feelings. Zafer rolled his eyes, sending Seonghwa a sharp, disapproving look before painting a fake smile on his face.

“Ah, brother! How nice of you to join us? Would you like a drink?” He inquired, lifting up his glass. Seonghwa looked at his hand with a flat look before his frown deepened.

“I would like to not have to interrupt my studies to always fetch you.” He grunted.

“Then, by all means, don’t.” Zafer growled, dropping the act as soon as he put it up. Seonghwa shook his head, a humorless laugh leaving his lips.

“As much as I would love to not have to deal with you, I’m the only one you can’t just order away. Now let’s go. The King requires your audience.” He sighed, rubbing his temples. Zafer laughed, kicking his feet up on the table as he leaned back in his chair, the wood from both creaking in disapproval from the sudden shift in weight.

“I don’t think I will, brother. You can go in my steed, yes? Consider it an act of good will towards your beloved older brother.” He beamed. Seonghwa’s steel eyes narrowed, his jaw set as he took a moment to collect himself from the anger boiling inside of him.

The maiden noticed the rising tension and stood, shying away when Zafer turned his baffled expression towards her.

“Callista, wait-”

“A-ah, I’m sorry. You should go, Prince Zafer. I don’t wish to make Prince Seonghwa and the King feel any more burdened because of me.” She bowed her head, avoiding eye contact as she tried to dart past the two. She bumped into Seonghwa along the way, nearly tripping after her sandal broke.

In a whirlwind of motion, he grabbed her hand, catching her before she collided with anything else. He pulled her upwards, letting her go once she had regained her balance. Callista looked up, her face igniting when she was met with the younger Prince’s features up close. He let her go and looked down, noticing her broken sandal.

With a small hum, he looked towards one of the castle guards Zafer had escort him out, grabbing his attention with a curt wave.

“Yes, Prince Seonghwa?”

“Please escort this woman to her home. Make sure she gets there safe and then join us in the castle, if you would.” he instructed. The guard nodded, taking the starstruck girl by her wrist, escorting her out of the tavern.

Zafer watched her go with his jaw dropped before he leered at Seonghwa.

“What the hell are you-”

“Castle. Now. The King requests your audience. You would think you’d be the first to understand that something of that caliber leaves no room for arguments.” Seonghwa cut him off sharply, pivoting on his heel to exit the tavern, satisfied when he heard the older prince curse under his breath, following behind him with the remaining two guards he had taken out with him following in tow.

They all hopped on their respective horses, with Seonghwa taking off first in a blur of gray. His horse was a strong, gray Caspain female he had named Mars. The King had gifted Seonghwa the mare as a pony when he and his mother combined their kingdoms as a show of good faith.

There was a flurry of hoofsteps from behind him, but Seonghwa didn’t startle as Zafer and his stallion, Jupiter, caught up to Mars and himself.

“Must you always be such a killjoy, brother? Maybe if you spent less time in that stuffy library and lived a little more-”

“I’m enjoying my life just fine, Prince Zafer. I get my work done and I still have more than enough time to do the things I enjoy. You, however, I suppose I understand why you dodge your responsibilities. I’m sure if you sat down and actually did all the work you’ve left backed up for everyone else to deal with, you would never see the light of day.” Seonghwa responded without missing a beat. Zafer’s brow twitched and he frowned.

“Hey...would it kill you to send your big brother a little kindness from now and then?”

Seonghwa’s response was a gentle kick to Mars’ sides, his head straight forward as she stormed ahead of Zafer and Jupiter, leaving them in the dust.

=Age 19=

Seonghwa closed his eyes, smiling softly as delicate fingers placed a crown of flowers atop his head. When he opened his eyes, he smiled up at his mother, enjoying the way the corner of her eyes crinkled in mirth.

“The crown suits you well, Prince Seonghwa.”

“You do know best, Queen Daliah.”

She chuckled lightly and shuffled closer to him, placing her back against the tree trunk he was leaning against, looking up at the clouds rolling in the sky.

“You could have the real crown soon, you know. I doubt your father would give the crown to your brother after his repeated misadventures. You honestly are much more fit for the job.” She mused before she blinked in surprise at her own negative words towards her step son, gently smacking her mouth.

“Ah, this mouth of mine-”

“You haven’t said anything I do not agree to, mother. The King has tried for years to get Prince Zafer to stop neglecting his duties. Hell, I have tried to get him to take his position more seriously. He’ll throw a tantrum for sure if I become king over him, but it is something he’ll get over.” He hummed, his steel eyes half lidded as he watched Mars sleep in the flora not too far from them. She was seated, her gray head settled in the flowers as she rested.

“My son, will there ever come a time you see those two as more than just the King and the Prince?” Daliah inquired, turning her head to face him, tilting her head to the side. Seonghwa pursed his lips, feeling the wind sweep his bangs over his forehead.

“It feels more natural this way, mother. You know how I am with terms of endearment.” He mused, avoiding eye contact. She smiled at him and put her head on his shoulder, a gentle laugh leaving her lips.

“Ah, yes. Terms of endearment don’t come easily to you, do they, my sweet?”

Seonghwa only put his head atop of his mothers, nuzzling her once as they enjoyed the peaceful morning in the garden.

=3 Months Later=

“This is ridiculous!”

“Calm down, Zafer-”

“No! I do not understand why you’re crowning him king over me!”

Seonghwa stood in the throne room with his hands behind his back, his jaw set and his eyes straight forward as Zafer threw a tantrum. The King sighed, shaking his head while Queen Daliah frowned deeply.

“Son please-”

“Don’t interrupt me, the men are talking.” He snapped. Daliah’s brow pinched together in displeasure and there was the sound of something cutting through the air.

Suddenly, Zafer had the curved blade of one of the family’s signature falcata swords pressed against his throat. He froze, snapping his eyes to the left to meet Seonghwa’s infuriated steel gaze.

“You can run your mouth for hours about the ‘unfairness’ of the King not giving you the crown, but raise your voice at my mother once more and I’ll cut you down before you can finish your sentence.” He snarled. Zafer sneered at him, backing off to rub his neck, frowning when he felt the spot of blood from Seonghwa’s sharp blade.

“Pardon me, you can imagine I’m displeased with my younger, stepbrother getting the crown over me, a native to this kingdom.” He growled through gritted teeth. Seonghwa didn’t sheath his falcata, instead sharpening his gaze at the shorter prince.

“Say what you will about my blood, but my talents far surpass your own when it comes to ruling this kingdom. If you were to become the king of this kingdom, we’d fall. You have done nothing but slack off and eat off your silver platter all of your life, I would have no confidence with you as my ruler.” He spat, putting his sword back in its sheath with more force than necessary.

“Seonghwa, Zafer, please don’t fight. The princess is coming soon and-”

“If being the king means I have to marry that woman, you might as well make this one the king. I’ve visited her lands, I know the practices over there. Combining our kingdoms will only spawn chaos. Our lands have opened fair trade with the neighboring countries and we’ve made a name for ourselves for being a safe haven for travellers. What do you think will happen if you bring in another land with the polar opposite way of conducting business?” He snapped, turning his furious gaze to the King.

“Son, this is a good opportunity to distribute wealth-”

“You would look me in the eyes and lie like this?”

The king pursed his lips and Seonghwa shook his head.

“I wouldn’t do business with them under normal circumstances, now you’re asking us to combine our kingdoms and split rule with those brutish people? The streets would run red if you let them stick their hand into our affairs.”

Zafer tutted from behind him, swaggering up to the front once more.

“See, father? Seonghwa is much too afraid to see what a good opportunity this is. You should reconsider and make me king instead. I hear Princess Valentina is a real catch~” He cheered, seemingly in good spirits once more. Seonghwa scoffed, crossing his arms as he cast a glance at his step brother.

“T'es rien qu'un petit connard.” He huffed flatly, looking away when Zafer sent him a look.

“I don’t know what you just said, but it sounds like an insult.”

“If you studied more than how to chase maidens, you would know.”

Zafer opened his mouth to argue, but Seonghwa turned his back on the trio, shaking his head.

“If you care at all about the future of this kingdom, you’ll call off the wedding. I refuse to marry that woman.” He told them sharply before he exited, the tails of his royal robes flapping from the motion as he left.

The King and Queen exchanged looks with one another while Zafer watched him leave, a scowl on his face.

=2 Days Later=

“Can you believe him? Born with a chip on his shoulder, that one. Turning down Princess Val for something as trivial as that? Is he mad? We’re royalty, if we lose a few commoners in the crossfire, does it matter?” Zafer grunted, on his third glass of whine as he sat across from some of his men and some men from Valentina’s kingdom.

“The Princess is very disheartened by his behaviour. I doubt he’ll see our side in this matter, Prince Zafer. So what are we to do?” the largest man-a direct consultant of Valentina’s-inquired. The look on his scarred face was clearly implicating something nefarious, but it didn’t quite reach Zafer’s muddled brain.

“I told father to just let me be King. It’s my birthright.” He huffed, slamming the glass down on the table. The guards frowned, exchanging a look with one another while Valentina’s men smiled darkly. The leader, the scarred man named Franco, tilted his chin upwards.

“Then reclaim your birthright. We’d be more than excited to help. Consider it the beginning of our business partnership, yes?” He extended his hand. Zafer looked at his hand, furrowing his brow.

“What are you implying?”

“You kill your brother. You’re not even related by blood, yes? Once he’s out of the way, we can make sure the crown is on your head, King Zafer.” He cooed, arching a brow and nodding at his hand. Zafer looked back at his hand before he smiled, reaching out.

The guard beside him grabbed his shoulder, eyes wide.

“Your majesty, this is absurd. Prince Seonghwa is your brother.” he tried to reason with him, but Franco laughed, loud and booming.

“Oh? You take advice from lesser guards, too? Does the blonde prince do this, too? When will you ever step out of Seonghwa’s shadow?”

Zafer’s lip curled and he reached out aggressively, shaking Fraco’s hand.

“There won’t be any shadow if he’s dead.” he grunted before he turned towards the guards.

“You keep your mouths shut. If I find out either of you said a word, I’ll wipe your entire bloodline from this earth, mark my words.” He threatened. They cowered, noticing Valentina’s men shared the same threatening intensity in their eyes.

From a table over, a man set down his glass of water, a hum leaving his throat. Across from him, another man put his cheek in his hand, a knowing look on his face as he observed his companion.

“You have that look in your eyes, Captain.”

“Go back to The Utopia alone, Daniel. I have business to tend to tonight.”

There was a light chuckle.

“Of course you do, Cap’n.”

=Later=

“Are you absolutely mad? Are you drunk? Who do you think you are waltzing up to the castle like this?!”

Hongjoong sighed, running his hand through the back of his hair as he looked at the guards at the gate. They had scoffed at him when he requested conference with ‘whoever the prince is that isn’t a traitor’.

“Ah, how bothersome. I just wanted to give your prince a warning. There’s a storm coming and I figured I’d warn him before something terrible happens.” He mused, talking to himself more than the guards. They leered at the pirate, reaching for their falcatas to forcibly make him leave when the sounds of hooves approached.

The three of them looked behind Hongjoong, watching as a handsome blonde man approached on a beautiful gray horse.

“Woah, Mars.”

The mare stopped in front of Hongjoong, snorting slightly before she sniffed at him, curious. Hongjoong blinked at her before reaching out, smiling when she nuzzled his hand. The man on top watched him with careful steel eyes.

“Who are you?”

“Kim Hongjoong. Captain of The Utopia.”

“Your clothes...a pirate, I presume?” Seonghwa inquired, noticing all the affection Mars was giving the stranger. It was curious, since she often didn’t like contact with anyone other than himself and his mother, aside from a few stable hands.

“You can say that, yes.” Hongjoong was honest, putting his hands behind his head as he looked up at Seonghwa. The guards drew their falcatas in an instant, pointed at his back.

“You didn’t say that, you bastard! Are you suffering from some kind of madness? What business would a pirate have near the kingdom except to steal?!”

“I told you, because I heard some drunk lad in the tavern in port talking about murdering a prince and becoming king.” He snapped, clearly unamused. Seonghwa’s brows went up for a moment before his face quickly masked the look when Hongjoong turned back to him.

“Let him in. I’ll listen to his words. Come, pirate.” He gently pet Mars’ back and dismounted from her, nodding in the direction of the garden.

“Prince Seonghwa-”

“Take Mars to her stables. If anything goes awry, I’m more than capable of handling myself.”

The guards sighed and nodded, taking the reins and leading her off while Hongjoong followed Seonghwa to the garden. They stopped in front of a tree with beautiful white flowers that rustled with the leaves in the night breeze. Seonghwa inhaled and turned, looking down at Hongjoong, who seemed more interested in the beautiful flowers at his feet.

“Speak. Why are you really here? I can not fathom any reason a pirate would make up such a tall tale unless you thought you could sway my family or I for some form of monetary gain.”

Hongjoong lifted his gaze and rolled his eyes. Seonghwa bristled from the move, but waited for an answer.

“I have no interest in lying. I do not have any interest in swindling, either, lad. I may be a pirate, and I could care less if you believe me, but I am different than whatever your connotation of what that title means. If I would steal from a royal family, I wouldn’t be so brazen to walk up to the gates like some kind of fool.” He grunted, crossing his arms over his chest. Seonghwa pursed his lips, watching him carefully.

“So-”

“So, I was in the tavern, and this lad was talking-rather loudly-about how he couldn’t believe Prince Seonghwa-you, I presume-would turn down some marriage proposal. He was with some thuggish looking goons and they said something about a princess not being happy. The gist of it is, they want your head, mate. What you do with this information is your own business, but I know I’d lose sleep if I didn’t even give you a fair warning. Heavens know those guards won’t be telling you any time soon, not with the threat of ‘their entire bloodline’ being wiped out.” Hongjoong told him, stretching his arms.

“That’s all. Nothing more, nothing less. I guess watch your back around that one, mate. He seems to think more with pride than any rational thoughts in his mind.”

Seonghwa reviewed him for a long moment before he closed his eyes, processing what he was told.

When he opened them, he nodded behind Hongjoong.

“Very well. If that is all, I’ll see you out, pirate.”

“Much appreciated.”

Hongjoong sent Seonghwa one glance over his shoulder before he started making his way down to the port, his hands behind his head. He hummed, thinking of ways he could expand his crew now when he heard a whistle from his left.

Pausing, he looked in the direction of the sound, finding a woman shrouded in a cloak beckoning him over to a dark spot between two buildings. He looked around before pointing to himself. When she nodded, walked closer cautiously.

“Do you need something, ma’am?” He inquired, tilting his head as he stopped a few feet away from her. She nodded, lowering her hood to look at him, her beautiful blonde hair secured in a fishtail braid that disappeared down into her cloak. One look at her, and Hongjoong had a feeling his night was going to get a lot more complicated.

“I heard your claims from the guards regarding my sons. Can you please tell me yourself? I’d like to hear it from you, since you came to my castle, stranger.” She whispered. Hongjoong nodded, explaining once more what he heard in the tavern.

When he was finished, she had tears in her eyes, but she shook her head, standing straighter as she looked up at him.

“May I ask for a burdensome task?” She inquired, looking around to make sure no one was near or passing. Hongjoong nodded once, unable to deny a mother looking so close to being frantic.

“Please...until your ship is to sail out of these ports and leave these waters, can you please protect my son? The prince-Seonghwa-is my first and only born child and I...I would sooner give my life than have Zafer harm him over this. Please...I don’t want to lose him. Until I can come up with a permanent solution, take this, and help my son.” She urged, pushing a velvet pouch into his hands. Hongjoong could tell from the weight of it, there was gold inside.

“Wait, I don’t-”

“Please. I don’t have the strength to protect him, but you...you can. Please.” She pleaded, close to falling to her knees to beg. Hongjoong stopped her, squeezing her hands.

“I...I’ll do my best, Ma’am.”

She smiled at him, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand before she took his hands in hers.

“Thank you, stranger. Thank you. In the event that anything goes awry, horns will be sounded. I pray we won’t need them, but if we do, please make haste to the castle and take my son and I aboard, alright? I’d sooner flee this country than have my son lose his life from it’s kingdom’s betrayal.”

Hongjoong nodded, his brow pinched up in worry.

How the hell did he get himself in this situation?

=3 Days Later=

The sound of glass shattering abruptly woke Seonghwa up in the middle of the night. His eyes narrowed in the darkness as screams flooded the halls, followed by shouting and more crashing.

He threw himself out of bed, grabbing his falcata in an instant, eyes narrowed.

Could it be…?

His musing was interrupted by something banging on his door. His grip on his falcata tightened as he watched the door.

“Seonghwa! Baby! Please, we must run!”

His heart thumped against his chest as he briskly crossed the room, throwing open the door to look at his mother. She huffed, holding her bloodied side as she looked up at him. His eyes widened.

“Mother-”

“We have to run. Zafer...he..he’s teamed up with Valentina’s men and they-” She trembled, a faraway look in her eyes as she recalled watching them slay her husband. Seonghwa noticed the extra blood on her gown and swallowed down the question at the tip of his tongue.

“You, are you harmed, too?” He inquired. She nodded, looking down at the gash at her side before she shook her head and pulled him out of the room, rushing down the hallway.

“It’s small, they sliced me when I made a move to escape. We have to escape...I...I asked for aid days ago in the event that this happened. The horns were sounded, we just have to make it to port.” She hastily told him. He frowned, opening his mouth to ask her what she meant when there was the sound of a blade dragging against the ground. They stopped, watching as one of Valentina’s men rounded the corner. He paused, tilting his head as he raised his blade, eyes narrowed.

“Look what we found. You made this so much more messy than it needed to be, lady. All we wanted was the blonde, now the King is dead and we have to kill you, as well.” he sighed, shaking his head. Seonghwa drew his falcata, his lips curled into a snarl.

“You can only try. I hope you have made your peace to whatever gods you pray to.” He barked, rushing down the hall. His mother jolted, watching both sides of the hall in worry as her son clashed with the man.

The man’s fighting style was wild. He relied on broad, powerful swings that left him open to attack. Seonghwa blocked whatever came his way with his free hand, using his falcata to block the moves while he swung his long legs, kicking in the man’s knee. He barked in surprise and Seonghwa swung his hand back, unphased by the blood that came out as the man’s arm suddenly dropped, detached from his body.

His eyes widened and he screamed. Seonghwa kicked him in the chest, eyes forward as he slammed the blade down, silencing the screams in an instant.

His mother rushed up to him as he snatched the blade out, wiping his bloody face with shaky hands. He sent her an apologetic look at the sight before taking her hand again, rushing in the direction of the stairs.

“There he is! Get him!”

Seonghwa gently pushed his mother aside, taking off once more to fight the next three men they encountered. She bit her lip, watching her son fight in a flurry of motion, rage on his bloodied face. Seonghwa plunged the curved sword into one man’s chest, snatching it out in an instant to turn and elbow another in the face.

The third man charged him, pushing him all the way into the wall. They exchanged blows, punching one another until their lips were busted open. Queen Daliah rushed up to the men with a vase in her hand, smashing it over his head to disorient him while Seonghwa pushed him into the final man, making him accidentally stab him.

The Queen pulled a dagger from her gown, stabbing the man in the neck as he struggled to pull his sword free. Seonghwa watched the men fall and looked at his mother, frowning at the hysteric look in her eyes as she struggled not to break down.

“Mother...I’m sorry, let’s go.” He pulled the sword out of the dead man’s hands and turned to the end of the hall, gritting his teeth. He could feel his mother’s footsteps start to slow behind him as she struggled to keep up. She wasn’t used to running at all, especially not in intense conditions like these, and he imagined the rush of fighting for her life was beginning to tire her out.

“Ah, where are we going?”

They reached the stairway, stopping in their tracks when the large form of Valentina’s consultant sauntered into view. Franco tutted in disapproval, sending the dual wielding prince a look.

“Oh? Is that for me? I hope you know how to use those.”

“Take another step towards my mother and I and you’ll find out.” He spat. Franco’s brows went up in faux surprise before he chuckled, taking a dramatic step forward.

“Showtime, pretty boy.”

The two of them ran at each other, and Queen Daliah bit her lip, looking around for something she could use to help. Franco was larger than the other guards, and looked leagues more brutish than them, to boot. She was intimidated by the idea of getting anywhere near him.

As she looked around, she noticed a blur outside the window, her eyes lighting up when the familiar form of the pirate she asked to help, along with some other people, rushing into the courtyard.

“They’re coming! They’re coming to help!” She turned, eyes widening when she saw Zafer approaching Seonghwa from behind as he busied himself with Franco. There was a falcata in his hand, as well, and from the runes etched into the blade, she could tell it was his father’s.

“No!” She screamed, pulling her dagger out and rushing over to the fight, swinging at him. It drew the attention of all three men and Zafer stumbled, moving to stop her by grabbing her hand.

“You murderer! I won’t let you take him!” She screamed, tears rolling down her cheeks as she tried to wrestle her hand free. Seonghwa turned to intervene, but Franco took the opportunity, slashing wildly at his face.

The prince barked in pain, shuffling away. Zafer pushed the queen away, swinging haphazardly in an attempt to slice Seonghwa’s chest open. He missed, but the broad cut went through the blonde prince’s night shirt, gashing open his shoulder.

Franco readied himself for another strike, lifting his blade and thrusting with all his might at Seonghwa.

“SEONGHWA!”

The blonde was hit in the side by his mother’s body, all but pushing him down the stairs as she shoved him. He tumbled down the carpeted stairs, nearly dropping his falcata in the process. When he looked up, his eyes widened, horror etching itself on his face as he saw his mother at the top of the stairs, her arms holding onto Franco’s blade as she stared defiantly at him, blood running down the corner of her lips, the sword going though and through her body.

“No...no no, MOTHER NO!” he screamed. She shook her head, taking one of her blood stained hands to wave him off when he moved to get up and rush back up the stairs.

“G-go...run...find the pirate. Stay with him...please…” She coughed and Franco clicked his tongue in annoyance, snatching the blade out in one fluid motion. She cried out, falling to her knees before she sent Seonghwa a look over her shoulder.

“Run, mon bébé, live for me.” She told him, tears rolling down her cheeks before she collapsed. Seonghwa shook from his spot, looking up as Zafer approached the stairs, looking down at the lifeless body of his stepmother. He rolled his shoulder and stepped over her.

“Kill him.”

“Merde,” Seonghwa cursed, getting to his feet and rushing down the stairs as the two closed in on him. He tried to focus on navigating through the castle while losing copious amounts of blood. The prince made a hard left, cursing again when he noticed this was a dead end hallway.

“Son of a bitch-”

“Language unbecoming of a king. Ah, wait, nevermind.” Franco chuckled, lingering behind Zafer as the two closed in. Seonghwa ignored him in lieu of leering at Zafer.

He huffed, blood smeared on his face as he shook his head, still backing away from the duo. There was a sizable slice in his cheek, steel eyes full of tears he refused to shed,his heart thundering in his chest.

“Why?” He spat, pressing his back against the wall, the blonde hairs at the back of his head matted to the back of his neck. He held his falcata up, despite the blood running between his fingers. He could feel his arm scream in protest from the action, but he ignored it.

There was a humorless chuckle across from him.

“It’s just business, Seonghwa. You understand, right?" Zafer inquired, holding up the late king’s royal falcata in defiance.

Seonghwa’s lip curled up, pushing himself off of the wall as the sound of their footsteps closed in on him.

“Oh, I understand just fine, brother.” He spat the word out like a curse.

Zafer sneered at him, rushing forward, Franco moved to follow, but there was a tap at his shoulder, drawing his attention away. He turned, looking down to find a brunette stranger looking at him.

“Who the hell-”

The man didn’t verbally say a word, pressing his palm to his chest with a spark of malice in his eyes.

“That woman didn’t deserve what you did to her.”

Seonghwa and Zafer exchanged blows as the end of the hall erupted into fire. The princes paused, eyes widened at the sudden fire trapping them in the hall. Seonghwa gritted his teeth, using the distraction to hit Zafer with the butt end of his sword. He reeled back, holding his nose as Seonghwa stabbed him in the thigh, bringing him to his knees.

“All of this...all of this for what? For what?!” Seonghwa snarled. Zafer tried to swing the stolen falcata, but Seonghwa kicked him in the jaw, stepping on his chest as he looked down at him.

“Because, Prince Seonghwa...this kingdom is my birthright. Not yours.” He hissed defiantly.

“Then burn down with it, you would have done so as it’s king, anyway.” he spat, driving the falcata down right over Zafer’s heart.

He stood there, his eyes closed with his hands on the hilt of his falcata, waiting for the lick of the flames to meet him in the center of the hall. He had no energy to run and any attempt to hurl himself out of the window to safety would probably kill him, anyway.

He noticed the heat in the room drop, and opened his eyes, looking down the hall where the fire was to find the pirate from before, approaching him with his eyes downcast.

“I...I wasn’t fast enough. They stopped us through the town and at the gates and I...I’m sorry.” he muttered. Seonghwa looked at him without a word.

“Why are you here, pirate?” His voice was tired, and Hongjoong didn’t blame him with the ordeal he’d went through.

“She...the Queen asked me to protect you. Bang up job, I did. I’m sorry. Here-” He reached into his pocket, passing the velvet pouch to Seonghwa. The prince looked at him, eyes narrowed.

“My mother paid you-”

“I didn’t want to take the money, mate. In fact, I haven’t opened it since she handed it to me. I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this.” He sighed. Seonghwa looked at the pouch in his hand, a dazzling shade of emerald. His mother’s favorite color.

He opened it, finding gold pieces within it, but at the very top was a small, folded up piece of paper. He opened it, his shoulders dropping when he realized it was his mother’s handwriting.

‘My sweet, if you’re reading this, you must have made it successfully to the man I hired to protect you. Regardless of what happens, you must flee this kingdom. If this message reaches you, know that Valentina and Zafer will start a war with us. Please, flee. I heard their plans though our guards on this night, and I fear for your life. Do not die for this country. Live for me, please, my sweet.

I may not be with you, if you’re reading this. But I will always love you.’

Seonghwa clenched his fist, the paper nearly tearing as tears rolled down his cheeks. Hongjoong watched as he leaned down, picking up the royal falcata on the ground beside Zafer’s body. He stumbled, dizzy from blood loss as he turned towards Hongjoong.

“I see this kingdom has nothing for me, pirate. My mother paid you to take me aboard your ship. If I don’t bleed out before we get to port, I’d like to leave this land and never look back.” He grunted. Hongjoong noticed the excessive amounts of blood smeared all over Seonghwa and the way he swayed with every step and nodded, putting one of the taller man’s arms over his shoulder as he lead the way.

=Later=

“He’s bled a lot lot, Cap’n. I don’t think he’ll make it.” Mina frowned, looking up at Hongjoong as she observed Seonghwa on one of their tables. Seonghwa groaned as she tightened the bandages, cracking his eyes open.

"I...appreciate the help. I am sorry for burdening you." He groaned. Hongjoong looked down at his form, overcome with guilt.

He wasn't fast enough to save both Seonghwa and Queen Daliah, but he could save Seonghwa now.

"Mina, can you step out for me?" He inquired. She looked up at him before looking over at Daniel, who was in the doorway. Daniel nodded, knowing full well where this was going.

"Aye, aye, Cap'n." She nodded and stood, sending Seonghwa a look before she left the room. Hongjoong sat in her place, looking down at Seonghwa.

"My biggest blunder in this world is not being able to save my mother from her illness." He started. Seonghwa's brows furrowed, looking up at him in confusion. Hongjoong ran a hand through his hair.

"My second is not being able to save your mother. I...can't take back the past, but I can save you." He told him. Seonghwa closed his eyes, letting his head thump against the table.

"Are pirates normally this hospitable to those close to death?"

"I can't speak for others."

Seonghwa's lips quirked.

"You don't need to fill me with false hope, pirate. You have no obligations to me."

Hongjoong paused for a moment before he reached into his boot, pulling out a dagger.

"I may not have one to you, but I do to your mother." He murmured, cutting open his thumb. Seonghwa opened his beautiful gray eyes again, brow furrowing when he felt the prick of Hongjoong's blade against hand.

"What are you-"

"Forgive me, but I'd never live with myself if I let another mother down in this world. And that's...a very long time to not live with myself." He mused, pressing his bloodied thumb to Seonghwa's.

At first, nothing happened, and Hongjoong felt his heart sink. Was Hyuna lying when she said he could give others immortality?

Before he could panic, Seonghwa let out a small gasp, his eyes glinting before he let out a groan, passing out. Hongjoong blinked in surprise, expecting an explosion of power like when he was turned.

"Well that was fast." An unfamiliar voice startled him and he looked up, finding a blonde man leaning in the doorway. Hongjoong bristled, a swirl of water circling around him and Seonghwa as he leered at the man.

"Who-"

"Relax, relax. Hyuna sent me to check up on you. Kind of a hassle when you're on the move, but I made it." He leaned over, looking at Seonghwa in interest.

"Apparently not a minute too soon, eh?"

"Hyuna...sent you?"

"Aye. My name is Dawn. I'm the first one she's ever turned. Ah, unrelated, but we're lovers, as well." He beamed proudly. Hongjoong relaxed and Dawn entered the cabin.

"You are wondering why he's not showing signs of what power you gave to him, yes?" Dawn inquired, satisfied when Hongjoong nodded at him.

“The full moon is the key. When you’re turned, you get your powers fully when the moon is highest in the sky on a night of the full moon. Judging from the sky when I came in-” Dawn hummed, leaning against the frame.

“It’ll be weeks before whatever power you shared with him actually take effect. For the time being, he’s just an immortal with power lying dormant inside of him. Which is good for you, since Hyuna left out some important things when she turned you.”

“Like what?”

“When the moon is high and your powers are ready, your demonic self takes over, and any strong force of negativity will try to take hold. Your powers will go wild if you don’t learn to control them and control both the ‘current’ you and the ‘demonic’ you. I imagine this one is going to create a mess when the moon is full, with all the negativity in him.” Dawn pointed at Seonghwa before he rolled his shoulder.

“I’ll give you something, one from Hyuna and one from myself.” he walked over, putting his hand on top of Hongjoong’s head. There was a small pulse of light before he hummed, observing him.

“What did you do?” Hongjoong inquired.

“From now on, when you share your powers, a mark will appear on the person you shared with. It’ll help you figure out who has what power. Well, if you know what you’re looking for.” he mused, smiling at the flat look Hongjoong gave him.

“Anyway, Hyuna gave me a message, too. If you’re ever in trouble, know she’ll be watching over you with a murder of crows.”

“Murder of crows?”

“Mm. Though they may not be actual birds.”

“God, can you demons be any more vague?”

“I mean...yes? Also, you’re a demon now too, so...”

Hongjoong leered at him and Dawn turned, hiding a laugh behind his hand.

“Anyway, make sure you’re careful when you turn people. Don’t wanna get an overly negative demon turned on a full moon, yknow? They could very well sink this ship if you can’t stop them and tame them.” he informed him before he winked over his shoulder, disappearing in a small puff of smoke.

Hongjoong rubbed his temples and shook his head, letting it fall onto the table beside Seonghwa’s body so he could finally rest.

What a long night.

=~=

“So, one more time for me,” Seonghwa laughed, looking over at Hongjoong as the young captain rubbed his temples, unnamused.

“I’m a demon. I saved your life by performing a blood pact with you. You’re like me now, an immortal. And on the next full moon, you’re demonic powers will awaken.”

Seonghwa snorted, but Daniel only nodded from beside Hongjoong.

“Take your bandages off, then.” He urged him, waving a hand. “There’s no way your wounds would have healed overnight without some form of magics, yes?” he hummed, sending Hongjoong a wink when the younger man sent him a thankful smile.

Seonghwa rolled his eyes and moved to take the bandage off of his cheek, running his fingers over the skin there.

Smooth.

He blinked, eyes wide as he touched his face firmly, lips parting when he felt a distinct lack of a gash there. Hell, he didn't feel any pain, either.

He tore his shirt off, pulling at his bandages until they were off, lips parting as he looked at his shoulder, uninjured and fully functioning without a persistent spark of pain.

"What the hell did you do-"

Hongjoong rolled his eyes.

"Maybe I should've just let him pass peacefully. For my sanity." He grunted, standing up.

"If you're feeling better, then, get up and follow me. From now on, you're part of my crew. Everyone has to pull their own weight and a lot of people helped you escape, Prince Seonghwa, not just me." He informed him. Seonghwa's lip curled.

"Don't call me Prince anymore."

"Fair enough. Let's get to work then, Seonghwa."

"I still have questions."

"I'll answer them after you swab the deck."

=2 Weeks Later=

"They're at it again?" Psy hummed, watching as Seonghwa and Hongjoong bickered. Seonghwa had gotten into the habit of calling Hongjoong 'petit putois' idly and it often made the small demon bristle.

"What does that mean?!"

"Non, if I tell you, it wouldn't be fun, now would it?"

"All I know is, you called me small, didnt you?"

Seonghwa's lips twitched, humming as he looked away. He often mulled around the ship, lost in his own thoughts with a clenched jaw, but something about Hongjoong made some of the tension in his shoulders loosen.

"I don't know. Is that what that means?"

"Listen-"

The two went back at it and Daniel smiled, crossing his arms.

"They look good together." He mused, watching Seonghwa stroll away from their slightly annoyed captain. Psy tilted his head, a fond look in his eyes.

"Ah yes, they remind me of a certain two people when they crossed paths." He replied, glancing at Daniel. The man smiled, closing his eyes.

"I do suppose they share some qualities."

=~The Night of the Full Moon~=

Hongjoong was restless, pacing as he stood on the deck with Seonghwa. He checked his watch, unsure of when exactly the moon was the highest.

"What exactly are we waiting for?" Seonghwa inquired, looking towards Hongjoong. Hongjoong stood across from him, holding out both of his hands. In one, was a ball of wind, the other held a plume of fire.

"I gave you one of my powers when I turned you. Tonight is the night you get them fully according to Dawn. I have to help you control them, so your demon self doesn't destroy my ship."

Seonghwa nodded, looking at his hands.

"I feel fine, though."

Hongjoong shook his hands, making both balls of elemental magic disappear before he focused on Seonghwa.

The clouds obscuring the moon rolled past and Hongjoong felt the night air dip into a chill.

Seonghwa froze, his brows twitching.

"What-" he stopped himself, clenching his shirt as he fell to his knees. Hongjoong cursed, quickly making his way over to him as snow began to fall from the sky.

"Seonghwa-"

"Don't touch me."

He stopped in his tracks, watching the blonde of Seonghwa's hair bleed into an inky black that rivaled even Hyuna's. Seonghwa trembled, a low, pained laugh leaving his throat as he hunched over.

Hongjoong shook his head and continued approaching the ex prince as the snow turned into hail.

"Talk to me? Are you in pain?"

"I don't need your help. I don't need anyone."

Seonghwa lifted his head and Hongjoong noticed the gray of his eyes was a snow white color. There were ruby marks going down his face, from above his brows to the middle of his cheeks like gashes, and when his lips curled up in a snarl, Hongjoong noticed their bloody red color.

Seonghwa growled at their proximity and swung, shards of ice flying full speed at Hongjoong. He flinched at first, but threw up his hand, a wall of fire melting the shards before he frowned.

"Seonghwa, calm down."

"Cap'n! The sea is freezin!'" a crew member cried out from behind him. Hongjoong noticed the ship slowing and looked back at Seonghwa, who had began to cry, cursing in several languages as he swayed.

"Gone, gone, she's gone. I don't need anyone anymore. No one. Stay away from me. Don't touch me." He mumbled. Hongjoong shook his head and approached him again, ignoring the next shard of ice that flew his way and the way it cut into his cheek.

"No. Stay away. Get away from me. I don't need you! I don't need anyone!" He barked, a circle of ice swirling around them.

"Hongjoong, he's gonna destroy the hull if the ice keeps forming!" Daniel barked from above. Hongjoong only nodded, continuing to close in on Seonghwa.

"She would be sad to hear you say that, wouldn't she, matey?"

Seonghwa bristled, the ice closing in around them as he turned his furious gaze at Hongjoong.

"You know nothing of my mother!"

"I know she was a beautiful queen with a beautiful soul and with her last days she wanted nothing more than for her son to live. Is isolating yourself a way to live? Would she be happy knowing you're pushing everyone away?"

"I do not need anyone! The last time I trusted someone, he killed my only blood related family left and tried to kill me!"

"The last time you trusted someone, he took you aboard this ship and gave you another chance at life."

Seonghwa's chest heaved as he stared at Hongjoong, the ice around them thickening.

"You...you'll just-"

"You can wound me with this ice, but if you compare me to that coward of a prince, I'll set you ablaze myself."

Hongjoong's eyes were adamant as he stopped in front of Seonghwa. The older man stared at him, tears rolling down his marked cheeks. Hongjoong extended a hand to him.

"It's okay to lean on someone again, Seonghwa. We're not him. We're an honest family. You're here now. I won't let anything else happen to you."

Seonghwa looked at his hand before he stepped into his space, his feet at either side of Hongjoong's. He pulled him into a hug, sobbing against his shoulder as the smaller demon closed his eyes.

The ice crumbled, melting away as Seonghwa relaxed, the demon side of him no longer raging. Hongjoong continued to rub his back, standing at the center of the deck with him.

=The Next Day=

"I'm sorry. It was unbecoming of me to-"

"Stop apologizing. It's not your style."

"Just let me apologize, I put the crew in danger-"

"Seonghwa."

Hongjoong stopped abruptly, turning to send Seonghwa a small, tired smile. He had stayed up all night to ensure Seonghwa didn't have another episode, and fatigue was clear on his features.

"You worry too much. It's alright. I'd do anything for my crew." He pointed to the small compass-shaped mark on Seonghwa's right wrist. It matched the one on his left, though the needle pointed in different directions.

"Just take care of yourself and remember to lean on us from now on, okay?" He urged. Seonghwa hummed and nodded.

"Right...I understand. Thank you, mon petit putois."

"No problem- wait. You added a word this time. What does that mean?!"

Seonghwa smiled and walked past him.

"Just a term of endearment, all for you, Captain."

=Months Later=

Seonghwa ran a hand through his hair as he entered Hongjoong's room, finding him looking at maps once again.

"Captain, you should be sleeping. Staying up late to look at the same old maps is the reason you're so exhausted." He told him. Hongjoong shook his head, pointing to one point one of them.

"I was told this area is rich in resources. We can head here after we leave the next stop-" he was cut off by Seonghwa pulling the maps away from him.

"Tomorrow. You can look at them tomorrow. Go to sleep, putois."

Hongjoong rolled his eyes.

"You're never gonna tell me what that means, are you?"

"Tomorrow, if you sleep right now."

"Lying doesn't suit you."

Seonghwa laughed, a smile coming to his face as he looked down at the seated captain. Hongjoong shook his head, despite the smile on his face as he made his way to his bed. Seonghwa followed him, shrugging off his jacket as he watched Hongjoong haphazardly toss aside his shirt.

"Eyeballing your captain? I didn't realize my new First Mate was such a hound." Hongjoong teased, turning to face Seonghwa. The blonde pirate idly ran his tongue across his lips.

"Daniel gave me this position because I'm a capable person for the job. Besides, I haven't heard you complain about this hound yet, Captain Hongjoong." He teased, crowding against Hongjoong. The brunette bit back the witty comeback he had in lieu of pulling Seonghwa in for a kiss, pulling them into his bed.

"You talk too much. Either kiss me, or shut up and go to sleep."

Seonghwa smirked against his lips, their noses brushing against each other.

"Aye, aye, Captain~"

#fie writes #Against the Tide #kwritersworldnet #AtT Ch2 #ateez fic #ateez fanfiction #kim hongjoong #park seonghwa #jeong yunho #kang yeosang #choi san #song mingi #jung wooyoung #choi jongho #member x member #ateez ot8 fic

146 notes · View notes