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dimonds456 · 4 years ago

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Gem Steven’s gem is flipped upside-down. (Theory/Speculation time!)

SPOILERS FOR @spudinacup’s SU AU “Gone Wrong”!

Also WARNING: long post!

So recently, someone pointed out that Steven has a scar on his torso going across his gem’s location, which I found interesting in and of itself. Makes sense, since he wasn’t able to heal it since he DIED and his gem was shoved out of his body before it got the chance to heal him. That slash mark is there now. Wow, neat! Nice detai-

Wait.

Hold on a sec.

Is his gem... flipped upside-down? Well, it’s been like this for a while, maybe it’s just a creative choi-

...oh.

This is VERY intentional.

So I did some digging, and found much more symbolism and possible foreshadowing, and now I want to throw out my theory about Gem Steven here, including his potential arc and character development. I’ll try to keep everything brief while still blowing your minds, and I’ll try to get across what my jumbled mind has come up with.

Spud please notice me.

I will not be uploading photos to go with everything I say (go reread the comic after this and verify for yourself what all I’ve said), but I’ll show visuals when they’re necessary. I do not claim ANY of this art as mine (I wish my art was this good ;u; ), all of it belongs to Spudinacup and their SU AU, which has all kinds of hidden symbolism, foreshadowing, and visual cues we haven’t picked up on yet, as I’ve just learned while researching this theory. This ain’t your run-of-the-mill AU, everything in here is intentional. Scott Spud doesn’t do coincidences. So I’ll point out that stuff in screenshots.

Okay let’s go.

SO! To begin with, let’s talk about why his gem may have flipped, and to realize that, we have to know when. We don’t see the gem much, but we do see it constantly through Chapter 1, where it is normal. The pentagon is pointed upward. However, in Chapter 2, this is where we see it flipped upside down. When did that happen? We didn’t see it. I believe it happened in that first scene in the bathroom, right after we left. The butterflies were swarming angrily, and Steven was very lost in thought.

Notice whenever those butterflies appear. They seem to show up every time he thinks about who he is. Is he still Steven, or is he someone else now? Steven is dead. Everyone is mourning him, trying to heal him, but Gem is still here. So if Steven is dead, but Gem is still alive, that must mean he isn’t Steven then, right? But then that undoes everything we learned in “Change Your Mind.” He IS Steven. He’s always been Steven. But that’s when they were together...

...And so the butterflies swarm.

Notice how the first one shows up when he looks at himself in the mirror. When you look in a mirror, you should see yourself, right? But who IS he? In the show, butterflies represent thoughts and ideas, mostly dark ones, disturbing ones, or ones you don’t want to think about. Well, he already spent WAY too long proving who he was, so now to do it again sucks.

But he isn’t Steven anymore. He’s on the couch being mourned. But he’s already proved he IS Steven before, and it’s this uncertainty that is making his mind swirl. I believe this is why he flipped his gem. Just upside-down, so it’s a small thing no one will notice, while he tries to figure it out. In doing so, he’s separated himself from “Steven”, as they’re not one and the same anymore, and the flipped gem shows this. He’s someone else right now. Maybe. He’s not sure.

So what do we call you for right now? Steven. He already proved he was Steven, so until he’s proved otherwise, Steven it is. Now he just has to figure out what exactly that name means and wether or not he still fits that quota.

Flipped gem/Pink Diamond imagery is EVERYWHERE, mostly hidden in drastic shadows or in panels. It’s things you don’t notice at first, until they’re staring you in the face. See if you can spot them from the 3 screenshots below.

There’s probably more hidden throughout the comic, these are just the ones I’ve found that I feel confident enough to show as hard evidence.

So, what does it all mean? We’ll talk about the screenshots in order, left to right.

First, the Diamond is hidden as the panel in the center. In it, Human Steven lies upside down while the gem-panel is technically upside right. This can be interpreted in a few ways, but what that means to me is that something isn’t right here. If you flip Steven back around so he’s upside right, the gem is now upside down. Notice Gem Steven looking towards his human half on the bottom panel there, clutching his shirt over his gem. It’s a motion we’ve seen Steven do a TON throughout the show, anytime he’s thinking about Rose/Pink, who he is, or complicated gem stuff as a whole. Because early on, his identity was always shrouded in shadow. THAT is Steven, on the couch, without his gem. So for Gem Steven to call himself Steven is inaccurate, but also not at the same time. It’s all swarming in his head, and thus, the gem is flipped.

Next, he’s just broken the rejuvenator. This was probably the hardest to spot of the three, but if you look at the panel where Bismuth asks “feel better?” you will see, in the background, a white line cut through the soft pink hues. Look closer. It’s the outline of the gem, but it’s flipped correctly this time. This is because Bismuth seems to be the only person NOT saying Steven is dead, and treating his gem half one and the same. Is she unnerved? Yeah, but who WOULDN’T be? This is still Steven we’re talking about, as emotionally blocked as he is. He’s aware of why everyone is being weird around him, so to see Bismuth trying her best to treat him with familiarity instead of a completely different, new, dangerous stranger is really calming and helps to calm the storm a bit.

Notice the gem is flipped correctly. This is because he feels like Steven right now. Bismuth has been constant confirmation that he is still Steven, no matter the circumstances. Notice how his eyes dialate back to a larger size. They do that a lot in the comic, articulating his emotions without changing the rest of his face. It’s a clever detail to keep track of. His eyes grow more relaxed, dialating bigger when she pats his shoulder, asking if he feels better after destroying the weapon that killed him. It’s a huge relief for him to hear. So, the gem is correct.

Finally, we see Bismuth telling Greg that his son is dead, which is very contradictory to what Bis was saying earlier (in Steven’s eyes). Where is the gem on that frame? Look at Steven’s shadow. There it is, facets and all. To us, the gem is correct, but think about it this way: if Steven were actually replaced with the gem in that frame, what would it look like, Pink’s or White’s? That’s right. The point is coming from his feet, meaning it would look more like White’s, meaning it is back to being flipped upside down. Again, Bismuth just said Steven is dead, meaning he’s back to questioning his whole entire identity. So it’s back to being flipped upside-down.

It seems that the orientation of the symbolic gems hidden throughout panels show quite clearly where his head is at in terms of who he is. If it’s upside down, he’s separating himself from the cold meatball on the couch, whereas when it’s normal/upside right, he is associating himself WITH the cold meatball on the couch.

Notice he’s been grabbing at his gem a lot recently, too, all things he does while in turmoil over who- or WHAT- he is. He cannot heal right now. He can’t use his powers. Some powers are new and unfamiliar (see the more recent pages where Lapis struck out with water and he blocked with those hexagonal shields/walls). “Steven HEALS people.” He can’t, so who is he?

This is something he’ll need to have an answer to by the time the comic is done, and this is a mission for Gem Steven and Gem Steven alone. If his human half were alive (and content without his gem), he’d probably call himself “Steven” no questions asked, since he GOT his answer already, two years ago. But Gem can’t do that, not when everyone keeps drawing all these lines between the two. He needs to learn what being “Steven” means, and know that he is a part of a greater whole, but on his own, he is STILL Steven. Everyone else needs to realize this, too, and stop separating the two. It’s gonna be rough, since it may feel like replacing what they lost, but is it really? It’s going to be a tough road to trek, and I don’t know what anyone’s answer is gonna be (that’s the big mystery here, after all), but I’m here for it.

Remember, all of this has been speculation on what may happen based on facts and clues Spud has presented us with. I’m not claiming to know how Gem Steven’s arc will end, but I am throwing my hat into the ring on where I THINK it will go. Either way, the foreshadowing, symbolism, and unspoken characterizations here have been excellent, and I’m looking forward to seeing everything play out. Spud, your mind is incredible, and whatever you’ve got planned over there, I’m confident the answer will be satisfactory.

I’ll shut up now. Thank you for reading this huge meta post, and go read Spud’s comic. You can find it at @suaugonewrong or on Spud’s Tumblr, which was linked above. If you think I’m wrong or have a counter argument, bring it. Let’s talk, cause this is genuinely interesting and fun to dissect. I wanna talk about it OwO

Thank you. You may now continue scrolling.

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beauty-and-passion · 4 years ago

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Hey! How are you? Just came across your blog recently, and I gotta say I absolutely love your theories!! I’m still catching up, but they’re so well thought out and deeply analyzed. It’s an absolute joy to read through, so thank you for all your interesting ideas!

I love theorizing myself too, and I’ve been wondering a bit about what the upcoming season finale of Sanders Sides will look like. Do you have any thoughts/theories on that?

I believe Joan mentioned we will have another 1/2 Asides before the finale of the current 2nd season. After FWSA (which apparently is playing an important part in the overall storyline according to the team), I feel like we might get an intense 2-vs-2 situation that could revolve around Thomas and Nico. Virgil and Roman on one side arguing Thomas is ready to start a relationship with Nico, and Patton and Janus on the other side arguing against it. Don’t know whether Nico would make a return so soon though, as it also feels Roman’s arc might become a vocal point in upcoming episodes (then again, the two could intertwine).

Anyway, do you have any ideas on how the finale would play out? Could we potentially get some Orange hints? (I am freaking out about him lately so would LOVE some more hints in next episodes lol.) Sorry if this is too long for an Ask Me Anything, still figuring out how to Tumblr. Would love to hear your thoughts!

First of all: thank you, I’m glad you like my theories! And I hope you will keep hanging around, because more will come in the future ;)

Second: don’t worry, this wasn’t a long ask :) it was nice to read your thoughts on the matter, because that’s not an easy one!

Third: o-oooh, what a question! I really love it! But I will also need some time to properly answer it, so I apologize in advance for my late reply.

Before starting, a premise. As you said, there will be two Asides, then a two-parts episode that will end season two. During every two-parts episode we visited the room of a new Core Side and considering we’re into Roman’s arc now, it’s pretty clear Roman’s room will be the next one. That also means this two-parts episode will be focused on Roman.

But Roman’s plot isn’t the only one we have now. There’s also:

The whole “Dark Sides relationship” (yes, I’m talking about you, Virgil and Janus)

Remus (his relationship with Roman, his functions, his future role in the creative process)

Logan and his issues

Considering that those are pretty big themes, I would develop them all in season three and just give some hints for now. There will be time to properly address them all later.

The only other plot I would keep is the one about Nico. During the first livesteam after FWSA, Thomas said he wanted to show how character!Thomas deals with a relationship. So yes, Nico IS a big deal, he will come back and the next big theme will probably be about him.

Having said that, here we are:

My Theories On The Next Two Asides And The Possible Ending Of Season Two.

_______________________________________

THE ASIDES

So we have three Asides and six Sides. Two of them were in the first Aside, so I would take them out for the other two.

We have now four Sides to see. Leaving one or two behind would have no sense, so I think we should see them all, two at a time.

Second Aside: Remus and Logan

Why the next Aside should be about them? Because we need to start talking about the creative process and how it isn’t just a purely “Roman” process, but something that requires Remus’ constant stream of ideas on one side and Logan’s realistic approach on the other.

However, it’s still a bit too early to talk about that: Thomas needs to grow, Roman needs to grow. For now, I would start by showing little by little how Remus’ suggestions can potentially be useful, if properly developed and tamed.

And we can do it thanks to Nico.

Some time passes between the first and the second Aside. Thomas and Nico starts to date, everything is good.

But Thomas is still insecure, because of what Virgil said to him in FWSA: “Will deceit continue to be the answer to all of your problems? Is that fair to (Nico)?”. So he tries to be as much honest as possible with Nico, to the point of ending up being brutally honest sometimes. Nico would be a bit weirded out by this behaviour, but accept it with a shrug.

So, since things are going so well, Thomas wants to make it official. To finally be boyfriends and not just two-people-who-see-each-other-and-kinda-like-each-other.

And that’s where Logan and Remus would come into play. Thomas’ thoughts about Nico would get Remus’ attention and the sudden brainstorming session would get Logan’s. The first would poke Thomas for his less chaste thoughts, all while suggesting weird, inappropriate ways Thomas can ask Nico to be boyfriends. The second wouldn’t tear down Remus’ suggestions, but work around them, show their flaws and how they cannot work.

This back and forth will lead to Thomas realizing what he can do and how. And this solution wil be the good one: Thomas would ask Nico to be boyfriends and Nico would accept.

Third Aside: Janus and Patton

Until now, we saw two kind of cooperations: Roman and Virgil’s is based on feelings and “pushing” each other through their emotions. Logan and Remus’ is a cooperation “in power”: they work well together and we just got a glimpse of how fruitful this cooperation will be in the future.

In this Aside we will see a third kind of cooperation: the most stable and balanced one. We would see how well Janus and Patton would steer Thomas together, how they’re able to talk and compromise, how they’re gradually smoothing their most extreme points of view for Thomas’ sake. And we would see them getting along well, despite their differences.

But why showing it now? Because this would be the perfect moment in time to show it. Because now Thomas is in an official relationship: things are getting real and there are A LOT of decisions that should be taken every day. Janus and Patton’s guidance would shine and prove how a cooperation between Sides isn’t just possible, but it leads to big, better results.

And it would also prove that Roman and Virgil’s fear in FWSA (that Thomas was using deceit to solve all his problems) was without merit. Janus’ power isn’t as uncontrollable as they thought. On the contrary, with Patton’s morals balancing it and when properly used, lying help Thomas achieve more. His relationship with Nico grows stronger.

Things are going well.

_______________________________________

SANDERS SIDES - ENDING OF SEASON 2 PART 1

I’ve got an idea in the back of my mind for a while about how things can get worse and it’s something like this:

As we saw in the Asides, Thomas and Nico’s relationship is going well. Things moved very fast, yes, but they really like each other, so it’s okay.

One day, Nico says he wants to introduce Thomas to his family. Despite an initial peak in anxiety (a subtle way to show us that Virgil has problems with change in general), Thomas accepts to meet them.

Thomas is getting ready with Roman and Virgil. Virgil is - guess what - anxious about this meeting, but he’s also all butterflies in the stomach. Roman is absolutely delighted and keeps circling around Thomas, suggesting him what to wear, what to say, how to move: in other words, the whole “Himbo hopelessly in love” starter pack.

For a while, the meeting is going smoothly. Then Roman and Virgil notice how, once in a while, Thomas drops a lie. Something like “The food is delicious” when it’s not or “what a beautiful dress” even if it’s hideous. And the two Sides get worried. Once again, they try to force Thomas to stop lying, because Lying Is Always Bad and there can’t be true love with lies.

Still insecure and pushed by them, Thomas stops lying. He inevitably ends up saying something offensive/extremely mean and/or he ends up acting so badly the meeting has to end. Nico finds an excuse to justify Thomas’ behaviour with his parents (something on the line of “Thomas is very tired”) and Thomas is forced to leave.

When he comes back home, the discussion is inevitable. Roman and Virgil straight up blame Thomas for lying in the first place, because he wouldn’t have messed up so much, if he was honest from start.

But when Janus appears to defend Thomas and tells them lying IS useful in some circumstances, the situation escalates quickly. The two Sides attack Janus, blaming him for everything and making heavy statements on how deeply he corrupted Thomas/Patton or something similar. On the other hand, Janus attacks them back. They throw words at each other, things are starting to get pretty serious...

And just when the situation reaches its climax, Patton appears. He takes Janus’ side, he explains why lying is useful - especially during formal circumstances like meeting your boyfriend’s family because you want to be accepted, not to be seen as a complete jerk - and he bluntly tells Morality is HIS job, not Virgil’s nor Roman’s.

In this standstill, Thomas’ phone rings. It’s Nico. He wants to talk with Thomas about the evening. Janus suggests a simple lie (I was tired/long day at work), but Nico tells Thomas this isn’t the first time something similar happened - thus reminding us about all of Thomas’ “bursts of honesty” we saw in the second Aside. Honesty that wasn’t seen as such by Nico, but as weird, mean behaviours from the guy he likes.

So when Thomas tries to justify himself with some lie, Nico stops him. He tells Thomas he thought about a lot of stuff, after the meeting ended. He thought about their relationship. He thought about Thomas’ behaviour. Maybe they should’ve dated more, before becoming boyfriends. Maybe they moved too fast. Maybe introducing Thomas to his parents was the wrong choice. Maybe they should think a bit more. And maybe they should take some time for themselves to think about what they want to do, before going further with this relationship.

Nico hangs up. Janus is speechless. Thomas is on the verge of crying. Patton is heartbroken. Virgil is shocked.

And Roman is absolutely devastated. The love he wanted so badly, this happiness he desperately needed, is now in danger. Instead of strengthening the relationship, everything he did only managed to worsen it.

Roman sinks down and locks himself in his room.

_______________________________________

SANDERS SIDES - ENDING OF SEASON 2 PART 2

We already had a Side ducking out and a Side welcoming the others in his room so, for this third time, we should try something different. And what’s better than Thomas & his Sides trying to break into Roman’s room?

Remus might appear for a while, just to help them get inside and leave. There are already a lot of issues Roman has to face now: his relationship with Remus can wait season 3.

So we have Thomas, Virgil, Patton and Janus all in Roman’s room. And the confrontation can finally take place.

Roman will talk about his issues, his low self-esteem and how he feels constrained by Patton’s morals. He will finally admit how he desperately wanted to go to the callback and how confused he was by morals, when he first sided with Janus, only to be blamed for not siding with him in the following episode. He would start seeing the problem with his black/white mentality and we would have a nice, mature moment with Patton apologizing for giving Roman this mentality - while promising he will grow to be a better Morality. We would also have Roman and Janus properly apologize to each other for everything they said and finally work things out.

And we can end it like this. It could be a nice ending, with some conflicts solved, others still to solve and a lot of hope for the future. Patton would feel even more motivated to keep up with his growth, because he’s not doing it just for himself but for Roman too. Roman would feel better, because now he knows no one will blame or mock him for his insecurities - on the contrary, they would still be by his side no matter what. Janus would learn that cooperation is necessary and that he should keep doing it, because this is the right choice.

And Virgil... well, Virgil would drop hints everywhere about his upcoming “second arc”.

In the first livestream after FWSA, Thomas hinted at a possible “second arc” for Virgil. So, since we have a whole season to fill, I would move Virgil’s arc, his confrontation with Janus and all the dark sides’ dynamics into the beginning of the third season. For now, Virgil may hint at a future confrontation with Janus that should happen in the first episode of season 3.

And what about Thomas?

Thomas would accept Nico’s decision and write him that he will take this time to become a better man. We may even close the episode with Nico smiling for this message, proving that he’s not mad at Thomas, he still loves him and that their relationship isn’t ended at all.

Then, we would have the end card.

And the end card would feature the Side I purposely took away from the whole season two finale. Logan.

After starring in the second Aside, Logan should completely disappear for the following two episodes and for the finale. No one should mention him or even think about him. He wouldn’t appear at all. Until now.

We would see him in a room, looking at the last episode of season 2 on Youtube. His face would be completely expressionless and he wouldn’t say a word, because the only voices would be the ones coming from the pc. The camera would slightly move to show a figure behind him. A small refocus of the camera on a little orange accent on this figure’s clothes.

And bam, the end. No explanations, no voices, nothing else. Just this. Because this would drive the fandom insane. Did Logan know Orange was behind him? Were they watching the episode together? Was Orange trying to kill him or what? What would happen? All questions that would accompany us while waiting for season three.

_______________________________________

And this is how I think the next Asides and the ending of season two will play out. Of course this is pure speculation and the next Aside might be about something completely new that makes my whole plot useless - but hey, that would mean a whole new theory to elaborate :D

In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed my thoughts! And for all the readers, well, feel free to add your own thoughts here about how the events will play out! Maybe one of us will get them right, who knows?

#sanders sides #ask #patton sanders #roman sanders #virgil sanders #janus sanders #remus sanders #logan sanders #orange side #thank you SO MUCH for this ask #I had a lot of fun writing this down #I've had some ideas for a while #and now I got the chance to babble about them :P #can't wait to read about your ideas #It'll be fun #sanders sides theory

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big-dong-zhong · 4 years ago

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2 - A Gleam In Eye

[Previous Chapter] [Next Chapter]

Words: 2,831

Rated [PG] - Here is an explanation of my rating system.

Pairing: ChilLumi

Summary: Childe follows Lumine to Mondstat, unaware that he is about to stumble upon an object that will set everything into motion.

Read on Ao3, or continue to read here on Tumblr under the cut.

This chapter was originally going to be much, much longer, but I had to cut it into two chapters to get it out sooner. Now it's been cut into three chapters thanks to the addition of a new scene, so there's a lot to look forward to in this "Mondstat arc" it seems! We'll get to see some more characters next chapter, too!

Apologies for any formatting errors, it doesn’t copy/paste to tumblr very well.

Tartaglia knew he had it bad before, but since he’d had a taste of normalcy with that one-day respite he couldn’t stop thinking about Lumine, calm and sleeping wrapped around him. It had been the first peaceful sleep he’d experienced in years. Saying goodbye so soon after felt wrong, so he made excuses and lied to the Fatui in order to pursue his own interests. That’s why he found himself approaching the front gate of the City of Bards.

“Mondstat, uh…welcomes you?” the nervous guard muttered, knitting his brows and curling his lips downward. The man tensed his body, gripping the hilt of his sword tighter. Tartaglia smiled and lightly waved his hand, trying to appear as non-threatening as possible. It seemed to have worked because the guard loosened up just a bit, enough to convince him that he wouldn’t be accosted by The Knights of Favonius as soon as he crossed the city’s threshold.

He had been to Mondstat before, but never for long enough to get to know the city. The smell of food wafting down the main corridor was the first thing to catch his attention. Tartaglia thought perhaps he could buy something to tide him over until-

“WHAT THE-?!” That voice echoed through the main street, bouncing off of the outside walls of the shops and drawing the attention of everyone around. Tartaglia looked up the stairs, immediately catching sight of exactly who he wanted to see. Lumine’s arm was outstretched and pointed directly at him. She quickly covered her mouth when she realized the attention she had drawn to the both of them. He watched as Paimon took advantage of the distraction to steal the food of the skewer in Lumine’s other hand. Another companion peered from behind her, red ribbon headband twitching with her motions.

Two patrolling knights walked toward him from either side, alerted by the commotion. He lifted his arm into the air and waved.

“Hello Lumine, Paimon!” He called out to them in order to diffuse the situation before it began. Lumine looked at the knights approaching him and then ran down the stairs, waving them away as she approached.

“Honorary Knight,” one of them addressed her, “is this man causing trouble for you?”

“No, no!” She shook her head and laughed awkwardly. “I can take care of him, don’t worry about it.” She then leaned in close and glared up at Tartaglia.

“What are you doing here?!” she whispered through gritted teeth.

“Would you believe me if I told you it was for work?”

“I hope not,” she groaned. “Jean has enough on her plate as it is, she really doesn’t need to deal with you too.” She brought the hand holding the skewer to her forehead, now realizing that her snack had been pillaged. She turned around to her floating companion who was now making her way toward them along with their other guest.

“Paimon!”

“I was hungry!” she tried to defend herself. He laughed as Paimon dodged Lumine’s strikes with the empty skewer, apologizing profusely.

“Well if you’re still hungry, let me buy you an early dinner. I was about to grab something to eat anyway. I’ll treat the three of you.” He smiled.

“Oh!” Lumine stopped her assault on Paimon and turned back around. “Sorry Amber, this is, uh-”

“I’m Tartaglia but please, call me Childe,” he introduced himself with a smile.

“I’m Amber, Outrider for the Knights of Favonius!” She put her hands on her hops and grinned. “I’m the best guide when it comes to exploring around Mondstat!”

“Hey!” Paimon whined. “Paimon is the best guide!” Her complaints went ignored as Amber continued.

“I’m gonna have to pass on that early dinner, though. Kaeya gave me a huge list of jobs to do today and I’m only halfway done.” She rested her face in her palm and sighed.

“He’s been really piling the work on you lately,” Lumine frowned.

“I know, right? I can’t stand it!”

“Might I suggest a solution?” Tartaglia interjected. Amber turned her head and looked at him quizzically, headband bouncing in the air. Lumine grinned with her eyes narrowed and arms crossed, ready for him to announce his grand plan.

“Fight him and win! Then he won’t be able to boss you around anymore.” Paimon palmed her face while Lumine chuckled and shook her head.

“Yeah, right. Like I could beat the Cavalry Captain in a fight,” Amber sighed.

“Then train and become stronger. I know!” he clapped his hands together and smiled. “Start by sparring with me!”

“Are you crazy?!” Paimon yelled and glared at him.

“Actually that doesn’t sound like such a bad idea,” Lumine said. Paimon tried to argue, but the arrival of a man in blue grabbed everyone’s attention.

“Oh, it’s Captain Kaeya! Hi Kaeya!” Paimon stated aloud and waved to greet him.

“Picking a fight with our outrider? You Fatui do love your political scandals, don’t you?”

“I only offered to spar with her. What are you gonna do, arrest me?” Tartaglia held his hands in front of himself in surrender, giving the captain a sly wink. “Handcuffs will hurt my delicate wrists, you know. Or maybe you would prefer if I picked a fight with you instead.”

Kaeya let out a hearty chuckle in response.

“Oh you’re funny! No wonder Lumine likes you, Childe.” So this man already knew who he was. It made sense, him being a high ranking officer for the Knights of Favonius. Kaeya looked him up and down, and he could tell he was being sized up. The captain didn’t seem to have so much of a possessive aura, though. It felt more as though he had a more simple motive to protect his fellow knights. The Fatui had a tendency to cause a lot of trouble in Mondstat, so of course they would want to keep a closer watch on any Harbingers. They may have been keeping even closer tabs on their Honorary Knight as well. Either Lumine wasn’t keeping their friendship as much of a secret as he thought, or they didn’t trust her to the extent that they let on. Despite how he felt about it, it was in their rights to be suspicious of her, and especially of him.

“You’re in my city now, so step lightly,” Kaeya continued and narrowed his eyes. “We don’t want any more incidents with the Fatui. Anyway,” he turned to Lumine, “an emergency commission just came in. A ruin guard was spotted near Starsnatch Cliff. There’s something strange about this one, so Amber,” he nodded toward the other girl, “you should go with her.”

“I’m on the case!” Amber brought her fist to her chest.

“I’d be grateful if you would help them out as well, Childe,” Kaeya suggested. “It would comfort me to know that Lumine and Amber are keeping eyes on you. As for compensation though-” Tartaglia cut him off.

“Don’t worry about it. Of course I’d be happy to help Lumine out with her commission. Not that she really needs it, but it gives me an excuse to spend time with her.” He winked at Lumine, which was met by her slapping his arm in frustration. She looked cute flustered like that. Tartaglia felt his face relax into a soft smile, and in that moment he didn’t care that the others could see how he looked at her.

“You should come too, Kaeya! That ruin guard will be toast in a snap if you all go at it!” Paimon said.

“Unfortunately I have other matters to attend to, so I won’t be able to go with you this time. I’ll catch you later, then.” With that Kaeya turned and walked away waving goodbye to the four of them.

“Well let’s get going,” Lumine said. “Kaeya did say it was an emergency, so we should take care of it immediately.” She looked at the empty skewer in her hand and sighed before tossing it into a bin nearby as they all walked through the city’s front gate. Tartaglia knew she would want to take care of her commission before eating, so he didn’t push the subject of food. It was only one ruin guard anyway. If anything he figured Amber, as a Knight of Favonius, could take care of it herself. Well, with three of them fighting it should be easy to dispose of quickly, and then he could treat Lumine and her friends to a proper meal.

“So, Amber,” he started as he stepped between her and Lumine, grinning, “when’s our first sparring match?”

“You were serious about that?!” Amber averted her gaze. “I’m not really sure…” she trailed off, looking into the distance with an indecisive expression.

“Geez, Childe, stop harassing her already!” Paimon stomped into the air. “Didn’t Kaeya just warn you not to cause trouble?!” Tartaglia laughed.

“Oh? But Lumi said it was a good idea!” He side-eyed Lumine, admiring the light blush on her cheeks when he shortened her name. When she saw him staring she jabbed her elbow into his ribs and looked away without a word. “Okay, I’ll drop it,” he sighed. “You’ll just have to fight me twice as often, Lumine!”

The rest of the walk was filled with nothing more than simple talk amongst themselves until they approached what they assumed to be their target.

“Is that it?” Amber tilted her head, puzzled, and he could see why. The ruin guard looked ordinary enough to be of little concern, and it didn’t even seem to be active. They all approached the machine to get a closer look, but it still just appeared to be nothing differing from the usual specimens as it peacefully sat on the grass.

“This is supposed to be an emergency?” Tartaglia chuckled as he reached out to touch the ruin guard. “I wish my work was this laid back.”

“Hey uh, Paimon has a bad feeling about this…”

“What the-?!” he gasped as he pulled his hand back, shaking it off as he did so. The thing was scalding hot, much hotter than what would be normal for sitting in the sun all day. Was it sitting on a flaming flower? If that was the case then it was a good thing he had accompanied them as neither Lumine nor Amber had a chance of cooling this thing down with their abilities alone. Still, it didn’t make sense for the situation to be that simple, and as if on cue, the ruin guard powered up. As its core glowed he could see something inside of it: the muddy glow of an abyssal spell. Now it felt like more of an emergency.

“Watch out!” he warned. Amber leapt backwards an impressive several feet and grabbed her bow, prepared to fire. As the automaton stood up Tartaglia confirmed there was no flaming flower beneath it. He wondered if the spell somehow harnessed some kind of pyro energy. He wanted to find out, but there was no time. Amber fired rapidly on their enemy, and Tartaglia fired a hydro-charged shot at it. Steam rose from it as it hit.

Lumine ran straight up to the machine, uncomfortably close for him to witness. She tried to create a swirling reaction, but there was no elemental affliction to be seen in the result. Perhaps this thing was being shielded from elemental reactions with that spell. He couldn’t think about it too long, distracted by how close Lumine was to the burning hot ruin guard.

“Hey! Fall Back!” he called out to her. She ignored him and kept slashing at it with her sword. Now wasn’t the time for her willfulness, but he couldn’t think of how to get her to listen to him before flames erupted from the machine’s front core as she tried another swirling attack. The sudden burst caught her off guard and sent her flying.

“Lumine!” Tartaglia screamed out as he ran to the side for her to crash into him, sending them both to the ground. At least he managed to break her fall with his body.

“I’m fine,” she huffed, lifting herself from her position on top of him. He grabbed her arm to stop her from running right back to a repeat of what had happened.

“You’re reckless,” he chided. He looked her up and down but didn’t spot any obvious injuries. It was possible that he had slightly overreacted.

Amber was still firing at the machine with charged shots, its metal chassis was starting to glow with how hot it was becoming, and the grass around it steamed and withered away with each step, too hot to even catch fire. At the rate it was heating up, Tartaglia thought the automaton might even begin to melt soon. Seemed like sending a pyro user was working out for them after all. In fact, she was doing more damage than he and Lumine combined. He had to fix that.

“Lumine, do you have a large amount of anemo energy ready to use?” He let go of her and stood, offering his hand to help her to her feet which she promptly slapped away and stood on her own. She nodded in response to his question.

“Fire away,” he said. Lumine put her hand on her hip and frowned.

“Don’t tell me what to do.” The automaton approached them, ignoring the shower of flaming arrows pelting it from above.

“It’s going toward you guys!” Amber shouted. “Lumine, use your vortex!”

The corner of her mouth twitched and she let out a loud sigh, clearly irritated with their demands. She lifted her sword and readied her attack.

“I’m getting the most expensive dishes at Good Hunter after this,” she growled. “Paimon, too. You’re paying.”

“Why of course,” Tartaglia sang as he lifted his bow and prepared a charged shot. “Didn’t have it planned any other way.”

As soon as Lumine unleashed a huge burst of anemo energy he fired into it, infusing the whirlwind with hydro energy. The current crashed against the ruin guard and stopped it in its tracks. It fought against the immense pressure while the sudden coolness caused the metal to hiss and steam. It cracked and popped out bolts and metal plates as it struggled. One object in particular caught Tartaglia’s attention as it flew from the machine. As soon as the automaton collapsed he rushed over and grabbed the it from the ground, quietly pocketing it before the others noticed. He also picked up a couple of components as to not look too suspicious.

“Careful, it’s still steaming!” Amber called after him.

“Let him get hit by stray bolts if that’s what he’s into,” Lumine sneered.

“So cruel to me, Lumi,” he smiled as he approached the girls. “And even after I rushed into danger to pick these up for you two.” He handed each of them the components he had picked up; Lumine snatched the piece out of his hand while Amber smiled and thanked him politely.

“That thing was crazy! Paimon was so scared!” Paimon reappeared, excitedly bobbing in the air.

“You didn’t do anything!” Tartaglia laughed. “In fact, I’d say you made this fight even more difficult.”

“What?! How could I have possibly interfered with your battle if I was hiding?!” she argued.

“Well,” he grinned and pointed at her, “Lumi is extra grumpy and uncooperative because you stole her lunch.”

“Wha-?! I-! Ooh…” Paimon conceded. “I’m sorry,” she pouted. He had learned that she was a pushover when it came to Lumine, which made it easier to get along with her. He might have even been inclined to call it a sort of common ground between the two of them, if such a thing existed. At the very least, doting on Lumine was something that they could agree on, even if Paimon forgot sometimes.

“I forgive you,” Lumine said as she pat her on the head. “If only because Childe will be the one treating us to our next meal.” She grinned at him with a light of accomplishment in her eyes, a light he got lost in for a moment before Paimon’s cheering tore him from his emotions.

“What are we waiting for?! Let’s head back to the city and eat!” She floated toward the path to the city, Amber close behind her. When he started to follow suit, Lumine grabbed his sleeve and stood still. She waited until the others were no longer within earshot before she spoke.

“What did you take from that ruin guard?”

“Those components I gave you, of course,” Tartaglia answered.

“No,” she said. “What did you take?”

The weight of the object in his belt bag was undeniable proof that he would brand himself a liar if he didn’t tell her. He couldn’t stand even the thought of that.

“I’m not sure myself,” he admitted. “Let’s discuss it later.”

“Promise?” Her brows knitted as she frowned and gripped his shirt sleeve tighter. He smiled at her.

“I promise.”

#genshin impact #genshin fanfic #genshin childe #genshin lumine #chilumi #genshin paimon #genshin amber #genshin tartaglia #fanfic #fanfiction

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andhereisthetea · 5 years ago

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Just finished Season 3

I have been watching She-Ra for the past seven days non-spot and I just finished season 3 and...

god

dammit

I am just....

UGH.

I want to talk about a lot of things after this, but I know I can’t just sandwich them in this post. I watched all three seasons in less time than I should have, I feel so damn conflicted right now about certain things, even if I spoiled myself about it before.

I spoiled myself about the whole Entrapta and Hordak arc, I watched gifsets and I saw your beautiful fan arts both in tumblr and twitter, but watching it, like... really watching it, it’s a whole different thing and now I feel both sad but also relieved I’m watching this after the show ended because 1) I am sad I didn’t experience things at the same time the fandom and most Entrapdak shippers did BUT 2) this would have made a mess of me, I get affected very easily with things like what I watched.

Ok, I have some things to say about the three seasons:

First... Entrapta.

There are some things I find refreshing and others that I don’t, I am not going to point it out in this post, also I can’t expect a lot from a family show.

The thing is... I feel they should have made up a backstory for Entrapta.

I understand the lore and the plot Crew-Ra focused into, but also I knew the Lore before the creation of this show, I feel there should have been a better way to explore more characters from Masters of the Universe.

Think about the complete mystery she is.

We knows most of the characters’ backstories, at least the most complex and important ones, we knows for example that Mermisa got her ruined kingdom from her father who was killed in the first battle against the Horde. We knows basically all the story of Bow’s family, we knows about Glimmer, about Scorpia, about Perfuma’s kingdom, about even Adora, Catra who was an orphaned, and also about Shadow Weaver.

But Entrapta? she is a complete damn mystery.

She is the Princess of Dryl, she designed the Crypto Castle, a literal labyrinth without sense, she is obsessed with First One’s tech since who knows how long, she isn’t an elemental princess but she can move her hair as if it were extra limbs and evn fight with it as a weapon, something that no other specie in the whole planet of Etheria can do, she has an intelligence even bigger than Tony Stark, nobody even talks about what happened to her parents, NOBODY, like they didn’t even existed and she popped up from nowhere and created her robotic parents herself. And even if her seeking for data and more and more progress and tech can be seen as a clear symptom her Autism (like autistic people focusing so much in something they can’t do anything else, I have that) or the fact she is looking for something else but not even her know what the hell is...

She knows or is implicit that she knows about the language of the First Ones, she understand their technology better than anyone else, also, her kingdom is the most advanced, they are considered to be in the industrial era compared to other kingdoms controlled by the elemental princesses. Where did all that technology knowledge, and also First One’s knowledge, came from? I don't think that in 20 years since she had reason and enough skill to be able to learn by herself Dryl has built all that; Dryl's kingdom had been working that way since before she was even born, so who told her? who taught her?

In addition to the fact that she has access to mining in her kingdom where she has been able to find who knows how much of the first one’s technology... right under her feet. The sole fact they put someone so important for the plot as a princess who has no runestone is just mysterious, she used the Black Garnet even better than Shadow Weaver, I can completely see her or someone before her doing the same with her own Runestone (which I picture as an Amethist btw).

I think they chose to put Entrapta’s possibilities of a backstory aside because, after seeing how the character became increasingly important and popular, they realized that once they had started to create her backstory and origins, they wouldn’t have been able to stop, and the central plot wasn’t about her at all, and is very likely that whatever idea of backstory they had about her would have been focused in the central plot.

For example (and call me crazy, I don't care) if they had said that she was the granddaughter or daughter of Keldor AKA Skeletor, I would have totally believed it.

The thing with that is... even though they chose for her an Etheria region, which in the original Lore was unimportant, everything to do with Entrapta in She-Ra becomes important immediately, but ultimately it would have distracted them from the central plot with Adora as She-Ra, and Horde Prime, who is the main villain they choose for the show.

For now I just want to imagine what could have been if she had more protagonism and wasn’t only the geek princess, she has so much potential and I haven’t seen a character so refreshing like her in long time.

Okay, I want to talk about the seasons I just watched while the information is still fresh inside my head.

One of the main things that frustrated me about the final season is how Crew-Ra COMPLETELY NAILED IT in making me hate Catra. They didn’t make her sympathetic, she is toxic and most of the time she remembered me people who I had to avoid in my personal life, so the natural reaction to all her actions is to dislike her, that is exactly what Crew-Ra wanted for us to feel.

But in some point it got to the point that if you tell me the character was unpredictable, it lost it a bit in the final episodes, she started to become predictable in her actions because as an impulsive person constantly in denial over her emotions and projecting her problems over everyone else, it was obvious she was going to go through a destructive path wanting for everyone to die together with herself because it wouldn’t have seen less like a suicide.

And as a self-centered character with tunnel vision over her purpose and actions, she was going to completely underestimate Entrapta and wasn’t going to understand why Hordak found her interesting, she would attribute everything to power and fight for positions just like SW taught her, instead of something as pure as friendship, in fact she might have know it, but she didn’t want to admit it, because to know that someone as hateful and intimidating as Lord Hordak suddenly has someone who loves him beyond that is just too much for her, who doesn’t understand and is hurt by the fact that Adora doesn’t love her back, but doesn’t want to change one bit for fear to lost the life that ironically she hates so much without Adora in it.

So of course she was gonna electrocute Entrapta and send her to Beast Island, and her impulsive decision was made out of pure fear over what she did not only to Entrapta, but to Hordak himself and what he might do to her when he finds out what she did, and no matter how much she wants to hide behind a curtain of falsehood, is a matter of time he realizes Entrapta is nowhere in Etheria to be seen.

She is a character who does not measure her actions until the consequences are so horrible that she runs away, because reality is too painful for her to even accept what she has done, also she usually thinks that EVERYONE thinks just like her, every one of her speeches about fake friendship, power and winning is just about how she sees the world work from her perspective, she has zero notions over someone’s else vision of the world.

That's one of the biggest reasons why I liked Adora in the last episode of the third season; Catra made a decision, her desire to win basically led her to condemn Entrapta to death, almost destroy the planet and ultimately kill Angella or worse. I have seen posts about people saying that Catra hasn’t killed anyone directly, but I am sorry, she did this season, and she lied about it to everyone and to herself, but Adora knows better.

Now, Hordak

God how I start with this.

Hordak, opposite to the original Lore of Masters of the Universe, is right now basically an alien version of Lucifer from John Milton’s Paradise Lost but with God being fucking evil.

Just like Lucifer, he wants to replicate his creator’s creation on Etheria, choosing to rule in hell rather than heaven, but unlike Lucifer, he stills has a connection with his creator and just like Catra, wants to satify his wished to conquer Etheria all by himself.

But unlike Horde Prime, he is in fact a good leader, and a logical one. He appreciates when his soldiers thinks by themselves and achieves their goals, unlike Prime, and he in fact doesn’t accept empty adulation, if you are good at something, you have to prove it, not to him, but to yourself.

So I just love how with every season they are adding more complexity to his whole being, and now they have added the emotional factor with Entrapta’s friendship and ultimately “betrayal”, I want to watch how this at first glance stoic character loses the shit out of his stoicism, even if I already knows what is going to happen. The fact he already got affected by Catra’s lies over Entrapta betraying him proves how far he has gone since Entrapta came to his life, if he was just impressed by Entrapta or wanted to use her, that wouldn’t have affected him that much, he already feels something for her, but he struggles to know what it is, and even if he denies it due to what just happened, he is still feeling it.

Which makes the anticipation to the discovery of Catra’s lies so much more painful.

Also, the fact he believed Catra, just like that, made me feel disappointed, but that is based on the complexity of the character and his self-loathing, he feels he doesn’t deserves friendship nor love; he is a defective clone after all, in his own mind he is imperfect and she is the complete opposite of that, so believing it is easy, but that doesn’t make it less painful, and that is what I am sure Hordak will realize ultimately.

I don’t know how long will took me to watch the season 4, but I know is worth the effort if I want to see Entrapta and Hordak together again, I love them, they are pure brain and incredible refreshing to watch, and the affection they feel for each other is obvious, one of the most bittersweet scenes for me was when Entrapta remembered Hordak due to the trio saying his name, her suddenly quiet behavior and calmed and painful smiled was so unlikely of her that one has to admit something more is going on, also her choice of language, “I had a lab partner”, not “I have”, gives a sense of sadness to the whole scene that broke my damn heart.

I will tag you guys @cruelfeline @ineffablelabpartners @etherian-affairs because I want to know your opinions about this, I never thought Entrapdak was gonna affect me that way, in fact I never expected to ship them at all, but here we are, dying for them and I just can’t escape.

#season 3 #s3 #spop #shera #shera3 #entrapta #hordak #catra #meta #mypost #entrapdak

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the-foxwolf · 7 years ago

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Lili, my Lili

For once in my Tumblr career so far, I will say the following. This article will in fact have some pro-Liliana bias in it. Some. I have written pages and pages and pages about Liliana, so by now I hope you all have realized I tend to be fairly good at keeping it held back. Even so, I will try to keep it at a minimum. But this article is meant to discuss Liliana and her Character Growth since we first truly met her in Agents of Artifice, arguably the real first literature that features her

Gather `Round! It is Story Telling Time!

(Liliana of the Veil: Innistrad) (Art by Steve Argyle)

Baseline- Agents of Artifice

Before we go into this, let’s discuss a baseline from where she started, where we really met her for the first time: Agents of Artifice. This is the first time we really get the chance to see her at any length and spend time with her. What kind of person was she at this time?

(Liliana’s Caress: 2011 Core Set) (Art by Steve Argyle)

The following statement from Liliana’s Indignation by Kelly Diggs summarizes quite succinctly the events of Agents of Artifice:

Jace. She'd befriended him on false pretenses, played on his emotions, manipulated him into joining an interplanar crime syndicate, then into overthrowing it. By the time it all went wrong, she'd grown genuinely fond of him, and betraying him had torn out one more strand of her threadbare sense of humanity. Not that that had stopped her, and anyway, if she hadn't done it they'd both be heroically, uselessly dead. Still, she could see why he might bear a grudge.

It doesn’t quite do the whole thing justice in that she did so much worse to him that apparently she didn’t see important enough to even merit remembering.

With that baseline, let’s move on.

Innistrad

We don’t see Lili for a while after this. We see her pursuing the Chain Veil, dealing with the Raven Man, with Garruk, and hunting down her demons. No real character development going on for a while. Not at least until Shadows over Innistrad. During Origins, she still had not changed. She knocked on Jace’s door knowing exactly how to manipulate him into helping her clear out the Onnake. It wasn’t until Shadows over Innistrad that we finally begin to see some real Character Development.

Return to Innistrad

Throughout the course of the Shadows Over Innistrad storyline, we see very little change in Liliana. One thing for certain that we see is that Liliana is constantly lying to herself. The phrase: “She didn't need him. She needed someone to need her.” Comes up a few times throughout the arc. But this serves little purpose beyond showing the audience that she hold at least some feelings toward him and that she lies to herself constantly.

(Liliana, the Last Hope: Eldritch Moon) (Art by Anna Steinbauer)

Ravnica

In the events of The Flood, by the R&D Story Team, we see Vrazka’s point of view of an intimate moment between Jace and Liliana. We notice Liliana hasn’t changed a bit yet. She’s still trying to play with his feelings to have him under her palm. However, we must recognize that this event took place almost immediately after the conclusion of the Shadows arc. Jace is complaining about chess, a game Emrakul, or at least its avatar, forced Jace to play. Point being, this event takes place shortly after the fight with Emrakul.

The events of Homesick, by Chris L`Etoil, are more difficult to interpret. To me, it seems Liliana is starting to grow fond of the Gatewatch. She’s started teasing them. Talking with and about them as though they were friends. I’m not convinced she is necessarily friends with any of them yet, but her tsundere quality is starting to show and her initial cold iciness has warmed up to a lukewarm chill. Making friends. Or least getting close to it. Good. Progress. She has not had a friend...ever. Literally. Before she ignited she had tutors and targets. But no one outside her family she saw as a peer or as an equal. As an Old Walker and up until now, everyone has been a tool. But now... the Gatewatch are still tools, but she is actually getting along and enjoying their company. Take note, the events of Homesick take place THREE MONTHS after the events described in The Flood. We know this for certain at the very least because the events of this story immediately lead up to the Kaladesh story arc...by which point she and Jace had “reminisced” about old times at least three times.

And do not tell me their “reminiscing” was merely conversational. Read this section over. Even a fool can tell their “reminiscing” was much more than that.

"You should go back. The others will notice if you don't come home tonight," said the woman.

Jace shrugged. "It's just past sunset. I've got time."

"Oh." The woman looked Jace over, visibly weighing some decision in her mind.

(Liliana, Death’s Majesty: Amonkhet) (Art by Chris Rallis)

"This is just two old acquaintances, relaxing after a victory," the woman responded. "Reminiscing about the good old days."

Jace absently tugged on his right glove. "Those days weren't all good."

"We weren't, either," the woman said in a hushed, dangerous tone.

In a moment, the game transformed, chessboard tossed on the floor, metaphorical dice on the table. She was a gambler, floating an offer for one more round, one more bet, just for the hell of it, c'mon, fellas, what's the worst that could happen.

"We're not together," the woman in violet added. "But you don't have to leave just yet."

Jace looked up from his drink and met her gaze with a hopeful look.

The woman topped up both of their glasses and lifted hers. "To new good old days," she said.

To Vraska's relief, the illusion dissolved, and the riverbed returned.

Kaladesh

Finally we starting seeing some growth. Measurable growth. We see a lot of that in Puppets, by James Wyatt.

A single spell could drain the life from the soldiers and add their walking corpses to her retinue... Killing these soldiers would be easy—but, strangely, that had not been her plan. Perhaps Jace and—she shuddered a little—and General Meat-Shield are rubbing off on me.

Tezzeret himself comments on Liliana’s strange new behavior.

"I think [Jace] softened you, Vess. The necromancer I knew four years ago would have marched in here at the head of a zombie army. And she might have lived to tell about it.

Even though she recognized the inefficiency of not slaying everyone in her path and building an gang of zombies, she refused. As Tezzeret said, Pre-Gatewatch Liliana would not have hesitated for a second to wipe them out and bring them along. This is honestly a mind boggling change for her. Leaps and bounds different than the person she was before the Gatewatch.

Amonkhet

We see a change so grand in her it even shocks herself. Liliana does not seem to grow incrementally, but rather in great bursts as the trust bubbles out of her without her consent. Lili is a master of lying to herself.

In Hour of Devestation, by , we see another facet of Lili change- her heart. Looks like she’s finally let herself have feelings for Cloak Boy.

(Jace’s Defeat: Hour of Devastation) (Art by Kieran Yanner)

She looked again at the space where Jace had been, his agonized screams echoing in her mind. She felt something wet at the corner of her eyes, but willed it away, refusing to show weakness to anyone.

But these new feeling and emotions in her heart extend beyond just Jace. She genuinely has come to care about The Gatewatch. As Bolas defeated them one by one, we see Liliana exhibit some new, alien, behavior.

She didn't know what made her turn to the others, but she did it anyway, the words coming before she could stop them...

She was unused to the swirl of emotion she felt....

"Please. If you stay here, you will die. This is not the way." She hated the pleading in her voice, but she let her words stand....

Her choices always led her here. Another betrayal. Another disappointment. Another trap. It was the comfort she found in the dead. They could not be betrayed. They could not be disappointed. They could not look at her with hurt and anger in their eyes....

(Liliana’s Defeat: Hour of Devastation) (Art by Kieran Yanner)

She surrounded herself in a glowing nimbus of dark energy and vanished into the void, her tears finally free to fall in the empty spaces between worlds.

Feelings for Jace. Concern for the mortality of the Gatewatch. Now we see that her association with the Gatewatch extends beyond mere utility. If utility was all she truly desired, she would have accepted Bolas’ help. But she did not. Vitally important fact.

Dominaria

While we see some Character Growth in Return to Dominaria: Episode 1, by Martha Wells, most of the Character Growth so far has been seen in In Return to Dominaria: Episode 2, by Martha Wells, where we see Liliana practice something she’s not familiar with... honesty.

She might have used the moment to lie or try to manipulate him, but she hadn't. It had surprised him, and made him think they might actually have a chance to kill Belzenlok and then Nicol Bolas. If they could really work together as allies, anything was possible.

Her first instinct was to lie and manipulate Gideon into helping. But BeefslabTM is an honest man whose trust requires honesty. In what is a pretty tremendous event, she decided to just drop her veils and tell him the truth. There are other examples so far in the story, but I’ll leave it short for brevity’s sake. This event is particularly impactful because her first instance of intentional honesty in who knows how long was with Gideon, a man whose moral compass frustrated Liliana.

(Deploy the Gatewatch: Eldritch Moon) (Art by Wesley Burt)

We see something else that is rather surprising: Liliana owning up to her actions- taking responsibility for her crimes. When thinking about Josu, when she realized he is still alive.

It was easy to see now that she had been single-minded and selfish about it, ignoring warnings, rushing as if minutes were meaningful, wanting only to succeed where others had failed and make herself the hero of her family. But it was a teenager's selfishness, a childish self-absorption. It didn't deserve this. Josu didn't deserve this.

She tried blaming The Raven Man, several times. But each time, she corrected herself, telling herself that she was the one who took the action. All The Raven Man did was provide the poison. It was Lili who chose to try and be a hero, who chose to trust a shady stranger, who did not have the patience to check her work.

Conclusion

Three major changes we have seen from Liliana since the events of Agents of Artifice are:

The ability to be honest

The ability of self restraint

The ability to care for others beyond just their utility

She had none of that at the very beginning of this article. I understand that some of these scenes could be interpreted differently. Even so, I feel very confident in saying that Liliana has changed- for the better.

Hit that “Reblog” button if you liked what you read. For more short stories, articles, and discussion from me at Story Telling Time, hit that “Follow” button.

See ya next time!

#Liliana Vess #Liliana #MTG #Magic Story #story telling time

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sonfaro · 7 years ago

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@you-me-and-the-force-between-us Thank you for your rebuttal. My response will be similarly long, and tumblr is being annoying so I’m switching to a new thread.

“Normal behavior isn’t always guaranteed by everyone. That’s life. Of course there are always going to be outliers of people who don’t think as they should. But they’re small compared to the number of people who CAN make these differences, so making comparisons like these are not only hurtful, but useless. It doesn’t matter WHAT language you use, somewhere out there–is going to fan over a serial killer or want to become one, because it’s not about language, it’s about personal experiences.” It DOES matter to those who are left behind. To those who’s people are routinely NOT treated in this way. Infantilizing dangerous white men at any level of media sets a tone. To see that kind of behavior follow into fiction and NOBODY have a problem with it is beyond bizarre to me. I’ve had friends locked up for far less who never got treated like the children they were, so forgive me if I’m a little sensitive to the subject. “People who sympathisize with these types of people are either going through some sort of fucked up, I’m edgy 100%, phase that they’ll grow out of or have some serious mental instabilities. It isn’t the media’s job to walk on egg shells with language,“ It’s the media’s job to present the truth with no spin. When they do things like this, it absolutely poisons the well. There’s no one to blame for his crimes but the monster, but there are people to blame for how that monster is viewed by the masses. “This other rhetoric about what’s being said and how it compares to fiction–it’s bullshit. And let’s be honest here for a second–just honestly speaking–looking through OP’s page you can very damn well tell this post isn’t done with good intentions in mind; it’s a clear attack on a group of people under the facet of being a good citizen who truly cares. Which also pisses me off.“ In what way? I’ve literally seen someone claim that Kylo is ‘young’ and ‘doesn’t know any better’. That sort of language does exist amongst the fandom. “(I’ve seen people call others abelist for using the word crazy on this hellsite, but idc either way) “ You’re sympathizing with the villain is all. Which is fine, “ Clearly it isn’t??? Because that’s OP’s point. That’s what OP has a problem with, saying that we’re like criminal sympathizers because we sympathize with a villain–so YES I agree, I’m JUST sympathizing with a villain IS ALL, nothing more. That’s the point.“ OP’s point is about the language being used: the infantilizing and woobifying. I can sympathize with Erik Killmonger, but know he’s a grown man and his end in Black Panther is justified. I’m not going to say “He’s basically a teenager lashing out” or nonsense like that - which IS a thing that Kylo stans have said. “ALSO JUST SO EVERYONE’S AWARE. This ISN’T the media saying this.“ Matt O’Donnell, listed below the lawyer in OP’s post, is a reporter. He lists the killer’s status as an orphan (with no reason), his young age (with no reason), and suggests he had a ‘troubled’ background. These are softening social cues. And the media doesn’t have to make these quotes the headline. It is they who present these quotes as a worthy title for an article. “Darth Vader is one of THEE most popular villains of all time, and most people ADORE baby-fying him.” Not canon Darth Vader they don’t. If you want an Alt universe Kylo (like Emo Kylo Ren) it’s whatever. That's a separate idea. “He was Kylo BEFORE KYLO EXISTED–he’s WORSE than Kylo–so where’s all the hate there?“ I disagree. Vader was a tool for the Emperor. Kylo IS the Emperor now. And the hate is largely gone because in canon Vader died sacrificing himself for the hero. “Why isn’t the majority of the world turned into serial killer supporters by now? A. The majority of the world isn’t into star wars. We’re a big fandom, but the world is bigger B. and the majority of Vader’s fans don’t try to justify his actions. He’s liked because he makes a great foil for our heroes. Why isn’t OP making a comparison to Darth Vader and attacking his fans? Again, Vader’s fans generally don’t make excuses for his actions. Because OP has an agenda to attack Reylos and make them seem like horrible people, because that’s just the way the shit rolls on Tumblr nowadays. Agreed, he definitely does. “[...]Committing a crime due to violent media, is far less easy to prove, and there has been no direct connection thus far.“ Right, but your post flat said “It isn’t true”, and that has not yet been determined. Hence my post. “All of these still prove my point–media alone does NOT transform you into a violent person UNLESS you already have a predisposition to being violent (like a history of abuse or a mental illness etc). It ISN’T true until you have enough statistics that back up your claim, and this doesn’t. What’s unhelpful, is not being well researched in a matter and making blatant claims. “ But I didn’t make a blatant claim about video games. I literally said the jury was still out. In response to you flat saying it wasn’t true. -_- “The media compares Hux and FO to Nazism because there’s a legitimate comparison to make (I know some SW fans disagree with me, but there is blatant Nazism parallels imo), because that was done PURPOSEFULLY. They took one evil regime irl and were inspired by it to create a fictional one of it. Every writer and design EVER takes inspiration form real life things to create something, eve villains. But let’s give an example here of a rational comparison and a shitty one:- Hux is like a Nazi (this can be confirmed by the imagery in SW, and background information, etc) - Hux is like a Nazi and therefore if you like Hux you like the Nazi party and therefore you’re a Nazi apologist. Hux is a Nazi and you’re a Nazi apologist.“ This is a bit of a straw man. You’d only be a Nazi apologist if you thought Hux’s POV were correct. Once more, liking a villain is fine - liking them to the point where your sympathy leads you to defend their views and actions is another thing entirely. “Saying that someone who likes Hux or the FO is like someone who might have agreed/sympathized with the deaths of millions of people is a HORRIBLE, inaccurate comparison to make (also Hux is LIKE a Nazi and Hux IS a Nazi are two different things, “ Again, that’s not what’s happening here. OP is talking about a specific action (how shippers talk about Kylo). Not liking the character in general. “And if you’re going to make the point that forcing yourself into someone’s mind is akin to rape, and therefore Kylo’s a rapist (and therefore Reylos are rape apologists–no lie i hear this shit WAY TOO much) then guess what?Obi-Wan is a rapist.Vader is a rapist.LUKE is a rapist.” I mean Vader definitely attempted to force himself into his daughters mind in ANH. Dude was the villain. The jedi mindtrick is more deception than anything else - morally suspect but not a painful violation unless there are more than one person doing it at the same time. Which is the actual term Pablo Hidalgo prefers for what Kylo does to Rey in that scene - a violation. “She (or he idk and idc tbh) is basically insinuating that Kylo Ren sympathizers cause school shooters sympathizers.“ Or vice versa, that the media and how damaged white monsters are portrayed is the reason Reylo’s see Kylo as sympathetic. Which was what OP’s excuse was IIRC. Personally I think the fault for both lies more with societies internal preference for white dudes, but that’s my take. “//Also–just for future notice–I don’t suggest ever using a Buzzfeed article to support your claim because your credibility will go right out the window. Buzzfeed is a pandering shitfest that is really written more by biased bloggers than actual reporters. I suggest using articles without bias and an actual good writing team and reputation.//“ I mean at this point that’s every news organization ever - least in America as far as I can tell. You can barely open a paper or watch the news without someone's opinion’s being clear. And it’s hardly the only article: https://www.salon.com/2016/01/12/we_need_to_talk_about_ben_kylo_ren_star_wars_and_the_media_narrative_of_the_mentally_ill_school_shooter/ https://www.theverge.com/2016/1/1/10698090/emo-kylo-ren-star-wars-parody-twitter http://www.forcematerial.com/home/2017/11/5/we-need-to-talk-about-kylo https://geekmom.com/2016/01/trying-not-to-raise-kylo-ren/ Kylo being compared to real world evil isn’t new. Shoot, there’s a bunch that link Kylo to the alt-right as well. Double shoot, Adam Driver himself straight compared him to terrorists. Kylo gets compared to lots of real world evil people. It’s going to happen. “Yup that’s definitely what happened. It wasn’t like he literally saw Luke about to kill him in his sleep“ No, he LITERALLY saw Luke post realization that he was in the wrong but still holding his lightsaber (like an idiot) and jumped to the conclusion his uncle was going to attack him. Luke’s behavior (which is a character assassination if I’ve ever seen one, but that’s an argument for another time) also happens only after peering into Ben’s mind and seeing nothing but evil. Ben then definitely attacks his uncle after that - from his point of view in self defence, sure - but from the overhead view an unnecessarily. “Oh no–wait, I was wrong:“ ...the article LITERALLY lists him murdering the kids. -_- “Oh so I guess it’s like I said before–people PICK AND CHOOSE their biases!! There is a UNMISTAKABLE comparison between Vader and Kylo FOR A REASON–the two ARE very much alike. But Kylo is a shooter and Vader’s tragic and grand?? GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE WITH THIS BULLSHIT.“ Uh, yeah. Vaders complete arc requires six movies at two hours at least each to tell. It’s pretty grand (lofty, big, etc). His heel turn alone is a culmination of three whole films. Also, the article presents Kylo as tragic as well, with Drivers portrayal being described as: “a mixture of pain and hurt so raw it threatens to rend the fabric of the series every time he's on screen“. Did you actually read it? “really made me want to pluck my eyes out. Holy hell my dude, why did you use this as a reference when it’s so clearly just—bad?? I think I lost five years of my life.“ Because it’s another example of Kylo being compared to the evil that is a school shooter. Again, it’s not the only time, and it’s not the only horrible evil he’s compared to. OP was insensitive about it though, given recent events. “And I want to make this clear–I don’t give a single FUCK if you don’t like Kylo Ren. That your opinion.“ I like his character a lot actually. I think he makes an excellent, compelling villain based on Adam Driver’s work. My issue is people attempting to pretend he isn’t one, or that his past trauma absolves him of ANYTHING he’s chosen to do, or that anyone owes him anything at this point, or pretending that this 30 year old man’s childishness can be justified at all. My bigger concern is that sort of thing happens in the real world for folks just like Kylo and that the two often sound exactly the same. “ I CARE when you bring real people into stupid fictional shit and say “You’re the reason why this is happening. It’s YOUR fault things are this way” I don’t think that was OP’s point at all. Least as far as he’s said. “ESPECIALLY when fiction is used right after a real tragedy like this. “ THAT I can agree with. Dude was insensitive. “ It’s disgusting to be compared on ANY level with someone who might do something like this–and again–it isn’t true. “ No one compared you guys to the shooter. How you TALK about the villain was compared. “ Read up on mental illness, debate gun control, read up on what actually causes school shooters to occur, look up psychological studies of BOTH sides, not just what Buzzfeed says–they aren’t accredited to make those calls in any way.“ The article I listed didn’t list the causes of school shooting at all. Did you just skim it? “STOP accepting this shit behavior my dude. It ISN’T OK or educated AT ALL. It’s downright stupid.“ The behavior I don’t accept. The point - that dangerous young white men are coddled both in and out of fiction - is all too true though.

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regularbeans · 7 years ago

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Best Artists of 2017

This year, for the first time since I started doing these lists eight years ago (bloody hell) I’m ditching three categories at once and smothering one in the crib. These four categories are female artists, male artists, bands, and newbies. For newbies I just didn’t have enough entries for it to be worth the time to make a separate list, and for the other three it would’ve mostly been artists I’ve already written about in previous years.

So what I did (because I’m smort) is I merged these four categories and define it as any artist I either got to know this year or listened to a lot this year. This way I can still have some of the new musicians I got to know this year but still reflect what my year looked like in music even if some of those have been on these lists before.

This is serious business, we’re not banging rocks together here.

15 Bastille

Let’s get the obvious out of the way. Bastille came out with the best album of 2016 last year and this year I was lucky enough to first have to cancel seeing them live in February and then reschedule seeing them in August. To this day I’ve not waited more for a band than I’ve waited for them which should be a sign of how amazing I find them. Wild World was a tightly paced, captivating record about how shitty the world is, in true Bastille fashion where you can’t tell whether you should drink or dance more. This year saw them release Glory and World Gone Mad as singles, there’s a new Other People’s Heartache in progress and we know for a fact that they’re working on a new album which is supposedly shaping up to sound like an apocalyptice party record so... count me in.

Listen to: World Gone Mad, Blame, Glory

14 Dua Lipa

She was on my newbies list in 2016 but little did I know back then. Since then she released her self-titled album and went on to conquer the world with her single New Rules. Out of all the singles we knew was going to be an album I wouldn’t have thought New Rules would be the one but I don’t mind. With such a strong, distinctive voice and such bops it’s really just her marketing that can fuck things up. I know I’m a downer but I hope she doesn’t disappear in the sea of young and spunky English singer-songwriters. (Has anyone seen Ella Eyre lately? :/ I was so excited... I don’t even dare to hope anymore.)

Listen to: Garden, Be the One, Last Dance

13 Matt Maeson

A Spotify darlingheart that popped up on my discover weekly playlist and boy am I glad. Cringe is one of those crowd-please bangers that you just can’t escape from and you’ll find yourself humming it days after the one time you’ve heard it until you go back to it. Such was the case of Matt Maeson and his latest EP “Who Killed Matt Maeson” instantly cemented itself on my radar and did not disappoint. His voice is so versatile and he uses it all the right ways. I hope he releases a full album soon because I need more soooongs.

Listen to: Cringe, Grave Digger, Tribulation

12 Bishop Briggs

Surprised myself by putting her so “low” on the list but if I’m honest there were only three or four songs I listened to by her this year. That doesn’t mean she’s in any way less worth of your attention though. Bishop first popped up featuring on Cold War Kids’ track “So Tied Up” which I’ve mused about once before here and I was thrilled to find out this girl can sing. River is every bit as addictive as you think it’ll be based on the first two notes, and the EP it’s on (titled Bishop Briggs) is just a collection of this sort of souther gothic alternative... rock thing she does. My worries about her are similar to the ones I’ve mentioned about Dua Lipa but I just don’t want to imagine a world where I can’t hear more of Bishop’s voice.

Listen to: River, Dream, Wild Horses

11 Window to the Abbey

Without getting into an argument about how confused I was about the name of this band (the project on pledgemusic was listed under Troy Baker, how was I supposed to know Window to the Abbey was the name of the band? I thought it was the damn album, where did “Moving Around Bias” even come from? Fucking hell...)

Anyway, Troy Baker released my favourite album in 2014 (it’s perfect, no jokes) and I was so stoked for his new project when I found it was coming out (not that pledgemusic notified me about it even though I literally pledged money for it, no, I had to find out about it from tumblr like some sort of animal). I wrote about the result here and I still hold my opinion that to me it’s the order of songs that bring the whole of the journey down (I know, the stupidest thing, that’s why it pisses me off so much) but every song is dripping of human emotion and the joy of music, and damn that voice gets me every time. I hope he never stops making music.

Listen to: The Promise, Break Up Song, Common Grounds (no links cause only The Promise is on Spotify)

10 American Authors

Remember when I said this is a mixture of four categories? Well, I lied, it’s actually a mixture of FIVE. Really early into 2017 I realised there were a few albums I missed out on in 2016 and I was furious because they would’ve easily made top 5. One such album is What We Live For by American Authors. I was a huge fan of their first record, “Oh, What a Life” (it actually placed 12th on my list that year) (all these links are going to change when I change my URL on New Year’s Eve someone kill me) and I’m beyond pissed that I didn’t catch What We Live For it would’ve been #6 behind Life Screams by Lacey Sturm.

Not that this album doesn’t have a fair share of ballads and sad songs but the whole band is just radiating positivity. Catchy tunes, playful banjo, stomp-clap songs (u kno u luv them), singalongs, it’s such a damn pleasure to listen to these guys so look beyond Best Day of My Life and give them a listen, they’re the best pop music has to offer these days.

Listen to: Pride, Mind Body Soul, Right Here Right Now

09 BANNERS

This scrawny asshole has also seen at least one of these lists last year when he kept pumping out singles. Guitar pop, indie pop, alternative... whatever, call it what you want the facts are that you would recognise his Banners’ voice out of a hundred thousand, and his songs are all different but somehow still fit that feathery sort of magic rainbow cloud world I assume he’s coming from. His songs are either super serious (Half Light), beautiful ballads (Start a Riot), dancey club bangers (Shine a Light), songs that would be a worldwide #1 hit in the mid-00′s (Empires on Fire, pls), or my favourite song of the year (Someone to You). We have no news of it but I’ve made a place for his debut LP hopefully released in 2018.

Listen to: Half Light, Someone to You, Shine a Light

08 Fall Out Boy

I swear nobody can rile up the crowds quite like Fall Out Boy coming out with a track like Young and Menace. For the thirteenth time we listened to the panicked masses screaming into our ears about how FOB sold out, they changed, they’re not FOB anymore, and what’s this dubstep bullshit anyway? Let me tell you what, only the best song you’ve heard this year. I love that they stopped giving a shit, I love them for it, I really do. And even though Mania was delayed until 2018 we got a taste of what to expect and damn I know I’m already up for seconds.

(That sounded way too commercialy but I said it already so I’m not taking it back.)

Listen to: Hold Me Tight Or Don’t, Young and Menace, The Last of the Real Ones

07 FOURS

I can’t... I can’t emphasise enough how much y’all need to listen to FOURS. I’ve said this last year when they only had two songs and an EP out and I’ll say it again now that they came out with four more. The strongest female vocals I’ve heard in years paired up with nostalgic pop that could come from Whitney Houston herself (listen to Sicky Sweet and tell me it doesn’t remind you of I Wanna Dance With Somebody) these guys deserve so much more attention. I’ll hold out here until y’all stop sleeping on them.

These reviews are getting sassier with every entry... I need sleep.

Listen to: Sickly Sweet, Stella, Fade to Love

06 Everything Everything

A late entry but look how high it got straight away. I loved Everything Everything’s Arc back in 2013 (placed 20th, hah, I didn’t even remember that) so I was beyond disappointed when Get to Heaven didn’t live up to my expectations and even though I did listen to A Fever Dream I sort of just slipped past it for some reason. But better late than never I can now safely say this band still owns a significant piece of my heart. Weirdly enough, I still think Jonathan Higgs’ voice isn’t one anyone hears and thinks “man this guy should be the lead singer of a band” but with this (fever) dream-like sound he built up around the songs I just couldn’t imagine these songs with any other voice. I’m definitely happy I wasn’t late for this one.

Listen to: Night of the Long Knives, Run the Numbers, A Fever Dream

05 Enter Shikari

If you’d told me in 2009 when I had to listen to Common Dreads on a bet (that’s the kind of crazy stuff I be on haha!) that eight years later Enter Shikari’s latest album would be one of my favourite releases that year I would’ve... probably been excited to see what direction their music takes. But because nobody warned me I have no idea what this band’s been doing the past eight years and I only found their new album this year because I heard Live Outside on BBC’s Radio 1 while I was waiting for an NBT track to drop.

Based on the fans’ comments Enter Shikari has changed a lot and this album doesn’t represent a majority of their career, which if it’s really the case, I’m so happy about. I love the melodies, I love the crystal clear message in every song, such a wide variety of topics, still hectic and scream-y in some places but easy listening in most of the other places, it’s exactly the right album for me and, well now I have to pay attention to these guys as well.

Listen to: Live Outside, Rabble Rouser, The Sights

04 Kaleo

Another entry on the “how did I not recognise them before” list, Kaleo came out with their second LP “A/B” last year but I think they mostly remained in hiding until the movie Logan used Way Down We Go in its second trailer. That’s how I stumbled upon this surprisingly Icelandic band. It’s surprising because they play better American music most Americans do. It’s this badass country/blues rock about roadtrips and the devil and love. That paired up with lead singer Jökull Júlíusson’s insanely badass vocals (for real, listen to that voice and tell me it doesn’t sound like sweet melting chocolate) it’s something really special.

Listen to: Hot Blood, Way Down We Go, Glass House

03 Kensington

If you guessed they were another band I missed out on in 2016 then you guessed right. This is what I wrote about them when I featured them on my best newbies list at #11.

“Poor Kensington’s this far back on this list because even though I enjoyed the HECK out of Rivals (the HECK, I’m telling you!) I only… enjoyed the heck out of that one. It’s not that the other albums were bad, it’s just that I never got around to checking them out unfortunately. Which I should, seeing as I’m seeing them live in February, eh? Anyway, a kickass vocalist, smashing guitars, it’s a simple equation but it works. I for one welcome our Dutch overlords.”

Well, look at where we are, laddies and look no further. I spent a majority of this year enjoying the fuck out of Rivals and being in trance for two months straight after seeing them live and I’m seeing them again next April so... don’t do drugs, kids, that’s the only reasoning I can give for not falling in love with this album sooner.

Listen to: Regret, Home Again, Little Light

02 Misterwives

And here we have the band that would’ve topped the best newbies list had it not been for my incompetence. But I like to think that they’re in the right place because anything that’s second behind the band that’s in first place is actually really the first. Makes sense, right?

Misterwives was also gifted to me by the almighty Spotify where it threw up Machine on me. It was one of those moments where it stayed burnt into my memory for so long I couldn’t help but go back to it even though in the moment it didn’t feel like it was going to be something big. And now a few months later I’ve been absolutely captivated by the colourful, bounce-y, full of energy pop music of Misterwives. This six-piece is like the one colourful spot in a world full of greys, just an absolute pleasure to listen to. If you want to dance, if you want to smile, give them a go.

Listen to: Reflections, Our Own House, Machine

01 Nothing But Thieves

Hell no, it’s way too early to get into this right now. Guess you’ll just have to wait until my best albums liiiiiist ^^

#best of 2017 #long post #long post for ts #theres blacklist on tumblr mobile too so #theres no excuse for not blacklisting me :D

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mustdang-100 · 7 years ago

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Shifting Perspectives - Ch. 2

Everything is not fine.

Summary: How many espers does it take to rescue one abducted conman?

Months after the events of the World Domination arc, Reigen disappears sometime between leaving the office and after-work plans. Serizawa finds himself the unwilling leader of a bunch of former Claw members and a couple of stubborn teenagers, determined to get Reigen back.

Read on AO3 Ch.2 Tumblr Ch.1|Ch.2 - below|Ch.3

Reigen wasn’t answering his phone.

It had been two hours since Reigen should reasonably have arrived. After two unanswered text messages and one call that rang to voicemail, eliminating the possibility that Reigen’s phone had died or some other more palatable explanation, Sakurai and Tsuchiya began muttering darkly about callous, ill-mannered people and the retribution such villains deserved. Koyama began waxing enthusiastically and entirely unsubtly about a friend of his from work that he wanted to set Serizawa up with. He also kept buying Serizawa beers, but seeing that he had barely touched his first one, ended up drinking most of them himself.

By the end of hour three and following a second unanswered call, Serizawa began to feel uneasy. His dejection at Reigen blowing them off was fading alongside a growing apprehension creeping up from somewhere deep in his gut. He took a deep breath, then looked up and fixed his gaze on his friends.

“I’m… I’m starting to think something might have happened to Reigen.”

Tsuchiya looked at him with kind eyes. “Serizawa,” she began, placing a warm hand on his shoulder. “Some people are just like this; they flat-out don’t bother to let you know when they cancel on you. It’s a sign of an inconsiderate friend, and frankly, it’s good that he’s shown his colors this early, before you get too invested.”

Serizawa hesitated. His ever-present self-doubt warred with some instinct that this was something more, that something was… off. He spoke his thoughts out loud, slowly, trying to tease out the source of his growing alarm.

“This… really isn’t like him.” He paused, then continued, “He always answers calls, or if he does miss one he calls back really soon after, no matter what time of day. Or night. I think he’s a light sleeper.”

Serizawa realized he’d just admitted that he called Reigen during the night often enough to notice a pattern, and immediately looked around to see if anyone else had noticed. Only Minegishi seemed to have registered the slip, and he’d known already. Serizawa considered his own words. It had been weeks since the last time he’d woken up in the middle of the night, shaking from nightmares filled with violence and murder and endless days swathed in desperate loneliness, and scrambling for a voice to center him. But the pattern still stood.

Yes. That was it. Reigen knew and understood his vulnerabilities. If Reigen had a working phone, Serizawa was convinced he wouldn’t abandon him without notice.

Minegishi sighed. “Katsuya, you know that you tend to overthink these things. I wouldn’t be surprised if he just forgot to tell you that he’d changed his mind and wasn’t coming.”

Tsuchiya frowned, contemplative. “Or… maybe he accidentally fell asleep?”

“He… does nap in the office sometimes.” Serizawa felt a flutter of hope at that, an explanation he hadn’t considered that didn’t involve either the bad or the worse possibility.

“Maybe I’ll stop back by the office. Just to check. Just, in case.”

“Does that seem a little… excessive?” Sakurai raised an eyebrow.

Serizawa was already standing, but forced himself to pause. He tapped his fingers nervously on the back of the chair. The worry still roiled, the insistence that something was wrong, wrong, wrong now heightened by a sharp edge of panic that really wasn’t justified by the situation. He realized with a jolt of shame that it resembled the same mix of emotions once produced by the idea of losing his old safety blanket, the umbrella that represented freedom and safety and yet had held him as trapped as he had ever been. Maybe more so, for the lies fed to him by both himself and others.

Serizawa’s shoulders slumped, and he realized sadly that he couldn’t think about the situation rationally. His friends were right. Reigen must have gone home, or fallen asleep, or gone off to see other friends. He had said he had other plans; he probably decided last minute that those took priority.

It’s the logical explanation, he told himself firmly, his heart seeming to shrink in on itself. Serizawa needed to forget it, and just find out what happened when he saw Reigen tomorrow. That was the normal, well-adjusted, self-sufficient adult thing to do.

He gripped the back of the chair firmly and took a deep breath, trying to calm himself, and looked up. His friends were looking at him with varying levels of concern; he gave them what was probably a very wobbly smile.

“You’re right. I always worry too much.” He pushed in his chair. “I’m gonna go ahead and head home though. Not feeling like particularly good company anymore.”

“Text us tomorrow and let us know what happened?” Tsuchiya asked. “If he fell asleep or something else so embarrassing, he deserves to be mocked.”

“And if he stood you up, he deserves a… lecture,” Koyama cracked his knuckles. Serizawa threw him an exasperated glance. “I mean, uh, if he stood us up. I remember, not a date, right, right.”

“That’s not what I was…”

“You know he’s just teasing,” Sakurai rolled his eyes. Koyama looked like was going to disagree, and Sakurai hurriedly cut him off. “But yes, let us know.”

Minegishi said nothing, but he nodded, his eyes concerned.

Serizawa shook his head, determinedly ignoring everything his heart was screaming as he headed for the train that would take him back toward his apartment.

***

Serizawa lay flat on his back, staring up at his bedroom ceiling. There was a water stain in one corner that kind of looked like a dog, if you blurred your eyes a little. Or maybe a cat. On windy nights, like tonight, the moonlight filtering through moving tree branches outside his window made the figure appear to be moving. Endlessly running, running, running…

It was possible he was projecting.

He was locked back in an old cycle: he stared at the ceiling until he forced his eyes closed, trying to ignore the nausea produced by gut-churning anxiety. Far too slowly, darkness descended.

He was alone, huddled in the dark. He’d been alone for a long, long time. That would never change. It was the only option left to him.

A crack in the darkness opened, filled with light. From it, a red-haired man extended his hand to help him up, and out. The man smiled, telling him that he was worth something, that he had a purpose.

The helping hand was a lie. His promises were empty.

His smile turned cruel. His hand was extended not to help, but raised for a killing blow; he laughed at the idea that Serizawa had ever been anything but a tool for him to use and discard.

Serizawa knew this memory. He did have a purpose, this time. He turned, expecting to see a boy with spiky red hair and defeat in his eyes and a man who had bravely, knowingly, sauntered into a situation far over his head. He was a protector; now Serizawa would protect him.

There was no one there. The killing blow hit, setting fire to his entire body.

Serizawa jolted awake, flying up from the bed, heart beating fast, sheets soaked in sweat.

He paced until his heartbeat slowed to something approaching normal.

He forced himself back to bed.

The cycle began again.

Months ago, when an idle office conversation had turned personal, he’d opened up about the reason for the bags under eyes, the fifth coffee of the day. With that admittance, he’d obtained a way to finally break the cycle.

Reigen tapped his chin thoughtfully.

“Your past is getting mixed up with your present; I think it might help to have someone to talk to, when you wake from these nightmares. To help you sort the truth from the lies. As your boss, it’s one of my duties to make sure you get a good night’s rest so you can be productive as possible. You have my cell phone number, right?”

But what do you do when the person you call when you can’t sleep is the reason you can’t sleep in the first place?

Every time he jerked back awake he checked his phone again, uselessly. He had the volume turned all the way up; he’d hear the ringtone if he got a message or call.

When the first streaks of orange sunrise painted the sky outside his window, he decided that was finally a good enough excuse to head into work. If he was going to pace, he might as well do it there.

***

Reigen wasn’t in the office when Serizawa arrived.

Given that it was about three hours before the Saturday opening time at ten o’clock, that wasn’t exactly unexpected. But now that he was here, and Reigen was not, he’d run out of options to dispel his restless energy.

Serizawa tidied already straight stacks of paperwork. He checked his phone. He paced. He washed both his and Reigen’s mug, then dried them thoroughly. He noticed that several small objects had begun floating randomly about the room, and forced his powers back into obedience, pulling it back, sorting the various objects softly back into their rightful places.

He checked his phone again. He checked the office phone’s messages and worked up the courage to return a call from a potential client, lying that today they were completely booked and making an appointment for the following day. He could always call the client back and tell them that time had amazingly opened up for today, if Reigen showed up.

When Reigen showed up. When. Ten o’clock came, and went. Eleven o’clock. Twelve. Reigen did not appear.

The seed of apprehension Serizawa had been fighting to control blossomed into true fear, reaching out another tendril to coil around his heart with every passing minute.

This was the concrete proof he needed, that this wasn’t just his broken emotions getting snarled confusingly up into worry for no reason. He’d been right. He’d been right, damn it, and he had hesitated. Panic was buzzing through his body; pens and paperclips began to once again rise into the air, out of his control. This time, he didn’t bother to corral them.

He pulled out his phone and opened the group chat, typing three short, terse sentences.

It’s three hours past opening time. Reigen still isn’t here.

I need help.

***

The office seemed fuller than it should, crowded with five adult espers on edge. Their combined anxious energy was a palpable tension in the air as they stood, wracking their brains. They were going in circles, and Serizawa’s agitation was about to drive him up the wall.

“You said that you’re sure you don’t know where else he might have gone last night? And you don’t know his address?” Minegishi asked for the third time.

“Of course I don’t, and I only know the general area! I told you this already!” Serizawa snapped, then covered face with hands, digging his palms into his eyes.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I know you’re just trying to help.”

Tsuchiya sighed, rubbing her neck. “I don't suppose you have one of those phone apps that tracks your friends’ phones, do you? Mukai and I have those for each other, for just in case.”

Serizawa shook his head miserably.

“But the kid does.” Sakurai spoke up suddenly. Everyone turned to look at him. “Or at least, he used to. Remember? It’s how Reigen found all of us back at the Seventh Branch; he followed Kageyama’s phone.”

“Perfect!” Tsuchiya suddenly stood straighter, invigorated by the beginning of a plan, any plan. “Text him and ask him to check Reigen’s location. He can send it to us, whether he’s at home or elsewhere, and we’ll go find him.”

“Uh…”

They all looked up at Koyama, who had gone a little pale.

“I’m not sure that’s… uh, I think we might want to avoid…”

“Spit it out Koyama,” Tsuchya propped her fists onto her hips.

Koyama scowled. “It’s just that, you guys didn’t see Kageyama when he thought something happened to his family. It was… a little unnerving.”

His intonation implied something closer to, ‘pants-shittingly terrifying.’ Sakurai’s eyes widened behind his glasses.

“Koyama’s right – Kagayama was ferociously dead-set on his goal. When we picked him up off the street, when the President was beginning his attack, he left two scar-cadre level members beaten unconscious at his feet. I don’t know if I want to be the one telling him something might have happened to his mentor.”

Koyama seemed a little abashed at his evident fear at a child, but they all knew Shigeo. No one laughed.

Minegishi spoke up for the first time in a while.

“There’s no need to worry Kageyama for no reason. He has a brother, right?”

***

Teru was locked in a battle for his life.

His opponent came at him head-on, electricity crackling as he launched an attack.

Teru dodged it, then used the following pause to run in close to his foe.

He smiled. Got you.

The small, round, pink form of Teru’s onscreen character inhaled Pikachu, turned around, and spat him over the side of the floating virtual arena. Pikachu fell to his off-screen doom.

“You asshole,” Shou screeched, throwing his controller down as the victory music played and the screen flashed with a jubilant Kirby and a giant ‘Number 1.’ “What the fuck kinda move was that? I couldn’t even fight back!”

Teru threw him his brightest, cheekiest grin. “I win. Again.”

“Guys,” Ritsu hissed from where he’d been sulking on the couch, messing with his phone. “My parents could be home at any minute, watch your fucking language.”

Teru didn’t bother to point out the hypocrisy in Ritsu’s statement, instead glancing over at his older brother, sitting on the couch next to him. Shigeo stared pensively at the ending screen, a slight furrow between his eyebrows just visible below his bangs. Teru decided he was probably thinking through how exactly he had won that time. Shigeo was actually a fair Super Smash Bros player, as demonstrated by the hilarious fact that it was Ritsu who was frequently the first to be knocked out. But Shigeo wasn’t prepared to play the kind of tricks Teru was.

All was fair in war and video games.

Shou, apparently, didn’t agree; he practically had smoke coming out of his ears.

“Let’s go again. I’ll beat you this time I swear to god-”

“How about a snack first?” Ritsu cut in, glancing up. “Niisan? Would you mind making some popcorn or something?”

Shigeo looked mildly confused that Ritsu wouldn't just go make it himself, but seemed perfectly amenable. He hopped off the couch and headed for the kitchen.

Ritsu followed his progress out of the room. As soon as he was gone, Ritsu snatched Shigeo’s phone from the coffee table and began tapping buttons. Teru and Shou exchanged a bemused look, before Shou scooted over to the couch and peered at the phone screen in Ritsu’s hand.

“Sooo. You gonna fill us in or what.” Ritsu frowned at the screen, ignoring the other two boys and muttering to himself. Teru could barely hear him over the hum from the microwave and the popping of kernels.

“Doesn’t even have a password, figures. He should really be more cautious… ah, here we go.” Ritsu tapped an app, then looked up while it loaded.

“I just got a text from Mr. Serizawa. Apparently Reigen didn’t show up at work today, and he’s worried. He remembered that Niisan has a tracker app for their phones.”

“Why’d he ask you then?”

Ritsu shrugged. “He didn’t want to upset Niisan. I don’t blame him, he would get overly upset. Reigen probably just wandered off chasing a fake spirit somewhere and his phone died, and he got lost without maps,” Ritsu said dismissively, then looked back down at the phone.

He frowned. “Hmm, guess not – the app’s working, so his phone’s still on. And that’s definitely not the office. It’s… kinda in the middle of nowhere. Some business district.”

Teru joined the two on the couch to peer over Ritsu’s shoulder, staring at the bright red dot denoting Reigen’s location. Shou was the first to speak up.

“What the hell do ya think Reigen is doing there?”

***

Serizawa stared silently down at the phone tucked in the corner between building and sidewalk, before leaning down, almost mechanically, to pick it up. It lay innocently in his large hand; such a small thing to be the harbinger of something so horrific.

Something had happened to Reigen. Something had happened to Reigen.

Now that the worst had been confirmed, it was like he was stuck, the same phrase running through his head over and over again. Panic and dread clashed within him, immobilizing him in place; he couldn’t think of what to do next.

Something had happened something had happened and he’s gone-

“Ummm… Serizawa?”

He looked around, barely registering the sound of his name through the ringing in his ears. Sakurai was scrutinizing him a little warily, Koyama, Tsuchiya, and Minegishi examining the rest of the dingy alley behind him.

“Not to make a bad situation worse, but...” Sakurai pointed hesitantly.

A familiar small, square shape was sitting in a dirty puddle a few feet away.

Serizawa’s fists clenched so hard when he recognized it as Reigen’s wallet that the phone in his hand creaked in protest. He dropped it into his pocket and clutched at his head, feeling like he’d just been kicked in the stomach.

Someone had bothered to dig Reigen’s wallet out of his pocket, and tossed it away like it was nothing. Serizawa fished the wallet out of the puddle, hands shaking slightly, and opened it to reveal credit cards and a small number of bills.

This wasn’t an accident. It wasn’t even a mugging. This was something deliberate. Someone wanted Reigen without resources, without any way to contact anyone. Someone wanted Reigen vulnerable, and alone – but alive. They wouldn't go to this amount of trouble if their aim had been to kill him.

As if he’d heard that thought, Koyama spoke up from behind him.

“It could be worse, we didn’t find him lying here dead in the stree-”

Two audible slaps, a hissed “shut up” and a yelp of protest cut off the statement.

Serizawa barely heard them, focusing too hard now on the realization that Reigen had to have been taken, and all the facts pointed to him being alive – for what purpose, he did not know.

He realized suddenly that his hands were shaking not with panic, but with rage.

And suddenly, his vision was swathed in red.

Reigen had been kidnapped. He’d been gone for more than twelve hours, enough time for any number of horrific things to be done to him. Serizawa felt his aura suddenly pulse out from him, the power swelling out in a tumultuous wave. The concrete beneath his feet sprouted cracks in a perfect two-meter radius, with him at the epicenter.

“Katsuya?” A hand was on his arm.

Serizawa turned, slowly. Through the red haze he saw Minegishi peering up into his face, worry tracing his features. The other three had stepped back, a little nearer to each other than they’d been before, and were peering at him uneasily. They were all powerful espers, but Serizawa had been among the elite of Claw; they hadn’t seen the level of destruction Serizawa was capable of. He’d been making a conscious effort to downplay his powers in recent months, basking in the relief that came from having them so much more under control than ever before.

But now, he reveled in the power that rippled around him like something alive. The power he would use to get Reigen back.

“Hey,” Koyama finally said, nervously, “It’s okay, we’ll… we’re going to think of something. We’ll find him, and we’ll rescue him.”

“Yes. We will.” Serizawa raised his head, looking at the other four. The anger had cleared some of the fuzziness from his head; he could think again.

“We are going to get him back. And we are going to make whoever took him regret it.”

#mob psycho 100 #mp100 #mp100 fanfiction #serirei #him smad #fanfiction #long post #i ask myself 'do i really want a subplot with some of the kids that's going to lengthen this thing by a third?'#the answer was apparently yes #yes i did #my fics #shifting perspectives

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rocketbcssarchive · 8 years ago

Note

ALL OF EM. "DONT BE A PUSSY," CHRISSY.

CHRISSY REALLY LIKES TO SALT || NOT ACCEPTING

INHALES

I BET YOU THOUGHT I WOULD PUSSY OUT DIDN’T YOU????

also @hiunmei, @fiiresouled, @sombrc, @starmarkcd, @heartoire

What OTPs in your fandom(s) do you just not get?*

Answered!

Are there any popular fandom OTPs you only BroTP?*

Answered!

Have you ever unfollowed someone over a fandom opinion?

Answered, basically Chrissy doesn’t remember, but chances are likely she did.

Do you have a NoTP in your fandom? Are they a popular OTP?*

Answered, but last time I wasn’t allowed to say a.mourshipping and guess what, I’m slapping this down here. I mean I’ve gone at length already about why I don’t like that ship that I’m starting to sound like a broken record about it so I’m just saying, I just dislike it when people try to obnoxiously shipbait and don’t have the balls to commit to it.

Has fandom ever ruined a pairing for you?*

Not with Pokemon specifically, but I generally don’t care for a lot of ships in Pokemon since either a) there are so many characters I just feel meh about so why would I care if they were in a ship and b) most of the characters are too young for me to really ship.

Though I’ll admit I’ve become really lukewarm about p.reciousmetalshipping the more I’m exposed to it.

Has fandom ever made you enjoy a pairing you previously hated?*

@starmarkcd & @gxldenstreak have actually made me come around on Crys/Gold since I’m one of those curmudgeons who 9/10 dislikes it whenever the sole female character in a group ends up having to be shipped with the main male lead just because she’s the girl and therefore has to be a love interest. This same philosophy applies to why it makes it really hard for me to ship ariana/giovanni.

Is there anything you used to like but can’t stand now?*

I haven’t reached the point where I can’t stand him or anything since Guzma has really great character development and was just a huge surprise all around when I was expecting a shallow comic relief character, but damn was I really close to just hating the character at one point thanks to fandom being really obnoxious about him.

Have you received anon hate? What about?*

Not really. I’ve been on tumblr since 2010 and I’ve yet to ping on anyone’s radar that they thought to send me anon hate. Though I’ve been put on a call out post/call out blog before so I suppose that counts? Still, why won’t anyone hate me that intensely to just come into my inbox? I’ve been waiting for the day to get some real anon hate. It’ll just be such a huge tumblr milestone for me.

Most disliked character(s)? Why?

Answered, I believe. But Cilan. Cilan. Cilan. HE IS SO USELESS AND ANNOYING. I just remember how ridiculously happy I was when he and Iris were literally shoved onto a subway and sent away. It was like the show runners realized how disliked those two were and just gave us that moment “SEE? SEE! THEY’RE GONE!” since literally asides from Brock&Misty in Johto arc, none of the other companions got a goodbye scene and especially not one that was as dismissive and insulting as the one Cilan and Iris got.

Literally said “Good bye, worst companions ever.” when the subway doors closed.

Most disliked arc? Why?

FRICKIN BLACK AND WHITE. ALL OF IT. I get so frickin angry at how badly Ash regressed when he was amazing during Sinnoh. THERE WAS LITERALLY AN ENTIRE SEASON OF FILLER. Like yes, Pokemon’s really just filler, but at least there was always just an overarching story with Ash winning badges to fight in the region’s league and his female companion competing in some dumb beauty pageant alongside him. But literally. This season had no plot since it came after Ash getting his ass handed to him in the unova league. He and his companions were fucking travelling around on a ferry and stopping at random islands for no damn reason at all.

Is there an unpopular character you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?

Nah, which I find kind of surprising since I generally tend to like characters most of fandom will dislike. There probably IS a character, I just don’t remember them at the moment.

Is there an unpopular arc that you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?

I suppose the SuMo anime right now is a bit unpopular since people can’t get over the anime style changes and general tone shift from XYZ, but I actually really love it for the cuteness and the fact that Ash is such a pure soul in it.

Also I know people didn’t like the XY games since they were really shallow and I understand why since… well it followed the BW games. But I was fortunate enough to pick up the games only a few months before the SuMo games so I never had go through the long wait and ultimate disappointment with the games, but it’s kinda cute and the music’s not bad.

Unpopular opinion about XXX character?

I think I’ve seen this sentiment thrown around a bit so I don’t think it’s that unpopular, but I really think Brock should have been written out of the show long before Sinnoh. He was just kind of… there and nonexistent and pointless. He kinda went through all of his character development with the original trio and really should have just left with Misty. Especially since that running gag of him falling for every hot girl was SO. OLD. by then.

Unpopular opinion about your fandom?

Hey fandom? Stop taking game mechanics so frickin literally. Thanks, Chrissy.

Unpopular opinion about the manga/show?

Look, I love Pokespe. I seriously do. It was a series that had the challenge of taking completely new characters for every arc and having to expand them into something that’s original and not boring or repetitive. I ESPECIALLY love what they did with Giovanni.

But at the same time???? Holy fuck does Pokespe read like bad fanfiction 99% of the time. Lance taking all three legendary books and mooshing them into one was just… not good.

If you could change anything in the show, what would you change?

I mean I would go back and rewrite the entire god damn Black and White arc so that a) Ash wasn’t so damn fucking incompetent and completely forgot how to be a pokemon trainer B) Cilan never existed C) Iris being an actual gym trainer and eventual champion etc etc.

ALSO REMOVING VINCENT AND INSERTING SILVER. GOD DAMN IT.

Instead of XYZ happening, I would have made ABC happen…

So here’s the thing that always kinda baffled me about Serena is that while true, she’s a blank slate character you do have something of a personality for her when she ends up being the rival if you happen to choose Caelum as your avatar. She’s a girl who’s actually a pretty stronger trainer and who progressively gets frustrated and insecure about having some new kid on the block come along and beat her at every battle. That would have been an amazing story to see on screen.

And just like the really, really aggravating thing about Serena in the show is just… a character like her already existed in the games. It was frickin Shauna. SHE was the potential LI in the game who was interested in cute stuff and videos and fashion and wasn’t a good trainer, but stuck around with the team since she cared so much about her friends. Soooo… would have put Shauna in Serena’s role if I had that choice.

Does not shipping something ‘popular’ mean you’re in denial and/or biased?

CONTRARY TO HOW IT MAY SEEM ON THIS BLOG.

I do not actually care all that much for shipping. I have the one ship, MAYBE two for each character and that’s it. Heck, I never intended on shipping on Giovanni until a certain devil child came along and ruined everything. So when I in particular don’t ship something popular, it usually just means I’m not invested. Plain and simple.

What is the one thing you hate most about your fandom?

Instead of one thing, you get a list: the frickin entitlement. The guilt tripping. Drama that friggin lasts for weeks. People who can’t leave other people alone. People who use mental illness as an excuse for acting like a terrible person. The vagueblogging. FRICKIN POLITICS THAT SHOULD BE KEPT TO PERSONALS. People not tagging shit. The constant call out posts over NOTHING. The “If you’re not with me, you’re against me” mindset – hi, I’m here for RP and dumb memes and 9/10 I probably agree with your sentiment, but I’m not fucking here on my pokemon blog for that shit.

What is the purest ship in the fandom?

Moon/Lillie are the cutest thing to have ever happened and while I don’t really ship it since yanno, they’re ten, they are so pure and sweet that just thinking about them washes a lot of my salt away.

What are your thoughts on crack ships?

They’re dangeorus. As in. I’ve deffo done the thing where it starts off as a crack ship and then becomes a legit ship. It’s like playing with fire and then you have people on the dash who are just “wait, what – ??” when they see you legit shipping it.

Popular character you hate?

Look, if you’ve been following me for this long and don’t know the answer to this then please leave.

Unpopular character you love?

Okay, so I guess Ash sorta counts as an unpopular character on the game side of the fandom since people can’t get over the fact that the anime and the games are separate universes. So I constantly get to see my son be dragged for not being Red or for taking the role of their self-insert character even though I bet dollars to donuts that they’d probably whine that their self-insert character didn’t jive with whatever personal headcanons they came up with or what not.

Listen, just let the boy exist in the anime and ignore it if you don’t like it. The show’s cute, it’s bright and colourful and sometimes really well animated. And hey, guess what sometimes the show is better than the games with their interpretations of mechanics. I love the fact that the legendaries feel like legendaries and not some extra strong pokemon you have to try a lil harder to catch. That and a bunch of other lil things. Just let me sit here and love my son.

Would you recommend XXX to a friend? Why or why not?

Yes. I’ve actually recommended pokemon to friends repeatedly, even dragged them into streams to watch either the anime or even LPs for the games.

How would you end XXX/Would you change the ending of XXX?

WELL FRIEND. I DON’T KNOW ABOUT YOU BUT ASH TOTALLY WON THE KALOS LEAGUE.

Most shippable character?

idk. given how ash has been paired with every character under the sun, including frickin sammy oak, I guess him? I mean the frickin fandom’s currently caught up in ship wars with him in the middle. ASH FUCKING KETCHUM. Mister Oblivious to Romance and Girls.

Least shippable character?

Cilan.

Get him out of my face.

#undinaes #ℜ┊this is satan speaking ( OOC )#salt cw #ℜ┊ answered memes #ℜ┊ long post

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megashadowdragon · 8 years ago

Text

oscar pine will join team jnpr and be the new p his inspiration is tip/ozma

Given that Oscar's last name is Pine (and that last names are used to make team names, like Sky Lark of CRDL and May Zedong of BRNZ and lie ren ( ren was his last name his fathers name was li ren (in that spelling) ) ( plus it fits for him to join team jnpr (juniper) since Both Pines and Junipers are evergreen trees ) and that he's got Ozpin's cane, I think he will be Pyrrha's replacement especially since ozpins aura is merging/merged with oscar ( he's a reincarnation who goes from person to person by merging with their Aura ) which led him to go on his journey and pyrrhas arc/crisis in v3 had been about possibly going through the procedure to forcibly merge ambers aura with pyrrhas and losing her identity and oscar is going through that process ( though the process is natural very different from the mechanical transfer done to Amber and Pyrrha, ozpin had reason to believe it would be similar to his own experience ) with ozpin and we get to see what would have possibly happened to pyrrha

( in ozpins original body he was named ozma (so rwbys ozpin/ozma is a reference to both princess ozma and the wizard of oz) ozma is based on princess ozma and oscar pine represents tip who was princess ozma turned into a boy where she lived most of her life on the farm and oscar lived on a farm for most of his life

Ozma was first introduced in the original book series as a boy named Tip who got an involuntary sex-change by the Wicked Witch of the North

http://oz . wikia . com/wiki/Tip who lived with the old witch Mombi on a farm in the Gillikin Country of the magical Land of Oz. and oscar pine lived on a farm with his aunt

Princess Ozma and Tip are basically the same person.

http://oz . wikia . com/wiki/Princess_Ozma

princess Ozma and rwbys ozma both carried around a scepter. . ( I believe that ozma and oscar are both wizard of oz and princess ozma and tip

and oscar inherited ozpins cane (so basically oscar pine is a reference to tip and oscar has the same voice actor as ozma and has a strong resemblance to ozma (ozpins original body)

It fits with JNPR's theme of being heroes who have crossdressed in their stories ( including actually pretending to be of the opposite gender with an exception being joan of arc jaunes inspiration who people knew was a woman ) and being the opposite gender of the heroes who they were based ( the gender they dressed up as ) on

(basically being genderflips of characters who have crossdressed

jaune = joan of arc

pyrrha nikos = achilles ( a man disguised as a red haired woman named pyrrha) nora = thor ( who disguised himself as freya)

lie ren = mulan ( disguised as a male soldier

so oscars inspiration being ozma would fit that since ozma was turned into a male by the wicked witch of the north

and ozma being forced into a body that wasn't hers which is referenced with ozmas reincarnation curse

and ozma/ozpins reincarnation curse is also a reference to how In the original The Wizard of Oz book, the Wizard appeared to Dorothy and her friends in several different forms all claiming to be the same person.

and more references that ozpin has to the wizard of oz is

The initials of the Wizard's name, Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkel Emmannuel Ambroise Diggs, spell OZPINHEAD, which may be the origin of Ozpin's name, as well as his position as headmaster of Beacon Academy.

The Wizard lived in Emerald City, and Ozpin's green motif likely comes from this.

In "Known by its Song", Raven Branwen states that "Old Man Oz has a great and terrible secret". This alluded to the Wizard's title, "Oz, The Great and Terrible."

Oscar's first name suggests that he is also inspired by the Wizard of Oz, like Ozpin is (that he has the same first name certainly lends to this). in the books oscar Diggs supplanted the true ruler of Oz, Princess Ozma, in order to take over. and with Ozpin's backstory reveal, of each incarnation gaining the spirit of Ozma before Ozma eventually takes over. In this case, the roles are played with. Ozma will always reincarnate into a new host, in a sense, taking over their body, while Oscar, the latest incarnation is at risk of this happening, but desperately doesn't want it to happen. The usurper however isn't happy about it though, and tries to work with owner of the body rather than just take over, much like how Oscar Diggs eventually returned to Oz and became a trusted ally to Ozma. Only difference is, the roles are reversed.

so ozma/ozpin alludes to both princess ozma and the wizard of oz, and so does oscar who was a farm boy which connects to ozma starting off as a farm boy named tip ( and you could say that oscar specifically references tip ) and his first name being the same as the wizard of oz

so oscar alludes to both wizard of oz and ozma

and there is a theory by @littlemisssquiggles that oscar is ozmas true incarnation

littlemisssquiggles . tumblr . com/post/184013705754/so-i-had-a-bit-of-a-thought-going-off-the-theory

The popular notion with RWBY Theorists is that Oscar is based off of Princess Ozma/ Tip. This is why I love the concept of Oscar being revealed as the original Ozma—His true reincarnation as the revival of his original form resurrected in Modern Remnant.

Just as how Tip was later revealed to be Princess Ozma—the rightful ruler of Oz, I believe that Oscar is Ozma’s true incarnate. Unlike the previous Wizards of Light who were the lives of other men that only Ozma’s soul was only paired too, Oscar is Ozma himself. The adolescent version of his previous form reborn in current time.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. The war with Salem started with Ozma and I believe it would be fitting for it to end with him. Ozma was the beginning and Oscar is the end.

I really like this because it paints a pretty fitting twist. I quite dig the irony of Oscar worrying about losing himself to the Merge when the reality is that he isn’t destined to lose himself but be made complete. The Wizard persona is neither Professor Ozpin nor Ozma. Ozpin described himself as a culmination of his old self and the many men who sacrificed their lives for the greater good of humanity.

By my hunches, Oscar is just like Eriol Hiiragaizawa from Sakura Cardcaptors. In Sakura Cardcaptors, Eriol was one half of Clow Reed—the most powerful sorcerer in the world and creator of the Clow Cards. The other half of Clow Reed was Fujitaka Kinamoto —the father of our protagonist: Sakura Kinamoto. Unlike Fujitaka, Eriol retained all the magical power and memories of Clow Reed.

What if…Oscar Pine is just Fujitaka Kinamoto in this sense? What if…Ozma’s reincarnation was divided in two: body and soul? While Ozma’s soul was reincarnated and paired with the souls of many other men over the years, he never regained his original body. At least, not until his original form was revived in current Remnant as a 14 year old farm boy from Mistral named Oscar Pine?

While Ozma’s soul, similar to Eriol, retained his memories and magical power; Oscar—the adolescent embodiment of Ozma’s original form did not. At least, not until Professor Ozpin—the current Wizard person became paired to Oscar.

people might say that Oscar is a reference to Dorothy because of the aunt but Dorothy was never ozs successor and Dorothy was already referenced in ruby rose

http://sssn-neptune-vasilias . tumblr . com/post/133239047708/a-thought

there are three more main protagonists missing! Dorothy, Toto, and the Cowardly Lion. The identities to the first two are easy. Just look for the girl with ruby red slipp-

-boots. We’ve even got our trusty canine companion!”

though in the in the wizard of oz books the slippers dorothy had werent ruby slippers but silver slippers so ruby rose has references to the slippers from both the book and movies with her name and her eye color/ the silver eyed warrior powers which possessed great power and when ruby revealed them the bad guys became interested in her so and ozma and dorothy were best friends so it would fit for oscar/ozma to be close to ruby which is what I and @littlemisssquiggles predict what will happen in the future

and so it would fit with the theme they all have had unlike penny whose inspiration pinocchio never crossdressed

, achilles, thor, joan of arc, mulan all crossdressed

but pyrrha, nora and rens inspirations are the only ones who had lied and claim they were of the opposite sex (achilles and thor pretended to be women while mulan pretended to be a man) while joan of arc crossdressed people knew she was a woman so ozma will be the only one who crossdressed unwillingly by being turned into a member of the opposite sex

edit ( I had made several edits my original version had oscar as ozma with his aura merging with the character who alludes to ozpin but given how the first incarnations name was ozma I think maybe they both reference ozma

https://megashadowdragon . tumblr . com/post/152357996242/salem-is-jaunes-evil-counterpart/embed

and the ozma and pyrrha parallels adds to my belief that oscar will join team jnpr as the new p

alexkablob . tumblr . com/post/179967541409/i-just-cannot-believe-for-years-now-ive-been

I just cannot believe

for years now I’ve been saying Arkos was classic heroic romance tropes with Pyrrha in the classical male role and Jaune in the classical female role

and this is actually true in-universe, because Pyrrha parallels Oz and Jaune parallels Salem.

Arkos is paralleling Ozpin and Salem but better and not screwing up the way they did, with Pyrrha as Ozpin and Jaune as Salem

(the multiple scenes where ozma disintegrating in the exact same fashion that pyrrha nikos had disintegrated in at the end of v3

There’s also the part where Jaune was unable to save Pyrrha and had to struggle with a death wish (seriously jaune was borderline suicidal and some may say that was until his fight with cinder but I think its still there )

https://alexkablob . tumblr . com/post/179997954479/ozmas-pyrrha-parallels-are-making-jaunes-current?is_liked_post=1

Ozma’s Pyrrha parallels are making Jaune’s current suicidal tendencies even more painful tbh

WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT THAT OZ AND SALEM WERE ACTUALLY GENDER-FLIPPED ARKOS “

I mean seriously Ozma is destroyed by the God of Light and darkness in the same manner that Cinder destroyed Pyrrhas body

and I forgot to add about how salem was suicidal

alexkablob . tumblr . com/post/179974884724/rw-bee-legends-and-fairy-tales-scattered-in

aspiringwarriorlibrarian . tumblr . com/post/179972347584/edelblume-righteousness-n-the-quality-of#notes

Righteousness n. the quality of being morally right or justifiable.

sunder-the-gold . tumblr . com/post/180072404979/alexkablob-so-ozpin-interrupting-the-light

So.

Ozpin interrupting the Light God to say “I’ll do it” before he fully understood what was being asked of him.

And the Light god just taking it as assent without explaining further.

Wow I guess we know now why he looked so stricken when Pyrrha did the exact same thing before he’d finished explaining.”

sunder-the-gold

And then Ozpin said, “No, please, let me explain what this could do to you.”

and even gave her time to think

.” basically he saw the parallels between himself and pyrrha how they said yes before they fully understood what was being asked of them and told her to think it over and explained what it could do to her and the way he described it sounded just the way he described what was happening to oscar and him .

dustypotion . tumblr . com/post/179999477247/i-got-an-interesting-ask-from-an-anon-and-wanted

“ wanted to delve deeper into the idea that jaune and pyrrha are also mirrors of ozpin and salem. but here, jaune is the reflection of salem, while pyrrha is the reflection of ozpin. pyrrha was the righteous, moral, talented soldier while jaune is the grieving person that was saved, and sought vengeance for their lost love. pyrrha also stuck to a moral code, like ozpin did, while jaune and salem both used alternative, immoral methods to reach their goals. there’s also the fact that salem’s emblem looked like jaune’s AND jaune’s semblance has the same visual look of the magic that made salem immortal “

edit : plus it would be neat because it would require jaune to go development where he loses the resentment at ozma and realizes it wasnt ozmas fault that pyrrha chose to go fight cinder that she chose to be the fall maiden and that ozma gave her the choice to say no he explained what it could do to her and gave her time to think it over ( people bring up ozpin not telling her about salem etc but he really couldnt he couldn’t give her the entire story without basically forcing her into the fold. He told her as much as he could for her to make a decision without giving her so much they couldn’t take no for an answer. He urged her to think it through and not make a choice too quickly. and let her know what it could do to her rather than taking her I´ll do it as assent which the god of light did without explaining further and even at the fall he hesitated and asked her again if she was sure and when she nodded he said he needed her to say it

a long ask I sent to kiwi about my thoughts on what I hope happens in the future with jaune and ozma:

https://the-kiwi-is-not-a-pewee . tumblr . com/post/180355610925/a-long-ask-my-hopes-about-jaune-and-ozpin

plus it would be fitting for jaune to end up befriending both ozma and oscar. and it would be fitting for oscar/ozma to be jaunes new partner for jaunes inspiration is a saint and ozmas goal is to unite humanity to survive judgment day to have them find absolution. which is somethings that the catholic ( among other religions) believe will happen someday (judgement day ) and absolution is a part of catholicism the belief that people can be forgiven for their sins which is what god wants and god in catholicism end up wiping almost all of humanity out because of their sins https://en . wikipedia . org/wiki/Absolution

the parallels between ozma and pyrrha add to my belief that jaune and ozma will reconcile and become close to each other

plus joan of arc was a saint noted for hearing messages from dead saints and god where at first she was put on tasks until she was put on a “divine mission from god “ ( vision of god ) and ozma literally received his mission of uniting humanity from god and his reincaarnation process starts when he appears as a voice in someones head

etc @it-is-i-rv

@the-kiwi-is-not-a-pewee

@fandomsallaroundme

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larryfanfiction · 8 years ago

Text

Ao3?

objectlesson

Tumblr?

xabjectlessonsx

Name?

Phoenix

Age?

How long have you been a fan of One Direction?

Oh god, I only got into them in May, and even then I wouldn’t have felt comfortable calling myself a fan until around July or August. So only about five months! I’m a baby Directioner, probably why I’m not dead inside yet.

What is your favorite fic?

Wild and Unruly by 100percentsassy and Gloria Andrews. It’s seriously one of my favorite works of art in the entire universe, it’s the romance novel I wish I had when I was seventeen and longing for queer cowboys and drama and star crossed lovers and angst. It’s perfect. I feel like they looked into my soul and saw how much I needed ranch Harry singing Dolly Parton to a cow, and an almost kiss happening after he sucks amniotic fluid out of a calve’s nose. That is just so up my alley. I absolutely adore that story, everything about it. It probably helps that I have a cat named Jolene who I’m more than a little obsessed with.

When did you start writing?

I’ve been writing since I was a tiny child (my mom would hand bind my ‘books’ with ribbon!) but I’ve been writing fan fiction for like fifteen years. The first fic I ever wrote was when I was 12, and it was bandom slash so I apparently haven’t changed much.

What was your favorite fic to write and why?

My favorite 1D fic to write was probably A Little Love is Better than None because it was one of my very first ventures into the fandom so I was still figuring out their characters and voices, which was such a pleasure. It just sort of flooded out really easily and naturally too, like it was waiting to be written. I also LOVE to write pining and Harry pines HARD in that story.

How and where do you find inspiration?

Everywhere, honestly! I’m a people watcher and I really enjoy writing in chaotic environments like the food court at the mall, partially so I can constantly be observing the mess of humanity around me and draw energy from that. I’m also really inspired by the raw material of this fandom. You probably noticed I mostly write canon fic, and that’s largely because this canon is so incredibly rich with lore and evidence and text, it’s begging to be mined for the sake of storytelling. I watch interviews all the time (there are so many holy shit) and I take so much inspiration from them, just watching these boys interact and observing their power dynamics and their body language and their patterns and evolution and chemistry. I’m not sure I’ve ever stumbled into a fandom so inspiring, honestly.

Are any of your stories influenced by personal experience?

VERY MUCH SO. I draw enormous amounts of inspiration from my own experiences as a queer teenager navigating sexual exploration and heartbreak. I love writing queer coming of age stories in part because I wad so deeply and indelibly affected by the love and pain and longing and newness I felt as an adolescent, the first time I fell in love or has my heart broken. I love trying to capture the enormity and terror of teenage love in my writing.

How do you get over writer’s block?

I go read fanfiction!! Nothing helps be reframe my own writing than reading talented authors who are perhaps telling the same story (two guys meet and fall in love and are changed forevermore) but telling it in an entirely different way.

How often do you sit down to write? What does your ideal work setting look like?

I try and write every other day at least but it gets hard with life and work and whatnot. That being said, I usually write at least three times a week for several hours when I’m really in the middle of something. Ideally, I’m at a corner table with an outlet at a busy Peets Coffee, listening to a playlist I made specifically for whatever I’m writing, and sipping a latte! I love writing in chaotic, crowded places with lots of people and energy occupying the space. Unfortunately, I don’t always get first pick of coffee shop and end up writing a lot at the Starbucks by my work, which is not ideal but definitely my stomping grounds.

Pick 3 things that are absolutely necessary to make a good story!

TENSION, MUTUAL PINING, AND DRAMATIC RESOLUTION!!! I absolutely LIVE for slow build stories with lots and tension building over thousands of words. Live for it. I love those moments where the air is crackling and they’re both breathless and electric and terrified, wanting each other so bad without knowing for certain the other is truly interested?! My absolute favorite. Of course, there has to be a resolution though, and the ones that work best for me are dramatic and have a double reveal…like I totally enjoy the tension breaking over something physical like a kiss, but I really love when they actually talk about if afterwards. Like, “I had a crush on you the whole time!!” “No way, me too!!!” Only…better written, you get the idea.

A good character in literature is usually one that goes through a lot of changes and grows dynamically from beginning to end. What is/are your favorite character arcs, and could you give us an example of one from one of your stories?

My favorite character arc is when a teenager is starting to really explore and understand his or her sexuality. Navigating the terror of that desire, forging the storm even though it’s scary, and being rewarded ultimately with mutual love is something I never, ever get tired of reading in all its incarnations. For example, Louis figuring himself out in A Taste of Poison Paradise, realizing how his experiences with Hannah compared to what he was feeling with Harry, and attempting to shore up that part of himself and his history in the face of falling in love so suddenly. MY JAM.

What is your favorite genre/tag to write?

PINING!!! Also love Hurt/Comfort and a number of different kink tags I wont go into ;)

Are you currently working on something? Can we have a little preview?

I’m working on sooooo many different WIPs! Here’s a little teaser from one of my many X Factor stories in the works:

Louis scrolls through his music for the right song and Harry steals glances at his face, the sharp line of his cheekbone somehow existing alongside the soft curve of his cheek, his blue eyes scanning contemplatively across the screen, his pink tongue poking at pursed lips. Harry’s neck gets hot. Louis is the cutest boy he’s ever seen in his entire life, he’s thought so since the second he saw him, and frantically texted his friends THERES A BOY WHO LOOKS LIKE FRANKIE FROM THE SATURDAYS HERE!!!! shortly before actually meeting Louis and sending the follow up text: frankie boy is named louis like lou-ee and im in love. he seems gay but he has a gf apparently?? :(

That text seems like fate now because he was obviously joking about being in love then, but he did end up falling in love, fast and hard and sudden, the kind of love that he didn’t even have time to talk himself out or or get frightened by because it was just there, choking him like a vine, covering the whole of his heart so that he could not move without gouging himself on a thorn. It just was. He sighs to himself, thumbing over Louis’s earbud, imagining all the times he laid in his bed in Doncaster with it in his ear, listening to music while he was studying, or feeling sad, or wishing he wasn’t alone.

“Found it,” Louis announces, and Harry considers the fact that Louis might not ever feel alone, not like he does. He’s probably surrounded by friends all the time, loud raucous groups of theater kids and football blokes, the girlfriend Harry hasn’t heard anything about since meeting in his lap, holding his hand. Harry has loads of friends too but he still feels alone sometimes, still lies in his bed with his headphones in listening to love songs and wondering what it would feel like to want someone so badly. He winkles up his nose at himself and smiles, because now he knows. It feels like a vine, like thorns, like the whole night sky and all it’s stars. All that crazy, poetic stuff he used to be skeptical of, here in his own chest. It’s insane.

Anything you would like to say to your readers?

Thank you so, so, so much for reading and reviewing and accepting me so eagerly and wholeheartedly into this wonderful fandom. Big fandoms can be intimidating because there’s so much excellent work, and it’s a challenge be noticed amid such brilliance, so I’m endlessly grateful for and stunned by the reception I’ve gotten. Every time I end up on a rec list alongside my favorite authors, or every time one of those authors comments on one of my stories, I’m just so, so fucking blown away. Thank you.

Thank you, Phoenix!! We absolutely love your fics and are so happy to have you in this fandom!

#as #xabjectlessonsx #objectlessons

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