#I was quite confident because he was the first heroic spirit to come home and I love him and I got Alter when he first dropped but still

[ziracona]

Yeah!!!! I have all 3 Emiyas now. TuT💙

[pearlylamp]

「 ❏ INTRODUCTION FOR ROLEPLAY BLOG - AKARI (Pokémon Legends: Arceus + male version + modern AU) 彡

Akari don't want to disappoint anyone.

Just scared and that's normal, overwhelmed by an odyssey never begged for.

Cold nights, the eyes fill with tears and even though, Akari went back to reading under a lamp in the library as always, exhausted.

His heart is desperate when reread the legends of Arceus and other pokémon.

The Arceus chosen one, but don't remember?

Chosen from the heavens, but Akari just want to go home, a empty home.

Akari is afraid, that everyone will be angry, that for some other reason can't have validation anymore.

''Volo, did i do something wrong?, i didn't want any of this!''

Dreaming the same things coming out of the lips that can split at any moment.

Who is Volo?, why Akari don't remember?, why does the winter blizzard take away the screams?, it brings suffering and he don't know the reason.

Filled with love in the past that the future could not give, the friends made along the way no longer exist.

Only remember those golden hairs, from the other side of paradise.

「 ❏ GENERAL INFO + WARNING

❪ references to amnesia, sensitivity to loud noises, insomnia, self-harm, insecurity, blocked memories ❫ 彡

◌¨̮͚➫CANTO I──★˙🍙!! ᴍᴜꜱᴇ ᴏꜰ ᴀʀᴄᴇᴜꜱ

➤Akari, after the events of PLA, is taken to the time where belongs, but something unexpected has happened, he lost his memory and everything has turned upside down; despite everything, tries to continue with the daily life as best he can. But every day locks himself in a library near his home to read any material that interests and from time to time only returns home to take a nap. The only times he does something productive is riding a bike through the frozen forests or his poor attempt at cooking.

➤In this AU with certain headcanons, is sensitive to loud noises, has a tendency to cry and can demand too much of himself; that is added to the detail that sometimes obsesses over something or tends to repeat the same action 3 or 4 times.

➤Akari is characterized by being an introverted, shy person, but when has certain fixations, gets excited, clenching his fists and moving the arms, eyes closed and even a smile. Has a hard time expressing what he likes to others, because tends not to focus on his persona and is more accommodating.

➤Doesn't remember anything at all after fighting Volo and although at first before losing his memory, was relieved to save all of Hisui, it seems that he had some resentment for the betrayal. Now that returned to his original timeline, those negative feelings have drained him quite a bit, began to have strange and blurry dreams.

➤There will be times where needs to sleep due to his insomnia problems.

➤Loves fresh blankets with mango scent.

➤Plays with hands a lot, has a hard time speaking clearly due to his soft tone and even on his skin there are certain marks that indicate that has hurt himself or rubs the arm until his skin is pink.

➤Akari can be a bit chaotic in his own way, but usually hides it, he thinks it doesn't look good.

➤In reality, his passion is not being a pokémon trainer, but a librarian, although some people have made fun of him and he is extremely embarrassed.

➤Loves ice cream and any dessert, but Akari has no problem eating spicy or hot food to stay warm. Especially having lunch/dinner in a homely environment.

➤It's peculiar, Akari isn't the best at training pokémon, if had done it again, he only use one and the others would be low level.

➤Despite that, usually has ideas that come out of nowhere or random ideas come to his mind.

➤From time to time Akari is tired of the world...

➤His comfort zone is the laundry room at home.

➤Tends to be one of those people who makes paths of footprints and starts to make circles to form a figure with that footprints in the snow.

➤Akari has a good and heroic spirit, maybe he will one day realize it, but needs to have confidence. He will never hesitate to help those in need and was even able to reach a certain maturity over the years.

「 ❏ PERSONAL INFO 彡

◌¨̮͚➫CANTO II──★˙❄️!! ꜱʜɪɴɪɴɢ

➤Years old: 21+

➤He/Him

➤A few years passed after the events of PLA

「 ❏ ADDITIONAL CONTENT 彡

◌¨̮͚➫CANTO III──★˙🍶!! ʜᴇᴀᴠᴇɴʟʏ ᴘᴇᴀʀʟ

➤Akari has no problem with traveling and exploring other regions, tell him about some legends or myths about Sinnoh and other places, music or any random topic.

➤Prefers quiet places and is a bookworm, he will read even the most random thing you recommend to him, even the most sinister.

➤Don't think too much about giving him a gift, seriously, his eyes will get watery when you give him a gift.

➤He loves pokémon plushies.

「 ❏ RULES 彡

◌¨̮͚➫CANTO IV──★˙🍥!! ᴛʜᴏᴜɢʜᴛ

I'm not going to be too demanding here, it's my first time roleplaying on Tumblr.

➤It's recommended to roleplay with me with 20+, because of certain topics (dark themes, horror, that stuff)

➤I don't accept participating in roleplays that include wild kinks, limits AAAAH. I'm actually more into soft or emotional stories.

➤Please, be patient with me, it's really uncomfortable when treat badly because don't know how to roleplay here, if you want to help me it's fine, communication is necessary.

➤I allow Mortal Combat-style fights between characters, if it's between mods, it should be just a joke, when it's serious, no, open the door and i send a basket of congratulations (not the last one).

➤With my university schedule, there will be times i can't answer messages, if you send me too many or demand that i answer immediately, goodbye. I won't always be available, i don't want to sound too bad here either.

「 ❏ ABOUT ME 彡

◌¨̮͚➫CANTO V──★˙🍡!! ᴛʜᴇ ʙʟᴇꜱꜱᴇᴅ ᴏɴᴇ

➤Hey, i'm Cream, sometimes i have a hard time interacting with people.

➤I talk and write in spanish, at least i hope my english is understandable.

➤20+

➤I love the indie game Fear & Hunger, but i wanted to give Pokémon a chance thanks to a friend who is a fan and is guiding me.

➤Casual/slice of life plots, memory recovery process, sad, horror, whatever comes to mind. I'm just letting you know so there's an opportunity for new interactions.

➤She/Her

「 ❏ FINAL COMMENTS 彡

◌¨̮͚➫CANTO VI──★˙🍑!! ᴇᴛʜᴇʀᴇᴀʟ ꜱᴏᴜʟ

If you read this, thank you very much, i'm a bit nervous about meeting people and i read several guides to making a roleplay blog, hope it's eye-catching.

*Credits to Z_DPL (Zzzdpl) for Akari/Volo illustrations of the fanvideo + vocaloid on YouTube

[narutakijune]

About ATLA Relationship Arcs

So, this is me, finally trying to write some meta after lurking in my little tumblr corner for months! Hi!

Although I’ve tried to tag properly, if you are a Kat*anger and just want to enjoy your favourite couple in peace, this might not be the post for you. I am not trying to bash characters but I do have a lot of critical stuff to say about the writing.

Anyway, you have been warned and here is my story about my personal first Atla experience: I watched the show this year for the first time, and after the end of Book 1 I decided to look up spoilers, because after what happened to Yue, I wanted to make sure that Zuko and Iroh would be ok. So I knew what was going to happen: Kat*ang endgame and absolutely no Zutara at all. Still, by the end of Book 3, I was convinced that I had read wrong - that there would be an epilogue with a different ending or at least that Aang would only get together with Katara post-show- in that Korra series or something - because anything else wouldn’t make sense- right?

….

After I got over my shock and surprise, I went online and found out about that decade-long aggressive passionate ship war and how even the showrunners got involved.

And then I really worried that I might have missed a few points. Apparently ”Aang and Katara were the DNA of the show”, according to the creators themselves, and “Zutara could never have happened”.

Another popular anti-ZK argument I found was: Why do you always go on about Katara and Zuko? Just look at Zuko and Aang! They are the hero/ anti-hero and each other’s foils, their relationship is much more meaningful!”

So I tried to find out what it was that I apparently couldn’t see.

(Another disclaimer: I love analysing stories (like many Zutarians apparently) and this will get long and rambly. If you get bored to tears when people start talking about “narrative structure” you will probably not like this.)

Talking about narrative structure, I do believe that, in order to let your story, your characters and their relationships really shine, a good basic structure is important. There should be a recognizable development and individual parts of the story that build upon each other and lead to consequences and change, until there is a completed arc - because it is all about the journey that takes you to a satisfying ending, right? So that’s what I tried to do, with my personal Kat*ang vs. Zutara take, I tried to look at the structure and development of their relationship arcs.

The argument that threw me off track for a while is that compared to Aang and Zuko, Zuko and Katara’s relationship is not supposed to be that relevant for the plot. After all, Zuko is the foil, the anti-hero, the deuteragonist to Aang, who is the hero protagonist.

This is all true of course. But then why is it that in every finale, Zuko’s main opponent (and later ally) is not Aang but Katara? Why is it that their sun/moon, red/blue, fire/water dichotomy is so obviously highlighted?

I think one reason why Zuko and Katara are paired off so frequently in the story - as opposite elements, as opponents and as allies - is that they BOTH are Aang’s deuteragonists. While Zuko also acts as antagonist and Aang’s foil/mirror, Katara takes over the more traditional deuteragonist role of confidant / best friend/ narrator.

Protagonist Aang is what connects them, although they are on opposite sides: Both need Aang because he represents their hope to save their world. Very simply put, Katara protects him, so he can make the world a safer place again, and Zuko wants to capture him, so he can go home and be safe again. That rivalry between them is already established in the first episode, even before they meet each other: Katara, who hopes that the Avatar will return (as she tells everyone in the intro), and Zuko, who seems to be obsessed with finding him for more sinister reasons.

And just to make sure, I am not talking here about the characters’ feelings and emotions! This is just about the abstract roles they have been assigned within the narrative.

When regarding Zutara’s special connection to Aang and their rivalry with each other, it makes absolute sense to stress their “same but different”ness as well, visually and metaphorically: Red and blue, fire and water, sun and moon, arguably Painted Lady/Blue Spirit, and, when you put into account their story arc, also Oma and Shu.

With this basis, which puts them together and sets them apart simultaneously, their relationship already becomes very dynamic and interesting, even before you consider any romantic potential.

And here’s another thing, Zuko and Katara also have their own story arc within the main plot. Although they don’t have many scenes together before Zuko joins the Gaang, when they do meet there is always a new shift in their relationship and in quite a few cases their interactions are important for the main plot as well. If you just look at their “end fights” at each book’s finale, there is an obvious and consequential build-up, like any decent story arc should have:

Book 1 starts with Zuko as the powered-up enemy and Katara as the weak newbie waterbender. Both are battling over Aang. At the end of Book 1, they are finally established as equally powerful fighters but still fundamentally different (You rise with the moon, I rise with the sun!)

In CoD at the end of Book 2 happens the next step: they realize that they are not different at all! But Aang still doesn’t represent the same for them and they end up on opposing sides of the war again.

In the Book 3 finale, when Zuko has completed his own (anti-) hero's journey and Aang represents the same “hope” for both of them, they do not only join forces: Their “same but different”- traits make them such a uniquely suited match that they are even able to save each other’s lives during their fight with Azula (who in turn happens to be Katara and Zuko’s antagonist/mirror/foil).

And in addition to their own story arc they even get an individual recurring theme, which also appears in every book whenever their relationship status changes: The lost mothers, especially Katara’s mother.

In Book 1, Katara’s necklace (the symbol of Kiya) plays not only a major part in two of Zuko’s capture attempts, it is the reason for their very first one-one one encounter in the story.

Their first friendly connection in COD in Book 2 happens because they start talking about their mothers. And in Book 3, their final reconciliation (sealed with a very cathartic hug) happens after their life-changing trip which is, of course, all about Katara’s mother.

Again, I am not even trying to analyse their characters and motivations within the story - there are many metas that have already done that much better, more detailed and with screenshots. This is just dry structure and tropes and themes. But I think people recognize and connect with a well-structured arc, even subconsciously, which is one of the reasons that makes Zutara such a compelling couple. They complete and contrast each other, their relationship dynamic constantly changes, builds up, falls apart, reconnects. Such a setup is the perfect playground for a lot of creative takes on what-ifs and alternative scenarios and of course, shipping them romantically is extremely tempting - think of all the possibilities! It’s no wonder that the Zutara fandom is still so active decades after the end of the show. And it’s also no wonder that the Zutarians are known for “over-analysing everything”. You can only over-analyse if there is anything that gives you enough food to analyse to begin with. Which brings me to

KAT*ANG

I just go right to the top and take the quote from Br*yke themselves:

Kata*ng was in the DNA of the thing from the start…. [Zutara] was just dark and intriguing.

If you read this quote and then start watching the show, I would (grudgingly) agree that:

Aang and Katara understand and complement each other really well. Aang gives her the chance to have fun and go on adventures and in turn, Katara is his fiercest supporter from the very beginning, something that he really needs after he lost all his people AND has to find out that the world thinks the war is sort of his fault. In turn, the journey to the North Pole is as important to Katara as it is to Aang, because it is her dream to learn waterbending properly. That’s what she literally says when Sokka & Co try to banish Aang: (Sokka: Where do you think you’re going? Katara: To find a waterbender. Aang is taking me to the North Pole.) In that way, they are friends who give and take equally and are equally taken care of. They even have the last Airbender/ last Southern Waterbender status that connects them. The few times they have a fight, Aang does something in the end to redeem himself (perform some heroic feat) and Katara sees that she is right to believe in him.

Aang has this very sweet crush on her and it will be very sweet and wholesome when Katara will return his feelings at the end of their adventure after he has hit puberty. On the other side, there is also some heavy shipbaiting with Zuko: I save you from the pirates. The betrothal necklace. June and her excellent shipping taste. But in the end they are enemies, they barely know each other and, come on, it would be too dark and intriguing! There is no real threat against friends to lovers Kat*ang, the soft heart of the story. It’s very straightforward and there are a lot of simple “the hero saves the day” scenes for Aang but that’s fine! It’s not really my kind of ship but that’s not the point, it works for the story they want to tell.

End of Book 1.

In my - probably harsh- opinion, everything you really need to know about the Kat*ang relationship has been told by this point. If you want to be really mean, already by Book 1, episode 3.

That explains maybe why many (not all! but many) pro-KA arguments sound as if their shippers have not watched Book 2 and 3 at all. The Book 1 synopsis also perfectly sums up Bry*ke’s quote above. But then Book 2 and 3 are still there and I don’t know what happened but it seems as if they somehow decided that the Kat*ang story does not need any new and lasting input. Maybe because they were afraid that too much new development and change would stray too far away from their original Kat*ang vision. But there are still 2 more books and more adventures and Kat*ang somehow has to be kept apart until the finale.

So the tension in their potential romance is based largely on the question whether or not Katara will return Aang’s feelings. In general I don’t have a problem with that will-she-won’t she-technique. It works well in books where the love interest is not a POV or in shows/ movies where the love interest is not one of the main characters. But Katara is not only the female lead but also arguably the narrative voice of the whole story! As a result, this kind of writing makes Katara look as if she doesn’t have any agency in their relationship, which is not surprisingly a very popular anti-KA criticism.

Additionally, since her dream - learning waterbending - has been fulfilled by the end of Book 1, the relationship work becomes a bit one-sided. Of course Aang is the hero and his journey is the heart of the story. But in order to highlight their special connection it would have helped to give Katara another personal agenda, which Aang could have supported in some way. She is still the last Southern Waterbender and he the Last Airbender but this is not really explored in the Kat*ang relationship. And her other personal agenda, her mother, is already reserved for the Zutara arc.

Instead, in Book 2 and 3 the Kat*ang story is somehow all over the place. Of course there is new conflict and a few romantic scenes as well. But obstacles are either introduced too late or just dropped when not needed anymore, conflict is not resolved and their flirty, romantic moments never lead anywhere- and if they do, they lead to more conflict that is not resolved (yes, I am looking at you, EIP Kiss!).

Take for example Katara’s very sudden argument that they cannot be together now because there is a war going on. We hear her saying that for the first time in the very last episode (EIP) before the 4-part finale. That is too late to have any impact! That she has these kinds of thoughts was never even alluded to before. Not once.

Or the pattern Aang runs away/ is flaky - Katara is upset - Aang comes back and does his hero thing - Katara is relieved. In regards to their relationship arc, nothing changes here between Book 1 and the finale, only the stakes for Aang’s heroic performances get higher.

Or Katara being the one who is able to calm Aang down when he cannot control the Avatar state (which, in my personal opinion, is neither romantic nor healthy). This is also connected to the problem with the seventh Chakra, that Aang needs to let go of his attachment for her. I will be angry forever with how they wasted this for a possible relationship development! That Aang has to decide to either do his duty or save his forever girl (because let’s be fair, he did try to let go and only ran when he had the vision of Katara in danger) - that’s a fantastic setup!

But no, it doesn’t have any real consequences for Kat*ang at all. Instead there were only half-baked attempts – Aang does lie about his failed practice with Guru Pathik but the ultimate reason why his chakra is blocked is Azula, not his decision to run. Aang does try to let go of Katara for a little bit but then Azula shoots him. Nothing in Book 3 shows any change in his feelings that could have been a result of his instant let-it-go. If anything, he gets weirdly obsessive - which could have been used as a side effect of his blocked chakra but – again, no, nothing happens.

I suspect the whole thing was just introduced to create temporary drama for poor Aang, but it is never explained why Katara holds him back, what aspect of the attachment is blocking him or what would happen if he did let her go. Maybe they tried to make a statement about how love is more important than Avatar rules – which would have been fine but it’s also never properly explored. Instead, as soon as that plot point becomes inconvenient it’s simply dropped like a random rock™.

Compare all that to the Zutara arc, where both characters’ feelings about each other are always very much in the open, and where every interaction causes lasting effects in their relationship. Yes, it is unfair to compare that to Kat*ang, because up to the end of Book 3, Zuko and Katara almost never meet, while Aang and Katara spend almost every episode together – of course they cannot do meaningful things all the time. But on the other side, with Kat*ang, there would have been a great chance to show a subtle, gradual build-up instead.

It also doesn’t help that the Zutara arc seems hellbent on sabotaging every romantic moment Aang is allowed to enjoy:

There is Kat*angs first maybe-kiss in the dark before the background of the Oma and Shu legend. But it does not lead anywhere. Instead, Zuko and Katara almost reenact the legend itself in the Book 2 finale as two real enemies to almost-friends, including a glowy rocks-backdrop and the right costume colours, just so nobody misses the message.

In Footloose The Headband, Aang and Katara have a really sweet dance together, and everybody can see how they almost intuitively know each other's moves. This could be a great hint on how well they will fight together in the finale. But is it plot-relevant? No, because the final tag team is Katara and Zuko! While Aang gets paired off with random rock™.

Then there is Aang’s riding off to battle- kiss in DotBS, which Katara is not even allowed to enjoy, because keeping her feelings vague is apparently more important than character development at this point. It is the only romantic moment that gets mentioned again, but in a way that sinks the former cute and wholesome ship into the deep ocean, and the reason is - Aang is jealous of Zuko!

If all of this was only done for the sake of shipbaiting, then it really went out of control at some point.

In the end, the showrunners still had their reasons to choose Kat*ang, maybe because that corresponded more to their own vision, and there are still enough people out there who agree with them. Which is absolutely fine! In the end, what matters most is how you personally connect to the characters and nobody needs to defend their personal taste. But the typical anti-ZK claim, that all the Zutarians with their crazy analysis and rambling meta essays are reaching and delusional and that they desperately try to construct something that isn’t there, is not only a very lazy argument but simply not true.

And I’d claim that in spite of the canon choice, Zutara is technically the better written relationship. By far.

[thedistantdusk]

Thanks to @jenoramaca @gryffindorhealer and @secretkeeper13 for the quick beta work!

A gift for my beloved @ginisbetterthanfirewhiskey.

CW: Language and domestic fluff

______

Trying

From the second he walks through the door, Harry can sense that something’s changed. It takes him thirty minutes to suss out why.

In retrospect, the smells coming from the kitchen probably tipped him off. Or maybe it was Ginny’s distracted hum, followed by the tinkling of plates and cutlery. Perhaps it was the fact that she prepared a full dinner, long before he even got home.

Nonetheless, he doesn’t worry about it too much as he greets her with a kiss, his hands cupping her chin. When he sits across from her at the table, there’s something furtive and curious lurking behind her eyes, but their meal is so peppered with normalcy that he doesn’t bring it up. They banter and laugh about Luna and Robards and wonder what they’ll bring to the Burrow on Sunday.

But when they’ve reached the stage of chasing stray noodles around their plates, Ginny finally clears her throat… and just like that, the nearly imperceptible shift he’d sensed earlier turns into something very perceptible, indeed. “Can I erm. Talk to you about something?”

He pauses, mid-bite, and takes her in. Her lip’s worried between her teeth, her hands fidgeting. Even her hair, normally strewn about her shoulders or parted to the side with a sort of effortless grace, is tied back and resting low at the base of her neck.

Ginny’s not normally this… serious. And he’d be lying to say it didn’t frighten him.

So he blurts the first thing that comes to mind. “Who died?”

There’s a half-second pause in which his chest clenches, his stomach churns. Could it be Molly? Or Arthur? George hasn’t been great either, not that—

But Ginny just reels back, confused… and it’s not until then that Harry realizes he’s really, really misread something.

“I… w-what?” she stammers, brow furrowing. She peers at him for a pained moment before her face relaxes into a look of understanding. “Oh. Oh! For fuck’s sake,” she mutters, rubbing her forehead. “I guess I’m thicker than usual, should’ve known you’d read it that way.”

Harry snorts. “Erm… darling, as many things as I legitimately don’t understand, I’m fairly sure this one isn’t on me.”

Ginny ignores this. “Did you seriously think that something dreadful happened and I’d just spring that on you in the middle of your bolognese?” Her lips twitch into a smirk. “Here’s some pasta. By the way, a fire burned a puppy orphanage to the ground. Could you pass the salt?”

He gives her a plain stare. Nice try. Years ago, he might’ve taken the bait and chased her down that rabbit hole. They might’ve had an hour-long, spirited debate on the existence of puppy-specific orphanages. But after three years of marriage, he knows better.

And she knows he knows.

Ginny finally draws a resigned breath. “No,” she says slowly. “No one died, ok? Or is even… I don’t know, sick or infirmed or threatened.” She waves her hand and continues babbling. “Last I checked, even Muriel’s still going strong, somehow. I’m jealous of that, you know— being old enough to just say whatever the fuck you’d like and have no one question it because—”

“—Ginny,” he cuts across on an exasperated sigh. “As chuffed as I am to chat about Muriel all night, I’d really like to know what’s bothering you. Please?”

There’s another pause as she bites her lip. Then, in one swift motion, she attempts to rise to her feet and push her chair in on her way over to him.

But somewhere along the way, something gets crossed— and Harry watches in bewildered horror as her foot catches on the leg of the chair. Then, right in front of his eyes, she lets out a startled gasp, her arms flailing, before she lands with a thump.

He’s out of his seat and on the floor beside her before he even realizes she’s cried out in pain and surprise. “Are you ok?” he demands, pushing her jeans up around her ankle… her tricky ankle, the one she hurt rather badly at the playoffs last month. Hm. It's a bit red.

Honestly, she hasn’t been this clumsy since she was 10 years old and near a butter dish. This does nothing to alleviate his fears that there’s something Very Wrong.”

“It’s not even my ankle that hurts,” Ginny grits, pushing up on her palms. “Wait— Harry, what are you—”

“Need to ask Gwenog,” he says urgently, running to the other side of the table for his wand. “She said that if anything happens to your ankle to tell her straight away, remember? Better safe than—”

She scoffs. “Seriously, Harry, I’m fine! I didn’t even land on my—”

He arches an eyebrow. “Have you suddenly forgotten the Puddlemere match? When your ankle broke clean through the skin?” Even now, the memory makes him shudder. “You heard Gwenog— without magic, you might not have walked again.”

“But there was magic,” she says, almost pleading. “And seriously, I’m fine!”

Harry finds he has limited patience for her heroics, though, while she’s sprawled out on the floor and nursing a bruise on her arse. “Gwenog’s instructions were quite clear,” he says firmly. “Having a pro athlete as a wife is a group task. It’s taxing on your body. I’ve got to make sure there’s enough of you left to enjoy our lives.”

Ginny clears her throat. “Erm… but what if you… haven’t actually got a pro athlete as a wife. Technically speaking.”

Harry swallows. He’s sure he’s heard her wrong. “What?”

With a wince, she adjusts herself against the wall. “I’m sorry… this isn’t how I’d planned to tell you. I’ve really fucked this up, haven’t I?”

Normally, Harry might press a bit harder. Normally he’d demand answers— and now. But as he peers at her on the floor, there’s something soft and uncertain behind her eyes… something timid. So he decides to do something he knows he’s good at— something she doesn’t let many other people do: take care of her.

With a sigh, he scoops her from the floor and brings her to the sofa. Then he props her against the pillows, putting her legs across his lap.

And he waits.

He doesn’t know how long he sits there, peering at her downcast face, before she finally says it in a rush.

“Iwanttohaveababy.”

It comes on a whisper. A breathed admission. He knows, just from her expression, that she’s never said it aloud.

But he must have misunderstood. There’s no way he’s not projecting, inserting the reality he wants instead. “Could you… could you repeat that?” he manages, his voice gruff and shaken.

Ginny just sits up straighter; her cheeks as red as her hair. “I want to have a baby,” she repeats, the confidence building with every word.

Oh. Looks like he was right after all.

Harry blinks at the carpet, his head spinning, mortified with the tears that have sprung, unbidden, to the corners of his eyes.

A baby. Their baby. A smile plays at his lips as he stares at her ankle in distracted bliss. He’s been ready for ages… longer than anyone he knows. It’s hard to remember a time when he didn’t want a family with her. When he didn’t want to watch her grow and change. To become more beautiful with every passing day until…

He swallows back another round of tears; he’d never forgive himself if he forced this… if he swayed her, in any way, despite what he wants so badly it squeezes his insides.

“But what about quidditch?” His voice cracks; he clears his throat to cover it. “Honestly Ginny, I’ll wait, as long as you’d like. We’re young. Think of what you’d deal with, loads of assumptions and press and comments.”

She turns to him with an arched brow. “And since when have I ever cared about comments? Since when have you cared about comments?”

He spreads his palms in resignation; it was a particularly weak argument. “I know. I just… don’t want to make your life more difficult.”

“Well...” She draws a deep breath and peers down at her nails. “I’ve erm. Actually quit the Harpies, all by myself.” Her cheeks begin to redden again. “I’ve already sent the owl and everything. Resigned. No intent to return next season.”

Oh.

That’s what she meant, then, about not being married to a professional athlete. Harry blinks a few more times as she plows through an explanation that could honestly be something from a dream.

“I’ve… I’ve just been thinking about it. A lot,” she adds, focus returning to her cuticles. “The Harpies are out for the rest of the season— that fucking Puddlemere match and that bullshit ref.” She glares at the pillow to her right. “Nothing like blind favoritism. Fucking prick should’ve been fired!”

All Harry can manage is a feeble chuckle, his hand moving to caress her knee. This time, he can’t bring himself to stop her spiral.

“Maybe it’s not just that match, though,” she admits, rubbing her ankle. “It’s also just… so much bloody work. I’ve been at it three whole seasons, you know? I’m a bit tired of missing birthdays. And family events. And only dreaming of bludgers and snitches. And attending the mandatory press interviews to avoid getting fined, and then giving polite answers to personal questions when I really just want to hex them, and—”

Harry laughs. “I think Sandra Richardson might disagree about the polite answers bit, darling.”

Ginny gives a dignified sniff and continues as if she hasn’t heard him. “Annnyway,” she says, toying with a piece of lint. “I… feel like I’m ready to move on. So.” Her face splits into a grin as she gestures to the corridor. “On with it.”

He clears his throat. “As much as I’d love to take you up on that, I’m confused about how this relates to quitting your job. You could’ve kept playing. Or—”

“—Why is it so hard to believe this is something I want?”

There’s a beat. He doesn’t have a good answer.

“What if I wanted to quit before I got pregnant?” she continues, her tone growing more demanding. “What if I was done with playing, regardless — and genuinely wanted to have children? Your children.”

She lets out an incredulous laugh, tossing her hands in the air. “I have to say, Harry, this feels an awful lot like you’re doubting what I actually want to fit a narrative of what you think I want.” Her eyes narrow again. “Is that really respecting my wishes?”

“No,” he says quickly, shaking his head. He’d never thought about it like that before… how it might be insulting, really, to question what she’s ready for. He laces their fingers together, feeling properly chastened. “I’m sorry. I never meant to… suggest you don’t know what you want. Or something.”

He hears the timid smile in her voice as she squeezes his hand back. “Do you still want a baby, then?” she asks. “Or are you just in it for the practice?”

A smile creeps across his face, his eyes still focused on her hands. “I… think you know the answer to that one.”

“Well, I’m not sure I do,” Ginny says flatly. “Because I just told someone who wants two million babies that I’m ready to carry his first child. Forgive me if I expected a bit more excited fanfare than acting like I drowned your kitten.”

“What’s with you and baby animals today?” he murmurs, inching her pant leg a bit higher.

“Wonder why I’ve got babies on the brain,” she quips, raising her eyebrows. “Maybe because I want one.”

Harry releases a resigned sigh. She’s clearly done playing. “Honestly…” He bites his lip. “If you’re sure that’s what you want, I’m obviously on board. Obviously.” His eyes flit to hers. “I just… I don’t want to be responsible for something you end up regretting.”

It’s the truth of the matter, really; the thing that tugs at him the hardest. The fear he’d ever burden her… the worry he’d ever make her less than happy.

Ginny gives him a small smile, her hand coming to cup his jaw. “I’m going to take that as a weird, sad Harry thing instead of an attempt to remove my womanly agency.” She narrows her eyes. “But that’s your final warning.”

Harry doesn’t need to be told twice. He’s on his feet in a split-second, gathering her into his arms with the stupidest grin he’s ever worn. Trying. Is that what they call this? Are they actually properly trying now?

“Get used to this,” she says as he strides into the bedroom. “Because once you knock me up— on purpose, mind— I’m going to request a lot more transportation.”

“I think I can live with that,” Harry murmurs against her lips, draping her across the bed.

And to avoid a well-deserved slap, he doesn’t say the final bit: As long as you can live with me.

[calciumcryptid]

I Have Elected to Ignore Midnight's Death

Polarmare's First Day

It was the first year Kenta would be teaching at U.A. A longtime friend of hers requested to take up the open teaching position, and who was Polarmare going to deny a change of scenery?

Besides, her sister lived in Japan and was elated to know that the Fuyuhito sisters were getting back together so that was the housing situation solved in under five minutes.

U.A. paid good as well which was good for a single mother like Kenta. She adored Seko with all her heart from the first time they met in Japan two years ago when she saved him from prison. Sure the paperwork was a bitch, but Seko loved the opportunity to meet so many different heroes.

So they packed their bags, and headed off to Japan where she was reunited with her sister.

The day after they arrived she made sure her paperwork was sorted by the Hero Safety Commission, then made sure to pick up Seko for her tour at UA.

There she met Nezu, who seemed just as crazy has he had been over the phone and her fellow coworkers.

She took an instant liking to Powerloader and Snipe as they bonded over creating weapons. Vlad King and Ectoplasm seemed chill too, and it was nice to see other dedicated teachers.

Midnight was cheering about another woman on the staff, though seemed to deflate when Kenta snipped her sexual flirting at the bud.

Present Mic was loud, but reminded Kenta of a friend in America so the familiarity was nice.

It was interesting meeting All Might after seeing his last stand on the news, but Kenta hoped they would be able to get along even if he seemed like a bumbling mess half of the time.

Recovery Girl was alright, a bit jaded but it was hard to find a hero so old who wasn't.

Aizawa seemed like someone she needed to keep her eye on, his knee jerk reaction upon learning she was an international hero was hostility while he worked under the impression she was a spotlight hero.

With a swing of her axe, and a clarification of the fact she was a Neighborhood Hero who worked mostly under Rescue and Underground terms, he simmered down real quick.

The General Ed teachers seemed chill, and Kenta hoped she would be able to grab some drinks with them after a long day of work.

Seko loved every one of the them, and was excited by the prospect of their quirks though Kenta made sure to cover his eyes and ears whenever Midnight was in the room.

After final arrangements with Nezu, she was given the dates of the entrance exams. The Fuyuhito family left in good spirits.

The day of the Management Entrance Exam came around, and Kenta came in her formal hero uniform. She took a seat beside Snipe and Powerloader, and was introduced as Polarmare.

Polarmare watched as potential students came in to present one by one, and she made notes. At the end of the day after helping the potential support students present Polarmare was happy with her picks.

It wasn't over though as she spent a while in her new office she looked at each students history, made a few calls, and at the end picked out a good sixty for the first years.

Sixty may seem extreme, but there were many parts of management and business so they wouldn't all be in one class.

She went home to tend to her son, and went to see the sights with her family.

The day of the hero entrance exams arrived, and Polarmare took a seat in the viewing room. She studied the motions of the potential students, their interactions, and was pleasantly surprised to see Nezu took her suggestion of making Rescue Points public and hiding a new type of points known as Cooperation Points.

The big scale robot had been toned down a bit, and at the end Polarmare had a few qualms but didn't have any outward complaints.

Eventually, the first day of the school year came around and Polarmare did her introductory presentation. She explained each branch of management and business, the schedules, and sent them on a tour with Snipe of the business building.

While that occured, she had a meeting with the votes on representatives and outlined what she expected of each of them. She was pleasantly surprised to find them ready to meet the challenge, and was off once again.

She let the students spend the first week exploring the changes she made, and getting used the renovated building. She didn't see the need to challenge them too much considering they were in a new environment.

At the end of the day, Polarmare made her way to the Conference Room and took her place. The first thing she noticed was a lack of Gen Ed teachers present, which concerned her.

Snipe and Powerloader seemed surprised to see her there, and it was Snipe who leaned over.

"The Management teacher usually doesn't come to these meetings as they center primarily around the hero course."

Polarmare took in the words before responding, "Business and Management is a huge part of heroics so I believe I should be present for any meetings regarding the Hero Course."

Snipe nodded, and straightened back up.

After a couple more looks, the rest of the teachers settled down to prepare the meeting.

Nezu got up on his little podium, and smiled. "Welcome to the first hero course meeting of the year. Since we have a new teacher with us this year, I would love to hear her thoughts on how she plans on interacting with the hero course."

"First, may I record the meeting?" Polarmare asked. "I work better if I have audio to listen to afterwards."

A few of the teachers gave each other looks, but Nezu nodded.

Polarmare tapped her recorder before she stood up. "I plan on calling the second year students to the business building to discuss their media presence. With permission from you and their gaurdians, I want to make sure they have profiles set up on Hero Watch. It would be good for them to interact with other heroes, and it will open internship and work study opportunities for them."

Nezu hummed, "Permission granted, you may start as soon as you can."

"Once I get their gaurdains approval," Polarmare resaid with a firm stare. "I shall send out the email tonight, and set up conferences if needed."

Polarmare noticed some of the teachers looking at her in confusion, but she made her notes.

The rest of the teachers went around, and Polarmare made her notes. Admittedly more on their body language then what they have to say.

The last person to talk was Aizawa. He stood up and gathered a couple of papers.

"All of the expulsion forms have been filled out." Aizawa passed them around towards Nezu.

Polarmare slammed down her hand before they could be passed the final length. She turned them over to look through them.

"Polarmare, may I ask what you are doing?" Aizawa asked through gritted teeth.

"You know Eraserhead, this seems quite light for expulsion papers. I see a distinct lack of reference to any evidence or record of you meeting with the student to discuss the expulsion."

"What are you talking about?" Aizawa asked.

"According to the Student Rights, the student should be made aware of their expulsion with any evidence before they are expelled." Polarmare looked over to Aizawa, "I assume this is the first time Nezu has seen these, so I also assume he has been expelling students based on your word without a meeting or evidence."

Aizawa stared Polarmare down, "U.A. does not work on the regular rules schools are legally allowed to abide by."

Polarmare shifted the papers in her hand, "Actually, Student Rights apply to all schools. If this is the case, and you have been expelling like this, it is a miracle you haven't been sued."

"Nezu handles the lawsuits," Snipe said.

"Ah, that explains that. Let me clarify, it is a miracle that someone who outranks you hasn't caught on and sued you." Polarmare adjusted her posture, "Now what is your reasoning?"

"The students show a lack of potential," Aizawa stated matter of factly.

Polarmare raised an eyebrow, and waved her hand. "And?"

"What more is there to say?"

Polarmare sighed deeply. "Tell me Eraserhead, how do you measure a concept as abstract as 'Potential'."

"A series of trials," Aizawa stated.

"Yeah, I saw those trials being performed. I noticed that they are all physical. Are you saying you are measuring potential on how physically experienced your students are?"

Midnight giggled.

Polarmare shot a glare before turning back to Aizawa, "I am going to look through these students and read out loud their quirks."

"This is uneccesary-"

"Marinette, this quirk allows the user to control those with human intelligence or faux human intelligence like robots as though they are simply puppets. Hmm, I don't see how this could apply to something like a grip test or ball throw. Though this could be a way to give heroes confidence or maybe even to control villains. This student sounds like a great Underground or Neighborhood Hero if they so desired.

"That is only-"

"Oh! Gnaw. This one is interesting. This quirk gives the user sharp appendages as long as they are made out of keratin on some level. Can't think of how this would help a sit-up, but imagine there was a super strong net that could be useful. This student sounds like an amazing Rescue Hero if they so desired."

"Two-"

"Slowdown, a quirk that allows the user to slow down anything that is moving. That is amazing on its own, and if they know how to dismantle robots in the time allowed they have to be some sort of mechanical genius! They could go down any hero path they wanted and he so successful. A shame I can't think of how this would help on any trials unless they were sabotaging others. Were they sabotaging others?"

"No," Aizawa said.

"This is a bad trend Eraserhead," Polarmare warned. "Of course if you insist on wanting to expell them, then why don't you allow me work out some private study transfers. I know what, like five? Ten? Twenty? Probably like something hundred pros who are on the waiting list that would love to work with some of these quirks."

Aizawa glared at her.

"Then again why is there such a focus on their quirks? Oh! I know, it is because you don't care how they act if Mineta and Bakugou is anything to go by." Polarmare said. "Don't think I've noticed the large amount of tapes and complaints filled out regarding them."

Polarmare looked up at Aizawa, "I'm just saying there is some good evidence here to create a good quirk discrimination and abuse of power case. Unfortunately for you, I happen to be friends with a lot of lawyers and reporters who don't exactly love UA and would love to get their hands on this information."

"Nezu!" Aizawa shouted.

Nezu who was blankly smiling throughout the whole exchange looked at Aizawa. "What? She has a point, and we can not take another hit like this to our reputation. Polarmare you have permission to disband the expulsions."

"Thank you."

"Oh shit," Present Mic muttered but it was audible due to the complete silence of the room."

"With that, I believe this meeting shall be adjourned. I employ you all to spend some times to reevaluate your students."

Polarmare collected her notes, and looked over the expulsion sheets. She wasn't lying before, she was sure she could find some good mentors for these students depending on what they want to do. She'll have to add those meetings to her calendar. Maybe Seko had some ideas, and her sister would probably snatch up one of th-

Something ling and grey wrapped around her mid section, and she didn't have to turn around to know who it was.

"Eraserhead, what do I owe the pleasure?" She turned her head to see his eyes aflame with red.

"I have been managing my class like this for years, and I do not appreciate you coming in here and dictating what I can and can not do."

"I do not dictate it, the law does." Polarmare sighed as she looked at his eyes. "Cancelling my quirk is useless considering it isn't and offensive quirk," She pointed out.

Aizawa let his capture scarf wrap back around his neck as he blinked. He stared at her with narrowed eyes.

"Bakugou is a perfectly fine student, and I do not see why you brought him up-"

"The boy has a record of telling people to die, I don't care if it is his thing it fucks with your head. Not to mention the physical assault and berating he does, because unlike you I read the complaints."

"The complaints are useless, I judge my students without any prior knowledge."

Polarmare raised an eyebrow, "Does that include background checks because I thought UA prided themselves on those."

Aizawa gritted his teeth.

"If that is all, I need to get home to my family."

[focsle]

Vendryth Bio

HELLO here I am with one of my Gigantic Character Bios.

Basics

Name: Vendryth

Nickname: Ven to friends. He also has a number of tacky nicknames in the various small localities he helped out over the years: The Golden Traveler, The Dragon, Trollslayer, Midwinter Hero, ET CETERA ET CETERA. To Neris he is ‘Grandpa’.

Age: Died at age 326. Born 1E 2594, died in 1E 2920. Is Neris’s resident ghost as of 2E 582.

Gender: Man

Race: Dunmer

Class: Battlemage and restoration master

Physical Traits

Height: 6ft

Weight: 210 lbs

Hair: Auburn, pulled back in a long braid.

Eyes: Red

Skin: Dark blueish grey

Distinctive features: Full Van Dyke-style beard. A lot of assorted scars from 300+ years of Fighting Things. Really big gaudy dragon tattoo on his chest.

Mannerisms: He has a confident ease moving and existing in the world, and he definitely takes up space in a lounging sort of way. He also tends to relate to people physically—SHOULDER SLAPPER sort of guy.

Voice: Friendly and booming. Bit gravelly but refined.

Fashion: He likes ornate armors and likes to keep ‘em shiny. In the day to day however, he dresses very simply...keeps his shirt collar as open as possible...

Emotional Traits

Personality: He’s very personable and very willing to help people, to the degree that he is prone to butting into situations that initially don’t involve him. He almost never turns down requests for help and can quickly shift to adapt to situations that call for his attention. He tries to behave honorably, though he hasn’t always done so in his interpersonal relationships in the past and is awkward in coming to terms with that.

Likes a good time. Is boisterous and rollicking and sometimes has an air about him that he doesn’t take things seriously, even though as said above, he can rapidly switch gears to handle grave situations. He’s chummy with everyone. A bit flirtatious & slutty. A pro at entertaining swaths of children. Good at calming horses.

He’s very vain, though not arrogant. He’s surprised if someone isn’t impressed by him, but not upset or offended. He does Heroics partly because he has the ability to and thinks it's the right thing to do, but also because he likes the attention. Likes being fawned over. Doesn’t wanna wear a helmet to cover his pretty face.

Religion / Belief system: He more-or-less adheres to the Tribunal (much to the chagrin of Grandson Neris). He doesn’t believe them to be Actual Gods and thus doesn’t ‘worship’ them, but does recognize and respect them as powerful leaders and has no problem serving their will when it comes to the defense of Morrowind. He later became one of Vivec's Buoyant Armigers, and was quite reverent to both Vivec and Almalexia.

He’s wary of all Daedra. Just expects them to be troublesome and either doesn’t involve himself or actively works against them. He’s pretty straight-laced about all that.

Lifestyle

Background: He was born into a minor family in House Telvanni. Despite his lack of Notable Lineage, he proved to be very magically adept, especially in matters of restoration magic. In his early 20s he married a woman named Tendreni Ilyiil. Their marriage was a strategic one centered more on solidifying future power than anything else—his skills, and her more powerful family connections. It didn’t work out, particularly as Vendryth’s interests turned more towards being a healer rather than the acquisition of knowledge or power. He wasn’t good at communicating that it wasn’t working out however. He decided instead to simply abandon Tendreni and their infant child and forgo any connections to his house. While he would come to regret that action as he got older, he never made amends, feeling too much time had passed for it to mean anything.

Over the decades he worked with both the Mages and Fighters guild, intensely studying Restoration but also battle techniques and becoming quite powerful through the ranks as a result. Initially he took contracts through the Fighter’s Guild to assist people. Then he became a bit of a Freelance Hero around Tamriel, chasing the high of Minor Glories in numerous regions. His mastery of Restoration magic enabled him to slow his aging considerably.

His work took on a more concentrated effort when he was a little over 100 years old, in defense efforts against the first Akaviri invasion that earned him recognition among his peers. He would continue to serve in Morrowind's military for a time, and then more specifically for Vivec as a Buoyant Armiger. Through this work he had the flexibility to continue his Pro Bono Heroics around Tamriel, but would respond to calls back home when needed.

By 2840 he was back to his military engagements, operating as a high-ranking healer during the Four Score War. While certainly not always on the front, he was involved for the entire 80 engagement and managed to live through it as a decorated veteran. Unfortunately when Mournhold was sacked shortly after, Vendryth lost his head to one of Mehrunes Dagon’s army while trying to heal someone.

He had an honorable burial in Necrom, though not in the Ilyiil tomb. However, simmering generational anger over his initial abandonment of his first family led to his ghost being tracked down by Ilyiil ancestor spirits who then bound him to protect the family tomb. He was there for 600 years, and lost considerable parts of his memory and identity as the notion of being stuck there for eternity became intolerable and his emotional and mental state deteriorated. He was forgotten by everyone, beyond a few obscure scholars of specific military history, as the people who remembered him died. He became a very angry and violent spirit until he ran into Neris who was reconciling with his own feelings about his family and sense of abandonment. Neris ended up helping to free Vendryth and established a shrine for him in his own house. Kindred spirits in many ways, Neris’s companionship helped Vendryth get a lot of himself back, and Vendryth also helps Neris take his final steps away from House Telvanni.

Place of residence: In life he lived in a fancy Hall just outside Mournhold. As a ghost he hangs out in a dedicated corner of Neris’s library in Middle Of Nowhere Vvardenfell.

Occupation: Local Hero™, Buoyant Armiger, battlefield healer

Habits: He’s very particular about his appearance...a Preener. Will absolutely fuss over his reflection in a breastplate he’s shining. Winds down with smoking assorted combos of psychoactive herbs in the evenings. Tends to touch people’s arms or has a hand on their shoulder or something when he’s talking to them.

Hobbies: Adventuring (and long walks through impressive landscapes), gathering up all the local rumors, fishing, musical inclinations, reading a small always-rotating collection of books he finds in his travels and then leaves at the last inn he stayed at once he finishes them.

Likes: Campfire stories or collective songs i.e. activities that include a lot of people, theater, retelling his adventures, being recognized, quaint little towns with warm rooms.

Dislikes: Having to be sneaky or anonymous in any way (he’ll DO subtlety and anonymity if it is required of him but UGHHHH!), having to constantly confront the mortality/death of people around him, feeling ‘kept’ by anyone, losing sleep for any reason, having to skip meals.

Goals: His interests move from ‘I want people to know who I am and I want stories to be told about me’ notions of fame, and as he gets older it turns more into ‘I want to do what I feel is right and will help people’. He always appreciates public admiration and relishes in it, but ends up feeling a greater responsibility over where he stands in life and how he can contribute.

Relationships

Orientation: Straight, ish. He’s attracted to women, but he’d be flattered and wouldn’t necessarily say no if propositioned by another gender. But the actual attraction wouldn’t be there.

Relationship status: Had a long string of romances and families across the continent, as well as one dedicated long-term partnership with a General in the Four Score War that was his last relationship. As a ghost…..he’s a ghost…

Notable Relationships:

He fathered 37 children (that he knows of) over his first couple centuries. While he was never completely absent, he definitely wasn’t involved in parenting. He’d write everyone, he’d make sure everyone was materially supported, he’d show up and stay for a few weeks at a time with gifts and stories, but wasn’t much of an Active Partner. He very much considered everyone family and had no personal sense of relationship decay over time; this was met with varying degrees of agreement, acceptance, indifference, sorrow, anger, and resentment across all the different parties.

He grew to be a more somber man once he realized he was outliving them all. Not just partners, but a number of his children too.

Tendreni Ilyiil: His first wife. Their relationship was one of circumstance, duty, and politics. They were quite formal with each other, and had differing senses of ambition. When Vendryth left Tendreni was furious about it, largely because of the principle of the thing rather than because she experienced much hardship without him (though raising an infant more on her own was something she was very angry about, though there was family help for her there). She didn’t feel a loss with him gone. She thought he was a childish coward and wrote him off almost immediately for it. She moved on, but her parents harbored a more significant grudge, as did her child to an even greater degree, especially as Vendryth’s name became more widely known and celebrated. These ancestor spirits, rather than Tendreni, were the ones who ended up binding his ghost to the tomb.

Neris Ilyiil: His great great great great grandson, of Tendreni’s line, who ended up saving him from his spectral imprisonment. Vendryth is very fond of Neris and sees quite a bit of himself in the boy. He loves exchanging adventure stories with him, even though Neris’s tend to be a bit different. He’s grateful for Neris’s help and is also more than willing to provide a sense of encouragement, family, and guidance to him. 600 years in a tomb means he lost the threads of all the rest of his family members and doesn’t know where any other descendants are. As a result he’s really close to Neris because Neris is the only thing that makes him feel like he still...Existed at one time.

Lady General whom we are still working on a name for: A General who Vendryth served under in the Four Score War. She initially thought he was underwhelming which he found…completely baffling and intriguing and his conclusion was ‘she is underwhelmed by me not because I’m NOT great, but because clearly she has done something greater and now I need to find out about it’. Was deeply curious about her from the beginning. Rather than his earlier relationships that were built on initial physical attraction and his usual ‘I am going to charm her with my Gallant Hero Energy’, he grew close to her out of circumstance first and then utter respect and admiration for her as they worked together. She was his sense of grounding through the whole war and was the first person he was actually In Love with. He hoped the relationship would continue beyond the war—that he kept thinking would end the next year, and then the next year, etc. It was unrelenting and he likely wouldn’t have stayed if not for this partnership. He felt it was worth all the enduring hardship. She saw to his burial after the destruction of Mournhold.

[writer-and-artist27]

Chaldean Master Vy (Character Profile)

Roughly inspired by @panyum​’s enthusiasm for my most recent artwork, it’s about time I divulge more on the Mastersona/main protagonist of Passing Days, Vy. Here we go.

Name: Vy

Age: 17-18 (beginning of Part 1), 19-20 (by Lostbelt 3)

Gender: Cis-female

Orientation: Asexual/Demisexual (questioning) and Demiromantic

Closest Servants: Mash Kyrielight (Level 80), Arturia Pendragon (Level 100), Achilles (Level 100), Marie Antoinette (Level 80), Robin Hood (Level 100), Archer EMIYA (Level 80), Diarmuid Ua Duibhne (Lancer - Level 70), Medea (Level 70), Chevalier D’eon (Level 80), Sieg (Level 80), Chiron (Level 80), Scathach-Skadi (Level 90), Sitonai (Level 90), Ereshkigal (Level 90), Ruler Martha (Level 80), Katsushika Hokusai (Level 90).

Notable Facts: 

In another place, Vy would have lost her life in a car crash and reincarnated into another world as a civilian pianist, but in FGO’s timeline, she was scouted by Chaldea before she could start her second quarter in college. Chaldea had noticed her family lineage having some kind of Mystic aspects through a blood test she had taken for a yearly checkup before donating blood to a local blood drive. It resulted in them reaching out to her for an “extracurricular volunteer opportunity” that no college student could refuse. Vy would accept, albeit with her parents encouraging her, not realizing it would later lead her to becoming the main Chaldean Master in the Grand Order. 

Vy went into Chaldea thinking she’d be a medical assistant from her resume stating her interest in science and medicine, only to find herself drafted into the Rayshift training that the FGO protagonist went through in canon as a result of her impressive stamina (thanks to biking miles around their home in America with her parents when growing up), tiring herself from all the shifting to the point of nearly dozing off in one of Chaldea’s hallways if not for Mash.

The “Mystic” part of Vy’s blood that drew Chaldea’s attention was something Vy’s parents nor grandparents were actually aware of, no thanks to how all grew up in poverty in Vietnam before coming to America and later, Japan, but it is actually from one of Vy’s ancestors coming in contact with a mage from the Mage’s Association. No one really knows what exactly happened between said ancestor and that mage, but it seems to explain Vy’s uncanny luck in getting some of the bigger names in the Throne of Heroes before confronting Goetia, including Arjuna, Minamoto no Raikou, and Achilles by the dawn of Camelot. Her luck has definitely made the Crypters scratch their heads, since Vy had used a nearly Fully Ascended Scathach-Skadi to take down Kadoc before having reached Scandinavia. 

Vy adores Mash a lot, both from how earnest Mash is and her eagerness to learn about everything of the outside world past Chaldea’s blizzards. Dr. Roman at one point commented that they looked like sisters, just once, and Vy latched onto Mash as a surrogate little sister since, being conscientious of Mash’s health whenever they Rayshift together. 

Since Vy’s family took her on a lot of cross-country road trips when growing up, including visiting national parks such as Yosemite and Zion to hike and sight-see, one of Vy’s goals when going into the Grand Order is making sure Mash gets to experience all nature has to offer one day like she did, wanting to introduce her to her parents when the fighting is all over. She has jokingly asked Dr. Roman and Da Vinci for adoption papers for her parents to sign for Mash.

When starting in Singularity F, Vy was initially scared of paving the way to Humanity’s salvation, but sucked it up once Mash saved her. At that moment, one of the thoughts running through her head was, “Mash is fighting so hard, so why can’t I?!” Since then, Vy has made quite the distinct image of herself when fighting with her Servants, being a no-nonsense leader who can and will sarcastically snark at anyone, including Kiara and BB of all people, when they are opposing her. To allies, she is both understanding and empathic, usually not asking any imposing questions and issuing orders only when emergencies call for it. 

Anyone who tries to “bed” her will spark a loud and angry reaction, since Vy is not interested in any sexual relations and instead is still loyal to her family and friends that were left to the dust by Goetia and later the Foreign God. Expect some cursing too. 

Vy’s romantic orientation is why Agartha is an untouched subject amongst all the Servants when bringing in new faces, because when Dahut in Drake’s body proposed rape to her outright during the Pseudo-Singularity, Vy’s reaction was basically, “I AM ACE, YOU JERK! SEX IS NOT FOR ME, CONSENT MATTERS, SO SHUT UP AND FIGHT ALREADY! IF NOT, I WILL KILL YOU WITH A RUSTY SPOON MYSELF, GODDAMMIT!” It’s another reason why Fergus and some of the other romantically inclined Servants such as Kiyohime and Elizabeth Bathory have kept their distance since, because Vy’s rage point back then was that unsettling. Robin Hood doesn’t bring up the subject of picking up girls in front of her anymore. D’Eon and Astolfo both have tried to keep Vy away from thinking about Dahut since.

The first Servants Vy ever summoned in the Grand Order was Lancer Diarmuid, Medea, and Chevalier d’Eon. The first 4-stars she ever summoned after them was Marie Antoinette and Archer EMIYA, so because of this and a lot of other things, all five Servants still find themselves in the occasional team because Vy grew that attached to them.

Her only Grailed Servants so far are Saber Arturia Pendragon, Rider Achilles, and Archer Robin Hood, both because they were there when fighting opponents such as the Lion King, Tiamat, and the Alter Egos in SERAPH, and how she loved all three of them for their legends even before coming to Chaldea. 

When Vy first got a Holy Grail, she tried to give it to Mash as thanks for Mash protecting her for so long, but because of Mash’s status as a designer baby and Demi-Servant, she wasn’t able to take it. Instead, Mash still finds herself at the front lines team Vy has for mixed enemy battles, since Vy can’t find it in her to leave Mash behind. 

Some of the Servants who have been with Vy longer find themselves getting a nickname for Vy to call out to just them, all because Vy sees them as part of her family and wants to be good to them. Robin Hood is a prominent example, where she calls him “big Robin” as a way to boost his confidence about being a Heroic Spirit, and in turn, he calls her “little sparrow.” Marie Antoinette is sometimes called “my Queen,” and some of the more younger Servants such as Illya and Miyu are called with the “-chan” honorific or “baby sis.” Mash never got a nickname simply because to Vy, “Mash is Mash, and I love your name.” There were many “awww”s. 

It’s because of how she affectionately considers a majority of her Servants family that a lot of them tone down their arguments and bad qualities in her presence, simply because she’s there. An example is how during Babylonia, Vy had answered at the Underworld’s gates, “Ereshkigal is more beautiful!” to Ishtar’s face, both because she had summoned Ereshkigal long before entering Babylonia and that she had known Eresh longer. Eresh, who hadn’t Rayshifted to the Singularity at the time, could be found later hiding her red face in her hands as Da Vinci laughed out loud. Dr. Roman meanwhile had looked like he had swallowed a lemon at the time because of how blatantly Vy had put down Ishtar, and Ishtar barely reacted. Vy’s only reasoning afterwards was, “I did not appreciate being made into a makeshift cushion in our first meeting, Ishtar, thank you very little.” 

There were a lot of times during Singularities where Vy, feeling bad for Dr. Roman being a butt-monkey of jokes, brought home a souvenir or two for the good doctor to take part in some of the better moments of the Grand Order. One such souvenir was a butter cake slice from Siduri in Babylonia, because he expressed wanting to eat it one night and she carefully preserved it with Mash to give it to him before confronting “Solomon” in the Temple of Time. It’s because of this that she dearly misses him, having found him as another surrogate father when he’d call her in for daily check-ups and talks over how Mash was doing.

When the Lostbelts happened, Vy started working a lot harder to raise her Servants and the morale of the rest of Chaldea’s staff, resulting in her gaining eyebags from losing sleep over too many Golden Apples and farming quests. Most of the Servants are all at Final Ascension and Max Level at the cost of this and QP, but it’s helped in making the Crypters lose some of their momentum. 

Hope this helps in giving some nice insight and lore!

[morwensteelsheen]

Do you have any advice for someone who wants to write Éowyn x Faramir fanfic in a way that remains authentic to who they are/how Tolkien envisioned them? Of all the fics I’ve read on this pairing, yours just stands out to me as being most in character, whether you’re writing them in Middle Earth or a modern!au. I agree with you about Faramir being gentle but NOT a crybaby and Éowyn not a loose cannon and actually somewhat frosty! Any advice you have would be appreciated. Cheers!

bro... 🥺❤️ that is so kind of you, thank you so much!!!! Like holy moly I am going to be riding high on that compliment all week hahaha, i’m giddy thinking about it. 

i’ve been fretting about how to answer this question because i think i still struggle quite a bit with their characterisations. also i’m terrible at framing advice, so i’m going to try and answer this by giving my interpretations of certain things and how that effects how i write about them, and hopefully that will be helpful? also i’m so sorry, this is literally 6,000 words, this totally got away from me. 

To start quite generally, i think it’s super helpful to realise that almost all of the characters in LOTR are devoid of any significant internal life because the book is structured as a retelling of historical events to frodo, which are later written down and then “translated” by tolkien. unless a character is explicitly telling frodo/someone else what they’re thinking, we don’t really know what’s going on in there (except éowyn and i’ll come back to this later). But the other reason we don’t really get a sense of most characters’ internal lives is because they function as, essentially, heroic/fantastical archetypes and responses to other elements of literature. People tend to shy away from this because of this weird postmodern backlash against tropes, but it’s, i feel, extremely important to remember that these characters aren’t in the books because they’re fully-fleshed out human beings, they’re there because tolkien needed characters to fulfil certain narrative roles. this is not a value judgement, but acknowledging that’s what’s going on here is helpful for us as we try to figure out what these characters would be doing when canon doesn’t explicitly tell us what they’d be doing (or what they’d be doing in an au/a rewrite/whatever). 

All this to say: all of these characters are born out of a specific literary and historical context, and i think in the first instance its suuuuuuuupa helpful to go back and figure out what that context is, because it helps you to build out a character profile in your head that feels true to character even when you’re operating in the great canon unknown. 

Okay so for some general thoughts on each of the kiddos:

Éowyn

I’ll start with éowyn because i think i’ve spent the most time thinking about her lately and i feel like i’m finally starting to get in her head a little better. I’m not super confident in my take yet, but it’s getting there, i feel. 

éowyn’s metatextual character history is really fascinating and really important for understanding who she is. éowyn is, essentially, a direct response to the character of lady macbeth and what tolkien saw as a massive disservice to her character at the end of the play. I had a much better pull quote from tolkien talking specifically about that, but i can’t seem to find it right now so you’ll have to use this really brief overview instead — sorry! I will update this if i come across the quote again. 

understanding that foundation in lady macbeth, we can start to ask certain questions about éowyn vis a vis lady macbeth. What are the things that we know — in text — make lady macbeth and éowyn similar? Quite a lot, actually. They’re both ‘fully realised’ women (and i’ll come back to this in a sec), they’re both not naive about the mechanics of power — lady macbeth is a conniver, éowyn is left in control of a whole ass kingdom while the menfolk are away etc —, they’re both hindered by their gender (this is obvious for éowyn, but i HELLA recommend reading lady macbeth’s come you spirits/unsex me here speech and thinking about the relationship between womanhood and violence, especially in light of éowyn’s experience of battlefield violence and later decision to give it up to go be a hippie in ithilien), and they both have to deal with men being frustrating. I love and will defend théoden quite explicitly, but it’s important to realise that he did, in essence, fuck éowyn over entirely and abdiate on his familial responsibilities to her, before you even get to his abdication of duty to the crown etc. 

The other big — very big, i feel — similarity between éowyn and lady macbeth is that they are both tremendously emotionally distant and restrained. But éowyn, unlike lady macbeth, is capable of camouflaging her emotional distance when necessary. Here, from ROTK, is a passage of crucial important to understanding éowyn: 

‘Alas! For she was pitted against a foe beyond the strength of her mind or body. And those who will take a weapon to such an enemy must be sterner than steel, if the very shock shall not destroy them. It was an evil doom that set her in his path. For she is a fair maiden, fairest lady of a house of queens. And yet I know not how I should speak of her. When I first looked on her and perceived her unhappiness, it seemed to me that I saw a white flower standing straight and proud, shapely as a lily, and yet knew that it was hard, as if wrought by elf-wrights out of steel. Or was it, maybe, a frost that had turned its sap to ice, and so it stood, bitter-sweet, still fair to see, but stricken, soon to fall and die? Her malady begins far back before this day, does it not, Éomer?’

‘I marvel that you should ask me, lord,’ he answered. ‘For I hold you blameless in this matter, as in all else; yet I knew not that Éowyn, my sister, was touched by any frost, until she first looked on you. Care and dread she had, and shared with me, in the days of Wormtongue and the king’s bewitchment; and she tended the king in growing fear. But that did not bring her to this pass!’

‘My friend,’ said Gandalf, ‘you had horses, and deeds of arms, and the free fields; but she, born in the body of a maid, had a spirit and courage at least the match of yours. Yet she was doomed to wait upon an old man, whom she loved as a father, and watch him falling into a mean dishonoured dotage; and her part seemed to her more ignoble than that of the staff he leaned on.

‘Think you that Wormtongue had poison only for Théoden’s ears? Dotard! What is the house of Eorl but a thatched barn where brigands drink in the reek, and their brats roll on the floor among their dogs? Have you not heard those words before? Saruman spoke them, the teacher of Wormtongue. Though I do not doubt that Wormtongue at home wrapped their meaning in terms more cunning. My lord, if your sister’s love for you, and her will still bent to her duty, had not restrained her lips; you might have heard even such things as these escape them. But who knows what she spoke to the darkness, alone, in the bitter watches of the night, when all her life seemed shrinking, and the walls of her bower closing in about her, a hutch to trammel some wild thing in?’

Emphasis my own.

there’s a whole hell of a lot going on here, but i’m going to try and boil it down to a couple main things:

1. gandalf and aragorn immediately see misery in éowyn, but they are both very good at reading people. faramir (later, in the steward and the king) also senses the misery, but he is explicitly talented at reading people, and even he takes a while to fully understand what’s going on in her head

2. Éomer, who éowyn feels obligation and duty to (both as her brother, but also her superior in rank) has no idea that éowyn is suicidal. he knows she’s not happy, but he thinks it’s not until aragorn shows up that she finally becomes despondent and is amazed to hear that that’s not the case, to which gandalf responds, essentially: you weren’t meant to know, she was working with a will of steel to hide her emotions from you because she wanted to protect you from it. So éowyn is well versed at controlling her emotions when she needs to, and is not prone to showing them where she doesn’t want to.

3. Gandalf describes éowyn first as wrought from steel (which, short of an incredibly hot fire, is not easy to break), and then amends it to say that she is made of ice. Ice, compared to steel, is far easier to melt. Maybe inadvertently on tolkien’s behalf, i think this speaks to the nature of éowyn and faramir’s relationship — first she is melted by fire (battle, the witch-king, etc) and the she is warmed by the sun (faramir! Minas anor! The winter has passed, etc). 

4. Earlier i said the characters in lotr don’t really have a huge internal life, except for éowyn. This is where that comes in: éowyn, we are supposed to understand, has a really intense internal life, because her mind is really all she has. We are meant to understand that she’s got a lot going on internally, but there is a very specific reason we’re not privy to it. That’s important to think about.

what this does is widen the gulf between what éowyn’s thinking and feeling, and what she’s actually saying and doing. If you’re writing (as i tend to prefer) in a way that deals with her inner life quite intensely, building that gap up is much easier to do. She’s going to have a lot of thoughts, and almost all of them are going to be hindered by either other people’s expectations of her, or her own expectations of herself. And that’s going to cause problems for her — maybe not always throwing-herself-at-death level problems, but certainly problems.  

so there’s that. Then i think there’s a lot to be said for widening the net on éowyn inspirations. I’ve looked to joan of arc (which i kind of hinted at here) quite a bit. I feel like the joan of arc comparison is easy to understand so i wont waste too much time on it, though i will say i’d actually recommend reading catholic interpretations of joan of arc, not later protestant Girlboss interpretations because i think those miss the point of joan of arc entirely. 

I was going to try to comment more on the gender element but i feel like i’m not on great footing with that yet so i will leave that to the side for now.

Faramir

tbh i was kind of dreading getting to this because i still find it exceptionally hard to get into his head, so wish me luck lol 

I’m going to be a total bore and recommend you check out this article. Bear in mind that that was written by a dude at the citadel so it’s going to stray into the realm of Military Brain at points, but i think it’s a worthwhile read anyways. 

ah christ, faramir. okay. cowabunga.

faramir, more so than aragorn, is the platonic ideal of a romantic hero. Both in the genre sense (as in, romance novels) and in the sense of the artistic movement of romanticism, i know i’ve said exactly this before but it’s worth reiterating. I’ll start with the romantic influence and then go onto the romance.

So the romantic movement is a really important intellectual, cultural and political movement, and you will have to forgive me because i am only loosely a modernist and more a contemporary historian, and not at all an expert in literature or art history, so this is going to be, like, a 101 level understanding of what was going on. 

The romantic movement is kicked off as a reaction to both the emphasis on rationality and quantifiability promoted during the enlightenment, and the bourgeois economic revolutions (this is the french revolution, mostly, but the later revolutions across the european continent in 1848 and the kickstarting of the industrial revolution in england). Romanticism was, essentially, a return to intense emotionality, reverence for nature, and appreciation of that which is, ultimately indefinable. Not necessary for writing a fanfic, but reading about the idea of the sublime is kind of a fun rabbit hole to go down if you’ve got time to spare. 

A lot of present day writers will talk about the romantic movement as a break with the past, which is, i guess, kind of true, but is also not really true. The romantic movement — as much as the enlightenment — took its inspiration and logical from classic art and thought. But it interpreted the classics differently to the enlightenment. Whereas the enlightenment era thinkers were fascinated by the rationality and mathematical precision of the greeks and romans, the romantics were more interested in their emotional liberty, and the epic (in the truest sense of the word) shows of emotion and experiences of human life. 

but what does this mean for faramir? A lot! 

The first time we’re introduced to faramir (if not in name) is in fotr, when boromir talks about the destruction of the bridge at osgiliath, when he describes an epic story of war and heroism, wherein only four total people survive swimming from the bridge: two unnamed others, boromir, and faramir. right from the off we know that, if nothing else, he’s not a limp-wristed little lordling, he has the fortitude to survive what few others can. 

Then, barely half a breath later, we get a description of faramir’s premonition, the fact that it came to him repeatedly, and that he immediately volunteered to go blues clues his way through it. We get the sense that he’s a guy who doesn’t back down from a challenge. And then faramir goes away for a while, until two towers, when we meet him again in the brilliance that is ithilien. And here i’m going to go back to our friend from the citadel for some interesting character insight:

the rangers under the command of Faramir are armed with long bows, giving them the capability to wage war over distances greater than most of their foes. This is the same type of warfare deemed cowardly and dishonorable by the chivalric knights, but is far more effective and less perilous than the face-to-face [...] This tactic also reveals Faramir to be a conscientious leader, minimizing the risk to his subordinates while maximizing their effectiveness in battle. Faramir was considerate of the risk he put his men to and sacrificed the idea of glorious face-to-face combat in favor of a weapon system that would be less desirable in the eyes of men such as Boromir, but also much more efficient. [...] Using camouflage and stealth, the warriors un d er Faramir's command set themselves apart from all other military units besides the elves in The Lord of the Rings and ultimately align themselves more closely with the soldiers of modern warfare than with the ancient heroes prevalent in the work of Tolkien. 

Okay enough of the military history because it’s soul-crushingly boring, but the gist is that faramir is, (whatever else he is) a very unique figure. Taking this as a value neutral statement, we get the sense, before we even hear him own to it himself, that he’s a man apart from the rest. I think it’s important also to think about the extent to which he is situated as a part of nature when we first meet him, even if we later know that he is from this big, awful stone city, we are meant to immediately associate him with nature. And not nature in a primitive sense, i’d argue, but nature in the romantic sense, where it speaks to the beauty of creation etc etc etc 

Then there’s the bright sword speech, which im not going to say anything on because cleverer people than me have dealt with it much more efficiently, but i would say that the takeaway from that, besides that he loves peace yada yada yada, is that he likes talking about peace. He has opinions on the war, perhaps even a controversial opinion, and by god, he wants people to know it. So thinking about what that level of immediate and almost impolitic honesty says about him is worth thinking about as you try to write him. 

Later, we get to see faramir in the white city, and what we see is that he’s kind of a drama queen! I say this lovingly, but it does correspond to him going off on one immediately about how the war sucks ass and how he’s above it and how all the other people of middle earth are shit, including his own, and how much better life was In Númenor (which is, essentially, the crux of a lot of romantic poetry. And my headcanon of faramir’s connection to romantic poetry is here). 

The other thing we learn in the white city is that faramir is very aware of himself as a person, and is actively altering whatever his base inclinations are to fit his desired personality. Here’s what i said in a comment on swaddledog’s excellent hearts and minds: 

When Denethor hits him with the "ever your desire is to appear lordly and generous as a king of old, gracious, gentle," he's not saying it because he thinks that sort of behaviour comes naturally to Faramir but because he knows he has to work really, really hard at it. I think inherent in that desire is also the failure — he tries, but sometimes he comes up short (often, even — that kiss on the wall wasn't exactly gracious and gentle!), and it's because he sometimes comes up short that Denethor knows it doesn't come naturally to him. And you get that perfectly, just so, so perfectly.

That gap between what faramir thinks he is and whats to be versus what he actually is is very important for understanding him. Though, as i say, i really struggle with writing faramir, so it’s definitely not an easy thing to work into a fanfic. 

I realise i’m probably not articulating this as well as i should, but that’s because dealing with faramir is a tremendous arseache for me, lol. I think basically my advice here is to familiarise yourself with a lot of these romantic figures and try to bear them in mind as you write. pierre bezukhov from war & peace actually fits quite closely to what i imagine young (as in, pre-ring war) faramir is like, with some necessary alterations for canon, and the fact that faramir seems like he’d be slightly more responsible than pierre. And certainly far, far, FAR more confident. 

So that’s the romantic, and then there’s the romance. I saw a post a few months ago that identified faramir as, essentially, a love letter to women. And he totally is: he’s this fucking baller guerrilla warrior who quotes poetry and reads widely and falls in love deeply and sweeps a woman off her feet because he finds her beautiful and incredible and worthwhile even when she’s at her absolute worst. emotional intimacy is real, hallelujah! And so i think any time you’re writing faramir you’re going to have to keep that in mind, because he is this sort of breathless romantic. He’s a character that exists (inadvertently because tolkien couldn’t predict the future) to act, outwardly, as an antidote to the All Men Are Shit mindset. How much you actually keep him on that pedestal is up to you. I like to nuance his character with a bit more chaos, let him be a bit of a shameless flirt in his younger years, let him be so high and mighty in his romantic behaviour that he doesn’t realise that sometime éowyn just wants to fucking chill, that sort of thing. 

There are lots of other character moments that stick out to me that i dont want to say a huge amount about, but will instead link to this incredible meta about faramir’s númenóreaness, with the disclaimer that dealing with that sort of capability in any serious way scares the shit out of me, so i have mostly just Pretended I Can’t Read every time i think about it, except for a super brief reference at the end of this fic. 

Okay onto the meat of this (oh my god, i’m so sorry for how long this is)

Faramir + Éowyn = true love

Before i start, i just want to point out that in terms of seeing their relationship, we only really get it in the steward and the king, which is significant for a lot of reasons. For one because tolkien got a huge amount of shit for how quickly they fell in love (people accused it of being war-bride stuff, which typically was not a great arrangement for those involved) — tolkien himself said ‘shut the fuck up dude’ to that, and this is probably because tolkien married his wife, edith, right before he went off to war. I’ll come back to that in a sec because it’s important. 

The other reason it’s important is because the steward and the king features some of the most consistent lofty and high-fantasy prose of the entire series. Tolkien does this magical thing where he weaves high brow purple prose in with deeply casual, familiar (for the early 20th century) vernacular, and to great effect. And he does this for a reason, he wants to create the sense of this deeply developed, fantastical world that extends well outside the bounds of what we are allowed to see in text while also allowing us the rhetorical space to relate to the characters we see. It is, then, significant that there is almost none of the “low-brow” vernacular speech in the steward and the king. It means tolkien’s got all thrusters on full, so to speak, in terms of the romance. He wants to evoke arthurian romances, courtly/chivalric love, the sort of fated-by-the-stars love that nobody would think to deny because of the time constraints because it seems so abundantly obvious that this love is Meant To Be.

But that’s just what he’s doing tonally. In terms of content, he’s weaving a more complex picture. 

We’ll start with the obvious. Emotionally, both éowyn and faramir are at their worst. Sort of. éowyn’s worst might have been when she did her suicide run on the pelennor in terms of self-destructiveness, but i think her real low point is actually when she wakes up in the HoH, basically immobilized, prevented from dying, and now aware she’s going to have to do the One Thing she refused to do, which is watch everybody she loves go off to die, and then sit about and wait for her own death. faramir, meanwhile, went off to a hopeless battle (expecting to die) after mouthing off at his father, then wakes up to find out he’s not only alive, but the only surviving member of his family (for some reason! because don’t forget gandalf is very clear that he shouldn’t find out about denethor’s death until Later), is now the fucking steward of gondor, and also this mythical king is Back. also he too has to sit around and wait for death. So emotionally neither of them are doing too great. 

Their first impressions of one another are very important. 

faramir, of éowyn: “and he turned and saw the Lady Éowyn of Rohan; and he was moved with pity, for he saw that she was hurt, and his clear sight perceived her sorrow and unrest.”; “He looked at her, and being a man whom pity deeply stirred, it seemed to him that her loveliness amid her grief would pierce his heart.”

So he knows who she is, and he can see that she’s physically hurt, but also can see she’s feeling all kinds of fucked up. And the first emotion he feels is pity. He’s assessing her in terms of pain and sorrow, and all of these sorts of emotions éowyn seems desperate to divorce herself from. And he offers her pity. That’s significant. 

éowyn, of faramir: “she looked at him and saw the grave tenderness in his eyes, and yet knew, for she was bred among men of war, that here was one whom no Rider of the Mark would outmatch in battle.” 

She doesn’t know who he is, not really, but she does immediately think he could kick ass. And that’s her first and only real assessment of him. That’s also significant. 

And éowyn is miserable, and she’s so miserable she’s actually willing to openly talk about if (if only to a limited extent) and faramir does what is, I think, one of the most incredible things in the entire book. He functionally disarms her, lets her down gently, and places them on equal footing with a single joke:

‘What would you have me do, lady?’ said Faramir. ‘I also am a prisoner of the healers.’

There’s merit in interpreting this straight, but I actually think it's quite funny to relate the safety and security of a hospital in wartime to a prison, to a cage. And I think tolkien’s aware of this, and not really intending us to read it straight. What this does is soften éowyn up enough that she asks for what she wants, but also seems to make her more interested in dealing with him, even if she reacts badly to his compliment of her. 

And then they fall in love, and whatever. The chapter’s there, there’s a million fanfics out there about it, whatever. 

But faramir’s proposal is Big, and deserves thought for what it says about their relationship. People like to bitch about it because they take it to mean that éowyn has had to change all this stuff about herself, give up her desire to be a firebrand or whatever to go off and be a lovely prince’s wife in this noble hippie commune over those hills yonder. I think that’s totally wrong.

I think what’s going on in faramir’s proposal and éowyn’s response is a really fascinating illumination of the accord they’ve reached with one another through their (admittedly brief) courtship. Here’s why:

First, faramir tries to approach the conversation with a bit of subterfuge. Not in the weird negative way, just in that he’s not hitting it head on at the start. He obviously still doesn’t understand what’s going on inside her head fully, so tries to ask around the question (‘why aren’t you at the cormallen?’) instead of asking the question he’s obviously interested in. éowyn has no time for this, and tells him to nut up or shut up. And he does! 

But then there’s this line: 

But I do not offer you my pity. For you are a lady high and valiant and have yourself won renown that shall not be forgotten.

Two things going on here: one, faramir’s rescinding his initial emotional reaction. He felt pity for her, but has now come to know her well enough that he realises she doesn’t need pity, and isn’t dumb enough to try and force it on her. But the second thing, almost more important, is that he assesses her in the terms that she prefers, which is that she has won herself renown and has shown her valour. These are not the things Faramir values, we know this, that’s the whole point of the bright sword speech. But they are the things éowyn values, and he loves her, and is willing to acknowledge what her desired self image is. That’s a huge concession she’s won off him, that’s big. 

And then éowyn responds:

I will be a shieldmaiden no longer, nor vie with the great Riders, nor take joy only in the songs of slaying. I will be a healer, and love all things that grow and are not barren.

here’s my potentially controversial take. I don’t think she’s giving up on her desire to be a fighter of some sort, but she’s giving up on some specific traditions, which is that of the mythical (but, let’s be clear, functionally nonexistent, save for éowyn) shieldmaidens, and of the riders of the Mark, who, as we have been told throughout the books, are given to valorising warfare and martial acts above all. This is supported by her saying “nor take joy only in the songs of slaying.” she’s not saying she won't take any joy in it, or that she won’t still praise it when it earns her admiration, but that’s not going to be her only raison d’etre anymore. Her life is going to move beyond the realm of death and killing and battlefield survival to growth and life and the future. That’s also a concession on her behalf. 

And then there’s this hella romantic kiss on the walls, which is fucking brazen behaviour, but is also i think representative more of the unique situation than setting a trend for them. It is, i think, the positive equivalent of éowyn’s slaying of the witch king in terms of its uniqueness. In the same way that she’s not going to keep going around throwing herself headlong into fights she’s not meant to win, she’s also not going to be publicly playing tonsil hockey. This is the big moment, and then it’s back to the reserve from there. 

Really, their entire relationship is, to me, about a series of negotiations. One culture and another, wives and husbands, old and new, war and peace, life and death, etc. they are similar in a lot of ways — both are intensely headstrong — but they’re similar primarily in character, not necessarily in belief, and so much of what they’re going to have to do as a pair is work to find their harmonious accord, if that makes sense. Sometimes they’ll do it peaceably, sometimes they’ll have blow up fights, but their entire relationship is going to be predicated on negotiating the space between, if that makes sense? 

Okay i said i’d say some stuff on the relationship of tolkien and his wife edith to faramir and éowyn. Tolkien was adamant that they were beren and lúthien (that’s on their tombstones), and i’m full willing to grant him that. But i think it’s complicated by the fact that faramir is, in some senses, tolkien’s self-insert. Obviously authors can have stand-ins for their opinions without the character having to be them exactly (and i think there’s more merit certainly to saying that tolkien’s 100% self-insert is tom bombadil) but i think there’s something worth exploring to the connections between beren and lúthien and faramir and éowyn. I know the morality issue makes B+L more closely comparable to arwen and aragorn, but, as I argue for here, the mortality issue (or lifespan issue) isn’t totally alien to faramir and éowyn.  

As i write them, there are some core themes i’m pretty consistently thinking about, so i’ll just list em here in case that’s any help to you.

Family 

This would be: life after orphanhood, life as the last of a family, what your obligation to your family is, how you go on and have your own family after having had a less than ideal childhood, etc.

Duty

Here’s what I said about their differing approaches to duty in a now-abandoned draft chapter from willow cabin:

Faramir has said, not in as many words, that she should not begrudge him for following orders. This, she knows, is a crucial difference between them. They each hold duty above all other charges, but their interpretation of what exactly that means is different. It comes from the differences in power they wield: he has ever been empowered to change the course of decisions before they are made, while she is forced to react to them after. To him, then, it would be unreasonable to disobey direct orders, given that a failure to change them in advance is a reflection upon his skills, not the legitimacy of the command. She, however, has rarely had control over how and when orders are given, and so sees no inherent legitimacy to them, and thus no reason not to disobey orders that are unjustly given.

Time

As I alluded to above, éowyn is going to live a significantly shorter life than Faramir, and she is no doubt very aware of this. But this also means that they’re going to experience time differently, and that will have an impact on their behaviour. What might seem like foot-dragging to éowyn seems like impatience to faramir, etc

Healing

We never actually see faramir’s reaction to finding out denethor tried to burn him alive. That’s a lot. We have no idea if he knows when he proposes to éowyn. When does he find out? What does that do to his mood? Etc. but also, éowyn says she’ll become a healer — what does that really mean? Is she going to be nurse/doctor éowyn from now on? Will she broaden the definition of healing (for my part, i say yes, which is what i’ve been trying to do in willow cabin, though a little less successfully than i’d hoped)

Gender

This is a slightly less popular theme in the bookverse fics, but i think as part of éowyn and faramir’s relationship of negotiation, they’re going to have to deal with éowyn not feeling one hundo thrilled about being a woman. And i think that raises some interesting questions about what faramir’s response to that will be. men/manhood is often treated as the historical default — so what happens when someone like, say, éowyn, starts challenging the notion of gender and gender roles around faramir? How does he react? What does that do to his own self-image? Etc. 

Okay. yes. That’s all i can think of right now. I am so, so sorry this is so long, i just totally brain dumped there. If you have any questions at all though please please do hit me up and i’m super happy to read whatever you’re writing (literally gagging for farawyn content rn lmao), if you’re comfortable sharing etc.

[franticbindings]

Ability Check, Please! - Part 1

As Eric’s consciousness slowly drifted towards wakefulness, he became dimly aware of the room around him. He was snug and warm in the bed, which was piled so high with fluffy blankets that only a sliver of his face was peeking out. The pale morning light streamed in through the window and fell gently on his closed eyes. He breathed sleepily and could make out hints of pleasant, familiar smells—wood smoke and fresh-baked bread. He hovered on the cusp of waking for several long minutes, dozing contentedly.

Then he remembered.

Four days ago, he had arrived in Waterdeep—the City of Splendors—with his adventuring companions.

Three days ago, he had woken up filled with excitement to explore the city, only to find their rooms empty and all their belongings gone.

Two days ago, he realized that they weren’t coming back.

Yesterday he had climbed into bed, and he had yet to emerge. The innkeeper had been kind enough to bring meals up to him.

All the shame and despair over being abandoned so casually—without even a word or a note—came rushing back, and Eric let out a low groan and rolled onto his back, squeezing his eyes tightly shut. He had always been a bit of an outsider in the group, but he had thought that all those months on the road where they faced danger together would have counted for something. 

Maybe I’m just hopelessly naïve. He supposed he should be happy that they waited until they had reached their destination before ditching him, but mostly he just felt sad. At least I’m not totally alone. The stillness of the room was disturbed by the flutter of delicate wings, and Eric felt the soft impact of tiny feet through the blankets covering him.

“Good, you’re awake. Get dressed, we’re going out today.”

Eric squinted up at his familiar, Dex, who was perched on his chest. His iridescent wings were at full attention, his hands were on his hips and his face was set with determination; it might have been an intimidating sight if Dex wasn’t only nine inches tall. He was a sprite, which meant he looked mostly like an elf writ small, but his exaggerated features would give away his fey nature even if his size and wings didn’t—his ears were a little too prominent, his hair too brilliantly orange, and his eyes were like burnished gold. His pale skin was dotted all over with dense spirals of freckles in a way that was both beautiful and strange.

Eric’s voice was still rough with sleep when he spoke, “Dex, I believe you may have some misapprehensions about which of us is in charge in this relationship.” He rolled over onto his side, petulantly dislodging the sprite, who nimbly flitted up into the air before settling cross-legged on the pillow in Eric’s line of sight.

Dex crossed his arms over his lightly armored chest, “You’re being a sad sack, so I get to be in charge until you’ve got your head on straight.”

Eric rolled his eyes, “I think I’m allowed to be upset when I’ve been abandoned by almost all of my friends.”

“First of all? Those assholes were never your friends. They treated you like dirt and you only put up with it because you lack confidence and you grew up knowing each other. Inertia is a terrible reason to base who you get into dangerous situations with.”

Eric’s tried to muster some indignation on his own behalf but only managed to yawn, when he spoke his rustic Dale’s accent was thick. “This is a swell pep talk—real inspirin’.”

Dex didn’t dignify that with a response, “Secondly, you’re better off without them. Seriously, I read their hearts, so you can trust me on this.” This statement was accompanied by significant finger wiggling, which Eric presumed was to indicate Dex’s ability to read someone’s inner nature by laying hands upon them. “They’re one bad week away from going feral. I won’t be in the least bit surprised if they manage to get kicked out of the city before winter is out.”

Eric sighed, “They did have a tendency to ruffle people’s feathers.”

Dex leaned forward and met Eric’s gaze pointedly, “Are you really going to miss having to clean up their messes?”

“I guess not.” Eric chewed on his lip thoughtfully, “I kinda still want to mope for another day though. Can I put off getting my act together for just a little longer?”

Dex shook his head, “We’ve got to be out of here by noon.”

“What? Why?”

“We’re almost out of money.”

“What?!” Eric’s eyes widened with shock. “What about the payoff for the escort job? My share was almost thirty gold.” You could live comfortably on that much for nearly a month, even in a city like Waterdeep.

“Remember? They convinced you to wait and split the money until the morning and then…”

“And then they left!” Eric sat bolt upright in his bed and felt his face flush with anger. His short blonde hair was wild from days of neglect and he was so outraged he could barely think. “Those… those…”

“Bastards? Shit weasels?” Dex fluttered up into the air and hovered at eye level in front of Eric.

“Those... ungrateful assholes! I’m the only reason we got that job!” Eric crossed his arms in a huff. His anger had an invigorating effect, pushing back the fog of negative emotions, but it was fading as quickly as it had come. Worry and fear were quick to take its place, and Eric looked plaintively at his friend.

“What are we gonna do?”

“We are going to find a new party. Hopefully this time without the assholes.”

Dex flew over to the bedside table and returned carrying a rolled-up piece of parchment, which he unfurled. It was an advertisement, the kind that people put up on signposts and bulletin boards. Written on it was:

The Yawning Portal Welcomes All Adventurers!

Rainrun Street, Castle Ward

-Gateway to The Undermountain-

-Hire Adventurers-

-Join or Form a Party-

-Trade Information and Items-

“Is this what you were out doing yesterday?” Eric took the page and settled it in his lap, reading it over a few times.

Dex nodded.

I could find another party, but what if they don’t respect me either? It had been hard to get the measure of other adventuring groups during their travels since the unrestrained egos of his own party invariably made rivals out of anyone they met. He had seen pity in some of their eyes when they had looked at him—at the time he had thought that were questioning why someone like him was getting involved in the dangerous business of adventuring, but now he wondered if they just saw how he was treated and thought he deserved better. Eric slumped over a little, resting his chin on his hand. His gaze was downcast and unfocused, “Maybe I should just give up on adventuring and get a job at a bakery.”

Dex landed in front of Eric and kicked him lightly in his blanket-covered leg with one pointy boot. “You’re doubting yourself again. Quit it.”

Eric met Dex’s eyes briefly before his gaze skittered away to the window, “I can be kind of a liability—I’m useless if I get grabbed. That’s probably why everyone left.”

Dex scowled and hopped up the pile of blankets that covered Eric’s lap until he was right in his friend’s face, “You are a handpicked champion of The Flawless Queen. Are you doubting her wisdom?”

Eric leaned back, but kept his eyes averted and his voice soft, “She was pretty clear that I only had the potential to be a hero. That’s no guarantee.”

Dex planted his hands on his hips and flicked his wings in frustration, “Well, after watching you in action and reading your heart more times than I can count I’m sure about two things—you’ve got a genuine heroic spirit, and that would be wasted working in a bakery. Think of all the people you’ve helped!”

Eric sighed, and was finally able to meet Dex’s gaze, “You’re probably right.”

“I’m always right.”

Eric managed to muster a chuckle at that and started to climb out of bed, “Sure, Dex. Do you know how to get to this Yawning Portal place?”

“Yeah, I scouted it out yesterday. It’s not far.”

Eric hummed in consideration as he stretched out his back and limbs, which popped loudly in the quiet of the room, “I figure we should drop by this tavern and see what time everybody usually shows up. We might need to sell our last healing potion if we can’t find a cheaper inn. Not sure what to do after that.”

“Well, you wanted to explore the city before everything happened. I figured we could do that. The stuff I saw was pretty impressive for mortal work, but it doesn’t really rate compared to The Queen’s palace.”

“No, I guess it wouldn’t.” Eric began to strip off his two-day-old undergarments and he moved over to the washbasin, where he did a simple spell to heat the water. He was of average height but compact with lithe muscle, and he was unselfconscious about being disrobed in front of his familiar. As he washed, he let his mind drift among memories of his time with The Flawless Queen.

He had gotten lost in the woods and stumbled across her entourage purely by accident, much to his initial consternation. He had heard plenty of stories about the fickle nature of the fey, and when he was brought before her there was no doubt in his mind that he faced one of the most powerful of their kind. Eric expected to be so overwhelmed by her raw aura of majesty and power that he would be unable to speak but found instead that the words came easily—he surprised himself with clever turns of phrase as he apologized for his intrusion and explained his predicament. The Queen must have been pleased by this, as she agreed to help him find his way back to his home in Featherdale in exchange for his conversation as they traveled. Eric soon discovered that The Flawless Queen was inspiration incarnate, and it didn’t take long in her presence before Eric was admitting to dreams that he had never given voice to—the desire to help people in a way that mattered, his dream of leaving home to find adventure and perhaps, if he was lucky, love. When the Queen offered him her blessings—magic, and an ally in Dex—in order to help make those dreams a reality, Eric had been eager to accept. 

It had all seemed so simple at the time. When did I lose that? The next hour passed quickly as Eric completed his ablutions and prepared to depart with Dex’s help. He cleaned his dirty clothes with magic and dressed warmly for the chilly autumn wind that he knew would be blowing in from the ocean. He hung his spell component pouch over his left shoulder, and his Book of Shadows hung from his waist on his right. With some difficulty he crammed all of his various belongings into his backpack, which settled on his shoulders with only a modicum of clanking—he was carrying quite a bit of cookware. He paused in the common room to grab a quick breakfast and to thank the innkeeper for indulging him the previous day (“Of course, dear! I do hope you’re feeling better!”). That done, he hurried out into the pale morning light in search of the next adventure.

~*~

Eric looked curiously up at the Yawning Portal inn—all three stories of it. It was built of stone, with a slate roof, and looked to be about as old as the other buildings in the area. It was also clearly labeled with a sign that hung from black iron chains above the door. As he watched, a group of three dwarves emerged from the inn, talking amongst themselves in dwarven. Eric swallowed down his nervousness and walked up to the door and entered.

Eric found himself in a large open space with wooden floors—it was pleasantly warm after the chilly autumn air, and the sunlight was streaming in through tall windows that faced the street, illuminating a bar along the left wall and a dozen or so tables with chairs scattered around the first floor. Eric’s attention was immediately drawn to the center of the spacious room, where there was what looked like a giant well—easily forty feet across—which was surrounded by a waist-high barrier of bricks and descended who knows how deeply into the earth. The building was constructed so that there was a column of open space above the well, extending up to the second and third floor, and Eric could just make out more seating for patrons on the upper floors. Staircases spiraled around the pillars that supported the ceiling and dangling down from the top of the third floor was a rope and pulley system that descended into the depths.

“Do people go down there?” Eric wondered aloud as he approached the barrier and looked down into the pit. He could see about thirty feet down before everything was swallowed by darkness.

Dex landed on the edge of the barrier surrounding the hole in the floor and was peering down into it when a gruff voice boomed out from behind them.

“Entrance to the Undermountain is one gold per person, though I can’t in good conscience let you go down there by yourself.”

Dex flitted up to head height and let out an offended, “He’s not alone. He’s got me!”

Eric turned around and took in the barkeep, who was making a placating gesture. He was about a head taller than Eric and looked quite fit despite his greying hair. The man’s thickly muscled arms looked made for swinging swords, and Eric immediately pegged him as a retired adventurer. He continued speaking, with a little contrition in his voice.

“I’ve got the same objections for two as for one. Unless you’ve got a few more in your party out in the city somewhere?”

Eric walked over to the bar, which was empty of patrons except for one, down at the end. As he slipped off his pack, Eric spared them enough of a glance to make out pale skin, dark hair, and gleaming silver armor. He settled himself on one of the bar stools and made introductions and exchanged a few polite niceties. The barkeep was actually the owner of the establishment, and his name was Durnan.

“‘As to your question, I’m afraid it’s just us at the moment.” Eric was wringing his hands below the bar top but still wearing his best ‘Please like me!’ smile. He pressed on, “That’s actually why we’re here. We saw your flyer and figured it coming here was a good way to meet some new people.”

“Could be, could be. How long have you been adventuring?”

“I’ve done a few quests here and there since I was sixteen, so for about two years now. But I’ve been doing this full time since I left home about six months ago.”

“You’re a spellcaster, right? What’s your best spell?”

“Well, my specialty is illusions and enchantments. My best trick is probably…” Eric hummed, considering, “Either making someone fly, or hypnotizing a bunch of people at once with an illusion.” 

“Not too bad. You really made it this far with just the two of you?”

“I’ve been traveling with a group for the past six months, but…” Eric looked down—he had hoped to avoid explaining this. Despite Dex’s words of encouragement, he still felt quite a bit of shame over being left behind, and he wasn’t keen on sharing that with someone he just met.

Dex cut in, crossing his arms as if daring anyone to contradict him. “But they were jerks and we’re better off without them.”

Durnan made a sympathetic noise, “Sometimes that’s how it goes. As for finding a new party—there are usually a handful of people looking to get their feet wet that show up every night around sundown. At your level of skill, you could get a group of them and set yourself up as the leader—might have to take some jobs that are below your usual pay grade until they get more experienced. As for more advanced groups—Jack over there has been looking for a spell slinger to round out his crew for a while now. His group is a good one—skilled, and not in the business for the wrong reasons. I’ll introduce you if you like.”

 “Oh!” Eric blinked, a little surprised that Dex’s plan was bearing fruit so soon. “If it’s not too much trouble!”

“Think nothing of it. Besides, if you go on to do great things together then I get to say I had a hand in it.” Durnan chuckled a little and strode over to the other end of the bar. As the innkeeper conversed with the man, gesturing a few times back in Eric’s direction, Eric got a good look at him.

Jack was, without a doubt, one of the most attractive people Eric had ever laid eyes on. This was saying something since Eric had spent a day and a night in the company of a faerie queen and her entourage. He had seen ethereal beauty and grace the likes of which the mortal world would never know, but they fey were beautiful in the way the most glorious aspects of nature were—you could appreciate the sunrise from a distance, but you couldn’t reach out and touch it. 

Jack was beautiful in a more human, potentially obtainable way—Eric noticed short dark hair, broad shoulders, sharp features, and intense pale blue eyes. He was armored elegantly but simply, with a breastplate, arm guards and greaves, and he had a longsword strapped to his waist. The armor was well fitted, so it didn’t obscure the fact that his body was solid with lean muscle in a way that Eric was definitely appreciating. 

Jack and Durnan concluded their conversation, and Jack started over in Eric’s direction with an easy grace, one hand resting on his sword’s pommel. Jack gave Eric an obvious once over as he approached, taking him in, and Eric did his best not to blush.

Dex fluttered up next to Eric’s ear and whispered, “Just so you know—he’s been totally stealing glances at you since you came in.” 

Eric was definitely blushing now, and Jack was standing right in front of him, extending his hand.

“Eric, right? I’m Jack Zimmermann.”

[solaetis-moved-blog]

TITLE: Nihilism WORD COUNT: 2,444 CHARACTERS: Caster (Medea) / Rider (Jason) SUMMARY: Medea's searching for Gawain, who had been missing for days, and encounters Jason in Chaldea. NOTES: Content warning for Sexism, slut-shaming, domestic violence, murder and idk it's just full of fucked up things. Sheep and I discussed about what would happen if Jason had been summoned in Chaldea when Medea is already in love with Gawain. Some Euripides’ Medea references and some other modernized Greek works cause I’m a nerd.

Of all people she could have encountered in the empty halls of Chaldea, it just had to be him. His face is familiar. She would know it in life, she would know it in death. The renowned Captain of the Argo, the eloquent leader of men. Most would argue about his disposition, claim him useless in the field and can contribute nothing when war ensues. Medea personally knows that this is untrue.

She had seen first hand just how Jason, son of Aeson, led a fleet of men with his words.

He was arrogant and self-indulgent, but which man was not? In the wooden grounds of the ship deck, he would glance at his men with an expression most calm and calculating. In his silence, his mind could procure several options which promised unrivaled victory. In impossible situations, he had saved the lives of most just by commanding. Ten men alone led by him could defeat thousands, but only if he was the mind behind their every action. She could see why a man like Jason was needed to preserve the future of humanity. If she had to admit a painful truth, it would be that between the both of them, he is less likely to put a taint in their pact with the provisional Master and put to waste the significant progress they have made by now.

So when she met his eyes, his eyes that seemed to bore into her person just as fiercely, she could not help but feel as if she was being choked. From here, she would deny his hold upon her neck, though from ill fate of the world, it is undoubtedly permanent at this point.

"What a sore mistake. In this realm where heroes are called forth, you know as well as I do you are the least suitable to be here," he spoke to her, breaking the long and winding silence between them in sheer seconds. Like before, he spoke to her menacingly, as if disgusted by not just her existence, but the fact that she has the mighty gall to breathe in his presence. "Medea."

Broadened eyes were hidden under her hood. He had claimed exactly the truth which began to penetrate her mind.

"You are not so heroic yourself," she barked back, instilling confidence in every word she had uttered as to announce that he did not terrify her, nor will she ever come to do such a thing. She was in her search for a certain man, and that man happened to not be Jason. No, that man will never be him again. For her hatred towards her former husband is incurable. Her endless love before had been unfortunately replaced with unending ferocity and excessive wrath.

She would say more, but Jason's demeanor petrified her from doing so. A damning slavery it must be to be silenced in this manner, thoughts imprisoned and unable to be shared.

"Compared to you?" he raised his brows and huffed with the same haughtiness he used to have. "I must be. You will make even demons themselves appear divine in the eyes of Gods."

Her gloved fists tightened behind her back. She must not show it. He must not bear audience once again to her vexing state, for he will not let her live it down if he were to find out that even now his words hold weight.

"What are you, if not a vile woman? In your loathing, you will burn everything and slaughter even your own children."

Upon hearing this, Medea refused to be silenced further.

'I did not kill them,” she begged herself to scream in retaliation for this disrespect, but even she, herself, is not sure if it would be true. She recalled the lack of warmth in the body of their children as she found them lifeless in the soils of Corinth. What occurred before it? Her life had been a blur in that moment. Every men and women she had killed were clear in her mind, but this. She does not remember. She cannot plead herself to even out of desperation.

Why would she? It was not what happened. Medea did not kill her children. She was the first to find their corpses, yes, but the bastardization of her tale had installed upon her Spirit Origin to claim responsibility for an act she did not commit. It was the Corinthians who feared her and her actions. Jason will not believe her even if she is aware of this, so her lack of knowledge in this lie does not and will not change anything.

"Who are you to speak this way to me? I became this way because I had loved you with all of my soul! You had taken me away from my home and only it was I who suffered the consequences of worshiping your name! You claim that the Goddess Aphrodite had installed upon me this foolishness, driven me to this state. You are wrong! Aphrodite could not be any more mistaken! I had loved you for I had seen you as a man greater than your accomplishments and ambitions! T'was why I had been so willing to be of use to you! Yet you discarded me like a harlot you were already done pleasuring yourself with! There is no justice to speak here, Jason. You are but a naive soul in the throes of love!"

The tone of her voice kept on rising. Each remark from Jason a cruel punishment. He felt the same. Medea had never failed in leaving his heart most scorched. Like mad mutts they exchanged demeaning sentences.

"What do you know about love, Medea? WHAT DO YOU KNOW? You would kill a man in his sleep if he had done so much as to unknowingly peeve you. The fair Aphrodite might have cursed you to be enamored by me, but she had not cursed you to become a slaughterer! Each action done by you is a result of your pampered lineage! Do not speak to me about love. You are a woman who had cut your kin to pieces and dress up such a vile act as assistance. I had brought you in Helias, guaranteed your fame in the same way I had earned mine. You think the world would know of your name had you not met me? You will not be even a dent in history otherwise, and how did you repay me? By trampling over the meaning of our quest! It is by you that we had obtained the Golden Fleece, but it is also by you that I had been unable to claim the throne that quest was devoted for!"

She found herself trembling. Quite perturbed. Not frightened, but vulnerable. As if each venom in Jason's tongue threatened to dismantle the woman within her all over again.

"I had loved you, truthfully."

Liar. Nothing but falseness in his words. Because he lied so often that he is no longer a man to be trusted even in his genuine honesty.

"And I needed not a Goddess' curse to prove that. In your slaying of Pelias, I had lost all right to reclaim the Iolcus throne, and had earned the ire and disrespect of the Argonauts. You never heard a word from me in spite of it all! I ran away with you, loved you still as I had vowed, treated like a foreigner in my own homeland with no home to call mine. Marrying another woman is so small of a betrayal compared to what you had taken from me!"

Her mind should not stop to reminisce how he placed his lips against hers on the ship's deck. How he had lain with her most nights with anxiousness shored away from his face, eyes gleaming with nothing but fervent love. The vows he announced to the Gods, how proud and victorious he looked when he loudly named her his wife. She must not remember this. She must not even look at it. She cannot take it.

"...the oaths you swore..."

With labored breathing, it was all Medea could reply.

"My oaths?" Jason scoffed, disgusted upon hearing this. "Yes, I had sworn to love you until we are of old age. But see, Medea, it was my mouth that swore, not my soul."

No. She will not hear more of this. No more. Her mind will break again.

Upon meeting Sir Gawain, she had promised herself she will not return to her menacing ways. She will bid goodbye to the woman she became and died as. Jason... Jason will never take this away from her.

So she turned her back with unwavering pride, no longer bothered by the words of an old ghost. She understood that he did not desire to be with her until the end. Why, he was an aging man, with beard and hair as thick as the wall he had placed between them. It was no longer suitable to remain married to a woman who was beginning to appear in the eyes of the mass as more so his child than his beloved wife in comparison.

She must let go. She must not let the past define her present. She must only be happy now, with someone else's devotion towards her. She must only think of the people who love and adore her.

She cannot help it. Her wrathful self will not allow her to leave his sight without a venom matching his own. So with her remained uninhibited, once again, she bit agonizingly into his heart.

"Go home to your wife and bury her."

Then, what occurred from here should have been expected, and yet she found herself utterly at lost for words and reaction to give. She held her swelling cheek and felt the harshness of Jason's touch. 

He had slapped her. 

He had lain his hand upon her again and without holding his strength back. She turned, idly, to feel delighted in the face he was making. Jason's anger is the only fuel she needed to resume her wickedness. Medea unequipped her robe, the expression upon her face clearing away what remained of her composed self. This mere satisfaction from earning his ire had driven her quite insane.

And his most loathed witch took quick steps to spit more painful words at his face, "HOW DOES IT FEEL?" she questioned him as she glared at him with pleased and insane passion. "TO HAVE MY TEETH IN YOUR HEART?"

And another slap came to greet her skin, this time accompanied with his violent fingers now wrapped around her throat. She once admired how beautiful his hands were. So easy to hold onto things it valued and just as easy to let go of things that were no longer convenient. It coiled so harshly upon her and her back almost shattered the wall she was pinned into. Raised up in the air, her feet could do nothing but feel the strangeness of being afloat without her consent. He had broken the bones of her spine with his spiteful push, but nothing is more painful than watching him laugh at her, so this is the far better outcome.

"YOU WILL NEVER EVER SPEAK OF GLAUCE AGAIN," he warned her, his teeth visibly grating, shockingly audible even. "Like I do not know the telltale from here. My goody two shoes wife had gotten unbearably familiar with another man. So whoring yourself to the King of Athens was not enough for you? If you hadn't been cursed by Aphrodite to become in love with me, for certain you would spread your legs to every man of the Argo just as much."

Right when she had been forgiven by the Gods she disappointed*, once again Medea would fall victim to wrath. She closed her eyes, sorrow leaving her body, only replaced with wrath, and wrath, and wrath all over again.

Thanatos, Hades, Persephone, Nyx and Circe... If you hear me, I know greatly of the evil deed I am about to commit. You shall bear witness to the burning skies ahead. How I shall feed these flames with unparalleled scorn.

In the name of Hecate who had seen in me great possibilities, And remains sheltered within me. I must once again upset you all, for Zeus had granted men knowledge to determine fake gold from true, but never brand a man to warn women that he must be avoided. By Lady Hecate--

No man will cast upon me tremendous pain and live long enough to rejoice about it.

A dagger materialized upon her hand, Rule Breaker, all prepared to bring divine judgement upon the world's most traitorous man. What will she do, a soul bitten into with wrong? She will storm the Gods and shake the universe.

And she would have done so if not for his words which followed.

"Even if you are to kill me in this life, I shall come back and meet your new man. Does he know the immoralities which surrounds you? The amount of dead body upon your hands? How you do not blink and how you sleep so peacefully after a murder? Remember this well whenever you ponder about harming me or touching me with your filthy hands. I will always come back. I will come back and remind you again of what you are, and in this life, Medea, I promise you--

That you will never know happiness once again. I will ruin everything you hold dear, as you had proudly done upon me."

Jason, without care for her well-being, released her and in his frustration kicked her by the waist, nothing but a slump of meat in his eyes. She is the reason for his greatest sorrows, and in turn he is behind her every pain. As Medea crumbled upon the ground, holding herself firmly, she began to soundlessly weep-- pain born from his physical assault and mental torment, though the latter was what she continued to lament. Her past mishaps, the cruelty she had acted upon are things she had prepared herself to tell Sir Gawain personally in the days that she had come to appreciate him. If Jason were to take that right from her, she would demand Zeus to strike her once again for dying would be better than this.

From hereon, she must begin to forget him and his warmth. He cannot know such crimes from someone else's mouth but hers. She will not be able to survive it. His eyes which only looked at her with admiration and appreciation-- If abhorrence were to replace it...

She would... She would...

Once again, she had become Jason's slave.

CONTEXT

*: My Medea interacted to a wide number of Greek God roleplayers in the time I have written her on Twitter and they all seem to have forgiven her for her past crimes and thought her deserving of a place in Elysium.

[nancybyeers]

i feel you're closer every time i call you // a wondertrev secret santa gift

title: i feel you’re closer every time i call you pairing: wondertrev wc: 1994 words notes: it’s my secret santa gift for @poetic-pathetic ! hope you will sob ao3

Wonder Woman was a name code, an alter-ego but most of the time, it was a ghost.

(A ghost from the World War One, from the World War II, from the Viet War and from the Cold War. Wonder Woman was the blurred shadow of the human wars, but more than that, it was the ghost of an immortal oasis. Themyscira. After all these decades of crawling in the black streets of the mortal world, the name on her tongue was foreign. Crashing like waves, burning like sunburns, aching like only home can be but –)

And Diana Prince was a woman with voices screaming inside her head, bruises and scratches on her heart rather than on her almost bulletproof skin, pencil skirt and golden jewelry (she loved being this kind of woman who was powerful in every outfit because it was her mind that was praised by the gods when her body was only begged for by the mortal foolish men.)

She was an old woman with too many inches of hard skin, indestructible bones, and tired glim in the eyes.

But being a ghost was not what made her feel like the world was slowing down in the course of time, giving her the odd impression that she was aging when she was clearly not.

It was Steve’s ghost who made every decade without him feel like another coat on her shoulders. A painful and true and dead ghost.

It was the ghost of his lips, his smile, his golden hair, his era.

His world. (After him, Etta was gone followed by Charlie then Sameer. One by one, buried.)

Humans stayed humans, and when Diana had saved them, she had sworn to protect them, to love them. But sometimes, it was harder.

When she had to watch their bodies going down into the ground, without songs for helping them to find the next world or without any escape for their soul but a roof of soil. Rooting, their chest filled with dust. Forgotten.

She outlived them all.

“Diana? There is someone on the phone for you.”

Working in Paris is easier for her. It was a neutral ground. It was not the painful memories of Belgium or the shimmering-veil feeling of England. They had not left marks where she walked, slaloming between the glass pyramids of the Louvre, or in the air she breathed.

(A time had come where she preferred to breathe pollution of cars and factories than feelings, and somehow, they kept considering her as wise…)

She rose up from the chair where she was sitting since this morning as her assistant, a young so young lady with red hair and pinkish cheeks, made her way to her.

Her name was Helene and she was a really pretty girl. Sometimes, Diana thinks about getting a coffee with her one day, just talking and laughing, but then she can clearly see this juvenal face overwhelmed by wrinkles and by the inevitable burden that is age.

She had to love them, humans. It was her duty. When her smile trembled, she convinced herself that it was because of emotion (love made people do incredible and crazy things, she knew that as much as mortals.) but, deep in her chest, she knew.

Oh, how strong she was, demigoddess, fearing of attaching herself to these foolish weak and lovely creatures.

She watched her assistant leave the office, the phone in her hand, cold and soulless.

She wondered if she would go to Helene’s funeral. Would she weep tears from her face? Put a bouquet of flowers on her tombstone, in memory of her dedicated assistant?

Compensating by hunting down criminals and monsters of flesh and bones at night. The blast of her aura burning the pure idea of grief, every strike of lasso burying deeper her own feelings.

For the greater good, for the human’s race.

And sometimes she wondered about him: how his voice could have sound on the phone? Would he have loved sports and online newspapers?

She picked up, lost in her thoughts, and for a second, she expected to hear his breathing.

“Diana Prince?”

“It’s me.”

“We found it. We found him.”

And, deep in her chest, she knew that she had no expectations. She could not have any.

Him. It must have been Clark Kent or Bruce Wayne or Hades or a dangerous and veracious secret ready to destroy her world.

Steve Trevor was dead. And she did not know exactly who is on the other side of the line, a scientist, a powerful man without any doubt but not a god.

Only a god can bring back a mortal (even a heroic one) from the realm of death.

She laughed hard and harder. She did not know that she had this kind of laugh in her: bitter.

She wanted to take it back. But she could not.

“Have you listened to a single word that I have said, Diana Prince?”

No, she did not. Wonder Woman hated liars. She fought for the truth.

“Yes. I did.”

Yet, there she was, telling the biggest one, lying to herself. It’s better that he was dead.

Not able to see the damages of the WWII and the radioactive blast of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, not able to be a hero and to die as a hero a second or a third time.

Selfishly, she thought that it was better. She had not had to bury him after a lifetime spent together, counting grey strikes in his hair while they brushed their tooth every morning.

“The plane was in the ocean. The explosion occurred in two phases, one in the sky, the second once he entered into the ocean.”

She remembered everything: the heatwave, her own scream sounding like the agony of a stranger, and the pain. But the most horrifically accurate image in her mind was the vibrant color of the fire, the cruelty of the flames while they were licking the metallic bones of the planes and the fresh flesh of her lover.

A fire was so different from the cool water around Themyscira and yet, if ocean failed to let drown Steve Trevor, flames took his life away.

Was it a possibility that fire had failed too to end this soldier, this pilot, this lover’s life?

“The deflagration created a submarine earthquake, destroying the plane almost immediately because of the force of pressure and of the intensity of the explosion. Marine rift is a common reaction in this kind of case, you know, Diana. Aspiring everything in a perimeter of a hundred miles. Essentially water, most of the times, but if there was a body deriving….”

“He could have been alive” she whispers.

There is a silence, only filled by fear and terror.

(agape.)

“He could have been alive” she repeated, her voice more stable. “However, it’s been a hundred years. Even if he had survived to the explosion. Humans – we – cannot win against time”

“We haven’t found his body, Diana. Even if Steve Trevor was in this cavity for a time, he could not have survived.”

“But…”

She was no longer rationalizing.

“Diana, I agreed, me and my unity, to look after this veteran because you have connections with Wayne and that you are quite persuasive…but no matter what Steve Trevor represents for you, you need to let him go.”

Her breath was harsh and for a second, she thought about protesting, denying.

(The story began like this: Bruce Wayne owed her a favor and a photography. The plane where Steve was in when he died had never been found and they had to watch and cry over an empty casket, decorated with ribbons of liberty’s color. She wanted him back. She wanted him to be where he belonged, with his ornaments. In a cemetery where modern heroes belonged to, just like gods belonged to the pantheon.)

But the scientist – she did not remember his name. It was more than five years since Wayne had contacted him and they had never spoken before – was right. Steve Trevor was dead.

Ocean had swallowed him.

“I let go.” She said with an empty voice, her hand contracted on the phone, so strong that she could have taken it to pieces so easily (so so easily. As easily as the world had reduced to nothing the presence of Steve Trevor.)

This night, Wonder Woman was too tired to fight. This night she decided that criminals could run a bit longer, could spread their evilness a bit further like tentacles. She could always catch them again the next night or the next, the next after that and the next and –

She had eternity to catch them again.

This night, Diana Prince was too tired to fight, so she slept instead.

She dreamt of her first meeting with Steve Trevor.

She dreamt of home. Sand turning into ashes, laughs and swords smashing turning into screams, rushing sound of bullets.

Dream turning into a nightmare.

She woke up before the sun, with the lingering confidence that she would only find closure with waves licking her heels.

Confronted to the sea that had destroyed the only hero that war was not strong enough to take.

She booked a one-way ticket for the coast, she painted her nails white and put on her darkest suit.

The golden lasso is in her suitcase, her tiara hidden behind her bold locks of dark hair, she entered in the airport like if she was underwater.

The coast was savage. She fell on her knee, hands jointed, lips sealed.

Staring at the sea with a thunderous look.

In her mind, the last word of the scientist in lieu of a goodbye ringing like bells: “the only thing you can do is praying, miss Prince.”

It was what she did. Praying her mother, Hippolyta, and the spirit of Antiope to let her pass.

To let her come home.

She dove into the water, swam and swam and swam. Fever in her bones, hope in her mind.

(Finally, Themyscira was more beautiful than in her memory and the embrace of her mother was warmer than expected.

“You are so human, Diana. I can smell their odors on your skin. Pollution, lies, hypocrisy.”

But her speech was as cold as the breeze was the night she left. With him.)

She was a weapon. The destroyer of Gods. Her words bounced on her immortal skin.

She held her mother tighter.

“I love you, mother. Only the force of my faith, my grief and my love made me come back to you.”

Diana closed her eyes, inhaling slowly the earthy perfume of her godly mother, ignoring the deep gaze of the immortal woman on her. Hippolyta was a gold digger looking the secrets of mortal world in her long-absent daughter’s heart.

Diana went to the shore.

Diana went to the shore where Antiope died.

Diana went to the shore where she met Steve Trevor.

But she did find neither the blood of her general on the sand, probably washed over and over by the sea since a century, nor the clear and bright voice of her lover calling for an angel, thinking he had found heaven.

She buried her feet in the sand like roots of the island, and screamed.

(For a whole week, she did not move, she did not lower her voice, her rage. She was

a god.

She claimed

her prize, her birthright. Even if for it, she needed to be Atlas for a whole week.)

With the dawn, came a body. Uniform soaked and eaten by the salt, blue cold lips and swollen face. A corpse.

She noticed she had lost her voice when she tried to pronounce his name.

“Steve”

SteveSteveSteveSteveSteve –

She reached for the sky, blue and endless.

SteveSteveSteveSteveSteve –

He opened his eyes. Blue like the sea.

“Hey, angel.”

Without taking her eyes off his weak smile, she addressed a strange prayer to higher deities.

“thanks gods.”

[tomeandflickcorner]

OUAT Episode Analysis- Greenbacks

So, it looks as if we’ve reached the point when they’ve wrapped up the ‘introduction’ stage of this new chapter in the OUAT universe, having fully explained how all the main players came to the Parallel Enchanted Forest and started on the journey that ultimately led them all to getting cursed and whisked off to Hyperion Heights.  Now we just have to fill in the blanks by exploring what happened between then and now.  Including that moment we saw in the S6 finale, which showed Henry and Lucy in the parallel Enchanted Forest, and how Tiger Lily came into the picture.  (I’m hoping A&E haven’t forgotten that they involved Tiger Lily into this story.)

In the Parallel Enchanted Forest storyline, we take a break from following Henry, Parallel Cinder and the rest of Tiana’s Freedom Fighters to explore Tiana’s origin story.  It’s revealed rather early on that Tiana and her mother lived in wealth because Tiana’s father was a former cook who became a celebrated war hero.  As a reward for his services in the war, Tiana’s father was given a medal of honor that contained a priceless gem called the Firefly Ruby.  But as the episode opens, it’s revealed that Tiana’s father passed away.  And now that the royal family have raised the kingdom’s taxes, Tiana and her widowed mother are in the position where they must sell many of their treasured belongings to make ends meet.  Otherwise, they might lose their home.  Both women are deeply saddened by this, and go on for a bit about how things would be better if the father was still around, because they would have a hero to fight for them.  This ultimately leads to the conclusion that Tiana needs to marry a prince so they would once again have a hero to fight for them and the people.

So Tiana seeks out the aid of Dr. Faciler, who is portrayed pretty much the same as he was in the Disney movie. Her belief is that Dr. Facilier would be able to locate her a heroic prince with his voodoo magic or something. Upon meeting with the man, he informs Tiana that he will ensure she find her prince, much to her delight, sending her to a tavern called the Crimson Crow.

Sometime later, Tiana enters the indicated tavern and gets accosted by some guy who wants her earrings.  At that moment, a man who later introduces himself as Prince Marias swoops in and comes to Tiana’s defense.  Tiana, thinking that this might be the heroic prince Dr. Facilier promised, is immediately charmed by him and takes him back to her family’s mansion.  For a while, they seem to hit it off, with Tiana even showing him her father’s war medal. But when Tiana’s back is turned, Prince Marias swipes the ornament.  Thankfully, Tiana discovers this before he can make his getaway, and when she confronts him, Marias confesses that he’s not really a prince.  His real name is actually Robert, and he admits that Dr. Facilier put him up to it.  Turns out, Dr. Facilier wanted the Firefly Ruby embedded in the war medal and, in order to get it, blackmailed Robert into getting it for him by capturing Robert’s lady love and turning her into a frog.  Even though Robert knows he can break the spell with TLK, he can’t kiss her when she’s trapped in Dr. Facilier’s house.   So Robert was planning to swap the Firefly Ruby in exchange for his True Love.

Tiana is upset by the news that Robert isn’t’ the hero prince she was looking for and dismisses him.  But as she reflects on everything that happened, along with a little heart-to-heart with her mother, Tiana comes to the realization that if she really wants to find a hero who can save the people of the kingdom, then she doesn’t have to look any further than herself.  She’d seen firsthand that there were people who were far worse off than she was, and she wants to do what she can to help them. So Tiana once again goes back to Dr. Facilier in order to give him the Firefly Ruby, demanding that he release Robert’s lady love.  Dr. Facilier ultimately agrees, revealing that the Firefly Ruby is a magic gemstone that he can use to appease the voodoo spirits so they won’t drag him down to the voodoo underworld.  Or something along those lines.  He then escapes with a combination of a voodoo doll he constructed of Tiana, as well as some voodoo magic.  Either way, Tiana has taken her first step at becoming the leader of the Freedom Fighters, focused on stopping the corrupted rulers from persecuting the people within the kingdom.

Oh, and it’s also revealed, when Robert kisses his froggy lady love, that he wasn’t quite honest about how Dr. Facilier cursed them.  They were actually both frogs, but Dr. Facilier cursed Robert into the form of a human.  I admit, that was kinda cute.

In present day Hyperion Heights, Sabine/Tiana reveals a special talent for making beignets.  Encouraged, I guess, by Lucy’s love of the beignets she makes, Sabine decides to take a risk and start selling the beignets for a profit.  She’s confident that this new business venture would be so successful, it would enable her and Jacinda to be forever free from Victoria, who just jacked up their rent again.   In fact, she’s so confident, she went and spent all of their rent money on the ingredients for the beignets.  Jacinda, understandably, freaks out upon learning how Sabine just risked so much on the proposed business venture.  But Sabine convinces Jacinda to try taking a leap of faith.  And much to the delight of the two women, their little beignet bakery seems to take off, and business is instantly booming.  But that’s when disaster strikes.  Victoria manages to get her hands on one of the beignets and, upon tasting it, realizes that Jacinda and Sabine’s bakery might actually succeed.  Not willing to let this happen, she sends one her underlings to set the bakery on fire. Which he does, resulting in significant damage to be inflicted to the place.

In the aftermath of the fire, Jacinda immediately slips into defeatist mode, yelling at Sabine for throwing away all their money and criticizing her for being a constant dreamer.  She goes off on this whole rant about how sometimes, things just don’t get better, and there comes a time to just put childish dreams aside.  Now, I totally get why Jacinda is upset and all, but at the same time, it’s not as if Sabine’s plan wasn’t working.  They were clearly making money in selling the beignets.  Even if the fire had been an accident, it wasn’t a reflection of Sabine’s dream being a failure or anything.  So I was a bit confused why Jacinda was going off on Sabine like that.  Regardless, Sabine clearly takes Jacainda’s words hard and announces that she plans to move out of their shared apartment, as some sort of self-inflicted punishment for putting Jacinda’s future with Lucy at risk.

However, after some moping and doping, Jacinda, thanks in part to Lucy stepping in, realizes that she overreacted a bit.  She ultimately comes to the conclusion that Sabine’s nature as a dreamer helps keep her going each day, and that they truly do need each other.  To prove her words, Jacinda reveals that she used the money they’d already earned while selling beignets to purchase an old truck that she picked out after Detective Rogers kindly granted her access to the police station’s impound lot. She announces that they can turn it into a beignet food truck.  And so, the two women apparently are going to continue with their new business. Hopefully, this means that Jacinda can leave that fried chicken restaurant for good.

There’s also a subplot with Detective Rogers/Wish Killian, who is continuing his mission to locate a missing girl named Eloise Gardener.  To date, we have no idea who this girl is or what importance she has to the overall story. All we know is that this is the case Detective Rogers has been concerned with finding her for quite some time.  His main lead is this sketch book that Eloise had, which isn’t much to go on.  However, while at the station, he comes across this guy who was just arrested at a club.  Rogers notices that the guy has a tattoo of a compass on his wrist, which is identical to a sketch in Eloise’s journal.  Rogers questions Tattoo Guy, who insists that he doesn’t know anything about a girl, and that the symbol is some sort of old protective charm.  In the end, Rogers decides that he’s still at square one, and because the club’s owner decided not to press charges, Tattoo Guy is allowed to go free. But once he’s back on the streets, Tattoo Guy makes a mysterious phone call that reveals that he DOES know something about the missing Eloise.  And once again, we know nothing about who this Eloise is, or why she’s so important.

But it’s Subplot C where the main plotline exists.  Victoria/Parallel Evil Stepmother is still trying to get Mystery Witch to conspire with her in ways to destroy Lucy’s deep-rooted sense of hope.  Because that’s the key to resurrecting Anastasia.  However, she’s getting more and more frustrated and starts taking it out on Ivy/Drizella.  Ivy, seemingly getting sick and tired of being constantly mistreated by her mother, makes a call to Henry, promising to help him get dirt on her mother.  But it’s ultimately Roni/Regina who comes to meet with Ivy.  She ended up intercepting the text during a scene when she was talking with Henry and decided to interfere.

That scene is one I really want to discuss, because it really kinda bugged me.  It starts with Roni/Regina cornering Henry, having found out he shared a drink with Ivy at the end of the last episode.  Henry explains that he believes that Ivy might be willing to help join their resistance movement and essentially be their mole.  Of course, Roni isn’t convinced that Ivy can be trusted, and I can’t blame her for being skeptical of Ivy’s trustworthiness.  But I fail to see the logic behind her accusing Henry of possibly falling for Ivy or whatever.  I’m just saying, all Henry and Ivy did was have a drink together.  Why does that automatically mean that Henry is possibly developing a romantic interest in Ivy?  You know who else had a drink together?  Killian Prime and Belle.  And technically, so did Emma and August in S1.  And nothing even remotely romantic happened in either case, did it? I’m just saying, Roni could have stood to have a little bit more faith in Henry here instead of drawing her own conclusions.

Regardless, Roni ends up going to meet Ivy instead of Henry, in order to confront her and tell her to not try and seduce Henry in order to spite Jacinda or whatever.  But Ivy insists that she’s not interested in getting one up on her stepsister.  To prove her words, Ivy brings Roni to the secret room where Victoria/Parallel Evil Stepmother was keeping Mystery Witch.  There was an earlier scene when Ivy was spying on her mother via security cams and saw her enter the secret room.  However, Mystery Witch is nowhere to be found.  But Roni finds a wall-mounted safe with a photograph inside it. To her surprise and confusion, she sees that the photograph is of herself.  Or rather, of Regina in Storybrooke, with Young Henry at her side. Because Roni doesn’t yet remember that she’s actually Regina, she is puzzled by the picture, as she doesn’t currently recognize the town, or the clothing she’s wearing in the picture.   Let alone the little boy she’s standing next to.  As the episode comes to a close, she apologizes to Henry for intercepting his text message from Ivy.  But then she shares her discovery with Henry.  The picture ends up shocking Henry, too, as he is able to identify the little boy in the picture as himself.

So now, both Roni/Regina and Henry have physical proof that Lucy was right about them being under a curse that made them forget who they really are.  So I’m very curious about what happens in the next episode.  Does this mean Henry and Regina will be the next people to wake up properly?  After all, we’ve seen that Rumpelstiltskin is already awake.  Although, that just leaves Wish Killian.  (I wonder if Lucy will mistake him for her step-grandfather, Killian Prime.)

But that brings me to the final moments of the episode.  Victoria, possibly because she’s angry that Jacinda and Sabine came out on top with their beignet food truck and seeking to take it out on someone, once again belittles and insults Ivy.  Once she’s alone again, Ivy returns to the secret room.  This time, Mystery Witch reveals her presence.  In the process, it’s revealed to the audience that Ivy already knows that she’s actually Drizella, and she and Mystery Witch are in cahoots. Which is something that really threw me for a loop.  Does this mean that Drizella is the true Big Bad?  Is it ultimately going to be revealed that Parallel Evil Stepmother seemingly set things up with Mystery Witch to cast this new curse, but in reality, the Mystery Witch was actually working for Drizella, who was simply playing a long game with her mother because she was sick and tired of the endless verbal abuse and lack of appreciation?  And therefore, it was Drizella who outstripped her mother in terms of villainy? If that’s where they’re going, then that is just ingenious.  And I would be widely impressed.

(Click here to read more Episode Analyses)

[xtruss]

‘Lahore Attack Taught Me a Lot About My Character and Values’: Kumar Sangakkara

— Andrew Miller | UK editor, ESPNcricinfo

Kumar Sangakkara speaks in Lahore at the start of MCC's tour

Pakistan's emergence from international purgatory is slowly but surely coming to fruition. In recent years the growth of the PSL, and the willingness of its overseas stars to put themselves forward for the knock-out stages in Karachi and Lahore, has helped to accelerate a process that culminated, late last year, in Sri Lanka's arrival for the first Tests on Pakistan soil in more than a decade.

Bangladesh too have decided the time is nigh to get the show back on the road, with the second Test of their two-part tour due to take place in Karachi in April, after last week's innings win at Rawalpindi was lit up by a hat-trick for Pakistan's latest teenage sensation Naseem Shah.

But for sheer symbolism, few matches will resonate more than the one taking place under the Gadaffi Stadium floodlights on Friday, when Kumar Sangakkara leads his MCC side in a T20 contest against Lahore Qalanders. In doing so, he will return to the scene of the most shocking atrocity to be visited on an international sporting team since the Munich Olympics in 1972.

The events of March 3, 2009 are all too well known to cricket's tight-knit global community. As the Sri Lanka team bus approached the stadium for what should have been the third morning of the second Test against Pakistan, they were ambushed by 12 gunmen on the Liberty Roundabout, sprayed with bullets and subjected to rocket and grenade assaults, in an attack that left six policemen and two civilians dead, as well as the driver of the minibus carrying the match officials.

Heroically, the Sri Lankans' bus driver, Mehar Mohammad Khalil, kept their vehicle moving towards the stadium compound despite having his tyres shot from beneath him, but amid the chaos, seven of the team suffered shrapnel and gunshot wounds - most seriously, Tharanga Paranavitana and Thilan Samaraweera, who only the previous day had completed his second double century in a fortnight.

Sangakkara himself had a shockingly near miss. As he related in his MCC Spirit of Cricket lecture in 2011, in the very moment that he turned his head to attend to Samaraweera, he felt the wind of a bullet fizz past his ear and strike his seat. The last time he and his team-mates departed the Gadaffi Stadium, it was as evacuees in a military helicopter. His return, more than a decade later, provides closure on the one hand, and hope on the other.

Meher Muhammad Khalil drove the Sri Lanka team to safety during the 2009 terror attack

"I don't think I need any flashbacks, because I remember that day and those moments so very clearly," Sangakkara told ESPNcricinfo, on the day of the team's arrival in Pakistan. "It's not something I relive or wallow in. But it's an experience you should never forget, because it gives you perspective in terms of life and sport, and you learn a lot about your own values and characters, and those of others.

"I have no reservations about talking about it, it's not something that upsets me, but these sorts of experiences can only strengthen you. Today I consider yourself very fortunate to be able to come back here to Lahore, and at the same time remember the sacrifice of all those who lost their lives that day."

The emotions among the Sri Lankans ran understandably wild in the immediate aftermath of the attack, though as Sangakkara recalled, their innate resilience shone through first and foremost, along with a certain grim humour too. Within minutes, Ajantha Mendis, himself injured in the attack, was reaching for his poker chips and setting up a card school, while Sangakkara's own thoughts somehow kept coming back to Paranavitana's terrible first taste of international cricket - a golden duck on debut, and now hospitalised with a bullet in his chest.

"I think everyone deals with it in their own personal way," Sangakkara said. "But at the same time, what really unites us is that you face adversity and you face challenge, and you have to get past it, and you've got to do that successfully. It's about moving forwards and upwards and being part of cricket. Being Sri Lankan you learn those lessons quite well, because throughout our civil war, cricket was a unique vibe.

"We speak about the attack at various times," he added. "We even have a laugh about it, in terms of what we went through, because it helps sometimes to look at it with a bit of humour, even though there was a tragic loss of life, and other serious injuries within that incident.

"And I think for us also, it's brought home the fact that being a cricketer on the international stage, you are not immune to real-life situations and the experiences of other people that you might not otherwise connect with. It's really a strengthening experience for us, a humbling one as well, and it puts a lot of things in perspective."

Sri Lankan players prepare to board a Pakistani military helicopter

That said, Sangakkara had no reason to think he'd ever come back to Lahore after the attack, certainly once it became clear that international cricket would not be returning to Pakistan before his retirement in 2015. But as MCC president - an office that speaks, in his words, of "stewardship and legacy" - he felt a compunction to lead a side back to the country to help to spread the word that one of the game's "powerhouses" is open for business once again.

"There is history and tradition galore at MCC but to actually use that to benefit the game, not just in the UK and within the club framework, but beyond that, internationally, will edify the philosophy of MCC," Sangakkara said. "We feel we have a role, not just as the guardians of the spirit and laws, but of the game itself. We leave a legacy of trust and support in all the countries that we tour."

The 12-man squad, which will be coached by Ajmal Shahzad and also features the likes of Ravi Bopara, Ross Whiteley and Roelof van der Merwe, is due to play four fixtures in the space of six days - three of them in the leafy environs of Aitcheson College, the so-called "Eton of Pakistan", which counts Imran Khan among its most illustrious old boys.

Most of the trip, in fact, will be a far cry from the hustle and hype of a full international tour, and Sangakkara was at pains to point out that MCC's presence was not about pointing fingers at any Test nations that might still be having doubts about committing fully to a return to Pakistan - least of all the next scheduled visitors South Africa, who are due to tour the country next month, pending security clearance.

"Our message is very simple," said Sangakkara. "We are here because we are confident that we will have a great tour. There's been a huge effort by Wasim Khan [managing director] at the PCB, and the government, to get us here, and once we are able to show that this tour has gone off successfully, that message will resonate beyond Pakistan, and go a long way towards strengthening the purpose of other sides who are making the decision to come back.

"These things take time. You have to build confidence by sending the right message, then you need the right protocols and the right arrangements in place. But it's great to see it all gathering momentum. More and more teams are talking about it, and more teams are coming back."

As for Sangakkara's own return, his first 24 hours back in Pakistan have turned out to be improbably relaxing.

"I did spend some time thinking what it would feel like, coming back to Lahore, going to the ground and staying at the Pearl Continental Hotel," he said. "But the reception at the airport was brilliant, everyone was so passionate about us coming here. It really made us relax, getting into the bus. It feels lovely to be back, and I'm glad I made the decision to come back to Lahore and be part of this tour.

"It's about reigniting the passion and the spark of inspiration for young Pakistani boys and girls, who want to be able to watch their heroes, playing at home in front of them in the flesh. The best in the world, competing and winning and doing great things.

"There's no greater legacy can be left behind than that, and for MCC to be part of that effort to bring international cricket back to Pakistan, I think we can all be quite proud."

[kwa-mii]

Confessions / Reveal

YOU KNOW I’ve done two vaguely LadyNoir fics for this week already but 1) that’s never enough and 2) has Marinette suffered enough? I think not

Also this is a TOTALLY different side of that love square so

Honestly I don’t see how the final reveal or some kind of communication within the love square couldn’t be super sweet and saccharine, but if anyone would react badly to anything I think it would be Marinette. And hey! it’s fun to write bad reactions so herrreeeee we go

Confessions / Reveal - a Ladrien / Adrinette angst fic (1837 words)

Ms Mendeleiv didn't allow talking in her class, so the principal method of communcation was passing notes. Alya, for one, preferred scrawling over Marinette's classwork until it was no longer fit for marking. However, if she needed Adrien or Nino, she'd tear out a page and pass a note forwards; keeping it old school.

Marinette could see that Adrien and Nino had a similar system, but exercised in a much neater and more covert system since they were right at the front of the class. They used barricades of pencil cases, slipped messages seamlessly into the margins of their work, and other tricks that were contrived and obvious, yet pulled off seamlessly. Seamlessly enough, in fact, that usually neither Marinette or Alya could read over their shoulders.

Watching the passing of notes in front of her often distracted Marinette from class, ridiculous as that was. If she could scry /any/ information about Adrien, she didn't see the problem. Well... the problem was that she was obsessed, but she didn't need her strange behaviours to tell her that.

Nino wrote something on the corner of his notebook and angled it slightly for Adrien to read. He blushed in response, and hesitantly scrawled a big, visible 'Yes'. Marinette wondered about the meaning of that blush - how she loved that new hue on his skin, how she longed for it to be hers - but fortunately its cause was revealed to her without much delay. The explanation was Nino drawing a cluster of hearts on the back of his friend's hand.

Marinette felt herself blush now. This was a /love/ conversation. Intrigued (and a little optimistic), she leaned ever so slightly forwards. Alya noticed this, quirking an eyebrow as she wrote: 'you really like chemistry, huh?'

Yes, chemistry, but not of the sort they taught you at school.

After a pause, she saw Adrien write something else that made Nino snort silently. He mouthed something at his friend, shock and a little mirth etched in his face in pronounced o's (his mouth, his eyes). Adrien's blush deepened, and he nodded. This was too much for Nino, who smacked the edge of the desk with his hand and made the same surprised shapes with his mouth, before mixing in a few more.

Ms Mendeleiv could not fail to notice this, and Nino received a sharp reprimand for not paying attention. This put a stop to the period's note-swapping, but nothing could stop Nino's prolific doodling; Adrien's notes were quite flooded with love hearts by the time the bell rang.

Nino's head whipped around, and he smirked at his female classmates, "You'll never guess what kind of secrets our Adrien has been hiding."

Adrien moaned, rolling his eyes in exasperation, "Nino!"

"Lesson to you rookie, never trust your secrets with the beefmaster," he declared with a wink.

"Beefmaster?"

"I think it sounds pretty righteous, but the title's in beta period, so be sure to let me know what you think of it. Anyway, Adrien has a crush."

Marinette felt that traitorous blush from before swell in her cheeks. Alya was quicker to respond, and did so with almost as much enthusiasm as her friend felt, "Oh, really? I guess you're not as innocent as we supposed, Adrien."

Another moan, "Oh, be quiet."

"You'll never guess who it is."

"Chloé?"

Adrien made a face, "Um, I..."

"Actually, you know what, maybe it's a dude!"

"Not tha-"

"Oh, I know, I know!" and then, with a sly smile, "It's Marinette. Or me. But probably Marinette."

The girl in question made an indiscriminate noise in her throat.

"Oh, dude, the truth is way beefier than that," Nino said in his most dramatic voice, leaning into the row behind conspiratorially, "It's..."

"Nino, do they have to know?"

"It's Ladybug. Literal defender of Paris, Ladybug. Adrien has a crush on an actual superhero, who, let's just make this clear, he's never actually seen the face of."

"Well, when you put it like that-"

"I think he's reaching, if you ask me," and when Adrien moved as though to talk, he quickly cut in, "Like, you're hot, I'm not debating that you're basically a 10. But that's one interesting relationship you're aiming for."

Meanwhile, Marinette was practically steaming with her blush. She felt Alya's hand go to her knee in comfort, but she'd misunderstood - she wasn't blushing through embarrassment of rejection but embarrassment at being discussed. Honestly, oh my god. Adrien liked her. Except not her. Maybe a bit of her?

Nino was right when he called that prospective relationship 'interesting'.

Had Alya not been endlessly debating whether or not to follow her new creative impulse and start a new blog series focusing on Ladybug's many civilian admirers (suitors was maybe a word for it), she would have seen the girl herself shoot past her window on the way to the Agreste mansion.

Marinette wasn't entirely sure why she was going in the first place, but a sudden need had seized her, and Tikki just... had to go with it. It occurred to her now that she should probably have a reason for showing up at Adrien's window unannounced, but her impulses hadn't yet taken her that far.

She didn't even know the reason, let alone the excuse. The way she saw it, she could use this new information (Nino was, after all, a reliable 'beefkeeper', and Adrien's reactions confirmed it as truth) in two ways.

Method one: appear at Adrien's window as Ladybug, say hello, ask to come inside. Once inside, make small talk, and probably use that excuse she was going to have to come up with. Here, method one diverged. She could make a habit of these trips and build up something more like a relationship - or she could just make her move on him right there and then. That latter option depended on (most implausibly) her own confidence at the time. But if not now, when? She'd pretty much got a confession that he wanted to kiss her, and it wasn't important exactly which of her selves had received that statement. Though it may come across abruptly, awkwardly... there were evident issues with method one.

Method two: appear at Adrien's window, also as Ladybug, say hello, ask to come inside. Method two followed method one up to method one's divergence: so, in a way, perhaps method three was just another route down method one, except for the fact that method two was totally different to method one in its outcomes. Method two was its own thing. She wasn't going to confuse her methods and do the wrong thing and embarrass herself. Method two - if she'd stop distracting herself with semantics - revolved around revealing to him her identity.

'Ladybug is Marinette. You love Ladybug. Therefore you must also love Marinette'. A perfect syllogism.

Marinette/Ladybug was now perched on the roof of Adrien's home, inside the cupola so that she could hide for a moment, get her thoughts back in order. But, here, a little closer to Adrien, her thoughts became an ever-increasing muddle.

Ultimately, Ladybug was not Marinette. Yes, they shared a body, but they could hardly really be called the same person. Being in the spotted suit gave Marinette a confidence she'd never had before. Marinette blushed and tripped and stuttered; Ladybug waltzed through city sunsets. Marinette devolved into syllables whenever Adrien even looked at her; Ladybug always had a good comeback. Marinette was ordinary; Ladybug was miraculous.

Adrien's crush was on a brave, optimistic, heroic girl. While Marinette stood up to Chloé on occasion, and always tried to lift her classmates' spirits, how could that compare to someone who came to the aid of all of Paris rescue every week? Ladybug was mysterious too - Marinette had read somewhere that boys liked girls who played hard to get, and honestly what was harder than someone who couldn't reveal their identity to you? The masked superhero was mysterious, walking allure, gold dust step and evensong voice, a glamour. Marinette was a school girl. She went to class. That was all.

Just because he was infatuated with Ladybug, it didn't mean he was in love with her flipside. The difference between the persona and the reality was vast, and it was splintered. How could she compare to it? How could she live up to that thing that was not herself?

She slumped deeper onto the roof. Oh god, what if she unmasked herself and he was disappointed? No, it wasn't an if, because when she unmasked herself he would be disappointed. Boring, normal Marinette, daring to step in the same shoes as a girl he idolised. He didn't know her, he couldn't really love her, he just idolised her. And it was foolish to think that idolatry transferred to reality and transformed into genuine affection. God, was she foolish.

She thought about her every interaction with Adrien as Ladybug. Staring silences, wide-eyed introductions, stuttering on the other side of a shower door. None of it was meaningful. He just wanted it to be, and so he made it so, and so he told himself he loved her.

And wasn't that how she felt about Adrien? When had she actually /talked/ to him, connected with him? She had simply seized upon one act of kindness and put him on a pedestal. Maybe she loved him because she was bored (boring) and lonely, and aware of these things and desperate for something to change them. Adrien would've changed them. He was a model!

Pathetic. Yeah right. Model, superhero, what did it matter? It meant nothing in the end. Being Ladybug never fixed Marinette.

Poor, boring, average Marinette. Hopeless Marinette. Disgusting Marinette.

She couldn't believe she'd considered using her persona to trick him into loving her back. She couldn't believe she'd considered revealing that broken human beneath and had really thought he would fall for it, stare at her the same way he did the other her. She couldn't believe that even now she was thinking of kissing him, Marinette or Ladybug or Marinette, in an endless, desperate, needy loop.

She let go of that excuse she had been preparing, and crawled out of the small space on the roof. No, she'd go home. These things didn't need to be revealed. Her civilian self could slumber safely on in his world. The idolatrous loves they claimed to have could be laid to rest - or, at least hers. She didn't know how to tell Adrien it was impossible - and parts of her still didn't want to, and she turned in disgust from those parts.

If Marinette needed fixing, she didn't need Adrien's love to do it. In fact, the opposite. She needed to spurn it. She wasn't good enough for it: Ladybug was, but Ladybug was a lie, and Marinette was not Ladybug.

When she sprang back into her room, still in her suit, she became like Nino, doodling over and over, mercilessly, over any scrap of paper she found. Angry, hot-tears squiggles, again and again, over each photo she had stuck to her walls. Stupid, stupid, stupid for wishing for it, disgusting for wishing for it.

When she detransformed, it was like relief. Underneath the legend, Marinette was still there, and still real.

Still average, and still lonely, but that was okay.

At least it wasn't a lie.

[tumblunni]

Digimon frontier ocs?

Randomly started rewatching CactusCasual's great Digimon Frontier critique series. He's leaving youtube soon and making the weird decision to delete his whole account and everything he's ever done. But he's uploaded a bunch of his best stuff to google drive so if people wanna keep.it they can. Still i think its a lil dumb to not just leave the account open even if you're not using it? I dont know anything about why he's quitting the site though so maybe he has his reasons.

ANYWAY this got me thinking again about how Frontier is so goddamn boring and weirdly cliche and badly paced, and like everyone just focuses on "but they changed how digivolution works" and ignores all the actual reasons its bad. Like, kids have fused with digimon in previous seasons too! And haven't we all wished we could be the awesome characters like angemon and etc? A digimonny power rangers henshin thing isnt an inherantly bad idea, it was just executed badly. I dislike it cos it meant we completely lost any sort of digimon and human bonding experience plotline. They gave us two recurring digimon characters but they were just basically a pokedex and the world's least funny comic relief. Gimme a version of the show where the kids actually talk to their "spirit evolutions"! Like maybe they have a digimon partner but its forever stuck in baby form or spirit egg form and cant fight without fusing with a human host? Or just give us a better non-combat digimon pal like bokomon and neemon but like.. Fully developed with their own character arc and relationships with everyone else. Maybe ophanimon could have been around the whole time and been a mentor and parental figure? And we could actually explore her moral ambiguity, cos seriously the show makes her kind of a "ends justify the means" asshole and just NEVER AKNOWLEDGES IT. Wtf was up with that scene where she illusions Cherubimon with a fake dream of him being purified and getting to just go back home and be friends? And then she just backstabs him and we never mention it again. Like seriously even if she couldnt actually cure him that scene at least revealed that he WANTED to be cured and it made him so much more sympathetic! If he can be reasoned with, maybe they could have talked him down and then gone on an adventure together to find an actual cure for him? Also seriously what is up with his entire plot! Cos he just gets 'infected with darkness' cos he 'had darkness in his soul' but its just cos he thought the humanoid digimon were being racist against the beast digimon? And like.. The council was 2/3rds humanoid with him as the only beast representative and since he got infected by evilness they never remotely tried to recruit a new one or listen to what beast digimon have to say. So he was kinda right, yo! Also wtf with the reveal that actually no everything we just said is pointless because his REAL motivation was just blindly obeying ANOTHER humanoid digimon that comes out of nowhere to be the final boss. Also what is up with all the increased sexism in this series!! Its so weirdly worse than even adventure which had the excuse of being "a product of the times" yet still had way better variety of female characters and less bigoted stuff! And frontier came right after tamers which was one of the best series for gender equality and even used the medium of the setting as an opportunity to talk about the subject. Shame they censored that in the dub tho, Renamon talking about how digimon have no biological sex and how she only came to think of herself as a girl when she came to the human world. And rika's family accepting her and inviting her to family girls's night and stuff! Like as a metaphor for transgender issues it really worked to try and explain it to a younger audience in a natural way. And then one season later in frontier we have ONLY ONE GIRL IN THE CAST and wah wah whining about fashion and oh no she cant ever win a fight and her goddamn spirit form is in skimpy lingerie despite her being 12, and the show is always perving on her! And then she loses her powers halfway through the first season without winning a single fight, and has to be the damsel in distress to motivate the dudes in a stupid love triangle. And even when she does get to fight she's only allowed to fight the ONE SINGLE GIRL ON THE VILLAIN TEAM and they have stupid slap fights and "who's the most pretty" and BEACH EPISODE and GAHHHHH

...anyway as you can see i have a lot of reasons why i didnt really like the series. But what i meant to make this post about (BEFORE I GOT DISTRACTED) is that the fundemental concept itself isnt bad, they just wasted all its potential. And its a really good concept for ocs! Make your own digi superhero person and explore the fragmented world doing stuff offscreen during the series! Like they left so much open?? We know that other kids also got on other trains to the digiworld and they all just failed or gave up or got captured by the bad guys. And we know there's a bunch of spirits that the heroes never use because the villains got them again, so its cool to imagine an alt universe where the roles were swapped. What if different kids became the chosen heroes? What if different spirits were corrupted by the villains? What would a good guy Grumblemon be like? What would the kid be like who got that spirit? Would their evolution form be wildly different from grumblemon? Do the villain forms and purified forms look as different as Duskmon and Lowemon did?

SO MUCH POTENTIAL!!!

So yeah i wasted so much space here blabbering, so i'll probably make a separate post about my oc ideas lol. But i'd love to see other people's ideas for ocs/reinterpretations/other ways to fix that wasted potential!

So! Digimon frontier oc ideas!

To start off,have an undeveloped idea of someone on the team having Angemon as their spirit evolution. Cos it would have made the transition to such a new series a lot easier if they had some sort of "hey this is for you" to the fans of the previous ones. And angemon is the Adventure digimon that already looks the most like a regular human in a weird mask.

SPEAKING OF WHICH! less regular humans in weird masks! Whats the point of "you turn into a digimon" if you dont turn into a digimon? Like i know the whole gimmick is "humanoid mode and beast mode" but even the beast modes often look like humans in a costume! And there's been so many humanoid digimon before who actually looked like HUMANOID MONSTERS rather than just normal dudes cosplaying! There's literally nothing "monster" about agunimon, he's just a guy in some knight armour. Like the most you can do is charitably assume maybe the horns are his own and not just attatched to the helmet. And its annoying cos the villains have way cooler evolutions! And also double annoying that they always bend the humanoid/beast rule in such transparently self serving ways. Tommy gets two beast forms cos he's meant to be the cute mascot-looking character. Zoey gets two human forms cos she's meant to be grossly sexualized all the time. When kouichi turns from bad to good he loses his interesting looking actually monsterous evolutions and just becomes another dude in an armour. A friggin palette swap of his brother!

Anyway anyway LOL IM RAMBLING AGAIN yo...

Ideas for ocs!

I was thinking of a main girl character who's basically just a "fuk u" to all the stereotypes they did with Zoey. Actually gets a monster lookin beast form and a warrior lookin human form and actually gets to goddamn fight! Maybe her name is Hilda or Hildegarde? And i'm imagining her as a chubby nerdy kid with glasses and curly hair and a super cute oversized sweater kind of fashion sense. And her main spirit form would be this super badass lady knight giant orc thing who can Protec All The Peoples! Maybe earth element or the irony of being light element but she's this big ol monster goblin with just a tiny pair of angel wings on the back, lol! And then her personality is normally super shy and socially anxious, but she actually finds the digimon world kind of freeing? She's a total badass in battle and acts like a big ol powerful protector of all her friends! And she's always super excited aboyt adventuring and gets carried away comparing stuff to her favourite books. And now we must learn everything about this new place!! TO THE DIGI LIBRARY!!! So she's able to be confident and bubbly when it comes to actual adventure stuff, but she's still shy about regular life and anything social. Maybe its her weakness? Like she's scared about going home because she thinks she'll be "just a nobody" again, and lose all the great friends she made here. And also maybe a backstory of her heroic side still existing even before she got magic powers, but in the most tragic way? She managed to fend off a burglar once all on her own, she just snapped and did everything possible to defend her family, even though this was a man three times her size! But instead of being seen as a hero it just made all the neighbours and kids at school spread rumours about her being dangerous. Oh she must be in *a gang* if she knew how to fight like that! Oh its so *dangerous* for a kid that age to have such anger inside! Maybe she's a *scary mentally ill person*! So the whole situation ruined her social status even more and made her retreat even more inside her shell. And this is why the circumstances of the digital world are such a wish fullfillment for her and she's so scared of just waking up and it all being a dream. I think the villains could manipulate her fears, and it could maybe lead to her Skullgreymon Moment?

And then another idea i had was for a trans boy? I just thought this would be a good framework to explore LGBT stuff. He'd maybe be the wind element? And his personality would be very "classic shonen hero" but without the "dumbass" part, instead he's the cynical planner type dude while Hilda is the "i didnt even think, i just wanted to save everyone" type. But he's still super peppy and tries to be the class clown all the time so people will like him, and loves to climb trees and stuff. I think maybe his fighting style would be all about trickery and random chance? If there was such a thing as an element of surprise then he'd have that one! And then his story is that he doesn't have anyone supporting him for who he truly is at home, and he's afraid that his new friends will call him a freak too if they find out. He took the opportunity and cut his hair short as soon as this adventure started, and just introduced himself to everyone as a boy. But he's scared that people will find out he "lied" even though he didnt, he's just been so beaten down with the idea that he's not allowed to be himself and he has to pretend to be everyone else's idea of an ideal cis man or else they'll reject him. So maybe he starts off a bit obsessed with cliche masculinity and has low confidence about himself? And this could reflect in his digivolutions actually changing! He starts off with a really over the top buff warrior dude form, even though his fighting style is entirely about speed and trickery. So he tends to get into trouble with this fake form getting in the way of his ability to fight. And then when everyone accepts him he gets all powered up and changes into a new form! A way less "cliche macho" dude who looks like a stage magician instead and actually synchronizes with his element to become super powerful! And he's all like "oh no i became less manly" but everyone is like "wtf dont let yourself believe you're any less of a man because of dumb stereotypes!" And Also Big Friendship Hugs.

And then maybe this provides a resolution to both him and Hilda's plots? Like when the story is over they still stay friends in the real world, and having a friend who supports them gives them enough power to withstand all the haters and stay confident in themselves. But itd be kind of a coincidence for all the digidestined to live in the same city lol! So maybe in real life they live at least a few towns away, and they become long distance pals who send letters/emails. Because I LOVE ALL MY LONG DISTANCE PALS!! Also itd make sense to have a Internet Good message in a digimon show, lol.

And then i dunno about the rest of the team yet but i thought itd be good to have a sort of moral divide? Like these are the two who have a shitty home life and dont want to leave the digital world. But then the other half of the group has big reasons to wanna go home. So the villains could play on this difference in goals and make them fight amoungst each other. Just generally make the villains more actually competant, yknow? Oh also if there's a Dark Agunimon on the villains he needs to be EVEN MORE of a boring human in a costume! Cos it sucks that all the villains have better character designs and the show seems to think theyre worse ones. Give me one case of more boring not meaning more heroic!

[buzzmic-blog]

A Family Reaction When Their Missing Old Dog Returned Home With A Note On Collar

A missing old dog?

During its younger days, it would be considered a normal thing for a family dog to be missing for a long duration. But when its old, even a couple of days of absence can be very worrisome. Thoughts like: "Did something happen to him?" started clouding their minds. But when a missing old dog returned with a note on his collar, the whole family couldn’t believe what it said!

Louie the sheepdog

The dog being discussed here is named Louie and he is a Huntaway sheepdog. He lives with his beloved owners Peter and Francie Diver, in Otago, New Zealand. Since the time he was a wee pup, Louie has always been a free-spirited animal, because of which he is known to wander off into the countryside quite often. Howbeit, that was when he was a young. Now, unfortunately, he is an old doggo.

A senior dog

Being a little over 12-years now, Louie is now an old doggy. If we compute this in dog years he would be considered an octogenarian. Naturally, his old age has taken a toll on his wanderlust. He now prefers a comfortable spot by the fireplace much more than the unknown wilderness, which is why when he disappeared all of a sudden, it worried this couple so much.

The day he vanished

It was on the day when Marolyn Diver was out visiting her parents - on 7th October 2017, when their beloved pooch just upped and vanished. Diver informed Dodo on 18th of October  2017. She shared the cause of her concern by stating “My mother was a little grumpy, as she had thought had stopped his wandering,”.

His age worried them the most

“We worried dog might forget where his home was,” Diver clarified, referring to Louie’s advanced age. On top of it, given the fact that this elderly dog suffered from arthritis was without a doubt an additional cause for concern. Louie had now been missing for the entire afternoon, the tension in the house continued to mount throughout this time.

He finally returned

Eventually, they saw Louie coming back home on his own, but the Divers were sure that something must have gone down during his time in the open. This became even more obvious when they saw a note sticking out of his collar. This was clear evidence and this dog had met someone on his trip outside, and it became a cause for concern for the Diver

They thought he was hurt

Sadly, this wasn’t the only reason why the Divers were so concerned by at this moment. During an interview in January 2018, Diver told BoredPanda, “He looked so exhausted, and had basically just collapsed.”Adding this mysterious note to the whole situation, “We were concerned someone might have hurt him,” she recalled.

Reason for his absence

With a million things in mind, the family nervously took hold of the note and started reading it. The contents of this note not only revealed where Louie had been for all this time but also explained why he looked so tired upon his return. This pooch wasn’t out wandering in the wild or looking for trouble, instead, he was busy being a hero!

The note!

The Note on the collar was, “Louie is the hero of the day, he led me to Maddy in distress stuck under a branch pile. ” Missing old dog's holder pinpoint the name that had signed that note as the people living on a farm in the close locality. And so they decided to meet Louie’s new friends in person.

Who is Rob?

To answer this question, Rob Kvick is a farmer who happens to be the Divers' neighbor. Maddy is the name of his terrier dog. Once the divers finished reading this note on Louie’s collar, the first thing they did was contact Kvick, who then explained the whole incident to them. Similarly to the Divers, it seemed Kvick too was looking for his dog that day.

Maddy was missing

Maddy, Kvick’s dog, had been missing ever since he had left his farm to visit the town in the morning. Even after he returned home, Maddy was still missing. But instead of Maddy, he saw a different dog waiting for him at home when he returned. It was Louie, but he wasn’t there looking for treats or pets, he was desperately trying to tell Rob something.

Leading the way

Kvick took little to no time in understanding what Louie really wanted from him. This dog was desperately trying to lead him somewhere and so, fearing the worst, Kvick decided to follow this pooch. Louie then leads Kvick to Maddy. The poor terrier had somehow managed to get itself trapped under a woodpile, and she hadn’t been able to get out since the morning.

Rescuing Maddy!

Diver told that he was confident about Louie knew what he was doing. Getting to Maddy was his one concentration.” But Louie wasn’t done by just leading him to Maddy. – he then joined the farmer in the rescue of poor Maddy, by digging her out of her prison along with Kvick.

Louie the rescue dog?

Eventually, with their combined efforts they managed to free Maddy. Once Maddy was free, both she and Louie dashed straight to the nearby stream for a drink. Kvick further went on to treat the brave hero with some dog biscuits. He also wrote and attached a note to his collar so that his folks back at home could know about his bravery.

 Old age taking its toll

But Louie’s best days are now behind him and he can no longer do things as easily as he could when he was young and so the frantic digging exhausted him. “That night Louie's condition was not good,” Diver recalled. “He was not able to walk and looked terrible; we were scared that he might not make it through the night.”

He made it!

Diver further told us that Louie although with a little trouble had successfully made it through the night. All the while there was someone waiting to see him very anxiously. “The next day, Rob came with Maddy in a wee basket in the back on a bike,” Diver said. “Louie perked up, and was back to normal!”

Talk of the town

This act of heroism soon made Louie the talk of the town. It wasn’t long before this story was running internationally on news outlets. In an interview on 1st November, 2017 Diver told Stuff, “Hundreds of stories popped up. A day didn’t go by without people requesting a few words about Louie from me.”

In his words

Diver said then questions started coming in different languages. “So many people were telling me how much touched they were. “And the… comments people saying, dogs are the better and honest, this story so amazing. It’s been proud and glad to be a part of it.”

Louie the heroic hound

It was great feeling for me sweet and touching feedback from all over the world,” Diver concluded. In the eyes of people around the world, Louie is indeed a hero. His act of sheer selflessness and bravery is something uncommon in even us humans. But his humans are his heroes as they were the one who rescued this brave heart from a shelter when he was just a wee little pup

The conclusion

Since the moment they laid eyes on Louie they have absolutely adored this pup, and his recent actions have given them even more reason to adore and celebrate this brave canine.“It has changed the way I look at him,” Diver told The Dodo, “and I think my parents feel the same way. I’m so proud of him.” Read the full article