#Is that???? A half decent background of a building???

[the-red-butterfly]

Get Down Here

Elu Thingol l Elwë Singollo & Finwë (Tolkien universe)

Commission made for @i-did-not-mean-to who I love and they are always so great when ic comes to e making art for them I could cry 😭.

To be fair, I think I DID infect her with my love for Thingol and Finwë friendship, which this is very ambiguously a "Are they friends? Are they more? It's probably both to be honest." kind of situation 😌 I'm not mad at all.

This is after they're reborn and all is well again :D Hopefully.

Finwë is tall, but Thingol is so much taller 👁

.

Open for Commissions

[tecchoussuperlady]

Hello! I saw your request open so I came here! Hope you are doing good!

Can I request a Ranpo x Reader who is motherly towards him? He slowly would have a crush on her, like a Dom reader without NSFW! Thank you so much :')!

⊹ ࣪ ˖🍰₊˚⊹♡⊹ ࣪ ˖🍰₊˚⊹♡⊹ ࣪ ˖🍰₊˚⊹♡⊹ ࣪ ˖🍰₊˚⊹♡⊹ ࣪ ˖🍰₊˚⊹

EAT MY LOVE

⊹ ࣪ ˖🍰₊˚⊹♡⊹ ࣪ ˖🍰₊˚⊹♡⊹ ࣪ ˖🍰₊˚⊹♡⊹ ࣪ ˖🍰₊˚⊹♡⊹ ࣪ ˖🍰₊˚⊹

I was so excited to write this, thanks for the request ml!

I swear the more (far) you read it gets better.

Warnings: very slight violence (a slap on the face), allegory, cursing, very hidden SA (s/o being uncomfortable) -not by Ranpo!

1,776 words.

⊹ ࣪ ˖🍰₊˚⊹♡⊹ ࣪ ˖🍰₊˚⊹♡⊹ ࣪ ˖🍰₊˚⊹♡⊹ ࣪ ˖🍰₊˚⊹♡⊹ ࣪ ˖🍰₊˚⊹

Atsushi's tired legs lead him towards the well known building. He could get there even with blindfolded eyes. His daily worries changed a lot since his life took a 360° turn. But there is nothing he regrets now, even if he is risking his life daily, he's not scared. He got place where does he belongs to and feels happy.

He hurriedly opened the door and let his body fell on the older sofa. If it was any other day he would complain about it's uncomfortable and prostrate being. But this old sofa never felt as soft as today.

"Ahh finally back..."

In the background was echoing loud sounds of lady wearing heels going towards the floor. She sat on the couch next to the silver haired boy and patted his head, as exhausted as him.

"How was the mission?"

A boy with ginger hair asked the two.

"Terrible."

The young lady said with heavy accent.

"We had to be hidden in dirty bushes for hours. I can't even feel my feet anymore. And worse, the port mafia was trying to engage too. Oh man, i wish we could eat Tea on rice"

Atsutshi sighed at the memory of his latest mission.

"When we are talking about food, did you bring me the pastry from the new bakery?"

Ranpo barged into the conversation without second thought.

[Name] got up from the older sofa and waved with a paper bag in front of the detective's face.

"Oh, how amazing coworker I am. Aren't I?"

"Yea yea, now give it to me!"

Before Ranpo could snatch it from her hands she opened the bag and took out the wagashi.

"Open up!"

The detective opened his mouth without hesitation.

As her hand was moving closer and closer to his mouth she stopped for a second and then put the delicious pastry in her mouth.

"Uh? Hey!"

The detective started whining and pouting as if the world was about to collapse.

"Mmm so yummy, maybe if you were less greedy and more decent i would give you some!"

"You are such a meanie [name]! Give it to me!"

You ignored his whinning and your attention shifted to your Atsutshi.

"Atsutshi! Aren't you tired and hungry after such a long mission?"

When Ranpo realized that you are trying to give the candy to Atsutshi he started screaming even louder.

"How can you even-"

You quickly stuffed his mouth full with the wagashi and he happily started munching on it.

⊹ ࣪ ˖🍰₊˚⊹♡⊹ ࣪ ˖🍰₊˚⊹♡⊹ ࣪ ˖🍰₊˚⊹♡⊹ ࣪ ˖🍰₊˚⊹♡⊹ ࣪ ˖🍰₊˚⊹

"[Name]..."

"What is it?"

Your fingers were carefully going through Ranpo's hair and massaging his scalp.

"Wanna sleep over today?"

"Last time i did, I woke up with half of my hair covered in your droll..."

A/n: i once read that Ranpo would chew on his s/o hair in sleep and i can't get it out of my head

Ranpo turned his head away in embarrassment and his cheeks slightly flushed.

"I don't know what are you talking about, you probably saw it in your dream..."

"Of course."

You brushed it off trying to suspend your laugh so he wouldn't get more embarrassed.

"And anyways, I'm already taken on today's night. I'm going out."

"Out? Why would you go out at night?"

Ranpo turned his back to you opening his emerald eyes looking into your soul as an lost kid.

"I'm going on a date."

You said with unbothered tone.

"But why?"

"To find someone obviously-"

"But you have us already, why do you need someone else? You have me."

"Well..."

You weren't how much Ranpo was into this theme. He understands the point of dating even over his partly childish personality, right?"

"... It's for a different type of close person. Like-"

"I know what do you mean. I'm not dumb. I'm the smartest detective in the world after all! Just, I don't think you need someone else."

⊹ ࣪ ˖🍰₊˚⊹♡⊹ ࣪ ˖🍰₊˚⊹♡⊹ ࣪ ˖🍰₊˚⊹♡⊹ ࣪ ˖🍰₊˚⊹♡⊹ ࣪ ˖🍰₊˚⊹

Your date wasn't what you expected at all. He was too noisy and...

He doesn't know how to use chopsticks. Even with your attempts to make him change it for a fork he wasn't giving up and both of you were receiving weird looks. You were certain that you won't ever step foot into this restaurant again.

You weren't sure why you hate his loud self. You were decently used to it as co worker of Ranpo Edogawa and Dazai Osamu. So why did this guy's existence was annoying you? You weren't sure.

Him slurping noodles was one of the worst sounds you ever heard, but you were certain that Ranpo is ten times louder. And his loud giggles though Ranpo is sometimes so loud that the whole street has to close their windows.

And last but not least was him eyeing you shamelessly. Dazai did that at least once a day with some flirty note. And Ranpo would sometimes move his eyes to where they definitely shouldn't look. Though you never confront him about it. You don't even know by yourself why. It was just... a lot different?

"So, your top is really pretty..."

The man's eyes fell lower towards your chest.

"... do you usually wear such a clothing to work?"

You slowly looked up from your food at the man.

"Just shut the fuck up and eat your food."

You stuffed your mouth with the food and looked outside of the window annoyed, ignoring the confused expression on the man's face.

As you were thinking about how the two of you will pay for the food your phone started ringing.

The man looked up from his food and you picked up the call.

"Hello?"

"[Name]! We need your help urgently!"

"Huh, what is it?"

"Ranpo-san uhhh..."

"What is with him? Did he finally got diagnosed with diabetes or-"

"They took him! He was on his way to buy some snacks and they kidnapped him!"

Why was he even buying snacks at 9pm? Uh, nevermind. Did the agency got the location?"

"Yes, they did. I will send it to you, thanks! You are the best."

Atsushi hang up the phone and looked at his coworker.

"Ranpo-san... are you sure that this will work? I mean, [name] is not stupid and i don't really wanna get into problems with her."

"Just trust me! She will be too worried to realize it's fake, she cares about me after all, right?"

"I guess, but she will so mad when she will find out."

"Leave it on me! And now you can go back to your apartment to Kyouka. I will be okay."

⊹ ࣪ ˖🍰₊˚⊹♡⊹ ࣪ ˖🍰₊˚⊹♡⊹ ࣪ ˖🍰₊˚⊹♡⊹ ࣪ ˖🍰₊˚⊹♡⊹ ࣪ ˖🍰₊˚⊹

There was not a single athletic bone in your body, that's what you knew for years. But right now you felt like you were about to break an world record. If you came too late, this afternoon might be the last time you saw Ranpo alive.

Where are others?!

They can't be to far away or too busy when someone's life is in danger.

With one swift kick the door flew open and Ranpo was sitting calmly on a chair in the middle of the old dirty room from a past hospital which was left there abandoned.

"Hey! I thought that you will let me die here all alone. You were taking quite-"

Your hands quickly hugged him. Eyes getting glossy from fighting tears.

"Please don't cry, it's not even an real kidnapping!"

"What?"

"I personally hoped that your inteligence isn't so low to not realize it's fake. If i were really kidnapped Fukuzawa would definitely already be there in matter of seconds, no matter how busy he is. Or anyone else. Were you really that worried about me? Because-"

...

The sound of slap landing on that delicate skin echoed the room. And everything went silent.

"What are you-"

"You selfish idiot! You are really nothing but a dumb kid! Why on the earth would you such a stupid thing? Why?! What would you do if next time someone actually kidnapped you and i would assume it's your another stupid joke and you would die!"

"The detective's eyes widened and tears started spilling."

"Can't you once act like an decent human being? Do you think that this was that funny to play with your life?"

"I... I'm sorry, it wasn't supposed to be like this!"

The dark haired boy said in between sobs.

"Then why?"

"Because i don't want you to leave me! You keep going out on dates or with others, but eventually you will want to get married to them sooner or later and you will leave me and forget me."

You started at the crying boy with stunned face.

"Why do you think i would forget about you or get married? All men outside are jerks anyways."

Your hands softly caressed his hair and hugged him. He still couldn't stop crying.

"I'm sorry, don't leave me."

"How could i leave you? Who else would bring you your daily sweets and let you chew on their hair?"

"I'm serious, i love you."

You stopped caressing his hair and looked down at him.

"What?"

There was no response, just muffled sobbing. Ranpo... why did you even looked at him as kid all the time? He was an adult, older than you. How could you never notice.

"Are you sure?"

He nodded with his head still burried in your chest.

You gave him little kiss on his forehead and slowly started wiping his tears away.

"More than your favorite lollipops?"

Another nod.

You couldn't fight away the smile and gave him peck on his cheek and another on his other cheek.

"I feel honoured then."

⊹ ࣪ ˖🍰₊˚⊹♡⊹ ࣪ ˖🍰₊˚⊹♡⊹ ࣪ ˖🍰₊˚⊹♡⊹ ࣪ ˖🍰₊˚⊹♡⊹ ࣪ ˖🍰₊˚⊹

⊹ ࣪ ˖🍰₊˚⊹♡⊹ ࣪ ˖🍰₊˚⊹♡⊹ ࣪ ˖🍰₊˚⊹♡⊹ ࣪ ˖🍰₊˚⊹♡⊹ ࣪ ˖🍰₊˚⊹

I promise, I will correct the grammar mistakes tomorrow in the morning.

⊹ ࣪ ˖🍰₊˚⊹♡⊹ ࣪ ˖🍰₊˚⊹♡⊹ ࣪ ˖🍰₊˚⊹♡⊹ ࣪ ˖🍰₊˚⊹♡⊹ ࣪ ˖🍰₊˚⊹

[ollypopwrites]

From Depths Unknown ; Part 3

Part 1 ⚜ Part 2 ⚜ Ao3

Rolan x F!Tav (AFAB, she/her) *Tav is a Storm Sorcerer, but no actual reference to her appearance.

Rating: E

Tags & Warnings: [18+ MDNI] Language, Canon-typical violence (there is a lot discussion of blood and injuries in this chapter), Major Character Death, Sexual Content (mostly just horny thoughts), background Bloodweave.

Chapter Summary:

Not even Moonrise Tower nor the Shadowcursed land had been this hectic. They dodged rains of incredible fire from dragons, psionic blast from nautiloids and falling debris from buildings crashing around them. Fighting their way through an army of cultists, mindflayers and intellectual devourers, her team felt as united as ever. Everyone felt the finality of it.

Notes: I wanted some whump, okay? I promise they will fuck eventually.

“Rolan? Really? I thought he hated your guts.” 

“You haven’t seen him pining from afar?” Shadowheart asked dramatically. 

“Honestly, Tav, he’s a decent bloke,” Wyll said. ��A bit rough around the edges —“

“A bit?!” Karlach protested. 

“Alright, quite rough around the edges,” Wyll amended.

“And pompous,” Shadowheart added. 

“Completely up his own ass,” Karlach agreed.

“Alright!” Tav said, “I’ve told you all, nothing happened.” 

Her and Rolan had been camp gossip from the moment they had walked into their suite; Tav had a hangover and a strong need for coffee, while Rolan was stiff with embarrassment at the questioning looks from her companions. He couldn’t stay long, but they had food and tea and coffee, which was the least she could offer him. She remembered most of the night: the crying, yelling and him having to arrange a makeshift bed for her. As it was embarrassing as it was, she felt a little better getting it all off of her chest. The details were fuzzy, but she knew she had come on to him. While nothing untoward had happened, the camp only saw their leader come through the doors looking bedraggled with an equally out of sorts tiefling wizard. Tongues had been sent wagging immediately. 

“But you do fancy him, don’t you?” Karlach asked. 

She took a deep breath. “Can we focus on the task at hand?” 

“Only after you admit you want to shag the grumpy wizard,” Shadowheart teased. 

“Fine, fine!” Tav felt like tearing out her hair. “Yes, yes I like him. Okay. Can we move on now?” 

“Sheesh,” Karlach breathed. “Take him to bed, mate. You need it.”

She didn’t need Karlach to tell her that. She pushed on, ignoring them. Wyll, however, caught up quickly to her. 

“I won’t lie to you, my friend, he hasn’t made the best impression,” he told her. “But he’s truly a good man.” 

“I know that.” 

“So, are you going to come clean about what happened on the roof then?” He was grinning, boyish and mischievous. 

“Not you too, Wyll, please you were my last hope.”

Her only saving grace was that they found their way to an unusual engineer named Redhammer and his submersible, which happened to be the same culprit that had killed one the the priestesses of Umberlee. While she had half agreed to kill or hand him over if she found him, he offered an opportunity to find the hostage Gondians in the Iron Throne. Tav decided to take some inspiration from Astarion, using him to get down to the Iron Throne before she ultimately left his fate up to Umberlee's order. She thought she should have felt guilty, but he had been so casual about killing the priestess and transporting hostages she found herself lacking any real remorse. After the tadpole was out of her head, she thought she may have to reassess her moral compass. 

After saving the Gondians, Duke Ravengaurd himself and their old friend Omeluum she was happy to be alive and not blown to bits at the bottom of the Chionthar. The priestesses of Umberlee had even rewarded them with a beautiful robe in exchange for finding Redhammer. Gale was the only other person it would have been suited for and he was too embarrassed to wear it despite the entire camp teasing him about it. It was a bit risqué, but when Tav slipped it on she felt it cling to her body and the strange fabric was so damn comfortable she felt as if it were a second skin. She quite liked it. 

They made their way to Sorcerer’s Sundries, knowing the next day would be their chance to finish up the infiltration of the Steelwatch Foundry. Tav was sure Gortash would not bring the Steelwatch down on them right away. The last thing he needed was his army of metal titans tearing apart the city to find them, civilians would inevitably get hurt and then they would get angry. Gortash needed a city scared but ready to cling to a tyrant that could keep them safe, not ready to revolt for stepping on their children. They had to move, but she wanted to let him sweat and take time to get ready for their final push. 

The foundry, the hammer, the last Netherstone. Then the brain. There was finally a light at the end of the tunnel. 

Rolan was rarely in the shop these days. His mirror image had taken his position at the counter, helped along by the other specialists and Cal or Lia. Tav made her way upstairs; despite her pride she owed Rolan thanks for the night before and an apology for the teasing her friends had thrown his way in the wake of it. And she wondered if he’d like her new robes. It was silly, and pointless in the face of everything else that was going on but the desire was there, hiding behind her ‘noble’ reasons for disturbing him in the middle of the day. She made her way through the portal which led to the study Rolan was now using as his own office throughout the day. The blood, ash and bodies had all been cleared away — the decadent room was still in process of being redone to Rolan’s standards but it had come a long way since Lorroakan’s death. 

“Rolan?” She called. 

“A minute, please,” he replied from the balcony. 

Tav rolled her eyes, muttering about wizards and their books. She strolled about the room. He seemed to be in the process of organizing tomes, one of the animated suits of armor was picking up a stack piled on the ground and taking it through another portal. She recalled him mentioning a library, and wanting to cultivate his own favorites for the study. It was his, now, after all. 

“Please tell me you didn’t wear that into battle?”

When he had heard Tav’s voice carry through the study, he noted a lack of distinct irritation at being interrupted. Another sign that Tav was becoming worryingly exempt from his usual ‘prick-ish particularities’ as Cal had so kindly put it. He had just seen her that morning and as awkward as breakfast had been amongst her companions, he had to force himself to finish putting books on the shelf before heading down the stairs. He needed to retain some of his dignity, after all, despite his desire to eagerly stop everything he was doing at the sound of her voice. Tav waited for him below, and as usual, he took a mental note of any new injuries she may have acquired.

Robes with pieces of protective gear was what she normally wore. Soft leathers and sturdy cotton robes, with something to protect her vulnerable points. Even out of armor she usually only wore a simple tunic and cloth pants. His surprise to find her at the center of his study in an outfit that was all flesh and skin tight fabric made him stop in his tracks. The light blue ensemble clung to every curve, dipped low between her breasts (that damned pearl dangling at the center of her chest matched well with this new outfit, he noted), and was slit at the legs so all he saw was skin bared up to a concerning height on her thighs. Her worn leather boots stuck out, not quite fitting in with the sleek outfit, but that did nothing to preserve him from staring dumbly. 

His momentary gawking was interrupted when he realized this scrap of fabric was meant to be armor. All the soft spots of her were exposed to cuts and bruises. 

“Please tell me you didn’t wear that into battle?”

“You don’t like it?”

“That’s hardly the point I’m trying to make,” he said quickly. 

“Then what is the point?”

“Don’t be stupid,” he said. “You can’t wear that in a fight. It’s…” 

Ravishing. So easy to slide aside so I could have any part of you I wanted, he thought. 

“Impractical.” He said aloud. 

“And you decide what I wear now?”

“No,” he replied through grit teeth. “Of course not.”

“Well, I like it.” Tav shrugged him off, turning away and walking around to look at his progress in the study. 

The dress was just as tight in the back, he noticed, his mind reeling and his pulse thrumming. “Where did you even get it?”

“It was a gift from the priestesses of Umberlee,” she said. 

“And what, pray tell, did you do to earn it?” 

“Freed some hostages in a prison at the bottom of the Chionthar and found the man who killed one of their order.” She listed casually. “Duke Ravenguard was down there, if you can believe it. And then Archduke Gortash, magnanimous man that he is, tried to blow us up,” her tone dripped with sarcasm, “it’s been quite a day.”

“Your usual heroics, then,” he grit out. 

“Of course,” she grinned, and everything about the smile was a challenge, a tease, and he was certain he never wanted her so badly. “I know you love to hear about my gallantry. Not bad for a girl who started the day with a terrible hangover, I think.”

“Is there a point to your visit?” He asked tersely. 

“Actually, yes,” she finally came up to him. 

Close enough to touch. The fabric looked soft, and shimmery, probably pleasant enough to run his hands over but the exposed space between her breasts seemed particularly ripe for licking. His jaw clenched as he made the Herculean effort to look her in the eyes. The teasing look she had before was gone, something a little more bashful and sweet. It only made it harder to keep his hands to himself. 

“I wanted to say thank you for last night.” She said, “I don’t remember all of it… but I know I was not at my best. Thanks for putting up with me, and sorry my friends are busybodies.” 

Rolan didn’t know what to say. A whirlwind was inside him. Pure want and affection. Irritation at said want and affection. Irritation at himself for not being able to just say what he wanted to. This was all getting entirely out of hand. 

“How is your arm?”

“My….arm?”

“You’re still scarred, from that ring you so foolishly put on when you had no idea what it did,” he snapped. 

“Oh, that,” she deflated. “Fine. Just these marks,” she pushed back the sleeves of the robe to look at them. “Gale thinks it was some kind of connection to the elemental plane.” At his responding silence she shifted awkwardly. “Okay,” she drew out the word, “I’m going to go.” 

“Goodbye.”

He stayed to watch her go, eyes glued to the way the robes clung to her bottom, the shift of the fabric and delicate metalwork over her exposed legs. 

“You can’t wear that,” he blurted out. “Not in battle. You’ll be ripped to shreds.”

And so would the robe itself, which would be a terrible shame in and of itself, the more he thought about it.

“You said that already.” 

“It bears repeating.” 

She rolled her eyes. “Goodbye, Rolan.” 

As she stepped through the portal and he was left alone he groaned, rubbing both hands over his face, as he muttered to himself, “you’re going to kill me you meddlesome, irritating, beautiful woman.” 

While there had been little notice before the Netherbrain broke free and started unleashing terror on the city, Tav had at least warned her allies ahead of time that it could happen any day at any time. With Rolan’s permission, Counselor Florrick had spread the word that the tower was going to be one point of haven in the city. It had protections and wards, and plenty of space. When all hells broke loose, Cal and Lia were holding down the fort while he made his way to High Hall. Thankfully most of the fighting was happening in the upper city, but mind flayers were running rampant, the sky was red with fire, full of errant blasts from nautiloids and dragons. 

He sent civilian healers as he found them to the tower, instructing them to take whoever they could with them. The high hall was crowded, Flaming Fists taking account of all the allies of Tav’s which had gathered. Many of them he recognized, some he had never seen before, but his heart swelled with pride at the gathering of people who were ready to support Tav and her friends. 

When she came through the door with all her camp in tow, smattered in blood, as she always was, he thought she may cry at the showing. There wasn’t much time, but she took a moment to appraise them of her plan. Her entire party would take the main push to the brain, along with the illithid she had with her. There was no time to explain, she only assured them that this person — Orpheus, was on their side. She needed anyone she did not call to her side to focus on protecting the few points of refuge they had managed to secure in the city, and above all to keep as many civilians safe as possible. She was given means to summon her allies as needed.

As Tav made the quick effort to offer thanks to everyone individually, he felt the terror of it being the last time he saw her. This was not the Tav which he’d had drinks with at the Elfsong every night leading up to this battle, laughing with her friends, carefree for just a few hours. This was the woman who had lead four people to victory against a small army of Goblins, who stormed Moonrise towers and lifted the curse over Reithwin. Focused, determined and if she was scared it never once showed on her face. Only the storm dancing behind her eyes, calm before she exploded into action. 

Rolan had to believe the next time he’d see her, she would be relaxed and teasing him about something over a glass of wine. As she approached him last, before heading out to save the city, he bolstered himself to be whatever she and the rest of the people of Baldur’s Gate needed. 

“The tower is ready, you need only call.” He told her swiftly. 

“Thank you.” She nodded. “Rolan, I — “ she bit her lip and clenched her eyes shut. “If I survive this —“

“You will,” he said certainly. 

“If I do,” she repeated, eyes boring into his with earnesty he hardly knew how to deal with, “would you like to join me for a bottle of Arabellan Dry?”

“Are you asking me on a date? Right now?” As if to punctuate his point the ground shook, horrible screeching sounds and the roar of a dragon sounded out. 

“Might be my last chance,” she breathed. 

“It won’t be,” he insisted. If she was going to be bold enough to ask him out for a drink before running off to certain death — he had to rise to the challenge. He grabbed her hand, bringing it to his lips. “You’ll come back to me, gloriously and infuriatingly victorious.”

If he said it confidently enough it may just come true. It had worked for him before.

Tav nodded, squeezing his hand in hers. She hesitated, but there was little time for more to be said. She suddenly began to dig under the collar of her armored robes with her free hand. After fidgeting for a moment with something around her neck she held out the chain of the necklace which held her Pearl of Power. 

“Can you hold onto it for me? I don’t want to lose it again.” 

“You may need it,” he was unsure what else to say. 

“Already used it today,” she said, “it’s just sentimental right now. And just — hold onto it. Please.” 

Tav took his hand and placed the necklace into his palm, gently curling his fingers over it. It was such a small trinket, but the implications of her leaving it with him made it feel immeasurably valuable. He thought he would rather die than let it come to any harm. The dramatics of such a train of thought struck him so violently with the realization that he was undoubtedly in love. The terrible timing for such an epiphany was only emphasized by a loud boom on the roof and the shudder of dust and small bits of debris raining down on them.

Tav let go of his hand and with a determination in her eye he knew all too well, led her party out into the midst of terror with no other word. 

There was no time to stop. 

Not even Moonrise nor the Shadowcursed land had been this hectic. They dodged rains of incredible fire from dragons, psionic blast from nautiloids and falling debris from buildings crashing around them. Fighting their way through an army of cultists, mindflayers and intellectual devourers, her team felt as united as ever. Everyone felt the finality of it. She had seen Astarion and Gale share what they thought might possibly be their last kiss. Watching them felt like an intrusion, but the glance she had gotten of desperate softness in their eyes made her more determined than ever. Tav silently vowed that she would come out of this with everyone alive and ready to begin anew. 

When they finally found the  stalk of the Elderbrain it led higher and higher up over the city. She felt the adrenaline spurring her to start to climb, and she didn’t have to look behind her to know they followed. At the top it was an onslaught of psionic forces: the netherbrain, the illithids it commanded, and the tadpoles in their heads revolting at every move they made to fight against them. There were moments that blanked out, as she was stunned or her head hurt so badly she felt she couldn’t see. They were all moving on pure instinct to survive. 

Karlach’s rage was an unstoppable force, Lae’zel cut down anyone in her path with brutal efficiency, and the only thing more intense than the amount of healing magic Shadowheart was expending was the force with which she brought down her mace. Jaheira and Halsin were in charge of summoning reinforcements as needed, controlling the battlefield with Druidic magic while Gale sent off spell after spell with devastating effect. Astarion and Wyll danced around the battlefield; Wyll’s combined magic and skill with the blade making him virtually untouchable while Astarion flitted in and out of visibility, daggers digging into flesh with deadly accuracy. 

And she exploded with magic. 

Her arm hurt, the flowing lines of whatever had touched her when she put on that ring in the tower glowed and raged as she gave everything she had. When she felt she had nothing left, it fed her new power, keeping a steady stream of lightning ready to strike. There was not a lot of time to think on this new development, only time to acknowledge that whatever it did to her, her magic was thriving on it. Her magic felt centered for the first time in her life. Controllable, not just something she was barely wrangling and flinging around blindly. 

The last push to the crown was upon them. The way just needed to be cleared, she called to Halsin over the clamor of it all, tadpole transmitting to the others her plan. In truly rumbling cacophony explosions rained down, almost clearing their path. For a moment she took in the show of power from Ramazith’s Tower, but they had to bolt forward. 

Lae’zel took the lead, attacking an illithid arcanist guarding the portal they needed to get into. Gale was quick behind her, magic missiles firing off in every direction and counterspell quickly cast afterwards. Karlach was keeping the way clear, as more illithid were summoned, hacking at tentacled heads until they rolled off. Tav took off for the portal, only to come face to face with her father. 

No. It was her dream guardian. The Emperor’s trick. 

When she had first seen the man in her dreams she had thought the same thing: he was just similar looking enough to her dear old dad to get her guard down but not so identical it would ring off alarm bells in her mind. Tav’s father was dead, after all, the Emperor had toed the line of familiarity on purpose. The single moment of hesitation was enough for the guardian to blast her with psionic energy, knocking her off of her feet.  An intellect devourer took its chance and leapt onto her. Searing pain spread through her abdomen as claws dug in and tore. It was climbing up her body, ripping skin with every step. Her arm was pinned underneath one of its horrid legs, unable to cast, and she felt the thunderous pulse in her chest, the tingle of electricity in her veins — and then a dagger came down stopping the devourer in its tracks.

Astarion was above her, kicking the thing off of her. With a cry she felt the claws slip loose, blood pouring out of the wounds. The pain slipped away to the back of her mind as she flung forward, hands outstretched  when a chain of lightning erupted at another dream guardian which tried to stop Gale. Astarion helped her to her feet, shoving a meager healing potion at her. It was not enough to close the wounds, but it gave her a rush of new vitality and they ran for the portal

This was it. This was the final task. All they had to do was survive long enough to take out the Netherbrain. 

After setting off the blasts at Halsin’s command, Rolan had launched himself halfway down the stairs, nearly stumbling and stepping on his own tail. There were a handful of Flaming Fists, armed civilians, Cal, Lia and even Aradin guarding the perimeter of the tower; he had to go join them. The store was always chaotic with all the summons wandering around and magical effects but this was a different vein of mayhem. Anyone he could find with healing magic along the way was running around, people were screaming and crying on the floors and any clear surface available. 

It sounded like Elturel. 

Shaking his head of the thought, he pushed through the doors. People were still running, trying to get through the doors of the tower and whatever building still stood to get away from the carnage. The square was full of bodies and blood and rubble. He spotted Cal and Lia, both alive and fighting well. Cal’s swing was strong, Lia’s aim was impeccable — he was able to focus on casting. An illithid floated forward, chasing after a meal of one of the Flaming Fists' brains, Rolan quickly cast color spray, confusing the creature and shortly after one of Lia’s arrows sunk into its elongated head.

Cal got stunned, his head in his hands as he wobbled on his feet, two mindflayers floating towards him. Rolan nearly tripped over his robes to grab his brother by his shirt and pull him back, Cal fell and as soon as he was out of the line of attack Rolan felt the boom of thunder erupt from his hand. The illithids were sent backwards, landing on their back, prone. 

“Cal,” he turned to offer a hand to his brother, “stay steady.” 

“Yeah,” Cal grunted, shaking his head free of the psionic force which had stunned him. “I’m good, I’m alright.” 

“Rolan! Incoming!” 

Lia’s voice called out before she let an arrow loose. His eyes flicked to the sky, a nautiloid was overhead, a beam of some sort beginning to glow with energy. 

“To me! Now!”

Aradin and anyone nearby enough to hear him huddled close, Rolan swiftly casting an orb of invulnerability. He had never cast it before, not successfully, but it was all he could think of to try. A slight red shimmer created a bubble around them, the nautiloid made its attack. A few people were decimated by the blow immediately outside of the orb, even a ravenous illithid in the middle of extracting a brain from a skull had not made it out of the way in time. The spell worked. Rubble flew into the air with the blast, and stopped bluntly at the barrier. 

Thank the Gods. Rolan thought to himself, sweat beading down his temple. 

Lia ducked in and out of the orb to shoot off arrows, clearing the path for some to make their way to the tower or within the confines of Rolan’s temporary protection. He managed to keep the orb up long enough for the blasts to cede after the nautiloid was distracted from attacking the ground by a Githyanki force of dragon riders. 

“There’s more coming!” Aradin yelled. “We should fall back into the tower.”

“The wards can only take so much,” Rolan snapped back. “Get out there and kill something or get out of the way!”

He never understood Zevlor’s well-known ire for the mercenary more as he fled inside. As he had said, more illithids came out of the woodwork. The alien army had not found it necessary to send any armored mind flayers — relying on the freshly transformed tadpoled masses which had been lurking in the city. They had numbers, but most of them were stark naked, and sloppy in the unusual new bodies. Many of them fell quickly, which was his only comfort against the slowly dwindling numbers of his own allies. If they just kept it up, they could maintain the line of defense around the tower. 

“Come on, Tav,” he heard Lia scream as another Flaming Fist fell to an illithid. “Just kill it already!” 

There was no way for Tav to hear them, but he understood the panic. He felt each second that passed since he set off the blasts from the tower as if it were an hour. They could not keep this up forever, and part of him knew that as intense as it was on the ground, up there where the brain hovered in the air it was ten times worse. 

“Tav needs us to hold strong,” he called to his sister. “We owe her that, at least.” 

Lia was too far away for him to be sure but thought he saw her jaw set in the same way Cal’s did when he was concentrating. His brother felled an illithid in one blow, clean and easy at the neck. 

“Can’t believe I’m saying this,” Cal said, “but Rolan is right!”

It truly was the end of the world.

When Tav hit the water, she blacked out for a moment. Her eyes opened and the gasp that wracked her body filled her mouth and lungs with water as she realized too late in her waking that she was in the Chionthar. She floundered to the surface, hacking and coughing. Once she had her breath, she started screaming for her companions.

“Here!” Gale yelled.

He was not too far off from her, hanging onto some floating debris, with an unmoving lump with white hair. She swam over, grabbing onto the debris. 

“Is he alive?” She panicked. 

“Breathing,” Astarion’s voice was weak, “stop screaming.”

“Where’s everyone else?” Tav felt herself succumbing to the confusion. “Karlach! Have you seen anyone? Wyll!”

“I’ve got Shadowheart and Wyll!” She heard Karlach call, a red spot in the distance, tethering two limp bodies as she kept them on their backs. 

Lae’zel, Halsin, Minsc and Jaheira were still unaccounted for. Tav’s eyes scanned the water, dawn hadn’t broken yet, it was still dark and the depths below were impossible to see into. The only real light was provided by the city which was still very much on fire. Just as Tav was about to give into despair, a giant tentacle broke the water, then another, in its grips was an unconscious Lae’zel, and Minsc who was sputtering and cackling like a madman. Finally a third, and Halsin broke the surface. 

“Minsc! Where’s Jaheira?”

“You look upon her!” He called back. 

Wild shape was one hell of a thing. Tav called to the giant octopus whose eye peered into hers as it breached the surface, telling Jaheira to grab Karlach first as she was treading water and trying to keep two people afloat at the same time. Tav watched, only vaguely hearing Astarion and Gale speaking next to her. She needed to see them all safely put upon the dock, she needed to know she had done it. She hadn’t lost anyone. 

“Stop trying to talk to me,” Astarion muttered. “I’m furious with you.”

“My love, I would have made sure you were transported out of harm's way,” Gale attempted to sooth him. 

“And what about you?” Astarion snapped. “What was I supposed to do without you?” 

She was not quite sure what they were talking about. 

“We were losing, Astarion,” Gale pleaded. “The orb may have been—“

“The orb?” Tav heard her neck crack as she swung her head so fast to look at him. She felt dizzy. 

“He very nearly blew himself up, again,” Astarion seethed. “I saw him reach for the dagger.” 

“Gale!” Tav scolded. “I told you — not an option!”

“Tav, please, if all else failed —“

“But it didn’t!” She yelled. 

“No,” he sighed. “No, it did not. So please, can we make it to land and put this to rest.” 

Just as Tav was about to argue with him, she felt a tug at her midsection, and uncomfortable stinging of pain accompanying the grasp. Astarion and Gale were lifted out of the water by tentacles  at the same time she was and they were being slowly carried to the dock. It was supposed to be over once they all made it on dry land. She had given in to the hope that she had finally led her party to their final battle without losing a single member. The victory was supposed to be sweet, and cathartic. 

The moment they caught their breath on the dock, Karlach’s engine started to fail. 

The main floor of the store was cleared of most furniture to make room for cots full of injured people. Amateur and professional healers alike were running around madly, calling for aid from whoever was still standing. To his credit, he had begun to organize as best he could. It was still chaos, but he was managing to take requests, send off whatever volunteer was nearest to assist, and have Cal take on grabbing potions and herbs from the stores as needed. Rolan was no healer, but he could wrap a wound before too much blood was lost as some poor soul waited for someone to be available. He could also bark orders, arrange for Fists to section off high risk patients from those who could survive without immediate attention. 

There were two surgeons he had managed to recruit. Their space was at the very back near the necromancy supplies were, with a temporary shielding wall of stone. It didn’t drown the screams of agony as they operated but it prevented anyone from witnessing an amputation. 

When the heroes of the hour burst through the door of the tower, even amongst the chaos, Rolan knew something was wrong. They looked like hell. Jaheira was bleeding from a deep wound on her head, Shadowheart was limping, and even Minsc who was always quick to get back on his feet looked like he had been thrown from a twenty story building and felt it. A good chunk of the party was missing. Wyll and Karlach were nowhere to be seen. In fact way too many of them were just gone. Astarion, Gale and Lae’zel didn’t follow, and neither did Tav. Halsin was the very last of them in, carrying someone.

“A bed! Now!” The Archdruid’s voice boomed over the chaos

A humming sound rang in his ears, the entire world pinpointed to the form of the woman in Halsin’s arms as he was directed to place her on a free bed by a Fist. 

Rolan let his feet guide him to her side, a numb feeling keeping panic at bay. On the bed was a bloody mess of a woman, who in all appearances looked like Tav but… That surely wasn’t his Tav. That was an empty shell; the skin had no vibrancy, the only truly bright color was the blood leaking out of the deep wound in her stomach. Her eyes, open staring up at the ceiling, were empty. 

Shadowheart placed her hands over Tav and the glow of her healing magic flashed and ebbed away. She tried again, but the magic stuttered out. Shadowheart let out a strangled scream in frustration, pounding glowing hands into Tav's chest and each rush of power was weaker and weaker.

“What are you doing? Heal her,” Rolan demanded. “Fix her!”

“I can’t —“ Shadowheart’s voice cracked. 

“Shadowheart’s magic is spent,” Jaheira’s tone was sharp but even, the voice of a General. “And healing magic won’t work on her now. This is a magic shop — find a resurrection scroll.” 

Resurrection implied she was dead. Logically, yes, he could see that. Tav was dead, nothing more than spent flesh and blood. But this was not supposed to happen, this was beyond everything he knew of her.

She always survives. She always does the impossible. She can't be dead.

“How did this happen?”

“Rolan,” Shadowheart pleaded his name, disregarding the question, “do you have a resurrection scroll?” 

The buzzing in his ears stopped, the cacophony of the tower coming back to him. A solution that he could focus on. He took off in a sprint, jumping over the counter. His hands shook as he opened the safe where they kept the high value scrolls.  

“Rolan, that Florrick lady is here, she brought some — what’s wrong?”

He didn’t hear Lia come up, and didn’t take the time to acknowledge her as he started reading through the stock. “We must have one.”

“Talk to me,” Lia said again getting his attention, “what’s happened?”

An idea jolted him, there were stores and stores of supplies in the study. “Upstairs, in the study, the scroll collection —“ he quickly said, “we need a resurrection scroll.”

“But —“

“Check the vaults, check the study — find me a resurrection scroll!” 

Taking in his frantic tone, Lia ran off without further question. There was no possible way this was how Tav’s story ended. In a numb haze he remembered what little he knew about healing and divine magic; there was a time limit on a basic resurrection spell. At some point a soul was too far gone and True Resurrection would be the only other option. Plain resurrection scrolls were rare enough as it was, but a True Resurrection scroll was near impossible for most people to get ahold of. 

Chain of lightning, hold person, cloud kill — his hands fumbled to work as fast as he read the scrolls. He had no real idea how much time was passing, but each second was too long. There were dozens of scrolls, and he looked at each one. Finding nothing of use he ran around the counter to start up the stairs.

He should have told her at High Hall. He should have just said it. He should have thought to find a scroll ahead of time for this very purpose. What a cosmic joke, for her to have made it this far, only to die at the finish line. She deserved better. He would make sure she got a better ending than this. He nearly ran into Lia jumping the last few steps of the staircase. 

“I found one!” 

She held up the scroll and he snatched it out of her hand, narrowly dodging a healer as he ran to the bed where Shadowheart was praying desperately. 

“Found — the scroll —“ he stammered out, short of breath. 

“Use it, quickly,” Jaheira said. 

His fingers fumbled with the clasp that held it shut, as it unfurled he knew he needed to breathe through the panic in his chest. He could do an incantation, he could read the words off of a scroll as he had a hundred times before. There was not a God he prayed to usually, not one he thought to plead with specifically. Mystra, maybe. But given what he knew of her and her friends, Mystra might not be so inclined to help Tav. 

His willpower would have to be enough; this was not how her story ended, he repeated to himself. She was too good, too resilient, too kind, too forgiving, too infuriatingly wonderful — too loved.  Rolan was not going to let her disappear that easily, he vowed as he spoke the incantation.

The spell took hold, golden light shuddering Tav’s body, and then disappearing. For a terrifyingly long moment, he was unsure if it worked. But her eyes blinked, at first it looked like a twitch, but then they fluttered a few times and the light was back in them. Her limbs jolted like she had been electrocuted and then a truly shocking deep gasp for air had her sitting up on the cot. 

“There you are, Cub,” Jaheira said, a steady hand on her shoulder which emitted the familiar green light of her Druidic magic. “Didn’t think we’d let you get out of cleaning up, did you?”

“Hurts,” she sucked breaths in desperately. 

“Lay down,” Shadowheart said. “We’ll find a healer.”

“Where —?”

Rolan was frozen to the spot. She still looked so close to death. Her head swiveled over to him, eyes confusedly still searching for some sense of what was going on. 

“You.” Was all she said. 

“Yeah, me,” he breathed. “Lay down. You look awful.”

“Rude,” she wheezed but let herself ease onto her back. “I think you look… good…” exhaustion, pain or any combination of whatever her body was going through had her slipping out of consciousness. 

“Tav,” Rolan panicked, kneeling next to her. “Damn you, stay awake,” he grabbed her face in his hands and she gave him a heavy lidded stare. 

“Trying,” she said. 

She was still in rough shape. Halsin and Jahiera dumped the last dregs of their limited healing magic into her, doing just enough to keep her from bleeding out on the bed once more. Shadowheart tipped her head back for a basic healing potion, and it dribbled down the side of her face but it brought some of the vibrancy of her skin.

“She won’t succumb to the wounds, but she needs healing quickly,” Halsin seemed to be talking to himself more than them, as he took off to find someone to help. 

“You can rest now,” Shadowheart assured her softly. “Right, Rolan?” 

He wasn’t so sure. But Shadowheart was a healer, she knew better than him. He swallowed hard, and nodded. “That’s right.”

“Good,” Tav mumbled, “tired.” 

Shadowheart and Rolan watched as she slipped into unconsciousness. Her chest rose and fell, although shallowly. Shadowheart heaved a big breath, recomposing herself. She looked around the room, and then to Rolan.

“I need to rest, then I’ll be able to help,” she seemed to be telling herself rather than him. “I’ll stay here,” she said, “I’ll stay with her and rest.”

“What can I do?” Rolan asked desperately. 

“You are the Master of Ramazith’s tower,” Jahiera cut in. “This is your city, you have a duty to its people now — unless you wish to follow Lorroakan’s example, get to work.” Jaheira looked down at Tav, “we will look after her, as she has looked after us.”

Rolan never felt more like an outsider, and he felt he should watch whatever healer Halsin found. If only to see for himself that she was truly going to be alright. Shadowheart was watching the rise and fall of her chest with intense focus, and it felt wrong that she was the only one of their original group by her side. 

“Rolan, there’s a fire that they can’t put out over in Heapside,” Cal was there, Rolan hadn’t even heard him approach. 

“There’s summoning scrolls, water elementals,” he said distractedly. 

“Go,” Shadowheart looked at him. “We’ve got her.”

“And that is supposed to be a comfort?” He snapped. “She was dead just moments ago under your watch!”

“She didn’t tell us,” Shadowheart said back, a tone of shame in her raised voice. “Everything was happening so fast — she didn’t tell us she was hurt!”

“No one here is to blame,” Jaheira was annoyed, he could tell by the arch of her brow. “She would tell you the same.”

He felt another comment on the tip of his tongue, ready to rage and yell to do something with the gods awful feeling in his chest. He nearly lost her. 

“Rolan,” Cal said, “we have to —“

“Fine! Fine.” 

The city still needed saving, despite the threat being gone. Who knew how much help was needed across the city. Running to everyone's rescue was what she would tell him to do, but still he was afraid to leave her side. He touched her cheek: warm, alive, despite looking worse than she ever had after a fight. 

“She’ll be alright?” He asked, wincing slightly at the desperate crack in his voice. 

Shadowheart nodded, her hand coming to squeeze his, “I promise, I won’t let her slip away again.”

Rolan had no other choice but to trust her.

Thank you for reading!

Next Chapter

[coricomile]

I think my biggest objection to the idea that Joke gets no focus on his trauma or that the show downplays it vs Jack or others in the debtor sphere is that he does. He gets slapped in the face over and over again, but keeps coming back to help because that's all he knows and expects. Joke's reaction to anything going wrong is to swallow it and say it tastes good. Please, sir, may I have another?

It is a central part of his character. 

Jack, Save, Tattoo, Hoy, and even Aran have a fallback. They know they have people that will love and support them even through the shittiest things they do. Tattoo is the catalyst for everything that has gone sideways. He is the direct cause of everything that has gone wrong from the initial heist. But Joke forgives him and swallows the responsibility to fix everything at his own cost, because that is how he handles failure. 

Jack knows Joke didn't do well in school. He knows that some ten-fifteen years ago he got a hand me down workbook with errors and tear stains that ended up being from Joke, but that was from a child. He doesn't understand how deep that academic failure has impacted Joke's core idea of being "stupid". He sees Joke the way Joke sees him- talented and smart. Joke's smartness doesn't come from books like Jack's does. It comes from observation and social interactions. 

And I don't think the show was playing that moment as a- hah- joke. His panic attack is shown building and building until it's broken by his father's surprise entrance. Jack wanted Joke to realize how smart he is, because he knows Joke has so much wisdom and wanted him to have that moment. But wisdom and intelligence are different stats for a reason. It's part of Jack and Joke's fundamental differences. 

Jack throws himself on the spike because he knows someone will pull him off eventually. He is needed. His community relies on him in a heavy, heavy way. Joke throws himself on just hoping his body will be a decent shield until someone better comes along because he can't fathom anyone needing him in that way. Joke has always seen himself as the sidekick or a background character, and when the show is in his POV it reacts that way with him. 

Let Free the Curse of Taekwondo has been getting lots of kudos for how it portrays the ways Dohoe and Juyeong- and Hyeonho, to a lesser extent- handle the trauma that was thrust onto them in different ways based on who they are as people. And it is a great portrayal. But I also hate that Dohoe's trauma steamrolls over both Hyeonho and Juyeong and that they both spend the back half of the show literally and figuratively bowing and pleading to him because they were in the wrong, because their trauma turned into trying to make amends to a man that didn't want them. I was not rooting for him at all, even understanding his viewpoint. 

Part of it is just individual experience. A lot of these themes hit super close to home, and we see ourselves in specific characters. It hurts seeing the character we identify with getting stomped on, and it is easy to bypass the other one getting kicked.

[uhzuku]

╰─▸ ❝ 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬. ❞ ──── 𝐟𝐭. 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐢.

𝐬𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬: “soon, i will make you my wife,” he promises softly, holding her hands to his chest, and y/n looks up at him with eyes that reflect a million stars as she smiles.

𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐦: avatar ( 2009/2022 ) | 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: tonowari/fem!reader, background ronal/tonowari, past neteyam/fem!reader | 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: nsfw ; minors dni | 𝐰/𝐜: 4.19k.

𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: age gap, soft dom tonowari, mentioned past bottom tonowari, romance-oriented, reader is besties w neteyam ( they’ve had some sexytimes tho so besties w benefits real ), bi neteyam supremacy, bi reader too bitch, cockwarming, previously established relationship, secret to not-so-secret relationship, reader and neteyam are twenty, canon divergent world building ( metkayina olo’eyktans commonly have multiple wives, etc ), jealousy.

— 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐦𝐞 !!

“fuck, i’ve wanted you all day.”

tonowari’s voice, low and thick with arousal, is muffled as he mouths along the line of y/n’s collarbone, a breathy smile quirking up her lips as she reaches up to cup the back of his head, cradling it as he laves her skin with attention. 

“i could tell,” she murmurs, tipping her head back ever so slightly to give him more places to kiss. 

“yeah? ‘s that why you were all over that damn boy?” he grumbles against her flesh, and she laughs softly and relaxes further in his hold as he shifts a little, his length buried oh-so-sweetly inside shifting with him. the fullness that came with it only further calmed her; goddess above, she wished this would never end. 

“you’re always so jealous of neteyam, aren’t you?” she asks quietly, taking a lock of his hair in hand and beginning to quickly braid it as she’d done time and time again with her best friend and his younger siblings and parents. the act cemented bonds and love between na’vi in omaticayan culture, and tonowari only tipping his head closer so she wouldn’t have to stretch as much made her smile. 

tonowari growls out a low, “he’s laid with you many times before — you’ve said so yourself,” and y/n scoffs and lets go of the half started braid to hold it in one hand as the other rubs at his cheek fondly. 

“and you’ve fucked ronal enough to sire two children with a third on the way,” she  retorts, then hums thoughtfully as she begins braiding with his hair again. “although i can’t really fault you for it; if i was married to ronal and had the means, we would have a handful of children as well.” this makes him smile.  

“it makes me happy that you are still attracted to my wife despite the way she’s treated you this far,” he murmurs, nuzzling against her as his former  jealousy is left forgotten. 

“she is your first wife, jealousy is to be expected,” y/n muses, then chuckles. “and hopefully i can find ways to… appease the disliking she has for me.”

tonowari’s eyes twinkle. “i don’t doubt you’ll manage to get your way,” he says honestly, and y/n chuckles quietly before letting the untied braid disappear into the rest of his curls as she settles against his chest. they sit together like this for a while, resting as one beneath a high blanket of stars and moons granted to them by the great mother. y/n hums softly, taking one of tonowari’s large hands into both of her own, and he gazes down at her fondly as she toys with his fingers. 

“i’ll have to return soon, you know,” she finally says, breaking the comfortable silence, and tonowari sighs. 

“must you? surely i could just tug you along to my marui.”

y/n laughs. “no. neteyam waits for me at the shores, practicing for the dives he is to go on — just as ronal waits for you within the marui you so lazily just mentioned.”

tonowari  sighs, but nods in agreement. “yes, you’re right,” he mumbles quietly, nuzzling against her gently before carefully helping the two of them part and begin to make themselves decent again. 

as y/n finishes tying the top that she’d made a fortnight prior, tonowari takes her hands in his own. “soon, i will make you my wife,” he promises softly, holding her hands to his chest, and y/n looks up at him with eyes that reflect a million stars as she smiles. 

“keep this promise, and i will bear you half a dozen sons,” she sighs, and he laughs. 

“i need no more children as long as i have you,” he replies, a warm look in his eye as he reaches a hand up to cup her cheek. “tomorrow night, you and i will bond for life — if you will have me.”

y/n gazes up at him, pleased, and nods once, then the two go their separate ways. 

“hey, uh, y/n — where were you and neteyam last night?”

the sudden question, sprung on her by her best friend’s younger brother lo’ak, had the elder na’vi woman tensing. neteyam cuts his eyes at her from the side, his tail swishing over to rest on top of hers for a slight second before moving back, and she chuckles a little before returning to cutting up the fruit she was handing out, giving the first piece ( completely rid of the bitter peel ) to a whining, oblivious tuk, who accepts it excitedly. 

“why were you awake so late, lo’ak?” she retorts good naturedly, neteyam smiling softly in amusement by her side as he also resumes his work on descaling one of the fish he’d caught that morning when meeting up with y/n on her return from her escapade. he’d been practicing his breathing techniques all night — and unlike his brother, he knew exactly what y/n had been doing. she’d never been too shy about sharing — not with him. 

“i asked you first,” lo’ak replies, and y/n raises an eyebrow. 

“i asked you second. plus i’m older than you,” she says simply, pulling a full grin from her best friend as he cast the scales in his hand onto a large leaf he had resting to the side of him that y/n wasn't occupying ( as usual ).

lo’ak pouts playfully, a smile he was fighting off making the corners of his mouth twitch. he clearly wants to keep asking about it, nosy as ever, and kiri is also about to say something as y/n hands her her own large cut of fruit, but they both drop the subject when jake exits the marui not too far away with neytiri following closely. none of them wanted to see how they’d blow the adult na’vi slipping out of their new home in the middle of the night out of proportion. 

“morning, kids!” jake greets warmly, tail swishing happily behind him, and neytiri echoes the sentiment while kissing the top of tuk’s head. neteyam and y/n share a look, unable to understand how both his father and his mother were always so damn cheery in the mornings when they always felt like death; their own mornings typically included hisses and growls shot between the two of them directed at one another, with the occasional nip or full-on bite being shared. 

jake and neytiri take their places in the messy circle made up by the little group, leaning against one another fondly. jake graciously accepts the fruit offered by y/n once kiri and lo’ak get their own large hunks of the fruit, tipping his head in appreciation and thanks as he gently takes it from her and begins to eat, neytiri being offered the next piece. soft conversation starts as everyone eats what they’ve been given and y/n cuts neteyam his own piece, holding it up to him while continuing to cut one handed so he can also eat while he continues preparing fish. he takes a bite, bumping his nose against her knuckles in thanks as he chews, and the two loop their tails together fondly as they return to work. neytiri and jake share a look between themselves, both smiling at the sight. they were so, so sure that they’d find the two had disappeared and then returned mated sometime soon — and they were so excited for it! y/n had been a constant fixture in their lives for so long now, having been best friends with neteyam since the two were still learning to crawl. she’d melded perfectly with their family over the last twenty years, she and neteyam were thick as thieves, and neytiri had been so excited to see what she would do as tsahik before they’d had to flee. now she would not be tsahik, just as neteyam would not be olo’eyktan, but they were still more than anticipating the eventual official welcome into their family ( as well as the grandchildren that would follow ).

in their distraction with one another, they miss the way y/n’s eyes and ears flick towards the passing chief of the metkayina, the large male looking at her as well through the corner of his eye as he passes while making rounds of the village as he did every morning. she raises an eyebrow and he obviously fights off a slight smile before carrying on on his way. neteyam, watching all of this in amusement, uncurls his tail from hers and slaps her on the back with it gently, regaining her attention as she turns to smack him back and  start squabbling with him through a smile of her own. 

his parents and siblings, oblivious as ever, just hide their smiles and laughter as they watch the two. 

the work day begins after that, neteyam and y/n make their way through the village doing the tasks assigned to them with relative ease and swiftness, much to the pleasure of the metkayina and their leaders. the two had taken to ocean life and works with ease, working hard and long to earn their keep all day long. 

their tails, linked as always, keep them from losing each other as they travel through the busy epicenter of the village, a place teeming with children and expecting mothers and the elderly and sickly as well as other working na’vi, and neither pay attention to the occasional stares they get for it. 

“so… gonna tell me more about your little adventure last night?” he murmurs into her ear as they sit down at a more private spot with all of the seagrass, reeds, and other things that they’d be hand weaving into baskets and braiding into nets today. 

y/n laughs softly, a twinkle in her eye that neteyam was excited to see ( it had been so long, after all ). “how much do you want to know?” she asks quietly, taking a few reeds and stripping them to get the stringy insides, her fingers flying as she begins braiding them as easily as she braided neteyam’s hair. 

“skxawng — you know i want you to tell me everything,” he snaps through a grin. “you got fucked by the metkayina olo’eyktan, and this seduction of yours has been months in the making. don’t be so cruel as to keep secrets from me.”

y/n is quiet for a while, thinking about what he said, before replying with a, “well, it was more like i fucked him,” that has neteyam’s jaw dropping around a wild smile. 

“you topped him?!” he hisses, laughing a little, and y/n grins back as she shrugs. 

“i don’t kiss and tell,” she says in mock-snootiness, and he scoffs and bumps her with his shoulder. 

“liar, you’ve told me how all your lovers’ cum tasted, tell me how it was,” he retorts, ignoring her hiss for him to lower his voice as she giggles a little. 

“it was…” she sighs. “god, neteyam, it was so good.” he raises an eyebrow and waits for her to continue, which she does. “he was so attentive and sweet — nothing like the bumbling omaticaya boys, and he knew how to eat it unlike most of the omaticaya girls and boys.”

neteyam grins. “so you’re saying… this is a man,” he says, and y/n swats at him through a grin of her own before giggling deviously. 

“one could say that it’s two men,” she purrs, and neteyam’s eyes widen. 

“it’s that big?!” he hisses, and she nods wildly with a wide smile. the two fall apart in the revelation she shared, tossing opinions back and forth, including thoughts of ronal; neither were unfamiliar with partners of the same sex, and both had been a part of a group of na’vi seeking pleasure more than once, always groups including both of them. neteyam knew what y/n liked, had seen her go for it in person multiple times, and from what both had murmured about in the dark ( even during times the two had fucked here in awa’atlu before y/n had really set her sights on tonowari and his wife ) he knew that she more than liked what she saw when gazing at the olo’eyktan and tsahik. 

“god, ‘teyam, i came four times,” y/n groans, covering her face for a second, and neteyam’s eyes widened. 

“you were only gone for an hour!” he cries quietly; both notice when ronal enters the center area of the village and that she’s watching them, but act as if they don’t notice the glares sent y/n’s way by the tsahik in favor of continuing their conversation. “we went out together to practice and then you caught his scent and ditched me —goddess above, it must have been good.  is that why you came back on such shaky legs?”

“you have no idea,” y/n murrs, leaning against him fondly. “he’s one of the best i’ve ever had. i mean it.”

neteyam looks impressed. “damn,” he replies, “you better fucking lock that down.”

y/n giggles. “do you not see the way ronal is looking at me?” she asks warmly, and neteyam scoffs. 

“she always looks at you like that, she hates you,” he retorts, and it was true; while it was a known metkayina custom for their olo’eyktan to take on more than one partner and/or mate, tonowari and ronal’s relationship was well known as he had stayed with her and her alone for just over twenty years now. “you better go down on her like you did irta’ne back home.” y/n rolls her eyes.

“tonowari and i have been meeting more than just last night,” she says ( as if neteyam doesn’t already know ). “we’ve had many conversations, learned much about each other. last night we only wished to press further — and once we were done, he promised that tonight we would make tsaheylu and confirm our relationship, that i would become his wife.” this bit of information surprises neteyam; he’d obviously known that the two had been meeting up, and that the two had been engaging in sexual pleasure with each other for the last three or so months, but this? this was new. y/n had never entertained the thought of mating before with anyone but him ( they’d sworn that if they both were still unmated by the time they turned thirty that they’d bond with each other when they’d passed their iknimaya back home ); this was big. he opens his mouth to comment on it, but y/n isn’t finished. “he told me that he’d told ronal of his intentions already. that’s why she’s been avoiding us as best she can.”

“and as usual, i’m being punished by association,” neteyam groans playfully, laughing a little when y/n pushes him slightly, only to get serious. “really though, i am happy for you — this is really important. i know you’ve been hesitant about mating, and to know that you consider tonowari and ronal the perfect match is good.”

y/n smiles. “thank you,” she whispers, truly happy, and the two press close and intertwine their tails again before returning to their work, which they’d been distracted from. a thought comes to y/n, and she snorts, and when neteyam gives her a confused look she squints at him. 

 “and by the way, when i get my hands on ronal, i’ll have her howling like i had all the girls, not just irta’ne,” she grumbles matter-of-factly. 

neteyam just laughs. 

night falls sooner than either neteyam or y/n planned, and before know it they’re returning to the marui they shared with the rest of neteyam’s family and  settling down for the night. y/n curls up beside neteyam on their shared bedroll as usual, their tails curling together as they tended to throughout the day and at all times while they slept, and when they give their second blanket to tuk because she complains of still being cold they press closer to one another, whispering back and forth in volumes far too low for even their family member to head despite being so close. once again jake and neytiri share knowing glances ( though truthfully they knew nothing at all ) as they get ready for rest as well, and soon everything is silent aside from the sounds of them sleeping. 

y/n hums in her sleep, pressing closer to neteyam on instinct then blinking awake slowly when the warmth of his body seeps into her more. she glances through slitted eyes towards the window, seeing the darkness outside, and slowly disentangles herself from her friend, who blearily opens his eyes before squinting up at her. 

“it is time,” she whispers, not having to explain herself, and suddenly he’s wide awake. he sits up.

“i’m so happy for you,” he whispers, smiling fondly at her, and she smiles back. 

“me too,” she responds softly, and he gets up to walk her out of the marui, neither noticing neytiri’s eyes open and widen as she sees the two walk out hand in hand as quietly as possible. she smiles, excited for the impending announcement from her son and future daughter tomorrow, and tries to go back to sleep.

neteyam and y/n part ways halfway to the usual meeting spot that tonowari and y/n shared, and neteyam bumps his nose against hers once fondly. “good luck,” he whispers. “if you need me, yell for me; i’ll listen.”

“perv,” y/n murmurs softly through a slight smile, and neteyam scoffs. 

“nevermind, skxawng,” he replies, rolling his eyes and smiling before backing off. y/n sends a nod his way, then turns and walks toward the spot she intended to meet tonowari. it’s not too far of a swim once she reaches the water, and she finds him waiting for her still dripping wet; he clearly had only just gotten here himself, knelt surrounded by the glowing flora and beneath eywa’s many stars. 

“tonowari,” y/n calls softly, and she sees his ears flick up excitedly before he turns with a smile, watching with interest as she pulls herself from the water. 

“hello, my love,” he murmurs, walking towards her and resting his hands on her hips. she presses her body against him, sighing happily as she soak up his warmth, and smiles against him as she feels him chuckle. “i have waited all day for tonight,” he whispers, and she laughs. 

“oh? and why do you speak so softly when we are the only ones here?” she asks, her voice just as quiet. he leans down and presses his forehead against hers, not responding, and she melts into it. 

“out of respect for you.”

goddess above. no one, man or woman, had ever made her feel the way he did. 

she pulls away from him, slowly moving around him in a dance he mimics as they circle one another. the tension between them grows, and he follows her deeper into the glowing depths of the lone island that housed more flora than was present at the beaches, the island that reminded her of the forest she used to call home. tonowari had brought her here on their tenth or so escapade when he remembered what it looked like and hoped that it could bring her a sense of comfort; she had cried that night, and had held him close. they had done nothing but sleep in each other’s arms, and it was what had boosted their romantic relationship in ways they could never come back from. after that day, y/n had cut off neteyam. 

“come,” y/n whispers over her shoulder, disappearing onto the trees, and tonowari follows like a starving man to a meal, never one to deny her. they rush through the plants growing everywhere, each step they take lighting up the plants beneath their feet and marking their way before slowly fading out as they continue forward until finally they stop before a grove of trees that glowed the most beautiful shades of pinks, purples, and blues. the two stand side by side in silence, staring, before y/n wraps her hands around tonowari’s wrist and studies it, knowing he’s looking down at her fondly but nervous to witness it; tonowari had such a way when it came to speaking with just his eyes, and it took her breath away every time. 

“if you are nervous, we can wait,” he murmurs, but y/n shakes her head. 

“no,” she whispers. “i want this. i want you.”

the two press on into the trees before finding a spot y/n deemed perfect, pressing close enough that their skin pressed flush against the other. y/n climbs on top of where he’s knelt on his knees, cupping his face in both of her hands and staring into his eyes as the two speak wordlessly. the stars, scattered between the glowing flora above them, reflect in his eyes, and she finds herself dangerously close to being lost in them until he tilts his jaw up to kiss her. melting into it, y/n moved her hands from where they’d cupped his face to where she can loosely loop her arms around his neck and over his shoulder, her wrists crossed and hands hanging limply in only the way they’d ever be around him. 

“i love you,” he whispers into her mouth, and she bites at his bottom lip before returning the phrase. his hands begin to wander, stopping to toy at the ties of her loincloth on her hips, and she lifts them so he can remove it easier so they can begin. tonowari’s own loincloth has mysteriously been discarded already as y/n sinks back down to sit on his thick thighs, and she laughs happily into the crook of his neck. “what’s so funny?”

“your eagerness for tonight has shown itself endlessly to me,” y/n admits, shifting to press his cock ( long since hardened ) against her slit, and he laughs as well. 

“how could i not be eager for you?” he asks fondly, running his thumb over the soft skin of her hip. “my family is soon to grow by the grace of the great mother and by you, loving me.”

“who says i love you?” y/n retorts affectionately, already reaching for his braid as he does the same for hers with a snort. 

“you yourself, not more than two minutes ago,” he breathes as they hold their queues up to one another. they’re both just out of reach of the other, the silky pink strands reaching for the other in a silent insistence that only furthered their thoughts of this being what was intended. 

tonowari glances up at y/n and takes in they way she eyes the beginnings of their bond with wonder, then looks back down as she begins to move her wrist ever so slightly. one strand of her queue links with his, and their pupils blow together and tonowari’s one-handed grip on her hip tightens enough to bruise  as the bond begins to form. endless emotions and feelings fly through the bond, y/n sinking down on his cock and making them both gasp at the sudden feelings coursing through them. it wasn’t their first time fucking, nor was it their first time getting sexual, but goddess above was this different than every other time they’d shared. 

lifting herself up, y/n relishes the slide inside as his cock slowly leaves her body before she drops back down, filling herself up with him again. she lets go of her braid on favor of wrapping her arms around him, uncharacteristically vulnerable, as he does the same. “close, i want you close,” she whimpers, and he purrs against her throat. 

“we cannot get any closer than we are now, my love,” he breathes. “great goddess above, thank you — thank you, y/n, for this.”

“yes — yes, yes, yes… f-fuck,” y/n whimpers, and tonowari groans and begins to meet the drop of her hips with thrusts of her own. 

“s-so good, my love, so good for me, just like that…” he moans, pressing his face into her chest and furrowing his brow as the pleasure rolls over him like tides on the shore. she’s warm, and she’s soft, and he can’t get enough. 

they fuck until they both are exhausted, then curl up beneath the trees with one of her legs hiked up and thrown over him, his seed dripping from her swollen cunt in a steady stream. her head rests on his chest as one of his hands toys with her braids, and neither can control the smiles on their faces as they rest there together. this time after was for them, to bask in the glow that followed tsaheylu, and to relish the feelings that came with it. both are lulled into a serene sleep, aided by the rolling waves and the wind in the trees and the warmth of the other’s body. 

explanations — to the clan and to the sullys — could come with the rise of the sun. 

𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐲𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 © { 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑 } 𝐛𝐲 𝟒𝐈𝐙𝐀𝐖𝐀𝐒. 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐲, 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞, 𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭.

[syoddeye]

You convince the 141 to play Dungeons and Dragons.

Disclaimer: This is clearly for shits and giggles. I've GM'd for a few years now, and I had to combine my first love, DnD, and my current obsession, COD. I stuck to Basic Rules content.

Somehow, you've convinced the 141 to play Dungeons and Dragons with you. You reason there's enough downtime for a decent campaign, and it might be nice to have another outlet that isn't exercise-based. After all, DnD is a collaborative and creative game - good for the ol' brain, right?

Kyle bought the Player's Handbook, printed extra character sheets, and picked up a set of dice. He's read the handbook, planned for the first three levels of his character, and has a backstory with all the important bits highlighted. He's easily the most prepared. The most excited, too, though he's a little sheepish about it. His first character is classic and highly strategic: Half-Elf Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer, with plans to multiclass into Paladin, Oath of Devotion.

Soap is equally excited as Kyle - for different reasons. He went a little nuts at the local game shop. Does he need more than one set of dice at this point? No. Does he have three, just in case? Yes. He also bought a miniature that corresponds with his character. He was torn about his character for weeks but ultimately chose a reliable build: Mountain Dwarf Barbarian, Path of the Totem Warrior.

John is skeptical. This isn't really his thing, but he'll entertain it and give it a go for you. Doesn't stop him from grumbling about it every time you ask how character creation is going, if he has any ideas about what class he wants to try, what kind of character he can see himself playing...Makes it a sweet surprise when he turns up with a used copy of the handbook, several pages dog-eared, and a bullet-point list of his character's background. His character surprises you too: Dragonborn Tempest Cleric, with plans to multiclass into a Battle Master Fighter.

Ghost shows little interest, but John convinces him to attend Session Zero at least. And, like John, getting information from him is like pulling teeth. One night, while up to use the restroom, you actually catch Ghost hunched over a player's handbook. If you didn't know any better, he's a little embarrassed to be seen  'studying'. When you turn to leave him alone, though, he pipes up - he's got questions. At Session Zero, he wordlessly presents the character you helped him with: Variant Human Rogue, Arcane Trickster. He might take a level or two in Warlock if he keeps playing. (He does.)

[clayderogatory]

okay let me just say i am a big music nerd and also a big resident evil nerd. put two and two together, and now you have this. greetings and salutations everyone and today i am going to analyze and discuss the 4 major boss themes in resident evil 4 remake and my interpretations of each one.

note that i am no big music theory major, but i know way too much about resident evil and i know how music can influence how someone can feel and how it can relate to the characters they are for.

the bosses i am going to be talking about are as follows:

Bitores Méndez, Ramón Salazar, Krauser, and Osmund Saddler.

they will go in order right under the cut!! i hope u enjoy because this actually took hours to write im not even kidding.

Bitores Méndez:

Starting off with Méndez, his boss theme is very very different from the OG. What the Remake has, I believe it further demonstrates and shows to the player through music more insight on how he is presented in the game.

In the original, his theme is really just...eerie. It's unsettling, with much of it being very high pitched and almost just screaming in your ear. Some really other good examples of this are like—for instance—the very end of the Undertale Genocide route or like Something in Omori. It's made to be unnerving, like something is incredibly wrong in the situation you are in. But for Méndez's theme in the OG, it's really as far as it goes. It's just high pitched noises with creepy sound effects, almost like something is chasing you. There's even remnants of someone screaming in the background if you listen super closely.

The thing I love with the Remake is that they added so much more to this theme. Firstly, they kept that eerie high pitched noise that was primarily in the OG's soundtrack, in the background. That feeling and that aspect is still there in the song, but they added more instruments so that it was definitely more of a boss theme. There's drums, violins, tubas, etc. Those were at least the main ones I heard upon inspection.

Méndez is supposed to be the first big bad in re4r, he's kind of like the strong and seemingly invincible character for a good long while. He doesn't talk much, he's just there to follow Saddler's orders and to carry out his will. You have to try to avoid him in many cases because you can't get past him, but now you're in a situation where you have no other choice but to fight him. The music really amplifies this because it really conveys that feeling that he's like a mindless soldier. He's extremely intimidating, a lot of the music feels like it isn't leading up to this big finale or any sort of release. It's meant to build up tension or suspense, and it isn't much of a build up.

Méndez is there for the purpose to kill, with Las Plagas infecting his mind so badly he doesn't even have thoughts of his own anymore. That's only the first half of the song, because the second does get interesting.

It turns very fast paced and hurried. Like a cat and mouse chase, there's even an added primarily male choir in there to further add to the eerie feeling. It gets a lot more intense, because further in the fight, Leon is doing more to injure Méndez and that tension is finally rising to where it's a much more intense battle because Méndez had mutated a second time and now they are at each other's throats and the heat of battle and the burning building is probably getting to the both of them. And the tension is rising, rising, the music gets louder and its crescendoing more and more and then, it goes quiet.

it's not a big flashy ending, it just fades out to quietness. all of it is over, you can take a break and let what just happened sink in. it's so much more interesting and i do love they incorporated the same eerie noises from the OG into the remake's.

----

Ramón Salazar:

Up next we have Ramòn Salazar, and his remake theme is one of my favorites in the whole game. But starting with the OG, it lays a pretty decent foundation. There's that eerieness to it in the first, but then it grows a bit bigger. It primarily has a lot of organ parts to it. Plainly stating, Ramòn is from Royalty, he lives in a castle and had people do his bidding and such. His official title is of a Castilian.

He is also very weak compared to everyone else, and he hides behind the stronger ones with his rank and title. Organs are very primarily used in settings of where we are now, a very gothic style castle where before Los Illuminados came, everyone there was very Catholic. Which in other cases, they can be heard in churches as well. They're typically seen as very creepy instruments that unnerve many people. There's also usage of violins and a choir, which give this feeling of almost like a Haunted Mansion like sound as if there were ghosts taunting you.

Interestingly enough, there's also some more modern hints in the song with a faint electric bass in there. It's also a little waltzy, like it has elements where you could kinda dance to it. It has a similar tension where it rises and rises and then goes quiet again.

But what I really want to get to now is his remake theme, holy shit it is so so SO amazing. Ramòn in remake is very vastly different from OG, he has that same element of being weak and using his authority to always have a higher ground, but he isn't nearly as cowardly. He has a way more sadistic mind to him, and even in records found in the game, he was described to be this nasty little guy who reveled in seeing people suffer.

he also presents the whole section as like a story or a play. He calls Leon a "gallant knight" and Ashley the "princess fair." He's over dramatic, and he sees himself as a higher being than the others. Except for Saddler, because he worships the man—like everyone else.

Already within the theme we are starting off BIG, it's loud, dramatic, very fitting to how he sees everything as a show, a drama even. We get a lot of build up within the first 35 seconds or so. They utilize a lot of choir parts within this, mainly SSA (sopranos and altos) to make it very high pitched and giving that eerie vibe again. The title of the song comes into play too, "Baile de la Muerte," or as translated, The Dance of Death. Already off the bat it sounds as dramatic as the music is, and because the song is very much a waltz.

It's also something to note that Ramón moves around a LOT in this fight, similar to how you move in a dance. But he looks a lot more like a horrifyingly mutilated bug so it's more annoying than anything.

String instruments are HUGE in this song, and especially that choir part mentioned earlier coming in really heavy towards the middle. There is some more SATB (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) at this part compared to the beginning. There's already so much tension because the song starts big and keeps. getting. BIGGER. towards the end the choir part keeps striking with more and more tension, its keeps building and building, and then HUGGEEE beat drop where there is just this beautiful and amazing finale that is just so so SO dramatic and theatrical. it's like the big end to a show, the strings are fast and furious as the drums are striking and LOUD, and what i believe to be brass instruments just killing it. and the final note ends on a high ass note for the choir and all the instruments coming together to deliver the end of this AMAZING track.

its a dramatic piece for an equally theatrical and dramatic character, and it leaves with this satisfying finish before ending and letting it all settle again.

---

Jack Krauser:

Now with Krauser's theme, it is my favorite in the whole game. I could loop it for hours because it's so catchy and it even ties back to previous lore with his character. Firstly to compare to the OG, the OG and remake are already extremely similar.

It's very strong and heavy, like how Krauser is. It's also very dramatic and one big thing to notice is that there is this kind of very fast drum that is prominent. It's kind of something that you would hear in a theme pertaining to jungles and whatnot, which IS important. I'll get to that in a moment, but, it's a very fast paced song. It does have that tension because Leon is facing a formidable for that he used to know. There's a lot of build ups ready for a beat drop that just adds so much to the intensity. There's not much to say because the melody and sound for this song is pretty much the same as remake, but obviously they expanded on it.

what i really want to get to is remake, because they utilize SO many elements in this to make it really powerful and to support Krauser's character. First and foremost, Krauser and Leon's relationship in remake is different than OG. In OG they were more "comrades" who fought with one another in the military, but in remake, Krauser and Leon, have this relationship where he was his mentor. They both know the same combat skills, it just comes down to who can apply them better in their fight. That's what makes Krauser so terrifying, because he knows everything Leon knows to a higher degree.

As well as that jungle aspect maybe coming from Darkside Chronicles that expanded on Leon and Krauser and Operation Javier. I thought that was a neat touch to add with the music as well, but anyways, this piece is powerful with the primarily male choirs, harmonies, and so. much. buildup. it's leading up to something so much bigger with it's fast paced structure. there's a lot of heavy drums that are just going and going, and it eventually leads to this HUGE beatdrop that really makes it feel more like a final battle. Leon is facing someone that was close to him, even if he was a huge asshole, he was Leon's mentor and taught him everything he knew.

it's so heavily dramatic because the stakes are high, Leon has to get to Ashley before it's too late and try not to get killed by his teacher. It repeats until at the end It leads up and up until it goes to this somber music. Leon has to kill someone he did care about. He proved himself worthy and now has to take the final blow, all while trying not to cry because he was forced into doing it. It leads up to this big big tense feeling until he strikes the blow and it's over.

"I taught you well, Leon."

"That you did, Major, that you did."

---

Osmund Saddler:

With Saddler, it's, again, similar to the OG and to be frank, I'm just gonna talk about the remake. Saddler is so interesting because the whole game has been leading up to him. He's a mystery, he is the leader of Los Illuminados, the one with all the control over everyone in the hivemind. With his theme, they really use a lot of the choir instead of the instruments taking over.

The reason due to this is probably all of the religious themes within Saddler and how he is literally a cult leader. within churches, there are usually church choirs that sing which is probably why it's very abundant in the theme. The music is matching with the choir a lot, and a lot of drums are used in this piece. Compared to some others, there are a lot of flowy parts to the song and also some very staccato moments where it's very on the dot. Especially in the middle where it's very big and intense.

This is a serious battle, Leon has to kill Saddler to get rid of Los Illuminados, and it isn't an easy task. They really keep that feeling of it being such a tough fight and that it is menacing, Saddler is not just a pushover. He wants to spread his cult across the world and he will stop at nothing to try and achieve that. It mainly repeats a lot due to it obviously being a boss theme and it will repeat until you kill the boss, but the ending is so interesting as it goes from this very flowy and moving section, and then it goes down, and then ends abruptly with even a hint of organ snuck in there.

Saddler is posed as a threat, on or off screen, and his theme definitely delivers on that as well.

---

and that is a wrap! if you made it to the end, you get a cookie 🍪

and if anyone wants to discuss anything more, feel free! these are my thoughts and ideas of all of these themes and how they relate to all of the characters they are for :)

[pumpkinpie59]

ranking the tmnt shows based on plot writing, character writing, and what my preferences are:

first off, plot writing

6, tnm

idk what to put here.

5, 2012

it really sucks because its first season’s writing is unironically my favorite writing in the franchise. but then the show steadily gets messier and more inconsistent writing as it goes forward. especially in season 4. i wish i could defend it more but it is at the bottom for me. besides tnm ig

4, 87

i actually like the arcs in 87, but the thing with 87 is that … the plot isn’t the point! but i don’t consider that a flaw. the show is a comedy first, and it’s great at what it does. so yes, even if the plot episodes are pretty forgettable compared to the goofier episodes, it’s not the worst thing in the world. but it’s still number 4.

3, rise

rise is kinda weird because even tho most of the series is comedy filler like 87, it’s most known for its plot. but i think it earns that because sometimes the show will throw in episodes that foreshadow the big plot at the end of the season, and it handles it pretty well for the most part.

2, tales

i honestly really enjoyed the way the plots were set up in tales. since it’s pretty new, i won’t spoil it, but i think my only actual complaint was the framing devices they used. but otherwise it was pretty good.

1, 03

every once in a while, the show would have a hiccup writing-wise, but overall i liked the flow of the arcs and stories it was trying to tell. out of all the tmnt shows, 03 was the best at juggling several arcs at once and committing to giving them closure (cough. unlike 2012-).

okay character writing rankings.

6, tnm

tbf this one has venus. and a pretty good donnie.

5, rise

this is so controversial i know. but i just get so frustrated with how the show handles leo and donnie’s writing specifically. they feel ooc half the time and there’s little consistency. and then raph and mikey (my favorites of the team) were sidelined a lot.

4, 2012

mikey has no character growth whatsoever and is an adhd stereotype. donnie’s development gets thrown to the background so you only notice it if you’re paying attention to him the entire time. leonardo gradually gets worse over the course of the series and we never see him get better. they couldn’t decide what to do with karai half the time. april’s arc got switched for a different one halfway through (i still love her tho). the only one with a decent arc is raph, and i still think it could’ve been better ://

3, 03

this is not a knock at 03. i just think that character growth wasn’t its priority. telling stories was. however we do occasionally see them go through arcs. most obvious is leo, but i also enjoy seeing raph get less hostile and trusting leo more over the course of the first season.

2, 87

you’d have to watch the whole show to see it, but there’s almost … an accidental ?? arc for each turtle??? raphael gets angrier up until it reaches typical raphael levels in red sky, donatello goes through ups and downs of wishing he was never mutated while still pursuing human-level knowledge, michelangelo early on in the show wished he was more human (he changes his mind after becoming human once, but the feeling lingers a bit sometimes), and leonardo goes through anxieties related to his team (he acts differently about being without them depending on the season). but even without considering development, their personalities are written fantastically and i love seeing how they interact with the world around them.

1, tales

this is suspect to change since we’ve only had a movie and a 12-episode show. but what i’ve seen so far, i’ve really liked. my only complaint is that donnie feels different in the show vs the movie ://

and ,,, my biases

6, rise

sorry.

5, tnm

guilty pleasure idk what to say. uh. venus de milo. and turtlelamb <33

4, tales

i liked it a lot! i just want more characters and world building. we’ll see where it goes in the future.

3, 03

i love many aspects of the show. it’s not quite as entertaining to me as the next to tho. idk why but my attention span just can’t handle too much of it.

2, 2012

i grew up with this one. does it suck? oh yeah for sure lmao. but it’s nostalgic and i like a lot of the characters. and season 1 particularly is amazing. sucks for the rest of the show tho lol. i will unashamedly bully it.

1, 87

wow. who would’ve— i mean. man. who could have possibly guessed— this one has lotus blossom so i’d say this one can’t be beat.

[nogoodsheepstealing-greatgrandma]

Team Green: Sorry your faves are boring 😊🤷‍♂️ Sure you're supposed to root for the Blacks but the Greens are just more fun. Jace is boring I'm here for my angsty disaster mess 💚

You realise that's bad writing, right? This is a family civil war drama. One side of that family civil war shouldn't be populated with blank slates. If no effort is made into making Rhaenyra and Daemon's children as fleshed out as Alicent's children then that is bad writing.

Some people find the Lannisters more fun than the Starks, but the Starks are still fleshed out characters (and considering in the books Jace is 14/15, Luke is 13, Joffrey, Baela & Rhaena are 12, Aegon the younger is 9 and Viserys is 7 - these kids ages almost map straight onto the Starklings so they were so meant to be our Targlings). It didn't have to be a zero sum "you can only have ONE side that's interesting". The show is poorer for it. Game of Thrones was a disaster in many ways, but at least the different sides of the conflict had equal screen time and attention.

How hard would it have been to flesh out Jace, or at least give him a half-decent haircut? He could have been a mirror to Jon Snow (they technically have the same initials). One is a bastard who does not know he's a targaryen prince, the other is a targaryen prince who discovers he is a bastard. In a world that hates bastards, that insists they are 'wanton and treacherous by nature', there was plenty of potential to explore some complicated emotions, to give weight to how he feels about being a bastard. The whispers that would have followed him, the scrutiny he would have felt, the internalised guilt and shame, his protectiveness over his little brothers and wish to spare them the truth. Maybe after Alicent confronted Aegon over the pig there could have been a shift where Aegon turns his bullying away from Aemond and towards Jace (more in keeping with book canon). Maybe Jace could feel anxious about lessons with Criston Cole due to his open hatred of him. Maybe he could be equal parts devoted to and resentful of his mother over his parentage, maybe he could be driven to perfectionism to prove himself worthy.

The show made Jace more violent in the fight with Aemond than in the book, by changing who started the fight (from Aemond to Rhaena and co.), by narrowing the age gap to make Jace more of a match for Aemond, and by having him draw a knife instead of a wooden toy sword. But they didn't earn that moment. How much more satisfying would it have been if both Aemond and Jace were given equal emotional weight in the build-up to the fight? If the hurt and anxiety at discovering he was a bastard had been building and building until it burst out. The entire reason the show changed the age dynamic between Rhaenyra and Alicent to make them peers and best friends was supposedly to make their conflict more dramatic - why would you then drop that approach with their kids? How does it make the civil war story better if one half of the next generation of characters aren't really characters?

They didn't even have to put much effort into Baela, as GRRM already had her brimming with personality on the page, but they just... ignored that and made her a non-entity. Oh she gets one punch in, and there's a blink and you'll miss it background shot of her trying to hit Aegon (at this point I don't think the actors were even directed to do that I think they just took it upon themselves). Meanwhile Baela in the books is wild and fearless and deliberately provocative and quick to anger and fiercely defensive of her loved ones and wrestles squires in the training yard and has a pet monkey and sneaks out in search of adventure and brings home 'unsuitable' friends. Including a legless beggar, a blacksmith's apprentice whose muscles she admired, a street conjurer, twin prostitutes and an entire troupe of mummers. And she alarms everyone due to being 'overly fond of boys' and gets epic lines like this when it is suggested she marry Lord Rowan:

“I’ve bedded two of his sons. The eldest and thirdborn, I think it was. Not both at once, that would have been improper.”

She could have been an absolutely chaotic presence onscreen. Rhaena meanwhile is a little more like Sansa to Baela's Arya, but would have needed more work to flesh her out onscreen. Her insecurities and wish for a dragon seemed promising at first, but they were dropped as soon as Aemond lost his eye. Because that was ultimately the narrative purpose she served - to provide a new reason for the fight to start that wasn't Aemond hitting and pushing a toddler into a pile of dragon poo. She helps Aemond's image by being the one to start the fight instead of him, and from then on she becomes a voiceless non-entity. We watch Aemond fly away victoriously on Vhagar, we don't see Rhaena tearfully watching the last link to her mother vanish over the horizon.

Considering the prominent role of bastards during the dance (especially the dragonseeds), the uninterest in exploring bastardy in Jace makes little sense. Considering the centrality of gender to the story (and considering a certain event involving key players during the dance), the lack of effort into Baela and Rhaena makes zero sense (the show doesn't even bring up their right to Driftmark in an episode dedicated to discussing the rightful heir to Driftmark).

Considering especially that in fantasy black women are so often consigned to minor Missandei roles, the fact that we were robbed of Baela and Rhaena as main characters particularly stings. Baela in particular was an easy fan favourite in the book, and its a role that black women and girls so rarely get to play. If you had told me before the show that Helaena would be a fan favourite over Baela, I wouldn't have believed it. And don't get me wrong, I like that they fleshed out Helaena in the show, like Rhaena she didn't have much of a presence in the book. But it is so typical that the relative non-entity that they kept white gets to be fleshed out, while the more fleshed out character that they made black becomes a non-entity. And Helaena is skinny now, of course (all love to Phia Saban, but I am mourning plump Helaena).

And don't get me started on Kylo Raemond.

[amethystfairy1]

For TT, can we have a bit more info about mer culture and where Scott is coming from before he ended up on the old continent? I absolutely love the way you write hybrids, and how much effort you put into the world building of their background and cultures and behaviours. Oooh also, while I'm asking questions, do the hybrids in TT have courtship the way they do in TTSBC? Because that one is somewhat relevant for a few of them.

Oooooooo ok sure!

Let's break down Mer Culture in Traveling Thieves yayyyy!

First of all, the Mer Kingdom and Mer culture is matriarchal! Scott is the son of the Queen of the Mer and one of her concubines/performers. The Queen and other powerful women of noble standing typically have multiple husbands and also there is a very strong courtly culture of performance, and the role of the concubine is very influential in this society. However, this is where the sort of stigma against Siren Spells comes from! Scott inherited his abilities for water magic from his Mom, the magic of the royal bloodline is very powerful which is why Scott is also very powerful and natural with water magic! He inherited his ability to use Siren Spells from his Dad, but Siren Spells are seen as something only used by concubines/performers...it's not something befitting of a royal child, even an illegitimate one like Scott.

Speaking of! If we're talking about Scott and his upbringing, I want to get rid of any notions I'm sure people are assuming that because he was an illegitimate child he was treated poorly, he wasn't! He had a lot of half-siblings and all of them got along decently well, and his parents also had a reasonably healthy and cooperative relationship! Scott was still excluded sometimes, for example he wasn't allowed to show his face at courtly proceedings or performances, but some of his older siblings would occasionally help him hide in the curtains or something so he could watch his Dad perform!

Scott wasn't allowed to practice Siren Spells, because his Mom raised him, as she did all of her male children, to eventually be married off or take up political posts, and both of Scott's parents agreed it would be better for his prospects if no one ever knew that he was capable of using Siren Spells. That doesn't stop him from sneaking off to practice them in secluded areas, but he never received any official training so that's why he's pretty bad with them.

Also also! I wanna describe the Mer Kingdom a bit! Because while I do plan to do some flashbacks from Scott's POV I'm not entirely sure if we'll ever actually go there within the timeline of Traveling Thieves.

Basically think Lizzie's Empires S1 base 😆

AND BEFORE YOU ASK NO LIZZIE IS NOT THE OCEAN QUEEN IN THIS SHE IS NOT SCOTTS MOM NO WE AREN'T DOING THAT 😭

It's just that her base inspires how I think of the Mer Kingdom, like a bunch of towers that emerge from the water but are constructed both above and below water. Also it is within a series of atolls and coral reefs so lots of small islands are all around too. While the Mer can breathe underwater all of their homes and such are watertight and so while they swim place to place when they're inside it's dry and they breathe air, so it's not like Atlantis-style or anything. A lot of buildings are also on top of the islands or build from the shallower ocean shelf and then rising up out of the water. With the Royal Palace being right in the middle of the largest atoll of course!

Scott, as you might've been able to guess, perhaps, from what he said when Jimmy said he was in love with him, was running away from an arranged marriage. And the sad part was it wasn't even technically a marriage. Again, Scott is an illegitimate child, he's the son of the Queen, yes, but he's not a prince. He was raised like one, educated like one, and more or less treated like one with a few exceptions (like how he couldn't attend court) but he is not a prince.

That means by Mer societal convention he can't marry high-class nobility. So the noblewoman he's arranged with, he's technically meant to go be one of her concubines, similar to how his own Father is to his Mother. That doesn't necessarily mean anything sexual by default, but it does basically relegate him to being passed around for his pretty face and his bloodline. It would be a pretty luxurious life, all things considered, and he was also raised fairly spoiled all his life, but even still...Scott's not the type who would just pliantly go along with being a pawn for his Mother to use politically. Plus it really pisses him off because after all these years of being told to hide the fact he could use Siren Spells like his Father and not being allowed to practice them, or learn how to perform like his Father does, all of a sudden his Mother decides to give him away as a concubine instead of marrying him to someone within the mid-tier of courtly society whom Scott would actually be allowed to wed. Scott in this AU really looks up to his Dad, and he also looks very very similar to him, much more so than his Mother, which is also why he's desired for his beauty even amongst Mer. His Dad is the Queen's favorite performer, so you can imagine he's gorgeous as well, and yet after living his whole life being told he had to distance himself from being seen as similar to his Father, all of a sudden he's expected to become a concubine just like him? Without any of the training or practice or skills that his Father has? That's ridiculous! So yeah, Scott was furious and he and his mother had it out in a terrible fight.

Last thing on this! I wanna make it clear that this doesn't mean Scott hates his mother or even has a bad relationship with her! He was actually on very good terms with her, which made the news that he was going to be given away as a concubine all the more shocking. So he took off in the middle of the night after this fight with nothing but the clothes on his back...he wasn't necessarily planning on running away for good, he was just upset and trying to get away and get some space to collect this thoughts, but he went a little too close to the mainland shore, to close to the waters where humans trawl, and...well, we know what happened to him from there.

As for courting ritual, they don't have them in Traveling Thieves the way that they do in TTSBC! It's more that they have certain things that require a level of intimacy, not necessarily romantic obviously, so if a hybrid lets you do it, it's a strong sign that they trust you and believe you care about them. Examples of this being: Preening Avians wings or brushing a dog hybrids hair!

Hope this was fun for ya! Sorry for the long turn-around on this ask, I wanted to really think about it and make sure I gave ya a good response that was lined up with the AU! 💖

[just-your-average-tangerine]

I'm making a full post about this because I think it's important. I've reblogged other posts on this topic, but this is my own experience because trans man apparently can't be artists without our own communities ripping us apart for it.

I'm mainly an actor, but I do music on the side. I've been in 5 stage productions, a commercial, and a short film. For music, I've done a few gigs at charity events, won a community talent competition, and made some money on the side as a street performer. So I feel decently confident in saying that I'm fairly good at what I do.

When I talk to other trans people about my desire to build a resume that doesn't out me as a trans, and to market myself as a gay actor and not a trans one, I'm called a traitor to the community. And told that I'm depriving trans kids of a role model. Nevermind the cis queer people who think I'm stealing roles from 'real' gay men.

What they don't understand is that work for trans men does not exist. The modern professional canon of dramatic work does not include a single trans man. Not one. I cannot work as a trans man. The best I can hope for is what I've been getting the last year and a half, small background characters whose gender doesn't matter.

When I won the community talent competition for my music, I was told afterward that it was a shame that I won because "the last thing the queer community should be celebrating is another guy with an acoustic guitar". Several people in the trans social group I started attending agreed with that sentiment, telling me to stop playing altogether and saying "the world doesn't need anymore straight men with acoustic guitars". (Side note: I'm gay and explained that but the consensus of the people there was that trans men can't be gay because we're still 'female' (side note to the side note: all of the other people in this group were trans women lesbians and did not see the irony in that)).

I dont understand how other queer people can contribute to this without realizing the harm. I would ask how trans masc artists are supposed to want to keep creating their art but I think that's the point.

[alittlefrenchtree]

I obviously don't think he has to be online 24/7 so as not to be forgotten, it doesn't make sense and his job isn't even one that requires this of him. However, I think that his agent and his team are doing a poor job and should do much more. They didn't profit in the slightest by taking advantage of the hype that rwrb would bring.

I know the strike wasn't expected, but Nicholas for example was able to capitalize on the popularity due to the film with two projects he's promoting now that he's made post rwrb and his name is everywhere thanks to it. They should have done something similar too, he should be super busy by now thanks to the popularity of that movie and maybe for me it's more important what he does than how he uses social media (no hate, I just think his team should do more better)

To be honest, I wasn’t sure I was going to post and answer your ask. There is something quite bizarre about posting something I disagree with entirely on my blog. But I’m still going to try if I can manage to answer this clearly and quickly (spoiler: it’s not quick) and if I like my answer enough. If you’re reading this, I guess I’ve managed to do it somehow.

I don’t know if you know, but people have been coming to my inbox to talk about the bad job agent and PR team were doing since 2019 or 2020. Do you know who they were talking about back then? Timothée Chalamet. Since the guy is having a pretty decent career so far, I'm guessing wasn't so bad after all. So even if I’m not comparing Taylor to Timothée, because no one can be compared to Timothée right now, you’ll understand that I’ve already learned that they aren’t many experts around here. But the thing that came off all of the talks back then is: you might not like what you see (or don’t see) but it doesn’t mean they’re doing a bad job. 

Secondly, there is still no point of comparing one people to another or to ask of someone to be more like someone else or do the same kind of things as someone else. Nick and Taylor are different people, at different stages of their careers, with different careers and backgrounds, and certainly with different aspirations and needs so wishing the people around them would have done "something similar" is a bit of a non sense for me. They’re doing the same job and worked on the same movie but it doesn’t mean they should follow similar path. To carry on with the Chalamet example, I don’t see people going around blaming Calah Lane for not being Timothée Chalamet, Hugh Grant or Olivia Colman yet after the success of Wonka. It doesn't make sense.

Thirdly, you got some your dates wrong. Nick is actually capitalizing on projects he did before rwrb right now. To be fair, he’s probably more capitalizing on freaking Cinderella than anything else at the moment. He does that beautifully but it’s really something he’s been building up from way longer than the last 7 months or so. And yes, Starz was probably delighted to see his popularity explode during the summer with RWRB and Bottoms but it means they got a few more bucks for promotion and a few more interviews requests. It didn't give the actual job to Nick. And well, all respect to Nick but I’m pretty sure Anne Hathaway and Harry Styles would have make all the buzz around pre-premiere The Idea of You all by themselves. Nick did bring most of the enthusiastic cheerleaders to the premiere but his impact on the movie and how much he can capitalize will come after the release of the said thing. For now, the project and the lead are bigger than him.

I know some people will only read half of my words but I’m obviously not diminishing any of Nick’s work or talent. He’s very talented and is doing amazingly and I’m both very happy and proud to see him shine but some of the things I read about him are clearly lacking of perspective in the grand scheme of things.

So far, post-RWRB actually brought very similar things to Taylor and Nick actually: invitations to a shit loads of fancy parties and both apparently working on unknown projects we know nothing about. (And delicate talks about a potential sequel).

People also needs to understand that Taylor’s career in movies has started in 2020. He’s a freaking baby. And since covid killed most of the impact TBK could have had and the his sister died of cancer and then the strikes happened, half of the years since 2020 doesn't really count. Thinking where he is now isn’t already huge giving the circumstances (and everything else we’ve already talked about here) is madness. And we actually don't know what his team is doing right now. Might be a poor job. Might be ok. I have no clue.

God I hate what you made me do. I might regret answering it for all the people who will read this and find nothing better to write that something like "there is this Tumblr blog saying Nick owes all of his success to Camila Cabello and Harry Styles and that he did nothing compared to TZP, imagine the delulu 💀" but yeah.

TLDR; (not specifically for you, Nonny. Just some general thoughts with way less words)

Stop comparing artists. Stop comparing people all together.

Stop asking middle schooler to be high schooler.

Stop thinking high schooler is worth more than the middle schooler because they’re in high school. They’ve been doing that student thing for way longer, it’s normal.

Stop thinking you’re the only target audience of PR work. You’re already obsessed, they doesn’t need to get you on board.

Stop thinking movies are made from scratch to finish in 5 months. Scripts go around for years. People are casted, then leave projects because pre-production takes forever, because there isn’t enough money and then other people are casted and pre-production starts again, and things get delayed and everything takes a freaking long time (and even more luck) to actually happen.

Having too much expectations will kill the fun eventually. Wait for things to happen. Go play video games or something in the meantime. I don’t know.

(I’m not sure what I’ll do with the follow up of this conversation. I’ll read everything but I might not answer to most. I’m not sure).

And like previous ask, sorry if it came out harsher that it should have been. No harm intended 🙏

[thedirtiwalkoniswet]

I finished the Obi Wan series and wow it is... not good.

I just watched the bad batch (actually solo inbetween but that was so bad I won't mention it further) and this show surprised me with how good it was. When these characters were introduced in season 7 of clone wars I was sure I wouldn't like the show, because they annoyed the hell out of me. But then I actually got to watching the show and it was good all the way through.

So Obi Wan was a whiplash. I have a lot of thoughts.

It's bad. It's so bad. For one, it looks cheap. The main reason I think is the lighting, half the time it is so painfully obvious it was filmed in a studio, and it takes any emergence that you could've had. They also could've color graded a little, it is boring to look at. Additionally is everything so stale, nothing in the background moves, there is 0 wind essentially in the show. The budget also definetly didn't went into make up and costume design, but that is so obvious it's barely worth noting and not the worst part.

The worst part, by far, is the dialog however. The actors are great, I know they are great, but they still struggle so hard to make the dialog sound normal and they can barely do that, because it is so, so bad. They just string random sentences together that don't make sense as a whole anymore. The actors can't react properly to the dialog, because in real life you'd look at them with the most confused face, like what the hell are you talking about bro. It is a shame that great actors are wasted on terrible dialog, that could have easily been better.

Additionally is the camera work quite odd. It can be decent occasionally, I think the scene were "Leia" gets dressed was nicely done and so are some other scenes. But then you get the scenes like when Reva was climbing on these buildings, which had terrible camerawork. Don't get me wrong, there is charm in the camera not being completely stiff, but they're just shaking it around whenever a fight scene comes up or any scene that isn't completely peaceful. It is jarring and makes the show look like a fan project, and not even a good one.

The action scenes also feel slow somehow. I know I can't compare it to a cartoon, obviously not. But I can compare it to action scenes from the prequels or Andor. In Obi Wan, it very much feels like the characters are holding back, when they clearly shouldn't be. Everyone is running and moving so slowly, it only makes me frustrated to see. I fear it might be because the actors weren't given enough time to rehearse or not enough care was put into choreographing/ editing. Even the fight between Vader and Obi Wan at the end was meh, and that was for most the best part. Yeah, it's cool he can use the force again, yeah it's sad that he has to accept that Anakin is not there anymore and Vader is all that's left. But... what else? This was what the entire show led up to and it could have been better. At least the location was extremely cool.

Tragically I'm still not done. Because another issue is that it is simply not a good experience. I'm not saying it has to be a happy one, but even tragic stories can make you engaged and riled up. It was a very bold desiscion to completely change Obi Wan, considering that in episode 3 and 4, he is extremely similar. So they had to change him just to bring him back to who we knew. Usually I LOVE angst, I think it is so interesting to see characters who you love go through hard times and evolve and change. But somehow it didn't work with him at all. I blame it mostly on the writing being so in your face, so bland and without nuance. Star wars was never known for good dialog, but usually that was George Lucas' fault and he wasn't really involved in the writing as far as I know.

There are good ideas sprinkled in. But it mostly felt like somebody said "you know what would be cool to see?" and then they wrote the plot around it to make it happen. (Like that pick up driver or whatever the space version would be)

Maybe I have so much to say because it is a huge shame. It could've been good, it could have been great. And yet it is genuinely terrible, I'm not going to sugarcoat it. To me this is some of the worst star wars media I have seen out of what I watched so far. Only Solo being worse (I fucking hate that movie). BUT I do think it's salvagable. They could make a fantastic season 2, it is very easily possible if they only put more effort in the writing and maybe fire Chung Chung-Hoon.

If you like it I am super happy for you, I know I ripped it apart, but please don't let me ruin something you like, despite all of this. My uncle loved this show and I can't talk to him about the show because I am not blinded by nostalgia bait. You can tangle any familiar character in front of him and he will most likely like it. (He liked Boba Fett and I haven't seen anyone liking it yet, but I haven't watched this one either so I don't have an opinion yet)

[b777-36n]

Which 10 essays are going to be in Jacob Geller's book?

A little informed speculation, by me :)

As we know from the book announcement, there will be 10 essays in "How a Game Lives" (info from Lost In Cult website)

Here are the confirmed ones - ones that are mentioned either in Jacob's announcement video or the Lost in Cult website

Who's Afraid of Modern Art (announcement video & Lost in Cult)

Every Zelda is the Darkest Zelda (announcement video & Lost in Cult)

Control, Anatomy, and the Legacy of the Haunted House (Lost in Cult)

Fear of Cold (announcement video)

Returnal is a Hell of our Own Creation (announcement video)

Does Call of Duty Believe in Anything (announcement video)

Now, that's over half of the essays for the book! However, by looking at a specific screenshot from the announcement video, we can speculate a few more...

[Image ID: a screenshot of Jacob Geller's book announcement video (timestamp 0:55), showing Jacob surrounded by screenshots of seven of his videos. End ID]

Top left (screenshot of a woman sitting in a room, the text "white shadow... you were how I escape" over her): Returnal. Already confirmed.

Middle left (Jacob holding a picture book about Golem): The Golem and the Jewish Superhero.

Bottom left (a live-action man in a black outfit): I believe this is from The Single Best Gaming Moment of 2022 (immortality video). He doesn't talk about live action stuff a ton so I think this is a decent guess.

Bottom middle (white background with paragraphs of black text, talking about a game called "Blade"): you'd think this one would be easy to ID because there's so much text, but my friend and I actually have no idea which essay this is lol.... lmk if you know!

Bottom right (gameplay of Shadow of the Colossus overlayed with various forum posts): The Decade-Long Quest for Shadow of the Colossus' Last Secret.

Middle right (gameplay of some realistic first-person military shooter): Does Call of Duty Believe in Anything. Already confirmed.

Top right (simple buildings overlayed with a pink/purple filter and static): My best guess is that this is Four Short Games About Pain, but I'm really not sure about that...

Looking at these screenshots, we can for sure add The Golem and The Jewish Superhero and The Decade-Long Quest for Shadow of the Colossus' Last Secret to the list, bringing the total to 8 confirmed essays.

The last two will be that top right photo (which I think is 4 short games about pain) and that bottom left one (which i guess is the immortality video). However, I still don't know that bottom middle thumbnail, and if that's a new video too that means I got at least one thing wrong! Please lmk if you can ID any of these screenshots I was shaky on :)

[poussacha]

My 2023 Fanfiction Wrapped

Hi everyone! It's ya boi spreadsheets back with another fanfiction wrapped! This time I actually took the time to make it look really pretty (see: I half assed this in Google Slides for my discord server's swampmas wrapped event lmao).

Without further ado, here's what I read this year.

2023 Fanfiction Mini Guide

These are fics I rated 7/7 stars on my guide that I would FULLY recommend everyone read if you're into these fandoms or ships.

Stranger Things

Gen (Steve & Robin)

As He Sinks Just Like A Stone by saintmares | Rated T | 5k

The words "Steve Harrington is sooo strong" had always made Robin Buckley roll her eyes. After all, what did it matter if some stupid jock just so happened to use his muscles a bit more than other people? But when her life comes crashing down inside a secret underground Russian elevator, Robin finds a new appreciation for the strengths of Steve Harrington... at least until she has a startling realization about her best friend and his fleeting mortality as the Party patches up his demo-bat bites.

Steddie (Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson)

Black Out Days (Fairground Nights) by OonionChiver | Rated E | 140k (background Ronance)

‘I think,’ Steve says slowly, reaches for Eddie’s abandoned, untouched beers. ‘You don’t know me very well.’

‘I don’t know you at all, man. I don’t really want to.’

Steve’s throat works. It’s subtle, but Eddie sees it. He hides it with a swig of beer, but when he sets it down, his smile isn’t quite so bright. Twice as sharp, though.

‘The self-centred asshole who can only be decent to a single human being, I get it. It works for you.’ Then he takes a thick, heavy breath. The alcohol is hitting him, Eddie can tell. ‘And I am being civil. I’m here, aren’t I? You have any idea how hard it is for me to be here?’

‘In a bar?’

Steve doesn’t answer.

Star vs. the Forces of Evil

Stomco (Star/Tom/Marco)

Monster Carvers by Raikim4Never | Not Rated | 70k (unfinished, but I think about it every day of my fucking life)

Fourteen years after Princess Star Butterfly is kidnapped from her cradle, a terrorist attack on The Underworld results in Prince Tom Lucitor being sent to stay on Earth. Meanwhile, the Monster Carvers plot to bring an end to all non-Mewmans, and Ludo learns of rumors that Tom was given the Butterfly wand for safekeeping…

High School Musical

Chyan (Chad/Ryan)

I Still Don't Dance by Rozavie | Rated G | 20k

Chad Danforth never thought that he would find himself here—washed up, past thirty, teaching at a high school, and divorced. Basically, everything in his life has gone up in flames. No longer being able to play his favorite sport, and coming off of an exhausting (although amicable) separation, Chad decides that it's time to focus on what he can control. Primarily, raising his daughter. As long as she's happy and healthy, Chad thinks that he can manage to be as well.

But when an old friend from high school stumbles back into his life, Chad's world gets just a little more interesting.

Boy Meets World

Cory/Shawn/Topanga

For a good time, call by feyrelay | Rated M | 3k

This headcanon lives rent-free in my head, constantly, and I was so disappointed in how GMW handled a lot of the adult relationships and stickier topics, that I just had to write this. It just might rot your teeth.

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Zukka (Sokka/Zuko)

like the sun inside you by ofherlionheart | Rated M | 200k (Unfinished)

Sokka's expression is caught somewhere between determined and pissed off when he says, “I know you think this is your responsibility. But you’re not going to be alone in this. This is why we’re building you a council.”

“I know,” Zuko says.

“And the only way you’re going to die having done nothing but sit in meetings is if you let yourself do that. You’re not a bad leader if you take a break now and then.”

Zuko scowls. “What, so people can then say at least my father wasn’t lazy?”

Sokka tilts his head. “Don’t you think there’s a difference between laziness and, I don’t know, choosing life and happiness in spite of a terrible dad who tried to take both from you?”

----------

Zuko is sixteen years old when he’s handed a crown, a throne, and a hundred-year ancestral legacy of colonial imperialism. He’s not scared of the work; he’s scared of being consumed by the responsibilities and burdens he’s claimed. What Zuko doesn’t quite realize, yet, is that he’s not alone in this.

(do you take this jerk to be) your one and only by jatersade | Rated T | 55k

Under the leadership of Fire Lord Iroh, the Fire Nation has made every attempt to restore peace and make amends for the harm they inflicted during the Seventy-Year War. Their newest proposal is a literal proposal: a marriage to unite the Fire Nation and the Water Tribes.

The Fire Nation offers Prince Zuko’s hand.

The Water Tribes offer Princess Yue’s.

Sokka is apparently the only person in the world who has a problem with any of this.

Will We Last the Night by CSHfic | Rated T | 144k

Chief Arnook never assigns Sokka to protect Princess Yue, so he goes to fight the Fire Nation with the other men. When the moon dies, and the ocean spirit takes its revenge, Sokka is caught standing on the deck of a Fire Nation ship. Sokka should have drowned… and he would have drowned, if not for a certain Fire Nation raft fleeing the North Pole.

[An enemies-to-lovers season 2 rewrite, where Sokka is separated from the gaang during the Siege of the North, and travels the Earth Kingdom with Zuko instead].

War Crimes by Lovely_Elbow_Leech | Rated M | 90k (MAJOR CONTENT WARNING FOR SA, CHILD SA, TORTURE, MURDER, AND VIOLENCE - PLEASE READ THE TAGS AND CONTENT WARNINGS)

Book one ends with two major diffrences: 1. Sokka went on the mission with Hahn (it did not go well) 2. Zhao survives the North Pole and that proves unfortunate for everybody (except Zhao, obviously) 

Imprisoned on Zhao’s war ship, Sokka and Zuko have to work together to survive. They are not very enthusiastic about this prospect. 

And they argue. 

A lot. 

War games by Lovely_Elbow_Leech | Rated M | 428k (MAJOR CONTENT WARNING, TORTURE, VIOLENCE, MURDER - Unfinished)

After the events of War Crimes, Sokka and Zuko have escaped Zhao’s warship and are fleeing across the Earth Kingdom. As well as unfamiliar terrain, they have to navigate their shared trauma, work out where they fit into the war, and their place in each others lives.

Sokka is aware that being friends with the enemy is going to bring complications, but he probably should have guessed that being friends with Zuko in particular, was going to be a bit like dunking your head repeatedly into a bucket of angry Fire Ferrets.

Katara is also grappling with the confusion of befriending an enemy, something that doesn’t prove as difficult as she had expected with the bond of shared, furious grief bridging old wounds. (Learning a new way to look at her bending doesn't hurt either)

Azula, struggling with the Fire Lord’s mistrust, encounters a few nasty surprises and has to make some difficult decisions. Luckily, she is a great deal better at making sensible choices than her brother.

Her father may have made a slight tactical error.

In the Soft Light by CHSfic | Rated T | 84k

As the newly appointed cultural liaison to Northern Water Tribe, Zuko is the first Fire Nation Citizen to step foot inside the city's walls in nearly a century. He's determined to prove himself—to the Fire Lord and to his father—even if the Water Tribe's spirit-touched prince seems to want nothing to do with him.

or

Moon Spirit Sokka AU

These Things Written by Erisenyo | Rated E (Underage) | 222k

The letter was never supposed to be read, least of all by Sokka. But then, things happen every day that aren’t supposed to, in war.

Or,

On a particularly hopeless night, Zuko sends out a messenger hawk to nowhere. He didn’t realize that his messenger hawk is deeply committed to completing the job. And that Sokka happens to be traveling straight through nowhere, at the time.

These Things Known by Erisenyo | Rated E (Underage) | 400k (Third in series! There is a second one between These Things Written and These Things Known)

[Aang cuts him a quick, guilty look. “I didn’t mean to imply that you…”

Sokka raises his eyebrows. “That I…Focus on the present to the point of blindly committing to enormously questionable courses of action with significant long-term ramifications because they’re gratifying in the immediate moment, which is particularly concerning as our chief Maker of Plans?”

“Uh—That’s basically…Yeah.”]

Surrounded by danger and doubts, separated by war and one irrevocable decision—after the world of just-Sokka-and-Zuko crashes into the world of everything else, what comes next?

Or,

What happens when trusting someone suddenly means something far different out in the world than it did in the space of a Ba Sing Se teashop?

I'll Share the Moon, if You'll Share the Sun by anarchycox | Rated M | 400k

An alternate world where Iroh leads a coup against Ozai on the eclipse and wins the throne for Zuko. The southern water tribe hadn't sent men to fight in thirty years, instead protecting their home, laying traps, using guerilla tactics so the fire nation gave up fighting them.

Sokka and Katara found Aang, but being frozen in ice for a hundred years has ramifications and for almost four years the tribe focuses on healing the avatar.

Zuko is advised for continued peace to have an arranged marriage outside the fire nation. The best option is a the child of the chief of the southern tribe. Katara is in love with Aang and is heartbroken, but will do her duty for her people. Sokka finds a loophole that they can carefully and craftily exploit.

Aka they lie. They lie so hard and Sokka becomes the one betrothed to Fire Lord Zuko. He is sure there will be no consequences to the plan. Certainly not going to fall in love with the man he is lying to. At all. Nope indeedy, no love on the menu. Dang it.

Everything That I Am Not by Benedick | Rated T | 85k (Unfinished)

Sokka isn’t stupid. Not that his sister is, mind you (at least, he’d never call her that to her face now that she’s honed her waterbending), or any of the rest of Team Avatar, although sometimes it feels like he’s living in a different world from the rest of them — a world where running out of food means starving, and walking into a town full of firebenders with the Avatar in tow will get you killed, rather than help you free a beaten-down Earthbender colony.

Anyways.

Sokka isn’t stupid, which is why he laughs directly in Aunt Wu’s face when she tells him that he will marry the Fire Lord.

As always, if you're curious how I get my data or how to do this yourself, shoot me a DM or come bother me in my Discord Server (It's called The Swamp, we're all queer and neurodiverse with various interests and are currently having a pokemon themed Swampmas)

[koeiasequoia]

To talk a bit more on Audra, have some boss fight idea stuff, brought about by one of our partners talking about a grab idea they'd had for em X3

Arena is open air, pawsibly raining, definitely with a pool of water on the ground. Despite this, Audra does not take increased lightning damage, while the opponent does. One of the surrogate corpses of Godwyn is in the background. Audra is kneeling before said corpse praying/promising to it. Praying that Godwyn brings about the Age of the Duskborn, and promising to do whatever it takes to bring him back, even should that mean becoming Elden Lord.

As Death Knight Commander Audra, a lot of the attacks are various lightning spells that already exist, as well as attacking with their weapon of choice, a light greatsword. The thing about their lightning is, while they DO have a couple new death lightning spells, ALL of their spells create a (temporary) cloud of death mist where they hit, so the fight is as much about avoiding/mitigating the clouds, as it is fighting Audra. Like the other two death knights, Audra can also use Blinkbolt, where they turn into a bolt of lightning and charge forward, however, they can move in any direction they want, not just forwards, and it's also how they dodge

At about half health Audra calls down a lightning bolt, spawning a charged Fia's Mist on top of them, and wreathing their weapon and body in death lightning, so now you have to worry about their attacks, as well as just being near them building up deathblight while you take even more damage thanks to the lightning and water, as well as the general speed of the attacks, and fight as a whole, increasing

And for phase 2. You deplete Audra's healthbar and they fall, yet like all of Those Who Live in Death, they rise again to face you, with a voiceline from their wife, Florissax playing that says "May you become a dragon whole, my good Lord." this time having transformed into a Lichdragon. And THAT we're taking from a specific line of dialogue that she has. If you make her fall asleep and talk to her after the whole Bayle thing, the last lime of dialogue she has is

"... On second thought, I believe you do owe me something for the transgression. On a mere whim, you've stripped me of my one and only Lord. As such, I require another - you. One day, may you become a dragon whole, a Lord of your own making. Lead me, and I will follow. My good Lord."

Before she joins you as a summon ash (it's all chill because she ends up finding love through you and canonically we're saying that she and Audra are married)

After the battle, Audra's armor can be acquired from Enia in Roundtable Hold. The entire set boosts Dragon Cult Incantations(by more than the normal DK set), and the helmet makes all DCIs spawn death clouds, and the chestpiece has a bigger boost than the other pieces.

Their weapon Audra's Blade (placeholder name) can be looted from a secret room in their boss arena(its a grave for them and Florissax). The blade comes with their unique Blinkbolt ability, it can be used in any direction, and can be chainchast twice (maybe three times) before you either have to perform the follow up attack, or have to wait a second to start the chain again

Their remembrance, the Remembrance of the Death Commander, allows you to acquire one of two unique spells

Audra's Deathbolt, which is the buff they use in the second half of phase 1. It works like a combination of Electrify Armament and Electrocharge, except it's the black and yellow lightning of Death, it spawns a death cloud on use, has actually decent damage unlike Electrocharge. So now your weapon gets a lightning buff while also getting death buildup. And the lightning pulses deal lightning damage and death buildup

Or

Ancient Death Spears, an upgrade over Knight's Lightning Spears, it's the powerful red lightning of the ancient dragons, but it has the black lightning of Death intwined in it, making it deal Death buildup, as well as creating death clouds even without the helmet equipped. An Incantation made by Audra and Florissax, from their love for eachother. The only real person Audra does love.