#It's the same reason why I don't think they're going to make her sacrifice herself...

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Last post you talked about your ideal version of canon, I was wondering could you share it with us? If not, that's ok

Oh man, I could go on about my dream version of canon for ages! I've talked about various aspects of it on here with stuff like my "sugar" posts on Nino and Alya, but the broad strokes are:

Serialized story where it's basically one large narrative told in chunks

A true teams setup where Adrien, Marinette, Alya, and Nino feel like this amazing, tight friend group who grows into a found family as they get older, giving platonic and romantic love more equal billing

No guardian order, just have it be a single-person role that gets passed on from person to person

Kagami and Luka in supporting roles that have nothing to do with being love interests

Sympathetic Gabriel who feels like a truly tragic figure, but who does NOT get redeemed

Emilie gets an actual character

No sentinonsense

Revised miracle box that is way smaller and that has strong lore

The Agreste's aquiring the miraculous is far more morally complex, makes sense, and was not done for explicitly selfish reasons

Reverse the love square right from the start and never have the crushes flip

I've talked about all of these things on here, but the one thing that I've only briefly touched on is my love of a reverse square setup. I am passionate about that one, so let's take a moment to talk about why since it's probably going to be the most interesting to read.

I don't hate the canon setup for the crushes, but also I don't think that they're the ideal crushes. When it comes to romance stories, you want to design your love interests around each other. You want them to feel special and like they bring something unique to the table. Canon doesn't really give us that. There's nothing all that special about Adrien that makes him feel like the person that Marinette would be drawn to above all others. Same goes for Chat Noir and Ladybug, but we'll get to them in a second.

What is Marinette's biggest struggle? Her role as Ladybug.

Who is her main support in that role for most of the show? Chat Noir.

Who is her main support on the civilian side even before the reveal? Alya.

So why is Marinette's crush on Adrien and not Chat Noir? I don't know. It's the lesser setup by far and that goes beyond just the logic elements of who it makes the most sense for her to fall in love with. A lot of Marinette's worst behavior actually feels justified in a reverse crush setup, allowing you to write her without major changes to her character.

For example, Marinette keeping a chest of gifts for Adrien is kind of pathetic. She's friends with Adrien and she gives her friends gifts all the time, why can't she give him gifts, too? Reverse the crushes and suddenly this behavior makes perfect sense. Marinette isn't storing up gifts because of overblown fears of rejection. She's storing up gifts for legitimate fears about how her partner will explain these random gifts, thereby risking his identity, meaning that she has a sold argument for waiting until the time is right (post reveal) to give them to him.

There's also the legitimate fear that confessing her love could ruin their dynamic and put Paris at risk. Keeping her feelings to herself is now an act of self-sacrifice and not just an act of nerves. Basically everything about Marinette's hesitance just makes so much more sense if it's on the hero side.

But what about Adrien? How does this fix him?

I love the idea of our male romantic lead falling for our female lead because she's bold and brave, but it honestly doesn't fit Adrien's character. He is surrounded by powerful, confrontational women. Nathalie, Chloe, Kagami, Amilie, Audrey, and Tomoe are all no-nonsense women who get what they want. This means that Ladybug doesn't bring something unique to his life. She fits the standard mold. Adrien falling in love with her after she talks down Hawkmoth doesn't feel like the right choice for his character because it doesn't feel like something he'd be wildly impressed by.

Meanwhile, Marinette is shown to be a generally wonderful friend. She cares about others and will do what she can to make them feel welcome and accepted. That's a much more unique thing for Adrien to experience. Think about the umbrella scenes and imagine if it was Marinette apologizing. Marinette owning that she treated him poorly and asking his forgiveness. How often do you think Adrien gets moments like that? Doesn't it make more sense for something like that to make his heart flutter?

We see Marinette doing things like making banners to celebrate her friends (Timebreaker) and making sure everyone feels included (Reflekta). Imagine her giving Adrien that kind of treatment because it's just who Marinette is. She shows up to his fencing matches to cheer him on. Brings him his favorite snacks as a treat just because, surrounding this poor boy in honest, genuine love and support. Add in respect, too, and he'd be a goner because those are the things that he's not getting anywhere else! The things that make Marinette unique.

This brings us to our new civilian dynamic. In canon, it's Marinette failing to confess in ever more spectacular ways as Alya tries and fails to help. In a reverse crush setup where everyone is friends without gender barriers, it's things like Adrien coming up with his canon confessions and then watching Alya and Nino react with genuine horror because, dude, you're going to give her a panic attack! No! Bad kitty! Stop that! No confessions until you come up with a plan that we approve of and read at least five books of dating advice because holy shit did homeschooling do you dirty in this area!

Then, while Adrien is working to learn how dating works, he learns that Marinette is in love with Chat Noir and, oh no! He thinks she's into his public persona, totally unaware that she knows the real Chat Noir and loves his dorky self. So he tries to emulate his sexy alter ego while Nino and Alya suffer and Marinette is just generally confused because she doesn't think of Chat Noir like that, so she doesn't even notice what Adrien is doing.

This also adds a nice mitigating factor to Adrien's unwillingness to give up even though it's pretty clear that Marinette isn't interested in his civilian self. If he knows that she loves him, then his persistence is less concerning and more comedic. It's not that he can't take a no, it's that he honestly knows with 100% certainty that the answer is NOT no because she's told him that to his face. He just needs her to realize that the guy she's in love with is right here, ready and willing!

The potential for comedy is just so much more broad and so much less mean spirited because Marinette has none of Adrien's reserved nature, so her friends would totally know about her massive "celebrity crush". Adrien comes over for school projects and just stares longingly at her Chat Noir posters, wishing he could tell her his secret, but knowing that he can't.

In my world, that is so much more fun than canon's setup where Marinette has no reason to hope. I also wouldn't draw the crushes out anywhere near as long as canon did. I like getting couples together in the mid-game. It's a nice early plot to hook you in, but defeating the villain is the end game, so we don't need to draw the romance out that long. Romance isn't that special. It's not all that different from an arc about two characters becoming friends.

That's far from the only major change I'd make to shape canon into my ideal version, but it is the probably the change that I love the most. It's also the change that requires the least context to explain, so there you go!

[microknifeyuri]

something something about self sacrifice and boundless love but i really would like to talk about how golden cheese cookie is so SO devoted to her people and how her GREED is for THEM.

i'm sorry but i don't think i've ever seen one of the ancients so miserable over their people until her story arc dropped. sure, pure vanilla suffered, but his people STILL EXISTED, and his kingdom as well, even if it was on certain conditions it flourished and the main focus was DE alongside Black Raisin's story. Hollyberry's worries were most focused on her family (though you can see her love for her kingdom and Dark Cacao was an idiot of sorts (who was still manipulated but even then cared for his kingdom), but nothing like Golden Cheese.

Which makes SENSE. And it kind of gets worse when Dark Cacao confirms that he heard the news of her precious kingdom being turned to dust, and how they haven't seen her in SO MUCH TIME, it's obvious that Golden Cheese Cookie isolated herself the moment she got back to what remained from her home.

Something I would like to mention is how people were treating her as a cretin with the little details we found on the art book since she was described as "greedy" and like an... dictator of sorts? (however i don't think this part has been translated correctly). But in reality she turned out to be one of the most heartbreakingand caring characters in CRK ever, and her conversation with Gingerbrave made it so much worse for her.

Something I would like to point out is how yes, Golden Cheese is greedy. But the execution of how she was greedy was PERFECT. Of course a tirant wouldn't be an legendary hero, unlike what others might have thought.

Golden Cheese's greed is focused on her people, her so beloved treasures.

She always wants more and more, she always fights for them, for everyone who she thinks of as dear. Because they're HER people and she wants her treasures to be shinning and safe. Her greed is translated to her infinite love for them. She isn'tone give up just yet. So that's why she FOUGHT for SO MANY YEARS to KEEP THAT DIGITAL WORLD OF HERS SAFE. So of course it hurts to let go. You ever think of it. She PUT THEM ALL ON A DIGITAL WORLD, ALL OF THEM ON A SARCOPHAGUS, JUST TO MAKE SURE THEY WERE THERE, AND DISCONNECTED HER SOUL FROM HER BODY JUST FOR THEM. BECAUSE THAT WAS HER LAST OPTION.

AND EVEN THEN SHE WAS WILLING TO LITERALLY COMMIT SUICIDE TO MAKE SURE THEIR MEMORIES WERE INTACT.

And so that's why her parallels with Gingerbrave hurt me SO SO much. Think about it.

Both Gingerbrave and Golden Cheese think highly of their people- about their worlds themselves. They're both greedy on that topic. However Gingerbrave's greed was bigger than GC's at one point- just before she finally got back with her soul jam that is. Because Gingerbrave wanted to protect the whole Earthbread. Because HIS FRIENDS and THE FRIENDS OF HIS FRIENDS were there.

And this is no surprise since the very start Gingerbrave seems to put some reason to the ancients. No matter how deep in theor own thoughts they are, he always says something that breaks them in one way or another.

They both lost their people and couldn't do anything about it. However, GC finally got to understand that getting help wasn't bad and that she had to let go from that reality. Just the same way GB did when he escaped the oven. They both have endured so much pain.

So when GC's self sacrifice tendency clashes with GB's [greedy desire to help]... it hurts for her.

They both want a happy kingdom.

But for that they're going to still keep on trying.

I love you, Golden Cheese Cookie. I'll pay you the cost of therapy.

[beloved-daydreams]

You know, I've wanted to talk about Taryn for a while because I genuinely think she's such an interesting character (and is SEVERELY underrated my god), so here are a couple of things I sometimes think about in no particular order: (and if I'm mistaken about any of those feel free to tell me!!!)

1) In The Cruel Prince, when Vivi brought Jude and Taryn to a shopping mall in order to cheer them up, Jude noted how Taryn is like a chameleon. That if they had to return to live in the human world, she wouldn't be able to adjust as well while Taryn probably could.

2) Despite people often portraying Taryn as a jealous/envious person (which I believe is partly true of course) that part of her has never seemed that big to me and I'm actually more inclined to say she was often on a fine line between being very driven and very desperate. Just like how Jude wanted to find her place in Elfhame, Taryn wanted to find her own through marriage. (Which, I'd like to add, is a totally valid wish in her situation even if it's not considered to be the more "girlboss" choice to make, out of all the things she has done/chosen to do, I don't think this is one if the things she should be shamed for.)

3) Although she accepted Locke's unfair conditions in order for him to take her as his wife knowing that Jude would inevitably get hurt, I believe she has always felt guilty about it deep down which is ALSO why she was so SO persistent with Jude in TCP. She wanted Jude to stop defying the fae because she didn't want her to get even more hurt than how much she already had (+ knowing that the reason Jude's being targeted in the first place is her fault, which is why she felt so responsible in making her stop her defiance.)

4) I'd also like to acknowledge how humiliating this deal with Locke must've been. People always think about how embarrassing it was for Jude but can you imagine how desperate you must be to let your "boyfriend" date your sister? Taryn saw him as a lifeline, as a way to survive and get some sort of power in Elfhame, and while she definitely didn't do it the right way, let's not pretend that she enjoyed it. Who would enjoy having a man play with you and your sister? This is pure disrespect NOT only towards Jude but also towards Taryn, which I find sad. This "relationship" was abusive and unequal from the very start.

5) Additionally, I think deep down Taryn always knew/understood that Locke doesn't especially care about her. It has been hinted at multiple times in the story that Locke didn't actually care which sister he would find that night he came to look for one of the twins and I don't even believe he properly knew how to differentiate them. Near the beginning of TCP there's a scene where Jude's and Locke's eyes meet (at that point Locke and Taryn are already "together") and he smiles at her, possibly because he might believe she's Taryn, and Taryn seeing that their eyes met, tries to get Jude to forget about it. So she HAS in fact noticed that Locke can't differentiate them at that point yet she keeps "dating" him. Why? Well...

6) The sacrifice line in The Wicked King, when it says Taryn looks more like a sacrifice than a bride. I think this was the "goal" all along. Taryn's whole thing is that she keeps making herself small and pleasant and "fitting into the picture". She is also shown to be more like Oriana than Madoc, Oriana who is known for being very careful and making the most "safe" decisions for her well-being and Oak's (+ always warning Jude and Taryn to not go anywhere during the revels and to not interact with the fae because they're humans and weak, and it would be dangerous for them). Taryn is doing the same with Locke, she wants security and some amount of power like Oriana who chose to be with Madoc for her and Oak's safety. Plus, again, Taryn obviously wants a place where she can belong. So ultimately she is "sacrificing" herself to Locke for that freedom.

7) In the lost sisters, Locke tried to make Taryn take pleasure in cruelty by making her dance with that fae boy then stealing her away and making her see how heartbroken that made the boy feel. And it did work somewhat but I believe the reason why Locke and Taryn didn't work out well together in the end is because Taryn is capable of feeling guilt. Locke and Taryn are shown to be similar in the aspect of "being good at telling stories" except Locke likes to make stories happen around him for his entertainment (Drama, basically). I don't think Taryn has that in her just because of that night in the lost sisters, in fact, that might've not even been the cruelty in itself that gave her pleasure but the power she had and was capable of having over a fae for once, instead of them having power over her.

8) Another reason why Locke and Taryn didn't work well together is because Taryn was unequally putting way more effort in this relationship than Locke was. In TCP when Jude and Locke are "dating", he gives her a tour of his estate and it's all mostly empty because no one gives enough of a shit to renovate any of it. Yet in TQN, when Jude is pretending to be Taryn, we see how his estate has changed for the better. Almost each empty room has been filled with furniture and the wardrobes have beautiful clothes in them. Showing how all of this has obviously been done by Taryn. Plus, why did the servant give "Taryn" (Jude pretending to be Taryn) a fairie fruit for dinner? Is it because Locke has made her eat some in front of his guests and Taryn complied to be seen as the "fun/pleasant" wife who does everything her husband tells her to? So maybe, just like how Jude was poisoning herself to build an immunity against poison, is it possible that Taryn was doing the same with faerie fruit? To build an immunity so she can still be somewhat aware of herself during Locke's maze/garden parties?

9) I think in the end, Taryn is more similar to the Ghost which is why they ended up hitting it off. Both of their thing is "being in the shadows/fitting in". Moreover, the Ghost does feel guilt for killing Oak's mother seeing how uncomfortable he got when Jude uncovered that. Plus he's half-human, so that will be easier to bear for Taryn instead of that bullshit Locke was telling her about "fae loving in a different way" to make her comply with his real-life sized drama club.

Overall, I like how layered all of this is if you look for it BUT I wouldn't say any of those conclusions/assomptions are especially difficult to reach if you're careful. I'm just kind of tired of female characters being seen as one-dimensional compared to their male counterparts who will get "understood" much more easily. My very hot take about TFOTA has always been that the truly gray character/problematic female character of the story is in fact Taryn and not Jude. Since Jude is the protagonist and we're always seeing her pov it's not hard for us to understand or be compassionate with her. Despite her actions being "morally gray" in-story, from the readers' pov, I believe the truly problematic female character here is Taryn since we can't actually see the inside of her head. All we get is pieces of information we have to put together.

[randomnameless]

Not to bring irl shit but when you consider that there are people who believe in their own moral superiority, that everything should burn to the ground, people should die for their cause and those they don't like deserve to die for justice, it makes sense why there would be Agarthan stans despite how comically evil they are in the games. Not saying it's good (it's not), but it's the same sort of edgelord doomer nihilist mentality. Or maybe I'm thinking way too hard about this and they just support them because their waifu is working with them and they can't be bad if she's "purely good" despite their actions in game saying otherwise.

Uh...

I guess everyone knows there are people who are pos around, but what became more and more annoying with the years is how some of those beliefs have been romanticed for X and Y reason (marketing purposes because earl grey sells) and if you add to that the performative era - where being a fan of a character means you have to endorse everything this character says or does, we end up with some mess.

And I think while the devoted fans we all know and love have their part of responsability in this - as you say - supporting characters no matter what to the point of swallowing their nauseabond rhetoric because waifu allies with them before backstabbing them offscreen...

I still believe content creators are sort of also to blame with this, see the earlier earl grey marketing reasons.

IIRC, in the Marvel movies the purple guy who erases half of the universe is/was/got a cup bcs sad uwus he's ready to sacrifice his daughter for the greater good?

Cry me a fucking river !

What about the rest of the world who was zapped due to his whims? Why should I care about the feefees of someone who slaughters billions and not the feelings of the ones slaughtered?

Take Kishimoto : trying too hard to make people sympathise with his anti-heroes ultimately means that their victims have no voice to any chapter, Ramen Guy will never be able to express anger (if he wasn't dead when Konoha was flattened) at Nagato turning his daughter in a pancake, or Sakura will never weep for her parents, etc etc... but we get a long FB about Nagato's sad backstory with, what can be summed up as "the world fucked me over so I'll fuck over the world and you can't stop that unless you decide to fuck me over too" without anyone telling him that his reasoning is puerile and quite frankly stupid.

Madara being very sad not being elected big boss so he takes out his salt by launching repeated attacks at the village and its inhabitants? "Who cares, he was very sad (tm) when Hashirama decided to kill him to protect the village, what a hypocrite !!!"

The less is said about AoT, the better we all are lol, but in honor of MHA ending I'll just say that... I fucking loved the panels at the end (or last chapters?) where randoms civilians are shitting on Shigaraki, even if the panel with the old lady who blames herself for not helping him back then or taking his hand was hilarious, considering that in his FB, he said he would have killed her too "oh poor him if only i died for his sake he might not have grown up as a vilain" come on that's too much earl grey i'm out of this.

As for FE Fodlan, given how earl grey was used to sell and advertise the game, I guess you can't talk to Garcias or Nathalies and ask what they're thinking about the war that is razing their homes because someone wants to unify the world and is willing to sacrifice them to do so, or hell, we can't even listen to Merlinus voice his thoughts about the strange plague in Remire and how horrible it is, to Amy wonder why the fuck her parents transformed in demonic beasts and tried to kill her.

So when even content creators believe that their vilains have to get a pass regardless of the amount of shit they pulled off - I can't exclusively blame devoted fans for going very very far with their takes to support the bae.

Special mention to Miura (rip) who never lost an occasion to portray Griffith as manipulative and conniving, and yet some people really believed (and some still do?) he did nothing wrong...

[blackjackkent]

All right, back into the adventures of Rakha in Cazador's palace, where no one is having a good time - least of all Astarion, who has a brand new status effect that I don't recall him getting last time:

Lovely. 😬

"Gods above. He kept Sebastian. I feel ill... all the fools and villains who ever fell for my ploys... they're *here*..."

Rakha is finding herself surprisingly disquieted by the whole business. Certainly she herself has done far worse, in the past that she does not remember, and yet... she thinks of being caged and bound with a horde of other victims, with no hope of escape and only her thoughts for company for over a century and a half, and the idea makes her shudder.

"It's grotesque," she growls curtly. "They're kept like animals."

"And I thought the nests in the kennels were bad," Astarion mutters. "This lurked below..." He rubs the heel of his hand restlessly against the leg of his armor, looking over his shoulder at the unfortunate souls crowded into the prison chambers.

"There's only one reason they'd all still be here," he says, half to Rakha, half to himself. "He must need them for the ritual. Each of the seven... we must have brought in a thousand over the decades. They're all lambs for his slaughter."

He swallows. "And if I was to take his place..." His voice is almost too low to hear now. "They'd all die by my hand. Everyone who ever trusted me enough to let down their guard... innocents, idiots, and the unlucky..."

His head snaps up, his shoulders squaring, his expression going hard. "It doesn't matter," he says firmly. "I will need to sacrifice them all if I want to perform the ritual."

He sounds like Minthara, Rakha thinks. Afraid. Bitter. Hungry for power because power means safety, power means control. Ready to do anything, kill anyone, to secure that power, including kill seven thousand people.

And why not? Rakha thinks, equally bitter. I have certainly killed so many.

But she remembers staring at the avatar of Bhaal, Sceleritas's reflection in that puddle of blood, as it offered her a gift, with the only cost being all the good parts that remained of her. Astarion sits on the same precipice now, with two centuries of agony behind him rather than Rakha's six months of fractured fear. He wants to seize what she rejected.

And it will be a mistake. It will make him the terrible thing she has tried so hard to escape becoming.

"It's going to be glorious," she says suddenly, with acrid sarcasm. "You're almost worse than me."(*)

Astarion's head snaps back, and for a moment his eyes widen in indignation, and then anger. And then the emotions fade, and his shoulders slump, his gaze dropping back towards the floor. "It's just sickening," he mutters. "Seeing them again... I don't know what else..."

He trails off, then turns away and trudges off down the empty, blood-scented corridor.

-----

(*) For some reason, Rakha still gets Dark Urge line options despite the fact that we're already past Bhaal's bloodline getting ripped out of her. Generally speaking, I've been avoiding taking them, but I decided to go with this one and am choosing to interpret it as biting sarcasm that makes Astarion rethink some things. XD

[sufferu]

ngl emilia on btz feels very off, on her base morals rather than her panic. wouldn't the same logic applied to subaru for "it might hurt now but will be good for you in the long run" be applied to meili as well? elsa is a person that actually enjoys torturing people. there's no reason to keep her other than making meili happier right now, but having her around would not be any good, even for meili, in the long run. and we see she's willing to sacrifice that momentary happiness for the greater good with subaru.

my second point is that subaru very rarely begs for mercy when dying, and I think that makes it hit harder. I think that's why the whale death stuck so much with wilhelm, not just because yep whale, but because of subaru's desperate "I don't want to die". it's very jarring to see a loved one be so scared for their lives. so it feels really off when emilia gets on friendly terms with julius after the duel where subaru pretty much begs for mercy, desperately wants to tap out and surrenders, only to get further brutalized in return, even with ferris telling him to stop. it almost sounds like had ferris not been there subaru would have reset. and I don't think that's the kind of image that leaves your mind, for like years (taking into account that they're in re zero, because irl I don't think that would ever go away).

and it's not the sort of thing that can be rationalized either, telling yourself that their intentions were good does not make the knee-jerk reactions go away. (I'm sure this will be seen with subaru too, on btz3)

we see wilhelm get emotional/angry when he's reminded of that moment with the whale. i think emilia would have a similar reaction to say, seeing rem. and now to seeing julius as well, being reminded of subaru desperate to surrender.

specially after the fact, it probably gives the intrusive thought of "it's taking me everything I have to push subaru away right now, how can your panic almost make you kill him"

her getting together with the guy that almost killed him is not even just a misunderstanding from subaru's perspective, or something he's taking the wrong way, it's straight up what happens.

julius ain't beating the partner-beating allegations, that's twice now lmao 😭

thoughts?

A couple things:

1) Emilia’s decision about Subaru was not actually based in logic: it was based in panic. From her perspective, she had literally JUST watched him die thousands of times, gone back, watched him nearly get beaten to death AGAIN, and then listened as he basically confirmed that he was willing to do “whatever it takes” to make her happy. She is going to need a lot of time before she is able to revisit this train of thought with anything resembling a clear head.

2) Keeping Elsa alive isn’t necessarily a terrible idea, because she can still be useful and it is possible to keep her on a leash. Everyone else thinks it’s an awful idea at first, but Meili and Emilia vouching for her good behavior �� especially Meili, who will openly take the fall for it if Elsa does anything to cross them — does ultimately mean that she’s going to behave herself. This gamble pays off.

3) Can’t spoil how their relationship develops without just giving everything away, but I’ll just say that how Julius is received post-duel is very dependent on how Subaru appears to react to him, how Julius appears to conduct himself around him, and how helpful he appears to be in the collective effort to keep Subaru safe and cared for. And like — it’s not like he did that and then showed zero remorse and threatened to do it again or something, he IS actually making a concerted and genuine effort to be a helpful and comforting presence in Subaru’s life. It’s not like he’s Elsa, who is not allowed anywhere NEAR Subaru precisely because she actually does not have any remorse for her previous actions (and would not have had any even if she DID remember violently murdering him two times in a row).

[electrikworm]

We'll find her

In the immediate aftermath of Omega giving herself up to the Empire, Hunter confronts Crosshair.

--

Content warning: Nothing I can think of

We probably won't get to see any of this in the show, so I wanted to write something short.

Read on Ao3

Dread claws it's way deep into Hunter's chest as he climbs the numerous steps leading to Shep's house two at a time. Something feels horribly wrong. Hunter's suspicions are only further confirmed by the Empire's ships leaving.

They wouldn't go if they hadn't gotten what they wanted.

Hunter can't seem to run fast enough, heart beating against his ribs like it wants to break them. Batcher sprints along side him, looking blissfully unaware of the gravity of the situation.

Lungs burning, Hunter opens the door to their friends house. He knows Omega won't be inside, can't stop the way his blood runs cold as he scans the room and doesn't spot her.

Lyana's knelt on the floor next to Wrecker, who's laying on the couch, still out cold. AZI-3's hovering nearby.

“Where's Omega?” Hunter burst out, panic lacing his words.

Lyana looks at him, fear and worry twisting her expression. The look says more than anything she or the medical droid could say.

“Hunter.” A voice, Crosshair's voice, says from behind him. Hunter snaps around, futile hope once again dashed as he spots his brother standing alone. Hunter can't help the annoyance he feels. He steps out through the door, closing it behind him. What ever discussion he's about to have with Crosshair isn't one Hunter wants to have in front of Lyana. He won't risk scaring her more.

“Where is she Crosshair?”Hunter hisses, voice low. Crosshair just stands there, helmet hanging loosely in his hand, vacant look in his eyes. “What happened?”

“Omega...” Crosshair forces out.

“Where is she?” Hunter snaps, shoving Crosshair for emphasis. Batcher immediately pushes herself between the brothers as Crosshair staggers backwards a few steps.

The sniper takes a shaky breath, Hunter can hear the way he swallows dryly from a good meter away. “Plan 99.”

The tears that had steadily been building in Hunter's eyes spill across his cheeks. “Why didn't you stop her?” He yells, pushing past the lurca hound to grab his brother's shoulders. “You were supposed to keep her hidden! Safe!”

Crosshair's eyes narrow. “She wouldn't listen to reason!”

“You should have tried harder.”

Crosshair shoves Hunter off, glaring. “Don't touch me.” He hisses, voice breaking.

“You let them take her!” Hunter steps forward, not fully sure what he intends to do, only knowing that the fear and anger building in his chest is letting itself be known one way or another. Batcher brushes against his legs again, whining softly.

Crosshair flinches, air catching in his throat. “I didn't!”

“They're taking Omega back there, back to Tantiss,” Hunter snaps, “because you let her sacrifice herself!”

This time, Crosshair's the one to push Hunter. “I didn't just let them take her! There was a plan...” His voice falters and gives out as he talks. Hunter clenches his fists.

“What plan could ever justify Omega giving herself up?” Crosshair looks pained at Hunter's words. “There's no telling what they'll do to her this time!”

Hunter steps forward again, Crosshair looking like he might do the same as well. From years of living with his vode, Hunter can tell things are about to get ugly. Batcher seems to be able to tell too, barking a couple times at both of them.

The door to the Hazard house sliding open with a hiss makes them both stop dead in their tracks, heads turning to look at it. Hunter expects to see Lyana poking her head out, no doubt disturbed by the argument outside.

Instead, it's Wrecker in the doorway. He looks like he's just barely managing to stay upright, eyes half lidded, pupils flicking erratically between his brothers.

“Th- The... Marauder.” Wrecker slurs, gesturing vaguely in what he must believe is the ship's direction. His expression is pinched with pain, his breathing laboured. Every word seems to take enormous effort to force out. “Under attack.”

As their vod steps forward weakly, both Hunter and Crosshair rush to try and steady him. He's already fallen to his knees when they get to him, but they stop Wrecker from hitting his head on the floor. Wrecker's body is almost limp against them holding him up by his shoulders, crouched closely next to him.

“Calm down.” Crosshair has the same concerned tone to his voice Hunter has hear him use countless times as they grew up.

“Wha- Wha's happ'ning?” Wrecker's voice falters more with every word, his breathing becoming barely more than gasps. “Omega?” His eyes are suddenly wide open as he frantically looks about, starts trying to get up.

“Wrecker, no.” Hunter tries, emotions painfully obvious in his voice. He and Crosshair have to fight to keep a grip on their brother, stop him from hurting himself. The weak way Wrecker pulls against them holding him is concerning. He doesn't seem to hear them, Wrecker's own word becoming progressively panicked and unintelligible.

As Wrecker takes a particularly unsteady breath, his head suddenly drops forwards and he goes completely still. The world goes almost silent, if Hunter couldn't hear his brother's hearts beating hard and fast. Crosshair mutters quiet encouragements as he checks their largest brothers pulse, like he's trying to keep Wrecker from dying through telling him not to. Hunter should just tell him that he can still hear Wrecker's heart, but the words die on his tongue.

“I tried to make it clear to him that standing up in his state would do him more harm than good.” AZI-3 states, hovering his way out of the house followed closely by Lyana. The girl's eyes are wide, terrified.

Crosshair glares at the droid as he starts lifting Wrecker's arm to sling it across his shoulder. Hunter wordlessly helps him, their combined effort getting Wrecker back onto the couch with relative ease.

The twisted ball of anger in Hunter's chest fully transforms to worry as he watches Crosshair adjust Wrecker's motionless form on the piece of furniture barely big enough to accommodate him. Batcher bumps her snout into Wrecker's limp hand, making small, sad noises as she fails to get any response from the large clone.

“His vitals remain stable.” AZI-3 informs them. At Crosshair's request, the medical droid also fills them in on the damage Wrecker sustained. Burns, broken ribs and some embedded shrapnel. Lyana shudders as AZI explains how he removed pieces of the Marauder from Wrecker's skin.

“I'm glad I didn't have to watch that.” She mumbles under her breath.

According to AZI-3, Wrecker's burns could have been a lot worse if he hadn't landed in water. It's a small mercy, but Hunter will take anything at this point.

Hunter sits on the floor near Wrecker's legs, hit by a sudden wave of exhaustion. “The plan, what was it?” Hunter asks, turning to look at his kih'vod. Crosshair cringes at Hunter's question, looking pained by the thought.

“I was supposed to tag the ship taking Omega.” Hunter already knows what Crosshair's going to say next. “I missed.” Crosshair's voice cracks and he closes his eyes, tears threatening to fall across his cheeks.

Of course Omega would suggest something so risky, with such a high chance of going wrong. Hunter wants to be angry at Crosshair, his betrayal still fresh even if they've started to work through it. He can't truly find it in himself to hold this against his kih'vod.

It's been bothering Omega more and more. She blames herself for so much, despite every attempt they've made to assure her she's not at fault. The truth is, nobody could have stopped Omega, even if the thought sickens Hunter.

“I know what you're thinking.” Crosshair says, focusing on their unconscious brother rather than looking at Hunter. He's got a hand placed carefully on Wrecker's shoulder. With the other, he occasionally checks his brother's pulls or if he's still breathing. “If you're going to accuse me of missing the shot on purpose, or still working with the Empire, just get it over with.” A tear drops from Crosshair's face onto Wrecker's chest plate.

Hunter's chest hurts at his little brother's defeated tone. “We're going to find her, Cross. We won't stop until we've got her back.”

Disturbing batcher from her spot at Wrecker's side, Hunter moves closer to Crosshair, putting his hand on his brothers arm. Surprise crosses the sniper's expression, but morphs to something closer to determination.

“We'll find her.” Hunter repeats. “Together.”

[brionysea]

Question for you: How do you think a one-on-one convo between madwheeler pre-s4 would go from Mike's pov?--like how do you think he would treat/talk with Max, who's isolating herself/depressed? Because I've seen a lot of fics with that premise, but it always seems to be them only talking about their relationships (whether it be Byler or Mileven in Mike's case, or Lumax with Max. Which I don't have an issue with, it's just not always the main focus I want on Madwheeler), but rather how Mike perceives Max post s-4. Sorry if this is rambly and doesn't make sense, I'm struggling with getting in Mike's head, and you're obviously very good at interpreting his character.

answer for you: according to the one (1) season 4 episode where max and mike were both in hawkins, the dynamics with max and the party pre-s4 seem to be as follows:

lucas chases after her at school and tries to get her to talk about her feelings and/or go to his basketball games. she's not into it, but she listens to the games on the radio at home anyway

dustin chases after her at school and tries to get her to hang out with the group (hellfire) (max doesn't seem to like eddie) (it's a d&d group - a game she had no interest in before she lost all capability to care about the things she previously enjoyed). she's not into it, makes fun of him for missing her sarcasm, and skates away

and mike, instead of doing any of that and making her feel cornered (or worse, pitied) when high school is already bad enough, leaves her the hell alone.

some people (non-madwheeler understanders) would think that means that mike just doesn't care or their friendship isn't Like That. those people would be incorrect. bothering each other and cheering each other up while they're in the Mental Health Trenches is what max and mike do. just look at the skateboard scene

madwheeler always have their Friendship Moments when no one else is around. the gym scene, the conversation in the byers kitchen, when mike called max's house and nobody else could hear both sides, when max radioed mike at the sauna, watching el get a coke can out of the bin together, after they both got knocked out by billy. it's a very private friendship, so playing into the "there's more here than meets the eye" concept and having them possibly share things with each other that they otherwise wouldn't share with anyone makes a lot of cohesive sense - even if it's just in a "distracts you from The Horrors until you blurt it out in a fit of annoyance" way, like what happened when max first heard about el from mike

people just think it's all fighting because that's all they see, but even that is always in an attempt to make each other better. and it always works eventually (although if we're being technical, the dynamic is max trying to make mike better, while mike tries to keep max safe). mike wouldn't fight with max when she's depressed though, i believe that's only a yearly occasion for the single week we jump back into these people's lives when tensions are high as a kite. if he was around during season 4 he would have fought with max over her willingness to self sacrifice (you know, like a hypocrite)

simply put, mike doesn't push because he gets it, which is exactly why max tolerates him more than the other two - she pushed through the crowd to stand next to mike at the pep rally while she ran away from the others when they seeked her out later - and might even open up a little. s2 mike and s4 max, both dealing with the trauma of witnessing a death (where the person's last words were directed at them) and feeling responsible for it while the world moves on and nobody else seems to care, are the same. mike knows that max doesn't want to hang out like everything's normal or talk about her feelings and admit that it's not. especially not with lucas, who has plenty of reasons to hate billy, and max is selfless enough to not want to add her own messiness into it. max's mother's distance would resonate with mike too

the thing about mike interacting with any of his friends is that he's the most persistent person who's ever lived. he called el every day for a year; he probably did the same for will after the byers moved; he wouldn't stop radioing lucas in season 1 until he answered; he would not shut up about trying to get in contact with dustin in season 3. mike doesn't give up. what this means for max, is that once he's sure she won't mind him being there (and even if she does, a little bit, but that might just be the Performatively Hating Each Other part before they get back to enjoying each other's company, so he's gonna stick it out regardless), he'd kinda just... be there. and continue to be there. they might talk, they might not, but he knows that it sucks to be alone like this and he's not gonna let that happen to max if he can help it

this last bit is kind of just a headcanon of mine, but i like to imagine that if mike ever searched for an Activity that max actually enjoyed (dustin's got the right idea, but at the same time the wrong idea), he would try to bug her into teaching him how to skateboard. their conversation in the gym was heading in that direction before el interrupted, so there's the connection to the Mental Health Trenches and implicitly returning the favour of that kindness and moment of connection (even though mike really wasn't doing great pre-s4 either, but whatever), and something about the "bambi on ice" line in lenora makes me think it could be something max said to him when he fell over once

[singswan-springswan]

It's been discussed by people more eloquent than I, but what they did to Eric in the finale of TLM remake was a sin, a crime, a disservice, and if I ever get over the discomfort, it won't be for a long time.

I simply don't understand their reason to take Ursula's death away from him. On top of that, why would they give it to Ariel? Ariel already saved him once before. The fight against Ursula was supposed to give Eric a turn at being the hero. It was Eric's moment to prove to Triton that he really does love Ariel and is willing to fight for her and protect her and---most importantly---that humans aren't inherently evil in the way Triton believes. Ariel doesn't need to prove herself in this way. She's already shown that she's courageous and brave and unafraid to do difficult things to keep Eric safe. Also in the remake... she knows that Ursula is family, and yet this nuance doesn't seem to mean anything to her? She doesn't hesitate to act in a way that she knows will at least hurt her aunt if not kill her outright, and I understand that the drive to protect Eric is strong but it felt really out of character for Ariel to be the one actively impaling her aunt.

I'm not saying Eric should have done it because ships are his thing (they're not. They're Ariel's thing too, even if Eric is more familiar with the way they actually work n stuff). I just think that when you take into account the status of every character at that point in continuity, it makes sense for Eric to rise to the occasion. It's his chance to save Ariel the way she saved him. It's his chance to prove himself to Ariel's father and gain his trust. He would also be the angriest with Ursula and have the least reason to hesitate when it comes to taking her creepy tentacle shebs down. She tricked him, stole his freewill, used a siren song against him, took the love of his life away and tried to kill her. Given the opportunity to stop her terrorism, he should have been given the same role he had in the original film. Instead he just sits on a rock uselessly after throwing one harpoon, and Ariel leaves his side to do all the heavy lifting.

It makes no sense to me. Is this about presenting Ariel as a strong independent woman who doesn't need a prince to rescue her? Because that's such a flat reason. Like I said, we've already seen Ariel prove herself in the rest of the movie, and the new film did a great job developing her character. She doesn't need this moment of triumph at all. Besides that, there is absolutely nothing wrong with not being a fighter. There's nothing wrong with needing help. Ariel's character would not be cheapened in the slightest by needing Eric to be her hero in that moment, especially because we've already established that she was his hero first. She doesn't need to do it all! I'm tired of this narritive that puts all the pressure of only one half of the ship to deliver in this way, either male or female. A good partnership is one that shares the hard things and gives both people room to use their unique abilities for the benefit of each other. This is something the original movie nailed with Ariel and Eric. They were complementary. Neither one was braver or more heroic than the other, but they presented these qualities differently in a way that didn't detract or rob one or the other of purpose. By taking Ursula's death away from Eric and giving it to Ariel in the remake, Eric's purpose in the story in reduced to Ariel's object of interest (I don't mean in the sense that she has no intense feelings for him or that he isn't her partner). The story is no longer about how they overcome conflict between land and sea together, but rather changes to be how Ariel goes on her own journey and along the way acquires someone to love that affirms and indulges her greatest desires. It was unsettling to see this done to Eric's character. It cheapens the sacrifice he made by going after Ariel when Ursula took her, and it makes him seem foolish for trying to stand against this mighty sea power. He's not arm candy. He's not just a lovable dork she keeps around for the intrigue of his mind and adventurous spirit. Eric is supposed to be a triumphant character that prevails over evil---not because he's powerful---but because he's willing to sacrifice for what he loves. Watching him do a number as a wet rat on a rock while Ariel saves the day does nothing to inspire this sentiment of his character for me. In fact, I was taken aback. It just doesn't make sense that they changed this part of the story when there was nothing wrong with it to begin with and it actually fit in line with both the original and new storyline so neatly. I don't understand it and I really don't like it. It wasn't worth what little it added to Ariel's character to take so much away from Eric. Prince Eric fr doomed by the narritive

[gralunaisland]

I swear every time I see a loyal character say the name of the person they're loyal to too often, especially when they use an honorific, I get a juvia flashback. It's horrible bc one of my favourite character from another anime does it and I don't want to associate him with juvia !

How to Not Compare juvia to Your Favorite Characters

I so understand you, Anon, I feel the same way a lot of the time when I'm enjoying anime or manga, where I analyze the characters who act even minutely similar to juvia. It really does suck, and you have my condolences.

One example off the top of my head is Ainz and Albedo from the anime Overlord whose first season I just watched for the first time recently. Even though I like Albedo, one could say that Albedo acts extremely similarly to juvia, always using the honorific of "sama" for Ainz, always mad on his behalf, always prepared to sacrifice herself for him, frequently misinterpreting his words to mean something more romantic, fighting with Shalltear over his affections, trying to be by his side all the time etc.

However, I'm able to pretty much subdue my nagging idea of juvia by thinking carefully about the fundamental differences between Albedo and the blue-haired witch:

First, I understand that Albedo only acts this way because she was literally programmed by Ainz to be madly in love with him, so it is not of her own free will that she lusts after and sometimes bothers Ainz, unlike juvia. juvia has all the free will she needs, and yet still she decides to bother Gray and ignore his consent.

Second, it is her duty as the Head of the Guardians to address Ainz as "Ainz-sama". It's not her just arbitrarily and uncomfortably deciding to undeservingly give this immense honorific to him, literally all of Ainz's servants address him as such. He is a Supreme Being and thus created some of them, and he is therefore like a god to them. So, unlike juvia, Albedo has a reason to show so much reverence to Ainz.

Third, Albedo actually obeys Ainz's orders. Of course, it is also her duty as his servant, but even when she acts a little out of line, one word from Ainz has her subdued and apologetic. Contrast that with juvia who never apologizes for her behavior and never thinks that what she's doing is wrong. I'm not saying she should obey Gray like Albedo does, but she should listen to him, and yet she doesn't, making a big difference between them.

Fourth, it's shown that the only reason that Ainz isn't very infatuated with Albedo in return is because of his new undead form. There is literal magic that makes him calm at all times and quiets his emotions when he gets excited in one way or another. When he first gained his skeleton body, he got excited by Albedo, and even before then, he'd made her love him. So, it's pretty safe to say it's not Albedo's fault that Ainz doesn't love her, unlike juvia with Gray, because juvia's awful personality (or lack thereof without Gray) just makes her repulsive to him.

These are just a few differences.

Sorry for going into a tangent about Overlord, but that was all just to say maybe you could try doing the same thing, just taking a little time to list out why the character you like isn't really the same as juvia even if they look like they act like it on the surface. I hope this might help! I won't say it completely cures my mind about thinking about juvia, but it does help me enjoy the other characters regardless!

Anyway, so sorry to hear about your favorite character; I really hope you're able to blot juvia from your mind when you see him eventually! It just goes to show how juvia's toxic behavior oozes its way into people's enjoyment because of how hard it is to forget how terrible her actions are.

[tyrannuspitch]

thinking about the question of how natasha would have reacted to baz's vampirism again.

i used to be firmly on the side that she would have rejected him entirely, maybe even actually killed him. after all, fiona and baz both say as much, and why would they make that up? true, natasha as a ghost has nothing but love for baz, even though she saw him get turned before she killed herself - but we don't know how the afterlife works or what's going on in her head. maybe she's repressed the memory. maybe she has some kind of Ghost Vision telling her he's still alive, still has a soul, still counts as a person, etc, and she assumes that means he can't possibly be a vampire, so either she was mistaken or they found a cure.

but now i'm like... hmm. that's not actually super convincing. it's still very much an open question. it's equally possible that natasha has realised that she was turned and yet she undeniably still has a soul, so maybe not ever single vampire needs to be burnt at the stake.

but like. part of the reason i used to grate against the idea of an accepting natasha was because i felt like it so easily turned into flattening her into a perfect mother who only exists in the story to heal baz, and that's so clearly not who she is...

but now i'm wondering if fiona and (possibly*) malcolm are actually doing a similar sort of flattening by being so certain natasha would murder her only son. not making her a perfect person or mother, but making her a perfect pitch - someone who would never sacrifice her honour for anything, whose loyalty to the family name overrides even her loyalty to the real family in front of her. a pristine symbol of a lost age.

honestly, i think the combination of general vampirism stigma with natasha's death is strong enough that it's not just that baz feels guilty for surviving - on some level, fiona and (possibly*) malcolm actually feel guilty for letting him live. of course, they'd feel guilty for killing him too, doubtless far more so, and there's no danger of them actually doing it... but i think it's still part of the picture. they love baz, but they're still afraid of him, and even though he hasn't actually done anything (yet?), it still feels treacherous and unclean just for there to be a vampire within the pitch home.

*we never get to see inside malcolm's head, so we don't actually know if his position is the same as fiona's. but baz has picked up fiona's position and never had it contradicted, so it seems likely.

[pinkeoni]

Jancy Analysis: Jonathan & Nancy's Individual Conflicts

I've been talking about this over the course of a few different posts and asks, but I thought I would make one cohesive post about it in order to coherently organize all of my thoughts on this.

I'm not going to tag this as anti j*ncy because it's actually pro-jancy endgame, but I am going to be talking in depth about the issues in their relationship and a possible breakup, so I understand if any Jancy shippers might wanna skip this one.

As many may have seen, I've been making several posts somewhat stating that I think that Nancy and Jonathan will likely break up very early in the next season. HOWEVER, I want to clarify that I don't think that this necessarily has to affect their status as a couple at the end of the season. A couple can still be endgame even if they took time apart! I also don't think that this is indicative of how they actually feel about each other. Unlike m*leven, I think they love each other very much! I just think that they are likely going to break up as a natural progression of how their story beats have laid out.

In 4x01 we are introduced to Jonathan and Nancy's conflict for the season; they are having miscommunication issues and will not be seeing each other for spring break.

Here's the thing that makes this heartbreaking— both of them actually perfectly understand the others wants and needs. Nancy isn't going to pry Jonathan away from his family and Jonathan isn't going to take Nancy away from the work that she is passionate about. They love each other so much that they can't see each other.

What leads me to believe that they are breaking up is the fact that this miscommunication is never actually discussed. They have a moment where they say that "they're good," but this wasn't actually addressing the issue. Furthermore, they end with Jonathan still hasn't told Nancy about not applying to Emerson, and Nancy isn’t being honest about Steve (no, I don’t think St*ncy is gonna happen, but that plotline did happen so it there’s no use in ignoring it!). This leaves open a huge plot point that still needs to be resolved!

This lie is actually similar to the painting lie, at least in terms of how it's being used within the writing. Because this lie is not resolved by the end of season 4, it leads me to believe that once this lie does get brought up then it will not end with things staying the exact same way that it was, otherwise what was the point of setting it up in the first place? Not only would it feel unsatisfying, but it would feel like a total cop out.

I don't think that Jancy breaking up would be a bad thing for their arc as a whole, it would not only add more interest and drama but it would also give the characters space to resolve their individual conflicts.

The reasons for why they don't see each other over Spring Break actually reveal bigger conflicts for each character: Jonathan has been lying to Nancy about college because he can't leave his family, and Nancy can't take herself away from what she's working on in order to be with him.

I'll start with Jonathan since I've actually talked about this before and his problem is more identifiable. Ever since their dad left, Jonathan has felt responsible for taking care of his family, something that he shouldn't have to do. He sacrifices parts of himself in order to protect his family, including being with the people he loves and going to the school he wants to go to (which is NYU btw and NOT Emerson!).

Nancy actually has the opposite problem, she is so involved with her work that it often gets in between her and the people that she loves. After Nancy goes on her spiel to Fred about why she can't see Jonathan, she turns down Mike's D&D game! We are shown a clear example of her prioritizing work over family!

Both of these conflicts is what leads to Jonathan and Nancy having their argument in season 3, an argument that doesn't really get resolved, they just decide to make up because there’s bigger fish to fry. Although, as I stated above, it does seemNow, their argument in this season is pretty complex. They're both right... and they’re both wrong. Nancy was right to get upset at her employers for their sexism, but she was also wrong for not considering Jonathan's position. Jonathan was wrong for not considering Nancy's feelings, but he was also right for getting angry at her for losing him the job. It's not a black and white situation.

To clarify, I don't think that Nacy being a working woman is a bad thing, nor do I think that Jonathan deeply caring for his family is a bad thing! But I think the reason that both of these arcs are here is for the sake of showing balance. How to balance what you want for your future with the ones that you love.

Now, as I talked about earlier, it does seem like they do understand their personal wants and needs now in season four, but those reasons for the argument in the first place are still there. Neither Nancy nor Jonathan have resolved these issues, and failing to do so will only continue to cause problems in the future, no matter how much they both love each other. That isn’t the problem in their relationship unlike M*leven

Yes Nancy and Jonathan don't need to break up in order to resolve their individual conflicts, but I think separation would at least help create focus. And as stated above, I see their breakup as pretty inevitable anyways. After that though, I think the possibility for endgame is still there. For myself personally I'd be open to either endgame or not, and especially if they get their situation sorted out than I would love to see them together in the end.

[twistedisciple]

♡  — How would your muse define love? Do they believe in soulmates? Do they believe this definition of love is achievable?

Life Philosophy HCs | not accepting

This question was also sent by @rafent

So glad you asked! This post is long overdue and would be a separate meta if I had gotten to writing it sooner.

Love is actually the reason I don't find it appropriate to label Griss as a true psychopath. He's not callous, despite his penchant for violence, and most of his actions can be attributed to his definition of love. I've drawn from three canon lines for this interpretation. The first is from the end of Chapter 23:

Zephia: [...] Why should I die in the dust, while he... While he gets everything he wanted, just like that. Does that seem fair? Now that they know about the shard, they're sure to break it... and he'll know I've met my end--that he's lost me forever. Griss: You gotta really love somebody... if you wanna hurt 'em that badly.

The second is actually from Gregory at the end of chapter 4 of the DLC, when the Winds discuss Nel's heartbreak over Alear:

Zelestia (about Nel): [...] It's only natural she might need some time to herself after that. Mauvier: Ah. I see. Gregory: People's hearts are fragile when they're in love. You gotta be gentle with them, big guy. Madeline: Sounds like you speak from experience, Gregory. Have you been in love before? Gregory: Nope. But I hear it's as terrifying as it is exhilarating.

Gregory also asserts in his S rank support with Alear that he doesn't understand what love is, and curiously shares this exchange in their A rank:

Alear: Fine. If you can’t come to terms with it, here. Take this. Gregory: Wha?! What was that? That wasn’t a punch! You just flicked my forehead. Alear: And that’s all you get. Consider that your punishment. We’ll never speak of this again. Gregory: Haha. Actually, that’s almost a nice sort of pain. I don’t mind it.

There's a running theme of pain and terror in both Griss and Gregory's concepts of love, which makes sense in the context of their abusive parents, the earliest introduction they ever had to "love." I believe that Gregory's inexperience with love and his fear of pain go hand-in-hand, so the reverse of that is Griss' obsession with pain, and therefore greater experience with love. I would argue that Griss is constantly yearning for some deeper connection with another person, and the only way he knows how to convey this feeling is through violence.

[cw physical abuse] He wants others to hit him, because his parents did, the people of the fell church did, Zephia likely did, and everyone else he's encountered and forced into this never-ending cycle ultimately did as well. He's twisted these experiences into corrections of his own failings (his parents hit him because he wasn't good enough, the sages hit him to drive out sin, Zephia hit him to teach him a lesson), and believes that these people wouldn't raise a hand against him if they didn't love him. This is in line with Zephia's belief about how children should be raised, and meeting her may even be the reason he's able to see pain in this way, but that's a topic for another post. [end cw]

While Griss has an internal concept of love, I don't think it's something he can articulate. The definition at its simplest is love = pain. This is the level that he recognizes and can talk about. However, I believe a broader definition is hidden in his actions: love is self-sacrifice. We see this in Gregory as well, since he repeatedly lets himself be hurt in order to protect those close to him. Griss' devotion to Sombron is rooted in self-harm, and while he isn't a knight making some pretty speech about his loyalty for his liege, the same sort of promise is hidden in this line at the beginning of chapter 23:

Zephia: Retreat isn't an option. I will die, if I must, to protect the shard. Griss: You? That's crazy talk. If anyone's dying today, I've got first dibs.

And confirmed at the end when he tells Zephia that he'd never leave her. I believe this is actually the very beginning of Griss' understanding of "real" love, and parallels the definition Gregory eventually settles on with Alear:

Gregory: I’m embarrassed to admit that I don’t really grasp this “love” thing everyone talks about. Gregory: But if love is finding someone so important that you’re terrified of losing them, then maybe… Gregory: I… I want to be by your side, protecting you. Now and always.

Is this definition of love achievable? Yes. Although Griss is almost too far gone to ever have a long-term, stable and healthy relationship like Gregory will eventually get. This isn't something that he regrets though. At least, not at this time. More on the existential crises that come with change later though.

As for soulmates? No, absolutely not.

[catgriffin]

Just saw your post in the tag about the Vees being "irredeemable" and I'm curious as to why you feel that way. It's a pretty common sentiment so you have company, I just personally struggle to see the justification for it especially in a show where the main theme is that anyone can be redeemed/deserves a second chance (or at least that is Charlie's goal).

We know that 1.) Charlie wanted to spare Adam, an angel that had been committing a devastating genocide against her people for decades, 2.) Charlie tries to see the good in Alastor even though he's a psychopathic cannibal that she recognizes isn't completely on board with her goals (and actively participates in the oppressive soul ownership system) and 3.) Charlie forgave Vaggie who actively participated in the genocide against her people. I'd argue Angel Dust and Pentious are far more sympathetic characters (to both us, the audience, and Charlie herself) since we are told virtually nothing about their crimes that landed them in Hell and we meet them when they're both at their lowest.

While I understand everyone has their favorites and the show likely isn't interested in exploring its central theme too deeply, I do think it would be such a missed opportunity not to have Charlie confronted with the hypocrisy of offering salvation to some but not all - to stumble in her beliefs and be forced to claim some people are "irredeemable". What does that arbitrary determination criteria look like to her? How is she equipped to make those decisions?

And, if the criteria to get into Heaven, isn't to actually confront your past and current life but rather sacrifice yourself for others (based on Pentious and his ascension) then that's absolutely (in my opinion) something the Vees would be capable of. If Charlie can look past the crimes of Adam and Alastor and offer them grace then she should be capable of doing that for characters like Vox, Velvette, and even Valentino.

I personally think it would add a lot to Charlie's character if she had to actually stand firmly in her convictions that every sinner has the capacity to change OR for her to grapple with the fact she is biased and her ideology is inherently flawed.

But those are just my thoughts. Like I said, I see "the Vees are irredeemable" get echoed quite a bit but am always curious where it stems from. I think there are a lot of good arguments to be made, but the setting/core theme of the show really challenges them (for me anyway). I think a bigger issue you'd run into is certain characters not wanting redemption at all, but with some plot adjustment I think you could make it work since so many of the characters are still blank slates this early on. And I hope it goes without saying but I'm not excusing the actions of any of these characters, simply challenging the idea of who is really "irredeemable" in a show where every single person is bad and they are already in "Hell" facing judgment for their transgressions.

Always an interesting topic and hope you don't see it as an attack or anything.

I appreciate that you asked this in a nice way, people often get very upset over it. Vox is actually one of my favorite characters. And if any of the vees were to get redeemed I think it'd be him. He is desperate to love, he loved alastor and now chases Valentino. And if sacrifice truly is the way to get to heaven, I can't really see Valentino being the one to sacrifice himself. At least, not how he currently is. I don't know enough about velvette to make a correct assumption. And to be fair we don't truly know how vox feels about angel. He may have called him a wh*re because he was trying to relate and calm down Valentino in that moment.

The only reason I feel they can't be redeemed is because they have the same mindset alastor currently does:

1) redemption isn't possible

2) I dont want to go to heaven if it was

[ommmmara]

MAY i ask about the storyline of redlife gem and false please

i hyperbolized that i "thought of an entire storyline" but honestly it's a pretty vague concept because i haven't thought of what the gimmick for this game would be or the cast, and generally i don't have any idea what would happen outside of them but! basically!! here's what i thought of

gem, technically first time in a life series game, remembers how she filled in for cleo in limlife and spends her time on this new game gearing up for the imminent chaos and trying to figure out why she was brought in early and for just one session. false, meanwhile, is completely new and just does normal hardcore things like staying alive and getting good stuff. they instantly click as the only newbies on the game and become one of the most powerful alliances on the server. i like to think they end up base-ing together, cute little cottage and garden and all. gem, in her search for truth, tells false about her experience and they both become wary of people pretty quickly, one of their only allies is scott because he's all for messing with whoever put them in this situation and is willing to lend information as a previous winner. then, idk exactly how they make enemies, but somewhere down the line gem gets into a sticky situation probably involving red lives, or a mob, or an enemy she makes, and she ends up red with claw marks on her leg because i just thought they looked cool. false is left alone trying to pick up where gem left off, interrogating people and trying to find out what is going on. she's also deeply unnerved by the nature of red lives and tries to find a way to get gem back to yellow. gem is avoiding false at all costs when red because she doesn't trust herself not to attack her.

eventually, false becomes red by falling down somewhere, maybe a ravine or maybe from a cliff, she basically zoned out too hard while thinking about everything on her mind and took a wrong step. and now theyre reunited. i'm thinking maybe the gimmick of the game is similar to limited life where you gain benefits by killing people, and they team up to try and murder. theyre pretty effective, not only because of their pvp legend status, but also because they're pretty smart and resourceful, and they have eachother to fall back on.

they end up being the last alliance still standing, and some of the last people in the game overall. they either die together or one of them sacrifices themselves for the other in the name of the truth. i also dont know whether either of them wins or not, but if one of them did it would be a pretty satisfying conclusion because they'd finally get some answers as winners, they'd maybe get to know the watchers. after this game, theyre not in the next season, for the same lore reasons mumbo, lizzie, ren and skizz missed some seasons too. they were left scarred by their experience and needed some time to recharge.

that's basically it??????? they just wanna know what the fuck is going on and feel like they can only trust eachother in a world full of mysteries

[gatheredfates]

Altitis Edition ✧˖°.

Tagged by: @riftdancing / @thefreelanceangel - thanks so much!

FAVOURITE.

Oh man, that is like asking someone to pick their favourite child. All of my characters are my 'favourites' for different reasons. I think, if I had to narrow it down, I'd default to the big three: Ashe, Azuma and Koret.

Ashe is my content main; she is the character who has everything as far as mounts/titles/etc. She was my mental health cleanse coming from WoW, and her entire existence as a character is someone I can escape into when the darker aspects of my other characters may be too much to deal with. She's your bog-standard adventurer; she's always up for a challenge, nothing complicated happens in her life, and she just wants to hang out and meet new people. I love her spark and how she follows the beat of her own drum, whilst also being a caring friend to those around her.

Azuma was my first character in xiv, and really the only one that exists just in this universe. I wouldn't have met @riftdancing if not for her, and the friendship she has with Siyoh mimics the same I have for her player - even if we didn't have the luxury of knowing each other since we were children. I'm far shyer in sharing stuff for her than I ought to be, but her quiet strength of will is a comfort to me and something I love playing.

Kor... is feral. Who knew a off-handed OC made for WoW would turn into my absolute hyper fixation. I love her strength and snark. I love how, on the one hand, she doesn't give a fuck what people think about her whilst holding the opinions of her loved ones in high regard. Much like Azuma, the bonds I have made with people in writing her mean the world to me and that's why I've played her for so long.

OLDEST.

Aryele. Originally called Arianna — I made her when I was ten years old and injected her into nearly any roleplay that would have me. She's gone through a couple of name changes (Aryele/Aryette on WoW, for example, just to name a few), but the fundamental crux of her character as a wandering mender has stayed the same.

NEWEST.

Technically Elandervier. She was the last OC I made in WoW, though a few other characters have preceded her since then, but her adaptation to XIV has been the most recent change to my roster. I found it difficult to have her and Seelu, for example — as well as trying to differentiate her between other characters whose defining traits were 'void-aligned' verses 'fel-aligned' (El was a Nightborne Warlock in WoW, which is why I have her Gelmorran heritage, but void and fel are two clearly defined factions in WoW). I'm really happy with how she's turned out, though. She's quickly shooting up to be one of my favourite OC's.

MEANEST.

If we're talking characters who will say hurtful shit or just be a bit of an asshole? Kor. If we're talking characters who will actively undermine you for their own ends? Elandervier or Z. The latter are closer to villains as opposed to Kor, who is just aloof and bitchy as a surface level protection. Z is a voidsent with heavy inspiration from vampirism - he will take what he wants from who he wants with reckless disregard. El has bargained with said voidsent (including Z) for most of her life and will offer sacrifice and placation to keep her power. I think the major difference is that Z hunts for sport, whereas El will keep to herself unless you disturb her or go out of your way to be a nuisance in her space.

SOFTEST.

Aryele or Alaice, but they both have different reasons. Alaice is Ary who went through trauma but kept her softness, whereas Ary is just blanketly soft but knows herself enough to not fall into some of the trappings that Alaice did. Azuma is not too far behind, but her soft is masked behind a layer of Doman formalities and trauma that tends to make it seem forced for those who don't know the culture well.

MOST ALOOF/STANDOFFISH.

Kor. Next question. (I think El and Z can be standoffish but they're more likely to say nothing where Kor is just 'fuck you, fuck off.') ...Eve is also a close contender.

DUMBEST (AFFECTIONATE / DEROGATORY)

Some of you might remember when @riftdancing did her Altitis edition and mentioned Poki twice here... Ashe is her adopted mum. It runs in the family.

I JEST, THOUGH. Ashe is not book smart but she's emotionally intelligent. I like to think of her as a character who really 'sees' people for who they are; cutting through the fat and bravado (positive or negative) people use to cloak themselves. She gets a good read on people quickly, even if she doesn't understand their specific situation, and that makes her easy to talk to/interact. She's the kind of person who will admit honestly and earnestly she probably has no idea what they're going through, but she'll listen and help where she can.

SMARTEST.

Probably Elandervier. I think Seelu would be a close contender, but she didn't have much of an education growing up and has had to work hard for the intelligence she now possesses. El would simply 'know' what something is, whereas Seelu would work hard to find the correct tome and cultural knowledge.

HORNIEST.

Sarrai.

I will not elaborate. Sarrai is the kind of person who loves unabashedly and will return affection to those who give it to her in kind. Understandably, she knows there are people who don't give it altruistically but she's lived with an egomaniac capitalist for the better part of eighteen/nineteen years and knows how to 'play the market', so to speak She'll forgive a lot of shortcomings if the dick/strap is good.

CHARACTER YOU'D BANG.

Sarrai. I think she'd treat me nicely but test my limits (in a good way)! DFKGHJDSFGSD. I thirst for Kor probably the most, though.

CHARACTER YOU'D BE IRL BEST FRIENDS WITH.

Ashe or Sarrai, no contest. Sarrai is the world's biggest hype-woman and would be amazing to have in times where I am not feeling my best mentally/physically. She'd be like "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU FEEL SAD?? YOU'RE SUCCESSFUL, YOU HAVE A GOOD RELATIONSHIP, YOU HAVE FRIENDS WHO ADORE YOU GIRLIE!!! But also get therapy if you need it, you crazy slut."

Ashe would be nice to go on a walk with and just chat about life. She's easy-going and doesn't expect much of the people around her, other than to treat each other kindly and with respect. She's much more active than I would be, though!

Another close contender is Azuma. Much like Ashe, she enjoys easy conversation and good food. She likes to surround herself with people who love her and will go out of her way to maintain relationships with people she cares about.

Tagging: @gaygentofchaos, @dawnstriding, @syerraffxiv, @snakemoltsiren, @dragons-ire, @fist-and-fury-xiv (I know you all have alts, don't look at me), @allyennah, @thefrostflower, @82-99 and anyone else with more alts than sense. If you'd like to be tagged in any dash games I participate in, I heavily recommend you like my permanent interaction call here!