#Seems so damn stupid | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

feroluce · 7 months ago

Text

Belobog was my fave main quest but a lot of it is so. Contradictory. It's like they had multiple groups doing different shit and none of them checked in with each other for consistency. And you see this so much in Gepard's profile.

So in the main quest, they made him unfailingly, unquestionably loyal to Cocolia. Gepard's character arc is him learning to question authority etc etc. And this isn't even a bad thing; that's a story worth telling! It makes good conflict between him and Serval! And I love that we got Gepard as a boss battle and I get to see him all the time in SU!

But then you look at his character stories and it's like. The complete opposite.

According to his profile, Gepard has already HAD this awakening, long before the Astral Express, and he'd already decided Cocolia sucks. Even outside of his stories, there's a pretty damning readable between him and Pela.

He even disobeyed direct orders right in front of her- he has been disobeying orders for a while now!

So I've decided I'm marrying the two different sides of this into a 1.5k fic-ish thingy, because I think there's some fun potential there with Gepard not trusting Cocolia, but still having to pretend to be a good obedient little soldier.

Anyway. I love to think of it as like. Gepard knows Cocolia has sunk into her apathy. He can see it in her eyes every time he looks at her. She doesn't care. Not about him, not about Pela, not about all his soldiers on the frontlines giving their lives to protect the citizens. And that's... It makes him bristle a bit, but ok. Gepard can deal with this. Even if Cocolia no longer cares, as long as she does her job then it's fine. Having compassion behind an action doesn't matter as much as the action itself. If Cocolia's heart is no longer swayed, then he'll just have to care twice as hard to pick up the slack. He considers it part of his duty as a captain of the guard anyway. It's fine. Gepard can deal with it.

And then, Cocolia starts coming down to the restricted zone. Issuing direct orders.

And Gepard realizes he is in way over his head.

Because Cocolia orders him to stay back and issue commands from the ramparts, away from all his comrades, away from where he can protect them.

Gepard had thought nothing could be as bad as watching a fellow guard die right next to him. But the first time he watches someone struck by a killing blow, so far away, it hurts. Every defensive scar across his arms itches, his fingers curl in want of a weapon, the cold cannot numb his hands enough as they desperately ache for his shield. It hurts.

Gepard tries to find any reason to stay. Because surely... He knows Cocolia has lost her love for her people, but surely... She wouldn't...

One day, Cocolia orders for their gunners to advance 20 yards. There are no survivors. She almost looks like she smiles.

Gepard doesn't sleep that night.

Pela brings him the report at the end of the first month; and then the month after that, and the month after that. A significant uptick in losses, and all of it started on that first day Cocolia started overriding his authority and issuing her own orders. The ends of Gepard's pens have all been nearly chewed off. Pela outright calls Cocolia an idiot, and Gepard corrects her. Cocolia isn't an idiot. Gepard had known her through Serval, knew her through all her college years and then some, and he knows how intelligent she is. It's not that she's stupid, and it's not that she's inexperienced, it's nothing of the sort.

Cocolia knows exactly what she's doing.

She must, there's no way she could make such a horrible mess of things so badly by accident. And Pela, quick as a whip, sharp as a tack, always too smart for her own good, catches onto the meaning behind Gepard's correction without any further prompting. The tent goes deathly quiet, nothing but the wind howling outside.

"...She's trying to kill us," Pela whispers, her voice swiftly suffocated by the silence.

Gepard swallows. He can't bring himself to correct her this time. There is nothing he could say that he would actually mean.

His gaze drops, back down to his desk and the reports on it. The names aren't listed, just the numbers, but Gepard knows them, knew them, and there must be something wrong, something he's missing, because why, why would she-? What could this possibly accomplish-?

“Gepard! Focus!” Something snaps right under his nose, and Gepard startles, eyes instantly honing in on Pela's irritated face as she leans over his desk. She holds his gaze for a moment before she huffs and begins to pace, wedges a knuckle between her teeth and bites like Gepard hasn't seen her do since cadet school.

Pela angrily strides from one end of his tent to the other, words hissed between her grit teeth. “What are we going to do?” In the dim lighting, Gepard can just barely see the damp spot of blood weeping under her gloves. “We need a plan.”

“A plan?”

“Wh- Yes, a plan! Unless you want more people to die!” Pela rounds on him then, all the wrath of a blizzard, winds roaring and snow sharp enough to cut.

“We don't even know-”

“What does it matter?! She killed-!!” Pela cuts off with a garbled noise when Gepard leaps up from his desk, hastily shoves his hand over her mouth. The prosthetic, not the flesh one, because he knows better than to assume Pela won't seize the opportunity to leave teeth marks in his skin.

“You're right. I'm sorry, I'm sorry; you're right. But you need to keep quiet.” Pela quirks an eyebrow at him and Gepard can read the question in her face. “Because we both saw what she did to Serval,” he hisses.

It's amazing the snow plains haven't thawed out yet, the amount of heat Pela can put behind a glare. The mere mention of Serval, and the smoking ruins Cocolia had made of her life and career, have her bristling up like a riled cat. The sudden hot breath she takes fans fog across his metal skin, and Gepard wisely keeps it in place until Pela finally sighs and reaches up, taps her fingertips against the back of his hand.

The second she's free, Pela bats him away and then her knuckle is right back between her teeth again, Gepard leaning back against his desk with his arms crossed to watch her resume her pacing. “If we spread the word, she'll have us discharged and make sure we can't even touch the frontlines,” Pela's voice seethes like an open sore. Gepard nods but keeps his silence. He knows better than to get in her way.

“And if you and I are both out of the picture, Belobog is fucked.” A little harsher than how he would have put it, but there's no denying that they're both important to the city's survival. Pela has the restricted zone running as efficiently as ever, and Gepard had become the youngest captain on record for a reason. “We need to keep this tight under wraps, at least for now… It can't leak to anyone higher up the chain.” Another nod. “Serval might know other discontents…” Another n-

Gepard's head snaps up. “No.”

“No what?”

“No. We're not involving Serval in this.”

Somehow, even the same tone that leaves entire squadrons shaking in their boots has never worked on her. “You're not deciding that for her, Gepard.”

Pela hadn't seen the worst of it, though, back when his sister had just been banned from the Architects. Serval's pride hadn't allowed it. Pela wasn't the one to find her passed out bottle still in hand, hadn't been the one to wash the sick out of her hair or carry her to bed.

Serval still has trouble thinking clearly when it comes to Cocolia, still can't quite bring herself to be objective. And Gepard maybe doesn't want her to be purely objective- but he would worry a lot less if she thought twice before she acted more often.

“At least let me be the one to bring it up to her.”

“Whatever, fine,” Pela gestures affirmatively at him as she paces past, and Gepard sighs. Good, at least that's one thing he can help.

From there, it's a lot of hemming and hawing and frustration. Cocolia has them under her boot, and Gepard and Pela both know it. Even with the way she's been cracking down on freedoms lately, Cocolia is still, overall, liked by the people. It's unlikely anyone would believe them. They don't even have solid proof, because most people don't know Cocolia as well as they do and won't see the clues in the same light.

The Fragmentum has been ramping up in recent years, too. Everyone is struggling just to survive as is, they can't afford a fight on two fronts. Gepard is a damn good captain, one of the best for that matter. But they're at a massive disadvantage, his experience is narrowed to fighting a defensive battle against monsters, that's all he's ever done. That's all anyone there has ever done. He has no way of finding first-hand knowledge for taking the offensive against a human opponent, and if he goes at this blind, there's no way he'll get everyone out unscathed. He's going to lose people. He's going to lose a lot of people.

He'd never thought before that Cocolia would have it in her to have someone killed. And with this new knowledge, he has no guarantee she won't go after Serval or Lynx if she decides to retaliate.

Gepard has to remind himself to breathe when he realizes this.

Pela writes down every name the two of them can come up with. Lists and lists of names and groups and anyone they can think of who might be an ally in all of this. They memorize every bit of it, make their plans of who to talk to and when. Gepard watches the sparks reflect off Pela's glasses as they burn the evidence together.

Pela finally leaves, far too late to make it home, but says she wants to stay in the restricted zone anyway to investigate. Gepard watches her make her way in the direction of Dunn's tent, watches her back until she's out of his sight and squashes down the urge to follow and keep an eye on her. His tent feels empty.

In the morning, Gepard is up before the wake up bells. He drags himself out of bed, leads his soldiers through their morning training. The same people gravitate to each other everyday. Friend groups and training partners. There's an ongoing rivalry between a few squadrons that everyone bets on. Some of them have lockets around their necks, keepsakes, mementos. Some of them wear wedding rings.

Gepard is suddenly, painfully aware of something acidic clawing at the inside of his throat, of a heavy weight low in his chest that blooms, takes up room until it threatens to spread his ribs. His mouth tastes of bile and blood.

He rearranges the schedules. Puts himself down for every open patrol into the Fragmentum, makes sure he'll be on the frontlines every single time Cocolia visits.

He only hopes that it's enough.

#honkai star rail #gepard landau #hsr gepard #pelageya sergeyevna #hsr pela #hsr #smacking Gepard out of Hoyo's hands and running off with him skzjmdkd #tentatively Figuring Out how to write these two... It feels a little tricky starting out with extreme circumstances like this haha #I feel like a lot of people see Gepard as naive for trusting Cocolia so much but I don't think that's quite it. He's not stupid.#He's not even naive.#He's someone who has been groomed since birth by his own parents to be an obedient Guard and nothing outside of that role.#You are not immune to propaganda etc etc #But even then there are a lot of things like all the included screenshots where he. Doesn't actually seem to like/trust Cocolia much.#I think Serval was a really good influence on him as a kid. He might have turned out much much worse without her.#and even with how I've written him here. I don't think he's normally slow to act or one to stand aside and make other people lead.#it's just that this specifically was a pretty extreme circumstance for him.#and also he openly states elsewhere that Pela is overbearing and he tries not to interfere with her work whenever possible nskzhdjdjd #Pela too. I don't know that I normally see her as someone with a bad temper or quick to anger.#But again; extreme circumstances haha #Bc like. they both would have seen what happened to Serval when she stood up to Cocolia. they know damn well what's going to happen to them.#if they fuck this up and get caught then they're done.#and I mean. What are they supposed to do? they're two people against the highest authority of the entire nation.#regardless I do love Gepard agonizing over this in the future after Bronya takes over and everything has settled down #did he do the right thing? did he make the right choice? if he went vigilante how many soldiers would have died without his protection?#would Belobog have fallen completely? how many people died because he DIDN'T run away? was it actually enough?#I love characters forced between a rock and a hard place. no good options. pick your poison.#no winning- only weighing what you can and cannot bear to lose.#make your choice and decide whether you want to rot or to burn.

70 notes · View notes

anxiouslowercase · 25 days ago

Text

sas rh: let eoin survive the fall au » the astronomer philosopher, the earth and the moon

#sas rogue heroes #sasrh:canonau #augustin jordan #eoin mcgonigal #paddy mayne #although it is true paddy orbits eoin like the moon does the earth (moreso after the first jump)#and that everyone knows theyre basically attached at the hip (however you wish to interpret that)#it is *also* true the more the sas wins and advances the more david is requesting paddys presence for important matters #(and *yes* david's quite sure LT mcgonigal can handle waiting outside the tent on his own paddy hes a big boy alright now get in there)#HOWEVER #paddy starts noticing that ACTUALLY eoin is not waiting on his own so much cause theres another fucking lieutenant #who keeps orbiting around almost like moth to flame #and its weird but its no big deal at first - eoin is a social guy anyways so it makes sense even if this ones french ?#(plus paddy keeps his one on one time so no notes there)#BUT #suddenly they're sharing looks and smiles and sort of digs at each other and paddy knows damn well the way eoin is teasing #and apparently frenchie goes along with it adding his own brand of *something* and what the fuck #and then it seems like they have almost inside jokes and sometimes paddy gets out of his stupid briefing #and jordan is walking away all too pleased and eoin is all to calm smiling up at him like he didn't just maybe spent an hour #talking to a fucking french of all people. THIS ONE french of all people.#but then eoin is very good at distracting him and hoarding his attention away from other things #especially when he grabs his arm to drag him to the piano #(and in truth what nags at paddys brain is that he doesn't *hate* this necessarily ?? even if the knowledge picks at his brain)#(it... gets his attention it makes him think and wonder and he gets a little grumpy sure cause thats his eoin BUT #he doesn't hate it necessarily. and *that* should be a problem or something)#anyways back with my all have two hands agenda !!! look how cute they look together !!!

27 notes · View notes

hanzajesthanza · 9 days ago

Text

the fact that the hanza spent yule eve & yule together always haunts me. especially around christmas time heh. they could have done anything else with their time and hung out with anybody else but instead they were like hey guys let’s sit around the kitchen table like we do every single morning and eat some food like we do everything single morning

#i get they had anxiety but #you guys don’t wanna do ANYTHING else besides hang out in the kitchen #i’m not dismayed i’m just impressed they loved each other that much #there is no one so interesting in beauclair to them besides each other?? based friendship #cahir you literally have TWO girlfriends #they were all together like guys. everyone else here is stupid and you (exhale) seem sane by comparison #that’s something milva would say begrudgingly… this city makes us seem normal #i do like the idea of them ending up together on coincidence #kind of like in the holiday episode of sitcoms where characters get their flights cancelled and their dates cancelled #so they all end up together like they all usually do and gather around for their normal table chatter #i think golden girls probably did this exact trope like more than ten times #and it is damn effective because we the audience see that shit and go omg they’re at their table #bonus points if they’re all very glum but then once they start talking and spending time together their mood improves #the elbow-high diaries

20 notes · View notes

slavhew · 10 months ago

Note

Hello!

If you're not too busy, would you mind listing some of the things you think count as death flags for Mr. Spender?

There's the obvious fact that he's the "old" mentor to group of young protagonists, but what else do you think would count?

OHH BOY ok so I'd think I'm a crackpot for this but since we're talking about Zack "Foreshadowing" Morrison. I have some thoughts

No harm in leading with the (chronologically) first thing that jumped out at me:

This one IMMEDIATELY made me antsy whenever I came back to it after my initial read, and considering Zack has referred to it on twitter in the past as one of their favorite jokes it's definitely not been forgotten about.

Second, the sheer amounts of near-misses, jokey or not, of Spender narrowly avoiding specifically lightning

Again, not much, but it's weird that it happened thrice, latter two of which had real gravitas rather than an one-off joke.

And third, Spender himself. He's repeatedly shown himself to be kind of a self sacrificing idiot, as well as prideful to a fault. Granted, it's both him and Mina trying to take on all the responsibility of saving Mayview and its inhabitants from their fate.. But Spender is exactly that right measure of doesn't-value-himself-enough (chest footprint aftercare or lack thereof), having an obscene amount of power (enables his loner act + pride) and poor judgement that has the capacity to put him at great risk. And it has!

Spender has not only shown low enough self-esteem to view himself as the de-facto scapegoat for the safety of the town, but also prideful enough to make very bad calls that end up in people, often himself, hurt (COUGH FORGE INCIDENT COUGH)

This is all conjecture, but it's definitely enough to make me worried about him :') Even if all this doesn't mean he'll necessarily die he's definitely getting (even more) seriously injured at some point. I love the guy but he's so far doing a horrible job of convincing me he wants to live bad enough to circumvent at least that

#not art #admin answers #paranatural #pnat #richard spender #pts-fic-notes-and-blog #before i continue on with tag ramble i just want to say tysm for leaving an ask!#none of my friends read this so ive been stewing on these thoughts for some months and i loved finally sharing them #this isn't exactly proof but the hijack possession seemingly being the final nail in the coffin for his and isabel's relationship.#idk it feels significant to me. thats one more tether to support kinda gone. someone who knows him well enough to know he's unwell #he seems not exactly content but fr incapable of not burning bridges as he is now. and considering how rashly he acts he REALLY needs those #to not do stupid shit all the god damn time with no buffer other than Lucifer. who for his measured approach to rick's hotheadedness #has honestly shown himself to be pretty lenient and kinda bad at controlling spender's more (self) destructive tendencies? so he dont count #to be clear i love spender to bits but he is dumb as rocks and has all the self preservation of a fruit fly. it needs to be said #also the lightning man... idk its WEIRD like especially on the reread its the thing that most consistently threatens him! it repeats #sure he gets chewed by a bat and banged up by forge but?? he somehow always comes back to lightning. catnine has it out for him #its something i didnt even really put together until i continued reading the flashback chapter AFTER getting this ask and went OHHHGNHF #which the only reason lightning is such a non issue is lucifer's powers. which belong to his sunglasses and not to the spirit in him #so its not like they can't be taken away he's just got a really good excuse for having those on all the time #TAGS GETTING SO LONG. ANYWAYS. i hope this is comprehensible lol

51 notes · View notes

qprpbj · 4 months ago

Text

“why do people ship the greasers.. i’m not homophobic but its the 60s… why are we shipping them……” this just in: gay people were actually apparently invented in 2020!

#the outsiders #outsiders broadway #outsiders musical #ponyboy curtis #darry curtis #sodapop curtis #johnny cade #dally winston #two bit mathews #need outsiders tiktok to be so fucking for real rn #some of these bitches are fruit central????#idgaf if it was the 60s why do yall seem to think gay ppl didn’t exist back then 😭😭😭#it’s always “im not homophobic but—” and then proceeds to say the most homophobic stupid shit ever #mind you i genuinely don’t even ship any of them except qprpbj but like. damn let ppl have fun omfg

24 notes · View notes

claitea · 9 months ago

Text

the fact that volo finds photos to be a good way of quickly conveying visual information. what information were you trying to convey with the pic of you and togepi thats on display to the Entirety of jubilife village huh mr. "i only care for her bc i'm curious"

#clai speaks #HE EVEN SAYS ITS A WHOLE THING TO GET PHOTOS SET UP IN HISUI #and YET. he bothers to take time out of his day that could be spent studying ruins and plotting arceus's downfall #on taking that DAMNED PICTURE WITH HIS TOGEPI it makes me ILL #he seems to like taking pictures a lot with his poryphone bc its so convenient in the present #show me your photo app volo. i bet its 90% togepi i'm calling your stupid bluff on the whole 'i dont like her really' thing

45 notes · View notes

bodiesinthelake · 1 year ago

Text

still thinking about the line "you're clever! how can somebody as clever as you be so stupid?" theres SO much to unpack

#the op of that meta about aziraphales insecurities. literally 100% true #crowley acknowleging that he is clever and complimenting his intelligence only to call him stupid #and not to mention. calling aziraphale stupid for placing trust in god #like aziraphale is insecure about his choices and about his status and an angel and like! it is crowleys insults that drive him futher into #wanting to trust god and heaven #like the meta said. crowley always seems to be right about everything. every moral dilemma and he is right so Easily #it must get to aziraphales head #and right after this conversation w crowley he Did try to contact god anyway. and none of it went right #and its like damn. crowley was right again.#anyway i hope aziraphale loses his mind in s3 or something. he should be angry and upset i think #also crowley should like. actually compliment him. would love to see it #good omens

59 notes · View notes

lavellane · 6 days ago

Text

WHY AM I SO BAD AT BEING MEAN IN THE BEING MEAN UNIVERSE :(

#oc: leda #tay plays rogue trade #my problem is that leda is 80% iconoclast 20% dogmatic #and her dogmatic views are all related to chaos worship/misappropriation of the warp #as a divine psyker herself she knows the cost of messing w the immaterium and its like. the one thing she will start screaming heresy over #BUT. as a psyker (who was caught by the inquisition significantly older than most psykers are) she does empathize #thats why she kept idira around to begin with. to give her the opportunity to control herself maybe w herself and heinrix as mentors #BUT LIKE. DAMN. U REALLY KILLED A WHOLE BUNCH OF MY CREW HUH....................#so now im like ok well. she COULD help idira she WANTS to help idira!!!! but it goes pretty clearly against her one red line lol #and she could just kick her out of the voidship but that seems even more cruel and also like. endangering other people #she wouldnt ask argenta to do it bc tbh argenta is too excited about it w peace and love <3 she would do it herself #BUT THEN VIGDIS..... VIGDIS IS GOING TO BE SOOOOO SAD.......#god. this sucks. the choices in this game rly are above and beyond lol #like this is agony SHES TRYING TO SET A GOOD EXAMPLE FOR HEINRIX SHE CANT KEEP EXECUTING HER COMPANIONS LIKE THIS.....#and performing exterminatus on entire planets!! tghis is so foul i just want to make out w heinrix i cant be doing this. IM SORRY VIGDIS...#she kills yrliet too after cammoragh :( hate my stupid baka LIFE.......................

12 notes · View notes

citrine-elephant · 1 month ago

Text

abduction/ambush concept for good ol' agent kennedy..... ->

leon catches someone taking his picture. it's a creepshot for sure, but with his line of work.... he can't be too careful now.

immediately he can tell his young woman knows she's been caught, and immediately he tries to get a feel for the situation.

she's embarrassed. she's looking away. and leon's.... not so sure about it. so, he makes his way over nonchalantly.

this woman is sat by the exit of this truckstop restaurant, by the trashcans and such. leon tries to avoid bluntly intimidating her by steering clear and throwing his stuff away. only to gently throw a comment her way, one that's meant to be playful and now blunt, but quiet to avoid drawing attention to her.

if this woman is just being creepy, he doesn't exactly want to embarrass her. she looks fresh into college and, while an adult shouldn't be acting like this.... maybe he wants to give her the benefit of the doubt, yknow?

he comments, something along the lines of, "not who you think i am, but i'm flattered. coulda just asked next time." a way to ease any tension with a joke.

and quickly, she's apologetic. "it was for a friend, i'm sorry," etc etc.

leon kinda feels bad. for the most part, he was worried less about some random girl taking creepshots and more of espionage and assassination attempts. if she's just some weirdo, then he can try to be nice at least? make the world a better place by confronting a creep and hopefully changing their ways lol.

in the best way he can, he just puts it light and asks her to not do that again. steer her on the right path.

but aha! that is the trick! while she wasn't interested in him (or maybe she plans to NOT delete that image after sending it to the sketch number she was given ahah), she was interested in the money she was paid to take photos and then lie to him if she was caught. hell, she IS a broke college student. what's wrong with sacrificing her dignity for a couple hundred bucks?

classic, "use an innocent looking young woman/kid to keep the target's guard down as a red herring!"

he might be a little weirded out on his way out, but he's more distracted by social anxiety to notice the ambush.

bonus points if this woman somehow becomes actually involved when, whoops, her desperation led her to witness this man's kidnapping and... oh god she just wants to eat something better than ramen, dude. fuck, man. shit. oh no. oh god.

and boy, is she in for a surprise when it's not just some random handsome guy getting abducted. not some poor fucker caught up in crime, or someone who owes money. ..

it's a fucking government agent involved with stopping bioterrorism. she's in deep...

#leon whump ideas #whump #this uh... yknow this was semi-inspired by an actual assassination by proxy (i think is the term)#in which some random woman were hired to play a prank -> tricked into killing #as i was writing it just got deeper and deeper into plot #the idea of this poor girl blaming herself and now leon's gotta help her #but i like to imagine while he's mad he's not really too bent outta shape into regards of her situation #like damn capitalism is rough but that was stupid lmfao #i wanna imagine leon's not gonna be too mad unless someone's actions gets someone killed (vendetta where he's really to be brutal)#he seems to wanna see good in people while also being a reasonable person/not downplaying someone's actions?#do i read that right about him idk #i wanna imagine leon's good at analyzing behavior/understanding the human condition #she's gotta eat -> does something bad -> definitely didnt realize the shit she'd get into #he sees the best in people first and also wont hesitate to deal with true evil and greed kinda thing #i mean he'll sacrifice himself for someone he barely knows so i think im at least closse #look im insecure about misreading characters/lore lol

8 notes · View notes