#So that she can point it at a threat or a problem or a tragedy (as when BH brought Laudna over) until it gets better

[amplexadversary]

Grog learned how to make shoes. Legitimately. It wasn't a bit!

Dude is WINNING at aged barbarianing.

------------------------------

Keyleth, Vex, and Percy are NOT beating the Polymachina allegations in this scene.

Also KEYLETH T.T She cares so much and she's so kind and Vex and Percy still offer their love and reassurances and I'm crying about these guys okay?

Vex and Percy, but Vex especially built a home for Vox Machina, even when they aren't in Whitestone. She was a founder of the bakery that Pike runs. She is personally invested in the defense of the city, both politically and from literal forest monsters. She dragged a fucking prince out of a tragic character arc, basically took over his job so he could do cheeky mad science shit, and they BUILT HOMES not just for Vox Machina but for the whole city amidst the devastation left by the Briarwoods and the Dragons and Vecna and I'm fucking crying.

[caligvlasaqvarivm]

How murderous is Karkat and Eridan?

Eridan: "killin is all i evver done practically the ocean wwas my killing cauldron"

Karkat: loves his friends so much that it hurts

They're both really blasé about killing things like imps or game enemies, and neither of them WANT to hurt their friends. Eridan's just more used to it because it was his whole job, and he's a lot better at fighting than Karkat is.

Vriska at one point says to John that her bodycount is probably "many thousands," so we can probably use that as a reference and assume Eridan's in that same bracket, because he and Vriska have a lot of parallels. In fact, I'd go so far as to call Vriska and Eridan a literary device called "parallel characters" - by listening to Vriska tell John about her feelings about her bodycount and of her place in society, we get to learn about how Eridan's feeling, too.

If we set the bar at 3000 (the low end of "many thousands") and Vriska and Eridan are both the equivalent of 13 years old, or a little less than 700 weeks, that meant he and Vriska were averaging out to multiple kills a week (and given they probably didn't start when they were newhatches and 3000 is a low estimate, like... it was probably an insane number like 5-7 kills/week). But never anyone they "cared about," in Vriska's words, until the Team Charge debacle, or Eridan went berserk on Feferi and Sollux (we should also keep in mind that Eridan outright says to Kanaya that he doesn't want to kill people he considers his friends).

But Eridan is significantly less emotionally intelligent than Vriska (a fucking feat), has less of a support system, and has a lot of Duty and Responsibility and Fate of the Species on his shoulders, so he copes a lot worse (again, a fucking feat). For Eridan, it's less about "being murderous," and more about "society demands that I be murderous" + "if I am not murderous, everybody dies" + "when I grow up, murder is my only viable career path".

He's ANXIOUS AS FUCK at his core. Via their parallel character status, we know from Vriska that they're both actually really nervous about growing up and taking their place in a society that demands bloodshed from them. When Eridan obsesses over genocide, it's a byproduct of Literally Being The Guy That Is Preventing Genocide (to the point of not really having other hobbies). We also know that he feels guilt towards his victims (or at least more than Feferi), which we know from Vriska is societally unacceptible. And if it's unacceptible for her to feel bad, then imagine how much less okay it is for the sea dweller.

So I wouldn't necessarily call Eridan murderous - like with most things regarding Eridan, it's more complicated than that - but I would call him "on a hair trigger", "conditioned to reach towards murder as an early solution," and "obsessively/anxiously trying to live up to how murderous society demands he be," all while not at all wanting to kill people he cares about. I think it's really important to note that, even though the higher the blood the more volatile the troll, and despite being unauspiced and unmoirailled, and without relying on sopor, Eridan did not start shooting to kill until Sollux and Feferi escalated the situation.

And before anyone mentions that Feferi's in the same boat, she spends practically the whole time with Sollux, who is foreshadowed to be her moirail.

Like, the tragedy of Eridan's character is that he's lonely and terrified, but does such a good job at putting up an obnoxious front that even a lot of the audience became convinced that he basically sucked and his problems didn't matter. His dumbass plan to go to Jack was a genuine attempt to save Feferi, the person he cared most about.

If you go back and look at that conversation, Eridan's casual casteist threats aren't genuine (see my pinned Eridan essay for details) - and SOLLUX is the one who says "I should have killed you when I had the chance". And Eridan DOESN'T KILL SOLLUX, because this whole time, Eridan has not wanted to kill his friends. It's not until Feferi - the person he cares most about, the one whom he concocted that suicidal mission in order to save - turns on him in agreement that Sollux should've killed him - that makes Eridan finally lose it.

Meanwhile, Karkat just loves his friends. He loves them so fucking much. I think this is pretty well-documented about him? He's got no qualms about murdering game constructs like imps and the black king, but he feels deeply fucking hurt and betrayed by Bec Noir since he bonded with Jack/Spades Slick. I don't think Karkat ever makes a genuine death threat against anybody but past!Eridan, but he and Eridan are heavily foreshadowed to be moirails, and that conversation has a hilarious bit in the middle where Karkat seemingly forgets that he's mad at the guy and just starts telling him he's a dumbass. Later on, he expresses missing his dead friends, including/especially the assholes, in the same segment as the meteor runs into dead Feferi and Eridan, so I think that that was more an angry outburst than a genuine desire to see Eridan dead.

In fact, even though he's basically shown nothing but scorn for Gamzee and Gamzee's religious beliefs and clown-ness, and even after Gamzee murders two people and seems to be trying to murder them all, Karkat can't bring himself to kill or even fight the guy, just shooshpap him down, later ranting that Gamzee was a lovable bullshit clown that he liked a lot, and (one of) his best friend(s).

So they're both in this boat of not wanting to kill their friends, but feeling societally pressured into grandstanding that they're TOTALLY murderous assholes just trust me - but Eridan was in a position where he was forced to do it at the detriment of any other hobbies, or else everybody died, and is also one of the best fighters on the team, if not THE best. Thus, the fact that it's a viable option is not only near the forefront of his mind at all times, but he has the skills to resort to it. I guess technically, that does make him more murderous, but it's also, like... any normal person in his situation would wind up the same way, honestly.

[aparticularbandit]

Hit with this earlier, so am sharing.

But the idea of Hope's Peak is that some people are just better than others. Whether they're born with Talent or fought hard for it or just happen to have it because they needed to survive, they are better than others. Specifically at this one thing they do. Whether or not that's all they'll ever be - regardless of whether or not they want that to be all they'll ever be - they are better than everyone else. And they're chosen to go to this special school because they're better.

The Reserve Course is throw us enough money, and we'll let you say that you're better, even though you're not. It's throw us money for the name and prestige. It's throw us money because everyone has bought into our school being better and having the people who are better. (Which gives the idea that when companies or teams or whatever are going through resumes, they're also specifically looking for HPA graduates.)

And Hope's Peak is all about how do we make the most Talented most bestest person possible to the point of human experimentation, where they rip apart everything that makes someone human - makes them themselves - just to make them the bestest human being ever.

And Junko starts the Tragedy by basically saying no, that's bullshit, treat everyone equally.

I mean, she says it in a lot of messed up ways, but that's what the Reserve Course riots are about. They're being used as cash cows for something they didn't agree to, they aren't being treated the same as the actual better than you people, and it's one of them who was taken and experimented on to be made the bestest person ever, not one of the better than you people, who is already better than you.

HPA has no concern for the value of an actual human life.

And Junko spits in their face because look, the best of your best, your actual student council, I can make them rip each other apart and look, your human experiment who is supposed to be the bestest person ever is just as bad as everyone else and no, look, they are just. like. everyone else.

So what does HPA do?

They don't learn their lesson.

They take the survivors of the attack on their academy for trying to pretend that some people are just better than others, and again, say you are better than everyone else, the only hope for humanity are you specialist special kids, so we will lock you and only you away, and not even think that other people could possibly stay in this honking huge building we have here, it's only for the specialist special people and they will make everything better once they get out!

Of course, Junko's going to throw a Killing Game with them.

They aren't better than everyone else.

That's the entire point.

They fall to the exact same problems that even your everyday normal person does: threat to loved ones, not wanting their secrets told, money, backstabbing - they are exactly the same as everyone else, and their Talent doesn't suddenly make them better people.

Fuck off with that some people are naturally better than others bullshit. You all suck.

Junko's the Ultimate Despair because she looks at the whole of humanity and sees that everyone is equally horrible (which is true).

Makoto's the Ultimate Hope because he looks at the whole of humanity and sees that everyone is equally able to change (which is also true).

[breckstonevailskier]

Rewriting Captain America: Civil War to actually make it a Captain America movie

Let's face it, the biggest problem with Civil War is that despite Captain America's name being in the title, it's not really a Captain America movie. It's more like an Iron Man 4 or Avengers 2.5 masquerading as a Captain America movie. I mean, the plot relies more heavily on threads from Avengers: Age of Ultron than it does Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Not to mention the creators deliberately trimmed/cut Team Cap scenes because they wanted audiences to be split 50-50 on what side to take, as if they needed to do that to make Team Iron Man Support a Piece of Legislation That Reads Like Something Written By HYDRA look good. And Tony Stark has more dialogue than Steve Rogers gets. And this is around the time when basically, the writing for the MCU decided to stop letting other characters call Tony out on his wrongdoings.

So how does one fix that?

General changes:

For starters, have HYDRA still be as important as they were in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Rather than have them be conspicuously absent, they are still very much lurking in the shadows. Bonus points by having the movie strongly imply (and members of Steve's side speculate) that the Sokovia Accords might be a brainchild of HYDRA's. After all, the Accords (and the ways they basically take away the rights and freedoms of enhanced individuals) read like something out of Nazi Germany, the place that Red Skull's HYDRA originated in.

Scene by scene changes:

Lagos aftermath:

The opening act in Lagos remains unchanged. It's a great action setpiece. However, some extra stuff is added to acknowledge that Rumlow's cell is obtaining the bioweapon with the purpose of carrying out an attack directed at people who pose a threat to HYDRA's existence.

In the aftermath, what I would change is the press coverage that goes out of its way to vilify Wanda. T'Chaka's biased take blaming the heroes for the destruction caused by Wanda relocating the explosion can stay, and maybe the second one where if not for the mentions of Wanda, you'd think they were talking about Rumlow. But I'd also add at least one newscast that is speaking favorably of the heroes, and praising Wanda for her efforts.

I'd slightly tweak Steve's scene with Wanda, and instead of saying, "The deaths are on both of us," he'd say, "It's not your fault, Wanda. It's Rumlow's fault. It's not your fault that he was a spiteful coward who decided he wouldn't let us take him in alive." I'd also have a scene or two of Vision doing his best to comfort Wanda and provide her someone to express her thoughts to, not unlike this scene from WandaVision:

Also a thing I'd fix is that I'd have the Avengers make some sort of press statement to defend Wanda from those who are unfairly vilifying her. Something to the effect of Natasha, Steve, and/or Vision going in front of a gaggle of reporters to read a statement as follows:

For the past month, the Avengers have been in pursuit of Brock Rumlow, international terrorist and confirmed member of HYDRA. Last week, the Avengers tracked him down to Lagos, Nigeria, where his cell was plotting to steal a biological weapon that it is believed they were going to use to carry out an attack that would kill hundreds of people. Acting per their training, the Avengers engaged Rumlow and his men, successfully killing or incapacitating most of them, and reclaiming the bioweapon. Eventually, Rumlow was successfully cornered. However, as Captain America was preparing to arrest Rumlow, he decided to blow himself up. As there were hundreds of people in the immediate area, Wanda Maximoff instinctively stepped in and used her powers to try to relocate the explosion into the sky where it wouldn't kill anyone. Despite Miss Maximoff's efforts, she ended up losing control of the bomb, and it ended up destroying part of one office building. It is a tragedy that despite the Avengers' successful efforts to stop Rumlow, there were still innocent civilian casualties, including the dozen or so people in the office building that were killed by Rumlow when he blew himself up. However, the blame for those deaths does not fall on Wanda Maximoff. Those deaths are the fault of a madman who, two years ago, was part of a plot by an organization dating back to Nazi Germany to use gunships to mass murder 20 million people, and whose motto is "Cut off one head, two more shall take its place." In addition, it needs to be pointed out Miss Maximoff also saved the lives of everyone in that marketplace. If it was not for her split second thinking, hundreds more people would be dead. And if the Avengers were not there in Lagos, a group of terrorists would have successfully released a bioweapon into the world, one capable of killing thousands. The Avengers are not responsible for the destruction brought upon by the bad guys that they are attempting to stop. That blame should start and end with the bad guys.

Because yeah, that would do wonders for Wanda.

Ross blaming the heroes for the destruction caused by the villains:

Yeah, this is something where Ross is a fucking hypocrite. “How about ‘dangerous’? What would you call a group of US-based, enhanced individuals who routinely ignore sovereign borders and inflict their will wherever they choose and who, frankly, seem unconcerned about what they leave behind?” Then his biased presentation showing footage from the Chitauri invasion in New York (The Avengers), the destruction of the Triskelion (Winter Soldier), Sokovia (Age of Ultron), and Lagos. This presentation is clearly done to paint Steve and his allies in a bad light, and Tony in a good light.

Thing is, though, this is just Thaddeus Ross blaming the heroes for the destruction caused by the villains. Not only in every aforementioned situation would things be worse if the Avengers weren't there (New York City would've been nuked by the WSC, HYDRA would've gotten the Project Insight carriers launched and 20 million people dead, Ultron would've wiped out human life, and terrorists would've gotten away with a bioweapon), but Ross is a hypocrite to try to pin this destruction on the heroes given his failures to capture the Hulk and the destruction he caused in his efforts. @thehollowprince posited here that they really should've had Steve call Ross on his hypocrisy right there and then.

Like, in response to Ross's remarks, Steve would speak up to say, "The Avengers as a whole are not responsible for Ultron destroying Sokovia's capital city. If you want to blame someone for that, direct all your blame at that man who decided to go behind his teammates' back to create Ultron," and point an accusatory finger at Tony. And as I said, have Steve throw Ross's failure back in his face to show that he really has no skin in the game.

Passage from thehollowprince's take on what should've been said:

“But, in the spirit of fairness, let’s talk consequences.” Steve went on. “F.R.I.D.A.Y.?” “Yes, Steve?” The A.I. said from the speakers. “Could you roll footage of Culver University, spring semester, 2008?” The screen that had been off immediately clicked back on and began playing back footage from cellphones and cameras of Ross’ failed attempt to contain and capture the Hulk in the middle of a crowded campus, using an unauthorized enhanced human, as well as weapons that put the civilian population in extreme danger. The last image was of the Hulk launching an armored truck at another, the screen immediately going static as the footage was lost. “Harlem, three days later.” The Hulk’s fight with a severely mutated Blonsky showed on the screen next, as well as the atrocities that Emil committed on his own before Banner stepped in to stop him. Ross’s face was reddening at having one of his biggest failures played in front of the very people he was trying to intimidate. Harlem was on of his biggest failures and he did a lot to try and distance himself from it. “Thank you, F.R.I.D.A.Y.” Steve said and the screen froze on an image of the infamous Abomination lifting a car above his head, about to crush it into some police officers. “Tell me, Mr. Secretary, where were your consequences? Because from what I understand, you tried to pin the whole thing on Blonsky and Banner, getting a medal and a promotion for your trouble.”

And, as happens in the hollowprince fix-it, Steve, as a last-minute parting shot, drops a bombshell on Ross that he was on HYDRA's hit list and would've been eliminated by Project Insight in the initial attacks upon the helicarriers' launches.

The Accords debate itself:

The big problem with the debate itself is that it's very one-sided. It's more "Tony and his allies make a lot of flawed points, and no one on Team Cap is allowed to call them out on it." So basically, the way to fix it would be to rewrite the debate using a combination of this one by @thehollowprince, as well as these ficlets on Archive of Our Own.

So, obviously, I would rewrite the debate to be more in Team Cap's favor, while we get multiple opportunities for Tony's side's points to be quickly picked apart and called out. To give examples of how this could go:

Have someone on Team Cap point out the whole fact that HYDRA would benefit greatly from this legislation, since it would curtail the freedom of superheroes' ability to respond quickly. And even for those in the UN who might not be compromised by HYDRA, it's a power grab. And it's also a power grab for Ross.

When Rhodey brings up Ross's medal of honor, have Sam point out (as he does in thehollowprince's fix-it) that a Congressional Medal of Honor doesn't mean shit, and comes off with Ross like a white man being rewarded for doing a subpar job. (Also, have someone remind Rhodey that the Accords would've prevented him and Tony from rescuing the President of the United States from Aldrich Killian had they been in place at the time of Iron Man 3, especially seeing as the Vice President was also in Killian's circle.)

I'd cut Vision's whole BS equation entirely. Instead, I'd have him on the side of Team Cap for this movie, and logic, "The number of potentially world-ending events has risen at a commensurate rate. Oversight is not an idea that can be dismissed out of hand, but the form that is being given to us by Ross is one that makes me calculate that the next world ending event has a likelier chance of succeeding.” (Vision's reason for being on Team Cap here is partly because he cares for Wanda, but mostly because he views himself as human, and the way Ross just dehumanized Thor and the Hulk by likening them to nukes makes Vision think Ross would view him the same way; this would actually be consistent with the will he has in WandaVision where he wished not to be turned into a living weapon, the very will that Tyler Hayward disregarded. On top of which, he realizes that he, Wanda, and Steve would be the most severely impacted by the Accords because they seem to be harsher on those who have innate superpowers than those who have removable suits.)

Have an instance or two of Tony being called out on his America centrism. Particularly when he brings up Charlie Spencer's death. In response to that, I'd have Wanda snap at him with a bit of pure rage. Why would I have Wanda do this? Because he's basically ignoring all the Sokovian citizens who died, up to and including Wanda's brother. "And what about my brother, hmm? What about Pietro? Remember him? Does his death matter to you, Mr. Stark? Or do you not give a shit about him because he's not American?"

Use Ross's antics from The Incredible Hulk to posit that Ross or HYDRA or any party with nefarious intentions could use the clause about demanding enhanced give up blood samples so they could use said DNA to create their own army of super soldiers.

Peggy's funeral, UN bombing, pursuit of Bucky

There's few changes here. But one change I would make is that Steve wouldn't just go with Sam to bring in Bucky. I'd have Wanda and Vision brought along too, because after a serious discussion, they think that the best way to salvage Wanda's reputation with the public is to have her going out to do heroism in public. When they get to where Bucky is hiding out, they bring him in, and Wanda gets to use her telepathic powers to render unconscious some of the SWAT forces sent to bring Bucky in. Then T'Challa joins the pursuit, and they are all captured in the tunnel.

Wanda meets Zemo and T'Challa

We then have the whole setpiece at the detention center where Bucky is detained. Natasha is firmly on Team Cap's side, but is taking a neutral stance to gain dirt on the other side. In addition to all the canon interactions, we also have Wanda interacting with T'Challa and recognizing his revenge quest because she still remembers very well what it was like for her last year wanting revenge against the Avengers, and how badly that ended for her. She empathizes with T'Challa and tries to persuade him to look at the bigger picture, not with much success. When Zemo infiltrates the facility to activate Bucky's Winter Soldier programming, Wanda goes down with Steve to subdue him and ends up encountering Zemo. She recognizes him because she knew his wife and son before they died, she once met him at the dedication of one of the memorials to the victims of Ultron's attack, and he's got a reputation in Sokovia as a killer.

Airport battle

The airport battle obviously is very different. Tony has Rhodey, Spider-Man, T'Challa, and a few other superheroes (or maybe Ross's special forces are there as backup). While Steve has Bucky, Scott, Clint, Wanda, Natasha, Sam, and Vision. This airport battle plays out more in Steve's favor, and despite Tony's efforts, everyone on Steve's side makes it to the quinjet and flees to Siberia with him.

Siberia final act

Steve and his team enter the HYDRA base, and make it to the containment area where the other Winter Soldiers were kept on ice, and have been all put down by Zemo. The fact that the Winter Soldiers are already dead, all shot in the head with a pistol, makes Steve surmise that they're walking into a trap.

They've barely had time to acknowledge this when Team Iron Man arrives and corners them. At this point, Steve is fed up with Tony for having such flawed judgement, and T'Challa still very much is on the warpath against Bucky. But as the two sides prepare to clash once again, Zemo chooses this moment to reveal himself. He wasn't exactly expecting to have an entire Avengers team there, but he's willing to improvise. Zemo even tries to liken his crusade to Wanda's misguided revenge campaign, only for her to shut him down by pointing out that she never wanted innocent people to get hurt, whereas Zemo did murder innocent people for his crusade (T'Challa's father and everyone else at the UN; the doctor that he killed and stole the identity of to get into the detention center to activate Bucky). After that, Zemo plays the surveillance footage of Bucky killing Tony's parents.

The moment Steve and Natasha realize what the footage is showing, Steve gestures for the others on his team to get Bucky away from Tony. Rhodey also realizes that Tony's preparing to attack Bucky, and tries to reason with him, but to no avail. Steve doesn't want Zemo to win, so he clarifies that he didn't know it was the Winter Soldier that HYDRA used to kill Tony's parents. This only enrages Tony further, and a nervous Natasha admits that she was also there when Zola told Steve this information.

In that split second, all hell breaks loose. Tony's rage boils over and he shoots Natasha with one repulsor, throwing her backwards and knocking her out. He tries to shoot Bucky with the other, but Rhodey is able to grab his hand and deflect the blast away from Bucky.

A fight ensues. Like in canon, T'Challa is the one who captures Zemo, though he also has some help from Scott, Spider-Man, and maybe Clint. Meanwhile, the other Avengers are left either fighting Tony, protecting Bucky, or both. With a fight that basically plays out as a mix of "the Guardians plus Iron Man, Spider-Man and Doctor Strange vs. Thanos on Titan" and a bit of "Payback vs. Soldier Boy from The Boys".

Ultimately, the Avengers still in the bunker succeed in taking down Tony, but Natasha, Rhodey and Bucky take severe injuries in the process. The fight ends when Wanda leaps on Tony from behind and uses her powers to attempt to disorient him, giving Steve an opening to smash his arc reactor with his shield. Vision then tears it out of the armor for good measure.

The Avengers effectively turn their backs on Tony Stark, and the movie ends with them as a whole condemning his misguided actions as well as condemning the Sokovia Accords, and taking the unified position, "After the events that happened in the course of pursuing the person responsible for bombing the UN in Vienna, the Avengers have elected to reject the Sokovia Accords, although we are open to alternative forms of oversight if the UN is willing to negotiate with us and also purge their ranks of anyone who might have ties to HYDRA." They also make publicly condemn Tony for trying to murder Bucky out of misplaced anger. Vision and Wanda settle down in Westview, Clint and Scott return to their families, though they'll still meet up with Steve, Sam, Natasha and Bucky for missions, and Natasha still meets up with Yelena and her old spy "family" to destroy the Red Room.

This then segues into another movie that's about Steve and his team of Avengers (Sam, Natasha, and occasionally Wanda, Vision, and Clint) going around the United States doing everything to get the Accords struck down and Ross removed from office for his abuses of power (especially since while the UN's been forced to let them go, the Raft is a walking human rights violation that no one should be locked up in for any reason).

[megamind2010]

Ladybug dies how

peacefully in her sleep at the ripe old age of 94 NAYYYYY IM SORRY

Assuming youre here cuz koby told you to come and yell at me for doing this and id like to say first of all im very sorry i just love tragedy soooo much. koby got really mad at me when i first brought up the idea and it also tortures me horribly too And we also talk a lot about the alternate universe where she doesnt die and instead she and casey just move to new york and hang out and get married and Chill Out

but in the "canon" ending im sorry yes nell dies (ducking rocks and bricks) IMMM SORRY! She's subject to the hereditary blue beetle curse of dying in a fight tragically young (she jumped in front of the metaphorical bullet for jaime on account of he's exempt because he has a much healthier support system than other beetles)

i'm a hack so i haven't really drawn or written anything concrete about it but how it goes down in my mind is your classic event/crisis where all the heroes are mobilised to fight off the annual universe destroying threat. this time it's aliens of some kind and while the league and the rest of the important guys are up there fighting or negotiating or punching the universe or however this particular one gets solved, ladybug is down on the ground in gotham helping to evacuate people and deal with some alien scouts/robots/etc that are menacing civilians. (casey has already been evacuated and is safely sheltering underground with a bunch of other civilians, being checked in on every now and then by some flash or another, & her general attitude is UGH Can you idiots get this sorted out so we can order chinese and watch real housewives...)

it happens while ladybug is getting a family to safety and an alien scout lands on the roof of their apartment. he ushers them downstairs and to his credit does a good job of holding off the attacker while the civilians get out of there - nell has no powers but is a very competent fighter and also is decked out with plenty of kordtech gadgets to help even the playing field :] but it's been a long day and she's so exhausted and there's only so much you can do when an alien shoots you in the chest with a laser and flies away and leaves you to bleed out

so there's nell with her communications down & unable to move & lying there staring at the sky full of invading spaceships and flying superheroes... if she could get someone's attention she might be okay but everyone is busy. it's a crisis! and nell knows that, she knows what this whole business is like, and she's been ready for something like this to happen for a while. nell is a very confident person but she isn't deluded about her own mortality... it's part of her personal philosophy that it's cruel to have too many attachments if you're likely to die horribly young (a mentality learned from the death of her mother and refined by the death of ted kord) so isnt it great that she doesnt have many friends? and that she's on okay terms but not super close with her family? and that casey doesnt actually care about her at all and wont be affected by her untimely death past the inconvenience of finding a new place to live?

lol

at the end of it all nell isn't really that upset about dying... they went out doing something worthwhile, they saved lives, they did the best they could with what they had, and they made a positive impact on the world while they were here. and that's about what he's always wanted to achieve so hey a+ work ladybug! obviously its not like he WANTS to die, theres always more to do, things he's going to miss... he'll miss talking to ted, working on gadgets and sorting through problems and making him laugh... he'll miss his family obviously but they'll be fine without him... michelle is someone she hadn't expected to get so close to, but she and ted both have booster to keep them on track

really annoyingly as she's closing her eyes the person who keeps coming into her mind though is casey. At this point nell is pretty aware that she cares about casey more than she ever planned or wanted to and has done a lot of mental gymnastics to convince herself that it's fine that nothing ever came of it (and now nothing ever will) and in her last moments she reassures herself that it's onesided and casey doesn't love her and he'll be fine without nell and You did a great job at not forming attachments ladybug that's why you're the best! but she can't help the surge of intense regret and fuuuuuck what if it was different and what if what if.........

here's my primo ladybug dying on a roof song

Nell's fatal flaw will always be her self-reliance and conviction that she's doing things the right way despite it all. if she bothered to communicate with the people in her life then she might be swayed on her views on love, or if she was less stupidly independent then maybe she would have been working with another hero and wouldn't have been in this situation. but that's tragedy i suppose, knowing how a character could have escaped their fate and yet having to accept that in this scenario with this set of rules there was no other way for this to happen

anyway if you'd prefer to think about nell alive and happy living in new york with casey then please do that. It's easy and free and it makes me smile

[anamericangirl]

“What I think the point was is that while the entire demographic isn’t responsible for the shooting, the increasingly hateful and violent rhetoric is.”

Yeah, anti trans rhetoric and hate against trans people caused this tragedy.

“for anyone from that community to push back against the ideology in any meaningful way.”

Can you explain what ideology you are talking about?

“I mean we are at the point where if you don’t want kids exposed to porn or attending adult entertainment you’re a transphobe.”

No, just no. Completely wrong. That’s not what’s happening at all. No one is against preventing kids from seeing sexual drag. The problem is that you people think all drag is sexual, so you want to ban all drag, or prevent any drag performance from taking place in public. Family friendly drag exists. Sexualized drag exists. Kids should only see the the former.

“We are at the point where if you play a video game you are erasing the existence of trans people.”

JKR gets payed royalties from every sale of HL, and JKR donates to anti trans charities and groups. Which makes buying HL a roundabout way to support anti trans charities and groups. Also JKR believes that the reason she makes money from HP is because people support her views. Every time you buy HP products, JKR takes that as a show of support for her being anti trans. So if you buy HL or any HP product you’re indirectly harming trans people.

“We are at the point where bills are “trans genocide””

I mean if you’re passing legislation that will cause more trans kids to commit suicide, you’re evil and committing an act of genocide against people with gender dysphoria. That’s a no brainer. Trans genocide is a real thing.

Imagine if they passed legislation that would increase the suicide rate of any other minority group.

“and it has led several people within those communities to think anyone who doesn’t actively support everything they do is a hateful transphobic bigot who wants them dead.”

These people don’t think that everyone wants them dead. But there are people out there that genuinely do want them dead. Some of which are in positions of power and are passing legislation that actively harms them.

“The headlines are blaming everyone but the shooter.”

Provide one.

“They are telling us that it’s the fault of christians and maybe if we didn’t hate trans people this wouldn’t have happened.”

It’s the fault of the bigoted politicians in office. Don’t elect evil people into positions of authority and stuff like this won’t happen again. That’s not a threat or a promise, it’s an observation.

“They are fueling the narrative that led to this shooting instead of trying to dismantle it.”

There was no narrative that led to this shooting. There are politicians passing bills that harm the trans community. There are politicians that want trans people dead. That doesn’t justify what Hale did, but the issues that led to this shooting are real, and a school shooting wasn’t going to fix them.

“The ideology is the problem and we need people in the community to push back against it before this happens again.”

1. Again, what ideology?

2. Stuff like this won’t happen again if politicians stoped passing bills that harm the trans community. Once again, not a threat or a promise, just an observation.

“Yeah, anti trans rhetoric and hate against trans people caused this tragedy”

No you guys decided that’s not how it works. If anyone who is even remotely right wing commits a shooting it’s our “rhetoric” and our fault but when someone who shares your ideology commits a shooting it’s still “our rhetoric” and our fault? You can’t have it both ways.

And as much as you wish there were, there is hardly any hate towards trans people in this country so blaming that is preposterous. It’s the hateful rhetoric of the trans community the trans community that bears some responsibility. The trans community is constantly tell trans individuals that we hate them and want them to die and are committing a trans “genocide” which is a blatant lie and it’s stirring up hate from trans towards everyone else. Your rhetoric is the hateful one so be consistent, acknowledge reality or get out.

“Can you explain what ideology you are talking about?”

Yeah the political trans ideology which tells boys if they ever put on a dress or like dolls they’re a girl and girls that they’re boys if they are a tomboy.

The ideology that tries to convince trans people that we hate them and are out to get to them and are committing a trans genocide.

The ideology that tells people if anyone thinks boys can’t become girls and girls can’t become boys then they hate you.

“No, just no. Completely wrong. That’s not what’s happening at all. No one is against preventing kids from seeing sexual drag. The problem is that you people think all drag is sexual, so you want to ban all drag, or prevent any drag performance from taking place in public. Family friendly drag exists. Sexualized drag exists. Kids should only see the the former.”

It’s not wrong at all. We were called transphobes for wanting books with pornographic material and graphic sex descriptions removed from elementary and middle schools.

And sorry to be the breaker of bad news for you but there are a lot of people who got mad that we wanted to prevent kids from seeing sexual drag. You are part of the problem actually because you’re advocating for kids to be exposed to drag when drag is inherently sexual. There is no reason for a child to be exposed to drag in any capacity.

You are repeating lies because no one has said we want to ban all drag. You’re just getting brainwashed by propaganda. There is no such thing as “family friendly” drag and you are an idiot if you think there is and want kids exposed to it.

You have no self awareness. You say no one wants to expose kids to sexual drag as you advocate for exposing kids to sexual drag because all drag is sexual and no amount of denial from you will change that.

“I mean if you’re passing legislation that will cause more trans kids to commit suicide, you’re evil and committing an act of genocide against people with gender dysphoria. That’s a no brainer. Trans genocide is a real thing.”

Trans genocide is not a thing. Look up the word genocide and then explain to me how this is happening to trans people.

Name a piece of legislation that will cause people to commit suicide and explain how it will do so.

“These people don’t think that everyone wants them dead. But there are people out there that genuinely do want them dead. Some of which are in positions of power and are passing legislation that actively harms them.”

Wow so you just don’t live in reality, do you? How can you be so dumb that you simultaneously believe there is a “trans genocide” and that they don’t believe everyone wants them dead? You do understand how that’s contradictory, right?

Who wants trans people dead? I want names and when you heard them say they want them dead.

“Provide one.”

Ok. I mean I don’t know how you haven’t seen them since you just blamed anti-trans rhetoric for the shooting instead of the shooter and I know you wouldn’t be repeating that if you hadn’t seen it in a headline somewhere since headlines are where you get your news, apparently.

And if you search about this shooting it’s fucking disgusting how the majority of headlines are talking about how much “hate” the trans community might have received after this shooting or fears of violence targeting the trans community instead of reporting on and worrying about the fact that innocent children were slaughtered.

“It’s the fault of the bigoted politicians in office. Don’t elect evil people into positions of authority and stuff like this won’t happen again. That’s not a threat or a promise, it’s an observation.”

“Prove people are blaming anti-trans rhetoric and politicians!!!!!” You say as you do just that.

Saying don’t elect people I don’t like and this won’t happen again is the definition of a threat you disgusting school shooter apologist.

[myrmyrtheorca]

An Ask for Tristam!

Such a dapper gentleman! Did his upbringing give him any complexes? Like a god complex or superiority complex? Or does he go the opposite way and feels inferior?

Born to be someone predetermined... what a sad fate. Does he do something to maintain his sense of self/individuality?

Good evening Muffin 🩵 these questions required a little bit more effort so they took a little more. Hopefully I answered accordingly to your expectations!

Did [Tristam]'s upbringing give him any complexes? Like a god complex or superiority complex? Or does he go the opposite way and feels inferior?

In short, Tristam's upbringing definitely shaped him in the proud condescending strategist he is at the start of the story. His mother did everything in her power to embed in his thought process that he's different by nature's will. And he embraced it, because everyone around him was made to think the same. He was shown that him being different is good, it is simply as it should be, he's a natural born leader and problem-solver - he's superior because nature decided he is.

Many believe he's the carbon copy of his mother, the Eighth Boss, but those who can observe him closer (for example, Anemone, being a member of the Cornice) will see some sudden discrepancies. Her mother is more subtle, she's diplomatic and prefers to sway her opponents with bargains, like an animal that plays with his prey before launching their attack. Tristam is sharp, still good with words but goes straight to the point, you have no chances to escape him or his surveillance system and your only good option is to collaborate, or else.

He's much more likely to impose his dominance through direct threats, but that doesn't make him impulsive. He's a strategist, and when he hits it's only when he's 100% sure to hit the mark. All this to say - he knows he's something new, that his potential is seemingly limitless, and that he's destined for something great.

Born to be someone predetermined… what a sad fate. Does he do something to maintain his sense of self/individuality?

I maaaay have already answered in the paragraphs above, my bad ^^' but basically while Tristam has embraced his destiny as future Cavalieri boss, he does so in his own way. As I said above, he's not the carbon copy of his mother as many would think when first meeting him.

As per his hobbies, he likes to study poetic literature and read greek and roman tragedies. He's a poet himself! He composes verses in his spare time, though those who heard them would describe them as being way too abstract and bleak to evoke anything other than impending doom.

He's also not simply holed up in his ivory tower. He's good friends with Teodoro, the new Head of Housekeeping, despite Teodoro being much older than him. His maturity made him well liked by adults, though his main goal is to appeal to the newest generation. [SPOILER AHEAD] In the story, his goal will be to bolster up the ranks of the newest generation of Cavalieri to create a much more threatening mafia family.

[anneapocalypse]

So. About Minfilia.

This one really got to me.

I don't think I've cried over a character death in this game like this since Haurchefant--both of whom, incidentally, I knew going in were going to die at some point, because I'd encountered spoilers well before I ever imagined I would play this game. (Having Ariane fall for both of them in turn was not the plan, it just happened along the way and felt right for her character, and the extra tragedy it ended up adding was a side effect but one that's become lode-bearing for her story in a lot of ways.)

So I'll say to start that given what the writers had to work with going into Shadowbringers, I think Minfilia's story ends about as well as it could have. The variant flow of time in the First, and specifically the fact that a century has passed there since she arrived, is vital to Shadowbringers' story. Minfilia was never meant to be an immortal being, nor did she want to be. And while there's probably an interesting AU in her becoming mortal again and returning home (and I could see myself writing something like that), that's a very involved concept that wouldn't have worked well with the story Shadowbringers was telling. So, her fate was sealed when she departed for the First. Furthermore the way she goes out is really thematically in line with the Scions as a whole, from Louisoix to Moenbryda to Papalymo: one person giving their life to contain an existential threat--not even to destroy it completely, but to slow the tide so that others can carry on the fight. And Minfilia even takes it a step further, managing to stick around in some form long enough for the other Scions to make it to the First. The Warrior of Light even gets to see her one last time, so her promise to return to them when her work was done--it wasn't an empty one. We get to say goodbye.

I'm okay with this. It's a decent end to her story, given where we started from this expansion.

That doesn't make me especially okay with how we got here, though.

I am still a sprout here, having just started playing last year and being mid-Shadowbringers for the first time now. I was not around when ARR was new, and cannot speak to the fan reception of Minfilia at the time. I have heard through my grapevine, however, that she was not well-liked. Whether because she was a non-combat character, a quest-giver in an annoying location, a woman who told people to do stuff while wearing a mildly revealing outfit (and I do mean mildly)... Idk what the dealbreaker was. That's just what I've heard. Having heard that, though, it makes the choice to write her out at the end of ARR feel... motivated, in a way that maybe it otherwise wouldn't.

There is nothing meaningfully wrong with Minfilia's character in ARR that couldn't be said about any of the core Scions.

Wahhh I don't want to return to the Waking Sands for the 80th time? Fair, but that's a game design issue getting taken out on a character who happens to be connected to it. Call it the Preston Garvey Problem. Her outfit is silly? It's hardly meaningfully sillier than other NPC outfit designs, or Final Fantasy fashion generally. Go tell it to the catgirls in the 2b tights by the aetheryte. She doesn't even fight? Honestly kind of refreshing to me to see non-combat characters play a major role in the story, because fighting isn't the only thing that drives stories! (Hey, didn't Tataru have a whole subplot about that?)

She's underdeveloped? Name me a character who gets great character development in ARR. (There is a correct answer to this question. It's Cid Garlond. 😛) But the Scions? A handful of them feel like very well-rounded characters now because they've had whole expansions that explored them as people and deepened their relationship to the setting and story in meaningful ways--Lyse, Alphinaud, Alisaie, Urianger, Y'shtola, Thancred. But none of them are well-rounded in ARR. ARR is not about character development. It's basically a very long tutorial level that gets you acquainted with the world, its major conflicts, and the major players in those conflicts. The character-driven storytelling really starts with Heavensward. If we truncated all the Scions' stories at the end of ARR, I don't think the others are any deeper than Minfilia.

I liked Minfilia right off because she was kind and caring, and she had an obvious talent for bringing people together, probably in a similar way to Louisoix himself. Hence her becoming the Antecedent and continuing to do diplomatic work across three nations. Did she make mistakes? Yeah, absolutely. Lest anyone is tempted to single her out in the Crystal Braves disaster, though, I will point to what I said in my post about how the Scions failed Alphinaud: every adult in the room should have seen the red flags about that, and not one of them did, including Urianger who is extremely protective of the twins, and Thancred who is extremely protective of Minfilia. And yes, she was in charge, and she does bear a greater share of the responsibility. But whatever you think of that plot point, whether it's leaning a little too heavily on Rule of Stupid or whether believable for a group of idealistic apocalypse survivors with martyr complexes, it's written as something that all the Scions failed to foresee. And for the others, especially for Alphinaud, that mistake and subsequent disaster is used as an opportunity for character growth. Alphinaud has to confront his own arrogance, which drives his character growth as he continues to play a major role in every expansion. Yda/Lyse and Papalymo get themselves involved with the Ala Mhigan resistance, providing the setup for Stormblood and a tremendous amount of character development for Lyse. Y'shtola in desperation turns to darker and more dangerous forms of magic, setting us up for her transformation into a black mage in Shadowbringers where will continue to see her turn to dangerous magics at desperate times. Thancred's wilderness survival journey precedes us getting to see a darker and lonelier side of him. And so forth.

Minfilia throws herself on Hydaelyn's mercy, and gets tempered. I mean, carried unto her bosom, granting her a strength long sought. Because of course we're meant to take it as a given that she was weak before. She was the leader of an international organization who did diplomatic work across three nations, but she couldn't throw fireballs or hit people good with a stick, so. She loses her very will for a while there, until Hydaelyn mercifully decides she's strong enough to give it back to her.

And now, no one talks about the work she did as the Antecedent, or with the Path of the Twelve before that. It's all about her noble sacrifice, how she gave up her whole life to save the First. And she was noble, and generous, and a hero. But she was a person before that, and she could have been more. She could have been a character with a real arc, who got to struggle and learn from her mistakes and grow with us, as the others have.

Minfilia didn't get that. She got to be a sacrificial vessel for the salvation of others, over and over again until there was none of her left. And we never have to reckon with her feeling scared or uncertain or angry about this, because she is always the willing sacrifice, always noble and generous and a hero. Shadowbringers spends far more time on Thancred's feelings about Minfilia than on Minfilia's feelings about her own fate. And I do like Thancred, so please don't read this as me hating on him; I even liked getting more of their history onscreen, at first. But at a certain point I just wanted to shake him and say, You are not the only one who loved her! And your feelings about her are not the only thing that matters here!

I love characters who are deeply and deliberately kind, especially when they have a history that gives them plenty of reasons to be otherwise. I love characters with a passion and drive to make their world better, even when that comes at great cost. It's why I love Julie Farkas, and Vanessa Kimball. But I also like to see how they reckon with the cost, how they struggle with the burden of that kindness. I love it when Kimball loses her temper, when she isn't patient and virtuous all the time. We do finally get some of that with Ryne. But not for the original Minfilia. She goes gently into that good night with gentle words and a gentle smile. And yes, after a hundred years, she has earned a rest.

But having loved her gentle soul from the beginning, I am mourning what she could have been, if she had ever been allowed to be anything else.

[syntia13treeman]

Case 16.01

CAT1RB1565-30102023-25032024

what I think happened in:

Case 16.01, the case of "The Inked 4eart" or "RIP your heart out, Madam E".

Today we have a little bit of social media drama. More specifically, a tragedy in 5 acts.  

Act 1, October 2023 (Halloween Eve)

FADE IN Enter stage left: Our protagonist – Madam Elecrum. She's a self-proclaimed ubergoth, and a lifestyle/beauty influencer, who'd apparently build her online persona by throwing fistfuls of trendy words and phrases at a bubbly / happy base to see what sticks.

Enter stage right: Our antagonist – Ink5oul (we've met before). They do magic tattoos and occasional grave robbing (it's for research). Their online persona is: 'I'm too cool for you. Loser.'

Madam E, long time Ink5oul fan, gets a tattoo (her 'heart's desire') done by her celebrity crush. For "free". (It's never free). Like we've seen before with Daria, she has no control over the design, and process is so painful she passes out.

Act 2, November 2023

The effects of Ink5oul's tattoo kick in fast, and they seem to be translating Madam E's popularity to a perpetual 'happy high'. Enamoured with her tattoo and tattooist, Madam E tries to start a relationship. It seems very one-sided, no matter how you look at it.

Act 3, December 2023

Ink5oul decides to find some fresh inspiration underground (again) and tries to manipulate Madam E (by questioning her self-image as 'goth') into doing the dirty work for them. Namely, digging up some graves. When manipulation fails to work, they resort to threats, which go right over Madam E's head (to be fair, if you don't know about their magic, 'I'll break your heart' is just a turn of phrase). Regardless, she does the smart thing and bails.

Ink5oul goes ahead with their grave-robbing plans anyway.

Then Madam E does the dumbest thing so far, and instead of going to the police or forever holding her peace, she blabs about the incident online.

Act 4, December 2023 cont.

Ink5oul retaliates with their own call-out video, among other things accusing Madam E of their own crime. And even though M.E. said the truth and I5 is lying, they have the power of larger fanbase and magic ink behind them. Things go poorly for Madam E. Being cyberbullied by enraged mob is bad enough, but the tattoo makes it so much worse, translating the 'hate' into physical pain (and injury?). M.E. still clings to her persona, but cracks are plainly visible (and full of fear). Ink5soul stans continue doing their worst, up to and including setting her place on fire.

Act 5, January 2024

Madam E is admitted to a hospital with some unspecified 'heart problems'. In her very last video her persona has gone out the window; she is scared and hurting and painfully honest as she begs for the pain to stop. As she begs for her life. I can only assume that the hate campaign is still going strong, since her condition keeps rapidly getting worse, until the cumulative effect rips her heart out in the most literal sense. I can only guess what was put down as cause of death on her death certificate.

FADE OUT

Here lies Madam Electrum. She was survived by her cats and her parents (now living together). So let's talk about the person who killed her.

Ink5oul, tattoo artist/influencer/streamer/grave robber. The Magic Ink Pal. Talking points:

They dig up old graves to study old tattoo's (are they a die-hard fan of Oscar Jarrett, or Sutherland Macdonald, or any old ink master in general?). I wonder if 'studying' takes form of 'looking at them for inspiration', or 'looking at them to learn new symbols and techniques used in them', or 'cut them out and frame them and hide them in my studio to get their power flowing through my space'. Or 'siphon their power through some other arcane means'.

They summon (potential) accomplices by sending them location in 3words code (which was a cool thing to learn about, ngl). I get it, why use rot13 when number 3 is so much more universally significant?

Their art is at least partially based in alchemy (that's how Daria found them – researching alchemy symbols; and there were some symbols incorporated into her paintbrush tattoo. They might have been in M.E.'s heart tattoo as well, we never got a description). I wonder if the symbols are the 'meat' of the tattoo, the things that carry the power, and the rest of design is just window dressing to keep the recipient happy, or are they equally important. They are significant for the people who get them for sure: Daria's paintbrush vs M.E.'s heart vs Ink5oul's floral snake (???).

Power of their art (as we've seen so far) was focused on appearances/image. Ink5oul is referred to as they/them even by a chronically off-line stranger in ep. 11, so there must be something going on with how they appear to others that conveys their non-binary-ness. (mind?) Daria hated her physical appearance, and was given power to change it. (body?) Madam E was living for her online image, and was bound to it so that it would affect her in ways beyond usual. (Feeling great when popular, getting ill and dying when hated and bullied). (soul?)

They occasionally offer tattoos for free or at a discount (both Daria & M.E.); ostensibly in exchange for views it gets them on live-streaming. I wonder if there's more behind that. Are they creating a magical debt, some kind of obligation they can later exploit?

The moment when they threatened Madam E. to 'break her heart', I at first thought they meant that being the creator of the tattoo, they had some kind of direct power over the person who received it. But with the way things went, I think it actually was that they knew how the tattoo worked, and they knew they had more than enough pull online to tank her reputation and send a tonne of hate her way, which in turn, through the heart tattoo, would hurt her and, very literally, break her heart.

I wonder if they actually know what they're doing (have full knowledge of how their craft works) or if they are experimenting. Maybe they once copied some symbols from an old book, just becaue it looked cool, noticed that things started happening, and are trying things out ever since. What will happen if I put this symbol next to this symbol? What if I arrange them this way? Wait, let me take a peek at how Oscar Jarrett did it. Oh, interesting. But what did it to? Must copy to a living person and see how it goes for them.

[blackjackkent]

Just noticed that the Silvanus's Blessing buff keeps proccing on and off all the NPCs as they wander around the inn. This is because Mol is chilling on a chair nearby playing chess with Raphael and, presumably, still has the idol we stole for her from the Grove. I was wondering why Rakha randomly had proficiency on that Animal Handling check with His Majesty.

Let's go see what she's up to, as one of the lone remaining representatives of the tiefling refugees.

"Your move, Mol."

"You trapped me! I didn't even want to take this one!"

Mol is sitting at a table which is covered in a checkerboard design of some sort, across which is strewn wooden carved pieces of various shapes. A game, Rakha can discern, but she knows no more than that - except that Mol is extremely agitated by a potential loss, and that her opponent is Raphael.

Rakha is not pleased to see him.

"Calimshan rules, dear," the devil says smoothly. "The first piece touched is the first piece moved."

"That's garbage!" Mol grouses. "No matter where the knight goes, I'm gonna lose it!"

"Then make the sacrifice useful," purrs Raphael. "Guard your Mystra or come for my Cyric."

Mol scowls - then brightens abruptly, seeing Rakha approach. "Look who made it!" she says cheerfully. "For once I saved *your* butt out there, didn't I? We're square now, chief." She gestures at the board in front of her. "Say, do you play lanceboard by any chance? It's my first time playing."

Lanceboard. The word is familiar; Rakha has heard Gale use it on occasion. But she has no context other than that. She gathers from the conversation thus far that it has something to do with each player taking the enemy's pieces. One of the pieces is called a knight. A war game, then?

But she shakes her head - not only because she knows nothing of the game, but because Raphael's presence is considerably more of a problem. "You shouldn't be playing games with this man," she says gruffly. "He's a devil."

Mol snorts. "Sure, and I'm Zariel's firstborn. Don't be distracting me." Her visible eye rolls and she turns back to the board and considers it with a squinting expression of concentration before finally making a move.

Raphael's hand snaps forward at once, moving one of his own pieces and knocking hers aside.

"Hells," she mutters. "Thought I had you."

"They always do," Raphael says with a slow smile. "You came close, though. All you needed was a dash more courage. You will remember that, won't you, when you consider my offer?"

Mol's lips purse and she scoots off her chair, pushing past Rakha towards the bar without another word.

Raphael stands up and stretches slowly, looking pleased with himself. "What a lovely specimen she is," he drawls. "A blushing apple, begging to be plucked." He smirks at Rakha. "She might have won, you know, if you hadn't been so hell-bent on exposing my truer nature."

Rakha shrugs. The sound of Mizora's laughter is still in her ears from last night - she has no patience for Raphael's machinations. And, for that matter, while Mizora is off the table as a target, nothing stops her from potentially lashing out at Raphael.

Nothing except the fact that he knows things I do not. Raphael has hinted about answers to both the tadpole problem and Rakha's own past. She does not trust him... but she does want to know what he knows, and that irritates her just as much.

"Is that why you're here?" she growls. "To play games?"

Raphael laughs, seemingly unperturbed by any threat in Rakha's tone. "To play *the* game," he says. "The vast lanceboard of souls." His eyes flick past her towards Mol, who is leaning against the bar in the other room. "But don't you worry about Mol," he adds blithely. "It goes without saying she still has the unconditional freedom to choose... the only option she has left."

He smirks. "Besides, I do enjoy being in this neighborhood again. It has such a rich history of abject tragedy. And tragedy, my friend... well, there's my bread and bloody butter."

His smile is pointed, humorous, as if inviting her to share a joke she does not understand. It grates at her. "Just stay away from Mol," she snaps coldly.

Her own intensity surprises her a little. The girl is a passing figure in her life, no more - certainly not critical to her own party's survival. But Mol did stand up for her to Jaheira. And more importantly... she does not want Raphael to get anything he wants.

He shrugs carelessly. "She lost. She *is* lost. It's only a matter of time before the apple is plucked. But..." He spreads his arms expansively. "Enough about my lesser pursuits. Why bother with trifles when I'm in the illustrious presence of my very favorite client!" He steps closer, close enough that she can feel the heat of his breath. "Tell me, O apple of my eye," he purrs, "how have you been? You don't have any gills to get green around yet. But you do look a bit worse for wear in this light..."

Her eyes narrow and she flinches away from him, highly uncomfortable. Her fist flashes out, grabbing him by the collar, holding him at arm's length.(*) "Leave me alone, hellspawn," she snarls.

"All in good time, my dear," Raphael answers, completely unruffled. "See you soon."

And then he vanishes directly out of her grip, and the lanceboard along with him.

(*) Artistic license, obviously. Sadly there is no actual option to manhandle Raphael.

[generalluxun]

So, I recall you saying the end of S3 could work if it carried through the tragedy/despair aspect of Chloe's fall and had Marinette eventually realize the error there.

I am left to wonder, how do you think such a story would play out with what we know of S4 and so on?

Well S4 would basically be scrap metal. That godawful protracted Ladynoir strife would be canned, because a Marinette who learned from Miracle Queen would take more time to think about jer partner as a person and take him more seriously. That doesn't mean she'd fall for him or indulge his overtures, but the negligence wouldn't continue until the breaking point. They'd be a stronger team.

Then S4 could focus more on Adrienette, and Marinette actually challenging her fears using the tools she's developed from interacting with Chloé&Chat.

Zoé wouldn't need to be used as a bludgeon. So we could spend more time on her introduction. Lean into her acting/blending. Maybe she even comes off as a bit harsher than Chloé- who after the LB talk is at least 'in limbo' on her BS. Zoé's still a mashmellow on the inside but she believes she needs to front, and ironically her acting pushes Chloé to act. Two people who wants to do better pushing each other to be worse through misunderstandings. This gives Marinette a knot to untangle. You could even keep Lila on deck without utilizing her much because Marinette can worry that Zoé is 'another Lila' with her two-faced presentation. Of course this can work out over th course of the season but it gives the whole season a narrative cohesion.

'Who am I really?' Run this through Nathalie, Gabriel, Felix, etc. A nice theme.

Without beating the 'Chloé bad' drum in S5 and having to speedrun the love square(because you started in S4) S5 can focus more on the villainy side which it *should* Monarch should be a threat not an afterthought at this point.

For villains- introduce Lila's alts early in S5 but not as her alts, just as characters. Let her do some sneaky worming to set up more problems, and then the reveal near the end that hey- they were all her alts! Will be cool and not wtf.

So that's a brief summary.

[darkpoisonouslove]

After the season 2 finale and George R.R. Martin's blog post, I can't help but think that there was a way to fix the problem with motivating Helaena's suicide.

All they had to do was tone down the scene where Aemond attempts to drag her into the war and remove their next scene where Helaena's prophetic abilities suddenly got on steroids. Then they could have had some of the Dragonseeds - most likely Ulf or maybe even Rhaena if she's still trying to learn how to control Sheepstealer - fly over King's Landing and pose a threat, even accidentally so since the show seems to like accidents so much.

Seeing the people so horrified and being the only dragon rider around, Helaena jumps on Dreamfyre only so much as to chase away the potential threat. The dragons may get to claw and bite at each other but she never intends to give the "dracarys" command after she's seen first hand how Aegon suffered from being burned. She truly doesn't want to cause that to anyone.

However, in their struggle, the dragons hit some taller architecture - maybe a wall of the Red Keep - and the falling debris lead to casualties. No one blames Helaena for it. On the contrary - the people are relieved to have seen her fight for their safety but she herself feels guilty.

It's slowly eating away at her - the fact that maybe she could have saved those people if she'd been more willing to act. Maybe she could have saved Jahaerys if she'd found a way to make Aegon listen to her when she told him she was scared of the rats. Maybe she doesn't get the comfort of staying away from the war when the people are forced in it when they had no part in starting it and they are defenseless against the dragons.

She could even try to force her powers to show her more of the future so she can be useful in that way at least if she cannot make herself participate in battles with Dreamfyre. She could get progressively desperate - in a way matching Aemond - if it doesn't work but what if it does work? What if they had built up to her having so much awareness of her powers and what they're showing her by making her actively push her ability? And then once that succeeded, it could have become too much to the point where she cannot handle the idea of the future that she sees.

Instead of passively accepting it, she cannot help but struggle with it and maybe even decide to ride into battle if actions are the only way to change the outcome. Regardless of whether she actually burns anyone or not, the visions only get more intense and specific and drive her even further into despair. She is actively engaging with the future and it only starts to come at her more aggressively when the tragedies from her visions start happening in the present. It already feels like she's had to live through the deaths of her brothers, her grandfather and uncle, even her mother. She cannot bear it and eventually jumps to her death in an attempt to escape all the death that surrounds her. They will follow soon enough but at least she doesn't have to witness all of it. She's seen what it does to her mother. And she has the comfort that at least her daughter survives.

[chewydolls]

QSMP x Ever After High characters that remind me of them

Quackity x Duchess Swann

Bitchy ™

Quackity/ElQ and White Swan/Black Swan parallels

Yearning for romantic love

Resented guys who think they were doomed from the start to be unlovable, cursed to stay at the sideline watching with jealousy as their peers get the happy ending they could never hope to achieve

They actually have the means to take agency over their fate, but this requires some healing and introspection that the respective villains from their worlds are direct or indirectly preventing them from doing

Still, happiness most likely won't come in the way they fantasize bout

Feathers? Birbs??? Idk

Jaiden x Briar Beauty

They're both associated with roses

Their arcs are shaped by grief: in Briar's case the certainty of outliving all her friends makes her mourn the life she knows while they're still alive; and Jaiden was deeply shaken by Bobby's death

That doesn't stop them from aligning themselves with the very oppresive organization that stood by and let the tragedy happen, but:

a) They are hurt and going with what is familiar to them

b) They will be chaotic af about it

Agent of chaos aligning with Order can you picture that

They're bffs with figures that uphold the status quo, to varying degrees of how much power they actually have in the grand scheme of things (Cucurucho and Apple)

Isolation is a big theme in the Sleeping Beauty story, and that resonates a lot with Jaiden's arc and how she got close to Cucurucho at her lowest point vs how Briar tries to stay loyal to the Royals even when it hurts her and her closest friends, because Apple is her bestie and was always there for her

Roier x Briar Beauty (again)

A mimir

The whole Animations family is very Briar-coded, actually

Everything I said about Briar's grief works for him, especially the part of mourning people who are still alive bc the threat of being the last person standing weights over them

Just... the concept of being the last person alive as your kingdom is ruined and the vines break the beautiful stained glass of your castle and your bed is covered in thorns ✨️

"Living in fear is not living" vs "If I'm gonna sleep for a hundred years, I've got to live it up now!"

They're so good at keeping a "silly guy" act that few people can tell when they're actually sad

Outgoing and charismatic personality but still end up feeling isolated

Special little guy shipped with the confrontational, off-putting little freak (Spiderbit, Briar/Faybelle)

Pac x Blondie Lockes

I'll give it to you they're not that similar but:

Chisme? Gossip?? Fofoca???

Pros at breaking and entering

Drawn to scary creatures with sharp teeth

Cellbit x Alistair Wonderland

You thought I was gonna pair him with Raven, right? Wrong!

Men only know how to do 3 things: solve puzzles, play chess and be absolutely smitten for their partners

Came to the island/eah by accident and immediately got in the nerves of the authorities

Both were abandoned in a dangerous land by the people who later became their found family (not his friends fault, in Alistair's case, totally justifiable in Cellbit's)

In the unlikely scenario where I did pair him with Raven, Felps would 100% be his Maddie, k?

Felps x Maddie Hatter

I'm not doing 1:1 crossover but Alistair/Cell being besties with Maddie/Felps works too i guess

Chaotic, unpredictable, barely comprehensible, they will encourage their bffs to be the best version of themselves while also enabling them to do the dumbest shit possible

Part of a weird polycule that by all means shouldn't be there but they decided to make it everyone else's problem

Signature Food (pasta/tea)

Tina x Cerise Hood

Deeply self-conscious about their identity, hiding under a semblance of innocence so no one notices their monstrous/demon heritage

Actively hiding a part of themselves (horns/ears)

Despite that, they still instigate their friends to be unhinged, as long as they can be on their good side

[lyledebeast]

I've written about the scene where Susan begs her father to not go and the one where Martin kills Tavington a number of times each because, well, I hate them. But I don't think I've ever gone in depth about the commonalities these scenes share that make me hate them so much. Yes, they both involve Martin getting handed what he needs for no other reason than that he needs it, but the parallels and problems go much further than that.

Both of these scenes tease the audience with the possibility of consequences for Martin's choices, and both bail him out of facing those consequences at the last second. Oops, you thought he was going to pay for abandoning his children, for neglecting his traumatized daughter for all those years before her family was burned out of two houses? You thought he was going to pay for going back into battle after his side won the day just to seek vengeance? Well, he's not! Aren't you relieved?

These twists evince an assumption that the audience would see bad things happening to Martin as tragic, but that is assuming quite a lot. While Martin dodges the consequences of his choices (including literally in the second case), they hit people around him dead on. Susan starts speaking because she is in a situation where she is getting what she needs, in spite of all she's been through. For years of her life, she could communicate with no one: not her siblings or Abigale, her actual caretaker. Martin could not give her what she needed, and he doesn't send her to Charlotte, who clearly can, until he needs a place to stash all his kids. If Susan decided to speak to everyone in her family except Martin, that would be understandable. But the tragedy would lie in Martin failing his daughter, not in that failure having consequences.

As obnoxious as Martin killing Tavington in spite of getting his ass kicked is, what is much worse is that he never makes any attempt to deal with Tavington until this scene. While Martin is dreaming of Tavington's gory demise as one dreams of a romantic getaway to the Bahamas, Tavington is putting up numbers in Patriot civilian bodies. Martin creates this problem with his stunt at the prisoner exchange, and then he does nothing to solve it. He sends his men to their individual homes when the Green Dragoons begin attacking their families rather than, you know, using the armed force he commands to counter this threat. He does not warn the Howards and others in Pembroke about Tavington targeting civilians even though most of them are at his son's wedding during the furlough!* If Tavington deserves to die for killing civilians, which I won't dispute, Martin deserves to die for letting him.

Threatening Martin with consequences is threatening me with a good time! He himself points out that the innocent suffer most in time of war, but nothing in the story drives that point home harder than his guilty ass being bailed out while the innocent reap the results of his choices.

*I first came across these points in Brandon F's Youtube video Is Benjamin Martin the Worst Character Ever Written? He's not making the argument that Martin's death would be an appropriate consequence for these choices, but credit where it's due!

[ac-liveblogs]

Gotta admit, Im not impressed with how the story keeps on giving Haniyyah genuinely good n reasonable points but then having her finish by saying "and now Ill drive them extinct" so the traveler doesnt have to acknowledge that she's 90% right.

It's like when disney has a political activist villain do a terrorism so that they're perceived as purely evil and Disney doesn't have to acknowledge their points. Except it's happening in basically every convo and its unfathomably annoying.

Pokemon is one thing, this wisdom orb business is more like keeping a pet tiger and thinking its fine bc they're brainwashed. Even if they're brainwashed to be non hostile, all it will take is for the tiger to get spooked by a flashing light, or to misjudge their jaw strength, and someone could get hurt by complete accident! This plotline is so stupid!

(2) And even if its a pokemon parody it's a bad pokemon parody. Like in pokemon, pokemon aren't really constructed as dangerous, if you have no pokemon left in a battle you run away and drop some cash. Pokemon aren't killing people just barely offscreen.

Genshin straight up canonically has two small children get close to unpotioned, completely normal fungi and nearly get actually murdered. The fungi attack us constantly and can and will game us over. We get bounties to clear hostile, unpotioned fungi because they pose a threat. Why would you do a pokemon parody when these fungi have already been constructed as dangerous?! Why not come up with an entirely new creature type!? Oh my god.

You know those "what if Pokemon was REALISTIC" games/fics/parodies that always show the 10 year getting mutilated or whatever that are written bc people think Pokemon is too kiddy and unrealistic or whatever? Yeah, I get those kinds of vibes here.

I also get the vibe that whoever wrote it really liked Legends Arceus, where the Paris are bastards and the Alpha Pokemon want you dead.

I don’t know if this was the result of them trying to say “look we’re totally not Pokemon” or just Genshin overexplaining themselves into a hole, but the end result is. really bad. morally speaking.

Friendly reminder that Layla only wanted a Shroom bc she wanted it to carry stuff for her, and despite HYV still trying to crib THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP(!) we ditched all our Fungi at the end with the girl that wanted to genocide them.(!!!)

Particularly, I liked how we dismantled her argument with "oh, but the Fungi were brainwashed into attacking your family by the mean ol' corrupt Akademiya, so... trying to elimate all Fungi is unreasonable, please ignore all the Fungi that tried to attack us on our way over here, and also those kids, and that Fungi are only friendly when you capture them against their wills and brainwash them into having different temperaments."(?)

At least Pokemon that attack you in tall grass canonically want to join your party?! Like, yeah that doesn't really make sense when you think about it, especially with Legendaries and Arceus, but at least Nintendo tried?!

I don't... who wrote this script?! How was I meant to feel about any of this?!

You're running into the same problems you get when HYV says that the Hilichurls used to be people, and what happened to them is a tragedy........... but kill them everyday for commissions. Or, the Eremites are an oppressed minority, but....... etc. etc. etc. Arguably less damaging here but the story is so bonkers stupid

[thedragonofdoma]

Introductions

So I realize that, in a setting where just about everyone has their own characters and stories they want to tell, it can get exhausting trying to figure out what each character's deal... is. And mine are no better, given my tendency to not elaborate much on their stories and personalities beyond the occasional wolqotd. So, to try and clear away some of the fog, here's an introduction to the characters I'll probably be posting about on here.

Fair warning, this is a LONG post.

The easiest place to start is with my primary character, Zaya Dalamiq. She is a Xaela Au'ra from Doma, whose parents immigrated from the Azim Steppe.

Zaya's story is one of connections and vulnerability, culminating in her replacing Gosetsu as one of Hien's trusted retainers and advisors, alongside Yugiri. Zaya is a (non)wol x Yugiri ship, and sees Hien as a non-blood related sibling. She also has close relations with Lyse Hext, Magnai Oronir, and Aymeric de Borel.

Zaya has two custom jobs called Demon King (DMK) and Sohei (SOH). Demon King mixes aspects of Dark Knight, Warrior, and Samurai; while Sohei is a very straightforward blend of Monk and Dragoon. She does not possess the echo, and was born with unnaturally thin aether, to the point she is unable to use magic of any sort without the use of crystal conduits. In exchange for this defecit -- and to explain her DRK capabilites -- Zaya has a natural affinity for Dynamis, to the point she is able to freely manipulate the energy as if it were aether.

Zaya is also a talented artisan, specializing in metalwork such as Armorcraft, weaponry, and goldsmithing. A lot of her spare time is spent around the Doman Enclave, training the guard and working to help Doma's reconstruction in the wake of Stormblood.

She's an extremely emotional woman with a measured and controlled exterior that she's developed to oppose her empathetic nature. She is strongly loyal to her friends and Doma both, and puts 110% into every single thing she does. Unfortunately, she does suffer from Impostor Syndrome, and always assumes herself at fault for problems or tragedies, so there's still some stuff that could be worked on.

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Next on the list is Lernea, Zaya's Ancient counterpart. She's much less developed than Zaya, but still has a good bit of lore surrounding her place in the world and how her story goes.

Lernea is a researcher in Elpis, though 'researcher' is a lofty title for what she really does. Put as simply as possible, Lernea's job is to fight things. Despite lacking the level of aetheric control necessary to actually test and evaluate concepts, Lernea serves to test a being's combat capabilities and to determine whether a certain concept will be a threat to the outside world.

Compared to Zaya, Lernea is far more confident and headstrong, to the point of appearing arrogant and brash. She has a short temper, and lives for the thrill of battle, though this comes from an innate desire to protect -- one that, for the most part, could only be satisfied with testing -- which has persisted into her various shards, including Lyna, who I've picked to be Zaya's reflection in the First.

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Moving on to the more... conceptual characters, we have Kanemi and Kawami Munakata, two Hingan Au'ra that come from a wealthy mercantile family near Kugane. Originally conceived to be foster siblings for Zaya, these two have ended up being their own characters with their own stories.

The older of the two, Munakata Kanemi, is usually depicted as a soft-spoken caretaker, leaning heavily into the stereotypical Healer Archetypes. Being the next head of the Munakata family, she doesn't get to do much in the way of combat, as her talents lie more in commerce and communication. Her job is a custom rendition of White Mage, meant to present a far more Eastern aesthetic than the normal job allows.

The younger, Munakata Kawami, is actually from a branch family of the Munakata clan. Despite that, she grew up in the same house as Kanemi, and the two are more like sisters than cousins. Kawami is much more rambunctious and mischievous, fitting well into the 'gremlin' caricature. While originally designed to be a Monk, I've recently changed Kawami to being a Samurai, having trained with the Sekiseigumi in Kugane before eventually swearing her sword as Kanemi's personal protector.

To that end, the two are never far from one another, and I struggle to picture them without the other.

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Of course, I've some other characters that I may eventually explore, but for the time being these are the ones most likely to appear!

Thank you for taking the time to read through this! I've not been doing this sort of stuff for very long, but it means a lot to me to be able to share something I'm passionate about with others.