#There's so much disagreement and everyone's answer has problems!

[thefaestolemyname]

Internet Archive just sent me an email reminding me they have tons of free audiobooks and uh I figured I should pass the message along.

The Internet Archive has tons of free audiobooks

Universal Access to All Knowledge for the win!

[utilitycaster]

I really can't wait to see another of the BH to confront Ashton on his recent attitude*, it's been extremely fun to see Taliesin play Ash these past few episodes, i read it as him falling into old habits (pre shard) and it's like seeing boiling pot about to explode in everyone's faces

*idk how to describe it other than this, language barrier and all

Hey anon,

I answered something similar a few days ago but I don't think a confrontation or calling them out is actually the best move. That doesn't mean it won't happen, and that it won't be interesting if they do, but sometimes the best response you can have is letting someone's ranting go unanswered. Don't give them anything to push back on and be patient and pleasant, and they'll either calm down or else prove themselves to be absolutely not acting in genuine good faith anger, but rather a desire to provoke.

I think attention-seeking is a quality Ashton has. It makes sense, after a life of frequently being neglected! As others have astutely noted, the problem is he's still at times acting as though he is still a nobody (or a Nobody) and not a high-level adventurer invited to speak at a global war conference. They haven't really processed that from those squalid beginnings, they've become someone who commands a small but certainly well-above-average measure of power. They assume that no one in that chamber has done the same, even though we know that's not true (Vex and the Bright Queen both have certainly known helplessness, though perhaps not for a long time). I don't think that the Dynasty is certain to treat Ashton poorly given his abilities, but he did very much ignore a warning from Essek just to get some additional attention that hasn't even garnered any new information.

It is old habits, and Ashton is raging mostly against the gods instead of the mortal hubris of their parents and the excessive force of Jiana Hexum, but I just don't think calling them out will achieve anything. I think if they want to talk to the Arch Heart, that could be very interesting, but ultimately while their behavior is infuriating and unwise I feel a lot of people have taken a very punitive stance towards it that I think would be unhelpful. Like, the party has made their feelings clear through polite disagreement - I don't think we're in a shard situation where anyone feels pressured or like they can't tell the truth - and so if Ashton gets themselves blown up again, well, that's a consequence of behavior. But yelling at them probably will make them blow themselves up faster.

[iamnmbr3]

hi there! During some weeks i've really become a fan of your drarry posts(sometimes daily;))..they're so detailed and convince one in a way that they can't say "nah, you're delusional..drarry doesn't exist!(platonic or romantic)"..and tbh i agree with 98% of your opinions( 2% is in little details lol)

I have some things to say:

-in room of requirement scene harry asks draco whose wand is this in his hand and draco replied his mother's [i love how he answers with honesty here bc mostly he doesn't answer straightforward..it's obvious to me how much he changed and how exhausted he is:(] then harry laughed, admitting that situation is not funny at all(as far as i remember)...do u think why harry laughed?the only reason in my mind is he missed bickering with draco hahaaaa:)))

-in shrieking shack voldemort told lucius that perhaps draco's decided to befriend harry(i love voldy for this^^)...do you think he told it to terrify lucius or despite draco's fear, he actually saw any sign of draco being inclined to harry and his side and seeing that courage in him to change his side?

-In your last meta you told "I think he definitely doesn't want to admit that there's something in Draco that he's drawn to." This is also about harry describing draco's appearance..there are some ppl that are actually gorgeous( either according to other ppl or harry) like tom riddle, cedric, cho ginny etc & there are some that look ugly(harry makes it quite clear lolll)..and some average face which harry does not bother to describe much more...as far as we're told draco is some sort of average(ofc you can think of him as handsome like i think but he's not that type of handsome that everyone agrees on like cedric..that's what i think)but harry tells good things about his appearance in a very weird way...it looks like he knows he looks good but he doesn't want to confess that directly...

Thanks for reading, keep going!💙

Thank you for this lovely ask! It truly made me smile so much to read your kind words. I'm so glad you've been enjoying my posts! And for the record I never mind if people disagree with me (as long as it's polite; and if it's not, it's the rudeness I mind not the disagreement). Discussion and respect for different opinions is what fandom is all about.

I think you raise some really fascinating points here!

1) In the Room of Requirement scene I think Harry's bitter laughter also kind of parallels Draco laughing humorlessly when they run into each other in book 6 when Harry's on his way to the Quidditch match. I think partly Harry's also just relieving tension and laughing at the absurdity of the whole situation and how they always come back to each other. And yeah I also love how Draco responds honestly to Harry.

Also very notable that when Harry asks why the three of them aren't with Voldemort, Crabbe and not Draco is the one who says that they're going to be rewarded and that they hung back to capture Harry. Draco, who has no problem answering Harry's previous question (about his wand) or his next question (about how they got into the Room) is notably silent here. (I wrote more about his motivations in this scene here btw).

2) This is such an amazing point about the shrieking shack scene that I never thought about. But wow. You're right. Great catch! This bit is actually so interesting. So Voldemort says:

"If your son is dead, Lucius, it is not my fault. He did not come and join me, like the rest of the Slytherins. Perhaps he has decided to befriend Harry Potter?"

This is such a strange and specific thing to say. Sure it could be him just messing with Lucius. But he could've done that in so many other ways. He could've just threatened to kill Draco. Or questioned his loyalty more generally. Voldemort doesn't even say something like "perhaps he has deserted me and fled" or speculate that Draco has betrayed him and joined the flighting against him. He suggests that Draco has "befriended" Harry specifically.

Also in this scene Voldemort is thinking about other things and not really paying attention to Lucius or particularly trying to torment him. Lucius is the one who brings up Draco and this is Voldemort's response to the topic.

We know Voldemort can read minds. Despite Draco's best efforts (which given that he's alive despite saving Harry in the Manor, must have been pretty good) to shield his thoughts something must have leaked through, something that gave Voldemort pause. When Lucius says that Draco would never befriend Harry, Voldemort just gives him a noncommittal response and says: "You must hope not." Which sounds to me like he isn't buying it. And indeed, where does it turn out that Draco is (clearly without orders or permission from Voldemort)? With Harry. And I've already discussed in my other meta why I don't think he was planning on killing Harry or handing him over, despite what Crabbe and Goyle thought.

Voldemort's comments are especially interesting given that right after the Room of Requirement scene Draco is attacked by another Death Eater who also seems to think he's not on their side, despite the fact that Draco's name is well known and he has a Dark Mark. So...what happened to make him think Draco wasn't on their side?

3) Yeah I absolutely think Harry thinks Draco is good looking but tries to ignore it. I think they are both exactly each other's type.

[rosaemoux]

The reason why ppl don't like the tim&cass twin hcs is bc typically the hc of tim being "Asian coded" is just stereotyping East Asians as rich and smart with overbearing parents. (Esp when done by ppl who aren't EA themselves.) The reason why I don't like it is bc its often just another way for fanon fans to erase Cass's actual personality and use her as a silent prop next to a man. Also, Cass is canonically older than Tim.

Honestly that's fair. The fandom has a tendency to be... weird about Cassandra, making her out be a therapist 24/7 for the boys, or flattening out much of her personality to just be a docile older sister to everyone (the whole "everyone's favourite sister is cass" or "cass is exempt from all the family problems because she's cool) while ignoring Cass's problems and making her 1 dimentional.

And yea, the stereotyping the fandom does can be very annoying. I enjoy some of Tim's asian headcanons but sometimes people do stories without actually researching the culture they're making about and falling into classical stereotypes of asian people.

Also, yes she's 2 yrs older than him. To me that's part of the fun of the headcanon, them just meeting eachother and gradually deciding to be "twins of choice", while everyone else is like: you're literally not the same age ??? Idk it feels silly, but I like it.

My favourite thing about their dynamics is how they compensate what each other is missing and how much they canonically disagree about stuff (like how after Wargames they're both grieving Steph and think Batman did something wrong, but while Cass thinks Batman should have worked less with the police, Tim thinks he should have worked more, and they just decide to agree to disagree because they're stubborn people and would be arguing all day).

So yea, I really like making them hang out together, because it can create very interesting disagreements and stuff (In my reverse robins au, Cass and Tim are respectively The Bat and The Joker because of that).

Thank you so much for answering anon !

[lola-andheruniverse]

Anon who asked me about "sides" in the caryl fandom and which one I place myself on because you believe I "switched sides"/changed my opinions:

I'm not posting your ask because you named people and that's not something I do on my blog or generally agree with. The only instance you'll find me naming or tagging people is in fic recs posts, so that caryl authors who are on Tumblr can read them and be found by readers who'd like to reach out.

If you have a problem with the opinions, feelings and/or behaviors of a particular individual/blog, I ask you to 1) please reach out to them directly so you can express your disagreement or 2) use your block button, so you no longer see content you don't like. I believe that our fandom is big enough to hold every single caryler out there who wants to join in, regardless of their opinions, posts or feelings. People should feel free and safe to post whatever they want, either 'positive' or 'negative'. I have no problem with anyone in the fandom and I respect everyone's opinions, even when I disagree with some stuff I read.

Please, I ask you to not use my ask box to indirectly badmouth, bully or attack any caryler.

That said, the answer to your question is after the cut.

I'm not on either "side" and never have been. I'm just another enthusiastic fan that loves Carol and Daryl. Since joining the Tumblr fandom just before the pandemic (I was a lurker for many years), I've been using my own critical thinking skills and knowledge of AMC's shenanigans to form my own opinions.

I'm confident in TBOC because I believe there are concrete reasons that support how I'm feeling, from Melissa's return, to filming spoilers and rumors, to Tribeca and SDCC. You're free to agree or disagree with my interpretation of these facts, and to feel positive or negative about it.

I also continue to believe that AMC/Gimple hijacked the original caryl spinoff to highlight the richonne spinoff because it follows similar decisions made before to give Rick more screen time at the expense of all the other TWD characters. I believe Melissa had no choice but to opt out of the original spin-off and negotiate new terms to ensure that Carol's (and therefore Caryl's) story was respected and told with integrity. To me, that's why there were things to be sorted out, as she said, and why she lengthily discussed Carol with Zabel and co. even before scripts for the France spinoff were written. She was involved since the beginning, yes, but she only signed on when she got what she wanted. There is no greater supporter of Carol than Melissa and we have known this for years. I'm glad she's back in her own terms. I believe it was a pretty difficult time for her, as she expressed it by basically refusing to promote 11C or the series finale, and by not saying anything about the whole mess on SM, while other cast members/friends such as Laurie Holden and Khary Payton spoke out in her behalf.

I believe AMC tried to make money off just Daryl because he's their original character and it backfired in their faces. They also made a mistake using Norman to save face as he should have been protected from the SM backlash. Norman has never been a reliable narrator and I always take every thing he says with a grain of salt, but I don't think he's intentionally malicious. I appreciate how much he loves Daryl and is considerate of his fans, even when I don't approve of his behavior. I just wish he would keep his frustrating mouth shut. I believe Norman had lots of input in S1 and that he initially thought he could pull it off without Melissa. But there's no Daryl without Carol and no Carol without Daryl. It's crystal clear how much Norman's happy for having Melissa by his side, and how much they love each other and are excited for S2. I'm glad they are reunited, both for them and for us, but I believe everything worked out in the end because Melissa didn't give up on getting what she wanted. I believe she had lots of inputs in S2 and is satisfied and happy with the final result.

So, that's how I believe things have gone these last two years. Again, feel free to agree or disagree with my interpretation of facts. None of us will ever know exactly what happened, but each of us can decide what to believe based on our own judgment of the facts. That's what I do and will continue to do.

In the end, for me, the important thing is that Melissa and Norman are happy and that Carol and Daryl get their hard-earned happy ending. It's everything I ever wanted and I'm going to enjoy it. I hope you enjoy it too.

That's it. Caryl on!

[ethereal-lost-dreamer]

Luz achieved everything without having to lose anything.

There is two things that marked the conclusion of Luz's journey and resulted in contradicting much of what was established about her: the absence of sacrifice and when a conflict occurs it ends up being quickly resolved.

Since the first season, an expectation was given that Luz was not a character who was based on the archetype of 'The Chosen One', that the problems she would have to face could not be magically solved through conveniences and works of destiny - reflected in her personality in the first season, being naive about the reality of circumstances, basing life occurrences on the trajectory of a fictional plot, emphasized from the belief that 'magic comes from the heart' -, which gave her an eventual conflict that differs the protagonists who evolve with the protagonists who only arrive at the end of the story: the need to lose in order to win.

While the events of the first season were dedicated to establishing Luz's place in the Boiling Islands, the relationships she was introduced to, and her new discoveries, the second season, in theory, was supposed to present the difficulties and conflicts that Luz would have to face after having obtained so many additions to her life that required her to fight to keep it. Then came 'Yesterday's Lie', addressing the potential biggest conflict that the Luz would have to deal with: having to choose to remain in the Human Realm with her mother and give up all of her friends and loved ones in the Demon Realm.

Luz was immediately exposed to the realization that there would not be a solution to all problems, that choices must be made and giving up what has been conquered to remain firm and could immediately put her on a level of undeniable maturity, having to deal with a psychological pressure that could only have its outcome achieved through attitudes with unpleasant consequences, however necessary. There were problems, there was a need to face them, and that made her human, including making her very much identified with the viewer when addressing the conflict of the need to make choices that would please some and hurt others. But then came the biggest and most serious decline in Luz's character development: the third season.

Up to that point in the show, Luz had not had to deal directly with the need to face conflicts and seek appropriate solutions; they were just released as an accumulation of problems and left in the expectation of receiving outcomes. Questions, not answers.

Then the conveniences and facilitations emerged: having to deal with choosing to stay with her mother or staying in the Boiling Isles? Don't worry, because Camila watched Luz's outburst video and changed her fear of not having her around (even though it was fueled by the literal loss of her husband, which would hardly make anyone capable of dealing with another family 'loss');

not knowing how to confess very serious secrets and keep them hidden from her friends? Don't worry, when they find out everyone is simultaneously united in forgiving her and understanding her attitudes, a problem solved; the fear of ending up no longer having the confidence of her friends and loved ones? Don't worry, everyone continues to support Luz, regardless of any circumstances.

There was no discussion, disagreement or simply demanding an explanation from Luz, instead everything was resolved with mutual and almost immediate understanding and the consensus that she was overloaded.

So, with 'For the Future' it was already established that the plot unfolded in order to benefit Luz on her journey towards a still slightly uncertain conclusion. The true nature of the problem came with 'Watching and Dreaming', precisely in Luz's death and how the whole development took her to a point that marks the absence of challenges to be faced by any protagonist: Deus ex machina.

From that point on, nothing could stop Luz: she was given enough power to eliminate the greatest threat through an entity conveniently present at the right time, she managed to eliminate the problem with all her friends and loved ones being fine at the end and ready to restore the Boiling Isles.

In the end, all the fears and uncertainties that Luz had turned out to be entirely unnecessary given the fact that she achieved everything without having to face any consequences. Without the rest of the Titan, would there be no way for her to do magic anymore? In the literal last few minutes it showed that it would no longer be a problem thanks to yet another new solution; choose where to stay? Now she has free access to both the Human Realm and the Boiling Isles whenever she wants; all friends, family and girlfriend are with her, in oneness with each other and loving her unconditionally.

The Owl House ended, and Luz remained the same protagonist full of life, with the desire to learn about all the magic at the same time and managing to live her life both normally and being in her dreamed world of fantasy.

The biggest problem with all this decline is the fact that Luz is no longer an identifiable character with the conflicts she should face.

Her trajectory was marked by a growing accumulation of difficulties and challenges to be faced, but they ended up being solved in favor of not giving her a conclusion that demonstrates that she has matured and learned lessons with her choices. Losses were not necessary, giving up achievements was not addressed and it was not even considered not having a life exactly as she would like, however it was necessary in the face of the circumstances that would move her to learn to live and remain firm.

Emphasizing that happy endings are equally worthy, however the case of Luz and especially of The Owl House ended up being a conclusion whose challenges did not truly make it deserved to obtain a completely happy ending and devoid of choices that would significantly affect the conclusion of the story in a way to have consequences.

[sgiandubh]

I am not a shipper, just not what I see when I look at all I have seen over the years. However, I am truly appalled at the amount of Sam hate I see on so many Tumblr blogs. I don't understand why anyone would follow his career and map out every move he makes if they hate him so much. Their criticism of his acting is always the same, but I would bet none of them has ever done any acting or knows how actors train and prepare. It just makes me wonder what brought them here in the first place. I would never waste so much time and effort on an actor I don't like. Makes zero sense to me.

Also seems to me that everyone in this fandom has decided what they think/believe and cannot seem to have a normal discussion or disagreement at all. Believe what you want- I have no hate for anyone myself. I just come here for fun and to follow two actors I really like. I am sure Sam and Caitriona really never intended all this chaos when they took these roles.

Dear Not a Shipper Anon,

I hope you know, by the time I answer you, that you landed on an ultra shipper page and I also hope you can live with this detail. Barely joking, here - and yes, I decided to give you space and a short answer, because even if non shippers believe I am either a totally retarded, brainless idiot or (at a minimum) the devil incarnate, I am still open to different POVs than mine, as long as they are politely expressed.

If you do not 'see' them together, that is strictly your problem and loss. We, as a group, do not 'see' it either: we know they are together, have been so for a very long time, and still managed to make the relationship work, despite a long list of ehrm, oddities that would seem unacceptable to many. Among us, chances are we do not agree on everything, yet the essential is we all know they are not just co-stars, but so much more (lovers, partners, parents come to mind).

You are correct. I think it would be impossible for you to change my mind about it, as I have no intention of changing yours. We already entered Year Eleven of this saga and by now any dialogue between Antis and Shippers is completely impossible. Also, I am not very friendly towards 'shippers on the fence', who usually follow/share and comment also on the more prominent Anti blogs (BCAC, CRT, Moo, Purv). These people are usually blocked, because I simply can't with stupidity and lack of integrity rolled into one.

So yes, there is a lot of hate. Directed mostly towards S, because he is (and will always be) the main object of desire in this very feminine fandom. And make no mistake: all the women hating S desire him. Deeply. Impossibly. This and also simply being nasty people IRL - I can easily think of one or two legit Fascists, but will control my anger and refuse to name names. Last, but not least, I am going to tell you a secret, Anon: they are not very bright, either. Parochial fools, which I suggest you ignore.

I am sure S & C never knew what they were up to when they took this once in a lifetime opportunity. And I am also positively convinced they had no idea it would last for so long. I can only hope they have, by now, all the support they can use. For all the rest, they have each other.

The picture below has absolutely nothing to do with my answer to you, but I have promised @robinshill a picture I took in the Old City of Kashgar showing its savage destruction by the Chinese bulldozers. If that was the situation in June 2010, I can only imagine it now. Imagine and weep.

[vigilskeep]

how would the protagonist become the herald? without corypheus to blow the temple up?

that sure is a question. to which i have answers. definitely. for sure

okay my thought is roughly that there is still a rifts problem, which is likely to be a natural consequence of, you know, however many terrified mages there are being chased across the continent. i think that’s viable without whatever corypheus was doing, and is a much more believable but still dangerous fallout of widespread mage conflict than “the mages are crazy and kill indiscriminately!” i also can imagine that old god solas, if we’re doing that, is finding this a helpful cover to work on his own magical agenda, so we can still have an angle where his mistakes lead to the herald being affected with something along the lines of the anchor. he’s also likely to specifically engage with the black city, because of its link to the old gods and their fall, if he’s seeking more information about his own background

if the black city appeared through a window to a large number of your average people of thedas, and that window could be opened and closed at the will of a figure seemingly blessed with holy light and possibly not otherwise a mage at all, perhaps thus saving a city from this enormous rift, conclusions might be jumped to!

this is incredibly vague i know, i am really a vibes person not a logistics person i’m doing my best here. nevertheless i don’t think it’s that much more half-baked than why everyone in vanilla dai suddenly jumps to the andraste’s herald conclusion, except in this universe the point is that the people you are with would be actively encouraging this perception because they are the underdogs who have to do that or die, instead of the extremely weird caveat in vanilla dai where they’re somehow raising an army based on Not Not Saying That, and the protagonist’s active and public disagreement has zero consequences at all

it’s also still easy enough to wrangle a woman to appear behind the herald through the rift as “andraste”, which seems to be the deciding factor in the vanilla game. obviously it wouldn’t be the divine, here. perhaps a companion for the origin, or perhaps someone created the illusion on purpose. lots of directions to go

to me andraste’s herald says, “this person is a harbinger of the end times and the maker’s return” so i would be digging up everything the chant of light has to say about where the world is headed and what might be considered a sign of that. which is really fun for drawing on real history as well because people who believe the end times are coming right this instant are always up to some stuff

[this-acuteneurosis]

Can I just say how much I appreciate the fact you don't stray much from the movies?

It's just so refreshing to see a fic that is built on a clear, unbiased and simple canon base. This way, as you demonstrated, a writer not only has the ability to further explore the main themes and ideas introduced in the source material, but they can also go ahead and naturally develop their own by branching out on those fundamentals. They can offer their perspective by using the source material to their advantage, instead of working against it or even worse, trying to include all contradicting canon aspects. Part of writing a fic is kind of like offering your input in a conversation/disagreement. You have to listen carefully to what the other person is saying in order to form your answer...If you're listening to a thousand different people who are all saying a different thing (in this case, The clone wars, legends, novels, comics ect), you won't be able to give an answer that makes sense, much less give a structured and stable opinion.

I love how you were like "I know star wars is entering an era of a shit ton of spin off content with seemingly no end and most star wars fans know shit like who chewie lost his virginity to and what the kessel run is but screw this. The movies and maybe some late night wiki research is enough."

And you were right.

It's so funny, because I feel like I do ultimately stray pretty far from the movies. Not in terms of events I guess, but especially the prequels, I reject some of the underlying assumptions of what is said on screen and just treat it like fallible people strongly asserting opinions that no one calls them on. See: everything I ever assert about the Force/Anakin's "destiny."

I do think it helped me to stick with limited material. And it wasn't even because I saw all of this new SW content coming. I've mentioned this before, but when I started writing Don't Look Back (when it was just Like Fire and I naively believed I was gonna be done in 200k words, lol, rip past me) I hesitated a lot because as far as I was concerned, I wasn't a Star Wars Fan.

I'd watched the OT and PT multiple times. I knew that novels and games and cartoons existed, I knew people had consumed them all. I had been reading some SW fic because @mylongsufferingroommate had been sending me stuff they were enjoying and I was having fun with it. But like, I would never have called myself a Fan. I got goaded into writing this fic by people who knew me too well and really wanted a political thriller. I wouldn't have called them Star Wars Fans either.

Limiting myself to the six movies I had watched was a preemptive defense mechanism against a fan base I wasn't sure would want to accept me. My thin skin is my own problem, but every time I think about writing in a new fandom the same sort of nerves take me: what if my fanon is "wrong" and people are mean?

I guess what I'm trying to say is thank you so much to everyone who gave me a chance and encouraged me and were excited and shared that excitement.

And please, for the love of all the sky and stars DON'T GATEKEEP FANDOMS.

Don't tell people their canon is too big (@blue-sunshine-mauve-morning and @chancecraz have amazing fics that are much more compliant than mine to the broader canon, as a quick example), and definitely don't tell people their canon is too small. Walk away if you aren't enjoying something. Give compliments when you like something that is unique in a fandom you're familiar with. Be patient with people, be kind.

I could easily have given this story up if people hadn't been patient with me. I got comments as early as my first chapter from people who were angry with a single thing that I said and felt the need to tell me I was wrong. I could have left. I could have stopped.

I'm glad I didn't. But I wonder how many other people have.

[nerves-nebula]

Hey. Yknow fusions?

This idea can be taken in multiple ways, but there's 2 most popular ways.

Characters go in sync and fuse, becoming a mesh of both, and usually break apart upon major internal disagreements. Steven Universe style.

Or characters are forced together in a body that is basically hc one person and half another.

But either way I'm curious as to what would occur in your iteration for either situation.

i have a character who's a forced fusion and he has. so many emotional issues about it. like he loves the people he's made of but they kind of hate each other, my mans is Mentally Ill <3

ALSO I think I've said this about a million times but YOU SHOULD JUST KNOW THAT I'm so fucking obsessed with body sharing and fusions (consensual or forced) and the idea of HAVING to share a life with someone. It's one of my favorite concepts to explore.

SO WITH THAT SAID!!! apologies it took so long to answer this, I just wanted to give it the time it deserved <<33

Donnie + Leo: most confused motherfucker ever. hates himself, loves himself, furiously frustrated with their state of being. he wants to be taken care of and NEEDS to be adored. everything she makes is brilliant one moment and terrible the next. he is NOT having a good time and she will make it EVERYONE'S problem. (he/they/she)

Donnie + Raph: What if Raph was more irritable and suicidal? what if debilitating guilt kept him going even FURTHER past his boundaries?? this motherfucker can hold so much guilt. hobbies include sleeping and neurotically upgrading the home security system. has a sort of surveillance state situation going on in the lair and will deny it whenever asked. (faggot gender)

Donnie + Mikey: A sweet, excitable, sensitive, artistic boy :) strong morals and a penchant for making friends. very passionate about mixing art and science (they're better together!!) likely the most functional of all the fusions. still hella mentally ill, but in a sort of "I'm going to go quietly insane in my room and secretly fear everyone thinks im awful" kind of way. (he/they)

Mikey + Leo: Most confident motherfucker ever. always righteously angry about something. no impulse control, too violent for her own good. gets herself hurt a lot. Will attack at the slightest sign of provocation. (any pronouns)

Mikey + Raph: overprotective bundle of energy. somehow always hyper and tired at the same time. really into home decor & repair (mixes artistic desire to create and express oneself, with the pragmatism of fixing up the home). probably loves food more than anyone in the world. (any pronouns)

Raph + Leo: Biggest Big Brother Ever. 100% annoying, 100% loving. Will lie to her little brothers for fun (that bug is poisonous. yeah, and if you touch it you'll die in three days. Oh, you already touched it?? :( better write your will!) he carries the world on his shoulders and cracks jokes about it. (he/she)

anyway here's doodles of my favorite fusion ideas.

[bluejaysandblackbats]

Catch and Release

Fandom: DC Comics, Batfam

Summary: AU where Jason doesn't die in the explosion and he and Tim end up attending the same high school months later.

Chapters: 10/?

Characters: Jason Todd, Bruce Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth, Tim Drake, Dick Grayson, Barbara Gordon, Sebastian Ives, Jack Drake, Janet Drake

Relationships: TBA

Additional Tag: Jason Todd Lives, Jason Todd-centric, POV Jason Todd, POV First Person, Tim Drake Has Issues, Tim Drake Has Issues, Tim Drake is Not Robin, Jason Todd is Not Robin (Anymore), Bruce Wayne Needs a Hug, Alfred Pennyworth is the Best, Alfred Pennyworth Knows, Stalker Tim Drake, Jason Todd Has Chronic Pain, Jason Todd Has PTSD, Angst with a Happy Ending, Unlikely Friends, Injury Recovery, Emotional Baggage, Rage, Bruce Wayne is Bad at Communicating

Chapter Ten: Snow Day

I made dinner for Tim and me at the beginning of March. It was snowing out, so we skipped school that day, and Tim’s nanny bought groceries. Real food. Celery, carrots, lamb cutlets, potatoes. All the fixings for Irish stew. Tim sat in the kitchen with his laptop, offering me the occasional glance of gratitude. Tim didn’t say much that afternoon. “This isn’t a pity meal… I’m making this because it’s freezing out, and I’m going to commit fratricide if I have to eat another greasy pizza,” I half-joked. Tim grinned.

“Jason, you’ve been here for a few weeks-.” We heard the front door open.

“Tim! Tim?” Janet shouted. She sounded excited, but Tim and I were petrified. We didn’t know how his parents would react to me living in their house. Tim shut his laptop and stared at me.

I nodded. “In the kitchen, Mom!” Tim called.

“Hey, something smells good-.” Mr. Drake looked at me and then Tim.

“Jason’s making dinner, Dad,” Tim explained. Janet rushed into the room and embraced Tim. It was a while before she noticed I was there. “Mom… Hi… Jason made dinner. He’s living with us now.”

His mom’s smile faded, and she ran a hand through her hair. “Jason, is something going on at home?” Janet asked.

“My-. Bruce and I had a falling out,” I answered.

“How long have you been-? Sorry, I don’t mean to interrogate you,” Janet whispered.

“Does he know you’re here?” Mr. Drake questioned. I nodded.

“I’ve been here for a little over a month-.”

“Jason’s a great influence,” Tim commended, “He helped me raise my grades and made dinner.” Tim’s parents seemed concerned with my presence and that Bruce hadn’t asked me to come home.

They didn’t say anything else about it, though. I made everyone a bowl of stew, and Tim poured drinks. His parents had wine, and we had sparkling grape juice. We quietly ate before Janet leaned over, kissed Tim's head, and whispered something. Tim smiled. "Okay," Tim replied.

"Bruce Wayne?" Mr. Drake questioned.

"Jack-."

I nodded. "Hey Tim, how's your part of the group project going?" Jason questioned.

"Almost done," Tim replied, "Stew's good…"

"Thanks,” I smiled.

Dinner was mostly quiet. Janet sent us upstairs afterward so she could talk to Mr. Drake. Tim could hear them arguing. “Tim, I’m sorry-.”

“It’s okay. Mom and Dad always fight like this. You just happen to be the subject of tonight’s civilized disagreement,” Tim replied.

“What are they saying?” I asked.

“It’s not like he brought home a stray puppy or kitten from the snow,” Tim mimicked his father.

“He’s having problems at home… And he’s a good influence on Tim. It’s not normal for a boy Tim’s age to spend so much time alone,” Tim replied in Janet’s voice.

“Your dad doesn’t want me here,” I mumbled.

“It doesn’t matter what Dad wants. Mom told me during dinner that you can stay as long as you want,” Tim replied, “Dad’s more worried about the legal stuff… He thinks Bruce might sue him or something for harboring a runaway.” He rolled over and bumped into me.

I playfully pushed him over, and we lay on his bedroom floor, hoping things would work out. “Come with me when I get my cast off tomorrow?” I asked. Tim nodded.

He patted me on the chest. “Hey, it’s coming around… My dad told my mom that whatever happens is on her from here on out. He’s upset, but he’ll get over it. Mom’s gonna make him come up here… Let you know you can stay here,” Tim explained, “Five… Four… Three… Two-.” Janet knocked on the door.

Tim jumped up and answered. “Mom-.”

“Your room is spotless,” Janet whispered. “Look… That’s not why I’m in here. Jason, does Mr. Wayne know you’re here?”

I nodded. “I told my-. I told Bruce I didn’t want to come home and that I was safe here with Tim,” I whispered, “He doesn’t like it, but he won’t fight you on it. As long as I’m safe and in school, he won’t bother you or Mr. Drake.” Janet pulled up a chair, sitting in front of us.

“How old are you, Jason?” Janet questioned.

“Sixteen… I’ll be seventeen in the summertime,” I answered.

“You’re sixteen… My son is fourteen… And I see how your influence on him has been nothing but positive. We’re so happy to have you here, but I still think my husband is right about one thing. We need to talk to Mr. Wayne about this,” Janet suggested, “Can you call him for me?”

“Right now?” I asked.

Janet nodded, and I pulled out my phone and reluctantly dialed his number. He answered before the first ring finished. “Jason, what’s wrong? Do you need me to come-?”

“No, I don’t need anything… I’m fine. My friend’s mother would like to speak to you about my staying here,” I explained, “You might have to speak to both his mother and father-.”

“Why can’t you come home so we can talk-?”

“Please be an adult about this, Bruce. I don’t think I should come home right now,” I replied.

“You want me to be an adult about this, but you won’t listen to anything I say. I’m the parent, Jason-.”

“And I’m tired of listening to you telling me how you’re the parent when I’m shouldering all this by myself,” I interrupted, “Now, do me a favor and talk to Janet Drake, please.”

“Fine… I’m sorry… You can hand the phone over to Mrs. Drake now,” Bruce replied.

I wanted to be kind… But I couldn’t force myself to forget. I handed the phone over to Janet. “Hello, Mr. Wayne. Can I call you Bruce?” Janet asked. “Cool… Hi, I’m Janet… The resident mom. Jason’s a wonderful kid, and it’s not a problem keeping him here. I wanna know if he can stay here until he’s ready to go home… Uh-huh… Yeah… No, I get that. I understand… No, Jason’s a sweetheart. That’s no problem.”

Tim threw a footbag at my head, and I caught it without looking. “Sick,” Tim whispered.

“You’ve gotta be a lot faster than that,” I grinned as I tossed the bag to him. I hoped Bruce would let me stay. I always wanted a brother to joke around with and laugh with, but Dick and I never had that chance. I don’t blame Dick because of how things started out.

With Tim, it was different. It felt like we’d been brothers my whole life. I almost forgot his mom was talking to Bruce. “Think we can take the stew to lunch?” Tim asked.

“Mr. Ames might let us use the microwave if I promise to check in with the counselor,” I replied. We lay on the floor next to each other, staring at the ceiling. “I kinda like the counselor.”

“Like a crush?” Tim questioned.

“No, not like that… Mr. Finney’s just-. Mr. Finney’s nice. I’ve only been there once, but I like talking to him,” I explained. Janet returned my phone.

“Bruce said okay, but only as long as you keep all your appointments and behave yourself… I don’t think that’ll be an issue. I’m leaving you alone, but don’t stay up too late. It’s a school night,” Janet warned.

[wordsandrobots]

Ride and Gaileo: Fighting.

[For this ask game; this answer contains spoilers for Iron-Blooded Orphans and my fanfics.]

Ironically similar.

They both benefit from excellent training (Gjallarhorn's elite/the Turbines) and innate advantages (raw talent/Alaya-Vijnana). They're also both extremely reckless. Gaelio, in his prime, because he's a thoughtless prick who's never had to face the consequences of his actions. Ride, post-canon, because he's ceased to see any value in his own life beyond acting as an instrument of vengeance/revolution. Overall, I'd say Ride is a much more careful mobile suit pilot. I doubt he's ever put a lance through an ally by accident. But then he was actually trained to act as part of a group, whereas Gaelio seems to be specialised at charging off on his own.

Or did you mean interpersonally?

Well, post-canon, post-Wishing on Space Hardware, also ironically similar. They both suffer from this problem where their mouths run ahead of their brains and the temperament to double-down on it until they realise they've dug themselves into holes.

Gaelio remains an insufferable snob but he's also chronically guilt-ridden and thus while he still has a habit of giving acerbic or sarcastic responses, it is really tremendously easy to make him think everything is his fault. Honestly, just leave it a minute and he'll get there on his own.

Ride is an irascible hot-head wrapped around an iceberg of self-poisoning anger. But -- and this is important -- he cares. About everything and everyone. It's the main trait he shares with Orga: if he sees you as a person rather than a target and if he thinks he's responsible for you (which if you're in his proximity, he does), he will look after you to the very best of his ability. And he's not mean. He doesn't like seeing people suffer. So, again, however much he might snarl and bite (verbally, possibly literally) during disagreements, it'll burn out quick and leave him regretting losing his temper.

Basically, they wind each other up near-constantly, then spend hours navigating the awkwardness that comes of one side defaulting to constant self-loathing apologies while the other stews over feeling like he's in the wrong. It's somewhat cyclic.

There. Hah. And I managed to answer that without letting you trick me into revealing the Terrible No Good Very Bad slash-pairing idea that came out of thinking too hard about the aftermath of Wishing on Space Hardwa -- GODS DAMNIT.

[wen-kexing-apologist]

Connection

I am just thinking, very very strongly, about the reveal today of Tai ‘s parents and their soulmate connection. I had been discussing with some other blogs about what Tai's parents were hiding from Tai, and with the reveal of Lomfon being able to hear them and with the reveal of Tai being able to sever the connection, we thought that it might be something like that.

But I have been wondering day in and day out for weeks now if Tai’s parents could still hear each other AND THEY CAN! And that is so so so important to me when it comes to supporting the story La Pluie is trying to tell.

But I must say that I wasn’t fully expecting that them still being able to hear each other through the rainverse would be a good, valuable, comforting point of connection for Yad and Warun to this day.

 

La Pluie is a writing masterpiece for so many reasons but the one that stands out for me specifically in this episode is the way the writers use Tai’s parents rainverse link to show the difference in how conflict should be handled and how it shouldn’t. 

Tai’s parents have their disagreements, they propose separating, they continue to try for another year, and ultimately, Warun decides that it would be better for the both of them to divorce so they have the opportunity to pursue lifestyles that better suit their own wants and needs. But they still love each other.

And I will hand it to La Pluie time and time again for giving a consistent statement about love being able to persist in a new form when romantic love fades. I love that Nara and Patts remain friends, and I love that Yad and Warun still consider each other soul mates. 

And what I love about La Pluie here is that it uses the rainverse link to compare realistic and fictional love. Yad and Warun maintaining their connection shows a realistic understanding of romantic love, that it is something that you have to constantly be working to maintain. And even when the romantic love fades, the love they have for one another changes and they are able to maintain their soulmate link despite rejecting a romantic relationship and staying primarily physically separated from one another for the past few years. 

But TAI?! 

Tai’s entire life is built on a fictional understanding of love. Tai’s entire understanding of romance is built from the likes of Nora Roberts. He has no actual understanding of the effort that it takes to maintain romantic relationships and he is additionally so fucking conflict AVOIDANT that at the first sign of conflict Tai severs the connection. 

Tai shuts himself away from everyone, he shuts Patts out of his head, and that causes Patts SO. MUCH. PAIN. Patts is devastated at the idea that he has NO connection to Tai anymore. Even when they are separated, even when they are broken up, especially when Patts wants to be in that relationship with Tai still. Especially when Patts wants to talk through what happened and correct the problems they had, Tai with Patts distrust and anger, Patts with TAI FUCKING LYING TO HIM AND REFUSING TO GIVE A STRAIGHT ANSWER EVER. 

Patts wants to work at this relationship, because Patts has been in relationships before, he knows how it goes. Patts wants to work at this relationship because he loves Tai and him misunderstanding Tai and Lomfon’s interaction when he goes to apologize and Tai’s refusal to answer the simple question of who he chooses makes Patts feel like Tai wants absolutely nothing to do with him. I mean, he was literally locked out of Tai’s life last episode. 

Anyway, this is just a very long-winded way of saying that it is so intriguing to me that Yad and Warun continue to cultivate their connection with one another even with their irreconcilable differences and at the first sign of trouble, at the first sign that Tai has to do some work with Patts he loudly and emphatically gives up his connection. 

(tagging @lurkingshan for meta round up reasons :p)

[blender2902]

IN DEFENCE OF QUEEN MARIKA PART 1: THE GUIDANCE OF GRACE-

Welcome to the first part of my Elden Ring lore series where I defend Queen Marika from slander. For the past 2 and a half years she has gotten a lot of unfair shit thrown at her, most of which she never did. With this series I hope to prove that Queen Marika loves Godfrey and all her kids excluding Radahn, Rykard(cuz they are Radagon’s not hers. I do think there is something going on between her and ranni tho.) and godrick( no one does tbf). But to do that I must first analyse the guidance of grace and then refute the many allegations thrown at her due to that. I will be using logic and evidence for most of my analysis, if I see a flaw with what I provide, I will say so. If I don’t feel free to point that out.

(Disclaimer: I am not trying to say that ‘Queen Marika did nothing wrong’ as that would be stupid and a massive disservice to the writing. What I am trying to do is portray Marika's complexity using evidence that I have seen no one else use and to clear her name of the crimes she did not commit. She is objectively a bad person just like every major character in the game but just like them she is complex, except her complexity is much higher than the rest in my humble opinion. Her complexity is far more than just ‘tragic past boo hoo’ and I want to show just that with this series.)

If you have any disagreements with my logic or you see that I have missed a piece of evidence then feel free to point that out. Either my delusions break or yours do and both are a win for me! Please present your arguments pointwise though as that will make arguing a lot easier.

DEBUNKING THE GUIDANCE OF GRACE ALLEGATIONS:-

The nature of grace is left pretty vague by the game. What matters to us is, what does it tell us about Marika? I have seen many people claim that Marika has complete control over grace hence she guides us to kill her kids in cold blood to fulfil her own selfish desires. There are several factual and logical problems with this argument. For the sake of this analysis, I will do 2 things 1) Go along with the perspective that Marika has complete control over grace and where it guides us. I will prove that if this is the case, then Marika’s motives simply can’t be selfish by using logic and evidence. 2) I will give an alternate interpretation of the nature of grace based on in-game evidence. What I want to prove is that Marika loves her kids, but besides maybe Ranni, she doesn’t love the Carian demigods since they are not her own children but Radagon’s. She doesn’t love Godrick either(no one does tbf again lol).   

1) Let’s go along with the narrative that Marika controls grace completely.

So the first question we must ask is why is she guiding us?

Well, the answer is clear, she wants Radagon and Elden beast to killed. Everyone can agree on that. Now, what is her motive for wanting them killed? I have seen some answers painting Marika as some Machiavellian Evil Mastermind, so let’s debunk them one by one-

She wanted to rule eternally even as a husk: Ok so, there are many holes in this answer that refute it.        

1) The biggest hole is that even after we inherit the frenzied flame, we still have the guidance of grace. If she wanted to rule eternally, why would she allow someone who inherited the frenzied flame, you know the thing that fucking destroys the entire fucking world all the way down to the fucking spirits. Why in the name of fuck would anyone who wants to selfishly rule eternally ever guide the dumbass who is willing to destroy the world including her. Her guiding the tarnished even after inheriting the frenzied flame alone refutes all claims of ‘Marika had a masterplan that after Radagon and Elden beast were killed she would blah blah blah�� but I am not done destroying this line of thinking just yet. Also, don’t even try to argue ‘Oh it’s a game Mechanic not lore accurate’ as that would also apply to grace itself so you are refuting your own argument.

2) If ruling for eternity was her goal then why did she shatter the Elden Ring? She had zero fucking threats to her rule. I have legit seen someone say that she felt threatened by Miquella as he was a prime candidate to replace. Now that argument is just plain dumb because 1) Miquella had to go to the shadow lands and do a whole bunch of fucked up bullshit to himself to even be able to ascend which he was able to do only because of Mohg and we know from Freja’s questline that Miquella was doing the stuff at Mohgwyn after the battle of Aeonia, so don’t tell me that Marika got scared as fucked of what Miquella was going to do and 2) even if Miquella had gone to the shadow land and had ascended what the fuck would he do without Radahn being there. All Marika would have to do in this fictional scenario is to keep Radahn alive which would be easy considering how strong he is. 3) She can just send Malekith to kill Miquella if she felt so threatened. The other empereans were Malenia (who is loyal to Miquella and shows no interest in becoming a god) and Ranni, who is literally fucking dead. Why would she take everything down when she has nothing to feel threatened with? The only other argument I have seen for this is that Radagon was usurping her so she wanted him gone, which has the major problem of - SHE WOULD BE IN THE SAME GODDAMN POSITION AT THE END OF THIS PLAN AS SHE WOULD BE IF SHE HADN’T DONE THIS EXCEPT, SHE WOULDN’T BE FUCKING CRUCIFIED. Like ok, so she did not want to be a tool of Radagon so she instead plans on becoming a tool for the tarnished? The latter is way worse than the former because 1) she is a fucking husk and at least in the former she wouldn’t have that pain and 2) Let’s face it, 90% of us are degenerates including me and our player character would reflect that, why would anyone want us to control them. Again, all of this is assuming she even had control during Radagon’s age and was all around malicious both of which I think is untrue (I will discuss this in another post in the future).

There is a lot more I could say to refute this answer but these two points should be more than enough.

She had a plan to ascend to a higher being somehow:

1) Again, the frenzied flame argument refutes this

2) So we are just assuming that she can ascend further even though zero things say that? Yeah. I think I am done with this answer.

So, what does she want from us? I believe that she only wants us to go kill the Radagon and Elden beast. Radagon is keeping the world in purgatory via his seal whether it be by his own will or the Elden beast’s depending on your interpretation so her wanting them to be killed is not really selfish especially considering that she would also die. Now at many points in the game the light of grace guides us. What does this tell us about Marika? Let’s take a deep look.

Here is the Elden Ring map with all graces active:

UNDERGROUND:

DLC:

Let’s analyse where grace guides us and prove that Marika’s motives for each case is born out of love (even if its morally complex) and is never selfish using simple logic. I am excepting Godrick and the Carian demigods (except maybe Ranni) as I believe she is apathetic towards them. We are going from hardest to explain to easiest to explain-

DLC: I have 2 explanations here.

1) I have seen many claim that Marika just wanted Miquella killed for some self-serving reason but this just logically cannot be true. Grace stays with us even after we inherit the frenzied flame which would destroy everything including Marika and reset the world so we can’t logically argue that she has any plans for her future. Therefore, the only sensible motive for her guiding us towards Miquella is to free him from godhood. Lets look specifically at where she is guiding us in the dlc:-

Something very interesting to note here is that she only starts guiding us if we rest at the divine beast arena. She never guides us in any other open world area other than ancient ruins of rauh. If her intent from the moment we entered was to kill Miquella then we would have been guided in gravesite plains or scadu altus but no, we get guided when we kill divine beast at which point she realises what Miquella has fallen into. This suggests that she does not want us here at all but after seeing that Miquella is going to fall in the same trap as her, she makes the choice to end his suffering before it begins, for she knew better than anyone how horrible of a fate godhood truly is. This does mean she guides us towards Messmer so we can get his kindling but I do think she is doing this out of love as well. Think about how Messmer is feeling after all these centuries. The last sign of he felt from his mom were her shattering the elden ring which was seen as a sign of wrath as per the wrath from afar description. He was suffering immensely too and seeing his mom as a crucified husk would have probably made his life worse than it already was, so bringing him peace and ending his pain would be much a better fate. Now Messmer will have his own post in the future as there is a lot of stuff about him that is unfortunately not brought up enough but that is beside the point. tldr Marika loved him but circumstances forced her to seal him in the shadow realm which happened very late in the timeline, like night of the black knives late. Again, I know this sounds kinda ridiculous to most of y’all but I will make a post with all the evidence in the future where we can discuss this. Her motives just logically cannot be self-serving because if it was then she would have stopped guiding us when we inherited the frenzied flame.

2)The grace at divine beast is simply pointing towards the entrance to enir ilim leading us towards a dead end. This could have been an attempt from Marika where she tried to tell us ‘hey ya can’t reach Miquella so let’s just get out of here!’ but she unintentionally points towards Messmer. When we kill Messmer she decides its best to free Miquella from his prison as well so she starts guiding us again. The fact that its only the divine beast grace that points towards Messmer and not a single other one does, supports this argument quite well.

Pick whichever explanation you want but logically her motives here have to have been born out of love and not some selfish shit because she has no problem guiding us when we inherit the frenzied flame. Me personally, the first explanation is quite sound with logic so I would pick that but there is plenty of merit with the second one. The thing going against the second explanation for me is that I just find it kinda silly that from would just have the grace point towards messmer but have it just be for enir ilim. Like important details like that being mistakes is just not it. Nonetheless the second interpretation is logically valid as we can see it as a desperate attempt from Marika trying to save her son but end up doing the opposite so feel free to think that way.

Caria Manor: Sorry for the low-quality pic-

So, Marika guides us towards caria manor which is where Ranni resides. Now I have heard some people say that she guides us here to get a great rune, but that cannot be true since Ranni is stated to have cast her great rune aside. Now something very interesting to note here, is that the site of grace that appears when you give Ranni the fingerslayer blade guides us towards Renna’s rise where we can continue her questline. This would mean Marika supports Ranni’s goals. Now I know you will say that I dug myself a grave because this ‘proves that Marika planned Godwyn’s murder’ but no my friend I did not. I will go in depth about the night of the black knives in the future but I will leave a few explanations here- 1) Marika supports Ranni’s goals even if she killed Godwyn. Marika very much holds resentment against Ranni for killing Godwyn but she realises that Ranni does have the right end goal so she is willing to have us help her. 2) Even in the scenario where Marika did help Ranni in stealing destined death, what says the goal was to kill Godwyn? Nothing, from what I can tell and motive wise, this falters a lot too. What could have been the end goal was for Ranni to steal the rune of death so that Marika could use that to kill herself but the assassins double crossed them. 3) Maybe Marika doesn’t even want us to help Ranni but kill her instead which would be really funny cuz most ER players ended up marrying her lol.

I will make a future post that will debunk the Godwyn allegations so I will ask that if any of you wish to refute this post, leave out this particular section.

Church of the plague: sorry again for low quality pic-

So why does Marika guide us towards church of the plague? Well, the simplest explanation is that she is not guiding us towards that church, but toward Radahn. If she was guiding us towards Millicent, we first have to assume that she even knows about her in the first place which is a bit of a stretch if you ask me. Now we can definitely argue that Marika is trying to use Millicent to get to Malenia as Millicent leads us towards castle sol. I will explain that is the next point about castle sol.

 Castle Sol: Sorry again for low quality pic

So, she guides us towards the secret medallion in castle sol. I have seen people say that ‘Marika wants us to kill Malenia so we can get her great rune but that makes zero fucking sense when you consider the fact that when you reach this point in the game, you do not need any more great runes. If she really wanted us to get all great runes then why does she not guide us towards Mohg in Mohgwyn palace?

Simple, she does not want us to kill Malenia nor Mohg. If try to argue by saying that ‘Oh she doesn’t know about Mohgs palace’ don’t, because my guy, she starts guiding us towards Ranni after she disappears from her tower and she immediately guides us towards Miquella after finding out what he is upto. She is shown many times to actively react to what is happening in the present so if we were to discover Mohgwyn and her motive was for us to take all great runes then she would immediately guide us towards Mohg the moment we touched a grace over there but no, she does not which refutes all claims of her wanting us to slay all her demigods. Now begs the question, what does she want from us getting the secret medallion? Well, we have a few answers- 1) This could be another Ranni situation where she thinks Miquella can succeed her properly and she wants us to help him out but she realises that it’s too late for him. 2) Gideons dialogue does seem to suggest that Marika knew that Miquella got kidnapped so maybe she hoped we could help him but we know what Miquella was up to. Again, like I have said multiple times before, this will require a post of its own but the point is that Marika’s motives here just can’t be selfish as all the logic and evidence says otherwise.

Leyndell and Morgott: Same thing as with Messmer, Morgott was defending the capital for a very long time which caused him a lot of suffering. Marika just wanted him to be at peace after everything. It is very, very important to mention that Godfrey was likely also being guided at around the same time as us which I will elaborate on late in this post.

Castle Morne: I guess she guides us here to get stronger cuz that is the only logical explanation.

The rest either guide us towards a  shardbearer who Marika does not really care much about.

Another very important point to mention in this discussion that supports my stance of Marika actually loving her kids- Vyke and Godfrey. Vyke was a tarnished guided by grace and is stated to have almost become elden lord but failed due to frenzied flame bullshit. Now he somehow got to the point of the forge of the giants without killing any of the demigods. This flat out tells us that Marika tried her best to help her kids live but her attempts were met with failure as seen with Vyke. But at the same time she guides us, she is also guiding Godfrey. Godfrey would definitely come to peaceful agreements with Morgott letting him live. This means that even after Vyke failed, Marika still tried her best to save her kids it seems. Unfortunately, we were just faster than Godfrey. In Godfrey’s cutscene, we see that his grace guides him towards us. Now what does this say to us? Let’s logically break it down. Is Marika trying to see which one of us is stronger so she gets the best chance to be freed? Well, this makes little sense logically speaking. Her goal is to be freed, so it’s best to have both Godfrey and the player kill Radagon and Elden Beast together instead of doing a dumb battle royale which might result in failure. Like at least send them one by one to weaken Radagon and Elden beast for the other. So logically Marika is not being calculated over here which means emotions are at play. The only way this makes sense is if Marika wants Godfrey specifically to come and rescue her. Looking at Godfreys cutscene and the Ashen Capital site of graces, I find it quite odd that Marika seemingly stops guiding us when we release destined death but then Godfrey is immediately guided towards us. This is, in my opinion, a very strong clue that Marika wants Godfrey over the tarnished.

Ok, done with the first perspective.

2)An alternate interpretation of grace-

So, if we go kill the final boss of the base game, we kill Radagon which in turn kills Marika also. Now if we go light a grace that gives guidance after this, it still gives us guidance. This does seem to suggest that grace works independently to Marika even though she is the one who gives it. Now the reasoning can definitely be chalked up to gameplay reasons but that can also be applied to every site of grace so that the argument goes both ways. There is another thing that suggests grace works independently to Marika-

The other tarnished called by grace seem to be following their own path that does not really lead to lordship. Fia, Dung eater and Goldmask seem to be doing things that don’t really lead to them becoming Elden Lord.

This suggests that grace does not necessarily guide all the tarnished to become elden lord but instead towards their ambition. This seems to check out with everyone- the player and aspiring lord, Godfrey wanting his wife back, Fia doing shit with Godwyn, Dung eater eating shit and Goldmask moving his fingers. There is a distinct possibility that Marika does not have complete control over grace at all. Now having said all this, we can explain the behaviour of all the tarnished using logic but I don’t think that is necessary for what I am trying to prove.

Conclusion:

If you have read this post thoroughly, you should either agree with what I am saying about Marika’s motivations or concluded that the nature of grace is left too vague to come at any solid conclusions. Either option is good enough for me. Like I said earlier, if you disagree I am more than happy to discuss with you, when I get the time(life has been quite busy for me the past month🥲). The point of my blog is to create an environment where we can have proper discussions about the lore whilst being friendly. We can disagree without having to tear each other's throats out.

I have some more work to do irl so it will take some time before I post again or reply to anyone so I just wanted to post. Once my irld work is done I will become a lot more active here. Have a great rest of your life to all who see this post!

[themoodyestj]

this is why i freaking hate you people, with you there's no way Jensen can ever win, whatever he says, no matter how thoughtful and wise his answers are, you will always find a way to spin and twist his words in the most evil way to fit your narrative where Danneel is villian.

tell me something, do you think is alright to fight over every little disagreement? that's what leads to situation where you will say a bunch of hurtful shit and then be like, i'm sorry babe, i didn't mean it.

taking a stand every single time you have a disagreement with your parter is not the healthy way to go. the "you vs me" mentality is what leads to so many divorces. the right mentality should be "you and me vs the problem"

the least time you spend yelling at eachother the fastest you will solve the problem.

and if Jensen doesn't feel inclined to fight his wife at every chance, that's a good thing!

I have to admit it must not have been the best of ideas to wait after after the end of a long (albeit productive) day of work, because I have zero patience for drama queens right now. You hate us people? Why, did we kick your first born? Did we burn your house down? Is your name Inigo Montoya, I killed your father, should I prepare to die? Less, delulu, much less. I simply expressed an opinion you didn't like. Does everyone agree with you in your daily life? Hardly. And it's pretty rich that you come here accusing me of twisting someone's words when you're doing exactly the same. Jesus, can anyone explain these delulus what projection is? How on earth would Jensen "win"? What would he be winning? He said it, we all heard it, discussions are a common thing in his relationship. He even justified with his wife being a strong woman (what a cute way to say argumentative). If anything he is losing, big time. Losing patience, years of quality life, chances of being happier, peace of mind... oh and money, lots and lots of them. Perhaps even credibility, because that woman is an embarrassement.

And although I completely understand and in some way can relate to what he said, I would hardly call it wise. Just because I don't find someone wise, it doesn't mean I hate them. If you read what i wrote correctly, you know, all of it, instead of just the parts you may think I am attacking your fave and come here to argue with me, you'd see I have no problem with him choosing his battles. I do it all the time, at work, when I'm dealing with someone I sure know it's an asshole, even with delulus from Tumblr. But not at home. What I pointed out is that, simply, he should feel safe at home without the impending possibility of someone yelling at him over a disagreement. Those exist, you know? They're called healthy relationships. Write it down, this is important.

My wish for him is not to yell. Is for him to not feel the need to yell, or the concern that he will be yelled at. Is for him to find a place where he feels safe. And if you think that expressing your opinion freely with your partner is "taking a stand" and a "you vs me" mentality, no, honey, no. What Jensen described is actually a you vs me mentality, where he has to cave because his wife is too opinionated to see his side of the equation. In fact, a "You and me vs the problem" mentality would be two people expressing their opinions freely and both working for a common understanding for the sake of a relationship. Not avoiding subjects because they may develop into a fight, or humor a partner because you think they may lash out. Again, yes, I agree that Jensen takes the high road and doesn't fight. I wouldn't fight either. But that just reads as frustration, exhaustion and avoidance to be honest. The road is high but not that wise.

[rosietrace]

Twst Secret Santa 2023 || The life of a Puppet

(Central) Character Featured: UiO

Mentioned: Lilia Vanrouge, Silver, Sebek Zigvolt, Miren Lockhart, Sumeragi Yuuta, Jiyoon Lockhart, Malleus Draconia, Victoria Shard

Event: TWST Secret Santa, 2023

↳ Merry Christmas, @authoruio!

Synopsis: Well…. The title explains enough, right-? Right???

Warning(s): Potentially ooc

[ Apologies for any out of character moments ]

[ Reblogs > Likes ]

「 Lil Author's Note: Tysm to Mari and Eli for allowing me to participate in this year's secret Santa! (@twstedsecretsanta!) 」

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“Ah- S-Sorry, Lilia-senpai, I can't- Eat- Your food-”

The mischievous little puppet grinned nervously, backing away from the sheer sight of whatever the hell Lilia had cooked up for ‘breakfast’.

One can't exactly blame her, either. Everyone, everyone, in Diasomnia may have their occasional disagreements and all, but…

They can all agree on one thing: Lilia's food is horrible.

No way am I eating that! UiO gulped, a drop of sweat falling down their face. (Can puppets even sweat?? Who knows!.... Jiyoon, please answer this for us-)

If Lilia even managed to make his food look ‘presentable’ to serve, UiO could've been convinced to scarf it down like a bag of sweets.

Alas, that isn't gonna happen anytime soon, is it? Sad, I know, but life's never fair for everyone!

UiO knows one thing for certain, though — Sebek will gobble up anything made by that uncharacteristically old nocturnal fae because that's just how gosh darn devoted he is to his superiors!

Which…. Is what Sebek's doing right now, funnily enough-

UiO had to hold back the look of disgust on her face as Sebek scarfed down Lilia's food. Based on his expression…

The look on Silver's face twisted. “He's gonna vomit all of that out..” he murmured. Quiet enough for almost no one to hear him, but loud and close enough for UiO to listen.

They laughed awkwardly, in tandem. “I've been spared…” A look of relief was painted on her face, letting out a breath.

Well, at least it isn't as bad as the spices Renren made. Perhaps that was the only good thing about Lilia's food, in the eyes of the (un)trustworthy puppet.

“Fufu, how wonderful that you adore it so much, Sebek!” Lilia exclaimed, clasping his hands together as he seemingly cartoonishly moved around Sebek. “I worked hard on making it, so it seems my efforts were well worth the wait!”

Was it? Asked the members of Diasomnia from within the back of their minds.

Not wanting to waste a second longer, UiO inconspicuously (yet not so inconspicuously) made a stride out of the dorm.

The day has only just begun, y'know! One can't waste another second in one place!

༝ㅤ･ㅤ˚ㅤ。ㅤ.ㅤ⋆ㅤ†　。 𓄿

“And then he just decides to kick me out of the botanical garden, just for ‘interrupting’ his gardening hours!”

Upon listening to his words, UiO shrugged. “Your problem, Renren, not mine!” she exclaimed, happily walking ahead of him and Jiyoon.

Jiyoon sighed. “I don't understand why you're so hung up on that,” she massaged the bridge of her nose, exasperated beyond belief. “It's not like he attacked you with a gardening hose.”

Miren narrowed his eyes. “He certainly threatened to,” he turned away from Jiyoon, grumbling.

“Oh, c'mon, Renren!” UiO grinned. “He isn't that bad! A little greedy? Sure, and selfish! But he wouldn't do that!”

Miren had several doubts about that, that's for sure.

He turned a corridor, humming. “This is my stop,” he told the two. “I'll see you two at lunch?”

Jiyoon responded with a nod. “You can be certain of that.”

Miren nodded back, walking off to his next class, and leaving Jiyoon and UiO to their own devices.

Speaking of which…

“Now then, UiO-” Jiyoon deadpanned shortly after realizing that the puppet had gone off. She let out an exasperated breath.

“Honestly….”

༝ㅤ･ㅤ˚ㅤ。ㅤ.ㅤ⋆ㅤ†　。 𓄿

UiO wandered around the halls of Night Raven, in a playful and almost oblivious-to-her-surroundings sort of manner.

The puppet almost always wore a grin on her face. It was both an amusing and an unsettling experience!

They were expressive, long story short.

She smiled to herself, taking note of every little detail that surrounded her. From the tiling of the floors, the wind that blew beneath her hair, the stone arches…

Everything about NRC fascinated UiO.

And everything about Twisted Wonderland fascinated her, as a whole.

To think, UiO's thoughts wandered about. In a similar fashion to the way she was wandering about the halls. A world like this..

Her expression turned neutral. So many questions, and barely any answers.

Anything is possible, she thought. I'm enough proof of that.

Twisted Wonderland fascinated UiO for a number of reasons. The landscapes, the experiences, the cryptic history behind it-

And seemingly most important of all, the people.

Rich or poor, tall or short, no matter what kind of person they were — the people that resided within this strange and unanswerable world only amplified UiO's fascination for it.

They loved it. Loved this world, its people, everything.

Sure, the overblots can get a little jarring… UiO can agree on that much. But… I've experienced worse.

She stopped in her tracks, hearing the sound of bickering. Bickering that would transition into an argument, she figured.

Turning her head, a smile of excitement on both her lips and in her eyes.

Her housewarden! (Dorm leader? Housewarden? Honestly, she's too lazy to figure out what the proper term is!)

Unsurprisingly, Malleus got himself into another argument with a certain Fae woman. One who couldn't stand him, and wanted to throttle him with every fiber of her being.

UiO always got a kick out of their interactions. They stood from a distance, watching them throw their verbal punches at each other, an unmatched intensity in their aura.

An aura that never truly fades, even as they parted ways.

UiO watched as his fingers lingered towards his ‘adversary’, an amusement falling down the puppet's face.

Smitten, he is. UiO believed. How their story ends, I'll probably never know. But even so….

That smile on her face never seemed to fade, even as she began her journey of walking away from the distant encounter before her.

Of course, Jiyoon eventually found her, and scolded her for wandering off on her own — her exasperation evident on her face, all the while she was well aware that she'd have to have grown used to this by now.

UiO was as unpredictable as she was wise. Untrustworthy, chaotic, and generally not someone you'd consider intelligent; but wise nonetheless.

The day seemed to end all too soon, as the puppet bid goodbye to her half-siblings a little before returning to Diasomnia.

It was just as chaotic in the dorm now as it was in the morning, which she wouldn't have had any other way.

“Is everything okay?” Asked Malleus, approaching the puppet.

UiO had to hold back the smile on her face, noticing the unfulfilled longing he still had. “Yup! Completely, and truthfully, fine, Malleus-san!”

Malleus let out the briefest of smiles, nodding. “I see,” he looked out to the rest of the members of his dormitory, that smile turning into a look most neutral.

“..... Do you ever wish that things never changed?”

UiO turned to him, slightly confused, but aware that she had to give him the courtesy of a response.

“Sometimes,” UiO cocked her head to the side. “But some things have to change, even if you don't want them to..”

That seemed to deepen the look in Malleus' eyes. That look of solemnity, of sadness.

One that UiO couldn't help but feel sympathy towards.

“Why do you ask?”

He turned his back, seemingly radio silent for the first couple of seconds before he started walking away — murmuring his response.

“Because that's how I wish it could be.”

…. I guess the life of a puppet only gets more interesting as time goes on. So fun, yet so terrifying, all at the exact same time.

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「❆」 — Christmas Message!

Merry Christmas, UiO!! I hope you enjoyed this piece of writing I made for you! Your writing, ocs, and especially your art have been a big inspiration for me and I'm REALLY glad that I'm friends with someone as kind and caring and just plain AMAZING as you!!

You and the rest of Coconut have been a big help for me, especially with issues involving my personal life — and I can't be any more grateful than I already am to know that I have you and the others to lean on (albeit not physically) 😭❤��🫂

In truth, the reason I didn't do the first of your wishlist is because I was scared of getting Felicitas' characterization incorrectly ☠️ I'm really sorry that I wasn't able to do anything for her, and hopefully this little oneshot is enough to suffice for it 😭

As always, I hope you are doing well and you're happy and if you EVER need to let out your feelings, blow off some steam, etc: You can always go to me and the rest of Coconut. We're always gonna be here to have your back, and don't forget that!!

I love you very much, UiO, and thank you for being my friend <33 Have a Merry Christmas!

Sincerely, your Secret Santa

— Rosie 🌹

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