#To me it makes the most sense post Shadow 05
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I was already thinking about Shadow so much today before the animation news, because I watched a Sonic Battle playthru
And just
Do you ever think about Shadow in Sonic Battle? How he says several times that he won't let tragedy repeat. Meaning, his kind of tragedy. The kind where he knows hes made to be a weapon, but doesn't know where from or why, or what his purpose is. And how he does go through with helping Emerl avoid that type of tragedy. He helps him uncover why he was made, so he can know where he came from and then choose his own purpose.
And then tragedy befalls Emerl anyway. The kind where his original destructive purpose is forced on him, and then he dies. And literally his last words are 'Shadow...should I be glad I was born...?'
Because I do, I think about this sometime and im not ok
#Sege rants#Sonic stuffs#Battle is fucked up for coming out a few days before Heroes and having a different type of characterization for Shadow#Which doesnt make sense if you place it post Heroes either#To me it makes the most sense post Shadow 05#And that placement makes me feral too because then Shadow has JUST come out of#Nearly having an original purpose he didnt even know about forced on him#No wonder his first instinct is to destroy Emerl bc he thinks of him as just a weapon and not a person#Before Sonic goes and reminds him. Hey. You were in a similar boat not too long ago and you saved the world#Also Emerl is a person. Give him a chance#And Shadow does and Emerl is someone he helps and relates to#And then this gizoid he started out thinking of as just a weapon fucking dies asking him if he should be glad he was born#Because he related to him too. He knew Shadow was made as a weapon too but is now living his own life#So logically to Emerl. Shadow would know the answer to that. And Shadow almost died once. Was he glad he was born as he fell to Earth?#Im unwell im feral about this ok#People have drawn headcanons of Sonics reaction to Gemerl#This Thing taking the form of Emerl. Almost like a zombie of him that will also never Be Emerl#Because Eggman is evil and fucked up#But not enough people think about what Shadow would think of this at least not that ive seen#And i think itd be one of those things where the emotions breach his stoic surface and you see a visible reaction#Before the anger takes over#And im just. RAAAGGHHHHH WHY WASNT SHADOW IN ADVANCE 3 RAGHHHH#Do you Understand
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My 2023 Top 5
Since early May, 2022, when I fractured my right arm (the humerus, right under the shoulder joint), my health, my physical well being, has deteriorated at a fast pace because I stopped being active. Part of that was my not taking pictures because, especially for the first 2 months after the break, I could not lift my camera. Then, this year, my cataracts got worst and I had my right eye surgery in early November, with my left eye surgery rescheduled for next April. (My cataracts in my left eye are not as severe as they were on my right eye and before my surgery scheduled for this month, December, I got a bad case of bronchitis.) It has been a year of deterioration and adjustment and retrospection (in 10 years I will be 80 years old) and of doing photography. Not so much of making pictures, but certainly of continuing my learning my beloved art form and going back and reworking some of my old photos.
So, with all that said, here are my Top 5 for 2023 and why I chose them and what, in some way, they have to do with my explanation above. The first 3 were captured this year and the last 2 are finds from past photos that I overlooked and that the newer, more powerful masking tools in Camera Raw helped me shape into what I think are stunning images. I am getting good at doing the Ansel Adams style manipulations and am also enjoying the process.
Oy vey.
Circles and triangles and shadows, oh my II. Oakland, 01-28-23.
I went to Oakland, which is a city I love and think is sadly overlooked because of San Francisco's grandeur. Had a great time walking around for a couple of hours and got a few solid photos. What more can I ask for.
Portrait II. Davis, 03-20-23.
Had dinner with this young man and got a couple of photos. zTHis was my favorite; captured him at his most comfortable because he was reacting to a comment by his roommate. Not the sharpest image, but I love the sense of motion and his expression.
Roses IX; Municipal Rose Garden. San Jose, 05-14-23.
For my birthday I went down to San Jose and stayed a couple of days. On my birthday, I visited the San Jose Municipal Rose Garden and had a wonderful time capturing gorgeous roses and enjoying the park's festive Mother's Day atmosphere.
The beauty of decay Vintage trailer: Crockett, 10-01-17.
Kinda creepy/post-Apocalyptic/SteamPunk, this photo came to life once I started editing it in Camera Raw recently. The masking, dodge & burn tools are excellent and its tools for manipulating color also helped immensely even though this is a B&W photo.
COVID wanderings Outdoor seating? Pier 1. San Francisco, 09-07-20.
While walking around a deserted San Francisco Bay promenade on the Embarcadero, I was struck by the hard, graphic lines and sharp B&W light/shadows of this, which showed that even in the midst of a terrifying pandemic, there was beauty to be found every so often, in the most unexpected, mundane places.
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The Week Ahead: January 13-19, 2025
Executive summary: this would be a tense, unpleasant week, even if the US weren’t having a drastic regime change next Monday. Patience and empathy will be tested. The more you have, the more you’ll need…?
Lunar Phases
Monday, January 13, 22:27 UTC - Full Moon, 24°00’ Cancer
The key phrases for the Full lunar phase are “culminate, fulfill, illumine, manifest;” and “pour all our energy and effort into our intentions.” We should think of it as protecting our intentions with full, fierce Mama Bear energy.
Friday, January 17, 17:35 UTC - Disseminating Moon, 12°52’ Virgo
The key phrases for the Disseminating lunar phase are “teach, share, communicate;” and “ease up on efforts with our intentions.” The temptation will be to go off (at length and in great detail) about every last harmful mistake. Do not.
Void of Course Moon
Tuesday, January 14, 04:46 UTC (Cancer) - 09:12 UTC (Leo)
Thursday, January 16, 04:10 UTC (Leo) - 16:46 UTC (Virgo)
Sunday, January 19, 02:01 UTC (Virgo) - 03:33 UTC (Libra)
Retrograde/Direct/Etc.
Pre-retrograde shadow: Juno/Scorpio, Vesta/Scorpio (starting Friday the 17th)
Retrograde: Mars/Cancer, Jupiter/Gemini, Uranus/Taurus
Post-retrograde shadow: Saturn/Pisces
Transiting Vesta enters her pre-retrograde shadow on Friday, January 17, 05:04 UTC, at 5°21’ Scorpio. Expect some new obsession to pop up.
Ingress
Sunday, January 19, 20:00 UTC - transiting Sun enters Aquarius
Aquarius season in this chickenshit (not brave) rerun (not new) world. New alliances, new ideas, listening to each other. It isn’t left-right, it’s top-down, and Aquarius can work with that. Problems occur when we don’t get off our butts and get to work (fixed), and when we listen to only one perspective (air).
Et Cetera
There are two Opportunity Periods this week:
Tuesday, January 14, 03:48 UTC - 09:12 UTC. “This dynamic OP is good for inspiration and insights.”
Sunday, January 19, 00:48 UTC - 03:01 UTC. “A short period of productive time to get organized.”
Really tough aspects coming up, Monday through Saturday:
Mars Rx/Cancer semi-square Jupiter Rx/Gemini
Sun/Capricorn square Eris/Aries
Venus/Pisces sesquiquad Mars/Cancer
Venus/Pisces square Jupiter Rx/Gemini
Sun/Capricorn opposite Mars Rx/Cancer
Sun/Capricorn sesquiquad Jupiter Rx/Gemini
Juno/Scorpio opposite Uranus Rx/Taurus
Pallas/Capricorn square Eris/Aries
Only one of these involve fixed signs, so I think ultimately most of the issues aren’t long-lasting - just unpleasant to have to go through.
On Sunday the 19th, Mercury/Capricorn will sextile that Venus/Saturn conjunction. We can use that (if we make the choice to do so, it’s a sextile) - find some quiet time to make sense of things. There are little respites here and there through the week, and we can enjoy them - save the (over)thinking for Sunday.
(Playing around with how I want to do things, here, moving forward - if you absolutely hate something, or love something, let me know.)
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Hi! I by no means have any harm with this suggestion, I hate harassment and cancel culture so I’m not here for that
But I will say that I loved your Ivo essay on his feelings towards Maria- I found it on accident while looking for Shadow 05 images on google and it had things in it I’d never considered for his character. But, the usage of Narcissist in combination with manipulation and gaslighting terms made me feel a little strange because of “narc abuse” truthers
Manipulation and gaslighting being a form of abuse which makes sense given Ivo’s behaviors, but I was just going to suggest finding other words than narcissist in the future (such as egotistical, full of himself, pure self before others)
It’s okay if you don’t take this suggestion, I can’t make you do anything and I won’t- I just thought I’d say it due to the amount of NPD ableism on tumblr
I'm happy you enjoyed my post and that I could help shine some more light on his character, I'm very passionate about it and that post. (Post for context here)
I also understand and appreciate the sentiment of your concern. I'm a staunch hater of NPD ableism and the term narc abuse and I've made disclaimers on posts explaining that the last thing I want to do is want to help set a precedent for all people who are narcissistic/have NPD and how it's important to not make that harmful assumption
But I stopped prefacing everything I said with it which is why there isn't one on that post because I realized that, respectfully, it's not my job to educate people of this real life thing on my blog about Eggman. I don't want to change what I say just because someone might twist what I'm saying or take something bad away from it that I didn't intend
It sucks that they might but if they feel that way, they weren't smart enough to know better and likely already went into reading it with those harmful beliefs as there's no way my post could solely be introducing them to narcissism/NPD alone and I can't control that. If they're committed to twisting my words they could regardless of the language used
But I also don't want to change my wording because Eggman is still, by definition, narcissistic. I don't want to change or censor my language because someone might have some prejudice towards narcissistic people/NPD and use it to fuel it when I'm clearly not saying anything to intentionally influence their feelings on everyone with it
It's like how I won't hesitiate to state that Eggman has low empathy. I have low empathy and people demonize it a LOT. I constantly see people saying if you don't have empathy you're an inhuman monster destined to be evil and abusive, even people who are my friends have said stuff like it without thinking and it sucks. But I'm still happy to say it when I recognize it in Eggman, even when it's in his most negative actions and abuse too
I also know fellow people with low empathy and/or people with NPD who have said they really like how I acknowledge and embrace Eggman's low empathy and narcissism and don't hesitate to describe it as such. I've talked about it in relation to plenty of positive things too like how much I admire his confidence, pride, and self love that is emphasized and fueled by his narcissism too. I don't only mention it while talking about his manipulation, gaslighting and abuse
So I understand and appreciate the sentiment and that you brought it up in a respectful manner but those are my reasons for using it. I don't want to stop using words by their definition in regards to the characters they very much apply to just because some people might be shitty about it. It sucks but I doubt my posts are doing much harm in influencing those beliefs as people dedicating whole posts and blogs to their intentional NPD ableism
Especially not when I'm talking about the character with so much love and praise. NPD ableists would much sooner hate that, I'm sure, and to that I say hell yeah, there's no place for them here
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Unit 05 Blog Post
With an open blog prompt this week encouraging us to discuss what we are thinking about, I can't deny that most of my thoughts are about the fall season, thanksgiving, and Halloween! With that in mind, I would like to discuss the intersection of nature and the supernatural, which feels especially relevant as Halloween (one of my favourite holidays!) approaches :)
I'd like to start off by mentioning how darkness changes our perception of nature. A familiar place you've known your whole life -- like your backyard or a forest trail, can feel unknown or mysterious at night. This concept reminds me a lot of playing tag in the dark with my sister and cousins as a little kid, during which the darkness would play tricks on our senses. At night the woods felt more alive, with every rustling leaf and snap of a twig sending chills down our spines. The power of the unknown in nature can make even the most innocent games feel eerie and exhilarating.
Furthermore, the campfire, a quintessential outdoor experience, frequently becomes a gateway to the world of spooky tales. Why is it that humans gravitate towards telling scary stories outside in nature, when accompanied by friends and only the light of a fire? The atmosphere seems to encourage a feeling of spookiness. The flickering firelight casts shadows on trees, creating ghostly figures, while the crackling wood echoes with the sounds of the forest. This atmosphere makes the perfect setting for storytelling, where nature itself seems to participate in the tales, adding to the eerie ambiance. I find that our tendency as humans to lean into the mystery and unfamiliarity we experience by the campfire endearing and is likely a common experience most people can relate to.
On the topic of storytelling, there are many intriguing natural history myths or urban legends that tie in with fall themes, like the legend of Sleepy Hollow’s Headless Horseman or the lore surrounding the Jersey Devil. These stories often have roots in real landscapes and cultural histories, adding layers of meaning to the natural environment. Furthermore, many Indigenous cultures have rich mythologies involving nature spirits or creatures tied to specific natural landmarks (like forests, rivers, or mountains). It is no coincidence that modern horror media takes inspiration from these stories, like Until Dawn using the Wendigo myth.
These stories and adaptations often tie supernatural elements to natural forces. These tales tap into deep fears about nature's untamable power and our smallness or powerlessness in comparison. I believe the human fascination with the supernatural originates from a fear of the unknown in nature—storms, plagues, wild animals, and much more. Early cultures explained these phenomena in myths and legends, which still resonate with us in modern horror because they tap into primal fears about survival and the natural world.
Next, specifically when thinking about Halloween and horror, I find it interesting (but not surprising!) that most horror movies are set in outdoor environments such as woods, fields, or isolated cabins. The game I mentioned above, Until Dawn, is no exception, as it focuses on a group of adults trying to survive on Blackwood Mountain. One of the most classic horror movies, Friday the 13th, takes place at Camp Crystal Lake (or "Camp Blood"). Some other examples of horror films like The Blair Witch Project or The Ritual use the forest as a character itself, full of unknown threats and primal fears. Nature can be beautiful, but when it turns against us or becomes uncontrollable, it becomes terrifying.
I know a lot of people aren't into horror movies, but they're certainly not the only genre of fall media that incorporates nature as a major aspect of the storytelling. If you haven't seen the Cartoon Network mini-series Over the Garden Wall, it is a fall classic that I honestly can't recommend enough. Over the Garden Wall perfectly blends the calm essence of autumn with the spooky, magical, and supernatural elements of Halloween. This show emphasizes fall being a transitional season, where life starts to decay, and the boundaries between reality and the unknown become thinner. The two protagonists, Wirt and Greg, travel through the woods which act as an ever-present character that uses the changing seasons to symbolize the journey between life and death. It is a show that successfully combines the feelings of whimsy and eerie, reflecting the dual nature of fall. I think it is a great example of a show that uses natural elements to enhance storytelling, and the fleshed out natural aspects truly provide a sense of place as you watch Greg and Wirt travel through "The Unknown".
To conclude, I hope my post for this week has provided some insight into the themes of nature, the supernatural, and human storytelling all within the context and atmosphere of fall and Halloween.
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A rant about Shadow’s trauma
I am sick of hearing about Maria. Okay okay, bold statement and I'm being dramatic for the sake of being dramatic, but let me explain.
No matter how you portray Shadow, Maria will most likely be mentioned, since it’s an important part of his character, motivations etc. I think we should pay more attention to the circumstances of his grief though; the real tragedy isn’t the loss itself, it runs deeper than that (I'm not saying anything new here). Let me break it down, the way I see it.
1.) Identity loss: When someone close to you dies a part of yourself dies with them. With your parents’ death you cease to be someone’s child forever. In Shadows case it’s even more extreme: not only did he loose Maria, he also lost his purpose by failing to do the one thing he was made to do. Imagine, your entire life stripped away from you in a matter of seconds, leaving you with absolutely no point to even exist. With his now non-existent purpose and identity as a whole he became a blank slate for someone else's revenge, a vessel powered by sorrow. Most likely only Maria saw her as a person on the ARK, so what is he with that one singular column gone? A weapon, a tool of destruction, the Ultimate Lifeforms made to destroy the planet.
2.) Closure: When your abuser(s) die it’s a strange feeling. The person/people who made you miserable are finally gone, but what’s left is just emptiness. They made you the way you are, and now they’re gone, but you're still the same. He didn’t get revenge on any of those people. The fantasy of standing up against them verbally or physically (taking out years of abuse is now unreachable. So is the fantasy of it ever getting better. Now you can’t hope that someday they’ll do better. They now never will. Shadow’s left without any kind of closure in relation to his trauma he received on the ARK.
3.) Time to process: Presumably he was around 15-17 like the rest of the Sonic cast at the time of the incident. Almost immediately after seeing the most important person in his life die, he was put into stasis for 50 years. In both SA2 and ShtH 05 he woke up in a completely unfamiliar world with turbid memories, grief still fresh and pervasive. In the midst of world ending level threats constantly looming overhead in almost all games I don’t think he sat down with a psychologist and ever processed what happened. (If you age him up or make any kind of AU where he has time to deal with all this then let him process his trauma. Time heals all wounds pls let the guy leave some of his baggage behind.)
4.) Help: Childhood emotional neglect and other shit make it impossible for him to even reach out for help. Learned behaviour that emotions are not okay (to feel or show), difficulty connecting with peers, hard time asking for help, lashing out instead ect etc.
+This is why I think SA2 was a good, complete arc for him. He came to the planet with revenge and destruction in mind, a weapon that Gerald forged motivated by the immense sense of anguish. He died finally getting closure: He fulfilled his real purpose, his identity restored in some way. I like to think that he died peacefully partly because he knew his promise to Maria would continue to be fulfilled by Sonic. In the English version during the Final Hazard fight he even gave up the title he so desperately clings to in other games ‘The Ultimate Lifeform’. Unlike in other games here he doesn’t need that title and identity, it is no longer the only piece of himself that he has left, so he “offers” it for the person who he sees fit as an extension of his legacy. ("Sonic, I think I've discovered what the Ultimate Life Form is, it might be you!")
Okay all this ended up being a whole lot less cohesive than I intended and I just want to say I have more thoughts on this but I'm stupid dummy dumb dumb and can’t put it into words. (Analysing media is all fun and games until I have to explain then suddenly brain go mush.) This post is a pretty personal analysis, most of it isn’t factual in any way, I just want to provoke thoughts in others about this subject, since I often see his grief be reduced to “Maria is dead Shadow is big sad about it :(” which is fine, but there’s so much to explore.
If you have any opinions on this, contradictory or other don’t be shy talk. I want. to hear everything.
#sorry for shit grammar#sth#sonic the hedgehog#shadow the hedgehog#sa2#sth rant#I swear I can interpret media 'correctly'#rotating shadow in my head isn't enough anymore I need to maul him to death
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I actually can not believe I've never posted this X-Men headcanon (that turned into a whole treatment/thesis) here on this blog, but for those few followers who know who Dallas Gibson aka Specter is, or Laynia Petrovna aka Darkstar, or just anything about Academy X in general.....enjoy!
(Mostly because I don't trust the random PDF hosting site I've got it stored on and I like to keep stuff backed up online and not just in my files so posting it for posterity here anyway.)
Anyway, I give you:
THE GREAT MANIFESTO OF WHAT IF DALLAS GIBSON WAS THE SECRET LOVE CHILD ONE NIGHT STAND CHILD OF BOBBY DRAKE AND LAYNIA PETROVNA: A CRACK FIC THEORY OUTLINE SOMETHING IN THREE PARTS
(Relax. Its actually only about 10,000 words long. That's like, barely ANYTHING when its me. Its a itty bitty teeny tiny nothing of a thing. Hardly even counts).
So, okay. I have approximately 80 different pitches for what to do with Iceman at any given time, but here's one that I know would never in a million years happen purely because the X-Office will never let the 05 be the ages I perceive them as which is mid to late thirties at this point. Like I picture Bobby as around thirty-six or so, though for him it actually makes sense for him to be eternally portrayed as LOOKING like he's in his early 20s, since that was the age he first transmuted to his ice form and so makes sense to be his default template/molecular blueprint his power resets him to every time he has to make a new body from scratch. BUT I DIGRESS.
Anyway, wildly self-indulgent pitch ahead, which ties into a cracky headcanon I've had since Academy X, includes a couple OCs, and explores his past history with Laynia, long before he was out, as well as his connections to other heroes beyond the X-Men like Laynia and her brother, Black Widow, etc. And then it combines my ideas for giving Bobby an antagonist of his own, more characters to interact with other than major X-Men so his story beats aren't reliant on whatever's going on with other X-Men and who's available, and gives him concrete reasons to want to level up quickly in terms of how much social influence he wields among mutantkind, take more prominent/proactive stances on things, etc. While still leaving room for him to be goofy and always trying to use humor to seem more relatable, less threatening, etc.
So. I'm picturing this as a triptych like Sabretooth, three interlocked minis of five issues each that form a trilogy by the end.
First mini:
ICEMAN AND DARKSTAR: SHADOW GAMES
ISSUE ONE:
First issue opens with Bobby in his apartment in LA, sometime after he's left the most recent X-Men lineup and is back to living off of Krakoa. He's just gotten in and is going through his mail where he comes across a card with no return address. Opening it, he finds its a condolence card that says "Thinking of you on this anniversary of such a tragic day." His internal monologue, conveyed in caption boxes and a key element of this whole mini, shows he's totally confused by this. He has no idea why this date would hold any special significance, or who would have sent the card or why. (The specific date would just be somewhere around the date of publication, in a world where this actually got published, lol. Let's go with April 27th, for instance).
Deciding to just shrug it off as some weird thing, Bobby's basically just being moody for a page or two of reflection before Scott calls. They're trying to do better about keeping in touch even when they're not on the same team. Some generic catching up, and Bobby eventually mentions he's just been in a weird mood all day, to which Scott says he's not surprised. Turns out Scott's noticed that for as long as he can remember now, Bobby's ALWAYS in a shitty mood every time April 27th rolls around. Yes, Scott is anal enough that after years of Bobby being weird around the same time every year, he eventually narrowed it down to its epicenter. This very day. Bobby is both weirded out and touched by Scott's attention to something so specific about Bobby...more attentive than even Bobby himself. When they hang up, he's still clueless about why today would be such a big deal to him, but apparently there's a pattern. That card might not have been so random after all.
Confused & uncomfortable now, Bobby decides to get out of the house & just do hero stuff. That always makes him feel better. He helps put out some fires, divert a tidal wave, gating back and forth across the planet, restless. The whole issue, even as he uses his usual banter to make the people he helps feel at ease in the wake of whatever catastrophe they were just saved from, his internal monologue shows he's second-guessing himself constantly, being his own worst enemy, criticizing every choice he makes about his saves, how he could've done things better, etc. Things come to a head when he intervenes at a protest - I don't have a specific cause in mind but ideally something non mutant related - as a group attacks the protesters until Bobby drops in to protect them.
The protesters thank him but are pretty cynical about the whole thing. They note that this happens constantly and most of those same people will be back stirring up trouble and violence at another event like this down the line. They hope for change for the better but point out that some people never will, because they're not interested in better. They're happy with their hate. Bobby reflects on what they said, and here's where his thoughts start to take a particularly dark turn. He thinks of some of the ways his powers could be used to ensure those ppl never hurt anyone again, how the full potential of his powers include a lot of lethal options, and why shouldn't he use them when its true most of these ppl will just commit heinous acts in the future, and he might not be around to protect their victims next time. He even reflects on how he's used some of those darker options in the past, so its not like it'd be crossing a line he hasn't already....
Disturbed by the fact that the only reason he can think of not to go there is he's a hero and heroes don't do that, he just wants to be anywhere else in a hurry so he skips heading for a gate and does something he does only rarely....turns himself into mist and starts to disperse, to teleport somewhere far away, but as he does he gets the weirdest feeling, like his spread out consciousness is brushing up against someone else's. He's not alone he realizes. And he stops and recoalesces right there and talking to the empty air he demands that someone show themselves. A man appears out of nowhere, laughing.
Stranger: Your observational skills are a lot sharper than they used to be, Drake. Back in the day, you had no idea when I was around.
Bobby: Who are you and why are you talking like I'm supposed to know who you are? I've never seen you before in my life.
Stranger: Wow, it sucks to realize you left way less of an impression on someone than they left on you. I guess it makes sense though. I mean, when you KILLED me almost twenty years ago, this very day - that was obviously a big deal for me, but hey, I've been out of the loop awhile so what do I know? Maybe it was just another Tuesday for you.
Bobby: Are you the one who sent me that card earlier? Who the hell are you and what kind of game are you playing?
Stranger: Same one we were playing all those years ago, Bob. Before you got all pissy and flipped the board before I got a chance to make my next move. But thanks to the wonders of Krakoan resurrection, now we can pick up right where we left off. It really is a miracle, isn't it?
Bobby: Well maybe you should check with the Five and make sure they didn't bring you back with a few screws loose, because I'm pretty sure I'd remember this if it was actually me you were playing this game with.
Stranger: Maybe you just forgot. Or who knows? Maybe someone made you forget.
Bobby: Okay, yeah, I'm bored now. Time to put you on ice.
He starts icing the area around the stranger, intending to trap him in a block of ice, but the stranger just laughs and turns incorporeal, becoming a transparent outline hovering above the street....so to anyone who hadn't been watching their conversation - like the very protesters Bobby had saved earlier - it looked like Bobby was just furiously creating some kind of ice attack that didn't seem to be aimed at anyone...other than them. The now ghost-like stranger zips over to the crowd and starts weaving among them, seeming to whisper in a bunch of peoples' ears....and before long, the crowd that had just been saved from one attack and were primed not to just sit down and take another, were ready to choose fight over flight, becoming a mob headed for Bobby.
He constructs some ice barriers to just keep them at bay, not really worried they'll hurt him and more concerned about not hurting them, when the stranger's ghost form swirls around Bobby, hovering above his shoulder and now whispering in his ear. But there's no dialogue in the stranger's speech bubble....just caption boxes displaying Bobby's internal monologue....and now calling into question every single box earlier in the issue.
Caption box: Isn't it surreal how the right words whispered in the right ears can dramatically change a person's perception of something....or someone? How easy it is to change peoples' courses....even the course of their entire life?
Caption box: And fear, well, fear's one of the best motivators there is. So much easier to get someone to listen to you when they're afraid of something else.
Caption box: But maybe you can't really relate to that. A guy as powerful as you, you're probably not afraid of much these days.
Caption box: That wasn't always true though, was it? This take you back at all? Remind you of when you were just a kid, and there was a mob gunning for you just for the crime of being mutant and vulnerable? I bet you were scared then.
Caption box: Considering what a guy like you could do if he were scared enough, if the right person used the right words as the spark to ignite all that fear....the world's probably pretty lucky that Saint Xavier was there to be the voice you listened to back then, huh. Y'know, instead of someone like Magneto or Apocalypse being the ones to tell traumatized, impressionable little you what to do with all that fear and anger you felt....
Caption box: Do you ever think about that, Drake? Wonder if all that separates you from the worst of the worst is you had the right voice in your ear at the right time? That maybe there's nothing special about you at all, nothing innately noble, heroic.
Caption box: That you were just....lucky?
Caption box: Food for thought. Anyway, I gotta run for now, but I'll be seeing you, Bob.
Caption box: We have so much to catch up on.
Then its just Bobby left keeping the mob at bay with his ice structures, him visibly shutting down, trying not to think too much and just running on instinct, until a hand reaches down from above and snatches him up into the air, until the streets are just a speck below them. Bobby looks up and to his shock its Laynia Petrovna aka Darkstar, his old friend and teammate from back when he was on the Champions as a teenager. The issue closes with her saying: "Hello, Bobby. I'd say its nice to see you and all the usual pleasantries, but we don't have much time. And we need to talk about our son."
ISSUE TWO
This issue switches to Laynia's POV with her internal monologue in caption boxes, and picks up with them having teleported somewhere secluded via Laynia's powers (she's much more practiced using hers to teleport than Bobby is using his that way). This issue goes back and forth between past and present, as during Laynia's narration of past events they're shown as if they're happening in real time.
Bobby's pointing out that they were never together, and considering she was the one who turned him down, you'd think she'd be aware of that. Laynia responds that no, they were never a couple, but they did sleep together once and once only....she'd been feeling particularly down about her ex-boyfriend Yuri after running into him, it was a rebound thing for her and she never hid that but Bobby took it to mean more than it did anyway and acted a fool about it, aligning with their canon interactions at the very end of their Champions run, before getting on the same page and they went back to just being friends.
Except, Laynia says, then she found out she was pregnant, and he flew to Russia to join her and decide what to do together, while everyone else thought he was still at UCLA. He doesn't remember any of this, because blocks were put in their memories, hiding everything related to this. But it did happen, and they do have a son. She'll explain everything, but they need to keep moving around, as she doesn't want the man who just confronted Bobby to overhear any of this and its very hard to detect when he's around. Their best option is to keep on the move, teleporting frequently and not staying anywhere long enough for him to track where they are.
Bobby: Oh crap. HE'S not our son, is he?
Laynia: Hell no.
Bobby: Phew, I was worried we had a Stryfe situation for a second there. I am barely holding it together as is and I am NOT equipped to handle an evil Bobby Jr. from the future.
Laynia reaffirms that he is definitely not their son, but he is the reason for much of what happened back when they were eighteen. They only ever knew him by his moniker, 'Doubting Thomas' and honestly were never sure when exactly he started watching them and messing with their heads. That's his MO. His power lets him turn from flesh and blood into a form made solely of psychic energy...an astral ghost that's invisible, immaterial and can travel via the astral plane. But his only power to affect the material world in that form lies in telepathy. He can project thoughts into someone's mind and its almost impossible to keep him out or tell his intrusions from ordinary thoughts.
She's not sure how he'd fare against other telepaths, but at least with non-psychics, even the best psychic shielding or anti-telepath technology isn't a guarantee against him. Because doesn't try to break into minds, or even sneak past mental defenses. He just surveils his targets, watching them invisibly, learning all he can about them, and then he looks for cracks in whatever mental shields they have. Tiny gaps here and there that he can just whisper into, slipping a thought in amongst the chaos and chatter generated by someone's own mind.
All of which means they never were sure where their own natural fears and paranoia ended, and his whispering began. They were eighteen, she reminds Bobby, already freaking out about this giant life change neither were sure they were ready for, even if they did keep the baby...and neither of them was an ordinary civilian. They were powerful mutants with lots of enemies....from day one, they were concerned that their child would be born with a target on their back just from that. And then there was the fact that one of the things they'd always bonded over was resentment for how early they felt their childhoods ended.
Laynia and her twin brother Nikolai were taken from their parents at birth, and raised separately with government agents for foster parents. They were always intended to be mutant operatives for their government, their lives scripted out for them, and their training began in their early teens. Laynia didn't even know she had a twin brother until she was in her twenties.
And Bobby had always quietly nursed resentment for being put out into the field at the same time as the rest of the 05, all years older than him and with a lot more focus from the Professor. Scott was his protege, a tactical genius, Jean was his preferred pupil in terms of power development, Hank was a bonafide genius, and Warren was a millionaire playboy, a natural spokesman and inevitable future celebrity. Bobby was just Bobby though, with no awareness of his full potential, and the only one the Professor didn't seem to have any real purpose for or interest in. Like he was tacked on as a spare, his presence more of an afterthought than intentional.
So especially in his late teens, after the 05 went their separate ways, Bobby had always been bothered by the fact that he'd gone through all the same traumas and hardships as the rest on their various missions, but always wondering what he was even doing there when it didn't even seem like there was any reason he was supposed to be. Privately he'd always wanted someone - his parents, the Professor, even the older 05 - to question whether there was really nobody else Xavier could have been sending out to fight Magneto, than a fifteen year old too afraid of being abandoned to say no on his own behalf. After all, the issue was complicated by the fact that when his parents weren't fully on board with Bobby going to the Institute, Xavier mindwiped them into thinking he was just at boarding school, and it was only when Bobby was eighteen that the Professor restored their full awareness of what Bobby had been doing for years.
All of which played into why Bobby and Laynia didn't tell anyone about the pregnancy, even their closest friends. It started out as them just putting it off, wanting to be more sure of their own thoughts on this before someone else tried to make the decision what to do for them, but by the time Laynia gave birth, they'd fully isolated themselves, paranoid that Xavier or the Red Room would take the baby and just make them forget all about it. And problem is, as Laynia put it, they couldn't tell how much of that was Doubting Thomas whispering all the right things to ramp up their anxieties and specific fears.
And obviously someone did mess with their memories anyway, Bobby points out crankily. This all is partly meant to seed two ongoing character arcs for Bobby in the future....the first, his awareness of how often his mind and memories have been messed with over the years, by enemies and allies alike, to the point he's honestly not sure how much of 'him' is really even him, and how much he's just the end result of people just editing his mind whenever he started heading in a direction they didn't want him to. With how long the memories of their time travel trip were hidden, now these missing memories, what other holes could exist in his memories without him ever having a clue?
And the second character arc is his misgivings about Xavier and the role he played in Bobby's childhood. Knowing what he knows now of his omega potential, aware that all the biggest developments and learning curves with his powers happened when Bobby WASN'T Xavier's student, Bobby's increasingly convinced that Xavier never trusted Bobby with his own power, and while he might not have actively stunted his growth, he certainly didn't help or encourage it the way he did his other students. The foundation is there for Bobby to wonder if the only reason Xavier ever even recruited him was to keep him from falling into anyone else's hands and becoming a threat.
As Laynia reminds him of what they were like back then and how they viewed things, things fall into place for Bobby and its very easy for him to see how they could have ended up hiding this from anyone in Xavier's orbit, etc...and this starts to become less abstract for him. It wasn't that he thought she was lying at any point, but its hitting him now....he has a son, and someone made him forget. He's someone who has always yearned for family that won't judge or condemn him, leave him, always been determined to be everything his own father wasn't and nothing like him, and yet he has a son who's grown up without him. Whose name he doesn't even know.
He does know his son though, it turns out. At least somewhat. Its one of Bobby's former students before M-Day. Dallas Gibson aka Specter. He has no idea who he really is, Laynia says, but the parents who died when Dallas was ten were his adoptive parents. But he was born Dallas Drake, as Petrovna wasn't even Laynia's real last name and she had no idea what it originally was. Heir to the merged powersets of both his biological parents, with his father's elemental form but made from his mother's signature Darkforce energies.
As for why Laynia remembers when Bobby doesn't....she didn't originally. But then years ago (during the Morrison run), she was possessed by one of Weapon X's most dangerous creations, the Huntsman. However, thanks to how her powers were designed to let her mind travel through the Darkforce Dimension to do things like teleport, when she was possessed, her mind tried to flee into that dimension. When Fantomex killed her, he only killed her body, and her mental tether to it. The shock and trauma of her physical death broke down the barriers around her memories, and they all came flooding back. Problem was, she only existed as a consciousness drifting aimlessly in the Darkforce Dimension.
But then Dallas started learning more about his powers and growing them during his time at the Academy. And his powerset also includes the ability to make shadow golems similar to the ice golems his father makes. But he didn't realize this as the first time he made one, with Darkforce energy being the clay his golem was sculpted from...Laynia was able to use that as a doorway into the physical world. She inhabited his shadow golem as her vessel, the way a future Iceman's golem once split off from him and became a separate entity. So Dallas never realized his newfound shadow friend started out as something he made unconsciously...he just knew that it seemed to have its own sentience from the jump, was a friend and protector who'd show up whenever he needed them. That friend and protector just happened to be his biological mother, watching over him the only way she could.
Until M-Day. When Dallas was depowered, Laynia lost her connection to the physical world and was stuck again in the Darkforce Dimension....until her brother Nikolai made a bargain with Immortus that led to her full resurrection. Finally she was back, and she remembered everything. But also knew Bobby remembered none of this. And so for the next couple years she just checked in on Dallas periodically but kept her distance, because she not only remembered her son...she also remembered why they were so desperate to hide his connection to them that they covered up their own memories of him ever existing.
At the end of the issue, they arrive at the hideout of the Russian mutant underground, a community of mutants who mistrust Krakoa and its leaders, but aren't on board with Mikhail Rasputin and his faction either. Laynia brought Bobby to the person who originally hid their memories and locked them away - at their own request....Bobby's idea, in fact - Alexi Garnoff aka Blind Faith, a telepath Bobby first met in his X-Factor days. But who was so quick to trust Bobby, because turns out that wasn't actually the first time Alexi remembered meeting him.
As Bobby reels from the reveal that this particular manipulation of his mind had been something he himself asked for, Alexi says he can erase all his work and return his own memories of all this, and Laynia warns him that remembering it all will hurt. Because they have a son, yes, Dallas Gibson aka Dallas Drake aka Specter. But twins run in her family.
And for a brief - too brief - window of time, they had not one son, but two.
ISSUE THREE
This issue returns to Bobby's POV and internal monologue, and takes place almost entirely in the past, or in Bobby's mindscape. He tells Alexi to do his thing, he wants to know, NEEDS to know everything. The walls come down and in his mind, Bobby finds himself standing at the start of a giant labyrinth made of ice. He sees a little boy running through it and gives chase, needing to catch up to him, desperate even as he's aware he's running on autopilot, more instinct than knowledge. He's never seen this boy before - he's not even a real memory himself. But he knows what an older Dallas looks like, at least. And he's sure this is what his mind imagines a Dmitri older than what he actually remembers might look like, and he desperately wants a closer look. But this Dima stays forever just out of range because his mind doesn't actually have a clear image of an older Dmitri to conjure, and up close, the illusion would be too obvious, and the loss all the more real for that.
Following the boy through the labyrinth, he sees memories unveil themselves on the ice walls around them. He remembers Laynia telling him she was pregnant, their agitated debates over the months that followed as they agonized over what to do, how to keep the baby safe - babies, once they found out it was twins. He sees the day the twins were born, relives them deciding to name the elder twin Dallas, after the city where they first met, before Laynia even joined the Champions, and the younger they named Dmitri, or Dima for short....after the only teacher Laynia ever felt actually valued her for herself instead of seeing her as a weapon being honed.
He remembers them leaving the hospital and hiding for a few weeks at a secluded cabin their old teammate the Black Widow found for them....she was the only one they told, figuring nobody could keep a secret better than her, and how they wavered and grew closer to caving and letting their closest friends and teammates help them figure out how to keep the twins safe. Sees flashbacks of him playing with the boys while Laynia watches fondly, and vice versa. Relives as he - still little older than a child himself - puts them in their crib and tells them not to be scared, talks about how his grandfather used to have a saying: "all Drakes are dragons," and making a dragon sculpture that catches the light to act as their nightlight.
And then he relives the day they woke up to find the crib empty and the twins missing. The first time they met Doubting Thomas, who left them an easy trail to follow because he wanted them to find him, wanted a confrontation. Bobby and Laynia had descended on the facility they tracked him to with the full fury of midnight and winter at their most destructive, and once inside they separated as they found the twins had been split up and taken in different directions. Laynia went after Dallas, who she could feel faintly, an early sign of his link to the Darkforce Dimension that she shares - second generation mutants always tend to manifest early - and Bobby went after Dmitri.
Doubting Thomas was waiting though, and the villain backstory reveal unfolded. The Professor, the Hellfire Club, etc....they weren't the only people who went around looking for young mutants to mold, seeing their potential. He grew up under the thumb of a woman even he only knows as Mother Nurture, a sadist with unguessable motivations even to her lackeys that she raised from childhood....to be their worst selves. Apparently she claims to be a precog, who knew what mutant children would grow up to be great heroes or positive influences on the world....which appears to be contrary to her agenda, whatever that is....as she targets kids who COULD grow up to be great forces for change, change for the better, and picks the ones with the brightest potential to stamp out and corrupt, turn to darkness. Her obsession with proving that there are no real heroes, that anyone can be twisted into the villain was apparently a recurring theme of Doubting Thomas' childhood, so when she assigned him the task of abducting the Drake twins when they were still months away from even being born, Thomas fixated on Bobby and Laynia during his surveillance of them, and developed an obsession of his own.
It was the first time he'd ever targeted superhero parents, let alone ones close enough in age to him that he could project onto them, see them as an inverted reflection of his own life. And even as he prepared to take the Drake twins at the earliest opportunity, that was just his assignment. His obsession with Bobby and Laynia was wholly personal, as he clearly became consumed with a need to prove to himself that they weren't better than him, that he could have BEEN them in another life, with better influences....that they would have been no different than he if they'd been in his shoes.
In fact, he was convinced there was such a slim margin of difference between them that he could topple Iceman from his heroic perch with just the slightest push. Bobby refutes this, saying he's nothing like him, but that's when Thomas says he lied. Mother Nurture actually only sent him after one Drake boy. She wasn't expecting two. Apparently, one of them was never destined to live all that long to begin with.
The issue never actually shows Dmitri, just Bobby breaking down, cradling the swaddled figure to his chest. He's dead-eyed when he looks up, frozen tear tracks on his cheeks as one icy drop falls to the ground and shatters.
Bobby: Guess you were right about me. Congrats. You win.
And then over the next two panels, Thomas flash-freezes before he can react, his entire body frozen on a cellular level...and then he shatters.
We only see glimpses of Laynia's horrified reaction when she arrives with Dallas in her arms, as Bobby hurries past those memories, he has them back but he doesn't want to relive those moments at all...and there are more snapshots of barely glimpsed memories of Bobby and Laynia reducing the entire facility to nothing but an empty crater. Bobby arrives at the memory of Laynia and Bobby, fueled by trauma and desperation, panicking about this Mother Nurture sending someone else after Dallas, their original fears reignite, the list of people who might want a baby like Dallas for their own agendas seems endless....culminating in them giving Dallas to Black Widow to place with a family she trusts to raise him safely. But Bobby notes despondently that even with all that, it'd take someone like Xavier or with similar resources all of five minutes to find a powerful mutant that young, if they ever got so much as a hint about him from Bobby or Laynia's minds.
Which is when Bobby decides: "In a world of telepaths, Cerebros and Wolverines, the only foolproof way to keep a secret...is to not even know it yourself.
They both agree, and seek out a telepath unaffiliated with any team or organization: Alexi Garnoff. Which brings us back to the present.
April 27th. The anniversary of the day one son died, and they made the decision to give up the other for his own safety.
ISSUE FOUR
With both of their memories fully restored, they're on the same page about what happens now: They have to find a way to keep the resurrected Doubting Thomas from figuring out who and where Dallas is. If he truly wants revenge, or if he still just feels compelled to fulfill his original assignment, Dallas is his real target. But they're fairly certain the extreme lengths they went to all those years ago at least did their job. Even with Bobby unaware of Thomas' existence, let alone vendetta against him, the latter was able to stalk him ever since his resurrection without finding even a hint of Dallas' location or identity...he would have had better luck stalking Laynia probably, but they assumed his fixation on Bobby for killing him, along with Laynia steering clear of Krakoa (ironically because she was worried about the many telepaths there picking up on her secret), Thomas concentrated his efforts on following Bobby and might not have even realized that unlike him, Laynia DID already know who and where Dallas was.
Thomas must have come out into the open in the way he did specifically to push Bobby to regain his memories, figuring then it would only be a matter of time before Bobby slipped up enough for Thomas to zero in on his target....so now they had to figure out how to keep that from happening, while now having a whole new host of reasons not to want to advertise they had a son. The last thing they want is to keep him out of Thomas' clutches just to put him on Sinister's radar, especially now that they know Bobby's an omega and how 'highly prized' they are as resources....which would no doubt make his offspring of interest to various villains.
Not to mention, Laynia's got her own misgivings about Krakoa. She's FURIOUS about the Crucible - Dallas was among the earliest to sign up and go through it, desperate to get his powers back and return to his place among his former classmates. Not only does she consider it needless trauma of the very sort they sacrificed so much to protect their son from, Laynia is territorial. Dallas' name and powers were pretty much the only thing he got from his biological parents, that they were able to give him as his birthright, the upside to all the downs that came with being their kid, and Laynia's pissed as hell that Bobby's new government had the gall to demand their son EARN BACK what was always his and that losing had ALREADY been a trauma all its own.
This in turn sows the seeds for Bobby's development into a more proactive role in mutant society, as well as future conflict with a lot of the personalities that put the Crucible in place initially, as he's forced to confront why he didn't have more problems with it in the first place, or at least not enough that he wasn't able to justify its existence. Has he gotten so used to assuming others know better than him, that he no longer bothers trying to weigh the morality of things himself? Is he comfortable with what it says about him that it took having a personal stake - his son having gone through it - to make him sit up and think hey, that was fucked up?
Meanwhile, Thomas has not been idle, and is using reports of Bobby seemingly attacking innocent protesters the other day to stir up doubts in him among any influential mutants or X-Men he can whisper suspicions to, without them being aware of his presence/influence. Bobby is 'strongly encouraged' by Xavier to return to Krakoa to clear up the confusion, and when he refuses, that just adds more fuel for Thomas to work with. Plus he uses all the paranoia Beast has drummed up over the past couple years to cast suspicion on Bobby suddenly being inseparable from Laynia, a known Russian operative who has no allegiances to Krakoa, while also stirring mutants in Mikhail's camp to view Laynia's choice of companions as suspicious, which threatens her work with the Russian mutant underground and her efforts to keep them safe and hidden as well.
Finally they decide the best way to deal with Thomas is to lure him in and get Alexi to do to him what he did to Bobby and Laynia years ago. Hide away all Thomas' memories of things related to them and give him a tailored memory of how he died and why.
ISSUE FIVE
Most of this issue is just Thomas, Laynia and Bobby all playing cat and mouse with each other...Thomas having his own schemes even as the other two try to implement theirs, until its hard to tell who is the hunter and who is the hunted. Bobby and Laynia are still teleporting as often as they can, both to keep him from sneaking up on them and poisoning their thoughts or manipulating their plans, as well as to evade various friends and teammates who are now seeking them out, concerned by their behavior and increasingly susceptible to distrusting them as they refuse to give any hints as to what the hell they're doing.
It should be very clear that Bobby and Laynia are NOT acting wholly rationally here, and they're both aware of it. Doubting Thomas is GOOD at what he does, and he's familiar enough with them and their sore spots, from intel he gained long ago still being relevant here and now, particularly with how recently their memories were refocused on those days....that they're sure even the tiniest or briefest amounts of access to them is enough for him to skew their own paranoia in extreme ways. Not to mention.....they're much older now than they were when they made the choice to hide Dallas in the way they did, and they made that decision at the absolute height of their grief, fear and anxiety. They're second-guessing every choice they made back then, as well as the ones they're making now, and they're NOT sure that staying away, doing this on their own, not confiding in anyone or pulling them in....they're not doing all that because they're convinced its the right move.
They're staying the course because they don't have any idea what the right move is, and until they do, doubling down on their previous choices is because there's no take-backs, no undoing things once the secret is out. They can't afford to decide that was the wrong move after they've done it, when that will do them no good.
So they stick to their plan and try to get Thomas in Alexi's range, but with his guard down enough for the other telepath to act. The POV shifts back and forth between Bobby and Laynia's, with a lot of their internal doubts about everything they've done, the thoughts Thomas raised in Bobby back in Issue #1, the ideological battle Thomas imagines exists between him and the heroes he resents so much - this back-and-forth spans most of the issue and keeps these themes front and center, until ultimately Bobby and Thomas face off again.
Bobby surprises Thomas by using his powers in an unexpected way....he makes dozens of golems spread out all over the place and then shuffles his actual consciousness through them one at a time, 'possessing' one golem as his vessel, his ice form before leaping into another one. Thomas can't get a bead on him, keeps chasing his own tail trying to keep up with Bobby's constant shell game in an attempt to find the 'real one,' where Bobby's actually vulnerable.
Finally, Bobby makes it clear he's not going to be playing this game with Thomas anymore, because thing is, the point Thomas is so obsessed with proving, wanting Bobby to know he's no better than him, is capable of terrible things....Bobby flat out just doesn't care.
Bobby: I remember everything now, Thomas. That's what you wanted, right? For me to relive all that, make sure I can't hide from it? That I have to feel every bit of pain I shut away back then because I couldn't deal? Because the truth is, as much as that was to protect my son it was also to protect me from everything I WANTED to forget? I remember. I remember my kids, losing them....I remember killing you. But I also remembered something else, that you probably didn't factor in.
Thomas: And what's that?
Bobby: I remembered that I'm not sorry.
He goes on the attack, just destruction every which way you look so that Thomas is forced to stay on the defensive, keeping himself immaterial and jaunting around because there's no safe space for him to land, so to speak.
Bobby: The Five can bring you back a thousand times and I'll kill you a thousand and one, if that's what it takes to keep my son safe from you. Here's what you never got. The whole hero vs villain, right or wrong, good or evil thing you're so obsessed with? I just don't care, man. That's never been why I do any of this. I know I'm flawed, too flawed to ever be 'truly good' but by the same token, I know there's enough good in me I'm not truly bad either. I've done terrible things before and I'll do them again, because at the end of the day, I'm not trying to be a hero. I'm just trying to save people where I can.
Bobby: Its about priorities, see. Its people that matter to me, if I'm helping or hurting. And I'll hurt someone to help someone I think deserves it more and maybe that's wrong but thing is I'm not making that choice based on if its right or wrong. I'm making it based on who I think needs help and what do I have to do to help them. Let someone else figure out the scorecard, I'm just trying to make sure the person I'm protecting makes it home safe.
Bobby: And you? You don't matter. My son matters to me. That's all that matters here. I choose him, no matter what, every time, and whatever that means, whatever I have to do to choose him, or because I choose him? I'll deal with it. If I make the wrong choices, if they backfire and get him hurt or they're not what he would want - that's the stuff that can keep me up at night. But if choosing him means killing an asshole like you to keep him safe?
Bobby: Don't worry about my virtue. I'll cope.
With that, Thomas makes his retreat, tail between his legs. They weren't able to implement their plan to have Alexi erase his memories, but they don't consider this to be over. He'll be back, they'll have more opportunities to make that happen. At least this time he was the one doing the running.
But as the finale of the issue, Thomas adapts and changes the game. He waits until Bobby's back on Krakoa, meeting with Xavier and other X-Men about recent events and trying to say as little as possible...and then Thomas picks that place and time to make his first public appearance on Krakoa since he was resurrected as just another name on the resurrection queue. Nobody knew who he was then or cared that he didn't seem interested in staying on the island, claiming amnesty and official Krakoan citizenship....but he does that now in the most dramatic way possible....as he turns to Bobby and blatantly advertises they have history.
Thomas: And in the spirit of new beginnings, I just want to say I forgive you for killing me eighteen years ago. Fresh starts for everyone, right?
And with that bombshell - and the fact that one look at Bobby tells everyone present that he's not denying it - he saunters off, leaving Bobby with more questions to answer but no closer to being able to fully disclose what he's keeping hidden....which Thomas can still reveal to anyone at any time. What he did reveal was enough to ensure there was no chance now of changing his memories of their shared past....not after he dragged them both into the spotlight and made sure they were linked so if anything did happen to Thomas or seem awry with him....there'd be no doubt who was Suspect Number One. And that was always going to come with the question of why.
The mini ends with a final page where Bobby's finally done talking w/the QC for now, and he's just standing on the beach far enough away from where a bunch of the Academy X kids are having a bonfire - with Dallas right in the thick of them - that it wouldn't be obvious that his sole reason for being out there was to catch a glimpse of him, even if only from a distance. Elsewhere, Laynia is browsing through a shop and notices a stuffed dragon similar to one flashbacks showed Dmitri cuddling with as a baby. She picks it up, hesitating as if debating whether to purchase it, with the final panel being of her back as she walks out of the shop, the stuffed animal still sitting where she'd found it.
ICEMAN: A HOUSE OF DRAGONS
The second mini of three, this one introduces Dallas as a POV character, still oblivious of everything readers learned in the first mini. It explores his feelings about being depowered on M-Day and his survivor's guilt from having left the Institute and been relatively safe compared to those who stayed, when other depowered mutants like David still stayed and fought for mutants. His best friends, Julian and Brian Cruz, insist that nobody thinks less of him for it and he was a minor, it wasn't like anybody was really consulting him on whether he wanted to stay or go at the time, but he can't shake the feeling he should have done more. Its what drove him to go through the Crucible so early on, and its what drives his determination to make it onto the X-Men team.
Seeds are also planted for later, via some brief scenes that reveal that while depowered and living away from the Institute, Dallas started exploring magic as an alternative to his powers, since there are various arts that access the same Darkforce Dimension his powers connected him to. He's no longer pursuing it as feverishly as he did while depowered, but it remains an interest as he's determined to never be powerless again, whether he has his mutant abilities or not.
He also has several chance encounters with Iceman, who he really only knows as his old math teacher, and no idea they're not so chance encounters at all.
Meanwhile, Bobby and Laynia are meeting more regularly off the island as they argue about whether or not they should tell Dallas the truth - he has a right to know and he's old enough to make his own choices about what he wants or doesn't want done in the name of keeping him safe. Their various rationales are undercut by the underlying awareness that both of them are afraid of his reaction and worried he won't understand why they did it and might even hate them for the choices they made.
At the same time, they're trying to figure out how to even go about resurrecting Dmitri. They know from Joanna Beaubier-Jinadu's example that despite his young age, Dima could still theoretically be resurrected....they just have no idea how to ask the Five or X-Factor to look for him in the Waiting Room without disclosing everything about Dallas at the same time...which brings them back to how do we tell Dallas.
Ultimately, they wait too long and Thomas takes the choice out of their hands. While Dallas is in the Mojoverse along with various other Academy X kids who have been regular presences there while taking advantage of the treaty between Krakoa and Mojo to try and get some Krakoan media entertainment off the ground,
It turns out that while Bobby was worried about Doubting Thomas approaching Sinister, Shaw or one of the other notorious mutants on Krakoa as part of his schemes, he went a different direction entirely. He approached Mojo with his proposal for a must-see show that would have all of Krakoa glued to the nearest TV screen.
And so what was supposed to be just a random trip to the Mojoverse leads to Dallas being trapped as the very confused and unwilling star of what Mojo describes as the ultimate reality show: DALLAS GIBSON, THIS IS YOUR LIFE.
The show proceeds to take viewers - and Dallas - through a recreation of his entire life, including all the parts he didn’t know about. Starting before his birth even, with Krakoans flocking to their TVs just as Thomas promised, as soon the bombshell claim of who his biological parents are drops and word spreads throughout the island. Even X-Men close to Bobby have no idea what to make of this at first and they start trying to figure out how to shut it down and figure things out from there, but it’s a futile effort, honestly.
Even if they could get Mojo to shut it down right away, the damage was already done - and its clear that nobody is more interested in seeing what comes next than Dallas himself. Seemingly having forgotten that everyone is watching this, he’s half in denial, half captivated by what he’s watching. It seems impossible but that doesn’t stop him from having a lot of confused and conflicting feelings as he watches literal surveillance footage Thomas had installed to spy on the much younger Bobby and Laynia as they interacted with their newborn sons.
Much of this is used to flesh out flashback scenes from the first mini, where Bobby and Laynia’s POVs of these early days were shown, stringing together a timeline without reproducing the same scenes exactly. In contrast, some of these scenes do directly recreate scenes seen previously in Bobby and Laynia’s memories….but now reproduced for Dallas’ viewing by objective technology devoid of the emotions layered around his parents’ actual memories of that time.
The video retelling includes footage from security cameras at the facility Thomas had retreated to for their final fateful confrontation years ago, similarly providing a stark and explicit view of Bobby and Laynia’s rampage through the facility and Bobby’s unapologetic killing of Thomas. It’s a side of Bobby few had ever seen before and raises more than a few eyebrows while answering the questions many of them had had ever since Thomas made his dramatic entrance to Krakoan society at the end of the first mini.
Bobby meanwhile started racing for Mojoworld the second Rogue called him and told him to get there fast and laid out what was going on. But it still took long enough for him to navigate Mojoworld’s confusing layout that he only smashed his way onto the ‘set’ Dallas was trapped on in time to see his eighteen year old self hand an infant Dallas over to the Black Widow onscreen.
One look at Bobby, not hiding behind his ice form and with pain and remorse writ large all over his face, told Dallas (and everyone else) everything they needed to know about how true or not all this was.
But before Bobby can even attempt to figure out what to say, Mojo calls everyone’s attention back to the screens, as he announces there’s a plot twist featuring never-before-seen-footage from that first tragic April 27th.
The screen jumps to more security camera footage from Thomas’ facility….but the time stamp puts this at just before Bobby & Laynia’s arrival. Bobby (and Laynia who has arrived on Krakoa for the first time, as soon as she learned what was happening) watch in shock as Thomas hands Dmitri off to a lackey and instructs him to get offsite before the two arrive. Onscreen, Thomas says if he’s there’s one thing he’s figured out about Bobby & Laynia, its that they’ll never stop searching for one of their babies so long as they’re still alive….so if they’re convinced this one is dead and the other one is taken to Mother Nurture as she instructed him, they’ll focus all their efforts on trying to reclaim that one. Let her deal with that Thomas sniffs derisively. I have different plans for this one.
Of course, those plans never came to fruition, Mojo narrates. He underestimated just how….fatally Bobby would react to the simulacrum he believed to be his now dead son. He was never able to follow up with the lackey who took the real Dmitri, and his hired hand - who had not signed up for any of this and was freaking out once he saw what was left of the facility he’d last seen his boss in - well, he basically said fuck this and anonymously dropped Dmitri off at the nearest hospital.
Given the lengths Bobby & Laynia had gone to make sure their kids’ information WASN’T readily available anywhere when they were born, there was no indication of Dmitri’s real identity or where he came from, so he went into the system where he grew up in a series of homes that left him not especially traumatized, but at least distrustful of authority. Then Thomas revealed that when he’d first been resurrected, he’d tracked down Dmitri by finding his lackey and figuring out where he’d left the baby, retracing Dmitri’s path from there. Unlike Dallas, Thomas had always known exactly where to find Dmitri….but felt that particular reveal really needed the RIGHT moment.
And that moment apparently was now. Taking over narrator duties from Mojo, Thomas now speaks into the cameras, directly addressing Bobby and Laynia as he tells them Dmitri too manifested powers early and has had years to learn to make the most of his powerset. He apparently can access a mirror dimension that lets him teleport via reflective surfaces, use them as scrying portals by which he can see anything within visual range of that surface….and there’s one particularly interesting twist to his power. When Dmitri’s in the mirror dimension and watching events play out in the real world via a mirror or other surface….those events don’t just have to be in the present.
Time is wonky in the mirror dimension, as is often true of extradimensional spaces. Dmitri has limited precognitive abilities as he can use the mirror dimension to peer out of mirrors and watch what’ll happen in view of them at some point in various possible future timelines.
Apparently its tricky and unreliable, but its at least effective enough that Dmitri counts as a precog by anyone’s standard. And in the early days of Krakoa, when deciding whether to go there himself, he apparently glimpsed enough clandestine conversations to know that at that point, at least…..Krakoa was not a safe place to be a precog.
Onscreen, Thomas claps his hands energetically and addresses the entire audience now:
Thomas: So, to recap, somewhere out there is the teleporting precog son of an omega level mutant who’s already proven he’s willing to cross just about any line for this son’s sake. Said son is also primed to be extremely distrustful of Krakoa….and anyone who might be seen as an emissary of it. Like, oh say, X-Men. And to top it all off….he has absolutely no idea where he comes from nor does he have any reason to believe anyone who comes out of nowhere claiming to be his longlost parents or friends of theirs.
Thomas: Now I don’t know about all of you, but I think whomever were to find him first, and gain his trust, well - they could probably figure out any number of ways those combined factors could be useful.
The screen flashes to a generic street camera view of a Dmitri Drake that looks a lot like his brother, just with brown hair instead of blond. There’s little to distinguish either his surroundings or Dmitri himself, but its clearly being presented as a starting point for potential searchers.
The final pages show an array of panels showing notorious mutant villains all leaning forward and studying the screen with interest. Sinister, Shaw, Selene (if she’s back yet), Abigail Brand, MLF members, Stryfe, Mystique and Destiny, the Fenris twins, etc.
The second mini concludes with Doubting Thomas winking into the camera, essentially staring straight at the reader.
Thomas: May the best influence win!
DARKSTAR: SONS OF SNOW AND SHADOW
Subtitled: “Run, Dima, Run!”
The third and final mini of the triptych is a chaotic free for all as basically everyone is hunting for Dmitri Drake, who has absolutely no idea why people are suddenly coming out of the woodwork looking for him but quickly decides he doesn’t want to be found.
Dallas is aggressively putting off dealing with how he feels about any of this and flat out shuts down any attempts Bobby or Laynia make to approach him. He’s totally fixated on being the one to find basically the only person in the universe who could understand how he’s feeling right now, and they can figure it out together then. He’s blatantly underestimating how much his longlost twin actually might NOT be able to relate to his specific perspective here, and vice versa. Something his friends and Academy X classmates try to caution him about while helping him on his search.
Surge: Oh shut up, dumbass. I don’t have to like you for you to be one of us, and any twin of yours is basically a two-for-one deal, so of course we’re going to do whatever it takes to keep your longlost brother from being exploited and used by adults who suck. I would include your parents in that but I actually think them hiding you from that musty bald bitch Xavier was probably the smartest thing any X-parent has done for their kid so I’m fighting down the impulse to be impressed.
Dallas: …thank you? I think?
Thus the Academy X kids actually take one of the most prominent roles in the mini as Dallas and his classmates’ search is heavily prioritized. There’s a strong focus on various kids who have history being exploited by older mutants and are now projecting heavily. Brian and Julian are of course Dallas’ closest confidantes through this, maybe Brian a little more than Julian as the latter flip-flops back and forth between calling Dallas a legacy and a nepo baby at different intervals. He can’t seem to decide if he thinks it’s something to be envied or not. Anole is unrepentant about ranking Dallas’ dad’s most infamous costumes and how hot or not he looked in each of them. He and Dallas never got along in school. Icarus absently notes that he’s pretty sure his brother and Dallas’ dad had a thing going on at one point.
They’re not quite all as helpful as they could be, is the takeaway. But they do feel the stakes and if any generation of mutants is prone to embracing gallows humor to cope, it’s the Academy X kids.
Elsewhere Bobby is conducting his own search with the help of numerous X-Men and friends, who are all trying to process everything they just learned and saw. Most of them are supportive and understanding, though a few are more abrasive about the sheer amount of stuff they didn’t know about him or even suspect.
Xavier tries to lecture Bobby about how they wouldn’t be in this situation if he had trusted them with this at any point in the past. Bobby shuts that down with gusto, emphasizing that Xavier was one of the people they were most concerned about hiding the twins from - and a good thing too, he points out, given what could have happened to Dallas if Onslaught had known about him when Dallas was still just a kid.
But then he gets downright chilly and makes it clear how and why his dynamic with many of them will be at least somewhat different from this point on…..Xavier especially.
He brings attention back to the not so minor detail of Xavier, Moira and Magneto apparently originally declaring Krakoa to be for all mutants….except for precogs.
Bobby: You keep saying this place is the culmination of everything we’ve fought for from the first day we put on an X-Men uniform, so I just wanna know, Professor. Why the HELL did I spend my whole life fighting for you to create your own personal vision of paradise….which apparently was meant to exclude one of my children, just because of what freaking power he was born with?
Xavier: Compromises had to be made in order to -
Bobby: Y’know, you’ve been using that line since I was fifteen and its tired, X. Every time we asked why you couldn’t just use your powers in ways you insisted would ethically compromise you - except for whenever you decided it was okay because it made things more convenient for you specifically.
Bobby: From day one you’ve kept your secrets from us, for a lot shadier reasons than I’ve ever had for keeping one, so you don’t need to be telling me I’m not entitled to my secrets. You have all these contingencies for if any of us go bad, while telling us nobody’s beyond redemption except for those times you decide Magneto is, or the Shadow King is.
Bobby: You know what the real problem with your dream has always been, Professor? It asks for a leap of faith that you’ve never been prepared to make yourself. You’re always asking us to line up and put it all on the line for the chance at a better world, no matter how realistic it is….but you’ve never actually put down your own cynicism or pragmatism or whatever you want to call it….and just….dreamed. How does that even work, huh?
Bobby: Just….what the hell would you have even done, Professor, if I had raised my kids at the mansion all this time? What spin would you have given me when you finally embarked on this grand Krakoan experiment you’ve been planning for years….and needed to tell me one of my sons wasn’t allowed to come with? That if he died, you had no intention of resurrecting him and his politically inconvenient power?
Xavier: *keeps silent*
Bobby: Yeah, y’know what, on second thought I don’t think I actually want to know the answer to that. Stay away from me and my kids, X. You and I are done.
Finally, last but not least, Laynia will be running her own search for Dima with the help of her brother, the Black Widow, and Warren, who wanted to make sure she knew that he’s her friend too, not just Bobby’s. Despite the lack of detail here, she’d actually have the most prominent role in this mini - being associated publicly with Krakoa is actually an obstacle for Bobby gaining Dmitri’s trust. Laynia’s lack of affiliation with it or Russia’s government or any other organization, is what lets her convince Dmitri to give her a chance and hear her out when she does find him.
(Something she’s ultimately able to do by going to Arakko and asking Storm if she can get her an audience with Lactuca, who should know exactly where to find him. In exchange, Lactuca will ask a favor of Laynia at some point in the future, which plants some seeds to bring Laynia more into X-books without just being an extension of Bobby).
There will be a final reckoning between Laynia and Thomas this time, and the mini will end with things still messy as hell, as the newfound family of four (plus Uncle Nikolai, standing awkwardly off to the side) basically stand there staring at each other and wondering what next. But even with them all as relative strangers now, there’s a wealth of possibilities now that everything’s out in the open.
This mysterious Mother Nurture still lingers offscreen as a potential future threat, especially as they still don’t know what they intended with Dallas - if he was even the twin she was after in the first place. Iceman’s poised to be launched in any number of directions as he’s now essentially reinventing himself while everyone is paying more attention to him than ever before, all while he’s trying to fall back on comfortable, familiar habits of joking and pranks to try and bond with the sons who are grown up and don’t really know what - if any - dynamic they even need or want with him. Laynia’s reluctantly taken Krakoan citizenship to be closer to her sons, but finds she prefers staying on Arakko and grows closer to mutants she meets there, with Dima joining her more often than not, as he’ll never be fully comfortable with Krakoa even if precogs are ‘allowed’ now. Dallas is more determined than ever to be an X-Man but he’s worried that now he’ll never make it on his own merits and it’ll always be more about him being a legacy, a founding X-Man’s kid.
Etc, etc.
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[ sorbet, 01×07 - long analysis below the cut. ] || [ tags: @lesbian-hannibal @shatteredlesbian @7x16pm ] || [ tumblr has refused to post this twice now and im giving up after this attempt. ]
—————
this episode, we're introduced to franklyn. he seems like a one-off side character who introduces us to the next villain, but his character seems to be a little bit more than that. he's eager to be hannibal's friend, and the rejection he feels when hannibal pushes those professional boundaries is a reflection of hannibal's actions towards will.
franklyn finds hannibal interesting. he thinks they'd be great friends, and is actively trying to form a relationship. this is a direct mirror of how hannibal feels about will — he finds will interesting, and thinks they'd be great friends, so he's actively trying to push will's professional boundaries. this rejection that franklyn feels is the same that hannibal feels.
hannibal's pause and redirection here is interesting. though he may not be getting paid for will's visits, it definitely might be sad to think that will is only seeing him as mandated - it makes hannibal upset that will sees him only because he has to (as shown when poor hannibal sits in his office and pouts when will is late for his session near the end of the episode).
he has intimate knowledge of will, and wants to be his friend because of it - an opposite (but reflection) of franklyn's attempts to be his friend. looking at franklyn, speaking to him, is sort of like speaking to himself. franklyn seems to be a less fine-tuned version of hannibal.
"tobias is my best friend, but i am not tobias's best friend". this sounds pretty similar to our weak relationship with will — hannibal sees will as his friend, will doesn't see hannibal as his friend, and will did take a higher interest in the ripper (and by extension, hannibal). i think here is where hannibal begins to realize the parallel between franklyn and tobias's relationship, and his and will's, as observed by the question he asks. "have you put him on a pedestal?"
in recognizing the reflection of the relationship he's chasing with will, hannibal is using his own therapy for himself - things make more sense when you tell someone else about them, out loud. he can help himself under the guise of helping franklyn if all goes to plan - and it does. franklyn agrees that he does, but also that he (and tobias) hold hannibal on a higher pedestal.
"i am a source of stability and clarity, franklyn, not your friend". this is the first time in the show hannibal adamantly refuses that he's someone's friend. he does the chasing, not the running. having such a reflection approach him to further their already precarious relationship is nothing but a problem.
franklyn assures him that he'd be a great friend, before swiftly changing the subject. the michael jackson tangent seems kinda kooky, and i skipped over it on my first watch-through, but i think i can make some deeper connections now. "you know what i think makes me the most sad about him dying? i will never get to meet him". ever since hannibal was introduced to will (or, rather, the exterior of his mental curtains), he's known there was something lurking beneath the surface. he's taken it as his mission to draw whatever will hides behind those curtains out, to see underneath his mask — to show him his becoming (as referenced in 1×05 "coquilles", when the angel maker tells will "i couldn't bring it out of you," to which will agrees "not all the way" (which feels like a callback to 1×02 "amuse-bouche", when hannibal only manages to draw will out half-way and have him admit that he enjoyed killing hobbs), and the angel maker offers "i can give you your becoming".). hannibal knows that the longer he waits to approach will, the closer the shadow behind the curtains comes to being repressed completely — the closer it comes to dying, in hannibal's mind, dying before he can meet him.
franklyn obviously has a savior complex, yet another reflection of hannibal — as shown in his prolific identity as a surgeon, and his tableaus as the ripper. his words are very familiar to hannibal, who feels that if will allows him to be his friend, he could stop him from killing part of himself. hannibal can see the correlation and prompts him on gently — how is franklyn's efforts returned? how will his own be returned?
franklyn's fantasy ends with him being the one to touch greatness, very much how hannibal's ends with him getting close to will — whom he already knows is great. he gets to be the one who draws will out into the light, he gets to be the one who sees will for who he truly is. he gets to touch greatness.
skipping over bedelia and hannibal's visit (mostly because i have a longer analysis for that scene and im already rambling), we cut to hannibal and will.
here we have hannibal, yet again, asking if they're friends. usually, will is unhesitant in assuring him they aren't, but here, it's a little different. he's gotten too familiar with whatever relationship he and hannibal have, and that part of him behind the curtains strains for more. if he says they are, there's a sense of intimacy that will isn't prepared for (especially not with someone he can't feel). if he says they aren't, however, he feels like he'll lose that sense of codependency they have. hannibal won't need him, won't want his company any longer (though it's reassured in 1×08 "fromage" that he appreciates his company). he'll be a professional curiosity— the same thing he is to alana (as, again, instated in 1×08).
so, instead he says yes to both. in agreeing that their relationship is not professional (and establishing their friendship), will is avoiding that sense of intimacy that comes with being someone's friend while still profiting off of their codependent relationship.
will reasserts control of the conversation by assuring that they're just having conversations. hannibal has been established as will's friend, and asserts himself as will's friend here — by repeating that he is a friend, and reminding will that the two share an intimate bond that has begun to blur the line between friendship and family.
whether will likes it or not, he's established that he's hannibal's friend. he's already intertwined with hannibal in a way that no one else is — he can feel the ripper strain under hannibal's person suit (or, as bedelia more aptly calls it this episode, his veil). he can sense what hannibal is, and part of him wants to get closer and wrap itself around whatever lays beyond the veil. i think this scene also offers the tipping point for hannibal's qualms about murdering franklyn — they are nothing alike anymore. will is his friend. the chase is over. he cannot help himself by helping franklyn - his death will be no loss.
#im crying please post this#hannibal nbc#nbc hannibal#hannibal#hannibal lecter#will graham#mads mikkelsen#hugh dancy#hannigram#hannibal parallels#hannibal tv#hannibal will#hannibal x will#hannibal meta#meta#hannibal analysis#long analysis#analysis#1×07#sorbet#1×05#coquilles#1×02#amuse bouche#1×08#fromage#hannibal season one#hannibal series#[ this is all i've ever wanted for you ]#kuroshika.txt
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~ 𝕋𝕒𝕜𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕡𝕚𝕔𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝕪𝕠𝕦 ~
Part I
© sailorhyunjinz 2021; Rights Reserved
All picture rights to their respective owners.
ℂ𝕠𝕟𝕥𝕖𝕟𝕥: Photographer!hyunjin, fem!model!reader, manager!Bangchan, stylist!Jisung, agedup!straykids, SMUT IN LATER PARTS, fluff, character driven story, strangers to lovers, summer au, mentions of insecurity, love at first sight.
𝕎𝕠𝕣𝕕 ℂ𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕥: 3,5 k
ℕ𝕠𝕥𝕖: I have never written a series before so please understand if it’s lacking heh... and yes the title does relate to the kooks song with the same title so do give it a listen because it’s really good and fits the story c:
also this starts slowly LMAO MORE FUN THINGS ARE COMING UP I SWEAR <33
If you have any feedback I’m more than happy to receive it! <3
Taking pictures of you - MASTERLIST
ONE|TWO|THREE
Working as a model was not easy. The complaining managers and the expectations by others was too much to handle. Heck, even getting to the shooting locations was a hastle most of the time.
You tilted your head against the window in the backseat of the taxi. It was a calm august wednesday. The late summer breeze made it’s way into the cab thorugh the window that was opened on the drivers side. Your phone screen lit up, multiple notification from Instagram.
“omg! slay bbygrl”
“her face is crazy pretty”
“beautiful”
You’ve heard these words too many times. If you’re told the same thing over and over again they eventually mean nothing. You scrolled through the other comments on your latest instagram post, a photo from your last photoshoot. A picture of you lying in a bed of white flowers, your skin glowing and your body covered by a white sheer dress that accentuated your neck. It’s not a bad photo but was I really worth the attention? “There are a thousands of other girls way prettier than me.” you though and with a sulken expression you watched life run by outside the window.
15 minutes later you arrived at your agency. You smiled your model smile at the taxi driver to which he smiled back and responded: “My pleasure, miss y/n”.
A big shadow was cast from the building in which the modeling agency was. The beige renaissance building was surrounded by green bushes and a black fence. The big oak entryway had golden lion knockers and an ingraved golden sign. “Eccellente Modeling Agency” it said with bold black letters, contrasting nicely with the gold plate. You rang the doorbell next to the sign and in a matter of seconds the oak gates opened with a loud creak.
“Y/n!! You look stunning as always!” said your manager Bangchan as he hugged you. The smell of his aftershave violated your olfactory sense as usual, making you scrunch your nose. He was always dressed business casual, his white polo shirt and light brown dress pants being a good example but today his poloshirt had a great amount of buttons unbuttoned.
The both of you made your way into his office. A room with a high ceiling and a chandelier worth more than your career. You sat down in the leather couch across the desk, Bangchan sitting on the other side of it.
“Give me a moment.... Just pulling up some files for the new photoshoot I’ve planned! I promise, you’re not gonna be disappointed.” he says smiling, the desktop screen reflecting in his brown eyes.
He turns his computer screen towards you. Your eyes scan the pictures that pop up.
“May I present to you the profile of Hwang Hyunjin. One of the most renowned photographers of this age”. Bangchan looks at you, reading your expression.
The pictures are truly beautiful. Everything, from the outfits to the lightning was perfect.
“Bangchan, you’re insane” you say, smiling widely as you made eye contact with the dark haired manager. “These pictures are so stunning!” you squeal. “How did you even get in contact with him?”
“Nothing for you to worry about y/n, I have my contacts. I’m a manager after all”. He scoffs whilst scrolling through the profile. The next picture getting better than the previous one.
“So... when is the shoot and what concept have you planned?” you say whilst your eyes are glued to the computer screen.
“Mr, Hwang works for a multitude of companies but Styliz needed a model for their new pastel collection which I immedietly snatched onto. We all know how beautiful you look in pastels y/n” he said attentively to which you smiled, adoring the interest he has for his work.
“Oh.. I also cheked your schedule and you seem free tomorrow so how about then?” he added.
“Yes! I’d love too” you said with a small nod.
“Not that you have much choice, Mr Hwang’s time is worth gold y/n” he laughed and reached for something in his cabinet drawers.
“Here, take this” he said while sliding over a light grey business card.
‘Hwang Hyunjin, Photographer’ was written in dark grey letters. A black border decorating the edges of the card.
♡
The morning sun shined thorugh the curtains blinding you temporarily. You felt after your phone on the nightstand with you hand, your eyes still closed. ‘8:05 am’ the screen showed against the background picture of your family.
You missed them, moving to a different city across the country at the young age of 18 was scary. You’ve aged, that’s for sure but you still missed them dearly. Dragging your lifeless body to the shower you hope for a day with happiness whilst the warm water hits your bare skin. It was a big day after all. A photoshoot with photographer Hwang Hyunjin. “Me... on Hyunjins work? It must be a dream...” you thought, grabbing the towel hanging on the cold, silver rack.
You dryed off your thick hair with a light pink towel with one hand whilst the other hand held your phone. “I have to look at his photos again” you thought, tapping on the Instagram icon and typing “Hwang Hyunjin” in the search bar, hoping and praying that his work was published on the social media platform.
“@ photographerHwang” was the first result to pop up and you tapped it instantly being just as surprised as you were yesterday of the beauty that his photos carried. Bumping into the table on your way to the kitchen you noticed a different photo on his feed. It didn’t look like any of the other photos because it was a selfie. You dropped your towel on the floor. No... it can’t be him... or could it?
His face looked like a work of art. Not only was the photo nicely edited with warm light emitting from your screen but the person was even more eyecatching. “It’s probably one of his models” you though as you placed your phone on the kitchen counter and grabbed a carton of milk from the fridge.
But what if it’s really him?
♡
You threw on a grey hoodie and biker shorts before you flew out to the taxi waiting for you outside the apartment.
“Sorry for keeping you waiting sir! Here!” you said while panting, quickly pulling up a text message you got from Bangchan sharing the location of the photoshoot.
“Please, Miss y/n! No need to apologize” laughed the middle aged taxi driver softly. You were now on your way to the shoot.
Your brain was scattered. One part of you hoped that Mr Hwang really was the boy you saw on his instagram. His long, blond locks slightly covering his sharp jaw. His skin clear as day and rosy lips plump like two rose petals. The other part shut everything down, convinced that it’s one of his models that happened to be to your liking.
You opened his instagram page again.
“He must be famous for his perfect features...” you said under your breath, staring at his lips.
The whole taxi ride was filled with thoughts of him, whoever he was.
“Soon there miss y/n” the taxi driver said after 10 minutes of driving. The taxi slowed down and looking outside the window you saw Bangchan standing infront of a building that looked similar to the agency building. You waved slightly and he waved back at you.
You turned around to the driver and said; “Thank you so much sir”, giving him a generous tip and exiting the vehicle. A warm breeze latches on to you, making your hair flutter in the motions of the wind.
“Y/n! Perfectly on time” Bangchan said and hugged you.
You hugged him back, asking him about his day so far to which he responded;
“Good but going to be even better after this legendary photoshoot is done and we have the most perfect photos taken by the most influential photographer!” he sounded like a little child in a candy shop.
Your ears heated up due to his words and you smiled slightly.
“Let’s go to the second floor and get your outfit and makeup ready. A introduction with Styliz manager won’t be needed since he already knows your delightful personality” he laughed at his corny remarks and you did the same.
“You seem even more excited than me” you remarked, pressing the elevator button.
“When you see the end result you will be floored” Bangchan said and winked at you.
The elevator clanged. “Second floor”. The metal doors slided open. The eyes of a dozen stylists and makeup artists caught onto you. A slightly potbellied man in a navy colored suit approached you.
“Y/n! I’m so happy to see work with you again.” His voice was hoarse due to his age but his personality being the total opposite. You knew him well since Styliz’s chief was one of the first to offer you a modeling job in a foreign city, you only being a teenager with a big dreams at the time.
“Mr. Styliz! It’s lovely to meet you again” you smiled and sat down in a makeup chair, a girl with blond hair and big hoop earrings starting to brush powder across your nose. You saw Bangchans figure leave behind a door in the reflection of the mirror.
“Mr. Styliz, might I ask you a question?” You regretted the words as soon as the came out of your mouth. You didn’t need more information about the mysterious boy you saw on Hwang’s instagram page but you simply had to know who is was.
“Well of course y/n” said Mr. Styliz, his warm breath touched your cheek as he stood right by your side, smelling of morning coffee and looking at you through the mirror.
“Could I please get more information about Mr.Hwang?” you said, making eye contact with the old man.
“y/n, you’ll meet him soon! Then you can ask him how much you would like about his life but I must warn you... He is quite the secretive type”. The coffee breath was accentuated as he laughed.
You tried to play along, laughing a fake laugh as the hair designer started to brush out your locks. A wave of embarrassment washed through you.
The lights of the makeup mirror were getting hot, tiny sweat drops beading on your forehead which the makeup artist wiped off.
“We are done, Miss y/n” said the makeup artist, her earrings reflecting the light in the studio. You thanked her and saw Bangchan standing at the door where the cameras were.
“y/n, not much time left. Please go down the hallway and into the second door on your left, the stylist is in there fixing your outfit”. One reason as to why you loved Bangchan as your manager was his calm temper. Even in a time crunch, he always made sure to talk to you in a serene tone. After years in the modeling industry you still couldn’t get used to the ill-tempered staff. Too many times you had been forcefully dragged down corridors and streets whilst they muttered swear words at you. Even thinking about it sends shivers down your spine.
Your shoes tapped the white linoleum as you made your way down the narrow hallway, knocking on the second door to your left just as Bangchan said.
A familiar voice said; “Come in!” to which you turned the golden doorknob on the white wooden door. The tall figure was rummaging in a big plastic container filled with clothes but upon your arrival the figure greeted you with warm eyes.
“No way!! It’s y/n!” screeched Jisung. He pulled you in to a hug, his belt buckle hit your stomach through the grey hoodie.
Jisung was a stylist and worked closely with Mr. Styliz therefore you’d gotten close to him. Not only did you like him for his exquisite fashion sense which had a whole different concept each time you saw him but also for his friendliness, always being polite.
“I’ve missed you so much Jisungie” you said with a pout.
“I though it was onesided but I guess not haha”
“Don’t be silly! How could I not miss that smile of your Sungie?” you hit him playfully on the arm to which he blushed.
“Go behind that and I’ll throw some clothes for you.” he pointed at the wooden divider standing in the corner of the white room filled with clothes racks and colorful clothing.
You started undressing behind the divider and suddenly a pile of clothing was thrown on your head over the divider. You heard Jisung snicker at the yelp that came out of your mouth as you drowned in the clothes
“Jisung, you are so dead when I’m done” you said whilst putting on the last details to the outfit.
“I’m sorry i’m sorry i’m sorry” he said pleadingly while laughing hysterically.
You stood on the podium infront of the full lenght mirrors in the room as Jisung observed you and pinned the clothes slightly.
“Not gonna lie, it’s looks really good on you. The pastels matches perfectly with your skintone.” Jisung looked on the pleaded white skirt you had on.
You looked in the mirror and shook your head in agreement. The pastel purple sweater with the white collar poking out made you look youthful and innocent. You had on patent mary jane shoes in the same purple color as your sweater. The white kneesocks were slipping down as you moved slightly, almost looking like a school girl as you bend down to lift the socks up.
“Do you like it?” Jisung looked at you through the reflection on the mirror, standing on the floor making him a head shorter than you.
“Yea! You’ve never given me a bad outfit Sungie, they’re always adorable. My favorite stylist but don’t tell that to Bangchan” you smirked to which Jisung laughed.
♡
“y/n, Jisung did a great job! You fit the concept to a tee” Bangchan stood infront of two wide dark green doors which led to the photostudio. He smiled shyly and pushed the doors open, a bright white light blinding you as you stepped in.
You squinted and held your hand infront of your eyes as you entered the studio, the air stuffy from all the white boxlights that have been working for a while.
“Miss y/n is here now, Mr. Hwang” Bangchan announced.
Your eyes felt blurry and the lights created a bokeh effect, your vision feeling like a filter. The first thing you saw was him. Hwang Hyunjin.
The shock froze your feet in one position. It was him. The selfie was Hyunjin. And he was hotter in real life.
A tall, slender figure stood on one foot, the other one behind his leg with the tip of the shoe pointing towards the floor.
“Are you ready, miss y/l/n?”.
His voice was sweeter than honeysuckle, you melted upon hearing him speak. Bangchan looked at you confused when you didn’t move, just observing the presence of the blonde boy infront of you.
“y/n?” Bangchan had a worried expression on his face as your face broke out in a massive blush.
“yeah..uh-mm..yes” you only managed to get that out before you were infront of the camera.
His willowy fingers wrapped around the black Canon camera, it fit perfectly in his hands as if it was made for him. You gulped upon seeing the veins that ran up his exposed arms, the white shirt bunched up by his elbows.
“Everything good miss? You seem distant” he said in that raspy but sweet voice.
“Uhm...yeah totally..” you looked awkward with your hands by your side as you saw Bangchan observing you with a confused gaze.
“Please tilt your head to the right and stand broad with your feet” Hyunjin commanded to which you complied. The flash of the big studio lights didn’t effect you as much anymore since you were used to this but what did effect you was how concentrated Hyunjin looked. Like a true photographer. It was obvious that he enjoyed his job by the way his eyes shined when he looked at the monitor and corrected every detail. Luckily you could stare at his figure all that you wanted since it looked like you were keeping eye contact with the camera and not him. Glancing over to the left of the photographer you saw Bangchan smiling his bright smile, signaling that he’s proud over you.
Flash
Flash
And another flash before Hyunjin looked at the monitor displaying the photos he just took, a smirk crept onto his face.
“Good job y/l/n. Could you please grab that chair over there and sit on the edge of it?” he said whilst pointing towards a small wooden stool. Reacting instantly to his soft voice and gestures you pulled the stool towards the x on the ground, making sure you were in frame.
“One leg over the other” Hyunjin said without even looking towards you, his pale veiny hands were now twisting and turning some buttons on both the camera and monitor. You shook your head up and down slightly in agreement before doing as told and as Hyunjin turned back his chocolatey brown eyes landed on yours. Now it was impossible to hide your burning cheeks, Hyunjin noticed since he laughed stiffly before grabbing the camera off the camera stand and going down on one knee to capture an angle from below. Numerous amounts of sparks from the big box lights were emitted and after every spark Hyunjin turned around to the screen which displayed your figure. Staring at him you smiled slowly, feeling your heart beat faster. Why do I feel like this by just looking at him? Your head was clouded with millions of other thoughts. Just as you started tuning out the room Hyunjin clapped his hands hard, the sound ringing in your ears. You jumped slightly which made Bangchan laugh.
“All done! Nice work everybody” Hyunjin announced loudly before bowing down to the other staff members in the room and to you as well. You returned his gesture by a slight bow of the head and quickly scurried of to Bangchan, your face hot.
“Are you sure you’re not ill?” Bangchan said softly before putting the back of his hand towards your forehead. Shaking your head from side to side you pushed his hand away.
“No, I’m fine... just so hot with the box lights you know?” you laughed fumblingly, not knowing where to rest your gaze.
You felt someone tap you on your left shoulder and you almost fainted when you turned around. Hyunjin was standing three footsteps from you, the scent of his cologne making you swoon. He smiled as he saw your shy expression and sparkling eyes.
“I though that it must have been hot, here have this”
He casually held out a waterbottle which you received with both hands as a gesture of thankfulness.
“y/n, I’m just gonna head off to Jisung to discuss something. Meet me at the changing rooms in about 10, ok?” Bangchan said, slightly leaning towards your ear.
“Yeah, see you in 10!” you said while the managers back disappeared through the broad doors of the studio. Turning back to Hyunjin his blond locks were draped infront of his eyes and as he spoke he tucked those light pieces behind his ear, revealing his small silver hoop earrings.
“I’m gonna pack up the cords now but it was a pleasure to work with you, miss y/l/n”
The corners of your mouth went upwards at his formality.
“Please, call me y/n” you said quietly, being too shy to look him in the eyes.
“Sure, see you around y/n” Hyunjin said as he lifted up his hand to shake yours. His lanky fingers were filled with bold rings, many of which were designer. A slight panic rushed through your mind as you didn’t want to scare him away with your clammy hands. The sweaty hands and the churning of your stomach was all due to Hyunjin nearness. Hesitantly you streched the tips of your fingers against the blond haired boy and his hand emitted warmth when being met with your fingertips. He smiled before turning back, his eyes forming into half moons as charming dimples errupted on his lean cheeks.
You bowed to the other staff members on your way out of the building on your way to meet Bangchan and Jisung in the changing room. The waterbottle in your hand almost slipped as you took another clunck of the fresh water and that’s when you noticed something. Stopping in the hallway where the stylists room was located you inspected the waterbottle and saw a black marker scribble on the wrapper around the bottle. Upon removing it your heart stopped. Your knees could give up at any moment from the sheer shock. Am I losing my mind? A number was loosely doodled on the white plastic wrapper and underneath it there was a message.
Call me
// Hyunjin
𝕋𝕒𝕘𝕝𝕚𝕤𝕥
@vogueinnie @that-anxious-bisexual @putmetogetheragain13 @hyunsluvv @lawleighette @meow-minho @minaamhh @ohmysparkle @hwangi @rindomo @fleeingreality @nycol-ie @jisungsplatforms
#straykidssmut#stray kids imagines#stray kids smut#stray kids fanfic#stray kids drabbles#stray kids reactions#stray kids hyunjin#hwang hyunjin smut#straykidsxreader#stray kids series#skz series#skzseries#skzsmut#skz smut#skz fanfic#skz x y/n#skz x reader#skz x you#stray kids x you#stray kids x y/n#stray kids x reader#hyunjin smut#hyunjin x y/n#hyunjin x reader#hyunjin x you#kpop smut#kpop series#Taking pictures of you - The series
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Kriegsmesser
When I received Kriegsmesser in the mail I finally googled "kriegsmesser", and found out it meant "war knife". Which makes sense; Gregor Vuga's ZineQuest 2021 project is a tribute to "roleplaying games named after medieval weapons".
I love Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay's piss-renaissance Old World setting. I tend to pick up WFRP-a-likes sight unseen:
Warlock (quality);
Small But Vicious Dog (yesss);
Zweihander (which I have come to hate); etc.
Anyway: I backed Kriegsmesser without really knowing anything about it. So Kriegsmesser surprised me.
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Kriegsmesser grew out of a Troika! cutting. Its 36 backgrounds are compatible with that system: each come with a couple of lines of description; a list of skills and possessions; an a visual cameo cropped from actual 16th-Century woodcut art.
Cohesive and competently flavourful. My favourite is the Labourer, who always starts with "an empty pine box":
"You've spent your life breaking your back, working hard for other people's profit. You have nothing to show for it but a spectre of the future."
(The obligatory ratcatcher-analogue , called the Vermin Snatcher, is here -- check that box!)
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Kriegsmesser also comes with its own ruleset. Hits all the notes it needs to, with lots of orientation and advice for how to run a game -- but ultimately super-simple, mechanically:
Roll d6s equal to the value in a relevant skill, look at the highest result. 6 means you get what you want; 5 or 4 means you get what you want, at a cost.
It's not quite a dice pool, since only the highest result matters. No opposed tests.
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Kriegsmesser intends to have this base mechanic handle fights, too. The combat rules - with armour, toughness and weapon values -- are nested in an optional section.
For a WFRP-a-like, this feels like a purposeful departure.
Many of WFRP's most celebrated adventures are celebrated for bits that their underlying ruleset does little to support: the investigative structure of "Shadows Over Bogenhafen"; the complicated timetable of "Rough Night At Three Feathers".
Ludwig von Wittgenstein never needed a statblock to be memorable.
Not to say that lethal, hyper-detailed fights isn't super Warhammer-y. (Kriegsmesser includes an injury table, broken down by body-part -- check that box!)
But here it feels like Gregor is saying: "I'm not Games Workshop and Roleplay isn't an ancillary of Warhammer Fantasy Battle; we can evoke grim-and-perilous-ness even if we fork away from heavy combat rules."
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It has become ritual for me to read my partner Sharon to sleep.
Sometimes I read her RPG things. The other night, after I read her Kriegsmesser's introduction --
" The Empire wages an eternal war against Chaos. Its priests preach of Chaos as an intrusion, something unnatural ... These men see Chaos in anything that does not buttress their rule. They call it disorder, anarchy, corruption. They say that to rebel against their order is to rebel against god and nature. That the current arrangement is natural, rather than artificial.
" Meanwhile, the common people look to the Empire to deliver the justice that they were promised and they find none. They look to the Empire and do not see themselves reflected in it. They look around at what they were taught was right and good and see only misery.
" Their world begins to unravel. Chaos comes to reside in every heart and mind sound enough to look at the world and conclude it is broken. "
-- Sharon remarked: "Nice one."
The RPG things I read her generally leave Sharon lukewarm. She has enjoyed a couple -- but, yeah: for many of these books, text isn't their strong point.
Kriegsmesser is the only time I can recall Sharon praising the writing of an RPG book without my prompting.
Nice one.
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That introduction surprised me. It underlines Kriegsmesser's biggest departure from its WFRP-a-like pedigree: how it characterises Chaos.
Corruption, a mainstay of most grim-dark-y games, is made an optional rule, like combat. Explaining this, Gregor writes:
" Kriegsmesser partially subverts or deconstructs the traditional conceit of Warhammer where the characters are threatened by the forces of Chaos. In this game it is the player characters who are the agents of 'Chaos': they are likely to become the 'rats' under the streets, and the wild 'beast-men' in the woods bringing civilisation down. It's the Empire and its nobles and priests that are corrupt ... "
Describing the Empire, Gregor writes:
" The Empire encompasses the world yet is terrified of the without. It enforces itself with steel and fire yet considers itself benevolent. It consumes the labour of others with bottomless hunger yet calls its subalterns lazy, or wasteful, or greedy. "
Holy shit this is the first time I've seen the word "subaltern" in an RPG thing, I think?
I love this.
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Rant incoming:
With every passing decade Warhammer abridges its Moorcockian roots more and more; nowadays it is "Order = Good" and "Chaos = Evulz", pretty much.
Gone are the days when chaos berserkers are implied to grant safe passage to the helpless (because Khorne is as much a god of martial honour as he is a god of bloodletting); Or that the succor of Papa Nurgle is a genuine comfort to the downtrodden; Or that Tzeentch could unironically embody the principle of hope, of change for the better.
As Chaos is distilled into unequivocal villainy, Order goons get painted as Good Guys by default --
Giving rise to Warhammer's contemporary problem, wherein fans are no longer able to recognise satire.
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When I was introduced to 40K, it seemed pretty clear that the Imperium was a Brazil-esque absurdist-fascist bureaucratic state: planets are exterminatus-ed due to clerical error; the way it stamps out rebellions is the reason why rebellions begin in the first place.
Tragi-comic grimdarkness. That was the point.
Nowadays that tone has shifted -- and you're more likely than not going to encounter a 40K fan who argues that the Imperium's evils are a justified necessity, to prevent worse wrongs.
We went from:
"Space Nazis because insane dumbass fuckery, also chainswords vroom vroom rule of badass!"
To:
"Space Nazis because it makes sense actually, and also chainswords make sense because [insert convoluted rationalisation here]."
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Even Fantasy Flight's Black Crusade line, which ostensibly offers a look at 40K from the perspective of Chaos, never truly commits to its conceit.
With prep you could play a heroic band of mutant freedom fighters, resisting the tyranny of the Evil Imperium --
But I don't remember Black Crusade giving that kind of campaign any actual support. Its supplements service the relatively more conventional "You can play villains!" angle; the Screaming Vortex is a squarely Daemons-vs-Daemons setting.
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This tonal drift culminates, in my mind, with Age of Sigmar, Games Workshop's heroic-fantasy replacement of the old WFRP / WHFB setting.
Here's the framing narrative for AoS's recently-launched Third Edition. Let's see whether I've got things right:
A highly professionalised, technologically-superior tip-of-the-spear fighting force (the Stormcast Eternals);
Backed by an imperialist military-industrial complex (Azyrheim);
"Liberating" rich new territories (Ghur) for exploitation by a civilised settler culture (Settlers of Sig-- I mean, Free Cities);
Justified because the locals are irredeemable heathens (Chaos and Kruleboyz).
I mean, that's a sweet-ass Warhammer setting. It's contemporary, laser-guided lampoon. Except it is played totally straight.
In AoS, a literal crusade is justified as the moral good.
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I think Kriegsmesser surprised me because its framing of Chaos -- as a promise, as the light of hope shining through cracks of a broken world --
It feels so fucking right.
Yes: its a subaltern deconstruction of the conventional moral universe of Warhammer -- but it is a take that is also already implied / all but supported in the various depictions of the setting: from WFRP to the modified title-crawl of Black Crusade.
I'm annoyed I didn't think of it, myself. Damn you, Gregor!
And I'm annoyed that more Warhammer fans aren't thinking it, also.
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lmagine if Kriegsmesser's perspective stood on equal standing as the GW orthodoxy. Imagine if, instead of simplifying stuff into "Order = Good" and "Chaos = Evulz", GW did a Gregor Vuga.
You'd have a Rashomon-ed Warhammer, where villainy depends on perspective:
You are fearful villagers, huddled around your priest, muttering prayers against the wild braying coming from the trees beyond your gates.
You are Aqshyian tribeswomen, defying the thunder warrior towering over you, the foreigner demanding you bow to his foreign god.
You are a Tzeentchian revolutionary cell, desperately trying to disrupt a Inquisitor's transmissions so your home planet isn't destroyed by fascist orbital fire.
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Get Kriegsmesser HERE.
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( Image sources: https://theenemywithinremixed.wordpress.com/2021/05/21/thoughts-on-the-4e-death-on-the-reik/ https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/59-brazil https://www.deviantart.com/faroldjo/art/Warhammer-40k-Black-Crusade-273596035 https://www.warhammer-community.com/2021/06/09/fancy-a-new-life-bringing-order-to-the-mortal-realms-join-a-dawnbringer-crusade-today/ https://www.nme.com/blogs/the-movies-blog/team-america-15-anniversary-south-park-2558750 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Palestinian_children_and_Israeli_wall.jpg )
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A totally self indulgent compilation of my favorite works on this blog of the year June 13, 2020 - June 13, 2021
2019-2020
The following lists are all in chronological order according to the date each post was first published.
Top 10 panel edits:
#1: It's our first morning
Date: Aug 20th, 2020 Time: ~ 2:18 h I really like how this one turned out!!! The 2020 Emma b-day edit has a lot of major panel redraws, but this is probably my favorite. I I really enjoy how I made the shadows work!! And the ear banfage looks pretty neat. Nice!!! Immagine
#2: Norman birthday edit 2021
Date: Mar 20th, 2021 Time: ~ 2:21 h Awww, soft Norman :') There was a bit to redraw, but I think everything turned out pretty neat!!! I believe everything works out fine. Though looking back at it, the part of the ID I added is definitely top small :')
#3: Manga dub: Yuugo gets knocked out
Date: Mar 27th, 2021 Time: ~ 5:05 h Here start the Manga Dub redraws to which I gave my everything ahah. This one turned out nice! I think the shoes turned out particularly good eheh. I like how Yuugo's clothing lineart- for the texture, I wanted to go for something heterogeneous, but I'm not fully confident in the final result. Gilda looks very rushed but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
#4: Manga dub: Yuugo makes his dramatic entrance
Date: Apr 5th, 2021 Time: ~ 4:02 h This is pretty cool!!!! The coat took ages to redraw, but sis it turned out perfect!!! I'm very proud of this.
#5: Manga dub: RayGildEmma hug!!!
Date: Apr 9th, 2021 Time: ~ 1:31 h Awww, a beautiful panel I was really happy to have the chance to redraw. Taking into account what there was to redraw, I'm actually surprised with how little this took! Ray's backpack was a pain to make, but I think it turned out fine. I'm very happy with Emma and Ray's heads!!
#6: Manga dub: Formalities
Date: Apr 12th, 2021 Time: ~ 5:31 h It is not always easy to give sense to Demizu's perspective, but I do my best!!! In this I am *so* happy with how Don and Ray turned out, they look neat! The background on the other hand... It took hours to make ahah. I'm not fully confident in the perspective, but I'm happy with the details I've added- I really did my best to make it look like athe other manga panels and I think it paid off!!!
#7: Manga dub: We may be weaklings, but we're still alive
Date: Apr 30th, 2021 Time: ~ 1:37 h This little Emma is so cute!!!!!! I think the redraw turned out pretty perfect. I'm really satisfied with how this one turned out, and it's such a cute little Emma!!!! She's so brave and optimistic, I love her. It's a shame this panel didn't make it to the episode :')
#8: Manga dub: Goldy Pond Gang
Date: May 7th, 2021 Time: ~ 8:44 h lmao This is probably the panel redraw I'm the most proud of ever :') Just think everyone turned out very nice!! The ceiling is not exactly perfect, but it still works somehow. I'm very happy with how Gillian's back turned out!! I don't really like the fading effect on the right, but 8h in I got pretty tired of working on this ahah
#9: Manga dub: This is Goldy Pond
Date: May 21st, 2021 Time: ~ 1:29 h I'm very glad for how the Manga dub has been challenging me to learn to redraw backgrounds, something I had quite literally never tried before. It can be a little frustrating, but it's so satisfying to see the final cleaned piece!! With this panel, I also learnt to use copy and paste, which is something I had never done before beyond texture
#10: Manga dub: Good morning doctor
Date: May 21st, 2021 Time: ~ 3:42 h This is another background that turned out pretty good!! That one Norman is one I knew I would have had to fully redraw sooner or lager- the background was a bonus ahah. I'm very happy with the final result!!
Top 5 edits as whole:
#1: The Promised Neverland manga ending edit
Date: Jun 14th 2020 Time: ~ 12h 41min (5h 45min of cleaning panels in the edit + 5h 37min of cleaning panels that didn't make it to the edit + 1h 19min of resizing) + time spent cleaning panels I've deleted the file of so I can't see lmao This is overall very nice!!! The concept of an Emma evolution through her back is cool, and I think overall the edit turned out very aesthetically pleasing. The concept idea came to me while I was working on the 2019 Emma's birthday edit, a long time before the manga ending announcement- back then I wouldn't have imagined using it in occasion of the manga ending, but I think it ended up making a nice tribute. The colors add a nice touch, since so far my edits had always been black and white- it makes a sweet closure. To make that edit I selected 76 panels of Emma framed from her back; I plan to make other versions of that edit using the discarded panels eventually!
#2: Emma - Chapter 181: Beyond Destiny
Date: Jul 12th 2020 Time: 2h 57min My last edit for the manga 🥺🥺 I think this one is my very "manga ending edit" because to me it really signed the ending of weekly chapters and their weekly chapter edits. It makes me a little sad to look at it, but it's also, I don't know, kinda sweet to see how I grew both in my panel cleaning and as a person since I first started my blog. I'm glad I got into TPN!
#3: Emma birthday edit 2020
Date: Aug 22nd 2020 Time: 8h 54min This one turned out so well!!! Though I used the same concept for all the trio edits, I think this one is the best one. The two panels on the left / two panels on the right alternation combo never fails ahah. The colors are nice (shout-out to my sister for making me a palette), despite the fact that it was hard for the lighter ones to make them work with the images without having those disappear. I'm very satisfied with the panels I chose for this, I think they work really good together! Also, it got me very happy to read everyone's comments saying they liked the fading effect in the last panel :)
#4: Emma + Eyes Close Ups [1/?]
Date: Jan 24th 2021 Time: 5h 55min This one was really nice!! Another idea I got when working on the 2019 Emma birthday edit I was glad to finally execute. Started the edit in September, finished it in December. I'm overall very happy with how it turned out... I hope I will be able to make more in the future!
#5: The Promised Neverland Parallels → (9/?) » 114 // 122
Date: Feb 23th 2021 Time: 5h 7min (panel cleaning only) Aaaaahh I really like this one!!!! A parallel I love very much, and I'm really happy with how the edit turned out. All the hair redrawing looks neat!!!! The gif is maybe a little excessive, but I think overall it's a nice edit. I like it!!! Fun fact, I completed it on August 26th 2020, but I couldn't find the right moment to post it ahah.
Honorable mention: The Promised Neverland Parallels → (5/?) » 08 // 16
Date: Aug 30th 2020 Time: 2h 52min (Second picture cleaning only; I deleted the first picture art file so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ) I don't have much to say about this one except!! It turned out very nice!!!!! Love the pen lmao.
Top 10 analysis:
Too many analysis,,
#1: Post chapter 181 Emma analysis
Date: Jul 9th 2020 Mmmh a nice analysis. I think it was important for me to put down in words what I think of Emma's characterization and the manga ending, so I'm happy I did it!
#2: A long Oliver analysis because I love him very much
Date: Dec 6th 2020 What can I say I just love Oliver tons 😔😔💕💕 This was very fun to make!!!
#3: TPN s2 previsions
Date: Jan 14th 2021 Really love the effort that went into this + me proving that 11 episodes GP could have possibly worked + it's just a lot of fun to read again after s2 ended pffft
#4: More s2 delusional previsions lmao
Date: Jan 27th 2021 I think the points and previsions I made where pretty neat!! In my defense, it was pretty impossible to predict the anime would have ended with this season. I always feel honoured when friends and Anon ask for my opinion, I'm like "you wanna know what I think? Wow. I'm flattered (◍•ᴗ•◍) " Thank you to anyone who ever sent me an ask!!
#5: Why Emma not wearing pants is 𝕨𝕣𝕠𝕟𝕘
Date: Jan 29th 2021 Really proud of this!!! Pants Emma is important!!!!!
#6: Post episode 5 manga Emma analysis
Date: Feb 4th 2021 A depressed analysis, but a necessary one 😔
#7: Norman analysis
Date: Feb 12th 2021 I love him!!!! And I'm happy I eventually got to put down in words what I love about his character. The day I posted this ww3.readneverland was in maintenance so I couldn't use the volume scans for it- the thought of that post having fan edited and fan translated scans still haunts me
#8: RayDon rambles
Date: May 12th 2021 I had a blast writing this and like. It's likely the post of mine I reread more often of them all. I love this ship tons!!!!! I'm satisfied with how I put down in words what I like about them. I LOVE THIS SHIP
#9: Chapter 58 analysis
Date: May 23th 2021 I've wanted to express this concept since like the first time reading the manga- I'm so happy I finally did!!!! This concept is one of my absolute favorite things about tpn- the feelings that people are good. The concept that kids who got to live in an healthy and supportive environment will always be inclined to kindness and altruism, because humans are just inherently good. From the Three Character Classic: “people at birth are inherently good”. I want to have faith and courage to hold on the goodness in myself, and to hold on the goodness in the world, no matter how difficult it to do that (Chloé Zhao).
#10: Norman and Lambda squad relationship analysis
Date: May 24th 2021 I think this was a pretty sharp analysis and I like what I did with it!!
Other stuff:
#1: Krone birthday edit
Date: Jul 15th 2020 This edit is so good ;; Like not perfect since it was my first attempt at coloring gifs but still I believe it turned out so good ;;;;;; The time and effort that went unto this is crazy, but... Maybe I'm happy to have dedicated time to something I like for a satisfying result.
#2: Get to know my ship- Wolfpack Trio
Date: Aug 24th 2020 Uuuh a good post. A good ship.
#3: Gilda + blank glasses
Date: Aug 27th 2020 This is such a cute nice compilation!!! I love looking at it. A few panels are missing but still :')
#4: Apollo Ray AU
Date: Sep 7th 2020 (Though it was written Sep 2nd 2019 lmao) I'm so happy I finally gathered the courage to post this 😭😭 I really enjoy what I did with this AU, so this one and its other installments are all posts I have a lot of fun rereading. More than everything, I was astounded and overjoyed by the positive response it got: that gave me tons of confidence to put my ideas out there, no matter how unique they sound!!! Here's to hoping I will be able to post my RayEmma Hadestown AU, by other big AU from late summer 2019 :')
#5: TPN timeline project
Date: Dec 2nd 2020 This is like. I don't know it's a lot ahah. Arguably the project I'm the most proud of ever making. I'm just so happy of all the months long hard work and of the final result!! The post didn't receive much response (though the ones I got were extremely kind and sweethearted so that totally makes up for it), but in the end I don't really mind? I'm just so proud I accomplished that idea :')
#6: TPN calendar
Date: Jan 4th 2021 A nice sum of the tpn timeline + everyone's birth dates!!! I really like how it turned out visually. It's a cute little tpn calendar!!!
#7: Ray smiles compilation
Date: Jan 17th 2021 Ray's smile. That's it that's the post :')
#8: Trans Oliver headcanons
Date: Jan 24th 2021 MMMH really like this headcanon I think about it a lot
#9: Thoma and Lani theory
Date: Jan 28th 2021 I really don't want to brag but this is the best joke I've ever made :')
#10: My TPN AUs
Date: May 10th 2021 Ok you gotta admit those are very good AUs, I'm glad to have made a list out of them!!!
#11: Ranking Emma promotional art outfits
Date: May 16th 2021 This is one people seem to have liked a lot which makes me happy ahah. I'm glad to know we can all agree Emma deserves more pants outfits!! Please stop it with the gendered clothing :') This is the post I want to be remembered for
#12: TPN musicals AU part 2
Date: May 20th 2021 A GREAT POST I can't stretch enough how happy I am with those character-song associations. I hope I have time to make a part 3 in the future!!
#13: TPN Drive folder
Date: May 30th 2021 This was born as a way for me to have all the tpn extra contents easily accessible, but I'm happy to have shared it with people- I hope it will turn out to be useful to others too!
#14: TPN s2 recolorings
Date: Jun 12th 2021 A more diverse children cast is good for the soul :')
That's it, this year was really fun!! Thank you to everyone who supported me through it, I can't express how grateful I am for all the kindness and validation I received. Here's to many more months in the fandom!!! (ノ◕ヮ◕)ノ*.✧
#mine#tpn#the promised neverland#tpn manga spoilers#Tumblr: *literally refuses to let me open the post*#Me: *Turns on my computer* B*TCH YOU THOUGHT I'M POSTING THIS TODAY AND NOTHING IS GOING TO STOP ME#Been working on this for four hours now.. I'm literally dead...#Also thank you Tutu for deleting the other post you're the sweetest :')#Once again this is just a personal report you don't have to read all (or any) of it unless you want to :)#Ok to reblog btw#I'll click the post button now I don't want to hear anyrhing else
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I posted 4,124 times in 2021
63 posts created (2%)
4061 posts reblogged (98%)
For every post I created, I reblogged 64.5 posts.
I added 2,182 tags in 2021
#loz - 450 posts
#linked universe - 370 posts
#consider it queued - 350 posts
#four swords - 284 posts
#shadow link - 179 posts
#lu four - 174 posts
#vio(let) link - 112 posts
#botw - 105 posts
#vidow - 91 posts
#hero/villain prompts - 67 posts
Longest Tag: 138 characters
#''party discovers someone in the group has been not entirely honest about who they are when their ideal life doesn’t match thier projected
My Top Posts in 2021
#5
Are we just going to ignore how Shadow shapeshifted to look like Vio?
I mean, I could just be reading into this too much, (very likely) and this might not make a lot of sense, (also very likely) but if we were to think of this logically, why in the world would Shadow shapeshift into Vio?
Now, generally, people say that it’s because Shadow thinks he knows Vio the best. But, if you were stabbed in the back by your best and only friend, would you really trust everything they said? I mean, being betrayed hurts. We’ve already seen that Shadow didn’t have any friends besides Vio. He hasn’t dealt with this kind of heartbreak, so he’s extra vulnerable. If I was in his situation, I would feel like I didn’t know that person at all.
I think that Shadow choosing to shape-shift into Vio is him choosing to accept what happened, and more importantly, choosing to forgive Vio. I think he’s saying ‘I accept that you lied to me that one time, but I’m choosing to believe that we were actually friends. I’m willing to believe that not everything you said to me was a lie. I’m willing to think that our friendship was real, and you only lied to me when absolutely necessary.’
He had the Dark Mirror. He knew the other Links’ personalities. He had other options.
70 notes • Posted 2021-02-01 02:39:41 GMT
#4
Hey LU fandom
Can we stop tagging every boy for fics where three of them only have one line?
Or at least use the link-centric (linked universe) tags
What I’m proposing is this:
link-centric (linked universe) tag for main character
link (linked universe) tag for side characters
✨no tags✨ for characters that only say a couple lines / are implied to be there / don’t really do anything but add small bits of dialogue.
73 notes • Posted 2021-01-29 00:27:54 GMT
#3
What did Zelda say when Green, Red, and Blue couldn’t open a door?
Triforce heroes
75 notes • Posted 2021-06-15 07:24:13 GMT
#2
Spoilers for the Four Sword Manga:
So I know that we all agree that Wind hates being babied. But like. What if the person who does it the most to him isn't Sky or Warriors or any of the adults, but Four?
My reasoning? Shadow was probably around Wind's age during the manga, and he dies right next to Vio at the end of the manga. Vio got to see a close-up of his friend's light go out of his eyes. At what? 14? 15?
No way he's letting Wind die as young as that.
96 notes • Posted 2021-06-02 22:03:05 GMT
#1
A Palace of the Four Sword Headcanon
Either I’m really slow or I figured something interesting out. You know how in the palace of the four sword in ALttP, there are four dark links who wear tunics similar to the four colors of the four sword, but slightly different? (Lime vs green, magenta vs purple, orange vs red?) Invert Four’s color scheme. It’s pretty close to the same color - a lot closer than the colors of the four sword. Not to mention, the dark links have dark blue hair, and if you invert Four’s hair, he’ll have dark blue hair as well.
So, I propose this: The dark link wearing lime green is actually Vio’s dark, whereas the dark link wearing magenta is Green’s dark. The link wearing orange isn’t Red’s dark, it’s Blue’s, and Red’s dark is the dink in blue.
(You would fight Vio’s dark first, then Blue’s, then Red’s, and at the end, you’d fight Green’s dark.)
119 notes • Posted 2021-01-18 06:28:51 GMT
Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →
#my 2021 tumblr year in review#your tumblr year in review#It definitely makes sense that shadow’s real high up there XD#he’s my comfort character and it shows#Long post
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I’ve never posted my writing before
but my love for Tim Bradford has compelled me to post something! This has not been reviewed or edited by anyone but me! This is from Tim’s point of view and him dealing with Lucy being missing. Questions and comments are welcomed!
Tim Bradford prides himself on keeping a level-head even in the most dire of circumstances. It’s what saved him overseas, and it’s what’s saved him on constant close calls out on patrol. Officer Bradford keeps his head on straight, and the only time it’s ever swiveled was when Isobel was involved. That was, until he heard Detective Armstrong say that Caleb Wright did not exist.
“That’s impossible, I saw his social media page,” he said, with more force than he intended behind his words.
He could barely keep his train of thought together as Armstrong laid out the possibility that the name was nothing more than a cover, a red herring to lead them off his scent. Lucy had been missing for over thirteen hours and the last thing he had said to her was to grab a drink. He could feel the panic rippling under the surface, threatening to engulf him at any point. But he was a seasoned cop, he could keep his nerves at bay until she was found. He allowed West to think out loud with Armstrong as he calmed himself and tucked away any of the horrible thoughts that had started to form inside his mind. Lucy needed him at his best, and that wouldn’t happen if he kept allowing his darker thoughts to be at the forefront of his mind.
~~~~
“We know they left at 9:05…,” Tim shook his head as Sergeant Grey and Armstrong debriefed the precinct about Lucy’s situation.
“Las Torres, a bar, she just wanted to go for a drink,” Tim couldn’t believe that this was his reality. “No,” he threw back at himself, “she wanted to go home. You convinced her that she would be better off out with some guy she had just met!”
A flash from the day before jumped to his mind, of watching a random boy try and hand Lucy his number. His heart had beat loud and deep in his chest, his hand flying out to capture the paper before Lucy even had a chance to reach for it. It had been a long time since he felt jealous, but he quickly beat back the green-eyed monster by simply defending his actions while accosting the boy about his job. But now that jealousy had been replaced by another, disgust. In himself. Because he tried to cover up his moment of resentment by suggesting she go for drinks with someone. And who else but the guy who acted like he knew everything about police work from the two episodes of Law & Order he probably watched.
“We believe that Caleb is Rosalind’s protege, and he took Officer Chen,” Grey stated in a grave voice.
Tim could feel his breath catch in his chest. “Took, took, took,” it repeated over and over in his head. He felt sick to his stomach, his head felt like it weighed a thousand pounds, anchored down by the hundreds of possibilities of where Lucy could be in that very moment. She was in the hands of a groomed killer, and the trail of bodies behind both him and his teacher were staring Tim straight in the face. All the kills were textbook, identical to each other in the way each of the victims had been killed. Tim could see exactly how Lucy was in this very hour, most likely already tattooed with today’s date, fighting off whatever drug was still in her system. His head swung forward, unable to even look at the board or the video of this disgusting man with his arms around Lucy, like he had every right in the world to be near her. He couldn’t focus on anything, not the words that Grey was saying or even his own thoughts. It was like his mind was the frayed end of a string, sprouting off in so many different directions. He didn’t say anything as he pulled out his phone and walked out, not even bothering to see if anyone noticed his sudden exit.
“Angela,” he thought, the only thing keeping him grounded, the only lifeline he could see in this mess of his world. His friend, probably his best friend, and her detective skills could help him with this puzzle. He needed her to be able to see a solution, because he was starting to feel the walls close in. There was a darkness that was shadowing his ever move, a darkness he thought he had escaped from when Isabel left. He dialed her number, praying to whoever that she would pick up.
“What’s up,” she answered after the second ring.
“Hey. Lucy’s been taken. I need you,” he said through a clenched jaw.
Saying the words aloud felt like a jinx, like if he never said those words, there was still a chance she could run through the doors and blame unbelievable traffic for her lateness. His breathing was shallower than it had been minutes ago, and it seemed like hours before Angela responded with a simple “On my way.” He didn’t know how to thank her.
~~~~~
He walked back into the bullpen as Jackson West stated “So we have less than 10 hours to find Lucy.”
“Holy shit,” Tim couldn’t keep up. They were talking in such a clinical manner that Tim could scream.
“This isn’t any other case,” he wanted to yell, “this is one of our own! This is an officer, my rookie!”
“My responsibility, Lucy…” he was spiraling. How could he have suggested a date with someone from a bar! He should’ve asked more questions while he was here, should’ve sensed that there was something wrong with him. He drilled into every one of his boots that they always needed to trust their instincts and gut. Yet, he couldn’t even see the potential murderer standing less than 10 feet away from him.
“You suggested the date, you pushed her to go out with him,” his inner thoughts were relentlessly reminding him, “if she doesn’t come back, this is on you.” He couldn’t swallow, the fear and confusion sitting on his chest. And anger, a rage was building up like none he’d felt before. But what he couldn’t figure out was who he was more angry with: Caleb or himself.
~~~~~~
“Useless,” he thought, slamming down the phone on another raving citizen who claimed they saw Lucy being dragged into a car by none other than King Henry. He had never wanted to punch a citizen so bad before. He looked up just as Angela and Wesley walked in. He let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.
“Hey, thanks for coming in,” he said to Angela as he pushed back from the desk.
“Of course,” she answered, looking around at the current situation of the precinct. “Grey’s got you on tip lines,” she questioned, the disbelief evident in her tone.
“Nothing says ‘We got squat,’ like listening to the public,” he threw back, letting his irritation seep through. He knew that Angela would pick up on just how fed up he was with the whole situation. As Wesley took up his position at the phones, Tim turned to Angela and angrily said “This is useless. We should be on the street kicking down doors.” He just needed to move, to feel like he was doing something, anything, to try and get one step closer to finding Lucy.
“Who’s doors,” Angela questioned lightly.
He looked at her and quickly looked away. He saw sympathy and hopelessness in her eyes, and it was more than he could handle. The reality that Lucy was abducted by a man with two murders under his belt was pushing its way into every corner of his mind.
“I don’t know but I-I just can’t sit here,” he whispered. Suddenly the room felt too small, the lights too bright, the noises too loud. He turned around and stomped off towards the bull pen. He could feel the string unraveling even farther. He knew he couldn’t be in the middle of the room, with all the useless noise of the public.
“Wait up,” Angela called from behind him.
“I’m fine, just blowing off steam,” he didn’t even bother looking at her, he knew she’d hear him. His legs seemed to be on autopilot, he didn’t even know where he was heading.
“I get it,” she threw at him, “but you’ve got to get your head in the game.
Tim rolled his eyes to the ceiling, thinking that maybe he made a mistake in calling her in. He turned to look at her, his eyes narrowed slightly “I don’t need a pep talk.”
“Then why’d you call me? Clearly you need to get something off your chest,” Angela’s voice was rough, but filled with concern.
Tim looked around, his thoughts moving a mile a minute. This is why he called her, because Angela would make him face facts he wasn't comfortable admitting to anyone. Not even himself. He looked away from her, trying to organise his thoughts for a moment, ignoring the ever constant “your fault, your fault,” that had been rattling around his brain all day.
“Look, she-she wanted to go home,” he said to her, his voice cracking ever so slightly. His throat tightened, making it harder to speak “Go to bed. I told her that she should focus on something else.”
As the words came spilling out of him, he could feel a stinging in his eyes, and his hands couldn’t seem to stop moving. He felt his lip tremble and tried to swallow the shame and guilt that he could taste in his mouth. But it was no use.
“She went out with Caleb because I told her to,” the blame evident in every word he spoke. He searched Angela’s face, dreading that after she heard the part he played in Lucy’s abduction that she would agree with his inner voices. And he wouldn’t even blame her because he even agreed with them. He was to blame. But instead, tears welled up in her eyes and she shook her head.
“You couldn’t have known,” she spoke with a tender conviction.
Her faith in him, as a cop and a person, pushed him even farther to the edge. He couldn’t understand it, because he no longer could see it, the darkness creeping closer, threatening to drown him in despair.
“But I should've, I'm a cop,” he emphasized, moving closer to her. He brought his hand up, “I was standing this close to the guy. Ok, right across from him and I never saw him coming.”
The words caught in Tim’s mouth for a second, he couldn’t figure out why he needed to prove to Angela that he was to blame. Maybe it was for the fact that the real person to blame was nowhere to be found, and he himself made for a close and convenient punching bag. His eyes didn’t leave hers, and he could feel them pleading with her to give him something, anything, reassuring. She merely stared at him and let him continue his thoughts.
“But she did though, she-” he looked away, remembering Lucy’s face when she questioned his advice. She seemed confused by his suggestion of a drink over a nap, and he should’ve recognized that she was more excited for her bed than the company of another.
“Some part of her didn’t feel right about this whole thing,” his eyes found Angela’s once more. As he talked and recalled Lucy from the night before, things began sliding into place in his mind.
He shook his head slightly and said, “She hesitated.”
He wouldn’t be persuaded, he had made camp in his thoughts, knowing he was to shoulder the blame forever. Because Lucy knew, her instincts had told her something was off, he was the one who couldn’t sense anything. Tim had allowed a quick flash of jealousy to blind him to the actual threat of Caleb Wright.
“And I-” his voice held little emotion as he came to the realization that he could never be forgiven, “-I pushed her right at him.”
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Transiting Mercury enters pre-retrograde shadow
Timeline (current events in bold)
Wednesday, December 29, 2022, 09:28 UT - transiting Mercury enters pre-retrograde shadow, 24:22 Capricorn
Sunday, January 2, 2022, 07:10 UT - transiting Mercury enters Aquarius
Friday, January 7, 15:58 UT - transiting Mercury's greatest eastern elongation, 6:32 Aquarius
Monday, January 11 - transiting Mercury enters "Storm," moving less than 40 minutes of arc per day
Friday, January 14, 11:41 UT - transiting Mercury stations retrograde, 10:10 Aquarius
Sunday, January 23 - Inferior Conjunction between Sun and Mercury Rx, 3:22 Aquarius
Wednesday, January 26, 03:05 UT - Mercury retrogrades back into Capricorn
Friday, February 4, 04:13 UT - transiting Mercury stations direct, 24:22 Capricorn
Wednesday, February 9 - transiting Mercury leaves "Storm"
Monday, February 14, 21:54 UT - transiting Mercury re-enters Aquarius
Thursday, February 17, 01:57 UT - transiting Mercury’s greatest western elongation, 2:06 Aquarius
Thursday, February 24, 06:00 UT - transiting Mercury exits post-retrograde shadow, 10:10 Aquarius
(Ms M abbreviations: "10:10 Aquarius" means "10 degrees 10 minutes Aquarius." It is tiresome and inefficient to have to type that all out, all the time!)
The main thing with this particular retrograde is that it marks the beginning of a Mercurial shift. We've been having Mercury retrograde in air signs (Libra, Aquarius, Gemini); and now we're moving into having Mercury retrograde in earth signs (Capricorn, Taurus, Virgo). In a nutshell, we're supposed to take all those lofty ideas we've had during Merc Rx in air, and turn them into earthy reality.
Second thing: as far as "major" aspects go, Mercury will be making only conjunctions, sextiles, and trines during its entire Rx cycle - and most of them will happen when Mercury is in Capricorn. Which is a blessing! What we have to do, should come easily.
I've compared Mercury retrograde to taking the car into the mechanic for a tune-up. This one is no different, except that I think it's more like we discover we have to have a lot of work done to the car, to make it more powerful and efficient. Mercury will conjunct Pluto thrice; Pluto always makes me think of plumbing - and in Capricorn, we'll have to pay attention to the structures.
My gut about this particular retrograde is that we have some powerful ideas and thoughts we'd like to communicate, but we don't quite have everything we need to do so effectively - as we'll discover when Merc is in Aquarius. We'll find out what the problem is when Merc is retrograde; and after it stations direct, we can address them.
Here are the major aspects Mercury will make between now and its entry into Aquarius. Stay alert! We could discover some problems with authority (e.g. "not going through the proper channels"); we may not be as coherent and logical as we think we are.
Wednesday, December 29, 10:27 UT - Venus Rx/Capricorn conjunct Mercury/Capricorn, 24:26; Thursday, December 30, 25:53 UT - Pluto/Capricorn conjunct Mercury/Capricorn, 25:53
As The Cosmos goes, both Mercury and Venus are pretty light-weight. So what happens when Pluto drags both of them down to the basement? If we've been blithely ignoring everything unpleasant, this will come back to bite us in the butt; if we think we're hot shit, intellectually, ditto. The Moon in Scorpio will be sextile all these placements, and the chart for her Balsamic phase sees her tightly sextile. We can use this by putting some intention into "letting go of the past, envisioning the future" - even in the most basic sense of "please let me come out of this an improved person!"
Saturday, January 1, 07:07 UT - Ceres Rx/Taurus trine Mercury/Capricorn, 28:36; Saturday, January 1, 07:07 UT - North Node/Taurus trine Mercury/Capricorn, 29:29; South Node/Scorpio sextile Mercury/Capricorn, 29:29
If Mercury is a little disconcerted by the fact that the North Node has left its sign, Gemini - and my own Merc/Gemini is plenty pissed! - then these trines may help. The Ceres trine. as Demetra George wrote in Asteroid Goddesses, shows us the value of being able "to communicate empathetically with others and have rapport with beings who exhibit various levels of intelligence: children, the mentally disabled, plants, and animals." (Ms M wants very much to add "MAGAts" to that list.) We need to develop "new communication skills that enable (us) to clearly articulate (our) needs and actively listen to and receive the responses of others." And the trine to the North Node helps us see the necessity of doing this.
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I posted 1,325 times in 2021
102 posts created (8%)
1223 posts reblogged (92%)
For every post I created, I reblogged 12.0 posts.
I added 1,714 tags in 2021
#shadow and bone - 309 posts
#sab netflix - 230 posts
#general kirigan - 208 posts
#darklina - 191 posts
#aleksander morozova - 188 posts
#the darkling - 174 posts
#ben barnes - 149 posts
#alina starkov - 101 posts
#aleksander morozova | the darkling - 95 posts
#alina x darkling - 69 posts
Longest Tag: 109 characters
#he would have worked better as a villain/anti-villain/anti-hero or idk a combination of all the above i guess
My Top Posts in 2021
#5
There is one thing that bothers me about Shadow and Bone. I am sure that I am not the first one to mention it.
The thing is, the surnames in the series are completely wrong. Starkov is a male form, it should be Starkova. And Morozova is a female form, so Alexander should be Alexander Morozov. The same is true about most of the surnames used.
I am suprised that the author didn't do her research before she started writing about a world that is inspired by Russia. It has to sound funny to all viewers from Eastern Europe. I myself am Slovak, but it's the same in my language.
If would have been acceptable if at least she would keep all the surnames in male form, that would be consistent and not as jarring. And no, it's not nitpicking, it truly sounds ridiculous. :-) It's as if she named Alexander Rosemary and Alina was James. That kind of ridiculous. :-))
It's a pity that the authors of the Netflix show haven't fixed this, but I guess it would have needed the approval of the author and maybe she wouldn't give it. Or maybe they didn't want to change it since this is how fans have known these for years.
Also, the occasional cases "Russian" spoken in the series are totally wrong, too. :-(
Well. I will pretend to myself that Alexander's surname is Morozov, and ignore reality. It's the only solution available to me, in the end.
95 notes • Posted 2021-05-15 17:01:39 GMT
#4
A discussion with @yototothelalafell @kestrafagnor @stromuprisahat and @vesperass-anuna gave me an idea how to perceive the books.
From now on, I will see the trilogy and the duology as propaganda works.
It's the winners who write history, painting themselves in good light and denigrating the side who lost.
The same way Shakespeare depicted Richard III as a monster even though it wasn't true at all. There are countless examples of art used as propaganda.
So. This is it! It finally makes sense!
109 notes • Posted 2021-08-31 18:50:21 GMT
#3
I read a long post about the origin of the "Bin Bons" nickname, and this was my favourite part:
I just can't. 🤣🤣🤣
111 notes • Posted 2021-07-31 08:50:34 GMT
#2
Grishaverse rant. Spoilers for RoW.
The other day, I was reading the ending of Rule of Wolves and realized something that maybe many of you have noticed before, but I hadn’t really thought about it prior to reading the passages I am going to quote.
The „good guys” talking about someone who is going to suffer for eternity.
(I have bolded some parts that made me feel like having a shot of vodka. I even might have had a shot of vodka. And now there might be no vodka left in my household. Because I have might read much more of RoW on that day).
1.
“You know what we did in the mountains.”
“Yes,” said Alina.
“You saved the world and doomed Ravka’s most deadly enemy to an eternity of torture.”
“Very efficient questing,” said Genya.
Zoya tapped her fingers against the desk...
“I’ve … I’ve been having nightmares, about the monastery, the thorn wood.” When she had touched the ancient tree, she had felt the Darkling’s pain. The dragon hadn’t let her forget it.
2.
Do you have a fever?” Genya asked.
But Alina’s expression was knowing.
“You’re afraid you’ll become him. You’re afraid you’ll be the avalanche.” Immortal and unstoppable, another tragedy to befall Ravka.
“What are we meant to do?” Genya said. “Free him? Forgive him?”
“Grant him death,” said Zoya.
Genya stood and walked to the mantel.
“Does he deserve it?”
“That’s not my choice to make,” said Zoya. “Not on my own.”
Alina rested her head on the back of the couch.
“Why are we even discussing this? From what I understand, the Darkling knew the bargain he made. He stands at the doorway between worlds. If he dies, the Fold ruptures again and the void comes pouring through.”
3.
Genya made a kind of humming noise. “So, if we decide he deserves the mercy of death, where does that leave us?”
-----------------------------------------------------------
So. What did I realise? That the books have no message. That's the problem. They're empty.
The „good guys“ are a bunch if selfish people who think themselves perfect. They are quick to judge. They never question themselves. They never try to see anything from another perspective. They are unable of mercy (with the exception of Zoya in the above passages). There is nothing moral about them. They do not care for anything but themselves.
And since the story is empty, we keep filling the void with fanfiction on the quest to add some meaning to it all.
I have spoken.
I must add that I do not think that everything in the books is bad. There are some good parts that are actually well written. If they were all bad, we would never bother discussing them or writing fanfiction. It’s the unused potential that is so frustrating. And LB not understanding her own themes. And that tragic lack of a deeper message.
Edited to add: They doomed Sasha to an eternity of torture??? HE VOLUNTEERED.
182 notes • Posted 2021-09-02 18:44:33 GMT
#1
A child who's gone through some serious trauma and has almost been killed by other Grisha children, processes these events by deciding to make a safe place for his people. And will spend hundreds of years to make it true. A very evil person indeed...
200 notes • Posted 2021-06-06 12:16:25 GMT
Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →
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I posted 11,809 times in 2021
1237 posts created (10%)
10572 posts reblogged (90%)
For every post I created, I reblogged 8.5 posts.
I added 265 tags in 2021
#a baby raccoon is called a kit - 71 posts
#my face - 70 posts
#ranma rewatch - 33 posts
#tubes and wires - 27 posts
#anonymous - 23 posts
#me - 15 posts
#voice asks - 7 posts
#about me - 7 posts
#mutuals do this - 6 posts
#me and who - 6 posts
Longest Tag: 136 characters
#and a buff lady trying to sort through her trauma and reclaim a sense of belonging and family after being kidnapped from hers as a child
My Top Posts in 2021
#5
playing ai: the somnium files and i don’t think the game knows it but they just dropped the most transgender character design on me like it was no big deal
4356 notes • Posted 2021-02-10 15:43:20 GMT
#4
what’s really interesting is that girls with praise kinks are all so very good
5240 notes • Posted 2021-02-28 04:18:38 GMT
#3
investing in MILFs by dating women and waiting
6348 notes • Posted 2021-08-24 22:54:59 GMT
#2
marvel villain who wants to provide clean drinking water for everyone in the world, but they want to do it by squeezing orphans in a big citrus press
21176 notes • Posted 2021-05-01 18:27:14 GMT
#1
all these gay girls are like "wow i want a big lady to step on me" but where is the love for short girls stepping on you? short girl intimidating you with her presence and body language alone until you fall over and she steps on you?? short girl taking down a girl who's much taller than her and making her submit??? where's the love for my shadow of the colossus bitches???
76140 notes • Posted 2021-08-20 18:16:14 GMT
Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →
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