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transneonneko · 3 years ago

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Things from Archie Sonic that I would love to see return in the Mainline Games and/or IDW Sonic!!

Recently, I decided to read some of the Archie Sonic Comic, from like issue 186ish up until the first MegaMan crossover and the reboot, mainly because there were some gaps in my knowledge of those stories. Mainly Issues 198 till 235, which I never got to read as a kid and, I have to say, there were a lot of really interesting concepts during Ian's run of comics before the reboot that I really loved. There was a lot of really interesting concepts I love after the reboot too. I wanna celebrate that. A lot of these concepts and story idea I feel really deserve another chance.

So I wanna make this list of stuff I wanna see return in either for stories in the Mainline Games or the IDW Sonic comics. Before we start, I do wanna add somethings. This post isn't meant to be shitting on IDW and being like "IDW would be better if they did this". I really love the IDW comics and universe. I also know that some of these concepts likely can't be done due SEGA Mandates and I'm not gonna include stuff like "Bring back the Freedom Fighters" because I feel asking to bring back characters isn't gonna be very productive, as much as I would like to see their return. Anyways, let's begin.

The Fate of the ARK

One thing that really inspired this list was this scene right her. We'll talk more about Silver's Future later but for now, let's focus on the ARK. I'm gonna assume anyone reading this knows the story of the ARK from SA2 and Shadow. Sadly, the ARK hasn't really been revisited in the main canon since Shadow, despite how iconic of a set piece it is. In the Archie Comics, we get a look at Silver's future and one of things that may have been the cause of how bad things are is the ARK crashed. Sadly, Archie got rebooted before the writers could go more into it but, from SA2, we know that the ARK was set to crash into the planet if all 7 Chaos Emeralds are placed into it, wiping out all life on the planet. This could be an excellent premise of another Silver adventure, whether it be in the comics or games, where Sonic, Silver and some friends have to stop someone from making the ARK crash into the planet.

Expanding the Eggman Empire/Egg Bosses

Something I've always found a bit lacking in the game canon is how the Eggman Empire itself has been presented. In the games, the Eggman Empire is usually just made up of Eggman, Metal Sonic, Orbot, Cubot, a bunch of robots and (recently) Infinite. It's not really an Empire if it's just one guy and a bunch of robots. The main goal is the conquer the world but we hardly see Eggman actually see what happens when Eggman conquers a place, like what happens to the people who used to live there, besides like Colours and Forces, where the Wisps and Mobians are usually just seen being imprisoned. The Egg Bosses are the perfect solution to this and adds so much to Sonic's World.

The Egg Bosses are Mobians who, either willingly or unwillingly, aligned themselves up with Eggman for whatever reason, becoming commanders of the Eggman Empire. This usually comes about when Eggman has taken over a part of the region and the people living in that region have no choice but to join the Eggman Empire, for their own safety. Not only does this make the Eggman Empire feel more than just one person but it also makes Eggman more a villain himself. It able to portray Eggman as someone to be feared and, I mean, this is a dictator and genocider who is pretty much declaring war against the world.

It also brings up some interesting thoughts about the world. Characters like Maw, Thunderbolt and even Nephthys to a degree joined up with Eggman because they felt it was the right thing to do for the sake of the world, or in Nephthys case, to stop things getting worst later on, meanwhile characters like Grand Battle Kukku are plotting to usurp Eggman, with Clove and Beauregard only working for Eggman to protect family or close ones.

As I said before, having these Egg Bosses also makes Eggman look more threaten, both because he's able to look like a "bigger bad" next to these villains he has command of and, because almost all the Egg Bosses hate Eggman's guts, they are cyberized, a terrifying process in which those who work for Eggman are focus to have parts of their body replaced with cybernetics, with either bombs which will blow if they decide to leave or a locking mechanism that will paralyze their entire body, ready to be locked up.

If either in the game or the IDW comic, I would like to see the Egg Boss concept return. It doesn't even need to be the same characters or use the name "Egg Boss." It would help expand the army of the Eggman Empire, as well as provide some fun bosses for the games I think.

Mobians and Humans living together

This was always a weird hangup I felt the series had. In the case of games between Sonic Adventure & Unleashed, Sonic and friends were the only Mobians, humans made up the NPCs while Mobians were reserved for main characters. Then in Forces and IDW, Mobians made up the background characters, so then Eggman is the only human. I really prefer it when they have the two living together, it makes it seems more normal and, honestly, a better solution than the whole "Two Worlds" explanation.

Eggman Seemingly Defeated

Can I just that I love Issues 198-200? In these 3 issues, Sonic and friends Eggman's main base, the Egg Dome. This including fighting on the outside of the base, involving fighting hoards of the Dark Egg Legion soldiers and Eggman in the Egg Phoenix. After dealing with the outside, Sonic and friends raid the Egg Dome itself, taking different directions, with the Dark Egg Legion seemingly retreating, until they reach the center of the base, where they are blocked off by a barricade, which only Sonic can pass through, giving a "Point of No Return" vibe, Dark Egg Legion soldiers lining up and saluting Sonic. Then Sonic reaches the center and finds Eggman in the Egg Tarantula, starting their final battle which Sonic wins. This defeat is enough for Eggman to lose his sanity, seemingly ending the war Sonic and the Freedom Fighters have been fighting their entire life.

Of course Eggman returns but, god, it's just such a memorable couple of issues. There's a real sense of finality to it. I would a sequence like this in the games, something that feels like truly ending the Eggman Empire and defeating them once and for all. Of course, it wouldn't be the end, Sonic games are always needing to be made which would lead to...

The New Rulers of the Eggman Empire

In the comics after the defeat of Eggman, the Eggman Empire is taken over by some of it's Commanders, the Iron Queen and Iron King, who rules the Empire as their own until they are defeated and Eggman's return.

I love the idea that even if the Eggman, there will always be someone there to take his place. The games could do this by having Neo Metal or Infinite take his place. Hell, IDW did have Neo Metal take over but I think what made that less interesting was that Neo Metal wasn't doing it for himself, he was doing it for Eggman. I think this would work well if a concept like the Egg Boss was introduced in the games, maybe have one of the characters part of that group take over OR have a lot of the more ambitious Egg Bosses war against each other to take command, until eventually Eggman returns and puts them in line.

Silver's Future

Silver is one of the most recurring characters, who always joins the gang when his future is in trouble. The problem is that we never see his future besides 06. We have no idea what Silver's future is currently until it's in danger and, even then, we never see it.

We see Silver's Future in both continuities of the Archie Comic, with two different takes. Pre-SGW has a destroyed city vibe, like 06 but less lava. Post-SGW brought a whole new take where people are ruled by a corrupt council where people are put into class groups, and security robots will arrest if you are not at your job at the right time. They even re-contextualize Silver's bracelets as cuffs that the robots can activate. With Silver being my favourite character as a kid, I remember being obsessed with this new world and story, wanting to know more.

I'm not saying they would need to copy this world exactly but it would be nice if they gave us a concrete and consistence look for Silver's Future.

The Heroic Metal Sonic

Right before the SGW, we were introduce to Shard the Metal Sonic. His story is that he was the original Metal Sonic, the one that raced Sonic in Stardust Speedway. He appeared later in the comic, where Sonic made him realized there was more to life than just being Eggman's killing machine. He seemingly died, but was rebuilt to serve as a member the Secret Freedom Fighters.

This one would be tricky to be included. It worked in the Archie comic as they had been many Metal Sonics throughout the series, each one getting destroyed. Meanwhile, there's only officially been one Metal Sonic in the games made by Eggman (two if we count Classic and Modern). Admittedly, Gemerl fits Shard's personality and does need to be used more in the games but having it be Metal Sonic is just a cooler concept.

I think a solution to this is that we have Metal Sonic 1.0 made by Eggman and, in Rivals 2, we have Metal Sonic 3.0 by Eggman Nega from the future. But what about Metal Sonic 2.0? I think we could have a game where after Metal Sonic fails, Eggman builds a replacement, being 2.0, which would give reason to Metal Sonic wanting to revolt, which could lead to a redemption? While I am loving the IDW comics, I do really miss a lot of what both Archie continuities offered. I haven't mention the some other concepts and stories I liked that really focused on certain characters such as Naugus, Geoffrey St. John, Dimitri etc. Maybe I'll talk about that another day...

#Sonic #sonic the hedgehog #archie sonic #idw sonic #pre-sgw #post-sgw #sega #eggman #eggman empire #egg bosses #shard the metal sonic #silver the hedgehog

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meirmakesstuff · 4 years ago

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1/2 Hi Meir! I saw your answer on WWC, and since you mentioned you're professionals, I figured I'd ask directly: I'm writing a second world fantasy with a jewish coded people. I want to be clear in the coding but avoid the "if there's no egypt, how can there be passover?" so I called them Canaanites. I thought I was being clever by hinting in the naming that the whole region does exist, but I've since read that it might've been a slur in fact? Do you have any advice on this?

2/2 I did consider calling the group in question Jewish, but aside from how deeply Judaism is connected to the history of the Israelites, I haven't used any present-day real-world names for any other group, (I did use some historic names like Nubia). I feel like calling only one group of people by their currently used name would be othering rather than inclusive? Or am I overthinking this?

Okay so I want to start out with some disclaimers, first that although WWC recently reblogged an addition of mine to one of their posts, I am not affiliated with @writingwithcolor, and second that the nature of trying to answer a question like this is “two Jews, three opinions,” so what I have to say about this is my own opinion(s) only. Last disclaimer: this is a hard question to address, so this answer is going to be long. Buckle up.

First, I would say that you’re right to not label the group in question “Jewish” (I’ll get to the exception eventually), and you’re also right in realizing that you should not call them “Canaanites.” In Jewish scripture, Canaanites are the people we fought against, not ourselves, so that wouldn’t feel like representation but like assigning our identity to someone else, which is a particular kind of historical violence Jews continue to experience today. I’ll get back to the specific question of naming in a moment, but because this is my blog and not WWC, and you asked me to speak to this as an educator, we’re going to take a detour into Jewish history and literary structure before we get back to the question you actually asked.

To my mind there are three main ways to have Jews in second-world fantasy and they are:

People who practice in ways similar to modern real-world Jews, despite having developed in a different universe,

People who practice in ways similar to ancient Hebrews, because the things that changed us to modern Jewish practice didn’t occur, and

People who practice in a way that shows how your world would influence the development of a people who started out practicing like ancient Hebrews and have developed according to the world they’re in.

The first one is what we see in @shiraglassman‘s Mangoverse series: there is no Egypt yet her characters hold a seder; the country coded Persian seems to bear no relation to their observance of Purim, and there is no indication of exile or diaspora in the fact that Jews exist in multiple countries and cultures, and speak multiple languages including Yiddish, a language that developed through a mixture of Hebrew and German. Her characters’ observance lines up approximately with contemporary Reform Jewish expectations, without the indication of there ever having been a different practice to branch off from. She ignores the entire question of how Jews in her universe became what they are, and her books are lyrical and sweet and allow us to imagine the confidence that could belong to a Jewish people who weren’t always afraid.

Shira is able to pull this off, frankly, because her books are not lore-heavy. I say this without disrespect--Shira often refers to them as “fluffy”--but because the deeper you get into the background of your world and its development, the trickier this is going to be to justify, unless you’re just going to just parallel every historical development in Jewish History, including exile and diaspora across the various nations of your world, including occasional near-equal treatment and frequent persecution, infused with a longing for a homeland lost, or a homeland recently re-established in the absolutely most disappointing of ways.

Without that loss of homeland or a Mangoverse-style handwaving, we have the second and third options. In the second option, you could show your Jewish-coded culture having never been exiled from its homeland, living divided into tribes each with their own territory, still practicing animal, grain, and oil sacrifice at a single central Temple at the center of their nation, overseen by a tribe that lacks territory of their own and being supported by the sacrifices offered by the populace.

If you’re going to do that, research it very carefully. A lot of information about this period is drawn from scriptural and post-scriptural sources or from archaeological record, but there’s also a lot of Christian nonsense out there assigning weird meanings and motivations to it, because the Christian Bible takes place during this period and they chose to cast our practices from this time as evil and corrupt in order to magnify the goodness of their main character. In any portrayal of a Jewish-coded people it’s important to avoid making them corrupt, greedy, bigoted, bloodthirsty, or stubbornly unwilling to see some kind of greater or kinder truth about the world, but especially if you go with this version.

The last option, my favorite but possibly the hardest to do, is to imagine how the people in the second option would develop given the influences of the world they’re in. Do you know why Chanukah is referred to as a “minor” holiday? The major holidays are the ones for which the Torah specifies that we “do not work:” Rosh Hashannah, Yom Kippur, and the pilgrimage holidays of Sukkot, Passover, and Shavuot. Chanukah developed as a holiday because the central temple, the one we made those pilgrimages to, was desecrated by the invading Assyrian Greeks and we drove them out and were able to re-establish the temple. That time. Eventually, the Temple was razed and we were scattered across the Roman Empire, developing the distinct Jewish cultures we see today. The Greeks and Romans aren’t a semi-mythologized ancient people, the way the Canaanites have been (though there’s increasing amounts of archaeology shedding light on what they actually might have been like), we have historical records about them, from them. The majority of modern Jewish practice developed from the ruins of our ancient practices later than the first century CE. In the timeline of Jewish identity, that’s modern.

The rabbinic period and the Temple period overlap somewhat, but we’re not getting into a full-scale history lesson here. Suffice it to say that it was following the loss of the sacrificial system at the central Temple that Judaism coalesced an identity around verbal prayer services offered at the times of day when we would previously have offered sacrifices, led each community by its own learned individual who became known as a rabbi. We continued to develop in relationship with the rest of the world, making steps toward gender equality in the 1970s and LGBT equality in the 2000s, shifting the meaning of holidays like Tu Bishvat to address climate change, debating rulings on whether one may drive a car on Shabbat for the sake of being with one’s community, and then pivoting to holding prayer services daily via Zoom.

The history of the Jews is the history of the world. Our iconic Kol Nidrei prayer, the centerpiece of the holiest day of the year, that reduces us to tears every year at its first words, was composed in response to the Spanish Inquisition. The two commentators who inform our understanding of scripture--the ones we couldn’t discuss Torah without referencing even if we tried--wrote in the 11th and 12th centuries in France and Spain/Egypt. Jewish theology and practice schismed into Orthodox and Reform (and later many others) because that’s the kind of discussion people were into in the 19th century. Sephardim light Chanukah candles in an outdoor lamp while Ashkenazim light Chanukah candles in an indoor candelabrum because Sephardim developed their traditions in the Middle East and North Africa and the Ashkenazim developed our traditions in freezing Europe. There are works currently becoming codified into liturgy whose writers died in 2000 and 2011.

So what are the historical events that would change how your Jewish-coded culture practices, if they don’t involve loss of homeland and cultural unity? What major events have affected your world? If there was an exile that precipitated an abandonment of the sacrificial system, was there a return to their land, or are they still scattered? Priority one for us historically has been maintaining our identity and priority two maintaining our practices, so what have they had to shift or create in order to keep being a distinct group? Is there a major worldwide event in your world? If so, how did this people cope?

If you do go this route, be careful not to fall into tropes of modern or historical antisemitism: don’t have your culture adopt a worldview that has their deity split into mlutiple identities (especially not three). Don’t have an oppressive government that doesn’t represent its people rise up to oppress outsiders within its borders (this is not the first time this has occurred in reality, but because the outside world reacts differently to this political phenomenon when it’s us than when it’s anyone else, it’s a portrayal that makes real-life Jews more vulnerable). And don’t portray the people as having developed into a dark and mysterious cult of ugly, law-citing men and beautiful tearstreaked women, but it doesn’t sound as if you were planning to go there.

So with all that said, it’s time to get back to the question of names. All the above information builds to this: how you name this culture depends on how you’ve handled their practice and identity.

Part of why Shira Glassman’s handwaving of the question of how modern Jewish practice ended up in Perach works is that she never gives a name to the religion of her characters. Instead, she names the regions they come from. Perach, in particular, the country where most of the action takes place, translates to “Flower.” In this case, her Jewish-coded characters who come from Perach are Perachis, and characters from other places who are also Jewish are described as “they worship as Perachis do despite their different language” or something along those lines (forgive me, Shira, for half-remembering).

So that’s method one: find an attribute of your country that you’d like to highlight, translate it into actual Hebrew, and use that as your name.

Method two is the opposite: find a name that’s been used to identify our people or places (we’ve had a bunch), find out what it means or might mean in English, and then jiggle that around until it sounds right for your setting. You could end up with the nation of the Godfighters, or Children of Praise, The Wanderers (if they’re not localized in a homeland), The Passed-Over, Those From Across The River, or perhaps the people of the City of Peace.

Last, and possibly easiest, pick a physical attribute of their territory and just call them that in English. Are they from a mountainous region? Now they’re the Mountain People. Does their land have a big magical crater in the middle? Craterfolk. Ethereal floating forests of twinkling lights? It’s your world.

The second option is the only one that uses the name to overtly establish Jewish coding. The first option is something Jews might pick up on, especially if they speak Hebrew, but non-Jews would miss. The third avoids the question and puts the weight of conveying that you’re trying to code them as Jewish on their habits and actions.

There’s one other option that can work in certain types of second-world fantasy, and that’s a world that has developed from real-world individuals who went through some kind of portal. That seems to me the only situation in which using a real-world name like Jews, Hebrews, or Israelites would make sense. Jim Butcher does this with the Romans in the Codex Alera series, and Katharine Kerr does it with Celts in the Deverry cycle. That kind of thing has to be baked into the world-building, though, so it probably doesn’t help with this particular situation.

This is a roundabout route to what I imagine you were hoping would be an easier answer. The tension you identified about how to incorporate Jewishness into a world that doesn’t have the same history is real, and was the topic of a discussion I recently held with a high school age group around issues of Jewish representation in the media they consume and hope to create. Good luck in your work of adding to the discussion.

#Ask #kermab #Meir Makes Stuff #Writing #jewish representation #Fantasy Writing #fantasy fiction #Mangoverse #Meir Makes Long Posts

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mylittlegemlins · 4 years ago

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Hello tumblr, during my childhood I was really obsessed with smurfs and since I found out that they released a reboot, which unfortunately I haven´t yet been able to see, I think I had some inspiration and ended up writing this.

I don't usually post this kind of blog about series unless I'm too immersed in it because I feel like it's too childish but to hell, blogging about-analyzing series for kids is my entertainment method and if I can't post about my likes on Tumblr I don't know why have an account.

So I present:

How to catch the Smurfs

This is the definitive tutorial on everything Gargamel ever did to catch the little blue critters.

It is based mainly on the animated series from the 80s and the 3 films that were produced between 2011-2017, I watched several episodes again to write this, but I still hope I don't forget some important information.

Following these steps:

1. Why catch the Smurfs?

During the comics, the series and the recent movies there were many reasons why Gargamel and other humans wanted to capture the Smurfs that change over time, among its main uses we have:

- They are ingredients for exotic dishes.

-Turn them into gold

- Ingredient for the Philosopher's Stone

- Use its essence to obtain magic

- Their tears serve as an ingredient for spells

-Their skin serves as a treatment to cure diseases

2. Points to consider:

This is a set of rules that fall between the lines when using a Smurf for any of the recipes mentioned above.

2.1 How many are needed:

In some episodes Gargamel was about to cook a single Smurf, so 1 is enough to eat them.

To turn them into gold you need at least half a kilo, about 6 smurfs.

2.2. They don't need to be alive

I didn't remenber any place where it said that Smurfs must be alive to use them in recipes.

2.3. Smurfette doesn't always count

She has to be a real smurf or else it won't work, during her first appearance before the papa smurf spell and the episode "smurfette unmade" where she reverts to her original form she is not a real smurf, so it wouldn't work unless that is in its blonde form.

2.4. Fake Smurfs:

The reason Gargamel can't just create another Smurf and use it in his recipes is because his creations are blue clay with a conscience, to turn them into real Smurfs you need the “true blue”spell

2.5. Artificial Smurfs:

Smurfette, Sassete, Kactus, Vicky and any other Smurf they come up with in the future, count as real Smurfs only after their transformation.

To clarify the points, these are the steps:

3.Locate them

The Smurfs are in a village protected by a magical force that makes it invisible or unreachable, it is only possible to find the village if a Smurf guides you to it, even after finding the exact location it will have disappeared if you try to return, so the best It is marks the surroundings of the village and look for them in the places that the Smurfs frequent.

It is possible to capture them when they leave the village, force them to guide you, enter the village using teleportation spells or hoaxes.

4.Traps

Catching smurfs is relatively easy, you can chase them with butterfly nets, catch them with your bare hands, using a cat or any other hunting animal, now that I think about it a hound would be very useful to track their scent.

Using some classic traps to hunt animals also works with Smurfs, traps with cages or hidden holes in the ground, or camouflage in a bush until a Smurf is close enough to catch it, you can't use traps like an obvious cage with food in it, they are too smart to fall for that.

It is more effective if they are placed in strategic places such as a field of smurfberries which is outside the village.

Small female creatures are also used as decoys, such as female smurfs, little mermaids and lymph to make a smurf fall in love and thus leave the village to a point where they can be captured.

5.Which Smurfs to capture

Personally I think there are Smurfs that are easier to catch, although Gargamel could not have a list of all with so many times that they have passed by his house, he should already recognize one or another Smurf and I remember that there is a episode where he knows some of his names.

The main cast, Smurfette, Hefty, Brainy, Clumsy, Greedy, Grouchy, Jokey and Handy as far as i can remember, they´re the ones that have been captured the most times and also the ones that have escaped the most, since they're easy to capture, it would be convenient to take advantage of this, but since they know how to get out, they should change the cages with them, put the cages in another place, move the objects that previously used to get out, and above all not to fall the same tricks again.

Papa smurf has been captured many times, he is the one who most leaves the village and if in one of his trips they capture him, maybe the others would not notice his absence, it is something difficult because he already knows how to escape and he can use spells against you, but if you manage to kill him the others would be lost without their leader, and with the disaster they would be easier to capture.

Lazy smurf takes naps during his work outside the village so it's a good chance to catch him, hopefully he might still be asleep while preparing the recipe and he won't try to escape.

According to his debut episode sickly smurf was never able to escape from Gargamel and Azrael; it is so easy that he catches him with his bare hands in 20 seconds.

Baby Smurf is more vulnerable for obvious reasons, the negative side is that there is always a Smurf looking after him, but if they manage to separate the baby it would be easy to cook , considering the life expectancy of the Smurfs is more than 500 years, it may remain a baby for the next 10 years so there is time to execute your plan.

Nat, Snapy, Sassete and Slouchy, the 4 children Smurfs that appear in season 5 are in almost the same circumstances as Baby Smurf.

In Wild Smurf's first appearance he kicked Gargamel in the face and easily made Azrael afraid of him so it might not be a good idea to mess with him.

I guess Smurfs like scaredy would never leave the village unless they forced it so the only times he gets caught is when they capture all 100 together.

6.Don't let them escape

In many occasions the Smurfs escape when they have already been captured by Gargamel, either from his hands, cages and in their closest attempts they escape from the pot.

These are the points to keep in mind:

6.1 Capture only one

If you capture a single Smurf than two or more as it will take a while for them to realize that one is missing and they will not come to their rescue, the more they are, the more likely they will find a plan to escape, so keep them in mind. separate cages.

6.2 The others will come

Once Gargamel has one or more Smurfs, it is 100% certain that the others will come to rescue him at his house, so it would be convenient to go to another place away from the forest where he can cook the Smurfs without others being able to find them. Gargamel has a basement with a secret door, he was able to hide there and pretend he didn't have them until the rescuers leave.

6.3 catch rescuers

Knowing that more Smurfs could come, you could use it to your advantage by placing traps on the doors and windows, or on the contrary, closing everything so that it is impossible to enter without having a key.

6.4 They will leave him for dead

In the episode "the tear of a Smurf ", it seems that if they don't find a missing Smurf it only takes a week for them to surrender and prepare for his funeral. You can hide the smurfs with their mouths tied up in a drawer and pretend you don't know what they are talking about until they give up, then it will be time to execute the recipes. If Gargamel had enough brain cells to keep the secret, he could eat the Smurfs and the rest would think they were eaten by birds or something and would not take revenge.

6.5. Do not look any further

If you already have 99 it is enough, even if you have only one, it is not worth risking it to find one more, it is a trap.

6.6. Don't open jokey surprises.

The characters always forget that gift.

6.7. Don't listen to them

On several occasions they try to make conversation to buy time, they trick him into thinking that he will bring more Smurfs or that he cannot eat him, everything is a trap.

6.8. Just kill them

He never did that but it's a very obvious choice, I don't remember somewhere saying that smurfs have to be alive for recipes, Gargamel has repeatedly expressed his desire to destroy them. Wouldn't it be easier to kill them before throwing them into the pot? if you can't, they don't even have to be dead, just unconscious or asleep. Gargamel has drops of lava in his lab for some reason, how come he doesn't have substances to knock them unconscious? In case he have many captured you could use classic techniques such as placing the cage in a tub of water until they drown, even stepping on them would be enough since they are very small.

6.9. Papa Smurf's books

If Gargamel tries to kill them with an epidemic, papa will have the cure, if he casts a spell, papa has the antidote, since he has been in the village on several occasions, he should take the opportunity to steal or destroy their books, he could look for the true blue spell and perhaps find another useful spell.

7.Enjoy your smurf soup

If that's all i came up with, you can already eat or become a millionaire at the cost of a smurf's life, hopefully you'll have to face a horrible revenge from papa smurf, but i'm not responsible for that.

8.Other methods to get smurfs:

This is a set of theories for alternative ways to get smurfs without capturing one from the village.

8.1. create smurfs:

In the second live action movie gargamel gets the formula for the true blue spell, so from here technically he could create smurfs, then transform them into real smurfs and do whatever he wants with them, during the series he had to look for the formula instead to look for smurfs.

8.2. Clone Smurfs:

In the episode "the hundredth smurf" Vanity creates a clone of himself that eventually integrates into the village, it is a genetically exact clone so there is no doubt that it is a real smurf. He just needs to place a mirror in front of a smurf and get it struck by lightning, Gargamel could capture a smurf and make clones that will work, he wouldn't even have to keep the original and he would have an infinite smurf machine.

8.3. Kidnap Baby Smurfs:

During the blue moon it is possible that a zork came to the village bringing a baby smurf, it can take up to 200 years without bringing one but if you are alive when that happens, you can try to hunt the zork and capture the defenseless baby.

8.4. Repeat the fake smurf technique:

If it is possible to create fake Smurfs like Smurfette, it might work on a second try, Smurfs are not very cautious around strangers, once Smurfette arrives in the village no one wonders where she came from or why she was in the forest, but rather Immediately they offer him a house, Gargamel could create a smurf and this time instruct him to lead all the smurfs in the village into a trap and make sure he does not turn good, he can also turn himself into a life-size smurf costume, Nobody will notice that there is an extra Smurf and he can repeat the same trap,third time’s a charm

9.Conclusion:

Surely there are many other methods to catch Smurfs but I can't see the whole series again even if I wanted to, because it is a series for children Gargamel never learns from his mistakes I think that catching Smurfs is not that exaggeratedly difficult, especially for someone who has access to magic may be as difficult as capturing a talking rabbit, Gargamel is just stupid.

The end.

#the smurfs #hashtag so that the blog is not invisible #smurfette #gargamel #azrael #brainy smurf #sassete #sickly smurf #no smurf was harmed during the making of this blog #vanity smurf #papa smurf #clumsy smurf #smurf village #I should look for some images #ready #a picture

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pastel-imagines · 3 years ago

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Songs I associate with BFDI / BFB Characters #1 Part 1

Album: Dum Spiro Spero

Artist: Elsa Hewitt

Author's Note: Hey guys. I wanted to try something different since I had a bit of time on my hands. Not sure if I will take requests for it. If I do it would probably be limited to specific genres or artists that I'm familiar with. Anyways this is the first part of two so feel free to view it and give your opinions :)

Track 1: Catvision

Right away the album opens with an instrumental track which makes this a little difficult, but I thought Black Hole fits the aesthetic the best. The song gives a very ethereal "floating in space" vibe and obviously that fits Black Hole perfectly.

Track 2: At Least I...

Again another instrumental track, and this one was more difficult, so this one is kind of one that can be exchanged with any "mechanical mind" character, but I put Roboty here because a couple of them will appear later in this list.

Track 3: Breeathing SpaceX

Hooray! The first track with lyrics! So I chose Flower from two specific lyrics out of the minimal lyric count. The first lyric states:

"It's hard to be me"

At the start of BFB, Flower was one of the most disliked characters which made it difficult for her to make friends and redeem herself. It also has shown to made her self conscious.

"sometimes you only need a seed"

Obviously seeds grow to create flowers, but I feel like that shows how it can take one person to realize your own mistakes and Flower definitely learned to be more caring of others.

Track 4: After Party

This was a bit of a toss up, but in the end I chose Pie because of two lyrics:

"what makes me who I am?"

and

"why can't I start living the way that I always meant too?"

I just feel like it fits with Pie's laid back personality a bit and I remember a line Pie said in BFB 7 stating: "Life may be worse now, but at least I'm free."

That gives me the impression that Pie doesn't have a completely positive outlook on life and she may not know what to do with it.

Track 5: PER ASPERA AD ASTRA

"I use music to emote because otherwise I just dont."

Dora doesn't really exhibit a lot of emotions and the way she shows a positive kind of emotion is when she sings her island song. Now besides that, Dora's intentions aren't always the most clear. The rest of the song talks about how she (Elsa) tries to show her love because she fears she doesn't have much longer with an unnamed person. I personally Headcanon Dora with Saw whether it be platonic or romantic and I can see her saying this thinking she will starve due to her not having an island to eat.

Track 6: TANTRUM

This one I feel like has the most connections to lyrics of the characters in this post

"no awareness of your weirdness. no awareness of your wellness."

Bubble obviously has some random quirks and outbursts but she doesn't seem to care. She also doesn't seem to notice the times when she's okay because she's so distraught about other things happening.

"worship only the sun until you're sunburnt."

Bubble is very loyal to her alliance but she sees their true abusive nature unfolds and now she's hurt seeing as how cruel her "friends" can be.

"But hope springs eternal. But there is hope re-emerging."

Rather than remaining submissive, Bubble steps up and calls Match out and warns people against Pencil's orders, notably Lightning. She also is willing to forgive and forget as seen in various episodes throughout the series.

#bfdi #bfb #music #elsa hewitt #bfb black hole #bfb roboty #bfb flower #bfb pie #bfb dora #bfb bubble

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stillness-in-green · 4 years ago

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Part 2 of the response to this ask:

Part 1 was about where I think Geten’s story is going, and if I think it’s likely that Dabi will kill him; it dealt mainly with how those characters are set up in canon. Part 2 is far more about the fandom, and the assumptions people make that lead them to theories like the one above--specifically, the assumption that the League was always planning on bailing on the PLF. Hit the jump below with me and I'll go over why I think the common arguments for that are misguided at best, and willfully misreading the text at worst.

WARNING: Contains some generalizations about parts of the fandom that I have mostly taken steps to avoid seeing on my dash, so some of my characterizations may be out of date. I’ve tried to desalinate this post as much as possible, but as an unapologetic fan of the MLA and of Spinner (who I do not bring up incidentally), this is a topic I feel particularly strongly about. Apologies, but I Have Seen Things.

DISCLAIMER: I like Geten better than Dabi. I don't think he's better developed; I don't think he's a better character--I just like him better. This is largely down to the fact that I find the MLA fascinating from a worldbuilding perspective and its members compelling personally, whereas I’m less interested in Dabi personally than I am the Todoroki Drama on the whole, and have been tired of Fanon Dabi for approximately 83 years. I’ll also be the first to admit that my take on Dabi is pretty mercenary--hardly the irredeemable psychopath the Hero Stans on Twitter see, but nothing close to Secretly Soft Big Brother Touya, either. If that’s not your bag, you may want to skip this one.

So, here's a bullet point list of the reasons I have personally seen on why the League was always planning to turn on the MLA:

Dabi and Toga mention "getting started early," and Shigaraki mentions a plan, suggesting that the League had a plan in place independent of the one they arranged as the PLF.

Shigaraki says he won't forgive the Liberation Army for messing with peoples' feelings, so he would never really mean it when he forges an alliance with them.

The MLA is quirk supremacist, like Endeavor, so Dabi would never work with them.

Dabi is just using Skeptic against Skeptic's will; it’s not a willing partnership.

Mr. Compress rejects the PLF moniker for Shigaraki, ergo Mr. Compress didn’t genuinely associate Shigaraki and the League with the PLF.

Toga hated Curious, so she wouldn't want to work with the MLA either.

Twice would never forgive them for what they did to Giran.

[Error: argument about Spinner's opinion on the PLF not found.]

So, let's go over those, shall we? Note that a lot of what I'm going to lay out below isn't conclusive. What I want to establish is simply that the canonical evidence isn't conclusive, certainly not as much so as the people who support this view espouse.

|| Dabi and Toga mention "getting started early," and Shigaraki mentions a plan, suggesting that the League had a plan in place independent of the one they arranged as the PLF.

In responses to my recent Overhaul post, I defended Viz’s official translation as an accurate rendering of the dialogue in question. In general, I feel like Caleb Cook is pretty reliable in his translations, if sometimes kind of stiff or dry in localization. However, there are times he makes assumptions about lines--as indeed a translator for a currently-running series will sometimes have to--and sometimes, those assumptions don’t pan out. This is one of those times.

Dabi's line, "Shall we get started early?" is based on an assumption Cook made about a line that doesn't have an actual subject. In the original dialogue--Hayame ni hajimaru ka--there is no “we,” not even in the form of some implicit collective in Dabi’s grammatical inflection, nor is there a question of "should." All Dabi’s doing is musing that the start (again, there’s no subject, and so no indication of the start of what, or the start as initiated by who) is happening early.

Toga's line communicates much the same, save that she does specify that the schedule/plan/arrangement is happening earlier than expected--which is totally true, since her line is in response to Dabi observing that Machia moving must mean Shigaraki's awake, and Shigaraki was supposed to be down for another month.

Shigaraki's line, like Dabi's, lacks a subject to describe what exactly is supposed to start as soon as Shigaraki wakes. He's saying something that would, in a more stilted way, be, "I wake up and then it's the start, right?"

None of these lines suggest that the characters are necessarily talking about any plan other than the one the PLF laid out. Yes, it looks somewhat damning that Shigaraki's first action (after getting himself a cape, anyway) is to have Machia bring him the League, but heck, maybe that was always the plan. Just because Shigaraki wants to rejoin his comrades doesn't mean the rest of the PLF didn't already have machinations that they were supposed to set into motion the moment Machia left. After all, the plan as Hawks understood it did involve simultaneous attacks on major cities--maybe the League was going to be spearheading one of those attacks. Further, Shigaraki knew something was wrong from the moment he regained consciousness, and we don’t know how that knowledge affected the call he made. Hell, maybe the original plan was for the League to be brought to meet him somewhere in a chartered limo; we don’t know.

It's telling that this idea that the League had a Secret Plan to screw over the MLA rarely seems to account for Mr. Compress and Spinner being confused over the suddenness of events. The response to questions about this seems to be that the "villain trio" knew about it, so the ignorance of the rest of the League can just be handwaved--the important members knew, and that's enough. This is ungenerous towards both Twice and Mr. Compress, but I have got particularly little time for Spinner, the narrator of MVA and guy who decided to devote his all to Shigaraki, being disrespected in this fashion. More on that later.

|| Shigaraki says he won't forgive the Liberation Army for messing with peoples' feelings, so he would never really mean it when he forges an alliance with them.

Shigaraki does say he won't forgive the MLA, but consider what he did to the MLA and its leader. He destroyed most of their stronghold, killed scores of them, is directly responsible for Re-Destro losing his legs, and saw that vaunted descendant of Destro about six inches shy of full forehead-on-the-ground dogeza. The League Shigaraki commands killed a great many more of them, including one of their inner circle. He commandeered the Liberation Army, its resources, and its grand cause. I think it’s safe to say he’s more than responded in kind!

I'm not saying Shigaraki feels for the MLA the same way he does about the League, far from it, but I do think he's practical enough after two hundred chapters of character development not to throw them away out of spite. In Chapter 246, he tells Ujiko explicitly, "When someone offers me something, I take it," and, "I'm done taking the heroes lightly. I'll use everything I've got to obliterate the dregs All Might left behind." From a purely practical standpoint, if he intends to throw everything he has at the heroes, he has no reason to throw the MLA under the bus, and 116,000 reasons to keep them around. I'm altogether sure that, so long as they stood to be useful to his plans, he would have kept them around.

|| The MLA is quirk supremacist, like Endeavor, so Dabi would never work with them. + || Dabi is just using Skeptic against Skeptic's will; it’s not a willing partnership.

I hadn’t seen the second point in the wild, but I suppose it must be how the “The League will betray the MLA” theorists are getting around Dabi and Skeptic’s clear collaboration and how that collaboration totally scuttles the first point, huh? Hilarious.

Anyway, setting aside the fact that Dabi showed up to the one planning session we were shown when even Geten didn’t, there’s evidence in the canon that Dabi was working with Skeptic since even before the raid. Consider that Dabi’s video was filmed at the villa (the wall paneling and the style of the couch both match) and ask yourself where the camera he used came from. Once the filming was complete, where was the video stored such that Skeptic could access it from his laptop? If Dabi’d had it on an SD card and Skeptic was seeing it for the first time, why didn’t Spinner, Compress and Toga watch it alongside him? Surely Skeptic would need to watch it through at least once to know when to splice in the footage of Jin’s death for maximum dramatic impact? On that note, by far the most telling piece of evidence is this: if Dabi wasn't already working with Skeptic, then why was he wearing one of Skeptic's body cameras during his confrontation with Hawks?

Further, Skeptic's protest when he’s pulled onto Machia isn't that he doesn’t want to be with the League; it’s that he doesn’t want to leave Re-Destro behind. Once he's resigned that it's going to happen, though, he's cocky about his talents and complimentary of Dabi's big reveal, even if he is exasperated about the League's antics. It's ambiguous, I admit, but given that Dabi's wearing his cameras, he had to have known Dabi had a reason for them--and given that he is both abrasive and mouthy, I can’t imagine he wouldn’t have demanded to know what that reason was.

Hell, Dabi even thanks Skeptic for his editing work, which is more direct positive approval than he's ever shown anyone in the League (give or take the high-five with Twice, which, genuine or not, he would have known he was doing on camera). That much-vaunted panel of Spinner telling Toga to come back to the League? Dabi's grinning, which in isolation you could read as a certain rueful affection, but with the full context of the chapter, it becomes apparent that Dabi is grinning at Skeptic's laptop, seconds after telling Skeptic to "hurry up." Skeptic is, at that moment, probably gearing up the video to project nationwide, and Dabi’s more focused on that than he is Toga’s crisis, even when Compress directly appeals to him for aid. He tells Compress he doesn’t care, the same way he told Hawks he doesn't give a damn about the League.

Let me be clear here: I'm inclined to take Dabi at his word. I think Dabi hangs around the League because, for all that he says one man's conviction can shake the world, he also knows his own limits, and the League offers safety in numbers and an avenue to pursue his revenge. Maybe he finds them acceptable enough company, maybe he even does like them a bit despite himself, but I think any affection he might have for them is entirely incidental to his views on their usefulness. In the same way, while he's willing to bail on the MLA when the heroes attack, I don't think it was his plan to do so, especially not given his apparent immediate regard for Skeptic, as seen in the deleted scene here. Sure, he dislikes Geten, but ultimately, Geten is a stupid kid too tied up in his care for Re-Destro--who's now worshipping the ground Shigaraki walks on--to really be getting in Dabi's way.

Maybe if the MLA really were as quirk supremacist as Geten makes them out to be, Dabi would be actively looking for a way to see ‘em burn, but as I’ve said countless times before, Geten is not a reliable narrator vis a vis the MLA's doctrine. Now, obviously I don't expect Dabi to give them an unearned benefit of the doubt,(1) not after what he heard Geten say, but if Dabi has been working with Skeptic, it doesn't take a genius to realize that while Anthropomorph is a perfectly good quirk, it is categorically not what primarily defines Skeptic’s "worth" in the MLA societal microcosm.

Nothing that Skeptic does reflects the way Geten talks about "elevating one's ability" or "sheer strength" in the way that HeroAca fandom tends to understand as referring to flashy and offensive quirks. And yet, Skeptic is a ranked advisor warranting an introductory panel with RD's inner circle and Geten is not. Perhaps, just perhaps, this might have led Dabi to reevaluating his initial assessment just slightly?

|| Mr. Compress rejects the PLF moniker for Shigaraki, ergo Mr. Compress didn’t genuinely associate Shigaraki and the League with the PLF.

So, this one's pretty wild, because, in the same chapter that had people crowing about Mr. Compress's dialogue, Mr. Compress's actions show the exact opposite of the conclusion this theory would demand. Specifically, if it was always the League's plan to ditch the MLA, Mr. Compress would have darted right past Skeptic, ignoring the man's cries for help. He doesn't--he picks Skeptic up on the way past and (at least in the volume corrections) deposits him safe with Dabi in Spinner's scarf. Of course, Skeptic still stands to be useful, but if one acknowledges that Skeptic's usefulness is reason enough not to abandon him, then what exactly is the argument for leaving 116,000 perfectly useful warm bodies behind?

But let's set aside Compress rescuing Skeptic and focus on the actual point, because that point in itself is still flawed. Mr. Compress's thoughts on the PLF in the specific talk bubble in question are somewhat ambiguous. It's another case of the Viz translation making a couple of assumptions that are just that--assumptions.

Compress's words in the Japanese are as follows:

Chōjō Kaihō Sensen.… Viran rengo no Shigaraki Tomura ga…

Viz then renders the line like so:

The Paranormal Liberation Front's… No, the League of Villain's Shigaraki…

Note that in the Japanese, the possessive no is only included once, to indicate Shigaraki's association with the League. Further, the original doesn't indicate any negation in Compress's thoughts. Yes, he could be rejecting the PLF association for Shigaraki, but he could as easily be narrowing his scope to Shigaraki as the figure he represents to the League, rather than the figure he represents to the PLF--not rejecting wholesale, but rather becoming more specific. Compress might also be thinking first of the PLF as a general organization, then narrowing down to Shigaraki specifically.

Rather than reading this line as an indication that Compress regards the PLF as temporary, I was heartened by the fact that Compress thought about the PLF at all! If the League really had been planning to discard them this entire time, then there's no reason for Compress to have ever taken the Front seriously enough to have thought about them in that moment of crisis. You can carry this back further, too. In Chapter 258, when Twice is asking Hawks for help, he says that Spinner and Compress have been in meetings for days. Coupled with Compress's first thought about the entity that will carry out Harima's desired reformation being the Liberation Front (or possibly "the Liberation Front's Shigaraki"), this indicates to me that Compress was taking it seriously, not just gorging himself on sushi on the MLA's dime.

Indeed, back in Ujiko's lab, when it was just Shigaraki talking about his backstory and his dreams of destruction, Compress looks the opposite of impressed; we know from his narration in 294 that he liked the League because they didn't place any importance on one another’s pasts. Yet, at some point, his view shifted to believing that fulfilling his ancestor's ambition, his bloodline’s duty, really might be back on the table. We as readers don't quite know when that shift happened, but given, again, his initial mental invocation of the PLF, I think we can assume that it's tied to that alliance, those resources. And sure, when the moment of crisis happens and he's really defining who and what Shigaraki is to him, and where his values and priorities lie, it's with the League and Shigaraki as the leader of the League. But that doesn't mean he never had his hopes for the PLF at all, or was partaking in plans to ditch them.

Also too, this is a man who was lamenting the loss of their partnership with Overhaul, a man who personally maimed him, on top of killing a comrade. You're telling me the guy who shrugged off his animosity towards Overhaul would willingly allow the League to plot sabotage against even wealthier collaborators against whom he has even less reason to hold a grudge? Come on, guys.

|| Toga hated Curious, so she wouldn't want to work with the MLA either.

This one's easy: Toga pretty explicitly hated Curious, but she's even more explicit that she likes the MLA because she thinks the world they want to create is wonderful. She says this verbatim at the end of 225, after Curious has spent the entire chapter hounding her with explosions and intrusive questions. What turns her animosity on Curious is not some reveal that the MLA's world would be terrible after all, but Curious calling Toga's "normal" miserable and tragic. Essentially, she doesn't object to the world the MLA wants to bring about; she objects to being turned into a martyr for that world, especially when that martyrdom requires that the things that make Toga happy be characterized as horrific misfortunes.

Toga doesn't like Curious; she kills Curious. And then she comes into a position of leadership, and we don't know a lot about how that position takes her, but she seems delighted to be walking out onto the stage to be announced as such, and she makes active contributions to the discussion of the PLF's plans in Chapter 245. We are, again, given no indication that her lethal response to Curious means that she's planning to ditch the MLA on the whole.

Incidentally, Curious asserts what she does about Toga only in the context of the world as it stands. The world's rejection of Toga's normal, and the extremes that rejection drove Toga to, are what Curious considers tragic and miserable, not Toga's fascination with blood in and of itself. She clearly believes that, in the world the MLA envisions, Toga's life would not be so miserable because she would never have been oppressed to the degree that she snapped. And frankly, Curious isn't wrong. The only reason she is a villain in that scene is that she's willing to murder Toga to project that tragedy to the world. If she'd been willing to sit down and have a civil interview with Toga to print it in a relevant magazine, she would have been fine.

|| Twice would never forgive them for what they did to Giran.

You know, this is a totally fair point. It is, however, somewhat complicated by the fact that Giran himself never left the PLF. Now, there’s almost certainly something to be said about Giran’s whole information broker shtick being terminally compromised by his capture, his maiming, his client list being hacked, etc. He had a bunch of identifying items strewn all over the country that were covered in the national news, items that people who associated with him closely certainly would have recognized. Maybe he’s laying low for a while?

I don’t know why Giran was still around by the time of the raid. I can theorize about his pragmatism or what have you, but the canon really doesn’t give us anything to go on. Still, if he really hated the MLA all that much, as he would be totally justified in doing, it’s pretty bizarre that Horikoshi showed him twice in PLF crowd scenes post-Deika looking nothing worse than kind of confused and uneasy. Heck, you’d think he would at least have merited a better seat in the crowd for the big merger announcement.

Giran aside, the fact that Twice never does hit it off with anyone in his regiment is, I think, telling. If there’s anyone in the League that intentionally kept himself at a distance from the MLA because of hard feelings, it’s likely Twice. After all, if he had befriended anyone, he presumably wouldn’t have needed to go to Hawks for tutoring almost an entire month after Deika. That said, the fact that Twice does go running to Hawks for tutoring shows that he’s at least doing his best to act in accordance with what he thinks Shigaraki and the rest want. That doesn’t preclude the League having a secret plan that he’s either in on and playing along with, or hasn’t been told about because he might not be able to stop himself from vocalizing about it. Still, while absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, obviously absence of evidence is not evidence of presence. So, lacking any sign that the rest of the League is planning treachery, I’m not inclined to assume Twice’s lack of forgiveness is indicative of anything other than his own feelings.

|| [Error: argument about Spinner's opinion on the PLF not found.]

:: INCOMING SALT WARNING :: INCOMING SALT WARNING ::

This is the one that really gets to me. I have never seen an argument that the League is planning to betray the PLF that convincingly explains the fact that Spinner, to all available evidence, threw himself wholeheartedly into trying to make the PLF succeed. To be more precise, I have seen one explanation, and that explanation is that the plan to ditch the MLA was a secret that only Shigaraki, Dabi and sometimes Toga knew about, and to reiterate, that is bullshit.

In my experience, this is an explanation proposed by people who care about Spinner only insofar as he can be a Soft Gaymer Boyfriend or score them rhetorical points, but have little to no interest in his ongoing--and, indeed, increasing--importance to the League generally and Shigaraki’s arc specifically. The dude who talked about how Twice’s home was the League, who got through to Toga while still respecting her choice when no one else could, the guy who recognized the hollowness within Shigaraki but also bonded with him over video games, the man who Mr. Compress said was Shigaraki’s most devoted follower(2)--this man did not do all of that for people in this fandom to say, “Oh, well, the others probably just kept it a secret from him because they thought he’d be bad at lying.”

Really? “Bad at lying?” And that’s an adequate justification, is it, for Shigaraki letting Spinner toil for months under false pretenses? For lying to the man who adores him the most? Of course it isn’t, but the people who theorize this don’t really care about Spinner’s adoration for Shigaraki, or the fact that Shigaraki rewarding Spinner’s feelings by allowing him to dedicate himself unstintingly to something Shigaraki was planning to discard from the beginning would be a blatant abuse of Spinner’s trust.

I have never seen anyone try to argue that Spinner was in on a plan to betray the MLA all along. That’s because it’s patently obvious that Spinner--forthright, direct Spinner, who named the merged organization with Re-Destro, spends all his time in meetings, has a direct exchange with Re-Destro about the state of their plans, and is probably the reason RD started wearing polka dots--went all-in on the PLF. But for the people who propose the “the League was always going to bail” theory, Spinner and his labors are an afterthought.

Spinner is not an afterthought. Where Mr. Compress has been captured, Toga could hypothetically be peeled away from the League via Uraraka, and Dabi almost certainly will be peeled away via the Todoroki plot, Spinner’s driving motivation at this point is Shigaraki himself. He connected to Shigaraki’s nihilism, his hatred, but also his humanity--the humanity in Shigaraki Tomura, not in Shimura Tenko. His empathy didn’t spring from contrived psychic glimpses of crying 5-year-olds, but from long months of observation, doubt, and gradually deepening wonder. He’s the only person currently with Shigaraki that I can see caring enough about Shigaraki’s welfare that he might sacrifice his own goals and desires to help Deku save him.

Spinner is not an afterthought, and I refuse to build or entertain theories that treat him that way. So as to his opinions on the MLA? Despite having his own reasons to be leery of them based on how shabbily Trumpet treated him, he was obviously trying to make the Paranormal Liberation Front succeed, which means he must have believed that Shigaraki wanted it to succeed. Therefore, unless you’re prepared to assert that Shigaraki (and everyone else who was in on it!) was cruel enough to lie to Spinner about something he was devoting so much time and energy to, the inescapable conclusion is that Shigaraki also wanted the Front to succeed.

(Note: After letting a friend pre-read this, I have been informed that there is, in fact, one explanation offered for Spinner knowing the League was going to abandon the PLF but working his ass off on the venture anyway, and that explanation is, “Something something wants to prove himself because low self-esteem.” This is so ridiculous I can’t even bring myself to edit this post accordingly. Low self-esteem! Because nothing would alleviate Spinner's low self-esteem like toiling for months over something that holds no worth to the people he actually cares about, right? Right?? Bah. Humbug!)

And but so, to wrap all that up: I fundamentally disagree that the League viewed the Paranormal Liberation Front as a temporary arrangement, at least to the extent that they were actively planning to betray their newfound--new won--allies. The fact that I don't think the League intended to discard the MLA out of hand does, thus, influence my opinion that, whatever Geten's fate will be, I'm pretty sure it's not going to be, "He gets murdered in a way that resembles nothing so much as a sick revenge fantasy dozens of chapters after the last point when such a death would have been remotely tonally appropriate."

Thanks for the ask, anon! Sorry about-- *waves at all of this*

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

(1) Not that Mr. “Burns Random Delinquents Alive For Not Measuring Up To His Standards For Villainy” has any moral standing to criticize others for how they determine the value of peoples’ lives, mind.

(2) Other translations for the verb in Mr. Compress’s Japanese line of, “You are the one who ____s Shigaraki the most,” include yearn for, long for, pine for, miss, love dearly, adore, idolize, and revere. “Most devoted follower” is accurate enough, but considerably less homo than some of the things we could have gotten there.

#bnha #stillness answers #paranormal liberation front #league of villains #stillness has salt #spinner defense squad

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tsukiyadori · 4 years ago

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Translations and when you are conflicted on whether you wanted to know better...

5 years ago, I had a bit of a little rambling at Translations and when you think you perhaps never wanted to know better… with Kanna Kii's "Yuki no Shita no Qualia" and its scanlation translation.

Last year I had a clear case of yes I definitely wanted to know better after all with Ohana's 23:45;Re.

Now this year I have very mixed feelings about I hear your sunspot by Yuki Fumino.

I hear your sunspot started as a 1 volume short, then got extended with another, before it got furthermore extended with another 3-volume sequel series.

I read the first two I hear your sunspot and I hear your sunspot: Theory of Happiness in German. Volume 1 reads itself a bit stiff at places and with sometimes weird phrasings, but on its own, it made sense for the most part. That didn't apply to a number of lines in Theory of Happiness, however. So with a bunch of question marks left, I went to check out the Japanese original to fill in the gaps. And then I made an interesting discovery.

This translation doesn't just botch some lines. It takes a number of liberties and some of them look quite like deliberate changes.

I hear your sunspot is about Kouhei, who is hearing impaired, meeting Taichi from the same university.

If you read the series, you'll notice, that for a BL it unfolds rather atypical. If anything there isn't actually any BL, or even remotely romance until well the half-line, while it focuses on Kouhei's troubles with his hearing condition. Until suddenly big drama happens and the BL part of its tag gets shoehorned in, almost like an afterthought.

And then you read the afterword at how the author was informed by their editor that the title was running in a BL magazine, so the main characters would need to fall in love with each other. And the author has no clue what BL even is.

So then there goes the sequel Theory of Happiness, which has this in mind from the start. And you notice that through all the volume it manifests via helluva cheesy romance tropes to the point that even Truck-kun is made use of. (Yes, that Truck-kun.)

Now, this is a funny thing. You have a plot about hearing disability with a grounded and realistic take on it. And by all means, it can be said, that it's fairly empathetic and respectfully painting how it's like with it.

But then there is also stuff like this:

To begin with, it's your fault I became a homo! Take proper responsibility for it, you!

Which the German translation turned into this:

It's your fault alone that I'm such a scatterbrain! Do something against it!

There is also this:

Senpai, did you like men to begin with...? - Eh. N-No... That's not the case...

which got turned into

Y-You... Did you always like men - What? That is.... I mean...

And then there is also stuff like

In a fashion, she is also a girl. Making her cry, I'm the worst.

that was turned into

Made a lass cry!! Really the worst!

So the first one is a homophobic trope joke often found in BL. The second is an equally thoughtless BL-typical cliché line. The third is yet another gender cliché and even downright at odds with Taichi's character, whose entire point is he's so dumb and honest-straightforward, that he doesn't give a damn about social norms and is equally overt and unreserved with both girls and guys. (Although it may halfway be excused that at this moment he is reflecting on himself and possibly imprinted rationality kicks in over his natural disposition.)

Did I ever want to know better there?

... nope, I think not. Not with this specifically. The German lines made perfect sense in their contexts' reading flow and did a fine job dodging or at least lessening these tropes in particular. (Although for the second it was still obvious as to what was implied since from the beginning Kouhei's love for Taichi follows the "but he and he alone is special"-trope.)

In hindsight after Truck-kun it shouldn't even be a surprise, but this really feels like the author had no clue what BL is (as even admitted), read a bunch of it, and threw a whole pack of its notorious clichés in. And given the afterword of Theory of Happiness it's clear they were still clueless at how to best fulfill the editorial requirement of "BL" and were more relying on their editor's judgment of "BL-like".

It's already noticeably bad in the German edition, but these original lines decidedly deduct from the credibility of the main focus narrative on hearing disability. Since a great part of it is the suffering coming about the ignorant thoughtlessness and prejudices towards the condition and Taichi is being a spokesman in a number of scenes overtly criticizing that. And then the author goes and does the very same thing themselves in another field. And completely needlessly at that, since all the panels, where these thoughtless tropes were shoehorned into, could have been cut (or changed like the German translation did) and nothing would have been lost.

That being said... Is the German translation a more pleasant read than the original?

NOPE.

Even setting aside the completely botched lines that made me consult the original, to begin with; there are more lines that take some major liberties.

There is this scene for example, where Kouhei talks to fellow hearing impaired girl Maya about his thoughts on how he's pictured life without his condition where he would have been happy, but never meet Taichi, contrasting it to the reality at hand after meeting Taichi.

After meeting him, I have come to be glad about being the current me, even if I can't hear. There are a lot of unpleasant things. I've thought over and over how I don't want ears like these, but after meeting him, even with all this, I'm still glad [to be the current me].

The German one:

Thanks to him my deafness has become less difficult to bear. I walked through a dark valley. So often have I hated my life, this disability. But since I've known him, it feels as if it's worth something.

Uuuhm, I mean, it doesn't destroy the mood of the general trajectory of him wanting to say that meeting Taichi was an emotionally game-changing event in his life, but, it's also not exactly what the original said? Not even really close? Also, the use of the word "deafness" is just tone-deaf at best, since part of both Kouhei and Maya's personal troubles is that they are not deaf, they are hearing impaired. The use of the word "disability" out of Kouhei's own mouth is also about as out of character as it can get, given how heavy that label rested on his shoulders.

But onto what made me look up the original, to begin with:

Sagawa-senpai, thank you for back then.

(Referring when she was emotionally in a hurt state, and he blurted out just about the words she wanted to hear most to the point it made her cry.)

What the German translation made of it:

About Sugihara... Thank you.

How. How do you botch such a simple line? Even leaving aside that this refers to the emotional climax moment of her character development. Also leaving aside, that she is always been of the opinion that Taichi is no good for Kouhei, hence there is nothing to thank him for on his behalf. Even leaving aside that she just had a conversation, admonished him for being stupid by not being in touch with Kouhei for half a year, so even had less to thank him on his behalf. Just looking at the line isolated from all: The first bubble clearly says Sagawa (Taichi's last name)? How in the world do you get this wrong??

There are more lines that are weird, but I've used up the maximum number of images per post here.

I'll just conclude with what the German translation made out of the afterword's little conversation between the author and their editor:

Japanese: Finally, you made it become (a bit) more BL-like! - Really?! - But I'd like you to add more lovey dovey-ness - I thought so after all!

German: Finally, the story has more meat and more proper BL - You think so? - But more TLC must go in! - Gotcha!

(TLC means Tender Love Care, apparently. Which I daresay is not common knowledge?)

This strange take on translating this conversation is rather ironic in itself.

I mean. Meat? Proper BL? Whatever is proper BL?

Ah yes, right, it must be those dumpster tropes plus Truck-kun.

No wonder the romance and even more so the BL genre is such a hotpot of stinky rotten cheese.

*sigh* (At least there was no rape porn I guess?)

But there is light at the end of the tunnel for this series: Those two volumes were translated by a certain Christiane Tamm, who seems to have no other translation credit whatsoever. The sequel series Limit is being translated by Dorothea Überall, who's a manga translator veteran. It can only get better than this. Now whether this change of translation duties is because the publisher noticed this translation was botched themselves or just because there was this 3 years long license issues gap preventing the series to continue after v1, we'll probably never know. But if it's the latter, yeah, the gap as annoying as it was, probably was a good thing after all.

#ramblings #translation #english translation #german translation #i hear the sunspot #hidamari ga kikoeru

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funkymbtifiction · 5 years ago

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I've been going through your tags and I'm curious about something: why did you retype Thomas Barrow (Downton Abbey) from an INTJ to an ESTP?

When I first typed from Downton Abbey, I got a lot of the characters wrong, because I did not yet understand how dominant functions operate and was not taking the time to seriously contemplate its many characters.

I shifted Thomas to an ISP once I understood the functions (his Se use), and moved him to ESTP after watching the new film / re-acquainting myself with Downton Abbey’s earlier seasons in December, because he’s a cognitive Se-dom whose big blind spot is his inability to see through things (inferior Ni).

Sometimes if you are confused, as I was, it’s better to play a comparison game.

The NTJ of the series is Mary.

Always intuitive speculation with her. Think about when an unrecognizable man comes to the house and tries to convince them he is their lost cousin Patrick, but he had amnesia and forgot who he was for awhile. Edith falls for it, because it sounds convincing. Mary rolls her eyes and says anyone could make that up, and what’s more, she instinctively accurately guesses exactly what he told her sister to convince her, even though she wasn’t there to hear any of it (”I would make up some story about ponies and parties at this house”). Mary is out of her depth when it comes to sensory things other than horseback riding. Her one instance of being opportunistic / reckless (when Pamuk came to her room and “seduced” her) was not like her -- Mary is a more careful planner than that, and tells him as much (that he thinks she is more ‘progressive than I am’).

Thomas... isn’t as much of a careful schemer as he thinks he is.

While he is always thinking about how best to profit in the future, you’ll notice how often he gets ‘conned’ by other people and how much O’Brien plants the wrong idea in his head. Ni-doms leap to their own speculative conclusions, they don’t rely on others to explain to them what’s going on ‘behind the scenes,’ and for better or worse, they operate off these assumptions as being true. Thomas does not, and is often blindsided by people’s hidden intentions because he took them at face value -- a common problem in lower N users. (She cons him into thinking a man is interested in him that isn’t and Thomas almost goes to prison for it, as one example.) He’s also proactive in taking immediate sensory action (blowing his own finger off to get off the front lines in the war, buying into the black market trade and being taken for a fool with false goods, etc) for impact, something that can and does backfire at times (getting arrested in a gay club because he was so excited to find others like him and have fun and jeopardizing his career, etc). He is also far more in touch with his sexual desires / needs / and aggressive and confident in pursuing them.

That’s the difference between Ni > Se and Se > Ni.

Now, the judging axis. Thinking about it, I’m now wondering if he’s actually an ESFP and not an ESTP. He and Mary seem similarly vindictive in lashing out personally against people they dislike, but Thomas hates way more people than she does and is far touchier about it -- basically, anyone who slights or insults him, from Bates to William. Yet, he almost always scapegoats people in a way that could suggest low, unhealthy and immature Fe, because he gets nothing out of making their life miserable other than satisfaction. I think an FP (since it Fi is all about ‘defending my identity against the outside world’) would be more hard-assed about being true to themselves, and less inclined to fake-emotions / flirtations just to make someone else unhappy. I’m thinking of him knowing William is in love with Daisy, and making it a point, with all his charm and ease, to ask her out right in front of him, so he hasn’t the chance to take her into town for a festival. Thomas had zero reason to do this. He just did it, to be hurtful -- and everyone else told him off for it. What did it get Thomas? Nothing, except the satisfaction of hurting an innocent, sweet boy. Bad Fe?

Mary sometimes screws things up deliberately for Edith, but it’s all PERSONAL to her. She hates Edith. She finds Edith pathetic, emotional, and a whiny twit who is irrational and often foolish in her mind. Mary never once messes with anyone else for the sheer hell of it; it’s always to get back at Edith, and she does it through cruel Te statements (inferring that Edith is only being ‘nice’ to the ‘old man who wants to marry her’ thus ruining her marriage prospects).

If I was going to choose any other type for Thomas other than ESTP, it would be ESFP but I honestly think he craves acceptance / to be part of a larger gay community than he is interested in total self-authenticity.

- ENFP Mod

#question #downton abbey #thomas barrow #estp #intj #estp x intj #intj x estp #type contrast #mary crawley

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low-budget-korra · 6 years ago

Text

Lets talk about Korra

Today I will speak of her, which in my opinion is one of the greatest characters everr : Avatar Korra.

At first we see a 17 year old girl who probably had her first contact with a lot of things. First contact with a big city, first crush, first handful of responsibilities, first threat...

It is worth mentioning that since day one, Korra has embraced the role of Avatar with all strength and love. She felt proud of her position and willing to do her job as the Avatar

(look at this precious little thing)

Remember that she spent her entire life locked in a training center, without contact with the rest of the world, so her knowledge of everything beyond the gates where she lived was new.

Right in the beginning we see her dealing with some Equalists Protestants, which she does not take seriously. And only when she witnesses the power of the leader of this movement, she begins to take the threat very seriously and also, to fear this man more than everything in her life until then.

What does Amon represents for Korra?

I think this question can be easily answered by Korra's simple argument of love being the Avatar. And at least in the beginning of the book one they hinted that her life was just about that, Being the Avatar.

We are not introduced to any friends of Korra, except for Naga, or past boyfriend / girlfriend. Nothing. We only know that this girl is the Avatar. And I would not be surprised if that was the only way she saw herself.

Maybe that's why fight in pro-bending was so important. Not only as a means of socialization, after all it was thanks to the pro-bending that she met her friends, but also as a training and more important, search for identity. I think part of the journey of Korra in the first two books is a lot about that: search for identity.

Then, answering the question, Amon is the only person who can destroy that image, which can destroy Korra. He can destroy it without even needing to kill it. And that's exactly what he does.

In episode 4, we have, in my opinion, the darkest episode of the entire Avatar series. To be honest, I'm sure that if TLOK were a live action series for example, we may have a scene of sexual assault or an explicit threat of this there , because of the power struggle there between those two characters, no, power abyss and the way Amon touch her, her face, without her consent . Some people felt some kind of sexual tension there, no wonder there are people who shiped Amorra (Korra and Amon) back in the day.

That scene is powerful because Amon did not have to sexually touch Korra to violate her. At least, this whole situation served for her to open up with Tenzin over her fears and consequently learn how to deal with them, because I'm sure Korra did not get over what happened there so fast.

Still about Power Dispute we have another character who exemplifies this: Tarrlok. Tarrlok is a rising politician who uses Korra as a pawn in his goal to seize the power of Republic City. Amon also uses the same trick, after all, the moment he defeats the Avatar, the city would be his.

So we have this young woman who will stop right in the middle of a political power dispute.

Tarrlok also serves as a comparative. While Amon wants to dominate and destroy the avatar figure, not caring about who she is, Tarrlok wants to dominate and use Korra. And this makes me think that, that metal box was made exclusively for her. Like if that shit was for Amon, he didnt know Amon was a bender so an simples cell would be good. I think Tarrlok knew that Korra may ruin his plans so he had that as his plan B.

In the end Korra lost the physical battle but won the ethical battle against both. But at what price? Amon was able to remove the bends of the Avatar. And without them, how could she be the Avatar?

I also strongly believe that one of the final scenes of the season, when Korra is facing a cliff, I believe she might be thinking about taking her life. After all, everything she was, everything she'd trained so hard for, had been destroyed in minutes.

She, with the help of Aang and the other avatars, recovered her bends and with the help of everyone, including her then boyfriend Mako, she "moved on."

In the next one, I used to hate the first half of book 2, but then I came to see with different eyes.

In that first half, Korra is unbearable. Everything she learned in Book 1 how to be more mature, less spoiled and all, was thrown in the trash and she was the same "child" of the book one only worse.

Until I stopped and realized that I was also unbearable and childish like this when I had my bad phases of anxiety and depression, as defense mechanism and keep people away. Returning to Korra, and if this way of acting of her was nothing more than this defense mechanism?

Whether or not she was betrayed by her own Uncle. Imagine, shortly after having your life turned upside down, when you are recovering, trying to recover your image as Avatar and suddenly your own uncle betrays you? Yeah.

"Oh, but she should not have stayed on his side against her father"

Yes, but remember that our, still young avatar, has fallen into the trap of believing and trusting someone just because that person says everything she want it to hear.

In the end, Korra again goes through a traumatic moment when she has her connection with past lives destroyed. We see how it affected her when she apologizes to Tenzin, through tears. And Tenzin, as the excellent master he is, tries to motivate her to face Vaatu again (now merged with Unalaq, her uncle) and so she is able to beat him and secure another 10 thousand years of Light to the world.

In the final moments, we see the (somewhat innocent) decision to reconnect the world of spirits and the world of men. And we also see Korra and Mako permanently end their turbulent relationship, which I will speak more ahead.

Book 3 begins in a more mature, we see all the characters being presented in a more mature way and it seems that Korra, now, has overcome everything that has passed. We have the relationship between Korra and Asami deepening as well, and I will also comment further on.

In Book 3, called "Change" we have a great sacrifice from Korra. Her life goes down a notch when she decides to save the new airbenders from Zaheer and the Red Lotus, the strongest villain she's ever faced.

Zaheer, unlike the other villains, who had not explicitly intended to kill Korra, had as goal just to kill the Avatar. And he almost succeeded.

Not only that, Korra was physically and psychologically defeated. She won the battle but not the war, we can say so.

So book 4 begins and we only come across Korra in the final minutes and she is unrecognizable. We see that, once proud and courageous avatar, in someone depressed and cowed.

I think it's visible that Korra is afraid of being the Avatar again, Toph even tells her that during the season. And I think it's totally plausible.

Korra's fight against PTSD is one of the most honest and realistic things I've ever seen. Do you think that after a violent battle and almost die, even winning in the end, the hero returns home and everything is okay? I think not.

Not only what happened in the end of book 3 , but i believe that she also has having flashs or thoughts about all her fights and all the traumatic shit that she passed

Another thing I think is worth quoting is that Korra took 3 years to feel safer and re-embrace her duties as Avatar. It was not 3 weeks or 3 months, it was 3 years. And anyone who suffers from some mental illness knows very well the stigma that is, the fight that is, because everyone wants you to be well in 6 months when the truth is that many times you spend years fighting against this. And this is a pressure that falls on you.

Imagine, seeing all your friends moving forward while you continue "stock in the same place"?

Only after Korra confronts Zaheer, I think that was a way to show her coping with the trauma, she improves to the point of returning to be the great Avatar we know. The once "monster Zaheer" who almost kill her now is some dude in chains who fail at his plans and created an big problem and needed Korra to solve it

One of the quotes that struck with me most was in that filler episode thats a summary of all what happened in the show , and in the part narrated by Korra she says "I was so naive" and the way Janet delivered that line..., with some pain and I know the sadness but at the same time, stronger and more mature ... I think it means a lot.

here in tumblr I think, I saw a phrase that until today marks me that is :

"The Last Airbender is a story of a boy who becomes a god. The Legend of Korra is the story of a goddess who becomes a girl "

This is strong!

And I get very angry when someone comes to downgrade my baby Korra because she is such an incredible heroine and her journey is also incredible.

The story of how life can be hard and unfair, how it can hurt and paralyze, but there is always a reason to move on. We should always move on.

Korra is definitely not weak, quite the opposite, she is one of the if not the strongest heroine I have ever seen. Korra inspires overcoming.

Now l will let to talk about the relationships tomorrow. I promise

#the legend of korra #korrasami #avatar korra #mako #the last airbender #aang #asami #tenzin #lets talk about

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bonetrader · 5 years ago

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Unusual RPG combinations

I like to tinker with mixing and matching rpg settings and systems. I will try to collect the ones I'm most fascinated with. I haven't found the opportunity to actually try any of these combinations, but I guess it doesn't hurt to put them out there in case someone finds any of them interesting.

Shadowrun redux

Setting: Shadowrun

System: Blades in the Dark

I adore Shadowrun. It takes all the bleakness of reality, amplifies it, but also mixes it with a lot of magic and wonder. And if you read the books selectively, even with hope.

But playing it can get convoluted, especially if your group is prone to overplan. And we know that plans always go sideways. There's no such thing as a milk run. Spending an hour on planning can be annoying in itself. But it's extra painful if it has to be thrown out the window in the first five minutes of execution.

Enter Blades in the Dark that instead of planning ahead encourages to use flashbacks on the spot to reveal how you prepared in advance to get past an obstacle. That makes pulling off daring heists a lot more easier for the players. Infiltration is way less stressful on the player if they can make up any forged backstory on the go, and do a flashback to make sure it's believable. There's still some minimal planning, but it's practically just setting the starting scene of the run. You don't have to specify anything beyond that.

The concept of crew from Blades also fits nicely with Shadowrun. It can tell the GM what kind of runs the players prefer, and gives the players the ability tospecialize their team. Blades was created for a different level of technology and magic. But it mainly focuses on the hierarchy of the criminal underground, and that translates easily even to a modern world. So I expect the same crews to work with Shadowrun, but more thematic options could be added to tie it closer to the sixth world.

The concept of hunting grounds should be reconsidered. In Blades it means a specific neighbourhood the characters are more familiar with and usually target. In Shadowrun it makes more sense to make it a specific scenery they usually operate in. For example it could be a specific megacorporation they often go up against, or a type of gang that's common in the sprawls they operate in.

Blades also offers a nice subsystem for handling reputation, growth, notoriety, and even stress and trauma between runs. Incorporating a specific vice for each PC also seems completely in line with Shadowrun's concept.

The biggest difference will be in character creation. Blades' system is more abstract than Shadowrun's. In Blades you have to pick a specific playbook for your character. I think that's OK. While Shadowrun allowed building characters skill by skill, it always encouraged working toward specific archetypes like face, rigger, or adept. Your playbook determines your starting stats, but you can still somewhat specialize it. Blades also allows crossing from a playbook to a new one, but that's long term character advancement.

Adding some elements of Shadowrun might not be trivial. Spirits could be more or less handled as the ghosts in Blades. But magic and technology would have to be specifically addressed. Some of it could be treated like fluff, making it mechanically irrelevant whether your efforts are more effective because of training, because of an implant, or because you are infusing them with magic. But at least mages, riggers and deckers would probably need their own playbooks.

Twisted Houses of the Drow

Setting: any fantasy setting with drows, but I have a specific campaign idea for Spelljammer

System: Houses of the Blooded

This is a re-skin of Houses of the Blooded. The ven and the drow have different values and cultures, but I think they share a similar style. Decadence and intrigue runs deep in their societies. I'd replace the virtues (attributes) of the original game with corresponding vices. And each vice would be linked to a drow god instead of the totem animals of the original game.

Instead of the romance mechanic there would be rivalry. It would work the same way, just with a different flavour. Drows could pick someone as a rival, driving each other to greater feats. Instead of creating art drows could develop schemes. Same as the art mechanic. The scheme could give a bonus to those it was shared with. Seasons, regions, holdings, and blessings would have to be reworked, but I think renaming them would be enough in most cases.

My campaign idea is for a group of drow renegades employed by the elven admiralty as covert agents. They would be sent for long term infiltration missions to places where surface elves are not welcome. Each of them would have an affiliation with a drow god as well, and each would have their own hidden agenda. It might even work if not all characters are drows. I could imagine one or two elf, half-elf, or shapeshifter mixed in.

If I ever got to it seasons of the campaign would include: Building up a career of piracy in space (remember, Spelljammer) to get on the good side of a notorious and elusive pirate king, and lead the elven navy to its hideout. Instead of holdings the players could manage trade routes they raid, and their ships. Another would be infiltrating a drow city to stop an invasion. I think this would be the closest to the original Houses game. And finally I'd drop them in a mission to arrive as inmates to Elfcatraz, the secret prison of the admiralty (named by one of my players) to find out who's really in control there.

Around Cerilia in 80 days

Setting: Birthright

System: Primetime adventures

This one is kind of cheating, because Primetime adventures is quite setting-independent. So I rather mean it's a better fit for the kind of stories I'd like to run in this setting.

Birthright's setting works on a comprehensible scale for me. Most fantasy worlds have gigantic continents with dozens of large countries. They are too large for me, and I end up with a vast countryside where everything's the same for weeks to go. But Birthright has a small continent, maybe more like a large island with five distinct cultural regions. And each of those regions have a dozen provinces, each province described with its own flavor. It's not complicated, but colorful.

I guess it was done this way to accomodate the strategy aspect of Birthright that was one of its main features. While the concept of ruling provinces sounds great, the setting really makes me want to have a game about just travelling through this world. Not with adventurers, but rather with tourists, merchants, travelers who are going there to see a foreign place, or do business with the locals, and not just to explore a dungeon that happens to be there.

Ever since I saw the Roman Mysteries TV series I've been particularly fascinated with the idea of having a bunch of kids as player characters who are brought along by one's aunt/uncle on business trips to foreign lands, and get into trouble there. For example a trip from a frontier barony to the capital city, traveling through the woods of wary elves, then sailing down the river, stopping in a few more interesting port. Or a journey to the magnificent kingdoms in the east, although there are many perils both natural, and man-made on the way.

Thinking in Primetime adventures terms each province or city could be a separate episode. And the peculiarities of the place could be used to decide which character's spotlight episode should happen there.

Even domains of awnshegh (people and animals infected by the power of a dead god of darkness, becoming "monsters") don't have to be off limits. Some of them were quite sociable, and even more ruled over people whose perspective could be interesting.

Crown of Wings

Setting: Council of Wyrms

System: Birthright's domain management

Council of Wyrms focuses on playing dragons from various clans who work together. Despite the central role of the council, and the politics between the dragon clans, Council of Wyrms didn't touch much on the actual politics and realm management. It was the same AD&D, just scaled up to dragon PCs.

But I think there's so much more potential in the setting. I could easily imagine dragons ruling the land, managing guilds, and churches, and building out ley line networks to cast spells affecting whole realms. So everything that Birthright's system offered.

The setting isn't fully fleshed out, but it lets us fill in the land with fantastic locations. Some cities and towns were mentioned at unusual places, full of various races. So players could run wild with ideas when they create their own domain. Should their be trade routes with a merfolk city, and underwater ley lines? Absolutely. Could there be a church based on promoting the halfling lifestyle? Why not?

And then there's the Council. Domain Power could determine the character's status in it. Regency Points, and Gold Bars could be used as bargaining chips.

But what should be its purpose? I have seen enough of the trope of warring factions who have to be unified against some common threat, maybe with a traitorous faction thrown in the mix. I mean it makes for a fine story, but I'm getting a little tired of it. This time I'd rather see a council as a way to trade, to exchange ideas, and to help everybody improve their own clan. It doesn't make for a strong narrative, but I think it's a more positive message overall.

I think the biggest restriction in the setting is that dragon clans are too homogenic. Like, each clan consists of just one kind of dragon. That doesn't help in putting together a game with diverse characters. The original game concept solved that by making the PCs agents of the Council who may come from various clans.

For a more political game we could introduce mixed clans. So the characters could be part of the same clan, while still coming from various places. Maybe they are outcasts or survivors who created their own clan. Or maybe their clan was open minded, and was located in a central place, so it naturally lead to it becoming more diverse.

Or we could say that they are from different clans, but their clans are neighbours and allies of each other. At least if you're like me, and you don't want to set the players up for PvP by putting them to opposing sides of a clan feud.

Custom Quest

Setting: Your long-running campaign

System: Fiasco

I think any campaign that went on for a while should be an easy source for creating a Fiasco playset for a one-time play. Fiasco is about nobodies trying to pull off something bigger than they are. It's about petty people, and half-baked ideas going wrong. And while that might still sound like your average adventurer party, here we know they can't win. They will be lucky if they don't end up in a lot worse situation they started in.

For convenience I will refer to the PCs of the original campaign as heroes. It's okay if they are not actual heroes. That happens pretty often. But they had the greatest influence on the campaign this one shot is based on, so we have to heavily rely on them.

So the player characters in this one-shot are probably just background noise in the original campaign. I think this is a great way to explore how the actions of the heroes might affect the common people in unexpected ways. Objects driving the character dynamics could be things the heroes brought back, created, or just used in a memorable moment. Maybe an artifact they sold off is making its rounds on the blackmarket, and someone sees an opportunity in it. Or evidence surfaced that could incriminate one of the heroes.

And it's not just Objects. Their shenanigans might have brought the unwanted attention of a powerful cult to the city. Or the local barkeep loathes the heroes because they trashed his place one too many times. And he's just looking for some idiots to exact his revenge. Really, just look for whomever the heroes might have ever slighted or aided to get a plethora of petty plots and strange driving forces in the community. This can give you the Needs and Relationships between the player characters.

Locations could be places well known by the players, preferably close to a place the heroes frequent. The heroes, and the more memorable NPCs could give some enjoyable cameos. And finally they could become part of the Tilt table to turn a bad situation worse in the middle of the game.

#tabletop rpg #fiasco #drow #Houses of the Blooded #Birthright #shadowrun #spelljammer #Blades in the Dark #Primetime Adventures #Council of Wyrms #rpg #rpg combos

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thorvaenn · 7 years ago

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Hey! I'm recent to the fandom and wanted to know if there's a MUST READ list anywhere or any really good gems that are unmissable. I've already went thought cavaleira's (almost) whole AO3 account and am still recovering from 'Take the Long Way Home' (like, how soon is too soon for a re-read?). Also, awesome blog :)

Hi!

So I bring you a mix of genres and there’s both canon and AU fics, basically what I feel really captures the experience of this fandom as I know it. Take the Long Way Home would be very high on that list so you’re already covered there, just linking for other readers.

Note: 1) Unless I absolutely couldn’t help it, it’s one fic per author but on this list there are MANY very prolific, very talented authors. Please check out their other works too. 2) Some of these are current or even abandoned WIPs. Some stuff is just too good even without an ending.

First you have the list of just titles and authors, then under the cut the same list but with summaries included because this is just so long.

Spoils of War by Fickle_Obsessions

A Brother’s Treason by dreamlittleyo

To Be the Anvil by Schaudwen

Faceless by thefirstwhokneels

The Old Ways by Clarice Chiara Sorcha (claricechiarasorcha)

Cavemen Thor and Loki by Icemaidenstory

Let slip the dogs of war by amberfox17

The Northern Sea by soltian

The Ice (and Mistakes and Accidents series) by themantlingdark

Good Inside by glayish

As if he were the Sun by ohfreckle

Waiting for the Moon to Rise by cavaleira

Wild Ambition Fortune’s Ice Prefers by amberfox17

Dead wings carried like a paper kite by illwynd

Mad Man by griseldajane

Make It Go Away, Or Make It Better by rayemars

Easily by proantagonist

God of Lies by izazov

Shadow in the Sun by shadow_in_the_shade

Something so Magic by thisdorkyficthing

You Pull Me Out of Line (Make Me Beg and Make Me Chase) by sexualthorientation (sexyscholar)

Where Shadows Lie by eyeus

A Poison that Never Stung by thisdorkyficthing

down to just one thing by helwolves

Dog inside the heart by thebookhunter

Wergeld by rayemars

In Your Heart Believe What In My Heart I Know by umakoo

Out of the Mouths of Babes by Rynfinity

Look To The Sky by karuvapatta

Number One Contender For My Heart by guardianinthesky

Facing the Vast by needleyecandy

Crash Into Me by ravenbringslight

Putting Out Fire by Hermaline75

Spoils of War by Fickle_Obsessions

A Jotunheim born-and-raised Loki becomes Thor’s prize after a war with the frost giants. Thor is thoroughly smitten, which unfortunately means he’s not too keen to take the slow route. No, the path Thor take has a lot more hair pulling and it’s Loki doing the pulling.

A Brother’s Treason by dreamlittleyo

Thor can tell, by the barely discernible narrowing of Loki’s eyes, that his brother is surprised to see him.

To Be the Anvil by Schaudwen

There is little Loki would deny Thor when his brother comes to him with less than innocent intentions.

Faceless by thefirstwhokneels

There is a special tavern in Asgard where, in complete anonymity, anyone can have their desire granted.Both Thor and Loki share the passion for what the tavern provides - it is only that they don’t know it of each other…

The Old Ways by Clarice Chiara Sorcha (claricechiarasorcha)

Based on a Norsekink prompt in which Thor and Loki get fake-married to avoid a diplomatic incident in the outlands of wild Álfheimr. Except they got real-married. And they’re going to find out the hard way.

Cavemen Thor and Loki by Icemaidenstory

Thor’s tribe destroys another tribe because they couldn’t agree about their territories. Loki, a son of the leader of that tribe, survives, but he gets captured and enslaved.

Let slip the dogs of war by amberfox17

Loki is too far gone, and barely seems able to hear him. The air hums with the charge of his seidr, bottling up inside him, unable to escape so long as he is bound within the enchanted cuffs, and the beast in him is still battle-hungry and furious. He requires release, and since he is not safe to be set free, Thor has only one other kind to offer him.Thor/Loki PWP, in a world where mages must be kept chained and their magic bound: Loki is Thor’s dog of war, unleashed only in the most terrible of battles, and now Thor must deal with the aftermath of setting Loki’s seidr loose.

The Northern Sea by soltian

Lost and freezing in the middle of the ocean, Loki encounters an intriguing and dangerous stranger that seems more likely to make things worse rather than better.

The Ice (and Mistakes and Accidents series) by themantlingdark

They’re twins. Fraternal, obviously. Thor is nine minutes older.

Good Inside by glayish

“Is this supposed to shame me, Thor? I thought you could do better. But I should have known.” Loki bares his teeth and when he speaks into Thor’s ear he makes sure his words bite.

“There’s not enough good in you to take the bad out of me.”

As if he were the Sun by ohfreckle

Thor is a Russian nobleman and Loki is his spoiled rotten consort who’s drenched in jewels and furs and is constantly whispering conspiracies and scandal into Thor’s ear.

Waiting for the Moon to Rise by cavaleira

As the newly crowned king of Asgard, Thor’s life is filled with stress as he as he navigates political intrigue and struggles to figure out what kind of king he wants to be. Desperately in need of a night of relaxation, he finds himself at a brothel he used to frequent in his youth. It’s there that Thor spends an evening in the arms of beautiful courtesan named Loki, and his whole world changes in ways he never could have imagined.

Wild Ambition Fortune’s Ice Prefers by amberfox17

When Thor went storming into Jotunheim he was looking to start a fight, but accidently winds up a pawn in Odin and Laufey’s plans for a permanent peace between the realms; namely, in exchange for the return of the Casket of Ancient Winters, Laufey is offering his firstborn child Loki, the Aesir-sized sorcerer, in marriage to Thor. Such a momentous decision is not to be taken lightly, so Odin sends Thor to live on Jotunheim - without Mjolnir - for a season with Loki, to get to know his prospective consort and to teach the wilful prince some diplomatic sense. Thor is horrified, his parents are insistent and no-one really knows what Loki is thinking, but he hasn’t stopped smiling…Or, a jotun AU arranged marriage worldbuilding fic, featuring a confused Thor, a manipulative bastard Loki, Jotunheim politics, a slow burn developing relationship and a motley arrangement of characters from Marvel and myth.

Dead wings carried like a paper kite by illwynd

In the heat of battle, Loki kills his brother. As soon as Thor lies dead at his feet, though, he realizes this is not what he wanted. So he brings Thor back, and surely all is well again. Right?

Mad Man by griseldajane

When Loki discovers that Thor has seemingly vanished from the nine realms, he uses all the tricks at his disposal to find his missing brother, including teaming up with the Avengers.

In the meantime, Thor is pushed past his breaking point and may have forever lost his way.

Make It Go Away, Or Make It Better by rayemars

It was a normal summer vacation until Thor spotted Loki in his bedroom when his cousin thought he was alone. Then it turned into something else completely; something that upends more than a few family secrets, and changes quite a few things for them both.

Easily by proantagonist

It’s not until Jane dies that Loki finally comes to Thor.

God of Lies by izazov

There are lines no one in Asgard should cross. Not even Asgard’s two princes.

Shadow in the Sun by shadow_in_the_shade

The year is 14 AD, Thor is a Gladiator in the Roman Colosseum, a captive from the wars against Germany, Loki is a Roman Nobleman, or something that looks a lot like it and everything Thor hates. When Loki sees Thor in the arena he knows he has to have him.

Something so Magic by thisdorkyficthing

First the scars, now this. And he bakes. All while looking the way he does.

Loki is dangerously intrigued by Thor.

You Pull Me Out of Line (Make Me Beg and Make Me Chase) by sexualthorientation (sexyscholar)

Thor, a Roman general in the Emperor’s army, becomes infatuated with Loki, a young pleasure slave. Smut ensues. Naturally.

Where Shadows Lie by eyeus

“We could call the enemy ‘Walkers’,” offers Bruce. “Like they do on The Walking Dead.”

Thor thinks they should be called Shamblers or Stumblers instead, but keeps his silence. His teammates might take offense to their iconic television show being referred to as The Stumbling Dead.

A Poison that Never Stung by thisdorkyficthing

Loki is a seventeen year old runaway that gets taken in by Thor. (Thor’s probably gonna regret it)

down to just one thing by helwolves

“Mother always said, the fastest way to a man’s heart is through an unbreakable curse of mysterious origin.”

Dog inside the heart by thebookhunter

Thor and Loki are the children of a dynasty of great actors. Their mother Frigga is a grande dame of the stage and muse of the finest European movie directors, their father Odin is going down in history as the Lawrence Olivier of his time.

Thor and Loki are following on their steps, with everything to prove, to themselves and to the world.

But as they become dragged under the public eye, so does their past, full of secrets and lies.

There are things that not even Thor can protect Loki from.

Wergeld by rayemars

It was springtime, and Thor had taken his men war-faring to seek goods for themselves; but raiding a foreign temple brought him far more than he’d ever imagined–in either goods or trouble.

In Your Heart Believe What In My Heart I Know by umakoo

A Jötunn AU set in Utgård where both Thor and Loki are Jötnar, Thor a blacksmith and Loki the jarl’s youngest son. Their lives become intertwined through friendship, which time shapes into something deeper.

Out of the Mouths of Babes by Rynfinity

“He’s my brother,” Thor says with a shrug. “I don’t expect you to understand.”

He doesn’t. He doesn’t understand any of it himself, after all.

Look To The Sky by karuvapatta

Most of his pleasant daydreams started like this: Asgard in ruins at his feet. And yet Loki felt very little satisfaction as he stepped over the wreckage.

Number One Contender For My Heart by guardianinthesky

Loki has never been into sports, but one day Amora drags him to a pro wrestling event, promising him lots of hot, sweaty guys. He finds himself less than impressed until a particular wrestler named Thor shows up.

Facing the Vast by needleyecandy

England has just declared war on Napoleon, Naval captains are winning their laurels on a daily basis, and Thor’s ship is ordered to the South Seas to seek out a lost scientific vessel. It is an assignment for an old man, but the Admiralty will hear no reason. All hope of glory lost, he takes to sea in a foul temper.

Loki is an artist employed by the naturalist who accompanies HMS Hope on the expedition of rescue and research. He is to make quick and accurate sketches of those plants that catch his employer’s eye. For the first time in his life, the rest of his time is his own.

Back home, their paths never would have crossed, but life at sea is different, and their shared journey brings many kinds of discovery.

Crash Into Me by ravenbringslight

Thor moves back into his childhood home to take care of Odin in his final months. Putting up with the old man’s moods and taking care of his failing body is stressful enough - and then Thor meets Loki.

Loki is the son of Odin’s neighbor and he pushes himself into Thor’s life with all the dogged determination of youth and the subtlety of an avalanche.

He’s the prettiest thing Thor has ever seen. He’s also 16.

Thor is fucked.

Putting Out Fire by Hermaline75

Life as a shifter has many problems. Like fires. And being adopted by a fire fighter, your ideal man, who unfortunately believes that you’re an ordinary cat…

#thorki #fic reblog #yessss nghhh i was planning to do this so thanks for asking and kicking my butt to do it finally #pawesomecatking #dunaasks #fic rec post

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supernatural-idjit-95 · 8 years ago

Text

The Curses We Utter, Pt. 8

“Juggernaut”

Series Masterlist

Summary: This starts off BEFORE the scene of the 'fast forward' I previewed in the last portion of Part 7! Also, a certain character is singing in this (hehe) so I will indicate that dialogue with asterisks :-)

Word Count: 7446

Notes: THANKS SO MUCH YAY I'M EXCITED!!!

Warnings: Violence, character death(ish), cursing, smut, extreme/adult situations…

****

Much was being planned over a couple pots of coffee that morning, you all knew you were going to need it. You and Dean were going to work on warding the dungeon, while Sam and Rowena worked out a new and improved spell to summon a Prince of Hell. It had to precise; as Rowena had suggested using your blood, you were hoping to god it'd work the way you needed it to. In most cases, the recipient being summoned could appear at anytime afterward, and anywhere…that was a risk you couldn't afford to take, not with the kind of power Asmodeus held. You sat next to Cas, who was beside Crowley at the table. Sam had taken Dean to the library with he and Rowena, to ensure he knew exactly what was needed (and how to paint them out exactly, Sam had said). Toying with the hem of your black t-shirt, you realized the v-neck cut showed more cleavage than you liked- especially on a day like this. Castiel sighed next to you. He had been quiet all morning, and you wondered if you should re-think your approach to meeting your Father. "You okay?" You questioned him. He pressed his lips into a flat line, but his eyes remained loving and friendly on you. "Yes, I'm…uncertain, that's all. You're sure you want to go through with this?" You nodded. "Yeah…I am. It's the only plan we've got right? Either we talk him out of hunting me down for the rest of my life, or-" Crowley's salty words cut you off. "-and convincing him to keep his bloody paws off my throne!!" His voice carried far in the room, but it didn't alarm you- all of you were used to his insulting outbursts. You rolled your eyes, giving a groaning response to him. "Ugh! Yes, Crowley! We will attempt to talk him out of my taking your filthy fucking throne!" You spat him a look of disgust around Cas, who sat back in his chair allowing you to with pleasure. "Anyways…as I was saying: It's either this, or…letting him find me outside of the bunker…" You let words trails off. Castiel folded his hands in front of him. "I've gone over it again and again in my mind. I'd like to say Crowley's right, that this isn't a fool-proof plan…but the latter…" He paused in thought and stared down. "…You can't stay down in this bunker forever. I know that. So as I've said before- I've got your back." He reached over to you, placing one of his hands on top of yours like he had just a couple nights before. It was comforting even though he was always cold. As his blue eyes bore into you, you realized he always seemed to look at you a certain way, like he knew something you didn't. His gazes were always filled with wisdom, respect, …or maybe it was love? Understanding the Angel wasn't important to you, though; all that mattered was he was there. "Spare me the theatrics, you dim-wits!" Crowley's gravelly voice broke through the air, making Cas grit his teeth in anger. Castiel stood from his chair quietly, turning to Crowley. His head leaned back to look up at the Angel towering over him dominantly. Cas's lip curled down at him. "Speak another word, and I'll feed you to Asmodeus like a piece of meat to a wild dog." He threatened, and his low snarl sent a visible shudder through both yourself, and Crowley. 'Get 'em, tiger!' Right on time, Dean, Sam and Rowena re-entered the room. 'Thank god!' You thought. "Are we almost set?" You asked, rising from your seat. Rowena happily but nervously nodded to you. "Yes, just the actual warding itself is left." You smiled at her thankfully as a thought pressed your mind. "Rowena, if you wanna go while we do this, I won't blame you. This isn't exactly safe…" You told her. It was the right thing to do, whether Asmodeus was your Father or not, he was still a Prince of Hell; and very powerful. Shuffling over to you gracefully as her heels clicked, she pressed her red lips into an affectionate smile. "My dear…I've always got a trick up my sleeve. And I've not been a very, how do you say it…scrupulous person, for most of my life. I'll be here, no matter what." She tossed one of her red curls over her shoulder and shrugged excitedly. "Besides…Prince of Hell and what-not…maybe he needs a Queen?" Rowena purred in laughter as Crowley made some god-awful gagging noise behind you. Grinning at her light words, you nodded a thank you to her. Dean stood behind Rowena, holding up pages you assumed were the sigils and symbols Sam and Rowena sketched out for you both. You nodded to him as well. "Ready?" He tilted his head to the side, gesturing for you to follow him. On your way past Sam, he patted you on the shoulder and said, "See ya in a bit." * Dean and yourself were almost done in the dungeon. The holy oil had been poured in overlapping circles all over the floor, just in case he didn't end up where you needed him. At first you thought it looked a little ridiculous, but then figured you couldn't be too careful. It was getting exhausting having to keep mentally reminding yourself that Asmodeus was your Father; as Crowley told you so anyways. It made sense to you though, how your eyes were yellow when you really focused on your energy, or when you were emotional…nonetheless, it still scared the shit out of you. "I'm almost done Dean." You glanced over your shoulder as you shook your red spray paint can vigorously, seeing him gathering up the four empty cans you'd already gone through. He had shed his flannel halfway through warding the east wall, and you couldn't help looking at him every time he turned around. You knew you should be concentrating on the task at hand, but watching his muscles ripple through his t-shirt made your heart race in ways you shouldn't divulge. "You should take your shirt off so you don't get paint all over it." You smirked wildly at your shrewdness as you finished up on the wall in front of you. You were glad you'd spoken it low enough to give yourself a 50-50 chance that he'd hear it. "Whooaaa easy there tiger…" You heard him drop his can, and then felt his hands wrapping around your stomach. You leaned back into him, exhausted from your 'extracurricular' activities the night before. Dean stood with you in his arms silent for a moment, then bent down to kiss your neck. "We need to get started." His breath against your ear made you wish you could hit the pause button, just for a couple hours. "I know…are you still with me on this?" You asked, lacing your fingers through his on your side. "A hundred percent, princess." * The lot of you stood in the dungeon surrounding Rowena and Sam as they prepared to summon your Father. A stone bowl sat on a stool in front of the two of them, Rowena tossing in ingredients and herbs flamboyantly, and Sam performing the incantation flawlessly as expected (you secretly nicknamed him Hermione Granger). Crowley stood between you and Cas, and Dean was by your side. Cas gave you a nod, and Dean had given you one of his confidence boosting pep talks moments before. "(Y/n)…" Crowley nearly whispered at your side, leaning toward you. The handcuffs still bound him, and he was in the dungeon with you for no other than reason than knowing he didn't want to be. You clenched your jaw. "What?" You growled back. "There's still time to stop this. You don't know what'll happen…this has 'bad moon rising' written all over it." Crowley warned. You saw his eyes were sincere, and his tone was grave and almost sobering. "Crowley…I'll kill you myself if you say another word." You replied to his grievous monition, paying it no heed. 'He asked me for help, and he's getting it. End of story.' Rowena motioned over to you, jolting you out of your blank stare at the bowl. "We're ready, (y/n)." You went to her side, presenting her the palm of your hand. As promised, she and Sam found a way to link your blood to the spell; hopefully ensuring Asmodeus would be compelled to come to your precise location, and nowhere else in the bunker. You nodded to her as she presented her familiarly old, but ridiculously sharp (you knew from experience) dagger, slicing it across your hand quickly. Wincing a bit at the sting, you stretched your hand out over the bowl letting it trickle down into it. "Now, Samuel." Rowena ordered Sam to conclude, and he chanted something else you couldn't begin to fathom. The bowl lit brilliantly with sparks that shot out around it, leaving a small feeble flame in it's place. Dean moved forward beside you as every person in the dungeon held their breath in suspense. He grabbed your other hand and squeezed it hard in reassurance. Your eyes were glued to the empty space before you, awaiting to see a Prince of Hell appear at any second. Your palms were sweating, and you grasped Dean's hand tighter the longer the wait progressed. Sam shot you a confused look, and you wondered if the summoning spell worked at all; when suddenly, the sound of feet hitting the floor sounded. And there he was. A man stood before you all, right where you hoped he'd be. He was tall and lean, looked to be in his mid-40's, wearing a modern-cut suit, all in black. His shoes shone so bright they were almost the first thing you noticed. Thick, dark blonde hair was styled slicked back against his head, matching his short-trimmed facial hair. "I'd ask to whom I owe the pleasure, but…I already know who you are." He stayed put as no one dared to speak a word, and he flashed an endearing grin at you with blinding white teeth; he was speaking to you, and you only. You were so enamored by his presence, you almost forgot… You took a quick stride forward, presenting your lighter. Lighting it quickly, you tossed it to the floor just in front your feet. Asmodeus chuckled to himself, and watched as the Holy Oil surrounding him came to life. The flames moved swiftly around the rings, igniting nearly the entire dungeon floor with colossal holy fire. It was up to you now. Asmodeus rose his gaze from the flames, his features illuminating in an orange-yellow glow. His eyes fell on you, and much to your relief, they seemed kind for the most part. "Pumpkin…I'm glad you found me." He said with a deep masculine voice, smiling gently with his bright green eyes. You shrank a little when he spoke. "Are you Asmodeus, the-" He interrupted you. "-the Prince of Hell, God of Lust himself? Yes precious, I am…and I've been dying to meet you." His honeyed voice was dripping with ego, and you reminded yourself not to say anything you usually would have. You shifted your stance. "Look, not to be straightforward and sound all cliche', but…are you my father?" You forced the words out of you like an exorcism. "And who told you that, might I ask?" He replied, his modern English accent precise. You cleared your throat and didn't dare to look at Crowley. If Asmodeus had common sense, after a quick 'eeny-meeny-miny-mo' he would figure it out himself, but you didn't want to chance it. Before you could think of what to say however, he answered for you. "Ahh. The cockroach crawled out of his pit…" He shifted his eyes to Crowley, who straightened his posture immediately. "So is it true?" You said boldly, attempting to regain his attention, while sensing Dean flinch behind you. It worked, and he refocused his gaze to you. "It's true. But that's not the only reason you called me, is it?" He knowingly raised an eyebrow at you, a smirk forming with it. "No, it's not…but I want to ask you something before we get to that…" You tried to swallow the lump in your throat, crossing your arms over your mid-section. The flames still licked at the air, the glow of them lighting your face eerily as you stood so close to them. "…Why haven't you tried contacting me, before this? All those years after my Mom…I-I've just wondered about you my whole life. It would've been nice knowing you were there…" Your voice was timid, your form sheepish as your shoulders sunk at your own words. Your Father locked his eyes on yours, his demeanor shifting from charismatic to intimidating in just moments. "Oh, please. Don't even start on the 'absent father' bullshit with me!" He was fuming, causing Dean to move closer to you, as you jumped at his sudden outburst. You remained silent, deciding to let him throw his temper tantrum and not get in the way. Asmodeus ran his hand through his thick blonde hair, ruffling the style just a bit. He shook his head at you, then continued. "You didn't need me…you've never needed anyone. And that is what makes you dangerous, (Y/n). When I met your whore of a mother-" "-Don't talk about her like that!" You cut his words off, barking yours back at him. He rose his hands in the air, palms facing you to signify he'd restrain his insults. Flashing his green eyes at you, he opened his mouth again. "When I met your…'dear mother'…I could feel you in my loins, I could taste the power we would share! And now that you're of age, a woman, we can reclaim our rightful place-" "-In Hell?" You were blinking back tears as your said the words. This wasn't going the way you'd hoped… You quickly raked the tears away, remembering literally everyone you cared about was watching you right now; you didn't want to be weak…again. Your Father nodded at you, a devilish grin splaying out on his lips. "Yes darling, Hell. It's ours for the taking…" He glanced at Crowley, who shrank back, then returned his cold eyes to you. "You know, when I heard you were seen with Crowley, I was hopeful for you; not that he would be my top pick for you…I mean being a woman with your power, you could have any man or woman you wanted. In Hell, that is." He paused, earning a disgusted look from just about everyone in the room, not including Crowley- who glanced at you just long enough to send you a perverted wink. 'Ohhh gross.' Asmodeus looked at Castiel and Sam briefly, then to Dean, eyeing him up and down as he ground his teeth. "But, as rumors prove true, you've chosen the Winchesters! Over everyone else in the world…you found them." His eyes narrowed on Dean, who wasn't frightened in the least- he ate scumbags like him for breakfast. And that's how you saw your own father now…a scumbag. Dean rose his hand, pouting his lips with sarcasm as if asking to speak. "Actually, uh, we found her. Yeah, we rescued her from the demons you ordered to torture her." He finished with a smug smile, puffing his chest out a bit. He placed his hand on the small of your back to show support. Asmodeus glowered at Dean, his upper lip curling angrily. "No, you deflowered her, Winchester!" 'Fuck.' You half-expected Dean to pull away from you then, but instead he stood his ground. The room fell silent for a moment, except for the crackling of the fire and flames feeding on the Holy Oil. Dean tightened his grip around the back of your waist. "Yeah, well…I love her. And she loves me too. Besides, you weren't exactly around for me to ask your permission…" Your heart fluttered hearing Dean say that out loud, not only to your father, but in front of everyone else. You stood taller, showing affirmation to Dean's words. Asmodeus lifted his chin threateningly. "Boy, I will skin you alive where you stand-" You roared at him, taking a step closer to the flames. "Stop! Please, Dad- Asmodeus, whatever the hell I'm supposed to call you- I'm not going with you. I have a life here, people I love. And if you ever cared about me at all, you'll let me be." Cocking his head to one side, he looked like he was weighing your statement in his head. "I made you, doll. You belong to me. You're the 'Hammer to my Thor', (Y/n)! You're alive for one purpose; you…are…a…weapon." Your pulse quickened, and your chest rose and fell heavily with rage. "Fuck you." Asmodeus rolled his eyes with amusement, mocking you. "(Y/n)…you have a throne waiting for you! Armies upon armies of Demons and monsters at your fingertips…and you'll throw it all way… for this? For them?..." He grew angrier, taking a step closer to the flames. "...For a hunter with a rotting liver? The best he has to offer you is a weak, unfulfilled life. Maybe you'll have a couple of brats along the way; but you will perish, dear. You'll be stashed away in this bunker for the rest of your life." Your Father's words stung, taking your breath away as he spat them in your face. 'Looks like I don't need to worry about Father's Day after all.' "I'll make this easy for you- come with me, and I'll let your friends and your boy toy live. If you don't… I'll kill every last one of them; starting with the Witch, then the Angel…and I'll finish with you." You squeezed your eyes shut, feeling Dean's arm on you tighten further. "So what's it gonna be…your Father, or them?" He questioned. Glancing up to Dean, you saw the sternness on his face, but his eyes were begging you to stand your ground. He made you promise him before all this, that you wouldn't take a deal from him if things went awry; that you'd stand up for yourself, for both of you. You reminded yourself of the warding and holy fire surrounding Asmodeus; he can't hurt you here, not right now at least. You met your father's hard, calculating gaze, and answered him. "I don't have a Father." The Prince of Hell ran his tongue over his teeth, shaking his head furiously; he looked like he was going to implode. He stared you down one more time, clenching and unclenching his fists insidiously. "So be it." Asmodeus's words had just left his lips when you all braced for whatever was about to happen. Drawing in an enormous breath, he rose his right hand in the air, fingers expertly poised… SNAP. With a snap of his fingers, the Holy Fire surrounding him extinguished all at once. Utterly pleased with himself, he surveyed the flameless ground around him, then looked up to you with sinister enthusiasm. "What…no applause?" He grinned at you all, advancing toward you with a couple of steps. Every one of your stayed quiet and frozen in place; you had no backup plan, nothing. You looked at Dean out of the corner of your eye, his jaw clenched, ready to attack. He swept in front of you, holding you back behind him with his right arm. Beside you, Rowena caught your eye. Her expression was dismal, but she gave you a sad smile, as if she was saying 'We tried our best' in defeat. Castiel and Sam stood on the other side of Rowena, wearing the same 'we're shit out of luck' expressions as she was. "Well, this has been fun…but I have promises to keep." Asmodeus spoke, focusing his attention to Rowena. She stood firm against his intimidation. As you realized what he was about to do, your heart jumped in your throat. You tried to move, but Dean held you behind him. "No!" Asmodeus rose his arm again quickly and flicked his wrist, snapping Rowena's neck instantaneously with a resounding 'crack', sending her limp body to the floor. You closed your eyes, knowing she was dead. 'What have I done?!' "Please stop! I'll go! I'll go!!" You scream at him, shoving Dean as hard as you could toward Sam and Cas. You weren't about to see all of the people you cared about slaughtered because of you. You'd find some other way. Asmodeus chuckled, standing feet from you now. "Sweet, sweet child of mine…the time for bargaining is over." His expression fell solemn, turning to the wards and sigils on the walls. "Those can't hold me, just to let you know…now, where's the Angel…?" You couldn't catch your breath, stammering, your thoughts running wild. You closed your eyes quickly, trying to regain the focus you needed to use your inner strength. You imagined what you did to the punching bag; only replacing it with the son of a bitch about to kill your friends. Opening your eyes, you knew they were yellow by the way your father looked at you. First he was surprised, then he seemed impressed. "You can try, dear-" Your right arm lashed out, hurling him to the back of the room and colliding with the wall. Your head was spinning…it took a lot out of you. You keeled over, leaning on your knees for support as Dean rushed to your side to help you straighten. Your Father was eliciting groans and curses under his breath as he stood again, stomping toward you with fury. Trying to push Dean away, he didn't budge. "Go!! Get them out of here!" You ordered, gesturing to Sam and Cas standing several feet away. Dean only looked at you with purpose, and said 'No'. Sam and Cas replied by keeping their feet planted where they were; none of them were leaving you to face this mad man alone. Crowley was plastering himself against the wall like a coward, attempting not to be noticed by Asmodeus. You grimaced as you realized they weren't going to leave you. He was feet from you now, as you tried to recover yourself from the dizziness. Seizing your arm out at your father a second time, he flinched- but then sneered at you. Withdrawing your arm and blinking, your eyes returned to (y/e/c), and you looked at Dean in defeat. "You're outta juice for now, doll…you're new at this, aren't you?" He taunted you, his eyes gleaming with malice. "Just for that little stunt, you're Angel and your boyfriend are next." Your screams filled the room as he swept his arm through the air, slamming Dean and Castiel against the wall, completely immobilized. Sam charged him, lunging with everything he had- and with another sweep of his arm, Sam was thrust against the floor with a cry of pain as he collided with the concrete. As your Father's focus was swayed to Sam, he quickly returned his attention back to Cas and Dean. Castiel's eyes widened, and let out an echoing cry, as he mustered everything he could to grab onto Dean's arm; and in a flash, he and Dean were gone. You blinked rapidly, your eyes darting over the wall with confusion. Then, it dawned on you what had just happened. "Ha! Your boyfriends just left you!!!" Asmodeus whirled around on his heels in laughter to face you. "The Angel just 'whooshed' 'em both outta here…just like that!" His laughter at you utter loss for words bounced off the walls, teasing you. 'They left me.' You could sense Crowley still behind you aways, most likely still trying his damnedest to blend in with the walls. Sam had picked himself up and stood, knees bent, ready to fight. His nostrils were flaring, a pained look plaguing his face while he tried to catch his breath. You didn't try to beg, or get him to stop; he wasn't going to, and you knew that now. Asmodeus was at arm's length with you now, just chuckling and hee-hawing at your misery like the bastard he was. "Ya know, let's play a game…it'll make this more fun- for me, not for you obviously…" He was still chortling, hand on his stomach to calm himself. "Let's play…cat and mouse. I like that one." He winked at you. You ground your teeth, giving him your best bitch face yet. When you didn't reply he moved closer to you, the laughter leaving him altogether. "If you don't play along nicely, I'll kill Sam right here, right now." He muttered in annoyance. Your Father exhaled slowly, and you could almost feel his hot breath on your face. Looking at him, you could see he wasn't joking. His eerie expression sent chills through you, and he spoke again, low and threatening. "Run." For a brief moment you were frozen, unwilling to believe what was happening. Crowley scuttled out the door before you could blink; his handcuffs clanging together as he went. Sam darted over to you in just a few steps and snatched up your hand, hauling you out of the dungeon behind him. Just before he could drag you past the doorway, you whipped your head around to catch one more glimpse of your Father. His eyes were vicious when they probed yours, wearing a wicked smile that betrayed all innocence. In that fleeting moment, you thought to yourself, 'Sometimes, the monsters win…' *************** Hand in hand, you and Sam raced toward the door out of the bunker; Crowley trotting behind you struggling to keep up. At last, you both were nearly sliding around the corner, the landing and stairs in sight. "C'mon!" Sam yelled back to you, yanking on your arm as he sprinted even faster. 'Almost there. Almost there…' Your legs were burning with the adrenaline, closing in on the stairway that lead to safety. You dared to glance behind you, ensuring Crowley was the only monster there; but he didn't seem all that monstrous anymore. Finally, the three of you were tearing past the giant table you loved so much, freedom in sight; when suddenly and without warning, a distant and mysterious humming sounded throughout the bunker. The lights flickered once, then everything around you fell. It was a maddening, sinister darkness that was something out of a nightmare. You, Sam and Crowley came to a screeching halt, plowing into each other. Sam was jerking you behind him every which way as he turned about in a circle trying to see. You could hear his shaky voice saying, 'No, no no…' over and over. The pitch-black darkness lasted briefly before dozens of red lights illuminated with an astounding flash; a shrill winding sound of a generator powering up with it. Joining in the ominous melody, low-toned alarms buzzed loudly from every direction. Pulling away, you saw Sam's face in the red glow. His eyes were hopeless and despondent as he looked down at you, his lips turned downward in despair. "We're locked in…he cut the power." His pulse was so rapid that you could hear his heart beating. "If we go now to turn it back on, he'll be waiting for us…you guys need to hide. I'll go." He said beneath his breath. "No!" You scolded him in a whisper, grasping onto his forearm. "Dean and Cas left, don't you leave too-" He cut you off, grabbing your face with both of his hands, his hazel eyes piercing yours urgently. "Don't. They'll be back. Cas wouldn't leave unless he had a plan." Sam let go of your face, seeing the fear in your eyes. "Okay. We all hide." He released a breath he'd been holding this entire time, collecting your hand again, ready to lead the way. You nodded, looking to Crowley as he agreed dismally. Sam quietly fished a set of keys out of his pocket, passing them to Crowley with a look of disapproval. Seeing they were the keys to the handcuffs, you knew it was the right thing for him to do. You couldn't leave him defenseless, whether you hated him or not; and either way, he was certainly the lesser evil at this point. 'An enemy of my enemy is a friend…' You thought. Sam pointed, ordering Crowley to take the kitchen. He rolled his eyes, but quickly padded off in that direction. The two of you headed back to the hallway you'd come galloping through moments before. Sam steered you right this time, and that was when you heard Asmodeus's voice echoing in the distance behind you. He was toying with you, calling out to you like a psychopath at the climax of a horror film; and you'd be damned if you didn't cringe with terror. "Oh, (Y/n)! I thought I'd make things even more interesting… Dammit, the looks on your faces when the lights went out were priceless!!" Your father's voice sung out over the buzzing alarms, teasing you with carelessness. Both of you kept going. As the red glow flashed overhead, you could see his jaw clenching just like Dean's when he was angry. Sam led you around a corner and down the hallway that would eventually take you back to the dungeon. "Sweetheart…come out, come out, wherever you are…" Asmodeus chided with a hint of eagerness, making your blood boil. "You know, I've got all the time in the world down here with you!! We could catch up, get to know each other…" His voice trailed off, falling further behind you to your relief. "…or I could rip you apart, limb from limb…" Sam pulled you further down the hallway, knowing too that the dungeon was the safest place at the moment… if you could get there in time. You heard your father's voice again, drifting eerily through the air, and sounding frighteningly closer. "…You know, I love the Rolling Stones…don't you, Dear…?" He called. Your brows furrowed, thinking to yourself that he truly was a mad man. You turned another corner, both of your feet stalking as quickly as they could without making too much sound; and just then, you heard him singing. "…*Time is on my side…yes it is…Time is on my side…yes it is…*" The Prince's voice flowed flawlessly, bouncing off the walls and echoing toward you. His haunting song prevailed, and the only thing you could do was to keep moving. "*…Now you always say…that you want to be free…But you'll come running…you'll come running back to me…*" "…*Go ahead, go ahead and light up the town…remember, I'll always be around……time is on my side…yes it is…*" Holding back tears, you were steps away from the dungeon door at last. It was left open still, and Sam glanced back at you, quickly ushering you in first. Once you made it in, Sam stayed put just outside the door way. His head turned from side to side on the look out for Asmodeus, then he looked at you. "I'm gonna try to get the power on, okay? Stay. Here." He ordered in a whisper. You shook your head in protest, moving forward to stop him when he held his hand up at you. "(Y/n), I'll be fine-" Sam's words ended abruptly, when out of nowhere a dagger was plunged into his side. Asmodeus. The outward thrust of the dagger sent his blood spattering onto your face as Sam fell forward; revealing Asmodeus leering behind him, wielding the weapon. Your blood-curdling screams filled the dungeon, not caring if you too were about to be slaughtered. You threw yourself down next to Sam, crying out his name. "I told you this would happen, (Y/n)…" Your father said to you, wiping the dagger off on his suit-jacket's sleeve wickedly. Sam crashed down to his right side, gasping for breath between cries of pain. You ignored Asmodeus, unwilling to give him the satisfaction of your attention. Out of instinct you threw your black t-shirt over your head, leaving you in your tank top, and bundled it up against Sam's wound. "Sam, stay with me! Stay with me, you're okay! Breathe…just breathe!!" Tears were flooding down your cheeks, watching your friends face contort and wince in agony. You looked up to the villain onlooking your living nightmare with sheer pleasure, who jeered down at you with insulting green eyes. Hearing heavy footsteps treading quickly outside the door, Asmodeus turned at the sound. In that exact moment, you watched as Crowley hurled himself into him arduously- the sound of bodies crashing to the floor resounding before you. Freezing where you were for a moment kneeling next to Sam on the floor, you heard Crowley and your father struggling outside the door. "Sam, c'mon we gotta go, but I can't carry you-" Your fearful voice trembled as you did your best to sit him up, holding onto your shirt against the bleeding gape in his side. At your words Sam moved, like he'd been trained for this moment his whole life. You groaned as you helped heave the giant to his feet, draping one arm over your shoulder to sustain him. "You with me?" You asked him, ready to move past the doorway; still hearing the punches and curses from the onslaught on the other side. Sam tried to nod in reply, and you stepped through the doorway. You turned your head to the left; you saw an exerted Crowley to his back with you facing your father, who was splayed on the floor and bloodied. He was the only thing standing in between him and you, but it looked as if he was drained already from the fight. A demon going against a Prince of Hell, no matter how powerful, wouldn't last long. As Crowley sensed you behind him, Asmodeus disappeared before your eyes. The King of Hell let out a growl at the empty floor where your father had just been. You would be glad he was gone if you'd known where fuck he went off to…being taken by surprise again couldn't be an option. "I'll find the bastard…take Moose and run!" Crowley tilted his head in your direction and commanded you with red eyes; and you moved your asses as fast as you could. *********** "(Y/n) slow down…I can't-" Sam tried to speak through clenched teeth. You could still hear the ongoing assault in the bunker, a better distance from you now. You were passing the table, heading for the library. It was the only other place you could think of where you wouldn't be trapped rats, seeing as how it had two exits. He was leaning on you harder now, and your muscles burnt terribly trying to hold him up. 'Cas, Dean, where are you?!' You screamed internally. "Shh- don't try to talk, we're almost there." You pressed Sam to keep going, because you knew there was no way in hell you could carry him. Dragging your feet and barely there, you were finally in the library. You didn't bother closing the doors behind you, mostly because you couldn't; you needed to help your friend first. The two of you made it as far as the third table before Sam collapsed. You toppled down to the floor along with him as the immense weight of him nearly crushed you. You righted yourself, moving first to apply pressure to the wound. The lights were still flashing, red death glows screaming 'war' blinking at you, reminding you of the impending doom with every flare. Your gaze darted from his wound to his face, his eyes were closed now after collapsing, and his breathing was rigid. "Sam!! No no no!!!" You reached out, tapping his cheeks with your palms in attempt to wake him…but he didn't. 'No, no no!!!' ***************** You wished to god you knew how to turn the power back on…you could leave him to find the utility room, get him to a hospital- but if you were killed along the way, Sam would be left unprotected. Something snapped in you then. Your chest tightened, your throat felt like it was closing…and you couldn't control it. The rage, the agony at watching one of your best friends dying, seeing Rowena die…from a call you made to summon a god damn Prince of Hell into the bunker. You didn't care anymore if he found you; you'd kill him when he did. But the tiny voice in your head was telling you that you weren't strong enough, taunting you… 'Locked in. We're locked in.' "Sam!!" You could barely hear your own screams over the ear-piercing alarms resonating through the bunker. Your hands shook furiously while you gripped your t-shirt you'd made into a makeshift bandage, and put as much pressure on his wound as you possibly could. You felt hot tears surging down your face, the bright and eery red lights still blinking with rage. 'Check his pulse…' You shifted your weight to your left hand to free your right one. Your hand, trembling and blood-stained, felt around his neck feverishly for a pulse; it was faint, but it was there. "Sam!! Dammit, say something! S-Stay with me, please!" You felt knives in your windpipe, while you implored an unconscious Sam through uncontrollable sobs. You returned your attention to his wounded side, and exerted more pressure to it again. Your eyes widened at the sight of the younger Winchester's blood, as it soaked through his shirt and rose between your fingers, trickling down the backs of your hands. Looking up, you whipped your head from side to side trying to see through blurred vision. The library re-illuminated, flooded with a red glow as the lights above you flashed again. "Crowley!!!" Your hoarse voice roared out at the top of your lungs- you needed him. Needed to know at least he was alive. More broken sobs escaped your throat, your teary eyes returning to Sam's near-lifeless body on the floor next to you. Still holding your body's weight into his wound, you cried his name out again. "Sam!! Please- no no no no…" Then, you heard a noise. 'Running…someone's running toward me…' You tried to decide whether or not you should hide, but then it dawned on you that it didn't matter- dead or alive, you weren't leaving Sam. "(Y/n)? Is Moose…?" Crowley's british accent sliced through the air, and you breathed an enormous sigh of somewhat relief. "Crowley, help him!" You begged, new and old tears mixing with the dried blood spatter on your face as they fell. He stood before you now and crouched to his knees. "You know I can't love…the bastard took everything I had. He could be back at anytime..." You watched as his features were lit by the red lights, and you saw the King of Hell was as sad, desperate, and afraid as you were. You gasped as the shirt you were holding to Sam's side slipped, dripping with crimson. You cried out, replacing it as quickly as you could. You knew there was no use, but you weren't giving up. Not yet. "Anything from Cas yet? Or Dean? Where's my Dad?" Your horrified eyes searched Crowley's, your face contorting in pain when you could see they held no good news. "Couldn't find him…and nothing from the dynamic duo." You bit down hard on your lip. It took you by surprise when Crowley hung his head. 'Pulse!!! Check his pulse!' You shook yourself, pulling it together- you felt around Sam's neck again for his pulse, and it was weaker. You closed your eyes. 'This is all my fault.' You couldn't even cry anymore; your breath hitched and your entire body shook as you fell back to your heels. Crowley's hand was on your shoulder in an instant. "You should've listened to me, love." ===>PRESENT TIME You ignored Crowley's harshness, even though his words sounded kind. "You can fix this, (Y/n). You can." He said, leaning down trying to catch your eye. You shook your head with a huff. "How the hell do I do that?" You replied. "You can heal him, you just have to focus. If I could show you, you know I would, but…you have to want it. And I know you do…so just try. Couldn't hurt." Crowley spoke in a hushed tone, gripping your forearm to guide your hand back to Sam's wound. Shooting him an uneasy look, you followed his direction. "Remember (y/n), just see it in your mind- want it. Make it happen." He urged you on, releasing his hand from your arm to let you try. Inhaling then releasing your unsure breath, you closed your eyes and pressed your hand into Sam's wound. You imagined healing him in your mind, thinking of what you thought it'd look like; his insides healed, his skin merging back together, and waking up. God, what you'd give to see him open his eyes. You not only wanted it, you needed it. You loved him, because he was your friend, and Dean's brother…and you knew how much Dean needed him. Your thoughts were wandering to Dean, as if you wanted to save his brother not for yourself, but for Dean…and because it wasn't Sam's time. Death couldn't have him yet. "(Y/n)…" Crowley's small but stern voice broke your train of thought, and you opened your eyes. Disbelief flooded your face, and for a second you couldn't breathe. The most beautiful golden glow was fading; leaving Sam's wound, and traveling back into the palm of your hand, where it disappeared. Your eyes darted to Crowley's. He was wearing the proudest grin a King of Hell could wear, and you smiled warily; wondering if you'd really done it, when Sam's eyes fluttered open. "(Y/n)? What the hell happened?" Sam looked at you, hoisting himself up to rest on his elbows. Holding a finger to your lips to tell him to be quiet, you slowly removed the t-shirt that was soaked in his blood covering his injury. And there it was, you'd done it. The gaping stab wound was gone, the blood on his skin the only reminder of it remaining. "I'll be damned…I didn't think you could do it." Crowley said sarcastically, shooting you a wink. Sam lifted his shirt, the events that took place dawning on him suddenly. His eyes widened as he looked up at you. "Did-Did you heal me?" He asked, his brows furrowed in question. You nodded vigorously as more tears, joyful tears, sprung from your eyes. You crashed down into him with a bear hug, trying to contain your happy sobs. 'I did it…I really fucking did it. He's alright…' You thought. A new voice sounded in the library's doorway, and your joy was torn from you instantly. "Isn't this cute?" Asmodeus stood, looming there like he was getting off on destroying your small win. Crowley squeezed his eyes shut in frustration, and you all rose from the floor to face him. The three of you soaked in the scene before you, Sam towering behind you and Crowley at your side. And every single one of you smiled enormous grins, and you laughed out loud softly. There stood your Father in the doorway...you should've been frightened, or at least angry- but you weren't. Because unbeknownst to him, Dean and Castiel were standing behind him. Asmodeus chuckled, shifting his hands to his hips in disregard. "What's so funny to you…your imminent deaths?" He scoffed, his devilish eyes searching yours. "No, I'm smiling because…" You said, sauntering toward him with a stride. "My boyfriend is behind you."

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