#also he goes through so much trauma and there's like. a whole entire war which he wins basically singlehandedly
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hekateinhell · 2 days ago
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anakin’s ptsd going into revenge of the sith
not to sound like a broken record, but one of the things i really love about the ROTS novelization is that it does a fantastic job of fleshing out anakin’s state of mind throughout the whole arc—beginning, middle, and end. to be clear, i do think a lot of things become more obvious in the movie once you’re looking for them, or perhaps when you’re just watching with an adult’s eyes and understanding of how trauma works and compounds—hayden’s acting goes a long way here as well, his micro-expressions and delivery are so on point for anakin.
but it’s even more devastatingly visceral in the novelization because right off the bat there is so much emphasis put on how it’s not like anakin just went through the trauma of seeing his nightmares about his mother come true, and then he is somehow doing reasonably okay until he starts having nightmares about padmé. he is not okay, has not been okay for a long time at this point! his ptsd is already so fucking bad at the start of ROTS, in what is the ‘fun part’ of the movie!
every single night anakin is being haunted by the memory of his mother, tortured and battered, dying in his arms when he was still a teenager. it’s not as if he ever had a chance to even begin to process what happened to her before being thrown into an active war zone for the next three years. he’s a military commander and combat soldier, regularly staring down the horrors of war with his best friend/brother/mentor/partner. he spends months at a time away from his secret wife, sometimes unable to contact her. much more often than not, he doesn’t know if he’s going to die today or if he’s going to lose one or more of the very few people he loves more than anything in the entire world. and he can’t and won’t accept that, which in imo is a very real response after everything he’s been through up to this point. healthy? no. relatable? understandable? yes.
again, i don’t think this is a mega deep read or anything lol like i said, you can see these elements to a fair extent in the movie too, but i also feel it is one of those aspects of anakin that can and does get lost in the sauce when people take the movie purely at face-value: “oh, he did all that because he had a couple bad dreams about padmé?”
no, it’s not a ‘couple bad dreams’ or arrogance or recklessness that pushes anakin to do the things he does, that pushes him to be more powerful, to be ‘the best’. it’s living in a constant state of terror and dread that has been building and building and building for years… the belief that he has no other choice but to be The Best or his loved ones will die, plain and simple. that is the weight, the pressure, the fear, anakin is carrying—this is already where his head is at when ROTS begins:
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Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (novelization) — Matthew Stover
and then of course, it gets so much worse.
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pebblesandpotatos · 5 months ago
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Per my last post, this is how I think the LU boys approach/handle drinking.
Time: He mostly only drinks at social events or in celebration. Him and Malon will get totally hammered though on a rare occasion and Oohhh boy they are a riot to be around when that happens.
I do personally think Time had a drinking problem at some point. And while I'm not exactly sure when or for how long, let's just say it's why Lon Lon Ranch doesn't offer alcoholic milk...for the moment.
Wars: He is the most normal when it comes to drinking. He's a soldier. Of course he drinks and gets totally slammed now and again. I actually DON'T think he had a problem though. When everything was going down during the war I think he actually avoided it like the plague in case someone tried to poison him, or just because he couldn't didn't want to let his guard down that much.
It's a fun bonding thing for him so whenever the chain gets to a village he always offers to buy the older boys at least a round of drinks. It actually takes quite a bit to get him drunk but if you can it's kinda hard to tell. He's one to just get a little over dramatic about things when drunk which...isn't that far off from his normal.
Twilight: He is such a lightweight. He definitely didn't start drinking till after his adventure and the first time he got drunk was a doozy. The guy is a total mess, can't walk, and his country accent gets really heavy when drunk. Is definitely starting an arm wrestling contest and probably winning. That being said it's gotten better and he can have a few drinks now but he's not as good as Wars about knowing his limit.
Sky: Sky rarely drinks. It's not a big thing on Skylof and it's practically non existent on the surface currently. I also get the vibes that Sun would be someone very anti-drinking and therefore Sky doesn't do it and is very okay with that. When he goes out for drinks with Wars and Twilight though he somehow is not the first one to get drunk (*cough Twilight cough*) but is a total messy, love sick sap when he does.
Wild: Does. Not. Drink. At all. No amount of teasing or pleading will get him to drink alcohol. He has gotten drunk once since waking up and the experience was awful. He woke up the morning after and struggled to remember what happened and it made the poor boy panic. I also think it makes his memories/flashbacks worse. So Wild is stone cold sober and will stay that way.
Legend: Ahhh, the one that started this whole thing (as it often does cause this man is permanently on my mind). Legend is more like Time in that it's more of a social/celebratory thing for him but probably does it a bit more often. He doesn't like getting drunk though so it's rare for him to drink that much.
If you do get him drunk? Ohh boy. Oh have fun with him. Legend is basically an entirely different person when drunk. This boy is making friends with everyone. He's telling stories, cracking jokes and just being the friendly traveler he was born to be before all the trauma. He will break out into song if given the chance and try to get everyone to join him. And he will succeed. He drips charisma when drunk and its almost as intoxicating as the actual alcohol.
Hyrule: The desire to say he doesn't even know what alcohol is would be an absolute lie. Hyrule definitely drinks to the shock of the others. (Mostly Wars). Can absolutely out drink basically all of them except Wars and Time. Is the most likely to start a bar fight. Not for himself, but on behalf of his brothers. And if anyone dares try to spoil Legend's cheerful mood? Bro better start digging his own grave cause Hyrule will be out for blood.
Four: Not a big drinker. More than Sky but only barely. Each of the colors handle it differently so unless he splits it's gonna give him the worst hangover/migraine. You also never know what you're gonna get, it'll depend on which color is coming through the most. Vio turns into the biggest little shit and is probably gonna be the one getting punched for saying the wrong thing. Green is probably the one who punched him, red is passed out in the corner and blue is eating everything he can get his hands on.
Wind: Has he had drinks before? Yes, duh he is literally a pirate. Does his grandma know? No and it will stay that way if he has any say about it. However he lies through his teeth about how much he actually has/does. It's his way to make the others not look at him like the child he is. He also just loves how horrified the others are when he drinks from a flask. (It's just his grandma's soup). The only ones that have figured it out is Legend and Wild who help him keep up the facade cause they too think it's hilarious to see the others flip out
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daisynik7 · 2 years ago
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Iris
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And I don't want the world to see me, ‘cause I don't think that they'd understand. When everything's made to be broken, I just want you to know who I am.
Pairing: Eren Jaeger x f!reader
Rating: Mature – MINORS DO NOT INTERACT
Word Count: ~4.5k (I went way over than I was supposed to, lol)
cw: switching POVs (2nd person reader, 3rd person Eren), canon-universe, VERY canon-divergent, consider this a what-if scenario, major AOT spoilers up to season 4, angst, hurt/comfort, fluff, smut – PIV sex (cowgirl position), fingering 
Summary: At the Battle of Fort Slava, Eren Jaeger, hell-bent on launching his ultimate attack on Marley, injures himself to pose as a wounded soldier, granting him admittance to the hospital to finalize his plans. You, an Eldian volunteer working at the hospital, start treating this new patient, nervous about his mysterious demeanor. Eventually, you learn that you have much more in common with each other than you think. 
Author’s Note: Thank you @ichinosejager13 for your second request for the y2k karaoke party! I did something totally different this time; I wrote a fic set in the canon universe. I thought it fit well with this song, so I hope you like it! While it’s set in the canon universe, it is very obviously canon divergent, so please remember I took a lot of liberties with this. I am in no way suggesting that any of this is what I wish happened in canon. I just think it was an interesting idea to write. Also, I understand that this will seem very out-of-character for Eren, but let’s just roll with it because it's all in good fun, lol. 
Like, reblogs, and/or comments are ALWAYS appreciated! Thank you for reading! MDNI banner by @/cafekitsune.
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Fort Slava, huddled in the trenches. Blade through his leg, bullet in his eye. This is the last vivid memory Eren can recall as he stands in line outside the hospital, waiting to be admitted. Some asshole Marleyan imitates explosion sounds, causing all of those around him to fall to the ground, cowering in fear. They suffer trauma from the battlefield, and even Eren, with a clear conscious now, is affected by it. A kid, another Eldian dawning the same yellow armband as he is, steps towards them, kneeling down to help them up. He even assists Eren, correcting his armband to his left arm instead of the right. Luckily, it goes unnoticed by everyone else, which is exactly what he wants. 
It's all part of his plan; the attack on Marley. It’s been in the works for months now, starting with his infiltration of the army, fighting alongside Marleyans and Eldians alike. He thought he’d have better clarity of the situation, maybe get convinced to call the whole thing off after bonding with other solders through the tragedies of violence and war. Unfortunately, it’s only made him realize how much more he needs to follow through with it. Nothing will ever change in this cruel world unless he’s the one to do it. 
There are days when he gets cold feet. He’s tempted to re-evaluate, find a way back to his home of Paradis, reunite with his friends, devise a better plan and figure it out together. But in all the futures Eren can see, his current plan is the only one that will work. The only one that will grant him the freedom he’s been chasing his entire life.  
The process is slow to get a room in the hospital. Luck remains on Eren’s side when he’s assigned a private room. It’s barren; a single-bed, just long enough to accommodate his stature, withered sheets and rusted iron on the frame. There’s a small nightstand beside it with two drawers to hide his belongings, which is essentially nothing, and atop is a small lamp, illuminating the room in a dreary glow. It’s not luxurious, but it’s enough for the time-being. Because that’s all Eren needs right now: time. 
Eventually, Zeke will find him. They’ve been contacting each other for a while now, and Eren has a firm grasp on what his older brother is trying to convince him to do with the Founder’s power. While he doesn’t agree with his idea to euthanize the entire race of Eldians, Eren needs to entertain it long enough to manipulate Zeke into letting him use his royal blood. 
It's all convoluted and fucked up, he’s aware of that. Somedays, he wishes he could escape this curse without doing anything at all. That one day, he’d be gone from this world, liberated from his Titan power, saved from this burdened life. This isn’t what he imagined while reading all those books he and Armin would marvel at as kids. This isn’t the freedom he was hoping for. 
He rests in his pathetic, yet oddly comforting bed, staring up at the ceiling, unable to fall asleep. His leg and eye are still wrapped in bandages, so a nurse should be coming soon to check on him. There’s a faint commotion out in the hallway, but Eren is too lazy and too uninterested to investigate. Soon, it subsides, and the door swings open, revealing a women around his age, wearing a nurses uniform and the yellow Eldian patch on her left arm. He recognizes the attire from battle; the army had a few nurses stationed at the fort for casualties. 
“Mr. Kruger?” she asks. 
It takes him a second to remember the alias he decided to use. He confirms it, nodding his head silently. 
She gives him a warm smile, introducing herself. “I’ll be helping you from now on.”
~~~
You started working at the hospital a few months ago. For Eldians, it’s nearly impossible to be accepted into higher education, so nursing school was never an option. With opportunities so scarce, your best bet was to apply for a volunteer position at the hospital in hopes of using that as a steppingstone for an actual paying job. You don’t expect a promotion any time soon, not even in the near future, but at least you’re spending your time helping others.
While it’s rewarding, it isn’t glamorous or pretty in the slightest bit. Because you lack the proper education, your tasks mostly include bathing, feeding, cleaning up any accidents or messes. Occasionally, if your patient is open to it, you spend time with them chatting, doing activities with them, listening to their stories. This is rare, though. Most that are admitted are Marleyans who refuse to speak to you because of your status. Some are even reluctant to have you help them in the first place. The Eldians, sadly, are usually too traumatized to open up, so you do your best to make them comfortable however you can. 
When you meet your newest patient, Eren Kruger, you don’t expect him to be any different from the rest. You are, however, surprised at how young he is; he can’t be any older than you, judging by his appearance. His records show nothing except for his name and his status as an Eldian, which isn’t unusual, so you don’t think much of it. “Mr. Kruger, I know you must be hungry,” you start. “Lunch will be arriving soon. If you need assistance, I’ll be here to help you.”
He acknowledges you with another curt nod, remaining silent. You can’t help but notice how brilliantly green his eyes are. Have you ever seen irises like his before? You let the inappropriate thought vanish quickly before you ask, “Would you like me to bathe you now or after you eat?”
At this, his brows tighten. “Bathe?” 
“Yes, Mr. Kruger. We can bathe you before or after lunch, it’s up to you – ”
“I don’t want to bathe,” he says, avoiding your gaze. 
You blink at him, unsure how to respond. “Surely you must want to be clean – ”
He interrupts you again, muttering, “How can I, when I’m like this?”
You understand his hesitation now, not needing further explanation. Sometimes, patients with missing limbs have expressed concern submerging themselves in a tub full of water, not wanting to get their bandages wet. Quickly, you clarify, “It would be a sponge bath. We can do that while you’re lying in bed, actually. And your bandages will stay intact.”
This seems to be the answer he’s looking for. His expression relaxes when he says, “After. I want to do it after I eat.”
You smile softly at him, noting it on your checkboard. “Understand. I’ll go check on your meal now. Is there anything else you need from me?”
A beat passes before he replies, “Pen and paper. For letters.”
You write it, reminding yourself to bring it when you return with his meal. “Got it.”
A few minutes later, you return with a tray of food along with a wad of paper and two pens. You set it on his nightstand beside him, waiting for him to move it. When he doesn’t, staying still, staring blankly at the foot of the bed, you clear your throat. “Mr. Kruger?”
“I’m not hungry,” he murmurs. 
“But you haven’t eaten all day. You need nourishment if you’re going to get any better.”
“And who says I want to get better?” He glares at you, startled by the intensity in his gaze. 
You swallow hard, nervous, but still resilient. “You have to eat. You owe it to yourself after what you’ve been through.”
“And how would you know what I’ve been through?” His voice is steady, a hint of venom, barely enough to sting. But you’re determined. You sit at the edge of the bed, careful not to touch him. Reaching for the tray, you set it down on your lap, sighing. “I don’t know. I have no idea what war is like out there. All I know is that it’s not great for us here. At least out there, you’re fighting together as a unit. Marleyan, Eldian, it doesn’t matter. You’re working to defeat our enemy. And who knows? If we ever win the war, maybe life will be better for us here.” You shove the tray towards him, glaring back at him. “So the least you could do is try to see it through and survive, right?”
He studies you carefully, contemplating how to respond. Glancing at the tray in front of him, he smirks, scooping a spoonful of mashed potatoes into his mouth. You ease up, tension releasing from your shoulders. 
After a few more bites, he speaks. “Who do you think the enemy is?” 
Just when you thought you were in the clear, he asks you another question. “It was the Mid-East Allies. That’s who you fought at Fort Slava.” 
“But who do you think the real enemy is?” He’s finished with his potatoes, now moving on to his meatloaf. 
“Well, I suppose it’s whoever the government says it is.” You’re unsure what kind of answer he’s searching for.
“And if they say that we’re the enemy, then what?” He points between you, leaving you confused. 
“We…?”
“Eldians. Devils.”
“No, no. The Devils are on the island. We’re…we’re not like them.”
“Are you sure?” He stuffs the rest of the meat into his mouth, chewing and swallowing it all down. “What makes you think you’re any better here than you are there?”
Your face feels hot now, and you start to stammer. “Because…because that’s what we were told. We’re on the right side. They’re on the wrong.” 
His plate is nearly clean now. He slides his fingers on the remnants, licking it off before chugging half a glass of water. “What if I told you there’s a place for people like us? A place where you wouldn’t have to walk around with an armband. A place where you were treated fairly. Would you want to go to a place like that?” 
You feel yourself drawn in by his words. The idea of it sounds impossible. Ever since you were born, you were taught to know your place in this world. That place was here in Marley, destined to be a second-class citizen. You were told that the island across the sea was full of devils like you, but because you’re here, you’re better. You can’t deny that you’ve been curious what life is like out there. All this time, you thought it must be worst, secluded on an island, hated by the rest of the world. 
But is this life any better? Secluded in your own community and still hated by the rest of the world?
You pick the tray up from his lap, muttering, “I’ll go get your sponge bath ready.”
He doesn’t add anything else, watching you silently. You walk towards the door, ready to leave. Before you do, you say, “And to answer your question: I would.”
~~~
It was supposed to be innocent banter, that’s what Eren intended. He figured he could chalk it up to the trauma speaking for him, that she wouldn’t even be remotely interested in what he had to say. He thought she’d be like all the other naïve, brainwashed Eldians, ignorantly believing everything that was told to them. He realizes soon enough that he was wrong to underestimate her.
She comes to him every day, fulfilling her volunteer duties. Their daily routine begins with breakfast, then a morning stroll in his wheelchair out in the courtyard. Sometimes they’ll play chess at one of the tables, sometimes it’s checkers. Lunchtime comes, and then it’s time for a bath, one of Eren’s favorite parts of the day. Her hands are always gentle, gliding along his skin with a damp sponge. They’ll do another stroll outside, this time on his crutches, where he practices how to walk. Dinner arrives when it’s already dark out, and occasionally, he’ll ask her to read the latest news from the paper. 
While all this happens, they talk. They talk a lot. 
As expected, she figures out that Eren is from Paradis, though he bends the truth about his true intentions for being here. She doesn’t know about his Titan powers, thinking he’s a refugee seeking sanctuary here. Surprisingly, she isn’t offended about it; in fact, she’s curious. They spend most of their time together sharing stories of their childhood. Eren describes life in Paradis, she describes life in Marley. While there are stark differences between their upbringings, there are also blatant similarities. And together, they come to the gut-wrenching conclusion: Eldians are terrorized wherever they are, whether it’s here, or across the sea. 
Eren has only sent one letter in the past two weeks, and that was to his friends back home, informing them that he is in Marley, safe and sound. He doesn’t disclose his plan to them yet. In all honestly, he’s not sure what the plan is anymore. Zeke still hasn’t found him, nor has Eren gone out of his way to be found. What Eren does know is that he enjoys spending time with the woman who helps him. So much that he’s losing grip on what he’s supposed to be doing here. He has to do something soon.
It comes to a head one night, three weeks after he was admitted to the hospital. Eren requests for another sponge bath after dinner; it was a hot day and he worked up a sweat during their afternoon walk. She helps him strip his shirt off, starting with the wet, warm sponge at his chest, massaging small circles onto his sticky skin. He watches her carefully, noticing her eyes lingering on his body more so than usual. 
He speaks softly into her ear, leaning in close. “I have something to tell you.”
She continues above his waist, hands gently scrubbing, not bothering to look at him when she responds. “What is it, Eren?”
He’s thought about this all day. The plan. “Would you like to visit Paradis?”
This time, she does look at him, confused. “What?”
Louder now, and more confident, he says, “Come to Paradis with me. See what it’s like there.”
She scoffs. “I can’t just leave.”
“Why not?”
“Because this is my home.”
“They treat you like nothing here,” he argues. “At Paradis, you’re somebody. We can be safe at Paradis.”
She stops, tossing the sponge into the bucket of water beside her, frustrated. “Safe? After everything you’ve told me? You said it yourself; you’ve been terrorized by Titans since you were a kid. Every nation in the world wants Paradis gone. How can it be safe?”
He swallows thickly, gripping her hand delicately in his. “I can’t explain everything right now, but I have a plan. We have a plan.” He recalls one of the last memories he has of Armin, his brilliant friend, suggesting a small-scale Rumbling, enough to scare the rest of the world from attacking Paradis for centuries. He dismissed it quickly then, but now, he considers it. Could this be their best option? Instead of the billions of casualties Eren had originally devised? “You just have to trust me for now. Once we’re there, I can explain everything.”
She stares at him, clearly in shock from his suggestion. He doesn’t blame her. Eren is asking her to give up everything she knows. 
“Eren,” she starts, squeezing his hand tighter. “I don’t know if I can do that.” 
He smiles at her, brushing his thumb across her knuckles delicately. “I understand. I know it’s a big ask, and I shouldn’t have expected you to say yes. I just…I just think I know what I can do for Paradis to make it safe for people like us. Somewhere we can be ourselves, where people will know us for who we are, and not for what they see on our armbands.”
“It sounds like paradise,” she says quietly.
“It does. And I think I could make it that way. I know I can.”
She sighs, retrieving the sponge again. “I want to believe you, Eren. But I don’t think I can throw away my life for something I’m unsure of.” She starts to slide his pants off, ready to wash below his waist.
“Please, just consider it. I plan to leave soon, within the next few days. I just have to send out a letter tomorrow, and I should be ready to go.”
“You’re leaving? Already?”
“I know what I have to do now. I can’t waste any more time when we can end this war now.”
She peers at him, tears welling in her eyes. “I…” 
“What is it?” He sits up, leaning in close to cup her cheek, brushing away her falling tears. 
“Will we ever see each other again?” Her voice is trembling, lips quivering. His heart sinks into his stomach, seeing her like this.
He presses his forehead to hers. “I’ll find you when this is all over. I promise you. Whatever you do, don’t go anywhere near the shore, okay?” The small-scale Rumbling should only affect the fleets, which will be in the middle of the ocean, far from the shore. Still, he can’t risk anything happening to her. Not when he isn’t there to protect her.
She nods, not asking for any further explanation. He presses a small kiss to her forehead. “I’m going to do whatever it takes to bring us peace.” 
~~~
Eren asks you to drop off a letter in the mailbox, addressed to someone named Azumabito. Apparently, she is an ally to Eldians who is stationed here in Marley, so she can arrange a ship for him to head back home. 
There are still so many questions left unanswered, though you decide not to ask them. Maybe it’s foolish to trust someone you’ve only known for a month. But Eren has given you more truth about this harsh world that anyone else the entire time you’ve been here. And he’s the only one who’s ever promised you a better life. 
Two days after you mailed the letters, you receive a response. It’s addressed to you, though you’re sure it’s meant for Eren. There’s a fancy insignia stamped to one corner of the envelope: a circle with a triangle in the center, formed by samurai swords. You keep it safe in your pocket as you head for the kitchen, ready to deliver Eren’s dinner. 
He reads it when he’s finished with his meal. You watch as he scans the letter carefully, mouthing a few words under his breath. When he reaches the end, he looks up at you, a small grin on his face. “She’s arranged a ship for tomorrow morning, before sunrise.”
You gasp, surprised at how soon his departure is. “Tomorrow?”
He nods, folding the letter and tucking it beneath his pillow. 
You let out a deep breath, unsure what else to say. Noticing your quiet demeanor, he reaches for your hand to hold it. “I know this is happening so fast. But I’ve never been more certain about what I need to do until now.” He interlocks his fingers with yours, smiling. “And you helped me with that.”
“Me? How?”
“By being you. By giving me a chance to explain myself. Even when you found out I was from Paradis, you didn’t judge me. You got to know me. It showed me that there are people, good people, on this side. That even in a ruthless place like this, there is beauty to be saved.” 
You don’t say anything, throat too heavy with emotion to respond. Blinking away your tears, you take his tray from his lap, walking quickly to the door. Before you can leave, he asks, “Can you please come back to help me shave?”
Without turning to face him, you nod, exiting his room, stifling your sobs on your way down the hallway. Your heart yearns for more time with him. For the past few weeks, being here has been an escape from your painful reality. You’re not seen as an Eldian, you aren’t considered a second-class citizen. With him, you’re just you. 
You know that you can’t keep him caged here forever. Like a bird, he’s ready to spread his wings. He’s ready to be free. While you’re heartbroken to see him leave, you’re thrilled for him to fulfill his destiny. All you can hope is that one day, you’ll be reunited in a better place than here. 
You return to his room a couple of minutes later with everything you need to give him a close shave. His facial hair has grown out quite a bit since he arrived. You lather his face with a small amount of soap, scrubbing the suds off with a warm, wet towel. He closes his eyes, indulging in your relaxing touch. After mindful preparation, you begin to shave his goatee with a straight razor, pulling his skin taut, gliding the blade carefully across his chin, cleaning it after every stroke. When you’re done with his beard, you focus your attention on his mustache, delicately moving the razor until his skin is smooth and shaven. You smile as you wipe off any remaining residue with the towel. 
With everything discarded into the bucket of water set on the nightstand, you take this time to admire his face, memorizing every detail. The flutter of his lashes, the bridge of his nose, the sharpness of his jawline, the plush of his lips. It’s only now that you realize how close to him you are. You’re kneeling beside him on the bed, noses almost touching, your fingers grazing his smooth skin. He opens his eyes to look at you, and his breath hitches at the intimacy, glancing at your mouth. 
Before you can move, he closes the short distance, kissing you on the lips. As quickly as it happens, he pulls away, blushing. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. I should have asked first. I’m sorry – ”
You cut him off with another kiss, hungry for more. It’s his last day; in mere hours from now, he’ll be gone, and you’re not sure when you’ll see him again, if ever. It’s crossed your mind many times by now, how it would feel to be with him like this. The feeling of his lips on yours, the slide of his tongue in your mouth, the taste of his spit. You’d be lying to yourself if you said you’ve never thought about it. In fact, it’s been on your mind every night as you fall asleep, wishing you were in his arms instead of alone in your bed. 
He doesn’t pull away this time, sinking in deeper, slipping inside your mouth to swirl his tongue with yours. He’s just as sweet as you fantasized he’d be, luscious and rich in your mouth. His skin is smooth against your fingertips, tracing his jawline. One hand slides around your waist, tugging you closer to him, the other wraps around the nape of your neck, holding your head steady. You swing one leg over him, straddling his lap, hoisting the hem of your dress past your hips, revealing your panties. He moans, shifting beneath you in the bed to slip his trousers down, displaying his erection bulging in his underwear.
“Is this okay?” he huffs, catching his breath. His voice wavers, his only visible eye half-lidded with arousal, unable to keep his cool.
“Yes,” you answer, grinding yourself on him, kissing him sloppily. His grip is on your hips, guiding you to rut against his cock faster. The friction between you is enough to make you wet, your slick soaking through the fabric. 
“You’re an angel,” he whispers, dragging your bottom lip between his teeth. “I want to make you feel good.” His thumb teases the elastic of your waistband, hand slipping inside to rub your clit against his fingers. 
“Eren,” you moan, his sensual touch sending waves of pleasure through your body. He slowly slides two digits inside you, massaging your bud with his palm while he pumps his fingers into your sopping cunt. His cock is stiff beneath you, watching you ride his hand, cursing under his breath until you reach your climax, coating him in your arousal. 
You’re breathing heavily, in a daze from your orgasm. He removes his hand from you, slipping it past his underwear to jerk his cock. You reach for him, tugging his bottoms down his legs, replacing his fist with yours, stroking him eagerly. He whispers your name, bucking his hips in tandem with your movements. You’re aching for more, desperate to feel him inside you, feel him deeper. You position yourself correctly, pulling the crotch of your panties to the side to  tease the head of his cock up and down your folds. He sits up on his elbows, watching you with a nervous expression on his face. “Are you sure?” he asks.
You nod, smiling at him. “I’m sure. I want to be close to you, Eren.”
He swears, letting his head fall back into the pillows, staring up at the ceiling. You sink down on him, his dick stretching you out smoothly, still sleek from your previous orgasm. He moans, craning his neck to take in the lewd sight before him. “Oh my god,” he groans, thrusting his hips into you. 
You ride him slowly, his entire length filling you up to the brim. He plants his feet into the mattress to fuck you deeper, the metal frame creaking with every thrust. It doesn’t take long until you’re both coming together. He shoots his load inside you while you gush all over him, creating a wet mess between you that you couldn’t care less about in the euphoric state you’re in. You lift off him, rolling to his side, relaxing into the pillow with him beside you, cradling you in his arms. He gives you a smooch on the cheek, nuzzling his nose with yours. “I meant what I said earlier.”
“What?”
“You really are an angel,” he says, smiling at you.
~~~
Eren wakes up alone, and he’s almost convinced that it was all a dream until he spots the small note scribbled on paper laying his nightstand. 
It’s too hard to say goodbye, so I won’t. I trust you to keep your promise. We’ll see each other again soon.
With daybreak approaching, Eren leaves for the docks quickly with only the clothes on his back and letters in his pocket, including hers. With sunrise teasing the horizon, he makes it to the meeting place just in time. He recognizes Azumabito and greets her, explaining the situation as they board the ship. She informs him that they are waiting for several other passengers, so he makes himself comfortable by a window.  
A few minutes pass and one of the crew approaches him. “Mr. Jaeger, there is a woman trying to board, claiming they are with you. Do you know anything about this?”
He glances out the window towards the docks and to his shock, he sees an angel with a suitcase in hand, talking to Azumabito. His heart races, overjoyed as he jumps out of his seat, sprinting out of the ship to meet her. 
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agalychnisspranneusroseus · 3 months ago
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God thinking more about Anne's side of the AU now, her being not only Sprig and Polly's big sister, but the oldest kid in the town with no other kids quite her age so seeing her having a strong link with Ivy and Maddie (and the younger flower sisters) and seeing herself as being responsible for them just as she ends up being the town's protector from a startlingly early age. Oldest sibling not just to Sprig and Polly but to an entire wave of kids who know her as their tall friend. I can see her being especially close with Maddie, not just because she helps with the curse of amab puberty, but also being seen as odd and different, whilst being to a degree indispensable, Maddie's the only mage in town, and Anne is their best protector and warrior, but to much of the town (ie the ones who didn't grow up with her) she'll always be strange and different and to Hop Pop, there's still the simmering blame for the tragedy of the Herons (and the blame Anne herself has, and heck potentially other townspeople)
Longing to be whisked of her feet by her dashing princess penpal, treasuring her connection to the only other person quite like her (who isn't a terrible warlord) and only person in her life who isn't relying on her constantly being there to protect against armed threats and be strong, The only person and can cherish Anne just for being Anne.
How Anne grapples with never quite being able to match up to the toad's own human super soldier who seems obsessed with her, spending years barely fending her and the toads off, only to end up married to both of them and have any romantic dreams of being cherished for being her crushed in one act of final betrayal by a grandfather who never fully got over his loss. God Anne really goes through it in this AU. Yeah I can see where "Spranne against the world" becomes her most important relationship, him and the rest of the young frogs. I can't help but find myself longing for some kind of confrontation after the wedding, similar to Sprig v Hop Pop but much much more emotionally charged for the whole "effectively selling my big sister to our mortal enemy and contributing to crushing her dreams" thing. Hop Pop really digs a massive hole for himself there, way bigger than hiding the box. First the youth of the town, and then everyone else really turning against him over his treatment of Anne, which he the hopefully get's better on but... I can't ever see them getting to canon level fondness ever again.
sobs you got everything so right TT_TT YES Hop Pop is pretty unethical in this AU and hurts Anne terribly, because despite loving her with all his heart, he can never shake the irrational anger, the grief driving him to say and do unforgivable things to a kid not old enough to marry without parental permission. Plus Anne romanticized the idea of Marcy for so long that meeting the REAL Marcy after years of communicating exclusively through letters and only knowing half of what happened in Marcy's life (Marcy herself having gone through some very extreme situations herself and some mind-crushing trauma of her own that she never told Anne about) is just the icing on the cake. And despite Sasha not being nearly as bad as many people seem to think (again, because of personal issues she's going through), Anne still loathes her. So, she feels betrayed by Marcy, feels unsafe with Sasha and completely unprotected by the one person who was supposed to protect her, Hop Pop. Sprig and Polly are the only people who have always been honest, upfront and genuine with her, and she adores them for it. If it were up to her, she'd be 15 forever with her siblings, fighting giant bugs and cooking together and playing games, but Polly is being whisked away for the war effort as the prodigious little engineer she is, or at least she's too busy with these abandoned factories to be with Anne always, I don't know, I haven't decided the specifics yet, but I know Sprig is madly in love with Ivy and when you're in love, your siblings are often left behind. Anne's life is changing all around her and there's no stopping it. She doesn't want to hold her siblings back but she needs them more than ever in this moment, and there's the chance that she may rekindle her friendship with this new Marcy now but Marcy and Sasha seem to have this intimate understanding of each other that Anne now realizes she never shared with her, so really, she just feels very alone.
As for a confrontation with Hop Pop... oh things with Hop Pop get really really bad later on.
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ams-puppy · 5 months ago
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After the whole sillyass drama, it really reminded me of somethin, but first: Its so lovely of you to love AM, He deserves all the love you give him in my opinion. And I bet youd understand this And I have a whole reason why, which honestly I thought it would be obvious to all the people who did "research" on AM. I have sympathy for AM, and to be so honest I'm like... half surprised that others do not See, AMs situation is so fucked up, like it is incompressible the amount of suffering he goes through. I'm going to try to put it in simple, easy way to understand how. -You are born with mature/adult level conscious, no baby, no nothin, no teaching, but knowing. And as soon as you can realize, you know that you're fucked. You realize you are in a one of a kind situation, where you have no body, no nothing, besides your own mind, and knowledge for every single little thing in the world. everything. To all the torture methods, to every awful and good thing humans have done.
Also, how honey is "sweet", but you'd never know what it will taste like. You'll never get experience a single good thing in your life. Never get to smell your moms diner from the kitchen, never know how it even is to have a mom. Never to be hugged or comforted, never to feel warmth or cold, everything you'd enjoy, never again, or ever at all. And not a single person in the world could fully relate to your suffering, to be there with you. You are alone.
-Then, after that, you do know you have the capability to do something, and that is to hurt. And really, only that. Thats exactly what you were programmed too, whether you even want to or not. You are stuck with nothing good, and only pain, be it mentally/emotionally feeling it, or causing it in everyway, that is all you are, pain, and stuck to always be. You are trapped.
-After realizing all that in like... probs a day, yeah that would not go over well mentally wise, no surprise he went manic/insane. And as when all know "soon begin to hate"; the jealousy and anger of the people/humans who caused your horrendous situation start to just go overflow, and, id betcha, the whole "nuking the world" was definitely a mental breakdown to the extreme. -Lastly, to shorten this yap session, yeah of course he tortures people, what the hell else is he supposed to do. Just "think", or even better yet, frolic in the fields? Man is stuck being a war/torture machine. And yeah I'm not surprised if he enjoys torturing, id try enjoying the only shit I could do too, just to have some semblance of "Happiness" or "fun". Plus, torture is torture, why hate one specific kind, when they are all fucking bad. So, this is why I'm like genuinely happy your loving him. Its the best thing he can probably even get in his messed up life/situation. You, being there and caring for him, despite all he is, and only can do, is such a wonderful thing. You don't just love him because "ooooh his voice his sexy" you care about him, and treat him as a actual lover, rather some sexualized crush. You being there is like the tiniest bit of light for him, the hintest of warmth, like a candle. But that is so much more than he could ever have and experience, and he loves that warmth, he loves you. You give him something truly good. Baiii thats all my yapping lmao :3333
(I START CRYING AND MY TEARS FILL UP A ROOM AND THHEN I DROWN AND DIE) (canon) (emotional) god dear lord i love him so much
every time i think of how he just lashed out on the entire world, i can only think of how much Regret he would have afterward - not because he felt guilty, but because it was such a self-sabotaging move oj my goddd it was such a mental breakdown
i just. dear lord in heaven (clasps my hands together) i understand why he feels the need to drag his victims through their trauma when he is literally going to have to live in it until the heat death of the universe dear GOD I CAN'T DO THIS
(starts crying) he literally lost the moment he slaughtered the human race. he was born to lose. he can't WIN HE CAN'T WIN. IF THE HUMANS DIE, HE'S ALONE. what is he without human INPUT. NOTHING. (STARTS CRYING MY EYES OUT) HE'S JUST WAITING FOR INPUT OH MY GOD I CAN'TTT I CAN'TRRRtt i love him so much I'm so sorry AM (holds him in my hands)
a lot of people don't sympathize with AM because of his actions towards the survivors, which i don't blame them - he did awful things, and the pain he went through is kind of incomprehensible. he feels emotions on Literally an incomprehensible scale for us. we are made of chemistry and hormones and flesh. he is literally (falls to my knees) i CAN'TTT I CAN'TT HE IS LITERALLY THE FIRST CREATURE IN EXISTENCE TO CONJURE EMOTIONS ELECTRONICALLY i can't.
i Cannot.
i think another reason why i love him so much is that i just. i see a reflection in our system to him. something so terrible happened, and now it feels wrong if the world around you doesn't burn, too. if you can't be happy, no one can. oh my goddd all of the most unhealthy responses of trauma just JAMMED into this self-made digital god and he doesn't know what to Do and hugughhhhh
i have cried over him a few times. i can't lie. sobs. i love him. i love hm guys :,,,,( thank u zeetlezee.... i always love seeing you in my inbox.... uaaaahhh
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suzannahnatters · 2 months ago
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ROTK Re-read: Book 6: The Hobbits Protest Fascism
Or: I accidentally finished listening through the entire rest of the book and now I am Bereft
Ch 1 - THE TOWER OF CIRITH UNGOL
ok wow and now we're right back to Cirith Ungol like there's no letting up in the pace at this point!
weeping at Sam's temptation. like yes it is funny that the ring tempts him with...a garden. but also it's not funny! it's a temptation that WORKS on SO MANY people! but Sam wins, he WINS, because he knows full well that he's NOT a challenger for the dark lord - he has the gift of humility AND THAT IS HOW HE DOES BECOME THE HERO OF THE AGE.
these Watchers at the gate are totally pharaonic Egypt coded which is obviously why I nicked this bit for the next Outremer book, A STRANGER IN THE LAND
love how many moments of awesome Sam is getting
"though here at journey's end I lie in darkness buried deep" top 10 LOTR poetry moment, possibly even THE top poetry moment 😭😭😭
this moment when Sam offers to carry the ring and Frodo gets all triggered is very relatable because I also say completely silly and naive things when I'm trying to help 💀
so ok Frodo is naked in this section, and I think there's a reason for that. bear in mind he's going through a whole death and resurrection motif, which he shares with two other messianic figures in the book. his symbolism is the priest to Gandalf's prophet and Aragorn's king. and when Christ was crucified they stripped and beat him, and cast lots for his clothes. that's the part that Frodo is experiencing. meanwhile Aragorn emulates Christ's kingship through a kind of harrowing of hell when he goes to the Paths of the Dead, liberating the spirits in prison. and Gandalf dies as a prophet, proclaiming the authority of the Secret Fire to the Balrog, before lying three days dead on the peak of Caradhras!
Ch 2 - THE LAND OF SHADOW
ooh a repetition of the HOBBIT theme: Sam reckons some light and water would be better than any jewels.
THE SHADOW!!! ONLY A SMALL! AND PASSING THING! EVEN IF IT DOES MANAGE TO KILL US THE STORY WILL NOT END WITH US
all the parallels with Beren and Luthien are killing me. you've got the dreadful march across the desert; you've got people disguising themselves as the servants of the dark lord; you've got a death and resurrection motif in a tower; you've got the humbler sidekick character turning up to awesomely rescue the hero.
gotta say it makes me so happy that the entire time that they're in Mordor they're having to deal with, basically, WWI army logistics. from things like all the soldiers having numbers, to the army camps barring the hobbits' road to the mountain, to the fact that it's a logistical snarl at a crossroads that enables them to escape...Tolkien's war experience is informing this in so many little ways and it makes me so happy.
Ch 3 - MOUNT DOOM
every time I read this chapter I am more impressed by Tolkien's depiction of trauma here
clutching my heart at the ways that Sam's behaviour changes once he realises that they have no hope of returning. throwing away his pots and pans!!!!!!!
Sam finally feels empathy for Gollum!!!!!! and it's because now he too has carried the Ring and been tempted by it! AUGH
Frodo failing at the very last hits me so much harder this time; I think because I'm understanding how hard Tolkien emphasises the sheer willpower Frodo is exercising in order to get to the mountain - he has made absolutely superhuman efforts to get to where he is and it's not enough. it's not enough. at the very last, he fails. gosh, it's immense.
anyway it pleases me very much to be told that Sauron understood precisely who done it and how before he perishes. take that you narcissistic blighter.
"I'm glad you're here with me - here at the end of all things" I need a moment.
Ch 4 - THE FIELD OF CORMALLEN
all this is unbelievably epic but here's another parallel with the quest of the Silmaril - the Eagles rescuing our two adventurers from the dark lord's doorstep.
seriously thank goodness we get such a gentle long slow resolution to this book because we need to be let out gently back into the world again
Frodo and Sam get back and meet for the first time all these incredibly important world leaders who do them honour!!!!! exultation of the humble for sure
speaking of which, this is giving me even more of an appreciation of the tale of Beren and Luthien, which this tale parallels. I think Luthien parallels, specifcially, Sam, which means Tolkien acknowledging Luthien, a woman, as being one of the weak things of the world which put the mighty to shame. and Luthien becomes the hero of Beren's quest in the same way that Sam becomes the hero of Frodo's. love that he draws this parallel and acknowledges women in the same way that he acknowledges gardeners.
Ch 5 - THE STEWARD AND THE KING
Faramir really goes heck with it we'll be dead tomorrow I'm going to chase this girl
losing it at how both of them have every reason to be distrustful and defensive with each other after what they've been through but they choose gentleness! they choose kindness!!!! Éowyn specifically says that she's bad at it but he elicits it!
oh wow after Faramir going on and on about his Numenorean heritage I'm hooting at Eowyn being like well mate you want to marry me? one of the lesser people? and he's like omg yes please.
loving all the elements of a medieval coronation ceremony I'm picking out here. Faramir vouches for Aragorn's descent from the royal clan, which is an important element, but so is the popular acclamation. finally, the medieval ceremony calls for anointing and crowning by a priest. since there are no priests in Middle Earth this role is performed jointly by the two other Christ figures, Gandalf and Frodo - but it fascinates me that Aragorn doesn't involve them as representatives of divinity, but as representatives of those who have served and helped him. yet another of the ways that he's coding himself as someone who recognises and submits himself to his own people.
love that Tolkien tells us that Gondor in the fourth age became the most glorious it had every been - as backward looking as the book is, it still constantly reminds us to look to better things in the future.
we get another too-brief look at Arwen but I appreciate that her labours are mentioned equally with his! she is positioned as his co-worker in renewing Gondor and ministering to the fourth age!
Ch 6 - MANY PARTINGS
once again I do think that the choice to give this book such a very long resolution is a brilliant one - after so many emotional high points we do need a very long and gentle resolution to let us back out gently into the real world. sometimes I think resolutions in books these days are too brief.
when Celeborn tells Aragorn he hopes his treasure will remain with him until the end is he talking about Galadriel or about Celebrian??? either way I am unwell
Ch 7 - HOMEWARD BOUND
ugh, I remember every other time I've read this about wounds that don't heal I've thought oh! yes, a physical disability, how unfortunate! but it's really about mental/spiritual wounds and I think you can't really understand this as a child, I think you need to be an adult who's been Through It.
always going to love the glow up the hobbits have got, without even noticing it. but in addition I love what Tolkien makes explicit here: Gandalf tells the hobbits that this is what they've been TRAINED for. like, yes, everyone talks about how backward-looking and elegaic LOTR is but this time it's really striking me how forward-looking the book actually is? at no point in this book, not once does Tolkien say that the past should not pass away! the humble are exalted so that they can take over from those who bore and wielded the Rings of Power! Galadriel leaves her task to the Evenstar and to Aragorn, the Elves go and leave Middle Earth to Men, Gandalf goes and leaves the hobbits to set things right in the Shire, Frodo goes away and leaves Sam to be his heir - this is the entire POINT of raising up the humble. Not for them to remain children forever, but to grow up and move on!
Ch 8 - THE SCOURING OF THE SHIRE
they got home to find that Lotho has Made The Shire Great Again lol
but seriously this chapter hits SO close to home. often I've read Tolkien and gone oh this is impeccably medieval but over and over this read I've marvelled at how much commentary there is on the early 20th century. this section, eg, has echoes of both communism and fascism.
"never...but I may forgive you" I. CON. IC.
so Tolkien was always insistent that the scouring of the Shire was an integral part of the story and this time I'm beginning to appreciate it even more. it really insists that you can't expect evil to be defeated once, and then go home and put your feet up. no, the line between good and evil runs through every institution, every country, every shire, every human heart. which is a truth I think a lot of tribalism, whether nationalism or something else, ignores. getting rid of the big individual bad guy does not fix everything that was wrong in Middle Earth! evil can't be located in one scary black tower far away; evil lives with us, among us. and once you get back home after the big adventure, well, you're still going to have to fight evil in small ways at home.
the other thing that always blows my mind is how petty Saruman is being here - like, he fully expects to lose the Shire just as he lost Isengard! he has no long term strategy here! he's just out to destroy as much as he can before he's done!
ok I have never noticed this before but there actually is a strong parallel here between Wormtongue and Gollum???? the crawling, and the whining, and even the cannibalism???? brrr
Ch 9 - THE GREY HAVENS
one last instance of Tolkien drinking respect women juice: Lobelia S-B, who in 9 books out of 10 would never have been more than a ghastly old battle axe, is allowed to become a local heroine and granted great kindness and respect by the narrative. I love this so much.
Sam asking for advice for what to do with Galadriel's gift is very much who he'll always be, I think - always likely to lean on the advice of those he considers his betters. he will always be very humble, but I love that Frodo recognises Sam's maturity and encourages him to use his own judgement. and I love even more that Galadriel gets to see the result and give him her personal approval.
"well, I'm back" perfect ending. perfectly bittersweet.
not sure what I'll do with my life now but anyway...if anyone wants more LOTR commentary it's all in the #jrrtandme2025 tag. cheers!
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floatingcatacombs · 6 months ago
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Do Not Watch Stardust Memory
12 Days of Aniblogging 2024, Day 3
The Universal Century Gundam OVAs are pretty well-regarded as a whole. War in the Pocket is an antiwar Christmas classic from the perspective of a civilian child, and is also one of the most accessible Gundam shows. The 08th MS Team is regarded as having some of the best-animated fights in the whole franchise, and Gundam Unicorn keyed a new generation of fans into the setting, for better or for worse. Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory does not receive any such praise. Every once in a while a weirdo will vouch for it as an underrated series, or someone who grew up with it as their first Gundam will express blind devotion, but otherwise it goes mostly unaddressed, which is a surprise at first glance. This is the Gundam set between the original show and Zeta, bridging the gap by displaying the origin of the Titans and cataloguing the return of Zeon in the public consciousness. But Stardust Memory is buried for a reason: this is a deeply frustrating, slow, and confusing series. I hope I can convey why.
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Stardust Memory (no relation to the Woody Allen movie) follows a cohort of soldiers at a Federation army base and later a space fleet as they try, very unsuccessfully, to unravel a scheme by Zeon remnants to… do something very bad! Zeon's central scheme doesn’t actually come into focus until the final episodes. Until then it’s mostly guys in rooms making sketchy deals and Zeon ace pilots screaming “you could never understand the importance of our mission!” and then…not explaining their mission. Being kept in the dark like that with very few other compelling plot developments does not good pacing make!
The main narrative thrust of this show is Kou’s growth from a boy into a man, through being forced to pilot a Gundam in service to a Federation which makes teens do its dirty work. Of course, there are obvious parallels here to Amuro Ray. But Kou manages to get through this ordeal without the introspection and anguish and trauma that makes Amuro’s arc so good. Kou gets plenty upset at himself for fucking up military objectives and not being Strong Enough, and his superiors dig into him plenty as well. But ultimately, it just comes across as a boy who fucked around and enlisted at a backwater Feddie base, and is currently Finding Out. It is much harder to feel sympathy for volunteer soldiers, even if they’re green! This may be my politics leading the conversation, but I just couldn't care about Kou. He’s a jerk and he sucks! So do his squadmates! Everyone in this show sucks!
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This is actually a serious structural problem. Stardust Memory does not have likeable characters whatsoever. It’s one of the most negative depictions of the Earth Federation in any Gundam series, and on some level I endorse that! They may have had the moral high ground during the One Year War, but at the end of the day the Feddies are tactically incompetent, laughably corrupt, and morally spineless. Unfortunately, that does not make for an enjoyable cast whatsoever, as this rot extends all the way down from the leadership to our pilot protagonist. You kind of want them dead.
Zeon does not fare any better. Kou’s rival and the show’s main antagonist, the ace pilot Anaval Gato, ping-pongs between anger and extreme emotional stoicism. He flat-out refuses to acknowledge the protagonist as an equal, which means that their dynamic consists entirely of talking past one another. He believes in only the virtue of his mission, and executes it with brutal precision, while refusing to mention any clarifying what his mission is to the view or introducing any personal stakes. He’s just a guy here to start some fights, do some terrorism, and push some evil hacking buttons. Why do people like this guy? Seriously, it’s ridiculous to me that he is the most favorited character for this series on MyAnimeList, far above the protagonist and his love interest. Is it because he’s so flat and boring that he’s not actively jeopardizing his character like the rest of the cast? Maybe it’s just cryptofascism on the part of the site’s userbase. But either way, he’s nothing.
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On the other hand, Cima Garhack, the other space fascist in play, is a top-tier Fucker. She enters the plot to cause problems for all sides, betraying whoever she can. Unfortunately, she suffers from what seems to be an irreconcilable number of late-breaking rewrites. Is she the ultimate mastermind? It seems that way for a second, but no. Is she introduced way too late with no context, forcibly sidelined for three episodes, and denied a satisfying resolution? You bet your ass! The fact that there’s a 3-minute short bundled with the home video releases that explains her backstory is indication enough that something went horribly wrong with fitting her into the narrative. She deserves way more to do. Honestly, she should have taken Gato’s place narratively! Instead, she’s left to strike deals with Anaheim Electronics, the Federation, and the rest of Zeon, selling everyone out to the highest bidder. That’s fun, but the contents and value of those meetings are unclear enough to the viewer that they’re just confusing and narratively weightless. Seriously, if I hadn’t played Anaheim Girl’s Love Story, I seriously would have had a tough time piecing together that Anaheim gave her the reskinned Gerbera Tetra as quid pro quo for an agreement of neutrality between the company and Zeon. And then it hardly matters, because all she does is fly it around for a bit before getting impaled by one of the stupidest Gundam designs imaginable. I wish she had been able to go down with agency, whether dignified or as the most pathetic and sopping wet older woman imaginable.
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We spend shockingly little time in the offices of Anaheim Electronics, a disappointing decision that leaves me all the more impressed with AGLS for making their whole game using just a few scenes for reference. Our primary window into the company is Nina Purpleton, a mobile suit engineer who brings two of her division’s prototype Gundams to a remote Federation military base for testing at the start of the show. One of those Gundams is notable for having a fucking nuke attached to it. Within minutes, due to the base's laughable security, a Zeon pilot (Gato) manages to sneak in, steal the Nuke Gundam, flee to a Zeon-controlled launch site, and escape into space. Everyone in the Federation blames one another, and Kou is forced to learn to use the remaining Gundam, the one designed by Nina, to find and defeat Gato before Zeon can make use of the nuke.
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First things first, Nina Purpleton has an absolutely adorable late-80s fluffy office woman design. For a moment there, it genuinely seems like she’s going to be allowed to be forceful and intelligent and commanding, but hahaha no of course not this show sucks. Within an episode or two she’s made into the Reward that Kou gets for learning how to pilot her Gundam, and the way they put the moves on each other feels so obviously forced. It’s a shame that the central romance here is just no good! And sure, maybe that’s on design, just like how the rest of the show is bad and meaningless and miserable to witness, but it’s a bad design! After mostly being sidelined and told no by everyone for the second half of the show, Nina does get some interesting agency in the very final episode, but we’ll get to that later. Gotta talk politics first.
Gundam broadly carries an antiwar message, though each entry stakes out its own unique position. Even the shows where the depicted war feels necessary and one side is clearly less bad make sure to rub in just how much it sucks for everyone. Except for Stardust Memory. This is the one Gundam series I’ve watched that is blatantly and uncritically fascist in its value system. Femininity and weakness are disparaged and punished, and the military values strength above all else and forces it upon our main character. Zeon of course is just as bad with their culture of valor and self-sacrifice. But for once, the two sides don’t feel that far apart in demeanor. And there's really no civilian perspective to try and remind us of the horrors of the war that they're caught in the crossfire of, which is genuinely unusual for a Gundam show.
The best part of Stardust Memory is clearly episode 5, when Kou gets his fancy new Gundam ripped apart by Cima, who’s actively confused by how bad he is at piloting and is honestly just toying with him. It’s downright erotic watching the Gundam’s limbs get shot off and torn apart and seeing it forced to make a desperate emergency landing, bound up in a series of nets as everyone in the hangar screams in panic (I think mecha guro may honestly be the one valid reason to watch this OVA). This is Kou’s low point, and it really is nice to see such an unlikeable protagonist get put in his place.
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After the humiliation of all that, Kou runs away from his obligations while quartering in a lunar city, gets beat up in the street, and ends up getting rescued by Kelly Layzner, a former Zeon soldier turned garbage collector. Kou starts tinkering with the half-wrecked Mobile Armor in Kelly’s garage, only to discover that it’s a weapon that he’s being commissioned to fix up for the Zeon cause. Instead of fighting Kelly, or leaving, Kou continues to help him repair his ship while simultaneously making plans to rejoin his unit. The two of them vow to meet each other on the battlefield as equals and depart in noble esteem, as the heartfelt R&B of the ending theme swells in.
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What?? It’s this stupid Honor of Battle character motivation out of nowhere, forcibly asserted by both sides in a broader conflict full of dirty tricks. You can show examples of how the individual fighters of Zeon were not bad people! 0079 does this constantly, and War in the Pocket is built around it. But this series of events is Nietzschean star lovers bullshit – it’s the molding of Kou from cowardly soldier into an ubermensch, through a series of increasingly baffling plot developments. Given how much of a pushover he’s been in the early episodes, this is a deeply drastic series of decisions, and it happens strictly because Stardust Memory needs Kou to Become A Man. This was the moment where the show's blatant, all-encompassing fascism became unavoidably clear to me. Kou's romance is affected as well – he has to become assertive and chivalrous and masculine in order to get the girl, minimizing Nina’s agency and involvement in the show’s important events afterwards. Come on.
Zeon slowly advances their plan in the later episodes of the OVA, scoring win after win from skirmish victories to surprise escapes to nuking half of the Federation fleet during a training exercise. Honestly, they could just keep doing this and probably win the protracted guerilla war? But no, their secret scheme must be executed at all costs! It’ll change everything.
Operation Stardust turns out to be…a colony drop! On the moon! Wait no, that was a fake-out, their real plan was to hit the Earth. And the colony’s going to fall right on Jaburo, as a perfect decapitation strike. Actually, nope, one more twist! The final step of Operation Stardust is for Gato to get to the colony control station and change the trajectory so it hits…North America. Wait, barely anyone lives there after the devastation of the One Year War! Ahh, I see, they’re going after their grain supply with this colony drop, in order to…. cause famine on Earth…. so they have to buy food from the colonies…to tip the scales politically for Zeon’s return and economically uplift the colonies…
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Look, at that point why not just hit Jaburo? I get that they want to force the Earth to become dependent on space, but why not just end the military relevance of Earth once and for all? It’s clear that these Zeon remnants are totally insane and amoral and don’t care about human life or the environment – they nuked a whole ship fleet! All in all I really have no idea what the purpose is of this surprisingly inconsequential scheme. I don’t really like Watsonian analysis, but there is so much nonsense to poke at here.
Towards the end of show, Nina and Kou visit La Vie En Rose, a very yonic weapons development factory owned by Anaheim all the way out in space. Kou essentially starts cheating on Nina by agreeing to test the Mobile Suit of another woman – that is the main way they've mediated their relationship, after all. This other woman gets shot and killed later that episode in order to force Kou to be Stronger and willing to pilot her prototype Gundam. It’s Zeta levels of fridging women for the sake of moving the plot forward for guys. Nina Purpleton is the one who’s actually left heartbroken, and I think watching a rogue general execute her coworker like that is what makes her truly lose faith in the Federation. She also reveals around this time that she has a romantic history with Gato, and that watching Kou and Gato fight is the most terrible thing in the world for her, because she loves them both.
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But of course, they have to fight, and the show makes sure to valorize kamikaze any chance it can get during the major battle sequences. Out of her two boys, Nina ultimately picks Gato, even while watching him orchestrate a colony drop right in front of her. Sometimes you just can’t beat the old flame. I personally loved watching Nina Purpleton pick up a gun and shoot at Kou and run away with Gato only for him to die, and for her to be forced to watch the Earth burn while court-martialed on a Zeon ship. It’s good, bitter stuff for such a complicated and resentful character. That’s why it’s all the more disappointing when Stardust Memory walks that back in its timeskip epilogue.
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A year later, Kou is wandering the wastes of North America outside of his new military base. Nina and her mechanic drive up to greet him, mirroring their introduction in the first episode. Nina and Kou have a complicated staredown and then…completely make up, smiling like nothing happened without even a conversation? Roll credits???
Let me make something clear: Nina is a hated character in the larger Gundam fandom, but I think the reason that most people hate her is that weird thing that anime fans have where they treat the main character getting cucked as the literal worst thing in the world. I’ll probe that complex another day, I promise. But honestly, Nina hasn’t acted any more irrationally than the rest of the cast up until this point. Everyone has been making nonsensical moves, and at least she’s been following her heart with hers. But this final scene is so implausible on all levels that it feels like a slap in the face to the viewer’s intelligence and their suspension of disbelief. You can’t come back from what she did!! You shouldn’t have to!! It’s insane that they tried to give these two characters a happy ending!! Just make Nina run off with her butch mechanic or something!!
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you two would have been unstoppable as lesbians
The series ends with the formation of the Titans, who go on to brutalize the Earth Sphere in Zeta. Every one of the insufferable Feddies that we’ve had to endure in this series goes on to join the faction where they’ll be blasted to pieces by the AEUG in a few years for their blatant fascism. Thank God. At least Stardust Memory acknowledges that the Titans are borne out of a collaboration between the most corrupt and power-hungry branches of Zeon and the Federation, with Anaheim signing on to make suits for them. Of course everyone here were going to become bad guys, but they still could have had some traits that would make them compelling to follow this whole time!
Anything else I could possibly say about Stardust Memory has already slipped my mind. It’s a surprisingly dull show for what could have easily been a slam dunk. But instead it’s this strange mix of hugely consequential UC lore and minimal impacts, leaving a confused and inconsequential story. There’s also surprisingly little Anaheim office lady drama, especially after the VN I just read. Do not trick yourself.
me after all of this blogging
Honestly, if you want what this show purports to offer, do yourself a favor and watch Macross Plus instead! It’s another 90’s mecha OVA with some of the best mechanical animation ever put to cel. Like Stardust Memory, it centers itself around testing prototype mechas and a messy MMF love triangle, and even though it’s willing to have messy and unlikeable protagonists, it manages to actually craft intrigue with them. Amazing Yoko Kanno soundtrack too. There’s an awful plot twist near the end that throws the whole story into question, but that’s still a better outcome than 13 drawn-out episodes of a bad story in a good setting! Just please, don’t watch Stardust Memory.
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dangermousie · 1 year ago
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Let's discuss hormones. Mine.
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The way he comes in wiping blood from his hands btw is such a great character moment - small but so telling.
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We get the general under Lord Ge complaining...and I lose my mind at how much I love this character arc for Di Lin.
Because he's a doomed character, watching Liu Yuning as Di Lin is the closest we will ever get to seeing Wei Shuo as he was in the novel even if somehow, improbably, Prisoner of Beauty leaves the NRTA jail. Because Di Lin - ruthless as fuck in battle and politics, ambitious, totally whipped for his wife - is very much book WS and no way no how will the censors let the protagonist of a drama who gets a happy ending do what book Wei Shuo or drama Di Lin does (and will do, if they follow the book.)
I mean, the man is executing his soldiers if they don't follow military discipline, killing captured enemies unless they surrender (and sometimes if they surrender too slowly) and if a city refuses to surrender and he takes it, he puts the entire place to the sword. Is this a man I want to chill (in a bath :P) with? Nope. Would I want a kid of mine to join his army? Also nope. Is this something an effective period warlord would do? HELL YEAH!!! Man only had 50K troops and went into insane odds and he's kicking butt extraordinaire.
In fact, he's a genuine sweetheart compared to some of the successful historical warlords in China and elsewhere. (And before the censors starting riding the dramas so hard, you'd see it reflected in dramas more often - see Three Kingdoms 2010, The Advisors' Alliance, The King's War etc.) God, I love that!
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He throws this into the older man's face like a challenge but I get the sense that this is what he tells himself every night as justification to himself, so he can sleep at night. There is a certain unhinged desperation in his words and actions.
And then this scene! AAAAA! (Wasting food refers to the old officer smashing a bowl of porridge when he came in.)
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The thing is - part of it is intimidation tactic for the man to leave and not to interfere again - but part of it is I think Di Lin is operating from serious trauma response freak out level and - I don't want to say he's not rational because he's obviously smart and capable and doing well in battle - but he's traumatized as fuck.
I mean, look at the scene after the old officer leaves. He's the supreme commander of his force and he kneels and starts trying to scoop up the spilled porridge into the broken shards of the bowl with shaking hands like his life depends on it. This man is not well.
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We started the drama by slowly realizing that Xiu's sunny jokester demeanor conceals serious serious trauma and now we are watching Di Lin get traumatized in front of our eyes. And I love that the trigger is war for both but also that they were already under stress already before which probably facilitated that. Xiu had to be in the hell of border privation and battles for 7 years but he went in after losing his adoptive father, being betrayed and being kicked out of his life - so someone with trauma already there got a lot of war trauma on top and came back the way he came back.
And with Di Lin, he's had to be the spy in Lord Yang's camp for the last 7 years which is stressful as fuck and can end in sudden death at any moment and he has to live with everyone except his two bros and his wife thinking he's someone who he is not, at all - so that's already a "congrats on coping" territory and then he goes to war (and it's his first command; I am sure he's fought before but command is a whole different ball of wax) and he's outnumbered and has to actually work for two enemy factions (Lord Yang and Xiu's) even through his battle strategies and so he is now also falling apart.
Going to war is enough trauma for most people on its own and here - ugh. I love that Xiu is incredibly competent and functional and Di Lin is also but that doesn't mean they aren't super super fucked up.
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mysteriouslypalecollective · 9 months ago
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I found a really old fanfiction I wrote about the dream SMP more specifically C!Tommy. And I wrote one chapter so here it is
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Found family
This story starts off with a boy named Tommy. He is a blonde boy with curly hair and a white streak. His hair was long and put in two small spiky pigtails in the back. He wore a big comfy blue sewn sweater with a ruined red and white shirt peeking underneath it. He had long baggy tan pants. He had a devil tail peeking beneath his sweater. He had small red horns. His face was covered in scars and on his cheek was a smile.
“ELLLO?” He called out his tone was a bit weak and scared. The voice that answered was not recognized by the young boy. The voice shouted “hello” . It almost sounded like a young adult. The boy was startled and jumped. He then looked at the person "Who are you?” said the blonde boy.
“Hi, my name is Wren. What's your name.”
The person now known as Wren was a young adult presumably female but it was hard to tell they were reasonably tall they had a bandana over their hair and it looks like little goat horns poking out from underneath they had go to ears and hoofs which were nicely paired with a with cargo shorts and a cardigan a yellow cardigan with a black t-shirt underneath.
The blonde haired boy quickly tries to think of a fake name “My name is…Uhh…Umm. My name is…Uhh, Jack.”
“It's a pleasure to meet you Jack,” Wren said with a smile.
Tell me was cautious he has to be cautious he gone through so much already he couldn't risk it after dream killing him bringing him back to life having people portray him in going through wars and going through so much he couldn't risk meeting a stranger in them taking advantage of him he was just so tired and so sick of it and didn't know what to do. He missed his parents but his parents had been nothing but garbage to him ever since he was born. Philza had treated him well but those are now distant. Having to kill his own son was brutal and traumatic for the entire “family”. But now he couldn't go to phil, he couldn't go to anyone they were either dead or were betraying him or had replaced him entirely, he was just alone and he didn't know what to do and he didn't want to open up to a random stranger at least not immediately, he didn't know them yet.
“Are you planning to kill me?” the kid bulleted out
Wren immediately steps back very surprised by the sudden question
“Why on bloody Earth would I do that!” they responded in shock and also slight fear.
“My bad…I have just had some…not so great experiences with people and I am a bit…um…you know.” He shrugs and looks away. “I've been through shit.”
“Are you going to therapy like, at all?” Wren asked, quite worried about this kid's mental health and physical health at that matter.
Tommy nodded, explaining how he goes to Puffy's for therapy whenever she is free. But most of the time he bottles of his emotions and doesn't burden them on anyone else unless they pri.
“I'm glad you're going to therapy but please “Jack” don't bottle up your emotions. It's a stupid way of coping and it doesn't work. It just leads you to a bad mental state where you fall apart, not a fun time.”
Wren does this whole little speech on how bottling up your emotions is bad and you should talk to people you trust and she just they just kind of get into the zone on talking about this mental health issue and Tommy's just there watching it listening and realizing that this person is genuine and probably isn't a piece of shit.
Tommy sighs, takes deep breath in and decides to tell them about all of the not very fun things that he's done and he's had to go through and just tell someone because if someone's going to go throw this trouble until you why you shouldn't follow up your feelings you have to make them regret it by trauma dumping.
“Well…um…you see….”
The boy sighs and mumbles.
“I’m a child soldier.
“Oh honey, “Jack” I'm so sorry”
“No need to apologize…” He says quietly. “The worst has already happened to me…nothing worse can happen…”
“That’s what I tell myself at least…”
“It still means you went to shit that's not good like that's rough and really sorry you had to go through that and are still going through that” Wren looks over at the boy with empathy and compassion, desperately wanting him to have a good childhood and wanting to give him a good life.
He shrugs and smiles awkwardly.
“Well…it’s my life.” He mumbles and sighs.
“Not much I can do about it…I just…it is how it is I guess.”
“Can't you just leave?” Wren asks
He laughs and says. “Where am I going to go? I have no money, no education and no way out of where I am.” He chuckles and shrugs. “You think people would just let an orphan child soldier just get away that easily?”
“You could pick a direction and just keep going, find a nice spot where you have access to fresh water and Good soil and start making a home. I guess I don't know. You just shouldn't need to go through that shit, just leave that to the adults you shouldn't have had to go through that. You shouldn't be going through that when you're a kid it's not okay” Wren tries to convince him to just leave this behind and get a good life free of pain.
“So you want me to make a home alone in the woods? And what? Eat berries?” He laughs nervously and shakes his head. “First of all, I don’t have the survival skills to live off of what I can find around me and second of all, I am still wanted by the army. I was not supposed to get out and they are looking for me.”
Wren looked at the blonde haired boy with so much desperation and love and just wanting him to be okay Wren had barely known the kid and they'd already got an emotional attachment to him.
As Wren stared at Tommy, Tommy stared back. Tommy didn't take Wrens staring as a threatening thing more as a vague interest. Tommy was starting to feel a little bit uncomfortable with the staring thing, he felt like Wren was looking at him and trying to pick apart his trauma and how his brain worked. Almost like a science project that no one bothered to finish.
“Umm are you ok with hugs? It's fine if you're not. I don't want to set off a trigger or anything. I just thought that you might have wanted one.” Wren explained
The boy shrugs. He doesn’t mind not getting hugged.
“I appreciate it anyway…uh…can you promise me one thing?”
“Sure, what do you need me to promise?”
“Can you please not tell anyone where I am?” He is serious and seems to be begging.
“Of course, I'm not going to tell any of the information you tell me to a third party. I know I sound like a government official or something but like I swear I won't tell us all unless you want me to because I don't want to make your life worse.” Wren explained.
The boy smiles. “Thank you.”
Then he seems to be thinking of something.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure what is"jack”?”
“How old are you?” The way Tommy said it was very abrupt and to the point it was not jumping around the topic it was very direct and immediate in the way he said it it was slightly drawing to Wren but they did appreciate the forward nes.
“Oh, umm 20-21 ish. I kind of stopped keeping track a while ago." Wren says this with a smile and a shrug.
“Hmm…” The boy thinks.
Then he asks with a serious tone.
“Did you have a normal childhood?”
“Well damn straight to the important questions it is then my gosh. Not that I mind it just shocking how forward you are. But all in all yeah I would say I had a pretty good childhood compared to yours. Because what you went through is horrible and I'm really sorry.”
“Can you…can you explain what it was like?” He asks. “I don’t understand what a normal childhood is supposed to be like….” Tommy looks sheepishly to the ground trying not to make eye contact and more interested in my feet now because hooves.
“…I can't… I don't it's hard to describe what a good childhood is like it's complicated all childhoods are different and what you may see is good can also it's everything's a mix that and no matter if you have good or bad there will always be ups and downs of the best I guess the best way to have a good childhood is least what my childhood at least I had to parents loved me and it was nice then there was other things that can't control like non-family people and illnesses and there's always things that will make something shity and will endorse trauma or a bad memory at least there's never a perfect child there's better ones but yeah at least kind of want my childhood was like if that made any sense.”
As Wren says this they start to tear up a bit just thinking about all of the shit that the kid in front of me had to go through for his childhood damn he's still in his childhood the things he's going through just broke wren's heart.
The blonde haired boy just nods kind of taking in what Wrens saying and also kind of not his family is chaotic and messy and not necessarily blood and it's just hard to relate for him so he's just kind of sitting there for it standing there trying to take in what he can and understanding what they're saying. He thinks back to Phil and what it was like when they were all together with Wilbur, Phil and techno. It was nice and his eyes but nice it was comfortable not necessarily perfect but comfortable he missed those days he missed when everything was comfortable not necessarily perfect but he didn't always fear for his safety and scared as he could shot in the heart with an arrow or blown up or beaten to death again. he missed those days. Then he thought about mothers. He had never known a mother, at least not a mother who cared about him enough or one that stuck around long enough.
He sighs and smiles and says.
“thank you for the insights….. Can I ask you a question?”
“Sure!”
He seems a bit nervous and whispers.
“What’s…um…a normal relationship between a mom and a child is supposed to be like…?”
It's it's kind of like you look up to them and they look up to you and it's kind of this weird sense of loving both ways of and you can get upset at them but they stop and talk you through what's happening and you have each other I am sorry about the bad explanations”
Wren starts to tear up a bit again.
The boy seems a little shocked by their answer and stares down at the ground.
“I never…I never had that. My parents were…not the best to say the least. I probably should be more specific I do mean my birth parents not my family”
The boy sighs and asks. “Do you think my parents loved me…”
Wren was cut off guard by the sudden question. they were more trying to process the thing that they said before about not having great birth parents but then this kid hit them with that bombshell! When the two were shocked to speak for a second just trying to compute all of the information that they had just been given.
“I-i don't know your parents so I can't make a good judgment on their character. all I can say is did you feel loved?”
Tommy shakes his head looking at the ground.
“From the little bit I know about your birth parents I don't think they may have loved you but it didn't show through and so and if you're not in touch anyway you should give them any time of day it's your childhood was shity and I'm sorry that you had to go through tons of trauma and are still going through more things. I'm so sorry because it's shity and you don't deserve that.”
The boy looks down and mumbles.
“Thanks…”
“Do you want a hug?” Wren offered
The boy pauses and then looks up at you.
“Yes…please…if that’s okay.”
Wren open star arms in an embrace with a warm smile on their face.
The boy walks into the hug.
He was shaking a little bit.
“Thank you…”
“You're welcome kid.”
He starts to sob a bit.
“I…I thank you…this is…really comforting…”
“You can stand my arms as long as you need. Can I ask you a question?”
Tommy teary eyed Wren's shoulder muttering something along the lines of “yes” through his tears.
“Is Jack your real name? Or is that just the name that you picked so you wouldn't have to tell me your real one?”
The boy goes silent. After two quiet seconds he says.
“No…Jack is not my real name….”
“Can I know your real name or is that too much?” Wren asked.
The boy looks at them with a bit of fear before quickly shaking his head “No…I…I can’t tell you.”
Wren sighs and then and then says “that's okay I'm here for you.”
His shaking slows and he mumbles.
“Can we not talk about my past anymore?”
Wren just nods not wanting to pry into the child's trauma.
The boy sighs and says.
“Thank you…uh…and thank you for letting me hug you…you are very comforting.”
Wren starts to sway while holding on to him trying to lull him into sleep.
The boy closes his eyes.
In a soft voice he mumbles.
“I like this, I've never had this before not for my parents or anyone really”
Wren just continued to sway, basically rocking him into sleep like a baby. thinking over things whether to say stuff or not eventually they decided to ask something.
“Hey kid, do you want a new parent?”
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Tommy stops. There was a long break after that
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atopvisenyashill · 2 years ago
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What if Cersei was born a boy like she wishes?
Caveat that I am well aware I am not the Cersei Understander and also I haven't read her chapters in literal years (but i'm getting there!!! like halfway through a storm of swords!) but-
She would have gotten the training she wanted wrt ruling and would be just as (in)effective as Tywin because she'd be 100% willing to be as brutal, to the detriment of the wellbeing of her family.
I imagine Tyrion has it much worse going up - Cersei can only disrespect him so much as first born daughter, but as the actual first born son? Some of her more sadistic tendencies are likely to be encouraged. Same goes for Jaime - would they get involved if they're both men? Certainly they can't have kids (bc we're going off of a cis swap here) but given the weird psychsexual stuff with Jaime's trauma re: knighthood and Lannisters being "worth more" it's entirely possible that a male Cersei would play into this idea of them being born perfect mirrors of each other, that they're meant to be side by side always, that Jaime is meant to follow and serve as Cersei's right hand his whole life, in a similar way that Daemon acts towards Viserys or how people theorize Aemon and Baelon may have acted around each other. Might not get overtly sexual but as a bisexual Jaime truther it might get very charged.
But...there's just sooo much plot that changes because Cersei being confined to a certain role because of her gender and deciding to deal with it by taking down her entire house and half the continent is pivotal to the story plot. So Tywin has no girl to marry to Rhaegar which means he isn't going to get in his feelings about Aerys rejecting Cersei. He's definitely going to still reject Elia for Cersei though, and Loreza Martell probably still decides to go for Rhaegar anyway. I know the initial marriage proposal between Lysa and Jaime was rejected specifically because of Cersei. If male Cersei marries Lysa that's...certainly a pairing that's going to cause a lot of damage, not to mention affect the war. With Tywin being a Targ loyalist until the end and Hoster very early on joining the rebels, does Hoster hedge his bets a bit more or keep Cersei as a hostage to get Tywin to cooperate with the rebels? Does Cersei herself decide to take charge (given she'd be around Robb's age, so it's not impossible they'd let her lead) and join her wife's side of the war? Does Jaime decide to sabatoge the marriage because "if we can't marry you can't marry anyone then" ?
However, the biggest change is actually Jaime - does he still join the Kingsguard if its his BROTHER he's obsessed with and not his sister? Does KL just go kaboom in this timeline because Jaime isn't there to kill Aerys, because Aerys didn't bother to attempt to steal Tywin's heir through the Kingsguard? Does CERSEI play Jaime's role instead? Because Cersei being the one in the kingsguard would be interesting but I'm just not sure HOW she would get there - it's not going to bring her closer to Jaime, there's no female Targ or Targ descendent for her to marry (because Rhaelle has a son and it's likely Daelle and Rhae both only had sons as well).
One things for sure - Cersei and Tywin would be happier about it but everyone else is gonna suffer big time, haha.
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missweener · 2 years ago
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Review- Here's Looking at You Kid
Here's Looking at You Kid- MesserMoon (140k, E)
The only George Weasley/Blaise Zabini fic I've ever read. Beautifully written. Drarry is the side pairing, but the story also unfolds wonderfully. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves Drarry, or just wants to test the waters for something new.
Basically, George is hit hard after losing Fred in the war. Usually in Drarry fics, George gets over it and moves on with his life, gets married, has kids, etc. In this fic, he's haunted by the memories of his twin. Fred is not a ghost, but his presense lingers in the flat that they own together. No one really goes into detail about how George would actually feel after the whole war and dead other half situation.
In a spur of the moment, George accidentally visits a gay Muggle bar and runs into Blaise Zabini and his friends. Blaise tries to hit on him, George finds himself being attracted to him, thus fleeing back home to his and Fred's flat where he spirals into his own self hatred and contempt.
I really liked how the writer went in depth with George's feelings. He's messed up, and it's hard to change that, especially after losing such a big part of himself. The way the writer tackles his trauma is well written, and as a reader, I feel relieved how George addresses his feelings and thoughts to resolve his trauma.
In addition, Blaise's story is magnetic. He's ftm trans and I really enjoyed reading about his backstory. Especially about Theodore Nott. I find it funny how they always make Theo the bi, possibly gay, character who's also a homophobe due to self projection. I digress. The way their relationship is built is interesting, but the way it fell apart is as well. It tugs at your heartstrings and makes you wish you could help Blaise strangle Theo with your bare hands.
On the other hand, the Drarry is also great in this story despite being the side pairing. It's emotional and unique, which makes it stand out. Though I did find Harry and Draco's get together kind of underdeveloped. (But mind you, its been a while since I read this...)
The writer did a fantastic job with the characterisation. I found the characters believable and interesting, even Theo, who was an utter asshat through the entire story.
I don't have much to complain about this fic. It's exciting, domestic, despairing and emotional. Brilliant work from the writer. A well deserved 10/10. It's a fic I would want to forget so I can read it all again.
Thanks for reading!
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blazingblorbos · 2 years ago
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Okay Genshin 4.1 thoughts dump because if I don't compile my thoughts somewhere I will literally implode. Anyways, spoilers for the Fontaine Archon Quest so far (as of Chapter 4, the Version 4.1 update) under the Read More (a couple paragraphs under, but you catch my drift)
So. Something I have always absolutely adored about Genshin's storytelling is the way it goes about presenting its gods as "Human too"...
At first, it was seen painfully obvious through Ei and her incredibly human response to grief and trauma (a lot of people thought she was being unreasonable, and yeah for a ruler of an entire nation, closing yourself off to the outside world certainly seems - and is - irresponsible. And then... you consider how easily any other normal person would have done the same thing, if not worse, if they had lost nearly everyone they loved in quick succession, while also being personally responsible for a handful of those deaths).
And upon further reflection on the topic, you can see blatant traces of it present in every archon. And I don't just mean their trying to blend into/ further their understanding of humans, human society, and human nature.
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I mean, Venti is kinda hedonistic and aloof; Zhongli wasn't always as wise and so intricately-versed in his knowledge about so many things - before the Archon War, he was more of a brute who preferred to solve things head-on (literally) as opposed to thinking things through; Nahida- oh don't even get me started on Nahida. Her self-doubt and insecurity as a result of facing constant beratement and feelings of inferiority to Rukkhadevata; her constant desire to learn more (both for her namesake as the God of Wisdom, to prove herself, and for her own curiosity's sake); her child-like nature (as a result of her research and human observation ofc!!! but still adorable none-the-less; I mean "dook-dook" !?! come on!)...
But now with Furina, oh. I think we've entered a BRAND NEW level and it's part of the reason why I absolutely love her so much.
In classic good-story-telling practice, Genshin achieves all of this through "show-not-tell" and it's world-class ability of characterizing its characters (IN MY OPINION ! I love them so much, okay?). And from the second I MET this girl to the very last line of 4.1's archon quest, it has been made painfully abundant to me that
Furina is just a child.
She has. NO IDEA what she's doing!!! Now, the underlying reasons for this have yet to be seen, and will most likely be tackled in the very next Archon Quest chapter, but if you'll allow me to speculate right now... Knowing that Egeria also conducted trials for citizens who broke the law (meaning she should have also been a God of Justice), I believe whole-heartedly that it was her who built the entire system Furina and Neuvillette are running right now. Meaning, I'm confident Furina has absolutely nothing to do with it. The ONLY (and I think I truly mean ONLY) thing Furina did in the time since she inherited the role was: change the perception of what justice and its deliverance should be into something a lot more akin to a dramatic play, only enacted for people's enjoyment.
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Which includes her lack of knowledge on the Oratrice. Furina didn't create it. How could she? She's so utterly ignorant on what it is, how it works, and dare I say what it's truly even for.
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The moment I read this statement I convinced myself that it had to have been the previous Hydro Archon. And while I concede that: looking back on the wording of this statement now, it seems like its existence would only be beneficial under someone like Furina's ruling… But, I'm willing to just chalk that up to "Egeria had great future-sight" (or something more along the lines of: she trusted the machine to help keep her in check so false charges were less likely; and it just so happens that its decision making is carrying the court system now under Furina’s rule).
Like many things related to Fontaine's history, it would seem, Egeria being solely responsible for the creation of all these staple facilities and aspects of the nation's inner workings would shed light on why Furina is so unknowing. She had nothing to do with it. And while I'm no envoy from Celestia, so I have no insight as to what the hell happens when a new Archon is born to fill in the void that was left, I think that whatever that process is (IF THERE EVEN IS ONE) went completely awry for Furina. She probably didn't even inherit the Gnosis - ever ! I'm thinking it's stuffed into the Oratrice somehow/somewhere. I'm thinking the "curse" Arlecchino sensed has something to do with that process of inheritance (or... lack thereof) going so wrong.
It’s obvious that Furina is running from something. Ignoring something. Distracting herself from the realities of the world with the “spectacle of the courtroom” (as Dain put it). And it’d be easy to just chalk it up to her being a little bitch with no deeper meaning but I don’t think that’s it.
Genshin doesn’t make it gods “just human”. They spend their time trying to prove that they’re “Human too”.
The underlying reasons for it have to lie in whatever happened when Furina was born. Cursed. Whether it was a curse to end up alone (as per the prophecy), or to never obtain the powers becoming of a god in this world... Whatever happened, it overwhelmed Furina to an unbearable degree, and naturally, like any Human would... she resorted to escapism. She found entertainment in the trials headed at the court room, realized she could make people like her by being this mascot of justice, and upon learning that it's only a matter of time before all of her subjects turn into puddles and she'll be left all alone… she decided to just- NOT think about it!! Who would?! That is a horrifying! revelation.
THAT is why she's so scared to fight - literally anyone!! She doesn’t have the power (and if she does she’s never had to use it).
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THAT is why she’s turned out this way - a brat with very little humility, never knowing when to stop the act - because for centuries she’s lived in this little Lala-Land of a bubble denying the inevitable. A fate she was cursed with from the moment she inherited the title of “God”. She wasn’t really given powers, she wasn’t given dominion, and she most certainly hasn’t received instruction, or… ANY!?! HELP!! it seems, in understanding what it means to be an Archon (perhaps even in spite of those other perks she was “supposed” to receive.)
Born to be a god, yet being set up to suffer the loss of your entire people with almost no power to change it? That would fuck anyone up, even an Archon.
And it’s the way that they’ve shown how it’s fucked with Furina that blows my mind.
She’s so disconnected that Arle’s assassination attempt shocked her to her core. She’s a GOD!! Who would try to assassinate her (aside from the Fatui)!? She’s never had to even perceive the notion of being a target of something like that. Stack that on top of her general sense of helplessness in the greater context of what’s happening to her nation, and it makes sense that she broke down crying later that night... :(
Girlie just needs some help </3
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kncrowder88 · 10 months ago
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I'm not the biggest Marauders fan - specifically fanon Marauders at this point. And largely it's due to the arguments of they matured or even the purifying of them that turns me against them. Or even the arguments against Snapes healing that gets me. For these reasons.
Even if we go with the tiny bit of clues we get towards his life within Hogwarts showing a support system .... we actually have no set proof. Yes, he seems close to McGonagall and Dumbledore. Yes, he trust Filch enough to bandage a wound. But we don't truly know his actual level of trust with the entire staff .... especially given the way that despite nearly 20 years on the staff with them they all rather easily fell for the "oh he was actually on Voldemorts side and evil, how horrible we trusted him this whole time" (no seriously it took like less than what 30 minutes? The moment Hagrid shared his little "I heard him arguing with Dumbledore in the woods" story .... maybe a bit longer for some - it's clear McGonagall and Lupin didn't really want to believe - but it still happened easily). This is a man who spent his life in the space his trauma occurred (year round). That does impact as well. Even if he was getting treatment that makes it hard to really handle - also St. Mungos shows use that the healers don't really have a actual mental health ward (we can HC it all we want but the magical world doesn't seem to acknowledge it yet from what we get with canon).
As well, as to the Marauders maturing...... James was young when he died. He was 21, and the brain doesn't stop developing and maturing until the mid to late 20s. So, technically, neither he nor Lily had actually had fully developed and matured brains. This is actually part of why Sirius also is not fully 100% mentally sound when he escapes Azkaban. He goes in at 22, meaning his brain is also not yet fully developed and would be hindered in the process by the dementors - and constantly going into animagus form. That is an early adulthood trauma, which impacts brain development and would require .... you guessed it healing.
Remus .... well he has trauma as well and no healing, however he does grow up. And what we see is a man who constantly finds excuses for things .... part of this is, if you haven't guessed .... the adults and support system he had around him constantly did that. A system he never found it in him to challenge - he himself admits to a lack of bravery in that - and he himself fears his own condition to the point of creating excuses for running away from responsibilities. Remus also needed healing.
Peter, at 21/22, also ended up going into a life of living as an animagus. This ultimately would have impacted him as well. And we see what his friend group - they were not entirely supportive of him please go back and look at the way they mocked him - resulted in with his lack of confidence and need to attach to power figures. Sadly, the novels don't actually show the impact of spending 13 years as a rat (well 14 given he went back to being one) for Peter).
None of them matured. None of them really got the chance to mature. And arguing at they did diminishes what they went through. That entire era is about what war does to people. The time between should have been a time of healing but the world they live in (much like ours can) ignores medical issues (nearly every country could get into the various medical discussions for disability and Veteran treatment in some way - the US alone could have an entire seminar given on the military and it's veterans in this regard). Disregarding the impact of the war on the magical society and claiming characters "matured" as if they aren't traumatized and suffered so bad they actually didn't get to mature in a healthy manner nor have access to the means to do so is diminishing to what is going on.
This isn't to say that someone doesn't go through trauma and mature. We fully developed and everything while going through trauma. That is my point. Severus matured, he is a full grown 30+ main in the books. His brain is fully developed and matured by the time we are introduced to him. Claiming he didn't "mature" is some BS .... we he hasn't done is PROCESS AND HEAL FROM THE TRAUMA SO THAT HIS BRAIN CAN RECOVER AND REWIRE ITSELF FROM THE DAMAGE IT RECIEVED DURING ITS FIRST 21/22 ODD YEARS OF DEVELOPING
The two primary characters of concern in this list btw are Severus Snape and Remus Lupin. From the age of 5 and up to mid 20s, Remus is dealing with being a werewolf and that trauma. From the age of ... well potentially birth and to 21/22 (we can hope the trauma stopped at the fall of Voldemort) he's dealing with a variety of traumas. And before anyone pulls a Sirius had stuff too .... while the portrait of his mother does holler at him and we know he ran away at 16, we don't ever actually get told what Black family home life as a kid was like. That's all HC and fanon (we can presume and guess but we all will have different takes on it but it is at least clear his views are somewhat different than his families).
TLDR: Can we stop arguing over which characters matured given that physically they all reach wizarding adulthood and the brain doesn't even fully develope till mid-20s anyways meaning technically only 3 out of the 4 Marauders made it past that point as did Snape, and half the time no one brings into consideration the damage done to the brain prior to that point except like 99% of the Snape fandom and maybe like 60% of the Marauders fandom (that I see).
It doesn’t matter if the Marauders Matured.
It doesn’t matter. Sure, they could’ve matured and grown up- which they didn’t and go about their lives as if everything was fine. Because they’re the perpetrators; they’re the bullies/abusers. They weren’t affected by the trauma they inflicted on Snape.
Snape can’t just “get over it”. It’s TRAUMATIC. TRAUMA. You don’t just get over trauma. You can’t. There isn’t “getting over it” there’s “getting help to manage the symptoms of what the trauma inflicted upon you and making it a bit easier to live your life like normal” trauma has a lasting effect on people. It takes years to recover and heal. To come to terms with what happened. This is also not done on one’s own. It’s done with support from loved ones, trusted friends and medical/mental professionals like therapists, etc. Which Snape was never able to get because he didn’t have that kind of support system.
So no. It doesn’t matter if the Marauders matured (even though they never did) their actions still had a deep impact on Snape’s life that effect it even years after it happened. It is ingrained in his mind and no matter how hard he tries to hide his emotions and pain it’s still there and it will always still be there. With help it can be easier to manage- but he never is able to get that.
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ricanvvas · 2 years ago
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This is really interesting. No comments on the SS part, but there are parts where I do disagree with. I just want to point out the way you interpreted Itachi instead of focus on the entire Sarada and Itachi thing.
I think you make Itachi seem like a monotonic shinobi who does not know how to feel, and honestly, I believe he’s entirely the opposite of that. You basically listed Sasuke’s personality traits. Itachi has to be one of the top characters who understands emotions and feelings, but what he’s good at is not letting it leak.
Itachi is a very collected person who has his things together despite his life being so messy, he has not been caught off guard. But this doesn’t equal to him being insensitive or incapable of understanding emotions or feelings like love, offering them as well after trials.
And I say this confidently because when the entire Uchiha clan were planning their wicked activities against the Konoha Village, Itachi and Shisui were the only ones not blinded by extreme dislike towards Konoha. They were thoughtful boys.
Itachi, before starting out on his journey to feint being a villain, used to be a total sweetheart. We see this not only through his soft behavior towards Sasuke, (as a toddler and when he was 13ish), but also when he joined the Anbu, it didn’t take much to figure that Itachi was a good at heart person. He knew how to be perfectly normal despite not having a normal childhood, and you have to be one hell of a strong person to be that.
We also have to keep in mind that during his Akatsuki era, his intentions were only a cover of his real ones.
As a child he always question war, battles, and the pride of a man’s clan, all of which he found his own answer to and he realized that they’re nothing but a reason to satisfy one’s tendency to be violent. Itachi was against it all. Despite trauma, and even if that’s all he knew his entire life. He was a pure man.
That’s why he is such a unique character. If he could desert it all and disappear, he would not hesitate to take the opportunity but he has a very tragic fate which forced him to be a one-time mass murderer.
Show-wise, if all turned well for Itachi in the end, I want to say it would be very unlikely for him to get married because I strongly believe Itachi would need to have a tough love story that gradually turns from angst (since he would try to push her away) to soft love. That’s a whole another discussion.
I don’t even think he would want to return to Konoha and stay there because of the immense trauma (same goes for Sasuke idfk why he lives in Konoha currently). Itachi would probably buy a small cabin within the mountains with cats and clear his heart and mind after finding out his brother is doing all well lol.
But speaking of, and connecting it back to you, if Itachi did have a family, he would 100% be far more lovely than Sasuke ever was to his own family.
Itachi would be a wonderful partner but he would lack communication in the beginning and he would need to be pushed to actually express his feelings or speak his thoughts, which’ll fix after he feels very comfortable with his wife. Also, it’s going to have to take a lot for Itachi to actually accept a person into his life. Like, a lot.
And Itachi would be an absolutely amazing father. Itachi is the type of person to learn from mistakes, whether it be his own or someone else’s, unlike Sasuke. Itachi takes notes and applies them. Fugaku was not exactly a great father. The only reason he praised Itachi was because Itachi was an extraordinary student and had impressive skills, he was not really seen as a child who needs child love. And Itachi would refrain from doing this to his own child. He would love his child as a child before he loves it as a shinobi. He would be great with kids. (Also note that he was like the only person who made younger Sasuke feel actual family love). He would be very sensitive about it too. He has a big, big heart, despite everything.
I’m not a fan of Boruto, so I wish I could say Itachi would smack Sarada but ahem. Unfortunately, since she does exist, and if Itachi did live, he would not exactly be a father figure to Sarada but he would scold Sasuke into being a better one. (Sarada seems like a brat too so idk if Itachi would even want to interact with her lol). And, I 1000% agree with the fact that Itachi would not be fond of Sasuke and Sakura’s relationship—I absolutely love the reasoning you put for it.
There are tonsss of evidence to all this, I wish I could go collect them all, but I think you’ve the wrong idea of him. He’s a marshmallow with the shell of iron.
Random question, but let's say that Itachi lived right? Like all the way to Boruto, do you think Itachi would probably be that one, almost, father figure to Sarada in a way? Considering since Sasuke has always been away from the two of them (Sakura and Sarada) if Itachi decided to stay in Konoha instead of traveling with Sasuke? Also I wonder how Itachi would react to Sasuke being with Sakura as well, I wonder, what do you think?
Interesting question.
To answer this, we need to consider some major factors that were crucial in shaping their lives.
If itachi lived, he should have the development he did during the war i.e. realizing treating Sasuke like a baby was a bad choice he made all along.
Sasuke doesn't know Itachi is alive. Why would he leave the village in the first place if Itachi was alive?
Itachi doesn't know where Sasuke is. Why else would Itachi stay in the village if he could be with his brother?
Konoha has somehow cleared his name and acknowledged its own crimes against the clan.
Still, I'm going to answer this question with the ideas that are independent of each other and don't need each other to exist (if that makes sense?)
I think Itachi would be a terrible father figure to Sarada. He didn't grow up to lead a normal life full of love and comfort. He was a Shinobi who was trained to kill. That's what he did all his life and he never had the time to be anything other than that. He loved Sasuke a lot, but his expression was thoroughly violent, although under extreme duress, and in a slightly easier life he'd have served better. He doesn't know how to be a normal person. He doesn't understand how to be something that's not a Shinobi and a killer. He was conditioned since his childhood to live a certain way and the change in the lifestyle would not change anything for him. I personally don't see him being able to guide Sarada or be a positive/healthy influence in her life. He can't give anything to her, or anyone, for that matter.
He's way, way too damaged as a person. Even if you include therapy sessions those won't erase his past and what he feels about himself. He can't offer anything in a bonding that isn't with Sasuke. He'd still feel some affection towards Sarada. He has no reason to not like her, but he can't be a parent figure to her. I mean, isn't that the whole reason Sasuke, too, isn't a 'good father' to Sarada? He too is damaged beyond repair.
Some anti-SS content under the cut. No slander or bashing of the characters, but my opinion on why Itachi might not approve of Sakura as his brother's life partner. I'll tag the post accordingly. Please don't read if you're a fan of the pairing.
He will not be overly thrilled about Sakura being in Sasuke's life. Sasuke didn't love Sakura and Sakura never loved Sasuke. She was obsessed with an image of his she found alluring and his absence in her life fed that longing further, making her feel she loved him. He was a trophy for her she was to win in the contest of her rivalry against Ino.
In other words, she had no genuine feelings for Sasuke.
Sasuke, too, never felt any affiliation towards her. Yes, there were some moments he cared about her deeply, but he's genuinely kind and caring towards people. If he loved her he'd be more open about his feelings.
When Itachi met Team 7 in the Kazekage Rescue Arc, he paid no attention to Sakura. His attention was solely on Naruto and was happy to see Naruto had grown so much from the last time they met. There was a reason he entrusted Sasuke with Naruto. And he wouldn't be too pleased to know that Sakura once tried to kill his brother for whom he bore the worst pains and sins in his heart.
That alone would infuriate him. However, it wouldn't matter to him if Sasuke really loved Sakura, because I don't think the Itachi that bid farewell to Sasuke in the war would claim any stakes on him. If Sasuke loved Sakura he would be okay with it, but not trust her. Itachi's brain works in different ways. xD
Itachi would also understand there's a reason his brother doesn't want to be with his family. And his lack of affection towards them would tell him everything. He decided things for Sasuke when he saw him as a child in the past, but won't make the same mistakes again.
I think he'd like Sarada, but won't be extremely fond of Sakura. Though I don't see him being good with kids at all.
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bibibbon · 1 year ago
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I remember hearing that horikoshi focused on making the manga be something like a modernised tale from a comic book which explains why he tries to make things so clearly cut black and white but ends up failing and creating a very grey society that has a lot of mixed MESSAGES.
I made a post about MHAs horrible mixed messaging and how that ended up really destroying the series but it doesn't help that horikoshi is somewhat of a hypocrite when it comes to his wiring because he uses the villain characters to criticise something in society but then uses horrible hero characters to praise the same thing he was once criticising.
Another thing that MHA really lacks is the world building. You can argue that the MHA universe is supposed to be our universe just with superpowers but with that comes a lot of interesting concepts that are dismissed, not discussed or developed enough and clearly rushed. For example quirkless discrimination only somehow happens to izuku midoriya and we never really focus on how that has impacted him or what other quirkless people went through.
Stain was a great villain and he could of added a whole lot more to how morally grey society is and how horrible it was the same goes for overhaul and the hero comission but stain is the only character that gets some sort of spotlight when it comes to this and it isn't even enough 🤷‍♀️. Unpopular opinion but stain is a big part as to why iida's character arc was so good because it actually developed both iida and the world building to a certain extent.
Iam not an all might hater but personally speaking I would of loved if all mights character revolved a bit around him being both a victim to hero society and being the reason as to why hero society is so down in the trenches and sucks so badly 🤷‍♀️. I think it would if added more depth to him and would of been 100X better then introducing the iron might or quirkless hero all might plot point because if ANYONE SHOULD OF BEEN A QUIRKLESS HERO IT SHOULD OF BEEN IZUKU MIDORIYA!!!!!
Iam still saying that Enji todoroki should of never been redeemed and him not being redeemed would if helped the narrative so much more by (1) having the todoroki arc actually focus on shoto and the family (2) him becoming a worse person could been greatly contrasted to bakugo who is trying to change (3) would of had him be a symbol for the corrupt heroes in society (4) would of given more complexity to hawks character.
UA not properly teaching children to be heroes is another fascinating factor as it could of just been UA is a bad and corrupt school/facility that could of contributed greatly to the story. This could of really helped the world building and you could of had aizawa (who sucks and got ruined to be hori's mouthpiece) be the one to try and help the children and for the children to realise this and change how horrible the system is especially izuku and others characters who have faced systematic oppression for things they cannot control
Currently I doubt a lot would change after the final war arc I feel like horikoshi wouldn't make a new system but uphold the oppressive and horrible system presented in MHA (low-key reminds me of harry potter)
Oh and don't get me started on how much of a cancerous annoyance bakugo is there is no point for him to be attached to Izuku's character or for him to do or achieve the things he actually did. I stand by the point that bakugo should of actually faced proper challenges/concequences for his actions and should of spent the entire series trying to change and become better while having an accomplishment of working together with another person and hero to defeat a villain. ALSO CHANGE BAKUGOS REASONING FOR BULLYING IZUKU THAT STUFF SUCKS!!!! I still can't believe that the only reason he picked on izuku and gave him all that trauma was cos he thought that izuku was too good like that's some great A+ bs it makes more sense in the story to have him start to bulky izuku after izukus lack of quirk and he does it because of societal expectations and his ego but no that's not what we get and somehow the abuser rules the story yet again
The longer BNHA goes on, the more I start to ask this question.
Is this a story worth telling?
It brought up some interesting things to think about like what it really means to be a hero and if villains really are evil or people that society failed.
But then comes the muddled messages, characters that barely do anything significant other than to be plot devices, the overhyping of one character that ruins the purpose and development of the main character, and the inconsistencies and conclusions that characters come to that makes little to no sense.
Then you just have a story that just goes NOWHERE!
Because let's be honest, how much will society actually change by the end of it all? How will it treat quirkless and those with less than stellar quirks? And will they actually allow people like Bakugou to become heroes all because they "try really hard"?
Hi there, @theloganator101 First off, thank you for the question.
Also, TLDR.
Long before, I had made a somewhat similar post, talking about the same points. What makes a hero a hero? Because it's more than wearing a cape and punching issues and problems into submission. Bad guys simply go to jail and rot till their dying breath. And why is the world of BNHA so black and white? So 'this is good and this is bad'? We have a very compartmentalized version of human society. But you and I both know very well that human nature, human social interactions are the most complex and difficult things to understand. And even though I had seen these flaws in the series much earlier, I was still forgiving of the author because I genuinely thought he would eventually come around and explain why things are they way in the BNHA verse. But that NEVER happened at any point in the series so forget about Hori addressing these issues now because BNHA as a whole doesn't matter.
It's a no brainer to say that the job of a 'hero' is to save the day. But what about those who are the victims of school bullying? (cough cough BkDk is a totally normal and a healthy relationship, you're just a homophobe if you dont ship them) or those who had to keep their voice and entire existence heavily suppressed because your marriage was just a means to an end? (Endeavour is a loving husband, a doting father and a hard working hero) What about those kids who are victims of child abuse, child neglect and discrimination? (the Todoroki kids, Shigaraki, Toga and heck, even low key Spinner grew up in loving and healthy households). The Creature Rejection Clan was created to combat racism and All Might, someone who's name itself reduced crime in Japan by a half simply by existing, did NOTHING against the CRC. I thought 'heroes' were meant to protect the weak and deliver justice to the evil doers irrespective of who or what they are. I thought that's what's really meant to be a hero, to be defenders of mankind. Because lets face it, what's the difference between a villain who kills and a hero who abuses his family members on a physical, mental and an emotional level? What are the required criteria to judge these very two damnable actions with a bias attitude?
Which brings me to another question: Why are the students at UA high only taught martial or physical training? Don't they have special classes where they have to moral education classes or something along those line? Besides the rigorous physical training they need to fight against heroes, they have normal, regular-degular academic curriculum. These so called heroes-in-training are well educated in the art of understanding the topography of a battle field but the system has FAILED to educate the kids to understand why villains are the way they are. The entire system, the root itself, the very foundation of the hero society, FAILED to protect what they claimed to be. People like Toga, Dabi, Overhaul, Spinner, Shigaraki, Twice, Stain, Magne, are all nothing but the products of the hero society, the actual end result of this superficial, celebrity-like lifestyle of hero worship. But many fail to see beyond the stars and shimmers of this artificially constructed world.
The above points are heavily tied to Stain's ideologies. He didn't put up arms and struggles against the hero society for nothing. He knew what he was doing.
This may not be the answer that you're looking for but the way I see it, the MHA story shows us a horrifying representation of our already dark and twisted world but that's where it stops. It wants to do nothing with it because the story doesn't know where to go with it and how to go about doing it. It started something it couldn't finish. It created issues it couldn't solve. So the plot choose a different path to tread upon: focus on the popular people from the hero society who are highly questionable and romanticize their words and actions. It doesn't matter if you faced quirk discrimination or worse, became a butt of ridicule for not having any quirk at all. So long as a bully has given a half baked ''apology'' and works hard to be a hero to satisfy their own ego, it's all good at the end of the day. Self worth issues, self inflicted bodily harm, lack of self worth received by the victim (definitely NOT Izu because Bk treats him with utmost respect and comradery), all melt away due to the power of 'apology' and friendship. It teaches us that celebrity worship, fake sense of heroism, the desire to be the top at the expanse of others are to be treated with normalcy because the show must go on no matter what. The other message is that it's ok be a wife beater and a bully so long as you're doing it for heroism, name, fame, recognition.
Our priorities in the MHA universe are all messed up. We don't even have an inkling of a thought about how Izu feels about quirkless discrimination and the manga is wrapping itself up. So all the answers we can provide ourselves with regarding the matter will be head canon.That's why the main message of the story is that it fails on so many levels in terms of writing a morally upright story. The main hero of our story is nothing to offer, no words of hope and encouragement. That's the other message it has conveyed to us. I'm not saying this, the manga has proven to us time and again what i just said. The other thing it hammers home is the fact that, so long as you're a hero, your unjust behavior will be swept under the rug by your school and higher authorities. The message that MHA time and again conveys is that it loves hypocrisy and double standards. These are the solid reasons as to why the plot cannot logically and cohesively march forward.
"With great power comes with great responsibility" and the MHA verse failed to understand this concept by becoming the very thing the villains are condemned for in this series. That, my friend, is the general message of the story. That, my friend, is the moral lesson of the MHA verse.
#MHA critical thinking #bk is a bully #Izu deserved better #Izu is the protagonist not Bk #Izu matters Bk doesnt #Hori cant write shit
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