#and create new story territory for them while keeping them true to themselves

[destiel-wings]

fanfic writers are just tv writers that aren't getting paid

[threeclans]

Applications Now Open for FogClan!

In a far-off former farming town known by its feline residents as “Nowhere,” mystery and intrigue run amok. Though the town was once governed by twoleg presence, it has long since been abandoned and left to the descendants of cats brought in to control the rodent population of the community.

Nowhere is a ghost town for good reason. The persistent flooding that plagues the land made it inhabitable for human life, though the cats who cling to the distressed structures and worn down land see more in it than any twoleg ever did. After all, the cats of Nowhere have their reasons for remaining where they do. A longstanding history of folklore and fables keep them tethered to the community that they have built, superstition guiding their paws.

Hardship is simply a familiar facet of life for most residents of Nowhere, and most cats have learned to endure the usual struggles that beset them in their town, guided along by their tales and stories. However, recent internal conflict threatens to put them at greater risk than they have been before. The cats of Nowhere are plenty capable of weathering physical storms, well adapted to their way of life, but when their very community and culture begins to crumble before them, they may need to look beyond themselves for assistance and reach out into the mist.

The Next to Nowhere event will begin in the town of Nowhere, which is set apart from the territory of the clans and the trove. The distance will not extend for long, however, as the cats of Nowhere are bound to discover troubles plaguing their home that go beyond their comprehension.

DETAILS

This round of application is open to new potential members as well as members already in ThreeClans, and will be open to applications for both original characters as well as six adoptable characters with preestablished guidelines. We will be looking to accept 20 characters total, split between characters coming from both new members and current members. Each accepted member will have a character living amidst the cats of Nowhere with the end goal of that character joining FogClan. You have from April 22nd to May 6th to apply for original characters, and from April 22nd to May 2nd to apply for adoptable characters.

LINKS

Next to Nowhere Adoptables Document

Next to Nowhere History Document

Next to Nowhere Setting Document

Next to Nowhere Culture Document

Next to Nowhere Fables Document

Next to Nowhere Fables Storybook

GUIDELINES

You must be at least 18 years old to apply.

The cats of Nowhere are seen as outsiders to FogClan, but we are looking to limit the number of true “outsiders” to the town itself. This means that residents of Nowhere who have origins outside of the town will be limited. Kittypets from faraway locations, loners just now coming to visit Nowhere, and other sorts of outsiders are permitted, but be aware of the fact that you may be competing for a limited spot when submitting a character with this kind of backstory. In comparison, we welcome cats who feature backstories that place their histories firmly within the town of Nowhere. Many cats have lineages that trace back generations through the town’s history, and their families may have been a part of Nowhere for seasons — or perhaps your character is the offspring of a former outsider but has only ever known the town of Nowhere themself. Get creative, but keep this in mind when applying!

You must apply for a cat that is at least 3 moons of age. You are welcome to apply for any age above this.

You must apply initially with a name that reflects the “outsider” status of your character. This means that no cat will join the roleplay with a Clan name. These names will be earned throughout the process of roleplaying. For example, an acceptable name would be “Bat,” while an unacceptable one would be “Batclaw.”

Please thoroughly read any documents provided and linked above, and create your original character with the lore and setting in mind.

Please be prepared to be active! Ideally, our members will engage in roleplaying quite frequently. If you are looking for a roleplay that is slower or one that you can pop into only once per month, you should reconsider if ThreeClans is the group for you. ThreeClans functions on a real life time system, which means that every day that passes in real life is equal to a day passing in the roleplay’s time. Though time may be adjusted accordingly for more intense events, and liquid time may be given to those who ask permission to complete roleplays, things are quite fast paced — we like to keep everything moving so that nothing stagnates for too long!

You must have a Discord account to join the roleplay, as that is where it is hosted!

New members may apply for two adoptable characters as well as an original characters. This means new members could have up to three character applications. Current members are only eligible to apply for an original character.

HOW TO APPLY

Please begin by reading our About, FAQ, and Rules pages. We also suggest browsing our Carrd, any posts tagged “Next to Nowhere” on this blog, and our blog in general should you be looking for more information!

When you have read the required pages and documents, you may use the following links to our application pages! Read over each it carefully, and put forth your best effort. We simply cannot wait to read everyone’s applications!

Follow this link to be taken to our original character applications!

Follow this link to be taken to our adoptable character applications!

If you have any questions regarding the opening, your character, or information on FogClan, the event, or the cats of Nowhere, please feel free to message a mod or send in an ask to this blog for a discussion! You may find us at the blogs listed below.

Mod Lacey — @crowfalled

Mod Liz  — @dapplecloud

Mod Maya — @swanface

Mod Scar  — @hollyfurs

Mod Tori — @tori-paw

Applications will remain open for a period of just over two weeks for original characters, and one and a half weeks for adoptable characters! They open on Saturday, April 22nd, and will close on May 6th at 11:59 PM EST for original characters. Adoptable characters will be closing on May 2nd at 11:59 PM EST. We will be sure to post reminders as applications get closer to the deadline. Good luck to everyone!

[osovereign]

❝ ☆ — MISCELLANEOUS / i.

☆ — by default ( unless otherwise stated ): kratos main attire is his prima stella ensemble from tales of festival. to fully human / non-supernatural and/or non-fantasy aligned muses his attire appears a simple black long sleeve top, slim fit black slacks, brown belt, and matching brown boots. flemberge is often at his hip, in a black sheath but regular people cannot see it as he has a concealment spell placed upon it. he is also not a mercenary unless he tells you such, he often refers to himself as just a really old man nowadays.

☆ — noishe is still with him on a near constant basis, within the past thousand years have the pair gained the ability to communicate via teleplay, given that noishe reached his next stage in his evolution guided by mana, into that of a human child who will grow up to fight evil and defend aselia, he sometimes, if rarely makes guest appearances!

☆ —he wears a golden locket that he keeps kept tucked inside his shirt, it contains a picture of himself, anna irving, and lloyd irving when the lather was an infant and still in his care. he gave lloyd a similar one, it was white gold/silvery and the counterpart to his, that anna once wore.

☆ — kratos has attained the power of god, if your muse is from aselia he will know their name and various basic miscellaneous facts about them ( he is the one true god of aselia ): kratos has become omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotient when it comes to those from aselia, he will not know things of muses that come from other world’s and he cannot know everything of something that was born before he was live or the summon spirits ( noishe is a great example, he does not know his origin, but knows he's been around since aselia was created ).

☆ — he is extremely powerful: in both swordplay and magic usage, he is unmatched by all. when it comes to battle experience– there are very few that can be a sliver of his strength– do not challenge him to a battle, while he does not fight much anymore… unless your muse is a god-themselves or something akin to a god… they will not win.

☆ — kratos loves children ! he travels a lot, going around the world and aiding those whom need assistance. he frequently goes to orphanage and tells them various stories ( which are moreso tweaked editions of the journey of regeneration and other tales ) they affectionately call him ‘unc kratos’

☆ — there is a new world religion, still the goddess martel is worshipped… but he has tweaked it heavily ( kharlan stuff / mithos is a half-elf / journey of regeneration is included / etcetc ): with this new religion comes two countries ( sylverant and tethealla ): each is lead by the descendants of the chosen ( lloyd/colette and zelos/sheena ): the two heirs are still known as ‘chosen’ but it is a superficial title and on the dawn of their sixteenth birthday, they make a journey to the world tree, yggdrasil and offer a prayer ( which is actually a tweaked version of the intro kratos says in tales of symphonia ).

☆ — after a few generations, the two kingdoms birth heirs that fall in love and marry ( the two kingdoms become a conjoined power and this reunite the kingdoms under one unified power ): however, there are still other small countries and territories ( such as mizuho/ninja village, the city of half-elves: welgiga, the city of elves: heimdall, and iselia is the capital…and is where the royal family lives. )

☆ — the people of mizuho act as guardians to the royal family, when a ninja reaches age three they begin training and by age five they nearly live full full time with the heir. if there is ever a case of a multiple birth, the heirs are both called ‘chosen’ does not matter who is born first, they’ll end up doing a dual-ruling ( as the title is for formalities anyways ).

☆ — he speaks with the spirits of martel and mithos (iniquitousideals, semi hiatus​) when he visits the world tree. for a combination of general advice and just for keeping communication with two of his most treasured friends... yuan remains as the guardian (guardianofmana, hiatus)

☆ — he is a 'jack of all trades but also a master of plenty', so to speak. kratos is highly adept at sewing, chopping wood, hunting, setting up camp sites, using tools, sword fighting, and a variety of other useful things, such as operation and repair of machines. much of it is due to his incredible age, the other due to his interest in technical writing and the desire to truly understand how and why something works.

☆ — kratos likes history ( outside of being an ancient living relic himself ): and has read many books on the subject. he also likes ballads and epics, as well as books that teach you how to do things. no matter how long he lives, he is extremely open-minded in continually learning new things.

[carlyraejepsans]

Sorry to be that person, but according to the starting cutscene, it’s said that the 2nd dark fountain disturbed the balance, so we wouldn’t have to seal off Castle Town. Though, that does raise a question. How does Ralsei keep his form in the Cyber world? The fountains are fairly far in distance in the light world, but the dark world? Do the darkners of the Cyber world become supported by the original fountain? And we see that Lancer and Rouls turn to stone. Does that mean remnants of the other fountains still remain?

mmm yeah well I don't know what to tell ya, especially since it's not based on anything but gut feeling, but i don't think Castle Town IS the only dark fountain besides... well whatever new dark fountain we close off in every game. and even if it was, the theme of the disparity between lightners and darkners is not one i feel CAN be resolved at all. because while ralsei's schtick with "oooh we must serve our masters, it's the greatest expression of our nature" is obviously bullshit and gets repeatedly challenged by the game, he's also.... not wrong. darkners ARE objects created by the lightners. made to be useful and serve a purpose, a purpose set by the lightners themselves. and, get this, COMPLETELY UNKNOWINGLY. like remember that meme of the kid from toy story that goes like "he was just out here creating art how was he supposed to know those bitches were alive. they shouldn't be"

when you begin to add other less rebellius darkners like swatch, and their pride serving the lightner to create the vessel in the basement, the power imbalance becomes just... too much. it's veering dangerously into HP house elves territory. so from here we have two roads: the darkners are more fictional/a product of lightners' imagination and they DO exist to help them deal with everyday life (chapter 1 helped susie get out of her shell and confront her violent tendencies. chapter 2 was a pretty obvious parallel between Queen and Noelle's mother, a figure she eventually stands up against!). or that, if the darkners ARE indeed "people" they need to sever the tie to the light world and its objects/spaces to live on their own. make their own purposes. and y'know, not die if you forget some poor lightners card in your jeans pocket when you send them to the cleaners.

so yeah... I don't think dark worlds and the light world will be able to communicate by the end of the game. that door is gonna close completely (likely by closing castle town, as it almost certainly represents kris, once they've completed their character development) and everyone will have to live their life with the friends they made along the way. just as we, the player, are going to have to say goodbye to kris so they can live their own life. kind of like we did with frisk post true ending.

unless they forcefully kick us out and banish us and our heaven. y'know.

[americancowgirl19]

Artic Hoarfrost

Summary: Bill sends a letter to his brother Charlie about a rare dragon that turns out to be more than just a creature.

Warnings: Fluff, angst

Reader: Gender Neutral Reader

Pairings: Charlie Weasley x Gender Neutral Reader

Word Count: 2,083

A/n: It didn’t turn out as romantic as I would have liked. It’s more of a platonic story but it’s still good! I hope, lol... and yes I created the Artic Hoarfrost, I think it’s a cool name.

Masterlist

Charlie was only studying in Romania for half a year when his older brother, Bill, sent him a letter. It had been a long time since Charlie had heard from him. The two brothers had been close growing up but now they were both out of Hogwarts pursuing different careers.

He opened the letter curiously but also excited. He missed his family but knew the distance would become easier with time. 

The letter started out simple. There were some casual questions and small talk before Bill got to the reason why he sent the letter. 

Around the same time Charlie was able to get a job in Romania Bill found a job as a curse beaker in Egypt. While at work Bill stumbled upon something that he thought Charlie should know.

In one of the crypts in Egypt there’s a dragon. It isn’t uncommon for Goblins to have dragons in their work areas. Charlie knew there is one in the Gringotts bank and it didn’t surprise him that there’s on in Egypt.

What does surprise him is the description Bill gives him. This isn’t a normal dragon but an Artic Hoarfrost. Charlie had thought the breed went extinct back before the first world war. To hear that there’s one captive in Egypt instantly intrigued him.

It was hard to convince his superiors to let him go to Egypt by himself. The sanctuary had just welcomed a new dragon. All hands were on deck to help the dragon integrate in the new habitat.

It wouldn’t be until another month later that Charlie was able to get some time to go to Egypt. As good as it was to see Bill again all Charlie could think about was the Hoarfrost. He had seen rough sketches of one before but to be able to see one in person would be amazing.

If Bill was right and the dragon truly is a Hoarfrost then Charlie knew he would have to convince the sanctuary to liberate the dragon from the Goblins. A Hoarfrost would slowly wither in the hot environment. 

“Why are they keeping the dragon here?” Charlie asks, following his brother through the desert to find the beast.

“Because it breathes ice and it’s hot,” Bill explains simply. Charlie sends him a look.

“They’re enslaving a dragon to keep themselves cool?” Charlie asks, not bothering to hide his anger.

“Which is why I sent the letter,” Bill says, sending him a glance. Charlie presses his lips together and nods.

“Oh, wow,” Charlie whispers, when they reach the dragon. 

The dragon is large but malnourished. After getting over the initial shock and beauty of the creature, Charlie notices injuries from the chains and the abuse the Goblins have no doubt forced it to endure.

“So, is it what you thought it was?” Bill wonders. The both of them watch as the wizard guards force the dragon to breathe it’s ice into different tunnels. These tunnels go to various work sites and buildings. While Bill enjoyed the cool air the dragon produced he would rather suffer the heat and have the dragon free.

“Looks like it,” Charlie mutters, clenching his fists when the dragon roars painfully. The wizards tasked with forcing the dragon to work used cruel spells that pierced right through it’s hide. “I want to get a closer look,” Charlie says, making a move to go closer but Bill holds him back.

“Not right now,” He says. “Those guard won’t let you close. We’ll have to wait for night fall,”

Grumbling, Charlie leaves with his brother counting down the hours until he can return. Bill did his best to distract his brother but Charlie was far too determined to go back.

He paced in Bill’s flat. His mind is reeling, all his thoughts centering around the dragon. He recalled all he knew about Hoarfrost’s, which wasn’t that much. A few things did strike out as peculiar. The dragon seemed to be half the size it should have been, which could be because of the conditions it is living in but Bill says the dragon has only been there for a few years. Such little time shouldn’t have stunted it’s growth.

Another thing that struck out to Charlie were the curses the wizards used. Those curses, while harmful, shouldn’t have penetrated the dragon’s armored hide as easily as it did.

Charlie couldn��t wait to return to the beast. He wanted a closer look. Hopefully he’d find some answers to the growing number of questions circling his head.

When Bill deemed it late enough, Charlie all but ran to the dragon. Bill struggled to keep up and was out of breath when they arrived. While Bill too deep breaths, Charlie approached the dragon.

The great beast was asleep. It’s curled around itself using their wings to cover as much of their body as possible. It’s an attempt to keep the coolness it’s body radiates to itself. While the room is cool it’s not nearly cold enough to healthily habituate the dragon.

“Charlie, be careful,” Bill warns. Charlie ignores him and continues closer to the beast. He freezes when it shifts. His heart hammers in his chest when the head emerges from under the wing. “Charlie,” Bill says, wanting his brother to come back but Charlie stays still.

A moment later it’s eyes open. A beautiful y/e/c stares right at him. Charlie waits trepidatiously for the dragon to react, to attack him, but it stays still. It’s eyes just stare and observe Charlie.

Charlie releases a shaky breath. He knew he wasn’t completely safe but he felt more comfortable. The dragon seemed calm but that could change. Charlie knew he should be cautious but he was simply too curious.

He takes a step closer but ends up stumbling backwards when the dragon’s entire body shifts. Their wings fold exposing more of the body. The tail comes around almost curving around Charlie and it’s head lifts to better assess him.

“Charlie!” Bill hisses. The dragon turns it’s attention toward Bill but remains unthreatening. Despite it’s calm composure Bill still takes large steps back.

“Will you calm down?” Charlie hisses back. “I know what I’m doing,”

“You’ve been around dragons for six months and now you’re an expert?” Bill snaps, keeping his eye on the beast.

“More so than you,” Charlie sasses.

“What exactly are you going to do?” Bill asks. “You got your closer look. Now let’s go,”

Bill had a point. Charlie got his closer look but he didn’t want to leave. This dragon was far too interesting to leave so soon.

Charlie ignores his brother and moves closer to the dragon. Bill releases a frustrated sigh. He was half tempted to go yank his brother away if he wasn’t so intimidated by the large dragon. He’s seen the beast encase more than one Goblin in ice before. He didn’t want that to be his fate but didn’t want it to be Charlie’s either.

The longer Charlie spent around the dragon the more unusual the beast seemed to be. It’s true that Charlie’s only spent roughly six months with real live dragons but he’s learned a great deal about their behavior in that time.

He remembers reading about Artic Hoarfrost’s at Hogwarts. It was well documented that their breed is territorial, aggressive and prefer their isolation. How did Goblins manage to capture and keep a dragon that’s well known for their aggression and untamableness?

Every moment spent with this dragon only raises more questions.

“Bill, what’s this collar around their neck?” Charlie asks, risking a few steps closer.

“I don’t know, probably something to keep the dragon in place,” Bill says, keeping his distance. Charlie didn’t believe that answer. Nothing is attached to the collar, it’s simply there around it’s neck.

Charlie turns his head and looks back into the dragon’s eye. There was something almost human to them.

Something human.

“Bloody hell,” Charlie whispers, his eyes widening. His heart drops to his stomach as a new theory races through his mind. “Bill, I don’t think this is a dragon,”

“What are you talking about, Charlie? That’s obviously a bloody dragon,” Bill snaps. Charlie shakes his head. “Charlie,” Bill scolds as his brother extends a hand toward the dragon.

“I’m telling you, Bill. This isn’t a dragon,” Charlie smiles sadly, as the dragon presses their snout against his head. “It’s an animagus,”

“What?” Bill asks. “You’re telling me that that’s a human?” Charlie nods his head, beckoning his brother forward.

“It’s far too small to be a hatched dragon. The hide is weaker and their eyes are human,” Charlie explains.

“How did they manage to do this?” Bill asks.

“I’m not sure,” Charlie mutters, his eyes going back to the collar. “But I think that’s how they’re keeping them,” Bill cautiously moves forward. He inspects the object.

“It’s definitely cursed,” Bill mutters.

“Can you break it?” Charlie asks.

“It’s going to take time,” Bill warns him. Charlie clenches his jaw but nods knowing there was no way around it. 

“Don’t worry, we’ll get you out,” Charlie promises the dragon. It huffs and curls back into itself again.

“Charlie, they’ve been a dragon for at least five years,” Bill tells him. “I’ve seen how they treat them. The transition back to human life isn’t going to be easy,”

“I know,” Charlie mutters, following him back to his flat. “Let’s just worry about getting them free first,”

“The ministry’s going to want to hear about this,” Bill mentions.

“They’ll be too worried about punishing those involved. They won’t be worried about their best interest. Let’s help the them and then go to the Ministry,” Bill nods in agreement.

Every night for nearly a month, Bill and Charlie go to break the curse on the collar. Well, Bill goes to break the curse while Charlie keeps the dragon company.

“Don’t worry, Bill will be done before you know it,” Charlie whispers, gently massaging some sensitive spots on on their head. He smiles when he hears a purr like sounds. Even Bill smiles, a bit happy to see that they’re enjoying themselves.

Charlie continues to talk softly and continues his massaging. Halfway through the night is when the collar falls to the floor. All three of them tense before Bill steps back.

The dragon slowly stands up. The sound of the chains clinking together gain Bill and Charlie’s attention. Together, the brothers use their wands to break the chains which further frees the animagus. 

Charlie and Bill both smile as the dragon stretches and tries to shake the soreness from their muscles. They both take a step back as it releases a mighty roar.

“We have to get them out of here,” Bill says. Before Charlie could agree, the guards come rushing in. The dragon glares at them and growls. They’re forced to take cover as the beast breathes a stream of ice crystals in their direction.

“We have to leave!” Charlie shouts. The dragon ignores him and continues to extract revenge. “Please! We have to go! The Ministry will deal with them, I promise! But you deserve to be free,”

The dragon turns to him. Charlie looks at them pleadingly. The dragon huffs and lowers their neck.

“I am not getting on,” Bill says. Charlie grins widely.

“Come on! Live a little!” Charlie runs toward it. Bill groans and follows his brother. Charlie holds on tightly with extreme excitement while Bill is extremely uneasy.

The dragon flies them out of the crypt. Bills screams in terror while Charlie hollers. They fly far away before the dragon drops back to the ground. Bill falls off and groans on the ground.

Charlie slides off gracefully and comes around to their face. The dragon bumps its snout against his chest causing Charlie to chuckle.

“You’re free now,” Charlie tells it. “You can do whatever you want,” The dragon looks genuinely confused breaking Charlie’s heart.

Before Charlie could say anything else, the dragon steps back. Charlie watches the beast begin to shrink before taking a human form. He looks at you for the first time.

You’re wearing a ratty shirt and torn shorts. Your legs support you for a few seconds before you collapse on the grass. Charlie rushes to you.

“Are you alright?” He asks quickly. You manage to smile at him.

“Th-thank you,” You stutter. He smiles at you. “Thank you so much,” You fall into his arms. His eyes widen a bit but he hugs you back.

“You’re safe now,” He promises. “You’re safe,”

[ilikekidsshows]

Could you talk more about Adrien and Lila being foils?

Okey dokey.

So, I haven't seen the original dark mirror meta about these two, so I might end up treading some of the same ground, but hopefully I'll be able to bring some manner of new material to the table.

Lila and Adrien are constructs of similarity and opposition. I talked before about how similar they both are in their social goals and methods for reaching them. Adrien and Lila are both "beautiful people", not only attractive in looks, but compelling, interesting and charismatic in persona. They're the two characters most likely to be seen surrounded by others.

However, the people who surround them aren't really their friends-friends, and only get to see the parts of them that they deem socially acceptable. Lila constructs fanciful tales about her wild adventures and talks about how she's oh-so-helpful without ever actually helping anyone in any way. Meanwhile Adrien is the picture perfect gentleman, soft-spoken and kind, always willing to give someone his time. They both want to be liked, but Lila wants to be the center of attention while Adrien wants to fit in. Adrien also does genuinely do nice things for others even if not always for selfless reasons, while Lila never helps anyone out in the show ever. In fact, when she was trying to win Adrien over in ‘Volpina’, she stole and dumped the Grimoire. Lila actively harms people.

Their behavior also leads to them forming parasocial relationships. Adrien gets hounded by crazed fans when he wants to do nothing more than see the rare movie his mother starred in, because they're under the impression he's everyone's friend so of course they're entitled to his time and attention at any given moment. Everyone believes Lila's stories without a speck of scepticism even as they get increasingly wild, because they have the impression Lila is such a nice, helpful girl, she could never be a liar. Lila is very much like an online influencer, who also often exaggerate or even lie about their money or social situation to appear more interesting on camera but their audience never even thinks to question it because they have this cool online "friend" who always has such interestesting stories to tell.

The most important difference between these characters, as it is the reason they come into conflict, is in their relationships with Marinette and Ladybug. While the two would eventually come into conflict over Lila being a wannabe supervillain while Adrien is a superhero, the reason they have come into conflict in the show so far is over Marinette. Adrien adores Marinette, while Lila despises her. Adrien is the one who voiced exactly how much Marinette means to their entire class in the season two finale, while Lila makes it her mission to tear Marinette and her position down in 'Chameleon'. Similarly, Ladybug is the love of Adrien's life, while she's also the single person Lila hates more than Marinette.

This show does a lot of good vs bad contrasts, and Adrien and Lila are no exception with Adrien being a chosen protector or Paris while Lila is an aspiring supervillain. However, they are similar in this too. The similarity comes in how willing they are to take on these roles. Cat Noir is a lot more hyped about being a superhero than Ladybug, from the very beginning in 'Origins', and Lila is also a more willing villain than Hawk Moth. Gabriel became a villain to get his wife back, Lila wants to become one to get back at Ladybug.

Adrien also puts other people ahead of himself at all times even outside of his role as a superhero. This is because of his abuse background, so he's basically been trained to be selfless to a fault. He has to really want something and/or have Plagg egging him on to act selfishly. This trait is what gets him chosen as a hero, since Fu sees him put helping a random stranger over his own happiness (getting to go to school). Meanwhile, Lila's first priority is herself and she thinks kindness doesn't exists, labeling kind people as either "gullible" or "stupid" in 'Chameleon'.

Also, their rooms. Adrien's is wide and most often shown fully bright or with a half-bright-half-shadows dichotomy, while Lila's is almost claustrophobic in how it’s always shown in darkness, despite being a pretty regular size. There’s also other symbolism in how light is used to depict their rooms. Lila’s room has a single window with the blinds down but not closed: she’s shutting people out but always observing them for weaknesses. Meanwhile Adrien’s large windows create shadows that make the room resemble a prison, which it has the potential to turn into, so the threat of being locked up against his will constantly looms over Adrien like a shadow.

However, there are still similarities. Adrien and Lila are both collectors. Adrien's collection is one of video games while Lila has a collection of masks. These collections showcase important aspects of their characters: Adrien values having a good time and Lila values always keeping her true self hidden. Adrien just wants to have fun with other people and loves having other people in his room to play with ('Party Crasher' and 'Félix' showcase this). Lila places value on the different masks she wears themselves. Does she even remember why she wears them anymore?

This one is going fully into wild theories territory, but Lila's bracelet looks like a friendship bracelet. I've made a bunch of these at various camps as a kid by weaving different colored strings together. They're commonly traded between friends.

Did Lila have a friend and the bracelet is either a token from one of her more memorable victims, or was this hypothetical friend the one using Lila and served as Lila’s Cynicism Catalyst?

I'll also briefly cover why exactly the story would want to use these characters as foils. That's because, ultimately, Lila is Adrien's opponent.

An important aspect of Lila and Adrien's relationship is the power games they play with each other. Each step of the way, they have been trying to figure each other out, and every time Lila is a step behind Adrien. Adrien figured out Lila was a liar way back in 'Volpina', but Lila didn't figure out that Adrien was onto her before 'Chameleon', when Adrien also started to realize the potential danger that Lila poses, which was further enforced by what he saw in 'Oni-Chan'. Then, Adrien realizes she's an actual threat to Marinette specifically in 'Ladybug', while Lila realizes that Adrien is completely capable of playing the same games she does.

Lila lets her guard down much more easily than Adrien, we see this in how she repeatedly lets her mask slip to show just how nasty she really is for Marinette and Adrien in 'Chameleon', while Adrien has never slipped with anyone to show just how damaged he is (the number one thing he is hiding). Everything he's told others is pretty innocuous stuff (e.g. "my only friend was Chloé"). Because Lila is more sloppy, she also allows herself to be smug with Marinette, thinking she has the real Adrien figured out already. However, she doesn't realize that she still hasn't figured Adrien out completely. Adrien might be wily, but he's also kind, and Lila messed with the people he wants to protect.

As we've seen from their interactions so far, ever since Adrien knew what she was like, he's been a step ahead of her. He's the one who sabotaged her original plan to get rid of Marinette (which was just waiting for Marinette to attack her publically and turn everyone against her) and he also stepped in to make her give up her second plan (framing Marinette for misdemeanours). So, while they're now focused on each other, Marinette is still right in the middle of the battle. The fight is between Lila and Adrien, but it’s about Marinette, so Marinette is still technically the main consideration in this sub plot, so it doesn’t sideline our main character entirely.

[warsofasoiaf]

You recently mentioned some of the Russian unifiers in TNO and your thoughts about them. What do you think of Tsar Mikhail II?

Mikhail II is a nice tragic story to him. Essentially kidnapped and held hostage as a puppet tsar by Semenyov and Shepunov in their attempt to restore the Whites to their greatness, Mikhail's story is ultimately a question about home. That sounds maudlin, but home is a very powerful sentiment; it is a place of belonging as much as it is a place of safety. Mikhail II is far from home, kept from it by men who seek to reclaim a home that they have repeatedly lost, once to the Reds and second to the Nazis.

When he begins, Tsar Mikhail is a weak puppet and he knows it. All he wants to do is to return to Australia to his family. An impossible dream, given that the landlocked Transbaikal Prinicpality cannot even afford him to sneak home aboard a vessel. To the east, the heirs of Harbin, Matkovsky and Rodzaevksy, plot their own restoration of the Russian Fascist Party. To the north, Yagoda and Sablin duke it out over being the heir to the Soviet Union. Mikhail is stuck dancing to the strings of Ataman Semenyov as the Whites plot to be the rulers of the Far East - first with Matkovsky to remove the insane Rodzaevksy, then to turn on each other to make themselves the true heirs to Harbin, then to strike north, removing Yagoda, Sablin, the diamond mines of Sakha, before finally taking on Alexander Men's Divine Mandate. All Mikhail can do is keep his head down, and it's entirely possible that this is where his story ends. Plenty of other factions, should they best Chita, do not spare Mikhail, and he becomes one more tragic victim of the Russian anarchy. Only the truly merciful among them understand him for what he truly is, a kidnap victim forced to put on a crown and play tsar. Sablin and Men spare him, and WerBell holds him for ransom but releases him unharmed after he makes his mint, but Yagoda repeats the Red murders on the tsar, and Semenyov's fellow fascists are hardly willing to debate the finer points of Mikhail's choice in the whole affair. In that sense, Mikhail is one of the greatest tragedies of the Far East unification segment.

If Chita wins, however, Mikhail starts to change. Russia is his original home even if he consider Australia his home because that's where his family is. The true problem is, if he lets things continue such as they do, then Boris Shepunov, proud collaborator of Japan and unabashed dictator, will be the one really controlling Russia. That means the same pains that he experiences will be visited upon an entire country. This is where Mikhail starts to change, and embrace the idea of being Tsar Mikhail. Thrown into a nest of conspiracy, he starts to create a conspiracy of his own, using the power of the tsar to create inroads to loyalists, to slowly peel away support from Shepunov as they consolidate their holdings in the far east of Siberia. While the government of Chita works to handle the new territory, it is the perfect time for Mikhail to build his strength (as it is for Shepunov, as the player must choose which faction they're supporting in the struggle). If Mikhail fails, then Shepunov will replace him with a more pliable puppet tsar in Nikita, and works to establish his de facto military dictatorship. If he wins though, then Mikhail recognizes that he needs to establish something better in the place of the White army clique that controlled him. Hence, Mikhail goes to true believer of constitutional tsardom, establishing a civilian government to act for the people while using the symbol he provides as tsar - the very same symbols that maneuvered him to power over Shepunov - to work for the betterment of his broken homeland. A Mikhail that succeeds ultimately learns that home is not just to feel safe and to belong, and the negative experiences he had when he was a puppet in Chita give him the sense that he needs to make sure he minimizes those experiences in those who he governs.

Thanks for the question, Gohr.

SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King

[germanicseidr]

Frisians

We are picking up from where we left off on my post about the Frisii. The Frisians were a germanic tribe/kingdom located in modern day Frisia, Noord-Holland, Zuid-Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Groningen, Drenthe and Overijssel in the Netherlands, east-Frisia in Germany and north-Frisia in Denmark. They are the oldest Germanic culture that still exist until this very day with their own unique history, flag, traditions and language.

During the great migrational period, which also marks the end of the iron age and the start of the medieval age, new settlers, mostly Saxons, settled themselves in former Frisii territory. Most of the Frisii had abandoned their homeland and migrated either southwards or to the west to Britannia. Only a very few Frisii remained in their homeland, too little to continue their population.

Around the 5th century AD these migrants were now settled properly and called themselves Frisians. They quickly turned their homeland into a powerful seafaring nation now bordered by the Christianized Franks to the south and the still pagan Saxons to the east, the Frisians were still pagan as well. By 500AD they were possibly the most powerful sea power in western Europe, a power they gained from their long history of sailing and trading.

Since the collapse of the Western Roman empire, the economy in western Europe was in a very sad state. Poverty and hunger were considered to be normal while ancient Roman settlements started to decay and slowly disappear. Between 300-500AD, trade was pretty much dead and time appeared to have stopped moving for the people in western Europe. This all eventually changed thanks to the Frisians who were able to restore trade routes and opened up a path for the now so famous vikings.

During the late 6th century, the Frisians set up wide-spread trading routes all across the north sea, east sea and the Rhine area. In all of these trading areas, settlements grew like cabbage thanks to the wealth that these Frisian traders brought, settlements like: Ipswich in England, Ribe in Denmark and Medemblik in the Netherlands. Already existing settlements such as London and Dorestad grew thanks to this trade. Dorestad, a city which was located in modern day Utrecht, the Netherlands, even became the most important trade hub of western Europe, it was also the capital of the Frisian kingdom.

The Frisians were in fact so dominant in their trade that the term Frisian became a synonym for trader in many Germanic languages until around 1000AD. Curiously enough, many of the trading settlements were not fortified with walls or forts, the 6th and 7th century were relatively peaceful times. It was also the Frisians who reintroduced the concept of money in the form of sceatta coins. The word sceatta itself is Frisian for treasure. Archeologists have found these sceatta coins all around the North sea coast, England, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands. These sceattas were based on earlier Roman coins. So you can thank the Frisians for the fact that we use money instead of the old trading system.  

So what did the Frisians trade exactly? They traded both luxery goods and more mundane goods per example: Fabrics, skins, pottery, metal, cattle, fish, flesh, salt, wine, dairy products, fur, milling stones and even walrus, sea lion and reindeer products which they got from the far North in Scandinavia. They also traded in human lives because the slave trade was a lucrative business and slaves were essential for the early medieval economy.

Who ruled the Frisians? It is not known when the Frisian tribe turned into a kingdom but we do have written sources of some of the earliest Frisian kings. The oldest yet quite unreliable source comes from the epic poem Beowulf which mentions Finn Folcwalding as the first king of the Frisians. It is however doubtful if Finn actually really existed since Beowulf is not exactly a reliable historical source. According to the Poem, Finn was the son of Folcwalding and married a Danish princes, Hildeburh.

Here is a quote from the Beowulf poem: "The warriors returned then to seek their houses, bereft of friends, to see Frisia, their homes and high fort yet Hengest the death-stained winter spent with Finn, in a place with no fellowship at all; he remembered his land, though he could not drive on the sea the ring-prowed ship: the sea welled in storm, fought against the wind, the winter locked the waves in icy bonds, until came another year to the courtyards, as it still does now, those which continuously carry out their seasons, gloriously bright weathers." Beowulf

The first Frisian king of whom's existence we actually got archeological evidence, is king Audulf, who ruled Frisia between 600-630AD. The most famous Frisian ruler however is king Redbad/Radboud who ruled Frisia from 690-719AD. His story is recorded by the Franks, the enemy of the Frisian kingdom. According to these records, Redbad refused to convert to Christianity exclaiming that he would rather spent an eternity in hell with his ancestors than to go to heaven.

It was also under Redbad's rule that the Frisian kingdom reached its peak. The Frisians and Franks were continuously at war with each other as the Franks tried to expand their empire. Not only did the Franks aspire to add more land to their already massive empire, they wanted to convert the Frisians to Christianity as well which they eventually did with quite some violence. Bonifatius and Willibrord were send to Frisia with orders to built churches and convert the local people.

Bonifatius started to chop down sacred trees throughout Frisia, oak trees which were dedicated to Donar, which were used not only for religious purposes but also for judicial purposes. This angered the Frisians greatly and eventually the mob turned against Bonifatius killing him and his followers out of anger and revenge.

Redbad managed to keep Frisia largely pagan until his death in 719AD. After his death, the Frisian kingdom was quickly conquered by the Franks who divided the kingdom into three parts, East-Frisia, Middle Frisia and West-Frisia. One thing I want to mention is that there is a very popular post going around the internet saying that Redbad is the last Frisian king, this is however not true. The last Frisian king was Poppo who ruled Frisia between 719-734AD. It was during Poppo's reign that Frisia was conquered by the Franks, perhaps the reason why most people conveniently leave him out of history.

By the year 734AD, the Frisians were now largely converted to Christianty but some pagans still remained. The latest pagan burial dates back to around 1000AD and some pagan habits like placing offerings in moors and swamps continued on well into the 18th century. It took a very long time before the Frisians accepted Christianity, almost 1000 years before the Christian faith fully got its hold in even the smallest settlements.

Not only Frisia was conquered and converted by the Franks, the Saxons were also invaded by them which led to the Saxon wars which took place between 772-804AD. These wars eventually led to the destruction of the Irminsul and the forcible conversion to Christianity. Countless of pagans were murdered for refusing to convert. The Frisians provided military support for the Saxons in their uprising but it sadly failed. With the arrival of the 9th century, continental Germanic paganism has almost completely died with the exception of Denmark.

The Frisians were no longer independent and by 839AD, the reign of Frisian counts began. During the 9th century, the Frisian territory, now part of Lotharingia, was repeatedly attacked by the vikings. Thanks to the vikings, the Frisians lost their status of the most powerful seafaring nation and an age of terror began. Dorestad, former capital of the Frisian kingdom, was raided several times by the vikings until the city eventually slowly died. It was rediscovered in 1842 during archeological research conducted by L.J.F Janssen, conservator of the rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden.

Since the Christianization of Frisia went so slowly, many of its people still believed in the Germanic Gods by the time the vikings were active. After the passing of Louis the pious, king of the Franks, in 840AD, a power struggle broke out between his three sons which resulted in devastating civil wars. The Frisians, who are genetically and culturally identical to the Danes, decided to stop defending their territories from Danish raiders and so Frisia fell in the hands of Danish rulers. The Frisians and Danes actually had good relationships with each other as their culture and religion were the same. It is believed that many Frisians turned viking as well and joined the Danes in their viking raids.

Eventually the viking raids stopped but the Frisians, now known as the West-Frisians, continued their good relationships with Denmark, a friendship which continued for many centuries as Holland and Denmark later united to battle the Swedes, in fact this friendship still endures until this very day and was recently celebrated between both governments.

The counts of West-Frisia, who governed on behalf of the Holy Roman Emperor, ruled over the area which was formally part of the Frisian kingdom, modern day Noord-Holland, Zuid-Holland, Friesland, Groningen, Drenthe, Utrecht and east-Frisia. The first known count is Dirk I who governed over Frisia between 916-928AD. This line of counts continued until count Dirk V of West-Frisia declared himself as count of Holland and so the province of Holland was born.

The climate of Europe changed again between 800-1200AD, the medieval warm period had begun. This eventually led to a gigantic flood, the Sint-Lucia flood, which created the Zuiderzee and separated West-Frisia from East-Frisia. Eventually east-Frisia became known as simply Frisia but West-Frisia, now reduced to an area connected to Holland, continued to exist under its former name. The remaining part of West-Frisia refused to join Holland which resulted in the West-Frisian wars which lasted around 160 years.

West-Frisia was eventually absorbed into Holland by count Floris V during the late 13th century after series of battles and a mass slaughter committed by the Hollanders on West-Frisian men, women and children. Even though West-Frisia is nowadays part of Holland, they still remain their own unique identity, anthem, flag and dialect. the province of Holland grew into the most powerful province of the low lands and eventually revolted against their Spanish overlords in 1568, a struggle now known as the 80 years war for Dutch independence which resulted in the free republic of the united provinces in 1648, the creation of the Netherlands as a united land.

Meanwhile east-Frisia, now known as Frisia, continued to resist against every power that tried to conquer the territory. Frisia became an independent territory around the year 1000AD and continued to be independent until they decided to join the Dutch revolt against the Spanish. Frisia joined the union of Utrecht and became part of the Dutch republic and still continues to be part of the Netherlands until this very day although some Frisians want to reclaim their independence again.

I am sorry for this long post on the history of the Frisians but they have a very long history that deserves to be told since they greatly influenced all of Europe and are the oldest still existing Germanic culture of Europe.

Here are images of: a map showing Magna Frisia, the Frisian kingdom at its peak. An image of king Redbad/Radboud, Frisian traders, artist unknown, A map of the Frisian trade network, Frisian sceatta coins with a depiction of Wodan, a map showing West-Frisia before the formation of Holland, A photo that I took myself of West-Frisian remains badly maimed by soldiers of Holland during the West-Frisian wars, Current territory of West-Frisia, map showing present day Frisia and east-Frisia

[dappersheep]

Food Fantasy: An Analysis on what killed a Golden Goose (3/3)

Ladies and gentlemen, we've arrived at our final destination.

Again before we start, we have our obligatory disclaimers. I do not own the game or its characters, nor do I claim to know the true history and likely fate of this game. I am entitled to the thoughts and opinions written within this post. Feel free to agree or disagree with the points being made.

This post also remains untagged from the main foofan tag. Only my followers will see this.

We are in the third and final stretch, and the checkpoint is past the cut.

Community

So... here we are, fellow Master Attendants.

As consumers of this piece of entertainment media, we are free to enjoy it however we wish. Appreciating what is there, creating something new from what exists, playing the game by the meta or however you want to play it (within your means and at your own risk of course). There's no one true and absolute way to experience the game.

However, just as you can enjoy something, doesn't mean you can't also point out flaws or shortcomings of the media in question. As an active veteran player, I've already pointed out the many gameplay design flaws  already. And I'd be pretty dumb to say that Food Fantasy's writing is perfect. Hell, it has a lot of holes from a worldbuilding consistency standpoint. 

And what of things from the community side? Yes, there will be times you'd see content you consider cringe, or something in fanon you don't agree with. Or there happens to be fan theories and fangirling posts you don't like the take of because of X or Y.

And that's fine. If we all happen to play the same way, like the same thing, agree on the same thing and produce the same thing, well, this would be one helluva boring community, wouldn't it?

But what if someone decides the way you're playing the game is wrong and harasses you over it? What happens if someone decides that their interpretation of the game's flavor text and lore is more important than what anyone else thought about it? What happens if someone decides that they're absolutely right, and you and everyone else who disagrees deserves to be bullied out of the fandom?

As much as I want to say we aren't part of the problem why the game is deteriorating, we are unfortunately, part of the reason why the game is as such even if most of the blame is directed towards Funtoy and Elex themselves.

⦁ Whale Authority. Whales will always be part of a gacha game's ecosystem. Without them, the game won't be able to maintain its upkeep costs, moreso  for one that services global regions instead of just one. But when a game decides to cater its decisions of what features should be prioritized and when it should be launched around only its most elite paying players' voices  -even if that influence has since tapered off-, you know there is something wrong with the publisher's management team and priorities.

⦁ Interguild drama. While I did not personally follow any of this, this has certainly been the peak of in-game tension back in the day. Poaching good players from both competitive and smaller guilds, guild mergers that often ended up making the annexed guild/s the equivalent of UK colonized India or Australia, suck-ups chummying up to guild leaders to keep a spot in an active, high ranking guild (for bragging rights!) despite never contributing much to overall damage, and just general dislike of certain players' attitudes. Actions like this have disillusioned many players about their playing experience and the reason why many eventually just lost the motivation to log into FooFan.

⦁ Cheaters. You know very well about the Hacker-teme I've mentioned before, but that was in context of Elex being incompetent with dealing with them. Here, I would like  to point out the players who are desperate to dominate  the playing field for whatever reason to the point that they would resort to cheating the ranks with forceful modifications of the APK. Whether it is to rank high in catacombs weekly, get a top spot in daily disaster damage, or weasel their way into the competitive whale ranks of a major ranking event, these are the people who have no qualms messing with the code to give themselves an easier time with the game. And if they're caught? Some pretend that they've made a mistake, some quickly sell the account to escape the blame, some others just scamper away into the dark and hide in the lower ranks where they can't be found. Others simply don't care and keep cheating until Elex decides to finally ban them... if Elex ever decides their rebates score isn't worth saving the account.

⦁ Ship wars. Ah yes, a staple of drama in any fandom. There doesn't need much explanation to this as we've all had our fair share of running into a battleground in whatever fandom we visit. Someone ships BB52 wholeheartedly? Nope, problematic 'age gaps'. Someone likes Napoleon with Pastel? Someone's bound to misinterpret their bios in order to justify that Napoleon was being abusive. Spaghetti and Borscht? Borscht is minor coded, ship her with Vodka instead. Whiskey and Pizza or Cassata? Cancelled! And I've never heard of the Foe Yay trope or pretend I don't know about it! Rarepairs? Disgusting! No fanon in my canon playground! Turkey and Eggnog? Gasp! How dare you, you pedo-shipper-even-though-you-never-said-you-shipped-them-romantically-but-that-isn't-my-point!

⦁ Character Obsession: Bias. On one hand, you love a character so much. Relate to a character so much. You have thus pulled this character into the folds of your bosom and coo at them like a mother dove and get so minutely triggered if someone so much as makes one disagreeable or joking comment about the character that you fly into an overreactive ballistic rage that would make a Canadian goose honk in fear. You don't care what they are in canon. You don't care about the possibility of mistranslation. What matters is the fanon space you carved out for them to exist in and that's all that matters. The problem with this is when this obsession takes over common sense and social etiquette and it steps into harassment territory. You begin to think: I'm the only one who 'understands' the character. I'm the only one who wishes better for the character, everyone else is out to defame them! Oh wait, you like them too? Do you like them the way *I* like them? No? Maybe if you're my 'friend', I'd let it slide. But to everyone else? No one else has the right to like them as much as I do. No one! Never mind that they're completely fictional- No one hurts my bias because in turn, they're hurting *me*!

⦁ Character Obsession: Anti. On the other hand, you hate a character so much. This character just makes you see so much red. Their smug little smirk just makes your blood boil. Their fictional backstory makes you recoil in disgust. You hate that someone else loves a character you hate so much.  You cannot *believe* that someone could be so daringly stupid to like a problematic character. They must be problematic too then. They must be hiding real life secrets that are problematic! Yes, yes. That's right. That person's a supporter of abuse. That person's into pedophilia. That person is into military lolita fashion that Japan started the trend of but clearly Japan was part of the Axis Powers! And that... that person... that person... is a roleplayer and a yaoi fangirl properly interacting with minors and adults. How dare they...!

⦁ Fan Translations.  Normally it wouldn't be a problem that a group or two or several are translating pieces of the game's lore ahead of the official. But with Elex's very delayed translations and extreme allergic reactions to translating Food Soul bios, people have become dependent on fan-translation groups to get their fix. The problem herein lies... is when the translators get drunk off the power that they are one of a handful in a small community who can magically transcribe the oriental moonrunes into English. The problem starts when the translator starts to have an inclination. The problem starts when the translator loses their professional detachment and start adding in details here and there into the fan translated product that ultimately changes the meaning and direction of the entire story. The problem is also escalated when that translator's embellished product is touted as the truth by their followers. If there was an upcoming character whose backstory is connected to a character they hated (either because of someone or they just don't like the character) and you were hoping to read the fan translation? How would you know that what you get isn't something doctored to the point it's basically fanfiction?

⦁ Social Justice Vigilantism. Sometimes someone does not have a character obsession or need it to be annoying. Sometimes, someone just wants to ring the alarm over something they find 'problematic' in order to police and sanitize the enjoyment of the media for 'everyone'. They no longer really take enjoyment out of a new Food Soul design being leaked, they no longer read the lore just to enjoy what it has to offer. Instead, they nitpick bits and pieces of the design and point it out repeatedly as a reason why the whole thing is bad. They point out bits of the story and inject their interpretations of it without really comprehending what they've read in full and react badly to it. What's worse is that they have no qualms publicly posting their reactions and eagerly and hungrily await those likes and echoes of agreement that they were right.

⦁ Circles of Influence. Everyone has a group they eventually gravitate to in a fandom. It comes with its own pros and cons. Sometimes you join a group because someone you admire is in there, sometimes you join a group because you just want to mingle and see more content. All valid reasons. Arguments can't be avoided in a group, it has to happen... But you have to take care. You have to take care to feel the change in the air of the group. When someone starts pushing people to agree with them. When your most admired people start to feel overly sensitive about certain characters or issues. When you start to feel obligated to spy on other groups outside of this one for 'nonbelievers', 'traitors' and 'heretics' who do not think the way this group does, and that bringing back bits and pieces of gossip as offerings would somehow make you more favored in the eyes of the inner clique or remain inside it. There is a gripping sense of annoyance when that person comes in to complain but you can't do anything about it but nod and agree. There is a pervading sense of fear and apprehension of overstepping an invisible boundary. There is fear that you might be next on the chopping block, after witnessing one of the others being ganged up on and thrown out without a second thought, their name spat upon like they're worth less than dirt. And so reluctant you are to give up what you have with them that when they push you to do something you are reluctant to do, all in the name of 'harmony and justice'... You do it. Even though it would mean offering yourself up to the mob with no salvation, and the stark realization that... [they] never cared about you as a friend.

And we've come to the end of this analysis trilogy. The writing got a little bit strange in this post, but honestly this is the best way I could put it. I'm aware things can and will be more complicated than the bullet points I've written but I'm just one person and I tried very hard to keep details of all the drama that happened in this fandom as vague as possible. Of course, that wouldn't work if you know what I am talking about.

The community is quiet now for the most part, the game is somewhere between limbo and the living plane. Things could be better for us, but I don't really count on it.

I wish I could leave a bit of a moral warning or something. But rather than do that, I just hope this was an entertaining read into one individual's eyes into Food Fantasy and everything that makes it up.

[grimmseye]

Tandem

Read on Ao3 Here

Rating: Gen

Fandom: She-ra

Relationships: Hordak & Entrapta, Hordak/Entrapta (pre-relationship

Chapter Characters: Hordak, Entrapta

Chapter Tags/Warnings: This is just 1500+ words of Hordak’s thoughts about Entrapta, Pre-Season 2

(Disclaimer: remember that Hordak is both an imperial soldier and a cult survivor. This is also before he and Entrapta have really started building their relationship. His narration is told through that lens. )

— — — — — — — —

Years of sifting through the Horde’s administrative detritus had not made the job any more bearable for him. Even when Shadow Weaver had been keeping operations smooth, there was a certain portion of work that had to fall on his head, plans and projects needing review before they could be dismissed or approved of.

It was aggravating work, with one new exception. When he reached the file with telltale oil smudges on it, he could already feel the weight of his armor ease. There was a quickness to his movements as he flipped the file open — certainly not eagerness, but anticipation. For once, the weight of the file pleased him rather than had Hordak biting back groans.

Entrapta’s projects were the only things that brought him any mental stimulation these days. He took a cursory flip through the first packet, ears perking as he spotted the first draft of her blueprints. For once, she wasn’t offering new weapons to deploy, but rather a more espionage-focused design: something small that could scope out their targets before they sent any troops to seize new territory.

It was delicate work, and deeply time consuming. He settled in to read in more detail, making a note to himself to grant her a more direct line of contact to him. From now on, Entrapta’s projects should be sent through communication pads, to be vetted by the only person in the Fright Zone who could offer worthwhile criticism. Two pages in, he could tell notes from those who had reviewed it before were utterly worthless, all questions and conjecture with no understanding of what it was that they demanded. It was worthless to insist she work faster if there wasn’t a method to do so.

There was one, potentially, but not a single of the previous readers had mentioned it.

Hordak created a document on his communications pad and set a stylus to the screen. He got several lines into his writing before he had to stop, giving a faint sneer. His armor weighed his limbs, making his writing sloppy, and regardless...

He tapped his nails along the edge of his throne. As excellent as Entrapta’s reports were, she did not receive the same work with enthusiasm. Audio recordings were her preferred means of reference if he recalled correctly, remembering a delay in her work when she'd first began working on his bots. When he'd inquired about it, she'd mentioned something along the lines of struggling to digest the information. A vocal repetition and a recording of the instructions had been enough to get her back on schedule.

A moment’s deliberation sent to the security feeds, ensuring Entrapta was in her lab before he flicked on a monitor. Through his screen, it gave an overhead of Entrapta at her workbench, looking to be setting up to get to work. Good. He wouldn’t be able to interrupt her if she were doing something delicate.

He lifted his chin before announcing himself with a call of, “Princess Entrapta.”

She straightened up at once, head swiveling before she caught sight of the monitor, gawking for a moment before breaking into a smile and calling out, “Hello!”

She’d forgotten to bow. Again. He pushed a breath through his teeth, finding that the urge to demand proper respect felt oddly diluted for Entrapta. Whether or not she bowed had yet to compromise her work. Instead he skipped to the point: “I received your newest blueprints. The design is promising, if… inefficient.”

Entrapta clapped her hands together, looking excited before the words caught up with her. “Oh, I know. I’ll need to develop a prototype to get a real sense of what materials I’ll need and how much time it’ll take —” As she spoke, her words grew quick, almost snappish. “— But right now the estimated time per drone is much longer than I’d like, let alone viable for regular use.” Her hair frizzed out, bristling not unlike a cat’s. A clear sign of displeasure.

He lingered in that for a moment, then spoke. “I have a suggestion,” He said, appreciating how she perked up at once. It was gratifying to work with someone who knew what they were doing, and even understood what he was doing — at least as far as an upbringing on this planet allowed. “There is a synthetic compound we produce here in the Fright Zone that may work as a substitute for what you intend to use: adamantine. It should have the strength to support this device even in sheer pieces.”

She listened to him speak, interrupting only once to ask if she could run a recorder. Once again, he found satisfaction in that. He rarely had trouble with being listened to — with the exception of Entrapta, all knew to bow in his presence, to not speak while he was speaking. He had fear, and respect, and obedience, he had created a facsimile of the true Horde, successful in his emulation of Horde Prime. And yet, while Princess Entrapta did not fear him or even always obey him, she heard him in a way no other creature on Etheria had before. She challenged him, even, and as irritating as her insubordination could be, there was value in an alternative perspective.

Truly, she was impressive. Despite being a princess, Entrapta had taken well to life in the Fright Zone. Everything he knew of the Etherian princesses suggested inordinate wealth and luxury that would not lend itself to the Horde’s lifestyle. The primary kingdoms were disorganized and self-serving, lacking unity and loyalty to any but themselves, excising that which they found displeasing and then stuffing their castles with unneeded opulence. Here, closest thing to luxury Entrapta had been provided was her own room, something all ranking officers were granted. And yet he’d heard none of the anticipated whining, just a snippet of her voice from Imp about the brown nutrition bars being unfavorable in texture, even once cut into smaller cubes.

He wasn’t sure he could count her among the ranks of the princesses at all, and that was entirely favorable. Dryl had such organization and stability that even in their princess’ absence, the small nation ran like clockwork. It seemed almost entirely self-sufficient, and what necessary trade was denied to them after allying with the Horde could be supplemented.

Again, he berated himself for not considering Dryl’s value. It seemed that like the other nations of this planet, he’d vastly underestimated its value, and Princess Entrapta’s value most of all.

At some point, their conversation drifted off track, to the materials Dryl itself mined and then stories of what Entrapta had found beneath the earth, the First Ones’ tech she was so enamored with.

“Their power sources are more efficient than any Etherian technology I’ve seen,” Entrapta breathed, her chin cupped in her hands. “One crystal,” she framed her thumb and forefinger approximately an inch apart, “could have enough energy to fuel one of your Skiffs for a full day of flight, longer if you stop to let it replenish — because that’s what makes them so amazing, they don’t run out of power. I think eventually they might exhaust their capability for storage but I have yet to prove it, but in the meantime they seem endlessly capable of recharging their own energy, potentially by harnessing the latent magic in Etheria’s atmosphere.”

Sometimes it could become difficult to keep up with the pace of her voice, when her words began to run into one another and she took great gasps as she ran out of breath. And yet, the subject held his attention, ears perked forward with fascination.

“If we were able to collect such crystals…” Even that much energy would be insufficient for his portal machine, but to collect a great quantity —

“That’s the trouble,” Entrapta sighed, deflating. “I’ve rarely found these crystals intact.”

Disappointment weighed heavy in Hordak’s chest, then curled into anger. He’d hardly known about it for a moment, and already his hope —

He slammed his fist down on his throne. Hordak glanced at the clock, realizing half an hour had slid by without his noticing. This entire thing had been — “A waste of my time.”

“I disagree!” Entrapta’s rebuttal made his eyes narrow. Still, he knew to listen to his officers when they spoke — even to Shadow Weaver, who had to walk through elaborate metaphors and tangents before she ever got to the point. Though perhaps he should have listened less to her. The very premise of her arrival should have served a warning — seeking revenge did not sow loyalty.

Unlike Entrapta, who worked for her discoveries, for possibility rather than vengeance on the fools who had left her for dead.

So he did not silence her as she continued, “Your input was quite valuable! If you could have some of that material sent to my lab, I’ll be sure to attempt a prototype using it and see if it will be a good substitute.”

His ears relaxed from their flattened position. Hordak glanced away from the screen for just a moment, taking a breath to calm his frustrations. “Of course. I will see it is done.” He hesitated for just a moment before saying, “That is all. You are dismissed, Princess Entrapta.”

“Okay!” She smiled. “It was nice talking with you! We should do this again!”

His finger hesitated over a button. Hordak inclined his head, half of a nod before he ended the transmission.

The quiet that followed left him with a strange feeling: reluctance to continue his work, the want to shift it aside and perhaps pull up his records on Dryl to read more on what Entrapta had told him. Instead he took his pad, putting in two orders: one to deliver a shipment of adamantine to Entrapta’s lab, the other opening a direct line to her own communicator.

Just in case she wanted to consult his opinion once again.

[transcendentcacophony]

Thoughts on Worldbuilding: Storytelling with Geography: Lunar Lakes

So I've been thinking about worldbuilding for awhile, and one of the things that I like about certain worlds is that they tell a story with their geography. I think Lunar Lakes is one of these worlds.

Image: An overview of Lunar Lakes from Sims 3

All Lunar Lake images will be from here

This is going to draw from James C. Scott's The Art of Not Being Governed and the concept of Zomia

So one of the central concepts behind Zomia and The Art is the idea that not everybody wants to be a part of centralized governments or nation-states.

Traditionally, most academic fields have held that as societies centralize around agricultural centers that evolve into urban centers, they draw everybody to them through some kind of unexplained magnetism as they gradually expand. It's usually held that this is because the centralizing power of agriculture allows for population booms not supported by hunting-and-gathering. At least one philosopher <cough> Daniel Quinn <cough>1 this is a result of these populations controlling access to food. Not just surpluses of food, but access to food at all, forcing those within their borders to join the system or die.

This idea that agricultural societies are somehow fundamentally better. We see this reflected in different cultural evolution models (all of which are horribly racist but still manage to hang on in weird places, particularly developmental models). As such, the shift from hunting-and-gathering to sedentary agriculture tends to be heralded as a good thing in most history text books and is pretty much always seen as a step towards "modernization.2" But what if you don't want that? What if you have zero interest in joining the agricultural community and implied state control?3 What options do you have then?

You, then, may be interested in Zomia or one of the other extra-territorial spaces that function similarly.

Image: A village in the mountains

So what is Zomia? Zomia encompasses a large territory that ranges across Southeast Asia up into Tibet. Its primary defining feature is its rugged terrain and various populations that have no interest in different state-sponsored "civilizing" projects. While different agricultural centers expand outward to fill the lowland regions seeking to bully those they encounter along the way into joining, various people along the way say "f*ck it" and go up into the mountains. Why? Because the rugged terrain makes it harder for their valley-based neighbors to control them while providing plenty of hiding places push back against their expansion.

Image: A map of the Zomia area highlighting the Southeast Asian and Himalayan Massifs, areas encompassing the geography of Zomia itself.

Agriculture tends to lock people into place and makes them easier to control, therefore nation-states interested in keeping track of large populations have a vested interest in convincing people to farm. Buggering off into the mountains offsets this. Agriculture isn't necessarily harder in these mountainous areas4, but you do have different crops as a result of altitudinal zonation and a fair amount of people choose to engage in animal husbandry instead because the high altitudes impact calorie consumption as your body spends more energy keeping you warm.

This impacts cultures in these regions as well. People may choose to define themselves in opposition to the lowland culture they are avoiding. They may hybridize with cultures already in the mountains, create new languages, or define themselves by the fact they are there for political or semi-political reasons and expressly avoiding the control of an outside party, even if that outside party is the nation-state they are legally considered a part of. There is also a tendency of these cultures to discard literacy for orality, in part because orality is easier to carry around and in part because it marks them as Other compared to their lowland counterparts. It also gives you a since of control over your culture itself, as orality can't be shared unless you want it to whereas almost anyone can learn a writing system and open a book.

So what's this got to do with Lunar Lakes? Let's look at LL more closely, shall we?

Image: The downtown region from Lunar Lakes

The most densely developed part of Lunar Lakes is easily this "downtown" district in the lowlands region. This area contains most of the community lots for the world, and, most tellingly, City Hall and the Perigee, which we're told in the original blurb brought the (human) sims to Lunar Lakes to begin with.

Image: The Rim

There is a little bleed over of rabbitholes from the city center onto the Rim, a slightly elevated area just above it, but these are no where near as "mountainous" as the craters we'll get to in a minute.

Image: The Canals

Another defining feature of the lowland central area are these canals. As these canals do not extend to a beach or other waterway, they can't be for trade, thereby lending themselves to the idea that they are intended for agricultural uses. They could, of course, predate the colony, but that doesn't change the intent.

Image: The Crystal Mine, the Outpost, and the Depot

On the backside of the craters, we have the Crystal Mine, the Outpost, and the Depot. We're told in the original backstory blurb for the world on the Store page that the residents had to harness the crystals to to make their colony sustainable, but it feels abandoned now. Given the importance of the mine in the early days of the colony, it makes sense they'd have a transport depot here for the workers and an outpost, possibly for the military, to protect it, especially if the world was inhabited and the indigenous people wanted nothing to do with them or actively apposed them.

Image: The Craters from Lunar Lakes

Which brings us finally to the craters themselves. Here's where Zomia comes in. If Lunar Lakes was inhabited and if the native population had no interest in joining the colonists or being exploited by them, where would they go? The craters, of course! This would also hold true for anyone who didn't want to fall in line with the colonial leadership among the human sims themselves. We know the Louie family, for example, had to move to the craters after they were exiled by Patricia Cross, the current colonial leader. It therefore stands to reason that, even if the people who live here are colonists, this is where they are expected to go if they are exiled or want to get away from the political milieu of the central powers in the downtown district.

Image: Suburban Subspace lot from Lunar Lakes

And, of course, architecturally, this is where we got those distinctive mushroom houses, which again, suggests an alternative development of this region compared to the lowlands even if the people here are exiled colonists, deviants, etc.

Regardless, we end up with a setting that is rife for internal worldbuilding and storytelling based on its geography. If you add an alien population seeking to escape SimEarth colonization by fleeing to the craters, it establishes a political backdrop for stories, making the world feel more lived in and providing a ready-made backstory. This is one of the things I think is drastically missing in the Sims 4 with their itty-bitty neighborhoods and lack of connecting spaces.

Anyways, these are the things I think about when worldbuilding myself. What story does my world tell geographically? Does it have a built in backstory represented by its geography? Are the different regions/neighborhoods connected in a way that makes cohesive sense? Are their other worlds you think do a good job of storytelling with their designs?

If you build worlds, do you take into account the storytelling potential of your geography? Why or why not? If you play in worlds like Lunar Lakes, does the geography inform your storytelling? Does it help build a metadiscourse around your game? Are there other worlds that inspire your gameplay with their layouts?

Edited in response to @nornities excellent feedback.

1) This is not meant as an endorsement of all of Quinn's arguments; he's got a weird overpopulation theory built into his writing that's a little too close to Malthusian for my liking, but I'm not one to throw out the baby with the bathwater, as it were.

2) Ever notice how "modernization" and "development" are always fundamentally anchored in how Europe moved from feudalism to imperialism to democracy etc.? Yeah, that's the remnants of that "cultural evolution" model I'm talking about. "You're not successful until you look like us!" "Take these developmental loans from the World Bank or the IMF! We promise the strings attached are for your benefit too!" "What do you mean you want to skip industrialization and natural resource extraction and invest in your environment, happiness, and long-term sustainability? You'll never be like us that way! You're a failed state! Ignore the coup in the background we swear we had nothing to do with!"

3) This is the section that was edited after @nornities pointed out that it could be read to imply that non-agricultural societies don't have taxes, class warfare, epidemics, subjugation, slavery, conscription, etc. That was not the intention, although it is clearly stated in Scott's original work that he considers these and other negative societal effects to be the direct result of such "civilizing projects." It was not my intent to perpetuate that idea as these things do happen in non-agricultural societies, so I have changed the original wording. Thank you, @nornities

4) I also forgot to mention the clear exception to this: the Incan Empire. Unlike most empire models, the Inca engaged in a top-down society (literally) that was based in the mountains and expanded downward and outward over time. They were predated by two earlier Andean civilizations.

[justalads]

was l’manburg (and c!wilbur) xenophobic?

xenophobia: fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners or of anything that is strange or foreign

short answer: not really? it depends on a few things.

   (all c! and /rp unless specified)

   we’re bringing out the geopolitical roleplay analysis today!

   before i get into the xenophobia discussion, actually, i want to go down a bit of a side track: the take that the people of l’manburg were colonizers. i don’t think it’s a lot of people who say this, but whenever people list “colonizer” as something that wilbur is, it always confuses me a little, as someone who watched the majority of season one live. there are two definitions for “colonizer”:

   (note: i’m going to be using dictionary definitions for most of these. this is purely in order to give the benefit of the doubt to people that use these words wrong. the definition of these terms that people generally accept often is slightly different, and holds more implications.)

1: a country that sends settlers to a place and establishes political control over it

2. a plant or animal that establishes itself in an area

   so, to be fair, the second definition does fit l’manburg. because it fits everyone on the server. everyone showed up and established themselves in the area. but if people are using that definition, why are we calling exclusively wilbur a colonizer and nobody else? why not the people who took land for their houses, when that was considered completely fine by everyone else? wouldn’t that make dream the biggest colonizer of them all?    the definition that people seem to be implying is more of a “moved into an area and took political control over it.” the question would then be: was the land of l’manburg previously inhabited? was there anything there before l’manburg? because “colonizing” something in the negative sense usually means there was already someone there. the people saying this are using it in the negative sense, because if they were not why would they use it at all and specifically to wilbur?

   it could be argued that the land was “dream’s” land, because it was his server, but then that calls into question his ownership over it at all, and whether or not it was legitimate. if dream “owns” the land of the smp, does he own the entire server? if someone goes out a million blocks, is that still “his” land? and why is it his? what gives him a right to it?

   it could also be argued that the land everywhere belonged to the server, as in everyone had equal claim to it all. however, nobody really had a problem in the past with anyone going “this is my house” or “this is my land”. in fact, the land that became l’manburg was kind of wilbur’s house (if you go back to the hot dog van stream, he says that he built it and he “lives” there.) nobody was there before him. it was his own space that he picked out of all the land. nobody on the server had any sort of previous attachment to the land, and there was nothing important there that everyone needed. the land was free. this sort of thing doesn’t happen very often in real life, because populations are usually already living in places that get colonized. this is not true for minecraft. another definition of colonization is this:

   “colonization, or colonisation refers to large-scale population movements where the migrants maintain strong links with their or their ancestors' former country, gaining significant privileges over other inhabitants of the territory by such links.”    basically, you can’t “colonize” your own land. l’manburg didn’t have any sort of real privilege over the other people on the server (they tried to enforce the rules but because they were physically weaker they were disregarded). while the word colonizer can apply in one definition to everyone, it is then kind of weird to use it just for wilbur, because it implies that he fits the other definition when he does not. the misuse of this word has become prevalent again, with fans on both sides of the las nevadas/snowchester outpost calling the other side colonizers. both of these accusations are incorrect.    so then, why did wilbur disallow americans from going into his country? why did he establish that rule, and doesn’t it show him taking “political control” over an area and denying others equal rights? doesn’t that paint him as a little iffy? does the “no americans” rule make him xenophobic?

   again, not really? it���s sort of complicated.

   the circumstances under which l’manburg was created are roughly outlined at about 1:47:23 in tommy’s vod “ TommyInnit & WilburSoot discuss their Empire Plans in Dream's Server.”

   (bold is wilbur, italics are tommy)

   “have you noticed something about the issue last time? when we were trying to just, you know, trying to get blaze rods and stuff. do you know what the issue was?”

   “what was the issue?”

   “right, so think of all the people that were good to us.”

   “tubbo.”

   “eret. fundy. tubbo, right? what do they all have in common?”

   “they’re all weak. weaker than us.”

   “they’re all european, tommy. i’m thinking we build a wall to keep out the americans.”

   “yeah?”

   “we’re gonna build a wall, on the server, and the americans are gonna pay for it. and we’re gonna keep them out of our land. because they— ruin bits.” (laughs)

   “cause they ruin bits?”

   “no, no, no, they just, we need to get rid of them. we need to keep them out.”

   “okay.”

   “so i’m thinking we build this wall, right. we get fundy involved— well okay, first thing we do, we rob the americans for materials to build the wall.”

   “if we do that, the second we do that, they’re gonna stab us and put us in jail and claim that they’ve won again. they’ve won the war.”

   “look, they can keep doing that, over and over again— the wall’s getting built. so we build this wall, right? and then what we can do in this wall?”

   “what?”

   “it’s our territory. we can make as many drugs as we want. the police have no jurisdiction on us there.”

   “okay.”

   ——

   “so tomorrow, we’re gonna build a drug empire?”

   “well— no, we’re just gonna make a country? and then the drugs will be legal in the country.”

   “how do you know that sapnap’s not gonna… i don’t know. you know what they’re like, man, how do we know they’re not gonna… make it a war?”

   “the thing is, right. how i see it is they can declare war, they can do whatever they want, but like. if we just ignore them and don’t acknowledge it, we win. we can’t lose.”

   “yeah, but they’ll just kill us. because that is what happened last time.”

   “we just don’t acknowledge them. ignore them.”

   “yeah, but there’s only so much ignoring you can do when— yeah, alright, alright.”

   “and then we win. we can’t lose, possibly.”

   “we make them pay, for what they’ve done wrong.”

   so the goal is to… make drugs. because drugs are against the law of the server, and they’re going to get the freedom to do drugs by making their own country, where the police can’t get them. they want to keep the americans out because as wilbur said, the europeans of the server were good to them. they keep talking about how the americans might hurt them. experiences with the americans of the server has left these two with a bias against them.

   the plans to steal materials for the wall are a parallel to the american border wall, maybe less of a parallel and more of a reference/joke since many of these words were never acted upon and the circumstances for these two things are different in an important way. that’s why legitimate comparisons of the american border wall and a roleplay between americans and europeans are not great: it disrespectfully equates two situations. wilbur and tommy joke about the wall throughout the first couple of streams. the aversion to americans that they have is sort of unearned for what they have done to the europeans at this point in time.

   the thing with drawing parallels between l’manburg and real life situations is that we have to take into consideration the power dynamics of the server. dream, sapnap and punz had a lot of power at this point simply because they had a lot of tools and armor. l’manburg had pretty much nothing. so why is the country created? one, to escape a law that they deem unnecessary, and to avoid being put in jail. two, because they have a negative view of the americans, and they want a place where they won’t be hurt by them. tommy says the thing about revenge, but nobody ever acts on it. it’s about safety.

   since the prejudice is there, i would say their words here alone could be considered xenophobic? i’m unsure, because it would be more of the “fear” part of the definition than the “hatred” part. the americans did do things to tommy and wilbur. their beliefs are not entirely unfounded. and then, of course, there’s the fact that once they begin to build the nation, the dynamic shifts entirely.

   like i said before, the americans hold most of the power in the situation. once the action starts and the americans begin to poke at the new country, their actions are harming the people there, therefore solidifying in wilbur and tommy’s minds that the americans want to hurt them. a story of “americans hurt people and the people they hurt want to get away from them” does not generally cast the people who want freedom as xenophobic.

   the americans do engage in acts of tyranny on the people of l’manburg. cruel treatment of citizens and no citizen input in the laws of the land fall under that definition. so at this point, we have people who are being harmed by their government. the refusal of independence and the unjust treatment define the americans as oppressors.

   oppression: prolonged cruel or unjust treatment or control

   when in history, we see those who were oppressed by americans (or anyone for that matter! the sides of american and european do not really matter here, the point is the conflict and relationship between the groups) we see their dislike and fear of the other group as justified, not xenophobic. when people and systems in real life are xenophobic, i feel as if the fear is more of a hatred and the basis for the hostility is misguided. those prejudices are also held with a sense of superiority over those they deem “lesser”, not fear of them (although fear can be a motivator for actions). the xenophobia is often held up by systemic power differences.

   if wilbur’s belief that the americans would hurt them was misguided, the americans should have done something to show them that. wilbur clearly expressed to the americans that he thought they were tyrannical and cruel, and they waged war upon him and his people, when they were pretty much defenseless. so then my question is what’s the point of calling them xenophobic, when their enemies were their oppressors?

   it’s like calling him a colonizer: sure, it’s true in a sense, but the way people use it is misleading, and it’s a heavy word thrown at a delicate situation. its untruth or exaggerated truth makes it slanderous rather than genuine and critical analysis. revolution is produced by injustice, whether real or imagined. it is hard for revolutions with imagined injustices to be successful, as the cause is not appealing. the injustice became even more real once the people of l’manburg expressed the desire to be independent, and were further harmed.

   making comparisons to real life things can be useful, but we should also be careful with how we do it. xenophobia and colonization are things that dramatically impact the lives of those oppressed, and while it’s not exactly directly harmful to those people to say something kind of stupid about a minecraft roleplay (this isn’t twitter, this isn’t something to be “cancelled” over in the slightest and i’m not trying to do that, just talking politics) it does show that people either misinterpret or want to shift the narrative of a political situation. basically, it doesn’t really mean anything, but if someone’s going to call c!wilbur xenophobic, they should think for a minute about why he had that prejudice.

   lastly, the words “tyranny” and “dictator” are also extremely misused. people who want to do political analysis should know what the words actually mean.

~ Lad 2

[taurusborus]

someone translated more of the under the tides event on reddit if you're interested in reading wtf is going on.

I'll also add it under this in case it's easier to read.

Warning, if you don't want to leave the slightest bit of surprise for yourself when the event hits global, TURN BACK NOW!!

I made a comment thread yesterday with a story summary. However, I still left out a lot of things, so I thought I'd make a new post, add in more info about plot I left out, organize the Q&A from the thread, and link to the TLs of the new units. Hopefully a centralized hub of info will help people find the information they're looking for and dispel any of the more wild hearsay floating around.

This will be organized into a few sections, the new unit TLs, my original story summary, a bunch of (my new summaries) separate plot threads that tie into the bigger story, and then some common questions.

Skalter profile + lines TL

Gladiia profile + lines TL

Event CGs

Some good supplemental information about the seaborn hivemind

A much longer summary of each stage, 11 pages - courtesy of Lauli. If you want to know more about the townspeople, Inquisitors, and details on Kal'tsit's end conversation with the Inquisitors, take a look.

The original summary I made yesterday, the fastest crash course on the major story points. I have edited some of the references of the new factions to match the updated TLs from MrSkyblock404 so there's no confusion:

First of all, if you've ever read the manga Claymore, you now understand most of the event. Key differences are that the "Organization" is Aegir. They don't SEEM to be the villains here, and they went the Claymore route to fight the sea horrors fully knowing that their Claymores will eventually awaken into the sea horrors that need to be put down.

The "secret" of the Abyssal Hunters is that Aegirians created them as supersoldiers with the bodies of land dwellers but the blood of sea horrors. More on that down below.

The seaborn is part of the underwater cosmic horror hivemind that's been foreshadowed since the start of the game. Its interest is in learning, evolving, and assimilating everything (a la Evangelion's instrumentality more like end goal of Starcraft's zerg). It's acts primitively... robotic? It doesn't understand things like emotions and "Does not compute. We will learn what you mean" is a large part of its exposition. The church in the town is actually the Deep Sea Church hiding in Iberia and slowly indoctrinating remote towns and turning the people to sea horrors. The ending convo with Kal'tsit implies that Iberia is now completely infiltrated by the cult and if they maintain an isolationist policy, they will be destroyed like Aegir.

The seaborn shows up to impale Gladiia, and reveals the big "you [Abyssal Hunters] and I share the same blood. You are us. We are you." Skadi has a mental breakdown over the truth bomb ("I've killed my own transformed family and friends" etc. Glossing over the specifics, just know she doesn't take some past war trauma well), and it seems like the seaborn can somehow "awaken" the blood and turn Abyssal Hunters like Skadi into one of them.

Skadi is right about to awaken [and probably become Skalter, that seems to be the general consensus on CN forums right now, Skalter = Skadi if she gives in to the call] when Gladiia reveals she was sandbagging (yay superhuman regen abilities) so she could listen in on why the seaborn wanted to meet Skadi so badly. Since the seaborn revealed everything, Gladiia promptly kills it and tells Skadi to get her shit together. Skadi gets her shit together. As the seaborn dies, it says its people will learn to understand everything the Abyssal Hunters have told it, and then they will ask them to join the family again. Also, Specter is now free from whatever "control" the Deep Sea Church exerted over her, she's elated over being "free" now. She's still infected but compared to her previous half-dream state, she considers it a minor setback.

Then there's the Deep Sea Church leader dude who had no idea Hunters were also of seaborn blood and also has a mental breakdown. His entire life's work and dream is shattered because the cult crap he made up believed in is a lie, and the seaborn don't put any special weight on his existence and work. He turns into the SV-9 giant tentacle demon that the 3 Musketeers take down. Before he dies, he curses Gladiia and says some ominous things about how she's different and unlike the other 2, her fate is set. Then in the scene with the mirror, she's shitting on herself for being useless and still ending up like an ugly little bitch. The mirror closeup shows part of her neck starting to look like fish scales, so it seems like she's already undergoing the sea horror transformation.

The town situation

The town has fallen on hard times, and the Deep Sea Church has slowly indoctrinated the population with Iberian values twisted into a pro-seaborn slant. These towns become experimentation grounds for the Church and seaborn. Gladiia confirms that she's been busy destroying many of these experiment grounds. The Church now provides the town with food from the sea when the tide comes. There is also a human sacrifice chosen by lottery, which the Church disguises as "the sea has chosen you to take into its embrace and provide a better life." Kind of like how parents tell their kids their dead dog went to live on a farm. The brainwashed people genuinely believe they have a better life and see it as the greatest honor.

The "food" the sea provides are the "dormant" state of severely injured Dinichthys, which regress into a more resilient meaty form while it recovers. This dormant state is edible (ugh) and what the people harvest during the tide. The unlucky human sacrifice walks into the tide to be eaten by the Dinichthys and thus what the sea giveth, it ultimately taketh.

I would like to note that the Church leader has made an appearance before this event. He has a substantial role in one of the story scenes in Archetto's event. I won't ruin the surprise, but if you pay attention to the setting, you'll know which scene it is before he shows up.

Deep Sea Church agenda and the seaborn

The Deep Sea Church are likely the major instigators of this major "sea vs land" conflict. According to the seaborn that shows up in the Church, the general seaborn population are territorial and generally abide by the animal instinct of survival of the fittest, there is no right or wrong if you kill to survive. The seaborn's behavior and inability to lie show that they indeed don't give a damn about individual seaborn, the Church's plans, or even the Church leader.

Distinction needs to be made between the general seaborn population and the seaborn used by the Church, the latter which could be artificially created. The Church leader is Iberian, but somewhere along the way managed to become part seaborn, which is why the seaborn will listen to him. Being part seaborn allows him to "weaponize" the true seaborn population for his own agenda.

The seaborn themselves indeed have a goal to evolve and and expand (from Skalter's profile). But to what degree the Terra conflict can be attributed to seaborn passive expansion vs. the Deep Sea Church's hostile accelerationism is not clear.

Thus, there's an interesting 3-way disparity between how the conflict is perceived.

* Abyssal Hunters: believes all seaborn must be eradicated * Seaborn: not really interested in the conflict * Church: "it is the will of seaborn to subjugate all"

Regardless, Gladiia has constantly repeated she doesn't give a shit about the seaborn's role in the Church's schemes. Her duty is to kill seaborn, and she's not going to discriminate.

Kal'tsit creates a cliffhanger every time she shows up at the end of any event

After the church-leader-turned-giant-tentacle-demon is killed, its enormous corpse is like a beacon calling to all the Dinichthys zerglings to swarm the area. The 3 Musketeers are like "ok fuck what now" and Kal'tsit swoops in with perfect timing to call Mont3r to completely destroy and bury the ground and its secrets.

She's here to direct the 3 Musketeers to leave Iberia and rendezvous with Misery to go back to RI for a vacation (yes, she actually says they get vacations). The Inquisitors also show up to stop everyone, and after giving them her usual condescending finger-wag-and-lecture, she offers to stay as hostage/information source in an Abyssal Hunter's stead. Her agenda is to convince the Iberian powers to ask for help instead of maintaining an isolationist policy. If they continue to keep it internal, they will be destroyed like Aegir.

She has some atypical kind words for the 3 Musketeers before they leave. To Skadi, she makes a throwback to some cryptic bullshit she said in Grani event. To Specter, she makes some banter about her newfound freedom and moving forward knowing her body's state.

And then it turns out she and Gladiia planned for almost everything before the Skadi sets off for Saltwind City.

The state of Iberia and Aegir

Aegir is pretty much sunken Atlantis. Gladiia says that there's no communication in and out of Aegir after the Calamity.

The Abyssal Hunters were created as just one small piece of Aegir's military power. Aegirians are fully aware of the Abyssal Hunters' eventual fate to turn into the enemy, and have special patrols out to monitor and kill any who turned. The seaborn confirms that they had nothing to do with those deaths. The people Skadi killed and watched get killed, those were all done by her own people. This does not help her mental state.

Iberia has likely attempted to replicate Aegir's Abyssal Hunters. We don't have story on the result of this project, but based on clues in her profile, Andreanna might have some connection to it.

In Kal'tsit's "I know everything" exposition, she states that Iberia once had a prosperous Golden Age, and is now a shadow of its former glory. As stated before, the Deep Sea Church has also infiltrated all levels of Iberian government. Thorns' profile says he left because of "religious strife" and how in recent years treatment of Aegirs in Iberia has gotten worse. All the breadcrumbs are building up to Iberia potentially getting the same kind of Calamity that destroyed Aegir. (See Skalter page's TL note on Calamity.)

Bunch of misc info that don't really fit anywhere else, from yesterday's thread Q&A

It's established that Abyssal Hunters are not allowed to bleed, especially on land. The seaborn says the swarms of cannon fodder zerglings can smell the "same blood" on the Abyssal Hunters. But they're a bit stupid, so their brains only know "this is the blood of my kind, but why is it trapped inside hooman skin?" instead of recognizing it's not a trapped comrade.

Their attacks on Abyssal Hunters are attempts to "free" their kind from the trappings of hooman skin. The more the Hunters bleed, the more frenetic the swarms get, because they know they are getting closer to freeing them.

If you are a Specter fan, you will absolutely love the scenes after she wakes up. The ensuing conversations show that the Abyssal Hunters cherish their close connections like everyone else, despite their usual "stay away from me I'm dangerous" vibes. I really hate how Specter's operator record turned out, and I'll keep salting about it, but this event really did her justice.

Question: Is story Skadi already Skalter? She is wearing the same clothes.

Answer:

No, and this is the biggest misconception that needs to be cleared. At no point in the story does Skadi fully awaken. She comes close but pulls back just in time. The in-universe reason Skadi changes into her wandering songstress wardrobe is that she needs a box carrying her "instruments" (her sword and Specter's chainsaw) and to avoid suspicion while sneaking into Saltwind City. There are two high ranked law enforcement officers (something like that) after her, who know she's an Aegir and a possible threat. In story, she's still guard Skadi. Devs probably wanted to keep the red getup on Skalter to differentiate between the two units.

Question: Why did the seaborn want to meet Skadi so badly?

Answer:

It's not entirely clear thanks to hYpErGRyPh oBtUsE wRiTinG. Every time the sea heir talks about how much it wanted to meet Skadi and perhaps why, Skadi or cult leader interrupt with their mental breakdown monologue. My interpretation of its reasons is a combination of desire to share knowledge with her (learning is constantly repeated as a goal of the sea horrors), extend an invitation to join the hivemind, and ask a question, explained below.

There are flashbacks to this one suicide mission she and her Abyssal Hunter squad had against one particular sea horror. Her entire unit died and she barely made it out after landing a fatal strike on it. Based on Skadi's mental breakdown, it sounds like that sea horror is like the Zerg Overmind, a central connection for the sea horror hive mind.

There's some exposition about how the Overmind isn't really dead, and it's gone into Hibernation Mode because though it no longer responds to communication, the sea horrors can still feel its pulse.

His specific question was whether Skadi heard the Overmind say anything before it went dormant. More Skadi breakdown, because she did. It said (rough TL) "[our] suffering is eternal." The "our" is ambiguous. It could be referring to Skadi and the Abyssal Hunters, since she's the one narrating, or it could be the Overmind and the sea horrors, who Skadi is repeating. I'm leaning toward the Abyssal Hunters since "being abyssal hunter is suffering" has been a core takeaway of this event.

And then Gladiia stops playing dead and kills off our sole source of Aegir lore :)

Question: Is Skalter/Under Tides canon?

Answer:

The events that happen in Under Tides is canon. Skalter's canon status is in existential limbo. As MrSkyblock404 has reiterated, devs have directly said Skalter is a POSSIBLE future in which Skadi gives into the call.

Question: But isn't the fate of every Abyssal Hunter to eventually turn into Seaborn?

Answer:

Technically yes. The call will never fade, so the moment it overpowers the Abyssal Hunter's will to resist, it will have won. But I say technically because the other side of the tug-of-war is the Abyssal Hunter's own willpower. There are hints scattered throughout that their fates aren't set in stone. As Gladiia said to Skadi in her "get your shit together" moment, if you don't want to become a seaborn, then you won't. Not to mention, they can always ask to be killed by another's hands before they fully turn, so they can die as "themselves". This is like the black card system in Claymore. Skalter's E2 promotional record also has this part:

Well, but that's not what I want to say to you today. What I want to say is that when they want to acquire a structure, they transform in that direction.

Skadi, since those creatures can become what they want to be of their own volition ...... Then you can also not become a certain way by your own will. You can do what you want to do.

For example, an Abyssal Hunter. Or, a little more freely, a bounty hunter.

The seaborn as a collective are naturally able to "focus" their evolution toward a specific direction. So as an individual, Skadi should also have a degree of control over what she does and doesn't want to become. Gladiia is implied to still be undergoing transformation despite her obvious obstinance, but the Deep Sea Church leader says she's different from the other 2 and her fate is sealed. As one of the first Abyssal Hunter prototypes, Gladiia might not be able to resist like the later Hunter prototypes.

If you made it this far, nice job! I hope that helps the EN community understand the tsunami of information that got dumped on us in the event.

If there are questions, post in the comments and I will do my best to answer them. Corrections to information in this thread and swapping notes with other CN readers are very welcome!

EDIT: Removed the spoiler bars since I got feedback that it was annoying to click on each paragraph. I've also added a new section "Deep Sea Church agenda and the seaborn" to clarify all the relationships defined in the story.

Also loving the connections the comments are making to other media. I personally made this post because I am a massive Claymore fan. Seconding one commentor, I highly recommend Claymore, it's a gem that's passed a lot of manga readers' radars. I'm also giving Bloodborne and Dragon Age a shot after the event.

EDIT 2: Thanks to the awesome ak-lore group on the official Discord, I've since made a number of corrections on key points. They are in the sections The town situation, Deep Sea Church agenda and the seaborn, and The state of Iberia and Aegir.

[dessarious]

The Angel of Death Pt33

Inspired by this Story Starter by @someone-ev

AO3   Prologue   Beginning   Previous   Next

It took five hours to shoot the video. By the time it was over Tris was exhausted but she’d learned a few things. First, her Nonna and Trixx were a perfect match and should never, ever be left together without supervision. They’d somehow managed to set Fu on fire for real and both had found it hilarious. Second, the Agrestes and Chloe were completely useless for creating a realistic murder but were very good at coming up with things to amuse themselves and distract everyone else. Third, somehow in this dynamic she was the adult in the room.

Fu, Wonder Woman, and Gina were constantly getting into disagreements. Mostly over things that didn’t matter, at all. Tris had to refocus them every ten minutes and still ended up planning everything herself. The Kwami were just as bad. Plagg and Trixx kept tricking the others and pushing their buttons. At one point Duusu had a full on meltdown and Tris had to spend half an hour calming the Kwami down while Fu and Gina yelled at each other about whether or not she was responsible for controlling Trixx. Adrien and Chloe kept giving out useless suggestions but at least they weren’t causing problems. Mme. Agreste seemed unsure who’s side she should be on and kept changing her opinion on everything which just spurred the others on to get her to agree with them. By the time they were done Tris was ready to murder all of them or just leave and never look back.

“Where are you going?” Fu’s sharp tone was less annoying than the looks of disapproval she got from all the adults. Were they seriously going to pretend to be responsible now? She felt her eye twitch and only barely kept her temper in check.

“To sleep for a few hours then look through possible contracts and decide which will give the most exposure and seem the least connected with anyone or anything in Paris. The whole point of this is to keep people from looking for me here after all.” Her tone was flat and cold. It seemed to stun everyone in the room for a moment. Tris didn’t even have the energy to wonder why.

“I can help with that.” Gina’s tone was confident and held a hint of demand. Tris narrowed her eyes at the implication.

“I don’t need help. I’ve been choosing and planning my own missions for three years. The last thing I need is interference from someone with limited knowledge who thinks they know better just because they happen to be related to me.” She wanted the words back as soon as she heard them come out of her mouth. While it was true, the hurt look her Nonna gave her made her stomach clench. She couldn’t apologize though. It would be a sign of weakness she couldn’t afford to have the others see. She couldn’t afford for any of them to see her as less than a ruthless assassin right now. There was too much at stake.

“And why are you taking the Box?” Fu’s question was slightly less demanding but she still let out a frustrated breath. Tris really hated having to explain things. Especially things she knew didn’t make sense to other people.

“If I leave the box with you one of them will likely try to take it from your care.” She gestured to Gina and Wonder Woman. Both pretended to look affonted at the charge but she knew better. “I don’t have the time, energy, or patience to talk them out of it right now, so the box will stay with me until I’m certain no one will do anything foolish.” She really needed to sleep so she could get her bluntness under control. She was never good with people but at the moment she couldn’t even try to empathize with them.

“And where are you planning on taking it?” The question came from Wonder Woman and Tris could only shoot her a bland look. Was she an idiot or did she think Tris was? If she was afraid they’d go after Fu for it, what could possibly make the woman think that Tris would just tell them where she was going?

“I would like to know as well.”Tris just rolled her eyes at Fu.

“Why so they can torture you for the imformation? Honestly, I can’t tell if you want to die or if you’re just that oblivious.” Everyone was staring at her now. With the exception of her Nonna all their expressions held shock. Gina just looked thoughtful and Tris wasn’t sure if that was good or bad at this point. She really needed sleep. “Mme. Agreste, I’ll follow you and Adrien home so I can retrieve your Miraculous. Same for you Chloe.”

That started a whole new round of arguments. Wonder Woman was insisting that she take the box and all the Miraculous while Fu bristled at her for daring to infringe on his territory. Gina was trying to calm them down while Mme. Agreste, Adrien, and Chloe all pleaded with Tris to keep their Miraculous. She could feel a dull ache start up behind her eyes and knew she was headed towards a full blown migraine at this point. Great, one more thing she didn’t want to deal with. As everyone continued yelling she reached into her vest and began fingering a canister, wondering if it would work on Wonder Woman as well as everyone else. After a few minutes she decided it was worth the risk just to stop this nonsense.

She threw a flashbang first, just to make sure everyone was disoriented, then popped the top on the knockout gas. Her mask had a filtration system in it so she remained standing while everyone else fell to the floor. She let out a sigh of relief before collecting all the Miraculous, including Fu’s just because she knew he’d come after her otherwise. Now for the fun part.

“Was that really necessary?” Tikki sounded confused rather than accusatory and Tris gave her a tired smile.

“Probably not but I’ve reached my limit of dealing with people so this prevented me from stabbing anyone.” Nooroo let out a small giggle before he caught himself but Plagg just roared with laughter. Duusu and Tikki couldn’t seem to decide whether to be amused or horrified. “I’m going to use Kaalki to get everyone home or somewhere safe unless there are any objections?” The Kwami didn’t say anything so she took that as permission. She dropped the Agrestes and Chloe at their respective homes then dropped Fu at a safe house with a note explaining where he was and why. As for Gina and Wonder Woman, she just left them in slightly more comfortable positions in the warehouse. She thought about taking them to the bakery but in the end she didn’t know enough about their relationship with each other to chance it. Once that was taken care of, she made a portal to her dorm room. Fu might look for her there, or Chloe and Adrien might come back, but she knew the others would assume she left Paris entirely and that was what really mattered.

AO3   Prologue   Beginning   Previous    Next

Ko-Fi

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[mittensmorgul]

Also I’m still kind of confused what happened to Jack. When he said he wasn’t going to live in the bunker anymore and be hands off did he just mean he’s going to be living in heaven now? Can Cas actually see/talk to him or is he literally a raindrop?

Hi there! I’ll share how I’ve always kinda seen Chuck as a character going back years, even before s11, because I think my personal interpretation on Jack actually relies on having thought this about Chuck... and obviously I don’t know if the show ever even considered what I’m about to write here but this interpretation is there in canon for loons like me who think way too much about the functional metaphysics and metaphors of the show who actually enjoy seeing it there. :)

WARNING: ENTERING MITTENS WILD HEADCANON TERRITORY

So I’ve been writing since after the s10 finale dropped about what the Darkness actually was... a destructive force, yes, but only in opposition to the creative force, or “light.” At the time I defended this read with my Armchair Scientist™ (i.e. I have no formal training in it, but to the best of my understanding this holds water) knowledge of astrophysics. This is how our universe functions. There’s light and stars and matter and elements that we can perceive, and yet that doesn’t account for why the universe functions the way it does unless there’s some unseen, additional force at work and powering all of it, as well. In astrophysics, this is referred to as “dark matter” and “dark energy.” And it’s as essential to the function of our entire universe as the stuff we can see, but its existence is only theoretical because we can perceive gaps where stuff should be based on everything else we are able to observe.

Gosh I hope that makes sense. >.>

so in the simplest metaphorical terms in the construct of the Supernatural universe, Chuck-as-Light and Amara-as-Darkness. but when Chuck locked her away at the beginning of creation, and tried to make his universe “work” without that dark force to support the rest of it, the universe kept trying to force balance on itself in increasingly complex ways as the story and the construct of the universe continued to evolve from only half the original elements required for that balance to truly function. I don’t think, and never have thought of Chuck and Amara as “people.” Or even “people adjacent.” They’re personifications of these two basic yet opposing forces.

So what does that mean in-story? That Chuck didn’t start at this beginning of his own story, at the moment of creation of the universe, as a “writer.” Like everything else about him, I think he himself as an Avatar of his own creation evolved as his creation did. When life emerged, without the Essential Force of Destruction (because he’d locked that up with the Darkness), he had to become that force in his own creation. Each time he encountered a new spontaneous detail that evolved in his creation, he also needed to manifest the parts of it that would’ve been naturally countered by the missing forces from his own creation. By the very nature of HOW he created all of this, he had to become destruction. And he’s never been very good at that part, because it’s not what he’s literally made of.

Chuck-- aka the generative force-- by necessity became a duality himself, and in doing so he became more and more essentially woven through the entirety of his creation until he actually manifested AS Chuck, “gave himself the ability to play music,” even. But like, the more of himself he needed to invest in keeping the entire universe in balance, the more he began to congeal into a more concrete entity, like the act of creation by necessity pulled his power out of the fabric of creation in some ways, and forced it into the unseen mesh of destruction in others. And from that duality, and from interacting with his own creation, The Force of Light and Creation that we label “God” evolved into Chuck the Author, because metaphors.

And I’ve reached the point of this essay where I have officially started to feel deranged because I don’t have the right words to express how this makes sense inside my own head. It’s like trying to write a literal description of what achieving Nirvana feels like, you know? We’re fully in “what is the sound of one hand clapping” territory, and apologies if I just sound like a crackpot at this point, but I honestly don’t have better words for this. It’s not really a compatible-with-words thing.

Okay, that said, when Amara was brought into the story, this was her journey of understanding the creation Chuck made without her, and her finding value and worth in it herself while also seeing the points at which she should’ve been there to crate the balance Chuck had to force on the universe in her absence. She’d initially seen it as “failure,” but now she truly seems to understand and love this creation and has been actively trying to find a way to fit herself into it. And metaphorically, that has been healing the parts of the universe that should have been hers all along.

I love her final appeal to Chuck before he crushed her with one final manipulation into capitulating to his will, in 15.17:

AMARA: It's not too late, brother. You can still choose this world, us. It doesn't have to end like this. I--

CHUCK: Amara. Shut up.

She really wanted them to achieve the true balance that SHOULD’ve permeated creation in the first place. In that same episode, we have Adam’s test for Jack, in which Jack “sees” this fundamental imbalance and Adam metaphorically “names” it:

ADAM: That's your choice?

JACK: Yes. [Adam looks slightly disappointed, but Jack goes on] And the others. All of them. They're just rocks but their existence makes them divine. Because God is in everything.

ADAM: [he sighs with relief and smiles at Jack] Right on. At least, he should be.

AT LEAST HE SHOULD BE.

Chuck... wasn’t in all things, even though that’s how the universe-in-true-balance SHOULD have functioned, if half the force of it hadn’t been cut off and shunted to the side. In trying to be all things to the entirety of creation, Chuck... failed at this basic level without the balance he should’ve had with Amara. Not as people, not even as “personifications” or “avatars” or “incarnations” of these concepts, but as the concepts themselves.

He broke his own creation by asserting his will on it in the first place, because as the force of creation, he should’ve never had a will to begin with.

And then we have Jack, who has been through experiences since his birth that have “split” him into each of these fundamental elements-- or at least into smaller-scale versions of these fundamental elements. He experienced balance at birth-- divine creative and destructive force held together through human love. But he was “split” into “grace and a human soul” and was forced to experience each of these states independently of one another. But he couldn’t truly exist without being reunited into his Whole Self. After the metaphorical spiritual journey that Billie sent him on after his own apparent “death” at Chuck’s hands in 14.20, he began a process of rebuilding himself and achieving a sort of “enlightenment” that culminated in an act of pure creation, and he began “absorbing” the power to contain the fully balanced unification of all the forces necessary to truly heal creation.

Jack became a crucible for this unification to exist in.

It reminds me of Chuck trying to force Dean into this role in s11, labeling him “the firewall between light and dark,” because that’s just.. not something a human being should even have to consider being. That was Chuck trying to force his narrative on Dean to avoid accepting the responsibility for capitulating and letting go of his story for himself. But Jack... wasn’t just a cute lil 3 year old human. His very creation was an act of defiance against the original creator, and like Kelly always professed, he would be the force to raise the universe up to its full potential.

I still feel disappointed that we didn’t have a final scene of Jack going to her in Heaven before he tore all the walls down, and telling her that it was all worth it, that they won and the universe was healed because of her, because she loved him and believed in him, and then saw the walls in Heaven fall (because the walls in Heaven were always Chuck’s power construct that only ever existed because of his need to fill the power gaps in his own creation through forcing angels and human souls into powering his narrative for him). 

But back to the point... I feel like as a “fully reunited” balance of the univrse-- Light and Darkness contained in the crucible of Pure Human Love that Jack represented, I don’t think “Jack” ceased to exist, but that as a being he’s... dissipated himself throughout ALL of creation-- heaven, hell, purgatory, earth... and even restored the Empty to its state of blissful slumber. Of course he wouldn’t have left Cas there, he would’ve visited him too and given him a choice, because this has always been about choice. Cas sacrificed himself DIRECTLY FOR JACK to have been able to achieve this victory in the first place. I cannot conceive of a version of events that would’ve relegated Cas to eternal oblivion.

And again, steering this bus back onto the road.... sorry for all the detours, I swear I am getting to the point here...

I think what we’re left with as an understanding of Jack is that he and his love and power are everywhere in creation now, in the stones were God’s love should have been but wasn’t anymore, in all of it if you’re actually looking for it.

I don’t think the narrative actually precludes Jack from manifesting as the guy we love, but I don’t know that it’s even important to the structure of the universe that he ever would.

As a character we love and feel for, though, I don’t think there’s anything stopping him from peacefully wandering the fields of the Paradise Heaven he built for the people he loves the most and sharing in their pure human joy at their reunion.

Does this make sense? Or is this... just... wackadoodle logic I’ve laid over top of all this nonsense...? It does make me feel better to think of it all this way. And it’s why I have been pretty sure since s13 that Jack would be the one character who did not “survive the series,” because this was literally the role he was born to fill in the universe, on a cosmic scale. Healing it out of love, for everyone who loved him. He brought humanity and balance to the universe as the guiding principles, and cancelled Chuck’s original story.

[i-stan-nct-and-satan]

Not Broken pt 13 (Jaehyun Mafia AU)

Not Broken Masterlist

Jaehyun X Reader

Y/N is a burlesque dancer living in Seoul. Jaehyun is one of the most powerful mafia men in Seoul. How will Y/N survive when Jaehyun suspects that she is involved with a rival gang?

Reasons to read this story: Ten’s a cross-dressing madam so….. yeah read it ya freaks.

Trigger warning: mentions of abuse

<><><><>Several hours before Y/N was called to Jaehyun’s office<><><><><>

“What’s so important to discuss that a member of the council decided to visit me personally?” Jaehyun asked in a disinterested tone as he poured two glasses of brandy for him and his guest, sealing the decanter once he had finished.

“A member of the council? I know that it’s best to keep an air of formality when in the presence of council members but given that it’s just the two of us, do call me Uncle, won’t you?” The older man requested, accepting the drink as it was handed to him.

Jaehyun moved to sit at his desk while Suho remained standing at the vintage drum table which the decanter rested on.  

“Why are you here?” He requested, setting his drink directly onto the cherrywood’s finish.

Suho’s eyes wandered around the room, feigning confusion towards his nephew’s inquiry.  

A soft sigh of frustration left the younger man’s lungs.

“Why are you here, Uncle?”  

A sly smile crept onto Suho’s face only for a contemplative expression to succeed it.  

The man began to swirl the amber liquid within its glass shell taking his time to notice how it coated the crystal walls for a fleeting instant before returning to a stagnant state.  

Jaehyun, whose patience usually would have been wearing thin at this point, allowed the man his thoughts as he began to observe his liquor as well.  

Suho was a member of Exo’s council, an alliance organization, of which Jaehyun’s father had also been a member. Exo could be characterized as a network of gangs or a grandfather gang, so to speak. It served as both an alliance and an enforcer, allowing associated organizations a considerable degree of protection against rival gangs. Several gangs in Seoul were affiliates of Exo, including NCT and all its current subgroups, Shinee, Super Junior, TVXQ, Red Velvet, BlackPink and many others. Although Exo was arguable the largest and most powerful gang alliance in Seoul, it wasn’t the only one. Got7 for instance, arguably NCT’s biggest rival gang was under the protection of JYP, an elusive organization that had begun growing exponentially over the past several years.

Although Exo’s membership technically extended to any and all members of its associated gangs, it’s only the Exo’s council members who hold any real power. Joining Exo forces leaders to relinquish many of their decision-making freedoms in exchange for protection, meaning that the council now had final say on important decisions involving their gangs.  

The council itself was made up of a select few individuals, each holding remarkable influence over the innerworkings of Seoul’s mob scene. Jaehyun was familiar with each of the council members for his father had been a member of the council since its creation, as had Suho.  

The two had been friends since they met in Juvie as teens, NCT was the fruit of that friendship. They started out preforming simple bank robberies, then quickly grew into a full-fledged gang eventually forming subdivisions meant to expand their territories. Sooman was NCT’s official leader and Suho was his right-hand man. They created Exo after forming an alliance with Super Junior and Shinee’s former leaders.

Not all council members were experienced crime lords. A handful of them were better described as investors, such as Sehun, who made billions investing in the drug trade. Becoming a member of the council was almost impossible, as members served lifetime appointments and a strict selective process was employed to take their places when they died. Those selected were never informed of their selection until after they were appointed to prevent any violence being committed against council members in the hopes of gaining a position.  

Jaehyun held great disdain for the process since every time a member died, he would be replaced by yet another old geezer who would continue to uphold the council’s outdated and traditional values.  

To Jaehyun, the council was nothing more than just another source of irritation. When his father died unexpectedly, the several members of the council opposed him, Jaehyun, from taking over his father’s position at such a young age despite SM and Suho having been even younger than he was when they formed NCT. Their official objections only ceased when Suho vowed to watch over the young man, although they continued to express their disapproval whenever the subject was brought up. Being the son of SM, one of the council’s original members gave Jaehyun a privilege that many of the other leaders did not have. He often got away with challenging the council with only a lecture for punishment whereas anyone else would risk forfeiting their gang’s Exo membership altogether.  

Jaehyun’s status didn’t spare him from any of the council’s scrutiny though, if anything, it was magnified.  

Out of all Exo’s affiliated gangs, NCT was the most powerful, meaning that if Jaehyun messed up in any way, the losses could be detrimental.  

Jaehyun had been called to face the council more than anyone else making him feel like their sole purpose was to piss him off. After the death of IU, the council began making what he viewed as unreasonable demands in order to protect NCT’s image.  

He had instructed Taeyong to send regular updates to the council regarding their captive and once Taeyong confirmed with them that not only had they proven Y/N irresponsible for IU’s death, but that she had actually killed the man who was, Jaehyun knew that it’d be a matter of time before he would be summoned once again. Jaehyun ignored the councils request to meet with them and thus Suho was sent as a representative in their absence.

“Are you sure that the girl is responsible for Lucas’s death?”  

Jaehyun returned his focus to the gentleman who had wandered over to one of the bookshelves. He used his free hand to graze the bindings of each of the collected works as if he were looking for something in particular.

“If you came only to confirm the information that was sent to you, then you’ve wasted a trip.”

Suho sighed, removing his hand from the bookshelf.

“I hope you’re aware of how this could make us look.”

Suho turned towards Jaehyun taking his time to meet him at his desk before sitting in the brown leather chair that mirrored his nephew’s.  

“Lucas having been killed by someone outside of NCT and all,” He finished, taking a sip from the crystal tumbler.

Jaehyun quirked an eyebrow.  

“What do you mean?”

Suho set his drink on a nearby coaster and proceeded to lift his leg, crossing his foot over his thigh, before leaning back in his chair.

“Think about it from a rival gang’s point of view. A year into his new position, a position given to him at what many considered too young of an age, the leader of NCT’s sister ends up being kidnapped and murdered by Wayv, a gang made up of former NCT members. Not only that, but three years later, NCT has still been unable find the man responsible,” He recounted, staring off into the room.

“That’s because he was dead this whole time. How the fuck were we supposed to know he was dead? You can’t find a guy who can’t be found,” Jaehyun reminded defensively.

“You of all people should know that image matters far more than truth. Remember how the council basically scrambled to protect NCT’s image? How we kept the truth about IU’s death under wraps so that to outsiders her death would have seemed like an accident? How none of us had even a second to mourn her loss as we were all too busy trying to do damage control?”  

Jaehyun didn’t respond.

“IU’s death was tragic. You know this, but you also realized the importance of minimizing its effect on NCT which is why as SM’s successor, you pushed through the pain to protect those of who were still alive, your members. We knew that presenting her death as an accident wouldn’t work long term, but the council hoped that it would buy you time while you searched for Wayv but now....”  

Suho’s eyes met Jaehyun’s as he stressed the seriousness of the situation.  

“Now that Wayv knows you have Lucas’s killer, they’re going to start forming connections, building alliances with other gangs, anything it takes to get to her. Word will get out that it was actually Wayv who were responsible for IU’s death and that the man who organized it wasn’t killed by NCT, but on accident by a mere burlesque dancer. NCT won’t just be seen as weak, it’ll become the laughingstock of Seoul.”  

“But, Uncle, Wayv must not want word getting out about Lucas’s death either. Why else would they have covered up his death and continued on as though he were still running everything?”

“That is true. It’s safe to say that before recent events, Wayv didn’t want the nature of their leader’s death reaching their rival gangs which is probably why they didn’t expose us when we buried the truth about IU’s death. They would have wanted to avoid suspicion at all costs. Even now, I’m sure that Wayv would prefer to keep this information to themselves especially after learning that Lucas was killed by someone with Y/N’s background.”

“So, what’s the problem?” Jaehyun asked, feeling uneasy about where his uncle was leading.

“The problem is that even if Wayv doesn’t want details regarding Lucas’s death reaching the public, their image won’t be hit as hard as NCT’s will, and it stands to reason that they’d be more than willing to cut off a few of their fingers if it meant NCT would lose its limbs.”

“What do you mean it would hit us harder? We’re not the ones whose leader was killed by a goddamn stripper!” Jaehyun boomed.  

“Yes, you’re right. He was killed and that’s exactly why they aren’t facing the same level of risk NCT is. Lucas was killed, making him Wayv’s former leader. He no longer represents them and thus whatever happened to him has very little effect on their image now. If anything, his death will actually strengthen Wayv’s image since after Lucas died, his successor somehow managed to keep his death a secret for almost three years. It takes a lot to hide something as big as the death of a prolific mob boss. If even one person were to squeal, the entire city would know within a matter of days and yet we’re only learning about it now, three years later. Wayv can only benefit from all this, You, on the other hand, will be seen as weak, incompetent, and a disgrace to your father’s legacy,” The older man explained.

“And that’s a shame because you’re not, Jaehyun. Your father would be proud to know how far you’ve come despite those whose doubt you,” He added.  

“That man never approved of anything I did when he was alive. I don’t know why he’d start in his death,” Jaehyun sneered.  

His face had fallen from its angered state, yet an air of bitterness seemed to linger in his features. Suho could only sigh at his nephew’s hardheadedness which had surely been passed down to him by his father.

“The council wants to replace you.”

“Oh yeah? And how do they plan on going through with those plans?” Jaehyun scoffed.

Suho gave his nephew a softhearted look.

“They don’t. You and I both know how capable the council is when forcing their agenda regardless of the leaders who oppose them, but I convinced them to hold off on their plans just until you’ve had a chance to resolve the issue on your own.”

Jaehyun leaned back in his chair as he pondered his uncle’s remarks. It was true that the council was more than capable of replacing him as leader even if his men continued being loyal to him. Exo wouldn’t just threaten to withdraw their protections over NCT, they would find a way to completely dismantle NCT, rebuilding it in their ideal image. Exo had more than enough funds to obtain whatever resources needed to preserve control of their affiliates. The only thing he could do, was roll over and hope they wouldn’t tighten his leash any further. He had to act.

“What should I do?” Jaehyun asked, finally letting his guard down.

“You need to get on top of this. Find a way to ease the council’s anxieties.”  

“And how exactly do you suppose I do that?”

Suho lifted his drink from its coaster, bringing it to his lips and finishing it in two large sips. He returned the glass to the desk, causing it to make a soft thumping sound as it contacted the wood.

“Have you thought about the council’s suggestion from before all this began, about taking a wife?”

“Oh, not this again,” Jaehyun groaned.

“Look, the council is worried. They don’t think you hold the same values your father did. To them, you’re a firecracker just waiting to go off. It makes them antsy. Marriage will show the council that you hold traditional values and are not the irresponsible rebel they think you are.”

“Marriage will do all that?” Jaehyun laughed, obviously not taking his uncles advice seriously.

“You were so insistent on being able to choose your own wife and rejected any thoughts of allowing the council to make any arrangements for you, which pissed off a lot of people. Taking one of the councilmen’s daughters or nieces as a wife would have shown commitment to your role as SM’s successor. Your refusal shows a lack of respect and makes them question how much power they should allow you when you continue to make them feel uneasy about the future. Your parent’s marriage was arranged. It really isn’t that big of a deal. Have you at least started considering any possible applicants?”

“I haven’t exactly had any time to mingle given how I’ve been busy trying to find the men responsible for my sister’s death and all.” Jaehyun reminded his uncle in a tone drenched with sarcasm.  

“Hmmm, well I guess that’s probably a good thing considering the circumstances,” Suho mused quietly.

“Excuse me?” Jaehyun leaned forward so that his forearms rested on the desk.  

Suho returned his focus to his nephew whose curious features urged him to go on.  

“The girl, take her as your wife.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Jaehyun gawked, unable to believe what his uncle was saying.

“Marry her. That’s the only way you can turn this around. If word gets out that NCT’s leader got married to the girl responsible for Lucas’ death, they’ll assume that his death wasn’t actually an accident but was all a part of your plan. Even if people don’t come to that conclusion, which I don’t see why they wouldn’t, marrying her will prevent all of the damage that she’d cause us if you let her go. How I see it, you have two options. You could let her go get captured by Wayv, which you do not want, and let everyone view NCT as weak for not being able to kill the man who murdered their leader’s sister, which you definitely don’t want, or you can marry the girl and kill three birds with one stone. She’ll be safe from Wayv, NCT’s image will be as strong as ever, and the council will view you as a trustworthy leader who shares their same values.”

Jaehyun scoffed in amazement, unsure of what he could possibly say to respond to such an outrageous proposal.  

Were these just the crazy ramblings of a man entering the stages of early onset dementia or was his uncle actually onto something?

“I mean, it’s not a bad deal. She is a very attractive young woman. I’m not sure you could do much better, even if you were to marry one of the councilman’s daughters,” Suho smirked.

Jaehyun glanced at his half empty glass, reaching towards it to take a sip.  

His uncle was right. Despite the bitter taste that the idea of marrying a burlesque dancer left in his mouth, she was more beautiful than any of the councilmen’s daughters. He couldn’t brush off the fact that marriage could very well be enough to stop them from interfering in his business as much as they did. Although the council members would probably prefer it if he didn’t marry a foreigner, perhaps marrying an American would grant him a bit of status. When he thought about the possibility of marriage before, he believed that he would be happy as long as the girl was beautiful and didn’t speak up too much or challenge him. That’d be the perfect arrangement, yet he didn’t see Y/N as the obedient type.

“Ok, wait a second. Suppose I were to commit to such a plan, how would I get her to accept my proposal? We didn’t exactly get off to a great start, so I doubt she’d agree,” Jaehyun asked, beginning to entertain the idea.  

“Present it as though she doesn’t have a choice,” He advised.  

Jaehyun shifted his weight off the desk and leaned back against his chair, taking a moment to process the suggestion.

“Even if I didn’t give her a choice, I’m sure she’d find ways to be as bothersome as she could. Dealing with her rebellious moods might be more trouble than it’s worth.”

“Well, finding a way to ensure her compliance shouldn’t be too hard, should it?” Suho hinted with a smile.

The younger man hummed, as he contemplated what his next actions might require.  

“No, it should not.”

<><><><><>

“Does everyone understand?”  

The members of NCT 127 stared at their boss, astonished by the sudden announcement. None of them knew what to say so many of them merely nodded, pretending as though they understood the situation.  

After Suho left, Jaehyun called Taeyong into his office to inform him of his intentions to marry Y/N. Taeyong was understandably shocked by his boss’s unsettling plans. To him, it didn’t make any sense to marry a girl who was rightfully terrified of him even if it was in the best interest for NCT. He tried to talk him out of it knowing full well that Jaehyun doesn’t just get talked out of things. After Jaehyun revealed that there were discussions of replacing him among the council and that Suho, himself, recommended the marriage, Taeyong conceded to his boss’s orders and called a meeting in the billiards room.  

“You are all dismissed then. Except for you two,” Jaehyun motioned towards two of his men before turning to Taeyong.

“Bring Y/N to my office when she is done eating. I need to have a discussion with these two first,” Jaehyun instructed his right-hand man.  

<><><><><>

“Have a seat.”

Winwin and Johnny sat in the chairs that were placed directly across from their boss.  

Jaehyun took his time studying his raven-haired colleague whilst almost completely overlooking the gentleman who sat beside him.  

“What do you think about what was discussed at the meeting, Winwin?” Jaehyun asked, taking care to analyze his reaction.

Winwin, who had been glaring at this boss up to this point, let out a dry laugh and shook his head to show his irritation.

“What are you trying to do here?” He demanded.

Jaehyun laughed in amusement.  

“What do you mean? I just asked for your thoughts.”

Winwin rolled his eyes.

“Listen, I couldn’t care less what you do with the girl. It’s just business, right? Or did you think I’d be against it since marrying her is all a part of your ploy to win against Wayv?”  

All traces of amusement were now gone from the Jaehyun’s face as he turned to Johnny.

“You’ve been keeping an eye on him all this time, right? Nothing suspicious?”

The man nodded in response.

“What about when you two were separated?”

“The only time we weren’t together was when one of us was using the bathroom, but like you instructed, I searched him for  any electronic devices before he entered the bathroom and had Taeil watch over him when I wasn’t able to.”

Jaehyun leaned back in his chair, staring behind the two men. He still didn’t trust Winwin but he couldn’t keep him on watch without there being any new evidence against him. Doing so would lead the others to believe he was making decisions based on his emotions instead of what he thought was best for NCT.  

His thoughts were interrupted when a soft knock came from the other side of his office door.

“Johnny, you will no longer be required to watch over Winwin. Winwin, you are free to interact with whomever you feel inclined, but I will be keeping my eye on you. You are both free to go.”

He watched as the two men exited out the door, catching a glimpse of them stopping to greet whom he presumed to be Taeyong and the girl.

After taking a moment to mentally prepare himself for what was about to come, he called out to them.

“You may enter now.”

Y/N was the first to enter while Taeyong held the door open for her. Jaehyun took note of what she was wearing, faded black jeans and an off-white shirt. It made him wonder why she wanted to wear something of such a low quality, when she could have worn what was prepared for her, but then he remembered what Jaemin had said about her not wanting anything he had to offer her.

Y/N made no effort to hide her avoidance of his gaze. Once she sat down in the chair Winwin had previously been seated in, Jaehyun dismissed Taeyong.  

It was just the two of them now.  

He silently stared at her frightened figure which seemed to shrink further and further into the brown leather chair. He noticed her bruises. They had almost completely vanished from her face and only small patches of discoloration remained.  

He hadn’t forgotten how beautiful she was the night of the performance, though he couldn’t help but observe how much more ethereal she looked than that night before everything went down. Sure, her wounds hadn’t completely healed, and her appearance revealed a tinge of dishevelment, but her flashy costume and makeup from the night of her performance only seemed to distract from her natural visage.  

“Y/N?”  

She looked up at him, finally allowing their eyes to meet and for a split second, Jaehyun forgot why he had called her into his office in the first place. It was only after he noticed her shaky breaths that he was reminded of what he was to say.  

“It has been decided that you and I will get married this month.”

<><><><><>

I was the type of person whose mind went blank whenever she heard something she didn’t want to believe was true. I felt as though I could turn any unwanted reality into a dream I could wake up from as long as I didn’t think about it, or anything else for that matter. If I allowed myself to process the situation, it would be like thinking it into existence. I didn’t know why this was my first instinct. It never changed anything. It only allowed for me to live in denial a moment longer. That was how I reacted to my parent’s death, and to my brother’s betrayal, but those weren’t dreams or even nightmares. I had to accept them for what they truly were. My reality.

Even now, I wanted nothing more than to fall back into that familiar state of disassociation. If there was ever a time to mistake my reality for a delusion conjured up by my unconscious mind, this was it. It was all so bizarre; too preposterous to be real. My rationality was evaporating, and my vision blurring.  

I bit down on the inside of my cheeks, determined to find some sort of grounding. I focused on the metallic flavor that began to coat my tongue. I continued to stare at the man that had found yet another way to afflict me, this time with words instead of fists. I wanted so desperately to snap out of it, yet I didn’t know how. I could feel myself falling deeper and deeper into nihility when a memory of the Madam entered my mind.  

“Those who believe that heaven and hell are opposites of each other are cursed to only experience one at a time. They say you gotta go through hell to get out of it but why not learn to love the heat?”

That was her go-to toast when having drinks with the performers. Why I had thought of that speech, I didn’t know. Maybe my mind was just trying to find a memory to latch onto hoping it would stop me from falling into oblivion. I used the memory as a chance to break my gaze from his. My eyes moved to see the glass of brandy that rested on the desk near his hands.  

I instinctively reached out toward the glass earning a wide-eyed stare from its owner. Without thinking I dipped my fingers inside the glass and scooped out the ice cube that was floating just below the amber liquid’s surface. The ice cube dropped to the floor and I bought the glass to my lips, quickly draining it of its contents. The familiar burn that traveled down my throat managed to return my soul to my body. From how many gulps it took to finish, it must have been a double, not nearly enough to get me drunk, but hopefully enough for the liquid courage to do its job once the adrenaline started to fade.  

I slammed the empty glass down on the desk and stared into the eyes of my captor.

“What the fuck did you just say?”

<><><><>

Jaehyun’s shocked expression disappeared and he began to laugh.  

“That’s what I get for not offering you a drink, I presume.”

My gaze became venomous, calling attention to the severity of the situation.  

Jaehyun noticed this and returned to his humorless disposition.

“You and I will be married this month,” He repeated.  

“You must have lost your mind. You and I? Married?” I scoffed.

“As the leader of NCT, I am required to take a wife for reasons of status. It has been decided that you will be that wife.”

“So? I’m sure there are tons of other women you could marry, why me?” I demanded.

“It has come to my attention that your involvement in Lucas’s death poses a threat to our organization’s image. Seeing as how you were the one to kill him and not one of my men, it’s likely that this could send a serious blow to us. That is, if it gets out that the man responsible for my sister’s death was killed by a mere... dancer,” He divulged, a speck of distaste coated his voice as he uttered the last two syllables.

“You’re crazy. You’re telling me you wanna marry me? How did you find the nerve? And while I still have bruises and a cracked rib that you gave me,” I spat.

I was seething in anger.

“This isn’t a matter of what I want or don’t want. This marriage, along with the wedding itself, will only be for the sake of appearances. If it were my choice, you wouldn’t even be here, but now that Wayv wants you, it’s in my best interest to keep you here, no matter what it takes.”

“You said I was free to leave whenever I wanted!”  

“Well I guess I changed my mind,” He declared using a dismissive tone.

“No, I won’t. I won’t do it.” I stood up, hands gripping the edge of the desk.  

“You don’t really have a choice now do you, Kitten?”

“This is insane. What on earth makes you think that I would willingly marry you? If you’re really just doing this for appearances, then... then I’ll do everything I can to show everyone just how unwilling I am. I’ll act out. I’ll... I’ll-”

“You will do nothing of the sort.” Jaehyun bellowed in a voice, almost intimidating enough to scare me into backing down... almost.

“What are you going to do, kill me?” I challenged.

Jaehyun stood up, allowing his oppressive height to add to his threatening demeanor.  

“You will do as I say whether that is going through with the wedding or anything else for that matter. You will behave from now on because if you don’t, it’s your friend who will pay the price.”

Extinguished by his menacing implication, the fire that ran through my veins was nowhere to be found.  

“W-what are-”

“Remember how you asked me to check on your friend from the other night? Wendy, was it? Well I had my men check the local hospital’s records from that night. It turns out that they treated three patients from the burlesque club the night of your performance and that included your friend. Somehow, she sustained the worst injury of all having received a bullet to the chest. Luckily for her, the bullet missed her heart and was easily removed through the surgery I paid for. She was released from the hospital yesterday.”

“Wendy’s alive?”  

I fell back into the chair, unable to believe how I had forgotten all about my friend these past few days. With everything that had been going on, I hadn’t thought of her since I made the request in the first place.

“She’s alive and will likely go on to live a full and meaningful life especially after having been granted 20 million won to study at the university of her choice... as long as you do what I say.”

I did my best to fight back the tears that were already beginning to stream down my face completely unaware that Jaehyun’s anger had turned into discomfort.

I gave up trying to hold back my tears and brought my hands to my face. After sensing a nearby presence, I removed them to see that Jaehyun had also returned to a sitting position and was offering me a royal blue handkerchief. I stared at him, confused by the gesture.  

“I didn’t want for things to turn out this way either. I understand why you’re upset and I’m sorry for everything that’s happened to you because of me. Think of our marriage as an arrangement. Being my wife will offer you a degree of status and wealth, not to mention protection from Wayv. You’ll have to act as my wife at social events, but besides that, you’ll be free to do as you wish without any disruptions from me.” He explained looking away.

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?! I’d rather you keep me locked up in that room for the rest of my life than spend one minute married to you!” I shouted, ignoring the handkerchief.

The neatly folded handkerchief was now wrinkled by the harsh grip that held it. The anger had returned to his face.

“Fine! If that’s how you’re going to be then who am I to deny you your wishes? Stay in your room and rot for all I care,” He roared.  

Taeyong quickly entered the room.

“Get her out of my sight and don’t let her out of her room until I say so,” He ordered, abruptly standing up from his desk and knocking over several items in the process.  

Taeyong escorted me back to my room. The only time he said anything was to tell me that he’d try to calm Jaehyun down and that I should probably stay in my room until he’d given me the go ahead.  

I spent the remainder of the night crying. Crying for Wendy, all the things she went through because of me and for the others who got hurt that night. I mostly cried for myself though. My worst nightmare had come true. I was going to have to marry Jung Jaehyun, the leader of Seoul’s most notorious gang, NCT.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

I woke up to the sun shining through my window, something I wasn’t used to, given my early morning training sessions.

It still seemed pretty early though.

I rolled over to look at the clock but saw a note on the vanity table along with a glass of water instead.  

I grabbed the water first, glad to have something to drink as my head was pounding.  

I picked up and read the note while sitting up against the bedframe.  

Y/N,

I talked to Jaehyun. He is sorry and you are free to move around the building unescorted. I asked Jeno to allow you the morning off from training.  

-Taeyong

Memories of the day before came flooding back all at once. It really did feel like I was hungover, but not from drinking too much.

I had no idea how Taeyong managed to get Jaehyun to ease up on me, although he must have since I was now able to leave. I doubted that Jaehyun was actually sorry though. Taeyong probably added that in just to give me some sort of relief.  

I heard noises in the hallway. It was a loud rustling noise. I got up from the bed to investigate. Creaking the door open slightly, I noticed that I really was unguarded. I peeked into the halls seeing nothing but closed doors.  

My curiosity got the better of me causing me to follow the noise until I was standing in front of a closed door. I could hear two people talking, but not very clearly. It sounded like they were having an argument.  

I pressed my ear to the door.  

“I just don’t get why it’s such a big deal. It’s not like we can act all lovey-dovey around the other members anyways,” Said one of voices.  

“That’s not the problem. The problem is that you can’t even tell them we’re dating. It’s like you are ashamed of me or something,” The other voiced whined.

My eyes widened in shock. Was this Jeno and Jaemin on the other side?

I focused on the voices. They both sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place who they belonged to. Luckily, I didn’t have to.

“Mark, I’m serious. If you can’t open up about us to your friends, then we can’t do this anymore.”

Mark?

If that’s Mark, then who’s-

The door opened causing me to stumble back and fall on the floor.

“Haechan, wait!”  

I looked up to see who had unintentionally knocked me over but was met with someone I would have never guessed.

“Donghyuck?”

“Y/N?”

“Haechan, what’s-” Mark came out from behind him before looking down at me.

“Y/N?”

I looked up at Donghyuck.

“Haechan? Wait but you’re Donghyuck.”

“Donghyuck?” Mark quirked.  

Haechan facepalmed.  

“What the fuck is going on?” I demanded.  

Mark looked at me, then back at Donghyuck then down at his hands that seemed to be working him through some sort of calculation.  

“If you know Y/N, and she recognized you but called you Donghyuck instead of Haechan, then... oh.”

<><><><><><><><><><><>

After our run-in upstairs, Donghyuck and Mark told me to wait outside their room while they called Taeyong. He had arrived shortly after and was ushered into the room with them. I stood there outside the room silently. I didn’t even try to eavesdrop for I was worried I wouldn't like what they were saying. As soon as the door opened, Donghyuck practically lunged at me, grabbing my shoulders so I would face him.  

“Holy fuck, Y/N. What kind of trouble did you get yourself into?” he exclaimed before pulling me into his embrace.

The three of them brought me down to the kitchen where we ran into Jeno, Jaemin, Yuta, and Doyoung, who all seemed to be getting ready for breakfast. Taeyong sat me at the table with Mark and asked everyone else in the kitchen to step out for a moment so he could talk to them. I tried asking Mark what was going on and why Donghyuck was here and why he was calling him Haechan but he only told me that I would find out soon enough. After what was most definitely more than just a moment, everyone returned to the kitchen except Taeyong and Donghyuck. When I asked where they were, Yuta simply responded with, “They need to talk to the boss.”

Jaemin and Jeno tried to lighten up the mood but to no avail. Jeno asked me how I was enjoying my day off from training while Jaemin set the table up for breakfast. Nobody spoke a word about the Haechan/Donghyuck situation or even mentioned the other elephant in the room. To be honest, I didn’t know whether to be grateful for not having to discuss the details regarding my recent engagement, or if it merely added to my anxieties.

The two of them finally returned after we had been eating, or more like absentmindedly playing with our breakfast, for over 20 minutes.  

As they sat down at the table, I noticed that Donghyuck’s eyes were glued to me. He looked pained, like a boy watching his pet cat run into a busy highway, knowing he couldn’t do anything to help the poor creature.

“Jaehyun is busy right now but he’s been filled in and has given me instructions on how to handle the matter,” Taeyong began.  

I felt myself relax a little after hearing Taeyong’s words. I felt relief knowing that I wouldn’t have to deal with seeing Jaehyun on top of everything else that was going on.

“It’s come to my attention that you and Hae-” Taeyong hesitated, not exactly knowing how to explain what he was trying to explain.  

“that you and Haechan, or Donghyuck as you know him as, are already well acquainted with each other.”

Taeyong paused waiting for my reaction but given that I was too confused to even know where to start, I stayed quiet.

“Maybe I should just let Haechan do the talking. He’s been caught up on your situation, so he can catch you up on his.”  

Everyone at the table turned to Donghyuck while he continued to stare back at me.  

A soft sigh left Donghyuck’s mouth as he broke my gaze to look down at the table.  

“Y/N, I’m a member of-”

“You’re a member of NCT?!” I blurted out.  

A small smile crept onto his face and a forced version of his laughter entered my ears.

“Surprise?”  

Everyone at the table stared at each other. It was agonizingly uncomfortable.

“I need a shot. Does anybody else need a shot?” Haechan awkwardly got up and walked over to the main part of the kitchen.

“Haechan, it’s 9:20. Nobody needs a sho-” Taeyong began.

“I would like a shot,” I announced, hand suddenly raised above my head.

“Thatta girl. Glad to see this place didn’t snuff out your party girl spirit. Jeno, where do you keep the booze in this place?”  

Haechan began opening the cabinet drawers as he continued his search for anything that would make the situation less uncomfortable than it was.

“There’s a bottle of cooking merlot in the upper left-hand cabinet above the main oven,” Jeno offered.

Haechan opened the cabinet and pulled the bottle out.  

“It’s not quite what I was hoping for, but I supposed it’ll do the trick.”

Haechan hurried to open the bottle, almost knocking it over in the process. Once the corked was freed from its enclosure, Haechan swiftly wrapped his lips around the bottle’s opening and started chugging. He held the bottle in its now tilted position for ten solid seconds before lowering it back onto the counter.

“That should do it,” He muttered, out of breath before grabbing the bottle by its neck and bringing it over to the table. As he handed me the bottle, I couldn’t help but notice that a measurable amount of the red liquid had disappeared from the bottle, not that it mattered. There was still more than enough wine left to get me through the next few hours.

I began to chug the liquid in the same manner that Haechan had, unaware of the impressed and/or concerned faces that surrounded me.  

The bottle couldn’t have been more than halfway full by the time I set it down. I wiped my mouth with the sleeve of my shirt, unbothered by the risk of possibly staining it.  

“You,” I panted, pointing to Donghyuck,

“Tell me what the fuck is going on.”

Donghyuck, or I guess Haechan, did his best to fill me in on... well everything.  

The 127 member that Mark had told me about, was actually Donghyuck all along. He was working undercover as my apartment’s doorman, in order to get information on a former NCT member named Hansol, which is why he went by Donghyuck instead of his real name. Hansol had disappeared without a trace several years ago and 127 had been trying to find him ever since. One of NCT’s sources claimed that they had sighted Hansol entering my apartment complex with one of the building’s residents, a gang leader who usually went under the alias, Feeldog but was registered with the building as Kwang-suk. Apparently, it was rumored that Hansol left NCT to join Feeldog’s gang, UNB, a rumor that Yuta apparently took great issue with.  

“There’s no way. He wouldn’t do that. Not without telling someone at least,” He maintained.

Haechan and Taeyong glanced at each other.  

“What?!” Yuta snapped.

Taeyong sighed.

“It’s just that you and Hansol were so close, it makes sense that you would have feelings of betrayal surrounding his disappearance.”

“So what? You think I’m blinded by our friendship or some shit? That I can’t think clearly? Hansol disappeared and we failed him by not finding him. Who knows what could UNB could have done to him? He could be dead for all we know!”  

Yuta was so riled up that he had to excuse himself from the table. Doyoung, who had remained silent this entire time, left with him.

“He gets like this anytime someone brings him up,” Mark sighed.

“There hadn’t been any sightings of Hansol since or even before the one at your building. That’s why when we got the tip, we decided to send in someone to go undercover,” Taeyong revealed before Haechan chimed in.

“Jaehyun obviously couldn’t send any of the members on an undercover mission since Hansol would have immediately recognized them. Mark and I were the only two members who hadn’t joined 127 until after Hansol disappeared so it had to be one of us. Since Mark was being trained to eventually take over NCT Dream, the Canadian unit, I was the obvious candidate. After that, we needed to figure out how I was going to be able to constantly surveil the building without being suspicious.”

“As a doorman?” I interjected.

“Exactly! It isn’t abnormal for a doorman to take an interest in their building’s residents. They see everyone who comes in or out of the building. They know everyone’s names and everyone’s business. They’re always there so you never think twice when you see them around the building.”

I let out a scoff which prompted Haechan to furrow his brows.

“What?” He asked.  

“So, all this time, you were just pretending to be my friend so that you could blend in?”  

My accusation was immediately purged of all seriousness when a snort escaped from Haechan as he began to cackle.

“Pretend to be friends with you?! To blend in?! Y/N, I did everything in my power to avoid you!”

Now it was my turn to furrow my brows.

“The first twenty times you saw me you were either hungover or drunk. Either way, you found a way to make a scene, calling me Dongfuck, asking me why I was so serious and telling me to loosen up a bit. I was so worried that you would blow my cover that when I saw Feeldog coming down the halls, I agreed to go drinking with you just to get you to leave before he got close.“

I could feel my cheeks start to burn up. Taeyong started to chuckle, only attempting to recompose himself after noticing my glare. I remembered what he was talking about. After what happened with Lucas, I found the Heartbreakers and was able to make enough money to afford rent in a bougie apartment building. But to say that I was in a better place would have been far from the truth. I was an absolute a mess. The only time I was sober was when I had just woken up and sometimes not even then.  

“I knew if I stood you up that you’d only make an even bigger ruckus the next time you saw me, so I decided to just say ‘fuck it’ and go party with you. I didn’t expect to have as much fun as I did.”

I looked up at Haechan and was surprised to see nothing but sincerity in his eyes.

“Okay, but what about you and Mark?” Is he the guy you had told me about?”  

All traces of peacefulness had disappeared from Haechan’s eyes which looked as though they were about to pop out of their sockets. I felt an elbow dig into my side though when I turned to scold its owner, I saw that Mark was shaking his head at me with a look so serious and grave that I could barely believe it had actually come from Mark, himself.  

I shot a look back at Taeyong who seemed more confused than anything, before taking notice of Jeno and Jaemin who both sent each other a casual smirk. I had totally forgotten that they were arguing about the secrecy of their relationship before I unintentionally intervened.

“I just meant... the guy you told me about, the one who loved watermelon more than anything? That was Mark, right?”

Both Haechan and I looked at Taeyong, who was chuckling under his breath.  

“He really does love watermelon, doesn’t he?” He laughed.

Haechan’s eyes returned to their usual state after realizing that Taeyong was still as clueless as ever.

Once I had been caught up on everything, Taeyong excused himself, allowing the table’s remaining occupants to discuss more personal matters.  

“Yes, Mark is the boyfriend I told you about. The one who can’t even man up and tell his coworkers that he’s bi and has a boyfriend.”  

“Wait, what?” Mark quirked, having returned to his default state of confusion.

“Oh, forget it,” Haechan sighed.

<><><><><><><><>

I woke up the next morning to the sound of the alarm clock Taeyong had given me the previous evening. I was glad to have some way of waking myself up in the morning so that Jeno wouldn’t have be the one to do it. I always felt bad for him since not only did he usually have to wake me up, he had to wait for me to get ready too. This way, I could wake myself up and be ready to meet Jeno in the training room before 6:00.  

Before coming here, I was never able to get myself out of bed this early, usually due to being hungover, but I really didn’t want to keep Jeno waiting, especially since he was doing me a favor by becoming my trainer.  

I got out of bed, still sluggish with sleep, and proceeded to put on my workout clothes. I brushed my hair out of my face, pulled it back into a ponytail and headed out the bedroom door.  

Since I was allowed to sleep in the day before, waking up at 5:30 was harder than usual. Just when I was starting to get used to the crazy schedule, Taeyong had to mess it up by telling Jeno to let me sleep in. My eyes could barely stay open as I wandered through the empty halls. I lightly slapped my cheeks with my hands in an attempt to shake away my drowsiness.  

I hoped that Jeno’s training voice would be enough to snap me out of my dazed state, so I immediately entered the training room when I arrived at its door.  

“Goodmorning, Jeno,“ I greeted as I tried to rub the sleep from my eyes.

“Goodmorning, Y/N.”

My breathing hitched and my lazy steps came to an immediate halt.  

All fatigue left my body along with any last traces of serenity I was feeling only moments prior.  

My hands carefully removed themselves from my eyes and dropped to my sides. 

“What are you doing here?”