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fantasyinvader · 1 year ago

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So, I picked up the first Injustice game this weekend. Used copy, cheaper than it would be to buy it off the PSN. Definitely feels like a weekend rental title, though that might be because I've only played the story mode rather than go for individual character endings and such. I've always been kinda interested in this though, despite me sucking at most fighting games, because it always sounded more like an expanded version of the Justice League episodes surrounding the Justice Lords. But I've always been a bit wary because, despite being a fanboy of the character, I've always heard it was Batwank.

I'm a fan of Batman, but he's a very flawed character. So pushing him as this paragon is, well, it's never going to sit right with me. Batman is a character who takes the law into his own hands and at times goes too far. I'm not a fan of what I've heard about the White Knight stuff, but even in Nolan's The Dark Knight it was always a question of how far Batman would go for Gotham. While he might not kill directly, but is totally okay leaving someone to die in this incarnation, he ultimately needs to go full Big Brother in order to stop Joker. It's a line to far for Lucien Fox, who quits afterwards. The fact is, Batman can be like Dirty Harry or Cobra in his pursuit of justice when handled improperly. That the law comes across as a hinderance to him by protecting criminals, so it's okay when he breaks it.

Considering the backlash The Punisher has gotten and talk about him being retired, it's a delicate balance for such a character.

But back to Injustice… it was okay. I don't feel like it was stroking the ol' Batdick too much. Was Insurrection!Batman the good guy? Yeah. But he also roped in the regular timeline Justice League without asking them in order to unlock the Kryptonite weapon, and we had to beat him up in order to bring regular Supes to deal with Proto-Homelander. So, very flawed good guy needing the regular Batman to remove his pointy lil head from his Batass. I think the problem with Insurrection!Batman is that we're given only the barest amount of context for the story in order for it to work, with the rest meant to be fleshed out by the comics, comics which paint this guy in a worse light as he didn't support Superman emotionally after Metropolis was nuked and instead treated him like scum over Joker's death.

Having Batman fight Supes as the tutorial sucks though, especially since they kept fighting Superman for the final boss.

But that's really it. It's more like the game is supposed to get players interested in the comics for this timeline, and if you have problems with that timeline then the story doesn't work as well. I mean, regular Supes and Wondie get some really epic moments to their credit, Regime!Flash switches sides after Shaz…the real CAPTAIN MARVEL is killed for saying Regime!Superman is going too far which also works with the explanation that not all the heroes broke bad. They're just afraid of this Superman who is like a less-fleshed out Homelander. If only there was such a skin for that final fight.

So the basic story has overall a decent execution that's hampered by supplimentary materials, much like Gundam SEED. It set up a fertile field to expand upon it's story, but for many people said expansion ruins it.

I'm going to go watch Superman The Movie tonight.

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rhine-gold-archive · 2 years ago

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Hi! In a light of your post about ley lines and memories, have you seen the video by Ashikai on youtube, it's called "Khaenri'ah did nothing wrong". I like your posts about Khaenri'ah and would love to hear your opinion, if you're interested of course. Thank you and have a nice day!

Ok, anon, i know i’m answering like 2 days late but I hope you see this post bc I did in fact went to see this video for you and boy, do i have some thoughts. To summarize, the thesis of that video is that despite Khaenri’ah’ titan robots being found in Sumeru, they were not there as aggressors against Sumeru, but to fight the abyss. And that also, Khaenri’ah’ main goal was always to fight the abyss, they and Celestia were chill actually, the cataclysm was an unfortunate Chernobyl-like incident and that Celestia just had to nuke Khaenri’ah to save others. Let’s go through points, shall we.

1.I do agree that Khaenri’ah was not invading other nations, like the battle log on one of the robots straight up says they were here fighting “Dark beasts”. And also, if Khaenri’ah were trying to conquer other countries, we’d hear about it already FROM these nations. Like, Xiao would be bitching about robots as well as demons.

2.Where I start to disagree is the idea that Khaenri’ah and Celestia had no beef. Khaenri’ah 500% had beef against Celestia. Their envoys were in Enkanomiya stealing, killing, just generally Manipulate-Manwhore-Mansplaining to get “Before Sun and Moon” book. The same book that the abyss order so desperately wants to get too. Like, Enjou’s main goal of all his bullshit in Enka was to get this book.

And it’s all couldn’t be just for pure science or smth, because we know that Celestia is ready to destroy nations because of this book. Orobashi had to make a deal with Celestia to save the people of Enkanomiya after he read that book, and he had to die as a part of that deal. Just bc he read it. So like, the only reason you’d want to get this book so badly is if you plan to actively use it against Celestia and not afraid of them retaliating.

3. Why Khaenri’ah would have beef against Celestia? Well, there’s another huge theme of genshin that this video is not mentioning, and it’s Destiny. Also known as Fate. As we know, astrology in genshin is not just bullshit, but hard science, stars are not real stars, but rocks - constellations that literally spell out the destiny of every single person. You cannot change your pre-written destiny.

Mona literally spelled this all out in her domain in the recent Golden Archipelago event. People cannot change their destiny, and if they try, it ends up very badly for them, which is why Mona tries to tell them the “correct” way to live in accordance with their preordained fate, so they follow their destiny closely and live happy lives. And she uses an interesting turn of phrase, I don’t remember the exact quote, but she says that she’s “no hero” to try and change how destiny works. It stuck in my mind specifically bc “hero” implies the presence of a villain, an active power that enforces destiny and there would need to be a hero to fight against it.

Rhine, how the fuck is this relevant for Khaenri’ah, you might ask. Well, the video says that the abyss’ goal is restoration of Khaenri’ah, but that’s actually their side-goal. In “We will be reunited”, abyss sibling spells out what really drives them:

“Until the Abyss has engulfed the thrones, my war with destiny will see no end.”

They are at war with DESTINY. And the throne? “Before Sun and Moon” calls Celestia “The Second Throne.” => You need to conquer Celestia to break free from destiny.

also like, let's not forget, not only Celestia forced Orobashi to die bc he READ A BOOK, they also run a full on God's Battle Royale aka The Archon War, turning Teyvat into a bloodbath, so Celestia 100% have their own agenda that is clearly not just so benevolent as "They only dropped Celestial Nails to cleanse ley lines:( They had no choice:("

4. I must mention that yes, abyss order’s goals do not automatically mean that Khaenri’ah had the same goals, BUT. First of all, let's remember that Khaenri’ah’ whole thing was being a nation that refused to bow before the gods. I doubt they’d be thrilled that all of their fates are controlled by Celestia’s constellations.

Second. In the “Travail” trailer, Dainsleif says in Khaenri’ah section that is called “The Dream Yet to Be Dreamed”:

“In the perpetual meantime of the sheltered eternity, most are content to live and not to dream. But in the hidden corners where the gods’ gaze does not fall, there are those who dream of dreaming. Some say a few are chosen and the rest are dregs, but I say we humans have our humanity. We will defy this world with a power from beyond.”

First sentence is literally what Mona talks about, just following your destiny and not daring to change it. Because how can you truly dream in a world, where your destiny is decided long ago and you cannot change it? “Dreaming to dream” is wanting to be able to break your fate, to have a dream that is not pre-written for you in the stars.

Khaenri’ah, so focused on the power of humanity without reliance on gods, wanted to break from the shackles of Fate, and for that they had to go against Celestia.

I in fact think from “We will defy this world with a power from beyond” that Khaenri’ah actually tried to tame the power of Abyss (Rhinedottir was the one who created\summoned riftwolves and they are heavily abyss-associated, not to mention poor Durin who was just a pure mass of abyss corruption, and mb she tried to make creatures made out of abyss, but under her control and failed the control part), but royally fucked up, unleashed the abyss and Celestia used this time of exposure and weakness to nuke them. But that’s speculation, there’s not enough info at this point.

#rhine meta #khaenri'ah #genshin impact #genshin #rhine talks #celestia #khaenri'ah being such a luciferian kingdom that defied fate is the main reason they're my favs

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technospotatoes · 4 years ago

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FUNDY LORE ANALYSIS

Howdy, howdy friends! After about 6 hours of pure thinking, I have more Dream SMP brain rot-theory-analysis stuff for you! This week I’m on spring break, so unfortunately I’m not prolonging any assignments haha! Today my focus is FUNDY LORE >:) and I’ve sprinkled in a little IRL factoids for ya to enjoy!

Please lemme know your thoughts, opinions and theories-- and as always, it’s gonna be a long one!

Enjoy <3

TW/CW for brief mentions of derealization-- nothing in detail, just thought I’d let y’all know. Please be safe ily.

Fundy’s lore stream took place today, 3/30/2021. It's roughly 45 minutes, so if you have some time to kill, go watch it! It’s really well done, and his acting is incredible. I will give you a warning; it contains derealization. If you choose not to watch it, here’s a summary from Twitter! link

First, let’s talk about what we know of Fundy’s character so far.

Fundy’s story throughout the events of the SMP are quite tragic. A few key staples are...

1: the death and betrayals of both Wilbur and Schlatt, as well as the absence of Eret-- all of whom he viewed as father figures (Wilbur being his biological father, and Eret his adopted father who failed to show up at his adoption ceremony. Schlatt was a source of validation and approval for Fundy).

2: Jealousy of Tommy and Tubbo-- These two replaced Fundy’s position as Wilbur’s son during the L’Manburg eras, and Fundy became rightfully jealous towards them. He no longer felt valued by his father, and was only more negatively impacted when Wilbur made an attempt to mend that rift.

3: witnessing the rise and ultimate fall of L’Manburg-- and even assisting in its destruction with Niki.

Along with some other rocky encounters with his family members in the timeline, Fundy can be simply boiled down as a character with no stable relationships to his family, or those whom he considers family. However, he does deeply value his friends and the fun that he has with them-- which we can assume is one of his attachments (this will be important later). He takes pride in making mischief and carries a friendly persona… which makes him easily approachable.

He does carry valid reasons to instigate villainous acts-- but he instead chooses to remain neutral due to his fear of losing something else close to him.

I have a number of thoughts regarding Fundy’s character and his current lore, so enough stalling from me, and let's get into it!

Analysis of Stream:

The desert

When Fundy leaves his tower for the first time during the dream sequence, the world is no longer the SMP, but is replaced with a barren desert. From the title of the stream, we can infer that this desert represents Fundy’s Mind and contains the majority of what he thinks about. Deserts often symbolize loneliness or emptiness, and can also be synonymized with brutal honesty or survival. Fundy’s character is indeed alone (in terms of family), and has fought for his survival by being sly and mischievous through Schlatt’s reign of Manburg. Sand itself symbolizes the passage of time, or in other words, the inevitability of the future or truth. As we see in each of the 3 dream sequences, the mysterious bunker containing “truth” appears closer and closer to Fundy’s tower and also becomes more withered and worn on the inside, implying that Fundy cannot escape the coming of truth and future as time passes.

The desert itself contains a replica of the Camarvan from the old L’Manburg days-- likely a representation of Fundy’s childhood that he holds onto dearly, in spite of his past trauma. During the first dream sequence, the van even contains Wilbur-- perhaps to mock Fundy’s pain, or remind him of it. During the second sequence, Wilbur is gone, likely referencing Wilbur’s absence in Fundy’s life, or his death. During the 3rd dream sequence, the Camarvan is replaced with what looks to be a crater, or the aftermath of an explosion. This could possibly reference the ultimate destruction of L’Manburg (and the destruction of the van), or it could be foreshadowing of the destruction in the future…

Side theory, here! Tubbo just lost a nuke, and multiple people have vendettas against Dream / want him dead. The pit seemed like it was made out of black stone and obsidian, the same materials as the prison, so it is likely that this is an allusion to Dream’s possible escape.

Who is “He”?

On his 3rd visit to the odd bunker in his dream world, Fundy reads the 3rd book in the chest. Towards the end, this book warns him of a vague male character that Fundy should not join, or avoid at all costs. To quote the book…

“Do not join him. Whatever he asks of you. Do NOT join him. His plans aren’t as nice as they sound. His intentions aren’t what you think they are. He will use you. He will destroy you. Everything you ever loved, everyone you ever cared about. Do not join him.”

I bet a few characters instantly came to your mind as to who this person that Future Fundy is warning us about, and I’m going to list who I first thought it could be below:

Technoblade and the Syndicate. Now, I disagree with this option, even though Techno has the outright power to destroy anything and everything like he’s done before. However, because of the creation of the Anarchist Syndicate and their accommodating ideals, it would be out of his character or set of ideals to suddenly destroy Fundy’s attachments to purely demonstrate his power. Also, Fundy no longer represents any forms of government, so he does not pose a threat to the Syndicate.

I did theorize here that Fundy could be Harpocrates, but that would imply that he goes against the warnings of his future self. (Also not to mention the placement of this stream in the timeline would have to be much later in the past.) But the more that I think about it, the more likely it could be. It wouldn’t necessarily be out of character for Fundy to join the Syndicate and side with Techno against the warnings of his inner voice, but he has been a spy before…

BBH / the Eggpire. This is also not a likely option for our “he” character, because it is more likely that this dangerous person is not associated with a group such as the Syndicate or Eggpire-- in other words, he operates alone. The Eggpire has plenty of members and those who oppose it, even BBH tried to recruit Fundy and failed. Our “he” has not had an interaction with Fundy yet, and I don’t think that the Eggpire would make an effort to reach out to him again.

My theory is that Quackity is our “he” figure. As I’ve stated before (see my C!Sam post here), Quackity has proven himself to be an effective manipulator, and could easily persuade Fundy to join his side. Quackity has power over Dream at this time in the plot, and is using it to gain knowledge about revival. He could use his acquired learning from Dream to make a deal with Fundy through using Wilbur’s revival to appease his interest (and provide a chance at healing, given his tough past). Not to mention his cameo at the end of Fundy’s lore stream-- There’s plenty more involvement in the lore that we are going to see from Q.

The Mysterious Figure

During the final dream sequence of Fundy’s lore stream, he opens the door to his tower, only to see a dark figure, staring into the world… or rather, the absence thereof. This Figure has no other significant character details besides the black hood/cloak and no ign, so we have no evidence as to who it is. I’ve seen plenty of people theorize that this person could be BBH (because of the similarities in cloak design) or they could be the “he” Fundy’s logs are warning him about. But I disagree-- I strongly believe that this mysterious figure is neither of those options, rather, The Mysterious Figure is someone completely separate in this story. Here are a few people I think it could be:

Wilbur/Schlatt-- both of whom are dead, and could manifest inside Fundy’s mind as spirits or ghosts.

Dream-- he causes paranoia in many of the younger characters of the SMP, so I wouldn’t put it past him to haunt Fundy like he did Ranboo (the voice in his head).

Fundy-- a form of himself from the future, or a representation of his conscience (wants, desires, etc).

Or a guide/protector to Fundy’s mind-- we could see more of this figure if episodes like this stream occur in the future. A character similar to that of the Inbetween or Other Side.

It is important to note that at the end of the sequence, the Mysterious Figure chased Fundy up the tower in fear, causing him to sleep and escape the dream world. I think Fundy would only react this way if he felt directly threatened, so this figure is likely someone unknown and intimidating, or familiar and repulsive enough to cause behaviour akin to a sort of PTSD. It is possible that this figure doesn’t have malicious intent, because there was a bed placed on top of Fundy’s tower. The figure was likely supposed to guide Fundy to this bed to escape the dream world, but this encounter probably did not go according to plan, due to Fundy’s reaction.

His Internal Monologue

Through the presence of fear and doubt we can learn about the deeper parts and truths of a character. This is the case with Fundy: while he is distressed and afraid in his dream world, through the provided angst we learn about what Fundy truly wants. Fundy states that he wants this dream to end, and he wants to go back to his friends and his old life. He longs for the times where he can just have fun again and prank people, when his friends were there for him. Except, sometimes they weren’t. He states he would join parties and join groups only to watch them disappear as he started to get attached to them. Now, whenever the word “attachment” is uttered anywhere I immediately think back to Dream’s speech, perhaps Fundy is becoming more aware of what he could be endangered by.

Deja Reve

There’s no theory attached to this, just some super cool stuff I found. :)

The reveal of Fundy’s powers instantly set off a flag in my mind the second I heard it. His “powerset” or ability is one of foreshadowing, whatever he dreams about, could happen or is linked to the future. Now, the reason I bring this up is partly because I think it is cool, and it is actually a REAL thing. And I’ve experienced it. Let me introduce you to Deja Reve.

Deja Reve isn’t really a condition or illness, rather it is a “creepier” form of its more popular counterpart, Deja Vu. When translated directly from French, Deja Reve means “already dreamed.” This word is a descriptor for a specific sequence of events: you dream something, and it happens later, in real life. No, I’m not making this up, and yes, it is real. I’ve had this happen to me multiple times.

Deja Reve isn’t so simple as “i dreamt this so it will happen tomorrow”. In my case, I would have a particular dream, for example, I went to a Subway with my mom and she discussed with the manager about having my sister work at that location. The morning after I would forget the dream like any other, but many weeks later the exact event I dreamt would happen. I can remember it now, right down to the sandwich I ordered and the way my mom moved across the establishment to talk to the manager-- it was word for word, vision for vision. Each time Deja Reve occurs, I freeze, and I think I’m experiencing a second copy of life, or rewatching a movie. It's super weird, but cool. If something like this has ever happened to you, leave a comment below, I’d love to hear your experiences!

Now I bring this up because many people mistake these sorts of things as having foresight or being able to prophesize-- but it's not the same thing. Deja Reve occurs more often in the younger population, and becomes less and less active as one gets older. Because Fundy is still relatively young in the SMP timeline, I think that not only is this a cool ability set for him to have, but it makes sense for him psychologically as well. There is no clear cause or reason behind why individuals experience Deja Reve, but personally, I believe it has to do with the condition of your brain and it’s experiences to past trauma. Kids who experience trauma find elaborate ways to cope, and usually defer to their imagination. Due to the fact that most of Fundy’s trauma occurred while he was very young in the SMP lore, it is definitely plausible that his amplified, or “more woke” application of Deja Reve, is a product of his past.

Number Symbolism

I’ll keep this section short, because this post is already miles long, but similar to the previous section, this is something SUPER COOL that I noticed :]

Each book that Fundy reads has a specific number of pages… haha big whoop, Biz, that’s not weird. But did you know that some numbers have symbolism? Did you notice that the 3 books in each dream sequence each had 87 pages, which symbolize family, organization, and idealism? That number symbolizes what Fundy WANTS, but also what he’ll never get if he’s not careful. The first two times he read that book he didn’t finish it… He didn’t achieve his goal?

Did you also notice that the signed book had 22 pages? That number symbolizes redemption, intuition, emotions, duty and diplomacy-- qualities that oddly correlate to warnings. This number represents what Fundy will NEED to be, in order to survive his future. Also, a Catch 22… take that as you will ;)

Sidenote…

Ok this is the last mini section before the end, but another thing that immediately popped into my head during Fundy’s lore was the factor of derealization. Nothing major, but the other times we’ve seen this storytelling or manipulation technique used was during...

Ranboo’s Panic Room / Prison Visit-- believes derealization

Karl and escaping the In Between-- fights against derealization

Fundy’s notebooks-- questions derealization

I have a feeling that whenever derealization is being used, it’s intended to distract the character from the true evil, to prevent them from tracking their own course or fulfilling their own story… So I’ll be excited to see where Fundy takes his.

GAAAAAAAAAH IT’S DONE, FINALLY. And Congratulations! You made it to the end!! If you have any thoughts or theories, comment below, shoot me an ask or DM, I’d love to discuss with you! Follow me for more in-depth analysis content, I will be doing as many of these as I feel inspired to do in the future. :]

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING <3

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gameriggy · 4 years ago

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Thoughts on the future Prison Break- Dream SMP

Okay, I have lots of thoughts so this’ll be a big post

First off, C!Tommy.

-- Dream broke Tommy, no matter what you say this is not the same kid as before. Not exile, not the disc saga, not l’manberg. Nothing. This is a shell of Tommy, a shell that’s increasingly paranoid and highly afraid.

-- He said he’d have rather died completely or lived, not live through this revival.

-- He’s planning the break in, and he’s doing it alone.

-- Tubbo is most likely the only person he can really trust anymore, but he’s still holding him at arms length. Probably to protect him.

-- He’s most likely not thinking about any form of revenge in killing Dream. Again, Tommy’s genuinely afraid of the power Dream holds via revival book. He most likely doesn’t want anyone to go through what he had to.

-- What do I think the worst case scenario/outcome of this will bring him? I don’t believe at all he’ll die again, they wasted a good opportunity by reviving him so fast tbh. INSTEAD: I believe it’s more likely that Tommy would get stuck in the prison cell, perhaps framed for Dream’s escape.

^^^ Again, Tommy would’ve rather stayed dead than be revived. Death would be too kind for him. Instead, if he continues this angst train and doesn’t get any proper healing done, what’s worse for an abuse survivor than being stuck in isolation in the very same place your abuser killed you?

C!Ranboo:

He is such a wild card for this event.

I genuinely believe he’s been somehow acting as Dream’s eyes, I just can’t find a logical canon way yet. (do have some headcanons though!)

- Now the good thing, if the above is true and Dream’s been listening via Ranboo, is that Tommy’s been sending him away when he was talking details with Tubbo.

My ideas on what he’s gonna do:

1. Sneak in with Tommy and Dream uses his connection with Ranboo against Tommy, Tommy gets blindsided and the tide turns in Dreams favor

2. (less likely) Sam catches him sneaking in behind Tommy and manages to jail him.

3. (less likely) Sam catches him and they fight, one of them lose a canon life.

etc. stuff on those lines.

I can’t see, if Ranboo did steal the nuke, how it would be used here.

If he did, I believe it’s going to be used later (if he ends up on Dream’s side)

C! Quackity:

His reaction will all depend on if he got the info out of Dream yet (I don’t think so)

If yes: I’d be surprised if he didn’t just kill Dream since he’d have no more use [and also would have a vendetta against quackity should he escape]

If no: He’s going to want to keep Dream in one piece, therefore turning the tide away from Tommy. (Be prepared for some sad dialogue since Big Q and Tommy were so close.)

C! Awesamdude

Oh boy, honey you need to just get away from the warden duties.

Sam’s been broken since the security breach and Tommy’s Death.

He hasn’t figured out the breach which is why he’s been so defensive and on edge.

He’s just not gonna have a good time anytime soon. I feel like his morality and ethics are gonna come up because of his duties as the Warden, and his attachment to Tommy.

C! Dream:

Well.

I’m more inclined in the ideas that he’s planned way in advance all of this. He personally whitelists the members, he knows them specifically. Which leads me to believe someone as clever as Dream could predict their general reactions.

Things can stray from plan, especially once Dream got put inside. Which is where Ranboo would come into play. Acting as his eyes.

The last time Ranboo saw him, Dream probably had a safety system in place incase he couldn’t return to visit. (but because of Ranboo’s experiments, he’s catching onto what’s happening. i.e. the Memory Book and its rules)

General Wildcards:

Tubbo, Techno, Possibly Purpled, Bad, and Ant.

BBH & Antfrost: Both technically guards, both tried to kill a large amount of the server with the Red Banquet. Not sure how they’ll play into this.

Techno/Purpled: We don’t know the extent of their deal with Quackity.

Tubbo: Tommy’s best friend and likely the only person he trusts. Ranboo’s Platonic Husband. He’s not gonna have a great time.

#dream smp #dream smp rant #dream smp theory #dream smp thoughts #c!tommy #c!ranboo #c!quackity #c!awesamdude #c!tubbo #c!dream #dream smp prison #tommy lore #dream smp angst #dream smp brainrot

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adhdeancas · 4 years ago

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Sunset Sound: God is Dead?

I might start updating twice a week because I am writing this story at BREAKNECK speed. this is my favorite chapter so far. enjoy! (special thanks to @friedchickenangelwings once again for sticking with me and my incessant rambling about this story at all hours during holidays)

Fic Summary: Everything is the same up to the end of 15x20. Chuck has been “defeated,” but it was all a farce. When Jack absorbed Chuck, Chuck easily took over the 3 year old’s body and acted as if he were defeated. Chuck!Jack then had the Rusty Nail placed in the barn where Dean died, and with Cas gone, Dean didn’t fight it. Chuck did reimagine Heaven, but he’s fed the same lie to them all: that everything is perfect, they are free, they are in real paradise. Except it’s all an illusion insulated by blue skies and endless horizons. Because, just like the Good Place, people make Heaven into Hell for each other. And there’s nothing Chuck loves more than the natural order of tragedy. He “let it slip” to Bobby that he brought Cas back, when he really left him to rot in the Empty. Dean has to find his best friend before it’s too late, and he has to keep a happy face for everyone else, because Chuck is watching. Always watching.

“You know?” Dean shakes his head. “What’s going on?”

Charlie leans back against the bar. “Well, after Ash and I found each other-” they give a cute little nod of the head in sync, dorks, “through the frankly shitty wifi they’ve got up here, we got to talking.”

“Yeah, we realized some shit just didn’t add up. Like angel radio.” Ash spins around and ducks into his backroom, coming back with a laptop that’s way more advanced than it was last time. Dean raises his eyebrows at it. “Yeah, man, it’s sick, right? Charlie upgraded my systems, it’s bitchin’.” he reaches past Dean’s shoulder to give Charlie a fist bump (enthusiastically returned) and Dean backs off.

“Yeah, bitchin’,” Dean repeats with a grin. He’s too dumb for these people. But he sure is glad they’re on his side. “Well, hey, show me whatcha got.”

Ash nods and taps his temple. He mutters to himself and pulls the system toward him while Dean watches anxiously. Ash pauses and looks at him. “Dude. Gimme a second? This setup is a lil’ more complicated than your blackberry.”

Dean snorts and gives him space, followed by Charlie. “Dude. you’ve been dead too long. Blackberrys haven’t existed for like… ten years.”

Ash gives him a genial middle finger and Dean grins. Charlie sits up on the pool table and Dean leans against it next to her. “Listen, Charlie, I gotta. I gotta say sorry, again, for…” He clears his throat.

“Dying?” Charlie asks lightly.

“Uh, yeah.”

“Not your fault, Dean.” She shrugs, and she actually manages to look cheerful. Damn, Dean loves this chick. She puts her hand on his shoulder and shakes her head. “Seriously, Dean. Let it go! I have! Seriously, I got to spend a few years with my high school girlfriend watching Lord of the Rings - she was a cheerleader - and sneaking out to design some fucking world-altering programs with Ash! Being dead, for me, it’s kinda amazing.” She smiles at him. “Guessing you don’t feel the same though, huh?”

Dean swallows. He doesn’t know how much he wants to say about that, but being dead… it definitely sucks. And not in the good way. “Guess it just feels like I got more to do. Now, at least.” Now that Cas is… and heaven is…

Charlie looks like she doesn’t know what to say. Luckily, they’re interrupted before she has to think of something.

“Eyo! Sorry, amigos,” he leans over backwards to look at them. “Found it.”

Charlie jumps off the table and grabs Dean’s hand. After a few steps she shoves him with her shoulder until he bumps into Ash’s back. Dean bounces off his soft form and clears his throat. “Sorry,” he mutters, throwing a death glare back at his surrogate sister. She flashes him a smug grin before focusing back on the computer screen.

Ash recovers from getting jostled in time to point. “Yeah, so, we got word on Angel FM that this Jack kid is goin’ real Jim Jones over here.” He holds a finger up at several paragraphs as he’s flipping through them. “Preachin’ all kinda love and peace and hippy commune shit, but if somebody even questions it, he snaps. Naomi no-likey,” He smirks up at Dean and points to a group of cuss-words even Dean barely uses. “Rough translation.”

Dean shakes his head. “That doesn’t sound like Jack.” Jack, especially Jack-with-a-soul, almost never got mad. I mean, he’d spent quality time with Lucifer without blowing up. The kid is level-headed to a fault. “Anything else?”

Ash frowns at him. “Y’know, going through angels’ personal phone calls is a lotta work.”

Dean rolls his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, you’re a genius. Got anything else?”

“Ash, what about the human rumors?”

Ash looks at Charlie and they have a silent battle of wills, but Dean’s too impatient to see who wins. “What human rumors?”

They pause and come to an agreement. “Fighting. People fighting. Couples. Families. Friends. All over, since the reboot. People are happy, but… it’s like earth. People can talk - people can fight.”

“And?” Dean raises his eyebrows. There’s something they’re not telling him, and he thinks he knows what.

Ash raises them right back. He’s not about to divulge. “Hombre, this ain’t earth. People are supposed to be happy. If they ain’t… like a glitch in the matrix, y’know?

Dean grunts. “Anything else weird on the radio? Anything at all.”

Ash’s sigh sounds labored. He leans back in his chair and wobbles, obviously sorting through all the enochian bullshit he’s read over the past… whenever. “Meh… I got… I don’t know, God was singing?”

“Singing? Singing what?” Dean leans in, intent. If it was Taylor Swift, Beyonce, maybe Lizzo…

Ash cocks an eyebrow. “Folk shit. Indie music.”

That’s what Dean was afraid of. “Shit.”

“Why? What does that mean?” Charlie grabs onto his arm.

Dean’s worst fears, that’s what. “It means that ain’t my kid. It’s Chuck.”

“Who the hell is that?” Ash stands up as Dean walks away, cursing every stupid atom that had decided to make this dumb universe. Although, he guesses, that was Chuck’s purview too.

“He’s god! God before the reboot I mean, the dick who up and left and only came back to screw me and Sam over. Fuck, I thought we’d finally gotten out from under his thumb! Now, apparently, he’s just using my kid for his meat-suit.” Dean takes a deep breath. This is bad. Worse than bad-bad.

“So… what do we do? How do we nuke God?” Charlie asks the question like it’s normal, just another Saturday afternoon.

Dean thumps his forehead onto the nearest table. Sure, sure, good, great. They were back to square fucking one. “I don’t fucking know,”

“Alright, break it down. We need more mojo, right? How do we get more mojo?”

“Well, angels are the next best thing, right? Maybe if we get them all together, they’re obviously not psyched about folk-God, or whatever,”

Ash points at her like she’s a genius. “Alright, yeah!”

“Guys, there aren’t enough angels left to even try.” Dean feels hopeless. There’s nothing to do. They are literally out of options. There’s no hope.

“Well, where can we get some more angels, then?”

Dean stands up. “I know a place.” His heart feels like it’s being squeezed like a lemon. It’s a crazy idea. It’s practically impossible. And probably suicide. And he’s gotta find a way. “We gotta break open the Empty.”

“The Empty?” Ash looks skeptical. Dean smirks.

“Yeah, angel/demon afterlife. We punch our way in there and we’ve got juice for days, man.” He spreads his arms out, asks the question.

Ash glances at Charlie then back at Dean. He sniffs and nods. “I’m in.”

Dean looks to Charlie, who scoffs. “Duh. Of course. So what, we get in and say pretty please help us kill your dad?”

A warm feeling spreads through Dean’s chest. “Well, we’ll have a little help on the inside. Cas.”

“Castiel? The angel dude?”

“He’s dead?” Charlie’s voice has much more concern than Ash’s. Dean nods in response to both questions. It still makes him feel like he’s swallowing glass to think about it. “What happened?”

Dean looks down at his boots. It’s only the scene that keeps playing on repeat behind his eyelids. Cas crying, holding onto his shoulder, telling him… telling him goodbye. Telling him that. “He saved me.” he starts, expression guarded. “He made a deal.”

Ash grunts and nods, ready to drop it. Charlie stays quiet too, but she clearly wants to say something. Dean’s thankful for the drop. He doesn’t know what he’d say if they asked more. All he knows is that he needs Cas back. And he needs to talk to him. He needs to tell him that - that he wants him to just stay fucking put, damn it. That he needs to stop dying on him. And that he can’t just go and say something like that and then leave. It’s a bitch-ass move.

“Yo, Deano?”

Dean jerks his head back up. “Yeah. Sorry.”

“How do we jail-break ‘em?”

“Guessing we’re gonna need some serious magic shit. And since we can’t get to Rowena…”

Ash breaks into a wide grin. “Pamela? I’ll give her a call.”

Pamela is “busy,” so they have to wait for her to finish up with Jesse before she can come by. Dean has to hand it to her, it’s just about the most Pamela thing in the world to put off their realms-saving work for a heavenly hookup. Dean hangs around talking for a bit, filling his friends in on the latest on Earth, but he can’t concentrate. Ever since they’d decided the next thing is to get into the Empty, he can’t relax. He takes his beer and goes outside to wait, settling down on the Roadhouse’s front step to watch for Pamela.

After a bit, Charlie plops down next to him, a soft grin on her lips. He returns it half-heartedly before looking out across the clearing. She leans her head against his shoulder. A few minutes pass in comfortable silence before she turns into him. “So we gotta get into the Empty.” she sighs. Dean nods glumly. Just his fucking luck. Even heaven is ruined. But at least… at least they’ve got a shot. “And get Castiel.”

Dean frowns and pulls away to look at her. Maybe it’s just his paranoia, but he hears some deeper meaning in her voice. “The guy died for me. I gotta,” he presses his lips together, hating himself for the half-lie he’s telling. Cas deserves better. Charlie just nods and watches, like she’s waiting for him to keep going. When he manages to talk again, his voice cracks. “We gotta get him, Charlie.”

Charlie pulls him into a side hug. “I always said he was dreamy, that angel.” She points out. Dean snorts. He remembers. He’d blushed like an idiot after she said that the first time.

“Yeah.” He mutters. Okay, so she knows. That he and Cas are… that Dean’s… good. Cas deserves recognition. He deserves someone to talk about him. For Dean to talk about him. But then Charlie just hasn’t spoken, and he feels like he needs some explanation. “I… there were other guys, before him.” He continues, clearing his throat. His mind wanders to Benny and Lee, Crowley. “But he’s… he’s it.”

He risks a look at Charlie and she is just staring at him with a fond smile. She surges forward and kisses his cheek, squealing. “Yes, I fucking knew it, you bisexual dumbass! Bi, right?”

Dean laughs. “Yeah, I guess- wait, you knew?”

Charlie looks around, like Dean’s a dumbass it was so obvious. “Well, yeah, dude. Game recognize game.” She motions between the two of them and he scoffs. That’s right. Gaydar. That would’ve been nice to have for the last, oh, 12 years? “We’ll get him back.”

Dean pulls Charlie in for another hug and leaves her tucked under his arm until a motorcycle pulls up and Pamela gets off, shaking her hair loose like a blind slow-motion model in a porno. She grins at the pair on the steps like she can see them. “Take a picture, you two. It’ll last longer.”

“How did you-”

She throws a hand out in dismissal. “Please, I can feel ogling from a mile away.” She pauses, laughing at the embarrassed silence Charlie and Dean are sporting. “Nah, I’m just joking. I do the hair-shake for a reason. I deserve a good stare. Hell, it’s half the reason I own this motorcycle.” She throws her helmet in the general direction of the motorcycle and greets her friends. Dean can’t decide whose hug is more flirty, his or Charlie’s.

“Alright, bitches. Let’s séance some shit.”

tag list: (ask or dm to be removed or added)

@dochunterwitch @justonecitizenoftheearth @gnbrules @purpe @castiel-is-a-cat @alienapparatus

#sunset sound #god is dead?#chapter 3 #fanfic #deancas #destiel #my writing #dean winchester #castiel #charlie bradbury #pamela barnes #ash

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analyzingadventure · 4 years ago

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I’M 5 EPISODES BEHIND ON PSI, I CAN ONLY WATCH 4 BECAUSE THE NEWEST ONE ISN’T AVAILABLE YET AND IT’S KILLING ME BECAUSE I SAW AN OUT-OF-CONTEXT MEME ABOUT IT AND IT HAD SOME IMPLICATIONS ABOUT IT

ANYWAYS, LET’S CATCH UP ON PSI, EPISODES 20-23, LET’S GO

Okay let’s save that widdle baby from that test tube

HOLY SHIT PSI’S VELGRMON IS HUGE

THAT IS A BIG FUCKING BIRB

That is a weird way for Devimon to ask Velgrmon to fetch Takeru considdering he was technically already captured by Devimon but okay I guess

MEGADRAMON!!! YEAH

Leomon please don’t die

Ah, they are acknowledging that the kids were missing for three days during a horrifying black-out, I was worried they wouldn’t like, acknowledge that at all

Koushirou’s hesistant to talk about his parents... Oh baby... ;_;

TENTOMON!! How’re you messaging to the kids?? IS GENNAI THERE TO HELP?? Or are you just in the Network messing with stuff?? Probably?

Oh, great, Algomon still isn’t fucking dead. HOW MANY TIMES DO WE NEED TO KILL THIS FUCKER

Is that squid thing Calmaramon? It looks like Calmaramon??

oH MY GOD it took me a moment to realize what was happening but WEREGARURUMON HITCHING A RIDE ON THE GIGA DESTROYER MISSILE WAS HILARIOUS OMG HE’S USING IT LIKE A SKATEBOARD LMFAO

YEAH YAMATO, SAVE YOUR BABY BRO!!!

TAKERUUU!! SASUKEEEE wait

ANGEMON!!!! BABY!!! WHERE ARE YOU ANGEMON?!?!

Megumin Han.... I’m so happy to hear your voice ;___;

A beautiful reunion

Takeru seems to be taking... [/points at the DW and the Digimon] everything really well

Jesus Velgrmon is stronk

NOOO THEY JUST SAVED TAKERU, FUCK

ANGEMON WAKE UP!!! WAKE UP!!!! WE NEED YOU!!!

OHHHHH TAKERU IS ANGERY no talk to him he angy

YEAH ANGEMON, FLY LIKE THE FUCKING WIND

God I love WereGarurumon’s nail polish, it looks fantastic yo

ANGEMON!!!!! Feather symbolism yeee

Is Angemon gonna spend all his powers to kill Velgrmon and die instantly? That’d be hilarious

Awe, no Giga Destroyer? Just Giga Storm? D’aww

HE IS GONNA DIE, ISN’T HE

ENJOY YOUR TRAUMA TAKERU LMFAO

oh mY GOD SKULL KNIGHTMON CAME IN AND STOLE IT TOO, YOU FUCKER LMAO

EPISODE 21, LET’S GO

Yamato I’m sure you could explain a few things to Takeru while you’re just chasing Skull Knightmon

Ah Devimon, your arms are as long as always, how wonderful

Ah, more Xros Wars rep! Splashmon! :D

TAKERU WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING

YOU JUST GOT HERE LITTLE CHILD, DON’T JUST JUMP INTO THE HOLE HEAD FIRST, YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU’RE DOING

Oh wow Devimon had prepared an Evil Incubator for Angemon’s Digiegg, how fast and nice

Poor baby is gonna get super corrupted, eh?

IT’S SO NICE... TO SEE THESE FAMILY MEMBERS OF THE KIDS, LOOKING SAME AS ALWAYS AND STUFF

Oh wow did Koushirou just hack the Digivices, WOW

IT IS CALAMARAMON! I KNEW IT, FUCK, I am so enjoying the Frontier/Xros Wars rep rn, thanks Toei, I wub you

Is that another nuke? Are they launching another nuke? No? Just a massive crash at a dock?

I was just gonna complain about Psi having a serious case of Takuya & Kouji Show-syndrome but if Sora and co get to deal with the threat in the Network while Taichi and Yamato are rescuing Angemon’s egg, I’ll be okay with it

Takeru, your Powers of Adorable will not save the world, I’m sorry, you’re just gonna get yourself killed and/or kill Yamato a third heart attack, PLEASE GO BACK

Holy shit METALGREYON NOOOOOOO DON’T HURT HIM LIKE NOOOOOOOO MY BABY ;A;

THAT IS A BIG EYE WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT

A Digimon that was sealed away by Devimon or something? IDK it’s kinda scawy

METALGREYMON NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

TAICHI PLEASE SAVE HIM ;_; YAMATO GO HELP HIM YOU WIMP

OWO WHAT'S THIS

A NEW METALGREYMON VARIANT? (Or a different Mode?)

Tbh the new cannon kida clashes with MetalGrey’s oldschool design a lil BUT IT’S FINE, IT’S COOL

Agumon deserves a nap

WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT

ELDORADIMON???? IS IT OH IT TOTALLY IS, RIGHT? YEAH

I love the textures on his face, the pencil strokes look really cool

EPISODE 22 WOOO

I think I’ve complained about this before but it has kinda bothered me before how the Digimon don’t have to rest or eat before entering into battle again, and like, while it’s been mostly fine up until now... Like ever since the kids entered the Fake Tokyo they have pretty much been fighting non-stop without resting or eating and like, it’s starting to get to me, their stamina to keep on fighting is a bit much and it’s just gonna keep on going until Devimon’s dead, isn’t it

How are you climbing this wall that’s this god damn steep, you are a little child HOW DO YOU HAVE THE MUSCLES FOR THIS, I’M A GROWN ASS ADULT I DON’T HAVE THE MUSCLES FOR IT

Gabumon is a sweetheart and I would die for him

Koushirou, why didn’t you have your partners evolve faster, jesus christ (like I’ll give Gomamon and Palmon a break but the other two? Jesus)

Oh that DigiEgg is getting so super corrupted, isn’t it? Oh yeah, Devimon is trying to turn Angemon into a fallen angel like him, amazing

I wish Skull Knightmon had like a personality... In fact I wish all of the enemies had personalities beyond Devimon being ominous and Orgemon dumb with lots of honor

Jyou is gonna get in such great shape from running up those stairs- he ain’t skipping Leg Day, not today

Skull Knightmon is so cool I wish he had more of a personality ;_; I wanna root for him but beyond doing cool shit he has nothing going for him

Ah, the upgrade to MetalGrey wasn’t permanent, just a temporary buff from the power of Courage

DARK KNIGHTMON! YEAAAH

I hope Eldoradimon is okay with all this chaos happening inside him; like I hope he doesn’t get an upset stomach from this

THE BABY TOLD YOU TO MOVE, SO MOVE, KNIGHTMON!

Poor Calamaramon died without ever getting a personality ;_;

How the fuck is this infact making these gigantic leaps over great distances

God Takeru you are so cute, you widdle baby you

Oh man the hightech wings really don’t fit with the punk look of WereGarurumon at all

Welp the DigiEgg got dipped in the miasma like an egg in soy sauce, Press F for Patamon, say “hi” to Tsukaimon

Oooo the egg is exploding! :D

Oh, the egg... I mean it didn’t explode but it destroy the fortress

POYOMON! :D

Devimon, are ya gonna finally show up in person

YEAHHHHHHH DEVIMON!!!! YOU LOOK SO PRETTY I MISSED YOU YOU EDGY GOTH BASTARD

OOOO DEVIMON AND ANGEMON GO BACK? THEY HAVE A HISTORY? Well this is a ship I’m into, let’s go

EPISODE 23!

DEVIMON AND ANGEMON USED TO BE FRIIIIIENDS ohhhhhhhhh I wanna know more about their history THIS IS A JUICY SHIP RIGHT HERE

Ohhh he is so OP, I love that, thanks

How’d MetalGrey and WereGaruru get the message to use the rubble as cover? Not that it worked really

Devimon can use finger beams, lovely

Sora and co should really evolve to Perfect, like they should’ve evolved earlier to begin with

OH SHIT, WE GOT EVOLUTION ALREADY! I mean it’s only Tokomon, which ain’t that useful rn, but okay

Oh Devimon just gave Tokomon this angry-ex look oh my god

I wonder if Devimon’s plan was to like, bypass the need to use humans directly to evolve, instead using the data from humans to forcibly bring forth evolution

NeoDevimon isn’t as cool and sexy as vanilla Devimon, F

Honestly I’m kinda sad he evolve to begin with because Devimon was already super OP, like he didn’t evolve because he was losing, he evolve because his ex made him angry (although I mean I guess that is funny)

Oh WereGarurumon can just do the wing thing at will? Seems OP but okay

Ah, but I know Devimon isn’t dead yet... Saw the new Digimon Bandai shared on Twitter, the new Devimon form that is VERY SEXY (IDK if this needs to be stated but I do say “sexy” here ironically)

OH, Dark Knightmon, you’re still alive? You gonna take lead from now on?

Ohohohohohoh let’s go, gimme that new Devimon

OH MAN, IT WASN’T THIS EPISODE? HE’S SHOWING UP IN THE NEXT EPISODE? Boo, now I gotta wait :(

So I saw some memes on Twitter (along with the art of the new Digi), them including Taichi dying, dark evolution, a clip from the Adventure dub finale where Agumon’s like “next time I’ll evolve into one of the Dark Masters” so like

NEXT EPISODE IS GONNA FUN, also I’m kinda unsure if I wanna watch the preview or not... Like I already know so much out-of-context so I’m afraid if the preview is gonna tell me even more to a point it gets too much, or if it should be fine...

No, I have no chill, Psi has been teasing Mugendramon to me this whole god damn time, I NEED TO KNOW IF WE GET MUGENDRAMON LIKE THE MEMES PROPHESIZED, I NEED TO KNOW

PREVIEW!

LMAO IT REALLY DOES JUST START WITH “TAICHI DIES” JKSDFHKJSDFGJSFDGHJ

OH MAN WE ARE GONNA GET MUGENDRAMON AREN’T WE

I’M SO EXCITED

ALSO DOWNDEVIMON OHOHOHHOHOHO

NEXT EPISODE IS GONNA BE GOOOD I can’t wait

#Psi #Psi reaction

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cowandcalf · 5 years ago

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There are still many trails of thoughts I need to explore

The other angel on the final scene between Steve and Danny – 10.22

Yes, Steve's dad had kept him on the island and other important details.

Hawaii stood for loss and struggle, for emotional pain and terrible childhood memories. In Steve's memory, Hawaii wasn't a place he would want to return to. Hawaii flipped from a happy place into an emotional hell hole Steve fought to forget over a long period. He had the chance to return for shore leave while he served his country but he didn't visit his father's house for years. Hawaii wasn't a place where Steve wanted to spend time. Steve lost the innocent touch of being a member of a happy, normal family forever when his mother got killed. His soul never healed from that tragic accident and everything that followed suit in the wake of grief and despair cut out pieces of his soul. Steve wanted to forget Hawaii. Maybe he planned to never return, to never set foot on that island again.

Steve lost Freddie in the same year his father got shot by the gun of his nemesis. He didn't deal with anything from that trauma. He stored it away and turned to his next mission - to find the murder of his father. He returned to Hawaii, a place he had run from since he'd been sixteen and now, he was forced to come back. He kept chasing forward, dashing away, pushing through everything for ten long years to revenge his father's death, to get it right and to make his parents proud. He only experienced more pain and revealed all the nasty secrets his parents had lied to him about for years.

Danno gave him an anchor, a reason to stay grounded and to fight the black mass of pain in his chest. Danny and also Steve's ohana helped him so he wouldn't turn into a living zombie with all the emotional and physical cruelty he had to deal with. Steve had never had the time to take a full stop for a deep breath of air. Never. He wasn't ready for that until now.

Ten years later, his emotional world has been nuked one more time. He has learned that his father knew for years that his mother was alive. John McGarrett kept his children in the dark and bound them to their pain. A betrayal no one will be able to overcome, such an abusive attitude. But Steve needs to find a way. And Hawaii is the unhealthiest place to do that. Steve needs to leave. He finally hits rock bottom and he acknowledges this with clarity. Steve is finally ready to face the past. And he's back to square one. He has to find a way how to deal with all of that.

Steve wouldn't be able to move on and to build a new life with Danny from where he stands after everything is done and solved. His scarred heart would always be in the way, hindering him to be with Danny. Steve leaves out of love for Danny to return when he has found a way through the darkness because it's there overpowering everything else.

As Aunt Deb once commented to Catherine, Steve would always be this sad, little boy who tried to be strong for his baby sister after their mother's death when he was anything but. And that pain is still locked up in Steve's heart to this very day.

The only person Steve needs to be with is Mary and his niece Joanie. Mary shares the same pain and they need to talk. They need to spend time together and they need to try to save what's left from this unyielding trust children are born with.

Danny is not the person for this matter, at least not yet. Steve trusts Danny with all his heart but Steve also needs Danny's understanding. He needs Danny to let him do this, to let him go, so he can find answers and to deal with everything that has turned him into the person he is now.

Danny has lost people too, Matty for example but Danny's parents weren't murdered. They are alive and healthy and they love their children unconditionally.

And here it comes guys, this is not the nicest part about McDanno but in good and in bad times, right? I need to get this out of my head because it's important and I need to explain why Steve has to leave. Steve needs to go for his own sake and the sake of his ohana and for the sake of the love he feels for Danny.

Danny is pushy at times and he can be over the top to avoid getting hurt. It's a streak I'm not fond of. I love Danny and I respect him deeply. He's only human and he has is way to deal with things. But he toys with power plays and emotional pressure when things get too close to his heart. When his mother came to Hawaii ready to get a divorce Danny moved heaven and earth to get his parents back together. He didn't respect his mother's wishes to get it done in her way. Yes, his parents found a way to be back together with Danny's help. But Danny didn't respect the boundaries his mother set.

And in a way, he doesn't respect the boundaries Steve has set. Danny's sad, he's upset and he's afraid to lose Steve. But Steve would have needed him at this moment and Danny refuses to give Steve this important emotional support. Steve would have needed Danny's approval and his blessing for the trip to roam the earth. And Danny denies it because he's too caught up in his hurt and his fear that Steve leaves for good.

Steve sits on the beaten wooden chair and stares out onto the ocean, emotionally torn to pieces because he just solved the last puzzle piece that kept him awake at night for ten long years. Steve's heart got broken so many times and he's not in a good place mentally and emotionally.

He's so occupied with the pain his parents have caused him and his sister Mary. And he has no idea how to deal with that big load of abusive shit his parents dumped on their children. Additional to this heavy weight there's the other one where every beloved person, every dear friend in Steve's life lives in a potential danger to be taken and tortured to get to Steve.

Steve nearly lost it over the fact that Danny might not make it because they wanted to get to him, pressure him to hand over the last damn secret his mother has left him.

Steve is tired. Steve is broken and he needs a break. Steve's in no emotional condition to work on a relationship and to be there for others. He had played the last ounce of strength that he has had in him. He has nothing more to give. He's the one who needs moral and emotional support, who needs his friends, especially Danny. Only Danny.

Steve said it more than once that he needs time, that he feels lost, that he hopes to find peace.

And the person who should have listened and should have understood what Steve's going through is Danny.

So, Steve tries to make it up to Danny in every way. He says he loves him, hugs him, looks at him closely and searches his eyes, hopes to catch Danny's gaze and Steve hopes to hear it back – the 'I love you, too'. Yes, Danny utters it but very reluctantly and a bit upset, even a bit angrily. He turns away from Steve refuses to look at him. What the hell, Danny? This is childish behavior. Steve watches him carefully but with the knowledge that Danny's so hurt he can't deal with it.

Steve waits but Danny drops down on the chair again and refuses to look at Steve. It's Danny's own choice to sit there all alone and to let Steve leave. Steve is the one who turns around to look back. He hopes Danny might turn his head one more time so Steve would be assured Danny loves him and that he understands Steve's reasons. But Danny gives him nothing but the cold shoulder and that's not okay. Nevertheless, Steve understands.

Danny could have walked Steve to the door. He could have been there at Steve's side until he got into the car to drive to the airport or whatever. But – and that's not easy to read but I have to say it - Danny throws his self-pity party at the beach, sitting there alone, drowning in hurt while he knows that everyone will drop by to say their goodbyes. He punishes Steve with a silent treatment because Steve, for the first time, is ready to only take care of himself and to only look after himself without looking after all others. Steve takes some 'me-time' and Danny feels excluded and can't handle it.

Steve doesn't leave Danny hurt and bruised on the beach. No! The bruises and the cracked ribs aren't even important. The guys deal with injuries like warriors. No, Danny decides on his own terms to sit there all alone and to feel sorry for himself instead of joining Steve. And that's what is happening and not the other way round. Danny could have walked with Steve up to the house.

Yes, Danny feels super sorry about his behavior a few moments later when he texts Steve and tells him he misses him already. That's also Danny's way to say 'sorry, babe, I was such an ass and I love you'.

That’s my other angle to have a close look at this amazing, great and intense scene at the beach.

The boys are going to be fine because their love has been forged lifetimes ago and it'll hold forever. Danny will come around to accept Steve's choice. I enjoyed watching this exchange of feelings. Steve and Danny are in a relationship and there are hurdles to take. At one point, Steve is going to call Danny and tells him to pack his bag because he misses him like hell and that he needs to see him. And Danny grabs his to-go bag which is ready since day one and races over the highway to catch the first flight that comes along to get as fast as possible to Steve.

McDanno forever. Thanks for reading.

#h50 #steve mcgarrett #danny williams #h50edit #my edit #10.22 #my point of view on that scene #so many details to explore #emotional hurt #canon mixed with mcdanno #there's a ton of emotions to deal with #mcdanno forever #thank you for reaching out #i love the boys to the moon and back

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etaleah · 5 years ago

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A Goofy Movie Meta: On Pete and Goofy’s Parenting Styles

A Goofy Movie has always been one of my favorites, and when I rewatched it for its 25th anniversary, I realized the themes it explores, namely that of parenting via authoritarian harshness and parenting via respectful love, are actually a lot deeper than people give it credit for. This is shown in the contrast between the way Pete raises PJ and Goofy raises Max. The gist of it is that Pete is an asshole who takes an almost militaristic approach to parenting while Goofy is a loving, caring person who takes a respectful, do-what’s-best-for-them-but-always-with-love kind of approach. A parent like Pete sees kids as servants while a parent like Goofy sees kids as people. Here’s how we see that play out:

First of all, we see very early on that PJ is TERRIFIED of his dad. Like, absolutely scared to death. As they’re setting up for the show at school, he mentions multiple times that if his dad finds out, he’s in trouble. Specifically, he says:

He also says: “If my dad finds out, he’s gonna nuke my entire existence.” And then when the prank is done, he says “My dad is gonna squash me like a bug.” Notice how Max isn’t afraid of getting in trouble with his dad at all. Because he knows his dad loves him. PJ doesn’t have that reassurance.

After the setup of Max trying to impress Roxanne and him being embarrassed by his dad, we cut to the scene of Goofy and Pete at work. Pete’s saying that he and PJ are going camping and Goofy says Max would never go for that. And Pete says:

Note that Goofy didn’t say Max wouldn’t spend time with him. He only said that Max didn’t like camping. But to Pete, that doesn’t matter. What this sets up, and what becomes MUCH more evident later, is that Pete thinks of kids like unpaid servants who should do everything their parents want without a word of complaint. At least, that’s what good kids do, and any kid who doesn’t must be a bad kid. He’s one of those parents who thinks respect = obedience. Max isn’t wanting to do something Goofy wants, therefore there must be something wrong with Max and he must be a bad kid. (The funny thing is that clearly Pete’s style of parenting doesn’t actually work, considering PJ has also gotten in trouble at school. So there’s that.)

Pete immediately starts suggesting that Max must be a gang member who’s stealing stuff and causing riots. Which...again, bit much when you consider that Goofy only said he didn’t like camping. But it makes perfect sense when you consider Pete’s worldview. And since Max has never been a troublemaker, Goofy of course brushes it off and says Max would never do that. The thing to remember here is that Goofy does not like Pete’s view and does not want to resort to that if there’s another option.

But then Max does get in trouble. And Goofy hears that he’s “dressed like a gang member” and “caused the entire student body to break into a riotous frenzy,” just like Pete was saying. At first he tries to deny it, but it’s a lot harder to brush off the principal than Pete. This scene is really something to watch. The lighting gets darker, Goofy starts breathing heavily, the colors fade...it’s heartbreaking. It’s an earth-shattering betrayal for Goofy because he cannot fathom this.

He says “What am I gonna do?” because he really doesn’t know what to do. The last thing he wants is to become like Pete. So he gets the idea to go fishing. Maybe they just need to spend some time together. They can work it out like two people who love each other, can’t they? Of course they can.

But then Max doesn’t want to go, even after Goofy has exhausted every tactic he knows, so he has to resort to Pete’s way of using force by literally picking him up and putting him in the car. He’s willing to do this when he sees no other option, but it’s never his first choice.

The next time we see the four of them together, it’s in the woods after Lester’s Possum Park. One thing I noticed here is that Pete seems really cheerful...until Max asks if PJ is there. RIGHT AWAY his mood dampens. It’s hard for me to capture, but if you watch the scene, I promise it’s there. The man has zero interest in his own kid. He then says, “Oh yeah, I’m sure he’s loafin’ around here somewhere.” Which is a really odd choice of words, considering the very next thing we see:

PJ is cleaning the RV and seems to be working hard at it, if a little distracted while doing so. Why did Pete say he was loafing when he’s doing chores? And why is PJ inside cleaning when Pete is coming out to enjoy the outdoors? Probably because Pete thinks that’s how it should be, that kids should act as their parents’ maids and never receive any credit for it. And this isn’t an anomaly: the next time we see PJ in the RV at the end, he’s cleaning again while Pete is the one who’s loafing:

Max says that PJ is lucky to have the RV, and it’s pretty clear why PJ doesn’t say anything in agreement and immediately changes the topic to Roxanne. I imagine he probably wishes he were in Max’s shoes. Then he might actually get to enjoy the camping instead of being stuck cleaning the RV. Pete was saying earlier in the work scene that PJ had been begging him to take him camping. If that’s true, imagine how disappointed PJ must be that this was his camping experience.

And when Pete and Goofy are bowling on the roof, we get this:

He SCREAMS for PJ so loud that everything shakes and Goofy flinches, and PJ comes running like he’s a soldier in the army, saying “Yes sir, comin’ sir, yes sir,” kicks over the pin, and then Pete pulls this really mean trick where he says “High five, son!” but then fakes it, and this is PJ’s reaction:

He doesn’t look surprised. Just sad. His dad probably does this kind of thing all the time. Because Pete sees his child as a servant that he can boss around and make fun of rather than a family member that he’s supposed to love. This is the scene where he tells Goofy that it’s all about keeping them “under your thumb.” Then he pushes Goofy to do that with Max, and Goofy does. It works, but it makes Max absolutely miserable, and Goofy sees that. Unlike Pete, he doesn’t enjoy making his kid miserable.

So the next day, Goofy entrusts Max with the map and appoints him the navigator. Since he doesn’t like being bossy, he tries to find a different approach. And he realizes that part of the reason Max is so unhappy on this trip is because he feels like he has no say in it. He doesn’t get to choose the stops, the destination, the music, any of it. As much as Goofy was looking forward to repeating the trip of his childhood, he values his son’s happiness more than his own. So he makes the sacrifice and allows Max to choose the stops from then on. That’s something Pete would never do. He believes kids do what their parents want, not the other way around.

And to Goofy’s utter delight, it works. Everything goes great. They’re happy again. Max is happy again. Sure, Goofy might not have enjoyed all of the stops he chose, but it’s still a good time. He’s willing to try something new for Max. He wants them to be friends and family who love and care about each other, not boss and servant like Pete and PJ. And now it seems like they can be. Goofy found another way. He’s thrilled.

Then they stop at the Neptune Inn (WHY is that not a hotel at Disney World??) and have a buddy-buddy moment, which is shocking to Pete:

Again, it is incomprehensible to him that a parent and child could have this kind of relationship because the only one kind he knows is the authoritarian one he uses himself. So he immediately assumes it must be an act, and that Max is pretending:

Again Goofy brushes it off like he did at work. Things are going great, after all. He has no reason to believe this is anything but real, and again, he does not like Pete’s way. They go about spending the evening together, and again we see Pete harping at PJ to do some labor without any help:

Jeez, poor kid. Even Max and Goofy look shocked at what he has to deal with. And Pete never thanks him for any of it. Why would he? PJ is nothing more than a servant, after all. He exists to serve Pete. That’s all he’s there for. And Pete is invested in this philosophy being true, which is why Goofy and Max’s buddy-buddy relationship is so off-putting, almost threatening to him.

That’s why he’s so thrilled when he overhears that Max changed the map.

Isn’t it great? Now he doesn’t have to be wrong. Now he has all the proof he needs that he was right, Max is a bad kid, he was pretending, and Goofy was wrong for thinking they could ever have a loving relationship based out of real respect where both of them have equal say and equal footing. Naturally, Pete can’t wait to tell Goofy and immediately does. In this scene, Goofy mentions that none of Pete’s techniques worked for him, which of course makes Pete unhappy.

When he breaks the news, Goofy looks just as betrayed as he did when he got the call from the principal:

And just like with the principal, he denies it. Couldn’t be, can’t be, not true. Because if it is true, then that would mean Pete is right and that a controlling way might really be the only way. That Max might actually be a bad kid. That all the joy they’ve experienced the past few days was based on a lie. So he denies it. And then we get one of the best quotes in the movie:

“You know, maybe Max isn’t all the things that you think a son should be. But he loves me.”

Maybe Max isn’t scared into submission like your son is, but he loves and cares about me. That’s enough. But of course, for Pete is isn’t, so he glares and says:

“Hey. My son respects me.”

Because for Pete, respect = obedience. PJ doesn’t actually respect him. He’s just afraid of him. And again, it’s not as if Pete’s tactics kept PJ out of trouble. He still got sent to the principal’s office just like Max did. Which is probably why Goofy responds like this:

It sounds sarcastic. Goofy has seen Pete and PJ’s relationship. He’s disgusted by it. That kind of dynamic is the last thing he wants for him and Max. I like to imagine that if Pete weren’t his boss and their sons weren’t friends, Goofy might have told him off right then and there. Since Pete can’t bear to be wrong, he again yells at him to check the map. Goofy goes back and forth on whether to do so, but eventually does.

And he. Is. HEARTBROKEN.

All of his worst fears have been confirmed. He’s shocked, sad, and also tired. We see the next day that he has bags under his eyes; he didn’t sleep all night because he doesn’t know what to do.

Should he be like Pete? Even though it may not work? What’s the right way to handle this?

Max, of course, knows that something is up and has a feeling Goofy has found out but isn’t sure. They see the junction and Goofy comes up with one last idea: give Max the map and hope he’ll choose the right direction. Give him one more chance to prove that Pete is wrong, he’s a good kid, he loves and respects his dad, their good times together have been real. If he chooses Idaho, then there’s still hope and maybe the map change was a misunderstanding. If he chooses Los Angeles, then Goofy will know for sure.

So starts the tensest moment in the movie, when Goofy is all but begging Max to choose Idaho. And Max almost does it! But in the end, he chooses LA.

Goofy. Is. FURIOUS.

He’s thinking, I trusted you. I believed in you. I sacrificed making the stops I wanted to make and tried all those new things for you. I stood up to my boss for you. And you go and do this. You think I’m so stupid that I can see a sign that says “Idaho right, LA left,” go left, and still think I’m heading to Idaho. You really think I am that dumb, and you’re taking advantage of it.

Max tries to explain, but Goofy is too angry to hear it, and so Max sees this as yet another example of his dad not listening to him. And to be fair, he’s not entirely wrong. Goofy’s inability to listen is his biggest failing as a parent.

Which is why, once he finally starts listening, everything gets better. I imagine he’s relieved to learn about Roxanne, as it means there was a reason behind Max’s actions other than being a bad kid. They have their reconciliation, and when all is said and done, Max is as proud of his dad as his dad is of him. They’re finally able to have the relationship Goofy has wanted for them all along, the kind that’s based on love.

The one that, sadly, families like Pete and PJ will never have.

#a goofy movie #goofy #disney meta #disney movies #disney #my thoughts #meta

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liron-ao3 · 4 years ago

Text

TW: Cis writer writes about trans character and dysphoria.

Chapter 1

(Read it on AO3)

Total darkness surrounds him as if the earth had swallowed him whole. He coughs, his throat feeling dry as hell, burning with every breath he tries to take.

He feels hard, yet damp wood underneath him. The air smells rotten and stale and Dean can't breathe properly as if the amount of oxygen is running out.

Don't panic! he tells himself, refraining from taking a deep breath even though it might steady his heartbeat.

He pats down at the pocket of his jeans. Thank, God! No matter what happend to him, the lighter that his brother Sammy gave him for his 16th birthday is still there.

He fumbles at his jeans, willing his stiff hands into cooperation until he can finally fish out the silver lighter and with fingers that feel as if they weren't his, he runs his thumb several times over the little metal wheel unsuccessfully until - finally - a little flame lightens up the space around him.

It casts more shadows than light, distorting what he knows to be his body into long forgotten wraiths. But there's no use in processing this cruel game his brain is playing with him.

The space around him is confined, planks of wood on top of him and to every side. He tries to call for help, but his voice betrays him, coming out squeaky and parched. It doesn't seem to belong to him. He coughs once more and his next attempt works better, at least it is louder, but his voice still sounds so much higher than usual.

Anger flares up in his chest or maybe it's just the air pinching his lungs. He bangs at the planks above him and feels soil raining down on him, sprinkling his face.

He's buried alive! What sick son of a bitch would do that to him? Sure, he has enemies from all over the country, human and supernatural beings alike, but even for most of them this sick game would be a notch too much.

With all strength that he can muster, he pulls at the brittle wood and tears it apart until the hole above him is big enough to shovel his way out of what he realises is supposed to be his grave.

He doesn't know how long it takes, he doesn't know if he's still alive or already breathing soil. He keeps on digging upwards, driven by instinct and the sheer will to survive, to kill the bastard that thought killing him like this was what he deserved.

Finally! He feels the soil getting more loose, more dry, and then - sweet mother of Jesus and all the angels who witnessed his birth - he feels grass under his fingertips and his right hand reaches into fresh air for the first time again.

He presses his other hand out, widening the hole in the ground above him and with more will than bodily strength he pushes his chest out in the open, taking in a big breath of air. He coughs due to the new sensation of filled alveoles, burning inside him like the fires from hell.

His head is a little dizzy but he still keeps on crawling, shoving, pulling, until his whole body finds solid ground and the sun slowly caresses his cold cheek.

He turns on his back and closes his eyes. It's fine. I'm fine. I'm safe. The last one feels like a lie, but Dean doesn't know why. He's too exhausted to think about it.

He gulps and groans and looks into the blinding sun standing high on a cloudless blue sky.

He lies there, maybe for minutes, maybe hours. His throat still feels like lined with parchment paper. He needs water. It's way too hot. He will die of thirst if he doesn't move and for a short moment he entertains the thought of just staying like this until his heart stops beating.

But then he thinks of Sammy who is surely looking for him. He imagines his grief laced face finding him after he fought so hard to get out of this hole, imagines him erecting the funeral pyre, cloaking him in a white sheet, and burning him all alone, here, God knows where.

No, he can't let that happen!

So he pushes himself off the ground and gets up on slightly wobbly legs, taking in his surroundings. There is an improvised wooden cross on what should have been his eternal resting place and fallen trees encircling the little grassy patch that may have been a small clearance once.

The trees lie disrooted on the ground, but it's clear that they weren't the victims of a normal storm. It looks as if a nuke took off, as if something inside the clearance exploded and took the trees down.

Dean tries to make sense of it and for a long moment he just stares and breathes, before willing his eyes to look for signs of civilisation. He thinks he finds them in the far distance, something red catching his attention.

With his eyes still fixed on the red object, too afraid to lose sight of it and hoping that it isn't just a thirst induced Fata Morgana, he shrugs out of his long-sleeved shirt and binds it over his teeshirt, around his waist. He takes a first step, still a little wobbly on his feet, then the next, and the next, until his legs remember how to work. His whole body feels foreign, but he keeps on moving until he reaches the red objects he hung his life on.

They turn out to be old fashioned pumps at a dated petrol station. The sign says 'closed', still he knocks and calls, "Hello!", his voice still not recovered from whatever the arsehole who buried him alive did to him.

There is no answer and he unknots his shirt around his waist and uses it to protect his hand while breaking the glass door to get inside the little shop.

He thanks whoever might listen that the shop seems to still be in use as he finds a fridge with bottles of water.

He downs half of one, the burning in his throat now nearly worse than before. He takes another hurtful breath then looks around.

He knows he's in the back of beyond, but where exactly? He sees a stack of newspaper and grabs one. He's not surprised to find himself in Michigan, but he blinks twice when he sees the date on the Pontiac Daily Gazette. It's September 2008.

This can't be right! He lost four months on earth. Maybe he should just be thankful that his decades in hell didn't pass here, too. Coming back to a world where people like his uncle Bobby might not live anymore - not due to a hunting accident, but because of old age - would be so much worse.

His skin burns like fire, but not from the burn of the sun. He needs to get his shit together. There's no use in focussing on details like this. He needs to find Sam and get the hell out of here.

He walks to the old washbasin to cool his boiling cheeks. Together with the cold water a bit of the built up tension goes down the drain.

He pats his shirt to his face, drying it, and that's when it hits him. Something is wrong. Very wrong.

All this time ever since he woke up in this cursed makeshift coffin, the foreign feeling that never quite left him even when his body cooperated with his brain again, with one look in the mirror it suddenly all makes sense.

His lips form a silent 'no' as he sees his own reflection in the mirror. His features, though distorted in horror, are soft and void of facial hair. His hairline is lower, too. What the actual fuck!?

In disbelief his gaze wanders down his reflection, finding soft hills where a flat chest should be. He breathes in sharply before raising his shirt tentatively. Where he is used to find strong muscles he finds a soft belly framed by wide hips and a slender waist. Where he sported two thin, red scars he's met with two breasts that used to be the biggest trigger of dysphoria until the wonderful day when he had finally gotten rid of them with the credit card of an insanely rich businessman who had died after making a deal with a crossroad demon. It had been the happiest day of his life, well maybe after the day he had gotten his hand on the first tube of testosterone gel.

Dean presses a hand to his mouth, trying to keep the wail inside that breaks his way from deep down inside his stomach up to his throat, ripping him apart in the process. All his fighting, all the pain, all the things he did to make the body he was born with truly his.

He stares at himself in the mirror or more precisely the version of him that he thought to have left in the past, the one that he never really fit in, never filled out, the one that people knew by his grandmother's name.

His hand shoots to his crotch, but all he finds are loose briefs and he knows that not only his packer is gone, but also his cock. Son of a bitch!

Tears brim behind closed eyes, burning their way out until he can feel them on his smooth cheeks.

Alastair himself couldn't have been so cruel to send him back into his personal hell that is a body not fitting the soul within.

Dean braces himself on the washbasin. He takes one deep breath, then another, and another. He looks up in the mirror again, but all he sees is a slightly older 23 year old version of himself and all hope drains out of him.

If you liked this, please follow the story on AO3.

#dean winchester #trans man dean #trans dean #gender dysphoria #lazarus rising #au canon divergence #fanfiction #destiel #deancas

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ask-the-party-god · 4 years ago

Note

SIEG! His name was sieg, I just remembered. -HNK Anon

hi hnk anon! im using this second ask of yours because its shorter, and putting your other one under the readmore to answer more extensively! X)

Okay. So I just got through the prologue, and I have a few things to say.

1. I’ve only had mash kyrielight for a day and a half, but if anything happened to her I would kill everyone in this and then myself!

youre absolutely RIGHT shes such a good girl! i love her and she only gets better and better as the same goes on! speaking of ‘better’ as it goes on, the game starts kind of slow? okay, so- the company that started fgo unsupervised, and they were making a cash-grabby game with less effort than it deserved... around the fourth singularity, though, nasu, the owner of the ip, saw the state of the game, stepped in and went like “nope, youre making this good, or youre not making it, period”, so... yeah he stepped in, put quality standards, lowered the saint quartz cost, added third skills to a lot of lower-star servants that didnt have them, reworked some other servants... also every milestone they include a quality of life change! earlier this year they increased the saint quartz you got from daily missions, then a retroactive change to interludes that gave me like, 100 pieces of it all of sudden... its good, i actually really appreciate them for that X)

2. The leveling up is a bit confusing for me.

yeah, the levelling up is, gacha levelling up, it was a bit weird at first, buuuut:

there are a few different things with exp in the game! you have your mystic code (your clothes, which have special skills), and your master level, both of which increase by just, doing any quest at all! master level determines your ap point limit, how many friends you can have, how many servants and ces you can have in your team at a time, etc... the mystic code level increases the effectivity of your mystic codes skills

theres bond level! this is how ‘close’ you are with your servant, and you raise it by fighting with those servants in your team! levels 1 through 5 unlock new information about them and new flavor text while theyre in your room! levels 6 through 9 give you rewards, like extra saint quartz, apples, etc... and if you get to level 10, you get a specific craft essence! some are like, “as long as the servant has it equipped, everyone in the team gets a buster buff”, but theres specific effects like, heracles gets a stack of 3 guts- which is insaaaaane

theres craft essences! theyre basically ‘buffs’, and levelling them up gives you some extra hp or attack, but ultimately theyre proooobably the least like, necessary thing to level up? still, you get spare craft essences out the wazoo so you probably want to feed the ones with effects you use a lot... anything with default np charge is GREAT for example, as it lets you charge up nukes all that much easier

and finally we get to servants! so you have the normal servant level up, THIS is what youd consider the classic ‘rpg level up’, but instead of levelling them up by fighting, you need items! specially, embers... feeding a servant embers and other spare servants you dont want (low rarity, pls dont feed people gold servants-), you level them up! this is a basic increase of all stats, but theres a level LIMIT! once they reach the level limit, you can ‘ascend them’ to their next stage, usually accompanied with unlocking new skills, and new cool outfits! you can ascend them up to four times, and once theyre at max ascension and max level, you CAN technically feed them holy grails (palingenesis), to break that max level limit to eventually reach 100... this is mostly unnecessary? but if theres a lower-rarity servant you REALLY like, that can put them on par with 4-stars, for example, or giving them a well needed extra boost to hp and attack

finally you have np and skills! skills are just that, servant-specific abilities! evades, healing, debuffs, buffs... levelling up skills reduces their cooldown at level 6 and 10, and generally increases their effect! np level up needs you to have multiple copies of the same servant, you can boost their np to be more damaging or to give you stronger buffs, depending on what it is

so basically, fighting will increase your master and mystic code exp, and your bond level! to actually level up servants, you have to feed them embers (you can farm them in the chaldea gate quests, or simply get them from story missions and free rolls)! to ascend them or level up their skills, you need special materials, which can drop in some free quests in singularities, be sold/drop during events, or drop from other chaldea gate free quests! not all materials are available from the beginning, so i suggest just, going through the story and upgrading your characters as you can, rather than obsessively farming to get them super high up before continuing with it

3. What’s the deal with the unregistered spirit origin currency? Because they are blocking me from getting the servants I want. That leads me to—

oh yeah no, dont worry about that, you are never, ever EVER going to use that X) basically, if you get 5 copies of the SAME 5-star, that is, if you get them to np level 5, and you get a SIXTH copy, which, again... insane odds? you will be given an unregistered spirit origin currency! basically its the way the game has of saying “sorry you keep getting this same servant so much, here, you can CHOOSE which one you want instead”

basically, insurance so you can never get a useless extra 5-star after fully upgrading a previous version of them

you gotta roll the gacha to get servants! its random! there is NO ensuring which one you will get, you just gotta try! well- there ARE occasionally events, like, twice a year, where you get to PICK a free 4-star actually

4. There are currently six servants that I want, everyone else doesn’t matter at the moment. The first is mash (so that’s one down) the second is artotia, third is Jeanne d'ark. Fourth is Jeanne alter, and firth Lancelot! And sixth- I SAW A MAID ALTER WITH A SNIPER RIFLE- WHAT? THATS COOL/FUNNY AS SHIT! I WANT THAT! (Maybe astolfo and uhhh... what was his name with the gray hair, he’s a caster- but that’s for later, the ones I listed are top priority,

lets see, six servants you want! believe me, you WILL get attached to more, but...

mash is obviously in your possession!

artoria is always, by default, in the summoning pool! theres occasionally ‘rate up’ banners, which give certain characters more weight, but ultimately, every saint quartz roll you do always has a chance of summoning her... specially right now, the more of the game you complete, the more servants you will unlock in the summoning pool, so technically shes at her highest drop rate right now

same with jeanne, shes part of the default summoning pool

jeanne ALTER is limited though! she does not appear normally, she can only be summoned when shes on a rate-up banner! i am not sure if she will be on rate-up before this, but the next banner i know she will for SURE be in is in may! oh! but- if you dont get her, there IS a 4-star, summer version that will be FREE this next summer, if you complete the summer event!

i think lancelot is also in the default summon pool!

maid alter is the summer outfit version of artoria X) i am unsure when she is available again honestly :o we had her event rerun not that long ago, so she may not be available for a while...

astolfo is in the default summoning pool AND theyre going to get a 5-star version this next year i believe! so, double stolfo!

sieg is, the free servant you get for the apocrypha event! it happened earlier this year, so i think that means theres a rerun of it still pending! eventually though, they will add a thing where you can replay events you missed and get the free servants from them, so while ideally youd wanna be playing while the event is up, theres a contingency in case you missed someone you REALLY want!

5. Please tell me how the start system works- I’m very new to this and I wanna be invested. Please help-

-HNK Anon

i think thats pretty much all there is! you get saint quartz through the story, by doing interludes, bond-levelling servants, through rewards, etc, as well as summon tickets, and you use those to roll the gacha! free friend currency only gives 3-star and under servants, while saint quartz can give you pretty much anything

theres almost always a ‘banner’ up, which offers ‘rate-up’ servants! the normal summoning pool has all the default servants and the story-locked ones you have unlocked, but the rate-ups can bypass the locks entirely! some servants are limited, so if they seem cool in a banner, you may wanna try to roll!

even if you dont get the servants you want- and believe me... it WILL happen... you WILL get more and more and more cool servants so, dont worry about that X) also a lot of lower-rarity servants are actually really good and can be used for a lot of things, so if you have a favorite, do not be afraid to level them up!

but yeah thats kind of the loop? you do stuff, get sq... roll the gacha for characters you like, level them up, do events... i honestly play mostly for the story, the main story gets really good, and the events are all charming and nice, but id be lying if i said i didnt want some specific servants... most of which are alter egos-

yeah sorry im rambling X) just... ask me anything else you may need! :D

#party god #ask #fgo

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presidentlauraroslin · 5 years ago

Note

Types of kisses prompts: 16. Chrisjen/Cotyar, 33. Bobbie/Cotyar, 42. Bobbie/Chrisjen (I'm not even gonna bother putting any "or's" between these anymore)

So, shocker, I did do all of them. Behind a cut, because otherwise it would be a hella long post.

16.Chrisjen/Cotyar - One person pouting, only to have it removed by a kiss fromthe other person.

Therewas something oddly satisfying in watching Chrisjen be out of her element.Cotyar didn’t necessarily enjoy seeing her be this uncomfortable, but she wasthe kind of person who could walk into any situation and own it, made it play out exactly the way she wanted it. To see her brow furrowed, her lips pursed and practicallyjump out of her chair as soon as they had gotten the all clear that the dropshiphad docked and leave the cramped area was new and it was interesting. Althoughprobably not a good thing to have her in this nervous of a mindset if they weregoing to deal with Mao.

He leftthe marine to fend for herself and followed Chrisjen to a small private areawhere he found her pacing, the click of her heels muffled against the carpet.She shot him a dirty look as he closed the door behind him. Oh good, she wasstill in a terrible mood. “If you mention that we’re walking into a trap onemore goddamn time, I will have you tossed out of this fucking ship.”

“I wouldn’tdream of it.” The look in her eyes could have melted the hull of the ship andit said that she knew he would definitely dream of it. For now he would keepthose comments to himself. He never was sure when she was serious with herthreats to do grievous bodily harm. But the amusement he felt at watching herbe uncomfortable was starting to fade and he sighed, watching her walk thelength of the space. “You need to breathe.”

“I amfucking breathing,” she snapped and stopped pacing. Cotyar raised his hands insurrender and carefully approached her, glad to see that she was letting him.He could see that she was breathing, but it was a little shallow and irregular.It made sense in a way. She could fight any battle, take on any enemy, but thiswasn’t a fight. This was fear, or at least a huge discomfort, and she wasn’t goodat fighting herself.

“No, youneed to breathe, properly.” He placed his hands on her shoulders and ignoredthe incredulous expression on her face. “I’m afraid your heart will give outand I would hate to blame your death on the Martian back there.”

Chrisjengave him a spectacular eyeroll, but he spotted the smallest hint of a smile inthe corner of her mouth and there wasn’t any anger behind her next curse as herhands lightly landed on his hips. “Motherfucker.”

“Youalright?” he asked a little more seriously. As much as he had smirked when shehad been seemed a little scared, even though he knew her fear was justifiedafter the transport from Pallas incident, but he kind of needed her to bealright. Chrisjen looked up at him and he immediately realized he shouldn’thave asked her that. He shook his head slightly and squeezed her shoulders. “Stupidquestion.”

“It was.I just fucking hate space and space travel and everything associated with it.” Thegrip on his hips tightened and she looked almost more defeated than she didannoyed. She was even pouting, even though he had learned to not point that outanymore, because she always vehemently denied it. It was endearing and theallure of her bottom lip was too much to resist. Giving her plenty of time toshove him away, he leaned closer until there was only a hair’s breadth betweenthem.

When shedidn’t stop him, he closed even that small distance, kissing her softly,capturing her bottom lip between his own. He actually felt some of the tensionin her shoulders disappear as she kissed him back. It made him wish they hadmore time, that there wasn’t a Martian marine on board whom he still didn’tquite trust. He wanted to be on Earth with a bed so he could give her what sheneeded, what they both wanted. But for now a kiss would have to do, until thismess was resolved.

“Wasthat supposed to be distracting?” she asked, arching an eyebrow, her lipsticksomehow still perfect. Cotyar shrugged, tracing her bottom lip with his thumb.

“Yep.”It had been as much a distracting move as it had been something he had wantedto do before they reached Mao’s ship. It was a trap they were flying into and atrap he wasn’t sure he was prepared for, could prepare for. But Cotyar didn’twant to tell her that, even though he suspected Chrisjen already knew. Sheusually did.

“It didn’twork.” She raised her chin defiantly. Her pout was gone, so was the worry inher eyes and tension she had carried. Kissing her had worked, but he wouldgladly play along to make this moment last longer. Her hands moved from hiships to underneath his jacket, her palms warm through the fabric of his shirtagainst his lower back.

“I cantry again.”

“I thinkyou should.” Chrisjen met him halfway when he leaned down to kiss her again.

33.Bobbie/Cotyar - An unexpected kiss that shocks the one receiving it.

Cotyarfelt nervous which was a strange sensation that he hadn’t felt quite like thisin years. By some miracle he had survived getting off Mao’s ship, had beenpicked up by the UNN, had a gut wound healed and then had managed to get to vacsuit before the protomolecule had reached him. And now here he was, on JamesHolden’s ship with Chrisjen, who had slapped him squarely across the facebefore wrapping her arms around him and cursing him into the next century.

Theremay have also been some kisses which would have ended up in some desperate sexif they hadn’t gotten the message that Holden was coming back with a bunch ofkids and more importantly, an injured Draper. He had watched her being carriedin by the pilot, limping, every inch of her bruised. She had given him an emptylook before the drugs kicked in and she had passed out, which was probably forthe better.

So nowhere he sat, watching her heartbeat, waiting for Chrisjen to return or for thedrugs to slowly stop working, whichever happened first. It turned out it was the latterwhen Bobbie’s heartrate increased a little and her eyes began to flutter open.Cotyar immediately moved to her side, carefully taking her hand, wanting to bean anchor for her as she returned to reality.

“HeyMarine,” he whispered. It took a moment for Bobbie’s eyes to focus on him andthen another for her to realize who she was looking at. When it finally clickedshe gave him a groggy smile and squeezed his fingers. He felt a warmth settlein his stomach as he looked at her.

“Spy.You made it.” Her skin was still more bruise than its original shade, but therewas no mistaking that accent or that tone. This was Bobbie Draper and she washere and she was alive. He had to resist the sudden urge to hug her as reliefcoursed through his veins. She was a marine, she was supposed to risky, stupidshit, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t been scared when Chrisjen had told himwhat she had done.

“Barely.You look worse though.” What was gunshot wound and a little protomoleculecompared to going one on one with a hybrid and living to tell the tale? Bobbietried to smile.

“Ah, youshould see the other guy.” It was probably for the best that he couldn’t. The Rocinantehad nuked the site of the lab, destroying all evidence of the protomoleculethere, including Bobbie’s hybrid. But the big mechanic had already told himBobbie had done quite a number on him, emptying her gun into its head.

“Youkilled your dragon, huh?” Bobbie took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Whenshe opened them again, there were tears in her eyes and Cotyar felt his heartbreak a little. She was so strong and powerful, had saved his ass and Chrisjen’s,had destroyed something that was impossible to destroy, but she was stillhuman. Carefully he wiped away a tear that nearly rolled into her hairline,letting his thumb rest against her cheekbone.

“I did.”She didn’t sound proud or victorious. She sounded tired, like it hadn’t beenthe catharsis she had sought. He could have told her that slaying your dragonsdoesn’t give you the peace you seek, but she wouldn’t have listened. At leastnow she knew.

“Youscared her, Marine. You scared me when I heard what you did.” He had no doubtChrisjen would tell her all about how terrified she had been in a less thansubtle way, but he wanted to say it as well. He got wanting to get revenge, butnot at the near cost of one’s own life. The tired expression on Bobbie’s facewas changed into of sadness as if it suddenly hit her that she had people whocared about her on this ship.

On animpulse, on the feeling that he didn’t want to lose her, Cotyar leaned down andpressed a soft kiss to her lips. Bobbie inhaled sharply, but after a moment aher lips started moving against his, the grip she had on his fingers tighteninguntil it hurt. Cotyar smiled and pulled back, kissing her forehead beforelooking down at her. “Don’t scare us again.”

Bobbielooked thoroughly confused and speechless, pressing her lips together as if shecouldn’t quite believe what had just happened. Somehow he could barely believeit himself. “I – what?”

“We’lltalk about it later. Just rest and heal.”

42.Bobbie/Chrisjen - Distracting kisses from someone that are meant to stop theother person from finishing their work, and give them kisses instead.

Chrisjenhad the talent of firing orders at people faster than any PDC could. Bobbie wasa little awestruck watching her as Chrisjen walked into the apartment in the UNbuilding, talking to one of her assistants no doubt. Bobbie almost felt sorryfor who was on the other end and she hoped they were recording thisconversation. Confirming appointments there, canceling them somewhere else,blacklisting one motherfucking idiot and inviting another to dinner.

As shepoured herself a drink, Chrisjen smiled at her, rolled her eyes and continuedtalking. Bobbie smiled back as she muted the television, smiling wider when shewas handed a glass of whiskey most Martians could only dream of. She caughtChrisjen’s wrist before she could walk away and brushed her lips against theinside of her palm, looking up to watch Chrisjen’s lips part and the tip of hertongue flick out to wet her bottom lip.

“Fuck…No,not you. Where was I?” Bobbie felt an immense of amount of pride that such a smallgesture had managed to momentarily distract Chrisjen. Chrisjen caressed hercheek and walked away, gesturing to open the door to the small outside area.She looked so beautiful today, draped in gold and blue that moved like it wasliquid. She looked like royalty from centuries ago and it just made Bobbierealize that she had barely spent any time together.

Abandoningthe whiskey without ever taking a sip, she decided to take advantage of the factthat Chrisjen was on an audio-only call. Bobbie walked up behind her and trailedher fingers down her arm before wrapping her arms around Chrisjen’s waist andresting her chin on her shoulder, breathing in the fresh air, even as thecomforting sound of Chrisjen voice continued to hurl orders.

WhenChrisjen didn’t stop, even though she had once stated she preferred to do aslittle work as possible at home (before grumbling that this fucking apartmentwould never be home), Bobbie turned her head. The line from her neck the edgeof her shoulder was bare, except for a necklace. Smirking, she kissed justbehind Chrisjen’s ear, knowing it would make it shiver. She wasn’t disappointedwhen she could her stiffen in her arms.

Sadly,she barely faltered in her fairly one-sided conversation, so Bobbie moved tokiss her neck, barely there kisses at first, slowly building up the pressure,until she was just shy of leaving a mark, nipping at the sensitive skin withher teeth as Chrisjen seemed to lose her train of thought several times andcovered Bobbie’s hands with her own, seemingly to steady herself. Bobbie smiledagainst her neck and bit softly just above the necklace.

Withoutwarning, Chrisjen muted her earpiece and spun around her arms. She was a littleflushed, her eyes were dark and she looked a slightly heated. Good. That hadbeen exactly what she wanted.

“Bobbie…”Chrisjen tried to sound exasperated, but Bobbie could see straight through that.She was turned on and it wouldn’t take much to have her put down work for thenight. She missed her and she wanted her.

“Yes, ma’am?”she tried innocently.

“Don’t ‘ma’am’me. You know exactly what you’re doing.” Chrisjen actually poked her in thechest with her finger and Bobbie smiled. It was cute when she was pretending tobe annoyed with her.

“And I’mnot gonna stop. Earth will continue spinning if you stop working for a moment.Send that poor girl home and spend some time with me.” Chrisjen narrowed hereyes, but Bobbie didn’t budge. She just held her close, looking down at her,waiting for her to give in already. Thankfully, that didn’t take long when Chrisjensuddenly sighed.

“Fuck,fine.” She unceremoniously hung up on her assistant and tossed her earpiece onthe table. “You have my full attention.”

Bobbiedidn’t bother responding. She simply picked Chrisjen up and kissed her properlyas she walked her over to the bed.

#the expanse #chrisjen avasarala #cotyar ghazi #bobbie draper #margotgrissom #fanfic

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militant-holy-knight · 5 years ago

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Tom Kratman’s Caliphate Review: Disturbingly Prophetic

Its easy to forget that outright right-winged/conservative literature actually exists though admittedly it’s hard to find those with actual merit nor enjoy the same popularity as other types of works. I’ve came across one example written by retired US Army soldier Tom Kratman whom you may or may have not heard about if you are familiar with the Sad Puppies incident from 2015, where the Hugo Awards were biased against writers with conservative leanings. Kratman is someone who delights in offending left-wing sensibilities by his own admission and it’s reflected in his works that often deal with themes like fighting Muslim terrorists in sci-fi settings. One such of these works is Caliphate, written in 2008 and it struck me how... prescient this book was about the contemporary times and may well still be for the future.

The premise is as follows: Islamic terrorists seize nuclear weapons and use it to nuke three American cities during September 11 (as well as London and Israel). The American outrage against Muslims spirals into the election of a third-party populist candidate who promises vengeance against this attack, which he does by simultaneously nuking all Islamic countries in the world (and North Korea for good measure). This disaster leads to an massive exodus of Muslims into Europe who migrate there and thanks to their massive birthrates, they are able to hijack countries by voting for hardcore Islamist parties (as democracy must abide by the majority). They transform Europe - or at least Western Europe or the countries associated with the EU - into a Islamic empire, the titular Caliphate which functions like a hybrid of the modern day Islamist regime like the Taliban, ISIS and Boko Haram (public executions, lashings, women can’t be seen outside without being covered), and the Ottoman Empire (conscription and brainwashing of dhimmis into military service).

The story follows two parallel narratives: one in the distant future over a century after the terrorist attack where America has transformed into a totalitarian empire know as ISA (Imperial States of America) which is in cold war against the Caliphate in Europe and a second one set in “present days” when things are relatively normal but then we witness the events quickly fall apart. The first one follows John Hamilton, an disillusioned American soldier who is recruited by the CIA to infiltrate the Caliphate and investigate a trio of Canadian scientists who are working in a virus to destroy America. The second one follows Gabrielle, a liberal German woman that sees the collapse of Europe up close and tying them together is that she is the ancestor of one of the main characters. These narratives are told simultaneously and are always accompanied by critical quotes of Islam in their opening.

You’d think a work like this would be simply “AMERICA FUCK YEAH” and “FUCK ISLAM” over and over, but Kratman actually does a surprising amount of nuance. For one, it��s made clear that this America is really a dystopia and not an ideal place to live, reflected by its actions and Hamilton’s thoughts about it - at one point, US soldiers carry out ethnic cleansing against Moros in the Philippines and Hamilton is disturbed even after someone close to him died because of them. And while the book doesn’t hold back in bashing Islam, not all of them are portrayed as intolerant religious fanatics - there are genuinely good characters and even some grey ones with complexity added to them. For that matter, even non-Muslims can be villains too so it isn’t a black and white kind of work.

A surprising amount of world-building was put in place to make this world interesting: it’s established that the USA has occupied Canada and the Philippines, England has turned into an absolute monarchy, China has become some kind of transhuman empire, only a portion of Europe is actually under the Caliphate control with most of Eastern Europe under Russia control (because of course) and it’s heavily implied Israel has carried out a final solution against Palestinians. This can however can be a detriment because all these interesting paths are presented but never truly explored. We never see how the UK is under the absolute monarchy, nor this Russian tsardom and we only hear whispers about how bad China is in the distant future (which is implied to be worse than the Caliphate). The one that truly does get any exposure is the Neo-Boer State which was established in the southern half of the African continent by European refugees fleeing from Muslims in their own country and has a section of the story taking place there.

Besides Hamilton, there are other viewpoints in the story with the ones after his following German brothers Hans and Petra, two Christian siblings that live in the Caliphate and are taken apart by the devishrme-like system. He becomes a janissary soldier, while she becomes a servant in a Muslim household. Their stories are actually far more compelling than Hamilton since their struggles are more personal while Hamilton wouldn’t be out of place in a video game where he starred as it’s generic Space Marine protagonist. Hans remains a Christian despite his outward conversion to Islam and actively rebels against Caliphate culture which leads to him adopting a crusader identity, while Petra’s storyline explores the woes faced by women under a fundamentalist Islamic regime i.e. not unlike what those who endured Taliban or ISIS regime.

And make no mistake: the story never holds back on the graphic content. There is plenty of violence including impalement, crucifixions, sexual attacks and etc, which may be a turn off for many readers, and it doesn’t help they have to drive home how dystopian this setting is. It may come across as over-the-top as it made me wonder how plausible this Caliphate could even function (it’s established that the Caliphate can only function in a slave-based economy or taxing the dhimmis, which they can’t afford to abuse or exile since they’d collapse). The Arab Peninsula was once unified under Muhammad and his four successors who drove out all Christians, Jews and polytheists from their lands, but then fell into tribalism and stayed that way for centuries with only Mecca and Medina (the only relevant sites of Islam) being controlled by outsider Muslims.

I know I make the story sound unrealistic and fantastical, but the main takeway from this book I had was how prophetic the story was in regards to the current and political atmosphere. Keep in mind that what I am about to write was published in April 2008, in a completely different scenario than the one we live:

The insane American president who nukes the Islamic world is very Trumpesque and shares similar slogans (”WE WILL MAKE THOSE MOTHERFUCKERS PAY”). He is basically what leftists believed Trump would actually do if he was elected like put Muslims in internment camps like the Japanese-Americans in WW2.

Great Britain actually breaks out from the European Union, except under much different circumstances: rather than voting themselves out like Brexit, they turn into an absolute monarchy once again and become completely isolationist.

The rise of an brutal, terrorist regime mirrors the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria that rose to prominence during the Arab Spring in 2011.

A large-scale migration of Middle-Easterns into the West triggered by some kind of disaster, only it was an genocidal attack in the book rather than the consequences of a regional movement that led to the collapse of MENA states with the Arab Spring.

The “present day” narrative also presents scenarios no different than the current reality of Europe with no-go zones where migrants of Muslim background are involved in criminal activity and target the native population as seen in France, Germany and Sweden.

Islamists infiltrating democratic institutions in order to impose their values as seen with many neighbors in Belgium and the Netherlands where Muslims are the majority to the native population.

Russia expanding their control over Eastern Europe mirroring their foreign policy to consolidate their regional superpower status.

China being up to no good with technology.

And of course a deadly virus engineered to destroy political rivals, though this time by rogue scientists working for Muslim terrorists rather than China.

It’s possible that some of Kratman wrote was already true of his time which served as basis for the present day narrative. But reality was much different back then: Obama was yet to become President and Bush was still in office (and nobody had an idea how the former would turn out), China was less despotic then than it’s now under Xi Jinping, the Russo-Georgian War was still to take place and migration to the West was relatively low compared to after the 2015′s refugee crisis, the UKIP was considered a fringe party and the UK leaving the European Union was a distant dream. Nobody was talking about no-go zones, but then again the Internet wasn’t as big back then as it’s now. Rather than writing about the modern political atmosphere of his time, Kratman envisioned a possible future which he predicted fairly closely and at the same time, it spoke about issues that are relevant to anyone who isn’t afraid to speak about the problems regarding Islamic ideology or integration of migrants into their host countries.

What depressed me the most about the book is that it’s dystopian reality may be our own future. It’s an common concern for conservatives and right-wingers that Muslims become a majority in the West - a boast that they never cease making - soon which might lead to an eventual clash of civilizations. A quarter of Belgium might be Islamic and this is possible because of enabling from leftist politicians that flirt with radicals for convenience and consider the values they promote like women and LGBT rights to be an acceptable sacrifice to overthrow conservative capitalism. This kind of behavior is actually acknowledged and mocked by Kratman, as Gabrielle is an radical SJW that hates Western conservatives more than Islamists to the point this leads to the breakdown with her relationship with an Egyptian migrant that converts to Christianity and ends up moving to the USA before becoming a authoritarian regime.

The book presents Islam’s conquest of Europe as a complete surrender without a fight - the migrants just breed like rats and vote for Islamist parties to hijack the government through legitimate means and one American ambassador chides Gabrielle and her people for abandoning their own values and allowing this to happen. This probably speaks a lot to the more cynical among us who see our governments bending over to outsiders over their own people and see where it might be headed. Personally I don’t believe a caliphate is where the future is headed, as it provides no real attractive alternative that the West has presented, but it certainly won’t stop some people from trying and there will be certainly a fight.

Are we really going have to look forward for an revived Ottoman Empire in the heartland of Europe where Christian boys are whipped into slave-soldiers, girls are sold to harems like cheap prostitutes and non-Muslims live like second class citizens being forced to pay outrageous, humiliating taxes like the jizya? Hopefully not, but the possibility of terrorists acquiring nukes is an always constant one, and with the Iranian nuclear program will push it’s neighbors to do the same as form of deterrence if they feel threatened. Knowing how fragile Muslims states are and that if those nukes fell into the wrong hands, the events of the book could be precipitated but luckily for us, nuclear armament is expensive and takes a lot of work which not even the wealthiest countries like Saudi Arabia can afford to develop it themselves, let alone the poorest ones like Syria and Iraq so that might not be a reality just now.

Do I recommend this book? The world is very interesting, it’s actually a bit more complex and nuanced as both sides don’t come off as “bright” (albeit the Caliphate is presented as worse). If you want to see a book that talks about issues you find relevant like immigration and terrorism from a conservative perspective, this is a must-read. The main protagonist can be very dull whereas the secondary protagonists are more compelling - it depends on how much you like military heroes written by an American veteran I guess. While the ending to the main story was satisfying on itself (the present day ends on a sad foregone conclusion), it sets up a sequel with many plot threads going unresolved. It’s disappointing to me since this is a standalone book and Kratman hasn’t indicated any plans on writing a follow-up, though if he did it now I am sure he would have done so without a completely different perspective than the one he has in 2008 and he would have certainly got more material to work with.

P.S. This book has a Skanderbeg reference, so it’s an instant win for me.

#reviews

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dukereviewsmovies · 5 years ago

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Duke Reviews: Avengers: Age Of Ultron

Hello, I'm Andrew Leduc And Welcome To Duke Reviews Where We Are Continuing Our Look At The Marvel Cinematic Universe...

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By Talking About The First Sequel To The Massive Blockbuster Known As The Avengers, Avengers: Age Of Ultron...

This Film Sees Earth's Mightiest Heroes Reuniting To Battle A Threat Created By Tony Stark And Bruce Banner Called Ultron, Who Is Out To Create What He Believes To Be The Peace Of Our Time When Really He's Causing Massive Human Extinction....

Will The Avengers Be Able To Prevent The Age Of Ultron With The Help Of Enemies Quicksilver And Scarlet Witch And A New Ally Who Calls Himself The Vision?

Let's Find Out As We Watch Avengers: Age Of Ultron...

The Film Starts In Sokovia With The Avengers Launching An Attack On Baron Von Strucker's Fortress And Forces...

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(End At 4:30)

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(End At 4:25)

Searching Strucker's Secret Room, Tony Finds One Of The Chitauri's Leviathans Before He Finds Loki's Scepter But Before He Can Grab It He's Blasted By The Other Olsen Twin Who Gives Him A Vision Of The Avengers Failing To Save Earth Because He Failed...

And It's This Vision That Changes Tony Completely And Makes Tony Believe Every Decision He Makes From Here On Out Is The Right One Even Though To Others It May Seem Like The Wrong Choice...

As Kick Ass Zooms In We Get A Title Card As Tony Grabs The Scepter...

Returning To The Newly Dubbed Avengers Tower, Hill (Who Now Works For Tony After The Downfall Of S.H.I.E.L.D.) Tells Cap About Scarlet Witch And Quicksilver While Hawkeye Gets Healed And Tony's Iron Legion Returns From Sokovia...

But As All That Goes On Tony (With Help From J.A.R.V.I.S.) Analyze Loki's Staff And Discover That While The Scepter Is Alien, The Jewel Is Housing Something Inside That's Like A Computer As J.A.R.V.I.S. Discovers Code...

Telling Banner This By Showing Him The Data Of The Jewel, Tony Thinks That It Is Perfect For His Ultron Program That Tony Is Making For His Iron Legion And Asks For Bruce's Help With It.

Despite Being Against It At First And Wanting To Tell The Rest Of The Team, Bruce Eventually Caves And Decides To Help Tony While They Have The Staff For The Alotted 3 Days That Thor Is Allowing Them To Have...

As Tony And Banner Get Ready For A Party Tony Is Throwing In Honor Of The Avengers Defeat Of Strucker, The Ultron Integration To The Iron Legion Is Complete. But As Ultron Awakens, He Questions His Programming Which Leads To Ultron Malfunctioning And Using Advanced A.I. Abilities To Kill J.A.R.V.I.S. As He Creates A Body Out Of One Of The Iron Legion Armors

Meanwhile, At Tony's Party Everyone Seems To Be Having A Good Time Even The Avengers Themselves, Rhodey (Who's Back As War Machine From Now On)

Guess Iron Patriot Didn't Well With Focus Groups After All...

Sam (Who's Been Helping Cap Track Down Bucky Since The End Of Winter Solider) And Stan Lee Who's Cameo Is Here...

Stan Lee Cameo!

Anyway After Everyone Is Gone The Avengers Along With Rhodey And Maria Hill They Hold A Contest Of Who Could Lift Thor's Hammer With Cap Being The Closest Only To Be Interrupted By Ultron, Who Reveals He Is On A Mission To Destroy The Avengers With The Help Of Stark's Iron Legion...

Escaping Through The Internet, Ultron Goes To Strucker's Castle Where He Can Build Himself A New Body...

With Everything Gone From Their Computers And Loki's Staff Gone As Well, They Discover The Computerized Remains Of J.A.R.V.I.S. As The Team Worries About Ultron Hacking Into Nuke Codes....

Knowing That They Have To Not Only Get The Scepter Back But Stop Ultron, They Ask Tony Why Ultron Is Trying To Kill Them And Of Course It All Goes Back To The Battle With The Chitauri And Tony's Vision That Scarlet Witch Gave Him...

Speaking Of Scarlet Witch And Quicksilver, In Sokovia, Ultron In A New Body Recruits Them To Help With His Plans To Save The World By Getting Rid Of The Avengers As We Discover Why Scarlet Witch Let Tony Have The Scepter Which Is Because She Saw Tony's Fear And That It Would Control Him And Make Him Self Destruct...

Uh, Self Destruct On Him? How About Self Destruct On You Or Do The Words Civil War Not Mean Anything To You, Wanda?

And Why They Are Who They Are And That's Because They Believe Tony Stark Killed Their Parents As One Of His Companies Missiles Killed Their Folks And Nearly Killed Them As They Were Buried Under Rubble...

Discovering Reports Of A Metal Man Or Men, Someone Making People See Old Fears And Memories And Someone Too Fast To See Breaking Into Robotics Labs, Weapons Facilities And Jet Propulsion Labs All Over The Globe, The Avengers Continue Their Search For Ultron...

But When Strucker Is Found Dead In His Cell With The Word Peace Written In Blood, They Start Going Through Hard Copy Files When Everything They Had On Strucker Is Gone From Their Computers...

Eventually Tony Discovers That Someone He Once Knew Named Ulysses Klaw With Connections To The Home Of A Certain Black Panther And The Vibranium That Not Only Powers His Suit But Captain America's Shield...

Traveling To Africa, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch And Ultron Do Buisness With Ulysses Klaw (Played By Supreme Leader Snoke) To Get Vibranium Only For Ultron To Cut Of Klaw's Hand When Ultron Says Something That Tony Stark Once Said To Him...

Ooh, Foreshadowing....

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(Start At 1:10)

Blasted By Scarlet Witch, Black Widow, Cap And Thor Have Visions We Start Black Widow Who Sees Visions Of Her Time In The Red Room (Which Is The Black Widow Training Ground) Then Move On To Cap Who Is At A 1930s Dance Hall Where He Dances With Peggy Only To Have A Symbolic Moment, I Guess Which Has Him Realizing That Everyone He Cared For Back Then Is Gone...

And Finally Thor Who Sees That Asgard Has Turned Into Christian Grey's Playground Only To Be Confronted By Heimdall Who Sees That Thor Will Lead Them Into Hell And He Will Destroy Them (Which Obviously Isn't True)...

Anyway Aside From Those Moments Of Either Foreshadowing Or Just Scenes That Have No Reason To Be In This Movie, Tony Eventually Destroys The Version Of Ultron That's There Only To Now Deal With A Rampaging Hulk That Scarlet Witch Has Turned Loose On The City Which Forces Tony To Activate The Hulkbuster Suit To Take Him Down...

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(Start At 0:30, End At 4:50)

With Banner Calmed Down, The Avengers Decide To Lay Low As Hill Deals With The Press And The Police On The Attack In Africa But The Question Now Is Where Do They Go?, Luckily, Hawkeye May Have The Answer They're Looking For...

Taking Them To A Rustic Farm (That Looks Like It May Already Be Occupied By The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, April O'Neil And Casey Jones) Hawkeye Introduces The Team To His Family...

Wow, I Didn't Know Velma Dinkley Was Married To A Superhero....

While Ultron, Scarlet Witch And Quicksilver Visit The Team Doctor, Helen Cho In Seoul So She Can Create A Living Body Into A Reanimation Cradle That Her And Tony Have Been Developing For Ultron To Download His Consciousness Into, Refusing, Ultron Decides To Convince Helen To Help Him Using Loki's Scepter...

Back On The Farm, The Team Has Some Moments On The Farm Which Eventually Lead To Tony Talking With Nick Fury In The Barn, Who Aside From Telling Tony To Cut It Out With The Maximoff Vision Crap, Is There To Help The Team...

Telling The Team That Ultron Isn't Having Any Luck Getting Nuke Launch Codes As They're Changed Frequently By Unknown Sources And That His Contacts Believe That Ultron Is Actually Building Something Which Leads Banner To Realize That Ultron Is Trying To Evolve Above Humans As He Believes Humans Are Significantly Insufficient Hence Helen Cho...

And Speaking Of Dr. Cho, She Is Just About Done With Ultron's New Body Only Thing That Needs To Be Added Is The Stone From Loki's Scepter Which Is Revealed To Be The Mind Stone...

With Steve Taking Natasha And Clint With Him, Tony Heads To Oslo To Do Reconnaissance From There While Fury Takes Banner Back To Avengers Tower So He Can Pick Up Hill Who Will Help Him With Something Dramatic...

But You're Probably Wondering Where Thor Is...

Well, Unable To Get Scarlet Witch's Vision From His Mind Thor Decides To Take Off To Get Erik Selvig To Take Him To The Spa Of Sight That Will Allow Him To Re-Enter His Dream To Find Out What He Missed...

Uh, Unless You're Into Weird Fetishes, Thor I Highly Doubt You Missed Anything...

But Miss Something He Did, As It Shows All The Infinity Stones Except For The Time Stone And I Guess Ultron's Plan...

And Speaking Of Ultron's Plan, Wanda Looks Into The Mind Of The Body That Is Inside Of The Reanimation Cradle And Sees Ultron's Ultimate Plan To Destroy The World...

Believing That Ultron Lied To Them, Wanda Snaps Dr. Cho Out Of Her Mind Stone Hypnosis And She Stops The Download Which Forces Ultron To Kill Her And Her Team As The Maximoffs Escape...

As Cap, Hawkeye And Widow Arrive With Enough Time To Save Dr. Cho, Ultron And His Metal Minions Take The Reanimation Cradle Onto A Truck Only For Hawkeye To Spot It From Above So Cap Can Jump On It And Fight Ultron...

With The Help Of The Maximoff Twins, Cap Was Able To Stop Ultron And Save A Runaway Train While Widow Gets The Reanimation Cradle On The Quinjet With Hawkeye Only For Widow To Get Captured By Ultron's Minions

Talking With The Maximoffs Afterward, They Ask Where The Reanimation Cradle Is Only For Cap To Tell Them That It's On It's Way To Tony, Which Leads Wanda To Believe That He Will Only Make Matters Worse By Using It To Fix Things

And Right She Is, As Tony To Convince Banner To Help Him Place The Person Who Has Been Beating Ultron All Along Into The Reanimation Cradle, J.A.R.V.I.S

Turns Ultron Didn't Attack J.A.R.V.I.S. Because He Was Scared But Attacked Him Because He Was Afraid Of What He Could Do, So He Went Underground And Scattered His Memory Throughout The Net To Try To Stop Ultron...

Believing That After All That's Happened It's A Bad Idea, Banner Decides To Do It Anyway. Luckily, Cap And The Maximoff Twins Arrive To Stop Them Which Leads To A Heated Argument Of Right And Wrong Between The Team Until Thor Arrives To Get Everyone To Shut Up And Bring The Body In The Reanimation Cradle To Life...

Forming Clothes And A Cape Out Of It's Skin, Thor Tells The Others About His Vision And That Tony Is Right The Avengers Cannot Beat Ultron Not Alone...

Telling Cap And The Others That Unlike Ultron He Is On The Side Of Life Where Ultron Isn't And That He Doesn't Want To Kill Him But The Pain He Is Creating Will Roll Over The Earth If He Isn't Destroyed Which Kind Of Gets Them To Trust Them...

But None Of That Matters Now As Barton Has Located Ultron With Nat In Sokovia And Need To Go Now...

With Tony Downloading A New A.I. Named F.R.I.D.A.Y. To His Suit And Ultron Knowing That They're Coming The Odds Are Stacked Against Them So, The Priority Will Be The Evacuation Of The City While Discovering What Ultron Has Been Building At Strucker's Fortress And Saving Black Widow At The Same Time Which Banner Does Only So They Could Run Afterward...

But Knowing That She'll Be Unable To Live With Herself If That Happens, Widow Pushes Banner Down A Hole So He Can Become The Hulk...

(Imitating Baby Plucky) Hulk Go Down The Hole!

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On Board The Quinjet, The Hulk Gets A Call From Black Widow Asking Him To Turn Back But Instead He Decides To Go Off On His Own To Take A Nice Vacation In Sakkar As Vision Destroys The Last Ultron Minion, Destroying Ultron Once And For All...

And With Everything Done, Hawkeye Decides To Retire From The Avengers To Spend Time With His Family While Tony Builds A New Training Facility/Alternate HQ For The Avengers Where They Can Train...

But Unfortunately It's Going To Have To Be Without Thor (Who Is Going Off To Solve The Mystery Of Who Is Making The Infinity Stones Appear Out Of Nowhere) And Tony (Who Is Going Spend More Time With Pepper And Build Her A Log Cabin) But Just Because The Team Is Down A Few Members It Doesn't Mean That They'll Be Short On Team Members....

Nope, Not On Your Life As Scarlet Witch, The Vision, Falcon And War Machine Join The Team As New Avengers...

Sadly, There's No End Credit Scene But There Is A Mid Credits Scene Which Sees Thanos Grabbing The Infinity Gauntlet And Deciding To Take Matters Into His Own Hands...

And That's Avengers: Age Of Ultron And...It's Okay...

While The Action Scenes Are Great, The Villain Is Good And There Is Loads Of Character Development Throughout The Movie, The Color In Some Of Those Fight Scenes Are Not Good Especially The Ones In Africa, Having Both Scarlet Witch And Quicksilver As Bad Guys Was Completely Pointless (Yes, I Know In Their Comic Book History They Were Bad Guys Before They Became Good Guys But Without Magneto And The Brotherhood That Part In Their History Is Pointless)...

There Are More Reasons Why I Don't Like This Movie But I Feel Like I've Been Writing This Review Forever And I Just Want To End It Also I Can't Think Of Any Other Reasons Right Now So, For This One I Would Say Skip It But I Honestly Don't Know If It's That Bad To Skip So I'll Leave This One Up To You Guys....

Till Next Time, This Is Duke, Signing Off...

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