#and how there is more there than in the other mentoring dynamic which is btw red and dembe | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

nyaagolor · 1 year ago

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Merry DL6mas!

I wrote an inordinate amnt of words about Edgeworth and MVK and dynamics and meta and w/e, stuck it below the cut so I don't obliterate ur dashes

So originally I wanted to make a relationship flowchart for all the characters and then realized that the amnt of caveats would make the image entirely text so I’m just forgoing the image altogether and doing this group by group starting with the VKs bc DL6mas and whatnot. It’s an essay and also unorganized so um. Have fun or apologies in advance?

Anyway. I think AA1 intending to be standalone and then getting these additional games does some fun things to the characters but especially for Manfred. I’m of the opinion that he was not created or written to be deep or nuanced or anything. He’s the final boss, we weren’t supposed to get more on him, he’s honestly just a symbolic representation of the forces Phoenix works against rather than a character in his own right (in AA1 at least). He’s cartoonishly evil and that was supposed to be it— and then we get JFA and Franziska and suddenly Manfred gets all this retroactive characterization as the story is built beyond its initial parameters. That’s part of the reason why I’m so interested in him— all this new information comes exclusively through other characters and insinuations rather than him actually being on screen up until Investigations and even then it’s like 4 lines. We get more on Manfred, yes, but it’s a shadow on the wall. I’m sorry to bring up allegory of the cave about the gay lawyer simulator but w/e I’m a melodramatist, it’s an allegory of the cave situation. The reason I bring that up is because I don’t really think about Manfred in the same way as other characters; I piece together how I think of him though his relationships and impact on others rather than as an independent dude. His past is inconsequential to me and the ppl who flesh him out are the real troopers but he matters to me more as a vessel for narrative themes than anything. This is all to say that everything I’m doing is conjecture and just kind of filling in the gaps based on my current understanding of the text. Headcanons for the broad and far-reaching audience of me, myself, and I.

That being said. The whole spiel I just went on about “Manfred as defined by his relation to others” works quite nicely as tie-in to how he feels about Edgeworth, because I think Edgeworth occupies this symbolic space in MVK’s mind. Yes, Edgeworth is a kid he mentors and who lives in his house and who he is legally responsible for, but Edgeworth is also this physical manifestation of his failures. Edgeworth is a child, yes, but to MVK he’s a ghost, a consequence, a punishment. He may not be a VK, but he IS karma (sound the turnabout melody I am kissing you on the lips for this line btw).

This also means that the way MVK views Edgeworth as an extension of his own thoughts about the DL6 incident rather than solely as his own person, which is something that changes pretty drastically over time. The way he talks about and to Edgeworth goes beyond who and what Edgeworth is as a person because for MVK, there was always an aspect of the self in there, and MVK interacting with Edgeworth is as much a reflection of his own identity as it is how he feels about Miles.

If there is one thing the entire VK family does extraordinarily well it's projection, and I think MVK has been doing this since he brought Edgeworth into the picture (and before that, but it’s only relevant to me now). This is personally how I rationalize how absolutely batshit half of MVK’s actions are. I know the actual reason is “we expanded the characters around him which necessitates certain actions to drive the plot and inconsistency results from this expansion” blah blah blah paratext more or less confirms this, but we are going full Watsonian in this bitch.

I have talked at length about the actual medical stuff around gunshots and how bullets are typically removed from joints specifically because of how badly they damage the surrounding tissues over time, I’ll link the post if anyone is curious, but tldr bullet wound symbolism. I bring this up now because I think the bullet acts as a physical representation for DL6, it literally and metaphorically tears him up inside. No one else knows about this murder, most people have forgotten the penalty, but he never did, because he can’t. For someone who has structured his entire self on the idea of perfection, this is an event of unprecedented magnitude, and the living proof of it is eating dinner at his table every night. MVK sits with the weight of what he’s done, and whether or not he feels justified or guilty or w/e doesn’t even matter because it’s making him lose his goddamn mind. His behavior gets more intense, more irrational, because before he was just a massive, scheming, paragon of perfection (and corruption but shh) but now he is in this inescapable cycle as the result of his choices and his choices exclusively. I don’t propose to know nor care about how he felt about it or what the specific emotions he felt were because they’re not particularly important in my mind, only that the lingering ghost of DL6 is driving MVK kinda bonkers and that drastically alters how he interacts with Edgeworth and Franziska.

I’ve seen a lot of debate about why MVK took in Edgeworth, but my hot take is that he actually doesn’t know. I don’t think MVK ever processed DL6, I think he is filled with contradictory feelings (how ironic) and that this is what eats at him through all those years. Why did he take in Edgeworth? Because he felt guilty? Because he wanted to train him into everything his father hated as a twisted kind of revenge? Because he wanted a prodigy and saw himself in Edgeworth? It’s all of them, it’s none of them, it doesn’t matter, he doesn’t know. Why did he prosecute Edgeworth right before the statute of limitations ended? Was it revenge? Hatred? A way to test his prodigy? To project his own gnawing nest of emotions onto the person he felt embodied the incident? Same deal. (the real answer is that it doesn’t really matter bc we were not supposed to think about it this hard but. Shh. dw about it.)

I don’t take much interest into Manfred’s inner world because I ultimately think that a lot of his actions, while completely under his control, are him acting on impulse, on him doing irrational things because DL6, in a sense, killed him too. He comes out of that elevator a different person (not worse (can’t go down from rock bottom), not better, just a different kind of asshole), but destroyed from the inside out by a murder he committed. He’s so arrogant, so entitled, that he could never let this go, and I think that drives so much of the insane shit he tries to pull. He has centered his life around the axis of DL6 and he will always be pulled back into its orbit. The further we get from DL6 the more time he has to think, the more it tears him apart, the more the contradictory feelings about it rear their heads in turn and create this guy who is just desperate and angry. And when it’s days before the statute of limitations he just becomes completely subsumed by it all. He was always cruel, but now he’s cruel and desperate and completely willing to drag everyone down with him. The desperation is the important part.

I will say though that he is, irrefutably, his own downfall. He molded Edgeworth in his own image, he created Phoenix Wright the defense attorney as a consequence, and it is the two of them who send him to his death. He is the one who planned the murder of Turnabout Goodbyes. From beginning to end, it’s his own hand. Manfred is one of the only characters in this series whose actions are not precedented by extenuating circumstances. It’s allllll him. He’s the bitch. He has been and will always be a selfish prick and for as much as he is lashing out because of DL6 he does so by dragging others in.

Extremely long prelude to say that I think how he treats edgeworth varies so wildly over time and is so irrational in its presentation because of everything I mentioned before. He is Edgeworth’s greatest kindness and his worst nightmare— at the same time!! Multitasking king. He takes in Edgeworth as a snap decision for reasons he doesn’t entirely understand, and I think because of that he never quite views Edgeworth as a son (at least in the traditional sense). Edgeworth is not his child in the same way that Franziska is his child (and we will get to her in a different post I promise), but he’s not just some random kid either. Manfred is emotionally tied to him through DL6, and I think the fact colors the way that Manfred treats him. It’s a dynamic that I can’t really put a label on, because it’s mentor/student with so much extra baggage that it feels different than that. There is an emotional connection between them, a sense of atonement and revenge, and I don’t think either of them will ever be able to articulate what that means. Manfred does not address Edgeworth as his child, and I think there is an attempt in his language to distance himself from Edgeworth, but he finds himself drawn to Edgeworth all the same (bc Edgeworth is DL6 etc etc). He did not ask for a child, he does not WANT a child, but he has one! Get fucked!

MVK is obsessed with his own image, with this idea of perfection, and insofar as Edgeworth is DL6, Edgeworth is an extension of MVK. He pushes his ideals and tactics onto Edgeworth the second Edgeworth decides he wants to be a prosecutor, because even more than Franziska, Edgeworth is MVK’s living legacy. He is quite literally Manfred’s midlife crisis and I think Edgeworth wanting to be like him and becoming this Demon Prosecutor is this insanely fucked up kind of catharsis in MVK’s mind. And as Edgeworth becomes more like him, as he takes up MVK’s mantle, he becomes a mirror— that is where shit gets fun. I don’t think I need to spell out the ways in which MVK was simultaneously caring and cruel to his kids— you’ve seen Sound the Turnabout Melody, you’re seen Turnabout Goodbyes, we know this song and dance.

The more time Edgeworth spends around him, as Edgeworth reflects more of Manfred back at himself, MVK simultaneously becomes proud and revolted. Edgeworth is growing beyond the consequences of DL6 and into a mirror of his adopted father figure mentor person. He is, from the ashes of DL6, becoming Manfred von Karma, and I think that drives MVK insane. He is becoming firmly entrenched in MVK’s life at this point. For as much as Edgeworth is DL6, he is now MVK himself. He becomes a walking contradiction, and Manfred’s projection then manifests as this rapidly oscillating clusterfuck of reactions. Edgeworth is out of his control but he’s super important to MVK— recipe for disaster.

He builds Edgeworth up, teaches him everything he knows, starts to treat him like a son while at the same time irrevocably traumatizing for the rest of his life. He loves who Edgeworth is becoming while hating everything he stands for, and I think this absolute garbage pile of a child-rearing philosophy is as much a projection of himself as anything. It was never about Edgeworth the person. At first, MVK does not care in the slightest about Miles Edgeworth and it is only when he does, even a little bit, that shit hits the fan in my mind. Edgeworth the physical manifestation of DL6 is being overtaken by Edgeworth the Demon Prosecutor, and MVK starts to be proud of him— but this is an eventuality he did not plan for and cannot do anything about. For both of them, it’s personal now, and no amount of pushing each other away is really going to fix that.

Anyway I don’t think literally any of this was intended. Manfred is not this deep, I am making literally all of this up, but it’s fine. If you got this far I salute you. Miles time. To pivot to Edgeworth’s POV for a while, I think that from the very beginning, Edgeworth looked up to MVK. It’s not the same idolization that Franziska does, but it’s up there. Obviously he idolized his father, but DL6 not only served as a complete evisceration of his family but also his ideals. Gregory the man was dead, but if criminals can kill his father and get away with it, that collapses the foundation on which Miles built his understanding of justice. Gregory the defense attorney– his ideals, his legacy, his philosophy– he died in that elevator too. Edgeworth pivots, completely independently, from a man who wants to protect to a man who wants to punish (and I firmly believe that this was his own decision and not Manfred pushing him into it, if MVK had not adopted him he still would have become a prosecutor just not so much of a dick).

But so Manfred takes him in, and was spectacularly ill-equipped to handle this. I always saw Manfred as emotionally distant on the best of days (he’s born in the 50s what did u expect) but for Miles, who he barely considers a son at all, he isn’t capable of being the emotional support he needs. He never would be and never wanted to be. That’s layer one of baggage. What MVK does provide for Miles, though, is a purpose. Miles does not wallow in his father’s death, because he is taken in by someone who acts as a paragon of Miles’ new worldview. Manfred never lets a criminal get away. He is perfect in that way, and it gives Miles a tangible (albeit impossible) goal to strive for. MVK mentors him in this worldview and gives him the tools to outlet his grief and rage into something productive— fucked up and wrong, maybe, but productive. That’s layer two of baggage.

For as complicated and twisted and contradictory as MVK’s feelings towards Edgeworth are, Edgeworth for most of his childhood sees MVK as this pillar of everything that is good and treats him with intense amounts of respect. He accepts any cruelty as tough love, he adopts his ideals and his tactics and his suit. Edgeworth needed *something* after the grief of DL6 and MVK is what he got, so Miles latches on and never lets go, for better or for worse. Miles Edgeworth is not Manfred von Karma but he actively tries to take his shape because whether or not it’s reciprocated, Edgeworth loves him and everything that he stands for. Manfred cares about him in that respect at the very least. And ultimately, this is my big take on Edgeworth: I think Edgeworth actively chased MVK. He became MVK on purpose. It’s a result of trauma and built entirely on false pretenses, but Miles is the one who takes the initiative and Manfred indulges him— And then Turnabout Goodbyes happens.

Everything Edgeworth is, everything he made himself become, is wrong. Edgeworth has molded himself into a person he does not recognize and that person turned out to be a monster. The person Edgeworth idolized, respected, and maybe even loved is the very person who destroyed his life. He is wearing the skin of the monster he wanted to destroy, and he did it on purpose (in his mind). This is not to say he had much if any agency in this situation— this is not a path he would naturally take, this is structured entirely under false pretenses, and he was clouded by grief, traumatized, and most importantly nine, but what matters here is that Edgeworth FEELS like it’s his fault, and the complete collapse of his worldview AGAIN is what drives all the bullshit of RFTA. Edgeworth is not MVK (and you can tell because he is capable of self-reflection which MVK is ostensibly not (or at least unwilling to)), but it still drives him to this complete and utter devastation. He sees Manfred in himself and it isn’t until AAI1/2 that he’s able to see Gregory as well. MVK filled a need for Edgeworth at the lowest point in his life (and absolutely made him worse but that’s not the point). Edgeworth respected and loved Manfred’s ideals, STILL chases the idea of the man, and because of that still cares about him. He becomes aware of who the monster he loved is, and how has to reconcile with what it means to be that person’s reflection and legacy despite knowing— and feeling, and BEING— all the harm he caused.

Those contradictory feelings that I talked about earlier? Love and hatred all mixed together— questions that cannot be answered and actions taken without knowing why? That’s Edgeworth’s final gift from Manfred: he inherits the bullet and the legacy he carries forward. Unlike Manfred, though, Edgeworth takes that pain and shares it, lets other people in, scoffs at the veneer of perfection and allows himself to be hurt and vulnerable and it is only in that way that Edgeworth can break out of VK’s shadow and break the cycle. He holds onto the ideals that he learned from Manfred, separates them from the nastiness and acknowledges the place they came from. It’s obvious in the way that Edgeworth carries aspects of that legacy forward that he’s capable of disseminating everything that Manfred is, acknowledging the way he’s been influenced by him and what he still respects about the man despite it all, and make peace with the rest of it. The cycle of violence and corruption started with Manfred and Edgeworth makes sure that it ends with him too.

I have a ton more to talk about with respect to his teaching methods and the nitty gritty of how he interacts with his kids but that’s for the Fran post. This is more of the “whys” than the “hows” but I’ll get there :)

Anyway, I think that’s it. I’m sure there’s more that I’m missing but my head is beyond empty rn and I can’t think of anything else I wanna talk about with respect to these two. I know I literally just spewed 3k words about into this textpost but I do love chatting about them (total shock I know) so if u also have thoughts or ideas abt anything related to them lmk :3

#ace attorney #miles edgeworth #manfred von karma #mod vex #long post #meta

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lookinghalfacorpse · 1 year ago

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You don't have to respond to this one, but @ your last tags on the found family trope post, I can't say I haven't been curious if anything like that was ever the case. You've been so careful in painting everyone's relationship to be on trust and healthy reliance on one another in times of need, and Techno + Dream definitely have something more intimate and close going on (which I deeply appreciate btw- I couldn't bear it if someone tried to stick itwall!Dream as a brother to Techno, or put him in alongside Wilbur as a son figure to Phil :shudders:), so I'm VERY curious how detailed those thoughts have gotten at any point in time /lh /but genuine

(talking about my semi-cursed tags on this post)

yes i can talk about this all day !! i think the dynamic that doomsday trio brings is fascinating, and i don't blame those who see it as a nuclear family dynamic because i think the comparison does work in some places, but it's more complicated than that. i touched on it (in vaguely poetic terms) in this post, but i can give more detail here.

c!philza is an old man and an experienced father, and his instinct as a guardian is strong. this is the closest we get to a nuclear family format in itwall; phil definitely calls on some of his skills as a father when he helps dream, but it's a bit more complex than that. phil recognizes that dream is an adult in human years and doesn't need to be babied (hell, he doesn't even baby Wilbur, his own son who's around the same age!). dream needs care, he needs a mentor, and he needs a better self-preservation instinct before he kills himself. i think their relationship is closer to ancient grecian mentorship than fatherhood/sonhood, the only difference is that the mentee is on death's door for a while and needs some extra attention. phil sees himself in dream, dream sees phil as someone he might like to be, and there's a level of mutual respect there.

i also think that techno and dream have a sense of brotherhood, but in the same way that two athletic teammates have a brotherhood. they have a long history of trust between them, with room for playfulness and teasing. there's a lack of touch aversion (which is HUGE for dream), and dream initiates more of their touches (as opposed to phil, where he tends to be more submissive) (i'm thinkin about ch 12 & ch 19).

and, of course, techno & phil have a complicated relationship of their own. i'm always annoyed by headcanons that techno is phil's son-- we see plenty of interactions where they mutually worry over each other and care for each other. the will is Not written like a boy talking to his father. these two are lifelong partners, and that letter is written to someone who techno knows will understand him and trusts to carry out the more sentimental, intangible tasks, like talking to niki and ranboo, with very little instruction.

highly oversimplified but this is the idea. Techno and dream have similar relationships with phil but it's not really sonhood. all built on trust. they've proven to each other that they will keep each other safe.

and honestly.. none of those relationships would have to exclude sex or intimacy. equals/partners can have sex. comrades can have sex. mentors/mentees can have sex (i think people feel weird about this one, but again: think Ancient Grecian). i have Quite A Few scenes in my head about how their sexual relationships might work (especially in the early days when dream isn't feeling good...). i guess in light of everyone being more open about shipping i would consider writing them, i'd just keep them here instead of ao3.

i think both phil and techno consider dream to be heartstoppingly lovely. i think dream would love to be loved. i think phil&techno and techno&dream may have had some encounters Before the start of itwall, so it would just be a matter of tying it all together.

#asks #itwall #sorry i'm writing essays these days i'm just thinkin a lotta thoughts #affections

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gold-rhine · 2 years ago

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Xiao x Gn! Reader

Warnings: not safe for work, but this one turned out much softer than usual. Sub\dom!reader undertones are still kinda there, but give it a try even if you’re not into this dynamic. First time, handjob, anal sex, mentions of voeyrism (kinda? briefly through the dream), I’m gonna say “cock”, but it stands for strap too, it’s just awkward to keep specifying.

Wordcount: 4,3k

A\N: Repost bc my previous blog got shadowbanned. I was not sure if I knew what to do for Xiao, but then I remembered that one of his themes is dreamwalking and that’s legit my JAM. It turned out less smutty and more of a psychosexual character study, but I’m still quite fond of it. It’s pretty cheesy, but you know what, Xiao deserves a break. There will be some filth under the cut still. Shoutout to “Nothing to no one” by Gin Wigmore and Placebo’s “Protege Moi” for carrying me through this one.

Xiao is curt and intense to the point of coming off as rude, but never more harsh to anyone but himself. Longing for connection, but consciously denying it himself time after time, severity done like a mask to hide the broken, bleeding bones of gentleness, no time for “trifling human matters”, but enough to return a stolen doll to a little girl. Who the fuck do you think you’re fooling, babe.

And it’s not like he doesn’t know what he wants, oh no, he does, he just won’t admit it even under torture

Friendship lvl3: “Desire? Ha. Do not judge adepti by your mortal ideals. I have no desire.”

Friendship lvl5: “Hiding? I'm hiding nothing. I just won't speak of desire to others. Do mortals not have a rule about spoken wishes never coming true? Hm? What do you mean that's not the same?”

So you admit it, you just fucking lied at lvl3 when you said you “have no desire”?? You just gonna casually go from “Foolish mortal, I have no desires unlike you” to “Of course, I have desires, I want them so badly I won’t even speak them out loud for the fear of jinxing them.” yeah, no, that checks out, SURE.

In Xiao’s world, you don’t communicate what you want, you bottle that shit up and hide it deep inside, and you don’t even admit this bottle exists, let alone tell anyone what’s inside. You don’t believe these wishes will ever come true and you don’t think you deserve it, but because deep down you know you are a weak, corrupted creature, you still hope against all hopes and despise yourself for this foolishness.

Speaking of which, Xiao collects reasons for self-hatred like it’s his ascension material.

Like, “My only worth is as a weapon, so normal people should not interact with me because I only bring corruption and I am good for nothing outside of bloodshed”

This prickly pride of being a skillful weapon is a double-edged sword of discarding himself as being useless for anything but battle.

Like you have their little training course interaction with Ganyu during her story quest, which btw she receives positively and is grateful for his help, and Xiao’s line about it is:

“You believe a Yaksha who knows nothing more than how to massacre countless souls and emerge unscathed is a suitable mentor for such an individual?”

… babe, can you chill for like, three seconds? You made a defense mini game with like 20 slimes for her, it’s not gonna turn a cocogoat into a cold-blooded killer,

And this dismissal of self-worth outside of combat ties in nicely with bottling up a volatile mix of yearning, loneliness, frustration, despair and innate sensitivity that couldn’t be dulled down even by centuries of self-hatred and pain, and only letting it all out in an incandescent rage in battle, which leads to

“I only feel alive when fighting, which means I’m a monster who only thrives on bloodlust,” despite like, refusing himself all positive stimuli

“Thriving on bloodlust” somehow not contradicted by the fact that he yearns for beauty and hates this miserable existence so much that he’s legit jumping at the first opportunity to go out in the blaze of glory if it even has a chance to be helpful to other people, and could only be stopped by his dad's Zhongli’s intervention and all off his new friend group going “we’re would be really sad if you died”

Then he’s like “ok i’ll keep on living i guess :\”

(i’m still so salty that they didn’t let Itto talk at all, his story quest speech about sacrifice being an easy and cowardly way out to discard responsibility that doesn’t fix root problems fits Xiao’s situation SO WELL argh)

Yeah no, all other yakshas talked about wanting peace and his own namecard describes dreaming of peace and donning the mask to dance instead of killing, but yakshas are inherently bloodthirsty species, so there’s no hope for him, that checks out, sure.

So to summarize, despite how direct Xiao seems at first glance, interacting with him is actually a complex navigation between things he says out loud that he knows are not true, things he says that he can’t admit to himself are not true due to self-loathing, and just general tsundere bullshit. You’ll need a LOT of patience.

Like, does he want to be accepted and loved? Desperately. Will he accept someone trying to do so straightforwardly? Absolutely the fuck not.

If you try to straight up compliment him, he’d be like “L+ratio+you foolish mortal + You think a killer who devoured countless souls can be cute? + you have bad taste actually + that's disrespectful to the ways of the adepti”

Echoing being unable to voice his desires, Xiao can only accept warmth in indirect, stolen moments, half-glances, throwaway remarks, because connection feels too fragile to be named directly. And remember, spoken wishes never come true

The rituals are *very* intricate

You’re not just walking on eggshells around him, the eggshells are aggressively throwing themselves under your feet and biting at your ankle to make you crush them, so he can be like “see? I don’t deserve love anyway, i was right to hate myself”

like one comedy article said, “It’s good if a man is skittish and terrified of affection, like a beautiful horse that appears on the edge of a frozen lake one day and you have to tame it by bringing it a handful of food every day until it slowly comes to learn your scent (but with sex)”

That’s Xiao in a nutshell, but you’re bringing seeds to a bird-feeder and the bird has chronic pain and is scared to hurt you

Here’s the thing though. You’ll know he’s yours when he starts showing interest in your perspective on everyday things. He’s curious by nature, but never lets himself wonder, unless he’s sure beyond the doubt that his participation is wanted.

“Xiao: I have no intention of getting close to the lives of mortals.

Xiao: But I know that you often enter and leave the city, walking amidst the crowd.

Xiao: The stories of these times, or their joys... If I don't experience such things myself, it'll be hard to understand your thoughts.

So... you're doing this for me?

Xiao: Yes, to understand you.

Xiao: I had a feeling that it would be difficult, but after having such thoughts, I can't simply sit back and do nothing.”

He’s inquisitive and quick thinking, but very socially awkward and prone to hiding his true desires. So even before asking you to include him, he starts scouting your dreams.

It’s nothing invasive like devouring dreams or dragging projections into the real world. Just catching brief, fleeting glimpses,carefully pressed against the soap bubble of your dream. Even in short flashes, it helps to see things from your point of view.

…and sometimes, rarely, he catches images of how you see him, so bewilderingly different from what he’s used to, not the corruption-ridden creature with ugly lines of the fanged mask etched onto his face and blood staining his hands, but instead…

Sharp turn of his head when you call out his name, and the sun illuminates him from behind, brilliant halo shining through the messy dark hair, and he can’t even recognize himself in this memory, golden-eyed and gorgeous, so he bundles up this vision, hides it deep inside among other unattainable, undeserved, unspoken wishes.

It’s self-indulgent, a bit pathetic for the adeptus, but ultimately harmless, like a weakness for the almond tofu. A spark of sweetness to get him through the misery of his everyday life.

Until one night he catches a dream where you’re fucking him.

It throws him off balance so hard, he flees immediately, not just from the dreamspace, but teleporting to an isolated mountain peak.

But the image is seared into his retinas nonetheless.

It’s because he’s offended, he tries to tell himself. How extremely disrespectful. As if an adeptus like himself, who has no interest in the foolishness of mortal desires, would want to be sprawled under you, dizzy with pleasure, held and kissed and caressed, like he’s the most beautiful and wanted thing in the world, like touching him brings joy, like…

He has to teleport again, but it doesn’t help. Horrified, he realizes he’s aroused.

It’s a tough couple of weeks for the both of you.

He’s even more sullen and jumpy than normally, and when you ask him if everything’s okay and if there’s anything you can do to help, he gets a panicked look of a deer in headlights and vanishes.

You decide it’s probably some yaksha angst and it’s better to give him some space

You don’t remember your dream, and even if you did, you wouldn’t think much of it.

He can’t stop thinking about it. It resurfaces, uncalled, in the most inopportune moments, no matter how hard he tries to push it down. The obscene view of himself, arms over the head, parted lips, back arched and legs spread wide with you between them.

He didn’t stay long enough to catch more, but even this is enough to drive him up the walls, sometimes literally, to make him want something he can’t properly name. He was used to tolerating the constant gnawing pain of the corruption, but this needy ache is maddening, fading and reappearing when least expected to throw him off kilter.

He alternates from watching over your dreams intently to being unable to even glance at them, but on the nights when he does look, there’s nothing similar.

Which is good. It means you were not serious about it, it was just a fluke. Minds of mortals are notoriously fickle, especially in the dream state, and can produce all sorts of ridiculous fantasies and ideas that mean nothing.

Of course it meant nothing, who would seriously see a weapon for eons steeped in blood and corruption as a lover? What pleasure could you expect from someone whose very nature and purpose is slaughter? It could only lead to disappointment. Repulsion, even. It’d be preposterous to even think about it.

Which is why it’s outrageous that he *is* still thinking about it.

But now it’s been a few weeks and the pulsing want dulled down, lost a terrifying thrill of possibility of being reciprocated, and is almost ready to become another weak, shameful yearning, bottled up and shoved into a dark corner.

And then his heart jumps into his throat when he sees you dreaming of Wangshu Inn’s balcony drowned in moonlight, and he’s in your arms as you’re sitting by one of tables, he’s straddling your thighs, your mouth and hands wandering over his naked chest and collarbones.

The half-drowsed ember of desire roars back in thrice the force, and feverishly, he thinks of an idea. What if he took place of his own image? Then he could learn what it feels like. He could finally stop wondering what would happen and just get over this maddening sickness. And you won’t even notice the switch. You’ll probably end up unsatisfied because he would not be able to give you the pleasure you expected, but it’s all a fleeting, momentary dream for you anyway, not worthy of remembering in the morning.

He spent centuries hunting dreams, but never tried to become a part of them, so he doesn’t realize a simple truth: a dream cannot be entered without being shared equally.

The first thing that changes in your dream when he becomes a part of it is actually the sky, but you don’t notice it because the responsive, pliant body in your arms suddenly becomes woodenly tense. At the same time, your awareness deepens, dream becoming almost lucid, as you gain control over yourself, but not surroundings.

What confuses you even more is a barrage of strange emotions coming down at you out of nowhere: anxiety on the verge of panic, fearful anticipation, needy, smoldering fervor of desire.

You look up at Xiao’s face to see him looking almost severe if not for the heavy blush and refusal to meet your eyes, breath held nervously, and realize in an instant - this is actually him, not the figment of your imagination, it’s his thoughts and emotions you can now glimpse like he usually does with others when dreamwalking.

And also, that if you even try to acknowledge this, he’ll bolt to the other end of the world, so you don’t say anything.

It’s tempting to claim his mouth, but he’s too petrified, his jaw clenched tightly. Instead, you trail the line of kisses down his throat and feel the sharp pang of his relief at supposedly not being discovered.

You caress him slowly, carefully, moving tenderly over his arched neck, sharp curves of the collarbones, chest that rises fast and feverishly in shaky breathes, taste nervous flare of his pulse in the deliciously delicate hollow of his throat, until the warm pleasure spreads under his skin, melts frozen rigidness into a different kind of tension, a taut bowstring, drawn tightly, trembling at every touch.

When you nuzzle at the underside of his jaw, he moves his head abruptly and presses his mouth against yours, tense because he wants this so badly, but doesn’t know what to do with himself, an awkward angle and all teeth. But you take your time, slide your fingers into his hair and tilt his head, kiss his lips until he finally relaxes and opens up. When you slide your tongue against his, he makes the tiniest noise, barely audible tremble caught in his throat.

He was worried about how inexperienced he is, but when he’s too lost in the kiss, desire takes care of this easily. Without realizing, he’s arching in your arms, grinding against your legs. When you slide your hands lower, over his stomach, hips, stroke his thighs, he moans into your mouth and opens his knees wider, thrusts against you, already hard.

You slide your hand into his pants and close your fingers over his cock and he shudders, breaks the kiss, realizing what you are doing, what he was doing, how easily he’s losing control, his wild yellow eyes wide and uncertain.

“It’s okay,” you tell him softly. “Everything is going to be okay. Let me take care of you, baby.”

He catches your affection, shared through the dream, and the narrow vertical slits in his eyes widen, blackness flaring up against gold. With a short, shuddering draw of the breath, he relents, leans into you to nuzzle at your cheek. You can feel his blush heating up against your skin, flutter of the eyelashes.

You start stroking his cock slowly, holding him with your other arm, whisper sweet reasurings into his ears, understanding how hard it is for him to show vulnerability, even under the supposed disguise.

His hips start moving again, now in rhythm with your hand, and you quicken the pace. Suddenly, you realize he’s naked except for the gloves, because the dream lets things happen easier, removes inconveniences, requiring nothing but mutual intent. You can’t help but smirk, press a wet kiss to the side of his jaw and twist your hand over the head of his cock. He lets out a stifled gasp, his tip throbs and starts leaking in your palm. He lifts his arms as if to grasp at your shoulders, but stops before he can touch you, lets them drop.

But you notice that something is wrong with his hands - the gloves are a part of him, darkness etched painfully into his flesh, and instead of the slender fingers you know he actually has, his hands end in ugly sharp claws, covered in splotches of dried blood. Your heart breaks a little when you realize this is how he sees himself, this is what he thinks his touch would feel like. But you cannot argue directly, can’t say that it’s not true without breaking a fragile silence between you, acknowledging that it’s actually him.

So instead you catch his chin in your free hand. “Hey, look at me.”

He meets your eyes, his own hazy, feverish with need, but he looks at you intensely. “You are so good,” you tell him quietly, holding his gaze even as his eyes widen, your hand over his cock moving faster and faster. “You are so beautiful, baby. I wouldn’t want anyone else in the world here instead of you.”

He cries out, sharp and surprised, almost pained with helplessness, like a hawk shot in the air midflight, and comes undone. When he unravels in your arms, his old, half-forgotten, buried dreams spill out too.

So when he falls back, tugging you with him, he lands not on wooden planks of Wangshu Inn’s balcony, but on the soft cover of tangled lush grass. Tall green stalks meet over your head, as if trying to protect, hide a secret from the world.

A strange word from the ancient, dead language surfaces in your mind, a word that meant “sea of wind” - a name of vast grasslands that once covered these plains, endless green waves that rolled under the breeze from horizon to horizon.

His body is pale under you, dappled in moonlight that manages to get through the hover of softly wavering grass. Flickering light of the fireflies, green and lemony-yellow, doesn’t illuminate anything, but only makes the dark emerald shadows deeper in-between the narrow stalks where they move. But his golden eyes are very bright, still quietly shocked, searching, never leaving your face like he’s afraid you’ll vanish if he looks away.

You smile, lean down to catch his mouth, and he kisses you with abandon, still awkward, but with sweetness that neither you nor him knew he was capable of. The air smells faintly of warm earth, fresh grass and bittersweet Qingxin flowers. The moments stretch for eternity like only dreams allow for, full moon halting in the dark starry skies above.

He wants more, but he doesn’t know how to ask for it, doesn’t have the words. But in this state of bewildered, warm haziness, drunk of both lust and certainty of your desire, his shame evaporates. He remembers the first dream he saw, the image that haunted him for weeks, and recreates it - arms thrown over head, arched back and spread legs.

Except he looks infinitely better, countless details that the fantasy could not account for, - breathless, tangled in green shadows and silver moonlight, lithe and wiry-muscled, heavy flush of his cheeks contrasted to the eager, glowing gold eyes, arm flexing under tattoo as he clutches at the grass to keep himself still, subtle tremble of his open thighs, hard, pulsing cock, leaking on the tense stomach, already stained with cum.

In the waking world, you’d spend considerable time preparing him, given how inexperienced and sensitive he is. Even without that consideration, another time you’d want to go teasingly slowly, make him writhe on your fingers, plead for mercy.

But right now, in these stolen moonlit moments it feels too ugent, too desperate, and the fever of a dream lets you skip the steps, sweep right into sliding into him. This time he arches under you not for show, silent gasp and widened eyes.

You pause, letting him adjust to the feeling of your cock inside of him, ravish him with kisses in the meanwhile, feel him squirm, overwhelmed and gratified by both sensations and your hunger for him. When he finally bucks his hips against you, you start moving, first carefully, then turning to the hard, firm pace, and it runs through him, echoes in choked grunts and feverish drum of the heart. The dream bends to this steady beat, light of the fireflies pulsing in tact, and somehow he’s both on the grass beneath you and rising up, in the same rhythm, sharp cyclical thrusts upwards.

Suddenly, sky spills all around you, the lights of stars mingling with the fireflies in between the narrow grass stalks, and golden wings of the wind that takes you upward beat in the rhythm of your movement. The sky around you is too vast and sharp, the depth and freedom you’ve never seen before, and you realize this is what it feels like to taste the joy of a creature born to soar.

He’s too lost in the pleasure, looking up at you, the sky opening up for him with every thrust, every lunge. He can’t remember the last time when he took flight just for the joy of it, when he looked up instead of down to track the enemies and come crashing in a flurry of broken spears. All these centuries of being sure he was made for violence, and suddenly it sheds off him like dust, all this time thinking he can only feel alive during battle, and now his body sings so easily, so naturally, and it sings of wind and starlight, not of rage and blood.

When he reaches the peak of the ascent, time slows down for a weightless, breathless moment, a precipice after which he usually turns flight into a controlled, violent plunge. Instead, with a quiet, helpless moan, he closes his eyes and lets himself fall.

Stars burn under his eyelids, ancient, forgotten constellations flaring up, mixing with the current ones, until it’s impossible to tell them apart, entangled like your bodies in the soft grass that was destroyed centuries ago, a new celestial atlas that exists only for the two of you.

Even as he curls against you after, soft and sweet, you can feel bitter, ashen current staining the dream: he thinks this is the only time he gets to feel happy. And in the moment, it seems absolutely ludicrous to keep the pretense of not knowing that it’s him and let him wallow in his angst.

“Xiao,” you tell him quietly, gently stroking sharp knobs of his spine, “it’s okay. You can be mine. The world is not going to end.”

He freezes for a second, his eyes going wide in panic, and then vanishes abruptly. Dream shatters into a thousand shards, and you wake up with a gasp.

You give him a few days to process and then, on the moonlit Wangshu’s balcony after all the guests have left, you quietly call his name.

He appears on the other side of the balcony, arms crossed, looking sullen and severe, which could look intimidating if you didn’t know him and if not for a little detail.

“You don’t have to stand that far, I can still see that you’re blushing.”

He scowls. “What do you want?”

“I thought we should talk about what happened.”

“There’s nothing to talk about. It was foolish. For both of us.”

“Talk for yourself.”

“No, it was extremely foolish for you too,” he says with sudden, agitated passion. “You knew what I am, I’ve told you from the start to keep your distance. I’ve never asked you to… I’ve warned you to treat me as a weapon, and…”

“Oh, don’t give me that crap again! I’ve tasted your sky. I know the violence is not your only nature.”

He chokes on his breath, looks away, then says quietly.

“It may not be, but it is the only thing I’m proficient with. So what does it matter what was once my nature? There are many others, more suitable for you to…”

“Well, that’s not for you to decide. You don’t get to tell me who I want. You can only choose for yourself.”

He glances at you very quickly and looks away again with a quiet “Hmph,” but you can tell how torn and unsure of what to do he is.

“Xiao,” you say softly, reaching out to him. “Come here.”

He looks at you for a long moment and then vanishes. You curse under your breath and flop down on a chair in frustration. But then suddenly the air smells sharply of ozone and in a flurry of teal and black, Xiao appears on top of you.

He looks incredibly irritated and refuses to meet your eyes, but he’s straddling you, so you grin and grip his hips. His hand instinctively moves to cover yours, but he stops himself before he can touch you. This time you don’t have to pretend you don’t notice.

You catch his hand and gently pull off the tight-fitting black glove. He finally looks at you, surprised.

“What are you doing?”

“Hm?” you fake innocence, because two can play the ‘not acknowledging true subtext of the actions’ game. “I don’t know what your plans were when you landed on top of me, but sex generally requires undressing.”

He frowns in confusion, then freezes when you bring his hand to your mouth. His pale fingers are long and bony, and you hold his gaze while pointedly kissing each angular knuckle. It only fully hits him when you turn his hand and press your lips to his scarred palm, then move them down to the tender skin of his wrist.

He doesn’t say anything, but his narrow pupils widen in an instant, and when you kiss him, you can feel his hands slowly, hesitantly sliding over your shoulders.

#rhine writes filth #rhine writes #sub genshin #sub xiao #genshin smut #genshin impact smut #xiao #xiao smut

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kamiko1234 · 7 months ago

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Since my glorious mutual @darkmist111 asked in my last post how I feel about Percy’s relationships, with his mom especially at the ending of the last book. As well as his friendship with Grover, Annabeth, and Tyson, I shal answer now ! So let's start with Sally. Not gonna lie ? I love that we get an MC with an ALIVE, GOOD parent to support him. It's weird how many MCs only have dead or very shitty parents if you think about it. So having Sally and Percy be like they are feels like something genuinely new ! As for their relationship at the end of the first book ? Wholesome. I love how both Percy and Sally are so protective over each other. Sally ready to sacrifice her own happiness and even life for Percy and Percy holding (In my opinion) utmost loyalty above all to his mother. Love how she immediately got Percy the opportunity to visit another school incase he wants to stay with her. I hope that Sally'll stay alive in the future, mostly because having Percy have a safe space away from the demigod world is something I think he'll genuinly need. Considering how the plot of The Lightning Thief went for him. As for his friendship with Grover, damn do I have mixed feelings ???? Like, I see that they are good friends. Percy is very attached to him despite having know him for "only" a year. But I also suspected Grover as being the traitor for ages. Meaning I sort of always looked for the cracks in it yk ?

I'm definitely still intrigued how it will develope, since Grover expressed his disdain for humanity quite a bit while including Percy in it. I also get the feeling that Grover is much less attached to Percy than Percy is to him, due to him being seemingly pretty okay with just going off being a Seeker to find Pan. Which meant leaving Percy behind. Right now I'm trying to stand back and take a new look at the dynamic without me constantly looking for clues and reasons for a future betrayal of Percy (same goes for Annabeth btw). Annabeth had a similar disadvantage to Grover since she also was a suspect for traitor for the longest time. However I do think that with her there's an interesting addition of being more connected to the demigod side of things with Percy. I'm still quite early into the series so I have no doubt more will come up- but so far their relationship seems very sassy to me. Percy obviously feels comfortable around her, and she also definitely is a long-term companion.

I also think her sort of mentor role very interesting ???? I mean, between the two Annabeth no doubt is the smarter one. She's the brains to Percy's brawn in a way. Annabeth is the one giving Percy and the audience the necessary exposition on new things to understand stuff. I think it's especially cool how Annabeth isn#t treated like a typical "nerdy girl" by Percy either. I also like the lack of romance so far between them. While not TOTALLY against them getting into a romantic relationship later on (considering there were some hints) I do prefer that Annabeth and Percy become good friends first. They are like- 12 to 13 right now, let's let the kids stay friend for now.

So now I wasn't TOTALLY sure if you also asked me about my thoughts on Luke's and Percy's relationship (englisn isn't my first language) but I'm not gonna pass up a chance to talk about my gav. So, yeah. Where do I even beginn ? Okay, so first off : similar to Annabeth and Grover I have a bit of a skewed view with Luke due to not thinking him as any sort of suspect to being the traitor in the first book. One of the reasons he became my favorite WAS that I didn't think he'd be the traitor, and I didn't want to risk getting attached to a character who'd then turn out to be a traitor (oh the irony~). But also, the fact that I just genuinely didn't think he'd be any sort of bad guy speaks VOLUMES. I do believe that Luke holds some sort of affection towards Percy, and even Camp Halfblood as a whole. I don't know MUCH about his history yet, but it's definitely fucked up and I do get his point. In my opinion I think Luke is, ultimately speaking, a child dealing with a fucked past and justified anger. Percy doesn't know that ofcourse, and I think Luke's betrayal hit him very hard on a deeper level (even tho it hasn't been shown much yet) Luke was a sort of surrogate brother to him afterall. He was the guy taking care of Percy when he first came to camp and I genuinely don't think that was simple acting. He trained Percy personally and Percy obviously trusted him. So seeing Luke go off the deep end and attempting to straight up kill him ? Yeah that must have fucked some shit up in Percy's head. I can see a LOT of future conflicts between the two. Percy especially being desperate for answers and confused by how Luke acted with him. On the other hand I can also see Luke getting a bit torn over it. Especially if you combine Percy with Annabeth. Now don't get me wrong, he's definitely off the deep end. But so far I don't think he's completely lost yet. Should Percy find out more about Luke's backstory, and maybe even develop and understanding for Luke's (ultimately justified) anger I do think that Luke could be redeemed/saved by him. I do really like the changed in the show they made with the whole reveal ! It completly refelcts on how I see Luke and Percy's relationship. In the book Luke had a sort of 180- going from cool older brother to complete psycho. It was so bad that I genuinely thought Luke's mind was being controlled or he had been switched with a doppelganger or something. In the show he seems much more hesitant. Much more wanting to recruit Percy instead of killing him. The line where Luke says- almost insists- that he's still Percy's friend despite all this is GOLD in my opinion. Luke does like Percy, unfortunately to him he thinks his revenge is more important. He does care about the people around him. HELL- that close up of Luke's face when Percy figures it all out ? The way he looked sad and somewhat regretful even ? Like he never wanted Percy to figure this all out- pure gold. So excited to see where this will go.

AAAAAANNNNNDDDDD THAT WAS ALL ! Thanks for asking, and if anyone else wants to ask me stuff or wants to hear my opinion on smth spam my ask box ^^

#plz mark spoilers in your replies/reblogs so i can avoid them incase you have them in it^^#percy jackson #percy jackson sea of monsters #percy jackson lightning thief #luke castellan #luke and percy #annabeth chase #annabeth and percy #grover underwood #grover and percy #sally jackson #sally and percy

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biggie-chcese · 4 months ago

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💕, ❤️ raincode :3

yaaay okay!! (from this ask game)

Which character do you think is the most egregiously mischaracterized by the fandom? i still think it's vivia but i've already talked about vivia's fandom characterization at length in a different ask

What is an unpopular ship that you like? okay you already know i like kokohell so im gonna take this opportunity to gush about YUMAKOU <3333 i am the biggest fan of yuma x yakou but alas the whole fandom thinks this man is yuma's father. sorry i think the dynamic is more complicated than that. yakou is home to yuma. he's his mentor and his savior and his friend and shitty boss all rolled up into one and that's WONDERFUL. and to yakou, i dont think he sees yuma as his son but instead as another friend to protect just like the other detectives... but for yuma it's Worse™ in all the best ways bc yuma is the champion of getting himself into trouble. AND they live together which gives a lot of room for domestic bonding <3 i'd like to think yakou's wife and yuma are similar in the way that they both risk their lives for the sake of revealing the truth. they also both cause many headaches for yakou. did you see how much fuckin trouble that woman caused for yakou in her 15 minutes of screen time? it's honestly impressive. queen shit btw. anyway i think yakou sees a lot of Her in yuma and thus his need to be a protector and try again and get it right this time is so palpable. and also they fuck about it

#ask #rain code #rain code spoilers #I LOVE ROMANCE STORIES ABOUT SECOND LOVES!!! SECOND CHANCES!!!#I LOVE THE TRAGEDY OF IT ALL!#and yeah i know viviakou is there i like viviakou too for similar reasons but i think the 'yuma is too much like the wifey' flavor is #soooo delicious #all three of them should be in polycules together actually i love them immensely

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lnkedmyheart · 1 year ago

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Do you have any opinion on Kunikida and his partnership with Dazai? I feel like their relationship barely focused on...or well Kunikida himself of barely explored as a character really. It's just weird that we barely see them work together (which doesn't mean I want to see less soukoku, I love soukoku I just wish we would get some more Kunikida also)

Kunikida is an iffy topic for me. I dont know how to put it. He's not boring because the guy has a lot of potential as both a character in a story and an individual, but he is so underutilized half the time that he sort of just fades out next to the other stuff going on which sucks. I mean for 1, we got backstories for almost everyone in the agency barring the Tanizaki's and him, even Kenji got a day in the limelight episode. Kunikida got like two major parts and from them the entrance exam was completely butchered in the anime. Now everyone thinks his ideals are all there is to him, which is high key frustrating.

As for his partnership with Dazai. I think he has a very positive dynamic with Dazai. A lot of it depends on his trust in Dazai's capabilities as a detective even if he does find him to be a lazy, annoying, tiring little gremlin of a colleague. This is a dynamic that develops in the entrance exam. Which btw is the best novel to get good Kunikida characterization cause that man is a hoot. Also no, Kunikida's remark about Dazai being a womanizer are not serious because given that the azure messenger arc happens in the middle of the anime him calling Dazai a womanizer feels like an actual comment on Dazai's character when in reality Kunikida only refers to him as such seriously in the entrance exam when he doesn't know him at all and the guy is taking shots at Kunikida's obvious crush on Sasaki.

Overall I feel like Kunikida and Dazai's partnership had a lot of potential but it is mostly overlooked. They are definitely efficient as we have seen but we haven't seen enough. More often than not, despite being partners they are doing their seperate things with other people. For a series that focuses so much on partnerships and dynamics of the sort Dazai is almost always back with Chuuya in one way or another. Dazai also tends to refer to Chuuya as his partner of 7 years, not ex partner which is odd to me because Kunikida is his current partner. The thing becomes that Dazai is unwilling to let go of his partnership with Chuuya despite having one with Kunikida and that could reflect something about his sentimentality but then why is he never paired with Kunikida when the show fixates so much on partnerships? Why is it that everytime there are themes regarding the pairs its always dazai and chuuya and somehow never dazai and kunikida?

My take is that the agency doesn't actually partner up people exactly and rather assigns a handler to the new guy. Atsushi gets Dazai who gets to show him the ropes properly and mentor him and so he tends to spend more missions with him and still goes on smaller cases with Tanizaki or Kenji etc. Dazai gets partnered with Kunikida in entrance exam because Ranpo and Fukuzawa didn't trust him so they trusted their strongest fighter and most level headed man to take him out if needed and get a good read on the guy throughout the gig. While these two do work together well its possible that after showing him the ropes Kunikida basically went back to his thing and Dazai to his but Dazai latched onto their partnership cause that was a return to something constant for him.

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warningsine · 3 days ago

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It’s nice to know I’m not alone in that boat! I would love to read any Rio/Not Agatha from you, poor Rio unlike Agatha can only be with one person! It isn’t hard to understand why everyone loves Agatha much more, she’s the protagonist and Kathryn Hahn is extremely charismatic and tbf Rio’s main or even only characterization was being obsessed with Agatha and she’s DEATH 🤣

‘How do you promise that there'll be more of their (ex-)romance and then don't even show how a cosmic being fell in love with a mortal’

I think one of the most annoying thing is that did promise so often that would be more and then practically nothing. Didn’t Jac Schaeffer say something about how they were trying to figure out who could be her ex and they just loved the idea of Death and the dynamics had to be Death being a total simp and that would be amazing for Agatha and that’s it. A cosmic being millions years old saw Agatha and fell for her, they didn’t think they needed anything else so I guess the ‘why Agatha’ is because she’s Agatha and that’s enough for the show and the fans. And why it’s nice to find someone else who’s actually a bit WTF about it 🤣

"they just loved the idea of Death and the dynamics had to be Death being a total simp and that would be amazing for Agatha and that’s"

Yeah, they had this vague idea and everything else was "open to interpretation."

Why bother writing anything that could further alienate general (straight) audiences when you can explain it in interviews that casual viewers don't read?

Why bother showing anything about Rio in the flashbacks when the only thing that's important for Agatha is that she's a mother and Billy's mentor?

Why sticking to Agatha's death when you have money to make from another spin off (in which Kathryn Hahn can appear) or another season? No, undercut/cheapen the thematic mission of your whole show (that everyone eventually succumbs to death), because who cares?

And do the other old franchise thing where you introduce new minor characters, give the audience very little time to connect with them emotionally, kill them off prematurely, but never (permanently) kill the protagonist for a more impactful ending.

If no one really dies and anything can be reversed (except of course for Nicky's death, because Rio must be the "toxic" situationship that took him from Agatha), what are the stakes exactly?

If you claim that your project is different--more elevated--than the rest of the MCU and needs to be taken seriously, because it's more sentimental and has more complex storytelling, then death has to be a part of it.

You need to break a few hearts instead of succumbing to fanservice. My point is, both Vision and Agatha should stay/have stayed dead.

They truly outdid themselves in episode 7 only to shoot themselves in the foot and drop the quality drastically in the next one.

And hey, forget about the Darkhold and where the hell the Salem 7 were in the flashbacks while you're at it.

Forget that it doesn't make sense that Agatha told Lilia her secret of stealing power and life from a witch. A desperate move? She could have lied and given another excuse, she's a conwoman. Telling your potential victim to watch out for what you can do to them and how is a poor idea.

What makes even less sense: why Agatha bothered to gather these specific witches for the fake coven to steal their power since the reason they agreed to try for the Road was that they didn't have magic. Cursed, bound, lost, mortal; none had a power that Agatha could steal.

[spins wheel] Don't worry about it. It was fate.

(You can tell me if I remember this wrong btw, because with the exception of episodes 1 and 7, I haven't rewatched the rest of them since they aired.)

#anon #aaa

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a-tale-of-legends · 10 months ago

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Fun dynamic between ocs that I should do more often.

Jin - Jude: I think early on, I thought it would be interesting if Jin and Jude had this mentor, mentee relationship, given how Jin had went through a period of their life just being angry with the world and has zenned out since then ( still angry, but expresses it more healthily. Kinda). Not sure if/ how this can play out now with the timeline change but I think it would be cute if Jin is the one often looking out for Jude's mental health as he( Jude) become this guide for the Chosens. Of course, there's others that help Jude out, but of the older group, I think Jin is the one that Gets It. Even if Jin themselves isn't exactly the leader (?), they still look out for the younger Chosens, and Jude is no expectation.

Ames - Naomi: Being the same age really helps them get along I think. I think their friendship is awkward at first ( Naomi being shy, Ames not being easily trusting of strangers), but they are able to lean on each other as time goes on. Again, I think being the same age helps here. Also I think they remind each other of their respective crushes and that's very cute lol. Naomi is still non-confrontational unless she really feels like she has to. Ames, however, is always choosing violence and has to be held by the neck.

Naomi: ( sighs ) I know I should ignore them, but these die hard Leon fans can get so annoying.

Ames: We could kill them.

Naomi: Wha- NO!

Ames: I was joking......Mostly.

Naomi: AMSONIA!

Kenji - Alexis: Fun fact I actually shipped these two waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in the very early days of the Legendverse. Before it was called the Legendverse. Anyway it's Ray of sunshine + the storm cloud friendship that I like. I think at first Kenji was genuinely too much for Alexis when they met( when or how, not entirely sure), but I think they strike a good balance of energetic adventurer and anxious ( and depressed) traveler.

Alexis - Eva: Similar to above though they both get to trauma bond over Ghetsis. Recently I've actually been in favor of Alexis not really using his prosthetic arm as religiously as I originally saw it, but I do want to keep the fact that Eva helps with repairs/ upgrades ( with a doctor's approval of course). And given how Eva is Alexis' sister's girlfriend and future wife, I think it's necessary for them to hang out. Part of which involves Eva dragging Alexis out of his house for shopping. He WILL go shopping with her, there is no escaping it. She likes to tease him about being grumpy lol ( everyone does really hgvhvgvgvcg)

Danica - Kenji - Jin: in the early days of the Legendverse, I called this trio "the parent and their kids". Nowadays I'm a bit more averse to call Jin " the parent". But I still think these three have an insanely close bond with each other. Who's the responsible one often lands on ego has the braincell that day. All three of them are capable of some level of chaos lol. More often than not it is Jin ( being the oldest, and the fact that Amber will kick their ass if they aren't being somewhat responsible here-), but please note that Jin can be petty and competitive and will do dumb shit bc of it. I think these three are very used to Danica's Habits ( appearing next to them out of nowhere, void vomit, generally creepy shit) so they don't really blink an eye about it.

Amber - Kiran - Beryl: The Professors™. They all have different levels of how they operate which is fun. Amber is much much more outdoorsy and prefers field research above anything. Not to mention a more potent battler compared to the other two. Beryl is in the middle of the road, liking field research but also enjoying being in the lab. Kiran is still amazed that he even survived his journey through Sinnoh, they much prefer being indoors with a comfy bed( this still rings true post PLA btw hgbgjnnmbcc). I think the three have interesting conversations, being up and coming pokemon professors - it is amazing how passionate Amber and Kiran can be sometimes. Sometimes, sometimes, Beryl instigates some heated discussions between the two. For funsies.

And that's all for now. When writing this I realized some ocs I haven't really thought about interacting with some others. For example I've only really thought of Dante within the context of Jude and their friend group. How the other Chosens think of him could be something interesting. I think he would be particularly close with Wayne, though. I think they would have a few things in common.

#r rambles #legendverse #legendverse ocs #pokemon ocs #pokemon oc

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themummersfolly · 6 months ago

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Oh boy, buckle in because I have Thoughts about Octo's personality and his dynamic with Dementus.

What struck me about the Octoboss and the way Kleut portrayed him, especially his body language, was: I know this guy, I actually know several of this guy and I grew up with at least one. Most of Dementus' underbosses are thugs, nothing more, wasteland strongmen with a lot of firepower or muscle or crazy to throw around and not much else. Octo is a war fighter and a war leader, a man who holds himself to a higher standard than those around him, a man capable of both fiercely-held principles and brutal pragmatism. Much of his canon backstory has been left intentionally vague, but I tend to go with Kleut's characterization that he was born shortly before the collapse and grew up after, banding together with other kids and later other men to survive. (I think he was mentored by an SAS survivor and previous leader of the Mortifiers, but that's a headcanon for another time.)

I read the Octoboss as a highly principled man who doesn't like to see (his) people suffer; but those principles would have been shaped by the realities of growing up in the unrelenting hardship of the Wasteland. He is severely limited in who he can take care of, and he limits accordingly the circle of people he lets himself care about. He has his Mortifiers, he has Dementus and maybe one of two others; everyone else he dehumanizes because he tells himself he can't afford to care. He isn't a sadist. There's a calm, purposeful quality to his cruelty, and it's because in the world in which he lives, violence is the only currency.

For why he's with Dementus- I think he's there because he wants to be. His gang isn't big, but they're capable, and they're wealthy by Wasteland standards. I mean, they almost have a uniform! Do you know how many resources you have to have to be able to select clothing specifically to look alike? Out of all the underbosses, he's probably the most able to just up and leave if he wanted, which he ultimately did after Dementus turned on his men. Hell, he possibly could even challenge for leadership, which I felt like was a real concern during the "I take orders from the Octoboss" scene. Kleut said he was the first gang leader to join Dementus, and was already an established warlord in his own right before then; given what he's capable of, I think Dementus brought him in with charm instead of force. To the Octoboss, Dementus may look like one of the few people trying to build something from the ruins. Maybe he's heard the History Man talk about Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan, and truly believes Dementus to be the next great conqueror.

I also think he genuinely likes Dementus, at least until Gastown. Think about when we first see the two of them. They're the only two in the tent sitting down; in fact, Octo has taken over the only actual chair available and is sitting sort of over Dementus. He's got one foot on the box Dementus is sitting on, almost invading his space, but it has the feel of an friendly, familiar gesture. He's in a place of honor, listening to something that clearly fascinates him, with someone he feels comfortable with. Throughout the next two acts, he's constantly at Dementus' side, either following his gaze or looking to him as if for direction. He follows him not just willingly, but with a certain degree of affection. This isn't mirrored in Dementus' body language, btw. He brushes past him, struts around bragging to him, and even points a gun at him at one point. (I've addressed this elsewhere- if you look, it's an insultingly empty threat.) Dementus, I believe, is deeply afraid of his followers, afraid of what will happen if they become stronger than him or figure out how full of shit he is. He needs the others to believe he can intimidate even the Octoboss; if it gets out that the Octoboss's loyalty is freely given and can therefore be withdrawn, how, in Dementus' mind, will that make him look?

For his behavior in the first act: I read him as less disgusted at bringing a child into things and more disgusted at the disorganized scrambling of the others, and disgusted at this fucking Roobilly bleeding out on the carpet before giving them any useful information. He seems amazed by Furiosa's appearance, actually: they don't seem to be near any settlements, so where did this kid come from? Why is she wearing well-made clothes and not rags? Why is she so visibly healthy? To find out that there's still one corner of the world that doesn't suck ass- he wants in on that. My headcanon is that he's uncomfortable knowing a kid is in the hands of someone like Rizzdale Pell; but bad shit happens to little kids all the time in the Wasteland, and as I said above, he's put up a lot of psychological walls to protect himself from caring too much. Getting to the Place of Abundance means, in his mind, his people won't suffer anymore, it means Dementus will have the resources to really build something great, and he will move heaven and earth to see it done. He may well know Mary Jabassa is Furiosa's mother. (Sad Eyes would have been able to tell them. I have to wonder what they did to her after the escape attempt.) However, Mary Jabassa stole from them (again, in his perception). She's not one of his people, in fact she's actively working to thwart his goals, so she must be eliminated or made to serve his purpose.

Forcing information out of an unwilling informant would be standard practice for a roving war band, and the Octoboss would probably be good at it; he has to be good at a lot of things to get where he is in life. He probably expected to be able to intimidate Mary into talking, most people in the Wasteland would cooperate with him just to stay alive. But Mary has something else he wasn't counting on: something she's willing to die for. I suspect the progression went: threaten her with violence if she doesn't talk. (Most people would give in here.) When she stays silent, string her up and show her you mean business. (Anyone who held out this long would break quick in order to save themselves.) Mary doesn't break, they up the ante, she still doesn't break, the Octoboss gets frustrated. You can hear it in his voice. She's stolen from them, she killed a bunch of people, possibly even some Mortifiers, and now she's holding out on the one piece of information he's desperate for. I don't know if he knew Dementus made her daughter watch. My headcanon is that he was so caught up in frustration and tunnel vision that he didn't notice or care, he just knew they didn't need Mary anymore and he was going to make her pay for being the biggest pain in the ass he's had to deal with in decades. I also headcanon that he later regretted his actions, if only privately.

Is the Octoboss a stone-cold killer? He's certainly cold. He's a successful leader in a world that preys on any and every weakness. Is he also an honorable, principled person? Yes, and this is the one piece of information we have on him that is canon. But his moral code would be hard for most of us to recognize, coming as we do from a world of abundance and easy choices. The Octoboss is not a good person by any stretch, and I think he'd be the first to tell you that. But I also think he's aware of that in a way that Dementus isn't, and to whatever extent he allows himself to contemplate it, he regrets the damage he's had to do to his soul to protect what he holds dear.

I just needed to say something and I'm not trying to "justify a killer/bad guy" but I really do believe The Octoboss is not a bad person. I don't think he's a cold-blooded murder by choice, but rather he is required to do Dementus's dirty work. There is an obvious power imbalance between the two as shown with the "I only take orders from The Octoboss" scene when Dementus asks "permission" from Octo while nonchalantly pointing a gun at him until he caves.

The reaction from The Octoboss when Furiosa is first presented to Dementus is one of the most noticeable reactions to me. He is VERY disgusted and bewildered they would bring a child into this mess. I mean:

I wish I knew more about him. Did he know Mary Jabassa was Furiosa's mother? Did he know Dementus forced her to watch? Did he want to kill her? Did he try and argue with Dementus and did D threaten him? Or maybe he really is just a stone-cold killer... Literally just wish I could sit down with Goran D Kleut and ask him all my Octo questions. Sure, it might not be canon, but that interview with him explaining more about his character is what reallyyyy got me analyzing this dude with 5 mins of screen time...

#this essay took me two days to write #octoboss #furiosa #furiosa a mad max saga #mad max

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roominthecastle · 6 years ago

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Hi Room! Did you read Bokenkamp last interview?? Imo, there’s hope for Lizzington, am I right?? I like his explanation about John’s parent-child thing! Idk if you are going to read it, but if you do, I would love read your opinion! Thanks!

Okay, I went and looked this up and I agree, anon.

for those who don’t know what this is about, there’s a JB interview that came out a few days ago where he - unprompted - finally addresses in detail what many of us have had issues w/, that is:

“On the parent-child thing, you know, John says that often in interviews and I sometimes get after him about it because it doesn’t necessarily mean that that’s what it is — a parent-child relationship. What he means is that it is parent-child baked into the DNA of their roles. He’s a more experienced, seasoned, crazy bad guy. She started — and is still, in comparison to him — learning. And learning from him. And he has lots of advice that she takes. And so, you know, it doesn’t mean that he’s her father or, Troy, her mother, or, you know, and that it’s parent-child in that way (although it could mean that). But it doesn’t — that’s not what John’s saying. He’s just saying that there’s a — an inherent sort of parental nature that one is learning from the other.” (transcript courtesy of @alyblacklist, thank you! read the whole thing here)

Now, this is one of his better interviews, I admit, and despite everything I feel grateful that this show exists and that JB (in all good faith) tries to give us an insight into the messy balancing act of writing for a network show, but I still have 2 main issues here and both stem from the same source:

(1) “crazy bad guy” – seriously? Red is a beautiful, classic Byronic hero (or, in a broader, more modern sense, an antihero) for crying out loud. The troping is already laid in thick and somehow they still cannot articulate what it is that they have in him. I know Red is mostly James’ own creation (it shows, lbr -- the emotional intelligence, the eloquence, the self-awareness, the delicious nuance in everything he says and does) but still how can you dismiss his character like that even if it was just an attempt to be idk… funny? This is exactly what grates me to no end when these guys try to talk about Red and his relationship w Liz. It comes across so reductive, disrespectful, and disingenuous most of the time. Which brings me to

(2) apparently the actual (non-offensive) term to apply to Red/Liz is/should be adult mentoring. And when you mentor another adult, you do not label them a child ffs. This isn’t the norm btw professors and students at my uni and it’s def not the norm at workplaces where you’re assigned a mentor to supervise and orient you as you learn the ropes (at least not at those I’ve been to). In fact, it would be deeply insulting to be labeled a “child” in this situation, esp when you are an adult woman and you are mentored by a man. Also, if you insist on this being some defining element of their dynamic (I am all for it when done right), then maybe we should see some actual consistent mentoring btw these two bc it was great and def there in S1 but became kinda sporadic after that. In S6, for instance, it’s completely absent. Red giving Liz & the task force cases and then leaving them in the dark and to their own devices is not mentoring, it’s delegating.

To me it was already clear that James dislikes/dismisses the “parent-child” label (he shut down JE at SDCC, he never uses it during interviews and it’s in his portrayal of Red, too) and now it seems JB actually has a somewhat similar attitude but he’s still wishy-washy about it for some reason. “It is not that but it could be but in fact it is not but no” Come on.

Apparently, their entire reasoning behind using this label is that a hardened crime lord knows more about the practicalities of being a criminal than an FBI agent does and that he cannot stay mad at her when she rips his heart out. Okay, then. He also knows more than Cooper or Ressler, and he lets a lot of stuff slide w/ those two he normally wouldn’t w/ associates, yet those men are not characterized as “children”. I wonder why. And not being able to stay mad at someone “just” means you’re invested in them bc you love and care about them. Cooper couldn’t stay angry at his cheating wife, either. Liz couldn’t stay mad at Tim, not even after he beat her and coerced sex from her. So are these now parent-child dynamics, too? Please.

It’s a ridiculous, misused label that – at this point – is likely kept alive to appease the crybabies who need a security blanket now bc their simplistic, misogynistic fixation on “he can only be her parent” isn’t being humored on-screen anymore. It’s irritating but at least now we have additional confirmation about how little water this holds, which feels vindicating. I doubt it will resonate much w the rabid idiots who claim our ship is incest and pedophilia (bc that’s what you call shipping two unrelated adults these days when you don’t have a real argument) but oh well… JB was prompted yet refused to say anything against Lizzington (while he kept shutting down DG and MG), and he also let it slip that Red/Liz is “more” than Red and Dembe’s dynamic. That’s certainly nice to hear.

bottom line: the antis’ sad little hate platform is sinking fast and it’s amusing to watch them thrash about.

#anonymous #lizzington #tbl spec #it's interesting how things are being walked back #DG is dead #MG was crack to begin with #and now the creator makes sure to point out how the parent-child thing is just mentoring #and how there is more there than in the other mentoring dynamic which is btw red and dembe #it lines up nicely w/ a previous interview where he talked about the duality in the way red relates to liz #as a mentor and a romantic partner #which has been voiced on-screen as well #in solomon's little of both 4th wall breakage moment #and how the 'partner' side finds it hard to forgive and trust again #and i am into that #we'll see what comes of it next season

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rhine-gold-archive · 3 years ago

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I love your sub headcanons so much, do you have anything for Xiao?

Xiao x Gn! Reader

Wordcount: 4,3k

A\N: I was not sure if I knew what to do for Xiao, but then I remembered that one of his themes is dreamwalking and that’s legit my JAM. It turned out less smutty and more of a psychosexual character study, but I’m still quite fond of it. It’s pretty cheesy, but you know what, Xiao deserves a break. There will be some filth under the cut still. Shoutout to “Nothing to no one” by Gin Wigmore and Placebo’s “Protege Moi” for carrying me through this one.