#and indra made the decision to be the one to go out in the world

[equill]

You missed the mark! (Time Travel)

Extra: Otsutsuki

(they learn Kurama is willingly there)

anndd more sketches to give

[belamcandas]

is that AVAN JOGIA? oh, no, that’s HARIJ ‘HARI’ VASAV, a THIRTY-TWO year old ER NURSE PRACTITIONER AT VALPARAISO CENTRO MEDICO who uses HE/THEYpronouns. they currently live in VALPARAISO, and the character they identify with most is CRISTINA YANG FROM GREYS ANATOMY . hopefully they find their own little paradise here in el país de los poetas! 

NAME — harij vasav  NICKNAME(S) — hari NAME MEANING — harij: the horizon. hari: lion, one who forgives all sins. vasav: lord indra AGE — thirty-two DATE OF BIRTH — october 25th STAR SIGNS — scorpio sun, virgo moon, scorpio rising PLACE OF BIRTH — boston, massachusetts SEXUAL ORIENTATION — queer RELIGION — agnostic, it's complicated SPOKEN LANGUAGE(S) — english, gujarati, spanish OCCUPATION — er nurse practitioner at valparaiso centro medico RESIDENCE — valparaiso FAMILY — munjal vasav ( father ), roslyn vasav ( mother ), hayva vasav ( sister )

tw: mentions of alzheimers, passing of a parent ( non descriptive for both subjects )

when your dad is a world renowned neurosurgeon it’s a hard pedestal to fall from, especially if you feel like you haven’t even begun to measure up. it’s even harder when that same father slowly starts to lose his memory. 

hari grew up as a shadow, at least, that’s what his dad called him when he would go to work with his father because him and his mother were fighting again and they couldn’t find child care. it seemed insane that a couple years later they would inevitably get back together again and have another child. then, his father would have two shadows. 

hayva would be the golden child, the one that would step up to the plate and do everything that his father had always wanted for hari, and hari wanted to make the same kind of difference – it’s just not in the way that their dad wanted. 

whenever they visited their mother on weekends she would look at her son, rest a hand on his shoulder and squeeze it as if she was saying that she understand what it meant to come second or third in his father’s life. 

but hari would always be his shadow, he was interested in the brain, but wanted to be at the heart of the action. 

when his dad is diagnosed with early on set alzheimer's their world shifts, hayva goes into overdrive into finding a cure, hari thinks that havya is a little naive to believe that they’ll be able to find one in such a short amount of time. it’s a slow process, and hari doesn’t want to just stand by and watch. 

they were a gifted student, but their extracurriculars lied behind a camera, growing up with other hospital kids gave them an abundance of free time and they would make movies, their playground was white walls and sterile environments but they made it into a kingdom. 

between weekends at moms, week days with his dad, he had his camera, but he stuck to his studies. he never knew what he wanted to do, and never felt like they quite fit in with their peers because they never had much time to get to know them. 

their dad used to say he was in his glory days before the disease finally took him out, their dad wrote books, did research, gave talks and began to prep hayva to take his place when she was old enough. 

hari loved their sister, but they loved their peace of mind more. 

it didn’t quite hit until their first year of college, that first taste of freedom when they were still deciding on what to major in. there was a college party, no one could really remember what really happened, too much drinking, too many kids who made stupid decisions, but hari had stepped in, with his calm demeanor and steady presence, he took control of the situation, saved a life. 

emergency medicine was what he was passionate about. they decided to become a nurse, and then eventually, an emergency nurse practitioner. 

his dad said that he was proud of him, but sometimes he wished that he would take his place, hari had said, why have me when you have hayva?

it would be years little communication, his dad’s disease worsening, and then, eventually a funeral. 

then there was a will, entitled to harij vasav, his dad had a little place in valparaiso and it was up to hari what they wanted to do with it. 

they’ve been trying to clean up the place, while living in it, with intentions to settle up. but they keep finding things in the house that belonged to their father throughout the years that makes it hard for them to let go. 

news articles of their fathers works, while harij’s school campus articles of the student film project they did when they were a sophomore, on top of him making the dean’s list, and when he got accepted at his first job, and how yes he might have been the munjal vasav’s child, harij was a good er nurse practitioner carving their own way in life without their father’s fame. 

maybe they’ll sell the house, but right now they’re finding that hard to do. 

headcanons & fun facts: 

kind of shy at first but once you get to know him a total goofball 

copes by playing video games 

has a letterbox account that they run like the navy 

actually a good little ‘filmmaker’ it was his passion all throughout his life but never got around to living it #sad but oh well !! 

a fan of so many muses in valpo like how come theres so many celebs and musicians living here this is crazy 

renting out a room so if anyone would like that connection im so down 

very good at their job !!!! like online they sound like an idiot but trust they know what theyre talking about when it comes to work matters !!!!! 

lowkey a pothead when they were not working but like thats fine theyre allowed 

also an avid vaper with esme and dante i fear :///// 

not close with their sister unfortch but she is a badass and is still currently in school etc to take up their fathers position 

mama’s boy !!! they talk all the time they’ve gotten very close over the years which is good but also sad bc theyve both felt that neglect ( even if it wasn’t purposeful on their dad’s end ) 

idk they’re an idiot to all relationships i fear

they wanna be loved so bad, and just like Seen

has a bearded dragon its their bestie frfr

[semi-imaginary-place]

more kubera posting 2

New airavata likes to present herself as a calm and rational leader but between the sidestory and this she's violently insecure self serving.

why do I always end up liking the doomed side characters with no screen time.

when claude recieved that oracle and lifespan from brahma, brahma was in that cloaked form. so im wondering how claude's oracle was suppose to help the losers of the previous universe.

I was thinking about asha in season 2. She originally gained power to take revenge on the suras who killed her village and the plot to resurrect ananta as a whole assuming her pointing out former god kubera to leez was mostly honest. Now though she seems to resent visnu's manipulations and is gaining ananta's power so that she can decide her own future? Her ambitions become unclear to me towards the end of season 2. a good part of this is that asha becomes increasingly unstable in season 2 as yuta notes her soul cannot handle the power she already has not to mention all of ananta's power. i empathize with asha but most of her suffering is self inflicted she resented the kids around her as a child and sought to prove to everyone how great she is, to stick it to them and be at the top of the world. she resents leez for having had rao as a father and other for their bonds to others but asha had many people who wanted to know her as a person and genuinely cared about her like brilith and lorraine.

Oh yeah and since asha failed to kill lorraine her chances of "winning" fell from 90% to almost 0. I think about how yuta said asha's soul could not withstand the power she already had not to mention all of ananta's power. In that sense a motive decay would make sense. I was also thinking asha and leez are alike in that both of them respect and abide by the decisions their past selves made instead of trying to take another path

We see indra mind controlling? Idk manipulating the human king into starting a war and we know indra killed aruna and caused the electrical storms. So i always wondered why human kinnara named time (rao) as the one behind the human king's executions. But its because kinnara wanted to lure kubera to the temple of time. The question is why kinnara-airavata would want that since kubera tries to stop the name transfer. It could be to make human kinnara more desperate to help her but i think human kinnara would have done that anyways.

I just remembered currygom compared agni to a fireball and everything he eats burns up so i dont know how fleshy gods are and there was that statue made out of gods blood that asha fed to yuta so they have blood?? Anyways i was thinking a vampire could make a pretty good living drinking god blood. Or like you could feed a sura that way

"Literally a thought that keeps plaguing my mind ever since god blood was introduced was "were sura meant to feed on gods?" And then it turns out Nastikas regain vigor by eating the environment, thus symbolically feeding on the gods by eating their domains I very much think that in an "ideal" world, gods would be fed to sura on the regular so that they reach a real peace of them- either that, or gods would pair off with Nastikas/ sura of similar attributes and empower them by creating their environments" (oddeyesight)

I was thinking about yama, he might be the most compassionate god, he wants to do right by everyone not just people he has personal connections to and seems to care the most about mortal lives out of all thevgods we've met. He was also kinda set up to fail. Its like that boss that hires you on and then makes you do the work of 4 people and complains when you dont finish it. Like his work load was always going to be more than he could handle so he was set up to be overworked with a job he could never finish or catch up on. An eternal thankless job where everyone hates you and is constantly trying to beat you up so that their one important person can be the exception to the rule. i cant remember quite but i get the impression there were other gods helping with the paperwork who over time ditched.

the catacylsm is just a mystery to the audience for such a universe altering and recent event. And we dont even know if raltara was part of the stable timeloop ora new element maruna added

[the-hem]

"The Destroyer." From the Bhasma Jabala Upanishad, "The Exploration of the Mysteries of the Son of the Ash Heap."

We continue to discuss vidya, “to bring knowledge into oneself.” The Upanishads and their founders, the Vedantins, reject all manner of rituals and superstitions for the purposes of the divine understanding. We do not like gods or strange stories, fantasy figments and bizarre things.  We prefer what is readily apparent, which according to the scriptures was all made by God for the purposes of holiness. Understanding of this simple cause and effect is the key to self-determination in this lifetime.

To bind the mind to itself is the key. Within the mind one is the master, one can select the right habits, decisions, the right way to convey oneself through all difficulties and enjoyments alike. We do not pray about these things or resort to magic spells like baptism, or odd concoctions like perfection in the afterlife. What can be done correctly in the here and now for the sake of righteousness is always done for its own sake.

This is what is meant by “unity” or Sandhya. There is “nothing out there”, look for it and you shall not find it, all one has is the mind, a gift God gave man and not the animals. Kusa grass is used to stuff meditation cushions. The verses mentions with unity in mind and the stuff needed for the seat, one should sit and contemplate this highest instruction:

Then the devotee should observe Sandhya with the Kusa grass in his hand. He should do Japa of either Siva-Shadakshara or Siva[1]Ashtakshara. ‘Om Namah Sivaya’ and ‘Om Namo Mahadevaya’ are the two Mantras. This is the highest truth and the greatest instruction.

I myself am that Great Lord Siva, God of all gods, the Supreme Controller of all the universes. I am that Impersonal Brahman, I am Omkara, I am the Creator, Preserver and Destroyer of all.

Through My terror only, all are working properly. I am this world and the five elements. I am the Highest Truth that exists, the Brahman of the Upanishads. This is the greatest Vidya.

So now you know why we call Shiva the Destroyer. Contemplation upon reality destroys all nonsense. What is real destroys what is not real. What is legal destroys what is not legal, what is ethical and proper destroys all corruption. This is how one performs life in search of the Vidya.

The terror mentioned above is fear that all the stuff one has been told or has been doing in search of the Holy Spirit has been in vain. So long as truth exists it must be found else vanity will be the result and of this we should all experience fear.

As for the role of rituals such as Holy Communion and Holy Baptism, the Agni Hotra and so forth, Krishna says it is the motive of any religious practice that determines if it will lead the soul to greater levels of observation of the Spirit or lead it away into more opaque levels of vanity:

Those who are inclined to the fruitive activity described in the Vedas worship Me through ritualistic sacrifices. Being purified from sin by drinking the Soma juice, which is the remnant of the yajñas, they seek to go to heaven. By virtue of their pious deeds, they go to the abode of Indra, the king of heaven, and enjoy the pleasures of the celestial gods.- BG 9:20.

Ritualistic ceremonies are considered good deeds, but they are not counted as devotion.  The performers of ritualistic ceremonies do not get released from the cycle of life and death.  Only unity between the Spirit and the Self can accomplish this.

[authorscottycarter]

The moment Scotty clamped his hand down on his phone, he knew he’d made a mistake. Not only had his actions been clumsy and far from subtle, but those were also words that were often attributed to the pretty girl sat across from him, too. One of the many things that Scotty adored about Joey – and the list was extensive, rivalling ancient scrolls in the way that it might unravel for a lifetime before coming to a stop at your feet – was the shameless, joyful way that she’d dive into a situation, loud and unwavering, always eager to have a good time. She had no qualms about teasing her friends – something that, when confronted with the pair of them and Max at the same time, Louis found himself regularly cursing his decision to return to New York – and she was always unabashed about needling information out of Scotty. 

In this instance, however, he was embarrassed. Joey always seemed to look at him as though he was somebody important, somebody worthy of her awe and admiration. A stupid, insecure part of him felt as though that might disappear if he told her about Indra. Scotty dreaded to think of a world where Joey might look at him like he was a failure, like somebody she could be ashamed of. 

Come to think of it, he hated to think of her looking at him... well, the way she was looking at him right now, actually. 

“No, it’s not like that, it’s nothing,” Scotty shrugged, waving off her line of questioning. 

He ducked his head, feeling embarrassed, when the full force of her words actually hit him, and he widened his eyes, the look on her face finally making a lick of sense. Just a few short days prior, he and Joey had been locking lips, giggling as they did so, and now she was sat across from him, horror etched across her features as she questioned the validity of their short-lived fling. Shame filled Scotty’s gut as he raised a palm in her direction, taking on a defensive stance – the last thing he wanted Joey to think was that he might be a cheater. 

“No! Shit, Joey, no,” he insisted, vehemently this time. “She’s not my girlfriend. I don’t have a girlfriend. And I definitely didn’t have a girlfriend when I was kissing you, okay?” 

With a sigh, he swiped a hand across his face, deliberating over what he might say next. He could opt for total avoidance, go and acquire some coffees for the two of them, and pretend the whole interaction never happened. Or, he could trust his friend, and tell her the truth. A lot of people knew Indra, but Louis was the only person who knew just what had happened between the two of them, who knew who Isaac was and how much it had torn Scotty apart. He hated that he still lingered on the past as much as he did, but it was hard to avoid the two of them now that he was back in the city, coming face to face with the pair of them on every other billboard that he passed. 

“She’s my ex. My ex fiancé, for that matter,” he admitted, offering up feeble shrug. 

Begrudgingly, Scotty swiped his hand across his iphone and unlocked the device before sliding it across to Joey, offering the girl a closer look. He had no idea whether or not she might recognise her – he couldn’t imagine there were many people in New York who weren’t at least vaguely familiar with Isaac Lancaster, or at the very least his father, but he still absently hoped his ex had retained at least a small level of anonymity. 

“She lives in New York now, too. Works here too, actually. For, uh – Isaac Lancaster,if you know him,” he shrugged. “They’re working together on his father’s campaign.” 

Nervous, Scotty began drumming his fingers against the table in front of him, the action mildly soothing to him. He suddenly missed the feel of his drumsticks in his hand, the splintered feel of well-loved maple pressed to his skin, the euphoria of disappearing from the world and hiding himself away in the music. He’d long since abandoned the drums – Indra had hated the sound of them, come to think of it – but he felt a wave of calm wash over him as his hands tapped a gentle beat into the sleek table in front of him. 

“It’s whatever, anyway. We broke up, so.” He suddenly felt desperate for a distraction, a change of subject, despite having been the one to draw attention to Indra in the first place. “How’s MIcah? How’d his fitting go? Why don’t you, uh, tell me about that instead?” 

“You look so handsome!” Joey crooned as Micah stepped out in yet another three-piece suit that was pretty much identical to the previous ones he’d tried on. Still, Joey wasn’t lying. Her best friend did look incredibly handsome, she just had no idea how Boy Clothes worked and figured that details such as fit, style and if the sleeves of Micah’s jacket were at an appropriate length was something best left to the expertise of Chess, who was far more adept at spotting a fashion faux-pas than Joey was. Something she was sure the shop assistant herself would agree with as she stood in the corner, the smile she’d had for Micah dropping off her face as she, yet again, took a long, scrutinising look at Joey’s fleece-lined denim jacket, Ugg slippers, tie-dye yoga pants and Hocus Pocus t-shirt. 

“I can help you with your tie!” she offered. At the very least, that was something she could do after years of standing on a stool and tying a perfect Windsor for her Grandfather whenever he took her to Sunday service. She scrambled off the uncomfortable little seat she’d been perched on and rushed forward to pinch both ends of Micah’s tie between her fingers, suddenly feeling wholly eager to get there and help him before the shop assistant did. 

As Micah obediently tipped his head up to give her space to work, Joey fought the urge to give the assistant - Joanne, her name tag said, which was too close to her own name for Joey’s liking - a smug victory smile. She fiddled with the two ends, noting that her fingers had taken on a peculiar trembling.

“Sorry, sorry,” she apologised as they clumsily skirted the underside of Micah’s jaw, bumping against his chin as she tried her best to remember how she’d done this for her Grandfather and why it suddenly seemed so difficult with Micah.

“It’s warm in here,” she decided, feeling flushed and overheated. She turned to Joanne and tried to give the woman a polite smile. “Is there any way we can turn the heating down?”

In reply, Joanne raised an eyebrow, gently pursed her lips and declared, “It’s winter.”

“Alright!” Joey replied brightly, with the air of someone who wasn’t feeling all that bright about Joanne’s attitude. She turned back to Micah, trying to share a mischievous and conspiratorial look with him but was immediately distracted by the alarm on her phone going off.

“Oh, shoot!” she exclaimed, dropping the tie and jogging over to her bag - her Christopher Street tote, obviously - so she could rummage around the half-eaten cereal bars, subway receipts and mismatched pieces of junk in there until she found the source of the ringing. She tapped incessantly at the ‘off’ button until the shrill noise stopped and then lifted her head to give Micah an apologetic look.

“I’m late to meet Scotty,” she told him, to which her angelic best friend simply waved her off and told her she should go and not keep their friend waiting. Hovering a little, Joey realised she had hesitated for too long when Joanne and her glossy curls swept in and declared, “I can help Mr Abiola with the tie.”

Something uncomfortable turned over in Joey’s tummy, furthered by the way Micah nodded in agreement, turning back to Joey and encouraging her to go.

“Okay,” she said softly. Quickly, she moved forward, swinging her bag onto her shoulder and not all that concerned about whether or not it took Joanne out on the way, and reached Micah. She pushed herself up onto her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to his cheek, flashing Joanne a look as soon as her heels hit the ground again.

“Bye!” she called over her shoulder as she left the highbrow suit store in a flurry of denim and purple-and-yellow leggings.

It took her no time at all to reach A Novel Idea. Chess had pointed out before that Joey walked like she was being chased and was trying not to break out into an all-out run. By the time she reached the bookstore, she was only ten minutes late. Perhaps fifteen. Alright, pushing twenty, but she hoped that Scotty would notice how heavy she was breathing and realise just how much she’d exerted herself to try and get there on time.

Wandering around to the private little nook where he’d told her he was sitting, she was immediately greeted by the very handsome, very athletic build of the guy she’d been lucky enough to kiss at midnight.

“Scotty!” she greeted him with a wide smile, jumping easily into his arms and knowing he’d catch her. She’d had those arms wrapped firmly around her on New Year’s Eve and couldn’t help but enjoy the sensation of stepping into them again. Not that she’d admit that out loud, especially in the little bookstore that she knew Louis frequented a lot now. The last thing she wanted to do was let one of her closest friends know that she was like… low-key horny for their mutual friend. Louis had already wrinkled his nose up when he’d found out that they’d made out at the New Year's Eve party.

She giggled at the feeling of Scotty kissing her cheek, delighting in the attention. It made her feel better to be the sole focus of somebody when she was trying so hard not to think about the way Micah was probably preening under the care of frickin’ Joanne right now. 

Once back on the ground, she slipped into the seat opposite Scotty, his phone screen flashing up at her. Eyes widening at the photo of Scotty wrapped around another woman - a beautiful woman at that - Joey couldn’t help the shocked look on her face as she looked back up at her friend. As soon as he slapped his hand against the device, she mistook his panic for sheepishness and immediately giggled.

“Scotty, who was that? Do you have a giiiiirlfriend?” she asked, sounding the word out and immediately wiggling her shoulders as she adopted a sing-song voice and tried to encourage him to open up to her.

However, given their surroundings, she was quickly reminded of their New Year’s Eve activities and stopped, her mouth dropping open in shock.

“Wait, do you have a girlfriend?” she asked, suddenly appalled to think that she’d had her tongue in the mouth of a taken man.

[anti-endings]

I’m fairly sure at this point that Naruto is more or less fascist propaganda. There are so many things that we as a fandom want to turn a blind eye to yet when SNK was called out for being fascist, we had no problem boycotting it because it wasnt an anime that we’d come to love throughout our childhood. Unfortunately Naruto was a lot more subtle and pulled a fast one on us towards the end - 14/15 years after its initial release. 

Theres a lot of intricate reasons as to why I’d call it fascist but I’ll list the general points to be made that everyone can easily recognize. 

• Genocide for the good of the nation. This one is pretty obvious but I thought I’d get it out of the way. Slaughtering possible defectors of the state is apparently an honourable and justified choice. Even if some members of the oppressed minority were completely unaware of their leaders planned coup or had no desire to revolt against the system, each and every single one of them apparently deserved death. 

• Brainwashing children into military violence goes completely unquestioned by the narrative. The only people who challenge this idea are portrayed as “hateful.” The best example of this is how the narrative feels the need to emphasize that Itachi murdering his clan was his own decision. I just find it awfully strange that we’re expected to believe that a 13 year old, who was sent to fight in a bloody war for his country when he was just a toddler and was shown to suffer from severe PTSD, apparently wasnt brainwashed with threats of war on his impressionable child brain when he was already completely numb to the concept of killing people. Itachis history details the story of a brainwashed child soldier yet goes to great efforts to brush it aside and give Itachi the autonomy that he never actually had. On a meta level it’s pretty messed up that Itachis actions as a result of his brainwashing, was praised by Hashirama Senju - the ultimate force of “peace” who founded the village and “the will of fire” that were so expected to admire. 

• Consistent denial of blatant military violence. In the manga, the truth about the Uchiha massacre is covered up by Naruto, Sasuke and eventually Sakura to “maintain honour of the Uchiha.” This makes absolutely no logical sense whatsoever. How is it more honourable to say that a clan was slaughtered by a rogue criminal of their own (further perpetuating the selfish, bloodthirsty and power-hungry stereotype) when the truth is that an oppressed group of people were slaughtered off by the government? How can an act of genocide be prevented by a future government when the truth is actively censored by the governemnt? Neither Naruto nor Sasuke did anything to implement some sort of bill of human rights, laws or Geneva conventions in honour of Uchiha to prevent more innocent bloodshed at the hands of the state.

• Ultranationalism at every opportunity. The village is literally gated off. No one enters or leaves without permission from authority. The unification of the village under the statist military + the slaughter of any and all potential defectors is pretty telling. Its scary that “the will of fire” and protecting the state is the only honourable and good goal/ideology to have in this series as shown by Sasuke only ever being seen as “not evil” when he is beaten down into conforming to the government.

• Evil is in the genetics of the oppressed. This was pretty unsettling to witness and I’m surprised there havent been more people speaking out about it. Ideologies are inherited not just by fate, but by your genetics. The Senju-Uzumaki obviously have “The will of fire” which is known to be the supreme ideology. It consists of uniting and enduring the hardships of the world under the totalitarian government but NEVER pursuing revolution or change for the better. “The curse of hatred” is its counterpart which has its origins exclusively to the Uchiha. Its explained to be Uchiha culture to some degree. The narrative very desperately tries to paint the pursuit of revolution to prevent more violence as evil, bloodthirsty and selfish. This, in reality, makes no sense. Why are the Uchiha hateful for trying to fix a situation for the better of their family yet somehow the senju arent characterized by hatred despite openly hating the Uchiha? Simply put, the Uchiha are GENETICALLY undesirable and their push for equal rights are characterized as hateful, selfish and lonely. In reality, Madara Uchiha would not become a rogue ninja who decides to attack the entire village including his own family with Kurama because he could not get equal rights for the Uchiha. This doesnt add up with why he was so angry in the first place. Non of the “bloodthirsty” actions of any Uchiha do. They’re a fictional race of people that are only evil by the design of the author to portray oppressed people as selfish and aggressive. Towards the end of the fourth war, the story of Ashura and Indra is told to Naruto and Sasuke. Indra is apparently the original Uchiha who was influenced by some deranged evil spirit to pursue power over unification for completely selfish purposes. This is very unfairly equated to Sasuke and the rest of the Uchiha clan to explain to audience that the Uchiha are inherently evil and selfish detractors. 

• To be a revolutionary is to be lonely. This ties into my last point. Sasuke is constantly referred to as lonely by just about everyone in the cast, Naruto especially. This has always been bothersome because Sasuke wouldnt have been lonely if his entire clan wasnt slaughtered by the very same people that Naruto stands by. This point is incredibly simple yet its overlooked because the anti-uchiha propaganda is so successful in what it sets out to do. To add onto this point, what if Naruto had simply said to Sasuke “I believe you have every right to bring the murderer of your clan to justice and I’ll stand by your right to justice every step of the way” instead of physically fighting him and screaming at him all the time? Sasuke isnt inherently lonely exclusively by his own means, he is alienated by everyone around him. The narrative acknowledges Sasukes emotional unfulfillment, IGNORES the real reason why hes lonely and then states that the only way that Sasuke will find a sense of family through the acceptance of his peers is if he conforms to the government and adopts the hegemonic ideology…. after “repenting” for ever daring to get justice for his clan in the first place. This eerie emotional blackmail is completely normalized and unquestioned by the narrative. It sends a harrowing message to the audience that it’s more desirable and fulfilling to conform to the government despite their poor treatment of your people and should you question otherwise, you must repent for forgiveness. 

• The leader of the village is the most powerful member of the military, who is chosen exclusively through nepotism by a rich man who owns the land instead of the people, and is in power for an indeterminate length of  time. Again with the military obsession! Not even necessarily the best military commander or anyone with experience in any leadership position at all. This is partly fascist due to the fact that theres no limitations on what a Kage can do to their village, they’re selected through nepotism and not democracy and they’re in power for as long as they please no matter how the public feel. The leader is not necessarily someone who is shown to be compassionate, responsible, trustworthy, intelligent or reliable. In fact, you could be a known, unpersecuted war criminal like Danzo and still get the position. 

• To add on to that, war criminals in the Government or Military go completely unpersecuted and often unpunished - as shown by Danzo and the village elders. The village elders are still in the same position during the events of Boruto as they were in over 20 years ago when they conspired to execute the Uchiha massacre. Naruto and Sasuke know of their involvement yet havent held them accountable in any way. 

• Child soldiers are sent to die for the government. It seems that only Obito notices this when Rin dies. The second he becomes critical of the fact of this reality is the second he becomes “hateful” and “evil." 

Theres plenty more but I’ve already spent an hour typing this up and checking over every little detail. Generally speaking, much like SNK, the theme of Naruto is to just simply ENDURE hardship, stay loyal to your government at all costs even if they cause the hardship and NEVER revolt. Naruto as a character serves as the purpose of being as reductive as possible to every single character that faces hardship with "I too was lonely and oppressed but I coped by worshipping the government for a sense of emotional validation and you can too!" 

[mira--mira]

When and why do you think Madara gave up the dream of the village, or did he have it in the first place? Since its implied that Hashirama tired to make peace the second he became clan head only for Madara to refuse him until Izuna's death. Why do you think it took Madara so long to agree when he dreamt of it with Hashirama when they were young. Or do you think that he was just humoring Hashirama when they were young and never had that dream?

Ooh I have a lot of thoughts on this! Okay, so first of all I whole-heartedly believe Madara and Hashirama shared the same dream when they were young. I’d even argue that Madara started to have it first. In Hashirama’s flashbacks (which my god, I wish we had Madara’s perspective on that so much) to me it seems like he’s frustrated with the fighting and the war but can’t quite vocalize the idea of peace. It’s when he meets back up with Madara and Madara tells him to trust someone you need to know their guts and presents that as the unlikely but ultimate way to make peace that Hashirama latches onto the idea and then they develop the idea for the village specifically together until it becomes their dream, and once Madara abandons it, becomes “only” Hashirama’s.

As for why Madara didn’t agree immediately when he became clan head, I have different two different theories, and a whole lot of realisitc overlooked complications. The first and most bitter theory is at this point in the overall narrative the ‘Uchiha are genetically pre-dispositioned to evil’ theme has picked up steam and the reincarnation reveal is right around the corner. To make Naruto’s ultimate triumph of ‘winning Sasuke back to the side of good’ the most meaningful, Hashirama and Madara (and Asura and Indra before them) had to fail by the narrative design. Naruto is the child of prophecy and the reincarnation of ninja jesus, he’s the Most Special right now. None of this is helped by the fact that we don’t get Madara’s side. We don’t know why Madara refused peace. If that was explained, if Madara even referenced it in his fight with Hashirama I would be less bitter and more inclined to believe there was actual narrative weight in that decision. But it’s not and while I love part 1 baby Naruto with all my heart, ever since the child of prophecy plot point was brought up and all throughout the war arc I am most happy when we are not following him because the world bends to accommodate him as the mc more than usual at the detriment to other characters.

Now for a not bitter theory, with the scraps were given and a lot of guessing lol. Madara’s decision not to accept peace immediately once he becomes clan head, should narratively tie into why he broke off his friendship with Hashirama in the first place. We know the river confrontation happened, but we don’t know how the Uchiha discovered was meeting Hashirama, or their reaction to it. Personally, I love good dad Tajima, but realistically I think his reaction would be similar to Butsuma’s. Madara would be threatened with being labeled a traitor to the clan. However, the real crux for me would be Izuna. Izuna is Madara’s main priority from what we can tell. If Tajima suggested, or threatened, that Madara’s meetings with Hashirama would directly lead to Izuna’s death...I can see that being a greater fear for him. Neither Madara or Hashirama would want to be banished from their clans but the knowledge that his friendship with Hashirama was the cause of his brother’s death would be the single worst outcome for Madara. Cue the actual river confrontation, with Tobirama and Izuna clashing and then both dads trying to kill the other’s kid that was Madara’s worst-case come true. I don’t think he went into the confrontation with the intention of breaking his friendship with Hashirama. They both tried to leave early to prevent the confrontation after all. But when it happened and Madara was faced with that...he did the only thing he could think to do to protect his brother even at the cost of his own happiness. The agony of that choice was the Sharingan moment for me. From there it gets blurry but the way I see Madara is he felt he couldn’t go back on that decision and he internalized it. He made it and getting close to Hashirama again, listening to him and accepting peace, would still ultimately lead to his brother’s death. This could explain why after Izuna died, he gave it one last go and when he was defeated ultimately accepted peace. His worst case had come true. Izuna’s dead and, in a twist of fate, he died because Madara chose to not to accept Hashirama’s friendship when he could. 

The above is kind of my “main” theory, directly from canon explanation. It gets complicated by other ideas that weren’t addressed at all, but would reasonably come up if the narrative was focused on this time rather than Hashirama’s entire backstory being just that, a backstory. We know the Uchiha and Senju had been at war for generations and the overall terrible conditions of the Warring State Period as well as how ninja clans were hired as mercenaries...beyond that...there’s not a lot. A major consideration to Madara not accepting peace should be the political climate. Were there multiple daimyos (I ask this because the Warring States period was analogous to Japan’s Sengoku period and there were multiple daimyos fighting for power. Who would have the money/need to hire multiple clans to fight against each other if there was just one?) was there just one? Madara is the leader of a clan but he can’t just decide to do things if it would possibly jeopardize the Uchiha’s ability to work, get paid, and eat. Then you have the politics of the clans themselves. There were Uchiha defectors and they were at least willing to accept peace, but we get no indication about the clan’s changing attitude towards the Senju or peace. After being grievously injured, Izuna was still against it. There could have been a group that was completely anti-peace and a group that was pro-peace and how would Madara reconcile with that especially if he wasn’t a beloved leader? I do think Madara as clan head could make the decision ‘we’re making peace with the Senju’ but then forcing two enemy clans to cohabitate that hate each other...even if they were tired of war Madara would be risking his clan’s wellbeing on Hashirama’s word. I think Madara could believe Hashirama but the rest of the Senju? That’s a different question altogether and raises it’s own concerns. 

The concept of making peace and creating the village is a complicated matter, much more so than two boys declaring they’ll be the strongest so everyone has to listen to them. I really think this point in the narrative just kind of...had to exist with the way Kishi wrote the story esp with the upcoming Indra/Ashura parallels. Realistically there would have been a lot of reasons Madara couldn’t immediately accept peace even if he wanted to. These could have been hinted at, but because I think the ultimate goals of the backstory was 1. to lay out Madara’s villain origin and 2. to hint at Hashirama failed where Naruto will succeed and all of this has to be delivered as quickly and effectively as possible, those other possible reasons weren’t explored. I would have liked a line or two of dialogue between Hashirama and Madara about this, especially whenever Madara mentions Konoha isn’t his dream and ground it in realistic obstacles rather than ‘space alien goddess’ will manipulating him for x amount of time’ but...you know.

Hashirama and Madara’s relationship was well developed and great, but Naruto suffers the mot imo when realistic longstanding problems come up, especially if they’re problems caused by historical events or the current socio-political climate. The biggest evidence of this is...what were the great shinobi wars about? Why did they start? What were they fought over? When did they end? What were their consequences? It’s...surprisingly hard to answer these vital questions and “why didn’t Madara immediately accept peace?” ultimately falls into the same category for me. 

This is all from Madara’s perspective and tbh I could write a whole thing about why Hashirama was so gung-ho about immediate peace and the pro/cons of that but this is already way too long lol.

[inmyownlaine]

Cages: John Murphy x OC Fanfiction

GIF//

SPOILERS: If you have not finished the series proceed with caution!

Warnings: None

Word Count: 1664

Chapter: Two

Summary: After falling asleep, Aerie wakes up to a foreign source of light. The sudden disturbance of peace causes underlying issues to come to the surface. Murphy steps in, making matters worse.

────────────────────────────────────────────

Aerie didn’t remember falling asleep. Murphy was rolled up in a ball, turned away from her. She rubbed her eyes carefully, trying her best to keep the sand out. It was still dark, the sun nowhere in sight.

She loved mornings like these. The ones where it seemed like everything was asleep, even the earth itself. Where she could disconnect from reality and imagine herself in another universe. Aerie could encounter a million mornings like this and still feel the same exact way: completely at peace.

Aerie began to stretch out, her back craned with her chest pushing towards the stars. As she tilted her neck back, preparing to loosen the cramped muscles, a sudden flash of light exploded against the indigo sky. She straightened herself immediately, leaning forwards and scrambling to her knees.

She was no astronomer. She wouldn’t even consider herself knowledgeable about space. But she knew enough to reasonably conclude that this was no shooting star. It’s lasting glow remained in the sky as it slowly traveled to the ground, dipping and diving over the uneven terrain.

It was something foreign. Maybe even magic.

Eyes wide with horror and mouth clamped with fear, she nudged Murphy awake.. He groaned aloud and flopped on his back, sticking his arms straight up in the air. “What?” he grumbled, sounding eerily similar to a moody teenager.

Aerie didn’t even have to reply. Through closed eyelids, Murphy saw the incoming brightness. He threw his arm over his face, providing very little shade from the beam. “Aerie?” he yelled, almost as if he expected her to have any answers.

Of course, she didn’t. Rooted to her spot, she squinted in the light’s direction, curiosity taking over her better instincts. Though she had never seen anything like this, it felt familiar to her. As if she had experienced this herself.

“What are you doing?” Murphy’s arm latched onto her forearm, tugging with enough force to move her a couple inches in the sand. It was then she realized how dire the situation was, clambering to her feet and retreating with Murphy back to the huts.

The commotion caused the rest of the group to come outside. They were clearly feeling the same way as Aerie: frightened, yet curious. Just as things were feeling safe, another freak phenomenon had to ruin what they were building.

“What’s going on?” Raven questioned, ponytail swinging from side to side as she frantically tried to look at everyone at once.

“Run!” Clarke replied, ignoring Raven completely and entering survival mode.

They had only gotten to the edge of the sand when the light stopped above the sea foam. It levitated before slowly descending to the ground. Everyone stopped, clinging onto one another for support. If this was going to end in war, they were going to fight it together.

The beam started to dissipate, resembling that of a tamed firework. Sparkles of gold and yellow swirled in a cylindrical pattern before finally coming together to form a silhouette. They started disappearing at the top, moving downwards as a body took its place. First a mop of curly brown hair, then a dark pair of eyes, warm enough to thaw the heart of any villain, outsider, or wrongdoer.

Aerie watched in awe as a man with a white robe stood in front of them, seemingly calm and inquisitive. It was a look she didn’t get to see much. He was always worried about protecting his friends and being the perfect leader. It was nice, for a change, to see him in a state of tranquility. No matter how anyone felt about his newfound beliefs.

“Bellamy,” Octavia whispered, face contorting into disbelief and sadness. Echo took a step towards him, but stopped herself after the first one.

He gave a small smile, nodding in her direction. It had been a long time since any of them had seen Bellamy. Aerie could sense the tension radiating from Clarke. The last time she was with Bellamy, she tried to kill him. Aerie questioned why he would return to a group of people that was so hostile towards him.

“Why did you come back?” Echo asked.

“Now you can’t transcend,” Aerie added. She knew that he wanted it more than anything. She remembered the look in his eyes when she left him last. It was full of hope that had been drained from his body long ago. Aerie was one of few that decided not to take that away from him.

“You can’t,” he corrected, hands folded patiently in front of his stomach. “You were saved by grace. But I believed.”

“So, what? You’re going to come here and rub it in our face?” Clarke retorted, arms crossed across her chest.

Bellamy wasn’t fazed. Instead, he stared at her deeply with his dark brown eyes. Lips pursed together calmly, studying the nature of a person that had lost everything. He knew it wasn’t personal.

“Madi is fine.”

Clarke’s lower lip began to tremble as she fell backwards, grabbing onto Murphy’s shoulder. He placed his arm around her lower back, eyes wide with surprise. Carefully, Murphy lowered Clarke to the ground as tears fell from her eyes.

“In fact, I would say she’s thriving. No more war. No more fear. It’s the perfect place for her.”

Aerie knew Clarke disagreed. The perfect place for Madi, in Clarke’s eyes, was with her. Yetshe couldn’t afford to be selfish. Madi didn’t have a life on Earth. There were no children for her to socialize with. There was nothing to help her grow. She would be the only human her age in a world of terror.

“And I forgive you,” Bellamy spoke, nodding towards Clarke.

“I don’t need your forgiveness,” she spat, the corners of her mouth pulling down towards her chin. “If anything, you are the one that needs redemption. I lost everything because of you. Everything!”

The birds scattered from the trees as she wailed aloud. Everyone standing had a story to tell. No one’s life was easy. But Clarke’s seemed to trump them all.

Aerie lost her parents in seconds, along with most of Skaikru when the Ark fell from orbit. She still wasn’t over it, and never truly would be, but at least her father wasn’t floated. And at least her partner wasn’t murdered. And at least her mother’s body wasn’t stolen. And at least she was able to transcend. The atrocities continued on for Clarke Griffin.

“Whether you do or don’t, just know you have it.”

“Out of all the things I want to have,” Clarke scoffed, “your good graces are not on my list.”

With that, she pushed herself off the sand and headed towards the forest line. Bellamy’s fingertips pulled towards her, but the rest of him remained. Raven chased after Clarke, calling her name as they disappeared into the trees. Silence fell as the rest of the group shared awkward glances with one another.

“Why are you here?” Echo finally asked. The sockets of her eyes were flushed pink, holding back a flurry of emotions. She made it perfectly clear how upset she was with Bellamy the first week Skaikru spent together. She couldn’t believe how he could betray the people loved.

But beneath all that rage, she was mostly hurt. Hurt that he chose faith over her. That she wasn’t his main priority in a world where everything was uncertain. In a time where everyone needed each other to get through. She felt used.

“I have unfinished business,” he stated simply. Bellamy’s head dropped, but beneath hooded lids, his eyes fixated on Aerie. Octavia noticed this immediately, a cackle escaping her lips.

“Of course,” she jaunted, throwing her hands in the air. “You came for your savior. Not your sister. Not your girlfriend. Her.”

Aerie scoffed in response, insulted by the obvious venom Octavia was spitting. She had every right to feel upset, but not at Aerie’s expense.

A tear trickled down Echo’s cheek as she bit the inside of her cheek. Fearing loss of control, she spun around and ran to her hut. Bellamy’s mouth opened, a silent battle raging in his head. He wasn’t allowed to love. It made him weak. It clouded his judgement.

It didn’t matter. The door slammed behind her, shutting him out for the time being.

“Save it, big brother,” Octavia grumbled.

“Knock it off, Octavia,” Murphy spoke up. It caused Aerie to tense up. She forgot he was standing beside her. Come to think of it, she forgot there was a whole crowd of people watching the dramatic scene.

“What? My own brother comes back to earth and instead of wanting to see me, he wants Aerie.”

“Well if I were Bellamy I would probably avoid you, too,” Murphy countered. “Who was the one that supported Clarke’s decision?”

She charged at him, but Levitt wrapped his arms around her torso, pulling her back as she yelled profanities at Murphy. He wasn’t the least bit fazed. Instead, he stood in front of her, arms crossed defiantly across his chest. Octavia continued to kick around in an attempt to free herself.

“Are you done yet?” Murphy asked, unamused.

Octavia let out a blood-curdling scream. It was something she had gotten particularly good at after becoming Bloodreina. There were a lot of awful events that spawned from that moment in time, but she did learn how to let out a gruesome battle cry.

Indra stepped in between the two, signalling for Gaia to help Levitt take her away. She did so immediately, trying to comfort her in the process. “It doesn’t matter!” Octavia yelled. “Bellamy died a long time ago! He died!”

Bellamy’s face scrunched together, an expression of anguish easy to see. He didn’t let it linger, relaxing his muscles quickly before addressing Aerie. “Is there somewhere we can go? To talk?”

“Yeah,” Aerie answered, already leading the way. Bellamy trailed behind, leaving the others to gossip among themselves.

“You and I have a lot to discuss.”

[retromotherfuckers]

Six Years (Part 2)

Pairing:

Past/Eventual Bellamy Blake x Fem!Kane!Reader, Platonic Octavia Blake

Summary:

Octavia knew who she was now, but you couldn’t figure out what the hell you had become.

Warning:

ANGST, themes of addiction, depictions of depression/lowkey anxiety, self destructive behavior? ✨cannibalism✨

Word Count:

1.4k ~roughly~

A/N:

not that much bell in this chapter and i absolutely hate it but it’s just a filler so .... enjoy if that’s at all possible. if the format is confusing, lmk and i’ll either switch it up for explain :)

“You have to come back. I’ll never forgive you if you don’t.” Your voice had been broken for almost an hour and the only thing you could do was whimper; the tears that stained your face were meaningless, now. You didn’t want to think it, but the idea that they might take too long and get caught in the death wave was suffocating. A pressure started to weigh on you chest, consuming you until your hands were almost quivering. You shook your head, trying to push the thought away.

“Hey,” Bellamy breathed, bringing both hands to the sides of your face and resting his forehead against yours - he knew it wasn’t enough, but his word and touch was all he had left to give. “This isn’t a goodbye, right? I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“This is a stupid fucking plan,” You said, loud enough for the others to hear. Had the situation not been so dire, you would’ve let out a small chuckle at the loud, ‘we know!’ Murphy gave in response.

He let the humor give him some comfort for a moment and a quiet laugh shook his shoulders. “Yeah, it is. But we can’t just leave Raven. You know that.”

You wished he wasn’t right but nodded nonetheless. Squeezing your eyes shut, you knew you were being selfish. Raven would certainly die if they didn’t get her. At least they’re trying to give her a chance to see a possible brighter day.

But why did it always have to be Bellamy?

“What happens if-”

“Stop it. Don’t think like that, we’ll be fine. I’ll be fine.”

You shook your head in agreement, not wanting to spend this precious time thinking about the what ifs. A few moments of silence passed with you two drinking the other in; trying to soak up all you could in the limited time you had to spare. This wasn’t supposed to be a goodbye but it sure as hell felt like one. Your hand cupped his face and the other was rested on his neck. You could feel the amount of effort he was putting into not completely breaking down. It was in his cheekbones, his nose, his perpetually furrowed brow, the curve of his jaw. His neck, his eyelashes, his lips.

He was trying so hard to make you not worry.

Has he met you?

Nothing could shake the bad feeling crawling up your spine. You couldn’t stop the sob that threatened to escape, one final plea for the man you couldn’t lose. “Please come back to me,”

Just like that, he pulled away to meet your eyes, making a declaration you’d begin to hate him for.

“Always.”

You hadn’t seen nor felt the sun for six years. The hole in the ceiling let the first of its rays create a spotlight in the pit. For just one fleeting moment, you closed your eyes and allowed yourself to enjoy it. Cocooned in the familiar warmth, you embraced the feeling, like greeting an old friend. 

Had it not been there, your favorite pair of eyes would’ve been stern and dark; now, they were a gentle whiskey, basking in the heat of the star. If Bellamy was looking at you in any other way, you’d be able to focus on how much they felt like home. How as soon as you laid your red-rimmed orbs on his, it felt like there was finally the smallest possibility of a maybe.

You couldn’t explain what it was or why, but you knew it was something.

When he looked at you like you were a threat, though, the shadowy, unnamed dread you had gotten so used to filled your stomach. The sudden apprehension that adorned his face ripped you from the only fallacy you’d let yourself give any mirth to. Bringing you back to the real world with a punch to the cheek.

The bright and divine amber sun meant nothing if you had no one to share it with. 

Letting the axe fall from your hand, you crashed out of the arena before anyone could act quick enough to stop you - they were too distracted. You fell into your bedroom and immediately became submerged in water; riptides pulling you down and all you could do was let it happen. They say if you fight a riptide it’ll only kill you faster, kind of like quicksand.

The distance between you and reality kept growing and you didn’t even think it was worth trying to bring your head up for air. Trapped within the merciless depths of the ocean, there were weights around your neck, forcing you lower and lower and lower.

But it was all just numb, like you had been reduced to nothing.

This is why the morphine was so important -  not only did it bless you with dreamless sleeps, but it made the decision for you. It made all the faces blend together. Miller wasn’t one of your oldest friends, Marcus wasn’t your father, Octavia was nowhere to be found and Bellamy...

Well, he never really existed at all.

So, you checked your hiding spot for the next best thing. Maybe this time you’d float to the surface. Maybe you’d drown.

You didn’t really care either way.

A disgusted scoff broke through the doorway, an intentional slice of the thickening tension in the room. It didn’t take a genius to know who it was.

“Pathetic.”

“Since when did you care, Bloodreina?” You nearly spat, cutting the raven haired woman with the title like it was the one thing she didn’t want you to call her. You convinced yourself that your words hurt her more than they did you. With moonshine glued to your hand, you took a very large pull from the bottle, inviting the well-known haze to set over your eyes.

“I don’t,” She said, cold and detached as ever. It was a tone you’d never heard her use with you; one reserved for the enemies that didn’t want to comply. You guessed that was all you were to her, now. “But there can only be one champion and only one Kane is useful to me.”

“What-”

“You and your father fight in two days. Win and be reinstated or lose and die. Choose not to fight, and I’ll kill both of you myself.”

She wasn’t bluffing, that you knew. But there was no fucking way you were going let her near him. You didn’t know how to react, though, given what you had almost just done. It didn’t even feel like it was you. As if you were a horse and someone else was controlling the reins - pulling, pushing, grabbing, forcing you to do all these things you never would’ve done before those doors closed.

All you knew was that more than anyone else in this underground hell, Marcus Kane was the one who deserved to get out.

A bitter smirk pulled at the corner of your lips, but your eyes stayed the same; gaunt and defeated. “Sure you want to lose your best executioner?”

You just have to take a bite.

At the silent glare from your queen - the first sign of any kind of emotion you’d seen from her in a while - a sneer slipped onto your face into your voice. “Well, then, at least you’ll actually be the one doing it for a damn change.”

Octavia’s scared voice cut through the room, a shudder breaking through, all but tearing you into pieces. It was low and gravelly, the complete opposite to when she was still the girl under the floor. “We’re back bitches!” felt like centuries ago, now.

“You said we had five years. We’ve only been down here for two.”

Cooper, the woman running the farm, quickly started to defend that she’d already done everything she could think of to try to eradicate the fungus that was taking over your crop supply. She said she saved a few plants, but that it wasn’t enough. Indra inevitably cut her off, being as straightforward as usual. The dark-skinned woman brought up the one thing you hoped no one would acknowledge.

“How long?”

You heaved in a breath at her words, you wished you weren’t there. You wished you were allowed to be as ignorant and innocent as the others. Abby’s detached and unwavering voice saying that there was only one potential solution was deafening. It shredded your ears, a grinding you’d never be able to escape.

This was worse than anything you’ve had to deal with while being on this fucking planet. Worse than watching your father be tortured into taking the chip. Worse than a drill digging into your back while being fully conscious. Worse than watching the Mount Weather genocide - feeling like it was so wrong, despite what they had put you through. You just hoped and prayed that the ends justify the means.

“No.” Tears had already found their way onto your cheeks as you choked the lonely letters out. You were the only one sitting down, but your legs still shook. Your eyes had closed minutes ago and your head stayed between your shoulders. You had never felt so defeated. “Please.”

When the next three little words left Indra’s mouth, you knew nothing would ever be the same again.

And no amount of moonshine or morphine was enough to dull that incessant nightmare.

[belit0]

Bestial Facts

Rating: E

Pairing: [Otsutsuki Indra / Haruno Sakura]

Tw: none!

Alpha/Omega Dynamics

And there he was, he had received her call, he had interpreted it perfectly, and now he decided to act. He could not ignore the deep feeling of solitude that hovered over the fragrance that Sakura detached especially towards his person, asking him not to refuse her one more minute of his attention. He felt like in his interior a beast was tearing his claws against its invisible cell, demanding to be liberated.

No, he would not let it win, he would not give in like before. His desires cried out lust, need, taking the Omega that now begged for his help, but he would not allow his nature to win another battle like days ago, when he accidentally hurt the woman he was now trying to protect with so much impetus. But what was he doing there if he wasn’t going to give her what she was asking for? Was he taking the trouble to disappoint her in person?

Sakura observed him with eyes full of sadness, lost in a fantasy that was near to be fulfilled, but at the same time very far. The internal battle of Indra took much more time of what he would never be able to recognize. He had hurt too many mates during his life as the founder of the Clan, gaining access to any Omega he wanted to possess. His primitive side was not rational, his Alpha was not someone who could be controlled, and whoever tried it ended up really injured. He didn’t want that same fate for the girl who looked at him with almost palpable despair.

If his demon was released, if his beast was allowed to walk freely again, he was not sure what would happen.

“Indra plea…”

“This is not going to work. I’m sorry I got you hoping for my presence, if that was the case. I advise you to ask someone else for assistance.” The last words were spoken as the entity walked down the hall, away from what had long been his room, leaving behind the woman who watched him from his bed, to return bitterly to his own.

He knew of the young woman’s vulnerability, that she would not be able to control herself. He needed to take care of her, he needed to protect her, to wrap her in eternally soft caresses that would provide the security that this moment she did not feel around her. But he was not the one. If he tried, his Alpha would get in the way.

Before he could advance further from the sliding door where he left the painful conversation, a hand grabbed him in an iron grip by his forearm, while a spleen slipped gracefully and gently from his stomach to his chest. He could feel a face buried in the hair that fell loose and wild on his back, in the absence of his frequent ponytail.

The embrace was not nearly strong enough to hold him actuality, but he allowed the gesture of love. They held the same position for what felt like long minutes, while the only thing Indra could focus on was the arm that held him and did not allow him to run away. He had never felt what a caress was, beyond those received familiarly by his brother and mother. His relationships had been based on concerns of mere satisfaction in the face of human, or rather animal, need. And since his mates always ended up badly hurt, no one wanted to see him again a second time. He did not blame them, he would have made the same decision to be them.

But there was the woman who radiated purity through her emerald eyes, begging him to take her. She probably didn’t know what she was getting into, didn’t understand the seriousness of the matter.

He didn’t come out of his presumptuous thoughts until he felt her flailing on his back, while her breathing became inconsistent, irregular. She was crying for him, for what he said, and she thought he was rejecting her.

He turned on his heels, undoing the support he had enjoyed so much moments before, to face the woman, whom he was gaining in height by two heads.

“…”

“No, Indra. You answered my call. You know I want this as much as you do! You felt it, you felt me, you can’t just come and act like nothing is happening.”

“I can’t hurt you, I don’t want to see you go through the hands of that beast and…”

“There is no beast here. I only see the Alpha I am choosing to take my first heat. You all see me as something inferior, that must stop. Give me a chance to show you that things are not as you think.”

The entity’s gaze was fixed on the floor, suddenly, admiring the polished wood that ran under his feet was a much more pleasant task. He was forced to relocate his vision to the pink-haired girl when her tiny hand took his and squeezed it lightly. His eyes were lost in the serenity of her soul, the light she radiated without even being aware of it. He could feel warmth growing in his chest, a feeling that took him back to his childhood. He recognized it, but found it hard to believe that he was experiencing it again.

It was happiness. Indra was happy once again, after an eternity.

When Sakura noticed the change of the man before her sight, she turned around and directed them both, taken by the hand, for the way that before they had traveled separately. When she found the room, she introduced him in it, and closed the door behind him. His Sharingan traveled quickly from her, then to the bed, finally to the floor. With a faint sigh that admitted defeat for his main objective, he tried to gather the strength he would need to fight the battle ahead.

“You can do this, Indra.”

“I will need your help. There is only one rule I need you to follow.”

Sakura looked at him with her arched eyebrows, curiously, interlacing her hands in front of her. She waited without hurrying him to continue, he had all the right of the world to take his time.

“If you need to stop, you should say "Indora”. My properly pronounced name holds back my Alpha.“

"Please just relax…”

“Promise me you’ll do it if you have to.” His crimson eyes were fixed on hers. In earnest, he let her know that until she took his one rule seriously, he would not proceed. The distance that he interposed between both was uncomfortable considering the facts that were about to happen, and Sakura wanted to eliminate it as soon as possible.

“I promise.”

It was the only thing needed to pounce on her and to begin to undertake the way of satisfying his hunger for her. Dammit, she was so beautiful. Even with trace of tears in her eyes, slightly red and swollen by the crying sessions that he calculated had also taken place previously, her face continued being dazzling. She was so innocent, so full of illusions and fantasies, and he was about to take a piece of that, one she wanted him to have. For once in his life he felt that maybe he deserved a moment of peace, love.

Love.

Quickly, he took her hands, which were intertwined in front of her, and with a great effort to outline mercy, he kissed her deeply, forcing her arms down to prevent her from falling backwards under his weight. He held her lips together until he felt the air run out of the young woman’s body, and only stepped aside to allow her a little recovery.

While Sakura inhaled agitated, Indra took her in his arms and manipulated her as if she was his prey. His hunt. He raised her as if she weighed what a leaf that fell on the ground after the autumn breeze, and with expert movements he indicated her how to place her legs around his waist. Quickly his hands took position under her bottom, giving her more support and comfort, while their mouths were desperately searching for each other. He walked up to one of the walls of the small room, and made her back impact with it. She took advantage of it and used it as an extra support, massaging Indra’s neck with her hands, scratching his skull whenever she felt the need to get more of the bond between their lips. He couldn’t help but smile with satisfaction when he felt the girl’s tongue look for a way into his mouth, and he parted to look at her.

Confused, afraid she had done something wrong, she questioned him without words. Her cheeks soon turned pink at the prolonged silence. Such a vulnerable Omega against such a hungry gaze.

“You’re mine.” The possessive and somber tone with which the man spoke made her skin bristle, there was no seduction in his voice. What he said was a fact. He was simply letting her know it. From the height difference, Indra’s eyes were even more intimidating than before. Sakura felt like a victim between the claws of a predator, one that had been waiting a long time for something to ingest.

But it was what she wanted.

“I am yours.”

Indra grunted before summarizing his act and taking her mouth with all the impact of his need. Their kiss was extremely wet, while their tongues danced in the rising fire of excitement. His hands left abruptly the texture of the dressed buttocks of Sakura, and they caught her ones with imposition, making her to stop playing with his hair. Taking her by the wrists, he placed her two arms against the wall, one at each side of her head. She was forced to perform more strength with her hip to stay in the air. She knew he wouldn’t let her fall, but that was his game, and she would follow him all the way.

He came even closer to her, closing completely the slightest distance between their bodies, and never stopped kissing her. Their torsos were connected, and he could feel Sakura’s breasts under her robe. He was desperate for her skin, to caress her until she smelled only like him, spreading his scent all over her body. He needed to touch her, he needed to see her, he needed her.

With a fast movement, he released one of Sakura’s wrists to undo the knot of her robe. Before the act, she let her arm fall to her side, allowing the blood to circulate and her sleeping limb to wake up. To her surprise, Indra seemed really annoyed with her daring. It had slowed down his notions, and he looked at her scolding, while his head lay tilted to the side.

“You move when I command it.”

“I’m so…”

The words did not find their end since the only thing she could do was moan before feeling the Alpha’s mouth on one of her nipples. At some point, and with the speed that characterized him, he had finished untying the knot and had discovered her body. Sakura did not have time to feel embarrassed, because the attention she now received felt too good to think about it.

While one of her breasts was explored by his warm tongue, the other one was massaged by a strong and big hand, which kneaded her skin as if he needed to remove it and get under it. The eventual suction on her hardened pink pearl caused her head to tilt backwards, looking for even more support on the wall to help her hold on high.

Sakura reveled a pure and unmarked neck, and Indra placed his hand on it, putting some pressure on her airways. She was a practitioner of Ninju, or Shinobi, as it was called nowadays, and a recognized doctor, she would know how to indicate whether he was suffocating her. He located moans stuck in her throat that were trying to depart, and he dedicated to bite the nipple to which only he had attended with his hand. Her breast was now as moist as her mouth. He slid his tongue from her chest to her collarbone, reaching slowly the joint between her ear and her head. He left a trail of hickeys and marks along the way, where he had stopped to pay special attention to his favorite areas. He nibbled on her earlobe and gently pulled on it, while she spread her hands through his hair and shoulders at a constant rhythm.

In a movement that Sakura did not expect, Indra pumped his waist towards her now exposed femininity, but to which he had not yet dedicated special attention. The nails of the young woman left marks in the exposed skin of his neck, and he knew he needed more of those. Suddenly, the gown that covered only him was already a nuisance. He placed one hand under her bottom, and the other on her lower back, and thus separated her firmly from the wall. Their foreheads were joined and their gazes were lost in each other’s eyes.

Indra walked to the foot of her bed, and threw the girl on top of it. It was a light touchdown that resulted in a beneficial landing, as he was delighted to see the Omega’s breasts bounce off the impact with the mattress. However, she was not very happy with the action.

“Indra that was it!”

“I’ll make it up to you. Take that off.”

If there was something that pleased her, it was that the man had abandoned all traces of formality. This was the raw version she longed to see in him. With glacial agility, she quickly stripped off her loose robe, receiving an Indra also naked who hovered over her.

They were united again in a passionate kiss, but considerably slower and more tangible. Sakura held her lover with a hand tangled in his wild hair, while with the other one she would travel his now exposed body. She enjoyed feeling every muscle tone against her touch, running over his shoulders, his arms, part of his back, his chest. She felt she could not get enough of that wonderful sculpture.

Indra pushed his boner against her entrance, playing with the friction and warmth of the moisture that began to cover his now exposed limb. With his elbows and forearms at the sides of her head, he prevented from putting all his weight on her, while he enjoyed how the Omega provided feeling caresses to his whole being.

“I need to taste what is mine.” He said in a hiss, clenching his teeth before the impotence that he felt for the lack of Sakura’s lips in his.

“Yes. Please.”

He descended softly and slowly, leaving a new humid way after his step. He had to make an enormous effort not to sink his teeth in her sweet point, so tempting and provocative. He just tasted, felt, enjoyed it, and continued down to her nipples. He made sure that they were both swollen and over-stimulated, that’s how he liked his Omegas to look. With his tongue he traced a wet route to her mount, where he finally smelled it.

He felt her true scent.

And then is when the self-control that Indra had been carrying exploded inside him.

“G-go get Mmadar-ra…” his voice was deeper and deeper, and he had sat on his knees in the bed, abruptly interrupting his activity. The hair covered his face, for what Sakura could not glimpse his countenance or distinguish why he said that ridiculousness suddenly.

“ What are you talk…”

“…He’s …coming…” He fell into his hands, exhaling and inhaling violently, while she curled up on the opposite side of the bed, seeking refuge among the sheets and pillows. Protecting her naked body would do little good.

“Who…?” She really wanted to know?

In his position, Indra’s body twisted abruptly, shaking with strange movements as a series of unexplained events unfolded before her eyes. Uncontrollable grunts escaped from his interior, unintelligible, guttural words were thrown into the air, as if trying to fight what was happening to him. His hair, if thought long in its natural state, took on a longer length, and the pattern of spikes that characterized Uchiha’s style became more pronounced, creating even more eccentric spikes than those he normally wore. On his nails, long claws grew. He could decapitate anyone he wanted with them. Heading to his mouth, two upper fangs made a surprising appearance as he opened it in a ceaseless frenzy. As for his eyes, his Sharingan took the pattern of his Eternal Mangekyou, while the outline he drew each day under them extended considerably, occupying his temples. His body, already naturally stocky, grew notably in size; his shoulders widened, his chest extended, his abdominals contracted.

The new Indra sat on his knees on the other side of the bed once his body stopped shaking and convulsing because of the physical changes to which he was subjected. With his eyes closed, he remained still, immobile. The new amount of hair falling from his head surrounded him, generating a blanket around. His claws remained peacefully on his thighs, while his being seemed to have entered into a state of meditation.

Until a slight movement, impossible for the eyes of those who were not Shinobis, took possession of his countenance.

Indra was moving his nose. Or rather, the tip of the it.

It was almost imperceptible, but Sakura noticed it while analyzing the situation.

“Indra…?”

His eyes opened to an alarming speed, while a twisted and sinister smile appeared in his face. This was not Indra, she understood. To this being it applied the only rule he had given her before accepting.

This was Indora.

Indora was smelling her.

Indora had already smelled her.

[osleyakomwonkru]

Retrospective: The 100′s Top 5 Male Characters

Last week it was female characters, today it is male characters: My Official List of my favourite male characters.

Let the hotness begin. I kid. Well, mostly. Some of it is looks, but mostly it is personality and storyline.

5. Thelonious Jaha (Isaiah Washington)

Time would have been that it would have been Kane on this list and not Jaha, but in the end, Jaha was the best leader of Team Adults, and that’s for one simple reason: Lack of judgment.

Other adult leaders, like Kane and Abby and Indra, were all full of judgment of how the younger generation stepped up to leadership and the decisions they made - even when they had made precisely those same decisions in their turns in leadership. But Jaha didn’t do that. He merely tried to advise them, relating to their experiences, explaining how they found themselves in similar positions, and guided them to making the best decisions that they could. He plays a mentor role to most of the delinquent mains at one point or another, and in terms of leadership advice Clarke, Bellamy and Octavia all learned from him, though I daresay the only one who really understood his lessons was Octavia.

4. Roan kom Azgeda (Zach McGowan)

When Roan first appeared on my screen, I was smitten. I looked at Zach in his other projects, and was also smitten. There’s just something about a sexy guy with long hair that does it for me, I dunno. I also appreciated Roan for his ability to reason and his level-headedness, and especially his constant willingness to call Clarke out on her shit and for being a colonizer. I also appreciated his respect for Octavia, he understood the moves she made, even if her own “people” didn’t.

3. Ilian kom Trishanakru (Chai Hansen)

Why would Octavia’s rebound lover be on this list instead of Lincoln? How in the world could I do that? Well, it’s simple, really - Ilian challenged her in a way Lincoln didn’t, and plus he is why I’m in this damn fandom to begin with. I’ve talked before about how Chai Hansen was my infection vector for this fandom - he’d been cast on Shadowhunters, he was Hot with a Capital H, so I wanted to see what else he was in and stumbled across this show.

But I appreciate the character of Ilian for more than just Chai’s good looks. I appreciate him because he pushed Octavia out of her comfort zone to address inner conflicts she was having and didn’t coddle her, but he did also save her life. The only other person who has ever done all of that is Diyoza.

2. John Murphy (Richard Harmon)

I mean. It’s Murphy. Do I really have to say more? He’s the same character profile as Octavia - the underdog, the misunderstood hero, and they have so many parallels in their story arcs. Murphy’s is more linear than Octavia’s though, which is why I’ll always love her best, since her journey is far more complicated. But both of their journeys teach a lot about the importance of things like love and acceptance and yes, also sometimes going off into the wilderness with an older mentor where the journey then brings a hope they didn’t know they needed.

Murphy has the second best character arc of the entire series, after Octavia. Richard is by far the best male actor on this show. Like Marie, he’s been able to seamlessly move between the different evolutions of Murphy and I expect great things for him in the future.

1. Eric Jackson (Sachin Sahel)

Perhaps a surprising result - a recurring character? One who hasn’t ever had a huge plotline of his own? But no, there is no mistake here. While Jackson didn’t make a huge impression on me the first four seasons, with his growth, bravery and loyalty in season 5 - which carried on into seasons 6 and 7 - he grew on me.

The moment Jackson proved himself to me was in 5x09 when he was ready to take on Indra to protect Octavia and see justice done. And unlike turncoats like Miller, he stuck by his principles, standing up to Abby, trying to help Miller not be such an asshole come to terms with his past and accept it for what it was. I will always appreciate him for that. And if you follow him on social media, Sachin is just a wonderful human being too. All my respect to Sachin and the quiet but steadfast and loyal character he created in Eric Jackson.

Honourable Mentions: Lincoln kom Trikru (he was loved), David Miller (winner of the Best Dad award) and Jacapo Sinclair (also one of the best of Team Adults).

Next up: 100 Episodes, Ranked. (This is going to need a number of posts.)

[ambitiousandcunning]

Arjuna and what sets him apart.

The 14th day of Kurukshetra war was special in many ways. Just one day before, Abhimanyu had fought bravely but got killed. The enraged father, Arjuna made an oath to kill Jayadratha by sunset of the next day or die. This was the day he had to fulfill his oath. Drona made a complicated vyuha, a mixture of three Vyuhas. Jayadratha was to be protected at all costs. Almost every warrior of the Kaurava army was focused on stopping Arjuna. He created the greatest Carnage on that day, allegedly killing 7 akshouhinis, more than half of the Kaurava forces. It is well known how Arjuna fought, how he killed Jayadratha and fulfilled his oath. Arjuna’s valor is undoubtable. But in my opinion, what makes him special, what makes him stand apart from all other warriors is compassion. This is a relatively less known incident that happened on 14th day of war. For me, it is one of the most important things that happened that day. Following citations are from Jayadratha Vadha Parva, Mahabharata volume 6, translated by Bibek Debroy. (It is a translation of the Bhandarkar Oriental research institute, Critical edition of Mahabharata.)

All citations are in italics.

"Dhananjaya passed over those soldiers with some difficulty. He was like a sun that has arisen, blazing through the clouds. On seeing him, the Kurus were frightened. O bull among the Bharata lineage! But they recovered and cheerfully attacked Partha from all directions. They knew that he was tired and they also knew that Saindhava was far away. They roared loudly like lions and surrounded him from all directions. On seeing that they were so enraged, Arjuna, bull among men, smiled. He softly spoke these words to Dasharha. ‘Our horses are oppressed by arrows and are exhausted. Saindhava is at a distance. What do you think is the best course of action now? What is your wish? O Krishna! Tell me exactly. You have always been the wisest. In this battle, with you as their eyes, the Pandavas will be victorious over the enemy. Let me tell you what I think we should do next. Listen to me. O Madhava! I think it is best to unyoke the horses. Remove their stakes.’ Having been thus addressed by Partha, Keshava replied, ‘O Partha! My view is identical to what you have expressed.’

From this, we know that Arjuna has already breached enemy lines. He is among enemy soldiers. But Jayadratha was still far away. If you read the narrative from the beginning of this Parva, it is mentioned earlier that the sun had already begun it’s descent. The war had been going on for long. Arjuna noticed the exhaustion of his horses and tells Krishna that they should be unyoked. Krishna agrees.

This is a very significant decision on Arjuna’s part. Giving up his chariot means giving up the speed and becoming stationary. They were already running out of time. On that day time meant everything to Arjuna. For if he didn’t reach and kill Jayadratha in time, he was honor bound to die himself. Yet, in such a situation, he sees his horses are exhausted. He decides to let them rest, knowing they would die if pushed too much. But also knowing that he would have to die if they failed to complete the task.

Arjuna said, ‘O Keshava! I will repulse all the soldiers. You can properly perform the task that must be undertaken next.’ Dhananjaya got down from his chariot and stood there fearlessly. He held Gandiva bow and was stationed, as immobile as a mountain. The kshatriyas desired victory. On knowing that Dhananjaya was now stationed on the ground, they thought that this was a weakness. Roaring loudly, they attacked. They surrounded the solitary one with a large number of chariots. They stretched their bows and released arrows. They angrily displayed many different kinds of weapons. They covered Partha with arrows, like clouds enveloping the sun.

The great strength of Partha’s arms was then seen, since he angrily resisted a large number of soldiers surrounding him from every direction. The lord repulsed all the arms and weapons of the enemy. He quickly covered all of them with many arrows. O lord of the earth!

Here, it is described that Arjuna was on the ground and was attacked by the Kauravas who were themselves on chariots. He stood and fought them from the ground.

There’s more description of fighting which I will skip over.

"Sanjaya said, “The great-souled Kounteya created the water. Having repulsed the enemy soldiers, he then created a pavilion made out of arrows. The immensely radiant Vasudeva quickly descended from the chariot. He freed the horses and removed the arrows tufted with the feathers of herons. On seeing a sight that had never been seen before, a giant roar, like that of lions, arose from the masses of siddhas and charanas and all the soldiers. Though Kounteya fought on foot, the bulls among men who fought against him could not counter him and it was wonderful. Large numbers of chariots and many elephants and horses descended on him. But Partha did not exhibit the slightest bit of fear towards these men. The kings released large numbers of arrows towards Pandava. But these did not afflict Vasava’s son. He had dharma in his soul and was the destroyer of enemy heroes. The valiant Partha received those nets of arrows, clubs and lances, like the ocean receiving rivers. With the great force of his weapons and the strength of his arms, Partha countered the supreme arrows shot by all those Indras among kings. O great king! The Kouravas worshipped the supremely wonderful valour of Partha and Vasudeva. ‘Has there ever been anything more wonderful in this world, or will there ever be, than the way in which Partha and Govinda freed their horses in this battle? Those supreme among men displayed great energy and great assurance in the forefront of the battle. They generated great fear in us.’ O descendant of the Bharata lineage! Hrishikesha began to smile, as if he was amidst women, after Arjuna had crated a pavilion made out of arrows in that field of battle. O lord of the earth! While all the soldiers on your side looked on, the lotus-eyed one led the horses inside. Krishna was skilled in all acts connected with horses. He removed all their exhaustion, pain, trembling, nausea and wounds. He removed the stakes with his hands and rubbed the horses down. Having comforted them in due fashion, he made them drink the water. Having obtained water and having bathed, they were free of pain and exhaustion. He again cheerfully yoked them to that supreme of chariots. Shouri, supreme among those who wield all weapons, then mounted the chariot, together with the immensely energetic Arjuna, and they departed swiftly.”

It is emphasized in the narrative too, how this has never happened before. It is clear that no warrior had ever done this, especially when he was among enemies. What makes this more significant is that this was the day Arjuna had to move the fastest, or by his own words, die. Yet he chose to do this. This speaks volumes about the kind of person he was. Perhaps, a lesser man would’ve tried to push the animals until the last bit of their strength was gone. Another charioteer wouldn’t have agreed to stand among enemies so fearlessly under the protection of a single warrior. But the charioteer was Krishna. And the warrior was Arjuna. He had many feats in battle, conquered many countries, had many adventures. But more than that, more than anything else, it is this compassion that makes Arjuna special. That makes him a Hero.

Tagging @incurablescribbler and @medhasree for their opinions.

[aerisahale]

paid in full (chapter 2)

Pairing: Clexa (Clarke Griffin x Lexa kom Trikru) Length: 1,531 Summary: Clarke struggles with the peace of her new life post-Ascendance. With her face fresh in her mind, Clarke wants Lexa, fiercely. Apparently, The Ascendance isn’t finished granting miracles. Chapters: 1 2 3

-

“Clarke?” the voice calls from her front porch. “I came by last night and you weren’t home… Just want to make sure you’re okay.”

Inside, Clarke is scrambling into her clothes—the ones she can find, at least. They were quite strewn about and the outfit she opens the door in is less than ideal. The top barely comes past her hips and she’s mentally grateful for her panties coming off next to the bed so that they were close for her to throw on.

“Hey, Raven. I’m okay. I just went for a walk last night, to clear my head.” Clarke leans against the door frame, door pressed to her side with one hand to keep Raven’s line of sight minimal. When Clarke glances behind her, she finds Lexa immaculately dressed, but her hair didn’t find the same perfection after the previous night. Half the braids were still there, others had come loose. Clarke jerks her head, trying to get Lexa to leave the living room.

When Clarke turns back to Raven, the woman is looking at her through narrowed eyes, the suspicion clear on her face. “Is there someone in there? Who could it possibly be?”

Clarke rolls her eyes and pulls Raven into the living room, quickly shutting the door behind them. “No. Well, yes. Listen.”

Raven’s brows rise close to her hairline but she waits expectantly.

“Okay… Lexa is back.”

A heavy concern settles over Raven and she frowns. “Clarke, I saw the appearance the Judge took for you when they dropped you off. Clarke, that’s not Lexa.”

“No, listen. I didn’t go for a walk, exactly. I ran away when I was having a rough time. The Judge found me—”

“Then you know they’re not Lexa.”

Clarke continues, undeterred by the interruption, “The Judge found me and brought Lexa back. She was still in Madi’s mind. That’s how she remembered things from the previous Commanders even after the Flame was removed.”

Lexa chooses this moment to step into the living room and Clarke does not even realize what she’s doing until her hand slides into Lexa’s. She can’t stand not touching her, not feeling her close after all the years she’s been alone, been fighting for her people. She focuses on the warmth radiating from her palm, reassuring and soft.

“Wow, okay, that’s…unexpected,” Raven says.

A part of Clarke is glad to hear the affirmation. A part of her had worried she had envisioned the entire thing, a fantasy to soothe the ache in her heart. Concern that she had finally lost her grip on reality, simply hallucinating the events of the previous night flickered out, like a flame caught in the rain. If Raven could see her, could tell this was not the Judge, that this was Lexa…

Lexa, silent until now, offers a small smile, “It is good to see you again, Raven kom Skaikru.”

Raven nods at her, unsure what to feel. The last time she had any thoughts or feelings about the Commander, Lexa had set up a blockade with a kill order on Skaikru. Years had distanced her feelings from then, but that didn’t mean she knew what to say now. Experience has taught her a greater respect for the decisions Lexa made back then. The Commander was only trying to keep the peace. Raven knows how much Clarke had loved her, though. Everyone did. So, she decides to smile back, if but for Clarke. “And to you, Lexa.”

“Shall we go get some breakfast?” Clarke asks in the ensuing silence, searching for more appropriate dress. “Probably best to just get this out there.”

The next closest building to Clarke’s is Raven’s home, a short walk up the newly formed path. The house is similar to Clarke’s own, simple and roughly built, but sturdy and leakproof. They had time to improve them. They had all the time in the world. Past Raven’s house, the path leads into a center, buildings surround the perimeter of an open area where a large fire burns. There’s several tables surrounding it, but only one person sits near the fire.

Indra turns at the sound of footsteps, eyes widening when she sees Lexa. “The Judge has returned?”

Lexa steps forward and holds her hand out towards her former wormana. The older woman steps closer and grasps her forearm in a tight grip, pulling her into a quick tight hug. “By the Flame, it is you, Heda!”

Clarke is surprised when Indra does not ask how, she just accepts it. They all sit at a nearby table and Indra pushes a plate of fruit and nuts into the center. The easy acceptance eases some more of Clarke’s anxiety, but also reminds her that Lexa has missed a lot since her death. She makes a mental note to ask Lexa how much she remembers, if Madi’s memories offer her insight into the paths everyone had taken since passing.

Just before they are about to leave, Octavia and Levitt join them at the table. Levitt eyes the newcomer with silent trepidation, and Octavia offers Lexa a glance before raising her eyebrows at Clarke. Octavia’s gravel voice cuts the new silence, “If anyone would find a way to bring back Heda, it would be Wanheda.”

Levitt’s brows furrow at the Trigedasleng, but he has spent enough time in Octavia’s memories to decipher some of it. “You are… Commander Lexa of the Thirteen Clans, one of the inheritors of Becca Franko’s mind drive.”

Lexa nods. “Yes, I am Bekka Pramheda’s successor, the sixth Commander of the lineage. You are Levitt? I’ve only seen you through Octavia’s memories while joined with the collective.”

Levitt’s face darkens as the attention of the small group turns to him and he won’t meet Clarke’s eyes. He may have been dismissed before she was hurt, but he is still ashamed of his part in what happened to Madi. Nothing he has done can make up for that. Under the table, Octavia squeezes his hand and he takes reassurance from it. Watching Octavia become the person she is from the person she was in the bunker, bolsters his hope that he’ll live up to the kind of person Octavia deserves.

Lexa reaches out and ghosts a finger down Octavia’s brow. “You wore Lincoln’s markings, I saw them in Madi’s memories. The end of his fight was unfair and I grieved for him, within the Flame.”

Octavia shifts somewhat uneasily. Lexa thinks it is in sorrow for the memory of her lost lover until Octavia asks slowly, “You…remember what happened there?”

“You don’t?” Lexa asks. Everyone but Clarke shakes their head. Puzzlement furrows her brow. “Perhaps, they made a mistake.”

Clarke touches Lexa’s arm. “I have a feeling these beings don’t make mistakes. Maybe you have some knowledge that could help us? Another test?”

Lips forming a thin line, Lexa turns her thoughts inward. “I must examine what memories I possess.”

-

Clarke guides Lexa back to her—no, their—house at the edge of the village. They settle on a bench on the porch, sitting in the ambience of the reawakened forest. Birds call from a distance and the sun is just beginning to peek over the edge of the tree line, slowly evaporating the moisture of last night’s rain.

“I know we didn’t get to talk much last night. You remember…everything? Everyone’s memories from the Transcendence?”

“It would appear so, though, I know not why. What is the purpose if we are to be the last of the human race?”

Clarke stays silent as she mulls over the implications, eyes squinting as the sun rises steadily over the trees until the full globe can be seen. Is there a greater purpose? Is it another test? Or is it simply a side-effect of Lexa having been given a second chance at life in such a unique manner? The Judge had been very clear that this was it—one life left to live, no more chances. The birdcalls die down after a while, and so do Clarke’s thoughts.

“You know, I thought I knew what true love was, with Finn. But with you, it crept up on me, slowly. I didn’t always like the choices you made, but I don’t have to. It made you human. It made me human. We are stronger together. I really believe that. I…never got to say that. I changed my mind. I was going to stay.”

Lexa looks at her with bright, soft eyes and Clarke loses herself in them as she had so many times in her dreams over the years. “Klark kom Skaikru, I never got the chance to tell you, even in the City of Light, how much I loved you.”

Clarke pulls Lexa forward until their lips are pressed together tightly. Lexa is shaking and she wraps her arms around her, holding so firmly she thinks she might bruise her, but the shaking stops before their kiss does. She leans her forehead against Lexa’s. “So much has changed, Lexa, but I never stopped loving you, not even for an instant. Whatever this all may or may not mean, we’ll figure it out together. For now, life is about more than just surviving.”

[bellamyblake]

Anon asked for: A situation where Clarke defends Bellamy so I wrote a season 3 canon divergence, where Pike is caught and killed but since Bellamy was part of his team, he is locked up and the council needs to decide his punishment. 

“We can’t just let him out there, restore things to the way they were” Stevenson, one of the older council members and good friend of her mom raised his voice to a high pitch which made Clarke itch she could cover her ears with her hands but instead she just ends up leaning forward and trying to gather her composure.

This council meeting must’ve been one of the longest she’s ever attended and though the trial of those who had been a part of Pike’s group had been going on for a week now, they all knew Bellamy’s case would be the hardest.

“He provided guns for him, they organized a coup, this boy needs to be punished, not just set free!” another council member, this time, a woman who’s name Clarke thinks is Rita, joins in.

“He thought he was doing the right thing.” Clarke tries to keep the calm in her voice but it proves fruitless when it just sends the other nine members of the council raising their voices in disagreement with her. 

The only two who remained calm and quiet still were Kane and her mom and she knew that they’d have a big impact on the decision of Bellamy’s fate in the end when everyone was done barking their pieces.

Right now Bellamy was locked inside a cell, isolated from the others and when she went in there to see him last night, she was surprised and then quickly outraged, to find that his face was beaten up to a pulp and there was an open wound on his head, the blood from which streamed down his face and colored it  red.

He hadn’t talked to her when she yelled at the guards to let her in and help him, he refused to let her fix him and she had to force  him to stay still so she could at least examine the wound on his head.

“Go away, Clarke!” he had hissed at her, pushing her away so hard she almost stumbled on her feet “You can’t be here!”

“You’re bleeding out.”

“And I deserve it. Now get out!” he had said and she left but later sent in her mom to try and patch him up. 

He still fought her on it and the guards had to keep him still so she could wrap his head and clean his cuts because he refused to be helped. 

In the end they were forced to sedate him because he was struggling so much, he was actually further injuring himself.

When Pike was caught with the help of no other than Bellamy, the grounders had brought him to camp, led by none other than Lexa and Indra. 

Everyone involved in the massacre was arrested and Pike was stripped to a pole and killed in the way Finn should’ve been barely months ago. 

Then they insisted on dealing with the other soldiers, wanted to kill them too but Kane and Clarke had managed to talk them into letting them serve justice on their own and decide what should happen with them. 

Indra and Lexa agreed but only if they were still publicly lynched so the people of Arkadia knew what would happen if one of them dared to disobey the coalition and raise their hands on the grounders again.

Bellamy was among one of the ten most trusted and valuable soldiers in Pike’s group so he was strapped to a pole like his already dead leader and lynched with a whip while everyone were forced to watch. 

They hit them until they passed out. 

For some of them that happened quite fast, after the tenth or twentieth hit, but Bellamy made it to the fifty second, as if he insisted on punishing himself as much as he could, before his body slumped forward and his arms that were tied around the pole, went limp.

After, they were strapped to a pole, arms tied at the wrists again and bodies hanging over a beam with feet barely touching the ground for three days, only taken down to be given water twice a day before they were strapped once more-yet another excruciating punishment insisted of the grounders so that the skai people learned their way.

After, they were locked up-everyone together except for Bellamy who the council insisted be set apart as he could be dangerous and incite another coup. 

Clarke was the only one who knew that was impossible-he was barely aware of his surroundings most of the time.

She was the one who insisted on being the person to give him his water and every time he was let down he refused to drink, again, as if wanting to punish himself further. 

She had to force a few sips in his mouth but he spat them away, looked into her eyes with his lost brown ones before he spoke quietly.

“Give it up, princess.” which broke her heart.

She knew why he did what he did, she understood his stance as much as no one else wanted to. 

The grounders had killed more people than she could count before the adults even reached the ground, they had hurt them and attacked them, killed them while they were hunting or getting water from the river or even just taking a walk. And they had betrayed them in Mount Weather and forced his and her hand to do the impossible.

Following someone who promised that they’d be safe and taken care of, that they’d expand and things will work out instead of giving him and the kids false promises, made all the sense in the world for her when it came to Bellamy. 

He had always wanted the best for their people. Not the elders, the kids. 

He had went into that damn mountain to protect them, to take them out safe and sound and he had but then she left him to his own devices and still, no matter the mental and physical toll it all took on him, he tried to do just that.

He might’ve made a mistake but in his head, this had been the right thing at the time and she could never blame him for it.

Not when she was the one who abandoned him.

“He killed three hundred grounders, I think we’re lucky to be alive right now at all!”

“Oh, please, he was just a soldier following orders!” Clarke bites back at Lewis, another council member who had insisted Bellamy be executed with Pike when the grounders came to serve their justice “One person can’t kill a fucking army.”

“You’re defending him because you’re no better than him.You went into that mountain and-”

“That’s enough!” Kane raises his voice and the table finally goes silent. As the newly officially elected council, Clarke knew he’d have the last word so she rest her head on her hands and breathed in. “I have heard all of your points and-”

“You haven’t heard shit!” Clarke bursts out angrily standing up and leaning on her hands.

“Clarke, sit down!”

“No, I won’t sit down, mom!” she barks at her and looks around “None of you are looking at the bigger picture here-yes, he was involved with Pike, but he did it for the only reason he’s ever done anything in the past year-to protect the kids! He thought he was doing the right thing!”

“Yes, but he is older than the so called group of delinquents-” Rita bursts “He should know better than to follow Pike.”

“He was manipulated!”

“Oh, please-”

“Didn’t any of you stop for a second to think that you wouldn’t be having your children right now if it wasn’t for him going into that mountain and saving them?” she pins her look on those members who she knows had kids in Mount Weather “That includes Peter, doesn’t it, Rita?”

“This was something completely different.”

“How? How was it different? He thought following Pike was the right thing to do to protect the forty eight, how can you not see that?”

“This is pointless.” Kane raises his hand to stop this and looks at Clarke forcing her to sit back down “Why he did what he did doesn’t matter anymore. We need to focus on what comes after.”

“So it doesn’t matter he was the one that helped us catch Pike?” Clarke raises her voice again “You will so conveniently forget about this detail?”

“We’re not forgetting about it, Clarke. It is the reason why he wasn’t executed with him and you know that very well.” another council member, Wilson whose kid Lee was one of the delinquents,  joins in the fight and runs his hand down his tired face. 

“But he was Pike’s right hand man, he did give him guns and then followed him into that field, killing people in their sleep. What do you propose? We let him out there and restore his position in the guards after all this?”

“Yes, because as I said, he did the right thing in the end.” Clarke said but her voice was drowned by the other council members right away.

“I say we banish him.” Stevenson suggests “We can’t keep him here, he can start another coup and overthrow this council.”

“Are you kidding me?” Clarke stands up again “Have you looked at him? Can’t you see how fucked up he is? He has PTSD, he’s struggling to stand on his feet, the guards beat him day in and day out, he’s not safe in a damn cell in camp, let alone out of it. The grounders will kill him the first chance they get!”

“And they’ll solve our problems!”

“Rita, that’s not right and you know it!” Kane interrupts the commotion again hoping to restore the order “No matter what he did, Bellamy’s still one of us. If anything, all of us failed him, failed those kids. We can’t expect them not to go out there and try to find someone who want.” that gets them all quiet and somber up the mood around the table 

“We are responsible for Pike and what he did, not Bellamy or any of those involved with him. We let it come to this which is why no, we can’t just banish a twenty-three year old kid out in the woods to be killed in a matter of minutes.”

Clarke’s surprised when no one argues with that but a quiet round of “That’s true” and “Hmms” goes around and that makes her breathe a little better.

“Clarke’s right, he did go in that mountain and risk his lives for your children and he did in the end, realize his mistake and helped us catch Pike.” Kane adds “We have to take this under consideration.”

“We also need to take in consideration his mental and physical health.” Abby speaks up for the first time, her eyes lingering on Clarke as if she knows exactly why she’s fighting so hard for Bellamy. 

“Clarke’s right he does have PTSD, like most of the kids that were sent down here, but his has worsened. He doesn’t sleep and has nightmares...I’m afraid he doesn’t care what really happens to him anymore and those guards who beat the crap out of him every day are not helping the situation. Frankly...I think we should all be ashamed that we’re letting this happen. Those men deserved to be punished for breaking a fellow soldier’s ribs and splitting his head opened but I don’t see you discussing that right now even though you all know it.”

“If this was the Ark, he would’ve been floated.” Rita announces clearly unaffected by their passionate speeches.

“Yes, but we’re not on the Ark.” Kane says harshly and bawls his hands in fists. “So we need to figure something else out.”

“He still has to make up for what he did. I don’t believe he can be a guard anymore.” Clarke huffs at that.

“So he can’t be a guard but I can be a council member after I melted 200 people in that mountain?”

“That’s not the same and you know it.” Wilson joins in again and the voices raise into a loud pitch once more, some agreeing or disagreeing with him.

“It’s survival. It damn right is the same!” she hits the table with her fists scaring the shit out of them all.

“Clarke, if you don’t take it easy, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.” Kane threatens just when she’s just about ready to rage hell unless they listened to her. “I say we should hear to what Bellamy has to say on the matter too.” Kane nods at the guards by the door “Bring him in.”

“He shouldn’t have a say, he’s a damn prisoner” Rita huffs under her nose and Clarke itches to kick her in the shin with her boot.

When they lead him in, he’s dragging his feet, his face is a mess of bruises and cuts, some of which seem way too fresh to Clarke and considering they weren’t bandaged like the others, she makes the conclusion they’re fresh and probably from this morning when he was brought breakfast. 

His left eye is swollen shit, his wrists are covered in lacerations from where he had struggled against his cuffs and his head was wrapped in a big already dirty white bandage that had leaked some judging by the red spot on the side of his forehead. 

They don’t untie him but instead leave him in the middle of the room, just a few feet away from the council members table and once he doesn’t have the support of the two guards, he staggers on his feet and has to will himself to stay standing so he doesn’t pass out on the floor.

“Bellamy Blake, you stand accused of treason according to the Exodus charter before the Arkadia council” Kane begins but Clarke almost misses the words, entirely focused on him. He looks up at them with his one opened eye and he seems like he has no idea where he is at all. “How do you plead?”

There’s a moment of silence in which he doesn’t say anything.

“Bellamy, how do you plead?” Kane asks insistently again but Bellamy simply stands there completely dumbfounded and shaking, probably out of fear, Clarke thinks and that’s the tip of the glass for her.

“Jesus, can’t you see he’s not alright?”

“Clarke-”

“What’s wrong with you, people?” she stands up again but instead of leaning on the table, she circles around and carefully approaches Bellamy. “Hey” she says carefully.

“Clarke, step back, he can be dangerous” she hears his mom’s voice behind and snaps her head back at her.

“He’s not dangerous, he’s breaking apart! Can’t you fucking see that?” they grow quiet at that and she reaches for his face but when he takes a step back as if afraid from her, she opts for his elbow. 

“Bellamy, do you understand what’s going on here? It’s okay if you don’t, we just need you to tell us.”

He looks around, then his eye falls on the table, then back to her and it takes him a moment before he nods.

“You’re here to kill me.” he mumbles finally and it’s so barely audible and so weak and broken that Clarke’s heart shatters into a million pieces.

“No, we’re not.” Kane says behind them and Clarke moves away so he can see the councilor, but she doesn’t leave Bellamy’s side, instead she stands there, hand still on his elbow, supporting some of his weight so he doesn’t pass out. “We’re trying to decide on a proper punishment for you.”

He doesn’t say anything at that again.

“Marcus, I don’t think he’s in a condition to do this now-” Abby begins after seeing what Clarke had just a minute ago-he might be standing there before them but he had no idea what was happening. 

He was shattered by PTSD and brought apart by physical pain. Clarke was sure the injuries on his back from the whipping still hadn’t healed. 

In fact...she had no idea if the bandages have been changed at all in the past few days since the event.

“We have to. The camp needs to put this matter behind us and you know Indra will come asking about the outcome of the trials in just a few days.” he reminds her “Bellamy do you-”

“I know what’s going on.” he finally speaks up and his voice doesn’t come out weak and confused. When Clarke looks at his face she sees some sort of recognition there and lets herself breathe a little easy.

“Good. Now let’s go back to where we were. How do you plead?”

“I’m guilty.”

“Alright.” Kane sighs and runs his fingers through his hair before he continues ”Well there’s been some debates going around here about what we should do with you after you’re released. Do you have anything to say in your defense, something that could help us take a decision?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Bellamy-” Clarke tries but he interrupts her.

“I don’t care what you do to me.” he tells the council “Don’t tell me you do, princess?”

“Of course, I do.” she insists, squeezing his elbow as if to prove her point but he just smiles and shakes his head at that.

“Kill me or don’t. I probably deserve whatever’s coming my way.” 

“No, you don’t! Bellamy, you tried to help our people, you trusted that Pike could keep everyone safe and make life better, did you not?” she was trying to help him but he refused to comply. He looked at her and there was so much confusion as there was surprise in his eye that it made it clear for her, that he wasn’t certain why she was even here trying to defend him after everything he’s done. 

“Clarke, I think you two should wait outside while we talk this once more and call you back, okay?” Kane says and nods at the guards before Clarke can protest that she needs to be here when they make this decision but the men come on both their sides and start shoving Bellamy back to the exit. 

Clarke tries to fight them, barks at them to stop pushing him so hard but they won’t listen. 

Once outside, they push him on the floor and he curls up on himself on the ground. She kneels near him and puts her hands on his legs.

“Hey-” she says gently “Everything will be alright.”

He laughs sadly.

“Nothing has been alright for a long while, princess.” she swallows hard at that and looks away before he speaks up again “What are you even doing here?”

“Someone has to defend you.”

“I don’t deserve it.”

“Yes, you do.” she moves up and covers his curled up body with hers “You do.” it’s an awkward hug but it’s the first one they’ve shared in a while and though it may be painful for him, though he may still be shivering under her, he lets her push his head to her chest and wrap his broken body with her arms. 

He doesn’t say anything else, but he closes his eyes and lets her hold him.

He wants to tell her it’s the most human he’s felt since Mount Weather but he doesn’t. He’s afraid if he does, he’ll start crying.

They call them in twenty minutes later.

He almost trips over when he stands up and this time he doesn’t have the strength to stay on his feet so the guards have to hold his arms to keep him upright when they read him his sentence.

“After much consideration and debate-” Kane begins “The council reached the conclusion that once you’ve healed, you are to join the construction crew in our camp. We can not allow you to join the guards for obvious reasons and we refuse to banish you or lock you up indefinitely. We believe, it is in our and your best interest if you try to rebuild this camp and fix what you have broken by participating in Pike’s rule.” Clarke tenses at that. 

This wasn’t the right call and they all knew it. 

Physical work would be demanding for his body even if he took a month to recover which she was sure they won’t give him. 

But what was worse was that the construction crew consisted of the worst of the camp’s men and women-mostly ex-prisoners or angry soldiers who were removed from duty after making unfixable mistakes, there were a few con men and petty thieves, but mostly low lives who loved making each other’s lives miserable.

One of them could be easily paid to remove Bellamy from the picture and make it look like an accident. Stab in his side or a push from the rooftop of a building and he’d be gone before he even opened his mouth to scream for help.

Which she wasn’t sure he’d even do.

He’d have to leave camp and go to the clearing where they’d have to chop woods for the cabins they had to build, which also made him an easy target if any of the grounders still decided to retaliate and kill him out there in the open.

This wasn’t a solution.

This was the council hoping Bellamy Blake dies at the hands of an angry wife or brother or daughter whose relative he had killed at the massacre. That way they’d wash their hands off of him and Indra would be more than pleased.

It was a death mission.

And she won’t let it happen.

“Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

Bellamy shakes his head and looks straight ahead once again as if he wasn’t even there, as if this was happening to someone else and not him.

“Then you’re free to go now. Guards, take off his cuffs and get him to medbay.”

Clarke lets him carry him away but she wastes no time lingering after though her mother and Kane call her name. She has nothing to say to them anymore.

Instead, she heads to her tent, gathers all her stuff in a bag and then finds the rest of the delinquents. 

At around midnight, she sneaks in medbay and finds Bellamy sleeping in a cot on the end of a long row and she shakes him to consciousness.

“Hey, come on, Bell, wake up!” she whispers in a rush and looks around, hoping no one saw her come in and that Jackson’s still asleep in his office. “Come on, we have to go!”

“What’s happening?” he asks when he focuses on her and watches as she pulls away his blanket and grabs both his wrists to help him sit up. 

“We’re leaving.”

“What?”

“You and me, we’re going.”

“Going where?”

“To the sea. If you stay here, you’ll die and I’m not going to let that happen.”

“Clarke-”

“Come on, the kids will help us out, but we have to go, now!” he doesn’t question her, doesn’t ask why she’s willing to sacrifice everything for him. 

Deep down, he thinks it may be because she feels in her heart what he always has felt in his too but he doesn’t dare be that arrogant. 

You couldn’t be prideful in love...you could only be hopeful.

He puts his clothes on and let’s her help him out.

They disappear into the night and for the first time in forever, he’s not afraid of the darkness.

In the morning, Abby finds his bed empty and when she asks around for her daughter and finds out no one has seen her, Kane sends in a team searching the woods for her but she knows nobody will find any trace of them.

And she can’t say she’s surprised.

[summernightskyy]

My Top 5 The 100 Women

Got tagged by @nomattertheoceans​ to do this! Thanks so much Lisa!! This took me forever to finally finish. (Can I just mention how hard this was for me though?!? I almost feel like it would have been easier for me to do my top 5 The 100 men - there’s so many amazing women on this show, but I also have had conflicting feelings for most of them at certain times lmao)

1. Clarke Griffin

Why was it so hard to find a gif of Clarke w/o Bellamy or Lexa, let Clarke shine on her own D:

I honestly really struggled over whether to put Clarke or Raven in my number one spot, but I ended up going with Clarke for a couple reasons. One of the things I’ve always loved about Clarke from the start is her tenacity - the girl literally never stops fighting. And yes, literally every single woman on this list is a fighter, but not all of them have had to make the tough calls that Clarke has with the consistency in which she’s been forced to make them. Does she always make the right choice? No, but I do believe that the choices she’s made have almost always been with good intentions. Even when she ended up making ruthless decisions that ended in many people’s deaths, I can’t think of a time where she didn’t try another more peaceful way first. She’s been willing to sacrifice her own happiness and mental well-being for the good of her people time and time again, and I see in her a mental fortitude that’s almost unparalleled. The other reason I ended up placing Clarke in my top spot is because of the representation she brings to the show, and that representation ended up meaning a lot to me. Finding a show with a Bi lead is hard enough even today, but in 2015? It was groundbreaking. While I’m still coming to terms with my sexuality, I think the teenage girl that I was watching The 100 back then needed to see that kind of representation; I genuinely believe that Clarke definitely helped me subconsciously start processing the fact that I might not be straight. She’s far from perfect, but I do think she’s a good person. I honestly think she deserves a lot more love than she gets from the fandom. That’s why Clarke Griffin is not only the first Bisexual lead on network television, sorry Sara Lance, Clarke did it first XD but also the first on this list.

(Also yes, I chose this gif of Clarke for a reason; the bi flag has the best colors, tell me I’m wrong ;)

2. Raven Reyes

I’ve loved Raven from the first second she appeared on my TV screen. How could you not? She’s smart as a whip, confident, and a literal rocket scientist. Raven Reyes is quite literally exactly who I would’ve liked to have grown up to be like in another world. She can fix almost anything. She’s a genius. She’s pretty much an astronaut. She’s spacewalked - that’s the stuff of dreams for me. Yes, there have been times over the course of the series where she’s annoyed me, but there’s always been more to like about her than not. She’s up there with Clarke when it comes to mental fortitude and determination - not even leg injuries and seizures can stop her. She’s always been a super intriguing character, and I’m honestly not sure where this show would be without her. And the cherry on top of all that is that she’s beautiful, and amazing representation as well. 

3. Octavia Blake

At one point, Octavia would have definitely been my number one spot. At other points, she wouldn’t have been on this list at all, but I’m learning to appreciate her character again - and there’s a lot to appreciate. At the start of the show, Octavia was my favorite character. I loved getting to see her actually get to experience the world around her for the first time. She was headstrong, bold, beautiful, open-minded and kind. My journey with Octavia has hit some bumps along the way, I won’t lie. Her brother quickly ended up displacing her as my favorite character on the show, and while their relationship was unhealthy on both ends (through no fault of either of them - looking at you, Aurora), I wasn’t a fan of her taking Lincoln’s death out on him and the way she began to mistreat other people as well. I was afraid none of that would ever be addressed, and while I was beginning to enjoy her character a lot more already, I can enjoy it even more so now that it has. It was so fun watching her develop into the amazing, badass warrior she is now. 

4. Emori Kom Spacekru

Honestly, if Emori had gotten more screen time over the course of the series, I’m almost certain she would be higher up on this list. My heart really bleeds for her, being cast out by her family like she was for something as trivial as a birth defect. I love how she worked so hard to get the Children of Gabriel reunited with their families, even if it didn’t turn out as well as she intended it to. I love the way she consistently stepped into danger and exerted influence as Kaylee Prime to try and help attain peace. One thing that I also really admire about Emori is the way she threw herself into learning from Raven during her time on the Ring. She’s such a boss and I was so happy when she successfully got Spacekru back down to earth in season 5! I’ve been super stressed over her well being, and I really want to see her (and everyone else on this list - but I’m most worried about her and Indra) make it to the end of the series alive.

5. Indra Kom Trikru

So, fifth place was insanely difficult for me to decide on, not gonna lie. I considered putting Lexa, Charmaine Diyoza, and even Callie and Hope (ultimately decided I haven’t seen enough of either character to justifiably put either of them up here over Indra). Honestly, if I had published this a couple weeks ago, Lexa probably would be in fifth place on this list. But after seeing 7x10, I ultimately decided to put Indra. I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure Indra mentioned to Sheidheda earlier in the season that she thought the fact that her mother was weak for having kneeled to him (even though it was to protect her). She’s very much a tough love and even somewhat cold person. That being said, I was amazed to see her do just what her mother did to protect Madi, even though I’m sure she would have fought to the death if Madi’s life wasn’t endangered. She has a very harsh exterior, but when she cares for someone - she cares for them. I really hope that before the end of this series we get to see her interact with Gaia and Octavia again. (Speaking of, where the heck is Gaia?!?)

I don’t really know if anyone I know on here that’s still active watches the 100, but if you see this and end up doing your own, please tag me! I’d love to see other people’s lists.

[float-me-now]

Hi! This is probably an unpopular opinion because I've seen A LOT of people saying the opposite BUT I actually think this is the worst season for Murphy character-wise (and I don't want anyone to take this the wrong way, I still LOVE him and I always will because even with the shittiest writer and/or storyline in the world I know Richard knows Murphy so much and works so hard to make it work that it will work one way or another. But still)

Hi Anon!

I absolutely agree with you when you say you’ll always love Murphy in spite of the writers! Yes, Richard knows his character very well, he’s so good and consistent in his way of playing him! I trust him with Murphy, which gives me a bit of hope for the end of his journey (even though I’m still afraid I won’t like it, please send help!).

Going back to what you call your unpopular opinion, since you were not very specific in what you don't like about his character writing this season, I'll say that I half-agree with you: there are some things I liked and several others that make me want to bang my head on a concrete wall.

I think that after season 6 it was very in character for him to feel guilty about Abby's death after Jackson lashed out at him, and also not wanting to take part in  the "Prime roleplay" made sense. I'm also loving the interactions he has with Indra because I like them both, they are salty, pragmatic people that hadn't really had real interactions before. 

I really liked it when he saved Jerry's kid from being burned alive, I thought it was very brave and Murphy-like.

However, I absolutely loathe the emphasis they are putting on his behavior around children, making many of us wonder if he'll become a father (I despise this idea with all my might). Maybe it's just a fandom-born convinction so I'm biased by that, but I really hope that it was just a way to show that he cares about the Sanctumites.

Another thing that made me go apeshit are his dialogues with Raven through 7x03 but especially at the end, it was so weird to see him shaming Raven instead of supporting her, it was just painful to watch (but I get it, it was only to prop up the horrible pointless story they burdened Raven with). Also, this decision of glueing him to the Sanctum storyline pisses me off a bit because yes, we got to see Richard with the amazing Adina and the incredible JR, but keeping Murphy separated from his actual family (Bellamy, Raven, Echo) for seven episodes and counting is not what I hoped to see in their final season. At least they showed that this thing bugged him (in 7x07, he clearly expresses his worries for his friends and his frustration for being kept there “babysitting fanatics” instead of looking for them).

I'm also kinda sick of seeing him being constantly desperate/self-loathing/bored/worried there on Sanctum. Just set this boy free from his cage!! xD

I hope my answer was good enough, I'd be curious to hear more of your opinion about his character writing :) Thank you for the ask! 🧡