#and is therefore desperate to save her as a result of that

[aparticularbandit]

"Takato, you're only so messed up about Jeri because you like her! That's why it hurts so much!"

This is like three minutes after Rika was also upset and hurt over Jeri.

And after Beelzemon basically near dying because he was so frantic about saving Jeri.

C'mon, show. C'mon.

[nataliescatorccioapologist]

Each Yellowjackets character’s greatest strength (and why it is also their greatest weakness)

Natalie: Empathy/Selflessness

Despite her abusive home life and edgy, intimidating exterior, Nat is one of the kindest and softest characters on the show. She has a deeper understanding of other’s trauma and pain than most due to her own experiences. Nat was the only one to show empathy towards Travis when his father died, even when he was an absolute asshole to her (and pointed a loaded gun at her!). She helped Travis cut the ring off of his dad’s finger because she knew Javi needed it. She faces her trauma and becomes a hunter to provide food for the group. When Jackie tells Travis about Bobby Farleigh and Travis breaks up with Nat as a result, Nat still helps Jackie on the night of Doomcoming. She also doesn’t hold a grudge against Travis for sleeping with Jackie and even wakes up at the crack of dawn everyday for months and trudges through snow for miles to help him look for Javi. She helps Lisa steal back her goldfish, defends her against her mother, and even dies for her (literally!).

This is also why her selflessness is her greatest weakness, she gives too much of herself and does not believe she herself is worth the care she gives to others, resulting in self-destructive tendencies. Her one act of selfishness (letting Javi die in her place) completely destroys her. Her empathy results in intense guilt and shame when she has to hurt others in the Wilderness, resulting in her spiraling into a life of drugs in order to cope and keeping people at arm’s length to avoid harming them.

Taissa: Ambition/Drive

Taissa is driven and successful in pretty much anything she sets her mind to. Before the crash, she’s a straight A student and an exceptional athlete. In the Wilderness, she takes the lead on leaving the plane wreck, finding the lake, and forges her own expedition to find civilization. Post-rescue, Taissa is arguably the most successful survivor. She’s a lawyer and burgeoning politician with a prestigious academic background and a picturesque family. Tai’s determination and drive for success ensures not only her survival after the plane crash but also the survival of her teammates.

However, Tai’s ambition is also one of her greatest faults. Her tunnel vision towards success can result in herself and those around her getting hurt. She accidentally breaks Allie’s leg trying to get her to improve her soccer abilities. She sets out on her expedition despite Lottie’s warnings, resulting in Van nearly getting killed. And, as an adult, she (literally) drives herself mad trying to win her political campaign, pushing her entire family away in the process. Tai is fierce and accomplished, but always at a cost.

Misty: Devotion/Loyalty

When Misty finds someone she views as her ‘person,’ she latches on and does not let go. We see this in the Wilderness with Coach Ben and Crystal; and in the adult timeline with Natalie. Misty desperately wants to be loved, and therefore she will do anything for the people she cares about, hoping that this will gain their affection. She nurses Coach Ben back to health, she shares all of her secrets with Crystal and does everything in her power to ensure that the others don’t eat her body when she dies. For Nat, she not only gets arrested trying to help her, but also snorts her cocaine to prevent her from relapsing (my favorite scene in the whole show ngl), sets up a whole interrogation with Randy, and travels to a compound in the middle of nowhere to find her after she was kidnapped.

This unconditional devotion, however, definitely comes with its flaws. Misty is obsessive about the people she loves, and this obsession often leads to people getting hurt and/or killed. She kills Jessica Roberts in order to save her fellow survivors from blackmail. She drugs Coach Ben with shrooms (and accidentally the whole team) in order to win his affection, which results in Travis nearly getting killed and Javi going missing. She intimidates Crystal off of a cliff to her death when she rejects Misty and kills Nat when she had been trying to protect her. Misty is loyal, but her loyalty results in sociopathic tendencies and the loss of the very same people she is devoting herself to.

Lottie: Spirituality/Open-Mindedness

Lottie’s spirituality and open-mindedness has been key to the group’s survival in the Wilderness. Her ability to see, hear, and sense what other’s cannot (whether you think it’s real or not) gives her teammates in the teen timeline and her cult (intentional community) members in the adult timeline hope and purpose. Without Lottie, the girls likely would have given up on survival long ago. She has an other-worldly, healing presence that those around her are naturally drawn to, and she helps a lot of people as a result.

Lottie’s spirituality can also be dangerous and even deadly, though. Her time as the Wilderness’s prophet causes the group to spiral into ritualistic sacrifices and cannibalism. In the adult timeline, her spirituality gets her locked up in a psych ward for years. Even after she has healed and moved on, Lottie’s belief in supernatural forces catches up with her again and results in her reinstating The Hunt, ultimately causing Nat’s death.

Van: Perseverance/Resilience

This poor butch goalie has almost died a ridiculous amount of times. She gets in a plane crash and is ditched by Jackie and Shauna in the wreckage, narrowly avoiding burning to death. Then, she’s nearly chopped into bits by a plane propeller. Then, she gets brutally and almost fatally mauled by a wolf. Then, she’s nearly burnt to death again on a funeral pyre (while still actively bleeding to death from the wolf attack). Then, her face is stitched up with a sewing needle by a 16 year-old (with no drugs to numb the pain). Then, her girlfriend starts losing control of herself and trying to run off of cliffs in the middle of the night so she has to regularly tie her down and keep watch of her all night. Then, she gets terminal cancer and only has a few months left to live. And that’s not even considering her life before the crash, living with an alcoholic mother that she has to take care of. Needless to say, Van has been through it. And through it all, she maintains her strength and witty sense of humor. She’s a light out in the Wilderness, keeping her team uplifted and laughing even in their worst moments (this girl is literally cracking jokes with her face torn to shreds). Her perseverance through hardship is next level.

However, this perseverance seems to have created a numbness in Van. Over time in the Wilderness, Van becomes more numb and reaction-less to the tragedy and trauma occurring around her. When the group eats Jackie, she bluntly tells Tai “we ate her” with little emotion. When they kill and eat Javi, Van tells Travis she has no regrets because she’s grateful to be alive. In the adult timeline, Van calls off the psych team for Lottie and goes through with the card ritual, knowing that this will likely result in the someone getting killed. Van is resilient and driven to survive through hardships, but her way of surviving means losing a little bit of her heart and humanity in the process.

Jackie: Influence

Before the crash, Jackie is undoubtedly a leader. She’s the Yellowjackets’ team captain and has an almost magnetic force around her that seems to captivate the whole school. She’s pretty, popular, and excels in everything she does. Shauna especially is completely caught in her orbit. When her teammates are fighting at the party, she single-handedly manages to calm them all down and help them mend their conflicts with each other.

The downside to this influence, however, is that it does not transfer to the Wilderness. High school rules don’t apply to trying to survive in the Canadian Rockies, and Jackie’s influence lies in civilization and traditional society. Jackie struggles to have the same power that she did before, and those who are more unconventional (such as Lottie and Nat) have more influence in their new living situation.

Shauna: Intensity/Passion

Shauna is completely driven by her emotions. She feels things strongly and loves people intensely. We see this first with Jackie, who Shauna has an all-consuming (pun-intended) love for. Her world revolves around Jackie, she doesn’t know where she ends and Jackie begins. In the Wilderness, this intensity of emotions translates to a ferocity that keeps her and her teammates alive. Shauna is unafraid to become the butcher of the group or to take the first bite. On the surface, Shauna appears timid, reserved, and gentle. As a teen, she’s invisible at school, hiding in Jackie’s shadow. As an adult, she’s an unassuming, soft-spoken housewife. But underneath is a darkness and fierceness that catches people by surprise and serves as her secret weapon.

The downside to Shauna’s intensity and passion, however, is that she does not have control over it. Her emotions spiral until she or someone close to her gets hurt. She loves Jackie and feels jealous of her, so she sleeps with her boyfriend, gets pregnant with his child, and implodes their friendship. She is deeply mourning Jackie’s death, so she eats a part of her to feel close to her again. She’s grieving the loss of her baby and doesn’t know what to do with that feeling so she nearly beats Lottie to death. She has a feeling Jeff might be cheating so she starts an affair with Adam. Someone stole her minivan? She’s gonna track them down, hold them at gunpoint, and nearly kill them. When she begins to feel unsafe and suspicious of Adam, this feeling, too, spirals out of control and she ends up murdering him. Shauna’s emotions are powerful, and while they do serve an important purpose of keeping her alive in the Wilderness, she doesn’t know how to express them in healthy ways and ends up lashing out as a result. I have a feeling they’re going to play an important role in Season 3, as well, as we can see that Shauna’s jealousy of Nat’s leadership is already beginning to make itself known.

[skywalkr-nberrie]

Apart from the fact that Padmé had said she knew she’d no longer be allowed to serve in the senate, Anakin saying he wanted to leave the Jedi and be with Padmé, and Padmé outwardly saying that she wanted to raise her and Anakin’s kids on Naboo, and run away with him to the Lake Country (it’s even stated so by Trisha Bigger in Dressing a Galaxy, when asked about what Padmé’s funeral dress was supposed to symbolize):

We do see a bit more implications within the ROTS novel that tell us how Padmé and Anakin were keen on leaving behind duty, to live together peacefully, and raise their kids.

In this scene of the novel, we see that OW is encouraging Padmé to watch over Anakin (as he’s growing more concerned of his mental state) and somewhat asks her to “leave him” because her relationship to him strains his position as a Jedi, and it would be a mistake if he left. Padmé insists that it doesn’t matter, because Anakin is said to be the chosen one, therefore he would remain a Jedi as so the prophecy states. But on the contrary, OW tells her that he’s scanned the prophecy and it’s no where said that the chosen one had to be a Jedi. At this point, the parts I’ve highlighted shows to us how Padmé begins to hope, that she describes as desperate and leaving her breathless. She now knows that Anakin, her husband, doesn’t need to remain in the Order to complete his legacy as the chosen one. Leaving more room for her to hope for the future that she and Anakin so desperately crave together.

Up until now, Padmé didn’t want to take Anakin away from his duty and responsibilities as a Jedi, partly because of the Republic and it’s reliance on him, but mostly because she didn’t want to take away his dream of being a Jedi. Part of this feeling also stems from the prophecy stating that Anakin IS the chosen one. Knowing how Padmé is very prone to justice, and helping the galaxy especially for those in need of saving. It’s not hard to put two and two together that she’d feel guilt for making Anakin choose her over fulfilling his mission as the chosen one. (Even though to Anakin, there was never a choice. He would inevitably always choose Padmé.) This passage alone gives her the hope and confirmation she’s always desperately wanted that Anakin didn’t have to remain a Jedi to be the chosen one. So she feels a sense of relief knowing she can still have him, run away with him, and at the same time, not take him away from the grand destiny he was always meant for.

In this passage^^ Anakin also mentions that he and Padmé have talked about what would happen now that she was pregnant, and he says that they’ve decided that they would remain in their respective positions for as long as they could until the secret was no longer concealable. Another implication of how they HAVE talked about leaving their duties behind in favour of running away together. The result was made from the circumstances Anakin was in of course. He wanted to stay in the Order longer to find a way to save Padmé. Padmé only wanted to keep it a secret to protect Anakin, so that he could stay in the Order. (No mention of herself or her duty.)

Padmé had already gone through the consequences her pregnancy would lead too, and she didn’t care for them. She says she’d be “relieved” of her senatorial duties, and she made her peace with it. She was ready to move on and begin her life with Anakin. She was only worried for what everything would mean for Anakin. She was worried what it would do for him, and he, of course, decided that he didn’t care either. He also just wanted to run away with his wife and be together as one big family.

In Padmé’s words:

“Come away with me, leave everything else behind while we still can.”

[inkspiredwriting]

Inescapable Fate

Five Hargreeves x Fem!reader

A/N: There is nothing more important to a writer than the opinions of the people who read his work. I would therefore be very happy if you would leave a comment :)

Warnings: Death, Angst

The rain fell in relentless sheets, pounding against the windows of the Umbrella Academy. Inside, Number Five paced the floor, his mind racing. He had faced impossible odds before, bent time and space to his will, but nothing had prepared him for this. Y/N, his wife, lay in the hospital, her condition worsening by the hour. Despite his best efforts, he couldn’t save her. Yet, he refused to accept that fate.

Five’s siblings watched him with a mix of concern and helplessness. They knew better than to try and talk him out of his desperate mission. He had made up his mind, and when Five set his mind to something, there was no stopping him.

“I have to go back,” Five muttered, more to himself than to anyone else. “I have to find the moment when everything went wrong and fix it.”

“Five,” Viktor said gently, stepping forward. “You’ve already tried so many times. Maybe... maybe some things can’t be changed.”

Five whirled on him, his eyes blazing. “I refuse to believe that! I won’t just stand by and watch her die.”

Diego stepped in, his expression grim. “We get it, Five. But this is tearing you apart. How many more times are you going to put yourself through this?”

“As many times as it takes,” Five snapped, turning back to his calculations. He scribbled furiously, mapping out yet another plan to travel back in time.

With a final check of his equations, Five opened a time portal and stepped through, determined to change the course of events that had led to Y/N’s illness.

He arrived in the past, days before Y/N’s diagnosis. The world around him felt eerily familiar, yet suffocatingly different. He knew every moment counted, and he wasted no time in trying to alter the sequence of events.

Five’s first attempt was simple: he tried to persuade Y/N to avoid the places he believed had exposed her to the illness. But fate was cruel. Y/N, always the caring and dedicated person, had commitments she couldn’t break. She smiled at his uncharacteristic insistence, teasing him about his sudden overprotectiveness.

Next, Five tried a more drastic approach. He manipulated circumstances to keep her isolated, away from any potential danger. He convinced her to take a spontaneous vacation, whisking her away to a remote cabin. For a brief moment, it seemed like he had succeeded. They laughed and talked, the bond between them growing stronger.

But the illness found her even there, in the most unlikely of ways. Y/N’s symptoms began to show, and despite Five’s frantic efforts, she fell ill again.

Desperation gnawed at Five’s resolve. He returned to the present, only to find Y/N in the hospital, just as before. Each failure weighed heavily on him, but he couldn’t give up. He wouldn’t.

Five repeated the cycle over and over, each attempt more frantic than the last. He sought out experts, delved into obscure medical research, even resorted to manipulating time more recklessly than ever before. But every time, the result was the same. Y/N’s fate seemed written in stone, no matter how hard he fought against it.

One night, after yet another failed attempt, Five found himself back at the Academy, exhausted and broken. He slumped into a chair, staring blankly at the wall. The room was silent except for the ticking of a clock, a cruel reminder of the time slipping away.

Allison approached him cautiously. “Five, you need to rest. You’re going to kill yourself at this rate.”

Five’s voice was a hollow whisper. “I can’t lose her, Allison. I can’t.”

Allison knelt beside him, taking his hand. “You haven’t lost her yet. She’s still here, right now. You should be with her.”

The words pierced through Five’s haze of desperation. He realized, with a painful clarity, that he had been so focused on changing the past that he was missing the present. Y/N needed him now, more than ever.

With a heavy heart, Five stood and made his way to the hospital. He found Y/N lying in her bed, her breathing shallow but steady. She smiled weakly when she saw him, her eyes filled with love and understanding.

“Hey, you,” she said softly. “You’ve been gone a lot. Saving the world again?”

Five’s throat tightened. He sat beside her, taking her hand in his. “Something like that.”

Y/N squeezed his hand. “You don’t have to save me, Five. Just be here with me. That’s all I need.”

Tears welled up in Five’s eyes. He had been so blind, so consumed by his need to change the past, that he had forgotten what mattered most. He leaned in, pressing his forehead to hers. “I’m here, Y/N. I’m here.”

In the days that followed, Five stayed by Y/N’s side. They talked, reminisced, and cherished every moment together. Five knew he couldn’t change the past, couldn’t alter her fate, but he could make sure she knew how deeply he loved her.

As Y/N’s condition worsened, Five held her close, his heart breaking with every labored breath she took. And when the time came, and she slipped away peacefully in his arms, he was there, whispering words of love and comfort.

In the end, Five couldn’t save Y/N. But he had given her the one thing that mattered most: his unwavering presence and love. And though the pain of her loss would never fully fade, he found solace in knowing that he had been with her, every step of the way, until the very end.

Fate might be inescapable, but love, Five realized, was the one constant that transcended time and space. And that love would stay with him, always.

[renavi0]

Rain Code Vampire Hunters AU — CHAPTER 0

Tw: some blood, death

The story begins with a young man who woke up near a mysterious altar, inside a cave. He couldn't remember anything: how he ended up in this cave, his past, or even his name.

After looking around and checking his pockets, he found a letter. From that letter, the young man learned that his name is Yuma Kokohead, he's a vampire hunter and that he, along with many other hunters, was sent on a mission to find the mysterious Kanai City. The letter also mentioned that he should meet up with a group of other hunters to go to their destination together.

Therefore, Yuma had no choice but to leave the cave and try to find the other hunters, not even knowing where to go.

Luckily, he soon found them..... or rather they found him. All this time Yuma wasn't far from the station, where he, Melami, Pucci, Aphex, Zange, and Zilch were supposed to meet. And while the other hunters were waiting for the last person, they noticed «the little guy who got lost in the forest».

They were surprised to know that Yuma was the hunter-in-training they had been waiting for. However, they didn’t know anything else about him. Aphex even doubted Yuma's honesty about amnesia and that he's a hunter, but the letter and the vampire hunter's badge convinced the others of his validity. They had no choice but to set out for their destination.

They spent about a week on the road. During this time, Yuma got somewhat used to his colleagues. Not everyone treated him well, but for Yuma, these were the first people he thought he could rely on.

However, there was something that scared him. A mysterious voice that he heard more and more often every day. Yuma had begun to think he was going crazy, until he saw a purple ghost in front of him.

That day, Yuma had fallen behind his colleagues and got lost. He was shocked by what he saw. The ghost said she’s Shinigami – a Death God, with whom he had made a contract, and thanks to which he could now use her powers.

Yuma's head was spinning from all he heard. He couldn't immediately accept all the new information and the appearance of the Death God herself, but he was forced to put aside his worries and questions in order to return back to the others.

However, Yuma discovers something terrible. He finds Zange, mauled and covered in blood, about to die. Yuma runs to help him somehow, but Zange only manages to say, "He wasn’t who he said he was". Yuma began to panic, realizing that somewhere nearby is the vampire that killed Zange and is going to do the same to Yuma and the others.

Unfortunately for him, he then found the torn bodies of Pucci and Melami. While searching for both his companions and answers, Yuma thought more about Zange's words and realized that the older man had meant that there was a traitor among them.

Yuma eventually found the rest of their group, though not in the way he had hoped. Aphex was lying bloody and ripped on the ground, and in front of him stood Zilch, covered in blood and with black and red eyes, staring at Yuma with a feral expression. This image felt very familiar to Yuma, causing him to panic.

Zilch looked at him with a smirk on his face and inquired if Yuma remembers him. Yuma didn't understand what Zilch was talking about, but Zilch didn't care whether he remembered him or not. In his current state, getting rid of Yuma would be much easier.

Zilch began chasing Yuma. Yuma could only run until Shinigami began telling him that he should finally use her powers, as it was the only way he could be saved at this moment. Yuma desperately called upon Shinigami, the Death God transforming into a large scythe in his hands. Now the Death God has become a tangible material. She informed Yuma that this form of hers is the ultimate weapon against vampires, from which they cannot escape. And despite his poor skills with weapons, he entered into battle with Zilch. As a result, he barely, but defeated him, piercing him with the blade of the scythe.

Yuma didn't know what to do next once the battle was concluded. His colleagues were killed, one of them was a traitor, and he didn't even know where he was. He had wanted everything to stop at that moment and give him a chance to come to his senses.

However, he heard a rustling sound close to him, which meant that someone was nearby.

As he prepared to fight again, he ran into a tall figure, which frightened them both initially. In front of him, there was a middle-aged man with blue hair and glasses of the same color, standing near a tree, scared, holding his heart.

The stranger assured him that he didn't want to cause harm and was only worried, because he saw someone running in panic. The blue-haired man introduced himself as Yakou and said that he lives in this forest and helps lost people or vampire hunters who sometimes need a place to stay for the night or day. Although he admitted that he meets the latter of the two options very rarely, but over the past month he had spent a lot of time with four hunters who arrived in a nearby village. They didn't tell him their goals, but he himself admits that he can do little to help them.

Yakou then offered to take Yuma to the village to the others, to which Yuma hesitantly agreed, full of distrust but had no other options. On the way, Yuma recounted his experiences with his first group, after which Yakou expressed his sympathies and tried to help.

—

Happy that I finally got to do something big with vampire hunters au!

Initially, I was going to do something more large, including a comic about how Yuma met Yakou. But I realized that I don't have enough energy for it, especially recently because of work (it was a hard period), so I decided to do everything in this format

I didn't want to stray too far from ch 0 of the game, but I did add some new details and hints that I hope you'll find intriguing. Do you think Yuma really knew Zilch before he lost his memory?

I also want to thank @draconicsparkle ( I hope you don't mind that I'm tagging you here) for beta reading. You really helped me a lot!

I hope you all enjoy it! I would like to see your comments and any guesses you may have (my askbox is always open)

Thank you so much for reading!

[veenvss]

Magic in Seasonal Prythian

solar magic | main masterlist | worldbuilding masterlist

ACOTAR to me has always had so much potential but it was just ruined by it's execution. however, I am a grown woman (I'm 18) and I also have free time so I though, "Huh, why not do it myself?"

Hi.

This is a post on the Seasonal Courts and their magic.

Prythian is often split into two, Seasonal and Solar, with an area known as the Middle to geographically split them as well. The magic between the courts differs, yet they're also quite similar. Each court relies on each other in order to make their magic effective. Summer is the start of the harvest, which allows for things to survive during winter. Autumn is where animals and plants retreat to save their strength for the minimal amount of nutrients in winter, so they come back and flourish in the spring.

AUTUMN

The Autumn Court is one of the Seasonal Courts of Prythian, located south of the Middle, and it's currently run by its High Lord, Beron Vanserra.

In ACOTAR, the Autumn people are shown to have fire magic, they're able to control fire. The only real show of fire power we get is during Lucien and Feyre's escape in ACOWAR, where Eris and Feyre fight on the ice lakes in Winter. Eris manages to get Feyre to the ground and he has a tight grip on her. She is gagged by fire and she is bound by the ankles and wrists by fire. She mentions that it was hot, but not enough to burn unless Eris wills it, showing that they may be able to control the temperature of their flames. And that's it. That's all we get in the books about the magic of the Autumn Court.

The ability to create fire could be a limited power. Some may have the ability to create fire from thin air, however, others could rely on fire that already exists without the ability to create their own. Obviously, there are ways to go about this, such as in the Red Queen series by Victoria Aveyard, where Cal and Maven use bracelets that create sparks to be able to create fire when they need it.

As mentioned in ACOWAR, they could have the ability to manipulate the temperature, both as an effect of fire but also as an effect of autumn itself. They could change the temperatures of the air around them or maybe even specific things. There is a possibility of someone with the ability to control the temperature, heating water, even possibly controlling the temperature of a person and boiling them alive.

Autumn is quite often seen as storm season in many places across the earth. The warmth from summer and the coolness of autumn and winter meeting together. Storms can vary, from a little bit of rain and wind to full-blown hurricanes, as we saw a few weeks ago with Hurricane Helene and Milton. Autumn could mean the ability to manipulate the weather and create storms themselves, and also with that the minor manipulation of water or precipitation. Maybe even the control of flooding, I live in a flood-prone area and autumn is always the start of flood season around me.

With the manipulation of fire and storms could come with the manipulation of oxygen. Fire needs sustainable levels of oxygen to thrive, as well as the oxygen in the atmosphere present in storms. The ability of controlling the oxygen could boost the power of fires and also allow for the user to suffocate flames or even enemies.

Autumn is often associated with its brown leaves, which come as a result of the lack of sunlight needed for photosynthesis. Therefore, people could have the power to manipulate life, making it wither away to fit in with the season of autumn.

Coming with autumn, and the colder weather are negative feelings. Autumn is often the start of seasonal depression for many people, and as a result, it could manifest in Autumn being able to manipulate those feelings in others, creating overwhelming feelings of desperation and isolation.

SPRING

The Spring Court is the southernmost court in Prythian and is currently run by its High Lord, Tamlin.

Despite the first book and a large portion of the next two books taking place in the Spring Court, we never discover much about the magic except for Tamlin's magic, which isn't reflective of the rest of the court due to his High Lord's status.

Tamlin's magic is often shown in his shapeshifting abilities. We see these abilities before we even meet Tamlin himself, as he transforms his guard Andras into a wolf who meets Feyre Archeron in the woods. We know his powers give him the ability to transform himself and others into different animals. There is also a possibility, with the traditional ideas of shapeshifting, of Tamlin being able to transform himself into different people.

Spring is often associated with life, as it's the start of trees turning green and the start of flowers blooming. Traditionally, spring goddesses have always been shown with powers of fertility. This means they have been able to manipulate how births can go and how much food and other resources are produced. This can also give the ability to produce famines and complete destruction of a society with the lack of food, which can cause chaos and breakdowns. Historically, civilisations have crashed due to famines and the lack of resources creating instability. Famines have also led to things such as cannibalism, especially out of necessity. Spring powers are also associated with plants, the blooming of flowers or trees, which can be linked to fertility. The production of fruits on trees or the reliance on nectar for animals such as bees and mice.

Spring also brings along "April showers", as the transition from winter can cause an unstable jetstream. In certain areas, such as the US and the West Pacific, disastrous tornadoes occur in spring, allowing for weather manipulation. High winds and torrential downpours from these storms also allow for minor water manipulation, through flooding and high water levels. Especially at the beginning of spring, the weather is still quite chilly, allowing for control over other forms of precipitation such as hail or snow.

As with Autumn and its ability to bring about feelings of isolation and despair, Spring could have the ability to bring about joy and peace. As again, with fertility, spring brings stability as things start to grow, allowing for them to manipulate these emotions within people.

SUMMER

The Summer Court is another Seasonal Court in Prythian, its current High Lord is Tarquin.

In ACOTAR, Summer is mentioned to have control over water. Feyre's water wolves that she summons during the Battle of Velaris are attested to Summer's control over water. This control is seen once again after a battle against Hybern in ACOWAR. Tarquin is seen drowning their enemies, even though they are miles inland from any sea.

The ability to control water gives a lot of variation in powers. The user could be able to summon waves, maybe even tsunami level waves with enough strength to completely level entire cities. The ability to control water could also result in the ability to control other forms of water, not just liquid, such as vapour or ice. However, as this water ability is connected to the season of summer, I would say that that ability is very minor.

Summer is quite often associated with heat, my reasoning for the lack of ice manipulation. As seen with autumn, the heat manipulation could provide the ability to boil things alive, an equal violent use as drowning someone alive. The heat could also provide an opposing force to ice manipulation, the ability to melt the ice. It could also bring about droughts, which would be devastating to populations if it disrupts the harvest that normally happens at the end of summer. Summer is also associated with the bright sun, which could give control over the light, as well as the heat just mentioned.

The heat and moisture of summer create the prime conditions for storms as well. These storms aren't usually as destructive as the hurricanes or tornadoes associated with autumn and spring, respectively, however, these storms are usually thunderstorms as the high pressure and the heat creates the thunder and lightning. I think this would allow for the control of electricity and energy. Lightning strikes are incredibly hot, and paired with the ability to control heat, I think it would be understandable for them to be able to have the ability to produce fire, yet I think it would be interesting for them to have the ability to produce fire yet not control it. Wildfires are known for being wild and out of control, as seen in wildfires internationally, which would reflect in Summer's inability to properly control the fires they make, as well as the idea that their main form of elemental magic is water, which would provide an opposition to the fire as well.

As with Autumn and Spring, Summer brings along a lot of emotions with it. We commonly associate summer with joy and happiness. We can go outside and celebrate the sun, as well as summer bringing along colours that contrast the gloom of winter and autumn. It would make sense to continue that idea with summer, with the ability to manipulate those emotions in people.

WINTER

The Winter Court is the final Seasonal Court in Prythian. It's the northernmost one, bordered by the Middle to the north, which blocks it from the Solar Courts. Its current High Lord is Kallias, and his wife Viviane.

The Winter Court is able to manipulate ice, as shown by their "icy" complexions and the ice lakes we see in ACOWAR. This ability over would allow them to create ice, maybe to block an opponent's attack of water. It would also them to allow different forms of precipitation, such as hail or snow. The control of snow could allow for them to control snow storms and blizzards.

They could also have the ability to manipulate the temperature, in opposition to what we've seen before. They would be able to make the area around them freezing, maybe make someone's temperature so cold that they freeze to death, even in the dead of summer.

Winter is the time when the plants aren't receiving enough sunlight to thoroughly produce enough energy to keep themselves warm through the cold months. Similar to Autumn, I think this would allow them to wither plants, slowly kill them off by essentially blocking the plants' sunlight receivers, either over time or suddenly, this is magic of course. This ability could also affect people on a wider scale, as killing off plants could affect the stores of food people have for winter, once again causing famine and instability.

With the instability of winter, comes fear, and like the other seasonal courts, I think winter would have the ability to cause fear and dread in people, like Autumn. It can bring a lack of energy and exhaustion, different to Summer's rejuvenation. It could also bring along tiredness, as a lot of animals hibernate throughout the winter. This could allow for Winter to be able to have minimal control over sleep.

first and foremost i would like to thank my sister cause we had a 15 minute long discussion about the wider powers that are associated with the seasons (and the solar courts but that's the next post).

she also brought up the super cool idea of people's associations with the seasons affecting how they're treated. people are immediately fearful of winter because of the instability it brings, making them more on edge around them. in comparison to people being at ease in summer making the court more dangerous and the people open to attack because they're so relaxed.

[afurtivecake]

idk maybe i think about the ravens too much but i totally understand not looking too hard at other people's suffering when you're in the same abusive situation. like, when you're in the same environment that the abuse and shitty behaviour is happening in, it's impossible to be an objective and neutral bystander. you can feel sympathy for the people in it with you, but you also can't help but think, "well, maybe if they were just a little better at behaving the way they're expected to behave, even if it is an act.....maybe they wouldn't be punished all the time." it's not that you think they deserve it. it's just that you see the correlation between their action and the result and you just desperately want them to stop doing the action that earns the bad result. the reality is that stopping the punishment from ever happening is the only good way of solving the situation, but when you're in the situation, that never feels like an option.

that's why it takes an outside like renee or like andrew to step in and force the abusive situation to stop. like i think we forget that the reason andrew was able to so easily kill his mother is because he never thought of her as his mother. she was just some woman who was beating up the only person he knew who had actually reached out to him and wanted to be in his life. had he grown up with aaron and tilda, i'm willing to bet the murder would have been a lot harder.

so yeah, i'm not saying thea was right to have been the way she was with jean. i'm saying i understand where she's coming from. thea doesn't see herself as a victim. and so she doesn't see jean as a victim. i know it sounds harsh. but the thing is... the idea is that a victim is someone who didn't do anything to deserve the way they were treated. but when you can see how someone treated you badly because of something you did, the bad treatment no longer feels unjustified. the key thing is that the bad treatment WAS actually objectively unjustifiable. it just FEELS like you did something to earn it and therefore, your brain tells you that you can't be a victim. and if you're not a victim, then neither is anyone else that you see as being in the same situation as you. anyway what i'm saying is, if anyone was going to save jean, it was never going to be a raven.

[saibug1022]

No Longer You

Word Count: 2k Characters/Relationship(s): Asterin Nightbloom, Tyril Starfury, Tyril x MC, Mal Volari x MC, Aerin Valleros x MC, Mal Volari x Tyril Starfury Genre/Tags: Angst, Hurt no comfort (yet), aggressive parallels A/N: This miniseries is very heavily inspired by Epic the Musical and therefore the Odyssey. This part is inspired by, shockingly, the song No Longer You. The series should be three parts so stay tuned.

Part 2, Part 3

“How could we have left him?!” Imtura exclaimed.

“We didn’t leave him,” Nia said, seeming just as angry as the warrior. “She kept him there.”

“Who is ‘she’?” Mal asked, his grip on Tyril’s shoulder tightening.

Tyril sighed, looking up from where he’d been sitting on a large boulder with his head clutched in his hands. As soon as the light had faded and they realized Asterin wasn’t with them, the whole group had fallen into a panic. None of them seemed to express fear nor grief in the same way which only sent them into a downward spiral thanks to the chaos seeded among them.

Tyril had fallen back into the same methods and emotions he’d used when Asterin disappeared: desperation. His mind was already shuffling through every story, legend, and even rumor he’d ever heard. Unfortunately, only one fit the situation.

“’She’ is Asin,” Tyril answered. Nia and Aerin must have came to the same conclusion seeing as Nia stared firmly at the ground and Aerin crossed his arms. “A rarely spoken of goddess. Scholars have always been conflicted as to why, but she was sentenced to fall in love with any who arrived on her island, which is also its own realm. Those she falls in love with are trapped there until Nilfira decides to intervene. It could have been any of us, but Asterin must have been the one she fell in love with.”

“Maybe you didn’t notice but none of us can realmwalk,” Aerin pointed out. He glared at Tyril like it was his fault they were in this situation and Tyril barely resisted the urge to leave him in a ravine. “How are we supposed to get to him?”

“Even if we could realmwalk, it’s impossible to find Asin’s realm,” Tyril retorted.

“So what, he’s just trapped there?” Mal asked. Tyril put his hand over Mal’s. The other man was clearly holding back tears and Tyril was in the same sitution.

“No, no way, I refuse to accept that,” Imtura scoffed. “There’s nothing you can’t find as long as you look for it. There’s always a course to plot, we just need a map.”

“You can’t plot a course through realms,” Tyril said.

“She may be right,” Aerin realized.

“Really?” Imtura replied.

“Maybe we can’t plot a course, but we could if we knew where it was,” Aerin said. “There is one man who may be able to find it for us. The Seer of Andreas.”

“Speaking to the Seer of Andreas drives people insane,” Tyril argued.

“Unless you have the proper motivation,” Nia added. “Think about it. Every story where people survived speaking to the Seer they were motivated by something other than power: Agnarr the Red wanted to protect his clan, Lianna was there with another only to fulfill her oath and uphold her honor, Perin was there for duty, and Ambrose for love. We’d be there because we love Asterin, not for power or glory.”

“Would that be enough?” Aerin questioned.

“It has to be,” Tyril replied.

It was an awful plan. But it was no worse than some of the other plans they’d had, including charging into the Shadow Realm headfirst while missing a member of their party. That plan had resulted in saving Morella. Perhaps this one could save Asterin, a task infinitely more valuable.

“I need you to stop talking myths and start talking facts,” Imtura spoke up.

“The Seer of Andreas can see everything,” Nia explained. “He doesn’t just see the future he sees every possibility of the future and the past. Most people who talk to him are driven insane under the weight of what he says assuming he even speaks to them. But a few have survived.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Mal nodded and squeezed Tyril’s hand, standing up from the log. “Where is this Seer?”

“…another realm,” Nia admitted.

“So we’re back on the Realmwalking problem,” Imtura sighed. “Does anyone know where Valax went off to?”

“Actually,” Mal hesitated. Then he pulled a small cloth from his belt, that when unwrapped revealed a small vial of something red.

“Is that blood?” Tyril asked. He stood up to examine it closely and came to the conlusion Mal was indeed carrying around a vial of blood.

“It's Asterin's blood,” Mal clarified. Each of them stared at him in silence. “What? He gave it to me in case of an emergency!”

“He didn't tell me that,” Tyril said, looking at the vial over Mal's shoulder.

“Nor I,” Aerin agreed. “Why would neither of you say anything?”

“He made me swear to secrecy,” Mal explained.

“And thats the promise you keep?”

“Okay you know what you little sh-”

“Would you two stop bickering and focus?” Nia snapped. “Your jealousy issues come later, we need to find the Seer.”

“Can you use the blood to open a portal?” Imtura asked. Nia took the blood from Mal and clutched it in her hands like she could feel Asterin within it.

“I suppose we’ll find out,” Nia said

Not a day later their entire party spilled onto the ground of a cavernous temple. The entire inner chamber they’d fallen into was carved into the stone of whatever realm they were in. The ceiling was held up by stone columns, the stretches between them made of a white crystal that reminded Tyril of the archive in Undermount. There was not even a hint of light other than the teal fire in the braziers lining a walkway.

The walkway extended halfway over a pit so deep it seemed to be a void, a void with more turquoise light curling in tendrils, all arcing toward one figure. At the end was a figure partially obscured by shadow. He was tall but incredibly frail, wrapped in simple hooded robes.

“You made it after all,” The Seer hummed as they all scrambled to their feet. The seer turned around and Tyril felt a shiver run down his spine. It was an entirely involuntary reaction to something Tyril couldn’t quite name. Maybe it was how the Seer’s face was obscured by his hood, washing his face in shadows. It almost looked like he had no face, if not for his eyes glowing green. “I suppose I should welcome you to Andreas.”

This was it. If they failed here either Asterin would be lost or they’d be too mad to look for him.

“Great Seer,” Nia stepped to the front of the group and held out her hands in a gesture both placating and awed. “We humbly request your guidance, we desperately need help fin-”

“I know of whom you seek,” The Seer replied. Every word he spoke was completely flat and emotionless. It wasn’t apathetic, something more like tired. “I only wonder if you do.”

“What does that mean?” Imtura asked.

“This is not the first time your party has made it to Andreas in search of your friend,” The Seer told them. They all exchanged glances of varying confusion, alarm, and curiosity. “I only wonder which friend it is you seek.”

“Asterin?” The Seer continued. “Yet which version of Asterin? Asterin of Riverbend? Asterin Nightbloom? Asterin Volari? Asterin of the Great House Nightbloom? Asterin Starfury? Consort and Prince Asterin Valleros? Asterin, Avatar of the Dreadlord? Asterin of the Ash Empire?”

Each name felt like a punch to the gut. Many he could not pinpoint but of course he could a few. Asterin Volari. Asterin Starfury. Mal was breathless beside him and Tyril’s mind was spinning. Asterin Valleros. Aerin was wide eyed and conflicted. His eyes sparkled with hope and fear all at once. Avatar of the Dreadlord. Nia looked sick, Aerin along with her.

“Maybe it is not Asterin at all. Is it Raine? Aurelian? Va'or? Odette? Maiele? Myrdan? Aemyraithe?”

“Great Seer, we do not know these names,” Nia claimed.

“You do,” The Seer replied. “Though perhaps not you. Tell me then? Which name do you want to find?”

“Asterin,” Aerin said. His voice was tinged with desperation that for once aligned his interests with Tyril’s. Even Mal looked the same.

“Which Asterin?”

Each of them hesitated. Asterin used the name Asterin of Riverbend and Asterin Nightbloom interchangeably. The wrong name could lead them to man they didn’t know.

“You do not even know yourselves,” The Seer realized. “I cannot blame you. There are more Asterins than you could fathom.”

“Right, and you can see them all?” Mal snarked.

“I see everything, Mal Volari,” The Seer tilted his head. “I see your desperation, I see you recklessly offering your life to save your friends, I see Mal Starfury and Mal Nightbloom, I see how you look at Asterin, I see the light leave your mother’s eyes and I see your fear that one day you will be in that bed yourself with your loves standing over you with faces unchanged.”

Mal looked like he’d been slapped as his legs nearly gave out. Tyril found it difficult to breathe as he stared at him. Mal had spoken of his mother and how he’d sacrifice himself for Tyril and Asterin in a heartbeat. He’d even tried before. But the last piece was something Tyril had never even guessed.

“Mal…?” Tyril’s voice was barely a whisper but Mal still looked at him with an apology clearly on his lips.

“I see you Tyril Starfury,” The Seer continued. “I see blue turning to gray, I see you alone in a cold palace, I see you at a warm hearth with family by your side, I see your Dinvalir’s fear as she is frozen, I see you standing alone against the shadows, I see Tyril Volari, I see your Uluvalir screaming for you in chains, I see your dread as your failure strikes and cuts down those you love.”

His failure. Kaya. Alone and with family. Asterin tortured in that dungeon. Tyril had to tense his muscles to keep from shaking where he stood. He felt empty, as if his mind had fallen over the edge of the walkway and into the void.

“I see you, Aerin Valleros,” The Seer said. “I see how badly you wish to choose a name of your own, I see how you cling to your beloved, I see how badly you want to change but I see your fear you cannot, I see your eyes turning black, I see you standing over your silver haired elf with red staining your hands, I see your father’s grief, I see you watching a wedding you will never experience.”

For the first time in his life Tyril saw tears in Aerin’s eyes. He stumbled back but his knees still gave out, leaving him kneeling in defeat.

“I see Asterin Nightbloom cradling his brother in his arms,” The Seer warned. “I see his eyes turn black as he sits upon a throne of shadows, I see him scream as he lays waste to Morella, I see him burning with light from the inside out, I see him blessed in a home with the men he loves, I see a flaming sword in his chest, I see him bleeding on a dungeon floor, I see him on the edge of a cliff as a woman pleads with him to return.”

Tyril’s sword fell from his hand onto the stone. He absorbed every word but could not fathom any of it. Nearly every road for Asterin ends in tragedy. Why him? Asterin deserved to have everything he wanted and more. Not only had he saved the realms, but he saved the people around him. He brought light to shadows, literal and metaphorical. How could the Light not repay him in kind?

“I see every one of these worlds,” The Seer. “I will begin your journey by leading you to Asterin Nightbloom. But I will not tell you which path you are on. The world you live you must choose. Pray you choose correctly. Pray that at the end of the path, you are the same person who stepped onto it.”

[pennysperfectpolls]

Adoption poll preliminary match 4

Sirin (Honkai Impact 3rd) vs

Candace Flynn (Phineas and Ferb) vs

Elphaba Thropp (Wicked) vs

Suletta Mercury (Gundam)

Only two will move on!

Propaganda under the cut (some of them have a lot)

Sirin (Honkai Impact 3rd) Propaganda

She is an orphan, was experimented on, and watched all her friends die due to said experiments.

Candace Flynn (Phineas and Ferb) Propaganda

Her own mother mocks her and thinks she's going insane. Literally the only thing she wants is to be believed, trusted and listened to. Everything goes wrong for her and nobody ever believes her about anything or cares. She asked a random-ass woman to adopt her on New Year's Day when the woman said she'd bust Candace's brothers, and boy did I want to leap into the screen and accept it on her behalf. No, she's not perfect, but she's a good kid who's maybe acting a bit erratically as a result of the insane, stressful situation she's under. As dearly as she loves them, her parents aren't helping her at all and for the most part actively make her obsession with her brothers' antics worse.

Elphaba Thropp (Wicked) Propaganda

Big spoilers

If we’re going for characters with bonkers home lives, Elphie has got to be up there. Depending on who you count as a ‘parent’ Elphaba has like five of them.

Her bio dad is super duper evil and keeps having her friends and family killed (to the point of like, having her dead boyfriend’s widow’s sisters executed, ten years after she’s made any active moves against him). He’s a literal evil dictator, so, bad look all around.

Her parents as far as she knows them are a nutty preacher who sees her being born green as a manifestation of his own sin, calls her a punishment from his god in front of her when she’s like seven, and openly favours her sister to an absurd degree. Her mother sort of just tolerates her, and is usually too high to even do that— also she was so desperate for a boy that Elphaba openly calls her younger brother, who her mother died without meeting, mother’s favourite child.

Nanny comes in to look after Elphaba and is the best parent she has in that she seems to care about her even a little bit, but she also ends up having to favour her sister. Also she is an employee, which narrows things down a little.

Her parents also have a boyfriend who she seems to like a fair bit, but he was human sacrificed when she was very young, so there’s that. Oh, and the goat professor she gets very close to, and then he’s murdered, and she has to break into the crime scene to save his research from being destroyed by her dictator dad. It’s a mess really.

Other important things include; her mother being so determined not to have another child who looked like her she took medicine that caused her younger sister to be born with a disability (and her being constantly blamed for it, in the musical), her parents deciding to raise her in a swamp despite her having a severe water allergy, and therefore presumably causing her constant pain. Her parents dragging her on missions where she apparently saw enough deaths to be able to competently recognise the signs at seventeen.

Oh, also her bio dad had her first boyfriend murdered, which led to her being pregnant in some kind of trauma coma in a convent. So that’s awful too.

Please ignore the propensity for domestic terrorism and the fact her hobby is amateur monkey surgery. We can work on that.

Suletta Mercury (Gundam) Propaganda

She’s my sweet baby tomato girl. She’s adorable and awkward and her mom is so fucked up.

[superfluouskeys]

i know you're probably not into maleficent/aurora anymore, but since you were like THE malora writer, i'm curious in what do you think would happen to maleficent when aurora dies? either from natural causes like old age or somethiing terrible happened

My friend, this is so kind of you to say!! This is also, unfortunately, MY JAM LOL

So in my personal interpretation, I think once Aurora became more sure of herself and the relationship, she would learn (passively, not even really thinking of it as such) to de-fuse Maleficent a lot of the time. Maleficent is naturally temperamental and always about 3 bad steps away from starting a fight. Once Aurora learns that this is just sort of how she is and she isn't actually mad, and doesn't even usually mean anything by it, Aurora learns to just kind of skillfully sidestep like 99% of Maleficent's bad moods. As a result, because she isn't being fought at every turn, Maleficent (also without realizing it) calms down a LOT, and tends to stop seeing everything as a challenge or threat, even from ppl who are not Aurora. This mostly just freaks ppl out, because you know she always seems super calm until she is suddenly Not LOL, and the average person does not know how to tell Maleficent's "actually calm" from her "quietly seething."

Additionally, while I believe that Maleficent operates on her own code of ethics and doesn't just do whatever, I also think her ethics and what she considers "wrong" differ significantly from where the average human would draw the line. As she grows more comfortable in her relationship with Aurora, I think she would be surprisingly willing to draw lines where Aurora wants her to, at least most of the time, because in her mind, e.g. not harassing someone who mildly annoyed her is important to Aurora, while it's not that important to Maleficent.

However, I think both of these changes, no matter how long Aurora lives, are utterly temporary. Once Aurora is gone, Maleficent will go back to the way she was before, if not ultimately worse, because in a sense kindness will remind her of Aurora, and I don't think she will ever reach a place where that is a good thing for her.

I think Maleficent's first reaction would be a kind of desperate fury, sort of like a wounded wild animal but with very powerful magic. She would be absolutely terrorizing the countryside, especially anyone she perceived to be responsible. It's almost worse if Aurora dies of old age, because then the fault in her mind would lie with...everything, the nature of life itself. This phase could last forever, depending on other factors, and I think it would be a very long time before Maleficent is even slightly functional again.

Even in eg. Prisoner-verse where Maleficent has other friends, I can see her getting into terrible fights with almost all of them. Girl can be next-level vicious when she wants to be, and even if her friends have known grief, most of them don't know exactly what she's going through, and therefore from Maleficent's perspective are not in a position to comment. Also I think "Aurora wouldn't want you to live like this" or similar would be like, the worst possible thing you could say to her, and might send her spiraling into a murderous rage all over again, because how DARE you presume to tell her what Aurora would want?

I am really a sucker for these kinds of villain backstories LOL, you can play me the same tune over and over and I will never get tired of it. I think the only kind of person who could reach Maleficent would be someone who's sort of similar to Aurora, at least in unfailing kindness. I'm imagining someone just trying to save her village or w/e from being razed to the ground showing sympathy to Maleficent for her lost love, and Maleficent showing just the smallest amount of mercy in memory of Aurora, even if ultimately she hasn't changed or healed at all. (oh my godddddd don't look at me I want to write this now lol)

So anyway, it was 5:30 in the morning, a very normal time to be awake, and I was thinking, well, would anyone in Prisoner-verse be able to calm her down at all? I think she and Kinsale would absolutely get into a really bad fight, and Zenovia would try to be chill about it but she would also pretty quickly be like okay well talk to me when you've calmed down lol. And then I realized............

--

“Hey.”

Maleficent doesn’t move.  She doesn’t know how long she’s been sitting here.  Odd, that she doesn’t feel a fresh wave of fury at Joy’s presence.  Then again, perhaps she is simply too tired to feel much of anything.

“I’m not going to say anything.”  Joy holds out her hands in a show of defense.

Maleficent inhales, sighs.  Her throat is burning.  She only distantly remembers the sound of screaming, and realizes now that the memory was of her own voice.

“Good,” says Maleficent.  Joy of all people should know that there is nothing to say.

A long silence follows.  Joy joins her on the floor some distance away, and pretends to train her gaze upon the fire.

“I do have one question, actually,” says Maleficent.

“Hm?”

Maleficent closes her eyes.  She tries to imagine Joy the way she looked in pictures, with long, beautiful hair that she wore in intricate curls, and a radiant smile full of youthful mischief.  “How did you…not…”

But words fail her.  She holds out her hand, grasping at nothing.

“What,” says Joy, “burn down the world?”

Maleficent sighs again.  It is as apt a question as any.

“Well, it was perhaps to my benefit that I am not nearly so powerful as you, Mistress Maleficent,” says Joy, although her characteristic attempt at wryness comes out remarkably strained.  “I wouldn’t have gotten very far.”

Maleficent opens her eyes.  The flames of the fire flicker and dance, enticing in their destruction.  “I’m not sure I would have cared.”

Joy chuckles, dry and mirthless.  “Yes, well,” she says.  She does not continue.

Outside, a terrible wind howls, desperate and mournful.  The windows rattle and the fire flickers low, casting them both in dramatic shadow.

Maleficent inhales.  She closes her eyes again.  “Does it ever…?” 

The words catch in her throat.  She already knows the answer.

“No,” says Joy quietly.  A long silence follows.  The embers from the fire crackle meekly, and the mournful wind falls deadly silent.

“But…I don’t know.  You find…other reasons.  To, you know…”  She waves her hand vaguely at the fire, and stokes it back to life.

Maleficent shakes her head.  Reasons?  The word feels foreign, meaningless.  “I don’t know that I ever had a reason for anything, before…”

Before her, she means to say, but she cannot.  There was always a before her, yes, but now there is an after her.  Everything from now on is after her, without her, and the mere idea of it is something akin to drowning, or perhaps slowly suffocating, deep underground, with the weight of the earth sinking down upon her chest.  What did she do before?  How did she live?  However is she to live now, knowing what she has lost?

“Yeah,” says Joy simply.

Maleficent doesn’t know how long they sit together in silence after that.  It hardly matters.

--

ANYWAY THANK YOU ANONYMOUS FRIEND I HAD FUN LOL

[darkdevasofdestruction]

When They Save You ~ Tekken

Characters: Kazuya Mishima, Sergei Dragunov, Kunimitsu, Ling Xiaoyu

I never expected to fall in love with Tekken as much as I did, but here we are. This is my New Year’s gift for you, and especially for my dear friend @atomicpunch99​ whose idea I’m using. Enjoy getting saved by your lovely lady friends, little one~

----

SERGEI DRAGUNOV

You were a scientist working for your country’s Government, and in a joint project with Russia, you and some of your colleagues were sent to do medical engineering research there and analyse the probes at their laboratories, as they were far more developed than the ones you were used to.

As you were the only one both brave and intelligent, therefore you were tasked with being the leader of your people, under the Russian patronage. When they deemed the results of your research to be satisfactory, the General under whom you were working had to send one Russian researcher along with one from your country to infiltrate in an enemy lab and steal their own work, a certain device, but also wipe everything, it was clear that all your co-workers were too afraid to go forward, fearing for their lives - After all, this wasn’t what they signed up to! Locking themselves in a safe laboratory was what they did for a living.

Sighing, you went ahead and nominated yourself, and together with the Russian researcher you were to follow the plan made by the spies. Thankfully, you were going to have a guard - His name is Sergei Dragunov, the best in his field. His pale face, that scar on his lip, those gargoyle-like eyes, all in contrast with that dark, dark hair made him look intimidating and scary. His height and uniform, but also his imposing presence and his lack of words made even his brethren shudder in fear. He was sworn to protect them with their life, so there was nothing to be afraid.

Your journey through the forest was filled with silence and more silence, as you tried to initiate a conversation with him. You asked him about his culture, about songs, about weapons even - He merely stared back at you, his eyes peering so deep into your soul, that for once, you felt that you were the specimen being watched at the microscope.

It wasn’t until you got attached by a bunch of mercenaries that you first heard a grunt from your protector. He was beating down so easily tens and tens of enemies, while you and your partner hid. You admired his fighting style - It was strong, but also leisure and elegant, using perfect technique backed up by a monstrous strength. But gazing so fondly at the man protecting you was enough to drop your guard down without even realising. 

One enemy, however - The last one standing - In his desperation, caught you and dragged you up by the hair, his forearm over your neck to choke you, the cold steel of the rifle against your temple. “I’ll kill her! I swear I’ll fucking kill her! You monster, Dragunov! White Angel of Death!” Sergei merely stared down the pathetic enemy holding a hostage, and he growled like a wild animal baring his teeth - Even now, however, he did not speak. “It’s either you or her, Dragunov! I know those rich fat fucks care about her brains only - The only researcher in her field that can do something of this magnitude. To think they would be dumb enough to leave her unprotected.” his grip laxed against your throat, allowing you to breath properly. “Huh. And she’s such a pretty thing too. Maybe I can throw her to the ground and have my way with her? Would that bother you? Nah, doubt it. You’re a monster, you only care about getting your mission done, and --” before he could speak again, so lost in his own hatred for Sergei, he didn’t notice you had pushed his forearm just far enough for you to slip away and side step him, grabbing his hand and pulling the trigger towards his own head. Your face was painted scarlet. 

“You speak too much.” you muttered, stepping away from him. “Systema.” Sergei spoke for the first time since you’ve known him. You couldn’t help but smile at him, happy that your small, yet very effective technique pulled a win. “Yes. I learnt Systema after getting threatened like that the first time. I was 14, just barely employed by the Gov.” you loved watching technical fights, and did your best to learn the best way to defend yourself. Systema was the best MMA fighting style for self-defense. It was Russian. “It’s not as remarkable when I do it. You, using Sambo, however, looks far more fascinating - And intimidating. I’d be afraid to be your enemy.” you chuckled lightly, yet he only hummed in acknowledgement. Sergei took a handkerchief from his coat pocket, and cupping your face gently, he wiped the blood from your face. “You did well.” his praise, he had no idea made your hear beat a thousand miles per second, yet the sweet and tender smile that you gave him, gazing back into those cold eyes like the Siberian ice, made him melt with your warmth.

That night, you had to camp outside, in a small tent. Sergei made a campfire and ate a sandwich while he used snow water, boiled, to make himself some fruit tea. It was late into the night, and you didn’t want to let him stay all alone, in the freezing cold - Though he says he’s used to it. You sit on a log next to the fire as he passes his cup for you to drink.

It is here that you learn of his fascination with trains, old and new, how each model works, what they are good for, their speed, their endurance, even the weapons they can have attached to them. It was rather interesting, hearing him speak about a subject you barely had idea idea of, but the more you chatted, the later it got... And his baritone voice was so velvety and soothing, that in combination with the hot tea and the mild cold from outside, you felt drowsy, so you leaned your head on his broad shoulder. It was unexpectedly comfortably.

Sergei said nothing, except putting his arm around your body, pulling you against his chest. Before you fell asleep, you found yourself with a cheeky smirk, hearing the man hum so beautifully some kind of melody unknown to you. “One of these days, I’ll kiss that scar on your lips.” you felt an amused exhale from him, as his grip tightened. Once he was sure you were sleeping, he leaned down to plant a kiss on top of your head. “Zayka moya. (My bunny)” he muttered against your soft hair.

--- KAZUYA MISHIMA

Kazuya fondly recalls the few, yet beautiful memories of his short childhood while meditating under the freezing water from the cascade. His mother’s warm embraces, her encouraging words... His grandfather’s sage advice as he taught his new fighting techniques that he could use against his dreadful father, his patience also, as he never got upset if he screwed up...

And then there was that sweet smile of yours that was able to get him through any hardship.

Your family and his were very close business partners - So close, in fact, that unbeknownst to either of you, your parents had you betrothed to one another . It was very satisfying, watching the two of you interact so well, it was going to be a successful arranged marriage that will produce capable heirs, and -

And Heihachi threw his son off a cliff.

Kazuya often wondered how you were doing. Hopefully, at least you were alive, and untouched by his own demon of a father. He killed Jinpachi, and he killed Kazumi. Like hell he’d let him kill you as well, if you’re still alive.

He once promised you that he will become the strongest fighter there is - And he is going to prove himself, by destroying his own father. 21 years he trained his body, mind and soul, just for this battle alone. To kill Heihachi Mishima. He was going to make you proud, he swore, clutching tightly the necklace that you have gifted him, long ago. 

Finally, after so many years, Kazuya was ready to destroy his arch enemy - Entering the Tekken tournament that was being held by his own father, and he joined in, easily making it all the way to the top. Now, the final was going to take place, and he was fighting Heihachi - The perfect vengeance plan was going to unfold.

As he walked towards the fighting ground, but instead of his father, he saw a beautiful woman, looking distraught. She looked small, and frail, and completely out of place - Yet at soon as he he linked eyes with her, they both froze in place. “Kazuya...?” he heard you whisper out his name. He couldn’t believe it. The woman, grown, so ethereal before his very eyes -- It was the cute little girl that would hug him and kiss him all the time, that he would play tag and chase around the garden... And she would always praise him when he’d show off, training at the dojo. “You’re alive...! You’re alive, I can’t believe it!” “What are you doing here?” he asked, only to see his father’s silhouette prancing behind you, his large hand over your shoulder, gripping tight enough to make you whimper.

It turns out, Heihachi had his men kidnap you and keep you guarded, used as bait for Kazuya, just to make sure he was truly dead. Surely, if he wasn’t, he’d fight tooth and nail against him, just to save his beloved from the grasp of the monster, otherwise, he would kill you also, and he would have to watch the life leave your very eyes.

Even more enraged than before, Kazuya destroyed the traitor that his father was, and in the most symbolistic act of revenge, he threw him off the very same cliff from which he, himself, had been thrown. He then made his way back to your side, and though almost afraid at first, he pulled you into a tight embrace, astounded at feeling your heart beating against his chest so rapidly. “Why did you never tell me you were alive? I missed you so much...” you muttered, resting your forehead against his torso. “I was afraid you might become a target, meant to get to me. I did not want people to know I was still alive. Now that I have finally gotten my revenge, I can take over the company and live a normal life... If you’ll still have me.” he cupped your face, and glued his forehead to your own - For the first time since that day, 21 years ago, he achieved true peace. “There’s nothing else that I would love more than to spend every day of my life by your side.” Kazuya was happy. Truly happy.

--- KUNIMITSU

Kunimitsu tried, yet failed once again, to steal Yoshimitsu’s legendary sword. She had failed her mother’s wishes once more, and she was more evil than ever. In her blind, rageful plight, she didn’t realise she rammed hard into a person, stumbling together to the ground. She groaned, cursing herself for not paying attention, and getting up, she looked to see what victim she made - It was a man, struggling to get up.

She said nothing - Instead, she wanted to turn about and leave, but the gasp of pain as the man couldn’t get up, made her feel guilty. Men must live with the consequences of their actions - She remembers her Master’s teachings, and she put the man on her back and said no word - Yet they reached no settlement, and her own home was pretty far away, so they had to camp. “Stay.” she grumbled at him, putting the man carefully on a log as she bandaged his leg and went to get some food and water.

In the meantime, you could only sit quietly and patiently until the ninja lady returned to take care of you. Though you tried to have a proper conversation with her, to explain that she needn’t take care of you and all that - She did not answer at all. Instead, she got up. “Go sleep. I’ll keep watch.” it wasn’t easy, sleeping on the grass by the campfire, but it was the only thing you could do until she could finally get you home. But the dream world came unexpectedly faster, aided by the sweet sound of a flute melody playing ever so soothingly, accompanied only by the silent breeze and the choir of toads and crickets.

The next day, the ninja went to get some food so you wouldn’t leave the place on an empty stomach, but did not expect to get you attacked by petty thieves trying to rob you. “Leave him alone.” she sneered, at at the speed of light, everyone was dead, in pieces, on the ground. You couldn’t but gasp - If you had blinked, you’d have missed all the gracious moves that she had performed at the such speed - She was, by far, the most beautiful miracle that you ever experienced. “Th-Thank you...” you manage to stammer out, gulping at the intimidating ninja lady who just saved you from the threatening robbers. “Don’t thank me for taking a life.” putting out the fire, she put you on her back again, yet this time, she managed to get you back home. 

You asked if she wanted to stay the night and rest, have a proper warm meal and a comfortable bed to stay at - But she refused. She had to return to her ill mother, after all.

Watching the kunoichi disappear before your very eyes, you sighed pitifully - You know you would miss interacting with this lady, although she didn’t exactly reciprocate - But she wasn’t hostile either, so it must account for something!

Though you fell asleep to the thought of the strong ninja lady protecting you, the moment you woke up, you found on the pillow next to you, something odd. It was an origami fox, and on it, there was a name written.

Kunimitsu

--- LING XIAOYU

The two of you became immediate best friends in highschool, being in the same class - She was so beautiful, and always cheerful and positive, not to mention supportive with every of your hobbies! You had no idea she was a fighter, though the toned muscles of her slender, feminine arms should have made it obvious that she enjoyed working out, more or less.

Or perhaps you should have picked up on this thing when she’d confidently stand up for you when you’d get bullied. The way she’d beat up those jerks was outstanding, and you couldn’t but stare starstruck at her.

She’d even take you on rides on Panda whenever you’d fell down by something happening in your life  - She’d say she loves hanging out with you, because you’re nice to her all the time, and you genuinely want to see her being happy. “You’re just so pretty when you smile!” she’d say, making you feel all flustered up.

It was you, the first person who ever knew and supported her in her dream of becoming a proper fighter - But because she was a woman, her family didn’t support her. But you did. You always did, and will continue to do so. 

And you were the person that she brought along when she was finally able to join a Tekken tournament - You were worried for her, but at the same time, you were happy that she could finally accomplish her desires.

Every time she’d get hit, you cringe, feeling her pain - And every time she’d win, you’d cheer the loudest on her - And when she was finished with the fight, she’d jump-hug you and kiss your cheek.

But being such a renowned Tekken fighter meant that she often had enemies... Enemies who ended up ganging up on you and threatening you, unless you call her to get over. You refused at first, but after getting a pistol at your temple, you called Xiaoyu, telling her to meet up, but also that she’s in danger if she does.

She wasn’t afraid though. Xiaoyu is fearless - And more than anything, Xiaoyu is mad. How dare anyone harm the person she loves so much? They were going to pay for it! Dropping down from a building, she kicked and jabbed away at all the weapon-wielding villains, knocking them all down, before whistling for Panda to come over and carry the two of you away.

“Are you okay?!” she looked so upset as she hugged you tightly to her chest. “I’m so sorry I put you in danger like that! I... I didn’t think anyone would go so far! It’s not like I have any vendetta against people... Ohh, maybe we should stop being friends, I don’t want to put you in danger like that ever again!” she was so gloomy, genuinely shuddering at the idea of you being threatened like that again - So very worried, that you couldn’t help but kiss her to stop worrying so much. “It’s okay, Xiaoyu, it’s really okay. I-I knew you’d protect me. You always do... So I wasn’t afraid!” you reassured her, though your cheeks were flushed red with embarrassment, and you couldn’t even meet her eyes. Xiaoyu giggled sweetly, throwing her arms around your neck and peppering your face with kisses. “That was sooo adorable~!”

[aimportantdragoncollector]

I was waiting until I had a really dramatic prompt aND I FINALLY THOUGHT OF ONE SO LET'S GO

How about a no-quirks AU where AFO is a woman and she marries Second/Third just for political gain? Say Second is the heir to a major weapons developer or Third is the reluctant new head of a certain branch of government—something where their parents could (be manipulated to) set them up with someone else powerful and they wouldn't be able to say no.

Thus Second or Third's tragic and tense crash course into meeting Yoichi! :D

(You can also shuffle the others' genders around if you'd like I just figured AFO would have to be at multiple disadvantages to consider marrying Second or Third even for personal gain lmao)

Female AFO is fun!

1. Yoichi and All for One are both women in this AU, because I want to explore some sisterly dynamics. They're born into a wealthy Japanese family. Their father owns a major weapons development company and very much wanted a male heir. However, he had fertility problems and it took numerous expensive treatments just to have Yoichi. Their father never let Yoichi forget that she was supposed to be born a boy, and although AFO was the perfect heir in every regard, she was never good enough due to not having a dick. Their mother was weak-willed and unable to stand up for them.

2. Yoichi was a sickly, neglected child and AFO became very protective as a result. As children they were very close. By teens, Yoichi had started to feel inferior toward her favored, brilliant, and beautiful sister. As young adults, they fought because Yoichi had ethical objections to the family weapons business.

3. The Shigaraki father started pressuring AFO to get married from a young age, because he's desperate for a grandson. AFO resisted until their father drew up a document to leave the company to Yoichi instead. This could have been a bluff, but on the other hand, the Shigaraki father would loudly go around saying he'd rather see his company destroyed than in the hands of a woman, therefore if AFO didn't give him a male heir than he would let Yoichi dismantle it. (Seriously, this idiot thinks he's King Henry VIII with all this talk of heirs.)

4. We're increasing the tropes to the max in this AU. Second is the bastard child of a weapons development CEO. He was raised by his grandmother. His family called him back as heir after the legitimate son came out as gay and eloped with his boyfriend to Europe. Second didn't want anything to do with them, but his grandmother needed expensive medical treatment so he had to agree. AFO negotiated a merger of their companies (a major accomplishment) and she asked to marry their son to seal the deal. No one consulted Second before marrying him off.

5. Yoichi has an enormous crush on Second, who's an environmental rights activist and the author of her favorite book. She's secretly devastated her sister is marrying the guy she loves, feels too inferior to say anything, etc.

6. Second is very grumpy about being forced into this marriage and rude to Yoichi when they first meet. (More tropes!) However, AFO can't be bothered to plan this wedding due to running the company and keeps throwing Yoichi and Second together to handle the arrangements. Yoichi and Second fall in love, but there's a lot of angst over Second needing to marry AFO to save his grandmother. This culminates in a grand scene with Yoichi screaming "I object!" in the middle of the wedding, then running off with Second.

7. Here's where it gets really interesting. This was all a massive gambit from All for One. While the Shigaraki father is having a breakdown over the public embarrassment of the failed wedding, AFO takes over his company and has him marched out of his office by security. AFO got Yoichi to sign papers giving up any rights to the family business, using guilt-tripping over the groom theft and promising enough money to fund an overseas operation for Second's grandmother. From the beginning, AFO knew about Yoichi's crush and picked Second figuring he would run off with her little sister and thus leave her unmarried, free, and in a great negotiating position with his family to claim compensation. AFO has been deliberately throwing Yoichi and Second together. After all, she's a good big sister who wants her little sister to have whatever makes her happy.

8. AFOs across the multiverse would be screaming at this one for setting Yoichi up with Second. But female AFO doesn't care. She's just sitting on her massive pile of money, planning how she will use this to guilt-trip Yoichi for the rest of their lives, and laughing at her male alternates for totally lacking any subtlety.

(All of my ask game AUs are free to use in my Three Weeks of Trioholders event.)

[fake-married-my-dead-fiance]

Fear is a huge driver of plot in Alchemy of Souls and most of it is centered around Jang Uk and Naksu. Almost every character's main motivation is fear except Naksu (revenge) and Jang Uk. (This is long)

Park Jin is terrified that Jang Uk will fulfill his destiny because his main goal is to maintain social order. He is therefore fully committed to impeding any progress Jang Uk might make. His turning point (finally) is the near death of Seo Yul, probably not because he actually loves Yul or Uk for themselves, but because as everyone acknowledges, Seo Yul being killed by Jin Mu will overturn the social order (General Seo will invade Daeho Fortress and start a war). Park Jin knows Jang Uk will try to save Yul, so he supports him.

(I'm pretty sure the only major decision he makes motivated by love is trying to save Maid Kim from Jinyowon, everything else is to preserve social order. He's extreme lawful good)

Go Won spends most of S1 trying not to be afraid of Jang Uk/the concept of a King Star, because he doesn't want to be like his father who is terrified of the prophesied King Star's existence. Jin Mu eventually succeeds in making Go Won afraid which results in Jang Uk's death (it doesn't take). But then in S2, with a Jang Uk who is 100x more terrifying, Go Won realizes that he doesn't have to be afraid because Jang Uk doesn't want to be king and will use his power protectively:

Which means that Jin Mu can no longer control Go Won through fear, as he is able to do with the king and basically everyone else.

Jin Mu definitely fears what Jang Uk might become, since he can be displaced from his position of power if Uk ever becomes a real mage.

And yet, he mostly makes other people afraid of Uk instead of really fearing Jang Uk himself. This is probably because Jin Mu believes that compassion and protection are signs of weakness. I think the only time he really believes Uk might kill him is when Seo Yul is dying. What he fears the most is being rejected by those in power, which is why when Go Won turned on him he was so angry.

The king and the Unanimous Assembly decide to release the fire bird because they both fear and envy Jang Uk and his ice stone. As for the general population, they generally fear super-powered Jang Uk but also want him around (just not like, too close) because they are more frightened of soul shifters. They both fear and idolize Naksu and are manipulated with their fear.

And to quickly include Lady Jin, her fear is centred around losing control of Jinyowon, which is why she searches so desperately for Bu-yeon, is dismissive of her under-powered second daughter, and is so determined to keep resurrected Naksu/Bu-yeon under control.

Seo Yul is complicated because he doesn't know what Jang Uk is until pretty late in the game, he mostly is afraid of what Jang Uk is doing (hanging out with a soul shifter, Naksu herself) and what his beliefs will result in (which to be fair was a legitimate fear given what happens at the end of S1). He is also afraid of breaking his personal moral code:

And then we have Maid Kim, who is literally never afraid of Jang Uk, she just loves him no matter what. By S2 she knows exactly who he is and that he's haunted by ghosts and she does not care. "Oh my super-powered adopted son is home to spend a haunting night, let's make sure he's comfortable!"

What she is afraid of is Naksu: she thinks her sword is ominous, she holds a funeral for Cho Yeong so that Naksu's spirt won't attack Jang Uk, and she fears that Naksu will drag Jang Uk to the grave in S2. However, her fear is never centered on herself, she's pretty much only afraid because she wants to protect Uk (like mother like son). Which is why she's one of the good characters, her fear isn't selfish.

When it comes to Naksu/Cho Yeong and Jang Uk, they are never really afraid of each other or really drive by fear, unlike everyone else. Jang Uk recognizes Naksu right away, isn't afraid of her threats at all, and then sends men to capture her. He's almost immediately willing to put his life in her hands.

His motivation is more to prove himself, which is both about himself and his mother whose memory he is trying to protect by convincing people that he's Jang Gang's son.

Cho Yeong's motivation in S1 is revenge at least at first, which she needs her powers back to have. But then she switches to protection and remains that way through S2.

Naksu doesn't have any reason to fear Jang Uk in S1. Then in S2, even when she has no memory of who she is, she is very much not afraid of him. Even when he threatens her:

She takes like a whole minute to let go and step away from him. And when she sees the ice stone, she decides to try and use him rather than retreat in fear.

But of course all Naksu/Jang Uk plot is driven by both of them running straight towards things that they should fear, including each other. They are the antithesis of living in fear, they chose protection and love (and constantly being in mortal danger) instead.

[teufelsabbiss]

Headcanon: the reason for OG!SQQ's abuse of Luo Binghe

There are a lot of different takes on how and why the original Shen Qingqiu treated Luo Binghe so badly, from escalating misunderstandings to petty envy that resulted in violent outbursts.

I personally think his reason was even worse – he meticulously planned everything out as an experiment.

(Spoiler warning, trigger warning for canonical abuse)

SQQ went through a lot of traumatic events. And on top of it, every time he tried to help someone it came back to bite him. This man had so many heart demons that I think it could be said that his mental state was comparable to that of LBH while under the influence of Xin Mo.

SQQ's ruined cultivation was a major cause for his resentment towards the world and the people around him, past and present ones. Liu Qingge's jibes at his mediocre abilities obviously riled him up often enough. But the quarrel between them during the entrance test, when LQG said Binghe would have better success than SQQ, was what ultimately sparked what then happened.

What caused his diminished abilities was the mental and physical abuse in the Qiu household, a late start due to his enslavement and possible wrong teachings from Wu Yanzi. But he could never tell this to anyone who mocked him for it. And I think he desperately needed proof that circumstances like these would cripple anyone's talent and his failures were not because he was just never any good to begin with. Sadly, LBH was pointed out as potentially more worthwhile and that painted the target on him.

Maybe SQQ was still pondering whether to go through with the idea during the tea ceremony. But after hearing that LBH had a mother, yet another positive circumstance beside the talent and ideal age, he decided on exacting the experiment. That said mother was dead also ensured there would be no difficult questions nor interference from his family. Obviously no one could ever know about what he planned, but SQQ would have the proof for himself.

So he arranged everything for LBH to mirror SQQ's time with the Qiu's. Where SJ was abused by QJL and bullied by the other servants, LBH was abused by SQQ and bullied from his peers. He was given a fake manual so that he couldn't learn proper cultivation until it was too late and would also suffer qi-deviations after a time. It inadvertently became even more similar through Ning YingYing, who was a source of protection and trouble alike, just as Qiu Haitang was for SJ. The nickname she called him by certainly didn't help matters either.

But the experiment didn't give the desired results. LBH made progress, albeit slowly, despite everything. He had no qi-deviations. And the longer he didn't falter as badly as he should, the more it enraged SQQ.

Then SQQ failed in saving LQG and I think this broke him a good deal further. Not only did the experiment point to himself as the main issue for his own mediocrity and unstable foundation, his poor cultivation (in his mind) also caused LQG's death.

The three challenges by Sha Hualing looked like a lost cause after Liu Mingyan lost her match. Since they would lose anyway, sending LBH into the ring probably looked like a good opportunity to end the experiment. But LBH managed the impossible and won, thus cementing in SQQ's thoughts that he maybe was, like others said, just a loser from the start who attempted to rise to greatness and inevitably failed. More cause for hatred, obviously.

Then even more successes for LBH during the Alliance Conference. Until his demonic heritage was revealed. I think this was a relieve for SQQ. Because, in that moment, he realized that what he did to LBH would have caused him the same problems that SQQ suffered from, if he had been fully human. Therefore SQQ's own failures weren't solely on him after all.

Apart from preventing anyone from finding out he had a demon as a disciple without noticing and casting suspicion on the sect for the sabotage, I think throwing LBH into the Endless Abyss was a first tiny, minuscule act of veiled kindness towards his victim. LBH had a chance, however small, to survive and live a good life in the demon realm, where he belonged anyway. An added tragic irony, seeing how the decision to let him live came back to haunt him the worst.

I also think that SQQ knew that what he did to LBH was terrible. That's why he gave up so easily and didn't defend himself against the accusations. Maybe he hated his life and his failures enough to have lost the will to keep struggling for goals he never was able to meet. He likely expected to be tortured a bit and to then die relatively quickly to sate Qiu Hitang's, Liu Mingyan's and LBH's resentment. Instead he was tortured heavily, YQY was killed too and this broke him for good. Maybe the reason he didn't come back as a resentful spirit was that he knew he ultimately deserved punishment for his actions. If so, he possibly included his tragic failures along his actual crimes. And the abuse of LBH weighed so much heavier, because it was deliberately planned, even though he knew all too well from personal experience how awful it would be.

[metapoetix]

I LOVE CUNTY OLD MEN can weeee. perhaps get some more context on him (also camille. whats her deal she looks like the sort of lady that has a Deal)

HI OK YES YOU CAN. im gonna call the old guy merle for the purposes of this post because thats the name currently winning the poll i made on the dads server (the other option is noel)

so merle is like. a bit of a hermit essentially. he lives in a little hut in a place called mount terpe and mostly keeps to himself although he routinely goes down to check on the village and see if they need any help from him. because hes a nice person

hes highly educated & owns loads of books & grows lots of food for himself

crucially hes very skilled at martial arts and is a good teacher

the reason fubao & julia end up in his care is that the area around mount terpe has a period of conflict partly caused and massively exacerbated by the corrupt official governing the are and this conflict ends with a lot of people dying in clashes with the imperial military

one day merle sees a young girl sleeping in his orchard & he decides to take her in to look after her & teach her all he knows

this girl is called julia!!

he takes fubao in 2 years later under very similar circumstances (im still figuring out the specifics)

for the next like 10 years he acts as a father & a teacher & a best friend to them & they learn to fight incredibly well (fubao is something of a prodigy in this regard) & also gain a wide education

merle is. i mean hes wonderful. hes so good with the two of them and hes so funny and just. raises them well!!!!

we dont see that much of him in the story outside of flashbacks as the action all takes place after julia and fubao have left mt terpe with his blessing to forge their own path across the empire BUT his memory exerts a huge influence on the pair nonetheless & its clear how much they love him & how much their love for their teacher glues the two of them together

also its merle who encourages them to be free and travel around helping people!! he never ever tries to restrict them and instead takes them with him to help around the village. he never shies away from discussing violence with them etc. basically hes the best mentor anyone could have wished for

i think his biggest flaw is that despite his kindness he has this 'i cant save everyone' thing going on which results in him distancing himself from situations in which he has to make that choice/leaving it up to 'fate' (we even see this in the fact that he saved fubao and julia but left a lot of other people living nearby and involved in the conflict to suffer alone and only reluctantly takes in the two girls because they come to him and therefore he sees it as fated

and similarly often if hes working on a case involving violence he will stand by while someone becomes collateral damage because he believes that its pointless to try and save them

he still helps saves SO many people tho. i want to be clear about this. merle is a hero most ways that matter and his heart is always in the right place. and he loves his students so so much and no matter what happens he is always always on their side

NOW. CAMILLE.

here is where i confess that i have actually been witholding some important information from you: fubao and julia are not in fact merles only protegees

he takes a third girl in a few years after fubao and julia

this girl is camille

shes much younger than the other two but they absolutely dote on her & treat her as their little sister

she isnt as sharp witted as them either but she is sweet and her intelligence in the humanities merle teaches them makes up for her relative lack of skill in fighting

and anyway fubao and julia are determined to always protect her!!! :)

but one day the imperial guard shows up at mount terpe and seize camille. they give no explanation for this and are gone as quickly as they appear

fubao and julia try desperately to fight but ultimately are overpowered

they never see camille again

now. obviously this fucks them up on a huge scale. and camille will haunt them for basically the rest of the story!!!!

after this they never talk to each other about her

well. spoiler alert. camille reappears eventually (this is one of the major moments in the story) but its not exactly a happy family reunion..........

camille is like. an incredibly important character in the way she chooses to live her life and how markedly different it is to fubao and julia. and also just how deeply they fucking miss her

[dramavixen]

are producers the clowns for approving subpar endings or am i the clown for expecting more

**Spoilers for:

Love Like the Galaxy (China, 2022)

The Red Sleeve (South Korea, 2021)

Late as I am to every bandwagon, I at last completed my first watch-through of Love Like the Galaxy a few days ago. For the past couple of weeks, I have done nothing but think about, consume, and breathe this story. At last, a show that was ticking all the boxes! I could tear myself free from this drama slump of mine!

This celebration lasted until I sat down with my parents to observe that thing the producers might call an "ending," but which sparked a frustration in me so severe that it triggered a post-COVID coughing fit, which in turn almost made me throw up. I couldn't comprehend it: was this the same show? Did I accidentally click on a parallel universe version where everyone's intelligence was operating 20% capacity?

Since I'd like to avoid making myself physically ill again, I'm not going to focus too much on how logic abruptly becomes an imaginary concept throughout the last two episodes. At least all that did was make me angry. What I can't accept is that they use that lack of logic to curse our leads with the most careless of reconciliations.

To alleviate my distress, we're going to perform an investigation. A deduction, if you will, of precisely what the ending was lacking, and utilizing a case study of how to conclude a story in both a fitting and compelling manner.

An unresolved misery

In recent years, my tolerance for male leads' misbehavior has plummeted down into the core of the earth. You could say that after years of being brainwashed by media into excusing male characters' questionable actions due to how much they "love" their partners, I'm taking back my common sense. So when faced with Zisheng's killing spree while armed with the knowledge that a "happy ending" was endgame, I anticipated how the writers would close such an abyssal rift in the leads' relationship. And the result was...well, not all that worth it.

If you need a memory refresh or you're reading this without fear of spoilers (godspeed), the conclusion of LLTG sees Shaoshang being kidnapped multiple times by people who she knows don't hold good intentions, but she goes along with them anyway. Don't ask why (the answer is so Zisheng can swoop in to rescue her). Some needlessly dramatic things lead to Shaoshang assuming for a few seconds that Zisheng has died in an explosion. But lo and behold! Here he comes, emerging unscathed from the ordeal. She flies into his arms and forgives him. Then they run off and save China, because it's not a historical C-drama until they do.

By the time we got to the fire/explosion scene, my mental state had already been reduced to a pulp. Therefore, to write this piece, I had to rewatch that part and make sure I was getting all the details right. It shocked me into a second round of holding my head to prevent my brain from ejecting itself as it sought to escape this reality.

(Also, I have to take a moment here to demand justice for He Zhaojun. They leave a pregnant woman on the floor after dragging her out of a fire, while she's having contractions, so they can instead take the time to hold a premature mourning session for Zisheng. Guys, it's not the end of the world if you don't have a brain. But please don't throw away your conscience.)

However the writers did it, it still counts as a happy ending. Such a conclusion should come as a relief, so why do I find it so hard to come to terms with? Let's rewind a tad.

Both Shaoshang and Zisheng grew up under grim circumstances, their identities subjecting them to emotional and social turmoil. But while they share a similar internal struggle, they must deal with it in opposing ways. Shaoshang opens herself up to anyone who shows her true kindness, desperate for someone to accept her for who she is. On the other hand, Zisheng can only isolate himself from everyone, unable to reveal his true self due to both political and personal interests.

Their eventual parting is unavoidable. Shaoshang is moved by Zisheng's unwavering love for her. Can't blame her all that much; just look at him. But the closer she gets, the more Zisheng fears dragging her into his mess of a life, and the more he pulls away. When Zisheng chooses vengeance over love, he's already crossed Shaoshang's bottom line several times by refusing to share his troubles whenever she asked—the irony being that he once scolded her for keeping things to herself.

ZS: If, one day, they really intend to kill you, would you not tell me then, either? Shaoshang, exactly who do you take me for? Why must you always act on your own, and not trust me? SS: It is not that I do not want to trust you. I simply— ZS: You simply do not care about me. After betrothing you, I would frequently think about how great it would be if I could become your confidant and anchor. You could tell me about all of your fears and loneliness. I do not wish to control you. All I hope is that you can be honest with me. But how is it that your heart never warms toward me?

I see that Zisheng is a loyal believer of the "do as I say, not as I do" doctrine.

While it's initially funny to look back on the above scene in context, it's quite sad once you mull over it more. Zisheng's desire to know Shaoshang's troubles is rooted in a concern for her safety that is both emotional and practical in nature. When Shaoshang later applies that same thinking on him, the tables have turned completely. Zisheng is now aware that few situations are simple enough to be resolved just by being honest with someone else. And if the problem is severe enough, doing so may only aggravate it further.

From his perspective, telling Shaoshang would mean ruining her and her family's lives by association. Not to mention, she herself swore that she would stay with him through everything. So if he dies as a result of carrying out his revenge, the possibility of her dying solidifies itself as an inevitability. Leaving her behind is the one method he has to ensure that he alone would suffer the consequences.

Like it or not, it's hard to blame either of them for the end of their relationship. Is Zisheng wrong to keep Shaoshang in the dark? Arguably yes, arguably no. But is Shaoshang justified in her anger about being kept in the dark? Absolutely.

While we can be reasonably upset that post-timeskip Shaoshang possesses none of the outspoken nature of her teenage self, her lingering depression is the most realistic result of everything that happens. She has tried repeatedly to find her place in the world, yet arrives at nothing but failure every time. Not to mention, she suffers from an inferiority complex that intensifies the ache of each and every rejection. She isn't unfamiliar with being abandoned, but Zisheng doing it to her is the final straw that breaks her. The coffin her family was preparing for her didn't go to waste—the moment that Zisheng turned his back on her, he killed a part of her. Meanwhile, Zisheng becomes a corpse with a pulse, someone who only continues to breathe so he can regret what he has done.

When you delve into how much Zisheng hurt Shaoshang and himself, it becomes clear that a Michael Bay explosion shouldn't have been the answer to their problem. After the timeskip, the issue at hand should be less about her forgiving him than it is about each of them needing to redeem parts of themselves that they lost to the circumstances. That's why their interactions at this point are so painful to watch. Every word, every look, every movement brims with love for the other person, but they are both shells of their former selves that cannot move on.

No words for the above; too busy sobbing as they each individually accept that they'll never experience true happiness again.

As a viewer, you know that Shaoshang accepting him at this point would be an objectively bad idea. But it's also hell to watch two people, both overly accustomed to suffering, walk away from the person who brought them the greatest joy in their life. That's the art of tragedy, flourishing before us in a quiet, leaden fog. And they killed it in a bloom of gunpowder, of all things?

The beauty in tragedy

To say that a tragic ending is inherently superior to a happy one would be a pretentious fallacy. At the same time, a forced happy ending will feel unstable enough that the slightest of questions will cast it into doubt. The genre of an ending is irrelevant. It only matters that the ending is the right one.

So should LLTG have ended with the leads parting ways for good? To find the answer, I want to first dig into a successful example of tragedy. For that, let's look to our dearest, our legendary, our precious: The Red Sleeve.

Similar in premise to LLTG, TRS features a female lead with independent thinking and a dream for freedom, faced with a man of high social status who goes about chasing her in a way that flaunts his power. The stakes are higher in TRS since the man in question will one day be king, but the highlight of the show is the same as in LLTG: you bounce back and forth between hoping that she ends up with him and praying to any god that exists that she runs far, far away from him. You can't really win.

One day I'd love to write a thorough analysis on the amazing character that is Sung Deok-Im, but for our current purposes I'll focus on the nature of her ending. TRS is roughly based on history, and a quick Google search when you begin the drama will inform you that our female lead is fated to die at 33 years old—only a few years after she is "promoted" from gungnyeo to Yi San's consort. As a result, you spend much of the drama battling the lurking dread of how her death comes about.

A few months after her young son passes away, Deok-Im falls ill and dies. The unborn child in her womb follows her. Yi San is beside her as Deok-Im slips away, and her dying wish is cruel but fair: should they meet again in another life, she begs Yi San to pass her by. Only then can she choose to live a free life, full of choices, which was all she had wanted until she fell in love with him.

While watching LLTG, my emotions mirrored those I endured through TRS. Both dramas force you to get to know the female lead as someone who wants to be herself, a baffling idea in the face of a society where women's primary identities are those associating them with someone else: daughters, wives, sisters, mothers. Yet she continues to harbor hope that she can control her own life, even as she falls in love with a man whose station will certainly snuff out that possibility. The saving grace in LLTG is that Zisheng is not a part of the royal family, and even then Shaoshang goes through her fair share of frustration. TRS on the other hand...even if you haven't seen it, you can likely guess what happens.

The biggest tragedy in TRS is not that Deok-Im dies young. It's the despair that trickles through every part of you as she transforms from a free-spirited, boisterous young woman into an obedient consort whose every word and movement is straight out of the books of etiquette, who isn't permitted her own feelings or thoughts in the face of the country's interests. History may not share the specifics behind how the consort actually died, but the drama all but tells you that depression played a major role. By the end of the drama, Deok-Im hasn't existed for a while. She dies as Royal Noble Consort Ui.

I wonder what I have gained by being in this place, and what I have lost.

I cry inconsolably whenever I see this expression of acceptance and resignation on her face as she sends off her friends and her former self, knowing full well that she has caged herself into a life of sadness so she can be with the one she loves—a man whose first priority can never be her.

But oh, no; our suffering doesn't end there. Yi San lives on after her, looking after his country while carrying the lingering pain of Deok-Im's death. At one point, he retrieves her belongings and appears stunned by her gungnyeo clothing:

It is so small. Were you always so small? Yet, I loved you.

In Yi San’s memory, Deok-Im was a person of great stature. What she may have lacked in social position, she more than made up for in personality. Her tenacity made her appear so strong that only in hindsight does Yi San understand just how vulnerable she was.

Yi San is also someone to be pitied. When we watch palace dramas, it's easy to say that the king's consorts have it far worse than the king. They fight over a man in order to survive, and arguably their sacrifices are greater in number and magnitude. But it's egregious to host a competition of suffering, and you can't deny that Yi San himself leads an unfortunate life. In the cold isolation of the palace, Deok-Im gives him warmth and company. It's no wonder that he wishes to have her by his side, but he is still willing to let her go when she pushes him away.

Almost every other palace drama would have you turning up your nose at the king or emperor's so-called "love" for one of the women in his harem. TRS leaves no room for such doubt. The throne takes away Yi San's ability to choose, and ultimately his ability to wholeheartedly love someone. Even so, Yi San holds Deok-Im so dear that you might want to blame him for how she ends up, but it's hard. Really, really hard. (For anyone interested and who hasn't already, I highly recommend reading the actual history behind this drama. Dude was so in love that it physically hurts.)

In the final scene, he reunites with Deok-Im in the afterlife. At last, they are together and without all the frills and chains of royalty tying them down.

Many years have passed, and at times, I was not certain myself. Do I truly miss you, or do I simply glorify the past? Now I know. I missed you, and I missed the time that I spent with you. [...] Now I understand that we do not have much time. And we do not have the luxury to wait. So, love me. Please. Love me.

I'm always scared to watch the last episode because I just spend the full hour and a half bawling until I can't breathe. Taking these few screenshots was truly a test of my entire being.

So what makes a good tragedy? Tragedy is not "bad things happen." It's "bad things may have happened, but I wouldn't have chosen any differently." When Deok-Im becomes Yi San's consort, it isn't because he keeps her there. She chooses to stay. She loves the prospect of freedom, but she just loves Yi San more. It's awful, it hurts, and it's perfect.

What could have been

We've taken a slight detour, but have at last arrived back at the topic of: how should LLTG have ended?

If given the choice between Shaoshang and Zisheng being together and them not being together, I would obviously choose the former while beating the latter into a permanent nonexistence. With any degree of empathy, you can't watch two people suffer as Shaoshang and Zisheng do, then turn around and wish for their continued misfortune and loneliness. So although I'll concede that it would have easily made for a fantastic tragedy like TRS, I can't bear to say that it should have been one. But if the writers want to go for the non-obvious happy ending, it still has to follow the progression of things.

The current problem is this: Zisheng abandoned Shaoshang and scorned her trust in him. We're now in a position where Shaoshang has the decisive say in whether the relationship can be revived.

LLTG's primary focus has always been Shaoshang. Though multifaceted, her personality and motivations are pretty straightforward. Each time she suffers is a result of her lack of agency. She had no choice in her parents leaving her as an infant, no choice in her poor upbringing, no choice in agreeing to marry Zisheng. Even when she gave up Lou Yao, was that truly a result of her volition alone? For someone whose greatest enemy is helplessness, what matters most is maintaining her own free will.

Through this lens, each time Shaoshang asks Zisheng if he has something to tell her, not only is she asking him to trust in her as his equal, she wants him to let her decide to stay with him. Zisheng turning her away scars her so deeply because it's the same thing as telling her, "I don't care what you want to do." He's drawing a line while taking away from her the power to choose—the one thing she's told him repeatedly matters to her.

SS: I used to hate you for abandoning me. I hated that you acted on your own. I hated that you would rather leap from a cliff than walk alongside me. I hated that I loved you so truly, whereas you told me lie after lie. It has been five years. It was not easy to let go of all of this. I can no longer give away my heart or trust again. ZS: I am sorry. Regardless of what choice you make, I will respect it. These last few years in the Northwest, not a day went by where I was not filled with remorse. I know you. I knew completely that you feared being abandoned. Yet I still chose to harm you in the way that would hurt you the most. In the first twenty years of my life, I lived in hatred. And for the rest of my life, I will live in remorse. If I could, I would tear my heart from my chest to show you. But I know I no longer have that right.

"A married couple exists as one entity." Such is what the drama emphasizes time and again, but what does that mean? Not that one party is in automatic agreement with the other. It's about learning to reach compromises and understanding what's important to the other person. When you don't give your partner their say in that conversation, then what relationship is there to be had?

That is why Shaoshang's unwavering desire for individual opinion matters even more after entering a relationship, and why she still struggles to come to terms with what Zisheng has done. She doesn't blame him. She doesn't want him to beg for forgiveness. After everything she's been through, she just can't put herself in the same vulnerable position again. And he's learned to fully respect her opinion, which means that he has to let her go.

TRS's ending works for the simple reason that it remains true to the characters and their motivations. The tragedy isn't there to make us sad, it's just where the story was always going to find itself. This is why we as viewers hate the ending, but we wouldn't have wanted it written any other way—to do so would be betraying Deok-Im and Yi San.

But when you look LLTG, it gives you a very weak argument for Shaoshang and Zisheng's reconciliation. In front of you are two people whose love for one another could not run any deeper, yet there are legitimate obstacles to their relationship. Shaoshang needs to relearn trust and feel respected. Zisheng's conflict mimics that of Yi San's; as much as he may regret the past, there is nothing about it that can be changed. That regret is something that has to be addressed. (Of course, in Yi San's case, that was addressed through his death. So maybe not that for Zisheng, if you please.)

I can see where the writers attempt to cure Zisheng's remorse, but come on now. They stage a bizarre speech for him where he denounces his previous actions, like a child being punished by his parents and being forced to write a 200-word essay reflecting on his wrongdoings, and while they're being held in the most asinine hostage situation ever known to man. He seriously proclaims that he should have walked the honorable path instead of opting for vigilante justice.

This entire scene was a nauseating roller coaster, but that last part threw me for a major loop. Sir, the only reason you can say that so shamelessly is because your soon-to-be wife found evidence after you killed the guy. Are you really going to stand there with a straight face as you tell me that you regret how you killed the man who you watched murder your father, and who brought about the horrific deaths of your entire family? There was no other option at the time. Of course you had to kill him. It was as much a personal vendetta as it was political. No one likes what happened after that, but those are consequences that should be dealt with separately. Also, Shaoshang's qualms aren't rooted in you killing the guy, they're rooted in you killing him and then trying to kill yourself, all without taking her desires into consideration.

And just as I was thinking the above, the next thing that happened on-screen: Shaoshang turns to him with an expression that says, ah, so he's learned his lesson! Oh...my goodness.

Hi, ma'am? Question. What exactly is more emotionally persuasive about this weird declaration now than when he laid his heart out that night when you wished one another well and said goodbye? Is it because he almost explodes afterward? In the five years he spent out on the battlefield, was he not always in danger of exploding, or being stabbed, or being tortured to death, etc.? Did he not almost die saving you from falling off a cliff two days prior? Why didn't you waver then, especially since it should remind you of, you know, the other time that he jumped off a cliff?

During the scene where she runs to him after discovering he miraculously is not dead, a severe suspicion came over me that perhaps they inhaled so much smoke that they were no longer thinking straight.

A solid happy ending was clearly a possibility. Even if they wanted to go with the above nonsense, could we not also have had a moment where they admit to one another that while overcoming their pain will be difficult at first, being apart from one another for eternity would be much more painful? That nothing in life is easy, but it will be easier with each other? That that commitment is what makes a married couple a single entity, and they just want to commit to each other? Then they can go off and save China, whatever.

They deserved an ending that had me rejoicing that these two are finally, finally, finally on the same wavelength. It should have been more introspective and more considerate of Shaoshang's hurt and Zisheng's regret. Their psychological wounds are instead dismissed through an absurd monologue in a basement and the arbitrary realization that death is lurking around every corner.

The hilarious part is that in the last two episodes, even the actors are noticeably less enthusiastic. In their performances, I see essences of how I feel when a client requests edits to a design that will make it significantly uglier. You gotta do what you gotta do to pay the bills.

Sigh. I could forever grieve what could have been, but this is still one of my favorite dramas. Characters that feel like real people, relationships that make your heart hurt. Those should be common sense in media but are hard to come by in reality, and I'll continue to appreciate what LLTG gave me.

All I really want from the drama industry is for it to please, for the love of our collective sanities, stop thinking that "happy" endings are a valid shortcut to satiating an audience. Good tragic endings are difficult to write, yes, but good happy endings are not any easier. To underestimate that is to let down the story and characters that were so painstakingly brought to life in the first place.