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whitherliliesbloom · 3 years ago

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fate matrix

[ ffxivwrite2021 ] ★ [ masterlist ] ★ [ prompt #05 (free) - fate ]

[ alphinaud/wol & cameos and mentions of some friend ocs, you’re gonna have to read to find out who :) ] ★ [ 5,241 words (oof) ] ★ [ fate matrix au ]

fate: be destined to happen, turn out, or act in a particular way

in a world where the hands of destiny are ones and zeros, at the center of the matrix was a little goddess who would soon find out that she too, isn’t immune to the pull of fate

Day ???? | 07:07am | Day of Destined Meetings

An alarm rings, beeping in an increasingly loud volume as the monitors begin booting up. As light from the screens flood the room, the sound of cotton ruffling can be heard, followed by a soft little yawn.

The girl stirs, clutching at her duvet for warmth before her eyelids flutter open. Bright violet eyes stare up at the ceiling, where the patches of glow up star stickers have lost their radiance in the midst of the fluorescent bulb lighting up. Blinded momentarily, she grimaces, before rolling onto her side and sitting up.

“Good morning, alpha.” A melodic voice chirps out merrily from her parted lips, and she raises a hand to pet the head of the stuffed chocobo that she had been laying beside. “It’s time for work again, huh?”

Stretching her arms high above her head with a final, long yawn, the girl shuffles over to the minibar that was tucked under the table, pulling the door open before grabbing a small tub of yoghurt and peeling it open to peer inside curiously.

Oh, it’s strawberry today, how wonderful! Whoever or whatever magical force is behind stocking up the minibar seems to be in her favor this morning.

Grateful now for her breakfast, the girl slides over to the front of the bed, and places her hand on the mouse after taking a spoonful of the yoghurt into her mouth.

System booting... Please enter password. >illyaskawi03112 Log in successful. Fatematrix.exe starting. Welcome, Alice.

The monitors that surround her begin loading up window tabs after window tabs - and at the center on her main monitor, a sizeable grid of glowing icons pop up, along with a smaller, more discreet window showing a map tucked away at the corner of the screen.

Visual stimuli overload aside, the girl seemed to be completely unphased as she bites into yet another scoopful of yoghurt before setting the tub next to her white keyboard, as if this were a scene she’s had to see countless times now.

It’s a routine, a well rehearsed routine that the girl effortlessly goes through the motions of daily. The fate matrix is ever in need of use and she, the center of it all, was more than happy to take control.

That is, after all, the will of her late mother... the previous Alice and goddess of the fate matrix. It is simply her duty to carry on in her legacy. And as per her duty, she begins to spin the wheel of fate, clicking on the very first icon that boots up the fate matrix’s tool assistant. A bright blue pop up appears that the girl drags to the side, and text begins to appear.

Good morning, Alice. Today is a day of destined meetings. I would suggest working on getting soul mates together for the day.

Internally, Illya is delighted. Soul mates were one of her favorite types of work to focus on... and though they were rarely ever more urgent than other types of assignments like accident prevention, weather management or economic balance, it was one that often brought her a great amount of joy.

After all, what was sweeter than nudging two souls who were meant for each other closer? It was the very concept of soul mates, and the tales of the red thread of fate after all, that drew her mother into the concept of fate and caused her to develop the fate matrix.

A soft smile graces her features, and she moves her cursor to click on the second icon, which loads for a second before breaking apart into smaller, glowing dots that scatter across the map - with two dots that indicated soul mates being linked by a dotted line.

Time to get to work!

01:46pm

When Illya clicked on the glowing two red dots upon the map, she hadn’t expected to be shown live footage of the two targets in the very same room.

It’s not uncommon for soul mates to have already met each other, or even be familiar with one another already despite not having made their feelings for each other known yet... but they were cases that were, in Illya’s experience, a little more difficult to work on.

It was easy to nudge two strangers in the same direction or plant small, innocuous thoughts that would help draw two acquaintances into wanting to spend more time with their soul mate. It was far more difficult to convince stubborn people who have, despite many fateful circumstances, refused to confess their feelings to the object of their confession.

After all, the fate matrix was capable of many things - but controlling or taking over the will of people was not one of them.

Illya has convinced two stubborn souls to finally open up in the past though, she was certain she could do so again - she did so with the likes of the two childhood friends, Moth’ir and Thancred... a case which she would never in a million years soon forget... or the infuriatingly obstinate refusal of a pink haired miqo’te girl to confess to her close friend and personal trainer, Haurchefant Greystone... who had been more than obvious with his flirtations for years.

Alice, you have yet to eat your lunch. A quick break is highly suggested.

The tool assistant sends a reminder through a text in it’s window, which Illya is swift to ignore. She can eat once she’s done with this case.

She watched through the monitor as the pair sat on the couch, a girl with straight cut bangs and piercing red eyes lounging lazily with her back propped against the arm rest and her legs laid over her taller, lankier male friend, who seemed to be frustrated at the girl’s refusal to pay him any attention.

“Why invite me over if you’re just going to play your game?”

“Hmph! Says the guy who invited me over to his place only to kick me out halfway through because some of his friends were going to pay him a surprise visit!”

The man lets out a hefty sigh.

“I already apologized for that. And that was over a week ago. Are you seriously still-”

“Yes, yes I am!” Without even looking up from her smartphone, the girl lets out a dramatic huff while admonishing her friend. “I don’t get why you’re so adamant about me not meeting your friends. Why, are you scared they’ll misunderstand and think I’m your girlfriend?”

“That’s- That’s not-”

From the heartrate monitor, Illya can tell that was only part of the reason for his behavior. The true reason, and an explanation that the girl understood full well why he would refuse to tell his friend was written in text in a separate window next to his heartrate monitor.

The girl, Totomi Tomi, or better known by her stage name as Mint, was something of a minor celebrity on the internet. Known for her jovial personality and the many covers of vocaloid songs she posted on her well known eorzeatube page, it wouldn’t be a stretch to call her an idol - even if she wasn’t officially acknowledged or employed as one by some idol management company. Her friend, Estinien, and the object of her very strong feelings towards, had friends who were apparently fans of hers.

It was for that very reason that, for her protection and to spare her the oogling of strangers, that he’d kept his friendship with the young idol a secret from others.

In his eyes, perhaps dating her would be the quickest way to convince his friends to back off... but that would only come after they’d confessed their feelings - which they haven’t.

“That’s not important.” Estinien finally retorts after stumbling after his words for a moment, and Illya has to resist the urge to slam her head against the keyboard.

“Ohhhh... Kay.” Mint rolls her eyes, Illya mirrors the action.

What Illya doesn’t anticipate however, is Estinien’s next words, for as bold and uncharacteristic for an emotionally closed off man such as him.

“Why? Are you disappointed? You almost sound like you want to be known as my girlfriend.”

Mint chokes on her spit, sputtering and gurgling out incomprehensible words until she recovers - but only barely... and now with a dark red blush plastered over her freckled cheeks.

“I-In your dreams, maybe!” Her blatant lie is apparent to all but... the ones who are present in the room. “Besides, I already have someone I like!”

“Oh?” Illya can hear the sheer contempt from her headphones, and she grimaces at the man’s deep frown. “Do tell, who is it?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know, dunderhead!”

“Tell me. I’m curious.”

“Nope nope nope nope nope noppetty nope! Why’d you think I would ever tell you, huh??”

Mint sticks her tongue out at the man, who scowls deeper and nudges the woman’s legs off of his lap.

“Fine. How about a bet then.”

“What bet?”

The man points to the phone she has in her hands.

“Since you’re so fond of your gacha games, and you’re always bragging about how good your luck is, why don’t we make a bet using your game?”

Snatching the phone out of Mint’s hand despite her protests, Estinien taps on the settings button before clicking on the gacha button, the screen switching to the current limited rate up banner of a popular event character.

“If you get a character of the highest rarity within 50 draws, you have to tell me who your crush is.”

“W-why would I even agree to that?? I’ve been saving my primos for Xi-Ao you know?!”

“I’ll pay for your pulls. It’s a win-win for you that way, no? You get free pulls from the game, I get to know who your crush is if you get a shiny new character.”

Mint pulls back, hesitant and suspicion clear in her eyes, but still enough to hint at consideration.

“And what’s in it for me? What if I do pull a 5 star character?”

After much consideration, Estinien responds once more.

“I’ll let you whale for whatever character you want next on my credit card. And I’ll cosplay with you at the next convention.”

At the condition of his loss set, Mint’s face lights up with pure elation, as she snatches her phone back from her friend with a cheeky grin on her face.

“Deal! You’re so going to lose, long bean! My luck in Genshin Impact’s second to none! I can’t wait to make you cosplay sailor moon!!”

An equally devious smile spreads across the face of Alice, whose hands are swift to pull up another window tab reserved specifically for video game and gambling luck.

She has always admittedly been favorable and gracious in giving out good draws to people who deserve it - the program she has running in the background is testament to that... And she has no doubt in her mind that the fate matrix has been generous in it’s givings to Mint, if her boastings are anything to go by.

Mint must thusly, be a good person.... and she deserves a fate more fulfilling than virtual characters on a screen.

The girl must truly feel confident in herself, as she hits the draw x10 button without a single hesitation.

Illya begins typing the code into the new window, and sympathy wells in her heart as she hears Mint huff in minor disappointment.

“Only one 4 star? Eh, it’s just a fluke, I have 40 more pulls and I’m close to soft pity too!”

“Good luck.” Estinien chuckles mockingly, and Mint lets out a growl before pressing on the draw x10 button again.

Nothing. The third ten pull is no better - with nothing but a single 4 star weapon to show for her efforts. Mint is evidently getting more nervous as her finger shakes, pressing down on the button that will decide her fate for the fourth time.

She was so certain she’d get a 5 star by now - she normally gets what she wants within the first thirsty pulls, and it’s a normal occurrence to even pull multiple 5 stars within the same roll... So... why?

Her 40th pull ends with two 4 star characters, a sight better than the ones before... a sign of Illya’s pity on her... but still not a condition for her win.

“Oh, someone’s getting nervous.” Estinien smirks, “You’re on your last pull away from telling me who you have a crush on.”

“H-hah! That’s where you’re wrong!” Mint exclaims, jabbing a finger at him. “The chances of getting a 5 star increases with each pull, so i’m almost a hundred percent certain I’ll get one this time!”

Mint’s heartrate monitor is going off the charts, and Illya has to intervene by lowering her vitals enough so she wouldn’t pass out from sheer nervousness. It does little to hide it from Estinien, however, who could only relish every second of Mint’s rapidly darkening blush as she finally taps on the draw x10 button one final time.

The shooting star across the screen flickers, before bursting into a shade of pink that has Mint leaning back with mouth agape, a mixture of sheer shock and terror on her expression.

Hopelessness is all she feels as she taps, taps and taps, and the roll summary page shows naught but a single Benny - the unluckiest character in the game, grinning widely at her.

“Well, well, well. Looks like I won.” Estinien sounds way too casual and smug, unaware of the monumentally immense amount of bad fortune that had just befallen his friends. “As per our deal, you’re going to have to tell me who your crush is.”

Illya feels sorry for her meddling, and she makes a mental note to herself to bless Mint’s future rolls with as many of the highest rarity characters she could possibly afford to give without breaking the laws of probability too much... but when Mint finally breaks out of her stutter and sets her phone down on her lap, hands grasping so tightly at the hem of her skirt that her knuckles turned white, the girl knew that she’d dealt the woman a hand far kinder than if she had not.

“I-It’s...... It’s you, okay?”

07:32pm

Alice it is time for dinner. The curry will get cold if you leave it out for too long.

Illya’s tendency to ignore the tool assistant in regards to her own wellbeing was concerning, but not an anomaly. In fact, it was far more rare for the text in the pop up to be spared more than a single second’s glance from her.

Whether it was reminders for her to eat, for her to sleep early, to hydrate or to stretch after hours hunched over her keyboard in front of glaringly bright monitors for a good whole of her day, the tool assistant’s well meaning messages would always go ignored.

It’s a natural part of it’s program, Illya tells herself, as she filters through lists of finished cases before moving on to pending ones. Much like the fate matrix, that ran on a code that was, in admittance, far more complex than even she could fully comprehend... the tool assistant ran on code. It was an artificial intelligence her mother had created during her last few months of life, something that, according to the note left in the hard drive of the fate matrix, would help Illya better slip into her role as adjudicator of fate.

She’d remembered when she first awoke in this room and on the bed, not having any recollection of how she’d even arrived in the first place. The momentary panic and confusion had been replaced with a sense of obligation... of duty and honor when she booted up the computer for the first time to be greeted with the words from the tool assistant - as well as a lengthy message from her late mother.

We who do not belong to the realm of mortals... we who possess the blood of fate. We bear the burden of watching over the world and making sure that it is a safer, happier, better place for everyone. Only you alone can take possession of the fate matrix in my stead, and I pray you’ll forgive me for not being able to say goodbye to you in person.

Family meant the world to Illya, it has ever been that way. She spent a good amount of her childhood in the company of her parents, with little understanding of the world beneath. She had no concept of the idea of fate, of how destiny was dealt... only that her mother had a significant role to play, and that her time with her family was soon to be cut short by a crippling, unkind illness that not even the fate matrix could undo.

Illya’s never tried stepping out of her room before. She has always assumed that it exists in some kind of void or overworld that overlooked the mortal realm. It mattered not, really... The only thing important was that mother had left this place behind, and wanted her only daughter to inherit her role as Alice.

It was with that responsibility in mind that drove Illya to stay seated in front of the monitors for as long as she has.

Time is no longer being a concept, the rising and falling of the sun no longer visible to her eyes aside from a arbitrary number on the clock that served more as a timer for how long she has left to work until exhaustion would consume her.

Do you not wonder what it’s like to have friends, Alice?

Recently, however the tool assistant has been sending her more and more pointless questions... questions that went far beyond the daily self-maintenance reminders that she could understand her mother programming in for her wellbeing, questions aimed to be poignant and was targeted to making her feel more isolated and alone than it did help. It was bordering on annoyance.

You could leave this room any time you wanted.

And why would she do that? She murmured to herself as she typed in code to program a heavy storm, forcing a raven haired lalafellin man to offer his umbrella to his soul mate who had been stranded under a lone busstop - a pink haired woman with olive green eyes who seemed utterly smitten with him upon first sight.

Her purpose was here, to take control of the fate matrix, to grant happy memories, to save lives, to fulfill wishes and dreams. There can be no greater and heavier responsibility to bear in the world.

Truthfully, the reason why Illya stayed at first had solely because of her mother’s wishes... But now, it was more than that.

Because the idea of separating herself from the fate matrix... and not being able to grant the kindness of fate that so many people in the world deserved... it was a pain that was worth her own sense of self.

Are you not lonely? Do you not want someone to love you?

Why did it matter if she was lonely? The envy and curiosity she feels upon watching a group of friends hanging out together is nothing in comparison to the pain mortals felt from a love unrequited, or a loved one losing their life.

She taps furiously on a historian with bright red hair and eyes, forcing him to get a wardrobe malfunction that would push him to visit a tailor where an impish lalafellin fashion designer with snow white freckles awaited him with choice words of ridicule. She tips over a telephone pole that causes two surf shop co-owners who were on a road trip to park by the roadside so that they may witness a falling star, wishes made leading to their confession. She painstakingly guides a woman with silver hair and golden yellow eyes towards a drycleaner, where she initiates easy banter with a man who she later finds out was her old schoolmate.

Juno and Ysayle, Bianca and Varis, Niqesse and Zenos, Nowi and June. She remembers the soul mates she pushes together by name, and treasures the happiness they are sure to feel from their memories as if they were her own.

Detached from their world she may be, it is through the fate matrix that she can experience a sliver of their joy and love... even if it is for a fleeting moment before she must move on to the next.

11:17pm

One more assignment, she tells herself, eyes bloodshot and fingers sore from typing. One more case and she’ll eat before going to bed. She has done much for the day as it is... but she cannot rest until she’s closed one particular case that has her vexed for the entire day.

A pair of glowing purple dots that has been plastered on the map since morning has her thoroughly vexed... because for some reason or another, she cannot seem to gather information on one half of the pair.

She’s able to view the other half just fine - a dashing young man who seemed to be a senior in university despite his age, having skipped two grades due to his academic prowess. He is incredibly gifted, possessing not only of superior intellect but also an artistic hand and charismatic demeanor that makes him quite popular at his school.

But no matter how much she clicked on the other purple dot, or made futile attempts to manually search for data on his other half, nothing would show up. No windows, no tabs... What was even more perplexing was that the dot hadn’t moved on the map at all.

Illya had paid especially close attention to the purple dots ever since she’d found this anomaly in the fate matrix... she was certain she would have noted movement if there had been any at all.

But whereas the icon of the boy had understandably been moving throughout the city of Sharlayan, the icon of his mysterious other half hadn’t, laying stagnant on a singular point of the map in the middle of what appeared to be an old apartment complex.

It was as if his soul mate just... didn’t exist at all.

The boy didn’t have any romantic feelings for anyone, nor did it seem like there was anyone at his school that would have an attachment to him that extended beyond admiration or a short-term attraction, which she’s long learned to tell apart from genuine love. If the tool assistant had a text saying that her target simply did not have a soul mate at all, she’d have been inclined to believe it.

But the other purple dot that connected to his does not lie. If he didn’t have a soul mate, his icon wouldn’t be connected to the other. Her tool assistant wouldn’t have told her, very deliberately she may add, that he did in fact have a soul mate and that it was imperative for her to unite them.

But how was she to make two people meet when she could not even tell who the other was? It was the first time Illya’s wondered if there was even any point to her efforts.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, then. It may be unnatural for a piece of note to fall from the sky, but it was perhaps her final chance to get the boy to meet his soul mate before the opportunity would be lost forever.

Assignments from her pending window are known to disappear all of a sudden, and soul mates who were attached and at their prime for a fated meeting for the moment often times disappear from the map entirely... a tragedy as a result to the slipping of time that the fate matrix cannot rectify... and she’d be damned if she let it happen to this case just because of a simple glitch.

The boy, Alphinaud Leveilleur, star student of the nation’s most prestigious academy, had been walking home from his late night seminars. His position was unnervingly close to where his soul mate is, and since she could not think of any way she could naturally nudge him in the direction of the apartment complex, she writes a note posing as his soul mate and drops it from the sky.

“W-what in the twelve?”

The boy catches it in mid-air, looking at the haphazardly scribbled words on the paper.

PLEASE HELP ME. I’M BEING HELD AGAINST MY WILL. I’M BEING TRAPPED AT _______________

She made the handwriting disorderly intentionally... just to sell the idea of a person being trapped better, of course. She’d even slathered on a small smudge of blood on the corner of the note to make it more convincing... and it seemed to have done the trick as the boy widens his navy blue eyes in alarm, head turned up in the direction of the apartment complex he stood next to.

Illya can tell he has his doubts, and she doesn’t blame him... It’s suspicious enough that the call for help would just so conveniently fall towards him as he was walking past... but he’s never known any criminal activity to have taken place in that apartment complex - Sharlayan is relatively safe compared to it’s neighbor, Mor Dhona.

A few simple thoughts however, might just do the trick into getting him to spring into action.

Injecting into his mind, Illya types out frantically into the text box for thought processing.

What if this is real? What if there really is someone in need of rescuing and I just walked by without helping them? What if they appeared on the news tomorrow? I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself. What if... what if this note really is fate?

She’s preying on his upright and morally upstanding character, she knows that... and it never feels good to take advantage of a objectively good person’s kindness... But her determination to grant him lifelong happiness wins as she watches through the live feed the as the boy clutches onto the note close to his chest and begins to run into the carpark of the apartment complex before heading inside.

Zooming into the map, she sees that her target is taking the lift up to the highest floor, his heartrate skyrocketing at an alarming pace as she panics for a moment and has to manually adjust it back down. He’s nervous... and she must admit that she is too.

When he leaves the lift, his footsteps are unsteady and hesitant... But a few more encouraging thoughts was enough to get him to push forward until he’s standing in front of a door - the only door on the last floor of the complex, as it would happen.

Illya tries to look into the room, but the window that pops up is but a single black screen that has her sighing. No matter. The fact that there even was a window in the first place is progress.

She’s gotten this far into leading him here... all he has to do is open the door where his other half is sure to be on the other side.

The boy tries to twist open the door knob, the metal rattlingly noisily in Illya’s headphones. But it doesn’t budge or give way.

Figures that it’d be locked. How is she supposed to lead him inside? She can’t ring the doorbell because, for as odd as it is, there is none... and she cannot pull up any information on his soul mate, let alone inject into thoughts into their head to open the door. It’s far too suspicious to drop the key to the door right in front of him.

With each second that passes, it seemed like the boy was letting his doubts begin to sway his decision to stay more and more... and Illya’s heart drops into the pit of her stomach when she sees the boy begin to step away from the door and reaching into his bag for his phone, a thought bubble popping up above him.

I should call the police, instead...

“No! You mustn’t!” Illya yells out by instinct.

“Huh???” the boy’s eyes widen once more, and to Illya’s utter confusion, he bolts forward and is now banging his fist against the door. “Hello?! Are you okay?! If you’re in there and you need help, please say something again!”

He must’ve heard a voice.... Illya mused, eyes glistening with intrigue... her voice. Did her mic turn on by accident? Or perhaps she’d projected her voice onto the door out of instinct. She wouldn’t be surprised if she did... but the most important thing is that it worked, and it got the boy to stay.

“Y-yes! I’m... I’m in here!” Illya responds, intentionally letting out sobs into her microphone this time, “p-please help me... I-I’m really hurt and I don’t know when they’ll get back!”

Alphinaud’s heartrate is beating faster than it’s ever had before... and Illya makes no attempts to lower it as she watches the boy grit his teeth and set his bookbag down.

“A-alright! Stand back! I’ll try to knock the door down!”

Good thinking, Illya hums to herself in silence. The door seems old and rickety on its own... unless his soul mate has very deliberately barricaded the inside, there shouldn’t be any reason why he’d not be able to knock it down.

The boy begins to slam his torso into the door, pulling himself back before once more rushing into the door, and the sound of banging fills Illya’s headphones. It’s oddly loud and deafening... but she makes no attempts to lower her volume as she grips the edge of her keyboard in anticipation.

“Don’t worry miss! Just a bit more! I’ll get you out, I promise!”

His sincerity touches her... and though it is wholly unnecessary, Illya is moved to speak into the mic once more... and her words causes a surge of renewed energy to flow through him.

“Yes! I believe in you! I’m waiting!”

Illya has never known what the outside of her room looked like... nor the time or space that occupied it. It was never necessary, she’d convinced herself... She was simply content with watching the outside world through the lens of the fate matrix while playing the ultimate puppet master.

She has never smelled the outside air, never seen the light of the sun, never once touched the hands of another... not since she arrived here.

When the door to her room clattered noisily onto the ground, so loudly that she could not chalk it up to being a result of the projection in her headphone, the girl spun around... and stared with wide, bewildered and confused eyes at the boy in front of her - clear without the pixels of the screen obscuring him... clear and oh so very real.

Beads of sweat trickling down his brows from exertion... his usually neat fitting uniform disheveled from strain...

And in his clear blue eyes was the reflection of herself, staring back at her as if they were a window to her future.

“Y-you.... you are....?”

The tool assistant of the fate matrix sends another text, which goes unread and ignored by Alice once again.

You watch over the fate of others. But even you aren’t immune to the hands of fate.

#ffxiv #final fantasxy xiv #ffxivwrite2021 #ffxivwrite #kiwisffxivwrite2021 #alphinaud leveilleur #alphinaud #illya skawi #we've come so far #fanfic #mine #lots of cameos and mentions of friends but i'm not gonna list em all out here kek #holy fuck this turned out longer than i expected #and i already had to cut down a lot of this fic!!!#Like... i planned to expand each friend ship into their own dedicated segment but #it got too detailed and bleh

23 notes · View notes

fireemblems24 · 4 years ago

Note

Speaking as a Hongkonger who has friends wrongfully arrested and worse, killed, just for supporting the independence and autonomy of our homeland, I, along with many of the people I know who have played 3H, am absolutely disgusted by Edelgard's "your homeland belongs to me because it used to be a part of my country and what you think doesn't matter, so my war of conquest is justified because I say so" mindset. It also reminds me too much of the CCP for me to ever truly enjoy Edelgard's character

Add the oppression of free speech, secret police, art sanctioning, propaganda, demonising religions and religious persecution, scapegoating a minority race which led to the genocide of their people, hiding parts of history to justify yourself, a meritocracy with a dictator on the top who has all the power in the country concentrated on them and no term limit as well as being the one who chooses the successor, assassinations of people who oppose them, putting down rebellions bloodily, starving your people for a war of ego (let’s be real, the only reason why Adrestia wants Faerghus and Leicester back under their reign is because the Emperors’ ego is hurt by how certain people don’t want them to be their leaders), calling people of a foreign nation fighting for their country traitors, victim blaming all the defenders hurt by her war, experimenting on people to be used as weapons, organ harvesting of a certain oppressed race and writing out an entire nation out of history which destroys their culture because she refuses to acknowledge their sovereignty plus, you know, all the brainwashing Edelgard is doing to your character and all the other Black Eagles, I have to say, unapologetically, that I absolutely loathe her. From what I’ve heard and seen from the polls on the gaming forums in our parts of the world, Edelgard is immensely unpopular, if not the most hated character in both Hong Kong and Taiwan, and interestingly, China as they also have experience with Imperialism in WW2 unapologetically, especially since this game came out during the height of the political turmoil in HK, made me vomit. Ironically, seeing how Faerghus triumphs over Adrestia in the end despite being in shambles at the start, despite the hopelessness and the powerlessness the Blue Lions felt, how they manage to overthrow the tyrannical Cornelia (seriously, she also reminds me of Carrie Lam, the Chief Executive of HKSAR. I mean, evil incompetent puppet leader installed by the tyrannical conquerors?) by working together, AM actually brought me the hope I needed during my darkest times. (ask ends)

This is pretty serious and heavy and there’s a lot to unpack here. There’s a very good chance I’ll miss something, and I’m really underqualified to discuss some of this I feel.

First off, I’m so disgusted about how people in power have treated China lately, turning a blind eye to atrocity after atrocity. I stand with Hong Kong, and I’m so, so sorry you’ve had to go through that. I literally can’t even imagine what that’s like.

I can easily see why someone who’s dealt with what you have would have such an overwhelmingly negative opinion of Edelgard. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if countries who do most of the Imperializing have a better opinion of her overall and the ones who have suffered at the hands of countries doing the Imperializing have an overall more negative one. I think I remember someone saying there was some poll saying South Korea wasn’t a fan - and not at all surprised they’d react badly to her - written by the Japanese no less. And while I do feel there’s more to her character and beliefs, I feel it’s highly tainted by this very black/white portrayal of her conquering.

But that’s quite the laundry list of accusations against Edelgard. I’m not going to touch on all of them except to say I’ve definitely seen her do some things (enabling human experimentation, scapegoating a minority race, etc . . . ), but I don’t really remember anything about art sanctioning or starving her own people. Regardless though, just her “I will enforce my enlightened beliefs on your country because I know better than you and it’s for your sake” getting portrayed straight-up and unironically is enough. You wouldn’t even really need any of those other things to have some eyebrow raising about some of the decisions IS made in the writing room about her.

That said, I’m glad the Blue Lions route was such a powerful and uplifting story for you. I’m always amazed at the power fiction can have even though I’ve experienced it myself. The Kingdom is by far the biggest underdogs among all the players in all routes, and I’m so looking forward to the cathartic moments when I inevitably take down Cornelia and eventually triumph over the Empire too. Blue Lions going to such a dark place is going to make the victory all the sweeter and more meaningful.

I’m really glad you sent this ask, and I hope I didn’t leave anything out. It’s really amazing how much this game connects with people for better or worse.

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excelsi-or · 4 years ago

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just a little sweeter (pt. 11)

Double post today! Enjoy parts 10 & 11 :)

BIPOC rec: I’ve recently read The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi. I don’t want to spoil anything. It’s excellent. The writing is detailed and amazing. It’s set in Paris in like the 1800s with magic and fun and a heist. It’s the first of a trilogy and the second one came out this year. I can’t wait to read it.

w.c. 2.1k (fluff, brief angst but it’s over pretty quick)

pt.1; pt.2; pt.3; pt.4; pt.5; pt.6; pt.7; pt.8; pt. 9; pt. 10

“You need to tell her.”

“Tell her what?” Jihoon demands. His eyes are going over the brief of the meeting. He cannot believe that it was brought up in front of everyone, making it everyone’s problem.

“That there’s evidence to out you guys,” Jeonghan says. “She deserves to know. Even though you already made your decision on the matter extremely clear.”

“The company’s buying the photos,” Jihoon points out.

“But there’s a possibility that they’ll make the decision to put the photos out anyway,” Jeonghan reminds him. “Seriously. Just to be a good boyfriend, mention it to her.”

Jihoon frowns, but tries to rearrange his expression into something else when he sees Eunha running down the hallway. She grabs his hand and pulls him back to the studio where she’d been colouring during the meeting. He ends the phone call of the phone on the table and sits down on the floor next to her things. Eunha begins walking him through a bear story, something akin to the Blue’s Clues episode they had watched. He had stumbled upon the show on YouTube and Eunha had taken a liking to it. While most of it is in English and he really only understands 60% of it, Eunha sings along to the songs and seems to know what’s going on.

Enough to give him a similar story anyway with a bear and ant as the lead characters.

The phone in his pocket starts singing the FaceTime ring tone. Eunha’s eyes widen and she climbs into his lap, immediately assuming it will be someone she knows. When he pulls the phone out, he helps Eunha sound out the name.

“Hey,” Jihoon says.

His second favourite smile in the world smiles back at him. “Hey.” She waves at Eunha. “Hi kiddo.”

Eunha holds the phone with both hands so she can put her face as close to the camera as she can. “Hello!”

“What’s up?” Jihoon asks, chuckling at his baby’s antics.

“Jeonghan oppa sent me a text telling me to call you when I had a chance.”

Jihoon restrains himself from rolling his eyes. Jeonghan isn’t usually one to meddle too much; that’s usually Seungkwan. Yet here he is. Meddling. “Yeah…”

“Is something wrong?”

“No.” He pauses. “Well, not really.” He glances at Eunha in the screen. “Can you hold on for one second?”

She glances up at something past the phone, probably an employee. “Sure.”

Jihoon puts the phone down and scoops Eunha up. “You’re going to play with Uncle Soonyoung for a little while, okay? Say goodbye.”

Eunha calls her goodbye and waves.

“Bye kiddo!”

Jihoon starts to walk out the door.

“Can I bring my colours?”

“Of course you can.” Jihoon goes back and picks up her things. “Hold this for me, okay?” He hands her the notebook, so he can hold the crayon box and juice box. Then he takes her to the practice room. Some of the members have a television shooting, which is likely why Jeonghan sent the message to her at all. Jihoon won’t be able to chew him out until later.

Luckily, Minghao and Jun are in the practice room. They’re going over choreography for the upcoming concerts. He doesn’t even bother to ask where Soonyoung is.

Jihoon sets Eunha down at the front of the room and looks between the two men. “Can you just watch her for a couple minutes? I have to take a phone call.”

Minghao smiles. “Yeah, sure, hyung.”

Jun is already squatting down next to her and asking about her art.

Jihoon hurries back to the phone. She’s humming as she types on her computer. He recognizes the tapping of the keys. “Hey.”

The sound slows before she turns back to him. “Give me one more second.”

“Sure.”

Jihoon sits in his chair and then hears the audible whoosh of her email being sent. She leans into the camera, smiling. “Alright, I’m all yours. What’s up?”

“Jeonghanie hyung wanted me to talk to you about the meeting we had this morning.”

Her brow furrows slightly. “That seems kind of random, but okay. I’m listening.”

“It had something to do with you?”

“Me?” Her furrowed brow turns into a frown. “What about me?”

He clears his throat. “Apparently, there was a reporter following me and they happened to get a picture of us on our date last week.” He watches her eyes begin to widen in panic, so he attempts to diffuse the situation as quickly as possible. “But the meeting was about whether I wanted them posted. Sometimes they come through the company before photos get posted like that. Obviously, I said that it wasn’t me and that even if it were, I didn’t want the world to know. Jeonghan hyung just thought that you should know they exist and that it isn’t in my control if they get posted.”

Her expression is the epitome of shock. She stares blankly at the screen, as if she’s still processing all his words.

“Please say something.”

Her eyes close and she begins to speak, her voice coming out strangled. That’s not good. “So, you’re saying that photos that you don’t own of us are floating around in the ether and that you can’t control whether they get posted or not?”

“The company is trying to buy some of the photos off them, but who knows how many they have? Or if there are any that look exactly like me.”

“How much control do we get over them?”

“Well, honestly, not much control. If we get seen together more often and whatnot.”

She takes a deep breath. “So, I can’t go out with my boyfriend anymore, because I have to worry about people with cameras following him around?”

Jihoon’s hand fiddles with his ear. “Maybe.”

“I already have to worry about hiding my face when we have Eunha with us. Now I have to worry about just being with you in public?”

Jihoon can feel his heart sinking. “Yeah.”

“I—” Jihoon hears someone call her name. “I’ll be right there,” she responds. The door closes and she looks back at the screen, completely bewildered. “I… I need to think about this. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Okay.”

“Bye.” She hangs up before he can say anything. He stares at his lock screen. It’s a photo of her and Eunha drawing in the apartment. She was teaching Eunha how to draw a bear.

He quickly sends off angry messages to Jeonghan before going back to the practice room to pick up Eunha. He peers into the room and can see her contentedly drawing while Jun and Minghao practice. He decides that maybe he can stew in his confusion and anger a little while longer alone in the studio.

“Has she called you back?” Jeonghan asks that night.

The members caught him just as he was about to take Eunha home and they offered dinner at the dorms. She’s busy playing with Seungkwan and Soonyoung in the living room, so Jihoon doesn’t mind sounding pissed off.

“No. She hasn’t. And if you hadn’t told her that there was something I needed to say, she probably wouldn’t be mad right now.”

Jeonghan rolls his eyes. “She deserves to know the consequences of dating you.”

“I think the ‘biggest consequence’ of dating me is sitting in the living room right now.”

A soft voice and a tug on his sweatpants pull his attention away. Jihoon looks down and sees the hurt expression on Eunha’s face, though she doesn’t acknowledge it. “Uncle Seungkwan and Uncle Soonyoung want to know when dinner is ready.”

Jihoon takes a deep breath and squats down in front of her. “It’ll be done soon, okay?”

She spins on her heel and scampers out of the kitchen. Jihoon glares back at Jeonghan.

“You have a tiny daughter! I didn’t see her come in!” Jeonghan exclaims.

Mingyu, the one actually doing all the cooking, glances over his shoulder. “I think you need to apologize and explain to both the girls in your life what’s going on, hyung.”

“Since when did you get so enlightened?” Jihoon grumbles.

When he puts Eunha to bed that evening, he sits cross-legged on the floor next to the bed. “Hi, little one.”

She pouts and stares at him. Her little arms are wrapped tightly around a bunny plushie Chan had gotten her for her birthday.

Jihoon runs a hand through her hair. “Did you hear me when I was talking to Uncle Hannie?”

“I don’t understand.”

“Ah. Okay.”

“But…” Her pout deepens. “It was mean.”

Jihoon holds his breath. “I didn’t mean what I said. Even if you didn’t understand, I shouldn’t have said those things.” He leans forward to kiss her forehead. “I’m sorry.”

Her voice softens. “Do you not like me anymore?”

God, he hates that Soonyoung taught her that phrase. The man says it so much around Jihoon, he should have known his intelligent child would learn how to use it.

“That’s not it.” He doesn’t know how to explain his feelings to her in a way she’ll understand. She’s using her entire vocabulary already by having this conversation. Jihoon rests his chin on the bed. “Life’s just hard.”

“‘Cause of me?”

“No. Not because of you.” He pecks her forehead again, and runs a hand over her head. “Never because of you.”

Eunha asks if it’s because of his girlfriend.

“Not because of her either. It’s all because of daddy. This is my fault.”

“Why?”

“It’s complicated. Is that okay?”

Eunha doesn’t know what complicated means, but she seems to accept his answer, because she snuggles beneath the covers.

He gets to his feet and gives her one more kiss. “I’m sorry again. I love you.”

“Love you,” she mumbles, already falling asleep.

Jihoon leaves the door open a crack. The actual baby monitor is on next to her. He makes sure that he can hear her breathing then he plops himself on the couch and stares at his phone. He debates calling, wondering if she’d call when she’s ready. It’s been at least twelve hours. She should be going to bed soon and they did agree to video chat tonight.

He doesn’t have to wonder too long, because she calls him instead.

Jihoon answers in a second.

“That was fast,” she mutters. “Thought I’d have a few more rings to pull myself together.”

She’s sat in bed. The only light coming from her phone screen.

“Hi.”

There’s a long bout of silence he doesn’t know how to fill.

“How mad are you?” he finally asks.

“Not mad,” she clarifies. She must see the skepticism on his face. “Seriously, Jihoon, I’m not.”

“So why haven’t you talked to me all day?”

She tips her head back with a groan of frustration. “Because it’s hard to process what you told me this morning.” She meets his gaze. “There are so many rules. I don’t…” She shakes her head. “You’re high maintenance.”

He gets the jab. “Am I so high maintenance that this is over?”

“I don’t know.” She sighs. “I only get to see you in person a few times a month, and only once a month with just the two of us. Now we’re limited to staying in, because people are actually stalking you.”

Jihoon doesn’t mention that there was always the risk of people following them. “So, what do you want to do?”

“I don’t know. You can’t do anything about it. It’s not your fault you’re in a famous idol group and have a daughter. I knew that you came with those things when we started dating. I just… I didn’t realize how much of my life would have to change because of it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well…” She runs a hand through her hair and flips it. Jihoon loves when she does that, though he’s never told her. “I thought that I could keep it separate. My own life and then whatever our life together is. And I can, but when people in my life ask me about who I’m dating, what I’m up to, I’m so limited as to what I can say. Only my mom and Soobin know that we’re dating and that you even have a child. Everyone else thinks that I have an elusive boyfriend who doesn’t want to meet them.

“I just didn’t realize that when we got together that there would be a huge part of my life that I’d have to hide.”

Listening to her talk about it this way makes him wonder if it’s worth it for her. She sounds so discouraged with him and their situation. But she’s right; he can’t do anything about it. This is his life. But it doesn’t have to be hers.

Before he can even think about how to broach the topic of breaking up, she says, “But I adore you and I adore Eunha. I want this to work.”

Jihoon lifts an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Yeah, really. As of right now, I want to work through this with you.”

“Do you… want to come over?”

She glances down at her pajamas. “I’m in bed right now.”

“Come over and cuddle?”

Her eyebrows rise. “Tempting.”

“Come over, cuddle and watch Avengers?”

She laughs. “Give me 10.”

#woozi #woozi scenarios #woozi imagines #Lee Jihoon #lee jihoon scenarios #seventeen scenarios #seventeen imagines #Seventeen #svt

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officialleotolstoy · 4 years ago

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Oh Dolokhov Brainrot We’re Really In It Now, aka Dolokhov playlist annotations!

A note on the cover photo: I don’t really like this one but I got tired of looking at men on Pinterest so I gave up. The window symbolizes the rum window and the smoking symbolizes uhhhhh habitual bad life choices idk

Drinking game take a shot every time I say “it’s about the vibes”

Wrecking Ball - Mother Mother

“I break it just because I can”

This is THEE ‘I am going to cause problems on purpose’ song and that is like his entire narrative purpose!! Argue with me about this one I dare you

The Good, The Bad, and the Dirty - Panic! At The Disco

“If you wanna start a fight you better throw the first punch, make it a good one”

Partially its just vibes, I won’t lie. But also the consistent spoiling for a fight is very in character

Shoot to Thrill - AC/DC

“I’m like evil, I get under your skin”

It’s got I Am Morally Repulsive But Also I’ll Steal Your Girl energy which really hits all of Dolokhov’s character traits. And of course the added bonus of gun imagery.

Mr. Brightside - The Killers

“It started out with a kiss, how did it end up like this”

I added it strictly for vibes, but then I realized the quoted lyric is very much him @ the Kuragins if you take the reading that he refuses to admit he actually like them but grows genuinely fond of them over time even though he initially got to know them with a lot of ulterior motives.

Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen

“Mama, I just killed a man”

The amount of songs that are on these playlists just for what are essentially your mom jokes since Dolokhov loves his mom so much is a little pathetic. But I’m not wrong! I can’t really put it into words but something about this song has Dolokhov energy.

Feel It Still - Portugal the Man

“Give in to that easy living, goodbye to your hopes and dreams”

A good deal of what I find interesting about Dolokhov is the internal conflict he has of knowing he’s become rather wicked and problematic but also not really trying very hard to change and almost enjoying it so a lot of the songs on here are about that, including this one. The “I’m a rebel just for kicks now” also very much screams Causing Problems On Purpose.

The Bidding - Tally Hall

“I like to take advantage of the bourgeoisie”

His whole role in volume one and two is to take advantage of the bourgeoisie! This song also oozes confidence and a sense of superiority that comes from being better than the sellouts in high society, Dolokhov’s not like other girls uwu (he really is, but I don’t think he would admit that).

Say Amen (Saturday Night) - Panic! At The Disco

“I could be better but baby it’s Saturday night”

Embracing his own wickedness! The idea that he knows he could be better than he is but he doesn’t want to take that opportunity...yeah vibes

Wilson (Expensive Mistakes) - Fall Out Boy

“I became such a strange shape from trying to fit in”

This is the epitome of the “woe is me I need to be purified” phase he goes through when he’s into Sonya. Also “I’ll stop wearing black when they make a darker color” reminds me of Comet Dolokhov’s stupid eyeliner <3

Some Nights - fun.

“So what is this? I sold my soul for this?”

There’s a long stretch of this playlist that just boils down to “Woe is me I need to be purified” crisis hours, because Dolokhov’s oscillation between embracing his own cruelty and trying to be a good person is super interesting to me. This song captures the idea that he’s still having fun and there’s some good there, but he’s also aware that he’s losing himself a bit

Roaring 20s - Panic! At The Disco

“I don’t even know me”

“Woe is me i need to be purified” crisis AGAIN. This song gets more to the annoyance with society as a whole and feeling kind of lost in it

Send Them Off! - Bastille

“Help me exorcise my mind”

“Please purify me 16 year old girl! I’m 27 this isnt creepy at all ahahahha”. I do despise Sonyakhov but this has the vibes of a man feeling his own evil and wanting a woman to fix it. Not a great look.

Easy Days (Demo) - Bastille

“I don’t wanna fall back again, back into the easy days”

Near the end of the “woe is me I need to be purified” phase when he’s kind of drifting back to his old ways and he’s like wait no- wait- and then he does anyway because he’s horrible. I also really like the acknowledgment that his horribleness is easy and pleasant for him, and he has to fight against that (and he loses that fight HDJAJJD).

Undisclosed Desires - Muse

“You trick your lovers that you’re wicked and divine”

This is a Dolokhov/Nikolai song I do not take constructive criticism. Undisclosed desires...not being straight...lots to think about! It feels almost like a corruption arc? Nikolai isn’t corrupted nor does their...fling (?) last very long but Nikolai is obviously enamored with Dolokhov despite him being The Worst so I think this fits. I don’t have enough songs for a Nikolai/Dolokhov playlist so I just add those songs to both of their individual playlists

Thnks fr th Mmrs - Fall Out Boy

“Thanks for the memories even though they weren’t so great”

Also mostly a Nikolai/Dolokhov song. This man has never ended a relationship on good terms, huh. Also. Sighs heavily. “He tastes like you only sweeter” never fails to make me laugh when I think about it in the context of Dolokhov post-duel being like oh?? You’re just a stupid WOMAN Hélène your brother and/or Nikolai is hotter than you :/ which is not exactly what I think happened but it makes me laugh to consider. Dolokhov ur bitterrrrr

Dangerous - Royal Deluxe

“I’ll be the last man standing here, I’m not going anywhere”

I feel like this has the vibes of his cruelty, especially in that bit after the Kuragins have died when he and Petya infiltrate the French army.

Another One Bites The Dust - Queen

“There are plenty of ways you can hurt a man”

He will hurt you and kill you so violently :) It’s about the vibes.

White Wedding Pt. 1 - Billy Idol

“It’s a nice day to start again”

In the exact inverse to his “woe is me I need to be purified” phase, he’s like ok yes i will pick up bad habits again and enjoy them because frick you! I read once that this song is about a relapse into drugs, but I’m making it analogous to his relapse into Terrible Person Behavior after Sonya’s rejection. Also the repetition of the phrase little sister does something for my brain idk, after we know he loves his mom and sister it just fits.

Highway to Hell - AC/DC

“I’m on the highway to hell and I’m goin down”

Like White Wedding, it screams acceptance of his problematicness. He knows he’s cruel and evil and he revels in it. This is the phase we see him in most I think.

Back in Black - AC/DC

“It’s been too long, I’m glad to be back”

I think this plays every time he gets reinstated to an army position he lost by being reckless earlier. Just kidding sort of but listen to this song and tell me it doesn’t have Dolokhov vibes. If you do, you’re wrong <3

Poet - Bastille

“I have written you down now, you will live forever”

This is just here cause he ghostwrote Anatole’s love letters and I think it’s funny. It’s MY playlist and I get to choose the barely relevant Bastille songs

St. Jude - Florence + The Machine

“Maybe I’ve always been more comfortable in chaos”

This one’s more scattered lyrics than an overall vibe. “Each side is a loser so who cares who fired the gun” has duel energy also.

Hey Look Ma, I Made It - Panic! At The Disco

Confession: I hate this song. However, it’s about the about the MOM R U PROUD OF ME vibes (she is. Should she be? Probably not).

Rich Kids - Bea Miller

“It’s never enough for the stuck up types”

The not coming from wealth and having to almost scam your way into being part of the aristocratic scene is very Dolokhov. Also in my mind the rich kid he’s roasting is specifically Nikolai.

Money, Money, Money - ABBA

“It’s a rich man’s world”

I’m not SAYING the wealthy man they talk about is Anatole but - [i am shot]. Scheming and clawing your way up to wealth is Dolokhovcore.

This Is Gospel - Panic! At The Disco

I literally have no justification for this other than that i think modern AU Dolokhov would vibe with it. Look at the amount of eyeliner he wears in Comet and tell me he didn’t have an emo band phase. You can’t.

Trouble’s Coming - Royal Blood

This is not about the words at all, it’s more about the vibes. It just sounds Dolokhovish to me, don’t ask me to explain.

Sleep Alone - Two Door Cinema Club

“They’re just ghosts and they can’t hurt him if he can’t see them”

This gives me post-Kuragins’ death vibes, and I can’t pin down exactly why? I think it’s the idea of being very alone and closed off.

Golden Days - Panic! At The Disco

I can’t put a specific lyric to it but it’s the vibes of looking back on your hedonistic youths with nostalgia and rose-colored glasses. Post-Kuragins’ death vibes again.

Go Get Your Gun - The Dear Hunter

“One foot in the grave, the other one’s kickin’ its way right down to hell”

All we see of him after the Kuragins’ death is just him being particularly cruel and reckless, almost careless. This feels like it encapsulates that energy.

The Fallen - Franz Ferdinand

“They say you’re a troubled boy just because you like to destroy”

I’m aware that a good portion of this song is about a Christ figure but I’m going to respectfully ask you to ignore that bit and just focus on all the Sketchy Things the guy does instead. Thank you. He does in fact like to destroy things! Señor Cause Problems On Purpose back at it again at krispy kreme, huh.

#war and peace #fedya dolokhov #my post #w&p playlists #i counted i said the word vibes 13 times #so sorry

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missing-my-griffin · 4 years ago

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a rant that’s way too long about Tics character bc i need help

Alright I simply cannot get over how the show writes the way he treats women, and it’s all so intriguing, so here we go. He’s supposed to be our hero. Sweet, nerdy (or so we’re told) and oh yeah a war criminal who hates what he’s done. Traumatised and complicated and allowed to be. Interesting concept, and a very gray character to have as your male lead. I LOVE seeing flawed personalities. But thus far, I feel very very unsure of whether or not the show is going to acknowledge the shit he’s done... all that stereotypically male, entitled kind of shit.

Hippolyta’s arc about becoming small, making herself small, and George who was like the poster child “good guy” not being all good after all because he let her, kind of makes me question what they’re trying to say about Leti and Tic.

Because, (that’s the relationship I wanna start with...) it’s freaking me out.

They have these “romantic” scenes, we had Leti last ep saying she loves him. And yet. I don’t see any real intimacy. It’s all so superficial?? I see Leti making herself small like Hippolyta did, and him not only allowing it but just... living in his own world so much it seems he wouldn’t even care if he knew. Ji-Ah’s and Tics relationship seemed much sweeter and more sincere than what he shares with Leti, but maybe only because of the innocence of it all. First loves and stuff. Leti and Tic’s dynamic is much more “grown up”. Which is fucking me up, because she was a virgin, and by choice because she was waiting for something real. Tic is Leti’s first love. It almost makes it seem like they’re trying to say “the relationship is as mature as HE wants it to be. HIS status matters for the softness of it, never hers.” Just compare the respective first times we had here. Ji-Ah was so careful, so sweet towards him; and he anger-fucked Leti for 30 seconds on a bathroom sink. Granted, he didn’t know. But still. This show really glossed over the fact that it was her first time and that she, in canon, said she wanted it to be special. She played it down for his sake so he didn’t feel bad “Don’t worry, I needed it”, and then his reaction kind of implied he.. couldn’t care less? It was like the bare minimum of “awww :( My bad.” Not to mention, I am still fucking disgusted at how Leti just swallowed all that up like it was nothing (how he treated her in that bathroom), just to turn up the very next episode and be some kind of hypersexual seductress. I’ll throw up about that for centuries. And it could have been fine, if they had made it a point to show us “Yes she was a virgin but she’s a grown woman and her lack of experience doesn’t infantilize her, and now she’s making the choice to explore her sexuality in a very mature way.”, but they didn’t, quite the opposite we’re getting less sass, less flirtation, less provocative playfulness.

I’m going to be very honest, Leti’s “lady in the streets but a freak in the sheets” - sexuality is the very epitome of performing sexiness for the male benefit. She’s the cool girl, she’s pure, innocence, you know, but with you, oh my wonderfully average hero, for you she’s a fucking whore. For you she’ll be down, be sexy, pretend it wasn’t a big deal what you did. Do they really want to portray this as a romance we should root for?? I’m so conflicted.

And last episode, again, had me wondering.... because Ji-Ah came back and he treated her like literal garbage, a monster, a thing, for no goddamn reason.

Because remember the opener?? ? Very first episode, Tic’s wet dream of his “hero’s adventure”, he’s the main guy in a sci-fi flic and gets rewarded with a barely dressed alien-Ji-Ah, very classic old sci fi look. And yes, classic in this context means disgusting, fetishizing, sexist. Because this Ji-Ah, she had red skin, a bit of an otherworldly look. An “acceptable” alien/monster because she’s still objectify-able. Still “hot”. But when she turned into an actual monster, whose tails don’t exactly fit the hot stereotype, Tic decided she had no worth anymore. None whatsoever. Even though she is kind, forgiving, loving and selfless. But she is worth nothing more than Tic’s disgust as he reveals he never had any shred of true feelings for her, because she’s just a repulsive thing for him to yell at for trying to save his life because she loves him despite it all. Not to mention, how dare he judge her. (that line “It’s my nature, what’s your excuse” had me in TEARS lol) He tortured her best friend, watched as she got murdered, and had the audacity to go “well that’s how it goes, it’s her own fault for being a communist” Tic’s not a bad guy, and I don’t hate him. But he’s much less of a hero than Leti or Hippolyta, or Ruby and Ji-Ah for that matter. He’s traumatized, and it’s eating him up, but he lets his anger (or coldness) at who he became in the war and who his father made him out on the women around him. Which is interesting, because the women in this show are all traumatized as well, yet are still kind and rarely project their anger. Tic uses his love interests, refuses to “see” them, and thinks it doesn’t count because he’s not doing it maliciously, just out of ignorance and aloof entitlement. And depending on how this show treats this issue (I’m really really hoping they’ll acknowledge it obviously but really unsure atm), I’ll applaud them til by hands bleed or be really fucking pissed :’D

And lastly just to make it clear again: I do not hate Tic. He’s not the villain, and I don’t see a mad queen arc for him. The only reason I’m judging him so harshly is because the way they’re portraying him is so ambiguous. This show is all about injustice and that includes feminism, and they got Dee’s and Hippolyta’s stuff so brilliantly, and then they turn around and give us a male centric, dripping with sexist undertones main couple? I think I hate some of the stuff Tic’s done so much because it’s so MUNDANE; like every woman has been treated like that before. And every woman has had to sweep it under the rug and hope to grow strong enough to learn her worth, expect more from the mediocre men around her. Demand real intimacy, demand real kindness. Tic is a little like Nick from gone girl.. like not the antichrist lol, but just this normalised amount of selfish dispensation that never gets portrayed as such or called out bc it’s not “that bad”, quite the opposite, men like him get the hero treatment, and in Ruby’s words, I’m tired.

#lovecraft country #ahhh I needed to let this out #it's been brewing for weeks

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tildehummingbird · 4 years ago

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Spoiler about Catherine and the Soul Riding

(I posted this over at sso forums, so if you see a thread like this there, it's me hehe)

So, I've done the Catherine Quests and I've completed them and as a lot of other people, I was mad.

I mean, I had so many questions: If Aideen is in everyone, and destiny doesn't matter, then what's the need for Soul Riders, if anyone can do it? Destiny and being the "chosen one" is the whole entire concept of this game, and changing the route NOW, or at ALL doesn't make any sense, and they're probably gonna lose a lot of players that are interested in lore because this doesn't make any sense. Then what's even the need for a 5th rider? What's even the need for this game at all, if a 5th rider isn't needed then just follow the storyline in Starshine Legacy and don't add the 5th rider. If anyone can do it and if Aideen is in everyone, then explain why we're the only ones in this whole entire generation that can handle all powers at once, why can't any of the other riders in Jorvik? Why was Elizabeth so surprised that we could in fact use all powers? What was the need for the beginning cutscene? It literally told us "In times of despair, a sisterhood of Soul Riders will ride forth to protect the island from the evil that seeks to rip the world apart. It is foretold that a sisterhood led by a heroic and fearless girl will appear on horseback to bring hope and light back to those who believe that all is lost... Are you that girl?" I don't know dude, it doesn't even matter if I am because apparently anyone can be that girl, so who cares if I am? Then why were we able to literally fly on our horse? Why would Fripp be so adamant about our protection to the point of where he put his own life on the line, just so we could be protected? The message of "anyone can be a hero" is great, however that's not the point of this story and it never has been.

All these questions and no answers, so I thought we could theorize a bit so that, together, we could try to understand a bit more about this and understand what even happened, what it means and where it is going.

I was checking the star stable tag on Tumblr, and I saw a post by @sso-emberwood that pointed out a lot about Catherine: She didn't even want to be Aideen at all, all she wanted was a normal life with Thomas and her baby, to be free from this prophecy and these duties. Not only that, but The Keepers of Aideen aren't exactly the most telling bunch, so she would know as much as we do: nothing. She wasn't a fan of the prophecy thing, she wasn't a fan of being the only one who's special and different, and she rejected the whole idea, so it would make sense as to why she'd project that onto us, too. Not only that, we saw that she lost her horse, and therefore "half a soul", as Linda described it so maybe she really doesn't get it anymore.

Either that, or maybe we perceived what she said wrong. I went back to check on what she said, so I'll write it here: "We needn't wait for Aideen's return. The goddess is reborn with every horse and rider who open their hearts and form a true bond. Aideen's gift is love. She's been with us all along. In me. In you. At least that is what I believe."

So, to start off, I think that last part is very important. That's what she belives - referring back to what we know is fact: she didn't like the prophecy, and she wanted to define her own destiny and not be controlled by it - so it would make sense for her and her character that she'd have these beliefs. To her, all you need is Aideen's love because Aideen's gift lives in everyone. Now, it is true that Aideen's Gift lives in everyone because Aideen's gift IS for everyone in the island of Jorvik, and I even have Rhiannon dialogue to prove that the Keepers of Aideen agree on this too. This bit of text is from one of the Soul Riding quests, where Rhiannon takes us to South Hoof:

"Have you ever noticed there's something different to the nature of Jorvik? The grass is greener, the birdsong sweeter. But most importantly, the horses are happy and free. They have all this land to roam, and we Jorvegians share this land with them. This connects us to horses on a deeper level. The other Druids put so much focus on the Soul Riders, Guardian Horses, Aideen herself....but they forget to see the magic that's right before their eyes. The magic of Aideen's gift." At this point, you're given two choices: either "I already know that." or "That's what they all say." Regardless, she'll say "Is that so? You've probably heard folk talk about it as if it's some kind of friendship between horse and human. But it's so much more than that. It's what pulled me to travel up North to care for magical horses. It's what makes Nix so special to me. It's even why I'm a Wild Whisperer...On Jorvik, our deep bond with horses is magical. You've been training exceptionally well. During this time, the bond you have developed with [horse name] has flurished. But you haven't just strengthened the bond between both of you. You've connected to the nature of Jorvik on a deeper level, and with that have honed a magical link to all the horses in this island. Close your eyes, and listen to the sound around us. Can you feel how everything is connected?", yet again you can choose between "Yes, it's magical." and "Uh...no." she'll say "You clearly have an affinity for this. I'm impressed. Sometimes, if you focus clearly, you may notice a spark of something powerful. That's the presence of a wild horse. It's one of the ways we Wild Wardens sense they're nearby and ensure their safety. So now you know. Aideen's Gift ties us to all the horses on Jorvik, and it is something to treasure. You can use this knowledge to improve your riding skills. Pay close attention to your horse, and the horses around you, and you will find harmony. This is what I wanted to share with you weeks ago, but I thought you weren't ready to understand. However, I was wrong. Your dedication to Soul Riding has proven just how much you care for the horses on this island. I'm proud of you, [player name]. Thank you for helping protect the horses on Jorvik."

Aideen's Gift is what makes you have such a good connection with horses and it is what makes Jorvik's people and horses special - however, that's certainly not enough to lead Soul Riders into battle. Love isn't enough to defeat Garnok - you need to be chosen for it and destiny DOES matter, no one else has any power in any circle, only the people who are born specifically to have it. However, Catherine is right, but I'm not exactly sure that she understands that that's not why we are unique and that's not what makes us fit for battle instead of literally anyone else - we're unique and the reason as to why we're the only ones who should be able to go into battle is because we don't just have Aideen's Gift like everyone else - we are Aideen. Catherine is Aideen too, we are her and she is us. Cause all of the reeincarnations of Aideen are the same thing, different body. Us and the Soul Riders don't just have Aideen's Gift, we were reincarnated to be her and the soul riders were reincarnated to be what they are today. Catherine very visibly rejected and left behind her duties and gave up being a soul rider after she lost her horse - she completely rejected even looking for a reeincarnation of it like we did with Anne - but when she did, we were born, because Catherine gave up which meant that another reeincarnation was needed, because it needs to be Aideen herself, not just someone who has the gift - she kept the gift, but she no longer had what it takes to be that girl, and didn't want to either, so someone who did was born.

And again, the Druids make it very clear that their mission, and their end goal is he rebirth of Aideen. A couple of days ago I got a lore book from the Soul Riding missions called "Druids and Horses: A Partnership" that said this: "Aideen's Gift enables druids to continue to protect Jorvik, feel spiritually closer to the land, and ultimately fulfill their mythical goal of the rebirth of Aideen" and "[...] a network of spiritual people whose sole mission is to protect Jorvik through ensuring the return of the goddess Aideen."

Which means they acknowledge that they're waiting for a specific someone to be born, so that that specific someone can lead the sisterhood into battle, when the final battle comes, which means that they acknowledge that it can't just be anyone. Waiting for someone special is the whole point of the Keepers of Aideen - they are literally called Keepers of Aideen, no Aideen reborn, no Keepers of Aideen.

Also, in the mission "Strenght in Numbers" with Rhiannon in the Soul Riding, she said that what made her leave Jorvik was that she saw a hooded figure in the forest, and it felt like it was draining the life out of her and her horse, so she left because she was afraid, but she came back upon Elizabeth's request for help, and she when she saw how much closer the Keepers of Aideen were, she decided to stay, but after she says she says: "What really opened my eyes was you, [player name]. Your dedication, skill, and sheer talent has given me faith in Aideen's Light that I haven't felt for a while." Everyone has something like this to tell us, I think there's a reason for that. One of the most important ones so far was for example, when Darko was able to enter the Stone Ring, threatening to destroy the keystone, and Fripp says: "I would sooner destroy the keystone than let you take [player name]. She is more important than you imagine..."

The reason as to why I choose to share the Rhiannon one is because it is recent, just like Catherine's memories which means the story and the objective remains the same, with the only difference that we know Catherine's perspective and why she failed and why the sisterhood fell apart, which will be important in the future, because if you don't remember, the dark riders are trying to recruit Nihili (previously known as Elise) who is the 4th Dark Rider. So far, we've only seen her horse but what we do know about her is that she has the ability to cause discord within the Dark Riders, but I'd imagine she'd have influence on us, as well, and that's why she'd probably be recruited. The Dark Riders know that the previous sisterhood failed due to discord and fights within the group, so it wouldn't be surprising that they'd try to make that happen yet again.

Apart from all of this, I simply don't think Catherine knows enough about this whole thing to be the one to reveal it to us, and I also think the "big reveal" was anticlimatic and not well done, at least in my eyes, because *assuming* this is the route they're going with...eh? What? Why was it so...dry?

Also, if you go back to the very first news post on Catherine's diary, it says "This chapter of the Soul Rider story arc is a standalone quest and is not mandatory to complete in order to play future quests with the Soul Riders." and if they were to add SUCH an important reveal then it wouldn't be a something you could choose not to do, it would be a mandatory, integral part of the story - this seems like very important information, right? If we don't do this quest, and just move on then in the world and in a story sense, MC wouldn't know that there's technically no Aideen to look for. It doesn't make sense if this is really what they're going to do...Unless it's not and this is just Catherine's opinions on the matter.

Overall, I'm just not a believer yet - I still think this is just Catherine's thoughts. As @sso-emberwood said, the only one who could actually tell us anything for sure is Fripp. He knows way more than everyone in the Keepers of Aideen. But he's sick still, and has been since 2017 the poor guy. I don't think we should assume anything yet, and I certainly don't think the game has changed directions. If it did, I'll be honest with yall - my interest would not be the same and I think it would be that way for a lot people as well and I think that's fair. You can't just come in and suddenly change the route of something that has been hinted at and is supposed to be the point of the game, it just doesn't make any sense. If so, then there's no need for this game or for a 5th rider.

#star stable online #star stable #starfam #starstable #sso

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guardmesherlock-rowan · 4 years ago

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Breaking the 4th wall

Anon: Okay so I have a rather weird and very meta headcanon ask: How do you think each GMS character would react if they found out that they are characters in an otome game? It's something I've personally thought about a few times before, meta 'what-if' headcanons are always fun to think about imo.

I’ve thought about this way too much. Mostly about what I would do if I go be inserted into the stories (which mostly boiled down to stealing coats and running like hell). There are a lot of ways this could come about but I believe they’d think:

“Hey Guys! You’re characters in otome games!”

Sherlock Holmes

He is surprised, but not by much. He is known for having said that ‘Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.’ Even if it’s so far fetched. If there was a character to have inklings of other routes existing, Sherlock would be that character. It is also the possible cause of he feels so much jealousy whenever he sees you next to another character. He also judges the writers for their stories and hopes that future ones written about him aren’t so predictable.

He also cannot deny the heartache he feels at the thought of how you two cannot exist in the same world. Though if he’s a construct of someone’s imagination, then he’ll have to accept that he’ll be close to you in your mind. Which isn’t all that bad.

John Watson

He thinks you’re messing with him. It seems cruel to think that his history is included in some romance game. And once it’s made clear that you two are definitely on two different sides of reality he gets depressed. He aches to hold you in his arms and seek comfort in that. However, he has to acknowledge that the way you feel next to him and the way you smell is all in his head. He wonders what the real you is like. How the real you is so much better than any pale imitation.

James Moriarty

For now.

He is not surprised that he is a creation in a romance game. Who wouldn’t want to love the Professor James Moriarty? It has given him even more lofty goals. If there is a way for him to become aware that he is an otome game character than there is a way to communicate. If there is a way to communicate there are open lines between you two. If there are open lines there must be ways to make it so he could be there. The world is his, and now he as set his sights on the one you exist in. Because his Little Robin will always be his.

Mycroft Holmes

Unlikely. That would mean that everything that he has done is fake. Fictional. That the pictures he has of Sherlock growing up are all fake. With further convincing, he wonders what kind of world you live in that doesn’t have him or his brother. Who does the Queen turn to in her hour of need, are they even the same Queen? Are the sweets in our world just as sweet, sweeter? The writers most likely based them on the same item, but does the fact one is imagined and one is real change their qualities? He wonders and would love to get your opinions. Talking with you was his favorite part of your relationship, so as long as he has that, he can be satisfied.

Jack Stillman

Bullshit. He refuses to acknowledge that. His history, the things he’s done, the things he continues to do both for work and for private reasons, all of it being fake? Being someone’s idea of a fun story? Okay, he could agree on the fun part, but the fact that someone is making it up and deciding for him? No. He needs proof. He doesn’t handle this news well and will take a long time for him to, begrudgingly, accept it. Though the notion that someone wrote him into a romantic story? He grimaces, “some love story.”

Sebastian Moran

Oh. That’s alright. As long as he’s with James and you, that’s alright. He would like to see kitties from our world though. Are they ignored and mistreated there too? Are you okay? If you tell him that you’re in any dangerous situation he will get angry and frustrated. Protecting you is important to him, and that power is not there, not really. That is the worst part of being a fictional character in his opinion.

Jeremy Cassel

Was his story good? Did you instantly fall in love with him as he fell in love with you? Do you crave to hold him as he wishes to gaze upon your real face? He talks as if he isn’t bothered by it, and that it doesn’t surprise him that you are in a different world than he is. But it does get to him, there’s another world to explore outside his reach. Full of treasures and people to cherish. He isn’t surprised that his story is one of romance though. It’s fitting.

Hercule Poirot

He says he had his suspicions. It doesn’t bother him too much. It is the life he’s known and he will continue to live it the best he can. Helping out people, and enjoying his time with his friends. Of course, he wishes he could be with you and see your world, but it isn’t very likely and won’t break his heart. Though he will struggle to keep proper sleep at night due to his thoughts about you and your wellbeing since he cannot see you all the time.

Arthur Hastings

He’s at first surprised, thinking you’re playing tricks on him as Hercule had been when suggesting that. It makes him curious if there is a way to use his computer skills to see behind the curtain and into the program for the game they are in. But he’s not sure if that’s possible. This also means that you are not the MC he knows, so he has a lot of questions about you and what you do and what you like. Which is enough for him.

George Lestrade

Ha ha, very funny. He also thinks you’re messing with him. It isn’t funny to say things like that. Of course he’s real, just as real as you. But the more you insist the more he starts to believe you. This man wants to be held has he contemplates this. His life is stuck with these guys who tease and mock and ridicule him all the time for as long as the game lasts. And only with you for brief moments. Any moment without you now sticks out for him, wondering if anything he does really matters.

Mikah Hudson

There are worse things to be. But he smiles knowing that this means he gets to spend time with you. He becomes more clingy with this knowledge because now he wants to get to know more of who you are and what makes you different than MC. What are your likes? Dislikes? Are the same things you like in your world the same in theirs? Hard to tell but he’d like to talk about it more.

Henry Jekyll

Much like James, he takes this as a challenge, of a different sort. What could be the science that allows him to be conscious of this? What allowed communication between you two? Is there something that he could do to make work so he could be in contact with you or be with you? He’s only a chemist, but he thinks he might be able to find others willing to work on this experiment. Even if you aren’t the MC he knows he’s enamored with you and wants to know your life.

Edward Hyde

That works. He doesn’t see the romantic aspect, but at least this means that you are safe as he continues his search for who the truth behind his parent’s death. Though it makes him wonder if there’s someone in your world that could tell him the answer, he would never put you in harm’s way if he could help it.

‘Irene’ (based off of the conwoman headcanon)

Don’t tell the others. Let this be a secret between the two of you. She doesn’t know what to make of this fact, it could mean the struggle she has with Moriarty might all be for nothing. That her history and the struggles she and her mother faced were all for nothing. But there’s still you. With this between the two of you at least she has one thing that’s real. Which is more than she could say for James Moriarty.

#shall we date guard me Sherlock #Guard Me Sherlock!#guard me sherlock #shall we date #Sherlock Holmes #John Watson #James Moriary #Mycroft Holmes #Jack Stillman #Sebastian Moran #Jeremy Cassel #Hercule Poirot #Arthur Hastings #George Lestrade #Mikah Hudson #Henry Jekyll #Edward Hyde #Irene Adler

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darkfairy-tales · 4 years ago

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Inception - Chapter Nine

Description: As an omega, Hongjoong was always treated wrongly in his pack. So when he is forced to be with an alpha who wasn't his mate he runs away. With little to no idea on where to go. With a small hope of finding his mate.

Character: ATEEZ, EXO, THEBOYZ, etc

Pairing: Ateez x Hongjoong, Hongjoong centric

Warning: Mentions of blood, violence, etc

The next day when Yunho woke up he realized all of them except Hongjoong and Jongho, had fallen asleep while watching the movie. He sat up stretching his neck groaning. He felt weird. It felt as if his body had been strained because of some hard physical work. He stood up as he got out of the house. "I got up early." He mumbled to himself. He walked up to the front. The entrance to the thick forest. He stretches out his limbs. For some reason he felt exhausted. He breathed out as he put his hands on a tree and leaned forward slightly. His nose twitched when he suddenly smelt smoke. He looked around but saw no fire. Then he looked up. The sight he saw making him gasp. "OH MY FUCKING GOD I AM FUCKING BURNING. MY FUCKING HANDS!" He screamed panicking as he saw fire on his hand which was against the tree, causing the tree to get burnt. He ran around screaming bloody murders. The others came out concerned. "What the fuck Yunho!!!" Seonghwa shouted when he saw his fellow packmate whose right hand had flames. Mingi gasped as he ran back inside. He comes out with a bucket of water. He ran towards Yunho and dumped the water in the bucket on the alpha. By now even Jongho had came out. Yunho gasped as he looked at his hand which had flames coming out a while ago. "It's.... It's not burnt." He said furrowing his brows, confused. "How the fuck is that possible?" Yeosang asked, amazed.

"Do you think it is the power? Yunho's power?" Wooyoung voiced out his thought. Realization dawned on all 7 of them. "Damn congratulations hyung. You got your power so fast." San said pouting a bit. He wanted to have powers too. Others patted Yunho's back, who was still in awe. "Where is Hongjoong?" Seonghwa asked turning to Jongho. "He is still sleeping. He woke up hearing yunho's voice but I told him to go back to sleep." The maknae answers. "He marked you too!" Mingi says excited as he stares at the mating mark on Jongho's neck. "He is probably going to get his power soon." Yeosang says looking at the younger feeling a bit jealous. "Guys how am I going to learn to control this? I don't think I can just easily control it." Yunho says looking at his hands. "We will find a way. Maybe talk to Chanyeol hyung. He is a fire bender after all." Seonghwa suggests and everyone agrees. "Let's go in now."

The next few days Yunho struggles with his powers. As suggested they had consulted Chanyeol about it and the older had agreed to help. Yunho had managed to burn down a table, his own clothes and a lot more. Thankfully he hadn't burned down the house. He was getting better as he trained with Chanyeol everyday. First Yunho trained to keep his power under control so that he didn't put things on fire without meaning to. After that came the training on how to use his powers. "You have to relax yourself. Your power is a part of you. All you have to do is feel it and imagine it." Chanyeol had instructed. "You have to keep your emotions in check too. As I said our powers are a part of us so when we feel emotions like anger or extreme sadness it can get very destructive." Chanyeol said. Yunho had quickly adjusted to his powers. It didn't took long for him to master his power. Only a week was enough for Yunho. There were still small mistakes but he was getting better. Jongho gets his power a little late than expected. The youngest wolf had fainted clutching his head, his eyes glowing violet. It had freaked Hongjoong out. In panic they had called for Yixing who confirmed that Jongho was fine and that he had just gotten his power. For 2-3 days no one was able to identify his power until Hongjoong's father had came and helped. Turned out Jongho had super strength which explained the fact that Jongho had been breaking things easily without meaning to. The boy had punched through a wall. His power was a bit similar to Kyungsoo but not all the way and the pregnant omega had tried to help the young alpha as much as he can. Jongho had practiced day and night and he quickly picked up on how his power worked. Yet he knew he had to be careful. His power was destructive to say the least.

Hongjoong was proud of his alphas. Seeing them improve so much had made him happy. He couldn't wait to see the others have their own power. "Baby wake up. It's 8:45 am already." Hongjoong heard making him whine. He slowly opened his eyes yawning. "I still feel so sleepy." He mumbled as he looks at Seonghwa. The older was shirtless and a bit sweaty, not that Hongjoong minded. The older had probably went out for a run. "Good morning baby. you should eat something. And if you want you can go back to sleep after that." The older says as he helps the omega get up and out of the bed. He leans down placing a peck on the omega's lips. Hongjoong is about to open his mouth and say something but stopped as he gagged. He fled towards the bathroom, getting down on the floor in front of the toilet bowl as he threw up. Seonghwa who had worriedly followed him inside rubs his back in a comforting matter. Hongjoong felt tears as he sniffles. "Shh it's okay. Do you feel sick baby? Do you want to go to the doctor?" Seonghwa asked. "I-I don't know." Hongjoong sniffles a bit embarrassed that his alpha had to see him throw his gut out. "Let's get you checked out later then hmm. Seokjin hyung works in a hospital. I will make an appointment with him." Seonghwa says as he helps the omega stand up. He stays by Hongjoong's side as the omega brushes his teeth and washes his face. After they were done they got downstairs where everyone was.

"You look so pale. Are you okay baby?" Yeosang asked when he noticed Hongjoong who looked a bit paler than usual. "Just.. a bit sick." The omega answers. "Come on. Eat something. Maybe you will feel a bit better after that." Wooyoung says as he leads the omega inside the kitchen getting him his breakfast while Seonghwa was on the phone talking to Seokjin and making an appointment for a check up for the omega. "Baby appointment has been set up. We have to get there before 11 am." Seonghwa says. "Huh? What appointment?" Mingi asked furrowing his brows. "Hongjoong threw up earlier. I am worried so I made at appointment with the help of Seokjin hyung's help. For a check up." Seonghwa answers. San bites his lower lips worried. "I have a few ideas on why he is throwing up but I won't say anything until it is confirmed." Seonghwa adds. Hongjoong stares at him with a questioning look but doesn't question anything. After Hongjoong was done San had helped the omega in taking a bath and getting ready for the appointment. "You look beautiful." San says with a smile as he looks at his omega. Hongjoong was dressed in soft blue sweater paired with comfortable white pants and white shoes. The omega looked so soft. San pulls the omega into a hug.

Hongjoong instinctively wraps his arms around the alpha. "You smell so nice. Sweeter." He mumbled as he ran his nose against the omega's neck scenting him. The omega nuzzles his face against the alpha's chest crooning. San smiles as he slowly pulls away. "Hyung is waiting baby. Let's get you down before I decide to not let you go and just cuddle you joongie." He says making the omega laugh. "Let's cuddle when I am back." Hongjoong says as he pats the alpha's head. The alphas liked it when he did that though they would never admit because according to them they were not "dogs" but it never stopped the omega from doing it. It had become a habit to do so in just few days. They go downstairs where Seonghwa is already waiting for Hongjoong. "Aww our baby looks so beautiful." Yunho squeals as he approaches the omega leaning down to place a slobbery peck on the omega. The others pushes Yunho away as they took their turns on pecking on the omega's lips leaving the omega all flustered and shy.

Seonghwa and Hongjoong goes out with Yunho, who had nagged on how he deserved to accompany them to the hospital. They got inside their car as they drove towards where the hospital was. When they arrived Seonghwa parked the car at the front and three of them got inside. Hongjoong scrunching up his nose at the smell of medicines. "This is a hospital solely built for supernatural beings." Seonghwa says. The omega nodded looking around. They approached the reception. "We have made an appointment with Dr. Kim Seokjin. Where can we meet him?" Seonghwa asks. "Park Seonghwa?" The receptionist asked. The alpha nods. "Please follow me. Dr. Kim had especially asked me to take you guys directly to him." The woman, who seemed to be a far says. She leads the three of them to where Seokjin was. "Dr. Kim your guests are here." The woman said knocking on the door and walked away. Few seconds later Seokjin opens the door. "Hey guys. Come in. Come in. I don't have any other patients at the moment." The older says as he lets the three inside signalling them to sit down.

"So what seems to be the problem?" He asked looking at Hongjoong. "U-um I have been feeling really exhausted now a days. Like easily exhausted even though I don't do much and earlier first in the morning I threw up. Also I had been feeling dizzy once in a while now a days." Hongjoong explains as much as he can. Seokjin listen to him carefully nodding his head in acknowledgement. He stands up as he grabs a medical cup. "Come on. Follow me Hongjoong." he says. The omega stands up as he follows behind the older omega like a lost pup. "You two stay here." Seokjin said turning towards the two alpha who nodded their heads. Hongjoong follows Seokjin who leads him towards the washroom. "I need a sample of your urine here. For some test." Seokjin says as he hands the cup he was holding to Hongjoong. "Okay hyung." Hongjoong says shyly as he gets inside the washroom. He comes back out after a while holding the cup which had his urine sample, the lid closed. Seokjin walks the younger back to his alphas. "I will take the sample and get it tested. Tell Seonghwa and Yunho to wait. I will come back with the test results. It will take like only 15 minutes maximum." Seokjin says smiling at the younger. "Okay hyung." Hongjoong says as he goes back inside to his two alphas.

"Seokjin hyung told us to wait. He took my urine sample. He said he will come back with the test result soon." Hongjoong says as he sits between the two alphas. "Are you feeling okay now? Like do you feel sick?" Seonghwa asks. The omega shooks his head 'no' biting his lips feeling nervous for some reason. Yunho places his hands on the omega's noticing how nervous he was feeling, giving Hongjoong an assuring smile. After 20 minutes Seokjin comes back. "Sorry. It took a bit longer than expected because there were some problems." Seokjin rambles as he goes to sit on his seat, a paper on his hand. "Hyung is Joongie okay? Is he sick?" yunho asked. Seokjin laughs at the older. "Calm down. Okay so Hongjoong is not exactly sick. He is just pregnant." Seokjin says. Seonghwa and Hongjoong both freezes up. "Ohhh he is just preg- WAIT WHAT PREGNANT? WAIT REALLY?" Yunho screams out. Seokjin laughs as he hands the alpha the test result. "Oh my God. oh my fucking god." Yunho squeals. "Baby you are pregnant!" Yunho says turning to the omega who is teary eyed. "W-we gonna have pu-pup." Hongjoong sniffles feeling emotional all of a sudden. He was going to have a pup or pups of his own. How great is that! He was going to be giving his alphas pups. Both Seonghwa and Yunho hugs him. Big smiles on their faces.

"Well then I will arrange a doctor for you. I have a friend who can be the doctor for Hongjoong through his pregnancy." Seokjin says. "His name is Lee Jaehwan. He is a beta." He adds. Seonghwa nods with a hum. "Come on. Follow me. I will lead you guys to him. I suggest you get an ultrasound today." Seokjin says as he leads the three out and to where Jaehwan was. Seokjin knocks on the door first and opens it peeking his head inside. "Hey Jinnie." The beta greets peeking at Seonghwa Yunho and Hongjoong who stood behind Seokjin. "I need help from you. Well as you can see another one of our packmate is pregnant and I suggested you to them. I want you to check up on him. I was wondering if you could be his doctor throughout his pregnancy." Seokjin says. "Ah of course I would love to." Jaehwan aka Ken agrees willingly. "Well lets start the check up and see how the little one is doing."

Time Skip~

Hongjoong and his two alphas were on their way back to their territory. Dr Lee Jaehwan, who had requested them to just call him Ken, had told them that the babies was at it's two weeks. Yes 'babies'. They were having twins. They had also told that pregnancy for wolves as they might have known lasts shorter. While it lasts 9 months for human for wolves it would lasts only 6 months. The fetus develops faster than a human child. They have been told that Hongjoong might go through extreme morning sickness, back pains, headache, cravings, mood swings, etc but they can't be sure as pregnancy is different for everyone. Yunho was happy. Seeing that the fetus of the twins were 2 weeks it was clear that the twins were his. Jaehwan had also warned the two alpha about how they are going to start feeling more protective. "We are going to be dads." Yunho mumbled as he broke the silence in the car. A big happy smile appearing on his face. "Twins. I am nervous. But we are going to do this together." Seonghwa says, a gentle smile on his face. Hongjoong smiles proudly as he cuddles up to Yunho who was sitting beside him. He was happy. He had his seven alphas and their pups on the way. He couldn't have asked for anything more. It was so calm at the moment. No worries. No fear about his old pack mates coming after him. Everything was just right. But was it? After all they say there is always calm before the storm.

[Inception Masterlist]

Hello guys! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I tried my best with every chapter. If there is any error please spare me 😣 Thank you for all the support and love for this book.

Please don't forget to like a d reblog or comment your opinions. Thank you again. Stay tuned for the next chapter. Love you all. Bye 😊💚💚

#ateez hongjoong #ateez seonghwa #ateez yunho #ateez yeosang #ateez mingi #ateez san #ateez wooyoung #ateez jongho #ateez werewolf au #ateez fluff #ateez boy x boy #ateez scenarios #ateez wolf au #ateez fantasy au #ateez fanfic

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snkpolls · 5 years ago

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SnK Chapter 127 Poll Results

The chapter 127 poll closed with 1,993 responses. This month’s poll results were compiled by /u/alooulla, Crunchwrap, Giovata, @momtaku, @shifter-lines and /u/staraves.

Thank you, as always, for your support!

RATE THE CHAPTER 1,888 responses

It’s time to get back on the hype train, y’all! Chapter 127 was a vast improvement over last month’s reception with close to 90% of respondents viewing it favorably. By way of comparison, with chapter 126, that number was only 55%.

Fixed everything I didn't like about 126

This chapter was top quality. Jean and Yelena were great this chapter. Loved Reiner and Annie helping each other. But please Isayama stop torturing Reiner :(

Amazing and I agree with Hange completely

Wow, such an awesome chapter! It's been a while since a chapter like this has made me put my thinking cap to analyze the scenes in more detail and come up with theories regarding what's coming next!

Are there any words sweeter than "Save the world"?

Calm before the Storm in the SNK fashion

Finally Kiyomi! And some talk between the parts. Seeing the dead SC veterans made me cry a lot. I still care about them so much

I still don't like that the SC are just up and going forces with the Warriors, who are nothing more than unforgivable monsters, BUT I can admit the execution this month was much better.

Pretty damn tasty this month, not gonna lie. Hope to see more of that Floch in next month's dish, chef Isayama is a genius.

Guess you could say Gabi haters got a "kick" out of this month

Hahaha

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING WAS YOUR FAVORITE MOMENT? 1,938 responses

Hello JeanMarco fandom? Are you there? This is the fandom of 2020 telling you it’s time to come back to the series if only for a month.

It’s been 84 years but Jean finally learning the dark truth of Marco’s death topped our list of favorite moments with over one-third of the fandom selecting it (35.7%). “Yelena the shit stirrer” was second with 20.6%.This Jean-focused chapter netted Jean the third and fourth favorite spot as well. “Jean and Magath’s argument” and “Jean’s idealistic daydream” tied for third with 7.9% each.

"Erwin being implied to not support the rumbling" I wanted to choose this as one of my favorite scenes along with Hange's "I don't support genocide" <3

The biggest highlight of the chapter definitely has to be Jean punching Reiner upon learning that the latter was responsible for Marco's death. Ever since the truth about Marco's death was revealed a while back, I was awaiting the scene of Jean learning the truth about Marco's death and how he would react towards Reiner regarding it

Why is nobody talking about Yelena and Pieck pleaseeeee

I didn’t think it was possible to love Jean more than I already did but this chapter proved me wrong. I was so glad he finally learned what happened to Marco and at least got that closure.

Loved Yelena messing with everyone's emotions and calling out the truths that nobody wanted to recognize

Jean punching Reiner was my favorite moment of the chapter. Finally that evil fuck is getting what he deserves for what he's done.

The only people Yelena didn’t drag were Pieck and Falco. She has good taste.

Hange acknowledging their failure to stop Eren from getting to this point is 👌👌👌

Jean's and Magath's debate gave the vibes of 'what's older, the chicken or the egg' and I'm living for it lol

I actually found Jean’s dream sequence to be a little unsettling, maybe because of Isayama’s style of not drawing certain facial features clearly, like the eyes. It was almost more foreboding to me than sweet, peaceful, or nice to see.

My favorite moment was the reaction shot where Mikasa was going to charge Annie and everyone is freaking out but the last panel is Levi just sleeping.

I seriously want to see Mikasa vs Annie XD

Jean complementing Hanjis stew is the best moment in the manga

WHO WAS THIS CHAPTER’S MVP? 1,938 responses

With Jean receiving the bulk of the focus and development it’s not a huge surprise that Jean (66.2%) was the landslide winner for chapter MVP, with Yelena (9.9%) as a distant, and we mean distant, second. What is a surprise is that Hange’s culinary creation (9.7%) beat out Hange themself (8.9%) for the number 3 spot.

STAN JEAN KIRSTEIN

yelena best girl 😔💕

I already knew that Hange was a queen, but I'm genuinely surprised with Annie too. While the first made a big part of the fandom shut up (genocide is never justifiable) the second one admitted her crimes and understood Mikasa better than anyone.

I love the chapter. It was satisfying to see Jean find out the truth to Marcos death.

I loved how Jean got focus and how he called everyone out on their bullshit.

Mikasa being a badass again. My girl<3

Hange’s stew!!!!

I love the chapter. It was satisfying to see Jean find out the truth to Marcos death.

I loved how Jean got focus and how he called everyone out on their bullshit.

Awesome, go Hanji ! And Levi ! Though he didn't do anything.

I just want some of Hanji's stew

DO YOU THINK THE GIRL IN JEAN’S DAYDREAM WAS MIKASA? 1,943 responses

Was it Mikasa? Was it a girl with exactly the same hairstyle and scar who just happens to look like an older version of her? Most fans seem to think it was very clearly intended to be Mikasa with solid numbers. Or at the very least, considering the eyes were hidden (a common manga trope to confuse identities), proof that Jean has a definite type.

That woman in Jean's fantasy is very clearly Mikasa, you can even see the scar in one of the panels lol

I can't believe there are people denying it was Mikasa in jean's dream. What the actual fuck?

I think it isn't exactly Mikasa, but Jean *does* have a type and Mikasa heavily influenced it by being his big crush back when all his hormones were firing at 200%.

WHICH STATEMENT DO YOU MOST AGREE WITH REGARDING HANGE’S ANSWER TO JEAN ABOUT GENOCIDE BEING INHERENTLY WRONG? 1,939 responses

Nearly half of respondents (45.1%) agree with Hange that genocide is non-negotiably wrong. However, those that said in certain circumstances it is perhaps unavoidable if one’s enemies are intent upon it (16.6%) or it truly is the last resort (29.9%), responded in numbers too large to be dismissed. Those that claimed it was unabashedly a good thing, lag behind (8.5%). The results of this question would seem to indicate that even the fans that support Eren’s actions are doing so, for the most part, reluctantly; because that's the only way they see Paradis surviving.

Hanji’s rejection of genocide in no uncertain terms—I’ve been waiting for that! I want to frame that panel on my wall!

Finally people are arguing against Eren's crazy ideas. Expected more from Hange's and Jean's points tho, they have the capacity to be more eloquent

Jean is so close to noticing that the rumbling is best for him…

Kinda disappointing to see the group take such a simplistic take on the Rumbling.

Hange wants paradis to die on the moral high ground

Hating on Hange puzzles me, I understand people who support the rumbling, but saying she is bad for wanting to stop the killing of billions is just frustrating to me.

I'm tired of negativity flowing from fanbase. Everyone would like to see genocide; blood and rotten bodies of innocent people, but even Eren doesn't want that!

Genocide is morally and ethically wrong as hanje said which I agree with. What I don't agree with is her acceptance that once eren dies the eldians on paradis are gonna genocide within a few years. That fact that she hadn't thought of anyway to get around this is disappointing.

If it was Isayama’s Intention to make me feel bad for the rest of the world, he should have focused on it for a larger portion of the story cause honestly, they all can burn in hell for all I care. Innocent or not.

HANGE’S CLAIM THAT NONE OF THE DEAD SURVEY CORPS MEMBERS WOULD SUPPORT A RUMBLING WAS FOCUSED ON ERWIN. WHAT DO YOU THINK? 1,938 responses

This poll team member, staring at the camera like Jim from The Office. While Hange has been proven to be a trustworthy character, one with 11/10 intelligence and someone who knew and worked with Erwin on the daily for years and years, and certainly knew him better than anyone aside from Levi, only a third of respondents (36.7%) trust Hange’s judgement on this.

Hanji is right y'all are just dumb

I love how when Isayama wants us to agree with a character he pulls out the Erwin card

I love that years later, Erwin has still not been forgotten.

Erwin would never support a full rumbling to genocide the entire world, and it saddens me that anyone would think otherwise.

We aren’t bad people for supporting Eren. Don’t let the Erwin stans throw hate at us. Erwin would have protected his home too.

WHICH DEAD CHARACTERS DO YOU THINK WOULD SUPPORT THE RUMBLING? 1,783 responses

Kruger (58.3%), Kenny (57.4%) and Zackly (43.9%) top the list of characters we think would support the rumbling. Despite Hange’s confident declaration that no one in the Survey Corps would be so small minded, many disagreed choosing Ymir (31.3%) and Erwin (31%) as characters they think would support the Rumbling.

WHO WON THE DEBATE BETWEEN JEAN AND MAGATH? 1,930 responses

This was definitely a Jean chapter, am I right? At 48.8 percent, Jean definitely won the debate according to most fans. In fact, poor Magath didn’t even get a result worth mentioning; ‘neither’ or ‘Hange’ both got reasonable responses, but this was unarguably a slapdown for Jeanbo!

Jean slapped Magath. Bonus points for including that they were totally ignorant even after the walls were attacked.

Magath's replies to Jean are weak. I believe I can do better than him on countering Jean's points.

Idk when they'll get that it doesn't matter how much they hate each other or who started it.

Magath sucks. "Your people did shitty things to us" stops being an excuse when you do things that are just as bad if not worse than what happened before.

This chapter just showed how fake magath is man wow

The argument felt a little? biased towards the paradis folk? i wasn't too bothered by it, but hey, if jean was going to get to punch reiner then reiner deserved to punch someone for bert too.

The argument of "Who is the real bad guy" was a circular "You're the bad guys!" "No u!" "NO U!" -- but by the end of the chapter, all of the arguing characters put aside their differences as they ~left the forest~

Everyone: *kids fighting*

Hange: *bass boosted* WOULD ANYONE LIKE SOME STEW

ANNIE QUESTIONS WHETHER OR NOT MIKASA COULD KILL EREN. DO YOU THINK MIKASA COULD EVER BRING HERSELF TO KILL EREN? 1,935 responses

Early in the chapter, Mikasa surprises Hange and Jean by stating without hesitation that she will help stop Eren, but when Annie forces her to confront how far she is willing to go, she is clearly reluctant to take extreme measures. Almost half of the respondents (49.1%) believe that this is something Mikasa will never be able to do, with a decently close remainder of respondents saying either yes, she could bring herself to do it (29.1%), or opting not to decide (21.8%).

I don't see Mikasa killing Eren but i ALSO also don't see her doing nothing about it. It's complicated

If she met Eren in her present state, she wouldn't be able to kill him. Perhaps if something else happens between now and then to really strengthen her stance, she could.

I literally have no idea but i have a feeling she will confront him either way

I think she will struggle first, but after she will gain the conviction to do it.

I think she'd be willing to kill him if he showed to be willing to kill the scouts.

Lol at Mikasa learning how to think independently of Eren

She probably won't be able to do it regardless of her conviction because of the Ackerbond, unless Eren allows her to.

Killing eren is kind of extreme isn't it?

She will join Eren!

IF MIKASA CONFRONTS EREN, WHAT OUTCOME DO YOU EXPECT? 1,907 responses

This one was all over the place! Proof if proof were needed of how impossible this particular subject is to predict right now; Mikasa’s strong feelings for Eren haven’t faded even though she has consistently demonstrated an opposition to his goals, and the poor girl is being torn to pieces. However, those that think Mikasa will ultimately be unable to bring herself to stop him if it means killing him are in the majority here. It’s still anyone’s bet though.

I dont think they can talk him out of it, but im not sure if killing him even stops the rumbling, hence i am not sure what to expect from this.

If Annie would turn out to be right with her suspection that Mikasa could turn her back to the alliance?

Mikasa is going to k-word Eren, isn't she? All the focus on her plus the uncomfortable question. Oh dear. Please no Isayama.

I feel like if Mikasa did end up killing Eren, she'd be even more hated than Gabi for killing Sasha.

Eren will accept his death . And itll be a suicide by forcing Mikasa and armin to kill him.

Eren will die because of the immense power his titan needs, Mikasa will be there to say "Farewell, Eren"

Armin will be the one who will finally take Eren down.

Armin and Mikasa try to talk, Armin die, Mikasa have no choice but try to kill Eren. Don't know if she succeed.

Armin is going to die with Eren while they look at the sunrise over the ocean

I don't think he will need to be killed. I believe that Eren will take all his squad to the paths and then they will talk. Eren will finally tell them everything. If he is going to destroy the world, Mikasa most likely will finish him off.

Eren won't be stopped

He'll confide in her and somehow convince her that he's in the right

Her and/or Armin's death(s) would be the only thing to stop Eren

If Mikasa comes into contact with Eren, she will confess her love for him because that's what she was last seen thinking about. If she couldn't do it before, better late than never.

It will be a group effort to finish him off

Mikasa will be killed (likely accidentally by Eren) in the process of trying to talk him around. Ironically, it will be this which finally causes him to question his current course of action.

Maybe she will kill Eren but it will destroy her

She'll let someone else do it. Maybe Jean?

She's probably just gonna scream "Ereh" all over again

Mikasa and Armin will confront Eren, no one will win but no one will die

No one will kill Eren because he's killing himself

IF ANNIE AND MIKASA WERE TO FIGHT NOW, WHO WOULD WIN? 1,932 responses

In this writer's opinion, I always bet on Annie winning their original first fight even though I was (and am) a massive Mikasa fan. Now though, I definitely agree with the majority of those who answered this question. That first fight might be debatable but this second one wouldn’t even be a contest. Mikasa has just had years more of training and growth, and we don’t even know if being in the crystal for so long has left Annie weakened in any way. 63% of respondents think this is Mikasa’s fight to win.

Hope mikasa mikasa fight annie it will be sweet

MAGATH WAS NOT SURPRISED TO DISCOVER THAT KIYOMI WAS WORKING BEHIND MARLEY’S BACK. WHO DO YOU THINK KIYOMI IS TRULY WORKING FOR? 1,917 responses

Close to 74% of those who took the poll this month are still not convinced of Kiyomi being particularly loyal to anybody but herself. Is this a case of reading a book by its cover too soon? Or is she genuinely as snakelike as she appears to be? Just remember that people can still have the capacity to do good whilst putting their own interests first. Unfortunately the opposite is equally true.

She's double agenting everyone, like an arms dealer in a war. She sells to both sides and loses nothing in return

Her nation. She's putting her nations interests first.

She is loyal to Mikasa primarily for selfish reasons, but the rumbling threatens her home too, so she'll probably support Hange and co now.

Plot twist: the Yeagerists have been Kiyomi's pawns, in the next chapter Kiyomi will throw Floch and the Yeagerists under the bus AND pretends she is indeed a hostage.

Kiyomi is working for herself even not for Hizuru and she will double cross everyone

Kiyomi/Kruger/Willy 4D chess conspiracy ftw

I have no idea who's side she's on at this point.

Not conspiring with the Jaegerists but with Zeke and the euthenasia plan.

I have thin hopes she might be working with Eren and Historia who convinced her to join their side.

She lusts for the blue rock

THE PLANE’S FUEL CAPACITY IS MENTIONED AS A LIMITING FACTOR IN FINDING EREN. WHERE DO YOU THINK EREN IS? 1,912 responses

Eren didn’t enable infinite fuel in the PATHS console, and now everyone else has to deal with it. 40.3% of you think Eren has already left for the continent, 36.3% think he’s still on Paradis in his Founding Titan, 16.8% think he’s hiding somewhere in human form, and that leaves 6.6% who think he’s already reached the continent. Does anyone know the MPG on iceburst stone?

I'm going to be honest, I genuinely thought the plane was an aborted arc.

I find it funny that everyone is very concerned with catching up with Eren, even though they have no idea where he is, and have completely forgotten about Zeke. How do they know he's not lying in some rubble somewhere?

I just thought the plane idea was kinda....lame? I don’t know it just felt weird to me.

I can't stop picturing all the Wall Titans holding onto Eren's ribs for dear life as he crosses the ocean because they underestimated how deep it was.

YELENA MENTIONS THE APPEAL OF “SAVING THE WORLD” AS A MOTIVATION. DO YOU THINK SHE JOINED ZEKE PRIMARILY FOR HIS VISION OR WAS THERE ANOTHER FACTOR? 1,910 responses

Nearly a quarter of you said that Yelena served Zeke to further his cause, 20.2% of you said that she did it because she was just really thirsty for Zeke, and 13.2% of you said that it has nothing to do with Zeke, and that she was just looking for fun and fame—in other words, SASUGA, PIECK! The fairly overbearing majority of you though, at 42.1%, said that it was some combination of all of the above answers.

I think Yelena's motivations for following Zeke are partly spiritual. She mentions his titan being godlike, and follows Zeke around like a disciple.

I was quite shocked to learn that Yelena was an average Marleyan herself who just made everything up about her coming from an annexed Marleyan nation and being saved by Zeke in some way.

YELENA BRINGS UP THE MORE RECENT CRIMES COMMITTED BY THE WARRIORS AND THE 104TH. IS THERE AN EQUIVALENCE OR IS ONE SIDE MORE AT FAULT? 1,901 responses

This question had an interesting response, because it was expectedly divided, but not in the way one might have guessed. 34.9% of you said it’s irrelevant whose crimes are greater, 34.1% said that it’s about equal, 30.2% said that the Warriors are most at fault, and only 0.8% of respondents said that the 104th were most at fault. When we see talk of blame, or right and wrong, we normally see a very even split—especially when it comes to Eren, so this is an interesting outcome!

It’s so brilliant on the way it shows war’s true face ... don’t have winners, don’t have losers, it doesn’t matter who started or who finished it, we are fighting each other and for whom? for those who died 2000 years ago? people are just sickening. this chapter showed a lot of that with Yelena’s speech

Fuck Marley, but the sc doesn't have the higher moral ground on the warriors.

They should stop choosing between evils and start forgiving, never forgetting, but forgiving so they all can live together when it all ends one way or the other.

ZOOK YOOGER APPROVES!

JEAN THANKS YELENA FOR HELPING THEM GET ALONG. WAS THAT HER INTENTION? 1,889 responses

A clean 31% of you think that Yelena was “just taking the piss”, by bringing up everybody’s past, and I had to google what that British (Australian?) nonsense means, but hey, you learn something new every day. Following just behind that at 30.7%, you guys said that she wanted to create more conflict for an unspecified reason. 27.6% of you said that she was just venting frustrations, while only 10.7% thought she actually wanted to help Zeke, and bring everyone together to stop Eren.

Looking forward to seeing Yelena roasting everyone in season 4.

Someone should beat magath for being an ass and yelena for being so edgy

WAS JEAN JUSTIFIED IN ATTACKING REINER LIKE THAT? 1,894 responses

Almost three quarters of people thought Jean was justified in giving Reiner a walloping, largely for killing Marco (36.7%), but also to knock sense into Reiner (21.6%). 15.6% thought it was justified but that Jean took it too far, and a fraction fewer (15.2%) thought both guys have been justified in their actions. Just 6% thought the beating wasn’t justified at all, as we readers are well aware of Reiner’s feelings of guilt already. If you expected the sufferboi saga to end any time soon, don’t hold your breath…

I wouldn't say Reiner deserved it, but Jean is definitely justified for it. I don't blame Jean since the guy who killed his "best" friend was sitting right in front of him.

Uuuh YES? Is that even a question? Imagine someone killing your best friend and then calmly talking about it like telling a story.

His feelings are justified, his actions aren't.

Nobody fucking reacts over Yelena stating "Armin stole Bert's power", and instead we're just getting wank over a plot device from 2013: I named Marco.

Yes, but Annie deserved a beating too.

It makes no difference, they both are wrong and bad guys right now

We the audience know Reiner's entire backstory but Jean does not, hence why we feel more sympathy for Reiner than Jean does to him.

No reaction to Bert being eaten by Armin and Porco's already forgotten when he literally died the day before, but more Marco angst? Alright then.

I'd say neither is truly 'justified', but it was an emotional purging they both needed. Jean for his anger over what and who Reiner's taken from him, and Reiner getting what he feels he must receive for what he's done.

He should've killed him

Leave Reiner alone already. He suffered enough. He understands his mistakes. He doesn't need to be punched anymore.

Reiner deserved it, but by now its been too long so it feels out of place.

It's understandable. Jean's hit his breaking point. Reiner I love you but please stop trying to provoke people into causing you bodily harm.

Jean should've hit him harder. And Reiner wanted to be hit cause he knows it himself that he deserves it. Give the boy what he wants 💅

Reiner needs a damn hug goddamnit.

Yes. Revenge is always justifiable

Pretty sure reiner liked it either way

Honestly, when Jean hit Reiner, I felt good. I think that Reiner and Jean will have a better friendship and I'm looking forward to that.

I really don't know.

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT MAGATH STOPPING HIMSELF FROM EXTENDING A HAND TO GABI? 1,886 responses

Magath is a complicated fellow isn’t he? He seems to treat Eldians better than most but has trouble getting over his own prejudices regarding them. Most of you seem to think it was character progression (56%) that he reached out to help Gabi in that moment as a man, instead of as her commanding officer. We shall have to see if Magath’s attitude continues to soften, and if so, could it potentially be a microcosm of the world’s attitude to Eldians in general?

Magath begins to have a real compassion for warriors, especially towards Gabi (already in one of the previous chapters, he had given her a hug).

Foreshadowing, he'll die for her. 100% sure.

Gabi apologized to the Devils, she asked them for help. Magath realized that Gabi is not a brainwashed fanatical degenerate anymore, even she is not on his side.

Good question. It seemed like he only know started to realize that Eldians are people with feelings, fears and hopes too, but didn't know how to interact or if he was even allowed to show that concern after all that time.

He doesn't know how to react to this because Hange's words from earlier struck him deeply.

He fill asham that she act more like an adult than him

He finally starts understanding he was being an ass. Better late than never!

He is not sure how to comfort her. The situation is a tough one.

He realises now that he needs to provide the better future for these young Eldians thus being the guy that will free the Eldians from the discrimination.

He realized that he cares about Eldians a lot and he doesn't see difference between them and other people.

He realizes that he’s one of the reasons why a kid like gabi is suffering and feels like he doesnt have the right to comfort her

He wants to help the warriors but feels guilt about all the pain he caused them

He's a bitch realizing it's kinda his fault

He's only shown to care for Gabi tbh. We've seen him humiliate all the kids over and over even when they were trying to help and give suggestions, so I don't accept it as development and much less as "caring for Eldians".

I really dont know wtf was happening in these panels

When not arguing with Jean, Magath was flabbergasted all the time about Eldians being more human instead of devils he thought them to be, so idk, this reaction kind of goes hand in hand with all that. He's kind of realising they're human as well and he's afraid of feeling compassion for them.

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT JEAN'S TREATMENT OF GABI AFTER THE ACCIDENTAL KICK? 1,905 responses

66.6% agreed that Jean’s softer treatment of Gabi was the cutest shit they’d ever seen, or close to it. 23.5% were neutral on the matter, and a small proportion (4.6%) didn’t really care for it. Then there’s that little bump in 1 voters (5.4%), from those who didn’t like to see any kind of positive treatment of Gabi. My goodness, would Sasha hold a grudge this long?

Bless Jean and his kindness toward Gabi

Gabi is garbage

Gabi sucks

She shouldn't be the one to endure the kick of a seething horseface and explain why the warriors did what they did. Worse even, hiding her own pain to beg her aggressors for help. When her arc is all about leaving the forest, that's disgusting.

Haven't we had enough of Gabi Sue hogging the limelight? And the way she begs the SC to side with her after what she did to Sasha? Disgusting!

It kinda annoyed me that Gabi is apologizing to the 104 when they're the ones who destroyed her home and don't seem to feel guilty about it

idk but i love gabi

Gave the kick moment a 3. +4 because Jean is amazing, but -1 because Gabi should have gotten worse.

It really shows what a great character Gabi is because she can continue for vengeance but she is being a bigger person and choosing a more moral path.

MUCH OF THE CONVERSATION AROUND THE CAMPFIRE WAS REMINISCENT OF WHAT WE DISCUSS IN THE FANDOM. WHICH IDEA WERE YOU MOST HAPPY TO SEE? 1,893 responses

Does Isayama read our posts? You might be forgiven for thinking so, considering the campfire discussions focused on so many different angles; the complexity of the situation was nailed, and the winner was Jean knowing Eren’s actions are best for the island but still morally wrong (35.1%), but Yelena’s little dialogue was appreciated enough to come a close second (31%). This was the moment where all of us felt like our view was taken on board however, and it was brilliantly done.

I wonder if Isayama actively collected all fandom ideas, because he NAILED it. Well, he did his part, right? In showing the complexity of the situation. He can't change the fandom's minds, but he can put his message out there.

Annie confronting Mikasa only to immediately back off, what she pointed out made sense, and yet they didn't even discuss what to do if Eren couldnt be persuaded to stop genocide.

This chapter was a beautiful reflection of the community's arguments.

The panel when they are eating around the campfire looks like 'The Last Supper' of Jesus and his 12 apostles.

+1 for Annie for calling the 104 out on their inability to kill Eren if need be, and for Hange for having some fucking common sense

I liked it more when they were all enemies tbh

WHICH OF THE MORE LIGHT-HEARTED MOMENTS FROM THIS CHAPTER WAS YOUR FAVORITE? 1,898 responses

To me, Hange cheerfully knocking on the window to interrupt Jean’s idyllic daydream was pure comedy; what’s wrong with you people, am I the only one to find that funny? Sigh… Levi waking up to complain about the noise was alright though. I guess. And 50 percent of you seemed to like that one best. Comedy is wasted on you lot.

Sleepy Levi made me laugh out loud!

Levi was wholesome for once

Why would you think of Annie's asking if she's forgiven as a light-hearted moment?

I felt sad and grieved while reading this.

Loved Yelena with Titan Pieck, feel like she won't make it out of this alive and that's a shame since she's pretty interesting

I didn’t like the foodstuff. Isayama can’t make food jokes funny.

Isayama noticed Annie's favorable treatment so often he even slipped a joke about how nobody cares enough about the severity of her crimes to care... Haha...

Wouldanyonelikesomestewwouldanyonelikesomestewwouldanyonelikesomestewwouldanyonelikesomestew

LEVI JOINS THE LIST OF CHARACTERS WITH GLORIOUS BEDHEAD. WHICH HAS BEEN YOUR FAVORITE SO FAR? 1,898 responses

Mikasa’s gravity-defying locks assert dominance with 53.1% of the vote. Mankind’s strongest soldier makes an impressive debut in second place with his moment of dishevelment (21.2%), and Annie’s shaggy mane from all the way back in the Female Titan arc made it to third place (15.1%). We then have Gabi (4.6%) and Eren (4.1%) closely matched, and an honorable mention for Jean’s mild fluff from the days of Uprising (1.9%). Levi’s bedhead this chapter may well be the last in the series!

Levi taking his beauty sleep and being cranky after waking up by all the noise was the cutest thing on the entire manga. And talk about that bed hair... Can I tousle it, please?

[Levi’s] hair jkjkksksks KAWAII

DEATH FLAGS ARE ONCE AGAIN FLYING! WHO DO YOU THINK WON’T MAKE IT OUT OF THIS ARC ALIVE? 1,844 responses

Break out your bingo cards! Love him or hate him, most people agree that Floch has by far the highest chance of meeting his demise at a hardy 67.7% of responses. Just over 50% have voted that Yelena will die; perhaps she’s too much of a wildcard to stick around for the long-term. It’s not looking good for the old guard as many people think Hange and Magath have a good chance of dying, 48.7% and 45.2% respectively. A lot of people have also interpreted Jean’s development this month as an ominous sign (37.9%); it would certainly be one way to follow in his commanders’ footsteps! On the other end of the scale we have the fewest votes for Gabi (8%), Mikasa (8.2%), Falco (9.5%), and Armin (9.8%). Those expecting all four to meet their end are imagining a very grim finale indeed.

Hanji please don't die!

They're gonna kill Floch :(

Can Floch just die? Please?

I feel like hange will come up with a plan to save paradis without genociding.... and then immediately die without telling anyone the plan :)

Fuck annie. just fuck her. i want her to die so fucking badly.

If Hange dies I’ll cry

If Jean fucking die I’ll RIOT !!

Isadistyama knows only too well how much we hate Floch, which obviously means he isn't going to fkn die.

Gabi must die

Someone need to die soon.

Reiner's will to die will keep him alive to the end of the series…

I hope Levi doesn't die.

Really hoping Hange's death wasn't just foreshadowed in this chapter.

Jean will definitely die. Too much protagonism around him in this chapter.

My guess about Mikasa's life chances are now 50/50. 50% dying chances if she would protect Eren by fighting against the alliance and the other 50% having a chance to live a normal life with turning back to her old self

Just not Levi, at least not yet, c'mon we barely got him back :(

Maybe this whole manga is one man's journey trying to die in vain, until he ultimately finds the will to live... Then dies.

Hope they all die

THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER WAS NOT RECEIVED VERY WELL. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT CHAPTER 126 NOW AFTER HAVING READ THE FOLLOW-UP? 1,891 responses

With the worst rating in recent memory, chapter 126 was a disappointment to many readers, and we even saw some people losing faith in Isayama (the heresy!). So we asked the fandom about their feelings of the previous chapter in retrospect and knowing the continuation.

Surprisingly, the majority of respondents (48.9%) said their opinion of the previous chapter had not changed, but they felt positively about it, with 23% saying their unchanged feelings were negative. A remainder of 28.1% said their opinion of the previous chapter had in fact changed, with 26.1% expressing more positive feelings and 2% feeling more negatively.

A real improvement compared to Chapter 126.

Amazing, picked up on everything I thought 126 needed.

Definitely an improvement upon the last chapter

This chapter remedied most of my issues/concerns from the previous chapter

Chapter 127 was so awesome it made 126 even worse in comparison.

I prefer personally chapter 126, but this chapter had much better pacing

Everybody complaining about 126 were too impatient and short-sighted. This was always what was going to happen and both chapters did exactly what they were supposedly to do.

It really made me feel better about 126

Way better than 126 but still kinda cringe tbh

Much better chapter that made 126 redeemable

AFTER THIS CHAPTER, HOW HAS YOUR OPINION CHANGED ON THE FOLLOWING CHARACTERS?

Due to this chapter being dialogue-centric with character interaction galore, naturally it was bound to have an impact on the characters’ likeability. The significant focus on Jean’s inner turmoil evidently made him skyrocket in the eyes of the fans, with 80.6% of responses to him being on the favorable side, correlating with him being the fandom’s choice of MVP.

Jean's development is top tier.

I am so proud of how far and mature Jean has become! ;-;

Jean continues to show why he's the best character in the series

JEAN CHADSTEIN

JEAN JEAN JEAN JEAN

Other characters receiving a boost in favorability were Yelena, Hange and even Gabi (although in her case by only a smidge).

Yelena was my personal MVP this chapter

Mama Hange is the best

Gabi behaved like an adult and preferred to ask for forgiveness and help (she was adorable).

While many were relieved by Hange’s strong stance, it should be noted that Hange also received significant backlash this chapter, with ¼ of respondents viewing Hange less favorable.

Fuck hange

Hange is just making idiotic shitty points, and she has become one of my most hated character after this chapter. Jean's argument is one of the best, and almost everything he says this chapter made me love him even more.

People saying hange is acting based off emotion .. when literally all eren has done is act based off emotion. of course hange doesnt have a plan yet, eren is literally gonna annihilate the world

Though no characters had an overall less favorable response, Magath’s comments about the Paradis Eldians certainly almost landed him there.

Magath can suck a nut

Fuck off Magath

Magath really annoyed the hell out of me this chapter

ONCE AGAIN ISAYAMA APPEARS TO BE PLAYING WITH OUR EXPECTATIONS OF THE FINAL PANEL. WHICH OUTCOME DO YOU BELIEVE IS MOST LIKELY? 1,824 responses

Dreamt up fantasy or not, this chapter gave us yet another plausible scenario for the long-haired man holding a baby, confirming that Isayama knew what he was doing when he released that final panel, and he will milk the speculation for all it’s worth. With over 50 custom write-in responses of people saying they have no idea, it’s clear we’re all just on Isayama’s wild ride.

The most popular option chosen was that it depicts Eren holding Historia’s child (38.9%), followed by Grisha holding Eren (29.1%), Jean holding Mikasa’s child (14.7%), and Farmer-kun holding Historia’s child (8%). We also found many trends in the write-in answers:

Eren holding his baby with Mikasa (11)

Jean holding Historia's child (9)

Grisha holding Zeke (4)

Eren holding ymir fritz (reborn) (4)

Zeke holding Eren’s child. (3)

Falco holding Gabi's child (2)

Armin holding Historia's child (2)

As well as multiple answers that it’s Isayama injecting himself into the manga. You’re all hilarious.

Eren holding Isayama

plot twist: its isayama's dad holding him. he is free of the manga now

Isayama holding baby Onsen

Some of you had some creative ideas that I enjoyed reading:

Eren holding historia’s dead baby. saying it’s free from this world’s cruelty

Eren holding the Crawling Titan's human form (the one they encountered when heading to the ocean).

The next inheritor of the Founding Titan is holding Historia’s child, Eren sees this as a future memory.

Two marleyans free of eldian rule

Zeke holding Yelena's child

How did that last one get - actually, screw it, I’m on board. #Zelena4Life

We also had some voicing of concern regarding the lack of warning for final panel spoilers. To anyone who was spoiled by the final panel as a result of our actions, we apologise, and we will make sure any future polls that include discussion of external material will be appropriately tagged. This was Crunch’s fault, so please direct all of next month’s hatemail at him. He’s very sorry though.

WHAT DO YOU THINK THE OUTCOME OF THIS UPCOMING BATTLE WILL BE? 1,865 responses

Before they can reach Eren, the Alliance needs to first get past the Jaegerist. Only 12% of respondents expect this to be easy. The vast majority (63.8%) are anticipating an Alliance win but at the cost of major character deaths. On the other end of the spectrum, close to 20% expect the Alliance to be defeated but think they will reach Eren another way. The tiniest percent (4.1%) think that the Jaegerists will win this battle and Eren will be successful.

I hope isayama wont nerf the alliance so hard in the upcoming battle. and pls no stupid death. make it glorious.

5 titan shifters versus a group of Jaegerist, I'm putting all my money on those well rested shifters to deal with a majority of the Jaegerist on the outside while the non-titans sneak in and rescue Kiyomi. And hopefully one of them can kill Floch while they are at it.

Super excited for next chapter! It was good exposition and a good setup for an epic fight! I also kind of hope that now that they've figured out the trick to stop fighting and finding diplomatic ways that they don't directly resort to violence but at least try to find a way to talk with the Jaegerists. If they don't try to talk and find a way around then the lessons learned won't have meant a thing. I'm super happy with the direction of the story

Even if you hate Floch you still have to give him credit for what he as done with taking over Paradis and mobilizing the Yeagerists in anticipation for the alliances next move

I swear if Armin doesn’t either turn into a titan now or in the final battle I’m gonna be saltier than the Dead Sea.

YES, WE ARE GOING THERE... HOW BADASS DID FLOCH LOOK IN THAT FINAL PANEL? 1,888 responses

God help us all... The bird’s nest hair is gone so there is nothing left to distract us from that rockin’ bod and fierce expression. Please know that I am physically in pain that only ¼ of the fandom selected the “Ewwwwww no” option. The rest of us are apparently weak for thicc thighs bound by tight leather straps.

My hat is off to the 9.2% who selected “How ‘bout dat Kiyomi.” You have my respect for maintaining your dignity and opting out of this question entirely.

Floch based

Floch is a CHAD

Floch is a hottie

FLOCH MARRY ME PLEASE I LOVE YOUU

Floch NEEDS to die!!!

FLOCH SHALL REIGN SUPREME!!!

FLOCH THE CHAD

I hate floch but damn is he lookin fine af

AT THIS POINT, AROUND WHICH CHAPTER DO YOU EXPECT THE MANGA WILL CONCLUDE? 1,876 responses

After another set up chapter amidst the scenery of the apocalypse, the chances of this arc wrapping up quickly are slimmer than ever, with only 2.2% of respondents believing the series to be in its final volume and ending at chapter 130. The 138-gang has officially taken over as the majority, with 43.9% of respondents expecting the story to wrap up in ten more chapters, beating out the 37.3% who think we will only get to chapter 134, and the 16.6% who think the story will go even further, to 142 chapters or beyond (for those counting at home, that’s at least midway into 2021).

I find it hard to believe that the story is getting wrapped up so soon… There’s so much that I feel like needs to happen before the story ends

I hope [Isayama] finishes the series without any rush.

I'm unsure if the manga will be able to end in 2020

I thought we were supposed to be approaching the end but now we go on a sidequest to free princess Kiyomi from a miniboss, huh?

The end is near and I already feel sad.

Whatever happens, it's been a wild ride up to this moment. I thank Isayama for everything.

WHAT ARE YOU MOST HOPING TO SEE NEXT CHAPTER? 1,892 responses

Eren’s POV (37.3%), a continuation of the present storyline (21.9%), and the return of Historia (19.1%) are our top hopes and dreams for the upcoming chapter. A major death (6.8%), Reiner finding the will to live (6.0%), news about our boy Zeke (5.6%) and the Rumbling (3.4%) round out the entries.

EREN POV AND HISTORIA POV ALREADY JESUS CHRIST

I'm kinda hoping we get a zeke pov I wonder how he feels abt eren betraying him.

Historia was named because she is history from the story YAMS I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU WHERE IS QUEEN BAE

HISTORIA WHENNNNNNNN???!!!!!!!!

I just miss eren and historia and zeke a lot, they're my favorite characters :(

I just want annie to see her father smh

I have faith in isayama's cruelty and I honestly hope to see someone die

Please get Eren or Historia on the screen for the love of god

Reiner's too tired to die now. Wondering at which time yam will give him a new motivation to live and fight.

I’m still hoping Mikasa and Armin will man up and realize that Eren may not be worth fighting for. Maybe next time!

Hype for that Floch death next chapter, cmon Yams

Watch it burn!

WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 1,797 responses

The percentage of people who primarily discuss the series on Reddit is up from last month, while Tumblr and Discord’s percentage is down. People who don’t discuss the series, but participate in the poll are up 4.1% (of the whole, 73% relative to itself). The top 5 ranking order is: Reddit, I don’t, Facebook, Tumblr, and Discord. I’m surprised by the lack of Discord responses. If you voted Discord, but don’t see many people in your Discord communities aware of the poll, let them (or us!) know!

On that note, I have to give the Snapchat voters a hard time. Snapchat got 6 votes this time. Six. That’s the same as it was last month, but let me put this into perspective for you. Steam got three votes. There are twice as many people who voted Snapchat as there were people who voted Steam. Two. Times. Until I receive evidence to the contrary, I’m electing to believe that this is a Marleyan psyop, and I’m not falling for it.

Regardless of where you discuss the series though, we appreciate your contribution to the poll, and the SnK community as a whole! We literally could not do this without you guys, so thank you!

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE CHAPTER? 406 responses

Nice prelude before the final confrontation(s)

Fantastic chapter with great development for Jean and Reiner.

Overall, this is exactly what I wanted after last chapter's fiasco.

Where is Zeke lmao

Needs more Historia. THEY ARE ALL THERE WHY IS THERE NO ONE TALKING ABOUT THE QUEEN OF PARADIS. ISAYAMA PLZ

Kinda bummed there wasn't more Levi, but I'm always bummed when there's not a lot of Levi.

I don't like where this is going

I can't believe I'll be legit sad if Floch goes.

Erwin would have come up with another way to protect Paradis. He would have blackmailed and sweet-talked all the other diplomats lol. If Erwin was in charge he would have come up with a decisive plan and Eren wouldn't even have had to consider the rumbling, unlike Hange who is all talk but no plan and I guess that's why Erwin had to be nuked out of the story.

F U L L B O C C O

I live for character drama and Jean’s my favourite character so you know I loved this one.

I loved the Pieck x Yelena moment...and I Am Once Again Asking for Historia Comeback.

Mikasa. That’s it, that’s my thoughts,

Meh this arc has really a lot of problems with the characters, basically i dont care for anyone at all except eren and reiner, and that's a major flaw.

[Yelena] pointed everyones hypocrisy out that they aren't just victims who did nothing wrong. Everyone, except of Falco, has cover they hands with blood. It's not just ""muh Marley, muh Eldia or muh Yelena"". Everyone have started sins and are to blame for something. It was a really necessary wake up call, not only for the characters, but for this fandom as well. No matter if this was her intention to create more drama in the group or make them realize that they and not different from each other. GREAT MOMENT and Yelena absolutely slaying 👑

Please just make mikasa ended up with eren in the future. I dont really care bout anything

THE.CHAPTER.THAT.WE.NEEDED.

There really just aren't any good solutions, are there?

Isayama stop messin with my heart

Also I've seen people mad at Magath, but the only two charas I really hated here were Yelena and Floch. Both kinds of people are terrible in real life (usually minus the killing but eh)

Eren is gonna win and kill everyone

Can we stop the SUFFERING XD jokes with Reiner? The torture porn is seriously getting old and unnecessary. Can't believe I had to lower my opinion of him as well.

Every major character during this arc had moments of extreme fragility and desperation. mikasa, connie, armin, hanji, reiner and now jean. i love this because it would be extremely weird for a group of people who constantly put their sanity to test to remain the same (strong and capable of fighting and leading in every situation)

Bless Jean! He is such a good friend. I hope he can heal. That reveal with how Marco really died was very traumatizing. I hope all of the characters can heal.

BTW Isayama..It will be so pathetic if the Manga ended by Mikasa kill Eren..The worst and most unsuccessful end

Better than the previous one for sure. I love dialouges! Still expected Annie to interact with Armin and Levi not just sleeping through all of this like the sleeping beauty.

Annies back, back again. Annie's back, tell a friend.

Another banger

AoT is like good wine, it gets better with time.

AOT makes my life tolerable enough to live, thank you isayama

Boring chapter i wanna see eren ffs

Bitches really do be supporting genocide

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

10/10 as usual

127 was a totally piece of shit

I think jean and pieck will become a thing. if it doesnt, ill be sad lol

I'M AT SOUP

I'm confused.

I'm glad the situation of Marco's death and his importance to Jean was addressed. I just hope this won't be the last we see of it. Jean needs to heal and Reiner needs to do better.

I'm just happy that there will most likely not be a Cringevengers-like ending that seemed not too far-fetched after 126.

I want Eren to live

I want the recipe for that stew

I want to see Mikasa's POV

It feels as if Isayama has read our discussions and merged them into the story. Also I think Jean is the one who understands Eren's motivations the best at this point. Not Armin, not Mikasa.

It seems now that all the pieces are in place. I believe from now until the end will be a constant and crazy ride

It was a great chapter, but where's Eren? Even the "Avengers Team" are wondering.

It was a great chapter, Isayama covered most of the topics that were hanging loose on the last chapter

Real Housewives of Eldia

It was a masterpiece

It was alright.

Some will die, Eren will do some bad shit, but he will fail somehow

MOAR JEANKASA

Monthly dose of Reiner suffering

More Mikasa

More Reiner

None, just AOT

Nostalgic. Especially when Jean learns of Marco's demise.

Not enough action

Not enough suffering for Reiner.

Pie

Pieck Is hekkin cute

Pretty much what I expected after the events of last chapter, in a good way.

Reiner and Gabi both should have gotten so much worse from Jean, they have too much blood on their hands to be even remotely forgivable.

So long as the Jeagerists are resolved this volume, or something wilder - no more build-up. JUST FUCK EVERYTHING UP, ISAYAMAAA (not like GoT fuck it up, but the good kind)

Somebody, please let Reiner sleep and wake up properly

Shit gonna hit the fan so hard

Shit is happening and I'm not ready. Wonder if the anime will make the chapters flow better like in Season 3 Part 1+2?

There going to set something big up soon and everyone will be hype for it but then it will show Marley perspective of the rumbling or something

Eren will succeed! All hail Eren!

This chapter was everything I wanted, thx Yams ily

Lets just say I have new ships

This chapter was intense and I love the debates around the fire.

Too long chatting

Chapter was good but the fandom is at its absolute lowest state at the moment, between the aggressive Eren cultists, warriors and 104 fans attacking one another, and crazy shippers. Stop this clownery

Crazy chapter, looking forward to the next one.

Fuck the Jaegerists, death to all empires. Everybody needs to be a republic already, this is getting old.

Great breath of fresh air chapter. Needed that after the quickly paced 126.

Very good. i don't like the fandom,they are just children. i have always hated them.

Was a fantastic chapter overall and I hope for more of the same next chapter

We really missed Annie

Hype's alive again

I shit you not, He actually turned himself into a pickle. A pickle! He called himself pickle Rick. Now that's the funniest shit I have ever seen.

I liked that yams showed conflict in the gathering of the warriors and the 104th and that they weren’t going to forget each other’s crimes

I loved the arguing and tension in the alliance. I like how most of the chapter was around the campfire.

I prefer this chapter to have been the other half split of the previous one. And this one advanced to slowly, with unnecessary things

I'm still waiting for a crazy plot twist

When will the Ackertalk finally come

Where did mikasa go at then end!!!

YELENA!!!

Yelene spitting facts

Annie turned to alcohol

Im fine if this ends with the alliance stopping Eren but I'll find it dumb if Paradis isnt destroyed by the world afterwards. (which I highly doubt will happen)

It was pretty dope

It was really good but we all know I cannot wait another month for the next chapter release. And yes, I am extremely upset that we won't be getting another Levi x Zeke fight.

Honestly Erwins flashback looked forced, that space could've been used to yelena revealing Eren's location, or confirming who that guy from the building was(shadis?)

Love this shit.

Loved it! It's tied with 121 as my favourite chapter from this arc.

Loved it. Not much to say about this one, since it wasn't nearly as controversial as the last one :P

Hoping the deaths I picked are going to happen and I hope 🤞 that ema talk 2 will happen

I'VE BEEN WAITING TWO YEARS OF MY LIFE FOR THIS. I DON'T EVEN CARE IF I GET CORONAVIRUS I CAN DIE HAPPY.

I’ll die of the corona if eren dies

Jeans pretty cool ngl

pointless volume incoming with pointless battle vs floch. Waste of time

Pretty much what I expected after the events of last chapter, in a good way.

I don't forgive Annie

Thank you Yelena

Jeanstans: Attaboy Jean! Reinerstans: HOW DARE HE?! Reiner: Too bad that didn't kill me.

Loved this chapter but it was mostly playing catchup with the rest of the characters, still needed. Really shows how far ahead eren is.

Genocide supporter fans are just bunch of edgy teenagers. Let's see how they support Genocide when they get massacred irl.

More useless drama for a character who is progressively getting more annoying by the minute (hi Jean)

Since the end of the second world war, japan was reconstructed almost entirely by young people, so probably this story will end showing that with some analogy. making that previous statement, i think it won’t be eren, or any of the older characters, since they lived and did the horrors they did and must somehow pay for it(and specially the PTSD most would have, so they’ll be probably incapacitated in some way), i think it will be Gabi, or maybe Falco or someone else, because they are just lost, Gabi changed her mind and personality so well(progress, developed it), so that’s why i think it would or maybe even should be her. am i expecting too much from Isayama?

I believe in the Time-Loop still. But ya, hope Final Battle is with Levi and Eren teaming up. (Also Mikasa a bit before...)

Honestly wished the first few pages were real. I would love it for Jean and Mikasa to actually get together.

Annie clearly has no big role to play, & I think she’s going to go home & find her father dying. On a more positive note, we finally got some character interaction!!

That soup tho

Why should Mikasa be the one who confronts Eren? lmao According to the final exhibition would Armin be the one who will confront Eren, but I'm sure "talk-no-jutsu" will fail as an outcome. It doesn't worked in chapter 112, why should it be different?.

The award goes to Isayama for being the first person writing a story in which I have absolutely 0 clue about what will happen next. Like I never ever was at such a loss of theories. Never.This is both awsome and frightening. At least for that, props to Isayama

Top-tier

Unfair

I love the cart titan

#snk 127 #snk chapter 127 #snk poll results #snk poll #snk polls.

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seb-owns-these-tatas · 5 years ago

Note

Hi could you plz write something about Sebastian stan with number 5 and 6 “Here, take me jacket.” - “I told you, I’m not cold.” *shivering* 6. “I just wanted an easy day with my boyfriend/girlfriend. Is that too much to ask?” Where they got into the fight but with the sweet ending

Characters: Twink!Sebastian Stan x You

Warning: Sebastian being cute? Hint of being cuffed to the headboard? *Cough* You’re one kinky shiiit here and even Sebby as well, despite looking all and acting innocent? Heehee!

Words: 765

Prompt: 5 and 6 “Here, take me jacket.” - “I told you, I’m not cold.” *shivering* 6. “I just wanted an easy day with my boyfriend/girlfriend. Is that too much to ask?”

A/N: I tried to make it sweet but ended up writing it adorably? I think? I tried my best? I hope you like it! Heehee!

"Here, take my Jacket." His hands were on your shoulders, the thick fabric of his jacket ushering you to just take it and stop acting like a bub. You slightly moved a step away from him which made Sebastian thwart and palm the side of his face to make the vexation calm down from your antagonistic response to his comfort.

"I told you, I'm not cold." You unexpectedly snapped back at him, walking faster but it was a bad idea because you've felt the cold gush of the wind rise from your ankles to your knees. He briskly walked till he caught you in arms reach, his hands wrapping around your elbow and pulling you back with the slightest force. Sebastian's expression was thoroughly seeking for answers as to why you were being bratty. He also seemed to be a bit cold under his thin, grey shirt yet he sacrificed the cold for you.

Sebastian was exasperated at the push and pull rhythm you both have been doing since the moment you saw his ex-girlfriend in the store. She was being one ignorant bitch because of how she was giving him those flirtatious looks and he was too damn gullible to even see. He even had the audacity to hug her back when she reached out for him, "I just wanted an easy day with my boyfriend/girlfriend. Is that too much to ask?”

You've given him the silent treatment, staring back at him with a penetrating glint in your eyes that got him giving you a smolder which looked entirely sexy which he didn't even acknowledged. "You're really not gonna talk, are you?"

He only saw a stubborn shake of your head.

Sebastian raised a brow at that.

"It was only a hug, Y/N! Just a meaningless hug, what's got you acting so wild?" Still, no words left your lips and he squinted his eyes back at you. A silent threat that he was about to do something that you didn't want.

The latter took a step close, and you unconsciously took a step back. You knew what he was going to do and you didn't want him close to you as much as possible because his face was irking you to the bones.

Actual lies.

You shrieked as he was fast enough to sneak an arm around your body, keeping you real close till you could feel the bulge of his pants on your torso; a blush creeping your cheeks as he started peppering your lips with kisses. "Stop," another smack on the lips and it was sweeter than ever. He knew you didn't want him to stop, it was just your pride talking and not your heart.

"Sebastian," you satisfyingly kissed him back, eliciting a smooch sound which got your palms on his somewhat salient chest. Head tilted as you hastily sneaked your hand on his mouth to stop his wondrous attacks. A grin was hiding beneath your palms. "Why do you have to be so insatiable?"

His grin larger than before and you felt something wet and warm lick your palms, provoking another squeal while you tried your hardest to get out of his hold. "SEBASTIAN! YOU'RE GROSS!"

He laughed out loud once you've managed to get your hands off his lips, his arms surrounding you tighter till you couldn't breathe. "Release the kinks! Don't be a hypocrite, babe! It's not like you haven't cuffed me on your headboard!" his voice echoed around the street. The street lamp and moonlight being the only source of luminance for the both of you.

By now, your face was all hot from what he uttered out loud. You've tightly closed your eyes, wanting nothing but to just teleport in your apartment and forget all the discretionary stares that the strangers walking by have been giving you. Nevertheless, prior to your shriek; it wasn't the last as your Romanian boyfriend leaned down to lick a long stripe from your jaw to your cheeks, leaving a wet slob of his DNA.

Much to your chagrin, he was left spitting out the remnants of what he got from licking your face and you couldn't help but smirk because you've finally got the painless revenge you could ever give.

"WAS THAT SERIOUSLY THE TASTE OF FOUNDATION?! OH, GOD!"

#twink seb #twink #twink day #TwinkDayMania #twink day drabble #Sebastian Stan #Sebby #sebastian x reader #sebastian stan imagines #sebastian stan imagine #sebastian stan x reader #sebastian stan x you #sebastian stan x y/n #tatasmasterlist #seb-owns-these-tatas #tatasworks #twink!seb #young!seb

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uncomfortable-writers · 5 years ago

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Red Death (Bucky x Reader)

(Gif credit to owner)

Fandom: Marvel

Character: Bucky Barnes

Persona: Female

Word Count: 1,701

Warning: Swearing, brief mentions of death and of course a little risque in places ;)

A/N - Might turn this into a multipart series idk yet, lemme know what you think!

Inspired by this song ---> https://youtu.be/1V18P7JkAuA

♡　♥　♡　♥　♡　♥　♡　♥　♡　♥　♡　♥　♡　♥　♡　♥　♡　♥　♡

Bucky sipped cooly on his dry martini, his stare calculating judging the party-goers. Although his stance was calm and collected, the gears in his brain were spinning faster than he could keep up; he’d lost his intended target for the mission and it was an important one. Bucky didn’t even want to be here. He’d much rather be tucked away in his room watching some shitty rom-com, (his guilty pleasure), warm and safe instead of being forced into a suit with a fake smile plastered across his face and his hair pulled back into a bun.

The target was so high-profiled, the event too guarded, that one of the Avengers would never of made it to the front door, but for someone else lesser known? Well it was the perfect opportunity. All he had to do was acquire the intel from the mob boss and leave. Bucky inaudibly sighed, he’d done worse more dangerous things. This should be a piece of cake. Damn Steve for talking him into this.

He was about to push up up from the bar when he noticed a figure appear beside him.

Bucky pretended not to acknowledge, downing the last of his martini he placed it onto the bar beside him before crossing his arms across his chest inadvertently making himself bigger. He almost breathed a sigh of relief when the target waltzed back into his line of vision. “Tough day?”, a voice sweeter than candy spoke, sounding even more wonderful than the music playing. He couldn’t resist looking down towards the source and once he did, he was ensnared.

The woman’s blonde hair was pulled back delicately behind her ear, pinned back by a simple yet intricate silver hair pin. The rest of her locks were softly curled into beautiful waves that cascaded down her shoulders leading perfectly into her dress and once he drank in the sight of it, he had to suck in a breath. She was wearing a red satin dress which made her figure pop and even though the dress was plain, Bucky swore Jessica Rabbit herself would be envious of all the attention she was commanding. He had to swallow before he opened his mouth, suddenly feeling like he was on fire, “More like a tough week”, he gave a curt chuckle letting his eyes drop to the floor but as you laughed the melodious sound forced his vision back onto you, a sickly feeling of dejavu hit him in the gut:

“Mission report Soldat”, she laughed, smirking all the while at the Winter Soldier who loomed in the doorway. Still dressed in his mission attire he ripped the goggles from his face and then the mask, “You shouldn’t be in here”, he scowled back, placing the items on the table. The asset’s room was bare save for the few pieces of furniture and of course, her.

She hopped up off his bed and sauntered her way over to him, her hips moving deliciously and soon he realised her game.

“Aren’t you happy to see me?”, she purred coming to a halt in front of him, she could smell the strong scent of iron and the faint smell of gunpowder signalling his mission was a success. The soldier refused to look at her in an attempt to keep what little power he had, “You know what they’ll do if they find you in here”, he warned. You giggled and flitted past him, he kept straight-forward and you nudged his door closed, “Don’t tell me that the big, bad Winter Soldier”, you teased him placing your tiny hands onto his broad shoulders with your thumbs pressing into just the right places, “is afraid of having a little fun”.

In a flash he had you pressed against the now closed door, one hand gripping your hip so hard it was already forming a bruise while the other forced your shoulder into the door. Your scent was tickling his nose, he could smell your arousal, (thanks to his super senses), and he’d barely touched you. His cold eyes bore into your own which sparkled with mischief and when you sucked your bottom lip into your mouth, he could’ve moaned.

In a clash of teeth and a tangle of limbs you were hiked up into the air. Your legs wrapped around his waist mechanically as they had done so many times before while his hand made quick work of your tactical pants and....

“Ugh tell me about it, it’s always work work work”, you smiled graciously, and moved to copy Bucky’s stance, resting your petite figure against the bar, ripping him out of his hidden memory. Bucky felt dazed, like he shouldn’t be here and not because of the fact that he really shouldn’t be, but there was a nagging voice inside his head setting off red flags about you. There wasn’t something right with you. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it: was it your otherworldly beauty? The way you spoke like butter wouldn’t melt? Or was it that strange aura that danced around you, making Bucky feel like he was drawn to you. The Winter Soldier had to force himself to speak, “It never stops does it?”.

He risked another look at you taking in your whimsical expression, “No”, you sighed with a hint of agitation, you reached into your cleavage and pulled out a small tube of lipstick, “It really never does”. Your carefully applied it to your lips as you watched the room and had Bucky been more vigilant and less infatuated, he would’ve noticed your eyes were also trained on his target.

Loudly smacking your lips, you tucked the tube back into your cleavage. “How do I look?”, you asked Bucky, your hands on your hips and a wolfish grin graced your features. His eyebrows shot up, he let out a low whistle playing into the theatrics, “Like a million dollars. Who’s the lucky guy?”. This time Bucky didn’t miss the way your features seemed to turn darker, it sent a chill up his spine as you started to walk away, “You’ll see”. You chuckled internally at the expression on Bucky’s face which somehow mirrored that of a confused puppy. Even as you turned away from the brunette you could still feel his eyes burning holes into your back. In an instant Bucky’s expression soured as he watched the mob boss pull you into a hug. You’d played him like a fiddle and he’d allowed it, he could’ve kicked himself for being so stupid. Steve had warned him that there might be others who would’ve also tried to take initiative at this event. Bucky rapidly planned out the best way to deal with you but he fell up short. He was reduced to watching you sway around the room, the mob boss attached to your hip and when your eyes locked, Bucky had never felt more angry when you flashed him a toothy grin. Anger at his mission quickly becoming a failure or anger at the fact that some low life had his filthy hands roaming your body, he wasn’t quite sure.

A voice in your concealed earpiece urged you to hurry your mission up so with one last twirl, you kicked it up a notch.

Bucky watched, unable to take his eyes off of the way you wrapped yourself around this mob boss. Your lips captured the target’s own in a long kiss that distracted the man. Your hands were quick and deft as you gently took the man’s phone, unbeknownst to him. You slipped it into a hidden pocket in your dress. Had Bucky not been a super assassin, trained to spot things like this, the action would’ve gone unnoticed. “I’ll be right back”, you said sweetly to the mob boss even pressing another chaste kiss against his lips for good measure.

As you turned on your heel, you grinned wickedly to yourself, “Mission success”, you mumbled to the earpiece. You were only a few paces away when a cold hand wrapped around your arm tugging you to a halt, “I think you have something of mine”, Bucky grumbled lowly, his friendly exterior completely dissolved. You feigned surprise, “Excuse me?”. you announced loudly. At the sound eyes drifted to the scene, instantly Bucky knew what you were doing, “Just give it to me then we can go our own ways”, he replied softly. His blue eyes serious despite the way your eyes sparkled playfully, “I don’t know what you’re on about let me go!”. Your display didn’t go unnoticed as the mob boss bounded over, his arm protectively snaking around your waist and pulling you into his side, “Everything okay here, (Y/N)?”.

Bucky was forced to let go of your arm as to not cause an even bigger scene. You nodded your head slowly, doe-eyes glistening with false tears. Bucky was impressed by your acting skills, “Go on”, the mob boss nudged you towards your previous destination, “I’ll take care of it”, then the mob boss turned his attention to Bucky as you skidded off towards the exit.

“Look man, she’s got something of yours”, Bucky showed his hands in a display of false submission, even though he was about to attack the man. Before he could, the mob boss opened his mouth and violently started to choke. He clutched at his neck as his face turned purple. Everything turned to shambles. Chaos ensued as the mob boss’s men jumped onto Bucky, trying to apprehend him for a crime he didn’t commit. In the madness of it all Bucky glanced to the doorway and sure as hell there you were; stood proudly like a cat that got the cream. A blonde wig in one hand, you shook out your real (H/C) locks. Your other hand tapped your lips allowing Bucky to guess that your lipstick wasn’t lipstick at all, but rather a chemical agent. With a cheeky wink and the blow of a kiss, you vanished around the corner leaving Bucky to clean up the mess and report his failure back to his team.

“(Y/N)”, he grunted viciously sucker punching another henchman, seering your name into his memory. It suddenly clicked. He was warned about you.

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dreamganronpa · 5 years ago

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Flufftober Day Two - Rarepair

“The Game of Attention” - Celeste x Byakuya

This was actually based off a post from @oryginaldanganronpascenarios ! I thought the post was super cute so I used it as inspiration for this ^^

----

Celestia Ludenberg was never afraid to say what she wanted; which is why it was so easy for her to ask her classmate on a date. Unfortunately for her, he was not afraid to express his shock when she did it.

“You heard me, did you not?” she cooly asked. “Surely you haven’t forgotten about our little situation from the party already.” Her thin red lips formed somewhat of a pout as she took in the affluent progeny’s expressions. Astonishment turned to a thoughtful gaze then to an annoyed yet playful smirk. That was Byakuya’s most common face, as well as the one Celeste liked the most.

“Of course I remember. Although it’s surprising for you to initiate this after your performance- or lack thereof- at that very party.” His mocking tone perturbed Celeste for only a moment.

“Are you saying I was an inefficient date, then?”

“In the most literal sense of the word, yes. You could’ve at least tried to act like you were interested in me.” His words had a slightly higher tone and more annunciation, which Celeste had determined meant that he was being untruthful. What she couldn’t figure out though was the lie in his statement.

“How do you know I wasn’t acting the whole time? Perhaps it was all part of my plan to get myself in your line of sight, so to speak.” Celeste folded her fingers under her chin, in that cute way that made the tips of Byakuya’s ears go red.

Now he was off his game. “Fine, if you’re that desperate, I shall supply you with one more date. However, if you bore me again, you’ll never have another chance.” He kicked himself for agreeing to her date with only a little persuasion. He stuck out his hand, unable to go back on his word. “Well then, shall we see where this goes?”

“I suppose it’s a date.” Celeste agreed, shaking his hand.

“Very well. I will be at your house at 6:30 pm on Thursday. Dress- normally- for a change.” The emphasis on ‘normally’ made her heart sink a little. Was her normal attire not good enough? Her sadness turned into a petty anger.

“How will you find my residency without my address? Must not have thought of that, did you?” Each word fell off her tongue like a hornet, with the intention of stinging the blonde boy every time.

He only smirked again. “157 Holbrook avenue, correct?” Celeste’s surprised face ensured that he was right. “You must’ve forgotten that I have access to school records which includes addresses and other personal information. So, Taeko, does 6: 30 work for you?” He had found himself leaning over the table to her, now only inches apart from her pale face.

“It certainly does.” Celeste remained only a little bit angry, preferring to express her anger in private. For now though, she focused on staring into his crystal blue eyes..

The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch, and the end of this encounter.

During the rest of the day, even though it was a short meeting, Celeste could only think of the rich blonde. He had entranced her, with his intelligent words and intense stares, but every time they talked had to be some sort of game- except for the party. There, they talked like normal people, and Celeste even dropped some of her accent for him. She just wanted to spend more real time with him.

Tuesday passed by quickly, then Wednesday, and finally Thursday arrived. The only interactions Celeste had with Togami were glances passing through the halls, which annoyed Celeste. They had a date in a matter of hours and he pretended they were strangers. Although that was perfectly in-character for him.. Still, she huffed knowing that Byakuya would refuse to acknowledge her.

That night, Celeste tried to wear something less extravagant, as per Byakuya’s request. Most of her outfits were stiff and doll-like, but she found a cute black dress that was simpler than her usual ensemble but still reflected her style. She wore pink ribbons instead of white in order to match the accents on the dress, and switched our her enormous ball earrings for small music note ones. Her makeup stayed the same though, her red lipstick standing out against the pastels.

When a strong knock resounded throughout her apartment, Celeste felt unprepared. Maybe it was because Byakuya arrived a half-hour early without warning. Regardless, she happily let him in, but she was still confused and intended to get an answer.

“Is your watch broken? You should not be here for another twenty-six minutes..” Celeste questioned in the coy way she always did.

Byakuya snickered. “I discovered that the place to which I am bringing you is further away than I originally perceived. If you have a problem, however, I can certainly reschedule my evening without you.”

“Don’t bother, I am ready to leave now.” She started to walk past the man but turned on her heels to face him. “Aren’t you forgetting something?” She asked while sticking out her hand. There was no response from Byakuya, causing her to sigh. “A proper gentleman always kisses his lady on the hand before a date. You are a gentleman, aren’t you?” She smiled as her date took her hand and begrudgingly kissed it. At least she could still get what she wanted.

“My driver is waiting, come on.” Byakuya urged, opening the apartment door in order for them to leave. Celeste happily complied and they were in the long black car before the sun even began to set.

The driver pulled into the back of a quaint building, barely fitting into a parking spot. Byakuya hastily opened the car door for Celeste (he couldn’t risk being called un-gentlemanly in public where his image was affected), and they entered the shop. The sign out front read ‘Wakey-Wakey café’, and the inside was decorated with many pastels and lace patterns, very similar to the outfits Celeste wore other than the color scheme. It was mostly empty, allowing for them to get served immediately after sitting down.

“What a cute little café,” Celeste cooed. The instant she walked in, her mood had lifted. Byakuya felt it too, as he was less snarky already.

“Yes, I read many excellent reviews about it, which is why I brought you here. Is your tea sufficient?”

Celeste had forgotten about her royal milk tea already. She took a sip, expecting mediocre taste but it was just as good, no, better than anything she would have custom-made for her. Her face lit up at the surprising amount of quality.

In order not to blush, Byakuya in turn drank some of his coffee. It was sweeter than he preferred, but most cafés didn’t serve strong black coffee. He still couldn’t help but look at the genuine smile on his date’s face, and he wondered why he liked it so much.

Despite his ignorance, Byakuya did notice how he had put more attention on the gothic lolita. Out of all the girls in his class, she had been the one he invited to the party, which was no coincidence. But after the party, he had been thinking about her, and noticing more of her little details. Why though? Was he not satisfied with his enormous fortune? Did he truly need a woman in his life?

“Celestia, I have one thing to ask you. Why did you ask me on another date? Don’t lie to me.”

The girl was caught off-guard by the question, but quickly responded truthfully. “Hmm? I told you already. I wanted your attention; but it looks like I’ve already succeeded.”

She was right about stealing his attention, both her and him knew it. Byakuya knew how much he wanted to spend more time with her, even though he still wasn’t sure why. But he knew he had to capture her heart in return.

“Succeeded? Oh, it’s only just begun.”

#danganronpa #flufftober #Byakuya Togami #celestia ludenberg #celesgami #oneshot

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webcricket · 5 years ago

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Paradise

Characters: CastielXReader ft. Jack Kline and the Winchesters Word Count: 1764 Summary: Before he was born, Jack Kline showed Castiel a vision of the future; in it, the seraph saw paradise. Returning to you and Jack after a hunt with the Winchesters, Cas apprehends that the future is now. Please note, this is written with early season 14 powerless Jack in mind. Introspective angel. Fatherly fluff. Family.

“I saw the future. I saw a world without pain or hunger or want. I saw the world that this child… that your child… will create. And it is a world without fear and without suffering and without hate… I saw paradise.”

[Castiel, 12X23 All Along the Watchtower]

***

Interconnected by a network of river-like asphalt crevasses threatening to part and swallow a mis-stepping wanderer seeking sanctuary from the stormy night whole, inky rainwater ripples a sea of potholes spanning the parking lot. Swirling about a motel – the building a comparatively sunny island oasis in the murk – whose pallid green peeling façade has been moldering since it’s late 50s interstate-side family-fun road tripping hey-day, an ethereal fog faintly reeking of highway exhaust and weighted with the musk of damp earth rises from paved ground where the heat of day absorbed by blacktop thwarts the cooling effect of the downpour. Oily darkness seeps unhindered into the perimeter of pock-marked pavement; the crimson glare of a vacancy sign and choked yellow light blurring the nicotine-tinted windows of the motel’s main office fail, for the most part, in their combined effort to keep at bay the incursion of night; the artificial gleam coalesces – eerie influence heightened now and then by lingering lightening lashing the horizon – to illumine Castiel’s aspect with a celestially subversive hellish hue.

Hands pushed into his pockets out of habit more than to protect against the dank atmosphere, the rain-spattered host of Heaven treads carefully, pausing to let pass a plump earthworm making its way across the roughened concrete walkway; the simple creature toils – a ringed tube of muscle pulsing as its body stretches opaquely pink then contracts again to the color of mud – to Chuck only knows what terminus; and Cas, knowing we all have somewhere special we long to be on tempestuous nights such as these waits so as not to impede its slimy progress.

Standing thus, sodden chestnut curls crushed into the permanent tracts of worry etching his brow, the angel glances upward to determine the source of a steady streamer of droplets smattering his trench coat lapel. Focus following the roof edge, he tarries for a few of his vessel’s heartbeats to appreciate the rhythmic drip-drop-drip sputter of an overworked gutter; the mournful bellow of a fly-by-night tractor trailer interrupts the melodically and moistly saturating song.

That, and the argumentative tones carried in the muggy air of two brothers as they plod, battle-weary and bloodied, bickering over who called dibs on a shower first. The younger concedes to the elder with a sweepingly derisive gesture indicating defeat on account of sheer exhaustion. The elder, ever happy to accept a win – any win – grunts in smug satisfaction and flashes his teeth.

At the sight of them safe – unperturbed, presently anyway, by anything supernatural – the angel permits the subtle softness of a smile to smite some of the usual seriousness squaring his jawline; he keeps an affectionately tempered watch on the men until they reach their destination.

The humidity-swollen door of suite 11 gives way to the ungentle nudging of Dean’s shoulder; the pitch within engulfs his bow-legged form.

Trailing behind his brother, Sam braces a palm to the threshold. Swiping the other across his forehead, he smears at the wet of rain and caked sweat collected there that trickles to sting his vision. Sensing the concentration of a gaze at his back, he turns to peer at the sentry-like seraph situated along the opposite row of rooms; he offers him a tired smile and a courteous nod, the micro expressions a summary of thankfulness they made it through another day – together, and mostly unscathed – and a sincere wish for a goodnight.

Cas lifts a hand from its pocketed confines to acknowledge Sam’s unspoken sentiment before the hazel-eyed hunter, too, disappears from view. Gaze falling to his water-specked boots, seeing no sign of earthworms laboring near the soles, he shifts his attention to the closed door at his right marked 23.

The door appears utterly unremarkable, like any of a thousand other doors; and yet, the two beings lodged behind the wooden barrier – a soul resplendent with a love he strives in all he does to deserve whose fitful breathing pattern he recognizes for one of tenuous slumber over the din of a television left on for distraction in his absence, and a son, not of his conception, but nonetheless his progeny by providential circumstance, choice, and a reciprocal devotion too deep to be anything less than a bond between father and son – are to him of paramount importance.

Superficially speaking, he notes the paint eroded around the knob with repeated use – a once bold hue faded to grey; studying the lock scarred by countless misaimed keys, he sifts through his trousers to locate the puzzle piece of notched metal required to garner entry. Key eluding him, likely long lost in the late kerfuffle with several lately departed demons, he concentrates his intent on the bolt and flicks two fingers to free the mechanism; the latch relents to its divine undoing with a muffled click and the door swings inward.

Warmly caressing the two precious sleeping figures within, a rush of sultry air surges along with the seraph’s irrepressibly welling grace – an angelic greeting of sorts he cannot suppress that swathes your bodies, reassuring him directly of your well-being. Irises sparkling blue, their shining surface reflecting the black and white Western ambling across the television screen, fix on Jack in the nearest bed, and you beyond, curled into yourself and clutching a pillow in lieu of your preferred bed partner, as he endeavors to quickly re-secure the door without disturbing the prevailing peace.

Feeling the familiarity of his grace smooth every inch of your skin, a small sigh of delight escapes your lips as your respiration settles to a restful regularity; even in unconsciousness, you sense the seraph’s energetically charged arrival and respond with relief.

Carpet discoloring where it drenches beneath his feet as though he is a vagabond washed ashore by the tide from a long and aimless voyage at sea, Cas divests himself of his signature – and by convenient chance, weather appropriate – coat, casting it aside to dry on a chairback, before drifting further into the room. Fingers slackening the knot of his tie and unfastening the topmost buttons of his shirt, each initial step inward liberates boots and socks and lightens his heart with the emotion of a homecoming where you discover what you remember with especial fondness endures outside the bounds of time itself. It matters not to him that only a few meager hours have passed apart which may seem to some no time at all; the iterant angel cherishes every minute fortune blesses him with a family; and not just any family – his family – the one he forged and fights for on an unshakeable foundation of faith and fidelity.

Rounding Jack’s bedside, Cas’ regard lands on a comic book loosely hanging from the boy’s grasp; the colorfully graphic pages poise in a precipitous gravitational battle between insensate fingertips and the floor. He collects the comic, reads the title of Constantine plastered across the cover, and stares for a moment at the sight of the trench coat clad centric-character. The soft smile Sam caught a glimpse of earlier eases roundness into the angel’s cheeks and fractures the flesh cornering his blues in a charming chaos of creases.

Setting the comic on the side table for safekeeping, Cas reaches down to lightly comb the hair from Jack’s cloistered eyes; stooping, he tenders a kiss to the bared forehead. “Sweet dreams, my boy,” his lips brush the gravelly murmured hope into the Nephilim’s mind, crowding out the doubt Cas knows dogs him therein; knowing well that very same pain, it hurts the angel’s heart witnessing Jack struggle to find his way in the world – between worlds – just as he did. Cas is grateful he’s here to help him navigate, to pick him up with unfailing belief and forgiveness when he falls down because he understands from experience that is what it takes to go on when it’s so much easier to give in.

A static tingle of awareness runs his vessel’s spine, climbing all the way to pill the hair peppering his nape, a sure indicator of clandestine observation. Steeped in sentimental thought, he missed the signs of you rousing. Straightening, moving with deliberate slowness of action to relish in the escalating uptick of your heartbeat as you eagerly wait for him to turn, he tugs the blanket over the boy’s shoulders and tucks him in.

As soon as the angel’s chin slants in your direction, your eyelids squeeze in a mockery of sleep; you cannot, however, repress the waking of the smile curving your mouth. Swiftly, he’s on you. Arms caging, lips seal over yours to quiet a giggle; unable to subdue the gladness of greeting where mouths meet, the shared smiles meld into something even sweeter.

It’s you – always you, human frailty an affront to the unending potential of angelic passion – that begs mercy for a breath first; pardoning yourself from the kiss to pant into the collar of his shirt, you embrace him round the neck, demanding with gentle insistence he join you in the bed.

He surrenders to the promise of loving comfort without struggle; clambering over you to collapse on the vacant side of the mattress, he notches himself in the welcoming fold of your arms.

Fingers tangling his still damp hair, you draw his head to rest on the cushion of your bosom.

Serenity, safety, and love sheltered within these walls, evenness of your breath calming, he gives himself permission to fully relax. The spectral silhouette of wings unfurling dances upon the wall in the TV's undulant light; blanketing you, the feathery tips stretch across the gap between beds to shroud, too, his son. Contentment hums in his throat.

“You guys take care of those demons?” The hushed query echoes through the laddered rungs of your ribs and into his ears.

“Mm-hmm.” He vibrates in answer.

“Sam and Dean, they’re okay?”

“They’re Sam and Dean,” he teases, volume equally low so as not to wake Jack, “they manage to be fine in spite of themselves and just about everything else that tries to prove otherwise.”

Your chest bounces in a silently contained laugh. “And what about you, angel?”

The question needs no consideration. He’s never been better. This is the future – the paradise – Jack showed him once upon a time: a present without the pain of doubt, the hunger to belong, or the want of purpose. Castiel sees now that paradise isn’t a place you go to, it’s the people you’re with – the people you love and who love you in return. Outside a storm rages and darkness forever encroaches; in here, he nestles nearer, tells you he’s, “Good,” and means it.

Castiel tag list: (Closed, if you’d like to be removed please let me know!) @jeepangel @sammiesamness @willowing-love @roxy-davenport @blueicevalkyrie @im-the-nerdiest-of-them-a11 @thesugargalaxy @bluetina-blog @dont-trust-humanity @honeybeetrash @bucky-thorin-winchester @superwholockz @tistai @wordstothewisereaders @gill-ons @mrswhozeewhatsis @marisayouass @stone-met @castiel-savvy18 @samualmortgrim @trexrambling @magnificent-mantle @kdfrqqg @xdifsx @moon-and-stars-cas @mandilion76 @rockfairy @peaceloveancolor @unicorntrooper @anisolatedship @itsilvermorny @aditimukul @kudosia @goofynerd-67babylove @uninspirationalsonglyrics @gray-avidan @mishascupcake @mishapanicmeow @praisecastielamen @roseyhxnt @jessikared97 @let-the-imaginationflow @warriorqueen1991 @sebastianstanslefteyebrow @hisnameisboobear @kristendanwayne @fuschiarulerinthebluebox @coolpencilpie @jenabean75 @luciathewinchestergirl @morganas-pendragons @heyitscam99 @fangirl-and-stuff @selahbela @realgreglestrade @splendidcas @pointlesscasey @i-larb-spooderman @thewhiterabbit42 @thelostverse @castieliswatchingoverme @beccollie18 @dragonett8 @dixie-chick @jtownraindancer @carowinsthings @passionghost @sherlockedtash88 @futureparent @gabbie7-11 @myfandomlife-blog @dreamerkim @shamelesslydean @earthtokace @neaeri @justanormalangel @lone-loba @supernaturalymarvel @lilrubixx @wings-and-halo @thehoneybeecastielfollows @musiclovinchic93 @81mysteriouslyme @the-bottom-of-the-abyss @jaylarkson @iminlokisarmysofi @pixiedusts @spookysculderfiles @laqueus-ludovicus @missjenniferb @lexininja @jessiekay2010 @skrratata @rhiannonj79 @calicat79

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amaliabalash · 5 years ago

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It Chapter Two

Okay y’all I said I wanted to write a post of thoughts I’ve had on the movies (most the second, but here and there from the first), adaptation choices, etc., so here it is after five ten viewings of Chapter Two and a ton of viewings of the first movie as well. I stand by my initial sum up: I love it as a follow up if you’re watching it for the coming of age story of the group of friends that fight an evil being, but it’s mehhhh as a horror movie about a clown that kills children....which means I love it because I don’t give a fuck about the clown.

I love the Losers love for each other. I hate any moment that separates them or causes conflict between them, because in the book they are magically, instantly united as they join together that summer, and nothing stops that, and that’s one of my favorite things about the book. So the movie taking that complete level of solidarity hurts. But even so, when it comes down to it, again and again we see how much they all love and care for each other and I am all about that. Now below the cut, have 4300 words of rambling thoughts in bullet point form!

Mike: I love and hate what he was given for this movie. Not getting incapacitated by Bowers and hospitalized (as in the book), and instead actually getting to be in the final confrontation? THANK YOU, YES. Lying to the Losers? No, not a fan. At first I was mostly focused on being grateful he was in the final battle because I think it’s awesome they’ve all together, but the more I’ve thought about it, the more upset I am that he still got kinda screwed. He had more to do than he did in the first movie, but then like...he doesn’t get a scene of going and finding the rock and having his own flashbacks, and then he doesn’t get a separate confrontation with Pennywise either once they’re in the sewers (like Ben and Bev, Eddie and Richie, and Bill do). Being the crazy librarian’s assistant is bunk. And the whole Native American ritual shit...

The Ritual of Chüd: I fully understand not doing the ritual exactly like in the book, because hello, a metaphysical battle of wills, biting each other’s tongues in your psyche and getting thrown around is just a wee bit complicated to film. But making it so that Mike got the ritual from Native Americans (the ~mystical face distortion especially bugged me), and then it also didn’t even work...ugh. And again, the lying, ughhhh. A battle of wills was still basically how they defeated It, at least? Also, like, maybe it’s iffy to use some ancient tribal ritual that Bill got from a book, too, but I think it works (in a story sense, I mean) because they’re kids when they first try it. They go “hey, there’s this thing, we believe it’s the answer” and so it works. And it works so much better as a thing the kids found in a book and believed in, than as a ritual adult Mike got from Native Americans that never even worked. However, James McAvoy’s delivery of the line, “You stole it...from Native Americans?” is incredible and hilarious. And on the note of the smoke scene...

The Clubhouse: I don’t fucking care how relatively little sense it made to include the clubhouse, and how Ben’s “the hole was already dug out and oh hey btw I like architecture we forgot to mention that in the last movie” was paper thin, because I AM SO HAPPY THAT THEY MADE THE CLUBHOUSE. I’m glad they didn’t retroactively have them do the smoke scene, because it REALLY wouldn’t have made sense with the first film to them suddenly have done that in the midst of everything and not used it, but I’m sad it wasn’t in the first film to start with. I understand that the budget, like, doubled for chapter two. Happy they included the clubhouse at all, but super eh on including the smoke scene in the way they did. Again, the kids going “hey let’s try this thing” and it working through belief makes so much more sense to me. BUT CLUBHOUSE! :D

Stan: fuuuuuuuuck. They gave Stan so much more in chapter two than in one, somehow? I hate that in the book, the only thing we get of adult Stan is from his wife’s perspective, and then he’s dead. By giving Stan the letter at the end, as well as his added kid scenes, I feel like Stan was given some justice. And on the small book nod end, I loved him doing the bird puzzle, because book Stan is a big ol’ bird nerd. Also when Stan asks what he looks like when he’s older in that first scene and Bev has that look and says like now but taller? OW. ALSO the head-spider thing, “so you don’t get spiders in your hair,” nice horrible touch there. And this isn’t a Stan characterization thing, but one of the legs going through Stan’s eye and Richie being the one to say “you’ve got to be fucking kidding me” also feels appropriate because eye horror is a book Richie thing. And on the note of the letter (which I love), I want to know what Stan wrote to Patty. Because like, wow, after her husband seemingly out of nowhere kills himself, she still sends these letters to his old friends. Patty Uris, you’re a good woman.

Ben: I am generally in favor of Ben/Bev, and thought they had some nice moments in the new movie, but I haaaaate that Ben kept the yearbook page. It made no sense, and it was kind of weird for him to like...obsess over that for the next 27 years of his life when he hadn’t seen her? I think it would have been sweeter, honestly, if upon returning to Derry he was just HIT with how much he loved her, through that funky magic that bonded the Losers and broke them apart. Back in Derry, the feelings return freshly, even if they’re 27 years old (like happened for Richie, according to Bill Hader and my heart). If that had happened, and then they just...ended up sticking together afterwards, I’d prefer it. Lose the kiss, lose the yearbook thing, but keep the end scene with them on the boat, that’s fine. Also why the fuck was Ben in summer school, that flashback didn’t make sense, should’ve been in the library, please. If only we could have had a middle ground (aka the book) between the 1990 series where Ben was kind of presented as a manwhore and the movie where he’s still in love with the same girl from when he was 13 and that’s why he was alone. In the book he just...didn’t have much of an interest in the romance I think? Idk. Ben keeping the yearbook page is dumb and it was overdone but otherwise Ben and Bev are cute. But as for the first movie and flashback moments, I love little baby Ben Hanscom with all my heart, what a sweetheart. Sorry they made you creepily obsess on the same girl for the rest of your life, Ben.

MEMORIES: THEY WERE ALLOWED TO KEEP THEIR MEMORIES! I AM SO GRATEFUL! Some people are like “but now Richie has to remember this” and I’m like, the book fucks me up when I read it knowing that none of them will remember each other, and that none of them will remember Eddie and his sacrifice, how bravely he fought, fuuuuuck. So I’d rather sad remembering and honoring than completely forgetting. This is the happier ending, it really is.

Bill: He wasn’t really sick??? ow??? Like it makes his determination to search for Georgie make more sense, but oof. I have mixed feelings on this because in the book Bill is genuinely too sick to go with Georgie, but like...the “just because you did x doesn’t mean this horrible thing is your fault” is a really poignant emotional point to make. On the acting side, both Jaeden Martell and James McAvoy did really well with the stuttering, not making it over the top or just...forgetting about it. It felt realistic to those I’ve known with stutters. I think I’m gonna make a separate bullet point for how the marriages were handled, but, it makes me sad that Bill and Audra weren’t shown to be loving like in the book. Bill actually had a good relationship with his wife and that’s a bummer to take away. The choice to have Bill’s fervor in going after It right then be about seeing another kid get taken instead of because he finds Audra’s purse, though, seemed like a solid choice, it worked really well. It keeps the story tighter in a sense, because Bill’s guilt about Georgie is shown to be one of his driving forces across both movies. And...okay that ties right into the marriages thing so...

Marriages: I am grateful that they didn’t have Audra and Tom go to Derry like in the book. There is SO MUCH book content that didn’t make it in, stuff that is really plot relevant, but like...fitting all of that in would have been crammed and we’d lack the emotional depth. Chapter Two is about the Losers, and the sacrifices that were made were there so that we could really focus on the Losers and their relationships with teach other and their experiences. It makes me sad that Bill doesn’t get his positive relationship with Audra, that they’re not shown to actually love each other, that he’s no longer wearing a wedding ring in that last scene with the phone call with Mike, but god. If they had had Audra and Tom come to Derry, it would have muddled the story more than it’d flesh it out. So not worth it to waste a single moment on that, as much as I wish Tom still got killed by It because it’s what he deserves. I almost wish that Bev’s relationship with Tom had been changed, but idk what I’d change it to. Including the abuse was rough, but at least it wasn’t as severe as in the book? It couldn’t be, anyway, because again, he doesn’t follow her to Derry, so he can’t be quite as evil as he is in the book or it’d be incomplete to expect her to just...leave him. Aaaaand Eddie and Myra. I CAN’T BELIEVE THEY CAST THE SAME ACTRESS AS MYRA AND HIS MOM. It’s completely book accurate, there’s that bit of narrative where he acknowledges that looking at a younger pic of his mom next to one of Myra and they could be twins, but damn, that casting choice. I feel bad for Myra, in all incarnations. A character meant only to be the embodiment of an oedipal complex...or, the projection of one? However you’d say that.

Bill & Bev: a whole bullet point just to say, thank god they didn’t sleep together, that one little memory based kiss and move on? THANK YOU. And that kiss worked, not like the wtf so awkward kiss between Bill and Bev at the restaurant in the mini-series. Also not driving home the “Audra looks like Bev.......” thing. I’m cool with that. Though I still think it’d have been hilarious if they’d cast Bryce Dallas Howard as Audra.

Beverly: I was talking to a friend about the first movie a few months ago and she said she hated how Bev was made into a damsel in the first movie, needing to be rescued...and I can get that, but compared to the book and the 1990 series, Bev gets SO MUCH MORE and I love her so much. I love that she’s pushing them to keep fighting against It in the first one, and that in the second she’s supporting the others still and encouraging, and in the final battle moments, she’s never a damsel. It’s just when she was in the deadlights. The scene with Mrs. Kersh was fucking insane though. Like, hugely increased budget from the first movie, and....they choose to spend it on a naked granny monster????? TWICE???? I feel like that scene could have been legitimately creepy but then NAKED. GRANNY. MONSTER. I have nothing deep to say on that scene but I’m so baffled.

CGI and the Monsters: On the note of the atrocity of the naked granny monster...it must say a lot about what Andy Muschietti is afraid of that he includes these weird, gross CGI monsters. Also I feel like he’s afraid of old age, between the Mrs. Kersh monster and the focus on Mr. Keene’s old-ness. But like...the leper and the naked granny monster are both just really weird and gross, but not like scary? I mean, the leper being a physical representation of infection is specific to Eddie, and it sticking it’s tongue down Mrs. Kaspbrak’s throat is truly utterly disgusting, but...again, the horror of it is grossness, not scariness? And god the fucking naked granny monster just kills me because that scene would legit be scary if not for that. Instead, multiple times I’ve heard people in the theater whisper “what the fuck” during that scene.

The Losers Fighting: Possibly my biggest complaint about the two movies is the choice to have the Losers have big fights. For Dramatic Movie Purposes I get it, I guess, but in the book as each Loser joins, that’s it, there’s no question, fate is clicking into place, they are meant to be together. So the fight after the House on Neibolt in the first movie has always bugged me. Mike lying to them bugs me. Them being like, “fuck this I’m out” bugs me. However, the ONE concession I’ll make on this point is that at least the fight in the first movie was used in the second as an excuse to show new flashbacks. But the lack of unity is always gonna make me sad about these adaptations.

Pennywise: I am NOT saying I want more Pennywise in the movie, but I think that there is a slight plot hole in the way that his motivations and his effect aren’t directly addressed in the films. Like, including the Adrian Mellon murder without including the whole thing where it’s relevant to It because It’s evil seeps into Derry and is an integral part of Derry makes the scene make less sense. Though, again, I’m cool with them not including Derry just completely falling apart when It dies because of that connection, bc that’d be too much time not about the Losers. But, yeah, motivation wise, it doesn’t feel clear why It wants the Losers to come home. Knowing in the book that It experienced fear and then true anger for the first time, that It wants revenge, makes the ultimately Dumbass Move of luring them back at least make some sense.

Richie: I’m gonna try to focus on Richie things that don’t necessarily relate to Reddie first. I was super unsure about Bill Hader when I heard about his casting at first, because I’d never seen him do the drama I knew the role would need, but damn. He was a perfect Richie, from the comedy to the holy shit drama pain. And it’s a bummer that the whole cgi thing was needed (though, like, it was, because Finn Wolfhard does not look the same anymore) because I’d like to see the more nuanced version of his performance of the arcade scene and stuff. I’m so grateful for the depth given to Richie with the closeted storyline, as much as it hurts. This movie let (some) characters have some actual depth and it’s wonderful. Let’s see... I kind of hate that there was still the fatphobic focuses in the story as a whole, but like...those lines only coming from the trashmouth was at least appropriate. And his delivery throughout his whole bit with Bill outside the Neibolt house in Chapter Two about Richie said it best last time, is delivered so perfectly and I love it, particularly, “You’re lucky we’re not measuring dicks?” Excellent job, Bill Hader. And even though, as I said above, I am no fan of the Losers fighting and Richie trying to run off, the part where Ben says “at least I got Richie to stay” and then Richie bursts out of the back of the hotel to sneak off is way too funny to me. Him not writing his own material is kind of hilarious. And it goes in with a theme in the movie where the Loser’s adult success is a little bit tainted, which isn’t necessarily the case in the book - other things are off, no children, marrying their parents, etc., but their success doesn’t really have anything off about it. Book Richie finally does perfect his voices and that’s how he makes his money. But I’ll accept him not actually being great at comedy (not that the bit we saw at the start of the movie was great comedy) for the set up of the joke of Eddie saying “I FUCKING KNEW IT!” also oops mentioned Eddie. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ So why not go there now!

Eddie and Richie: I didn’t think they’d actually fucking do it. I saw a still of young Richie next to the R+ on the kissing bridge, and Reddies freaking out about WHAT IF, and I was like “that’d be cool but lol no they won’t actually do it.” But then they ACTUALLY DID IT. I’m grateful I saw the movie at the first possible showing because I DIDN’T see the still with young Richie where you can see the full R+E until after, so it was a surprise. This is again where I applaud Bill Hader’s performance, and the directing and script writing and all, because all of those little moments where Richie is just attuned to Eddie are so great. He’s always been the one Richie focused on most for jokes (defense mechansim!), but then calling out for Eddie every time there’s potential danger and they’re separated - when the bat wing fortune cookie is attacking Eddie, in Neibolt when the spider-head monster is temporarily gone, when the balloon starts inflating after the ritual and they’re moving apart. And then of course we have the whole end, his desperation over wanting to save Eddie, his inability to accept that it’s over. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck! And god, like, he seems to just forget to even care about the whole Pennywise thing once Eddie’s hurt, he’s like “we gotta get him out of here” ignoring the “we still have to deal with this fucking clown” part of it entirely. On the lighter note though...the bickering! I LOVE THE BICKERING SO MUCH. In both movies, even during serious conversations, there’s so often Eddie and Richie bickering in the background (as well as main scene bickering, of course, like the hammock, or Richie teasing Eddie about getting married, his mom, his job, etc). In Chapter Two you can hear them bickering about Eddie saying he’s got these various ailments and Richie saying it’s in his head and he just reads shit on the internet while Bill and Bev talk about life, and down in the sewers Eddie has to pick on Richie bringing an actual token and they bicker about how that’s not gonna burn well neither will the inhaler. I LOVE IT. Also, in a story so focused on mirroring the past, Eddie should have kissed Richie out of the deadlights like Ben kissed Bev, that is all. I love every single thing about the scene with the three doors, but I especially love how those dumbasses, once Pennywise is no longer reaching for them, suddenly stop finding the dog behind a door deep in the sewers/cave/whatever suspicious??? They’re like, oh look this is fine, what a cute puppy that randomly made it down here??? What even, and I love it. The hammock scene is ridiculously adorable and Richie’s little sigh when Eddie’s sticking his foot in his face, so great. I have a lot to say about Eddie’s paralysis in the face of Richie being attacked, but honestly I feel that’s more Eddie than it is Reddie related so I’ll get there later, but Richie being the one to encourage him in this totally sincere way and then make the fat joke about Myra...in character af and a really charming scene despite the fact that, again, I am not a fan of fat jokes? That is just the language these two idiots speak. A moment of sincerity cannot possibly be left alone. And on that note...

Eddie’s Death: okay that “paragraph” was very long so I’m making a separate bullet point for this, at least as it relates to Reddie. I could just quote line by line and be like “oh, shit, my heart” but that isn’t really relevant. Overall, that’s my sentiment as Richie is trying to save Eddie and so focused on him. But this is more about the “I fucked your mother” bit. I saw a lot of people upset about that, and others seemed to understand that it’s not a throwaway joke (like the post I JUST reblogged, but I was thinking about this before). Dumb jokes and bickering is their love language, duh. And I think in those moments, it legit made the most sense for Eddie to say “I fucked your mother” to Richie, the king of inappropriate your mom jokes (at least in reference to Eddie - I fucked your mom, Eddie’s mom’s vagina on Halloween, smells worse than Eddie’s mom’s slippers, etc.). I’m working on a theory that not only is that a communication of love/the importance of their relationship (like, he makes the effort to make that joke when he’s fucking DYING, something specifically for Richie), but about comfort. Dunno if it’s about comforting himself in the face of knowing he’s dying, or comforting Richie, or both, but...honestly, falling into a familiar pattern after all of this sincerity and fear just came pouring out of Richie makes perfect fucking sense to me. And, there’s also nearly a solid 2.5 minutes between cutting away from that scene and Richie running to join them in the final takedown (and tearing It’s fucking arm off, which is amazing, and I love Bev’s little shocked face right after that happens). There’s room for conversation, for sincere comments, if you want to imagine them there. But I’m not disappointed they didn’t do any real “I love you” moments or something, because I think we got a very in character and appropriate response. And I’ll say again, Richie’s anguish and denial, holy shit, my heart hurts.

Eddie: Eddie Kaspbrak, my love. I was saving Eddie for last because I have so much to say but idek how to say it. I don’t know why, but I wasn’t expecting adult Eddie to have the same hyper, angry energy of kid Eddie, let alone an amped up version, but I LOVE THIS SMALL, ANGRY MAN. James Ransone was brilliant casting. When he was first cast (not that I knew who he was), I was like, eh he looks alright, we’ll see. But watching him in action and watching Jack Dylan Grazer in action, damn, they are well matched. And their eyes are very alike. But more than the physicality, just in general, damn he was a great Eddie. I’m not super solid on how well he matches up to book Eddie’s characterization overall, but if I see a major overlap in book and movie Eddie in any book scene, it’s when Eddie sprays his inhaler at the giant eyeball and just flips out: ““Fight It!” Eddie raved at the others. “It’s just a fucking Eye! Fight It! You hear me? Fight It, Bill! Kick the shit out of the sucker! Jesus Christ you fucking pussies I’m doing the Mashed Potatoes all over It AND I GOT A BROKEN ARM!”" But anyway. Movie Eddie. I love his angry bravado, because you KNOW so much is bravado. That one post that says Eddie has small dog syndrome is fucking legit. Eddie is hilarious throughout (again, kudos to James fucking Ransone), but then the emotional scenes? Oh my GOD the emotional scenes!!! Eddie has moments of fear but still mostly maintains that bravado until the spider head thing attacks (even before it attacks Richie specifically, you can tell he’s pinned to the wall in fear). And after Richie is saved, and Bill comes to yell at him, BOOM the emotion kills me. That shield is gone and he’s just back to a scared little kid, and there’s such an emotional realness to the rest of his scenes (except when he’s bickering with Richie, of course). He’s scared and he’s hurt. And the way the Losers support him through that - Richie talking Eddie up to encourage him, reminding him all of the ways he’s been badass so far, and the entire interaction with Bev “This kills monsters” “Does it?” “If you believe it does.” His face, the gentleness of that scene, it kills me and I love them so much. It’s just a beautiful moment. Also beautiful on the other end of the spectrum is Eddie psyching himself up to save Richie this time, dammit, “IF YOU BELIEVE IT DOES! BEEP BEEP MOTHERFUCKER!” And then his face! Actually, his face when he first sees Richie in the deadlights is worth mentioning, and his “holy shit!” and then happiness after (you know, until THAT happens). IT GIVES ME FEELINGS. Ummmm let’s see, oh, I fucking LOVE that they referenced the gazebo line holy shit! Imagine being Jack Dylan Grazer and having your improv from when you were 11/12 become not only one of the most iconic lines in the first movie, but get referenced in the second!!! For mirroring kind of purposes, when they go down the well, Eddie is the one to mention grey water first in both movies, love that. Also love that in the first movie he has the line about how 89% or whatever of home accidents happen in the bathroom, then he gets stabbed in the bathroom. Which, like, that scene? Again, he is so fucking FUNNY. The initial shock of “HOLY SHIT HE JUST GOT STABBED IN THE FACE” fights with “HIS RESPONSE IS SO DAMN FUNNY.” His faces all the way through to “you should cut that fucking mullet, it’s been like thirty years man” is GOOD. SHIT. I love Eddie Kaspbrak so much. Also the delivery of “what the fuck!” after the leper run in as an adult. Oh, and speaking of the leper, Eddie Kaspbrak saves the fucking day by helping them understand how to actually fucking kill It, the way he almost actually killed it earlier. He’s fucking dying and he has this realization, this way to help them, and I’m just gonna be a broken record of I LOVE EDDIE. And I love James Ransone’s portrayal (and Jack Dylan Grazer, for that matter, since I am talking about both movies kinda though mostly Chapter Two).

...and that’s more than sufficient for now.

#It #it chapter 2 #it chapter two #idk if random people wanna read my thoughts but why not tag it just in case #since I have legit spent hours typing this thing up for mostly just me!#it spoilers #like duh

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