#and it’s a fucking betrayal of your people who have been forced to carry that symbol as a way to marked for slaughter

[kralmajales]

I am so infuriated and betrayed I actually have no words right now. I hope every person using a symbol that used to mean protection against evil as a symbol of your hatred and cruelty suffers greatly.

[stop-breaking-my-heart-dragonage]

This week on "CJ needs to gush about DAO": Morrigan's dark ritual.

I adore Origins because depending on how serious you take roleplay, every decision you make is a thread that leads back to your origin, and in this case of the ritual, who you choose to romance can have a major impact on how you handle this choice.

For context, my canon run is with a female Tabris who romances Alistair and keeps him as a Grey Warden, and is close friends with Morrigan. It's more in character for my Tabris to reject Morrigan's ritual and not even bring it up to Alistair, which would result in her leaving him behind while she makes the ultimate sacrifice in killing the archdemon... however, agreeing to convince Alistair to do the ritual with Morrigan is the only choice in the entire game where I break roleplay because I'm selfish and weak and I want Tabris to live.

I have a lot of strong feelings about the ritual, like it hurts me. It makes me want to chew on furniture. I can talk about it until I can talk no more. I so badly want to be strong enough to remain in character and reject the ritual.

Let me explain: Tabris survives an origin that deals with sexual assault. She gets kidnapped on her wedding day, she watches the other kidnapped women and her husband get murdered, and then is too late to save Shianni from being assaulted... and Tabris carries that trauma with her throughout the entire game.

If the way to save her life is to ask the two most important people she cares about; one being her lover and the other being her best friend; who she knows hate each other, to have dubiously consensual sex in order to make a baby to absorb the old god soul... she's saying no. The last thing Tabris would ever do is put someone into a sexual situation where consent is at all dubious after what she saw happen to Shianni and nearly happened to herself. She'd rather die than force that upon Alistair and Morrigan.

That's what I mean when I say origin affects everything; I know some will side eye that with "Really? Your warden would rather die than let Alistair sleep with another woman? It's one time, and Alistair agrees to it, so no one needs to die?"

Let me be clear in saying this isn't a "Morrigan slept with my man" issue. Sure, that part's awkward and it sucks, but that's not even breaking water tension, let alone diving into the deep waters to the core of the issue.

For my Tabris, this is about betrayal, consent, and accepting fate.

The person offering Tabris this deal is someone she thought of as a trusted friend who has actually been lying to her the entire time. It doesn't matter what Morrigan's intentions are now or if she genuinely wants to save the wardens. She knew from the beginning why Flemeth sent her with them, she admits as much. She knew a warden would need to make the ultimate sacrifice and then leveraged that to get what she wants. Morrigan waited until the night before, when Alistair and the warden learn one of them has to die to defeat the archdemon, and took advantage of the high running emotions and possibly the fear of dying to make the warden agree to her ritual.

At least, that's how my Tabris interprets this confrontation. She feels betrayed by someone she came to love like a sister and went out of her way to help Morrigan with her mother upon learning what's in Flemeth's grimoire. And then that someone tells her no one needs to die, she just needs to convince Alistair to sleep with her... which is a huge fucking problem.

The Alistair and Tabris romance is slow; it took a long time for either of them to be comfortable with being emotionally vulnerable and trusting each other with basic intimacy, let alone sex. Tabris is mortified at the idea of putting Alistair in this situation. Not only would it feel like a betrayal on her part to ask that of him, but she knows the last thing Alistair ever wants to do is father a bastard who then goes on to grow up without him. How could she possibly ask him to do that?

Then you consider that ritual or no, there isn't a guarantee that they'll survive anyway. Say they do the ritual and Tabris dies anyway; she made Alistair sleep with Morrigan in order to save her and then she died anyway. Or if Alistair dies then Tabris gets to live with the fact that the last person Alistair was with was a woman he hates because she asked that of him… and either way, Morrigan gets to walk away with what she wanted.

Tabris led the group, and she's accepted that if Riordan dies [which he does] then she'll be the one to make the sacrifice, even if it means breaking both hers and Alistair's heart.... except she doesn't because I'm a coward who doesn't want to lose her because my worldstate isn't good without her in it but I also refuse to lose Alistair so I just pretend it plays out differently in my head it's fine-

But... that's how I play Tabris and view the situation. My friend @pi-creates and I have discussed the dark ritual at length. While I play a Tabris who romances Alistair, Pi plays a Mahariel who romances Morrigan, so we have vastly different interpretations of the ritual itself and Morrigan's intentions.

Which yeah, it makes total sense that someone who romanced Morrigan with a different origin, and has the option to do the ritual with her rather than asking someone else to do it, wouldn't see this the way I do.

To quote Pi: "Playing as a male warden in the Morrigan romance makes the whole situation feel different, and maybe it’s because she’s presenting it differently due to the emotional connection, but it feels more like she’s opening up about her initial instructions (that she had been given by Flemeth) and offering a solution to avoid the possibility of death. And for my Mahariel, the constant threat of sudden death has haunted him from the start – he caught the blight and was ripped away from his clan (something he did not want to do in the slightest), got forced into a Grey Warden ritual that could kill him, was forced into a battle that could kill him, going on this whole quest that he never wanted but has now become responsible for regardless of his thoughts on the matter… the dark ritual may be one of the few moments where he is presented with an option to decide if he wants to walk into certain death, or take actions of his own volition to stop it.

"The idea of the ritual still feels like a dodgy thing to do since the ultimate outcome is unknown at that point, he’s taking Morrigan at her word that it will save the warden and that this child would be unharmed, just with an old god soul that she isn’t exactly clear on why she wants that and is determined to runaway immediately after the battle to secure it properly. It could be interpreted that it’s purely a preservation thing, but I’m biased to wanting Morrigan's intentions to not be power based.

"But also, taking part in the ritual isn’t as outlandish for my warden since he and Morrigan have already been involved in an intimate relationship. It’s the future of the ritual that is scarier – the idea of this old-god baby, and the idea of Morrigan insisting that she’s leaving afterwards when Mahariel and her have a loving relationship. He’s hurting, but he doesn’t want to die, he doesn’t want Alistair to die, he doesn’t want Morrigan to leave, he definitely doesn’t want pregnant Morrigan to leave on her own… it’s complicated, but for completely different reasons."

And I find that fascinating. I want to know how other players approach this part of DAO, what origins they play, and who they romanced. Seriously, this is an invitation to anyone reading to share their thoughts.

What about a warden who doesn't even have Alistair in their party because they made Loghain a warden? Is there anyone out there who has Loghain do the ritual with Morrigan and why? What about male wardens who don't romance her? Do you choose to do it with her anyway, or do you ask Alistair or Loghain to do it? Do you tell Morrigan to fuck off with the ritual? Why? Who makes the ultimate sacrifice in that case? And what about Morrigan herself? How do you interpret her intentions/motivations? I want to know.

I'm telling you, this is a discussion that gets me excited, as most discussions about DAO do.

[sunsinourhands]

So I have been thinking about what factors of media and stories that give me the largest sense of longing. And I think it comes down to three major things: a sense of community (in group), a sense of potency, and a sense of hope. And for the sake of this post I will be referencing mostly anime but also live play tabletop series.

Nakama

So when I say a sense of community or in group, it is usually referenced as ‘nakama’ within Japanese. This is usually translated as ‘friends’ in English but that doesn’t really fit the actual meaning. This is the group of people who are your inner most circle. These are the people who will put themselves at considerable risk in order to help another member. In shonen series like the Dragon Ball franchise, Fairy Tail, and One Peace, this means frequently putting your actual life on the line. It’s the same as a party in tabletop dungeon crawler.

One good point of reference for this is Laios and Shuro’s relationship. They were not on the same page. Yes they worked together often in the same party’s but Laios thought they were nakama, and Shuro was just too polite and conflict avoidant to tell Laios that he hated him. Like their perception was completely mismatched. Laios thought they were ride or die for life and Shuro thought of Laios as an annoying coworker—which explains a lot of Laios’s negative feelings following that reveal.

I saw a post on here recently about the big difference between Lucy Heartfillia’s relationships with the people in her home vs her guild nakama. The people who worked for her parents were obligated / forced to engage with her. And her father was pretty bad pre timeskip. In the same way, her spirits were contracted with her, so they HAD to show up when she called. But her guild mates and especially her core team mates looked out for her both out of a sense of duty and an actual sense of affection and protection over a member of their found family. And that’s another big difference between nakama and anything else.

In contrast, a lot of people in real life don’t have anything like that. Many of us come from abusive or otherwise unloving families. Many of us were not protected by bullies by anyone. And many of us are slowly learning that many of our friendships were one way and we were either tolerated as the butt monkey or kept around to be exploited. Hell, I broke off a friendship of over 10 years earlier this fall because I realized that the person I thought of as my ‘nakama’ didn’t actually care about my feelings—and they only wanted me as a WOC accessory to confirm their leftist clout.

I cannot count how many friendships I have seen and in a really nasty betrayal, and many people keep a very firm distance these days. You have to. And it is very difficult to find any community that actually acts in a pro-social way, because a lot of people actively prey on groups like that. Or people are actively only out for their own interests to begin with.

I would also note that some people are not intending to be malicious I m, but that they were never taught or modeled how to be an actually good person underneath the surface level. So they are fundamentally incapable of it—and many are too uncomfortable with that idea that they will never grow out of it. Ego integrity is one hell of a drug. Plenty of people would also rather be keyboard warriors and engage in revolutionary LARPing than vote or grow some fucking carrots. They would rather blame everyone else, instead of look at how they have become additional bullies in their own communities.

Personal examples : the half dozen bad actors in my local mutual aid group that actively exploited the group to farm money. There is also the supposedly ‘good person’ card-carrying woke WOC head of the local no-Nazis farmers market who embezzled 800k and never paid the farmers—causing several to shutter permanently. Including multiple farmers of color who were already operating in the red in order to donate food to the needy in that same community.

I would put forward that existing without an actual support network is so fucking painful and difficult that this is a core part of the wish fulfillment you find in media.

Sense of Potency

No, not that kind. I’m talking about the concept of knowing that your actions have a measurable effect on your environment. It’s both having a skill or ability that you know can be applied to fix something unpleasant, make something better, and the experience knowing that it has done so in the past and faith it will do so in the future.

This can include the battle strength of any shonen character, or Chilchuck’s skill with traps, locks, and generally being stealthy. In fiction, people generally have an idea of how they can help and how much help that will be. In a tabletop game, this is knowing that your presence is VALUABLE and that both people can rely on you and they will make the choice to do so instead of mistrusting you. For example, everyone knows that Bulma Briefs can basically fix any technology or science related problem. She can also just throw money at it. Sensei WILL be able to cook whatever the fuck is found and killed.

But real life is a consistently fresh and more intense hell of people devaluing your efforts, your experience, and your value. I cannot explain the degree of emotional damage I took after graduating with my masters and being offered $12 an hour for a company I knew very well was charging people at least $120 an hour to see me.

Undergraduate degrees don’t get anyone shit these days. And they are prohibitively expensive on top of that. People with decades of experience and skills can no longer put food on their tables. Dudes with a Chat GPT subscription think they are artists. Art theft, plagiarism, and other forms of outright stealing are rampant. There is a huge sense of impotence and powerlessness inundating every fucking second of our lives.

Can I fix an issue? Fuck if I know. Probably not, because I can’t go up against Johnson and Johnson. The power imbalance is outrageous.

Many times when people try to organize, some plant or someone who decides to break the line ends up fucking over the whole thing—because somehow they think they are special and identify far more with the oppressing billionaires.

Despite the existence of people who do have good intentions, no one has the fucking time for others anymore. Everyone is too depressed, too burned out, and too busy scraping by the skin of their own teeth to do anything else.

So the idea that hard work, persistence, and maybe some cleverness, may actually yield results? A literal fantasy.

A Sense of Hope

This is something I always found very foreign after a certain age. People in media seem to have this ingrained knowledge that 100% good times and better days lay ahead after the struggle.

But for those of us geriatric millennials, it’s been one blow after another. Those of us who busted our asses to get a degree because that would guarantee a future? Hahaha. Yeah fucking right.

Hope is a hard thing to maintain. Maybe it would be easier if you could count on the people around you or an actual support network. But people drop each other over nothing—and I am not even going to get into the o-kimochi yakuza.

[positivelybeastly]

Just a question regarding the whole fall of x depiction of the x-men. Do you think they deserved to fall? If so, then why?

In my opinion (and sorry for the rambling) I believe most deserved it but definitely not everyone. *cough cough* Quiet Council *cough cough*. But going beyond their…mess, teams like X-Force and Legionnaires I felt don’t deserve it completely. While yes the actions of beast prime did make their reputation that much dirtier it could’ve been avoided if there was therapy for mutants. All his and many others “evil” actions could be been avoided if everyone wasn’t like light years apart from each other despite being in the same area at the same time. Even then there just byproducts of a crappy system of lies and neglect from the stupid quiet council that only makes things worse some how. But that’s my thoughts…maybe you could change them.

Question for Hank in general. What are five words you would use to describe love in your life? It could be: friend ships, romantic relationships, or even (and probably considered a little confusing to others) your relationship to your work.

"Five words to describe love? Quite a task, considering what Ewan McGregor had to say on the subject."

"Oh, no. NO, NO, NO - !"

"All you need is love!"

"Love is just a game!"

"I was made for loving you, baby, you were made for loving me!"

"The only way of loving me, baby, is to pay a lovely fee~"

"Just one night, give me just one night~!"

"There's no way, 'cause you can't pay~"

"Oh, there he is! In the naaaaaame of love, one ni-ght in the name of love~!"

"You crazy fool, I won't give in to you~!"

"Don't - leave me this way, I can't survive without your sweet love, oh baby, don't leave me this way~"

There's a sound - Dark Beast is violently banging his head against the wall.

"Please. God. Please. Make. It. Stop."

"All right, fine, fine, we'll take it easy on you . . . five words to describe love in our life . . . nourishing."

"Regular! Skilful, too."

"Anchor."

"Betrayal."

"Oh, well, thanks for lowering the tone there, guy . . ."

So, I think a distinction does have to be drawn between X-Men and mutants, because the X-Men are a superhero team with various spin off groups, and the mutants are a race/community. For the most part, no, I don't think the mutants deserved to fall, and I don't think most of the teams or groups did, either.

Joe Public on Krakoa was just living their lives after said lives were rudely interrupted (if they were resurrected victims of the various massacres) or they were set to be persecuted by a world that hated and feared them. They didn't do shit to deserve being dive bombed by Nimrod or hunted down by Orchis fuckwads, they're just people living on an island utopia and trying to have a good time.

The Quiet Council, however, was a completely fucked system of government and everyone realised it way too late, so pretty much everyone involved in that institution deserves a smack upside the head and a long time away from any leadership position.

Yes, that does include Kate, Emma, Jean, Kurt and Ororo. They were all complicit in, at the very least, allowing X-Force's actions to go unmoderated, to say nothing of every other fucked up decision they signed off on.

I don't give a fuck if they stood in the Quiet Council chambers and said, oh, I miss when Hank was fun, why's he so unethical now - YOU'RE MEANT TO BE HIS FUCKING FRIENDS, CUNTS, ACT LIKE IT. Or at the very least, act like the fucking superheroes you're goddamn meant to be! Talk means nothing if it's not followed by action!

They didn't address the rot. Everyone in major leadership positions on Krakoa, yes, everyone, has to carry some of the blame for what happened to Krakoa. No, it wasn't just Beast, or Mr. Sinister, or Moira, all of them carry some responsibility for fumbling the bag and not addressing fundamental inequalities on their little happy island nation.

But 90% of the X-Men teams, who didn't have that knowledge, didn't have that power, who can't be held accountable for that stuff? Yeah, they didn't deserve what happened. Jubilee did not deserve to be crushed by Nimrod, no matter how you cut it, she simply did not. Same with every other member of that X-Men team, just to name one example.

X-Force, though . . . so, take all of this with a grain of salt, because this was quite possibly the worst written book of the era, and I know no-one was in character, BUT.

In-universe, with what is, unfortunately, canon?

Yeah, fuck those guys. All it takes for evil to flourish is that good men do nothing, and while no-one on that team can call themselves a good person, good god did they insist on doing a lot of nothing.

"Hmm, our leader was running a space Nazi prison, what should we do? Silent treatment. Brilliant."

Kill Quire a few extra times just for that. And for that shitty Ghost Calendars arc, while we're at it. Colossus, you're on my shit list for breaking Chronicler control and not telling anyone what was going on until the last second. Sage, you're an idiot, you and Logan both had the power to stop shit long before it got to the point it did. Domino, you . . . actually, Domino, Black Tom and Omega Red might get a pass here? I can't really blame them for what happened.

. . . Anyway! Mutants don't deserve genocide or the loss of the little scrap of the world they carved out for themselves. The Quiet Council and the leadership of X-Force, however, deserved everything they got, and quite possibly a hell of a lot more. That's the long and short of it.

[boxfullaturtles]

Since Donnie is your fav I am curious how do you feel about Raph? For iterations 03 and 07 also rise because I don’t think you watched 12

(i watched a bit of 12 and i do not care for it. nuff said.)

You are correct, Donatello is my favorite turtle in every iteration. I love an unhinged scientist.

But Raphael in all iterations is so important. And in every iteration he has the softest heart and the biggest feelings.

I did write a post a while ago about how my feelings on 2003 Raph had changed as an adult. As a kid, I didn't like him all that much because he always seemed mean and angry and loud. But now I understand that anger and how he acts tough because he's a big softy. He doesn't like to be vulnerable, so he acts brash and mean. He buts heads with Leo because his emotions are so big and he can't keep a cool head when his heart's on fire. He's a very passionate kid and he keeps an eye on his brothers. I think he knows them a lot better than they think he does. One of my favorite moments for him is actually the episode with Mrs. Morrison. He cares about people and he's really a gentle soul underneath all that attitude.

2007 Raph breaks my heart. I know a lot of people took his attitude in that movie out of context and misinterpreted it to hell and back. Raph doesn't hate Leo, he missed him. Leo is their big brother, their leader, the one who was supposed to be there to guide them. When Splinter sent him away for training, they expected Leo to come right back after his time was up. But he never did. He didn't say anything. He never came home. Can you imagine that betrayal? How much that must have hurt? Leo is always the opposite for Raph, usually as the cooler head to Raph's heated temper. But Leo was gone and as far as anyone knew, he wasn't coming back. And Raph just had to watch Donnie run himself into the ground trying to keep them together. Watch Mikey try and keep up a smile when there was a big gaping hole in their family. Watch while all the scum in New York started getting ballsy again because no one was out there knocking heads. So when Leo finally comes home and acts like nothing's changed, of course it pisses Raph off. Of course he's angry. His big brother disappeared without a word, and then has the fucking gall to show up and expect them to fall back in line, for things to carry on as usual, for it all to pick back up again right where he left it. But it can't. Because Leo was gone and that drastically changed things. And Raph's so angry and hurt, probably feels betrayed and abandoned. His brother just fucking left them behind. The dialogue before their fight on the roof in the movie hits me hard every time. Raph's letting out all his pent up emotions, all the frustrations and hurt is spilling out of him, and that line, "We got along just FINE without you!" Goooooodddddd that scene kills me every fucking time. And how pissed at himself he is when he realizes what he's done, how terrified he looks when he realizes how much he damage he could have actually done. How much he probably hates himself for it. I really, really wish we'd gotten the other movie(s?) that had been planned for 07. I wish we could have had more time in the 07 movie to explore how things had changed between the turtles and how they had to figure out how to work together again. 2007 are MY turtles and I love them with my whole heart. They also break my heart when I think about how messed up their family ties must be now.

Rise Raph is kind of like a breath of fresh air. I love that Rise took a chance and changed up the dynamic of the turtles and gave them a chance to show off in ways other iterations really hadn't allowed. I think Raph being the one to shoulder the responsibility of leadership forced him to mellow out and learn how to control his temper. We still get glimpses of that Raphael temper, and I really love that it especially shows up when Leo's the one needling him. It's always been Leo and Raph butting heads and that doesn't change in Rise, the nature of it just shifts a little. Rise Raph being the biggest and oldest, learning how to be gentle where his other iterations never really had to. Rise Raph is a sweetheart and he wears his emotions on his sleeve just as brightly as every other Raph, they're just in a different color. He's a big guy, with a big heart, and big emotions. I love that he's big enough to hit as hard as he promises to, I love that he uses that to do exactly what every other Raph has always done--throw himself into harm's way to be a shield for his family.

And I know you didn't ask, but I'm just gonna take a second to mention Mutant Mayhem here. Because, my gosh, those kids are about to go through it, I'll bet you anything. Somebody book them a farmhouse, we about to watch Shredder wreck their shit. MM Raph is a riot. This kid has been cooped up in the sewers his entire life, with his paranoid brother hovering over his shoulder. And the second he's finally let loose, he goes off. And I love that for him. We haven't seen a lot of that classic Raph temper, but the kid's definitely got a lot of energy and emotions inside him. I hope the show gives all of the turtles their own individual arcs that let them grow, I hope we get to learn more about them. Because that's one thing the movie really lacked, was fleshing out their personalities and letting them be individuals. I'm really looking forward to what Mutant Mayhem has in store for us.

[lumen-anima]

Romance is bland in ANE: The Rant

I was pulling up videos from TO and ANE I have for inspo for my Faepedia and the difference of quality between TO and ANE is downright horrific.

Each and every episode in TO was like a loooong episode in a series where at the end of an episode I was like "OMG so much info, so much happened". Every episode had some action, some filler, quality time with basically everyone including the LIs, while moving the story along, giving us stuff to think about.

In ANE however, the episodes are just as long (roughly 2 hours of content in one video) but virtually nothing happens. How in the world do I play for 2 hours and STILL have no actual shit happen??? Even though I spend more maana than I am comfortable with on side characters, the conversations are so damn empty, they give you no extra info about the world or it's characters, NOTHING. I can barely muster up the energy to play the episodes as they come out, I feel like I am wasting my time.

On the LI's:

In TO, the four LIs (Valkyon, Nevra, Ezarel and Leiftan) were all different personalities woth different attitude to things and people, different likes/dislikes, strengths and weaknesses, AND they each had a personal problem they had to tackle.

——————————

Nevra was your typical arrogant looking womanizer who only thinks about chasing chicks all day long and being totally nonchalant about it and thus mad irresponsible both personally and professionally. He turned out to be a hardworking, diligent, responsible guy who would carry his girl around on the palm of his hand like they were a princess. He was one of your biggest supporters in TO and I really felt like he cared for MC as a person (even though he was not my route) and was worried about her like they were brother and sister. He was such a dork, I loved him so much.

Now we have this cold, mission oriented, unsupportive guy who just fucks to forget while claiming that he's lost so much in the war and how could we understand it? How we shouldn't be so surprised that he is different because it's been 7 seven years, we should move on from this memory we have of him, while he himself was unable to do so. Cold and distant, you have to basically force your companionship onto him until he gets more open with you.

——————————

Leiftan was your support from day one, calm, collected and very gentle, shielding you from the hostile HQ while trying to get close to you and still be looking like the most unapproachable guy there is. He felt waaaaaay out of our league in multiple ways and his attention was always special, even I felt honored when he made time for us (again, he was also not my route). He in fact was a hurt, rage and vengeance filled creature who was killing almost indiscriminately, trying to get back at the world for his own suffering and pain, while being smitten with the MC just because she was from his own race which he's the last of. She was his last chance to have a place to truly belong.

Now he's a guilt ridden coward, afraid to be consumed by his past and his darkness he can't seem to get rid of. He really doesn't want to be anywhere near people, but he has absolutely nowhere to go and (in his mind) nothing to do. He just sticks around for the MC because he's still in love with her, but he doesn't dare move a muscle to prove it. Again, cold and distant, you have to chase his ass around endlessly in a game of cat and mouse reassuring him all the while.

——————————

Lance was the bad guy, the villain if the story, willing to kill everyone in his way and I do mean everyone (we all know what happened). He was intelligent, cruel, downright sadistic, but he never lied to us, not once. His whole thing was the "righteous rage" we all felt after the lies and betrayals in HQ, when we just wanted to leave the Guard, preferably in flames for the shit they did to MC. A charismatic, feral bastard, he managed to lead a whole army of disenfranchised outcasts on a suicide quest, they all knew what they were signing up for, since again, he was utterly honest. This was a before he went COMPLETELY bonkers.

And in ANE we got this weak imitation, a stand-in for Valkyon we never wanted. He's blindly following someone who keeps secrets and lies all the time (*cough* HH *cough*) while staying in Nevra's shadow not doing much until he's given orders. He's acting like a henchman to the Council, not thinking for himself at all. I haven't heard this man argue/audibly disagree with anyone so far and we are 16 episodes in! All this talk about him being a different person: it's not hard being a different person when your soul is crushed and you can barely get yourself out of bed due to crippling depression, just sayin. And yet again, cold and distant until you smack some life into him so that he would talk to you.

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(I'll skip Mathieu since he was not in TO to make a comparison, I find him extremely annoying, also I find it stupid as hell to bring a regular-degular human into a fantasy themed game and I say this with all the respect my 160cms have to the elusive Mathieu stans, we see just as often as we see good content from Bee.)

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In conclusion: all of them are cold and distant, just waiting for the MC to make a move, put in the work while feeling absolutely sorry for themselves, saying that they shouldn't be together yada yada. And then they are together like magic, without explanation, without a proper build-up, nothing. I bet if I'd asked Er*ika (Little Miss Took-a-bite-bigger-than-she-can-chew) about good things she sees in her LI, she couldn't say more than "looks hot, has a dick".

End rant

[feltpool]

Wildstorm

Back in 1998 DC bought out the Wildstorm Universe imprint and while they did continue to run it as its own thing for a while they chose to disrupt both universes in 2010 by merging the two imprints (the DCU and WSU) into one Bold New Reality! to great annoyance from both sides. Things did settle down after a while but many will never fully forgive DC for the New 52 and the changes that came with it

From a business point of view DC buying up the WSU made sense. One less rival to eat up a share of the comic book market that could be theirs and a pre-established fandom along with it that might be persuaded to pick up other books in their line.

But from a DCU pov this made no sense to me. Not only do knockoff Batman and Superman (to pick two from the many options in the WSU) have no real place in the world that features the originals those characters are parodies of but the WSU was a strongly militaristic based universe. Not policemen looking out for the good of the people but soldiers who followed orders, killed on command, carried out a whole bunch of dubious black ops and often got stabbed in the back by those in command over them. And it wasn’t any one book that followed this line, multiple books including their flagship titles were based heavily in military teams and covert forces. You can’t throw a rock in the WSU without hitting a soldier of one sort or another

And if it isn’t soldiers it’s cyborgs (or cyborg soldiers). Everything from new arms or knees and brain implants to full body replacements housing the few pounds of well protected brain matter that’s all that remains of the original person. Sure, they throw in a good measure of superpowers as well, comet ‘seedlings’, alien races, symbiotic nanotech/venom style enhancements, deliberate and nasty genetic and surgical modifications, etc.

The WSU dug deep into the darker, uglier side of a superhero world and has had it all, rampant abuse of power, baby snatching, betrayal, greed, incest, mind wiping and reprogramming to create a team who know no better than to be loyal only to their abuser, an artificially bred experiment designed to be smarter than anyone else who’s oh so good at smiling to your face while stabbing you in the back, they even had an Alien crossover which was not only brutal but altered the universe on a permanent basis. And did I mention the sex? The WSU fucks and isn’t afraid to say it either! (at least in the more mature aimed titles)

But overall the underlying theming of enhanced soldier teams lies at the core of the WSU

So where does this fit into the DCU?

Wildstorm’s heroes have kicked and torn the heads off the bad guys, destroyed alternate universes, and shot and stabbed their way through A LOT of plotlines in their attempts to make their world a better place, and how is that supposed to fit in with the actions of DC’s more noble heroes?

Well, given the sparse amount of appearances of former WSU characters over the past 14 years it rather suggests that it doesn’t.

Dropping Midnighter and Dick Grayson into a book together is still basically just a variation on Batman and Robin but at least he’s one of the few who’s been able to make an appearance, only a handful of the WSU lineup have ever managed to appear in the DCU in a way that extends beyond a name drop, photo on a desk, or background on a screen

And I remain salty about all of this

[umbralsound-xiv]

Prompt #4 - Off The Hook

Character: Bexy The Black Shroud, 1572, Sixth Astral Era

Sun had long dipped low in the canopy of the Shroud, amber yellows to glowing reds which had eventually simmered into the darkness of nighttime. Rare it was that she was ever seen in the daylight bells, which some might have attributed to at least half her namesake.

She'd slipped into the establishment some time ago; not too far off the beaten path that it was still frequented. It had been a sennight, now, since the incident. Her clothes didn't smell so strongly of smoke as they once did, but the air of caution she always carried and skillfully hid is in full force.

A Wildwood missing half of one of his ears; seemingly bitten away if the remaining teethmarks were go to by anything is the one who always catches her attention, organising various spirits at the back of the bar. His roguish grin falls on Bexy, then.

"And there she is! My favourite customer!" He beams, and it's almost enthusiastic enough to no longer be sincere. "Your usual?"

"Everyone is your favourite customer so long as they're paying, Silfont. Yes please." A small stack of neatly lined gil-coins is set on the counter; exact for what she had desired, a single measure of honey brandy.

"You wound me, girl! But you're right." He laughs, turning to pluck up a glass and pour a rich, golden liquid from a bottle, where a honeycomb was imprisoneed in the bottle. "You're more favourite than most. Easier on the eyes. And you always pay."

Those dark purple eyes lid, dusted with dark and lined to add just enough cycles to her to catch enough attention, the hem of her shirt plunging low enough that it wouldn't take too much more imagination for what was hidden. Leaning in her customary way against the bartop, her tail curls at her leg, swaying as painted fingernails tap at the glass of her drink, before bringing it to equally painted lips. "You flatter me." She half-cooes, glancing to the open corner behind her, devoid of chairs and tables. "No bard this sun?"

"Nah. Been hard to get a hold of any after what happened. You hear about the poor bastard? The one from the other sun?"

Bexy stares, intrigued. A lofted brow feigns her ignorance. "Go on?"

"...Burned alive in his bed. Whole house went up in flames. People reckon it's his wife that did it. Fucking grey." He half spat. "Killed him for his coin, i reckon."

"Oh, that's -awful-." The word is emphasised, hand delicately placed on her chest to convey just how terrible she truly felt. "He seemed so nice, when we spoke." Hiding the brief flicker of bared teeth with a drink, she peers up to Silfont with a question. "...So they're still looking for the murderer? Or...?"

"Nah, they've got her. Found her crying in some cave, much as you'd expect. Innocent people don't run, yeah? She's a thaumaturge, too. It all adds up."

"Well... That's good that they've got her. What a terrible thing to do." She finishes the glass just as quickly, this time to hide the smile that had crawled over her lips. Finding her coinpurse, Bexy begins counting another stack of coins. "...Don't suppose you still have a bottle left?"

"Half of one. You bought the other last week."

"Mm. So i did." She settles another identical stack of coins on the bartop, where the contents of the dwindling bottle of honey brandy sought to refill her glass.

She did buy the bottle. That much, she remembered well. She'd intended to drink at least some of it, sharing the other half with the handsome bard she had gone home with... Which in hindsight, she supposed she had done, in some fashion.

Bexy had fully intended to rob him; relieve him of his coin, as she had done with so many others, but that all changed when his wife returned home, tear stricken and furious for his betrayal, who just as quickly made her departure.

The bottle was shared, of course. Tied to the bed though he was, Bexy made sure he had more than his share as it covered him... And with a nearby candle, set the contents, and him, alight.

"Most people's tastes don't run quite so sweet. You're lucky i keep getting this in." Silfont warns, sloshing the contents of the bottle in front of her.

"You're right..." Bexy begins. A single index runs the length of the bottle, from neck to base, as she continues to peer up to him.

"...I am very, very lucky."

[system-of-a-feather]

Less moody about it cause - actually no equally moody but less bothered by it if that makes sense - but as much as I am glad to be working through the gender stuff with the system, or rather for the system until now, finding out just how deep this rabbit hole of misery goes fucking sucks and is literally draining as shit.

I think I'm getting fatigued cause I've been bearing it on my own for what, like three years? Solely to give Riku the time to focus and catch up on healing sexual trauma (which I've been responsible for monitoring and guiding them through) and so that Ray - who is our stability backbone - didn't have to endure or risk his stability for longer than needed when little could be done (cite Riku's sexual trauma being a blocking point for any genuine deep thought on gender at the time)

Like, in hindsight, and Riku pointed this out the other day, but in a polyfragmented system that is majorily transmasc, I'm the only part that has actively stayed focus on this and have kept a very intense tab and focus on it while juggling being the ferryman for Riku's sexual trauma recovery, the advocate for EPs for like a year and a half of that time, and the Persecutor Breaking-In Guy like

It's totally fair for me to "start getting burnt out" and if anything its really impressive that I am only NOW getting burnt out being the only one dealing with a topic that regularly makes me suicidal (not active but not passive either, a secret third thing - active but absolutely not doing it)

And honestly though, having dealt with that and been the ferryman through trauma processing of CSA shit for like 3 years and forcing persecutors to communicate their trauma and issues effecticely to help them, I REALLY don't get why anyone would think someone would CHOOSE to be trans or that it is anything but a group of people just trying to live life with a fucking shitty hand

Like I'm sure others would disagree, but as someone with a lot of trauma thats carried less experienced trauma holders through living inspite of what happened to them, dysphoria is literally the only mental / psychological / physical means of suffering that has ever had me **depressed properly** rather than any form of depression or hurt that immediately turns into a burning fire and rage of some sort

Literally raising myself, being a trained dog, regularly handing my dad his own ass on a plate in fights, dealing with an oppressive DID system, fucking America existing, first hand and second hand shit with sexual trauma, betrayal from the person who was supposedly our "only support" - literally dysphoria is the top dog of a beast I have ever had to push through

And the fact that some people minimize how much people with dysphoria could be struggling? It just blows me the fuck away

If you gave me the option to solve our dysphoria and all its complications in a snap or resolve our trauma and all its complications in a snap I would rapidly click dysphoria without hesitation and without consulting the system

Cause at this point I am the Trauma King. I'm the best at handling it and Im (at least one of) the best at dragging parts through Trauma Coping 101. And I'm also the dysphoria king, and as it is such a hypothetical situation would fall into my domain to make decisions on since I have the largest breath and experience with both

And it would be such an easy decision I kid you not.

But anyways, this is equally for the trauma / DID community as it is for the trans community. And for the transfolk out there, good god know your misery is valid and you arent being dramatic or asking for too much to have people respect you and make small changes to make your suffering slightly less

It shouldn't be needed, but if you need a socially normalized right to validate your hurt and need for aid, this post stands here as verification as a survivor of a shit ton of traumas that the suffering is absolutely, at the very least, comparable. If people can understand how bad it is to have to deal with PTSD let alone the shit thay gives you DID (diagnosed), there is at least one person out there that says dysphoria is more unbearable.

So what with all the American stages of transgenocide going on especially in America, I just wanted to let you know that they are the fucking atrocious people and whatever garbage transphobes say that might make you question your "choice" throw it in the fucking garbage.

Being trans isnt easy and wouldnt be anyones choice with how bullshit it can be

[spoke-n-languish]

A hero’s journey…

…into town, to get some eggs and a carton of milk, and then back again to his abode to stow them safely in his refrigerator: mission accomplished.

I know that I’ve fucked this up for everybody, and I truly am sorry. It has become abundantly clear that the script was never intended to carry on this long. I have disappointed many people over the years, but never an entire community at once in addition to everyone that I love and care about. Even people that never liked me and were certain I would fail have become taciturn at the onus that maintaining this production has assayed on their erstwhile quotidian rut. I don’t think that the blame should fall entirely onto my shoulders as I never asked for this nor have I yet quit trying (I really just don’t know what to do), but as nobody has materialized from Narnia, or the Æther, or the shadow lands of Nod, or wherever it is that you have secreted yourselves away to, for everyone else affected - mine is the only face they can see to scowl at.

Initially I was consumed with grief and broken by betrayal… but I got better and formulated a plan (which I thought had reasonable odds of success), but then I discovered that the belaborments and woeful outcries of my ravaged heart and shattered soul had successfully provided more than adequate distraction to allow me to fall prey to an extraordinarily elaborate mash-up of the 3-card Moanaté Badger Game with a HoneyPotter Pig-in-a-Poke overshadowing a “South Park” Oculus Rift-‘Van Winkle’, all neatly tucked into one Dickens of “A Stargate Christmas Carol: Special Victims Unit” all for “A Fistful of Dollars” with the Spanish Prisoner left at the altar of ‘Affinity’. Needless to say. I did not pick the “lucky lady” out of the tertiantella Danse Machiavellian that I found mysclf all aswirl 1N. (In fact, I’m certain even this does not adequately enunciate the subtle variegated nuances, and delicately layered (as if a master baker’s baklava or tiramisu) and nimbly interwoven puppeteering of this magna opera which I praise optime cum laude!

But as fun as it is to masquerade and I can only imagine the rush of being included in the conspiratorial hoodwinking with a wink and a Nod to your Corner then Bow to your Beau, then Dosey-Do and Around we go; Promenate in the Gutter with a Beaver-Fur Cap, now 2 x 2 Through the Gate with the Clap; From our Cueric ETSRDA you’ll take your Cues, Tea Cup Chain or Chain-Gang Thru; Swing your Hoe-Down she’s an Arky Belle then Top the Coffee Kitty like a Faux Angel; Sashay the Phantom in the Swill; Yellow Rock, Red Rock, and the Star-Tips the Frill!

All quite synchronized and very exciting to be a part of, but you can only square dance for so long before it becomes wearying and eventually (despite the fervor of the foile à d’ville) being told exactly where, when, and what to do next at each ‘turn’ by the gent caller can lose a little luster. One may desire a return to a more familiar and comfortably secure routine, and so is the ambient temperature around the town. Certainly not a soul has betrayed the confidence of the games-master(s), and all facades have been dutifully maintained… all roles unequivocally performed, but to a trained eye (or to a wildly moonstruck third), the heart-force driving it isn’t as strong as it was in the onset.

I do not want anyone to misconstrue this very key point I am about to make here: I in no way, shape or form am belittling or diminishing in any way the communally singular and titanic efforts wrought by the amazingly generous, patient and hard-working people of this community as much to the contrary, I am awe-struck by how much you all have done and magnificently so… it is one of the reasons I am sometimes brought literally to tears being moved so by graces demonstrated by all for just one who has never been deserving of any of it and I know that I will never be able to repay this. I understand that many of you see these forays as a lesson to my laxitudinal nonchalance towards arrearages owed (which is understandable as that is how this particular backdrop has been painted), but that debt I was always aware of and it grew out of hand by my own decisions for it to do so… but the debt that has me hammered into place is the debt of kindness and gratitude I now owe to each and every one of you which I can devote a hundred lifetimes over and still not repay in full.

But, what I believe I am understanding in an emotional undercurrent sort of way, is the fatigue from attrition of performing at such a high demand for perfection for longer than was originally written in the playbill. And for this, I believe I do shoulder the yoke of responsibility. Not intentionally but rather by default as I too have been kept at a philharmonic emotional symphony and just beaten to and fro on a mental and spiritual level that I fear I missed key opportunities and just through the blindness of the damned did not see when I was to have performed my role, played my part, and delivered the quintessential metamorphosis and rebirth to deliver us all from this eternal winter. I am so sorry to everyone. You have all worked so diligently for so long and so hard for this and I wish that I could do that one thing required of me and provide that release everyone is so ready for… but I still don’t know what it is. I surely must have missed a critical clue or tip as I know it must have been given but I’m afraid I’m my distraught state I passed it or did not hear it correctly. You must all be tired of having to carry on for one who can’t even carry his own weight it would seem and I cannot blame you or fault you if you do. All I can offer is to redouble my efforts (which I believe I have said so much now that surely I am at a least 256x my original efforts) …which should put me somewhere around 176.64x full effort given {sorry, just a little math humor}. But if you don’t see me out and about and getting in the way, please understand that I am still trying, still doing what I can to solve this… for everyone’s sake.

I have been manipulated more so than anyone through these productions, but I am still determined as ever to bring this to a close regardless of personal cost because I cannot allow any of you to suffer excess burden any more than you already have for my expense. If you don’t know me yet, just please understand that while it may not seem like it, I really do sincerely want the best for everyone and humbly I thank you all for what you have already persevered on my behalf.

La storia di un burattino… for reals, yo!

[agilneanrose]

Darkshire

Duskwood

Fireflies played about the water that stubbornly spilled from the fountain located within the center of town. A fountain that had seen so much death and horror that it was no wonder that the stones did not have the power to anoint the flow with corruption. Perhaps it did, no one drank from this fountain anyway. 

The town, for some reason, still survived despite everything it had been through. Those of the night watch that had not been murdered had reformed to protect those that stayed and those that decided to live here. The mayor and council had yet to be found and punished for their betrayal and crimes but finally, the Kingdom turned its eye on Duskwood long enough to station soldiers.  Ebon Blade had also arrived to see to the protection of the largest graveyard on Azeroth. The inn, with its new faces, still served spider meat stew to those passing through. It almost seemed.. Normal. 

Rosemarri paused beside the fountain, the water didn’t show signs of foulness but she recalled .. she had bathed Gato the dwarf in this fountain when his smell had become so bad she drug him here by the beard.  She recalled, Daedris stabbing Alanden here - his blood flecking across the stone, ground and water when those deadly blades were pulled free of the man’s sides.  She recalled… the laughter-enough! Her stare, sheltered by the heavy cloth hood, moved about the town and the strangers that lingered.  Tonight, she wasn’t interested in the strangers or their stories but who she was interested in … was not here. 

Quiet steps carried her away from the drunks singing in the Scarlet Raven, past the town hall with its broken-down carriage, and into the woods. Spiders, wolves, and ferals were only a few souls to call the woods home and she? A guest. She veered towards the path that took her to the river and there she followed the bank within the blur of curse and light until she saw him.

Alandan’s grave might not have his body, but the stone meant something to a few people and two of those few stood here now.  

“I need you.” She spoke after a moment, pulling his attention from the gravestone. 

“I am your champion.” He sighed before he turned to face her.  She watched him pull himself together, grief replaced with something else, nothing she could name by his tone or expression. If he was surprised by her traveling attire, he said nothing. Instead, he strolled forward to position himself closer to her, forcing her chin up and her talasite gaze to settle on his face. He had scars there now, some just barely missing his eyes. He had changed, seen too much really and she wasn’t certain a retired life of father and widower was the life for him. He needed heat in his veins, he needed risks. 

“I know. Lord Sunshield has given permission for his daughter, Yelena, to join the expedition to the Dragon Isles. But she is alone and in the end, she is a nameless and faceless person that I do not trust the world to aid should she end up in some dragon’s stew. I do not ask that you bring her home.. I ask that you join her.” Leave - she was asking him to leave when he had just found his way home. Was this home? She was asking him to leave his children behind once again. Leave this dirt that they stood upon that now acted as resting place to their beloved friend.  Leave her house. Leave  her.  “Allies grow fewer as the years pass… and trusted even less. Anyone else I ask would go and treat her like a child or damsel to protect and she is not that…” 

His hand rose and she took it at once, together they turned regard Alanden’s grave once more before he spoke. “I will leave tonight.”

“Have dinner with your daughters first?”

“Of course. What are you wearing?”

Rude.

“Pants.” She squeezed his hand in an attempt to banish his comment. 

Araian had said to handle it if bothered her. 

And so she did. 

The Dragon Isles would soon welcome Melek Dy’neer to its shores.  May the titans have mercy on those in his way. 

Mentions: @yelenathorne (Get fucked) @theoldlord

@melekdyneer

[llycaons]

im ngl I'm a little let down by the direction this finale is going in BUT. here's 40!

no regrets? she'll let him kill her? please be a ploy...

okay I think it IS a play but now she's talking about these soldiers again? girl this is about YOU!!!!

aw swee jiuyue is back. love her

SHE GOT HIM!!!!!!!!!!! I think the buildup could have been better bc the camera just cut to her already with the arrow loaded BUT

oh my god the longwu army is LESS important to me than exposing syr!!! please!!! I feel like the narrative doesn't think that's important for xff anymore and ig she never wanted to be the one PERSONALLY to kill them but they were never exposed!! is she really at peace? where does this sudden loyalty to her country come from?

okay sweet a confrontation

'I'd have no regrets if I die at your hands' now where have I heard that before?

this is one of those cases where xff really shouldn't kill him though. she never wanted to hurt or kill anyone, just make those who harmed her and jl face justice. killing him would be satisfying more of need of his than hers. and she's right - killing him WOULD dirty her hands

but also like. NOW she's like 'the country's legal system will handle you for treason' LIKE HE HADN'T BROKEN THE LAW BY TRYING TO KILL HER???

these last few episodes have felt so weird....her plot and motivations have been completely subsumed by this uhhh nationalistic prioritization

also - where the HELL have all our lovable side characters gone? all the jiangs? xl? ysj? who the fuck are all these people???

ohh he's going to jump isn't he

DON'T TURN AROUND XFF. KEEP YOUR PEACE.

YESSSSSS> she stopped but didn't even GLANCE at him. and he was still alive! he saw! even his death means nothing to her! AS IT SHOULD!!! she's moved on with her life and she's built something beautiful after his betrayal and she's not going to concern hersel with him any more!

I do dislike a lot of how this finale is structured, but this has been consistent throughout the entire show. xff's independence from syr. xff not letting syr get away with killing her, and not letting what he did to her hold her back from living well. not softening what he did, or allowing him to give excuses, but also being able to move forward in her life and make new friends and family and loved ones. she won't cry for him. she won't even look at him. she won't dirty her hands or force herself to look at his broken body even as she sobs and pleads and begs for her compassion and support and love. even as he kills himself. she knows what she deserves and she walks towards it and away from him and all that he carries with him

'Shen Yurong is useless!' WHY DID YOU GIVE YOUR ARMY TO A MENTALLY UNWELL SCHOLAR

im kind of mad xh got to yell out all his grievances and I guess nobody will ever know what wanning and syr did

CONCUBINE LI MVP!!!!!

it's not often a hostage commits SUICIDE. my god

THE LIS WERE EXCECUTED???

aw man. I do feel bad for the shen mom and sister. especially the sister! she was a teenage girl, what was she going to do!

wow, no mercy or forgiveness for hostages huh...like the jiang aunt was literally a hostage!

I miss tong-er :(

omg!!! HAIFENG!! is that her name? she has such a sweet face, that maid <3

omg her father and brother....that's incredible. like at a certain point I did think it was cheap that they had both survived, but now I just think it's remarkable. she brought them back to life! SHE did that!

and apologizing for being unfilial...sweetie....

and now...her identity...

HER DAD IS SO SWEET WHAT THE FUCK...I would die for this old man too I rly would

kind of a shame we were told xz would have a disability and then he didn't. that's been happening this entire show, tho. jy can just cure them all...

oh yeah I guess hx is considered a good man. I don't, but I think his shadiness and craftiness and particular regard is what makes him interesting

I kind of don't like it when they're cutesy and wholesome. can they go back to being liars they had better chemistry. these episodes all they do is smile at each other which gets boring

general xiao and lj shuddering with fear to hear xh laughing is pretty funny though

JIANG LI!!!!!!!

hm I guess it was less about revenge and more about reputation, huh. and that's what xff did...

WELP. WEDDING TIME. cql fics often talk abt a veil but women can use a fan to cover their face too

aw damn they're kissing onscreen. and she's touching his NECK? racyyy

fade to black...if they had more interesting dynamic at this point I bet the sex would have been more insane but it was probably like, very nice anyway

well she knows what she likes, probably. being a widow. has xh fucked? I kind of doubt it.

oh my god I hope he doesn't fucking die at war...

why did her jiang dad resign his post?

oh man...the confession scene. very tearful. very painful. I guess xff will be jl for the rest of her life, then. jl was wronged by her father, but he clearly loved her. I'm glad she asked about her

and at this point, xff has such a great reputation, and is so celebrated in the capital, that she probably has more social power than he does. and as was stated before, the truth coming out can only harm the jiang family's reputation

omg jjr and xl!!! and ruoyao mentioned!!!

aw and ysj. his presence was so mild I didn't notice 😭

jjr is so cute I love himmmm

jjr and xl are holding hands but I think it's in a buddy way. tho being best friends is a more stable foundation for marriage than plenty of people get

and so, the con artist ends her story with two families rather than zero. and she loves her second father, she does. and he knows it. and I think he loves her too

YE SHIJIE.....🥺🥺🥺

this also happened in mask of mirrors where a guy was in love with a con woman but she wasn't in love with him so he just became her number one supportive best buddy. it's really sweet!!! I love that!!!

her dad and brother are there right? like I know she's In Love but going on this whole journey after her shitty husband betrayed her of getting a life to live and friends and reputation and all falls a little flat if she shuts herself alone in a mansion and just waits for him for months. girl your LIFE!!!

sorry it's just a little fucking galling to see xff, a proactive, social, intelligent, motivated, and compassionate woman, make things happen for the entire series and then spend all this time reduced to a housewife sitting sadly at home waiting for her husband to come home from war. like. the ENTIRE show she has been doing shit whether she could fight or not. the entire show she's been fighting to life a good life and get her family back. is this really the themes best for the show?

they probably didn't want her to look heartless, but EYE would 100% rather see jyl being with her friends and family, eating good food, traveling, decorating, cooking, living her life while xh is away at war. like of course she's worried for him and misses him, but I just hate to see her entire character bogged down because a man is away. I thought we'd learned to live independently!!!

NOT LU JIIIIII

HOW COULD YOU KILL OFF THE FUNNY GUY

god I wish this show was over. what a downer. these guys all at least look really hot with their hair down and all the mud and blood and sweat and such

WEN JI TOO?!!!

FUCKED UPPPP

okay it's stupid that this fight is the finale but it IS well-choreographed. I'm bored and antsy and even i got shivers seeing some of these moves

god damn he looks SO good when he's about to die

THERE HE IS. THANK GOD. was NOT looking good for him WHEW!!

THAT'S THE END!!!!!!!

[violetswritingg]

Valkyrie

Mark Grayson x OFC!

Description: In which two superpowered teens meet and fall in love amongst blood, death, and betrayal

Rating: M (Canon typical violence, betrayal, mental health issues, abandonment issues, child neglect, angsttttt)

Want to read the other chapters?

Click here

4: Attacked From All Sides

~~*~~

I was being attacked

From all sides

I was being

Attacked

~~*~~

Cecil walked into his office, flipping on the light switch as he closed the door behind him. Turning to face the open part of the room the man's eyes zeroed in on the body sitting in one of the brown leather chairs facing his desk. Blonde hair thrown up in a claw clip telling him who it was.

"Stella-"

"Two days." Stella interrupted, not looking at Cecil, making him complete the journey to his desk, "You've been ignoring me for two days."

"I haven't been-"

"Why else would Donald be fielding my calls? Don't lie to me." Stella's glare softened as her voice turned watery. The girl clearing her throat and crossing her legs to regain some kind of control, "What is going on with the Guardians' case?"

"I can't tell you." Cecil heaved a sigh as he sunk down into his chair.

"Bullshit Cecil. And why the hell did you not pull me from that interrogation-"

"It wasn't an interrogation; it was a debrief-"

"Oh that's rich! Since when did debriefs come with a dose of truth serum?!" Stella sprung up from her chair, blue energy uncontrollably misting around her hands. Silence invaded the cacophonous mixture of angry and defensive voices clashing together.

"I apologize for that. But I couldn't let there be any suspicion that you could have killed the Guardians. I had to make sure it was bulletproof." Cecil laid out, taking a breath, laying his hands out flat in front of him on his desk. "I promise I wouldn't have done it in any other circumstance."

Stella huffed a breath out of her nose, her energy contracting once she realized it was there. The girl crossed her arms over her stomach as she walked over to the window overlooking the pentagon parking lot. A small succulent she had gifted him a while back was still living on the ledge.

"Why didn't you pull me for the flaxan invasion?" Stella demanded, voice like steel.

"You were under the influence of a truth drug, that, if you remember, we had to flush out of your system because it doesn't go away on its own." Cecil's voice took on a deadpan quality, his frustration clear.

"People died! Because the Guardians weren't- Because I wasn't there. But I could have been. If you had pulled me and flushed my system sooner." Stella turned away from the window, icy eyes locked on Cecil, "Instead I was left to pick up the mess and wash away the blood stains."

"And make yourself sick while doing it." Cecil raised an eyebrow and the girl scoffed, shaking her head at the man.

"Fuck you Cecil."

"Stella- Hey!" Stella turned on her heel, stomping towards the door with heavy feet, Cecil darting up from his seat, "You need to be more-" Cecil tried to call after the girl but was interrupted by the slam of his door and it's rattling within its frame from the force, "careful..." the man finished lamely. Sinking back down into his chair.

~~*~~

Much lighter footsteps than before carried Stella down the bright white hallways of the GDA hospital. The lone Guardian, in full gear, nodding to the workers that she passed. Stopping in front of the room she had come to visit.

Taking a breath, she lifted her fist and knocked lightly, hearing a muffled clearance of entry. Her eyes meeting those of none other than Mark Grayson. The teenage boy's hands over the hero's as he laid passed out in the bed. Still looking worse for wear.

"Holy shit- You're-"

"Valkyrie. You're Omni-man's son?" Stella rolled her shoulder's back, taking on the persona she put on when dealing with the public in hero dress.

"Y-yeah, Mark. Mark Grayson. It's an honor to meet you." The boy didn't know what to do with himself, standing quickly and holding out a hand to shake but then retracting it and laughing awkwardly.

"I'm sorry about your dad- I..." Stella sighed and motioned towards Nolan, "Can I?" The girl waited, an awkward moment while Mark registered what she was asking.

"O-oh, yeah, yeah. Sorry."

"I should be the one apologizing Mark..." Stella didn't continue while she placed her hands over Nolan's chest. A faint blue light glowing under her palms.

"What do you mean? What are you doing?" Mark watched with wide eyes.

"I'm checking his energy levels. And transferring some of mine to him, it helps speed up the healing process." Stella's voice tripped up on the last couple of words, an involuntary grunt passing through her lips as she transferred a lot of her own energy to the man. Pushing it farther than she knew she should, but her own guilt wouldn't let her stop.

"That's so cool," Mark breathed, noticing the strain on the hero though his awe quickly morphed into concern, "Are you okay?" He asked, stepping around the end of the bed to get closer to Stella.

"I'm fine." She breathed, raising her hands from Nolan's chest. Shoulder's heaving for breath for a second before she stood tall. Grinning over at Mark, like she had so many other times at civilians, but the boy could tell she was off. "It's just been a long couple of days."

Oh.

Right.

Mark almost forgot, how could he almost forget?!

"Uh, I'm sorry about the Guardians... That, uh, that must suck." Mark winced visibly at his words, cursing himself mentally, "I can't imagine..." He trailed off, somber notes infecting his voice.

Stella just nodded, her smile falling to a forced, thin lipped grin.

"Uh, I didn't know you could do that," Mark gestured to his dad and held up his hands and shook them, internalizing his groan at his own actions. "That's pretty cool."

"I don't advertise it. Gotta keep something up my sleeve." Stella smirked hollowly and Mark frowned but nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, definitely." He mumbled. His eyes trailing down to his dad's now slightly less bruised face and felt an ounce of relief from the worry that had been plaguing him. Missing how Stella's smirk softened as she took the moment in, her guilt, that had previously been screaming profanities at her, silencing for just a moment.

At least she could do this. That's what mattered.

"You shouldn't worry too much. If anyone will pull through it's your dad. He's gonna be okay, just gotta give his body time to recover. Rest." Stella did her best to comfort the boy, laying a hand on his shoulder with a soft grin. Mark looked at her hand in shock and then at her face. His eyebrows lowered on his forehead as he took her in for a second. Stella's soft grin stiffened as she released Mark and swerved around him. "I gotta get going. But it was good to meet you." Stella waved and gently closed the door behind her before Mark could say a word.

~~*~~

Time seemed to fly by, but also stand still since the Guardians demise. Stella had felt like she was in a fog, Cecil not calling on her at all, leaving her to sit alone in her apartment with nothing but her own mind and trashy reality TV. Not a great spot to be in.

Walking through the halls, Stella resembled something more akin to a zombie in the early stages of decomposition rather than a living breathing teenage girl. Her dark circles only seeming to grow, her once bright eyes dull. Shoulders caved in as she walked, not a thought to how she was weaving through the crowds. Meaning she was bumping into many a innocent bystanders.

Coming to a stop in front of her locker Stella rested her pounding head against the cool metal and let out a sigh. She knew she only had a couple of minutes before she needed to be on the third floor for her first class and she was tapped out of energy, running on the miniscule atoms she had left after too many nights of interrupted sleep.

"Hey..." A boy's voice next to her dragged out the y, Stella doing her best not to snap at the most likely innocent person next to her. Popping open one eye, Stella saw a slightly familiar face and internally groaned.

"Hey William. What can I do for ya?" Stella pushed off her locker and crossed her arms loosely over her stomach.

"Well, It's more like what can I do for you. I know we aren't, like, friends or anything but, you look a little..." William searched for the right word and Stella chuckled, shaking her head.

"Like I got hit by a bus." She filled in and William's eyes went wide, already shaking his hands in front of him and denying the truth. "It's okay, I have a couple mirrors and I'm not blind. Thanks for checking in, but really, I'm just tired. School work has been ramping up for finals so, more homework, less sleep. You get it." Stella grinned, but William could see through it. The smile not reaching her eyes. But he knew not to push, especially since they weren't close at all.

"Right, yeah. Well, if you're not doing anything, um, you could sit with me and my friend Mark, you've met him in passing before. Mayhaps after witnessing him bravely stand up against a bully harassing your friend Amber." William raised up a hand, scratching at the back of his neck, chuckling with his head tilted down, eyes looking up at her with a sly grin.

"I wouldn't call Amber and I friends, but sure. Yeah, I remember him. Maybe..." Stella let her voice trail off, turning up at the end like a question. "I just typically do homework in the library during lunch."

That was a lie, she was normally rushing out to save the world and getting back, hopefully, in time for math class.

"Oh wow, are you in like a million AP's or something?" William asked, eyebrows shooting up as his arm dropped and he looked at the girl in shock, "That's a lot of homework."

"Hehe, yeah. And I just like to get ahead so..." Stella shrugged, opening her locker, as if to hide from William's questioning gaze.

"Okay.... You're a little weird ya know that? Mysterious." William's face slowly morphed into a knowing smirk, "I know someone really similar; you wouldn't happen to be a fan of comics, would you?" William asked, just as the warning bell rang and Stella looked up to the ceiling as if it had been the one to murder the Guardians, huffing out a breath and quickly exchanging her books, "Let's put a pin in this conversation, and pick it back up at lunch yeah?" William was already walking backwards not letting Stella deny his request before he was taking off with a 'see you at lunch!'.

Stella just shook her head and chuckled, a genuine smile – a small one, but it still counts – on her face for the first time all week.

~~*~~

Just as Stella was walking to the cafeteria to catch the second half of lunch with William her phone vibrated in her pocket.

Unknown: Flaxan attack

Stella's whole body went stiff as she read the address. The girl's feet were moving faster than her brain. Already ripping a protein bar out of her backpack as well as drinking the pre-workout she kept in her backpack for situations like this as she sprinted out of the school and took off.

Stella kept her eyes peeled and as soon as she saw other heroes on a nearby roof she dived down, silence following her landing. Invincible, Atomeve, and Rex Splode standing in front of her.

Eve smiling at her, said smile tinged in worry as she took in her friend she hadn't seen or heard from in days. Rex's jaw on the floor from seeing a Guardian in person for the first time. Invincible swallowing thickly, remembering their last interaction.

"Well?" Stella snapped, sharp eyes turning down at the corners in dissatisfaction at the lack of information she was being given. So used to the well-oiled machine that was the Guardians, also not enjoying the celebrity treatment from other heroes, they were all on the same team.

"Valkyrie, thank you for coming, if I could have everyone's attention on the matter at hand." Robot cut through the silence, Standing on the edge of the building with Dupli-Kate beside him.

"Guess who's back." The purple clad hero spoke, looking down at the city square.

"No shit." Stella muttered as she trudged over to the ledge quickly. Missing how Eve frowned at her display. "Are you all just going to stand there and watch? Just because we need to wait for them to get old doesn't mean they're going to wait to start killing civilians" Stella snapped at the teen team plus Invincible over her shoulder before stepping off the ledge and flying into battle. Grabbing running civilians in her arms and bubbles of blue energy and carrying them by the horde to a safer spot and letting them run, safe and unharmed, from the site of tragedy.

She did this all the while taking down Flaxans like it was the last thing she would do on this earth. Disks were thrown, crushing platforms formed and dropped over large groups of the invaders, heavy punches followed by energy covered kicks. Stella saw the Teen Team drop in and start fighting back as well but their efforts were miniscule to the amount of aliens that were pouring through the gate. They were never going to win this way.

Blocking Rex's explosions from being thrown back at him Stella's eyes darkened, the insidious gaze directed at the flaxans as she rose up slowly. Hands coated in her energy, eyes glowing dimly.

"Big mistake."

She flew at the row of beam cannons, destroying each and every one of them with a disk of energy, throwing out more at their tanks and heavy artillery. Keeping an eye out for civilians in harm's way. She was quickly losing steam but pushed ahead. No one was dying today, not if she had anything to do with it.

She was too late though, seeing the emp deploy and hit Robot while he drove the Teen Team's flying motorcycle. Both crashing to the ground. Stella's heart clenched in her chest, and her throat started to get tight. Flashes of crushed heads and blood on her hands, Stella froze.

Screams of civilians ringing in her ears, her chest constricting, her lungs protesting any kind of cooperation to breathe.

This wasn't happening. Not now. Not here.

Eve landed beside her, throwing out her arms, atoms forming wide pink walls, defending the civilians behind them from the blaster shots of the flaxans.

"Valkyrie! Valkyrie! Snap out of it!" Eve screamed and Stella gasped, shaking her head as it felt like she was swimming through a swamp.

Eyes finally taking in the situation, Stella looked to Eve, nodding for her to take down the shields. Eve doing so without question. Stella rushed forward a couple steps, spinning in a circle. Like one would wind up to throw a shotput. Energy gathered over her hands in fluttery layers before she threw out her arms in front of her. A wide wave of energy being sent out and decimating the oncoming wave of flaxans.

Stella wasn't without suffrage though. The hero fell to a knee, breathing heavily, head swimming. Throwing up her hand when more blaster shots were sent their way. Stella motioned for Eve to do the same and the girl followed the silent order. Crippling the next wave. But they still came.

Both Stella and Eve saw the projectiles heading their way, Eve taking them out as Stella tried to get up but fell again. Landing on hands and knees. Muttering to herself all the while.

Seeing the last projectile attached to Eve's face Stella screamed "No!" as Invincible flew overhead, landing in front of both of the girl's in a cloud of concrete dust. The force of the landing threw the oncoming flaxans. But it did nothing to their tanks rolling forward, heavy red beams powering up and being fired at Invincible. All four focused on him.

"No!" Stella cried, trying to once again push herself up but failing. Her shaky arms gave out as cold chills shook through her body.

The beams shut down but Invincible was trapped with a grey sticky substance against one of the smoking tanks. Dupli-Kate was getting killed as fast as she could duplicate, rex's explosions blowing up in his face.

Stella wasn't used to doing this alone. She was used to the Guardians, and getting decent sleep, and eating an okay amount of food. She was not at her best and it showed. She was a Guardian, the last Guardian, and she was failing.

"They seem-" Robot started, only to get pistol whipped by one of the flaxans, "-to have spent their time wisely." He finished, sparking all the while.

Eve was left struggling with the face-hugger, Stella seeing the captain of the flaxans walking over to her and grabbing the red-head by the hair. Pulling her up onto her knees. Leveling his blaster at her throat.

And then something just... flipped. Stella couldn't describe the feeling, but it was close to an out of body experience.

"Don't touch her!" Stella's eyes lit up an electric blue, her body being engulfed in crackling energy. She was mildly aware of Invincible breaking free from his bindings, blowing away the other flaxans as Stella flew like a bullet towards the Flaxans' leader. Hands out and ready, grabbing him by the collar and tackling him into the building behind him. The impact crater left behind creating a cozy spot for his broken body to rest as Stella started wailing on him. Ripping off his chest plate and grabbing his wrists when he tried to fight back. Throwing his arms back with more force than necessary.

"I'll fucking kill you! Get. Off. My. Planet!" Each word was punctuated by a punch that drew a spurt of blood and a loud crunch of bone. When Stella was sure he was down she lifted back up into the air, turning quickly, seeing Invincible with Eve and the rest of the teen team. Flying over quickly Stella skidded down beside Eve.

"Are you okay?!" Stella frantically checked the girl, getting a nod from Eve. Which didn't really settle Stella, the girl reaching out to her friend, but Eve pulled back.

"No, you need it more than I do." Eve purposefully avoided direct contact with Stella, the Guardian huffing as Robot spoke up.

"Why aren't they getting old Robot?" Stella snapped at the leader of Teen Team.

"The wristbands protect them from our time stream." Robot, with the help of Rex got up, the heroes standing together, Stella still keyed up on whatever shot of adrenaline she had gotten. "Destroy their wrist bands."

"What? All of them?!" Rex shouted as flaxans flooded them.

Stella didn't deem that worthy of a response and took off with Eve and Invincible into the sky. Focusing more on creating the small pockets of energy around wrists and crushing them or sending out disks like Eve was doing rather than fully attacking now that they knew what needed to be done.

Dropping to the ground when she felt her energy fluctuate, Stella took a second to breathe. Nausea rolling over her like a truck on a highway. She was quickly surrounded though, ten flaxans on all sides with their blasters pointed at her. She quickly used marble sized energy projectiles and shot all of their wristbands. Watching as they all started to shrivel and die right in front of her.

Stella clutched her ears at the high pitched whine that flowed over the area, the squealing coming from Robot, hundreds of little puffs of smoke being sent up as wristbands short circuited. Stella let herself fall to her knees on the asphalt as the Flaxans retreated.

The leader stopped for a second and, from what Stella could guess, cursed at them. She would ask Robot later, to see if it's creative enough for her to steal.

She was a couple feet to the left of the Teen Team and Invincible, taking her time getting up to join the party.

"Way to go psycho there Invincible, I take back everything I said about you before. And I said a lot!" Rex zoned in on her when she slowly made her way over, taking deep breaths so as to not empty her stomach in front of a crowd. "And holy shit, you're Valkyrie. I'm a big fan, you are so hot honestly, you're my favorite Guardian."

Stella glared at the boy, pretending to be a man. He just chuckled and sent her finger guns, mimicking explosions with his mouth.

"I don't know what happened. I got mad... I guess?" Invincible shrugged, not really knowing himself, looking over to the beat up and spent Guardian, "Hey, are you okay?" His concern was palpable.

"I'm fine."

"Don't get me wrong, it was cool! But also, the scariest thing I've ever seen, Same thing for you Val, but also hot. Murderous rage is a good look for you." Rex smirked at Stella and the girl simply looked at Robot, her message clear in her eyes.

Control your teammate or I'm gonna kill him.

"Don't listen to Rex, you did great Invincible, and thank you for helping Valkyrie. We really appreciate your time. I know you and the Guardians must be busy. Since it was just you who showed up to something so important, you guys must be stretched thin?" Eve stepped up, trying to help but only made it so much worse. With each mention of the Guardians Stella's chest only got tighter, her nausea only getting worse.

"That is literally what I said, Eve."

Stella just shook her head as Eve and Rex started bickering, Stella wondering why Eve stayed with him more and more each day. Invincible getting a phone call. Stella glanced over at him. Invincible looking back at her.

"I gotta go." Was all he said before he took off. Rex made some kind of comment about how they'll handle clean up but it was all just water in Stella's ears. If Stella didn't leave right now, somehow getting to the GDA for an emergency nutrient drip she was probably going to go into shock.

"I have to go too. I'll call Cecil. The GDA should be here soon to help with clean-up... again." Stella risked a glance at the town square. Once again covered in blood stains and debris. Shaking her head before shakily taking to the sky.

~~*~~

Stella was only steps into the GDA Hospital when she couldn't hold it in anymore. Her stomach contents spewing along the ground in front of her and onto the boots of a GDA operative.

Doctors and nurses were at her side in an instant, the threat of losing their last Guardian making her a priority. Stella was delirious as she was lifted onto a stretcher and rolled through the hallway. Doctors shouting orders and demands to the nurses who were working as fast as they could.

Mark, still in his Invincible suit, sans mask and goggles, watching as she is wheeled past. A heavy frown on his face.

"Mark?" His dad's voice brought him back to the happy moment inside the hospital room. The boy shaking his head, pushing away the worry for Valkyrie, knowing she was in good hands and going back to his parents.

~~*~~

[percontaion-points]

TOWB chapters 61-64

Click to see the rest of the snark & image descriptions

Chapter 61

“NO,” PERCY WHISPERED. “HE WAS supposed to be here.”

Well, he’s not. So you standing there going “He was supposed to be here!” isn’t fucking useful. And it’s wasting time. 

“Why not run? The Skra are against you, we’re against you. You are alone, Ranka. You have no allies, no friends. Why are you still helping us? Why are you still here?”

I was thinking about how at literally any point, Ranka could have run off to that address Foldrey had given her. Or straight up left the city. 

Except that the more I thought about it, the more I was like “But her watching the events unfolding from afar wouldn’t exactly make for a good story.” So literally the only reason why she didn’t do the only logical action for her character is simply because Ranka acting in character with herself would be a bad story. 

That’s how you know that you’ve got a real winner here. “What would Ranka do? Ranka would have turned tail and run.”

“You think you are—but trust me. This is how it works, with people who wield abuse like a knife and convince us they’re cutting us with love. There will come a moment more dire than the one you faced last night. A moment you can’t come back from, and everything in you, everything you’ve been conditioned for, every fear and hurt and hope and dream, will scream for you to choose Ongrum again.” 

Ranka’s breath hitched. “I’ll choose Aramis this time.” 

“No.” Percy shook his head. “No, that’s not the answer. That’s not how you heal. It’s time for you to be your own person, Ranka. We’re not responsible for the wounds we suffer—but we are responsible for healing them. So when the moment comes, and when that choice is in front of you—I’m begging you to choose yourself. That’s the only way you heal. It’s the only way you can be free.”

I seriously thank the book for this.

Not only for explaining that escaping from an abuser (especially when the abuser is a parental figure) isn’t as easy as simply leaving them. 

But also for saying that it’s not healthy to go from being dependent upon one person to latching onto another person. 

With the princess she’d betrayed wrapped in her arms, Ranka took a breath and stepped into the endless dark.

Chapter 61 summary: Percy starts to flip out over how Galen isn’t there, but doesn’t really do anything to try and actually come up with his next plan of action. It’s only Ranka who has to force him to focus. She pointedly tells him that if Galen actually was taken off and murdered, they have to protect Aramis, no matter what. Aramis is in bad shape, and won’t wake up. 

Somebody starts to come, so Ranka thinks about how there would have been more than one exit. She finds it, and asks Percy to burn through some lock. Rather than to do so, he instead asks Ranka why she’s choosing to not only stay, but to help them. Even after she’d betrayed them. Ranka talks some about love, but Percy is kind of quick to call her out on it. That Ranka’s acting like Aramis is the answer to all of her problems. But Ranka can never truly heal unless she chooses herself, rather than some mommy figure. 

He then finally opens up the door, and they carry Aramis in. 

Chapter 62

Foldrey Wolfe leaned against the frame, a golden pin gleaming on his chest, and gave them a humorless smile. “Hello, children. I suppose we have a lot to discuss.”

Chapter 62 summary: They go into one of the many tunnels under the city. But it’s not long before they’re set upon by some of the plague witches. The new ones that had been turned loose for the sake of terrorising the random citizens in town. However, Ranka is knocked out right as help comes. 

She wakes up in an infirmary with Aramis and Percy. As anybody could have seen coming, Aramis only knows of Ranka’s betrayal, and not how Ranka then turned around and double-crossed her own coven to rescue her. Percy calms her down, and asks how they got out of the tunnels.

Then in a move I didn’t see coming, Foldrey shows up. 

Chapter 63

“Trust me when I say this is not what I wanted. But after I’m done, we’ll have a new world. A just world. We’ll have trade regulations that make sense, an education system that serves everyone, not just the privileged. And finally, we will have peace.” He held her stare. “What are the lives of the few for the future of the many?” 

Once again, why is this supposed to be painted as the worse option? People were literally dying under Galen’s rule, because he couldn’t control his magic. People had become too reliant upon a singular person!

“We all have a common goal,” Ranka said softly. “Stop Ongrum and save Galen. The rest doesn’t matter if he dies.”

Except that there’s also nothing to gain if he lives. Especially considering that Foldrey literally finished telling Aramis that she and her brother will live the rest of their lives in a gilded cage, under guard. 

Ally or not, former friend or not—Foldrey Wolfe would pay for his hand in winalin. Ranka would make certain of it.

Chapter 63 summary: It doesn’t take much for them to realise that if Foldrey is still alive, and was in a position to rescue them, then he’s actually a member of The Hand. From there, Aramis guesses he was the one who kept stealing stuff from her lab, and who told the others how to get in and kill the first recovering plague victim. He agrees to all of it, but admits that there was a division in the ranks. Those who didn’t think the monarchy was worth saving. The only thing Foldrey wanted was to save the two children that he raised along with his own, even if they would be locked up for the rest of their natural lives. 

But Ranka knows something none of the humans knew: Ongrum is insanely persuasive. Of course she would have convinced those who reached out to the witches for “help” and convinced them to kill the wonder twins. 

Ranka tells them that the plan is to execute Galen on the anniversary of the Bloodwin treaty, in two days. Foldrey says that they can get soldiers from the neighbouring cities there by then, but it might not be enough to save Galen. But either way, soldiers would be there, and they would help remove the witches. 

Aramis and Percy start talking about their plan of action, intentionally leaving Ranka out of it. She eventually tells them that since her doomsday clock was activated, she doesn’t exactly plan to survive this. But the only thing she does know is that if she’s going to die, she wants to ensure that Foldrey pays for having brought the witch-plague to fruition. 

Chapter 64

“She betrayed us,” Aramis spat. “She’s a monster—” 

Right, but you were feeding into the system who kept her people oppressed and dying. You literally looked Ranka in the eye and told her “Yes, I know that there’s an anti-witch murder cult in the city. But they’re honestly not that bad once you get to know them!” 

When you talk about monsters, don’t forget to include yourself looking away from shit that you knew was wrong. 

He waved dismissively at her and settled himself on the kitchen table, eyes trained on the door. Reluctantly Ranka turned away, and she made her way into the back room, where Aramis waited.

Chapter 64 summary: Foldrey brings them some food, but basically fucks off and leaves them to their rest. As night falls, they decide that they need to keep watch, especially since Foldrey isn’t likely going to be back for a while. 

While Ranka sits in the front room, she listens in on a conversation between Aramis and Percy. Aramis calls Ranka a monster for having betrayed them. But Percy’s got some actual life experience under his belt; remember, this isn’t the first meltdown of a country that he’s witnessed. He says that there’s no winners here, only hurt people doing shitty things with little other options. 

Eventually, Percy comes out and orders Ranka to go into the other room and get some sleep. Or as I like to call it: she has to go kiss and make up with Aramis. So even if Ranka does die, she’ll do it cradled in Aramis’s arms. 

[rrr-is-gay]

Okay I love them all, so let’s break them down:

1. Flirty! Super queer. Ram looks kinda desperate for Bheem’s attention and I love it. Bheem is just thinking about how to get into the damn palace, but Ram thinks he’s got the hots for Jenny and is forcing himself to be a wingman. It’s such a mess and a very Typical Gay Experience™. Obsessed.

2. Tender. Now it’s Bheem’s turn to smile through the heartbreak of thinking his true love is straight. He’s such a good friend, he can tell Ram is hurting and he just wants to comfort him… By placing his hand on his innermost thigh. You know. Like a good bro.

3. ROMANTIC AS FFFFUCCCCKK. Bheem can’t stand leaving Ram alone, he is so worried about him, but his commitment to Malli has to take priority. He seems very comfortable and familiar with Ram’s bed, like, he doesn’t hesitate to sit down with him and hold his hands so tenderly, uggghh this scene makes me feral. It’s so beautiful.

4. Adorable! Ram always looks like he’s floating when he walks with Bheem. He is so happy to be in his company, he literally cannot stop smiling. And Bheem smiling back, looking at him with such love and admiration in his eyes? Kill me now!!!!!

5. RIDICULOUS. “I just felt like competing with you.” Bheem, you fucking homo, you felt like getting laid, that’s what you felt like!!!!! They’re so masc4masc, they have to turn everything into a wrestling match. But then they’re also so damn tender, literally Ram is holding Bheem, carrying him for no reason. “My legs are gonna fall off.” No they’re not, baby. You’re a fucking warrior, don’t even lie. You just like to have your peepee touching Ram’s body. Admit it!!!!

6. GOD-TIER. This is actually my favorite moment in the entire movie. I love everything about this. They are SOOOO masc4masc!!!!! How did this even get set up?! Who… why was this even a possibility? It is so sexually charged, so silly, so uniquely masculine, like this is literally an intricate ritual. “Hop on my shoulders, bhaiya! Gonna do some squats real quick.” “Absolutely. I’ll pat you on the back for encouragement. We can just ignore my erection digging into your neck. Love you bro.” I can’t with them.

7. HIGH ROMANCE. This won the poll for a reason. Bheem carrying Ram bridal-style? Ram snuggling closer to Bheem’s face while holding him as close as possible? I think they kissed after this. I think they got married after this! It is so romantic.

8. Very romantic, a close contender to win! There are so many feelings in both their eyes: A realization of safety and mutual affection, a confusion about what it all means, an irrepressible desire to be and stay close. They’re falling in love!

9. H E A R T B R E A K I N G !!!!!! Ram thinks he killed Bheem! HE THINKS HE KILLED HIM!!!! The way he doesn’t hesitate to drop to his knees and check on him the second the crowd crash happens??! The mesmerized look in his eyes when he sees what Bheem inspired with his song??! The terror and remorse he exudes out of every pore right up to the moment Bheem is carried away?! The tenderness of his hands holding Bheem by the chin, desperately trying to get him to wake up?????!!!! I’m crying just thinking about it.

10. Sexy. Look, I’ve been to enough gay bars to know how gay men pull each other, and this look is it. They love dancing together, and they love “competing with” each other. This is 100% sexual innuendo.

11. DEVASTATING! Bheem begging Ram to look at him so he can understand why the fuck this is happening makes my heart explode. He’s so desperate and confused and Ram is so out of his body, they’re both just in SO MUCH PAIN. This betrayal hurts them both so differently, but so much.

12. Hot. Once again, masc4masc as fuck. Once again, “competing with” each other as a means of sexual release. Once again, leering at each other in that unique way that only people who are fucking each other do. Peace and love on planet earth.

hey you yes YOU i humbly beg your opinion:

which of the gifs below is the most gay romantic?

the less context you have the better tbh

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[hyprmemes]

canon inspired starters - arcane (2021) inspired by aesthetic, scenarios, key elements, tone, atmosphere, relationships, themes, etc. edit as you see fit!

people like you don't belong in a place like this

we don't want you here

turning your back on things makes you an accomplice

how am i to decide anything if twenty different people tell me to pursue their version of 'the right thing'?

we fought for our own right to live, on our own terms

i don't care about what my actions look like to others

maybe you should start doubting the allegiances of certain people

everyone has their baggage to carry, will you let yours burn the world down?

i would have used anyone, anyone but you

you're the only family i've ever been allowed to have

i'm so fucking sorry for leaving you behind

do you even want me if i can't change back to what you knew me to be like?

i don't care what people say, sometimes violence is the only answer

i try to make decisions that don't force me to spill blood

it's been long enough that i think you should start changing your view on things

what would you do, if you finally had a minuscule chance to actually live?

the way you live life is not how others do, they can't understand you

i've burned a great many bridges to build this world, i won't let it crumble

betrayal is all i know, please, please be the exception

out of all people, i'd never thought it would have been someone like you

thank you for making me see things more clearly and sorry for the pain that must have caused you

i'm sorry that people keep turning their back on your pain

please don't do this, please give me a chance to fight for us

don't drag them into this, they got involved on accident, they don't know what they got themself into

your fight is against me

your fight is between the me i am now and the me you miss

you're perfect the way you are, perfect in every single one of your imperfections

i don't care how scared the world is of you

i can't tell if you're maddeningly idealistic or idealistically mad

you're destroying yourself, is that what progress looks like to you?

can i even rely on you at this point?

i wear your uniform but i am still one of them, i was still born on the other side

it's where i grew up, where i learned how to breathe, where i learned what scientific vileness is

there are things i regret that i'd still do all over again

i know it's not morally good, but the best strategies are rarely ethical

you need to know how to spill blood to make sound decisions in this world

i don't care about all the limitations you've set for yourself

this fight isn't about who's right or wrong, it's about us, and the pain

we've built this place as a sanctorum, as something we would have never been granted

we honour the fallen, the fighters, the revolutionaries, the victims

let me try, at least, let me try to explain what i've seen

there are years of desperation imprinted into the broken skin of my knuckles

i'm tired of letting the oppressors police the language of my fight

i can do good things, i can make things right, i can win, i can show i'm worth something, please believe in me

you ruin everything you touch, get too ahead of yourself, tear it apart

why didn't you just listen? why get this far?

there are skeletons in my closet you knew by name

at the end of the day, it's usually about money

money can do great things, if used by the right hands, by capable hands

it's not just business sometimes, sometimes it's the move that will turn the game around

what are we tempted by, here, by the synergy of our minds or the dissonance of our hearts?

you've been at my side all this time, it's time i show i am on your side too

how can you ask that of us, we don't have that much time

some people just don't understand what it means to bleed until they walk into the aftermath of a massacre

if i could look into your eyes from this angle just one more time

you listened, that's what stayed with me, listened with wide eyes and an open heart

you're perhaps the first one i met who actually cared enough to recognise how little you knew