#and like right after i saved it our power went out LMAO

[civetside]

has anybody done this yet

[stuckysimp]

I'm like 8 years too late, but oh well - I've had this Captain America Civil War rant stuck in my head for a while and I need to get it out after re-watching it. (This is gonna be long af, but bear with me).

I feel like a lot of people missed the actual point and plot of the movie (and the marketing definitely didn't help). The whole "team cap vs team iron man" stuff becomes irrelevant after like the first 20 minutes of the movie. But of course, it's still quite a big part of the movie and I'd like to take a moment to explore what I think, the different character motivations are around why they signed or didn't (or would / wouldn't).

The only reason Tony "I successfully privatised world peace" Stark signed the accords in the first place anyway is because of his massive survivors guilt complex which we see triggered by the woman who approaches him at the end of his speech to the MIT students. Like this man does not give a single shit about the government, and much like Steve Rogers, he just wants to keep people safe. Unlike Steve, however, he doesn't trust himself to do so and thinks of himself needing the be kept in check, for someone else to take the blame (though he'd probably internalise it anyway, let's be real).

Rhodey has always kind of been more on the side of the government, even if that meant going against Tony - think Iron Patriot - so it makes sense that he'd want to sign. He understands that a group as powerful and dangerous as the Avengers needs to be kept in check, but what he doesn't understand are the risks around that. In a perfect world, it would be fine, but unfortunately government systems are stupid and corrupt.

Peter was only really in the fight in the first place because he was a child blindly following this big celebrity guy he idolised. He didn't know enough about the situation to properly analyse it, just being fed and believing whatever Tony told him (and he had no reason to go against him, so why would he? This was his shot, he's been chosen by THE Tony Stark to help). "Mr Stark said you'd say that" "he said you're wrong, you think you're right, that makes you dangerous." I 100% believe that if Peter had read the accords, that he would have been on Steve's side anyway.

Vision is an embodiment of 'good' and 'peace' - essentially everything that Ultron was supposed to be, but wasn't. He has no reason to be against the accords if it will keep people safe and he makes the point during their conversation of "our very strength invites challenge. Challenge incites conflict. And conflict ... breeds catastrophe. Oversight ... oversight is not an idea that can be dismissed out of hand." It's also very much the beginning kind of puppy love between him and Wanda in this movie, meaning that he will want to protect her. No matter what. Even if it means "locking her in her room."

Nat was seriously one of the only people in this movie with a brain cell lol. I firmly believe that if the accords had been properly put in place, she would have followed them until she no longer thought the government's instructions were 'right' and would have gone against them anyway. Her main goal in this movie was trying to keep the Avengers, her family, together and ultimately do the 'right' thing.

T'challa didn't give one shit about the accords lmao, he's damn king. No, he was only there in the first place to take revenge on his father's death (which at the point of the airport fight scene he still thought it was Bucky's fault. He later discovers, after following Steve and Bucky to Siberia, that it's Zemo's, and locks him up).

Steve's concerns with the accords are valid, and honestly I wouldn't have signed them either. To be told "sign, retire, or get locked up" isn't really a big winner for me lol. And the thing is, Steve's done this. He fought in WW2, he got paraded around like some big hero while men died, and he did nothing. It wasn't until he went against orders, that he actually did something helpful (saved the captured 107th division in Azzano). So, no, he's not going to be side-lined when people out there need help. That's just not who he is.

Bucky had no part in the accords, and as soon as he got introduced into the movie, that plot point became irrelevant. He was framed by Zemo, and then used to rip the avengers apart. The accords was just another log to add to the fire at that point. He followed Steve because "till the end of the line" and all that. He literally, heartbreakingly, says "I don't know if I'm worth all this," but he follows anyway.

Scott, much like Peter, is kinda just happy to be there. He's following CAPTAIN FREAKING AMERICA into battle without hesitation. But like, let's be honest, given his whole movie and character, I very much doubt Scott would be on Tony's side if he had read the accords.

Clint got dragged out of freaking retirement for this shit, and he didn't actually get involved until after Team Cap already knew about Zemo. That's why he's there. Not because of the accords, but to help Steve get to the Quinjet to get to Siberia and stop Zemo before he can go through with his assumed plan to wake up the five super soldiers who'd been stashed there. (Of course, this isn't actually Zemo's plan, but we'll get back to that later).

Wanda is going through some serious self loathing during this movie, and the incident in Lagos doesn't help. Like at all. Ma girl just wants to live her life and be left alone at this point and she's getting all of these horrible things thrown into her face by Secretary Ross. She doesn't want to be controlled, she doesn't want to be a weapon, she wants to be free. "You locked me in my room." - Girl already probably hates Tony Stark due to her family being killed by one of his bombs and Ultron, so she's mad anyway.

Sam is on Steve's side from the start. With the accords, to fight Zemo, all of it. During the 'discussion' between him and Rhodey, he says "So let's say we agree to this thing. How long is it gonna be before they LoJack us like a bunch of common criminals?" He doesn't trust Secretary Ross, and is clearly hesitant to add his signature to the accords. (not that I blame him).

The main actual villain and 'plot' of the movie after the first part with the accords, was the whole thing with Zemo wanting to tear the Avengers apart to get revenge for his family dying in Sokovia. He takes advantage of the accords, and of Bucky / The Winter Soldier to do this but it's not really discussed which annoys me. It's a MAJOR part of the film, yet all I ever really see being discussed are the accords affecting the decisions of characters throughout the film with no consideration of the wider picture.

From when the UN meeting is blown up, the Avengers are being manipulated by Zemo working in the background throughout the film. He frames Bucky for murder, and Steve - who has been looking for Bucky for the past 2 years - goes after him like ‘tf man’. Bucky gets taken in and Zemo uses the opportunity to activate the Winter Soldier programming, learn about Hydra’s super soldier program, and of course - “Mission report. December 16, 1991.”

This leads to Bucky’s escape and attack, Steve and co going on the run, and eventually the airport fight. The meaning of this scene gets lost, I feel, when people relate it back to the accords because it’s not about that anymore. Not really, not for anyone. Especially not for Steve, or even for Tony.

Tony at this point, most definitely feels like his world is being torn apart. He’s losing control, he’s spiralling, and Steve just isn’t listening. He’s blinded by his anger to the bigger picture and he just wants to get a handle on the situation to deal with it further.

Steve’s forgotten all about the accords, his priority is keeping Bucky safe and stopping Zemo. He tries to tell Tony, tries to talk to him, but Tony isn’t listening either. I mean their whole interaction just before the fight shows this:

(the dialogue below has been condensed to show the key lines - basically I got rid of other characters talking irrelevantly)

-

Steve Rogers: Hear me out, Tony. That doctor, the psychiatrist, he's behind all of this.

Tony Stark: Anyway, Ross gave me 36 hours to bring you in. That was 24 hours ago. Can you help a brother out?

Steve Rogers: You're after the wrong guy.

Tony Stark: Your judgment is askew. Your old war buddy killed innocent people yesterday.

Steve Rogers: And there are five more super soldiers just like him. I can't let the doctor find them first, Tony. I can't.

- later -

Tony Stark: And you've been a complete idiot. Dragging in Clint. 'Rescuing' Wanda from a place she doesn't even want to leave, a safe place. I'm trying to keep . . . I'm trying to keep you from tearing the Avengers apart.

Steve Rogers: You did that when you signed.

Tony Stark: Alright, We're done. You're gonna turn Barnes over, you're gonna come with us. NOW! Because it's us! Or a squad of J-SOC guys . . . with no compunction about being impolite. [Steve looks aside.] Come on.

-

Not to mention that Tony, after learning that Zemo impersonated and killed the actual doctor dude that was supposed to see Bucky whilst he was in confinement, he DISOBEYED the accords and Secretary Ross to go and help Steve stop what they thought at the time was the reactivation of the five super soldiers who'd been left in cryo freeze.

He follows Steve and Bucky to Siberia to help them, not to fight them. That only changes because of Zemo showing the footage of Bucky, WHILE UNDER BASICALLY MIND CONTROL, killing Tony’s parents.

In this scene, Tony 100% has every right to be angry. Unfortunately, he’s the kind of person who cannot see past his anger. He gets in his head, he spirals, and he tries to kill Bucky based on blind rage. (IT WASN’T BUCKY’S FAULT DAMMIT).

And yes, Steve was 100% in the wrong for not telling Tony. This whole scene could have been very easily avoided if Steve had just pulled Tony aside and had the difficult conversation about his parents death. Tony deserved to know, and Steve was only sparing himself pain by doing it. Dick move Steve, 0/10.

The fight between the three allows Zemo, having successfully completed his plan of eliminating the super soldiers and tearing the avengers apart, to slip away. With his work done, he tries to end his own life, but T’challa stops him and arrests him instead.

Steve and Tony’s fight was unnecessary, dramatic, and heart-breaking, and I’m very glad they managed to make up later, but ye. I think, at the end of the day, they’re all just dramatic idiots with communication issues lol.

-

Thank you for reading my long ass essay lmao, apparently I have a lot of feelings about this movie 😂

[vole-mon-amour]

2x07, part 1.

in a parallel universe Jinx and Ecco are TWINS??? Or was it just an expression? (Upd: probably just an expression, otherwise people would be screaming bloody murder about incest rn, lmao) Also, it's SO weird seeing this average Jinx and still hearing her cracked voice. Her mouth opens, but it doesn't match the tone of this Jinx.

And, damn, the spoilers were right. My girl deserves SO much better.

Hey, if all those people are alive, then Silco should be, too. WHERE IS MY FAVOURITE CHARACTER, SHOW HIM TO ME.

I think I'd love her in every universe.

Hey, does that mean Vi is either dead or insane? They can't be ALL 'normal' here?

???? If Silco isn't here, alive and well, I SWEAR TO THE FUCKING OUTSIDER.

??? Silco's place for her? Where. Is. Silco?

Ah huh! I was right. Love the "if Vi is alive, Powder turns to Jinx" allegory. And, basically, everything goes to shit. I'm afraid Silco might also be dead.

So Jayce needed to land there and Viktor wouldn't lost his humanity. Alas.

And if you love the journey More than the end, Go ahead <...> And where the chipps fall Is not your concern

I see you, Arcane. I see what you did there.

But of course, family is forever and all of that. Meh. At least in some universe she did die.

However, the idea that one of the sisters can't live in the world where another is alive/well/sane. The world is too small for the two of them at the same time.

Yeah, that's why Jayce's going to fuck it all up for everybody.

*looks in the camera like i'm in The Office* Jayce is straight, my ass.

He's kind of in Viktor's place rn. Viktor came out of slums and wanted to give it all to people. Jayce wants to destroy it all. The problem is, it is NOT real in his universe. Like, dude. Use your brain.

It's nice seeing the admission that Jinx is hella smart and does great things in 'our' universe. Terrible, but great.

The green in her blue eyes.

My question is, why are figures/what's left of people mechanical?After Hextech blew up in the universe that Jayce is in? Is it some sort of LoL lore? Therefore that's what Viktor becomes in the current universe after Jayce tried to kill him?

I love her.

Jayce and Viktor the first time they made the relic work... And it's the infinite sign. ;_;

There's something about Ekko, with professor and Jinx, inventing Hextech in this universe, while Jayce tries to destroy it. Honestly, dude would've been way happier if he landed where they are.

LOOK AT THIS PRECIOUS BABYGIRL. It's like when she was creating the thing for Silco with her braids in the air all around her.

The indicators were is that you died a horrible death.

If anything, I'm glad he got the chance to hug Benzo. I need this for SIlco and Jinx.

i was about to say that Silco wasn't mentioned even ONCE during this ep, but decided to wait until the end. the way i gasped. MY BELOVED!!

hey. hey, this isn't Silco (i know and love). the power of family is fucking bullshit, quit with this shit, s2.

when Jinx (well, Powder) and Ekko dance, that's where I roll my eyes and mentally gag. absolutely not. and if THIS is what prompts him to save Jinx in their timeline, then it's a big fat eugh for me.

pretty colours. it suits her.

i am SO imagining Jilco like this. my babies.

they.

Jayce, have you forgotten that you and your mom were dying in your universe?

Heimerdinger should've went back with Ekko.

[yonemurishiroku]

(tags via @smartichokes) In light of new addition to my Luke & Nico replacement post, I have so much to say about this.

Firstly, there is a fanfic in which Kronos switched to Nico as his host halfway through the series. I said fic, Nico went to Tartarus wayyyyy sooner than he should (which is sometime right after TTC I think?), and got captured by Kronos' force. The Titan considered seizing him, so Luke left the Titan Army and returned to the light side.

With that being said, the Nico in said fic didn't become the host, as Luke (and Ethan) got him out before the taking-over.

In another fic, which is about Nico's apotheosis, It is established that Kronos has been taunting Hades to become his host since he is his eldest child, and as a result, Nico would suffer the same fate should he become a God. Nico didn't, of course, but we can see that he can be a great candidate for the position of Kronos’ host Due to the potential he possesses as a child of Hades. I have talked so much about how powerful he is so I suppose this goes without saying.

On the other hand, the child of the prophecy was supposed to be the son of an eldest god, so let's imagine: Nico is a child of an elder god and now is basically One of the main factors that dictate their fate being the central of Kronos' power. Can you imagine the thrill of having both the antagonist and the protagonist a child of the big three, knowing both of them have the power to change the flow of the story? Nico might as well be the child of the prophecy and now he is in the hands of the big bad villain? Who is to say he wouldn't choose to raze the Olympic to the ground? Please, I cannot be the only one seeing the thrill of second-guessing yourself and watching Percy second-guessing himself, page by page.

Back to our AU.

- Absolutely invested in Nico with Kronos' golden eyes.

- Idk if you have noticed, but there are a number of people who would very much be delighted to see Nico joining the Titan Army - so that's a plus. Though we haven't thought as far as putting him directly in Luke's place, this is such a fun territory to play with.

On the other hand, we should have thought about that lmao what's with Minos having done exactly like this in the canon. The King did manipulate Nico in order to accelerate his uprising (tho Rick wasn't unhinged enough to give the Underworld ghosts the benefit of possessing living things except for the eidolons).

Minos failed ofc. But surely the scenario is there. Furthermore, a big reason that hindered Minos was Nico's true control over him, which returned to him upon his enlightenment, thus breaking the fake power balance. But Nico didn't have any control over Kronos. Once he's in, there's no way out. Kronos is on another level compared to Minos. Luke had one way out and that was his death. Who to say the arms of Hades wouldn't be Nico's ending should he succumb to Kronos anw.

- I like the way you mention Percy - because as it turns out, Nico can perfectly mirror Luke regarding how Percy's fatal flaw is portrayed.

Percy's fatal flaw can be summed up in one sentence - "You would sacrifice the world to save a friend". Now, for Luke, it was thanks to the guy's friendly facade at the start that Percy had trouble deeming him as the enemy at first. For Nico, that's a little different. It's not friendship - bc surely Percy didn't consider 'friend' at that time. So what could it be?

The guilt. And the Loyalty from which it sprouted.

But loyalty to what?

To Bianca's promise.

And this varies between perspectives, but I suspect this can be much, much worse than what transpired with Luke if you know how to play it right. Why? Because it weighs on Percy's kindness, his conscience, his loyalty, his morals. It feels heavier. For Luke, it was a personal betrayal. For Nico, it would be a repeated failure that resulted in two deaths.

And I doubt Percy is fond of failures and deaths.

Do you know the saying that we tend to remember bad things rather than good memories? That. Failures stuck with us, whilst success paled in comparison (Not to mention the vague depiction of Percy's lost self-esteem, but I digress).

For Luke, it might be easier: the guy's now an enemy, Percy just had to put him down - straight and clear. For Nico, it's a little bit different. The kid's obviously an enemy - but he's also that: a kid. Whose sister died in front of Percy, whom he blamed still. You can tell that the setup itself might make it harder for Percy to just straight-up consider Nico an enemy - because as it was, Nico could very well be a victim of Percy's broken promise. Percy is half a reason he fell into the hands of Kronos - as you've said.

And Percy isn't evil. He's a protagonist and he's kind. His morals would prevent him from seeing Nico as an enemy that must be taken out - not before trying restlessly to bring the kid back.

- Percy aside, Hades’ support - and all the little benefits gained from Nico's side quest - should also be taken into account. Without Nico, there wouldn't be the Curse of Achilles. Without Nico, there would be no undead army rushing to save them in the last minute in the last Olympian, but rather a flock of unbeatable enemies that would persist like Nico’s grief for Bianca.

I wouldn't say that guarantees their failure but you have to admit that it would make things hella more difficult for them to win this war.

So that is for the advantages. Now let's talk about the drawbacks. Because obviously things wouldn't be so fun if everything goes that smoothly. 👍

The most noticeable difference between Luke and Nico is their ages, and further, their experiences. At the time he was chosen, Luke has lived until his 17, 18 as a demigod, has seen the mythological world more than Nico ever did. He would know better how to navigate the system, which would benefit Kronos more than a clueless Nico. You can argue that Kronos can properly train him as Minos did, but the fact remains that Luke has experiences that can only be gained through living, aging, and seeing.

On the same topic, after losing his sister, Nico was just a rage-driven, angry, lost 11-12-year-old kid. He could barely take care of himself. He obviously cannot govern and command an entire army. Luke, on the other hand, has many skills required to be a leader. I have talked about this once. He has the tongue, he has his charms, he's manipulative enough. As a tool and a weapon, Luke proves to be a better choice to be the pioneer of Kronos' revolution.

Of course, unless you need a puppet, in which case Nico proves to be a better choice. He was naive .he didn't know better. Luke try to resist because he saw how devastating his actions were/ would be. It should be much easier to fool a kid like Nico rather than an adult, thus limiting the chances of rebuke. I cannot recall exactly what Kronos was trying to do though, so I'll just leave this here.

The best method is of course to keep Luke while getting Nico ready, however, it would put kronos plans back a few years and I'm not really sure the guy would be that patient provided that he has been waiting thousand years to make a come back. So we will just leave it like that.

All in all, it's fun to think about a scenario in which the one whose contribution directly leads to their victory in the original series now becomes the main antagonist, the main reason they will likely fail. Thank you @smartichokes for the delightful idea!! 🥺🥺🥺

[cosmiclion]

If you thought I couldn't outdo myself more with the fluff for this AU then you haven't seen my true power yet 😈

I don't know if I got OCiel's bangs right but, realistically speaking, human hair never stays in the same place, that's how physics works so whatever lmao.

Anyway, trying to write a Black Butler AU with some fluff where Sebastian and Ciel have a parent-child like relationship WHILE keeping them in-character (Sebas more than Ciel tbh) and still basing it on canon material but making changes and making said changes make sense requires a bit of work ngl.

I mean, I know it's just a project I'm doing for fun and technically there's nothing stopping me from going nuts and making them completely OOC and disregarding canon at all, but I feel then it'd become a separate story with new, original characters who simply happen to be inspired by Kuro (which is also okay, and who knows, maybe in the future I'll repurpose the whole thing to create my own Kuro-inspired original story, even if I don't think I'll ever fully lose interest in Kuro, this cursed series has me in a chokehold lmao). Full ramble under the cut.

Sebastian is the hardest one to write, though I think I'm finally more or less figuring it out. I didn’t want to write him as suddenly learning to love the way humans do thanks to the power of cute children or something, as it just didn't feel natural (or I couldn't personally make it feel natural, I know other people have managed to write that concept very well). What I have so far is that when he does act nurturing he’s simply imitating the behavior of human parents he has observed, but he doesn’t love the kid the same way humans do because he literally doesn’t have that ability. BUT that doesn’t mean he feels nothing at all and that it doesn’t mean anything to Ciel, after all this weird creature is the one who saved his life and raised him with care and patience. The closest comparison I can think of is the relationship between people and “unusual” pets like reptiles, amphibians, insects, etc. We know they can’t love us the way other people (or even other mammals) would but that doesn’t make our bond any less significant! Some bits of canon material also come in handy here, for example I based the fact that familiar Sebas finds Ciel adorable as a kitten on the canon fact that he likes squishing his cheeks because they remind him of a cat's paws 😂 Just know he's an awkward demon who doesn't know how to human but is doing his best 🥺

I think in Ciel’s case I have more freedom since he is, after all, human, and a human’s personality is strongly shaped by their environment and life experiences. Like, what exactly counts as making a character OOC? Sure, I can agree that in a fanwork set in the exact same universe with the exact same events as in canon there’s some things a character would never say or do, but I think AUs were created as a way to explore what-if scenarios. What if this character had been raised by different people? What if they had grown up in a different place? What if this or that event hadn’t happened or had gone differently? Tbh I think it’s just fun to explore endless possibilities, it’s maybe a form of character analysis in some way. And if we think about it, canonverse Ciel was originally sweet, shy and affectionate, and if he’s the complete opposite now it’s only because he went through an utterly horrific and traumatic event that forced him to grow up before his time and toughen himself up because it left him with little to no support system, on top of having to be hyper vigilant because the only thing that "saved" him from that is a literal demon who wants his soul and is haunting him.

So I just wanted to create this alternative timeline where maybe things aren’t as terrible, or they start out as terrible but then some good things come from the most unexpected sources. Ciel is five years younger and thus has more time to process everything and try to heal as he grows up. Sebas isn’t entirely a bastard and willingly does nice things for the child, even if he still doesn’t understand human needs, and while he stills views him as a potential meal (at least at the beginning) he's actually respectful. There’s another demon who understands humans all too well and is happy to lend a hand. His friends and the relatives he has left are more involved in his life. So Ciel more or less has a support system now, albeit a weird dysfunctional one, and doesn’t entirely lose his sweetness (also like... he's 5/6 at the beginning of the story, we really can't expect a preschooler to be an edgy emo who craves violence and revenge ☠️). I imagine he grows up to be just as calculating and cunning as canonverse Ciel, maybe even just as ruthless in his job because it’s a requirement, and is still pretty much a little shit, but this Ciel is not as cold and undemonstrative. He’s still very much an introvert who prefers to be left alone, but he smiles (as in genuinely smile) more often and it’s a little easier for him to express emotions and feelings (more through actions than words, but still meaningful). Hell he may allow himself to be playful and silly sometimes if he’s in the moment.

And if it wasn’t clear from the picture, little Ciel ADORES Sebastian. Sure he's (understandably) a bit skittish around him at first, but once they bond he comes to fully view him as a parental figure. Yes, he's hurt, sad and traumatized, but he's still a resilient little kid, and with enough kindness Sebas can coax his old self to come out of his shell, and until the kid becomes more independent they're like a mama duck and her lil duckling. Their constant banter and bickering when he's older is more a teens being teens thing than anything.

[fanficwritingcentral]

He who stepped up chap 3 (ao3 link)

Chapter summary: Oh Hyacinthus, Apollo thinks as he looks down from his chariot to see all of his lover's plants wilting, what have you done?

Note: So I just keep having more thoughts about this and I've now decided that Michael found Hyacinthus just after the trails of Apollo ✌️ hope you enjoy it and we'll see if there's a fourth chap lmao.

Have fun 😘✌️

"What has happened to him?" Apollo demanded. The newly reascended god stood in the midst of the Grove of Dodona. "Why haven't I been allowed to see?"

A gentle breeze came through the trees and lightly rustled the leaves and chimes, "there are forces older than thee Phoebus Apollo." The Grove whispered to his ear, "Forces in the deep and dark still with strength to affect your domain."

Apollo's eyes blazed white, "who dares to entrench on my domain? Who dares to withhold him from my sight?" He asked with a voice so deep with fury it shook the ground.

"We cannot say," the Grove whispered.

Wrath Apollo had not felt in millenia built up in side him, yet, before he could burst, the Grove whispered again, "hold Phoebus Apollo, prophecy may be withheld from you regarding your Hyacinthus. However, it is not withheld from us, distant from you and ancient as we are."

The wrath Apollo felt died down as quickly as it came, "what?" He begged, "what have you to say?"

The gentle breeze turned into a strong wind, the rustle of the leaves and clanging of the chimes grew louder and the Grove annouced its prophecy:

"There once was a prince of Sparta,

Who loved the sun like no other.

He lost him in death,

Only to protect the children with one last breath.

All hail the twice dying prince of Sparta."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So someone is preventing you from Seeing Hyacinthus?" Rachel said as she paced back and forth in her cave. She was on a short visit to Camp to see how everyone was after their fight with Emperor Nero.

"That's right," Apollo said stilling gracefully on one of her bean bags watching her.

"And we know that Hyacinthus is most likely protecting one of your children and it's taking all of his energy to do so which has then lead to the wilting of every single Hyacinth flower in the world, because he is all of those flowers?"

"Right again," Apollo said tiredly, "usually he doesn't take this much energy to protect them and I always give him a little boost to help but this time I cannot feel his essence at all. When I try to See him there's this block in my mind that I can't get past so I can't even see which child of mine he's protecting either." He then got up and began to pace as well, "And now the only thing that remains of the man I love is disappearing because he is destroying himself to save my child. And I cannot See where he is!" He shouted in frustration with his hands fisted in his glorious hair and did his best to keep his divine power within his form as to not hurt Rachel.

"There is... something," Rachel said, after a moment, "something I can feel or hear, I don't know, but it started when you came out of the woods and it's just felt louder and more forceful as our talk has gone on and I can't ignore it anymore." Rachel then dropped down to a bean bag, pressing her hands against her head and began to moan.

Apollo quickly went over to Rachel, "let it out," he said with a gentle rub on her shoulder, "it'll only hurt more to keep it in."

Rachel then looked up at Apollo with glowing green eyes and said with a deep voice unlike her own "begged on bended knee, victories belovèd will show the way."

With the sentence complete whatever held Rachel released her and she began to gasp in air. Apollo continued to rub her shoulder in comfort and used a bit of his power to help her calm down easier.

"Victories belovèd? What does than even mean, it doesn't make sense, how do victories love anything?" Rachel said once she calmed down.

"No," Apollo said as he starred down at a little shoot of a plant in front of them that had just broken through the hard floor of the cave, "it makes sense, it didn't mean victories as in many victories, it meant literal Victory."

"Apollo?"

"Victory's belovèd," he whispered and brushed a finger against the tiny leaf of the little Laurel shoot, "I know where to go."

He looked back up at Rachel, "tell my children nothing of this, not until I return."

"But, Apollo, we can hel-"

"Nothing, Rachel." Apollo said as he starred down at his Oracle, "this is a matter that I will deal with. I will not foster this onto my children or anyone else."

Rachel swallowed and bowed her head, "I understand, Lord Apollo."

Apollo nodded and disappeared from the cave and went to a place he had sworn he would never return to.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Deep within an ancient forest in Greece, Apollo appeared. He walked through the woods that had been untouched by mortals for millenia. As it should be, given that he was the one to hide it from them.

Apollo walked under the warmth of his sun until he came upon a great tree he had only ever seen once. A great Laurel tree.

"Daphne," he called out, "what has happened to him."

Barely a second passed before a translucent visage of a beautiful Nymph that his divine heart still skipped a beat for, came out from the trunk of the tree.

"He came to me for help," she said, " he protects your son somewhere dark and dangerous, and he can't hold for much longer."

Apollo closed his eyes and dropped his head, oh beautiful, beautiful Hyacinthus, he thought, what I would give to hold you once more. And a son Hyacinthus protects, but which son? He could account for all of them. Which son of his needed saving?

"Will you help me find them?" He asked quietly as thoughts of all his living children raced through his mind.

The second she took to respond felt like an age, "Yes," she said and Apollo's head shot up in surprise, "yes I will."

"You will?" He asked.

"Why are you so surprised? You wouldn't have come if you thought I'd do nothing."

"You're right, ' Victory's belovèd will show the way', my oracle told me, yet I didn't want to hope."

"Victory's belovèd, hmm," she said, "he Named me that you know, when he called on me for help. I am not too sure I like still being thought of belonging to a god, nothing good ever comes out of it. But," she paused and starred straight into his eyes, "I much rather be beloved of Victory than of you, Apollo."

Apollo felt a sharp pain in his chest and nodded once, "I understand."

Daphne's face tilted to the side, "You do, don't you?"

"I do," he confirmed.

She hummed and then nodded to the ground where a small Laurel tree had just grown, "take that with you," she said, "I will lead the way."

Apollo waved a hand and picked up a pot that now held the plant, "Thank you, Daphne."

Daphne said nothing and turned back into her tree and disappeared.

The plant in Apollo's hands rustled without wind and a voice came into his mind, "head to the nearest cave," Daphne told him.

Apollo disappeared and reappeared at the mouth of the closest cave. A glitter of light sparked in the corner of his eye and looking to the side he saw Δ shining against the dark stone. He touched the symbol and a dark doorway opened, "go in," Daphne told him as she rustled in his hands, and without a thought Apollo walked into the darkness of the Labyrinth ready to save Hyacinthus and his son.

[vvooper]

I forgot to take my meds last weekend and accidentally spent way too much time dreaming up pokemon teams for ffvii characters, so here's the one I made for cloud

I'll put details under the cut. I tried not to make the team complete trash but I definitely chose form over function when I had to lmao. I accept no responsibility for what would happen if you tried using it

I'm not skilled enough to make custom sprites, so I just did a recolor of volkner. blond, spiky-headed, depressed... good enough

species: altaria

ability: cloud nine

item: grip claw

moves: fire spin, will-o-wisp, substitute, roost

well of course I need to give cloud the cloud pokemon. named nibel because nibelheim's name is derived from niflheim in norse mythology, meaning "home of mist/fog..." or maaaybe cloud, if we stretch it a bit. that's right, nibelheim is a big ol pun.

no meaning behind the ability choice other than more cloud.

as far as the set goes, well. we're immediately getting this out of the way: I am a terrible person. grip claw causes binding moves to last for seven turns every time. and our binding move is... fire spin. and we also have will-o-wisp for good measure.

substitute because a fake nibelheim was reconstructed.

roost because it was cloud's home I guess

species: perrserker

ability: steely spirit

item: life orb

moves: iron head, close combat, double-edge, foul play

I chose perrserker to represent cloud's punisher mode because he can use it to self-induce the berserk status.

the life orb as well as the stronger but more reckless moves like close combat and double-edge reflect how the berserk status makes cloud deal and take more damage

species: revavroom

ability: overcoat

item: adrenaline orb

moves: gunk shot, spin out, high horsepower, shift gear

thought about naming it fenrir, but decided to save that for another mon, so here we are with the hardy-daytona.

adrenaline orb raises speed when intimidated, which felt pretty appropriate for the bike cloud uses to escape the shinra building. spin out, high horsepower, and shift gear should all be pretty self-explanatory

species: aegislash

ability: stance change

item: razor claw

moves: iron head, sacred sword, retaliate, swords dance

quintessential big sword video game character needs big sword pokemon. named after cloud's ultimate limit break of course.

omnislash guarantees critical hits, so razor claw boosts the holder's critical hit ratio. sacred sword and swords dance are... sword-related. as for retaliate, its power doubles if an ally fainted in the previous turn. since cloud uses omnislash in his final duel against sephiroth and sephiroth is directly and indirectly responsible for the deaths of multiple people that cloud cared about, it seemed appropriate

species: lycanroc (dusk form)

ability: tough claws

item: assault vest

moves: stone edge, drill run, trailblaze, accelerock

here's fenrir! it's just a wolf pokemon lmao, inspired by whatever cloud's got going on in advent children. I went with dusk form specifically because cloud has both light and dark in his character arc.

honestly, the rest of the set is not super thematic, aside from trailblaze raising speed and accelerock having priority

species: deoxys (normal form)

ability: pressure

item: life orb

moves: psycho boost, meteor beam, superpower, extremespeed

cloud can have one (1) mythical pokemon, as a treat. or maybe not a treat, considering. space virus pokemon seemed too perfect not to use. I chose normal form because cloud eventually becomes the most well-adjusted of the four big Jenova Havers in the end, somehow????

the real reason that jenova has the pressure ability is because that's the only one deoxys gets! but let's pretend I chose it because of the compulsion of reunion or whatever.

item is life orb again because being infused with jenova cells gives you cool powers, but Watch Out! similar with superpower. extremespeed has no drawbacks though, so we've got that going for us. and I'm a terrible person again, because here comes meteor beam ready to destroy the planet. and we also have, uh. psycho boost. for the psychosis. yeahhhh

since I've already spent way too much time thinking about it, I might do this for the other characters too

[pianostarinwonderland]

Chapter 7 Update Thoughts

There’s a lot to say really 😅 but I guess right now, as someone who’s seen a lot of the big theories, I’m so happy to see those that are coming true while at the same time seeing new things that Twst is introducing

Spoilers underneath the cut! I may update this post as I hear more tls, so look forward to more things about this chapter that will appear 👀 just a note that I'm getting pretty much everything I know from Discord and Twitter lmao

So this update focuses on 4 characters: Idia, Yuu + Grim, Ortho, and Silver

So contrary to popular belief, Malleus’ spell did in fact reach Ignihyde and now Idia’s asleep

I find it neat that when Idia’s phone vibrates, ours does too. Love the immersion

SO IDIA DREAM WILD AS FUCK BECAUSE ORTHO’S ALIVE 😭😭😭😭 AND HE’S IN ROYAL SWORD ACADEMY broooooo Ortho’s teenage voice hurts my heart,,,,,, the things that could have been,,,

They just talk about,, from the very little context that I could get, it’s about the first day, like how oh Idia’s the dorm leader of Ignihyde and such

Then after that, Idia chats with Muscle Red

AND THEN IDIA GOES OUTSIDE??? IN HIS ROBES???? Holy shit you gotta like sit down and think here. So this is the first day, so entrance ceremony, right? In the robe stories of Idia and Ortho, Idia would only be going out because Ortho pushed him to, but eventually Idia ended up just being in his room and brought his tablet 😭 but here he’s going outside on his own volition,,,, the mans is happier wtf

Speaking of robe stories ! They actually kinda follow Robe Idia’s story in that Idia encounters Malleus! AND THEY TALK ABOUT GAOGAO DRAGON BECAUSE MALLEUS’ TAMAGOCHI WENT OFF 😭😭😭 it’s the way they bonded with that small thing

Just realized as I’m typing this, Malleus is actually in his robes 👀 so here, he’s actually prepared for the entrance ceremony vs in the real story, where he didn’t know about it.

At some point in the conversation, Idia's like "I've seen this somewhere before" and Malleus is like "something wrong Shroud?"

Then Lilia actually arrives and finds Malleus and calls both dorm leaders to the ceremony

And hooo boy this part really got me because it’s the prologue 😭😭😭 Riddle, Leona, and Azul were talking and introducing themselves and GODDDD I GOT CHILLS JUST HAVING THIS PART OF THE PROLOGUE AGAIN

Malleus actually introduces himself! And as expected everyone’s pretty nervous and all that

The entrance ceremony went without a hitch and Idia’s back in his room where he’s talking with Ortho. Ortho mentions his roommates and that’s all I could figure out

Throughout the entire dream, Idia’s like something feels wrong………. Eh, it’s nothing

Then shift to Yuu and Grim!

AND THEY ARE IN MICKEY’S ROOM FROM THRU THE MIRROR

Ok so Yuu remembers what happened, and I find it interesting that there’s no voice when they’re remembering Malleus going berserk and shit.

Anyway, they wake Grim up and they’re just admiring the room all like yo is this Ramshackle??? But also no, it isn’t Ramshackle……

And then they see some of the objects coming alive like the ottoman and the trump cards and that was so cool

AND you know that by seeing that room in Yuu’s dream,!you would figure out that we’re about to see someone important B)

IT’S HIM IT’S THE RAT IN THE FLESH !!!! 🫵🫵🫵🫵

Yuu and Mickey did a high five 🥹🥹🥹🥹 it’s so cute oml, and Grim finally got to see Mickey in the flesh.

They do talk and Mickey tells them that he could only reach this room when he's asleep but eventually Yuu and Grim tell Mickey about their predicament

But then something rings and Mickey fades away 😭

And THEN the dream starts to collapse on them. And well actually what I mean by that is that a gloop of ink drops onto them

GRIM 😭😭 HE TRIED TO FIGHT IT WITH ALL HIS POWER but he was getting tired and everything seemed hopeless

UNTIL SILVER COMES IN

yooo ngl when Silver shouted “KANTOKUSEI” my heart went boom 😳😳😳😳 I loved the way he came in and saved us

AND AND THE N TANND AND THEN AND THEN AND THEN

SILVER UM SILVER UM SILVER UM

It’s called Meet in a Dream. The kanji literally says ‘let’s see the same dream’ which is whoa. Silver explains what his UM does but it’s explained much later and I want to get through this chronologically so this part gets cut off and we switch to Ortho’s <3

Ortho ends up in the cyberspace and he was able to log his memories to a backup file. So yea he’s pretty alarmed and then he goes to check up on Idia

Idia is asleep and Ortho tries to wake him up but fails to. He goes around Ignihyde to see if anyone’s awake but then nope everyone’s also asleep

Ortho sees Main Street and pretty much the entire Sage Island and well shit ! Everything’s covered up in thorns!

So Ortho is like what do I do and then he sees Idia’s tablet and it says 21:18, which is the time that he also saw when he was in the cyberspace. And he's like oh shit time stopped

Anyway meanwhile in Styx, everyone’s noticing the energy field surrounding Sage Island. And we get to see the Shroud parents!

why they out here looking like power rangers

damn, Ortho really takes after them

So anyway Ortho eventually arrives and then explains to them about the situation with Malleus, and everyone's like damn

Shroud parents will contact Briar Valley for info on how to stop Malleus, and then meanwhile they created the Cerberus gear for Ortho so that he could enter the energy field

what's funny is that they actually had to go through Idia's computer HKSDFJHHDSKFS to be able to make the gear, they needed some of the files that Idia has for Ortho so that they could even make the gear in the first place. Mama Shroud was like "pls don't tell your brother" and Ortho's like "oh my god how did you get past my brother's ultra mega tight security" well it's ok, mama shroud didn't check Idia's hidden encrypted folder...........

Can I just say, I absolutely love Mama Shroud’s voice LIKE!!! She is so cute, AND SHE CALLS IDIA AND ORTHO IDI-KUN AND ORU-KUN UEUEUEUUEUE SO CUUUUUTE

ANYWAY CERBERUS ORTHO IN THE FLESH !!!

And then it switches back to Yuu, Grim, and Silver B)) so they end up in a really dreamy sky at first...... and then they start falling.

idk about you but it lowkey reminded me of The Incredibles where Dash, Violet, and their mom fell from the airplane. Probably because the sky colors are similar

But also man, that sunset really such a pretty color

anyway, they end up in Diasomnia, and Silver tells them that it's Diasomnia dorm in a dream

He explains to them how Meet in a Dream works: basically he can enter someone's dream, but he can't choose whose dream he enters. He won't know till he sees this glowing blue bird around a person and only he can see it. He also can only enter the dreams of people he has some sort of bond with. So it weirds him out that he saw Mickey at one point when he doesn't know him. Also, he can only use it when he’s at least aware that he’s dreaming, which makes sense.

He also explains to them that that inky darkness they encountered?? It might still be lurking around and he's encountered it before apparently. It pulls you into a deeper sleep

well shit.

Silver says that they need to get to Lilia’s dream to find a way to stop Malleus, but yea because he can’t choose which dream to enter to, it’s not gonna be the easiest

Then they encounter Sebek, and Silver sees that blue bird and oh it's Sebek's dream!

Sebek's like HEY IT'S A HAPPY DAY MALLEUS AND LILIA ARE HAVING A CELEBRATION TO GO OUT TO THEIR INTERNSHIP IN THEIR FOURTH YEAR

But yeah when they're there, SILVER FUCKING SNAPS. because Lilia was saying "after the internships are done, we can settle back into our cottage and be together forever". And Silver's like the real Lilia wouldn't live long enough

Malleus gets really fucking pissed, and he's like how dare you're awake and you ruined this happy dream. And his OB form shows up, and oh shit! Time to battle him again!

Lookie lookie we see his phantom! It really is Maleficent’s dragon form!

Andddddd that HP is horrible again, we’re meant to lose again

So anyway Malleus was gonna send them all to a really deep sleep when Silver's amulet that Lilia gave him earlier on starts glowing an aurora colored light, and then Silver's able to use Meet in a Dream, and then bam they end up in a forest that is exactly like the forest from Sleeping Beauty !!!

And then suddenly oh shit a bunch of soldiers come in and their garb looks like Maleficent’s minions from the movie

Sebek can understand them!

And then ..!!!

Guys it’s general Lilia.

See that long hair??? It’s r e d

They really said no face reveal Lilia yet 😭 just that hint of hair which is honestly more than enough

As if it’s not anymore obvious, the blue bird shines on Lilia, and so yeah this Is Lilia’s dream.

And Twst is so funny that they ended it right there 💀 we’re really gonna have to wait for the Lilia lore.

This was such a yummy update 😩 as someone who’s been here a while, seeing so many big theories that came true and so many things that threw off fans fills my heart with so much joy 😭😭😭 this was so good. I actually can’t wait for more

[lord-squiggletits]

Actually re: the last post about IDW Optimus and politics and moral grayness, if anyone here has read The Wheel of Time series, I actually compare IDW OP to Rand al'Thor in my head a lot. They have sort of the same background of "normal guy gets singled out by a person of Great Authority and put on a path to saving people" followed by a path to leadership hinging on "I became the Chosen One so even though I just wanted to save people, now I have to get involved in these bullshit politics where people are more concerned about securing their own power or spiting their enemies instead of uniting against evil."

Then there's a part of WOT where Rand becomes way darker and edgier, where basically as a result of a severe incident of betrayal and trauma, he goes "You know what, fuck you people, I tried to be nice and you just stabbed me in the back and tried to literally use me as a tool for your own ends" and he basically became a major hardass. To the point where I think there was at least one point (if not multiple) where after Rand extended some sort of diplomatic solution and got rejected, he was basically like "fuck you," fought an entire city on his own and won, then made himself the ruler and went "your armies belong to me and you're going to prepare to fight the Dark One like you SHOULD BE DOING." That phase is sort of comparable to Orion working under Zeta (OP flashbacks, Autocracy trilogy), in which OP's ideals are buried under disappointment and he's seeing these complicated, shitty political realities playing out where it seems like nothing is getting better and his attempts to work with the Decepticons only end in (from his perspective) being blatantly lied to and having his goodwill taken advantage of.

That's really what my ideal phase 2/3 story for Optimus would've been lmao. Still with the same idea of "gee you ARE fighting for the greater good but aren't you going a little far," but balanced out with a rightful dose of "I tried to be diplomatic and nice but no one listened, what else can I do but use force/politics/manipulation to make people see reason if they won't stop backstabbing and betraying each other in time to fight the Actual Evil Force who's going to kill us all."

WOT Rand even had a part of his character arc where he went so far into "humanity sucks, they would literally rather get slaughtered by the ultimate evil than set aside their petty bullshit long enough to work together" where he almost committed murder-suicide in a fit of despair that maybe humanity wasn't even worth saving at all. Only for him to be saved from the edge of despair by realizing "Wait, the world SHOULD be saved, because even though humanity sucks and so many people are evil, good still exists in the world and we can still fight to make the world a better place than it is."

LIKE IN A WAY RAND AL THOR IS BASICALLY IDW OPTIMUS in terms of the general shape of his character arc. Just the difference is that Rand got written as just a character with flaws and virtues coping the best he can under immense pressure and trauma. Whereas IDW OP got written more as "God the world fucking sucks and Cybertronians might just deserve to die bc we colonized people" and also everyone is constantly calling him a fascist and even the titles of his story are comparing him to an actual genocidal tyrant who killed 100 billion+ people. No joy or humanity just a scapegoat for evil living in a shitty world where everyone is miserable and "maybe our entire race IS doomed and we DO deserve to die" is like, a repeated motif of the entire story all the way to Unicron. As opposed to being treated as an obviously shitty worldview that the characters grapple with and go "no actually the world can be a good place and our society can recover from war and we don't deserve oblivion because of the cycle of violence we're trying to escape."

[ofmermaidstories]

[im very invested in your oc hana, idkk if any of this makes sense, feel free to ignore]

on my first read thru of your story, her betrayal was nowhere near as impactful to me as it is now. i was blinded by the grandeur of pro heroes being so powerful yet oh so human, and by a selfish, insecure, and very human artist. thus i glanced over one of the most realistic charcters. hana is the epitome of a slippery slope that is being human, so many of us claim to know that we will never tumble, that we will never become the monster, after all its always us versus them. the thing is, we could all be them. we're all capable of selling our identity to society and ignoring that, or worse, denying that notion just emphasizes our susceptibility to being the next victim. it took me a while to figure that out, but once i did i realized how much i could understand why hana went the way she did, and i just began to see how she couldve started to fall (how any of us couldve fallen). it all started with little hisae (what a steep cliff that is). but in hanas eyes, in her mind, its so much easier to blame the heroes, to blame society than to blame the unyielding circumstances that she (and everyone else in japan) found themselves in. just imagining the thought process hana must of gone thru is so devastating. going from regular thoughts of grief and self-blame to slowly becoming more desperate in your search for both answers and justice:

"how did no one see her?", "why did no one save her?", "what if i had stayed in the shelter?", "what if someone had noticed sooner?" and so on, and so forth until hana would finally come to the conclusion "whats the point of heroes?"

then fin, your morals and beliefs are forever changed. the juxtaposition bw hana and hisaes death vs scribbles and hanas death i feel like also highlights how we can all become a monster, we just have to decide not to. at the end of the day, its just like uncle hideyo said. our loved ones have the same duty to us as we do to them. hana had a decision to make - she had multiple decisions to make - and she made hers, so now we must make ours.

anywayss, i just wanted to appreciate your ocs, theyre some of the best ive had the pleasure to get to know, and hana, hideyo, miki, hitomu and yua will always have a special place in my heart (and hikoboshi [rip :(] plus tobi cant forget them) <3

ps if you have any notes/tidbits youve been wanting to share about your oc i would love to hear them

people are a lot more selfish than they tend to give themselves credit for! grief is just a surefire way to illuminate that. and for hana, like you so thoughtfully point out, it’s a slippery slope. 🥺 radicalisation is so easy when there’s pain involved and none of us are the same, none of us will deal with it the same way. and with the world that Horikoshi’s created in My Hero, the power imbalance is so like, obvious and literal lmao. Look at Shigaraki’s pain, and how that was used against him. Spinner’s. Dabi’s and Toga’s! Twice!! it’s not a stretch to imagine ordinary civilians with like, nominal quirks or whatever, seeing that struggle between the villains and the pros and then similarly being affected by it—wanting to fight against that. and then that fight being perverted by assholes with crueller agendas. :/

and like, even then, though? you’re right. hana had choices to make, and she made the wrong ones. she knew what she was doing was wrong. the same woman that was smuggling in nail polish for a captive kid was helping another mail like, photocards. of course she knew; you see the drop even when you’re sliding down that cliff-face, i guess. and we never get this in the fic because the point-of-view never allows it, but i do think hana’s internal justification for staying with the group, for being apart of imprisoning those kids was that it was going to happen with or without her, that by being apart of it she could mitigate the horror somehow. of course, the tragedy is that she still perpetuates it by being there—because she’s selfish. selfish and scared (she knows she’s not walking away from it) but still selfish (at the heart of it she’s still that grieving, angry teenager. she still wants revenge against the pro heroes who weren’t there. and being apart of the gala attack gives her that, and she has to ignore the bruises on Yua’s arms or the resentment of some streetkid? Then whatever. Hisae’s body was unrecongisable, afterwards).

maybe more support as a teenager, afterwards, would have given an hana the ability to transmute her anger. maybe uncle could have done something more in regards to like, trying to press charges or otherwise seeking justice. maybe scribbles could have noticed, should have noticed, the cracks. but none of that happened. you can’t play could’ve, should’ve, would’ve when it comes to other people’s choices, because they still choose. scribbles—and uncle, even—are fundamentally different people to hana. they choose differently! we chose differently, in the end.

for hana and for scribbles both, their grief is about survival (all grief is, which is why all grief is selfish). scribbles—us, we—needs other people. so much of something is people like, reaching out to scribbles (to us). so when it all hits the fan that’s what our little self-insert needs more of: other people who choose to stay. and that in turn gets scribbles to a place where like, they can help other people in turn (uncle, hitomu, miki, tobi). hana by contrast rejects everyone, because she felt abandoned. you can’t change things now; you can only do better for the people in your life going forward. so much of healing is learning that.

thank-you for reading, anon. 🥺 i’m so grateful you liked the gang. 😭 being human—and being loved, even by a perfect superhero—means knowing and being surrounded by others who have their own lives, beyond your story. something needed it’s little cast. 🥹 deku and scribbles are empty puppets without the people they love (or are hurt by) beyond each other. and the fun of doing a series is that they’re not limited to their own stories. hitomu pops up, in shouto’s fic! and hana’s presense drifts in and out—rippling out with those choices she made. a ghost along the riverbank, following the current of a story she’s no longer apart of, i guess. 🥹

[littleladymab]

FebruarOC - Xochitl

OOOHHHHHH SUSHI MY BELOVED!!!!!! She is my character for our Werewolf game (which we're playing TOMORROW) it had been on hold for four solid years due to pandemic (we play (mostly) in person) and life/job stuff, but we finally got to start playing again on NYE! Nothing like sounding in the new year trying to remember a game you haven't played in four years ;;;; 

(It was fine I killed something in one hit) 

Xochitl is the 5'3" alpha of her pack and team dad (her beta, Rory, huge 6'something, is team mom). One of the first notes I made for her was that her fighting style is: (ง •̀_•́)ง !!! and a little bit of (*｀ω´)/――――― ●)´Дﾟ) I was nervous about picking up the role of alpha originally, but I made the choice after figuring that no one else would probably do it (and I was right lol) in the end, I'm really glad! I've had a lot of fun, and she's the right amount of impulsive (it is one of her flaws) to carry them forward, and I'm the right amount of "I can't stand awkward silences at the table" to keep conversations going. Whoops. 

She's from the Fiana tribe, though she's got a Hispanic name because of her father (Who was a Shadow Lord of Spaniard descent who left his tribe when he fell in love with Jael lmao), and she gets along most with her father who is also an Ahroun (meaning they're real good at fighting). Her mom had another child in a first... not marriage? I don't think they got married, but she had another child before she married Arturo and had Xochitl, but Xochitl never knew her sibling that well as they disappeared and presumed dead when she was still very young. 

And by presumed I mean they actually did die, but they're back now! Hah hah! And working for the Autumn King, which, you know, isn't a real thing, so totally normal and okay and nothing wrong here, amiright???? 

Well, We're going to find out tomorrow, because we're totally going to finally kill the autumn king and save Zeke's mom and ????? something Xochitl's sibling. 

the nickname Sushi comes from when the pack went to a bar and we met a group of Fae for the first time -- we were all being super paranoid about the Fae and you KNOW you're not supposed to give them your real name, except that Grace (the GM) said one of them was FC as Janelle Monae and I made some sort of involuntary sound and Grace asked "was that you or Xochitl?" and I went "(makes ionno sound)". But in her all her awkward grace, Xochitl introduces herself as 'Sushi'.

And then Ashanti (Janelle Monae) just won't stop rolling 10's when interacting with Xochitl and becomes instantly SMITTEN which now means that Xochitl is dating a really powerful fae lord of the winter court! And she's promised to bring back the head of the false king for her girlfriend! I'm so normal about them. 

AND! ONCE THEY GET BACK FROM AUTUMN! There's something in the sewers that has been encroaching upon Rat territory, and well it's not like Xochitl and Remy are a thing, but also, Xochitl has two hands and I wouldn't be mad if she and Remy flirt a little hehe BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY, She's been keeping in touch with Remy (who is also team tattoo) about the goings on, and at the moment the ratkin have it under control, but Xochitl is gonna help investigate and deal with it later. 

Now, generally, the pack is an investigation agency called City's Eyes! through a few different series of events during their investigations, everyone did get a gold lightning-scar tattoo on their body (hence the Team Tattoo) -- this marked them all as chosen by these lost totems, and so one of our big quests was to go and save all these lost totems! Xochitl switched from Clashing Boom Boom to Quetzalcoatl as a result, which is like, her learning some responsibility and really taking ownership of being a leader and not just going about it as pell-mell as she had been. 

She has been one of my favorite characters to play, and even with our 4 year gap, the one that I've played the longest (we've been playing since like 2018). It's so easy to slip back into her! And even tho she no longer has her chaos twin that was Theane, she now has another Ahroun in Tali who is also more Mature(TM) than Theane was and I think that'll help keep Xochitl on the right track! Especially because right now she's distressed because her estranged "I thought you were dead but now you're working for someone who is legitimately insane and you're going mad but occasionally you remember who I am to you and try to warn me" sibling is there and she REALLY wants this king's head to give to Ashanti. She only just met Tali but insofar feels like she can rely on her! And of course, she can always rely on Rory and Theo to help protect the others. 

Now, forgive me, I have a lot of playlists and a lot of pinboards for her, so I'll end with all of those! I've also uploaded her character sheet and her profile for free to patreon (which includes her gifts and weapons). Please know that when I roll to hit, I'm rolling a minimum of 9 dice, and then if I hit, WOAH BUDDY. What a satisfying sound!! 

Pinboards: 

Xochitl's Board 

Xochitl and Ashanti's Board 

"We went to a fancy party and all I got was second place in a tournament and also this fancy pinboard of outfit inspo"

Playlists: 

Xochitl's character playlist 

Xochitl's "Workout" playlist 

Rowan's playlist (Xochitl's sibling) 

City's Eyes playlist 

Xochitl and Ashanti playlist (ver1)

Xochitl and Ashanti playlist (bodyguard AU edition)

I told you: normal. 

Wish us luck storming the castle and killing the false king of autumn!!! 

[autobot-ratchet]

MTMTE 7-8 (plus the 2012 Annual)

MTMTE 7

oh it's fucking cringelord time lmfAO I know we saw Tarn in the Hoist spotlight but here he is for the first time for real and I am going to roast this man alive every time I see him

oh my gooooOOOD, bro, I am immediately rolling my eyes just at the way he talks, this dude thinks he's a fuckin Bond villain, wine glass in one hand, petting his fancy cat with the other. I cannot believe how many people wanted to fuck this, could not POSSIBLY be me I could never be that embarrassing

aww poor Swerve, he never meant for Rung to get hurt

eeyyy it's the Scavengers, hell of a way for them to meet Fulcrum lmAO

I like how the person who's taking the thumb drive Red Alert left with Rung's body is definitely Drift but they made his shadow look more generic and didn't give it his giant thighs because then it would be too recognizable

I wonder, are all the weird, organic/machine hybrid experiments on this symbol ship, like, prototypes of Skorponok's organic decepticon he ends up making? I don't remember if that's ever explicitly stated but like. What else could all this weird shit be

eyyyyy it's Grimlock, I forgot that the Scavengers pick him up this early

MTMTE 8

honestly, good for the Scavengers for deciding “fuck the DJD, let's fight 'em” they're right and they should say it

first thing Grimlock does upon waking up is punch Tarn in the dick, attaboy lmAO

ooouughfgg I forgot that Chomedome learns what Skids's traumatic memory is this early in the story. Honestly, I forgot that a ton of things get set up way early in the story, hell, Skids starts asking people if they like music almost immediately after showing up

fucking GOOD for Fulcrum, telling Tarn to shut up and listen to his speech, god knows we've had to sit through at least two of Tarn's pretentious speeches so far, one per the two issues he's been in

ngl I kinda forgot about Flywheels entirely lmAO when he first showed up, I was like “I don't remember this guy being one of the Scavengers” but now I know it's because he fucking dies after one issue

MTMTE Annual 2012

I love how casually we're just shrinking down and fighting microscopic bad guys in Ultra Magnus's mouth. I also love how he has to smile to save himself from death. We're less than 10 pages in

aww Tailgate... he tries so hard to be friends with Cyclonus

poor Drift is so excited to see the Circle of Light again... he really does just never see any of them again, save for Axe's body way later on

fgdsjks and poor Magnus getting bullied by the crew, leave him alone he's sensitive

Poor Tailgate too, his little graduation ceremony gets all fucked. At least Cyclonus was there in secret

and poor Swerve as well, he feels so bad about accidentally shooting Rung

honestly I love this insight on Ore, I love when this comic gets to delve into characters who aren't part of the main squad, especially posthumously, it always makes me wonder what could've been if they got to stick around

ah yes, this was the issue that got me genuinely interested in Drift lmAO straight up, him getting angry enough to punch out Whirl had me like “Ooh? Spicy? Pretty boy's got some spice to him? Tell me more” and then he went on to become my favorite lmfAO

“Primus- Warrior God!” lol. Lmao even

oof oh Skids don't say those things..... it's so fucked how even though he does not remember The Traumatic Event, it's still pretty clearly coloring his perception of things on a subconscious level

ooh, interesting that Drift's the one who stops Chromedome from finding proof of god. Because he believes faith is more important or because he's scared of there being a definitive answer?

“you don't have to believe in a higher power to be overawed by the world around you” I love that, that's how I feel about it too. More than any kind of god, I believe in nature, this world, and the people on it. I think there's definitely something out there that's beyond our comprehension that made us, that made the universe as we know it, but that thing being an old bearded white man??? not so much that lmAO I don't know what the fuck made us and neither does anyone else, and in the meantime, we're stuck here on this planet with each other so we should focus on making life not completely miserable and worry about what comes after later

fuckin good for Swerve, telling Rodimus “No”

god this annual is so good lmAO it's about humanity! Yeah, yeah, they're robots but you get it! It's about choosing kindness, despite everything! It's about understanding, or at least making the effort to understand! It's about faith, in god, in the people around you, in everything! FUCK!!!!!!!!

I gotta admit, I'd been a bit worried bc throughout this re-read I haven't felt much strong emotion. That was always something I was worried about before finally reading the comic again, that fandom had drained me so much that I was no longer capable of feeling genuine enthusiasm for things I used to love, especially once I started going through my MTMTE tag chronologically and seeing how intensely I used to feel about it. I was genuinely worried that those feelings were gone forever but nah, this issue made me feel at least a fraction of that passion again, and while I don't know if it'll ever get as strong as it used to be, at least it's not gone and I know it'll grow the more I re-read

[oh-three]

Loki S2E4:

Oooh, maybe Victor Timely is the guy who pruned Loki in episode one. Or, maybe it was his episode four self. Either way, something tells me we're about to find out.

Whoa, Miss Minutes keeps surprising me.

Also. More of Hunter Renslayer, ooh.

"See you soon" is literally this man's catchphrase.

WHOA, THAT'S A BETRAYAL. Not that I didn't expect it, but wow. Gotta say, Miss Minutes is right, though. Clearly, he didn't really do much.

Alright, let's see what Victor's gonna fuck up.

Who left this man alone after he went through the TimeDoor??

Okay, can't blame him for the crisis though. Not after last episode.

"Your words changed me" is the single most powerful phrase ever. I don't even remember this lady's name, but I like her.

O.B. and Victor complimenting each other and O.B. slowly realizing who he's talking to is the funniest thing ever. He's fanboying over him the way Casey was fanboying over him.

Also, the fact that Sylvie stuck around is pretty neat.

MOBIUS 😂

My man really does not want to go out in the suit again, and Loki's his scapegoat. They are such a married couple.

SYLVIE, STOP ADDING FUEL TO HIS REPRESSED EMOTIONS. LEAVE HIM ALONE.

Brad, what the fuck.

Hah, get called out. You're out of friends.

D-90 and B-15 just stepped into the wolves' den 👀

Not Brad grabbing his collar the same way he grabbed the straps of his uniform in episode one.

Lmao, D-90 getting told to go help Mobius- and just Mobius- watch Victor. Alone time with him oughta be awkward.

Loki defending Mobius 😭❤

"What if you are wrong to believe that this place can be any better? What if I was wrong to spare him? It would be easier to burn this place down and start from scratch." Yes, but as Loki tried to tell you, it's harder to take the difficult path- and, oftentimes, the difficult path is the right one. Nothing that's right is ever easy.

^^^^ "Trying to fix what's broken is hard."

Ahhh, I see you coming around.

Sylvie does have a point, though- it'll be dangerous letting Timely go after this.

"We are gods." drops mic

Wait, you guys didn't try the pie.

Dammit, Renslayer.

OH NO. SHE'S GOING TO KILL THEM ALL.

HOLY SHIT.

That was so horrifying wtf.

At least Brad seems to be having regrets already.

Whatever you do, DON'T LOSE HIM, D-90.

Just. This scene with D-90 and Victor. It's funny and sweet, and I love it-

WAIT, NO. BRAD, WHY.

COME BACK, D.

There's something very significant about D-90 getting pruned exactly one season after pruning Mobius, and I don't know how I feel about it.

Everything is going wrong.

And now they're gonna think Timely kill D-90. Nice.

Well, at least B-15's smart enough to know it was Renslayer.

I can't decide if Victor's a great actor or a terrible one. 😂

"There's still time." Hello, past Loki, you have no idea what our poor present folks are going through right now.

I still want to know why that phone's ringing.

Ah, so Loki literally did prune himself. This moment is like watching Harry save himself in Prisoner of Azkaban.

The look on Sylvie's face Lmao 🤣

ANSWER THE PHONE.

Bet it's Renslayer. Oh. Nvm.

CASEY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING.

Miss Minutes glitching into oblivion is the most satisfying thing ever.

Okay, now that Brad's exposed, someone please prune him. He's expendable.

Oooh, the systems being offline means that magic works in the TVA. 👀

THEY ENCHANTED HIM. 😂

RAVONNA'S BEEN PRUNED.

IT ACTUALLY WORKED, AYYYY.

Okay, is Victor doing this out of the goodness of his heart or does he actually have some sinister plot? Is he about to die?

THIS IS THE SAME MUSIC THAT PLAYED BEFORE THEY FOUGHT ALIOTH LAST SEASON.

I am having a fucking blast with this.

WHOA.

FUCKING RIP.

THAT IS NOT WHAT I WAS EXPECTING.

Thank god it wasn't Mobius or Loki.

SHIT, IT EXPODED.

AND THERE'S THE MUSIC THAT PLAYED AFTER MOBIUS GOT PRUNED.

I HATE CLIFFHANGERS. 😭

[swirlmup]

Get ready lads, it’s a double feature this time for scene art made by moi!

First scene is the opening, and was my first assignment for this episode. I hadn’t gotten the chance to draw tyrian or hazel yet in my works for this series, so I really wanted to amend that by doing some villain work. However, shortly after beginning work on this scene, I had to put it on hold to work on the later scene which I’ll talk about later.

A redesign was done by one of our artists for Salem’s castle, heavily modeled after the emerald city in the wizard of oz, and I went off the art they did for drawing it.

Lots of people caught on to the presence of others at the castle! I’m so pleased when people pay attention -w- Basically they’re followers of Salem, and are the staff who inhabit and maintain the castle for Salem and her crew. You know, doing all the menial shit like storing the airship, cooking, cleaning, searching their mail, all that jazz. Hey, it’s a castle, and a castle has gotta have servants, right?

I wanted to sketch the characters in a more detailed way for this scene, I didn’t feel like copping out with one of my simpler art styles, even if it would’ve been slightly faster. Although I was still having to work pretty fast, so even these sketches aren’t as polished as I would’ve liked. xD I got put on this episode a week before it was due to come out(my own doing since I requested the scene), but even so I had confidence in myself I could get it done in time.

the heights are a little scuffed whenever Hazel’s on screen. He’s 8 feet tall, and technically should be even bigger next to mercury and emerald than he is here, but in the interest of easier framing and not having to shrink them just to fit their proper heights all together, I played it a little loosey-goosey and allowed the other characters to essentially stand on apple boxes when needed.

Drawing Tyrian being a creep is so fun~ I love creepy characters~ I saved drawing Tyrian for last, Emerald before him, Mercury before Emerald, and I drew Hazel first in all the frames. I wanted to make sure I was primed for drawing Tyrian, since his face is a complex shape.

Drawing such an exagerated, sparkle-eyed expression for Tyrian was also super fun. xD I wanted to match the rough sketch I made for this scene as closely as possible, which was sorta more spongebob-esque? it was this lmao

truly a lovely face for a lovely place.

Anyways, I was also glad I saved Emerald for one of the last characters I drew, since her design has a lot of intricate details. Her guns I 100% half-assed though lol, I figured if I could make them vaguely convincing then it’d be fine.

I had to think carefully about Tyrian’s approach in this scene. Whether he would cut his cheek like he does in canon, whether he walks forward to cut his shoulder, or grabbing it like he does here. In the end I decided him grabbing her blade and cutting his hand was more malicious, especially since he’s in the middle of lecturing Emerald about the importance of not spilling blood on Salem’s hollowed ground. It’s like he’s purposefully trying to create an excuse for himself to hurt Emerald, consequence-free. In addition, it communicated strongly the amount of control that Tyrian had over the situation, even with Emerald brandishing her weapons, she has no power over him.

I always loved this scene in canon!! i’ve been an emerald/mercury stan since the two were introduced, so i gotta appreciate the little breadcrumbs as they come lol

this frame is actually pretty accurate in terms of the height different between tyrian and hazel. tyrian be a toll man

prancing tyrian~ it was about this frame that i really began to understand the sort of character tyrian was when drawing him. in that he’s like a preacher for a cult who was also given liberal permission with a knife.

not much to say about this shot. it’s nice that there’s an airship landing pad at salem’s castle and a direct entrance from there lol.

Now the second scene I worked on! I actually wasn’t assigned this scene, but an emergency came up where the artist who was originally supposed to do this scene just wasn’t available anymore. This was a cowabummer, because it was actually one of the most important scenes in the episode and had been listed as high priority. Seeing the distress and emergency of the situation, I put my first scene on hold and volunteered myself to take over the jaune and saphron scene, presented celtic with the finished rough sketches first thing in the morning.

Since speed was once again the #1 priority, I opted for a simpler and looser style. However, I didn’t fall fully into my old stickman style, and instead ventured to create something of a new iteration on that style? My art has been pushing towards smaller/more realistic facial features, and I started wanting my stickman style to reflect that somewhat.

I went through a couple different iterations of this frame before I decided it would be best if it was shot from the other side of the door. I was having issues illustrating both jaune sitting down and saphron standing and looking after ruby in the same shot, as well as showing saphron’s worried expression. In the first iterations I favored putting the camera over on Jaune’s side and letting him take up most of the frame, but I like this positioning much better.

This was kinda tricky to draw. I don’t normally draw characters rubbing their brows to communicate weariness, so it was an interesting challenge. Although it turned out more of a forehead rub than a brow rub, lol

I love it when I can be economical with my art, and a single drawing can last for an entire exchange.

serious jaune making a serious face, fighting back against the dark of saphron’s realism, oh yeah.

I may not be very good at drawing people in foreshortened poses, but i still think it’s fun xD I like how tender this moment between Jaune and Saphron is, she gives off such kind big-sister vibes, and Jaune takes her advice seriously.

And that covers it for this episode! Thanks so much for reading, and I look forward to seeing you all the next time there’s art to share for Fixing RWBY!

Toodaloo!

[dasha-through-the-snow]

Man, I watched modern One Piece with my bf

I watched it up to the end of the Alabasta arc back in, like, 2006 and the difference is staggering

Like, I won't even harp on the fights taking too long or the amount of recaps and reused footage. It's egregious, but that's shonen for you, I guess.

The fights are shit. None of the enemies have interesting abilities, everything devolves into beam spams, even for fucking ZORRO, who uses swords, but his big fight of the last arc is still somehow a beam spam. And the animation is either stiff, because they're saving up for big sakuga moments... Or big sakuga moments that are so chaotic and over-animated you can barely tell what the fuck is going on.

A lot of the time I couldn't gauge the stakes at all. Sanji VS Queen comes to mind, as it felt like the fucking dinosaur should've been defeated for at least six times before he actually went down.

Oda's quirk of drawing some characters really big for no good reason always looked cute from a distance but in the actual fights it just looks goofy compared to normal-size protags.

Was excited to see Brook and Franky, who weren't even introduced when I stopped watching and they did fuck all.

Chopper and Usopp felt like they were doing fuck all too.

Gear 5 is a mess. I get that they're trying to evoke the feeling of rubberhose cartoons / Looney Tunes shenanigans, but they're also trying to marry it with outrageous sakuga and it just ends up looking like animation vomit. The boring fight location and the very dull color palette aren't helping to distinguish WTF is going on on the screen either. And Luffy somehow acheiving it right after seemingly dying because he's a special chosen one boy with a very special fruit is just... So boring.

I understand that I started watching in the middle of an arc and I'm missing context, but it felt like most of the fights laked any personal emotional stakes too.

I compare it to the fight against Crocodile and his goons and not only was everyone involved, everyone had to think and improvise how to counter their enemies' abilities (except Zorro, lmao), the animation was a lot easier to read even if it was cheaper and everything just kind of felt more grounded and understandable. We knew our team's limitations and understood the powers of our enemies.

That said, I did like some of the fights in the new ark:

Sanji VS Queen at least had some emotional beats for Sanji, even if they spent way too long on them. Should've left the angst for after the fight.

Killer VS Straw Doll guy was a genuinely cool fight with a creative power set and solution. I didn't even know who those jobbers are, but they clearly had history and emotional stakes, I cared about what was going on. Best fight of the whole arc.

Trafalgar and Kid VS Big Momma was kinda cool. Interesting powers, the two had to learn how to fight together, shit was happening. Momma as a big stationary target was kind of meh, tho. Like, she was a glorified turret.

Overall, I was expecting more out of the modern One Piece. I adore the early arks and was planning to catch up, but now I'm unsure.

[idrilka]

watchlist tag game!

tagged by @phneltwrites!

here's what i am currently watching/have just watched/am planning to watch (spoilers: it's all kdramas):

just finished:

hospital playlist: 10/10, ultimate comfort watch, i love everyone in this bar. it took us a while to finish the second season but it was so, so worth it. i laughed, i cried, i'm going to miss them so much.

weak hero class 1 (immediate rewatch): 11/10, never expected to get clotheslined by another stellar drama in the span of less than six months bad enough that it made me immediately want to go write fic, but here we are. i'm going to write a separate rec post for this one, but for all the school 2013/heungsoon enjoyers out there, this is required watching. it has everything: amazing acting, stellar storytelling, so, so much incredibly well-executed tension, unhinged, violent high schoolers, revenge, useless adults, failing institutions and social commentary on the cycles of abuse. also some of the best chemistry between the leads i've seen in a long while. (what i mean is: since my country: the new age.)

currently watching:

duty after school: since we're apparently on a school setting kick, we went straight from weak hero to this one, and it's been also really good so far. the premise sounds delightfully weird at first (aliens come to earth in the shape of strange spheres hanging in the sky, and in anticipation of the possible attack, third-year high school students get enrolled into an afterschool military training program in exchange for additional points on their university entrance exam, since early admissions have been cancelled), but things go to hell pretty quickly.

hometown cha-cha-cha: aka the drama we started last summer, but we are continuing our tradition of watching an episode or two, then taking a break for two months before watching another episode or two, so everything is going according to plan here. good for when you want a low-stakes, chill drama with some pretty views.

save me: we watched the first episode and we'll definitely continue. so far it's intriguing and creepy, and it has woo dohwan in it, so i'm guaranteed some aesthetic crying if nothing else.

racket boys: for when you're missing haikyuu. we also watched the first episode and we'll definitely continue at some point, because sometimes all you want is to watch a bunch of kids enthusiastic about a sport overcome the odds through hard work and the power of friendship.

joseon attorney: lmao, let me tell you, this was not love at first sight. i hated the first ~40 minutes of the first episode and barely managed to finish. fortunately, it improved a bit in the last 20 minutes or so, and i'm intrigued enough to give it another try, but oh boy, that was a struggle.

kingdom: watched the first two episodes, it looks amazing, and we will definitely continue.

to-watch list:

the eighth sense: i want to watch this so bad, but all the reactions of those of my friends who are watching it only confirm that i should wait so i can binge it.

school 2013 (rewatch): i've been meaning to rewatch this for ages, especially since i want to write another fic this year, and weak hero just made me want to rewatch it right this second, so.

dr romantic 3: the third season is so close and i need it in my eyeballs like yesterday. i miss all of them so much!

misc: aka everything mentioned above (apart from hometown cha-cha-cha, which we'll continue to watch well into the fall at this pace)

my to-watch list is a lot, lot longer (and includes more of woo dohwan and yang sejong's dramas, as well as other stuff like the uncanny counter or d.p., or things that won't air for a while, like bloodhounds or doona), but listing all of them would take ages, so this is just the stuff i'm intending to watch in the immediate future.

oh, and i'm tagging @dulosis and @grimdarkfandango!