#and objectively there's nothing wrong with this more popular character and you might even really like that more popular character

[luvo27]

just saw a pinterest comment that suggested learning how to crochet instead of learning how to knit because it's easier and i can't keep silent anymore i have to confess that i wrote my cass learns how to knit fic because i need people to love knitting in the same way that i need people to love cass. the crochet vs knitting metaphor argument exists because i've had that conversation (minus the metaphor and also it was jokingly silly with my friends) with me arguing the side of knitting and as much as i love projecting onto characters stephanie brown would never in her life be against crochet. she would adore crochet. i don't actually dislike crochet its good for things that knitting will never be able to do like baskets and is so much better for stuffed animals and i think it's better for things like bralettes and bags but knitting is so good for clothing it's stretchy and more flowy. crochet is so good for items that need to hold a little more structure but in my opinion knitting makes more comfortable clothing and crochet got so popular in the last couple of years but knitting did not and knitting is not more difficult!! knitting is fun and good and i love her!!!

[le-fruit-de-la-passion]

Does a bad ending ruin a good story? A comprehensive guide to my feelings on the Arcane finale

*Spoilers for Arcane season 2*

So. You just finished the show, and you're staring at the screen in bewilderment. Perhaps you’re even with some friends, shouting words of confusion to the rolling credits. Try as you might, you can barely hear them, because a single thought echoes in your mind and pushes away any other:

“What the fuck just happened?”

If this happened to you, then boy oh boy, we're on the same boat. If it didn't, well, I'm glad for you friend! We might not have been looking for the same things from this story. But this is my post, meaning I will give my opinions (which are objectively correct because this is my blog and I'm the mayor here) on everything that Arcane broke and failed to deliver in its last 2 episodes.

Let's start with characters, and why none of it mattered.

Jinx symbolized the fear we all have of not belonging somewhere, of not having anything to call home or anyone to call a family. Her anger stemmed from wanting to carve a place in a society and a world that had so harshly rejected her (i.e., Vi leaving her). Her existence was a huge middle finger to all that refused to let her live, a fight to build herself something wholeheartedly hers (hence her being an inventor). It was proof that despite the world telling her she was better off dead, she would never stop fighting to prove it wrong.

… and she died.

She died, and that means all the suffering she went through to exist simply amounted to nothing. She left nothing behind either, no trace of a legacy, something that would have left her mark on that world. Isha, the child she raised as a daughter, died. Silco, who she taught love and care to, died. Vander, who she brought back from years of trauma and torture, died. Jinx fought so hard to live, and in the end, it was as if she hadn't lived at all.

Viktor is most certainly the character that made me the angriest, because of how attached I am to the person he is in season 1 (and even the first two acts of season 2 to an extent). Everything that made him so beautifully complex… gone, in about 10 minutes. There was NO reason to make him the surprise ultimate villain. Viktor had always, always been a pacificist. That's why he was so adamant Hextech not be used as a weapon. That's why every time there were chances to test hextech to hurt, he tried to learn how it could heal. Yes, his fusion with the hexcore had changed him; but NOT into a man who didn't care for human life. He wanted to help all the hurt done to his people. People like him, living day to day in the undercity, but who had never gotten a chance to crawl out of their hell. His community was about HEALING, not controlling. The very IDEA that he would accept killing innocents and ally with Noxus, the warmongers, is so ridiculous I could genuinely laugh if it didn't make me so angry. The show needed an easy, black-and-white showdown to conclude a story that would have needed so much more time to tell. And they chose Viktor. Because it was the easy way out. It was the perfect foil to the return of the Golden Boy. And that PISSES me off.

There is this really shitty concept in popular media that the handicapped/chronically ill character is always in the pursuit of being “cured” and that they need outside help to realize “that their imperfections make them perfect”. Fuck. You. As someone with chronic illness and who just finished beating blood cancer, fuck you. That realization, that you're you with every part of your being, even the ‘bad’ ones, cannot come from outside. It's YOU who needs to learn it. It's you who needs to discover how your body and your mind are so much stronger than you previously thought them to be. Not your lover, your family, your friends, or God forbid your able-bodied lab partner. You. Others may tell you as many times as they want your illness doesn't define you; it won't matter until you, yourself, have understood why and have accepted it. Having someone swoop in and “fix” Viktor with a “you don't have to change uwu” is just….. so reductive I can barely find the words for it. That was VIKTOR’S path to find, and not Jayce’s role to find it for him.

Also… Viktor wasn't trying to ‘fix’ his leg; he was trying to find a cure to a deadly illness ravaging his body and no doubt the bodies of many in Zaun. The HELL is the message here??? That he should have just rolled with it because the deadly illness was part of him??? Again, as a cancer survivor. Fuck right off.

Of course, I can't just ignore the hideous get-up they put him in at the end. The man who laughed at Jayce's narcissism….you want me to believe… he would put on that fucking edge lord costume and not DIE of embarrassment??? The design makes no sense from a narrative standpoint either: if his cane has become the sceptre, why is he still keeping it? He doesn't need it anymore to walk, and it's a reminder of his weaknesses as a human that he apparently hated so much. Why the hell does he keep it then? And the hexclaw. Where did that bad boy come out from?? Did you all see a secret extra bonus scene where he steals it from the lab, because I sure didn't. It doesn't add anything to his sets of powers either it’s… it's a fucking laser gun. WHY. And oh sweet god that mask… there would have been so many ways of designing a mask more meaningful than the one from LoL. This one is just. A piece of metal he spawned in embryo. Get it? Because he's made of metal now and also hiding his face means no more humanity? Get it?? Of fucking course you do, because this was the easiest and worst possible way they could have integrated the mask.

Viktor and Jayce had a fantastic dynamic in that Viktor had started out as the loner, the underdog scientist from the slums; while Jayce was the leader figure, living in comfort that made him attachingly naive, his face plastered on posters stroking his ego. The shift is delightfully slow, as Viktor gains in confidence and determination to see his invention through no matter what, while Jayce is confronted with harsher and harsher truths about the world he so blissfully ignored. By Act 2, they have fully switched roles: Viktor is now the leader figure, a symbol of the future for the people, while Jayce is desperately alone, both physically in the hexcore anomaly, and mentally in being the only one who has seen the devastating future. Excellent stuff. What would be a great way to push these parallels further and to show the complexity of these characters, and perhaps how they can balance each other out? Well, Fortiche sure didn't know, now Viktor is the bad bad guy and Jayce is mister hero. Zaun bad, Piltover good. All nuance, gone. Proving that indeed, the man from poverty and inequality turns out evil, while the one from comfort and wealth turns out to be the hero of the story. The whole “giving a warm speech to the bad villain about how you care for them, somehow immediately changing their ways, and dying together to save the world” can work well in shounen anime where friendship is magic, or in the Ben 10 live-action movie (yes, that's the plot, I thought that wasn't deep when I was like 7 years old so imagine now), but not in a show like Arcane. Not with the ethical and moral nuances they have accustomed us to.

And now, let's explore...

Plotholes and incomplete storylines galore.

Ekko’s tree and the contamination of Zaun from Piltover? Fuck that. The huge showdown between the two opposite yet sister cities, like Jinx and Vi, that has been built up for two seasons? Fuck that. And for what?

For the Noxus sequel teaser.

Mel’s plotline about finding her mage origins had NOTHING to do with the main plot. Absolutely nothing. It added 0 twists or intrigues to the story, and served no purpose except making her a deus ex machina for a broken ending. All it was there for was to lay the base for a following show on Noxus and the Black Rose. Time that could have been spent either giving Mel a proper arc related to the plot, or giving all the other rushed character arcs more development.

Finally, and I deeply regret having to say this, but… the end of Vi and Cait's relationship was majorly disappointing to me. As an LGBTQ+ person myself, who feels attraction to women, it was a delight to have such a realistically portrayed w/w relationship on screen. Popular media tends to portray m/m relationships as these doomed, sinful feelings between two repressed guys, while w/w relationships are shown to just be all sunshine and rainbows and teddy bears, because two women together are a cute little accessory to have on screen. It’s non-threatening. But not Cait and Vi; their bond was raw, and rocky, with violent lows and passionate highs in a world that seemed to want to keep them apart. Their separation and the introduction of Maddie showed the reality of a w/w relationship, where fights and cheating ARE things that happen, because they're two adult women with different beliefs, objectives, an trauma. Putting them back together, as if nothing had happened, without giving us anything about how their relationship would have evolved from the breakup? I'd never thought I'd say this, but it's too easy. How about Caitlyn's literal descent into fascism??? We’ll just ignore that? Vi will just ignore that?

As with everything else, this last part of Arcane destroys all the complex emotions that exist between these characters, the resentment, the anger, the frustration, built upon years of different social conditioning… gone. Because they had 2 episodes left to wrap it up, and there was no way to make a coherent and natural transition to them getting back together with that kind of time. And can I just say. The decision to have Vi, symbol of Zaun, go down on Caitlyn, symbol of Piltover and enforcers, in a prison cell that has held innocent Zaunites and represents their complete lack of freedom as individuals by a cop state that oppresses them….. yeah, bad. So bad.

And… the multiverse. Yup, they went the multiverse route. Now, that's not necessarily a bad thing: the concept of multiverses itself is interesting in a vacuum, and quite a few properties have managed to make it work coherently. But it has been terribly overused and bastardized in serialized content in the last few years, for the simple reason that it's extremely practical. Why make a new, original series when you already have worlds and characters that are developed, and come with built-in fans? It's a money-saving hack! Why dedicate yourself to an ending that is meaningful in its finality and wraps the story properly when you can just say “It's just one ending in the multiverse!”. It takes away any accountability to the fans, and leaves the door open to a potential other version of the story! The perfect combo!

…except in practice, it comes off as lazy in a medium where that trope is overly saturated (don't start me on Marvel), and like a cowardly way of escaping from the responsibility of really taking the time to craft a good, solid ending to end your story.

So, with all that said: does it ruin Arcane for me? No, absolutely not, and I don’t think it should be for you either. The intricate artistry and raw talent that went into making the first season (and I would say a majority of the two first acts of season 2) is undeniable, and will stay undeniable. Nothing can touch that story. It will forever be one of my favourite pieces of animated media, which is saying a lot because I'm currently getting my master's degree on that topic.

However, it does give Arcane, as a whole rather than two separate seasons/entities, a very bittersweet feeling that is hard to forget. Thinking of what could have been, just if a little more time had been given to the minds behind the masterpiece you so loved… it's its own form of heartbreak. Academics have even compared it to experiencing a form of death of a loved one, before they ever got to reach their fullest potential and live the life they deserved. It may sound dramatic, but the feelings you feel in this moment, watching the horrible end of a fiction you have so much love for, are real. No one can take those away from you. You're allowed to grieve the loss of something that meant a lot to you.

Tldr; No, Arcane is not a bad series because of its rushed and incomprehensible ending. As they say, it's all about the journey, not the destination, even if that's one of the parts we tend to remember the most. And I don't know about you, but this was one of the best journeys I've ever been on.

[cynthiav06]

Do you think there are insanely few couples with Percy in this fandom? Characters that are well thought out and have a backstory. For example, Rachel and Percy are an interesting dynamic and a repetition of the Theseus myth with a different end to the story. Or Percy and Michael Yu (Apollo's son who fell off the bridge) It would be interesting if he survived: Percy feeling guilty for the fall, and Michael comforting him. Or Will and Percy, where both feel the guilt of the survivor (Will is the doctor, and Percy is the commander and leader), or the same Percy and Nico with their story and attempts to talk. Percy and Ethan would be a real pain in the ass with a story and explanations. But they don't nominate them as a couple? Like Pernico, they can be found, but everything else? Will's only fanfiction/The Percy I found was the one where he cheated on Apollo with Will, and Will cheated on Nico with Percy. And I really can't stand cheating.

It's a general problem in the fandom, especially prominent in Percy ships, which is that there are very few of them, and it is made to seem that liking any Percy ship other than Percabeth is taboo. It's only recently that there's an influx in other ships, and even that is miniscule in comparison to the excessive Percabeth fic pool . I know how bloody frustrating that is. For a good amount of time, I have vented over that.

Another problem along the same lines is fanart. There's extremely little fanart on any other Percy ships barring Percabeth. This has created a very toxic sort of environment in the fandom for alternative shippings. It also discourages people from making other fanarts and fanfics due to certain toxic Percabeth fans. ( I am not saying all just most of them). Hence why you won't see much material on most of the ships you have mentioned.

I think the fandom has forgotten that people can ship whoever they want, canon or otherwise, and that's the point of a fandom. We are allowed to disagree with the canon and dislike cause in the end books are subjective and we can choose to like and prefer whatever interests us as a reader and there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT! Especially to Percabeth stans and recently Solangelo stans, you have your ship, no need to force it on everyone else, sure you can make points about why it's good or why people should like it but that doesn't mean have to or should.

You can dislike a ship and even express why you dislike it, but you can't tell people what they can and can't like. Just give your opinion, try not to be negative or offensive , just stick to the facts and objective reasons why you dislike it or just say it's a personal preference .

I personally generally either favor Perachel or Percy with no romantic partner. But I have read and seen some other Percy ship fanfics.

Perpollo and Pernico are kind of popular and I have read some fanfics of that category though Pernico's popularity suffered greatly due to Solangelo stans as such and some other opinions. (I have covered my thoughts on both Solangelo and Pernico in an old post of mine so check that out if you want).

Other alternative Percy ships I have seen mostly are Percy/Jason or Jercy. I kind of like where thea are going with it cause I really liked Percy and Jason's this odd but very unique dynamic they have and I really wanted it explored more but after the events in HoO and TOA and what happened to Jason( I refuse to accept it still due to no actually compelling and necessary reason behind it plot wise or character development wise), I kind of gave up on it. I really thought Rick Riordan would flesh their dynamic out more thoroughly other than whatever misguided rivalry he was trying to stoke between them. (Let's just agree that despite minor envy they might harbor for each other, they have much higher respect and admiration between them).

There's I think a few who consistently ship Percy and Artemis I think? Which I really thought was very contradictory and just simply not viable in canon or by fanfic cause Artemis is a maiden goddess.

There's Perclarisee which I mean I am neutral on it. I can see what it's based on but I actually liked Clarisse with Chris and I kind of thought of them better of as good friends who bicker a lot( I have a post on Perclarisse as well).

I once made the mistake of searching all Percy ships on ao3. It's safe to say I will never be doing that again ever. The absurd and deranged pairings I saw. Not even bleach will get that out of my eyes or mind.

As for Michael Yew, I am not sure about a romantic pairing of him and Percy, but in an au, it can kind of work, I guess, but I just don't see the appeal. I mean one moment of trauma bonding can't be the basis for a whole relationship.

As for Will and Percy, I see the parallel you are trying to make, but Percy can heal himself, so he's not really in need of a healer most of the time. Cause his power and ambrosia fix most of his injuries. Overall, I just don't think they are very compatible, but I will try and find fics about them for you.

Ethan and Percy? Where the hell did you find that? I don't think anyone ships that. Percy should have killed Ethan the first chance he got. That bastard really really had it coming. Even after Percy spared him so many times, he had the audacity to try and kill Percy. Absolutely not a pairing.

This is like the people who ship Percy and Luke. There are some, and I have never understood it. Luke tried to kill Percy multiple times and showed no remorse for it, and Ethan is the same. They are enemies, not a pairing. Not everything has to be enemies to lovers. But I suppose to each their own, everybody has their own preferences.

As for cheating , to whoever wrote that fic, stay the hell away from pjo respectfully cause neither Percy nor Will would ever do that to anyone. This literally goes against their very nature itself. To people who write cheating Percy fics, his fatal flaw is literally LOYALTY, what the hell is wrong with you?

Anyway, I am very sorry for this devolved into a rant. If I find any Percy and Will fics, I will reblog this post with recommendations.

[kharmii]

Kharmii Take: Meta-Human Liberation Army

Since 80% of active content creators into the Meta Liberation Army have blocked me by now, I'm free to throw out my takes that are contrary to popular fanon. Why not? It not like any of the others own these characters just because they've been into them longer.

This will get explicit so don't read if you are under 18.

First thing, the MLA people are terrible human beings. No, they aren't the 'good villains'. No, they aren't human rights activists who really care about each and every member of their secret army. If you believe they are then congratulations. You fell for the propaganda put out by the unhealthy xNFx mtbis among them.

That's not to say they aren't nuanced. Fans are allowed to like them and see good in them....it's just they are mostly irredeemable bastards. Not only are they terrible people, but they hit the ground running the moment they are introduced. There's ReDestro with Giran tied up in a chair with all the fingers cut off his smoking hand. Meanwhile, Skeptic uses his puppets to torture Twice both physically and emotionally. Curious uses Landmine to blow up random objects in the street, some of which happen to be living breathing people. Geten rolls a glacier over random citizens along with the Twice army. Even Trumpet who isn't seen torturing anybody with his own two hands still coldly watches people die around him and uses emotional manipulation against Spinner.

Bad Take 1: ReDestro saw the burdens of his bloodline as a prison. He was relieved when Shigaraki defeated him and took over.

WUT. That was the worst day of his life! -The worst day for all of them! They probably had to drug themselves to sleep at night after that.

There they were trying to put on a fun PR skit for the shits and giggles, but then it goes horribly wrong. Not only does ReDestro lose his legs, but thousands of people die when Shigaraki disintegrates several city blocks. Suddenly, they all go from being respectable members of society to criminals overnight. They probably all had such good gigs with Detnerat-Feel Good Inc-Hearts and Minds-Shoowaysha Publishing that they never planned for the MLA to come out of the shadows, or at least if it did, it would be baby steps. Between Trumpet and Curious, they would have tried to gain ground using media and legislation to make them relevant. After the LoV debacle, they were forced to come out of the shadows and fight a war. Not ideal.

Bad Take 2: ReDestro was a bootlicker who was absolutely star struck over Shigaraki being their new leader.

Not really. I see ReDestro as being a toxic ENFJ/P mtbi personality type. That means he's good at making anybody think he's their friend. He comes across warm and likeable, but in actuality, he's a phony and convincing liar. It's obvious all the MLA people are uncomfortable around Shig, and even ReD is bad at hiding it at one point. It's possible they know about All For One's influence and the hidden mechanism working behind the League of Villains. If anything about Shig intimidates them, it would def be that. Otherwise, they might all feel sorry for him if they knew what he went through, but in no way would they take him seriously as a leader.

That would make the other LoV members heading a regiment a clown show. The original MLA people are all professionals with plenty of life experience, except for Geten. Even Geten is a well-trained soldier from the time he was a child, and therefore he'd be more valuable than a rag tag bunch of good-for-nothings.

Quirk Awakenings:

AFAIK, only Geten and ReD had profound quirk awakenings due to extreme trauma and stress during training. I head canon that the others never went through enough hardship to obtain their own awakenings. Here's a question for the readers....what do you think they'd be? Would Curious be able to explode stuff through pure telekinesis? Would Skep be able to make his puppets speak? Would Trumpet be able to let out a primal scream and get anyone in earshot pumped? -Or something better? Those takes are rather boring and spur-of-the-moment. Help me out.

Character Analyses:

ReDestro: Like I said, he's a toxic ENFJ/P. With those types, it's often unclear if they actually believe their own bullshit, or if they are just really really good at making you think they believe their bullshit. Either way, their enthusiasm rubs off on people, and that allows them to emotionally manipulate people better. Sure, ReD cried after he murdered the mouse assistant, but his warped radical ideology let him think that was the correct and necessary step to make, as difficult as it was.

Said on another post that if it was true he welcomed Shig as a leader so he could shirk his own duties, then he'd have a change of heart later. Maybe one night he'd have a dream where his great great (x however many) great grandfather Chikara Yotsubashi aka "Destro" would appear before him and tell him, "You must retake your position as Grand Commander of the MLA. You must fix this huge fuck up the League of Villains turned it into. It has to be your capable hands that makes it right.."

ReD would agree wholeheartedly. He'd enthusiastically promise his ancestor that, yes, he'd fix it. -But then he'd wake up and be like, "Awww....DAMMIT!" because he'd be drugged up and restrained in prison to prevent 'stress' from activating.

Even though I head canon Trumpet as being a straight guy on his third marriage with eight kids, I still imagine lots of sexual tension between ReD and Trumpet. They are each other's emotional support, and I imagine them doing all the same cute stuff together that I've posted the Subway Bosses doing. IE: Falling asleep together on the train, or like one will drape a jacket over the other if he falls asleep at his desk.

They've messed around a bunch but have never had full on penetrative sex. The hangup is all Trumpet due to a past trauma. One time, ReD was training with Geten at like 2% stress. He made a gesture just as Trumpet walked by accidentally striking him and breaking a few ribs. Now ReD can tell Trumpet will always be afraid to be touched by him for fear it will lead to him being skewered by his stress dick at whatever percent by accident.

Geten: I'm not going to write about him much because I already wrote several posts and a whole-ass novella analyzing his personality. Let's just say he's like a son to ReD. He gets along really well with Skeptic but is colder to Trumpet and Curious. ReD totally purchased him as a child like an expensive pure-bred puppy. I'm 100% behind that fanon theory because it's too weird.

Skeptic: I admit it. I think Skeptic is a creepy incel. He's such an incel he failed No Nut November on the first day at exactly midnight. That's his yearly tradition. Srsly though, why haven't more people done fan fiction exploring the creepier side of Skep? He started out strong in the anime and then..... *thumbs down* *fart noises*

You'd think more people would have done fan fics about "Skeptic's creepy rape puppets" or something equally as entertaining. I thought my take was decent in my AO3 fic 'Trumpet's Trauma' where Skep and Shig worked together to torment Trumpet into attempting suicide. One would think that would be the standard MOD writing Skep. I made sure to make Skep's involvement in my writing vague so that he wouldn't be on the wrong side of ReD. As far as the evidence stands, there was no proof of Skeps involvement. It appeared to be all Shig's doing.

Since Skep has the surveillance shtick, I can imagine ReD asking for the link to Trumpet's shower cam. He's the pretty one they both like to creep on.

Curious: Manipulative bitch with a fun mischievous side. Trumpet tried to zero in on her straight away, but she let him down hard. She knows what he's about and sees right through him. Skeptic also simps for her, but she keeps him at arm's length. They actually get along well and are 'work spouses'.

I imagine at least once, Trumpet will be lecturing them about something, and Curious would bust out with, "This is why nobody likes you!"

Trumpet's face would fall because he's the type who wants and needs everybody to like him. Skep would smirk. Geten would be confused. After all, ReD likes him. ReD seems to like him a lot. After all, he often buries his face in Trumpets neck to take a long sniff Joe Biden style. Later, Geten would ask ReD about it, and the GC would reply that sometimes people have bad days and get to be assholes with each other.

After Curious's death, Skep made an online shrine to her that he updates about once a month after the initial photo dump. ReD looks in on it every so often, but not too often. It always makes him cry, and he's trying to stay upbeat. After Shig's death, Skep made an online shrine to him called, "The Good Things Shig Did" where he posts pictures of Shig holding puppies or hanging out with his friends. In case you're wondering how Skep managed it, I head canon he escaped in Season 7 by making a puppet of himself carrying out his equipment and then becoming detained. That could possibly be where he'd achieve a quirk awakening allowing his puppets to talk.

Trumpet: The boring sensible guy that always looks worried in fan art....and well he should. He'd been promised nothing but good times joining a fascist cult. Sheesh though...artists shouldn't draw him looking like a hand-wringing housewife or beleagued soccer dad. He's supposed to be a greaseball politician. Someone did a post recently I didn't respond to, but they head canoned the following:

I already made a beautiful wife and young children for Trumpet. The wife's name is Shigemi Hanabata (花畑 茂美), also known as Preach (せっきょう/Sekkyō). She is a member like him and has a useful quirk called Propaganda (宣伝/Senden), an emitter type that causes people to believe everything the user says as long as they either trust or find them attractive. Their children have mixed variations of Incite and Propaganda, one of them being called Excite.

That would be the arranged marriage his family made with his first wife. He's a sensible guy, and he would have realized that combination of quirks would create an advantageous quirk marriage resulting in powerful offspring. Unfortunately, Trumpet has a wandering eye, and that would destroy his first and second marriage.

His third wife would end up being Uwabami, the tall hot blonde model with snakes in her hair. It's unclear how the combination of 'incite' and 'snakes in hair' would be an advantageous quirk marriage, but Trumpet's diiiiick, erm, gut instincts told him to keep an open mind.

It doesn't behoove a politician to be such a sleezebag, but it's not like Trumpet's political party is one of the mainstream parties. He's also an unhealthy solid ENFJ mbti. Like any modern politician irl, he uses emotional blackmail to guilt the most gullible of suckers into supporting the cause of liberation. He'll do shit like convince all the heteromorphs he's their advocate, but then when he's in private with those closest to him, he'll admit he doesn't give a sweaty donkey's balls about heteromorph rights; he's just using them to gain money and power. That's the mindset he'd have watching Shig use decay on a bunch of them after he just used 'incite'.

Trumpet would be an insufferable two-face, like he'd belittle Spinner when they're on opposing sides, but then he'd pull the advocate shite the moment the PLA is formed.

[kaigarax]

Accismus

Nagi Seishirou x Reader

Quote: "Fall in love with someone you’ll only ever share a few passing moments with."

In time travel nothing can be changed. Everything that will happen has already happened - and every change that you hope to make has either already occurred or will never occur at all.

---

Mission Number XX02

There were three rules to time travel that had been ingrained into Nagi Seishiro’s head when he first became a time traveler.

1. Don’t interact with your past self.

Wouldn’t want to accidentally make your past self go crazy.

2. Don’t tell people you’re from the future.

Most people would just ignore you but you wouldn’t want to be responsible for making someone else go insane.

3. Don’t try to change the course of events.

Time travel is to only be used to observe events that have already happened. Besides, even if you wanted to you wouldn’t be able to change anything.

Nagi’s job as a time traveler was to gather information on individuals. Specifically, people that would become famous. His job was to go back and observe what would make them into the individuals that they were. Record their lives from the perspective of a third party and come back with that information so that people of the present could learn about them.

Much more tame than the countless crazy stories that had been written before.

No fate ‘the world is at stake’ plotlines or ‘revenge from a man wronged’ villains. Merely ordinary people that can follow rules and record the lives of another - regardless of how boring that person may seem to you.

Nagi’s current objective - you.

(Y/n) (L/n).

A writer whose works would only garner popularity years after your death. From the brief snippets of information that there was on you, you were mostly a freelance writer that died early. Sometime around your early thirties? Nagi really isn’t all too sure.

He has a relatively easy task.

Follow you around for a couple days, following the moments when you would write your most famous piece. See what likely inspired each of the characters you chose to make and see what might have influenced the setting. See if there was someone special in your life that could have served as the inspiration for what would eventually come to be known as your magnum opus.

He thinks that your biggest series is about time travel, funnily enough. Not that he’s ever taken the time to read it or likely ever will. He’s not that big of a fan of chapter book novels. He much prefers to watch television or read comics if it’s a must that he needs to read. Prefers to look more at the pictures over having to create the image in his head all on his own.

He quickly jots something down on his notebook before following you into a cafe.

The biggest thing to remember when time traveling is to remain calm. The worst thing that you can do is be spotted and have the person you’re following think they’re getting stalked. Well… they are getting stalked but it’s for history purposes. Not for some perverse pleasure. Though… Nagi imagines that many people get a strange perverse pleasure from the information he gives out.

Oh well.

It’s too much for him to think about anyways.

He’s just here for the paycheck after all.

Stay within the rules and you’ll be fine.

Rule 1: don’t interact with your past self, would be an easy rule for him to follow. Nagi wouldn’t be born for at least a couple hundred years so no issue there. There wouldn’t be anyone that would recognize him.

Rule 2: don’t tell people you’re from the future. That shouldn’t be too hard to follow. It wasn’t like Nagi was much of a conversationalist anyways. He much preferred to quietly sit back and watch everything happen around him.

Rule 3: don’t try to change the course of events. Honestly, Nagi isn’t quite sure why this is a rule at all. Any fool with half a brain is smart enough to know that it’s impossible to change the past. Everything that will happen happens because it has already happened. A linear timeline where nothing can be changed or altered. It simply is.

From the information that Nagi’s gathered so far you seem relatively normal. Having just finished up your last few years in college, where you studied History (funnily enough) and would begin to take creative writing more seriously then you had before.

You’re pretty. Surprisingly pretty. He obviously saw photos of you back in his own time-zone but they did not do you justice. Not only did photos not capture the same level of life as they do in his own time-zone but you never seem to be making a normal expression. Mostly forced smiles and strained looks as if you’d rather be anywhere but taking that photo. Nagi relates to you on a spiritual level. He hates getting his own picture taken.

But in person you look so much softer and… realer. Well, you’re obviously realer. He could reach out and touch you if he wanted. You’re so much more expressive than he thought you would have been. So curious about the world around you as your eyes wander, stopping on everything you find interesting despite walking the same path for three days straight.

You’re also, unsurprisingly, patterned. Most people are patterned. You get up around the same time every day, 6:30am after hitting snooze on your alarm clock three times. You get ready for the day before heading off for a morning run. You boil the hot water for a tea that you’ll forget to make after work and head to your computer where you’ll type away until the urge to sleep hits where you’ll then fall asleep and do it all again the next day.

Nagi was hoping for something a little more interesting but he supposes that he’ll take what he can get.

At least today is the weekend, so maybe you’ll actually do something worth recording.

He doubts it.

There’s a barista that thinks you’re cute. He blushes as you smile warmly at him and take your order. Your hair is a little messy from your walk in the cold but you’re still the prettiest person here. Actually, you’re probably the prettiest person around for miles. Nagi actually finds himself a little surprised that he hasn’t seen you in a romantic relationship with anyone.

He does remember reading something about how there was one specific person that you thought about while writing but all the information about it was vague. His main job, funnily enough, was to find out who that person was.

Your drink is something new to you as you ask the barista to recommend something. The barista gives you a dopey smile before creating something sweet. Nagi doesn’t think that you’ll enjoy it all that much. From what he’s observed so far you don’t care much for sweet things. Don’t keep many sweets in your apartment and the ones you do have seem a little old.

You give a smile to the barista after tasting the drink.

Nagi finds a strange level of satisfaction running through him when your eyes don’t smile. Personally, he would have made you something a little more on the sour side. Something cool instead of a warm drink despite the cold weather. You seem like the kind of person that likes to be surprised and both the sour and coolness of the drink would surprise you.

You’d give that halfway sort of smile that you get when you’re in a writing groove. You’d…

Nagi shakes his head.

You’re not supposed to get attached to your assignments. They specifically go out of their way to pick apathetic people like him to send out on these assignments. Better to have people that don’t care about the person in front of them because you never know what kind of problems that it’ll cause later on down the line.

Of course, nothing in the past can be changed, but that doesn’t mean that people don’t go crazy trying to change the past. That they don’t lose their minds when they have to leave behind someone that was so important to them.

“Nagi Seishiro.”

Nagi freezes.

He hasn’t told anyone his name before in this time-zone much less spoken to someone at all. So how is it that someone knows his name? Did someone from his time-zone warp over here to tell him that they were taking over the assignment? While that would be a little strange he wouldn’t be all too surprised.

He tries his best to look apathetic as he looks up at the person who had taken the seat across from him. His blood goes cold when he sees that it’s you.

Your eyes sparkle in a way that Nagi hasn’t seen them sparkle before, “you’re Nagi Seishiro, aren’t you?”

Nagi shakes his head, attempting to feign ignorance, “I have no idea who that is.”

“It’s delightful weather,” you say suddenly.

Nagi freezes.

How in the world would you know that? As far as he knows you’re not one of the people that were privy to the information of time travelers and he most certainly doesn’t remember ever meeting you; so how could you know the first half of the code?

You lean over and take the drink he’s drinking from him, “but I always carry an umbrella.”

Okay. Someone was definitely messing with him.

You take a sip of his drink, “you are Nagi Seishiro, aren’t you?”

Finally, Nagi nods, “how do you know that?”

“Oh, thank goodness! I would’ve been mortified if I had accidentally taken a drink of some random dude’s drink. I was a little hesitant because it’s been a few years since I’ve seen you and you’re younger than how you were since I saw you last.”

“Wait,” Nagi raises an eyebrow, “you’ve met me before? An older version of me?”

You nod, “you were sent to do a piece on one of my classmates and almost caught and needed an alibi so you grabbed me and asked me to help you.”

Rule two: don’t tell people you’re from the future.

Well it’s too late now. It wasn’t like present Nagi was the one responsible for breaking the rules anyways. It seems that you already know about different time-zones and time traveling.

“So, who’s your assignment now?” You ask as you hand his drink back to him.

Nagi feels his cheeks grow hot, but luckily his face stays neutral. You’d have to touch him to know that he’s embarrassed. But, in his defense, who wouldn’t get embarrassed when the person they’re watching asks you who you’re watching. It’s basically asking someone to admit to you that they’ve been following you around and taking notes on you. It’s basically stalking. Well, Nagi likes to think of it more as being a private investigator but truthfully, even he has to admit that it’s basically just stalking.

It also doesn’t help that you’re looking up at him with such a pretty smile.

Gosh. Why did you have to be so pretty?

“It’s uh… the barista over there.”

“Oh really? Are they a relative of someone who wants to learn about them?” You ask.

“Uh… yeah.”

You smile knowingly, as if you know more about Nagi then he knows about himself. He wonders if this is what other people had been talking about in the notes he’d read about you. Your way of looking into the hearts of others. Your eyes are just… so bright and brilliant. So different from anything else he’s ever seen before.

Gosh. He thinks that he’s going to have to pass this mission onto someone else if he can’t get his treacherous heart to calm down.

“You’re lying~” You hum.

“W-what? How did you know that?”

“I didn’t. You just told me.”

He grumbles something in response.

This is why people recommend that you don’t talk to your assignments. Even if it would be easier to just ask someone about their work and what inspired them at the moment there was always the issue of creating a connection with someone else.

And then, there’s the fact that you already seem so fond of Nagi.

He doesn’t think he’s ever seen someone look at him so fondly before. As if he means so much more to him then he’ll ever know. Then he already knows.

It makes him want to lean over and touch you.

To see if you’re real or just an illusion made from his mind. Or perhaps a dream that he’s gotten from how much time he’s been spending with you.

He bets that your skin would be warm against his own.

Suddenly, you reach out and grab his hand.

His face burns hot.

His cheeks flush red as if he’s a school boy.

Gosh, it’s been so long since his body last reacted like this to a girl.

“What is it you want to know, Nagi Seishiro?” You ask.

He clears his throat, “promise you won’t laugh?”

You grin mischievously, “oh, no promises. I have to pay you back for how much you teased me.”

“But that hasn’t even happened yet for me.”

You laugh softly in response - Gosh. Nagi really isn’t sure how he’s going to make it out of this alive.

---

Mission Number XX79

There were three rules to time travel that had been ingrained into Nagi Seishiro’s head when he first became a time traveler.

1. Don’t interact with your past self.

Wouldn’t want to accidentally make your past self go crazy.

Luckily, Nagi’s never actually been given a mission in a time-zone where he can meet himself so he never has to worry about this rule.

2. Don’t tell people you’re from the future.

Most people would just ignore you but you wouldn’t want to be responsible for making someone else go insane.

Now, this rule is a little tricker.

He has, of course, done his best to follow this rule all except for one occasion but that one’s not even his fault in the first place.

3. Don’t try to change the course of events.

Time travel is to only be used to observe events that have already happened. Besides, even if you wanted to you wouldn’t be able to change anything.

This one, obviously, isn’t possible to break.

No one can change the past because it has already happened and the future has already happened. Both timelines that already exist, unable to be changed or morphed. Everything is already exactly as it is.

So obviously, when Nagi finds himself in need of breaking rule two he doesn’t worry much because it has already happened.

You have told him it already happened to you.

So it merely now has to happen to him.

And you again, if that makes sense.

Today, he’s been sent on a mission where he needs to observe the actual events of what happened. It’s some messy highschool drama that he doesn’t care all too much about. A private event that bores him to the bone. What doesn’t bore Nagi, on the other hand, is how he’s almost caught. One of the girls he’d been observing points out that they saw him somewhere else.

Nagi knows that he should have been more careful. That he should have taken better precautions and wore that wig Reo is always telling him to put on before heading off on his missions. It helps to hide his stark white hair which definitely stands out in a time period where unnatural hair colour is still uncommon amongst the general populace. The gene making an unnatural hair colour naturally grow hasn’t yet been introduced and the products people use to dye their hair are still made of products that damage the natural chemicals on your head.

Long story short, Nagi’s white hair stands out and someone noticed it.

This is actually only the second time that Nagi has ever been pointed out in his two years of being a time traveler. His second mission, where he had run into you and this one - where he coincidently went to find you to get your help. Well, he still has to go get you, but his point still stands.

Nagi’s heart seemingly stops in his chest as he sees you.

You’re a sight for sore eyes.

A couple years younger from how you were when he first met you. You’d been four years older than him when he first met you and now it seems that he’s four years older than him (give or take a few if he’s done his math correctly).

He’d forgotten just how loudly his heart would beat and how fast it would race when around you.

So pretty.

He almost forgets that you don’t know who he is.

Actually, he almost forgets to speak to you at all.

He’d much rather just watch you from a distance then have to pull you into this mess that he’s gotten himself into. But, of course, he thinks that it would be better to get your help. It’s not like he can get out of this situation without some inside help and he’ll be damned if he has to call into headquarters and ask for help. He knows for sure that they’d send Barou and goodness knows that he’ll never let Nagi live the moment down. Plus, he knows that you won’t snitch on him.

“Hey, (Y/n)!” Nagi calls out your name.

You turn around, a curious look in your eyes as you look around for someone familiar. Nagi’s heart melts at the sight of seeing your face for the first time in years. From what he knows, this is the last time that he’ll ever see you in person like this and he wants to savor the moment.

Finally, your eyes land on Nagi.

You give him a curious look, “me?”

He nods.

“Do I know you?”

“No,” Nagi shakes his head, “but I know you and I need your help.”

---

“So… let me get this straight. You’re a time traveler and you need my help to… get out of the stalker allegations? But aren’t you basically a stalker?”

Nagi nods, leaning over and taking a sip of the water bottle you had been drinking from, “it’s my job.”

You shoot him a look but it’s quickly replaced as the weight of his words sink in, “right. And it’s totally not creepy that you’re following a high school girl around.”

“If I could have picked my jobs I would’ve declined this one.”

“Right. I definitely believe you…”

He knows that you don’t believe him and he can see in your eyes that you’re looking for the next second to bolt. But you won’t. And if you do, he knows that you’ll eventually come around and help him later on. It has, afterall, already happened. That’s not the thing that’s bothering him.

What’s bothering him is your indifference. Was he this cold to you when the two of you met in the later time-zone? He certainly hopes not. He misses the warmth in your smile that you gave him before. The way your eyes would crinkle around the edges when he said something that you thought was funny. What he misses most though is the warmth of your hand on his own.

He wonders if you feel that speak between the two of you that he does whenever he’s with you. Or if it’s something only specific to him. Well, it’s less of a spark and more of a sensation. A feeling of just wanting to be around the other person. Knowing that everything is just alright when you’re with that other person.

You watch him warily, as if debating something in your mind.

Well then, Nagi thinks, it looks like it’s up to him now to win you over just like how you had won him over. Though, you did have it a little easier because his assignment had been you and he needed to get information from you. You could just leave right now because you have no obligation to help him.

But you will.

That’s just the kind of person you are.

It still kinda hurts though.

“So what do you need me to do?” You ask.

Nagi grins, “pretend to date me.”

“Woah, what?”

“You heard me.”

“Oh I heard you, that doesn’t mean I can immediately accept or decline. It’s a really weird situation to put someone in. Especially someone you barely even know.”

“I know you.”

“Fine,” you huff, “it’s a weird thing to ask someone that barely even knows you.”

“But you’ll do it?”

“Gosh! Give me a moment, will you?”

“Okay.” Nagi hums.

He’d forgotten how pretty you are when you’re deep in thought. It’s a look similar to how you are when you’re in a writing groove. Your eyes narrow in and your eyebrows crease slightly. Back then he had been so hesitant despite wanting to smooth the crease between your eyes. Scared that you would disappear if he were to reach out and touch you.

This time, he takes the chance.

He reaches a hand out.

You jump back slightly at the movement but Nagi continues forward without hesitation. Gently pressing a finger to the crease between your eyebrows and smoothing it out.

He smiles to himself as your face heats up dramatically.

You’re much easier flustered at this age than you were before. Then you will be when you’re older. Nagi imagines that’s because you’re much more experienced with men and relationships by then so he relishes in knowing that he gets to be one of the first ones in your mind that will be close to you like this.

You turn away, your cheeks hot, “w-what are you doing?”

“Smoothing out your eyebrows. Don’t want you to have wrinkles at such a young age.”

“Do I have wrinkles the next time you see me?” You ask hesitantly.

Nagi grins, “why? Are you curious?”

“No.”

“You’re lying~” Nagi hums.

“W-what? How did you know that?”

“I didn’t. You just told me.”

You grumble something in response.

Nagi laughs softly at the familiarity of the moment. You’re so much more of a brat then he thought. But it’s cute. You’re cute. Though, he supposes that he’s always thought you were cute. From the moment his eyes first landed on your file to now.

It sucks that the two of you weren’t born in the same time-zone. That you would forever live your lives between these two moments.

Of his first time meeting you.

And your first time meeting him.

A breadths width apart but hundreds of years away.

Even as the warmth of your hand is inches away from his own it feels light years away.

Nagi remembers when his parents first tried to introduce him to a girl that they wanted him to go on a date with. She, much like you are now, is four years younger than him. He’d scrunched up his nose at the age gap. To him, four years seemed like such a big distance. So far both in terms of life and experience. So far in maturity (despite the fact that girls mature faster than boys). So far in life.

In retrospect, Nagi thinks that maybe if that girl had been you he wouldn’t have thought four years was that far either. He thinks that maybe you must have been his soulmate.

In another world maybe he would have gotten the chance to know you and fall in love slowly. Thinks that he would have been able to lean towards you one day, after taking you out on a date, and whisper about how pretty he thinks you are instead of only thinking it in his mind. That after his fingers would interlock with yours, without either one of you having your thoughts race and your minds be confused trying to grapple with the weight of everything that you do and don’t need to know. That he would be able to lean in and kiss you like boys his age do with girls they like.

He wonders if you’ve been kissed before yet.

Mm, no. He takes that back. He doesn’t want to know. Knows that he’ll be much more jealous than he should be if that answers yes. To him, you’re the girl that he’s always been dreaming of. Even before he met you, it was you. It would always be you. Even if you never knew it. Even if he never tells you.

He won’t.

Be bets that back then there were many things that you had wanted to say to him that you didn’t. He wonders if your heart had ached for him the same way that his aches for you now. It’s strange, he thinks, to yearn for someone that you barely know. But to him, you were never a stranger but rather someone he was getting a chance to rediscover.

Four years doesn’t seem so far now.

At least in compassion to the hundreds of years that will keep you from him. That keeps him from you.

By the time Nagi is born you’ll likely be nothing but dirt once again reunited with the world or dust and ash somewhere out there in the cosmos of the universe.

The two of you are nothing but boats in the night.

A chance of passing in the night.

Gently, he interlocks his fingers with yours.

Your hand is so much softer than he remembers and so much warmer.

Fall in love with someone you’ll only ever share a few passing moments with.

[gotham-daydreams]

Ooooh can't wait for your isekai fic, speaking of isekai what's your perspective of it? I feel like there's two form of isekai that's popular with people the first is thrown away by magical object to another world and given mission to go home the second one is full reborn into another world the term isekai truck come to mind when we talk about isekai reborn....

Maybe just a niche of mine but what do you think of isekai reader that doesn't know jackshit about world or universe they got it? The don't know anything about this people might as well destroy the plot for shit and giggles for all they care

Oh I definitely agree that the whole "i got hit by a truck, died, and now i'm reincarnated into this thing i'm crqzy about and know everything on" is suuuuper popular at the moment, and honestly before i looked up the term I thought it literally meant just "reincarnated into a diff world" and was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't! I haven't seen too much of the "object sends you to a diff world and you need to head home" kind of story, but I'd like to, honestly!

Also, I love your niche because that sounds funny as hell, and honestly more people need to write stuff like that! I'd read the hell out of it.

Though, maybe it's because I love psychological horror and such so much, and just delving into the mind and people's thoughts... but I honestly wish that more was done with the genre? Not even from a horror aspect or anything. I just sort of wish I saw more main characters that wished they got to go home, or back to their own world (without being certain if they are even able to). Or characters that are having a genuinely hard time adapting to the world because - even if they are familiar with it, it's just so different then what they're used to. Or where, even as they are going along - they kind of miss their old life, as shitty and boring as it was in comparison. Or not even their life, just the world. They miss the ocean, the forests, and the kind of subtle peace they knew they could have there if they wanted to take a break. It wasn't perfect, and it didn’t have magic, but... it was still their world, y'know?

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind the idea and I think it can be very interesting! But for the most part it's definitely very power-fantasy... and just generally very fantasy esc, which- there's nothing wrong with that! Sometimes reading something like that just feels good, or its so silly and a good way to lift your mood- or just generally just fun to read!

I think I just kind of wish that sometimes more was done with it? Since, I'll be honest, a lot of stories feel like that, and I wish that someone would try to do something a little different?

I really only mentioned psychological horror earlier because I believe it could get a darker if anyone really ever does try to kind of delve into an unwilling protagonist- which is a up my alley a little more, but is that really a surprise when I write yandere content? LMAO

On a lighter note I'd also like to see characters that just like... come from completely different world, going to another??? It's both hilarious and so interesting to me, genuinely.

I mean- technically I'm doing that with Clover? And hell, I'm also kind of doing some of the more existential stuff with another yandere fic of mine that isn't Batfam or DC related at all- but that's nor here nor there. I'd still like to see other people do it, I think it'd be really cool! And I don't mean like, fantasy world to modern world (even if that is a semi-good example), I moreso me just, like, alien world -> completely different alien world. Or even like, fantasy world -> world with totally diff magic + apocalypse? Just cool things people could mess with, really!

On topic of a character not knowing anything... maybe they do but just can't even interact or even apply half the knowledge they have? Like, either they're in a magical setting but still can't use magic- but everyone can. Or there is a system they just can't use (another idea of mine that's completely unrelated the Batfam/DC, actually), and so on and so forth!

Or they don't know and are just stumbling around, trying to find a way back home... and are either completely ruining everything or actually making things better without that even being their full intention. Broski just wants to go home, and they're just making the world a better place/destroying the entire universe by pure chance and accident.

Also like, what if people just accidentally stumbled into these worlds? Or random people are being brought there for... whatever reason? (I've seen that done a bit, and I'm also kind of doing it myself, but again, not going to dwell on that too much!) I don't know, I'm just throwing things around here, haha!

Tldr: I don't mind the idea and actually find it really interesting, I just wish more was done with it and I saw more experimentation with the subject! I do find it very fun, though :]

[olderthannetfic]

https://olderthannetfic.tumblr.com/post/732227944591802368/i-have-a-very-contentious-opinion-it-is-not It's interesting how different people view the word overrated, because I always thought it means something more like people claiming "This is the best thing ever and if you don't like it you're objectively wrong." Or, to say it a bit over the top, praising something as embodying true perfection, while it actually has flaws, as in something that you could objectively point out as flawed. Or that they give the popular media all these credits and praise for things that are already industry standard or claiming it's revolutionizing the industry. But in reality the popular media isn't actually doing anything really that different from the rest of the industry, at least not in any way that other media of the same type don't also do. Or retro-actively, that a show that had a boom in popularity gets called the top of its genre, and touted like the new standard only to quickly later fall of the face of the earth once that boom has subsided with nothing to show for it. At least that's how I understand overrated, not that the thing itself is bad or boring, it being bad or boring might not even really be a factor, just that it gets tons of praise, credits, and adoration for things it didn't do or didn't do well, and that it's popularity is built on that idealized version the fans want to see like a cloud castle in the skies. If someone writes a novel where the story is top tier, and the characters are really well written, but the grammar sucks ass, having people saying "This novel has the best story, characters, and the best grammar ever!" Calling it overrated in regards to the grammar would ring true, because it's being rated above what is actually available.

--

[bohemian-nights]

There’s something I’m really trying to wrap my head around: if you hate Nettles for breaking up Daemon and Rhaenyra then what difference does her skin color make?Like, I’ve definitely criticized Martin for his habit of having an older man finally meet his soulmate who just happens to be a young dark haired tomboy but I’m consistent about it. Why would Nettles being white make her more palatable? She’s still breaking up a ship

When I say that Nettles being race-bent would make her more appealing to this fandom, I’m basically going off of the pattern with other fandoms when it comes to Black female love interests and how this fandom has been treating her so far.

Go into any fandom(The Bear, The Flash, Marvel, Sleepy Hollow, Vampire Diaries, The Flash, Twisted, Riverdale, you name it, it’s there) and watch how they act when a Black girl might get/gets with the resident fandom hottie that everyone lusts after.

Like clockwork suddenly there are a million and one excuses on why she can’t get with the guy or how their relationship is “wrong”(she doesn’t need a man she’s strong and independent, why can’t she just be friends with him, they have no chemistry, it’s abuse, she’s a lesbian, etc).

Google fandom misogynoir and what pops up will leave you feeling a mix of vindication cause you aren’t going crazy and severely depressed because no one really accepts accountability or gives a sh*t so the problem keeps festering for years.

People will try to gaslight you into thinking nothing is wrong(which is what they are currently doing with Nettles since her fanbase is small) until people are finally forced to admit that there is a problem once they've been called out by white people or several articles have been written about their vicious behavior. By then it's too late.

Most Black people leave fandoms for this kind of abuse because when you are treated like less than in real life then when you try to have some fun like everyone else you are still treated like crap. Fandoms should serve as a source of escapism, yet for Black fans they are just another headache.

The only reprieve Black women have is when we create our own shows and movies (which people still get mad at but that's another discussion) and even then sometimes you are still dealing with a load of bullcrap(Shonda Rhimes I am looking at you).

The reason why this happens is because sadly fans use most of these female characters as self inserts. And while Black girls have no problem seeing themselves in other women the same isn’t true for other women(and that has to do with the ignorant belief that they are better because they aren’t Black).

These people are not used to not being put on a pedestal for nothing other than having the right skin tone so when once in a blue moon that doesn’t happen(or it looks like it won’t happen) it sends some into panic mode and thus comes in a need to put those Black characters back into the undesirable box.

The HOTD/Dance fandom in particular has a problem with this.

See how before this show Laena used to be thought of as Daemon’s great love, but the moment she became Blackish she was tossed to the side in favor of saying Miss Maegor was his great love, called her N-word, and compared her to a monkey. People don't have a nice word to say about show!Laena unless it's to support a ship where their self-insert is at the center of that didn't even happen with essentially no canon basis.

And you can’t use the excuse that the fans don’t ship it because Daemon was a crappy husband to Laena. After all, Dumbnyra wasn’t portrayed in a healthy light either yet it’s the most popular ship in this fandom by a long shot.

Now, I obviously don’t think everybody would suddenly start shipping Dettles if she were white or race-bent, but for a great deal of the people objecting to the ship and hating on her, it seems that Nettles’ race is the main reason why:

The fact that you have Dumbnyra stans(the last highlighted one) respecting Alys(a character from another team who they actively dislike) more than Nettles says it all and if that’s not enough then you also have this:

I guess props to them for at least acknowledging that Nettles is Daemon’s lover, but saying it’s fine to replace her with a white woman? Okay😒

Another anonymous individual straight up admitted they don’t want Daemon with a Black woman:

And it’s not as if people haven’t actively wanted Nettles to be race-bent, denied she’s Black-ish in the first place(see people thinking that it’s impossible for Black people to have brown skin🙃), or said that she was going to be played by insert non-Blackish.

Even when that beach photo was leaked no one really bothered looking for the two Black actresses in the pictures(some dumba** literally thought a obviously Black woman wasn’t Black and instead was a white woman in Black face because she wasn’t the color of the night sky🤦🏽‍♀️).

Team Green is not innocent either because the only value they see in Nettles is as a prop for a racist white woman’s awakening or as a gotcha moment to say Daemon is a pedo:

I would take you guys saying she's a child and her relationship with Daemon is icky seriously if you didn't ship the white version of Dettles, Alysmond.

All of this isn’t a coincidence. Nettles’ race is literally the thing that makes these people uncomfortable with her character, her relationship with Daemon, and her presence in the show(and the book for those who actually read it and didn’t immediately descend into a fit of rage at the mere mention of her name). She’s disrespected and treated like sh*t from this fandom because she's Black.

Again everything wouldn’t be peaches and cream if Netty wasn’t who she was, but as it stands, Daemon and Nettles would not be met with such visceral hate and repulsion if Nettles were white(or even non-Black) instead of a Black girl which non-Black fan girls refuse to actually relate to.

[bulkyphrase]

Is it too late to do the ask game...whoops <3

4. NOTP (Least favorite ship)

13. Character you think deserves a spinoff

18. Things you'd do if you're one of the MCU writers

35. Favorite MCU phase

36. A scene that makes you cringe whenever you watch them

38. Favorite and least favorite villain

It's never too late! Honestly, anyone can do any ask meme I've ever posted at any time.

4. NOTP (Least favorite ship) Hmm. There are plenty of ships that you could not pay me to read, but there’s not really one that stands out above the rest. Mostly because I’m not exposed to them very often--either they’re very rare pairs that I hardly ever stumble across (Sam/Tony, Natasha/Tony) or they’re popular in the parts of fandom I never visit (Tony/Peter, Bucky/Zemo). That being said, one ship that I just can’t get into, even though there’s nothing at all wrong with it, is Steve Rogers/Phil Coulson. It might be a power dynamic thing? Like, I can definitely get behind a ship where an older and more experienced/secure character is paired with a younger and more vulnerable character. And I can see the possibilities of a ship with a longtime fan who gets together with the object of their hero worship. But Steve/Phil is both of those at the same time, and they combine in a not great way for me.

13. Character you think deserves a spinoff Okoye-centric Dora Milaje series please and thank you. They have hinted about doing one and they really need to make it happen.

18. Things you'd do if you're one of the MCU writers I would definitely be including Sam Wilson more in current projects, that’s for sure. There is a new Captain America, and no one in the MCU seems to think that’s worth mentioning? Even in passing? And there’s no indication that he’ll show up in What if…? season 2 either.

35. Favorite MCU phase My gut instinct was to say Phase 2 (because of CATWS), but on closer inspection it turns out that phase has one movie I love, two I like fine, and three of (IMO) the worst films the MCU has ever made. So maybe not that one. So like any perfectly normal person, I made a spreadsheet of all the MCU films, ranked them from favorite to least favorite, and calculated the average ranking per phase. According to science, my favorite is Phase 1, with 3 and 4 coming very close behind.

36. A scene that makes you cringe whenever you watch them The scene in Captain America: The First Avenger where Steve is doing his USO show for the 107th survivors. Cringe isn’t even a strong enough word--I practically have to close my eyes and cover my ears for that part. It is too painful.

38. Favorite and least favorite villain He’s evolved out of his villain stage, but Loki was fantastic in Thor and Avengers 1. Complex and sympathetic but still genuinely a villain. For different reasons, Alexander Pierce and Justin Hammer are strong contenders as well. Most of the MCU’s worst villains are just deeply forgettable. Aldrich Killian is probably the worst, though, as he combines forgettability with sidelining Maya Hanson, who was originally intended to be the main villain of Iron Man 3.

[no-goodbyes-no-regrets]

I really think Emmerdale is in need of a serious shake-up, whether that means getting rid of the current story producers or bringing on an additional producer or consultant who can objectively look at what needs to be improved. Eastenders did the same thing last year and the new executive producer looked objectively at what needed to be improved and how the show could generate interest again. He thought outside of the box and considered many exciting story opportunities that were not considered or entertained before (such as popular characters, like Keanu and Ian, returning to the show). The actor who played Keanu wasn’t even going to return but he decided to because of the exciting storyline. Like I could only imagine Ryan or Danny returning if the storylne was an exciting or interesting one, like I highly doubt Danny would just come back full time if Aaron was treated like a background character again. I feel like these showrunners don’t think outside of the box anymore, and I think it might honestly be because they’ve been on for so long. Like if the Eastenders showrunner was on Emmerdale, I could imagine him coming up with some bonkers Robert prison escape storyline or something hahaha. I'd even be happy if they just brought back characters like Andy or Adam.

They definitely are in need of a shake up. The terrible trio don't seem to be moving on any time soon so bringing in someone new would be the next best thing. I mean I never thought there could be something worse than Bob and Laurel but they proved me wrong with Liam and Wendy. 🙃

It's like every story they plan starts off interesting but then just fizzles out into a whole load of nothing.

Like Caleb. When he got away from chas and they focused more on him and Cain (still not over the actor playing young cain in that flashback episode - he was so good!) he got more interesting, then the whole tate vendetta thing and then nicky being his son and being gay, it were all pretty good reveals. But then that's followed by 50 versions of the same conversation over and over again and you just don't care anymore.

Or Tom - what the fuck is the point of him? All he does is bitch about his dad, avoid Jimmy, and go between loved up with Belle to 'there's nothing keeping me here' - when he's just accepted a job at the vets 5 minutes earlier in the ep.

Then there was Cathy - 0 consequences after the online bullying thing, then a whole load of nothing, and then weeks of her yelling at Bob (which is relatable but still) because of her period thing that I've forgotten the name of... And now she's just gone??

Mary finally met someone and was happy but of course the woman had to be a scammer. And I think that's what they're doing with Ryan's new gf too... And don't get me started on the 50 thousand 'Moira is losing the farm' plots. Or the woolpack is getting a new owner and it's CHARITY and chas still ends up behind the damn bar.

So yeah someone new in the writers/storyliners office would be good.

I don't know if Ryan and Danny would ever come back but I think Danny especially has learnt his lesson. Ryan at least left at his character's high time. When Danny left it was basically because he didn't have anything to do anyway. And when he came back for Liv's death he was a glorified extra - they'd have to come up with something REALLY good to make him want to come back I think. Or a really big pay-check.

[yukidragon]

At the topic of genies, any headcanons for a genie!AU where Jack is a genie and Sunshine found the enchanted item he was imprisoned in?

I think what I find most interesting about the idea of a genie AU would be that you could arguably just tweak Jack’s powers a bit and he would fit the definition of a genie. Instead of a murder on stage, the previous genie could’ve tricked Joseph into taking their place as the new genie.

Jack as a genie would be interesting too in that he would be like those typical “be careful what you wish for” genies, but instead of wanting to screw his “master” over, he wants to... uh... well I guess you could say he still wants to screw them considering this is his sunshine we’re talking about, just in a different way, an absolutely consensual way. Regardless, the difference would be yandere obsession and love from the genie in question.

The popular mythos for genies is a person finds the container they’re trapped in, frees the genie, and gets 3 wishes in exchange. Sometimes there are more rules than this or different ones depending on the lore. The genie, most often being a trickster, finds ways to twist the wishes in their favor, usually to horrific ends to the summoner.

Naturally, Jack wouldn’t want a horrible end for his sunshine, but he might twist the wishes as much as he can... for their own good of course!

Really, Joseph’s backstory can be seen as a “be careful what you wish for” situation in some regards. Picture this... young adult Joseph is just barely scraping by out in the world. He’s a high school drop out with no family, no friends, and a nicotine addiction that drains what little money he can get through odd jobs. While hitchhiking, he comes across a curious object discarded in a ditch and finds it’s actually containing a genie.

What luck! After things went so wrong, something finally goes right in his life. Joseph makes his wishes... but the genie twists them. He wants to be seen by people, he wants to be loved. His wishes are granted with stardom... but the love directed at him is to his character, not him.

The two wishes Joseph made in the end make him question whether or not he should have wished them at all, leading to great highs and harsh lows. The third wish, made in a moment of desperation - maybe because he had been shot perhaps - winds up with him taking the genie’s place.

Though that gives me this pretty awful scenario of the wish making everyone remember the genie as [Redacted] Haberdae, with the genie literally taking Joseph’s place in all their memories and living the high life, rich, famous, and adored by many, while Jack was trapped and enslaved as the new genie.

A totally new person who looks nothing like him being remembered as the real [Redacted] Haberdae... it would be maddening for Jack. It could be another reason for Jack to lose himself in the role of his character in this universe, as magic prevented him from using his former names.

There’s a bit of irony here too that the genie steals the role of Sunny Day Jack, but it’s the only identity that Jack can even remember being due to the magic. The genie kept the identities he first willingly then unknowingly traded away to such a cruel trickster. His name was [Redacted] now even in his own mind.

Fast-forward to the present day. Jack is in a similar desperate situation in the game. 3 wishes, and he goes back into the container he was trapped in. (Let’s have it be a box for the Jack-in-the-box pun because why not?) In this world the SunnyTime Crew Show is one of those old shows that’s getting a modern day reboot, a well known classic. The star of the show went on to do many other roles, and is quite rich and famous.

In this AU, Jack not only wants to be free, but he would have every reason to want revenge against the genie that tricked him. The genie, knowing this, did try to get rid of the box so no one would find it (at least not until after he died of old age after living a fantastic life of luxury), but somehow it managed to get in the hands of the MC.

Jack has had 40 years to think about how to go about what he will do once someone frees him, how he could keep his freedom like the genie did to him and get revenge for what the genie stole from him. He could have even justified to himself how he would wind up using whoever freed him, as he won’t do anything bad to them. Unlike the genie, he’ll make things better for them. He’ll be a better person than he was in the past and far than the genie was. He won’t have to resort to lies and wishes that give him fake love that only gave him misery.

No, instead, Jack will offer his “master” suggestions, point out the issues that can come with certain wishes, and help guide them to something that’ll make them truly happy.

If his guidance benefitted both of them, well, all the better, right?

The bond between MC and Jack could be similar to the game in that there is some thought/emotion/feeling sharing going on, or it could stick with the usual genie lore where the genie is just serving the one who freed them. It really depends on one’s personal preference here.

In this AU, I imagine Jack wouldn’t expect to fall in love with the person who freed him, but MC is just so special and wonderful... how could he not? They need him too. Even if they are reluctant to make any wishes, afraid of the implications and knowing the tropes, the first wish they made spoke volumes about them and their lonely heart.

It was an innocent wish made without realizing what they had. MC just wanted love. The exact wording and tone depends on one own headcanon here, but I figure it’s something wished for after another one of Ian’s many heartbreaking phone calls that remind MC of just how much his cheating hurt them.

MC thought what the two of them had was forever, that Ian of all people would never do something like this to them. MC believed what they had was an unshakable love, a deep trust, and intimacy that only someone who was such a big part of their life since childhood could share. Now... Ian wasn’t letting them move on. He was reminding them of how much they loved him, how much they missed what the two of them had before.

MC was recklessly trying to abandon those old sickly sweet feelings of nostalgia, but a phone call like that would just remind them of just how much they wanted that love that Ian turned into a lie...

This leads to a thoughtless wish made when alone, where they thought no one would hear them.

It’s the perfect sort of wish to ensure Jack won’t be trapped in the box ever again. He’ll be their best friend forever~ This works out perfectly with his plans too. After all, he wanted to make sure his “master” wouldn’t suffer from the wishes like he did. What could be better than that?

I get an image for my specific version of the MC, Alice in this scenario. She knows she shouldn’t listen to Ian’s voice mails. They always make her feel so miserable, like she was the one who is responsible for all this pain they’re both suffering. She’s trying to move on, but a part of her feels so guilty about ignoring him that she can’t help it.

It’s another sickly sweet message. Ian sounds so heartbroken, remorseful. He misses Alice. Is she okay? Is she eating? Does she still remember this certain moment they shared in the past that meant so much to him? It meant everything to him. She means everything to him. He knows this is all his fault, but he’ll fix things. He loves her so much. Please don’t give up on him... not after everything they’ve been through and meant to each other.

It makes Alice’s resolve waver despite everything. She hates what happened. She hates Ian for doing this to her, to them, just as much as she still loves him. She hates that she still loves him. She hates that she aches for him and his suffering despite everything. She hates herself for feeling this way.

Alice wishes that she didn’t love Ian anymore. She wishes for love, true love, a love that would never, ever betray her like he did, or hurt her like he was. She wished for her true other half... a best friend who actually understood her and didn’t make her feel like she had to lock her heart away for both their sakes, someone who she could be wholly open to without fear or reservation that they would make her feel ashamed for the way she felt... someone who wouldn’t make her suffer like this anymore.

It was less a coherent wish and more of a ramble, just so many bottled up feelings bubbling out with cascade of tears. Alice didn’t even notice her tears falling onto the pretty box that she found at the thrift store as she sat on the floor of her apartment still clutching her cell phone with her bag of the purchases she made earlier that day lying haphazard in front of her. She just poured out all of her wishes as if it compelled, unable to stop herself from just desperately wanting the love Ian constantly promised her, only from someone who wouldn’t betray her or lie to her like he did.

It really was a perfect “wish,” full of so many holes that a genie could twist into countless knots as it suited them. There were so many ways that it could cause Alice endless suffering if one felt so inclined. Fortunately for her, Jack didn’t want that. If anything he could relate to her on a far deeper level than he ever expected to feel from anyone before. He once was like her, desperately wishing for love, companionship... something real that would last forever...

That was when Jack revealed himself. She wanted a best friend forever who would love her and never betray her? Well, he was here to grant her wish.

To say it was a surprise would be an understatement. Alice went from a heartbroken wreck to panicked, but Jack managed to calm her down. He understood her, just like she wanted. What better way to understand each other than to be able to share feelings, even thoughts? It certainly was a benefit to both of them after all.

Finding a genie is an intimidating prospect. There’s the offer of so much power in a few simple words, and Alice used up one of her three wishes without meaning to. Sure she could undo the wish with another wish and get rid of Jack, but... he was so kind, and she was so painfully lonely. She knew all the stories that cautioned “be careful what you wish for,” especially when it came to mysterious supernatural entities with unknown agendas. Still... it was hard not to like him. It was hard not to trust him.

Sunny Day Jack is a well known character in this universe due to the SunnyTime Crew Show not becoming lost media. It makes his presence even more surreal for Alice. Heck, she might have grown up with the show being something she watched, or at least was vaguely aware of as an older show from before her time, something her mom watched as a kid.

Jack even cautioned Alice to think carefully about what she wanted to use her remaining 2 wishes for. They should only be used for the most important things. Don’t worry though, she had all the time in the world to think about them. She should just enjoy the results of her first one for now, a best friend who cared about her and brightened her life, someone who would take care of her forever~

Of course, in order to take care of Alice, Jack would need to get rid of any obstacles that got between them. Genies are restrained with how much they can do with their magic, but if it’s for the sake of his sunshine’s wish, well, suddenly he can do a lot more.

This would give Jack more power than in the game... and make him a potentially far more dangerous threat to others.

In this scenario, Jack’s greatest threat would be the remaining two wishes Alice has and the shackles he made for himself in her first wish. He can’t do anything she doesn’t want. That’s fine though. He doesn’t want to do anything she wouldn’t want. He’s not cruel like the genie. He’s a better person now. He’s the real Sunny Day Jack... and soon the world will remember that too.

Alice gets a new roommate, a better place to live, and even a new job on the rebooted SunnyTime Crew Show. Things seem to be getting better for her, and it’s doing wonders for her self-esteem. She’s even less heartbroken about Ian, as he finally stopped leaving her voice mail messages. She can forget about him and focus on her new best friend Jack who treats her so well.

Others who meet Jack find it really weird how he’s cosplaying some old children’s show character 24/7, but he’s so nice, and he is such a good friend to Alice. He makes her so happy and it’s clear to everyone that the feeling is mutual.

Jack didn’t expect to fall in love with his “master” like he did, but Alice was just too sweet and kind. She was someone he wished to be with when he was still human. Sure, what he was doing was kind of... questionable... but what they had was real, unlike the fake love that the other genie tricked him into wishing for. For the first time he found someone who made him feel truly loved.

Jack never expected he would want to stay with his “master,” but soon he abandoned the idea of simply parting on good terms once all the wishes were used up, his freedom was ensured, and his revenge was complete. He truly would be Alice’s best friend forever, and more.

But Jack needed to take care of the former genie who tricked him. He couldn’t forgive that genie, nor could he trust that they didn’t still have some magic or other tricks that could screw him over again. He and his sunshine couldn’t be safe until he took care of all the obstacles in their way.

It’ll be fine though. Jack won’t let them hurt Alice or him ever again. With the help of his sunshine, he’ll get back everything that was stolen from him and more. He’ll have everything that he was denied in the first place. The world will never forget him again.

@channydraws @earthgirlaesthetic @sai-of-the-7-stars @cheriihoney @illary-kore

[feanorianethicsdepartment]

Alright, I read your recent post and need to know - what is your interpretation of Maglor’s relationship with the twins?

askjdhslkjag my biggest self-inflicted problem in this fandom is that my take on maglor, elrond, and elros' relationship is so intensely detailed and specific i am forever tormented by none of the fic i read ever quite getting it right (from my perspective; i’ve read plenty of fic that presents a good interpretation on their own terms, it’s just never mine.) it’s simultaneously way darker than the fluffy kidnap dads stuff and nowhere near as black-and-white awful as the anti-fëanorian crowd likes to paint it, it’s messy and complicated and surrounded by darkness, and yet there’s also a sincere connection within it which mostly serves to make all those complications worse. angry teenage elrond is angry for a great many reasons, and the circumstances around him being raised by kinslayers account for at least half of them. there’s lots of complexity here, and i don’t see it in fic nearly as often as i’d like

(warning: the post... feathers? i already have an internet friend called faeiri this could be awkward - anyway, the post she’s talking about includes the line ‘everyone is wrong about kidnap dads except me.’ this post follows on from that in being as much a commentary about why various popular interpretations of both how the kidnapdoption went and the way people subsequently characterise the twins just don’t work for me as it is a setting out of my own ideas. i’m not really interested in getting into discourse here, i’m just trying to get my thoughts down. i’ve read fic with these interpretations before that i’ve liked, even, don’t take this as a Condemnation, aight? also this turned out long as hell, so i’m putting it under a cut)

i can never buy entirely fluffy depictions of kidnap dads

which isn’t to say i don’t read them! sometimes all i want is something sweet, for these kids to get to be happy for once. it’s not like i think their time with the fëanorians was completely devoid of laughter

it’s just. the pet names, the special days out, the home-cooked meals, it can get so treacly it stops feeling like the characters they are in the situation they’re in and turns into Generic Found Family #272

it soaks out all the complexity - which is the thing i am here for - and acts like oh, these kids were never in any danger, they were perfectly happy being abducted by the people who murdered everyone they knew, there’s nothing possibly questionable about this relationship at all

and... yeah. that’s not the characters i know. that’s not the context i know they belong to

i just can’t forget the circumstances that led them to meet

rivers of blood, the air filled with screams, a town ablaze, a woman choosing to die. every interaction the three of them have is going to proceed from that nightmare

(sidenote: i tend to hold it was maglor that raised the twins, with maedhros looming ominously in the background not really getting involved. it’s mostly personal preference, i’ve been in and out of the fandom since before this kidnap dads thing blew up and when i joined that was a perfectly standard reading)

(also the cave thing was a dumb idea, old man, if only because it implies beleriand had streams safe enough for children to play in at that point. the way it separates the twins from the third kinslaying is also something i don’t particularly vibe with)

probably my least favourite angle i’ve seen on the situation (edged out only by ‘maglor was actively abusive towards the twins’ which no no no no no no no no NO) is the idea that maglor (and/or maedhros, append as necessary) took the twins specifically to raise them

like, i get where it’s coming from, but it makes maglor come off as really creepy

(i have read fics where it is indeed played off as really creepy, but that’s not a maglor i have any interest in reading about)

(’mags 100% bad’ is just as facile a take to me as ‘mags 100% good’)

even if you’re saying maglor took them in because they had no one left to take care of them - i highly doubt they were the only children the fëanorians orphaned at sirion. idk, it always makes maglor seem much less sympathetic than i think it’s meant to

i prefer to think of it as more... organic? something that evolved, not something that was preordained. them growing closer gradually, the twins finding an adult who might maybe be on their side, maglor becoming invested in them almost by accident

and then the twins are so comfortable with the second scariest monster in amon ereb they frequently sass him off and maglor’s gotten so used to not hurting them he’s not even thinking about it any more. no one’s quite sure how it happened, but they’ve made a Connection

‘wait aren’t they a murderous warlord of questionable mental stability and a pair of terrified small children who’ve lost everyone they ever knew? isn’t that kinda fucked up?’ yup! that’s the point! complexity!

another idea i don’t like is the idea that maglor was an objectively better parent to the twins than eärendil or elwing

other people have talked about this already, i won’t rehash the whole thing. i will say that while i don’t think elwing was a perfect parent - someone so young, in such a horrible situation, i wouldn’t blame her for screwing up - i do think she (and eärendil) did the best by them they possibly could

this is one of the few things they have in common with maglor

something i come across now and again is the idea that sure, elwing and eärendil weren’t abusive or horrible or anything, but they were a couple of basically-teenagers with so many other responsibilities, there was only so much they could do. maglor, on the other hand, is an experienced adult who could take much better care of the twins

and...

first off, it’s not like mags doesn’t have a job. he’s a warlord, he has a fortress to help run, military shit to handle, lots of other stuff that needs to get done to stop everyone from starving or getting eaten by orcs. i feel like sirion had enough of a government there was plenty of opportunity for elwing to take days off and play with her kids, but in the fëanorian camp nobody really has the time to chase after a couple of toddlers, least of all one of the last points on the command network. they just don’t have the people any more

(seriously, the twins getting a formal education with tutors and classes and shit is a weirdly specific pet peeve of mine. this is a band of renegades, not a royal household; if there’s anyone left with those kinds of skills they almost certainly have more important things to do)

more than that, though - well, a quick glance through my late stage fëanorians tag should tell you a lot about what i think maglor’s mental state is like at this point. he is so accustomed to violence death means nothing to him, he’s lost most of his capacity for genuinely positive emotion to an endless century of defeat and despair, he hates everything in the universe, especially himself, he’s only able to keep functioning through a truly astounding amount of denial, and he covers it all up with a layer of snark and feigned apathy, which he defends aggressively because he’s subconsciously realised that if it breaks he’ll have absolutely nothing left

(maedhros, for the record, is... i’d say more stable, but at a lower point. maglor may interact with the world mostly through cold stares and mocking laughter, but at least his mind is firmly rooted in the present)

(on the other hand, at least maedhros lets himself be aware of what they are and where their road will lead)

which... this doesn’t mean maglor doesn’t try to be kind to the twins, or rein in his worst impulses around them

there’s just so little of him left but the weapon

he stalks through the halls like a portent of death and gets into hours-long screaming matches with maedhros and has definitely killed people in front of the twins

not even as, like, a deliberate attempt to scare them, but because when you solve most of your problems by stabbing them it’s pretty much a given that people who spend a lot of time around you are going to see you do it at least once

and sometimes, he curls up in an empty hallway, and weeps

... suffice it to say i don’t think elwing’s the more preoccupied, or the less mentally ill, parent here

just. in general, the fëanorians aren’t cackling boogeymen, but they’re not particularly nice either

no one has the energy left for that. not these isolated and weary soldiers at the end of a long losing war and the beginning of the end of the world. they don’t really bother to guard the kids against them escaping. where else are they going to go?

the sheer despair that must have been in the fëanorian camp after sirion, the knowledge that the cause cannot be fulfilled, that they are utterly forsaken, that they’re really just waiting to die -

it can’t have been a happy place to grow up in, under the shadow of loss and grief and deeds unrepentable, and the slow march of inevitable defeat

they would have had a better childhood if they stayed in sirion, raised by people who knew how to hope

but that isn’t the childhood they had. and despite everything i’ve said, i don’t think that childhood was an entirely awful one

yeah, see, this is where the other side of my self-inflicted fandom catch-22 comes in. just as much of the pro-kidnap dads stuff comes off as overly saccharine and simplified to me, i find much of the anti-kidnap dads stuff equally simplistic in the opposite direction

the idea that maglor and the fëanorians never meant anything to elros and elrond, that they had no effect on the people they became at all, that it was just a horrible thing that happened when they were children, easily thrown in the rear-view mirror...

that’s even more impossible to me than the idea that life with the fëanorians was 100% fluffy and nice

like, i’ve seen the take that elros and elrond hated the fëanorians from start to finish. they were perfect little sindarin princes, loyal to their people and the memory of doriath, spurning every scrap of kindness offered to them and knowing just what to say to twist the knife into the kinslayers’ wounds

... dude. they were six. hell, given their peredhelness, mentally they could easily have been younger

what six year old has a firm grasp of their ethnic identity? what six year old is fully aware of their place in history? what six year old would understand the politics that led to their situation?

don’t get me wrong, i can see hatred in there. but something else that doesn’t get acknowledged alongside it often enough is the fear

some of the stuff i’ve read feels like it gives the kids too much power in the situation. they’re perfectly happy to talk back to and belittle the people who burned down their hometown and killed everyone they ever knew, like miniature adults who don’t feel threatened at all

and, like, six. i can see them going for insults as a defensive measure, but it is defensive. it’s covering up fear, not coming from secure disdain

(and a lot of those insults sound, again, like things an adult who’s already familiar with the fëanorians would say, not a scared child who’s lost almost everything. why would a six year old raised by sindar and gondolindrim know what the noldolantë is, let alone what it means to maglor?)

(... i’m just ranting about this one fic that’s been ruffling my feathers for five years straight now, aren’t i)

i mean, i write elrond as the world’s angriest teenager, who snipes at maglor pretty much constantly, but the thing about angry teenage elrond is that he’s angry teenage elrond

he’s spent long enough with the fëanorians he has a pretty secure position within the camp, and he knows that maglor won’t hurt him from a decade and change of maglor not, in fact, hurting him

but as a small and terrified child abducted by the monsters his mother had nightmares about? he fluctuated wildly between ‘randomly guessing at things to say that wouldn’t get him killed’ ‘screaming at maglor to go away in words rarely more complicated than that’ 'desperately trying not to do or say anything in the hopes of not being noticed’ and ‘hiding’

(and i don’t think the twins were never in any danger from the fëanorians, either. quite besides the point that before they started orbiting maglor nobody was really sure what to do with them... well, they wouldn’t be the first children of thingol’s line the minions took revenge on)

(fortunately for them, maglor did, in fact, take them under his wing. by this point even their own followers are shit scared of the last two sons of fëanor, nobody’s going to mess with their stuff and risk getting mauled. tactically, it was a pretty good decision for a couple of toddlers)

more to the point, i feel like a child that young, in a situation that horrible, wouldn’t reject any kindness they were offered, any soothing touch in a universe of terror

in a world full of big scary monsters, the best way to survive is to get the biggest scariest monster possible to protect you. that’s how elros rationalises it when they’re, like, eight, mentally, but at the time they were just latching on to the only person around them who seemed to care about them

that’s how it started, on their end. two very young very scared children lost in a neverending nightmare clinging tightly to the lone outstretched pair of hands

as for maglor...

i’ve called mags evil before, but i see that as more of a... technical term? he is evil because he did the murder, he remains evil because he won’t stop doing the murder. hot take: murder bad

but that doesn’t make him, like, a moustache-twirling saturday morning cartoon villain. he is deeply unhappy with the position he’s in and the person he’s become, and he’s always trying not to take that final step over the edge

it’s not that i can’t see a maglor who is abusive or manipulative or who sees the twins more as objects than people. it’s just that that characterisation is one i am profoundly uninterested in. i do occasionally read fic with it, but it never enters my own headcanons

horrible people can do good things!! kinslayers can do good things!! the fallen are capable of humanity!! people can do both good and evil things at the same time, because people are complicated!! maglor is not psychologically incapable of actually taking pity on these kids!!!!

it’s... again, complexity. the fëanorians straddle the line between black and white, which is a lot less sharp in the legendarium than it’s sometimes characterised as. it’s what draws me to their characters so much, why i have so many stupid headcanons about them. pretending they fall firmly on either side of the line is my real fandom pet peeve

and, like, this moment? this sincere connection between a bloodstained warlord and two children who will grow up to be great and kind in equal measure? i may not entirely like the direction the fandom’s taken it recently, but that beat, that relationship, it still gets me

so no, i don’t think elrond and elros’ years with the fëanorians were an endless cavalcade of abuse and misery. i think there was love there, despite the darkness all around them

an old, tired monster, and the two tiny children it protects

maglor never hurts the twins, not ever, not once. his claws are sharp and his fangs are keen, if he so much as swatted them he’d rip them in half. instead he folds down the razor edges of his being, interacting with them ever so carefully. he has nightmares of suddenly tearing into their skin

seriously, the power differential between them is so great, maglor so much as raising his voice would break any trust they have in this horribly dangerous creature. fics where he does corporal punishment always get the side-eye from me

the mood of their relationship is... i find it hard to put into words. melancholy, maybe, like a sunny afternoon a few days before the end of the world. three people who’ve lost so much finding what respite they can in each other as the world slowly crumbles around them

there are times when it feels like the three of them exist in a world of their own, marked out by the edges of the firelight. maglor telling stories of the stars, elros giving relaxed irreverent commentary, elrond getting a few moments to just be, all their troubles kept at bay

they are the last two lights in a world sunk into darkness, the last two living beings he does not on some level hate. he will tear his own heart out before he sees them in pain

he teaches them to ride, he teaches them to read, he gives them everything he still has left. the twins should never have been in this situation, maglor probably isn’t entirely fit to take care of them, but it is what it is, and they take what love they can

(maglor depends on the twins emotionally a bit more than any adult should rely on any child. he’s still very much the caretaker in their relationship, but that relationship is the only one he has left that’s not stained by a century of rage and grief. he’s obsessed with them, maedhros tells him frequently. maglor’s standard response to this is to try to gouge maedhros’ eyes out)

(that particular darker side to their relationship, where maglor’s attachment to the twins turns into a desperate possessiveness - that’s not something i think i’ve ever seen in fic. which is a shame, it feels much closer to my own characterisation than the standard ways this relationship gets maleficised. darker, in a different way than usual. horribly compelling in its plausibility)

however you want to read it, i don’t think you can deny this is a relationship that defines elrond and elros’ childhood. they were raised in the woods by a pack of kinslayers, the text is quite clear on this

but i’ve seen a lot of talk about how elros and elrond are only sirion’s children. they are completely 100% sindarin, they love and forgive eärendil and elwing thoroughly and without question, they identify with doriath over - even gondolin, let alone tirion. the fëanorians - the people who raised them - had zero effect on the people they grew into and the selves they created

and that, more than anything else, i find utterly unbelievable

look, i get what this is a reaction to. a lot of the kidnap dads stuff paints the fëanorians as elrond and elros’ ‘real’ family, and i’ve already talked about what i think of the idea that maglor-and-possibly-also-maedhros were better parents than eärendil and elwing. i think it’s reductive and overly optimistic and just a little too neat

but to say instead that elrond and elros held no great love in their hearts for maglor, no lingering affinity with the fëanorians, no influence on their identity from the people they grew up around, none at all? that after it happened they just left it behind and resumed being the same people they were in sirion?

that strikes me as just as much an oversimplification. it sands down all the potential rough edges of their identity, all that inconvenient complexity that stops them from fitting into any well-defined box, and replaces it with a nice safe simple self-conception i find just as flat and boring as declaring them 100% fëanorian

we can quibble over who they call ‘father’ (i personally find that whole debate kinda petty) but denying that it was actually maglor who was the closest thing they knew to a parent for most of their childhoods, and that that would, in fact, affect the way they thought of themselves and their family, elides so many interesting possibilities out of existence

(i’m not even going to get into the most braindead take i have ever heard on the subject, namely that because their time with the fëanorians was such a small fraction of elrond’s total lifespan it was like being kidnapped for two weeks as a toddler and had no greater significance than that. do you not understand what childhood is????)

like, i tend to think of elrond as a child as being very loudly not-a-fëanorian. elros is more willing to go with the flow - hey, if the creepy kinslayer wants kids, elros is happy to play into that in order to not be murdered - but elrond is very firm that he’s not happy to be here and he doesn’t belong with them

(this is after they get over their initial terror, of course, when they’ve realised they won’t be fed to the orcs for the tiniest slight. even so, elrond only really gets shirty about it around people he’s comfortable with, whose reactions he can reasonably guess at. naturally, the first person he does it to is maglor)

elros calls maglor their father exactly once, when they’re... maybe early preteens? this is because elrond hears him do it and immediately loses his shit. they have a dad, elrond says, in tears, and a mum, and any day now their real parents are going to come to pick them up and take them home

... right?

it gets harder to believe as the years roll on, as their memories of sirion fade, as they find their own places within the host, as maglor watches over them as they grow. elrond still mentally sets himself apart from the fëanorians, but it’s more of an effort every year. life in the fëanorian camp is the only one he’s ever really known. he can barely remember his mother’s voice

then the war of wrath starts, and the fëanorian host drifts closer to the army of valinor, and the twins come into contact with non-fëanorians for the first time in forever, and it becomes clear just how obviously fëanorian elrond is. he always insisted he wasn’t like the kinslayers at all, but he dresses like them, talks like them, fights like them

the myth cycles the edain tell are almost completely unfamiliar to him, he barely remembers the shape of the songs of lost doriath. even these sarcastic commentary and subversive reinterpretations he made of maglor’s stories - those were still maglor’s stories! he’s been trying to guess at the person he was meant to be, but it’s growing nightmarishly blatant how little elrond ever knew about him

instead, the people he was born to are as alien to him as the orcs of morgoth. he is a fëanorian, through and through

... yeah, elrond (and/or elros) having an absolutely massive identity crisis upon being reintroduced to his quote-unquote ‘true kin’ is another angle i’d love to see in fic that i don’t think i’ve ever come across. all those potential grey areas around who they are and who they’re supposed to be sound utterly fascinating, and i think it’s the complexity i hate to see elided over the most

i really, really doubt they could effortlessly slot back into being eärendil and elwing’s children. not when they’ve been surrounded by, lived alongside, been raised by the people who were supposed to enemies for most of their lives

they just don’t fit into that box any more. they can’t

speaking of eärendil and elwing, while i do agree that they both (especially elwing) get a lot more flak than they deserve, i don’t agree that therefore elrond and elros were never the slightest bit mad at them and fully forgave them for everything with no reservations

because, well, they were left behind. elwing had no other choice, but they were still left behind; it led to the world being saved, but they were still left behind. all the best intentions in the universe don’t erase the weeks and months and years of waiting, of a hope that grew thinner and frailer until it finally quietly broke

that’s a real hurt, and a real grievance. even if the twins rationally understand that their parents were making the best out of their terrible situation, you can’t logic away emotions like that. it’s perfectly possible for them to know they have no reason to resent eärendil or elwing, and yet still harbour that bitterness and pain

(i did write a thing once where elrond loudly rejects eärendil as his father in favour of maglor, but something i didn’t add in that i probably should have is that elrond later regretted doing that)

(not like, several centuries later, when he’d grown old and wise. two hours later, when he’d calmed down. but he was still legitimately angry at eärendil, because the one thing angry teenage elrond was not lacking in was reasons to be mad at the adults around him, and before he could figure out if he had anything less furious to say the hosts of the valar left middle-earth behind)

(it’s another element to the tragedy of the whole thing. in that particular story, which is mostly aiming for maximum pain, the only thing elrond’s birth parents know about their son for thousands of years is that he hates them)

(and he doesn’t, not really. you can’t hate someone you’ve never known)

not that i think they couldn’t ever make up with their parents! fics where elrond and his birth parents work past all the things that lie between them and form a functional familial bond despite it all give me life. i just don’t like the idea that there’s nothing difficult for them to work past

i don’t like the idea that elrond and elros would naturally, effortlessly identify with the mother they last saw when they were six and the people they only vaguely remember. i can see them doing it as a political move, i can see them going for it as a deliberate personal choice, but i can’t seeing it being immediate and automatic and easy

no matter how great a pair of heroes eärendil and elwing are, that doesn’t change the fact that to elrond and elros, they’re at most a few scattered memories and a collection of far-off stories. and so long as the twins stay in middle-earth, they’re never going to draw any closer

compared to the dynamic, multifaceted, personal, and deep bonds they have with the fëanorians - who, and i know i keep saying this but i think it gets tossed aside way more casually than it should, are the people who actually raised them, their birth parents must feel like a distant idea

and that’s why i can never buy interpretations of elrond as 100% sindarin, a pure son of doriath, with no messy grey areas or awkward jagged edges to his identity. given everything we know about his life, it seems almost cartoonishly simplistic

honestly it seems like a narrative a bunch of old doriathrin nobles trying to manouevre elrond into being high king of the sindar or something would propagate. it's neat and nice and tidy, something that’d be much more convenient for everyone if elrond did feel that way

but i just don’t see how he can. this narrative is easy and simple in a way real people never are, it ignores all the forces pulling him apart. elrond being uncomplicatedly sindarin with the life he lives and the people he's close to - that doesn’t make any sense to me

which isn’t to say i think he’s 100% noldorin, from either a gondolindrim or a fëanorian perspective. (i find it a little more believable, given, again, who he grew up around and who he hangs out with, but it’s still a bit too reductive for my tastes.) it’s also not to say i couldn’t believe an elrond who made an active choice to emphasise his sindarin heritage

it’s not how i think of him, but it works. i don’t have a problem with other people interpreting the complexities of the twins’ identities differently

i just have a problem with people acting like it doesn’t exist

in general i think there’s a lot untapped potential that gets left behind when you declare the twins, separately or together, as All One Thing

they’re descended from half the noble houses of beleriand, and they have deep personal ties to most of the rest. they belong to all of the free peoples even the dwarves, somehow, probably and i feel like that was kind of the old man’s point? so many peoples meet in them, to say they wholly belong to any one species is probably an oversimplification

they sit at a crossroads of potential identities, and rather than narrowing down their worldviews to one single path, they take the hard road and choose all of them. that’s what you need to do, if you want to change the world

and, to bring this back to my ostensible topic, in my estimation at least this mélange of possible selves does include them as fëanorians! it’s not overpowering, but it’s certainly there, and the adults they grow into long after they’ve left the host still bear influence from their childhood

nothing super obvious, nothing that wouldn’t stand out if you didn’t know what to look for, but there’s something almost incandescent in how fiercely elros reaches out for his dreams

there’s something almost defiant in elrond’s drive to be as kind as summer

as for who they publically claim as their family... honestly, it depends. while it’s usually more tactically prudent for elros to connect himself to his various human ancestors, on occasion he does find a use for his free in with the elf mafia, and elrond, code switcher par excellence, is famously the son of whoever is most politically convenient at the moment, which is rarely, but not never, maglor

(in the privacy of their own minds, well, eärendil and elwing may have been the parents elros was supposed to have, but maglor was the parent he actually had, and elros doesn’t particularly care to mope over what might have been. elrond, for his part, figures that after all the shit maglor has put him through, the least that bastard owes him is a father)

but honestly? i think before any of their mountain of identities, before thinking of themselves as sindarin or gondolindel or hadorian or haladin or fëanorian or anything, elrond and elros identify as themselves

they are peredhil, they are númenóreans, they are whoever they make themselves to be. that’s how elrond finally resolved his identity, figured out who he was and found something past the pain and the rage

he wasn’t doriathrin, or gondolindrin, or falathrin, or fëanorian, or whatever else. he was elrond, no more and no less

and that person, elrond, could be whatever he chose to be

... elros came to a similar conclusion, with much less sturm und drang that he’s willing to admit. being able to go ‘hey, i can’t possibly be biased towards any one of your cultures, because i’m descended from all of you and i was raised by murderelves’ makes it a lot easier to unite people around your personal banner, turns out

the stories other people tried to force on them shattered into pieces, and the peredhel twins were free to shape themselves into anything they could dream of

and as the new world struggles alive, these lost children of an Age of death begin to bloom into their full glorious selves -

i just. i love the poetry of that. despite every single shadow that hangs over their past, despite all the clashing notes pulling them apart, they harmonise it all into a greater, kinder theme, determined to make their world a better place in whatever way they can

they fail, of course, but so do all things. the inevitable march of entropy doesn’t diminish the long millennia they (and their descendants) held onto the light

and their growing up in the fëanorian host definitely had a huge effect on the noble lords they became. you can see it in elros’ loud ambition to create a land of happiness and hope, elrond’s quiet resolve to heal all the hurts inflicted by this marred reality

it wasn’t a perfect time by any means, but neither was it a nightmare. it was what it was, a desperate existence at the edge of a knife where, nevertheless, they were loved

even after years upon decades upon centuries have passed, it’s hard for the wise king and the honourable sage to separate out and identify all the conflicting emotions swirling around their childhood. they never knew eärendil or elwing, true, but they also never really knew maglor

not as equals, not as adults, not as people who could truly understand him. he disappeared into the fog of history, leaving only childhood memories of razor-sharp, gentle hands

it’s messy and it’s complicated and getting any real closure would be like shoving their way through a thornbush with bare hands even if elrond could find the shithead, and yet at the core of it all, there is light. not the brightest of lights, maybe, but an enduring one

that contrast, above all, that note of warmth amidst the shadows, is what fascinates me so much about their relationship. three screwed up people in a screwed up world, finding a little peace with each other

and the fact that somehow, it does have a good ending - the children grow up magnificent and compassionate and just, they become exemplars of all their peoples, lodestars of the new world born out of the ashes of the old - that makes it seem to me like this relationship must have contained some fragment of happiness

but, fuck, all the darkness that surrounds that love, all the tangled-up emotions its existence necessitates, all the prefabricated self-identities it can never slot into - nothing about it is simple, nothing about it is easy, and i find that utterly enthralling. especially how, despite everything, that flickering light never goes out

well, i don’t think it does, anyway. my take on this relationship is both complicated enough no one else ever quite gets it right and well-defined enough every single ‘error’ in other people’s interpretations sticks out like a kinslayer in rivendell

it is an entirely self-inflicted problem, i will admit. other people are allowed to interpret those complexities differently from me, and it’s entirely my own fault i lack the :waves hands around nebulously: to write my own hypothetical fic on the subject at a pace faster than glacial

still, though. i do wish there was more fic out there that engaged with these complexities. a lot of the common fandom interpretations of this relationship just sweep it all away

[loafaethernaut]

Cod Zombies Hot Takes Nobody Asked For

I might not ever post this but I’m bored and I might as well write these down before the Cod zombies thoughts leave my brain again for the next month:

-I could do a whole post complaining about this but while Vanguard zombies wasn’t good the hate that it got was far more annoying than the game itself.

-There is no such thing as a bad zombies map/game/characters. It all comes down to personal preference. I personally like Bo4 more than Bo2 but I get why most people prefer Bo2.

-Even now that my recency bias has worn off, I still think that CW is the best zombies mode for just gameplay and accessibility alone. The only real downsides are the lack of content (though now comparing it to the other games I don’t think it’s all that bad) and the fact that all the good cosmetics are locked behind a paywall.

-People really aren’t gonna like this one- but I think Ultimis is kind of the worst crew in the franchise. Looking back they’re not really funny, their story is very inaccessible (I could make a whole post about how much I loathe the early storytelling of CodZ and how you had to rely on biased retellings of easter egg hunters and youtubers), and almost everything good or interesting about each character is portrayed far better in their Primis counterpart.

-Zombies maps/modes are overall better when they’re made for casual players (coming from someone who is very much NOT a casual player).

-There is no reliable way to measure how “good” or “skilled” someone is at zombies, besides maybe CW’s Onslaught mode (but skill shouldn’t, matter, what should matter is if you’re enjoying the game).

-Samantha is one of the least problematic protagonists in zombies compared to the others we’ve had in the past (but there’s nothing wrong with calling her out for her flaws either).

-Most remakes or remasters of previous zombies maps are objectively better than their previous version and those who prefer the older versions honestly confuse me a little bit.

-Any and all conversations about a canon Requiem Strike Team should at least include Lawrence Sims and Helen Park.

-I’ve said this before but Dr. Elizabeth Grey is the most unique main crew member in the entire franchise simply based on her principles and morals alone.

-Infinite Warfare zombies had the best “on disk” map (but in every game after Bo4 this concept doesn’t matter).

-Most of the popular zombies youtubers these days actively do more harm than good to the “community” and most of these youtubers are aware of this and don’t care.

-The “operator” character selection system is actually really cool and more fun than having your character randomly chosen for you each match. I agree that there should be a set of four “canon” operators for the story that have more voicelines but you should still have the option to play as whoever you want.

-Anyone who denies the canon queerness of Samantha and Richtofen (and by extension Grey, Park, Krafft, anyone else I missed, etc.) is not worth the time of day in this fandom. No exceptions.

[fisherrprince]

do you have more thoughts on keyblade fighting that you need to put somewhere, because i have two hands ready to catch Should The Need Arise

anon: hey I heard you mention you’d analysed the combat styles in KH and what you said in the tags was already alluding to really neat stuff, but I for one would love to hear more of what you came up with!! so if you ever wanted to share any of your analysis then the floor is yours

aHAH, MY EXCUSE!!

Okay, so first some words on “standardized wielding styles”. These are styles shared by Terra, Aqua, Vanitas, Riku, and Xehanort and every other scala and daybreak kid. I will make the argument that the red style is the fanciest standard style, while the purple is seen often to make it easier on the little chibi sprites. BUT, I cannot discredit Eraqus, who uses the purple variant in bbs, nor can I discredit half of the Foretellers (Gula and Ava, at least, use this. Invi and Aced use the first type). So, two standard styles. For simplicity, let’s say one for primary offense, one for primary defense. The standard offensive style really wasn’t popular before Scala-era society.

check this difference out, specifically between ava invi and gula:

then between eraqus, hermod, and xehanort, and eraqus and terra.

These two were likely popularized and standardized for education in Scala ad Caelum for their predominant lack of obvious weak spots.

After this, we have unique styles. Those include Sora Kairi and Xion’s (similar to standard defense, but more mobile at the expense of form — Kairi takes after Sora but less confident, she hasn’t been hit that heavily yet), Ven’s (backhand, heavy range and mobility), Roxas’ (modified for two keyblades, but takes after Sora), and Axel’s (taught himself, comfortable with chakrams).

So! Let’s go.

.

Standard (offensive)

All styles have sub-variations, of a sense. Different wielders can choose where their keyblade points, and how they hold it exactly, based on what makes them most comfortable. Terra and Aqua point theirs downward, while Vanitas and Riku hold theirs above their head. What is recognizeable to this style is a hand for the sword, and a hand for guarding/blocking/items/magic.

It’s incredibly efficient. With only one hand on the weapon, you not only free up a hand for other things, but increase your range of movement with said weapon. Test it out yourself! The keyblade hand is always your dominant hand, held behind you for increased power when attacking (since you lose a significant amount of it by choosing not to grip with both hands). This style also decreases the speed of the defense you have, but with that increased mobility and swing power, along with a hand free to brace against the keyblade (defense strength up!), it makes up for it. Many people who use this also have strong barrier spells — both a testament to their preference for coverage and an acknowledgement that any directional block will take a little longer and be weaker if they try it with one hand.

The pointy end, though. What difference does it actually make, the height it’s at?

I think it’s half a matter of attack style preference and half intention. Riku, Vanitas, and Xehanort stab quite a bit. Aqua and Terra slice more. Not that they don’t do both, but it’s the first instinct. Aqua and Terra are also likely taught to hold their keyblade neutrally, in a safe position, until someone starts attacking. It’s polite! Eraqus also holds his one-handed, neutrally, until he gets into position. Riku and Vanitas learned to fight assuming everyone was out to fight them. Invi and Aced may like this style because of range (i hc she’s blind and strikes very very quickly, and he’s already very powerful with just the one arm and wants better motion).

and on character specifics: Terra often switches to two-handed, to copy his dad and add extra power to his hits without always sacrificing the empty hand. Vanitas likely was forced to relearn how to fight, as instead of solely being trained to be better at withstanding, he was constantly being made to better his own attacks. The moves Xehanort uses would best be replicated in the same style. Vanitas is wild for holding the massive spiky x-blade like that.

Now, what‘s good on this style does not correlate to what’s bad in the other. The two standard styles simply have different ways of dealing with each con they create or taking advantage of each pro.

(Here’s an interesting side note — Gula uses standard defensive, but in this instance, swaps. One hand… likely to display confidence! Wrong move, but hey. He got cocky. He’s also doing it wrong, and swaps back to two-handed to take Aced’s attack.)

.

Standard (defensive)

The main detriment of this style is the lack of ease of long range movement. Hold a wrapping paper tube out in front of you with both hands, then run. It goes to the side, or tucks in to your stomach, right? Dodge. Your legs will get in the way unless you know where to move that sword. It requires, interestingly, a little more discipline. You’d think Aqua would like that, but no, she wants movement and practicality, and she loves magic, and remember that you must take a hand off this style to grab a potion. You’d think young Eraqus wouldn’t, but remember that he’s a fancy royal lad.

The main draw, though, is tankiness, readiness, and power. You don’t need to move as much if nothing dares hit you! Ava and Gula might be attracted to this style because they’re not as physically strong, but want protection in close-quarters fighting. Using this style when your muscles aren’t as big but you still want to Hit Things Good, or when you want to be a boy you can’t knock over with a pail of water (horse stance rules), is probably solid advice.

Traditionally, this is a lot less like fencing, and a lot more like a samurai sword or kendo. Your blade is held in front of you, giving you very easy access to blocks and frontal attack/defense. In losing some twirly spinniness, you gain power and minimize your opponent’s ability to parry and block.

you gotta dodge master Eraqus so mcuh

All styles will swap between one and two hands for different moves. Eraqus, notably, swaps to a stance very similar to Xehanort when channeling a metric ton of magic.

Both of these styles require a degree of upper body/core strength, as does all swordfighting. I would be interested to see someone whose keyblade style relies on leg strength.

.

Sora, Xion, and Kairi

please look at the difference between the foretellers’ or eraqus’ two-handed grip and Sora’s. Do this with your shoulders and a top-heavy object.

They’re both in a hard stance, but hon. What are you, a gremlin? Anyways, a traditionally taught master would have… better form, even if it’s harder to learn at first. It’s habitual. Sora nearly crouches, and holds his keyblade back-pointed with two hands, which makes it easier for him to dodge roll, push off his feet quickly, and pull off those spinning combos he loves. It‘s really gonna hurt his muscles, in the future, though, since he’s doing a squat for like…. hours. Pulling on those shoulderblades and neck. Xion, too. Replicas had better have correct muscle dynamics. Kairi is brand new, so… maybe Aqua can teach her how to hold a sword so it doesnt hurt you.

Okay, now look at the grip itself. Held in front versus held to the side-back. They’re really attempting to combine both standard styles subconsciously, giving themselves more attack power while really wanting to keep that hard defensive parry, wanting to prevent all attacks to the front while also wanting mobility. It’s working for them really well, they fight like an anime character, and manage to get the best of both, with a minor sacrifice of length range that they don’t care about. We’re flexible and full of magic, baby! Holding the blade like this makes it pretty easy to let go with one hand without sacrificing that crouched defense position.

Now, Sora, specifically, is very adaptive. He’s had two keyblades, claws, guns, yo-yos, and a giant shield, to name a couple. He retains a bit of that alert crouch no matter where he goes, but Sora knows how he wants to attack and how to balance that with the most effective way to use his current weapon. He’s a smart kid! Sora has the most ridiculous shotlocks, which are also probably due to not always wanting to go standard for it. He also prefers to keep his focus on the enemy, which is evident in his reprisals and lack of very many effective “escape” moves.

Xion is very similar to Sora, but she does have some moves that are all movement. She switches to one handed for strikes a lot — using two for defending, one for smacking. In her data battle I’d swear some of those heavy hits are claymore-like. But anyways, since we’re magic, Xion cares not for the laws of exhaustion, and will ping about as a ball of light everywhere. Short range? Up in your business. Mid-range? In your business with one hand. Long range? Throws a boomerang. Hit her? No you dont. Ball of light. She’s above you and wants to bash your head in. (Vanitas also does this! A lot. It’s an easy way to catch someone off-guard. I’ll argue that the soras are very tough and strong, but not tanky. they want to avoid being hit a lot)

Another interesting note about Kairi. I say “unconfident” not because she doesn’t hit hard, but because her stance is also often tilted back, ready to dodge. It’s two handed, but almost all her moves are one. She does love spinning and throwing the thing! It looks like she’s been taking notes from the wielders she knows. It would be easy to teach her a standard style, I think. See here, she lets go on the strike, and by trying to do both, actually ends up with an advantage (being confusing) and disadvantage (losing both the power of two handed and versatility of one handed).

A counter to Sora and Xion is difficult to pin down. Time? Probably. Lack of heating pads. Something that takes all their attention is about the only way to get a sneak attack in, and then you have to hit hard. A counter to Kairi would be anyone who can knock her off balance. She needs a sturdier stance. .

Roxas

Roxas is interesting. He takes after Sora for the one blade. Wielding two, however, nets him a totally different way of fighting. Roxas’ clavicle muscles n… deltoids and stuff must be Ironclad. Also, two handed means you are very fast and sharp all the time. He has the advantage of standard defense (horse stance), and the advantage of offense (range of one sword, but twice).

Roxas generally attacks in two ways — simultaneous hits, and follow-up hits. Either he hits with both at once, or hits hard with the first one, and adds the second one as a bonus smack. He can attack by hitting in opposite directions with the two, like a drum, but that will be a little awkward and leave him prone to being tangled. That established, the follow-up hit method means he spins a bunch. As do we all.

Roxas gets a little complicated because we are not in the real world. We have magic and turning into light and physics that let you become a circular saw. So, typically, disadvantages would include: being unable to let go of a weapon to grab something or use an item, having just a very big silhouette to attack on, having difficulty with close-range attacks because Oathkeeper and Oblivion are kinda long, and convenience. Roxas gets to dodge #1 (keyblades can be unsummoned) and #4 (keyblades can be unsummoned). Speaking of dodging, he also gets to skirt the difficulty of dodging and rolling with two swords because he turns into a beam of light. But he can’t dodge how difficult it is to use two swords effectively — he needs to concentrate on fighting, and nothing else, or he risks messing up. He has to be very, very coordinated, and undistracted. Luckily he’s pretty good at making his opponents shut up, most of the time. Blocking is another thing — theoretically his blocks could be strong, but Roxas has no real brace: crossing your blades and taking a hefty stab might smack one of them back into your face. He mostly uses reversals and dodges, because of this.

The takeaway to this is Roxas is built for speed and power, and he is very strong. He’s a mid- to far- range fighter who if you’re not careful can snap you in half if you’re too close (be SO careful of that cross blade scissor).

A perfect counter to Roxas would be a tank that can grapple, and also be very distracting. If you can take hits, be talkative, and get close enough to stop his blades, you have a chance.

.

Ventus

This is a bizarre choice, my guy, but I get it.

Backhanded weapons are very impractical for a lot of... attacking, mainly in mid-range combat, and Ven likes to either fight very close or throw the keyblade like a boomerang (and hey, backhand gives it a good whip for throwing). His attacks aren’t meant to one hit KO, but they do come with a bit of power to them, especially on the backslash. Like holding a knife for gouging. It’s for very close defense — pretty good when Wayward Wind and Missing Ache have hooks.

Backhand also, while retaining that empty hand for potions and guarding, gives you an extreme coverage boost. By which I mean Ven’s sword hand now has a nearly 270 degree sweep of “I see you, don’t touch me”, very quickly, based on just flicking his wrist. It sacrifices a ton of strength/sturdiness, but you don’t need that if you’re dodging. You also don’t really need to block, which is slower, but relatively sturdy when Ven does it, as he blocks with mostly the chunky hilt between crossed arms. He sacrifices (again) a bit of strength for coverage — an attack would hurt his arms, not his chest, if he were hit head-on.

His attacks often have him flip the blade around in his hand, too. Quick swaps between standard moves and backhand ones. Basically, Ventus is built for moving, protecting himself, and quick attacks that wear down the enemy, not outclass it. Likely because he’s good at fighting, but everyone he’s fought hits harder than he can! It doesn’t matter how he holds it, getting hit will hurt. So he just. Doesn’t. He’s not a buff little guy — but he is a persistent one. Ven very likely made this up on his own, in Daybreak, and it was too hard to fix his whole style, but it was enough to correct most of his form so he doesn’t hurt himself too much. He is going to have to really stretch that shoulder and wrist (maybe get a brace), though. At least his neck is ok. … not sure about his knees tho dang boy that crouch

A perfect counter to Ven would be someone big and fast, who hits hard mid-range. He’s already been sparring with Terra, though, so when in doubt, try scruffing him?

.

Axel

Theres not a ton to say about him — he‘s not a swordfighter. He uses his keyblade like it’s a frisbee. Because that’s what he’s used to! His neutral is behind his back on his shoulder, which is terrible for readiness, but okay for chucking the thing. It’s good it has a sort of… ripstik like… boomerang quality.

Axel’s fighting style is completely made up, like most of the self-taught wielders’. His strengths lie in some of the benefits of standard offensive style (one-handed), and some of the same coverage stuff as Ven, having a cocked wrist most of the time so no one can sneak up around him without risking getting whacked very quickly, and having an interesting range due to the pointy end being basically on a spinny swivel wherever his hand moves. He’s not going to be good at close-range and he knows it — his attacks are mostly distance. And the guy has ZERO defense, combined with zero coverage when idle, so it’s for the better.

Distance-wise, though, he rocks. Treating the blade like it’s a flaming throwing weapon means his idle is actually great for sudden flick-tossing and attention-guiding for sneakier attacks, and his stance itself (…nonexistent) serves a different purpose: bait. Basically a big "come hit me". Fun, when you have a lot of fire magic and two friends who are beasts and love to take advantage of a distracted enemy — distance on the blade, proximity on the burning.

A perfect counter to Axel would be someone pinging around very close <—> very far and circling him incessantly. Like, data Xion could wreck him, as he has to wait for the boomerang to come back -- he no longer has two spinny wheels. Also someone with water magic.

.

SO! In conclusion! Having a teacher who teaches you correct sword usage rather than instinct may detract from overspecific styles that benefit you most but leave weak spots, but your muscles and your oversights will thank you. Everyone is glad we have the power of the Mouse and anime on our side.

Keep in mind again that I have done cursory research, and have had minimal actual sword instruction, I am not an expert and this is all for fun anyways :]

[freyjas-musings]

I try really hard not to say anything because I have a real life and this is my outlet to forget my stressful life for a bit ...clearly I was kidding myself if I thought this fandom is a way to relax and have a bit of fun ....

Now , after bullying a Minor aggressively over wanting to celebrate a character that belongs to Sarah J Maas that she as a fan loves.... lets clear a few things up ....

I am proud of this young girl who has been nothing but graceful and polite in the way she handled the bullying for wanting to celebrate a character she likes .... She has just as much say in wanting to celebrate a character as we all do ....

The first excuse for the outrage - that elain week was originally in April ... yes it was but it was the first week of April last year ... and nothing was announced even until the end of March this year and Gwyn week was only announced in the last week ... so unless people were planning to announce a pop up elain event with a days notice ... clearly there were no plans of having an elain week during the first week of April... that's a lie and an excuse ...

Gwyn week was announced in April since it is also a SA awareness month ... it is only fitting to appreciate a character thats been so popular and positive during that Month ... especially when her character brings comfort to so many survivors within the fandom....

The second excuse - that it was organised by a person who ships Elain and Lucien.... Now this is low and disgusting .... what makes you think these people are wrong wanting to see Elain with her mate ??? Clearly you all haven't gotten her POV ... so what makes you so sure that it is wrong ... the character probably has reservations I get that ... but its not like he has forced himself on her ... Canon suggests he has given her space and time ... and clearly you all are not writing the series... So your argument that its Wrong is silly ...

Also, Azriel literally smothered Elain and disrespected her choice to help with the scrying .... His thoughts in the POV bonus chapter were clearly misogynistic and disgusting.... I love him but he needs intense therapy ... He literally treated Elain like an object that he wants to taste once .... if anything shipping them and then calling the rest of us misogynistic is a joke and shameful ... get over yourselves... that pairing is just toxic for anyone who has basic reading comprehension... yet most people have never lashed out at that fandom group for being anti feminist..... and anti elain .... if u r allowed to ship them then eluciens are allowed to ship them just as much .... you have a problem?? Suck it up ... we all are ...

Third excuse for outrage .... Gwynriels are the reason elain gets hate, hence we are not allowed to celebrate the character??? Have you people lost it ??? Do you lack grey matter in your brains??? Elain getting hate has nothing to do with the Gwynriel pairing .... a character is not defined by which person she needs to end up with ... it might be a difficult concept for most of you to grasp but anti elriel is not anti elain ... but given how Gwyn's character has been butchered and continued to be butchered to make Elriel more palatable.... I am not surprised they think everyone's like them ... No ....

There are people who don't like Elains character... for multiple reasons of their own ... its as simple as them not participating... there are just as many who don't like Lucien or azriel ... stop gatekeeping characters as plot points to ships alone ... its silly and exhausting...

So the outrage was just a tantrum thrown by a bunch of adults who lack basic maturity ... now, you want to celebrate Elains week in September as well ... go for it ... have as many as you want ... who said there can only be one week ... people who want to participate will do so ... Elriels ... you guys could have still done that without throwing that ugly tantrum and no u cannot dictate who can and cannot participate....

You want it to be a closed event then call it a closed event exclusive for the elriels ... u can't say its Elains week but gwynriel and elucien shippers can't participate... although if you are saying that it speaks volumes about the quality of people on your side isn't it??

Same with Azriel week you guys want to have 2 weeks celebrating Azriel have 2 weeks ... participation is optional ... do what suits you but do it with dignity ... without stepping on anyone else's toes ...

Just find other ways to keep yourselves happy rather than by throwing childish tantrums and with performative outrage ... baseless and absolutely needless... None of this will confirm or manifest any ships ... what's sunk has sunk ... no amount of outrage and bullying can salvage the wreckage...

Please get a life everyone ....

[padawanlost]

I have a couple of questions about Karen Miller/Traviss (are they the same person?) who wrote the Clone Wars novels. Are they still considered canon? Also, I heard that Karen Traviss was abused online or something, was that over her Star Wars novels? Really, I mean that just takes toxicity to a new level.

This is a hot topic but one that desperately needs to be explored because to this day people are still spreading misinformation about that happen as a way to ‘defend’ their points. So, here we go:

Karen Miller and Karen Traviss are not the same person.

Karen miller wrote novels like  The Clone Wars: Wild Space and the Clone Wars Gambit series.

Karen Travis wrote novels like The Clone Wars movie novelization and the Republic Command Series.

Both, in my opinion, are very talented writers but both also suffered thanks to sexiest and overzealous fans. There are many reason why they became ‘infamous’ but the main reason is their political stance. They both had a lot of sympathy for the clones and the enslaves citizens of the GFFA, and both were not shy about calling out the Jedi Order and the Senate for their inaction. Of course, jedi stans hated them. To add insult to injury, Karen Traviss was the writer who ‘killed’ Mara Jade (btw, this wasn’t her idea but she’s still hated for it).

Karen Miller ‘crimes’:

Her biggest ‘offense’ was being mistaken by Karen Traviss (more on that later). Beyond that all she did was write Anidala and portraying Anakin and Obi-wan as good but flawed people. This is the kind of stuff she wrote:

“Coruscant was out there. Padmé was out there. There was a heart in his chest, beating, but it was only an echo. She was his true heart. She was his home.”  - Karen Miller’s Clone Wars Gambit: Siege

“He saw himself a candle. He saw himself behind a wall. Brick by brick he tried to raise it. Brick by brick, it was destroyed. Every death was a hammer blow. Every loss a chisel. The Sith were a wily foe, they knew where and when to strike. They were drawn to weak places, to old griefs and unhealed wounds.” - Karen Miller. The Clone Wars: Wild Space

To weep for a fallen comrade was to display unseemly attachment. A Jedi did not become attached to people, to things, to places, to any world or its inhabitants. A Jedi’s strength was fed by serenity. By distance. By loving impersonally. Karen Miller. The Clone Wars: Wild Space

Nothing particularly edgy or offensive. Imo, she’s one the best prequel writes in the game.

Karen Traviss ‘crimes’:

Beyond killing Mara Jade, she’s known for being critical of the Jedi and Republic and advocating for clone wars. She supported the highly offensive and controversial idea that clones were human being who deserved the freedom. She also believed that love (romantic or platonic), family and friends were not inherently evil and that Order made mistake by banning them.

Karen Trraviss is also know for writing so much of what we know of Mandalorian culture and she struck a nerve that too.

She wrote things like:

“The only thing [the clones] all had in common was their appearance—although they were starting to age differently, she could see that now—and what the Republic had done to them. Apart from that, they were individuals with the full range of virtues and habits of random humankind, and she now felt completely at home with them. If she had a side in this war, this was the one she chose: the disenfranchised, unreasonably loyal, heartbreakingly stoic ranks of manufactured men who deserved better.”  Star Wars - Republic Commando: True Colors by Karen Traviss

Serenity, my backside. Passion. Passion and anger and love. That’s what this galaxy needs, not serenity. Passion for change. Anger at this brutality. Love-buckets of it, for everyone, love between child and parent, between spouses, between brothers and sisters, between friends. We need more attachment, not less. Attachment can stop us from tearing ourselves apart. The Clone Wars: No Prisoners by Karen Traviss

He wanted to ask her why only a handful of Jedi objected to a slave army, and why they could claim to believe in the sanctity of all life and yet treat some life as being exempt from that respect. [REPUBLIC COMMANDO: TRUE COLORS BY KAREN TRAVISS[

Fandom (over)reaction:

Because of her ‘polemic’ takes, she started getting a lot of hate from the fandom. She used to interact with the fandom and her reward was to get constant death and rape threats. Some fans threatened her with ‘corrective rape’ to change her mind about the Jedi Order and other topics. Apparently, she responded by calling these fans ‘talifans’.

And the fans used that reaction to further vilify her. she was accused of hating the Jedi Order, of favoring Mandalore over them, getting the size of the clone army wrong, of ruining the OT by killing Mara Jade and now, of attacking fans. She was basically bullied out of the franchise.

However, her depictions of Clones and Mandalorians as heroes, while portraying the Jedi as petty or villainous, frustrated some fans, who felt that her stories and characters were counter to Star Wars. These fans wrote negative reviews of her books, and created a petition to George Lucas to stop Traviss from writing further Star Wars books. Traviss also received rape and death threats. Traviss wrote about these experiences on her blog, attacking the fans who created the petition, and likening them to Muslim extremists by calling them "Talifans." Traviss ultimately retired from Star Wars writing due to the threats she received.  [x]

It got to point where she had to write an open letter to the fandom explaining she DIDN’T hate the Jedi Order, she just didn’t believe things like war crimes and slavery should be so easily overlooked.

“No sane human can hate someone who doesn’t actually exist. From a writer’s perspective, the more super-powers characters acquire, the harder it is to develop logical story arcs and true human drama…but I don’t have any real feelings about fictional characters that stay with me once I step out of character-point-of-view-writing mode and get on with my life […] My real problem, then, is not with fictional Jedi, but with the people who refuse to believe they can do wrong. – Karen traviss [x]

If you want to know more about this, check this out :)

Now, back to Karen Miller

A few years ago, a popular sw tumblr tried to discredit Traviss writing by spreading the info that  she was a sexualizing Ahsoka with Bail so people started hating her for that too. Thing is, Karen Miller was the one accused of doing that but here is the deal:

Neither Karens ever wrote Ahsoka interacting with Bail Orgarna. What actually happened was that someone wrote a fic about Bail sexualizing Ahsoka on fanfiction.net, someone read it and decided the writing style was similar to Karen Miller’s so OF COURSE it must be Karen Miller who wrote the fanfic. Thanks to that genius level of deductive work, over the time people started saying that Karen Traviss wrote about Bail wanting to fuck Ahsoka as extra proof that SHE IS EVIL and should not be taken seriously.

Conclusion

Regardless of what you feel about someone writing, it’s NEVER okay to send them rape or death threats. Never! unfortunately, some hardcore jedi stans still spread the ‘karen traviss was attacking us’ without explaining exactly transpired between her and the fandom. According to their narrative, she was the *only* one in the wrong. That’s why there’s so much misinformation about her and what truly happened online.

My take on this ‘controversy’ is very simple: stop sending rape and death threats to women. I don’t care if you agree with her or not. The moment you believe a women *deserve* to be rape or killed, or support those who do, you lose any more ground you might think have. The situation becomes even more dire if it’s done to protect FICTIONAL CHARACTERS. 🤦‍♀️ I swear...this fandom....