#and that they love each other so much they literally commit atrocities for each other

[kunikiiida-kuuun]

"Kunikida is alive. If he died, there's no way I wouldn't have sensed it. Not just Kunikida either. As long as at least one agency member remains alive... They will never stop resisting. This battle will be won by my team."

[moghedien]

HONESTLY THO can we talk about the angst of Aylin and Isobel’s separation from Isobel’s side of things

Because the angst from Aylin’s side is there and obvious and very very clearly a huge motivation for her actions and yeah it’s great. But Aylin is the immortal. Aylin was always going to be the one that watched Isobel die. They both always knew this, it just happened way before they expected and caused a whole lot of turmoil. And even with all her angst, Aylin is certain that Isobel is dead and not coming back. She saw her body. She probably saw her buried. She probably say many of Ketheric’s vile attempts to bring her back before she was imprisoned. Isobel is dead and not coming back. Losing Isobel and then spending a century being tortured and bound as a means of helping Ketheric maintain profane power and immortality is like…so much and it’s driving her passion and anger when you meet her, but it’s also very obvious that’s what’s going on when you have the context. And when you have the context, it’s clear and it’s obvious to see.

But Isobel’s angst is just so subtle and steeped in uncertainty.

Isobel woke up and it seems like she didn’t even realize she had died. She describes it as nothing and then waking up. She doesn’t know how she died. She doesn’t remember dying at all. She just knows she woke up and it was a 100 years later and everything was very, very different.

Her father had been a Selunite when she died, and now he was gone from Selune to Shar to Myrkul. He went from being a seemingly good man and leader to a mass murdering undead necromancer who seemingly began committing atrocity after atrocity as soon as her tomb was shut. He destroyed her home, her community and everyone in it, and defiled everything she has ever held dear. Apparently for her, even.

She has basically no answers for how any of this happened or what is going on, she just flees and hides until she can create a sanctuary for people who seem more or less to stumble in the dark too.

Like all of that has to be terribly confusing and consuming her mind, but that would only be made worse by her learning about Aylin.

Because Aylin isn’t supposed to die.

Isobel is supposed to be the one that would die one day. Aylin is immortal. They both knew this. Everyone that knew about them knew this. But then suddenly she’s waking up 100 years later in a very different world to her very changed father telling her that Aylin is dead.

It’s impossible, but looking at everything else that seemed to happen while she was “sleeping,” maybe it isn’t. Maybe Aylin is dead. Maybe somehow her immortal demigod mate died.

But maybe not

The only thing telling her that Aylin died is Ketheric who is now very clearly an unreliable source. Maybe he’s right. Maybe he isn’t. She literally has no way to know.

So if Ketheric is lying, then where’s Aylin? Did she somehow become corrupted like everything else she used to love? Is she being held prisoner? Did she just leave and move on once Isobel died? Again, she has little to indicate what could have happened. For all she knows, Aylin is off somewhere being the love of some other cleric’s life. It’s been 100 years after all.

And the worst part is that she has two pieces of evidence on Aylin’s fate that seem to contradict each other. She has her father telling her that Aylin is long dead. Then she has Marcus. Someone that she knew and interacted with before you arrive at Last Light, arriving with a newly acquired set of wings. She doesn’t know where those wings came from, of course. But her father sends a goon to kidnap her with a set of wings they didn’t have even days ago? She would suspect the source. She would know that he was being intentional about that. So where would he have gotten a fresh set of wings if the only angel around was long dead?

While Aylin is no doubt like tragic in this situation, she never ever had reason to hope Isobel was alive. She never suspects it. All of her angst around Isobel is mourning and vengeance.

Isobel on the other hand has no idea what happened to Aylin. Aylin isn’t supposed to be able to die, and yet she’s dead. She’s supposed to be dead, yet Ketheric seems to be getting fresh body parts from her. He seems to be doing that, but it could be lies to trick her. Aylin might be alive and well. Aylin might be dead. Aylin might be evil and corrupted. Aylin might be helping Ketheric for all she knows. Isobel has no way of knowing anything and the worst part is, she can’t go try to figure it out.

If she leaves, everyone in the inn will die. Even if she somehow can leave without innocents dying, she can’t put herself anywhere near Ketheric since he clearly seems willing to hurt her emotionally now. He’ll probably do more the next time he has a chance. Who knows what he would do to make her stay if she went looking for answers there. Who knows what damage he could do if she gets the one thing he wanted.

Literally all Isobel can do is sit at the inn and pray to Selune for answers, or better yet for Aylin.

But Selune doesn’t seem to be providing the answers she wants, and if you play as a Selunite, Isobel hints at how much that is angering her.

[notmeowse]

Solavellan ending and why I hate it

Major Veilguard endgame spoilers under the cut.

I beat the game two days ago and I haven't been able to stop thinking about that ending. I'm not going to get into the rest of the game's flaws. They've been covered at length. But all of those issues aside, the one perfect, untouchable thing I thought I had left as the game drew to a close was the Solavellan ending. After all, Trick wrote the original Solavellan romance and the incredible continuation of it in Trespasser. As lead writer, they were directly responsible for making it happen. I thought we had this in the bag.

So on one hand, my favorite Dragon Age romance finally reunited and disintegrated off into the sunset.

On the other hand, he did not choose her.

This is what ruined it for me. I know a lot of people have issues with her sacrificing her life to join him in the Fade, but that was really a secondary issue for me.

What was the point of their entire relationship if, in the end, when it REALLY counted, he was never going to choose Lavellan over tearing down the Veil? Why did it take Mythal, who he actually killed in the last game in order to take her power, to convince him? Where's the romance in that?

This literally just turned into the story of Lavellan and the elven god who did not love her enough.

Okay, yes, the gamified reason it takes Mythal to convince him is because Lavellan was tacked onto an existing avenue of dealing with Solas rather than being given her own separate option, right? At the end of the game you have the choice to either fight him, trick him, or (if the Mythal-related criteria is met) invoke the essence of Mythal contained in the statue. No Bring Out The Big Guns, Lavellan option.

In my opinion, she should have been the fourth option, only available to players that have an Inquisitor that romanced Solas and encouraged Lavellan to reunite with him mid-game. It would have required about as much effort to do this as it did to have him turn her down once again (which, I maintain defeats the entire purpose of the story being told here). That would have been the absolute easiest fix to this fucking mess.

I understand why Lavellan wasn't counted among his regrets and therefore wasn't in the Lighthouse murals (because he doesn't actually regret falling in love with her) and I acknowledge that getting real closure from Mythal is important to Solas's story, and that it did have its place in that ending scene. Whether she was a lover or a mother to him isn't really the issue here -- it's the fact that she holds sway over him where Lavellan apparently does not. Despite the fact that, again, he killed Mythal in the previous game, despite the fact that he couldn't bring himself to kill the Inquisitor for the anchor, despite the fact that Lavellan was the one single thing in the world that made him really want to walk away from his plans.

(Why wasn't the "I release you from my service" a conversation had between him and Flemythal back in Inquisition? And why is that essence of Flemythal (who now exists in Morrigan) suddenly so chill and pro-Veil? Do we not remember the reckoning that will shake the very heavens? The She was betrayed as I was betrayed, as the world was betrayed? I will see her avenged? No payoff? None? There's so much wrong and bad writing to unpack there, but this is still a Solavellan post.)

Back to him wanting to turn away from his grand plan. The fundamental difference between Mythal and Lavellan, in my opinion, is the way each of them saw him. Mythal asked him to change for her, to leave the Fade, to commit atrocities with her out of love and service. Lavellan only ever loved him as a man, never once asking him to change for her, never asking him to be anything other than himself. In the time they were together, he was able to be the person he wanted to be. It took a very specific set of circumstances and a very specific person that had to fall into place for that romance to happen, which is arguably what made her so special, and what made their time together even more so. It followed, especially with what we know now, that he would want to drop his grand plan to be with her.

In comes Veilguard, which introduced a parallel between Solas/Mythal and Solavellan. In the second memory, we discover that Mythal never once chose Solas over her duty to elvhenan (even when he begged her to lay it down and run away with him) and dragged him along with her to commit unspeakable atrocities (in her words, she broke him). Solas (at that point in the game, when we were witnessing the memories) had yet to choose Lavellan over his crusade, but quite literally loved her too much to bring her along with him. He would not let her do that to herself, he would not do to her what Mythal did to him.

Here's where I feel like I'm losing my mind, because I thought the point of that mural was to foreshadow him eventually choosing Lavellan, as he is very much not Mythal, and is very much looking for a reason to lay it down, to be proven wrong. I also thought the blurb in the Inquisitor character creation menu (who did you romance) was foreshadowing it, as well as the mid-game choice Rook can make to encourage her to reunite with him and change his heart.

So why didn't it happen? I can only assume because they didn't actually want to have any of our choices carry over, let alone the Solavellan option (which they should have realized from the start was a bad call and also fucking impossible to manage given that the game is a direct sequel to Inquisition). The fact that Lavellan is tacked onto an already existing scene rather than being given her own is evidence of this. However, even if she had to be tacked onto the Mythal scene and not given her own, a simple reordering of the events would have fixed the fucking ending. So it could have gone two (very easily manageable and not too much extra) ways:

Remove the part where he turns her down. Remove the entire thing. Morrimythal could have flown up to him before the Inquisitor even arrived on scene, we could have had our statue moment, and just when he thinks he's going to be all alone behind the Veil, Lavellan shows up, they reunite, and she goes with him. (Easiest way for Bioware to fix it imo)

Lav acts as the ace up our sleeve, a fourth option (and a second option to make him lay it down) instead of using the statue to redeem him. Mythal releases him from her service AFTER he chooses Lavellan, thereby releasing him from his guilt over her. I prefer this one. It should have been this. They could have walked away, they could have tied themselves to the Veil, either way works.

Now, I am among those that think the Veil should have come down, which would have rendered this entire thing moot, had it happened. But since Bioware is dead-set on maintaining the status quo in Thedas, it should have been this instead.

In writing this I wonder if I've been completely delusional over their relationship, but going by the reactions to this ending, it seems that what we got was not at all expected.

[riddlesb1tch]

A General's Burden

Cassian x reader

summary: after a rough mission at Windhaven, Cassian needs some comforting. His mate is more than happy being there for him.

warnings: mentions of wing clippings, allusions to torture and death.

Today had been a particularly gruesome day for Cassian. He had ventured to Windhaven, the camp where he, Rhys and Azriel had all grown up. There had been some reports of males clipping females’ wings again, and Cassian went to end it once and for all. And even though the mission had been successful, the males were punished for their actions and the females had been given the medical care and attention they needed, you knew it had taken a toll on Cassian’s mental health. 

He had been quiet since he had returned a few hours ago. Even when you had asked how it had gone on the flight back, Cassian hadn’t replied. Now he was locked up in your shared bedroom, blinds closed, mental shields up, and completely cut off from the world. As strong and tough Cassian seemed to the world, given his position as General of the Night Court, and his hulking appearance, he had an innocent heart. Cases like the reports had spoken about tended to deeply trouble him since he couldn’t comprehend ever hurting a female like that. Especially their wings, when he had a matching pair on his back. So he could not understand how males, who could imagine the pain and suffering of having their wings cut off and having to live without them, would ever inflict that on someone else. 

You had opted to give Cassian his space for a while so he could process what had happened and come to terms with it, but now it had been well over six hours since he had returned and he still remained locked up in his room. Deciding to take some food for him, you gently rapped your knuckles on the door. 

Knowing he probably didn’t have much of an appetite, you stuck to a simple cup of tea and some sugary cookies to hopefully uplift his mood. 

When he didn’t reply, you twisted the knob and walked into the dark room. From the faint light streaming in from the living room, you could see Cassian lying on his stomach in the middle of the bed, head turned away from you. His wings were pulled taut against his back as if scared to unfurl them. His hair was still in that tight bun he kept it in while working and even from the door, you could see the tension in his shoulders. 

Your heart ached for your mate. 

Approaching apprehensively, you set the plate down on the nightstand, sitting on the edge of the bed and placing a tentative hand on his shoulder. Rubbing his shoulder empathetically, you spoke softly, “Cassian? You haven’t eaten anything since you came back, love. I brought you some tea.” 

“I don’t want it,” he muttered, not turning to face you. 

“Okay,” you whispered. “But please talk to me.” 

Now he did turn to face you. He looked utterly exhausted with bags under his eyes, and drooping eyelids, yet worry and horror etched into his beautiful hazel eyes where you longed to see nothing but happiness. 

Slowly, you asked, “What happened, Cassie? It went well, didn’t it?” 

He nodded. 

“Then why are you so down?” 

He sighed deeply. “Because it still happened, Y/n. Even after so many times Azriel and I have flown down there and beaten them up, even after Rhys has threatened to literally exile the males, they still keep doing this. And those poor females looked so tired and defeated, and scared, and there were children! Little girls they were doing this to, and I felt so useless because I couldn’t stop their beautiful, precious wings from being cut off by hateful, complete waste of oxygen males!” 

You watched as Cassian spoke about what he saw today and your heart broke more and more as each word left his mouth. He blamed himself for the atrocities committed by other males and he was beating himself up over it. 

“Cassian, you stopped them,” you insisted. “The reason any of them have wings today is because you put an end to those males continuing their abuse, darling. I know it doesn’t make it better, but it’s a small win, isn’t it?” You stroked his cheek. 

“I guess,” he muttered, now sitting up across from you and crossing his legs. 

You gave him a small smile and picked up the tea from the nightstand, placing it in front of Cassian. 

“Now, please eat something,” you said softly. 

Cassian nodded, picking up the cup and bringing it to his lips. He chewed on a cookie and took a sip of the tea, and you were happy he was finally coming back to himself. You got up from the bed then and Cassian’s eyes followed you. 

“Where are you going?” He asked. 

You didn’t reply, instead went over to the dresser and picked up a hairbrush and a small bottle of oil, showing it to Cassian. You settled on your knees behind the General, softly instructing him to keep his head straight. 

First, you pulled his hair out of its tight bun and watched some of the tension leave his shoulders. Next, you worked out the knots in his length then moved to brushing the scalp, paying special attention to using extra pressure to stimulate some blood flow. Cassian hummed in relief, getting somewhat of a massage from the bristles after having his hair up so tightly. 

Setting the brush down, you poured some oil onto your palm and rubbed between your hands before burying your hands in Cassian’s hair. 

“By the Mother,” Cassian groaned in relief, closing his eyes and tipping his head back. The remaining tension completely left his shoulders as massaged his scalp, using pressure to relieve any aches and pains.

“You are magic, Y/n,” he groaned in ecstasy. 

You chuckled in response, continuing your work. After massaging his scalp, you picked the brush back up and neatened Cassian’s hair out a little before leaving the oil on overnight. 

You wrapped your arms around Cassian’s neck from behind, resting your chin lightly on his shoulder. He held your forearm, leaning his head against yours and closing his eyes. 

“Thank you,” he whispered. “I am truly so grateful to have you, princess.” 

You smiled, kissing his shoulder and then his cheek. “You don’t need to thank me,” you mumbled. “I’m proud of you, Cassie. You are amazing, you are a hero. Never forget that.” 

You got up, kissed his crown and picked up the oil and hairbrush to set them back on the nightstand. Cassian was lying on his back when you turned around, and you gladly went to lay down in his welcoming arms.

Masterlist

[badass-queer-couples-battle]

Gay wrongs tournament, semifinals of the minor bracket

Propaganda:

For Lord Hater and Commander Peepers :

Lord Hater is the self-proclaimed "universe's awesomest evil-doer", an immature, attention-seeking manchild with electric powers and a short temper. He rules the Hater Empire with Commander Peepers as his second-in-command (technically third, after his beloved pet spider-xenomorph, but who's counting), however it soon becomes *very* clear that the cunning, remorseless, hardworking Peepers is the *real* brains behind the empire. Peepers might be frustrated at Hater's incompetence at times and isn't above manipulating him to reach an end goal, but he'd never dream of usurping him because, well, he's really gay and in love with him (as much as he can be in an early-10s Disney cartoon, anyways). Hater might take Peepers for granted a lot of times, but as his oldest friend and closest confidante he's the one who Hater is closest to. Whether it's invading other planets or kicking puppies for fun, these two are *delightfully* terrible jerks and the epitome of gay wrongs. 

Commander Peepers is both Lord Hater's right hand man in villainy AND his jilted stay-at-home-wife-guy (Also in villainy. Hater is really good at getting distracted from productive and efficient villaining.) Lord Hater was the greatest villain in the galaxy thanks to how well he and Commander Peepers worked as an evil team to run the Hater Empire!

Lord Hater conquers planets and is such an edgy bastard. Peepers is the actual brains behind the operation. Peepers is often pushed aside by Hater, they are besties and yet Peepers is always pining for this guy who will never notice. Peepers is so horribly gay for him if you watch the show he wants his stupid boss so bad. Peepers is so scared of him season 1 but then starts yelling BACK in season 2 and has to deal with him like a babysitter or something and yet STILL idolizes him and that’s just such a fun dynamic. His password is H8RNP33PRS43VR (Hater and Peepers forever). They are so evil and everyone fears them and they are villains and they are gay and the side of the fandom that draws them as a married couple that needs counseling is absolutely correct. The fanart of Hater openly liking him back is wonderful but I swear you don’t even need that. They are so gay and villain you have to love them they are

Villains that conquer planets and do evil stuff, my favourite characters, not really canon but they are the best :)

For Wu Zetian x Gao Yizhi x Li Shimin: (propaganda from previous poll here)

They are in a poly and are so morally gray and I love em. The triangle really is the strongest shape

They're gay because they're all bi (literally in Shimin and Yizhi's cases, kinda more implied for Zetian). Zetian and Shimin tortured a man for information (and also because he tortured them first) while Yizhi cooked back in their apartment. They made a plan to destroy their government and take over instead. Yizhi killed his dad because he was talking shit about Zetian and trying to sway his trust in her (it didn't work lmao). Instead of a love triangle (it REALLY seemed like that was what it was heading towards) they all love each other and would (and have) committed atrocities for each other. There's a whole thing about how they're stronger together (like, metaphorically and on the battlefield (Shimin and Zetian pilot a giant mecha together and Yizhi balances them))

They're a canon polyship who are all a bit deranged and down to kill for their goals and/or to protect bae. Two have tortured a man to death together and came home to the third making celebratory cookies for them. 

What's more gay wrongs than trying to take over your country and torturing a man together

[ann7av]

Idk about you but an issue I have with IF is that Violet doesn’t really think that hard about any criticism directed at her family.

Cat asks if Violet wants to talk about the heinous atrocities her family committed after Vi accuses her of being a shallow Pick Me, but this is never really explored. She posts a list of every flier Mira killed and it’s mentioned in such an offhand flippant way, it makes me wonder if Violet actually cares about her sister being a war criminal. I was hoping she’d have a talk with Brennan about his feelings on being “sacrificed” for basically nothing because it’s a sentiment I’ve seen some veterans express irl but they never actually talk on screen and it’s so frustrating.

What are your thoughts on this?

Oh my friend I'm so happy you asked because I have a lot to say about this.

(This is a list of scattered thoughts, please let me know if it makes sense and please know this is a critique of RY's writing and not Violet's moral compass as a character, I love my girl very much)

I had this issue from way back in FW when Lilith pushed Violet into the riders, It would be natural for a child to try and understand why their parent suddenly decided to risk their life in a war college but alas she never thinks about it and we are left with this gigantic "this makes no sense" feeling that progressively gets worse as the story goes.

Then there's rain when she crosses Parapet and yet... no thought on it, Vi? Your mother controls storms? Why aren't you thinking about this?

Lilith asking about her father's research while Aetos asks if Andarna could be used as a study subject and Vi doesn't stop to think WHY would they need it and HOW does it fit with her mother's previous actions?

The GODDAM NOTE inside the book of fables? That later on is revealed to be true? Brennan says he doesn't believe their father knew about Navarre's corruption and Violet never thinks about it or considers it? HOW?

My girl just found out her mother executed a bunch of people who were trying to help another kingdom and she doesn't feel conflicted about it? I was waiting for them to have a screaming match after Athebyne

Cat puts up a list of the fliers Mira killed and I was expecting a line like "It's not like my sister knew she was fighting for the wrong side at the time, she was doing what she was trained to do" but NO.

What also throws me off about this is that, up until this point, Violet is shown being a very empathetic person who really cares about people in general, but she doesn't stop to consider those were Cat's people who died, it was the flier's school that fell and it is their kingdom being attacked (maybe she got desensitized but that feels an easy way out of developing the story)

I could be happy with Violet trying to justify her family's actions to herself because at least it would feel like a natural reaction to have but you're right, the lack of reaction feels like she doesn't care.

She also never stops to have an actual conversation with Mira about any of this for some reason (she barely talks to her sister at all actually), and besides that one talk with Brennan at the beginning of IF there's nothing else that stands out enough for me to remember, which wouldn't be a problem if she had some inner dialogue every now and then, not only about her family and the war crimes but how she feels bout them too.

There are many times when we (the readers) ask questions to try and understand these characters and how they interact with each other, so when those very natural questions like "how do you feel about this?" or "but why would they do that?" are not answered, the entire thing just feels off, and that's not an issue only with the Sorrengails but with most of Violet's relationships.

In FW that's not as big a problem, she has her issues with Dain and is getting to know her squad (Liam specifically) but in IF I was questioning if Xaden dying was that bad of a thing if it meant she would think about literally anything else

To summarize: Violet's family drama could've been a Keeping Up with the Sorrengails level of drama if RY actually did the work to flesh out the dynamic but she didn't bother and chose to rewrite the same Xaden/Violet argument five times

[guess-that-ship]

S12 Round 1

Star-Crossed BFFs

cw: genocide, major spoilers

Do you ever feel doomed to your fate? Well if you do, don't worry about it, because no one could be more trapped in it than these two! Our story is one of a man whose birth changed the trajectory of the world, and his only friend. For the sake of anonymity, let's call them Doomed and Bestie.

Doomed and Bestie were the closest of high school pals- not just for being in the same class (literally), but for being in a metaphorical class all of their own. Bestie was the only one that could keep up with Doomed, and with the two of them against the world, they quickly grew inseparable… or so they thought. An unfortunate political incident happened, and Bestie was scarred for life! To cope with this, Bestie decided to commit to the path of ethnic cleansing, leaving Doomed behind and all alone.

Doomed was given the order to kill Bestie, but for years he couldn't bring himself to. They finally meet again when Bestie is on the verge of death, and Bestie assumes that Doomed hated him all that time- but he never once did, and he tells Bestie as much before putting him out of his misery. But it doesn't end there! Because Doomed wanted to pay respect to Bestie's body by leaving it intact, it was stolen by an impostor… and the precious memories that Doomed and Bestie had together were ultimately used to manipulate Doomed into his final downfall.

Doomed later dies, and in the afterlife meets Bestie again. He says that, after everything- after living a life that was never his own because of his position- his only regret was that Bestie wasn't there alongside him. In the end, they haunt each other- both controlled by their circumstances, and ultimately, their fates forever intertwined.

Grandpa and GILF Hunter

cw: spoilers

An extremely old man who keeps getting cancelled by his social group has returned for his third caper after a few years. Little does he know that he has a secret admirer who's been following his career since he was but a wee bright-eyed youngster - and this admirer is hell-bent on getting senpai to notice him.

Shenanigans ensue, mostly consisting of the Old Man attempting to repay his debts and face the consequences of past crimes with the help of the admirer, and it's slowly revealed just how involved our favourite grandpa stan has been in the Old Man's life. Remember the old guy's stint in the military? The admirer was there! What about that time the old man almost unleashed bioweapons on the civilian populace?! Well, the admirer was there too, and frankly, he likes the atrocities. They're a part of him. This is all going well and splendidly, and the two of them even hit it off and start dating. And then the admirer explodes into a writhing mass of insects and dies.

But that's okay because he'll always come back, thanks to his sheer love of the Geneva convention-violating grandpa. They reunite, deal with a pesky political situation, then get married and live happily forever after. And the beautiful tale of Grandpa and GILF Hunter is sung throughout the realms.

[susandsnell]

hey coco! hope ur having a good day! was wondering if u’d like to talk about why u like and what u find compelling with atton/exile? do u have a particular route or headcanon underwhich u prefer them or is it more of an overarching meta appreciation?

Hi, friend!

Thanks so much for the well-wishes. My day's kind of ehh due to continued Issues but the weather's nice and I'm feeling a little calmer. Hope your day is good!

Thank you so much for sending me this and enabling me shamelessly. I've been ride-or-die for Atton/Exile (which is M/F if you played the Jedi Exile as female, which I did and which is 'canon' but let's not talk about the latter lest we kick the hornet's nest) since summer 2011, which is almost 13 years now? Wild. Literally half my life. Anyhow, my reasons/headcanons have changed and evolved just as I've done a lot of growing up since the time I was first obsessed, but I'll do my best to synthesize/organize my thoughts! (Assume all the Restored Content is canon). More under the cut because 'synthesis' is still essay-length for me, God help me.

First off, I tended to play the Jedi Exile as light-sided and Revan as dark sided; I find the narrative of both games to be the most meaningful with these choices. This post basically puts into words why Revan works better as a Dark Sider, but the Exile, to me, as Revan's foil and mirror, works inversely best as a light sider. The game seems to want you to play her light-sided given how Kreia's best stuff/approval lies in that path. KOTOR II is one of the darkest entries to the Star Wars universe by far, but with a light sided exile, it's a story about how moving through life with an unyielding belief in love and justice for others in your heart will ignite that light in the people around you, and repair a broken world/galaxy.

Enter Atton.

KOTOR II is great in that you technically have such a wide range of shipping dynamics/options, and exactly none of them are functional, largely because it's one of the Star Wars media entries with the most harrowingly realistic depictions of war and its psychological impact on the people it touches. Atton Rand happened to be my favourite of all the love interests at the time because of his voice and his snarky meta-jokes (I was a Daria fanatic almost 2 decades too late, what do you want). Nowadays, I love him because his character basically took the Star Wars expanded universe requirement for Han Solo expys and went off the rails with it, making his 'scoundrel' archetype half-his charming and humorous personality, half-a facade to cover severe and quite realistically portrayed war PTSD as well as his actions as Jaq, the torture-happy mercenary. It's "what if the self-serving charming rogue during wartime archetype was brought to its logical conclusion" and I am here for it.

So first you have the parallels and contrasts - both committed atrocities during the Mandalorian wars, but while Atton was loyal to Revan after their fall and never faced justice for his wrongdoings, the (light-sided) Exile turned from Revan and still was scapegoated by the Council. Atton is a character mired in his own bitterness and cynicism, and you have the option to choose to play the Exile as a character driven solely by her morals, even when she'll suffer unconscionably for them, and it is through this unflinching clinging to her morals that she gains the idealism necessary to survive everything she goes through. Atton once sought to rip freewill away from his victims; the Exile unconsciously, slowly saps it through the cipher.

As a young teen, I admittedly was starry-eyed over the 'sheltered good girl manipulated and hurt by so many meets sexy bad boy recovering from his own past and they protect each other as a power couple' archetyping, but it does go a lot deeper than that. Their dialogue options have easy, natural, sexy chemistry that draws you in, but I do think my appreciation goes deeper. This isn't a simple 'fixing the bad boy' because of the narrative device of the Force cipher meaning you quite literally have "I can fix him" and "I can make him worse" as your game mechanics, lol. You get your surface-level fun of their interactions between the proper, well-mannered Jedi and the flirtatious rapscallion, but you also have two people who, for the reasons I outlined above, fundamentally understand each other after harrowing lifetimes spent alone in their pain and trauma.

I'd go so far as to say Atton is the best-placed of anyone to understand the Exile; the Sion ship is compelling and squee-worthy to any Phantom fangirl worth her salt (as I was), but she's everything he couldn't be or fathom, Visas may have felt closer to the pain the Exile did over Malachor V but her worst actions were committed under duress as a captive of Darth Nihilus and not of her own volition (so I argue she's a lot more morally innocent than Atton or the Exile), Mical/The Disciple is the innocence and warmth of the Exile's upbringing untouched by how the Mando wars reforged her and while Brianna/The Handmaiden is excellent as a potential parallel for specifically the Exile's abuse at the hands of the Jedi (Atris in particular), she's still similarly sheltered to Mical. Bao-Dur was with the Exile during the war but the game didn't develop him enough and understands that aspect of her, but they canonically per the dialogue emotionally distanced themselves given the circumstances, and Mira the Bounty Hunter is cool sister-zoned, but I suspect her family being victim to Malachor V would drive a wedge no matter how much forgiveness the game preaches.

Meanwhile, Atton knows and/or loves not pieces of the Exile, but as she is; the battered and betrayed veteran with a lifetime of wrongdoing to atone for that he recognizes in himself, and the naive Jedi she was before that the charming flirt in him likes to tease. And although his backstory is a revelation, and a harrowing one to the Exile, who sees what she might have become had she stayed with Revan, this is what their relationship is; seeing someone in their totality, and loving and honouring the worst with the best. Despite knowing what the Exile's done, Atton values her enough to still care about how she views him that he begs Kreia not to tell her the truth about his past. The two are instantly drawn to each other on Peragus, not just out of necessity but genuine, instinctive protectiveness, attraction, and a deeper sense (be it Force-Assisted or not) of understanding. Atton refers to it in his death scene (if you count that) as love at first sight, and while there was probably initial infatuation, I think there was just such an instant magnetism that grew and grew between them through shared experience. "Don't give up on me now, dammit!" and "You want her, you get through me." come to mind. Atton is the only party member that asks her to train him in the Force, whereas she has to prompt and convince the others into their awakening. He's deeply scarred by his experiences with the Force, not to mention it's actively dangerous to train as a Jedi due to the Exchange, but he's willing to face that for the Exile - he tells her that part of why he wants to train as a Jedi is to be better able to protect and fight for her. One of the first things he does is teach her to play Pazaak in her head to prevent from psychic attacks through the Force/harm through Kreia's force bond - the exact weapon he wielded against others. The tragedy of any Jedi Exile ship is the constant insecurity created by the force-wound/cipher; how much of anyone's choice to follow in their footsteps or love them is their own free will? What power dynamics, unspoken or obvious, arise from it? But Atton's fierce independence and selfishness almost serves as the clearest answer to this. He willingly reawakens himself to the Force to connect with her, to be better able to fight for her. He chose her, a thousand times over, and whatever role the Force Wound plays, he accepts her influence out of admiration for that steadfast-to-a-fault morality I talked about before.

This isn't some corny gender essentialist "she is his redemption" nonsense either, although redemption is a major theme of a light-sided KOTOR 2; by training Atton and others as a Jedi, the Exile is actively doing the work to heal the galaxy she helped to break. By protecting and teaching and bonding with the Exile, Atton is regaining his own humanity through recognizing hers, over and over, the way he failed to recognize those of his victims. They're together in this, in their recovery, in how they've experienced all extremes of morality. Love, in this story, isn't about fixing someone or breaking them, it's about meeting them where they are and walking alongside them, hopefully to someplace better than where you were when you both met. Is it any wonder that he's the one she walks away with in the end? (As if he'd let her walk alone ever again.)

With all this being said, and to address your question, while the route/headcanon preferences I prefer for Atton/Exile create, I think, the richest narrative with what's there, I've definitely got an overarching meta appreciation for them too. I spent my teen years eagerly eating up every possible iteration of them as a couple, and much of what I described above can hold true in a different aspect if people prefer to play them dark-sided, if people hold the tragic dying in your arms ending as canon, and so forth. They're compelling any way you slice them.

[kradogsrats]

Here’s another question, what are your thoughts on Ezran? Since the fandom and I think he comes across as the least developed character of the main cast and no matter how hard he tries, it seems like he constantly has to learn that word won’t be enough to fully persuade an opposing side

I mean... Ezran's twelve. He decides what kind of king he wants to be when he's ten. When I was ten, I was reading a lot about historical atrocities because I couldn't quite wrap my head around the idea that people weren't all inherently good, deep down. Even if they were huge jerks on the surface, surely they'd do the right thing when it was really important, right? So I think he's sometimes just... thinking like a child. Because he literally is one.

We don't know what Harrow may have written to Ezran for after his death, but if we assume it's essentially the same as what he wrote to Callum (minus the cube stuff)—it's a lot of regret for Ezran to take on all at once. You can see in every word that Harrow wasn't proud of the king he had been, even though he started with the best intentions. He wanted to be a different king than his own father, to change Katolis and the world for the better, but he got caught up in the trap of history and its false narrative of strength. Ezran's obviously going to look to his father as his example for how to be king, and here's Harrow confessing that he wasn't the king he wanted to be, and wished he'd known the things he reveals in the letter earlier. So Ezran's takeaways are basically:

True strength is in vulnerability, forgiveness, and love

Reject the past and do not allow it to rule you

It's on you to make a brighter future

From before he's crowned, Ezran is struggling with how he will be king relative to Harrow. In The Royal Council, he literally worries that his choices are to reject and forget the father he loved, or doom himself to making all the same mistakes. As a result, he winds up going all-in on his interpretation of what Harrow wished he would have done.

Harrow wants him to create a brighter future, so not taking the throne at ten years old in the middle of an escalating inter-kingdom crisis would be "letting everyone down." As Soren later points out, this is kind of fucked up. ("If you spend all your time doing adult stuff now, you'll grow up weird, like your brother and Rayla," he says, while cheerfully engaging in the child-like attitude and behavior that his father denied him during his own childhood.)

True strength is vulnerability, so he never carries a weapon. Instead of accepting Harrow's sword to begin his rule, he has it forged into a new crown—something to honor both his father and his own commitment to strength not being about weapons and war.

Freedom is not letting the past define the future, so he holds a ceremony honoring Zubeia practically right next to the memorial to his own mother, who was killed by Zubeia's mate. He fully believes everyone wants the same thing that he does, deep down—a future of peace, free from old grudges and strife—and will join him in putting aside their grief and anger to achieve it.

He's essentially a product of having to mature too quickly in some areas, and having built his version of maturity on his father's example, while also holding on to a few developmentally-appropriate immature ways of seeing the world.

(In terms of development, I think they kind of shot themselves in the foot as far as making Ezran as relatable as Callum or Rayla, because he doesn't actually have anyone who's all that close to him. Soren, Corvus, and Opeli are much older than he is, and are really there for The King(tm), not scared or angry or grieving Ezran. He's literally never had a friend his own age. The only characters he could conceivably play off of in the deep and vulnerable way Callum and Rayla do with each other are Bait and Zym, neither of whom speak in a way the audience can comprehend. It's possible that they're finally setting up Aanya to fill that role with him, whether romantically or not. I definitely think she'll definitely be the one he can be conflicted and vulnerable about Runaan with in s7, since she's been in a very similar place. But yeah, because of all that he comes across as kind of removed from both the main cast and the audience.)

[im-out-of-it]

season 1, episode 5 continued

27. “Swear to me you won’t take your eyes off of clary. I, I can’t believe I even asked you that. you won’t let me down.”- jace. I can’t believe you asked that either jace. all he does is take advantage of Alec. he expects Alec to drop everything and help him right away. so not only does Alec have to watch someone he cares for falls in love with another girl, he has to babysit that same girl who is already causing enough chaos with his life and family

27. this is something clary will never understand. she doesn’t care about the law because it’s in her way.

28. Alec knows if he messes up, he will be held accountable. Jocelyn didn’t teach that to clary. Alec wants to be a leader and he’s aware that rules exist for a reason

29. and then clary is like I know you’ve been trying to help but basically you can do more. bitch, she is asleep, she’s not hurt, and Valentine has an army. you can’t just walk in and pick up your mother and be out. I’m trying to be sympathetic but she’s a migraine

30. Alec is already in trouble because of clary and here she goes wanting to go to her old loft without getting clave permission. not only does she need to be kept safe but she wants to go out where so many people are already probably hunting her. fucking hell, this girl doesn’t have a brain

31. okay so Magnus is getting right to it 🔥

32. ruining a perfectly good date Alec and Magnus could have had but noooooooooo clary had to go run off AGAIN. so not only has alec broken so many rules for her but she has literally no respect for Alec. not only does jace like clary but Alec has to witness jace’s feelings day in and day out. Alec has to babysit her while he gets berated by his own mother and then jace. GIVE THIS MAN A BREAK

33. I’m sorry but how is it Alec’s fault that she ran off?????

34. “You know the difference between the circle and the clave? I don’t. They all look the same to me. Shadowhunters think they are better than us. They’re the ones killing each other over petty disagreements. They expect us to obey orders they don’t follow themselves.”-wolf leader (I can’t think of his name) but man has a point. shadowhunters in general do think they’re better. they had the uprising but shadowhunters still don’t talk about how their own “people” committed atrocities and look at downworlders as if they’re the problem. Valentine was jealous of downworlders having powers he didn’t. Shadowhunters started hunting downworlders first I believe. Jace gets punishment in season two because he didn’t swear allegiance to the clave but he killed a wolf and I didn’t see much punishment for that. the clave and shadowhunters can do whatever and it’s not a problem until a downworlder does the same

36. Alec: am I gay? yes I’m gay but not gay for him

37. it’s insane how clary runs off and jace’s first instinct is to blame Alec. because that’s his fault, how??????

38. Simon gets kidnapped again because of clary because she ran off yet again.

39. Alec watching Simon climbing and being quick and seeing runes and he’s like now wait a damn minute. “running fire escapes excites mundanes, ill never understand these people” 💀

40. and the fact is, alec is genuinely worried and mad. he knows his mom will rip him a new one when she finds out. he also knows jace will be angry because jace is obsessed with clary. he could’ve been training at the institute or having a drink with Magnus but he has to babysit and now chase a stupid 18 year old girl because she didn’t care enough to sit her childish ass down. literally Alec can never be happy with all of his responsibilities. he has to keep jace out of trouble and now clary and prove to his parents that he can handle it. it’s not that surprising that he doesn’t seem happy.

41. (he’s just so fucking beautiful) 🥰

I don’t really see many people actually talking about what Alec goes through in the first season. Maryse is always spewing hateful comments towards Alec because apparently he’s not good enough, jace states Alec isn’t doing a good enough job, like he doesn’t really have anyone in his corner. he spends the first season getting berated. so no wonder he’s not happy

part 3 coming to a stadium near ya ✨

[xerith-42]

What do you think of the handling for Aaron and aphmaus romance? I know a lot of people who hate it and a lot who love it

Take everything I say here with a grain of salt as my feelings on their romance are bound to change once I actually get to Season 2 in my rewatch/breakdown. I'm mostly speaking from memory here.

As it is now, I'm very disappointed by their romance. While there is wasted potential left and right in Minecraft Diaries, never is it more egregious to me than when looking at Aaron. His introduction into the series in episode 67 is great because it's so fucking vague that the creators can take him literally anywhere they want. And in episode 91 my beloved he gets reintroduced and has it slapped onto his character in equally vague terms that he has beef with Zane.

And even though he doesn't get much else in Season 1, hell he's barely graduated from being a "hot mysterious stranger" as the description of episode 92 describes him, I like where they can take his character. Who knows what atrocities Zane has committed to make him willing to fight Zane to the extent that he is. The problems start when we find out the truth as to why Aaron wants to kill Zane.

Aaron is given so much potential with his backstory and deep connection to the conflict with Zane, but it never really goes... Anywhere. And that's because of the vector in which both Aphmau and the viewer are shown his backstory. In Season 2 episode 42 Aphmau just gets shown Aaron's back story because something something Irene's relic, and it is NEVER EXPLAINED. Because the creators don't actually want to explain it, or even care beyond something something Irene's relic. It doesn't matter how, just that she did.

And this takes away a lot of potential from Aaron because he isn't given the choice to open up about what happened in Falcon Claw on his own. He doesn't get to tearfully tell Aphmau in gory detail what Zane took away from him. There's nothing but his anger that she knows after she's already seen it. And this sucks, because we really could have had a moment of the two bonding here, of Aaron opening up about something he's been understandably cagey about, of Aphmau showing him love and empathy in his time of grief.

I know a lot of people parrot the phrase "Show don't tell" but god dammit sometimes it's best to tell. Sometimes it's worse to be shown. This is one of those moments where Aaron should have been allowed to just be standing in the ruins of Falcon Claw, heard Aphmau come up behind him, and try to push her away. Tell her it's just an old village he found in the woods. And Aphmau can then very calmly and tenderly ask "Then why do you sound like you're about to cry?"

This could have lead to Aphmau comforting Aaron during a difficult moment and solidly establishing a real palpable connection between the two. But instead Aphmau is just shown Aaron's tragic backstory, and then they start romancing each other right after. I don't object to this romance happening, I just would've liked for them to have a little more to go off of. I would've liked Aaron willingly opening himself up to Aphmau and that being the vector for their eventual romance.

And obviously I want this romance to happen NOT at the expense of Garroth and Laurance's characters. I want this romance to happen unexpectedly for everyone, but for Aphmau to be able to actually explain why she and Aaron love each other, especially after his death. Aphmau is a character who has never been allowed to explain her romantic feelings, which is fine if you never plan on pairing her with anyone, but having her ship teased with two people and then enter an explicit romance with another and still NEVER go into details about it is just bad writing.

TLDR: Aarmau angers me because I can see where it could have been a good couple but Jesson had to do a Jesson and be bad at writing.

[gracie7209]

Amaryllis Epilogue

Pairing: Frankie x f!Reader

Word Count: 1.8K

Warnings: Fluff, fluff, fluffy-fluff, reflection- (of more than one sort? I’m on one today. Don’t mind me lol), happiness, loved ones, we get to meet Reader’s momma! (Her English isn’t great so we will see her and Reader speaking Spanish) tiny sliver of angst? Lemme know if I forgot anything!

Summary: Just before your lives are set to change yet again, you and Frankie each get a moment alone to reflect on how life has brought you to where you are now. Santi saves the day yet again!

A/N: Guys…… This is it! We have officially officially reached the end of this story and I’m a whole mess of emotions. The has been such a labor of love and learning for me. It’s my very first fic and also the very first piece of writing I have ever shared with anyone. As previously mentioned, I have several new WIPs and I cannot WAIT to get to work on them! For everyone who has commented, liked, reblogged, asked questions or shown even the tiniest bit of love for my little story, I just want to thank you with everything I have. I have wanted to write since I was little, but could never put pen to paper until I forced myself to write a little 100 word Drabble, which literally turned into this series. The Pedro fandom alone has literally changed my life in so many ways and I will forever be grateful. So anyways....... Thank you all so much!!!!

Series Masterlist | Main Masterlist

When he sees himself in the mirror, Frankie is all nerves.

Checking and rechecking his hair, making sure his tie isn’t crooked… worrying the little patch in his scruffy beard that refuses to fill in.

His palms are sweating and his stomach is doing flips, but he’s unbelievably HAPPY.

He never thought he would be here. Never thought he would ever want to be doing this, but you had changed his way of thinking in more ways than one.

It had always terrified him to feel as though he were tied to something. Or so he thought…

In reality, he never felt he was worth enough for someone to ever want to be tied to him. The things he had done, the horrors he’d seen? The nightmares he still endured would run off anyone who might be even the slightest bit interested. Damaged…

Valid.

He was damaged. There was no way to come out from that other side and not be. But to those who weren’t there? Ones who could never understand what he’d been through? They would only pity him and he didn’t want that.

He just wanted understanding. Wanted someone to accept him as he was, without trying to fix him.

And then there was you. You never looked at him like he was damaged. You knew about things and yet you never held anything against him. You knew the atrocities he’d seen and those he had committed, yet you never backed away from him or looked down on him.

From the beginning, Frankie felt a connection to you. He didn’t know what you’d been through at the time, but there was an understanding there - “We’re not defined by our experiences Frankie,” you’d tell him.

“We simply learn from our mistakes, grow into better people, and if we are genuine, that’s all that really matters. —You yourself told me something similar at one time, remember?”

Frankie smirks at the memory. Shaking his head, as he gets back to the task at hand.

...

He doesn’t think he can tie it any better, so he takes one final look, takes a deep breath and smiles at himself in the oversized mirror. Just a small half smile, knowing that what he was about to do was going to change his life forever….

And he was ready.

—

It doesn’t start to sink in until about ten minutes beforehand that you are actually going to marry Frankie today. You’re in the small guest room, waiting for your mother to stop fussing over you already and to let you look in the mirror. “Mija, todo tiene que ser perfecta!” (Everything has to be perfect)

“Mamà, está bien... ¿puedo mirar ahora? Ya casi es hora de irse..." (It’s ok….. can I look now? It’s almost time to go…)” There’s no malice in your tone as your mouth turns up into a silly smile that you just can’t seem to hold back.

“Ah, si mi hermosa luz, creo que estes lista. Ven agora, and a y mira.”(Ah yes my beautiful light, I believe you are ready. Come now, go ahead and look.)

You stand up and slowly walk over to the full length mirror. The look on your face doesn’t at all match the sheer joy you feel in your chest. The initial shock wears off, but the weight of the moment hits you then; You’re marrying Frankie today. This incredible man who barreled his way into your life and decided he wanted to stay.

To see yourself in your mother’s wedding gown and jewelry, knowing that Frankie was waiting for you had your eyes welling up with tears. You silently prayed they stayed put as your mother had fussed with your makeup for a small eternity and Lord help you if you messed it up. So, you forced the tears back, albeit they were happy, joyous, singing to the choir tears that would surely fall once everything was said and done. You were more certain now in this choice, in Frankie, than at any other time in your life..

You gave yourself one final look in the mirror before turning back to your mother. Grabbing her small hands in yours and kissing her forehead, you silently thanked her for everything she had done for you; today and everyday.

“Ok Mija?”

“Si Mamà, Estoy lista.” (Yes, I’m ready.)

—

The ceremony was modest, with only close family and friends in attendance, but you were blessed beyond reason.

Those in attendance included your mother, who had brought along your Aunt and your two little cousins all the way from Cuba. You hadn’t seen her in ages, and this was the first time you’d gotten the chance to meet the little ones.

Frankie’s Mom and Step-Dad had flown in from Texas along with his older sister, which had been a surprise to the both of you, having never gotten to meet them prior. They welcomed you with nothing but warmth and love. Your previous apprehension at making a good impression, falling away the moment his mother wrapped you in her arms as she introduced herself.

She also took little to no time in latching onto your and soon-to-be Frankie’s son, her Grandson. Who she happily spoiled rotten from the get go and volunteered to be in charge of during the ceremony, giving your own mother a well deserved break as she had been deemed (by herself) as the primary babysitter.

And of course, Santi, Will and Benny were front and center. They would’ve all been groomsmen if you and Frankie had decided to have a wedding party. Instead you both opted for just a simple service. Santi would still supply the rings, but aside from the preacher, it would only be you and Frankie standing at the altar.

—

It was time.

You took a deep breath in, and let it out slowly as you turned the small corner to make your way to Frankie.

As you slowly made your way down the aisle, you didn’t expect to become breathless at the sight before you.

The expectation was that, the Bride-to-be would walk in and a hush would wash itself throughout the room. All eyes on her as she made her way to alter to join her fiancé.

You were sure your anxiety would rear its ugly head at being the center of attention, and had tried to give yourself a pep talk before walking inside. However, the moment you laid eyes on Frankie, you nearly stopped in your tracks.

You realized at that moment that you had never seen Frankie wear anything remotely resembling dress attire, let alone a suit and tie.

It was always jeans and a t-shirt, jacket when necessary and work boots… always work boots. He looked good on any given day and there had never been an occasion up until that point for him to “dress up.” But, you couldn’t take your eyes off of him…

His hair was still a disheveled mess of curls that you loved to run your fingers through. Not too long, but long enough that the ends would curl behind his ears. He just wouldn’t be Frankie without them, so you were grateful he didn’t try to tame them back. He was also wearing his glasses, which he had been trying to wear more and more these days as he couldn’t stand to wear his contacts after having gone without them for so long.

His tux was your normal coat and pants, but completely white, with a black bowtie and shoes with a shine that could blind a person if they got too close. You don’t think you have ever seen someone so beautiful in your life and he was yours.

You had managed to keep your pace steady all the way to the alter, even though you had half a mind to just run and get yourself there that much faster. Your mother was waiting up front to take your bouquet and give you over to the man you truly wanted to spend your life with. She kissed your cheek before turning to Frankie and offering him your hand. As he took it she wrapped both yours and Frankie’s hands in hers, saying she loved you both and giving a firm squeeze before letting you go and sitting back down at her seat in the front.

Frankie took both of your hands and whispered from under his messy bangs, “Are you ready?”

You couldn’t speak so you just nodded, trying not to cry before the preacher even had a chance to talk.

You tried to concentrate on the words being said, the prayer being read to the audience, but you could only focus on Frankie’s smile and his thumbs rubbing reassuring circles into your hands. You didn’t know why you were so nervous, but ultimately, it didn’t matter. Frankie was sure as stone and after you both repeated your vows and placed the rings on each others’ fingers, Frankie lifted your veil, seeing your lips quirk up into a smile and he kissed you. In front of all of the people who mattered to you the most in this world.

His kiss was equal parts strong and soft with his hand coming to your cheek while the other wrapped around your waist. You didn’t dip, but he held almost all of your weight as he put his entire life into that kiss. Letting you and everyone else know that you were it for him.

—

When you both came up for air, there was nothing but big smiles and happy tears from everyone around. Benny was hooping and hollering, and even Will had his hand to his mouth letting out a piercing whistle that echoed throughout the church. Santi was clapping along with the others, with an almost forlorn expression that seamlessly slipped back into a playful smile once Benny clapped him on the shoulder, joining in with everyone else in raining congratulations on the happy couple. Frankie took your hand and raised them both entwined up toward the sky as you walked back down the aisle, side by side, as husband and wife. The both of you more than ready to begin this new chapter in your lives.

Together.

—

—

Two hours earlier -

“Rings, rings…. Uh, shit!” Santi is looking around frantically, shuffling papers and patting down his pockets, seemingly having misplaced the rings he was in charge of.

“Haha, very funny pendejo…. Now’s really not the time to be fuckin’ around…” Frankie’s voice is playful, but when he looks over at Santi, he sees the panic starting to set in.

“Fuck man, seriously? You had one job… !” Frankie is pacing now alongside Santi as they both desperately search for the missing rings.

“Wait!! Wait, oh! Shit haha, we’re good, we’re good, man. We're fine, everything's fine... I just left them on the kitchen table after I grabbed the mail this morning. I only live like ten minutes away from here, I’ll be right back!”

“Jesus Pope! I about lost my goddamn ass over here man… Shit, just go grab them and come straight back, ok?”

“Alright, alright…. You need anything else while I’m out?”

“For fucks sake Pope! Just go!”

“Yep, yep on it!” At that, Santi runs out the door, leaving Frankie to his thoughts for the moment.

He sits down on the little couch in the sitting area and puts his head in his hands. He’s nervous and he wants this day to go perfectly, but he actually starts to laugh when he thinks about the circumstances.

All of this fuss over rings, when in reality, they were just a symbol. A token to show the world that you were his person, and he was yours. And even if Pope had lost them, it honestly wouldn’t change a thing. He was marrying you today, with or without a ring, and he could hardly wait.

—

It only takes Santi about eight minutes to get to his place. Possibly breaking a few speed limits to do so, but he did not want to be the cause of something ruining this day for either of you.

He goes inside and sees the ring boxes sitting right there on the table next to the untouched pile of mail. He lets out a deep breath, muttering under his breath, "Thank you, God!" Checking inside each box, making absolutely sure he had everything before putting them safely in his jacket pocket. Picking up the stack of mail, he quickly skims through it out of habit. Finding an envelope in the mix with only his name and address handwritten on the front with no return address.

He carefully opens it, revealing a small slip of folded paper. On the inside is a jumbled set of numbers and symbols…

Ones that he recognizes instantly—

—

—

Coordinates.

Coordinates to the money stolen out of the walls of Lorea’s house before it was burned to the ground. Money that was dumped in a ravine to get rid of extra weight that made flying too dangerous. Coordinates that only he, Will, and Benny knew about. Aside from one other person.

Tom.

Tom had found the money.

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A/N: Whoops!

*But seriously, from the bottom of my heart, thank you all for reading. It absolutely means the world to me 🥹

[icedragonlizard]

What if Sectonia and Max Haltmann were to hypothetically come back to life in my verse?

In my verse, Morpho Knight will literally never bring people back to life. One someone dies, they don't come back. All Morpho Knight does is just bring the souls of the dead to the afterlife.

But, hypothetically-speaking, let's just assume that Morpho Knight suddenly decides to bring Sectonia and Max Haltmann back to life for some reason.

What would happen, then? How would Taranza and Susie react to them coming back to life, and how might they reconnect with them?

I have it thought out as to what'd happen if these revivals were to hypothetically happen in my verse.

Click on the 'Keep reading' tag to read about it.

First, let's start with Sectonia.

In the afterlife, Sectonia is back to her original spider form. If Morpho Knight were to bring her back to life, she'd come back as a spider.

Taranza would be so, so excited if she came back. He'd immediately come rushing to her direction and be filled with joyful tears. He'd tell her that he's so glad that she's back and attempt to hug her. He'd profusely apologize for giving her the mirror that corrupted her, and he'd talk about how they can finally get their long lost happy ending.

.... But it wouldn't actually be so simple.

The problem would be how Sectonia herself would act. In the afterlife, she's enormously guilt-stricken over all the atrocities she's committed, and this would carry over to her hypothetically being brought back to life.

She'd believe that she didn't deserve to be brought back to life. She'd tell Taranza that she doesn't understand why he still loves her so much after how badly she treated him, and would tell him that she's the one that needs to apologize instead of him because he didn't know the mirror was going to corrupt her, and that her actions after being corrupted were totally inexcusable.

She'd tell him that he has every right to resent her after the way she treated him in her corrupted form. She'd tell him that she doesn't deserve him, and that she doesn't deserve a happy ending with him. She'd think that he's trying to absolve her of her sins way too easily.

Taranza would be upset over her acting like this. He'd be heartbroken to see her be so distraught, and it'd just make him even more guilty about giving her the mirror. He'd tell her that he absolutely did need to apologize for giving her the mirror because she wouldn't have done all those bad things if he didn't give it to her. He'd tell her that it's all his fault that she went off the deep end. And he'd end up saying that he's the one that doesn't deserve her because of it.

There'd be a brief period where they both end up wallowing in despair, as they'd both feel like they don't deserve each other, and they'd both blame themselves. Therefore, a happy reunion wouldn't really come too easily here. They'd both be too ashamed of their respective actions to get a happy ending that Taranza anticipated.

However, things would eventually get better. With the combination of them trying to talk it out some more as well as Taranza's other friends playing a hand in giving helpful tips and advice, the spiders would eventually start making proper amends and would start embracing each other more over time.

There'd be moments of simultaneous hugging and crying. Sectonia would still be so guilt-stricken, but she could eventually slowly accept potential salvation for her. And while Taranza would understand her guilt, he'd tell her that he's just happy that she's back and missed her so much, and that he'd be more than willing to forgive her and reunite with her.

It'll eventually be okay for them. They'd just have a difficult start because of Sectonia's guilt, which also snowballs into Taranza's guilt because he sees how his mirror gift made her feel that way.

She'd never stop feeling super guilty and ashamed, but ultimately she can settle into being brought back and reunite with him again.

Now we go onto Max Haltmann and his revival.

In the afterlife, Haltmann has his memories back. If Morpho Knight were to bring him back to life, he'd come back remembering Susie/Susanna as his daughter again.

.... However, the two Haltmanns would get off to an incredibly difficult start.

The thing is, it's a complicated mess as to how Susie feels about her dad. She was really affected by him not recognizing her as his daughter during the time period that they were together again after she left Another Dimension to come back to him. She's had a lot of resentment for him because of it.

She'd hesitate to embrace her dad right away in the hypothetical of him coming back to life. The last time she ran up to him for a hug, he coldly rejected it, and so she wouldn't risk doing that again. She wouldn't trust the way he'd act if she tried anything like that again.

Initially, she'd keep a distance from him, even after first finding out that his memories are back. Heck, she'd actually be skeptical when she first witnesses him being so emotional upon seeing her again, basically acting like the dad she remembered as a little kid.

Here's the problem: Susie has never been able to know what was going on with her dad while she was stranded in Another Dimension. She never understood why he kept Star Dream around after it took her away from him, and how or why he presumably allowed the machine to erode away his memories of her. She'd want to know how it all happened.

Early on in this revival scenario, Susie would think that Haltmann's behavior is insincere. She wouldn't want an insincere reunion with him where they pretend that nothing ever happened. She'd want answers. She'd remind him about what happened when she came back from Another Dimension, and how hurt she was over his behavior.

She'd ask him to explain what he was doing in her absence. She'd want the complete truth from him. She wouldn't be willing to reunite with him unless he was entirely transparent about what he did while she was in the hell dimension.

... She'd then become utterly shocked at what he'd reveal.

He'd talk about how he was enormously grief-stricken about Star Dream taking her away from him, and what he did in response to the catastrophic accident. He'd talk about how he assumed she was dead, and that he tried to use the machine to bring her back to life, but it didn't grant his wish, and it didn't say it was because she wasn't dead. He'd then talk about how he kept trying to use it to bring her back until it eventually ate up his memories to the point of him forgetting about her existence.

He'd be in a mental breakdown when explaining all of it. He'd also talk about how he completely understands why she resents him and why she was keeping a distance from him when he came back, and he'd tell her that he'd understand if she can't forgive him for everything that happened because he can't forgive himself. He'd express his enormous regret, and how he'd believe he failed her and that he doesn't deserve her.

He'd be as every bit as guilt-stricken as Sectonia, or perhaps even more so.

Admittedly, it'd take Susie a bit of time to process all of it. But once it fully clicks to her that he was essentially sacrificing his mind trying to get her back, that he wanted the initial reunion every bit as much as she did, and that he feels so painfully crushed with guilt over what he turned into by the time she came back, it'd make her emotional. Really emotional.

She'd eventually come to him with tears in her eyes. She'd tell him that she has a hard time completely forgiving him because of how the damage has already been done with her not having closure for a very long time, but despite that she's genuinely happy that he's back, and she also makes an apology for accidentally killing him when she stole Star Dream's controller from him.

He'd tell her that he doesn't even require an apology from her, as he doesn't even remotely hold that stunt against her, and he'd say that it was his own fault that it got to that point in the first place because of how stubborn he was. And he'd emotionally talk about how despite all of the hurt that he feels, he's also just happy to finally be with her once again after everything.

They'd eventually get to the point where they hug each other and cry while doing so. It wouldn't happen immediately after he comes back, but it'd happen after they unpack many of the complicated stuff between them. And it'd be cathartic for the both of them.

And after that hug, they'd finally start making amends, and the friends that Susie has made ever since her dad's death can help out in various ways.

Max Haltmann wouldn't take back the presidency for the Haltmann Works Company. He wouldn't even want to. If anything, he's actually proud that Susie revived it and became its president after his death. He wouldn't want to take that from her. He'd go in retirement. Susie would let him have a room all to himself.

The Haltmanns would eventually and slowly work things out. But even after making amends, Susie would still sometimes feel awkward about having her dad back. While he was dead, she eventually accepted his death and had grown to like her friends more than him because of the baggage she had over him, and so him being back would still admittedly be a little weird and awkward for her.

And honestly, even in this revival scenario, he still wouldn't go back to being her favorite person. He still wouldn't top her two best friends. She'd still love Taranza and Francisca way more than him. Sorry, but she had grown such strong bonds with him for many years that it just simply wouldn't be possible for her dad to top them at this point.

He'd understand. He wouldn't blame her. More than anything, he'd be exceptionally grateful to his friends. He'd especially give her two besties a wholehearted thank you, and he'd be happy that she wasn't entirely alone and miserable during his death.

Susie still wouldn't regain all of her lost love for her dad in a revival scenario, and they'd get off to a really complicated start, but it'd eventually turn out okay for them. They'd just need time. They'd ultimately reunite in the end, even with Susie still loving her best friends more than him.

And that basically sums up how the two "reunions" would go.

They'd both have difficult starts because of the trauma, but in the end there'd ultimately be a reunion in both situations. It just doesn't come too easy and both situations would require time to work through enough of their issues to properly reunite.

Funny enough, I did actually write a fanfiction about reviving Sectonia and Haltmann a long time ago. I wrote it last year, and it can be found here. But that was also before I made changes to my Kirby headcanon verse, and looking back at it I think the reunions came a little too easy.

There was a lot of emotion and crying in both reunions in that AO3 story, but if I were to rewrite it now, I'd make the reunions harder and longer to achieve. They'd be more like what I wrote above in this post. In both situations, the baggage wouldn't be fixed overnight. It'd absolutely take more than a day for proper reuniting in both situations.

.... Is it possible that I could rewrite that story? Maybe. I'm not too sure as of right now. Writing fanfiction is admittedly draining so if I do it, it wouldn't be for a long time. But I can say that it's not completely off the table. I'll know as time goes on.

Anyways, mind if I bring up the Mage Sisters and Hyness in this topic? They'd actually be pretty relevant in the hypothetical scenario of Sectonia and Haltmann coming back to life in my verse.

You see, in terms of how I have the Mage Sisters interacting with Hyness post-HiAD, it has similarities to both the hypothetical Taranza/Sectonia and Susie/Haltmann reunion situations.

Zan Partizanne quickly forgives Hyness despite his actions and was just overjoyed that he's back even early on, which is similar to how Taranza would quickly forgive Sectonia and just be overjoyed that she's back.

And then both Francisca and Flamberge have a lot of hang-ups with Hyness early on and required some time to work through those hang-ups with him, which is similar to how Susie would have a lot of hang-ups with Haltmann early on and would need some time to work through those hang-ups.

Hyness himself is very guilt-stricken over his actions while he was corrupted and partly feels like he didn't really deserve to be brought back, which is how Sectonia and Haltmann would act if they either survived or hypothetically get brought back to life.

And so you can imagine the Jamba family being capable of giving advice to both the spiders and the Haltmanns in the revival hypotheticals. I can see Hyness understanding how lost, uncertain and guilty Haltmann and Sectonia would feel, considering he himself more or less felt the same way.

I can see Zan trying to give Taranza advice in a scenario where he tries to reconnect with Sectonia, and I can see Francisca giving Susie advice during her period of skepticism in a scenario where Haltmann comes back. Well, Flamberge can also definitely do that, but Francisca to a greater extent because Susie is more closely bonded with the ice general than the fire general.

Nice to have people who understand the situations help out, huh?

Anyways, that's it. Thank you if you managed to read all of this.

[wifiwuxians]

I saw you mentioned JGY! Can you answer for him?

First impression: "What the fuck this is literally just my oc I think I'm going to need to start wearing a tinfoil hat" Impression now: He's one of my favorites for sure due to the absolute mess he is. I love how he's written, I love how he tries to counteract all the bullshit he puts everyone through by doing good deeds like it makes any difference at all. I love how he tells himself and others that he had no choice but to do what he did. He sucks so bad I love him. A trainwreck of a character. And one I admittedly wish a better life for like many others lol

Favorite moment: When he stabbed that officer guy without giving a fuck that was pretty up there for me. What followed was a fucking mess of course but in that moment, that was pretty cool

Idea for a story: A cascade of pearls falling down the steps to Koi Tower. The knowledge that his father will never look at him. His stolen work, trampled at his feet. Blood on his hands. Nie Mingjue towering above him, irate, and him simply falling into his arms and weeping.

Unpopular opinion: People have gotten mad at me for saying I wish he'd just stayed Meng Yao so I guess that? I like it when people are happy idk lmao

Favorite relationship: I'm gonna switch it up a bit here and say the relationship with his mother. He knew at some point that she was just naive and idealistic and that her high hopes for him wouldn't get him very far, just like he knew the manuals she spent so much money on wouldn't actually help his cultivation, and he still did everything for her. He kept on that twisted, downward spiral to honor her memory and sacrifice. He knew his father would never return for her and he knew he'd left her to die, and still he stayed beside him because he knew that was what Meng Shi had wanted. At least that's how I see it, I don't know. He's a mama's boy, and even despite recognizing the mortality and innocence of his mother, he still erected a statue of her as a goddess. She was everything to him.

Then there's also Nie Huaisang lol those guys give me very positive brainworms, I love absolutely everything that you could possibly come up with between those two. They were made for each other (affectionate and derogatory)

Favorite headcanon: Honestly it might be the idea that he can flip a switch in his brain that causes him to commit atrocities without emotion. He doesn't like it, it scares him, but it's useful

[rrr-is-gay]

FLUFFY SMUTTY RAMBHEEM HEADCANON PARTY, PART 10! (Can’t believe I’ve done ten of these! I never run out of ideas about how these two love each other!)

Ram and Bheem don’t really “talk out” conflict. They don’t even experience very much conflict, cuz their temperaments are so complimentary, and they adore each other so much. But of course, disagreements happen. And when they do, they always resolve with one of them doing some romantic, thoughtful gesture cuz he gets sick of the tension, lmao. And they both have a bit of a macho streak, so using lots of words to resolve stuff just isn’t really part of their dynamic. They’re much more inclined to hug it out, or cook dinner for each other as a peace offering, or wind up working together on a task and giggling about how in love they are, so they just forget whatever was bothering them before.

Ram loooooves bottoming. He CRAVES it. He really is just that guy who loves to get dicked down more than anything else in the world!! And who could blame him? Bheem lays PIPE! Bheem is the more sexually experienced of the two, and Bheem is a true vers, but he winds up topping most of the time because Rama just won’t stop begging for it!

Speaking of their sexual experience, I do believe it bears repeating that Komuram Bheem is a GOLD STAR GAY with a fair history of dalliances. Not an enormous body count or anything, but he’s been fuckin’ since he was a teen! None of his partners were ever willing to love him publicly, and he got used to being other men’s dirty secret. He always hated that. He was always out, like, his whole tribe knew about him. And they weren’t inclined to judge their protector.

Ram, on the other hand, is truly, truly repressed. He literally never even thought of himself as a sexual being before Bheem. He loved Sita, but always kinda clenched with fear when he thought about what he’d do on their wedding night. He hated himself for so long, he couldn’t even allow himself sexual gratification. (I elaborate extensively on this in Chapter 5 of my fic, which I will publish sometime between now and the heat death of the universe.) He certainly never thought about having sex with a man before Bheem. He would sometimes stare at men, think about their bodies, occasionally even imagine what it might be like to be touched by them, but never went anywhere with those thoughts. Gayness was simply not part of his self-concept. Bheem introduced it to him!

They are so, so, very, very snuggly. They love to hold each other in bed when they’re falling asleep. They love to hold hands while walking together. They hug & kiss whenever they greet each other after any amount of time apart. When they relax together, their bodies are always touching. They smooch and cuddle constantly. If you don’t like PDA, you’d HATE hanging out with Ram and Bheem.

Ram radicalizes the holy shit out of Bheem. He teaches him about the history of the British Raj and the atrocities they’ve committed. He teaches Bheem about the various resistance movements that have emerged over the years, and Bheem gets PROPER FIRED UP to join them. In fact, Bheem gets even more gung ho than Ram! They fight side by side until India declares independence in 1947. THEY LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER BTW, THEY DO NOT DIE.

On that note, they live long, blissful lives together. They witness all the changes of the 20th century. They meet Shyam Singha Roy! (Crossover fic coming soon…) They are respected leaders and elders in their community, and they’re understood as a married couple, legal definitions be damned.

EDGING! Ram is a bit of a bratty bottom sometimes, and loves edging Bheem when he’s feeling particularly mischievous. He loves to get Bheem all worked up and breathless and sweaty, then pull away and make him beg for it. And Bheem BEGS, he is so vocal and dramatic, it’s honestly ridiculous. But Ram loves it.

[badass-queer-couples-battle]

Gay wrongs tournament, round 1 of the major bracket

Propaganda:

For Eve and Vilanelle:

They quite literally are a wlw murderer couple. And I love them very very much.

Villanelle is a joyfully murderous psychopath assassin and Eve is the investigator trying to catch her who Villanelle seduces Eve into enjoying her own more murderous side. Villanelle does a Ton of murders (including of a tech bro billionaire), Eve also does some murders. It’s a good time.

THE murder wives!!! no explanation needed!!!

they got canon homoeroticism AND murdered together <3

For Wen Kexing and Zhou Zishu:

you've got the founder of the fantasy ancient Chinese CIA and the leader of what is essentially the mafia and then they're soulmates and in love. they're both willing to kill anyone who dares hurt the other while also just wanting a soft domestic life together

Zhou Zishu is an assassin and spymaster who put the current Emperor on the throne, and then quit his job by faking his death (kinda, hes still dying but not as fast as he was supposed to). Had done A Lot on his old job, including murdering children (more than one, and at least one of them in a way I can't even describe without several trigger warnings), exterminating whole families, war crimes (and i dont mean this in a buzzword way, i mean "organized a public execution of foreign diplomats during war time")… btw he doesn't feel particularly bad about any of this, because he believes it was necessary. Like he wouldn't do it for fun, but he thinks the ends (putting a good Emperor on the throne) justified the means (all of the atrocities). As a retiree, he definitely cut down on the amount of morally reprehensible murder, but not murder in general. He still routinely kills ppl, he just doesn't go out of his way to kill more. Wen Kexing, meanwhile, is the Ghost Valley Master - Ghost Valley being a place where the worst of criminals are exiled. Even in such a place, he has reputation as a complete lunatic, owed partially to the fact that he either skinned a man or fed him his own flesh or both at one point, and partially to him having a rule where he would kill anyone who came closer than 3 meters to him. But in truth, everything he'd done was to survive the Ghost Valley and eventually take revenge for his parents, who were brutally murdered when he was only nine. By the start of the novel's timeline, he put his plan in motion - the plan that would drown jianghu in blood, but also deliver poetic justice to all responsible for his parents' deaths, as well as all who'd commit the same crime given the chance. And these two men, these two murderers and schemers, meet - and unexpectedly, find in each other the person who /understands/. The person who is just as ruthless and whose hands are just as bloody, but also the person who knows standing at the top of the world is not worth it, who seeks the same freedom of leaving it all behind, and who is still, underneath it all, a human, with human heart seeking connection. So you have this couple who understand each other with barely a word, and who want the same things - who are so hungry for domesticity and for people they can just goof around with when all their lives they had to measure every step and word - but ALSO where one half a couple is like "i gotta go murder hundreds in revenge" and the other half is like "ok pick you up at 6". (This btw is why I'm submitting novel's iteration of the couple in particular. Show wenzhou with their ridiculous breakups over morality could Never.) Also they were both hiding who they are when they first met, and later flirted about having figured each other out. Finally, I'll leave you my favorite quote that just. perfectly sums up their relationship: "And just like that, they fell asleep in each other's arms, steeped in the smell of blood."

You’ve probably already had submissions for them but I’ll add on. One of them founded an assassin’s guild and killed a staggering number of people. His malewife is the leader of a sect of insane murderous outcasts, and he attained his position by proving to be the most crazy and murder happy of them all. Most of the plot involves him wandering around watching his schemes get more people killed. Together they adopt a kid that was only orphaned due to said scheming (oops). They’re terrible and I love them.