#and then on a character level what does gideon even want to do? assuming the cohort is probably not it at this point but that leaves. | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

ignitesthestxrs · 8 months ago

Text

there is a lot of really interesting and thoughtful conversation happening in this post which is really cool to see! i do think though that a lot of the above conversation is rooted in analysis of the text itself without taking into context the...well, context.

this is to say: i genuinely do think there is a reasonable interpretation of jod as an indigenous man who is repressing/ignoring his indigenous culture in favour of a culture he was forcibly raised in, and that there is a lot of commentary on the nature of power and colonisation that can be made there.

but in the context of what exists external to the narrative - that is, the realities of book writing and publishing that surround this text - most of this information and interpretation doesn't come up until the third book. that is when we get our first close up of jod and his perspective, which i do think leads to these thoughtful analyses and interpretations

but my commentary re: muir kind of fumbling this is that it took three books to get there, and there is no trace of it in the first book. any te reo in book 1 is flavour or easter eggs rather than establishing character notes. there is zero indication of gideon's race, or indeed, jod's. i found out that gideon was supposed to be māori via muir's tumblr post, and it's very clear that this was not something taken into account when the cover art was designed ( i know that authors don't necessarily get input into cover art, and obvs gideon is wearing face paint, but i think a good faith interpretation of that art is that it is clearly interpretable/assumable that the character being depicted is Indistinct Racially at best).

there is absolutely a thoughtful and coherent in-text narrative about the decisions jod has made up until this point. but the infrastructure of the series does not underpin that narrative - it is built up as the books go along. it is skillfully built up! but to claim that a slow reveal of jod's māori-ness and potential cultural trauma reasons for recreating a space roman empire as an indigenous man from the beginning is i think a very generous read of what happened here.

it ignores the entire history of western sff as being like, obsessed with the roman empire. an sff series set in space rome with Houses is the equivalent of doing a paint by numbers and saying you made an original art. if you had the level of worldbuilding that exists in book 3 in book 1, i would have a different opinion, but book 1 alone exists in a specific kind of placelessness. it is accessible. you see the latin phrasing, you see the word empire, you have your cup of cocoa, you think you know what's going on.

i recognise the argument people want to make here as being 'that's a part of the point, that's why it's so clever', but i would argue that we can't give people credit for things they didn't write. the absence of te ao māori in the first book and through the second is not a meta-textual reflection of jod's trauma, because muir is pākehā - it is very genuinely not her job or place to replicate the kind of repression and trauma via narrative structure that an indigenous man might be experiencing. this is not to make the argument that pākehā can never write about cultural trauma, but i DO firmly believe that in order to do it well when you are pākehā, you have to actually do it.

it can't be left up to inference or interpretation or 'well once you get to book 3 you really understand what is going on'. you don't have to slap your reader in the face with it, but there are ways to note or imply a traumatic absence of something within a narrative that aren't just....not including that thing in the narrative. like, that's why we have the Narrative! i would argue that a hallmark of muir's work is in fact writing novels that keep characters - even readers - unaware of critical information until the reveal happens, while still having relevant information on the page. omission from character, from readers, does not have to mean omission from the text.

in addition to Choices Made By Author, there is a broader industry cultural framing here that i am extremely familiar with as a kiwi, which is - this is an american industry. the placelessness i referenced earlier - i don't think this is an accidental omission so much as it is a way that most kiwis seeking to publish outside of aotearoa have to learn to write, because you uh aren't publishable otherwise. MAYBE if you're very good or the market is in the mood for the Other (non-specified) or the winds are blowing in a certain direction, you can get published as something of a Marvel, a Curiosity, a Taika Waititi or Rhys Darby, but most workaday kiwi authors americanise their work, and that is what induces that placelessness. i can't ground my writing in american cultures, but i can certainly replicate it enough that an american audience's expectations will take a work the rest of the way.

this is what happens with book 1 in particular. i have been in turns extremely proud of and extremely defensive of gideon the ninth, because it is genuinely an impressive case in how the prose and humour of a work can be so thoroughly, recognisably kiwi in a way that other kiwis (and aussies, shout out 2 my antipodean bros who have been on this discourse journey with me) recognise intimately, while still being accessible to americans. there are things i get out of the humour and dialogue cadence in that book that i am not clever enough to articulate here LOL. but the things that are recognisable within that book to a kiwi are by and large prose based. this is why you see kiwis speaking about these books so fondly - we are often responding to something that we don't get to encounter in our entertainment media, because books like this don't get published and mass marketed even within NZ, and they certainly don't hit the international stage. a book so thoroughly kiwi, with a fandom? never happen. i genuinely cannot think of another kiwi cultural offering that has hit the same corners of fandom that TLT has.

i recognise i'm rambling away from the point here (what's the point?) but it's because i do have a lot of angles on my take about this series and i wanna be clear about the different external factors that go into what text makes it onto the page. i provide this aside about placelessness to make it clear that it's not accidental that people come away from the first book going '?? i didn't even realise that gid/jod were supposed to be māori'. you uh. you weren't supposed to!

and there are both textual and extra-textual ramifications to that. i think that ignoring those ramifications in order to lean into a reading that suggests the absence of te ao māori in those first books is an intentional reflection of jod's cultural trauma is giving muir too much credit, and also giving the very american publishing industry and the implicit demands it makes of non-americans an easy out.

a lot of the conversation i'm seeing in my notes at the moment is a very text-based interpretation of what we have seen so far. and i don't think that's wrong to do, and i also don't want to suggest that anyone who is seeing something recognisable in jod's cultural trauma narrative arc shouldn't, or is wrong to, or is finding meaning that isn't there. i do in fact think that if you publish a book 1 that is supposed to be imbued with Kiwiana (TM) and māori characters, but contains very little of te ao māori within it, it is in fact incumbent upon you to build that into your world and story asap. muir has done a genuinely good job of seeding a workable and believable character AND world narrative here as to why the earlier works were lacking that cultural grounding. it's not for me as pākehā to say 'good job on remembering that ur characters are māori, muir' lol, but it's clear from the level of conversation and discourse that goes on around this reading that now we're at book 3, the audience is finding something within the text to sink their teeth into. māori-ness is Present within the text, rather than a notable Absence.

i don't have concluding remarks! bye!

there's something about the way people talk about john gaius (incl the way the author writes him) that is like. so absent of any connection to te ao māori that it's really discomforting. like even in posts that acknowledge him as not being white, they still talk about him like a white, american leftist guy in a way that makes it clear people just AREN'T perceiving him as a māori man from aotearoa.

and it's just really serves to hammer home how powerful and pervasive whiteness and american hegemony is. because TLT is probably the single most Kiwi series in years to explode on the global stage, and all the things i find fraught about it as a pākehā woman reading a series by a pākehā author are illegible to a greater fandom of americans discoursing about whether or not memes are a valid way of portraying queer love.

idk the part of my brain that lights up every time i see a capital Z printed somewhere because of the New Zealand Mentioned??? instinct will always be proud of these books and muir. but i find myself caught in this midpoint of excitement and validation over my culture finding a place on the global stage, frustration at how kiwi humour and means of conveying emotion is misinterpreted or declared facile by an international audience, frustrated also by how that international audience runs the characters in this book through a filter of american whiteness before it bothers to interpret them, and ESPECIALLY frustrated by how muir has done a pretty middling job of portraying te ao māori and the māoriness of her characters, but tht conversation doesn't circulate in the same way* because a big part of the audience doesn't even realise the conversation is there to be had.

which is not to say that muir has done a huge glaring racism that non-kiwis haven't noticed or anything, but rather that there are very definitely things that she has done well, things that she has done poorly, things that she didn't think about in the first book that she has tacked on or expanded upon in the later books, that are all worthy of discussion and critique that can't happen when the popular posts that float past my dash are about how this indigenous man is 'guy who won't shut up about having gone to oxford'

*to be clear here, i'm not saying these conversations have never happened, just that in terms of like, ambient posts that float round my very dykey dash, the discussions and meta that circulate on this the lesbian social media, are overwhelmingly stripped of any connection to aotearoa in general, let alone te ao māori in specific. and because of the nature of american internet hegemony this just,,,isn't noticed, because how does a fish know it's in the ocean u know? i have seen discussions along these lines come up, and it's there if i specifically go looking for it, but it's not present in the bulk of tlt content that has its own circulatory life and i jut find that grim and a part of why the fandom is difficult to engage with.

936 notes · View notes

gideonisms · 3 years ago

Text

and I think muir's other work is relevant here, specifically deepwater bride & princess floralinda. Also (redacted) but if we get into that I have to unpack my Opinions which I don't have the energy or base homestuck knowledge to do lol. Anyway there's a focus on women who reject the framework by which their life has been lived & then become "monstrous" or illegible to their societies as a result.

like in floralinda, is it a happy ending? I mean, the protagonists end up alive and together but neither one can ever go back to their old life, and they end up becoming the final boss for the next unfortunate princess who ends up in the tower. floralinda is given a narrative, and then she can play the role of either victim or villain, because anything in between isolates her from her society completely. It's debatable whether Hester lives at the end of deepwater bride but if she does she undoubtedly becomes something completely different than what she was. ie she can never go home again.

I think that isolation is the common theme in her work if I had to pick one, her protagonists' inability to fit themselves back into their societies after making choices that separate them from their original roles in life. Death as in irreversible change, death as in the final action that cuts you off from ever being the person you were. so I do think in the rest of the tlt series we're going to see not necessarily the end of harrow's life but the end of her ability to be the reverend daughter or to be useful to the empire

#rambles #the thing that really gets me tho is i have no idea where gideon's story is going #i can look at harrow & think oh here's her archetype here's where it often goes in literature here's where it goes in muir's other writing #but gideon just breaks my brain #on brand for her tbh #maybe i am simply stupid. very possible based on all of my life choices and several mediocre papers i have written within the past year #but it's like! i want to believe she's the lynchpin to everything she's going to steal the narrative #but i have no idea what she's going to do with it her parallel characters are all dead #what do you do with the only martyr who survives? like on a structure level where do you go from there?#and then on a character level what does gideon even want to do? assuming the cohort is probably not it at this point but that leaves.#every other option assuming she ever gets to choose which!#half of my suspense is just based on wtf she's going to choose because i cannot predict her #baby girl. blorbo from my books #her status as blorbo from my books is preventing me from being able to analyze her without just going. she ❤️ & then lying down on the floor #anyway. will report back if i figure her out at any point #in the meantime i must rotate my version of cristabel gently in my mind as a comparison/contrast

24 notes · View notes

unlikely-course · 4 years ago

Text

The tl;drs of this very long post, which is about Gideon’s arc and her relationship to Harrow:

-Gideon’s arc in gtn is a corruption arc because tlt is not just goth but Gothic

-Gideon “forgives” Harrow because of Trauma and that’s definitely not the endpoint of how she feels about Harrow or their past

-The narrative knows what it’s doing

When Gideon says “For the Ninth!” as she dies, and thinks “this is the loyalty they always said I lacked, this is me making good” that’s not growth, that’s part of the tragedy of the moment. Like, the Ninth does not deserve her allegiance! It is, as Gideon was the first to remind us, rotten to the core. When she dies, it’s for Harrow, and her saying it’s for the Ninth does represent on some level that she’s come to new understanding about who Harrow is and how Harrow views herself *as* the Ninth, but like this is, I mean. Bad. Harrow herself does not deserve Gideon’s loyalty! Gideon gives it to her because it is a relief. Gideon is very good, yes, but the forgiveness is a response to trauma. The second Harrow shows even the slightest vulnerability or regard for Gideon, Gideon is eager to make amends because she has been starved for any positive association to others for her entire life, and Harrow was literally the only peer she ever had to associate with. She correctly identified that resistance to Ninth society was vital to her survival and selfhood, but also that shit is exhausting. That resistance is also partially formed by that society conveying to her: we have no place for you, we have no use for you as you are, and that makes you hateful to us.

Her response to Harrow and the cavalier role then is pretty classic! It is a relief to have a place, to be able to stop fighting, to give herself over to a structure sold to her as one in which she can support and be supported, to resolve the central conflict and most complicated relationship of her life. I maintain that you the reader are also supposed to feel initially relieved and even cheered by Gideon and Harrow growing closer and then gradually unsettled when Gideon embraces cavalierhood and the increasingly invasive demands of the trials, and has her mindset adjusted in increments toward sacrifice. To feel her thoughts turn in this direction is alarming! This is purposeful, and it is purposefully mixed in with good feelings, the same good feelings that Gideon is getting, to distract from and inoculate you against what is happening just as Gideon is inoculated against it.

In addition, Canaan House is a very particular crucible. This is not only the first time that Gideon has ever been bombarded with new people and experiences, but also the first time she’s faced these unknown external threats, which pushes her to unite with the familiar (Harrow) against them. Her past and present environments have made it so that the compassion she comes to feel for Harrow gets bound up in the idea of being loyal to her house, the ‘contract’ of her new role, and the positive interaction it gives her until the idea of her offering her life to Harrow is not simply necessary in the moment but good and right. Redeeming, even, when we as readers know she has nothing she needs redemption for.

Gideon is so very angry when she comes to in htn, and it is not merely anger at those who have wronged Harrow or anger at Harrow for endangering herself. On the First, she made a simple deal: her life for relief from the emotional state she had to live it in. Forgiveness for some kind of peace. And when she wakes up that exchange is refuted. Gideon frames Harrow’s actions as a rejection of herself out of low self-esteem but also in an attempt to deal with unresolved anger she has towards Harrow, anger that cannot fit into the cavalier role she wants to embody, anger that she attempted to trade away but in actuality can’t. Because the role she was sold, the type of relationship the cavalier and necro is supposed to be, is ultimately false. It encompasses very real and deep relationships, as we have seen, but the framework uses these real elements to its own ends, the Empire’s ends, and despite its proclamations of mutual care the relationship is always at the cavalier’s expense.

This is what it means to say Gideon’s arc in gtn is a corruption arc. It’s not that she becomes “bad,” it’s that the corrupting forces of the narrative have reached out and altered her, worn her down, seduced her even. This is Gideon’s first contact with the wider Empire, in the seat and seed of its wretched power, and it has used her goodness, her capacity for connection (and yes for forgiveness as well!) against her to further ensnare her, to draw her in line with itself. And then she dies for it, as it demands! Wow. And the we have the other side of that, which is when Gideon says “For the Ninth!” she’s signaling to Harrow that she has come to value what Harrow values, just as Harrow herself, watching in horror, has come to realize her values are very fucked up.

And Harrow has indeed realized that by that time! Harrow really does travel such a distance in gtn, but this is largely obscured from us just the same as plot details are in the book, by the limits of Gideon’s perception. And let me be clear: this is a feature, not a bug. It is not a weakness. It is vital! Integral! To the above, and all it entails for Gideon as a character and the overall themes of the series, that Gideon forgive Harrow without Harrow having “earned” it or made real amends. The fact that she does conveys to us everything I’ve just been talking about!

Furthermore, this story is in conversation with a rather particular type of Christianity, but Gideon’s Jesus parallels are even more widely applicable. Forgiveness is kind of a whole theme with that guy, and the book is also plenty interested in what it costs for a human to forgive as divinely as scripture demands (to forgive as the bond demands, as the empire demands). In some ways there are good things that may come of it, sure, but it is not a purely redemptive force for the giver or receiver. It does not necessarily resolve.

I myself can’t say that I ship Gideon and Harrow in the way people traditionally think of shipping, nor as I have traditionally shipped other characters. Still, I reject the notion that that way of relating to each other is not a central part of the questions the book is asking. Like before, when I was talking about Gideon finding something to believe in in the way the adept/cavalier bond is sold to her—although we see that bond encompass many different types of relationships it is in Gideon and Harrow’s case speaking to how romantic love (much like that forgiveness!) is not immediately and entirely redemptive. I mean, Muir does say the series is about how love can be redemptive, but I think can be is the operative phrase here, in that it’s also first demonstrating the ways it’s not, or at least not always the way we think it will be--the limits and then the power. Trying to set that aspect of the relationship aside (like a “sisters” route or something similar) is a weak and queasy side-stepping of the issue.

Remember that interview where Muir says something along the lines of like, she didn’t write it as necessarily romantic but definitely homoerotic? Yeah.

Despite all that I do want to make it clear that I hope Gideon and Harrow work it out in the end. Just don’t assume the narrative does not understand what working it out might entail. And who knows? I might have the read all wrong. Maybe Muir doesn’t understand what she’s doing. But I feel pretty compelled by the textual evidence.

#gideon the ninth #gideon nav #the locked tomb #gideon the ninth spoilers #harrow the ninth spoilers

144 notes · View notes

jessie-writes-things · 3 years ago

Text

From the Darkness | Part 1

This is a commission from the lovely @grogusmum! I'm so so so sorry for how late this is love! Life got in the way a bit. Originally I was gonna do this as one giant piece, but you've been waiting too long and so I just needed to get something out. This ended up being a bit more soft-angst rather than fluff but I tried my best to balance it out. The next part will be full-on found family fluff though! 🥰

This whole thing stemmed from that throwaway line 'I've spent much time on Tatooine' from The Marshall. Basically, I just liked the idea of Din having a somewhat secret life hidden away there. It gets explained a bit more in the second part, but that's really all the context you need right now. 😅🥰

Pairing: Din Djarin x Neutral Reader

Words: 2.5k

Genre: Found family, fluff, soft angst

Warnings: Star Wars level violence, vague mentions of PTSD/Trauma, nightmares

Summary: Din comes home to Tattooine and you spend the night on the Razor Crest.

You always heard the Razor Crest before you saw it. The loud hum of the clunky engine made you jump every single time and you had always wondered how long it would be until the ship just dropped out the sky.

Your answer came quicker than you thought. It was around midnight when the first signs came, snippets of voices fluttered by like quiet, sleep-laced whispers on the wind.

See you we do! Coming home we are!

Then came the ship barrelling onto the landing pad, and you weren’t dramatic in saying you thought the planet was about to explode; walls rumbling, ground vibrating. Peli had been prompted to spew out a few choice words, stepping outside just as you did to watch the slivers of silver moonlight spring off the ship as it finally settled down.

The landing had been…less than graceful to say the least. The engine sounded worse than you’ve ever heard. One of her feet had been ripped clear off, making her tilt to the side at an unnerving angle and you didn’t even want to think about the number of outer plates there were to replace.

What worried you more was the look of annoyance on your boss’s face, pinched and red, and you just had enough time to convince her to head back to bed, promising to deal with The Mandalorian until morning. And thank every planet in the galaxy she listened because if the Crest hadn’t woken up the neighbourhood, you knew she sure as hell would of.

There was an etiquette, you learned through years of working on the hanger; you should never enter a person’s ship first. To regulars, it was like walking into someone’s home without being invited. But so early in the morning you weren’t for niceties.

You walked up that ramp like pray on a hunt, rubbing the sleep out of your eyes and you may have stumbled a bit, but it was a hunt.

The Mandalorian was clearly waiting for you, sitting in the cockpit, the baby asleep in his pod although you had no doubt he was listening to every word.

Very out of character, he was the first to speak, ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.’

‘It’s okay.’ It wasn’t…well, it was. You were just grumpy and tired and wanted to go back to bed, ‘She looks a mess.’

‘Can you fix her?’

You had assumed her mess from the work of another bounty gone wrong, maybe Mar again but you weren’t in the right mind to ask. ‘Depends.’

‘On?’

‘What you’re about to ask me to do next.’

There was a silence, a comfortable one but silence, nevertheless. Eyes heavy, you were fading fast, head resting against the passenger seat you had claimed as your own. You weren’t too sure if you had fallen asleep or not. You closed your eyes for what felt like a moment too long and when they opened again, Din had shifted his seat to look at you.

‘We need to stay for a few days.’ His head tilted like a little puppy dog. Helmet still on, you were left trying to imagine how he looked in that moment; eyes squinted, crinkled around the sides in admiration.

Not the exact words you wanted to hear, but not surprising in the slightest.

You decided to push again, ‘Anything else?’

He was smiling, at least you were sure he was, his voice sounding a little lighter despite the artificial muffle of the modulator, ‘Come to bed?’

---

I caught a frog today. Very big frog. I wanted to show you. But ManDad was not very happy with the frog in the big ship. So I ate it, I did. Miss you lots, I did. And so did ManDad. Smiles when he thinks about you, he does. I feel the happiness. Thank you for making him happy.

---

Turns out it hadn’t been Mar that took a hit at his ship.

There had been an incident, Din told you in the quiet of darkness, arms wrapped around you, his head buried safely. Long tufts of hair tickled your jaw and chin whenever he moved or talked, about due for a haircut but that was a battle for another day.

‘Moff Gideon is dead.’ But so was Kuill, the kind Ugnaught who had helped at the start of all this mess. Whatever was left of the Empire was still after the kid and Din still needed to find the Jedi. ‘Karga’s still alive.’

‘I thought he double-crossed you?’ At some point his head had moved onto your chest, letting your fingers card through his hair. You could just about see his face in the small cracks of light, not that he needed to hide anymore, sometimes you think the dark was comforting for him.

The smallest of smiles tugging at the corners of his lips and you really hoped it was because of your touch and not the thought of the Guild agent. Small wins and all that, you guessed. Better to have Greef around than no one at all.

‘I can’t stay long.’ His voice wavered, ever so slightly. You had become accustomed to the bittersweetness of it all, stroking the back of his neck as your heavy eyes began to droop again.

‘That’s okay.’ While it felt like a brick being thrown at your chest, you understood. Truly. The entire Empire was after the kid and, subsequently, him. Not to mention the constant battle against other hunters who had it out for his head.

Because while you knew time was finite with him, at least you had something.

---

Happy to be home we are. ManDad gets lonely sometimes. Feel it I do. I try my best to make him smile but sometimes it does not work. Make him happy, you do. A man should not be lonely for too long, he must not, for loneliness can be deadly. When I am gone, look after him you must. Promise?

---

Quiet moments in the dark were always the loudest for Grogu. Like father like son, you guessed. Neither of them liked the stillness much, both of their minds racing faster than the speed of light. It was always easier to read them in these moments. Flashes of images blended into a mosaic behind your eyes as you tried to hold down a specific part of a memory or a dream.

Some nights it was easier than others. There were times Grogu would sense you in his mind and would purposefully push an image forward, always something he thought was silly like a particularly funny looking frog or a memory of Din singing to some cheesy eighties song you had left behind on a CD during their last visit.

The colourful rhythm and syncopated beats making the walls of the Razor Crest dance along with them and you did everything not to burst out laughing in the still night, biting your lip only for a small snort to escape. Din caught on, barely opening his eyes a crack to mumble out some half-arsed are you okay before rolling over and heading back to sleep again.

It was easier to read Din when he was asleep. Not that you did it much or even intended to in the first place. But sleep tore down the walls he had spent years building up, subconsciously pushing the dreams into your mind. If Grogu’s thoughts were a lulled whisper, Din’s were white noise. Fuzzy static took up most of the space, at times slipping to let through blips of voices or a grainy picture of long past memories. They were too quick to get a full idea of what he was dreaming about.

A boy.

The pop of blasters.

A woman screaming.

One deep breath and the image faded. Din would wake for a moment, eyes closed and he’d turn back to face you. His chest shook, barely and nothing noticeable normally, but you caught it, pressing a kiss to the top of his head, and mumbling a soft it’s okay as he settled back into you.

---

Today was not so bad, it was not. But sometimes I still think about the dark place. Scary and lonely was I. For a long, long time. Then there’s light and I see ManDad for the first time. And then everything is better, it is! No longer do I need to fear the dark.

---

Like always, Grogu climbed out of his pod early morning and forced the doors of the sleeping pad open, giving him room to wiggle his way between Din and you. These were the times you’d feel the tug of his mind at the doors of yours, asking permission to be allowed in.

If your consciousness was awake enough, you’d let him, letting the Green Bean explore the distorted images of Earth and your past life. You would find him standing next to you, present you, in the middle of the dirtied street, dark and damp as rain pounded on the concrete around you, drowning out the screams of the people as they rushed by.

He’d hold his arms up, a quiet hold me please passing by and you’d take him in your arms, holding him close. Sparks of fear rolled through you, weighed down by dread and it was hard to tell if it was coming from Grogu or your past self.

Clouds filled the sky like grey shadows. It had taken you a long time to realise they weren’t normal, that the clouds were too big, were floating by too quick to be anything natural.

That had been the first time you saw them. Aliens. Or what people on Earth would think of as aliens. Tall, grey, slimy, the stuff you had only ever seen on TV and they were now shooting from the skies in streaks of red light. Streets pathed in dust that smelt like ash and day-old water.

The two of you walked through the mess like ghosts, people running left and right and through you, some in slow motion while some were ungodly in their speed. They all died in the end. Zapped out of existence by a singular lazar.

Someone yelled about children. Save the children. Spare the children. Collect the children. Round them up near the hanger, discard the ones we don’t need, you know the ones I mean, don’t talk back to me. Their voice washed over you in cold chills, sounding so far underwater that they might as well not be there at all.

A man stopped in front of you. Tall dressed in all black. A human man staring right at you. He didn’t look panicked like the rest, was calm and collected as he pulled out his gun and aimed so perfectly right at your head. You didn’t move, didn’t duck for cover as he pulled the trigger.

You should know better than to look.

There’s a woman behind you. Was a woman behind you. She’s dead when you turn around, a pile of smoking ash on the cobbled path, already being washed away by the rain.

Then there was the child, arms still stretched out to hold their mother’s hand, eyes wide in fear but they don’t cry. No matter how much their heart is racing. No matter how much they want to scream as the man grabs their arm and drags them away, throwing them in line with the rest of them, waiting for their turn to be scanned and thrown in the hanger.

They don’t scream, even when the doors slam shut and darkness is all that’s left.

---

Awake, are you? Sleep I cannot. Wonder if ManDad knows how much I love him, I do. ManDad is amazing he is. He saved me from the dark and keeps me safe, he does. Let’s me eat cookies, he does. Such lovely cookies. Try some, you must. But ManDad hurts, I feel. Feel his heavy heart, I do. So much pain and loss cause a man to be sad. Want him to be sad I do not. When I am gone, please tell him all the time that he is special, he is. Always be my buir, he will.

---

‘Buir.’ Grogu sat on your stomach, watching with wide, curious eyes as he followed your finger to where Din moved back and forth getting ready to head out. It was just some low-level bounty, armature work really, but that didn’t stop the anxiety from budding in the pit of your stomach. Distractions curved the nausea, curled up with the pod door open, blanket tucked under your chin with the residual warmth of his body still hugging you, ‘He’s your buir.’

Din hadn’t put his helmet back on yet, the roll of his eyes contrasted with the small half-smile on his lips. In the light, it was easier to see the damage he had taken during his last fight. There was only so much an ex-bounty-turned-nursing droid and some bacta spray could do. The large gash across his forehead looked painful and you made a mental note to check it over when he returned.

‘Don’t teach him that.’

‘Why not?’

There was a pause. You caught the way the small smile faltered, wavering with doubt and uncertainty and maybe a hint of sadness although that last part was hard to tell. And while the wall Din had built around himself was thick, sadness was strong enough to creep through the cracks. Even Grogu noticed, large ears pricking, head tilting in ManDad’s direction with a small coo.

‘Aliit ori'shya tal'din.’

‘You’ve been practicing.’ The words were light, a brow quirked in your direction and you knew what it meant; you’re adorable. Thank you for trying. At least he was smiling, finishing up the last buckle on his holster ‘Ni kar'tayl gar darasuum.’

Maybe you should have been more surprised by the slip of his tongue. The way he carried on getting dressed, not even pausing once at his mistake.

You had heard him say those words before a hundrad times or more. But you wondered how long he had meant those words. Months? Years? Was it a new development? Was it something he had always known?

But there was no surprise. Instead, a warmth planted itself in your chest, and it grew, branches stretching to fill every ounce of your being until it was all you could feel.

‘Ni kar'tayl gar darasuum.’ His eyes widened at your mimicked words. The pronunciation was still a bit off and sometimes the emphasis was stressed on the wrong bits, but it was nice to know you were close enough that he understood you, ‘I know what it means now. You can’t trick me anymore.’

Din picked up the helmet and put it on before you had the chance to see the full smile that bloomed, but you heard it, the hints of pure happiness shining through the modulated, ‘I was never trying to trick you.’

You fought back your own smile. The heat spreading across your cheeks told a different story though, serving as a reminder of years old built-up emotions neither of you had time to unpack at that moment.

So, you did what you both did best. You quickly changed the topic, shifting your attention back to the Green Bean plopped on your stomach, happily teething on the small silver ball he sneakily snatched from the controls. A few seconds later and his attention found yours, giving you a gleeful smile as he held out the ball as a peace offering.

‘Ba'buir.’ You pointed back at Din and Grogu laughed, ‘He’s your Ba'buir.’

But Din was already out of sight, halfway to the door when he called back, ‘He’s older than me!’

Older, I surely am. And wiser. Yet know, you do not. Be careful ManDad For space can be dark and dangerous.

The lock hissed as it opened, seemingly louder in the suddenly quiet Razor Crest, ‘Be careful.’

‘Always.’

---

buir = parent

Aliit ori'shya tal'din = "Family is more than blood."

Ni kar'tayl gar darasuum ="I love you."; literally: "I will know you forever."

Ba'buir = grandparent

#jessie writes #grogusmum #commission #the mandalorian fanfic #the mandalorian #the mandalorian fluff #the mandalorian soft angst #din djarin x reader #din djarin fluff #din djarin angst #din djarin fanfic #grogu #pedro pascal #pedro pascal fanfic #pedro pascal fluff

46 notes · View notes

hotchley · 3 years ago

Note

i saw your reblog of the Spencer giving Aaron a father's day card thing and i can't stop thinking about how Aaron is the father figure to the entire team now.

(yes I'm also especially thinking about that one scene of Spencer and Derek stuck in the malfunctioning lift shrieking for Aaron just because. 🥴 dad!Hotch ftw!!!!!)

i know this concept has probably been done hundreds of times already but imagine: (SORRY THIS IS GOING TO BE A REALLY LONG ASK, I deeply apologise in advance)

[tw food/eating habits, some references to murder cases because you know this is Criminal Minds, some slight spoilers for people who haven't really watched the show and also reference & mention of autism & a character on the autism spectrum -> just a heads up, a disclaimer, I'm in no way diagnosed with autism, so if i have misrepresented autism, or made any mistakes, i apologise, it wasn't my intention, and i welcome all feedback & criticism — i genuinely want to learn]

a year after Spencer joins the BAU, Aaron notices & becomes very concerned over Spencer's (super bad) eating habits aka him only drinking coffee and forgetting to eat actual proper food when he gets absorbed in cases or research or reading etc -> which results in Aaron absolutely being like "hey Spencer let's grab lunch together" almost everyday just so Spencer eats (healthy, full meals)

(also Spencer picking up on this after Aaron "casually" gets him lunch/treats him to dinner/invites him over for meals for almost every day of the week and he was initially almost irritated/offended until he realised he could use Aaron's habit to make Aaron himself eat properly too because this hypocritical bastard doesn't eat properly himself either so every alternate day you can see Spencer purposely not going for lunch breaks while sneaking glances at Aaron's office just waiting for him to notice and drag them both to lunch together 😌)

also I really think Spencer is on the autistic spectrum (high functioning, imo, but I'm not really sure how this works, and I'd have to do more research) so I'd like to imagine Aaron knows that too because he's noticed Spencer's behaviors + Spencer got an official diagnosis and told him about it maybe 6-7 months into joining the BAU so I really think Aaron lets Spencer stim (physically, his hand gestures) on their lunch break because he knows that Spencer can't really do that in front of the others, so even when they're on cases, he would take Spencer out either for a private lunch or dinner or something, just the two of them, and he'd let Spencer stim & talk about any subject of his fancy as much as he wants to (I'm pretty sure someone wrote a fic like this and I absolutely can't remember the name or the author but I really LOVED the idea too)

initially Spencer was really taken aback too, because you know, this isn't something you do with your boss, of all people, but Hotch had always meant what he says and his facial expression and body language suggested that he was being absolutely sincere and serious about this, so Spencer tentatively started talking, and as their meal progressed, he eventually got comfortable enough to just go on, and not once did Aaron cut him off rudely, until the end of their meal, when Aaron couldn't continue to pretend to drink his soup because he'd finished it somehow with those incredibly small spoonfuls, and he'd had to gently tell Spencer that they had to go back, but Spencer wasn't upset, because he'd just got over an hour to talk about this recent seminar about the connection of ancient Greek mythology to the developments of the society in ancient Greece which no one had ever done for him before and he's full, satisfied and beyond elated because Hotch really didn't have to do this, but he did anyways

at first it was just something between them but eventually Derek noticed & like in the end I think it's a kind of open secret between Aaron, Spencer & Derek and now when Derek notices Aaron doing it he gives Aaron a small nod and he wards off & deals with the questions that the others have when they inevitably notices the private meals Aaron & Spencer has

speaking of Derek, Aaron definitely has 1 on 1 time with Derek too, but doing different things. Derek's thing is sports & home renovations, and he repairs/maintains cars & bikes when he can, and I like to imagine Aaron knowing about his hobbies and casually asking Derek about the home renovation he's working on one time (before or early S1) Derek came into his office to submit a case file, and Derek being kind of shocked/caught by surprised initially (because he knows Hotch has a soft spot for the kid because he's much younger and much, much more inexperienced but Derek's older and should know better, so Hotch won't do the whole private lunch thing with him, right?) but then he grins and starts telling Aaron about how "I got that place absolutely shining right now, man" and then he invites Aaron over to take a look at the place out of courtesy/habit (his mama raised him as a good, polite young man, and no way Hotch would even say yes right?) and to his surprise once again, Aaron does accept his invitation

after that one time, Aaron begins casually asking him about his projects and even starts offering to help him do some of the painting and decorating (to be fair, it calms Aaron too, to have a getaway from Haley and initially from the crying baby, because while he absolutely loved Haley and Jack with all his heart, some days, some days he just couldn't take it, all the stress from Strauss and from trying to be a good father unlike his own, and he had to take some time off to himself, and painting walls is calming and therapeutic to him in some sense) & Derek and Aaron start bonding over hotdogs while sitting out on the front porch of some halfway remodelled house, talking about the latest sports news (they support different baseball teams but that's okay, because Derek gets to grin at Hotch and ask him to pay up when Hotch's team loses to his, and Aaron gets to raise his eyebrows with that small knowing smirk of his and ask Derek to "complete this by the next weekend, will you" when Derek's team loses to his)

when Aaron recruits Penelope, he's read her file, or what little the FBI's cyberteam got on her anyways. he knows the Black Queen's reputation, and he knows that the cyberteam really don't trust her and recommended high levels of surveillance, but the moment he saw her through the glass of the interrogation room and her resume & application on pink paper, he knew that she's not just what the file said she is. initially, she sticks to the "bureau regulated office attire" because you know, Penelope knows she's lucky, she should've been jailed for what she did, she was jailed, until this Aaron Hotchner guy decided, somehow, that she was deserving to be on his team, even after looking at her resume, which she had written on pink paper out of pure spite (because nothing in the FBI rulebooks said anything about submitting your application on specialized coloured paper anyways) but she was moody and unhappy because she's stuck in this tiny office having to answer the phone whenever agents called to ask for details on icky, gruesome murders and disgusting, vile murderers so she decides that hey, since no one ever comes in here anyways, she might as well do some re-decorating right? so she starts bringing in her own soft toys and figurines and starts amassing a whole collection of soft, plushy, and colourful toys in because it's her office and if she has to deal with all these yucky stuff on a daily basis she's going to make it at least bearable to be in here

one day, some tall, stern looking guy just comes into her office with this Tupperware in his hands saying "hey, Garcia right? my wife made some extra cupcakes for the team, you want some?" and she asks "do i know you?" and he blinks, stands there for one, two seconds before- "sorry, i forgot we haven't actually met. Special Supervisory Agent Aaron Hotchner, assistant unit chief of BAU Team 1, nice to meet you," [i like to headcannon that before Boston & all, Hotch was Gideon's assistant, some kind of assistant unit chief probably, but while he wasn't yet the unit chief he was definitely taking care of most, if not all of the administration matters i.e. hiring new agents etc already because let's be real Gideon is caring & capable but really hands off sometimes (also in S1E1 Derek referred to Gideon as their Unit Chief so I assumed Hotch took over the position full time, officially somewhere between S1E1 and S1E2 or 3)]

and then Garcia's brain kind of short-circuits because holy shit this is her BOSS, aka the guy who somehow, crazily looked at her resume and decided to HIRE her and she just asked him if she knew him OH GOD ALL THOSE FIGURINES- and she tries to explain because she really didn't mean to break any rules with them and they aren't, are they? and she can remove them but just, please, she can't go back to prison.

but then Agent Hotchner just goes "hey, hey, Penelope. it's fine. I understand. this is your office, and you have the right to decorate it. I'm not going to fire you over.... My Little Ponies? and uh, some unicorns?" and Penelope can't help but laugh because he genuinely looks baffled by her collection on her desk, and did he just call her Penelope?

and after that, once, after a bad case that Aaron knew affected Penelope (it involved murdered parents & their only child left orphaned and it just hit too close to home for Penelope), he stopped by a local toy shop and bought the brightest, most sparkly, most colourful thing he could find in there (it ended up being a small figurine of a princess on a small, detachable throne that could light up and play some really funky pop music. Aaron cringed internally as he brought it over to the counter, and awkwardly nodded as the cashier asked, "buying this for your daughter, sir? she's going to love it, it's the latest in a collectable series" and he pretended to not see the questioning eyebrow that Derek gave him after seeing the package) and when he presented it to Penelope when they got back, he got the biggest and most bone crushing hug ever from Penelope because "aw that's so sweet, thank you! and you got me the latest in the collection! it's limited edition!" and it just ended up becoming a tradition — Penelope always looks forward to the end of a case now, not only because that means her people are coming home, safe, in one piece (sometimes debatable but still, they're coming home, to her) but it also means that Hotch has brought her yet another tiny figurine or souvenir to add to her collection and she can't wait to see what it is, and Hotch always, always, finds the time after they've wrapped up the case, before the jet leaves, to pop by a local toy shop to get both Penelope and later, when he's older, Jack some toys or souvenir from wherever state he's in, because he wants both of them to know, that despite all the bad out there, there is still good in the world, and they should never forget that

OKAY this ask is SUPER LONG already i apologise skfjsk i have ideas for JJ & Emily but idk if you'd even wanna continue reading them... (maybe.... give me a sign and I'll send another ask and write it? 🥴)

anyways this was just something that came up and i had to write it out 🥺 sorry for spamming you, i hope you're having a great day/night ahead.

- ��

Hi so I'm putting everything below the cut for scrolling purposes x

He is!!

Oh my god, I love that scene. It came up in a TikTok about ships, because Person A and Person B are both very smart when they're alone, but put them together and it cancels out, and it made me laugh.

I also love Dad Hotch. Like I love him as much as I love "fighting to keep his emotions in check because he needs to be a leader, but you can tell from the slight change in tone, or the slight glaze of his eyes that he's seconds away from crying" Hotch. Which is saying something.

DON'T APOLOGISE FOR LONG ASKS!! That's what the keep reading on posts is for :))

Oh I love how much Hotch cares about Reid, and of course Reid uses it to his advantage to get Hotch to do the same, because they're similar in that way. Also, he would definitely start grinning when Hotch looks down at his empty plate like: oh. Platonic Hotchreid is everything to me, because it's these two people that have been caretakers their entire life trying to look after another person that wouldn't let anyone do that and it's just... the HOTCH ANGST POTENTIAL THAT IS SO UNTAPPED!!!

Also, not a criticism of you, but from what I've heard from people is that functioning labels are harmful and shouldn't be used because it misrepresents the situation!

I love that idea though!! And Derek being protective over them so he's just like: no, you won't interrupt them, and I will take control of the situation for a few hours AAH!!

OH I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT MORGAN AND HOTCH BONDING!! It's so perfect!! I love the idea of Morgan teaching Hotch to do things, and Hotch realising how relaxing he finds it to do these things.

And because we can't have nice things: he refuses to go after Foyet breaks into his apartment because he doesn't deserve peace, but then Morgan just uses his key, drags him out, takes him to a house and presses a brush into his hand because he's not going to let his friend self destruct like this.

EVERYTHING ABOUT GARCIA!! OH MY GOD!! I need to get some work done, so I'm going to finish up there, but seriously!! Amazing!! I love the idea of Hotch getting her little figurines and stuff <33

(shameless self promo, she does the same for him in "and he will come back home" hehe)

I would love to hear the Emily and JJ ones!! I hope that's the sign you need :)

Don't apologise for spamming I was having a dull day, and I hope you have a good day too!

#🌙anon #people talk to me #tw food #tw eating habits

15 notes · View notes

staranon95 · 4 years ago

Text

dincobb blade runner au

okay i got some nice likes on my post from last night, and i finally have some time to draw out my thoughts.

this is going to be heavily inspired by Blade Runner 2049 so yes i will be taking multiple elements from that movie, its story, its themes and characters but with my own special twist.

Din

he is a nexus-9 replicant (styled after Officer K) and works for the LAPD as a blade runner, tasked with hunting down older replicant models (nexus-8 units)

he reports to Lieutenant Bo-Katan; their relationship is a very tense one to say the least. the big part of nexux-9 models is that obedience is hardwired into their genetic makeup, so Din is Bo-Katan's obedient little blade runner, dispatched to the harder jobs that humans can't do because replicants don't matter right?

as part of the replicant build, replicants are given false memories upon their conception since they're formed as fully adult, fully human, you need to have something rattling around in there to kickstart their brain

Din has a named. Din Djarin, but this sets himself apart from other replicants the LAPD has employed in the past. because none of them previously asserted that they had a name. but it's almost automatic for when people introduce themselves to him that he responds with Officer Djarin. it's like a reflex.

as part of Din's memories, he knows they're false. but some of them are so starkly vivid like the image of a child calling him 'papa' reaching up with their arms at him, smiling wide which is weird isn't it? replicants can't reproduce but why does Din always feel struck with the desire that he lost something? that he had to say goodbye to a child? he never mentions this to anyone, not even Bo-Katan, because they don't matter right? they're false. right?

one of the big memories Din has is of this Child. he's slipping a necklace around their neck and saying 'i'll come find you' and he doesn't know why but he's so driven by the urge to find this Child. but he doesn't know where to begin and he can't go against Bo-Katan. he can't disobey

Cobb

Cobb is a nexus-8 model, but he's an aberrant variant of the line in that he's an outlier from the model. he's not as big, not as strong, but still as deadly, and when originally created, he was used for infiltration and surveillance against rebels, uprisings and so on. it's easy for him to blend into the situation at hand. he's highly charismatic which makes him so dangerous. eventually he broke free of those who controlled him and became a rebel figure among the underground replicant freedom movement

as an aberrant nexus-8, Cobb is wanted by a lot of people, the most important person being Moff Gideon, CEO of Gideon Corporation. the GC revived the replicant production after the nexus-8 models rebelled in a bloody war that led to many governments declaring replicants illegal. Gideon wants Cobb because he shouldn't technically exist. it's like he's a mutation, so Gideon pulls his strings with the LAPD to have their blade runner Din sent to find Cobb

now Cobb established himself as a rebellious figure back in the day during the Blackout (canon for the time when all digital devices just stopped working. good times!). one time, however, he did get caught by a human militia. the militia wanted money from his capture, so while they were negotiating with the authorities, they had him stashed away in one of the many bleak recycling operations, chained down and forced to work while his fate was decided.

(2049 is a bleak world and includes child labour. bad times all around)

so while Cobb is chained in place, he comes to know this Child, this special Child with a unique necklace, and he talks to the child (he always talks. he's Cobb) and they build a relationship and Cobb realizes how special this Child is

eventually Cobb is broken out of his interim prison, but before he goes, he makes sure the Child is taken with him, and he makes sure the necklace is left behind so that people assume the Child died here

The Child (it's grogu lol)

The Child is seemingly human, but actually born of a replicant. they are an impossibility and the symbol of a replicant revolution. they can control themselves. they can be free from the human worlds because they were built to survive.

rumors of a replicant child break out and of course Gideon also wants this child for his own purposes. to study. to understand.

later on in the story, we learn that the Child's father (idk who this is yet) had their memories taken and implanted in a nexus-9 model, and that this nexus-9 would become the Child's sworn guardian, but he needs to recognize that drive on his own. he needs to break from the rules that keep him rooted to the humans he works for. that's a journey he needs to take

The Story

Din learns of the Child's potential existence when he happens upon a crime scene. a human possibly killed by a replicant. he's sent to investigate and finds a shallow grave on the property. the bones belonged to a replicant, but it's clear they had been pregnant based on old marks on the bones.

He learns form the crime scene that this human was in contact with known rebel Cobb Vanth based on a photo he finds stashed away along with the body, so the LAPD figure Cobb returned to tie up some loose ends, that he's essentially reemerged and Din is being tasked to bring him in

Din is contacted by Gideon to speak about Cobb's whereabouts, what Gideon knows about Cobb's history, and that Gideon knows about the rumour. that a replicant child lives and that Din will be well compensated if he manages to bring the Child to Gideon

Din follows Cobb's past, learns of who he is, how he broke free of his intended purpose, and Din wonders quietly to himself what that's like? what is it like to be free of human control? to be his own person?

he comes to the recycling plant where Cobb was once held and does some digging on the premises, coming to know the story of how Cobb escaped. he finds the necklace from his memories and realizes his memories can't be fake. otherwise why would this be here? so he digs through the plant's records of all the children who've worked here and finds his name in the ledger. Djarin.

following a series of cryptic clues, Din realizes that Cobb is hiding in the wasteland of Las Vegas, a place that's inhabitable by human standard, but not to replicants. so he goes there. Cobb and Din meet for the first time and duke it out until Din says he knows about the Child and that stops Cobb from nearly killing him.

they talk. Cobb feels sympathetic for Din because he knows how hard nexus-9s have it. to be obedient on that level? how hard must it be for him to be here? but then he realizes that someone must've planted those false memories in Din for a reason. this is where Cobb and Din really connect to each other. how much Cobb wants to show Din he's worthy of a life outside of his purpose. and how much Din realizes he wants to follow Cobb wherever he goes.

surprise attack! Gideon's forces locate the both of them. Din is incapacitated and Cobb is captured. Din is left for dead.

Din is later found by Boba and Fennec, replicant leaders of the underground movement. they patch him up and ask him where his loyalties lie i imagine at this point Cobb has told them of Din's emergence and that he has implanted memories, that he's meant to be the Child's guardian. and Din has to make a choice here. he has to choose to be his own person and fully go rogue. so he swears that he'll rescue Cobb since Cobb actually knows where the Child is hidden

Din goes after Cobb and rescues him from Gideon's clutches. they run and Din realizes how much he actually cares for Cobb. and he doesn't know if he's built to feel love, but he imagines this is what it must feel like. that rush of relief when he sees Cobb is okay, touching him and pulling him along.

Cobb takes Din to the location where the Child is, and Din is struck with all these memories. holding the Child when they were just born. seeing the Child take their first steps, their first words. calling him 'papa'. having to say goodbye to the Child. leaving them forever. and he knows they're not technically his. but they real and they feel like they're his.

so that's how Din and Cobb become parents to their replicant son

#dincobb #cobb vanth #din djarin #mandalorian #star song #blade runner au #i could go on about this #but i think i've said enough lol

11 notes · View notes

b-else-writes · 4 years ago

Note

i'm curious what you think about the mandalorian as a show? i know a lot of people like it, and i actually wanted to because of pedro pascal and giancarlo esposito. but i wasn't able to be invested like i thought i'd be due to issues such as the pacing and writing. the main character still seems so underdeveloped in season 2.

Are you me??? Controversially, I don’t like it. I think it’s boring, not well-written, and relies on nostalgia. It’s the story of an action figure and his soft toy.

I agree the main character is underdeveloped. The show does this thing where it assumes that action and getting new weapons = character growth. We end up with stuff like ep. 5 and 6 - you’d think Din being forced to work with his old buddies/some hotshot young man would mean something or cause him to grow, but no. He just badasses his way through, and Din is the same person. Same for much of S2. His dreams and goals are not well-fleshed out (what does Din want outside of keeping Yodito safe?) and are often dropped: ep. 4 suggests Din wants a normal life, but cannot because of Yodito, but then this longing is tossed aside. Also, why does he want a normal life? Does his miss his blood parents? Does he feel unfulfilled being a Mandalorian/bounty hunter?

S2 becomes worse where he just meets famous characters and helps out their stories (Ep. 12, 13, 14) instead of leading his own story. What are Din’s wants and needs? I suppose it is that he wants to be a Mandalorian but that he needs to let go of his rigid doctrine, but again, this is not well-fleshed out (and often has the subtlety of a hammer with Bill Burr just asking him in ep. 15). We’re missing moments where he questions. Or maybe he becomes more rigid in response to Bo Katan. Anything to show us his wants and needs, please! He’s often inconsistent: sometimes he has a secret heart of gold, other times he is a dick (Frog Lady in ep. 9). Sometimes he is fatherly to Yodito, other times you could replace Yodito with a sack of rice.

So it’s hard for me to engage with the show when the main character is underdeveloped and doesn’t even have a face 95% of the time. Most of the side characters are not memorable or developed. He’s just stoic and badass but has a secret heart because he takes care of a child, it’s just an action genre cliche without greater exploration. Giancarlo Esposito is a brilliant character actor, and I loved how manipulative he was in ep. 16 but Gideon is half-baked.

I think the pacing and writing is also not good. It is extremely repetitive with endless fetch quests of the exact same type. Yes, it’s based off Western serials but...it just doesn’t move me. Part of that is personal taste, but I also think the show is just boring. And I can like Westerns! I love True Grit (2010), but that movie works because its story is built around the themes of revenge and the violence of frontier life - and the hollowness of the bounty hunters, wash-ups from the American Civil War. Here, we follow a faceless man on this repetitive journey of zero stakes and ham-fisted plot lines/contrivances while he levels up in armour and weapons. No quiet moments in the show to just let you...feel.

The show relies on nostalgia and pandering over themes and depth. The show was born from the original material for the cancelled Boba Fett movie and it’s evident. Din Djarin is just Boba Fett with some tweaks. Cool, badass, stoic, daddy issues. It is familiar sets, familiar people, familiar conflicts, new CGI.

So, overall, I’m not a fan of the Mandalorian. I don’t think it has a lot to say about anything (but then, neither do the majority of Star Wars!), I don’t think it has good character writing or pacing, and Din is a half-baked power fantasy. If I wanted to enjoy a Star Wars story about the chaos after the Empire’s fall, or whether the rebels helped people, I’d read Alexander’s Freed Alphabet Squadron books, or Battlefront: Twilight Company (both I highly recommend!).

#sw negativity #i guess?

2 notes · View notes

avasharpe · 4 years ago

Text

Honey, There Is No Right Way Chapter Four

Chapter: four/four

Summary: Ava picks Sara up from blind school and they take a walk through the park. Later Sara makes breakfast for everyone and they talked about how Sara has settled into things.

Fandom: DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.

Relationship: Sara Lance/Ava Sharpe.

Characters: Sara Lance, Ava Sharpe, Charlie, Zari Tarazi, John Constantine, Nate Heywood, Behrad Tarazi.

Chapter Rating: General Audience.

Additional Tags: Blind!Sara, Fluff, Lemons.

AN: I have completed a multi-chapter fic with a consistent update schedule! I am so proud of myself for this It's something I fail at more than I like and something I'm trying to change.

Read at AO3

Read at FFN

……………………………………………………………………

Ava was absolutely not outside of the Blind school waiting for Sara to finish her lessons for the day. No, she was just sitting at the park, eating her snack, and... Oh who was she kidding, of course she was waiting for Sara. Ava missed her, Sara’s classes took up most of the day and she worried about how Sara was doing. Ava turned away from the building to look over at the park in front of her, watching the bare tree sway and picking out the lone red leaves left in the trees.

Ava tried to distract herself and think of anything other than Sara. It worked, and Ava was so distracted that she didn’t notice Sara sneaking up behind her until Sara tugged on her jacket. Ava jumped as she touched her and Sara laughed before wrapping her arms around Ava’s waist.

“You must have had a very successful lesson. You found me all on your own,” Ava said as she smiled and tapped her nose, before pulling Sara in and kissing her lips.

“The vision I saw of you waiting for me helped, but I walked 10 whole blocks, learned some new living skills, and worked on my Braille,” Sara smiled, her voice full of pride. “Also, we have got to catch up on Daredevil because Lucy is two episodes ahead of me and she kept spoiling everything.”

“It sounds like you had a really good day,” Ava said, leaning in to tuck Sara’s hair behind her ear. “I’m glad these lessons are going well.”

“Me too, it feels good to walk around knowing I can navigate the unfamiliar street,” Sara said, as they strolled into the park. Sara used her cane with one arm and Ava held her hand as Sara led them along the trail to where they had parked the Waverider.

“I’m glad, I know this has been an adjustment for you my love, and I’m happy that you’ve been able to learn how to adapt and even make some friends. Even if Lucy does spoil the plot for you.”

“I told her I was behind and she still blabbed the ending of episode ten.”

Ava chuckled as they walked. It was early winter and the wind picked up the leaves to dance around then and Sara laughed as the leaves tickled their legs as they walked. Eventually, they got to the Waverider and paused outside it. It was camouflaged to match the field around them, but Sara remembered where to stop, something she had recently learned.

“What can you hear?” Ava asked, as she looked around the park, wrapping her arms around Sara’s waist and set her head on Sara’s shoulder.

Sara smiled, tilting her head as she listened to the world around them. “I can hear the leaves rustling through the trees. The sound of kids' laughter as they play over there and the steady steps of the joggers as they run past us and the hum of the ship.”

“Can you hear what trouble the Legends have gotten into since we’ve been gone,” Ava asked, giving her a nudge.

Sara smiled and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. Her powers were another thing that she was learning how to use. “Well, it looks like they are decorating for the holidays. They’ve hung some large white snow fluff which has attracted some giant spiders as they left the cargo bay door open.”

Ava made a face and shivered “Oh, maybe we should enjoy the park a little bit longer.”

“Come on, Miss Sharpe,” Sara said, with a smile as she dragged her back down the trail. “I smell a taco truck.”

……………………………………………………………………

Ava woke up to an empty and cold bed. She frowned as she stretched, missing her tiny little heater. Sara ran hot and Ava always got cold without Sara sleeping beside her. Ava was a morning person and out of habit, Sara got up early to train. Usually, they would wake up together and have morning sex, but it wasn’t too unusual for one of them to get up before the other. Ava never liked waking up without Sara next to her.

She reluctantly rolled out of bed and went to the bathroom, wrapping her robe around her and washing her face before heading out in search of Sara. Ava looked in the gym first, but found only Mick on the weights and headed off to the kitchen. As she approached, Ava spotted Sara at the counter.

“Surprise!” Sara said, having heard her walk in and turned around pulled the foil off of a plate for her.

Ava walked all over and looked down at the plate Sara had prepared for her. It was her favorite breakfast of turkey bacon, eggs, and a yogurt parfait. Taking the plate from her hands, Ava looked around to see the rest of the kitchen set up buffet style on the counter. There were waffles, eggs, pancakes, and a sorted array of breakfast foods set for everyone to enjoy.

“Thank you babe,” Ava said, as she wrapped her arms around Sara’s waist as Sara leaned into her and kissed her cheek. “Who made the rest of the food?”

“I did.”

“You made all of this by yourself?”

“Yep,” Sara said, smiling, very pleased with herself. “With Ray’s organization and the braille labels, I was able to find everything I needed. Then Gideon helped me time how long to cook things, and the rest I did all by myself.”

“Babe,” Ava said as Sara let her over to the table that was completely set with silverware, coffee, and a basket of fruit and flowers. “This is amazing.”

“And really good,” Behrad said as he stuffed his face with pancakes. Nate nodded too as his mouth was also full of pancakes.

“And a pretty decent English breakfast too,” Charlie said, with their plate of sausage, beans, and toast.

They both sat down at the table, at a place Ava assumed was Sara’s as it was half a bowl of oatmeal and apples. Sara poured her a mug of coffee using her liquid level indicator. She added the right amount of milk the Ava liked, grabbed her hand to give her the mug.

“Thank you,” Ava said, taking a sip of the coffee with a hum of content.

She put her mug down and wrapped her arms around Sara’s shoulders, pulling her in for a proper kiss. Sara smiled and hummed against her lips, putting her hands on Ava’s abs. They continued kissing, melting into each other, but were forced to part by the groans of the crew as they made out.

“Um excuse me, some of us are trying to eat breakfast here,” Zari said, tapping Ava’s shoulder in a teasing tone.

Sara and Ava laughed as they pulled apart. They never turned down an opportunity to embarrass their crew. Ava grabbed Sara’s chair, pulled it close, and put an arm around her as Sara laid her head on Ava’s shoulders.

“I didn’t realize that you had learned how to do all of this?” Ava said, looking around the kitchen again.

“Yeah, I’ve learned a lot, and I wanted to kinda show off and do something nice for everyone.” Sara shrugged against Ava’s shoulder.

“I’m so proud of you Sara,” Ava said, leaning down to kiss her forehead and give her a little squeeze.

Sara just smiled and Ava could see how happy she was, as she hadn’t stopped smiling. They all lapsed into conversation as they ate and the others finished up before they got up to leave.

“Excuse you?” Ava said, looking up at them. The Legends just looked back at her, confused until Ava gestured to the dirty dishes they had left at the table. “And I haven’t heard a ‘thank you Sara’ yet?”

“Thank you Sara,” They all chimed as they quickly picked up their plates and scampered over to put them in the dishwasher.

“You’re welcome,” Sara smiled as she heard them go.

Ava finished eating before getting up to do her and Sara’s dishes. The dishwasher on the Waverider was industrial and could handle anything, but she and Ray still like to do a few dishes by hand. Sara cleared the table and put away some of the food before she hopped up on the counter next to Ava and started drying the plates Ave handed her.

“I think I’ve grown comfortable being blind,” Sara said, looking straight ahead as she put down the plate and twisted the dish towel in her hands. “I mean, I still have my visions, but and I don’t know, being blind just feels normal now.”

“That’s good,” Ava said, putting down the last dish in the cabinet. “I’m glad that you're okay Sara. You have handled everything that came your way, better than I ever could, and I’m glad that you're good.”

“Come here,” Sara said, smiling and reaching out for her.

Ava smiled as she turned and wrapped her arms around Sara’s waist, moving in between her legs and pressing her lips to Sara’s. Sara held Ava against her and wrapped her legs around Ava’s hips.

Ava let herself smile against Sara’s lips so that she could feel it and kissed her again, letting herself linger there. She didn’t need to say anything and she let her body do the talking as she kissed Sara.

Sara pulled at Ava’s sleep shirt, her fingers quickly unbuttoning it before she paused. Ava’s gotten pretty good at telling when Sara was having a vision. She always paused just for a brief second as something flashed across her grey eyes.

“John’s going to come into the kitchen and catch us if we go any further,” Sara said as she reluctantly re-buttoned Ava’s sleep shirt.

“Well I guess we better take this somewhere else,” Ava said letting her hands run down Sara’s back, to rest on her ass. Sara laughed as Ava picked her up and tightened her legs around Ava’s waist, leaning in to trail kisses along her neck, her intentions hidden by Ava’s long hair.

Ava turned the corner just as she saw John whistle as he headed over to the galley. Ava carried her through the halls as Sara directed her way so they wouldn’t get caught by anybody else. Finally, Ava opened the door to their bedroom and walked over to lay her down on the bed quickly crawling on top of her.

#Ava Sharpe #Sara Lance #Avalance #legends of tomorrow #DC's Legends of Tomorrow #otp: I love you ya goober #DC #Charlie LoT #Zari Tarazi #Nate Heywood #Behrad Tarazi #John Constantine #my fanfics #my writing #my work

4 notes · View notes

vaguely-concerned · 5 years ago

Text

The Mandalorian episode 8 reactions

Spoilers ahoy! In short I liked it a lot and now my brain is desperately trying to process it all haha

- thank god taika waititi knows I needed us to open on two unsympathetic comedy stormtroopers after all the stress last time. (in general this episode was very funny and it needed to be because dang mando is having a Bad Day in this one) that scene did such a good job of hilariously humanizing the stromtroopers but in a way that highlights what kind of people would stay with the empire even after the fall. they’re real breathing humans but they’re also baby-punching fascists and it’s not much of a loss to anyone that IG-11 goes to town on them

- ooooh cara is from alderaan!!! that explains just how deep her hatred for the empire is. (*me thinking wistfully about bail organa, the OG good dad of the star wars universe*) also I say this all the time but she is so cool and beautiful and important and the little ‘oh uh oops’ look she threw down at the baby after blowing that droid’s head of was p r i c e l e s s . too bad she’s staying on navarro while mando leaves :(

- FINALLY name confirmation! I’m going to have to go and fix the spelling for my fics and I don’t even care haha. also pedro pascal is so amazing at making his voice expressive jesus christ you can feel the weight of it just from the small pauses between his words (’mandalorian recruits’ = evil empire speech for ‘children’ I’m assuming so. augh)

- cara SHIELDING HIM WITH HER OWN BODY even though he’s literally still in full armor and her beautiful buff arms are completely unprotected *elmo surrounded in flames gif (ironically)* that might actually be more non-violent physical contact than mando’s had since he was a kid (lol but also ouch). there was something almost sibling-like in the way they huddled together, im hurt

- with that grilled flamethrower trooper baby yoda has officially committed his first unassisted murder! *drying proud tears* they grow up so... well obviously not fast in this case but you know what I mean

as usual the baby was a delight. I mean you know this I know this but it bears repeating basically forever

- you know what in one way it felt a bit too early but in another I really like how they showed mando’s face. I think it’s because that reveal isn’t witnessed by any other characters except IG-11 (who is best boy <3 but also there in the role of a medical practitioner and audience stand-in so it doesn’t count in the metaphor lol) -- it’s entirely meant for us, the audience. the whole season really has been a long journey towards specificity in his character; we open up with him being a faceless, nameless and damn near wordless figure, and then they’ve let us closer and closer to him until... now we have his name and his face both and that probably means we know him better than the vast majority of the characters in the show (which is admittedly not saying much haha). it still leaves a LOT of potential in the interpersonal dynamics within the series, but does something interesting for our view of him (and sets up an interesting possibility for a sort of tension between the two as well maybe?).

it feels weird and too intimate but I think that’s exactly what it’s supposed to do. I’d actually been trying to put this into words before this episode -- I didn’t feel able to write fic for this show until episode 7; before that taking on his POV felt... invasive, almost? awkward? but now it feels like the show has reached a place where we get close enough that it’s starting to be possible. he’s having to become more and more real (because he has a baby he loves and who needs him now and he can’t just dissociate anymore haha)

there’s also something really beautiful if fragile in how it plays out like... for this one moment he needs to allow himself to be made vulnerable (by a droid, no less) and through that act of tremendous courage, even though it confuses and pains him, choose to live. after all he was completely free to shoot IG-11 the whole time and he didn’t. I. Hm. mhm. im trying to figure out what I mean give me a few days to write fiction about it and maybe I’ll get it lol

- the way mando disappeared into himself/seemed to be just... resigned to it all was uh. awful! absolutely awful.

thank GOD all these people around him straight up refused to let him die, at a few points it was almost a feeling of ‘SOMEONE PLEASE GIVE ME A GRENADE TO THROW MYSELF ON I’M NOT READY TO BE FULLY ALIVE AGAIN BUT I’LL HAVE TO BE BECAUSE I HAVE A LITTLE ONE TO BE A DAD FOR’ (at a few points where it’d be natural if he was triggered he instead seems to want to give the child to someone he thinks is more suited and then a) fight (and probably die but y’know at least he’d get to shoot someone) or b) at least stay with and honor the dead. oof)

- very rude of mando to make a grave for kuiil when he’s not even dead tbh. how unlike our main boy in the helmet to be impolite like that, I’m surprised

(I had so desperately hoped IG-11 at least would survive as a sort of legacy -- a testament to his skill and kindness and wisdom :( )

- I KNEW nothing would get the armorer in her own damn forge :D:D:D she is so incredibly cool and I love her. the way she stands there unshaken despite everything like a pillar of what their culture actually is at the core. and also when she’s like ‘well of course this is your son’ and the camera cuts to baby yoda as if to say ‘as I keep telling you dad’

the mirror of her immovable upright certainty and mando on his knees in front of the pile of dead people’s armor -- an image which makes it feel like this is not the first time he’s been there, right?

mando not enthused at the idea of evil sorcerers tho lol I foresee some trickiness in your future my boy

- of ALL the funny references they had to make sad it had to be the self destruct D: I’ve always had a lot of feelings about droids in star wars so I’m probably going to have to process this a bit. also “I’m not sad” oh honey

- I have only a very vague knowledge about the darksaber (I couldn’t get into rebels sadly despite my love for clone wars), but I do understand that it’s taking the nazi gold comparison they’ve got going on with the beskar and dialing it up to 11, that’s apparently a Big Deal. they’ve done such a good job with gideon in setting up a bad guy who works on several levels -- he wants the thing that’s most important to mando today for what’s implied to be Not very great reasons, he’s a physical reminder of the cultural and personal trauma this series is looking at, and as a remnant of the fallen Empire he’s doing a lot of work as the specter of this sort of lawless unsettled in-between age. good stuff!

- greef karga earned himself a big place in my heart in this one. you might be sketchier than my understanding of horse anatomy, greef, but I love you nonetheless haha. when he starts to drink nervously while they’re trying to get out of the bar & when he’s immediately doing the sales pitch on Navarro once the blaster fire dies down fdkslhfkas. and that “Or maybe he’ll take care of you” shows that there is some real concern and friendship there and it’s so sweet.

- mando carrying the baby like he was carried safely and with love by the mandalorian in the flashback............ damn dude. and he’s an official full time dad now what a time to be alive

- obligatory flamethrower report: do I even need to say it, mando’s flame thrower. must I point out how badly you have been shown up. honestly this has just been embarrassing for us all let us speak no more of it

#star wars #the mandalorian #the mandalorian spoilers #the mandalorian episode 8

55 notes · View notes

orangedodge · 5 years ago

Text

About that season 2 tease...

I've enjoyed the Mandalorian very much so far, and think Jon Favreau has done a splendid job in developing it. I've really liked what Dave Filoni has done in his stewardship of the Star Wars TV universe as well, and I still wish they'd been put in charge of the films. But barring the possibility of a huge second season reversal and misdirect, I cannot fathom the narrative intent behind establishing "the Purge" as a tragedy that occurred after Rebels, instead of during the Empire's early occupation. Again, perhaps it's only a misdirect, and Moff Gideon acquiring the Darksaber is not proof that the Empire defeated Bo-Katan and destroyed Mandalore a second time. But as that is definitely what the showrunners want the audience to take out of the season finale, let's go over a few of the horrible implications that arise from assuming its truth:

1. It retroactively validates all of Sabine Wren's worst instincts, and says that she was wrong to ever place her trust in outsiders, to believe in the Rebellion as a cause, or to live her life according to the morals her foster parents instilled in her. Instead, basic storytelling logic now implies that her downfall came in choosing not to be a monster, and that if she had followed her Imperial training and committed war crimes, and left the Rebel Alliance to its own fate instead of continuing to work with them, her civilization would have survived.

2. It makes the entire leadership of the Rebel Alliance, from Mon Mothma down, look unforgivably callous to the needs of the only people who have ever bothered to show up for them. The Alliance was trapped and in danger of failing years before Rogue One when the Mandalorians risked everything, and endangered the success of their own resistance movement, to save them. All throughout the back half of Rebels, the Alliance is consistently willing to use the Mandalorians as a shield against the Empire, while being reluctant to let even five people volunteer to help them in return, and now we're left with the implication that it was the only assistance they ever gave them at all. It was one thing to have the political heads of the Alliance prevaricate and show reluctance to commit to their own values, when people like Leia, and Jyn, and Hera were always going to be there to force the issue anyway. But are we now to assume that even they only make those gambles for other Rebels?

3. It casts a shadow over all of Filoni's other work. The Mandalorians have been with us since the beginning of Clone Wars, and their fate has been the longest running subplot, throughout three full shows, spanning more than a decade of film and animation. What did it matter, if they all died anyway once they'd outlived their usefulness to the Rebellion? Who should care that Sabine watched over Lothal for Ezra, if she lost everything she fought for in the meantime? Why bother watching the upcoming Clone Wars revival, detailing Ahsoka's liberation of Mandalore, if LucasFilm wants us to think that this is where it all inevitably ends up? Their tale of persistent defiance and finding a way to always survive and rebuild has its own merit, but at some point the characters that the audience has actually spent years and years getting to know deserve to share in some of the fairy tale optimism of the setting.

I wouldn't even call this turn "bad writing" because it actually does a lot to explain why precisely no one seemed to care when the New Republic fell in the sequel trilogy. The New Republic being the extension of the Rebel Alliance, if this is the level of care they showed to their earliest supporters, what good were they to anyone? To repeat, I just do not understand the intent behind this decision at all, or why Filoni and Favreau would want for it to define the tone of their story.

#star wars #star wars rebels #the mandalorian #spoilers

22 notes · View notes

homenum-revelio-hq · 5 years ago

Photo

Welcome to the Order of the Phoenix, Charly!

You have been accepted for the role of non-biography character GIDEON PREWETT with the faceclaim of Sam Heughan! We really enjoyed your discussion of Gideon’s personality, especially in relationship in the differences between Gideon and Fabian! We think Gideon’s level-headed outlook will be a great addition to the Order. We are so excited to have you as part of this roleplay!

Please take a look at the new member checklist and send in your account within 24 hours! Thank you for joining the fight against Voldemort!

OUT OF CHARACTER:

NAME: Charly (he/him)

AGE: 27

TIMEZONE: GMT+1

ACTIVITY LEVEL: I will usually find time to be online and do replies once a day, or at least every other day. I work full time atm and sometimes have activities on the weekends but I always do my best to maintain a steady activity

ANYTHING ELSE: I’m not the biggest fan of images of hardcore gore. Descriptions are fine, I just don’t like to see it. Not really a trigger, though, more like a strong squick I guess.

CHARACTER DETAILS:

NAME: Gideon Prewett

AGE: 30 (which is I think what was put down by Fabian’s mun and which I’ll go with as well, considering they’re twins)

GENDER, PRONOUNS, and SEXUALITY:

Cis-male, he/him, bisexual. – His own gender identity isn’t something Gideon thinks about a lot. He’s always felt comfortable as a man. He is aware of the imbalance of power and influence between genders that many in his society view as natural and even necessary.He’s aware that he has definitely won the privilege lottery and tries to be mindful of it. But he is very sure of his gender identity and very comfortable the way he is.

His sexuality isn’t exactly a secret, at least he’s never made an effort to hide it. However, he also never actually came out to anyone. He only assumed people knew and if they had an issue with who he chose to go out with, they’d tell him directly. He’s had very few relationships in his life – he’s dated exactly one woman and one man. Both were relatively long-term relationships and he never treated one of his partners differently than the other. It never occurred to him, that he should have to come out to his family first before introducing them to a partner that wasn’t a woman.

BLOOD STATUS: Pure-Blood

HOUSE ALUMNI: Gryffindor – Gideon ultimately ended up a Gryffindor, if only just because Fabian came first in the alphabet and was therefore sorted before him. When Gideon put on the hat, it took an awfully long time debating whether Gryffindor or Ravenclaw was the better fit for him. In the end, Gideon wasn’t going to be separated from his twin, and asked to be put in Gryffindor.

ANY CHANGES: None

CHARACTER BACKGROUND:

PERSONALITY:

Gideon has always been known as the clever one, the over-achiever, the workaholic. From the moment he was born he was told he was special. The first-born son, the heir. He was never just a child he was the projection of his father’s high expectations. And Gideon, in his eagerness to please, did everything he could to fulfil them all. He was expected to perform exceptionally in school – he did. He was expected to find a well-respected job right out of school and make his father proud – he did. He was expected to always be well-mannered and courteous – he was. Expectations are the common thread in his life and Gideon lives in constant fear of being unable to fulfil them.

If it weren’t for Fabian and his good influence, Gideon would likely be a tight-lipped bore who wouldn’t know fun if it punched him in the face. It was definitely growing up with Fab and his sometimes outrageous ideas that led to Gid not tightening up to become exactly what their father wanted him to be. He’s still the ‘somewhat more responsible twin’ and more level-headed than his brother. After all, someone has to make sure they get out of whatever his brother cooks up alive. But Gideon, too, can let loose. In fact, he himself has been the instigator of trouble more than once during their time at Hogwarts and he has always had quite a talent for pyrotechnics. Yet, he somehow mostly managed to escape the consequences of their trouble-making. After all, he was the good boy.

As the oldest of three taking responsibility for others comes naturally to Gid. He enjoys being a source of safety and comfort to his friends and family and will offer his care to anyone who might need it. Helping others is something he’s good at, accepting or asking for help himself not so much. He’d rather be someone elses anchor than admit that he, too, is struggling. In offering himself up like this, he often takes on more than he can handle and it’s only a matter of time until he has no energy left for himself and it will all become too much to bear.

A lot of Gideon’s personality is exclusively outwardly. He’s learned how to present himself, how to hold his head up high and smile just right so that people believed what he wanted them to. That he is sure of himself, that he has all the answers, that he is unafraid and doesn’t falter. Ever. Gideon has been taught to be a leader, that he should be someone others can look up to and trust. That’s all he wants to represent and yet, most of the time he doesn’t even trust himself.

While he’s generally warm and kind towards his friends, Gideon suffers from haphephobia and will never initiate touch himself. It isn’t something he advertises however so he will bear it and suffer through a hug or a hand touching his own simply for the sake of not appearing callous or impolite. The only people he freely allows and even welcomes touch from are his siblings, young children and occasionally, his father. Those who have known him for a few years now would know that he used to be different, used to freely hug people even if they were only fleeting acquaintances. This change in his demeanour is a more recent one. But whatever has caused it is likely something only Gideon knows.

Gideon is afraid. Afraid of failing, of losing control, of his own inadequacy. He hides it well behind reassuring words and carefree smiles and an off-hand joke or two. But the crippling anxiety keeps him up most nights, thoughts racing and reliving all those brief moments in which he might have made a mistake. Any mistake, small as it may be is a failure on Gideon’s part, a fuck-up that if not immediately resolved, will haunt him for weeks. Everything he does needs to be perfect he needs to be perfect or else everyone he loves will turn away from him.

Conflict and communication isn’t something Gideon is good at. He can be judgmental and rash at times, and has a habit of making other people’s issues his own to the point where he oversteps. And if he’s confronted about his mistakes he recoils and falls silent instead of facing the problem and fixing his mistake with an apology. This, too, comes from a place of fear. Rather than resolving an argument with a conversation, any criticism sends Gideon into another spiral of paralysing anxiety and obsessing over his mistakes. The fact that people are willing to forgive and move on after he finally got himself together enough to apologise baffles him every time.

BRIEF OVERVIEW OF FAMILY:

Through everything he’s experienced he’s always had Fabian at his side and without him, Gideon is sure he would have drowned long ago. They’re a unity. Most people know them only as GidandFab, not as two separate people even though the twins couldn’t be more different. Fabian may be the only person who can see through all of Gideon’s bullshit and calls him out on it. He’s the only one Gideon will admit his fears too, will admit to being scared at all to. Fabian is the one person Gideon can stand being touched by without his stomach twisting into knots. He’s protective of both his siblings, but Fabian more than anyone else. He is after all his other half. It may be selfish, but Gideon would always put his twin’s safety and well-being before that of any other person no matter who they are. The idea of losing his brother is worse than anything he could ever imagine and with the war, that fear is ever-present.

He has nothing but respect for admiration for his little sister. Molly is the strongest person Gideon knows and oftentimes he wonders how she does it all – the war, being a mother and caring for so many others who need it all while maintaining an energy level that is almost superhuman. More than once he’s offered to move her and her family to a safe location out of the country, at least until the war is finished. But she always refuses. And he really cannot blame her knowing, that he himself would do the exact same thing if their roles were reversed. But it is another heavy load to carry to keep her and her family safe and out of harms way. Gideon knows however, that it would be pointless to argue with her and he respects her wishes.

His relationship with his parents has always been a complicated one. It was easier while his mother was still alive, but he could never shake the feeling that he was treated differently than his siblings. Was granted more privileges but at the same time judged much harsher. He never doubted the love his parents had for him, but especially with his father he often felt like he had a much harder time getting his approval than Fabian or Molly did. Oftentimes, his father’s affection towards him was tied to Gideon’s own achievements and as he grew older, the expectations also got higher and the praise grew sparse. And that, even now as a grown man of 30, is really all Gideon wants – his father’s praise and approval.

But maybe also because he was the oldest, and because his father, despite the glory days of the noble house of Prewett being long forgotten, still held on to those last shreds of their aristocratic origins, Gideon was privy to knowledge and insight into his family’s affairs his siblings weren’t. His father was always honest with him, answering all of Gideon’s many questions truthfully and never sugar-coating how badly their financial situation or the political climate were. While his siblings were blissfully ignorant, Gideon knew just how much harder it was with every passing year to maintain their old family seat. How much his mother worried about money and his father about the looming war.

Gideon wouldn’t have expected it in the least, but his mother’s death brought him and his father closer together. Both of them dealt with their grief on their own and in silence, preferring to look after Fabian and Molly than giving themselves time to heal. In a way, Gideon thinks, his father leaned on him during those first few months, letting Gideon deal with anything that had to be settled - the will, the belongings, even the funeral. They have a silent agreement nowadays, to protect Fabian and Molly first and see that they make it through the war. Even if it’s at the cost of their own lives.

OCCUPATION:

Unspeakable and Magic Researcher at the Department for Mysteries – Back at Hogwarts Gideon was never satisfied to only repeat a spell until he knew it by heart and perfected the performance, he wanted to know what was underneath. How did it work, who had invented it, where did magic come from? Those were the questions that kept him up and in the library long after most other students had long retired to their common rooms. He wanted to know the origins and mechanics of magic so he could one day be one of the people who invented new spells. Already during his time at school, Gideon started to experiment with words and movements to see if he couldn’t invent some himself. Without the proper training and tutoring however, little of what he attempted was actually successful. Most of the time nothing ever happened. However, there was one incident in which the 6th year boys’ dormitory in the Gryffindor tower almost caught on fire after which Gideon was prohibited from any further unsupervised experimentation.

After graduating Gideon managed to get into a Ministry research program for experimental magic. The first couple of years barely paid him anything but he learned more than he ever had in all his years of Hogwarts together. After completing his training, Gideon worked on a team that created household spells for a while. Not exactly what he’d dreamed of, but it paid the bills. It wasn’t until a year ago that one of his former instructors approached him with an offer: there was to be a new division within the Department of Mysteries and Gideon was to be a part of it. When he heard what exactly this division was researching, Gideon was filled with unease. After all, by this time the war was already raging all around him. And what he was offered was nothing short of a placement as a researcher for the newly created Division for Experimental Magic Warfare. Gideon was uncertain but the higher-ups in the Order were quick to make the decision for him. Gideon was to accept the job. He was to do as he was told and keep his head down. And he was to report back with everything he worked on that appeared suspicious.

It’s a dangerous situation Gideon has gotten himself into. The smallest mistake could raise suspicion, and it’s almost certain that sooner or later he will encounter his own work in the battlefield fired right at him or someone he loves. He can only hope that when that happens, he will be one step ahead.

ROLE WITHIN THE ORDER/THOUGHTS ABOUT THE ORDER:

Mid-Level - It wasn’t Gideon who was first approached to join the Order but his brother. Yet, wherever one twin went, the other would soon follow and so they joined together. Gideon was initially much more doubtful than his brother. Unlike Fabian, Gideon never had any dreams of heroism and adventure – he’s much too pragmatic for that. He joined because he was unsatisfied with how the Ministry handled the threat. He believed in a much more offensive and less careful approach and the Order seemed to have the same ideas.

He started out as a simple foot soldier, of little use off the battlefields due to his lack of influence and insight. Only recently has he felt like he’s truly been contributing to the cause as a spy within the Department of Mysteries with access to some of the Ministry’s most secret research. He’s in more danger than he’s ever been before, but it also fills him with a sense of pride. More than anything else he wants to contribute something meaningful, something that might change their outlook on the war.

As someone with a somewhat large family Gideon has everything to lose and he knows that with everything he does and every risk he takes he puts them at risk as well, especially his brother. It makes him only more determined to fight.

Gideon doesn’t mind being a criminal and a vigilante. His involvement in the Order is nothing he’d ever publicly advertise of course, and he keeps his true opinions about how he thinks this war should be fought carefully to himself. But in all honesty, as offensive as they are, they’re still not offensive enough. In these times law or honour don’t matter anymore, only survival and victory. An eye for an eye.

SURVIVAL:

How is he still alive? Gideon doesn’t know. He shouldn’t be at this point. While he’s always thinking on his toes and carefully calculating his next three steps he’s not one to shy away from the frontlines or stick to the back on the battlefield. He should have died three battles ago. Sometimes he thinks it must be dumb luck. Or his unwillingness to die without his brother by his side. He refuses to go down without him and since Fab is somehow still alive so is he.

In public Gideon keeps his head down. Plays the role of loyal ministry employee and keeps his opinions to himself. It’s what’s wisest and what the Order asked of him to ensure he’d be able to keep this job.

Gideon has a small flat in Central London which he loves dearly as it’s been his first flat ever but he’s appeared on the Death Eaters’ radar one too many times and the longer he procrastinates moving somewhere safer the more dangerous it gets. Still, Gideon needs stability and the idea of moving every couple weeks isn’t one he finds too appealing. Yet he can’t put it off much longer if he wants to continue to stay alive.

RELATIONSHIPS:

His brother has been and always will be the most important person in Gideon’s life. But neither of them can deny that their relationship has been strained for a while now. Sometimes Gid has a hard time reading his twin. Sometimes he can’t get a hold on him for days on end, throwing him into another spiral full of anxiety and panic and ‘what if something’ s happened’s. He’s well aware of his brother’s self-destructive habits but as of yet unable to take action without greatly invading Fabian’s privacy and breaking his trust. What he can do is to silently watch over him and hope to be able to prevent any greater damages in time. Gideon isn’t an idiot; he knows that he’s co-dependent to the point of potentially suffocating Fabian with his own inability to survive without his twin. And maybe, he tells himself, that inability is even what caused Fab’s drinking in the first place. Nevertheless, he’s determined to fix their relationship – and his brother – so they can go back to the way they had been before the war.

With the majority of his friends Gideon has taken the role of caretaker and substitute big brother. It’s what he knows, what he’s good at, what fuels him. He honestly enjoys being a shoulder to lean on and a source of strength and comfort. His door is always open, and he has an extra set of blankets and fresh sheets ready at all time just in case someone might need a place to stay for a night or more. He’s the kind of friend that will remember you mentioning your favourite brand of biscuits in an off-hand comment and then keep a pack in his cupboard just in case you might decide to visit. And at the same time, he’s the kind of person who knows everything about his friends but at the same time gives little information about himself. He’ll always answer ‘I’m great, thank you’ to a question after his well-being and make it sound honest enough. He rarely reveals more than superficial details of his personal life preferring to keep the focus away from himself in fear of someone digging a little too deep and realising that he is in fact far from the confident, charming man he pretends to be. People need him to be a rock and a safe haven, not just another construction side.

The war has forced them all both closer together and further apart it seems. Trust is dangerous these days, letting anyone too close could hurt you terribly in the best case scenario and get you killed if you’re not careful. And at the same time the trauma of the war has them huddling together and looking for comfort now more than ever. Gideon is almost obsessively cautious about letting new people into his life, but has made a habit of checking up on everyone of his friends and fellow Order members, even those who are just fleeting acquaintances, at least once a week. He keeps track of people, has to know where everyone is to sleep at least a few hours every night. As scattered as they are and with the lifes they’re living, someone has to see that no one’s left behind. It’s a reassurance for himself, and just maybe also for the others to know, that if someone fails to check in, if someone goes missing, he’ll notice.

OOC EXPLORATION:

SHIPS/ANTI-SHIPS:

Difficult. Gideon isn’t someone who will just flirt and jump into bed with someone. He needs to feel secure and safe first before he can even start opening up to someone. His last relationships have always crumbled under his inability to share and express his true emotions very well. His aversion to being touched isn’t helping much either. A relationship and someone he can trust and confide in is something Gideon desperately craves. But any attempts at getting closer to someone have always failed in the past few years and it’s weighing hard on him.

In his day to day life Gideon is someone who needs to be in charge always. Not being in control is something that fills him with crippling anxiety. And yet, in a relationship, giving up that control is exactly what seeks. He want’s someone else to take charge and just let him float safely for a bit. But communicating those needs isn’t something he’s ever done before.

I don’t have any anti-ships for Gideon. I will literally ship anything if the chemistry is there and it makes sense. For some reason I do like the idea of him having a bit of a crush on Kingsley Shacklebolt, which is probably simply projecting because I have a crush on Kingsley. He has that calm aura. I think Gideon would be very attracted to that.

WHAT PRIVILEGES AND BIASES DOES YOUR CHARACTER HAVE?

Gideon is a white cis-male pure-blood. He’s pretty much as privileged as they come in their society. And while his parents raised him and his siblings with constant reminders that their blood status isn’t worth anything and that it’s their character that defines them as people, they were far from perfect. Growing up Gideon couldn’t help but notice that at least his father treated him differently than his siblings and that being the oldest son but him under more scrutiny but also at a certain advantage. He often wondered if he was taken more seriously simply because he was the first-born.

It was mostly his sister Molly who taught him to think about his own privileges by sharing her own perspective with him and ridiculing him whenever she thought he was acting like a ‘typical man’. He’s grateful for it and tries to be more aware of his own actions and mannerisms but doesn’t always succeed.

He’s wary of werewolves and other shapechangers but only because he knows way too little about them. He doesn’t find them revolting or disgusting, he’s simply careful. If he were to find out about a friend of his being a werewolf, he’d be surprised if not shocked and have a million questions, but ultimately it wouldn’t change anything about them as a person.

Gideon has never had a long enough conversation with a muggle to have anything other than curiosity for their life-style. Again, he doesn’t know enough about them to form an informed opinion. But he knows that killing people simply because of their culture differing from your own is all kinds of wrong and horrible and he will not stand for it.

WHAT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO?

To be completely honest, I wasn’t actively looking for a roleplay. Amos, who currently plays Fabian, and I used to play the twins for a long time in other rpgs and somehow clicked from the very beginning. He very subtly advertised this rpg to me and told me how great it was which made me curious. After checking it out I really wanted to join because I love the concept a lot and also play Gideon again. What I’m especially looking forward to is the outlook. In Canon marauder rpgs the twins always due of course so you’re ultimately playing a doomed character. This can be great for those of us (and I’m definitely one of these people) who love nothing more than pain and angst. But I found that I’m really excited and curious about playing Gideon with a chance of a future. It gives the whole experience a sense of hope.

PLOT DROP IDEAS:

My main goal is always character development through the differing relationships Gideon has with other characters. How are the people around him going to influence him, how is he going to influence them? This is very general of course. More specifically, I’d like to see people digging deeper and getting under Gideon’s skin, be it in a positive or negative way. I’d like to undo him.

I’d also like to see how the situation at the Department of Mysteries develops, if Gideon is able to withstand the pressure, if he’s able to continue flying under the radar and gather information without being found out. And I’d like the Order to put more pressure on him, maybe demand more of him as it continues. I want to see how long it takes before he breaks down.

ANYTHING ELSE? I hope you’re on board and want me because this is a really cool place J

EXTRA FOR NON-BIO CHARACTERS:

This section is only if you are applying for a character that does not yet have a biography written (i.e. a character not listed on the character page). Essentially, any Marauders Era character can be applied for, so long as they can realistically fit into the plot and add substance to the roleplay! It may be a good idea to send a message to the main before you do this so we are all on the same page.

PAST: Gideon never doubted that he was lucky. He had a happy childhood, a loving family and, most importantly, a twin. He never quite understood how singletons could function properly but then, they never knew what they were missing either. Growing up Gideon was, in most respects, the epitome of a good boy. He fulfilled most of his parents’ expectations – worked hard in school, got good grades and, as far as they knew, rarely got into trouble. Back then he was carefree, blissfully ignorant of the tension building and the looming war. As he grew older and more aware of the issues so deeply rooted within the society he called his own, he found that he couldn’t just turn his head and pretend not to see the injustice many of his classmates suffered through on a daily basis. Gideon knew he had to use his own privilege to take a stand, he just didn’t know how. As much as he tried to help out and speak up, nothing he did ever felt like it was enough. It wasn’t until his brother was recruited by the Order and simply dragged him along with him, that he found a way to truly make an impact.

PRESENT: After graduating, Gideon’s curiosity and dedication secured him a spot in a training program for magical research and from there on brought him further and deep into the Department of Mysteries where he researches new ways of magic currently unheard of. Every day brings new risks and challenges and the fear of being found out as a spy for the Order is his constant companion. It’s what he wanted, though, isn’t it? He makes a difference. The intelligence he’s gathering is valuable and the research he’s able to do with the resources he wouldn’t have anywhere else could potentially aid the Order in the war. At the same time, he never knows who he’s actually working for. He can feel the pressure of countless expectations and responsibilities piling up and he knows, it’s only a matter of time until he’ll break under the weight.

FC CHOICES: Top choice: Sam Heughan. Other choices: James McAvoy, Sam Claflin

#harry potter rp #harry potter roleplay #harry potter rpg #marauders rp #marauders era rp #homenumaccepted

3 notes · View notes

pepperstrawberry · 6 years ago

Text

Walkers and the Spark of Doom

I’m going to just put this out there given those that are worried and those that salivate for it are getting their gears winding. And mind you, I totally get the worry.

But what frustrates me is how often folks call for the death of characters. In comics, in movies, and yes, here in Magic.

It feels like some folks have been straight up salivating for Jace to bite the bullet. Many predict and are worried for Gideon’s fate. And with the Chandra comic straight up saying that ‘SOMETHING bad’ happens, folks are assuming main cast deaths.

And that might be the case. But what bothers me is how often folks get on this bandwagon of ‘deaths are required for there to be stakes’. Like... there is more to a story then whether a main character dies or not.

First: Side characters can be a viable target if the main characters care enough and if they are given enough time to allow us, the audience to connect with them.

Sadly though, with the shifts and changes in the way MtG’s lore has been created behind the scenes, things have gotten... inconsistent for the last few years. Mind you, we have had great stories here and there, but consistent characters, consistent plotting, and a solid through line has been lacking

But that doesn’t mean that we ‘need main characters to die’... cause guess what? The same issues that make it not as impactful for supporting cast to die is the SAME issues that make for main cast deaths to feel as cheap.

Second: There are other things that can be at stake. While not as gracefully told at times, and having a frustratingly rushed ending if I’m honest with myself, Kaladesh and Aether Revolt were less about lives directly and much much more about a way of life. Same with Ixalan. Who wins determines who makes the rules and what sort of quality of life is had by others that are not the victors.

Again, the same issues that plague the supporting cast death apply here. If there is inconsistent quality, rushed or awkward pacing, changing characterizations (jace from ixalan vs quick pop in on Dom anyone?), this can also be disrupted. The fact that they had four different endings to Ixalan and didn’t commit to one and make things kinda broad in that way was a complaint I did see out of what was otherwise a well loved set of stories.

Third: Personal goals/growth/interests. Whether being achieved or not and the challanges, twists and turns can effect the stakes too. Or at least effect the strength of the emotional connection of the story. Gideon’s need for a God he can trust in in Amonkhet and then finding the truth and being crushed by that was, and least I felt, a sad turn.

Amusingly that point connects back to the point about supporting cast deaths. Oketra’s fall was sad, but it was made more poignant by the effect it had on Gideon after he had already spent time with the god. And yes, we got to know her a little, but much of that was through Gideon and Hazoret’s interactions.

My Bottom Line: Death, while a part of story telling and stakes and what not, is not the end all be all.

We are entering into what is more or less a ‘Last Chapter’ of the current plot line. Several of these characters we will still be following. People will die, but we don’t know for sure if any characters will die (difference between faceless red shirts and actual named cast). If some do, I hope they get the awesome ass kicking (in the case of the baddies) or the most badass final moments (in the case of the heroes) they deserve with plenty of PROPER build up for it.

But I’m not going to make any direct predictions. There is only ONE character in the main heroes that I could see dying, Gideon. And that is ONLY because of his story and how it is structured. And that end could come here, or it could just as easily come with a return to Theros....

Or it could just never come at all.

When I look at death in a story, I look at it on two levels: In the moment and how it feels; and metatexually, that is, how it it’s built up, was it leading there, how does it effect the over arching story, is it worth it to kill them off or is there more story to be told there given everything else that seems to be planned.

I look at it as a reader and as a writer. But I’m not here to make tallies, and I’m not here to fear their passing save for if it is poorly done in the telling. And I am certainly not here to salivate over who’s corpses do we get to see fall to the floor like some Rakdos Carnie.

What I want is a solid story. My favorite in all of MtG lore is STILL Homesick, and for good reason. For a change we have a moment of down time, some nice solid characterization, and it even moves some plot forward without straight up pushing it. I adore that story. And it constrasts hard with the ending of the block, as I said. I will forever love Kaladesh for it’s characters, it’s art, and it’s story, and not because some body count was created.

That’s really about it.

Thank you if you read fully through this ramble, and I hope, no matter if anyone falls or no one, that the War of the Spark story is exactly as good as the hype is trying to make it appear to be.

#war of the spark #Mtg lore #Death isn't the only way #Pepper Rambles #Pepper Rants #salt and pepper

27 notes · View notes

sxgitta · 5 years ago

Text

𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑹𝑨𝑪𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝑺𝑯𝑬𝑬𝑻

repost, don’t reblog !

𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐬 !

FULL NAME. alexander gideon lightwood-bane NICKNAME. alec, big bro/brother ( by izzy ), alexander ( by magnus ) GENDER. male HEIGHT. 6'0 (182/3) AGE. i keep alec at canon age, usually. show canon/wiki says 24, book wiki says 23. so around there. ZODIAC. virgo SPOKEN LANGUAGES. fluently she speaks english and i would assume spanish. any others i guess would depend on verse, or if for some reason i decide he maybe knows a little of something else. idk. time will tell, i guessssss, lmao. he is also trying to learn indonesian for magnus.

𝐩𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬 !

HAIR COLOR. dark brown/black EYE COLOR. blue (book)/hazel(show) SKIN TONE. tan from hispanic descent/caucasion BODY TYPE. athletic/average. VOICE. deep, but soft. rugged. DOMINANT HAND. right handed, i think? someone tell me if i’m wrong, i never paid attn. lmao. POSTURE. she stands straight, head held high, as shadowhunters are trained, somewhat like a soldier in most cases. SCARS. i would say thanks to the iratze, alec doesn’t have any scars. but if i can find anywhere that says he does, or when i somehow someday finish the book series, i will change it. TATTOOS. None, outside of runes. BIRTHMARKS. none. MOST NOTICEABLE FEATURE(S). his height, probably. and his deflect rune.

𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐝 !

PLACE OF BIRTH. idris. HOMETOWN. new york city, though she’ll always consider idris her home away from home and hometown, like most shadowhunters. SIBLINGS. izzy lightwood, jace herondale and max lightwood. PARENTS. robert lightwood and maryse lightwood, though given her father’s infidelity and the fact that she’s known about the secret for years before any of her siblings, he’s a touchy subject for a while. he did forgive him eventually ( as he walked him down the aisle, according to the show ).

𝐚𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 !

OCCUPATION. per canon, shadowhunter in the new york Institute previously, currently the Inquisitor in Alicante. CURRENT RESIDENCE. Alicante. CLOSE FRIENDS. jace is his first and foremost parabatai/best friend. next would probably be magnus. he’s a lonely boy. RELATIONSHIP STATUS. married forever & ever. FINANCIAL STATUS. pretty well off, since the lightwoods seem to have built up their family name after some generations of the tarnish that was brought on it with their ancestor, and are once more considered an influential family, leading to assume they’re definitely wealthy in terms of what mundanes would consider when it comes to money, not to mention his current job status. DRIVER’S LICENSE. no, and i don’t think she should be trusted behind the wheel of a mundane car either. lets just say the lightwoods/herondales are HORRIBLE drivers, since they never needed to learn. lets leave the driving to simon. CRIMINAL RECORD. as far as i know from canon/books/show, i don’t think he’s ever been convicted or accused of anything. VICES. magnus is his one vice.

𝐬𝐞𝐱 & 𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 !

SEXUAL ORIENTATION. gay. PREFERRED EMOTIONAL ROLE. alex can be pretty emotional, but he can go either way between a submissive and dominant role when it comes to emotions. PREFERRED SEXUAL ROLE. alex can be pretty dominant sexually, but he can go either way between a submissive and dominant role when it comes to sex. probably depends on the mood between magnus and him. LIBIDO. he’s definitely got a high sex drive, and is no stranger to giving into desires, but as it generally is, it’ll depend on his mood and magnus. TURN ON’S. light bdsm, semi public sex, usually willing to try any/most things with magnus. TURN OFF’S. humiliation or degradation, airway restriction, lack of communication ( stole those from izzy, lmaoo. ) LOVE LANGUAGE. talking sensually, physical touching, small gestures (aka the breakfast scene). RELATIONSHIP TENDENCIES. izzy’s very affectionate, whether it’s with gentle touches or words, and will always be touching magnus in even the smallest of ways or giving small words of compassion or compliments. whether it’s a hug, a hand on a shoulder, cheek kiss or anything else, she’s almost always touching magnus in some way. though at first he did have a hard time being that way, as the issues with his parents scared him a little, and affected his influence and judgment when it came to any kind of tendencies or affection toward magnus. sex definitely took a while, but he felt ready sooner than he thought.

𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐨𝐮𝐬 !

CHARACTER’S THEME SONG. WAR OF HEARTS AND I GET TO LOVE YOU BY RUELLE 100% !!!! CHANGE MY FUCKIN MIND !!! HOBBIES TO PASS TIME. training, attempted cooking, shopping LEFT OR RIGHT BRAINED. left PHOBIAS. arachnophobia, umbrellaphobia or pellebaphobia ( though not extreme ). SELF CONFIDENCE LEVEL. very high VULNERABILITIES. anything magnus or family related.

TAGGED BY: @runegiven thank you bb ! i did my best, lmaoo. TAGGING: @fvckingmagic @cantsingtm @unlockedinme and anyone else who wants to do it !

#ic info

4 notes · View notes

sieben9 · 6 years ago

Text

“the black fairy” impressions

{Quick request to anyone reading: I’m watching OUaT for the first time, and I want to avoid spoilers. So, if you want to discuss something spoilery, I’d be grateful if you could start a new post for that. Thank you!}

Wow, you really weren't kidding about this being one hell of a ride. ::pokes shattered remains of my heart:: Good thing I don't need that one, huh?

All joking aside, I loved this episode so much. I mean, yes, I do have some issues with specific bits, but overall it was 40 minutes of a good script, performed wonderfully, especially by Robert Carlyle, who should be legally forbidden to ever cry on screen again. (I am kidding, he is fantastic.)

More under the cut. It's mostly gushing, to be honest. Except about Blue. Screw Blue. Also, screw the Black Fairy, but that's nothing new.

Alright, before I get into the whole Rumple-related bit of the episode (which is also most of the episode, obviously), I just wanted to mention the amazing snark-off/witch-off in front of Granny’s with its tonally very appropriate ending.

can I call it the zucchini-mobile?

It was perfect. I loved it. Regina being about 90% unimpressed with the Black Fairy's trash talk and being just about ready to tear her apart in the middle of the road? Perfect.

And yes, Zelena's timely intervention via dubious looking car was hilarious and I laughed out loud. This whole scene was good

In fact, the whole subplot was surprisingly funny, considering what went on. But the somewhat dark humour of the characters' lines and the excellent delivery by all actors really made it work. Special mention goes to the "put on your Mayor Pants"--"excuse me?" exchange, because, just... excellent comedic timing. Well done, that.

And another honourable mention goes to Snow’s very belated realisation that yes, you should all have safewords! Like… someone gets impersonated roughly every other week, and now is when you figure that out? I mean, better late than never, but damn, this was pretty late, guys. Did none of you read Harry Potter even once?

Honestly, I despair of you human disasters, sometimes.

Over in the flashback:

too tiny! this is too tiny a person for me to deal with!

What do you mean “he’s the Saviour”??

Or “a” Saviour, as the title is clearly not unique or even exclusive at any single point in time. Still, that was one hell of a wham line. I so want the conversation where he and Emma talk about the fact that he basically “made” his successor/replacement. I know I’m not getting it (with about 98% certainty), but I can dream, right?

speaking of which…

And one of the reasons I want the conversation is that this episode reminded me how much I loved Emma’s and Rumple’s interactions back in the early seasons. These two are so similar, yet so different in a few crucial aspects that make them clash in the most interesting ways. It’s fantastic. Rumple going “nope, I just brought you because I didn’t want to do this alone and didn’t want to risk Belle I don’t want you starting shit in the waking world”, and Emma bantering with him, because well, she’s here anyway, so why not go along with it. Or Emma pushing him to confront his fear and deep-seated hurt about being abandoned by his mother. The “we are bad at being vulnerable” line, and the fact that she never once judged him for being afraid of his past, but showed understanding and compassion and, ugh, damnit, why can’t this be the show every week?

Just an aside: I don’t have a clear enough recollection of all the prior episodes, but I think this might be only the second time the flashback is actually integrated directly into the episode. As in, something the characters experience themselves. And I’m hesitant to count the first, because that wasn’t a flashback, that was time travel. (Meaning the 3B finale)

Anyway, it was a neat little touch, and I liked it a lot, even if the actual content hurt my heart.

Like this:

I just keep thinking that this is the first time he’s met his son on actually equal terms. No lies, no mistrust, no missing heart to force them apart… and it was beautiful and perfect and I loved it, but it was also sad, because the whole situation is incredibly fucked up. Even if the Black Fairy didn’t have his heart, there’s the matter of the 28 years she stole from Gideon and his parents. Like Belle said, they’re not getting those back, and just… ugh. Pain. Lots of.

And that is why I still don't find Fiona sympathetic. Not as she is currently, because... yeah, she might have had the best intentions, but the road to hell and all that. She kidnaps children to enslave and torture them. That's just on its own level of evil, right next to Pan, which... damn, Rumple, do you need another hug?

I feel like there should be more hugging

Like I said: she’s only more sympathetic than Pan in that she at least had selfless intentions to start with, even if they brought her to the place where she is now. With Blue’s help.

Yeah, let’s talk about that.

Because from where I’m standing, the story goes like this: to a happy young couple, a child with a great destiny is born. Two fairies visit the couple, to declare that they will watch over this child, because of his great destiny. In the process, though, they reveal that part of the child’s destiny is to die in battle against a great evil and then… basically leave her alone with that. No consolation, no offer to help her deal with the horrible truth, just “oops, I shouldn’t have said that” without further acknowledgment of responsibility. I’m willing to let Red at least partially off the hook, because she had her hands full with damage control, and didn’t realise how far Fiona had gone in her quest to save her son’s life (which makes me think that she hasn’t worked with many parents before, but nevermind that.) And in the end, the mother does find a way: sever her child’s fate, so he will never have to face the evil that she has become. It’s a flawed solution, but it works.

Which is when Blue pushes her through the portal, and then drops the child like a hot potato. In fact, she doesn’t even leave Red behind to watch over the little guy, who is now in the care of a father who professed to hate him right in front of their noses. Like… they were in the room. There’s no way they didn’t realise what that would mean.

Great fairy-godmothering, right there. And weird how Blue dropped this completely innocent child like a hot potato the moment he was no longer the Saviour (read: "useful to her").

I mean... damn. We're absolutely sure she isn't evil?

And all that doesn’t even go to the way Blue interacted with Rumple afterwards. I would love to go there, but at the same time I doubt this was meant to be part of their history until maybe ten episodes ago, so it feels a little nitpicky. Blue is just not a very good person. Or even a good fairy, if you ask me.

By the way, after seeing all that, doing all that soul searching, after being so painfully reminded of what the Black Fairy did to his son…

…I’m supposed to believe that Rumple would work with her? Yeah, get out, show, nobody buys that. He either already has a specific plan for stabbing her in the back or he’s hanging around until he gets an opportunity. I mean… that whole speech sounded suspicious as hell and I cannot believe neither Belle nor Gideon noticed that, but I’d like to believe that my reading of “I have a plan, please trust me, even if it looks really bad for a while” is the correct one.

The only thing that worries me: if I find this ploy painfully transparent, you would assume the Black Fairy might catch on to it, as well. Yes, the villain gets to hold the idiot ball on occasion, but if she doesn’t… well, let’s say I really hope that was Gideon’s actual heart Rumple gave back to him. He’s pulled that trick himself before, I hope it stays a one-off.

scheming seems to run in the family…

So. I gather next episode is the wedding? Or at least an attempt at a wedding. I’d be extremely suspicious if this goes off without a hitch (no pun intended) because that is not how Drama works. If you want a quiet wedding, have it after the finale. If you want an awesome wedding, have it during. “Before” is just asking for trouble. Look at Snowing!

#ouat #once upon a time #the black fairy #sieben watches ouat #sieben talks #anti cs #jokingly but hey #if that's not your cup of tea then be aware

52 notes · View notes