#anyways live love Zera | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

darkspine10 · 1 year ago

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GF Fanfic - Past Made Present

Dipper and Mabel Vs. The Past (20,707 words) by darkspine10

Chapters: 4/9

Fandom: Gravity Falls

Rating: Teen and Up

“So, just to make sure I didn’t miss anything,” Zera said. “The twins’ parents? Their names are-”

“Marc and Mary?” Pacifica said, lifting her coffee cup to her lips. “Yep.”

“No way.”

“Well, Marcus and Marianne if you want to get technical.”

“You’ve gotta be shitting me.”

Pacifica spluttered out her drink, trying to hold back the laughter. She put a palm over her chest. “Dead serious, honest.”

Zera wrinkled her nose. “And they gave their kids the names Mabel and Mason? Seriously?”

“Is it any wonder my husband goes by Dipper? Then again my family are hardly paragons when it comes to alliteration either. Thank the stars that Wendy breaks the trend.”

“Hear hear,” Zera said, raising her cup in mock toast. In her highchair, Wendy giggled and slammed her sippy cup on the table repeatedly.

After parting ways with the others, Zera and Pacifica had wandered down through the suburbs to the shopping district on Piedmont Avenue - which Zera was confused to discover was actually outside of Piedmont’s borders in the wider city of Oakland. Along with Wendy they’d found a small coffee shop. The square tables covered with wide umbrellas that shielded the afternoon sunlight gave them an ample view of the drying asphalt.

A thin layer of sweat had already built up on Zera’s skin. “It’s crazy how warm it is after this morning. I might need to take a dip in the bay to rehydrate.”

“You just wait for a real California summer, sister. Remember, I lived with the twins for a while, I know how bad the heat can get.” Pacifica delighted in squinting and blurring her vision. Before her eyes Zera morphed from her human disguise to her true self. Pacifica was amused by the incongruity of a blue fish alien sitting casually next to all the oblivious patrons of the coffee shop “You’re partly amphibious, yeah?”

Zera nodded. “At least this drink will keep me from drying out completely.”

She took a sip but Pacifica audibly scoffed. “How are you this basic? I thought, given all the globetrotting Mabel gets up to and the spacehopping you do, that you’d have a more varied palette. I was expecting you to like some weird mixture of grass smoothie with specially blended icing, or a rare middle-eastern tea. Something a tad exotic. But no: Pumpkin spice. Sometimes I forget you’re an actual alien.”

“Oh yeah, Miss High and Mighty, what’s your drink then?”

“It’s some kind of festive macchiato blend. I don’t know.” Pacifica scrunched up her nose. “Anyway, it’s beside the point. It’s an excuse to get a break from all of my husband’s tedious hand-wringings. Plus I thought it was high time the two of us had a proper conversation.”

“Really? That’s a new one,” Zera said, sitting back in her chair. She sipped her coveted latte for a moment, slightly frowning. “I always got the impression that you and Dipper didn’t like me very much.”

Pacifica raised a single eyebrow, as if challenging the statement. “Oh? What gave you that idea?”

“Well, the first time we met, when I tried to, you know: scam the three of you. Mabel was smitten and all, but you two - man, you sussed me out right away. After that… I guess I felt like you treated me as some hanger-on with May.”

Pacifica flashed a reassuring grin. “Eh, that stuff’s all water under the bridge. Uh, not that I meant to make a pun on the fact you’re aquatic.” Zera reacted with her lip set in a line. “I’ve said it before, we’re sister-in-laws now,” Pacifica said in an attempt to mollify the alien. “That means we’re family, no matter how strangely we all came together. Mabel may have unique tastes, but she chose right with you.”

“Thanks,” Zera murmured. “That makes me feel a bit less like an outsider.”

“Trust me, you’ll settle in fast. Wait until Marc reads his Christmas cracker jokes over dinner. We’ll all be in the same boat, cringing.”

“Except May. She loves cheesy jokes.”

“Ha, fair point.” Pacifica blew on her drink and took a sip, careful not to get foam all over her mouth. She idly stirred the liquid. “You know, I had coffee like this once with Wendy - Corduroy I mean - back before our portal quest. After motherhood that feels like a very long time ago.”

“You named your daughter after someone you only had coffee with once?” Zera asked, almost impressed.

“It was complicated, and mostly Mason’s idea. She did save my life, but tried to kill us several times, and saved the entire multiverse with her sacrifice. I dunno, there are complex feelings. Lately I’ve been taking to calling her Leah; that’s her middle name.” Pacifica tickled her daughter’s face. “You’re gonna like high class things when you’re older, aren’t you Leah? Aren’t you? You won’t have basic tastes.”

“Ha ha,” Zera deadpanned. “That’s a nice name for her though, Leah Pines.”

Pacifica frowned. “Although it is another in-joke technically. Mason wanted a subtle reference to his Great Uncle Stan.”

“I don’t get it.”

“Stanley. Leah. See? It’s kinda silly but Mason was keen and I didn’t feel like objecting. Kind of regret that now. He was naming her like it was the epilogue of Harry Potter, talk about tacky.”

“I’ll have to remind myself to ask Mabel what that means, since I’ve never heard of it.”

“She’ll probably say you’re better off not knowing. Like this whole debacle with their parents. Let them figure it all out, I don’t care.”

“You’re not tempted to intervene? Not even a little?” Pacifica gave a tiny shrug. “And here I was told you used to be a gossip magnet.”

“You couldn’t pay me to wade into this debate.” She slouched back in her chair. “It reminds me too much of my own parents. All that tiptoeing around, keeping part of myself hidden. It was hell. Everything was so much better after I actually got angry with them. The twins will be the same, as soon as they get this off their chest they’ll stop being so useless with worrying about it.”

Zera paused for a moment, then whispered. “So, Marc and Mary? Go on then, tell me the story.”

“There’s not much to tell: That’s the point, they’re average. Mary works as a receptionist in the twins’ old elementary school and Marc is a computer programmer. Has a job in some high-rise over in the financial district, strictly on the low end of the totem pole sadly.”

“There’s gotta be more to it than that though. Come on, you’ve known them for years. Why are they so… unlike the twins?”

Pacifica mulled this over, watching steam float off her drink. “Well, they had kids pretty young, like barely out of their teens. No-one ever plans for twins. Hell, they didn’t even know it ran in the family back then. And once you’re a young couple burdened with an over-imaginative bundle of energy like Mabel and a socially-awkward know-it-all like Mason you’ve got a recipe for chaos. Add in the fact those kids were fiercely protective of each other and it’s no wonder this divide grew to such big proportions.”

“It all sort of… happened by accident then? A mix of personality issues and different paths in life?”

“When you put it like that, pretty much. They did a good job handling the twins though. Raised them right with strong morals, even before their Grunkles got a hold of them. Although I’m not sure morally upstanding is a phrase that could ever describe Stanley Pines.” Zera was processing all this when Pacifica continued. “Look, if you really want a root cause to everything that led the twins apart from their parents then it goes back to my husband. He had an anxious moment all those years ago and has been carrying it around with him ever since. Mason’s had a thing about blindly trusting people ever since he found Journal 3. It might have made sense when he was 13, but now? He’s a husband and a father, with adult responsibilities and a life of his own. But we can’t force him to say anything. He and Mabel have to confront this on their own terms. Talk about a messed up family.”

“Not like you,” Zera said. “You’re completely different of course, with your adopted war orphan, newborn baby, and no steady income. All perfectly stable.”

“Low blow, S’aren, low blow.”

“Careful, better not buy another croissant or you might go bankrupt.” They both laughed. “You think Dipper and Mabel will get through it ok?” Zera asked, serious again. “They were split apart before, right?”

Pacifica chewed her bottom lip. “I think this time they’re united well enough. They certainly aren’t about to fall out like they did in the past. Who knows honestly. Like I said, what happens between them and their parents is their business. We’re here to support the twins and give advice, but I’m not about to get in the firing line once Mason finally opens up about magic and junk.”

“Hmm, I guess they are very close.”

“Take it from one Pines to another, there are only three topics you can bring up that will guarantee the twins will argue non-stop for a few hours: Whether direct action is more effective than protest marches, the pros and cons of nuclear power, and live-action Disney musical remakes.”

“Wait, what’s with the last one?” Zera asked.

“Trust me, don’t ask. I’ve seen the debates. Heated doesn’t begin to describe it. The fiery heart of the sun would be a cool winter’s day in comparison.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” Zera stirred her latte. “With all this talk about parents, I was wondering. Have you ever thought about reconnecting with yourparents?” Pacifica choked on her drink for the second time. “Ooh, sore subject.”

“Now who’s joking?” she gasped, reaching for a serviette. “There’s a reason Marc and Mary had to take me in at 17. They’re saints compared to my dear old mom and dad.”

Zera smiled to herself. “Ok, drama queen. Sorry I brought it up.”

Pacifica tapped a finger repetitively on the table, before deciding to answer. “My parents made a lot of mistakes when I was growing up. Trying to introduce them to my family is a hassle I don’t need. I don’t know which of my kids they’d be more offended by, the full-blooded alien or the one with 50% of Mason’s genes.” She ruefully laughed. “Now there’s an irony. I couldn’t get my parents to care even when the supernatural was staring them right in the face. If they couldn’t make a profit off it it might as well not exist. What I wouldn’t have given to have parents like the twins, they’re actually there when they need them. I’m sure you can relate, growing up in space nursery with a million other tadpoles.”

“It was tough, yeah. I suppose it’s a good thing you and Dipper stepped up for Merrise, made sure she has a roof over her head and two people who love her unconditionally.”

“Uh, thanks,” Pacifica said, blushing a little from the praise. She’d always seen it less as something she had a choice in and more a duty. Merrise had shown up in their lives with nowhere else to go and they’d quickly come to adore her. Leaving her behind seemed absurd.

“See, you were right, we can be friends,” Zera teased. “Genuine praise makes both of us feel embarrassed.”

“Cheers to that,” Pacifica said, grinning and glad to have finally made something of a connection with the alien whom Mabel so adored. She was about to take another sip of her macchiato when a faint ripple danced across the surface of the liquid. “Uh oh.”

“What?” Zera asked, none the wiser.

A second, larger ripple shook her drink. “I think we’re about to have some trouble.” The table began to shake, rattling the cups and cutlery. The pine tree shaped pendant Pacifica always wore began to spin and she sighed. “I can’t go one day without them somehow-”

The monster seemed faintly ridiculous, cantering down the high street on narrow legs which supported a bulky upper torso and arms as thick as oak trees. Golden orbs trailed slightly behind, hovering above what passed for the creature’s neck. Pedestrians began running from their tables in panic. The chimaera picked up speed, rocking Pacifica and Zera’s table so hard it nearly toppled over.

A second later a bright pink car sped past the coffee shop, engine revving loudly. Pacifica leapt up from her seat, slung Wendy into a pouch across her chest, and set off after the car, all in one fluid motion. Zera did a double-take, blinking in confusion, before setting down her cup and flailing to her feet. “Wait for me!”

The Mini hurtled along the streets of San Francisco in hot pursuit. Mabel was no stranger to hairpin turns and insane acceleration, but her brother, parents, and niece were being juddered around constantly. She was worried they’d lose the chimaera when they veered near to Lombard Street, but the creature avoided the steep turns. The dense traffic in the city centre forced both the car and its quarry to slow. Self-driving vehicles littered the road at odd angles, having been unable to process the danger in time to swerve out of the way before being knocked aside in the chimaera’s wake.

Honking the horn, Mabel watched the creature weave through the slowly moving cars ahead of them. “Forget the car,” Dipper said, undoing his seatbelt. Merrise and Mabel leapt out of the car, while his parents were still reeling from the chase and struggling to release themselves. “Stop!” Dipper cried at the creature.

He was self-conscious of all the eyes on him. They hadn’t quite reached the most populated part of the city, but there were still countless passers-by along the street staring in disbelief at the Frankenstein’s Monster wildly careening around. Revealing the supernatural to his parents was one thing. Winding up on local news was another. The truth about weirdness wasn’t entirely clandestine - after all he’d encountered many individuals who’d independently stumbled onto cryptids and magic outside of the Falls. But broadcasting it to the world still felt like a transgression.

He had to end this quickly. He began to march determinedly down the street after the slowly trotting monster. Mabel called out to him. “What are you doing Dipper, are you nuts?”

“I have to go talk to that thing!” he said without turning. “It isn’t evil.”

“Uh, did you miss when it rampaged through the world’s greatest monuments!?”

“This thing only coalesced today. It’s probably confused and overwhelmed. If I talk to it I might be able to calm it down.”

Mabel seemed indecisive, but nodded anyway. “Ok bro. If you think you know what you’re doing.”

“I’ll come too”, Merrise said, trying to follow her father. She was still hobbling slightly on her grazed knee.

Mabel held out an arm and nudged her back in. “Nuh uh missy, you’re staying with me where I can keep you safe. Let your dad have a go first.” Merrise pouted and feebly slunk into her seat next to her grandparents. Unlike Merrise, who knew the dangers ahead of them, Mr and Mrs Pines had no such hesitations in going after Dipper. This may be a startlingly unexpected set of circumstances for them but they weren’t about to let their son stroll into the midst of the action without any guarantees of his safety.

“Son!” Mr Pines called. “Don’t stick your neck out for nothing!”

Mabel now had to contend with the unenviable task of keeping her parents back from the danger zone. She held her arms back and had to physically hold them at bay. Her mother stood back and gave her sternest glare. Somehow even Pacifica’s hardest stares paled in comparison to the ‘Mom Glare’. “Mabel Jessica Pines, you get out of my way right this instant.”

“Can’t do that Mom, really sorry.” Mabel grimaced and snuck a look over her shoulder. Dipper was right in front of the beast. “Someday we’ll look back at today and see it as a real turning point.” Neither of her parents were impressed by that.

Squeezing through the stalled traffic, Dipper yelled towards the back of the vast chimaera, which was forcing cars out of the way to get through. The golden stars that sufficed for the creature’s eyes turned to consider him. “Hey, Journal Man… uh, Llama-Tree-Star-Centaur… thing. Ugh, Mabel was always better at coming up with the names.”

The creature regarded him with a look that might almost have been quizzical, before letting out a roar of anger. It wrenched the nearest streetlight out of its foundations and hurled it towards Dipper. He wanted to appear on top of things, both to intimidate and pacify the creature and to make himself seem self-assured for his parents’ sake, but he had to dive out of the way in an undignified manner, tumbling onto the ground and landing hard on his journal.

“Right, that’s it.” He stood back up and dusted the grit off his jacket. He pointed at the scowling chimaera. “You might act tough, but I need answers.” He flipped through Journal 9 and clutched it in his palms. A certain incantation was written on the page he’d selected. Mabel might be the more accomplished spellcaster, but on this occasion he was willing to give it a go. He placed one palm on the open page and shouted at the beast. “Ipso Facto, Lorem Ipsum!”

A hurricane of words spiralled off the page and slammed into his enemy. The incandescent letters coiled around in the air, before merging into the monster’s flesh and bark. The creature coughed a few times, struggling to form sentences. The spell Dipper had read out was meant to translate specific languages, very handy for deciphering ancient codes. In this instance he was hoping it would make the creature a bit easier to understand, as well as making it stick around, awed by his powers.

Feeling quite impressed with his attempt at the spell, Dipper allowed himself a moment of smugness. “Now, are you going to explain what you want?”

“Must… catalogue all unique incidences and occurrences. Unusual artefacts, creatures not found in any bestiary, sacred sites and technological wonders beyond man’s wildest dreams.” Dipper felt momentarily wowed by the creature’s eloquence. It was embodying the journals to a tee and as before spoke with a multitude of voices juggling for dominance. Right now the chorus favoured Pacifica’s tones. “I am diary, journal, epistolary, record, and scribble. I am what’s hidden between the lines, confined to the margins, buried in subtext! I am Errata!” The sigil acting as the creature’s mouth twisted into an approximation of a smile.

Dipper opened his journal and scribbled a note. “Errata… is that with two T’s, or-”

“Silence!” The sigil curved into an ugly expression. Dipper’s attempt at levity had evidently failed to be appreciated. The creature wrapped its arms over its chest and shivered. “Mason Pines, you are prolific in my tapestry. Amongst the rest you imbued so much of your essence into me. You could say I’m an open book.”

“Ha,” Dipper said without humour. “So, you have intelligence, you can recognise me. Do you, I don’t know, revere me or something?” He resisted the urge to lift up his hair to show the constellation birthmark as if it might sway the beast over to his side.

Errata laughed with the mocking guffaws of Stan Pines. “No thank you, human. I am an independent entity now, not some puppet.”

“What do you want then? Just to wander around causing havoc?”

“I hunger for esoteric knowledge. I must consume that which is forbidden or arcane and feast on the ignorance of fools. Perhaps I will take some of your secrets, Mason.” Dipper took a step back. He was starting to suspect his hypothesis about the creature’s innocence was misplaced. That sounded like deliberate malice.

“Hey, we can help you. My family knows all sorts of stuff… although I suppose you’re probably made out of all of it already.” Dipper felt like he was running out of options. The creature didn’t seem swayed by his words.

Sniffing the air, Errata winced with pain, as if suffering from a headache. “This place is so mundane, so trivial. My apotheosis is incomplete. Perhaps I can speed things along.”

“Woah woah woah, you don’t have to do anything rash-”

The chimaera ignored him and spread his hands wide towards the sky. Columns of steam shot out and Dipper started to sweat. The creature screamed in a mix of pain and pleasure, a single great exaltation. Then it was gone, melting away like a ghost. In its place, more of the golden aura, a sight Dipper was growing to greatly dislike squinting at. Unlike the painstaking birth of the chimaera, this aura formed a recognisable shape almost instantly.

Dipper had to do a double take. He shouldn’t have been surprised. Errata had come from the journal after all.

Standing before him was a Mishipeshu, a fur-coated mix of catfish and tiger. This was his most recent find recorded in the journal, which they’d helped rescue in Salem. But as soon as the water-panther tried to bound away it melted back into plasma. A second later it reformed into a gangly legged, stalk-like alien with a bulbous cranium and protruding whiskers. Dipper recognised this as one of the Grown, a colonising fungus species Pacifica had extensively detailed in her journal after an encounter on a far-off planet.

Even this didn’t last, with the apparition morphing straight into a familiar pack of pointy-hatted gnomes, then a moustache-wearing hexagon and a flying phoenix he knew as his daughter’s pet. On and on it went, unable to fix on a single appearance and drawing from the collection of journals his family had contributed to in the last half a century. Even human beings appeared in the mix - if a Pines had written about or sketched someone then they were fair game.

Eventually the mass of energy split apart. Two or three distinct constructs began to run off into the city, each one morphing between different shapes from the journals and retaining that unmistakable golden hue. Dipper watched as a cackling hand-witch sprinted off in one direction, a hairy Standyak leapt off onto the nearest rooftop, and a herd of manotaurs charged down the street towards the Mini. Mabel climbed onto the nearest car to avoid the stampede, and Merrise was buffeted in the car.

Mr and Mrs Pines were directly in the path of the manotaurs. Dipper fruitlessly reached out a hand but they were too far away for him to do anything. Utterly lost, his parents stood there frozen like deer in headlights. He winced and fell to his knees, unable to prevent the collision.

Until an orb of orange fire consumed them first. Dipper’s jaw dropped, as the stampede thundered on. A second later his parents re-emerged on the sidewalk out of another cone of fire. Dazed, they were both shaken but otherwise unhurt. Dipper breathed a sigh of relief. As the clatter of hoofbeats faded away he saw Zera, deep in concentration just up the street.

Running up towards him, Pacifica was carrying Wendy in a sling. She helped him to his feet. “Easy there. It’s over.” Dipper stared around at the chaos. It was just like the golf course, with cars strewn about and people hiding behind cover, scared to come out.

“Oh Paz, it’s only just begun- ow!”

She’d punched him in the arm. “Don’t give me that over-dramatic crap. That’s for summoning up a magical demon in the single hour we were apart. C’mon Mason, that’s rule number one of good parenting.”

He could only laugh at the absurdity of it all. “I’m just glad to see you guys. We’re going to need all hands on deck to deal with this. A creature infestation is about to be let loose all over the city!”

“One thing at a time.” Her eyes flicked over to the Mini, where Mabel and Merrise had reunited with Zera. The alien was helping Mr and Mrs Pines after their near-impact. Mabel came over and led her parents to a nearby bench.

“That was… I don’t know what that was,” Mr Pines said, slightly crazed with adrenaline. Mrs Pines was staying silent for now, processing all that had happened in the last few minutes. “Zera, what on Earth just happened?” He had seen the magical aura surrounding her when she’d cast the teleport spell, a special technique favoured by her teacher in the mystic arts.

Zera kicked her heels and remained tight-lipped, unsure how much to reveal even now. Mabel’s face was full of indecision, so Zera caved. “It was a teleportation vortex. I moved you out of the way of the herd using… magic.”

“Ha, of course,” Mr Pines replied, laughing hysterically. “Next you’ll tell me you’re from another planet. What, do you, ha, have your own spaceship or something?”

“No, I don’t have a spaceship,” Zera deadpanned, and Mabel drew a sigh of relief. The true nature of her wife’s identity could stay hidden for the time being. “Not my own anyway. If I put out a beacon or something I could probably hitch a lift off world.”

Her father’s laugh died in his throat. “You’re… you’re serious.” He was now staring agog. Zera toyed with her earring and Mabel knew this was it. If she switched off the filter there was definitely no going back. This was the last possible moment they could backtrack. They could paper over all of this, maybe claim it as some kind of massive joke gone way out of hand. It could all be wrapped up and hidden again just like Dipper wanted.

On the other hand… in one simple second it would all be over, the charade, the lies of the last 20 years, the anxious waiting for the bubble to burst. So Mabel stood there and let her wife deactivate the illusion. No putting the genie back in the bottle now.

Zera tapped her earring. A brief ripple passed over her body. Her tanned skin became iridescent scales tinged aqua and turquoise, and the fins on her head and arms unfurled. “This is me,” she said, flashing a toothy grin and giving a thumbs up to Mabel. She could only shake her head at her wife’s innocent naivety.

“Holy cats…” her father began, but Mrs Pines interrupted.

“You really are an alien. A real life, actual alien.” Tentatively she reached out and brushed against Zera’s scales. They were smooth and slightly moist. Her fingers recoiled. “Let me guess,” she said somewhat bitterly, “My daughter fell in love with your human form then found out the truth?”

“Not exactly. Mabel fell in love with the fish part first.” Mrs Pines gave a small whimper. Zera smiled weakly. “You know, I was telling the truth about the magic as well. I suppose you could call me a space witch.”

“Z?” Mabel said.

“Yeah?”

“Not helping.”

“Oh.”

Pacifica was suddenly beside them, snapping her fingers. “Yo, ‘shape of water’, let’s focus. You can destroy all semblance of your perfect family life later. Right now we’ve got a bigger problem.”

Dipper was already strapped in and starting up the car with Merrise in back. She was gesturing for them to get in. There was only enough room for three more passengers and Mabel decided she couldn’t bear the thought of enduring the car ride back with her parents. “Zera? Whoosh us up another portal, would you babe?” Zera nodded, realising what she wanted. She flashed an apologetic look at her in-laws, then started speaking the words of the incantation.

Mabel hugged each of her parents, one after the other. “I promise, we’ll help you understand all of this when we get home. Or, at least Dipper will. This was all his bright idea in the first place.”

With that she stepped into a column of blinding fire and was whisked away, leaving her befuddled parents staring speechless.

#gravity falls #gravity falls fanfic #pacifica nortwest #dipper pines #mabel pines #dipper and mabel's parents

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nagirambles · 2 years ago

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Was thinking about Roubaul and how he has several similarities with Zera: they're both dead people tied to Illusion Magic who pretended to be alive for the sake of a young child. It makes me wonder if Zera actually WAS the ghost of Zera who got tangled up in Mavis's powerful Illusion Magic and became a mix of spirit and illusion. It would explain why she seemed like a fully sentient being with a will of her own. Plus, it draws interesting parallels between Wendy and Mavis. Thoughts?

That’s definitely a very fun parallel to look toward. I’d argue Wendy’s one of the more ‘fairy-like’ members, especially with the wind and wings, and the one-piece-dress silhouette they share. Also the child body. I think it’s kind of cute in a parallel of Zeref-Mavis and Natsu-Wendy too, they have the dynamic of a demon and an angel they have a soft spot for, though in different natures as a siblinglike relationship versus a romantic one. I do wonder what could be done with that.

Back on topic. I honestly always thought Zero was, in truth, the ghost of Zera having a bit more time as a spirit, because it’s just too sad to think otherwise. Imagine if all of Zera’s development from a spoiled child to a true friend, her redemption, friendship with Mavis was all in Mavis’ imagination... that would be too cruel for me. I want to think Zera truly lived on as a spirit for a while to truly become friends with Mavis. The power of love can justify this much, right?

It’s fascinating to think of a heartbreaking Zera perspective, where she knows she’s a ghost being clung onto, and thus, in the first while, she refused to open her heart simply because she knows it can’t come true, and she didn’t want to disappear either, so she didn’t reveal the truth. But Mavis wormed her way into her heart anyways, and thus began their journey together as she watched over Mavis, knowing one day their happiness will come crumbling down. For Roubaul, it was simply a spur of the moment impulse, the desire to not want to see a child cry, that made him create all of his lies--- but eventually his lies were too far in to be revealed without hurting Wendy too much. I’d say they’re very similar, especially in the regard that they only finally passed on when they realized that Wendy and Mavis now have real friends, and didn’t need the lies anymore.

Realistically I think these parallels only occurred because Mashima saw how successful the Caitshelter reveal was, and wanted to do something a little similar-- and I love both of them, so I’d say it’s a good decision-- but I do wonder if we could continue these parallels without it getting in the way of Lucy’s parallels with Mavis.

I’d leave Fairy Glitter and tactician parallels to Lucy and Cana, but I kind of want to see Wendy dealing with Ankhseram. Wendy is, after all, a healing mage, something that treads the taboo of life and death. She could venture into the forbidden territory of wanting to revive someone for real. Give her a moment where her powers are truly useless and she’s devastated by it, and make her go to the lengths of trying to surpass the limits of her healing. This could tie into a Zeref-Mavis and Natsu-Wendy parallels as well, (it could give us more about Natsu being a literal revived being??) and it could give Zeref some meaningful action if we see him trying to stop her from making the same mistake he did.

I suppose it’s fine as it is with Wendy branching out toward other developments instead, because not every parallel needs to be a one-on-one comparison. I wish Tenrou expanded more on Lucy-Cana and Mavis-Zera, though!

#it's an ask #fairy tail #it's a headcanon #i'm reaching #fic related rambles #magic rambles #Wendy Marvell

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lyranova · 1 year ago

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Hmmmm… How about you self indulge? Would you care to write Zerilliam for the Touch Me Like You Do prompt 16 “Tell Me What You Want”? And heck, make it the Zera Lives!AU and she straight up asks for another baby! 😆

Hiya anon! I was so excited when I saw this in my inbox and the muses got a little...carried away, which is why I'm posting the more suggestive and SFW version here and the other version on Ao3. Because I got a little nervous 😅, anyway I hope you enjoy~!

Explicit Version HERE Minors DNI!

Word Count: 1,701 (original word count 2,473)

Warnings: Suggestive Content, Mentioned Breeding Kink, Mentions of "Swimmers" 👀, Kissing, Minors DNI

———

Zera hummed softly as she sat in her chair and waited for her husband to come home from work. He had been awfully busy lately due to chasing after stray devils that were still roaming about due to Lucius and the other Zogratis siblings. And due to being so awfully busy, the two of them hadn’t gotten to spend any time together. Any time together.

Zera took a good look around the room, she had beautiful scented candles around the room to create the perfect romantic atmosphere, and she made sure they were far away from her plants. She had a nice meal sitting on the table and a yummy cake sitting in the kitchen, courtesy of the other Golden Dawn members, as she couldn’t cook…at all. And she had a bottle of champagne chilling in a bucket of ice right beside the table.

Everything was perfect. Now all she needed was her husband, who was late. Again.

She suddenly heard boots clicking against the floor outside their living quarters and jumped up, she hadn’t realized just how nervous and anxious she was until she began to fidget with the hem of her dress. Would he like what she had planned? Or would he find it bothersome? She hoped he wouldn’t.

The door opened and in walked her husband William, who had a tired look on his face, at least until he saw how the dining and living areas were decorated. When he saw the candles, food, and Zera standing there biting her bottom lip nervously, his tired look quickly disappeared.

“ What is all of this?” He asked curiously as he walked further into the room and towards his wife. She smiled and shrugged a bit.

“ I thought, since it’s been a while since we’ve had alone time together, we should change that tonight.” Zera said softly as she felt him wrap his arms around her waist and she put her hands onto his chest. “ If you’re not too tired, that is.”

“ Well, I was tired, but after seeing all the effort you put into this evening for me, I’ve suddenly become full of life and energy again.” William said with a warm smile before he bent down and kissed his wife gently on the lips. “ But where’s Alistar?”

“ Yuno and Neva offered to baby sit him for the evening, they didn’t want us to be disturbed by anyone tonight. Not even our son.” Zera said as she gave her husband another kiss, although that wasn’t completely true, as she had to practically beg Yuno and Neva to watch him until tomorrow. But eventually they agreed.

“ I see. Well, should I get us something to drink?” William asked as he began to move away and head towards the table. He quickly opened it and poured the two of them a glass before handing one to her and keeping the other for himself.

“ Maybe we should go ahead and eat? I’m sure you’re hungry-.” Zera began as she set her glass down and reached out toward the food but was quickly stopped as her husband wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her against his chest.

“ Hm, I don’t feel like eating right now,” William muttered softly as he kissed his wife’s cheek and then her neck, and then finally her shoulder. “ At least…not the food.”

Zera smirked a bit and felt her heart begin to race at his implication, this was what she was hoping for when she set all of this up. Initially, she had just wanted to spoil him and show him how much she loved him. But at the same time, she also wanted the two of them to have a little fun together, since they had their entire home to themselves for the evening, which was a rare occurrence after Alistar had been born.

“ Is that so?” Zera asked curiously as she turned around to face William, she took his glass out of his hand and set it down onto the table before walking towards him, making him step backwards. “ Then what would you like to eat?”

William smirked a bit mischievously at her as he looked her up and down for a moment, still walking backwards.

“ You.” He said, his tone warm and loving, but with a hint of lust mixed in. He suddenly felt the back of his legs hit the arm of the couch and stopped. Zera walked up to him with a grin on her face, she looked like a cat who had cornered its prey.

“ I was hoping you would say that,” She said softly, her voice dripping with sensuality. She leaned up as though she were going to kiss him, but quickly pushed against his chest with enough force to knock him onto the couch.

Zera chuckled before she walked around, climbed on top of him, and began to straddle his waist. She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around her husband's neck, pulled him close, and captured his lips in a hot and steamy kiss before lowering her hips and grinding herself against his lap.

She grinned as he husband groaned into the kiss, he had such sweet and heavenly moans. She felt his hands slid up her thighs and when they reached her waist, she reached over, grabbed them, and pinned them beside his head. She shook her head slowly, telling him he couldn’t do that, as their tongues continued to fight for dominance.

“ Zera,” Her husband started as he tried to break their kiss. “ Zera wait just a moment.” He said as he pulled away, and Zera immediately stopped and sat up to look at him.

“ What’s wrong? Are you okay? I was a little too forceful, wasn’t I? I’m sorry.” She began to ramble quickly and William blinked at her before he began to chuckle and shake his head.

“ You didn’t do anything wrong, dear, not a thing.” William said, breathing heavy as he tried to catch his breath. He sat up and wrapped his arms around her waist and smiled. “ I actually wanted to ask you something.”

She watched a small blush appear on William’s cheeks as he tried to think of how he should formulate his sentence.

“ Tonight, you decided to spoil me with this amazing dinner, these beautiful candles, and this lovely dress,” He said as his fingertips moved and began to play with the bottom of her dress.

“ If you like the dress that much, just wait until you see what’s underneath,” She said teasingly and with a wink, causing her husband to blush a bit more as he chuckled.

“ See, that’s what I mean. You’re always spoiling me, and you never ask for anything in return. So tonight…I was thinking…maybe you should be the one who gets spoiled tonight…if that’s alright?” William stammered a bit as his face was as red as a tomato, and Zera felt a blush creep onto her cheeks as well.

Zera suddenly leaned forward and captured his lips in hers again, but this time in a sweet and loving kiss. William smiled and kissed her back before she pulled away.

“ That’s totally alright!” Zera told him as she giggled before placing another kiss against his lips. She squeaked a bit as she suddenly felt William hands move behind her legs and hoist her up. She giggled quite a bit as she wrapped her arms and legs around him tightly and placed multiple kisses against his lips, as he walked her into their bedroom and gently set her down onto their bed.

“ Tell me what you want,” He said breathlessly as he began to remove his shoes and his robes, until he was left in nothing but his undershirt and pants. He leaned forward and placed a kiss against her lips, her cheek, and her neck. “ Go ahead, tell me, and I’ll do it for you” He whispered in her ear, causing her to shiver.

“ Can it be anything I want?’’ She asked softly, her breath becoming a bit heavier as he kissed and sucked on that spot on her neck. William hummed before nodding.

“ It can be anything.”

“ Then,” She bit her bottom lip and grinned a bit. “ I want another baby.”

William paused for a moment, his breath caught in his throat as he stared down at her collarbone. She wanted another baby? He glanced at her out of the corner of his purple eye, she had a nervous look in her eye, but there was a bit of mischievousness in them too.

“ I-If you don’t want another one-.” She stammered a bit as he remained silent for a lot longer than he had intended. William blinked before he reached over, placed a hand against her cheek, and kissed her deeply.

“ If you want another baby, then I’ll give you another baby. I’ll give you three, five, or even ten babies if that’s what you want.” He muttered hotly as he pulled away and stared into her ice blue eyes.

“ I think 10 is a little much, but three or five doesn’t sound too bad.” She said breathlessly as she stared at him with lustful eyes before pulling him down into a kiss.

—---

Later

The husband and wife laid on their sides and faced each other. Zera laid with her head on her husband’s pillow, as he had one arm around her waist and used the other to prop up his head in his palm.

“ Do you think…it’ll take?” William asked curiously as he moved one hand to the top of Zera’s stomach. Zera’s eyes followed his hand before she hummed in thought and grinned up at him.

“ If it doesn’t we can always try again, and again, and again,” She told him in a teasing tone, then she moved her hand to the side of his face and stroked his cheek gently with her thumb. “ Go little swimmers, go!” She muttered jokingly as she leaned up and whispered into his ear.

“ Oh my gods, Zera!” William groaned and shook his head and pulled her closer, she began to laugh and kissed his lips again for what was probably the millionth time that evening.

Suffice it to say, Zera’s plan for the couple to relax and have fun was a success!

-----

Thank you all so much for reading and I hope you all have a good day~!

#black clover #black clover suggestive #black clover smut #zerilliam #zera x william #william x zera #spicy #steamy #600 follower event

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ink-fireplace-coffee · 1 year ago

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is it incredibly hypocritical of me to give you recs when it's been months since I pick up a book and actually read it? yes.

am I going to do it anyway? also yes.

Fantasy

Bone Crier's Moon (YA): Bone Criers use bone magic to ferry departed souls to their reward. Ailesse yearns to complete her rite of passage and make her mother proud. To do so, she will need to sacrifice her unknown amore, which may be harder than she thinks. ( tws for animal death, bone removals, captivity, death, hunting, ritual sacrifices etc)

Bring Me Their Hearts (YA): Zera is a Heartless – the immortal, unageing soldier of a witch. Bound to the witch Nightsinger ever since she saved her from the bandits who murdered her family, Zera longs for freedom from the woods they hide in. With her heart in a jar under Nightsinger’s control, she serves the witch unquestioningly. Until Nightsinger asks Zera for a Prince’s heart in exchange for her own, with one addendum; if she’s discovered infiltrating the court, Nightsinger will destroy her heart rather than see her tortured by the witch-hating nobles. Crown Prince Lucien d’Malvane hates the royal court as much as it loves him – every tutor too afraid to correct him and every girl jockeying for a place at his darkly handsome side. No one can challenge him – until the arrival of Lady Zera. She’s inelegant, smart-mouthed, carefree, and out for his blood. The Prince’s honor has him quickly aiming for her throat. So begins a game of cat and mouse between a girl with nothing to lose and a boy who has it all. Winner takes the loser’s heart. Literally. (tws for ableism, blood, death, gore, murder, profanity and violence)

To Kill a Kingdom (YA): Princess Lira is siren royalty and the most lethal of them all. With the hearts of seventeen princes in her collection, she is revered across the sea. Until a twist of fate forces her to kill one of her own. To punish her daughter, the Sea Queen transforms Lira into the one thing they loathe most - a human. Robbed of her song, Lira has until the winter solstice to deliver Prince Elian's heart to the Sea Queen or remain a human forever.The ocean is the only place Prince Elian calls home, even though he is heir to the most powerful kingdom in the world. His calling? Ridding the world of the menace of the sirens. But when he rescues a drowning woman, it becomes clear that there's more to her than there first appeared.She promises to help him find the key to destroying the sirens for good. But can he trust her? (tws for abuse, graphic death, gun violence and violence) -> Little Mermaid retelling.

We Hunt the Flame (YA): People lived because she killed. People died because he lived. Zafira is the Hunter. Forced to disguise herself as a man, she risks everything to provide for her people. Nasir is the Prince of Death. A feared assassin who is forever bound to the command of his father, the sultan.Both are legends in their kingdom – but neither wants to be. And when Zafira embarks on a dangerous quest to return magic to their suffering land, Nasir is sent on a similar mission. But as their journey unfolds, an ancient evil begins to stir . . . (tws are long so here's the list)

Gothic

Rebecca: On a trip to the South of France, the shy heroine of Rebecca falls in love with Maxim de Winter, a handsome widower. Although his proposal comes as a surprise, she happily agrees to marry him. But as they arrive at her husband's home, Manderley, a change comes over Maxim, and the young bride is filled with dread. Friendless in the isolated mansion, she realises that she barely knows him. In every corner of every room is the phantom of his beautiful first wife, Rebecca, and the new Mrs de Winter walks in her shadow. (tws for ableism, adultery, cancer, dementia, drowning, murder and social anxiety)

Other books that I enjoyed at some point bc i am, in fact, annoying

House of Salt and Sorrows (YA): In a manor by the sea, twelve sisters are cursed.Annaleigh lives a sheltered life at Highmoor with her sisters and their father and stepmother. Once there were twelve, but loneliness fills the grand halls now that four of the girls' lives have been cut short. Each death was more tragic than the last--the plague, a plummeting fall, a drowning, a slippery plunge--and there are whispers throughout the surrounding villages that the family is cursed by the gods.Disturbed by a series of ghostly visions, Annaleigh becomes increasingly suspicious that her sister's deaths were no accidents. The girls have been sneaking out every night to attend glittering balls, dancing until dawn in silk gowns and shimmering slippers, and Annaleigh isn't sure whether to try to stop them or to join their forbidden trysts. Because who--or what--are they really dancing with?When Annaleigh's involvement with a mysterious stranger who has secrets of his own intensifies, it's a race to unravel the darkness that has fallen over her family--before it claims her next. House of Salt and Sorrows is a spellbinding novel filled with magic and the rustle of gossamer skirts down long, dark hallways. Be careful who you dance with... (tws for blood, death, grief, murder and paranormal creatures) -> 12 dancing princesses dark retelling.

What Big Teeth (YA): Eleanor Zarrin has been estranged from her wild family for years. When she flees boarding school after a horrifying incident, she goes to the only place she thinks is safe: the home she left behind. But when she gets there, she struggles to fit in with her monstrous relatives, who prowl the woods around the family estate and read fortunes in the guts of birds.Eleanor finds herself desperately trying to hold the family together—in order to save them all, Eleanor must learn to embrace her family of monsters and tame the darkness inside her (tws for animal death, child abuse, death, grief, homophobia, mind control, trauma and xenophobia)

A Little Life (CHECK TWS CHECK TWS CHECK TWS): When four graduates from a small Massachusetts college move to New York to make their way, they're broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition. There is kind, handsome Willem, an aspiring actor; JB, a quick-witted, sometimes cruel Brooklyn-born painter seeking entry to the art world; Malcolm, a frustrated architect at a prominent firm; and withdrawn, brilliant, enigmatic Jude, who serves as their centre of gravity. Over the decades, their relationships deepen and darken, tinged by addiction, success, and pride. Yet their greatest challenge, each comes to realize, is Jude himself, by midlife a terrifyingly talented litigator yet an increasingly broken man, his mind and body scarred by an unspeakable childhood, and haunted by what he fears is a degree of trauma that he'll not only be unable to overcome – but that will define his life forever. (tws here because boy the list is long)

i might reblog this again if i have more to add joy, brain is fuzzy rn

Guys my TBR is too much nonfiction. Give me your best Fantasy/Sci-Fi/Romance/Gothic recs please.

#books #reading #book recommendations

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wolfeyedwitch · 2 years ago

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My favorite chapter in my favorite fic of yours

Oh. Hmm. Copy and paste hasn't kept the numbers of the questions. Oh well.

I want to say it's Breakfast in Bed part 2 in WBOH, but it could be 3. Or 1, potentially. I refuse to look it up bc I'll start rereading and it's 1am AND I still have things to do. Anyway, it's just after Zera brings breakfast up and Bailey catches them with his powers and has a panic attack. I just... my heart. Bailey thinking he should be punished for using his powers. Can I kill Slipknot yet?

While writing this out though I realised that I should give special mention to the reluctant caretaker and auction of evil parts in the aus. Bc I love them so much too.

A fic I didn’t expect to like so much

The Heart and The Hunger (Hunter? Oh, idk. I read it yesterday and I've forgotten already. You know which one I mean). I love it! I wasn't sure I'd like it that much so it took me ages to get round to reading it, and then I loved it! Actually that reminds me: since I'm here, can I be added to the taglist for it (with @pigeonwhumps)?

A character/ship I didn’t enjoy/think about as much before you wrote about them

A person being used as a weapon in the way Weapon is in Weapons Don't Weep. I mean, I've thought about people being forced to fight but never in the way of like being surgically altered and talking about themself as if they're a piece of machinery and stuff.

You should know that this concept has entered my brain in the way that 'thinking about it more' means 'writing a fic about a living weapon bc I can't not now it's taken over my mind'. It's a long way off being finished and it's definitely very different from your story (I'm not copying anything, dw) but... thanks for the inspiration, I guess? Anyway, I love Weapons Don't Weep.

(ok that's more a character type than a character. But it'll do)

Thank you so much for reading, and for taking the time to comment like this!

Bailey freaking out and Zera comforting them has a special place in my heart, as does working to decondition Bailey out of all the things Slipknot trained into them. And no, you can't kill Slipknot. I have too many plot plans in place that require them being alive, unfortunately.

You are added to the taglist for The Heart and the Hunger! (You got it right the first time lol) I'm glad you enjoyed it, and that you took the time to read it even if you weren't expecting to enjoy it!

I love the idea of someone conditioned into thinking of themself as nothing more than a weapon, a piece of equipment. I think my first time reading that trope was in a Captain America fic focused on Bucky post-CATWS, called "This, You Protect". I believe it's by owlet? It's on Ao3 and it's really good. He starts off using "it" as a pronoun and internally referring to himself as "The Asset", but over the course of the fic gains insight into how to be a person again.

The other main source of inspiration was @secretwhumplair's "Royal Arms" fic, which has a similar setup with a living weapon but is set in a vaguely medieval timeframe. As such, I am 100% not worried or bothered by you getting inspired by my writing. In fact, please tag me in it when you post it! I'd love to see what you come up with!

#my writing #my will to go on #i can have nice things #why i keep writing #thank you so so much

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jasontoddiefor · 4 years ago

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Summary: In which Ahsoka Tano has the most embarrassing Masters in at least two languages. Terms of endearment, Disaster Lineage Style. Aka: continued adventured in Jedi Order Conlang! Read on AO3.

“That stupid Senator, honestly!” Anakin started for the fifth time in the past twenty minutes.

Ahsoka and Obi-Wan shared a look behind his back. Ever since they had returned to their quarters from the meeting, Anakin had been throwing a hissy fit about how the Senator of a semi-important Core World had talked about the Jedi, specifically Obi-Wan. His comments had been downright insulting but Obi-Wan had led them through the negotiations anyway and achieved what they’d come here for.

There was no reason for Anakin to still be angry, and yet-

“-honestly every reference to that mission on-“

“Skyguy, you can stop proclaiming your undying love for Obi-Wan now. We get it,” Ahsoka said from where she was lying on her bed, checking her comm for messages from her classmates or teacher. Ahsoka had been supposed to take her exam on pre-Reformation Alderaani love poetry before they’d been called in for this mission and hadn’t had the time to sort out how she was going to get her grade in the exam now. She’d studied hard for it, even gotten Torrent Company to question her about it during downtime.

She might be just a little stressed about this exam. She’d certainly prefer taking on a squadron of clankers over this and Anakin wasn’t helping. Obi-Wan, who was sitting in a rather comfortable armchair, didn’t seem to mind. He was probably too used to Anakin’s antics already.

Hearing her words, Anakin stopped pacing around the room to look at her, first with annoyance as then something suddenly occurred to him and he began to smile downright mischievously.

“My undying love?” He echoed, then, in one swift movement, turned towards Obi-Wan, taking the other Jedi’s hands in his. “Oh, Obi-Wan, cahshee, ¿paialunru foh keelel zera ollun vii foh keelak?”

The words rolled off his tongue with a smoothness Ahsoka had not expected of her Master. Anakin’s Dai Bendu was always a little rougher, like the voice of a singer who had been praising another for hours already with their chants and was now a little hoarse.

“Enoah keel kyan kat fehl, kytal epal padenah fahk ve xariel ta. Denik anohrah kat fehl ru im sedorem det aainji foh tamaji kawa-”

“Oh Force, cadeo qa, Jaieh!” Ahsoka hissed, blushing brightly. Anakin’s words were downright obscene as sweet as they were. The fact that he had delivered this whole speech without breaking character and starting to laugh only made it worse. “Obi-Wan, do something! Make him stop!”

Why did she have to end up with those two as part of her lineage? She was sure Barriss never had to deal with Master Luminara saying such embarrassing things.

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes and sighed, so for a brief moment Ahsoka actually had the hope that he was going to put an end to this. Then, he too took on a sappy expression, fake like that of a cheap holonet soap opera star, matching Anakin down to the almost teary eyes.

“Yes, Anakin, ankyia kat fehl, do stop embarrassing our Padawan.”

She was sorely disappointed.

Ahsoka had read actual old love letters with less of an emotional impact than Anakin’s dramatic confession. It seemed like no matter what he did, Anakin always had to outdo everyone else.

Translation:

“Oh, Obi-Wan, cahshee, ¿paialunru foh keelel zera ollun vii foh keelak?”

“Oh, Obi-Wan, sweety, have I told you how much I love you?”

cahshee would, in modern contexts, be something like “sweety” or “sugarpie”. Most people wouldn’t use it in serious contexts anymore as it is a very sappy and over the top expression.

vii is specifically for romantic love.

“Enoah keel kyan kat fehl, kytal epal padenah fahk ve xariel ta.”

“You are my inner peace, the Light that guides me out of the Dark.”

kyan specifically refers to inner peace, the peace of a person. This is pretty much the state of being every Jedi aspires to achieve.

kat fehl is “of me” i.e. the possessive. Dai Bendu doesn’t have possessive pronouns so you have to make these rather clunky descriptions. Using this additionally instead of just saying “Obi-Wan is the light” makes it so much more personal and really highlights that without Obi-Wan, Anakin wouldn’t be able to achieve that state of peacefulness/inner balance.

kytal is Light as in Light side of the Force opposed to xari, the Dark side of the Force.

paden means to guide or to teach.

Putting this together, we basically have Anakin declaring that Obi-Wan is all that is good. He is Anakin’s compass, without whom he’d been lost in darkness. Even more so, his mere existence teaches Anakin which path he must take so that even when all around them the world is burning down, true darkness is threatening to suffocate him, Obi-Wan will save him and will stay by his side.

“Denik anohrah kat fehl ru im sedorem det aainji foh tamaji kawa-“

“My eternal home and no word I speak will be lovely enough-”

sedorem means word or truth. This means further that not even the truth can accurately describe how much he loves Obi-Wan. Anything that has to be said out loud is basically useless as it doesn’t accurately portray his emotions.

anohrah means home, but also refers to the main Jedi Temple.

You pretty much can't get any sappier. This speech is the love declaration you want and will never get in life because it just goes beyond everything.

“Oh Force, cadeo qa, Jaieh!” – “Stop it, Master!”

“Yes, Anakin, ankyia kat fehl, do stop embarrassing our Padawan.”

Obi-Wan is calling Anakin something that literally means “heartsong” but actually implies soulmate. Word can be used platonically or romantically. Here too the possessive makes this even more personal.

So basically their exchange is the following:

Ahsoka: We all know the dude was stupid and mean to Obi-Wan. Stop being so embarrassing about it now, we are all over it.

Anakin: Is this an invitation to proclaim that Obi-Wan is not just my soulmate, but also the reason I can be who I am and all that just to embarrass my Padawan?

Ahsoka: Obi-Wan, you’re my only hope-

Obi-Wan “I live to make fun of teeny tiny Padawans” Kenobi: No, I will, actually, go along with Anakin’s dramatics and reaffirm them.

#star wars #ahsoka tano #Anakin Skywalker #obi wan kenobi #obikin #fanfic #jedi #dai bendu #conlang #can be read platonically tho #your choice

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booksbeyondimagining · 4 years ago

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Send Me Their Souls (Bring Me Their Hearts #3), by Sara Wolf

Publish Date: November 3, 2020 Published by: Entangled Teen Length: 429 pages Genre: YA Fantasy My Rating: ★★★★☆ (4 out of 5 stars)

Synopsis:

There are worse things than death.

With the rise of Varia d'Malvane comes the fall of the Mist Continent. Cavanos is overrun by the brutal rampage of the valkerax, led by its former crown princess. Vetris is gone. Helkyris is gone. As each mighty nation falls, the grip of the crown princess closes around the throat of the world.

But Zera Y'shennria isn't out yet.

Alongside Malachite, Fione, Yorl, and her love Lucien, Zera seeks aid from the High Witches and the Black Archives, with the valkerax horde hot on their heels. Seemingly unstoppable, Varia can track Zera through her dreams, ensuring there is nowhere to run. Thankfully, an ancient book holds the key to stopping the incursion forever.

But at what cost comes freedom?

At what cost comes love?

At what cost comes the end of the world, and the beginning of a new one?

My Review:

I just want to preface this review with what I read in the acknowledgements: that this book was mostly worked on during quarantine; so while I am still going to write out my opinions, please take it all with that thought in hand as I myself am. Onto the actual review. This series blew me away. I know it took me forever to read them, but I don't care because that is going to make them stick with me longer. I loved the characters, their arcs, the plot, the magic, the world-building - everything. It is so beyond well-written - I swear every other line had me swooning with the word combinations alone. (I mark quotes that I love and I swear there was at least one every other page.) The way Sara Wolf writes is gorgeous in how she captures every day moments and feelings in ways you would not have imagined, and end up giving such depth and life to these moments that you hadn't thought of before.

Anyway, enough waxing poetic about the prose. I definitely enjoyed how this trilogy ended, but I did feel like some of the character dynamic was off. The best way I can describe it is that the main characters - Zera, Lucien, Fione and Mal - felt more like the teenagers they actually were supposed to be than how they had been acting in the previous two books. There was this weird shift in the beginning when Zera decided to stop punishing herself and be with Lucien and the others, and while I liked that shift it aslo felt a little abrupt compared to the previous books. Maybe it was because the hunger wasn't as strong, and that seems like a plausible explanation, but it just felt off for me because of how I had grown to know Zera and how I felt like I had missed something of a character growth? Lucien, too, felt off. Yes, I was beyond thrilled that he spent most of the book being happy and in love with Zera, but also, there was a war going on. His own sister had murdered his parents and destroyed over half his kingdom and was being controlled by an angry ancient tree of magic. While he definitely had many moments of self-reflection and worry and anger, I just felt like those light-hearted moments were so opposite in their emotion they almost didn't feel real. I was kind of disappointed in Varia - I never really felt like she redeemed herself. I know what she had planned wasn't exactly what she got, and had resulted in far more death and destruction that she wanted, but she still made that decision. The way she had treated Zera in the second book and how she frightened and tried to control her even in this one, and the way Zera still put her first because Lucien and Fione loved her, hurt. I was just so disappointed in how she reacted to Zera at the end despite the fact that Zera was saving her life, and even worse [SPOILER] how she spoke about her own son [END SPOILER], I just felt like I will never understand why she is so beloved. I will say that ending left me with many questions. Sometimes I like open-ended conclusions, but sometimes I need more. [SPOILER] For one, I REALLY want to know how Zera survived. There are SO MANY questions concerning that - did she live through the explosion? If so, where was she for three years? Or did the Tree of Souls save her somehow? Did it just mess up on returning her to the right moment in time? Has she aged at all? And what the hell is up with the jewelry? How is it that the two pieces that Malachite and Lucien were able to find were the two pieces that had clasps, and the one ring that she had on was not found? And they were undamaged?? Also, just in general, I never felt like I quite understood how Zera knew from the moment that she realized she had to heal the Tree that she would not survive it. [END SPOILER] On a more positive note, I want to talk about how much I loved the extended world-building in this book. It honestly made me disappointed that the first two novels took place mostly in Vetris. With all these new cities and places the four of them visited, with all the interesting technology and characters, I wanted more. I knew towards the end of the second book when the description of Evlorasin had me thinking of Haku from Spirited Away that I was starting to get Studio Ghibli vibes, but this one - with the airships and the matronics - cemented it. All the mentions of other countries and cultues - I just want more stories from this world because it is beautiful and has so much potential. Also, a map. I want a map. Taking into consideration what I said at the beginning that this book was written during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown and that may have influenced certain aspects of the characters and plotline, I still have to say that this was a wonderfully almost-satisfying conclusion to this part of Zera's story. I know that she will have more, and maybe we will get to know some of it and maybe we won't. But I know that this trilogy will stay in my heart (or unheart) for long, long while.

#book review #send me their souls #sara wolf #bring me their hearts #ya fantasy #favorite reads

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avenger-hawk · 5 years ago

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(1/3)HELLO! It's me, Anon who loves you again(lol). But you can call me Zera since I feel like we are going to interact more now (if u want to of course). But Damn, I just went back to finally read your response and I agree so much with what you say. I have an entire essay to write back and this shitty ask will not let me express myself lmao. Anyway, those past few days I felt so shitty just because of how degratory people can be on the internet because they think they are anonymous.

(2/3)Tumblr at this point is so…f*ucked. Constant slandering denigration, muckraking and aspersions. Some people try to negate the toxic and keep it alive but this platform is a breeding place for mob mentality. I’ve seen so many people bullied out of the place just for having a differing opinion. And so many people being all woke trying to “spill tea”, “expose” real people. They tarnish people’s feelings and reputations all behind their safe anonymous cocoon.

(3/3) And they justify this abuse/slander with “I am allowed to express my opinions so gtfo if you don’t agree bitch”. They play the victim when people tell them that opinions do not mean denigrating real people for bullshit reasons with no real proof. At this point sweetie, I am just ranting. Sorry if I am bothering you with those negative thoughts but I felt so shitty those past few days and you are pratically the only one I can get behind in this hellhole tumblr shit. Also, I am writing out-

(Last Part) As I was TRYING TO SAY before the limit bullshit cut me off, I am writing out a response to your previous response to my previous ask. It’s way too long already so I will either need to send you through dm or cut it out into pieces after I have fully written everything out. Thankkk you so much for talking to me despite me being so sudden with you. I appreciate you so much and I hope you are taking care out there (both physically AND mentally). Also, loving those art reblogs

Hello Zera and nice to meet you by your name (or nickname, it’s cute anyway~) and I’m glad you like my fanart reblogs.

I am sorry that you are feeling shitty…it’s frustrating, to say the least, to see people hide behind anonymous and slander blogs, names, real people who are behind them, for an opinion, a taste, whatever. I find irritating even the words/expressions they use, maybe because as a non native English speaker I saw them for the first time used in this bad context so they are only associated to tumblr fake woke idiots and their ‘that’s the tea’ shit. And it’s ironic that they can talk shit about people however they want but when people do the same to them they justify with not only the reasons I listen in my last reply but also with this thing you mentioned, that they are allowed to express their opinion…like, what about the person they slandered? oh but they are not ‘valid’ (I hate this word too) because their opinion is wrong. Says them, ofc. Then ofc they start playing the victim because poor kids, everyone is a bully to them.

It’s ok to rant, I understand your feeling well and I’d like to tell you that if you ‘stop paying attention’ to this it will be ok, but I do fall into the frustration & irritation pit too sometimes. But it happens less often, cause I channeled my fandom time and interested on positive stuff instead and so I want to stay. I don’t want to be preachy or belittle this problem because I know how hard it is (and you can see in my blog that I struggled with these problems directly too, both from dumbasses like those you describe, and from a different kind of creep lol, and even in my other fandom there is slandering and calling out and horrible things), but recently even more, all this coronavirus lockdown (my country is in quarantine since more than a month now) and something horrible that happened to the person I love, made me reconsider certain things. At least for me, at least for now, their importance is dulled down now…Even more than before where I was already detached from fandom dramas.

And since I can see things from a detached perspective I might try ‘suggesting’ something to not let this shit get to you…because life is a b*tch and you can’t allow yourself to suffer for f*ckers who don’t even show themselves, hiding behind an anonymous, or running a shitty blog where they just shit on people, it doesn’t matter.

I don’t engage in fandom discussion (or, like they call it, ‘discourse’, another word I hate) anyway, and I recommend everyone to not engage in anything with those f*ckers. Not because you (not just you Zera but you guys in general) are scared of them but because what they want is attention, and receiving replies, reblogs, attacks, everything, is what they want. blocking them, even making fun of them like they do to others, is ok, cause it’s repaying them with their same treatment. But cut communication. Block people, everyone. These idiots, their friends, those who put likes on their shit, those who put likes on their shit but also to your stuff because they can’t pick a side and maybe they’re good people who don’t think much about these things. Block every single person who irritates you even just a little, and everyone around them. Unfollow people, but mostly block them. The fanarts I post now has little notes compared to the ones I had in the past when I posted them, because I blocked everyone who annoys me, everyone whose opinions annoy me, everyone who starts shit even though I don’t want to speak to them, like every SN/SI/canon stans and puritans and more. I unfollowed friends who followed one of those fake woke b*tches, who reblogged their stuff I didn’t want to see, and made them unfollow me. Marie Kondo my a** lol

And make it clear, so that those who’ll see these people shitting on someone who clearly said they blocked them, will realize who’s bullying who. Maybe it won’t change anything in the short period but in the long run it will, because these assholes have their same behavioral pattern, being overt or even more, covert narcissistic b*tches in need of attention, so if their target ignores them they’ll move to another, in the same ‘area’.

The temptation to check their blogs and see if they attack you, your friends, or what they do in order to protect yourself is strong, but it won’t help getting over this. I know it’s hard and I fell into this a lot, but we all should use fandoms in a positive way to get distracted when we feel like shit because of fandoms…like looking at fanarts, fanfiction or using some private chat group that you know it’s a safe space, even though I read that a dischord chat became moralistic hell unexpectedly, for some the people who joined.

Anyway, sometimes we (and I include myself) fall into this ‘addiction’ where we consider fandom things so important, and we neglect real life people and things…and negative shit like bullying, slandering and all this makes us feel horribly and it’s not different from real life bullying. Sometimes it’s even worse because we join a fandom as a distraction, an escape route sometimes for real life problems, and instead we end up feeling like shit because of it. But, as someone who spent a whole year trying to expose a very bad person who did bad things to me online, and as a person who was slandered many times and always fought back, I can say that letting this affect our real life is bad. Because real life is even harder and we don’t need more weights on our shoulders. And if something like illness or death get close to your circle of people, you realize how all this is pointless, how these f*ckers have no purpose in their pathetic lives other than making others feel bad, and how we can and must fight back everything, but not let it get inside our heads and hearts, where we must keep things we like, our fave characters, ships, dynamics, kinks, people, whatever.

Because, and really everything I say I tried and try on myself first, there will come a time where you’ll look back at this and you’ll realize you might have missed something more important in your life, real or online it doesn’t matter, both are important…Life, I was saying, sometimes is cruel in big and small ways, taking something or someone away from you when you least expect it, making it hard to do the things you like because some a**holes decides it’s wrong, online and offline (like, try feeding crows in my area and see how much hate you can get, and being hated for something so harmless is really horrible, and it’s like the real life representation of online shit imo) is too short to worry about shitty blogs run by shitty people or shitty anons~

I really hope you’re feeling better Zera, and if you celebrate Easter I wish you a happy one!

#Anonymous #replies &co #fanon and fandom stuff

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arinaco · 5 years ago

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The tragedy of Allura in the seasons 7-8

Edited by https://twitter.com/Nadezhda932

Warning: Allurance will get an unpleasant rating. If you're happy with this ship in S 7-8 - just go by. Because I'm confident in my opinion, and you can't convince me otherwise.

Many people have questions about the behavior of Allura after S7. Someone will even say that the scriptwriters are idiots who tried to abruptly jump from Lotura to Allurance; that Allura is a bastard who decided to use Lance as a backup plan etc.

In response, I will say: screenwriters who wrote the original script for S7-8 knew what they were doing. And Allura is the last person who deserves to be hated at this moment, because she's the most unhappy character in S7-8, and does not deserve such negativity at all.

Let's remember what happened to Allura at the end of S 6.

At the beginning of the season, Lotor's been traveling with paladins for several months. Kral Zera took place. Allura admires Lotor, Allura is in love for the first time, sincerely and seriously.

On the other hand, mice report to Allura about Lance. It probably never occurred to Lance that they would do it (they are mice!), otherwise he would never have said that. And here the problems begin, since such confessions always (!) spoil a good friendship. Not a relationship that cools down over time and becomes friendship, but such a confession.

Why? Because the first thing that Allura felt when she heard this was guilt. She didn't offend Lance, she never encouraged him in this regard, but still felt guilty. And guilt is a terrible thing that can push us to absolutely wrong things.

"Allura: Oh.... he said that?"

In addition, after such a confession... you may not want this, but this isn't under your control: from now on you will always look at your relationship with this person through the prism of this confession. Awkwardness and constant thoughts about how this person will interpret your actions. You can’t just hug him or express gratitude any other way. Each time you will think about being misunderstood. Because you don't want these relationships, you don't want to offend and you're afraid that your actions will be misunderstood.

In this particular case, Lance didn't even confess directly. If after official confession both are aware of the uncomfortable situation, then only Allura felt uncomfortable The rest interpreted her behavior without taking confession into account. Just because they didn’t know.

And then... Romelle happens. You can’t say otherwise. I have no good attitude towards Romelle simply because after all her actions she got a happy ending, and Allura, whom she had broken all her life, died in depression. Sorry, but this is so unfair that it makes no difference to me how right or wrong Romelle was in her claims.

Too. Much. Blood. Too much lives were sacrificed for her revenge.

And Allura is the first victim among all.

"Romelle: You killed my brother and thousands of others!"

Rommelle was brought by Keith. The second culprit of this mess. The culprit is because at that moment of the series Keith felt that he had the right to command and decide. But he didn't feel the weight of this responsibility. Seriously, Keith didn't think about that everyone else would pay for his every mistake. Too much conviction in his being right, too much speed in decisions when he held in his hands, in fact, the fate of the whole universe.

I believe that in the original S8 he should have been poked into it with his face. But here he wasn't. Keith made many hasty decisions for which he never paid - he didn't bear responsibility as a leader.

And the first among them is to leave Lotor in the Rift to die.

It was not Allura who decided to kill Lotor. She wanted to release the rage, but obviously didn't want to leave him in the Rift. The decision was made by Keith. And his statement that they shouldn't waste time on this is ridiculous. Paladins are ready to defend any random guy they've just met, and then they leave to die the one a) with whom they worked together for several months, b) who saved their lives several times, c) who is the head of a huge empire.

But Keith felt that he had the right to decide, and he made a decision. Without thinking about the consequences.

"Allura: But we can't just leave him!

Keith: Lotor's made his choice. Let's get out of here, Allura"

After this situation, Allura feels awful. She didn't think that all this would end like this, because she absolutely didn't plan to kill him. And besides, she feels betrayed by the person she loves. Yes, feelings can't disappear at once. At this particular moment, Allura still loves Lotor.

She feels bad. She needs support and understanding. But what does she get?

"Keith: As I recall, you were the one who got us all cozied up to Lotor"

After all the events Keith, convinced in his right to make decisions, accuses her of trusting Lotor. We can say that this is an echo of being offended at how Allura didn't trust Keith because of his origin. But Keith did wrong anyway.

Having received the support of the others, Keith directly shows that Allura won't receive any sympathy in her grief. That any words on the subject “I love him, but he deceived me” or “I didn't want his death” will be critisized.

And the only one who supports her is Lance. He's here for her without a second thought, simply because he is a good compassionate person.

He did absolutely right in this situation. But this was another nail in the lid of the coffin of friendship with Allura because of a damned confession.

"Lance: You can't doubt yourself. We need you. The universe needs you"

Because Lance is no longer just a good friend, whose support is natural - he is in love and suffers from non-reciprocity of his feelings. As a result, gratitude overlapped with guilt, and Allura felt obliged to Lance.

Take a look at this cocktail of emotions:

Allura is under stress after the killing and betrayal of Lotor;

Allura feels guilty for trusting Lotor;

Allura feels guilty for the fact that Lance loves her, but she doesn't love him back;

Allura feels obliged to Lance for his support;

And all this accumulates by the beginning of S7.

And all the actions of Allura should be considered taking into account the presence of this terrible clump of feelings.

And I haven’t listed everything yet, by the way.

Allura lost her castle. The castle was her home and the last small stronghold of Altea. Where were all her personal belongings, all that was left of her homeland. The castle made Allura an independent unit with its property, and then she lost it.

As a result, Allura comes to Earth almost without nothing. And she feels it, looking at her friends who were at home surrounded by their relatives. Allura herself literally turned into a refugee, whose position is completely dependent on the loyalty of her friends. She talks about it in plain text, by the way. She becomes dependent on the good attitude of the other paladins.

"Allura: Each of us was alone, but we were alone together"

If Coran quickly joined the company of commanders and scientists, Allura remained alone simply as a Blue paladin. In an absolutely replaceable role, what Allura understands very well.

And don't forget about the loss of the crown. I laugh in the face of the one who claims that it was easy for Allura to part with the crown. Allura was proud of her legacy, her origin and involvement in the royal family of Altea. She always recalled her old life with nostalgia and said that she's missing all this. Allura was not “an unhappy rich girl, burdened by her position,” Allura was a princess, completely content with her life and proud of how much duty she was destined to fulfill for the benefit of the whole society.

The crown was a symbol of all that Allura treasured so much. In S8, Allura sadly recalls that she is no longer a princess and has no political power.

"Allura: Oh, right, I... um..."

But back to our S7. It's still more or less tolerant. Allura locks herself in and concentrates on work. At the same time, she can no longer communicate with Lance like it was before. Now Lance is no longer a friend, comrade and brother, he is "a boy who likes me and whom I am afraid to offend by refusal." Allura feels obligated and, wanting to be grateful, wants to encourage Lance by telling him something good. But then again, she can't do it calmly. Now Allura looks at any Lance's actions as potentially romantic.

And it's logical that she is embarrassed. Allura wasn't sophisticated in this matter, and being in a relationship with Lotor doesn't count as at the time she didn't think about at all what was romantic or not.

"Allura: I wanted to say... stay safe out there"

And naturally, the environment that doesn't know the situation begins to interpret this wrongly. Do you really think that Veronica would persuade Lance to date Allura if she knew that not so long ago the paladins murdered her almost fiance?

"Veronica: Looks like the princess likes you back"

So Lance himself began to notice that Allura’s attitude towards him had changed.

I won't talk about the sincerity of the feelings of Lance and his personal problems, this is a question on a different topic, about his problems with self-acceptance. I’ll just say that it’s completely in Lance’s character that he immediately started thinking on the topic that “I’m not worthy of Allura, I’m just a simple Cuban guy, she will refuse me”. Moreover, judging by the behavior of Hunk in the S1S8, Lance constantly annoyed Hunk with this topic. But Hunk, being a confident guy (despite his overweight, by the way), didn't understand such problems. If you like a girl - go and tell her about it. Yes, she can refuse you, but this is not the end of the world in fact.

"Hunk: You asked her, didn’t you? Oh, and she said no"

That's why Hunk is behaving this way. He probably told Lance more than once that he should go and talk with Allura. Moreover, Hunk knew Allura perfectly. Therefore, he didn't only ask Lance: “Did you confess to her?”, but immediately suggested that she refused him. Since his predictions are what Lance should have heard. And when he kicks Lance to Allura, he wants Lance to just put an end to this. He'll to Allura, she'll refuse him, and Lance will begin to live on, ceasing to torment himself on this subject.

Why this retreat about Hunk? In order to correctly understand the situation with the invitation of Allura on a date.

You know, if Lance pulled himself together and went to invite Allura alone, that would be wonderful. They would have spoken without witnesses, and perhaps Allura was even frank with him. If Lance went with Hunk only, then Hunk would just stand by and didn't get into the conversation. And also everything would have turned out more or less good both for Allura and for Lance.

But, alas, our wonderful Romelle is here again. She obviously had nothing to do at a military facility, and therefore she toiled from boredom. So she sincerely enthusiastically took on the role of matchmaker, wishing everyone only the best, but knowing absolutely nothing about the characters of Lance, Allura, and all that connected them.

And Romelle did the most disgusting thing. She began to persuade Allura.

"Romelle: It’ll be good to get away for a night and clear your head"

Sorry, but if a girl says that she's busy, it means that she makes you politely understand that she's not interested in the invitation. And if Lance was alone or simply with Hunk, then the hint would be understood, and Lance would back up. Lance, unlike Romelle, is a smart guy.

And just think about what situation Allura faced.

She feels guilty, feels obligated to Lance. She feels dependent on a good relationship with the paladins. She is still struggling with her loss. And they're persuading her, using statements that they're taking care of her, that they wish only good to her, but she doesn't appreciate it.

And Allura broke. She gave up.

I don't believe in claims that Allura tried to drown her pain with these relationships. At no point in S8 Allura looks like a person who's trying to get at least some pleasure from this relationship. At the first opportunity to stay alone, she kicks Lance to the fair. Because this relationship strained Allura even more, and she wanted to at least have a little rest.

"Allura: Please, go have fun!"

She holds onto Lance as the only person she can get support from. But as a friend, not as a boyfriend. Just because he's the only one from whom she can receive this support.

You know, I have big questions about a kiss on a date. About the kisses of Lance and Allura in the whole S8. No matter how fake it is and that they were not in the original plot. The question is different. From the point of view of commonplace medicine, during a period of stress and depression a woman's libido completely falls. It's the logic of the body: a woman in stress means it's dangerous to have children. The kisses that we see in classic films are kisses after stress, when the euphoria begins. In no one scenario is there a scene where a woman, being stressed or depressed, gives a long romantic kiss to a man.

Short kisses can be interpreted as an attempt to calm, as a gentle touch or part of a hug. But a long kiss implies the presence of attraction, which a woman in depression doesn't have at all. And from the point of view of medicine and psychology, the kiss of Lance and Allura is interpreted as "It's easier to give, than to explain why you don't want to." When Allura surrendered and simply decided to give Lance what he wants. Because she was tired of fighting beyond the boundaries of her personal space, and this relationship saved her from feeling guilty.

In this situation, by the way, I really want to say a few words in defense of Coran. Because it's believed that he patriarchally blessed Lance on this matter, without being interested in the opinion of Allura. Which is completely wrong. When Lance comes to Coran, Allura has already agreed. Moreover, the first impulse of Coran is protest and indignation. From his point of view, it was a serious misalliance, and a simple Cuban guy was not at all regarded as an equal to his priceless princess. But Coran shuts himself up out of respect and love for Allura, since he considers her opinion. And he begins to educate Lance as a little one on the topic of courtship for girls, showing us what he thinks about Lance's abilities in this regard.

If Coran was with Allura at the time of the invitation to a date, then Romelle would have been shut up categorically. Alas, Coran was not there at that moment.

We know how it all ended. Very sad and tragic. Relationships with Lance hardly played a huge role in this, in fact, Allura was in very serious condition without them.

During the last seasons she sees how her friends are happy to return home to their families. And then she sees the ghosts of her family, her dead lover. And in the end she very quickly and uncompromisingly decides to sacrifice herself.

Do you understand how this is interpreted?

When life became so bad that death is perceived as deliverance. As a way to get what you lost, but so desperately want to return.

The owner of the franchise, Bob Koplar, wrote that this sacrifice was a great honor for Allura.

Great honor. To kill yourself after a long depression. She couldn't even talk about why she was depressed. She had no one to talk about. She died looking confident in her decision. Because life has become worse for her than death.

Not a single female character in any animated series for children died such a sad and terrible death. By God, an episode in DotU, where Allura "died" from the Haggar's venom was more gentle for the psyche of children.

So let's say a big thank you to Bob for this wonderful script. And for the broken hearts of children on Christmas holidays.

As well as mine.

#vld #voltron #allura

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carlottastudios · 5 years ago

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If someone ever asks me to prove both my intense love for the Blade of Marmora and my fixation on detail in a single post, this is the one I’ll show them! Now, with everything in this post said, I realize that there is one blade I forgot: an unnamed blade (or an ally of the blades) dressed as a galra soldier in season 5 who helped Ilun, Vrek and Keith get to the Kral Zera undetected, a blade Ilun referred to as “brother” (though it’s not clear whether or not he’s her actual brother or it’s just that fellow blades call each other by sibling-like terms). I’m really sorry that I forgot to include that blade in my calculations. In my defense, though, I did a fuck-ton of counting for this post already! So that still leaves a lot of unknown blades who died in canon…May they rest in peace, those brave, unsung heroes who took the hard, unforgiving route of turning against their ruler and dedicating their lives to fighting a nigh-impossible war, all because it was the right thing to do. Rest in peace, wonderful knife fam. There’s at least one fan who won’t forget you! *wipes tears* And, on a lighter note, look at that guys! So much room potential OCs or character ideas! Ripe for the picking!!! Why are so few if any VLD fans (those that are left) not taking advantage of this?! Aside from being busy with other things, which is honestly a valid reason. Anyway, guys, this is my last post for this week! I won’t even be posting anything this weekend because, as of tomorrow, the Sound of Silence for DeviantART begins! For those who need a quick reminder: it’s a way to protest against DeviantART Eclipse and the admins’ decision to try and make Eclipse permanent for everyone as of May 20. I am, as you can imagine, very much against this. Honestly, I’m sure I would be even if I did like Eclipse! Especially because of how it apparently resembles another site called artstation, so much that some call it close to plagiarism. I’m not entirely sure of this, since I avoid Eclipse and I am not on artstation, but it is very suspicious. Long story short, I’m not even going to visit DeviantART on May 1, May 2 or May 3, so, naturally, I won’t be posting anything there this weekend. If any of you want to join in on the Sound of Silence protest (which I highly encourage), I encourage you to check out this journal with all of the information: https://www.deviantart.com/howl-n-hart/journal/The-Sound-Of-Silence-DA-Statement-838956496. So that’s all from me guys! Hope you all enjoyed this little dump of Voltron-centric posts on my end! But don’t worry: there’s even more on the way! But that’s for the weekend after next! Until then, bye! DISCLAIMERS: Voltron: Legendary Defender © DreamWorks & World Events Productions the screenshots I used were all taken by me from Voltron: Legendary Defender (Netflix)

#Behold My Beautiful Little Brain Child (my original post)#Safe In My Space Pocket (voltron legendary defender)

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dent-de-leon · 6 years ago

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Did someone say thoughts about Shotor??

Yes I have a lot actually!! To talk about them first, I think I need to talk about Keith–because Lotor saved him, and that must mean the world to Shiro. Takashi, of all people, has always been the one trying to protect Keith and shield him from his own self destructive tendencies. We see this a lot when he’s younger, actually. Keith stealing Shiro’s car and just taking off, deliberately trying to tank his chances of getting into the garrison, that’s all willful self destructive behavior. And back then, it’s done in a desperate attempt to try and regain control in a situation where he feels he has none. They’re saying he’s a lost cause anyway, so why not go out with a bang and show them just how much damage he can do. As a reckless teen, this is all stemming from abandonment issues and profound isolation.

“I won’t give up on you, Keith. But more importantly, you can’t give up on yourself”–Shiro reassures and comforts him, convinces him that he’s worth more than he thinks, that there’s so much good he’s capable of. As Keith matures, years down the line, we see that he’s more at peace with himself. Rather than “acting out” in response to his trauma, we see him neglecting his own future in favor of something entirely different–self-sacrifice. He is, at heart, very noble and giving. He is also fiercely dedicated to what he believes is right, to his duty, to the mission, etc. We see him all too readily try and fight to the death in his Marmora trial. He volunteers for a “suicide mission” at the end of season 2, and later Kolivan berates him for always putting his own life on the line. Lotor saving Keith in the way he did speaks volumes about how badly Keith needs a support system, and I find it hard to believe such a striking act wouldn’t immediately endear the prince to Shiro in some way.

We actually don’t see any followup for that, which is incredibly unfortunate. But given that Keith is willing to risk dying with both Shiro and Lotor because he’s so driven to save them, I have to believe it certainly left an impact on him. And I can’t help but believe Shiro would, at the very least, be eternally grateful. He’s as cold as everyone else when he first addresses Lotor in the following season, but I still like to headcannon he had a bit of a soft spot for him after that.

It’s really interesting actually, because Shiro was the first–and for a long time only–supporter of Lotor out of all the Paladins. You can’t tell me there wasn’t a certain kind of kinship there, particularly when Shiro was driven enough to literally let Lotor “give away” the Black Lion at the Kral Zera. All or nothing, Shiro wanted Lotor up on that throne. Of course, things definitely begin to drift into this grey area as to how much of Shiro/Kuron’s desire to back up Lotor was out of his own volition and how much of that’s Haggar just manuevering the pieces.

Either way, I think that some part of Shiro definitely had stake in this game. I’m willing to believe he was genuinely moved by Lotor’s commitment to the team–unlike the other Paladins however, it didn’t take Zarkon’s fall for Shiro to take a leap of faith on him. He gave Lotor his bayard. The only other bayard exchanges we see are between other Paladins. For Shiro, in that moment, Lotor was a Paladin, he was worthy enough to wield that sword and do what was right. Shiro would have never let Lotor go into that hostage situation unarmed, which honestly, is a very Shiro Thing™ to do I think. Even when all the other Paladins called out Shiro for acting on his own and doing something so reckless, I don’t think he would have ever played it any differently. It’s in his nature to try and see the good in others and to never leave an ally defenseless.

Also, that Soft Look™ that Lotor gives Shiro in that one scene where he’s struggling with Haggar’s control to try and remain calm? Where he just walks away after voicing his support for Lotor? That’s some good stuff. It honestly looks like Lotor cares–and I’d like to think he does. Shiro’s the only one 100% on his side thus far, after all.

And I mean, I’m also really biased because I still remember the old Devil’s Due 80′s Voltron comics where Sven/Shiro is also mind controlled by Haggar, and ends up working with Lotor. They end up getting pretty close, have some nice bonding moments, and Lotor even tries to tell Sven that he’s being manipulated. Pretty good stuff, and I’d love to see a take on VLD where Lotor goes that route with Shiro.

Also, and this is HUGE to me so I just have to bring it up–Lotor was literally introduced as a champion in the arena just like Shiro. The thematic parallels there are just chilling I love them. It’s also so jarring to see both these warriors taking down much larger and formidable foes with their cunning and skill despite the polar opposite tones. Shiro is cornered, scared, reckless, backed into a corner and fighting for his life. Lotor makes it all look so flawless and effortless, basks in the applause and has them all practically bowing down to him. He’s charismatic and entirely in control while Shiro is just trying to get through it, just live to fight another day.

They’re also both looked down upon as “inferior” for their race, but earn some sense of Galran honor in the arena. I would love to see the kinds of conversations they can both have about their experiences as gladiators, how that shaped them and what Shiro’s reputation as “Champion” would mean for someone like Lotor. I can’t help but imagine Lotor would want to spare against Shiro in a similar setting just to test his reputation, Shiro likely abstaining do to his trauma and questioning Lotor as to why prisoners are made to fight for entertainment, philosophical and ethical discussions as to how Lotor should rule differently, etc.

I mean, and this is all sounds well and good, but things would obviously come crashing down eventually. I don’t think anything Lotor could ever do would make him worthy of redemption honestly after what he did to the Altean colony. And as we do see, Shiro is immediately ready to defend the rest of his team from Lotor once he hears what he’s been up to for the last few centuries. I can’t imagine a scenario where he’d actually stay on VLD Lotor’s side to the end, but the logistics of what could’ve been in a deeper relationship until then are definitely super interesting to me. I really wish the series would’ve considered elaborating on their potential bond more–and I have very much the same feelings about Lotor and Keith. The three of them could really be one hell of a team.

#shotor #shiro #lotor #voltron #hi am i still allowed to 10 page essays here or is that illegal yet

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