#but also the most interesting option to me.

[donnadiddadog]

the reaper pt 1

Summary: Y/N is a member of the Inner Circle, and there is a decision to have a suicide mission that would help win the war against Hybern - and Y/N has to take charge of it. Azriel cannot let Y/N go just like that.

Word Count: 1.9K ish

Warnings: Mentions of death and soldiers being harmed in war, slight cursing (if any tbh i don't think so). If anything is left out, let me know below!

a/n: First Person (but I use Y/N as a character, not an OC), I am going to convert this into a series cuz I have an idea (this is going to be slightly based on Nesta’s whole spiral in ACOSF in the next few parts). All credit for the prompt and the inspiration of the first half (loosely based on the story part 1) to “Farewell my love” (written by @allthehopesforlove) - you should check it out, too. It's pretty well written (sending you much love @allthehopesforlove<3). Also, the concept of the Eight is based on Manon from the TOG series! I' 'll upload the next few parts by Jan end (I have finals in two days what am I doing here????)

14th Jan 2025, Writing 3

There is no way that the war can be won without this move. That was the consensus as we stood around the replica of the battleground - Rhys was motionless as he assessed the situation and Cassian kept pacing around the tent that swayed with the wind. Mor was leaning against the chair, her injuries preventing her from standing up straight. I looked at Azriel as he stared at the map and tried to figure out.

The move was simple - a 300 soldiers in a formation that would cleave the Hybern army at the centre, at the weakest point. With the seperation of the army into fragments, the Spring, Autumn and Day Court Armies could take over the upper flank and the Winter and Dawn Court Armies taking over the lower flank; the Night Court attacks from the back to prevent anyone else from escaping. The Summer Court would join the 300 soldiers after they had seperated the army and prevent them from joining again which would turn the tide of the war against Prythian.

All 300 would most likely die. A 95% chance according to me, Cassian agreed with that figure, if not implying that the danger was higher. Feyre was watching her mate, I think she was just scared that he would choose to be the one to lead the soldiers now nicknamed the Regiment 300. The final stand.

There were arguments made in favour and against, Rhys and Cassian at each others throats, Azriel trying to calm the whole situation down. I stood there watching them all fight and try to figure it out while the clock ticked. Hybern would not stop their planning, their tactics just because we couldnt get our shit together. The other High Lords were aware of this plan, it was Beron who had assigned the final duty of choosing the Regiment 300 from the Night Court rather than any other Court. He deemed it fair - that it was us who had to shed the final blood. Meant it as an insult but it was right.

I dont remember much because it was a blur. I had slammed my fists into the table, looked them dead in the eye and explained why it couldnt be any of them. How if Morrigan rode out, she wouldnt make it ten steps before falling dead from her horse. How Feyre could not go to war because she was not trained enough yet. How Rhysand cannot go to war because he is the High Lord and his death would mean a constitutional crisis. How Cassian and Azriel cannot go to war because they had to lead the Night Courts attack with Feyre assisting. How Amren was not going to since she had to figure out the Cauldron’s final secrets. And that only left me.

I wasn't exactly a military person, like Cassian was. I was a strategist, I knew the military tactics but nothing more. I wasn't interested in the training part of it. But I was a damn good leader, people listened to me and I could hold my weight for a while in battle if it came down to it. I could do it, I had to do it. It was the only option left and I knew that I would have to do it. If only to see my family, the Inner Circle, see the sunrise day after tomorrow.

Azriel spoke almost as a whisper, “You cannot possible think that I would allow you to go and do that. To go and kill yourself.” Before Rhys could agree with him and argue with me, I looked Azriel dead in the eye and asked him to find another individual to sacrifice then. And he had stopped breathing, his mind turning. But he wouldnt accept it, his eyes betryaed that he would have rather tied me down than let me go. That is the male I know, the one who cannot bear to accept my demise. Oh Azriel, if only you knew how much I hate this decision of mine. Sweetheart, we were supposed to have a lifetime together.

Further arguments were made but I turned to Rhys and spoke to him mind to mind. He turned to me, face to face, man to man. And I reminded him of that phrase that all good monarchs were supposed to live by. I bent the knee, bowed my head and waited for him. He took a sharp breath in and spoke in his regal voice, “Y/N, you have been given command of the Regiment 300. Ride in the name of the High Lord of the Night Court and make your last stand. Defend Prythian and may the Mother be with you.” I rose and bowed to my High Lord as I turned.

I left the tent before Azriel could grab my hand, before he could see the tears drop. Cassian held him against his will and I could hear Azriel bellowing out my name, cursing the gods for letting this happen, attempting to hurt Cassian to reach me in any way, in any form. Feyre held Mor as she mumbled about this not being fair.

The decision was made, I would lead the Regiment 300 tomorrow at dawn. I had summoned the Eight - my military advisors but more than that my closest friends, we had grown up together, seen each other do things that we thought weren't possible, reaching positions and training to higher levels. My most trusted souls. Pieces of my heart each of them. They were going to join me in the suicide mission and I had to see them all one last time before dawn.

I went to my tent to prepare my armor and set my affairs in order. I told my sentry to prepare my horse and get the men together, I would address them as Commander about their suicide mission. That I would join them in their deaths would be my greatest honor. The last stand would be made. And we would win.

I remember the taste of blood in my mouth, the feeling of sweat dripping, the tightening of my hands on the spear. I remember the feeling of my horse running forward, looking to my right and my left to see my friends, my chosen few, surging forward through the mud. I remember it all.

And I remember waking up in that godforsaken tent with that male looking at me with hazel eyes full of concern and I knew what had happened. I had forsaken my soldiers, the regiment had been abandoned. I led them into war and I deserted them to die.

Slapping his arms away and throwing it off me, I ran out of the tent. Running to see that the sun was almost setting. We had set out at sunrise, it was now sunset. No, this cannot be true. Where are they? Please don't let it be true. I gasped at the sudden pain in my side, noticing that I had an injury to my left flank. The arrow hit me when we first made contact with the army.'

The battleground was barely half a kilometer away, clutching my side to prevent any bandages from falling, I ran the distance trying to see what had happened. I heard Azriel calling out to Rhys and the rest. They were alive but I didn't care about that right now, I had to check on the Eight, my regiment. It was mostly a downhill journey, with a few slips due to loose rocks. I kept my head down to not see what was ahead, I didn't want to lose hope, and I didn't want to accept what had surely happened.

I smelt it before I saw it. I didn't hear it because they were all dead with spears and arrows jutting out of their bodies. No, that is a lie - I did hear it. I listened to the vultures and crows in the sky and on the ground. Feasting. I reached the base of the slope and I looked up at the battleground. A crematorium. A graveyard. The site of my greatest failure.

And I tried catching my breath, looking at the bodies, at the mangled flesh and bone, at the blood that soaked the mud as my bare feet made contact with it, at the horses whose legs had been twisted and intestines hanging out, at the soldiers with cracked skulls, one with his leg blown off, and another completely impaled on a spear.

I couldn't feel anything, my face was numb, and my hands were numb. I was numb. I trudged along because I had found my entire regiment dead but I had to check on the Eight. I had to see their dead eyes so I could tell them that I would join them soon. That is my punishment, that is the price for this mistake. Blood will appease blood.

So I walked to the start of the bloodshed, the site where the regiment hit the Hybern army for the first time. Where I was supposed to lay dead and broken. I was the leader of that regiment, the commander who had told them that this was our last stand. Yet I was alive and they were dead. I stepped on something and I heard a crunching noise. I took a second, hyperventilating before I looked down and saw it. I saw her.

I had found what I was looking for - the Eight lay together in a small circle, almost as if they were trying to hold each other’s hands in their last moments. It seemed that they had tried to create a triangle to penetrate the defense. It had worked but it worked because they fought to the death. The rest of the regiment must have gone through breaking the army from the inside out and the move worked. The Summer Court must have shortly followed. And they didn't stop until they had won the war.

I fell onto my knees, into the mud, and I was shaking, with grief, loss, and despair. And I picked up her body to try to bring it close to mine, to try and hold her one last time. She was long gone but it seemed as if this would help, somehow reduce her pain and make it easier for her to go. I can only imagine what it was like when she had to go, how alone she felt, how betrayed and disgusted she felt that the Commander had been saved, not them.

If I could I would have saved you, I am sorry, it should have been me, I should have died. I don't deserve to live, I will join you.

I screamed those words into the air as I held her and crawled to the rest, begging for them to wake up, to not forgive me but to punish me, telling them that I would join them. That I was the betrayer, the reason for their deaths. That they should never forgive me.

I cried into the mud with their bodies next to me. My wound had already been bleeding profusely and I thought it to be poetic justice that I, too die next to them from a wound I received at the battle that they died in. Except they would die a warrior’s death and I would die a coward’s death. Right next to them.

This is what I deserve. And there was only one person to blame for this.

Azriel.

[spiderwebsinzibbyshead]

I felt very similarly about the story. Of course it's not unusual for the archon quests to feel unsatisfying when it comes to connecting with most of the characters, it's basically designed to introduce you to them and give you the option to follow up with their story/hangout quest later.

But yes, I definitely feel like we didn't really get to get close with the characters enough, which is ironic given all of the filler haha. I think it would be interesting if the Traveler began to question their bonds with the people they meet because of their fame, but tbh I don't think they'd really allow the Traveler to question any kind of playable character that isn't a Fatui.

Going back to your points, I agree that Natlan didn't hit the same "peak" or "hype" as Fontaine. However! It's true that Natlan made me cry a lot more than Fontaine. I'd say that Fontaine was a cool and epic story, while Natlan is about tragedy and sacrifice. While they both have a theme about hope, they approach it with very different tones. And yes, there are very sad moments in Fontaine, but I think the ones in Natlan were more relatable. That's why although the end battle in Natlan wasn't as thrilling as I expected, I don't think that it means the overall story was bad.

I also wanted to add something else that was great about the Natlan quest, the way it demonstrated the bond with Paimon and her separation anxiety. Every moment with her felt sweet and truly like we had been friends for as many years as we've known her irl. They could never get me to hate u Paimon <3

Additionally, Capitano perfectly encapsulated what somebody with a strong sense of honor looks like. It's a mixture of self-sacrificing, stubbornness, and deep respect for all life around them. I LOVE characters with strong honor, it's a trope that I'm kind of sad has faded over time. [Tbh it's kind of weird that I don't like Kazuha more, he's also a man of honor.]

Overall, I don't mind seeing harsher criticisms of the story. I could probably look back at my reactions in my servers and remember parts that I genuinely disliked, but I'd rather hear other people's thoughts. (Sidenote: once saw somebody who did a bad faith review on the final Natlan story, like...homie you had to have spent weeks of your life to get to this point in Genshin, why did you do this to yourself 😭 they made some good points but the vibes were atrocious haha.) Like with every new region, I had a good time after the first version, especially with all of that fascinating lore!

Friendship is magic, and buddy, I could kill an eldritch horror. <- the Traveler probably

Natlan review time!

Finished the Natlan AQ and Idk how to explain it but Natlan is the only nation where I grew an attachment to the nation itself rather than any one particular character in general.

One thing I liked about this nation is that despite the fact that like Fontaine, a plan to save the nation was already in place before the Traveler arrived there, however, unlike Fontaine, it didn't make the Traveler's presence feel like a passerby or a member of the audience.

It felt like their decisions and their contributions mattered. That the praise they received by the characters and npcs in Natlan was actually earned rather than glazing the MC just to make players feel important.

I think a consequence of Natlan being so late into the game (second last to Snezhnaya) is that they needed to shove as many answers about Teyvat and start tying all the plot points together to set up the endgame, which lead to not enough time spent on the main cast of characters.

The key theme of "No one fights alone" actually feels like it means something, and they actually live up to that and you get to see the contributions of the other characters, and not just the playable ones in your final fight with the abyss. Makes your victory feel earned.

I feel like people comparing it to Fontaine shouldn't really be doing it. It's not a fair comparison cause Natlan isn't going for the same thing as Fontaine did. They're two different stories, if they just did rehash of Fontaine it'd just be boring.

Natlan didn't reach the emotional highs that Fontaine did, but that's fine because not every nation needs to be an emotional sobfest. It's okay, to have a happy/hopeful ending sometimes.

(Although ngl Capitano's sacrifice got me a little teary eyes. MY GOAT!)

At the end of the day Natlan was about humanity coming together to fight against impossible odds and finding hope to continue fighting for a better tomorrow. Which they succeeded in conveying.

People will call the "power for friendship" thing corny, but imo y'all are just miserable and bitter. Cause fuck what all of you say, cause humans coming together to support each to defeat an godlike entity is hype as hell!

Truly the shounen arc of Genshin Impact.

Overall Natlan's AQs gets a solid 9.5/10 from me.

[drdtfuitgumies]

teruko plays among us: episode 07 // the power of friendship (and chekhov's knife)

six players remain, with two imposters still alive. if the imposters kill a single person each, the amount of crewmates and imposters will be equal, thus ending the game in the imposters' victory. it is in your best interest to eliminate the imposters in any way possible, be it through an emergency meeting... or by taking initiative.

knowing the stakes, i give you an option.

previous // return to episode 01 // next (????)

i remembered last-second not to spoil the other imposter in the "dead chat page", but their identity can be kinda intuited. Especially if you remember canon. i'm still letting you people choose though. b

this marks the end of my free time, two posts a week, and the certainty of this thing updating weekly :(( but i PROMISE that i will finish this silly little comic eventually. if not for anyone else then for me and my own PRIDE!!

anyhow! Everything happened all at once, so here's a few elaborations that will be helpful sooner or later: -) yes, xander Fakes sucking at card swipe. it usually works well! -) david did follow j to electrical and see teruko, xander, and whit hovering over j's body. he just made a conclusion based on what he saw. but he also happened to be executioner for teruko, and he just Wins if he gets teruko voted out! so things worked out like clockwork for him... if it weren't for... -) swapper is a crewmate role that can swap the votes of two people. the swapper should work in the interests of the crew, but there are so many things that can go wrong (especially in the hands of this cast) that some call it a neutral killing role -) arei voted for teruko because she respected david's haterism and found the concept of "teruko losing to david executioner on her for her very first game" hilarious -) whit also wanted to vote for teruko for the same reasons but his intuition told him something crazy would happen, so he voted for david instead -) guessing is a mod-only mechanic where all imposters AND the crewmate role "vigilante" can try to guess another player's role. here, imposters can only guess crewmates, while the vigilante can only guess imposters and neutral roles. if they're correct, their target dies (like an assassination); but if they're incorrect, the guesser dies. most real-life and therefore Sane players limit the maximum amount of guesses someone can do (to stop someone from theoretically winning from only guessing roles), but this cast is Not Sane in the slightest and allows "unlimited" guesses. if this seems easier to see in practice, worry not! This will be relevant within the next 2 episodes -) incidentally, xander voted for teruko last-second but he was really hoping a vigilante would guess david as executioner (which would kill him) then get teruko voted out right after (since david can't win off teruko's unjust execution anymore), which would bring a safer victory -) as a reminder, sheriff specifically has a faster kill cooldown than imposters, and teruko has done Nothing to reveal her role as sheriff. teruko will be safe!

teruko: sheriff (crewmate) / alive david: executioner (neutral) / dead arei: ??? (???) / alive whit: jester until proven otherwise (neutral?) / alive ace: ??? (???) / alive j: engineer (crewmate) / dead eden: swapper? (crewmate?) / alive charles: spy (crewmate) / dead xander: ??? (imposter) / alive min: altruist (crewmate) / dead

[otaku-tactician]

my extremely late realisations when replaying the demo 1.5 years later

touchstarved demo is PEAK! replayed it today. lol i had screenshots but im just rambling cuz WOW THE DEMO IS PEAK! 2023 me did not understand just how expertly woven this game was the first time around. Playing the demo for the second time exposed me to a level of characterisation that I was utterly amazed by.

The links between characters, the hints and rumors that give clues to their hidden and deeper aspects, the way in which every love interest has such deeply interwoven ties and know so many things about the mc is so entrancing yet strange- at times i wonder if they were even informing one another about the mc's movements, because some events felt very well-timed.

and then LEANDER!!!!!!!!! WHOA MAN HES SOMETHING ELSE!

the whole 'as above so below' for Leander's bloodhounds is really intriguing. as a popular occult/ alchemy phrase; it may have links to the arcane, and some perspectives treat this phrase as saying that whatever occurs in the celestial is repeated in the lower realms as well. and how vere states that Leander's BLOODHOUNDS are no better than the Senobium clerics which most are wary of; it may also double as a huge easter egg as to how depraved Leander may truly be.

However, this multi-layered phrase could be pointing to the truth of Leander's nature as well. Monsters enter the human realms from The Shroud, which could technically either be 'above' or 'below'; and the messy human realms may reflect those realms to an extent. Or, Leander may have more in common with Monsters than one may initially assume.

Maybe this message is trying to also state that humans and monsters are not so different, after all...

and lmao back to Leander with mc... how he comments on the mc's curse and its potency whilst blushing heavily, and even gulps from the exchange makes me wonder if he gets off on curses. and how he blushed when suggesting that the mc could tie him up makes me wonder if Leander is a masochist. i mean i do understand that the hand holding scene can be interpreted in an erotic lens, but his reaction is full of rampant desire in the second image.

(Also, I lack screenshots for this; but I finally understood what the other comments were saying about Leander being forceful- he does indeed push the mc when they refuse to accept his flowers, and he grabs their hand if they hesitate, really emphasising that Leander can and will push boundaries in the pursuit of what he desires.)

(wonder if his route will be very kinky)

omg also with how Ais tries the concoctions Leander cooks up and states to mc that it was chewy and possibly poisoned??? because Leander's trying to kill him?? that is the wildest confession i've ever read in hundreds of years. just the casualness of the entire affair, their rivalry seems light hearted on the surface but in the fact that a murder attempt is so simply brushed off - has me suspecting that their competition is possibly a deeply twisted affair deep down.

and another random point- how Kuras states that Leander's BLOODHOUNDS are just like him; people who have survived great hardship in the Lowlands- makes me wonder if the Senobium fucked with him or deeply betrayed him, especially with how angry the BLOODHOUNDS were with even the slightest mention of the group.

and it's so suspect that when talking to Leander about the other love interests, if the mc picks positive options for them, Leander always ends it off with a warning or comment as if to put the mc off them. but then he also has comments for his bedroom expertise with every LI which is such a riot for me personally like YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

(Then again his warnings for Ais and Vere are pretty apt, they are both dangerous- but so is he LMAO)

HOW DID I NOT SEE ANY OF THESE HINTS THE FIRST TIME AROUND!!!!!

omg and it's so cute how Ais and Vere TALK ABOUT EACH OTHER!! Vere becomes so vulnerable and unguarded and Ais could speak about Vere for days!!!

WAUGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

GWAHH this feels so intimate, the way he wistfully recounts their experiences and memories. For such a sharp fox, he feels really fuzzy here... Barely any witty or cantankerous insults to be found about Ais from Vere's remarks. They seem so closely acquaintanced and comfortable with one another. It's very... sweet.

[marzipanandminutiae]

I really loved nosferatu because in the interpretation i have of it is that it deals heavily with the way survivors can sometimes end up eroticizing their abuse and seeking out that treatment throughout their lives, and the final scene is the culmination of so many things going wrong and in the narrative, being the easiest way out. But trying to interpret it as a dark romance about forbidden love and repressed desire, itd be kinda mid and requires so many like "trust me bros" to work

Also like if ellen 100% was down to submit to orlock why would she kill him? If her goal was to realize a destiny and eternity with a monstrous lover, why would she trick him into being destroyed by the sun? Like i can understand the idea that she may have loved orlock and wanted to give this man suffering as a monstrous undead some form of peace but most of the romance fans dont really reckon with the final scene beyond the submission and the beauty of the final shot

So, I think we disagree on a few points here:

I don't see any of it as erotic for Ellen after that initial encounter when she's younger turns nightmarish. I didn't see any evidence that she was into it in a way that counts- physical arousal is involuntary, so that means nothing on its own. I saw that element as dealing with the shame victims of sexual assault can feel if they became aroused or orgasmed during the act. The "I abhor you" scene read to me as her confronting and taunting Orlock- getting as close as a kiss and then revealing that no, he doesn't have her under his control and he never will, because he can't force her to want him. But I guess YMMV as with everything here.

The killing part is one of a very small number of places where I get the Dark Romance interpretation, actually. If she's resigned herself that they can Never Be Together In This Horrible Repressive World(TM), she might decide that murder-suicide is the best option- they get to die together, and they can both finally be free. It would be an interesting twist, too, where she goes from being the submitting and succumbing ingenue to revealing a bit of her own active darkness- because uh Orlock was clearly not expecting it to go like that. I could totally see it...

...if the entire rest of the movie hadn't utterly failed to demonstrate any romance between them, in my opinion.

(Also like I haven't said this before but it would be easier for me to see it as a romance if Orlock...had a personality? Was a fleshed-out character? Seemed like he wanted Ellen specifically, for herself and not just because she was a Thing To Want and he was a Thing That Wanted?)

(I don't know anything about Orlock besides Vampire and Wants To Fuck/Kill Ellen, and he doesn't even really seem to want her for any reason besides "she's there!" Give me SOMETHING to work with!)

I'm also not really down for criticizing people who DO interpret it that way, which you're dancing on the edge of at the end there. It's not that I'm pooh-poohing them; they're free to do what they want with it and if Eggers' apparent intended message landed for them, great! Different interpretations are fine with me as long as you're not an ass about them and you allow that other people may see it differently (which I fully do, as you can see)!

It's the filmmakers where I'm a bit baffled and "unblock me I just want to talk."

[britcision]

By the way if someone is sealioning at you or pulls the “just asking questions” bullshit that is your immediate graceful exit to a conversation

Cuz you just gotta take a breath, squish down the feels for later, and do your very best “guidance counsellor explaining to a 9yo why they can’t skip straight to college”

“The questions you’re asking tells me you’re not ready to really have this kind of discussion. Do some reading on your own and I’m sure you’ll find all the answers”

And then if they insist you should educate them, you have two equally fun options:

1) get your best children’s presenter/Bob Ross on and explain it’s a much better use of both of your time for them to go do an independent study

2) tell them your rates are $420/hour and you’re happy to start any time

Remember: their bullshit questions are almost always the lowest entry level bullshit, 101 stuff that has always been addressed before

There’s no reason for you to waste your time or energy on explaining it, and the sweeter you are the more upset they’ll get at their failure

Cuz sure, being nice and kind and gentle is the right thing to do, but it’s also often the funniest and most spiteful thing to do to someone who wants to see you get mad

Picture the cutest kid you know or your favourite pet and take them at face value, this has driven trolls to distraction every single time I bothered to keep them on the line

Other fun phrases include:

“That’s a really interesting reframing, but unfortunately for you people can still read everything you actually wrote”

“Sorry, I just get nostalgic for when I thought things were that simple”

“You seem really invested in this, I’d rather not challenge your core values”

[tetsunabouquet]

Sevika On The Inside - Arcane Headcanons

A/N: Just so the Arcane fandom has a general understanding of how I personally write headcanons, I usually pick a theme that I want to explore with that character and then I just start rolling. So if you want to see different themes with Sevika explored or you really like my style & want to see this or that character be tackled next: Feel free to send me a request! You can do so anonymously if you're a little shy .

-The mental strength of this woman is as great as her punches. The way she talked with Vander in S1 hints she likely worked with Vander and Silco during the rebellion that killed Jinx & Vi's parents. Then there was the years of cleaning up after Silco and dealing with Jinx. So she's spent over a decade fighting for Zaun's best interest without ever compromising on what she believes in or losing hope. Someone weak willed couldn't have dealt with all of that. -She has a much more beautiful heart then she lets on. She cares for her people deeply and wouldn't leave anyone behind. The fact she wouldn't turn in Jinx and was so quick to dismiss the idea, just shows she cares for every Zaunite in her own way, even if they occasionally make her blood boil. Plus, there was the way she's always willing to set her personal issues with Jinx aside to give her advice and comfort, wether directly like she did with S2 or indirectly through Silco in S1. -With Sevika speaking in past tense about her father, it's clear that he's dead. I don't think it is unfair to assume he died due to circumstances related to Piltover's oppression of Zaun. -This is also what inspired her soft spot for Jinx that Sevika pretends doesn't exist. She wanted to help Silco with her, precisely because of the reality Zaun is currently under. Families get ripped apart and Sevika does know that their bond is likely going to end in bloodshed yet again. So she doesn't wants them to be on bad terms by the time that happens and be filled with guilt and regret like she experiences from time to time. -This is the other reason aside from her being too pre-occupied already that she won't have children or even a regular romantic relationship. Because she knows it's going to end badly and it would be nothing but a distraction that would leave her traumatized. So she visits Miguel instead. -Miguel knows quite a lot of what's going on inside of Sevikas heart, but she never reveals too much as she's not so stupid to give him that kind of power over her. -Whilst no one from Zaun wants to follow her, the ones up in the Zaun food chain who know Sevika, know that she is more then a good right hand but cares more for Zaun then most. I have a feeling one of them, perhaps Vi or Ekko, was the one to tell the Council who was to award a position on the council to represent Zaun's best interest, because Sevika is the best person for the job and deserves to be the one calling the shots for a change. -She now gets to experience what it feels like to be at peace, now she no longer has to fight. Whilst old habits die hard, I feel like Sevika is now exploring her options in terms of establishing her own home now she no longer needs to fear it being taken away from her. Like potentially adopting a pet that she can have some relaxing cuddles wih after council meetings and getting the chance to speak freely with something, as even with Miguel she could never just unload EVERYTHING.

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

Oh okay, thank you for clarifying! I have seen quite a few polls on tumblr and on ATLA’s youtube page going hard Kataang over Zutara, that’s why I was asking. I think the best example is the one made by @hundredyearavatar here on Tumblr. Someone had a very interesting take in the comments though, saying that when the show aired the kids liked Kataang better, but the teens with online access preferred Zutara. Now, those kids grew up and everyone is on the internet, so this is why Kataang is more popular nowadays. It’s relatively hard to find a poll online where Zutara is far ahead of Kataang, I’ve seen most either at 50/50 or with a clear Kataang preference. If you judge by fan art and fanfics however, yea, there’s way more zutara stuff out there, but again, that tends to happen with non-canon ships. Ships that could have been tend to get more fan attention and stand out for people not familiar with the show, I agree with that, but I’m not sure if you downright were to ask people they’d mostly say Zutara is their favourite over Kataang. Does that make sense?

Polls are not an accurate reading of how an entire fandom feels, it's just impossible to make everyone not only see it, but also vote it (especially in polls that only have Kataang OR Zutara as an option, without "both" or "neither" as that excludes some nuance).

Polls are, at most, a way to tell in which corner of the fandom you found yourself in. If I, an anti-zutara blog, whose posts tend to be seen/shared almost exclusively by people who have some issue with the ship/shippers, were to make a poll asking people if they liked Zutara the winning answer would obviously be " HELL NO!" If a zutara blog, whose posts are seen/shared mostly by zutara fans, asks the exact same question the winning answer will obviously be "HELL YES!"

The official Nickelodeon accounts tend to have pro-canon results because they (mostly) post about canon content. People who wouldn't change that much about ATLA are their target audience, aka the ones voting. You'll find the zutara fandom in spaces like change.org, making petitions to make the ship happen in the Netflix version.

That being said, I don't think think it's fair to dismiss Zutara's popularity in places like AO3 or FF.NET (or especially in pre-internet era fandom) as being a natural consequence of it being "the non-canon option." There are tons of fandoms where the canon pairings are highly popular and have tons of fan works, even if the story shows us all the "main" things that happen in a romance (first meeting, moment they realize/admit their feelings, first kiss, first time, wedding, having kids, etc). Not to mention, Zutara is not the only non-canon ship in Avatar, so it having been THE most popular for over a decade, and still being super popular today, to the point that it is one of the things even people who never watched Avatar know about, cannot simply be explained away with "people gonna write what the show didn't give them."

I also don't think "Kataang kids got internet now" explains why it became more popular/zutara isn't treated as untouchable anymore. The internet wasn't as wide-spread in the mid 2000s but it did exist, and both ships had fans who were kids, teens and adults. I think this change happened because of three things:

1 - People change their minds sometimes, especially if they watch the same stuff over and over through the years.

2 - The zutara fandom got way too smug about being popular and way too bitter about not being canon, to the point of harrassing others over it, and thus people that were previously indifferent to the ship (or actually liked it, but weren't die-hard stans) grew to dislike it. I used to not care for either Kataang or Zutara, but seeing one fandom be mostly reasonable in their arguments in favor of their favorite pairing while the other was super entitled made me look at both differently.

3 - A LOT of the people in the fandom right now weren't fans back when it first aired (some having not even been ALIVE), but had already heard about Zutara: and watched the show expecting it to be an actual romantic possibility that was taken seriously and got lots of screentime, but simply ended up not being canon at the very last second due to executive meddling. Instead they saw Kataang being set up from the start, Maiko being set up since season two, both having big roles in the story... while Zutara had a few fanservice-y moments. They went in expecting a love triangle in which they'd have to decide if "Katara made the right choice" only to discover she never even CONSIDERED dating Zuko - who also never thought of her like that either. It was a pure "THAT'S IT? IT WAS A PURE FANON THING? THAT'S ALL THERE WAS TO IT?" Expectation is the mother of disappointment.

[maeshelix]

If Ordis ever does get a new body,

If he ever takes up the Ordan name again,

I want him to be completely unchanged in our prescence.

By which I mean, I want the mission staring Ordis to be a horror mystery all throughout. Starting with all Ordis voicelines ceasing, only a note left in your inbox by Ordis, stating that he "needs to take care of buisness", indicating where he last was.

You go to the first location and it's empty. Corpses litter the stage. Bisected and dissected haphazardly. There are messages carved into the walls in blood. Piles of organs sporting chunks of useless armor decorate every broken terminal and every shattered structure.

This remains the same every stage you go. Of every faction in the game. Grineer. Corpus. Infested. Sentient. Even Narmer cultists interrupt their endless "unity" to scream as one.

Ordis carves a bloody swath through the Origin System. And he carves it near effortlessly.

Finally, you and (in a perfect universe) Lotus track him down as he's in the middle of another bloodbath.

What his form looks like doesn't matter. I mean, it does. Would prefer if he looked cool. But what ultimately matters is that he looks dangerous.

Big and bulky, slim and fast, coated in sharper yet sharper implements or completely bare, maybe his head still resembles his owl body, maybe it resembles what Ordan once looked like. Maybe it's pure machine. Maybe it's organic. Maybe it's both.

Whatever the case, he is dangerous, he is cruel, he is in the middle of implanting a Grineer onto his blade. Like Artorias from Dark Souls during his boss intro.

And then he turns to you. Eyes dark and vicious. Thirsty for blood.

The look of a furious god-killer.

And his first words to you, upon noticing you, after a beat, are such.

"Oh Operator! My sincerest apologies I was not expecting to find you hear! Though I probably should have expected it, on second thought."

And then he acts normal around you. Completely normal. Like Ordis always has. Complete with his voice still glitching out and spouting violent things despite his best efforts.

You never fight him, you never even get the chance to try. In fact, he becomes like a spector, or like Stalker during the Belly of the Beast event. Assisting you on occasion and making the reoccuring mission much easier when he does. The mission itself focuses on some new unethical experiment of the Orokin previously unexplored. Or on what Erra/Pazuul's goals are, or on The Indifference.

The details don't matter to me. What matters is that your mini death machine now has a macro death machine he can be in when he needs to/is feeling human dysphoric.

[the-judicial-assistants-notebook]

not enough discussion about the gavins' complicated relationship with feminine-coded/beauty products, i don't think.

[maladaptivedaydreamsx]

not me immediately getting jude from this

who did you guys get? 👀

[kalinara]

The "Krakoan Royalty" thing is funny, because while Brand is the one to put it into words, there does seem to be some sort of idea that tends to flow through. Scott especially got called out by both Forge and Emma for not taking part in the council, while when he lays out his criticism of Krakoa's politics, Doug also mentions Scott and Jean (and a few others IIRC) as people who could easily see themselves on the Council unlike normal mutants.

And of course, Scott's the one who ends up on public trial for Krakoa's crimes. Likely because he's the most high-profile prisoner they have (and like most Sinister-variations, Essex had a creepy thing for him), but there definitely is a conflation between the Summers family and Krakoa in general.

It might just be a matter of Scott being "son" that Xavier acknowledges as such, so there's a crown prince element.

You're right of course that they might not want it. I think Jean would take it, since she did originally have a Council seat and only left it because of the X of Swords shenanigans. But Scott...it'd probably depend on why he wasn't on the Council to begin with.

Was it because he was never asked? That seems pretty unlikely, since he's both influential and reliable. (I've suggested maybe that Xavier purposefully positioned Scott as an heir rather than a rival, but that's just one theory.)

Was he asked and he turned it down? If so...why? It might be as simple as not wanting to be on a Council with Sinister. And that's fair. Sinister harasses him enough as it is when he reports to the Council. (He could also be worried that Sinister could have some influence over him. After all, that turned out to be true for Charles and Sinister had a lot more access to Scott than any of the others.)

It might be that, after the non-stop trauma of Utopia, the Schism, AvX, the aftermath, his death, resurrection, and the bleakness of Rosenberg's run, Scott didn't WANT a leadership position and needed a break. He DID seem really comfortable as house husband/occasional general after all.

If it's the first, then in an election scenario, he might have been willing to serve. If it's the second, then he'd have turned it down.

I hadn't thought about Dazzler, but she'd be a fascinating choice. Lila Cheney's around as well, right? It'd be interesting to see how that general fame translated to mutant popularity.

It occurs to me that one interesting option is Hank. Hank had burned a fair amount of bridges between Utopia and Krakoa, but he still has all that history of being one of the O5, a staple of the team, an Avenger, and just in general a really likable and charming guy. And on Krakoa, being visibly non-passing might well have been an advantage with certain voters. If Hank had ended up a Council member instead of X-Force's answer to Kissinger, might things have ended differently for him?

I think my biggest problem with Xavier's vision of Krakoa (Watsonian critique, not Doylistic), is that he seems to think that just because permanent death isn't a thing anymore, then everything's safe and fine.

I'm not saying Xavier shouldn't have invited ex-villains onto the island, but it's obvious very quickly that there are no safeguards or protections for any of these villains' former victims. Or any future victims.

So we get some awful scenes like Jamie Braddock taunting Meggan or Mr. Sinister telling Scott that he's prettier when he smiles (that one in the middle of the fucking COUNCIL meeting) and there's apparently nothing that can be done about that?

The Shadow King gets to hang around children, leading to the death of Gabby Kinney (and in her case there was some question about whether or not they'd resurrect her because she was a clone.) Sinister, we're told in Hellions, still has an ORPHANAGE. There weren't kids there, at least, but still. The fuck?

And then there's Madelyne Pryor. And yes, I agree that, back in the 80s, she was screwed by the narrative. But she's done a lot of things since then. Maybe. I admit, I can't really keep track of whether or not the one who tortured Scott and company in the 00s was actually THIS Madelyne or another dimension's. But THIS version is introduced torturing people.

Alex pushes for her resurrection. And any counter argument is immediately neutralized by pointing out that Sinister is on the Council. And...well, yeah. But it's POSSIBLE that some of Madelyne's victims might not have been on board with her running free, but that's not a thing we get to hear. (We are told that Jean supported her resurrection much later. Which I do believe, but I also think the narrative doesn't really allow any other possibility.)

Xavier's very self-congratulatory about the no prisons on Krakoa thing. Of course, there's the Pit. You go in there if you're recalcitrant and break the rules. Even if you're a child. And then you get tortured by Sabretooth because no one bothers to check in on the prisoners, apparently.

To break immersion, in a Doylistic sense, I really enjoy that Krakoa has its darker sides. This isn't a paradise for every character, and it's no surprise, when you think about it that the Summer House is on the Moon instead of Krakoa proper.

But in a Watsonian sense... Any fan of the Wolverines can verify that you don't need permanent physical harm to have a massive amount of trauma and pain.

It makes sense. Charles has that King Arthur fantasy, and part of that involves seating some of his strongest enemies at the Round Table. And it makes sense that the man whose first X-Man was an abused child that he rescued and made into his field commander doesn't necessarily have an awareness or appreciation of long term trauma.

But somehow Cassandra Nova gets to be resurrected in a safely isolated place, away from any and all possible victims. Funny how that wasn't an option for anyone else.

[tennessoui]

The ship takes off and Anakin and Quinlan sit there very politely and as soon as it clears Coruscant they try to kill each other

lmao they’re like two scrappy kids who are taken to the principal’s office because they got into a fight and then the moment you close the door and leave them alone they’re fighting again just as viciously as before.

[puhpandas]

I cant express how badly I want Gregory's free-ening backstory to be vanny killing dr rabbit. come on itd be so satisfying for her character bc rab canonically manipulated her and was prob used a as a vessel for mimic to abuse her. it also would be her like stepping stone to killing glitchtrap as her first time fighting back. itd also open up so many possibilities for how it could have affected gregorys mind, like amnesia from an 'unnatural' free-ening which he really seems to have a good chance of having all things considered

[sysig]

A very normal scientist doing very normal gene splicing experiments (Patreon)

[teamcapwasrightandishouldsayit]

hello, lu fandom. i've got... a thought experiment? i suppose?

the short explanation is that i'm outlining a fic where the chain defeats dink in post-totk hyrule but no portals arrive to take them home, so they're just stuck in wild's era forever. i want to have at least one of the chain form a new relationship in the botw era (besides wild, who will be with flora), but i'm having trouble thinking of who would be interested in who.

so, thought experiment. if you had to ship each member of the chain with a botw/totk character, what would your ships be and why?