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pascalina · 4 years ago

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The brothers' movie

11/07/2015

They don't use the same last name, but they are siblings. Pedro Pascal (40) the Chilean actor who starred in Game of Thrones and now has a starring role in the Netflix series Narcos, uses his mother's surname because it is easier to pronounce in English. 17 years younger, Lucas Balmaceda Pascal (23), also an actor, debuted in Los 80 and today stars in the TVN series Juana Brava. Here, both talk for the first time about their relationship, their love for cinema and their mutual admiration.

José Pedro Balmaceda Pascal was born in Chile, but a few months later he had to go into exile with his parents and his older sister, Javiera, to Denmark. It was the end of 1975. Thanks to the Rockefeller scholarship granted for his father, the doctor José Balmaceda Riera, a year later they moved to the United States: first they lived in San Antonio, Texas. Life there was just beginning and it was not easy.

Seventeen years later, in 1992, Lucas Balmaceda was born in Orange County, California, into the comfort of a family that was financially in its prime. His dad was at the peak of his career: as a fertility specialist and director of one of the University of California's reproductive health centers. But suddenly they moved back to Chile when Lucas was three years old and his brother Nicolas was eight. The two older ones stayed there. Pedro was already studying drama at Orange County High School of the Arts. Then he went to New York to study theater at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.

After a couple of small appearances in TV series, in 2014 he took the big leap in his career: he played Prince Oberyn in Game of Thrones, which made him world famous. Today, he has a starring role in the series Narcos. He is also filming a movie with Matt Damon and Willem Dafoe.

Fame came early for Lucas. After leaving Saint George High School in 2010, he studied theater at the Universidad Católica, and he began to shine: in year fourth, he starred in the theater play "La noche obstinada", by choreographer Pablo Rotemberg, and got a role in the successful television series Los 80 and today, in his last year, he is the co-star of Juana Brava, the new TVN nighttime series.

Scene one:

Lucas appears in Pedro's life

P: "I was 17 when Lucas was born. He was a baby when I left to go to university. I remember my first visit back and Lucas, who was not even two years old, was already the owner of the house. I remember those looks, wanting to tell me: 'I don't know who you are, but this is my house, mate.

To this day I have never seen that personality in another child. It was fascinating to see that wit in someone so small. Since he was a kid he had that fierce intelligence... The four siblings, Javiera, the eldest and the queen of the family; Nicolas, the doctor; Lucas and I are like a compact and consistent unit. I can't imagine life without them".

L: "Pedro was studying at the university in New York when I was born. When he went home for vacations to see the family, as I didn't know him, I thought: 'who is this guest, who is this weirdo who kisses my mother? She's mine!'. Back in Chile, every year Pedro came to visit us. It was the most entertaining thing in the world for me. He was much older and he would come with all the coolness, with all the culture of cinema, with horror movies that were not available here. Then we would watch them and play them out, we would do sketches. We would play that Pedro was a murderous monster and we would escape from him. We were each a character. He was very funny, he did voices, he impersonated people. He gets mad when I tell him, but I've always found that he has a Jim Carrey thing about him, he manages to make some impressive faces. When he came on, I couldn't stop watching him, he was too entertaining. We are all big movie buffs thanks to my dad. When I was three years old, he took my brothers and me to see Batman. I remember crying hysterically. I was very young, sensitive, and being in the cinema was like entering to another reality: loud noises, giant screen. I didn't understand anything.

Scene two

Transplanted

P: "What's Chilean about me and what's gringo about me is a very interesting question, because I don't think even at 40 years old I've been able to figure it out. I was raised and educated in the United States and socialized a lot with American pop culture, but Chilean pride has always been unwavering. My parents were exiled for eight years. So our visits to Chile were regular. My whole life I have lived in the United States and my whole life I have visited my relatives in Chile. However, since my siblings were raised in Chile, my connection to the country is much stronger today and it is something I am grateful for. Something that happens to me a lot is that when I say I've been in the U.S. my whole life, they say, "Well, you're a gringo then! And after a conversation in my fluent Spanish with a clear Chilean accent that same person turns around and says: I've been listening to you, you're Chilean!

L: "I am Chilean because I lived and grew up here since I was three years old, but at the same time I have a cultural disconnection: my parents lived 25 years in the United States, my brothers are gringos. My visual culture is super gringo, the TV shows I watched when I was a kid or the movies I watch to this day I understand them from that place: as an American. More than being born in the United States, I feel it's because of my family's background".

SCENE THREE:

The performance

P: "There were good years and bad years (when I started my acting career in the United States). Many years I was a waiter to supplement my income. But from a very young age I was auditioning for professional jobs. In my late twenties my career in the theater was relatively consistent. Then, when opportunities in television arose, I was consolidating and it became much easier to pay my expenses. I think that struggle, going through those situations, empowers you a lot and it's one of the things I'm enormously grateful for. And Game of Thrones was an incredible gift. It's the best role I've ever played and they're the best people I've ever worked with."

L: "It's Pedro's fault that I wanted to be an actor. But when I told him I wanted to study theater it was hard for him, more than anything, because he cares about me and studying theater is hard. You have to be very wise and have a super high self-esteem to take care of yourself. Pedro went through many things. If there is an actor who doesn't have contacts in the United States, it's him. Everything he has achieved is because of his work. That's why when people ask me why I don't go to the U.S., it's a resounding no. Being Pedro Pascal's little brother is not going to get me around the corner; I would have to be Tom Cruise's twin to achieve anything. Even so, Pedro had many failed career starts. In 2011, for example, he was offered a starring role in a series called Wonder Woman and it was eventually canceled. That's why, when Games of Thrones came up, I was like, wow! We were all freaking out, because Games of Thrones is like a worldwide trending topic. All the episodes he was in, we were all watching them together at my house, eating pizza or sushi."

SCENE FOUR:

Mutual lessons

P: "I try not to get too involved in anything Lucas does or how he does it. He has single-handedly created each of his experiences and is one of the most inspiring things I've ever seen. He loves his work and is continually developing his skills for television and theater, and eventually film. He executes like a real artist and, to be honest, it is more common for me to learn something from him than for him to learn something from me. I mean that very sincerely. Lucas reminds me to work hard and keeps me inspired. When I saw him in Los 80 I was incredibly proud, but not surprised. I was seeing something I had always known. The only advice I've given him is to not be such a workaholic, to take care of himself and to be proud of what he's accomplished and what he still has yet to accomplish. Deep down, I'm always going to be the protective big brother."

L: "Pedro is an object of admiration for me. What he says is law for me. Sometimes I ask him: 'Pedro, did you see that movie?' and he says: 'Yes, I didn't like it'. I tell him: 'Oh, I didn't like it either'. The nice thing about our relationship is that it happens so sporadically, once or twice a year, that the moments when we see each other are very intense. We either fight a lot or we love each other too much, but it's always like a story, like a movie. While he's there and I'm here, we talk a lot on WhatsApp and Facebook".

P: "With Lucas we always keep each other up to date on what movies to watch, what TV shows are good. I bug him all the time asking him about what's going on in his life and I'm always asking him about his perspective on things. Despite being away from each other for a long time, Lucas and I are very close and always have been. I see Lucas at the beginning of an amazing career, with an unwavering curiosity and passion. I love it when he confides in me about things he is enjoying or situations he is dealing with."

L: "I've never seen Pedro in theater, but I've been told he's tremendous. On camera, I find that he has a very intense look. He also has, and in that we are very similar, a very strong visual culture, the fact that we have always liked horror movies. He plays characters that hide something, dark characters. A great strength is that he is very sensual, he knows how to handle himself well from seduction".

P: "Lucas is brave, he's fearless. There's nothing he's not willing to try, he's never going to give up on a challenge, he's never going to leave something halfway, no matter what that means to him. Lucas is unstoppable.

Link interview

#pedro pascal #lux pascal #siblings

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asbcblog · 4 years ago

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TOP SONGS OF 2020 WRITE UP!

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6WDeuRMOV8neAhU2zd193d?si=lZ9gDIp0TsCCEOeCS7_QGw

1. I remember everything - John Prine

I was going to write an incredibly earnest and long review of this song that outlined just how much John Prine meant to me. I can’t really do it and I think this song probably says enough alone. With only a few chords he always manages to express all the little things that make love what it is, all different kinds of love. Long lasting, short moments, love with places, sounds, going places and staying home, endless family ties, and the often fragile but in the end tenable love between all human beings in the face of catastrophe. The pandemic stole a lot of things from a lot of people this year, including John Prine, but he will remain one of the greatest songwriters of all time and his songs will live on forever.

2. Dream Palette - Yves Tumor

I can’t drive but let’s pretend I’m driving, I’m in LA and it’s night time or something, my elbow’s out the window, don’t know why I’m wearing sunglasses, this song comes on the radio, I’m the coolest person alive.

3. Boylife in EU- Yung Lean

Not to repeat my review of Garden but when the chorus comes I feel like I’m on top of a really big hill and its pouring it down with rain and im screaming but this time its because of a no-deal Brexit.

4. Garden- Joseph Futak

My review was already used as part of Joe’s promo campaign and it said: “feel like im on top of a really big hill and its pouring it down with rain and I’m screaming when the drums come in x x”

5. Circle the Drain- Soccer Mommy

I like this song because I too, am often alone in my room, and I have also become obsessed with subtle breakbeats to an extent where people around me have become very bored of the subject.

6. The Brothers William Said- The Innocence Mission

I listened to this song over and over when I was travelling round London in January just after my birthday, it felt like I’d been listening to it for years, like it was in a movie I’d forgotten. It felt at the time like I was saying a lot of goodbyes, recognising that things weren’t really like they used to be.

7. On the Floor- Perfume Genius

Say it with me ladies: I CROSS OUT HIS NAME ON THE PAGE!!!!

8. Shameika- Fiona Apple

She may not believe it but I bet Fiona Apple looked tough with a riding crop.

9. Song for Our Daughter- Laura Marling

Everything about this is fantastic, mellow and bright at the same time. Every part is brought forward individually and no part of this song gets left behind. A stunning vocal from Laura Marling and purposeful lyrics set to a cinematically emotive instrumental. Pure magic as always.

10. Building site outside- Piglet

Not going to lie, I was in a very vulnerable emotional state when I listened to this song for the first time, but I think that makes it no less powerful and just, sad. The lyric ‘she smiled at me so much last time’ is just so simple and devastating that you forget this would’ve been on every indie film soundtrack from 2000-2008 if Piglet was an industry plant.

11. I wonder- Shamir

One word: EPIC

12. Crimson Tide- Destroyer

Listened to this every time I came on my period this year.

13. In the Dining Room - Joe Pera talks with you

Adam showed me Joe Pera when I really felt incredibly sad at the very beginning of this year. It’s a show that’s made me feel good, no matter the circumstances. This moment in the show made me smile, and I love hearing Gene come in a bit too early.

14. Stupid Love- Lady Gaga

Shakin my little booty in the kitchen to this x

15. Might bang, might not- Little Simz

Livid we didn’t all get to go to End of the Road and see all the hot dad’s loving Little Simz.

16. Fire- Waxahatchee

A truly insane vocal. I listened to this song on my way to work almost every day from September to December and fantasised singing back up at some kind of outdoor gig in the summer and it made everything significantly less bleak.

17. Hannah Sun- Lomelda

This song is too nice and genuine for me to say anything other than, “really lovely song :)”.

18. Scroll of Sorrow- Machine Girl, guayaba

Listened to this a lot this year while sitting on my kitchen floor staring into an empty oven, wondering if I was ever going to go to a party again.

19. Build a nest- Jeff and Ruby Parker

Have put this on in the flat because the guitar solo reminds me of everything my dad listens to at home. A really great piece of music that kicks off a really exciting album.

20. Kiss me thru the phone- That Kid

Ned said yesterday that he thought it was funny how much the original of this song is so foundational to hyper pop and I agree. Also I’ve started saying ‘Bitch’ like That Kid does every time I stub my toe.

21. Cuckoo- Sam Amidon

I am punting down a creek, looking in the branches that hang over the water for the bird that shall lead me to my next clue.

22. Places/ Plans- Skullcrusher

Used this song to comfort myself in moments where I also just don’t understand why I’m not famous.

23. Sweetjoy- Jam City

Finally….. HAIM for dudes.

24. Clean Living- Slow Weather

I saw someone listening to this on the side of my Spotify so I decided to give it a go and it was a fantastic decision. It’s mental that half of this song is an outro.

25. Summer All Over- Blake Mills

Along with the music video visuals and the dampened piano tone, this wins the competition for least summer-y song with the actual word summer in the title.

26. Ready Cheeky Pretty- CHAI

All of my joy this year has been brought to me by CHAI. I have nothing negative to say about CHAI. If you have anything negative to say about CHAI you’re gonna have to go through me.

27. Diaphanous- Land of Talk

This band was recommended to me by a guy I was trying to flirt with at rough trade east but everything closed before I could impress him by saying ‘I think they’re really cool’.

28. Anything - Adrianne Lenker

Anyone who has ever attempted to write a song with me knows how much I simply love rhyming. Seriously though, every thing rhymes, brilliant stuff. (It’s also such a brilliantly full and constant song that still manages to move and remain exciting from start to finish. I imagine this is partially due to Adrianne Lenker’s almost nursery rhyme- esque structure and also due to her beautifully colloquial approach to family dynamics.)

29. Blow- Dj Gigola, Kev Koko

This song makes me wish I was Jason Bourne- just wanna jump really far while something explodes behind me.

30. Money Can’t Buy- Yaeji, Nappy Nina

‘Well I’ll buy some Yaeji tickets, they’re for NOVEMBER, there’s NO WAY they’re gonna get cancelled’.

31. Only the Truth- Johanna Warren

When I first listened to this song I felt like I was floating in the ocean looking up at the stars as the drums came in on ‘what more can I do’. An incredibly beautiful and careful song.

32. Gasoline- Haim

2020 could probably be summarised with the phrase ‘WHY AM I NO LONGER IN CALIFORNIA? WHY DID I LEAVE CALIFORNIA?’ And this song is the 3 minutes 13 seconds seconds of escapism I needed to not topple into a full spiral.

33. Mapuu - Ic3peak

No one can convince me that Ic3peak are real people. They are a collective made up of child ghosts.

34. Don’t Worry- Bladee

Whenever I have an anxiety attack in the night I wake up and see Bladee’s ghost of the future over my bed, he says ‘Don’t worry’ and mumbles for a bit as I fall back into a peaceful sleep.

35. The biggest tits in history- The magnetic fields

The most relatable magnetic fields song imo.

36. Sand Castle- nijuu

Yujin is a genius and my answer is yes, I do want to just walk for a while.

37. Curl Up- Darren Hayman

Ned reminded me how much I used to love Darren Hayman, and both of them have been a pretty big part of my year.

38. When Will Death Come- Sarah Mary Chadwick

‘Wow, mental voice’ - Ned, while doing the washing up.

39. Dear Dad - Sylvie Wiley

‘But I didn’t cry, you’d be proud’ Sylvie, I’m weeping forever.

40. 34+35- Ariana Grande

Hehehehehehehehehe

41. Garden Song- Phoebe Bridgers

Phoebe Bridgers is a pretty unparalleled lyricist and this song feels like a disconnected series of thoughts that somehow all make sense together and come to create something that doesn’t build, but all just kind of sits? What I’m trying to say is that I don’t really know what she’s talking about but like, I get it.

42. Ringtone (remix) - 100 gecs, Charli xcx, Kero Kero Bonito, Rico Nasty,

I love the way it sounds like everyone got just one take and had to improvise all the lyrics but it still bangs.

43. Changer- Andy Shauf

Thank you lord for another album about a smaller than average man overthinking all of his social interactions with lots of lovely clarinet parts.

44. What’s your pleasure - Jessie Ware

My pleasure jessie? Probably just sitting by the fire with a tough crossword and a glass of merlot x

45. Slime- Shygirl

Shygirl’s series of singles this year made me even more livid that I had to take out my eyebrow piercing for my new job this year.

46. Sears Tower- Salem

Perfect halloween release.

47. Title track- happyness

Ned turned to me and said: ‘so is their new thing that they sound like Elliot Smith’ and I said: ‘and that’s a bad thing?’

48. Cross-sound ferry (walk on ticket) - Hamilton Leithauser

Have found unbelievable joy in chopping veg and shouting GREEEEEEEN PORT, NEEEEEEWWWW YOOORK alone in my kitchen.

49. Lowswimmer- Hailaker

I’ve loved hearing Jemima’s voice when I haven’t got to see her much this year. I normally take the piss out of the Hambledon line but I haven’t seen that this year really either. I guess we find sentimentality in strange places.

50. XS - Rina Sawayama

This song made me feel very decadent on those days where I didn’t wash.

51. Emily- Clem Snide

Let’s be more kind and brave in the face of it all.

52. Building a fire- Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy

P.O.V you’re doing bushcraft in the garden with your husband Bonnie Prince Billy and he’s here to protect you.

53. Asexual Wellbeing- Okay Kaya

This song absolutely bangs but I am truly bewildered by the way they singled out the line ‘if they could put a pulse into a spinach leaf, can they turn the two of us into a tree?’ in the production as if that was a true piece of genius. As I say great tune tho.

54. Anthems- Charli xcx

The soundtrack to couch to 5k

55. Never Better- Kitty Fitz

A SE London queen bringing us huge pop tunes in 2020. So so excited to see what 2021 brings us from Kitty, she’s gonna be a real force!

56. Deep in Love- Bonny Light Horsemen

This is such a delightful song which (mainly due to the time I actually got around to listening to the whole record) for me really rang in the spring. A beautifully recorded testament to the feeling of love getting stronger meaning you have a lot more to lose.

57. Malibu- Kim Petras

My song of the summer, made me feel like I was at the beach when really I was in Lewisham.

58. Like I’m Winning it- Girlpool

I’m so delighted that the turn girlpool have made this year is towards dramatic goth music with breakbeats. Their voices both sound amazing and they look simply incredible.

59. Azad- Frazey Ford

I have no idea what she’s saying as always but I love it.

60. Helio- Charlotte Dos Santos

I’m literally so excited for what Charlotte Dos Santos is gonna put out next. The production is fantastic and her aesthetics are flawless.

61. Lost in the Country- Trace Mountains

‘I checked my email twice as I cried’. Safe to say we’ve all been there this year amirite girlies x

62. Unfold You- Rostam

I hated this at first, I thought, what’s this lo-fi beats to study to shit, but it’s now my classic ‘I’m just gonna pop to the shops, anyone want anything? x’ song. Huge.

63. Oh Yeah- A.G cook

One of 2020s realisations is that me and A.G Cook kind of look like we could be cousins.

64. Can’t cool me down- Car Seat Headrest

I would like to personally thank will Toledo for giving me a tune that got me off my ass when I was too warm to do exercise this summer.

65. Take back the radio- Katy J Paerson

In love with Katy J Pearson’s voice and the way this song builds. Just pretty flawless and feel good in my opinion. I think she’s such an exciting new artist who’s gonna be around for a very very long time.

66. Good Woman- The Staves

‘I’m a good woman’… speak for yourselves.

67. A Little Love- Jack Francis

Feel like I’ve been singing this song for about 5 years! It’s amazing and I’m so excited about what Jack’s going to bring out in 2021, he’s a genius and also the nicest man on the planet.

68. Lullaby No.4 - Snailbeach

This song makes me feel like I’m being hypnotised on a haunted carousel in a very relaxing way.

69. Boyfriend in every city- Roma Radz

Sucks that she can’t see any of her boyfriends cos of covid :(

70. Jaja ding dong- Will Ferrell

Get back in there and play Jaja Ding Dong !!!!

71. Highway- Jonatan leandoer96

Man, would be pretty sick to have 20 boys outside the club but alas the clubs are dead and I’ve only regularly texted about 4 people this year.

72. De nadie- Kali Uchis

Felt v sexy listening to this for the first time in a Morley’s in Honor Oak.

73. Weird Fishes- Lianne La Havas

This album was a pretty triumphant return for Lianna La Havas and me teenage self simply couldn’t be happier.

74. Micro Creature- Aya Gloomy

Love that despite everything about this song telling me otherwise, that the artwork for this single looks like Aya Gloomy is just chilling in the fields by my family home in Hampshire.

75. Si Ella Sale- Bad Bunny

Better get on the duolingo now if I’m gonna know what this guy’s saying at Porto next year.

76. Through my sails- Mountain Man

Truly gentle reimagining of an already incredibly beautiful song, mountain man make every word seem new!

77.Christmas Day (get me outta this funk) - Baggio and Blue 5 Years- Bath days

In joint 77th place are two banging Christmas songs that have soundtracked a pretty bleak Christmas period and have made me feel pretty joyous in their ways, despite one literally being called Blue Five Years.

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emperor-of-blood · 4 years ago

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I have a character I’m fairly sure of regarding classpect. Dio Brando. He is most definitely a Lord of either Space or Time. Though I wouldn’t mind hearing your take, why else would I send the ask?

Alright anon, I’ll take a crack at this.

So to start, I don’t think he’s a Time or Space player and he’s definitely not a Lord. First, I wouldn’t say he’s a Time player just because he can stop time. The character’s classpect is ideally not based off of their powers. In the cases where it is, it’s usually because there’s nothing else to go on: like with Witch Doctor from Dota 2. Like, he’s just a witch doctor; that’s his whole character. For Dio though, there’s a solid bit to look at! He has character to analyse! Second, I’m assuming you said Lord specifically because he’s super strong and can Stop Time. But powers don’t exactly work that way in Homestuck. The most obvious examples being that Dave and Aradia both were able to stop time. Arguably, their Time Stop is more effective than Dio’s too. Both of them could fine tune it enough to actually localize it to a single person which, meant that other people could attack the target while time was stopped. On top of that, Lord English, a Lord of Time actually was effected by their powers, unlike with Jotaro, who learned to move during Dio’s Time Stop. On top of that though, remember what Lords actually are. They are specifically solo players. If it’s not someone who would play solo, they aren’t going to be a Lord. And considering the hoards of minions Dio’s had in every part he’s featured in, there’s no way in hell he wouldn’t get a party to take on Sburb. He’s a cautious man, and the first thing he’s gonna do is force someone else in to check if things are safe for him to join. And regarding Space, it’s sort of a similar deal. Space players are very lonely and disconnected; It gives them a different perspective on things. And that’s just not Dio. He’s a dick, he came from a shitty household, but it’s not inherently different. And he’s not lonely, he surrounds himself with pawns and later it’s revealed he even has kids and makes friends that deeply understand him.

With Jojo being so widely popular I’m going to skip the recap and just jump straight into things. I think Dio is a...

Witch of Breath

One who manipulates [Breath]

Firstly, remember that gendered classepcts are stupid. Witch holds a very specific niche that isn’t filled by other classes. If a man falls into this category then so be it. (The reverse is also true for classes like Prince).

The Joestar line may be a line of incredible vampire hunters and later powerful stand users, but originally? They were nothing but a rich English family. It was only once Dio came into the picture that things started to change for them. Without Dio there is no grand fate in store for the Jojos. His desire for for wanton destruction, widespread suffering and lust for power are what pushed Johnathan into action in the first place. Dio changed their fate drastically by coming into their lives. It’s most obvious during part 1 but there are some pretty notable examples later too. Dio activating the stands and thereby threatening Holly Joestar’s life spurring the creation of the Stardust crusaders. Him triggering the activation of Jotaro’s stand turned an “Ordinary” punk into the one man capable of killing him. Hell even during the fight with Jotaro, it was Dio who allowed Jotaro to grow long enough to gain the same Time Stopping powers as him. Throughout part 3, Dio was constantly sending people towards the Stardust Crusader’s, manipulating the fates of stand users and making them enemies to the band of heroes. Even after his death, Dio is still manipulating the world. Pucchi can’t forget the memory of his dear friend and bases his entire plan around some random bullshit a prophetic vision Dio had with loads of weird steps such as killing his own stand for the world to reach enlightenment. All that’s left are his words, but the power those hold is so tangible. Not even Jotaro could stop Dio in the end, his powers of manipulation are far too great.

In a Sburb session, Dio is going to dominate it. I can’t imagine him possibly losing honestly. The possibility of him getting double immortality by reaching vampire god tier seems pretty high on the list of crazy op bullshit. I think even if he threw in some First Guardian equivalent He’d still be fine. Considering the company he keeps, his fellow players are also likely to be no slouches. There’s pretty much no possible way they lose I think. I feel like Dio’s quest is going to end up as some sort of... “Keep it up bro” sort of deal. He already doesn’t have any reservations about what he does so like. I don’t know what else could possibly be in store for him. Maybe it’s just his denizen smacking him and saying “Bro use your fucking vampire powers alongside your stand powers AND your new Witch of Breath powers. Speaking of Classpect powers we’re adding wind manipulation to his list. I feel like the less tangible side of Breath is more apparent in the role he plays than the literal powers he gets anyways.

To wrap things up here, I think there’s maybe an argument to be made for Dio being a Light player because he tries to steal the Joestar’s fortune (Like when he needs their blood to make himself whole (Whatever that means)) and in general him being a lucky son of a bitch, seemingly chosen by god. Maybe there’s an argument for Heart as well but I don’t know if I can articulate it. Might have something to do with it being 3am but who knows.

Thanks for the ask anon! I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

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ladylilithium · 6 years ago

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Hans’ possible Redemption Arc PART 1: Deconstructing Hans' character

Hey, guys! So this is my first post analysis, meta, observation, whatever you wanna call it, so if it’s seems incomplete or lacks of depth please add your opinions as well! Also English is not my first language but argentine Spanish, papá, so don’t judge me plz. I don’t want to encounter with any anti or hater, and if you have the necessity to speak your mind anyways, do it but in a cordial way.

I’m going to divide this post in 3 parts I think, since is very long, and I have a lot to say for my favorite Jerk redhead Prince 😆

Ok, let’s start, shall we?

_________________________________________

1) Is he really a sociopath?

You know, this is something that upsets me quite a bit. The fact that you can just say “Oh well, he’s a sociopath so he’s manipulative and lacks of empathy” is something that annoys me a little, or at the very least, disappoints me. TBH, you don’t need to be a sociopath (a psychological and mental condition) to be manipulative, apathetic or cruel. I’m trying not to rationalize his actions in Frozen, because he still was wrong by harming two innocent women, but by saying that he’s a sociopath it makes his character a little more… shallow? Simpler? My point is, that a shitty toxic person can be anyone, and it simplifies the complexity that they brought on the table on the first place.

But the questions still remains, is he truly a sociopath?

Is tricky, since we know nothing except that his family is shit, and that he is a chameleon, a mirror to other people. By the end of the movie, and by the interviews that Jennifer Lee gave to us, it seems to me that he does have sociopathic traits, but he is not a sociopath per se. Hans can be a sociopath, as much as he could be not, if it’s given a proper character in-depth and backstory.

I think that by calling Hans a sociopath is an easy way to make the GA and the Frozen Fandom to disconnect with him since statistically we have normal-functioning brain, and because people with ASPD diagnose have a negative -though justified most of the time- stigma surrounding them.

2) Grey Morality: The line between good and bad, where we all fall.

“All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy. That's how far the world is from where I am. Just one bad day.” ― Alan Moore, Batman: The Killing Joke.

As I said before, I like the idea of a morally questionable prince. A more grounded, realistic, game of throne-like character as Hans is. What I don’t like, is the seemingly automatic white to black view that we have for Hans, while at the same time, we have one of our protagonist letting almost die a whole kingdom, and her sister, to escape her duties and crippling fears –unintentionally, but still-. An empath or normal person can commit crime or bad things given in extremes situations of distress, anger, etc. And we see that with our own eyes in Elsa. She almost gets tempted to kill two men, you can see the fury in her eyes, in her face.

It is self defense, yes. But regardless of that, her people knew nothing about her powers and they just knew that she cursed them and ran away. No matter how morally wrong Hans was by trying to kill Elsa, or letting Anna die, he also helped her. He helped them both.

If she indeed killed those men here, I don’t think anyone whould’ve ever trusted her. Not even her own men, whom remember, they witnessed her actions and they were attacked too.

A normal person lies. A normal person manipulates. Heck, we even can choose to not feel empathy if it is inconvenient for ourselves. How many times did you pretend to feel empathy for someone just to make them feel comfortable? How many times did you see a homeless person asking for a money and you just walked away?

Again, I’m not trying to normalize these negative traits, but to be sincere about it. And is something that makes us very complex as human beings, we are true neutrals, and we can be good or bad, depending of the actions taken at certain moments, and how it impacts to others.

Yes, some people are irredeemable monsters, but I don’t think that’s Hans’ case. And so he does have redeemable qualities as well, even if it might be for personal gain, or perhaps some of his actions were genuine, we don’t know for sure.

When did we not see an ambiguous morality in Frozen? Or when did we not see ambiguous morality in some Disney characters, in general? Is hard to find, but we do certainly have our morally wrong characters redeemed. Here are a few:

- Abused both physically and psychologically Cinderella. CURRENT STATE: Redeemed.

-Imprisoned Belle. -Verbally violent towards his subjects and Belle. -Almost harms physically Belle. CURRENT STATE: Redeemed.

-Killed a bear out of vengeance. -Let motherless a bear cub, that after he would befriend. CURRENT STATE: Redeemed.

-Almost kill a bear out of vengeance too. On top of that, was his own brother (though he didn’t know). CURRENT STATE: Redeemed.

-Tried to kill Simba and take his pride. -(invoked) Forced mating with Kiara. -Almost attacks Simba. CURRENT STATE: Redeemed.

-Tried to kill Simba. -Attacked the lionesses of his pride. CURRENT STATE: Redeemed.

-He was an asshole to everyone. -He ordered a guard to throw an old man through a window (still lol). -He tried to let homeless a whole village for his selfish desires. -He betrayed Pacha’s trust. -He let Pacha on his own fate (probably to die). CURRENT STATE: Redeemed.

-Along with Syndrome, she plotted the death of many superheros, including Mr. Incredible. -Almost kill Mr. Incredible. -She almost kill a whole family, including the children. CURRENT STATE: Redeemed.

-He tried to kill Elsa, and let Anna die alone for personal gain. -Deceived Anna, Elsa and everyone else. -Plotted the death of Elsa at some point in the movie (unclear when exactly). -Degraded verbaly Anna. -He tried to break Elsa’s heart to make her give up her life. Redeemable Qualities: -He took care of Arendelle while Elsa and Anna were gone (though, it still can be interpreted as gaining popularity). -He went off to look out for Anna. -He ordered the Arendelle guards and the Merchant’s not to harm Elsa. -He calmed Elsa’s rage, avoiding her to kill. -He tried to reason with her.

Elsa is shown that suffers of guilt and insecurities, yet throughout the majority of the movie, she still rejects Anna and her responsibilities as Queen. Even to a point where she witnesses hurting Anna with her magic,

yet she just casts her away from her Ice Castle. Or after the misery that she caused -and she’s visibly hurt by that- she’s still thinking of running away, instead of trying to change things. Hans pleaded her to stop the winter and bring back summer, but she said that she couldn’t.

My goal here is not victim-blaming. I’m not blaming Elsa for her insecurities or self-defense actions. But her character at the end of the film, has a lazy realization, and for me, an unsatisfactory conclusion in terms of story-telling, because we never she her develop for herself, or working hard to balance her bad actions throughout the end of the movie, but anyway.

I’m not trying to rationalize morally questionable/wrong actions either. A good action doesn’t cancel the bad one, but my main interest is to analyze the human psyche, character growth and development.

3) Love and Fear: a constant subject in Frozen, and a constant subject for a “Prince”.

So cut through the heart, cold and clear Strike for love and strike for fear See the beauty, sharp and sheer Split the ice apart, and break the frozen heart.

—Disney’s Frozen “Heart”

DID HANS ACT ONLY OUT OF COLD AMBITION, OR HE WAS ALSO AFRAID?

For what we know from A Frozen Heart, interviews and extra information, is that Hans is abused so much by his brothers, that he just accepted their behavior and doesn’t fight back, is something normal for him. Nor he tries to improve his relationship with them. His relationship with his father is also painfully cold and toxic, and their dynamics are comparable to Zuko and Ozai, Tyrion and Tywin, or Theon and Balon. Hans seems to have an inferiority-superiority complex, and so, his pride is fragile and as well (just as previous Zuko, Theon and Tyrion).

But how? He’s very charming, and his body language never shows signals of insecurity (though that’s debatable). Or when he confesses his true intentions to Anna he has a sexy smug smile in his face, and his voice is soft and low, cruel and never trembling. How is that I believe that he was afraid or scared? Well, the movie itself states that he does have a terrible relationship with his brothers, the novelizations extends this to his father.

So by knowing this, a person copes with the pain and abuse in different ways: Elsa’s fear is hurting her loved ones, so she forced herself to an emotional -and literal- isolation towards them, specially with Anna. In Hans’ case, his fears are being trapped forever in his “home”, and being rejected by his father. So his way to acclimatizing himself in such negative environment, is to avoid his true feelings and morality. Avoiding his true identity, in essence. Thus, becoming into the Mirror Hans (more on that later), allowing him to become the very thing that he actively tried to avoid for years.

I think that here’s the point where he started to panic; where the fear of going back to his depressive life, and the taste of power that Anna gave him when she left him in charge, took him over completely, forcing himself to toss apart any bit of true morality and compassion that he had for Anna and Elsa. Where his mind started to realize that executing Elsa was the only way to bring things back to normal.

But is also the fact that Anna dissapeared, and Elsa was the only rightful heir to Arendelle, so his conflict was “What do I do? What’s next?” If Hans decided at the moment to execute her, and Anna was dissapeared, he wouldn’t get to be King of Arendelle, and he would back to his hell home. His conflict is both emotional and materialistic, and fear started to get under his skin too. Some might argue that he’s just reflecting Elsa’s emotions, which is valid, but keep in mind his goals, his backstory; try to read him beyond what the movie told you. Link the dots to picture his mind.

Some other might point out this scene.

[SIDENOTE: To me, it seems like another atempt to make us dislike him more. In my eyes, is like that the creators tried to manipulate us to hate him, but anyway don’t mind my defensiveness towards him LOL. He’s a terrible person Angie! Stop it, goddamit!]

It interpreted this part as Hans joy of finally seeing the chance of escaping his prisonic home, dehumanizing Elsa completly. WHICH IS BAD regardless. Is he a sadist? The book implies that he takes pleasure in feeling physical pain, but he does not take pleasure on harming others.

So to me, is a smile of almost getting to win a big bad in a videogame, or well... that’s the type of face when I’m about to eat a pizza so, IDK :v 🤷‍♀️

THE MACHIAVELLIAN KING VS THE MACHIAVELLIAN PRINCE: The Lion and the Fox.

One of the reasons that Hans didn’t fit his family -besides being the smaller and weaker member of them-, is that his morale and philosophy clashed with the imposing, hard power that his father values. Being flexible and benevolent to the common people is a sign of weakness for Hans’ father and brothers. The king sees himself and his other sons as strong and powerful as lions, and he compares Hans to a mouse because he doesn’t fight back, nor shares his value of hard power. The King’s philosophy is kinda like Darwinism with Machiavellian shades. So in one side, we have the cruel side of the Machiavellian philosophy, the one that values fear over love:

“From this arises the question whether it is better to be loved rather than feared, or feared rather than loved. It might perhaps be answered that we should wish to be both: but since love and fear can hardly exist together, if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved.”

“One can say this in general of men: they are ungrateful, disloyal, insincere and deceitful, timid of danger and avid of profit...Love is a bond of obligation that these miserable creatures break whenever it suits them to do so; but fear holds them fast by a dread of punishment that never passes.”

But in Hans’ side, he believes (or puts in practice, at least) that appearances and benevolent acts are better way to influence people, to gain more popularity. This is the softer side of power, the more deceitful and diplomatic Machiavellian route:

“Everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience what you really are.”

“Never attempt to win by force what can be won by deception.”

“Therefore it is unnecessary for a prince to have all the good qualities I have enumerated, but it is very necessary to appear to have them. And I shall dare to say this also, that to have them and always to observe them is injurious, and that to appear to have them is useful; to appear merciful, faithful, humane, religious, upright, and to be so, but with a mind so framed that should you require not to be so, you may be able and know how to change to the opposite.”

So we see the two opposing sides of the Machiavellian philosophy, one relies on hard power, and the other in subtle power. In essence, Hans’ father rejects the soft power because of his imposing pride and ego. But both characters share the same Machiavellian influence in their beliefs, the only difference is that Hans takes no joy in being cruel and tyrannical, thus preferring the softer, more subtle side of power.

Yet at the end of the day, he embraces the cruelty, and fails to become the hero he expected to become, and by the time he realizes his mistakes and regains his morality, is too late.

What I’d like to see in Hans’ Redemption Arc, is a discussion between the characters (mainly Hans and Elsa) about this matter. An intellectual battle, and him realizing that his father was wrong. Not so in-your-face, because I can see people getting bored over political philosophy, but in a metaphorical way. And Hans coming in terms that deceitfulness and fear, aren’t the only way to gain trust, but love and true friendship as well.

He can be a fox, and a lion too.

“The lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves.”

― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince

Part 2 Here

#disney #disney meta #frozen #frozen meta #frozen fandom #prince hans #hans #redeem hans #niccolo machiavelli #the prince #elsa #anna #disney villains #disney princes #redeemed villains

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imaginedanganronpa · 6 years ago

Note

Can you please do a SaiMatsu Cinderella au, but it’s gender reverse?

This is so cute!! It got super long, whoops! Also, not the Brother’s Grimm version, but enjoy.

Saimatsu Cinderella AU! (Gender Reverse)

Saihara Shuichi was a troubled young man. His life had beengoing smoothly until the untimely passing of his father, and when his motherremarried to his greedy, awful stepfather, things continued spiraling downhill.

Now that both of his parents had passed away, his stepfather and twostepbrothers had free-reign to treat him any way they pleased.

Even while his mother was still alive he felt rejected in his own home. Shenever said anything out of fear that his stepfather would do something cruel soSaihara dealt with the constant torment on his own.

His life had slowly gone to Hell now that he was left all alone. They forcedhim to do all the work around the house and locked him away all day,restricting any of his own free-will. He was the subject of abuse from hisbrothers and began to question his mere existence.

Though, Saihara did care for and look after the mice and birds that also madetheir home in his chamber. They were the reason why he kept going every day.

Meanwhile, in a much different setting, the King decides that his beautifuldaughter, Kaede Akamatsu, was of marrying-age and in need of a suitable husband so thatshe could finally rule and take his place once he was gone.

Though, Kaede wasn’t so sure about his plans. She was wary about finding herfuture husband at a Ball hosted by her father, but she did as she was told likea good Princess would.

The word spread through the town quickly, and Saihara overheard hisstepbrothers talking about how they would win Princess Kaede’s heart. Hisstepfather forced the two to attend the Ball because he wanted one of his sonsto gain royalty status, because then he, too, could gain wealth.

They must have sensed Saihara’s interest and he stepfather turned towards thepoor boy. “Not you, a Princess like her would never fall for a lowly scum likeyou. Just get to work.”

It felt like a punch to his self-esteem but they weren’t entirely wrong.Saihara did not have nice clothes or a good reputation like his brothers did.He broke down and felt disconnected to his life, wondering how he ended up inthis position.

It seemed like fate had something else in store for him when his friends, themice and birds, began weaving a suit tailored just for him. “I could neverimpress a Princess, don’t waste time.”

Still, it was worth a shot, right? On the night of the Ball, Saihara slips intothe suit and begins sneaking through the house, trying to not alert hisbrothers. His plan fails, though, because they spot him and jump on himimmediately.

“Our father told you not to bother!” Exclaims the first as he challengesSaihara and sizes up to him, in which Saihara stands his ground. “Exactly!Don’t even try it, she’s going to fall in love with one of us!” Hisses thesecond as he tears at the sleeves and rips it at the seams. The other followsthrough as a helpless Saihara watches them destroy the only suit he had.

Feeling more broken than ever, he watches his father escort his brothers to theBall and leave him alone in the giant house.

Or so he thought he was alone. He is frightened when he turns back towards hischamber and sees a woman standing there… someone he’s never seen before. Hegasps, and she hushes him and explains why she is here.

“I’m your Fairy Godmother, of course! I’m here to make sure you make it to thatBall!”

Saihara furrows his brows, confused as to how she got here. “Look at me! I’m amess, I can’t go there anymore.”

Without hesitation, she waves her wand and transforms his tattered suit into asparkling, black and silver lined leather suit and tie topped with glass boots. He is taken completelyaback, undoubtedly believing in her powers.

The strange woman takes his hand and leads him outside where he is met with ahorse-drawn pumpkin carriage.

“This magic only lasts until Midnight, you must be home by then!” She arches abrow. Saihara is led to the King’s castle where hundreds of young men are nowarriving. The home is filled with people and he has a moment of self-doubt,until he reminds himself that he isn’t going to come all this way for nothing.

All eyes seem to be on him as he makes his grand entrance in the carriage. Even his own stepbrothers don’t seem to recognize him.

Somewhat confidently, he makes his way to the center of the dancefloor. Fromher balcony, Kaede watches him enter and immediately became infatuated. “Who isthat boy?” She asks her father, in which he responds with “I’m not sure.”

She makes her way down the spiral staircase and glides towards him, giving himher hand and introducing herself. Saihara is speechless, now in the presence ofa true Princess. “Would you like to dance?” She asks with a romantic tinge toher voice.

That’s precisely what they do. The pair dance together all night, hand-in-hand.They laugh and twirl around the center of the room. The other men gathered herebecome incredibly jealous of Saihara for stealing the Princess’ attention awayfor hours and he loses track of time.

His eyes glance at the clock after it strikes 11:00 p.m. His eyes grow wide ashe apologizes and excuses himself. “I must go!”

“Wait!” Kaede calls after him, “You never gave me your name!”

But he doesn’t hear her and rushes out the front door, causing her to becomeincreasingly confused.

He doesn’t even notice when one of his glass boots slips off on the staircase.

Saihara rushes back to his carriage, not wanting the magic to run out becausethen it would reveal his true self. He makes it back to his home just in time, asthe carriage dissolves back into a regular pumpkin and his suit turns back intohis former clothes.

It was a magical night that he’ll cherish forever, but a part of him wonderedif that could have turned into something more. That’s silly, though, because aPrincess like Kaede Akamatsu would never love someone like him – his family wasright. She was only interested because of his appearance, if she knew what hewas really like, she’d never go for him.

Meanwhile, Kaede feels a bit discouraged. She tells her father that the onlyboy she felt like she had a connection with was the mystery boy, but she nevereven got his name. How was she supposed to marry someone that she doesn’t evenknow?

The whole situation changes when one of her servants retrieved the boot, askingif she recognized it. Her eyes light up and she cheers, “Yes! That’s my boy’s!”

The King, desperate to please his daughter, devises a plan: he will go door todoor until they find the person who perfectly fits the glass boot, and then hemust be her future husband. Kaede completely supports his plan, and the nextmorning, it is put into action.

It takes several hours to finally arrive at Saihara’s home. He watches from thechamber as a group of Knights on horses approach his home with the glass bootin hand. Immediately, he recognizes it and realizes that he must have lost itwhile fleeing.

Listening through the small window, he hears their plan. His stepfather bringshis two sons outside and he watches them each try it on, miserably failing bothtimes.

“Do you have any other sons?” Asks Kaede, hopeful. “This is the last home intown… and we have yet to find the person who fits it.”

His stepfather shrugs it off. “Well,” he begins, “I have my stepson but hedidn’t attend the Ball! It would be silly to think that you’d fall in love withsomeone like him, anyway.”

Upon hearing this words, Saihara bolts down the stairs and towards the frontdoor. He is met with his brothers, arguing as they re-enter the home and seehim desperately trying to push past them. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“I want to try on the boot!” He cries but they grab his shoulders and force himback. “You didn’t even go to the Ball! Nice try, you coward.”

Saihara musters up all of his strength and finally shoulders his way past thetwo. They scream and call for him but he bounds through the double-doors at thelast second and presents himself to the Princess.

Something looks oddly familiar about this boy. He looks poor, beaten, andlowly… but she felt like she’s seen him before. Though, Kaede can’t quite puther finger on it.

“I’d like to try it on.” Saihara proudly proclaims, and is met with laughterfrom both his stepfather and the royals. Kaede hushes them immediately,insisting that he has the right to do so.

A wave of relief washes over Saihara. Unable to refute his daughter’s commands,the King nonchalantly hands the shoe to the boy; and to their amazement, it’s aperfect fit.

He feels a bit flustered and embarrassed as his cheeks turn red. “I have a lotof explaining to do.”

Kaede leaps from her seat on the carriage and wraps her arms around hisshoulders, enveloping him in a passionate kiss. His stepfather and brotherswatch in horror, their jaws drop, and become angry. His stepfather is insistingthat “This can’t be!”

“Oh, but it must!” Kaede responds while looking lovingly into his eyes. “I knewyou looked familiar. But at the same time… so different.”

Still, she smiles at him warmly and he feels his luck begin to turn around.Saihara and Kaede wed later that day and fall hopelessly in love.

It didn’t matter if he came from a completely different background, Kaede believed in true love and the connection they had on the night of the Ball is one that cannot be dismissed.

He leaves his home and becomes a loving husband and Prince, and soon-to-be King, ruling alongside the woman that he falls madly in love with.

Happily Ever After.

#danganronpa #danganronpa anime #danganronpa imagines #danganronpa v3 #anime #saimatsu #shuichi saihara #saihara shuichi #kaede akamatsu #danganronpa au #imagines #cinderella #ndrv3 #killing harmony #ndrv3 imagines

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roleplaylogs · 6 years ago

Text

Johnlock Prince AU

A super original idea where Sherlock and John are both princes who met online yet don’t know one another’s identities. I loved it!

You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!

You both like Johnlock.

Stranger: [Let me know if I just lost you!!! Royal AU: Sherlock is the Prince of France and John is the Prince of England. They met online about a year ago but never told each other who they were] I need you opinions on some outfits I have. I can't figure out what to wear. [John, 23]

You: This is acknowledging I have better fashion sense than you, so I am all too willing to help. Go ahead. SH [22]

Stranger: Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Stranger: [Attached: An image of John in a very posh bathroom from the neck down. He's got one maroon jacket with gold swirl accents on the shoulders and flaps of the pockets. The lapel is black. His pocket square is black with gold corners, his shirt is white, and his tie is black. He's paired it with a pair of bespoke black trousers] What do you think?

You: Well. That is exceedingly lovely. I adore the accents, the gold sets off so nicely with the maroon. SH It's tailored perfectly, looks expensive. SH

Stranger: It is expensive. But you like it? JW

Stranger: //No JW*

You: I do like it, a lot. What's the occasion?

Stranger: A horribly fancy birthday party.

You: A relation, friend, or barely acquaintance?

Stranger: [...] Relation.

You: Ah, those awful ones you're required to attend. I loathe parties, or any kind of social gathering.

Stranger: Exactly. And this one is just to show off to everyone else how rich we are and how 'better' we are. It's awful.

You: Oh, I'm used to those. My family is the same.

Stranger: I hate it.

Stranger: So this outfit is good?

You: It's gorgeous, John. Promise.

Stranger: Good, okay. Thank you, Sherlock.

Stranger: You know, I'm considering skipping.

You: Oh really? How rebellious of you.

You: Always liked a bad boy.

Stranger: Mm, It's hardly the first rebellious thing I've done.

Stranger: I might even go clubbing instead.

You: Clubbing? What I wouldn't give to see that. Tell me another rebellious thing you've done, then.

Stranger: I can show you my typical clubbing outfit?

Stranger: I've climbed out a window in my house before.

You: Oh, please do.

You: John, I've been doing that since I was seven.

Stranger: My my. I'm not the only rebellious person here, I see.

Stranger: I ditched my family when we were on a trip and explored the city fornmyself. Got caugh snogging a bloke in an alley. My parents were /pissed/.

Stranger: [Attached: A picture of John in his room, again incredibly posh and big. He's got on a pair of jeans sitting low on his hips, the top band of his underwear peaking out. He has on an indecently right white v-neck on as well, showing off his arms and abs. You can just see the hint of a tattoo on his bicep] Tada! Clubbing outfit.

You: Exploring foreign cities is dull when you're confined to the duties of family, I agree. God good. That photograph has rendered me totally incapacitated, I hope you're happy. Is that a tattoo?

Stranger: I am /incredibly/ happy.

Stranger: Mhm. That it is. Another rebellious thing I've done. I have a few piercings too.

You: A true bad boy. Going against your families wishes, reminds me of me. Mmhm, I have my nipples pierced.

Stranger: God that's hot.

Stranger: Ears and an eyebrow for me. I have to keep them out most of the time.

You: If you were mine, I wouldn't let you take them out.

Stranger: Oh yeah? I like the sound of that.

You: I wish that could happen, more than anything.

Stranger: Maybe one day.

Stranger: Now that's all I'll be thinking about at this party.

You: I'll be thinking about it all night. Luckily for me, I have no plans, and can stay away in my room.

Stranger: Oh yeah? Why don't you tell me about your thought while I'm getting ready ;)

You: I'm just thinking about what I would do to you if I was there. You wouldn't be getting dressed, that's for sure.

Stranger: Tease.

Stranger: Trust me, if I had my way I wouldn't be spending my birthday at this awful party.

You: It's your birthday?

Stranger: [...] Possibly.

You: John! Why didn't you tell me?

Stranger: Well I didn't think it was important!

You: Of course it's important!

Stranger: Now you know. It's my birthday and I hate this party.

You: Well. Happy birthday, John. A present, for you. [image attached of Sherlock lying down in some tight black underwear, his face cut out of the shot, sprawled on some cream satin sheets, an open book beside him. Silver barbells are just visible in his nipples the low light]

Stranger: Oh, /Jesus/.

Stranger: A very happy birthday to me.

You: Thought you might appreciate it. Hope it's not too distracting.

Stranger: Distracting in the best way.

Stranger: I can't decide if I want you to fuck me or vice verse.

You: Both. God, both. You can do a lot in a night.

Stranger: Yes you can ;)

Stranger: What do you prefer, in general? With calling me yours I assumed you usually like to top.

You: I prefer the sensation of bottoming, but I inherently find it difficult to keep my mouth shut. Topping from the bottom, it's been called, if you will.

Stranger: Christ. You sound like fun.

Stranger: So you like to tell people how to fuck you, call them good and all that?

You: Yes. I'm never quiet, you know my mind goes a million miles an hour.

Stranger: Yeah, I do.

Stranger: It's amazing.

You: You're one of the few people that thinks that. Most people who like me instantly hate me.

You: *who meet me

Stranger: Idiots, the lot of them.

Stranger: I wish you were here. I'd let you boss me around all night <3

You: Sounds so tempting. I should get the next flight there.

Stranger: So much fun. And if you're so inclined, I may have some toys.

You: Toys? Like what?

Stranger: Things.

You: Come on, John. Tell me.

Stranger: Is that an order? Hm?

You: Yes. Now.

Stranger: Bondage things - ropes, cuffs, a spreader bar for when I was feeling really adventurous. Gag or two.

You: Having you cuffed and gagged while I ride you is a particularly vivid image as of present.

Stranger: Mm, isn't it just?

Stranger: I have a few plugs and vibes and stuff, simply because any man who says they don't like anal play hasn't ever stimulated their prostate.

You: Too right. I have some too. Do you do it often?

Stranger: Mhm.

You: You should take a video for me. Next time you're feeling adventurous.

Stranger: 'Should'?

You: You will.

Stranger: Yes Sherlock ;)

Stranger: Maybe I'll skip going to the club.

You: Good boy. Yes, stay in instead.

Stranger: Fucking hell, Sher.

You: You like that?

Stranger: Course I do. Who wouldn't?

You: I'll keep it up, then.

Stranger: God, I'm not going to survive this party.

You: Not at all. I'm not stopping this any time soon. Not even for your own birthday party.

Stranger: Goddamnit.

You: You thought you could slip that past me? Tut tut.

Stranger: I did for a bit.

You: It was cute. I let you think that.

Stranger: :(

Stranger: You definitely didn't know it was my birthday.

You: Maybe I did. Why didn't you want to tell me? Mysterious John.

Stranger: You'll have to do better than that to get my secrets ;)

You: I want to know everything about you,

Stranger: I know.

Stranger: One day.

You: Why are you so reluctant?

Stranger: I have my reasons.

Stranger: You're not super forthcoming either, ya know.

You: I would tell you anything you asked, you know.

Stranger: [...] You would not.

You: Go ahead. Ask.

Stranger: [Long delay] Damnit. I cant think of anything.

You: No burning questions? You barely know me.

You: Here's one for free. Sherlock is my middle name, well, one of them.

Stranger: Oh, really? I just assumed it was your first.

Stranger: What's your first name, then?

You: William. Dull.

Stranger: Last name?

You: Holmes.

Stranger: [...] Holmes?

Stranger: William Holmes?

You: Yes.

Stranger: As in, French Prince William Holmes?

You: I don't expect many English people to know who I am. But yes. Hello. Please don't sell your story to a paper.

Stranger: Jesus fucking Christ.

You: I can't discern your reaction.

Stranger: [Slight delay] You arse! You're supposed to be here tonight!

You: I don't follow.

You: Oh.

You: Oh, no.

You: You can't be serious.

Stranger: Oh my God.

Stranger: I don't think I've ever been this embarrassed in my life.

You: You're embarrassed? I'm the one who blew off your party because I think you're annoying. Or, I did. I suppose I didn't know I knew you.

Stranger: Hm. Now I'm just offended.

You: Every time we've met we haven't gotten along.

Stranger: I thought you hated me!

You: Everyone thinks I hate them, I just have terrible people skills and I hate official duties.

Stranger: Christ.

Stranger: How the fuck did we end up meeting on here of all places?

You: I have absolutely no idea. The odds are... unlikely.

Stranger: [Slight delay] You know. You could still probably get to the party, if you wanted.

You: I could. The flight is only an hour.

Stranger: Or I could sneak out and come to you. JW

You: I have an apartment in central Paris.

Stranger: Very tempting.

Stranger: I could spend the weekend. JW

You: Celebrate your birthday properly.

Stranger: Mhm. And you could mark me up all you want. JW

Stranger: Or you could always stay in the palace. Up to you. JW

You: [I have to go now, but I loved this concept, super original. Thanks for the great rp!]

You have disconnected.

#Sherlock rp #sherlock #johnlock #johnlock rp

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defendersofaurita · 6 years ago

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Title: Retrace I: What Defines

Author/Artist: AnchoredTether

Rating: M [graphic depictions of violence, major character death, dark themes]

Pairings: Plance [Pikelavar], Kallura [Thunderyun]

Series: Defenders of Aurita

Chapter: 7/?

Summary: With the evil wizard Dakin defeated, Block can finally save his village from being turned to stone. Meklavar seeks to retrieve the Jewel of Jitan, Jiro needs to avenge his master (and twin brother) and slaughter the Leviathan, Valayun continues her search for the runestone, and Pike seems to have an agenda of his own. Revelations are brought to light and a mysterious ranger may be the key to solving their problems.

Note: Chapters with “Retrace” in their title are flashbacks!

CH 07 :: RETRACE I : WHAT DEFINES

There was no indication for being dragonborn.

Princess Yekaterina didn't find out until she was thirteen.

She was watching King Samuel and prince Matvey practice fighting, with her father teaching her brother various defensive and offensive spells. She couldn't cast magic and always felt a deep longing and disconnect when she watched the brightly colored spells bounce off their shields. It was simultaneously beautiful and begrudging.

She should have probably been reading up on history books or helping her mother with the gala invitations, but she snuck to the outdoor arena and hid under the wooden bleachers, her honey eyes watching fervently between the gap of the seats. She could hear her father give instruction between their parries and watched how her brother's blue markings and her father's green illuminated each time they started to cast a spell. Even though the only markings on her skin she could see without a mirror were the ones that graced her collarbone, she was disheartened to know she would never see hers glow as her father's did.

She watched them practice nearly every day and every day was the same mix of fascination and disappointment. This time was different, however, when Matvey cast a fire spell and Samuel deflected it…

Sending the fire straight toward the wooden bleachers where Yekaterina hid.

They were horrified when they heard her screaming but it was quickly cut short when Katya realized she wasn't in pain. She pulled herself free from the fiery wreckage, half of her dress burned away and her face set in confusion. She was completely missing her sleeve and a chunk of her skirt, the rest of her yellow dress in tatters and covered in ashen streaks. She looked down at her bare arm as if it weren't a part of her, her father's concern barely reaching her ears as he knelt down and his hands held hers.

"Katya, are you alright? Are you hurt?"

Only when his hands gently held her face and forced her to look him in the eyes did she resurface from her daze. "Why… am I not hurt…?"

After putting out the flames with a water spell, Matvey stood next to them and looked from his father to his sister and back again. "Did I cast the spell wrong…?"

"No, it wasn't an illusionary spell it was well cast fire." Samuel pointed to the blackened hole in the benches. "It clearly burned through the wood, it should have burned through your sister as well."

"It burned through her clothes, but not her skin…"

Samuel stood up, his face pensive as he looked down at his daughter. "Matvey, help your sister get a change of clothes and both of you meet me back in my study." He turned to head back towards the castle, picking up his sword and shield as he left.

][ --- ][

"You think I'm what?"

"Dragonborn." The doors to the study were shut, leaving the royal family in quiet privacy. Samuel stood behind his desk where several tomes lie open, while Katya and Matvey sat in armchairs, Colleen timidly standing next to her daughter with a hand on her shoulder. "The records speak of legends of dragonborn and how they were immune to fire… individuals who bore the soul and power of a dragon."

"Isn't that a myth?" Collen asked. "Just some fairytale from ages ago?"

"How else could one explain why the fire did not burn Katya? Didn't even hurt her?"

"It didn't even feel hot…" Katya said softly. "It only felt warm. How is it that I've lived my whole life and never been burned until now?"

"It's not like you've ever worked in the kitchens, dear." Colleen reminded. The life of a princess wasn't one filled with inconvenient dangers. "Food that would have normally burned someone's mouth might have gone unnoticed to you all these years…"

"That explains the chicken pot pies!!" Matvey stood up with a sudden burst of energy. "One night she was chowing down on hers as if it wasn't a thousand degrees and calling me a pansy for being unable to eat mine until she was nearly done with hers! That was the night I realized my sister was dangerous…" He said in a far too serious tone.

Katya frowned at her brother then looked back at her father. "What does it all mean though? A-am I cursed or something? Have I not been an elf this entire time? Am I even your daughter?"

"Of course you're my daughter, Katya." Samuel reassured with a sadness in his amber hues. "There is much we do not know concerning dragonborn, and I'm afraid it will difficult to find the answers we seek. The last recorded dragonborn was hundreds of years ago, and what little is written down is obscured by legend and superstition. This discovery needs to remain a secret between us. We do not know how many people out there would try to kidnap you for your power or kill you out of fear. I will consult Alfor and Korhan since they may have some insight concerning the matter. Don't worry, Katya… I will learn all I can about this. You mustn't live in fear of what you are. Know that this doesn't change how much we love you in the slightest. You are still princess Yekaterina Telcontar, but more importantly… you are still my daughter."

Katya held back her tears, nodding softly as she felt her stomach continue to tie itself into knots.

][ --- ][

][ music ][

Being a princess who lived in a castle offered little to no solidarity. If Katya wasn't surrounded by her family or nobles or teachers, there was always a guard or servant nearby. She went to the one place where she knew the guards would at least be at a greater distance, hopefully far enough away that they wouldn't be able to hear her crying.

She contained the turbulent hurricane within herself incredibly well. When she wanted to cry she kept a strong face and nodded. When she wanted to fall to the ground and never get up, she kept walking. When she wanted to do nothing but scream she kept her frustration contained in curled fists at her sides. Her father decided she would have her training intensified so she could properly defend herself. While she was excited to practice more fighting (she already loved fencing with Korhan), she knew her teachers would not go easy on her, and they hadn't. She couldn't cast magic which meant she had to be twice as good at physical combat than the average soldier if she ever hoped to win in a fight against a sorcerer or mage. Being so short had its disadvantages as well… her training had so far been nothing but brutal.

Several days passed from her self-realization and she couldn't take it any longer. She briskly walked to the one place where she knew she could get a shred of privacy: the orchard.

As to be expected there were several guards stationed around the walls that surrounded the orchard, but there were no guards within the lines of trees and it went on for acres. Once she crossed the fence into the orchard a guard acknowledged her.

"Oh your highness, are you going within the orchard? I'll have a few of us accompany you."

"No," She said a little too forcefully, and quickly decided to soften her voice, "No, it's alright. I… need some time to think. If I'm not back within say…. An hour, come and look for me."

"Yes, your highness." The guard said with a bow of his head.

She made her way deep into the rows of trees, past the pears and oranges and found herself amongst apples. She could only see two guards from her position and they were afar off. She let out a groan of frustration which sounded more like a growl. Every hurt and confusion boiled inside her until she felt it would consume her. She slumped down and pulled her knees to her chest, burrowing her head and releasing the floodgates. The sobs wracked her body and she hated the sounds that escaped her throat.

The crack of a branch snapped her head up as she looked wildly around for the source of the sound. Upon closer observation she saw beneath one of the trees several feet away from her had a basket of apples and a pair of shoes. She stood up, wiped the tears from her face and walked over to inspect the tree. She saw the source when she looked up into the branches and saw a boy grasped onto a branch. He was hugging it like cat stuck in a tree who was scared to come down… which wasn't too far from the truth considering he had feline ears and a tail.

"A-are you…"

"I'm sorry your highness!!" He squeaked, to which Katya just blinked in surprise.

"What are you apologizing for?"

"You startled me so I hid up here and then you started crying and then I felt really bad for not giving you privacy but if I leapt down from the tree that would have scared you so I just kind of stayed up here and…I'm sorry I didn't mean to intrude!!"

Katya was trying her best not to laugh at his adorable rambling apology. "It's okay, you're not intruding. You were here first. I would think I would notice you climbing up a tree… guess I must really be out of it…"

"Oh I didn't climb, I jumped." The cat boy said so matter-of-factly.

"You…" She looked from the ground up to where he was clutching the branch. "…jumped?!"

"Yeah. Easy-peasy." He pulled himself up and landed back on the grass only to demonstrate his jump as he launched himself back into the tree, swinging himself up onto a branch to perch upon.

She could feel her jaw start to slack. "You just jumped six feet."

"Yeah?" He said as if it were obvious. "All khaliit can do that." The claws of his cat-like feet dug into the bark of the tree and his tail swayed languidly as it helped him keep balance. Katya was staring at him a bit longer than she should have. The boy arched a brow. "Have you never seen a khaliit before or something?"

"Uhh what! Yes, of course I…" She folded her arms and pouted defiantly. "Well, not this close, no."

He laughed. "Well I've never seen a princess this close, so I guess we're even."

She smiled. "You can come down, you know."

"As you wish." He landed softly in the grass. The redness in his cheeks intensified, one of his ears flicking nervously. "I-I can go make a trip to the kitchen - I mean I've gathered a good number of apples - that way you can get the solitude you sought. I won't tell anyone about you crying, in fact, consider it wiped from my memory." He made a motion with his hand going over his head, ears flattening back with his hand to emphasize the point. He started to reach for the basket of apples but the princess stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

"Wait…" She felt the tears start to well up in her eyes. His wording stuck out to her, caused her to reconsider the solitude. "…Can you keep a secret?"

The boy looked at her hand on his shoulder as if it were something to cause the king to execute him. His sapphire eyes locked with her amber and she noticed this close that his pupils were slitted, a strange combination of both feral and beautiful. "Yes, your highness?"

She took a step back, releasing her hand and a sigh of relief. "I just found out I'm dragonborn. And I'm not handling it very well."

"You're… dragonwhat?"

"Exactly. No one really knows what it's supposed to mean. Supposedly it means I have a soul of a dragon… and apparently I'm immune to fire…"

"Wait, so you can't be burned?"

"No… that's how I found out all of this to begin with. My brother nearly cremated me."

The boy made a face, his cat ears pinning back. "And I thought my siblings were rough…"

"It was an accident… but still…" Her eyes fell to the ground. "I just… I feel like I don't even know what I am. And it scares me…"

The boy was already incredibly nervous being in such close proximity to the princess and now he was uncertain how to comfort her when she looked like she was on the verge of crying once more. "For a long time… I was led to believe I was nothing more than an animal…" He said softly, his expression sad. "It took me a long time to break that mindset, and I… actually still struggle with it sometimes… but you can't let one thing define you. You're not just a princess. You're not just an elf. You're so much more than that, and if dragonborn happens to be one of those traits, then… maybe it's not as bad as it seems to be."

Katya's brows furrowed in anger. "I sure hope no one here was making you feel like nothing more than an animal or I'll personally beat them to death."

"Oh no no no no it was no one here!" He waved his hands defensively, subtly scared at how aggressive she became over the matter. "M-my previous masters…"

"Previous masters? What were you…"

"A slave? Yes."

Her expression fell, the knots in her stomach tightening. "I… I'm so sorry…"

"It's nothing you need to apologize for. Your father was actually responsible for saving my family."

"How do I… not know about this?" She suddenly felt like she fit the stereotype of being a royal who knew nothing about her people, not even her own servants, and it made her sick to her stomach.

"It was a long time ago. I think you were only six or something."

"Still… What's your name? I don't even know your name…"

"Pike. Pike Cimclan."

She nodded softly. "I at least recognize your last name. Is our head chef your mom?"

"That's her! We're the only khaliit in the castle staff that I'm aware of. There might be some in the royal guard who are khaliit, but there's so many of them there's no way I would know."

"I only know the head generals of the guard. My dad probably knows everyone individually." She sighed. "I'm just… so bad with names and faces and… people in general."

"Me too…" He agreed with a nervous chuckle. He blinked a few times then narrowed his eyes as he looked down at her with an encouraging smile. "But just remember that it's not what you are that defines you, but the choices you make. It's who you decide to be in your everyday decisions that define who you truly are."

Katya smiled at him, wiping away a tear from one of her eyes. "Thanks Pike… You've really helped me feel better."

"My pleasure. It was something my mom always taught me." He leaned down to pick up the basket of apples and grab his shoes. "I really should be heading back though, otherwise my mom will think I took a nap… again."

"Fair enough." She had to work really hard at holding back a giggle at the thought of the cat boy being prone to taking naps in the afternoon. She pointed to his shoes and then to his feet. "Quick question before you go, why do you wear shoes when you literally have paws for feet?"

Pike deadpanned. "They're not paws, they're khaliit feet… okay they're paws but for the same reason you wear shoes? I don't fancy having dirty or cold feet." He shrugged. "I take them off when I climb trees because I like to utilize my claws."

She gave a thoughtful nod. "I guess that makes sense. If you had fur would you still wear shoes?"

"I! I don't know! Probably?" He scoffed. "You ask funny questions, your highness."

"Sorry." She held up her hands innocently. "Curiosity killed the cat."

"Oh, we're making cat jokes now?" He asked in jest.

"Okay, that was pushing it, I'm sorry." They both laughed and Katya couldn't remember the last time she felt so light and carefree. Speaking with Pike helped ease her worries and lift her burdens, and she looked up at him with a warmth in her eyes. "Perhaps I'll see you around?"

"Perhaps." The way he said it felt like a promise. Before leaving he offered her a formal bow, then headed back towards the orchard entrance, calling over his shoulder, "Take care, your highness."

Katya smiled at his back. "I will."

#chapters #defenders of aurita #voltron fanfic #voltron dnd #voltron au #monsters and mana #voltron dnd au #pikelavar #pikelavar fic #voltron #vld

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i-will-physically-fight-you · 6 years ago

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Sander Sides Fic Rec

I’ve been reading some awesome fics on AO3 and I’d thought I would share them with others on Tumblr to check ‘em out if you haven’t yet!

Growing up Parts of a Whole by @amydiddle-fanfiction - Side by Side; Piece by Piece. While Thomas grew his sides did too. Each one a different part of him and each one developing on their own time before they were allowed out to interact with the others. They all have their story on how they formed and became aware of themselves and they each played their part even before they manifested in the physical world for the first time.

Notes: Ever wondered what the Sides were like as children? Then this fantastic series of oneshots & short novellas is for you! The wordbuilding in this is wonderful and the characterizations are great.

In a Tizzy by @coconut-cluster - "Headcanon that Roman acts so confident that the others rarely ever think to compliment him. He’s not used to being complimented, so on those rare occasions where he is, he gets all quiet & blushy & flustered."

Notes: This one was based on a tumblr post that was going around awhile back by @peachy-pattoncake. Prepare to have your heart destroyed by angst and then reconstructed by fluff. Logan discovers that Roman acts unusually flustered after he compliments him and in true Logan fashion decides to test out a hypothesis on this.

A Little Bit Naughty by @princessdarth-vader - Logan's parents have called him some terrible things. The truth is, he's a genius, and they're the stupid ones. Logan is determined to get his own back, and soon discovers he has a special power. With the help of his closest friends and some helpful grown-ups, Logan must unearth a secret far larger than himself in order to right the atrocities committed against him and change his story for good. Strap in, folks. It's the Matilda! AU that no-one asked for

Notes: Regrettably I’ve never read the book or seen the musical for Matilda, but this AU is still awesome as heck to read, even if you’re coming into the story without knowing that context. It features kid!genius Logan, Emile as a friendly librarian, Thomas as Logan’s kindergarten teacher and Roman and Patton as fellow students. The characterizations in this are great--Logan and the others are clearly children but still retain their personalities.

Within Bounds by Immortalnite - It was the middle of winter when all the crops across the kingdom failed. The Winter Solstice, in fact, though almost no one knew that.

Notes: This fantasy au only has two chapters out but definitely deserving of a lot more love. It features Roman as a prince last in line for the succession of the throne being tasked by his father to contact the Elves for a solution to the crops problem. The writing is beautiful and the worldbuilding is terrific.

More Fic Recs below the cut!

Space (All I think about is you and me) by @hahanoiwont - They're all together when Virgil spaces out for the first(?) time. After being accepted, Virgil is becoming less anxious. Unsurprisingly, he is anxious about it.

Notes: This is a wonderful fic with fantastic worldbuilding that hinges on a slight AU. This perhaps features my favorite characterizations for both Virgil and Deceit. It takes place shortly after Virgil is welcomed into the famILY and the author does a good job of showing how Virgil is still adjusting to the fact he doesn’t put up the scary bad guy persona anymore. Deceit, on the other hand, is morally grey in this story. Neither friend nor foe, though he does lean towards the sympathetic side. I think the author handles his character tastefully.This fic does feature the author’s dark!side OCs but like w/ the canon characters they’re written well As you can see from this paragraph-long comment, I really really enjoy this fic!

The Consequences of Sound by Acantha_Echo - Anxiety hurts Thomas. It's just what he does, what he has always done. It's not what he wants. He only wants to protect him but that is easier wished for than done.When the opportunity to prove himself opens up to him, he grabs it, for once not caring about the consequences.Things go downhill from there.The fall, rise, fall (and rise again) of Virgil.

Notes: This fic follows Virgil from Thomas’ childhood to the present-ish. The current chapter takes place on the timeline around Losing My Motivation and My Personality Q&A. It features manipulative!Deceit who claims to be Virgil’s “friend.” Man, this fic is REALLY GOOD. There will be parts where your heart is torn into pieces because of Virgil’s predicaments. Please go read it if you can.

Fanged Friend by Demon_Writer - It burned. It scorched. The longer he waited the more intense it grew. He's never woken up so early with so much hunger. His breaths were like sharp icicles coming up and down his windpipe. Damn. He’s never been this hungry before. Every shuffle of feet and breath directed towards him was unnaturally..... tempting. Virgil's fangs pricked at his tongue and his eyes narrowed, but his mind couldn't have been any foggier. Virgil's worried he might end up taking more than just blood. At this rate it can only escalate.

Notes: Hi friends! Do you love vampires? Because BOY DO I HAVE A STORY FOR YOU. What originally started out as an oneshot turned into a multi-chapter story with fascinating vampire lore and intriguing plot. It’s definitely one of my favorite fics to date!

Logan’s Room by @galacticallynonbinary - Logan Sanders knows everything. He has nothing new to learn. He's never talked to the other sides; there is nothing they could possibly teach him. But when they come knocking, his entire viewpoint comes into question

Notes: This is an oneshot, but it’s so wonderfully written that I had to include it in this fic rec! It’s just under 1k, but the characterizations are awesome and it’s based off the Mary’s Room thought experiment except with Logan and it’s great!

Written on Paper by @galacticallynonbinary - Logan is in charge of facts. They all come to him on small pieces of paper. Sometimes, they fly in on paper airplanes. The paper planes taunt him, and paper storms and paper avalanches make him worry for the other sides.Or: Idioms are real and incredibly distressing

Notes: Yes it’s another fic by galacticallynonbinary, and it also features Logan, but it’s such a clever fic I had to include it as well! I love how they take idioms and make them take on literal forms in the mindscape. This fic has a snowball effect where things become progressively worse and worse for Logan until the climax hits and I love how it keeps you on the edge of your seat.

Wings of Anxiety by Shadecrawler - Virgil normally kept his wings pressed tight against his back. He never let them out to stretch when he was outside his room. Yes, they got sore after a little while and yes, it rustled his feathers to the point that it took forever to groom them.But, he couldn’t take them out. He just couldn’t. Dark Sides didn’t have wings. Only Light Sides did.

Notes: I’m always a sucker for hurt/comfort and this fic definitely hits that sweet spot. Plus, I adore wing!au fics in general. Thomas is featured heavily in the second half of this two-shot and that’s always a plus!

A Letter from Me to You (For Better or Worse) by writing_regen - Fate may have some ideas on who we can be. Yet we are the only ones that can see it through. There is a disconnect between who we were born to be and who we become. That gap - that uncertainty, is where others can find room for exploitation.

Prince Logan has always felt out of place, even with his advisor Patton at his side. Roman, a tailor winding the streets in hopes of something greater won't let his dreams be crushed, even as Virgil tries to act as the only reliable voice of reason in his life. Around the corner hides another dark twisted tale of dreams, and it knows what it needs to get what it wants.

Notes: This is a brand new fic but I’m definitely excited to see where it goes! The author stated in their notes that it’s based off the Princess and Pauper. I already love the dynamics of Patton’s and Logan’s relationship in the first chapter--they’re childhood friends who’ve grown up together, with Patton being the one to drag Logan along for adventures.

Redemption of a Prince by @anxious-baby-nightmare - Roman feels as though his behavior is negatively impacting the rest of the group and tries to change himself for the better. But is that what everyone else thinks?

Notes: Hey do you love Roman “Princey” Sanders? Do you love angst? THEN THIS HERE IS THE FIC FOR YOU. Don’t worry, though it’s angst with a happy ending. This was a fun ride from start to finish, and I loved the author’s worldbuilding with the mechanics of the Imagination.

#thomas sanders #sander sides #roman sanders #logan sanders #patton sanders #virgil sanders #kat fic rec

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kip-quest-blog · 6 years ago

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It’s been a good year.

We’re coming up on KipQuest’s first year anniversary and it is with a heavy heart and a conflicted soul that I announce that I am going to be closing this blog.

What happened? D:

Nothing happened in the traditional sense. I came out here for a good time and I had a good time and then I stopped having a good time. So I decided that drastic measures needed to be taken. I don’t have the desire to quit pokeask blogging, or blogging in general, or art, or storytelling, or any of that.

I just want to quit this particular blog and all the other blogs attached to this primary blog outside of my artblog (which I made a sideblog for this exact reason) and Maat’s blog. The disconnect has been months in the making and it is not at all related to my mental health or my motivation for art, or even my lack of physical energy. I’d just rather be doing literally anything else and that’s a really really bad thing for a long term project.

I tried everything I could think of to get myself going again. Memes, interactions, hiatus, total disconnect from Tumblr, a different, less stressful blog. I tried a lot. And it didn’t work. Ideas just fall flat and die sometimes so I am taking my own advice and just doing what I want to do.

Where are you going?

I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to write a blog from start to end. I’m going to have a plan. I’m going to reevaluate myself and my life choices. I’m going to do something self-indulgent and something that I will be passionate about, even if I’m just a cliched and tropey mess. I don’t know what the blog will be or the format, or the style, or even the name. I don’t know anything right now.

I don’t even know if I’ll have an answer for that question anytime soon. I will, however, be on my artblog, drawing art and dumping it there every once in a while. I’ll still be drawing pokemon like a damn nerd and I will still love it. I will probably take all the art prompts I have stockpiled and go through them as I figure out what the fresh hell I am going to do.

I’ll still be on this primary blog while I work on my other things. All the memes will be posted on my artblog as I finish them. (Though I run mostly on a queue.)

How can we reach you?

Please for the love of god, follow me on Twitter. Interact with me on Twitter because 1v1 convos are not happening and that’s because I’m busy all the time with other things. Twitter is where you can see my hilariously awful jokes and updates that get pruned out so my art is the main attraction and I can still have my fun.

My discord is not open because it’s going to be the same deal. 1v1 convos are just not on my agenda unless you’re alright with me never speaking or just saying the same tired things all the time. (i’m tired/busy/sleepy/busy) Maybe someday I’ll be in a group discord where I can talk to a lot of lovely people at the same time. (I’m already mod in one, but it has been capped for now.)

Will you tell us what your new blog is when it’s made?

Maybe. I won’t try to use this blog to promote my new one because I feel that it is disingenuous to use this thing I didn’t finish to promote something I hopefully will. Pride? It’s more like guilt. I’d hate to be a disappointment again. I’d hate to disappoint you again.

What about this story?

I can give you the very short version of what I had originally intended for Kippy’s KipQuest under the cut if you want to know the story at the most surface level. There, you will see my incredible lack of planning. I will not elaborate much more than this in the interest of not writing a novel. I apologize that all the nuance is gone. Rip all the worldbuilding.

Just in case, you decide to not read under the cut (it’s all story stuff anyway) I wanted to say thank you for all the good times. I learned a lot about art, myself, and commitment. I asked a lot of questions to a lot of people and learned so much about others. It was fun while it lasted. This is not the last you will see of me. But this will likely be the last update post I make on this blog.

You know what they say, right? Better luck next time.

Kippy would have made their internal struggle known to their mother that they didn’t know whether to pick a boy name (Skipper after Amelia’s father) or a girl name (Pankaja which is a name related to soil though the language of origin escapes me). Kippy’s mother, Amelia, assured them that no matter what they ultimately decided, it was their choice to make and that she would be proud of her little kipper.

Kippy, who was born male, chose Pankaja as her official name but still likes Kippy as a nickname. She then takes on female pronouns and begins to make her way into the world at large. During this time, Jalon, a Honchkrow leader of the village Kippy lives in, has her put on a team prematurely because Jalon does not like that Baaba challenges his authority.

Baaba confronts the Grand Psion - a sort of gauge for an individual’s potential - and demands that he tell the truth about Kippy’s potential. The Grand Psion, who was most certainly lying about Kippy’s abilities at the request of Amelia, claims ignorance and Baaba doesn’t buy it, so he storms off with renewed vigor to get Kippy trained in the only way he knew how.

Amelia has the Grand Psion lie about Kippy’s potential because Kippy was born a Bad Egg because Amelia had a lot of trouble with having children. Amelia had a number of previous attempts with her mate, Armament - who was a Garchomp that died in the line of duty - but they all either miscarried or just did not hatch when they were supposed to. She begged the Grand Psion to lie about Kippy so Kippy wouldn’t get herself killed in a military life. Kippy never finds this out.

Kippy is paired with Pepin, a Buneary who failed to live up to his family’s astronomical expectations, and Pax, a Swablu who hates being a Priest and fulfilling the role of a “healer” despite having the ability to use Heal Pulse. The three of them are sent off on a mission that was not meant for them to complete, due to a mix up between assignments.

They end up delving into a cavern and finding evidence of humans existing as well as the Red and Blue Orbs and the Meteorite, which were placed in this deep cavern to keep Columbia, a radically violent and nihilistic Origin Jirachi, from continuing to hunt down and slaughter other Jirachi to gain their power.

Kippy releases Columbia, who very nearly kills the three of them on sight and disappears into the Realm of the Fairies, who have begun preparations to make an attempt at truce.

Bellatrix, who had saved Kippy and Arimus from the approaching Fairies in the beginning, ended up returning to face those approaching intruders head on with her partner, Ronnie. Ronnie is a Gardevoir who did not gain the Fairy typing when the original Blight swept the land. Nobody knows why this was, but that is the only reason she is accepted in the Valley of Darkness.

That Fairy party was a party sent by the highest order of fairy nobles to attempt a truce with the smaller neighboring land before a hopeful collaboration to unify with the Land of Dragons. The Prince of the Fairies was sent as a means of instilling an element of trust, but Bellatrix doesn’t believe that the instigators of this divisive conflict have any positive intentions in mind. She mega evolves, kills most of those present on both sides, and flees into the forest, where she succumbs to the dangerous power that mega evolution entails and falls into madness fueled only by fury and rage. Ronnie survives only because the Fairy Prince, Adelaide, stabilized her.

When Kippy and company return to the village, Jalon panics because he assumed they were going to do something simple, and instead came back with items that belong to the Land of Dragons. In order to maintain control of his people, he accuses Kippy and company of being insiders and mounts an attack using only his Murkrow flock. Pax’s trainer was an Eevee and she jumps in to protect her trainee, evolving into a Sylveon to have a better chance of fending Jalon’s lackeys off, though this solidifies the accusation that Kippy and co (and by extension, their families) are spies for the enemy.

Amelia immediately and instinctually uses her combined strength with Pax’s trainer, and Baaba, to give Kippy and co a chance to escape alive. It is never determined whether their families survived this attack because Kippy never ends up going back.

Baaba finds them in the hills outside of the village. Kippy is panicking, but Pax and Pepin are able to calm her down well enough for the four of them to figure out where they need to go. Baaba says that the Land of Dragons would be their best bet because he knows someone who has clout.

They are discovered by an adventuring party of Fairies, are captured, and taken back to the main hub where all the decisions are made. They are granted amnesty because the Fairies are attempting to make peace with the surrounding areas.

The Fairies are under the control of Xerneas, who is a fragmented and corrupted being that was created by The Bastard Palkia. Xerneas itself is an instinctual being, who has complete and total mind control over all Fairies on this world when it is awake. It only ever seeks to destroy anything that would oppose it, as well as anything that it deems a danger to it. Xerneas had been asleep for a while, but the damage already done had to be slowly undone, which proved to be almost impossible considering that the sight of a Fairy usually meant a fight was going to break out, so peace talks were rare and were hardly ever successful.

Kippy wants to help, naturally, but has no idea how to do so. She thinks that the Jirachi she released would be able to help, so she goes looking for it. Baaba stays close by for the longest time until he is attacked during another encounter with Columbia and is revealed to be a Zoroark. Kippy takes this rather well in the moment, but later confronts Baaba about it.

Baaba explains that pokemon in the area all live on a massive island created by the same Mewtwo who gave Bellatrix the ability to mega evolve. This area used to be a secluded safe haven in Kalos, so many pokemon who were harmed by experimentation make up the population, which is why there is a rather tumultuous civilization in the works. Columbia offers to spare this world if they can convince the slumbering native Jirachi to appear so Columbia can take it. It is assumed that Columbia’s attempts at seeking the native Jirachi failed, and he claimed that he was “helping” the mortals because he is a god.

Columbia is an elder god, but he is also a creation of The Bastard and is therefore, fundamentally broken on every single level of his existence. This doesn’t really matter, but Columbia spins it in a way to make himself look better, and to get Kippy and Baaba to call the native Jirachi. This works later on and that Jirachi is shredded and consumed by Columbia, who then departs to find more Jirachi to consume after flipping all his middle fingers up at the preps.

Baaba does not accept Columbia’s offer, but Kippy comes up with a plan to trick Columbia into a false sense of security. This plan fails miserably. Columbia kills the native Jirachi, and in retaliation for mortals even attempting to lie to him, wakes Xerneas up from its deep slumber. He naturally has a big villain speech explaining how Fairies are indeed evil by design because The Bastard doesn’t care about what it makes and leaves things to fester. Even humans have harnessed Fairy energy to create devastating weapons and this is no exception.

Xerneas arises and takes control of all the Fairies. At the same time, in human civilization, Magearna and the Ultimate Weapon designs are finished and deployed. The rise in harmful energy leads to a chain reaction where Xerneas’s instability directly contributes to the creation of a second, more unstable Yveltal constructed of corrupted energy.

Yveltal flees, spreading devastation and destruction everywhere. The world begins to end and there is a bright light in the sky.

Kippy and co try their best to help, but they are divided on what to do. Xerneas needs to be stopped, but there is chaos unfolding around them as they try to escape the Realm of Fairies and make their way to the Land of Dragons. Baaba has stayed with them, and no longer assumes the form of a Rattata. When they make it to the Land of Dragons, Baaba seeks out and finds the oldest dragon there, a Charizard named Basil.

Basil is upset at how these events have unfolded, but when the gods are involved, it never ends well. He promises that his attacks will be swift, but he is not optimistic. Kippy is worried, though by this time, she has evolved from a Mudkip/Gible into a Garchomp. There was a lot of tears shed and fear throughout this transitionary period, but she is determined.

Columbia has disappeared, but his presence alerted Marty, a Celebi who immediately arrives to survey the damage. It’s too much to bear. The end of the world is coming naturally, so he begins his job to tie up the loose ends and let the world collapse in itself. Despite Baaba begging that Marty not do this, Marty does not listen. Baaba lashes out because he wants Kippy to be okay. That’s his partner. His most trusted companion. And he is too smart to let her go so easily.

Marty explains that it’s better for all of existence if this world dies naturally instead of being ripped apart for no reason. Xerneas must be contained. Baaba asks Marty if Xerneas could be contained, would that allow the world to be left alone. Marty makes no promises, but does hint that their time would be extended, as everything dies eventually.

Baaba and Kippy convince Pepin and Pax to go back to the village to reiterate the information that they learned. They also convince Marty to go with them to confirm their story. Baaba and Kippy then go to Xerneas, who is deep within the forests, wandering and screaming.

Baaba has a special tool that he plans to use in order to get Xerneas under control. They fight, they win, Kippy mega evolves, and Baaba uses a Master Ball to seal Xerneas away.

It, at one point, would have been made known that Baaba is from human settlements in Kalos, where he was born before his mother made a deal with Mewtwo to create this supposed sanctuary. Humans had done a lot of fucked up shit prior to this and his mother was the result of experiments in testing pokemon’s potential. He carried with him a couple of tools from the human settlements because he inherited that human level of intelligence and planning.

Once Xerneas is sealed away in the Master Ball, Baaba explains to Kippy that there is a whole other world out there to explore and he remembers fondly traveling through Kalos a little bit before his mother whisked him away from humans as a whole. He says he wants Kippy to see the world for what it is, a wonderful place, but humans are also not to be messed with. Baaba explains that humans treat pokemon differently and sometimes badly and he wants to change that, but the only way he knows how is to show them. He offers Kippy the opportunity to go with him to Kalos. Kippy accepts.

Baaba also offer this opportunity to Pepin and Pax, both of whom have evolved fully. Pepin accepts. Pax does not.

It ends with Kippy and Pepin willingly being put into customized pokeballs and Baaba assuming the form of a human before it’s assumed that they go to Kalos and change the human world as well.

That’s all ey wrote. Hopefully the next time I do this, I do a better job.

#ooc #blog update

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droo216 · 8 years ago

Text

Drew’s Great Big Beauty and the Beast Review

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

THERE IS NO GOING BACK

THIS IS A SPOILER-FILLED REVIEW

IT IS ALSO VERY LONG

AND THERE ARE LOTS OF SPOILERS

SO PLEASE BE AWARE

THAT THERE ARE SPOILERS HERE

BEFORE YOU START READING

Let me start off by mentioning how much this movie means to me. I've kind of made my niche on the internet by dreamcasting Disney movies as if they were live action. I've made a ridiculous number of edits, I mean I've spent hours, days, probably weeks on this stuff at this point, and many of these edits have been focused on Beauty and the Beast. Live action versions of Disney movies are like... my Thing. And, to be totally honest, this really is only the second faithful adaptation. Alice in Wonderland was a total reworking of the Alice story, not really a cartoon-to-live-action like this. Maleficent completely retold the story from a different angle by making one Disney's most vicious villains not only sympathetic but good. Cinderella is so close (and so good, I might add) but visually it's vastly different from its animated counterpart, especially when it comes to Lady Tremaine and the Fairy Godmother, and it's not a musical. The Jungle Book is the closest we've seen to a real and true “live action remake” as opposed to a live action reinterpretation. But here we are. Disney did it. They took one of their most beloved animated classics and straight-up made it into a live action movie without cutting any songs or really very much at all...

And oh boy, did they knock it out of the park.

I love this movie. This is what I’ve been waiting for.

I love Emma Watson as Belle. I think she's a wonderful choice, I completely buy into her as Belle. She's beautiful and intelligent and spunky. Her singing is fine. She's not Kristin Chenoweth or Sutton Foster, but Belle doesn't need to be. She's also not Meryl Streep or Daniel Day-Lewis, you know, Emma doesn't go through a massive transformation and disappear into the role, but she doesn't need to because she's already so much like Belle. Still, I don’t find myself watching it thinking about Emma playing the role, I think of her as Belle, which is the goal of acting really. I love that this Belle is so active. I love that she is continuously trying to find a way to escape from the castle. The addition of the laundry machine and teaching the young girl how to read is so good because it actually shows us Belle's intelligence. In the animated movie, we know Belle's smart because we're told Belle's smart. She reads books and, sure, she acts rationally and she certainly shows the poise of an intelligent person, but this new scene gives us an active example of her intelligence and creativity while also demonstrating the oppressive and small-minded nature of the townspeople. Emma's Belle is charming and smart and lovely, and I think she captures the essence of Belle perfectly.

All that being said, our two male leads really steal the show for me. I've seen the movie twice now and each time, one of the leading gentleman really jumped out. The first time I watched, Luke Evans felt like the true shining star of the film. His Gaston reminds me of Jason Isaacs as both Captain Hook and Lucius Malfoy. He isn't just vain... this guy is a legitimate narcissist, it seems like his mind has truly been twisted by the war. This Gaston is even more evil than the one we left behind in the world of animation. Gaston has always been terrifying because of his charisma. The way he's able to charm the people of the village is chilling and this time around we see even more of that trait, paired with a darker and more violent streak particularly illustrated by Gaston tying up Maurice and leaving him for the wolves. Plus, both times I saw the movie the audience gasped in horror when Gaston stomped on Belle's lettuces.

The second time I saw the film, I was specifically watching for Dan Stevens's performance as the Beast and man, this is good stuff. The Prince at the beginning is such a drama queen. He's so over-the-top with his costuming, wig, even his gestures are extremely theatrical. The make up at the beginning is particularly brilliant, burying the Prince's face in streaks of blue and silver so he still feels like an obscure figure that we don't quite see. When Belle first meets the Beast, this is all still evident. The way he hides in the shadows, even his lines of dialogue, it's all very dramatic. And then as the movie progresses, you can see this flair for melodrama fade away as he becomes a more grounded person. He becomes gentler, kinder, and his intelligence, which has always been there, comes forward. By the time we see the Prince again at the end, you can tell that this is the same man but he has been changed. The animated film's human Prince always felt disconnected from the Beast for me. Sure, they made the eyes the same, but it was hard to see much else because we just see so little of him, so he always felt rather vanilla. That's not the case here. When the Prince transforms back to a human at the end, this feels like the same character we have watched throughout the film. I'm sure this is aided by the incredible motion capture and CGI work, because the Beast is animated superbly, but Dan's performance is just stellar.

The objects are perfect. There's only one shot that I think feels odd (when Belle is carrying Lumiere with Cogsworth walking in front as they lead her to her room) but other than that one moment, I never second guess them as objects. They feel and act real. Lumiere's movements in particular are incredible, right down to his close up at the start of “Be Our Guest.” I was worried about Plumette before seeing the movie because the bird design is so unusual, but it makes sense since they needed her to be able to fly to get around, and doesn't feel out of place at all in the movie. Mrs. Potts and Chip are also beautifully animated, they always feel like real and solid objects with weight to them. Their relationship is wonderful, so loving and caring. Chip's line, “OK. I'm older” is one of my favorite little moments of the whole thing. Cadenza is a wonderful addition to our cast of characters and I did not expect his relationship with Garderobe, but they were an excellent surprise. And Frou Frou! I love that Frou Fou is Garderobe's and that he becomes Cadenza's bench and is therefore the link between the two throughout their years in the curse. They're just so sweet.

Maurice has been an under-reported character in all of this, and that's a shame because Kevin Klein knocks this role out of the park. He is absolutely wonderful as Maurice. He is fatherly and kind but he has also clearly made mistakes as a parent and that is kind of embraced and understood in the storytelling. He is sincere at all times in a role that is pretty exaggerated in the animated film. If Maurice's arrival in the tavern had been played exactly like the original, it would have felt campy, but Kevin Klein's earnestness grounds the moment in reality. Not to mention his quips about snow in June and “apparently that's what happens around here when you pick a flower” are delivered brilliantly.

Let's talk Lefou. I don't like this Lefou, and here's why. Every other character in this film feels developed in a natural way. It feels like we are learning more information about these characters that has always existed, we just didn't fit it in the first time around. Lefou, on the other, doesn't feel like a character who has been developed but a character who has been rewritten. They clearly got the seed of an idea to make him gay but felt squeamish about making him evil and gay (and rightfully so), so they wrote this redemption arc that feels forced and really doesn't actually go anywhere... Lefou's turn during the battle with the castle objects doesn't actually do anything, so the whole thing feels arbitrary. After seeing the film the second time, my friend and I spent probably an hour and a half just talking about Lefou and came up with a brilliant solution to this whole mess of a character... more on that in a moment...

Incorporating the Enchantress into the story is very compelling. I think it's very obvious who Agatha is throughout the movie, but it gives the sense that she wants the spell to be broken, she wants the Beast to learn his lesson, which is very interesting. Having her arrive after the spell has completed and actively reverse it is a riveting choice, and I actually felt like we were missing a moment with her where she realizes that she made a mistake. When she was watching the separated loved ones reunite, it seemed like there was a seed of remorse that was not addressed.

The character development is very well done across the board, but I think something this movie did that was important and contributes to its success is the development of the spell itself. I think this was one of the most brilliant moves the film made. The eternal winter around the castle explains the sudden weather changes in such a short period of time while still using the seasons as an emotional storytelling technique like the animated film. The wolves are also clearly part of the curse here – I would have actually liked to have seen them included in the finale sequence, either transformed into humans like the objects, or else disappearing like mist with the rest of the eternal winter. Having the castle crumble every time a petal falls from the rose is so smart as well; it explains why the objects know every time a petal fall while also representing their and the Beast's disintegrating humanity. But the best part of the curse's development was definitely the memory loss. Adding the simple line to the opening narration about removing the people of the castle from the minds of the people who loved them was absolutely inspired. This one quick line explained a huge loophole that the animated film left regarding the presence of a massive castle in the woods and a royal family that apparently the entirely world did not know about. But even better than that, it created some wonderfully emotional reunions at the end. My friend beside me gasped so loudly when our favorite teapot exclaimed, “Mr. Potts!” and the moment with Henri Cogsworth and his wife(?) was so hilarious and, in my opinion, subtly hinted at our second LGBT character in this universe. Which brings me to the Lefou thing.

Here's what my friend and I came up with: in the opening sequence, we see Cogsworth lurking in the shadows telling the Prince that “it's time,” we see Lumiere handing the Prince a candelabra, we see Mrs. Potts chasing after Chip... in the midst of all this, we could also show a masked jester entertaining a few people at the ball. When the Enchantress arrives, a lot of people run out – presumably that's where Mr. Potts and Mrs. Cogsworth escape and why they're not included in the spell – and the jester leaves with them as well. At the end, the Pottses are reunited, the Cogsworths are reunited, and then Lefou recognizes his old beau, Chapeau the violinist/coat rack, and joins the finale back in his jester outfit. It makes total sense for Lefou to be “the fool” of course and explains why he falls into the abusive friendship he has with Gaston, since it would parallel the relationship he probably would have had as a jester for the similarly self-centered Prince. This adds two quick two-second shots to the opening scene, one of the masked Lefou juggling or something and one of him fleeing when the Enchantress shows up, and about twenty seconds at the end for the reunion and revelation and, in my opinion, is so much less problematic than writing our first ever LGBT Disney character as an evil sidekick with a forced redemption arc – this way, he had his memory erased, just like everyone else. Just our little idea but I think it could have blended into this world quite smoothly. Alas, here we are.

Moving on! The finale is absolutely gorgeous. The whole ending sequence is my favorite thing about the whole film. The fight scene is fantastic and then from there to the end, everything is so marvelous. We know the objects are going to be okay in the end, but seeing them all finally lose the battle they've been fighting and become motionless household objects is... emotional! Then the Prince's transformation is brilliant, giving the perfect nods to the original film, and each character's subsequent change back to their human state is perfect (Cadenza's teeth!), especially when Mrs. Potts and Chip go sliding down the steps. And then when she says, “You smell so good,” oh my gosh. Whoever contributed that line is a genius. I go all warm and fuzzy just thinking about it. Then we have the wonderful and funny reunions and then the final dance sequence, where Emma is beautiful and Dan is looking good in bright sky blue and rococo curls in his hair. Audra McDonald sings flawlessly and we have that beautiful moment between Mrs. Potts and Maurice that made my little shipper heart do a backflip, even if there is a Mr. Potts now. I'm still not sure if I'm on board with the growl, but I adore the line about the beard – apparently it was written for the original film and Paige O'Hara even recorded it! But it interrupted that finale sequence so they never used it. I think it works perfectly here, it's so cute.

The first time watching, I felt the pacing was so odd in the film, with some abrupt transitions that didn't quite work. I felt that less so the second time, maybe just because I was expecting it, and sometimes I actually liked the sudden change. I also don't fully understand the shuffling of scenes at the beginning. The animated film goes (1) “Belle,” (2) Belle and Maurice at home, (3) Maurice leaves for the fair, (4) Maurice arrives in the castle, (5) Gaston proposes, (6) “Belle (Reprise),” (7) Philippe comes back and tells Belle to the castle. The movie rearrange this so almost all of the village scenes happen together, reordering that sequence as 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 4, 7. Because of this we end up going from Maurice's whole scene in the castle, back to the village for about thirty seconds with Philippe and Belle, then right back to the castle again. This made the whole sequence of events feel rushed even though each moment was given about the same amount of time, or more, as the original film. Additionally, I felt some of the filming choices from a cinematography point of view were weird. There were several times that we were zoomed in on a character, usually Belle or Gaston in the village, and it felt like the shot was kept tight to hide something but then there wasn't anything to hide... it’s a hard thing to articulate, but I definitely noticed it through both viewings.

The design of this movie is amazing. Breathtaking. Thousands of beautiful costumes and such detail – human Cogsworth's buttons have the Roman numeral numbers on them! Not to mention the object designs. Lumiere's candlestick form is clearly inspired by the Broadway production, which was an absolutely brilliant choice. Garderobe's wardrobe form is A THEATRE, it has box seats and a stage with curtains as her mouth piece! Even the villagers are designed with such care, memorable and reminiscent of the original in many places – the man with the scissors and the guy with the mustache, the Baker is very similar to his animated design... I would have liked to have seen blonde silly girls to contrast them more distinctly with Belle, but they are what they are. The set design, from the village to the absolutely incredible castle, it's all so, so good. I love the little flowers painted on the doorway to Maurice's cottage and I loved the magnificent, baroque-meets-gothic design of an extremely unique castle. I know people are up in arms about the yellow dress, I know it's not perfect, but it doesn't stick out so horribly in the movie and it moves so beautifully in the ballroom scene. And honestly, I've never cared about the yellow dress, the blue dress is the one I've always loved and I just think the live action interpretation is glorious. It does not feel like a costume, it feels worn-in, it feels natural, like it's just Belle's favorite dress, and I just love it so much.

Speaking of detail, they named the village. And they named it Villeneuve. As in Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, the original author of the fairy tale. Come on. That's fantastic.

Let's see, some of my other favorite moments that jumped out at me that I wanted to mention... the whole “Gaston” scene in the tavern is awesome, maybe my favorite scene besides the finale sequence. I love that Lefou is going around paying everyone off to boost Gaston's ego, I love the dance, I love the use of Tom, Dick, and Stanley as cronies throughout the entire movie, I love lifting the young woman and then lifting Lefou, the whole song is fun and funny and exciting and the new lyrics are just amazing - “Then I shoot from behind!” “Is that fair?” “I don't care!” ...That's exactly what's going to happen in the final battle. Ugh. So good.

The moment in “Something There” where the Beast moves to Belle's end of the table, she puts down her spoon, and they both sip their soup out of the bowl... that hit me in a way the animated movie never has before. It's amazing symbolism. He can't eat with the spoon, she's not going to lap it up like an animal, so they find a way they can both eat the same way. They're meeting each other halfway. That's some good stuff right there.

OH, and I can't believe I haven't mentioned “Be Our Guest!” Come on. They went hard with that. They put on a full Broadway production on the table in front of Belle! The way it just kept growing bigger and bigger was delightful. Plus I love that the grey stuff is designed after Be Our Guest Restaurant's grey stuff, complete with the silver and grey chocolate caviar beads.

Replacing the animated film's bookstore, which never really made sense in a town of people who think reading makes someone weird, with a small shelf holding a dozen old and worn books that Belle has read over and over is just such a wonderful touch. I love that Belle's favorite play is Romeo and Juliet because she's barely read anything else and I love that the Beast's reaction is to roll his eyes at her selection. I would have liked to have seen the giving of the library be a little more deliberate and a little less off the cuff, and I definitely missed the “promises you don't intend to keep” line, but I'm so satisfied with the choice to make the Beast a reader. Having “a very expensive education” totally makes sense, and what else would he have had to do with all that time? They each develop the other's literary taste! What's better in a relationship than that?

The new songs are lovely as well. “How Can A Moment Last Forever?” is so much better than “No Matter What,” I wish it could logically fit into the musical instead because it's really, really good. “Days in the Sun” is so sweet, it's nice to have those moments with the young prince and each of the objects and even Belle, and honestly I can't stand “Human Again” so I'm good with this one, plus the lyrical nod to “A Change in Me” is nice. But “Evermore” is clearly stealing the show as far as the new songs are concerned. What a great song. I still think they could have done a little tweaking to the lyrics in order to still use “If I Can't Love Her” but if we're going to write a new song for the Beast, I'll take this one. (But can we not digitally lower Dan Stevens's voice next time? It sounds like a computer singing at some points.) I also loved all of the new/old lyrics that were incorporated into the songs we were familiar with. They felt fresh without being forced. The new “Gaston” lyrics are definitely my favorite, but the new lyrics that Mrs. Potts sings in the finale are touching. Plus, using the Broadway songs as underscoring was really nice, especially “Home.”

I'm just so delighted with this movie. Everything from the original is there but now there's more. The stove is there. The coat rack is there. The footstool is there. They just paid so much attention to detail and did this movie the justice it deserved. I'm already prepared to call this my favorite movie. Easily. By miles. It's beautiful and just absolutely everything I was hoping it would be.

#disney #disney meta #beauty and the beast #beauty and the beast 2017 #beauty and the beast spoilers #drew answers #drew talks disney #LONG POST #SO SORRY

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gods-dont-bleed · 8 years ago

Photo

Koyol and Svet, The Transient God and the Old God, The Mutant Snake Man and The Man of Heat and Light.

Koyol (nicknamed Kyle) is a mutant amalgam of many things- mostly Snake, but also Human, Earth, Plants, and other animal composites. He came into existence at an unknown point in time with the mind set of perhaps a small animal where as “one day, I was there” and slowly developed more human feelings like curiosity and questioning, to which he eventually left the whole he came into existence in. His agine speed decreases as he got older, and he spent many many years as a child, “civilized” by a human village that caught him and passed around like a plauge between homes as he’d outlive every family since he aged so slow. He eventually becomes an independent adventurer and traveler, and makes many great discoveries, including finding a Gem of Power, a special artifact known as the Universal Emerald (which isnt actually an emerald its Tsavorite) as well as his life long companion, an Animal Spirit in the form of a Snake from an Egg that would never hatch which Koyol found in his original Hole, so named Katrina. with the Emerald, Koyol’s travels massively expanded, and he went from having traveled everywhere in his own land to Traveling an infinite number of other worlds which he studies in grave detail. He picks up new incredible skills from each universe he visits and has even met many other versions of himself, including his Self from Svet’s universe. Over the course of his travels, others who could travel between worlds or had a knowledge of him refered to him as a nonexistant mystery beings known as The Man They Call Universe, as well did Koyol’s constantly increasing powers and skills make many think he was a god and many universes develop cults in his dedication.He’s recognized as a Snake Prince in his home world, and a god or King or many other titles in others. Svet’s world recognizes Koyol as a Transient God- a god that was once mortal but has such immense power, they can no longer be considered mortal. He has a massive arrayal of skills and abilities from ordinary mundane things he’s learned by studying cultures like Cooking, Instruments, Weaving, Writing, etc, to great powerful abilities that come from other universes, like Flow Alchemy that he learned from a universe he calls Alchemhaven (aka, the universe of Full Metal Alchemist), or Water Controling skills from another universe, Avatara (aka, the Universe of Avatar the last Airbender). As a part of being a mutant, Koyol’s body is productive of a strange and difficultto study ‘energy’ similar to radiation that can be dangerous to others over a prolongued exposure lasting years- for example, his childhood companion and one-time brother Kal, who has become severly deformed, lost two limbs and some fingers to a slowly decomposed body, and is still alive despite having known Koyol when he was a child (his aging process has slowed along side Koyol’s, but at a lesser rate, and physically he appears to be 45). Another mutation of Koyol’s mutant DNA has been a deteriorating Psychosis, more likely from an increase in bad experiences over his very long life. However, Koheu is a second being withing Kyle’s mind and within his soul, essentially a second person completely, that comes from being amutant and has been recognized as Koheu, Ender of Worlds. A chaotic, hateful man inside kyle’s head that is far beyond reason, and knows everything koyol can and do everything he can do. Kyle’s greatest passion is to Learn and to Travel, and over his life he has adopted 4 children, including his only son who has a grandchild. He’s a fiercly protective man who’s Loyalty is is at a dangerously lethal level, and his anatomy and body are all sorts of strange. He’s established his own group called the Rainbow Squad, a massive collection of people with special skills seeking escape from their original lives and to make the multiverse a better place, including training programs for abandoned children who are housed there, and massive workings of members and affiliates. Koyol is incredibly old and his biological downtick has officially stopped, and he no longer ages at the physical age of 24. Svet jokes the Koyol has to be at least half his age (which is a joke, because Svet doesnt have an age and has always existed.), and frequently refers to Koyol’s age as ‘about half as old as forever’.

Svet on contrast has a very different life story. He’s an ethereal being that was both there before time- therefor, before there was a before- and came into existance when the first light and the first heat could exist. as an Old God he is physically Immortal and unbound to a single body or even having a form at all. His life is a blur of partial omnipotence as he watched the universe form around him, within him. He knows every god, even the Void Gods that never existed, excluding some ‘newer’ Demigods or other sorts that only newly reached divinity. As long as there have been humans, Svet has been fascinated with their lives. At one point a Tyrannical dictator, at another point pretending to be a human himself, and currently just living as a god among people. Svet has almost always been a popular deity among people and has had many temples, shrines, and wars have been fought in his name. While a light hearted man on his most usual, he is a wrathful and dangerously powerful person who makes almost no corporeal sense. He’s a man of a million loves, a million friends. He has a single daughter. and while fiercely protective and Loyal... there are parts of him that would make others think otherwise, and many have eventually figured that out after a lifetime in his companionship. History on Svet is surprisingly sparse and it seems his go-with-the-flow lifestyle has meant much of his life is lesser known to others.

most of my characters tend to share specific ideals or traits strongly because im not sure how to portray other things- per example, many of my characters are Polyromantic or Polysexual, since i personally dont really see the concept of why someone would be conflicted loving two people and blah blah blah. the point is, all my characters are similar in a certain angle.

However, the conundrum of these two to me is always fun, because they to me are so... similar, and yet, there is virtually every possible reason to call them complete opposites, even down to fundamental cores.

Examples.

Koyol has lost many loved ones over the course of his long life; he finds the memories of them all very painful, and lives in constant dread of each person he knows dying, and knows they will. Contrastingly, alough Svet has also lost many over the course of his long life, He is disconnected from this sort of pain then a normal person or most gods are. His attachments are lesser, he mourns very shortly, and rarely worries or thinks twice about the passing of someone he knows,

Koyol lives a very isolated way that would make it seem as though he’s Distant, but in actuality, he gets attached very quickly and very strongly, and sees most people he knows as family. Svet, while living an outgoing and friendly, active life and meeting many people and many relationships, is actually incredibly distant from most if not all people, and cares deeply for incredibly few people in his life to the point it is very surprising.

Koyol and Svet share a strong strain of protective nature and loyalty. However, Koyol is self-sacrificing Loyal to even people who barely consider him an acquaintance. to those he values he would even readily die just at their request if they wanted him to. Svet on contrary is not self-sacrificing, or at least not nearly as much as Koyol. He will go out of his way to help friends, but wont go so far as to give up his own for simple friends or even others closer to him.

Svet is a very forward, touchy person and communicates bast with his hands, and is very physical-contact oriented. Koyol, on contrast, will most likely never touch you if he neednt. In his culture, even light touches were considered very intimate. He is also just naturally a not-touchy person and would prefer to keep a good personal bubble from others.

Svet is incredibly sensitive and is constantly aware of anything touching his body or the stream of fir- be it every fiber of his clothing to every particle of dust that settles on his skin, as a result of his body being a ‘projection’ of sorts. Koyol, contrarily, has two layers of “skin”. the top layer is extra flesh and skin and his sense of touch is extremely dull. Occasionally he sheds this layer (which is a disturbing messy process) by flexing the second layer- a layer of razor sharp, uniquely hard black scales that tear the top layer of green skin off. This layer is incredibly sensitive, though not as much as Svet’s. While his top layer is very, very dull, his hair is quite sensitive. dont pull it. hes tender headed.

Koyol’s curiosity and interest is incredibly studious, and he wants to learn essentially everything. if he doesnt know it, you can talk his ear off and he’ll be intrigued. Svet, however, while paying attention, is doing so more out of courtesy and more so to learn about you then because he actually ever cares about a topic- he rarely does.

all of Koyol’s traits/skills are hard earned, for the most part. he worked and learned them. Svet is more of a savant with natural skills in things he enjoys.

Koyol will rarely use your name. In his culture, using a name specifically to you face is intimate. He only uses names to refer to another person when talking to someone, and otherwise uses nicknames. Also, in his culture, most names start with a K or have many Ks. Svet uses names consistently, and prefers full name use to shortened nicknames (referring to Chelo as Chelovek, or calling Koyol by his name rather than his eaiser pronounced Nickname Kyle.).

Koyol is fluent in almost any language he’s ever heard of, and can communicate with any culture he’s ever met- the biggest exception to this is that he cannot use Sign Language, not for a lack of trying; he can read it easily if someone signs to him, but his hands are not flexible enough for signing and many of his gestures look wrong. to the contrary, Svet only knows Sign language, Morse code and English and has shown to have great difficulty learning new ones should he try, and rather learns more universal languages that arent spoken. He’s currently trying to learn computer Binary and how to read various Ciphers.

While they both strongly enjoy cooking and are very good at it, Koyol cannot taste sweet, hates sour flavors, and loves milk; Svet cannot taste sour even in a human body, loves Sweet flavors, and cant stand milk. They both enjoy cultural dishes. Koyol strongly refuses on drinking if he can but is fairly easy to peer pressure into it, and is a surprisingly loose-lipped drunk; Svet loves partying and quite enjoys a drink but its nearly impossible to peer pressure him into it- or anything- and is a very cut-loose, party-type drunk in any body except his normal firey one, where alcohol makes hime a more angry drunk as it reacts with his core.

They are different as fuck so i dunno why to me they see so similar.

#i have 0 memory of writing this #or drawing it #what the hell #it was just in my tabs open #what #Svet #Koyol #headcanon

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sarahw-world · 8 years ago

Text

My first fanfic: A Dark Heart

Chapter 13 : A Saiyan's Voice

Summary: Bulma listens to Vegeta's message...

I watched a small snail, crawling

on the edge of a straight razor.

That's my dream. It's my nightmare.

Crawling, slithering,

along the edge of a straight razor,

and surviving.

[Colonel Kurtz; “Apocalypse Now”]

Bulma wiped her forehead as she tiredly sat on the floor.

She was exhausted.

She’d been working nonstop on Vegeta’s ship for three days now, trying to repair the circuit system as fast as she could. The fact that her Prince had left a message for her in the memory system of the vehicle was enough to keep her motivated, but truth be told, the whole experience was taking a toll on her.

Hard work didn’t bother her, but the harsh conditions surrounding them didn’t help. The weather was unbearably cold, and the days on this frozen planet were short, which made the nights excruciatingly long; and lonely, of course.

Being inside the warrior’s ship all day made her realize how much she really missed him. This was the ship she’d first built for him, the one where he’d trained in order to prepare himself for the battle with the androids, and the one where she’d slowly come to realize she’d fallen in love with her man.

She sighed, allowing herself a few moments of nostalgia, lost in the memories of her feelings for him. The heiress didn’t fully understand why or how she’d end up falling in love with Vegeta; sure, things between her and Yamcha had been strained for a while, especially considering the fact that they’d been trying for a baby for over a year with no success. But out of all the eligible men on Earth, why the Saiyan Prince?

She knew why.

He was different, just like her. They were both incredibly stubborn people, born into wealthy and powerful families. Obviously, their lives had been very different, while hers had been filled with harmless adventure, his had been full of only Dende knew what… One thing was certain, he’d suffered a lot, and the fact that he’d freed those slaves instead of just taking them for himself was proof, at least to her, that he’d actually known what being owned by someone else meant.

She shook her head.

She still couldn’t believe she’d been afraid of the possibility of Vegeta being evil. Deep down, she knew he wouldn’t be able to go back to his old self. Not after all the things they’d been through on her planet. The blue haired woman recalled her conversation with Dende, where the young God had basically warned her about the possibility of Vegeta losing his mind one way or the other. Khalla’s words had also brought her a reason to be concerned: she said the Prince had looked lost.

Bulma slowly stood up, wiping off her jumper. She believed that her man getting rid of Frieza’s scummy monsters was good, but she also knew that they were all still in a lot of danger. After all, what was the warrior going to do once he got rid of those guys? She knew Vegeta was someone that always needed a goal in life, something to keep him going, motivated. First, it had been defeating Frieza, then the androids, then Goku. What a mess the whole thing had turned out to be…

She felt sorry for him, she really did. The scientist believed that his place should be on Earth, with Trunks and her, and she hoped she’d eventually be able to make him understand that or, at the very least, to make him give the possibility of a life in peace, without violence or revenge, a real chance.

“Alright, baby” she said to the machine as she proceeded to run the first tests, “let’s see if I managed to fix you…”

Meanwhile, Yamcha and Krillin waited outside, inside a little Capsule Corp. house Bulma had installed, with Khalla’s permission, in the old woman’s backyard. It was small but comfortable, with only two bedrooms, which meant that the two men had been taking turns sleeping on the couch, chivalrously allowing Bulma to sleep on one of the beds full-time.

They were in the middle of a card game when the scientist’s voice sounded through the intercom.

“Guys?” she asked.

Yamcha approached the communication device, pressing the button.

“What’s up?”

“I think I fixed it! The system seems to be working! I’ll check if the memory hard drives are working properly and if the recording’s still in there…” she replied, sounding really excited.

“That’s great, B.! Do you want us to go in there with you?”

There was a short silence.

“Um… No… I think it’s better if I listen to it by myself first if you guys don’t mind…” she said almost shyly.

“Sure, no problem… Just let us know when you’re done…”

“I will… Uh, I gotta go…”

Bulma disconnected the intercom and Yamcha turned towards Krillin, who had been avidly listening to their brief conversation.

“You think she’ll be alright?” the bald man asked worriedly.

The scarred faced warrior exhaled tiredly, sitting on a chair in front of his friend.

“Probably not…” he mumbled. “Knowing Vegeta, his message won’t be very nice, uh?”

“I guess…” Krillin replied, deep in thought. “Especially if he was pissed off when he recorded it. Who knows what the fuck goes on inside that head of his…”

“I don’t know, pal…”

‘But what an idiot he is…’ Yamcha thought to himself.

Back inside the ship, Bulma was sitting on the pilot’s chair, impatiently waiting for the system to run.

It worked.

She typed in the security codes and she saw a red light blinking on the corner of the screen.

Vegeta’s message.

Bulma took a deep breath and she pressed the OK button…

The sound of the recording wasn’t very good, and she could hear a lot of noise in the background. And then she heard it, hard breathing, which she immediately recognized as Vegeta’s.

A deep voice spoke, just for her…

“Woman… What the… What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

He sounded furious, panting heavily, and she could tell that he was unsuccessfully trying to keep his anger in check.

“What…? WHO SAID YOU HAD THE RIGHT TO FOLLOW ME? STAY AWAY FROM ME!!!”

Bulma was trembling, utterly distraught. She’d never been on the receiving end of Vegeta’s fury. Not like this. They’d had their little arguments here and there, but deep down she’d known they’d both enjoyed pissing off one another.

But this was different.

This was pure, unadulterated rage.

“Where is he? Did you bring him with you, just like you did with the androids?”

Trunks.

He was talking about Trunks.

Was he finally showing concern towards his son?

“Just go back, woman! Go back and take care of YOUR child!”

Her tears started to fall.

Her child?

Fuck!

More harsh breathing.

“You had no right… No right…”

His voice was lower now.

“No right… I don’t… I don’t understand you…”

Confusion.

“You were safe now… You and the child… You were both safe…”

The woman listened to the Prince’s voice, which had started to change, almost as if he were talking to himself now, trying to gather his own thoughts.

“You were safe from me…”

“No…” she whispered, as if he could hear her.

Safe from him? Did Vegeta think he was a danger to them? The heiress knew the Saiyan would never hurt them. Maybe he thought he’d hurt them emotionally?

He didn’t talk for a while, but she could tell he’d been pacing and panting, probably as a result of trying to exercise some self-control.

Finally, he whispered…

“Bulma…”

She felt her chest tighten at the sound of her name on his lips. His voice was deep, masculine and intimate, and it reminded her of the private moments they’d shared during their nights together…

“Bulma… I see him… I see him, Bulma…”

There was something frantic in his voice, almost haunted.

“My father… What a joke…”

He laughed a sad, tragic laugh…

“What a joke…”

The blue haired beauty was now nervously biting the nail of her right thumb, eyes wide open, tears falling from them…

“He laughs at me, Bulma… I… I’m trying to show him… To show him what I’m capable of… But it’s not enough…”

There was a hard sound, like a blow, and she guessed he’d hit something.

“It’s never enough…”

He sounded like a child, like a lost, confused child…

“He wants me to stay away from you… He… You… He says you’re not good for me… Not good… He mocks me in my dreams… My nightmares…”

There were some unintelligible sounds, and Vegeta was almost whispering by now. Bulma held her breath, struggling to hear him…

“Can you believe that? He tells me you’ll only bring me pain… Pain and shame… I…”

His voice was trembling, and he let out a shaky breath…

“I tell him he’s a liar! A fucking liar! I tell… I tell him you take it away… You take the pain away…”

He chuckled, a laugh full of agony and despair…

“What a fucking joke… I ask him… I ask him why… Why did he give me away? Why didn’t I die with my people? I just… What a fucking joke my life’s been…”

No. Bulma nervously shook her head. No!

He wanted to die? Was that his plan? Was he on some kind of reckless suicide mission?

“You have to stay away from me, Bulma… I’m no good… The boy… You keep him safe… You two just… Stay away from me…”

“No!” she yelled.

“Take care of my boy… Just... Stay away from me! DON’T COME LOOKING FOR ME! YOU HEAR ME?! STAY AWAY!!”

She heard him roar in desperation, exploding in a cloud of raw misery.

And then, there was nothing…

****************************************************************************************************

Yamcha yawned loudly as he realized he’d just lost another card game to Krillin. He stood up and stretched his back until something audibly popped. He then walked towards one of the house’s little windows, from which he could see the ship. It had been more than an hour since he’d last talked to his ex-girlfriend.

“You think she’s doing alright?” Krillin asked all of a sudden with a concerned voice.

“I don’t know… It’s been a while, right? You think I should call and ask her?” Yamcha replied.

“Yeah, I have a bad feeling… Use the intercom, just in case…”

The taller man approached the communication device and he pressed the button.

“Bulma?”

Silence.

“Hey, B.! Is everything OK?”

Silence.

He turned towards Krillin, who was already standing up next to him, and both men exchanged a questioning look.

“You think we should go?” Yamcha asked.

The bald man nodded, already walking to the door, ready to exit their new little home. Yamcha followed him, and soon both warriors found themselves standing at the vehicle’s heavy gate.

“Bulma?” Yamcha asked again, softly knocking.

Nothing.

“Bulma! I’m coming in, alright?” He warned, attempting to open the door and realizing it wasn’t even locked.

“Shit!” Krillin whispered as they both saw what their friend was up to.

In front of them, Bulma was sitting on the floor, with her back against the wall. She’d wrapped herself in her now familiar blue blanket, her slender arms strongly clutching her knees against her chest, rocking back and forth like a terrified child that had just seen a monster under the bed. She kept biting one of her thumbnails, her eyes wide open, red and swollen from crying, and she looked completely absent.

Yamcha cautiously walked towards her, as if he were a hunter afraid of alarming his prey. These new circumstances scared the crap out of him, for he’d never ever seen the heiress in this condition.

“Bulma?” He asked softly.

She ignored him, still staring at an indefinite point…

“Babe? Are you alright?” He asked again, kneeling in front of her.

“Khalla…” She finally whispered, still not looking at him.

“What?”

Bulma finally set her drained blue eyes on her ex-lover and she asked again.

“Khalla… P-please… I need her…” she said with pleading eyes.

“Uh… Um… Of course, B., I’ll go get her…” the now astonished man replied to her.

He stood up and walked towards the door, where Krillin had silently been observing the unnerving scene. They both looked at each other.

“She wants to see the older woman” Yamcha whispered, trying to prevent the scientist from hearing them. “What do you think she wants?”

“I don’t know” the bald man honestly replied. “Maybe she just needs to talk to a woman? Let’s just bring her in; I don’t like what’s happening here…”

Yamcha nodded and exited the ship with the intention of finding the woman, meanwhile, Krillin just stood in there with his arms crossed, not wanting to disturb the scientist but incapable of leaving her alone either. He was joined by his friend and Khalla a few minutes later.

“Oh, dear…” The older woman whispered. “May I ask what happened to her?” She asked in shock.

“We’re not sure” Krillin replied. “I think she finally managed to listen to Vegeta’s message. She didn’t tell us anything, she just asked for you…”

Khalla nodded in understanding, thinking it was very possible that the beautiful woman simply wouldn’t feel comfortable discussing private matters of the heart with her two male companions.

“I believe we should first remove her from the floor and place her in a more comfortable position”, the older woman finally said.

Yamcha didn’t hesitate in following her suggestion and he walked again towards Bulma, who still seemed to be lost in thought, and quite unaware of her surroundings.

“Khalla is here, B.” He whispered as if she were a frightened kid. “Would you like to talk to her now?”

Those large blue eyes looked up at him again, and she nodded, stretching her arms towards him in a silent plea for help. She was so fatigued she could barely find the strength to stand up on her own two legs. Yamcha gently held her in his arms and he walked towards the ship’s small living area, he sat her down on the couch and he made sure she remained wrapped protectively in her cozy blue blanket.

“Do you want something else, B.? Some tea?”

“Please…” she whispered. “And could you make another one for Khalla?”

“You got it, B.” he replied, inwardly relieved that she at least seemed to be slowly coming out of her cocoon.

Meanwhile, the woman had approached Bulma and she’d sat down next to her, silently waiting until the young scientist felt comfortable enough to talk to her. While she waited, she couldn’t help but look around, admiring the advanced technology surrounding her.

“I built it for him” the heiress whispered.

“I beg your pardon, Miss Bulma?” Khalla replied, slightly startled by the blue haired woman’s voice.

“Just Bulma, Khalla. You don’t have to call me Miss anymore, we’re friends now, right?” she said with a sad smile on her face.

“Um, of course, Bulma… What were you saying…?”

“Here’s the tea!” Yamcha happily informed as he placed a small tray in front of them. He thought chamomile tea would be a good choice and it would perhaps help sooth his friend’s nerves.

“Would you like some sugar in yours, Khalla?” he offered.

The older woman looked at the man, and he quickly realized she had no idea what sugar was.

“It’s, uh, it’s a substance we put in our drinks to make them sweeter…” Yamcha explained.

“In that case, I’ll try it; thank you, young man…”

The scarred faced warrior finished preparing the women’s drinks and he excused himself, leaving the ship with Krillin and going back to their provisional house, not before reminding Bulma that they’d be there in case there was anything she needed. Both women took a sip of their herbal teas, and Khalla marveled at how delicious the beverage actually was. After a couple of minutes, Bulma felt ready to talk again.

“I was saying that… That I built the ship for Vegeta…” she said in a low voice.

“Really? All on your own?” the woman replied with honest surprise.

“Not really, although I could have, it would simply have taken longer to make it… No, I made it with my dad and a few of our employees. I come from a family of scientists… Well, at least on my father’s side…”

‘Impressive’ Khalla thought.

“So… You made this ship for Lord Vegeta so that he could leave your planet?” she asked gingerly, trying to understand the situation a little bit better.

“No…” she shook her head. “Well, yes… I mean, it is a ship but, it has other purposes too…”

“Such as?”

“You see this room around us? Well, it can also turn into a gravity room… It basically increases the density of the gravity inside the ship, and it makes it very difficult to move and even breathe in it… I built it for him, so… So he could get stronger…”

Khalla remained silent for a moment, trying to assimilate this new information. The woman had actually helped their new Lord to get stronger, which probably meant they were at least on friendly terms.

“There was a conflict on my planet… We were warned by… Uh… By someone… About an upcoming battle and all of my friends trained very hard for several years to prepare for it…” Bulma continued. She carefully avoided mentioning certain details, such as her planet’s name or the Mirai Trunks story, in order to protect her home and her people from any danger; but at the same time, she felt the need to talk to this woman, to make her understand what she and Vegeta had gone through somehow. She needed some wise advice, because right now, she really didn’t know what to do anymore…

“So… Lord Vegeta was your friend back then?”

“You could say that… He certainly vowed to fight by our side. Which he did,” Bulma proudly replied.

“I’m assuming you won the battle?”

“We did, although it was brutal… It turned out to be much harder than any of us had anticipated…”

“And Lord Vegeta left after the battle, I presume…”

Bulma nodded.

“Pretty much… Yeah, he did… I… He didn’t really say goodbye or anything, he just…”

The heiress stopped talking, feeling her lower lip tremble. He’d really ruined her, hadn’t he? There she was, Bulma Briefs, a woman that could literally have any man she pretty much wanted, and she’d managed to find herself on a frozen planet in the middle of space, chasing ghosts…

“Were you…? Were you expecting him to stay? Is that what this is all about, Bulma?”

The younger woman sighed and nodded again.

“You could say that… Yes, I… I thought he was one of us now… But… I just… I wonder if I’ve just been fooling myself all this time…”

“Perhaps you haven’t…” Khalla retorted knowingly.

“What do you mean?” Bulma replied, her eyes widening, full of curiosity.

“Well… It always seemed to me that he… That he was one of those people that weren’t exactly designed to fit in anywhere… Even if his race had survived, I… And again, this is just my opinion but, I really think he would have, at the very least, changed quite a few things about his people’s costumes…”

“Did you… Did you know more Saiyans, Khalla?”

The older woman nodded.

“I did. I was young once myself, young lady…” she said with a warm, nostalgic smile.

“I actually got to see Lord Vegeta’s father on a few occasions.”

“K-King Vegeta?” the heiress asked in shock.

“That’s right. King Vegeta himself. It was long after the Saiyans had lost their independence; I believe his son was already under Frieza’s custody at the time, and his father and a few of his people visited this planet a few times, always to retrieve whatever Frieza required back then…”

“You mean the pieces you built for him?”

“That and some other things, sometimes…”

“L-Like what?” Bulma asked, having the feeling that she wouldn’t like the answer.

“He sometimes retrieved people too, Bulma. Frieza was always in dire need of personal slaves, and sometimes he sent some of his men to select a few chosen ones that would serve our Master in his personal residences.”

“That bastard…” the blue haired woman mumbled.

Khalla exhaled tiredly, and she grimaced.

“That he was… Yes… I… I lost one of my daughters that way…” she finally confessed.

“In what way? Was she one of Frieza’s personal slaves too?” Bulma asked in shock, now experiencing a great deal of pity towards the woman sitting next to her. Who knew what kind of things she’d actually had to live through…

“She was. She was taken by one of the Prince’s friends. I don’t recall his name, he was… He was the one with no hair...”

“Nappa?”

“Yes, I believe that was his name. He was a brute…” she whispered angrily.

“I never met him, but I saw him fight once. He didn’t seem to be a good man…”

‘Then again, neither did Vegeta’ she thought.

“He wasn’t.” Khalla firmly said. “He was one of those men that seemed to enjoy abusing his power and just taking whatever he wanted… Including my daughter… He first saw her while she was working on one of our factories and… Well, I suppose he became a bit infatuated… My daughter was a really beautiful woman, Bulma. Beauty can be a curse sometimes…”

Bulma remained silent, knowing extremely well what the woman was talking about. The scientist had always been aware of her beauty, especially since she’d been one of those girls that had blossomed at such a young age, and while sometimes her good looks had helped her navigate through life, she’d also experienced a lot of unwanted attention and prejudice from those who still seemed to believe than beauty and brains were incompatible.

“So… Nappa took her for her beauty?”

“Eventually, yes… But the Prince stopped him at first…”

“How?” the heiress eagerly asked, now fascinated by the woman’s story.

“Well… I guess the man had decided to take her to Frieza, but he wanted to… To, you know… To ‘use’ her first” Khalla said with a voice laced in pain.

“Oh, Gods…” Bulma whispered in horror.

“One night my daughter came home later than usual, her wrists were wounded, full of scratches, as if she’d been fighting someone that had been holding her against her will… She was crying, very upset… She said Nappa had approached her after she’d been done with her day’s work and he’d tried to… To abuse her…”

“And?”

“Prince Vegeta showed up just in time and he released my girl from Nappa’s clutches, ordering her to go home… The Prince never mentioned the incident to me, but the day after, several people from our village swore they’d seen Nappa beaten up, really badly, and I’m guessing Lord Vegeta was the only one at the time that would have had the strength to fight that beast…”

An unruly tear fell from Bulma’s eye.

Vegeta had saved a woman from being raped, and then he’d punished that bald bastard. That incident alone showed her that her man had some principles, even back then.

“They both left a couple of days later, with a group Frieza’s men and a few people from our small town to serve as slaves.”

“They took your daughter?”

“Not yet. No… They… They came back, about two or three months later, and then Nappa took her to Frieza. She died less than a year after they enslaved her…”

“Do you… Do you know how she d-died?”

“Some kind of lung disease. My girl wasn’t physically very strong, I was told the working conditions were too hard on her fragile body and she didn’t make it…”

“So… Vegeta finally allowed Nappa to take her?” Bulma asked, now completely horrified about the whole story.

“I doubt it. He didn’t come with him the second time Nappa visited our planet. I heard some rumors that he wasn’t in good terms with his Master and Frieza had sent him away on some really dangerous mission all by himself… Of course, those were just rumors… Here, we never knew anything for sure…”

Both women remained quiet for a few minutes while they finished their drinks.

Bulma realized, once again, that the warrior had been raised in a very dark world indeed, and her father’s thoughts came to her mind one more time. Could it be conceivable that Vegeta thought he didn’t deserve a life filled with peace and love? He’d certainly never experienced it before, of that she was sure, and it was very possible that he simply hadn’t been able to consider that option in life.

And then there was that recording.

She shivered, the memory of his voice covering her skin in goosebumps.

Yes, he’d been furious at first, clearly trying to convince her to go home, to stay away from him. But then, as he’d gradually calmed down and he’d opened himself more and more to her, she realized that he probably felt he was protecting her by staying away from her and Trunks. He’d talked about nightmares, filled with his father’s voice, shaming and mocking him. That bastard! How was it even possible that Vegeta still felt indebted towards the King and his people when they’d all failed him so? He’d been just a boy, a young little boy surrounded by terrifying conditions. And yet, even though she was certain he’d done horrible things, Khalla’s story confirmed what she’d suspected all along: there was more to the Saiyan Prince than met the eye. Back on Earth, Bulma had already managed to slowly bring down those walls he’d so carefully built around him over the years, and she got the feeling he’d even started to enjoy life with her and their son…

“Take care of my boy” he’d said…

His boy…

Abruptly, Khalla’s voice brought her back to the present.

“Bulma, I hope you don’t find me too intrusive but… Did you… Did you two have more than a friendship?”

The scientist was quiet for a moment, calculating what she should and shouldn’t share about her relationship with the Prince. She knew he was now in a very powerful position, and that would make her and Trunks extremely vulnerable to anyone that would want to use them to try to hurt or manipulate the Saiyan warrior.

“No… Not really…” she finally replied. “But I admit that… That I was hoping our friendship would perhaps develop into something more meaningful in the future…”

“I see…” Khalla replied, unconvinced by Bulma’s answer but not willing to push the issue any further in case she’d offend the younger woman. Whatever the case, it was pretty clear she’d succeeded in getting closer to the Saiyan Prince than anyone ever had. This should be reason enough, in her opinion, to encourage her to pursue the young man…

“Do you think he was happy on your planet with you and your friends, Bulma?”

The blue haired woman shrugged in despair.

“I guess… I used to think he was… Our planet is very beautiful Khalla, and we’ve mostly lived in times of peace. I believe Vegeta would have been happy with us but now… Now I just don’t know! I mean, how could we compete with all of this? How?”

“What do you mean?”

“Lord Vegeta…” she said, mockery in her voice. “I mean… He is a Prince, isn’t he? He probably believes he was born for this. You know, world domination… All of that… How could a quiet life on some distant planet compete with the power he holds right now…”

“Child,” Khalla firmly said. “If you believe these new circumstances have brought joy to that man’s life you’re truly mistaken. I… I do not presume to know what goes on inside his head but… All I know is that the man I witnessed was not a happy man, and he should have been, given the situation… You’re right, he used to talk about this day even back then…”

“What day?” Bulma curiously asked.

“The day he’d take Frieza’s place, of course! I was around him on a few occasions when he was younger and he used to visit our planet and, well, he was a very different man back then… He used to talk about some legend… Some kind of power that he was born to possess and he said when that happened he’d kill his Master and rule in his place…”

“The legend…” the scientist whispered… “He did, you know?”

“He did what, child?” Khalla asked in confusion.

“He did it! He became a Super Saiyan! The legendary…”

“So, it was true then?”

Bulma nodded.

“It was, yes… I like to believe I contributed a little… I mean, I know he achieved it on his own, but I built this ship so he could train…”

The older woman pondered over what Bulma just said. If her words were true, her new Lord owed the beautiful woman a large debt, and he would never hurt her no matter what.

“Are you going to keep looking for him, Bulma?” she finally asked.

“I don’t know, Khalla… Honestly… I wouldn’t even know where to look… And now that he doesn’t have the ship anymore, I can’t even track his position…” the blue haired woman replied in defeat.

“I’m pretty sure I know where he is right now…”

“What? Where?”

“I think he’s on Planet Z365,” Khalla said with conviction.

“Wha… How would you know that? Did he tell you?” Bulma said, shocked that her man would have shared that information that freely.

“No, he didn’t, but I heard some of the soldiers mention it as they were leaving. Plus, there have been lots of rumors about him and his men having established their main base on that planet. It used to be one of the most luxurious places owned by Frieza back in the day…”

“Really?” The younger woman said, deep in thought.

“Why… Why would he want people to know where he lives? Wouldn’t that put him in great danger?” she asked worriedly.

“Not necessarily, child. No… You see? The place has great security. I believe it has some form of protective shield and not everyone can be granted permission to land on its surface.”

“Mmmm… I don’t know Khalla… I don’t think he’d be happy to see me now. In the recording, he… He made it clear he wanted us to go back home…” Bulma whispered sadly.

“I’m convinced he was just trying to protect you. If you’re friends, I’m sure deep down he’ll be glad to see you. You have nothing to lose, Bulma. If there’s a chance you two could be happy together, you must try.”

“You really think so, Khalla?”

Bulma held the other woman’s hand, looking for comfort and advice, her blue eyes now burning with unshed tears. Khalla squeezed back.

“I do. Bulma, I… I might not have the knowledge in science and so many of the things you know about but… But there’s one thing I know, child: life is precious. This can be a dark universe but sometimes, sometimes we find beauty in it, Bulma, and we must fight for whatever happiness we can get. Lord Vegeta… I’m sure he’s a man of many flaws, but perhaps he deserves another chance in life. Maybe he could share that new life with you…”

The heiress remained silent, quietly crying as she held Khalla’s hand. Her mind was bursting with thoughts, fighting an internal conflict: her brain said no, but her heart… Her heart was saying yes…

And Bulma Briefs always trusted her heart.

She let go of the woman’s hand, wiped her tears from her face and she stood up.

“Alright then. We’ll go find that stubborn Saiyan!” she said resolutely.

Khalla chuckled, glad to see the fire back in the young woman’s spirit. And as she saw her walk towards the console, sitting on the pilot’s chair, she figured that the powerful man had probably fallen in love with that spirit. The girl looked physically fragile, but her mind was strong, her soul brave, and her heart seemed to be in the right place.

“OK, Khalla, would you be able to give me the coordinates of Planet Z365?” Bulma asked, looking at the computer’s screen.

**************************************************************************************************

Yamcha yawned idly as he laid on his bed, covered by the cozy blankets, with his arms crossed behind his neck and his eyes staring at the ceiling.

It had been eleven days since they’d abandoned the frozen planet in search of Vegeta, and the loneliness of space was really starting to take its toll on all the inhabitants of the ship. Especially on Bulma.

This second trip had been different from the first. While before she’d shared most of her time with Krillin and him, the woman was now spending most of it by herself in her tiny cabin. She only joined them during meal times and, every now and then, to do something like watch a movie or play a card game, but mostly, the heiress had managed to isolate herself.

The scarred faced warrior got up and walked lazily towards his private shower. At least, his ex-girlfriend had repaired their ship as well before they’d departed, which meant this second trip had been much more comfortable now that they had access to hot water and heating.

Yamcha removed his clothes and he stepped into the hot shower, starting to get ready for their second adventure. Bulma had told them they would reach the planet in a matter of hours, three according to the information Khalla had provided for them. The old woman had proven to be a valuable asset. Not only had she helped them by giving them directions, but during her private conversation with the scientist, she’d somehow managed to cheer her up. By the time Bulma had left Vegeta’s ship to get into their tiny house, she’d looked like a different woman, a far cry from the nervous wreck he’d seen a few hours earlier…

The man closed his eyes and he allowed himself to relax as the hot water soothed his stiff muscles, praying that they’d finally find the Prince in this new planet.

While Yamcha was in the shower, Bulma and Krillin drank some tea in the kitchenette. The woman looked different, almost anxious, and the bald warrior couldn’t help but try to calm her down a bit.

“Are you OK, Bulma? Don’t worry, I’m sure Vegeta will be on the next planet…” he said softly.

“I know, I can feel him…” she simply replied.

“You what?”

“I… I can’t explain it Krillin, but… I can feel his presence the closer we get to the planet…”

She wasn’t lying to her friend. She didn’t know why or how, but for a few hours now, she’d been able to feel Vegeta’s energy somehow. She thought of Piccolo and his bond theory, and she really started to believe there might have been some truth to it.

“Do you feel his ki, Krillin?”

The man frowned, trying to concentrate.

Nothing.

“No, sorry Bulma…” he replied, secretly wondering if the woman was telling the truth or if she was simply going insane.

He knew Goku had telepathic abilities, and he felt that perhaps the fact that Bulma and Vegeta had shared an intimate relationship had something to do with her strong intuition where he was concerned.

Just as he was about to ask her a few questions, he felt the ship jolt violently. He was quick enough to grab Bulma before she fell on the floor, and he heard Yamcha yelp from his room.

“What the fuck was that?” Krillin asked.

“What…?” Bulma was shaken, her legs trembling as she struggled to find her balance once again. She took a deep breath and she walked towards the console.

“We stopped.”

“What? W-What do you mean we stopped?”

“I was expecting something like this to happen…” Bulma said, trying to remain calm.

“Khalla told me the planet had heavy security.”

Suddenly they heard Yamcha’s voice.

“Guys? What’s going on?”

Bulma turned towards him, only to find him wearing just a white towel wrapped around his waist.

“Yamcha! What are you doing?”

“Uh? What do you mean? I almost broke my neck in the shower! What the fuck is…?”

The lights went out, and the dim emergency lights automatically went on. The travelers heard a buzzing noise and abruptly, a giant holographic screen appeared inside the ship’s main room.

All three of them turned at once towards it, only to be faced by a purple skinned alien whose face resembled that of a very strange fish.

“Identification” he said in a strong monotone voice.

The earthlings stared at each other and just as Yamcha was about to open his mouth, Bulma cut him off, holding her hand in front of him.

“Let me do this” she whispered.

She then turned towards the screen, cleared her throat and she firmly said.

“My name is Bulma Briefs, and I wish to speak to your Master, Lord Vegeta”.

The alien blinked and suspiciously squinted his eyes.

“Is Lord Vegeta expecting your visit?”

“I believe he is. Very much so.”

Krillin and Yamcha witnessed the exchange of words, absolutely dumbfounded by the female’s confident tone. If she was nervous or scared, she wasn’t showing it, and both men couldn’t help but admire her magnificent acting skills.

“One moment, please. I must go check this information with my superiors.”

The alien disappeared, but the holographic screen was still on, and the space ship almost in the dark.

“Yamcha, don’t you think you should go get dressed?” Krillin said.

“Uh, yeah, sure… I’ll be right back!”

Bulma tiredly sat down on the pilot’s chair and the bald man soon joined her, sitting right next to her. No words were exchanged as both friends waited impatiently. About ten minutes later, the fish faced alien showed up on screen again.

“Lord Vegeta has granted you permission to land on Planet Z365. We will proceed to tow your vehicle immediately”.

Oh yeah...

Who's ready for a reunion?

You can also find it on Archive of Our Own:

http://archiveofourown.org/works/9066958/chapters/21480368

#vegebul #fanfic #fanfiction #vegeta #bulma #bulma briefs #yamcha #krillin #angst #love #writing #apocalypse now

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