#but he had a younger sister who was like an apprentice to the main villain who was like only 9 years old

[mysticstarlightduck]

Song of Thorns - WIP Intro/WIP Wednesday

Jumping on the OPEN TAG by @little-peril-stories (here), and @kaylinalexanderbooks tag (here) because I was really inspired and wanted to give it a try! I tried to give my twist on the same format, because it was really cool!

(Also, I had been wanting an excuse to do an actual intro for this WIP for a while now, even though it's not my main one and is a much smaller side project lol)

By the way, if you like this, please reblog, it helps a lot 💕

Rules: Pick a WIP. Post something about it. On a Wednesday. Or whenever! It can be literally anything! (:

WIP INTRO - SONG OF THORNS

Title: Song of Thorns

Genre: High Fantasy/Dark Fairytale

Tags: #wip song of thorns #song of thorns

Synopsis/What Is It About?

Roselyn, a teenage girl from a backwater fishing village on the edge of the continent, moves to the kingdom's floating capital with her siblings - Jasen, her older brother and a brilliant aspiring sorcerer, and their 12-year-old younger sister, Portia - after Jasen gets a prestigious apprenticeship in the mystical city.

However, after a while, it becomes apparent that something is not what it seems in the city of legend. In fact, something is very wrong. When Jasen mysteriously disappears without a trace, trying to find out what happened reveals the true facet of the up-til-then-welcoming nobility, and gets her falsely accused of treason.

Sentenced to death for reasons she cannot understand, Roselyn finds her second chance when the royal family's youngest prince, the nephew of the King, sets her free in the middle of the night with a proposal - helping him stop the full extent of his family's schemes and save the city before it is too late.

With the help of the now-exiled prince and a couple other outcasts, Roselyn will expose the city's corruption and save her brother before it is too late. All the while she starts falling in love with the charming though lonely thief (Renn) who has stolen her heart. But with strange forces being tampered with and magic swiftly changing, time is slipping away disturbingly fast.

Tropes and Nice Stuff! (Or, a.k.a. What you can expect in this book!)

Friends to Lovers! (Renn x Roselyn, Prince Alaric x Jasen)

Eldritch horror, dark fantasy, and blood magic. The royals are basically fantasy mad scientists and it gets complicated...

The perfect city has some really fucked up secrets that nobody was supposed to find out. Ever.

Epic heists (or as I like to call it: these fools doing absolutely everything wrong but failing successfully)

Fantasy creatures, enchanted forests, a derpy giant talking cat. You name it! There are loads of peaceful sea monsters too, and some very dangerous creatures I've invented as well!

Sad, absolutely heartbreaking scenes and some goofy, silly scenes!

Goth thief who is actually very nerdy and not at all brooding.

An aro/ace druid's apprentice! A bit unhinged and admittedly clueless about the world outside, but the sweetest character ever"

An actually Good Stepmother! (Subversion of the Wicked Stepmother trope)

Enemies to Friends (that's a spoiler!)

A villain who may act childish but is actually not stupid at all and is the most threatening MF you'll ever meet

Whump! (Potentially)

Medieval/Renaissance period with a touch of Fantasy Science

A soft magic system

Siblings, family bonds, and intrigue!

Sometimes the villains kinda win and it is scary (but don't worry the heroes find a way to fight another day so it's not all doom and gloom, almost, but not.)

And more!💕

Meet The Main Cast! (The good guys)

Roselyn Lethia

A curious and opinionated teenager, Roselyn finds herself dragged into a net of intrigue, lies, and bloodied secrets after her beloved older brother suddenly goes missing without a trace, and the kingdom tries to convince her he never existed. She is kind, brave, and determined, though she can sometimes take on more than she can realistically handle, and needs to rely solely on her book-earned wits and sparse fighting skills to get through her fears. Her greatest motive is keeping her loved ones safe, but she also, deep down, yearns for some adventuring.

Prince Alaric of the Hyghsummit

Naive and slightly arrogant without realizing it, Alaric is the youngest prince of the reigning royal family. He is the nephew of the King and was largely raised by his stepmother Catallinah, a motherly but no-nonsense woman trapped in an arranged marriage to his uncle after the death of her husband, Alaric's father. Most of his other relatives from his large family consider him a weak link and most don't even bother with him at all - but Alaric is much more than the capital's "failed prince". He is a brilliant and well-read young man who has spent most of his time honing his abilities to bring down the lies of his corrupted family. He falls in love with Jasen, who became his friend after the latter started working as an apprentice to the court's High Sorcerer.

Renn Atrius

A foreign noble from beyond the royal lands, he was forced into the lifestyle of a thief from a young age, after being orphaned when his father was murdered for refusing to obey their neighboring kingdom's crown. Learning the art of disappearing into the night and taking valuables from the land that took everything from him and colonized his nation, Renn quickly became quite the nuisance for the King. But thankfully to his connection to raw blood magic, his slight vampiric abilities ensure no human soldier ever proves a real threat to him. He starts to fall in love with Roselyn, having become friends with her after trying to steal her coin purse (having mistaken her for a tourist from the capital).

Jasen Lethia

Roselyn's older brother, Jasen is a brilliant and highly ambitious student of the arcane arts. Their home village never provided much chances for his studies, but he kept practicing until he was good enough to earn a highly prestigious apprenticeship at the capital's Evocation Order. He is pragmatic, soft-spoken, and painstakingly patient, and though his studies are important to him, raising his sisters has been his top priority since their parents were killed in a bandit raid to their village when he was twelve, especially because their grandmother was too frail to really do much to raise them when she was alive. Jasen becomes close friends with Prince Alaric, who is around his age, though Jasen dismisses his own personal romantic feelings, believing that he would never be deemed worthy to love a noble and saying anything would only ruin their friendship, when in fact Alaric feels the same. Jasen went missing after discovering the truth about the King by accident.

Oriana Whisperleaf

A quirky and extremely talkative druid's apprentice, Oriana was neglected by her birth parents, who did not care for her. When she was five, she wandered into a local meadow and into the woods - no one came looking for her. She got really lost, but thankfully, she met the mysterious druidic witch who lived deep in the enchanted woods of the realm, a beautiful woman who took her in and raised her as her daughter and apprentice.

Portia Lethia

Roselyn and Jasen's youngest sister, Portia is a very quiet and often sensitive 12-year-old kid, who prefers to spend her time in the company of animals rather than people and wants to become an animal healer when she comes of age. She is smart, perceptive, and polite/well-behaved for her age, though sometimes she has a prankster streak!

Plot Points .... or not🙃 (so far, because this WIP is still early in creation)

"Peace and Quiet and All Things Nice - wait what tf is that in the water? Eh. Probably just a sea monster, it's likely nothing."

"You're saying we're going to the capital - a city literally built in the mountains floating in the sky?! Count me IN dude I am hyped!"

"Traveling. And traveling. And traveling some more. Gods, does this goddamn road ever end -? Oh, and we're there."

"Two unsupervised teenage girls explore an unknown city and shenanigans ensue. Also, meet this suspicious royal High Sorcerer dude who will mentor their older brother and is totally not gonna betray him at all. Trust me."

"Things are looking great! I'm having fun, this is nice!"

"OBLIGATORY ONE-YEAR TIME SKIP"

"I have the feeling some sus bullshit is afoot but I don't know why. And I don't know if I wanna know. Everything's fine! Right?... right?"

"BREAKING NEWS: Watch how an entire kingdom tries to gaslight a teenager!"

"...Why are there bloodstains in the castle? What are those gooey-looking branches? Oh, hell to the nah~"

"So apparently I've been arrested. That's new. They have yet to read me my rights."

"So either I'm gonna be executed or have my mind erased. That's new. How about neither? No? This is not how I saw my weekend going."

"Breaking out with the prince. I don't know which of us is more confused. We're totally not gonna die in like two days at this rate."

"Getting lost in a very cursed-looking forest and finding out that the kingdom is slowly dying. At least that druid looks friendly - if she doesn't try to kill us. Yet again."

"Meet this 100-year-old lady who looks 30. She's nice. A bit crazy though, I think, but nice? Real talk, I'm not sure if this is tea or poison, or if she knows, but I'm too concerned to ask."

"So your insane family has sent assassins to kill us? Neat. And you didn't think that was a priority to mention, why exactly..? OF COURSE IT WAS A PRIORITY YOU GILDED DIMWIT!"

"This goth mercenary guy did just try to rob me, but he did save my life, so. Plus he does look handsome in this light, ngl. Why does he look so cute, tf is wrong with me?"

"🎶And I'm never gonna sleep again, sleep again, lalala, what the eldritch hell did I just see -🎶

"Rival civilization! Finally! Pls tell me there's not an insane guild of blood sorcerers in this town my dude. I need a break desperately and I'm not sure if my sanity can handle any more - Oh thank goodness. It's just horrifying monsters beyond my wildest dreams then. I'd take that any day. How much does an inn cost here?"

"Group of dumbasses tries to pull off complicated plan. Proceeds to forget said plan halfway through and ends up improvising an entire heist. Also, that's a talking cat. Why is there a talking cat."

"Finding out your prince best friend has been in love with your older brother since they met. Pt 1"

"Not-so-Evil (actually the nicest) Stepmother jumpscares teenagers and feels bad about it. She has cookies though so that's okay though."

"The King throws a massive hissy fit, Special Edition (:"

"So. This is bad. This is bad. Thisissobad. I'm traumatized. I regret all my life choices and I think I'm going to throw up. This is so bad."

"We need a plan. A better one to be exact."

"Absolutely not! We are not breaking into that place, oh Hells no! No. Absolutely not-" (shift scenes, deadpan tone) "We broke into that place and I regret everything."

That's it so far! I'm still workshopping the ending from here (:

Playlist

Runaway - AURORA

Only Teardrops - Emmelie De Forest

Shadow - Livingston

Elan - Nightwish

Bad Feeling - Jaguar Twain

Tagging (gently, no pressure!) @kaylinalexanderbooks @littleladymab @cabbojage @lassiesandiego @little-peril-stories @oh-no-another-idea @thepeculiarbird @rickie-the-storyteller @crowandmoonwriting @steh-lar-uh-nuhs @gummybugg @forthesanityofstorytellers @doublegoblin @aalinaaaaaa @starlit-hopes-and-dreams @elshells @illarian-rambling @clairelsonao3 @conkers-thecosy @anyablackwood @diabolical-blue @cowboybrunch and OPEN TAG for anyone else who wants to do their own spin in this challenge!

[juspeczyk]

btw since this is My HouseTM here's a list of blorbos from my brain. i've been burnt the fuck out on art this year but by god these ocs are still kicking and someday i'll make more art about them. pwease do send me asks or something about them cause i really would love to make stuff for them i just don't have the executive function to decide what rn

fantasy daydreaming child -> fantasy ttrpg adult pipeline. polycule of magical girl superheroes in college + their social circle. main cast is siobhan-therese (goth, english major), talia (jock, journalism and/or sports medicine), drew (alt girl, taking a gap year), and rowan (granola girl, probably majoring in environmental science or something that will save the earth). the main four are a magical girl group who have to balance saving the world with college and 20something social dramas. also features lilah (siobhan-therese and talia's ex who is a total mean girl but still secretly has feelings for them both), wyllow (an even alt-er alt girl who is drew's "apprentice" but nobody really knows what that means), syd (lichrally just sidney from scream, she got adopted by the group because they were like oh she is such a poor little meow meow) and talia's younger sister who i haven't decided on a name for yet.

superhero universe that started as a chemistry project when i was in high school where we had to like, anthropomorphize a certain element in order to learn about the periodic table, so of COURSE i made it gay and comics. includes the above magical girls and another group of supers in college, except these ones are more sciencey. main character is nicki walton (can change her flesh into a superdense metallic substance, kind of like how emma frost can become a diamond) and her co-supers valentina foster-nguyen (half alien, can shoot sparkle rays and stuff), basira baz/the all-seeing girl (psychic/teleporter), silver star (haven't decided on a name yet, he's basically ghost rider but a cowboy instead of a biker), and liz doe (ghost girl who is also a toxic slime girl, can become intangible like kitty pryde, started as a villain but turned good cause she fell in love with nicki). she has a whole rogues gallery but the main villain is adam huxley, nicki's old lab partner who tried to kill her but instead gave her superpowers.

juno and milos. started as a college project in my comics class and has never left. root of my dnd homebrew world. she's a hunter turned knight, he's a cursed prince, they're in love, she kills his dad, it's a whole thing. i am perpetually trying to write a graphic novel about it.

gary stu vamp boy. his name is matthew monroe and he used to be vegan 😔 he got briefly mildly famous for accidentally filming his own attack where he was "mauled by a rabid dog", then "mistakenly" pronounced dead and buried "alive", then managed to crawl out of his own grave. he now works as the night manager of the local video store and has a big fixer-upper house where all the local cryptids crash. his best friend is a butch werewolf.

edmund fredericks. he's definitely not an axe murderer! probably exists as a historical figure in matthew's universe.

colette coupe. caricature of evil french ladies. eviscerated her husband but he managed to slit her throat before fully dying and now they're both ghosts who thrive on drama. somehow they ended up in matthew's house (idk cursed item or something) and they all despise each other.

[house-of-mirrors]

I’ve finished the long awaited bio post for the third of my player characters, Miles! I’ve mentioned them before, my horrible son, spaghetti noodle of a human being, character with which I make evil choices to see text. You may send a calling card to The Remorseful Apprentice, or you may find the old profile of The Avid Occultist. Here is the Picrew link

Why do I have two versions of the same character? Short answer, I missed them too much after knocking so here we are.

Quick facts:

·      Miles symbolizes the corruption of high society in the Victorian Era. They were born into a wealthy family and grew up with entitlement and imperialistic views in what I’ve heard my grandfather call “the age of arrogance.” The world is theirs, and it’s their right to have whatever they want. Given the choice between pursuit of power and anything else, they will always choose power. External corruption with the red science and seeking reflects internal and generational corruption.

·      “No shame, no spine, no self-awareness”

·      If asked to choose a gender option on a form, they would circle all of them. They’re not too particular with pronouns and sometimes use he/him, but I most often use they/them for Miles. Distinctly a femme presentation. Miles and Orsinio are mtf/ftm hostility.

·      They are somewhere on the autism spectrum; it manifests as touch aversion and a difficulty in making real friends despite being a social butterfly. Touch aversion somewhat plays into them being aromantic, but they genuinely have no interest in it. Miles gets the badge of being my one allosexual OC.

·      Miles greatly struggles with mental health, much of which comes from family trauma, and being in the Neath makes that a ticking time bomb. If they had therapy and antidepressants, the whole tragedy could have been averted. TW ahead for darker discussion of mental illness, SMEN typical self-harm.

Now, I can’t explain why Miles is a villain without explaining how their actions affect the rest of the plot, so this “bio” is more of a whole summary of a narrative arc. Under the cut became more or less a mini fic, so FYI that it is longer than usual for my character posts. Also includes some mentions of my friend's characters. For someone who complains about SMEN so much, I sure did base a significant chunk of my OC stories around it, didn’t I? Tragic. (The themes of temptation lured me in, and when I realized how much I didn’t like it, I was already too committed to the story, alas.)

You may wonder as you read, “Hey, why does Miles’ story include so much about Orsinio?” Well, Miles thinks they’re a main character, but they’re actually a side character. You may also wonder, how does having two versions of the same character with wildly conflicting ambitions work in the timeline? No single thing shall be a single thing. Major spoilers ahead for SMEN (including vague detail about the hate ending) and the discordance, as well as all ambitions.

Early Story

·      The Lovelace family made its fortune in the textiles industry. Incredibly dysfunctional with the detached parenting typical of the time within the leisure class. Neither of their parents is great, but Miles mostly has daddy issues:tm:. There are also large age gaps between the children; Miles is the second youngest and only close to their younger sister, Marguerite

·      Negative attention is still attention which leads to Miles getting involved in multiple scandals. It also isn’t a good look for Miles to not yet be married or engaged, which they’re really uncomfortable with, being aromantic. The final straw is a gambling debt, after which their father, Julian, disowns them until they make something respectable of themself

·      Miles has heard rumors about the Neath and decides to go to try to make their fortune. Before leaving, Marguerite gives them her necklace and asks them to be safe for her

·      Soon after arriving, Miles learns about the Marvellous. They need a path to attain their own fortune and power, and this is a promised road to rising the ranks. They say they’re doing this to prove themself, but really, they’re only throwing themself into their vices. I follow the interpretation that Heart’s Desire is a metaphor for addiction.

·      At a bohemian event, Miles meets a Professor. Orsinio tries to be mentoring to a new arrival, but Miles is prickly and pro-monarchy and they part bitterly, though Miles does become close to their mutual friend, Elliot

Seven is the Number

·      As Miles progresses through the Marvellous, they begin to hear a voice in their head telling them they can have much more power than the Masters can offer. The voice comes with troubling dreams and lapses in memory. When they wake up covered in blood in the bushes outside a salon, Elliot tells them to talk to Orsinio

·      Orsinio isn’t too happy to see them, but is very willing to help. He was at Avid Horizon during Nemesis and knows what it’s like to feel that pull. (He claims he no longer feels it.) Miles is briefly his student in the lab and generally is very poor at it, refusing to listen and not doing much of anything. Eventually, they leave when they realize they can’t gain anything they want here. Orsinio is irked and genuinely wanted to help, but he can’t force anyone to do anything.

·      Miles’ condition continues to worsen, plagued by compulsions to eat strange things and nightmares of knives and drowning. They wonder, can you really get hurt in a dream, and can it scar in real life? They are genuinely scared, but they’ve never learned how to ask for help. They confide their worries in a letter to Elliot on a drunk evening, at their wit’s end with exhaustion.

·      Their own family didn’t want them, but this voice does. They feel like it’s wrong to accept the voice, and they’ve been told not to by their friends, but if they give into it, they can finally sleep.

·      No one hears from Miles for some time after this. They go off the grid with weeping scars, memories of chains, and stains on the soul. One could make the argument that Miles, the real Miles, is dead after the first time they stab themself (second weeping scar). I as the player was not invested in SMEN and therefore Miles wasn’t either; it functions primarily as a MacGuffin.

·      The person who returns to society is very much not like Miles used to be. This person is even more charismatic and does much more physical contact, compelling enough to entrap people for St Arthur’s Candle. They adopt a seemingly carefree attitude, why worry when all shall be well?

·      Miles becomes a silverer, inspired by interpreting their strange dreams and promised power from the fingerkings. They use these dream interpretations to amass a small cult following of fellow seekers.

Miles, you could have just Asked him to Dinner

·      At a working lunch with an affectionate devil, Orsinio is told what Miles did to their soul. He rushes home to pen an urgent warning to his friends, but finds Miles inside, waiting for him in his study chair. Miles speaks highly of his work, apologizing for not appreciating it properly when they were a student. They come interested in his unpublished work. He’s one of the few who has seen the Avid Horizon. Won’t he tell them more? Orsinio firmly denies Miles, but they leave with the self-confidence this isn’t the end of it. Once they’re gone, he walks outside right back to the affectionate devil and makes a deal for his soul. If he doesn’t have it, he can’t give into temptation to seek. Orsinio has finished railway at this point and tried to convince himself he was okay, that he was past this, but he isn’t.

·      Miles progresses through candles B through E without much fanfare. At the Carnival at Midnight, they claim to be seeking for love, a love they never got from their family, or a love for their enemy, the Professor.

Poor Choices are Made in HD

·      The end of the Marvellous rolls around. Miles makes as many scummy decisions as possible, choosing not to help the topsy king, condemning the cardsharp monkey, though they do hesitate, just for a moment, with Beechwood’s chance. They say they’re playing the Marvellous for themself, but they know deep down they’re still having feelings about their father. This is a chance to give all of that up, make a new life for themself, heal from past trauma. But no, they came this far. They’re not giving it all up for a moment of emotional weakness.  

·      Miles becomes Mr Cards. Isn’t this what they wanted? The first time they meet with Mr Hearts for red science, they feel deep down they’ve made a terrible mistake. Being a Master doesn’t seem good at all. They need something else, but what is it? (Genuine connections with people?) They need to go North.

Clown on Clown Violence 

·      Miles comes to Orsinio yet again, asking him to join them in seeking. He’s so smart and he’s been marked by the northern wind, why won’t he? He can finally have revenge against all the Masters, against the system that enabled Cups to kill his brother. Orsinio refutes with compassion, telling Miles their sister wouldn’t want to lose them. Miles, the real Miles, almost breaks through, their sister ever a soft spot for them. They admit they’re afraid of what they’ve become and they don’t want her to see them like this. Orsinio extends another olive branch, telling Miles it isn’t too late to turn around. But Miles, as always, choses pursuit of grandeur

·      By this point, Miles has become truly obsessed with this enemy they can’t break, not only with the madness that comes of seeking but with possessive behavior that comes from becoming a Master. (Or, Miles, you could have apologized for being rude and asked him to dinner) When Orsinio still won’t bite, Miles threatens to target his friends/found family instead, both Elliot and Lucy.

·      What plays out is a long, regrettable, and, if we’re being honest, a bit pathetic struggle between Miles and Orsinio. Orsinio’s logic isn’t good logic, but it is logic. He thinks there’s no fate worse than going North, even death or injury, so tries poisoning Miles a few times to get them to stop one way or another. Miles isn’t offended but milks the incidents to make Orsinio appear like the villain and turn others against him. Mail fraud is a significant contributor to how things fall apart; Miles begins intercepting letters, isolating Orsinio and each of his friends from each other.

·      Meanwhile, Miles is getting closer to Elliot, claiming to be their only real friend left and trying to drag them into seeking. (Elliot finishes Light Fingers and gets a child to protect so that comes to a quick end, fortunately.)

·      Despite all that’s transpired, Orsinio keeps getting drawn back to Miles. He tells himself it’s determination to stop them for the greater good. What he doesn’t realize is that Miles already got inside his head with seeking which is the real reason he won’t let the topic go. There comes the darkest hour in which he nearly scars himself but is stopped by his student mentee. 

I Want that Twink Obliterated

·      Orsinio comes to realize he’s indulging the same reckless behavior he did during Nemesis that nearly sent him down the dark road of seeking at the time. He pens a letter to Lucy confessing all he’s kept to himself thus far. He reflects that recklessness can be a manifestation of addictive tendencies, then he remembers who he’s fighting, the Master of Gambling. He realizes how he’s been played a little bit too late.

·      Orsinio is strong-minded and normally wouldn’t have fallen for such manipulations, but he’s been worn down for a long time by Miles preying on his paranoia and guilt. Nightmares 7. He goes to pursue Miles one last time to put an end to this once and for all, but walks into a set-up. Miles drags their final confrontation to Parabola where they have an advantage as a silverer. Orsinio does not win and spends some time in the Royal Beth afterward.

·      Orsinio’s student manages to get word of the truth to his friends. Lucy puts Miles in their place through varying violent means and then goes to be with Orsinio. Both of them promise to each other to be better communicators. Lucretia also comes to the Neath during this time to help in the crisis, but more on her story later in her own bio.

NORTH

·      Elliot learns the truth of what Miles did and feels betrayed. Miles sends a final letter. They’re not sorry for what they did, nor are they sure why they did it. Elliot was the last thing they had left to lose, and this whole chess game ensured they would lose Elliot. Now, they’re prepared to go North. First, they must go South, but they will go North.

·      What Parabola and the fingerkings could offer wasn’t enough. Winning the Marvellous and getting the chance to become a Master wasn’t enough. Miles almost considered throwing their lot in with liberationists, so that after the revolution they could seize power in a vacuum, but they didn’t pursue that route. They’ll never be satisfied as long as there’s a higher station to rise to.

·      Miles is unable to live with what they’ve become. They cut off their hair for St Gawain’s Candle, and when they look in the mirror, they only imagine a photograph of Julian as a younger man. They reflect on all the horrific deeds they’ve done and all the people they hurt to get where they are now, and they realize they became just like their father. Beyond the gates is a place they’ll finally be free of him. (Who is the real villain of the story? Julian Lovelace is.)

·      Had they chosen any other ambition ending than power, they would not have gone North. The gravity of the decision hits them and they realize becoming Mr Cards would mean entirely losing their identity. They can’t let anyone see them like this. They don’t want this to be their eternity. They really messed up and see no way to fix it now

·      Miles muses that physical monstrous changes by the red science represent internal corruption, generations of abominable deeds done to stay in power manifest in the weeping scars on their skin. They didn’t fail to live up to their family legacy, they embody it better than anyone else. “Miles, you didn’t have to do any of that!” There are so many points at which a different choice could have made the story end another way, yet the story never could have ended any other way.

·      On the feast of Candlemas, 2 February, Miles goes North. At the gates, they hesitate one last time, thinking of their sister. But they can’t let her see what they’ve become. The sentiment is far too little, far too late. I interpret the knock as suicide

·      At the exact same moment that Miles knocks, Orsinio obtains a discordance stone.

·      Miles asked, “What is due?” I will be vague about the ending, but all I’ll say is that it was the only fitting end for the character trajectory they were on, and they got exactly what they wanted. A position above everyone else. Attention from the grandest.

The End... or Is It?

·      On the seventh day of the seventh month, someone returns from the North, picked up by a ship that was in Stormbones and spotted them by lucky chance.

·      Elliot reacts in disbelief and betrayal. Lucy reacts by killing Miles, repeatedly, for what they did to her loved ones.

·      Orsinio remains calm, because he realizes immediately what’s afoot. For Miles to be here, Nothing had to have happened, because if they weren’t here, then something would have happened. This is Miles, and this is Not Miles. He holds his dog Sugarplum while musing on this, wondering if he should not take Miles to the Anchoress for advice. He decides against it, for the time being.

·      This Miles spends some time adjusting back to life in the Neath, starting completely over again. They have lingering physical changes in sharp teeth and pointed ears, but otherwise has no connection or obligation to continue participating in the Masters’ experiments. They remain under the radar for a time to ensure it’s safe, but no one seems to even acknowledge them. They also have no marks from SMEN save one scar, the first scar, as a reminder.

·      Miles finally realizes the best way to spite Julian is to cut him out of their thoughts and live the life they want. Orsinio is proud of them for character growth, but couldn’t they have realized that sooner, without seeking?  Miles adopts the name Darlington instead, their mother’s maiden name.

·      Orsinio is ever patient but gets tired of Miles hanging around his lab all day and tells them to get something to do. They see posters at the Department of Menace Eradication for a big hunting prize. They always enjoyed hunting trips during visits to the family’s summer home on the Surface. Why not? (We all Look Away from R playing the same ambition with multiple characters. No single timeline shall be a single timeline.) Orsinio remains exasperated.

Bag a Legend 2 Electric Boogaloo

·      “Veils got Miles in the divorce with Eaten”

·      While my OC Samuel represented the taciturn and violent side of Veils, Miles is the charmer and manipulator. Despite getting a second chance, they very much are still a villain, though at least they’re less unhinged this time. Miles becomes a Midnighter. They don’t know why they have a sudden interest in the Great Game, but they find they’re a natural at it. Miles, whether they’re conscious of it or not, plays White.

·      I’m in the middle of BAL now, but Miles will choose the Surface Veils ending. I imagine Veils can shift appearance easily, given that it’s a manifestation of intrigue and disguise; when they first encounter Surface Veils, it appears like Julian. Miles is disarmed, but has grown much more confident, and is able to keep control of the situation. As the game goes on, Surface Veils shifts to look more how I imagine it. When they come to an impasse, a hand is outstretched, and negotiations for a deal can begin. Allying with Veils is the perfect way to spite their father the textile magnate

All My Homies Hate the White

·      Orsinio, who already was suspicious of the circumstances of Miles’ return, grows even more concerned watching them develop an interest in chess which was previously nonexistent. He knows of the higher powers of the chessboard from his studies at the Adulterine Castle, and he knows something of the nature of the Old Man and the White from his experience in the game (several ES). Orsinio knows enough to understand they send agents to the Neath, and he begins to wonder if this is why “Miles” is here.

·      Orsinio is doing a lot mentally better, but still struggles with paranoia. What if his whole life, he’s been a pawn? What if his brother was murdered not only as part of Mr Cups’ scheming, but to get Orsinio to go to the Neath, where he’d eventually go West and study what isn’t at the Hurlers, so he’d have the wherewithal to later lead an agent of the White directly to the court of the Black?

·      The story ends here, for now. I’m excited to do railway with Miles and read text for evil choices that I can’t make with other characters for RP reasons. Playing a villain is a lot of fun. We’ll see how things play out, or do not play out.

[musicfeedsmysoul12]

The 13 Days of AUs- The Ninth Day of Christmas: A SeroDeku AU

Summary: On the 13 days of Christmas, Music gave to me… 13 different POTSOD AUs! Each contains a different pairing and different plots but within: a collection of plot line that will appear in the main series… though have fun figuring them out! (Including a few pairings that will appear~)

ON AO3

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

 It happened in two seconds. One minute, Izumi watched Hawks take down a villain, then the next, a portal opened up in the sky to allow three figures to fall out. One of them had wings and stayed afloat, grabbing onto one of the others. The other fell hard but got up even after hitting the ground with a crack.

 “Gonna have to try harder, birdie,” the blue-haired man taunted. “Tomoe, it’s time to stop playing~”

 “Eat shit!” snapped the only girl. Izumi stared at her, clutching her daughter in her arms. The adult looked like a patchwork doll, stitches covering her body to connect the two-toned skin, her ribbon hair fluttering.

 “That’s no way to talk to your uncle!” Growled the blue-haired man, baring his fangs. An alpha, then. Alphas did that more frequently than not. Tomoe responded with her own growl, teeth bared. Izumi clutched the toddler in her arms tighter. 

 “Oi!” The third figure asked an older version of Hawks with scars on his face. “Tango-Indigo-Mike-Echo, Subsect 2 and 3. Code: I’m an Omega, and no, I don’t want a big strong alpha, bite yourself.” The younger Hawks jerked in surprise before reaching a hand to his ear.

 “We have time travel confirmed,” he said out loud. Izumi swallowed thickly. Her instincts hissed for her to grab her daughter and bolt. Run and run to hide in a hole and keep her child safe. She barely managed to choke back her whine as she stared at the adult version of her daughter, who was still growling at the villain.

 “I see… we’ll then I can keep my sister safe easier now!” The villain said, eyes shining with madness. “She won’t-“

 “You TOUCH my mother, and I rip you limb from limb, you incestuous FUCK!” Tomoe snarled. She shoved a hand out, her threads breaking apart to shoot out at the villain, who dodged, the threads cracking a building where they’d landed. “Shit, collateral damage. How long has it been again since we had to worry about that?”

 “The last city collapsed five years ago, Raggedy Ann,” older Hawks said grimly, detaching a feather to make a sword. “So five years.” The crowd gasped. “We have civilians and buildings to worry about now,” older Hawks glared at the villain, who scoffed. Younger Hawks stepped forward, his sword raised.

 “What are we dealing with?” He asked.

 “His name is Shigaraki Tomura. He is the former apprentice of All for One, who could take and give Quirks. His base Quirk is Decay which, when he touches an object, will disintegrate it immediately.” Older Hawks said as Tomoe shot out more threads, Shigaraki dodging. “He got a copy of All for One, which… warped his mind, we think. He became obsessed with All for One’s daughter, who the villain hid away. At first as a sister but given her Quirkless Omega status, as a… partner later on.”

 Do NOT whine, Izumi, do NOT whine. Izumi told herself as she stepped back from the fight. No, too far. With older Tomoe jumping around and fighting, her scent reached Izumi’s nose. Her instincts were telling her to stay and watch over her scared child.

 “How did her kid end up…”

 “I’ll explain later,” Older Hawks told his younger self. “Shigaraki has at this time six Quirks he uses often. Decay, Erasure, Voice, Cremation, Honing, and Brainwashing. It’s verbal, but he won’t bother with Raggedy Ann around. A part of her Quirk is when her threads pierce someone, she can control them. Brainwashing versus brainwashing cancels each other out. Also, do NOT touch me. Our minds will meld so that you gain all my memories. My personality dies, and you get my trauma. It’s so much fun that way.” Older Hawks grunted. Before younger Hawks could speak, older Hawks launched himself into the fight. Younger followed.

 In most circumstances, seeing two versions of the winger hero fighting against a villain would be thrilling. More so when he pulled out multiple Quirks. But the thread-wielding female kept catching Izumi’s eyes. Tomoe was moving so fast, swinging from her threads. It was so beautiful as she shot them out, trying to pierce the villain. 

 Then, the man threw a torrent of flame at the two older heroes. They dodged right as Tomoe swung past. The flame caught her. The woman let out a yell, and the sight… the yell...

 Pup hurt. My pup hurt. Baby Pup in arms. Need safe person. 

Alpha. Not mine. Sticky smell. But sticky smell on Bug Pup? Safe. He protect. I attack.

-0-

 It is widely known that while Alphas were more likely to fight, and Omegas tended to run to a safe place, the true danger came from attacking an Omega’s pup in front of them. When you hurt their pup, Omegas went feral. Usually, it was just under the age of fifteen. 

 However, in the case of Midoriya Izumi, her daughter was only one year old when she saw the older version of Tomoe get her arm burned badly. She was holding the toddler and stressed out. Of course, she went feral. Everyone would agree on that after seeing the clip of the young Omega handing her daughter over to an Alpha who’d also gone into protective mode to protect the pups while the Omega pounced. One second, Shigaraki was trying to attack the two male heroes, convinced they did it on purpose.

 The next, he was on the ground with an Omega mother wailing on him.

 “Izumi- little sister-“ begged the villain, but there was only a growl in response before the Omega dug a finger into an eye socket, drawing an unpleasant scream. She then slammed a fist into his throat, screaming as she did.

 “Shiiiit,” Older Hawks muttered. “Forgot how she could get. She’s as terrifying as ever.” Younger Hawks stared and then looked over at the collapsed Raggedy Ann, guarded by a skinny Alpha with strange elbows, holding a baby version of the heroin. Oddly enough, it seemed Raggedy Ann was healing fast, new stitches appearing on her arm where the burn had been.  “Oh hey, her analysis is still coming through. She’s targeting his main Quirk zones. Remove an eye, so Erasure has a huge blind spot, damaging his throat so that Voice doesn’t work as well. And attack his hands. Wow. I forgot how good she was at breaking things down.”

 “… so she isn’t with her father?” Younger Hawks asked.

 “Oh no. He left her with his beta wife, who messed up. Assumed raising a female Omega would be like a beta kid. Tried to arrange marriages, trampled over all the girl’s instincts. Then a teacher sexually assaulted her. The mom actually tried to force her to abort or give the baby up. Big red flag for the nurses. I think Izumi got removed from her mother’s custody about seven months into the pregnancy.” Older Hawks hummed. 

 “… how can someone be that dumb not to look up Omega instincts?” Younger Hawks asked. 

 “I read the court details. Apparently, the woman is just… oblivious and focused on what she thinks is the perfect normal mixed with a Populationist idea based on ‘the world going back to normal.” Older Hawks mused. Izumi suddenly slammed a knee into Shigaraki’s crotch. “Ouch.”

 “I think he was getting a boner…” younger muttered.

 “… gross.”

 The heroes stood back as the feral Omega went to town, watching in detached fascination. The girl could throw a punch. And it wasn’t illegal to let an Omega go off like that. 

 “So… who’s the Alpha?” Younger asked with a nod behind them. 

 “Ah, that’s Sero Hanta, her mate in the future. He adopted Raggedy. Even bit her to replace her paternal scent.” Older Hawks paused. “Huh, maybe that’s why he moved. He smelt the older version, saw the child version and snapped.” 

 “… Shigaraki is managing to fight back.”

“Shit.”

-0-

 The battle took another hour to end. Shigaraki did throw Izumi off, but the older Hawks moved quickly to stop him from doing anything. With that, Izumi’s feral self smelling a ‘Pack-Omega’ scent on him, she hurried off to hover over her daughter. The Alpha next to her growled and snapped at anyone who got close. The older version of Tomoe just stared at her younger mother.

 “Mom!” She choked out. “Mama, mama- you’re alive.” Her eyes went to Sero, and she sobbed too. “Papa, papa.” 

 The emotional turmoil the girl was going through didn’t stop her from taking advantage of Shigaraki landing close with his back to them. She shot out a hand, and a thick thread spurted out to drive into his head. Shigaraki froze.

 “That was for the WORLD!” Snarled Tomoe as she jerked her hand back. Most of the public ran when Izumi went feral, no one wanting to face off against that sort of thing. Those who stayed didn’t react. Half of the block was demolished, and large craters had been where people used to be. Burns covered the ground, and smoke lingered in the air.

 That sort of destruction few wanted to be around. More so when he’d destroyed the entire world. The medics wasted no time rushing to check on the injured heroes and scan the Ferals.

 “They’re coming down,” one of them announced. “A few more minutes.” And it was true; the two teenagers slowly came out of their feral state to stare around them in shock. Izumi caught the other’s eyes and flushed.

 “Umm…” Hanta adjusted the toddler in his arms. Izumi stared in shock. She didn’t want to rip his face off for handing Tomoe. “What’s going on?”

 “You adopted me,” the adult Tomoe said as she stared like they were golden idols. She couldn’t look away. “Bit me and everything after you and Mama decided that you would mate. Helped me with my strings too. Mostly the swinging.”

 “Oh…” Izumi glanced at Sero, who glanced back, flushing. “I… I see.”

 “Well, you will soon,” Tomoe admitted. “We didn’t come back by ourselves. Another team, with special abilities, did.” She swallowed. “They’re about to show what happened.” She looked between them. “I’m sorry, Mama.”

 “Huh?” Izumi asked in confusion. Tomoe swallowed.

 “A lot of things are going to come out.” She whispered. “And… you had a hard time in UA. Getting into the hero course nearly broke you.” 

 “… oh,” Izumi said.

 “I’m sorry, Mama. It was the only way we could think of to stop him.” Tomoe said. “I… I found Papa’s body. I found your body.

 I don’t want to find them again.”

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Notes:

-Apologies. Yesterday I finished my final exam and wrote a lot of this… then I got drunk and couldn’t focus. So sorry!

-I’m a sucker for omegaverse and time travel, not going to lie.

-I had fun here. After this, it would continue with the show, where Izumi did get into the hero course and went on to be a terrifying hero. She and Sero danced around each other for a while before getting together, to Bakugou’s annoyance. 

-Izumi’s guardians/foster parents I never really decided on? EraserMic is obvious but it would be fun to explore another.

-Hawks and Izumi became pack first since she was his intern here.

-Izumi is one of two omegas in the hero course, and due to this got a lot of attention. She mostly didn’t like it.

[mefiman]

Hamato Family’s First Visit to the Hidden City

Story request by @rottmntrulesall. Hope you enjoy the story, bud! ^^

"C'mon, everyone! Hurry up!" Michelangelo's impatience was obvious in his excitement. He and his siblings were finally going to show their dad's relatives for the first time to the Hidden City for two reasons; one: to view the many wonders of the other world and two: to have a formal, proper meeting with Draxum's parents. The latter part had instilled some unease into the Hamato siblings, especially Saki who was wary about stepping foot into a mysterious world and was about to see for himself the father and mother of the "monster" who altered his younger brother many years ago.

"Are you sure this place is safe?" Hamato Kenji asked. Raphael glanced at his uncle, understanding his uncle's concerns. "We've been there a lot, Uncle Kenji! We did encounter a few dangers there before but other than that, the people there don't usually attack humans unless provoked." Raph assured his uncle.

"There are a lot of places to visit like the many resorts and spas if you want to have a massage and ooh, Señor Hueso's Run of the Mill Pizza where they make one of the best pizzas! I know the manager of that place, we're amigos~" Leonardo took the chance to quip in.

"I can't wait to see Grandpa Mons again! Wait till you guys meet him yourselves, he's the nicest, sweetest grandpa you'll ever meet! He's still as strong as he's gentle!" Mikey said happily.

"I wonder if Grandma Chemia has some wicked new inventions to show me!" Donatello exclaimed.

"This would be my first time seeing my grandparents, Arachne..." Ariadne whispered to her best friend, Arachne.

"You've never seen them before?" Her friend asked.

"Once when I was a baby... I haven't seen them for years." The yokai femme told Arachne.

"Alright, kids, you've shown us all that you're excited to bring us to visit the Hidden City, Mikey, can you open the portal now?" Splinter asked.

"Sure, Dad!" Mikey got to work quickly.

Draxum felt a tinge of anxiety inside himself. He could not recall the last time he visited his creators ever since he moved out of home to pursue his alchemy researching, away from his parents' constant arguments, half of which is about their preferred methods of raising him. It was a surprise how those two still manage to live under the same roof despite their obvious clashing personalities. He guessed that they tolerated each other just for his sake. His parents had never produced any more offspring after him and one of Arachne’s parents...

"Hey, are you okay, Dad?" A female voice asked him. Draxum jolted from his pondering to find that his daughter, Poison Ivy asking him out of concern. He just gave a small smile as he ran his clawed hands over her helmet. "Am fine, just thinking about your grandparents." He assured her. He marveled how Ivy much had grown from the last time he scientifically created her with his and Lou Jitsu's DNAs; she being so tiny as a developed newborn infant growing in a liquid chamber to a young lady around the boys' ages. From what he knew later on, Splinter raised her along with the Turtles. Ivy had lived her life at first as a normal human teenager until her yokai genes started appearing. The initial discovery of her origins did shake her world but over time, she had learnt to accept and use them to assist her brothers in their adventures. She was intelligent like Draxum and his mother with his father's gentle, mature nature as well as Splinter/Lou's sassiness. She loved to study on botany and coincidently, her powers involved using vines and summoning plant like monsters at will. She recently revealed her sexuality preference as a lesbian and had a girlfriend who is a fellow classmate and witch trainee/apprentice in disguise. Both her creators and siblings were happy for her. As of now, she was cradling her younger sister, Venus de Milo was giggling and squealing as April, Ariadne and Arachne cooed and tickled her belly.

The group watched Mikey draw a symbol on the wall at an alley. Once the symbol was drawn, an open portal revealed. The Hamato siblings' mouths went ajar, not believing what they just saw. "if you think that's mind blowing, you haven't seen nothing yet!" Mikey grinned. His three other brothers and the three girls each took hold of one of their Hamato uncles and aunts's hands. The moment they all jumped into that portal, they found themselves staring at a massive part of a what seemed to be a huge city. The sky above was unlike Earth's skies; instead it was orange with some brown. The architecture of the buildings there were monster shaped with some tall, castle like structures far away from the city. There were a lot of people of all shapes, sizes, colors and appearances walking, running, passing by each other, buying their needs or doing their usual business trades. The Turtle family allowed their Hamato relatives to take in their first view around them. Saki's eyes were bulging out of his sockets, he could not believe for his life what he was seeing. Anthropomorphic, mostly consisting of animal, everyday objects, monstrous and supernatural like individuals roamed every part of the streets around him, he felt as if he was having a strange dream that defied logic! Nori on the other hand, looked right and left, taking in interesting sights that captured her attention. Underneath a calm façade, Kenji was freaking out internally at the new, foreign view. Hiroki was squealing in delight similar to a child had just discovered a world made of toys and sweets. Her twin, Hikari was a bit calmer than his sister, feeling a thrill of danger running through his veins. Last but not least, the youngest Hamato sibling, Mei's stance looked poker face yet she looked around to see if there were any Gothic like people that she can interact with. The Turtles and the girls grinned, seeing the reactions of the others.

"What do you think? Surreal, huh?" They ask.

"Amazing.."

"Fascinating..."

"I can't believe what I'm seeing..."

"Someone please tell me that I'm dreaming..." Saki mumbled, still not believing.

"No, you're not," Draxum replied, going straight to the point with an indifferent expression. "May we please hurry to my parents' house, I bet they're waiting for our arrival..."

"Oh yeah!" Mikey clapped both his hands once. "Lead the way, Draxy!"

Draxum sighed as he took the lead of the group. Along the way, there were a few whispers around and behind Draxum coming from the city people but Splinter and Ivy took hold of both his hands and gave a comforting, assuring squeeze, making him feel better. Ariadne gave her uncle a comforting hand on to his shoulder. They were soon out of the main city square to a further distance into the woods. They had to climb up a hill for a while until they reached a big mansion residing there.

"We are here at last. My childhood home..." Draxum said, looking at the grassy, serene valley below, reminiscing the times where he as a little one ran galloping around the field, cartwheeling with glee among the flowers and his sire teaching him the basics on how to defend himself the predator way. Both father and son spend their days in the early years, sparring with each other...

"Draxum, my son!" The former alchemist warrior villain snapped out of his memories to find himself being engulfed into the arms of none other than his dear, loving old father, Monsrage who brought his only son into a crushing bear hug which knocked the wind out of his lungs. "How have you been, my little baby boy? It's rare that you visit us but it's so wonderful to see you bring your family along! How delightful!" the older yokai gushed, his bushy tail wagging with unlimited enthusiasm like an excited puppy. Monsrage was rather huge and muscular with perked up, pointy ears, silky straight black hair unchanged through time and a fairly long beard to match. Like Draxum before, he wore a battle mask. He had a significant dark upperlip. His body had different shades of blue just like his son, Draxum when he was armored. Monsrage's eyes were the same like Draxum's. His feet in particular, was a noticeable difference. Unlike his wife and son, his feet were shaped like a lion's paws, fitting for him coming from a predator species.

"Father, it's great to see you... but can you please let go now? I can't breathe..." Draxum choked out, being smothered by his sire's busty chest. Monsrage immediately loosened his grip, apologizing profusely while checking to see if he had accidently broken any of his son's bones. Draxum shook his head, smiling a little. His sire had never changed all these years, still a concerned worrywart. And he bet his mother had not either...

Chemia on the other hand, was greeting the rest of the visitors with feverish energy. She was a redhead with shades of pink for her skin colour and her ears, long and drooped. Her eyes had a little twinkle in them, a part of her eccentric personality and plump, red lips. Like her husband, she wore a mask. Donnie, April, Arachne and Ivy were given a whirlwind hug the moment they came in front of her. Monsrage went back to the mansion with his son to give the new visitors, the Hamatos, April, and Arachne a warm greeting as well as welcome his beloved grandchildren with his signature bear hug and proceed to pepper their faces with smooches which they were delighted to have especially Mikey, Ariadne, Ivy and Venus. Monsrage and Chemia ushered them all into their humble abode. The Hamatos were initially skeptical about meeting Draxum's family but they were soon warmed up to them. Later on, the mansion was filled with guffaws of laughter as Monsrage showed them all baby pictures of his son which embarrased the poor warrior scientist. Donnie, April and Ivy were treated to Grandma Chemia's latest creations. Monsrage himself had a blast, playing with Venus and sparring with the Turtles and the girls. Arachne was delighted to meet her grandparents as a young adolescent, telling them about her achievements, adventures and that her own parents are doing well. The Hamatos became comfortable talking with Draxum's parents over some snack delicacies. Overall, everyone had a wonderful time at the Hidden City.

I had fun writing this! Was tiring but oh so worth it.

The Hamato siblings (minus Lou/Splinter) and Venus de Milo belong to @rottmntrulesall while Ariadne and Arachne are the OCs of @mikeykawaii/@mikey-ho. Monsrage, Chemia and Poison Ivy along with the mention of the witch girlfriend belong to me, @mefiman. I hope you don’t mind me incorporating your girls into this story, @mikeykawaii but I’ve been dying to add them in, especially Ari meeting her grandparents! ^^ 

[yarrowleef]

Read Darkness Within all in one sitting last night and then passed out so here are my scattered thoughts i wrote down as i read, (afterthoughts in parenthesis)

Darkness Within Spoilers, obv

UGH GOD THE SECOND HAND EMBARRESMENT FROM SQUIRREL FAKE FLIRTING WITH ASHFUR IT HURTS

Just remembered Sandynose died and got a small boost of happiness (will Hawkwing and Plumwillow ever be allowed to talk again now? I mean probly not b/c they aren’t protags and non-protags don’t rly have friends but I can hope. Sorry, Hawkwhing and Plumwillow’s short-lived friendship in Hawkwings Journey was one of the last times I felt something)

Ghost fleas lol

Mothwing: i’m rude now. (but more importantly, Fuck Tigerheartstar for forcing his son to be around the cat that hurt him so badly, like he HAS to know how upset everyone is regarding Shadowsight and his accidentally helping the imposter, and he’s making him be the sole one to tend to him??? There is NO REASON Puddleshine couldn’t have done it. You think Puddleshine is going to try and murder someone?? )

Oh no don't make this a traveling book, and a ROOTBRISTLE traveling book this is going to be insufferable

BACON AND EGGS

Lightleap Is Good (Hey didn’t Shadowsight have another sister? lets be real we all knew Pouncekit was going to end up as the forgettable 3rd one)

Bristlefrost’s crush continues to feel unnatural to me. It’s like she’s grasping at straws romanticizing the most generic things.....wow....I love how ur just so...bare minimum competent....being polite to the loner we came all this way to ask for help like any somewhat reasonable person would....How admirable...I love the way you just *clenches fist* exhibit some basic traits of loyalty and skill that literally every warrior has (I s2g I’m this close to head canon-ing Bristle as a clueless aromantic who doesn't understand what romance is actually suppose to feel like so she just looks at feelings of low-bar admiration and assumes “oh I guess this is that “romantic attraction” everyone’s always talking about? guess I must be in love???” because both her crushes have felt out of nowhere and like. Idk fake/forced sounding like she’s just telling me that that she’s In Love Now while I continue to not actually feel it at all from her end. I know it’s just that I hate the way Erin’s write female characters in love but this head-canon makes me laugh)

Got scared because I thought they were going to villainize Spotfur for not wanting kits for a minute, but also excited at the concept of maybe exploring a female character that doesn’t want to be a mother, but it turns out she was just pulling a Sparkpelt and actually DID want the kits all along and was only hesitant because she’s sad. Shrug oh well.  (the only female character in warriors that was distinctly upset about pregnancy and motherhood was Lizardstripe and as we all know she was eeeeeevil and abusive and “overly ambitious” because why else would you not come around to being happy about motherhood?? YES I’M STILL SALTY ABOUT YELLOWFANG’S SECRET, BAD BOOK)  Whatever it’s fine so long as Spot doesn’t lose her rebel leader spirit forever and default to “soft mom” personality for the rest of her life, I gotta have hope because I actually like Bristle and Spot’s current relationship. Also I am actually very grateful they never made Bristle resentful at Spot for getting with her crush, as lots of middle grade/YA media has a very bad habit of demonizing female romantic “competition” and its super gross, so I rly do like that Bristlefrost is so protective and caring towards her instead. )

This series is trying to tell me that Rootspring is actually Big but I refuse to accept that. he has dumb scrawny bitch energy and we all know it

Sunrise: “Thunderclan may be better with a new leader” lol go off (i mean........they right tho...It’s unfortunate that the tension in this whole plot is a bit dampened by the fact that i DO in fact want bramble to die v badly. I don’t even have special hatred for him, I’m just bored of him.)

Yes Lionblaze beat the shit out of Ashfur

*HOLY SHIT THAT’S FUCKED!!!! (I wrote this in reference to the ghost summoning scene, this was all I could manage at the time, that scene was WILD and I am VIBING WITH THE HORROR OF IT ALL)

* Brashfur: Oh yeah? Could Ashfur fake THIS? *stands up with slightly better posture* Shadowsight: oh damn you got me there...... (asdfhhfhhgh im sorry that was really funny, how did that prove anything?? ONLY A ~REAL~ WARRIOR COULD STAND UP STRAIGHT WE ALL KNOW ASHFUR IS INCAPABLE OF GOOD POSTURE!)

End of the book: *LAUGHING NERVOUSLY* WHAT THE FUCK??? (I thought he was just gonna kill Squirrelflight right there holy shit can you imagine the RIOTS that would ensue in the wake of all this Squirrel/Bramble discourse I was so scared for a second.  

 But it’s fine, she just....went to super hell instead......Warriors has come so far lmao WHAT IS HAPPENING

Final Notes:

*On Mothwing, I don’t think her behavior struck me as “CHARACTER BUTCHERING” as much as it did for other people? I mean.....Warriors fans will say that literally any time a character does ANYTHING less then perfectly nice I think her actions just seemed that much harsher because we are reading from Shadowsight’s POV, and Shadowsight is taking everything 10x more personally right now (understandably so, but Mothwing isn’t inside his head) she wasn’t trying to hurt him. Also... like... Shadowsight DID get his name too early. It’s not Mothwing’s job to put his feelings above everything else, she’s not even his mentor, Puddleshine on the other hand, as his main mentor, I don’t understand what his deal is ignoring Shadowsight, that’s not how you help an apprentice but I suppose I chalk many of his mistakes up to also not being the most experienced medicine cat (he barely even had his own mentor.) Maybe he’s distant because he feels guilty and actually blames himself for not guiding Shadowsight better?? the two of them haven’t communicated about it yet so idk

 any way I give Mothwing a pass to be a little short tempered right now as a cat who has had her abilities periodically questioned all her life no matter how hard she works or how much experience she has, just because she doesn’t vibe with the spiritual cult side of the clans, I can understand why she’s a bit defensive of being questioned and frustrated watching so much hurt happen Yet Again due to reliance on StarClan visions over common sense, and I for one still stan her for slandering StarClan and refusing to accept Mistystar’s bullshit banishing like everyone else. Sometimes a character is at the end of their rope and can’t manage to be 100% nice 24/7 and that’s maybe not inherently bad writing? idk just my hot take. At a certain point we all gotta reckon with the fact that our perception of most popular supporting characters in heavily colored by fanon and we can’t always get mad at the authors for not adhering to it

*The sisters magic shit is my fav worldbuilding warriors has had in AGES, I love the way it’s described and it actually feels like it adds something to this world. I love this horror imagery with the ghosts, very excited for that. 

*still won’t be thrilled if Ashfur is working alone, because his motive doesn’t make sense right now. I mean the trying to get Squilf thing, sure, whatever, but the “I will make everyone pay for what they did to me”???? cause like?? Who??? they didn’t do anything to him?? Ashfur’s grievance was very specifically JUST Squilf. He has no other cause for revenge, he had no other beef or complaints about the clans to my knowledge? The cat that killed him is dead, and she’s like, the only other one that I could see as having “wronged” him?? I guess he also didn’t like Firestar much according to Graystripe’s Vow (and on account of how willing he was to kill him w/ Hawkfrost) but Firestar is ALSO dead. I don’t understand his angle. Will have to see last 2 books to judge i suppose.

*All in all I am interested to see where this is going!! but also the pacing as I feared is becoming a major issue. It’s better then ending the main conflict on book 3 like Vision of Shadows did, but omg. Hardly anything happened in all these pages. I realized I was over half way through and nothing about the situation had actually CHANGED or advanced at all in all that time. Similar to the past 2 books which I believe could have been combined, this plot felt like it should have been the first half of a book. Discussing whether or not to kill the imposter isn’t much of a standalone plot, it’s just the set up to a plot. Finding the sisters didn’t need to be a whole long thing, the debates about the Imposters fate didn’t need to be repeated 10 times, all those chapters illustrating that “Shadowsight is sad” were also drawn out, repetitive, and interchangeable, we probably only needed 2 or so chapters showing his struggles to get the necessary information across. It felt like a lot of padding, it was really slow and I did a lot of skimming. I am still very interested in the overarching plot and mystery behind the ghosts so that kept me reading but man this “will they won’t they kill him” plot did not justify it’s own whole book. Alas this is a persisting issue that will never be resolved while they continue to force 6 books into 1 series that doesn’t need 6 books. I’m sure the writers are doing the best they can with these unfortunate constraints but still, it’s a wonder this slow padding isn’t more of a detriment to their younger readers that the books are supposed to be marketed to.

[nhatlynguyennln]

HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE: DIFFERENCES BETWEEN NOVEL AND MOVIE

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HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE: DIFFERENCES BETWEEN NOVEL AND MOVIE

HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE: DIFFERENCES BETWEEN NOVEL AND MOVIE

Link Video:

Opening

Following the resounding success of the 2001 animated classic Spirited Away, director Hayao Miyazaki continued to release a Japanese animated fantasy Howl’s moving castle. The film was inspired by the 1986 novel of the same name by British author Diana Wynne Jones.

Most Studio Ghibli fans turn to the book after watching the movie. This caused a little disappointment, a bit of “disillusionment” for the ladies who put too many dreams into the handsome wizard Howl in the movie. Although both the novel and the movie revolve around the two main characters – Sophie and Howl, there are huge differences in the storyline and character construction that cause both the novel and the film to turn in two directions.

Stay tuned with ASK KPOP until the end of the video to see what made “romantic fiction” fans disillusioned with the difference between novels and movies Howl’s moving castle.

Body

Sophie Hatter, a girl born into a family of hat makers, does not believe that luck will come to her and she will do something great in her life. She decided she would spend the rest of her life looking after the hat shop her father left. But her life changes after being cursed by the Witch of the Waste, turning her into an old woman, and worse yet, she can’t tell anyone about it. Fearing that her family would no longer recognize her, Sophie set out to find a way to cure the curse, and then arrived at Wizard Howl’s castle. Since then there is a big difference between books and movies, especially the plot and character lines.

The difference in the story between the novel and the movie

Because the novel Howl’s moving castle was written for children by writer Diana Wynne Jones, these factors such as : magic ,humor, fantasy come first. The content of the novel mainly tells about Sophie’s journey to break the curse. In that journey, Sophie has discovered the true strength of herself and the good qualities of those around her. However, when it was adapted to the big screen, director Hayao Miyazaki incorporated many lofty messages about love, peace, and anti-war.

Throughout the movie, we see a fight break out between Ingary (the land of Howl and Sophie is in) and the neighboring country, whereas there is no fierce battle in the original novel.

The whole movie revolves around the theme of anti-war, and its true villain is the pointless war and cause the loss. However, the original story directs the reader towards Sophie’s journey to find herself, how Sophie realizes her worth, which is partly through the movie. Coming to the movie, you will experience the brutal combat scene, the dark battleships .As for the book, Howl has to confront the Witch of the Waste and her powerful fire demon. The two missions of the movie and the novel have different message stories with different audiences, both great stories with their own merits.

The difference in the character’s personality between the novel and the movie

The second most highlighted difference between the novel and the movie is the characters. The characters in the book and in the movie are transformed from the original. Some minor characters have been removed or merged together with other characters. Characters with significant changes include:

(Howl)

Howl in the movie is a perfect version, a “Prince Charming” with many advantages in personality: courteous, gentle, and also the hero of fighting to protect Sophie.If you are familiar with this Howl image then Please be mentally prepared before reading the novel of the same name. Real name’s Howl  is Howell Jenkins, from Wales. It is mentioned in the book that the castle door leads to different places according to the color on the door, and the blackness opens into a dark night. However, the side when that black curtain was Wales in the 1980s, with modern equipment such as cars and computers . This is not mentioned in the movie.

In terms of personality, Howl in the novel is actually a “lady-killer” who flirts with so many beautiful ladies and any girl will not escape by him, until they fall in love with him, he leaves without leaving a trace. This was also the source of his trouble with the Witch of the Waste Throughout the novel, Howl spends most of his time dressing and grooming in order to win the hearts of beautiful girls, including her sister Sophie. The rest of the time, Howl sulked and acted like a child beside Sophie. Howl in the novel does not want to tie and always tries to avoid responsibility. But the more we read, the more we like Howl in the novel, because his personality is especially funny and witty. “I’m a coward. Only way I can do something this frightening is to tell myself I’m not doing it.”  Throughout the novel, we see only a Howl chasing the girls, his words in the last chapter confuse readers and other characters: Howl is still searching and saving people from being lost from the Witch. Meanwhile, he tells himself “I’m not doing it”.

Howl in the movie gets rid of Howl’s flaws of the novel. Because the movie’s message is hind-minded about peace protection and anti-war, a heroic character is needed to be able to send the message to the audience. The hero in the movie is Howl, he is idealized in the film, becomes a hero fighting for peace, denouncing the destructive power of war. When the court asked Howl to go to war, Howl refused ,not for his cowardness. He knew from which side the war was coming from, then the end was like that for everyone, just bring pain only. However, at night, Howl quietly turns into a monster out to fight alone, fighting against planes and monsters that both sides release to tear each other up. It is an ideal, incredibly romantic image of a hero fighting evil, fighting for peace, and fighting for the things he loves. In the end, Howl in both the novel and movie has to face Howl’s problems and settle it.

(Sophie)

Sophie in the novel has red hair, stubborn, straightforward, and always seems angry after being cursed. She sees cleaning as a way to forget about the problem she is facing. She often talks to hats, clothes, objects around and this brings miracles, even life to them. Meanwhile, Sophie in the movie has brown hair and is much softer. She also knows how to control her emotions better, and she cleans out of order. However, Sophie in the movie has no magical powers. This is most noticeable in the part where Sophie meets Turnip-Head. Turnip-Head in the story is an inanimate scarecrow, but gets up and follows Sophie after hearing her talk. In the movie, Turnip-Head had life when Sophie met him. While the-story Sophie was very scared of Turnip Head and wanted to chase him many times, the Sophie-movie was friendly, even grateful to the Turnip-Head.

Sophie in the story has sent a message: “When we are young, let us go out and explore ourselves, we will find our power hidden and know what our strength is. and where is our limit. ” That is a very precious meaning that Sophie’s journey to find herself brings back.

  (Author)

Author Diana Wynne Jones observed that Howl and Sophie on-screen seemed “softer and more noble than their characters in my book.” In the movie, we really liked how Howl became “lost” as he transformed into a giant crow in battles and gradually “couldn’t return.” Meanwhile, Sophie’s curse fades more and more as she becomes stronger to save Howl and to heal herself. These details are not included in the book. However, I also want to say that Howl and Sophie in the book seem more real and that the quarrel between the two is what makes me appreciate their feelings more; love each other and learn to accept each other’s imperfections.

(Witch)

She was once a charming, powerful woman. Howl in the novel once chased and abandoned her. Both the story and the movie show Howl once captured a shooting meteor and gave it his heart in exchange for power, which is Calcifer. However, the sorceress in the novel cursed Howl to complete a list of things to do and they slowly led Howl back to her hand. In the movie, the witch tries to cast a curse on Howl, but he easily removes it. In the end, she lost her magic and became a pitiful, harmless old woman.

()

There are also some minor differences in the side characters. Sophie in the novel has two younger sisters, Lettie and Martha. Lettie is the younger sister sent to learn magic, and Martha is the assistant at the bakery. These two sisters exchanged looks and names in the beginning. Lettie is a huge support character in the series, even part 2 is present. However, the film only mentions Lettie – the sister at the bakery, and she can only say a sentence or two to Sophie and finish. Howl has an apprentice. In the book, he names Michael Fisher , a teenager. And, in the movie he names Markl , a boy. In the story, Suliman is the Royal Mage, male and missing. On screen, Suliman is a female magician who taught Howl before, and she is a bit mean.

  Ending

“Howl’s Moving Castle” is a film with a stunning image and a beautiful European context, but it does not lose the Japanese culture, oriental styles of Ghibli. The good soundtrack both “The Promise With The World” and “Merry Go Round of Life” are great tunes but for us  “Merry Go Round of Life” is still more beautiful, the scene of Howl holding Sophie’s hand , two people walking in the air together forever is a very beautiful, very romantic scene that is hard to describe in words.

Howl’s Moving Castle is not just a love story, a magical adventure and heart-fluttering romance, but also a story of growth and a journey to find oneself. Whether it’s a novel or a movie, the film’s meaningful message is expressed in tolerance, forgiveness after struggles, hatred, and curse. In addition, the extraordinary life energy of the people who have suffered many injuries in the film overcoming all the difficulties to achieve a happy destination is also the message that the filmmakers send to the audience.

[nadiaportia]

Anastasia Devorak - the Devil’s original ally...?

Considering how different Portia’s route is from the Nadia, Asra, Muriel and Julian ones with her being the only one who (until now) is not heavily with one of the Major Arcana and also with Lucio being basically non-existent in her life, it makes sense that the main antagonist in her story line is someone completely different. But instead of it being one of the courtiers, the devs decided to play on her fatal flaw - her secretiveness, specifically when it comes to her past - and introduced her aunt Tasya, first in Portia's eyes as a trustworthy beloved family member only to reveal her as someone... less than trustworthy. The archetype of the Evil Aunt/Uncle has been a trope for centuries, especially if they're rich, a character hasn't been around them for ages and they might or might not have something to do with your parents' deaths. But all the signs up to now in Portia's route point to Tasya not merely being a "personal" villain because she manages to outdo Lucio despite the latter being the main antagonist('s main henchman) and the "personal" villain for Asra, Julian, Muriel and Nadia. After all, she is the only one who achieves the merging of the real and the magical worlds without the ritual nonetheless - pretty impressive.

But what's even more unique about Tasya is that her personal end goal isn't the merging of the worlds for the benefit of the Devil but exclusively for her own. Yet she seems to be familiar enough with at least two crucial figures that were a part of the original ritual: Lucio and Valdemar, in the latter's case to the point where she even communicates with them in the dungeon.

Neither the apprentice nor Portia see the person Valdemar is speaking to, while they seems to know exactly who they are dealing with and vice versa. Important to note is that Valdemar speaks to the voice like an equal; a sentiment that is never once given to the other courtiers, and since Valdemar is pretty much the most competent among them, as well as the oldest (and most dangerous) demon, whoever that person is... they got to be a big gun. In hindsight though, Tasya is the only one who could've been that person.

There is no reason for the mystery person to prevent Valdemar from discovering Portia and the apprentice, except if either are either of relevance (the apprentice, after all we did cheat death with Asra's help) or have a personal connection to the voice (Portia). It also confirms the legitimacy of "Auntie Tasya" being the real Baroness Anastasia Devorak, also underlined by the fact that only Portia is able to get through the magical shield at her estate due to being of her bloodline. Her backstory being legit, as in, her really being the older sister to Ilya's and Portia's father, would put Tasya at something between 50 and 65 years, considering Julian is supposed to be in his mid 30s and all sprites have the "older" characters look an awful lot younger than they actually are. It would also make her at least 10 years older than Lucio, who made his first demonic deal at the age of 18. It also wouldn't surprise me if she was referring to him in this particular segment, especially since just earlier, Nadia spoke of Lucio's love for drama involving magic.

Also, one of the one side you have Lucio "magical dead weight" Morgasson and Tasya with this little gem on the other with regard to the apprentice being not-so-dead.

They're opposites on every level; Tasya, born a noble who has enjoyed power and riches her whole life and has been holding onto it and expanding it, able to easily sway and charm people into doing her bidding while still maintaining a friendly air and with a deep and extensive knowledge in magic - and Lucio, disgraced son of a tribe leader who makes deals left and right without thinking of the consequences of his actions even once, essentially a self-made man and also while being able to make fast friends, due to his personality and temper earning more than enough enemies - along with being terrifyingly bad at magic.

What's interesting is that none of the other courtiers knew of her existence until she came to Vesuvia and it wouldn't come as a surprise if...

four of those people happen to be the courtiers and persons number 5 and 6 being Tasya and Valdemar.

As for what she might be planning:

First of all, in Czech "liska" means "fox"... and we do have a Major Arcana who takes the appearance of a fox... second of all, doesn't exactly sound like she was giddy at the prospect of the Devil taking over the realms after the realms merging and him taking over a humans body, doesn't it? Yet this...

sounds an awful lot like someone trying to make the same ritual that was attempted three years ago at the masquerade. Yet this kind of knowledge isn't exactly something you'll stumble upon at the side of the road, which leads to believe that Tasya had someone who would introduce her to this magic and did some research with them, enough to even earn the respect of a powerful demon. This person could be the mentioned Lishka, who could be a Major Arcana in disguise or just a powerful magician.

Or it could be the Devil himself, which would explain how Tasya is privy to the details of Lucio's ritual while not participating in it herself or even knowing the count or having been to Vesuvia before.

Here's what could be a possibility: Tasya was an ally to the Devil a long time ago, long before Lucio made his first deal with him. But even before coming across him she knew he was the real deal, so we can assume she never once made any deals that would end up chaining her to him and eventually turning her into a demon. After all, Tasya puts an emphasis on freeing all humans from death, and from her claim of wanting to harness the Major Arcanas' powers, it's safe to say she's not on their side. Instead of becoming a mere henchwoman or a demon like the others, she stayed on her own side and in the shadows while still fooling Valdemar, who lives for death but in this new deathless world is gonna be jobless, that she was still on their side - if she were an enemy, they would have not bothered with listening to her. She destroys any chance of the masquerade being started so the Devil doesn't have his puppets to prepare the ritual in a way that benefits him but does it on her own instead - in a way that she reaps all the rewards, and the Major Arcana gets the short end of the stick.

Devil!Lucio declared himself a god but that was after merging with the Devil, and Tasya isn't the type of person to share her power with anyone. Who knows, maybe in The Tower we will find the Major Arcana in a similar state the Hierophant was in in Nadia's route.

[revengerevisited]

I wanna do something a little fun and just share some of the KH fanfic ideas I’ve had for a while, which are mostly about Vanitas because of course they are. XD But yeah, here are my ideas:

1. A Shadow of Two - a sequel to A Heart and a Half, kinda a fix-it for KH3 but not really since it’s an AU to begin with. Vanitas Aqua and Ventus would be the main trio, but Sora Riku and Kairi are also POV characters, with each of them having their own trio and goals: Sora (with Donald and Goofy) looking for a way to revive Roxas while struggling with his own inner darkness, Kairi training with Axel and getting help from Ienzo in discovering her past, Riku Mickey and an unrevealed character on a secret Realm of Darkness mission and also finding a way to revive Naminé, and Vanitas Aqua and Ventus searching for the new Princesses of Heart while dealing with their own problems: Vanitas still dealing with his trauma while adjusting to normal society, Aqua dealing with something I can’t reveal yet, and Ventus... honestly I don’t know what to do with Ventus. The most obvious answer would be recovering his lost memories, but... well, introducing an egregiously convoluted backstory wherein Ventus and/or Vanitas might be a murderer isn’t exactly appealing to me, to say the least. I really wish Ven’s backstory could’ve been something I was allowed to make up myself. Other than that, the story would generally follow KH3 but with way more Disney worlds and hopefully fewer plot holes. ;P

2. Broken Hearts (Take Time to Mend) - a post-KH3 fic that ignores Re:Mind and the time-traveling Vanitas retcon. This fic is about the REAL Vanitas who was in KH3 and resurrected via scream energy who has returned once again, this time in the Land of Departure but is too weak to leave and is quickly discovered by the Wayfinder Trio. Tensions are high but he’s ultimately allowed to stay, with the focus of the story being on the four of them helping each other recover from their respective traumas: Vanitas’s years of abuse by Xehanort, Terra’s decade of possession by Xehanort (which according to the post-Re:Mind character files was a lot more traumatic than I’d realized), Aqua’s decade spent in the Realm of Darkness and subsequent corruption by darkness, and Ven’s... almost being killed by Eraqus, I guess. While pretty bad, that’s probably not as traumatizing as years of torture and torment, and the more obvious trauma to use would be Ventus committing/witnessing Strelitzia’s murder, but as I’ve established I just really don’t want to deal with KHUX at all. Anyway, this could work as a gen fic but since I love Vanqua so much I might as well make it one, maybe throw a little Terrella in there too 'cause why not.

3. This fic idea focuses on the aftermath of KH3, NOT Re:Mind, where Riku Kairi and Naminé are trying to adjust back to a normal life at Destiny Islands while also dealing with their grief over Sora’s disappearance. Kairi deals with blaming herself for Sora’s ‘death’, Naminé deals with being adopted as Kairi’s sister and learning how to be a normal person, and Riku deals with his growing feelings for Naminé, but the real star of the show is... Sora’s mom! Oh and Vanitas too, of course. Sora’s mom (who really needs a name) has finally been told about everything that’s happened these past two-ish years, and a month after Sora’s disappearance she finds a comatose Vanitas washed up on the beach. She assumes it’s Sora, although Riku and Kairi are quick to correct her. Despite their warnings, Sora’s mom nurses Vanitas back to health and basically adopts him, although he isn’t exactly happy with the situation. Still weak and recovering, Vanitas is unable to leave, and Sora’s mom won’t stop in her efforts to help him adjust to a normal life. This one could be merged into Broken Hearts, since I could imagine Riku informing the Wayfinder Trio about Vanitas’s return and an angry and distrustful post-KH3 Aqua wouldn’t want to let him out of her sight, but it might be better to keep them as separate fics seeing as they’re set in two different locations.

4. My next idea hinges on my theory of what the next KH game could’ve been like... or at least before Re:Mind pretty much shot it down. My theory was that Vanitas, the real Vanitas not the time-traveler, was still inside Sora’s heart and therefore went along with him to TWEWY. I haven’t played TWEWY but I know that Sora would need a partner to defeat the Noise, and what better partner than a former enemy? This would be similar to A Heart and a Half but instead of romance it’s a sibling team-up with them trying to escape Shibuya. This fic could also be combined with the previous idea as well... Maybe Sora allows Vanitas to win the Reaper’s Game and he ends up on Destiny Islands unable to remember what happened in TWEWY. Vanitas would be the key to getting Sora back but only if Naminé can unlock his lost memories. My only problem is that I would have to erase all that character development Vanitas gained with Sora to reset him back to have character development with the Destiny Islands characters instead, at least until he regains all his memories.

5. A different Vanitas and Sora team-up fic. Once again this is the real Vanitas who used scream energy to revive himself, but that made his heart rather unstable. He tries to fight Sora Donald and Goofy in Monstropolis but is too weak and sick and loses. Upon discovering that Vanitas looks just like him, Sora decides to take him back to Yen Sid for healing and answers. But Vanitas’s negativity is too much for the Gummiship to handle and it ends up stalling. Sora Donald and Goofy slowly nurse a very reluctant Vanitas back to health with the power of friendship, which would reduce the amount of negativity so the Gummiship can fly again. Vanitas and the trio travel to a few different Disney worlds and eventually rescue Aqua and Ven. I don’t know what would happen after that though, since I don’t want to just rehash exactly what happened in the Keyblade Graveyard.

6. A pre-BBS Vanqua AU. Only a few months after being created, Vanitas runs away from Xehanort to the Land of Departure, hoping to merge with Ven early. Unfortunately for him Ven is still in a coma, so Vanitas tries to merge with Aqua instead. This doesn’t quite work, but does end up linking their hearts in such a way that neither can go too far away from each other without feeling sick or even dying. Now stuck at the Land of departure, Vanitas is found by Xehanort who is enraged that Vanitas has basically ruined all his plans. Fearing for his life, Vanitas convinces Xehanort that the plan can still be salvaged: Vanitas will become Eraqus’s apprentice under the guise of Ven’s ‘brother’ and is tasked with encouraging Terra’s darkness while making sure Ventus and/or Aqua are trained to their fullest, depending on which one would be better to merge with. Xehanort, not wanting to start this entire endeavor over, agrees to the plan and introduces Vanitas to Eraqus and the others. Since Vanitas is now wearing normal clothing, Aqua has no idea that he is the masked boy who attacked her earlier, but feels strangely drawn to him due to their connected hearts. The rest of the fic would basically be about the four apprentices’ life at the Land of Departure, with Vanitas struggling with his loyalty to Xehanort vs his slowly burgeoning friendship with Terra Ven and Aqua, all while trying not to blow his cover with the Unversed.

I also have a few smaller ideas that I haven’t really thought through yet or might work better as oneshots or fanart: 1. A Lion King Vanqua AU with lion Aqua and black leopard Vanitas, Terra Eraqus and Xehanort also as lions, Ven as a regular leopard, and Braig as a hyena. 2. A KH1 retelling/reimagining with Vanitas reincarnated as Sora’s younger brother. 3. A Nier Automata AU with resistance android Terra, scanner Ventus, attacker Aqua, and Vanitas as a scanner with executioner chips installed by Xehanort sent to infiltrate Yorha. 4. A post-KH3 fic dealing with Sora’s restlessness after attempting to return to a normal life on Destiny Islands, feeling like he doesn’t belong after everything he’s been through. 5. Something about Aqua taking care of Ven when he first arrives at the Land of Departure, possibly Venqua. 6. A Vanqua-ish KH3 fic with Vanitas kidnapping Aqua to be used as a Guardian or Seeker back-up for Org13, but he eventually befriends her and lets her go. 7. And finally, a Namiku fic set between CoM and KH2. I kinda feel like this should be part of the A Heart and a Half ‘canon’, but I’m not actually sure whether it should be its own fic or just flashback scenes in A Shadow of Two.

You’ll notice that I really love stories about villain redemption, abuse/mental illness recovery, and former enemies becoming friends/lovers, which is why I’ve grown so disappointed with mainstream works nowadays rarely exploring those topics (at least not that I’ve seen). I guess that’s where that old saying comes in, “if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself”. But yeah, that’s just a quick list of my KH fic ideas so far!

[littlemisssquiggles]

Ok so In this one anime uh, Owari no Seraph, there’s this child that got experimented on and literally turned into a weapon for the military. Could this happen to Oscar?..

Never watched Owari no Seraph before but what you said pretty much describes my Pinehead headcanon anon-chan. 

My hunch is that at some point during V7, Ironwood might convince Oscar to undo experiments on his aura. Initially it was on the grounds of helping the young farm boy reconnect with the old soul who had locked himself inside of mind. The experiments were meant to force Ozpin to come out isolation by having Oscar undo circumstances where his life was placed in immediate danger. The last time, Oscar’s life was on the line, Oz returned to help him only to disappear afterwards.

The idea I have is that Ironwood would put Oscar a series of stress tests to force Oz to return. But when those tests fail and only serve to anger Ozpin and make him even more withdrawn, that’s when Ironwood would come forward and propose the notion to possibly separate Ozpin’s soul from Oscar’s via Atlas’s experimental aura technology and research.

So out of desperation, Oscar agrees to go through with the aura experiments. Unfortunately, similar to the stress tests, the aura experiment fails as well since it proved too painful for Oscar to fully go through without killing himself in the process. So the experiment was ceased but not before Ironwood was able to discover something very unique about Oscar’s soul.

Since Penny Polendina was the first artificial lifeform to possess an aura, I have a feeling that that’s going to come back into play for V7 or at least some point during the Atlas Arc. 

My guess is that following what happened to Penny during the Vytal Festival, Ironwood ceased his aura experiments. My theory for Penny is that she was made from the harvested aura of Dr. Polendina’s original daughter who possibly died prior to the series. 

The experiment was supposed to be Penny’s second chance at life but what it led to was the doctor watching his beloved child die twice before his eyes. I’d like to think that Penny’s ‘soul’ is still intact, safely contained somewhere in Dr. Polendina’s lab or something of the like. My theory is that following the events of Beacon, Dr. Polendina confiscated the remnants of his daughter’s soul that Atlas had used to create Penny since he didn’t wish for Ironwood to use his daughter like that again.

I’d like to think that Penny is still alive but not really. My theory for Dr. Polendina that he’s a grieving father who hasn’t been ready to let his daughter go for years and has tried everything he could to keep her alive. While Ozpin is probably the man that sparked Ironwood’s curiosity about the soul, I’d like to think that Dr. Polendina was responsible for proving to the general that the soul can be harvested in some way. 

My hunch is that Dr. Polendina was keeping his daughter’s soul that was harvested years prior under safe keeping. I still wish to believe there is a connection between Dr. Polendina and Arthur Watts. 

Like perhaps Watts was formerly the doctor’s apprentice and adoptive son who was once very close to him and his family. And what if…the original Penny used to be someone close to Watts.

I know we all know Penny as being a teenage girl around the same age as Ruby and the other huntsmen and huntresses (y’know age sixteen to seventeen-ish). But imagine if…there was a twist that Penny was actually the younger robotic clone of Dr. Polendina’s daughter who was previously the loving wife of Arthur Watts who died tragically of an incurable disease?

Perhaps this is why Arthur was banished from Atlas (or left it). What if…when his wife was going to die, Arthur performed inhuman experiments on her in an attempt to salvage what was left of her? This resulted in him successfully extracting his wife’s soul. Watt’s had made plans to further his experimental research in the hopes of figuring out a scientific way to resurrect his wife but when Dr. Polendina discovered what Watts had done, the doctor was devastated. 

Dr. Polendina reported Watts to the Atlesian authorities on the grounds that ‘his experimentations were a crime against human nature, punishable by law’. 

What if…Dr. Polendina caused Watts to be banished from Atlas and he’s held a grudge against him the most for more reasons that just getting him thrown out of his own home.

What if…the studies on the human soul was originally Watt’s idea and the research that Ironwood eventually used to conduct his own experimentswas his as well. So basically, what if…Ironwood stole Watts’ research while Dr. Polendina encouraged him?

Hear me out on this one.

Imagine how twisted of a twist it would be if Dr. Polendina caused Watts to lose everything— his career, his reputation as a scientist and researchers and all the hard work he had done because Dr. P believed the work that Arthur was doing was immoral and inhuman.

Work that Arthur was only doing because he was desperate to resurrect the woman he loved. The same woman Dr. Polendina loved. His own daughter.

Dr. Polendina thought Watts was a monster. The mad doctor, he called him the night he betrayed him. Yet still, Dr. Polendina allowed Ironwood to steal and continue Watts’ research in secret.

And to add more insult to injury, he even condoned the General creating that robotic abomination (Penny) he had the gall to parade around as his ‘daughter’. As if that mindless machine could ever be the real Penny. Watts’ Penny.

I kind of like the concept of Watts’ taking pleasure in contributing to Penny’s destruction and feeling no remorse for her. Even if Penny was a younger artificial clone created from the soul of Dr. Polendina’s daughter and Watts’ wife, unlike Dr. P, Watts could never see this broken machine as his beloved.  

Pardon the deviation to discuss Watts and Dr. Polendina. It all ties into my theory on Oscar, I swear. I don’t share or indulge in much theories of Watts but for the longest while, I have liked the thought of him sharing a connection with Dr. Polendina. It’s the musing that makes the most sense to me and having Watts share a connection to Penny fits too.

In the beginning, I figured original Penny was Watts’ sister who was terminally ill and he had tried to resurrect her with his research on aura experiments that Ironwood stole. But now I think it would be a much better, bigger twist is the original Penny (that I’ll hereby dub Penelope Polendina) used to be Watts’ deceased wife and that the Penny we know is just a young robotic clone of Watts’ wife. Just a copy. 

Imagine how tragic that would be? For Watts’ to learn that Atlas had secretly used his own research that they had condemned him for to produce a robotic clone of his former wife powered by her soul he had harvested years ago, puppeting her around as an innocent young huntress representing the kingdom when she was in fact a weapon. A lifeless doll they had crammed his wife’s soul into.

And to make matters worse it was all done under the consent of the same man who has caused Watts’ damnation? The man he once called master. The man he once called father.

Dr. Polendina had stopped Watts from saving original Penny but allowed Ironwood and his military to use her as a tool. 

When I picture the backstory between Watts, Dr. Polendina and Penny like this, it makes it sound so depressing yet fascinating.

Arthur Watts intrigues me as villain since, like Hazel, I’d like to believe there are more layers to him than meets the eyes that contributed to him becoming the man he is presently. 

Not trying to say my hunches are true. Just saying it would be cool if his story took a turn in a direction like what I described. Doubt that will be the case for the canon but I am curious to see what Watts’ story will be for the Atlas Arc. That’s my small hunch for how him and Dr. Polendina are related.

Resuming talk on Oscar now, how all of this stuff I said with Penny ties back into Oscar is that—if Penny proved that it is possible for one soul to power a machine capable of producing an aura then what say you for an entire army of machines fueled by one potent soul. A soul that is a culmination of many souls gathered over centuries of lives.

My hunch is that at some point Ironwood would get the idea to create an infinite army of robotic soldiers powered by Oscar’s soul as his so-called ‘new approach’ to stopping Salem.

So to really answer your question anon-chan. Do I believe Ironwood would turn Oscar into a weapon? Yep. I think that will play into his moment of treachery for V7. Whether or not it’ll happen that way is up to the series itself to show. Either way, I’m firmly sticking with my ‘Ironwood’s Immortal Legion’ headcanon I talked about here. That’s my main hunch for now. 

 ~LittleMissSquiggles (2019)

[soraegeeks]

Review: My Hero Academia Vigilantes - Vol 1-4

It took me a while to get into this spin-off. I’ve had the first volume for a few months and I picked up volumes 2-4 through my local library. The first volume started a little slow but it could just be with the first volume of a manga you have to get the tempo. I wasn't sure what to expect but halfway through I started to warm up to it. Vigilantes is set several years before the beginning of MHA and it seems to be darker in humor and so far not as heavy as the original.

One of the main characters is a middle-aged man called Knuckleduster and he is hilarious. Why is his reaction to punch everybody?! Who knows. I laughed so hard at his interaction with Eraserhead. The concept behind Vigilantes is an interesting one. There are people with quirks who fall through the cracks. They're powerful enough to be Pro Heros but at the same time, they want to do something good in the world. Pro Heros can't be everywhere, just like the police can't be everywhere, and these vigilantes fill that space. There’s a driving need to be someone in the gray area because there are people day-to-day who need help but they aren’t seen and you can't just leave them out there to fend for themselves.

We’re introduced to Koichi Haimawari, or the Crawler, who’s the kind of person who cleans up litter and makes sure people can walk across the street. It was really cute when he ran across Knuckleduster in the beginning and he doesn't want to work with him. Naw, dude, you're crazy and I'll never be a hero because I don't have a powerful enough quirk and no I'm not going to take you up on your offer to be your apprentice. Knuckleduster, being a man of action, doesn't take no for an answer. LOL 

The next main character we’re introduced to is Kazuho Haneyama or Pop Step. Koichi just wants to live a normal life but he has to deal with the hijinks that come from Knuckleduster and Kazuho. They even take over his little single trailer and make it their base of operations. Their main mission is tracking down some illegal drugs on the market called trigger lock that is a massive quirk enhancer. 

Through the story, a major villain of this arc has a quirk called Queen Bee. While I was reading I kept thinking back to fanfiction story that I had read a few days before. In the story, there was a major villain who controlled bees out of her eye, which is disgusting but whatever, and I couldn’t figure out why it was so similar. I took a look a the fic again and realized that the fic was tagged with Vigilantes so it was a character based on this. I really do need to pay attention to the tags on fanfics I read. 😅 

In this volume, Koihichi also meets Tensei Iida, Ingenium. I really love how Vigilantes gives attention to characters who don’t get a lot of shine in the original manga.

Volume 2 My initial thought was that Knuckleduster reminds me of Katsuki because he’s so pouty that he didn't get to fight anybody. They were solving an issue by using social media and he's just kind of helping them walk around kicking stuff like I really want to punch somebody. Also in the story notes from volume one Koichii is modeled off of what would have happened if Deku did not get One for All and he wasn't able to be a hero but he didn't commit suicide or anything horrible. He just had to live his life.  We learn that Koichi and Kazuho crossed paths when they were younger but she holds that as a secret for now. One of the running jokes is that people can't get The Crawler right because some middle school guys heard cruller as in like the pastry so they call them The Cruller and Kuckleduster is Grandpa Knuckles or something but not his real name LOL 

So, have a new hero or villain who calls himself Stendhal. His values at first aligned with our little crew, our Trio, except he wants to actually kill villains at one point takes out a yakuza group. The Queen Bee chick seeks him out and gives him a list of folks to go after because she's like I helped you with your vendetta so you should help me with mine. I mean these are small fries that really should not be on this dude's radar but whatever. Stendhal finds and starts fighting one of the small-time villains and I'm thinking in my head, uh, they created this character as a copycat of Stain. Why would they do this when Vigilantes is supposed to be an expansion of the MHA universe. But we get to the end of the chapter and I realized that this actually Stain’s origin. So he starts off as Stendhal by the end his values have changed and we get the beginnings of Stain. And I found that very interesting. I liked how they wrapped that in.

Volume 3 And we get the “overbearing mom” trope. YAY. We’re introduced to a few new characters, Detective Tsukauchi’s younger sister, Makoto Tsukauchi, who is writing a thesis on vigilantism and then we've got this really ridiculous hero from the US called Captain Celebrity. (I don’t even want to spend much time on him.)  And Koichi’s mother who’s overbearing but I guess, kinda pushes him to enhance his powers. Eh. Makoto ends up in a bit of trouble because of this stupid Trigger serum and uses it on a cat who’s sitting on top of a bus. The cat merges with the bus into some sort of catbus and I kept wondering how did Totoro get mixed into this. LOL  The volume ends with some special chapters from Shonen Jump Giga.

Volume 4 We learn some background on Knuckleduster, his real last name, his wife is in the hospital and that he’s looking for his daughter. So, I wanted more for this volume. At one point we see a girl who’s infested by those bees using them to attack the good guys and the bees appear to come out of her crotch. Um, ok that’s A LOT. Captain Celebrity shows up again and Koichi and Kazuho help the neighborhood put on a pop show which flushes out Queen Bee. Knuckleduster fights her to get his daughter back.

Something of note is that at the beginning of every volume, there’s a word and definition that I guess is the theme for the volume. Volume 1 is vigilante, volume 2 is villain, volume 3 is professional, and volume 4 is idol. There are three more volumes out there (two of the three translated into English) and I’m interested to see how this story continues. From some screenshots I’ve seen we get background into Aizawa’s high school days at UA and how he became a teacher so I’m all for that.

[warriors-aus-and-such]

Evil! Lionblaze

(( Sorry in advance for the excessively long post and points, this au includes two arcs of detailed story ))

- Lionpaw, first of all, doesn't stop training with Tigerstar. Ever. Spurred by bitterness towards the contempt from his waking mentor, Ashfur, and the need to live up to his leader grandpa and deputy father, Lionpaw strives to be the ideal warrior, even by training in the dark forest. He's so blinded by his need for validation and ambition that he began to kill in the dark forest, without even considering the lives he'd destroyed. He thought it wasn't real, and the cats he murdered would wake up all fine and dandy.

- He becomes "evil" slowly, his ill will towards the clans and the cats in them sprouting from the that that he never received the validation he so desired, but from who it counted. No matter how powerful he grew, no matter his invincibility, Ashfur seemed to hate him, and Brambleclaw didn't seem to care. On top of this, Tigerstar planted an idea in Lionclaw's (he was named after his adoptive father, as kind of a joke family name) head when he revealed his power to his "grandpa". The idea was that Lionclaw could conquer the clans, show those that didn't appreciate him properly that he deserved their admiration because he was so powerful and important. Show the likes of Ashfur and Brambleclaw that he deserved their love.

- Lionclaw becomes sort of a living legend among dark forest cats and trainees (some of whom started probably more around his age as opposed to Ivypool's), holding as much power and respect as the likes of Tigerstar and Mapleshade, because of the uses of his power in that environment, his closeness to Tigerstar, and being one of the first still-living trainees. He even commands the respect of the asshat known as Breezepelt, and the half-brothers grow close, with a bond forged by similar motivations and a friendly rivalry. They were practically joined at the hip during their nighttime training sessions, and even the revelation of Lionclaw's parentage changed nothing in their relationship. If anything, it brought them closer and gave more meaning to their brotherly bond.

- Lionclaw who kills Ashfur instead of Hollyleaf, driven to the bloody crime by the pain and rage he felt over his mentor, the cat that was supposed to act like a third parent and a gentle, supportive figure in his life, hated him so. Even despised him to the point of trying to murder him. When Lionclaw told his birth mother and littermates, he proudly and almost in a scary tone of voice justified it as "paying the favor forward, only this time I wasn't afraid to get my paws bloody"

- At the following gathering, Lionclaw made the grand, dramatic announcement that shook his family and the clans to the core, but it wasn't the same one that his sister had made in the main series. He announced that he had killed his own mentor, that he had been training with Tigerstar and co., and when he commanded the crowd's attention once more, he revealed the prophecy, and his power. He challenged the clans as a whole, if any one cat or group could defeat him in battle, he wouldn't take over the clans and kill every cat that didn't fall into line. The gathering descended into chaos, and Lionclaw was barreled off the tree he'd made the announcement from and was promptly jumped by cats that thought they could overpower him. Among the cats he fought and wound up killing were all leaders and deputies, Tigerheart, Tawnypelt, and, in the end, he even killed Hollyleaf. These murders weremore spread out, with Lionclaw killing Brambleclaw and Hollyleaf back in ThunderClan. They didn't have the heart to attack him right away at the gathering, so he put them out of their misery.

- Many cats left at the urging of cats who had run ahead, like the elders, medicine cats, and some of the more morally grounded warriors. Pregnant queens (so not Daisy or Ferncloud) didn't have the time, stamina, or generally felt unable to run away, and when Lionclaw returned they were kept as prisoners so they had kits. Cinderheart was forcibly dragged back and made to become Lionclaw's mate, Jayfeather was taken prisoner as Lionclaw didn't want to lose his brother after killing his foster father and littermate, and any cats that hasn't run, they were either taken prisoner or forced to pledge their loyalty, Darktail style.

- During his takeover of his WindClan, Breezepelt joined forces with Lionclaw, becoming like his "deputy". Many cats that didn't know about their bond were baffled and a little scared by this, and rightfully so. The two of them combined commited worse at atrocities than any combination of previous villainous leaders.

- Lionclaw, after having been forsaken by a terrified StarClan, gained leader lives from Dark Forest and took the name Darklion. The Dark Forest became the kind of replacement StarClan after it's revealed that Darklion had gained these lives, but instead of being respected and beloved, they earn their respect through fear. They even chase StarClan out of their hunting grounds one night, thanks to the help of their trainees and Darklion. (Note: Breezepelt is also named Darkbreeze, but without the lives. He just had to command more respect because of his authority over the WindClan + RiverClan territories)

That's just the Power of Three arc

- The Omen of the Stars arc starts off right away with and introduction to Darklion's expansionism, and the aftermath of him taking over ShadowClan. He already had WindClan, and RiverClan was the last clan that had gone unattacked. Dovekit and Ivykit are like fresh eyes and an introduction to how miserable, violent, and terrifying clan life is. Ivykit seems to be thriving in the environment, in some ways, but Dovekit is constantly stressed and anxious. She's too soft and kind to bear living in the very same camp as Darklion.

- There's a leader Darklion assigned in each area of the new LionClan - Darklion in ThunderClan + ShadowClan and Darkbreeze in WindClan + eventually RiverClan. The two sections are unified and as harmonious as they could be, but most cats kept to the territory of their birth clans and the apprentices are the only ones that truly feel open and happy to casually traverse the old clan borders.

- Darklion winds up having his kits with Cinderpelt Much earlier, against her will of course, and she's confined to the nursery throughout nearly the entire series. The first litter are named Tigerkit (Fernsong), Maplekit (Sorrelstripe), and Hawkkit (Hollytuft)

-Suspicious of both Dovepaw and Ivypaw, Darklion apprentices Ivypaw to himself and Dovepaw to Darkbreeze, effectively shunting her off to WindClan and getting her away from him. Darklion is the one who first convinces Ivypaw to go to the Dark Forest and train there, and he winds up training her waking and sleeping. Ivypaw thinks this is great, and brags about how only special warriors like her get to train where she was. In this arc, she's the special one, the golden child. Training with the evil cats is a privilege, and their stories are told as tragic and heroic tales because Darklion wouldn't have them otherwise. Dovepaw is the one that believes StarClan is good, she's the one with the big heart and the strong moral compass, and therefore she must be the evil one.

- Darkbeeze eventually reports to Darklion that he figured out that Dovepaw has powers and she is the third prophecy cat. Darklion panics and immediately and permanently banishes her to Darkbreeze's territory, as opposed to before, where she could still visit her parents and sister from time to time, if she got the chance to slip away from her intensive training. Darklion continually tells Ivypaw that her sister is terrible and evil, like the cats they must kill to keep their clan safe and happy. Dovepaw is the enemy. Dovepaw is evil and wrong.

- Dovepaw, in WindClan, is starved and tortured by Darkbreeze and her younger clanmates, causing her to become weak and resentful, but unable to fight back. Nobody would help her because of a belief that StarClan were the evil cats and they gave her the power, or out of sheer terror at the prospect of angering Darkbreeze. The cats knew full well that if they helped a cat like Dovepaw, they'd be held prisoner, or even killed.

- One night, as she lay in bed, Dovepaw heard the plots for her own execution. On that full moon, all the clans, even RiverClan, having been taken over, gathered on the island. The prisoners in particular were made to watch as an example was made of a poor, defenceless apprentices. The cats were forced to watch as Darklion stripped Dovepaw's name from her, not even leaving her as Dove, but a nameless, faceless enemy that none could or should sympathise with. Ivyfang, having earned her name, brutally tortured and murdered her own littermate following that. It was disturbing, the delight and joy Ivyfang found in murdering for own sister. Cats like Whitewing, Birchfall, Cloudtail, and Brightheart had special front row seats, even closer than the prisoners. The victim's blood even splashed onto them, and Darklion reveled in their discomfort.

- Jayfeather has been silent for most of the arc, but that had been the last straw for him. On the new moon after Dovepaw's brutal murder, Jayfeather escaped his brother. Only one cat had been guarding him, so the blind cat slipped out under the cover of the new moon. He eventually found his way to the others who had fled, updated them on the situation, and had tearful reunions with the ragtag group of escaped cats. He spent time in recovery from being starved and abused, but was soon back on his feet and plotting against his own brother without fear or regret.

- Near the end of the arc, the dark forest manifests itself in the physical realm, beefing up the authority of Darklion and Darkbreeze and preparing all cats to kill their old clanmates if they were to attack. Tigerstar encouraged Darklion to tour around his territories and torture, blackmail, or kill any cats that didn't present unwavering loyalty. He followed their advice, and eventually the only cats left either believed in Darklion or were too terrified not to obey his power. The only disloyal cats that were spared were pregnant or nursing queens, but they were seprated from their kits at the earliest possible moment, and not allowed to talk to them without a loyal cat to moniter the conversation and make sure the queens weren't speaking ill of any dark forest cats, or planting the wrong ideals in their kits' minds.

- The climactic final battle the PO3 and OTS arcs build up to come from a conflict with the clan cats and the dark forest fighting against the cats that had previously fled and StarClan. Many good cats are slaughtered mercilessly, but it all comes crashing down when Leafpool, Squirrelflight, and Jayfeather work together to drown Darklion in a great "this is revenge for all the cats we loved and you killed" moment. Breezepelt dies not soon after, killed by his own father after running away from Darklion's corpse in a panic. As the news was spread around tbd battlefield, everything came to a standstill. The cats that had been scared into commiting immediately abandoned ship, turning to their attackers and begging for their lives, explaining that they'd been coerced. They were quickly accepted back, and all that has truly believed in Darklion perished in the battle of the aftermath. This unfortunately includes cats like Ivyfang, and all of Darklion's kits.

- This is the end of the Warriors series. As the book and our childhoods come to a conclusion, the living cats are bedraggled, injured, and exhausted, exchanging glances and questioning what to do next as the bloody evening fades into a moonless night, and the book series draws to a close

[runningwolf62]

PART 3 COME GET YA’LLS LARRY LOVING JUICE. We’re moving into Justice for All.

Part 1 | Part 2 | AO3

Larry spends the next few months bouncing from job to job, occasionally writing short snippets of fic, nothing to update though, he and XxWolfDragonxX spend a lot of time chatting, XxWolfDragonxX apparently stuck around and has watched the rise and fall of fandom and catches Larry up to speed on the fifteen years of missed drama.

Larry’s glad he missed most of it, he spends his time now writing a few canon complacent one-shots while he works on a chapter, he doesn’t know how to update, like informing everyone that yes, Edgeworth was not coming back.

So when he gets a call from Maya that Phoenix is unconscious, he doesn’t expect inspiration.

He runs to find out what happened, terrified for a moment that something is taking his other best friend from him, but what he finds out instead is that some crazy prosecutor, von Karma’s daughter, was apparently a very sore loser. He flinches when he hears about the entire case, seemed this von Karma wasn’t the only sore loser but at least one wasn’t manipulating nine year olds.

Assured that Phoenix had somehow come out of being whipped unconscious alright (because of course he had, Larry wonders if he should write a one-shot about a young Firebirdpaw eating nightshade to impress a rogue again) Larry listens to the details of the case.

He doesn’t get to meet, Pearl, not yet, but he files details away, his main focus being Phoenix. He worries, worries that seeing another von Karma will bring back the anger, the fury against Edgeworth, but Phoenix seems too excited and distracted by being able to spend time with Maya again, that Larry makes his departure.

He considers it, later, how cliché it is, but decides that unlike the Erins he can have a female villain. He names her Viper, for the whip, and begins to write, the words coming easier now, now that he has a distraction. But there was a scene he had to write first.

-

Spiritstar climbed to the top of the rocks overlooking camp, she didn’t need to call, the entire Clan was gathered before her. Orangepaw looked to Firebirdpaw, was she going to hold a vigil for Demon?

“As you know, we won against the rogue group threatening our borders,” Spiritstar began, leading to cheers, while her sister wove through the Clan, attempting to treat wounds. Orangepaw’s cheers died in his throat, looking at the sheer grief on Firebirdpaw’s face.

Spiritstar met her apprentice’s gaze and nodded once to him, “unfortunately, Sharppaw appears to have been lost in the battle.” Firebirdpaw bowed his head, Orangepaw screwed his eyes shut.

“However, while we shall always grieve for Sharppaw, and his father, Stonespirit,” Orangepaw glanced over to see Beetlelight’s head droop, the brown tabby had grieved heavily for his lost mentor, and Spiritstar paused to allow them all a moment, “there’s a duty I wish to perform now that I think Sharppaw and Stonespirit would approve of.”

“She’s not about to,” Orangepaw breathed as she looked down at them fondly.

“Firebirdpaw and Orangepaw have proven their skills as warriors, and their understanding of the warrior code.” She signaled them foreward.

“Firebirdpaw, my apprentice,” Spiritstar’s eyes were warm with love for the younger tom, he took a deep breath and lifted his head, looking every bit the pride of the Clan he was, Orangepaw looked at him with awe.

“Firebirdpaw, do you swear to uphold the Warrior Code and defend the Clan, even at the cost of your life?”

“I do,” he held Spiritstar’s gaze as she jumped down to stand before them.

“Then I name you Firebirdstorm, for your loyalty and your quick thinking.” She touched her nose to his forehead, and he licked her shoulder. And then she turned to Orangepaw.

He stared at her with a mixture of fear and awe, some part of him had thought this moment would never arrive.

“Orangepaw, do you do you swear to uphold the Warrior Code and defend the Clan, even at the cost of your life?”

“I do,” he ducked his head, shaking in his fur, heart pounding, he was actually becoming a warrior.

“Then I name you Orangestripe, for your bravery and your strength.” She touched her nose to his forehead now, gently, and he lifted his head to lick her shoulder.

The Clan exploded in cheers, and he lifted his head to gaze around, eyes wide with shock and warmed by his Clan’s enthusiasm.

Out of the corner of his eye though he could see Firebirdstorm and Spiritstar speaking softly, and in that moment his heart falls out of his chest because it should’ve been three of them.

-

Larry gets up and walks around his house for a bit after writing that chapter, and after a bit just lays out every curse he knows, anger and rage spilling out of him, he cries again but the entire time he just rants and raves at Von Karma, the older one. For everything he did to Edgeworth that led to this moment.

It takes a while for him to get around to reading the reviews. He can only bring himself to respond to XxWolfDragonxX’s.

Over the next month or so he writes a few more chapters, of Firebirdstorm’s anger at Sharppaw. Of Cherrywing receiving her medicine cat name. He doesn’t bring in Pearl yet, Splashkit, he settles on, Splash for ocean/Pearl connotations and it’s small.

He doesn’t know how to kill Spiritstar. Some part of him doesn’t want to. That’s not his grief. Not his story.

But it’s the path Nick is on. He’s going to be everything Mia wanted to be, and more. He wonders if he could have a visit with her. Or with Miles. Talk to them.

He almost immediately laughs at himself. Oh yeah sure, talk to them and be like “hey I wrote a fanfiction about fighting cats and put you in it to help deal with my and Nick’s trauma, how do you feel about me killing you off in the fic?”

Mia wouldn’t even know who he was.

He decides to give her more time. The time she should’ve had. To guide SpiritClan to greater things, to leave a legacy for Firebirdstorm.

Time to spend with her sister. What he catches from Nick is that she and Maya were close. People love that, talking about how the Erin’s never really show off sisterly relationships. He hates what he’s going to do to this.

He hates how many people have been taken from them. Unlike Phoenix though, he doesn’t feel like he’s been left behind.

-

“I don’t blame Sharppaw Firebirdstorm!” Orangestripe snapped, and the other tom jerked back. Orangestripe pressed forward and bared his teeth slightly.

“This was all that damn rogue’s fault, Spark killed Stonespirit, and he tormented Sharppaw for StarClan knows how many moons, he killed Sharppaw-“

“Sharppaw chose death.” Firebirdstorm howled in a wild grief-stricken anger, “he could’ve come home with us, but he had to chase after them, he had to leave us-”

“StarClan Firebirdstorm just because you never got over loving him doesn’t mean he was trying to hurt you!” Orangestripe snapped.

-

Larry pauses, this isn’t an actual argument, he would never say these things to Nick, though the ‘grief-stricken anger’ was an accurate summary of him right now. Some of it though he wishes he could yell at his best friend, because confronting some of this, he thought would help.

But he could never. Nick would probably punch him or something. He’d blow a gasket for sure. Larry let out a sigh, this was shit Nick needed to work through on his own. He couldn't force this realization on him.

But Orangestripe and Firebirdstorm were here for him to work through his trauma.

-

Orangestripe stumbled back, Firebirdstorm’s claws had been sheathed but it still hurt. Firebirdstorm’s eyes, previously alight with fury were now cold.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about Orangestripe.” He turned away, his tail lashed to strike against his nose, “I don’t want to talk about him again.”

And that would be the last time the spoke the name of the cat who’d haunted them through their apprenticehood.

-

Larry’s readers rioted over that line. Larry can’t help but agree with them. Nick has to be destroying himself like this.

At least they all enjoy the chapter where he gives Firebirdstorm amnesia and has him and Cherrywing fight together against one of the rogue from Spark’s old group, and rescue a kit, Splashkit finally arriving.

Someone comments on how much dumb shit Firebirdstorm seems to survive, playing it off as a joke that maybe he has nine lives.

Larry replies publically on the next chapter, “and you all wondered why I named him Firebird-“. Yeah sure it was mostly because his friend’s parents had terrible ideas about what to name their kids but you know, Nick lived up to it.

The chapter is about Firebirdstorm, Cherrywing and Splashkit. People absolutely adore it, the way Splashkit is so oblivious to the trauma that still tears into Firebirdstorm, the way Cherrywing and Firebirdstorm take her in.

And then someone asks if Sharppaw is actually dead and Larry turns off his computer for the day.

[kpopdancings]

HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE, SỰ KHÁC NHAU GIỮA TIỂU THUYẾT VÀ PHIM

New Post has been published on http://www.whatsupkpop.com/howls-moving-castle-su-khac-nhau-giua-tieu-thuyet-va-phim/

HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE, SỰ KHÁC NHAU GIỮA TIỂU THUYẾT VÀ PHIM

HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE: DIFFERENCES BETWEEN NOVEL AND MOVIE

Link Video:

Opening

Following the resounding success of the 2001 animated classic Spirited Away, director Hayao Miyazaki continued to release a Japanese animated fantasy Howl’s moving castle. The film was inspired by the 1986 novel of the same name by British author Diana Wynne Jones.

Most Studio Ghibli fans turn to the book after watching the movie. This caused a little disappointment, a bit of “disillusionment” for the ladies who put too many dreams into the handsome wizard Howl in the movie. Although both the novel and the movie revolve around the two main characters – Sophie and Howl, there are huge differences in the storyline and character construction that cause both the novel and the film to turn in two directions.

Stay tuned with ASK KPOP until the end of the video to see what made “romantic fiction” fans disillusioned with the difference between novels and movies Howl’s moving castle.

Body

Sophie Hatter, a girl born into a family of hat makers, does not believe that luck will come to her and she will do something great in her life. She decided she would spend the rest of her life looking after the hat shop her father left. But her life changes after being cursed by the Witch of the Waste, turning her into an old woman, and worse yet, she can’t tell anyone about it. Fearing that her family would no longer recognize her, Sophie set out to find a way to cure the curse, and then arrived at Wizard Howl’s castle. Since then there is a big difference between books and movies, especially the plot and character lines.

The difference in the story between the novel and the movie

Because the novel Howl’s moving castle was written for children by writer Diana Wynne Jones, these factors such as : magic ,humor, fantasy come first. The content of the novel mainly tells about Sophie’s journey to break the curse. In that journey, Sophie has discovered the true strength of herself and the good qualities of those around her. However, when it was adapted to the big screen, director Hayao Miyazaki incorporated many lofty messages about love, peace, and anti-war.

Throughout the movie, we see a fight break out between Ingary (the land of Howl and Sophie is in) and the neighboring country, whereas there is no fierce battle in the original novel.

The whole movie revolves around the theme of anti-war, and its true villain is the pointless war and cause the loss. However, the original story directs the reader towards Sophie’s journey to find herself, how Sophie realizes her worth, which is partly through the movie. Coming to the movie, you will experience the brutal combat scene, the dark battleships .As for the book, Howl has to confront the Witch of the Waste and her powerful fire demon. The two missions of the movie and the novel have different message stories with different audiences, both great stories with their own merits.

The difference in the character’s personality between the novel and the movie

The second most highlighted difference between the novel and the movie is the characters. The characters in the book and in the movie are transformed from the original. Some minor characters have been removed or merged together with other characters. Characters with significant changes include:

(Howl)

Howl in the movie is a perfect version, a “Prince Charming” with many advantages in personality: courteous, gentle, and also the hero of fighting to protect Sophie.If you are familiar with this Howl image then Please be mentally prepared before reading the novel of the same name. Real name’s Howl  is Howell Jenkins, from Wales. It is mentioned in the book that the castle door leads to different places according to the color on the door, and the blackness opens into a dark night. However, the side when that black curtain was Wales in the 1980s, with modern equipment such as cars and computers . This is not mentioned in the movie.

In terms of personality, Howl in the novel is actually a “lady-killer” who flirts with so many beautiful ladies and any girl will not escape by him, until they fall in love with him, he leaves without leaving a trace. This was also the source of his trouble with the Witch of the Waste Throughout the novel, Howl spends most of his time dressing and grooming in order to win the hearts of beautiful girls, including her sister Sophie. The rest of the time, Howl sulked and acted like a child beside Sophie. Howl in the novel does not want to tie and always tries to avoid responsibility. But the more we read, the more we like Howl in the novel, because his personality is especially funny and witty. “I’m a coward. Only way I can do something this frightening is to tell myself I’m not doing it.”  Throughout the novel, we see only a Howl chasing the girls, his words in the last chapter confuse readers and other characters: Howl is still searching and saving people from being lost from the Witch. Meanwhile, he tells himself “I’m not doing it”.

Howl in the movie gets rid of Howl’s flaws of the novel. Because the movie’s message is hind-minded about peace protection and anti-war, a heroic character is needed to be able to send the message to the audience. The hero in the movie is Howl, he is idealized in the film, becomes a hero fighting for peace, denouncing the destructive power of war. When the court asked Howl to go to war, Howl refused ,not for his cowardness. He knew from which side the war was coming from, then the end was like that for everyone, just bring pain only. However, at night, Howl quietly turns into a monster out to fight alone, fighting against planes and monsters that both sides release to tear each other up. It is an ideal, incredibly romantic image of a hero fighting evil, fighting for peace, and fighting for the things he loves. In the end, Howl in both the novel and movie has to face Howl’s problems and settle it.

(Sophie)

Sophie in the novel has red hair, stubborn, straightforward, and always seems angry after being cursed. She sees cleaning as a way to forget about the problem she is facing. She often talks to hats, clothes, objects around and this brings miracles, even life to them. Meanwhile, Sophie in the movie has brown hair and is much softer. She also knows how to control her emotions better, and she cleans out of order. However, Sophie in the movie has no magical powers. This is most noticeable in the part where Sophie meets Turnip-Head. Turnip-Head in the story is an inanimate scarecrow, but gets up and follows Sophie after hearing her talk. In the movie, Turnip-Head had life when Sophie met him. While the-story Sophie was very scared of Turnip Head and wanted to chase him many times, the Sophie-movie was friendly, even grateful to the Turnip-Head.

Sophie in the story has sent a message: “When we are young, let us go out and explore ourselves, we will find our power hidden and know what our strength is. and where is our limit. ” That is a very precious meaning that Sophie’s journey to find herself brings back.

  (Author)

Author Diana Wynne Jones observed that Howl and Sophie on-screen seemed “softer and more noble than their characters in my book.” In the movie, we really liked how Howl became “lost” as he transformed into a giant crow in battles and gradually “couldn’t return.” Meanwhile, Sophie’s curse fades more and more as she becomes stronger to save Howl and to heal herself. These details are not included in the book. However, I also want to say that Howl and Sophie in the book seem more real and that the quarrel between the two is what makes me appreciate their feelings more; love each other and learn to accept each other’s imperfections.

(Witch)

She was once a charming, powerful woman. Howl in the novel once chased and abandoned her. Both the story and the movie show Howl once captured a shooting meteor and gave it his heart in exchange for power, which is Calcifer. However, the sorceress in the novel cursed Howl to complete a list of things to do and they slowly led Howl back to her hand. In the movie, the witch tries to cast a curse on Howl, but he easily removes it. In the end, she lost her magic and became a pitiful, harmless old woman.

()

There are also some minor differences in the side characters. Sophie in the novel has two younger sisters, Lettie and Martha. Lettie is the younger sister sent to learn magic, and Martha is the assistant at the bakery. These two sisters exchanged looks and names in the beginning. Lettie is a huge support character in the series, even part 2 is present. However, the film only mentions Lettie – the sister at the bakery, and she can only say a sentence or two to Sophie and finish. Howl has an apprentice. In the book, he names Michael Fisher , a teenager. And, in the movie he names Markl , a boy. In the story, Suliman is the Royal Mage, male and missing. On screen, Suliman is a female magician who taught Howl before, and she is a bit mean.

  Ending

“Howl’s Moving Castle” is a film with a stunning image and a beautiful European context, but it does not lose the Japanese culture, oriental styles of Ghibli. The good soundtrack both “The Promise With The World” and “Merry Go Round of Life” are great tunes but for us  “Merry Go Round of Life” is still more beautiful, the scene of Howl holding Sophie’s hand , two people walking in the air together forever is a very beautiful, very romantic scene that is hard to describe in words.

Howl’s Moving Castle is not just a love story, a magical adventure and heart-fluttering romance, but also a story of growth and a journey to find oneself. Whether it’s a novel or a movie, the film’s meaningful message is expressed in tolerance, forgiveness after struggles, hatred, and curse. In addition, the extraordinary life energy of the people who have suffered many injuries in the film overcoming all the difficulties to achieve a happy destination is also the message that the filmmakers send to the audience.

[smokedcapybara]

I somehow ended up rambling to someone on a discord server about some of my oldest characters and I realized just how much they affected how I write

not like my writing voice or anything like that but how I treat tropes and my sorta go-to bases for characters and how I do relationships and interactions and stuff like that

and I realized that despite the huge impact they’ve had on me and how much I love them I don’t talk about them very often, especially on here

so I’m gonna dedicate the rest of this post to going through every one of those early roleplays and the characters that came from them and how they’ve affected my writing

First - The Shadow Warriors

the first ever roleplay that I got create the story for - and I went straight for trope subversion without even knowing what that was

I took every stereotype for evil characters I could think of and made that the good guys and made the literal knights in shining armor the not technically evil but misinformed and working for Bad empirialistic governments ‘bad guys’

essentially the story was that there was a small village in the one inhabitable part of a mountain range and all these surrounding empires wanted the village to be part of them so they could say the whole range was theirs but the villagers refused so the empires started sending in soldiers

but the village was defended from the attempts at force by a black dragon that had made his home in the mountains

so the empires started sending more troops

and he fought them all off

and eventually the empires all stopped trying

but all the battles left the dragon much weaker than before and he could barely hunt for himself

so the village sent up some of their youth, to hunt for him or be eaten by him(though they hoped for the former), and he chose a few of the youth to stay with him, hunt for him and be trained by him, and sent the rest back down

and it became a tradition, every year the village would send all the youth of a certain age up the dragon’s mountain, he’d select some to stay and the rest would return, and then those that stayed would be trained and would help hunt

and when the first group reached adulthood he selected some of them to help him train the younger ones and sent the rest back down to use what he had taught them to defend the village

among the things he taught was the ability to turn into shadowy smoke to avoid injury and all who he taught wore black to match his black scales, so the villagers began calling them the Shadow Warriors

and then after a short time the empires started sending knights on quests to slay him and the task of defending him and his students was taken up by the Shadow Warriors

so the roleplay started with all our characters being sent up the mountain for the selection(or, all but two who were introduced later as members of the next year’s batch)

my first two were

a dark skinned girl with an analytical mind and a loyalty to rules, a woman of science and alchemy, named Alexir(pronounced like elixir)

and a soft spoken enigma, pale as snow, with his own strict morals, and a talent for illusions, he had no name but his fellow students started calling him Pale Boy because everyone from the village was at least tan, later he earned the moniker Illusion for his absolute mastery of his own senses and everyone else’s

my character who came later with his twin brother was originally named Rainbow but I’ve since changed it to the Norse word for rainbow, which is Regnbogi, the son of a pirate he was a shamelessly flamboyant jokester with gorgeous rainbow hair(I was not creative with names) and a missing eye from a childhood accident

and then of course there was the dragon himself

Svartr

of course his original name was much less Norse and much more obvious

Shade

the shadow dragon

even more shamelessly flamboyant than Regnbogi

he had a ‘human form’ that was pale skinned with red eyes and long black hair and a black goatee

he talked and walked and draped himself over furniture like your classic ‘flamboyant villain’ character

he’s a huge flirt

and he’s incredibly selfless and benevolent

also he gets what I call ‘The Adventurer’s Itch’, the inability to remain stagnant for any significant length of time, every couple hundred years he has to go on an adventure(this infuriates the rest of the Dragon Prince Council[which I created many years after the Shadow Warriors] cause it causes him to be late to many council meetings and even miss some altogether)

obviously, Shadow Warriors affected my tendency to subvert tropes, not because I think it’ll make the story somehow Better or because I’m Making a Statement or for Plot Twist or anything, I just Really Enjoy how it makes me think

it also gave me the base characters of 1.flamboyant man(usually a flirt but not always), 2.intellectual woman, 3.soft-spoken man

and my tendency to gravitate anyone with those bases to people with the other bases

Second - The Pantheon

the second ever roleplay I got to create the story for

and once again I decided to go big or go home

I said ‘lets take every religion on earth and make a world where none of them are true, and actual deities grow up as just normal humans until they Discover their deity-ness. now let’s take a bunch of kids in a street gang and have them suddenly find out that they’re all deities’

and so I have my two street gang girls

Rebecca, the wiry, excitable, blonde knife fighter who turns out to be a goddess of winds

and Laea, the powerhouse of the gang, who can take on a whole other gang on her own, a fistfighter, and younger sister of one of the city police, whose love of fighting is only matched by Rebecca, her best friend and girlfriend, Laea is a goddess of the earth

after the gang members discover their divinity they’re sent by the head goddesses of the main pantheon, the goddess of nature and her younger sisters, the goddess of fire and the goddess of water, to be trained in using their divine abilities and then are sent to prove their worth to the pantheon

the gang are sent on a quest to recruit a goddess of ice into the pantheon, many have been sent but none have succeeded

they get to the temple she lives in(a temple to the greek goddess Athena, because mankind still worships the same gods as in real life) and eventually find out that the reason nobody has succeeded in recruiting her to a pantheon is because she’s been cursed to be unable to leave the temple and thus literally cannot join a pantheon

they help her break the curse and so Ganlina, regal and traditional goddess of ice joins the pantheon, and eventually Laea and Rebecca’s relationship too

(though of course none of the relationship stuff happened in the roleplay, it’s all stuff I added later, after I started to get past the heteronormativity I grew up with)

the gang is then pulled into a war between the pantheon and the goddess of shadows and death(who’s actually, it turns out, not really evil, just so freaking sick of being ostracized for what she’s the goddess of that she decided to turn against everyone and prove them right)

they go on several more quests to help defeat the goddess of death, the only one of which I can actually remember still involved Ganlina feeling pain for the first time in her life because her powers create an impenetrable ice layer over her skin, but even that can’t completely protect against a punch from the god of strength, so she had a moment similar to Legolas in him and Gimli’s drinking competition

this roleplay affected, or set a precedent for, how I approach religion and divinity in my stories, which is to say that generally I don’t

it also added big strong woman, excitable woman, and regal woman to my base characters(though I don’t use them as often as, say, flamboyant man[which might be the base character I use the most often])

and also, again, I tend to gravitate characters with these bases toward/around each other

Third - The Order of Masks

this one I did not come up with the story, a semi-post-apocalyptic superhero story roleplay my brother came up with the premise for

unfortunately all I can remember about the premise is that it’s a group like the Justice League except a little more organized, a little more underground, a little more official, and a little more invested in their apprentices&proteges

also, all of them wear masks, more like masquerade masks than the classic domino mask too

I had several characters throughout it, because I was less confident in my character creating skills and had a tendency to scrap a character because I was just Not Invested in them

the four I scrapped(that I can remember) were named Jay, Swan, Peacock, and Peafowl(these were their hero names, I didn’t give any of them real names)

Jay was literally just a human version of Jayfeather from Warriors, Peacock and Peafowl were insufferably proud and self-centered twins, and Swan was just kinda waay too over powered with no personality to make up for it

the characters I kept were Falcon, Raven, Lion, and Streak

Falcon was one of the main heroes, a strict but kind woman with the power to locate anyone at any time no matter where they are, obviously she had a day job as a bounty hunter, in which she was known as Bird of Prey

Raven was Falcon’s protege, a serious minded, no-nonsense girl with power over wind and the ability to grow wings(or pop working wings into existence on her back might be more accurate)

Lion was somehow Raven’s best friend, despite being a total flirt who couldn’t take anything seriously if his life depended on it, he came from a family of hero musicians, had super-strength and a banjo with a hidden dagger he called his banjagger

Streak was a weird character that somehow lasted against all odds, a blind and deaf girl with power over the movement of molecules who was stronger in hot&dry areas because she was from the desert

Falcon started the base character of the strict but kind mentor woman, Lion and Raven are branch-off bases from the flamboyant man and the intellectual woman, the flirtatious man and the serious woman(bases I tend to pair together - not in relationships, just in general)

Streak helped me learn not to make a character too much

Fourth - Gooz and The Little Black Kitten

I don’t remember much about their story, just that the main characters were Tomb Raider’s children

Gooz and the LBK helped me realize that sometimes the best and most memorable characters are simply the ones that are the most fun, even if nothing about them makes sense

Gooz’s official name is Intelligent And Highly Explosive Cream(or something along those lines, I don’t remember exactly) but he prefers Gooz

he’s an experiment, the kind where you say there’s no possible reason for the scientists to do this but the scientists are like ‘we just want to see if we can’

he is a cream

that has an intelligence and a personality

he communicates telepathically

he causes explosions when he touches anything with over a certain level of force

in the roleplay he got applied to the outsides of a pair of gloves and a pair of boots

that he then somehow had the ability to control

his chosen name is Gooz because that’s how he pronounces ‘goo’, for some reason anytime he tries to ‘say’ a word that ends with a vowel ‘z’ ends up being added in, also ‘s’ is replaced with ‘z’ usually

he’s a bit of a goofball and just really loves people, wants to be treated as an intelligence with wants and likes and feelings

the Little Black Kitten is just that, a little black kitten, small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, who can speak

and boy does she

she is the most dry, snarky, does-not-care-and-literally-just-wants-to-be-left-alone, little thing you will ever meet

instead of growling or hissing when upset she just says, in a completely flat voice, ‘hiss, growl, go away’

she’s like the goth of tiny kittens

but somehow her and Gooz became friends

I think she just liked that she could curl up inside his boot and anyone trying to get her out would risk blowing themself up and then he just kinda grew on her

they started my love for having characters use dry wit, characters who are friendly and innocent(relatively), and the most unlikely of friendships

also, like I said at the beginning of this section, they helped me learn not to take myself too seriously in creating characters and letting them grow into whatever amazingly ridiculous or ridiculously amazing thing they end up growing into

and, of course, they showed me that sometimes the side characters are so much more engaging, enjoyable, and memorable than the main characters

if you have some really old ocs you haven’t thought about in a while you should look back and see how they’ve affected your current ocs and how you write, you might be surprised

[rainright]

anyway here’s my TLJ review

spoilers ahead. Also bad stream of consciousness writing. 

So I think my ultimate answer to “Did you like The Last Jedi?” is no. 

It was choppy, poorly put together in some parts. I thought the dialogue was fine, though I’ve seen complaints on that. Still, there were things that were clearly supposed to be funny or epic that fell flat. 

Poe Dameron was completely assassinated. The whole plotline framing was bad. I think it’s ultimately interesting that the theme of the movie is “failure”, and every main character consistently deals with failure . . . So it’s fine for Poe to have all these plans that fail. But the set-up of this trigger happy flyboy who defies his superiors just isn’t consistent with the character. Sure, maybe if he’s a low-ranking kid. But not a 32-year-old commander. Also I’m sure you’ve heard this one before, but it’s not “feminist” for a white woman in a position of power to slap him. And shoot him. For no reason. Because she could have just said “yo, stop.” Whatever. Also being treated like a naughty child - “he’s a trouble maker, but I like him” blah blah blah - is like ???? He’s, uh, he’s a 32-year-old commander. He doesn’t need to have a storyline about acting like a trigger happy flyboy. The plot could still be similar, but I dunno maybe just have it so Poe is in charge but still failing. Not because he’s defying the white ladies’ orders. But just because they fail. 

I mostly liked Holdo. I don’t necessarily like how she was framed as being “right” all along. I don’t think someone who withheld her plans deserves to be “right” in the end. Withholding her plans should have been shown as being a failure on her part - not a failure of Poe acting too quickly and stupidly. I thought her sacrifice was fine, though. Mostly because it set up for one of the coolest visual moments. 

Leia. My favourite. They did some disservices to her (the Poe thing). People are making a big deal of her not grieving or anything. I would say . . . well, she doesn’t have time. Everything’s moving too fast. That’s pretty consistent with her! She pushes her feelings down and focuses on the cause rather than confront them. It’s what she did after Alderaan. I’d love for her to have a moment to really grieve in Episode 9. I can’t see how that could ever happen of course, which is very disappointing. 

It was more of a disservice that Chewie got nothing. His best friend is dead. And yet Chewie is barely even relevant, doesn’t get any character work. Poor bud. 

Finn and Rose . . . I love ‘em, I do. Their little side adventure was sort of out-of-place within the time scale, though. I thought maybe some of the timing issues might have been fixed a bit if, I dunno, rather than have the ships just racing away from the First Order, they kept jumping to lightspeed but were always caught not long later? Kinda like that Battlestar Galactica episode (33), where the fleet keeps jumping but the cylons find them in 33 minutes? I don’t know,  just something so they could have more time gaps. The plot was too laggy to have happened in, like, a day. 

But back to Finn and Rose. I thought their adventure was fun. I actually liked that plotline. It felt very campy and prequels-y. Which doesn’t make it bad. Though yeah, thought it was out of place. The chase with the horse-deer things was fun! I thought it was cute! And yeah, maybe it ultimately doesn’t change much at this terrible planet, but it’s something. And, see, Finn and Rose, unlike Poe, actually are “young” and doing something rash and unplanned is a much better fit in their story than his. 

DJ was The Worst. Not right away. But man, talk about a character that really represents one of the movie’s biggest issues. Yes, it takes your expectations and dodges to the right, but sometimes it does it TOO MUCH. DJ is so much that. Criminal-y thief who seems like he’s in it for the money . . . and then ooh he gives Rose her necklace back! How nice. And then, oh, he betrays them. Wow. He doesn’t deserve that betrayal, because I fucking don’t care about him! He’s not important enough, he’s not developed enough! I just don’t fucking care about him! The betrayal is bad because it just doesn’t matter. He doesn’t matter. He’s a nothing. He doesn’t deserve to betray them. 

Speaking of being nothing - well, actually, hold that thought. We’ll get to that. I gotta continue with this sideplot first. 

Okay so having Finn & Rose kneel before the Nazis is right up there with Poe being slapped as Worst Moments. Like, Moments You Should Have Thought More Carefully About. Implications. I’m not gonna go out and accuse Rian Johnson of outright racism. I don’t know enough about the guy. But . . . you need to think things out. Be more conscious of what images you’re creating. Is there not a team of people involved who can catch these things? Step it up, guys. There’s no excuses for the kind of implicit racism in this movie. 

Finn and Rose get a side-adventure which is ultimately about character development. Which is fine. But . . . Maybe the film spends a little too much time on something that ultimately amounts to nothing. While the movie is about failure . . . I do think it is poor storytelling to have such a plotline end in . . . nothing. No pay-off. They don’t succeed. Failure is a great way to really test your characters . . . But in this case you just end up with a plotline that falls flat. There’s no point to it.

I could have done without Rose kissing Finn. No need to shove a romance in where there doesn’t need to be one. Rose was sort of a nice foil to Finn. There were, like, no romantic implications in their story up to that point? And I liked that. Why can’t we have two characters who have an adventure together and don’t have a romance? Maybe I’m dumb and just want my ship to be the most canon though (we’ll get to that). 

Well guys guess I left my FAVOURITE PARTS for last. Please understand the sarcasm. 

Luke first. 

My man. My  boy. My favourite son. My plucky wannabe hero. What has happened to you? No no no I don’t like it. I hate to be THAT person . . . but no it’s out of character for you to run off and hide and wait to die while everyone you love suffers and the galaxy is at war. Luke Skywalker would NEVER. Maybe he went looking for answers at the original temple, maybe he got stuck and no one’s been able to find him! He’s been lost for years! But to go into hiding? Shut up this is bad. 

That said . . . I did kind of like his stuff. It was, often, quite funny. But he was basically a different character. Which is a shame. Because Luke Skywalker is my favourite. I love him whole-heartedly. But I think I need to separate Legends canon Luke from New Canon Luke, don’t I? This guy’s been completely shattered. And as much as I say “Luke would NEVER” (hey, he didn’t when his nephew Jacen killed his wife! Yes catch me being an old EU fan) . . . this Luke would. This Luke was trusted with the son of his best friends - his sister’s son - and he failed. He ruined everything. The Jedi ruined everything. Or at least that’s what this Luke thinks. 

I’m ultimately conflicted about Luke is what I’m saying, I guess. He had great scenes. He just wasn’t the same Luke. 

Love that showdown with Kylo Ren, though. Did not love the becoming one with the Force. Though that may mostly be because I would like SOMEONE to be there at the end, if Leia can’t be. One of the Original Trio to be there to guide the newbies forward. But maybe that’s the thing . . . Let go of the past. Maybe the new kids have to find their own way. Maybe that’s ultimately the story here. Which I do like, thematically. They have to find their own way. 

But OMG guys REYLO IS CANON ISN’T IT GREAT?!? God I’m kidding. Thinking about how anyone even ships that makes me want to puke. Also it’s not, like, really. You don’t have to read a romance into that. And you shouldn’t, because ew. I don’t know what a 30 year old would want, romantically, from a 19 year old? Though, okay, shut up it’s not the same as Han and Leia - I could talk about them all day, but this isn’t about that. ANYWAY. Kylo Ren’s not even looking for romance. He’s looking for a viable apprentice. Because that’s what Sith do. More on that later. 

This seems like an unpopular opinion, but I actually really like Kylo Ren as a character. He’s an interesting villain. How do we top Vader? We don’t. We make a new villain whose pathetic. He wants to be like Vader so badly, and it’s fucking weird and sad. He’s not cool. He has temper tantrums. He’s unstable. He’s threatening because he’s physically powerful and mentally unstable - not on the same scale as Vader.

To treat him like a child is ridiculous, though. He’s, uh, 30 years old? Snoke calls him a “boy” and this is fine as an insult . . . but the story treats him like a kid trying to find himself. Make him younger if you want a story about that! It just doesn’t make sense for someone his age! Yeah, he can be immature and have temper tantrums and all that. But to set up the story of an abused child trying to find themself . .. get outta here. 

Force Bonds! Cool, I love Force bonding. A thing from the old EU that I liked seeing. Y’know, like Jacen and Jaina Solo had a Force Bond. Luke and Mara Jade. And other characters who I cared less about, I guess. I thought that was actually interesting. Interesting to set up a link between the hero and the villain. Fine, cool, I’ll give ‘ya that one, I actually liked it. I want them to play it for laughs a little bit in Episode 9, okay. Just like on Rey’s end is a constant barrage of insults. And on Kylo’s is just like “but but but you’re supposed to be my apprentice boo hoo I’m sad and I don’t know how to talk to girls.”

That said . . . if Rey was a male character, would her story still be about trying to redeem Kylo Ren? Mayday mayday we got a textbook abusive relationship here. Trying to make the bad boy better. Ughh. I actually liked a lot of the Rey and Kylo Ren stuff, which really surprised me. But man she trusted him too fast. She ran off to save him. Stupid. Out of character. He killed her new father figure! He hurt Finn! He tortured her! But, hey, I can play this off as her really wanting the Resistance to win, I guess, and thinking that if she turned Kylo they might? Sure. 

Rey of course means a lot to me, as a female Star Wars fan who loves Leia and Padme and hates how they’re disrespected by their narratives. For Rey to end up the same makes me sad. Now, I get that she’s conflicted. She doesn’t have that much of a reason to pick a side, after all. I wish wish wish that the focus of the story was more on her trying to find herself, discover who she is. That should be her story, not Kylo Ren’s. She had some of that, but just not enough. She spends too much time trying to save Ben Solo, but Ben Solo’s already dead.

I liked the sort of ‘Kylo Ren becoming a Sith’ storyline. I mean, yeah, apparently he’s not really a Sith. But see, Sith apprentices kill their Masters. That’s a thing. Kylo sees a potential apprentice, so he kills his master. He’ll become the master, he’ll train his apprentice, and the cycle will continue. Kind of interesting just in a ‘this is a canon thing we haven’t seen only heard about’ sense. Sheev talks about it in Episode 3 (or 2? I think it’s 3).

Rey is a nobody. Huh. After spending like 3 years thinking she must be a somebody, it’s kind of a let-down, but I’m pretty fine with it. It’s a fine answer. They’re going for “anyone can be a hero” which I think is pretty thematic to Star Wars. I would have been equally happy if she’d been a Skywalker or a Solo. It makes me think of that one  TFA trailer that started with “Who are you?” “I’m no one.” She’s no one, she doesn’t think she’s important. But, see, anyone can be important, if they do Big Things. Luke says the Force doesn’t belong to the Jedi - well, maybe Star Wars doesn’t just belong to the Skywalkers. They tied that theme together at the end, too, with the little boy who must be Force sensitive. My dad thinks Kylo Ren was lying, though (or Snoke lied to him), and Rey’s still a Skywalker, which I’d also be fine with.

I did spend a lot of the movie waiting for MY SHIP TO REUNITE. Because I love Finn and Rey. They are so sweet and wholesome. Good kids. At least we got the payoff of that hug! Yay! I hope JJ comes through for me in Episode 9 and lets those kids be together. Not that Rey needs a man. But, y’know, she can have one if she wants. Particularly Finn, because I’m biased but TFA set them up soooooooo well okay. It’s a good relationship. Very sweet.

Okay, I think I’ve talked about most things? Left out some, of course, but covered the main stuff.

To round up, some of my biggest issues:

Poe being treated like a naughty child. It’s fine for his plans to all fail, but the plotline should have been framed differently. 

Finn & Rose’s whole plotline ultimately has no payoff and seems like it doesn’t belong. Bad story structuring. 

Implicit racism & sexism oh boy

Kylo Ren isn’t a child and shouldn’t be treated like one

Rey’s plotline relied too much on a male character, not on her own self discovery

The movie threw off your expectations a little too much. After a while, it felt cheap. 

On the other hand, some highlights:

I liked the new critters. They were very cuddly. The Porgs, the caretakers, the horse-deer things. I think the crystal foxes were my favourite. FIGHT ME.

I really liked Rose Tico

Force Bonds!

“Reach out, do you feel that” “Oh yes yes I do!” That scene was funny.

Luke’s explanation of what the Force is.

The scene with Yoda knocking some sense into Luke was fun.  But lol “there’s nothing in that library that the girl Rey does not already posses.” It’s actually hilarious when you know that she took the books.

Poe being reunited with BB-8 was the cutest moment