#but it will leave me feeling like she's kinda untrustworthy

[nydlewds]

Hm. Kinda pissed.

My roommate's a p superstitious person that believes in the Chinese zodiac. She offered to read me and another person their fortune, but since it's in a different language, it's a little hard for her to get the best understanding of it.

I asked her what she read about mine, and even though she said she hasn't finished reading everything, she started giving me a very in-depth prediction based on what she knows about me and said that overall, it's looking like a pretty 'meh' year where I should stay put and sorta let things happen as they come.

She also has a LOT of bias towards this year's zodiac animal and it honestly really showed in my reading.

I knew this year would be one of many big changes bc there'll be a lot of and opportunities for changes, so I kinda nodded and felt like I knew what to expect this year after hearing that (stress and disappointment). But I was curious on what an actual prediction for my sign would be from others, so I checked out some videos of other people making predictions.

I watched 2 videos from 2 separate channels dedicated to making these predictions and both said that this year was going to be a great year for my sign?? That it's actually a great and very important year of change, and it's important to be very deliberate with my intentions and goals?? There were some things that lined up w what she said and what they said, but held very different connotations.

And I'm just like bud, are you fucking kidding me?

I generally don't take this stuff to heart bc I usually end up forgetting what my fortune said like a month in, but man, I was really anxious and feel really confused about what 2025 has in store for me. Roommate literally said this year's zodiac and mine absolutely clashes, but?? This year's zodiac?? Actually goes really well with mine?? And that's why others predict it'll be a good year??

It's small potato problems but I'm just pissed at the dread and disappointment I felt from hearing that vs. the comfort I would've received (and honestly needed) from hearing the other prediction.

This year's genuinely going to be an important year for me, I feel. And I feel like the overall message I got from her prediction was that there's very little I can control in my life... but what I actually REALLY need to know is that despite how I'm feeling now, I DO have control over my life, even if I can't control everything about the outcome.

Like man. It just fucking pissed me off :/

[a-bad-case-of-the-stephs]

Strange question, but what is the Arthur Brown and Stephanie relationship like? Because I’ve seen pages where he’s kind of The Worst, but I’ve seen other people say that it’s more complex?

Apologies for any inconvenience.

First of all, so sorrry this one took a hot sec to answer, I wrote way too much and had to find a coherent way to explain myself. Absolutely no inconvenience at all tho, I absolutely love getting to talk abt Stephanie!

Steph and Arthur do have a complex relationship, but right off the bat I’m going to establish that it’s absolutely an abusive one.

It’s complex because any relationship is, but yeah, Arthur brown is explicitly abusive to Steph and Crystal Brown, and he’s kinda a piece of shit.

He physically abused Crystal, locked Steph in closets as a child, when Steph was 11 he threatened to kill Crystal in her sleep in front of Steph, and left Steph to be babysat by a creepy work friend of his, and then told her she didn’t know what she was saying when she tried to tell Arthur that his work friend tried to molest her. His very presence was a strong trigger for Crystal Browns drug usage, probably because of the physical abuse. When he’s not being horrible to his wife and daughter, he’s absent from Steph’s childhood because he’s in prison. This is all true before Steph becomes Spoiler.

While Steph is Spoiler, he repeatably threatens to kill Crystal and Steph, and seemingly outright attempts to kill Stephanie. He completely trashes and ransacks Steph and Crystals home for fun in the aftermath of Cataclysm. He also brings the Riddler and his goons Echo and Query into Crystals home and refuses to leave.

How does Steph See Arthur?

Steph dons the Spoiler costume originally because she hates her father. The anger she feels towards Cluemaster is partially on her own behalf, a lot of it is shown to be a direct consequence of Arthur’s abuse of Crystal, and Steph’s protectiveness over her mother.

Steph tries to kill him at the conclusion of her first fight as Spoiler, but this is the outlier in her behavior towards him. From then on out her goal is never to kill her father, just keep him in jail. She actually saves his life during Cataclysm.

Spoiler openly despises Arthur, but her feelings are more complex than just that. She also blames herself for Arthur’s actions, even when they are completely unrelated to her. (Which I read as unresolved guilt for being unable to protect ber mom from Arthur’s abuse as a child, a responsibility which she fully takes on at 15). Steph seems subconsciously terrified of becoming like him, (something we get hints of in her pregnancy dream), and she repeatably assumes everyone else (vigilantes specifically) assumes Steph is untrustworthy or otherwise tainted by association of Arthurs criminal ways. This often leads Steph to act like she has something to prove to the opposite effect.

We get a lot of insight into how Steph sees her father when he “dies”, especially thru Robin #111. Steph says she never loved Arthur but also that she used to either see Arthur two ways, either as a victim too weak to fight against his criminal impulses, or as just plain evil.

How does Arthur see Steph?

We have a lot less insight into Arthur’s POV.

Arthur is generally dismissive and extremely hostile towards Steph as Spoiler. He seems inconvenienced by and potentially embarrassed by Steph being a vigilante.

He repeatably attempts to use Stephanie’s love for her mother against Steph, he threatens to kill Crystal unless Spoiler stops investigating him, and he tries to convince Steph to let him go in exchange for splitting the cash he stole, telling her how much it could help her mom.

(The repeatability of this makes me think it might have been something he did before Steph turned to vigilantism but that’s pure speculation.)

However, Arthur at times seems to marginally care for Steph as well.

When he joins a Suicide Squad, he asked for his daughter to be told he died a hero, so it appears at that point he cared to some extent what Stephanie thought of him.

He also compares himself to Steph in a way that suggests that he sees them as similar fundamentally: he calls Steph “just as messed up” as himself.

Steph considers the possibility that Arthur killed Jim Murray in revenge for how he tried to molest her, but it’s left inconclusive whether or not he did and for what reason.

After Steph “dies” in War Games, Arthur tries to avenge Steph somewhat, showing perhaps the most care for Steph we’ve ever seen from him, he cries over a photo of her and tells Batman he joined the Suicide Squad to make Stephanie proud, and that he only survived his near death by thinking of her. (Which is, like wildly different to his normal characterization to the point I chalk it up to post-death clarity, I think he’s much more willing to express love towards Steph now that she’s not actually there to receive it.) (or it’s just War Crimes being War Crimes)

So Arthur seems to feel some degree of care about Steph, though it’s worth mentioning I think on some occasions his potential protectiveness could be very well fueled by the idea that by messing with his daughter you’re actually just messing with Arthur, which Arthur is responding to as an insult to himself as opposed to out of a sense of responsibility or love for Stephanie. This is an idea that Steph herself considers while thinking about why Arthur might have killed Jim Murray.

I probably missed some stuff, but that’s the idea of what their relationship is like. Generally I super recommend reading Robin #111 for a look into how Steph sees Arthur, it has some beautiful insights and is also just a really interesting Steph comic which I love.

(Only spoke about preboot here, for the record Batgirls and Young Justice (2019) have their own takes on Steph and Arthur which I didnt discuss)

[swiftsaltsweet]

The Hunt for Kyoshi: Chapter 12- The Decision

Characters: Rangi and Kyoshi (plus whoever appears in Rok)

Pairing: Rangshi

Summary:  

“What are we going to do?” She asked steely, still not looking up from the ground. She was ready to uphold her duty, or at least, what remained of it. “We need you to capture Kyoshi,” Jianzhu instructed. “Capture?” “Yes, we need to set an example of an Avatar murderer,” Jianzhu responded, oh so matter of factly again.

(Canon Divergent AU- “What if Rangi wasn’t there when Kyoshi ran away, and Rangi had to hunt her down?)

Other Sites: AO3 

A/N: *walking in lost, dazed and confused* O-oh! Long time no see! It's been awhile! :'D Um thank you for sticking around, I know I was dragging my feet with this ;w; (I swear this fic is cursed, every time I start it I get sick *sob* that and trying to make sure Rangi's mindset both went the way it needed to go and stayed consistent was rough).

But um, even tho I didn't get the other chapters for this arc done like I wanted. I did want to send this year off with one more chapter from Hunt. You know, end the year how it started (kinda, well you can say end my Rangshi year with how it started jkdlsajf). Even though Thief was being written before this, this is the one I published first. I gotta treat my angsty baby to something!

So yeah, thank you for joining me and sticking with me here in 2024 (regardless if it was this fic, one of my other ones, or from something else entirely). I really appreciate you all. TTwTT And I hope I can deliver more in 2025! o7

(I also realized I need to post the other chapters here oops TT0TT I'll get on that)

____

“Did something happen between you and Yun?” Rangi asked nonchalantly as she inspected a nearby flower. 

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Kyoshi flinch as she crouched over the garden. “No. Why do you ask?” Kyoshi tried keeping her voice even, but there was a slight change in her cadence, just for a moment.

Liar. 

“Something just felt different,” Rangi mumbled. If only she had the courage to just say ‘I saw you two in the gifting room.’ But perhaps it was for the best, she might not like the outcome of the conversation that followed it. At least for the moment, their relationship could live in blissful ignorance. 

Kyoshi playfully scoffed and pushed her shoulder against Rangi’s. “Please, the three of us are always together. I think we’d all know if something changed.” 

Always together? She thought sarcastically. Then she chastised herself. No, she’s just being hyperbolic…  

The irony of that statement was not lost on Rangi, Yun technically wasn't with them at the moment. Just like how Rangi hadn't been with them the other day. The times Rangi and Yun were alone together? Those didn’t count. It wasn’t the same. Rangi and Yun were in love with Kyoshi, not each other. 

The memory of that day replayed in Rangi’s mind. Her eyes darkened with jealousy, but she didn’t let the rest of her face show it. “I suppose you’re right.” She wished Kyoshi would at least be honest that she had feelings for Yun. It would probably make the whole Fire Lily Incident a bit easier to stomach, because at least she would know her friend trusted her. 

Maybe that was it? Kyoshi didn't trust her to talk about her obvious bullies from the village, or about her past. She didn’t trust her to confide in her past, the past Rangi had to get out of Auntie Mui. Could it be that Rangi was the problem? Did Rangi do something that deemed her untrustworthy in the eyes of her beloved friend?

Rangi turned her attention to picking at some flower’s leaves to calm herself, softly rubbing her nail along its skin, feeling the grooves. She kept at it for who knows how long, when suddenly a bunch of white and orange specks flitted by her face. She accidentally inhaled one through her nose, and it caused her to sneeze. 

She fell back onto her butt and rubbed at her nose with her sleeve. She stopped when she heard laughter beside her. Kyoshi was covering her mouth with one hand, trying to hold her laughter back. In her other hand held the weapon. A now emptied dandelion-tiger weed. 

“What are you doing?! You’re going to spread those seeds throughout the garden!” Rangi yelled at her, annoyed. Kyoshi was smarter than this, why would she risk ruining the garden?

Instead of feeling embarrassed or ashamed by Rangi’s impromptu scolding, Kyoshi’s laughter erupted, unable to be contained. 

“W–what? What are you laughing at?”

Kyoshi was gasping for air. “Y–you!”

Rangi flushed in embarrassment. Great, another hit to her pride. She just figured out the girl she was in love with was in love with someone else, their best friend and the Avatar no less. And now she was laughing at her. This was the worst week ever. She may as well confess and ruin their friendship right now to truly cement it.

“Why?!” Rangi grumbled. 

“I–I’ve never seen you sneeze before!” Kyoshi was wiping away tears from her eyes. “It was like a canon! You sneezed out fire, and it flew you back!” The memory of it caused her to double over in a new wave of giggles. She clutched at her sides and curled up on the ground.

Rangi bit her lip. Her cheeks were still flushed from embarrassment, but thinking of how silly she may have looked and seeing how gleeful it made Kyoshi, made it so Rangi had to fight back her own bout of laughter. She covered her mouth. “Th–that’s not, snrk, funny!” Rangi started to choke, trying to hold the laughter back with her hand. “I–I might’ve, set the, garden, on fire!” 

The image of a firebender sneezing so badly that it caused an expensive garden to become alight, set the girls over the edge. Kyoshi kicked her legs as she clutched at her sides. Rangi put her own head between her knees as she shook, chokes of laughter and mirth escaping between her fingers.

The two girls stayed like that until their laughter finally washed over them. “Ok, ok. Remind me not to do that again. I didn’t know this was such a dangerous weapon against firebenders.” Kyoshi held up the stem, almost admiring the weed. 

Rangi leaned over and took the item from Kyoshi’s hand, savoring the way their fingers brushed against each other. Maybe Rangi was a masochist, that’s why she kept letting this type of thing happen.

Rangi closely inspected the stem and then set it on fire with just her finger tips. “Yes, very dangerous indeed.” 

She looked back at Kyoshi, who was staring at her with an expression Rangi couldn’t exactly place. She raised an eyebrow at the girl, who seemed to zone back in, and scrambled to get into a seiza sitting position. “Ah! Sorry, I was spacing out.” Kyoshi laughed. “Hey, your birthday is coming up, isn’t it? Is there anything you want?”

You. Rangi thought, knowing she couldn’t say it out loud. As long as she could spend part of the day with Kyoshi, then that’s all she needed. Rangi shrugged. “No, I can’t think of anything.”

“Well, you’re easy to shop for,” Kyoshi said sarcastically.

“I could say the same for you!” Rangi shot back, still reeling about how hard it was finding a present for the frugal girl.

“I have everything I could ever ask for already!”

“Same!”

Kyoshi pouted, and then began looking Rangi over thoroughly. Her eyes raked over the shorter girl, starting from the tips of her toes, to the top of her topknot.

“W–what are you doing?” Rangi fought back a blush that was riding up the back of her neck. She wasn't used to Kyoshi staring at her this much.

“Hm,” Kyoshi hummed, stopping to stare at Rangi’s face for a moment, then they wandered upward to linger on her topknot. Then she turned away, having finished looking Rangi over. “I know exactly what to get you.” 

She sounded confident. 

“Whatever,” Rangi looked away, trying to hide the smile on her face. She wanted to jump with excitement at what Kyoshi had in mind, but she opted to push the other girl’s shoulder playfully instead. “Now hurry up, or we’ll be here forever.”

“If you help me it’ll get done faster,” she turned around to pick up a flower they needed to transplant. “Here I know you love these, you can plant them.” She held out a pot of young fire lily plants.

Rangi couldn’t help herself from recoiling at the sight and smell of the flower, her face scrunched up in disgust. “Ugh, keep those away from me!”

“What? The fire lilies? But I thought they were your favorite flower? You helped me plant these last year!” Kyoshi was shocked. 

“Not anymore, the scent makes me nauseous,” Rangi swatted the air, trying to blow the powerful fragrance somewhere else. She didn’t care if she was being childish, the point still stood. She hated the flowers now.

“Oh…” Kyoshi moved the flower away from Rangi’s view, and went to hand her a different one.  “Do you have a new favorite flower then?”

Rangi turned back to Kyoshi, her eyes narrowing a little in thought. Her eyes slowly swept the garden, looking for a flower to pretend to like. Nothing caught her eye. Her eyes landed back at Kyoshi, like they always did, always returning to the scene of the crime. She stared longingly at the taller girl’s freckles. Then she heard Autie Mui’s voice in her mind. 

“Starpoppy.” She said the words before she could stop herself. “I like starpoppies.”

Kyoshi stared at her confused, and then broke into a smile that made Rangi’s heart thump. “I think I can manage to get some of those.”

_____

Stars greeted Rangi as she opened her eyes. She marveled at them, forgetting where she was for the briefest of moments, and just stared at the beauty above her. She wanted to savor the moment for as long as she could. Reminiscing of a time when she could stargaze with Kyoshi and Yun.

“Now that was a nice dream, if I do say so myself!” A familiar female voice rang next to her.

Aaaaand the moment was gone. 

Rangi sat up and pressed her palms to her eyes and pressed down hard. She needed to get up and resume her journey. She moved her hands around her body, making sure her armor was securely in place, the rucksack she had was still on her person, and lastly, the pin in her topknot was still there. 

Her fingers lingered on the cool metal for just a moment as she recalled the dream she had, her heart clenching painfully. She’d forgotten about it until now, with all the commotion going on, and in all honesty was more focused on the tassel that still laid in her rucksack. She cursed herself for forgetting something so important, she should’ve realized and left it back at the mansion. Now it laid on her head like a weight, a shackle. Yet another reminder of what was ruined.

“What a nice trip down memory lane! And you seemed to get a good nap in!” Kyoshi said cheerily, cutting into Rangi’s spiral.

“You mean the memory where you lied about us?” Yun asked, a mocking tone in his voice. 

“Ugh, there was no ‘us’!” Kyoshi bit back.

“So you say,” Yun mocked. 

“She doesn’t even know what we did or didn’t end up doing!” Kyoshi retorted to him. 

“I don't know. I liked to point out fire lilies whenever I could! And you'd blush about as red as one. Something must’ve��happened right?” 

“Is that a crime? Is it a crime to blush?” 

“No, but think of poor Rangi!”

“I do think about her! That's why I never brought it up! You're the one who doesn't care–” Kyoshi started to protest again.

“Will you two shut it? You're giving me a headache,” Rangi snapped at them. It was hard to think when she had two hallucinations gabbering in her ear!

“Oh quit your bellyaching! It's not our fault you lost to the real Kyoshi,” Yun waved at her dismissively. 

“It is. You two wouldn't stop your damn commentary during the whole encounter!” It was already hard enough stomaching the real Kyoshi’s words, but having to deal with the peanut gallery? It was a special kind of hell. 

“Not the whole encounter,” Kyoshi tried to defend. 

“Yeah it was only when she started lying!” Yun said, crouching down behind Rangi and whispering in her ear. “You can’t let her fool you, Rangi! You know the truth AND she's always been so secretive!”

Kyoshi knelt down in front of Rangi, her ghostly hand gently grabbing Rangi’s chin and tilting her head so they could see eye to eye. “You do know the truth, but not all of my truth.”

Rangi glared at the apparition. “Why all the secrets?”

“Because she wants to destroy the world! Me! The Avatar! It’s not that hard to see!” Yun shook her from behind.

“Everyone has secrets Rangi, that’s not illegal. Even you do. Like how you were–no, still are in love with–”

Rangi ripped her head away and grabbed at her ears, “Shut up! Stop talking! I–I’m not–! I’m no longer–!”

“Keep denying it, but it still sounds like you are!” Yun said in a sing-song voice.

“No! I have a duty, I’m going to bring her to justice!”

“So you going to do that while you straddle her or–”

Rangi turned around and threw a punch at the air. It went right through Yun. Because he wasn't there, he didn't exist.

“Woah, woah, calm down tigerdillo! It’s a fair question!” he laughed, and then his voice got low. “I just wanted to test your resolve. Because remember, she's a killer. An enemy of the four nations. She betrayed you, your honor and the Avatar”

Rangi stiffened. Right. Kyoshi was the enemy. She knew that. But it...

“She even sullied master Jianzhu’s name and my name. The Avatar's title. She never cared about being the Avatar before, but suddenly she starts slinging the title around? Why is that?”

Rangi tried to swallow but the action just felt like a rake across her dry throat. It was a struggle for her to even breathe.

“Because she's still trying to manipulate you! She's doing what she does best. She lies.” He grabbed Rangi’s face and made her look him in the eye. “She lied about the fire lilies. Her past. Her feelings and friendships. All to your face. To my face. Unabashedly. She doesn't care, she just wants to control you.”

He dropped his hands from Rangi’s face. Rangi let her body fall forward to where she had to catch her upper body a few inches from the ground. Her body felt so weak as she gasped for air.

Yun knelt down beside her and whispered.

“I bet she even knows about your true feelings for her. Maybe that's why she's aimed for close quarters combat? She knows the more intimate the attack the more you’d hold back.”

Rangi took a ragged breath. It was true. She wasn't sure why but each encounter with Kyoshi did make her feel so much weaker. Her blows didn't have as much impact. Her fire was smaller and more frail. Rangi thought it was because she was so tired from the journey. 

But perhaps there was more?

Perhaps there was still a nagging, lingering part of her that was afraid of hurting the Kyoshi she used to love and cherish. 

“Kyoshi’s like a poison to you. Look how she makes you weak , she's the reason you're hurt.”

“Rangi you know that's not–” Kyoshi tried to intervene.

“Don't listen to her either. She lies too. Kyoshi always lies.” Yun poked Rangi’s head with a finger. “Whether it’s the real one, or the one in your head. Kyoshi. Always. Lies.” He punctuated each word with a tap of  his finger on her forehead.

“Kyoshi always lies,” Rangi repeated. “Kyoshi always lies…”

Yun smiled. “Now you're getting it! Now get up and go get that little deceiver! Bring her back to Yokoya, to master Jianzhu, so he can hand out her punishment! She'll be dead, and then you can finally wash your hands clean of her! Get your honor back, go and help find and protect the new upcoming fire Avatar! You know? The works!”

Rangi knelt there motionless.

“Hello? Earth to Rangi! Helloooooo? Did we break her?”

This isn't right. Rangi thought. Her head sunk to the ground as she grasped at her head, gasping for air with dried sobs. Why? Why was it now dawning on her that Kyoshi would die when she brought her back? Was she stupid? Distracted? Both?

Of course she would die, she killed the Avatar!

She would be bringing her other, only remaining best friend to their death. The same girl that she was in lov–

Rangi let loose an animalistic scream from her lips as she dug her forehead into the dirt below.

How? How was it possible for her world to just keep crumbling? Was there no end? 

Rangi sobbed, the tears finally forming again, into the ground for a good long while. She felt like she was drowning in a sea of her own tears. And then a small bubble of air popped its way to her.

“I should be the one to do it.”

“Hm?” Yun’s voice responded as if he had heard the bubble. Or maybe she had actually said it outloud herself? “Do what?”

“I should be the one to do it,” her voice repeated. At least, it sounded like her voice. Except it was distorted and hollow and nullified of all life. It didn’t feel attached to her body anymore. “I should be the one to kill Kyoshi.”

She watched the words fall from her lips like tar. She no longer saw anything in front of her, only a black void.

“Oh! That is interesting, but don’t you think Sifu should do it? I mean, I was his student.”

“I don’t care,” Rangi’s hollowed voice echoed into the void. “You were my friend. My charge, my job. She was my friend. And– and I– I love,” a flare of emotion came back into Rangi’s voice, a choked sob. “I loved her. She betrayed me... more than she did Jianzhu.”

That’s right, in Fire Nation law, Rangi was the one who was more intimately wronged. At least that’s what she would tell herself; she was greatly overlooking just how much the world took stock in rules of teaching lineage and deference when it came to one’s sifus. 

Regardless, she had a fair stake to such a claim, therefore, she had the right to end the other’s life, not the executioner. If this was the Fire Nation, she could claim to be the one to deliver the final blow.

It was something that was only doled out for the most heinous crimes that would result in an execution. And nothing was more heinous than killing the Avatar. It was an act that would allow the victim to reclaim their honor. And, depending on how they were executed, the one executed could also die with some honor intact.

And, wouldn’t that be a better ending to this sad tale? Better than bringing the girl back kicking and screaming for some Earth Kingdom execution? Didn’t Rangi deserve to reclaim some of her honor? Didn’t Kyoshi deserve to die with some honor?

Yes, Kyoshi deserved some honor. That was the least Rangi could do for the girl she loved. To die by an old friend’s hands rather than some stranger’s. Even if it was Jianzhu's, her old benefector.

“I have to kill Kyoshi,” Rangi repeated. “I’m going to kill Kyoshi.”

A cold feeling seeped into the core of Rangi’s body as the colors of the world around her faded away. She slowly got up and gathered her things, only vaguely aware of the hallucinations. Their mouths were moving, but she couldn’t hear them anymore. Soon, she most likely wouldn’t see them anymore. She would finally be alone. 

No. She was alone. Because of this choice she was making. She knew she wouldn’t be able to continue on afterwards. 

Kyoshi always lies. I have to kill her.

Rangi repeated the two lines in her head like a mantra. Needing to steel herself for what she needed to do. To remind herself of what she needed to do.

After she gathered everything, she steadily began her trudge through the dark forest.

_____

Rangi was sure it was noon, but the forest was so thick that barely any light filtered through the leaves. 

She’d been walking for hours with no end in sight. Her only thought was her mantra. Until now.

I don’t know where to go. She finally allowed a new thought to form in her head. She saw a direction Kyoshi had gone, but she could’ve diverted course after she got out of Rangi’s eyeline. There was also the fact that Rangi wasn’t making good time, not without a steed. 

Kyoshi could easily land in a village, rest, and be well on her way by the time Rangi got her footing.

Rangi was screwed.

So much for specializing in fleeing and evasion. Can’t even track down your own damn ex-friend.

Still, she didn’t stop her legs from moving forward. There was benefit in just stopping. Positive jing was just too ingrained into her.

It wasn’t until the ground started to rumble and the sound of trees starting to break, that Rangi stopped and inspected her surroundings. She got into a low stance as the ground shook harder, trying to maintain her balance. Rangi braced herself as the snapping grew louder and then–

She was met with two massive black holes staring right back at her. No, not only black, they had a giant, pink, flowering nose that wiggled as if it had a mind of their own. The jaws of the void opened and two long whip-like tongues flashed out.

Rangi used her jet-stepping to dodge them both, and sent a blast at the monster’s direction at the same time. The monsters nimbly dodged her attack and geared up for a counter when a sharp noise rang through the air. 

The creatures collapsed on the ground, running their faces across the dirt in agony as their paws tried to clamp over their heads. 

“Oh good! We’ve found you!” a voice rang out from the treeline. “You’re Mistress Rangi, correct?”

Rangi looked over and saw a group of Fire Nation men and women with some Earth Kingdom gents as well. They were wearing research attire. One of them wielded a whistle that bothered the creatures severely.  

“Headmistress Hei-Ran and Master Jianzhu said you’d need our assistance? That our shirshus would be of great service to you?”

Ah, so they were the shirshu handlers Jianzhu promised Rangi at the beginning of her journey. Which meant…

Those creatures over there are shirshus.

“Thank you, your timing is impeccable,” Rangi said, shaking one of the researcher’s hands.

“Glad we can be of service!” the man beamed at her. “Sorry for their attack, they’re a bit hard to control if I’m being honest. Plus they like to attack what they’re tracking when they finish tracking it down.”

“It’s no problem, I understand,” Rangi said, making a mental note. Shirshus had a paralyzing agent if she recalled correctly. It could be useful in subduing Kyoshi, but she would need to make sure she landed the final blow.

“Do you have a scent for them to track? We have two because they always travel in pairs with their mate.”

“I do, I have two scents they can track, just in case.” Rangi grabbed her rucksack and started to rifle through it. She pulled out the tuffs of Pengpeng’s fur and handed it to the man. Then her fingers grazed the gold tassel. 

She paused, deliberating, then moved her hand to clasp Kyoshi’s shoe instead. Despite Rangi’s resolve, she couldn’t bear the tassel accidentally getting ruined. It was…the last thing she could be selfish about, she realized. 

The men and women approached the beasts and began administering the different scents to them while blowing on their special whistles. 

“Ok, I think they’re set to go! Here, climb on the back of one of these mounts and we can get to tracking!”

“Alright,” Rangi said, as she gazed up at  the void of the two monsters, but only saw the voids staring back at her.

____

A/N: Me: Remember, to bold Rangi’s thoughts when she’s REALLY going off the deep end! Me: Ok Me: *forgets* Me: Shit gdi *has to re-read to remember where I needed to start bolding* I can’t wait until you calm down girl so you can think straight again. TT0TT

One of the reasons I wanted to wait till I got more chapters done was so you wouldn't be left on THIS cliff hanger. *sobs* With this fic, just remembering that "Things are gonna get angst-ier before they get better". TT0TT

So you can say I'm off hiatus now. I'm going to publish one chapter per week from one of my fics. Right now Two Knives has the most completed chapters. Hunts right behind it but the chapters are half done (the SECOND I get ch 13 done I'll publish it for that week I promise!) but I'm going to try to just....mix it up. Thief has one chapter almost done (it's a big boi, tbh they all feel big TT0TT). Lord help us if I choose a week to just throw one of the new fic/ideas I started on in the background.

Shoot sorry I'm rambling I like to do that. All you need to know is I'm posting one chapter of a random fic a week starting today (I'll make a note on the other fics when I publish their new chapters)! The date isn't set when I post just...it'll be within the week. I look forward to seeing you all there! o7

[beecreeper]

22, 91, 93! for all three >:3

Oooh this was a long one. I already answered 91 in a previous ask, but here's the other two under the cut.

22.) What is your Tav's first impression of the other companions (Astarion, Gale, Karlach, Wyll ...)

Briar's reactions:

Shadowheart -- "I'm so glad that she's sensible and isn't taking the whole "leaving her to die on the nautiloid" thing personally. She also doesn't do annoying things like "talk to me" or "ask about my past". Respectable."

Astarion -- thinks his charming schtick is a bit annoying and that he's a bit too much of a dandy, but DOES get a kick out of him threatening her with a knife straight out the gate. REALLY gets a kick out him trying to bite her, ESPECIALLY when he goes all puppy dog eyes "please" about it. She's like "oh he's kinda pathetic. I kinda wanna treat him like a pet."

Gale -- Haaaaaaates Gale immediately. Thinks he is the most annoying, pretentious, obnoxious man on the planet and the only reason he isn't dead is because other people were around and she didn't want to lose allies yet.

Lae'zel -- glad to have someone competent and ruthless around. Thinks that her bossing around Zorru is REALLY funny. But also finds her constantly preaching about the githyanki really grating.

Wyll -- tbh Briar feels kinda nothing about Wyll at first. She doesn't actively *dislike* how gallant and do-goody he is quite yet because it's like "fine do what you want as long as you don't get in *my* way", which he hasn't yet. Is a bit exacerbated when Mizora shows up because at that point it's like "we have to deal with ANOTHER devil are you serious. This is a pain".

Karlach -- her immediate reaction to Karlach was "oh this will be useful". Vibes with the part of Karlach that is boisterous and impulsive.

Molli's reactions:

Shadowheart -- WHY is she being so rude all the time.

Astarion -- is very caught off guard by him and falls for all his manipulation stuff really easily. Unfortunately for her she IS down bad right away and starts making excuses for him. Him being smug and arrogant and morally dubious but also doing things like flirting with her makes her head kinda spin.

Gale -- autism to autism connectivity. Doesn't vibe with him as strongly as some of the other companions but they definitely understand each other.

Lae'zel -- bossy competent scary lady I will not argue with her on anything yes ma'am anything you say ma'am

Wyll -- likes Wyll immediately. Loves his charm and his fairy tale hero demeanor and his stories and his wit and how he's also just a bit of a dork. When it comes to Mizora and the Karlach thing she can see that he's clearly been tricked and trapped and she feels kinda protective of him because of that. Like, you know that feeling like "I know that I struggle with this same problem and don't address it when it's happening to me, but as soon as it's happening to a friend I suddenly have the determination of a thousand suns"? It's that.

Karlach -- had a crush on Karlach pretty much immediately. LOVES how enthusiastic she is for everything. Look how much she loves life! Look at her smile and laugh and dance!!

Ferox's reactions:

Shadowheart -- "Hm. I don't like how cagey you're being about that artifact but I'm not gonna push it. Not my business but I AM watching you."

Astarion -- oh does not like Astarion pretty much at all. Thinks he's shifty and untrustworthy and disingenuous and also just annoying. Can you stop complaining for TWO seconds, Astarion.

Gale -- "you keep saying a lot of words that I don't know but you seem to know what you're doing with magic so I trust you." Low-key likes when Gale talks at him even though a lot of it goes over his head. I also imagine, out of all the companions, Gale is the one most likely to ask for help in camp and lean into the teamwork part of things, so Gale is good for giving Ferox tasks to do, like asking for help setting up his tent or cutting things for dinner, and Ferox is grateful for something to do. He likes to feel productive and useful and Gale facilitates that.

Lae'zel -- he immediately defers to Lae'zel as being in charge because she acts like it and also seems to know the most about mindflayers. He sees her as efficient and capable, if maybe a touch too abrasive but who is he to judge if it's getting the job done.

Wyll -- admires Wyll a lot and is very jealous of how he can just *be* like that. Like wow that guy is actually a noble hero

Karlach -- feels a lot of sympathy for Karlach's situation and is low-key jealous of just how upbeat she is in spite of it.

93. What do you think happens to the party, afterwards? Do they go for drinks? Do they go their separate ways?

Obviously it all depends on which ending they get so I'll try to summarize without getting too convoluted lol

Briar is easy because in both of her endings she doesn't talk to any of these people ever again. Either she uses them at thralls in her takeover or she just makes an active effort to never be found. She would have one last conversation with Sunflower before leaving for the wilderness forever. In that version, I'm sure Sunflower would be making deliberate efforts to keep the party in touch with each other, but Briar absolutely opts out.

In Molli's good ending, she, Karlach, and Wyll (because you KNOW Wyll is coming with us) all have to leave for Avernus really abruptly which interrupts any celebratory drinks they absolutely would have had if given the chance. They definitely all reconnect after they get back, though it takes a bit of doing to track everyone down. Everyone gets their good ending in this timeline though, so it all works out in the end.

In Molli's bad ending, I'm a little less solid about where all the companions will wind up, which will definitely change the post-brain vibe. In general, I think a lot of the companions will get the endings that take them all their separate ways. Molli would really want to try to kinda stay in touch, but Astarion would try to discourage it and keep her isolated.

In Ferox's good ending he's probably going with Lae'zel to fight Vlaakith BUT I would want to insist that they don't fly off on a dragon immediately like happens in game. They need a fucking breather, you know? And he wants to check in with all their other allies after the battle as well, check on the city and help with any immediate relief efforts. Then they can go to the astral plane and would probably lose touch with the rest of the party. I'd imagine communication between planes would be difficult and they'd only manage it pretty rarely, but he'd always be glad whenever he does hear from them.

In Ferox's bad ending everyone else goes out for drinks but he has to excuse himself and get the FUCK out of town because he feels Bhaal taking over his body (because he gets THAT ending. The "accept Bhaal + destroy the brain" ending)

[dangraccoon]

Jari’eyc - Chapter 20

Read on AO3

Word Count: 1209

Content: pheepheepheepheepheepheepheephee, Hemlock's toxic gas is kinda like a nightmare gas, Jaine's abusive uncle, verbal abuse, injections, injuries, brain trauma, slim odds of survival, thinking your family is dead, illness, pain, prison break, cody being a stubborn ass

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Hunter could practically feel Fives’ nerves as he watched the ARC pacing the hangar. “Thought you trusted this person?” he asked. 

Fives met his gaze. “I do,” he affirmed, nodding. “I mean, she’s great, even though she works with Cid. I don’t mean everyone who works with Cid is untrustworthy– It’s just that I–”

Before he could finish, another ship came in to land at the hangar. Hunter rose from the crate he’d been leaning on. Seeing Fives lower his mask over his face, he pulled his own helmet on. He watched the ramp lower with curiosity. A figure in a leather jacket walked out, her hand resting on her hip, where Hunter noted a decently sized vibroblade sword. 

“Now isn’t this interesting,” the stranger laughed, striding over to them. “After all this time, I finally get to meet the mysterious ‘Forn’. I gotta tell you, I was starting to think Short Stuff was making you up.”

Hunter’s gaze snapped to Fives. “You’ve never met?” he hissed.

“Not… exactly,” Fives’ modulated voice said.

Phee looked between the two. She tipped her head towards Hunter. “A friend of yours?” 

“You could say that,” Hunter grumbled.

“Wait, don’t tell me,” she said. “You’re from that group of stray clones Cid’s been working with, aren’t you?”

Hunter grunted, his mic barely picking it up.

“Nice to meet you, too,” she chuckled. “Name’s Phee.”

-

“Ms… Vale?” the nurse called. 

Jaine stood, and followed the nurse into the network of hallways in the medical center. 

“You’re here for… a military physical?” the nurse asked. She sounded surprised. 

“Yes,” Jaine answered, her brows pulling into a scowl.

“You are going into the military?”

“Yes,” she repeated as they arrived at the exam room. 

The nurse scoffed. “I guess every organization needs secretaries.”

“I’m a medic, actually,” Jaine said curtly. 

“A medic?” the nurses voice shifted. The resentment that was boiling in her gut quickly turned to confusion and fear. “Silly little medic,” taunted the nurse– no, this wasn’t what that nurse said. “You think you’ll be any more useful out there?”

No. That voice– that voice sent a chill down her spine. 

“You were just as useless to them as you were to me,” Jaine’s uncle spat. “You destroyed our world and just moved to the next. How many lives did you ruin in your wake? How many people could you have saved if you weren’t such a waste of space?”

“I- I wasn’t- I’m not–”

“The toxin is working, Doctor.”

Doctor Hemlock smiled. “Excellent. Doctor Karr, administer Bavo Six. Record anything and everything she says.” He turned and left the room, leaving her alone with Jaine.

“Yes, Doctor,” Emerie answered anyway. She prepared the autoinjector.

Jaine struggled lightly against her restraints. “Please, Uncle, don’t-”

Emerie leaned down to her ear. “Jaine, I don’t know if you can hear me, but I am not injecting you with Bavo Six,” she whispered, placing the autoinjector to Jaine’s neck, the latter whimpering. “This will clear up the remnants of the toxin. Once you are stable, I will contact your squad with the coordinates of this base.”

-

Tech had approximated the path towards the rail based on where he’d found her crashed on the edge of the lake. The trek in that direction was long, slow, and filled with a tense silence.

He had not been quiet about his certainty that the others had likely not survived to escape Eriadu, despite Runi’s constant protests and seemingly endless hope.

Tech had run the numbers during a fleeting moment where his mental fog had lifted. Without the additional weight of the second car, the railcar his family was in would have accelerated rapidly, and there was likely little Echo could do to control it, especially considering that he was likely in shock from Runi jumping to rescue Tech. The odds of the groups’ survival seemed slim, though it was helped by the fact that Fives and Sinya were aboard the Marauder and could likely take care of the others.

Runi had refused to believe his rambling explanation of probability. She knew he wasn’t thinking negatively, just logically, but she still preferred to think that everyone was safe and unharmed. She needed to believe they were alright. Still, her heart ached.

The odd pair had briefly discussed their differing viewpoints, but ultimately agreed to stop as they were simply arguing in circles. So instead they walked in silence.

They stopped frequently to rest; their bodies were aching from the collection of injuries they’d accumulated from their landing. Runi could tell Tech was getting irritated by the amount of time they were spending resting, but she also knew he needed it more than she did. Though, with much of her body covered in bruises and small abrasions, she found herself missing her old armor, sitting in a box in the small apartment she shared with Fives in Ord Mantell.

“What are you thinking about?” Tech asked abruptly, looking surprised as if he hadn’t meant to ask aloud.

She chuckled at the look on his face. “My family, I guess,” she said, picking at a stone near her boot.

Tech nodded, but realized his curiosity ran deeper. “Will you… tell me about them?”

It was her turn for surprise. She had only known Tech for a couple months, but she’d never taken him as the type to be interested in others’ personal lives. “What, um… what do you want to know?”

-

Another set of harsh coughs racked Cody’s body as he leant against a tree until he could catch his breath. He hated jungles.

“Are you alright?” his companion asked, her hand on his shoulder.

“Fine,” he grunted, opting not to grumble about jungles being his least favorite environment. 

“I can carry Jaine, if you want.”

Cody turned his head to meet her eyes hidden behind red lenses. Emerie’s expression was confident, but the look in her eyes was hesitant.

Cody glanced over his shoulder at the unconscious face of his friend. 

“It’s alright,” he said, heaving her up a little higher on his shoulders. “I’ve got her.”

Emerie looked like she wanted to say something but chose not to.

They continued their trek through the difficult terrain, Emerie watching Cody as the journey strained him more and more. Every so often she’d offer to relieve him of Jaine’s extra weight across his shoulders, only to be answered by a gruff refusal. Eventually, they’d slowed to nearly a crawl between his struggle not to cough every other breath and the pain that shot through his right leg with every step he took.

“Cody, this is clearly not sustainable,” she argued after her offer of help was turned down again. “We’re hardly making any progress, and it will be getting dark soon.”

Cody stopped and sighed. Slowly, and painfully, he lowered himself to a kneel, allowing Emerie to help ease Jaine from his tired shoulders. She wrapped her arm around Jaine’s waist, putting Jaine’s arm over her shoulders. Cody stood and took a similar position on Jaine’s other side.

“We’ll make camp up on that ridge,” he said, pointing up a steep incline. “Try and use that tech you grabbed to send out a signal.”

She nodded, and they continued their escape.

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Thanks for reading! - River

Jari'eyc Masterlist DangRaccoon Masterlist Taglist Form Read on AO3

Tags: @lokigirlszendaya @idoubleswearimawriter @serenityselene @nomercyforthewarrior @ravenclawbitch426 @luna-the-lone-red-wolf @techs-goggles9902

[merrigelblogs]

8, 21, 35, annnd 60, for Miss Aveline!

YAYY thank you for indulging me >:3c

8. What location encountered in the campaign has your character felt the most “at home” in, or just generally liked the most?

Ohh this is a really good question... The thing about Av and her whole sorta Deal this campaign is that, by and large, because of (mumble mumble secrets), she's spent most of it feeling IMMENSELY out of place! Like... An island infested with crystal zombies! A MERMAID KINGDOM?? But all things considered, where she's at currently... Even though she was WAY on edge when she first stepped on board, I think she's always relieved to be back on the crew's ship, the Triumph. Started as an ~untrustworthy place full of dangerous people~, but now! How the turns have tabled!

21. Does your character have any noticeable scars? If so, what are their stories?

LMAO okay wait I'm digging up an old sketch for this

AS OF THE END OF ARC ONE (crystal zombie island), Av had been:

Grazed by a bullet from the captain's shithead ex-boyfriend (right arm)

Bitten by a horrifying crystal zombie, resulting in crystals growing from the wound (left shoulder, temporarily cost her full control of said arm)

Bitten by a crystalized crocodile (right leg- not the croc pictured Snapper is innocent)

Bitten by crewmate Tiller (right forearm; she was crystal-possessed at the time)

I only let the shoulder incident leave a scar, but the list was too funny not to mention LMAO (plus if you add in a bonus massive shark bite to her midsection in the second arc, Aveline would very much like if Everyone Would Stop Fucking Biting Her For A Second?? Please???)

35. Why is your character’s lowest stat their lowest (the in-character reason, not “because there’s no reason for a wizard to have 16 strength, duh”)?

Oh easy- her lowest score is a 10 in wisdom because if she was any wiser than this she would not be in this situation at all. Very smart lady but, as much as she considers herself to be The Only Normal And Sane Person Here most of the time, she's startlingly lacking in common sense when it comes to like... Hmmm how do I say this without spoilers... Stuff like, Hey Aveline You're Really Not Good At Lying, Are You Seriously Signing Up To Spend A Potentially Very Long Time Doing Extremely A Lot Of Lying? Shit like that XD

60. What decision would the party have to make in order for your character to consider splitting off from the group?

Anything that would endanger/kill innocent people, which is so baseline that I'm struggling to think of something more interesting?? Av is incredibly principled (hello Miss Lawful Alignment), but she's also kinda stuck with the party on several levels (first her duty to carry out the mission, then plain emotional attachment), so she's far more likely to argue HARD until the party sees things her way.

[proximasc0rner]

(So. I'm going to preface this by saying I'm a Gen Z queer kid who doesn't know what it was like to be LGBTQ in the earlier days of our fight for equality, and I don't know what it was like to have the ONLY queer representation onscreen be queer-coded villains. This post is not to be taken too seriously. It was just a silly thought that popped into my head, so I wanted to share a lighthearted rant about it. Please don't murder me okay thanks)

Sometimes life gives you lemons, and sometimes it hits you with the Disney Villains hyperfixation. Again.

This post isn't going to be about how much I am a fUCKING SIMP because I do NOT have the balls to talk about the shit that runs through my head when I'm just casually in love with fictional Bad People™️

Instead, it's just about me diving through various rabbit holes and learning about the queer community's complicated relationship with Disney Villains. I learned what the Hays Code was, and how it was the origin of the queer-coded villain trope. Good guys weren't allowed to be gay. And even though the Hays Code eventually just kinda died for the most part, the trope stuck around.

But even though the trope was designed to frame queer people as untrustworthy, perverse, and strange, a lot of LGBTQ folks really, REALLY love these diabolical characters, myself included-- although I wasn't around when the queer community first "claimed" the villains as our own, so to speak. I actually watched a really interesting video essay on the subject that I'll link to below! A lot of it boiled down to a sense of relatability to these characters-- these villains want to take charge of their lives, and are more often than not outcasts in some respects. So, really, it becomes easy to see the appeal of these extremely self-confident and unapologetically different characters.

But again. Queer-coded villains come with a lot of historical baggage. Thus, when the live-action remakes started coming out, the villains lost most of the queer-coding they had.

But that gave them the new problem. They are FUCKING BORING. LOOK I HAD TO SAY IT. These bitches do NOT have much personality to them. I'd give an example of a Disney live-action remake villain to prove this point, but uh I'm. Kinda boycotting Disney right now, and these movies. I cannot remember these movies enough to tell you anything about them.

BUT ANYWAY. I realized that kind of leaves queer audiences between a rock and a hard place: either have a queer-coded villain whose trope was literally made to villainize queer people, orrrr have a villain whose personality is so bland that you might as well replace them with a sapient cup of tap water and still have the same impact.

And thus, I propose a solution to this dilemma!

Yes, queer-code the villains (DONT LEAVE YET IM GETTING SOMEWHERE). Make them just as delightfully overdramatic as villains like Maleficent or Jafar. Give them that limp wrist. GIVE THOSE MALE VILLAINS PERFECT EYELINER.

But if you're going to queer-code the villain? Then queer-code the hero, too. Show that queerness is not intrinsically tied to morality of any kind, it's just a part of who some people are. Make those heroes flamboyant. Give them that drag queen gait. If you're feeling froggy, lesbian-code the hero's mom or something! Make her be older and unmarried and give her that deeper voice and then show how fucking awesome of a mother she is to the hero. Walt Disney would be rolling in his grave (or cryogenic pod depending on who you ask /j), and I think that would be truly beautiful.

So. Yeah. That about covers it. Okay everyone go home and drink water. :)

EDIT: HAHAHAHA I DEFINITELY DIDNT FORGET ABOUT THE LINK TO THE VIDEO OR ANYTHING

[sharksa-shivers]

Sharksty progression/Eras ig, idk how else to title lol

Here's a couple things with Kristy and Sharky that shows kind of how they slowly develop relationship wise over time (Cuz i wanna lol) ------------------ Beginning era; Kristy is terrified and untrustworthy of Sharky and Sharky's running out of patience at this point... (They both are lost in a wooded area so yeahhhhhh...) Kristy:(staring sus)…..Yeah, i dunno if i trust you with that…

Sharky:(tiredly staring, bored, blinks slowly, his face just reading he's insanely over everything)………Yknow what? Ok, fine, not my problem then. I'm adapted to survive in the wild, i know a good amount of shit. But if you wanna be an ass and keep treating me like dirt, then fine. See how well you can do on your own…(walking away)

(Kristy stands a moment as Sharky leaves her eyesight, Kristy just thinking as she sits there…And she slowly begins to freak out a bit as she's alone by herself in the wilderness, we see her start to get scared…)

Kristy:(getting scared, looking around, calling out to Sharky)…..Ok ok, i…Im really sorry, please don't leave me alone out here!!! Im gonna die on my own, i don't know shit!!!!

(She suddenly hears movement behind her as Sharky annoyedly moves out from behind a tree.)

Sharky:(moving over, towering over her, annoyed, muttering under his breath)……Ughhh, you're lucky I'm way too nice to actually ditch you… --------------------- Friendship era; They both warming up to each other lol (This one is probably earlier friendship honestly with how Sharky's being lol) (We see Sharky and Kristy waiting on Max while waiting on a bench in a train station of sorts. We see Kristy has a few little snack cakes she's bought and is casually eating while Sharky's just chilling and minding his own business. We see them both just chilling whenever…-)

Sharky:(completely in his own world, he's ripped out of it whenever his stomach gurgles loudly, getting Kristy's attention as well. He looks over and Kristy looks at him, Sharky getting a bit anxious)

Kristy:(a bit stunned by how loud that was)…Was that your stomach?

Sharky:(sighs, leaning back and pressing a hand to his lower body)Yeah, sorry…Guess i'm kinda hungry heh…Haven't had breakfast and haven't had lunch so…

Kristy:(she looks down at the few snack cakes she has…And decides to be generous, picking one up and handing it to him)Do you…Maybe want this?

Sharky:(looks over at the small snack cake Kristy's shoving at him)…Maybe but…I don't really wanna take your stuff yknow, i-

Kristy:(snickers a bit, smiles)Dude, it's fine…I don't want you being hungry and miserable. I'd rather ya eat a little something, take care of yourself. I know these aren't alot but…Hey, better then nothing right?

Sharky:(Smiles lightly back and decides to take the snack cake)Thanks, i appreciate it. (We see Sharky unwrap a bit of the snack cake and then proceed to take a bite out of it, him smiling a bit while eating)Yeah, this helps a bit…

Kristy:(still munching on her own, smiling)No problem, that's what friendos are for right? ------------ Romance era; Yeppppppp...Started from the bottom now we here lol...Some Sharksty comfort stuff but it's Kristy being comforted... (Basic context you need is that Kristy's had an absolutely hard and anxietyfilled, garbage bad day, like that's it. Kristy is outside on the main cabin steps, just trying to relax a bit whenever Sharky comes out, trying to make her feel a bit better…)

Sharky:(moving over quitely to not really disturb her, he moves over with a orange smoothie in hand, sitting down next to her to be eye level, gentle as he speaks, trying to be considerate with Kristy's space)Hey i…I know you're still wiped out from all the magic stuff earlier and i know it's not alot but…I made you a smoothie…Just…Like a little something for right now…

Kristy:(she looks over as Sharky talks and she looks over at the smoothie, grabbing it gently…We see Kristy hold it for a moment, just staring at it before we see her hands clench tightly around the drink and her face scrunch up some, tears starting to run down her face, quitely)…….Thank you…

Sharky:(noticing the tears, worried, gently holds her head in his hand)Whoa, you okay?

Kristy:(her expression shifts a bit to a more happy-ish sad, wiping her eyes with her sleeve, still clutching the drink, moves Sharky's hand and leans against him, tiredly but a sense of comfort being gained from the gesture, trying to word her emotions)I just……..I'm so damn lucky to have you in my life…

Sharky:(he wasn't really expecting that, moreso expecting Kristy to be upset, he blushes a bit before shaking it off and wrapping an arm around Kristy, caring and loving)Same heh…I'm glad i could help some…Even if it's not alot…

Kristy:(tiredly, still clutching the drink, happier but still drained)It's everything to me… -------------------------- Progress!!! It is good lol, character developments and whatnot. It's fun having arcs with characters because then you get like...more sides of them to mess with and whatnot yknow? These 2 mean so much to me, omfg... ;~;

[k-chips]

Yes. YES. I'm legitimately tearing up because you were able to perfectly describe what made me so upset and sad about the finale!

(Op, I know this post is from 2022 but bear with me, I'm late.)

The fact that I literally had the same expectations and feelings and reactions to everything as you had!

Joking about Lis and Tilda being exes, Tilda caring for Beta and wanting to help her, Sylens and Tilda mirroring each other and all the possible interactions with the GAIA gang after the game. I loved the idea of her staying with the tribes after the game, it's such a cool concept to have an "Old One" living with the new people of this new Earth. Using Apollo in the right way, teaching about ART, exploring new possibilities and, as you said op, forming new connections. (I'm still a firmer believer in the "Alva and Tilda would be besties" creed. Amen to me) They were all perfect ways to deal with her character, to make her "pay" for leaving Earth and Lis behind 1000 years ago and still not treating her as a mere "twist" antagonist (even if I was kinda expecting that since every character would talk about how untrustworthy she looked).

When you first meet her the game start by telling you how tragic her past was and so you can perfectly understand WHY she would rather fly off in space TWICE than having to live through yet another catastrophic event (first Rotterdam, then the Faro Plague and now even Nemesis) so WHY they then treat the whole thing as if she was just another selfish billionaire like Gerard and Erik?

I can accept her being obsessed with Aloy, I can see why someone with her past would develop some sort of obsessive and possessive behavior after 1000 years of guilt, solitude and apathy, especially towards what is left of the only person she felt good with but don't stop there! Go further! Explore that side of her and make her change for the better! It's such a waste to let her like that, not even a finale confrontation with Aloy before dying, like Regalla had. Show me the parallel between Tilda and Sylens, show me their funny bickering but also how they both change themselves and the other because of these fights. Show me Aloy's approach with both, show me her dealing with two different yet similar brilliant minds like theirs.

To go even deeper, it would be bad and a waste even for ELISABET's character! They had a very deep and special bond, whatever you think it as toxic from the start or not, they had the chance to make Lis' dream live on not only with Aloy, Beta and GAIA but even with her former partner. Lis' character could have helped make Tilda heal and be better even 1000 in the future, showing how strong Elisabet's legacy is.

Ok, I don't want to be delusional but there is still a little hope she's still alive in the Zenith base... you don't see her body, Aloy doesn't look for her for a finale shot or words like she always does with other enemies, they don't let you go back at the base after the finale and she still has the Far Zenith technology that could very much heal her. I mean, that little explosion can't be considered fatal but still...

I still want to believe we'll see more of her character, I don't want this to be the game that disappoint me after loving it so much like I loved the first one...

okay so gonna attempt to explain why the ending of horizon forbidden west upset me so much. i do want to say that up until the last five minutes, i loved basically everything about it. obvious spoilers beneath the cut. tldr at the end.

from the moment we heard the recording between elizabet and tilda I started joking about them being exes. even though I didn't think it would happen, I was hoping that tilda would end up switching sides because of her connection to elizabet. when that actually happened, and we were able to talk to her, from what she said about the zeniths, beta and herself, I felt like her story arc fit really well into a lot of what the game was saying about how it's not money or power or technology that matters the most, but human connection. when she talked about how the zeniths should have achieved more, and that they stagnated in vi, and that she wanted to show beta the beauty of art so her upbringing wasn't purely technical, and how alone she's been/is now, I thought that she'd end up seeing the beauty of this world and forging connections with aloy and the others. sure she talked about wanting to educate people with apollo, but imo that came from wanting to see elizabets dream fulfilled, and not having had enough time yet to see that the world as it is now is still beautiful, even though it's different. I thought that through talking to aloy and beta and gaia, tilda would come to see that this world was still something elizabet would be proud of, and that it's worth protecting.

even though I joked about elizabet and tilda being exes, and even though those vibes were really strong when we saw her art collection, I never actually expected them to go there. so when tilda confirmed that they were together, I completely lost my mind. the fact that they were canon, that it's canon that the woman who saved the world was gay, was just!! so much for me. I felt like it added a new layer to her character arc too, because it suddenly became that she was motivated by love to help aloy and save the world. it seemed like that had been her motivation for talking to beta too, that she'd tried to be almost parental to her.

so I thought tilda was a character that represented someone who had what some others in the game thought was important (power, immortality, knowledge), but who actually wanted human connection, to see the beauty of the world, who was motivated by love to do the right thing and help save the world, and who would come to love it herself.

except then ? the game does a full 180 and makes her the final boss fight, and she dies. and honestly, it did feel like a 180 on her character simply because of where I thought her character was going. she repeatedly said that she regretted leaving earth, and that she should've done more to save it. sure, nemesis is a threat that seems unbeatable, but since it's basically the faro plague 2.0, shouldn't that be a chance for tilda to do what she wanted to do , and stay to help despite the odds? but okay, say they needed her to be the final boss, her not wanting to take beta, and suddenly not seeing beta as a worth anything, and suddenly seeming obsessed with aloy , and us having no choice but to kill her was so?? awful to me?

given what nemesis is and where it came from, I was expecting that after the boss fight we'd be able to spare tilda, and that we'd keep her locked up and that she'd help us throughout the next game. that gradually through talking to gaia and aloy, she'd see that this earth is worth fighting for, even if the odds are terrible. if she had to be the final boss fight, I would've been okay with it if it had been tilda wanting to take aloy and beta, both elizabets 'children', without it being a weird obsession, but that after the fight she lives and we spare her so that she can help us with nemesis, and ends up being 'rehabilitated' or properly redeemed etc.

except there's no chance to spare her, and the game kills her. the game makes me kill her. and honestly, I'd partly expected her to die, but I'd thought that she'd die protecting aloy or beta. I'd actually expected her to sacrifice herself for beta to mirror rost's sacrifice for aloy, after aloy and beta had that discussion and tilda wanting to get beta back was a thing. and I would've been okay with that. it would've been okay for me, because it would've been tilda dying to protect her ex's 'child' who she loves, because that connection is more important.

except it's none of that. instead we get tilda wanting to kidnap aloy and gaia and run away, despite everything shes said, and the way she talks during the boss fight shows a weird obsession. to me, she went from being a lesbian motivated by love and grief to do the right thing, to an evil crazy low-key predatory lesbian, which I hate.

and it's only exacerbated by the ending with sylens. I thought that sylens and tilda were opposing mirrors of each other. tilda comes from knowledge and power, but craves human connection and the beauty and warmth of art. I thought her character would 'come down' to join aloy, and become grounded on earth by forming those relationships and wanting to protect the world after seeing it's beauty and value as elizabets dream. sylens meanwhile comes from this world, but craves knowledge and power and hates the 'primitive tribes' and sees himself as above all of them. I thought that as tilda 'came down' he'd 'go up' by taking the shuttle and going on that quest for knowledge he wants so badly. except instead, he has a change of heart and decides to stay which just seemed so unearned and unexpected to me? right up until that last conversation with aloy, he's still as scornful of her and the earth as he's always been. maybe I could see him going off to space, having second thoughts after spending time alone, and coming back, but in the moment it just feels wrong, especially when I felt like he and tilda were meant to be mirroring each other.

and maybe tilda being the final boss was obvious to others, and I was just blinded by being so ecstatic that she was canonically in a relationship with elizabet. but honestly, her being gay is, in the end, why I was so upset. if she hadnt canonically been with elizabet, and it'd been a headcanon, I'd still be bothered by the end of her story, but it wouldn't have upset me as much. because confirming her as being gay before the boss fight made it a tragic love story that ends up saving the world. confirming her being gay and then making her the final boss that dies makes it seem like her love was toxic. I've already seen people say that maybe she's lying about being with elizabet, and that the love was an unrequited obsession.

it's just. I went from being so happy and excited that she and elizabet were together, to being devastated by the last five minutes. I went from feeling like a game had never fed me so well, to feeling complete whiplash. I went from oh a canon gay ! to having to kill her. I was thinking about the potentials of after the game, like scenes with tilda and the companions, like her painting and adding colour to the base for kotallo, getting back to nature with zo, answering alva's questions, spending time exploring the world with beta and aloy, bonding with gaia over sharing stories about elizabet, starting a relationship because she's an immortal and gaia's an ai and they'll never have to be alone. and now, I haven't touched the game since, and it sucks because I loved it so much.

tldr: went from being ecstatic that tilda was with elizabet canonically and seemed to tie in with the characters as someone who craved human connection over knowledge and technology, to being extremely upset when she turned out to fit the evil predatory lesbian trope, and then we had to kill her.

[lauvra]

Earlier today I stood in an alley nestled away from the main road traffic to phone my nan, it was her birthday yesterday and her twin sister passed away suddenly over the weekend. They bought lots of land side by side, living rurally as neighbours for decades. I didn't need to ask if it was her loneliest birthday yet, she was awake until 3am that night. Dad called to relay the news and said it hadn't sinked in. Although understanding the red zigzag presenting itself beneath that word, I'm leaving it in, because that's how we speak. He said losing a twin is like losing an arm. We covered too many topics to wrangle and write. When he asked if I write from experience, I confirmed the line about the two tattooed Mouri kids trying to fingerblast me in FTV class, in less graphic terminology. I'd need to revisit the class schedule resting in a box beneath my bed to remember which year it occurred. He hadn't known the entire story behind the day I dropped out, either. I share less than one percent of all entries, but some incendiary ones pulse beyond my quiet discipline. Dad asked why he'd never heard about that, and I said I hadn't considered telling anybody. It had passed through as another minor addendum on a long receipt of high school humiliations, it didn't feel like anything. I never considered calling the police while a possessed ex boyfriend smashed furniture to pieces against the walls of our apartment either. It didn't feel directed and hadn't crossed my mind for even one second, I just waited in bed for the episode to be over. As a kid, my cousins instilled in me that the cops were untrustworthy so when they took my dad away I'd already considered them the enemy and made it my primary concern to appear unaffected. Always. Dad said he likes the idea of being nutritional to worms, but prefers to be scattered as ash over the Rainbow Beach area. Sudden deaths really make people think. Over the phone my nan said "It should have been me, you know," as her twin was the healthier between them. My nan already has emphysema and to make a horrible birthday weekend worse, she and poppy are quarantined at home with Covid, which had scarred the lungs of and killed her sister. I told dad to feed me to birds but he hadn't heard of a sky burial before. Maybe he'll look at his talking parakeet a little differently after this conversation. We got off the phone four minutes before the latest episode of his favourite show Masterchef aired and I asked Jack whether he thought the doctors would have told me if they'd aborted my twins. Sudden deaths really make people think. He doubted it and so do I, they didn't give me much information at the time. My inverted uterus meant a standard ultrasound was useless so a woman with a pink dyed pixie cut inserted a transducer to detect my pregnancy. Would she have told me if I was aborting my twins? It may have changed things. After my phone call with nan, I saw my doomed crush hop on his skateboard in a carpark and do a trick, I don't think he knew anyone was watching but I suspect all skateboarders kinda hope someone is when they do anything cute - I mean skilled. WELL I SAW THAT, CUTIE. SLAY

[pherelesytsia]

hi! Omg I just got to read the new part of "Will you come home" and it was so good!❤️❤️❤️! I feel so bad you Y/N the she was so heart by her brothers she even hopes it's a bad dream when she only seen her young nephews! But I'm also glad she seems to have found some happiness with a good man, and oohh I read that sentence about the barely noticeable bulge!!! I wonder if that'll cause some good drama later!!! Also I loved you take on Charlie in this part!❤️ Because I know in like the later seasons he seems to not have a good relationship with tommy and like he'd probably mistrust what he'd say. But here he still seems young enough that he'd like believe his fathers every word unwaveringly! And given Tommy's lack of Tac in the past I can totally see little Charlie asking where his favorite aunt is and tommy kinda just unintentionally unloading out his feelings (not violently) but like in a way that shows he's so hurt by what the reader "did" Charlie immediately believes him. Like if his father is so messed up and like angry about this and not calm like usual if must have truly been very bad!!! So it was great seeing Charlie as a miniature tommy and being so untrustworthy until maybe a few parts when he began to doubt! That line "“Even a big boy can get lost, Charlie" was also so good and I have a feeling that even though she was responding to Charlie, he wasn't the "big boy" who she was thinking of who lost his way! And I love how even in general despite how her brothers treated her, Y/N was still able to put that pain aside to help the kids.❤️❤️ And I can't wait to maybe meet her husband and maybe even see what happens when her brothers learn of him! And I can't wait to see what happens when her family see who is bringing the boys home!! You're amazing and I can't wait to see what's next and I hope you feel better soon❤️❤️❤️❤️

Hey my dear, thank you so much for leaving me a message.❤️ I'm glad you like the story and even more that you read between the lines and guess what's going to happen or see the real message behind it. Charlie tries to be his father, sees him as his role model and doesn't dare doubt his words, but over time he realises that maybe his father isn't necessarily telling the truth or that adults don't always have to be right, because even they can take the wrong path❤️

Sending Love❤️

[devilsrecreation]

Alright, time for the love interests:

Kuumwa (sting)-Sumu’s love interest; Is basically the girl in the song “Red Flags”. She appears innocent at first, but she soon reveals how devious, cunning, and a little crazy (like “can and will kill you if she feels like it” crazy) she is and it makes Sumu both attracted to and terrified of her. She meets Sumu during mating season and despite her…obvious flaws, he decides “challenge accepted”, resulting in a passionate tango. Despite going their separate ways after the courtship is over, they still genuinely have feelings for one another and hope to see each other again. To make it more family-friendly (it IS Disney), they’re like the scorpion version of Gomez and Morticia Addams

I know full well what female scorpions do to the males but TLG is still Disney and I am NOT touching that

Hukumu’s float: A rather small crocodile float living in a lake in the edge of the Backlands (and where the Pride Lands end). They’ve deemed themselves as the Backland’s protectors who don’t take kindly to intruders. That being said, they are willing to cooperate with other species if needed

I’m not TOO sure on how they meet Kiburi’s float, but for now let’s say Kiburi’s watering hole is drying up so they need to share it with Hukumu in the Backlands until it gets more rain or something like that.

—Hukumu(judgemental)-Kiburi’s love interest and the leader of her float; She’s basically the mom friend. Good-hearted, bold, wise, and very hardworking, she’ll do anything to keep her float and the Backlands safe since it’s all she has left. Although she’s nice (for a croc at least), she’s judgemental and untrustworthy at first along with a no-nonsense attitude. She doesn’t care who you are. If you’re giving off bad vibes, you’re not befriending her anytime soon. It’s like her sixth sense. She can tell if an animal is good or bad at heart. She and Kiburi practically hated each other at first. She always kept downplaying his ideas and hurting his ego while he acted dismissive and cold to her. However, they realize they have more in common than they thought the more time they spend with each other and soon think “maybe you aren’t so bad after all”. Kiburi has to admit, he likes her fighting spirit. It’s attractive.

And now they couldn’t be happier together~

“You may be the most dangerous crocodile in the Outlands, but that doesn’t mean anything to me.”-Hukumu to Kiburi

—Erevu (sensible/resourceful)-Tamka’s love interest; The smartest and most logical of the float. She knows everything about every animal in Africa and can easily come up with a strategy for any occasion (battle, how to put out a fire, etc.). While Tamka sometimes doesn’t know what she’s talking about, he absolutely loves listening to her and admires her intelligence. Erevu has no idea how on earth she fell for such an idiot, but she’s grateful to have someone appreciate her brains rather than her looks since she was always known in the past as “the pretty one”.

“….Did you just say you weren’t smart?”-Erevu to Tamka

—Kuamua (determined)-Nduli’s love interest; The spunky, loud-mouthed little sister of Hukumu who likes to rush into things (mostly fights) and doesn’t back down easily. While a bit ditzy, she still has a big heart and prioritizes doing the right thing. Upon meeting Kiburi’s float, she immediately assumes they’re looking for a fight (which, to her credit, isn’t completely false), prompting her to try and attack Nduli until Erevu stops her. She eventually begins to grow closer to Nduli because of his optimism, which she finds adorable. As for Nduli, well he’s liked her from the start so it works out

“Listen up, nobody tells my friends to leave! You want this watering hole, you’re gonna have to get through me first, you—you…you’re kinda cute…”-Kuamua to Nduli

More Lion Guard oc’s I have in my mind cuz I need to get it out

I know I talked about some oc’s in this post: https://www.tumblr.com/devilsrecreation/724739555112222720/you-know-how-i-mentioned-a-whole-tlg-fic-idea-with

BUT I CANNOT REST FOR I HAVE MADE MORE:

Jino (tooth)- Kenge’s oldest sibling who brings back some bad memories. He hasn’t changed since he was a hatchling and is the only animal who is able to call Kenge a “little lizard” without getting bitten, likely due to Kenge being secretly scared of him. It isn’t until he brings up Ushari (thinking he ditched Kenge, not knowing about his death) that Kenge finally stands up for himself and puts his brother in his place.

“Once a little lizard, always a little lizard”-Jino at Kenge

Voice claim: Peter Dinklage

Honestly, that would be a pretty good fanfic. Jino comes to visit and everyone in the Outlands gets to see a whole different side to Kenge. Like, he goes from an aggressive lizard with a Napoleon complex to just…freezing. And this surprises everyone cuz the Kenge they know would NEVER act like this. The most he’d do is get angry while Jino taunts him, orders him around, steals his food, and steps on his tail. Jasiri, being the good queen she is, tries to understand what Kenge’s going through, even trying to get the two brothers to get along. Kenge finally breaks after he witnesses Jino telling the others stories about their childhood. He tries to stand up to him, but Jino just laughs and calls him “little lizard”. Everyone thinks Kenge would snap and attack his brother, but merely lets out an angry yell and walks away. Jasiri chases after him, asking if he’s okay, then Kenge opens up about everything. After some encouragement from Jasiri and the skinks (and Jino mentioning Ushari), Kenge decides he’s had enough of his trauma haunting him and stands up to his eldest brother once and for all via pinning him to the ground and letting everything out. This sends Jino submitting to Kenge for once, apologizing, and running back home

-There would be numerous flashbacks and mini flashbacks from Kenge’s past throughout the fic: from meeting Ushari to biting his first victim

-We’d get to see Ushari’s reaction to everything as well (He hates Jino)

Maji (water)-A tough female nile monitor with no filter who can be just as aggressive as Kenge is. She has this sort of enemies to lovers relationship with him, with him being jealous that she’s bigger than he is. Slowly but surely, the mutual hatred turns into feelings the more they find out how alike they are and they become mates

Voice claim: Joan Cusack

-While Kenge claims to be the biggest lizard in the Outlands, Maji says she’s the biggest lizard in the Pridelands

-The rivalry starts when she steals Kenge’s food right in front of him, then when he tries to fight her, she pins him down

-From there, they always find ways to show off and one-up each other

-They end up having a bragging contest which ends in them going from yelling to aggressive kissing (whatever the lizard equivalent looks like)

-After a stupid amount of time processing their growing feelings for one another, they finally just confess and become the badass couple. Kenge has a soft spot for her

-Kenge was a stammering mess cuz he couldn’t find the right words when Maji just flat out told him

-Unlike her mate, she can control her anger and is usually the one to put Kenge in his place. It’s actually pretty easy for her, especially when he gets hostile for no reason. For example, he’ll get mad over someone saying “a little help” and Maji would yell at him, telling him to shut up and that it’s just an expression…and he actually listens!

-While Kenge has beef with Bunga, Maji would have beef with Binga

-After they start dating, Kenge (temporarily, as it’s a phase) becomes a completely different lizard. He’s much happier than normal and talks about Maji for hours. He even has this staring problem whenever he’s in the Pridelands. Meanwhile, Maji has become a lot more wistful and giggly

-They do the classic “that’s my girl/that’s my boyfriend!” with each other

-Maji tends to get really flirty with Kenge when they’re alone

Mkali (fierce)-It’s kind of a “what if” idea where Kiburi adopts a daughter and she becomes super badass

-Orphaned albino crocodile

-Backstory: Nduli finds her egg poking out of the dirt while searching for food and brings it to Kiburi. After trying to find its mother to no avail, Kiburi decides “screw it. I’ll take it in, but I’m not getting attached to it”. When it hatches, he names the new member Mkali

-Their relationship at first is like:

Kiburi: Leave me alone, kid.

Mkali: *cuddles Kiburi’s tail*

Kiburi: Okay, you’re my child now

-Daddy’s girl

-Wants to be taken seriously

-Calls the other crocs her uncles

Hatari (lethal)-You know how hippos are pretty much one of the most homicidal animals irl? That’s Hatari. Intimidating and territorial, he has a particular enmity towards crocodiles and devotes his life to getting rid of them since he sees them as feral, ruthless monsters. Although he claims to care about the circle of life, he doesn’t realize the roles crocodiles have in it and only thinks about himself in the matter (not even other hippos)

-He lives in a huge watering hole on the outskirts of the pride lands where everyone is warned not to go. There is a pile of food near it that he keeps all to himself

-Songs that fit him:

“Get Out” (Hello Neighbor song)-describes how territorial he is

“Bats” (MLP)-Basically his feelings towards crocs

-Is like this because he lost his entire pod to crocodiles and refuses to believe some are good

Piga (snap)-Kiburi’s dad. Although he was a bold, hardcore, stone-faced brute to others (think Terence from Angry Birds), he showed his soft side to his favorite son, Kiburi. Since the death of his mate, he swore to himself that he was going to teach his kids how to be the best and strongest they can be. Although he kinda gave Kiburi and his siblings some tough love, he genuinely cared about his son and let him know it when he died

-Kiburi gets a lot of his personality from him. Even some of the things he’s said came straight from his old man

“This is our watering hole now! We say when you can drink! And if you don't listen... Lemme show you what'll happen."

“We’re crocodiles. We don't wait around for other animals to tell us what to do! We take what we want”

“I say we deal with him the crocodile way!”

“Nothin' tastier than a meal with a sense of humor."

Yeah. All Piga. Now, don’t get me wrong, even though he was like this, he never dreamed of taking over the Pride Lands. He knew his place when it came to King Mufasa and never once challenged Pua to a mashidano

-He had a lot of battle scars on him, the most notable one being right next to his eye

-Second strongest crocodile (the first being Pua)

-Best friends with Pua

-Kind of a sore loser when it came to losing a fight, but would never take it out on any of his kids. He does appreciate Kiburi’s support about it

-He’s EXTREMELY stubborn. When it comes to getting him to budge, he is just like Terence. He doesn’t, no matter how hard you try. The only exception is a hippo if it’s strong enough (like, as big as/bigger than Basi and as strong as Beshe). Anyone else, forget it.

-Died from a hippo attack (Hatari), which happened to be right in front of Kiburi

-Could probably talk to Kiburi if Kiburi wanted/needed to. If so, he would appear as a water spirit

Nge (Scorpion)-Sumu’s straightforward, no nonsense, but otherwise loving mother. Speaking from personal experience, she’s the one who told Sumu that scorpions couldn’t be friends with anyone but each other. Although she loved all of her kids, she wasn’t afraid to smack them with reality if necessary, such as with Sumu wanting to make friends. After a young Sumu failed to do so, she had a little chat with him. The talk was disappointing and hard to hear, but he needed to hear it at the time. And Nge made sure to keep supporting him no matter what

-Nge taught Sumu everything he knows and she means the entire world to him.

-She was taken from Sumu and the rest of her kids by humans while Sumu could only watch in horror. Her last words to him were “If I don’t make it back, take care of yourselves”.

Sumu never saw her again.

-Nge’s theme is “Baby Mine” from Dumbo. If you sing the song, Sumu will burst into tears

-Sumu does eventually see her again and uh…let’s just say it isn’t pretty. To put in bluntly, she’s dead (obviously). Finish the puzzle.

-That being said, Sumu would be able to avenge his mother by stinging the humans who took her

-BUT if she miraculously survived, Sumu would be able to get her out of her little prison and it’d be a heartwarming reunion. She goes back to her little hole and goes her separate way, but not without telling Sumu how proud she is of him no matter if he is good or bad and promising to visit (he still gets to sting the humans tho lol)

“Ah kid, I wish the world was nicer to us scorpions…especially to you.”-Nge to a young Sumu

Voice claim: Wendi Malick (Eda Clawthorne from The Owl House) 

New story idea: When their bosses scold them after messing up a plan AGAIN, Chungu, Cheezi, Goigoi, Tamka, and Nduli set out to prove themselves useful. It isn’t long before each of them are captured by poachers (which they call “two-leggers”) who plan to do god knows what. It’s up to them to try to escape and prove themselves useful to their leaders.

-Said leaders (Jasiri, Janja, Reirei, and Kiburi) learn about their friends being captured and go to rescue them…no matter how dangerous it is

They also feel super guilty about it cuz they each lost their tempers and said something along the lines of “Why can’t you guys do anything right?”

-We get to see how much the henchmen really mean to them

-More character depth on Sumu, as we learn the tragic tale about how he lost his mother (He’s got trauma and it shows)

Sumu comes with the leaders and acts as a bodyguard (It was Jasiri’s idea. She wanted to play it safe cuz nobody’s messing with a scorpion). He claims he’s fine, but his new habit of staring into space whenever humans are mentioned says otherwise

-It has a good ending though! The dumb henchmen manage to escape themselves (while the leaders are distracting the humans) and reunite with everyone

[arabian-batboy]

Ranking all of Claude’s endgame cards:

1- Claude and Petra (the only good ship with him smh): I love these two together, they’re both heirs to the throne of their respective countries, but neither of them are haughty or take themselves too seriously and instead believe that all people should be equal regardless of status/class/race. Petra is one of the few characters who never viewed Claude as always scheming/untrustworthy and instead just earnestly treated him like a normal genuine good person, which is something Claude probably desperately craved after a lifetime of being inherently viewed by others as either their leader or as their enemy with no in-betweens and you could tell that by how spontaneously he acted when he’s with her.

2- Claude and Lorenz: this one isn’t supposed to be romantic, but I always found their relationship and how it evolved from suspicion to the point of mutual respect to be very interesting. They both have completely different views on life, but their goals are somewhat similar in the sense of they both want what’s best for their citizens and I feel like them ruling two territories that borders each other and have been at war for a long time will result in fast reconciliation and prosperity.

3- Claude’s solo ending: this one is simple enough, but in my opinion it also completely fulfills his character’s arc while leaving enough room for the audience to fill in the gaps with their own headcanons.

4- Claude and Hilda: I have conflicting opinions on this, on one hand I love how much of a reliable friend Hilda is to Claude and how she’s basically his right-hand woman while in Fodlan, but I just REALLY can’t take her racist comments against Cyril, who literally used to be a child-slave for her family pre-story, out of my head. Granted what she said came from a place of ignorance rather than malice and while she did apologize to Cyril for how her family treated him, (even if she wasn’t a part of it personally,) I still wishes that she would have also apologized for what she herself said to him. So while I’m sure that Claude enjoys Hilda’s company, I think he would like for his wife to be a little more “woke” than her.

5- Claude and Marianne (this sounds like I don’t like her, but I really do love Marianne): Their relationship was cute and I thought it was sweet of Claude to help Marianne with her insecurities, but I’m not gonna lie, it’s really bland. All together, I think Claude is too much for her to handle, she doesn’t seem like she can keep up with him in all of their interactions and it always feel like its Claude who is doing all the work and while I appreciate how he helped develop her character, I don’t think that she has anything interesting to offer for his character.

6- Claude and Leonie (kinda bad): I really feels like they’re running out of ideas with this one, so unlike Marianne, Leonie’s does actually have a back-bone and the ability to have intellectual late-nights conversations with Claude, but I still don’t feel any sparks between them and can’t see them as anything but friendly colleagues. Also I dislike how their whole love-story is about Leonie showing off her rich husband and her fancy clothes to her village, I much prefer her solo ending where she became Jeralt’s successor instead of this dull Cinderella-like story.

(insert all 3 of their cards here)

7- Claude with either Flayn, Annette or Shamir: I don’t have anything to say about them, they’re just bland filler pairings with no basis or logic, just their way to have more endgame options with him really.

8- Claude and Lysithea (REALLY bad): while I understand that Lysthesia is only a couple of years younger than the rest of her class, so age shouldn’t be that much of an issue when it comes to dating, it still doesn’t change the fact that Claude has constantly treated Lysthesia like a little kid both pre-timeskip and post-timeskip, so him randomly falling madly in love with her out of nowhere doesn’t sit right with me and in terms of story-telling it makes zero sense for Claude to abandon his dreams and the throne to be her male-housewife? He worked his ass to reach the position he’s in, there’s no way he’s gonna throw all of that away to marry a girl he literally used to put to bed at one point in time. (if anything he would be her’s and Cyril’s wingman)

10000000- Claude and Ingrid (disgusting, should have never been allowed): Where should I even begin? They literally had a man whose whole character was focused on ending all prejudice in the world marrying a racist? I could let it slide with Hilda, since she’s just a naive rich girl who seems like she’s willing to educate herself, but Ingrid is literally a genocide supporter? I’m sorry, but Claude isn’t “fleeing” from her, it’s the other way around, she would be the one fleeing from him and all his arrows. Putting that aside, I absolutely loath how they tried to dumb down Claude to do the whole lazy-husband-and-his-nagging-wife with these two, because Claude is an intelligent and dignified man, there’s no way he would allow a racist Karen (who is neither older than him or outranks him) to yell at him and treat him the way Ingrid does. All-together it’s a horrible and out-of-character pairing.

[electricopolis-net]

S02E02: what scares me

"Hey, Jam?" Bob remarked, dangling his feet over the edge of the balcony. He crossed his arms on the railing, peering out and down at the myriad lights below. "You remember that night we first met at the winter party?"

"Yeah, I remember," Jam said, looking down at his notebook as he wrote. "What about it?"

"Do you remember what you said to me that night? About how I shouldn't let this place get to me?" Bob turned to look at him. "What was that all about, exactly? What were you referring to?"

Jam looked at him, squarely, silently. And then he looked out at the city, and then back down to his book.

"I just meant it's not all diamonds and roses like the radio says," he explained. "Too many people hear the success stories and get duped into thinking that's what it's like all the time. They come up on the buses and want to join Top Tier, and it eats 'em up and spits 'em back out after it's done with them."

"Do you mean Top Tier the place, or the company, or--"

"Both," Jam said. "All of it."

Bob blinked. He slowly turned back to the city's skyline, looking over the broadcast towers, the neon signs, the antennae reaching up to the inky sky. "Hey, Jam. Have you ever heard of a place called the Paradise Hotel?"

Jam cocked his head. "Can't say I have," he remarked. "Why?"

"I went there the other day," Bob explained. He was staring far, far off into space. "I wasn't feeling too good, so I went back down to 2-3, you know, where I grew up. And I saw this hotel down there, kinda far from my neighborhood, kinda tucked away. I guess I'd never noticed it before, but it was beautiful on the inside."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. At first, anyway. It has all these plants and animals in it," he explained. "At least, it's got a lot of fish, 'cause there's aquariums all over the walls."

"Seriously?" Jam raised his eyebrows. "That must have been a ritzy hotel."

"It was run by Rubyred," Bob continued. "That's how they got the money for it. And there was this woman in there who tried to get me to join them. She...she told me some things..." He trailed off for a moment, then blinked and waved his hand nervously. "Well, never mind that part," he said. "But she tried to get me to leave the company, let's just put it that way."

"I'm not surprised," Jam said. "Rubyred's practically built their stable around having people defect from Top Tier. They put on this front that they care more, that they're trustworthy just because Top Tier is untrustworthy, and from what I can see it's not really that way at all. It's like a pinball game," he groaned. "You just bounce from one company to another until you go down the drain."

Bob leaned back, further and further, until he was lying on his back on the balcony, staring up at the sky.

"Jam," Bob asked, "Mr. King's never rigged a game show, has he?"

Jam stared over at him, and then started to laugh. "No way, man," he said. "Mr. King's done a lot of weird and shady things--bustin' people out of the hospital, for one thing--but he never messes with show business. I mean, granted, I don't know that much about what goes on in the game show side of things, but after that slip-up with Alice Lang on Shock 'Til You Drop, he sat down with the producers and went through every inch of the application process. It took hours. I got to hear about it from Margie later."

"I remember that," Bob remarked. "I was there too. I thought he did that for everyone."

"He does. That's the thing." Jam turned towards him and put his notebook down for the first time. "Even if he thinks a game show about shocking people on-air is a good idea, he'll still sit down and make sure it's as tight and 'fair' as a show like that can be. I don't get it, honestly, but I guess he does," Jam said, shrugging. "And that's one less thing you gotta worry about."

Bob chewed on this a bit, turning back up to look into the sky. "Jam, I know I've been asking a lot of weird questions tonight, but can I ask you one more?"

"Go for it. It's a nice change of pace. I don't mind."

"Given all the stuff you said earlier, about Top Tier and everything...do you think I can trust Mr. King?"

Jam sucked in a breath of air through his teeth. "Lemme put it this way," he said. "You know how show business is full of sharks who'll throw you out on the street if they don't like you?"

"Yeah."

"Mr. King likes you," he said. "He really, really likes you."

[hotdadsdrawing]

My Unpopular/Opinions about Miraculous LB

Yes I'm Categorizing this leave me alone,

SHIPS:

-Ladrien, is only good in fanfictions, cannon Ladrien would be LB using her superhero status to date the guy she likes knowing that he doesn't romantically like the girl under the mask

-MariChat, one, the stans are so toxic and two, MariChat should just be a platonic ship and would be horrible in cannon. MariChat works out 100x better when they're just best buds who do best bud things together.

-Adrienette, Adrienette has been really unsettling for the past 2 seasons, Mari is being super creepy obsessed.

-Ladynoir, I fully agree with the cannon that they shouldn't date in mask before they defeat Hawkmoth, it could lead to a lot of danger to both parties and a lot of emotional damage.

-Adrigami, Adrigami is toxic. All Kagami wants is some TLC but Adrien is so in love with LadyBug that he barley notices her and makes her feel shitty, I'm glad they broke up.

PLOT: There is literally no plot progression for any ships so far, Adrienette got the reverse umbrella scene yeah yeah but besides that no one has showed interest in anyone yet (besides Chat obviously). I understand that it's complicated cause of masks and identity but it's been FOUR SEASONS, mf jim and pam were dating by the fourth season.

CHARACTERS:

-Marinette, love her to death but the way she spies on Adrien and constantly stalks him is disgusting and cringey. It's so invasive and if I were Adrien she'd already have a restraining order.

-Tikki, sometimes I feel like she's putting more stress on Marinette. I understand that sometimes everyone needs to hear the hard truth but Mari is 14 years old she does not need a little red god telling her about every mistake she's made.

-Alya, I feel like she's still got that vlogger and reporter mindset when it comes to identities. The fact that she's taking selfies and telling Nino stuff behind Mari's back. She'll get better as the season progresses but it's making me real stressed out rn.

-Adrien, this mf has got to get another personality that isn't "simp for ladybug" and "cause world destruction", I get that it's probably a good distraction from his trauma but he needs to get a hobby istg, maybe collect rocks or smth.

-Nino, perfect character rn.

-Just because Chloe is a disliked character doesn't mean you have to like her, she's a racist, backstabbing, untrustworthy person and her mommy issues don't justify that.

-Zoe is better.

AKUMA VICTIMS: Bro the costumes for so many victims are so bad. Bright colors does not equal good costume.

The names are bad too, "malediktator" nah cause what was that

"befana" is just hag in Italian and it connects to Christmas folk lore, wtf does that have to do with old candies.

SEASON 4:

No complaints for season four but the filler episodes are horrible.

MIRACULOUSES:

-The pig miraculous is so corny. "The Power of Kindness" NAH

-When the Butterfly miraculous isn't being used for evil it'd be kinda useless

-Max uses the horse miraculous so well and they need to use him more often

-Aspik. Just Aspik.

-Mylene is great for the mouse, the costume is VILE though.

-The Snake miraculous' accessory is completely useless for any type of climbing or jumping that the rest of the hero's do. This also applies to the turtle, pig, horse and peacock.

-Monkey miraculous is extremely useless to any enemy that has WORKING LEGS, they can just walk away from the very small toy banana.

-I know Ladybug has her magic compact but where does Chat keep all his stuff, how does he just pull out the magic camembert that can transform them. Does he have magical cat pockets?

-Lila looks amazing in the fox miraculous, I'm sorry someone had to say it, she rocks it so hard and the character design on that costume is too good for a bad person.

-Zoe looks 10x better in the bee miraculous than Chloe, the mask on Chloe makes her face look all wonky and Zoe's transformation is so much cooler.

[peachiesnake]

@transexualsonic

To be honest, i love james as much as the next person but he’s quite literally the epitome of a pathetic person. You start off in his journey through silent hill knowing one thing: his wife is dead but she wrote him a letter to come find her and he decided to blindly follow, which if you think about it is what someone incredibly stricken with grief would do

This is NOT what i think shadow would have a problem with, but with james as a person. As we know in sh2 silent hill doesnt follow the laws of the cult, it follows the horrors and guilt of the host, we kinda learn from angela that not everyones silent hill is exactly the same but they DO crossover. Looking at the monsters you can see the perverted and grotesque feelings james had of his wife who was terminally ill just before and during the time she died. Many feelings of lust and need taking over and likely even cheating on his own wife because he couldnt. Get off while she was ill

He kills her. Because he just CANT bare it any longer. Creates an alternate, sexier version of his wife albeit unknowingly in this other world

I think parts of this would fall too close to home for shadow, and knowing how someone else, a human no less, would react upon being in a similar situation to him that was just so incorrect, thatd infuriate him. I say this all as though shadow is outside the story because outside of jokes i genuinely cant see shadow ever interacting with ANYONE inside of silent hill for his own safety and well being

I do think shadow, as much of a shit as he is, would still help someone find their child, someone like harry who really is just a Dude in the middle of nowhere whose daughter happens to be the reincarnation of god, but they dont know that. But if james was like “have you seen my wife? Her names mary, she sent me a letter-“ no i think hed just leave there is no immediate measures needed to be taken the air of james already so so so unhealthy, so untrustworthy, his true end i believe(?) is suicide even though everyone wanted him to adopt the girl hes just Not A Great Dude and hes kind of really horrible actually

shadow the hedgehog would hate james sunderland so sos os so much he would kill him immediately

on the other hand though he would help harry mason hed help him find his daughter that he believes is definitely dead but hes being nice