#but like. okay they made the 'ultimate sacrifice' or whatever so you have to accept that as a cathartic apology

[longer-than-i-should-admit]

Okay so here it is. Had to work through my emotions first so I've found my equilibrium.

I really liked how Neve's narrative turned out as a whole. I didn't expect to get along with her because she seemed kind of cold at first but honestly? She's for the girlies. I love her. So warm once you get to know her. She's such a bestie, comparative to Leliana in DAO imo

The section I was missing was in the Heights of Athim where the well is. Killed the demon, found the chests, got the last of the statues. I didn't expect to get that achievement so I was quite proud of myself.

I didn't 100% everywhere, I'll probably try to do that next run tbh. By that point I just wanted to see what happened, and...oh boy.

I was honestly 100% happy with the game 'til I got to the third act. Now that I've stewed on it I'll confidently say it's only dropped to 90%, but that's only because I'm of the rather rose-tinted persuasion of despising even "necessary" or "worthy" character deaths. I was NOT expecting to have Davrin die (which...Lace is the alternative? my heart!). Him AND Assan, too? After everything? I know that's the whole point of sacrifice, "whatever it takes", but...idk, it just didn't sit right with me. It felt squandered. But I know that's just my opinion.

And, speaking of squandered...Varric. I'd had the gut feeling that there was more to his situation than he was letting on, especially given Solas’ little "[he] is...quite practiced at shading the truth himself", so I was thinking "oh the only reason he survived was that he got tied to the Lighthouse's energy somehow and can't leave" or “he had a reaction to the dagger like Lace did just slightly different” or smth, but the longer the game went on the more details I noticed. Lace's reaction in the start confused me. There were just enough references to him throughout to mollify my suspicions, but then I got the codex about Xenon trying to buy Bianca and Lace almost gutting him for it. Also no one ever looked at him during the table meetings, and in the scenes he spoke to Rook he waited 'til everyone else left. That all was adding up, especially when I realized that Neve had healed completely, yet Varric was still as weak as he was at first with the casts and bandages and getting tired.

So. It didn't really surprise me when I got to the Fade mission and found out the truth, but...it still upset me. I know he's been in BW's sights for a long time but I hoped he would be the one character to make it out unscathed tbh. So I accepted it, thinking that it must be worth something, that once Rook brings it up to Solas it would help to persuade him, but...nothing. The companion banter in Minrathous didn't trigger for me, so other than Rook initially confronting Solas about it I didn't get any sense of lingering remorse from Solas, which I felt was out of character for him, especially given the circumstances. (I saw Lace's dressing down later, which helped me resolve it all in my mind. It doesn't fix the fact that no one really talks about it very much, but it made me feel a little better hearing Solas say he was sorry. Really sorry.) Ultimately I felt that it was a bit cheap overall since even the Inquisitor doesn't really bring it up, so I'll be discarding that in my AU. No thanks, BW. I want my bestest dwarf intact, thank you. Moving on.

Now, the rest of Solas in the third act? *chef's kiss* Did not see him leaving us in the Fade coming at all, especially since I got the "you have earned the respect of the dread wolf " message. In retrospect I should have expected it, but I guess I forgot I was looking at him through Rook’s eyes, whom he doesn’t know, and not as "me" (who I guess I associate with the Inquisitor more atm, ironically), so it makes sense that he still doesn't necessarily trust her and was manipulating her. The blood magic thing got me, too. And what fooled me was how concerned he genuinely seemed before, like after Weisshaupt, especially when he distracted Elgarn'nan on our behalf. So it fits him, and it gave me the good moment of like "fuck you. that was clever, Dread Wolf, you got me. but fuck you."

Fade mission was the closest I got to crying the whole game. Well written, most definitely. Still don't like the character deaths but c'est la vie. Not that big of a deal since I've seen that others appreciate the stakes being so high and there actually having to be that choice. To each their own. (I'll be changing it in my fic eventually regardless lol)

Emmrich's romance got me dude. The little argument before the island genuinely had me so worried, and then them making up once she escaped the Fade? *chef's kiss* The coffin slew me on sight though lol, it was so funny to me. He's so sweet I love him so much I swear. Definitely already a favorite and I haven't even experienced the others yet lol (Lucanis will be next, for whom I am so excited)

Minrathous was crazy. I believed Solas that time, too, so caught up in his sad little puppy dog eyes. I even noticed the "by my hand" comment and thought about it and then just dismissed it like "whatever you say king I am at your disposal". Woof. Getting to fight with him again, especially at full power, was so...well, empowering. Like I said, I didn't get the banter (since I had Lace and Emmrich with me), so it felt a little empty. I'll make sure to wait for it next time. (AND I SO CALLED IT THAT HE AND EMMRICH WOULD GET ALONG. WHERE ARE THE FICS OF THEM GETTING TO INTERACT, HUH? W H E R E)

I'm so glad Bellara turned out okay, I didn't think I could handle losing her, too. And Enaste in the middle of it all? Poor baby. I wanted to hug her so bad. Morrigan calling her out was funny though ngl

I got the rune of Felassan from the Caretaker, but I had really hoped that the spirit would have some sort of greater impact on the narrative, like appealing to Solas on our behalf for our help in the Crossroads/for the spirits, or with the rune actually summoning some spirits to help fight Elgar'nan like it sounded when the caretaker described it. A little thing, perhaps, but I thought for sure the Caretaker would have a greater narrative impact than that.

And boy. Oh boy. Getting to see the Dread Wolf was something. Big boy. Big pupper. That was so badass.

By the time I fought Elgar’nan I had mostly gotten the hang of the combat so it wasn’t too bad. I really like him and Ghil as villains overall. Just the right balance of real tangible threat and silly evils.

Oh and Solas clinging to his duty right until the end? I was so scared I wouldn’t be able to convince him when I first saw the trick or fight options, but then I realized I got the good ending from Mythal’s essence and I was so relieved. And boy? Let me tell you.

That entire scene had me almost in tears. It was so good. The angles and the lighting and the voice acting and the interactions and...everything. It was everything I wanted. So heartfelt and brought such good closure. And Lavellan getting to be with him in the end is actual perfection.

So, overall, I'd say I am mostly satisfied with the game personally. It was a product of a decade of ups and downs and while it is by no means perfect, I am so grateful to have had the chance to find "canon" closure and experience this game (mostly) spoiler free the first time. To me the world building we were afforded feels more like cherries put on top of the cake that was already there rather than baking something new, although there are of course some completely understandable nitpicks I have seen other people make. However, for what it is, and where it leaves us, I am content. Even if they don't make another game, I'm glad we got this one.

Anywho...I have already started my second playthrough with my Mournwatcher rook and have already started tweaking my AU/fics to accommodate the new information we got. :)

Thirteen (point six) hours in now that it’s finally downloaded…I tired…I’ve been up since seven am lol, it’s so much better than I expected!🥰

I’ll post better images once I figure out where in the hell my screenshot folder is but my baby Fenalan turned out so so gorgeous oml🥹

Spoilers mentioned under the cut:

I’m so glad Varric is okay. He gave Fenalan a little pep talk when she cracked under the pressure a bit so she’s doing her best to hold it together for the team. She left the mayor bc he’s a shithead and she’s generally been rather purple-coded, as I thought.

She has also given Solas a hard time at first, as planned. I wasn’t expecting him to clap back like he did in that second scene lol, but now that Varric has given her more insight into Solas’ personality she’ll be more cooperative going forward (while still being a lil shit of course).

God I know I’m waiting to romance Lucanis for Khalida but I understand why people are so I love with him. He went grocery shopping for them🥹and the delight in his voice when Fenalan got him the wyvern tooth dagger? Oh my lanta, my heart. And the fact that he noted her favorite drink being tea? That slew me on the spot. By god I am going to smooch you so hard next time. Get ready for it. (Rn he and Neve are flirting up a storm and it’s so damn cute I want to die.)

Honestly all the companion missions so far have been so sincere and sweet. I can’t wait to see more! I’m starting to get all the little side missions branching out so I’m trying not to get overwhelmed with them all by taking them one at a time. I think I’ll tackle more of arlathan forest first thing tomorrow.

I unlocked the memory where Solas fights Elgar’nan, so is the elf who was with him Felassan? I’m assuming it’s Felassan. And if that’s Felassan I am going to cry bc he seems so nice and outgoing.

Also who summoned the fish in the Lighthouse? (I think it was Felassan lol, he seems like an agent of chaos. The “you summoned them, you’ll have to feed them” line took me out.)

I’m mentally cataloguing all the little differences I’ll be making with Khalida, who is more of the soft-spoken, shy, diplomatic type. Her favorite drink will be the “something sweeter” option, she’ll have supported Varric’s plan, and she’ll be more open to Solas’ input off the bat once she gets over her initial fright of him. She’s such a sweet little thing and Lucanis is going to be an utter disaster with her since she’s a bit oblivious lol

God idk if I’m going to be able to sleep after all this but hey, here’s to trying lol

On nydha, lethal’len!🥰

[grandwretch]

redemptive death is the laziest trope in western literature i think. redemption should take work. to have it undone with one act where they don’t even have to confront their own ills is a disservice. both the character and the other characters they’ve harmed deserve better. more zukos, less kylos. please. 

[storkmuffin]

Your mistrust & mislike of Silver are understandable & valid. I wouldn't try to convince you otherwise, I find your takes super interesting! I'm just perhaps hoping to show why even if I don't always like him, I do feel for him & find him fascinating.

Maybe I'm naive but I don't think any of Silver's actions from S3 to mid-S4 are with intent of trying to deceive, get out, or even get rich. He willingly gave up his share of the Urca gold & chose to remain on Flint's crew. That was huge. Sure it was a move of self preservation & validation, but I don't think there was any scheme to it. He could have taken his fortune & bounced, even one-legged. To me, any con ended before S3 even started. He becomes what Flint needs, a partner. He becomes what Madi needs, a lover. He becomes what Billy needs, Long John Silver. Not to trick them but to be useful & needed. Not for the cause but for THEM, for whom I believe his love to be genuine. But mostly, simply, to just SURVIVE & hold some modicum of power. He is ultimately in over his head & not willing to make the sacrifices that Flint & Madi are.

I can't wait to see your thoughts on the finale 🥹

Thank you for this ask. It's so cogent and, like, lovingly argued on behalf of my personal worstie and narrative nemesis John Silver. So, we're fully agreed that he's very human. I can't blame anyone for being desperate to survive a violent life with limited information and the situation always changing on a dime, and doing whatever he thinks it takes. I admire his cleverness even as I resent it. I can scrounge up some pity, too, that whatever he went through before being brought onto the Walrus put him in a permanent defensive posture which made him unable to actually withstand being really loved & accepted.

But-

[#anti john silver, below]

The thing is, the perspective that Silver trying to be what people want him to be, as in, his non-stop play acting as a way to earn love, is NOT a fraud but in fact is an act of service or even an act of love, is extremely hard for me to understand. It may not be a financial, get-rich-quick-at-the-expense-of-your-ruin fraud, okay, but it's still fraudulent. Betrayal for money is terrible enough, but not actually being the person that earned someone's love is to put the lover in a hell of being constantly betrayed, every single second. Getting someone to put their faith in you by opportunistically being what they needed you to be in a moment of vulnerability? You're tricking people into loving a thing that doesn't exist. That's beyond fraud, to me. It's soul-murder.

And see, I think John Silver knows that it's truly unforgivable. He knows the magnitude of the crime of the soul he's inflicting on Flint, which is why he gets homicidal when he thinks Flint has done the same to him (based on my limited information as of S4 E9).

[remma-demma]

TRANSFEM G'RAHA!

Young upstart who hasn’t thought much about his identity past his studies.

A century of the most literal depersonalization one could go through.

Coming out the other side literally reborn & more alive than ever.

G’raha grew up around a bunch of nerdy scholars, so gender was never really enforced one way or another. He was like. My identity is Archon :) I guess I’m like, a boy but idrk what that means. Tia, yeah sure, whatever. If that's what you say!

As the Exarch, the entire goal was to not have their own identity. To become a figurehead and ultimately sacrifice themself which like. Doesn’t inspire a ton of introspection. I’ll be dead anyways, why does it matter who I was. (In reality this was a pretty convenient excuse to just push all of these thoughts under the rug for… a century. You know how it is)

And when they get saved N'eph asks, okay but who are you really. I want to know you. Who is G’raha Tia. And he says. Uhh. Hmm,.. I’ve never thought about it. Maybe my identity is being a wol fanboy. Hanging out with you will fix me, surely. Pls take me on your adventures.

When that doesn’t fix him he’s like… uhhhhh… no reason but... N’eph how did you know you were trans. And N’eph goes, “well, I just knew I wasn’t a woman” And G’raha goes

The Final Days really made him question things. He had just now began to accept the fact that he deserved a place in the history books, but as G'raha Tia? He ignored it though, because it seemed less important than the end of the world.

Ultima Thule was when she realized. The Omicron feeling lost and without self after their mission was accomplished sounded eerily similar to... just about her entire life. The best advice she had at the time was, "Who we were need not prescribe what we now hold in our hearts."

(Picture on it’s own post)

She promised herself that, when she came back (Because she still has the utmost faith in her wol) she would reinvent herself in a way that made her want to live for herself and not for anyone else. Not for her legacy as the last Allagan, or for her people in the First, or even for N'ephele. Just for her.

Dawntrail is the beginning of the rest of her life :)

[murdertrialimagines]

Welcome to Jabberwock Island | Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu

Hello all! I'm currently watching somebody play Danganronpa 2 and it inspired me to write this! Please enjoy! 💖

~

Y/n L/n, Ultimate (talent), sat on a bench outside of the hotel, looking up at the stars. Everyone else had gone to their cottages for the night, still processing what just happened.

Only hours ago they were happily enjoying the "heart-throbbing school trip", as Usami had called it.

Oh god, Usami. Usami who had been transformed into Monomi by that evil bear, Monokuma. Usami who had been murdered right in front of their eyes.

Y/n touched her cheek where she had been grazed by a stray bullet fragment. It had stopped bleeding a little bit ago. Still, it stung when she touched it. Or maybe that was due to the salty tears that had flowed into the open cut, the tears that have since dried.

She had stopped crying a while ago. Now it was as if she didn't feel a thing. That was okay. It was better than the despair she had felt an hour prior.

She knew it wasn't smart to be outside late at night, not after what the bear had announced to the class. The words "killing school trip" rang in her ears louder than the hellfire of bullets which took Monomi's life. Life? Is that what it was? Whatever Monomi had, she had given up to try to save them.

She pushed that thought aside. Thinking of Monomi's sacrifice only made it all real. But so did the cut on her cheek, and the very bench she was sitting on. She averted her gaze towards the sky. If she focused on the sky, she could be in her own backyard...

She didn't notice someone sit down next to her. At least, to Fuyuhiko, it didn't seem like she did. Until she spoke.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" She mused, still gazing at the stars. "I mean, it's always been beautiful, but you don't truly notice until you may never see it again."

Fuyuhiko internally cringed. He hated that she had pretty much accepted her death already. No, he would make sure that didn't happen. He would make sure she had the chance to admire the stars every night.

To tell the truth, he wasn't used to comforting people. In fact, he couldn't remember the last time he did. He was the ultimate yakuza, after all. He had a reputation to keep.

Still, this girl had been one of the nicest people he met on this island, the least annoying. He didn't want her to get murdered or something. That had to be why he sat down next to her. To protect her, not to comfort her.

He looked at her face and noticed the cut for the first time. "What the hell happened to you?"

She broke her staring contest with the sky and looked at him before seemingly realizing what he was referring to. "Oh, bullet fragment from Usami's, uh, punishment..."

"We should take you to that nurse chick."

"Mikan? Oh, no, it's fine. She's probably sleeping by now. Besides, it's not bleeding anymore."

The pair sat in silence for a little while longer before Y/n yawned. "We should get some sleep. Who knows what'll happen tomorrow, or how long we'll be here."

Fuyuhiko hummed in response. He walked her to her cottage. When they arrived, he stood back and allowed her to open the door. She turned back to bid him goodnight, but he was already halfway down the boardwalk to his own.

~

Hope you all enjoyed! I love Fuyuhiko so much so this was very fun to write! Take care of yourselves, babes 😌💖

Mod Kirigiri

[secondsonaym]

The Vessel Project - Sociable [Heket 1]

(read on Ao3 here)

---------

So it’s my turn to recount events now? Sure, why not. 

The younger me would have been jumping for joy at this opportunity--and that’s not to say I dislike doing this, not at all! It’s just…

Well, my feelings aren’t particularly relevant at the moment. Let’s get back to the point.

So, Narinder left us off right when we had all first met, okay.

If I recall correctly, after he had introduced himself…

------------------------

“Narinder? Ooooh, that’s such a cool name!” I gasped, unable to keep myself from clapping my hands a little. “Well, it’s nice to meet you--All of you, actually!”

I looked to the other three with my usual big smile, oblivious to the fact nobody was really returning it. But I didn’t really care.

As a child, socializing was just second nature to me. I had many siblings, and no shortage of conversation partners or playmates. The concept of ‘restraint’  just wasn’t in my best interest.

The other four certainly seemed various levels of reserved, too, so I sort of hoped by expressing my energy a bit more, they’d lighten up. After all, we had each been selected for what was obviously a big deal in our orders. We should be happy!

 “Can’t say the sentiment is shared, considering after tonight, we will be on different sides of the battlefield.” Shamura said, rolling all four of their eyes--That was a cool trick! Could all spiders do that? I recall wishing I had four eyes in the moment, because I wanted to do that as well.

“Why, though?” Leshy suddenly asked, taking everyone else by surprise again. He sure did a lot of staring and not much talking, but when he did talk, it was when nobody expected him to!

“I mean… All of the sects--Chaos, Famine, Pestilence, War, and Death, they’re all lumped under the ‘Old Faith.’” He continued. “If they’re all different parts of the same thing, why don’t they get along?”

“That’s a good question.” Narinder said quietly from his spot, and I nodded along, seeing Leshy’s point.

“Perhaps they were, once,” Shamura spat. “But when things are compartmentalized, it is their nature to branch off and become their own thing. It is a natural progression.”

“Compart… Mental…?” Leshy asked with a tilt of his head.

Shamura sighed and rubbed their face.

“I hate talking to children.” 

“Um, but you’re a kid, too?” I couldn’t help but laugh. 

“A teen, actually.” They corrected, squinting at me, which only made me laugh more. It was silly, how much they seemed like their bishop.

“Whatever you say, I guess.” I snorted, before turning back to Narinder. “Say, I gotta ask… What’s the Death sect like?”

“Huh?” Narinder’s ears stood up straight, which I found quite cute. “What do you mean?”

“It’s not an evil cult that sacrifices young and old alike, is it?” I pressed. I had heard all manner of haunting stories from adults in my village, who spoke of Michael as an omen of destruction. Some had even told me he drank the blood of naughty froglings who didn’t go to bed on time! Though… That one may have just been to get me to behave.

“Of course it isn’t!” He stammered, fur standing on end as he frowned. “Nobody dies of anything but natural occurrences. Sacrifice is forbidden.”

“Forbidden?” I echoed. “Why would it be forbidden?”

“Lord Michael said that…” Narinder began, voice starting to shake as everyone fixed their eyes on him. “To give up one’s life just to prove your devotion was an affront to Death itself. You can only die once, and it is much more meaningful to accept what fate has in store for you than to claim you know better.”

We were all quiet for a moment, unsure what to make of his logic. I certainly didn’t understand it at the time, because sacrifice was commonplace in Phanuel’s order, and from what I had heard, was a practice in the other sects as well.

“Michael’s wrong.” I finally said, having uncharacteristically considered my words for a moment. “Sacrifice is probably the ultimate way to prove yourself.”

“Under Lord Raziel’s domain, traitors are sacrificed without hesitation.” Shamura said matter-of-factly. “If they shed their loyalty, then we take it back by force, with their last breath. Death is the ultimate punishment.”

“Um… Lord Verchiel says there’s a certain splendor in death.” Kallamar said slowly. “And when sickness crops up, if we show him a death that meets his standards, he heals us. Death is an amusement, really, to him, at least.”

“We see all deaths as sacrifice in the Darkwood.” Leshy mumbled. “Death could happen at any moment. We just don’t know.”

“And as for Lord Phanuel, He…” I started, looking at where my hands rested on the table. “He says that even when dead, bodies have use. The meat feeds creatures, the bones feed the earth. By sacrificing yourself, you open yourself up to become much more useful than you could have been alive. Giving up one’s body is the highest form of devotion.”

We all sat in silence after sharing these perspectives, looking to Narinder, who had shrunk down into his shoulders as we spoke. I wonder how it felt, to be told just how wrong your teachings were.

I could certainly see the perspectives from the others, though the idea of death being a ‘punishment’ didn’t exactly sit right with me either. But at least they all agreed that sacrifice was a natural part of worship.

It made me a bit concerned for Narinder, really. He definitely didn’t seem like a normal kid, and Michael’s teachings must have been giving him a really skewed perspective of the world.

“Anyway,” I then said, not wanting to dwell on that topic and make the cat feel any worse about his faulty logic, “Could you at least tell us a bit more about this temple, Mury?”

“What did you just say?” Shamura’s flabbergasted face made me grin. Had they never had a nickname before?

“You know, Mury! It’s a nickname for Shamura, ‘cause that’s a bit of a mouthful. And Kallamar, I could call you Kal if you want!”

“Lord Verchiel says nicknames obscure the beauty of one’s full name.”

“And yet he calls you ‘Opal’ when your real name is-”

“Like I said!” Kallamar interrupted. “He does it for everyone in the upper ranks, and it’s the rules, so I’m fine with it, really. R-Really, please stop calling me Kallamar. Opal is fine…”

He stared down at the table, starting to fiddle with his robe as bright red shimmered onto his skin. 

“I say go along with what Opal wants.” Shamura huffed. “Lest you get accused of trying to convert him.”

Oh dear, I didn’t want to do that! For starters, that wasn’t my job, and who knows how angry Verchiel would get if he thought I was trying to take away his disciple on Lord Phanuel’s behalf!

“Sure, Opal! Whatever you want.” I said with a smile.

“As for the temple,” Shamura said, “I’m not letting any of you step away from this table. Who knows what sort of sabotage and subterfuge you all could get up to in the library!”

“Well, if this place is a library, I’d probably find a dictionary, so I can know what ‘subterhuge’ means.” Leshy mumbled.

“Subter fuge. ” Shamura hissed. “There’s an F in it! It’s spelled S-U-B-T-E-R-F-U-G-E.”

“Then why isn’t it pronounced, ‘sub-ter-fudge?’” Kallamar asked.

As Shamura started to tremble with anger,  I looked back to Narinder, only to deflate a bit when I caught sight of him.

He was crying. He held his arms like he was giving himself a hug, and stared down at the ground as tears wet his cheeks. From what I could tell, he was doing his best not to make any noise, as he shook now and then with silent sobs.

“Hey…” I managed, moving over to him, though he recoiled away. 

I left the other three to their squabbling as I focused on Narinder. Guilt was already lumping up in my throat, and I hated it when people were upset… Especially because of me.

“I didn’t mean to…” I started, but was unable to think of what I didn’t mean to do. 

‘To tell you your bishop is wrong’? No, I still believed Michael was wrong about sacrifice. But… that was the only thing I could think of that Narinder might have been upset about.

“You all think I’m weird.” He managed, making me freeze up a bit. “Don’t you?”

“Of course not!” I insisted, clenching my fists. While he certainly wasn’t a typical kid, I didn’t think that was weird. I knew all sorts of kids! Not all of them are gonna be the same!

“I do.” Shamura said from the other side of the table. “I’ve never heard of any kid following Michael, that’s for sure.”

“Hey, don’t-” I started, only to be cut off.

“You really look up to him, it seems like.” Leshy commented. “Defending his views on sacrifice, and all. But worshiping Death itself… Isn’t normal.”

“I don’t worship it!” Narinder insisted, raising his head to show his reddened eyes. “I respect it! That’s what Lord Michael told me from the start, it’s not something to be worshiped, it’s-”

“Then why even have a sect at all?” Shamura probed. “Why be part of the Faith, and why involve himself in the business of the other bishops? Lord Raziel says Michael thinks he knows better than the other bishops, always telling them what to do and calling their ideas stupid, well-”

“ CUT IT OUT! ” I bellowed, stomping my foot so hard the table rattled. My loud voice probably hurt everyone’s ears--No! No, I didn’t care at that moment, because they weren’t cutting Narinder any slack!

“Can’t you see he’s crying? He doesn’t need any more of your dumb questions, Shamura!”

“All I’m doing is pointing out the inconsistency in his faith!” Shamura growled in return. “Lord Raziel says to think critically of outside information, and--”

“ ‘Lord Raziel says’ this, ‘Lord Raziel says’ that, are there any thoughts of your own in that brain of yours, or is it all--” I started to shout back, anger overtaking me. My retort didn’t get to finish, however, as I was cut off by a noise from the door to the main temple chamber.

A horrific screech, like shattering glass mixed with a dying owl, sounded from past the doorway, making all of us freeze. Though most of us hesitated to move, I could see out of the corner of my eye that Kallamar had gone sheet white. 

“L-Lord Verchiel!” He managed, finally bringing himself to move to the door. 

As he hurried, another scream, this one more guttural and ragged, let loose. It was Narinder’s turn to realize who it belonged to, as his fur stood on end before he darted after Kallamar. 

Shamura, Leshy, and I remained where we were, both unsure if we should follow and worried we may hear the sounds of our own bishops. Finally, curiosity overcame me, and I began to move as well, hearing Shamura and Leshy’s footsteps close behind me.

The first thing I saw was blood on the floor. The crimson color was off-putting in the pale light of the moon, and I desperately looked around the scene for details to distract me.

The trail of red was distinct, forming a clear traced line from Verchiel’s taloned feet to Michael’s hunched form. The bishop of Pestilence looked absolutely livid , tense as if prepared to make another strike.

None of the other bishops looked surprised, or even interested in what was happening before them, let alone enough to intervene. They merely looked down at where Michael kneeled, waiting for his response.

Michael was on his knees, neck drooping so his head lay on the ground. The Red Crown had been knocked from his brow, laying a few inches away from his head, the eye staring up at the bright moon. I could see him breathing heavily, but it took me a moment to realize that some of the red on his robe was not, in fact, part of the usual design.

Verchiel had struck him in the neck, sending a spray of blood down to stain his robe and the floor. I could hear his haggard breathing from where I stopped, halfway between the door and the perimeter of the moonlight. Narinder stood just a bit in front of me, frozen in shock and horror.

“You dare mock my decisions as a bishop, when you can hardly call yourself one! I will not let such insults stand.” Verchiel hissed, oblivious to our arrival.

“Hah… You’re angry because I’m correct, though.” Michael responded, voice twisted into a hard to decipher croak. 

“ I should kill you right now. ” Verchiel said, voice so venomous it sent chills up my spine. 

“I’m not afraid of empty threats.” Michael managed, before he started to move. Slowly, with everyone’s eyes locked on him, he pulled himself to his feet, standing straight despite the ghastly wound. He picked up the crown, setting it on his head as if nothing had happened. 

“You won’t kill me.”

“And just how do you know that?” Verchiel asked with a tilt of his head. “The strike just was a warning. But I could go further.”

“Because,” Michael replied, head now turning so he looked into the shadows, right where Narinder and I were standing. “I know how I am going to die.”

He then turned around, ignoring Verchiel’s enraged growl. 

“Come, Narinder. We’re leaving now.”

Narinder twitched upon hearing his name, but took a moment to actually hurry after Michael, scampering as fast as he could. Before the pair stepped out of the large temple doors, I saw Narinder clutching worriedly to Michael’s robe, looking up to him and asking a question I could not hear.

And then they were gone.

“That serpent…” Verchiel grumbled after a moment of silence had passed. He turned his attention downward, immediately set on smoothing out any wrinkles in his robe. “Forcing me to get my talons dirty with his blood. This will be hell to wash off.”

“The children are back.” Raziel noted indifferently, having seen where Michael had looked and catching sight of the rest of us. “I suppose with that little outburst, along with how late it is, we should probably disperse as well.”

“Fine by me.” Lord Phanuel huffed, not needing to be told twice. “Heket.”

I jumped to attention when I heard my name, and began to stride after Lord Phanuel as He went to the door. I risked a glance back, but didn’t see much else aside from the other disciples heading towards their bishops.

“If I may ask, My Lord,” I began, looking back to Lord Phanuel. “What did Michael say?”

“The truth.” Lord Phanuel responded casually. I liked that about Him. He didn’t beat around the bush, and was honest about things when you asked. He kept no complicated secrets.

“Michael had said Verchiel was self-obsessed to the point of being so far up his ass, he couldn’t see the ruin Anchordeep was falling to. Verchiel didn’t like that, of course, so he, well…”

 “Will Michael be okay? N-Not that I care, but that kind of wound…”

Okay, the caring thing was a bit of a lie. Even if I didn’t agree with his views on death, I didn’t want Narinder to be without a bishop, that’s all.

“The crowns impart abilities to the wearer that can prove beneficial, though it varies with each crown.” He explained. “The Red Crown allows its wearer to endure much more than would otherwise be possible.”

Wow… 

“Unfortunately, there was not much to glean from tonight’s discussion.” He then scoffed. “The others bickered, as usual, and it was mainly Raziel who was focused on the project.”

“Do you know what’s out there, past the border of the Old Lands?” I couldn’t help but ask.

Lord Phanuel was quiet as was continued to walk. Normally, He would have opened a portal by now, but we were already out of sight of the temple, and still moving on foot. 

“Wouldn’t that be something for you to find out?” He finally asked, glancing at me. 

“Oh, um… I suppose that makes sense.” I apologized. 

Right, if I were to be His chosen disciple, I’d be the one going out to explore and claim new land for Him, just like He had explained when He had first selected me. 

But thinking on things, I was just so amazed by how big the world was. As a toddler, Anura seemed to sprawling and vast. Then I learned of the other territories of the Old Lands, and it all seemed so overwhelming. To hear there was probably even more out there, well… 

“Speaking of you finding things out.” Lord Phanuel said, stopping in His tracks to look at me. “What did you learn of the other children?”

“Hm? Well…” I stopped beside Him, putting a hand to my chin as I thought. I had definitely learned a lot about each of the others, but I knew Lord Phanuel well enough to know not everything was going to be to His interest.

“Raziel’s disciple, Shamura, is very loyal. They were saying a lot of stuff Raziel had told them, and wouldn’t let us look around the room we were waiting in.”

“Figured that much.” He said with a roll of His eyes. “Kid’ll probably tear out their own heart if she told them to.”

“Seemed like it…” I said, doing my best to block out the disturbing imagery. “I wasn’t sure what to make of Zuriel’s disciple, Leshy. He was very quiet. But as for Kalla-er.. I mean, Opal…”

“Go ahead, say his real name.”

“Kallamar… I tried calling him that for a bit, but eventually he wanted me to go back to calling him Opal, ‘cause it was the ‘rules’ or something…”

Phanuel let out a loud snort at this, a brief instance of amusement on His face. He quickly suppressed it, however, and returned to His typical deadpan expression.

“Verchiel sees others as little more than toys. You no doubt saw the results of xer explosive temper. This ‘Opal’ likely fears that.”

“Probably…” I agreed quietly.

“What about the cat?” He then asked, making me pause. 

“Narinder?”

“Michael called him that as well, so I’m assuming that’s his name. Yes, I mean him. Michael never said anything about taking on a disciple. It was a surprise for all of us to see the boy there in the temple.” Lord Phanuel explained.

“Well…” I thought a bit, wondering what I should pass along to Lord Phanuel. “Honestly, I’m… Worried about him.”

“How so?”

“He was talking about how sacrifice is an affront to Death itself. Whatever Michael is teaching him, it’s giving him such a backwards view of the world. He wasn’t really like any of the other kids, either. While Leshy didn't talk much to begin with, what little he said was at least appropriate. Narinder, meanwhile…”

Lord Phanuel remained quiet, staring down the craggy path that lay before us. After a few moments, He finally raised His head, making a motion with His beak so an angular black hole appeared before us. 

He stepped into it, dropping downwards as if descending a staircase, and I quickly followed suit.

“Michael is a dangerous one, to be sure. I’ve no idea what his plans are for that boy, but they cannot be good. If things get too bad, perhaps we can intervene.”

“Really?” I asked. I certainly liked the idea of helping Narinder… He seemed like a kind boy, warped views aside.

“It is a mere consideration.” He insisted, tone firm, though not overly so. “For now, we will leave them to their devices. When we return to the temple, you are to go straight to your sleeping quarters. Tomorrow, we will formally begin your training.”

“Yes, My Lord. Thank you, My Lord.”

[scribeforchrist-blog]

He Freed Me , From My Comforts

MEMORY VERSE OF THE WEEK

=========================

+Psalm 29:11 The LORD gives strength to his people; the LORD blesses his people with peace.

=========================

VERSE OF THE DAY

========================

+Romans 8:2  And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. 

=========================

** SAY THIS BEFORE YOU READ; HERE’S SOME CHRISTIAN TRUTHS **

I AM POWERFUL WITH JESUS

I AM ACCEPTING JESUS

I AM FREE

I BELONG TO HIM

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

THOUGHTS:

=======================

It is  NOTHING or ANYONE in this world who can free us from sin or can forgive us either; we can only have these things through Christ. Often, men think they have the power to do everything, but they dont. Jesus, one day, was in front of Pilate. He said this unto him: “You would have no power over me at all unless it were given to you from above. So the one who handed me over to you has the greater sin."

See, Pilate thought he had all the cards, and he had everything, and Jesus let him know you have no power you might think you do but you dont, and that's what we must understand ,that people on earth have no power, they ONLY have power that can be passed to one person and that is all but what God has is TRUE power and when we belong to him that same power has set us free from our sins when we gave our life to Christ, so not only do we have grace and mercy but we have power over sin because he freed us from sin, but its up to us to stay away from it. 

  I went to this restaurant once and ordered tacos and some enchiladas; when I went home, I was sick. I had gotten a food poisoning, and it took me a few days to get over this bug, but with God, powerade saltine crackers, I was okay. I made it through it, but for years, even now, I won't go back to that restaurant out of fear of getting something that made me sick.

  This is just like our spiritual life; if we continue to dabble in sin and dabble in the flesh, we will taint our life with things we dont need and things that will take deliverance to remove, and sometimes those things that we dabble won't just be a one-time thing it becomes a habit that we can't break because we allowed our flesh to lead us to temptation or lead us to something we have no business looking at or doing.

We have to make sure whatever we do ,we don’t allow the things of this world to infect our relationship with God, no things and addictions and spirits dont leave immediately, and honestly it depends on the spirit but some spirits takes fasting and prayer to be removed out of our life because once we open that door to sin the only way to be TOTALLY FREE IS FOR US TO BE DELIVERED.

   Verse 3: "The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature.So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body, God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. "

  If we were able to free ourselves, the law of Moses would still be here, but it can't because the bible verse says because of the weakness of our sinful nature, God sent his son in a human body like ours. Jesus came here and became the ultimate sacrifice for us. Isn't it amazing that God saw fit that he knew we would be too weak to do it, so he sent his son to help us? We need to praise God for that; he didn't have to do it, but he did it for us; he saw fit and loved us so much that he wanted us to feel and be free!!

  Galatians 5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

   Yes, sin is hard not to submit to, and it's hard to let go of the things we want, but in order to grow in God, we must submit to him and not to the yoke of slavery, which is sin, the bible tells us when we serve one master we will hate the other, and we need to hate the things of this world because the only thing this world do is leave us feeling lonely and miserable.

Sure it might feel good at the moment when we are indulging in it but, but when we are done we are left a huge amount of conviction, and God doesn't want us to feel we have to carry the pressure of our sins , but we must understand that he has done everything for us so we can walk in the light of him, it might be hard some days, but every day choose him as he chooses you .

***Today whatever sin you’re dealing with , it will be a battle everyday , but we must give Christ every sin so that he can change the way we handle this sin, alot of times we are dealing with habitual sins because we want to, we are dealing with habitual sins because we can’t see our life without those sins in it.

They don’t look like sins , the moments we do the them with family and friends it feels like a good time , the drinking, smoking , etc all of it feels good but really and truly friends sin isn’t good , it pleases the flesh , and the moment we start to see sin for what it is then we can truly understand the weight that sin brings upon our life and in our relationship with God . Go to God and give him those comfort sins. That are effecting your life today . ©Seer~ Prophetess Lee

========================

PRAYER

========================

Heavenly Father forgive us of the sins we have done . We thank you for the word today . We thank you for giving us hope and a chance to get it right thank you for sending your son here to give us more opportunities to get it right , and we ask that you give us the strength to surrender our comfort sins to you , give us change to give you our selfish ways , lord we are sorry if we done anything to offend you or the Holy Spirit , we ask that you continue to mold and shape us as we go through our day , lord we love you and need you in Jesus Name Amen

========================

REFERENCES

========================

+ 2 Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom

+ John 8:32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

+John 4:14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

========================

FURTHER READINGS

=========================

Exodus 28:1-43

Matthew 25:31-26:13

Psalm 31:9-18

Proverbs 8:12-14

========================

[maaarshieee]

hey! I hope you're doing good, and thank you for all the sanemi ideas, I love them so much :)

I was wondering, since your writing is amazing, if you could do a fem!reader who's a part of the demon slayer corps as a hashira and has lots of secret admirers ? She doesn't know about them until one day, after a mission when she got injured badly, she wakes up at the butterfly estate with tons of letters and gifts and then realizes she has secret admirers, and she honestly doesn't understand why (since she has low self esteem) Also, would it be possible if Sanemi is a part of the said admirers ? It's pure mutual pining between the both of them, and she again realizes that it's him when she opens a box with ohagi in it. It can be headcanons or a fic, whatever inspires you most!

You don't have to do it if you don't want to, but if you do, thank you in advance!

I hope I respected your rules enough because I know you said that you didn't want to receive too specific requests, so I hope this is okay, I'm really sorry if not!

➢ Sᴀɴᴇᴍɪ Sʜɪɴᴀᴢᴜɢᴀᴡᴀ x F!Rᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ

➢ 1,654 Wᴏʀᴅs

➢ Fʟᴜғғ

➢ Mᴀsᴛᴇʀʟɪsᴛ

If there was man that caught your eyes, that would Sanemi Shinazugawa. You always thought that you weren't that pretty, but you were proved wrong when you suddenly received multiple letters and small gifts from multiple secret admirers. It was obvious who gave you one of those gifts though.

➵ Nᴏᴛ Sᴏ Sᴇᴄʀᴇᴛ Aᴅᴍɪʀᴇʀ

cw: blood, injuries

Being a Hashira meant there are sacrifices to be made for the sake of humanity, even if it's your own life. The moment you joined the Demon Slayer Corps, it's immediately made clear that your own safety will be in your own hands, and that your fate relies on how much you value your life.

You've been gravely injured after a mission. You protected the children from the demon, recklessly taking hits to keep them safe, then fought the demon until you're sure you've killed it. The mission was fairly easy, the demon was a low threat, weaker than a Lowermoon so it meant that you could've finished it without any casualties. 

Even so, you've got only yourself to blame for your carelessness. There were multiple ways to protect those children, but you ultimately panicked when they suddenly appeared out of nowhere while you were in the middle of a fight. Either way, they're safe and sound, that's what matters the most, even if your life was at a cost. You left them in Shinobu's care to patch them up, then return them back to their families.

So here you are, on a hospital bed with a very upset Shinobu at your side. 

"You're lucky the Kakushi was fast enough to bring you in here in time. You were losing so much blood and these cuts are really deep!" She chided whilst she replaced your bandages, cleaned your wounds, and made sure you were in a stable condition. You could only groan in response, having woken up by her unpleasant lecturing. Her eyes were sharp as she lightly glared at you, brow twitching in irritation. It made you sink into your bed, pursing your lips and averting your eyes from her.

"Oh, don't be like that, L/n-san!" Shinobu gave you a sweet smile, pulled your shirt back up for you, and began to write on her clipboard. "You may grow tired of my voice but I will keep scolding you until you remember to be more careful." That made you wince at the mere thought of that, rubbing the back of your neck. You knew she was serious about that.

"Kocho-san," You hoarse out, coughing a little, your throat dry from misuse. "I just woke up." She could only sigh at your words, offering you a glass of water which you gladly accepted, and immediately chugged down. 

"I'm serious about being more careful, L/n-san." Shinobu warned in a stern tone, her smile thinning ever so slightly. "Being a Hashira is no easy feat, I understand, but we need you alive, not dead." She stated, giving you a bright smile one more. And with that, she patted down her haori, said her goodbyes, and walked out of your room. You sighed, mumbling "I'll keep that in mind," under your breath.

She had a point. As a Hashira who's ready to lay their lives for others, your real goal was to slay Muzan Kibutsuji. Lowering the numbers of Hashiras wouldn't help the cause of the Demon Slayer Corps, you have to stay alive to bring down the Demon King. 

You leaned back down to your bed, debating internally whether to fall back to sleep or just lay there and stare at the ceiling when something caught your vision in the corner of your eye.

You turned your head and to your surprise, you saw a whole table filled with flowers, baskets, small pouches, and piles of letters. Your jaw hung open at the variety of objects on the table, looking to your left and right to see if there were other patients inside the room. After seeing you're all alone, you assumed these are all for you.

"Huh," Was only you could say as you examined the table. There were all kinds of stuff on it. Fruits, sweets, hot meals, and many more. The letters were pleasantly scented and were prettily written. You wondered why so many people would even give you these when you're probably the least attractive girl amongst all Hashiras. You're also not close to many people as well, only ever talking to the other girls like Shinobu and Mitsuri, or to the friendlier Hashiras like Kyojuro.

You don't have any tsukugos, only chatting to demon slayers below your rank when it's absolutely necessary. Maybe the Kakushis? It doesn't make any sense to you, but maybe they're all just being nice to you because you've been seriously injured? "Even then, I haven't seen any other Hashira who received this many gifts just for being in bed for a few days..." You mutter to yourself, observing the piles and piles of gifts, all addressed to you.

The writers of each letter were anonymous, and they all wished you well, asking you to be more careful and some even held confessions. It made you extremely overwhelmed at the sudden revelation. A lot of people liked you that way? You would've understood if it was just general worry over your wellbeing after almost dying after a mission, but you've received so many love letters!

With each word you read, it made your cheeks hot and your head spin, still couldn't believe your own eyes that anyone would be attracted to a girl like you. It made you want to know who wrote those letters (although one of them was extremely obvious whose it was from, and it's a certain thunder breathing slayer who loves ladies). 

The food tasted so good too! You were sure that the butterfly girls kept the fruits in pristine condition while you were still under their care, making sure no insects try to eat them before you did. You ate a couple of snacks when you got your hands on them, hungry after sleeping for 2 days straight. An apple, grapes, a bottle of juice, and some sweets. You were surprised how they knew your favorites.

Maybe you need to look behind your back more often once you get out of the Butterfly estate.

But for now, you'll push that thought behind your back and enjoy what you have at the moment. Looking for more food, you came across a simple green pouch with a piece of paper attached to it. It was small and light, with a familiar smell coming from the fabric.

It immediately made you think of a certain Hashira. Specifically Sanemi Shinazugawa. Recognizing right away who it was from, your felt your cheeks suddenly heat up, grabbed the pouch, and placed it on your lap. 

Sanemi would sometimes give you a portion of the batch of ohagi he made just for himself, saying that he had too much and you were the person closest to him at the moment (even if Obanai was literally standing right next to him), so he decided to give you some. A lot of people were aware that ohagi was one of his favorite foods, so him sharing it with you? It must've meant something.

Still, you didn't put your hopes up because of it. After all, maybe he just wanted to be friendly to the newest Hashira? (Shinobu says otherwise and would always tease you about it. "He's always nice to you." She'd say, and it really makes you wonder if the Wind Hashira... No, you shouldn't jump to conclusions.)

Taking off the piece of paper from the pouch, you read the contents inside of it. "Get well soon. Don't go dying yet. -S" Even if it was short and rather straight to the point, out of all the letters you've received, Sanemi's made you smile the widest. Holding the piece of paper, your face became incredibly red when you placed it against your chest, your heart beating fast. 

"He made me ohagi!" You squealed quietly, quickly opening the pouch and admiring the mouth-watering sight. Ohagi became one of your favorite snacks as well, all because of Sanemi. You shoved one into your mouth, still hungry, and eagerly eating it whole. It's definitely Sanemi's cooking, it's always tasted much better than the ones you've had before it. Maybe because you have some sort of bias? You're not sure, but either way, you're super grateful he left some for you while you're still in recovery. "Ah~ They're so good, it's so kind of him to make me some." You sighed contentedly, ignoring the rest of the gifts you've received.

From the slightly opened door of your room, Shinobu chuckled silently to herself, closed the door fully, and walked back to her office. On her way there, she spotted a familiar face, her smile widening even more as she skipped toward him. "Good morning, Shinazugawa-san~" She chirped cheerfully at him, making him turn his head to her. 

"Hey, how are you..?" He awkwardly asked, rubbing the back of his neck whilst Shinobu just giggled at him, to which he just halfheartedly glared. "I'm doing fine! What are you doing here?" She asked back, tilting her head innocently at him, but at this point, Sanemi knew that she already got an idea why he was there.

He scowled, looking away from her which only confirmed her assumption, her smile formed into a small smirk, letting out a small teasing gasp. "Oh!" She exclaimed, catching the slight reddening of his cheeks. "You must be here for L/n-san! She's all good now, but if you're still worried, you can go check on her~" Shinobu teased, poking his arm. 

Sanemi just huffed, crossing his arms and turning away. "If she's okay, then there's no reason for me to stay here any longer." He stated, already walking away from her. Shinobu could only smile.

"You know Shinazugawa-san," She started, watching him halt between his steps. "L/n-san really enjoyed those ohagi you made just for her! You're so sweet~" 

Sanemi's face burned as he whipped his head back to her, but all that greeted him was an empty hallway and the faint echoes of Shinobu's giggles.

✦ omg hi!! I'm glad you like the sanemi ideas~!! thanks for the request ʚ♡⃛ɞ(ू•ᴗ•ू❁)!! it's just how I like my requests, so don't worry~!! I hope you like this one! it took a while so thanks for your patience and understanding!! I'm a little anxious right now because I have a feeling I lost a bit of my "writing flair". But thanks again, have a great day/night everyone~!

[david-talks-sw]

Anakin knows what he’s doing is wrong...

Whenever I read people using the idea that “from Anakin’s point of view the Jedi are evil” as the ultimate proof that he felt bullied by them, I roll my eyes. Anakin is intelligent enough to know when he’s wrong.

He doesn’t really think the Jedi are evil, he’s lying to himself, he bought his own con.

Anakin was a good kid to begin with, and with the Jedi training he became a great man. If you look at things objectively, Anakin is 90% of a great Jedi. He’s seemingly learned all the rules, and is wise enough to teach them to others:

Be it by telling Ahsoka that she needs to follow the rules, she can’t just go around and do whatever she feels like, it’ll lead to trouble…

… by encouraging his Padawan not to be too hard on herself…

… or be it by encouraging rational thought over hotheadedness.

In that last image, Anakin is Anakin telling Ahsoka and Rex to stop letting their emotions do the thinking and act logically. He’s telling them to be prudent.

Hell, he even believes that patience is a virtue.

Anakin is a trained Jedi Knight. He has the theoretical know-how to get out of his problems, in ROTS.

In fact, a lot of people forget this, but Anakin’s first instinct, upon finding out Palpatine is, in fact, Darth Sidious, is this:

The Jedi are Anakin’s family. If Palpatine is asking Anakin to choose between the Chancellor and the Jedi, he’ll choose the Jedi every damn time (which is why Palpatine makes Anakin choose between the Jedi and Padmé, instead).

So where’s the problem?

That last 10% of what makes a great Jedi. Introspection, self-control.

Despite being wise, clever and thinking rationally - Anakin has trouble applying those lessons to himself.

When it comes to his own personal problems, he's hard on himself, he’s impatient, he breaks the rules and acts out of emotion instead of thinking things through.

As Obi-Wan puts it:

As a result of this flaw, Anakin keeps choosing the wrong path, despite knowing that it’s the wrong path. The Force puts a lot of tests in front of him, and he keeps choosing the easy way out, rather than the more difficult but ultimately satisfying path.

His mother was killed. He can choose to genocide a whole Tusken village, or be the better man and just walk away. He kills the Tuskens.

Dooku is unarmed and helpless. Anakin can either kill him in a rage, out of revenge, or he can capture him, bring him to justice, and potentially discover the identity of the second Sith Lord. He kills Dooku.

Windu is also helpless (his hand was just cut off by Anakin) and Palpatine is killing him. Anakin can either choose to save Windu and arrest Palpatine (who just revealed that he wasn’t “too weak” after all), or he can let Windu die. He lets Windu die.

Padmé tells him that this isn’t what she wants. He can actually listen to her wishes. Or he can go on a maniacal rant about having ultimate power, ignoring her own opinions completely. He goes on a rant, drunk with power. Then chokes her.

Obi-Wan tells him to stop, tries to reason with him: Chancellor Palpatine is evil. Anakin knows this. He can stop lying to himself and accept his mistakes, ending the fight. Or he can give Obi-Wan his two-cent rationalization about the Jedi being evil (which he doesn’t even really believe in), and keep trying to kill Obi-Wan. He keeps trying to kill Obi-Wan.

The more the War goes on, the more it gets easy for Anakin to take the easy path, over and over. But he knows it’s the wrong thing to do.

In the director’s commentary of Revenge of the Sith, George Lucas said this about the following two scenes:

“I like this scene because he's lying to her and he's rationalizing it at the same time by saying he's doing it all for her. He's loyal to the senate and the chancellor and her. But in the end- I mean, he's twisted every fact to his own rationale to make it seem like it's okay, but in the process of lying to her he's actually just lying to himself and rationalizing his behavior. 'Cause he knows he's wrong, but he won't admit it […] he's too far gone- that he could murder a bunch of kids… and then go and rationalize it to her as just doing his job.”

“The tear [on Anakin’s face] says that he knows what he's done, but he has now committed himself to a path that he may not agree with… but he is going to go on anyway. It's the one moment that says he's self-aware that he's rationalizing all his behavior. He's doing terrible things, but in the end he really knows the truth. He knows that he's evil now, and there's nothing he can do about it.”

Anakin tells himself that he’s doing this for Padmé, he’s doing this because the Jedi betrayed him, blabla.

Truth is? He’s just really really scared. And that made him do really bad things.

There’s this incredible moment in Darth Vader: Lord of the Sith #5.

Vader has taken the lightsaber off a Jedi, and now he has to corrupt the saber’s crystal to get his red blade.

The crystal, and by extension, the Force, showed him a vision, a path where he turned to the Light, defeated the Emperor and put an end to his suffering. A path of redemption. This was his reaction:

Vader refuses to take the hard path and chooses the easy path instead, once again. He rejects the Light and hangs on to the pain… because deep down… below the “they betrayed me” bullshit he keeps telling himself… he thinks he deserves it, because he did the wrong thing.

Anakin knows he’s wrong and he’s still goes forward with doing the wrong thing, no matter what test the Force keeps throwing his way.

And that’s why his sacrifice in Return of the Jedi is so impactful. He finally does the right thing, he accepts that it’ll be hard, that he’ll die if he saves Luke… he doesn’t care. Luke loves him, like Padmé did. He failed once. He won’t fail again.

I’m gonna conclude this with one more quote from Lucas:

“It really has to do with learning. Children teach you compassion. They teach you to love unconditionally. Anakin can’t be redeemed for all the pain and suffering he’s caused. He doesn’t right the wrongs, but he stops the horror. The end of the Saga is simply Anakin saying: ‘I care about this person, regardless of what it means to me. I will throw away everything that I have, everything that I have grown to love - primarily the Emperor - and throw away my life, to save this person. And I’m doing this because he has faith in me, loves me despite all the horrible things I’ve done. I broke his mother’s heart, but he still cares about me, and I can’t let that die’.”

[mittensmorgul]

it’s a bummer to see you can’t enjoy the ending. I hope someday you can come around it it. It wasn’t perfect but it didn’t nuke its integrity. i think the heart of the show really shines through and it’s a shame that it’s not being appreciated bc there’s so much shipping drama 😣

Hi there!

I... first of, I really need people to understand this... the travesty of the finale for me has almost nothing to do with “shipping drama.”

Yes, I see the wild conspiracy theories flying around, and I’m honestly concerned for some of those folks and hope they can find a way to make peace with this in whatever way they can, because we aren’t likely to ever get a better answer than that this is legitimately the ending that Dabb thought was best, despite years of us seeing the best of his writing choices and guiding Sam, Dean, and Cas to grow past the roles that Chuck would’ve forced them to fulfill, and that at the end it fell flat because he couldn’t actually come up with a better ending than “this was always their destiny, free will is a lie, and these characters had nothing outside of the revenge quest they’d been raised for since birth and manipulated into over and over for the entertainment of a vengeful god.”

I can see how “surface level” viewers would feel that this one basic narrative point was satisfying, that Sam and Dean had grown beyond their own hopeless cycle of self-sacrifice that had driven the narrative for so many years. The fact that they both acknowledged that they should allow their stories to end in that way was satisfying... but only in the shallowest and most detached read of the narrative. Like, is this really the ONLY thing these two characters learned in the last 15 years? If so, that is BEYOND depressing af.

And even THAT message lost all narrative weight when the two of them were once again reunited in death, as if nothing else had ever mattered in their lives. As if neither of them had ever outgrown the codependency that had driven so many of those previous self-sacrifices and refusals to let go of each other even in death.

So yeah, in the absolute most basic sense, I suppose I can see how casual viewers or people who aren’t actually invested in these characters could find that at least narratively coming back to a starting point.

But narratives don’t actually work that way, and that’s not the point of watching fifteen years of story develop in between.

This story wasn’t JUST about Sam and Dean needing to accept that death might be okay actually.

This story was also about free will, fighting for humanity as a whole but also their OWN humanity and self-identities. In Dean’s case, the absolutely transformative growth from feeling like nothing but a hammer, a killer, a tool to be used. And then less than an episode and a half later, after finally accepting that truth into his heart and using it to defeat the original creator and reclaim the story of his own life for himself... he gets pied in the face after flippantly talking about his destiny and having no choice, and then three scenes later he literally dies impaled on a great big nail... like a hammer...

So I would kindly ask folks who feel satisfied by that shallowest possible takeaway of this episode, and maybe invite folks to look just under that surface. Try to understand why loads of us will NEVER feel satisfied with this ending, and why it truly does feel like the most hopeless version of the story. Like even in defeating Chuck, they could never be allowed to own their own stories and what happened to them after that point was just a twisted version of the “destiny” that drove Chuck’s entire plotline for them anyway.

Please understand where we’re seeing this as horrifically painful irony rather than some beautiful circular narrative about letting go.

For a lot of us, the shipping stuff would’ve been the cherry on top of the sundae. We would’ve been happy with a scoop of plain vanilla, though. We would’ve been happy for anything that honored the journey to freedom, and the choice at any sort of a different life of their own making than literally falling back on a nail fighting off one of John’s unresolved hunts and a vampire who had literally never been named in canon before, yet who Dean instantly recognized somehow... 

but sure, for those of us who felt that “the heart of the show” was all the stuff that the finale actually erased-- that “family don’t end in blood,” and that this was actually not a show about just two brothers but the love of their found family and coming to terms with the choices they actually HAD made for themselves versus the narrative that Chuck kept centering them in DESPITE what they would choose for themselves, the finale basically told us no, everything you ever found of value in this story actually meant nothing. It told us that Chuck’s story for them was their only truth in the end, and their only freedom was to be found in death.

Please, I am begging people, stop trying to gaslight us that this was some beautiful ending. Maybe think for a second that “your read” of the narrative that allows you to find peace with the ending is not what we saw and loved about this story for the 326 episodes leading up to this finale.

And please try to understand that we were not wrong to see the entire narrative through this lens. Because we were literally validated IN CANON, and told that we understood the depth of the story and the characters just fine, actually. There’s literally ONE episode of the entire series that burns it all down in a bewildering pile of wtf. And that’s #327. That throws that entire read out the window to well actually us all back into Chuck’s literal ending... This was literally the ending Chuck wanted to force them to enact for him, and it’s what ended up happening even after they defeated him-- the ultimate Big Bad of the entire series should’ve been defeated, but instead he pulled off one final victory over the entire story.

Becky: No. You can't-- Chuck: I did. Becky: Y- This is just an ending. Chuck: Yeah. I don't know how I'm gonna get there, but I know where I'm goin'. Becky: B-But it's so... dark. Chuck: But great, right? I can see it now -- "Supernatural: The End". And the cover is just a gravestone that says "Winchester". The fans are gonna love it. Well? Becky: It's awful! Horrible. It's hopeless. You can't do this to the fans. What you did to Dean? What you did to Sam? Chuck: There, see? It's making you feel something. That's good, right?

and

Dean: Well, what now? You're not gonna dust us. Chuck: Oh, yeah? Why not? Dean: Because you're holding out. For your big finish. Yeah, we know about your galaxy-brained idea, how you think this story is gonna go. Sam got a little look into your draft folder. Chuck: Sam's visions -- they weren't drafts. They were memories. My memories. Other Sams and other Deans in other worlds. But guess what. Just like you, they didn't think they'd do it, either. But they did. And you will, too. Dean: No. Not this Sam. And not this Dean. So you go back to Earth 2 and play with your other toys. Because we will never give you the ending that you want. Chuck: We'll see.

And even in DEFEAT Chuck thought he understood these characters, thought that having rendered him powerless they would finally take their revenge and kill him, but they didn’t, because he never actually understood these characters at all. And the story he tried to force them into from day one was never about THEM, it was about HIM. 

And then Dean gets like two whole days of freedom and choice and is apparently incapable of making any of the choices that don’t throw him immediately back into Chuck’s favorite story. Like none of that resolution in the previous episode meant anything at all. He even SAYS it in the finale:

Dean: Yeah, no. I think about 'em, too. You know what? That pain's not gonna go away. Right? But if we don't keep living, then all that sacrifice is gonna be for nothing.

And then two scenes later the show gives us the Nelson Muntz HA HA and Dean is no longer living, and Sam is left to carry on as a shell of himself and wander off into Blurry Wife Land to devote any even remotely content moment of the rest of his years to raising a  Replacement Dean to fill the void, and is never able to pick up the pen to write anything better of his own life than Chuck would’ve dealt him in the first place.

So I’m glad that top-layer takeaway is sustaining and enough for you. It wasn’t, and will never be enough for the rest of us.

What was actually real in all of this? We were.

Until we weren’t.

And that’s honestly a shit message to be pushing on people in the wake of it all. So please stop.

I should actually thank you for the kind intent with which your message is phrased, but that doesn’t make it feel less hilariously awful. Though I chose this one to reply to as the least insulting of all the messages currently in my inbox on this subject. So thanks for that, at least.

[proudfreakmetarusonikku]

Okay, Pokemon Dream SMP AU

I can’t be arsed to make fakemon so while this is set in a new region it only uses pre existing Pokemon, vauge Pokemon, or characters as regional legendaries sorry. It’s also set out like the games because that’s the Pokemon media I’m most familiar with, so if it reads like a fake rom hack I’m aware sorry. Also this is long.

TommyInnit is a young Pokemon trainer in the region of Essempi, and brother of Gym Leader Wilbur Soot. Today is the day he receives a starter Pokemon, alongside his best friend and friendly rival Tubbo. After a quick battle with Tubbo (who picks the type weaker to Tommy's, daring that he can still beat Tommy even so) he heads to the first gym.

Gym 1 is in L'Manburg Town. The gym leader is Tommy's brother, Wilbur Soot, who’s a Normal type specialist. His gyms gimmick is based on pressing the right combinations of buttons to get through. He gives the LeaderBadge, and gives the TM Explosion. Tommy gets the feeling Wilbur might be going easy on him, but accepts the badge anyway.

It’s after the first gym the player meets the evil (well, “evil”, in this case) team of the region, Team Syndicate. Believing the system of government to be oppressive, they seek to tear it down, and will stop at nothing to get their way. Tommy also meets a mysterious member of Team Syndicate, who doesn’t appear all… human. He introduces himself as Ranboo, and serves as a secondary rival (filling a similar role to N from the original Black and White, though like more traditional secondary rivals he has the starter stronger than Tommy's)

Gym 2 is in Kinoko Town. The gym leader is George, who’s a Grass type specialist. His gyms gimmick is to get through on bouncy mushrooms. He gives the SleepyBadge, and gives the TM Rest. While in Kinoko Town, Tommy can talk to the mysterious Karl Jacobs, who provides some exposition on the Legendary Pokemon of the SMP. Drista, the Chaos Pokemon, and DreamXD, the Order Pokemon, created the land of SMP through a combination of their opposing forces. But the two of them fell into a deep slumber afterwards, requiring Foolish, the Undying Pokemon, to keep the balance in their stead.

Tommy runs into the leader of Team Syndicate, the mysterious “Protesilaus” who hides his face behind an Emboar mask, outside the city after beating the gym, talking to someone mysterious on the phone about “experiments” in an angry tone.

Gym 3 is in Manifold Town. The gym leader is Jack Manifold, who’s an Electric type specialist. His gyms gimmick is based on falling. He gives the AyupBadge, and gives the TM Thunder Fang. After beating Jack, Tommy is once again accosted by Ranboo, who asks if Tommy trusts the Champion to keep him safe. Either answer leads to a battle, but Ranboo clearly doesn’t trust him.

During travelling to the next town, Tommy comes across Wilbur again, and he seems to be taken in by Team Syndicates rhetoric. He says after Tommy beats the champion, he'll step down and allow Tommy to take on the Gym while he ends tyranny. He asks whether Tommy is willing to follow him, though if he answers “no,” he just assumes he’s being convinced by Tubbo.

Gym 4 is in Las Nevadas. The gym leader is Quackity, who’s a Dark type specialist. His gyms gimmick is based around casinos. He gives the AmbitionBadge, and gives the TM Pay Day. He and Wilbur seem to have a history, and before he'll fight you in the gym Tommy is required to take down Wilbur first to stop their bickering.

Tommy and Wilbur meet up with the leaders of the Syndicate. The leaders include “Nemesis”, who wears a Milotic mask, “Zephyrus”, who wears a Corviknight mask, the aforementioned “Protesilaus”, and “Lethe”, who is very clearly Ranboo based on the inhuman features and not even bothering to wear a mask. It’s during this meeting we learn Ranboo is an artificial hybrid of an Absol and a human. The group are abruptly attacked by the second evil team, Team Mask, who are quiet but bear an eerie resemblance to Champion Dream…

Gym 5 is in Rapids Town. The gym leader is Sapnap, who’s a Fire type specialist. His gyms gimmick focuses on dried up river beds. He gives the MarsBadge, and the TM Fire Punch. After beating the Gym, Quackity storms in to berate Sapnap, and Karl Jacobs mysteriously appears in the room. He doesn’t recognise Tommy at first, and engages in a Pokemon battle, but afterwards he calms down his fiancés, and when he leaves says an eerie line implying he knows more than he should.

With the leaders of Team Syndicate, Tommy and Wilbur launch an assault on one of the laboratories producing hybrids. It’s here where we learn Tubbo has been captured by them, and Tommy must fight Team Mask Scientists Ponk and Sam in a double battle with Ranboo helping them. Tubbo is rescued, but has already become a Wooloo hybrid. We also learn through records that they’re trying to get their hands on legendary Pokemon to make hybrids with them, starting with rumours of sitings of Celebi.

Gym 6 is in Drywaters Town. The gym leader is Niki, who’s a Water type specialist. Her gyms gimmick focuses around confectionary. She gives the TreatBadge, and gives the TM Hidden Power. Niki reveals that she is Nemesis, and gives Tommy a job to rescue her girlfriend Puffy from the nearby ruins where she got lost to gain her trust. After this, she becomes friends with him.

Tubbo manages to find concrete evidence Team Mask is associated with Dream, which leads to Tommy being attacked by more Team Mask goons. “Protesilaus” shows up, but is unable to help- it turns out that Dream is blackmailing him with his oldest Pokemon, an old Rapidash, and he can’t openly fight against him. Tommy fights “Protesilaus,” and removes his mask, revealing him to be Elite Four member Technoblade, who scurries off into the night.

Gym 7 is in Badlands City. The gym leader is Skeppy, who is a Rock type specialist. His gyms gimmick revolves around precious gems. He gives the DiamondBadge, and gives the TM Rock Polish. Skeppy is a Carbink hybrid, and we learn that Dream's plan is to create an army of hybrids loyal to him, to have complete control over the Essempi region. It’s only because Ranboo and Tubbo weren’t fully completed hybrids that they’re not completely loyal.

Tommy and Tubbo are attacked by Team Mask Executives BadBoyHalo (a Grimmsnarl hybrid) and Charlie (A Reinunculus hybrid), and Tommy is nearly kidnapped for hybridisation but Wilbur sacrifices himself. Tommy, Tubbo and Ranboo rush to save him, and they find a laboratory with Dream already in it. He leaves while laughing at their amusing attempts and after monologuing about his plans to capture and hybridise himself with whatever legendary is the box cover one to become all poweful, and they barely manage to save Wilbur from the affects, but he’s left completely amnesiac as a Mimikyu hybrid.

Gym 8 is in Endlantis Town. The gym leader is Philza, who’s a Flying type specialist. His gyms gimmick revolves around careful jumps in lowered gravity. He gives the CrowBadge and gives the TM Sky Attack. Philza reveals himself as “Zephyrus”, and offers Tommy his support.

Dream summons the box legendary, but the player shows up in time to capture it, while Philza fights off Dream. Dream storms off, but not before mentioning that Tommy's stubborn determination is certainly interesting. Karl Jacobs shows up to heal Tommy's Pokemon, and it’s shown he is the Celebi hybrid travelled to the past.

The Elite Four are made up of Ghost type specialist Eret, Steel type specialist Purpled, Dragon type specialist Punz, and Fighting type specialist Technoblade. It’s shown Purpled and Punz are oblivious to Dream's true nature, Eret remorseful and trying to help in whatever ways she can, and Technoblade’s blackmailed.

The champion is Dream, who reveals he doesn’t care about winning or losing or the sport. If he wins, he’s going to personally get Tommy hybridised, force him to hand over the legendary, hybridise with them to get ultimate power, and rule the entirety of Essempi, with Tommy at his side unable to resist. When Tommy beats Dream, he breaks down, and the Elite Four come in, and since they could hear Dream and now he’s helpless, he’s arrested, and the control over full hybrids is ended by the chaos/order/undying will of the box legendary, while Tommy becomes champion. The End.

[lucarisdelnorte]

you know what, I didn't think I would ever publicly share my opinion full (mainly out of fear of harassments by gamers)

BUT

FromSoftware needs to learn how to write endings for their npc side quests..

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And before we continue I'm gonna get into some npc spoilers if you'd rather not read that, finish the game, come back(or don't this is mainly just a really... really long think piece lmao)

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And I'm not saying their side quests are bad by any means, it's just the fact they always end up one or two ways, a) they go insane and snap and you have to kill them OR b) they're doa

there are some variations, but ultimately end the same

and I know this has been a thing for almost every game thus far, I've played through all of bloodborne and, yep, it's there, too (why can't we, the people who are "trained"... kinda to do this, can't guide a LITERAL CHILD to safety). However, I feel like in Elden Ring:tm: it's a lot more... apparent.

It's not EVERY single npc, but it's absolutely a majority of them. Before 1.03 dropped I was genuinely surprised Diallos WASN'T going to snap, wasn't going to die, I was getting MAD Alfred 2.0 vibes but he just... accepted that revenge wasn't the right way, and that was refreshing, even if the revenge was justified BUT GUESS WHO DIES POST 1.03.

and it kinda makes no sense. Why couldn't we help jarburg? why couldn't we help Diallos track who the thing that was ultimately going to end up killing almost everyone in that town Including Diallos?? We Knew it was coming, why couldn't we help prevent it?

It feels like a complete and utter lack of player agency They could have 10000000000000% done a split ending for this side quest(and I'm using this one quest as an example cause it's what really made me Angry about these quests, like, it opened my eyes to how badly written they can be),

lets say, you get to this point in his quest and you can find the thing that is killing everyone, you can either go find it, Diallos can be a summon or whatever, and you kill it he's a hero to the town and he gets a good ending you decide not to, you get to a certain point in the game boom, death. And, that may seem a little punishing to the player who may not know, but.... THEY'VE DONE THIS BEFORE!! POINTS THE BLOOD MOON IN BLOODBORNE!!!! this is Exactly what NG+ and just, a new file is for!!! And honestly, that's really what made bloodborne feel, impactful? At least, from the npc stand point, they're actively affected by the world (and, yes there is a point in Elden Ring this does happen... but that's another time and another post). Here's the list of the fate of npcs(tallied by my friend): dead w/o player control: 11 determinant/difficult to keep alive: 7 survives (unless you specifically kill them): 6

Eleven... that's a pretty big number... and then 7 more you can keep alive but you have to kinda bend over backwards to do... making that number potentially 18... Hello??

It's always been a thing that from has suffered from, poor endings for npcs and unjustifiably so... "Oh but it's unrealistic that every npc survives!! It's SUPPOSED to be grim dark" that's not what I'm saying at all! but if we're talking about realism in.. Elden ring... lets just take away the dragons..... or the magic.... or the giant dogs with knives(we can make them tiny dogs with knives).

and I cannot stress enough, I don't want all of them to survive, but them just dropping like flies when you have to go to the ass crack of no where to get this specific item after fighting 700 bosses... only for them to have a last pieces few dialogue... and drop dead just like that... It's an incentive to not even Do these side quests because we know the ending is always gonna be the same...(Ranni's quest is probably my favorite side quests to do because we know she'll be okay BUT we still have to sacrifice The man Blaidd to do it... and first of all... how dare you).

And GRRM's influence absolutely did not help with this issue that has been around for a long time, in fact I'm utterly terrified he made is a thousand times worse.

I could go on and on about this, but you get my point by now I'm sure.... It's just, what's exactly the point of doing these side quests when you know Exactly how it's gonna end... Every. Single. Time.

[faelapis]

what i mean when i say i like jasper’s ending a Lot in terms of “what the character needs”, rather than what the audience needs, is that the transition from “fragments”, to “homeworld bound”, to finally “the future” shows, albeit quickly, a pretty interesting commentary on “want vs need”.

“want vs need” is a pretty basic storytelling concept of, basically, writing flawed characters who have some growing to do as people. they “want” one thing, but they actually “need” another thing.

so let’s talk about jasper’s “want” vs “need”.

cont: but you are not my diamond. if you think you’re hard enough to tell me what to do, fight me and prove it.

she makes her “want” clear in every episode she’s in SU future - which is that she wants to subjugate herself to a diamond, because that’s the only worthwhile purpose in life she’s known.

but we, and steven, don’t actually want that to happen. we know it’s not good for her health. we’ve seen that it’s not, both because hierarchies like those are toxic and because we’ve been shown, specifically for jasper, that it causes her to self-destruct over and over again.

so when it does happen, it’s very fitting that it’s in the worst circumstances possible. she begged for steven to fight her with all his might, over and over again, so he could prove himself a worthy diamond - to the point where he ends up shattering her. and when she’s brought back to life, she’s not even mad at him. he’s proven himself a “worthy” superior.

so we’ve been shown very clearly that jasper’s want is pretty, well, unhealthy for her. she would literally die for it, and get nothing in return except unhealthy, oppressive structures around her. getting everything she wants, at long last, fills her with a kind of void and fragile happiness... which only lasts so long as steven embraces his role as diamond and stays with her. 

hence we, and steven, only see her act at peace with her circumstances without complaint for a couple minutes, and it always (both in fragments and homeworld bound) ends in her own heartbreak. that’s the fragility of her “want”.

basically, it’s bad because, albeit she would know what to do with these structures... it would be at the expense of her own agency, character growth and health. it would always end badly for her.

this is a good time to point out the parallels to steven in “mr universe”.

much like jasper, steven doesn’t care if the structures around greg were cruel or oppressive. he never looks closely enough to notice how much greg hated his life. he just wants things he sees as “normal”. he wants guidance, certainty and authority figures to tell him what he’s “supposed” to do in life.

so. how is jasper’s “want” inverted?

much like rose would eventually do with pearl, the unhealthy attachment is cut by giving your subject a very bitter pill - disappearing from their life. by leaving them behind, you’re essentially forcing them to grow.

that’s NOT the main / only reason rose has steven, or steven eventually leaving beach city... but both serve the purpose of making someone who idolized you “deal with” your absence. and that’s certainly at least a part of their intention - rose thought of herself as stuck and likely holding pearl back. steven is horrified by the diamond role and wants jasper to do “something better”.

and that leads us to jasper’s “need” - to be free from these oppressive authority structures and find her own path in life. this would both improve her health & happiness, as well as making her stop engaging in unhealthy behavior towards herself and others.

now. is she fully “there” yet? no. 

but i think that as much as her trying to persuade steven to take her with him into the great unknown mirrors pearl - ie “i should be fighting for you, because you’re too important”, her reaction to steven’s reassurance that he will be fine shows that she’s already done more growing than pearl had at that point.

she’s likely been taking classes at little homeworld (where she was confirmed to currently live, NOT just visit to say goodbye to steven) for the preceding months between “i am my monster” and “the future”. she’s somewhere near accepting that her diamond doesn’t need protection. it’s also likely something she started thinking after “fragments” - if your diamond is truly so wonderfully powerful... why would they need your protection? what is your “purpose”? steven defeating her + leaving without her in “homeworld bound” both lead her to the same conclusion - she can’t fail or succeed in protecting him, because he doesn’t need her to.

thus, her role isn’t warranted.

“i can protect myself”. “i know... farewell, my diamond”.

it’s pretty significant to me that at the end of their little scene, steven doesn’t run away or give jasper any orders to stop following him. SHE leaves, albeit sadly, because she agrees with him. he can take care of himself.

jasper’s still framing steven as a diamond / superior, but... i think a big point here is that she’s someone who was so firmly stuck at the bottom of a pit of self-hatred, isolation and meaninglessness that she couldn’t unstuck herself - not without being pushed to do so. which ended up also being true for steven.

that’s the irony of the double-edged sword of her “want” - in a way, she’s right about one thing. she can’t just magically get better on her own.

i think the episode “guidance” illustrates an interesting balance between steven and amethyst’s philosophies - amethyst would rather gems do whatever, even if they end up slipping back into their old patterns. steven would rather guide them towards challenging themselves, even if that means dismissing their autonomy.

jasper... kinda gets both? her “want” and “need” play into each other in interesting ways. i’ve been framing her want as a negative a lot, but it does have an interesting silver lining - she had to get what she wanted (to be defeated, to be given a diamond), to be pushed to what she needed.

and in turn, steven needed to listen to and adapt to HER, in order to help her. only after doing that, after being pushed by jasper in turn and truly giving her what she wants, even if it tears you apart mentally... would she ever listen to you. as steven is probably used to by now.

and despite the tragedy of it, i think that’s... kind of an okay thing to show? because not everyone will seek help on their own. it’s not the uplifting message of “anyone who needs help will eventually realize it entirely on their own”, but it IS the hopeful message of “even people who refuse help, deserve help”. 

there’s horror in steven ultimately adapting to jasper’s desires, because it shows them both the fragility of their wants - for steven, being able to control jasper was a horrifying consequence. he got what he “wanted” in the worst way possible. for jasper, getting what she “wanted” meant being forced to let it (steven) go in favor of staying at little homeworld. 

but honestly... we already knew that jasper would never seek help on her own. she’s too “selfless”, in the toxic sense. purpose matters most.

and she’s not alone in that.

“pearl took pride in risking her destruction for your mother. she put rose quartz over everything; over logic, over consequence, over her own life.”

pearl taking rose down from that pedestal was a slow, elaborate, exhausting process that took years of actively working on herself. the majority of that work was only done after rose was gone.

jasper’s gonna have all the same tools - a genuine support network, people who are willing to both empathize and teach a better way, distance from her romanticized superior, and her own desire to get better. 

the latter point, at first, because she’s told to. but as we saw in “little homeschool”, leaving her to her own devices without any “worthwhile” path forward wasn’t ideal. her “want”, much like amethyst said... still deserves to be listened to, even if she still thinks like a homeworld gem. 

but the seriousness of such an effort is, as pearl taking care of steven “for rose” and then “for him” and finally growing to do things “for herself” shows, a good avenue for REAL growth. jasper may soon yet grow for her own sake.

and the results... again, pulling pearl as my example, can be remarkable.

as i’ve said before... i am pretty sad we won’t actually get to see more of that. that’s what “the audience” may have felt they needed from jasper. the same way i’m sure rose would find it bittersweet to know how much pearl has grown without her. the same way you’re sad whenever you don’t see a character you love find love and happiness onscreen, even if it’s implied...

but in a show told from steven’s perspective, i think there is some point to that.

i’ve come around to the following: she couldn’t go with him. any forgiving hugs steven & jasper could’ve given each other at this point would’ve been hollow. that power dynamic would’ve been in the way. what they “need” is not each other. they need people who really, truly understand them, and to figure out what they want in their lives when steven doesn’t have someone to save emotionally (jasper), and jasper doesn’t have someone to sacrifice herself for (steven). 

(...and it’s at this point you realize i made you read ALL OF THAT mainly to justify why pearl and jasper’s relationship is gonna be such a central thing in my post-canon fanfic. lol. anyway here’s the link again.)

[beautifulterriblequeen]

The Thief and the Tinker, Part 4: Circles and Cycles

part 3

Part 4

Viren: *smirks and plinks Runaan's coin to Ethari*

Ethari, furious: You throw another Moonshadow at me and I'm gonna lose it.

Circles and Cycles

Angst rating: 8/10

Back to Ethari, because we're not done with him yet. Ethari is soft, but he isn't weak. He won't be a willing pawn for Viren. He loves Runaan to the point of invention, and his devotion is more constant than the moon itself. He'll agree to do what Viren says, and he'll be Very Sad. But his spirit is in no way broken. Viren bribing him with the coins containing his family will only have the opposite effect. It'll give Ethari something to fight for.

We could get Focused Chaos Ethari. We could get Angery Trickster Ethari. We could get Rules, What Rules? Ethari. Let him try to steal the coins, try to break them, try to kill Viren, and be stymied at every turn, until he settles and seems cowed. And then all he does is craft his way out of the problem.

What if we are gifted with Iron Man Elf Ethari, who pretends to build a fake Key for Viren, but meanwhile he's really building a coinbuster with whatever he can get his hands on - primal stones, magically imbued gemstones, stolen artifacts, his own arcanum, his own reputation as the Master Craftsman of the Silvergrove. He'll use almost - almost - anything, to stop Viren and free his family.

Ethari may have to choose between those two things, though. And he's a hero, deep down, just like his family, just like his daughter. If he has to choose, he'll choose to stop Viren and save Xadia. He'll pay the same price as his family has if he must.

He'd let Viren think he was motivated purely by wanting his family back, but Ethari is far too steeped in the illusion and sacrifice for that to be all there is to his motives. It's a so-close-and-yet-so-far thing, how he and Viren almost embody the same ideals. Almost. Ethari would take one look at Viren, who just burnt down his whole Forest, he'd see the biggest threat in Xadia, and he'd say anything to get a chance to stop this juggernaut of destruction from getting his hands on whatever that ultimate power really is, locked behind that missing key. If he has to abandon his people and bawl his eyes out to convince Viren he's in, then he will.

And Viren wouldn't make it easy for him. He knows clever when he sees it. He went through all this trouble to persuade Ethari to work with him. He would need to keep Ethari as off-balance as possible to ensure that he keeps working as he should.

Angsty jewelry, anyone?

Viren giving Ethari his husband in pendant form to remind him what he's working for, when Viren and Ethari both know full well that only dark magic can open the hellcoins. Ethari wearing another pendant of his love, except it's not a metaphor this time. It's literally his love, in a coin around his neck.

Viren would love making Ethari stay close to him of his own free will if he ever hoped to free Runaan. Making people bind themselves to you is a big power flex. Remember that TDP stream future-season teaser note about Bait being in a creepy restraint in a future season?

This card is written on in all-caps, so that really could be "Bait" or "bait," or--knowing this show--both. Viren's been using Runaan as bait for Ethari all along. Putting his coin in a dark magic pendant casing for Ethari to wear would be a great parallel for that. Oh god. Oh man.

Maybe he'll stab the coin's scary casing right through that circle on Ethari's chest, right over his heart, make that Iron Man reference really obvious. Ethari also losing his shirt at some point, for angsty Viren-related reasons? It's more likely than you think. I mean... Ethari is literally involved in both forms of forging at this point. Shirt's gotta come off for uhhhh work reasons. And because he's hot. Because of all the forging. Mmhmm. I mean how else are we finally going to discover what his markings look like this is research I swear

I mentioned that I liked god-tier villains, right? Yeah, this is amazing. I haven't wanted to die and ascend over an idea for quite a while, but Ethari vs Viren in a drawn-out battle of wills would kill me in the best way. Especially since, while it looks like they're essentially fighting for who gets Runaan, they're truly fighting a much larger battle with much higher stakes. They're fighting for the future itself. It's an epic struggle between the Narrative of Strength and the Narrative of Love. And we've seen what happens, over and over, when the Narrative of Strength gets to call the shots.

On a meta note: If Ruthari's story arc isn't a love letter from one trauma survivor to another, and on a broader scope to all survivors who see it, I don't know what is. Sometimes life just chews us up and spits us out and we can't stop it and it breaks us. But sometimes we can reach out and grasp the chance to help each other, even after that, even when it hurts a lot, because we know what it means to be loved, and to love, and to want a safer future for each other and for people we'll never meet. The future is worth standing together for, helping each other back up for, fighting side by side for, even if you can't see how it'll end, or even how to begin. We are stronger together, and sometimes we need to fight for our "together" before we can fight for anything else. And that's worth it, every time.

This is glorious, it's beautiful, it's tragic, it's amazing, it makes me want to dance, it makes me want to scream into the void, it makes me want to slap someone with a semi truck. No, someone specific, don't worry, and he super deserves it.

Because Ethari is going to win. He was always going to win. He's soft, and he's clever, and he hasn't forgotten what love means. It's what he's fighting for. Not power, not control. Love. He doesn't want to dictate Runaan's future or anyone else's. He just wants his husband--and everyone else--to have one at all.

So he's going to win.

What thwarting Viren looks like, I couldn't possibly guess. TDP is no stranger to angst, so there will probably be a high cost involved in outwitting the dark mage. Maybe not everyone can be rescued from the coins. Maybe Ethari will lose his life, or his soul, or his vision, or something else really angsty. Viren could even kill him and resurrect him as a smoky craftsman, or a zombie craftsman, or something equally biddable but horrible. The only thing I'm sure of is that Ethari would never willingly make a working Key of Aaravos Ethari as long as there's a chance Viren could possess it. But I do believe that if he gets the right opportunity while he's busy saving the world from Viren's dark intentions, he'll break his husband's hellcoin open somehow and set him free, even if he has to smile at the devil to do it.

Ethari understands the difference between "you can" and "therefore you should." He might sacrifice his own world to save his husband, but he'd never sacrifice someone else's world. That's one of the Moonshadow cultural limits I've noticed: they accept boundaries when it comes to other people's autonomous rights, especially regarding life and death.

These limits could get pushed. Ethari will be under great duress and emotional strain if he goes through this kind of interaction with Viren. And maybe he will choose some dark things. Everyone else has. But I'm placing all my eggs in the basket labeled "Saved By Love." Either I'm right, or I'll get the best angst omelets in the universe. And I do love omelets. A villain invented them, you know. ;)

Another support for Ethari not making the key for Viren: the real Key exists!

Callum has it right now. The plot doesn't need Ethari's key (yet? ever?), but it does need Ethari to learn what he's made of, to stand up for something, or against something, or both at once. And once he learns what he will and won't do and the universe has rewarded his discovery with the return of his beloved husband then Ethari will be ready to take on whatever else the plot has in mind for him.

Depending on the plan, all of these events could happen in S4, as a setup for even bigger things to follow. Viren's wishes can be thwarted here and the show's overall tension will only continue to rise. It would let Ethari flex yes pls his skills so we know who he is, it would show how driven Viren can be for a long-term goal, it would let Claudia saunter further downwards, it would reveal some human/Moonshadow history, and it would resolve the seasons-long tension regarding Runaan's fate, allowing for the cycle of speculation, feels, angst, and Ruthari fanart to begin again. ;) Viren would need to find another way to pursue his long-term goal. And Callum's Key will get a little more clarity on just how important it is to the fate of the world - which will make everything he does, and everyone he talks to, and anyone who knows what he's carrying, intensely important.

Nyx is gonna steal it isn't she, omg chaos birb

To Viren, Ethari was a main course, meant to be devoured and consumed in his lifelong quest for something that will finally satisfy. But to Ethari, Viren was just empty calories to be passed over in favor of ordering his perennial favorite dish, one more time.

Once Ethari escapes Viren's clutches with as much of his family as he can rescue, Viren may turn back to looking for the real Key, especially if someone's seen it recently. Hunting a kid probably seems easier than hunting a full-grown Moonshadow craftsman who just outsmarted him. okay so maybe Nyx stealing it would be a good thing and save Callum's life

Ethari could go on to help repair the Sunforge, or rebuild the Moonhenge, or work on constructing Moonshadow villages in Katolis if he hasn't been ghosted for abandoning everyone after the forest fire. He might build magical devices for any number of reasons, to help all kinds of characters. Hopefully, wherever he goes, he'll have Runaan with him, in some way, for at least a little while. Cycles be like, and I feel like Runaan will not want to remain still for long, for whatever reason. Does he need revenge, atonement, justice, a new body, to find Rayla, to find Ezran? He'll be back in action as soon as he can, I think.

Okay, but, I'm so soft at the thought of a scene where Runaan and Ethari come before King Ezran. The husbands tried to save their people Runaan's way, the old way, and it only continued to endanger them. Following the cycle, as Moonshadows do, was the wrong move. But the son of the last human Runaan killed reached out with mercy and broke a thousand years of suffering and sorrow and hatred. Ezran did what Runaan couldn't: he saved the Moonshadow elves from total destruction. And that, more than anything else in the world, could soften one very broody assassin's heart toward humans again.

What would Runaan do, if his heart truly changed toward humans? What would he say to Ezran? I could see him struggling for a long moment before dropping to one knee to pledge his heart as he once had to do before the Dragon Throne. He doesn't know any other way but to serve. Ezran, reading the whole room and everyone's feelings before he tells Runaan that No, we don't do that here. That he's free, and free means free. No chains, no oaths. Just trust and friendship. He should get to make his own decisions for a change, even though that can be hard and scary sometimes. Runaan being genuinely scared, because that's too much freedom. But he's not alone. He has Ethari, and Ezran, and Rayla, and Callum, and their people, and their allies. And no matter what else happens, the people of Katolis - elven and human - will find a way forward. Together.

part 5

[bbqnoir]

Thank you so much for your Chloe content! She used to be my favorite character in the show before the writing for her went to shit in the S3 finale and S4.... I actually cannot watch Sole Crusher nor Queen Banana because seeing her being like THAT just feels too much like a betrayal of her character arc and just... disappointing. I cannot stand it, especially the way Astruc interacts with fans on twitter. I know this sounds dramatic tho haha but thank you for your Chloe content.

Read below for my very long essay about chloe lmaoo omg this is embarrasing

Haha thanks! Admittedly I haven't watched the show all the way through since S2 so I only have a vague idea of what happens, but yeah, the direction that the show is going in regards to Chloe's character is weird isn't it? I could guess that the idea they're trying to show is that some people are just beyond redemption, and that some people are too self-interested to do anything other than things that benefit themselves. But if this were the case, I think it wasn't done very well? From a narrative standpoint, why have moments dedicated towards building up this sympathetic background for Chloe just to do a complete 180? If this was in order to drive home the message that your personal problems aren't an excuse for your bad actions toward other people, why wasn't this made more clear to begin with? As far as I remember, these moments in the show are never followed up with a clear "okay but you're still a shitty person despite your tough childhood." and like, it's a kid's show, so those messages should be made pretty clear. There are also several instances in the show where Chloe sacrifices herself for others. And then in the show it's just left at that. The show easily could've explicitly shown Chloe preforming these actions in the interest of self gain. But they didn't. What we've got instead is Thomas tweeting that these actions were somehow all just for some recognition, if we were just paying more attention, or whatever. If you're having to retcon shit on social media when people come asking questions, you've probably not done a fantastic job of communicating said message. And yeah, I do agree, the way Astruc interacts on fans on twitter is a bit strange to say the least.

It seems like they've tried to do some supposedly clever bait and switch by building chloe up but them ultimately making her selfishness to tip her past the point of no redemption. Which is a totally fine thing to do in a story, imo, like yeah some bad guys are never supposed to be redeemable. But in the case of this show, it's just so poorly executed that it's left people wanting more haha. Like, this was a spoilt kid who's got neglectful parents that was being emotionally manipulated by some old dude?? And she's just inherently bad despite all of this?? What is the message?? I genuinely struggle to figure out what they're trying to say about Chloe?

Anyway at this point, they're either just going to truck along and to drive Chloe's character in the ground and we're going to have to accept that this was somehow the intention they had with chloe from the beginning, or they really are playing the long game and Chloe is eventually going to come round.

Anyway that's my take lol imagine being 21 and getting this invested in a low budget kids show

[bonkusdonkus]

So a while ago I made a list thingy of ideas for different dynamics between a Warlock and their Patron. Honestly, the relationship between the two is such an important part of the class, it really seems like a waste not to play around with it.

Since that first post though, I’ve had more ideas, and since people seemed to like the first one, I thought I’d spew a few more. So here we go!

The Warlock’s family has been working closely with the Patron for generations upon generations, to the point where they’ve pretty much become a part of the family. The Patron has accepted their makeshift adoption, and acts as a beloved, if eccentric, aunt/uncle to the Warlock and their family. Bonus points if the Warlock refers to their Patron by a family nickname rather than their title/actual name. Which of course leads to hilarious misunderstandings, and the inevitable horrifying realization that the Warlock’s “Aunti Morg” that they’ve been talking fondly of the whole time, is in fact their Fathomless Patron, Morgilana, Devourer of Foes and Queen of the Endless Deep. (Morgilana is just an example, I’m not insinuating that this idea is locked to Fathomless patrons. Pretty much anything big and scary would be funny.)

The Hexblade Patron is an ancient sentient sword, and the bearer of a terrible curse/prophecy: Any who wield the blade will be granted the power to achieve whatever they desire most, but once they achieve that goal, they will die. Kings, heroes, tyrants, villains, all have used the blade to achieve their dreams, and then payed the ultimate price. The Patron is... Mostly resigned to all of this. It’s their lot in life, they don’t know how to change it, so they don’t try. Until one day the get a new Warlock/wielder. And they’re a child. The Patron is horrified, they are not okay with killing a kid, thank you very much! But their new Warlock is stubborn and determined to achieve their dream, and they won’t be dissuaded by the Patron, no matter what argument they use. So now the Warlock is charging headfirst into danger and inevitable death, while their Patron desperately tries to keep them alive, find a work around to the curse, and just generally is an exhausted parent.

The Celestial Patron was sent on a mission from the gods to find the Chosen One of prophecy, the one who was foretold to save the world from a great and terrible evil. They were to find them, and guide them on the path to their destiny. Which would have been all well and good, if there wasn’t a... Complication. See, when the Patron appeared to the Chosen One, they died of a sudden and tragic heart attack. (Probably because a big dang angel/kirrin/unicorn/cuoatl/other celestial appeared out of nowhere,) In a panic, the Patron desperately looks around until they find a mortal who at least vaguely matches the prophecy and basically says: “You’ll do! Congratulations, you’re the chosen one now!” Bonus points if the Warlock and Patron keep having to come up with increasingly elaborate cover stories to explain why the Warlock doesn’t quite match up with the Chosen One of the prophecy. Extra bonus points if Warlock is an entirely different race than the Chosen, making their excuses even more ridiculous.(Like, for example, if the Chosen was a gold dragonborn, and the Warlock is a kobold who is a kind of yellow that could be described as gold. If you shined em’ up a bit and squinted.)

The Warlock’s original Patron was your usual manipulative jerk Patron, the kind that swindles their Warlock into some kind of terrible devil’s deal that will only end poorly. But, they also had a terrible gambling problem. Namely, that they were really bad at it. So bad that they gambled away the Warlock’s contract to an entirely different entity. Now the Warlock has a new boss, and they have no idea what to expect from the new magement. Bonus points if the new Patron is an entirely different type of patron.(like, going from an Archfey patron, to a Celestial.)

By some kind of cosmic clerical disaster, the Warlock accidentally signed a contract with three (or more) Patrons at once. Now all of them are constantly fighting each other to be the Warlock’s “favorite.” Bonus points if they manage to put aside their differences and work together to aid their Warlock, however temporarily, when the Warlock really needs them to.

The Warlock and the Patron met as children, and quickly formed a bond of friendship. Being a child, they saw no problems befriending a otherworldly entity, and the Patron was just glad to have a friend, mortal or not. Eventually they had to part ways, but not before swearing to be best friends forever. No one believed the Warlock when they told people about their best friend, they would just say they had a big imagination. And over time the Warlock begins to believe these people, seeing their friend as the creation of a lonely child. Only, one day they meet their old friend again, and they are very much real, and very, very powerful. And also now their Patron, because as it turns out, when you swear to be best friends forever with someone who is basically made of magic, it’s got quite a bit more oomph than your average promise.

Someone very close to the Warlock (a friend, a family member, a lover, whatever,) owes the Patron a massive debt, and is either unable or unwilling to pay it. The Patron is about to punish the loved one for their transgression when the Warlock offers themselves up instead, begging to take the punishment instead. Impressed by their loyalty and and willingness to sacrifice themselves, the Patron agrees, and takes them on as their servant to pay off their loved one’s debt. Bonus points if the loved one turns out to be an A-hole, and immediately abandons the Warlock to their fate and/or takes advantage of the situation to screw over the Warlock.(Gotta have some of that aaaaaaaangst.)

The Patron has been assigned by the powers that be to be a sort of guardian angel to the Warlock. As a punishment detail. Normally, watching over some mortal wouldn’t be that big of a deal, but this Warlock is a special case. They are one of, (if not the) most danger prone being in existence, bad luck and misfortune are drawn to them like a magnet. Keeping them alive on a day to day basis takes most of the Patrons power, and pretty much all of their attention. The Patron did something to piss off some very powerful beings, and now they’re stuck babysitting some mortal who can barely get out of bed every morning without dying.(side note for this one, the Patron doesn’t have to be an angel, even though I used the term “guardian angel.” They don’t even have to be a Celestial, they can be anything. Heck, can you imagine a Fiend patron getting strong armed into protecting some poor mortal? That’d be hilarious!)