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falloutjay · 3 years ago

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Craig x cheery reader please (a little context: team Craig saved her from a bully, reader secretly thinks Craig doesn't actually care about her and Clyde and her are close but like platonically)

I had such a joy writing this, I just hope it still fits the request, as I am unsure if I hit the prompt.

I hope you enjoy it nevertheless! <3

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Craig x Cheery!Reader

“Can’t you just leave me alone?” You said annoyed.

Why wouldn’t Francis just leave you alone you wondered. You never said anything mean, more like the opposite. You were just a really friendly classmate that never said anything mean to anyone. So why out of all people Francis decided to pick you to bully was a mystery to you.

“I bet you’re only so friendly because in reality, no one loves you.” You decided that just ignoring him would probably be the best course of action, but once you kept quiet, it agitated Francis only more.

He slammed you against the lockers to your right and kept you trapped there. You actually felt terrified. Before anything could happen, a monotonous and nasal voice to your left demanded your attention.

“Francis, you’re blocking my locker.”

“Fuck off Craig, I’m busy.” Behind Craig was his gang, consisting of Clyde Donovan, Token Black, Tweek Tweak, and Jimmy Valmer.

You never really interacted with them, as they just stayed in their small group. “You’re blocking my locker.” Craig repeated. “And I said I don’t-“ Francis couldn’t get any further before Craig shoved him.

“Fuck off asshole. Get lost before we hurt you.” Craig's expression was bored as always and he flipped Francis the middle finger, his trademark.

“This ain’t over (L/N)!” Francis cursed under his breath before he took off. Nervously you turned to Craig and his friends with a big smile stretched across your face.

“Oh, thank you, Craig!” He just shrugged and carefully pushed you aside to get to his locker, which you just were pinned against. “You can’t get pushed around like that Y/N.” Clyde said with worry in his voice.

“I-Its fine, really.” You laughed nervously. “No, it’s not. Clyde is right, you shouldn’t be pushed around like that. Why don’t you sit at lunch with us?” Token now chirped in too and your eyes widened at the proposition. “I’d love too!” You beamed.

It had been ages since that day, and you still thought about that day ever so often. Francis left you alone after that day since you always hung around Craig and those guys now. You had become great friends with the guys, and you were really close with Clyde.

You rested with him next to you on his bed in just this moment. “Whatcha thinking about, Happy?” Happy was a special nickname given to you by Clyde.

You two were born mood makers and could make anyone smile, even the stoic Craig Tucker. “Nothing important. Just thinking about when you guys invited me to come sit with you.”

“Ahh, that was a great day.” Clyde mumbled. It was a regular thing for you and Clyde to just hang out in one of your bedrooms, chilling on the bed, and talk about all kinds of stuff.

“So, how’s it going with Bebe?” You asked him. “Great, thanks for that restaurant tip. She loved it there.”

“I went there with my parents, and I thought you could impress her with it.” You two high-fived, without getting up. You really couldn’t wish for a better friend than Clyde.

“So, how’s your love life going?” Aaand now you hated him. “Ahh, don’t ask. It’s shit.” Clyde furrowed his eyebrows; not like you could see. “Is it really that bad?”

“Yeah.”

“But why?”

“Clyde! You can’t just ask people that!” You said in a whiney tone.

“Ah come on Happy, tell me. I’m your best friend. Who are you gonna tell besides me?” He had a point, you thought. You propped yourself up on one elbow and gave him a death glare.

“If you talk, you’re a dead man, Donovan.” Clyde sat up and leaned on the bedframe.

“I won’t say a word.” You took a deep breath and began explaining. “So, you know…I mean I…ehhh…I kinda like someone from our friends’ group.”

“I’m sorry, Happy, but I’m already taken.” Clyde said in a dramatic fashion. You flipped him the bird, something you copied from Craig but you only used it against Clyde, since he never took it personally.

“No. Not you… Its… I like…Craig, even if I don’t think he cares that much about me.” When you said the name, it was barely more than a whisper, but Clyde still heard it. His grin widened and he seemed hyped.

His hands landed on his cheeks with a faint slapping noise.

“Oh my god. My two best friends wanna bang each other.”

“What.”

“What.” Clyde’s happy expression became a shocked one, once he noticed what he just blurted out. “So, Craig likes me?” You asked confused.

“No! I mean…Yes, but I didn’t say it!” He stressed the “I” in particular. You felt shocked. You always thought Craig didn’t like you all that much, because he was always a little cold to you and he barely interacted with you.

“But I thought he didn’t like me.” Clyde gave himself a facepalm, cursing himself out for having spilled the tea. “Well, since I am already fucked… He does like you and shit. He is just…Bad at showing it. Like, he tries to interact so little with you, because he’s afraid you will notice how you make him blush and shit.”

“I-” You pointed with your finger at yourself. “Make him blush?” You questioned. “Yes, Happy, you do. Didn’t know you’re blind.” He said and you two heard the doorbell. The others had arrived.

You had gone with Clyde immediately after school, while the other wanted to join later for the video game night. Clyde got up from the bed and stopped at his room door.

“I swear, if you snitch on me, I'll kill you. I love you, but I won't hesitate bitch.” He pointed a finger pistol at you and pretended to shoot you. You pretended to get shot and rolled off the bed in a slow and dramatic manner.

You two laughed before Clyde sprinted downstairs to let the others in. You remained on the floor, pretending to be a corpse. When the others came into the room, Token was the one to question what you were doing.

“Clyde shot me.” You explained and pretended to be in severe pain. “Cl-Clyde. Don’t shoot o-our only o-o-other fu-funny friend.” Jimmy mocked him and Clyde pretended to laugh.

“Haha, very funny.” He commented dryly. You got up and sat back down on the bed.

“You can put your sleeping bags down here and then you can help me make your pizza in the kitchen.” Clyde instructed and gave you a wink. You quickly caught onto what he was trying to do and mouthed a big fat “NO.” to him, but he just smiled.

“Ah fuck you, Clyde.” You thought. You loved him to death, but right now he was being an annoying bitch, that tried saving his skin by having you confess so Craig wouldn’t figure out that the brown-haired snitched.

You just kept sitting on the bed, while the guys one by one left the room. Craig was the last one to leave but he stopped once he saw that you stayed on the bed.

“Y/N, don’t you wanna come with us?” He questioned, but you shrugged. “I dunno. Kinda busy thinking about stuff.” You smiled warmly. “Thinking about what?” Craig left the door ajar and stepped back into the room to lean on Clyde’s white Ikea dresser, which was opposite of you.

“I think I wanna ask a guy o-out, but I don’t really know how to do that. Any tips?” You asked in your sweetest and innocent voice. You really prayed that Clyde was correct but why shouldn’t he be.

But there still was this tiny fear in the back of your head that you were gonna make a fool of yourself in a few seconds.

“Well…” Craig seemed to think about it for a second. “Personally, I would just appreciate it if someone would just straight up ask me, you know? This whole playing around shit is stupid if you ask me.” You nodded.

“Hey, Craig?”

“Yeah?” He asked and shifted his gaze from the window to your innocent face.

“Would you maybe go out with me?” You asked and felt like you just lost all ground beneath your feet. For a short second, you felt like you were going to faint.

But once you saw that a faint shade of pink appeared on his face, you felt giddy, the butterflies in your stomach were going wild. Craig cleared his throat, before answering with a red face; “Y-Yeah sure. What about tomorrow? If you want, I’ll walk you home and we can hang out alone.”

You nodded; a big grin spread across your face. “That sounds amazing.” Craig offered you his hand and you stared at it for a second.

“Maybe we should go downstairs. You know…Otherwise, Clyde will choose our pizza toppings.”

“And we don’t want that, do we?” You asked you both laughed. You took Craig's hand and admired how warm it was.

“I’m surprised you like me. I always thought you didn’t care about me.” You whispered. Craig laughed, which caught you by surprise. “I'm just not good at these type of things.” He admitted sheepishly and scratched his neck.

“I guess.” You laughed to make the situation less awkward. Craig started leading you downstairs, not letting go of your hand. In the kitchen you found the others, fighting about their pizza toppings. Clyde was the only one to notice how you both had that light shade of pink lingering on your cheeks and that you held hands.

He smiled brightly and then made space for you two to also make your own pizza. The rest of the night went by peacefully, you guys played video games, snacked food, and talked about stupid stuff. The main entertainment was Jimmy, Clyde and you of course, as you were just the life of every get-together.

Craig watched you and Clyde in glee, as you and Clyde were playing Just Dance together like your life depended on it. He was sooo happy to now have you, someone who could break his stoic façade.

#south park x reader #Craig tucker x reader #Craig x reader

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fill-me-with-your-memes-daddy · 3 years ago

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Watching the Rise of the Titans movie and I'll be documenting all of my thoughts/reactions here. [Spoiler Warning]

So instead of reblogging every new update, I'm just going to have this post up on my phone as I watch and type my reactions in a bullet list format.

Nari's human disguise is so cute. As someone who does have a cottagecore aesthetic, I want to cosplay her so bad

Are Skrael and/or Belroc non-binary coded? Regardless, I'm also obsessed and I want to fuck Skrael and be Belroc.

STEVE CARING ABOUT JIM BEING HURT YESSSS!!! My god his redemption has probably been one of the greatest there is because he doesn't just suddenly go from being a bully to a completely good person. You can see the gradual shift in learning better throughout the shows which is awesome.

IN NEW YOOOOOOORRRRRRRK!!!!!! CONCRETE JUNGLE WHERE DREAMS ARE MADE OFFFFFFFFFFFFF!!!!!

The mugshot montage reminded me of season 1 of trollhunters when toby and Jim were arrested at the museum.

STRICKLER PUT A RING ON IT??? HE'S THE ONLY DILF IVE EVER ACTUALLY AGREED WAS HOT WYM I CAN'T HAVE HIM??? well I'm still really happy about his arc over the series probably one of my favorite character growths.

Eli my guy got his growth spurt!!! As an 18 year old who is still 5'0", I'm happy but envious for him

So I went into this movie without watching any trailers or promo, but I doubt anything could have prepared me for the existence of mpreg. In fact, I wasn't going to document my reactions until I saw that.

NAMURA!!!!!!!!! MY BELOVED!!!!!! I CAN STILL THIRST FOR YOU WITHOUT GUILT

The coach teacher just called the kids zoomers so I have to dock one point from my final rating just because of that. Unforgivable

Those husky animation models suck lmao

Oh fuck the titans got power ranger zords!!

God why did they include the mpreg??? This movie would have been perfect without it.... After that plot point being revisited only one time I'm already beyond done with it

Like it's bringing me back to the v*ltron days where they're was a suspiciously high amount of klance omegaverse and mpreg fics and art created and it physically hurts because Steve and Keith's voice actor is the same person meaning this is especially cursed to me since I was unfortunately in the v*ltron fandom and remember all of that

But like on another note, how old are these characters again??? I haven't checked any wikis because of spoilers but is Steve an adult??? I know aja might be technically a lot older than 18 because alien but is whatever age she is equivalent to an adult as far as emotionally and physically in Akaridion development??? IS THIS A TEEN (M)PREGNANCY IN A KIDS SHOW????

Like bruh I saw a singular post on here before going into the movie that was like "rott spoilers without context" and there was a pregnant belly but I was absolutely not expecting the actual context of it. I'll find the post after I finish and edit this post to tag the creator right here: @makoden

This entire post is just gonna be me ranting about mpreg huh

Anyway I love the whole roundtable allusion to the legends of king arthur (not the toa version but the one he's based off)

THERE'S 3 TO 5 BABIES????? I need to take a break bruh this is just too much

Alright I've taken a 30 minute break got some food and did some things i love (decompressed by tactile stimming with some owl plushies and watched some videos on my favorite owl, Garu. He lives in Japan with his owner and is a domesticated eagle owl who basically just acts like a sky cat. If anyone else needs some eye bleach, here is their YouTube channel)

Blinky and ARRRGHHH!!! saying their "if one of us doesn't make it" talk my god one of them is going to die I can see it and I will be utterly crushed. Jim can't lose another father figure and Toby can't lose his wingman again I will riot if this happens

On a similar but unrelated to the movie note, can we just talk about how toa started with Jim having 0 dads and (if strickler and blinky live to the end) will end with 2 dads? Like I just really feel happy for him that he has two dads who actually figured out how to put the past behind them to not have any infighting between them so that both of them are healthy father figures. Jim has already been through literal hell and back losing his actual humanity in the process so if he loses one of them, I'm going to be really pissed because at this point, this is just Jim torture porn. Y'all know how as SpongeBob SquarePants went on, the show just became Squidward torture porn? It's starting to feel that way for toa and I really hope they cut the shit by the ending

Jlaire is such a good ship but like I feel like it's too perfect they never disagree with each other

YESSSSSSS Someone finally doesn't treat toby like a fat waste of space who messes stuff up!!! I think out of all the characters that would have been most deserving of a rewrite, it's Toby. Sometimes I just feel he's only comic relief and any heartfelt moments he's had in the series was also born of stupidity (ie his flour baby project being unharmed was seen by him as divine intervention from his parents but was actually just Eli and Steve behind the scenes).

Ohhhhh yesssssss Archie's father!!! I was hoping I'd see him again because we got so little of him last

Ooooooooooh Asian trollmarket!!!!!

Oh never mind slavery trollmarket

Bruh titanic camelot

I feel like we're not seeing enough of the villains because I completely forgot about the power ranger zord things

NAMORA NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MY LAST CRUSHHHH

STRICKLER NO NOT YOU TOO PLEASE

WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THE ONLY TWO CHARACTERS I SIMP FOR ON THIS SHOW DIED WITHIN FIVE MINUTES OF EACH OTHER

THAT WHOLE ASS RANT I WROTE IS COMING TRUE FUCK THIS MOVIE THIS SERIES IS JUST JIM TORTURE PORN

WAIT JIM'S SPERM DONOR INFO?

Oh thank God I don't want to know anything about that person

For the record, I call that man Jim's sperm donor because he has no business being called a father to him. All he did was donate some swimmers to the creation of him and give him abandonment issues

Oh another blind troll elder???? This fucker is just if vendel was a bad guy

Bruh I was grieving

PACIFIC RIM WITH GUN ROBOT VEX AND THE BELROCZORD? I've never seen that movie but I know the reference

Bruh Blinky doesn't read horoscopes? Does he realize conspiracy theories are just the manly version of horoscopes?

NO DON'T KILL VEX STOP KO-ING FOUND FAMILY MEMBERS

Oh thank God he's okay

NO NOT ARCHIE AND CHARLEMAGNE OH MY GOD

oh never mind they're just gonna coup de tat I believe in them :))

But I want to see him again

But I'm glad to see vex

Yay they're in arcadia!

But yeah I wondered why the trolls and Merlin didn't keep the whole "daylight doesn't hurt trolls" feature from the eternal night but now Guillermo del Toro I see you were playing the long con in that just to kill my girl Namora :(((

Oooooh I love the animation of the Narizord over Chihuahua!! It looks very good and realistic (if only they could have put some of that into those huskies from before smh)

Bruh the character designs of the arcane order are so good I want to be them

Nari making sure the Skraelzord doesn't crush the bus

DAMN DOUBLE HOMICIDE

Bruh I'm just glad we finally have an answer on why arcadia had everything going on as opposed to literally anywhere else!! I always found that as a weird coincidence for plot convince.

BRUH WERE BACK TO THE MPREG IM SO JEALOUS I FORGOT ABOUT THAT EVEN THOUGH IT WAS BECAUSE I WAS GRIEVING THE LOSS OF MY LOVELIES.

Oh that's real convenient that the ninth configuration meant all of them. Way to not decide which character gets more attention. Though it probably was a smart way to not have any infighting in the fandom between each character's stan group.

Bruh I just realized where is Barbera did they just ditch her on the Camelot ship???

And where are the other trolls that migrated at the end of trollhunters s3? They said something about new jersey but obviously Jim and the other main characters got on Camelot instead.... This feels like a plot hole

And we never learned the process of how changelings are made and bonded to humans and stuff. We just know it's super painful but I'm curious ffs!!!!

THE DONT THINK BECOME HERO SPEECH ALL SAID TOGETHER!!!

BRUH THEY REALLY HAD TO SHOW HIM GIVING BIRTH??????? WAS THAT AN ABSOLUTE MUST??????

Plus the main audience for this series is little children (the rating for the movie is literally TV-Y7) so even though my adult ass is not in the target audience, I STILL DONT UNDERSTAND WHY WOULD MPREG AND ANAL BIRTH WOULD BE AN IMPORTANT THING TO 7 YEAR OLDS???? THIS IS A LITERAL FETISH HIDDEN IN KIDS CONTENT ITS ELSAGATE ALL OVER AGAIN Y'ALL 😭😭😭😭😭

Though it's probably hypocritical of me to think fetishes don't belong in kids tv when I've openly admitted to thirsting for strickler and namora

HUZZAH

NEW AMULET WAZ GOOD????

STAB THAT BITCH JIM

WAIT NO I SAID STAB NOT GET STABBED

Alright good job just missed the directions at first but you fixed it

SEVEN KIDS?????????

T O B Y ????????????

W A I T NO

N O

IS HE ACTUALLY

OH MY GOD THERE'S HOPE

NO THERE ISN'T

F U C K THIS SHIT THEY REALLY JUST HAD HIM TO BE BULLIED THEN KILLED

Y'ALL IM ACTUALLY CRYING THIS NEVER HAPPENS

I NEVER ACTUALLY GET SO EMOTIONAL OVER MEDIA THAT I CRY IT ONLY HAPPENED ONCE AT THE END OF VOLTRON BUT AHHHHHHHH

W A I T

HE'S GONNA BE BROUGHT BACK?????

HOLD UP THEY'RE JUST GONNA BRING ALL THOSE DEAD PEOPLE BACK??????

WAIT IS HE

BLINKY CALLED HIM A SON

HOLD ON IS THIS GOING TO BE A CLIFFHANGER???????????

BRUH THEY REALLY JUST CAN'T END THE SERIES WITHOUT CLIFFHANGERS like there's always an open ending

TROLLHUNTER TOBY????? You know what forget the whole rants I had on how toby was written they just redeemed it all

And that's all! I'd rate it a 6.5/10 because it's definitely the weakest of all the sequels but still had amazing animation and some good plot points. It's just really hard to look over the bad stuff enough to rate it any higher.

#tales of arcadia #rise of the titans #trollhunters #rott #rise of the titans spoilers #rott spoilers #toa #3 below #athena's own original post!#jim lake jr #claire nuñez #toby domzalski

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legionofpotatoes · 3 years ago

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my thonks on the new game I played this weekend, under the cut for length and spoilers

I softly clicked the Sable icon when first booting it up yesterday, expecting a visually pleasing indie game about nothing with Mechanics LiteTM loosely screwed on; and I am sitting here now on a platinum trophy, with messed up hair and wide open eyes, wondering what the fuck has just happened.

It completely blindsided me with the Entire Rest Of The Experience after I was done oohing and aahing at the cel shaded packaging. I was expecting a Journey-esque barebones rumination on esoteric concepts at the very best, but here I was seeing a charming story that was one hundred percent steeped in metaphors but decidedly about something. or maybe two things in my mind, identity and purpose, and it goes about articulating them through character writing which is. So good?? Sable is an actual character. with interiority and desires, and her world is peppered with NPCs that are eager to chat back and reveal that they very much possess their own, too. The story is fury-road-simple, yet her growth is palpable and almost entirely gameplay-driven through player lens and agency. You get to literally decide what your purpose is and what purpose even means by the end. And the more you engage with and give to the world, the more it gives back to inform and enrich the context around that decision. It is such a deliciously simple parable that it is impossible not to click with it on some level.

And yeah, the game design is fucking rock-solid, another surprise. Not that I short-change indies because of their scope necessarily, but they do generally tend to be on the single-idea-test-drive side of the industry equation, rarely excelling at all internal pillars at once. Not the case here. There are smart choices made in borrowing mechanics from other titles and throwing them in an elegant mix that works in the internal math of this specific world; and it is all from-the-top efficiency. Sable looks for purpose through exploration and wears her currently preferred identity on her sleeve, so the entire macro loop is dialed in on those two elements. exploration and expression, with all extra fat trimmed off. your stamina meter feeds the first, various cosmetics feed the second. deft RPG-like quest structure and varied mission chains award you with boosts to both.

It is difficult to articulate, but the symbiosis between story and gameplay is really-really tight here, the very opposite of ludonarrative dissonance, to an almost indistinguishable degree. And it is never best exemplified than during the ending of the game, wherein the ending is a choice you make, you choose to end the game when you decide that Sable has found her purpose (it is all a neat dance of mask metaphors and communal occupations); and if you decide that she hasn't, or that her purpose is the search, the text automatically supports and encourages it. You can end it with 75% of the content untouched, or glide endlessly on, wearing any mask you start liking at any point. It is the ultimate celebration of autonomy in destiny and identity, and its fluidity, and its ownership. The game makes that distinction with a gentle firmness; the gliding rituals are solitary, personal. You make that final choice for yourself, you acknowledge the consequences but it is yours to make or not make.

The game is the search, and it ends if you decide that Sable has found herself.

The word "gentle" is so evergreen when thinking about this game, too. It is incredibly chill and introspective, yet manages to achieve triple-A level forward momentum without using a lick of combat gameplay, competitive beatdowns, fail states even, just entirely disregarding violence as a form of interaction between the player and the world, both lanes. And I know I'm biased to home in on and love this sort of thing because empathy-building gameplay is something I preach about like an annoying doomsday prophet but really, it really works here, despite me and despite itself. There is genuine good game design underneath the naivete of the idea, driving engagement and keeping your attention glued to the process without using combat mechanics. In an open-world RPG-like arena. It can be done.

And it looks and sounds fucking great and there's pretty decent customization of Sable and even of your weird kinda-alive bike that has terrible pathfinding when summoned. The selective absence of depth tones can be disorienting at first, but the aesthetic sorta makes its case with time, and the charming animations (is Sable animated on twos when she runs?) lock in the spell. The game is definitely finicky in some technical areas; I encountered one fairly major bug that randomly sorted itself out after minutes of me doing nothing (the button activating the watch sundial wouldn't trigger), and fairly common pains of open-world streaming would sometimes fire off like random audio cues and NPCs spawning on top of one another and real bad frame drops in geometry-heavy areas. But I definitely heard much worse than I experienced with my run. I managed to 100% the whole thing without a hitch and even wore my princess chum dress to the final gliding ceremony.

Anyway. I want to talk about a thousand different things Sable does well but this post was mainly about how good it is with telling a story about purpose that you get to both literally and metaphorically search for before deciding to end or not end it. It is just very very good at being story-first. Please buy it! Instead of fighting giant beetles you kinda try and make them poop for science, it's amazing.

#sable spoilers #sable #text #sable game #spoilers

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shut-up-rabert · 2 years ago

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That's my point. You've made it clear that you live in a place densely populated with Sikhs. Second to majority as you mentioned. I don't. Result is the only other sikh in my class wears a cap ALL. THE. TIME. INCLUDING INDOORS. Because since 2020, which saw a major spike in sikhophobia, kids think it's perfectly fine to call him a khalistani for no reason at all. This dude has never presented a political opinion, let alone an extreme separatist one. Literally I cannot see where they were coming from except for just the fact that he's a Sikh but it's genuinely devastating to see him cover his pagdi every single day without fail. I'm lucky I don't face the same cuz well I'm a woman and I don't look Sikh.

But ok that's an isolated incident, if I talk of why exactly this started happening in 2020 it's because that's the stuff those kids heard their parents say at home because that was the fucking response to the farmers' protest, something that had absolutely nothing to do with religion. Religion was dragged into the debate because a majority of those farmers were sikh and their demands that had NOTHING to do with a separatist movement got brushed off as khalistani terrorism. This was around the time when Modi made his visit to Punjab or attempted to (it was a pretty big deal, it was all over the news), his route had protestors on it and man the reaction supporters of the party had to it? Literally one Google search away. There's literal MLA's of the party talking of a repeat of the '84 genocide. MLAs. And it's these very people who call Sikhism a sect of Hinduism which is an entirely different load of horse crap. But it's just the fact that they have thee audacity to say that but then a moment a Sikh person says something they don't like (it doesn't even have to be related to religion, in fat bonus points if it ain't) that person becomes a khalistani.

This isn't woke, acknowledging that yes, a minority community does face marginalisation (big shocker) is basic fucking decency. Your reaction to this is exactly like the reaction of a white person being told that they might be racist. 'What?! I have black friends. They get treated equally.'

It's hard for people to hear that their community might be marginalising another, especially if they don't do it personally because it makes them feel attacked. But the matter of truth is that your reaction is absolutely not how a decent person responds to the idea of someone being oppressed. You usually wait to get educated on the topic before you form an opinion on it and especially before you mock someone else's pian over it. Also you need to realise for the future that if you don't see a certain problem in the society around you doesn't mean it doesn't exist, it could very well mean that you are just lucky enough to not encounter. This applies to all contexts.

I usually wouldn't pester a kid but I needed you to hear this because your opinion could potentially hurt someone and over the internet, they wouldn't know you're a kid (like I didn't when I sent the previous ask) and I would hate for someone to form a bad opinion of you over it. Everything I've told you isn't guaranteed to change your opinion over the matter, in fact I doubt it will, but atleast after this whatever opinion you hold, no matter how hurtful, will be an educated opinion and you ought to take responsibility for it because 14, no matter how young, is still enough age to tell right and wrong apart. That's all I have to say to you and I won't be sending asks again.

Firstly, the hat incident you refer to, as devastating as it is, was practically impossible for any Haryanvi/Punjabi to relate to, so please don’t blame me for not seeing what you were referring to. Its like being from Arkansas but then shouting at a Californian for not seeing the racism.

Secondly, where’s this incident happening? Maybe you’re right, its my lack of knowledge and education on the issue, so please tell me as to atleast what state this is so I can make a decent, dedicated post on the issue if I see the arising need. I’m so sorry you had to go through that, but can you give me the details so I know what I’m looking into here?

As of the farmer’s protest, I think you are forgetting a major, and I mean very major factor that lead to the issue being labeled as Khalistan: there were khalistanis involved. How it is that you managed to ignore the bit about how khalistani outfit sikhs for justice started propagating it for ulterior motives, another one made toolkit for it, or when Sikh extremists beheaded a lower caste Sikh over the disrespect of the book is beyond me.

How it is that you say that it doesn’t have seperatist influence is astounding. Religious influence of sikhism? Not. Khalistani influence? Totally.

Offcourse, I’m not saying that the issue WASN’T about farmer’s rights and all, most of it prolly was, but lets not act like it wasn’t hijacked for ulterior motives by various anti India groups. The toolkit leaking and the pro seperatism handles suddenly and simultaneously supporting the cause says it all.

I don’t think everyone involved, or for that matter everyone who wasn’t proven guilty deserved to be shunned as Khalistani, but the thing is, if there was a pro muslim movement going on that got hijacked by likes of the now gone PFI, no one would care how it started or what the beginning cause was. Or am I wrong?

That’s just how the it works, I’m not trying to sound ignorant, I’m trying to say this rationally so please think about this for once, but if one is leading a cause and sees it getting infested by some other reason, its only his/her job to make sure that same doesn’t get to represent the movement. The protesting farmers sat by and watched as a religious flag was put on in front of the red fort, what were people expecting? NOT being labelled religious fundamentalists? (Once again clearing the fact that I don’t believe the sikh community deserve a blame for this. Shitheads exist in every religion.)

The BJP MLA bit? Yeah, pretty sad if I’m being honest. I won’t equate it to being the same as persecution at a central level, because of my own experiences, but I’ve said once before on my main that I feel like BJP has the worst, And I mean THE WORST lot when it comes to local leaders. Leave Sikhophobia, I won’t even put Rape and Genocide supporting above them. They’ve even shit talked Budhhists and demanded Hindu women to be baby making machines.

Even a few CMs have proven to be mildly (albeit not anywhere NEAR as much of asshats as the MLAs) problematic if I remember. The only way I can sleep at night is knowing that people like these will never be in power, because they can only run their mouths, not the country. Even the Higher ups at NDA seem to be aware of that. Believe me, if someone like that ever comes to hold a prominent position, I’ll book both of us a one way ticket to the nopetopia.

All in all, while I feel like I can’t be blamed for not seeing the issue because actual headlines of Sikh persecution are unseen around here, because maybe its rather remote or unheard of on both national and local level for me, I’m always open to know more so that I know what kind of issues deserve light and to be brought to mainstream.

So please, do tell me more. I want to be aware of the whole cause and be of help if the situation is for real that dire.

PS I’m not a kid🗿

#desiblr #sikhophobia #farmer’s protest

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otterskin · 1 year ago

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Final Reply, here we go! Sorry Followers, but I promise it's over now, ha ha.

Which writer of Thor 1? I've followed Zack Stentz on Twitter for years even though I hate the hell site, ha ha, and he's even been kind enough to answer some of my questions. He's never said much of the kind. And what he has said, he's caveated with this: Kenneth Branagh had an interpretation of th their script that often departed from what they'd written, and the actors often went in a different direction as well. He specifically mentioned how Kenneth Branagh wanted a much more sympathetic version of Loki than any of the previous scripts had called for, and when in production he and Hiddleston ignored some script notes to do a very different read on a line (I think he noted that Hiddleston played the final confrontation as more contained, on the brink of madness and full of sorrow, whereas the script had him cackling with laughter and full of manic glee). That's par for the course, of course. Branagh had his pitch and the writers worked for him on that vision, not the other way around.

For television, the writer is the main big deal. For film, it's nearly always the director - yes, even in the MCU and certainly so for Phase One. Of course, with Thor, we've got three directors to contend with, so yes, it does get a bit bumpy. But between Branagh and Waititi in particular, I think the vision for Odin is cohesive.

As for other people projecting their feelings and experiences on the story...look, art can't exist without an audience to interpret it. I'm not gonna be the guy to tell people they're not allowed their takes. But projection is different than interpretation. And projection often means ignoring a lot of what's there that contradicts what you want it to be, and that's not good media analysis. Plus, I myself have spoken on my personal attachment to this franchise and how I sometimes see my personal life in it, including my father in Odin. Why should I not take offence against those 'attacking my father' in that case? Why is the negative projection more worthy of respect than my own positive one? It's not. Both are invalid.

While I certainly try to use my perspective and experiences as a part of my interpretation, I cannot and should not substitute it for real, actual observable detail and authorial intent - though of course, with media of any kind, we are always going to be in, as you say, 'assuming' things to some degree. This is why some people hate English class (and I loved it, heh heh).

My point with those examples (Hogwarts, Star Wars, Tom and Jerry) was how we've got to think of these stories in their genre context. Those are genres (Fantasy, Space Fantasy, Slapstick Cartoon Comedy) that are elevated from our basic human experience and have their own rules. It's starting to be a problem in all sorts of productions - forgetting the genre and what it lets get explore and get away with, without having to ask 'But what would this mean in a realistic, grounded version of the story??' It's harmful to fiction as a whole. We need elevated stories beyond realism. It lets us explore concepts with some safety and distance, without needing to rush in with condemnation and callumy. (Boy, am I sick of posts whinging about how Hogwarts should be closed from all the lawsuits and how that's bad worldbuilding - no, it isn't. Just like how it's not unrealistic that Tom survived eating an exploding sandwich.)

And again, you've got the wrong definition of emotional abuse and you're ignoring the trappings and genre of this story. What's next, diagnosing Belle from Beauty and the Beast with Stockholm Syndrome and saying Beast is abusive, saying Peter Pan must have an endocrine disorder, or that really, Nala is Simba's sister in The Lion King because that's how lion prides work, so that's incest in a Disney movie!

I'm not going to accuse anyone of thinking too hard about these things because I would be one big fat hypocrite, but it is thinking too hard about them in the wrong ways. Those interpretations are bad, wrong and straight-up fail to engage with the work in its context.

If the story was brought down to earth, it would not keep any of those heightened elements, including the ones you see as equivalent to abuse. Again, Thor kills people in this story. Loki kills people in this story. And yet I don't see you talking about them like they're homicidal maniacs who belong in prison for their murdering. You aren't comparing them to Stalin or the like, nor should you. You understand what those actions and big, dramatic stakes are meant to convey in an elevated sense, for their characters, the themes of the story, etc. But you aren't extending that understanding to Odin, and I just don't see why you're excluding him and him alone from that.

Where you see emotional abuse, I see an elevated story about family dysfunction, masculinity, generational struggle, the dark side of love, a story about pride as an enemy of communication, of a desire to protect children from the truth ironically causing more harm - and I think that's exactly what good storytelling is.

Thank you again for the conversation! If you're American, have a Happy Thanksgiving. I promise that, come Christmas, I will dedicate a Santa Odin post to you, ha ha. I always do a whack of those...

As for Laufey, you're most welcome, ha ha. I bet we'll see him again some day, in some small way. He could be so much more as a character.

Does you actllty like odin because I thought everyone hated him.

...Why would people hate him? I struggle to understand that, even now. I have my theories, which I've spoken off in other places.

I think, and I don't like to say this, because there are certainly takes that aren't, but in general, that opinion is very juvenile. There's a desire to want to 'defend and protect' people from him, which betrays a lack of understanding of the dynamics in the films, and a tendency to side with children over adults, even grown children, and to see older people as symbolic of institutional power, as well as parental power, over them, and therefore a yoke that needs throwing off. There's a childish 'shut up, DAD!' to the criticism. More seriously, the desire to paint him as abusive reminds me of the problem of people confusing conflict for abuse, something that's a major issue in online spaces and real life. Outrage and extremism are rewarded and sought after, so everything is heightened. In that lens, a father who tried to do right by his children but who was in a unique circumstance because of his desire to challenge the status quo and fated enmity of two warrring peoples, a king who can't put the needs of his children over the suffering of his people and risk to his kingdom, now becomes a monster who delights in playing favourites and abusing them for kicks. It's disheartening.

There's precious little sympathy for characters like him, especially in this genre. Superhero fare is pretty black and white, and even characters like Loki rest pretty firmly in the 'good' side of that. But Odin is that rare character who not only doesn't play by that simple dichotomy, he doesn't get to live in a world so neatly divided. It's part of his isolation from the others. So usually, people see the gray and decide he must not be 'good', and if he's not 'good', he must be 'bad'.

The films have little time to explore him or his motivations or how he chooses to navigate his murky situation, and it's all the worse because he's a secretive person who actively disguises his motivations and goals. He's a minor character in screen time, but looms large over the plot and other characters' motivations, so most of what we see of him is what other people tell us he is. Most of which is, of course, untrue. That's the Odin that lives in their heads, and not the actual man, who is the rare character in the MCU you actually have to watch and pay attention to to understand. In universe, no-one bothers to do that - they are content with the version they've created to hate. So the audience thinks that version is also the real one, because it's easier to understand and categorize.

I love Odin, in mythology, and in the MCU. He's a much kinder person in the MCU for sure! But I'm glad that, even in a fairly straightforward world, they gave Odin no clear answers. He remains contradictory and deeply flawed, a thoroughly miserable person but with something compelling him to try and change the destined end of the world. How could I not love someone like that? How could people who say they like Loki not like a character who is so similar?

I get depressed when I encounter Odin haters. I feel like they've completely misunderstood and missed out on a fundamental part of the story, and I worry that if their sentiments infect the actual MCU, it will besmirch the efforts of those who came before and the humane story I fell in love with. Odin was not intended to be a bad parent or a bad person, and I don't think he is. He is intended to be someone that people IN UNIVERSE see as a full villain or as a full hero, but he is neither. He is a person who was faced with difficult choices, and he chose to do some radical things that many others of his kind would never do. He paved the way for a better future and better choices for others by defying the prejudices and traditions of his people, but because he was a trailblazer, he did not have the benefit of learning from others' examples, like Thor and Loki have because of him.

Comparing him to Thanos or other actually abusive parents is repellant. Never once have I seen anyone who claims to hate him actually engage with the character as depicted, nor how they would cut through the Gordian Knot of compromises the character had to contend with. They handwave away the moral questions as 'actually super easy to solve', which is something I abhor in fiction (it's also why I deeply dislike Spider-Man: NWH, which handwaves away the motivations and tragedies of villains from previous series). No, nothing was easy to solve about the choices presented to Odin, and I think the character had both logical and emotional rationale for his choices. He actually made pretty bold and forward-thinking plans, they just all tend to suffer from his fatal flaw - he thinks about them as logical, but they're really motivated by emotion that he keeps at arm's length, which leads to him showing vulnerability and being punished for it.

This is something that goes by so fast in the films, but I loved it because it is such a fundamentally male experience. Odin is someone being crushed under pretty much every expectation of masculinity, from man to warrior to father to husband to king, and whenever he tries to show regret, fallibility or vulnerability, the other characters find it disturbing and swiftly reject him, forcing him back into the performance and the misery that comes with it.

Odin may ponder what is the correct decision, but does not mistake that for what is the most moral decision. He is someone who is both logical and emotional but who hasn't integrated those two halves of himself together very well.

If you hate the character, I'd be happy to talk about it. It is okay to just not like characters! Including gray ones. But for me, I can really think about Odin, and I like that he can't be easily written up for a bland Fandom page that requires everything be spelled out or it 'doesn't count'. He exists in the between spaces of the story, and it is a very sad and lonely tale.

TL;DR : He's a complicated man in a simple story. In the Squid Game of Sugar Cookie, he got the Umbrella. I am sad that such a fundamental character to the foundation of the THOR franchise's quality and themes is so misunderstood and unappreciated by this fandom. I don't think you can love this franchise and not have some care for Odin.

#odin discussion #q&a #odin

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haleigh-sloth · 4 years ago

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Wait, wait, wait... what do you mean Shigiraki’s redemption is confirmed? Through meta’s or like that whole Deku thing with kid Shiggy? If so, that makes me relieved. Honestly, at times I’m so scared HK won’t give the villains redemptions, especially Dabi with the how HK portrays him being this psychotic individual who may be “to far gone.”

Oh boy

Okay first I’ll address Shigaraki’s redemption.

Is this

and this

not confirmation enough?? We’ve been shown time and time again that not only are we supposed to stop viewing Shigaraki as a villain who wants mindless destruction, we are supposed to look at him as somebody who has a very valid point, and somebody who desperately needs and WANTS help. I don’t know if people have been feeding you bad takes anon, but spit them out and ignore them lol. That panel of baby Midoriya and Shigaraki is important yes, but the entirety of chapter 305 should have been confirmation enough. Anybody who says Shigaraki is still doomed and never going to be saved is just in straight up denial. AND they’re big mad about it. Let them be. A lot of people I’ve seen who are anti-villain have had their predictions proven wrong time and time again. In fact, many swore up and down that Midoriya would never even want to save Shigaraki because of all the people he has hurt. And yet, look where we are.

Not only is chapter 305 important because it’s a huge turning point, in that it introduces a whole new challenge that wasn’t being explored by the main character/heroes before, it’s also important because Horikoshi literally announced the “final act” of the story in the immediate following chapter. I’m sorry but...you don’t just make a chapter like 305, say that story is getting ready to come to a close, and then back track and act like chapter 305 never happened. Chapter 305 preceded the final act, it’s what’s brought on Midoriya’s *shocking* choice of leaving UA and going all vigilante on us. I mean look, Horikoshi could definitely screw us and just stop the villains through killing and punishment, but that would basically be like giving us a big fat fuckin middle finger. It’d be cruel too, considering the types of villains he’s created and the morals of the story he’s been drilling into us since the beginning. “Not all people are created equal. And that’s a problem. Let’s fix that.”

To end the story with “not all people are created equal, but this guy got super lucky and he’s going to make sure that he keeps the extremely damaging status quo in place” as an ending thought is just....it’s a bad look fam. Horikoshi ain’t gonna do it. So idk, I look at people’s takes that say Deku is going to realize that “not everybody can be saved” and kill Shigaraki and THAT’S how he’ll become the GREATEST HERO and all I can say is just

Don’t listen to them.

Now look I’m not Horikoshi so I’m not gonna bet my life on Shigaraki’s redemption. But if Horikoshi decides to screw us then we’re all gonna suffer together, and I WILL bitch about it until I’m six feet under, so there’s that.

Now Touya....dude. He’s not psychotic. And I myself have said time and time again that we as readers don’t get to decide when a character is “too far gone.” Touya is NOT acting without reason. He is not acting mindlessly. Is his mental health in the best state? Fucking no. It’s not. He tried to kill his father with every intention of dying in the process. He is not okay, that boy needs help. But that does not make him psychotic, or crazy, or “too far gone.”

I personally don’t see how he has been portrayed as you describe him...like at all. Literally the entire story he has been quiet, calm, collected (on the outside), and he’s got mad self control, seeing as how he could have killed his dad in chapter 191 and been long dead by now having fulfilled his goal. But he waited and strategized.

He could have killed his unconscious dad here, and chose to retreat.

He knows what he’s doing, and he isn’t doing it mindlessly. He’s not too far gone to bring back, to heal, and recover. And just because Hori drew him looking kinda cray, doesn’t mean he is. I love reading manga because the art and the text work together to tell the story. You don’t have to rely on just one of the other. He looks like he does during the war arc because his emotions are running at an all time high. He just revealed to his family who thought he was dead for ten years that he’s alive. It’s really not that hard to figure out. Touya’s words do not indicate he’s psychotic, they indicate he’s emotionally numb, and hurt, and angry. And we know his fire is affected by his emotions from the flashback chapters.

Also, I think it’s also worth noting that Shoto doesn’t think he’s psychotic or “too far gone” either:

So unless people think Shoto is psychotic as well, I mean....okay lol

SO. Yes, Shigaraki’s redemption is basically confirmed. If I’m wrong, oh well. I’ll be mad about it. But seriously, anybody who can read context clues and understand foreshadowing and think critically about the characters and their words and actions can see that this story is not going to end with punishment and despair, it’s going to end with optimism and hope.

#bnha #touya todoroki #shoto todoroki #shigaraki tomura #tomura shigaraki #shigaraki redemption #redemption arc #todoroki shoto #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #mha #bnha 305 #bnha 298 #bnha spoilers #anonymous

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selenuntius · 3 years ago

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DMBJ Scene Comparison: Book 6 Post-Meteorite

Bit of a vague title, but the gist of this is that I’m going to be looking at the chapter or so around when Xiaoge comes out of the meteorite in DMBJ 6 c.24, A Stone from Heaven, in the licensed TL and comparing it to the original. Feel free to follow along for the full context.

I will not be noting everything that’s different, just things that stood out to me, personally, for extremely subjective reasons. I will be mostly focusing on the things that I think are bad for characterisation.

If you’ve already seen me talk about this in other places, I will not being including any new information and you can ignore this post.

I’ve also looked at the scene where Xiaoge goes into the gate btw and the only difference that stood out to me is that they left out he smiled mysteriously (or meaningfully, but that also loses some connotation and mysterious is a decent approximation of the meaning here. I can’t think of many alternatives).

I didn’t say a word. I knew that it would be almost impossible for Qilin to be shocked by things that would annihilate anybody else. Whatever happened to him inside this meteorite must have been more terrifying than anything Fats or I could imagine. What could be so frightening that it would cause Qilin to break down as he had? Was it something that had hurt WenJin? Had she gone mad and was she trapped within the meteorite? If that were true, I had to get in there somehow and save her.

Now that we know where we are in the text, I’d like to show the difference between the licensed translation (or abridgement, as I like to call it at this point...) and the corresponding original sentences.

I knew that it would be almost impossible for Qilin to be shocked by things that would annihilate anybody else.

I didn't know what Menyouping was like as a person, but I could vouch for his mental fortitude [loose tl, could be better]. His type of person had achieved a certain level of mental strength. It was exceedingly difficult to shock him to this extent.

Whatever happened to him inside this meteorite must have been more terrifying than anything Fats or I could imagine. What could be so frightening that it would cause Qilin to break down as he had? Was it something that had hurt WenJin?

But I couldn't imagine what could be so frightening to make even someone as collected and rational as him break down. I knew that it definitely wasn't any sort of monster. No matter how scary a monster could be, it wouldn't be able to frighten him to this extent - after all, even I could overcome a fear of dead bodies. What he saw had to be a situation that was inexplicable to the extreme. Then, I thought of Wenjin. Where was she now?

Also notable here that although the licensed translation brings up Chen Wenjin a little earlier, the original does not, and he only remembers Wenjin now. Make of that what you will, but I think my conclusion is obvious.

Fats grabbed my arm. “What good will we be to her, if she comes out to find us all dead? And don’t forget about Qilin—even if you’re willing to die, he might not feel the same way. At least we’ll be able to save one of them. And we’ll leave some food in case Wen-Jin emerges.”

“All right, Fats. You win. We’ll leave—but which way should we go?”

This part is interesting because it’s melded together from a back-and-forth between Pangzi and Wu Xie. To summarise, in the original, Pangzi begins with talking about his plan for them to leave food for Chen Wenjin and how they’ll still make it out, Wu Xie responds, Pangzi brings up Xiaoge, and then Wu Xie agrees.

So the original scene would look something more like:

Fats patted me my arm. “I know you're soft-hearted, but I've thought this through. We'll leave all our food here, and get back outside without food. If we can make it back to the campsite, we can get more supplies. Also, I've actually left a packet of hardtack at every of the spots we rested. As long as we take the right path, we can still make it out. What good will we be to her, if she comes out to find us all dead?”

I waved him off, knowing what he had to say, and noticed that even though Fats was talking slowly and meticulously, his tone was very firm and the logic undebatable. Fats probably kept it to himself for quite a while.

“And don’t forget about Qilin—even if you’re willing to die, he might not feel the same way. At least we’ll be able to save one of them. And we’ll leave some food in case Wen-Jin emerges.”

I looked at Menyouping, and immediately acquiesced. Indeed, I was consumed by wanting everyone to make it out alive, but I might bring even Menyouping down with me in the end. Fats did have a point, and I realised that this may be the only way for us all to survive. I sighed, staring at the holes, and said, “All right, Fats. You win. We’ll leave—but which way should we go?”

Personally, I think these changes affect how Pangzi’s speech is perceived and diminishes Wu Xie’s struggle between his principles and reality. Pangzi’s speech is actually very thoughtful in my opinion. He understood how difficult it was for Wu Xie so he opens with a compromise of sorts, with them leaving food behind for Chen Wenjin when they leave. The fact that he probably held onto these thoughts for a while just further shows how well they know each other - Pangzi for knowing how Wu Xie would react to leaving Chen Wenjin, and Wu Xie for knowing Pangzi did that. Wu Xie isn’t entirely convinced yet - but he knows Pangzi’s right. What finally gets him to cave is Xiaoge and realising that his wishes for everyone to be alive and well aren’t realistic. Take notes everyone, this is going to be a recurring theme. By omitting some of his thought processes and just shortening the interaction, I think it paints Wu Xie as just indecisive rather than a principled but still rational person.

Just a short line that spells out their changed dynamic that was cut. This occurs when a sinkhole opens in the water and Xiaoge’s stuck:

We didn't manage to keep an eye on Menyouping just now. To tell the truth, it had always been him who was protecting us, and we weren't used to taking care of him yet.

Sure, this can be inferred from context, but why cut it? It’s not that redundant, is it?

Finally, there’re just a few smaller changes that frustrate me because, again, they make the characters feel a bit dumbed down.

“You may be right,” Fats admitted, “but what the hell is that?” He jerked his chin in the direction of his flashlight. Something was floating up from the middle of the pit. Fats reached out and grabbed at it.

There’s a missing line here. Pangzi warned to stay away, Wu Xie grabbed Xiaoge and instinctively backed off, Pangzi shone his lamp at it before seeing what it was then grabbing it.

“We’re dead, Fats. We can’t win against this monster,” I said. (c.25)

This isn’t general pessimism in the original. He's specifically telling Pangzi to not waste his energy trying to shoot the snake because they knew the gun was useless against even snakes smaller than it. Yes, earlier in the chapter Wu Xie does think to himself that they’re done for, but what he actually voices is very specific and driven by logic rather than emotions.

#dmbj books #daomu biji #dmbj #iron triangle #wu xie #zhang qiling #wang pangzi

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cimerran-714 · 3 years ago

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Hello! I hope you're doing well. The purpose of this short "composition" is to closely analyze some of the key H/Hr moments in the books (I haven't watched all the movies, so you won't find anything about the films here).

And I know it should be obvious, but I seriously don't mind the R/Hr or H/G ship. It's none of my business. So please refrain from taking anything out of context/misappropriate the things I say. I mean absolutely no offence to any Canon pairings.

Even if you don't ship them, I'm sure you can't deny that both Harry and Hermione have an incredibly close platonic relationship together. I've heard people narrate some of the "finest" H/Hr moments while explaining why they're fit to be soulmates. There's a high probability that you'd come across them when talking to a H/Hr shipper. However, there are a few scenes in the books (which, in retrospect, are really 'sweet') I haven't heard others talk about often.

In this essay, I'd like to share some of the best scenes in the Potter books, immediately followed by an underrated moment.

Let's dig in.

Best moment:

The hug in Philosopher's/Sorceror's Stone.

Ah, isn't it obvious? This is certainly one of the finest moments that kickstarts the strong dynamic between Harry and Hermione. I really like this scene. It's powerful on a number of levels.

Romione shippers tend to provide a parallel to exemplify the attraction between the remaining members of the Golden Trio (Hermione apologizing about Scabbers and sobbing onto Ron's shoulders). But in my eyes, there's certainly something different about her hugging Harry.

Firstly, we've got to consider the context. When Hermione embraced Ron, it happened on the second page of a different chapter. On the contrary, anything that occurs at the end of any chapter/book sticks in our minds for a long time.

I'm going off on a tangent here, just to make sure you get the point. This trope (though I'm not sure I can it that) happens a lot of times in the Harry Potter books.

A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs. Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles, nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley... He couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter -- the boy who lived!"

This scene hits home for a lot of reasons.

Look, most of us can't help feeling sorry for Harry here. His parents are dead, which (as McGonagall claimed) is a horrible thing to have happened. We've also seen at the beginning of the book that the Dursleys hate the Potters.

It's distressing to realize that a one-year-old is about to be raised by a family who doesn't like him at all.

And the fact that the entire wizarding world is celebrating Volde... sorry, You-Know-Who's downfall, while the boy sleeps on innocently (without any knowledge of what's just happened), is even more saddening. No, he simply couldn't know what'd happened to his life, that witches and wizards all over the country are toasting him.

It's bittersweet.

Moving on:

Deciding that he'd worry about the Hogsmeade form when he woke up, Harry got back into bed and reached up to cross off another day on the chart he'd made for himself, counting down the days left until his return to Hogwarts. Then he took off his glasses and lay down; eyes open, facing his three birthday cards.

Extremely unusual though he was, at that moment Harry Potter felt just like everyone else -- glad, for the first time in his life, that it was his birthday.

This is, yet again, another 'Aww' moment at the end of a chapter. How can you not feel sorry for Harry? Most thirteen-year-olds have already enjoyed a lot of birthdays in the past. But for him, it's something new.

He's glad that it's his birthday for the first time. If I didn't know better, JKR wants us to sympathize with Harry.

And here's a final example:

Harry spun around to see Hermione pointing her wand at Ron, her expression wild: the little flock of birds was speeding like a hail of fat golden bullets toward Ron, who yelped and covered his face with his hands, but the birds attacked, pecking and clawing at every bit of flesh they could reach.

"Gerremoffme!" he yelled, but with one last look of vindictive fury, Hermione wrenched open the door and disappeared through it. Harry thought he heard a sob before it slammed.

I do feel for Ron, getting attacked by a flock of birds was certainly uncalled for. But don't you get the point? The "sob" momentarily diverts our attention towards Hermione.

"Poor Ron, that must have hurt... oh, dear, Hermione's crying."

I think you know what I'm talking about. It's the same thing that happened when Hermione embraced Harry and called him a "Great wizard."

Yes, the H/Hr hug doesn't occur at the last line or anything, but it's certainly just a page before the chapter ends.

"But Harry -- what if You-Know-Who's with him?"

"Well -- I was lucky once, wasn't I?" said Harry, pointing at his scar. "I might get lucky again."

Hermione's lip trembled, and she suddenly dashed at Harry and threw her arms around him.

"Hermione!"

"Harry -- you're a great wizard, you know."

"I'm not as good as you," said Harry, very embarrassed, as she let go of him. "Me!" said Hermione. "Books! And cleverness! There are more important things -- friendship and bravery and -- oh Harry -- be careful!"

That's one reason why it's meaningful!

Also, note that Harry's just about to face the 'Big Bad' (at a moment when 'Danger lies ahead of them and safety lies behind'). No one's noticed them hugging, too.

And it wasn't in front of the Portrait Hall or anything, either.

It was deep beneath the ramifications of the castle. It was (probably) around midnight, too.

The situation (arguably, the fate of the wizarding world rests on Harry's shoulders now).

The dialogue ("You're a great wizard, you know" instead of "I'm so sorry about Scabbers")

The atmosphere (It was late at night).

The fact that they were just kids.

All of these make the hug so powerful.

Oh, and it was the first book in the series. 2- Underrated moment:

Harry (and yes, Ron too) saving Hermione from the troll.

What's interesting here is:

1- Harry was the one who immediately thought of Hermione after Dumbledore ordered the Prefects to take everyone to their dormitories (Not Ron).

2- Harry isn't smug about having just saved a stranger's life.

A stranger, moreover, who was considered "interfering".

On the other hand, Ron is a little git.

They passed different groups of people hurrying in different directions. As they jostled their way through a crowd of confused Hufflepuffs, Harry suddenly grabbed Ron's arm.

"I've just thought -- Hermione."

"What about her?"

"She doesn't know about the troll."

Ron bit his lip.

"Oh, all right," he snapped. "But Percy'd better not see us."

It's pretty obvious that, if given the choice, Ron would rather not go after the girl he'd teased in class.

Harry then did something that was both very brave and very stupid: He took a great running jump and managed to fasten his arms around the troll's neck from behind. The troll couldn't feel Harry hanging there, but even a troll will notice if you stick a long bit of wood up its nose, and Harry's wand had still been in his hand when he'd jumped - it had gone straight up one of the troll's nostrils.

Harry's saving both of their lives here (while endangering his own).

Remember that he's only eleven.

"We should have gotten more than ten points," Ron grumbled.

"Five, you mean, once she's taken off Hermione's."

"Good of her to get us out of trouble like that," Ron admitted. "Mind you, we did save her."

"She might not have needed saving if we hadn't locked the thing in with her," Harry reminded him.

Ron thinks they were doing Hermione a favour. Harry, however, is a tad more level-headed. And sensible.

Also, it's somewhat of a stretch, but I believe it proves the point that Harry's true nature is like his mother's (James Potter had boasted around after he saved Snape's life).

Yes, I know it's such a cliche, but Harry is pure at heart.

3-Best moment:

The "mythical" Hippogriff ride:

Now, I've personally never thought much of it. It's a good chapter, yes, but bringing animals into a Shipping war is just... meh.

It's the trust that Harry had in Hermione (when she pulled out the Time turner) that interests me.

Anyhow, it's a pretty common argument posed by H/Hr fans.

Quoting from Wikipedia:

In some traditions, the hippogriff is said to be the symbol of love, as its parents, the mare and griffin, are natural enemies. In other traditions, the hippogriff represents Christ's dual nature as both human and divine.

It occurred in the wee hours of the morning, so I suppose it does have a slightly "mythological" (I can't think of a better word) feel to it.

Again, I'm not sure I can call it my favourite part of the book, especially as Hermione wasn't enjoying riding on Buckbeak.

Underrated moment:

Having fun talking about Filch and Madam Pince.

Enjoying the fact that they could speak normally again, they made their way along the deserted lamp-lit corridors back to the common room, arguing whether or not Filch and Madam Pince were secretly in love with each other.

For Romione shippers who believe that Harry and Hermione are "boring" together, it's a rude awakening.

No, the "arguing" doesn't mean they were actually in a disagreement. It's clear that both of them were having fun.

Enjoying their time, in fact.

It's one of the few 'Harmony' scenes in Half-blood Prince.

I do not believe that either of them was consciously aware of their feelings towards each other, either.

And if it's just a coincidence that they were enjoying talking about being in love, it's certainly a bizarre one.

4-Best moment:

Visiting Godric's Hollow together

"'The last enemy that shall be defeated is death'..." A horrible thought came to him, and with a kind of panic. "Isn't that a Death Eater idea? Why is that there?"

"It doesn't mean defeating death in the way the Death Eaters mean it, Harry," said Hermione, her voice gentle. "It means... you know... living beyond death. Living after death."

But they were not living, thought Harry. They were gone. The empty words could not disguise the fact that his parents' moldering remains lay beneath snow and stone, indifferent, unknowing. And tears came before he could stop them, boiling hot then instantly freezing on his face, and what was the point in wiping them off or pretending? He let them fall, his lips pressed hard together, looking down at the thick snow hiding from his eyes the place where the last of Lily and James lay, bones now, surely, or dust, not knowing or caring that their living son stood so near, his heart still beating, alive because of their sacrifice and close to wishing, at this moment, that he was sleeping under the snow with them.

Hermione had taken his hand again and was gripping it tightly. He could not look at her, but returned the pressure, now taking deep, sharp gulps of the night air, trying to steady himself, trying to regain control. He should have brought something o give them, and he had not thought of it, and every plant in the graveyard was leafless and frozen. But Hermione raised her wand, moved it in a circle through the air, and a wreath of Christmas roses blossomed before them. Harry caught it and laid it on his parents' grave.

As soon as he stood up he wanted to leave: He did not think he could stand another moment there. He put his arm around Hermione's shoulders, and she put hers around his waist, and they turned in silence and walked away through the snow, past Dumbledore's mother and sister, back toward the dark church and the out-of-sight kissing gate.

If it was intended to be a totally platonic visit, why a pose that's very romantic? Also, as someone else had mentioned in their blog, Harry rarely (if never) initiates physical contact with anyone.

There's also a kissing gate present in the Church.

It seems as if JKR has got a flair for writing co-incidences that further cement the H/Hr relationship.

Underrated moment:

Ernie Macmillion's change of heart:

This is simply beautiful, and even more so as Macmillion was aware that Harry can speak Parseltongue (an ability commonly associated with Dark Wizards).

What happens when students are mysteriously turning into stone, and you figure out that one of them was "egging on" a snake during a duelling club? A boy, moreover, who dislikes the Muggles he lives with? Someone who managed to defeat Lord Voldemort himself?

Hmm...

The logical conclusion would be that Harry's got a hand in it. Ernie believed that Harry Potter was the one Petrifying everyone, even a few weeks/months after the attacks stopped.

What takes the Hufflepuff to bring him to his senses?

The fact that Harry would never harm his Muggle-born friend.

I know it's a little thing, but it shows that the whole school (indeed, Ernie belonged to a different House) was aware of how close Harry and Hermione were together.

Note that he'd apologized immediately after a double-attack.

"Harry, harm Hermione Granger? Impossible!"

Macmillian was the one being paranoid, and told tales about Harry to Hannah Abbot.

And yet a single thing changed his mind completely.

To wind up, I'mma give you another part from the first book:

It was as though an iron fist had clenched suddenly around Harry's heart. Over the rustling of the trees, he seemed to hear once more what Hagrid had told him on the night they had met: "Some say he died. Codswallop, in my opinion. Dunno if he had enough human left in him to die." "Do you mean," Harry croaked, "that was Vol-" "Harry! Harry, are you all right?" Hermione was running toward them down the path, Hagrid puffing along behind her.

What's noteworthy is that Hermione apparently doesn't care about staying close to Hagrid and protecting herself. She's so worried about what's happened to Harry that she's rushing along in front of Hagrid.

Throughout the books, you can see Harry being protective of Hermione.

The feeling's mutual ;)

#harry potter #harry x hermione #hermione granger #shipping dynamics

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djarrex · 4 years ago

Text

Countermeasures || 3

Anomaly

Fives x ofc!reader

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Rating: 18+ only

Word Count: 5.7k

chapter summary: Agreeing to help Fives proves to be both good and bad.

warnings: canon character death, a sprinkle of fluff (Fives can be soft but we all know he’s quite the opposite in the right contexts 😉), a dash of sexual tension, a dollop of groping, tons of inappropriate thoughts - lordy lord get some cold water splashed on them

note: I broke away from including Fives’ POV in this chapter. It may come back in the future, idk yet. This is the first real series I’ve written and I’m extremely grateful for the pals I’ve met on here who reblog and like my work <3 Tbh I’m having a ton of fun writing this because not only does it give me an excuse to watch the conspiracy arc a bunch of times for the details but I also get to write about Renna and Fives and I love them both and I just want them to fuck already.

***

This was crazy. How did you of all people end up in a situation such as this.

By “this”, you were referring to the strong embrace you were trapped in - the ARC trooper you’re shamefully crushing on being the captor.

No, you definitely were not complaining.

After agreeing to help him, Fives you pulled into his body, his strong arms finding their way around your back holding you steady. Large palms nearly covered the expanse of your back, the heat from his skin burning holes right through your outer layers and into your flesh. Your face was practically smushed into his broad chest, your arms dangling awkwardly at your sides. The weight of Fives’ chin was pressing into your scalp. So many thoughts were swimming in your head as Fives held you as tight as he could without hurting you.

He was... hugging you. To be completely honest, you thought the two of you would fuck - or at least do something along those lines - before he hugged you. It was the energy he possessed that led you to that conclusion, but you were proven wrong.

You didn’t fight it - you knew how much it meant to him. These clones - these soldiers - were covered in plastoid from head to toe all day every day throughout their unfortunately short lives, and you figured they must be at least somewhat touch-starved. The way Fives held you was different than you thought he was capable of. You weren’t naïve; you knew the clones took off their armor at certain points, and hey, you knew that they even would have sex in their short spurts of time off. You read reports on clones who had contracted STD’s from their adventurous endeavors and were sent here to be treated. Even though they were created in a lab for the sole purpose of fighting in this ridiculous war, they were still men.

You wanted to keep up some at least some semblance of professionalism - to not touch Fives back, because quite honestly your body wanted more - but your heart started aching, and your body acted against your brain as your arms returned the embrace.

Fives was thick. The clones as a whole aren’t huge men; they aren’t fed nearly enough - that much you knew - and are relatively slim with a very low percentage of body fat compared to all the muscle they were designed to have. They’re not that much taller than you, either. However, you’ve never held a clone before. Fives’ back was like a bag of ropes; hard, thick, and you felt every single muscle so beautifully poking out of his skin even through the tunic. You allowed your hands to splay out over his back - to really feel him. You were completely lost in this moment, but you heard it - barely noticeable, but you heard it - Fives inhaled quietly through his nose, taking in your hair’s scent. You knew deep down that he didn’t mean for you to notice him smelling your hair, so you didn’t mention it. Butterflies flapped around in your stomach - then the butterflies quickly floated away and that feeling was exchanged with pure lust; the fire in your belly burning hot with desire.

You don’t know how long you held each other, but you needed to break away from him and get back to the matters at hand. You agreed to help him, and that’s what you’ll do. Maybe he’ll be so thankful for your help he’ll “hug” you again later.

“You do you have a plan, right, mister ARC trooper?” Breaking away from his embrace, you tried to shake your mind clear of any thoughts that didn’t include Tup.

“Of course I have a plan!” Fives’ tone suggested he was attempting to play off what had just happened, and it was cute. He walked over to the darkened window and kept his back turned to you. Perhaps he was trying to clear his thoughts as well. You wouldn’t know, but Fives was barely breathing in through his nose so that your scent lingered in his nostrils for as long as possible.

“Care to share?” You called to him, and Fives paused for a few moments before responding.

“Are you able to access all the equipment without the supervision of the long-necks?” He finally turned around, his brows raised. You blinked at him, just a little dumbfounded and slightly offended.

“Yes, Fives. Maker, I know how to work the kriffing equipment. I don’t need a babysitter.” You rolled your eyes then squinted them at him, crossing your arms to your chest with a huff.

“That’s not what I meant,” Fives chuckled as he approached you once again and placed a hand on your shoulder. “I meant, are you going to get in trouble if you’re working alone in there?” His gaze bore into you, making you feel slightly uneasy. Yeah, you knew how to work everything, of course. But this was all new territory for you; working - unauthorized – on a patient who wasn’t yours, performing an atomic brain scan unsupervised, breaking protocol…

“I- I’m not actually sure. I’ve never been explicitly told to not touch anything without them being there? I think it will be okay. It’s just that- that Dr. Nala Se said no to the scan. I don’t think she’ll like that I went behind her back and did it anyway. Although… I want to try everything in my power to save your friend.”

“Right. Then let’s get to it.”

“I’m sorry - let’s? You’re coming too? That doesn’t seem like a good-”

“It’ll be fine,” Fives quickly interjected. His confident tone faded with the next part: “Please. I want to be there - be there for Tup.” There they were again, those puppy dog eyes that get you every time. You doubt Fives even knows he’s doing it, but he had to catch on by now because you basically have never said no to him in the few short days you’ve known him. Your attraction to him made you break over and over again; this time was no different.

“Okay, fine. But you need to stay hidden.”

“I’m ‘Mr. ARC Trooper’, remember? I’ve been trained in the arts of being sneaky.” Wiggling his fingers and brows at you with a cheeky grin, you laughed and punched him in the shoulder. His grin only grew.

“Yeah whatever. Just follow me.”

You were the first to exit Fives’ room, peeking your head just outside the door to get a feel of the surrounding area. No guards in sight at the moment, so now was the perfect time to go.

“Quickly,” you stepped outside the room, motioning with your hand for Fives to follow. It didn’t take long to get next door, of course.

You pressed the controls on the panel and the door whisked opened; you shooed Fives in first. As soon as he entered, two guards came around the corner. You obviously didn’t want to look like you were doing something you weren’t supposed to, so you put on your best smile and nodded to the oncoming troopers. They nodded back and turned at the next corridor that led away from Tup’s room.

You stood there for a moment, just outside the room - thinking. You were obviously crazy, no doubt about that. You were breaking protocol, and basically risking your internship and everything you had worked for up to this point for Fives (and Tup). It was the right thing to do, right? Your insane crush on the ARC trooper aside, you were going through with all of this because it was the right thing to do. It definitely wasn’t right that the Kaminoans wanted to kill Tup off without entertaining more options and trying other procedures. It all seemed very… weird. As doctors, wouldn’t they want to try every possible way to find a solution without skipping over it all and just killing him? Although, why waste more time and resources when the “obvious” solution was to terminate him and find the answers through an autopsy? Maybe you should give it more time – Shaak Ti could be back soon with the Jedi Council’s backing. Maybe it wasn’t too late to back out – to turn around and coax Fives back into his room before you were both caught.

The moment was over when Fives’ hand reached out to grab your wrist, unceremoniously pulling you into the room. You nearly tripped as he yanked you inside, a murmured “hey!” subconsciously rolled off your tongue at the rough pull.

“Sorry, Renna.” He shut the door behind you, giving you an apologetic smile. “Did- did I hurt you? Sometimes I forget my own strength... I’m not used to manhandling pretty and delicate things.” Okay, let’s push that comment aside and table it for later on when you’re alone in your quarters.

Fives reached out to examine your wrist but you flapped your hands at him, “Really, I’m okay. Seriously.” You weren’t lying - it didn’t hurt. If you told him the absolute truth, you would tell him how you wished he’d manhandle you in other ways.

“Alright. Let’s get to work.”

Knowing how quickly you had to work for this entire plan to play out smoothly, you immediately made your way over to the controls and started tapping away. You turned your head to check on Fives – to see how he was planning on participating – and he was just frozen in place standing over Tup’s cot. Tup was still unconscious; his chest rising and falling rapidly in his comatose, shut eyelids flickering back and forth.

“Fives, push him over there.” You pointed at the scanner on the other side of the room with your back still turned as you tapped away at the screens, prepping the equipment. With one last tap of the screen, the scanner descended from the ceiling and Fives pushed Tup’s cot into it.

Tup’s chest rose and fell at an alarming rate, compelling you to consider - again - about turning back and aborting this plan altogether.

Fives came around the other side of the scanner where you watched the infrared picture of Tup’s brain from display screen, snapping you out of the thought.

“The scan’s almost complete.”

Fives moved in front of you and leaned closer to the screen, you shuffled to the side to give him to space. Your eyes unglued from the screen for just a moment to watch Fives; he was desperate. The look in his eyes told you that much, and his stance wasn’t as strong and sure as it always seemed to default to.

Your focus made way back to the screen. “Everything… appears to be normal.” Just as you said that the screen starting beeping; a red dot was blinking, pinpointing an anomaly in Tup’s brain.

“W- wait a second.” You softly pushed Fives out of the way and read the results displayed on the screen.

“What? What is it, Ren?” Your heart skipped a beat at the sound of his little nickname for you, but there were more important things currently at hand. You can freak out about the way he says your name like that later.

“It looks like Tup has developed a tumor.” Your fingers started tapping away yet again. You’ve never seen a tumor in clones before. To be fair, you had never worked with clones like this before, but you’ve seen more than enough of their files to know that a tumor wasn’t exactly something that could just appear in a clone.

“A tumor? Is that even possible?”

“I’ve never seen anything like this in clones. Not in any of the files.” You ceased tapping, turning around to face Fives. His hand raked through his hair, a pure look of confusion and worry on his face.

“Then… what is it?”

“I honestly don’t know. I’ll need to do a biopsy to be sure.” With a nod, you offered a reassuring smile. “It’ll be okay, Fives. We’ll get this straightened out, and you and Tup will be off this stormy planet and back to your brothers in no time.” You weren’t sure you even believed your words.

“You’re gonna take it out of him?” Before you could answer, Fives whacked the tools all over the ground with one graceless hand movement. Your eyes widened as he bent down to grab at the mess. “Do you, uh, think anyone heard that?”

You raised your brow at him, and with a sarcastic tone, “The probability is high, yes.” You sighed. “You need to hide.”

Smacking his hands away as he continued to pick up the mess, you hissed, “Fives, hide.”

“I think it came from this room.” You both shot up; you ran over and pushed Tup out of the tube and started to power it down at the controls as Fives took cover under Tup’s floating cot. Interesting that an ARC Trooper chose that as a hiding place.

The door whisked opened. Nala Se stood at the entrance, looking around. Her bug-eyes landed right on you, then glanced over to Tup.

“Hello, Doctor.” Your tone was astonishingly calm despite the absolute terror currently running through your system.

“What do you think you’re doing?” She entered through the threshold and made her way over to Tup, assessing his condition with a scowl.

“I was only trying to save the patient,” You informed her, keeping your tone calm and professional. You were ignored, however. Apparently, Fives was not so great at cleaning up his messes, because one leftover syringe sat on the ground right below the Kaminoan’s heels. She reached down to grab it, and your heart started racing. You blurted out, “Doctor, I found something unusual in the scan. It appears to be a tumor… I think you should take a look-”

“You performed a second scan without my authorization?” Nala Se stood upright; the forgotten syringe grasped in her three slender fingers. How did she not see Fives down there? Uh oh… where did he go?

Your heart rate slowed. “Apologies, Doctor. I was only trying to-”

“Perhaps I made the mistake in assuming you’d be ready to work with the clones.” Nala Se turned around to shut off the remaining equipment; machines began powering off as they whirled back in place and Tup’s cot moved back to where it was before you started. One of the larger machines floated away, leaving Fives completely exposed. Ah, so that’s where he went. Your eyes widened as you looked between Fives’ shocked expression and Nala Se, who was still turned around and tapping at the controls. As much as you dreaded pressing further on, you needed to buy Fives enough time to make an escape back to his own room.

“But- but the tumor, Doctor. It seems to be blocking neuro-impulses from communicating with the brain. I think we should scan the rest of the clones to see if this is a problem with their base genetic model or a mutation with the current models.” The machines were all now back in place; you scanned the room with your eyes, hoping to not catch a glimpse of Fives.

“There is no tumor. Your scan is incorrect.” Nala Se departed the control panel, ambling over to the other side of the room. You really hope Fives had fled by now. Might as well keep on pressing, though. It did interest you that the Kaminoan doctor was so avidly trying to disregard what you were saying about a tumor. That was a thread you figured you should follow.

“But-”

“This clone clearly has a virus that remains undetected, but I will find the cause once he’s terminated.” You followed Nala Se until she reached Tup’s cot, her back turned to the exit. “Now leave. I’ll figure out what to do with you later.”

“Yes, Doctor.” You turned on your heels and walked out the already open door. You turned your head to watch Nala Se; she was still standing over Tup, but you were unsure of what she was doing. Something really didn’t seem right with this. You nearly crashed into Fives in the hall as you departed Tup’s room.

“I can’t believe they’re going to kill Tup!” Fives shouted in disbelief after you both had made your way back into his room and shut the door. Fives shoved the empty cot to the other side of the room, clearly frustrated.

“I know. I’m sorry, Fives.” All you could offer was a sincere apology. It didn’t seem like a great idea at present to bring up how you thought the entire ordeal with Nala Se seemed fishy.

“We were not created to be disposed of this way!” He slammed his fists on the cot, an action that seemed to be fueled by rage, but his eyes told a different story.

“Just- just think of it this way… Tup is sacrificing himself so that other clones like him can survive. Isn’t that something you said he’d want?” You went to reach for him - to offer a gentle reassuring touch - but he backed away.

“There aren’t others like him!” His raised voice prompted you to take a few steps back. You weren’t scared of him, but you understood they he may need some space right now. Maybe it would be best if you retreated to your quarters and called it a day. After all, Nala Se basically sealed your fate by undoubtedly reassigning you to the archives. It probably wasn’t appropriate that you been seen in Fives’ room anymore. Your own selfishness kept you there, though.

“I’m sorry, Ren. I don’t mean to take this out on you, I just-” You allowed yourself to take a few steps towards him. “Tup doesn’t have to die - you found a tumor. I’m sure that’s the cause of all this. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”

“But… how can we proceed? Dr. Nala Se basically reassigned me to the archives. I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to be here with you anymore. I could get dismissed, sure, but I have no idea what would happen to you.”

“Do the biopsy. I’m sure what you find will prove Tup doesn’t have to die. Your findings would bump you up in the ‘ranks’ I’m sure, and they would have no reason to send you back to filing paperwork.” A beat. “As for me… I’ll be fine.” You both knew that was a lie. You’ve seen what the Kaminoans have done to “defective” clones. It’s all in the files. It’s inhumane. There was no way you’d let that happen to Fives.

“I’m not so sure…. Dr. Nala Se doesn’t believe-”

“We’re not going to Nala Se with whatever you find. We’ll go to General Shaak Ti. She helped me once as a cadet and I know she values the life of a clone.” Now that, that was the truth.

“Fives… I’d be disobeying direct orders.” At this point, you didn’t care what happened to you if you were to go through with this. Fives was who you were concerned with. Not because of a hopeless crush, but because of his status of patient and you sincerely cared about him.

“Yep, and for the second time today,” He jested. Not funny. You scoffed. “Ren…” There they are, yet again - the puppy dog eyes. Those, paired with how he said your name. You’d break for sure. “Will you help me? Please.”

***

“Hurry!” Fives was hunched over the control panel with you, basically micromanaging you even though he had no idea what it was you were doing.

“Fives, you’re going to have to not rush me. I’m not a droid. Give me a kriffing minute.” Your fingers tapped frantically at the screen, hitting button after button until -

“Intruder alert. Intruder alert. All nonessential personnel report to a safe room for lockdown.”

You stood up straight and grinned over at Fives, who looked a little shocked.

“What did you do?” The alert played over again on the intercom.

“I made it so that the security scanners picked up an intruder in section C-6. We need to hurry, though. I doubt it’ll take them long before they realize it’s a false alarm.”

“They taught you how to hack a security mainframe at the fancy medical academy you attended on Coruscant?”

You rolled your eyes at him, hands on your hips. “Is that really important right now?” Fives chuckled and shook his head. Grabbing his wrist, you stretched your head to look outside the door. “They have guards stationed just outside. How are we going to get over there?” You turned towards Fives, who was pulling away from you and looking up at the ceiling. You followed his gaze, and you knew exactly what he was thinking. “The vents?” You sounded a little shocked, but it really was the only safe way out of there. He tilted his head down to look at you, a smile on his face. You snorted.

“Here, I’ll climb up first and then pull you up.” Your looked over at the door again, making sure you weren’t about to get absolutely busted, and grabbed his dangling hands.

You shook your head with a smirk. “You know, I’m starting to wish I had stayed in the archives,” you jested, as Fives hoisted you up and into the vent with him.

You never realized just how creepy it was up in these vents. To be fair, there wasn’t one moment that you would’ve pictured yourself crawling through them, but here you were. It was dark, every movement you made echoed, and it was freezing cold. You – for some reason – were leading the way, crawling through the cold durasteel tunnel. Fives was silent; he wasn’t making any comments, not cracking any jokes, not even expressing his concern for Tup. It dawned on you: he was totally checking out your ass. You had shed your long lab coat before he pulled you up, knowing that it would be harder to crawl with it tugging under your knees. Fives hadn’t yet seen you without it on… and you knew how good your ass looked in the leggings you wore. With a slight chuckle to yourself, you stopped crawling for a moment and looked over your shoulder to glance at him to the best of your ability.

“Fives, are you staring at my ass?” You tried to not let your giddiness get in the way of your accusatory whispering, but you found yourself muffling laughter. He didn’t reply right away – probably trying to think up a comeback or a way to wiggle himself out of the subject.

“Fuck yeah I am,” he murmured back, sounding as cocky as ever. You bit your lip and shook your head, resuming the crawl towards the oncoming exit vent. “I don’t exactly have anything else to look at from back here, you know. I got quite a nice view, so, no complaints.” Your face heated up at his smug comment, resisting the urge to shake your ass for him – to really give him a good view. Now was not the time.

You crawled past the vent so Fives could hop down first; he plopped onto the floor, graceful and stealthy as ever, before standing directly under the vent with his arms held out.

“Common, I’ll catch you.” It really wasn’t a long way down; you’d land just fine, though probably not as gracefully as he did.

“Uh, okay…” You lowered your legs out from the ceiling, keeping your grip on the cool metal for a moment while you steadied yourself. “Fives, I think I got it. I can just hop down like th-” Your grip from the ceiling slipped, sending you down and nearly hitting the floor in the worst way possible, when strong arms found their way under your ass and back.

Fives just saved you from breaking a bone or two, and all you could do was blink up at him as his hand slightly squeezed the plushy part of your ass, the other hand gripped tightly on your waist. Maybe he thought you wouldn’t notice the way he was savoring holding you like that, but you did. And you liked it.

“Nice to look at and feels nice, too.” Fives grinned at you before setting you down on your feet. He definitely shouldn’t be talking about how your ass looks and feels right now with his friend lying nearly dead on the cot barely an arm’s length away - but, is he was open to making comments such as those during these unsure times, you’d reciprocate. A boost of confidence surged through you.

“Glad you like it, trooper. Maybe some time you can see and feel it without these in the way,” you pulled at your leggings, looking him straight in the eyes with a smirk. Seeing Fives’ expression was well worth making the comment.

“Don’t say things you can’t follow up on, Renna.” His shocked expression quickly flipped to dark, catching you completely off guard and making you gulp. Your entire body felt as if it was on fire as tiny fireworks danced in your gut. There was absolutely no way you’d be able to follow up on your innuendo-filled comment unless you found each other in another life under different circumstances. You needed to shake it out of your system.

Firing up the laser drill, you looked over at Fives and studied his worried expression. He looked so soft, so concerned – it tugged at your heart harder than you cared to admit. His focus remained on Tup until the sound of the drill made him look up.

Your hands were slightly shaking. You felt it, but it didn’t appear to be noticeable. You had never performed a biopsy on a real, living, breathing lifeform before. Everything you had done during your schooling was on the deceased or on medical dummies. You were nervous, but this wasn’t about you. You finally had the chance to save a life. You needed to pull it together.

“Renna, are you okay?” Fives’ voice nearly came out as a whisper. You looked up at his eyes; he was studying you, deeply.

You took a deep breath and nodded with a slow exhale. You turned your attention back to the drill, grabbing Tup’s head and positioning it to where you needed.

“You might want to look away at this part.”

***

You did it. A successful biopsy. Feeling a bead of sweat threatening to fall from your hairline, you wiped it away with your arm and looked up at Fives who still had his eyes squeezed shut.

“Is it done?” The absent sound of the drill encouraged him to open his eyes. You held up the tumor, encased in a transparent casing. You handed it to Fives; he studied it closely, bringing it up to his face with a sigh. The moment was over when the door whisked open.

“What have you done?” Dr. Nala Se came into the room; Fives didn’t appear frightened, but you sure as fuck were.

“We saved my friend’s life.” Fives whipped around to face the “long-neck” - as he calls them - holding up the tumor in an accusing manner towards her, “This tumor is the cause of his illness.” She reached out and tried to grab the encased organic matter, but Fives maintained a hard grip as they fought for it.

“Give me that!” Nala Se looked angrier than you had ever seen her. You ran up to them, trying to stop something before it started.

“You can’t be trusted.” Fives reached down to Tup’s cot with his free hand, grabbing a mysterious syringe, and held it up in a threatening manner. You reached your hands up to stop him, but Shaak Ti’s sudden arrival did the job for you.

“Stand down, trooper.” She stood at the doorway with her hand outstretched. Jedi didn’t need to hold a weapon; you knew what they could do with just one outstretched hand in the blink of an eye. You’ve never seen it in action, but you’ve heard stories.

Fives dropped the hand holding the syringe but kept hold of the tumor with his other. “I have evidence. It’s right here!” He sounded desperate. This looked way too bad. You were caught right in the middle of it all, too.

“I’m free…” A weak voice croaked from the cot, making all the heads in the room turn in the same direction. Tup. Fives let go of the tumor and whipped his body around to face his friend, crouching down next to Tup and leaned in close.

“Tup?”

“The mission… free.”

“What is he saying?” Shaak Ti entered through the threshold, a few guards flowing in from behind her with their blasters aimed at Fives.

“Brother, what mission?” It was apparent that Fives was trying to understand what was coming from Tup’s mouth, and could not care less that his own kind were holding weapons to him. It had been the first time anyone had heard Tup speak words that didn’t sound like “kill” and “Jedi” since his arrival.

“You… you know the one. The- the mission, the one in our dreams…” Fives’ wide eyes scanned over his friend, searching for a clue, for anything. “…that never ends.”

You were frozen in your spot, taking in Tup’s bewildering words. You watched Fives’ expression as he frantically tried to decipher what Tup was murmuring. You glanced up from them, seeing the guards' buckets turn to look back and forth at each other. The mission - the one from their dreams?

“Oh, brother…” Tup’s hand lifted to the best of its ability; Fives grabbed it with his own and squeezed. This moment was so raw, so emotional, so real. You never would have thought…

“This is the end. Forget the mission.” Tup was fading away. You could hear it in his voice, and you knew that Fives knew what was coming. It looked as though Fives was holding back tears – trying to keep his composure. “Oh, the nightmare. I’m… free.” With that, Tup was gone.

You scanned the room. Shaak Ti bowed her head, hand over her heart. The other clones lowered their weapons down to their sides, heads bowing. Nala Se, however, remined the same. Her expression never changed. Heartless Kaminoans.

Fives was shaking his friend’s body, begging him to come back. “I thought I saved him…” You didn’t know what to do now. Tup was gone, and it was your fault. He was alive until you removed the tumor. Fives was in pain – mourning for his brother because of you. You took a few steps back, and leaned against the counter, your fingers combing through your scalp. Not only did you disobey direct orders twice today, but you also killed the very first lifeform you did a biopsy on, and to top that off, the patient you killed was important - a brother - to someone you deeply cared about.

***

Fives was placed under arrest just shorty after. Tup’s body wasn’t even cold yet.

You stood there in silence; Fives locked eyes with yours as he was almost forcefully escorted out of the room by the surrounding guards. It was clear that both of you were trying to communicate with the other using only your eyes, but no distinct message was coming across. You wanted to tell him you were so sorry for everything, and that you’d miss him, that you’d never forget him and Tup, and that meeting him changed your view of the clones entirely. But, there were no final goodbyes, no condolences given. Fives would be taken away, and you would be dismissed. You’ll miss Fives with all your heart, but you won’t miss Kamino.

General Shaak Ti followed behind the guards, leaving you in the macabre room with Dr. Nala Se and Tup’s lifeless body. It was silent for a moment before Nala Se looked over to you, shaking her head in disbelief. You were in big trouble.

“Miss Renna,” the long-neck approached slowly, closing the gap between where you were hunched forward over the counter resting on your elbows and where she was covering Tup’s body with a sheet. “I can not condone this type of behavior from an intern. I have no choice but to reassign you to your previous duties in the archives indefinitely.” You were not at all surprised. You nodded slowly, still not looking up at her. You felt numb. Only three days into real field experience, and you fucked up royally. You didn’t need to help Fives, resulting you in ending up in whatever this is. It was interesting that you weren’t dismissed like you’d assume you would be – just reassigned. The thing with Dr. Nala Se acting weird when Tup’s tumor came into play still was on the front of your mind; perhaps you would be able to look into these matters during your long, boring hours in the archives.

Finally looking up at Nala Se, “What… what is going to happen to my patient?” The words nearly came out choked as you tried to hide your worry for Fives. You needed to keep up the front – the professionality of it – so no suspicion would arise. She was scrolling through a datapad, clutching the tumor in her three fingers. The tumor. You tried to study it from afar - what it looked like, the coloring, how the cells neighbored inside it. It looked... dead. Depleted. You snapped your eyes away and over at the dead trooper, whose body was now completely covered by a thin sheet, when Nala Se spoke again.

“Do not worry about ARC-5555. It will be taken care of, so we can put this matter behind us. Just be thankful I didn’t dismiss you, Miss Renna. You are too valuable to replace with some other eager intern.”

Valuable? ‘It’? Taken care of?

“I am thankful, Doctor. I appreciate everything you’ve done for me.” You were motioned to exit the room; as you walked by Nala Se, you caught one last glance at the tumor, attempting to burn the image of it in your brain and commit it to memory. There was something about the tumor – something that prompted strange behavior from the Kaminoans – and you needed to figure out what that something was.

***

tags: @bvcketfvcker @deewithani @chromia7567 @cyaniderainfall

#djarrex writes #countermeasures series #arc trooper fives x reader #arc trooper fives x oc #arc trooper fives x you #arc trooper fives smut #fives x you #fives x reader #fives x oc #fives smut #the clone wars fic #the clone wars smut #the clone wars #conspiracy arc #the clone wars conspiracy arc

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gemsofgreece · 4 years ago

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random but I find it a bit uncomfortable when we Greeks, especially someone like you who actually knows about history and is educated, calls Scopje "North Macedonia". Just bc they decided to call themselves like that and our dumb, unpatriotic politicians accepted it, I don't see why we should play along. Macedonia is Greek. Alexander the Great was Greek. Period.

If even we Greeks give in and start calling them like this, then we can't expect foreigners not to do so or not to eventually believe the false historical facts spread by that country. And eventually everyone, even Greeks, will believe that Macedonia or Alexander or whatever else were not Greek.

This thought worries me a lot. But since I live overseas myself, I do try educating foreigners about this.

sorry for the lil rant, but it's not the first time I see Greeks (even on tv!) do that and it is disappointing and saddening to me.

like Turks, Germans, French, British or ppl from any other country would never behave the way Greeks do on such a matter.

Really makes me wonder sometimes what it is that makes us Greeks so unpatriotic. it's somehow like being patriotic equals being a fascist for us, and obviously no one wants that so we just accept everyone else running over us, our history and our culture. (generally speaking, not only about that topic and it's definitely not towards you. just an observation of mine)

anyway again sorry for the rant.

I agree, many Greeks have that belief that any slight patriotic sentiment, even without hatred or any feeling of superiority, automatically makes you a fascist. It frustrates me too.

On the topic of our neighbour country, things are very complicated though. It’s not as easy as to say “There’s no other Macedonia - our politicians betrayed us - I try to educate as many people as I can”.

First of all, Skopje is not a correct term to use either. Skopje is their capital city and if I said “there are Pomak populations in Bulgaria, Northeastern Greece and Skopje”, then the average foreigner would misunderstand that sentence. We Greeks simply use that name for the country in lack of any better alternative and because it is not our job to find one for them.

Of course I dislike the name North Macedonia, however I think it is better in comparison to what was being used till the change. Just because we Greeks used the former official name FYROM, it doesn’t mean foreigners did too. It is very sad but it is the truth. In the absence of Greeks, everybody was calling the country Macedonia. The reason is a) the insane propaganda of the neighbours, b) the weirdness of an acronym used as a country’s name and c) the extremely long and complicated name when said in full. Trust me, everyone called them Macedonia and when a Greek showed up and screamed “it’s FYROM”, they were largely ignored or even ridiculed.

Let alone that FYROM is in truth an even more terrible name than North Macedonia. Remember what it means. Former Yugoslavic Republic of Macedonia. What the hell does that mean? That it was formerly (yugo)slavic but now it is not? And that it was or still is THE Republic of Macedonia, the one!!! You get how this was way worse than North Macedonia? North Macedonia suggests that there is another Macedonia too, a South Macedonia. So the average foreigner who doesn’t know much about Greek or Slavic history may be intrigued by that North specification and look up what the “south” Macedonia is and find out about our region and its inhabitants and history. Also the differentiation between North Macedonia and Macedonia (ours, often called Historical or Aegean Macedonia) may intrigue new people to study the issues of the tensions between the two countries and have an educated opinion on it. This was much less probable to happen when foreigners were expected to call the country FYROM and then they were weirded out, so they would be like “oh just call it Macedonia for short” and they would do that without second thought, without knowing someone else condemns this name as appropriation of history and direct land claim.

Of course, the name North Macedonia is mostly inaccurate as only a small part of the far south of the country is part of the actual Ancient Macedonia. The ideal would be a NO Macedonia name but right now it was not realistic. They would not accept it and they were getting deeply under the influence of Turkey. Albania and Bulgaria are deeply influenced by Turkey, Greece felt it was suicide if she destroyed entirely the relations with North Macedonia and was literally surrounded by Turk friends from all sides. I am sure both sides absolutely loathe every single term in this agreement but politics sometimes work differently than our principles. I don’t like it but I have come to a place that I kind of understand. I hate it but it is better than the absolute nothing we had before.

What I can’t come to terms with is giving in for the nationality and language. That really seems as little other than a big fat betrayal. However, if I try hard to be objective about the situation, I believe neighbours are in a worse place than us in the longterm. Huge tensions often arise inside North Macedonia with like 1/3 of “”””””MaCEdoNIAns”””””” being Albanian and Bulgaria claiming the rest 2/3 are actually Bulgarians. And what is factually the truth, that the “Macedonian” language is basically a Bulgarian dialect just must create a situation of chaos within the country. I wouldn’t find it surprising if the nation feels unsafe. And when a nation feels unsafe, the best way to control it, distract it from the identity confusion and give it a purpose is to feed them with a shitload of propaganda, the kind they would LIKE to hear.

When Slavic populations were pushed north and out of Macedonia by the Greeks during the Balkan Wars and then they became part of what was called South Serbia and then part of Yugoslavia and then Yugoslavia collapsed and their population is a blend of Serb Slavs, Bulgarians, Albanians and apparently there must be Greek Slav origins there too, it is no wonder the nation suffers from identity crisis and is susceptible to brainwashing and propaganda. I suppose they hate the guts of all of us surrounding them. So the claim that Macedonian is a separate ethnicity, unrelated to Greeks, and they are the sole descendants, a claim that was only made in 1935 for the first time, was a desperate way to establish an identity against Slavs and Greeks who surrounded them and with whom they felt entirely disconnected and hostile. I mean, at points in time, they were even denying any Slavic heritage. I think lately things aren’t as bad as they were. Of course, their government remains provocative towards Greece even after the agreement but this is no surprise after Greeks agreed on nationality and language. Currently they have tensions on ethnicity and culture mostly with Bulgarians and Albanians so our issue is somewhere in the back. Some of their youth now says they don’t actually believe they are descendants of Alexander the Great and that was an extreme measure to spite Greece. This was one of the terms of the Prespes agreement after all: that they would stop claiming Greek history and culture. Of course extreme and brainwashed nationalists are alive and well (everywhere) but things are better than they were some years ago IMO. I could be wrong though.

Anyway I get why things happened the way they happened. But of course butchering history is not the solution… but as you see they are not very close at solving anything. That was kinda my answer’s point, not sure it came across right. In the meantime, I have to use this geographic term to be understood and it is a little better than any widely understood alternative.

Context for foreigners: Alexander the Great died about 800 years before the first Slav stepped on Macedonia or any other Greek territory. Macedonians and all other Greeks technically stopped being considered as “ancient” half a millennium before the first Slavs showed up.

#greece #history #modern greek history #Macedonia #anon #mail #foreign affairs

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hotchocolatelovesyou · 4 years ago

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A dumb analysis of OH3 well, of the chapters we have for now by a dumb person (aka me) if you might care idk

Alright. I've finished playing the available chapters for Open Heart. I'm glad I did because I've formed my own opinion. Let me know what you think because I'm curious.

Let's begin with the last sex scene.

It wasn't bad at all but I do understand why people would have found uncomfortable Ethan's proposition. Needless to say, if you don't romance Ethan and you still received such peculiar offer, I understand why you might have laughed at the screen. Pixelberry has a strong, strong, strong, strong preference for him and we all know this. They don't even try to hide it. But they probably have to contractually put every offer for diamond scene and for every LI even if you don't have a relationship with them.*** This connects to their huge preference for Ethan, since he has so much screen time, and well... basically, I'm very sorry for people that don't like dr. Ramsey because I'm sure they say no to him A LOT.

A thing that bothered me was that Ethan proposed something so intimate while still in the hospital. They could have at least went outside or in a more private area. You don't want coworkers or patients to hear this type of things. Especially since Ethan made clear many times that he doesn't mix private life with work. And he fails every time to separate the two things: Harper, MC, the shitty decision. He even made out with MC in his office and I'm sure at a certain point they'll offer a sex scene in there.

Didn't he have a dog? Did they die? Where the fuck is the dog. I ask this because if I remember correctly in the first book he said he had one but no one knows or has seen it. Was he hallucinating? What if he invented it because he was lonely?

I'm joking of course but I really wanna know where his dog is.

There are some "improvements" that I noticed.

Improvements that still need to be improved, that is.

So, they're giving more screen time to our friends. Slightly and slowly but they're doing it. It's still not enough, though.

And they're somewhat changing their personality, I kinda noticed? I'm not sure this is an improvement.

I can't represent people who have other characters as LIs (they are surely paying more attention to them so they'll be more adapt to speak about this, if they agree with me) but Jackie not saying how bad the intern was when she fucking fat-shamed a patient? Yo? Jackie what's going on?

Sienna is becoming slightly more "badass". She's always been a bad bitch, let me be clear, but she's showing her tough side a little bit more. I like it.

Keep in mind that I finished playing OH2 recently, so I still freshly remember her behaviour towards Mitch. In this book, I believe she is the one to have the least screen time of the whole gang.

Elijah is a sweetheart, really. Remember when I said that they're kinda "changing" the characters' personalities? With Elijah they're doing the opposite. They're fully going with sugar and optimism. This might be an unpopular opinion but it's like if he almost doesn't want to see that his boss might be a snake? It's okay though. Keep doing your research babes, I'll punch Bloom. And Ethan.

Bryce. The scalpel jokey has made a mistake. It's one of the few changes I like. Bryce has always been charismatic and confident but we also knew (more or less) that, even if he is obviously a pure talent, some of that confidence is a facade. I like that he, well, fucked up a little because it makes you remember that he's human. And I've always had a crush on Bryce, I mean how could you not. He will jump back on his feet, he always does.

I just wanna go back to Jackie for a moment. I know that some of you might object saying that she is taking care of her intern and being a bitch is not going to help, showing that she's human (the process that's going on with Bryce) too but idk, Jackie not calling you out on your bs? Why would she do that? And it wasn't just a small mistake, the intern already had difficulties with some medical procedures and lacked of some basic respect towards a patient. I don't know, I'm not convinced.

I honestly can't tell who has the least romantic scenes, if Jackie or Raphael.

I know Aurora's stans are laughing at me after reading this.

BUT why isn't Rafael coming to live with us? I mean, why not? What's stopping him?

I really like you Rafael.

Oh btw, if you think that the plot could have been better with Rafael's death, ding dong your opinion is wrong.

I'm happy we cyber-bullied PB about it.

I have another question: if you don't romance neither Bryce or Rafael, why couldn't they be a couple? They'd be so cute together, the Slytherin and Hufflepuff relationship we all need.

Idk, just think about it.

Aurora's stans I didn't forget about you.

How's life? How does it feel to work with your girlfriend's aunt?

This is another unpopular opinion: I don't like dr. Harper. But I'll glady marry her niece.

Who wouldn't marry Aurora, come on now

I feel bad because in the beginning I really didn't like her but now I'd beg her to step on me

Oh wait she's not our gf because PIXELBERRY IS A BITCH

Whatever, I don't care. She will be.

I'll write fanfictions about Aurora and I'll spam them to PB.

She's just so beautiful and perfect djksoso

Sorry, I got carried away.

ANYWAAAAYSSSSS, yeah I have not much to say about her. She's great. Not enough scenes like usual but yeah.

Are Kyra's stans still here?

I have no idea what's going on about Kyra because I let her travel away from that fucking hospital

So I'm not sure. If you asked her to stay, does the story change?

Oh, the thing about changing the characters' personalities obviously applies to Ethan too. To be honest, I'm not that surprised about him breaking the rules for his ideals but coherency is not his strongest suit, is it?

Book 2 was all about being cold and rational and blah blah blah. But he clearly didn't think enough about this. Oh well.

It happens, we've all been in front of a court because we might have fucked a patient's life in one way or another.

But you might have caused trouble to Elijah too man, and THAT'S where I cross the line.

Plus, dr. Harper immediately jumping to fire MC without even knowing if it was them but then admitting that if she'd known it was Ethan, she wouldn't have said shit.

I'm shaking my head. Really bitch? Whatever.

OH AND TOBIAS, RIGHT.

Tobias. I wouldn't exactly pick a diamond scene with him because it would feel like a betrayal (even if I know that other LIs wouldn't care) but I would be so tempted.

I really like him too. I hope PB won't make him a bad guy.

That's it for now. English is not my first language so I apologize for mistakes I didn't notice.

Let me know what you think because I really wanna speak about this book with someone and I hope someone feels the same lol

*** UPDATE: I'm not deleting that particular part just to help you have a better context about what I was thinking ("hey, this scene is coming, are you interested in spending diamonds for it even though it doesn't match the path you're choosing? Our company wants you to and we have to follow their rules") but after a few answers, I've been informed that THEY'RE NOT OBLIGED IN ANYWAY TO OFFER YOU PREMIUM CHOICES WITH LOVE INTERESTS YOU HAVE NOTHING TO DO so yeah, just letting you know lol

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minmotl · 4 years ago

Text

Chapter 67: Tang Fan Carries Sui Zhou Out of Danger & They Stare Into Each Other’s Eyes

Context: Continues from Chapter 66. Yin Yuan Hua has died out of stupidity in the previous chapter. Sui Zhou is now unconscious after taking a blow meant for Tang Fan, and it is up to Tang Fan and Qian San Er to help everyone escape. Some loving pre-relationship gazing into each others’ eyes and face-reddening, Tang Fan having to reassure himself with touch that Sui Zhou is alright and alive, and Sui Zhou being so, so relieved that Tang Fan is safe, even if his safety comes at the expense of himself.

Introduction Post | Masterpost

—

Highlights under the cut

It is chaos in the main hall.

The hand cannons cannot fire consecutively, and every time they use up the gunpowder, they need to make a refill. This takes up time, and the creature is agile, making it difficult to aim for it. It is only too easy to hurt someone if they are careless.

Sui Zhou has already collapsed and is unconscious, so the commanding authority naturally falls on Pang Qi.

Making use of the opportunity while the creature is still blind in one eye, the rest of the Embroidered Uniform Guards rush forward together and drive the weapons in their hands towards its abdomen, but this is no easy feat. In the blink of an eye, numerous people are swept away.

The center of the main hall lies a coffin and this is originally where the owner of Marquis Gong’s tomb rests. The lid of the coffin is heavy and even using both hands to push at it will not necessarily open it. Right now, both of Li Man’s hands are unable to gather strength, so he uses his body to push at the lid instead, but of course the slab does not budge.

However, thanks to the chaotic situation, everyone’s focus is on combatting the beast, and no one has any time to pay him any attention.

The coffin’s center position would originally have made it easy to be embroiled in the thick of the fight, but due to the fact that the flame above was extinguished earlier, light is centered around scattered flame torches. This is so they can more clearly and accurately see the beast’s weaknesses. Everyone is also unconsciously driving the beast to where there is light.

This has instead made it easier for Li Man. The two men that came in with Li Man have already died here. One of them was used by Li Man as a human shield, and the other had his chest pierced with one of the beast’s claws, dying on the spot immediately.

Li Man obviously does not care about their survival. He has all his attention focused on using his torso to push the coffin lid open, and can only hate that he is not quicker enough. Too bad his body has been trussed up like a dumpling, and he also has to constantly keep tabs on the situation around him and prevent the creature from suddenly turning up before his eyes. Frantic, sweat fills his forehead.

However, just because most people are not paying attention to him, doesn’t mean that no one is paying attention to him.

Just as Li Man is about to use all his energy, he’s raised up from the ground by someone behind him, and is directly dumped next to the coffin.

“What are you doing!”

The next moment, his face receives a heavy, hard slap, and the side of his face immediately swells up like that of a pig’s head, just like what he did to Tang Fan not so long ago.

This is indeed karma - what goes around comes around.

Li Man demands furiously, and then when he sees the other’s face clearly, his fury turns into glee, and with slurred speech, he says, “Little xiongdi, don’t hit me! Don’t hit me! You don’t want to die either, do you? I have a way for escape, don’t let anyone else know!”

Qian San Er squints at him in a cautious stare, and then his expression changes. Picking him up, Qian San Er drags Li Man to the side, barely dodging a gust of wind from a swipe of the beast’s tail. There are not only scales on that tail, but they pierce and possess great strength, so getting swept by this is hardly child’s play.

Qian San Er traps him in a corner, then slaps him again, before spitting, “Weren’t you almighty then, why are you such a weakling now? If it wasn’t for you, my shifu and the rest of them wouldn’t have died!”

Li Man is struck so hard that he’s seeing stars, and if it was any other day, he would have fought back. At this point, however, he forces himself to push the anger away, and reveals a twisted smile, “Your shifu and the rest are already dead, but you are still alive. Do you want to die here like they did?”

Qian San Er, “There’s one more beast outside, how do we escape?”

“I have a way, but you have to loosen my ropes first!”

Don’t look at how righteous he pretended to be earlier in front of Tang Fan, saying that he is willing to die for the Sect. He is an ant that is desperate to live. People like Li Man are people who fear death the more they possess. And as long as there is a way to live, he will not let it go.

Since he is afraid of death, then after luring the beast here, how could he not have a backup plan?

Now that Tang Fan is busy checking Sui Zhou’s injuries, Li Man does not have the energy to care about them over here. After interacting with the man a few times, he’s well aware that the other is one of the most intelligent men he’s known. Before, Tang Fan was in the thick of the plot, which is the only reason why he was carelessly tricked. When Tang Fan finally reacts, he surely will be able to see through his petty tricks, and when that time comes, he will truly die without resting in peace.

And so no matter what, Li Man has to take advantage of this opportunity and run first, leaving Tang Fan and the others to tear each other to shreds with the tomb guarding beast.

He believes that with how ferocious and merciless this beast is, everyone here will definitely be massacred. Then, all they have to do is find a way to transport all the treasures out. From then on, they would have freedom under the skies, and fat chance of officials catching them!

Qian San Er is a thief, he’s not from the courts and for Li Man to tempt him, it naturally comes easy to him.

Li Man says, “You knew this from before, I’m the leader of the White Lotus Sect’s He Nan branch. As long as you follow me, you will never have to hide in secret again! You won’t have to be humiliated by the court’s dogs, hurry, loosen the ropes!”

Qian San Er’s suspicion does not go away, but his eyes reveal that he is slowly being tempted, “Tell me first what the escape route is?”

Li Man coldly laughs to himself inside, then says sincerely, “I don’t mind telling you. That coffin has long been dug empty, from underneath it there is a route that leads directly straight towards Luo River, and when we get there, there will naturally be someone there to meet us!”

Qian San Er grabs at his shirt, “You better not lie to me. If the river and the tomb are connected, the water would have long rushed in, I don’t know how to swim!”

“Stupid, who told you it’s connected to the river!”

Just as he’s done speaking, he’s slapped again, so hard that even the teeth at the back of his mouth were nearly struck out with the force.

Qian San Er glares, “You still fucking dare to scold me!”

Li Man, “…”

Tolerating this and swallowing his anger, Li Man says, “Little xiongdi, I am not lying to you. The other end is connected to the river bank, it’s a little far from here but safety is guaranteed.”

Qian San Er is still doubtful, “Didn’t the beasts also swim in from the river? Before I came in, I saw that the tides of the river water were about to rise, by that time, what if the beasts escape and catch up to us?”

Li Man smiles, the expression cold and ruthless, “Did you forget that my people are outside? Both of them are my most trusted men, I’ve long since made proper arrangements, as long as we leave, they will all die here, be it the fucking people or the beasts! The huge treasures and riches from Marquis Gong’s tomb I got others to hide them earlier, you also saw the scattered pieces before. How can the real treasures compare to those dimly shining ones? All you have to do is go with me, and there is only time for you to enjoy wealth and fortune without limits!”

Qian San Er goes ‘oh’, nodding his head.

Li Man’s heart races with anxiety, “You can let me go now, can’t you!”

Qian San Er asks, “What does ‘dimly shining’ mean?”

Li Man almost throws up blood at that moment. He finally knows that this boy has been lying to him from start to end, and it’s likely that he was just tricking him to reveal details (of the escape route). He obviously does not have any intention to release him!

It is a pity that by the time he understands this, it is too late. Qian San Er has already gotten a hold of a dagger, and then ruthlessly stabs at Li Man’s heart!

Li Man’s eyes go wide in disbelief. Until the moment he dies, he is unable to understand why Qian San Er would have wanted to kill him.

Qian San Er retrieves the dagger from Li Man’s chest without hesitation. The other’s blood splatters on his face, and is wiped away along with his tears.

“…Shifu, I’ve finally gotten revenge for you!” he mumbles.

He gets to his feet and yells at Tang Fan and the rest, “Tang-daren, Li Man says there is an exit from inside the coffin towards the Luo River, we don’t have to run outside!”

When everyone hears this, their spirits are reinvigorated. Originally, everyone that there was only one way out, but the door is already blocked. Although they will be able to kill this tomb guarding beast here as long as they use all their strength, but there’s another one keeping guard outside. Thus, everyone was slowly despairing.

However, at this moment, Qian San Er’s words have given them new hope of survival.

Tang Fan shouts, his voice low, “Pang Qi, don’t persist in the fight, fight while you’re retreating!

Within the main hall, wherever the beast’s body sweeps across, its shrill wails echo, and along with it the howling wind. Although it is hurt, everyone else is barely hanging on. The other beast waiting outside, which was supposed to prepare to grab their food from the one inside, is already impatient, and its body shifts inwards slightly. Its blood red eyes stare at the humans in the main hall, and its sharp teeth are revealed.

Pang Qi manages to take a breath and turns back, then shouts with all his strength, “Daren, how his da-ge?!”

“He’ll live!” Tang Fan hauls Sui Zhou onto his back, then runs for the coffin.

Qian San Er has already gone over to push the coffin lid half open, revealing the wooden board underneath. He then peels the wooden board back, and he does see the dark entry way into the hole.

Delighted, Qian San Er shouts at Tang Fan and the rest of them, “Tang-daren, we can go down from here, Li Man didn’t lie to us!”

“Let’s go!” Tang Fan commands, and everyone starts to shift towards the center of the main hall.

Both tomb guarding beasts seem to realise what they’re trying to do, and rush towards them, bringing with them a gust of wind stained with the sharp stench of blood. The one that was hurt is exceptionally insane, and its attacks are stronger than before. Pang Qi and the rest are slowly losing the ability to hold them off. Another Embroidered Uniform Guard is not able to dodge in time and his throat is directly bitten.

Pang Qi is battling uncontrollably, but he doesn’t have any choice. The fighting power on both sides are entirely on different levels.

At this moment, a loud explosion resounds, and even the ground beneath their feet start to sway, shaking so much that everyone is almost unable to stand up straight.

Both beasts were going to attack the rest of them, but after the shock of that, they stop in their tracks for a moment.

Tang Fan’s expression changes slightly. He finally knows what Li Man’s plans were, but he doesn’t have much time to say anything at the moment, and can only shout, “Hurry and go! This place is about to collapse soon!”

Qian San Er ventures down the hole first, then turns around to help Tang Fan. Tang Fan first sends Sui Zhou down, then yells at Pang Qi, “Why aren’t you leaving!”

Pang Qi still wanted to kill the beast while it is still injured, but after the other one came in, he realises that this is an impossible mission. He can only begrudgingly give up and retreat to nearby the coffin. They shift into the hole in the coffin while the beasts are still stunned.

At this point, the entire underground tomb is shaking more and more intensely, and even the walls and the ground are sporting cracks quickly, visible with their naked eyes. Loud bursts of sounds echo one after another, far away and near, and everyone’s ear drums are close to bursting.

The two beasts look around them, stunned, and seeing that Tang Fan and the rest are leaving one by one, they shriek once and make to chase after them. Pang Qi, who is the last one, simply throws his xiuchun blade, slightly interrupting their forward momentum. He then holds onto his shoulder and dives into the coffin.

Behind him, along with the huge crackling and collapsing noises, the main hall’s stone walls fall after exploding, and even the stone piece at the top crashes downwards, heavily slamming on top of the coffin and cutting off the terrifying wails of the beasts.

In the long, narrow passage, everyone’s breaths are harsh. The sound of the explosions seems very far away, but the underground passage is also affected and keeps shaking endlessly. Above their heads, loose pieces of rock constantly drop, and some of the bigger ones can make anyone’s head bleed.

“Hurry, any later this place might collapse!” Tang Fan urges the rest of them to walk faster.

Qian San Er is at the front, carrying Sui Zhou on his back as he walks, while Tang Fan stays at the back to look out for everyone. Because of Sui Zhou’s protection earlier, he did not incur much injuries, but he does have small wounds here and there. Add to that his strength being severely depleted, his pallor is not any better than anyone else’s.

To be more accurate, if he didn’t have something to hold on to right now, he would have collapsed much earlier. But no one would think that Tang Fan, who knows no martial arts, is a burden. After all, if it wasn’t for his earlier planning, the number of people who are able to walk here right now would certainly be much lesser.

The White Lotus Sect did spend a lot of effort here - this passage has been dug in a way that makes it much wider than the one Qian San Er and the rest of them used earlier. It’s not that difficult to walk either, so it seems that the sect was already eyeing this tomb from a year before. They started there, and the only troublesome thing was that they needed to shift the treasures out before they could fully demolish the tomb, which is why they’ve delayed progress until now.

It is too bad that they faced Qian San Er and then Tang Fan, these two batches of people, and in their schemes to deal them with harm, they ended up being murdered instead. Even Li Man himself is buried in there. As people always say, as much as one would scheme, they may end up endangering their own lives in the end.

Qian San Er already told Tang Fan Li Man’s dying words. Li Man’s words are half truth and half lies, and he is always trying to manipulate and toy with him. Before Li Man died, he even hid the fact that they had gunpowder in the tomb, wanting to make use of the opportunity to deal them one last blow and kill them together with the tomb guarding beasts with the explosion.

Just by this point alone, Tang Fan does not dare to fully believe in what he said. However, when Li Man told Qian San Er that this passage leads to outside, and there is someone to receive them, these parts should be real.

Judging by Li Man’s selfishness, that pile of treasures certainly have to be placed right under his eyes for him to feel safe, so it would be impossible for him to let any of his men take the treasures first and flee.

In the process of walking forward, Tang Fan would frequently test for Sui Zhou’s pulse. Only when he finds that there is movement under his fingertip does he feel slightly assured.

They do not know for how long they have walked, and Qian San Er’s footsteps suddenly pause, “Daren, the exit seems to be in front.”

He puts Sui Zhou down, walks over and reaches out to touch, before turning around and saying in a low voice, “Seems like there is something pressing on top of it.”

Tang Fan indicates for everyone to keep silent and gets Qian San Er to come over and take care of Sui Zhou. He then walks over to where Qian San Er was standing previously and begins exploring. This is indeed the end, and the only exit is above.

Tang Fan meticulously touches the object that is pressing on the exit and then knocks on it lightly, putting his hand to his nose and sniffing.

“It’s a box, and it should be storage for clothes,” he says.

“How do you know that its a storage box for clothes?” Qian San Er asks, stunned.

“That wood is pear wood, and most people will not use wood like this to store miscellaneous items, so this is definitely a box. If the items inside are too heavy, then it would be very difficult for Li Man and the rest to go out, and I also smelt it earlier. There’s the smell of camphor wood grease, so it definitely is used to store objects that are easily bitten by insects, so it can only be storing clothes and garments.”

Qian San Er is entirely impressed. He touched the object earlier for a bit, but didn’t come up with any conclusions. Now that he hears Tang Fan say this, he experiences an epiphany of sorts.

Then looking at Pang Qi and the rest of them, they seem to have already gotten used to Tang-daren’s observation and deduction skills, his exceptional intelligence.

Tang Fan does not know that he has gotten himself another follower. He helps Sui Zhou up and adjusts him so that he’s in a more comfortable position to conveniently lean against his hold.

He says, “It should be another meeting point for the White Lotus Sect above. Earlier when we left, I took note and according to this distance and direction, this house should be on the outskirts of town. But what we can’t confirm is if there are any White Lotus Sect men outside, and if there are, how many of them.”

Feeling the impacts of the gunpowder back in the tomb, the passage has been dropping loosened pieces of stone constantly. As the magnitude of the shaking becomes increasingly greater, who knows how much powerful gunpowder Li Man and his men buried in there in order to obtain such an effect.

Everyone is tolerating the stale air, and staying in a dangerous passage that will collapse at any time is not an easy thing. A lot of them have already lost too much blood and are dizzy and unsteady. Those who are injured more severely, like Sui Zhou who is unconscious, can only be supported by their companions who are injured to a lesser degree.

When these domineering Embroidered Uniform Guards joined the Northern Administrative Court, they probably never expected to one day end up in such a pathetic situation. Twenty odd men entered (the tomb), and here in the passage, there are only less than ten of them.

But compared to Li Man’s tragic case, their current situation is considered an improved one. The dead have passed, but the ones left behind have to do their best to live.

Pang Qi cannot help but say, “Daren, let’s rush out, we may still have a way to survive!”

And yet, Tang Fan shakes his head, “No. Use your blade and open the box according to edges of the exit. if it’s all garments inside, there will be no sound when they fall, and then we can use that as a cover to make some observations first before proceeding.”

Pang Qi feels that this method is too wishy-washy, and cannot help but retort, “Why go to so much trouble? We don’t know how long more we can hold on, and the more we delay this, the smaller our chances of victory!”

Tang Fan only uses one sentence to refute and stop everyone’s protests, “Guang Chan handed all of you over to me, so I must do my best to ensure that more people survive.”

***

After Lady Chen helped Li Man to give birth to a son, and then handed the child over to a nearby family to raise, she herself then began to safeguard this little house, waiting for Li Man and the rest to bring over greater amounts of treasures from the tomb.

As the time they have arranged to meet has long gone and past, and Li Man and his men have yet to turn up, Lady Chen is also afraid of the beasts in the tomb and does not dare to go over and look for them. After waiting for several days, they believed that Li Man and the rest died inside, and she began to think about obtaining the treasures for herself.

Lady Chen is naturally promiscuous and is not a good, virtuous wife. After being with Li Man, she controlled herself slightly, but Li Man is after all an aging man and even with the best of disguises and illusions, his stamina cannot compare to that of a young man’s.

Now that Li Man is most likely dead, Lady Chen no longer has anything to worry about and starts to deliberately seduce the other members of the sect.

She is beautiful and gorgeous, and no man can resist her seduction, so when Tang Fan and the rest of them get here, Lady Chen and several other men are having fun in bed, so much so that they do not know what day it is even. Li Man probably would never have guessed even till his death that his woman so quickly began to mess around with other men. If he knew this, he probably would be so mad, enough for him to rise from the dead, and then die out of anger again.

This gave Pang Qi and the rest of them an advantage, however. While the few people in bed were tussling in the sheets, they emerged, and Lady Chen and the other men were all killed in bed before they could even react.

Wanting to take Lady Chen alive, however, Pang Qi and the others neglected to take note and gave her the opportunity to scream, which drew the attention of other disciples of the sect outside.

Both sides quickly are embroiled in a ferocious, intends battle. The glint of swords and blades flash on then spot, and blood splatters everywhere.

Theoretically, these disciples should not be of their match, but Pang Qi and the rest of them have lost too much energy and stamina before, so are unable to put in their best in the fight, seemingly struggling.

Tang Fan cannot fight and so will not go forth and become anyone’s burden. He can only watch from the sides.

He pats Qian San Er on the shoulder, “You did well today, this is all because of you!”

Immensely flattered, Qian San Er becomes incredibly excited. He has been stealing since young ever since he followed his shifu, and they’ve always been on the opposite side of officials and the courts, but now he even obtained the praise of an official envoy!

“Da, Da.. Daren’s praise, I truly do not deserve it!”

Seeing how excited he is, a smile emerges on Tang Fan’s exhausted face, “You were not tempted by Li Man and did not lower yourself to join him. This is enough to prove that you are not a bad person. Your shifu is no longer around, so do not involve yourself in illegal petty crimes anymore. When you’ve done too many bad things, you will eventually be punished for it. When you go back, find a legal way to support yourself!”

Qian San Er suddenly kneels down in front of Tang Fan, “I’ve already wanted to stop committing crimes and doing those things, but aside from those, I don’t know how to do anything else either. I beg daren to please point out a clear alternative for me!”

This person immediately went with the flow, and Tang Fan does not feel repulsed by this, instead thinking that Qian San Er is rather smart. This boy also has a good heart, and is a talent that can be folded, “We’ll talk when we get back.”

With these words, Qian San Er knows that Tang Fan has agreed and is delighted, kowtowing to Tang Fan three times in a row, the sound of his head hitting the ground bright and loud.

Who knew that Qian San Er used too much force in putting his head to the ground, and the intense battle before them was unable to wake Sui Zhou up, but the sound of his head hitting the ground has Sui Zhou’s brows furrowing.

Realising the movements of the person in his arms, Tang Fan looks down, and beams, “Guang Chuan, you’re awake, are you okay?”

Sui Zhou opens his eyes slowly, and the first thing he sees is Tang Fan’s concerned and anxious expression.

Sui Zhou, “Pfft!”

Tang Fan, “…”

What is this reaction? Did he hit his head and become silly?

Tang Fan cannot resist and feels for the other’s forehead, his gaze meeting Sui Zhou’s smiling eyes.

Tang-daren seems to have forgotten that he received a slap from Li Man earlier down in the tombs, and this led to swelling on one side of his face, swelling which has not yet gone down. His handsome, elegant image has been changed into that of a pig’s head, akin to the ones placed on ancestral offering tables. Seeing such a face, Sui Zhou cannot help but want to laugh.

However, after laughing, his heart melts more and more on the inside. He gazes at Tang Fan, and in his head only one thought is left.

Thankfully, this person is alright. Then no matter how severe he’s hurt, it is all worth it.

“… and Li Man?” Sui Zhou asks, his voice hoarse.

“Dead, Qian San Er killed him,” Tang Fan says.

Qian San Er fidgets, embarrassed, and he is about to make some humble proclamations, but Sui Zhou is not even looking at him.

Only one person can fit in the rectangular world he can see through his eyes. Both of their gazes meet, bringing with it a type of intimacy and flirtation that even Tang Fan himself does not realise.

And then, under Qian San Er’s eyes, Tang-daren, whose face is thicker than the walls of the Great Wall, slowly reddens.

===

Notes:

*萤囊之光 ying nang zhi guang

This is used to refer to the dim light that poor scholars use when they study at night, as they are unable to afford candles whenever they need them, they have to use them sparingly. However, scholars cannot skip out on studying at night just because they cannot afford more candles, and can only light them minimally - in this case, it’s referring to gold that does not shine as brightly as real, authentic gold. It’s a little hard to translate exactly in this context, especially as Qian San Er asks what this means later, so I changed it a little, but Qian San Er, who had not studied much, is asking what the ying nang means.

*五体投地 wu ti tou di

This literally means to falls flat on the ground entirely - in this context, it’s used as a metaphor to say that Qian San Er is entirely convinced without a single shred of doubt.

*夜路走多了，总会遇到鬼的

This is an idiom of sorts - what it literally means is that if you frequently walk in the night, you will at some point see a ghost. It’s usually used to describe someone doing something bad/committing crime - Qian San Er as a thief ‘walking the roads at night’ = committing crime and stealing, one of these days he will ‘meet a ghost’ = get into trouble basically.

#tsomd #成化十四年 #cheng hua shi si nian #cheng hua's fourteenth year #the sleuth of ming dynasty #tsomd novel #translations #fanzhou #suitang #sui zhou #tang fan

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popculturebuffet · 4 years ago

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Star Vs: Stump Day Review or The Why Are You Booing Tom He’s Right Holiday Special

Before we start a special credit to @jess-the-vampire who I discussed the episode with during the writing process and brought up a LOT of good points that ended up going into this review. She clearly hates it as much as I do and had even more good reasons for it. Happy Hanukah, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays Everybody! And today we got a big, fat, grotesque lump of coal to smash to pieces. And after a long, draining, if worth the effort scrooge review, and with this being something I needed to cross off my to do list this holiday season, I put this one here as I could use the cathariss of giving this steaming bowl of elephant piss a good thrashing. As you can tell unlike my usual reviews, I do not like this episode. This isn’t the FIRST i’ve not liked i’ve covered, but it is the first rather infamous one to me i’ve covered and not just a dead possum of an episode I ran into while reguarly covering an otherwise good show like “Quaraller’s Pass” or “Strife of the Party”. This one’s had it coming, making my top 8 worst christmas specials list last year, and while not the series worst outing, that’s a toss up between the finale and marco jr, it’s easily one of them. So while usually I like diving deeply into something good and picking apart while it’s good, if not ignoring any bad aspects, here i’m just going to take a hammer to this thing to explain why it dosen’t work and why it sucks dirty ass in thunderstorms. I might be overstating it a bit but probably not. Nothing really new has happened since the last episode so the only new thing to cover is why i’m doing the episode here instead of after Monster Bash. And the simple reason is that like the Ducktales Halloween and Christmas specials, this episode clearly does not take place in the same time frame of the episode before or after it, with the next episode, The Bog Beast of Bogabah, taking place the day after Monster Bash. It’s most likely they simply held this episode over till Christmas and it dosen’t really fit in AFTER the huge game changer that is monster bash, especailly since the next three episodes after this all take place in rapid sucession, two on the same day one the day after them. So yeah i’m doing this one first and putting it ahead of monster bash on my episode guide for clarity’s sake.

Good, so with all that settled, let’s unwrap this complete works of pauly shore shall we? We open on the titular Stump Day, essentially mewni’s christmas complete with Cocoa, carols and a gay couple and their equally adorable child. And Star, unsuprisingly is giddy for it as the actual chlidren, and wearing an adorable santaesque dress complete with horns on her santa hat. Seriously you cannot tell me tom didn’t get that for her. Fucking precious. Marco is more just confused and has his hood up and one of Star’s cousins asks uncle river to tell him the origin of stump day. River’s response.. is easily the best joke of the episode.

“(in a jolly tone) ha ha, you don’t tell me what to do”

He does so anyway though: Basically when settlers arrived on Mewni they found themselves cold and griping with each other, and soon found a blizzard had struck.. but by huddling together under a magic stump, they all learned to get along or something like that and now once a year everyone gathers in warmth and camraderie.. or else. Before Marco can understandably question what “or else” means in this context, Star butts in when one of her cousins chastises the younger one who asked river the question for beliviing and says he’s real. It’s a nice touch as it fits star perfectly to still belivie in mewni’s horrifying version of santa. I forgot just how adorable and likeable the character was before the final season shot that to hell. How her energy could be infectious and how Eden Sher really brought her all to the performance, which is still the performance of her career and hopefully like Rider Strong she’ll do more voice acting eventually. So that night as Star tucks in after wonderful night of sleep, and to avoid her dad’s usual drunken chorus of Tom Jones “Sex Bomb”, and gets woken up by Marco who leads her to the dining hall because a windows broken to fix it with magic. Star entirely buys this flimsy story.. but as Jess pointed out, and as I missed hence the credit up top... she dosen’t bring her wand. She.. dosen’t bring her wand.. to go fix something with magic. Now i’ll grant next season shows she CAN fully do magic without it, and while not as powerful like her mom still has plenty of punch behind it.. especially when she does the rainbow fist thing. But it’s still.. weird she dosen’t think to grab it and feels out of character. While Star’s learned by this point not to rely on it, and as we’ll see gives it up entirely, one of the few bits of her character development that actually sticks, it still seems resonable she’d take it with her wherever she goes.. and usually SHE DOES. And her jammies, which are also adorable, seem to have pockets so the animators had no reason to not just stuff it in one. It would’ve made their job harder yes.. but then don’t have marco use an excuse that directly requires it then and draws attention to the fact the wand is missing, and the fact you blatantly just hoped we’d forget about it as it’d ruin the climax.

It’s far from the worst thing in this episode..trust me we’re almost there. But this does bring me to a point.. so far the episode is GOOD. The comedy’s good, the setup for what’s about to happen is good, the holdiay setting is warm and inviting but weird enough to perfectly fit mewni, and River, much like his VA and homosexual talking boat portrayer Alan Tudyuk, is a national treasure as always. Whelp it’s all down hill from here bitches! Giddyup.

So Marco announces a SUPRISE PARTY! And everyone’s there: Tom, Kelly, Ponyhead, Starfan14... oh yeah this is the first ep i’ve coverd with Starfan14 isn’t it? Starfan14 is star’s insane fangirl, voiced by series creator Derfron Nercy herself, who star happily tolerates despite clearly wanting to wear her skin. We’ve all been there. Also Jackie is transparently missing, though at least it’s SOMEWHAT reasonable as she and marco broke up a few .. months ago? I mean it is winter on mewni for this episode but the end of season 4 and the series is set at the start of summer, yet months still pass.....

Confusing timeline aside, Jackie has every reason not to attend a party thrown by her ex for the girl who confesed she had feelings for said ex and it’s probably the only good decision Marco makes this entire episode that he wisely decided to give Jackie some space. And it says something a decision made entirely off screen that was probably because the creators genuinely forgot Jackie once she was out of the way so they could shift the love triangle stuff to Tom, Star and Marco instead of you know.. not doing that because most love triangles are annoying at best and utterly insufferable at worst. Case in point this episode but I can give out more about this aspect of things in a bit with more context.

And to his credit, and as Jess backed me up on, Marco’s gesture is genuinely throughtful.. at least to start with. He got her a choclate fountain, brought all of her friends, and geninely just thought Star never celebrated her birthday on her birthday because it was you know the same day as christmas. As someone whose birthday is a week before christmas, December 16th if you were curious, I understand the pain of having your birthday in the same month as christmas. Of having all your presents clustered at once and of having to manuver around a very stressful season, though it does sometimes have perks like getting to celebrate your birthday and christmas, it also means your birthday is secondary and always will be to most people due to proximity. And Star has hers ON mewman christmas, so it’s even worse. So from Marco’s perspective, TO START, his best friend constantly had to share her birthday with her faviorite holiday and just wanted to do something nice. SO FAR, he’s done nothing wrong and just means well. That’s... about to end. Star.. instead of being greatful.. starts muttering no before going on an manic rampage and destroying everything including hte band’s insturments. And apparnetly star’s gotten some flack for her behavior.. but I understand it. To her the stump is VERY real, and will be very angry if someone else celebrates so to her all she’s doing is saving her best friend from the holiday equilvent of the trees from evil dead, and when Marco asks about it she GENUINELY is sorry, getting he meant well, that he was being sweet, and that he did a lot of nice stuff for her.. she just can’t celebrate not because she loves the holiday but because again, from her persepctive, the stump will kill them all if they don’t support it. She is genuinly affraid for her friends lives and given she could go grab her wand and fight it, clearly thinks she, with all her CONSIDERABLE powers, cannot win this, and neither can tom whose powers are almost entirely fire based. Star is just trying to protect her friends from being horribly murdered. And she turns out to be entirely right about it so no, star was not a jerk here. A bit over the top, but she was not insensitive, she was not mean, she just didn’t want a party for understandable reasons.

So let’s get to actually insensitive shall we?! Marco’s reaction to this is at first confusion as he didn’t realize the stump was real, though Tom, Kelly and Pony are convinced it’s not. Also this episode implies Kelly is from mewni, but she turns out not to be so why she knows about the stump I genuinely don’t know. They think it’s just a baby thing.. though in Tom’s defense he dosen’t phrase it that way, thinks star still beliving is cute, which for a teenage boy finding out his girlfriend belivies in santa is very sweet and mature of him, and is trying to be nice about it even if he doesn’t believe. But Marco.. his response to his friend having a good reason for not wanting to have the party.. is to complain about how much effort he put into it and try to guilt and bribe her into having it by mentoining he got her faviorite cake flavor, rainbow. Just.. WOW. I’ve seen some bad turns from characters, but WOWWWWWW. Holy shit.. I mean at least other jerkass marco episodes before this had SOME reasoning to them. Sophmore Slump had him clearly sublimating his feelings for star combined with the usual obnoxiousness of someone having gone abroard for the first time, which as Letterkenny recently went into, the only thing worse is Stillborn Puppies. Nothing else.

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And with Lint Catcher while he was presumptive and not blameless.. river still outright lied to him. Here? It’s clear star dosen’t want this, cake can be refigirated, he only takes a loss on the choclate fountain and he could still just let everyone have some and say it’s for stump day to appease her. He dosen’t have to take a loss on this finacially or morally and there would be no harm done. But that’s.. not what HE wanted, not waht HE set up and he wants what HE wanted, which was to impress star with a thoughtful gesture. But that’s the thing bud: Gestures aren’t about you or what you get. Their about doint something nice for another fucking person. It’s the whole point of christmas and birthdays: To just give someone something to be ncie and to celebrate the day and them respectively. If she dosen’t WANT your gift for understandable reasons and isn’t being rude about it you don’t have any leg to stand on you seflish twatwaffle.

So already Marco is not coming off well.. and if you know this episode you know it gets worse. Oh god it gets worse. So first PONYHEAD of all people calls out Marco.. and for once, PONYHEAD, the most selfish, most unresonable and a character whose tolerablity varies on the episode, tells him he’s being selfish and is only pressing on because of his need to control things. So not only is Ponyhead right but the episode LIKELY wants you to feel she’s wrong because she’s pony which is not how this work as she knows star well and thus, while unaware she still belivied in the stump, which tracks as while it’s obvious she does Pony is so up her own whatever she has that functions as an ass, it’s understandable she’d miss some details. So no Pony’s right, and the fact PONY is one of the more resonable people in this episode is both a sign of the apocalypse, which is thankfully starting to recede, and a clear marker of just how bad Marco’s being if someone who torments him and disagrees with him out of principal is entirely right.

Oh but it gets worse as next up, Tom steps in and tries to get Marco to back out, admitting he told him this was a bad idea. Now granted Tom did mess up by not stepping in to stop this a bit.. but he A) didn’t know how much his girlfriend genuinely belivied in the stump and B) Probably assumed Marco meant well, as would I before he whined about not getting his way, and decided it was worth a try. So he’s not that bad, and while it is a bit ehhh to try and take back credit for this when he participated, it’s still minor and Marco is still being a huge dick who refuses to help shut things down when it’s clear the party is only causing star to have a panic attack and assault some humble marachi players. He sees nothing good is coming from this and just wants what star wants. Also it paints Marco in a worse light as he was warned about this, and was so obssed with making it a suprise party because that’s how his plan went, he refused to just.. talk to her about it. Hell he could’ve just casually asked “Why do you never celebrate your birthday on your birthday”. It’s an easy question, dosen’t give the game away and allows him to gage if this is a good idea or not BEFORE baking a cake , hiring a band and getting a chocolate fountain. Instead he just went ahead with it. And he did so.. because this ISN’T about making Star happy. This is abotu HIM making star happy. Him showing her how thoughtful, and considerate and sweet he is and how he’s always been there for her and how maybe she should be with him instead of Tom. I mean it just comes off that way.. he made it a suprise party because in his head that’s how it worked and she was super impresed and left tom that day to be with him in some elaborate fantasy. Granted the episode dosen’t say this.. but it sure as hell acccidently implies hte hell out of it by having marco act like a selfish ass who refuses to take what STAR wants into consideration, and just wants to get his fantasy back on track. What supports this to me is how he treats tom, you know one of his best friends: He, again, accuses him of forgetting.. then calls him a bad boyfriend.. a bad boyfriend for NOT wanting to force a celebration on his girlfriend she does not want, and for not forcing it on her. For you know GROWING AS A PERSON. Beacuse here’s the pickle pumpernickle: This thing Marco’s doing? Is exactly the kind of thing a pre-character development TOM did, that was rightfully framed as bad. Being controlling, wanting things to go JUST a certain way instead of letting them flow naturally, not getting the hint star isn’t intrested, and not caring about what she wants and only what you want. Marco is doing the same thing Tom used to do. And for starters i’ts already bad because you know MARCO WAS THE ONE WHO FINALLY GOT IT THROUGH TO TOM THAT THIS KIND OF BEHAVIOR WAS TOXIC AND SELFISH. But apparently when it’s Marco himself doing it it’s fine. If there was ever any clear evidence Marco regressed as a character, there it is. Him actively unelarning a lesson he taught someone else and then getting combative when that person rightly tries to call him out. Marco is just insufferable in this episode: He’s being selfish, creepy and posseive and he’s apparenlty supposed to, at least on some level BE RIGHT. But.. we will get to that. Consider a pin put in this rant.

So Tom overreacts, and throws some fire at marco, which is genuinely wrong and Kelly’s right to call him out, and then headlocks him asking marco to say he’s a good boyfriend. Marco screams out ‘NEVVVEEEERRRR”

I just made this, by hapinstance, while watching the video I put up there. I.. I did not think i’d get to use this so soon but my god. Just my god that’s a terrible thing to say. So the party soon breaks down elsewhere as Kelly is mad at tom for.. understandable reasons again the guy she has a crush on was just nearly set on fire, even if i’m still on Tom’s side overall here, it’s still not right. Janna points out it’s probably because she has a crush on marco, which while acurate dosen’t mean she was wrong and Tad pops out to be upset about that. Even though you know you two are broken up and as Kelly points out he needs to move out. Pony is mad she’s not getting any attention and Starfan is mad because star’s mad. Star results to desperate measures, opening the windows to try and repeate the act of the settlers. She didn’t however count on the Janna factor as she throws the stump in the fire, which is in chracter. What’s not, and again I give Jess full credit for this one, is that everyone just starts.. warming around the stump and not caring like a bunch of jackasses not caring about their close friend, and in tom’s case, girlfriend’s feelings. Also tom and marco apparently stopped fighting just to be this stupid.

But naturally burning the symbolic stump is a bad idea and the real one attacks. Protip: If you live in a world of magical nonsense, maybe don’t discount the magic stump. Everyone’s captured, including moon and river, with River also being suprised and replying to Star’s annoyance at him not beliving with “Sweetie it’s a stump!”. Alan Tudyk is a god and I feel you all should acknowleddge that. But yeah everything seemsm to be bad but everyone apologizes, if not for the right things in Marco’s case, and Tom says “I’m sorry i’m a bad boyfriend!”. You .. you aren’t. You did nothing wrong. I feel like this is tom for the last agrivating 6 minutes of the episode

He did SOME THINGS wrong but he is NOT a bad boyfriend. He is throughtful, kind and while he has flaws, SO DOES STAR. He is not a bad boyfriend for not wanting to repeat past abusive actions! GAH. Let’s just get on with it. They all hold hands, they thiunk this is what made the stump go away but Star is sure it was just going to kill them, Moon and River have a thousand yard stare as they realize they both have to get repairs for this room now and do an extra big stump day next year to make sure it dosen’t come back. And Marco apologizes to star.. for not beliving her. Not for forcing this on her, not for causing all of this, not at all to tom, but for not beliving her while star FUCKING APOLOGIZES TO HIM. Pin removed, bullshit falling to the floor... Trunks if you would.

Thank you. Star DID NOTHING WRONG. Tom DID LESS WRONG THAN MARCO. WHY ARE THEY APOLOGIZING. Why is this little shithead getting everything he wants as the party happens after all, if a day later, and he gets to dance with star, while everyone else is painted as being in the wrong? That’s what makes this special so putrid: that MARCO is apparently in the right for doing the same , if on a smaller scale, manipulative shit tom used to do before he grew as a person, yet the episode sides with him, props him up and teases Starco. If it’s Starco it’s okay apparently and that’s.. not okay. You can’t .. build a ship on a character acting like a jackass. That’s not how this works. Marco was wrong, he was bad and he should FEEL bad. Instead he’s just a creepy jerk this entire episode, being entitled, manipulating star, screaming at tom.. and gets REWARDED FOR IT. Fuck this episode.

FINAL THOUGHTS: I believe I said Fuck this episode. This is easily one of star vs’ worst episode and much like the season after this episode it gets worse the more you think about it. I put it on my worst holiday episodes list for a reason.. and frankly even with the decent first 4 mintues it should be higher. It’s an unplesant mess that throughly ruins Marco’s character and takes him from a kind, upstanding, polite and bright young man to a creepy manpiulative jackasss. Fuck this episode and have a happy holidays.

#Star Vs the Forces of Evil #star butterfly #marco diaz #Tom lucitor #tomstar #starco #kelly #lilica ponyhead #starfan14 #christmas #holidays #holiday #stump day #bad episodes #reviews #animation

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