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bigskydreaming · 4 years ago

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Its always interesting to me when I see people saying Damian is just like Bruce, in a totally matter of fact way, like its just such a foregone conclusion to them, because I don’t really see it at all, lol.

Like to be clear, its not that Damian doesn’t have ANY similarities to Bruce, I think all of Bruce’s kids share various attributes with him....I just think most of the ones Damian shares tend to be more superficial than characteristic, and there are others who are far more like Bruce than he is? Personally, I think Cass and Tim have the most in common with Bruce, albeit in different ways.....but tbh I think even Jason has more in common with Bruce than Damian does, for example.

Idk.....like for instance, I consider one of the key differences between Dick and Bruce being that Bruce’s sense of morality and ethics is clearly defined, exists as specific, hard-clung to views that he applies regardless of whom is involved in whatever situation he’s applying them to. To Bruce, ethics and morality exist outside of people, and are inviolate.....they’re not meant to change depending on who they’re aimed at or will be affected by them. In contrast, Dick is someone I see as having a morality largely defined by people. His sense of morals and ethics are more fluid....its not that he doesn’t have clearly defined views of right and wrong that underly his regular actions and choices as sort of a default benchmark, a starting point to work off of....its that Dick sees morals and ethics as meaningless if they don’t serve those he cares about or fights for, or if he has to sacrifice someone he values in service to what he views as an arbitrary moral or ethic that CAN be adjusted if he so chooses to adjust it....like that’s the thing HE’S not willing to do. Its like.....Dick sees individual lives as having more value than the abstract, which is what he ultimately considers a singular principle, and so he’d rather sacrifice the principle than the life. Bruce in contrast doesn’t view morals and ethics as being remotely abstract, and views them as the very things that GIVE individual lives value, so he’s not willing to sacrifice his values or principles full stop.

Or to put it another way: If it comes down to a choice between a killer and their intended victim, where it looks like the only possible way to save their victim is to kill the killer before they can kill instead....Dick will take the shot so to speak.....but since he does still believe killing is wrong and an absolute last resort and he’s been raised by someone who he very much does value and who believes that there’s always another way.....then Dick will self-flagellate for not having been able to find another way that didn’t involve killing the killer. Bruce on the other hand, will attempt down to the very last second to find a way to save both lives, no matter how impossible it seems.....and if he’s ultimately unable to, he’ll then self-flagellate for not having found a way to save both.

The truly ironic thing IMO, is even in a situation where BOTH consider themselves to have failed, they’ll both still consider their failure to be the exact same thing....though for entirely different reasons and with different results. Both will view ‘not having been able to find another way’ to have been the true failure.....even though, one killed and one didn’t. Because Dick wouldn’t perceive having killed as his true failure.....because that’s the part he doesn’t actually regret, if it means that he saved the killer’s intended victim as a result. He still did it with intent, in this complete hypothetical, because he perceived the victim’s life as more important than his personal desire not to kill or view that killing is wrong. BUT he’ll still consider himself to have failed because despite having saved one life, he’d view the fact that he couldn’t find another way where taking one life wasn’t a NECESSITY in order to accomplish that.....that was his failure, in his mind. Similarly, but completely differently at the same time....Bruce will consider his failure to have been not having found a way to save both. BUT just like Dick’s true regret isn’t that he killed the killer, Bruce’s true regret isn’t that he DIDN’T, in order to save their victim. Its that he couldn’t find a way out of that box that made it a choice of one or the other.

Course, that’s just my perception of the two of them.

But as examples, this is I think WHY Dick was able to kill the Joker at all in Last Laugh, whereas Bruce will ultimately never bring himself to cross that line. (And while Dick wasn’t matter of fact about it by any means, its significant in my mind that his actual stated regrets about that were always that he played into what the Joker had wanted and thus let him win, and that he’d failed Bruce and let him down....never once was it actually that he’d killed the Joker, period.) Similarly, its why Dick’s a lot more willing to work with people he’s ideologically opposed to or more flexible....in fact, I maintain its specifically why Bruce was so convinced that only Dick could infiltrate Spyral. It wasn’t JUST about the logistics of Dick being believed dead after Forever Evil, or Bruce’s issues about having just watched Dick die.......because Bruce is great at undercover work himself, as Matches Malone, and he traditionally HATES delegating the ‘hard stuff’ to someone else, especially when the stakes are this high....even if he does trust that person absolutely. He believes that if its his responsibility, its up to him to do it if at all possible.

Which is why I think that ultimately, the only reason Bruce didn’t find a way to take on the Spyral mission himself, is because he didn’t think he’d be able to. Spyral was a shady spy organization that engaged in morally compromising work on a day to day basis. Deep down, I think Bruce was aware that there would be too many occasions in which he’d be likely to be sidetracked or frozen by his conviction that there HAD to be a way around whatever he was being asked to do for the sake of keeping his cover, that didn’t require acting against various hard-set morals....which more than likely would have cost him the mission and rendered it a failure.....with catastrophic results for his family and the rest of the hero community. Whereas he knew that Dick would be able to find a way to make it work, because despite having a very strong sense of right and wrong of his own, he knows Dick’s highest moral prerogative is that he WILL act on even something he does firmly believe is wrong, if he’s convinced its the price he needs to pay for the sake of loved ones. And thus, even though he wouldn’t be any happier about the moral compromising nature of a lot of Spyral’s work than Bruce is, he’d be less likely to find himself unable to act in a split second decision time, so long as Bruce uttered the magic words: this is an utter necessity for the sake of your family.

Also ironically, btw, I think one of the key ways that a lot of people perceive Dick and Bruce as different....I’d disagree and say is actually where they’re MOST alike. And that’s that people point to Bruce as closed off and tightly guarding his emotions, hurts, and vulnerabilities at the expense of getting close to people or letting them in.....whereas Dick is more of a people person. But honestly, I disagree. I think people overlook that Brucie Wayne is still as much a part of Bruce Wayne’s life as Batman is. Bruce is and always has been completely capable of being the life of the party and surrounding himself with droves, on a surface level. I think Dick takes it perhaps a bit further than that, he IS more approachable than Bruce in general, that sorta thing.....BUT when it comes to his most private emotions, hurts and vulnerabilities.....I think Dick is just as inclined as Bruce to keep those parts of himself closely guarded and he doesn’t LIKE giving them up. The actual difference between them IMO, again comes down to the role other people play in their ways of thinking.....as I think that the times and reasons Dick DOES open up about his most closely guarded thoughts or emotions....its for other people, because he’s convinced himself that THEY need this from him. Left to his own devices, or at least the perception that he’s the only one likely to be affected by whether he shares his most intimate self with someone else or not, I think he’s just as likely as Bruce to well, not.

And all of this is key to why I think that Damian tends to have a lot more in common with Dick than Bruce, whereas others in the family have more in common with Bruce than Dick. Because see, Damian, like Dick, is more likely to ACT as a result of other specific individuals rather than his own personal sense of right and wrong. Look at when he first came from the League of Assassins. He had a clearly defined view of right and wrong, an already formed morality of his own, even if it was diametrically opposed to most of the Batfam’s, particularly Bruce’s.

Damian didn’t set all that aside because people succeeded in just uniformly shifting his paradigms to be more in line with their views of right and wrong. The changes to his moral code came as a trickle down result of him ALREADY adjusting his actions or behavior - even before he necessarily came to view them as wrong - for the sake of the connections he was building, with Dick, with Alfred, with Steph, and then from there with others.

Just like I outlined with Dick, where he’s more likely than Bruce or many others to act on even something HE believes is wrong, if he views it as a necessity for the sake of a loved one.....Damian is similarly likely to act in a way that completely flies in the face of everything he came to Gotham already believing....if he views it as a necessity for the sake of the individuals he came to value. Just like Dick, simply starting from a different point on the moral spectrum. The sense of right and wrong that they ‘betrayed’ for the sake of other valued individuals was different....not the reasoning for that ‘betrayal’ of their previously established moral code.

Similarly, while Damian is just as inclined to be closed off and guarded as Bruce is (and Dick. and well, most of the Batfam shares this part in common, lol) - like Dick, when he does open up, be it to Dick or Alfred or Jon or Colin.....its because he’s convinced himself that on some level its what THEY need, rather than because he actually believes that he himself needs to let them in.

Meanwhile, the reason I say Jason is actually more like Bruce than even Damian is, lies in viewing Jason as falling somewhere between Dick and Bruce on a lot of this. Basically, I think that Jason is more naturally inclined to be more like Bruce in how rigidly he holds to a particular sense of right and wrong.....its just that the particulars of what they both view as right and wrong are different. Same thing with it being more natural to Jason to be like Bruce in terms of guarding his emotions. But in both instances, he’s still ENOUGH like Dick, as opposed to Bruce, that he does still adjust his emotional behavior and how likely he is to act on or against his personal view of morality.....for the sake of valued individuals. It just doesn’t come to him AS....naturally, I guess, as it does to Dick, and thus he’s not AS fluid as Dick in these things....but he’s still MORE fluid about them than Bruce. And that’s why even though it takes a LOT to budge him from his view of the right and wrong approach to vigilantism, he IS still willing to put aside what he does still believe is a necessity or right....if that’s what it takes to have his family in his life, etc.

To be clear - I am trying to not cast any particular judgments on any of the approaches to morality here....simply just, not the aim of this post. I’m more trying to view things analytically here, so when I frame Bruce as being the most intractable of the lot here, the least likely to budge his morals or act against his personal sense of right and wrong for the sake of loved ones, its not because I’m trying to say that he DOESN’T love his family, or even that he loves them any less than Dick does, Jason does, etc. And I’m not even trying to suggest that he’s wrong for his approach. I’m literally just....exploring the WHY of it.

And for me, that tends to go back to the singular difference between Bruce’s later childhood, after his parents’ deaths, the period between ages 10 and adulthood.....versus the childhoods of his various children around those same ages, or after their parents’ deaths.

Because these are the ages when most of us most fully develop the....intricacies of our personal moralities, when we explore and shape how our behavior stems from that sense of right and wrong and when and where we act on our beliefs, etc.

And the key thing about Bruce during this period of his life, IMO, is that at the time.....he had very few specific INDIVIDUALS who played significant emotional roles in his life and in his mind. Bruce cares about people. Absolutely. A lot. But for a lot of the period in which Bruce shaped a lot of his personal moral behavior, people were almost as much an abstract to him as morals themselves. That’s not quite the right way to put it, but I mean, its more like....there was a kind of uniformity to the way he viewed people as a whole, because there were less individuals specifically standing out from the rest, as PARTICULARLY significant to him himself....and thus likely to influence his growing moral code.

The other key factor is the people he DID have valued emotional connections to at this point, like....they had a kind of permanence that stretched back to early childhood for him. They weren’t NEW additions to his life. While I believe that his parents’ deaths absolutely was formative for him and left him with severe abandonment issues....for Bruce, these abandonment issues were specifically geared around fear of losing people to death. He was already rooted in the same place, same life, same people, that he was before his parents’ death, that part of his life didn’t change.....and thus the people who were left to play large emotional roles in his life and worldview, like Alfred and Leslie.....he might have been afraid of losing them the way he lost his parents, but he wasn’t especially of losing them for other reasons. Specifically: I don’t think Bruce grew up during this time feeling any particular fear of losing someone like Alfred - a staple of his entire life - to, say, Alfred judging him for his choices or his morals.

As a result, Bruce grew up shaping his personal view of right and wrong and resulting morality-stemming behavior, on pretty much nothing BUT those morals and ethics themselves. And there wasn’t any particular NEED to shape those morals AROUND the people he valued in life, or likelihood that he’d lose them due to differences in opinion or ideology, like....with all of this adding up to be the reasons HIS moral code and behavior is less fluid than even most peoples’. Because there wasn’t really any reason for it NOT to be. There were very few people and thus few occasions, while still DEVELOPING all this, that made him feel that he was maybe on the wrong track, or that he needed to make room for exceptions or the possibility that he might need to adjust his views or behavior in these regards.

In contrast......Dick, Jason and most of the others all came to Bruce after significant upheavals in their life that necessitated basically starting over in an entirely brand new environment with brand new people, etc. So they lacked the specific aspect of the PERMANENCE Bruce felt in regards to his own valued loved ones during this period of his life. So unlike him, where he had a bit more space to contemplate his moral code and behavior without being particularly afraid of getting it wrong or that his choices here might cost him these people.....Dick, Jason, et al like....they formed their moral codes and behavior with significantly more awareness that many of the people they valued already had fully formed codes of their own they felt very strongly about...AND at the same time, they had REASON to be....less secure about whether or not the choices they made here could potentially cost them these people.

Which is a perfect recipe for the kind of moral fluidity based around specific individuals, that I maintain most of the kids display to various degrees. In fact, you can almost kinda....chart the extent of their moral fluidity, via various factors like the QUANTITY of significant emotional attachments in their lives at this time. Like I maintain Dick is the most morally fluid based on people.....but that I think has a lot to do with the fact that Dick had the most attachments to....protect or preserve. Even though he was forced to live apart from his extended circus family, they still very much figured into his thoughts as people he cared about and valued, and then there were Bruce and Alfred, and then Clark, Barbara, the Titans, etc, etc.

In contrast, look at how Jason came to Wayne Manor with very few pre-existing emotional attachments with anyone still alive.....and the fact that Jason during his time living with Bruce didn’t really even have occasion to form a large number of attachments outside of his immediate family, as he wasn’t on any teams unlike Dick, and he didn’t mingle all that much with other members of the hero community. Ergo, Jason’s LESS morally fluid than Dick simply for the reason that like Bruce, he had more reason to construct his personal morals around simply his own perceptions and convictions, and less people he felt this moral code and behavior needed to acccomodate, or be prepared to make exceptions for or around.

Meanwhile, I’d argue that Damian is like Jason in that he had fewer people to build into his personal view of right and wrong and how and when to act based on that.....BUT a key difference here is that Damian didn’t have a lot of experience pre-Gotham with feeling valued and valuing other individuals in turn, like...at all. The connections he developed with Dick, Alfred, Steph, etc.....they were brand new to him, basically a revelation in a lot of ways, because before that we’ve seen how he was often taught to dampen his view of how valuable or not to view personal connections.....whereas Jason, pre-Wayne Manor, like......we know that he DID very much have a strong emotional attachment to Catherine that he embraced and was not hesitant to value, etc. So my point here being that the sheer NEWNESS of what Damian was feeling in regards to even WANTING to adjust his behavior based not on what he THOUGHT was right or wrong but based on the PEOPLE he was coming to value....this was a complete shock to the system to Damian in ways that it wouldn’t necessarily have been for Jason, resulting in a likelihood that Damian would feel an enhanced INTENSITY around all this that Jason might not, and thus despite both of them having similar NUMBERS of emotional attachments they shaped their changing and developing moral codes around, these people carried an additional weight for Damian, just as Jason’s few carried an additional weight that Bruce’s didn’t have due to the differences in THEIR upbringings in this period of their lives.....and thus resulting in Damian having an even more fluid moral code and behavior than Jason did....closer to being on par with Dick’s, just as Jason still has a more fluid one than Bruce does.

ANYWAY.

This was a LOT longer than I thought it would be when I started a little post about huh weird how I don’t see Damian the way a lot of other people do BUT SINCE WHEN IS THAT NEWS.

In conclusion, this has been a post.

Good day.

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meteor752 · 3 years ago

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Dsmp Hogwarts AU, except it’s all the characters and I go into why they are what they are, please reblog this took a long ass time

Man, what a title Huh? Anyways, this will obviously go over the characters and not the content creators, because in some cases those are vastly different

Also, before we start, I will go over an important thing that I will mention probably a few times, and that is the difference between Hufflepuff Loyalty and Slytherin Loyalty.

Both of these houses value loyalty, but in very different ways. Take for example that you’re a spy who has their best friend as their partner, and you’re out on some super important mission. Let’s also say that your partner got shot and is close to death, and the only way to save them would be to abandon the mission entirely.

A Hufflepuff would try to complete the mission because it would be the best for all, while the Slytherin would abandon the mission despite the fact that it could result in countless deaths, just to save their friend.

See it as Selfish Loyalty vs Selfless loyalty. Both are great things to have, but are still different.

Anyways, on with the show

Tomathy Danger Kraken Careful Innit

I have seen people try to argue that this boy is a Hufflepuff because of his loyalty and such, but gosh darnit everyone this child is a god damn Gryffindor. I mean, one of his main character traits is that he’s brash and too brave for his own good. The reason he got fucking exiled is because he burned down George’s house without thinking of the consequences, and then just screamed at Dream without thinking of the consequences. The same goes for Ghostbur’s “death”, it was because he had no real plan except Stab Dream with an axe. So yeah, Gryffindor

Wilbur Soot

Slytherin, 100%. This man has created one and a half nation, one entirely out of spite, he was both a general and a president, he’s a smart lil fella, and he managed to hold his own against the god of the server. I don’t even thing you guys wanna argue with me here

Tuberculosis Underscore

This one is tricky, because it’s really between Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw for me. Like, he does possess the Hufflepuff loyalty™ plus he is very kind, but he’s also one of the more logical and observant characters we have in this server (The bar is very low let me tell ya). But I think I will have to go with Ravenclaw, just because like, the boy invented nukes. He built fucking nukes. So yeah, a very chaotic Ravenclaw that will spout bee facts at you, be prepared

Technoblade

My man is a Ravenclaw, no doubt about it. I mean, he started talking about an old greek myth in the middle of a war? Just Ravenclaw things amiright?

Philza Minecraft

I will have to go with Slytherin on this one, simply because of the large amount of Slytherin Loyalty, but also because of his cunningness and resourcefulness, but for real this was very tricky, simply because I don’t like to think about c!Phil too much because as some of you may know, I kinda hate him (Not the cc though, obvs, he’s awesome)

Ranboo My Beloved

Hufflepuff. This boy’s ideology is literally “Choose people, not sides”, he’s an honest and compassionate boy who works hard, and has a very open mind. He’s literally the by the book Hufflepuff

Eret

Honestly, Slytherin. I mean, they are ambitious as fuck, both shown by them betraying L’Manburg for the throne, but also by working hard towards their redemption arc. They are also a good leader of the smp, and in general a great role model to have

Nikki Nihachu

This one is actually difficult, simply because Nikki has gone through quite the character arc the past couple of months. She started out kind, sweet and loyal, a classic Hufflepuff. Then she joined the syndicate and straight up tried to kill a child, which is less Hufflepuff but who am I to judge. But in her core, as seen through her discussion with Jack about Tommy’s revival, she is still a good person that works hard for what she believes in, wants the best for everyone (Despite sometimes working in her best self interest) remains kind through it all. So yeah, Nikki is a Hufflepuff, just a bit of a sadistic one. But we can’t all be perfect ya know?

Fun Jonathan Michael Vincent Georgina James Sus Dy Soot

Ah, my favorite character, and also one of the best examples of a Ravenclaw. And I ain’t saying that just cuz I’m a Ravenclaw, Fundy is one of the most Ravenclaw characters out there. He’s creative, Clever, Spontaneous, Witty, Curious, Sharp, and a real trickster. The idea of Ravenclaws being the goody two shoes kids that always does their school work is just false, we never do our Homework and instead sit and read about things we find interesting, and Fundy is a good example of that. Also he was quite the eager learner during the Dreamon Hunters arc, which again is a good example of a Ravenclaw. So if Ranboo is the by the book Hufflepuff, then Fundy is the by the book Ravenclaw.

Dreamwastaken

I’m pretty sure it’s confirmed that Dream is actually a Slytherin, and I ain’t arguing with that. This boy is cunning, sly, a leader, traditional, Self-Preserving, and a master with words. There is not much more to say here, apart from the fact that Slytherins main colour is literally green, so it all checks out, this boy is a snake.

George Lore

Mr not found over here really is hard to pinpoint down, simply because his main character trait is his apathy, which isn’t really a trait for any of the houses. I was discussing this one with my girlfriend, and both of us were pretty clueless of what to do with him. I was thinking if Hufflepuff since they take the ones that don’t fit anywhere else, but then I was reminded of the most recent Dream XD stream, which showed us one thing, and that is that George is clever, observant, and Sharp Minded, all the traits of a Ravenclaw. Sure, he could also be Slytherin as he was both cunning and sly as well, but I think Ravenclaw fits him more personally.

Sappitus Nappitus Boyhalo

Finally we have another Gryffindor, there’s been a serious lack of them on the list. My man is a fighter, he’s bold, he’s brave, he’s passionate, he’s confident, and he doesn’t really think that much of the consequences of his actions (Cough the pet war cough), so yeah this boy a lion.

Punz

Ah, Punzie, the mercenary themself. Tbh, I know very little about them because Punz don’t get involved that much in lore unless they are hired for something. I mean, they were in the eggpire, but even then they were barely involved, which is sad cuz I like Punz. But what we have seen of Punz is that they are someone who does not care about you or what you want, as long as you pay them. They are power hungry and self preserving, which means that I have to put them in Slytherin.

Jack Thunder1408 TV Manifold

The boy who I can’t help but be sympathetic towards. Jack is also a hard character to pin point because of the reason that he’s gone through quite the development. Jackie boy is a very broken character that has literally been through hell, so it’s hard to properly sort him. He’s quite confident and clever, yet cunning and resourceful, so for me it’s either Slytherin or Gryffindor. But I do lean towards Gryffindor more, partly because of his stubbornness and gullibility, and part because of all the fire imagery that’s associated with him. I mean, the cc described him as burning inside, he’s been through the scape of fire and death, and he burnt his nation to the ground. In case you didn’t know, Fire is the element of Gryffindor, so yeah, another red and gold boy.

JSchlatt

Schlatt is as both charming, charismatic and calm in the early days, using subtle manipulation tactics to get his way and achieve ultimate power. He’s ambitious, narcissistic, cunning, and tyrannical, while still hiding it all behind a facade of smiles and waves. He could also be both cruel and irresponsible at times, aka the time he had an underage child drink during an event, but ya know, mistakes. So all in all, I think it’s pretty clear that he’s a Snakey boy.

QuackityHQ

As much as I love CC!Quackity, I also fucking hate him because of the many, many different directions he’s taken this character which makes it possible for him to fit in literally any of the houses. The duckie is both Chaotic and lawful, he’s both friendly and hostile, he’s a smart cookie and a fucking dumbass, so like bruh. But, I’m gonna have to go with how he is now, which is manipulative, power hungry, cruel, and strong willed. Aka, another Slytherin.

Karl Jacobs

Finally, a character that is not broken down to the point of barely making out a readable personality. Karl is a kind and funny person, who is very open to new people considering how often he gives tours to visitors and new people, and he is quite literally loosing himself traveling through time in an attempt to help people. Hufflepuff

Awesamdude

This one I know will be controversial, but I’m saying Hufflepuff on him. Sam is one of the best cases of the Hufflepuff loyalty, literally letting both Tommy and Ghostbur be stuck and ultimately die in the prison just so he wouldn’t risk Dream breaking out. Before that point he was very kind and gentle towards Tommy, literally building a robot to keep him safe and take care of him. Sam nook is a reflection of Sam’s feelings towards Tommy, and they are kind and gentle.

Dropsbyponk

Ughhhh, another tough one. Ponk is a chaotic being who is mostly neutral in conflicts, but is shown to be very open about their feelings towards those they care about, like Sam or Foolish. They seem to be have strong feelings in what they believe in, and can be a bit brash sometimes, not really caring about the consequences of their actions, which is what makes me say Gryffindor for them.

Badboyhalo

Our favorite muffin demon. I assume, I don’t know what life you live. Anyways, Bad is like the stereotypical Hufflepuff. The kindhearted, well meaning, sweet, responsible Hufflepuff. The Hufflepuff that’s like in all of those incorrect quotes blogs and “Slytherin and Hufflepuff friendships uwu” posts. But for real, Bad is very Hufflepuff. He does however have Slytherin Loyalty, considering he pretty much sacrificed the entire server for Skeppy, but if you would try to convince me that Bad is a Slytherin I will just laugh at you

Skeppy

It was at this point I realized what I’ve gotten myself into with this post, which you know, not fun. Skeppy is both cocky and filled with energy, with a real ambition to cause chaos. He’s also shown to be willing to sacrifice himself for the person he loves, Bad, when he gave himself up to the egg. I’ve seen some people say Slytherin, but I’m kinda getting Gryffindor from the lad, so yeah, another lion.

Antfrost

Frosty here is a kind hearted person that for the most part seem to be along for the ride. He reminds me a bit of a parent of toddlers, with his patience and serenity towards the more chaotic people on the server, so of course my natural instinct is Hufflepuff. Buuuuut, then there’s again the issue with the egg and the Slytherin loyalty, this time towards his boyfriend Velvet who he was willing to join a cult for (relationship goals) but again, you can’t really say Ant is a Slytherin considering how wrecked he was about what he did while in the eggpire when he was released from it’s grasp. So yeah, Puffle boy

Captain Puffy

Oh captain my captain, you are such a Gryffindor. And some of you may disagree on that, stating that she’s a Hufflepuff or something (I did research before this to check what other people think, I know) but naaah, she a lion. Puffy is very motherly and protective towards other people on the server, especially the minors, but in the way that a Bear is protective towards its cub, which is gentle towards them but fierce towards others. Puffy also falls natural in the role of a leader as seen with Pro-Omelette, but that is kinda expected since she’s a past Pirate Captain. But she wasn’t the leader she was supposed to be, as she waited quite a while to act against the eggpire out of fear of hurting her friends, which lead to quite the damage towards the rest of the server. She’s also been shown to act on impulse, killing Antfrost and taking one of his lives after he killed her son. Idk if this is a good explanation of why I believe Puffy to be a Gryffindor, it sounds more like I’m claiming her to be a Slytherin or Hufflepuff, but she is a Gryffindor I promise!

Foolish Gamers

Foolish is a kind and friendly being, if not a bit naive and easily distracted. He’s also not the brightest person, in fact I’d go as far as to call the guy a Himbo, and he can be a bit skittish sometimes if he’s stressed or haven’t taken a break in a while. But despite it all, the guy is someone who’s creative and hard working, with a brilliant mind for his building. The man is an artist who can get grumpy if you suppress his creative aura, and put his heart and soul into his works. He also has a habit of getting wrapped up in big projects, and ignoring sleep or personal care until he’s finished them. This all leads me to say that Mr Gamers is a Ravenclaw, just not the smartest one. But hey, we can’t all be geniuses, can we.

Slimecicle

Slime is very naive and very trusting towards people around him, taking every word they say as a fact. He can also be a bit dark and ominous at times, but quickly shakes it off as nothing important. This all makes him quite childish, which is very hard to sort, so I’m gonna say Hufflepuff for his friendliness and move on.

Purpled Bedwars

I actually started loving this guy the minute I saw him, purely because Purple is my favorite colour, like my man has taste. Purpled, like Punz, is a guy who helps whoever pays him the most. He’s not interested in most things on the server, too busy looking out for number one (And Dogchamp of course). He’s very self reliant and resourceful, but still quite passive. He may not be the most ambitious guy, but Purpled is definitely a Slytherin (It also brings me and my girlfriend Serotonin knowing that the mercenary siblings are both in the same house, we love those two)

Hannahxxrose

I don’t watch Hannah that much, but god I love her voice, it makes my lesbian little heart happy. Hannah is a friendly person who is very naive about the conflicts on the server, thinking it all can can be solved by placing a rose (God I wish). She’s a good decorator and a good hearted person, who unfortunately fell victim to the egg’s influence. I’m going with Hufflepuff on her, but I’m honestly not entirely sure as I don’t know that much about her.

HBomb94

H is a very well meaning person that only really wants people to be friendly towards each other. He had a strict moral code and he keeps to it, as shown where Fundy tried to get his help with blowing shit up. He’s very helpful to those who ask and is willing to back up his friends when it’s needed, which makes me say that the friendly totally not dirty cat maid is a Hufflepuff.

Connoreatspants

I just want you all to know that I’m writing this before Connor’s lore stream that surely will just go against everything I say because fate hates me, just so ya know. Connor is not a person that does stuff on the server with lore and he for the most part keeps to himself, so this is a bit hard. Connor also has this thing where he likes to say things just to confuse him, and also making a bit of cursed lore, but he’s still a fairly humble person. He does lie and steal a bit, and has this habit of moving into other people’s houses, but I digress. I’m actually leaning towards Ravenclaw on him, for some reason, so that’s what I’m going with until I have more of an established character.

ItsAlyssa

I know she has left the server and stuff, but she was one of the original members so it would be a crime not to include her. Alyssa is a bit chaotic, often going on killing sprees, or burning down the trees outside of L’Manburg. So I’m placing Alyssa in Gryffindor, but to be honest I don’t really know at this point.

Callahan

How do you sort a person who does not speak, stream, or show like anything of his personality? The answer is, you don’t. Hufflepuff is the house of those who don’t fit in anywhere else, and that’s where I’m placing him.

Vikkstar123

Please log onto the server I’m begging you, I didn’t watch you as a kid and honestly know nothing about you. From what I’ve seen of Vik he’s a very humble person that tries to stay out of it all, instead forming a land together with his bro Lazar. Honestly my instincts say Ravenclaw and I trust my instincts, so I’m putting him in Ravenclaw

Lazarbeam

Lazar was actually a big part of the exile arc which I realized after already have written his, so now I gotta rewrite it. Lazar is fairly ambitious on the server, and has the goal to obtain the most powerful objects on the server just to rival the other strong members of the smp. He’s especially against Tommy, and aims to do a lot to be the opposite of him, aka well respected and not a war criminal that got exiled (Totally fair goal). Despite that, he was able to show some empathy to the British child, even going as far as to give him a disk during his exile. This all makes me say Slytherin on him.

Michaelmcchill

Newest boy. Michael is a very apathetic person, showing little to no empathy towards most people’s trauma on the server. The person he does feel empathy for however is Dream, who of course did nothing wrong and is locked up in the prison which is just horrible oh no. Michael just truly does not care about what you’ve been through (as of now) which is why I’m gonna say Slytherin, because he does have Slytherin loyalty towards Mr Was Taken.

TL;DR

Tommy-Lion

Wilbur-Snake

Tubbo-Eagle

Techno-Eagle

Philza-Snake

Ranboo-Badger

Eret-Snake

Nikki-Badger

Fundy-Eagle

Dream-Snake

George-Eagle

Sapnap-Lion

Punz-Snake

Jack-Lion

Schlatt-Snake

Quackity-Snake

Karl-Badger

Sam-Badger

Ponk-Lion

Bad-Badger

Skeppy-Lion

Antfrost-Badger

Puffy-Lion

Foolish-Eagle

Slime-Badger

Purpled-Snake

Hannah-Badger

HBomb-Badger

Connor-Eagle

Alyssa-Lion

Callahan-Badger

Vik-Eagle

Lazar-Snake

Michael-Snake

So all together we have Seven lions, Ten Snakes, Seven Eagles and Ten Badgers. I think that’s fair tbh

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rnelodyy · 3 years ago

Text

C!Dream, the status quo, and why conflict is okay sometimes.

In this fandom, there is a lot of talk about conflict, who causes it, who avoids it, who is to blame for it, et cetera. An argument often heard from c!Dream apologists to justify his abysmal treatment of L’Manburg in general and c!Tommy in specific is “He was just trying to stop people causing conflict! He was protecting the server by stopping these conflict-causing maniacs!”

And it’s not hard to see where they get this idea from, because c!Dream repeats this sentiment a lot, from his “happy family” speech, to the speech during the final disc war about how c!Tommy causes constant conflict, to the fact that he always portrays himself as a reasonable authority figure trying to calm down these feral creatures always fighting with one another (and we’ll get to that idea…).

My reasoning for explaining how c!Dream’s worldview is deeply flawed may be a bit controversial, so I decided to write this essay to explore the following idea:

Sometimes, conflict is good actually.

(all /dsmp /rp, names refer to characters, not content creators)

Conflict, in itself, is morally neutral. It’s the context surrounding the conflict that allows us to ascribe morality to it. This fact makes this topic a LOT harder to discuss, because morality is subjective. What I’m writing here is all my own opinion, you may agree or disagree on some points, I just ask that you read it through and please don’t start shit over this.

Anyway, the context. It’s dependent on a number of factors.

Justification. Why was the conflict started?

Intent. What is the desired outcome for either party?

Proportionality. If the conflict is started out of revenge or punishment, is it proportionate to the wrong committed?

Power Dynamic. Is the person on the receiving end more, less, or equally as powerful as the person starting the conflict?

For example, let’s compare the L’Manburg War for Independence with the intervention during the Final Disc War.

Justification:

Dream declared war on L’Manburg because he saw them as traitors, and the land they occupied as rightfully his. Therefore, them making a country of their own where his rules didn’t apply was a violation of the status quo he wanted to uphold.

Punz and the others intervened because they didn’t want Dream to kill Tommy and/or Tubbo, and were tired of his constant meddling in their affairs.

Intent:

Dream’s intent was to attack L’Manburg until they surrendered, no matter how much hurt he’d cause or how many lives he’d take.

Punz and the other’s intent was to stop Dream from killing Tommy and Tubbo, and stop whatever plan he had to keep the server under control.

Proportionality:

L’Manburg declared independence in response to brutal violence as retribution for clumsy attempts at crime, on land nobody except Wilbur was using, were explicitly pacifistic and invited Dream to make an embassy in their land to discuss trade. Dream responded by declaring war, destroying their land, luring them into a trap and killing them, and continuing to beat them down until they surrendered.

Punz and the others intervened after Dream dragged two teenagers out into the wilderness to fight him, with little chance of them ever returning. This was after months of Dream’s meddling in conflicts he had nothing to do with, trying to control people’s actions, ripping Tommy away from his home and abusing him in secret and, in the end, destroying the place most synonymous with freedom from his rule. They intervened by getting Tommy and Tubbo to safety, letting Tommy (the kid who arguably suffered the most at Dream’s hands) take his items and beat him to death twice, then locking him up in prison.

Power Dynamic:

L’Manburg was significantly less powerful than Dream and his goons, with less skilled fighters and heavily inferior gear. They held their position fairly okay at the start, but after the Final Control Room, they were basically defenseless against Dream’s assault.

Dream had always had unprecedented power on the server. He’s leveled entire countries, crowns and dethrones kings when he feels like it, overruled the decision of a court of law, and in the end, had Tommy and Tubbo completely at his mercy before the intervention. Even beating Dream was seen as such an insurmountable task that it took fourteen people (excluding Clingyduo) to take him down.

The thing about conflict, even violent conflict, is that it’s not always negative. If your sister is being abused by her boyfriend and refuses to report it out of fear, you’re gonna be hard-pressed to find someone unable to sympathize with you if you go over to his house and break his nose.

What is a defining feature of conflict, is that it disrupts the status quo.

That’s not to say that some characters are always disruptors and others always preservers of the status quo. For example, during the Disc War, Tommy is the one trying to preserve and Dream the one trying to disrupt (the status quo being: Tommy owns the discs), and during the L’Manburg War for Independence, Tommy and Wilbur are disrupting while Dream is preserving (the status quo being: Dream has absolute power and the entire server needs to follow his rules).

It’s ALSO not to say that this disruption is always bad, because sometimes, the status quo fucking sucks, and throwing it on its head is the right thing to do. Overthrowing Schlatt is seen by everyone on the SMP and pretty much every fan as morally correct, as while Schlatt being president was the status quo, it meant he was ruling as a dictator, exiling his political opponents, imprisoning and heavily taxing dissenters, being verbally and physically abusive to his cabinet members, and forcing a guest at his festival to execute a sixteen year-old boy for spying for the political opponent he exiled.

Conflict being a genuinely good force of societal change isn’t usually brought up in the fandom though, at least not consciously. A lot of people, both on the server and IRL, see conflict only as a source of hurt and pain, and try to prevent or avoid it as much as possible.

And here’s where Dream differs from someone like Ranboo. Because while both Dream and Ranboo operate on the assumption that all conflict is bad all the time, Ranboo shows this by becoming conflict-avoidant to the extreme, to the point where he refuses to pick sides in pretty much any conflict, no matter how obviously good or evil one side is. Meanwhile, Dream shows this by becoming controlling to the extreme. Mitigating conflict isn’t enough, he needs to control everything to prevent all conflict ever.

In Ranboo’s case, this is less due to ideology and more due to personality. Ranboo is a deeply anxious person, and hates being in the middle of fights. He’s also… not very self-critical? He has issues with self-worth, but he very rarely takes a look in the mirror to inspect what it actually is he believes and says, making him very gullible and convinced of his own righteousness. But while that’s a VERY interesting character trait, Ranboo’s conflict-avoidance doesn’t make him a very good character to examine in the context of conflict and what it means.

So let’s look at Dream. Because, despite claiming to want to stop conflict, Dream CONSTANTLY starts conflicts or escalates existing ones. The L’Manburg War for Independence could’ve been entirely avoided if Dream hadn’t lashed out so heavily at a nation of pacifists who made their own area to avoid violence from authorities. As I explored in my George Vod Analysis, the griefing of George’s house would’ve been a lighthearted dispute between two people if Dream hadn’t taken over the entire thing and turned it into one of the biggest diplomatic crises in the server’s history. Mexican L’Manburg hadn’t even existed for an hour before Dream came by to kill its residents and destroy its land.

So why is Dream so focused on stopping conflict, despite constantly starting it himself? Why is THAT his hill to die on?

Simple. Dream wants to prevent disruptions to the status quo. That status quo being “Dream is the one in power and everyone has to listen to him.”

But you can’t say that out loud. If you say “everyone needs to listen to me otherwise it’s not fair”, you sound like a whiny five year-old at best, and a tyrant at worst. So, instead of saying that, Dream says “I just want to prevent conflict, keep the server peaceful.”

Remember what I said about one party being the disruptor and another being the preserver? Well, Dream’s status in the early days of the server is almost always preserver of the status quo. The only times he’s the disruptor is if disrupting that status quo serves to strengthen the status quo of him being in power. For example: Stealing Tommy’s discs is a disruption of the “Tommy’s discs are his and his alone” status quo, but strengthens the “Dream is the most powerful dude on the server” status quo, because the discs give him power over Tommy.

By fighting L’Manburg, he was trying to preserve the status quo, because having a government on the server meant he no longer had absolute power. Hell, REALLY early on, he decided to kill George and burn all his stuff because George had full diamond while everyone else was still running around in iron armor.

However, after L’Manburg’s independence, Dream’s focus shifted. Instead of preserving the status quo, he’d disrupt it in order to return to the status quo as HE wanted it, with no nations, and himself at the top.

But again, that wouldn’t look good. Making yourself the undisputed ruler of the entire server is not good for optics, so instead, Dream hides behind the excuse that he’s just trying to stop conflict, or seeking retribution for slights against his nation.

By this point, Tommy, the only person who CONSTANTLY refuses to bow to his demands, becomes his scapegoat. Tommy is loud, enjoys chaos and getting on people’s nerves, and causes, admittedly, a LOT of conflict. Lighthearted, non-serious conflict with very little actual consequences, but conflict nonetheless. It’s not hard for him to start smearing Tommy’s name, painting him as this feral child at fault for every conflict ever, mostly because a lot of people already believed something like that to be true.

The idea that Tommy is uniquely destructive or chaotic is complete bullshit. Tommy is definitely on the more chaotic side, but he’s not that much more chaotic or destructive than your average server member, he’s just really loud and annoying about it, which makes the things he DOES do stick out more. But Dream, especially during the Exile Conflict, continuously pushed the idea that Tommy is the only one creating conflict on the server, that Tommy is responsible for all conflict ever, and that without Tommy, everyone would be at peace.

And at some point… Dream started believing this himself.

His speech during the Final Disc War illustrates this perfectly. He tells Tommy that ever since he joined, there’s been nothing but war and terrorism and conflict, and that those originated from the attachments Tommy brought to the server. That, by cutting off his own attachments, exploiting everyone else’s, and getting rid of Tommy, he could restore the old status quo, before L’Manburg, before Tommy, when everything was peaceful and no conflict existed. Except, Tommy is too fun to fuck with, so instead of killing him, Dream was going to lock Tommy up in Pandora’s Vault, probably for the rest of his life, to continue breaking him.

This is a prime example of Dream falling for his own bullshit.

First of all, Tommy didn’t cause all those wars, he was actually on the receiving end of most of them. A vast majority of the wars and terrorism Tommy got caught up in were actually started by Dream, or Dream was actively helping the guy who started it.

Second, Tommy didn’t bring the concept of attachment to the server. He gets very attached to things, true, but attachment is a very basic part of the human condition. Even Dream, the guy openly shunning all attachment, isn't immune to it, in the end, he’s attached to the server as a whole, and Tommy, who he gave almost biblical importance in his narrative. Like Tommy said, if you have no attachment to things, why does anything matter at all?

Third, getting rid of Tommy and controlling the entire server with their attachments… that wouldn’t have restored the status quo, because the status quo exactly as Dream envisioned it never existed. He’s not chasing a past that was ruined by Tommy, he’s chasing an idealized fairytale version of the past where everyone was friends and frolicked around in the fields and there was never any conflict, before Tommy came along and ruined everything. Before Tommy joined, there was a SHIT ton of conflict, from minor disputes over theft, to the above-mentioned incident where Dream destroyed George’s stuff, to the lemon tree conflicts that wound up being taken to court!

Except, even this idea of Dream wanting to restore an idealized, made-up past is only partially true. What Dream is looking to return to and uphold is a world where he was the only authority and nobody questioned him. The status quo he wants to return to, no matter how much he denies it, is the one where everyone was at his mercy and he could do whatever he wanted without impunity. However, because he’s convinced himself that conflict is the issue, not disobedience, even if his plan succeeded, he’d have to keep the entire server in a chokehold to get them to follow his ideal plan.

Because conflict is inevitable. Anywhere where there’s two or more people sharing a space, you’re going to run into conflict at some point. People will have disagreements, they will fight, they will have miscommunications, they will have a bad day or accident and antagonize someone else.

Resolving these issues through conflict, whether it’s verbal, physical or legal, will result in a healthier community in the long run, because people’s pent-up frustrations will get an outlet, and people will try to hash out compromises or accommodations based on the reactions they get. It’s not always the ideal solution, but it’s better than just sitting everyone down, telling them to play nice, and smacking them over the back of the head as soon as they start complaining.

But conflict threatens the status quo. And as Dream involves himself in more and more conflict, they increasingly start threatening HIS status quo. So in order to maintain his status quo, conflict needs to be stomped out as soon as it crops up, no matter how minor it is.

So, now to paint a timeline through this lens.

Dream started off as the ultimate power on the server, able to do whatever he wanted without consequence. Tommy joined and threatened that status quo, but he was just one guy, so keeping him away and occupied wasn’t too hard. It was fun, even.

Then L’Manburg came, and posed the first substantial threat to Dream’s rule. Dream tried crushing this rebellion before it had a chance to take root, but in the end, Tommy traded his discs (the things Dream was using to control him) for L’Manburg’s independence. The status quo changed, L’Manburg was here to stay.

However, L’Manburg still posed a threat to Dream’s rule, so manipulating events to destroy it became Dream’s next priority. He supported Schlatt during the election in the hope he’d destabilize the nation, then sided with Pogtopia in secret to help overthrow the government, then helped Wilbur with the TNT to blow L’Manburg sky high, then betrayed Pogtopia for Schlatt’s side for the revival book. When Pogtopia won, Dream was egging Techno on through whispers to try to get him to go ape shit, so with Techno’s withers and Wilbur’s TNT, L’Manburg was gone, and the old status quo had been restored.

Except it hadn’t been. L’Manburg was rebuilt, with Tubbo at the helm this time, and a new status quo was put in place, with L’Manburg still there and still a threat. However, with Wilbur’s death, Tommy was left almost completely unprotected, and Dream took his chance to get Tommy thrown out of the country, hoping to get his biggest threat out of the way, as well as being able to sink his claws into the L’Manburg Cabinet.

Dream isolated Tommy in exile and tried to break him to the point where he wouldn’t put up any resistance. During this time, he also commissioned the prison, which he claimed to only be for the most dangerous members of the server, but is a pretty transparent attempt to enforce his rule by making a place where he can stick anyone who disobeys him. The server is slipping more and more out of his control, with more factions popping up and more people outright defying him, so like any dictator, he takes harsher and harsher measures to stay on top.

Tommy escapes exile, and while Dream is keeping tabs on him, he can’t directly control him anymore. So, to prevent Tommy from returning to L’Manburg and stopping his plans at disrupting the status quo, he blows up the community house, frames Tommy for it, and goes to Tubbo to demand Tommy’s disc, the only reason destroying L’Manburg was disadvantageous for him. Tommy jumps in to defend himself and takes L’Manburg’s side, but in the end, Dream takes both the discs, then destroys L’Manburg with Techno.

By this point, the status quo Dream wanted to craft is almost complete. L’Manburg is gone, there are no other major factions threatening his rule, and he’s pretty much set a precedent for what happens to dissenters. All he needs to do now is get rid of Tommy.

Except he can’t kill him. Over time, Dream has become obsessed with Tommy, to the point where he’s started seeing Tommy as the lynchpin of the server that everyone else gravitates around. Tommy is almost a living MacGuffin: he brings chaos and attachment which gives him power, but in the right hands, that power can be harnessed to create order.

(This is absolute nonsense of course, Tommy is just A Guy, his presence itself doesn’t create chaos, and controlling him doesn’t mean controlling the entire server because a lot of people just plain don’t give a shit.)

So instead of killing him, Dream tries to put him in prison. He even outright says that he wants to finish what he started in exile, this time with even tighter control and no possibility for escape.

He goes to kill Tubbo for multiple reasons: Tubbo is no longer useful to him, Tubbo can be used as leverage to keep Tommy compliant in prison (the possibility to revive someone’s best friend is a pretty valuable bargaining chip), and Tubbo would absolutely raise hell if Dream threw his best friend in jail for no reason.

If Dream had gotten his way, he’d be able to blackmail everyone on the server into compliance. Tommy, his scapegoat, would’ve been in prison, so now without a scapegoat, he could’ve probably gone one of two ways.

He could’ve created a new scapegoat to blame all new conflict on. Quackity would’ve been a good candidate, he’s VEHEMENTLY anti-Dream, and would’ve had no qualms about starting shit with him. Whether it was with El Rapids or with Las Nevadas, Quackity would’ve been the biggest anti-Dream voice in Tommy’s absence. So c!Dream would keep Quackity around, blaming him for everything that goes wrong… Until Quackity would get too uppity and either gets murdered or put in jail with Tommy, and the cycle repeats until either people rise up, or everyone who isn’t completely subservient is in prison.

Or, he could’ve cracked down EVEN HARDER on conflict. Anyone creating a new nation gets stomped into the dirt, anyone fighting over resources gets murdered, anyone squabbling over griefed property gets thrown in prison for weeks at a time, all the while their property and pets that they care about more than anything else get dangled in front of their noses. Anyone who’s ever read any more than five pages about the dynamics of dictatorships can see that this kind of repression is basically ASKING for revolution, especially since Dream has shunned all friendships at this point and his only ally is only there because Dream pays him.

(this is all speculation, we don’t know what would’ve actually happened, dont yell at me)

The status quo Dream is trying to return to never existed, and the one he creates in the process isn’t sustainable. Stopping every conflict ever is completely unsustainable and detrimental to the larger community, which Dream knows, because he uses conflict CONSTANTLY to get his way, while still presenting himself as a peacekeeper. What he’s really against is disruptions of the status quo, because the status quo allows him to do whatever he wants and control the server as much as he wants.

Conflict isn’t inherently bad. Some conflicts are harmless, some are necessary disruptions of the status quo. Conflict itself is morally neutral, and trying to prevent all conflict ever leads into some… iffy territory. Remember when Ranboo yelled at the L’Manburgians for participating in conflict the day before Doomsday?

Anyway. Please examine situations with more nuance than “conflict bad”, it’ll make for much better analysis. Trust me. /nm

#dream smp #dsmp analysis #dsmp meta #dreamwastaken #c!dream #idk if this made any sense at all #i feel like i just slapped a buncha stuff in a google doc and completely bullshitted a conclusion from it #but anyway #just something to think abt i guess

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bulkyphrase · 3 years ago

Text

Everybody & the Avengers Team

I've got a new fic rec list for you!

The stories in the "X & the Avengers Team" tags focus on one person's relationship to the Avengers team as a whole. Courtesy of AO3's tag browse and Excel, here's a ranked list of the top 20 most popular pairings:

Tony Stark | 2470 total, 240 OTP

Peter Parker | 2255 total, 85 OTP

Steve Rogers | 602 total, 56 OTP

Loki | 387 total, 26 OTP

Natasha Romanov | 308 total, 35 OTP

Clint Barton | 268 total, 46 OTP

Bruce Banner | 244 total, 15 OTP

Thor | 209 total, 7 OTP

Avengers Team | 174 total, 24 OTP

James "Bucky" Barnes | 156 total, 7 OTP

Wanda Maximoff | 143 total, 4 OTP

Phil Coulson | 105 total, 9 OTP

Darcy Lewis | 91 total, 6 OTP

Matt Murdock | 60 total, 8 OTP

Sam Wilson | 53 total, 5 OTP

Nick Fury | 41 total, 5 OTP

Harry Potter | 40 total, 0 OTP

Pepper Potts | 31 total, 1 OTP

Vision | 29 total, 2 OTP

Stiles Stilinski | 25 total, 0 OTP

In chart form, if you like charts:

Notes:

The numbers after the names are the number of stories tagged with that ship. OTP means the number of stories where that is the only relationship tagged on the story. Numbers are accurate as of July 2021.

Story Recommendations

For your reading pleasure, included below is at least one fic rec for each pairing except the crossovers from non-Marvel fandoms (apologies to Mr. Potter & Mr. Stilinski). Most are gen fic, and even in the ones with a romantic pairing, romance is not the focus.

Tony Stark

As Subtle As Cognitive Recalibration by petroltogo (Teen, 8949) tumblr: @tonystarktogo

Standing inside his penthouse, listening to Rogers, Barton and Banner explain to Fury how they just happened to stumble over the Tesseract on a routine security check of Stark Tower’s roof and wouldn’t you know, they’ve managed to fight off the looming alien invasion before it could really start and secure the missing overpowered nightlight is one of the most surreal situations Tony has ever had the displeasure of experiencing.

Peter Parker

the worst field trip ever by shrill_fangirl_screaming (Teen, 3420) tumblr: @i-am-having-an-emotion

"We're on a field trip," Peter said. "To here. And Tony decided to be our tour guide and absolutely embarrass me, so can you please help get him under control?"

Which is how Peter Parker, architect of his own destruction, ended up with not one but two superhero pseudo-dads being annoying on his school field trip.

Steve Rogers

Do You Remember Being Happy? ('Cause I Sure Don't) by GalaxyThreads (Teen, 11022) tumblr: @galaxythreads

That seems about right. He doesn't know how he knows that, though. He does have vague memories of an annoyed fondness at finding peanut butter in some sort of jam. Thor's doing, because he doesn't see the point of using two knives when one works just as fine. He knows that. How does he know that? He knows all those little details, though, almost innately. How can he know these strangers so deeply?

Everyone else below the cut!

Loki

Proprietary by TheThirdMarauder (Teen, 7639)

No, Loki simply wants the Avengers conquered. The details of whom, how, and when matter not. Unless, of course, said details interfere with Loki's plans. Then, well, then none can fault him for protecting his own interests.

Loki has always been exceptionally good at lying to himself.

Natasha Romanov

What Girls Are Made Of by enigma731 (Teen, 4613) tumblr: @enigma731

She rolls her eyes but does as he’s indicated, using his shoulders to leverage herself up onto his back, her arms around his neck and her legs hugging his waist.

“You know,” he says blithely, “this isn’t really what I tend to picture when I think of a hot girl riding me.”

Natasha groans, deciding that if his sense of humor gets them arrested, she’ll kill him herself. “Just go.”

Clint Barton

Dear Clint Barton (circa age 7) by pollyrepeat (Teen, 4221)

With a normal person, this might count as blackmail material, but a) this is a case of mutually assured destruction if ever there was one, and b) Fury is immune to embarrassment. Not just in the regular, Tony Stark way, either, oh no. Things that could possibly end up being embarrassing to Fury get somehow warped and changed until they go from mortifying all the way over into useful and/or good for his image. It’s like a superpower.

Carrying Clint’s small child self around on his shoulders more than once has probably already hit the interagency rumour mill as an example of Fury’s innate awesomeness: good with rocket launchers and small children.

Also available as a podfic!

Bruce Banner

They're Not Wrong by Trumpeteer34 (Teen, 10163)

As Tony began to pace around the hole in the road to keep himself from shooting repulsors at the nearby buildings in a fit of rage, Thor began to study the nearby area. There was no sign of either the Hulk or Bruce Banner beyond the crater. The surrounding area, aside from the rubble of the fight, held no clue as to their friend’s location.

“Guys, he’s gone,” Tony growled into the communicator on their private line, drawing Thor out of his darkening thoughts. “Someone tranqed him and took him. He’s gone.”

Honorary mention goes to the Responsible Science series by @letteredlettered - the stories don’t have the "Avengers Team & Bruce Banner" tag, but they could, and they are amazing. The best Bruce Banner writing I've ever come across.

Thor

Fortunately, I Am Mighty by onward_came_the_meteors (General, 3062)

Steve was the first one to speak. “Are you okay?”

Thor nodded. Which was a bad idea, as it turned out, because now there were little gray lights flashing in front of his eyes. “I’m fine.” Absolutely everyone narrowed their eyes, and he added, “But, uh. Could we possibly not get back in the car just yet?”

Avengers Team

Civil Wasn't by onward_came_the_meteors (General, 7123)

"We're having an ideological conflict here," Tony stated with disbelief. "Are you telling me you still want to go out to dinner?"

"It's a standing engagement, Tony," Rhodey reminded him.

"Not you too—"

"We already had to reschedule from Friday when Natasha was..." Rhodey frowned. "What were you doing?"

The question was directed toward Natasha, who shrugged and said, "Spy stuff."

James "Bucky" Barnes

You Know How I Feel, aka, The Adventures of Bucky and Muffy the Dinosaur by ifeelbetter (Not Rated, 4511) tumblr: @ifeelbetterer

“As you may have heard, Bucky Barnes, a.k.a. The Winter Soldier, recently rescued a tiny part-robot dinosaur during the Avengers’ battle with Dr. Doom in Antarctica,” the other newscaster explained. “Pictures of Barnes and the dinosaur were posted on twitter by fellow Avenger, Clint Barton, a.k.a. Hawkeye, and immediately made Barnes’s new pet America’s sweetheart.”

“Her name’s Muffy,” said Steve."

Wanda Maximoff

and the woman was young again by Mira_Jade (General, 3669)

Tony Stark called them the Cap's Kooky Quintet, and sometimes the term amused her – causing her to lift a sardonic brow where someday a smile would truly smile. She enjoyed the presence of comrades – true comrades – and she enjoyed the way their minds wove and bound together about each other to fluctuate against her senses as one. There was something soothing about being in their midst, and even when their loud and brash ways – their painful Americaness - rubbed her raw and drained on her, it was ever the knitting of their minds that soothed those moments over, and made them inconsequential.

Phil Coulson

Coulson's First Day of School by storiesfortravellers (Teen, 3055)

Coulson looked up at him. “I like drawing pictures with Mr. Rogers. I like having tea parties with Ms. Potts. I like it when Dr. Banner reads me books, and I like it when Natasha teaches me things. And I like when you play with me. You do really good voices when we play action figures. And you’re the only one who lets me do stuff like jump off the high diving board at the pool or eat three cupcakes or play tackle with kids at the park.”

Clint didn’t realize that. He was pretty sure that meant that he was doing something wrong.

Darcy Lewis

Beginner Yoga for Dummies (Darcys) and Sad Hobos by chailover (Teen, 3434)

Darcy had a theory: crazy attracted crazy, working kind of like gravity. It was pretty much her explanation for her life after Thor. And if she had thought the type of crazy Thor attracted was bad, be it Loki or the Warrior Three and Sif, or the dark elves and the Convergence, it was still nothing against what the Avengers manage en masse.

Matt Murdock

Double Blind by smilebackwards (Teen, 2381) tumblr: @smilebackwards

Stark snaps his fingers. “You can’t see half of my inventions. This explains so much about you and why you’ve never been properly impressed by me.”

“Does it?” Matt says, ambiguously.

Sam Wilson

Bystander by scribblemetimbers (Teen, 52029)

“I just want you to know,” Sam says loudly, cautiously raising his hands, “That I’m very poor and very sleep-deprived and literally the only thing you can kill me for right now are my notes.” He pauses. Wait. On second thought: “Please don’t steal my notes.”

“I’m not—I’m not a mugger,” Not Mugger rasps out, and for all that he looks about to keel over and die, the man actually manages to sound offended.

Nick Fury

Bedtime Story by dixiehellcat (Teen, 2532) tumblr: @deehellcat

Fury snorted. “I have to check in with the duty officer. I’ll be back in, let’s say twenty minutes. I expect all of you to have whatever your pre-bedtime routines are completed, and be in here pajama’ed and ready to be read to.”

He tapped the book under his arm, then left with the usual dramatic swish of his long coat. Bruce scratched his head. “Did…he just say be ready to be read to?”

Pepper Potts

Pepper and the Avengers (Which She Knows Nothing About) by rebelmeg (General, 6696) tumblr: @rebelmeg

The Avengers, that mismatched group of hurt and heroism, was one of the most important things in Tony Stark’s life. So, naturally, Pepper had made them an important part of her life too.

Vision

039. Intoxicated by aimmyarrowshigh (Teen, 100) tumblr: @aimmyarrowshigh

It might be nice to fit in, just this once. To lose a bit of composure.

Vision floated over to the refrigerator and, with some timidity, pulled off a magnet. He stuck it to his forehead.

#marvel fic rec

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god1ngs · 3 years ago

Note

(twofer)

(had to rewrite this cause my computer didn’t save it)

(so i don’t know how to refer to paragraphs of a song so i just did it like a poem, stanzas. also the chronology isn’t strictly linear)

the first stanza is from the Wilbur’s perspective, waking up in limbo for the first time. Once awake enough, the memory of his conversation with Philza in the final control room playing over once more. ‘And you just want to blow it all up?’ Sometimes the song of L’Manberg echoes through the station but instead of instrumentals or lyrics, it’s complete static. All this interrupted by a searing pain, unable to move from the wall he leans against. Watching a train come and go, never stopping. The doors never opening. It’s the first year of 13 and yet his hands are always stained with his own blood, unable to wash. As he can’t help but clutch at the wound, the blood transferring to his hair when he pulls at it.

the second stanza being from Tommy’s perspective. he’s just been exiled and is attempting to process everything that just happened but it’s not safe. in his grief, he tries to grasp onto the ideology his older brother laid out but he can’t. he thinks he’s failed Wilbur and the country he helped build, the place he called home. (why he also refers to it as an unfinished symphony). It no longer exists and all he wants to do is rest. being all alone, he pleads to Mumza to forgive him, wanting to talk to someone…anyone. by this point, he hates running.

the third and fourth stanza regards the transition from Wilbur to Tubbo/Schlatt as president; L’Manberg—Manberg. Jschlatt is dying in the 3rd stanza, his heart attack. Hence why it’s ‘mama’ and not mumza as he wouldn’t view her a mother figure but rather a stranger. He regrets joining the election and thinks of all his mistakes, stubbornly not admitting them aloud. Only when he’s in an intoxicated fugue will he accept defeat, even then introspectively (‘fog within my mind’). Fundy’s spy diaries revealing how his body atrophied as time went on, the reason he kept insisting on creatine and protein shakes. Tubbo after his father’s death, wants to exude the same stage presence. Failing as all he hears is everyone’s input, how his father was a boastful coward (Scaramouche) & previous memories of drunken arguments between Schlatt & Quackity. Niki’d be the loudest if she was still around—a puppet government if anything.

the fifth stanza’s from Fundy’s perspective, how he’s lost most of his identity seeking approval. How he’s been used, a mere pawn on a chessboard. All he knows is the roles—facades he’s played among the years. unlike Tubbo & Tommy, he’s never had to be the one in control, he’s only taken orders; more of a means towards an end. reflecting on this, he breaks down, pleading out to Mumza as well. Not trusting his mind since the nightmares revealed prophetic in a sense; hence Beelzebub. Even when he joins Las Nevadas, he can’t help the tiny voice in the back of his head. The one that doubts, the one that’s insecure and thinks ‘what if familial history will repeat itself? what if i end up dead like my father b/c of a cause?’

then the last one, is the camera slowly panning out from all these characters you’ve seen. their shapes changing, the story progressing but it’s not over. some of them wanting revenge for the pain they’ve endured, others just wanting to be a part of a community again. and you close the story as you wait for the writer to continue.

(sorry to get all meta there)

-Fundy

#bones txt #c!fndy anon my beloved <3 #ur so cool #ur brain is massive anon i appreciate you sm

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commonwealthoccurences · 4 years ago

Text

Not So Hard To Say Goodbye (SETL, ETD Part Three)

Word Count: 1,683 Prompt: Right Behind You Baby Day: 24/28

TW: Character death, gunshot tomfoolery (wound resulting in death).

Note: I exclusively listened to Georgenotfound’s Only Fans on repeat while writing this. Do with that information what you will. A single line. That was the barrier between Sole being undercover and genuinely being part of the Institute. It had blurred, somewhere along the way, and they felt as if they were slipping from the hold the Railroad’s ideology had on them. Maybe it was the shelter from the Wasteland, a space where they could fantasize about a life outside the constant attacks and the losses they had suffered, or maybe it was because Father was the last thing tying them to a life that had long abandoned them.

It was comforting, to be surrounded by furniture that wasn’t tainted by bloodstains and dirt. They were weak, they knew, to be so willing to give up everything they’d dedicated the past few years to just for comfort, but they weren’t too proud to admit that. They had nothing to return to, after all. The Railroad was a falling support of a failing mindset that would only betray the Wasteland. The Institute, though? They had far more potential, and the more Sole was sent to spend time on the inside, the more they started to believe the Railroad was a lost cause.

Soon, they arrived at a point where they could no longer stand with one foot on either side of the fence, indecisive and conflicted. They had to decide who they were going to betray. X6-88 had arrived with his signature stealthy footsteps and announced that Father wanted to see them. Then, he had informed them that they needed to take out the Railroad once and for all. What were they going to do?

The decision was made before they knew it, the moment they looked up in the Third Rail and saw Deacon acting as if he had never seen them before. It was pure spite, evil and unregulated, that drove them over the line. Did they care? Not particularly. They had gone far past caring after the Wasteland had shit all over everything they had fought so hard to protect, had been abandoned by the one person they thought understood them. Maybe they were ready to burn it to the ground just to feel something.

As soon as they left Goodneighbor they returned to the Institute to relay their decision to Father. He understood, as far as he knew, that there would be a conflict of interest considering they were the Institute’s double agent, but they were more than willing to witness what was to come. Somewhere along the line listlessness and apathy had been replaced by rage.

When they consented to be part of the process, everyone launched into action much faster than Sole was expecting. Apparently this had been a plan for a long time, they just needed the intel Sole about to hand them. They didn’t hesitate. It surprised even themself. “There’s a loose end we need to tie up.” They announced.

They were leaned against the table in the middle of the room, reflecting internally on just how stereotypical the situation was. Father was propped up on the other side of the room, receiving concerned glances from the scientists around him; it was obvious he didn’t have much time left. Sole didn’t particularly care. With a sigh, they pushed off the table and turned to look out one of the many windows at the sprawling space of the Institute ground floor below. “The Institute has an agent that’s currently undercover. Reconnaissance work, I think, I wasn’t told. I’m supposed to think he’s dead.”

This brought on curious murmurs that had them rolling their eyes internally. They should’ve known they’d doubt them, it seemed everyone did. They turned with their arms crossed over their chest to face the room. “They’re worse than you’d think at making sure their agents don’t get spotted. But I’d know his face anywhere.” If only that was an exaggeration. If only they could forget. “Without him gone, the Railroad’s going to keep recruiting.”

“I trust you can take care of it?” Father spoke up croakily from where he was reclined.

Sole responded with an immediate, firm nod. Maybe it was what they had been aiming for in the first place, who knows. Certainly not the scientists, who sat around with judgemental, conflicted looks, as if they had any say at the end of the day. Sole had to admire Father’s commitment to the facade that they were involved. They let out a soft sigh to show their frustration. “So are we moving forward?” They asked.

“You’re awfully eager. Aren’t they supposed to be your friends? You’ve known them for years, that’s why you know so much, right?” One spoke up.

Sole ground their teeth together and glanced away for a moment to compose themself. “That’s true. But we’re not friends. They lost my respect a long time ago. Besides, my loyalty lies with the Institute. It doesn’t matter what they were to me.” They lifted their head higher.

The scientist sat back with a shrug, seemingly satisfied with this answer, at least for now. They couldn’t help but feel a bit smug that they had backed down that quickly. Regardless, it was time to get moving. The meeting ended rather abruptly after that and they stopped by to speak to Father before descending one of the many staircases and their boots met the Institute ground floor. The sooner they got this done, the sooner things would return to normal within the Institute. They would forget about the Railroad and all the trouble they had stirred up for them within the white walls.

Sole stopped in their room to use a kit, kindly provided by the Institute, to smear dirt on their face and adjust their clothing in a mirror. A clean mirror, at that. Of course, they had to look the part of someone busy traveling, but God was it luxurious to play the part after spending all their time at the Institute when they were away from the Railroad. Soon, there would be no part to be played, and the Institute would be their home full time.

After making sure they appeared to have been traveling, they made their way back to the top floor and stepped into the teleporter, ready to get this over with. No, they wouldn’t fully enjoy getting rid of the Railroad, but it would certainly feel therapeutic. There might be something fucked up about that, but it was the apocalypse. They had a feeling there would be no therapist to judge them at the end of the day.

Sole landed somewhere just outside Goodneighbor and took a moment to collect themself. The teleporter always made them seasick. After tugging at the bottom of their shirt and shifting the weight of their pack on their shoulders, they began to focus on their breathing. For a few minutes they focused on getting it to a believably borderline-hyperventilating rate, then bounced on their heels to add to the exhausted look. With this, they rushed into the gates.

Deacon was leaned against the wall that separated Daisy’s shop and KL-E-0’s, looking every part of the drifter that he was pretending to be. Sole waited until they had caught his attention before pretending to compose themself. They walked over slowly, their head somewhat ducked. God, was it hard to be faking fear to fake hiding it. It took a mere second where they bumped into Deacon and a piece of paper wound up in his hands. An exclamation point with six lines extending outwards from it. The Railroad sign for them being in danger.

It was far too easy to make their way to the back alleys of Goodneighbor, conscious of the fact that Deacon was casually trailing behind them, covering the way he followed by pausing every now and then to observe something. They were pressed into an outcropping by the time he made his way around the corner. Even Deacon, the composed super-spy, jumped when they stepped out of the shadows. “What’s going on?” He asked lowly, avoiding their stare.

Sole rolled their shoulders and let out a quiet breath. “Do you remember what you told me in the beginning?” They asked quietly, their eyes filled with tears that couldn’t be more false, throwing a shaky smile in for dramatic effect. It seemed to work with the way Deacon grew more concerned.

“What do you mean?” He asked, stepping closer, reaching out to begin examining them for injuries. “What’s going on?”

Sole let their breath shake when he got closer and looked down at the ground, taking a step to get into his space. It was personal. He placed his hands on their shoulders and they nearly rolled their eyes at the fact that he was dropping his guard. Exposing his weak points. They leaned forward as they shifted to reach for the silence pistol that was holstered beneath their jacket. “Trust no one.” They whispered in his ear before pressing the barrel against his stomach.

They let a beat pass just to watch the way his face dropped and his eyes widened before pulling the trigger. The recoil encouraged them to take a step backwards, but they gave him the courtesy of catching him under his arms and lowering him to the ground slowly. The words Deacon had been preparing were caught in his throat, suppressed by the pain, and they took the moment to fire two more shots; one for each of his legs. He wasn’t making it out of the alley. No one used it anymore, and it wasn’t uncommon to find dead drifters a week later.

Truth be told, they were tempted to stick around and watch him process what was happening. Already, there was a look of acceptance on his face, like he’d figured something like this would happen, but they knew better. Deacon was smart, but if he were smarter, he would’ve never left. The fury in his eyes as he looked up at him, away from the blood spilling from his wounds, nearly made them shiver. Instead, they let out a quiet laugh and shook their head. “You should take your own advice.”

#Fallout 4 #Fo4 #Fo4f #Fallout 4 February #Deacon #Angst #Character Death #Oneshot #Imagine #Fanfiction #Fanfic #FF

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sailorgreywolf-legacy · 4 years ago

Text

The Beautiful Game

For @historical-hetalia-week day 6.

Plot: Russia courts a new ally against his American rival. However, he may have underestimated exactly who he is dealing with.

Characters: Russia, Mexico

Content Warning: Mentions of death and abuse

Word Count: 2.4K

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

After years of clandestine planning, Russia had finally found a possible ally close to America. There had been hints that this particular ally might soon be within reach. Mexico had broken with America and objected to Cuba’s exclusion.

Russia had heard that there had been fights, though Cuba had declined to say whether he thought the relationship was going to fall apart. He seemed to put a lot of stock in respecting Mexico’s privacy.

But, Russia could see the ripples of the discontent between them, and he intended to take full advantage of it. It was just his luck that Cuba was close enough to Mexico to arrange a meeting.

As he stood in the living room of Mexico’s home he thought about how best to convince the man to abandon America. He thought it best to show how deficient America was as a friend and a lover.

The door opened and Mexico entered. He made a show of closing and locking the door. Russia assumed that it was a kind of assurance that they were alone. Then Mexico turned to him, with a look of expectation. Mexico was handsome as always, and very well dressed.

Russia led since he had been the one to suggest the meeting, “Thank you for agreeing to this. I’ve been eager to talk to you.”

He knew that it would be best to lead with honesty and a bit of flattery. Mexico had to know how important this visit was, especially since Russia had been working for years to find an inroad with him. He was not lying when he said that he had been waiting for this meeting.

Mexico gave him a small smile that betrayed nothing and said, “I’m sure you have. Good thing that you didn’t propose it by telegram. Those have a nasty habit of being intercepted.”

Russia wasn't sure whether he should laugh at the comment. He understood the reference, but wasn’t sure if Mexico was meaning it to be humorous. Instead he said, “I do suppose I could have called.”

He was trying to make small talk, though he was sure that America was keeping a close eye on who he called. Mexico shook his head and said, “I wouldn’t recommend that either. Alfred has my phones bugged.”

Russia seized on this detail. He had guessed at it, since America was expanding his net of spies. But, he had not been certain if America trusted Mexico enough to spy on him.

He said, “So, he doesn’t trust you?”

Mexico laughed, which caught Russia off guard. He hadn’t expected Mexico to find something so serious quite so funny. Mexico caught his breath and said, “Christ, Ivan, do I not even get a bit of foreplay before you start probing me for information about Alfred?”

Russia noted that he had moved too fast. Mexico was apparently aware of the espionage and was not going to tell Russia whether it bothered him. The rumors about Mexico said that he was reckless and emotional, so he had expected that the realizing that Alfred was suspicious would be an emotional blow. But, that seemed like it was a wrong assumption.

He said, “Forgive me. I do want to talk to you without just talking about Alfred. I think we have more in common than you think.”

He needed to remind himself that the goal was to sway Mexico’s loyalty, not to get information about his enemy. If he was successful, then the information would come.

Mexico had the slightest hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth, but it was difficult to know what it meant. He said, “We might.” Then, after a short, mysterious silence he said, “Would you play a game of chess with me? Carlos tells me that you’re very good.”

Russia was confused by the question, since it did not seem related to the politics of the moment. But, he could indulge the impulse. He was confident in his own ability to win against a reckless young man who didn’t have the foresight that chess required.

Once the game was over he could begin to test the cracks in Mexico’s relationship with America. He replied, “Very well.”

That got an encouraging smile from Mexico. In a few minutes, Mexico had set up the board and he gestured to the chair across from him and said, “Take a seat. I like a challenge.”

Russia couldn’t help but smirk. It was quite cute that Mexico thought that it might be an even game. This was a game that Russia loved dearly and could rival the masters in; he was certain that he could destroy an amateur quickly.

He said as he sat, “You know I did not come here to play games with you.”

Mexico started to pull carved wooden pieces out of a velvet bag and place them on the board. He replied as he worked, “Of course you are. You’re here to play the grandest game of all: Politics. There is no bigger game than that.”

There were light clunks as Mexico placed the pieces on the board. Russia was pleasantly surprising with the wit. He had never heard anyone but Cuba say that Mexico was so sharp.

He glanced down at the board, and remarked, “You’re giving me white?”

It was a strange move, like Mexico wanted to handicap himself. A smarter man would have given himself the advantage of going first. Mexico said, not looking at all perturbed, “Of course. You are my guest and I do want a challenge.”

Russia could not fault the confidence, even if it seemed like it could almost be arrogance. Or perhaps he was just underestimating his opponent. Either way, Russia was happy to start the game by moving out his first pawn.

As Mexico moved, Russia asked, “So what will you tell Alfred if he finds out that I was here?” The other looked up only once he was done moving his pawn, and replied, "I will tell him that we played a game of chess and that was it.”

With what they were doing, that would not technically be a lie. Russia was impressed by the forethought. But he was certain that America would not take the answer lightly.

He asked, moving his knight out to open up the board, “And if he does not accept that answer?”

He wanted to know what was at stake, and what would happen if America turned on his Southern neighbor. But Mexico responded with a quickly glance, “I do not make my decisions based on what Alfred will accept.”

He stated it as plainly as one might remark about the weather, and Russia found himself frustrated that he could not sense bitterness in the words. He wanted something to work with.

The play continued on the board as he responded, “I have seen that. You voted in favor of Cuba. No one else dared to defy Alfred’s wishes.”

Mexico took his knight with a bishop and said, “I have done more for Carlos than that, as I am sure he has already told you.”

In truth, he had already heard some of the stories from Cuba. They were intriguing. Mexico hiding Castro right under the nose of the man who wanted to keep Cuba in thrall. Cuba said that his friend had also orchestrated meetings between Cuba and the communist exiles.

It was a strange thing for a man to do when he was supposedly so loyal to America. It was one of the many stories that gave him reason to believe that Mexico could be influenced.

He replied, “I know that you hosted Castro when he was in exile. I ask myself why you would do that if you weren’t sympathetic to our cause.”

He made his move. He was not paying close attention to the game, because he was certain that Mexico would not hand him anything that he could not deal with.

Instead of making his move, Mexico stood up and walked over to a sideboard where he poured himself a glass of ice water. As he had his back to Russia, he said, “There is a simple explanation.” He turned back and said, “Carlos is my friend, and I wanted to help him.”

He returned to his seat and contemplated the pieces while sipping water. Russia pushed him, because he felt like the answer had been a dodge, “Are you denying that you have sympathy for Socialism?”

He was certain that Mexico had some ideological convictions that he was refusing to voice. Though he had been embroiled in his own conflict, he had heard rumors that Mexico had been with Zapata and Villa during the Revolution. Cuba had refused to tell him anything about it, and he valued him enough as an ally not to push him for information.

Mexico made his move and then said, “Sympathy is a strange word. I feel sympathy for many things."

Russia took a hard look at the board for the first time. He was surprised to realize that Mexico was pressing an exceptionally solid and aggressive attack. He should not have let it get to this point, because it would take a tight defense to push back.

As he stared at the board, Mexico said, “Can I ask you a question?”

Russia moved one of his rooks into a stronger position to protect his king. He answered, still focused on the game, “Go ahead.”

Mexico moved his queen decisively into a position that could quickly evolve into check, and said, “Do you know how hard it is to find an ice axe in this city?”

Russia’s hand paused over his piece as he understood the question. This was about Trotsky and Stalin’s obsessive quest to destroy him. A quest that had culminated in a murder.

He looked up at Mexico. He couldn’t help but appreciate the build up to this moment. As he looked, he saw a man very different from the rumors. He looked calm and certain of himself, and very aware of what he had just said.

For the first time Russia felt like he understood what Cuba had been telling him. As he looked, he saw a man who was brilliant and looking at him over a winning game of chess.

This was no foolish young man that he was facing. This was a bishop, not a pawn.

The handsome face was set in the most impassive expression, but his eyes hinted at a feeling of triumph. Mexico seemed to see that he understood and added, “Alfred’s conduct may have given you the false sense that I do not value my sovereignty. But I assure you, I do.”

Russia could not believe that Mexico had really valued the life of a single Soviet exile that highly. But, he took the point. It had been an overstep, but one born out of the singular obsession of one man.

He finally replied, “Stalin is dead.” Mexico countered quickly, “And so is Trotsky. One was more natural than the other.”

Russia remembered that it was his turn and moved his king out of a vulnerable position.

Mexico spoke while he was moving, “Make no mistake. I had no attachment to the man. Giving him asylum was a favor to Frida as a friend. But he was my guest and he was under my protection.”

Russia had not agreed to the assassination, but it was not his choice. He focused on a different detail, and said, “Frida Kahlo? Were you friends with her and Diego Rivera?"

He knew those names because they were communists. Mexico seemed to be friends with a suspicious number of communists.

He looked down on the board and saw that Mexico had finally made a mistake. He had left an opening in his defense. It was the kind of glaring error that an experienced player would have seen.

Mexico replied, dodging any political implications, “Yes. I thought you saw the mural on the way in. That’s Diego’s work.”

Russia had, and he had been tempted to pause and admire the work. It was beautifully done. He moved decisively to take advantage of the opening.

He nodded, and then returned to the subject of Trotsky, “I promise you that I do not use Stalin’s methods anymore.”

Mexico took a sip of water and contemplated the game. Then he answered, “I would hope so. But how do I know that your promises are any more sincere than Alfred’s?”

Russia could see that he had a path to winning the game, and he made use of it. If nothing else he had to defend his reputation as a chess player.

He decided it was time to use the weapon he would sure have an impact. He said, “You misunderstand my intentions. I want to free the world from imperialist oppression.”

Russia removed his scarf and rubbed his neck to draw Mexico’s attention to the scars. He added, “I think you know that some scars never fade.”

For the first time in the conversation he saw real uncertainty pass over Mexico’s face. He hoped that Mexico remembered the deep scars that America had left. From the look on the other’s face he guessed that his point had made an impact as he hoped that it would.

But, Mexico did not answer until he looked at the board. Then he said, “Ah, a nasty fork. I concede.”

He knocked over his king, and looked back up at the other man. Russia was glad to have at least won, since the game had been harder fought that he expected.

He said, capitalizing on the moment, “If you were betting on a game, you would put money on the better player.”

He knew his meaning was clear. On the world stage, as on the chess board, he was much stronger than America.

Mexico took a long drink of water before saying, “You assume that I have to gamble at all. I think that I can give my money to my friends when they need it. I do not need to do more than that.”

Russia understood, though this protestation of neutrality frustrated him. He wanted to push Mexico to choose a side because his own ideals seemed to align so strongly with communism.

However, he knew that it would be a tactical error to do so. Mexico had shown himself to be clever and calculating. It would take a much more developed strategy to convince him that neutrality was not the way. Russia conceded for the moment.

He extended his hand and said, “Thank you for the game and the conversation.” Mexico took it in his own firm grip and said, “Thank you for the challenge. If you want to play again, do get in contact. You know how to reach me.”

#historicalhetaliaweek #hhw day 6 #hws russia #hws mexico #hws cuba #today's oneshot is brought to you by an author trying to remember what she knows about chess #also I have been meaning to write this oneshot for so long #cw death #cw abuse

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shini--chan · 4 years ago

Note

Hi and welcome on Tumblr! Can I ask for Yandere!America with a Soviet Spy!Crush?

Finally, the first Hetalai ask! I already posted a story to that on my other accounts: Masquerade

Doen’t matter I want to expand on that.

Yandere America x Spy! Reader

Your eyes narrowed at him, your target, all gay in that excessively youthful manner. He was overwhelming with this exuberant presence and it made you want to gag. Nevertheless, before he could sense that something is off, you put on a pleasant smile as you went about your business. Naturally, he caught he noticed you, somebody new and fresh that had been promoted to the point that you’re allowed to be around with him enough to be noteworthy.

“Hey there, fella. I’m Alfred Fucking Jones, the best man there is to be. And you’d be?”, he introduced himself with a grin that stretched from ear to ear.

It was your mission to infiltrate the upper levels of the US government and dutifully report to your boss. Working hard, you’d finally managed to rise to the level your target was. Beforehand, you had heard a lot about him, how he was an infuriating little weasel that didn’t take anybody seriously. However, upon arriving at where you need to be to observe him, you feel even cheated – you have a self-absorbed man-child in front of you. Seriously, how could the Americans be so stupid to hold such a person in high regard?

The naïve glint in his eyes vanished the moment you turned your back to pick up the phone. Hopeful sky-blue transformed to the cool sharpness of ice. Alfred traced your figure with his eyes, traveling from curve of your shoulders and down the slope of your spine. The jackal was standing right behind you and you didn’t even notice it. Maybe you’d be able to save yourself before he pounced to tear your throat out.

…Although he wouldn’t let you have the chance. Honestly, it would be your own fault that you underestimate him, and he’d abuse the fact. Whether you know he if his nation or not, it doesn’t matter – evidently, you’re not wise enough to consider him a force to reckon with. Sweet child, the persona of the gregarious boy-next-door is only the tip of the iceberg. Alfred is an superpower that bathes in the blood of his enemies.

Quickly you rifled through the papers stored in the surprisingly orderly desk. Having nicked the key, you’d taken the chance to snoop. So far, however, you’ve been unsuccessful, just finding manuals for outdated machinery and pages filled with doodles.

You head footsteps approaching and swiftly shut the drawer, looked it, and shoved the key in your jacket. Jones bursted into his office with his usual enthusiasm only to then stared at you perplexed.

“What are you doing here?”, he asked unusually seriously.

“I lost my keys somewhere. It has to be somewhere here”, you lied guiltlessly.

Make no mistake, somewhere down the line this dude is going to find about your true intensions. America won’t be happy, in the beginning at least. Not that he ever really trusted you to begin with, you were just a new curiosity to him, one that he’d gotten more invested in than he tended to but a curiosity, nonetheless. Very well, if this was you wanted to play rough then he would make you pay.

Lying on your couch, he idly tilted his head back as he sipped on ice-chilled whiskey. Eyes, glued on your back, he watched as you fixed yourself your own drink while desperately trying to pretend that he wasn’t being a complete brat – which he was.

Alfred smiled wickedly to himself. Watching you get so worked up was some much fun.

As you sauntered towards the armchair that was placed opposite the couch, you asked in that viciously beautiful voice of yours: “Aren’t you too young to drink alcohol?”

“Ain’t ya too much of a loser to boss me around?”, he questioned without hesitation. At the sight of your lips thinning, he grinned and lifted his chinned in that irritating cocksure manner of his.

While, he doesn’t take betrayal well, he excepted it. So, he drew fun out of playing this twisted cat-and-mouse game with you. He’d flip the tables, finding out everything anybody could ever discover about you. When Alfred plays, he plays to win big. Being the object of his obsession, he’d set out of studying you, manipulating you, and eventually claiming you.

Shocked you stared at him, at a child that had abruptly shed his skin to reveal a ruthless man.

“Wipe that stupid look of your face, sweety. You knew it would eventually have to come to this. Now, do I have to do something else drastic or will you cooperate for once”, he murmured smoothly, voice soft as velvet, soft in the dangerous fashion that screamed carnivore.

Your mind was still reeling from the sudden revel. Still you nodded numbly.

“Good”, he said pleased. A large hand placed found itself on the curve of your waist and he tenderly stroked your cheek. “It makes everything way easier. The other option would have been so messy.”

No matter what you try, he’d eventually unveil his true nature. That also meant compromising you and capturing you. Alfred would take his precious time to convert you to his way of thinking, using any means necessary. Indeed, he’d see it as doing you a tremendous service to free his lover of a poisonous ideology.

He pressed a longing kiss against your lips, which you gently returned. Alfred then stared you deeply in the eye and whispered excitedly:

“I’m so happy that you’ve finally excepted your place by my side.”

Of course, he’d be delighted if you fully switch sides and make yourself useful to America as a country, Alfred would also settle with you being arm-candy. Anything as long as he’d have a semblance of bliss with you, anything as long as you solely belong to him.

#yandere hetalia #yandere america #yandere usa #yandere alfred jones #spy!reader

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florbelles · 3 years ago

Note

C & E for Lyra, G & M for Lillian 💕

thank you lovely!! sorry for the delay xx

— E / EXTERNAL PERSONALITY

i. does the way they do things portray their internal personality?

absolutely. it might seem counterintuitive, since a good deal of her life has relied on deception — her many cons, her evasion of suspicion in forty murders over the span of ten years, and eventually posing as a civilian to spy on the resistance for the project — but she’s effective because of her passive, instead of active, methodology; she will not tell an explicit lie, but she will make a statement that is technically true, but wildly misleading in its context; she really is that affable and good-natured. she is also sadistic, messianic, and freely admits that she considers herself monstrous ( yes, she is terrible; she knows what she is, do you? ), but generally speaking, no one has cause to see that until it’s too late ( no, literally, she is removing their eyeballs, she is cutting their tongues, she is sewing flowers where their organs used to be, and isn’t it beautiful, that their deaths have meaning, that their skin will not simply blister and burn, that they will not choke as the ash fills their lungs; she will string their bodies about the county; no one will know the work is hers, not until later, not until the end, but then, they never thought to ask ). her blood runs much too hot, she is much too impulsive and reckless, her fuse much too short to maintain a persona that is not, essentially, who she is; if others have missed something essential, well. that’s hardly her fault, is it?

ii. do they do things that conform to the norm?

absolutely not. she has never, anywhere in her life, not been glaringly out of place. it’s how she prefers it; she hides in plain sight. she was perpetually flinging herself up against what was expected of her, getting kicked out of boarding school, disappearing for days at a time on nantucket, eventually leaving the week before her sixteenth birthday and never returning. she left behind any semblance of a normalcy with her old life; she’s been on the run ever since. the closest she has had in her adult life to a routine, to normalcy, is with the project. that says everything, i think.

iii. do they follow trends or do their own thing?

see above. she has quite literally never conformed; even as a girl she was a scandal, far too obscene for the old money set ( doubtless her mother’s blood, they murmur; what was lawrence thinking? ). her manner of speaking is outdated, over-formal and over-familiar; her wardrobe consists solely of bare feet or high heels, of long white or pale pink dresses with thigh slits, plunging necklines, bared arms; she is entirely ostentatious. she was living out of her car pumping gas at a texaco in a wedding dress on a tuesday afternoon.

iv. are they up-to-date on the internet fads?

not especially, she stays informed prior to hope county on what’s presently influencing the public consciousness but she doesn’t especially engage with it; she’s never been much for the internet. she’s good at context clues. if you send her a gif or a meme she’ll understand it. if you send her a screenshot of a vine or expect her to understand that sort of shorthand she’ll be lost. why have you sent this photo of a man smashing his phone. is he a friend. does he need help.

v. do they portray their personality intentionally or let people figure it out on their own?

she projects her personality diligently. everything about her has been refined to this; everything about the way she presents herself is intentional. yes, it’s a manipulation, but it’s also true — she has never been anything else. she would not be able to be otherwise, even if she wished to. she allows people to draw their own assumptions from what she presents, and their conclusions are nearly always incorrect; she is indisputably a certain type of woman, but very few actually arrive at the type of woman she is. she weaponizes hyper-femininity to give the illusion of vulnerability to a certain type of man. she gives the impression of materialism where there is none. she bares her tattoos at all times ( the lilies strangled by vines, the thorned roses, the serpent twined in carnations, the wrath across her breasts ); she has shown everyone what she is, she warned them, she wears it on her skin, it is not her fault they did not interpret it correctly ( this is why the marking & atonement immediately resonates with her, it’s aligned with an ideology she already possesses ).

— C / COMFORT

i. how do they sit in a chair?

legs extended and crossed at the heel when she wishes to take up space or make herself an imposing presence; straight backed with her legs folded at a bar or in a meeting; a regular feline at home ( if she’s with her husband she’s curled around him and in his lap, no personal space in this house ). ( originally answered here x )

ii. in what position do they sleep?

she used to sleep on her stomach or side with one arm flung out and the other tucked under her head; she and john sleep in a tangled mess on top of each other because they’re disgusting. she likes to keep a hand on one of his pulse points; she can’t sleep unless she can feel him breathe. ( originally answered here x)

for the last ten years of her life she sleeps curled on the ground with her fingers in the dirt and tries to feel a pulse through the earth.

iii. what is their ideal comfort day?

watch the sunrise ( this is not john's ideal comfort day so his ass better be on that balcony ), fuck all morning, wander the mountains or get high by the river most of the day, read or dance to her favorite records, and a fire at night ( bonfire in the firepit or by the river preferable, hearth fire acceptable if the weather is not permissive ).

iv. what is their major comfort food? why?

hot, sweet, baked things. sugar donuts, scones, coffee cakes. she would loiter around the nantucket bakeries as a girl. lawrence would take her sometimes, if he needed something or was repenting.

v. who is the best at comforting them when down?

john is essentially the only person she even allows to attempt; faith and joseph very circumstantially. it’s less about emotional vulnerability and more about burdening anyone else with her problems; in any given situation, she considers herself the most expendable party, but specifically her discomfort/suffering — she quite literally believes her soul to be damned and forfeit as the price of the world, the lamb, if you will — and that extends to her emotional state in terms. she’s comfortable making herself john’s problem because he signed up for it; she adamantly refuses to do so elsewhere.

— G / GORGEOUS

i. what is their most attractive external feature?

she favors her eyes; all of her sisters share them. she is most often complimented on her hair.

ii. what is the most attractive part of their personality?

extremely resourceful and an excellent conversationalist; either a real pain in the ass or a fucking delight when she lets her hair down, depending on who you ask.

iii. what benefits come with being their friend?

access to everywhere and everything, though if it’s above board she’s probably going to be dull about it and spend the whole time sniping at society she sees there. knows the best places to slip in if you don’t want to be seen, can guarantee you’re seen if you do. can dispatch unwanted suitors, artfully when she’s sober and off-puttingly when she in her cups. premium gossip, if you'd like it.

truthfully, before the war, she'll never be a simple friend to have; she comes with the complications of her family and her name, as much as she might like to slip out at night and play at anonymity to pretend otherwise ( which she will want to do, often ). nonetheless, she invariably comes with society's gaze fixed on her, her familial obligations, and a good deal of skepticism about the intentions of others. she’ll see to your social advancement because that’s what she expects you need from her. if you've withstood the test of time, however, you’re her family, second only to her siblings; she’ll do anything for you.

post-war she can offer her loyalty and a wealth of knowledge about the world before, context to pre-war technology, etc. very scientifically adept, if not trained; in another life she would have spent her years in a lab instead of in front of the cameras. a valuable ally as long as you don't put her on the front lines.

iv. what parts of them do they like and dislike?

she likes that she's resourceful. she likes that she's undefeated among her peers at chess. she likes how splendidly she can command a room, when she wishes; she likes that she can make people listen to her. she likes it better still when she feels she has something that's worth saying ( and she nearly always does ). she likes that she can be ruthless.

while it is one of her defining traits, she can dislike her obstinacy, insofar as she recognizes it’s to blame for her willful blindness to what was happening around her before the great war. she dislikes the extent to which her loyalty to her family led her to turn her head to what was happening around her. she dislikes that she cares so much what everyone thinks of her. she dislikes that she needs her mother's approval, that she hears her voice even after her death. even after she killed her.

v. what parts of others do they envy?

to that point, she envies the more uninhibited like jackie a good deal; to disregard the opinion of others, even their family, in the name of staying true to herself and her ideals is a type of bravery that lillian wishes she had, even if she thinks jackie misguided in her radicalism. she envies freedom, in all forms she lacks it. she envies those unconcerned with perfectionism. she envies anyone who lives a life unencumbered by expectations and legacies.

post-war, she envies those who aren’t burdened with what came before, all that was lost and how and why. she wouldn’t unknow it it she could — being the last to know is a great fear of hers that’s been realized one too many times — but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t envy those who don’t have that baggage of first hand experience and involvement.

— M / MATERNAL

i. would they want a daughter or a son?

neither, truthfully, but she would probably feel more comfortable raising a son; she’s already spent her life shielding evie from their mother, and feels she did an abysmal job of it, so she’s not eager to repeat those mistakes.

ii. how many children do they want?

none, really. lillian is unable to have biological children, but even if she could, she only would have had them out of a sense of obligation to continue the family line, and because of that sense of obligation — subconscious though it might have been — she came to resent the concept.

iii. would they be a good parent?

not really. she could learn — she can learn about anything — but it wouldn't come naturally to her. because it's not something she would choose for herself, it isn't something that would ever be uncomplicated for her. in many respects she's too much a perfectionist to strike a balance as a parent; she would either be overinvolved and overbearing or go to the other extreme and be entirely hands-off. her nanny would most likely be the better mother; hers was.

iv. what would they name a son? what would they name a daughter?

john is the family name for boys, from which she'd probably be disinclined to deviate ( even evie only ventured so far as "shaun" in her defiance ). she would name a girl anything but audrey ( her mother's first name, her own legal first name ). after the war it would be extremely circumstantial. she would probably name her after jackie. because of birth order, she tells evie brightly. evie is annoyed by this for the rest of their lives.

v. would they adopt?

she technically does adopt, in the sense that she takes in her nephew and passes him off as her own. she figured she owed evie that much. ( as it happens, the great war comes just before his first birthday, so motherhood is still not something in the cards for her ). she wouldn't do it again, and she would not have done it under virtually any other circumstances.

#pardon the novel jfc #i flipped e & c for the order because i recycled a few answers in c xx #answered #scungilliwoman #oc: lyra fairbanks #oc: lillian fitzgerald

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jadelotusflower · 4 years ago

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Robin Hood Rewatch: 1x09 A Thing or Two About Loyalty

IT’S EVE, IT’S THE EVE EPISODE, IT’S HERE, WHO CARES ABOUT THE BLACK POWDER PLOT, IT’S ALL ABOUT EVE.

What, exactly, is Guy and Lambert’s backstory? Why are they friends? How does Lambert not know the Sheriff’s reputation? Questions that, I suppose, don’t matter.

Much thanking the guards for arresting him is Peak Much, and I love his green scarf.

If Robin is Earl of Huntingdon, and Bonchurch is part of the Huntingdon holdings, shouldn’t Much be given a lower rank in the peerage like Baron? Although I suppose at this point the Huntingdon Earldom has technically gone extinct as it’s clear Guy has not been granted the title like he anticipated, and it doesn’t matter what the Sheriff says because he doesn’t have the authority to grant titles anyway.

Marian plays Guy very well here; it’s a fine bit of maneuvering. I also still like this outfit.

Was anyone installed in Bonchurch Lodge prior to Much taking up residence? It’s mentioned in the first episode as the house and estates Robin was granting Much, but was anyone looking after it before? Was Eve there, or brought over from Nottingham? Is there a Bonchurch village? I’d just like a bit more detail in the world-building please.

YOUR FACE MADAM.

I really enjoy Eve as a character and the Much/Eve dynamic because he is upfront with her that he knows she’s a spy, and she is completely unruffled, so it never feels as if she is deceiving him. Rather, it’s closer to them both playing the game since he knows she has to keep up the pretense, so he can ask her to tell him about the Council of Nobles and it never feels like he is deceiving her either.

Concussion count: Gaoler.

Concussion count: Guard.

“I’m not asleep” *punch* is an underrated joke.

Robin and Much’s relationship is repaired somewhat from the last episode - first Robin has faith in and defends Much when Allan is mocking him, and then supports him again when Much is expecting disparagement. It’s nice to see.

Robin’s relationship with Marian is as poor as ever though, his jealousy is bleeding through all over the place and it’s not a good look. They’re also on different sides of the ideological argument about the ledger; Robin “who are we to judge what should and shouldn’t exist as knowledge” and Marian “it is our calling to protect others”. Again, they’re both right, but coming at the problem from completely different sides.

It’s quite rich for Guy to be so easily manipulated into turning against Lambert for his lack of “loyalty” when he was the one who straight up lied to Lambert that the black powder wouldn’t be used as a weapon. On the other hand, the psychological hold Vaisey has over Guy can’t be denied. I mean:

There’s a nice bit of continuity at the Council of Nobles - the gentleman looking very uncomfortable at Much’s treatment is Merton, who shows up at the end of the season to give evidence against Vaisey and die.

Robin saying nothing when Marian tells them about Lambert’s death and instead just comforting her is a nice scene, but he also looks rather pissed off - at the situation we are to assume, not her, still I’ve always felt it was an odd acting choice. But my R/M loving heart melts a bit when they arrive at the camp holding hands.

This is the moment Eve falls for Much. She saw him stand up for himself and the poor at the Council of Nobles and was probably impressed by his fortitude when everyone else was being cowed by Vaisey, then she saw his generosity and kindness at the feast, but then - knowing that he knows she’s likely a spy - he calls her his friend, and The Way She Looks At Him.

I really enjoy any time Much and Marian interact, they have such a complicated relationship and the contrast between them is never more stark than in this episode. Marian is cynical - with good reason! - she has to be calculating and careful, and some of her anger at Eve here is no doubt misplaced over Guy. If he did not shift his loyalty from Vaisey to her, why would she ever expect Eve to shift hers to Much? But Much has an open heart, he can’t help but show affection and trust in the hope that it will be reflected back at him.

And for once, it is! Eve is so overwhelmed by Much’s kindness, but doesn’t completely trust him until he refuses to take advantage of her (her laugh over that misunderstanding is so cute!). Or perhaps when he decides not to feed her false information, because he couldn’t bear to see her hurt for it, even if she was a spy.

“When I was in the Holy Land, I would find myself...craving something. I thought it was hunger, and it was hunger most of the time. But now and then, when I would feel it, it would not be in the stomach...but in the heart.” This line was delivered so well - Sam Troughton MVP.

And I like that Eve doesn’t particularly care for Robin! It’s a nice touch, for her to be won over by Much himself, even though he credits to philosophy to Robin, it’s Much’s innate goodness that wins her loyalty.

Of course it’s not an exact parallel to Guy - well except for this:

Guy has choices that Eve doesn’t have, being a man able to live independently, a knight rather than a serf, he need be responsible for no one but himself (for all he tries to deflect and say he betrayed Lambert to “protect Marian”) - but he is fueled by an inner resentment, of Robin, of the world, he seeks power and Vaisey is the best option for him to attain that goal. Eve, it is implied, works for the Sheriff to make sure her mother “wants for nothing” so her motives are not so selfish in the first place, and when she is confronted by someone who is good and kind like Much, she not only renounces the Sheriff, but risks her own safety for his cause.

“A thing or two about loyalty” could very easily be “a thing or two about love” - sometimes it’s a choice between one or the other. Guy chooses loyalty, Eve chooses love, which perhaps is slightly reductive, but THIS IS A LOVE STORY ALRIGHT?

“When there is justice again, I will come and find you” is Peak Romance and I am annoyed that we never saw Eve again, can you imagine her around the camp snarking at Robin and making friends with Marian and being incredibly useful with her super spy skills (or hey you could just read my au season 3 fic) and why does the show keep having these great characters show up for one episode never to be mentioned again?

One more thing before I melt into (even more of) a shippy puddle - when Eve kisses Much the second time he keeps his eyes closed until she’s gone and once again I say Sam Troughton MVP.

Waiting until Vaisey and Gisborne show up to destroy the black powder just to show off and gloat is Peak Robin.

Djaq is the only one who has agreed with Robin all episode about not destroying the ledger - it makes sense that their opinion align in the interests of preserving knowledge and scientific endeavour, but the show keeps its powder dry (heh) on this issue all the way until the season 2 finale.

#robin hood bbc #robin hood rewatch #1x09 #a thing or two about loyalty

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twoidiotwriters1 · 5 years ago

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Pure Blood (Sirius Black xF!Oc)

A/N: New series!! This time coming from the wonderful world of Harry Potter, something we’re very fond of here <3 We haven’t established a day to post this though!

Words: 1,793

Warnings: None :)

Next part --->

Chapter 1: Pure Blood

The Singh family has lived in the British wizarding world for several decades. Their policy of purebloods has prevailed along with their hatred for muggles.

This ideology is shared by many families, but especially with the Malfoys and the Blacks. All the wizarding world knew who these families were, and they were respected and admired, even feared.

The last Singh generation was conformed by Ares Singh II, his wife Amelia, and their five children: Apollo, Isis, Juno, Balder, and Persephone. As expected, this family attended Hogwarts and they all have been part of either Slytherin or Ravenclaw. Their pride is lasting, and the adults make sure to inculcate all traditions to their children.

But their story will soon be threatened by the changes that the youngest Singh is trying to accomplish. And it all starts when she and her best friend Sirius Black begin their first year at Hogwarts in 1971.

—————————————————————————

“We’ll be waiting for your letter, Persephone. To let us know you’re in the right house.”

The eleven-year-old girl nods at her mother’s petition. Amelia Singh fixes the long, black hair of her last daughter and gives her one final, small hug.

“And remember, don’t mix with the mudbloods,” Adds Ares Singh. The girl nods again and her father smiles, also giving her a hug, “be careful, dear.”

“I’ll be fine, daddy,” She says when they break apart.

Balder, take care of your sister and chaperone her if it’s necessary,” Demands the man to his fourth son, who only nods as a reply.

The adults keep giving the rest of their children indications and words of farewell, especially to their oldest one, Apollo, who only has one year before he graduates.

The little girl didn’t want to stay for the rest of the lectures, so she started to look for her best friend. Her eyes went from one side to the other without being able to find him.

“There they are,” Mentions Isis while signaling to a column in the distance, the whole Black family is there. Persephone thanks her older sister and runs towards their direction.

While pushing and apologizing, she gets there the moment when Walburga Black is giving her own lecture to her oldest son.

“I understand,” The boy sighs.

“Good,” The woman nods and turns around only to notice the presence of the girl, “Persephone, where are your parents?” She asks with a small smile.

The little girl shivers at her expression, smiling wasn’t something that Mrs. Black did quite often.

“Next to the big windows, Mrs. Black”

She nods and takes her husband’s hand to drag him with her, following the indications of the girl.

“Your mother is scary,” Says the girl to her friend. The boy only laughs at her comment.

“Tell me about it.”

“Are you nervous, Sirius?” She can’t help but notice how his hands are shaking.

“I don’t know, Percy. It’s…” He holds his hands trying to control them, “Nevermind, it’s not important.”

“You know you can tell me anything, right?” Sirius stares at her intently, He feels the safety he’s always felt around her. Her dark eyes are looking at him with worry but, How could he tell her? Maybe they’ve been best friends since they were born, but they never talked about those subjects before.

How would she react if he tells her that he doesn’t want to be in Slytherin like the rest of his family? Or that he’s not so sure about what his parents say about the muggles and “mudbloods”?

“I know…” Sirius smiles, “It’s nothing, I promise.”

“It’s not fair,” Says a voice beside them, “I want to go with you too.”

Persephone laughs at the funny face the younger Black is making

“Next year you will, Reggie.”

The boy groans but hugs her by the waist. She surrounds his shoulders and brings him closer.

“Reg, leave Percy alone.”

Before Regulus can answer, a loud noise interrupts their chat. The train is about to leave. Sirius and Percy finish their goodbyes and hop on the train. Both search for an empty compartment.

“Percy, here,” Says the boy, opening one. The girl walks closer but soon realizes it’s not completely empty.

“Hi,” Sirius says, “can we sit here? all the others are taken.”

“Sure.”

Both kids get in and they sit in front of the other boys.

“I’m James, James Potter,” Says the kid in glasses.

“I’m Remus Lupin,” that kid causes certain curiosity to Percy, his face has several scars.

“I’m Sirius Black, and this is Percy.” The girl smiles politely.

“Is your name really Percy?” Asks James. She laughs and shakes her head.

“It’s short for Persephone.”

“Brilliant.”

On the way to school, the three boys and Percy had different conversations. James and Sirius animatedly talked about what they could do at school, Sirius can’t help but get excited about not being under the supervisión of his mum and James has tons of ideas to have fun. While Persephone and Remus shared the joy of being able to learn everything that the books were promising. Both couldn’t wait to read more and to start the school year.

From time to time Sirius teased his friend about always being a “brainy", but she ignores his comments and keeps chatting with Remus.

When they arrive to the station, they stop and all the students are guided on different routes. First years must go on boat and have a fun little trip on their way to the castle. All the kids are amazed before the tall, huge castle.

“First years, get together!” Says a woman in green robes.

She gives indications once they go through the entrance and takes them towards a corridor.

“Very well,” She says once we’re in front of some wooden doors, “When you enter the great hall you’ll be assigned a house for the next seven years. The houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. If you’re lucky, you’ll find a new family in your house.

Persephone can’t wait to keep the family tradition alive, she knows her new he will be Slytherin, and she can imagine how proud her parents will feel. She’ll be around her siblings without being scolded for not behaving properly like a Singh, something that could often get annoying. But what excites her the most, is being able to spend more time with her best friend. She was glad their families had the same traditions.

However, Sirius’ nervousness does nothing but increase, he knew there was no way he would end up in Slytherin, any other house would be nice but the snake house.

The woman raises her wand and the giant doors open, everyone walks through them and watches as the magical details of the great hall welcomes them warmly. From the floating candles, the sky pictured on the ceiling, to the four tables before them, each one representing a house.

The first years stop in front of the teachers’ table and a small stall. Persephone turns to the table on her right and sees her older siblings, Apollo and Juno, both wearing a green robe. They look at her with a small smile, wave, and turn their attention back to the teacher.

The professor introduces herself as Minerva McGonagall, then she pulls out a ragged, pointy hat and leaves it on the stall. Everyone stares in expectation until the hat starts to move, he sings a welcoming message, when it ends, everyone applauds and the ceremony starts.

The professor extends a parchment and starts calling each student by name, every boy and girl are selected in different houses.

“Black, Sirius.”

As soon as Persephone hears the name, she reaches for his hand and gives it a soft squeeze. Sirius smiles a little, walks towards the bench and McGonagall puts the hat on top of his head. It’s silent for a moment, Percy watches, biting her lower lip.

Why is it taking so long? He’s a Black, he belongs in-

“Gryffindor!” Exclaims the hat. The lions’ table applauds and screams out of excitement for the new kid. While the youngest Singh stares in utter horror while her best friend walks towards the table.

Sirius can’t believe that the hat chose to put him in a house that wasn’t Slytherin. He’s happy, and this happiness only increases when the kids that were on the train with him and Percy joins him on the table.

The kid was forgetting, though, that certain little person did not want to belong in that group.

__________________________________________

“Professor Mcgonagall?”

“Yes?” She lowers her eyes to find the little girl beside her.

“My name is Persephone Singh”

“Of course, you’re the youngest of Ares’ children, aren’t you?” The girl nods.

“Yes, professor, but…” She frowns, “I didn’t come here only to introduce myself”

“What do you need, Miss Singh?”

“You see,” She says, trembling a little, “I think the sorting hat has made a mistake.”

McGonagall looks at the child in mild surprise.

“You think?” Persephone nods, “What makes you think that way? ”

“My best friend, Sirius Black. He was put in Gryffindor, but he has to be in Slytherin… with me,” She adds slightly anxious.

“Miss Singh, I’m afraid that if this is about wanting to be with Mister Black only to spend time together, I can’t help you”

“You don’t understand!” She insists, raising her voice a little, “He has to be in Slytherin, otherwise his parents…” she stops, giving a second thought to what she was about to say, “they were there too. All his family it’s from Slytherin.”

“Sorry, Singh, the selection is over,” The woman puts a hand on her shoulder, “and it looks like Black has the characteristics of a Gryffindor.”

Persephone panics at the thought of the punishment Sirius will face when he tells his parents the news. She, better than anyone, knows how Walburga Black wasn’t a loving mother, and Persephone was sure this wouldn’t be accepted by her. She was worried about Sirius.

On the other hand, someone else had listened to her conversation, a boy, hiding behind one column close to where the girl and the woman were standing.

Little James Potter didn’t mean to spy on them at first, it was at hearing his new friend’s name that he couldn’t help but stay. When the conversation ended, James was upset with the girl, misunderstanding Persephone’s intentions, he thought that she didn’t want Sirius away from her and that she, like the rest of the Slytherins, hated his house. It seemed unfair to him, on the train she acted all nice and he even considered being friends with her even after hearing that she got sorted in Slytherin, but at that moment, he realized she was nothing but another one of the snakes.

#hp fanfic #sirius black #sirius black x reader #james potter #remus lupin #minerva mcgonagall #regulus black #twoidiots writing

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bigskydreaming · 5 years ago

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Uh.....if you mash together pre-Reboot and New 52 continuities the way we all just tend to do anyway, you know who would have just as much to say about Bruce resuscitating the Joker after Dick killed him in Last Laugh?

Duke. Who does the math and realizes, wait, the fucking clown was actually DEAD, like, game over, the world rid of the problem that is him and the shit he does....and Bruce...actively cancelled this out, whereas if he’d stopped his OWN kneejerk reactions long enough to realize that reviving the Joker wouldn’t erase what Dick had done or lessen Dick’s awareness that he’d crossed that line, literally all it would accomplish is to have all of that remain true WHILE bringing the Joker back into the world and thus creating more potential victims of his in the future?

Victims like....Duke’s parents.

Aka can someone please drag Bruce Wayne’s butt to therapy because his complete inability to bend or budge on the specific issue of killing has

1) caused his eldest son no shortage of severely debilitating emotional issues all stemming from his deep-seated fear of losing his father’s love due to situations like with the Joker and with Blockbuster

2) caused and perpetuated his continued estrangement from his second son, whose actual literal death was so devastating to Bruce he was in real danger of getting himself killed before Tim came along and yet upon his actual return from the grave, still took backseat to Bruce’s fixation on a rule he set FOR HIMSELF long ago, because it was always made fairly clear that Jason could have been persuaded to change his methods in regards to fighting all other crimes if Bruce could find a way to make an exception in regards to the Joker, who has hurt all of their family so often and so severely, and that’s not even getting into the shit with the Penguin in RHATO

3) contributed to his third son’s feelings of estrangement and not being deserving of a place in Bruce’s family, in the aftermath of Tim’s entirely understandable DESIRE to see his father’s murderer dead, without even Tim actually acting on it before earning Bruce’s judgment, and with a likely extension and continuation of this divide being evident in how opposed Tim is to going to Bruce for help whenever Ra’s pops up again to be all “I’m outside ur house in the bushes spying on u thru the window, will u join me in remaking the world in our - sorry that’s a lie, I meant my - image, plz check y/n,” because again quite understandably, Tim fears being caught in the middle of Ra’s and Bruce’s ideological war because he’s afraid of Bruce deciding its because Tim is more open to what Ra’s says than he actually is, and the conflicts that could arise from that

4) almost destroyed any chance of a healthy and loving relationship between he and his youngest son before they even got a chance to start one, due to his own issues with a past Damian had literally no ability to opt out of, even if he had been given alternative viewpoints to the morality of killing, as taught to him by the League - Damian was a ten year old child who could not be expected to have the resources to leave the League and their expectations for him, without help, even if he had previously been able to conceive of a way of life other than the one laid out for him from birth

5) I don’t even know where to start with Cass and the whole shit with Deathstroke and like....I just. Yeah

6) As noted at the start of the post, had Bruce simply not intervened to resuscitate the Joker, like didn’t even need to kill him himself, like if he had simply NOT BROUGHT HIM BACK TO LIFE (like and people wonder why Dick was so convinced Bruce would judge him for not stepping between Blockbuster and a bullet to save that villain’s life when not even a year prior, Bruce had established the precedent that apparently in his mind, if there was even a possibility of resuscitating an already dead villain with a body count like the Joker’s, that was apparently what needed to be done)....but like....no Joker after the Last Laugh, no Jokerized Thomases a few years later....not to mention how that could have altered the chain of events that unfolded with Jason’s return and attempt to get Bruce to kill someone who would now already be dead.

Like....Bruce. Buddy. Pal. This vow you made - again, for YOURSELF - to never kill in any scenario, because YOU were afraid that YOU wouldn’t be able to stop yourself from doing it again, and again and again...it might have been born from a place of good intentions, but the stringent, utterly inflexible way you apply it to your own family, with zero allowance for context, let alone exceptions, is actively hurting them in any number of ways, AND HAS BEEN FOR YEARS.

You need to get some nuance. Nobody’s saying YOU yourself have to go out and start gunning people down, but there have to be room for more opinions on this than just yours...especially when it comes to the choices OTHER people make on this matter, for born of THEIR moral compasses. Your moral compass has allowed you to give yourself a pass on some pretty fucked up things, so you need to just NOT, with the whole treating it as the be all and end all of Right and Wrong.

I mean in my professional opinion, of course.

Also also also, I would just like to point out that another factor that in my mind, makes the Last Laugh story and the fact that Dick DID in fact cross that line once and kill someone, even if they were later revived.....

This is important, and potentially central to SO MANY of the internal conflicts within the Batfamily, most of them between Bruce and various of his children....

BECAUSE IT DISPROVES BRUCE’S FEAR OF THE SLIPPERY SLOPE IN REGARDS TO KILLING BEING LIKE...A UNIVERSAL LIKELIHOOD, RATHER THAN JUST A PERSONAL FEAR BASED ON HIS OWN SELF-AWARENESS.

Bruce’s entire thesis about never killing even once, even with someone like a Joker, is because he believes once you start down that road, you’re never going to stop....with him frequently shown as seeing Jason and his actions as proof of that basic premise....because ultimately, like with the Penguin, its like even when Jason has gone a long time without killing anyone, Bruce is convinced that its only a matter of time before he breaks his promises or finds another ‘exception’ he feels he can justify....because again, Bruce so often fixates on this idea that there IS no stopping. With it being very easy to see how this also extends at times to concerns about Damian and the possibility of him killing again, given his own past.

But when you take Last Laugh into account.....and acknowledge the fact that Dick has killed as a bigger deal than the comics or most fics have ever really allowed it to be....

Suddenly you have to take into account that yes, Dick has killed once...

AND ONLY ONCE.

Years and years and years ago....and never done it since.

And that’s a potential GAME-CHANGER for so very freaking many of the conflicts that keep their entire family so divided....because so many of them are sprung from this one central source.....which is based on this one specific fear Bruce has for himself and has since applied to all of his children as well....

To such an extent that when one of his children crossed this line for the first time....BRUCE HAD TO UNDO IT.

Even though Bruce said at the time he resuscitated the Joker so that Dick could live with himself, not have to live with having killed a man and what that might do to him.....Dick still had to live with himself, still had to live with having killed a man! It very much informed his character moving forward, was a central part of his fears in situations even tangentially similar, like with Blockbuster. Bringing back the Joker didn’t actually change ANYTHING for Dick, other than....render all that kinda meaningless, because he had to work through the emotional issues of having killed a villain....who didn’t even stay dead, and continued to kill and ruin lives.

Nope, I maintain in actuality, Bruce resuscitated the Joker so that HE could live with what Dick had done, not have to live with one of his sons having broken the vow that was so important to Bruce himself, and what that might do to him, Bruce...and his relationship with Dick, or even just his ability to continue to have a relationship with Dick. He was driven to ‘reverse’ what Dick had done, IMO, so that HE didn’t have to face it, could in time pretend that it hadn’t really happened, it didn’t count, his world order was still intact.

And that’s a level of denial that’s actually pretty damn characteristic for Bruce in a lot of ways.....and IMO, the real source of so much of his conflict with his children.

Because then once Jason came along and already had eight heads in a duffel bag by the time Bruce realized who the Red Hood really was.....it was too late for Bruce to do anything about it, to stop reality from crashing straight through every barrier Bruce tried to throw in the way to keep from having to face the moral quandary of one of his children (that he so often saw himself in) taking the step that he’d so definitively feared ever taking.

Its not that Bruce was able to ‘forgive’ Dick for killing the Joker that one time, and not the times Jason has killed, because Bruce loves Dick more.

Its because Bruce DIDN’T forgive Dick for it. HE DID HIS BEST TO PRETEND IT NEVER EVEN HAPPENED.

And the reason that didn’t happen with Jason....was because it was never even an option. By the time Bruce was confronting his son as JASON.....instead of a mysterious masked vigilante....there was zero possibility of reframing this in his mind or undoing any of it like he tried to do when he resuscitated the Joker.

Bruce’s vow is all well and good for him....but the thing he’s never faced, because he’s afraid to face it, afraid it could permanently destroy his connections with his family....is that he doesn’t get to make that choice for his children. That it doesn’t make them terrible people to feel differently about the importance of not even allowing a man as destructive as the Joker to die, in large part based on their having entirely different life experiences than Bruce himself, that lead them to feel differently on specific matters like this one.

And I think the most effective starting place for that dialogue, that confrontation, realization....is for BRUCE to face what Dick did all those years ago, AND the fact that in Dick’s case, history has NOT repeated itself since.....that Dick truly did kill a man, kill the Joker, in every way that mattered....and HE’S STILL DICK GRAYSON. The person he was didn’t change, not fundamentally, not in the ways that matter so much to Bruce on every other level. Killing the Joker didn’t make Dick a killer, other than in the specific context of that specific situation.

And that to me, is such an important conversation to have within the construct of the Batfamily and their interconnected conflicts, a confrontation that could actually force Bruce to start shifting his perspective in regards to his CHILDREN’S choices, not necessarily his own....and with that ultimately spreading into each of the individual conflicts Bruce has with his various kids, and allowing for some actual PROGRESS to be made on those fronts, instead of it always just being the same old fight, with them all endlessly running in circles.

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terramythos · 4 years ago

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TerraMythos' 2020 Reading Challenge - Book 20 of 26

Title: Wolf by Wolf (Wolf by Wolf #1) (2015)

Author: Ryan Graudin

Genre/Tags: Alternate History, Historical Fiction, Dystopian, Science Fiction (...ish?), Young Adult, Third Person, Female Protagonist, Duology

Rating: 8/10

Date Began: 7/12/2020

Date Finished: 7/18/2020

In an alternate 1956, the Axis powers of the Third Reich and Imperial Japan won World War II. They host an annual motorcycle competition known as the Axis Tour, in which young people from both powers race across Europe and Asia. Yael, a death camp survivor with the ability to skinshift due to Nazi medical experiments, poses as Adele Wolfe, Germany’s only female competitor. Her goal? To win the race, get a private dance with Hitler, and assassinate him for the world to see.

But years of training and preparation are thrown off balance when Adele’s past relationships come back to haunt Yael in the form of her twin brother Felix Wolfe, and the presence of Luka Lowe, a fellow competitor and former victor, both of whom have complicated, unknown histories with Adele. Now Yael must keep up the charade while still assuring her victory in a difficult and deadly inter-continental race.

Who are you? (On the inside?)

The answer to this question was something Yael had to fight for. Her self-reflection was no reflection at all. It was a shattered mirror. Something she had to piece together, over and over again. Memory by memory. Loss by loss. Wolf by wolf.

Minor spoilers under the cut.

Wolf by Wolf was a surprise; I did not expect to like it nearly as much as I did. While it has a fascinating premise, it's certainly complicated enough to mess up. Alternate history, especially World War II, can be sketchy if not done well. Add in some science fiction elements, and I was skeptical. But while Wolf by Wolf isn't perfect, Graudin does pull it off rather well, and it was thoroughly enjoyable to read. She states in her author’s note that, with the troubling rise of alt-right movements in recent years, books that examine the true horrors and implications of Nazi ideology are important, and something like this could have very well been our world. I find myself agreeing, and I think she treats the subject with both the delicacy and brutal honesty it requires.

The novel’s inherent suspense is excellent. Wolf by Wolf has all the appeal of a spy novel with an extra layer that comes with the skinshifting aspect. All of Yael's interactions with the other leads (Felix and Luka) mean they genuinely think she's Adele, and it's interesting to see how Yael struggles to play the part. There's a lot of tense moments where she says or does something that Adele wouldn't, and she has to use her wits to get through it. I like the "becoming the mask" trope and it's in play here as Yael finds herself becoming attached to the other characters. The inherently fantastical element of skinshifting does protect her, as almost no one would guess it's why Adele is acting odd, so the fact she's able to keep up the ruse despite everything does make sense. That being said, I would have loved to see someone, especially one of the two male leads, figure it out. I spent the novel wondering how a scene like that would play out, and was disappointed it doesn't happen. There are certainly multiple teasing fake-outs. Presumably this will be A Thing in the next book, but it's still something I wish had paid off here rather than consigning it to the sequel. Semi-related, I found the ending twist and callback pretty interesting, and it has some fascinating implications for said sequel. I guess we'll see what Graudin does with all this material.

Probably the strongest aspect of the novel for me, personally, is how the book balances flashbacks. I think Graudin does a fantastic job (with some exceptions) doling out information, and gradually revealing Yael's backstory and pain points. Unsurprisingly, her past is heart-wrenching in a variety of ways. The part where her mother doesn't recognize her and the scene with Vlad and the numbers hit me especially hard. It's satisfying when the full implications of a symbol or line of dialogue aren't revealed until much later in the story. For example, the wolf tattoos are introduced early (literally the second chapter) but the emotional payoff is gradual, and I think that strengthens the impact. The pacing in general is really well done-- slow when it needs to be, and action-packed at other times. This is something I struggle with even in books I adore, so I’m really impressed with how this book handles it.

YA gets a bad (often undeserved) rap, and I adore the genre when it's done right. Unfortunately many YA novels fall into trends and tropes that just get annoying after a while, so I find I have to be selective. For the most part Wolf by Wolf avoids these. Yael is a distinct, interesting character who avoids typical YA protagonist cliches. Her tragic past is all the more poignant for being something real people faced (albeit with creative liberties), and her struggles with identity are extra compelling. That being said, I didn't find the romantic subplot with Luka very interesting. I think there's supposed to be some narrative tension where he seems to be a bad guy but has Hidden Depths etc etc... but it was so painfully obvious that I guessed his entire arc based on the first scene. I think there's some potential considering the Yael/Adele dichotomy, but again, it doesn't really pay off in Wolf by Wolf, which is a disappointment. The few romance scenes just take away from the more interesting base story. From what I can tell we get more of Luka’s backstory and perspective in Blood for Blood, so... fingers crossed that I can appreciate him more in retrospect? In general I found Yael’s interactions with Felix more interesting and genuine.

As for the writing itself, I'm torn. This novel makes heavy use of symbols, and consistently incorporates them into the prose. Usually, this is done to great effect, and there are plenty of excellent poetic and introspective passages. There's also stylistic elements such as heavy repetition and an occasionally-bolded INTERNAL MONOLOGUE. I also noted a lot of dramatic irony and narrative callbacks, which always hit with a punch. When these aspects are done well, it's great. But sometimes Graudin just doesn't seem to trust her readers. There are multiple incidents where the story REALLY wants you to know that X Symbol Means Y Thing and accomplishes this by... just telling you. There's also some clumsy expository dialogue that's jarring to read (very much "as you well know, this thing is true"). These may be in the minority, but are especially noticeable because the rest of the book is subtle about it. No idea why some parts are just like that, and this might be a nitpick, but it really bothers me. Young adults aren't stupid, and it's annoying when YA novels assume they need their hand held. As I said, it only happens a few times, and I am willing to look past it considering the other strengths of the novel.

Wolf by Wolf has its faults, but overall I had a great time reading it. The ending has some fascinating implications, so I'm interested to see what happens in Blood for Blood. From the brief preview at the end, it looks like we get more backstory for Luka and Felix, which I think might smooth over some of my criticisms depending on how it’s handled. I guess we'll see!

#2020 reading challenge #8/10 #taylor reads

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thanedai · 4 years ago

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NAME: Dadarius Balanthe

ALIAS/NICKNAMES: Darus Volen, Skin, Carpeth

BIRTH DATE: 15th Urma

BIRTH PLACE: Delenum Village, Alsales

ETHNICITY: Alsalian/Fioren

LOCATION: Unknown

MARITAL STATUS: Single

FAMILY: Gotraius Bala (Father; deceased), Liandra Anthes (Mother; deceased), Narie Balanthe (Older sister; deceased), Roen Balanthe (Older brother; alive)

OCCUPATION: Soldier, Spy, Terrorist.

AFFILIATION: None

WEAPONS: Short sword and daggers

FIGHTING STYLE: Zardian Warrior Combatives (Alsales’ old aggressive form of Zard combat; generally a hand-to-hand style, but can implement swords and shield. Uses magic to create an impentrable defense of the body, where a blade will glance off the fighter’s bare skin).

SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Pansexual/Grey-romantic

ABILITIES:

MAGIC:

Mind Control: He can weave his magic into other people’s minds and force them to comply to his will. He does not need to speak in order to use this ability, however, he can if he so wishes. He can use what is called ‘double-layering’, telepathically pushing the suggestion, while speaking it out loud with extra magic. Should he be unable to speak, however, Darus simply needs to use more power to push the suggestion on someone.

Should the person be stronger of mind, they can shake off his suggestion even under repeated use. However, normal people have rarely ever been able to do such a thing. Darus can use this ability on more than one person at a time, whether he’s in their presence or at a distance (so long as he can see the person he can send his suggestion, though incredibly long distances have proven to be weaker than closer ones). He has controlled up to thirty people this way using short-term orders. If he needs the person for longer, he will have to remain near enough to continue giving orders, or to push his magic more.

Suggestions can last for several hours depending on how much magic he used to control a person. If he weaved his magic into someone’s mind, they will be under his control for at least 24 hours, though it’s rare he will ever need someone for that long anyway.

Those he has used his control on are usually too confused to explain the situation, especially if he has altered memories or told them to forget things. Therefore they become unreliable even after the effect has worn off.

Over-use backlashes on Darus with severe migraines and only rest can bring his magic levels back to normal.

His mind control has made him an incredibly good at infiltration and remaining unseen, as those who have seen him usually are unaware of this fact later on and cannot give an accurate report of what occurred.

Teleportation: His second special magic. He needs to only think of himself being in another place and then push himself to materialize there. It takes far more energy than his mind control magic does. He can go practically anywhere using this magic, but he has to have at least seen a picture of the place he wishes to go to, or have been there previously. Over-use will cause severe pain over his entire body and render him immobile until he regains his strength. Darus has regularly done this to himself, and has learned to push through the pain, but this keeps him from using any other magic for the time being.

Armor: He can use magic to strengthen his skin to near-impenetrable so that it becomes armor. He can use it to shield only certain parts of his body, or his entire body although the latter requires more energy.

Physical enhancement: He can use his magic to make himself stronger, and faster for as long as his energy lasts.

Word Magic: Because his magic is not specific to any emotion or element like others might be, he has low-level of either. What he has is ‘word magic’ meaning he must speak aloud the specific incantation, unlike others. Darus carries a magic tome with him, of which he can cast Combust (a fire-based magic which bursts flames from beneath his opponents feet), Defend (temporary weak shield which can deflect one magic-based attack), Detonate (creates an explosion at a specific target), Burst (a gust of strong winds which will cut into an opponent), and Heal. Without the book, however, he cannot cast.

Because of his weakness in offensive energy-manipulative magic, Darus has done everything in his power to enhance all his strengths, as well as making his weaker skills (word magic) as best as possible.

NON-MAGIC BASED SKILLS:

Incredible hand-to-hand combat skills, as well as with blades. He’s an expert at concealing weapons.

As a spy, he has learned to make himself invisible with the use of disguises and can infiltrate almost any facility without being seen or caught.

He’s a public speaker, the kind of person who could probably persuade someone to come to his side; at least when he is attempting to be reasonable.

He’s a linguist and learns languages fairly easily.

He trains animals.

HEALTH:

Physical: Good health, in general. Has three jagged scars that cross from the right side of his face to his left.

Mental:

Poor anger management skills.

Has some sociopathic/psychotic tendencies.

HEIGHT: 6'7

HAIR COLOR: Light brown

EYE COLOR: Red

SKIN COLOR: White

BODY TYPE: Athletic.

NATIONALITY: N/A

REAL LIFE FC: Cillian Murphy

ANIMATED FC: –

PERSONALITY:

ABOUT:

Darus was born to a surprisingly poor family in Delenum Village. His father was an outcast, having once been a powerful Zard in Valden City. He broke several Sacred Rules and was stripped of his rank. His magic was sealed, leaving him with little of it to use. He found refuge in Delenum Village as a delivery man, taking goods from village to town to city. Sometimes he would act as an assistant to the healers, but for the most part his existence was one of disappointment. Darus’ mother was a Delenum native from a large family of farmers. Gotair and Lia met when the former was searching for work, and Lia’s father granted him a job as delivery driver for their foods.

Darus was the third of their children, and the last. It was rare that couples ever had more than two or three children, as Ildrat were long-lived people who could wait thousands of years before deciding to have their next kin (and in that time could have changed partners several times). They were close and when they were young, before their paths were decided, they spent hours playing games together.

Darus grew up on Gotair’s stories of his time in Valden City, and the feats the High Master Zards. The three children were of strong magic, following from Gotair, as he continued his Royal Bloodline of Bala. Narie, the eldest, was also the strongest. She was unable to stay in Delenum for long as her magic grew unstable, and though Gotair knew of ways to help her, he did not have the means. He sent Narie off to Valden City to study in Zard Tower where she thrived. Narie returned to Delenum every holiday, and any length of time she was able. Darus learned even more of the Zards and became enthralled. He wanted to follow in Narie’s footsteps and bring peace to all of Praxon.

The middle child, Roen, showed great skill in magic as well, but asked not to be sent to the Zards. He wished to enter into the military, for a war with Loesis was brewing and he wished to help. Neither parent liked the idea, but there was nothing that could be done. Soon they wouldn’t have a choice of whether to enter the military at all. Both Gotair and Lia were drafted when war really did break out, and Darus was left in Narie’s care. They moved to Valden City and as soon as Darus was of age, he joined the Zard Apprenticeship. It was a few years into his study when Narie died. She and the other High Master Zards were tasked with creating Alsales new Spirit Orb. The previous had been burnt out by an attack on Alsales. Narie believed that creating the Orb would help attain peace for Alsales, as it was a symbol of solidarity between warring nations. Darus wanted to believe that. He was devastated and almost left back home to Delenum. But it had been Narie’s parting words to tell him to keep going on with his Apprenticeship, and that she would always be with him through the Orb. So he continued on.

Perhaps it was the words of his Master during the Apprenticeship, or perhaps it was simply seeing the continued ravages of the world, but Darus soon grew to hate Alsales. He hated the warrior ideology, the declarations of wanting peace and failing always to achieve it, the way in which those who did not have a powerful name were stepped on and forgotten. Faldren Dulin, the First Zard of Alsales, had a statue erected in Valden City, but the other Zards who lost their lives creating the Orb were forgotten. Perhaps it was that. For Darus loved his sister more than anything or anyone in the world, and Alsales had forgotten her cause; her sacrifice.

These emotions stirred in him for years, and years. He began to formulate a plan against his country. During a truce when the King of Loesis was to change, Darus was sent with his Master, Gelena, to oversee the ceremony and pursue an alliance with the new King. Darus met the young Petric Danfert and the two of them became allies in their want of destruction against Alsales. Darus, for vengeance, Petric to show that the Veruna could be as strong as the Ildrat.

Darus made Master. Gelena, celebrated with him that night and he told her of his plan. He thought she would understand, that she was of the same mindset, but it turned out she did not have the spine. He was forced to kill her. When the Zard Council came to investigate her death, Darus claimed she committed suicide. Using the even as an excuse, he resigned his Mastership and left to become part of the military.

He spent years going back and forth from Alsales to Loesis, using his skills to bring his own plans into fruition. Eventually Alsales overpowered the Loesian army and won the war. Darus decided it was time he step out of the shadows and finish what he started.

#about (darus)

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eliotquillon · 4 years ago

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mark walden and politics in h.i.v.e

as you probably all know by now (thanks to the j.k rowling fiasco), art and politics are inherently linked; whether it’s intentional or not, it’s difficult to extricate an author’s beliefs from the way they manifist in literature. and with that in mind, let’s talk about politics in h.i.v.e.

h.i.v.e is a series that has never exactly shied away from criticising the politics of the year each book was published in, and you can probably see this best in the character of matt ronson, who is the most obvious stand in for mitt romney that i’ve ever seen in my entire life. romney was running against obama in the 2012 election, and, coincidentally enough, matt ronson appears in deadlock, which was published in 2013 (and almost certainly written during 2012). in case you’ve repressed the events of deadlock (which i wouldn’t blame you for lmao), ronson’s a senior member of the disciples - he’s actually head of an entire cell - and is running for president in order to secure the disciples’ control over the united states. it’s not exactly subtle imagery. it’s definitely the boldest walden gets in terms of critiquing the state of late 00s-early 2010s politics, and is also the example that i think is easiest to pick up on, because of how similar ronson and romney’s names are, and how in-your-face the whole scene is. i mean, otto leaves ronson to die in a plane pre-programmed to crash in the middle of the ocean because when raven tells him that a bullet would’ve been quicker, his response is, quote, “too quick.” for further proof, if you check walden’s twitter, he’s pretty positive towards obama on the whole, which i imagine is why he decided to kill off obama’s presidential challenger.

but that’s not the first time politics gets infused in h.i.v.e. the first time - the one that actually serves as the catalyst for, well, everything - is otto deposing the prime minister by making him moon the nation on live television. book 1 was published in 2006; this was when tony blair was prime minister in the uk. if you’re unfamiliar with uk politics, blair is pretty harshly criticised on both sides of the political spectrum for his role in the iraq war/the 2008 financial crash (although he resigned and appointed gordon brown as his successor in 2007), and the fact that he created ‘new labour’, a movement which pushed the predominantly working class, leftist labour party further towards the ‘moderate centre’ in an attempt to capture more of the middle class vote as opposed to labour’s traditional post-industrial ‘northern heartlands’. the prime minister that otto deposes is blair, or at least a stand in for him; i’ll give proof below.

the important thing is that otto decides to get rid of the prime minister because st. sebastian’s is closing down, and st. sebastian’s is closing down because of the prime minister’s childcare reforms that result in, quote, “the restructuring of local childcare provision.” whether or not st. sebastian being closed would’ve been an overal net positive or not is debatable (otto mentions that the building was starting to become “genuinely unsafe”), but if you don’t know much about blair, he was BIG on restructuring, especially in london, where st sebastian’s is located, and something in particular that blair was fond of was giving more powers to local councils (essentially, shifting the uk to more of a federal system than a centralised one). you’ve probably already guessed, but yep, the letter that announces st. sebastian’s is closing comes from the local council. it’s also mentioned that the childcare reforms have “the prime minister’s personal backing”, and, yep, childcare budgets and early years spending increased exponentially under blair (he even renamed the department of education to the department of children, schools, and families, which was promptly renamed AGAIN once labour left office, but that’s a rant for another day). there’s also the fact that otto goes to brighton for the prime minister’s party conference - this is where the labour party conference is held, whereas the conservative party conference alternates between birmingham and manchester. finally, in zero hour (published in 2010) it’s mentioned that the prime minister resigned and that his party lost in the next general election - this is exactly what happened to blair and new labour after the financial crash. of course, this evidence is very circumstantial, but i don’t think that this is a coincidence, and, anyway, i struggle to see how walden could’ve been more explicit in implying that this is blair without facing parental backlash.

now onto the political commentary; i’ve already mentioned how everyone hates blair, and walden is no exception. the statement that otto makes the prime minister is absolutely damning. it’s too long for me to copy and paste the entire thing (i say, when this post is going to be ridiculously long anyway), but here are some highlights: “we hold you and your families in nothing but the deepest contempt”, “i don’t think that we get enough credit for having to put up with your constant whining”, “half of you can barely read or write, and the way the education system’s going, that’s not going to change any time soon”, “we don’t care” “all we care about is power and money”, “shut your mouths and cut the moaning, because we don’t give a monkey’s.” i think it’s pretty safe to say that this is not exactly positive. personally, i think that the “moaning” and “whining” walden refers to here is a reference to the anti-war protests about the us/uk invasion of iraq, and there were complaints about the scrapping of grammar schools/“dumbing down” of the GCSE qualifications (regardless of whether or not that was intentional) across the board for years both before and after blair got into power. but whichever way you look at it, this is not a glowing representation of blair. and if you look on walden’s twitter (again), he tends to retweet a lot from michael rosen and owen jones, both prominent labour members who are very staunchly anti blair and anti ‘new labour’.

also, while searching walden’s twitter for blair references, i also came across this 2019 tweet:

where, as you can see, he shares an anecdote about how his old house used to be next to an army range and that his neighbour told him that military helicopters were often “flown by a 21 year old with a hangover”. and, like, i’m not saying that that’s the inspiration for 13 year old laura being able to hack a military base so she could spy on her classmates, but i’m totally saying that.

anyway, there’s one more political figure i want to cover here, and that’s duncan cavendish, aka the prime minister in zero hour. anyway: duncan cavendish is former conservative prime minister david cameron (notice the identical initials). i did actually ask walden about this on twitter, and he said he ‘couldn’t possibly comment’, which imo most likely means that he’s unable to confirm because of contractual reasons. but anyway: zero hour was published in 2010, the year of the election which put the conservatives (for clarity’s sake, i’m going to be referring to them as tories for the rest of this post) back into power for the first time in 13 years (albeit in a coalition with the centrist libdem party), meaning that it was written in 2009 when cameron was party leader, and after the 2008 crash. i don’t think walden knew for sure that cameron would come to power (after all, in zero hour it’s stated that cavendish’s party won by a landslide, whereas the actual 2010 election resulted in ‘hung parliament’), but it wasn’t exactly a hard guess to make that labour would lose after the events of 2007/8 and their record in iraq.

something that particularly sticks out to me is cavendish thanking nero for switching him from the polfi stream to the alpha stream - in real life, cameron has an a level in economics, and studied philosophy, politics, and economics at oxford and his father is also a stockbroker, all aspects which certainly scream polfi to me. personally, i think this was a dig at cameron’s fairly elitist background, and the fact that he’s historically been seen as an opportunist rather than a real leader. also, cameron was once approached in the former soviet union by two men he suspected were KGB agents trying to recruit him, and i’m not saying that walden used this connection when linking cavendish to pietor furan and the disciples, but....yeah. there’s also the fact that nero references cavendish’s academic record of going to an elite boys’ school being fudged, and, yeah, cameron attended eton (he also got suspended for smoking cannabis, which is just. a lot to think about for a man who helped push through legislation that further penalised cannabis users). again, on twitter walden has been extremely outspoken against the tories in general, specifically about brexit, the referendum for which occurred under cameron’s government. also walden kind of predicted the future: in zero hour, cavendish is blackmailed by nero into resigning. in real life, cameron resigned the whip (left both his post and the tory party as an MP) in 2016 after the uk voted to leave the eu. obviously that’s not proof of anything but it just makes me laugh.

those are the specific figures - now let’s talk more about walden’s general ideologies. he’s very anti-gun on twitter, and this obviously links to wing and his refusal to wield guns/shoot people; wing’s arguably the most staunchly moral character in the series, which i don’t think is a coincidence. walden bashed mass surveillance by having otto abhor (and later destroy) echelon; echelon is actually a real international government project that was originally designed for military surveillance but later branched out into greater mass surveillance (also, fun fact! i only live about an hour’s drive from an echelon radome base, so i hope my mi5 agent is enjoying this post). we see walden criticise mass surveillance again with the existence of the artemis project (and also the disciples’ use of facial recognition software), and while i have no idea whether or not that’s real, i think everyone knows that there are multiple international coalitions devoted to gathering and sharing data on world citizens (google the nine eyes partnership if you want to give yourself a bit of a crisis). walden has reposted a picture that says ‘make orwell fiction again’ on twitter, so it’s pretty clear where he stands on that. in general, walden is left wing, and that shows in his books - while i’ve corroborated all of my assumptions here with evidence i found on walden’s twitter, i came to most of these conclusions on my own just from reading the source material.

and this is why i’m only 90% joking when i talk about walden lagging behind on book 9 because there’s so many different things he needs to satirize. the global stage has changed dramatically since deadlock’s publication, and if walden’s passionate about critiquing those in power, he’s got a lot of content to choose from - trump, obviously, but also boris johnson and theresa may over on this side of the pond (and he really, really hates johnson). h.i.v.e as a story is inherently political, and not just because of the more obvious “morally grey villains” trope. walden uses his fictional world to critique the real-life authority figures in control, and does so while keeping it subtle enough so as to not tip off most casual readers. overall, it’s pretty impressive.

#h.i.v.e #mark walden #meta #long post

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