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sherrachan · 9 months ago

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My Honest Review of the Netflix ATLA Live-Action

I've seen a lot of negativity around Netflix's new ATLA live action, so as someone who has been both a fan of the animated series since it first aired, but also found a lot to love in the live action despite its flaws, I wanted to write a few (hahaha) words showcasing a non-indignant review from that perspective. I've decided to highlight three categories: what I thought it got right, what I'm neutral or biased about, and what it did not do well. And just to be VERY clear, I absolutely support anyone's right to like or dislike whatever they please for whatever their reasons are. However, if you are going around harassing, threatening, or body-shaming CHILD actors, who are in fact actual people and not fictional, please do everyone in the world a favor and remove yourself from the internet. There is literally no show on Earth bad enough to justify that kind of behavior.

For anyone not interested in reading the full review, my overall rating: 6.9/10

Let's start with what went right...

Zuko

I. Love. Dallas. Liu. This is not to remotely downplay the fact that I also love Dante Basco. From what I've gleaned from interviews, it seems they had even collaborated on his performance via Zoom calls, which I wish I could have been a fly on the wall for. I've noticed a lot of blind reactors to the animated series initially find Zuko annoying and one-dimensional for most of the first season. Though this is not entirely in line with my own opinion, I can't deny that his extra depth in season 2 came a bit out of left field even to me back when I watched the series as it aired between 2005-2007. Dante himself has said he was not given any foresight into his character and thought he was playing a straight villain at first, so he accordingly acted a straight villain. Thus, contrary to some other naysaying I've seen, I don't think it was a bad decision at all to showcase Zuko's more vulnerable side sooner. Speaking of that vulnerable side, Dallas I believe has an amazing career ahead of him. In spite of some clunky writing, he manages to both sell most of his lines in an intense way I completely buy, and also he just has this amazing ability to telegraph whole paragraphs with tiny fractional changes to his facial expression even when he's not speaking any dialogue. That my friends, is called good acting. I felt his scream of rage at Zhao during episode 8 through my entire body. He has a way of capturing both Zuko's petulant teenage angst and the still-a-child energy of being stupid and needing a guiding hand from his uncle. His and Iroh's chemistry and bond was probably the single biggest highlight of the series for me. Perhaps only rivaled by the extra bit of interaction between him and Aang in episode 6, which quite literally had me sobbing and smiling at the same time, and between him and Ozai where he was banished, which just had me sobbing. I cannot emphasize enough just how well his anguish is translated on his face without a single spoken word.

Dallas is also a skilled martial artist who did most of his own stunts, and visually, it is a treat to watch him perform in that aspect as well. The Aang/Zuko spar in episode 3 had some big Jackie Chan energy and I was smiling ear to ear the entire fight.

Iroh

This I know will be a less popular opinion, but Paul Sun-Hyung Lee I think brought a very nuanced performance to Iroh. While nothing can ever replace Mako's place on the most beloved character performance pedestal, I think it would be disrespectful to attempt to only replicate that performance and would come off as a caricature. Dallas and Paul had not met in person until the day they began shooting, so it takes an episode or two for them to shine as a duo, but shine they do very early on. The same clunky writing that plagues everyone's performances here and there finds no exception with Iroh, but I disagree with opinions I've seen of him being stiff and/or fake.

I feel his stiffness is being intentionally leaned into in a way that's supposed to highlight the idea that maybe Iroh is using his jovial nature to mask his pain over losing his son and worry for Zuko. It makes sense in the darker context of the live action, as we see even more clearly that he could very well have been as much of a butcher as that one Earth Kingdom soldier said he was. There's a scene in episode 4 of him while captured by the Earth Kingdom soldiers where this soldier singles him out over personal vendetta for killing his brother during his siege. While holding a massive rock over his head in rage over Iroh's seemingly uncaring attitude towards his atrocities, it is my interpretation of that pointed stare-down between the two that Iroh was trying to play the part of the villain that guy so desperately wanted to see in him. You could see Iroh's actual pain break through on his face immediately after everyone's back was turned. Thus begins the first of a series of flashbacks that ruin absolutely everyone's tear ducts, where Paul showcases just how sincere his Iroh can be. The added scenes between him and Zuko and Ozai peppered throughout I think make this series worth a watch by themselves. In my head, I've already adopted them into canon. As for where our truly laid back Uncle Iroh is to be found, though his narration in episode 6 about the "mask being who you truly are" was directed toward Zuko, I tend to think that will eventually pay off as true for himself, too.

Ozai/Azula/Zhao

Speaking of Mr. Fire Lord and family, Ozai has become a lot more interesting as a character to me when he's given a shred of humanity. Though we don't yet have the full picture of his motivations, you see that tiny grimace of regret as he burns Zuko's face after their Agni Kai, and I am intrigued. Again, this is not to downplay Mark Hamil's incredible performance in animated, but from a writing perspective, I've always found Ozai rather a cartoon cutout (pun intended) of an evily evil man who just wants to rule the world. Watching the cogs spin behind the scenes at the palace this early on has really added some extra layers for me. Azula benefits from this as well, as you see Ozai pitting the siblings against each other to see who will emerge the "better" heir. Zuko's motivation may subconsciously be geared more toward regaining that shred of humanity from his father moreso than his approval, in spite of what he says to himself and the viewers. But Azula is most definitely going for that approval, and I think beautifully sets up her eventual downfall into paranoia and gives them an even more tangible dichotomy in my opinion.

Ken Leung plays Zhao as a slimy little bastard in this version and clearly loved doing so. Though I was initially sort of raising an eyebrow at it, I've since decided that I am 120% in. Watching him claw his way to the top with Azula's help and piss all over anyone in his way has been extremely entertaining. I'm not even going to pretend Jason Issacs wouldn't ham it up that much, because we all know he would. In all seriousness, I think he strikes an impressive tightrope walk of being over-the-top without being too over-the-top, though I'm sure that is partially a matter of taste. I'd love to capture even half of his energy and doll it out to some of the rest of the cast, to be honest.

Omashu, Bumi, and Colliding Plots

Though I am well aware the way multiple animated show episodes' plots were smushed together was done to save limited runtime, I actually think this was very well executed in Omashu. Everyone still retained core aspects to their characters and they played nicely off each other to make one bigger plot that spanned 2 episodes. It comes down to a trade-off in either making the world feel bigger by having more side quests, or making Omashu feel more important. Though I am still undecided on if that trade-off was worth it, I can't deny that for what was done here, it played out very well. Not as well in the episode 5/6 attempt, but as episode 6 is my overall favorite episode starting at the Blue Spirit stuff, I'll leave the rest in the neutral category. Bumi's characterization specifically I know is controversial here. What I will say is that I've seen an equal number of blind reactors to the animated show who are utterly put off by his attitude as there are those that completely loved him, and literally nothing in the middle, so at least it's consistent in that regard. Personally, I find his more jaded (pun intended again) attitude suited for the tone the live action series is going for. That is to say, I think he works in the context of this version of the story, and neither would fit in if swapped. Fighting the same war and being responsible for all the lives affected by it for 100 years would damage anyone's mental health. While I personally think by the end of episode 4 that they are setting him up to tee towards a more positive outlook reminiscent of his original counterpart, I still find his attitude in the live action justifiable. I never personally found Bumi all that compelling in the animated series when he was first introduced, though I grew to love him as the story progressed and they gave him just a bit more serious dialogue. I will get into my reasoning on that later, in a more general sense.

I loved the incorporation of elements from the other media. I was incredibly shocked when The Mother of Faces name was dropped, and then again when I recognized facets from Korra, other comics, and the novels. I also loved the early focus on some of the other Avatars besides Roku, though I do tend to think Roku himself got a bit shafted, at least as it stands now. While it remains to be seen if he eventually gets the attention he deserves, seeing more of Kiyoshi and Kuruk really added to the depth of the lore for me. One of the biggest arguments I see against the live action is that it doesn't add anything to the story, to which I can only disagree. There would be no point to watching purely a 1:1 remake, and I feel that all of what I'm remarking on in this positives category is proof that I did take away many new things, some of which I treasure dearly now.

Koizilla and Yue

One of my biggest peeves with blind reactors to the animated series is them, more often that not, not grasping the significance of Aang merging with the Ocean Spirit, if they even recognize that is what happens in the first place. You'd be surprised just how many are unclear to this fact and just think it's Aang being a badass, or even that he's the one who drags Zhao under the water, in spite of the fact that you can see La set Aang down before doing this. It happens so often, I can't write it off simply as all these different people being unobservant. Whether you want to blame the writers, or Nick's censorship, or the runtime, or whatever else, it just isn't conveyed clearly enough in the animation. Though with little to back up my theories, I was always under the impression that this merge was involuntary on Aang's part, and he was not in control, which is partly why he was so terrified of the Avatar State going into season 2. Going by the live action's take, I have to walk that back a tiny bit in the sense that it is explained Aang offered himself up, but I admit to feeling vindicated with the rest.

I think the live action did better justice to this merge overall. I know I will get dragged for that, but between the added emotional weight, the screentime and (clearly most of their) budget for Koizilla, and giving Yue more of a personality, I'm happy we clearly understand what's going on and her sacrifice. Granted, her dialogue is perhaps overly exposition-y, and yet I cannot complain because evidently there was not enough exposition in the animated series to drive it home the way it did here. In a personal anecdote, my husband who watched the animated series with me but remembers nothing of it because that's just how he is, liked this final battle the best out of any episode for most of these reasons.

Speaking of Yue, Amber Midthunder did an amazing job with what she was given. No, her writing (once again my main complaint) was not the best. Her wig was wigging. I still didn't quite buy her and Sokka's attraction. But through sheer force of the actress' charisma, Yue as a standalone character transformed into someone I actually gave a shit about, which is not something I can claim of either of her previous portrayals. I like that she had more agency for herself, I like that Han wasn't just an unlovable moron there to make her sad, I liked her being a Waterbender and using all that power to make ice cream (I sure would,) I liked her dying with a tearful smile on her face. So sue me.

Onto the neutral...

Sokka

NOTE: I won't be mentioning Ian's controversy surrounding his heritage here, simply because nothing has been proven one way or another and I'd rather just not get into it with only speculation to go on.

Sokka overall I think does the heavy lifting for the Gaang in this version. As mentioned several times by now, everyone suffers here and there from questionable scripting, but as with Yue, Ian Ousley's natural personality shines through plenty enough to sell it. I KNOW people love Jack De Sena and his humor and comedy delivery, heck, I love these in Jack De Sena too. I don't think it would work nearly as well in this version of the world without being total and utter tonal whiplash. Ian brings a grounded quality to Sokka while maintaining a biting sarcasm that I think still earns his place. Additionally, I found myself getting emotional at a number of his scenes, and can personally really relate to his anxieties about not being able to shoulder all his responsibility. Hence why this goes into the neutral category, I can't deny some personal bias here because of that connection.

When talking about episode 2 specifically, and the removal of his overt sexism, I have to be biased again. For the same reasons as I mentioned in Bumi's bit that are coming up, I never found this aspect to be anything other than cringey. From a storytelling standpoint, after episode 4 of the animated series, it ceases to even really be an overt thing anymore, bringing it instead to the level where it is in the live action, so I don't even think it's really that significant of a change. As to what I mean by where it is in the live action, Sokka's arc still tackles internalized misogyny, I think. Toxic masculinity can harm the bearer of it just as much as it can harm those externally affected by it. For anyone wanting to argue me on this point, I have been a firsthand witness to both my husband and multiple male-identifying friends who have been irrevocably harmed by it, so I really don't want to downplay the fact that this is still a significant character flaw. How well it was executed by the writers is definitely debatable, but as with Bumi, there's merit in the concept. There's a running theme of Sokka learning he doesn't have to be a strong warrior to still protect those he loves, and letting go of the shadow left by his father when Sokka was put in such a demanding leadership position at such a young age. It was a big loss not putting him in full Kiyoshi gear though, I will give you that.

Aang and the Overall Story

I'm torn on Aang, because though I miss a lot of his playfulness in the live action, it is also true that I often felt, especially in season 1 of the animated show, that it never seemed like all the horrific things that happened to his people affected him as much as it should have. Again, this is all up to debate on how much Nick interfered with the creative process of the animated series, or the writing, or the runtime, etc. But, in general, it just never felt like emotional scenes were lingered on quite long enough to really let them sink in a lot of the time. This is not to say it always felt that way, but after multiple rewatches over my life, I find myself more and more unsatisfied when it does feel like that. I know showing the genocide of the Air Nomads is a hot button topic, but it at least can be said that it set what to expect for the tone of the live action. I personally felt nothing but horror and sadness while watching that scene, and I think that is the intended response by the creators. Though I think the pendulum was swung a bit too far on Aang's characterization, I did appreciate him feeling more gravity towards his circumstances. I also do understand them going for "coming to terms with the present" as his arc for this season, even if I think they dragged it out a bit too long for my liking. As a side note, it should be mentioned that Gordon Cormier is also a talented martial artist who did most of his own stunts as well. Watching some of the behind-the-scenes footage of him was a real delight. And this is where I have to own up to the disclaimer I've been alluding to...I was 19 when ATLA first started airing in 2005, and thus was quite a bit beyond the target demographic at the time, so I recognize this show was not written for people my age. Regardless of its universal appeal and overall amazing execution, there are always going to be some things about the animated series I find childish or stupid that I cannot gloss over with nostalgia the same way people who were younger can. I am certainly guilty of doing so for things that were relevant during my more formative years (hello, Sailor Moon.)

Conversely, you also could say that I am more open to criticizing the parts of the animated series I don't think hold up so well, as few in number as those things are. I will say for anyone who wasn't around at the time, you are very lucky to not have been exposed to the constant fights and protest campaigns with Nickelodeon to even continue/finish the series, the annoying ways they kept sabotaging the syndication, the toxic forum threads fighting over the stupidest little nitpicks, or the equally toxic ship wars (okay, maybe still those.) You'd honestly be very surprised how nostalgic all the negativity over the live action has been, because it's practically a mirror image to the negativity over animated at the time, only now with the extra punch-shyness of having the Movie That Shall Not Be Named casting a shadow over everything.

All that being said, at last we are now on to the negative...

The Writing/Pacing

While I still hold that there are gems to be had in the live action series, this is where the show starts deducting the big points from my score. There is no doubt by most that there exists a significant writing problem on this adaptation. Most especially when it comes to dialogue, which often is clunky, exposition-heavy, rushed, or very canned-sounding. I honestly cannot place the blame on the actors themselves, as I think it is more apt to lay this at the feet of the showrunners. I'm sure there's a lengthy list of excuses, many valid, as to what happened exactly: Child acting labor laws, COVID separation, Netflix's overlords, budget, timing, etc. The fact remains that there were definitely some scenes I cringed my way through, Katara's interactions and fight with Pakku spring to mind most readily. ...Katara in general, to be honest, who got did pretty dirty in her characterization. When I see interviews with Kiawentiio where she's simply being herself, I see the energy I was looking for, so I don't think she was miscast at all. Everything has a heavier tone in the live action, so I understand where they're coming from with her starting out subdued and somewhat repressed. I appreciated the fact that they were very forthright about what happened to her mom in ways the animated show couldn't be. All that being said though, I just cannot justify why they didn't start breaking Katara out of her shell sooner or why they kept so many badly-read takes (not just with her, to be fair.) They can absolutely still keep the tone grounded while still allowing her inner fire to come through, and perhaps we will see that yet to come. I'm hesitant to blame the youngest among the cast for any perceived lack of acting skill because A) I'd sooner blame the writers and B) Yo, they're kids, and kid actors need time to develop skill.

In the matter of time, I think the series would have benefitted enormously from just a bit more of it. Ideally, like 2 more episodes to round out the main cast. I'd even take 5-10 minutes here and there per episode. One of the biggest flaws aside from the dialogue I see is a lack of interaction between our current main trio, which is where the heart of the Gaang lies. I know they CAN do it, the Fire Nation crew certainly was elevated by all the little touches here and there. I don't know why the main cast couldn't get the same treatment. This one also goes in the pile of "hope for the future," because if we do get a continuation (and I do actually hope for this,) one would expect a lot of these issues to be ironed out and for the cast to have even more experience and chemistry together to work with.

Additionally, there are a number of places where even my permanently blank-slate husband could tell things had been condensed to a point of feeling rushed. As I mentioned, though 6 is overall my favorite episode beyond this, there is no denying that Roku and the Fire Temple scene in general got shafted by pacing. It is sort of ironic that in animated I often felt that emotional scenes were rushed, but in the live action I just as frequently find myself wishing some of the slower moments of levity got their due as well. There is middle ground to be had somewhere, and once again I find myself hoping that this is another major area where we see improvement.

The negatives seem like a short section compared to the positives, but that's only because I have a harder time dissecting the parts that I can't even actively remember even after 2 rewatches. Nothing really made me actively angry at the live action enough to ramble on about at length, there were just a significant enough amount of forgettable or flawed parts of it that it hurt my overall impression. And really, calling a scene forgettable is maybe worse than calling it stupid or bad, because you can at least have a good time making fun of those.

Conclusion

One thing I hope people take away from this, if they bother to read this novel of a review at all, is that nothing will ever replace my love of the animated series. It's not going anywhere, and nothing can tear it down from its pedestal as proved quite decisively by Shyamalan. If I'd give animated a 9.5/10, then comparatively a 6.9/10 for the live action seems like a big downgrade, but I don't necessarily believe things have to be perfect to be worthwhile. I mean, I grew up on fantasy movies from the 80s and 90s, so I am a master at suspending expectations, trust me. It's an above-average score, simply because the things I took away from it and loved outweighed the things I didn't love. It made me ugly cry about 5-6 times, and I think that counts for something. My husband tells me he gives it a 9/10 and that he quite enjoyed himself. It is often difficult for me to get him interested in any media, because he has the attention span of a cabbage, so for him to actively ask when we were watching more was rather impressive. For these reasons, I pointedly reject the idea that the live action has no heart whatsoever, and I have reasonable hope that we will both get another season and that it will do better. EDIT: Turns out they greenlit seasons 2 and 3 the day after I wrote this. Woo!

Since he's a big WWE of the 90s fan, after the last episode, we had a fantasy casting roll for The Boulder, and that was the most we'd laughed together in months. It's a nice note to end on, don't you think?

#avatar the last airbender #atla #avatar live action #atla live action #atla netflix #discussion

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laserdog10 · 2 years ago

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Test Drive, Sparda Family Style

Claudia: Please?

Nero: Nope.

Claudia: Please?!

Nero: Sweetie...

Claudia: I promise I'll clean her afterwards!

Nero: That's nice but the answers is still no.

Claudia: Moooom!

Kyrie: It is nice of you to care about Red Queen so much, but the fact of the matter is it's too much for you.

Claudia stomps her little foot on the ground: Nuh-uh, I can swing a sword just fine!

Nero chuckled: Those are training swords meant for you, so you don't lop an arm off. Sorry Clauds but until you're in middle school you can swing Red Queen around to your hearts content.

The silvernette toddler pouted adorably and stomped off to her bedroom in a huff making sure to slam her door for extra measure for how angry she was. Nero smiled but sighed nonetheless, even he wasn't this...actually no, he was as temperamental as his and Kyrie's little gremlin.

Nero: What am I gonna do with her?

Kyrie: Well, you are training her to carry the family torch, so that's more than enough, and you aren't being too rough on her regiment and lessons either.

Nero leaned back in his seat at the kitchen table: But could i be doing more? What if-

Nero: Thanks babe, let's just hope dinner goes normal for on-

He was silenced with her lips meeting his, a chaste kiss broken for his wife to counter his worries.

"Like I told you, you always know what is right, and what is wrong. Claudia's progress to be a Devil Hunter is one of those right things."

Dante: Hey Mini-Verg! How's it shaking with the wife?

*THUD*

"HEY HEEEEY party people!" screamed the Legendary Devil Hunter himself kicking open the front door of the young couple's abode making Kyrie jump, though surprisingly without a box of pizza in hand. Nero simply thought to himself, "why do I even try...?"

Nero: Great until your mug showed up...

Dante just chortled ruffling his nephew's scruffy head: Why the long face bud? Hell the whole place reeks of tension.

Kyrie: Well, we had a little disagreement with our little angel.

Dante: Little Clauds throw a hissy fit?

Nero: No, just didn't want to listen to the truth, and got upset she could't go beat up some trees.

Dante pursed his lips: Imma go talk to her.

Nero: Dante...

Dante: Relaaax!

Kyrie: And how can we trust you?

Dante: I'm her cool uncle she loves?

Nero/Kyrie: More than Vergil?

Dante: ...really not gonna give me this?

The couple finally conceeded and gave Dante a "knock yourself out" kind of gesture, then off he went to his niece.

---

Wrapped in her blanket like an angry burrito, Claudia lay on her side fuming over her scuffle with her old man. 'What does he know, anyone can swing a sword! I'll show him-' Her mental rant was cut short when a rhythmic knock came from her door.

Dante: Heya squirt, can I mozy on in?

Claudia: Mm...

Dante lets himself in: Now what's this about Red Queen?

Claudia: Stupid dad won't let me play with it...

Dante: Haha, well now your old man ain't stupid that's for sure, but he's right that his weapon is far above your learnin' curve.

The third generation Sparda seemed to deflate more in her cotton haven, until a comforting pat on her head gave her a jolt back to reality making her turn to her second favorite uncle who was pulling out something wrapped in a burlap sack.

Dante: Now, I went through a lot of trouble getting these bad boys back, went through a couple auctions, black markets, and some circles of Hell to find them. I was plannin' on giving these to ya' on your birthday...but I can't stand to see you down in the dumps.

Sitting up, Claudia took the twin wrapped objects in her lap, carefully pulling it off she was greeted by the sight of two round heads with glowing eyes and a mouth, one red and one blue, attached to twin swords with serrated edges.

Dante: Say hello to Agni and Rudra, your first Devil Arm! One throws fire and the other slings wind!

Claudia: These...THESE LOOK AWESOME!!! Mm-*mouth gets covered*

Dante: Shhhh not so loud kid...! Hehe, take good care of them alright? These bad boys fought with me through all of Temen-ne-gru and kicked the butt of Vergil!

Claudia hugged the demonic swords close with a cheeky grin: I promise!

The devil hunter smiled ruffling his nieces hair before turning to leave, until he stopped and pointed at the swords, "No. Talking. Take care Clauds!"

---

Later that night Claudia pulled the Twin Demons out from under her bed, sitting with their heads facing her on her lap once more.

Claudia: Hey, my uncle Dante ain't here no more, you guys can talk...!

Agni/Rudra: ...

Claudia: I promised when I said I'll take good care, so that means I'll treat you guys differently.

Agni: ...is that true?

Rudra: You swear on it?

Claudia almost jumps from their voices: Woah, you guys actually talk...

Agni/Rudra: Indeed, many Devil Arms are capable of speech!

Claudia: That. Is. So fricking cool!

Agni: Cool? Brother, what is "cool?"

Rudra: Well, "cool" means-

Claudia: Yeahyeahyeah, basically means you guys are awesome, so uncle says you guys control fire and wind, if I remember what my science teacher said...wind can make fire stronger?

Rudra: Correct young devil!.

Agni: Strong as we are on our own, together we are a force stronger than nature.

Claudia: ... *smiles deviously* We're going to be the best partners! Oh, and by the way, it's cool if you guys wanna talk with me.

Rudra: Very well!

Agni: As you wish!

[Later that morning...]

Half of the forest behind the house was engulfed in flames, gale force winds blew this way and that, all while the cackling of an eight year old echoes though it all.

Claudia: I AM THE GODDESS OF DESTRUCTION!!!

Kyrie looks at Nero: ...Dante?

Nero: I am going to kill that bastard...

Kyrie: At least she's happy?

#devil may cry #dante sparda #nero sparda #kyrie #nero x kyrie #devil may cry oc #claudia sparda

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cata-strophes · 1 year ago

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I just found you and im like in love with all your art!!!! Do you think you could like catch me up on your ocs? Like a little introduction to them? Cause I am invested! I hope that's not too much to ask!

(Funny story, i was writing this and wrote a lot and then my power went off and i lost what i had written L)

Thank you!! :D And of course!! Im sorry this took so long, when i saw your message i realised i dont have a lot of actually-colored drawings of my ocs (that arent dante), so i ran to do some quick sketches (and got busy in the middle of it)

In the world of my OCs, some people are born with powers, but they have consequences and drawbacks if they're overused.

There is an Evil Bad Guy(tm), who, of course, wants power, and so when a kid is born with a strong enough power, it's more than likely they will be taken to join the ever-growing brainwashed army of Evil Dude(tm). Evil Villain Guy(tm) also carries forward... tests and experiments, to see if it's possible to evolve these powers and overcome their drawbacks.

This guy is my poor special little guy, Dante, and by that, I mean he's the one that I make suffer for my own amusement, i'm sorry, Dante.

He doesn't know his age, but he guesses he's in his mid-20s.

He was one of the child soldiers the Evil Villain Man(tm), and has been with him since he has memory. Now all he wants is revenge against him, and doesn't care about much else.

He was a favourite, because he was the first one to survive the tests and evolve the powers he has. (drawbacks are still a work in progress)

His power allows him to create limbs made from shadows, he specialized in wings. Altho he started only creating two wings, with the tests, he started calling more and more wings to his control, and they eventually stopped looking soft and feathery, and started looking more and more leathery, and he stopped using them to fly, more like spider legs to help support him and that he can turn into extremely dangerous and sharp weapons.

This guy over here is Nicholas. He is *drum roll* Evil Villain Guy(tm)'s older son!

Nicholas is in his mid-20s. He also has a younger brother, Theo, who is in his early 20s.

He was raised in blissful ignorance until he was a teenager, where he started figuring out his family's dark history. He started questioning his father's authority more and more, until, when he was around 16 years old, his own father commanded his assassins to get rid of him.

He was left for dead, but little did they know he had been hiding self-healing powers, and managed to survive and ended up joining a rebellion against his father, meeting Dante again ten years later, when he escaped. His brother is still with his father.

I'm very bad with names and can't choose, I have at least twenty options for each, but these are also some very important guys for them. All of their designs might change!! I'm still playing around.

The woman to the left is the leader of the rebellion, she took Nicholas in and knocked some sense into his head when he was pushing his body and powers farther than he should. She has electricity on contact powers, she uses it for the most shocking punches, or for charging whatever metalllic weapon shes holding to make it Hurt. Her drawback tho, is a loss of fine motor skills, her hands shake a lot because of this.

The guy in the right is Dante's uncle. Dante's uncle was a renowned knight, when he learnt that his brother, sister-in-law and nephew, his only family, were all wiped out in an attack, he lost his control and threw himself to battle with no second thoughts. His power is something of future visio; it doesn't go too far, just a few seconds or minutes (although he might get a few days or weeks worth of it in dreams), which made him unstouchable in battle. The drawback is the lost of his own eyesight. He is blind because of the overuse of his powers, and can really only notice light and very blurry shapes if he focuses (he usually doesn't). When he got tired of fighting he up and left, trying to forget and be forgotten, finding a village in the middle of nowhere and staying there to pass his days.

UNTIL his war-buddy, mister-in-the-center-drawing, came looking for him. They used to be the closest friends and he spent years looking for him after he vanished from the face of the Earth. He doesn't have any powers, but he is very much to Dante's uncle's levels of swordmanship and whatever-knights-do-ship (with the exception of. you know. literal future vision powers). They are boyfriends now.

Also Dante and his uncle meet later on, and this meeting is the reason Dante doesn't go off the deep end as it was very much looking like before. Dante's uncle knows Dante's real age and birthday, he never forgot.

#ask #original characters #original character #doodle #theoverlordofall #even though ive had their stories in my head for years #im only now working out details and figuring out how they actually look #like i literally chose nicholas name today #might give dante's uncle longer hair

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tomwambsmilk · 2 years ago

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I am now realizing I don't think I've ever really explained my Succession-Inferno analogy but it is something near and dear to my heart so. Buckle up I guess!

The whole thing is premised on the idea that Logan holds a lot of characteristics traditionally ascribed to the devil in literature. He's an excellent liar (far better than anyone else on the show), he goes out of his way to destroy relationships between other people because he can't stand it when people love others more than they love him, he presents himself as "uncle fun" to outsiders, he actively revels in sowing discord and conflict and betrayal whereas everyone else merely tolerates it. At the same time everyone around him treats him like a god. He deserves all their love, he is The Father who has created all they see, reality is manifested by his will and is simply whatever he wants it to be, he is all-knowing and all-powerful. But because their god is actually. you know. evil. the fruit of his continued power (and their continued worship of him) is nothing but misery and lies.

In Dante's Inferno, Dante goes on a journey through Hell, guided by Virgil. Virgil represents two things: the knowledge of morality necessary to understand what's happening in Hell and avoid being taken in by it, and the moral support and courage necessary to complete the journey. Dante journeys through nine circles that are meant to represent sins of increasing moral degradation. The first is limbo, who's actually just people who weren't bad at all but were never baptized and so can't go to heaven. That's where the pagan moral philosophers - including Virgil - are. After that, it's Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Wrath, Heresy, Violence, Fraud, and finally, Treachery. The order is very intentional, and rooted the belief that the early sins (sins of the flesh) are the easiest ones to fall into and ultimately are not as serious as the others - but, they also serve as gateways to the more serious sins. Each circle has sinners being punished in ways that are metaphors for the impacts of their sins. The devil sits in the ninth circle of hell, Treachery, where everyone (including the devil himself) is frozen in ice. The devil has Brutus, Judas, and Cassius in his mouth, and he chews on them for all eternity. Everyone around him betrayed someone they had an obligation to; the worse the betrayal, the closer to the devil they are frozen. The furthest away are those who betrayed their families (Cain); then those who betrayed their countries (Antenor); those who betrayed their guests and those who sheltered in their homes (Ptolemy); and finally, those who betrayed their masters, lords, and benefactors, which includes the three in Satan's mouth.

If Logan is Succession's Satan, then two things follow. First, Waystar becomes a metaphorical Inferno, where climbing the ranks to get closer to Logan requires climbing through the circles of hell and participating in greater and greater moral degradation. I think the character this most applies to, because we actually get to see his corruption arc over the course of the show, is Tom. And his arc, I think, arguably fits with that journey into hell. Season 1 gives us Gluttony and Greed, especially in 1.06 when he takes Greg to the restaurant and gives his spiel about how great it is to be rich. We also get his general obsession with nice things and with stuff, something which the Roys don't have, and something that seems to fade in Tom as his arc progresses. Season two gives us Wrath and Violence (Safe Room etc.), and Fraud (the cruise line scandal coming out). And then finally, at the end of season 3, we get Treachery. And I find it very very interesting that immediately before committing the act of Treachery, Tom asks Greg if he wants to make a deal with devil - something which turns out to mean both a deal with Logan, but also the act of betraying Shiv. Up until this point, you could argue that Greg had been riding along on Tom's coattails on this journey-through-hell - but the line "What am I going to do with a soul anyways?" means that, for the first time, he's actively consenting to what's happening. Sure, he doesn't know what's going on - but the line itself implies that it simply does not matter to him.

The second thing that follows, though, is that while Tom and Greg and the old guard have journeyed down to where Logan is, his children have been there all along. They grew up in a world characterized by Treachery, Fraud, Violence, Wrath, Greed, and Lust. Their arcs aren't about them becoming corrupted; their arcs are about whether they can escape the corruption they've always lived in. Everyone is frozen in that same ice together, but the ways they got here were very different.

Finally, the Virgil character is very important, because he doesn't have a corollary in the Succession half of this analogy, and that highlights what none of these characters have. None of them have a strong moral compass, and even if they did, none of them have the kind of support and moral courage to resist the allure of temptation. This is far more devastating for the Roy kids, though, because they've never had the opportunity to encounter a Virgil, whereas everyone else had to pass through Limbo - where Virgil is - before they could start going through hell. Or, in other words, with Tom et al. at some point there was an active choice to reject the moral compass and reject the moral support, which the Roy kids never had. But once you reject your moral compass it's hard to get it back again, hence why the further you get from Limbo the harder it is to find your way back.

#succession #didnt include this in the main post bc I didnt want it to be too long BUT #I also think there's an interesting tomshiv angle here #where. if shiv has been immersed in this world of corruption and moral degradation her whole life (ie frozen in that ninth circle)#is there really a world where they can be together and tom doesn't end up in that same corruption?#shiv isnt the one who corrupted him. not at all. but her whole world is corrupt and so entering into it is the only way to get close to her #its not her fault he entered into it in the first place bc he clearly did before he met her #but once he marries her he ends up even more committed and its even harder to get out #I also think there's an interesting angle re: dante journeying through hell to get to beatrice #who represents true pure selfless love #BUT he can make it through hell bc he has Virgil. so he DOESNT get sucked into the corruption and he DOESNT get stuck in the ninth circle #and HE gets to pass through the other side of hell and head towards heaven #I have a creative writing piece I started forever ago where tom has to take a dante class in college and over the course of the show begins #rationalizing his choices as part of a journey through hell where on the other side is beatrice ie: love #bc he's so invested in being in this world and his marriage is part of the world #and then finally realizing oh fuck actually im in the ninth circle and there is no beatrice on the other side #there is no redeeming quality here and I dont think my marriage can be saved #and that leads into to the choice to betray shiv #because you're already in the devil's domain and you have no virgil to help you out. what else can you do #not that the situation justifies his actions. but it creates the moral apathy required to go through with it #bc genuinely I do not think he would have betrayed shiv like that in season 1 or season 2 #so the question is what about him changed #and I think the progression of his corruption arc is a big part of the answer to that question #not the whole answer but it is important #maybe I'll finish it one of these days lmao

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wooglebear · 6 months ago

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i wanted to talk a little about some of the interpersonal relationships I gave Cash since i love his tetocu23 version (other than Javi and Krupp) and want to yell about him

The first is George and Harold. Making Cash an Uncle Scrooge dt17-esque character actually allows him to develop friendly relations with other people aside from just Javi.

Cash still befriends George and Harold here because their canonical apparent friendship is obviously something I very much approve of, and their dynamic when someone inevitably turns into a monster of the week is pretty much this.

George: It's time for you know what!

Harold: Yeah! Captain Underpants!

Cash: You two, now's not a good time for whatever nonsense you’re going on about.

Javi: I agree with my boyfriend here! We're doomed!

George: You're nuts! This IS an emergency!

Cash does find out the truth about CU eventually, as does Javi, and they're surprisingly accepting.

Cash basically acts like Scrooge to bo, stanley, and gooch. Consider this trio and Hazel the Huey, Dewey, Louie and Webby of tetocu23.

next we have Cash's interactions with jessica and the sophies. Cash would support any of his niece and Jessica's interactions. I think Cash and Sophie 1's interactions would feel really quite natural and fun. He supports Other Sophie's crush on Jessica. And he and the sophies would genuinely be really good friends with each other if not for his rivalry with Krupp. I've said this before and I'll say it again, but Krupp and Cash's relationship here is based on Scrooge and Glomgold's interactions in dt17, if they weren’t actively out to kill each other.

Then we have Dressy, Erica and Mr. Ree. According to the creators of the AU, erica, dressy, and ree are a bit of a parallel to the george-harold-captain trio dynamic. So, Cash is the wildcard of that group. I can also see Cash discovering Vil Endenemys’s villainous plans and trying to warn the girls, but they think he's crying wolf, and so does mr. ree.

As for Dressy separately, she comes off so strong that Cash just doesn’t want to talk to her half the time.

Erica: You haven't been talking to Dressy much as of late. How come?

Cash: That girl… s-she was obnoxious even by my standards…

Cash would feel bad for Erica. He wants to babysit for this kid who grew up too fast, and he and Erica become friends just in case Cash actually feels he can actually babysit properly. As the wildcard of the group, he finds he and Mr. Ree contrast. Dressy and Erica listen to Ree. As for Cash, dressy and erica don’t listen to him enough!

Dante and Alyssa don’t start out as friends, but they end up that way once Cash realizes how lonely his niece is and lets her hang out with him because both of them are theater kids. Yes, this means that poor Cash and Javi have to deal with two silly theater kids as Krupp watches in amusement. Having been born with a silver spoon in his mouth (like Cash) and having only known only a life of luxury, Dante can’t trust too easily, so Alyssa is kind of the perfect one to befriend him.

Melvin and Melvin-Borg, though… Hoo boy, where do we even start with Cash's interactions with those two? Cash instantly hates the two of them, bc he thinks theyre both evil geniuses. And he's right. Cash is smarter here than in tetocu, and I think he’d be able to catch onto the fact that Melvin -- and this "cyborg" Melvin -- have bad plans in mind. As for Javi's thoughts? He’d probably feel like someone threw up on the Melvins' auras. Cash would also be able to catch on to the fact that Cara is Not What She Seems™ and would try to stop her. Javi would do what he can to warn the others of this super villainess. Also, he would surely roast the hell out of poor Cara. XD

And then we have his friend.

This is Alice Carroll (name is a reference to Alice in Wonderland and Lewis Carroll).

Alice is the new art teacher at Jerome Horwitz Elementary. And an even bigger shocker, she and Cash are an item. Technically. In Krupp's eyes, they're something of an item.

An insomniac, Alice insists on keeping up with the latest in the world of art, but is level headed and fair. Generally friendly and loves to play around, but will not mess around when it comes to serious stuff. She believes that art is the way to bring hope and good into the world.

Cash is bi, while Alice is straight as a pencil. Their incompatible orientations, realistically, should clash, but they make it work. They're just really good friends, but Krupp is wrongly convinced that Alice is Cash's love interest (she ABSOLUTELY isn't, that's Javi), not helped by Cash near constantly blushing around... someone (aka Javi). Unfortunately, because Alice is nearby, this is how Krupp (and Hazel, Cara, Alyssa, Juliet, and even the gym teacher, Mr. Meaner, for that matter) figures out Cash's "love life", and now they think Alice and Cash are deep in the throes of love, when in reality, it's Javi who's Cash's love interest.

Alice is a bit of an artist, hence the sticker on her shirt and blue paint splatters on her face.

Alice has a bit of trust issues.

A bit of her storyline centers around her desperately trying to not keep Cash a friend thanks to Krupp insisting that Cash x Alice is a thing.

Is friends with Javi!

they practically become inseparable.

I've said it once, and I'll say it again. But Krupp kidnaps poor Javi anyway, though tetocu23 having twentysomething episodes per season does delay that. So krupp decides to mess with Cash, even though he isn't quite as toxic towards him as canon, so he locks him and Javi up in a closet. Not too surprisingly, the not-as-protective-of-Cash-as-Juliet-but-still-protective Alice is really mad at our principal afterward.

Cash and Alice would love paintball, and they shoot each other while giggling. Cash and Alice have some cute banter before Cash inevitably gets Camoflushnapped (remember, this is during the tetocu23 equivalent of the camoflush ep).

Cash: *while they're being shot at by a Camoflush'd Major Messy* This paintball game is definitely going to be my villain origin story.

Alice is a bit protective of Cash, and would be horrified if he ever got put in danger.

…And then the whole thing with Borelock happens, and when she finds out what happened to her friend, she straight up snaps like a waistband. She near goes insane.

Alice: What did you do to Cash?

Borelock: I got your love interest out of the picture. On the bright side, he'll make a wonderful p-p-p-porch ornament.

Alice: Porch ornament? You call this getting him out of the way?! Just who do you think you are, going around turning people into stone like that?! I despise you, crazy wizard, and everything you stand for! And Cash isn't my love interest. He's MY FRIEND!!

(For that last remark, Borelock just turns Alice to stone, too.)

Other than that, Cash and Alice are just really good friends who are having fun – nothing more, nothing less. At least before an unholy mashup of Krupp's kidnapping of Javi, Cara's evil scientist vibes, and the Melvins' devious plans rear their ugly head.

(Tetocu23 AU belongs to @infini-tree and @cartchytuns)

#tetocu #captain underpants #cu au #tetocu fanfiction #cu oc #gacha life 2 #tetocu23

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mayzi33 · 1 year ago

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Alright, alright...

So, I've had this crazy TMM theory for a long time now, but I've been afraid to share it cause I thought it was uh- too weird.

But since @ackarcue convinced me, here it is.

I don't really have a name for this theory but uh- basically

What-could-have-happened-to-Carter's-parents-why-Kalagan-might-hate-them-and-how-Carter-and-Leila-might-actually-be-related

There. JUST STICK WITH ME FOR A WHILE OKAY?

HEAR ME OUT.

Where do I start-

So we all know how Carter's parents vanished, and we unfortunately didnt get an explanation for that- Tho I do feel half of the fandom has a silent mutual agreement that it most likely has something to do with Kalagan

So think with me

In book 3, when Mick told the misfits about the fire, he said that Kalagan didn't ONLY hold a grudge agaisnt Dante, but also against Lyle. Because he, Dante, and Sandra, escaped through the tunnels and left the others behind. So he holds a grudge against the cousins, but not against Sandra since- well, he's obsessed with her.

But waaaay back in book 2, when Sandra gets introduced to Carter and they start talking about his dad, Mr. Vernon says smth about how "friends" wouldn't be the way he'd describe Sandra's and Lyle's relantioship- And she gets all flushed. Hitting that, they probably had uh- a sweet little relantioship.

And giving that Kalagan had a crush on Sandra, no doubt that would set him off.

NOW THIS IS THE PART WHERE MY DELULU GETS WEIRDER

JUST STAY WITH ME A LITTLE LONGER GUYS YOU CAN TAKE IT

We know that Carter's parents vanished when he was a little kid. We're not sure how old, but the book says it was when he had "few years of age", and he seems to have some clear memories of his parents, so lets ASSUME it was around age 3-6 (I'm guessing that it was probably 5 since in the beggining of book 1 is mentioned that Uncle Sly used Carter to steal from that couple on his 6th birthday so-)

We don't know who Leila's father is. The only thing we know, is that Sandra left her at the orphanage due to not being able to take of her. Now, who convinced her to do that? Our favorite pshycopath, Kalagan.

Ok this is really weird but

What if

WHAT IF

Lyle really is Leila's father?..

JUST HEAR ME OUT.

Now, I'm well aware that Sandra says she has a husband and that he is a miner in book 2. BUT SHE NEVER SAID **HE** WAS LEILA'S FATHER...

WHAT IF... Sandra and Lyle had an affair after all these years? AND *THATS* WHAT DROVE KALAGAN TO MAKE LYLE VANISH?

Hear me out. If you pay attetion to Leila's hair in the colored drawings, you can see *blonde locks*. Sandra's hair is darker, while Leila's is lighter. A light brown going to blond to the hair ends...

We know that the reason why Lyle left Mineral Wells was to protect his wife and son from Kalagan. But it never said he was a loyal husband... So maybe, after he had an affair with Sandra resulting in Leila, he did it with his wife resulting in Carter. AND ONLY LATER ON, KALAGAN FOUND OUT.

Lets assume that the Locke family was way too well hidden, so it took Kalagan some time to find them.

And when he did, it was poof with Carter's parents

In the end of book 1, Mr. Vernon says he has always been looking for Carter. Kalagan KNEW that Dante would come after him after the news of the Locke couple going missing spread; So he took Carter away, and kept him hidden.

Hidden from Dante, his family, Mineral Wells... And I believe it might have been not only to hurt Dante more, but also to sort of "mock" him. I feel like Kalagan wanted to make Carter suffer as much as possible during those years with him, so he could show him "the crulety of the world" and corrupt him. And also how he'd constantly force Carter to help him steal from others... H wanted to make Carter his assistant, a thief, a criminal, just as bad as he is. So then when he dragged him back to Mineral Wells, he could show him to Dante and be like "yo Dante, look what I did to your cousin's kid I made him emo lol"

Ok, that's it delulu is done.

So... what do yall think?

#the magic misfits #carter locke #leila vernon #dante vernon #kilroy kalagan #theory #the magic misfits theory #tmm theory

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t4tdanvis · 11 months ago

Note

Gene headcanons;

Diaries

->He is very hurt by the betrayal of Dante

I didn't think of this myself, but I heard someone headcanon that Gene's magic was used on himself and I really like that idea. It makes him think Dante's betrayal was way worse than it actually was.

I like to think that due to being a shadowknight, she constantly feels the sting of that betrayal. He gaslights himself into believing the bitter feeling is a feeling of vengenance, but actually, it's sadness of Dante's betrayal.

->the Shadowlord purposefully stops them from remembering what happens. And has given Gene so many false nightmares of what happened that Gene believes that to be the truth now.

->Gene made Vylad forget about Zane killing him out of pity(I hc Zane was the one who killed Vylad, btw. The most likely suspects are Zane and Garte. I think Garte got Zane to do it.). She does actually does care for Vylad underneath it all.

->Very jealous of Laurance, and has abandonment issues. In turn they push people away. That is partially why he is so stern on Vylad, Sasha and Zenix not question the shadowlord, because he doesn't want them to leave her. However she won't admit this. Vylad, Sasha and Zenix all get closer to Laurance than to her in the end in canon atleast. And so does their brother Dante.

->they were beheaded and they still have beheading stitches as a shadowknight now.

General

->Dante and Gene talk about an uncle Zach in mystreet season 2. Aphmau's father is named Zach. *hits them with the cousin beam*

->Xe has brown eyes not blue

->he's pangender, and they use any pronouns.

->bad hygiëne

->doesn't sleep

->She has a peanut allergy. So does Dante.

Mystreet

->I know you like to think he listens to crywolf. But I think she listens to muse, radiohead and Nirvana.

->he has a very high sour taste tolerance. He eats bare lemons sometimes. Zenix has a very high spice tolerance. Sasha has a very high bitter tolerance.

->she has very questionable food taste

->they love rodents

I LOVE ALL THESE HEADCANONS HDSHDCDCKNDCNDCKN TYYYYYYYYYYYYYY (u sent me an ask asking for my hcs/thoughts and i am working on answering it... i just have So Many... but i will finish that post Eventually)

i also hc a lot of these (especially the doesnt sleep + abandonment issues ones. literally SO TRUE) and i am stealing some of them for myself

i am literally kissing u on the mouth (/p) this made my day TYYYYYY

#❄.txt #ask box #gene angst (punches a wall) /pos

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silverstream2 · 1 year ago

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More "Shovel Talk" stuff (fuck it, that's what I'll call stuff for Abbie having to deal with/be prepared to kill Vergil during the whole Qliphoth thing):

And V keeps picking at her, asking her questions, because he can tell she is very much Not Okay and is trying to hide it. And that she's doing the same thing Vergil did before splitting himself with Yamato: Shutting away any personal feelings because they hurt too much and just trying to convince themselves that violence/power is the best way through. Just reacting to things defensively, and telling themselves that anything goes and is justifiable so long as it helps them survive. But V knows that's not what either of them really want to do. And it hurts his heart to see Abbie like this, hardened by her time as a devil hunter- a role she pretty much forced herself into to protect herself, her son, Dante, and their friends. Mostly her son, tbh, at least at the start. And V can tell she's scared, too. Terrified of losing the people she cares about, of not being strong enough to protect them, and is dealing with that fear by just hurling herself headfirst into ruthlessness and cold-heartedness.

Abbie practicing her knife throwing while trying to talk to V (and convince herself) that she's absolutely willing to kill Vergil Urizen if that's what it takes to keep her son and her world safe.

And he can see the guilt, too. At not being a good enough parent to actually be a mother to Nero and riase him herself. (V can tell that just from the way she talks about it. I think Abbie would try to be brusque and sound detached and professional about it, to make it seem like she's totally delt with any bad feelings from having to give her son up for adoption, and she really is grateful that Nero still wants her in his life... but she still feels guilty for not being better.)

At not being strong enough to protect Nero from- well, from Abbie's perspective, from ANYTHING. Not the Order and their stupid plans, not from any demon that might attack Nero when Dante isn't around, not Mundus if that bastard ever crawls out of his vault again, not Vergil if he ever popped up again after Temen-ni-gru or even after Mallet Island- and that last one especially hurts, because that's how Nero lost a fucking arm. And now, not Urizen.

(Might change this later: And yeah, Abbie calls him "Urizen", not "Vergil", as a way to distance herself from the Vergil she knew. Because maybe if she hides far enough away from it, it'll stop hurting. It'll stop tearing at her whenever she thinks about how much she wishes they could just snap Vergil out of this power-hungry bullshit and just talk to him, help him, somehow. Help him be better. Give him a chance to be better. Make him understand that he's not alone.

Or she might just call him Vergil as a way to try and force herself to harden her heart and be ready to kill him if need be. If it's to protect her son, her brother-in-law, her friends, her world, then it's worth it. It's worth the pain. It has to be. Right?

It'd be so much easier if she could just hate him. But she doesn't. She really doesn't. Oh, she still wants to punch or at least slap him for the shit he's done, especially the shit he's done to Nero and Lady and Trish, just on fucing principle... but she really doesn't want to kill him. Even tho she knows she's probably going to have to.

"I forgive you. But I cannot let you leave.")

Anyway. Abbie practicing her knife throwing, and V poking at her with questions, and she keep missing. Over, and over, and over again. I'm not sure what V could say to get through to her, if Abbie would even let him in that close, but I could see V doing this:

Abbie misses again, and V just sort of. Gently goes over and, touching her as respectfully as possible, corrects her aim. And the thing about Abbie is that she learned her knife throwing from the knife throwers in the carnival her aunt and uncle were a part of. It took her two summers to get that particular wrist flick down just right. And then she showed it to Vergil during the Book Incident, "so that way you don't get screwed over the next time you want to play a knife throwing game at a carnival stand". And here, now, V corrected her knife throwing technique back to just that. Just that particular wrist flick technique. And that'd strike Abbie as odd, and she'd ask V where the hell he learned a knife throwing trick like that.

And V just smiles that annoyingly secretive smile at her and says, "From a friend" or "From someone I should have loved, a long time ago". And just wanders off before she can ask him any more questions. Which she might be too stunned/confused to do, because the look V gave her was... strange. An oddly bittersweet mix of fondness and sadness, with a little touch of longing. And Abbie can't figure out WHY.

For extra sadness, listen to "Doomsday" by Lizzie McAlpine. The lyrics of that song fit so damn well it HURTS.

#fic stuff

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assorted-fics · 2 years ago

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Fics of the Week

Avatar: The Last Airbender

letter to the editor by aloneintherain

No one knows that Dante Basco, an emerging writer with a growing readership, is actually Fire Lord Zuko.

Not even his editor.

Legacies by WildInkling

Long after the events of Avatar: The Last Airbender, a lone historian finds the personal journal of Prince Zuko. Little does she know that he was also the mysterious anonymous author who took the world by storm. The world will never be the same. Inspired by and directly links to aloneintherain's Writer Zuko AU.

Treachery of the Highest Order by LoserLife592

Sometimes life is unfair. Sometimes the universe likes to kick you when you're down. Sometimes bad things happen to good people.

But there a still lines that need to be drawn. And this? This is beyond that line.

(or, You Think You Know A Guy)

A Dragon’s Instinct by AelinCreativ

Zuko is banished. Never to return to his Nation unless he does the impossible. But when Agni, Dragon of the Sun, gives Zuko a mission, he has a new purpose in life besides pretending to still be loyal to his father. With Azula playing defense at the palace, Zuko has the whole world to search for answers and the people who Agni says will be Champions of the Elements and help him restore balance to the world. He has his own secrets to keep while he's at it. With an uncle he can't trust and a crew of misfits on his side, can Zuko do the impossible and stop the war in time to save his people?

He's thirteen and the Spirit's have big plans for him. Is one teenage dragon enough to save the world?

a distant yesterday by aloneintherain

Iroh had been worried that the gentle tea server from Ba Sing Se wouldn’t survive the Fire Palace. But he can see traces of him in this young prince, this almost-Fire Lord.

Ozai didn’t crush Zuko the way he had intended. He survived. He grew strong, and gentle, and more honourable than Ozai could ever imagine.

And Iroh is so proud of him.

Follows Iroh’s thoughts on his nephews in Book 2 and Book 3 and beyond.

Quiet Like a Fire by WhatWouldJackSparrowDo

Things Azula is surprised by:

- her father's death at Zuko's hands (however supposedly inadvertent)

Things Azula is not surprised by:

- Zuko's complete and utter lack of a plan afterwards

(Zuko's aim on the Day of Black Sun is a little off. Ozai gets struck by his own lightning. Azula grudgingly takes care of the rest.)

Derry Girls

the derry catholic gays club by wafflesofdoom

claire hadn't exactly planned on becoming all of her best friends fairy gay-mother.

or, the one where literally nobody is straight.

Harry Potter

rather start a family than finish one by elumish

He knows, knows deep in his soul, that if Potter ever wanted to take over Britain, he could do it, and most of them would probably just cheer along.

the family evans by dirgewithoutmusic

What if, when Petunia Dursley found a little boy on her front doorstep, she took him in? Not into the cupboard under the stairs, not into a twisted childhood of tarnished worth and neglect—what if she took him in?

Petunia was jealous, selfish and vicious. We will not pretend she wasn’t. She looked at that boy on her doorstep and thought about her Dudders, barely a month older than this boy. She looked at his eyes and her stomach turned over and over. (Severus Snape saved Harry’s life for his eyes. Let’s have Petunia save it despite them).

Let’s tell a story where Petunia Dursley found a baby boy on her doorstep and hated his eyes—she hated them. She took him in and fed him and changed him and got him his shots, and she hated his eyes up until the day she looked at the boy and saw her nephew, not her sister’s shadow. When Harry was two and Vernon Dursley bought Dudley a toy car and Harry a fast food meal with a toy with parts he could choke on Petunia packed her things and got a divorce.

the girl who lived (again) by dirgewithoutmusic

Molly tried her best. When Harry had told them, Arthur had asked excitedly, "is this a Muggle thing?" Hermione had hurried out a "no!" and a frantic history of gender diversity in the wizarding world.

"It's just that I'm a girl," Harry had said, and Arthur had nodded and asked her about how telephone booths worked. He would call her by the right pronouns until the day he died at the respectable old age of one hundred and thirty three, and he would make it seem easy.

But Molly had to try. Hermione explained things faster and higher-pitched every time Molly messed up a pronoun. Molly frowned and muttered and put extra potatoes on Harry's plate at breakfast. Harry slept in Ron's room, which didn't bother either of them but which made Hermione scowl.

Harry got boxes of sweets and warm hugs, as Molly chewed things over. For her fifteenth Christmas, the Weasley sweater she would receive would be a bright, friendly, terrible pink.

The next time Harry visited, Molly put her on Ginny's floor to sleep-- for some definition of sleep that involved Hermione hissing threats at three in the morning if Harry and Ginny didn't "shut up about Wronski feints, do you know what time it is."

a snake in the den by dirgewithoutmusic

you know what would have been great? if ron got sorted into slytherin.

imagine– we have this kid on the train, the first friend harry meets, with his corned beef sandwiches and smudged nose. ron is eleven years old and he wants gryffindor, because he’s a weasley and that’s what always happens. but it doesn’t happen.

what a way to redeem slytherin house– or, god, at least complicate it. because ron is petty. he is mean and sharp and ambitious and jealous– and he is loyal to the ends of the earth. he is all those things, and he is and always has been good.

potter becomes before weasley in the alphabet, so harry says not slytherin please and gets told might as well be gryffindor. percy and fred and george are all sitting there in red and gold, ruffling the already-ruffled hair of the boy who lived, smug, and then ron sits down and the hat spits out slytherin!

the heir of something or other by dirgewithoutmusic

When kids in the Slytherin Common Room tossed jeers at the pudgy feet of Millicent Bulstrode, Harry rose up to do something about it. This Harry, now one of Snape’s own, got fewer House points lost but many more detentions– it had never been the colors on his hem that Severus hated.

This was not wishing Harry an easy path. This was not wishing the boy a warm House. This was Harry, three weeks in, sleep deprived and considering running away and going back to Privet Drive. This was Harry in the back of Potions class, blank-faced under Snape’s disdain the way he’d perfected under the Dursleys’s torments.

When Quirrell shouted “troll in the dungeons, thought you ought to know,” and Harry overheard that there was a girl in the bathroom crying, he still ran off to make sure she got out okay. He hesitated first, at the back of the little pack of Slytherin first years (at the back so that no one could get behind him)– he hesitated.

And Millicent Bulstrode, who could never quite keep her tummy tucked in enough, could never brush all the cat hair off her robes, never quite keep her temper in check, hesitated, too.

#fics of the week #Harry Potter #Harry Potter Fic recs #derry girls #Derry girls Fic recs #avatar: the last airbender #atla #avatar: the last Airbender Fic recs #fic recs

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