#fell less and also less badly this time tho

[thorinlandscaping]

went again today. ouchieeeeee.

went snowboarding for the first time today

[azaharinflames]

I fell into the deepest depression I’ve had for years when Buck and Tommy broke up. I just wanted to cry so badly but decades of trauma kept me from doing that. Add on that Trump had just been re-elected, and add in that my Dad had been admitted to hospital with a collapsed lung it just took me down.

I’ve mostly gotten over it. I spent 24 hours writing my idea of a fix it fic (won’t happen on show cause they all suck but it was cathartic). I can’t remember what caused my breakdown but I did end up crying. My eyes felt less puffy after as well.

I understand that it’s a fake relationship in a fake show but something about it spoke to me. And just watch it end hurt me worse. The last time I had actually cried hard was in 2021 when my mother-in-law passed away from COVID. So why did this stupid relationship affect me so much. I feel embarrassed for reacting this badly. I don’t even like to talk to my partner about it because he wouldn’t understand.

Hi, Nonnie! Thank you for your ask.

I am so, so sorry to read that. Listen - it's not stupid. It's not embarrassing So don't think your feelings surrounding it and your reaction to any of it is that, because I promise you: nothing about it should make you feel embarrassed.

Here is the thing: Art, in whatever form, is one of the things that move people the most, historically*. Art is a universal language that doesn't simply exist in a painting or a sculpture but in a myriad of different forms that, especially in the last few decades, have expanded immensely. Art can be a channel for our emotions, can be our choice of escapism, can be the thing we see ourselves reflected in and thus, the thing that we connect to because, hey - that's us. And if we see 'us' overcoming on screen, surely we can overcome in real life, right? That's one of the reasons why representation is so damn important.

Yeah, it was a relationship. But it shouldn't be reduced to just that. Instead of dismissing our feelings by making our issue seem nonsensical and small, let's think - my issue was because a piece of Art I connected to deeply was dealt with in a damaging way. And that carries consequences.

There is also the fact that, I think, for a lot of us, it was more than the break-up. The biggest thing to take into context was the election because it is just a matter of fact that we needed a win so bad that week, and we got the opposite of that. To get a bit more personal, I was already dealing with my town being hit with the worst natural disaster in my country this century, still had to hear from some of my friends to know if they were okay or even alive (fortunately, they're all fine), and I was seeing only tragedy whenever I went online. So this happening hit me really hard as well - but, like you, it was one of the things. Still, I spent three days barely able to take a bite and barely able to sleep, and a week with really high anxiety.

And sure, I did feel silly, but if I do love one thing, I sure do love introspection, I reached the aforementioned conclusion and reflection on Art (let me know if it helped or is a bunch of bs tho).

I think what you're doing, writing a fix-it fic, is amazing! You're channeling your feelings through Art, and I am sure it does feel very cathartic. I haven't written for 911 yet (definitely want to, I have some ideas that could work), but I have some years of writing for Marvel and Seblaine (Glee) on my back, so trust me when I say this is the better choice you could do - channel your feelings through your Art, and you will end up with something beautiful, I'm sure of it.

Sorry this was too long, but I'm here if you (or anyone else) needs to rant, vent, or discuss something (911 or whatever, something else is valid as well)

Take care, Nonnie <3 and all of you as well <3

*I have a bachelor's on this, please trust me on it lmao

[captain-mj]

I beg of you- on my hands and knees- to please write more Warrior! Ghost and Spoil! Soap-

I crave it-

Totally chill if you don't wanna tho! Take your time, do what you wanna do!

Love your writing and TikToks regardless!

Hell yeah! I've been getting a ton of requests and I'm super excited for this part!

Also, I did put this on ao3 under the same name. If any of you guys are on there!

Soap was slow to get out of the bathtub. Very slow. He waited until the water had went from tepid to bone chilling when he slunk out of it. 

It gave him plenty of time to think about his… predicament. 

The thing was, he wasn’t scared Ghost was going to kill him. Despite grabbing his weapon, he didn’t look like someone who was about to stab a man. 

He looked at him with a disturbing hunger. Soap had stared into him, seeing something half starved stare back. And then Ghost had left him. 

Soap carefully reached his hand out of the door to grab the clothing. He couldn’t see Ghost but that didn’t mean he wasn’t there. 

The clothes were far too big, falling around him almost comically. Ghost’s shirt hit his mid thigh and Soap had to lace the pants up tight to keep them from falling down his hips. He chanced a look in the mirror, a little surprised. 

Soap had dalliances before. Mostly with women but men too. He looked like them. Some pretty lass or lad who had stolen his shirt. Was that on purpose?

No. Ghost was just tall and big and Soap was… a little more average sized. The comparison was just in his head. 

He finished getting dressed and that’s when he made a decision. Clearly Ghost wasn’t as nice as he was trying to play himself to be. His reputation had preceded him by quite a bit. Playing coy now wasn’t going to get Soap to trust him. 

So Soap was going to test him. He unlaced the top part of the shirt slightly, letting it show off a bit more of his chest. He fixed his hair so it fell a little more artfully and a little less staticy mess. 

Maybe he could convince Ghost to get him some things to fix his hair better. Seducing him might make him a little more apt to give him stuff. Though, Ghost hadn’t exactly been treating him badly. 

Soap thought of the hunger in those eyes again and shuddered.

Sick bastard. 

He left the bathroom and went looking for him. Ghost was on His bed, laid out, still fully clothed. He had taken his boots off but still had his socks off. If Soap didn’t know any better, he’d think he was asleep. His arms carefully crossed across his chest. 

The floor under Soap creaked and he looked up, staring at Soap.

“I knew those clothes would be too big for you.” His eyes stayed on his face the entire time. 

“Why did you give them to me?” Soap puffed his chest out a little, hands going behind his back.

“I don’t want to deal with your corpse when you die from the cold.”

“Ah…” Soap flushed down and he saw it. Saw Ghost’s eyes follow the color down.

“Come here.” Ghost mumbled and Soap followed. Here it was. Proof that Ghost whatever his last name is was an monst-

Ghost had gotten leather cuffs with fur inlining. He shoved Soap to his side of the bed and rolled over, facing away from him again. 

Soap blinked, looking down at himself. No, he looked good. Had he misjudged the situation? Or was Ghost just very good at self control?

Only one way to find out. 

Keep pressing. 

In the morning, Soap watched Ghost cook instead of looking around. He had done plenty of that yesterday. Nothing in the house held any particular interest. There were no escape routes besides the door. The windows were either too narrow for him to fit through or led straight into someone’s garden. Not to mention almost all of them were covered in thick fabric or pelts, basically anything that would prevent someone from looking in. 

Ghost was interesting though. He cooked quickly, efficiently and, in what was a shock to Soap considering where Ghost was from, did season his food. Maybe not as well as Soap would’ve, but it explained why the stew was so good.

A plate was shoved at him. 

“Are you seriously still not going to eat with me? You saw me as naked as the day I was born yesterday. Can’t even lift up your mask?”

“I didn’t look.” Ghost stared him down.

“What?” That caught Soap off guard. “Are ya suddenly a gentleman? You threw me over your shoulder like a rowdy toddler the other day but you wouldn’t take a look?”

“I didn’t look.” Ghost said a little more firm. He looked away from Soap, like he was ashamed, but Soap had a feeling he was telling the truth. 

“Do you want to? I have some stunning tattoos.” Soap was taunting him again, testing him. Ghost just needed to push a little. It’s all Soap wanted.

“No.” Ghost turned away from him and fixed himself a plate, leaving Soap to stare at his back. He walked off with it, disappearing somewhere in the house. Soap didn’t go looking for him. 

The food was, again, pretty good. Fancy a warrior knowing how to cook so well. 

Soap waited until Ghost was polishing his blades to take one, gently throwing it back and forth between his hands. “They’re pretty. Make them yourself?”

“No. Have a friend that does it.” Ghost watched him carefully, hand following the blade as it arched through the air. “Be careful. Don’t want you cutting yourself.”

Soap hummed. “You should know I’m good with my hands by now.” Ghost’s hands clenched hard and he glanced away. 

“Don’t need them rusting.”

“Yeah, yeah. I know. They must be expensive.”

“A fair penny, but quality is worth it.”

“Aye, just like whores.” Ghost flinched. The action caught Soap so off guard he took a half a step back.

“Aye. Just like whores.” Ghost echoed his statement, looking at him heavily. “Considering you were free, what does that make you?”

Soap flushed all over. “Ah fuck off you bawbag.”

“Speak English, MacTavish.” With Soap still standing up and Ghost sitting down, he had to look up. Unlike when Soap was on that couch, Ghost could actually make out his features. But Soap could see his eyes. This close, with most of the kohl rubbed off, Soap could make out his eyelashes. Pretty, blond and full. 

“You a bonnie under that mask?” Soap asked softly, feeling the sudden tension as he leaned forward. “That why you cover up?” 

Ghost looked trapped for once and it sent a thrill through Soap. “Ah. Worried I’ll jump your bones?” He leaned a little closer.

The hit wasn’t hard. It clearly wasn’t meant to hurt him, just get some distance. Landed right in his gut though and took his breath away.

Ghost stood up and it wasn’t that hunger Soap had been searching for. It was rage. Harsh and unsettling and directed right at him. 

Stupid. Stupid fucking idea.

Soap started to back away desperately. Hoping for a way out he knew wouldn’t be there. He hit the wall and froze as Ghost advanced on him. 

When Ghost’s fist came up, he tensed and his eyes shut quickly. The blow never came. After a moment of quiet, he opened his eyes to see Ghost’s not even an inch away from.

“Don’t ever fucking talk to me like that again. Don’t fucking call me pretty or a bonnie or whatever dumb shit your brain comes up with. Understood?”

Soap nodded slowly, finding it hard to breath. 

“Listen to me, closely. Because I’m not going to repeat myself. You’re here because I wanted to piss off my general. That’s it. I don’t want sex from you. I don’t want your compliments. I don’t want you to appeal to my better nature because I don’t have one. If you need something, tell me and I’ll try to get it for you. But we’re not fucking friends.”

Soap stared into those eyes. He thought he had seen them once. A sword had went through his side and there he had met death. 

Today, he must’ve met him again. 

“Yes, sir.” Soap got out. “I’m sorry.”

Ghost pushed away and Soap realized the blow he had been expecting had landed by his head. The wall had a slight dent from it. He tried not to think about that. 

“You cut yourself.” Ghost commented after a moment. Soap looked down to see that yes, he did indeed do that. He also tried not to think about the fact that he had a weapon and it did not cross his mind once to use it. 

Ghost grabbed alcohol from his cabinet and bandages. 

“I can do it myself.” Soap tried weakly but Ghost just ignored him. He took off his gloves to bandage him. Soap decided to focus on those instead of his own. Ghost could handle his cuts. 

They were callused. Little scars all over them, probably from similar things to what Soap had just done. The guy handles knives for a living and you have to start somewhere. 

No rings. But right at the edge of his shirtsleeve, Soap thought he caught a flash of a bracelet. 

“Done.”

“Thank you.”

Ghost grunted in response and put the alcohol away. Soap took note of that.

“What’s your name?”

“Ghost.”

“No. Like.. your actual name. Doesn’t have to be the full one, but I’m curious.”

Ghost was quiet a while. So long that Soap assumed he was being ignored. He watched him put everything up and then clean the bloody blade.

“Simon. Haven’t been called it in a long time, but it’s Simon.”

“Simon. Good name. Suits you.”

[marbled-love]

Who's you fav mlp character???? Also love the art!!!!!^_^

firstly!!! tysm?!? ur art is also super cute!!!!!!!! NOW.... TO ELABORATE ON MY FAVS 😈😈😈😈😈

🦋FLUTTERSHY... ok so she is such an obvious and well-loved choice for a fav BUT I CANT HELP IT!!!!! ive loved her ever since i was kid like i could always relate to her and she was super cute and like. come on. SHE LIVES IN A COTTAGE. AND CARES FOR ANIMALS. THATS THE FUCKING DREAAMMMMMM RIGHT THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!! of the mane six along side flutters rainbowdash was also a HUGE fav of mine as a kid, as a whole i love them all but fluttershy holds a special place in my heart fr ❤❤❤ 🫧MUFFINS/DERPY... im not sure if its ok to still call her derpy???? BUT EITHER WAY just like w/ fluttershy she was one of those characters that i just latched onto especially w/ all the fanart that people made of her... i loved her crossed eyes n how silly n clumsy she was cuz i was also lowkey a clumsy kid (i still am and im an adult now!!!) and just. how could u not like her look at her face. LOOK AT HER. 🎧DJPON-3/VINYL SCRATCH... ANOTHER BACKGROUND PONY THAT I FELL INLOVE WITH..... again, all the fanart of her is what rlly rlly pulled me in to her character... i LOOOOVE her so freaking MUCH!!!!! i love her energy and that she's a dj she fits her talent so perfectlyyyyy GRAHHH i also LOVE her sunglasses thats one thing design-wise that drew me in too.. characters w/ sunglasses my beloved ❤❤❤ 🌙PRINCESS LUNA... i feel like she's another thats kinda obvious for like why she'd be a fav, like fluttershy, i rlly rlly latched onto her as a kid and that love has never rlly died down!!! i rlly struggled w/ my mental health as a kid and seeing luna's struggles (even if it wasnt anything ground breaking lol) made me feel less alone n i could rlly relate to her for that!! plus pony that can make it night time??? thats fucking awesome i love the moon and stars HELLO??? luna's softer like more introverted personality also just made me rlly connect w/ her so she's always been up there in my favs 🎆TEMPEST SHADOW... WHERE DO I EVEN BEGINNN W/ TEMPEST OH MY GODDD i am SUCH a hardcore fan of hers i absolutely LOVE her characterization, her backstory goes hard, her design goes evener HARDER, like im fr so obsessed w/ her i LOOVE the song she sings in the movie n i just love how they made her go from this pony who felt so badly hurt and betrayed by her friends that it made her lose faith to learning that its ok move on and heal and like let herself form relationships again after so long of dwelling on the past like THAT GOES HARD!!!! I FUCKING LOVE HER 🎶SWEETIE BELLE... ok for sweetie belle im gonna be so fr i dont have a ton of reasons for why i like her... she can be a little annoying at times but shes so freaking silly i love her dynamic w/ apple bloom and scootaloo n watching her quest to get her cutie mark w/ her friends was just too cute ❤❤ i DO feel like the cmc all getting like.. the same cutiemark basically was kinda wild like i do think its rlly cute that they all got the same talent but also. all 3 of them had their own little things that they liked/were GOOD at like for sweetie belle it was singing!!! i wish they had each gotten their own thing but im not mad at what the show ended up doing.. lowkey wish their cutie marks matched each of them as individuals tho cuz the colors dont rlly fit each of them the same 🗻MAUD PIE... i dontttt remember if i ever got to see her in the show when i was younger cuz i. might've stopped watching by the time she was introduced but getting back into mlp now that im older i like. fucking love her man. she SCREAMS autism to me (and like everyone else im sure) i can relate to her a LOT n i love how passionate she is abt rocks its so cute i love rocks too girl u get me ❤ 🍁AUTUMN BLAZE... IM GONNA BE SO FR I DONT THINK IVE PROPERLY WATCHED THE EPISODE(S?) SHES IN BUT IVE READ EVERYTHING I CAN ABT HER AND SHES JUST SOO SILLY i absolutely love kirin as a species in mlp n how theyre so nature centered they bring me so much joy.. i cant say MUCH of why i like her its like indescribable i just rlly rlly love her <3333

I HAVE. MANY MORE FAVS. BUT THESE R CHARS THAT FIRST COME TO MIND IDK I LOVE THEM. i also gotta admit. i havent finished watching mlp. so idk a lot of the later characters and i KNOW i rlly need to get to finishing it BUT THERES SO MUCH.......... ill get to it i promise................... thank u for coming to my yap session

[vypridae]

HI!!! Sorry this might get long but I need read your thoughts on this 💕💕💕

Ok so u probably have seen Viv confirming that Vox and Val are at this point in the story not actually dating, right? I already sorta assumed that because Velvette called Valentino Vox’s boytoy kind of implies they’re closer to being fuckbuddies than being a couple, BUT WHAT I CANNOT HELP IS WONDERING IF THEY WILL ACTUALLY START DATING EVENTUALLY!!!

Because Viv did specify “at this point in the story” (tho arguably she was talking more about how the characters currently are and less about their relationship, but still) so it definitely doesn’t close the door for a future possible relationship.

Like I am conflicted because VoxVal is the only toxic relationship I can bring myself to enjoy in media because they’re BOTH just so goddamn awful. They lack this power imbalance and there is no actual victim like how there is with Angel and Val, but for some reason my brain always imagines how nice it would be if Vox and Val actually like fell in love FOR REAL and became more healthy?? Almost?? And thats just so stupid because why do I want that so badly???

Pls tell me your thoughts I’m actually super curious!

OUGHGH NO BECAUSE EXATCLY !!!! since they're just in a fwb-esque relationship, theyre still in a relationship, and i feel like her wanting to progress the characters could mean that goes further than just fwb!! theyre already close, we can see that (i mean fuckers literally made out at the end of ep 8), and i can imagine that gets to a point thats not just sexual anymore

also viv specifying that "at least in this point of the story" and because she says she's excited to get into their relationship, makes me feel like something more is gonna happen between them (WHICH I REALLY HOPE IT DOES)

but for now they're just two fuck buddies with a lesbian bestie thats going Fucking insane over them 99% of the time

ALSO UR SO RIGHT IN THE LAST PARAGRAPH. theyre so awful and toxic but not to each OTHER. they have an almost equal power balance and that could make them a lot healthier than you'd literally ever think they could be . which is SO something i want

[badlydrawnrufioh]

Inbox is empty, and I haven't been very active in a long while, so I figured I'd share some relationships stuff (/≧▽≦)/

Kankri Rufioh finds his blabbing a bit much, and doesn't always get what's Kankri's actual deal, but he assumes best and tries to more or less abide. He respects him a lot and feels like he owes Kankri for a few things he'd done for him (and Damara) in the past, but since Kankri isn't making a big deal of it, neither is he. Overall considers their relationship good, and feels like Kankri's one of very few people who get him. Mutant buddies.

Damara Oh the tragedy of doing something stupid when you were, like, 13. Really, that whole drama follows them into their young adulthood, even though they both want to put it behind them (thanks, Meenah). Overall, they've got the top 10 most tragic moirallegiances in the history of Paradox Space, and they aren't even paledating. They were confused and traumatized kids. To Rufioh, Damara is probably the single most important person in his life and afterlife, but he's not able to fully face it yet. Mostly because of his guilt over hurting her in the past, and failing to take responsibility (they were getting there! buuuut stuff happened, thanks [REDACTED]), and then getting hurt by her, which, ngl, pretty traumatizing. He misses her a lot, but, as usual, won't confront these feelings.

Mituna He likes him, but does find his sense of humor a bit uncomfortable. They used to hang out more early in the game and with Kankri, too (mutant trio mutant trio), which was... an experience, to say the least. It might've soured Rufioh's opinion a little bit, as he was borderlne third-wheeling at times - Kankri and Mituna had their own relationship drama going on, and as much as Rufioh liked to ignore the issues in front of him, even he struggled with that one. But it wasn't his business, y'know? So it was just awkward. Eventually they drifted apart, and that was that. He still thinks Mituna's cool, tho, they just aren't close.

Meulin He thinks she's neat. Very nice - god knows that session could have used somebody like that. He respects and appreciates her cheerfulness even in difficult times. Definitely watched anime together and talked about ships. Just an easy person to be around. He also bonus respects her for defending Damara when Meenah was tormenting her.

Porrim Finds her extremely uncomfortable to be around. Aside from her culler-like tendencies which raised a lot of red flags in the first place, her "men are horrible and women are victims of everything" views also didn't endear her to him. And as somebody who struggles with agency and being stripped of it, the fact that she still can't take no for an answer (see: Kankri), makes him even more uncomfortable. Avoids like a plague.

Latula She's cool if a bit overwhelming. He respects her a lot, and I imagine they played games together. Turned out they were into similar genres, so before everything fell apart, they used to vibe. After Mituna's accident they barely interacted, though.

Aranea He finds her pretty cool, actually. Even when people are assholes to her and about her interests, she doesn't give up on them, and he respects that a lot. He also does find what she talks about interesting, and he'd love to get closer to her, but she's hanging out with Meenah too much for him to try. He thought exactly once (1) that Aranea deseves better friends, and banished that idea immediately, because that's an invitation to a conflict he doesn't want to take on. Viva la avoidance.

Horuss Second most important person in his life and afterlife, as messy as everything about their relationship is. He's not entirely sure when Horuss flipped a quadrant on him (spoiler: it was when Rufioh gave him an origami horse), but by the time he realized it had happened, he had no idea what to do about it, so he just... didn't. He did start occassionally avoiding Horuss, though - not as badly as he is now, but it's not such a new thing. Still, they spent most of the game together, and somehow it didn't help their extreme miscommunication problems. They were actually getting somewhere, but then everything went wrong, and they both fell back on their unhealthy coping mechanisms, and that's kinda how it stayed. F. He definitely cares about him, but the relationship is draining. Horuss went from somebody who saw him for the guy he was to another person with weird/perfect ideas about him, and it makes everything all the harder. He wishes they never got together and were simply friends the entire time. Horuss is pretty cool, otherwise. He's super skilled and smart, and Rufioh misses the times they were just vibing in Horuss' workshop, working on some fun projects. Well, Horuss was doing more of the work - Rufioh was just throwing ideas every so often, and making sure Horuss didn't pass out. Fun times.

Kurloz One word: complicated. He'd always found him a bit uncomfortable to be around, but had nothing to justify these feelings, so he just ignored them. Still, aside from that, their relationship was ok for the most part. [saying anything else is too big of a spoiler]

Cronus Rufioh was probably one of a very small number of people who weren't completely put off by him, which is somewhat surprising, given... literally everything about Cronus. Rufioh found his fascination with magic cool, actually, and was even willing to listen, and in exchange he'd talk about his anime & and recommend some stuff he thought Cronus could enjoy. They were surprsingly chill. Rufioh treated Cronus' flirting as a joke, which it partially was, so it also led them to have a pretty decent friendship. Nothing crazy, though. They were just ok, and eventually like everybody else drifted apart.

Meenah Even more complicated than Kurloz, somehow. She definitely makes him feel something different compared to everybody else. (It's hatred. He hates her guts, and it had long since passed the romantic stage. Now he just wants to gut her. On a very, very, very subconscious level, because, like most of his feelings, he ain't gonna deal with these. In other circumstances, maybe they could've been black one day, but it's far too late. He's not a forgiving type at all, and Meenah had crossed every possible line she could've in his eyes.) They're cool.

[angelofchaos001]

Meet Monk and Survivor

The Wings of Rain beans hehe

Note: Most information is given out at the current place in time the characters themselves are at, though some is from future things that will happen. (Namely, just clarifying which ending they'll end up getting)

Let's start with their overall family!

Their family was one of the many slugcat units living in the largest scav/scug camp within Pebbles and Moon's region. Originally, it was a pretty normal family with their mom, dad, and the three kids (a son and two daughters). Survivor is the oldest sibling, and gained massive popularity with the camp due to their potential and the promise they showed. Their first raid was a small one, just Survivor, their father, a few other slugs, and a squad of scabbies. The raid was meant to be nothing more than a quick in and out, but it was miscalculated and Pebbles decimated the raid, killing nearly the entire group. Survivor was caught on the edge of a blast of fire and likely would have died without the help of a scavenger trio hauling them away. They were the only four to survive the raid.

When they came back, fatherless and badly burned, Survivor spent a long time with the medics of the camp (aka make you more comfy and tell people to fuck off while you're healing). Their mother was left alone to take care of two young pups (Monk and the other pup being ~12 in human terms). A mother scavenger with a single young pup who lost her mate in the same raid took pity on Survivor's family and offered to help raise them. To clarify, though, they are not lesbians. (The scav does have feelings for momma scug tho so it might happen)

Quick family doodle lol ^

After they recovered from their burns and a long time later (Few years, like 4) Survivor, Monk, three other young adult/adolescent scugs, and a scav squad went out hunting. As the rain picked up, however, Survivor's scars acted up on them and combined with the slippery pole, they fell. Not wanting to lose a valuable member, half the scavengers jumped in after them. Emboldened by this, Monk also jumped, despite being weak and not fully grown.

So that's their backstory.

Survivor

Survivor's name is Stormcloud, and he is an adult slugcat searching for a way back home after falling deeper into Pebbles' region. His equipment/skills include a belt to store rocks, grenades, and other small objects, and he is an excellent hunter. He comes short in that 1) he's (rightfully) terrified of Five Pebbles and assume any flying creature far above is him, running at the sight or sound of wings 2) his burn scar sometimes acts up, just causing slight irritation and pain.

The pearl necklace is one of the highest honors a slugcat can get, considering how Scavengers are mostly in charge. It demonstrates someone with skill, ferocity, determination, and potential. His large burn scar is from the previously mentioned raid, but the scar across his face came from a dispute with other slugcats in the camp.

Stormcloud is loyal and lethal, adept at using whatever tools he has to end a bitch's life. He often plays defender to less capable creatures being attacked, such as yeeks, but doesn't hesitate to eat whatever is an option to him. He's also quite resilient, never losing hope.

He cares for his friends and family dearly, notably preventing other slugcats or scavengers from being mean to his younger siblings and mother, and in general hates to see any kind of abuse of power. He has big dreams, and hopes to one day slay Five Pebbles the same way some defeated Moon.

Currently, Stormcloud is still searching for his way back home, though he has met enough echoes that ascension would be an option. (Storm will make it home at some point)

Monk

Monk's name is Ray (Like a ray of sunshine, hehe), and she is a adolescent slugcat searching for her brother and a way back home. She has very little going for her, her only skills being that she is good at cultivating plants (Specifically, karma flowers and mushrooms), and that she is nimble. She has a similar belt to her brother, but Ray is very weak and easily scared. Lucky for her, some predators don't attack her due to her small size, and other prey often draws attention away.

Her feathers are plucked from various vultures that the camp defeated for masks. She just thinks they're pretty, hehe. Her pearl string is a similar reason, she thinks it's pretty, and even found a unique colored pearl. Stormcloud made sure nobody fussed over her use of pearls. The scars across her stomach are actually from leaping after her brother. Rough landing.

Ray is shy and nervous. She's easily spooked and runs from problems, or freezes in fear. She's very used to Stormcloud being there to protect her, and without him, she is practically defenseless.

Currently, Ray is heading towards the void sea on recommendation from Moon after mistakenly believing Stormcloud to have done the same. (Ray will eventually ascend)

By the way, for those curious why Moon recommended it: In her ruined state, stuck in the land below and terrified that she could be killed for good by slugcats or scavengers, Moon can't do much. She did initially try to kill Ray, since it's a single slugcat, but as Ray started to cry out, Moon stopped and quieted her. Moon then offered the helpful advice that, with Ray having met echoes and reaching a higher attunement, she should head west and find the void sea to escape. Ray was worried for Stormcloud, and Moon offered that she had met another slugcat and given the same advice (that other slugcat was not, in fact, Stormcloud). Ray believes Stormcloud went there and now wants to follow their brother. (Ray also didn't want to return to the camp without Stormcloud for fear of being blamed for his loss)

[lilfishiefigureskates]

Skate Canada Review

Men:

Ilia Malinin (USA) Total Score 301.82 - Congrats to Ilia for qualifying for the Grand Prix Final! Despite the challenge of going to back to back competitions Ilia had no problem with securing his second gold medal of the Grand Prix series. Technically he preformed better than he did at Skate America, but I think he was definitely feeling a bit tired, and I think he was struggling especially in the middle section of his free program. His short program has grown on me a lot even tho it’s literally the ugliest costume I’ve ever seen. Also, I’ve been hearing that this was the last time he will be competing in his current free skate costume which is a tragedy, because it’s the best costume he’s had and really don’t see him getting a better one. I think his PCS score was too high.

Shun Sato (Japan) Total Score 261.12 - I think it’s such a slay to skate to Ladies in Lavender when you’re not a lady. He absolutely slayed his short program, but he needs to get his step sequence up from a level 2, because that’s bogging his score down a bit. He struggled a bit in the free program, so I am looking forward to seeing it once he gets it clean. I really liked both of his costumes and I like the new hair color. #FurecocoTrioForever

Junhwan Cha (South Korea) Total Score 260.31 - I am so happy that Jun made it onto the podium!!!! However, I’m going to be honest when I say I’m not really vibing with his programs this season. The Imagine Dragons short program makes no sense to me, and I don’t really like the Latina lady screaming at me in his free program, but his blouse is beautiful, so I will say that I like his free better than his short. There’s lots of room to grow in his free program, and he only had 2 combos, so we def need to change that. His Ina Bauer was great, but he finished a little late on the music. IDK why the judges didn’t give the PCS skills he deserved. He was robbed.

Sota Yamamoto (Japan) Total Score 257 - I love Sota so much and I wish there was four spots on the podium cause I wanted him to be on the podium so badly!!! I love the purple shirt in the short program, and overall the short was very solid. I also really liked his free program. At first I thought it was gonna be a bit boring but the music did a great job at building through the program. I’m absolutely gutted that he fell on his 4T. He also needs to work on not telegraphing his jumps as much.

Vladimir Litvintsev (Azerbaijan) Total Score 222.9 - I had no idea who he was but then I realized that he was the fool who skated to the Lion King while wearing a tiger print t-shirt lol. The Game of Thrones short program was pretty solid. Didn’t love the Nutcracker EPIC version tho, especially the singing at the end. Keep it all Xmas music or don’t use Xmas music. I think he ran out of steam a bit in the second half of his program, and he needs more choreography cause right now he just has a lot of crossovers.

Gabriele Frangipani (Italy) Total Score 222.57 - Who needs Daniel Grassl when we got this guy! He was giving me Adam Driver vibes, and I think it’s cause they have similar noses. Tbh I don’t really remember much from his programs, and they just felt a bit meh to me, but on his defense I was half asleep during his free program. Hopefully he’ll be less meh at the NHK trophy.

Aleksa Rakic (Canada) Total Score 222.49 - Having this guy as the highest scoring Canadian was not on my bingo card. He seems to struggle a bit on his 3A and overall i thought his jump technique was kinda ugly. Overall he had pretty consistently low GOEs on his jumping elements and he didn’t perform well. Lots of room to grow at least.

Jason Brown (USA) Total Score 218. 75 - My beloved. On the technical level, he did not have the best skates, but his overall skating skills remain unmatched. Jason usually isn’t competing this early in the season, so hopefully he just needs more time to get into the groove. I am not really vibing with free music. It was very one note and a little boring ngl. I did like the cartwheel tho.

Stephen Gogolev (Canada) Total Score 216. 84 - Had a pretty good short program but fell apart during the free. Needed more speed and energy, and he needed to EMOTE! He kinda just looked tired

Mark Gordonitsky (Israel) Total Score 213.31 - Meh.

Luc Econmides (France) Total Score 211.88 - IDk why but I always forget what he looks like and then I get surprised when I see him and he looks like he does. Interstellar program was interesting with the head twitching at the beginning and the fake writing at the end but my man was ACTING so I will take it. Had a super scary axis on his 3A in the short and on the 3Lz in the free.

Roman Sadovsky (Canada) WD - I guess he tweaked his back before the event started which is why he wasn’t doing any jumps during practice. But luckily, the injury should have no long lasting impact. I feel so bad for this guy, I feel like he always has the worst luck.

Women:

Kaori Sakamoto (Japan) Total Score 201.21 - I love Kaori so much. She is definitely pushing herself with both of her programs this season, and I just don’t think she feels comfortable yet in either of them. The short was solid, but she did have some unexpected trouble in the free. She looked a little tired, but that’s okay cause we are early in the season, so there’s still time to build up stamina. The blonde hair is starting to grow on me and I love both of the costumes.

Rino Matsuike (Japan) Total Score 192.16 - Talk about the COMEBACK QUEEN. I love the Moulin Rogue program so it better be clean at Finlandia. Her free program was honestly the highlight of the weekend. She had a GORGEOUS spiral and overall excellent skating skills and quality of movement. She slayed.

Hana Yoshida (Japan) Total Score 191.37 - I really liked her short program. She just had a little boo boo with the step out on the combo, and I think she could use more speed during her stsq. I really liked her dress for the free program, but I did not like the mesh gloves. It’s a shame she went down on the 3Lz.

Kimmy Repond (Switzerland) Total Score 191.07 - IDK why but I did not expect her to do as well as she did. Idk how tall she is, but she looks super tall, and her long limbs just looked a bit awkward. I’m pretty sure she ended a smidge behind her music in both the short and the free. I thought she had really nice spins tho.

Madeline Schizas (Canada) Total Score 190.04 - Dear Maddie, there is only one Lion King program and it belong to Wakaba. I did like the Danse Macabre free tho. I’m glad she went with red for the costume instead of black. She was one of my highlights of the weekend, cause I was just so happy that she skated two clean programs in front of her home crowd!!!This was probably the best I’ve seen her perform.

Alysa Liu (USA) Total Score 187.69 - Miss girl kinda got hit hard with the URs, but she still had a great return to the Grand Prix! I really liked both of her programs, especially the free. I think she needs to build up her stamina a smidge, but I’m just so happy to she her back it makes by heart flutter.

Elyce Lin-Gracey (USA) Total Score 182.37 - I wanted her to do good so badly. She almost got the same exact scores that she got at Skate America, so at least she is consistent. But she is just a lil’ cutie and she just needs time to develop and grow! Props to her for competing back to back.

Kaiya Ruiter (Canada) Total Score 162.32 - I liked the short program, but I didn’t realize the free was a Wonder Woman program until we got to the end of the program and the electric guitars were doing the Wonder Woman thing. Had a couple of URs and a two footed landing. But she was very cute, and very engaging.

Ekaterina Kurakove (Poland) Total Score 162.07 - ‘Twas a rough short program. Stepped out on the lutz and it was under-rotated and she didn’t get her combo. She was also pretty slow on the spins. However, she kept on emoting throughout the whole performance. I’m not vibing with the Cats program. Her first mistake was picking the movie version. Her second mistake was wearing the cat ears. Just felt very juniorish to me. I also think there were too many music cuts.

Sara-Maude Dupuis (Canada) Total Score 160.46 - Couldn’t get her combo in the short. Had a crazy axis on the 3Lz in the free and was just getting a lot of URs in general. Overall her jumps were just looking a bit scary. She wore a green dress tho and I thought she slayed

Seoyeong Wi (South Korea) Total Score 140.85 - Got hit hard with the URs. I really liked both of her programs and I thought her costumes were gorgeous, but she just didn’t perform well to them. She really ran out of gas at the end of the free program.

Yelim Kim - (South Korea) Total Score 136.14 - This honestly made me so sad. She is such a beautiful skater but the jumps are just not there. I guess she is recovering from back surgery?!?!?!? Idk, I just really don’t want to watch her perform another disaster program.

Pairs:

Deanna Stellato-Dudek / Maxime Deschamps (Canada) Total Score 197.33 - They’re obviously not in top shape yet, but like I’ve been saying, we’re still early in the season so no need to freak out. Did not really vibe with the short program. The heavy breathing really turned me off, and I’ve learned that this cover was used for 50 Shades of Grey, which turned me off even more. I do like the free a lot better, but IDK what the theme is, or what it’s about. They have a shared dog and it’s super cute.

Ekaterina Geynish / Dmitrii Chigirev (Uzbekistan) Total Score 189.65 - I did not like the weird opening movements in the short. A little trouble with the throw jumps but pretty good overall synchro.

Anastasia Golubeva / Hektor Giotopoulos Moore (Australia) Total Score 186.14 - I hated the music change in the short. And they copied Kao’s free program for their free program lol.

Dance:

Piper Gilles / Paul Poirier (Canada) Total Score 214.84 - The costumes in the rhythm slayed, but his backless suit in the free traumatized me. I get the what they were going for but I don’t think it was executed well. They are so fast, and they are both excellent performers

Marjorie Lajoie / Zachary Lagha (Canada) Total Score 199.9 - I liked the in synch lip syncing, but I did not like it when they FELL! They are so fast on the twizzles and they serve so much face. I’ve heard people don’t like the Sound of Silence free, but I was vibing with it.

Evgeniia Lopareva / Geoffrey Brissaud (France) Total Score 194.25 - Look they were great, but I just don’t vibe with them and IDK why. Rasputin rhythm dance was insane but in a good way. Maybe they’ll grow on me.

[katyspersonal]

Some DS1 girls thoughts

So I asked @val-of-the-north where Dark Souls 1 yuri, or just ANY relationship between female characters, was at (for a second time gfgfjf) and here is what we figured:

* Elizabeth and Alvina actually would make such cute silly old ladies couple? Especially since they more or less share a daughter figure (Dusk). It is FUUUNNNYYY tho how they're both not humans!! Feral yuri!

* I came up with the idea that since both Reah and Sieglinde are captured because of Seath's people, what if Darkmoon Knightess was the one to rescue both! Or Sieglinde could have rescued Reah since she is around those parts! But Darkmoon Knightess will lecture them anyways hfgghfh

Darkmoon Knightess: I told to not snoop around where Seath's people are hunting!

Sieglinde: You mean literally EVERYWHERE? 😭

Ggfgyfyg but also imagine if Reah and Sieglinde formed a significant bond! They could even have adventures together all along! Sieglinde is probably still a competent fighter except for exactly one fiasco since she got to Lordran on her own, and Reah is a healer XD Besides Sieglinde would sure do better work protecting her than SOMEONE :/

She also could take Reah to her home at the end now that Reah doesn't have place to return to anyways!

* Darkmoon Knightess is quite bound by duty for the time being and has her own struggles with slipping Humanity, but she works well like third wheel a cool friend to always return to! She and Sieglinde can still instantly clock Petrus from exactly 1 sentence about him from Reah and kick him to half death in the alleyway tho hfhfhhcn

* I took closer look at Anastasia as I still needed to figure her out, and came up with the idea that the worst thing a Firekeeper logically could've done, deserving self-mutilating, self-loathing and self-isolating had to do with envisioning Age of Dark! Think of it: Firekeepers didn't have their eyes removed until DS3, but removing her tongue would still imply speaking of "dangerous" things. And considering the implication she either isolated self or fully agreed with this as punishment, maybe there were tangible consequences to what she was speaking of!!

I grasped to this line of thinking but was not quite sure what could the "consequences" be, and Val suggested maybe she accidentally gave Kaathe his ideas by simply sharing her vision and concerns. Since apparently Primordial Serpents are Just Vibing and only care about anything by personal choice (like how Frampt just was a good friend to Gwyn). So.... she'd feel guilty for Oolacile and New Londo. It wasn't her fault, but she FEELS this way, and honestly, most people would probably agree.... т.т +We agreed that back then Firekeepers envisioning Dark was an exception rather than the rule, probably because the cycles haven't worn down this badly yet.

* That puts a massive roadblock in the way of Anastasia finding any love ever, she is stuck in endless guilt and self-hatred, and many would agree she got what she deserved. I am just giggling at how sometimes I try to think of a ship and end up developing the character lol

* Like I said before, Pharis and Beatrice have potential for both doomed yuri or sad found family that fell apart! (Yeah Pharis is female not just in NPC model apparently, as confirmed by surprise throwback in DS2, didn't have pronouns in Japanese but English always defaults to 'he' in this case *looks at accidental he/she Lady Maria*) The latter idea is good on the account of using Beatrice's cut child version (damn I wonder what WERE Fromsoft planning for her....)! And also could explain why she was so reckless with the Abyss stuff; whereas she is herself connected with Oolacile magic rather than how sorcery is now, if she was just a kid she'd be clueless about the horrors, and not listen to her "mom"'s warnings in classic fashion!

OR they could have been two "moms", because imagine if Pharis and Dusk dated! So not much was salvaged, but Beatrice was.. Dusk died earlier than Pharis (just assuming Pharis is an Undead if she is still alive though she knew Gwyn's Knights). Maybe after that, Beatrice started to really slip away from any attempts to protect her as Pharis was bad at it on her own.... so she'd lose both wife and daughter figure in short timespan....... guys.....,? *sobs*

* Another cute idea is sort of rebound ships with Ciaran who had her heart broken having lost Artorias to the Abyss! Either Pharis or Dusk work within the timeline and context! Dusk one is of course less tragic since they likely died around the same time. Pharis though is screwed no matter what.. 🙄 truly a Soulsborne character lol

Ciaran does give me an impression of someone that would be too struck to move on, just some 'happier' thoughts

* There are also less apparent characters, like iirc Carmina and Yulva were around the same time? For the context; Carmina was an apprentice of Salaman who was an apprentice of Queelana, Yulva was one of the three people that sealed the Four Kings but she left to become a healer (likely too much guilt for people in New Londo that had to get sacrificed). Both are 99% long dead by the time Chosen Undead steps in, but clues for both are found in the same game area.. who knows

* Also it is apparently a popular interpretation that Velka adopted Priscilla, I absolutely believe this

* I am probably not finished but basically having many thoughts and HATE it because instead of multishipping like a normal person I have mentality of "choosing"....... when I am incapable of choosing 🙄 I am yet again asking for Val to tell me what to think lol

[walnutsxblacklicorice]

okay meta and headcanon time because i can't sleep

ramona refers multiple times to how fast and easily elizabeth moves on from her partners and doesn't love them ("she doesn't love him" "of course she doesn't, you think that's gonna matter?"; "you think you're her one and only. she's already moved on to the next one, you can count on it").

however, while the moment in time hotel is set in (october/november 2015) certainly makes her look that way with donovan, tristan, and will drake (we love a promiscuous bisexual), her actual relationship history that ramona is aware of does not point into that direction at all.

the relations elizabeth has had that we know of are as follows

1925-1926: valentino & natacha

she was in love with valentino and willed herself to love natacha too even though both of them treated her badly but that's another story

1926: married james patrick march for wealth

it is not clear whether ramona knew about this marriage or elizabeth's arrangement with him bc she didn't seem to recognize him at all when she saw him in 2015

1926-1976: we know nothing about this part of elizabeth's life

1977-1992: ramona

a loving relationship that slowly turned bad due to outside influences that caused grief and pain (according to my theory) and ended in ramona cheating and elizabeth killing her boyfriend

1994-2015: donovan

a relationship that worked mostly as a void-filler for elizabeth and was sexually non-monogamous but seemed to have rules surrounding love, similar to tristan

october-november 2015: tristan

they "dated" for less than a month tbh looking at the timeline before tristan fell in love with liz instead (and died)

also october-november 2015: will drake

again, elizabeth courts and weds him for wealth and ownership of the hotel

so to summarize, since elizabeth broke up with ramona we know of one 21-year-long relationship she had with donovan and then 2 men she started dating in 2015 for money and looks. when ramona kidnapped donovan, she was not aware that elizabeth wasn't with donovan anymore, meaning at that point she didn't know about any of elizabeth's boyfriends outside of that 21-year-long relationship.

so the question remains, where did she get the idea that elizabeth jumping from one partner to the next without having feelings for any of them is a well-known pattern?

(aside from her painting a negative image of elizabeth in her head to facilitate revenge)

that's where my headcanon comes in:

in the two years between breaking up with ramona and claiming donovan for herself, i assume elizabeth was promiscuous and did jump from one partner to the next with no strings attached to cope with the heartbreak of losing ramona.

and given they had just freshly broken up, ramona probably heard about it. i could even imagine elizabeth trying to numb her pain so fast with another person that when ramona came to the hotel to pick up her stuff, she caught elizabeth in bed with another woman (or other person) and that hurt her even more and left a bitter taste in her mouth (you know in addition to her killing her boyfriend) to the point where ramona assumed if elizabeth was moving on that quickly she must've not really loved her at all (which very obviously isn't true but ramona seemed convinced of that in her unreliable retelling of the story).

that's when ramona went to her parent's place to cope with her pain and got stuck in time until 2015.

i'm still curious how she found donovan tho. maybe she hired a private eye like elizabeth did with valentino but it must've not been a very good one if he didn't tell her about tristan and will drake.

so yeah, that's my explanation for why ramona said/thought those things

[thegoodstorybook]

the entire rtr storyline bc let's be real. i'm probably not gonna use it for anything. if i am i at least have it written down. it's a win for everybody!

cw: government atrocities and distrust, surveillance paranoia, kidnapping (adult, child (mentioned)), human experimentation, body horror. yeah this was a dark story for someone who created it at 14

oh yeah there's different timelines and shit in the entire oc story. this is one of them. reused a bunch of characters a bunch of times lmao

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rebs the robot (generation 2) is about this experimental android (rebs) escaping this government facility, taking with her important documents about fucked up experiments that the city's top scientists have been doing to keep the public compliant. the government is run by scientists so this is really fucking important information. the android flees to a house that she recognizes as her owner's, with the widow (cassie) of her creator (evan) and her stepson (zac) living in it. cassie recognizes rebs and has another body to put her consciousness into. the government is able to track rebs' location ofc but not before cassie is able to put the files on her hard drive onto one of her's and make copies of the documents. cassie gives them the fucked up body and is like "oh she fell super bad and oof ouchied her hard drive" and they believe it.

zac calls up his friend (amber) and is like "heyyyy we have government documents" and she instantly comes over. amber is a known online predator hunter, so well at her job that she gets paid by and is technically part of the government but isn't in control of anything but what she's doing. she's like "let me have them. what are they gonna do, fire me?" and cassie's like "that makes sense" and gives them to her (good idea because amber and zac are extremely close friends and would never go behind each other's backs (genuine)).

amber leaks everything on an alt after things settle down a bit so cassie isn't instantly linked to it. no one knows where it came from bc cassie wiped that specific hard drive after she read through them all. she learned about the Horrors, including law enforcement (androids) recording everything they see and hear, man-made horrors beyond comprehension, and plans for relaxing chemicals to be released into their oxygen (it's an underground city). cassie has photograpic memory so she's not worried about losing it, less so when it's leaked. the government do some crowd control or whatever but publically cancel their plans to do the chemical thing since everyone's aware of it now. they can't get the public to forget about the other two tho.

the story kinda splits for a bit with amber picking up her brother (oliver) in the hospital, her and zac and their friends (felix, tommie) doing shit, and cassie and zac's adventures.

amber and oliver

oliver was involved in an incident where he lost his arm and half of his body got badly burned and was sent to the hospital. he recovered enough to be able to go home again, after months of being there. amber tells him how she's been doing like she hasn't doing that the entire time he was in there. he's so ready to see the world again!

friend shit

so character time. felix is this chatty guy who got his legs crushed in a mining incident (#1) a while ago. he's able to walk but not for long, he uses both a cane and a wheelchair. tommie is genuinely annoying but they tolerate him because a lot of shop owners like him and give him discounts (and he's the one who pays for everything because he thinks they like him). they do shit and stuff, mainly going to a bar and talking about recent events.

cassie zac REBS moments

cassie rehabilitates rebs back into her old body bc cassie's special interest is in robotics and is very good at it. rebs' old body is so different from her escaped body that no one cares about her being in public. rebs is so ready to see the world again.

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also cassie and zac go for a walk and find an Animal Companion (scraps). what the fuck is an Animal Companion? it's a robot Companion shaped like an Animal (in this case a cat) because they figured animals not seeing the sun was a bit inhumane. they were once planned to be mass produced and shipped out to the whole city but some freak incident happened involving them so they didn't do anything with them. just left the prototypes to rot.

so she takes scraps home and fixes him up because she actually worked on the prototypes and since no one ever did anything with any of them he's hers now. when he boots up again it's evident that he's Fucked Up™ real bad bc he's terrified. he's all freaking out because he can't find this little girl that he needs to save.

then they go on this whole expedition where scraps leads the crew to a hidden passageway that leads to where a lot of experiments took place (abandoned) and they find some things still alive. which includes the girl scraps was trying to save (morgan) (zac's sister). like she's barely alive due to starvation and infections but they take her to the hospital. no one knows what happened to her so no one involved is in any danger. the news catches word of this and sends a camera crew and a reporter (infra) to interview her and the crew. which quickly goes south when infra sees zac and morgan and breaks down crying for a reason that neither crew understands (but i do; she's a third sibling of them but her brain was put into another person's body. so she was an experiment as well).

morgan gets better over time but it takes a while. other shit happens. including:

oliver gets gay thoughts over zac, zac gets gay thoughts over oliver. they're both too awkward to say anything to each other until cassie bluntly says "just go on a date with each other already" without realizing the awkwardness between those two, not knowing that they needed that extra push.

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amber takes zac, felix, and tommie to a nightclub to ease their minds about everything that's happening. nothing happened to felix or tommie they're just there for moral support and to pay for drinks. they have some fun until tommie drugs and kidnaps zac without the other two knowing (to his knowledge). he takes zac to his house and locks him up, revealing that he's a scientist and wants to experiment on him. he's kinda stupid because he wasn't very sneaky with getting him out of there and someone told amber but zac is saved only after he's injected with something.

rebs diagnoses him with oof ouchie disease but it's not fatal. it just makes zac feel out of it for a while. until one day where he suddenly gains four appendages/tentacles out of his back and becomes more "feral" (still has human thinking capabilities but less function about it). rebs notes that the appendages are like another experiment that combined a slew of animal dna but is like "yeah idk what's going on with him ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯".

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also scraps opens up to rebs about his failure to protect morgan and how he feels awful about it. he also tells her what had happened; there was a mining incident (#2) where a tunnel collapsed onto evan and danette (infra's brain source) and he wanted to get morgan away from it. some fuckin guy kicked him in the head on purpose and made him malfunction, and he has no idea what happened afterwards. he doesn't know how much time had passed while he was broken.

rebs opens up to scraps as well. she explains how she has coding where she can feel strong emotions and the government didn't like that at all so they hired someone to take her hard drive from cassie, which was kinda fucked up because cassie has hemophilia and is low functioning and created rebs to specifically be her caregiver. also the coding was done by evan so rebs really meant a lot to her.

she also talks about how mean the people who took her were but they erased her memory a bunch so she doesn't remember all of it. i haven't really fleshed any of that out but i kinda don't want to. also also she talks about her escape and how she shot a couple people on her way out and doesn't know if they're dead or alive. she has mixed feelings about it.

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so eventually morgan heals fully and is able to talk about what happened. basically the thing happened when she and zac were around 10 and she was kidnapped when scraps (at the time named tom) malfunctioned. she was experimented on and lowkey tortured but can't put anything about it into words because it's too complicated for her. she asks where her mom is and cassie's like "umm... awkward 😳" because she fought morgan and zac's birth mother (theresa) to the death and won soon after the kidnapping happened to get the rights to adopt zac. the specifics has its own infodump to get through but basically theresa was a cunt lmao it's good she died.

the government HATES that morgan came out with that interview because it obviously made them look even worse. so they unleash their greatest experiment: the giant abomination that is the slew of animal dna that tommie got the injection shit from. but it goes rouge and smashes through the ceiling of the city because they couldn't control it. WHOOPS. everyone's eyes hurt from the sun but eventually everyone rebels and tries to get to the surface because no one's been able to get up there in decades, if not centuries. haven't really decided yet. they don't go down without a fight but the crew (cassie, zac, rebs, scraps/tom, morgan, amber and oliver, and felix too for fun) all escape to a different city together. happy end for everyone :]

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this isn't even mentioning the dissident (android who escaped to the surface and broadcasts its life up there), the other animal companions that are still kicking (clutter, kyla, other minor ones), cassie's warehouse, the numerous other experiments (clothing that can be worn all year round without discomfort, tera (giant android who's a whole motherlode of data), stylenna (computer virus), etc.), leslie and their superhero LARPing, morgan and zac's schizophrenia moments, the world war that put them underground in the first place... yeah. there's so much here.

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also yes i got rebs' name from rebornica lmao. too fond of it to change it now

[hsr-texts]

I wrote this like 5 mintues ago soooo hehehehe

Oc dump brrrrr

CRYSSY - 結晶/Kesshō

Once a secretary under the 6th Fatui Harbinger, Scaramouche, to then being a researcher for Project Stigma, to where she is now assasin for the Stelleron Hunters.

Wielding a scythe she named VENOM due to the fact that anyone stuck by it gets rather badly poisoned. She calls the poison VENOM excretes as "Vermilion Death", and the effects of the poison do not appear until at least an hour after striking an enemy. Though, before VENOM, she weilded a greatsword, before then wielding a pair of pistols.

Its strage really, her personality, that is. Awfully rude and sarcastic, but then as if a switch was flicked, a motherly figure. And thats how she's been even through all the lives shes been through

In her first life, her closest friend was none other then the battle sexual Tartaglia. The same life in which she wielded a greatsword 5x her weight. Though needless to say, she had a little (a massive) Crush on Tartaglia. She was a bit aloof, kinda kind, and rather timid.

Though it wasn't long before she had died in battle, and ended up in another world by the grace of Celestia.

Her second life, one in HI3. Her closest friend this time? Shockingly it was Natasha, or Raven. Despite being a researcher, she found herself on the battle field an awful lot to the point where people mistook her as a Valkrye rather then a researcher. Having said that, she was a lot more rude and snarky at times, but over all still kept a bit of that kindess in her.

She died by the hands of the Honkai. A beast was too strong for her, and Raven wasn't with her.

SCORPIO - 蠍座/Sasoriza

She. Was. Done. This was the 3rd time the heavenly beings refused her full demise, and ultimately, gave her a 3rd chance in life, and guess what? For some ungodly reason she was forced to be immortal. Its a shocker she hasn't lost her shit yet and commited genocide considering how badly she wanted to be done with things. Though because of that, she had joined the Stelleron Hunters upon meeting Silver Wolf in Punklorde. Though she almost called her 'Bronie'. And upon meeting Blade, whooo boy... I think you can take a guess. ("I thought I fell hard for Tartaglia, but apparently I didn't know the surface level of falling for someone back then"). Her personality this time? A huge bitch. (Me irl/j) though rather sisterly to Silver Wolf, and like a daughter to Kafka, to Blade though? (How i wish he was real) Lets just say... she kinda hopes to catch his eye... (also she changed her name in hopes that the gods will forget shes cryssy and let her die)

None the less, she has been seeking these damned Gods, Hersschers, and all these heavenly beings so that she can finally, god damn lay in peace.

I think. I think i underestimated how long this was gonna be shshjsjshdoabc and i think theres a few spelling mistakes considering how i slept 4am last night and its 12am rn sooo

Otherwise tho i think you'll be seeing alot of me from here on out heheheh

Also, lots of love!!! I friggin love ur blog 💜💜💜

woahh this is very cool! thank you for sharing :D

[fuckyouozai]

two fics in my post atla pre lok timeline now have been tagged with the kids having ptsd (zuko and katara respectively) even tho that’s not like. the central point of the story, it’s just a fact about how they interact with the world and i am going to share some thoughts on how i think that manifests for all of them

for zuko, as i wrote in this fic i think he tends to have some similarities with azula when it comes to like. depersonalization and feeling detached from reality, like he’s looking at himself and the world through someone else’s eyes. we see canonically in the show that he really repeatedly struggles with cognitive dissonance and understanding his reality as it is rather than how he Thinks it is, and i think that carries on for many years for him

it’s a coping mechanism, because all of this happened to him when he was so young that now he’s 17 and on the throne and beginning this new life and when he looks back at himself as a kid then he feels like that person is more real than the person he is now, because for so long he internalized the pain and shame he felt that now its source is gone, he almost doesn’t know what to do with himself. and that’s a lot like his sister, who lost her grip on reality when the version of herself which she understood fell apart (think of how she said “you can’t treat me like zuko!” to ozai at the beginning of sozin’s comet)

for katara, as evidenced in this fic and i think portrayed pretty clearly in the series, she gets restless. she feels like she can’t not move and help, and in a way she goes looking for that challenge and that fight in order to prove herself. when she sees horrible things, like the whole painted lady situation or the southern raiders ep, she has to act. i imagine post-series, when the opportunities to act and fight to save the world have calmed down a little, she doesn’t know what to do with herself. she has all this desire to move and act but nowhere to direct it

and it causes her guilt and shame, that she wants to fight so badly when she knows that fighting is bad and dangerous and they almost didn’t survive it the last time. i think of her as really feeling horrible for almost missing that time, feeling like she’s a monster for wanting the challenge of it, waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, ready to fight except there’s no one there she needs to fight. it’s more of a hypervigilance situation than zuko’s is, and lingering guilt that she carries with her for years

for aang, i mean. the man’s an airbender! his whole perspective is to avoid and turn away and cut loose when things get rough. he tries really hard to, and often packs it away deep down in order to comfort the people around him (especially katara, whose guilt he can clearly see) but i do imagine him struggling particularly when his children are born. the next generation of air nomads, who all came from him, the responsibility of rebuilding entirely on his shoulders. that’s when the grief of losing his people really starts to take shape in a way that he looks at directly, making it difficult to breathe sometime, afraid that he’ll do something wrong or forget something or fail to live up to the absolutely impossible burden of being the only remaining air nomad. (which he will! he cannot contain an entire society inside himself!)

also, nightmares. aang canonically has nightmares from the very first episodes of the series all through the entire show. those don’t let up. i wrote in this fic that when bumi was born aang’s nightmares were so bad that he could barely sleep and i think as he grows up he hardens a little to get a better handle on the nightmares and the fears. poor baby

sokka and toph i have less thoughts on. i think they both tend to throw themselves into their work, especially sokka, who naturally takes on a leadership role when he’s stressed. i think that would explain why he is on the council in republic city, he just can’t stop himself from stepping up when he’s needed.

i’m of the opinion that in a crisis, of all the gaang you want the water sibs with you because both katara and sokka are the coolest and most collected in a crisis. sokka gets a clarity of mind that i think is one of the things that makes him stand out from the rest of the gaang, and katara is a bit like. dps lmao you point her and shoot

sokka and toph also have a special bond where they had that moment in sozin’s comet where they truly like. were certain they were both going to die and in that moment sort of accepted it, and i think that’s unique to the two of them in a way that the others don’t get. sokka is a nonbender and toph was in a lot of ways fully reliant on him on the airships because of her blindness. it was different than zuko and katara against azula, or aang going full child god on ozai

anyway. thots

[xenoblademisadventures]

I tried offering a bunch of different types of premises since there really is a lot to talk about. With varying amounts of "how much of the series do you want to cover," "how praising do you want to be," "how much do you want this to be about Xenoblade," "how heavy you want the topic to be," etc.

- evolution of how the series developed its combat system. There's tons of mini sections you can go off on. Like, I can't even begin to give bullet points without sparking my own tangent/essay.

- the core gameplay loop and how it's evolved

- how the games are consistantly able to convey a sense of scope and all the little techniques used to do so.

- how that one scene in 3 at the end of chapter 5 uses cutscene length to hold the player hostage, and how that was able to evoke emotion. Really just, you could probably write a whole essay about that one cutscene. It was very good.

- That one (two) cutscene in X where Elma and Lao have an arguement. Genuinely find that to be the most thought provoking moment in the series.

- why 2 was a disappointment. Or, in more generous terms, why 2 had mixed reception.

- How the UI has evolved over time.

- Mythra's character arc. There's a lot of interesting shit to be said about her and Pyra up to chapter 7, where the game just starts implying a lot of wrong things about how suicide works.

- Really just the series relationship with the concept of suicide has a lot to unpack. Tho a lot of that doesn't say very nice things about the series. And I think it feeds into more general talk about how it's often portrayed badly in media and how that can have real consequences.

- the foreshadowing devices used in 1. Those were really fun. X also used a lot of similar stuff, but without the accompanying plot twists. I think the foreshadowing and big twists sort of fell out of favor for 2 and 3.

- 1, 2, and 3 all use some variation of chosen one trope. Which is an interesting decision given how the series is all about defying fate. Exploring that in an essay could be worthwhile.

- how the early game big plains areas have evolved throughout the series.

- how the love interest has evolved throughout the series. I think Mio is the only one who doesn't feel sexistly written.

- speaking of delving into sexism, comparing how the xeno games handles its male vs female protagonists as well as their perceptions. This would be including Xenogears and Xenosaga. I imagine there's a lot to be said about how Elma, Lora, and Shion can all feel closer to supporting characters in their own games, and how Elma and Lora are the protagonists of less prominent titles than Shulk, Rex, and Noah.

- in a similar vein, talking about the series history with LGBTQ+ is potentially interesting. If you start from Xenogears, the main themes of the game are very heteronormative. There's not really any getting around that. The game was simply Freuded. Then it isn't until X that any LGBTQ+ characters are introduced. And in X those characters include a stereotype and a character's unnamed dead parents (which is also a really convoluted character to recruit). Come 2, where we've got Floren playing a stereotype and Roc. Also the way Morag/Brighid is handled. It feels like 2 wants to make them canon but didn't commit to the bit until 3 confirmed it. They were definitely the canon couple that the game was the least explicit about. And then 3 where we've got A and Juniper. A's gender itself is somewhat interesting since it feels like they're being framed in Freud's terms. Speaking from the experience of being nonbinary myself, that's not how that works but still an interesting fuckup nontheless. Like, there's definitely more to be said here, just pointing out that it exists.

- Also, if you wanna be spicy, you could talk about the series relationship with racism. Since Xenoblade falls under the category of many Many medias that talk about the importance of acceptancing one another, how society is better when people of different races work together, etc. but then also goes and does the racism. The way Tirkins are handled is the most obvious example to me, where 3 straight up has them speak in such an outdated stereotype for Native Americans that I imagine most people wouldn't even recognize it (like, I certainly wouldn't if I didn't happen to be taking a class that happened to cover this exact same stereotype dialect a few weeks before encountering the sidequest). I think there's also something to be said about how Elma is revealed to secretly be an alien at the end of X. Or how badly 2's lighting renders darker skin tones, especially on T-elos. How 1 DE ended up making a lot of character skin tones lighter. How regularly the series likes to combine dark skin with white hair and blue/green eyes. How there are only, like, 3 dark skinned party members (maybe 4 if you count Xenogears but I honestly don't remember). But yeah, there's value to pointing that shit out. But there's also value in asking "why does this happen?" Since it's fundamentally a contradiction that a series with these themes would have so many issues with sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, etc. And, like I said, it's far from the only series to do this. My first thought is Fullmetal Alchemist 2003 and Fullmetal Alchemist BH. In 03's case, the show is very much about the importance of taking an active role against racism. It criticizes the idea of a white savior, actively has its protagonist unlearn racism, and it does a lot of other good shit. But at the same time, it also has a blatantly transmisogonist stereotype in an episode. Meanwhile, BH is a lot easier to dissect, it's got a very Centrist take on racism and absolutely wasn't mature enough to cover the topics it attempted to. So, its racism plot was just mishandled. I'm more talking about the weird capacity for works to carry themes that are heavily against racism, sexism, what have you, only to turn around and also have racist, sexist, etc. elements. Xenoblade's just one of many examples of this.

- the weird relationship X has with the concept of levels. Like, it's not straight-forward and it's a major contributor to X's gameplay loop and why X is my personal favorite game in the series.

- Talking about how the series handles the role of protagonist and how that's evolved over time. Like, Fei and Shion are definitely a different breed of character from Shulk, Elma, and Rex. The ladder are definitely power fantasy characters who kind of just win by being awesome. Or, at least, that's the idea. While Fei and Shion are much more in the category of "person getting dragged through the writer's bullshit." Meanwhile, I think Lora, Noah, and Matthew all fall somewhere in between. But that's my take on it. I'm mostly just talking about how the power levels of the protagonist futs into their stories, how that's affected the perception of said characters, and how that's changed over time.

- a deep dive comparing Gears to 3. It's clear that a lot of themes from Gears made its way into 3, but a lot of Gears's themes are blatantly outdated, particularly when it comes to stuff revolving around gender. Alongside that, Gears was a bit of a disorganized mess when it came to its storytelling. So, really just comparing how both works handles their themes could be really interesting.

- You can also expand the previous point to talk about how the series' relationship with its themes has evolved over time.

- The Xeno series is heavily inspired by Gnosticism and it has been el Freuded le Bozo. Evangelion was also a major influence for the series (it was also El Freuded le Bozo), and like, seeing Evangelion, yeah, I can definitely see the parallels to it from Takahashi's earlier works.

- Talking about the scifi and fantasy elements to the series could be interesting. Since the Xenoblade games really did just go "they're the same picture" with the two genres.

- Talking about how the series depicts characters with multiple personalities would have a lot to unpack. Counting Gears and Saga, X and 3 are the only two games that don't have this. There are two instances of possession and two instances of BPD/BPD-adjacent-thing. So, discussing how that character idea has evolved throughout the series over time could be really interesting.

- There's a lot to unpack about how the different games handle the topic of worldbuilding. Like, in Gears and Saga, the worldbuilding is so much that it becomes difficult to tell what's happening. Meanwhile 1 has a pretty minimalist approach to worldbuilding compared to the rest of the series, a lot of the worldbuilding kinda speaks for itself. They live on a titan, history lesson unnecessary. And there's shit to say about X, 2, and 3. But just the relationship between worldbuilding and storytelling and how that's evolved within the series over time.

- Nopon. As the egg mascots, they've been in every Xenoblade game, and their depiction and relationship to the series has evolved, like everything else.

- how character designs have changed over time. Both talking about the customizable armor and when they're more set in stone. In particular, one observation I've made is that the female designs have been creeping towards increasingly fanservicy outfits since Gears, up until 2 where they got quite a bit of backlash for it and 3 doesn't follow the trend. But there's more stuff to be said than just that.

help what are some essay ideas on topics related to the xenoblade series

[ariyucake]

Hey uh can you do yandere twisted wonderland with an MC that exactly like Shuichi Saihara from DRV3?

┊Yeah sure dear loaf piece <3

- - - > [ Some ] Yandere Twst chars with a darling who's just like Saihara Shuichi from NDRV3

┊Summary ; You had been isekai'd to a world that was less worse than your world, but then this world . . . started to become much more worse than the world you were from . You've been kidnapped by a certain friend of yours whom you trusted with all your heart . You are betrayed as you found out they were secretly obsessed with you .

┊Warnings ; Actually, there are none except these boys obsessing over you

+ Riddle . ~

┊He's one of the worst yanderes to be obsessed with you in my opinion .

┊And + he only likes you to the point of obsession because you were so helpful and kind .

┊You're one of the very few people who can actually get along with him, you'd do anything he says without shaking your head nor fight back at him .

┊No wonder why he fell badly for you .

┊He spoils you with love, attention, and everything that you like even tho you didn't even ask for it . He loves it when you give attention back to him - your reactions are also very adorable when he always hug you out of nowhere from the back .

┊He forces makes you study with him whenever you both had to for an important exam, test, etc .

┊When he kidnaps you ; you'd be terrified and scared . You'd flinch whenever he touches you . But after a few weeks of giving you extra love and attention, you start to get much more comfortable with him .

┊Just wait 'till you guys are gonna get married

+ Deuce . ~

┊He's a little overprotective of you, buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut . . . you haven't seen him ever beat up a poor student for trying to even confess their lovey dovey feelings for you

┊Loafs you to bits, some people even mistake you guys for siblings and he just quietly sighs as his depressed yandere arc starts ahaha I'm sorry .

┊Does he spoil you ? Not quite . If he thinks you deserve something then he'll get it for you <3

┊Never ever drags you into trouble with him and Ace involved, he didn't want your head to go ' Off with your head ! ' by Riddle, it did happen once tho and Deuce mentally scolded Ace because of it . . .

┊He's kind of wholesome actually, he likes to chill and watch detective movies with you, since afterall - you are the Ultimate Detective .

┊Praises you a lot whenever you pass an exam because somehow you always ace an exam with a lot of effort put into it, you really know how to impress him, aha .

┊Stalks you whenever you have to do something like a ; errand, chore, etc . He's just worried about your safety 'kae ?

┊Once you both get out of this hell of a school, he'll confess his feelings to you, he may be obsessed with you - but not that obsessed ! He'll take everything slowly .

+ Kalim . ~

┊Okae I gotta admit that he's one of my favourite characters along with Deuce, so this is going to be fun to write >:)

┊If he wants something, he gets it ! And boom, now you're in the Scarabia dorm with him <3

┊Okae but seriously tho, because of you - Jamil now has to work 2x times much more because he's serving two people now, in which that is ; you, and Kalim .

┊He spoils you a lot, a whole lot, a whole lot more than Riddle . He gives you expensive things . Very, very, expensive . You felt like a gold digger by just even touching the certain jewelries .

┊Does he wanna get married with you yet ? Honestly no . He thinks that that could wait and that you both should enjoy your lives before getting much more problems !

┊When the day he kidnaps y - wait up, he wouldn't kidnap you since . . . he already has you in his dorm and that's enough ! Just lightly confesses to you and you reply a ' yes ' since you didn't know what to do in these situations .

┊I had a lot of fun writing the last two .

┊I also got a new phone and I am upset to say that it is an Iphone, do what you can to slander me, I deserve it .

[cantwritethisdown]

the bridge fight

i absolutely loved arcane but think i agree with people who say it was weird that the bridge scene in ‘the boy saviour’ had ekko stay on the bridge to fight jinx instead of vi? like, i appreciate people’s points about ekko and jinx being foils and their clash having important symbolic/thematic value but, since the time Vi got out of prison, her main priority had been getting back to powder. the plan before going on the bridge was that vi would stay behind to try and get through to powder.

why does she then leave with caitlyn? or rather, after ekko grabs the gemstone and tells them to leave, why wouldn't she insist that she stay behind instead and ekko leave with caitlyn, like originally planned? especially since ekko was so determined to face the council himself as well. I’ve been trying to reconcile this in my head for ages. i think i may have reached an answer that satisfies my weird fixation with this? but i think the way the scene expects the reader to fill in some gaps makes it less effective.

I understand that on screen, it kind of makes sense. ekko is just physically the best person to hold jinx off at that point. they don’t have time to argue about who goes with caitlyn, especially not when she’s badly injured and while jinx is clearly v volatile and likely to start spraying bullets any second, so vi has to take caitlyn just because she is most physically close to her. vi is still recovering physically and mentally from her ordeal in the lanes, reeling from jinx shooting at her, reeling from knowing caitlyn, who she now deeply cares about, is injured, and possibly injured because of her association with vi and therefore not thinking straight and this is screwing w her priorities. since she has always been told to protect people, maybe she fell back on that instinct to protect when things got turbulent. also, since caitlyn is injured, vi would want to be there for her, especially since caitlyn saved her life twice before.

there’s the added touch of this being another moment where ekko stands up to vi and tells her what to do, showing her that he’s grown up, no longer the younger brother figure that she could boss around but a leader in his own right, handling threats against his people (jinx, whose killed multiple firelights on screen) by himself. its somewhat clear that he has wanted a stand off like this against jinx for a long time.

but Vi says over and over again that powder is her first priority! that she understands that even tho powder has changed, has become more violent and vicious, she still wants to be there for her, be near her, show her that vi loves her unconditionally, even if she won’t enable her worst behaviours.

and ekko’s main priority is being the person who will represent the undercity when they return the gemstone. he’s the one whose worked to overturn silco’s influence, with no help from piltover. he’s the one who’s better versed on the undercity’s dynamics and possibly has a plan of how to move forward to reduce silco’s influence, if only piltover would get their heads out of their asses and actually help.

i find it hard to accept that vi would give up a chance to talk to powder, one on one, and ekko would give up a chance to finally confront piltover when he’s so close.

i think the way the scene is written, ekko would still have to throw the gemstone. its clear that its in everyone’s best interest to get the gemstone away from jinx which would work best by throwing it to vi and caitlyn and stalling jinx. he knows this and is probably frustrated by it, he sounds pretty anguished when he yells ‘GO’ knowing he’s going to have to throw away his chance at meeting the council to keep jinx away from it.

this would require Vi then being the one to insist staying on the bridge with jinx. again, this is awkward considering that she’s the one holding caitlyn up. it would require ekko and vi to probably argue about who stays, ekko still actually wanting that confrontation with jinx to avenge his friends and arguing that there’s no time, vi and cait have to get away as soon as possible. and vi arguing back that no, she said she wouldn’t abandon powder again and she wants to stay to talk to her. this would require ekko hovering back to them, Vi handing her over to ekko and them hobbling away while Vi positions herself to talk to Jinx. at any point during this, jinx could start shooting again, screwing them all over.

i think my difficulty in reconciling this scene came from my view that somehow. this awkwardness/logistical difficulty (terrible phrasing, i know lol) is a weird way of stopping vi from trying to stay with powder. she just made it so clear that she was determined to not abandon powder again. the only reason she would leave is if she was so overwhelmed by everything going on on the bridge that she couldn’t think straight and somehow, considering how capable she is and her consistent attitude towards powder/jinx thus far (in terms of still loving/caring about her and wanting to reunite with her), i’m not convinced she was. this means that the story expects us to believe that vi leaves jinx behind (again!) literally only because she is physically in the best position at the time to leave with caitlyn, which really lessens the impact of the scene.

but when i think about the actual steps it would take to get vi and ekko to switch places at that point, it really becomes untenable. from what i understand, her thinking is that caitlyn needs to be moved, that any stalling risks her life bc of her current impairment, especially bc its almost impossible for her to evade jinx. and i understand that its a volatile situation, its unlikely that anyone is able to think straight, so she falls back on ‘protect the person who’s vulnerable right now’. this is arguably the first time she is forced to choose between protecting someone and saving her relationship with powder. the second time is when jinx stages the tea party and demands she kill caitlyn, again putting Vi in a situation where her determination to get through to powder comes at the potential cost of another of her loved one’s lives.

I try to play out the scene in my head where Vi protests, says she wants to stay on the bridge with powder and it just doesn’t end well. in Vi’s mind at least, there’s almost certainly no way powder, who has just tried to kill her, will let her wait long enough to hand over both caitlyn and the gemstone to ekko, not when she just used so much violence and destruction (the bombs) to get the gemstone back. she doesn’t know that it was part of jinx’s personal vendetta against enforcers and also her chance to right the wrongs of the time their parents were murdered on the bridge.

this also plays into the dramatic irony that arcane does really well in that, at this point, the audience also suspects that thing jinx wants most is also to reunite with her sister! vi came back for her, despite all odds! when she lit the flare, Vi showed up and fought by her side, she only left because she was taken (again!). on the bridge, it even indicates that she believed that vi was hugging caitlyn to say goodbye so that she could come back to her! so if Vi just yelled that she did in fact want to stay with jinx, to talk to her, then i think its actually debatable that she would have kept shooting. i think its possible she would have allowed it. I will admit, this is my weakest point because jinx is clearly going through an episode, its unclear how clearly she is able to think here beyond her own hurt and paranoia. also, its unclear how much she actually cares about getting the gemstone back relative to reuniting with Vi as she very clearly wants to make the weapon that silco needs.

ultimately, i think its touch and go but after considering it, i think the scene successfully establishes that there is a high chance that caitlyn would have died if they tried to Vi insist that ekko leave with her and the gemstone, at least in Vi and ekko’s mind, considering how intense the situation is. Vi has to choose between saving her life and reuniting with Jinx and because of Vi’s inherent goodness and need to protect people she cares about, and also because she is so overwhelmed by everything she has been through from coming back to the lanes and being shot at by her sister, makes the split second decision to leave with caitlyn before jinx starts shooting again. this ties into the fact that jinx seems to have an increasing sense that she can’t accept that Vi loves her if Vi doesn’t accept everything she does, and therefore puts her in impossible positions to make her prove that she loves Jinx and will choose her over anything, even another person’s life, especially if that person is caitlyn. the issue is that the audience has to fill in for themselves any sense of internal conflict Vi feels about this situation.

its just frustrating that this scene comes right after Vi declaring that she will stay and get through to powder, even after learning after the atrocities powder has committed. arcane is so good with facial expressions and there is no conflict on her face about what to choose, no frustration that an opportunity to get reach powder is slipping through her fingers yet again. she’s spent YEARS thinking about powder and somehow, when this person who she’s known for literally a few days, gets hurt, she faces no internal conflict, just chooses her instantly. surely, after all that time being away from powder, thinking she failed/abandoned her, even the most goodhearted person would consider trying to take advantage of this opportunity to talk to her sister, even for a second. she doesn’t even seem to care that ekko clearly wants to physically hurt jinx, even kill her, and that maybe she could fix that by staying and making ekko leave.

like, just an added expressions, one where Vi starts to try to call ekko and another where caitlyn makes a sound of pain and looks at Vi to silently ask her for help, knowing how vulnerable she is right now, and Vi acquiescing. like, this moment should have been framed as a CHOICE, her choosing to save cait instead of reunite with powder, instead of an inevitability that she had to save cait. otherwise, it feels like it contradicts her established priorities in a jarring way and makes her dedication to caitlyn feel puzzling, when powder/jinx is RIGHT THERE. the way the scene plays out absolves Vi of any internal conflict whatsoever which just makes her seem inconsistent and makes her dedication to cait feel rushed.