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little-one-eyed-monsters · 2 months ago

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Saw a post calling our tortured superstar Akin from Top Form the poorest meow-meow in BL history. Though I do agree that he's been having a downright traumatic career so far, there are other BL MCs out here who can give him a run for his money.

So let's commiserate together and celebrate these brilliant characters who deserve better than what the BL gods handed to them. If you haven't seen any of these shows, and you're a drama fan, I really recommend these great picks.

Presenting:

10 BL characters who deserve better (and what I think should've been a better ending):

In order of dewy meow-meow to rain-soaked kitty. And of course, spoilers ahead for the listed shows:

10. Third (Theory of Love)

Oh Third my dear, what are we to do with you? You simped too hard on a womanizer, took "I can fix him" as a personal motto, and spent a couple thousand dollars on non-refundable Blackpink tickets. If this wasn't an OffGun vehicle, I swear I would've scoffed at that "happy" ending. Alas, I have my biases, so Third is chained to red flag Khai until he comes to his senses.

Better ending: Third could've chosen someone else, ANYONE else--Un, Shane, that poor guy at the bar who gets punched by Khai. Anyone who appreciates Third for who he is and not what he can bring to the relationship.

9. Jin Hong Seok (You Make Me Dance)

From the moment we were introduced to Jin Hong Seok in that snowy campus, until the end credits of the movie/series finale rolled through our screens, we learn next to nothing about him as a person. We know he's a debt collector who absolutely hates his job, listens to love advice on the radio during his free time, and is being (implicitly) perved on by his boss, but we don't necessarily know why he's suffering in the situation he's in. Why are you stuck at this job, do you owe them money? Where're your family and friends? Why do you need to move away with your boss just because you fell in love with this dancer who owes your company money? Why are you wearing the same jacket for the past three episodes?

We will never know, and this makes Jin Hong Seok ten times sadder as a character.

Better ending: Not an ending, but just a better back story I guess? Because the pay-off where he gets together with Song Shi On only feels partly satisfying as the conflict is virtually non-existent.

8. Fukuhara Kota (Mr. Unlucky Has No Choice But To Kiss)

One of my all time favorite Japanese BLs (and a truly underrated gem) had the poorest sunshine meow meow to ever exist onscreen. Kota is the unluckiest boy in the world in the Murphy's law sense-- everything that can go wrong, does go wrong on a day-to-day basis. Poor boy couldn't even leave the house without getting into some sort of accident. And some of these accidents are actually life-threatening (he got hostaged at some point!). Despite all this, Kota has one of the sunniest dispositions out of any mc I've seen-- it's honestly so refreshing. He deserves better because he's a good person.

Better ending: Though the ending does imply that he and his boyfriend Shinomiya Naoya (the luckiest boy) will balance each other out by being together, I'd prefer it if Kota somehow loses the unlucky streak completely on his own, like a curse removal of some sort. The boy deserves a break.

7. Ye Guang (About Youth)

This sweet and beautiful bean is the unfortunate by-product of ultra-rich, neglectful, abusive parents and a Taiwanese school system that pressures its students to conform to impossible ideals. He embodies all Asian kids driving themselves to anxiety or depression (or both) just to ace college entrance exams, while shooting each other down for a chance at a scholarship they all equally deserve. Ye Guang is a good kid despite his family's abuse, and is experiencing genuine love and care for the first time in his lonely existence. He totally deserved to be boo'ed up by the end of the series.

Better ending: What would've been a better ending is if they sent those parents to jail for domestic abuse (let's include Zhang's drunk uncle in there, too). Or strip them off of parental rights-- give my boy Ye Guang emancipation from his sorry excuse for a family.

6. Wei Qian (Unknown)

Wei Qian was saddled with one of the saddest backstories in BL history. Born the eldest son of a prostitute who offs herself by taking too many drugs, Wei Qian was forced to work shady jobs at an early age to care for his younger sister and adopted brother. Through his resourcefulness he was able to give all of them a better life, until a serious injury threatens his health.

Better ending: This is a hot take, but I would have preferred it if the story gave Wei Qian a chance to truly explore what he wanted in life . I wanted him to meet new people and date more. Everyone in the story had the chance to pursue other ventures except for Wei Qian; I think he should be allowed to prioritize himself and still end up with Zhi Yuan.

5. Mhok (Last Twilight)

Mhok is an unfortunate victim of social circumstance-- an orphan who lost his older sister the night he went to jail for misdemeanor. He becomes a free man with no surviving family to speak of, no career prospects, and compelled to take care of an ex-girlfriend who was impregnated by someone abusive.

But somewhat similar to the others on this list, Mhok is one heck of a resilient human being-- rolling with the punches while retaining sympathy and kindness for those he deems less fortunate than he is. However, he's usually portrayed as the carer, who often disregards his own welfare for the sake of others. So... who cares for Mhok?

Better ending: Mhok gets the proper therapy to process the trauma from incarceration and his sister's death. ALSO: he shouldn't have to be forced to break up with Day just to get a better job abroad. The internet exists-- long distance relationships are a thing now. That forced separation was UNNECESSARY.

4. Kang Gook (Where Your Eyes Linger)

An orphan forced to be the bodyguard/childhood companion of a spoiled rich kid, who treats him like a personal security blanket, has to be one of the worst backstories anyone can get in a BL. Kang Gook's boss/childhood friend/later boyfriend Han Tae Joo is not the worst partner compared to others mentioned on this list, but his attitude could use some work, and his family is severely problematic. Stuck in the crosshairs, Kang Gook loses his home, employment, opportunities, and boyfriend once Tae Joo's father finds out they're in a relationship and forces them apart.

Better ending: Kang Gook elopes with Han Tae Joo as soon as the father orders their separation 😅 if you're going to lose everything anyway, then go for it and don't look back.

3. Joe (My Stand-In)

Though this list includes Kota who is canonically deemed "the unluckiest person", I think Joe is the TRUE most unfortunate out of all of these souls. Orphaned at a young age and with no family willing to take him in, he worked odd jobs until he became one of the best stunt doubles in the industry. But as soon as his career starts properly taking off, he meets Ming, second son and heir to one of the richest families in Thailand, and the most spoiled creature to ever walk the Earth. Ming's intervention with Joe's career inadvertently leads to Joe's actual death on set (dear God). Fate takes pity, and transfers his soul into another man also named Joe, with a budding career in the modelling industry and a mom who dearly loves him. But newly-reincarnated and in debt, Joe once again find himself working for Ming (and he dies once mo-- no wait, he lives this time? Alright.)

Joe, I love you and I really do sympathize with you, but the only reason you didn't top this list is because your second involvement with Ming is very clearly YOUR FAULT. You could've borrowed money from any of your friends (Wut is LOADED with money, a trusted father figure, and your boss-- he would have helped you out. Sol is a KPop icon who also makes A LOT of money. Heck, even Yim could've hooked you up with extra gigs). Choosing to whore yourself out to Ming seemed like a YOU problem at some point.

Better ending: Joe gets a restraining order against Ming and the rest of that family. Tong goes to jail. And Joe ends up with... Secretary Jim 😅 (why? Because that would piss Ming off even more).

2. Yu Xi Gu (History 3: Make Our Days Count)

Here's a guy who actually deserves to be reincarnated (sorry, Joe). Yu Xi Gu is yet another orphan (sooo many orphans on this list) who lives alone and is trying to put himself through high school so he can get a chance at a better life. A solitary ray of sunshine who's trying his best to earn an honest living and keep his hopes up, Yu Xi Gu's life gets a little bit brighter (and infinitely more exciting) when school delinquent Xiang Hao Ting falls madly in love with him. They start planning their future together and get into their respective dream schools when...

Better ending: Yu Xi Gu should NOT HAVE DIED. If you haven't seen this show before, this isn't a spoiler; it's a WARNING. This whole series was all fluff and cotton candy and matching dream charts before Yu Xi Gu gets hit by a car OUT OF NOWHERE. No foreshadowing, no implications of anything going wrong. He just leaves the house to buy salt and never comes back. And the finale is just Xiang Hao Ting barely surviving life without his sunshine. WHAT THE HELL, SHOW.

And the poorest meow-meows:

1. Korn and Intouch (Until We Meet Again)

They are a twofer because their fates are infinitely tied together. In one of the most unique twists in BL, Korn and Intouch are the past versions of the lead MCs Dean and Pharm. Sometime in the 60s, Korn, the son of a local gang leader, fell in love with the sweetest sunshine boy Intouch while they were both studying at uni. Both of their families disapprove and force them apart. They run away, but their families catch up to them and threaten them (and each other) with violence. Sensing no hope for their love, they decide to off themselves to end the suffering.

Better ending: Nobody dies, EVERYBODY LIVES (wait, is this an ao3 tag? 😅). Their parents see eye-to-eye, sing kumbaya, and hold a big, gay wedding fit for the disco theme of the 60s.

Honorable mentions (and better endings):

- Bai Luo Yin (Addicted)- dude should've received child support checks from his selfish mom.

- Hira Kazunari (Utsukushii Kare)- should've chosen someone else except his childhood bully as his boyfriend. Dude went to the Joe school of falling in love, apparently.

-Wei Wuxian (The Untamed)- a better ending? Try a better story. The whole plot of The Untamed seemed to be a battle of who can torture Wei Wuxian the most. The only reason why he isn't on the official list is because his ending was infinitely better than the whole story arc combined.

-Shin Da On (Light on Me)- someone needed to love this third-wheeling meow meow. Line up gentlemen, he's available.

-Tang Yi (History 3: Trapped)- my mafia homie didn't deserve to go to prison. His family's messed up clan war is not his fault. He deserves to have a quiet life with his insane cop of a boyfriend instead.

That's all and stay kooky, folks 😊

#multi bl #bl suggestions #theory of love #you make me dance #mr. unlucky has no choice but to kiss #about youth #unknown #last twilight #where your eyes linger #my stand in #history 3: make our days count #until we meet again #history 3: trapped #the untamed #addicted #utsukushii kare #light on me #top form the series

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sepublic · 2 months ago

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The Collector truly is a great example of “Antagonist being a slightly skewed Protagonist” because they’re essentially Luz if she got a taste of real power* after lacking agency and being restricted her whole life. They’re not malicious and they play the exact same adventures and want to befriend people, but the Collector’s recognition that they’ve been unfairly mistreated has led to them using that as an excuse to refuse any criticism or boundaries.

(*Even before imprisonment, the Collector didn’t have power in a relative sense; They were surrounded by people much stronger who were always imposing limitations of some kind. In the end power is relative, so while their strength is the same now as it was then, the difference is that now, all the people around them are mortals who can’t really challenge the Collector. Hence, they have a taste of real power for the first time in their life in King’s Tide.)

The Collector is a younger Luz who recognized that she was mistreated unfairly and has a metric ton of power, meaning the mistakes every child inevitably makes in their journey to maturity ended up being far more harmful than most adults, because that’s the thing isn’t it? Part of the reason isn’t just that kids don’t know better just yet, it’s also that they’re too ineffectual to commit any real harm due to their social status and physical limitations, so what if neither of these were a factor? How quickly then do we forget forgiveness and patience, and how long does it take to remember them, and re-offer grace?

In that sense, the Collector is like Ishiro Honda’s quote on monsters; “Monsters are tragic beings; they are born too tall, too strong, too heavy, they are not evil by choice. That is their tragedy.” A being too big and powerful for this world, in a world too fragile and soft for them, and thus every slip up is devastating and there’s so much more onus to bear. And it’s impossible not to make mistakes. A regular child acts out and someone’s day is ruined, the Collector acts out and a whole world is traumatized and a bridge burnt.

And with how Luz felt the same, how Luz felt like she makes simple mistakes that spiral into things far beyond what she could’ve imagined? A good deal of which isn’t really her fault, and/or the odds are inherently stacked against her, because of something different about Luz? She never intended to hurt anyone with snakes and fireworks, and maybe it could’ve been so much worse and it would’ve been just bad luck that it was those things she chose to impress people, and not something “normal” that was less who Luz was.

So she gets it. She really does.

#The Owl House #The Owl House Collector #Luz Noceda #Parallels #Foils

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let-us-cultivate-our-garden · 11 months ago

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Do you think TOH made people care and then ripped them apart for it?

I was still in high school when I started watching the series and I loved it. I didn't have good grades, I am neurodivergent and bisexual and was thought of as a weirdo and bullied and condescended for crying at school or acting like I was younger than I was and things along those lines. I related to Luz SO HARD. I wanted to be in the Boiling Isles. I imagined myself finding a way there. I had little 'imagine spots' and loved the mystery and the wild and unconventional aesthetics and I even got into some of the stuff you see on r/WitchesVsPatriarchy because of it. I couldn't wait for more story. I was sure everything would be resolved by the end.

Somewhere along the lines, the characters were no longer characters to me. They were real, and had real feelings and struggles and experiences. And somewhere else along the line, the Collector came, and Hollow Mind happened.

I was terrified. I kept watching, though. I wanted to know what would happen to everyone I loved. Hollow Mind was a great episode though, and I thought it and the rest of Season 3 were building up to something big.

They were not. They were building up to something extremely poorly explained that was erased in the last episode. No flashbacks. No face reveals. Caleb and Evelyn do not speak. We still have no idea what happened. How old were he and Philip? What made him trust Evelyn? Why was Evelyn in the human realm? What were the circumstances of the knife fight? WHY did Philip kill Caleb? How long was he looking for him? So many unanswered questions hand-waved in the finale, and anytime someone complains the response is 'but thuh shortuhning.' Boo fucking hoo. They had the time to explain things and they did not. If you weren't knee-deep in fandom and didn't read social media, you may not even know Hunter was a Grimwalker. You'd be left extremely confused about what Belos is and what the hell he wanted. And yet people use 'blame the big bad Disney' as an excuse. Less wasting time in Hexside tormenting students, more on what we give a damn about.

Speaking of Hexside.

I know all that shit with the puppets was supposedly 'necessary', but imagine if you'd been hiding from a potential genocide and suddenly everyone you love has been turned into nonsentient dolls by some unknown god and you're forced to hide and your remaining loved ones are missing and you're barely surviving, your life has been flipped, everything you knew is a lie and you don't know when or if it'll end. That's what it was like for them, and it is not treated like the traumatic and horrifying event that it was. It is joked about and used as a punchline and at best is unneeded filler that creates problems. And then there's Boscha - a girl treated horribly by the fandom and show both. Her friends have been turned into puppets and she is being used by Kikimora, she doesn't know what's happening, it's the apocalypse, she's sad and scared and confused and doesn't know what to do. She lashes out at people because of it. Perhaps she was so clingy towards Amity because her friend had vanished for ages and she finally knew she wasn't a puppet or dead. She is laughed at. Treated as an obstacle for Amity to overcome. Abandoned at Hexside. Given no real redemption. Just left to cry alone. And outside the show, fans will treat her like garbage. I have known people who wanted to tear her head off, or wanted her expelled from Hexside after becoming the least popular girl in school and losing all her friends. This is a teenager going through an unspeakably horrible event that will leave her with PTSD. She deserves exploration. She deserves more from the show and more from fans. Even Dana was asked once if she'd be redeemed - she said 'I think some people don't deserve redemption'. Or something along the lines. Bravo, Dana. Bravo, everyone.

And then the aesthetic switch. I praised the unique aesthetic. All reds and dusty colours and widespread. It made me really think of something abandoned. Someplace really wild. The Collector took over and turned it all star-themed and pastel, and it stayed that way. The Archive House stayed up. They call it the 'king's crown'. It remains a bland galaxy aesthetic with no trace of what they had in Season 1. They might as well reward the Collector for destroying the Isles.

And finally, Luz having to go back to human high school where she was bullied and had bad grades and didn't fit in. I used the Isles as an escape. I wanted to attend Hexside *so bad* and it was clear the show wanted the viewers to want it. So to have Luz go back and spend three years rebuilding the Isles whenever she went there - it broke me. It felt like my guts being torn to pieces. Everyone having to rebuild the Isles. Bland construction. Luz missing three birthdays. If I wanted child labour and bland construction and a horrible high school experience, I'd look at the world today. Luz was forced away from her home and into the place she deserved to escape from. High school is hell. And to top it off, what with current events, I truly do not want Luz abandoned here, among the rise of the far-right and schools doing jack-all for their students and some days when it seems everyone wants to kill each other. Luz does not deserve to be abandoned here, going to human high school and spending all her time in the Isles rebuilding it. No more fun. No more fantasy. No more adventures. Just construction. Everyday construction and a bland pastel star aesthetic replacing what I love. It's not weird anymore. I have lost the Boiling Isles. I feel this is reflected in the door redesign. The wooden Titan Eye design was all wooden, rough, mysterious and possibly alive. The new design is just a blah plastic pastel star design. It's boring.

Maybe I'm being a bit extreme, but I have held onto this for ages and no one shares my sentiments and it hurts like hell. If you could respond, that would be wonderful.

But yeah. TL;DR: This show made me care and then killed my escape and broke me and every character I love.

The Isles is dead, and this show has hurt me in the worst possible way.

I'm sorry that the show has had such a negative effect on you; it absolutely sucks to become so emotionally attached to something only for it to all fall apart in the end. It can feel like all that time and energy was wasted and that you were foolish to like it at all. But no, you did not waste anything. I think it's helpful if you reframe your thoughts because I am concerned about how much this show has affected your mindset.

The show did not break you. Its ending did not meet your expectations and you were disappointed by it. That's ok. A lot of people felt the final season was lacking, even when taking the cancellation into account. The joy and connection you felt in the early seasons still matter. They still helped you in a time when you needed it. Hold onto the happiness you felt and use that as a source of strength instead of blowing your disappointment out of proportion.

It also seems like you're connecting your experiences with Luz. Luz is fictional. She can't be affected by the real world. Within the context of the show, rebuilding the isles is necessary because the Boiling Isles is her home, too. It signifies a new age in which wild magic can flourish. She's choosing to be there as part of the community to rebuild a place that was nearly destroyed. Luz achieved her dream of becoming a witch. She can study and live in the Boiling Isles and visit her mom whenever she wants in the human realm. There is still fun. There is still fantasy.

Going back to the idea of reframing your thoughts: if something has upset you in a story, take a step back and look at it from the author's perspective. What were they trying to achieve? Does this fit in with the established world building and characterization? Did it upset you for narrative reasons or personal ones? So much discourse in fandom can be traced to the fact that fans have their own ideas of how characters should act instead of what is established in the story and what makes sense for that world. You need to look at a story from a narrative point of view instead of a personal one, that way any potential disappointment is not so emotionally-loaded.

Finally, to answer your question, no I do not believe that TOH was made to disappoint fans. Quite the opposite, actually. In the Post-Hoots and on social media, the crew talk about how much the show means to them and how touched they are about all the fan support they have received. Toh is a show made with love and a desire to please its audience--much to its detriment.

I really think the crux of your issue is that the show deeply disappointed you while everyone else loved it. That can feel incredibly isolating and as a Belos fan, I can relate. My advice is to find like-minded individuals so you all can healthily vent together while coming up with goofy head canons of your favorite characters. That's what I do (and endlessly complain about the lost potential. There is catharsis in it). Finally, move onto other shows and other communities, you will find better stories that will enrich you.

Stories can have a profound effect on people but not to the point that they make you feel "broken." My old mentor once said to "take the meat and throw out the bone." Basically, take whatever is useful for you and ignore the rest. You can do this with TOH, take whatever "meat" you found valuable and don't let the "bones" get you down.

I hope you take whatever meat you can from my advice. Please take care of yourself and surround yourself with people and things you love. Explore new stories, meet new people, and continue to grow.

The fantasy is not dead.

#asks #the owl house #luz noceda #toh boscha #emperor belos #philip wittebane #toh critical #long post

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alfredojesta · 5 months ago

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CANDY POP

MANSION HEADCANONS PT. 1

I'm not going to add a backstory portion here because it'd be too much to write. I only have the fun facts! With some brief character analysis like always. I'll have a second post for his relationships!!!

CW: references to traumatic events, S/A, talk of hypersexuality (below the cut)

GENERAL HEADCANONS UP HERE!

♡ Age locked at 500 years old. Equivalent to an adult Genyr. Candy Pop was born 6000 years ago in the Forest of Light—a magical place located in a fantasy world.

♡ No birthdate, but he celebrates July 12th.

♡ He/Him, Trans Male, Bisexual.

♡ 5'8, but his heels add 2 inches which makes him 5'10, but his ponytails add 2 inches which makes him 6'0. So in theory he's 6'0.

♡ His name is Candy Pop, with the Pop. He's very insistent that everyone adds the Pop. No one is allowed to call him Candy unless he lets them. People like to call him Poppy or Pops.

♡ Candy Pop and Night Terrors are no longer fused together. Night Terrors has since been sealed away (within the object of Candy Pop's heart), but the effects of his corruption remain. For that reason, Candy Pop's emotions and his morals tend to fluctuate. He's inherently good, but troubled with dark thoughts, and a past of sin he can't repent.

♡ The corrupted (NT) traits come in flashes. It can be compared to mood-swings, lasting five seconds or five months. It's easy to distinguish for the most part. His cheerful, childish, sweet side is Candy Pop—he's somber and reflective, but hides it. He can be annoying, but it's easier to shut him down as he's more understanding. His over-dramatic, flirtatious, and violent side is all NT's influence. Everything is exaggerated. His emotions are all over the place, and it's way more difficult to calm him down.

♡ Candy Pop is a soul collector (a trait passed down by his father). He's mastered soul magic, and has the ability to steal powers from others. However, power stealing works the same as if he were to learn a new skill. He must perfect a stolen ability before he can use it efficiently.

♡ His hammer is named Pamela. She's magic! She can shape-shift into any object! Pierrot, an old friend, forged her. He harnessed the mana from crystals and fused it with the hammer.

♡ Candy Pop's eyes are naturally teal, like his mother's. After he fused with NT, they became magenta with a teal pupil. When he's happy, his eyes go teal. But when he's upset, his eyes go purple. Base state is magenta though.

♡ Candy Pop isn't a proxy, given he's strong enough to withstand Slenderman—equivalent to Zalgo's strength. He's under Slenderman's protection. Slenderman is aware that Candy Pop has Night Terrors sealed within him, and to prevent that from being exploited, Candy Pop gets to stay at the mansion (under a very detailed contract).

♡ He calls Slenderman "king" and acts as his jester, breaking into his office just to perform circus tricks. Candy Pop loves playing into the act, while Slenderman wants him to stop. Stop bowing down to him. Stop calling the mansion a kingdom. Stop delivering him scrolls and owl letters. BUT CANDY POP DOESN'T FUCKING LISTEN—

♡ Candy Pop used to have a room on the third floor, but a petition was signed to kick him out because he kept setting up traps in the hallway to catch Jason. Everyone fell for the traps except Jason.

♡ His room is now located on the first floor and has the best view of the courtyard. Candy Pop can be found there in his leisure. Sitting by the pond, talking to animals, climbing trees, or drawing with chalk. He gets to interact with a lot of people, too.

♡ Candy Pop loves Shakespeare! He sprinkles Elizabethan words into everyday speech. His vocabulary makes him difficult to understand, so he simplifies himself around illiterates. He has no distinct accent. Maybe British. He can speak all languages, including that of animals.

♡ He prefers to have intellectual conversation, therefore he speaks in long blocks of text. This basically means he yaps a lot and needs to be physically shut up.

♡ Candy Pop is involved with nature because of April Fools (his dead girlfriend). He gardens a lot. His favourite flowers to plant being roses, marigolds, poppies, and daisies. He keeps the Slender Forest clean and encourages proxies to work toward a better environment. Humans die there, but they can at least have a peaceful burial ground. (Candy Pop hates that humans have to be killed. He wants to keep them safe, but isn't able to. This sentiment was given to him from his time in the Forest of Light.)

♡ Candy Pop's soul-hunts can take anywhere from a day to a month. NT's cult attacks Candy Pop here and there. Major set back. Candy Pop also gets distracted by little things. That part is just him. But he can't help it that humans are so interesting! :(

♡ Hobbies, other than being a jester, include confectionery, baking, gardening, singing, arts and crafts, playing instruments (banjo, fiddle, harp, bells, etc.), reading, writing. He picked up knitting and crochet from Jason and Jill, which he's trying to perfect to impress either of them (mostly Jason, but Jill's reactions to his craft are more encouraging).

♡ He's banned from the mansion's kitchens after exploding it with Laughing Jack.

♡ His room is like a colourful library. There are shelves upon shelves of books. Random clutter everywhere. Trinkets, streamers, toys. Literally anything that goes missing in the mansion will be in Candy Pop's room. He likes collecting! :D

♡ Candy Pop doesn't always sleep in his room because he prefers to go to Nathan's house, or Jill's cabin. He tends to pass out in the forest after his hunts, so Jill picks him up.

♡ Candy Pop's fashion sense is experimental, but it keeps its circusy theme no matter what. He likes frilly clothes. Overdresses himself with accessories (hairpins, earrings, bracelets, and the like). Colour palette can either be pastel or gothic—both if he's feeling it. Candy Pop does simple makeup—unless he has a performance lined up. He curls his eyelashes so they look a bit swirly! ^_^

♡ His hair falls down to his calves. It's usually kept in three ponytails or a braid. He loves his fruit scented shampoos! Candy Pop lets the mansion kids put flowers into his hair. Lazari and Ben especially enjoy experimenting with giving Candy Pop funky hairstyles.

♡ Candy Pop sucks at using technology. He's forgetful, always needing to ask for assistance. It frustrates him, so he'd rather communicate via letters, or in-person meetings. However, he thinks videos and movies can be entertaining! He has NO idea how they work, but they're so silly!

♡ His use of slang is influenced by Nathan and Ciara. Otherwise, he speaks formally, and with as many references to Shakespeare as he can fit into a sentence.

♡ Spicy food will kill him instantly.

♡ He's vegan but makes an exception for dairy ice-cream. His favourite food is fruit salad and cabbage stew. But he tries inedible "foods" all the time. Like bath-bombs, or soap, or chalk, or lipstick. He gets shocked when they taste bitter.

♡ Candy Pop is terrified of mirrors. He refuses to look at his reflection. NT is always there. No matter what. He can't get that image out of his head. Candy Pop keeps away from reflective surfaces in general. Any and all mirrors tend to be covered when he's near. He gets others to check his makeup and outfits.

♡ He doesn't trust people easily, even though it may seem like he's gullible. Most people only know him on a surface level. Candy Pop hates talking about his past. Nobody knows the full story, not even his closest family. Because of how much hell he's lived through, Candy Pop can provide astonishingly good advice.

♡ Candy Pop's body is scarred from battles, self-inflictions, and little scuffles. He also has two scars on his back from Genyr wings that failed to grow on. Candy Pop likes to consider all his scars to be "battle scars"! It gives him a warrior-like image!

♡ His courage comes from his mother, who he believed was a warrioress. The stories his uncle told about her were the reason he kept going in dark times. Unbeknownst to him, those stories were made up.

♡ Candy Pop enjoys sleeping. He can control his dreams, so it's equivalent to going into an alternate universe for the night, where his life is a bit better. He experiences night terrors... from time to time, which sets him into a panic because they're always too realistic.

♡ One consequence of NT's corruption is that Candy Pop is involuntarily flirty with people. It isn't anything he's happy with, and creates lots of future issues if someone becomes attached to him. Candy Pop ends up feeling gross and yucky even if he doesn't go farther than flirting with people. He struggles to find any worth in himself outside of romantic or sexual desire. He can't help but believe everyone in his life will use him. He has to make himself useable, or else he'll get discarded.

♡ While they were fused, NT and Candy Pop never had a bond. NT put Candy Pop through so much emotional and physical distress. He despised that jester. For taking away his body, and replacing it with a weaker one. He couldn't even stay in his regular form for long... But he could shapeshift when he was in Candy Pop's form, and that meant he could enact his plans. Only thing is, since they shared the same body, they shared a consciousness. The first several months—years—decades—they shared a body together, it was horrifying for Candy Pop.

♡ Candy Pop was still young. Putting things into perspective, his entire life was stripped from him, along with every ounce of innocence he ever had. He didn't have anyone who could save him. Not a soul. All the other Genyrs were wiped out. His mother was dead. His father couldn't care less about him. The Gods weren't listening. It wasn't until centuries later that Candy Pop formed reliable connections.

♡ When Candy Pop finally grew "comfortable" with sharing a body with NT, NT became more and more insatiable. Candy Pop started giving into everything NT said, not refusing because if he laid low and gained NT's "trust", it'd be easier to get rid of him when the time came. But NT was also arrogant, angry, aggressive. And he'd take out his frustrations onto not only his children and partners, but also Candy Pop. NT found other ways to torment this one.

♡ Candy Pop has moments where he's averse to touch—severely. He'll distance himself from everyone. Only a few people can help him out of this. It's appreciated, because he thinks he's going to die alone. Candy Pop is, otherwise, a physically affectionate guy. He doesn't let just anyone touch him though. Again, his trust can be difficult to earn.

♡ Candy Pop copes with his trauma by being a jester. Surrounding himself with friends and family. Pretending like things aren't as bad as they are. And that's about it.

(dividers by dollywons) ☆

YAY! THAT'S ALL FOR THIS!!! backstory stuff would in fact take me a million years to do so that's going to be in another post i'll make at... some point. thankkk you!

#this is less detailed than jasons #i take requests if anyone wants stuff LMFAO but on this blog its ONLY for the circus themed pastas #slendermansion au #candy pop #candy pop headcanons #creepypasta #creepypasta headcanons #creepypasta rewrite #creepypasta fandom

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meredoubt · 4 months ago

Text

"Training"

Early, establishing incident for @hyperbali's incredible OC, Aavya'Raan vas Nedas, and my traumatized Paragon, Commander Ze'ev Shepard. Set early in Mass Effect 2. About 5k.

(We've got so much lore, so many little stories in messages. The artwork? Fucking phenomenal, y'all don't even know. Working to compile some of the extended one-shots into something a little easier to access. Absolutely obsessed with these two, tbh, they are so messy over time and so complicated and sooooo goooood)

“What do you mean, you ‘don’t count your shots’?”

“It’s not like I usually resort to guns to solve my problems, Shepard!”

Aavya’Raan vas Nedas flinches as another blast hits the warehouse wall over their head, and concrete dust floats down. Looking around for anything they can use, the quarian blindly lobs a toolkit biotically, in a wide arc over their head. It hits something with enough force that one of the many, many Blue Suns they’re fighting cries out.

Ze’ev Shepard and his unwinnable damned situations.

Their suit is giving them comically placid warnings about their “alarming spike in heart rate,” and an extremely minor blaster burn they’ll have to patch. Aavya is over it. They have well and truly had it.

They’ve only been signed on for two weeks, and it’s been non-stop heroic bullshit ever since. Aria T’Loak herself had bothered to negotiate the contract with the Commander, which meant it would be good reliable work. It was supposed to be dangerous, sure, but they’ve known Aria for years, worked with Aria’s contacts more times than they could count. T’Loak is many things-a pain in the ass as a mentor, for one-but she’s always been dependable in the shifting cesspool of Omega. Aavya’s never known her to give them more than they could handle.

…but maybe the money had made Aavya a little less careful than they should’ve been, or their concern for the Flotilla’s vulnerability to the Collectors had blinded them to a rare bad call. Damn it. Damn it all.

They shouldn’t have jumped into bed with Cerberus so quickly, that was abundantly clear. Aavya knew they should’ve listened to their instincts. They’d nearly laughed outright and walked out on the spot, of course, given the organization’s actions, but the Commander-

Well. He’s…something else.

Shepard doesn’t seem like just another Alliance jarhead. They’d been sure he would be; they figured, given the politics, he’d be a nice governable lapdog to someone. Everybody knows what Spectres are really supposed to be like. It’s a job, which means somebody writes his paychecks, so he’s bought. Just a little fancier of an attack dog, for his government or the Council. Simple enough.

Shepard doesn’t seem simple. He might actually mean it.

Doesn’t matter. No Cerberus paycheck is outrageous enough to warrant getting shot at this much. One or two-maybe even three-they could handle without much of a sweat. But this? They couldn’t even lift this many people if they’d had the drop on the mercenaries from the start. And they can’t spend the money if they’re dead. No uptight human is hot enough to put up with these circumstances.

Aavya chances a frantic glance over at said Commander, a scant two feet away.

Shepard is, infuriatingly, completely at ease.

He’s outmanned, in the middle of a four to one gunfight, but he doesn’t even seem alarmed. The human’s wordlessly exchanging a series of completely unintelligible, but emphatic hand signals across the crates. He doesn’t flinch at the gunfire, at the din.

Garrus Vakarian-

-and that had been a whole realization for Aavya, learning that Alliance posterboy Shepard was willing to work with, even seemed to like, the Archangel-

The turian shrugs good-naturedly, and cocks his rifle.

Aavya has no damned idea what they just communicated, but apparently a consensus has been reached.

Shepard brings up his omnitool, deftly enters a command, and turns slightly in Aavya’s direction, those long legs pushing up against their own. He indicates to someplace beyond cover without looking; he knows the layout. His hand is steady, his tone sure.

“Go get ‘em, girl.”

Aavya doesn’t see his drone drop, but they can hear when it does. Human technology has an entirely different sound to anything in the Fleet; feels different, too, every time they try to tinker with it. They can make it work in a pinch, but it gives them a headache. It’s coming from a completely alien perspective, and that shows up from the top down.

The drone shoots bullets just the same, though.

The Commander leans over further into Aavya’s space to be heard, and the quarian tries not to notice.

“Stay down,” Shepard orders loudly over his drone’s gunfire and the confused shouting; about to pull away, he pauses, looks to the scorched part of their suit. The Commander frowns, glances up to their face. “You’ll be okay. We’ll get you out of here.”

Before Aavya can even gather themself to respond, he whistles to Vakarian, and they stand up, rifles handled with practiced ease.

It takes a moment for Aavya to notice what they’re doing (they blame it on the suit warnings, and not on Commander Unattainable’s disarming proximity), as the two exit cover, backing up as they move at a continuous and steady pace, and always away from each other.

Crossfire.

Shepard and Vakarian are chillingly effective, thorough; like they’ve done this hundreds of times before. Aavya almost can’t bear the nearly mechanical shots: one high caliber bullet expended, the next a beat later. Clockwork. And the drone whirring away thoughtlessly, in the center of it all.

The quarian dares a glance over their cover, despite his order, and sees…carnage.

Their stomach churns at the ease of it, the methodical efficiency, the gore. It’s the kind of scene that, if you crossed it going down a familiar alley towards the Afterlife, you’d turn and run. Everyone on Omega knows the most dangerous place to get caught is in the cleanup of a hit.

One merc is left, jabbering away, understandably, covered in his associates’ blood.

Shepard holsters his rifle, brings up his omnitool as he saunters towards the man. Aavya knows this is the boss they’ve been chasing; the datapad they’d glanced at around Shepard’s shoulder suggested he might have bribed one of Aria’s usual runners.

Stupid mistake, they think numbly, jaded. She’d kill you for much less.

The panicked turian suddenly brandishes a pistol on Shepard, trying to stop his approach. He knows he’s not going to get away from whatever Aria has planned for him; knows that his meager chance has slipped away into nothing. The house always wins.

The Commander raises his hands calmly, tries to de escalate, seems almost bored by the threat, even after the turian gives a warning shot that whizzes past Shepard’s head, inches from his greying hair.

But Aavya-

It doesn’t even register when their arm raises.

Bubbling, rippling, overflowing…the dark energy sparking along every nerve, blossoming through every vein, expelled through their very pores and out through their suit. They know the science intellectually, but it’s more than that. Aria had tersely said it was just a tool, when they’d curiously asked her once, how biotics felt to her. They knew she was lying, in her way; to protect them or herself, they didn’t know.

Pure will, made manifest.

It makes so many so afraid.

The mercenary is choking on his terror, suspended in eezo-thick air, gun clattering uselessly to the metal grating at Shepard’s feet.

Reckless, he could’ve shot anyone. I should’ve stayed down. Why did I-

But they slowly let out the held breath; become aware that their whole body is shaking with adrenaline. They just survived another gunfight. They finished it, even.

The mercenary is pleading for his life to anyone who will listen. He has pissed himself. It’s grim, and sad. Vakarian keeps his rifle trained on the babbling Blue Sun, but is already picking up the man’s gun, wincing.

And the Commander-

Shepard’s face is completely impassive.

His red eyes burn straight through Aavya.

* * *

He takes them off the duty roster, until they give in to his demands to undergo combat training, at his discretion.

They stare, unbelieving, at the side of his head, but Shepard does not look up from the message terminal. Companies and contacts still seemed to find him, somehow, even after two years dead.

He’d shown them once, briefly, on their first day on the Normandy, and it seemed completely overwhelming. The man was inundated with threats, thanks, and decades long Alliance reply threads, and he seemingly viewed them all with the same long-suffering acceptance. Aavya wanted to ask why he didn’t just delete his old profiles and start over, but that seemed…personal.

Command suits him like a glove, even at ease. Hunched over the terminal in a hoodie, dutifully reading messages, yet his profile is still distracting. Miss Chambers certainly seems to be surreptitiously noticing.

It all only makes Aavya feel more put-upon by the entire farce of a situation.

“Come on, Commander,” they croon, a final desperate tactic. Don’t keep me locked up on the ship. “We both know I’m an incredible biotic-one of a kind, even-and the sort’ve person it’s always good to have around. You’ve got grunts. You’ve got people who’ll shoot first, ask questions never. And I’m not without my skills; I can be very good in a fight. Give me a chance to work my magic for you.”

They lay their hand on the console just next to his arm. He at least looks down at it, for a long moment, before flicking his eyes up at them…and moving his arm away.

“I don’t work with people who don’t do as they’re told, vas Nedas,” he replies flatly, returning his attention to the screen.

Aavya flinches involuntarily, pulls their hand back to fold their arms.

Shepard pauses. He doesn’t look over, but they can tell he noticed. Of course he did.

“...Aavya. I’m telling you this as your captain: I won’t put any member of my crew in a situation they’re not ready for, and your lack of weapons training will get you killed. I won’t allow it. Dismissed.”

Aavya knows that’s bullshit. They both do. But they also know better than to actively mouth off to the captain of the ship they serve on-their mother would never get over it-so they just mutter an obscenity in Khelish (they swear they see his lips twitch). They ignore the urge to call him on it, and stalk off to their quarters.

At first, those first two or three days, they pace. They idylly daydream they’ll actually do something to piss him off deliberately. Aavya knows they won’t, of course; they’re too smart to get stupid. They’ve dealt with captains swinging their proverbial dicks around before. Still, it feels good to briefly pretend they’ll be that foolish, with Jack.

(“...we could fry the systems with your tech-”

“Jack. That man would hunt us for sport.”

“Spectre asshole.”

Aavya leans back against the pillar, and sighs. They glance over at the other biotic miserably; she’s looking over at them from beneath a raised forearm, laying on her cot.

They’d connected almost instantly; had vented before about all number of things, including how hot the Commander’s infuriating self-righteous schtick is.

Jack barks out a rare caw of a laugh, when they curse.)

So, the plan shifts, to align with…actionable reality.

Collect the absurd paycheck; cruise around on this overpriced (beautiful) joyride (maybe even study it); eat the surprisingly decent food; work on their amp project on Cerberus’ dime-

-and continue to eye Ze’ev Shepard balefully, until he blinks first.

They start making the effort to be in the CIC when the away squad returns. Aavya lays on the charm a little thicker; asks after any fun details of the adventures of their newfound friends.

And they do make friends, in that light casual way that…doesn’t matter at all. They’re liked enough to be reminded of drink nights, or sat with at meals. They haven’t had to be the center of attention in a very long time, but they still remember how to do a version of it, if they really have to. Being drilled on comportment and control as a child…you don’t forget it. Especially from an admiral.

Mordin broaches the subject, at one point, in his way, maybe a week into their unplanned vacation aboard the Normandy. The doctor means well, and if anyone on the crew had earned their trust, it’d be the man who cured the plague that had ravaged the undercity of Omega, but his curiosity is unwelcome.

They don’t really have an answer for him; can’t. Not for anyone who’d ask. They won’t get into their past, ever, if they have a say in it. It’s gone, only present in the agony it engenders when they remember it, and the person who experienced it’s loss…well. They weren’t vas Nedas.

And anyway, it’s not like they’re being completely insincere; it’s just knowing when to be involved, who to talk to. Aavya knows half the battle is just being present in the Commander’s mind, making sure they’re not just another faceless member of the Normandy’s crew.

They can do that. They’re good at it. They can weave their arm through Kasumi’s, and jokingly steal a dextro-fry off Garrus’ plate, and crack jokes with all of them, and watch Shepard watching them.

But the Commander never initiates, is never drawn into their web.

They start to notice how deliberate he is with his time, with his crew. That he is always present, and astonishingly attentive to everyone’s details; but does not often engage.

He doesn’t need to be the center of attention. He simply draws everyone into his orbit, whether he tries or not. He’ll be silent, for long stretches, listening intently; when he opens his mouth to speak, everyone stops to hear.

It makes it very difficult to get under his skin. To win.

Eventually, they sigh, and lose. Just so they won’t be bored.

* * *

He sets course for the Citadel, when they finally give in.

Shepard’s face is completely neutral, and his tone mild, but his eyes hold a glint to them that proclaims victory. Graciously, he says nothing.

They hate how attractive smugness makes him. Aavya pushes the feeling down, a little alarmed by its ferocity and inconvenience. It’s not like they have anywhere to put it, the man’s practically a monk. And he’s Shepard.

But…the Citadel? Not human space? They’d done some feverish research into Alliance training to prepare themself (apparently for nothing), trying to calm their nerves.

Aavya’s playing it cool now, while the two of them are waiting on their shuttle outside C-Sec, but they can acknowledge it privately, in their own head: this feels like a big deal. The quarian’s never been alone with their Commander. They’re a little intimidated, and not just because of the actual session they’re about to endure.

He was getting regularly talked about, even in the Terminus, when he died. Made a splash, had all the pirates and corporations nervous. Even buried as they were at the time, in their own problems, Aavya had heard some version of what he’d accomplished. Not every day someone defends the Citadel, hunts the equally notorious Saren Arterius. Saves the day.

It was all pretty romantic, enough to make them just a hint shy, maybe. Sure, Aavya was certain a lot of it was fake or overexaggerated. But then…he did look so good and right on the recruitment adverts.

The Alliance knew it, too, they thought cynically. You couldn’t escape his soundclips to al-Jilani for a while. Which is why they would’ve bet on him setting up some awful ramshackle course in a field, on some human backwater for their training.

When Aavya hesitantly suggested this during decontamination, Shepard looked at them like they’d grown two heads. It was easily the most emotion they’ve ever seen from him, followed closely by his disapproval when they began to laugh. Loudly.

The Spectres have their own office and training grounds. Who knew.

“You think the Alliance wants anything to do with me?” Shepard points out, glancing over at them as he swings into the cherry red skycar that pulls up.

Aavya eyes the vehicle appreciatively, before sliding in. The interior alone is worth more than apartments they’ve lived in, though not any recently, not since working with Aria. It’s a little disgusting, and absolutely gorgeous. They supposed it made sense, given his other ride.

“I’m surprised the Spectres do, if you’re so much trouble,” they hum playfully.

Shepard’s hands fly across the holo-controls.

“Mm. But the Spectres count on it. They just find it…politically inconvenient, currently.”

Aavya bites their lip, unseen, watching him as he maneuvers the shuttle smoothly between traffic. “So, if you’re so inconvenient…I mean. The Spectres seem more strict than your human military, surely. Why are they letting you waltz right into their office, and use a bunch of their weapons?”

A muscle in his jaw twitches, almost imperceptibly. “I didn’t even go to the Alliance. But as for the Spectres…as if I’d let them tell me no.”

Aavya turns, sudden, to watch the flashing lights, the life, of the station flash by. The billions of lives he’d saved, maybe. They’d be thinking about that answer too much, the conviction in his voice, otherwise; turning it over in their head when they had so much else to worry about. The upcoming training, if nothing else.

“So…quality time, alone with the Commander. What will the others think, Shepard?” Aavya teases, a little too brightly, after a beat. May as well have fun.

Ze’ev snorts. “That you’re a terrible shot.”

“I’m a great shot, when the odds aren’t outlandish.”

The Commander doesn’t answer. Aavya knows he heard them.

* * *

The sheer number of guns Shepard signs out when they sign into the range is daunting.

Aavya eyes the lineup, as he inspects each one, checks the chamber, and lays it carefully on the long bench. It’s overwhelming. They can’t even use most of these. Their nervousness builds in their chest, makes them fidget. The quiet doesn’t help.

They’d tried to make conversation, but when he seemed to mostly be listening rather than bantering back, intent on his task, it only made the anxiety build. Seeing all this makes it feel like work, makes them feel out of their depth. It starts to really feel like they’re not supposed to be here, with these people, on this mission.

They don’t need him to make them feel that. He was the reason they’d even taken a chance on this stupid thing, to begin with.

Finally, Shepard seems satisfied. He turns towards them, begins shrugging off his jacket.

Arms, Aavya thinks dully, dutifully.

“So, ground rules,” he begins. “One, no biotics.”

He holds up a hand as if to preemptively curtail an argument that wasn’t coming; when it doesn’t, he tilts his head slightly.

“...interesting.”

Aavya shrugs, smiling ruefully as though he can see it. “I know what I’m in for.”

“Do you.” There’s challenge there, in his tone, and the slight lift of a dark eyebrow.

The quarian sighs, and leans against the bench. They look down at the pistols, the only weapon they have any experience with, and gesture, maybe a little dejectedly.

“Commander…I’m never going to be good with most of the guns you signed out. I don’t have the years of experience with anything here that you’d need. I’m a great shot-truly, when it counts-but we both know where my primary skills lay. It’s why you took me on.”

They make themself look up at him; it causes something in them to flinch, curl away and in. The unguardedness of his expression, in the ease of his body, in his folded arms. The way his eyes rove over a face they know he can’t see.

“So, yes. I understand ‘no biotics.’ Because that’s not why we’re here. I’d tear this room apart, if it was about my…ability to destroy.”

They almost can’t say this part-it sticks in their throat-and the next part is harder. They can’t meet his gaze, no matter how hard they try.

“You know I’m capable. You know I prefer biotics, and talking more. This is about the rules themselves. You can’t stand when I struggle to obey.”

Well, they’re in it, now. Aavya runs a finger along the dark countertop, scuffed with use. They brace.

“I won’t,” he says sharp and sudden, and they flinch. He clears his throat, and his voice is less stern. “Tolerate it. It’s about safety, Aavya.”

Shepard hesitates, weighing something.

“I need to be able to trust you to trust my judgement. That’s what we’re struggling with. I take information, interpret it, and make calls, and if you’re with me, that’s what you agree to, alright?”

Aavya nods, small. They sense, hear, him come close. When he speaks again, it’s…not soft, exactly. But it’s earnest. It cares.

“You listen, and I keep you safe, and between us, we change things for the better. We will save everyone we can, because…” they see him, in the periphery, gesture between them, “...we move together. I don’t need to look back to make sure you get out alright, because if you’ve listened, I know you’re safe. And I need to know you’ll follow me, no matter where we may go. That’s our deal. That’s what I ask.”

Aavya can’t respond, not with the lump in their throat. It feels like they’re getting a dressing down, but it’s not unkind, and that makes it so much worse. It makes them…angry, and embarrassed, and-

It’s because Shepard really means it. He really believes they can be part of this, that they can accomplish the insane, insurmountable task ahead of his crew. That they’ll be able to get through the uncharted Omega 4 relay, defeat the Collectors, and…ride off into the sunset at the end. They can read it, in every line of him. That’s what he intends to do.

Aavya’s finding that they are upset because…they don’t want to disappoint him. And where the fuck did that come from?

Shepard paces, just slightly, just a little, like he can’t stand still. There’s an energy between them that is not good, but also isn’t bad. Just-changing, maybe. He continues thoughtfully, almost to himself, like he isn’t tearing into them in ways he can’t possibly know. He has to know.

“What we’re doing…it’s too important for you to introduce doubt, for me. Too many people are counting on the choices I make. There is so much out here that will swallow us whole if I make the bad call. And I can’t know when to let you go as far as you want, out into all of it, without trusting I’ll be able to draw you back in. I won’t have that on my conscience.”

His eyes are intent on them, intense. At some point, Aavya looked up-couldn’t help it-and now they find they can’t look away. He’s…resplendent, with his conviction, his drive. They’ve never seen anything like it, and they’ve seen leaders before.

They are glad for the mask obscuring their face, for the bench supporting their hip.

Shepard looks down the long road of weaponry he’d had brought out for them. It’s a small army’s worth.

“I know you can’t use most of these. I wouldn’t ever ask you to,” he agrees, surprisingly gently. “But I’ve been wracking my brain about our problem, our issue. And it occurred to me that the only real way for you to believe me, was if I could demonstrate why I have my job. It’s challenging, trying to…translate my experience to people. There’s not really a way to describe it with words. I’m sure you have much that I’ll never fully understand, too,” he adds quickly, almost in apology.

“So…yeah. This is the closest I could come up with. Adjust your audio levels,” he adds, the spell broken almost mundanely, like he doesn’t know what he is, as he indicates the protection he’s about to put over his own ears. “And step back…we’ll call it ten feet. Some of these kick.”

Aavya’s eyes go wide, but they do as he orders, somewhat sluggishly. The quarian feels almost exhausted, numb, like they’re fighting off a fever, but their suit’s quiet. They hug their own arms, as he walks to the left and picks up the first rifle. Surely, he can’t mean-

Shepard glances over at them, and taps his ear in a question. Aavya nods, without thinking. The human turns, hits the target button on the underside of the bench, and lets out a long breath.

Everything goes by shockingly fast, but then, he clearly knows what he’s doing.

It’s rote practice, muscle memory. Calculations and angles he’s had to run so many times that he must feel the weight, the swing of his arm, the way each weapon favours one side or the other when the hammer hits. The guns that spray, he knows how to conserve bullets. The lasers, he knows how to charge. When he gets to the precision weapons, it’s art, it’s textbook, it’s perfect.

Aavya knows just enough to know they’re standing on the edge of a cliff, and it’s a long way down. They watch as he lifts, shoots, reloads, places back down in almost mechanical motion…at least three dozen times. They lose count. They couldn’t tell you what happened, yet every second is seared into their brain, as though they could experience the entirety of it again in an instant.

When he places down the final rifle, there’s a moment of silence. Shepard doesn’t look at them.

“...holy shit, Ze’ev,” Aavya breathes. They blanch immediately, but he waves them off.

“As I said: a demonstration. I’m hoping it helped convey my point.” He finally looks over. “I know what I’m doing, Aavya’Raan.”

* * *

They practice, legitimately, for some time after. It’s easier, now that they’ve cleared the air. Shepard shares his criticism thoughtfully and his praise sincerely, which helps. Aavya finds they don’t bristle at it, the way they might’ve before. They can tease him again, and he deigns to respond to some of it, and it feels…good. They feel good. Really good.

They feel companionable, now; not again, but for the first time, maybe. He’s easier to be around, when it’s just them.

The praise is even…well. They’ll deal with it. It’s truly unfair that he’s just-like that.

It’s starting to get on, and Shepard indicates it’s about time to head out, when he stops. He’s looking down the range, and starts adjusting the holo-targets with a furrowed brow. His face pulls only slightly, but it conveys a lot, for the Commander. Shepard shakes his head.

“...this has been bugging me for weeks, it’d drive me crazy if we didn’t try it while we’re here. Test your standard. I’m aware the biotics will always be your go-to, but I wouldn’t feel right if we didn’t look it over. Something’s off.”

Aavya hesitates, but proffers their heavily modified gun.

Shepard takes it slowly, and stares down at it.

“...alright. I’m starting to understand,” he huffs dryly.

They’re roused to action. “Don’t badmouth my work, Shepard. I’m quarian. You’ll cause an incident.”

He ignores them, inspecting their weapon more thoroughly. “It’s impressive, Aavya. If I wasn’t persona non grata to every law-enforcement agency, I might even feel bad about not caring. It’s astonishingly dangerous. I’m not even sure where you’d find some of these parts.”

Aavya can’t help but preen, just a little bit. “You say the sweetest things.”

Shepard relents, and hands their gun back carefully. He taps his fingers consideringly along the surface of the bench, looking downrange. “...alright, so it’s not the gun. That seems custom to fit your uses. Hm. Try out some of these. It might help us figure out what the discrepancy is that I’m noticing, without having to mess with your actual weapon.”

“Good. You don’t know what I’ve rigged it to do,” Aavya replies archly, picking up the Acolyte and getting into firing stance.

“I can only imagine,” he deadpans. “...ah. Loosen your hips, pay attention to the weight distribution on your feet.”

At their sidelong glance, he sighs.

“People always think it’s the shoulders, but it almost never is. There’s your problem. Wasn’t sure while we were training, but now I think I’ve got it. Admittedly, I don’t know how the Flotilla trains, or the specifics of Quarian anatomy that would influence what they tell you.”

“...I could always answer any questions you might have about ‘Quarian anatomy,’ Shepard,” Aavya teases over their shoulder. “Give you a thorough crash course.”

They can feel him shooting them a look.

“I’m sure you’d like that,” he replies darkly. “But no. No sex at the gun range. There’s a rule.”

Aavya laughs low, turning to him, firing stance utterly forgotten. “Now, who said anything about sex, Shepard? I think you’re-wait. You’re joking?”

Damn their curiosity. Shepard actually chuckles, his flash of teeth doing all sorts of pleasant things to them. Damn, damn, damn.

“If you actually put the work in and we fix your stance so I won’t need to worry about it, I’ll even set you up to ask the poor guy at the desk about it.”

Aavya dutifully turns back to the targets, and thinks, carefully trying to follow his advice. Shepard being a little mean? This they’ve gotta see, they’ll earn it.

“Promise?” they hum playfully, sighting down scope.

They jump slightly when his hands alight at their hips, correcting just a little. Aavya shivers, and Shepard goes very still behind them. The moment hangs between them, heavy. They hear him breathe out, and they could swear it’s off.

Ze’ev steps back.

“Promise,” the Commander teases lightly.

#aavya'raan vas nedas #ze'ev shepard #mass effect

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ben-drowned-me · 1 year ago

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hi! could you write some general hc for Jeff and Toby? Also could you talk about more about your canon plsss?

✧.* gen jeff and toby headcanons

-aaa of course !! i love jeff and toby so much

for my canon, I like to think that i just kind of make the characters more real. For most of their original canon stories, or for the fanon versions of them, their characters are made to be just killing machines with a little bit of angst and the story of whatever caused it. I base them off my favourite versions of their stories (or combine), but i give them flaws and little quirks that make them into an actual character rather than a person. I also try to write in how they are all traumatized people because thats usually brushed off. I wouldn't mind going into more detail if you'd like :3

jeff the killer

incredibly close with liu before everything went down, now he just feels guilty being around him

hardcore metal and punk fan. Screeching Weasel, Benighted, To The Grave. stuff like that

Has night terrors. Rooms with Ben because he's the only one who can calm him down when he awakes.

Soft spot for animals (usually prefers cats but doesn't say anything to Smile)

Grew up in a very strict catholic family

Is the self-proclaimed "white boy" of the mansion but is hispanic

Pushes his emotions away until something really triggers him

When he finally gets triggered, it does not end well

Full breakdowns. Rage, Depression. He goes through all of it in the span of like 2 days.

Everyone gives him space except Ben

No mirrors in his room. Avoids ones outside

phantom pain from the burns

he looks absolutely atrocious. Probably the worst of all the creeps but to be fair he went through severe body trauma

For a grown man, he's on the skinner side

still really fucking strong though

Can't sleep without noise. One of the reasons he rooms with Ben so much bc hes loud

Messy room. Does not clean, does not know where anything is

only really uses the top of his face to show emotion because he's scared of re-opening his mouth scars

He would spend hundreds of dollars at bath and body works but all the scents he picks up would clash so badly

the kind of guy to say no when someone asks for something but then get 3 of it

listens to british rap unironically

toby rogers

mentioned before, but hates waffles. Any classic breakfast food he dislikes but those are the worst

a collector. His room is filled with small little trinkets he's picked up. Has a rock or button collection

Probably the worst of the creeps emotionally

Was raised in a pretty toxic environment.. Never learned how to manage his emotions. Has too many of them and they change too often so he kind of just. explodes

Usually extreme rage or goes nonverbal

is autistic idc

very ! bad ! ptsd

nervous around male authoritative figures

initially refused to eat at the dinner table since it was a requirement of his fathers, but is getting better at it

soft spot for kids, will let sally dress him up and do his makeup

religious guilt though he was never religious

finds EJ to be very good company, he enjoys the atmosphere

speaking of EJ, he taught Toby a lot of medical care since he's not always available

sleeps on the floor pretty often

kind of an asshole sometimes

master of sarcasm tbh

#creepypasta #ticci toby #jeff the killer #creepypasta incorrect quotes #creepypasta headcanons #creepypasta x reader

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a-e-redacted · 6 months ago

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I kind of always wondered in your fic why Eda has let Moon live in the owl house when it makes King sort of clearly uncomfortable and puts him in an inherently unsafe position. I know Eda also can’t really take Moon somewhere else and I feel that but I think King is never 100% safe if Moon is just there. I think Moon could totally kill King (again) thinking he’s getting a rise out of him and only realize what he’s done after the fact, and IF he managed to bring King back through some means he’d never be allowed near him again.

I think it’s a combination of being too far into bringing Moon into the family by now, along with an (un)healthy dose of denial on Eda’s part. She has good intentions and is a fierce mama witch but that doesn’t mean she’s thought everything through or makes the right call in every case. While Eda isn’t intentionally repeating the patterns of her mother, she might do well to be a bit more cautious.

Now that King and Moon have had a bigger fight, it’s an issue she’ll find harder to ignore.

And I say this with all the love and affection in the world for Eda Clawthorne. She’s one of my favorite characters of all time in any media ever, I relate to her a tremendous amount and most of this fic is from her POV.

But MoonShadow was never meant to be a clean cut story of morally pure characters doing morally pure things. It’s a messy story of flawed people doing their best to navigate life in unstable circumstances. Sometimes they succeed, sometimes they fuck up.

Not gonna’ lie, I wrote and rewrote the latest chapter (64) multiple times over the past five and a half months, trying to get just the right amount of nuance. It’s a different dynamic than we see in a lot of portrayals of King and The Collector and I worried that I might upset readers by their antagonistic interactions in this chapter.

Moon and King are foils to each other, and I wanted to stay true to the complexity of their relationship in the MoonShadow verse. Since the fic was drafted before season three, the Archivists aren’t really a component of the story of the Titan Trappers. Their inclusion in canon drastically changes The Collector’s position in the conflict and simplifies the redemption process.

Without that aspect in MoonShadow…it’s a lot messier.

I do think Moon has a few more inhibitions than they did since they did experience King dying once before and were traumatized by it. That, along with the house rules helps keep Moon in check somewhat, but their extremely volatile personality does have a tendency to get the best of them at the worst possible times.

Unfortunately Moon still hasn’t quite learned the concept of compassion for others. How they treat Starfishie is especially indicative of this, I think.

Moon’s “concern” for King’s well-being is strictly because of how it makes THEM feel personally. Their protectiveness towards the Owl Family is possessiveness of those who make THEM feel cared for and provide THEM with affection. It’s still all based on what Moon is getting out of it.

King has some extremely valid concerns and reservations about sharing his house and family with The Grand Huntsman themself, but he doesn’t necessarily hate them - despite his recent outburst.

He’s as fascinated by Moon as he is afraid of them, and he does feel for and relate to them. After all, he did release them for a second time, bringing them physically to the Owl House. However he’s also aware that this would be considered unbecoming for a Titan, and he’s desperately trying to live up to his legacy.

King has always been someone with a penchant for extreme dramatics (he actually has this in common with Moon) and it stands to reason that this would manifest in different ways as he moves into adolescence. He has a lot of complicated emotions regarding Moon and it was simpler just to attack them and yell at them (again, for reasons that are very much justified).

Now, however, at the end of the chapter, King is starting to rethink some things.

And WOW, this got long. But thank you so much for the ask. MoonShadow has been such a fun story to write and it makes me happy to know that it’s made you ponder things enough to take the time to share your thoughts!

#asks #phoenixparadoxreactivated #the owl house #moonshadow au #toh the collector #king clawthorne #eda clawthorne #moonshadow au starfishie #authors notes #owl house fan fiction #owl house collector

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carcrash429 · 7 days ago

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ahhh so many intriguing titles, but i'll go with 'the curse of small desires' 👀🙏 it sounds so good

'the curse of small desires' is for an event I organized where you pick a song and create a fanwork inspired by the song (in this case the song is Good in Red by The Midnight -- excellent synth vibes)

the broad concept is Tony Stark and Jason Todd becoming serial killers together after their respective traumatic backstory events, and it's from an outsider POV with an OC who's got voyeuristic tendencies.

fairly different from what I usually write, which makes it both a lot of fun and kind of a challenge XD

snippet:

Ray rocked back slightly as the details clicked into place. He knew these people. Or, he knew of these people, knew who they were. Iron Man and the Red Hood, two men that folks only ever spoke of in hushed tones. Violent, dangerous men in a city full of violence and danger.

And the man they were threatening, well, Ray knew him, too.

A crook and a swindler, unaffiliated with the gangs or the cops, but seemingly untouchable by either. A collector of information, but unlike Ray, he didn’t keep what he knew to himself. No, instead he used it to keep people under his thumb, extorting them and blackmailing them to get whatever he wanted.

Ray found himself unmoved to intervene in the man’s imminent death.

It would be a benefit to the neighborhood, really. A community service.

#carcrash writing #ask games #thanks for asking!!

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mechs-headcanons · 1 month ago

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50% headcanon and 50% meta:

to me, Carmilla is very much a Victor Frankenstein (the literary one, not the song one) parallel. like Victor, i believe that at one point she did love the Mechanisms, specifically the first few that lived in close proximity to her the longest. she loved them in the same way a collector loves their collection, a scientist their achievements, in the same way the Creature and Victor are inexorably connected.

at one point maybe there even was a maternal motivation, but it was not her controlling factor. Carmilla is a scientist first and foremost.

i don’t think she could be their mother. in the same way that Victor created this Creature that he should have raised but did not, Carmilla could not be that for them but should have.

to them, she was their maker, their mother. to her, they were simply her creations. yes, she cared for them. but no, she could not give them the affection they wanted and needed. i dont think she would consider them her children. they are her creations, her life’s work, her successful experiments.

the difference between her and Victor Frankenstein is that while he abandoned his creature, she could not stop messing with hers. she just doesn’t stop—she Mechanizes more people and the degree to which these mechanizations are done with explicit consent is left very (and i think intentionally) vague. she keeps working on the elders’ Mechanisms.

the thing is she does not and can not consider how this might feel to the Mechs. i think that Carmilla truly and fully believes that she is doing this for their own good, that it is a favor—so to speak. she is improving them. but mostly, i think she doesn’t consider their feelings on this because they are her experiments. all the work she does is for her research, so it’s okay. this is how she justifies it and not even that, that’s just how she works.

my headcanons begin and my analysis kinda ends is here. my headcanon is that Carmilla’s experiments on the Mechs weren’t pleasant. they were painful and traumatizing and due to their regeneration anesthesia wears off with every death, done despite protests. i can’t imagine Carmilla being doting, so to speak.

this headcanon and her canonical indifference to the Mechs feelings is why i think they pushed her out the airlock.

this is just my interpretation and i really do LOVE all the differing interpretations of her that i see. and at the end of the day, im not even really bashing her. she’s so complex that its hard for me to fully hate her or fully love her

—🕰️

oh absolutely. i love this interpretation a lot. very good.

#mechcanon #the mechanisms #askcanon #dr carmilla #🕰️ anon

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logolepsy-babble · 9 months ago

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Watching Guardians of the Galaxy and I feel like assigning Marauders characters Marvel characters (mostly Guardians)

James Potter - Peter Quill

- Honestly the vibes are there.

- Both very goofy and Peter is extremely strong but also a bit of a weirdo who goes by codenames. Sound familiar?

- He’s mischievous, it fits.

- Likes people that try to kill him.

- Too trusting.

- Arrogant

Regulus Black - Gamora

- Gamora and Regulus are both cold.

- Gamora betrayed Ronan like how Regulus betrayed Voldemort.

- Very violent.

- Very hated by the public for working for a killer.

- Speaks cryptic.

- Bad relationship with sibling who is hated.

- Knowledgeable.

- Differing morals to Ronan/Thanos (Voldemort).

- Sheltered.

- Died while trying to save the world from Thanos (Voldemort).

Barty Crouch Jr. - Drax

- Became a killer for revenge when Thanos killed his lover.

- Violent and blood thirsty.

- Horrifying and unhinged (in a comical way sometimes)

- Jokes are odd af, but enjoyable and sometimes hilarious.

- Smart but definitely not street smart

Pandora Rosier - Mantis

- Very kind hearted and takes care of others.

- Very soft spoken and hard to dislike.

- Comforting person to the point of wanting to protect her.

Rubeus Hagrid - Groot

- Doesn’t entirely think before acting.

- A big oaf. /lovingly

- Extremely strong and knowledgeable but doesn’t use brain a lot of the time.

- Man of few words.

- Good friends with Rocket.

Remus Lupin - Rocket

- An animal that was experimented on (Technically Dumbledore “experimented” on him).

- Silly.

- Extremely smart and overlooked in that case.

- Very determined.

- Brutally honest.

- Insecure.

- Good friends with Groot.

- Angry easily.

- A bit insensitive sometimes.

Sybill Trelawney - The Collector

- They’re odd. I just can’t think of anyone else.

- Collects odd shit.

Voldemort - Thanos

- It just feels right idk

Rudolphus Lestrange - Ronan

- Following Thanos (Voldemort)

- A cruel killer who doesn’t care about who dies.

- Betrays Thanos when is stronger (HC Lestrange would do that to Voldemort if he could)

Bellatrix Black - Nebula

- Sold off by family in hopes could serve them better.

- Killer and violent.

- Traumatized from constant criticism.

- Not seen as human due to loss of something crucial (for Bella her sanity, for Nebula her body)

- Plausibly enjoys killing.

Sirius Black - Scott Lang

- Went to prison (LMAOOOO).

- Though got out of prison, went back to crime.

- Protective of family.

- Tired of people.

- Falls for the confident and intelligent people. (I will argue Remus for this even though technically in this AU they wouldn’t get together 😔 Unless he’s a werecoon… 🤨).

- Very good at sneaking around and mischief.

- Good at thieving.

- Brings best friend into everything.

Remus Lupin (Alternately) - Hope Pimm

(- Haha his mother’s name.)

- Sassy.

- Very blunt and doesn’t take shit.

- Falls for the dorky person.

- Intelligent and very creative.

- Wants to prove self as worthy with every possible task.

- Overworks self.

- Confident.

Evan Rosier - Dave (Ant-Man)

- He’s a background character.

- Chill, but a criminal.

- I think it’s funny so I’m doing it.

Couldn’t Figure Out:

- Yondu

#marauders #james potter #regulus black #sirius black #barty crouch jr.#pandora rosier #rubeus hagrid #sybill trelawney #remus lupin #evan rosier

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sepublic · 7 months ago

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I don’t think the time loop devalues Luz not having a natural destiny as established in Witches before Wizards, because there’s no higher power deciding what Luz’s life and presence means for her; There’s no actual God designing Luz as a savior before she’s born, it’s just the laws of physics preventing a paradox. A Puritan delusional about predestination tells Luz that it’s her ‘destiny’ to meet him, but she dismisses this as balderdash, which seems to me a deliberate acknowledgment by the writers.

Luz’s lesson in the second episode was that she wasn’t going to have an empowering good destiny that would give her everything she wanted like she hoped for; Luz would have to take agency to make people like her instead of waiting to be told she’s special. That still happened! Similarly, King wanted to have been special, decided he didn’t care for that, only to be a Titan after all and find misery in the fact.

And the time loop for Luz was one of the worst, most traumatic revelations she’s ever had, it’s a core factor into her suicidal depression, motivates her into almost sacrificing her dream and happiness out of guilt, the exact opposite of justifying it. It’s something Luz has to build herself back up from, in spite of not because. There’s nuance and irony. Because if Luz’s destiny as defined by Belos is to help him hunt witches by bringing him to the Collector, Luz defies this bad destiny by saving the isles instead.

Because Luz decides what her destiny is; Luz decides what she’s here in the isles for, it’s what Eda tells her when explaining that she’s no chosen one, in the same speech where Luz decides to make her fantasy happen instead of waiting for it to be decided by another. She literally made her destiny by starting the time loop with Lilith.

Luz has to be her own kind of witch, she has to once more choose for herself whether to stay or leave even after the loop, when she’s free of it. The Titan is just some dude can’t decide for Luz if she accepts his power and becomes the chosen one she worked to become, she has to choose and keep choosing.

Even the time loop, as Luz chooses to engage with it, goes against what Belos claims she’s meant for; Luz is also choosing to help and uplift a witch that Belos hates, and when the conflict is done, uses her last hours in the past to help Lilith self-actualize. It’s not her cursed fate to destroy everything she touches in both the isles and the human world, Luz has done so much more good, and the good is something she chose to do, something she helped make happen in spite of the bad, with those who accepted her help.

Luz coming across the Portal was fate; Not in the sense that it was all planned out by some higher power. But that it’s coincidence, and it’s something Luz chooses to accept and make use of in her own way, for her own purposes. After fulfilling the time loop and having no more obligations to temporal physics, Luz still chose to go back, saving the isles not just once but a second time.

The ending of Elsewhere and Elsewhen is Lilith the witch reassuring Luz that she doesn’t need to emulate Philip the human to do what he does; Lilith being more correct than she imagined, because that human is the system Luz was trying to avoid following in the first place. She doesn’t need to be like Belos, believing God has a destiny for her, to be special. Belos was wrong, Luz did not arrive to play the role set out for her, she’s the disruptor she’s always been, rebelling against an ancestor of the system.

Because people decide, people assign meaning, people choose, there is no higher power to attribute things towards. It’s just people and coincidence, you determine but not in a Libertarian kind of way because everyone needs opportunities and chances, to be better or to be a witch, these are things that should also be given and they don’t have to pull themselves up by their bootstraps to receive. But they do have to accept.

#The Owl House #Luz Noceda #Meta

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honeyhonest · 2 months ago

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I'm loving the idea that Crowley is so utterly unfuckable in everyone's eyes no one would think he managed to have sexy times even with the most damning evidence; he's black and blue with hickeys and the only possible explanation is that he got (rightfully) beaten up by tax collectors or very angry mosquitoes. He bashfully turns away mid-making out like "n-noo.! They'll knooow" no one ever knows no one would ever think Crowley is capable of having sex. Even the staff would rather believe in an inexplicable indoor tornado that tore away his and the prefect's clothes than to imagine Dire Crowley could fuck AND that someone would fuck him- if caught in the act it's the most traumatizing and disturbing experience for the unlucky witness; 'the headmage has a dick???' kinda change of worldview

HELPPP MEEEEE!!! HELP

like, no one wants to imagine their teachers having sex (unless you're into that?) no one wants to imagine their boss having sex, either. crowley is like a thousand years old, his birth probably predates the advent of written language, everyone would sooner imagine trein getting laid. crowley is also like, noticeably lonely, isn't well liked by his peers, isn't respected by his students, no one is thinking "oh yeah the headmage is going home to a warm meal and a spouse every night" because it's pretty obvious He is Not. it WOULD be more believable that he'd come down with some horrible rash, rather than a sexual partner giving him hickeys

I'm always fond of the idea that yuu and crowley are not doing a good job at keeping their affair a secret, it's just that NO ONE would suspect they're fucking before, say, embezzling funds together. crowley is so neutered and the prefect is so well-liked and respected, those two things don't go together in the general population's minds. only the keen-eyed, observant problem-solvers like jamil would figure out the truth. though, they wouldn't say anything about it, either

(though, and let's not kid ourselves- if anyone was suspected to be sleeping with the headmage, it's yuu)

#✧˖°.asks

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mdhwrites · 11 months ago

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if you've seen Steven universe how would you compare it to TOH? I've seen many takes that TOH is Steven Universe 'done correctly' which drives me up a wall, especially since TOH has a lot of the same flaws as SU (pretty much everyone has to be tied to steven in some way- the same way everyone's gotta tie into Luz, White Diamond pisses me off for the same reason the collector does and dear god both finales are messes and the worldbuilding is also kind of messy) but pretty much everyone can agree that Steven Universe's themes of restorative justice are good, its themes surrounding interpersonal relationships and intergenerational trauma is good- I've seen people justify how TOH handles its villains 2 ways "its doing steven universe's restorative justice but like correctly" or "its about killing your oppressors, which steven should have done" which is dumb. Idk this fandom has a huge hate-boner for SU and Amphibia in general though. I also saw someone have the take the collector and belos where foils which... Is weird I can see where they come from but they never are put together in a way that highlights their similarities and differences. So what are some actual comparisons that can made between the shows outside of LGBT characters and surface level stuff?

Sadly I have not seen Steven Universe so I can't really comment on much of it. I've seen the first episode (both halves), decided the gems were insufferable to me and Steven was okay and went on with my life because at the time, I was a full time college student and a part time Walmart employee. I do like some of the songs that have reached me but I never got an in with the show, especially since my early experience with it was much like Gravity Falls where I heard a lot of high concept stuff about it but not much about why I would actually enjoy a given episode, what was enjoyable about the characters, etc. like that. Honestly, the only criticism I know of for it is that people hate the ending.

BUT.

I have seen one other thing. I have seen about twenty minutes of the Steven Universe movie. With that I can say one thing definitively even if it's not clearing a high bar: The Diamond's turn to good is better than the Collector's because they have literally ANY reason to listen to the person preaching at them. The Collector doesn't. In fact, he has no reason to reform and it is drastically out of character for him to care about... Anyone?

Let me start on the Diamond's side because I don't have a lot to say about this but it is something I'm surprised I haven't heard anyone talk about: They were clearly traumatized by the loss of Pink Diamond. Whether or not you think this is a good part of the plot isn't what matters, the point is that this is a literal fact to the story. This grief has gone unresolved for literal decades (just going by Steven's lifespan, someone in my Discord provided the context that they blamed themselves for her DEATH, not just disappearance, for CENTURIES which only bolsters the point I'm making) and has festered in them a desperation for their old comrade? Friend? I don't 100% know but you get the point. So when her son arrives and can't be kept by force, they're going to be pretty amenable to listen to whatever demands means keeping him around. Is that great? No, I wouldn't say it is as the question of what happens when Steven dies is there but it works for forcing them to consider the consequences of their actions and how they may need to change to have the life they desire. It is a compelling force for the first step of change. It's not amazing but it is at least functional from a narrative standpoint, an emotional standpoint and from a character standpoint. Not that it's great but that it is functional. You can string together how this works without having to just invent bullshit.

The Collector has none of these three because he's the literal fucking worst.

I've talked about this before but the Collector isn't the child the fandom treats him as. Even if we try to disconnect the second season version of the Collector, who very much so knows what death is and the consequences of his actions, S3 Collector does have a foil to Belos: He's an actual colonizing piece of shit. Not in that he is literally colonizing places but in mindset. Everything to him is something to be used for his entertainment or enrichment or it is to be stripped of all rights and brutally oppressed until it fits the role he desires. This is what happens when you become a LITERAL. FUCKING. DOLL. And he even has enforcers like the armies colonies would use that have wildly more powerful magic, i.e. technology, in order to make that oppression more seamless. Remember: Hexside is actively hiding from roaming stars that he just has going around the Isles that hoover up people, making at least those who resist into dolls immediately without question, and then bringing them to him to be new play toys in his game. That is explicitly what he has been doing to the entire Isles for MONTHS once S3 episode 2 happens.

People do not matter to him and this even extends to King. When King steps out of line, The Collector cracks the whip. He's even willing to KILL KING for having the gall of caring about anyone other than him. Those death games would be just as lethal to King as it would be to Eda and Luz after all. And if you actually do divorce S2's "PLAY AMONGST THE BONES!" line (which is fucking awful because you have to remove literally all of the first appearances of a character which is usually considered, you know... Bad) and believe that he doesn't know what death is... He knows what pain is. He knows what torture is. He knows the despair of being trapped in a space where you can't move or act or do anything except watch as an observer on a world that could destroy you at any moment because your prison is all of your being.

And then he makes people into dolls, with consciousness, without a second thought. He is willing to BREAK people in order to make them play along. His literal plan was to shatter the bodies of the Owl House trio over and over and over again until they were subservient to his desires. That is WORSE than just wanting to kill them. And he only stops to throw a tantrum because he fails to succeed and starts whining about it like any selfish asshole not getting his way. Not like a child: Like a selfish asshole.

So with ALL of this, what does the show do to try to make him consider the consequences of his actions? Well... Nothing. It claims it's trying to do something but the tour with the trio is much more a circle jerk about how amazing the show was and how much could have happened if not for the shortening ("That sounds like something that could have been its own spin off!" Or whatever King says to Eda talking about her and Raine's time at Hexside) than it is about talking to the Collector. There's a couple lines here and there, talking to him about what works for making friends but does it stick?

No, the Collector learns nothing and in mocking Steven Universe, they make that clear. The Collector is told that people are complex and you must show compassion. Rather than actually believing this, he uses it like a blunt hammer, just like all of his other solutions, to make a problem of his go away. That's why he hugs Belos and assumes it will work. He is not considering the complexity of humanity or the person he is applying this to. It is just to solve a problem so he'll get praised and go back to playing his games. Nothing. More.

And then he fucks off instead of fixing the damage he'd done because why would he stay? Why would he help? He hasn't learned anything and he doesn't want to help these people. He has NO motivation for why he helps save the Archive except otherwise he loses his sweet crash pad. So afterwards? He's gonna go somewhere where he can be himself and not be scolded for it because this toy is no longer fun.

Edit: He does stay to change everyone back from dolls. That much more falls into the "It's the ending, we have to have the problem only he can fix be fixed by him" despite the fact that he is responsible for so much more destruction that would theoretically be pretty easy for him to fix as well. He only does what is demanded of him for the sake of a happy ending, not because of character motivation, not from how I see it at least.

The most condemning part of this is that it's all around Luz. All around someone he doesn't like. He sees Luz as trying to take away his only friend after all and, you know, he is correct about that. They don't even try to hide that fact during the tour. They're still clearly upset with him and not even trying to be his friend, they're just lecturing him. It doesn't work from a character perspective, a narrative perspective or an emotional one. King MIGHT have with better writing, there's a reason I always wanted the Collector redeemed by one of his games forcing him to have to kill King by the rules he made before breaking it and having to face how that's unfair and cruel to others since they wouldn't get that leniency, but that's not how the show plays it. King is an unwilling servant for one episode and then VERY against the Collector in the next until after the death games. When he first shows up, King isn't trying to mediate, he is ready to fight just like the other two. He's not the Collector's friend and he never was so why would the Collector bother listening to him?

That is why me saying the Diamonds, even with my limited knowledge, works better than the Collector is almost literally the worst you can do when it comes to something like this. All the setup is wrong, the catalyst requires explicit retcons and don't work with the character and the payoff is... Nothing. Literally nothing. The only way to have done it worse is to have had everyone praise the Collector before he then stabbed Amity and no one acted like that was a problem. It can only function because we are TOLD he's redeemed even if he never shows it.

Andrias standing alone as a farmer, accepting the punishment for his actions and trying to make better on them, is such better payoff to a redemption arc than anything the Collector gets and his redemption was in character and setup by his past. So then let's get to one of your last points: Why is it that the TOH fandom rags on SU and Amphibia so much, especially for their endings, when theirs is such shit?

Well... Because that's the reputation of TOH. That it is the 'good' one. That it is better than almost all other media. The show itself, with moments like the Collector mocking the SU ending by hugging Belos, reinforces this. As such, for you to criticize TOH as failing in a department that other shows are not rapturously praised for is to fall out of sync with the show itself. As such, all other works must be placed beneath it, especially if those are widely believed to have a flaw in an element to then raise TOH up with. This is part of why so many people want to say the Amphibia ending is wrong because the Amphibia ending is brave and controversial and saying something while the TOH ending?

I mean... Do you really think the Collector's the only part of it objectively flawed like this? Because if a major redemption for your big bad is botched this badly, you can bet other problems exist. I've talked about them at length. But there are probably people out there who would call me the Lily Orchard of TOH if I was better known.

See you next tale.

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That last line isn't an endorsement of Lily Orchard btw, just that I have to imagine it's the label I would be given. What little exposure I've had to her works is... YIKES. Just fucking yikes. My Discord has really enjoyed every time I've live reacted to a video of hers they've posted there. sigh

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

#the owl house criticism #toh critical #toh #the owl house #the collector #Steven Universe

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