#good little human sacrifice

[aha-tism]

best thing ive ever read in a wof book

[stuck-in-jelly]

Obsessed with how Claudia and Soren view magic.

Claudia views magic as something amazing and special, even dark magic despite having to ‘harvest’ from living creatures in order to use it. Because in the end how could something that helps her friends and family be bad? How could something that saved an entire kingdom from starvation be evil?

Soren meanwhile doesn’t care about dark magic vs primal magic. In his eyes Dark magic can be used for immense good just as much as Primal magic can be used for horrific evils. At the end of the day all magic has ever done is divide people and cause years of suffering.

But they are both such hypocrites (affectionate).

Claudia views dark magic as a gift, something to take pride in having. But when she is finally broken down she reflects back she feels disgusted at herself for viewing living creatures as parts. Then when pushed into a dangerous situation she cried out “Don’t make me! Don’t make me do dark magic!”

Soren believes the world would be better without magic at all. Yet he turned to it, he looked his father in his eyes and said “You have your other way! Dark magic.” Not caring that Viren explained the original spell was a primal spell and the new spell would require a terrible sacrifice.

[firestorm09890]

FUCK what I said about the majority of significant changes to dialogue in Re:CoM being to adjust Axel's characterization, the most egregious change is actually this

(GBA CoM)

(Re:CoM)

if I had to guess, the reason for this change was because in GBA CoM, The Superior was a spooky, unknown being at the head of this Organization we had very little knowledge on, and for Vexen, the guy who runs his mouth constantly about how much better he is than the others, to be terrified of him, he must be some pretty scary dude. But then after kh2 we know him, it's Xemnas, he's very dramatic, he likes to talk to the moon, and the effect of your mind filling in the gaps about what "The Superior" must be like is gone. So it wasn't really necessary anymore, right?

(rest under cut because it's long)

Except... the way they changed it is so weird. In the GBA version, what's happening is pretty clear:

Marluxia tells Vexen that his project is a failure

Vexen demonstrates that he does not give a shit about Marluxia's opinion

he does care very much about The Superior's opinion, though, and Marluxia uses this to blackmail him into eliminating Sora- an action which is nonsensical, as the entire point of what they're doing needs Sora alive, making it clear to everyone in the room that he is deliberately sending Vexen to die

and then after that, when Vexen shows up to fight Sora, he goes "if you want to fight me for real you've gotta do it in the memories from the other side of your heart lol bye" and Sora goes "huh? other side?" and then it cuts to a scene on the top floor:

and then this gets more into subtext but here, Vexen has realized he's totally fucked and his only hope is to mess directly with Marluxia's plans (well, they were the Organization's plans, but it's pretty obvious by now Marluxia's abusing his power for his own purposes) by giving Sora more information than he should know. This does get the traitor gang worried enough to send Axel to go kill him (as opposed to just letting Sora take care of him, which was presumably the original plan)- he very specifically cuts Vexen off to keep him from saying too much (this is retained between the original and the remake)

Anyway, what happens in Re:CoM sort of follows the same order of events, but everything is changed slightly in a way that just makes things more confusing.

Marluxia tells Vexen his project is a failure and Vexen demonstrates that he doesn't give a shit about Marluxia's opinion, as before

Marluxia threatens Vexen with a weapon, rather than threatening to tell the Superior

this, notably, does not seem to faze Vexen very much. he continues to run his mouth while having the scythe pointed at him.

Xemnas is still leveraged- Marluxia points out it was the Superior who entrusted him with the castle

...even though reasonably Vexen would already be aware of this, and has still demonstrated that he has zero respect for Marluxia despite it

the lines about betraying the Organization being a capital crime are retained, probably because it's super relevant later, but then that line of thinking is abandoned in favor of Marluxia and Larxene just taunting Vexen instead

The part where Marluxia says "do it. you won't" could be seen as a sort of threat... if not for Axel's line: "You give a challenge like that to Vexen and he'll seriously want to eliminate Sora." It frames it all as though Vexen went to fight Sora out of some sort of pride.

And look, Vexen may have a temper and a superiority complex, but he's not stupid. They're obviously baiting him. Plus, what happened to him seeing himself as above the others and countering things he doesn't like with "well actually I'm higher ranked than you and also you're an idiot"? Is he that insecure in his fighting capabilities? I could deal with characterization changes doing him dirty if it didn't also make no sense in the context of the plot.

So now we have Vexen going to try to kill Sora, something that really makes no sense to do, out of pride. What was the purpose of sending Sora to Twilight Town? Also pride, over the fact that he managed to get that information? Giving the writing the benefit of the doubt, I could say that these nonsensical actions can be explained as evidence that Nobodies can have hearts and people with hearts do strange and rash things, but that just feels like a reach, which is bad because what they had in GBA CoM worked perfectly fine and made sense without any reaching for the "idk emotions make you do strange things" explanation.

It continues. After Vexen gives Sora the Twilight Town card in Re:CoM and Sora wonders about what the "other side" means, this is that version of the conversation the top floor members have:

...what? "If Sora disappears, that would mess up the Organization's plans"? what are you worried about? the only reason Sora would disappear is if Vexen killed him. there's no way they think Vexen being in Twilight Town would give him an advantage, right? they know he's a pathetic fighter. "Vexen has clearly committed a treasonous act against the Organization" HOW? HOW IS IT CLEAR? they don't express any worry about Sora learning too much, up until Axel says "I came to stop you from talking too much" when killing Vexen- and that being there makes it seem like they were worried about Sora learning to much, but if that's the case, why would they replace the perfectly serviceable lines in the above scene? it's just... baffling that they would want to lean into the narrative that Vexen going to kill Sora (which he'd been goaded into doing) is the problem here, because it just makes so little sense compared to what it was originally.

once again giving them the benefit of the doubt: Marluxia's real plan was to take over the Organization, and he saw an easy way to pick off one of the members, so he took it. the motive for stopping Vexen doesn't actually matter.

buuuuut it's the same as with Vexen earlier. Marluxia may be too self-absorbed and power-hungry to notice Axel is scheming against him, but he, too, is an intelligent man. he's plotted for a while, getting into Xemnas's good graces in order to be put in charge of the Castle. this is incredibly sloppy for him. I guess it could be said that getting so close to his goal would make him sloppy, but again, if they'd just left things the way they were in GBA CoM, I wouldn't even have to be saying this

in conclusion: GBA Chain of Memories' intra-Organization strife subplot is so tightly woven with calculated moves on all sides that Re:CoM changing certain things without taking into consideration the consequences makes certain parts of the plot fall flat and become far more confusing than in the original story

[shallowseeker]

Re: the latest string of anons, I want to capture this thought before it flees, but it's not wholly formed yet. I'll try to tread carefully, and with gentleness.

Firstly, I want to invite you to grab onto this line from The Rupture:

CAS: "You used to give me the benefit of the doubt. Now, you can barely look at me."

You can take this lovely line and apply it as a challenge to the entirety of season 15, I think.

The thing with season 15 is that it challenges Dean in a way he hasn't quite been before: it's a full-on, nihilistic, Michael-coded existential crisis.

Cas has had psychological breakdowns like this on multiple occasions. So has Sam.

Throughout the series, Dean is wrong a lot, but this time, he's wrong about more things than usual, even when he's (like Cas with Raphael, and like Sam with many villains) still "a little bit right."

Everyone's a little bit wrong, a little bit right, and that's the beauty of it.

But the consequences are unfairly heavier than usual, and that chafes for Dean.

It chafes for his fans, too.

///

In season 15, at first Dean can't even say Jack's name. He sidesteps it, using coded communication, like his reference to "Bel" in 15x09 The Trap. (That's about Jack, y'all. If you tuly think he's talking about Bel in that scene, then you haven't been paying attention to Dean's character's values OR his communication style.)

I think at a lot of its core, Season 15 is asking you what happens when you're not spoon-fed a character's reactions. Do you look at their history and take the least charitable assumption, or do you work from what you know of that character's loves/morals/values and root for them to try and work through it?

Throughout the series, we see Dean cry and apologize more than most characters. For example, we are explicitly shown Dean's regret (on-screen!) for beating Cas in season 10, and so we know he feels guilty. On the flipside, we are NOT explicitly shown Cas's regrets for his beating on Dean in either seasons 5 or season 8.

But we give Cas the benefit of the doubt.

Why?

Well, truthfully, it's because Cas is a character that commands our respect, and this authority/respect extends to giving him dignity in a way some other characters aren't afforded. But mostly, it's because we trust in what we know of Cas. Again, it's those loves/morals/values that inform how we parse Cas's mistakes.

///

So, back to season 15. What are we going to do here?

Sam chooses grace. Will the audience choose it, too?

Crucially, Sam is a character who has had nervous breakdown after nervous breakdown. He sees what is happening with Dean, he understands Chuck's pressures, and he approaches Dean with (imperfect) grace.

So does Cas, for that matter, which makes a great deal of sense here. Cas is the character who has undergone the most severe existential crises regarding Chuck and Heaven. "Getting out of the game doesn't change the game," Cas says. He's grown tremendous, somewhat terrifying resilience as far as this is concerned.

But anyway. Dean's family sees that he's struggling and tries to help him through this because they too have gone through so many complicated meltdowns.

///

I think season 15 is tough, too, because it challenges you not to be spoon-fed all of Dean's grief and reactions.

Think back to Dean breaking down in the forest clearing after Mary died. Do you REALLY think there was none of that for Jack--for Rowena--for Jack's body being eradicated and ruining the hope of getting him back--for Cas leaving--for Amara--for the Jack rib-bomb?

I think to say yes would be dishonest. Personally, I think there's a well-argued case that Dean grieves almost everyone.

///

Season 15 is also tough because it invites to look upon some of Sam's worst moments (*cough* season 8) with renewed grace.

It even challenges you to frame the villains' struggles (John, Lucifer, and whoever the Hell else) in a stronger shade of gray.

///

Anon, I hope you find this soothing somewhat. :-)

Basically, the TLDR; is that we give our loved ones the benefit of the doubt because we've grown to know and trust their hearts over time, even when they're in the wrong.

-love from shal

[formal-frog-shoes]

Twiststuck stuff i just wanna get out

Im a huge Cater multi-shipper

Normally this wouldn't be a problem

BUT I CAN'T HAVE ALMOST EVERYONE IN THIS AU HAVE A FLUSH OR PALE CRUSH ON HIM THAT'S ABSURD!!!

[hanzajesthanza]

~a vampire at dawn~

excuse the quick sketch, for this post is less about the art and more about the idea behind it... i have this headcanon from when geralt's company was trekking with the beekeepers through the wilderness:

although they were initially very grateful to have three meals a day prepared for them, they quickly got sick of having honeyed porridge served for all three of them. "Everything was sticky from the honey, even the young women." milva began to get nauseous at mealtimes, and cahir, usually ravenous at mealtimes as befits a strapping young lad such as he, even turned down a few bowls.

regis, however, was quite happy with it.

because, as is mentioned later in the book, about saovine traditions: "The spirits of the dead (...) should be given honey and groats, all sprinkled with vodka…" i imagine some confusing night where he went into a villager's hut to drink blood, but, it was around saovine, so they were even expecting someone like him to arrive and to even be looking for such a thing. prepared for such a situation, they handed him some kasza with honey. he didn't really know what to do with it, but they instructed him on how to eat... it was surprisingly pretty good, so he started pulling this on all the other villages, like hey i;m "undead" (whatever that means) do you have any "porridge" with "honey." yeah also put a little vodka on it while you're at it.

so honeyed groats turned out to be the first human food he ate, and over time, became like a comfort food to him. now he has it without the vodka though

[tothesolarium]

He’s so scary and perfect

[idiosyncraticrednebula]

People who side with Triton and criticize Ariel for rebelling against him miss the whole point of the story. I don't know what it is about Ariel in particular that many people online look for every reason to hate on her and justify everything that happened to her.

[red-dyed-sarumane]

one thing about me is i have very serious somewhat arbitrary opinions for things of and relating to aru sekai series & u will be hearing them

[companionsofusall]

god a character can really drive you insane

[giantkillerjack]

I HAVE BEEN LEARNING ABOUT MISTER AUGUSTUS OCTAVIAN/OCTAVIUS GAIUS CAESAR SINCE 8TH GRADE. HOW AM I STILL LEARNING MORE THINGS ABOUT HIM THAT MAKE ME GO "octavius babe holy shit what the fuck what the FUCK dude"

[crash-bump-bring-the-whump]

Whumpril 2023 - Day 26

@that-one-thespian requested this one!! I haven't gotten to play with Zuriel in a while so this was super fun c:

TWs: Blood, gore, self-sacrifice, human shield

Explosion | Short on Time | “I won’t leave you!”

Zuriel was hurt. Golden feathers dripped silvery, angelic blood onto the alleyway ground. The demon in front of Mariano was far stronger and larger than he could hope to face down. He squared his shoulders and took a breath, fire flying through his veins as his hunting knife lit up. He couldn't let one of this demon's arrows hit Zuriel.

"Mariano you, you have to get out of here." Zuriel whimpered, breath hitching as he struggled to stay standing. They'd been running, trying to find safety. The light from Zuriel's halo trembled behind Mariano.

It looked like time had run out.

"I won't leave you." Mariano said. Zuriel hadn't ever abandoned him.

Mariano darted forward, magic blasting from his other palm. It struck the horned being's face, sending them reeling back and scrabbling at their skin with pain. He leaped, swiping at their abdomen with his blade. He didn't let up.

If you give your opponents a moment to think, you've already lost.

Luis' training echoed in Mariano's head as he stabbed and slashed, gutting the being that had been so doggedly hunting them. All he had to do was injure them enough to open an escape. Bastian wasn't far, now. He was getting closer by the second. Mariano's knife darted upwards, hooking the demon's breastbone and beginning to eat through it.

Their hand caught his wrist, the other wrapping around his throat and lifting him up effortlessly. Blood poured from their body, glowing a brilliant emerald color. Eyes that matched narrowed, jagged teeth bared in glee.

"Not today, little panther." They purred, their nose almost brushing Mariano's. "You fought well though."

Effortlessly, they threw Mariano.

"No!" Zuriel shouted, staggering backwards towards Mariano as his flight abruptly ended against the alleyway wall. He dropped to the ground, stunned. "No--please..."

Zuriel looked back towards the demon, feathers trembling as he spread his wings. His stance widened as he drew his sword. The demon drew their bow.

Just behind him, Mariano shakily rose to his feet, eyes burning. He saw the twitch of the demon's fingers as a burning arrow appeared, and his body moved before he could even think. He grabbed the back of Zuriel's collar, yanking the angel backwards as he launched himself forward.

Mariano watched the demon's fingers move. He saw the glowing green arrow fly through the air. He felt the searing, acrid burn explode through his chest before he realized he'd fallen to his knees. Trembling, he reached for his shoulder, fingers passing through the wicked body of the arrow.

He couldn't stand up again. The sparks flying through his chest kept brushing against something awful and deep, like it was trying to bite at his pact with Bastian. It sapped his strength, pulled his magic away from his hands.

Zuriel was shouting something, ever-careful hands gripping Mariano's shoulders. Dazed, Mariano looked up in time to see a purple, smoky mass tackle the bloodied form of the demon. "What..." Mariano mumbled. "What was...magic?" Was Bastian there? Something else?

He heard screaming.

It almost felt like he'd taken too many pact dampeners. It was getting harder and harder to keep his eyes open, to keep track of where Bastian was. Zuriel was hovering above him. When had he laid down?

"Keep, keep your eyes on me." Zuriel said, one hand glowing with his soft, golden magic. "Don't fall asleep. This might not feel good."

The moment that Zuriel's magic met Mariano's chest, Mariano arched off the ground. It ripped a choked scream from him, his hands twisting into his own bloodied shirt. As the green glow faded and a soft warmth replaced it, Mariano went slack under Zuriel's hands.

Zuriel's look of relief came into sharper focus as the sheer exhaustion started to ebb away. "You--is it working?" Zuriel asked, as if he hadn't expected that to help.

"I'm...you're okay." Mariano breathed. He looked the angel trainee up and down, checking for any sickly green glow. "They didn't...you're not hurt."

Zuriel shook his head, blond curls vibrating as he shook. His eyes started to fill with tears. "I'm not hurt. Don't, please don't ever do that again."

Mariano couldn't promise that. He just nodded, reaching up to pull Zuriel into a hug. As Zuriel's bloody wings shook and the shouts from outside the alleyway cut off, Mariano couldn't bring himself to promise that it would never happen again.

Not when he could survive an arrow like that and Zuriel couldn't.

[coloursofaparadox]

i ✨️cannot sleep✨️ and vaguing about shit on the internet feels more cathartic than writing it out somewhere else. suffer.

[justicebled]

i was so busy organizing my blog and getting it down to below 50 people, because i genuinely wanted it to be private, that i forgot to make yuri's pri.de icon. his bio is extremely outdated.

ex: he's a sagittarius no shocker there, december 10th is his birthday. i genuinely don't know how the lower quarter survives winter but lemme tell you it's a team effort.

plus yuri has grown with me for three years even when i've taken breaks writing him on this platform. but in terms of loving someone?

he's demi-panromantic. he's not someone to really indulge in physical relationships unless he feels an emotional and spiritual connection to the person. it's crucial that this person understands yuri and yuri understands them, which...isn't really hard for yuri's end, because yuri can see through 99.9 percent of people. he just doesn't care.

what yuri is attracted to is a person's soul, and their heart, and their beliefs, and how well they get along. if they can laugh together, if they can grow together, however the pace. because yuri's actions are borne of a love for the people, a love for a future where people realistically can live unoppressed knowing full well he cannot solve every problem, and a love for the land not through rose colored glasses, but full realism of it's ugliness and goodness.

he embraces all of that, and continues his journey. so much of ves.peria is about love and the way it drives others to act for others good. it generally is a tale of agape love, which is the most selfless form of love, something yuri embodies even before he realizes he cannot stop his hero's journey, and instead embraces it, consequences and all, good things and bad things, like choices are.

edgelord? far from it. broody? far from it. he sees things for what they are, without forced idealism if it's too uncomfortable to face the reality, he does not, and will not ever look away. if he wants to change things, protect people, shake the foundations of a system so thousands may live and prosper, he cannot look away because it's grisly. he hasn't since he was born in a slum where people and bodies were on the street left and right. he's seen things no one should ever see in their life.

he will never judge someone for their orientation, gender or not committing to one, or a person's standing, although he is cagey around nobles, he's slowly growing out of that thanks to meeting estelle.

the hardest thing about even remotely getting near yuri's heart is that for all it's unconditional love and love of humanity in a realistic, non shonen protag way, a person-like way, he has so much trauma and a desire to not involve others in his problems and feelings as he often if not 95 percent of the time will place you above his own needs, and this has been ingrained in him and thrust upon him since he was a child, it will not be an easy habit to break, and he isn't going to coddle you in a romantic or relationship period you yourself, have to make your own choices. you yourself, have to make the decision every day to do good, and while yuri will support and help you along, there is no such thing as 'fixing a person', that is the person's job, and yuri himself will encourage, stay by their side, and walk the path with them, but he cannot walk it for you, and he wouldn't want you to walk it for him. it's unhealthy and unrealistic.

but if you do get yuri to love you in the romantic capacity, there is no more devoted, gentle, noble and kind partner at his core, and ultimately seeks your betterment and your good without coddling you in an unrealistic way that would denote you weren't equals.

yuri's story is a realistic labor of love to mankind and an attainable future, it's why he sacrifices and fights so hard and fights so fiercely without coddling the people who have given up on their life. look at raven. he doesn't give him a speech. it's not his job. look at estelle. it's her choice to live. but he encourages them to make the choice themselves, heavily emphasizing how much they matter to him. it's why he's such a unique fictional hero-protagonist among many things, and so once you have him romantically which....is quite a hurdle? he has his own trauma and baggage hoo. there are few more loving, noble, heroic or benevolent,

one of vesperi.a's strong points though i think it's such a tightly written story, is that yuri subverts the trope you'd think you see of him: 'dark brooding and morally grey bad boy' and shows you he's the exact opposite, a man who laughs until he has tears in his eyes. a man who adores children and can't close his heart to people who need him, resulting in many, many people viewing him as a role model and big brother figure / mentor figure.

but with romantic love . . . ultimately even if he does have feelings for you, don't expect him to act on them immediately. he just wants you to be happy.

tl;dr: yuri doesn't care about gender or no gender or undecided, loves the soul first, is demi-panromantic and so much love is stored in the yuri lowe.ll as much as unstoppable ass-kicking and king level snark.

[charlesemersonwinchesteriii]

for the not dating thing, aziraphale & crowley (gomens or spn take ur pick :))

Do you know, Ana, I think you're the only one here who can actually remember my ancient crush on SPN Crowley from all those years ago. 'Twas truly as if a demon possessed me in those dark days. And as soon as I emerged from it I was baffled. What was all that about, I asked myself. How did this stupidly undeveloped antagonist with a bald spot and an accent have me so enthralled just because he had a little sobbing meltdown that one time, I wondered. Surely this will not happen again, I said.

Anyways there are so many clear reasons not to date Fergie here that it's an obvious no with the sole exception of ONLY if I got to take him and Castiel on a double (er, one and a half, I guess) date IMMEDIATELY after they both became human in 8x23, thus catapulting both of them into an actual meaningful character arc where their transformations stick for more than 3 episodes. If the Winchesters try to bother the three of us while I do this I'll fucking kill us all with a grenade btw. Anyways

Aziraphale & Crowley

I love them so much and it’d be so tempting (lmao) but unfortunately I just don’t think they’re ready to add a third to their relationship yet. Like they’re in a really good place right now but I think they’re gonna need at least another century to be up for that. Aziraphale contains foibles and eccentricities the way humans contain water, of course, so he’s never not a challenge. But I think probably the biggest issue would be that Crowley would be completely neurotic about the whole thing. He would ask you which of them you liked better secretly deep down and if you said “Aziraphale” he would turn into a snake and pout in a hole for a month straight and if you said anything else besides “Aziraphale” he’d be flabbergasted and offended. You don’t agree that Aziraphale is the bestest most important entity ever created in the entire universe??? Oh!! Oh!! Jail for you!!! Jail for you for Six Thousand Years!!!!!!

Also “OP what about dating just one of them on their own?” Are you out of your damn mind. Are you insane. Look me in the eyes. Do Not Separate Them. 

[snekdood]

i just struggle to believe theres any ethical way to harvest meat. farm animal dying of old age? yeah. ok. sure. but farm animals aren't going to be perpetually dying of old age enough to fulfill the demand for their meats. you can make better and more convincing arguments to me for ethically harvesting eggs, wool and milk rather than meat.