#he’s by no means a saint but he ain’t a horrible person either

[zibiscusloon]

Wanted to ask, what do you think Gregory's connection to fnaf is?

Anon, I apologize if I’m just dumb but I’m having a hard time getting what this question means.

I’m going to assume (so correct me in comments or the inbox) that you mean who I think Gregory is in the story overall (again please correct me, I have a small brain)

To put it bluntly, he’s just a homeless kid who got dragged into a story that by all means he didn’t want any part in. Given it’s heavily implied he’s homeless and in poverty (or possibly in the foster system given that he’s able to attend school in the books)

He’s rather morally gray, although in most cases his questionable acts were out of self defense. Minus Cassie- assuming of course that it was Gregory at the end which is still rather vague and I’m still on the fence- but if it was, I think it’s more in character for Gregory than fans like to think. He is first and foremost trying to survive, he’s a kid sleeping in a cardboard box, he’s looking out for himself first and foremost (and Freddy as he’s the only stable figure Gregory has in his life)

He makes rather wrong choices for what he views as the right reasons.

He’s an absolute mess of kid, he’s a lil shit, he’s a menace, he’s snarky and rude.

He’s rather bold for being like 12 and going up against several animatronics, a serial killer in the making, and the ghost of a 80s serial killer (or- the Mimic I guess depending on how you wanna look at the new info from the books- not really a fan myself so for now ol Glitchtrap is ol Peepaw Afton-)

Yet at the end he’s just a kid. A child abused by the narrative like so many kids before him. But he works to survive, and live to see another day with his himbo bear dad.

[hello-nichya-here]

Isn't it weird that Azula was all but said to have been abused and/or tortured in her asylum yet no one in-universe or outside seems to care or think how it could have negatively affected her? For a show that handled so many difficult topics with grace (ex. genocide, child abuse, ableism, sexism, etc.), it seem weird that the ATLA franchise seems to perpetuate harmful stereotypes about mental illness.

It is unfortunately not weird at all, because of something I call “The Azula Bias”, and because the comics are poorly written due to the writer’s failure of understand what made the original show so important in the first place.

There were some problematic aspects surrounding mental illness on the show, but nothing even close to what the comics did. Azula’s breakdown was, for the most part, something to show us that she was a literal child soldier who had been neglected, groomed, and abused. Zuko and Katara were talking about “putting Azula in her place” before the Agni Kai, yet the music made it all sound like the tragedy it was, and Zuko clearly felt no joy with his victory. He was watching his sister cry with a somber expression, and Katara literally had to give him emotional support. That happened because, at that moment, Zuko finally understood that he was not Ozai’s only victim.

There were plans for a Book 4, and one of the stories it would involve would be Azula healing and redeeming herself - with Zuko’s help. That would be the perfect way to have that happen because Zuko knows what it’s like to be raised by Ozai, to be constantly put under pressure and having to sacrifice everything to please that man, only to get no reward because nothing is ever enough for that bastard. Zuko made many mistakes and he knows he could have ended up like Azula if things had been difference, so it makes sense that he would now understand that it might not be too late for his sister. It would be a natural conclusion to their story.

The problem is that the main writer who was planning on this, Aaron Ehasz, was not involved at all with the comics, meaning there was a considerable chance that that storyline would be botched. Which unfortunately was exactly what happened.

Instead of trying to help Azula because he cares about her and finally understood why she did the things she did, Zuko now seems to only have kept her alive because A.The writers gave him all the power and personality of a doormat and B.They’re related and killing family members is a no-no. Zuko’s motivation to be in his sister life are the old bullshit of “You can never, ever, ever cut ties with a family member and you are obligated to forgive every bad shit they’ve done to you” instead of it being something he chose to do because he loves Azula, empathizes with her, and finally understands why she did the things she did.

On this bastardized version of the story, Azula is not Zuko’s sister. She’s not his antagonist or his enemy. She’s not even an obstacle he has to overcome or a plot-device. She’s his burden, a cross he has to bear - which is how many people view their disabled/mentally ill relatives, and the writers validated that. Kiyi, one of the few likeable characters on that shitshow, was literally the replacement sister/daughter. The perfect child that Azula failed to be. The writers even try to disguise this by having the characters say that Azula is delusional when she claims Ursa had Kiyi to replace her, but that doesn’t change the fact that this exactly why they created her. They gave the “normal” family members a cute, “normal” kid to compensate them for the “broken” one.

Azula’s mental illness was treated as a replacement for her personality, and even as more reason for the characters and the audience to hate her, even though she had no control over what she was doing. Even the way she was drawn was meant to look scary, like she was nothing but a threat that had to be dealt with, and her pain was something we should either ignore, or even cheer. 

Zuko locked her up in a terrible institution that abused her, and didn’t visit her until he needed something from her? That’s what she gets for being a bad sister! That’s karma for you! 

She’s constantly being physically assaulted by the other characters? She’s Azula! Of course they’re doing that to her! She’s dangerous! 

Ozai groomed and abused her? Well, Ozai is a monster who is horrible to everyone. She ain’t especial. 

Ursa neglected her? Oh, but she didn’t mean to, so it’s okay that it happened and that she’s not trying to make things right in any way.

What do you mean Iroh she have at least tried to help her? Nobody could help her! Bitch crazy!

The writers weren’t telling a story about a mentally ill 14 year old finally getting the love and support she needed, and learning to be better with the help of her older brother who is truly sorry for everything that happened and wants to give her the same chance he was offered. They were using her as a way to make Zuko look like a saint, and their target audience was those fans that seem to believe that Azula is a robot who has no emotions, and was built by Ozai solely to make Zuko’s life harder, so anything that is done to her is okay - it’s not like she’s human or anything.

[b4bivr]

random WINX CLUB opinions

there are no seasons that can top the first three ones. i know some people have a different view on this and don't agree with me but the first three seasons were the best. the girls and boys had an unique personality and appearance, there were GOOD TRANSFORMATIONS and the plots and storylines were better overall. there was not as much love drama as in the new seasons and if i'm not wrong there was only one kind of transformation which brings me to my next opinion ,,

the excessive transformations are a no-no. the first type was enough, there was literally no need to bring more and more transformations that all end in "-ix". i would've been neutral to them if they were good but they're not even that, they're poorly thought out and boring.

WHAT CLOTHES ARE THESE GIRLS WEARING??? tell me in what universe musa and tecna would wear a mini skirt, that's right, in none. like okay maybe musa would wear a skirt, even tho she's quite tomboy-ish i think she'd wear a decent skirt that'd fit the tomboy style, like a denim knee high skirt with side pockets or something. BUT NO, SHE WEARS MINI SKIRTS 😳 both her and tecna are wearing something maybe only stella would, it really bothers me lmao. also, why do they have no specific style anymore? they all wear the same clothes but in different colors. AND DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON RIVEN HOW WHEN AND WHY WOULD HE EVER WEAR A SCARF WHAT THE FUCK

riven is not a bad character, he's actually my favorite specialist. he did fuck up a few times i admit, but he's the kind of person that keeps their emotions bottled up, probably why when he fucked up he was droven by the rage, insecurities and jealousy he never talked about. he was pretty toxic towards musa, probs because of his bad experience with women (his mom, darcy) but let's be honest, musa wasn't a saint either, she was toxic as well. not blaming her for rivens actions, just saying that you shouldn't blame only him for how their relationship worked out. riven is also the most loyal (both to his friends and girlfriend) out of the boys (not counting the times he was under a spell or manipulated with magic). he's protective, street smart and wouldn't hesitate to risk his life for the people he loves. best specialist right there. and the way they portrayed him in the new seasons really bothers me, he was badass, that was his thing (just like timmy being nerdy) but now he's just... a walmart version of sky and brandon combined. i do like the fact the he tried to work on his issues tho

flora ain't all that. don't get me wrong, she's one of the prettiest winx members (if not the prettiest), she's kind and generous, but that's about it. she doesn't have any flaws and doesn't go trough any growth whatsoever. it's always "omg i feel so connected to this flower" "omg the power of friendship" and "omg helia here and helia there" GIRL NO, she's the only one that lacks personality in the first few seasons.

there's no need for a live action movie/series. there i said it. a lot of you will disagree with this, i know, but hear me out. who even are the actresses that are supposed to play them? i've never seen them act before and they don't even look like the girls. where is the asian musa and the latin flora? nowhere. WHY DID THEY GIVE FREDDIE THORP RIVENS ROLE LIKE NO NO NO, YOU CANNOT TELL ME HE'S RIVEN LIKE YOU CAN JUST NOT . i mean okay maybe they just want to change the story, understandable, but they're changing it COMPLETELY. just don't name the movie or whatever it is winx then, name it something unrelated to that. lowkey feeling that they're calling it something with winx club to attract fans.

why do the trix keep coming back after season 3? there's no need for them anymore. they're my fav winx villians but they're just repetitive and plain boring now. i'm kinda neutral to that tho so i don't really have a lot to say abt it

don't get me started on the racism and white washing cause it'll take ten pages, just know that i completely despise it and i do not understand how layla, musa and flora look white.

the new art is HORRIBLE I HATE IT I DONT WANT TO SEE IT EVER AGAIN

sky is trash and you can't change my mind. he cheated on bloom and diaspro, he keeps lying and lying, he's a BIG hypocrite, gets jelous when bloom makes eye contact with a guy but HE CHEATED ON HER and doesn't give a flying fuck about her feelings but tries to play the goody two shoes boyfriend role just so she doesn't break up with him.

[mercyxkilling]

send ‘mistletoe!’ for our muses to get caught under mistletoe!

@phantomdream said: MISTLETOE FOR EVERY SINGLE MUSE MERCY WANTS TO MACK ON -- which is one of the most dangerous things a person could ever say to me

god. why did this have to happen?

mercy massaged her temples, as if it were going to somehow magically alleviate the pain that was building up behind her eyes. whether it was from the cacophony of noise or stress she didn't know, she just knew she wanted out of here. her brother had been so generous in offering to fly some of the family into japan for christmas this year, and she'd managed to get herself caught up in all of it. she'd planned on leaving before anyone had managed to arrive, but she hadn't been fast enough. what was worse, adachi was with her, and got roped into all of it, too. why he hadn't faked a phone call to leave yet was a mystery, but he was being as polite as he could be considering everything happening. her mother and other family members were all asking him intrusive questions, and he was doing an astounding job of keeping his mask on through it all, because It was taking all that she had to keep herself from backhanding her mother's fucking lipstick off.

“mercy, why you bein' so quiet? you're always usually talkin' and we couldn't ever get you to shut the fuck up. now you ain't sayin' a fuckin' word. the fuck is wrong wit' you?”

her mother's voice wormed its way into her ears, and she looked up to find that she'd approached, a hand on her hip, looking ready to dig into her daughter now. maybe she'd finally decided adachi was too boring, posed no threat, or he'd successfully batted her away by playing dumb.

maybe if she'd grown up in different circumstances, she'd have been happy to have this family gathering, and to have been surrounded by familiar faces and delicious food. maybe if her mother had been a normal, doting maternal figure who didn't beat her with broom handles and leather belts, if she hadn't taken her to conversion therapy, or if mercy didn't suspect the woman of having a hand in her father's murder, she'd have been a lot more conversational. maybe she'd have been able to grow up a healthy, functional human being. maybe she wouldn't spend every waking moment trying to prove something, or would have been able to feel anything other than horrible every goddamn second of every goddamn day.

but as far as she was concerned, her mother and her side of the family were the root of all the problems in her life. she had no desire to speak with her, or even look at her.

“if there's anything wrong with me at all, it's prob'ly a direct reflection of your shitty parenting, marie.”

she watched with some small measure of satisfaction as the older woman's features seemed to show pain. it wasn't anywhere near what she wanted to unleash, but at least mercy had managed to get something punishing out.

“what--”

everything shifted into something much darker, though, as her mother's tone changed to one of absolute rage. but before she'd allow for such a verbal assault mercy heaved a sigh and got to her feet, feeling the gaze of her brother and her uncles upon her as she made her way over to the front door to slip into her heels, gaining considerable height by doing so.

“as cool as this all is. i'd rather spend this time with someone i actually want to be with. so. adachi. you ready to go?”

she pulled her coat from the rack and shrugged into it, then reached for his and offered it to him.

he'd been so charming all evening. so friendly and adorable, even when her mother was picking at him, and her uncles had been staring daggers at him after they'd learned he was a cop. He deserved better than this, and he didn't deserve to be put through any more of it. If that meant he left immediately after they both hit the door then she wouldn't blame him. if anything, she could relate. mercy wanted nothing more than to run away from her brother's house, move out of his guest house, and be alone. joshua was just as intense as their mother in his own right, and made her feel just as awful. if it wasn't the bodyguards preventing her from doing what she wanted to do then it was the constant berating about how she'd never be anything other than contemptible scum. how his kids had ended up being sweethearts was beyond her, but mercy suspected it had something to do with their mother, her sister-in-law. himiko was a saint. she and her nieces and nephews had gotten considerably large gifts this year for treating her like she was an actual human being.

her thoughts kept her from paying much attention to the rest of the room, and it seemed her mother wasn't going to take her abuse lying down. as adachi awkwardly shuffled across the room, marie was shoving past him to her daughter, arm pulled back and ready to strike.

“you can't treat me like that! i am your mother!”

because she'd been extending an arm out for adachi to take his coat, and because her thoughts were already elsewhere, mercy hadn't been prepared to adequately defend herself. she'd lifted her free hand to try and fend off the older woman, but she'd been too late. a resounding slap! rang in her ears when she felt marie's palm come in contact with her face. but it hadn't stopped there. she was pulling hair and repeatedly swatting, and it had taken her brother to pull their mother away.

“let me go! she can't talk to me like that, josh! she can't talk to me like that! let me fuckin' go!”

it hadn't mattered that all of mercy's nieces and nephews were there to see that. apparently proving a point and asserting her dominance over her daughter meant more than scarring her son's children. hopefully they wouldn't grow up the way mercy had. she cared very little about most people, but those kids were angels. they deserved better.

adachi by now had made his way to her and, in an unexpected moment of care, brushed her disheveled hair from her face.

“let's go,” was all he'd said as he slipped his shoes on and took his coat. He was pulling it on as he reached for the door and opened it.

mercy quickly walked outside into the night, and no one tried to stop either of them when they exited the house.

she might have hated the cold, but the snow and wind were far more inviting than the living room had been. she pulled the collar of her wool coat up to shield herself from the elements, then turned to face the detective, whose expression was strangely unreadable.

“i'm surprised you just took all of that. why didn't you do anything?”

was he... mad at her? or was he actually upset that her family treated her like garbage? she didn't want to ask, almost as if she were afraid of the answer.

“because what good would it have done me? besides. we've all gotta take a beating once in a while. just the way things work.”

“that's the stupidest shit i've ever heard you say, mercy.” he sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose, then looked up at her. “whatever. but... your family. they were really starting to piss me off. probably better that we had that happen before I had to stay any longer.”

“if we did, i'd probably have ended up slitting everyone's throats before midnight.”

“i wouldn't even mind the clean up if you did.”

“you say the sweetest things.” she could have sworn she heard him chuckle, but maybe she was just imagining it. “anyway. you should get outta here.”

“you talk like you aren't going to come with me. we're getting a drink after all that. i think we both need one.”

“i didn't want to--”

“shut up. you aren't staying here tonight. and you aren't coming back until that bitch goes back home, either.”

“i'm not?”

“no. you aren't. now move. i don't wanna be here.”

she didn't like him giving her orders, but mercy also appreciated the fact that he seemed to care enough to get her away from her family. she still couldn't get an absolute read on the guy, he was an enigma, but this didn't seem like an attempt at manipulation. and if it were, mercy wasn't sure she'd have cared enough to try and fight it. she was too emotionally drained to try.

“mmn, okay. but, hey. listen. before we do.”

he'd already started to push into motion, but paused and turned on his heel to face her again, inquisitive. his grey eyes followed to where she was pointing.

“mistletoe?”

“mmhmm. that means you have to kiss me. obviously.”

he stared at her for the span of two heartbeats, as if he weren't sure if she were being serious or not. but because mercy wasn't moving seemed to clue him into the fact that she refused to budge until he did what was expected.

he rolled his eyes.

“this is stupid. I figured you'd wanna get out of here before your mom comes out here with a broom handle.”

“cool of you to bring up my childhood beatings, but. I still want you to kiss me.”

“no.”

“tch, man, fuck you. get the fuck over here and put your fucking tongue In my mouth.”

maybe she'd gone a bit too far, and was still carrying a bit of anger from that little scenario just moments ago, but her tone was far more harsh than she'd intended. adachi probably hadn't liked it by the way he took a step closer and closed the distance between the two of them... and forced her back against the door by taking another. but then he moved his hand to her face, held her chin between his thumb and forefinger, and tilted her face up to force her to look him in the eye.

“not sure you deserve it after talking to me like that. But... it is christmas.”

and with that, his mouth was on hers, and his other hand had fisted around a handful of her hair as he parted her lips with his tongue and gave her what she'd asked for.

and god, was he delicious.

mercy clutched at his lapels to pull him further into her, no longer aware of the cold, or the loud and obnoxious voices barely audible behind the front door behind her. she felt his hand move from her hair and his arm move to dip around her waist possessively.

after a moment, he pulled away, released her, and stepped back.

“will that shut you up for now?”

“mmn, if i say no, would you do it again?”

he scoffed and turned to move down the steps of the porch, giving her her answer.

“can we go get that drink now, for fuck's sake?”

[rurukandy]

Regarding Atalanta and her “obsession with children”

To begin with, it’s not an unjustified “obsession”. In fact, Atalanta has her reasons to be attached to children and to fight for her dream with all her might. She wants a place where all children are loved, as the novel says:

The anime only shows her saying “I want a world where children are loved”, but it’s not elaborated like in the novel. She wants a world where children are loved, and thanks to that love they receive in their childhood, they grow as proper adults who love their own children and don’t abandon them and so on. Like Achilles said: a pure and beautiful wish.

As you might know, Atalanta was abandoned as a child by her father. Her “sin” was to be born as a woman, since her father, king of Arcadia, wanted a son, so he left her to her luck in the wildness, where Artemis took a pity for her and saved her life. Then some hunters found her and raised her. In short, Atalanta grew up without knowing what was parental love. She was thrown away as if she was something disposable, a mere object, and she fights for a world where children don’t suffer the same destiny.

Now, you might wonder (for those who only watched the anime), why does Atalanta want to kill Jeanne so badly? Why did Atalanta kill Jack, who was a child, if she loves children so much? Answers under the cut:

In volume 3 (and the anime), Atalanta is sent by Shirou to patrol Trifas, and when night falls and Jack and her master start with their hunt, Atalanta witnesses everything Jack and Reika have been doing:

Atalanta doesn’t want children involved. Atalanta doesn’t want children to be hurt. And she will do ANYTHING to protect children, those she wants to save, so from the beginning, where Jack started to involve children in her foul play, Jack became her enemy. She and her master were using innocent creatures, so Atalanta had the resolution to kill them without showing any kind of mercy. They had to die. They had to disappear. Atalanta saw Jack and her master as enemies not because they were from the other faction. She started to loathe them, to feel this desire to kill them when they started to involve children.

Sadly, Jack doesn’t disappear. She asks the startled Atalanta why? why did she kill her mother? right before she releases all the vengeful spirits of the children she was made of. 

Atalanta is engulfed by Assassin’s illusion, and she (like Sieg and Jeanne) are transported to 1880′s London. You know the drill (the part where she has flashbacks with Medea Lily doesn’t appear in the novel, sorry) and she sees hell.

Hell where children are abandoned, mistreated, murdered, thrown away like she was. This is what Atalanta sees. Instead of seeing a happy memory with Medea like in the anime, what Atalanta sees is something more… hardcore. She sees practically what Sieg saw but a hundred times worse, mostly for her.

Atalanta wants to save them. She understands them. She understands what’s not being loved is like. She understands what’s being thrown away is like. She understands them. And that’s what makes her the perfect target for those spirits.

This leads to the children literally entering her body. The spirits literally enter her skin and possess her arm. That’s the explanation for the blackened arm that never makes it appeareance again in the anime (seriously A1, you had one job). After the children possess her arm, they start talking to her. Her experience in that “hell”, the despair she feels, the horrible things she witnessed, and the spirits of children possessing her lead her to her downfall. 

Later, Atalanta shows up when she sees Jeanne trying to purify the spirits in front of her. She has started with the ritual and the children are scared. Obviously, she’s not happy with it, because she thinks Jeanne will kill them. Atalanta is not only angry but frustrated, because since Jeanne is “a saint”, she has the power to SAVE the children from evil, a power Atalanta would wish to possess instead of relying on the power of the grail to make her wish come true. Atalanta would do anything, as I said, to save children from the hell they live in, and she has the perfect person to save them right in front of her, but said person believes that the right thing to do is killing them. And she ain’t having none of that. They’re just children. Victims of the circunstances. Why kill them? why not save them?

(Also, Jeanne notices her right arm, not like in the anime that they made her completely oblivious to something so obvious).

It’s sad to read this part because Atalanta knows she’s powerless when it comes to making her wish come true, so she clings tightly to Shirou’s own wish thinking that it’ll lead to hers and to win the war in order to have the grail grant her wish. What would a mere archer do to save children of mankind? Nothing. But.. if she had the grail. If she won the war. Or even… if she was “a saint”, like Jeanne.

She’s a saint. A saint must save people. Not kill them. That’s what the angry Atalanta thinks. Yet Jeanne doesn’t think of herself as a saint. 

The exorcism begins after Archer’s attempts to stop Ruler. The children are exorcised, and thus Jack meets her end. However, Atalanta still has the spirits that weren’t exorcised living in her right arm. The story progresses with Atalanta slowly suffering her downfall, with her right arm becoming rotten and with the voices asking her to kill that fake saint of a woman. Like being brainwashed. 

Later, Archer returns to the hanging gardens and her behavior is different, to the point that both Shirou and Semiramis wonder what’s up with her. She responds to their questions in an apathetic, boring manner and claims she’s tired. However, Shirou notes her beautiful face is full of something akin to rage:

Then, she has this encounter with Caster that was completely cut off the anime, that deeply explores her rage, and her resolution to kill Ruler more than anything:

Archer of Red silently walked through the Hanging Gardens. Her pace was quick, as if she was trying to shake off that scene carved into her memories. But before she could go anywhere, a single man came to stand in her path.

“…Out of the way, Caster.”

(…)

Archer grabbed the collar of Caster’s shirt as if she were fed up with him—and pushed him against a wall.

“I’m tired. Very tired. So shut up, you clown.”

But Caster didn’t shut up.

“There is no way you of all people would be tired from a mere scouting mission! And you aren’t tired, but frightened, are you not? Just like a child who’s unable to escape into sleep after hearing a scary story!”

“Shut up!”

Archer’s gaze oozed with killing intent. Her eyes declared that she would kill him if he joked around any further. Nevertheless—Caster questioned her, his smile never breaking.

“—What did you see? What did you perceive? How foolish. No matter what you saw, it is already merely a remnant of the past. We are ghosts of the past, and if ghosts regret the past, they become merely vengeful spirits.”

The words of the clown, who shouldn’t have known anything, gouged the deepest depths of Archer’s heart.

“You bastard…!!”

(…)

“—We must live in the future. To devote our bodies to the yet-unseen world. Archer, you also want to see it, don’t you? A world where all children are loved!”

(…)

“For the sake of that, we must activate the Greater Grail. Through any means possible.”

“…You really believe that it will grant that wish?”

“You heard our Master’s words, did you not? That Greater Grail can certainly grant his and your wish.”

Hearing that answer, distress and conflict filled Archer of Red’s face. Caster’s words were truly like the devil’s whisper.

“I—don’t know. Certainly, if it’s his wish, it might have the power to grant my wish as well. But… but, is it really all right? Is that wish truly… correct?”

“Who knows? I don’t know either. No, let me put it like this. Are you unable to decide unless there’s a guarantee? [To be or not to be]—in that case, a clown can only laugh!”

Archer glared at Caster for a little while—but a little bit of life had returned to her eyes. She silently walked away from him.

Caster called out from behind her.

“By the way, Archer-dono. In the end, just what kind of hell did you see?”

Keeping her back to him, Archer whispered softly.

“…It was a piece of the world’s system. Gods, heroes, magical beasts, evil kings—everything was dead there.”

If an evil being committed a crime, then she would eliminate it.

If a god went on a rampage, then she would search for a method to soothe it.

But there was neither there. It was a part of mechanism of the world, working so superbly well that it created a perfect system that preyed on the weak.

There was only one way to destroy it.

The fulfillment of her wish by the activation of the Greater Grail. That was Archer’s only hope now.

“I couldn’t save them with my own power… But, even though that woman could have saved them, she abandoned them and cut them down.”

Her fists trembled with rage—and, even while understanding that this question was a landmine, Caster of Red asked her without holding back his curiosity.

“That woman?”

Turning around at the question, Archer of Red’s eyes were filled with dreadful glee.

“Jeanne d’Arc. I will kill that woman. I’ll shoot her down with my arrows, and if that doesn’t work, I will rip her apart with my claws, and if that doesn’t work, I will tear her to shreds with my fangs.”

“Oh my, is that possible with your beautiful nails and teeth?”

With unfading madness in her eyes, Archer of Red smiled in joy from the bottom of her heart.

“It’s possible. If it’s to kill that woman, I will even become a monster.”

A foreshadow of her metamorphosis. Everything I mentioned before is mentioned here. Archer is frustrated, enraged, and Shakespeare is only fueling the fire of her wish of revenge. Not Achilles’ deadly honesty; it’s this conversation Shakespeare gives her what makes her hatred even intense. This exchange of words not only gives Shakespeare’s character a bit more of importance (yeah, more than merely being comic relief), but makes clearer the reasons why Atalanta wants to kill Ruler if you didn’t get it when she was in Trifas. 

Later, Atalanta goes to her room and we find out this:

However, the interior design of the rooms was quite cold and blunt. To Servants, who did not require sleep or food, personal rooms were simply for protecting their privacy. And even that privacy was almost completely useless considering the role they were summoned to this world for.

However, right now, Archer of Red needed to be alone.

She sat on the bed and threw off her leather gauntlets—and then she looked at her discolored right arm. There was a black bruise like a curled snake twining around the skin of her arm.

It neither hurt nor inconvenienced her movements. But Archer could tell. This was a ‘curse’ of extremely high purity. Most likely, it was from that darkness which had swallowed her up when she killed Assassin of Black’s Master.

Assassin of Black’s repulsive past. The flocks of children, the grudge of the unborn fetuses. Right before Assassin of Black died and dispersed, this curse was probably engraved in Archer.

Of course, it would be easy to cut it off. Though Archer had no means to dispel curses, their group’s Assassin had the abilities of a Caster. There was also the dual Master-Servant Shirou Kotomine to rely on.

If she asked for their aid, it probably wouldn’t be hard to restore her right arm.

But—Archer couldn’t choose that option no matter what. Naturally, she didn’t want to rely on Assassin’s help. The idea of showing any weakness to that woman wasn’t even funny enough to be a joke.

And Shirou Kotomine was technically Assassin’s Master. So she was naturally reluctant to request his help.

…No, those were all excuses. Archer understood. She had to accept this curse. This curse was the resentment of the children she loved more than anything else.

Fortunately, there was little pain since it was merely the work of low-class spirits.

And she didn’t mind even if this curse brought about her own destruction. This was a punishment. A punishment she had to accept.

She wrapped bandages around her rotten-smelling right arm, and decided to leave it alone with that.

There was one thing that Archer hadn’t noticed. It was true that what possessed her right arm were low-class vengeful spirits, too weak to have any effect on Archer herself. After all, Servants were the spirits of heroes who stood at the pinnacle of all spirits.

In the first place, it had been possible for Archer to reject the possession. The moment the vengeful spirits entered her arm, she could have even devoured them as sustenance without any danger to herself.

But she had refused to do that. In other words, she wished for ‘those children’ to maintain their consciousness. Of course, these vengeful spirits did not have any high-level intellect. They simply continued whispering their wish.

We want to go back, we want to go back, we want to go back. We want to go back inside Mother’s belly.

They could only whisper. They were vengeful spirits that should have been completely harmless. But Archer of Red felt ashamed at those whispers and felt compassion and pity.

Those were feelings that one must never have when facing vengeful spirits who only made appeals for their final wish. That compassion stirred up her emotions, and gradually made her hatred swell up towards both herself, who couldn’t save them, and that holy maiden, who didn’t save them.

“I don’t care.”

But Archer of Red accepted that hatred without hesitation. She couldn’t help cherishing those ephemeral, destructive feelings.

The more she hated herself and that woman—the more she could prove and believe in her own love.

So, for now, she would sharpen her fangs. In order to kill that false saint, Archer of Red continued to earnestly nurture her hatred.

As an heroic spirit, stronger that those low-class spirits, they wouldn’t have represented a problem for her, yet she accepted them. She felt compassion for them. The spirits of CHILDREN, the things she loves the most in the world. So great is her kindness, so great is her heart that she didn’t want to erase them from her body and live with them, letting her consume her thoughts, leading her to her downfall. Atalanta might be a bit cruel, she might not care exactly about human life and accept the death of others as something natural and kill with an straight face without any regrets, but when it comes to children, it’s different. She becomes a kindhearted, lovingly person who’s willing to do ANYTHING for them and their sake. She also accepts this as a punishment part of her self loathing for not being able to save them. 

“I will bear with this punishment because I couldn’t save them, I will bear with it because they’re the spirits of children. This is the right thing to do”, she might have thought.

Later, when she’s preparing for the last battle, we get this:

At this point she’s completely possessed, full of hatred and rage, and remembering her past doesn’t help either. Atalanta now doesn’t only want to kill Jeanne, but kill everyone who interferes in her path to salvation of children. She will happily become a beast and even kill herself if it means saving them, or that’s what she thinks. Or that’s what the spirits make her thing. As long as she has their voices, she has motivation. She has the will to fight. She has the will to do ANYTHING to protect her wish.

Sadly, it’s a big contradiction. Her wish, so pure, so beautiful, being reached with destruction and slaughter? She doesn’t care. Her eyes are clouded with hate and she’s slowly losing her mind. She’s no longer thinking by herself at this rate and it becomes worse when she activates Agrius Metamorphosis (which, as you can see, has been intending to use after her exchange with Shakespeare)

TL/DR (because I’m tired): Atalanta’s obsession with children isn’t born from nowhere. And it’s not an insane obsession. I wouldn't call it obsession per say. She had a pure intent, she just wanted children to not go through what she had to go through, so she decided to join Shirou’s side, who had almost the same wish as her. She decided to discard her master (mostly after learning he was easily tricked) and follow Amakusa’s path. She didn’t intend to kill Jeanne out of jealously or just because “lmao she went nuts”. She was actually posssessed by evil spirits, and while she could have easily discarded them, she accepted them thanks to the hell she saw back in Jack’s illusory world. She saw her representation of herll. She saw a woman who was known as a saint killing children instead of saving them. She felt horrible with herself, to the point of hating herself for not being able to save them because she was powerless. The spirits simply took advantage of this and added in to her downfall. She fell into despair and the spirits pushed her further and further until Achilles kills her (thus making her reason go back and the spirits and the possession of the calydonian boar abandoning her body; if he hadn’t killed her, she would have killed herself, or Ruler could have killed her. The ending she got was pretty happy in fact, because she dies without being posessed, grateful with Rider’s actions and in peace with the words he dedicates her: “we’ll head to hell together… if you’re fine with a man like me”, and also his tears of sadness while he holds her in her arms and then both disappearing together… SOMETHING THE ANIME DIDN’T SHOW, UGH). 

No. Atalanta didn’t want to kill your waifu because she was “plain crazy” or “jealous”. She had her reasons and they’re more complicated than you think. I see a lot of people hating on Atalanta because Jeanne is a big fan favorite and while I do love Jeanne myself, it’s necessary to understand/know Atalanta’s reasons for her hatred to her. 

That’s what the anime failed to do. While the novel gave us the chance to emphathyze with Atalanta and her growing feelings of hatred, giving us full insight of what was going through her head and why she was going to do what she did, the anime only showed her being “attacked by children, then coming back with a black arm, then said black arm disappears out of the sudden and now she wants to kill Jeanne because children”. 

I’m not trying, with this post, to excuse Atalanta’s actions, though, because she did a lot of things wrong, yet I’d like people to understand why she did this.

I hope it makes sense because I’m falling asleep here.

[itsjesperfahey]

modern soc au

inej: 

loves to dance !!! esp ballet but she can dance to whatever tbfh, she’s that good 

likes to wear caps, esp backwards. really loves bomber jackets too. 

has a couple, small tattoos dedicated to her saints 

is that one kid who loves to do parkour (both ironically and unironically) for instance is really good at it but sometimes just yells PARKOUR and steps over a rock

usually found eating lunch with her pals on the roof of the school 

is amazing at hide and seek like holy fuck ????? hid for 2 hours once and wasn’t found, came back the next day and was like “y'all losers SUCK" 

loves to study other people’s cultures, as well as history and is great as p.e (never has gotten a bad grade in the flexibility tests) 

likes to read poem books 

has a black cat as a pet named "saint" 

pronounced meme as "mehmeh” the first time she read it 

only has snapchat and instagram. is that kid who ALWAYS posts the sunset every day, esp from weird/high places and the comments are always “HOW THE FUCK DID YOU GET UP THERE" 

cried the most during fox and the hound 

always braiding nina’s hair. Knows how to do all the super advanced onces as well

"I don’t know, CAN YOU?" 

 the best one at pushing people on the swings 

AMAZING AT JUST DANCE WITH JESPER 

"sorry I ran out of fucks to give try again later maybe?" 

gives the nicest presents. always knows what a person wants for christmas/their birthday 

the one who’s really into photography and is always taking aesthetic™ pics of Nina for her social media accounts 

Prefers tea over coffee

wylan:

bullied for not being able to read (at least up until high school), so is super shy 

loves drawing. the artistic™ one who takes anatomy to be able to draw people better 

MASTER FLUTE MUSICIAN. On the school band. Jams hard af when he plays it 

is in gem math and AP chem with kuwei. 

loves sweet. addicted to blue jolly ranchers. his tongue is always blue 

constantly pushing up his thick rimmed glasses (even if they ain’t on, which causes him to poke his eye)

looooves all the superhero shows on the CW 

V neck sweaters. always

always has his trusty satchel

only has tumblr. has like 10k followers because of his artwork. 

”‘illuminati’ ? is that a band?“ 

cat person even though he’s allergic to cat fur. absolutely adores inej’s cat. settles for owning a horned lizard named "shrek" 

secretly a huge fan of memes 

really gay for tom holland and ed sheeran (calls him "ginger Jesus”) 

gamer with jesper. they always play overwatch together, wylans better tho. a genji and Ana main 

cried the most during big hero six 

wylan, with blank eyes: “I like my coffee how I like my men” // jesper: *spits out his drink* 

matthias: 

sports fan obv. On the schools hockey team bc his fav is hockey. is extremely competitive when he plays it. Is constantly checking but never gets penalties (aka slamming the other players against the walls)

played basketball against jesper and surprisingly lost. jesper won’t let it go 

dog person. owns a pet pomsky (Pomeranian-husky) with nina who’s name is “bub" 

“long hair don’t care”draws inspiration from Harry styles 

really philosophical. takes all the philosophy/ethics classes available 

kind of sounds like Thor (thick and deep accent) 

a good™

"you’re all horrible trash”

“do we really have to be doing this now? I have to finish my homework" 

loves baking. bakes everything for the love of his life 

grey sweatshirts and adidas shoes 

wears contacts Because he hates how glasses look on him. only wears them when he’s home 

oblivious to all the women in love with him

"CAN YOU EVEN LIFT BRO? BECAUSE I SURE AS FRICK CAN” (doesn’t curse) 

real 👍🏻🤘🏻👌🏻life🤰🏻👼🏻🌱student📚✂️✏️athelete🏃🏼🥇🏆🥅🏒

has Facebook and Twitter only

cried the most during bambi and dumbo 

little spoon™ 

has a couple tattoos with very deep meanings

jesper: 

dancer with inej. dances like those ppl who look like robots ??? the ones who look like they freeze parts of their body while the others move. AMAZING at it 

loves jazz but also dubstep/edm and rap/r&b. Beyoncé is MOM/QUEEN. 

sometimes djs parties 

again, huge gamer with wylan. he’s a lucio and junkrat main for overwatch. loves like every video game ever 

loves all the marvel movies, in love with black panther (was team cap) 

dresses like a hipster but also sometimes a fuck boy (tank tops and shorts with a backwards cap style) 

favorite subject is business and debate. great negotiator 

cried the most during the lion king 

A+ cosplayer (especially his lucio cosplay) 

big supporter of human rights (LGBTA+, feminist, black lives matter, poc representation). Will LITERALLY get into fights over anyone who thinks otherwise. Fist fights, always supported by Kaz and Matthias. Got suspended for 3 days for breaking a kids nose who thought LGBTA+ people should **** ** ****) 

that one kid who has 50 fidget spinners and can do cool tricks with them. also manages to sell all of them 

skateboard pro™ 

always sends the blinking face meme, even if it’s out of context 

all the social medias. 

one tattoo only of a gun with a 'bang’ flag coming out of it 

nina: 

 PROFESSIONAL👏🏻 MAKE 👏🏻 UP 👏🏻 ARTISTS 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 HAS HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF FOLLOWERS ON HER INSTAGRAM AND THE SAME FOR HER YOUTUBE CHANNEL 

Speaking of YouTube, she always does cute videos. Baking/cooking tutorial videos featuring Matthias, 'i do my boyfriends makeup’, 'my boyfriend does my makeup’, 'my boyfriend buys my makeup’, does make up tutorials obviously, challenges with her best friend inej like the 'whisper challenge’. everyone loves her and says her and Matthias are their otp 

loves fashion design, takes that class. 

loves horror movies/creepy things but also Disney 

great at roller skating 

always wins the best dressed awards ad school 

also huge fan of ed sheeran. loves little mix more than 5h. 

cried the most during 'up' 

Can speak like 4 languages (English, french, Latin and spanish) 

loves traveling and learning about new cultures too 

dancer!inej’s biggest fan and hockey!matthias’ biggest fan 

always breaks snapchat streaks 

likes to (friendly) debate with jesper, especially over stupid things 

amazing with kids. babysits all the time. calls “bub” (the dog) her and matthias’ baby 

big spoon™ 

notes are so fucking pretty. buys the most expensive stationary and notebooks 

also huge supporter of human rights. runs the feminist club. (Jesper is the Vice President) stresses loving yourself and your body, and makes sure to design comfortable yet GORGEOUS clothes for “"plus sized people”“ 

wins 'dynamic duo’ award with inej 

always eating lollipops 

has a few very small tatos of cute things like roses and crowns. has one quote written in cursive on her rib

kaz: 

prefers black coffee as well 

loves crime shows, whether they’re real or fake. for instance loves both 'Dateline’ and 'Criminal Minds’ also loves 'House’

 favorite class is psychology, learning how a person thinks and acts and feels

has the dregs tattoo on his arm * edge lord 9000™ * such a drama queen and diva like damn 

*deep sigh* "I think I’d rather go take a nap” *gets up and leaves* 

also loves computer science. knows how to hack shit like a pro 

always rough housing with jesper. broke a table once 

does walk with a cane. likes to slap matthias’ ass with it 

“bow down you fucking peasants" 

only types in lower case with 0 emojis and no punctuation marks. CONSTANTLY leaves people on read 

only has Twitter and snapchat. His posts on snapchat never have captions, yet somehow has a 200 day streak with Jesper and a 250 day streak with inej 

loves watching horror movies with nina 

 *in a fight* "oh I’ll sHOW YOU SOME DIRTY HANDS” *swings* 

gets second place for best dressed award 

always sending memes with no context in their group chat, as well as vines 

indie and alternative rock fan 

“does it look like I care because I’m sorry if it does I didn’t mean to give you that impression" 

head over heels for inej Ghafa like wow 

likes to read a lot of mystery books and non fiction books 

cried the most during finding dory 

can solve a Rubik’s cube under a minute and won’t let you forget it 

The one asshole who picks either Kirby or metaknight in super smash brothers brawl

 hates seeing the notification bubble so he always has all chats muted and notifications turned off for apps 

kiss ass to all the teachers to get them A’s

Kuwei: 

SCIENCE NERD. ALWAYS singing the bill nye theme song. Loves ASAPScience on YouTube. Master at chemistry and biology 

"hey did u know bill nye is, like, my dad" 

nina treats him like a baby 

loves everything to do with Star Wars while wylan loves star trek more. Fighting ensues. 

has a pet Siamese cat name sparky 

Used to have a huge crush on jesper and everyone knew it except jesper. 

knows the intro to the bee movie ("according to all known laws of aviation-”)

 jesper in the group chat: “gonna go shower be right back” // kuwei: “without me ;)?” // wylan: “KUWEI SWEAR TO FUCK” // kaz: “watch your fucking language wylan" 

obsessed with Pokémon go even if it died out (chose team instinct) 

"fight me on this" 

has Twitter, snapchat and instagram 

Always drinking ginger ale 

master at bop it 

the one kid who always forgets to pay you back for stuff 

is also into the CW super hero shows, so him and wylan are constantly talking about it 

loves cartoons and anime 

speaks fluent fuckboy 

God awful at comebacks 

"let’s take a selfie guys !!!” // “kuwei no-” // *snapshot sound* 

talks !!! Like !! This !!!! for,,, some reason ???????? 

huge nerd for other things too like lord of the rings and Harry Potter and game of thrones 

cried the most during inside out

 "do you think planes are scared of heights?“ // "for fucks same kuwei it’s 4am”

[bettyandveronicadoubledigest]

Episode 1: “The River’s Edge”

First of all before I say literally anything else:

WHERE is Midge???

Hey there what’s up I just want you to know that when I typed out the title I almost put “Season 1, Episode 1” but TBH I’m not going to make that kind of commitment until I know this is more than a one-season thing. I thought at first this would be a one-season thing but who knows, seriously. I hope to God this show gets literally as convoluted as possible and continues on to receive the award for Maximum Success Attainable By A Teen Drama (6-7 seasons, à la Gossip Girl and Pretty Little Liars).

Ok first of all I love Archie Comics. I LOVE Archie Comics. Now that I’ve said that, you know I have enough credibility to talk about Riverdale On The CW and you have to take me seriously. I love Archie Comics. I peaked around the time of the Archie Corporation TM’s last-ditch attempt at relevancy with the “New Look” series—Betty & Veronica Bad Boy Trouble which was quite literally horrible and something we do not need to talk about at all. Sexy biker Betty, OMG. Sexy biker Betty!!! The best part about this story was Nick St. Clair’s catchphrase—“A saint I ain’t,” says Nick St. Clair. He was SO ugly and not really that bad at all, because in 2007 Archie Corp did not realize it could be truly edgy yet. Also his shirt literally just says “METAL.” 

 I also want to make it clear that I was lying when I said Nick’s catchphrase was the best part—this was the WORST part and obviously a huge ripoff of the CLASSIC Lizzie McGuire episode “Bad Girl McGuire,” where the Bad Girl was “a devil named Angel.”

ANYWAY. We are not gathered here today for Lizzie McGuire. Riverdale. Wow. I didn’t follow much of the show’s production, just knew it was happening and saw the hype casting of former TV twin (current actual twin) Cole Sprouse. But about a week ago I became the show’s target market, apparently, and was absolutely barraged by Riverdale advertising. The promos were interesting, sure, because they gave away LITERALLY THE ENTIRE PLOT. Which wouldn’t have mattered if this were just Pals ’n’ Gals Archie, but this is CW Archie! Archie With A Secret! Maybe I’m glad though, because I think if I had just seen Archie and Grundy banging without knowing about it beforehand my heart might have stopped and I would have died and then I wouldn’t be writing this today. Geraldine!!! What are you doing!!!!

Archie and Ms. Grundy’s Bug bang sesh (complete with Grundy in Lolita glasses, barf) set the tone for the whole damn hour of television entertainment. It very quickly became apparent that this show is entirely 100% about the banging. The weird interaction between Fred Andrews and Hermione Lodge was about banging. Moose’s whole character development will be about banging. And I’m willing to say right now after the episode 1 that the murder of Jason Blossom was about banging—either banging Polly Cooper or banging Cheryl because there is no way in which this show could play out without all roads leading to incest.

Moose! I love a good jock-in-the-closet subplot a la Glee, and Moose even seems like a fine person to be that jock—except WHERE is Midge?? And maybe more importantly, where is Ethel??? I figure we’ll get to see Weatherbee and some other secondary characters soon, but I hope we get those girls. If there’s an Ethel, she’s going to be involved in some hard-to-watch plot where Cheryl is pure awful to her.

Riverdale was really good and intriguing—I think it’ll be easy to figure out where the show’s going, but not without a lot of complication and not without a lot of parts that don’t make a lot of sense and not without a lot of banging. Who Killed Jason Blossom? is definitely a secondary plotpoint—a lot of viewers are going to return to see just where they’re going with the Betty-Veronica-Archie dynamic. As with the comics, Archie is the main character in theeeeeory, but he’s definitely the least interesting of the whole lot. Will he get more interesting? It’s not likely. In the tradition of The OC and Gossip Girl, even the parents have a lot more to do than the character stuck in the whiny baby man protagonist trope. But it was a good pilot!!! A fun pilot!!! The acting wasn’t half bad and the cinematography was nice and everyone was really, really pretty!!! And following along with Betty and Veronica and Kevin and Cheryl and Alice and even SMITHERS will be a lot of fun. I hope.

Yes: -Dilton!!!!!! Doiley!!!!!! his turn as a Boy Scout leader was so cute and nice and he better show up more -Betty Veronica and Archie all look exactly like their comic book counterparts <3_<3 -Betty as a Girl With Issues works really, really well; Madchen Amick was excellent and I can’t wait to see what they decide to do… did Betty kill Jason Blossom because that would truly be Something -The conversation between Archie and his dad was perfect and put an appreciated end to the High School Musical potential Archie-dad relationship so hopefully no more of that -Smithers hahahahahahah

Hard no:

-Why?? wasn’t Jughead shown eating a burger even one time... what’s up with that -PLEASE drop the Grundy/Archie Hot For Teacher thread soon… please…. it’s pretty weird this was the decided plot point because it means the affair took place the summer after AA’s freshman year so he was like 15 which is not only gross but also EXTRA gross -The B&V kiss was really stupid and everyone can agree they literally just stuck in there for excitement in the trailer but whatever -Archie’s songs are really.. really bad … he’s on some James Hurley shit