#honor is just an excuse to be a questionable monster and both act upon it by their own philosophy

[ornstein]

I think it's pretty funny that (most of) the ryuzo hate comes from the fact he betrays you (jin), burns an innocent guy alive to save his family, even tho he does it above all to keep being significant to his men, which is the same thing jin did in the friendly tournament when he couldn't let himself be defeated by ryuzo, his (low class) friend, in order to not look weak in front of entire samurai clans, that he charged at him like he was his enemy and nearly broke his arm, thus betraying ryuzo as a result. And the fact it was BOTH ryuzo and jin who got taka in trouble with the khan, so they're Both to blame here. But since we never see this perspective from ryuzo because he isnt the game's protag, he gets all the bad looks for being a realistically relatable human, in just a different way than jin is.

Or maybe it's because we humans dont like flaws very much because they remind us of our mistakes, so we pursue (or look into) the idealistic hero fighting evil trope.

Anyhow, it's a curious thing.

[fanficfeeling]

Lovely Part 2 - Jaskier x Reader

A/N: Hey everyone! Wow! Part 1 received far more positive feedback than I thought it would! I'm super grateful to everyone who read part one, or left a comment, or was just very encouraging, you've really helped re-spark my love for writing <3 Boy, this took way too long to finish, but I just really wanted to make sure it held up the first part at least a little! I hope you enjoy this part as well, and I'm planning on writing at least one more part to this after this, so let me know if your interested in that/how much more of this story you're interested in seeing! Either way I'm planning on continuing to write for The Witcher, and on starting to post for other fandoms (of which I'll be posting a list soon!) so if you like my work please follow or just keep an eye out! Love you guys.

Summary: 3 times Jaskier has done his best to distract Y/N from the less enjoyable parts of her life.

Part 1

Warnings: Brief language warning.

Tagged: @failure-of-the-day (I might be assuming but I thought you might like to be tagged!) @ultracolorfulnerdcollection @blue-hoodies-for-life @athenaisalpha

~~

Y/N found out rather quickly that spending time with Jaskier is a surefire way to bring a smile to her face. Her job can be depressing, Geralt is often silent at the most inopportune times, and travelling for such long distances can be boring, but Jaskier is none of those things, and often goes out of his way to grab her attention from that which brings down her mood.

For instance, moments like this one: Y/N has returned to this small town's inn after helping the townspeople for the day, feeling like the weight of the world is on her shoulders after the day she's had. Geralt hasn't returned from his monster slaying yet, so she seeks out Jaskier for company.

When she finds him in his room, he's laying on his bed, writing something down on a piece of paper haphazardly, using his propped-up knee as a work surface. As impractical as the position seems, he looks comfortable: laid back, his normal, fancier wear tossed aside for a simple white shirt and comfortable trousers, and a smile upon his face. It take Y/N all of a second to decide that the look does him great justice.

"Jaskier." Y/N starts, making him aware of her presence.

He looks up, briefly startled, but when his eyes come to rest on her, his smile widens, "Hello, Y/N."

"I just wanted to let you know that I'm back in for the evening."

"I'm glad! It was getting boring around here with no company. Please, come in, sit down." Y/N expects him to gesture to the chair against the wall in invitation, but he simply moves his feet and makes room on his bed for her. She means to be more proper about coming into his space, but as she approaches, she finds that she ends up throwing herself down onto the bed, her exhaustion weighing down her bones.

This seems to be the first time Jaskier notices her mood is off, "Hey, everything alright?"

Y/N looks at him sheepishly, "Just a long day is all. How was yours?"

Taking the hint that she wasn't up for talking about it, Jaskier indulges her, "I started writing a new song today, and I have to admit, it's taken up pretty much all of my time. It's-"

It's all Y/N can do to stay focused on his words for that long, as images of ill people, broken homes, and crying children fill her mind. This town is lucky to have an inn still standing, considering all the havoc beasts nearby have caused. Why must monsters even have to exist like this at all? Why must innocent people suffer for mindless, bloodthirsty crazes? Why does Y/N dedicate herself to cleaning up messes that aren't even hers?

"Y/N?" She looks up at Jaskier at the sound of his persistent voice, and it isn't until she attempts to speak that she realizes she's begun crying. She also finds that she can't find anything to say to him to make an excuse for her state.

He doesn't question any further though, and swiftly gives her a soft smile, before setting aside his papers and opening his arms, beckoning her towards him.

She doesn't even think about it as she crawls towards him and re-positions herself so that he can envelop her in a hug, as she lays her head against his chest. Just being there quickly quiets the tears, but Jaskier doesn't let go, and for that Y/N is grateful.

They sit in silence as Y/N calms herself, and eventually Jaskier leans down a little bit to kiss her forehead and whisper, "Whatever you've been through, please just remember that I'm here for you and that your soul is good, and deserves to be returned the help and goodness that you give."

Oh yeah, that's why she does it all. However hard it can be, it's the good she does that keeps her moving.

~~~

The next time Jaskier goes out of his way to lift Y/N's mood, Y/N and Geralt are sitting at a table in another tavern, completely silent. Normally Y/N has no issues with respecting their silence, she often enjoys it, but her work involved a lot of repairs today, and she barely had any human connection at all throughout the day. She fidgets, doing her best not to disturb Geralt as he seems to contemplate something—she knows he has his own demons swimming around in his mind—but she worries that if she doesn't do something stimulating soon, she very well might burst.

Jaskier descends from the rooms above the tavern space, looking to begin his own work for the night as an entertainer. He had gotten permission from the owner of this establishment earlier in the day to perform in the space, and as it got on into the evening, he knew that now was his prime time. He had cleaned himself up, decided on his song list, and was ready to go.

As he looked around the tavern sizing up his audience, his eyes came to rest upon his travelling companions. Geralt seems lost in thought, and Y/N... Y/N seems downright bored. Knowing that she's been having a rough go of it lately with her work, Jaskier quickly decides that he cannot let this stand.

He swiftly changes his course and makes his way towards their table, a plan only half formed in his mind, and when he stops in front of them he finds himself asking, "Y/N, could I ask a favor of you?"

She looks at him, curiosity in her eyes and a soft smile on her mouth—a goddess in the flesh, he thinks—and he continues, "I have some songs that I was planning on playing tonight, and I would like to see how they fare as duets. Would you join me?"

Jaskier doesn't know by what miracle she says yes, and neither does she, really, but soon the two fall into a groove that brings the attention, and coin, of the patrons. They stumble through the first few songs, rousing some laughs from their audience, until they get to "Toss A Coin To Your Witcher", and the audience joins in singing with them. The pair puts on a show as they sing and they dance, and the audience adores it.

After a rendition (or several) of Jaskier's hit song, many of their audience members start to fall away, so the bard takes that as a hint to start slowing things down.

"Y/N, how would you feel about rounding this performance off by performing "Her Sweet Kiss" with me?"

Y/N's heart skips a beat. She's heard the way he sings that song, and the emotion he puts into it is always enough to bring her near to tears.

"I would be honored."

He starts the beginning off himself, and cues her when to come in. "So tell me love, tell me love, how is that just?" Jaskier never breaks eye contact with Y/N as they sing, and she utters no complaints as it feels like he bears his soul to her while gazing deeply into hers.

"I'm weak, my love, and I am wanting. If this is the path I must trudge, I'll welcome my sentence, give to you my penance, garroter, jury, and judge."

When Y/N had wished for human interaction, this was not what she had expected, but fuck her if it wasn't far better.

As the song comes to a close, Y/N still can't find it in her to look away from his eyes, but luckily for her, it seems that neither can he. The applause of the crowd goes unnoticed by both until the moment passes on its own.

"Thank you, for doing this with me, Y/N."

"Thank you for asking, Jaskier."

~~~

While traveling is, of course, a luxury, just the act of getting somewhere new isn't always the most enjoyable of activities. Travelling may be an integral part of Y/N's job, but knowing that is rarely enough to make her feel better about her soreness from riding her horse, or the boredom she feels as they slowly move along on empty side roads, past endless fields. Yet, this is ultimately a part of her job, so she grins and bears it for the satisfaction of helping people and the coin it brings.

Jaskier, in all his many observations of this captivating do-gooder, begins to notice that she rarely has a good time between locations. He notices that she has no way to occupy herself, besides just listening to him ramble, and he notices that she doesn't seem to plan on doing anything to remedy that situation. So, he resolves to do so himself.

"Y/N," He begins as he sits on her horse behind her, one arm wrapped around her waist. "How would you like to play a game?"

"A game? Why?"

"Because I'm terribly bored and would like to hear your lovely voice. Are you in?"

"Oh, uh, I suppose I am, yes."

"Okay then. I spy, with my little eye-" Her laughter that follows is enough to make Jaskier's heart light. Making her laugh always makes him just a little bit happier.

He hears Geralt groan next to them on Roach, and watches in amusement as he begins to trot further up ahead of them.

"What a grumpy, grumpy man. Alright, hush now, or you'll miss the object. Anyways, I spy, with my little eye, something very long and brown."

"Oh, oh, is it the tree trunks?"

"Very close but not quite. Something dusty."

"The road!"

"Ding ding ding! You've got it!" She laughs once more at his enthusiasm.

"My turn then! I spy, with my little eye, something... big and blue."

Jaskier pretends to think for a moment, and then feigns surprise as he exclaims, "The sky!"

He thinks her joyful laughter is stopping his heart by now, but he's certain he might fall off the horse when she says, "I could preserve this round for a little longer and say 'It was actually your eyes', but that might be a little obvious, huh?"

He rests his head on her shoulder and attempts to look at her face. "That gives me an idea. I spy, with my little eye, something lovely."

A blush breaks out across her face immediately, but she tries not to make assumptions. "Oh, uh... those flowers on the side of the road?"

"Not quite. A bit closer to me." She swears she can feel his arms tighten around her just a fraction.

"Then... is it the horse? You two seem to get along quite well." He chuckle is deep, and she can feel the motion against her back.

"I do love Cinnamon dearly, but you're still a bit off. Try again."

Y/N's breath hitches in her throat, and she glances to the side to look at him, finding him closer than she expected. "Lovely? Is it, uh... me, then?" His smile is enough to make her think her heart will soon burst out of her chest.

"Very good. You're excellent at this. Fancy another round?"

It takes her several minutes to calm down, but she gets into their game again, and sure enough, before either of them even know it, they've reached their destination. They both find themselves a little sad when they have to let go and get off of Cinnamon, but the feeling of being so close doesn't leave either of them for hours.  

Yes, Y/N reflects, everything really does get better with him around.

Yeah, Jaskier thinks, I wouldn't trade a second with her for anything.

[hamliet]

Trapped in MDZS (Part 1): WangXian as Balance

Or, a meta series in which I want to know the answer to this question: why does almost every arc ends with everyone trapped in some kind of place, be it a cave, a house of the living dead, or even worse, the Cloud Recesses and their 4,000 rules?

am i using every excuse i have to talk about mdzs’s symbolism yes yes i am

Tl;dr it’s a motif masterfully utilized within story to emphasize MDZS’s themes of freedom and righteousness, and how society (the real monster of the story) doesn’t actually allow for freedom nor righteousness. Every character is trapped by societal expectations as I wrote in a previous meta

And hence part 1: WangXian vs. the Dead Society

Basically: as I wrote in this previous meta, society in MDZS?

Every character is trapped by societal expectations--be it Jiang Cheng having to lead his sect as a traumatized teenager, Lan WangJi trying to be the perfect disciple of the GusuLan Sect, Wei WuXian cursed by everyone for having no recourses left to him according to society’s rules for cultivators. 

But MDZS’s answer isn’t exactly “the hell with society let’s set it all on fire.” It’s about finding freedom through doing the right thing--which often doesn’t coincide with rules, and specifically not with societal rules. It also acknowledges society as people who all matter. Through doing the right thing, it offers a path out of society’s trap, and we see this path to freedom incarnated in the story through Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi’s relationship.  

Gusu Lan Sect’s motto is literally “be righteous,” and Yunmeng Jiang’s is “attempt the impossible,” two potentially opposing characteristics that both LWJ and WWX embody to faults. Lan WangJi is so righteous he’s afraid of being honest with himself, and consequently the person he loves thinks he hates him. Wei WuXian tries to do the impossible without any regard to his own wellbeing. And the motif of trapping is used on an extremely minor level to demonstrate the idea of balance between these two important ideals: Lan WangJi ties Wei WuXian up with his hair ribbon, symbolically restricting the latter’s admirable, yet at times careless, freedom in behavior, while for Lan WangJi removing such a symbol of propriety and righteousness and giving it to someone he loves is an act of extreme vulnerability, an act that breaks with society’s expectations and basically announces he’s gay--to the juniors, which is also important because the juniors are the future of society.  

But before they can offer any hope to anyone in a way that actually lasts (instead of like what happened during Wei WuXian’s first life, which Did Not Work), they have to learn to work together themselves, and move towards each other’s approach by balancing personal responsibility and desires. 

After Dafan Mountain, Lan WangJi has to take Wei WuXian to the Cloud Recesses to protect him, and yet Wei WuXian cries hysterically, refusing to go in because he's afraid of being trapped in a place of rules and punishment. 

He was making loud noises exactly because he didn’t want to enter the Cloud Recesses!

If he was dragged inside, it would be extremely difficult for him to come outside again. Back then, when he came to study, all of the disciples were given a jade token for passage. Only with the token, would a person be able to enter and leave freely, or else they couldn’t pass through the protective barrier of the Cloud Recesses. After ten years had passed, the security could only have gotten stricter, instead of looser.

Except Wei WuXian’s quest for the token (the key to freedom) only leads him to awkward encounters with Lan WangJi, resulting in Lan WangJi taking away his ability to move and leaving him with no choice but to fall asleep on top of Lan WangJi. His quest for freedom needs to be balanced by Lan WangJi, who shows him that his wellbeing matters too (as if he’d not taken him back to the Cloud Recesses, he would’ve been taken to be tortured in Lotus Pier). 

Yet they soon leave the Cloud Recesses after the arm (of a man obsessed with rules more so than the GusuLan Sect even) is released in the GusuLan Sect and overpowers everyone, even Lan QiRen, while they’re all locked in the mingshi. Wei WuXian is the one who breaks into the mingshi to help Lan WangJi settle the arm with demonic cultivation, showing again that Lan WangJi, who locks himself up with rules and tries to do things on his own, needs someone to break in and help him, and sometimes the only method is one that people blatantly frown upon. And of course, Lan QiRen, the very fuddy-duddy society-incarnate leader, yells at them to stop working together to subdue the arm:

Lan QiRen, who had lost consciousness, actually sat upright again. He pointed at Wei WuXian with a trembling hand, his face covered in blood and rage, and shouted in a hoarse voice, “Stop playing! Get out! Get out now! Stop…”

But they don’t stop, manage to temporarily restrain the evil arm, and will continue to move in each other’s direction throughout the story.  

However, those are more or less incidents in which one person is choosing to trap the other or break into the other’s self-imprisonment. There are three incidents in which society itself traps both Lan WangJi and Wei WuXian with no options, and each of these incidents has both Lan WangJi and Wei WuXian winding up in a cave together. Each cave incident is associated with a turning point in WangXian’s relationship: the Tortoise of Slaughter incident, the cave after the Nightless City massacre, and the cave at the Burial Mounds. 

The Tortoise of Slaughter cave was deliberately sought by Wen Chao. The Wen Sect is symbolic of society: tempestuous yet in power and abusing this power, and also shows the temporality of society as they’re almost completely wiped out and universally despised later. They take the disciples’ swords and lead them into a cave to seek a monster, unaware that the monster inside is so fierce and instead of bringing honor to the Wen Sect (like its slaying does temporarily) it will spark the Wen Sect’s downfall even more than it resulted in the Jiang Sect’s downfall. 

When Wen Chao and Ling WangJiao try to kill an innocent girl (MianMian), Lan WangJi and Jin ZiXuan refuse to let her be harmed, and Wei WuXian saves them by threatening to kill Wen Chao. (side note: these are both the people Jiang Cheng’s siblings would later wind up marrying, hence it’s tragically ironic Jiang Cheng blames Wei WuXian’s saving them for the downfall of his sect, when it also results in happiness for the people he loves most). But as soon as the monster appears, the Wens gtfo, and leave everyone trapped in a cave to die. But the disciples, foreshadowing the upcoming Sunshot Campaign, work out a plan to escape from the cave even when it seems like there is no hope. Yet in the end Lan WangJi and Wei WuXian are still trapped there after everyone else escapes. They kill the tortoise by working together, but they need others to come and save them from the cave--i.e. symbolically WangXian’s relationship can help defeat society’s monsters, but they can’t survive on their own with just the two of them--they need others too, and the others need them. 

The tortoise cave of course also is the birth of where Lan WangJi opens up to Wei WuXian about his father, showing vulnerability in crying in front of him, where Wei WuXian receives a brand from society that Lan WangJi will later brand himself with, and where the song that enables Lan WangJi to recognize Wei WuXian when he’s reborn is first played. 

And then we have the Koi Tower incident and the cave after the Nightless City massacre, which directly parallel each other in a structure of WWX & LWJ vs. society in a fight, flying off to a cave together, and having to reemerge into society to save children. 

In Koi Tower, Jin GuangYao, the Chief Cultivator, is able to completely twist the events to blame Wei WuXian and expose his identity. Yet Lan WangJi refuses to leave him, showing that he goes against what society wants when it’s wrong: he is trying to pursue righteousness, and the way to do it in this instant is to help Wei WuXian escape.

But what he hadn’t expected was that when everyone feared him and flattered him, Lan WangJi scolded him right in his face; when everyone spurned him and loathed him, Lan WangJi stood by his side.

They return to the Cloud Recesses, where Lan XiChen helps them and shows Wei WuXian patience and mercy, in contrast to what happened the last time Lan WangJi stood against society for Wei WuXian’s sake. 

The massacre at the Nightless City was brought about by Wei WuXian losing his mind based on grief and how everyone was blaming him for an incident he hadn’t incited, and afterwards, well, as Lan XiChen says:

“...He was in no better shape than you, barely supporting himself by leaning on Bichen. In spite of this, as he saw you stumble away, he immediately followed... I could only watch as WangJi, whose spiritual powers were clearly about to be drained, staggered towards you. He brought you onto Bichen as soon as he grabbed you, and you two left.

“Four hours later, my spiritual powers, having finally been restored, I hurried back to the GusuLan Sect in search for assistance. I was worried that if those from another sect found you first, WangJi would be considered your accomplice. The best scenario was his name being forever tainted, and the worst his life being taken away right then. Thus, along with Uncle, we chose thirty-three seniors who had always thought highly of WangJi and searched for two days on our swords in secrecy. Only then did we find signs of you two within the Yiling region. WangJi hid you in a cave. When we arrived, you sat blankly on a rock within the cave. Holding your hand, WangJi was giving you spiritual energy. He kept on whispering to you... He heavily injured all thirty-three of the seniors we asked to come…”

So they took refuge in a cave because no matter where Lan WangJi or Wei WuXian turned at that time, they were pretty much doomed and trapped in society’s snares. Lan WangJi decided in that moment that the righteous thing to do was to fight to protect Wei WuXian, and he did, but then he subjected himself to physical punishment and as a result, Wei WuXian died. But this time, after Koi Tower, Lan XiChen vows to take no drastic measures and protects Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi until the truth can truly be found out. 

It’s also worth noting that what pulls Lan WangJi out of the seclusion anyways after Wei WuXian’s death results in him saving Wen Yuan, an innocent child spurned by society and condemned to die all alone. After Koi Tower, it follows the same pattern--Lan WangJi and Wei WuXian head to a cave in the Burial Mounds (the same cave where Wei WuXian awoke Wen Ning’s consciousness and where the dead of the Wen Sect are buried). because yet again the children (including Wen Yuan) are at stake, tied up and to be used as bait. 

The dead (symbolic of society’s past) are coming for them as well, yet it’s Lan WangJi and Wei WuXian who, unlike the rest of society who fought their way there to save the kids, keep their spiritual powers (because they weren’t attempting to kill their sins embodied in the dead people). In contrast to being trapped and torn apart by the dead like what happened last time at the Burial Mounds, Wei WuXian this time, with Lan WangJi’s help, is able to use his non-society-approved cultivation to save the kids and the adults after he’s confronted with his own sins, but doesn’t try to make excuses for them--but in contrast to his often martyr-esque tendencies, this time he doesn’t take responsibility for the things he didn’t do just because there’s no hope. 

He had known from the start that no matter what he said, nobody would listen to him. What he denied could be forced; what he admitted could be twisted...

Every face boiled with heated blood, every word spoken guiltlessly, every person heroic, passionate, filled with indignation and pride. Everyone believed with no doubt that what they were doing was a feat of chivalry, a deed of honor. It would go down history and receive millions of praise. It was a crusade of the ‘righteous’ against the ‘wrong’!

Society twists what is considered right and wrong, believing it’s killing and an eye for an eye, refusing to take any personal responsibility and refusing to allow people to go against the norm. As Wei WuXian points out, he’s already died, and it’s still not enough for them. And he refuses to take responsibility for the things he has not done:

He was only stating a simple fact calmly, but the cultivator felt as if he was scorned, fuming, “What do you think we’re talking about here? How could there be bargaining to debts of blood?”

Wei WuXian, “It’s not that I want to bargain about such a thing, but that I don’t want my charges to be doubled just because of some words from another. I won’t shoulder what I didn’t do.”

Lan WangJi is able to actually help him this time so that he doesn’t lose his mind to despair over everyone blaming him for things he didn’t do, and he saves all of their lives and finds a measure of atonement from the dead Wen people--the ones society killed, who return to save the people who clamored for their deaths--because of Wei WuXian. The people who Wei WuXian saved at the eventual cost of his fall from grace that led to his death save the people who killed them all. The dead past saves with the present society for the sake of the children (as SiZhui is a relative of many of them). 

And so society begins to forgive Wei WuXian. And yet they haven’t really changed, as they’ll find a new villain to hate shortly. But WangXian kind of no longer cares about pleasing society thereafter--they elope and marry, but return to visit SiZhui and check in on the kids by the end of the novel. They can’t leave society, but they can exist on a better plane showing the path for the juniors of where society should be heading. 

I want to write two more metas on this (I think the first is def the weakest, so sorry about this meta’s incomplete feeling and my vague-ness at parts; it’s a broad topic and I wasn’t sure how to best divide it so went by characters instead of by arc)--one on the juniors in particular, and one on Jin GuangYao and Nie HuaiSang. 

[365daysofsasuhina]

[ 365 Days of SasuHina || Day One Hundred Ninety-Three: Far Back in Time ] [ Uchiha Sasuke, Hyūga Hinata, Uchiha Itachi, Uchiha Shisui, Uchiha Madara ] [ SasuHina ] [ Verse: Of Monsters and Men ] [ AO3 Link ]

The room sits in an awkward silence. Behind a desk to the right hand side sits Madara, hands calmly folded atop the surface and clearly ignoring the awkwardness. Nearby, Shisui stands beside the so-called ‘guest of honor’: that being one Hyūga Hinata. Opposite her, side by side, are the brothers Sasuke and Itachi.

The tale behind this seemingly fated meeting is long...which makes Sasuke wonder how it really has only been a handful of weeks. Barely a few months since he saved what he thought was a helpless human from a rogue of his kind...only to learn she carried blood of the old miko of Japan.

And the path from their meeting as strangers to...whatever one would call them now has had its share of twists and turns. But now, the Uchiha coven’s patriarch, Madara, has his hands on the magic-wielding woman.

Sasuke is torn between fury and terror.

Fury because their leader is already long compromised, in his (and few others’) opinion. For far too long his flaunted his power and position, enslaved other Nightwalkers under the premise of debt, and now he seeks to do the same to Hinata.

Terror because this man is one of the most powerful in Japan, if not their world. Acting against him is almost certainly suicide. But nor can Sasuke just sit here and do nothing in her defense. After all...it was his own actions that brought her into this little drama. And despite his best attempts to keep her from it, and ensure her safety...here she sits in what is nearly literally the lion’s den.

“So…” Madara offers after a lengthy silence. “I’m sure everyone here is a bit perplexed at this meeting’s purpose.”

Sasuke’s jaw grits. He knows damn well what Madara is after…

“I’m here to ensure several things. First and foremost...the safety of my people.” A hand gestures to Hinata, who gives him a careful glance. “As Sasuke has likely told you...your kind, once upon a time, were quite the threat to ours in various parts of the world. Japan’s own history of Nightwalker and witch interactions are not as...bloody as many others. But I still cannot turn a blind eye to the potential threat you - and others like you - may pose to my people.”

“...please sir,” Hinata offers quietly. “I...I have no intention to harm anyone. I’m just...trying to live a normal life as best I - as best I can. I’m just a college student who can see things others can’t.”

“Easy enough to claim,” Madara counters. “I cannot know your true intentions. Words are shallow things in our world. Promises are easily broken, vows tossed aside. Few things are guaranteed between Nightwalkers. Except the concept of debt.”

“D...debt?”

Considering her a moment, Madara then sighs. “...perhaps a moment to recount the history between the members of this room. Allow me to take you far back in time, to when even I was a young lad. Back in our land’s more...primitive days, miko - those you have descended from - were considered shamans. Priestesses. They were said to be possessed by spirits of the dead, or even gods. Many were even said to marry said gods. Shintō, the old ways of Japan, is riddled with mythology many are unaware is based more in truth than they can ever realize.

“While I cannot say for certain gods do not exist...what is likely the basis for such mythos was the existence and proximity of those like us.” Madara gestures to his underlings. “Nightwalkers, as we’re called in most lands. Those inhuman, ‘cursed’ to walk the night as humans claim the day. Many of us can change our shapes: animals, monsters, a blend of human and beast. Humans have, in many places, regarded us as demons, as gods, as spirits...monsters…” Shoulders shrug. “Our supposed roles and titles span as many names as we do lands...but we exist everywhere, and many of us have inspired myths, stories, legends. And while miko and witches in most lands - true practitioners of magic: manipulation of elements, energy - have even to us been turned to myth...we are learning this is not quite the case.”

Hands weaving fingers, Madara leans forward upon his elbows, considering her. “...had you lived a millennium and a half ago, you would be considered a powerful voice between gods and humans. You would undergo training, serve a god, and perhaps even wed one. Of course...after the mandates put into place to protect Daywalkers and Nightwalkers from one another...such unions are no longer allowed. But once upon a time...you would not be our enemy. You were, in fact, the closest thing we had to bridges between us and humans. Ironic...given that humans thought you the same between mortals and gods.”

A moment is taken in silence to let his history lesson sink in. “...so, now the question remains...what are you now, Hyūga-san?”

Still looking confused, she replies, “I...I’m just a person. I’ve been trying to h-hide from...from Nightwalkers all my life. I never wanted to be...whatever I am. I tried to ignore it as my father told me to, but...it never faded. If it weren’t for Sasuke-san intervening...I’m sure that vampire would have killed me. I only barely escaped his attempt to make me forget the encounter. A bit...useless, since I knew about your kinds long before then.”

Hinata’s expression then turns a bit desperate. “...please, he - he never did anything wrong! I know humans aren’t allowed to know about you, but...it wasn’t him who exposed your world to me. I’ve always seen it, as my mother did. He’s been teaching me about how to be safe! How to...to navigate my odd path between the two worlds. Please, I…” She wilts. “...I don’t want to hurt anyone. I would never do so on purpose! I don’t even know how to control, or...or train what I can do. Even if I wanted to...I doubt I could. Please...please just let me go…”

“You know I can’t do that,” Madara murmurs.

“She’s been around me for months now,” Sasuke cuts in, tone biting. “We’ve been alone more than once. If she’d wanted to hurt me, or try to manipulate me...she’s had her chance. Instead, she saved my life. There’s no longer a debt between us. She repaid it. You have nothing to hold her on except unfounded bias!”

“You said yourself, miko were once bridges between us and the humans,” Itachi murmurs in his brother’s defense. “Never in any of my research have I encountered evidence of miko misusing their power. Only in defense did they ever turn it against our kinds. Rogue ‘kami’ or ‘yōkai’ would be battled...but so long as we do nothing to beget harm, she has no reason to act.”

“And she had none until you kidnapped her,” Sasuke spits.

Madara, looking unimpressed, simply retorts, “Your lack of civility is getting old, Sasuke. Must I remind you to whom you are speaking…?”

“This human is my responsibility,” the youngest growls, eyes threatening to redden as his temper sparks. “I have been approaching her. Never has she attacked me, threatened me, coerced me. She’s been nothing but kind and patient. Hinata is no more a threat to us than a moth to a lamp. And I’ll be damned before I let you ruin her life she’s tried so hard to keep normal just because you’ve suddenly decided miko are of interest. If you knew they existed before...why only act now? Why act surprised there’s still some of their bloodline left? Admit it: you’re not scared of her...you just want to use her. Turn her into another plaything like the hybrid, or a tool for your schemes like the rest of us! I won’t allow it!”

Both his brother and cousin tense in preparation for a confrontation at the bold words...but it never comes.

Instead, Madara stares at his underling, blinking owlishly. “...you won’t allow it?”

“...no. I won’t. I don’t care what you do to me. I won’t let you sink your claws into an innocent. Not again.”

Madara’s eyes flicker over Sasuke’s face. “...so, you’ve fallen for manipulation of another kind.”

A hint of confusion tinges Sasuke’s furious stare.

“...in many cultures, so-called witches are said to have familiars. Creatures, beasts, beings that are loyal and obedient. In truth? They are enslaved Nightwalkers. Most are forced into the position with their magic...but a very rare few go willingly. Often because they mistake another feeling for that of loyalty or a need to protect. Hinata-san has not used her spells or wiles on you. You’ve done this to yourself.”

“...the hell are you talking about?”

“This defensiveness you feel is born out of love.”

The proclamation staggers him back half a step. “...excuse me?”

Across the room, Hinata stares, eyes wide.

“Oh come now, Sasuke...surely you’re not that dense,” Madara drawls. “Or perhaps it’s more your stubbornness than anything else. You saved this human because it was your job. She saved you because she cared. And you’re seeking to save her again because this little journey between the two of you has given rise to feelings beyond the platonic. You’re no longer acting out of responsibility, my boy...you are enamored.” He gives a smirk. “...just as dangerous as if she’d spellcast you. But now...what to make of this…”

Breath heaving slightly, Sasuke glances to Hinata, locking eyes. He...he loves…? But…? Rationally, he realizes it makes sense. After all, the mere notion of her being hurt had hurled him into a frenzied state. Something he’d fought tooth and nail against when nearly dying as not to hurt her. But hearing it aloud, having it spoken, and made real…

“...I believe I must think on this matter,” Madara muses. “Perhaps...such ties may solve our little dilemma. If there is a mutual interest in your safety, it may be enough to ensure nothing goes wrong. At least...so long as the attachment remains. But how to navigate the mandates…” Leaning back and looking thoughtful, he offers, “...she will remain here for tonight. Itachi, you will come with me. We have much to discuss. Sasuke...I expect you won’t go far. For now, consider our little meeting adjourned until I can puzzle the matter further.”

Barely daring to breathe, Sasuke watches as the senator rises, and then takes his leave. Itachi makes to tail him, giving his brother a warning look.

With that, all that remain are himself, Shisui, and Hinata.

“...holy shit,” Shisui offers, breaking his silence since their arrival.

Wasting no time, Hinata stands, crossing the room and looking to Sasuke worriedly. “...are you all right?”

“I should be asking you that.”

“I’m fine. A little tired after...whatever they knocked me out with, but I’m not hurt. They just...brought me in here. Even fed me.”

“Well...you’ll have a room here overnight,” Shisui then offers, stepping up. “Best to roll with things for now, Hinata-san. And I’m sure Sasuke’s going to make sure no one’ll bother you.”

Still reeling, Sasuke just vaguely nods. If anyone even hints at trouble...he just might kill them, in all honesty. He’s still far too worked up about her safety.

“...okay. I think that’s best for now,” Hinata agrees softly.

She’s taken to a remote room of the manor, and Sasuke just...stands outside. He knows he won’t be sleeping any time soon, too keyed up and paranoid.

And with far too much on his mind.

But...at least it’s looking unlikely Madara has plans to harm her...and certainly not kill her. For now, he has to trust Itachi can convince him to keep his reach to a minimum. If anything happens to her...he’ll never forgive himself.

Drawing up a chair from another room, he simply plants himself atop it before her door, elbows atop his knees, and lips pressed to woven fingers. His aura alone, surely, is enough to keep anyone out of this wing until Madara returns.

And until he does...Sasuke’s got some reflecting to do.

                                                       .oOo.

     Ahhh more Nightwalkers crossover! And thankfully not TOO long after the last part xD (day 188, for anyone wondering - someday I'll get the mini series within this series organized, I just...haven't had the time OTL)      ANWAY!      Here we make a little progress! Madara explains some his reasoning, Sasuke calls him out on his bullhonkey, and Madara in turn calls Sasuke out for what's REALLY going on between him and his witchy woman x3 ngl I wasn't sure how this was going to go, but...they just kinda took the reins and made this, haha~      ...I feel like I wanna say more, but my brain is fried after no sleep and a day-long headache (I just barely got this done and now it's SUPER late OTL), so...I'll leave it there for now. If you have any questions cuz I'm making no sense, you can comment and I'll explain after I (hopefully) get some sleep, lmao      But yeah, for now, that's all! Thanks for reading~

[anthionsoulshade]

A Rushed Check Up

((This took place months ago after Quin let Anthion know he was alive. And because I didn’t write them for so long, the story became long.))

I no longer can go to Alle’s Estate, I’ve been told it’s no longer her’s but her strange cousin. Instead I make my way to a castle and try to think where is the best place to approach. In the end, this is me, I take the direct approach into the Castle. It’s night time and the guard seem to be resting. Places like this normally aren’t just for the noble family. It took me a full ten minutes of examining the castle till I noticed Alle’s Cloak was laying against a window.

It is rude to knock so late at night, but I need to see her. I need to have someone explain what I’m feeling. Alle might not understand much, but she can read me well and see what I am not seeing.

She’s like a vision, an illustration of a beautiful Gilnean noble caught in a moment of peace. Her hair is loose and hanging around her shoulders and the robe she was wrapping around her night gown only adds the minimal amount of bulk. Those bright blue eyes lock on me and she looks nearly livid to see me levitating at her window. 

For I moment, I doubt if she’ll let me in. I mouth the words. ‘I need to talk.’ and all I get in return is her pursing her lips slightly and her holding up a finger to signal she needed a minute. From there she vanished behind her curtain and I’m left floating by her window like some delinquent wanting to see my school yard crush.

“Anthion.” 

Her voice sounds like it’s coming from the heavens and when I look up I notice there was a balcony that I can meet her at. It’s a large sweeping thing, probably a place meant for family and not for... me. I don’t really care though, I have been needing someone to talk to, and Alle has been woefully lax on her end of the friendship we agreed upon.

Still dressed in her robe and night gown I notice the gold ring I made her on her finger and, stop. She really did use the things I gave her. It was meant to be a way to touch her with out being burnt in the process. Seeing it glow lightly with her Light, I feel the stitches around my heart pull. I still haven’t told her how I feel about her.

“It’s very late Anthion.” She said her voice careful and as tired as she stated.

But I’m still, just being here is enough to sooth me. I have to be careful around Alle, she is strong, but I will not hurt her unless I foolishly knock something over. “I know about Quin.”

My cunning Duchess has hidden Quin from me for almost a year. I don’t know how she found out, but she did and did what he had asked her. She lied to me for months, allowed me to be poked at so Quin could get a read on if I was truly the man who raised him or a monster. I should be furious with her, instead, I’m not. I am utterly relieved that my chosen mate would protect my son with everything she had. It just made her even more appealing. Much like some women find men who are good with children are desirable, I find a woman who will protect Quin from even me is just as desirable. She’s more than just someone I enjoy being around, I feel a part of her with me.

Of course Alle doesn't react the way I thought she would. Most would become defensive, others would look guilty. Alle doesn’t do either of those things. She stands there, tall and proud and nods. “I had to do what I could to make sure he was safe. Alice and Olivia were both protective of him.”

“Olivia? Who?” I stop and remember Quin speaking about the woman. I barely remember the frail mortal from when her demon ran off after her. “Oh her... She knew him as well?”

“And is very protective.” Alle spoke in her calm but authoritative way, reminding me that she had a part she played but that others played more important parts compared to her. “I promised to keep him safe, and I did. You had many close calls between you two. But I waited till Quin said something.”

“Who else knows?” I had to ask, obviously everyone and their cat seemed to know where my son was and how he was doing.

Alle didn’t speak and finally shook her head. “I didn't keep track of his friendships. I was just glad he was caring for people. When Alice admitted she loved someone, she was lost. You could be stuck with Olivia as a future daughter in law.”

Oh no. I would have reeled at Quin choosing that. “He had a choice? You, you really think that he would pick someone so. Quiet.”

“She was quiet because she was sick, and then you continued to anger her because you act like a nassasistic monster pleading for sympathy.” 

Alle’s words were sharp and I’m reminded again of how I’ve behaved these last few months. I was a bleeding angry creature wanting people to understand me, but- “Do I really sound like a nassasist?” 

Her expression was completely blank as she continued to meet my gaze. I know this look as her trying to hold back a flood of angry shots she could take to my ego. I will save her from that and I rose a hand. “Alle Dear, I... have been very self centered. It’s a problem with having a damaged soul. It’s nearly impossible for me to care for others. Only you and Quin have really changed my heart.”

I had meant it to be an excuse, a way to turn the tide of conversation. My traitorous tongue had just slipped it out with out my mind stopping me. 

She was watching me with the same blank expression, like she hadn’t even noticed my slip up. “It’s something you need to work on. Just because Quin has re-entered your life, it doesn’t mean you are allowed to walk all over him again.”

“I love my son, I’m not going to let anything harm him again. Not even me.”

“You have to prove that.” She took a step closer, and though she is smaller than I am, I still feel like she don’t have to glair up at me. She keeps her head level and demands I stoop to her level. “This is day one. Take it, and please don’t waste it Anthion... Quin speaks highly of you all the time, even though he thought you were a monster.”

“I am a Monster Alle.” That had been the main point in our dinner I still couldn’t get over. I am a monster, I died, I lost a part of my soul. My undead nature makes me bleed with the feelings I have lost. I don’t feel guilt like I should. “I can’t stop being one. I physically can’t. I can be the monster to everyone else to keep him and you safe.”

Again, I said it and I knew my mouth wasn’t going to let me stop. If she caught on she would have said something surely. Instead I keep my voice down but I know if I had a heart that could beat, it would be racing.

Her face had gotten softer, that blank look softened in her eyes and as she took one more step closer I wondered what she was going to do. Then, my brave lady held out her hand. “Take my hand.” It wasn’t a request, and I could feel her tone shake something inside of me.

Her hand is so small in mine, it’s also startlingly warm compared to my cold hands. She has so much life in her, and I am... me. As I looked down to out joined hands I could hear her continued to peak. “Monsters can be protectors too. But you need to learn how to be one that can stand beside your son, and one who can blend in and not be noticed among your people. But for Quin, you need to stop doing all the things you have done in the past. The experiments, the ones where you made creatures and murders, they have to end. Not for my sake, but for your son’s. He kills the monsters you make. That’s not a healthy circle.”

I feel nearly numb on the inside as she explains it in her calm way. “I have experiments I don’t want to have killed that he’ll consider monsters.”

Her hand stayed firm in mine, and I know it’s an act of will she is possessing that I can never match. “Tell me about this monster? What is it? Can it ever be more than a monster?”

“She’s... a goddess?” I had to shake my head knowing Machine was an impossible thing to even start with speaking about. “She has found immortality away from magic... I used to send failed experiments to her to recycle their bodies.”

“Recycle?” Alle said in a calm but.... a way that told me she’s not impressed by my previous behavior. “Is she a danger to people?”

Is she a danger to people? Of course she is? If someone were to step onto her body you are as good as a new part of herself. “Only if you land on her island. She’s been traveling lately. Says she wants to find more technology.”

“Maybe you can tell her where to find humanity.” It wasn’t a question, but a reminder that with Quin in my life, I will need to change to fit in with him. Do I really need to choose the things I have done or my son? I don’t think it’s a choice. It can’t be a choice. Quin has always be the first choice and, even now, he was going to be my choice even if it meant leaving one of my most amazing creations to his mercy.

My chest hurt and with my free hand I rubbed it lightly. “I could do that... She’s the only one I’m truly wanting to save from their wrath. The others, they were curiosities of mine.”

“You need to put those curiosities away.” Alle then reached over with her free hand and made sure both of her hands were one my one.

It’s so strange to see her so at ease with touch. “Alle Dear. Have you been working on, this?”

“You’re changing the subject,” She said in that unshakable way, but her head bowed lightly. “I have gotten to a point where I can hug all of my family and kiss most of them.”

Well, well... My little Duchess has gone and done more work. She does make me wonder how resilient someone could be and then start to move forward. I am honored to hear her progress, but I am also stuck wondering. If a mortal can go from being touch adverse to being able to hug and kiss those she loves most. What is really stopping me from, stopping my cruelty? Yes I don’t have part of my soul, oh well. I am not a complete and utter moron though. I know the difference between a nice person and a bad person. I just, didn’t care because I got to see things that normally I would never get to see. I have gotten to be heartless when I was never allowed to before. But if I was going to stand beside my son, I would need to change some parts of what I do. He kills bad people, and from the work I had seen he does it in the most flashy and artistic of ways. He can be cruel, so there is a way that I may also be cruel. The question is, where is the line.

“My Dear... may I ask something horribly forward?”

I can see that I have cracked through her external wall, as those eyebrows have gone up and she pursed her lips at me. It wasn’t the ‘kiss me’ lips, but the ‘this had better be good’ kind of purse.. I feel like I need to wet my tongue, though that really does nothing for me. “Alle, you know I am a monster, I am a nassiscets, I really can't help that too much. It’s part of my very tender ego. I blow things out of proportions so I can seem, more, how I see myself to everyone else. I need your help though. Help me with this, line. Where do I stand so I can not offend Alice and Quin? I lost him once. I don’t want to live through that again.”

“You and Quin need to speak again. Do so and clear up what places he finds things wrong and right.” She continued to hold my hand with her hands, and I can feel the warmth of her creep into my skin. I know it sounds utterly erotic, but to me, being warmed by someone is a very personal thing. I feel, nearly alive when she holds my hand, I forget I don’t need to breath. “It will take trial and error and you must apologize to him every time you run into something that he doesn’t like. You must show you want to be a better man for him.”

“May I still be even more forward?”

I know I am going to say it out of the blue, but I need to know. If I’m going to be one with for Quin, I need to know where Alle stands in all of this. “Do I need to be a better man for you as well?”

Her hands were off of mine in that instant. Like only with those blasted words did she feel like I was too much to touch. She took a step back and her eyes had left mine for the first time that evening. This is her flustered. I’ve seen it before. She continued to look pointedly away from me and I suddenly can feel the tenseness she must feel when I truly mention I care for her. But I don't know if I can stop.

All I can do in the moment is stand still. “I was meanin-”

“I know what you meant Anthion.” She said her voice hushed but pointed, much like a minor defensive attack to stop me from saying anything else too idiotic for this space. I can hear her heart beat and I am not sure if she is panicked, scared, angry, or... anything. She didn’t dare to look at me as she took another step away and I knew I had botched another moment between us.

“Alle, let me-”

“Quiet.” Her voice was so stern I was hushed into science. It was only after that quiet command that she met my eyes again. There it was, it was fear. “You lied in your letter, didn’t you? Saying there was, nothing in your heart.”

“Well there isn’t, minus some black string-” I stopped as her eyes hardened and I knew I was getting close to testing her infinite calm. There was another thing laying just behind that calm, and I never want to be on the end of it. “I lied.”

Silence drifted between us and I knew she was going to mull that over. It was too hard for me to hide the truth now. There is nothing I can do but wait for her judgement.

“You know you’re the weakest Darkfallen I have ever known.”

“I believe besides me you have only met two Darkfallen. Not even a single percent of the total population.” I quipped but it was short lived. She is right. I am painfully weak compared to the rest of my kind. They all fought, I planned and made an army to fight for me with undying love. Never subjugate when you can inspire, that is what I have always said.

“I, can’t take a mate who is as weak as you are.” But she didn’t fully stop, just paused and met my eyes. “You are also loyal to someone I cannot ever bend the knee to and he will never bend to me. You are a liability to my Duchy, and you would be a liability to my family as well. My family is old, and we hold many secrets and boons that I can’t let your King know about. I, enjoy being with you. But between all of those things, I can’t. And you need to understand that, that is my final word until any of those things change.”

Does anyone know what it feels like to be stabbed through the heart? I do. I thought I would only get one chance to feel like that. Now, now I have felt it twice. This isn’t the same page as when I thought Quin had died. I feel that dreading loss knowing that while I have been supportive, my very being that has kept me alive is the reason I am now not able to be her choice. My connection to my King, the parts I’ve played to make myself uninteresting to everyone hurts me now.

I can’t think of what I can even do to remedy this. I can make my adoring army of loving creations who will protect me and her. But I can’t change the blood oath I have been put under. That would be treason to even attempt and to ask to be removed? For, what? For my Mate? It would be suspicious and I would no longer be trusted anywhere. Right now I am just seeing two side be built up and my heart feels like a flaming sword has been plunged into it. 

Turning my head away something wet grew in my eye. Touching it I noticed the bit of blood was coming up into a tear. Darkfallen can’t cry like mortals can. It’s the major downside of having no real fluids in my body anymore. 

“I’m sorry.” Alle noticed my blood tear and that proud stance she had relaxed just by an inch. “If... If I was anyone else. If I didn’t have this Duchy to protect and if I wasn’t... me.”

“I wouldn’t care about you if you weren’t you.” I had to remind myself of that. I loved her because she was a strange beast in a world of wolves. I would never have loved anyone else, and that is the part that burns the scraps of my soul. “I’m sorry I posed that foolish question.”

I need to think, and I need to do it with out her looking at me. I don’t do well with pain like this and, in the moment just looking at her I’m reminded that every choice I’ve made has lead me to this path. “You must excuse me Alle D-dear. I’m feeling very under the weather and I should probably be back north.”

In all my days, I have never run from a situation. But in that moment I summoned up my magic and moved away so I could teleport away from her, from the damned reasons that I can’t see around currently. The last moment I watch, Alle doesn’t have a blank expression though. She looks hurt, like a woman who knows that by standing her ground for the safety of the better good, she had, perhaps even wounded her own heart in the process. 

Right now, we are both wounded creatures who don’t know how to handle our hearts. While I want to comfort her, to tell her I would move the world for her. I can’t. I physically cannot change what I have done. From now and always, I will be bound to my King, and that will always remove any binding I could ever share with her.

Call me a coward. I am a frightened devastated coward right now to leave her as I try to sort out my own mind. She deserves better treatment, but I physically can’t speak, there’s something ripping at my soul with just the thought of treachery against my King. Any longer there and debating about leaving his protection would hurt me more and I would be useless to both of us. It’s better to be a coward and live than be dead and still not know an answer.

((Mentions: @allebeithloch, @subjectragnar, @alas-ward, @olivia-lovecraft))

[tauristar]

Okay, as far as I can tell, everyone’s been here. Everyone knows this whole debate of Cullen vs. Alistair. However, I wanted to investigate it myself, and bring to light what makes them so different.

(And yes, their appearances count as a difference. Inquisition Alistair’s design was not the Alistair I know. I Do Not Like It. Bioware why.)

So, what makes them similar? They were both sent to the Chantry and were both to become Templars. Beyond that, there’s... Not much else. I think I could find more similarities in Anders and Alistair, or Sebastian and Cullen. Though since that’s completely irrelevant, let’s go back to that one similarity and expand on it to show just how little of a similarity it is.

Alistair’s case:

He never wanted to go to the Chantry. He was sent to the Chantry by Arl Eamon at age 10 because he had nowhere else to go.

Furthermore, he despised being sent away to the Chantry so much that in a fit of anger, he threw his mother’s amulet at a wall and shattered it.

He didn’t take his Templar training as seriously as he could of.

He’s not even that particularly religious, regardless of being taught by the Chantry. (This is noted in a conversation between him and Zevran.)

Does he actually become a Templar? No.

He doesn’t regret leaving the Chantry, or the Templar Order in that matter.

Cullen’s case:

He asked the Templars at the local Chantry every day if he could become a Templar, and they convinced Cullen’s parents to let him train at age 13.

He wanted to be a model student, no matter what. So, he took his training incredibly seriously, in hopes that he would become the best Templar Thedas had seen.

He is a religious man.

Cullen actually completed his Templar training, Alistair did not.

The only reason he left the Templar Order was because after Kirkwall, he didn’t want to be associated with them, and the Inquisition was doing more good than the Templars were at the time.

That’s just on their basis of which they got their Templar training. The only similarity they have, and there are a handful of differences to counter it. Now, to further prove how different they are, let’s move on to: their different views on mage rights and the treatment of mages.

Cullen, admittedly, has been through hell. He’s been tortured for days on end because of Uldred and the other blood mages in the Fereldan Circle, and he watched as countless other Templars succumbed to a fate he tried so hard to resist. Then, hoping that things couldn’t get much worse, he was sent to the Kirkwall Chantry and Circle in hopes of helping establish a sense of peace and control there. Lo and behold, blood mages were coming up all over the place, treatment of mages reach terrible heights, and then the Knight-Commander he was meant to trust goes crazy from red lyrium. Yikes.

But! Does that trauma excuse his anger with mages? To go as far as to state that “mages aren’t like you and me”?

Absolutely not. And that man can’t go back on his word, either: yes, you can romance him in Inquisition as a mage, but even then he seems nervous about it. He still clings to the Templar way of life even when he’s trying so desperately to let it all go. I mean, if he really wanted nothing to do with that life, wouldn’t he have just stayed right out of the choice between Mages and Templars when it came to sealing the Breach the first time? He instead defends the Templars when questioned about their abilities -- “I was a Templar. I know what they’re capable of.” He still wears the title like a badge of honor.

This could be put down as bad writing; it’s incredibly inconsistent, especially if we’re supposed to believe Cullen wants nothing to do with that life.

However, considering it is canon, it goes to show his character. He clings to the Templar life as it’s the only thing he knows, and he distrusts the mages so much that he counters their (theoretically sound) method of helping seal the Breach with the Templar (speculative) method. And have you heard him speak within a five mile radius during Origins and 2?

As a mage Warden, he says some harsh things upon your return.

“You are a mage and I, a templar. It is my duty to oppose you and all that you are.”

Warden: “Is it so surprising that I’ve returned? This was my home.” Cullen: “As it was mine. And look what they’ve done to it. They deserve to die. Uldred most of all.”

Warden: “You need to stay strong.” Cullen: “And to think I once thought that we were too hard on you.” Warden: “We’re not all evil, Cullen.” Cullen: “Only mages have that much power at their fingertips. Only mages are so susceptible to the infernal whisperings of the demons.”

“You can’t save them. You don’t know what they’ve become. They’ve been surrounded by blood mages whose wicked fingers snake into your mind and corrupt your thoughts.” (At this point, if you have Alistair with you, he comments: “His hatred of mages is so intense... The memories of his friends’ deaths is still fresh in his mind.”)

If you tell him that you refuse to risk killing innocents, he says: “I am just willing to see the painful truth, which you are content to ignore.” He also ends the conversation with: “Maker turn His gaze on you. I hope your compassion hasn’t doomed us all.”

... Yikes, buddy. I know your friends have been murdered by blood mages, specifically Uldred, but Yikes.

Oh, he also accuses First Enchanter Irving of being a blood mage. Since, of course, if one was corrupted in the line of Enchanter titles then he must definitely be, since he’s the First Enchanter, right? It’s a narrow thought process, but it’s an understandable one since he just went through a traumatic experience. The thing is he had no evidence in the matter, so his accusation is empty and uncalled for. I have to admit, I hated how Cullen pulled off that stunt.

But if you’re wondering about Dragon Age 2 quotes, there’s plenty in the limited interactions you can have with him:

“Mages cannot be our friends. They must always be watched.”

Hawke: “I got friends who are mages. Are you saying that they need to ‘always be watched’, as well?” Cullen: “I was at the Circle Tower in Ferelden during the Blight. I saw firsthand how templars’ trust and leniency can be rewarded. I still have nightmares of Uldred’s depravities.”

Hawke: “Not all mages are like that.” Carver: “Brother/Sister, not now.” Cullen: “True, not every mage gives into temptation, but none are ever free from it. At any time, any mage can become a monster, from the lowest apprentice to the most seasoned enchanters. Mages cannot be treated like people. They are not like you and me.”

“They are weapons. They have the power to light a city on fire in a fit of pique.”

Hawke: “There’s fault on both sides. We must find a way to live in peace.” Cullen: “Perhaps you’re right. Perhaps mages need better education as to why the Chantry functions as it does.” (Me @ this I... Don’t think that’s what Hawke meant.....)

Overall, he really... Can’t take back what he’s said in the past here. He’s clearly uninterested in the mages and their needs and / or wants after the incident at Ferelden, and doesn’t seem to want to be interested. There’s a level of genuine understanding here, because it can easily be seen as a traumatic experience he can’t move past, but it still doesn’t excuse him for his words / actions.

I would also like to add this quote: “I’ve seen the suffering magic can inflict. I’ve treated mages with distrust because of it, at times without cause. That was unworthy of me. I will try not to do so here.”

Okay, so Cullen at least acknowledges his treatment of mages as horrible and says he will try not to do that again. Try. The key with words is that if you use the wrong word, it creates an implication that you’re not aiming for; Cullen’s choice to use the word “try” in that last sentence proves that although he acknowledges what he has done in the past, he’s only going to try and change it. And, does he really try? Does he really?

He literally continues with: “Not that I want mages moving through our base completely unchecked. We need safeguards in place to protect people, including mages, from possession at the least.”

So, he acknowledges that he had distrusted mages in the past because of his awareness that magic can cause suffering -- especially since he endured torture for days on end thanks to magic. But then, instead of taking a crucial baby step to truly redevelop a better relationship with mages, he wants to place so-called “safeguards” to watch mages to try and stop possession. He can say this to the face of a mage Inquisitor -- can you imagine if the elf Inquisitor or the qunari Inquisitor could respond to Cullen’s suggestion? It’s as though he still refuses to trust them, even a little bit, to move freely through a base without scrutiny.

Overall, his original statement seems void. His choice of words devalue the meaning behind his half-promise; if anything, he should have avoided using the word try if he was being genuine about his attempt.

As for Alistair?

His view is very different. In Origins, he can talk with a mage Warden and express sympathy / empathy for them, when he asks if they ever lost someone close to them:

“That must have felt a lot like when I got sent to the Chantry. You mages don’t even get a say in the matter, after all.”

He genuinely sympathizes with the mages because he has an understanding on what it feels like to be sent away without a choice. The only reason he didn’t was because where else could he have gone? But Alistair recognizes and perfectly understands the situation in which mages face in the Circles. In a way, this really shows his character in one line: he cares. He treats the mages as if they’re like any other person in Thedas, which they are! But that’s not how Cullen sees it, as demonstrated in his quoting.

In Dragon Age 2, as King of Ferelden in Act III, you can go and meet him with Hawke and then walk into him and Meredith having a heated debate. There are two versions of this:

Alistair: Let me guess: that's your final answer? Meredith: Three mages have fled to Ferelden, and you have intervened to protect them as if it is your right to do so. What other answer did you expect, your Majesty?

Alistair: Let me guess: that's your final answer? Meredith: You declare your Circle of Magi free, as if its your right to do so, and thus stir up every mage outside of your kingdom. What other answer did you expect, your Majesty?

He actually protects mages fleeing into Ferelden, and probably being completely aware of what Meredith has been doing to the Kirkwall Circle mages. (Surely a king can gather information on that. Plus, it’s not like it was that big a secret.) Or, if your Warden was a mage and asks for the Magi boon, then the second option plays. He’s genuinely trying to give more freedom to the Circle of Magi, giving them the chance to live as any other human would.

This is one of the most obvious differences between Alistair and Cullen. And it doesn’t end there, either: if Hawke questions him on what happened between himself and Meredith, this is the answer given.

Hawke: You were having an argument about mages? Alistair: Yes, well, apparently I don't feel the same way about mages as the Chantry does. So we're in disagreement. That means they get nasty. They're like that.

Furthermore:

Hawke: Sounds like the Circle is better off in Ferelden. Alistair: You'd think so, wouldn't you? Sadly, I don't control the Circle. I can only deal with mages outside the Circle... of which there aren't many.

And after Alistair says to Hawke to protect Kirkwall, this can be initiated with the Diplomatic option:

Hawke: Protect Kirkwall from what, exactly? Alistair: You ask me, the biggest threat to this city just walked out the door. But maybe that's the ex-templar in me talking.

He’s commenting that Meredith is the biggest threat to the city. Knight-Commander Meredith, who Cullen trusted until the last minute, when she started wielding her sword infused with red lyrium and lost her sanity. Maybe we can’t fault Cullen for that, but Alistair has genuine concern about mages fleeing into Ferelden, mages having actual freedom, and recognizing that Meredith is one of three threats to the city falling apart (the other two being Orsino and Anders, respectively, but that’s incredibly complicated).

These are the two main differences between Alistair and Cullen, and though one can love either one of these characters, the other, or even both of them, it’s very important to know that they’re not both “Chantry boys”. That, and their views are very different particularly when it comes to mages.

(If anyone has anything else to add to this analysis of character, feel free to extend on it! The goal here is to remain neutral to both characters, and instead focus on the writing choices of Bioware and how this expands on the character’s faults, flaws and views that make them different. This may paint Cullen or Alistair in a negative light at times [which is inevitable in Cullen’s case due to his views on mages], but ultimately this is to challenge the character development of both characters and pick out their differences.)

[lunaraen]

hi uh same anon with werewolf Theseus au (unless there are multiple) and I kinda have a prompt for it?? kinda like the cliche where he knows he's a monster but doesn't lose control but doesn't want to be seen like that? thanks in advance

It’s wrong to say that secrets don’t mean anything to Theseus.

But it’s a little less wrong to say he’s used to them, that he’scarried enough to not pay any mind to holding one, or a million, more.

They’ve been part of his life for forever, woven into everything he’s said or done since he was old enough to understand what a secret was and still young enough to think his dad was the coolest person in the world, to be honored to help him at all, even if that just meant flicking the right lever at the right moment with no one looking.

Few things hold even a flickering flame in comparison tospending his entire life lying about his lineage, lying about the nature of hisfather and his abilities.

That doesn’t stop some things from competing well and comingclose.

Especially when, while still few, there are other secrets he’s kept for at least as long, such as how hisroom came only second in security to his father’s own not out of concern foroutside attackers coming in, but of what was inside getting out, damaginghimself or others, how he managed to schedule every event and training sessionto land anywhere but the day of the full moon without anyone else eversuspecting a thing, even if the latter was admittedly easier due to everyone’sblind admiration and his father’s assistance.

A tiny little secret in that, one he doubts his father evenunderstood, is that Theseus has lived like that for almost all his life, and itmay just be the normality and experience that keeps him from fearing what hebecomes.

It may be inconvenient to be a wolf once a month, but he’s alwayskept his mind, in some form, always in control to a point.

The process, mind, is a starkly different story.

There’s an understandable sort of pain that comes with havinghis body broken and reconstructed two times too many in a single night, if onlyonce a month, and he fears the full moon for that alone.

Well, no. Heroes don’t fear things. Dread, maybe, abhor ordespise, pledge their lives and efforts towards fighting or prevailing against,but “fears” isn’t the right–

Theseus bites the inside of his cheek, frowning (and trying notto wince at the tangy taste of blood).

It’s the right word and the onlyword.

Heroes can fear things, especially when they’re mortal, notreally heroes, and no longer have to try and put up any sort of perfect front.

His friends are real heroes, odd as they might be, and they’restill human, still love and laugh and hurt and fear.

(Entirely unrelated,but yet another secret Theseus holds, under threat of being wrestled, is howDurango dislikes the sight of blood for more than just nausea-related reasons.)

They have their prides andtheir fears, and Theseus is allowed both as well.

He fears the pain that he knows will come tonight, knows themoon will be full from the way his blood feels like lightning rushing throughhis veins, from the way his teeth are just slightly sharper already, his senseof smell stronger and likely not just because he’s finally recovered from asmall cold.

Theseus fears how his friends will react, if he lets them know.He ought to warn them soon, if he isn’t going to make himself scarce beforenightfall.

He’s proud of how long he’s kept it secret, how well he feels heknows them and how reliable a judge of their character he believes himself tobe, and he’s proud that he doesn’t fear himself.

He’s not sure if he ever did.

What he did fear, to be fair, was how he got to be this way,what it said of him and those around him, what people would think if anyoneknew, never mind people he personally knew.

(There weren’t really many of those, back home.

Any, really.

Several people he grew to know distantly, and everyone knew ofhim as their hero, the adored son of their leader, but even as desperate ashe’d been back then, none of them could count as friends. He didn’t want tosquander the chance he might actually make one, though, or scare people away byleading them to believe he’d done something worth cursing. Hero worship, emptyand blind, beat loneliness.)

There were no tales, none he’d been told at least, of peopleturning into wolves regularly, outside of temporary and special rituals.

It wasn’t the sort of thing that occasionally cursed childrenthe way it did him, randomly and seemingly for no reason, and while his fatherhad told him for years that it was Zeus’s fault, a bitter curse placed by anenvious and vengeful brother who couldn’t stand Poseidon having an adoring son,Theseus had stopped entirely believing that lie early on, even if some doubtspersisted.

After all, Zeus had many enemies, and none of them had hisissue.

There was one wolf-specific case he knew of, involving hisuncle, but it had been rather permanent and horrifically earned.

It had been about Lycaon.

He’d been a hero, a beloved ruler, a person of fantasticstanding and renown.

And then he’d tried to trick Zeus, suspicious that he wasn’treally a god but unaware of how one of the horrified servants had confided inZeus upon is arrival.

What followed was the first and only funeral Theseus couldrecall attending, and it had been for Lycaon’s poor son, who Theseus had playedwith on several occasions before his untimely end.

Lycaon had fled into the wilderness, forever a wolf and never tobe seen.

(It was the sort of life experience and warning tale Theseusdidn’t need, even at that age and even if he hadn’t had his affliction. Nottrying to trick his uncle seemed like a good idea.

Still, coupled with the ending message, that becoming a wolf wasa punishment, Theseus had to wonder if the warning wasn’t already too late forhim, if he hadn’t done something diabolical as a toddler to earn his uncle’swrath, to earn a punishment never seen before or again, no matter how well hecould reason it away as unlikely.

It was relieving, in the numb, expectant way Theseus has come toaccept the truth whenever Poseidon finally decided to share it, to learn hisuncle had nothing to do with it.

Theseus still isn’t quite sure how to feel about it merely beingthe result of a failed command block experiment, an explosion of dangerous andmagical proportions when Theseus had unwittingly gotten too close to one of hisfather’s tests, but it sounds right. After all, if it was something his fathermeant to do, something he could intentionally control, Theseus couldn’t imagineso many years passing without Poseidon doing it to Zeus.

What love he has for his son is misguided, but it’s there,buried as it might be under greed and schemes.

What love he has for his brother is laughably nonexistent, andPoseidon would gladly take the chance to afflict his brother with fleas andsuch a “problem” so reliably. The amount of trouble Poseidon couldget into on full moons alone, without Zeus able to use his own array of commandblocks, would be staggering.)

The others seem to know little about Greek myths and tales, sothey wouldn’t know how his little transformations stand out, and they oncelived far enough away from the isles he calls home that word of Lycaon’s deedsand punishment has probably never reached them.

To tell them should be easy, so easy when they already know hecomes from a house of lies and secrets, one he built and maintained with hisdad until they came into his life.

What’s one more surprise?

Besides, he’d rather them find out on his terms, be able to actas damage control and answer questions, than find him when he’s not expectingit, come across him or go searching for him in the dead of night to find anabnormally large wolf.

The issue, really, isn’t so much his hesitance. Honestly, it’snot, as critical as he is of how much of his cowardice is at fault. That may bepart of the problem, but the larger obstacle, letting him hide behind his ownlies to himself, would be how they’ve been travelling for hours, straying fromtheir course here and there but ultimately trekking nonstop on foot, and howQuinn and Durango have been bickering since noon, when Theseus was justbeginning to realize that he’d ought to tell them soon if he was planning ondoing it at all with daylight.

The uncomfortable feeling that comes with them arguing haslessened, easing up as they lean more and more towards teasing and gentlerbickering, and Theseus almost feels silly for putting it off until the grouphas begun to set up camp. Durango and Quinn are still at it, to be fair, butit’s no longer so tense or openly hostile.

It’s not uncommon for the two to bicker, and while friendsarguing isn’t normally a good thing, everyone seems to be gladly taking thechance to rest. There’s an edge to both their words, one he wishes wasn’tthere, but their tones aren’t without some humor, their smiles brief andreluctant but smiles all the same.

It seems he’s finally out of excuses.

And, just as Theseus clears his throat, wondering what to saywhile marching on anyway because he’s been puzzling over that for a while nowand if the answer isn’t going to strikehim now, too bad–

The ground rumbles.

It rumbles the way a child of Poseidon, growing up mostlyknowing his uncle as a distant figure and a powerful one, painted as cruel andmighty by even the most petty of Poseidon’s tales, cringes at.

It also rumbles in the way that any person worth their salt fromthe Greek Isles knows to fear for more mortal, if not less fantastical,reasons.

The tremble of his legs and the shaking of the ground, rocks andbits of dust jumping lightly from the dirt as his arms begin to feel likejelly from the vibrating, means trouble, and probably amonster.

Of course, when he turns, Theseus expects to see some behemothstomping or charging towards them.

Well, charging is accurate.

But stomping would require feet and legs, which are more thanthe creature coming towards them has at its disposal, its mossy scales glinting almost pink in the light of a dying day.

In its defense, legs or no legs, Theseus is certainly taken offguard by how it best resembles a large wheel with blood-lust.

That’s… admittedly new.

The creature feels vaguely familiar, in the sort of way thatreminds him of when he was still young enough to have a tutor, of when he wasreciting from dusty tomes older than him but still younger than his father.

It’s an animal he’s never seen outside of writing, he realizes,and even in writing it had never been treated as real, as anything concrete. Itwas a symbol, used in poetry, alchemic texts, stories, and now long deadsayings, representing all and none, unity, the cyclical beginnings and ends oflife. It was never presented to him as real.

“An ouroboros?”

In hindsight, that may be slightly hypocritical, given themonsters and legends his father used and that Theseus had grown up learning toavoid or respect.

The serpent’s large, easily towering over them and quicklyapproaching, a feat seemingly helped rather than hindered by how its tail isclutched between its jaws and how it’s movement is largely accomplished throughrolling towards them.

“A what?”

Sacha’s axe likely won’t do her much good against that sort ofhide, though she looks half ready to try anyway, gaze darting between theouroboros and him.

Her brow’s furrowed, and not just because she’s unsure of how todeal with it or the surprise adversary.

He’s not the only one confused, though it may be partly becausenot all of them were as educated on symbolism for Greek literature as someonefrom the Greek Isles.

River, whose eyes are wide and who’s dropped the plant she’dbeen readying to pot, looks less confused but more than ready to make up for itby being twice as terrified, voice small and quiet as she stares up at therolling creature.

(Her love for animals is roughly as big as her fear ofeverything that stands a decent chance of attacking them. That fear doesn’t keepher from fighting when she needs to. Theseus wonders is that fear wouldoutweigh the desire to protect an animal, even if it was a wolf.

Granted, he doubts he’d be trying to attack them, and he know hecouldn’t be near as towering, no matter how hard he tried.)

“That’s a hoop snake.”

Theseus bites down any indignant comment to that, because theycan argue about proper names and cultural differences later.

Toby’s own indignant comment is kinder, and more understandable.

“No offense, River, but that still doesn’t help!”

River’s next response is about as helpful, if slightly moreproactive and demonstrative.

She runs.

And Theseus feels furious for a moment, as angry as he is scaredand hurt that he could have misjudged her so poorly and that she could’ve ranfrom them without a second thought, before he sees that Durango is running too,clutching Rudi’s arm and nearly dragging him across the clearing in theprocess, before he hears River shout and realizes there’s more than totalblinding fear at work here.

“Everybody, try and hide behind those trees!”

The only issue with their new plan of attack is that the snakeis much faster than they are.

“Scatter!”

Slugger shoves him as she shouts, pushing him to the left as shedrags Mo to the right, towards where Kate is all but carrying Zed, and whilethey’re all running in the same direction, the serpent isn’t large enough tosimply crush them all, wobbling slightly as it attempts to adjust to theseveral contradictory direction changes.

Theseus, personally, is far more grateful than he is personallywounded at being shoved aside, and he’ll thank her for saving him later, oncethey’re all well and truly safe.

Hopefully he’ll be as useful in taking care of their newproblem.

For now, he runs, feet thudding against the ground and remindinghim that his sandals were not made for snake-created earthquakes and hisfingers shaking from what may be exhaustion, after the day of travel they’vealready had.

It may also just be that it’s hard for any part of him not to tremble when the very groundrumbles, and the others seem to struggle as much with staying upright.

At least, he doesn’t fall flat on his face or end up ramming Quinn with his shoulder, both of which feelequally likely.

“What good are the trees going to do us, if they’re allshook out of the ground?”

The forest doesn’t seem close to being uprooted, though thecloser they get, the less stable the equally towering trees look, and whileTheseus is glad Rudi hasn’t stumbled yet, he’s equally happy that he’s not theonly one having trouble.

“Because if it hits a tree, the venom won't–ah, shit–watch out for the tail, it’s got enough venom to kill ya flat!” Durango raiseshis voice for the last part, partly cupping his mouth, and while Theseus canhear him fine, it’s definitely the sort of warning that deserves extraemphasis. Rudi’s now running on his own power, rather than being yanked by thearm, and Durango’s grin is as tired as it is sheepish. “Hey, Quinn, thinkthe whole ‘killing me’ thing can wait 'till later?”

Quinn can’t seem to muster the same sort of smile, though herhuff is almost as much of a chuckle as it is exasperated.

“Yeah, okay, that’s fair.”

He can worry about them finding out about more of his secretslater; or never. As worried as he might be about how they’ll see him, how theiropinions and treatment of him will change, dealing with an actual monster, oddand obscure as it may be, is far more important.

[sweetimagines]

First Impressions

Part 1 | Part 2

Pairing: Sweet Pea x Jughead Jones

Description: Falling in love is a curse Sweet Pea never thought he’d experience. 

Warnings: None I can think of.

Word Count: 3305

A/N: Happy New Year! This year I’m thankful for each and every one of you. I wish you all an amazing 2018. 

Tag: @southsidejuggie @ju-gg @lostnliterature @eternally-infinitely @mrsjugheadjonesthethird

Sweet Pea stood by FP’s trailer, watching the leader’s son get a jacket. Recruitment was already routine for Sweets at that point. Before the Jones boy, it turned out to be his best friend. However, there was something different in that particular occasion as if time slowed down and his heartbeat was echoing in his ears. It was a completely unusual feeling for him and he still can’t quite explain it. A sweet female voice calling for Juggie broke him out of the transe. That nickname coming out of her mouth sounded wrong to him. Toni pulled him by the cuffs of his jacket since he stood there, staring at the empty space where Jughead occupied a few seconds before. 

Next time he saw Jughead, it was in English class. SP leaned against his own desk and Jug sat not too far away, next to Toni. From the corner of his eye, Sweets glanced at him, noticing the funny beanie he was wearing, even if his focus was on his phone. Juggie looked lost and defenseless, not only because he chose to sit alone at lunch, but also due to the fact he was new and still adapting to how things work in the South. Pea’s not a fan of school, but, for some unknown reason, he really wanted to stick around for the lesson that morning. Unfortunately, a text from the Snake Charmer changed his plans. “Damn it!”, he shouted before speeding out of class against his will to do another ‘favor’ for Penny. Sweet didn't look back. Somehow, if he had looked at Jughead straight on, that hypnotic boy would've made him back out on the job and he couldn't afford that.

SP headed to the Red and Black office the next day. Although it was a long forgotten place, the newcomer somehow found a way to bring that newsroom back. Sweets didn't have to go there to get Toni, but he needed an excuse to invite Jughead to join them at the quarry. Jug’s rejection didn't sit well with him, even if his name falling from his lips sounded like music. Not only is the tough Serpent completely unused to it, but he genuinely wanted to spend time with the Jones boy. However, Pea was not about to admit that in front of his friends, so his usual defense mechanism surfaced. He licked his bottom lip unconsciously before going towards Jughead. Luckily, Toni stopped him before he did anything he regretted, but her words cut a deeper wound in his chest, worse than the rejection. “Take a hint. He’s just not that into you.” Sweet Pea is not sure why, though. Something inside himself wants to turn back and say he’d rather stay and help Juggie fix the office. Instead, he just decided to head straight to the parking lot.

After the “encounter” Jughead had with the Ghoulies, Sweets had to use self control he doesn't have not to smash the faces of the thugs who touched Juggie. At lunch that day, Toni and him got an unexpected guest. The first thing SP noticed about him was the bruised eye. In a slight second, he gazed down at the boy’s body as he sat down next to Topaz. Pea deviated his look before he even realized he was doing it. They didn't exchange words, but the act of Jug sitting with them spoke more than speech could. And Sweet Pea was sure that if he opened his mouth, it would've ruined the moment. They just nodded in understanding and, deep down, SP was glad he could step in to help Jughead from that moment on.

They still seemed to have a very different view of the Southside vs. Northside situation, though. However, as Sweet Pea is very immediatist, Jug sitting with them at lunch meant for him that he was ready to take on the Serpents name, so he didn't know how to react to the young Jones still trying to protect his Northsider friends. After getting in a fist fight with said ginger friend, Sweets got arrested and nothing like a 6x9 cell to make one reflect. He was frustrated, not only because the Serpents got into trouble - again - or due to the Northside, but his true reason for frustration was that Jughead still seemed to want to hold on to the perfect Riverdale image he was living on rather than accepting his new reality. 

Sweet Pea still had a fresh black eye next time he met Jug, who had facts all wrong from his Northside buddies. Good thing Fangs took lead on straightening things because SP was a bit too heated for his own good, but he didn't fail to share either who gave him the bruise or about the time they spent on the Sherrif station while Archie and his Red Circle walked free. He was gonna leave out the part about their plan to set a pipe bomb on The Register, but Fogarty’s tongue knows not bound. Sweets held on to his tough guy act, although deep down he was questioning his every decision, given Jughead’s reaction. But then again, why would he show weakness for someone who hasn't even picked a side yet? He reminded Juggie of that. “Us or them?” Pain was noticeable in his words, for he was afraid it would be the latter. “You can’t be half a Serpent.” Something that had been echoing in his mind for quite a while. He stormed out now completely confused as to what he feels towards the beanie-clad boy.

Pea was sure of what he felt when Jughead showed up at the Wyrm wearing the jacket he watched him put on for the first time: hate, that’s what he felt. What he missed was that hate usually comes out of love. That night, SP was instructed to deliver ‘the beast’ at the Jones’ trailer. He gathered a few other Serpents, each with a monster mask and headed towards the leaders’ son home. Sweets had Hot Dog’s leash and, while they walked, he wondered if that boy who had it easy on the Northside would survive the initiation, and, even if he did, would he stick around or bounce at the first sight of trouble? His thoughts were cut short as they arrived at Jughead’s front steps. Fangs opened the lock with the spare key FP keeps under a plant. The Serpents stand at the foot of his bed for a short while as he’s still asleep. Sweet Pea couldn't help but admire the serenity surrounding Jughead as he slept on his side. SP’s face grew hot and he was glad he had a mask on, otherwise a blush would be visible to the other guys. As soon as Jug woke up, confusion and startlement took over his features. They unleashed the dog who jumped on the bed happily and left Jug to complete the first task.

Sweet Pea had a front row seat to Jughead proclaiming the 6 laws. A smirk never left his lips, partially because those words coming out of the boys mouth sounded right, partially because he had the honor of presenting the next trial. The look of terror in Jug’s face upon seeing the rattlesnake was amusing to the tall Serpent. However, watching him and Toni talking so close to each other sparked something inside him, a fire that burned internally, hotter than the sun. Sweets had felt that before, so he knew it was jealousy, just not sure why. He drowned it with tequila shots listening to Fangs’ snake puns. 

Arriving at the Jones’ trailer to call him for the last part of initiation and getting face to face with Archie Andrews was not what Sweet Pea was expecting. The sight of the ginger Northsider made his blood boil, but the word “thugs” is what drove him over the edge. Jughead stepping in to stop him from getting to Archie wouldn't have had any effect if it weren't for Jug’s palm touching SP’s chest. It was as if that froze him in place, unable to think. He missed the feeling the second the beanie-clad boy’s hand was snatched away, though. Revengeful acts crossed his mind again until he witnessed Jughead being dumped by his girlfriend via best friend. That wasn't exactly nice to watch, but unleashed a few butterflies in Sweets stomach that not even Andrews’ new insults to the Serpents could make disappear. Things changed a little inside him, from Northside hate to Southside business. Unfortunately, the only thing that could get his mind out of itself relied Tall Boy arriving. It took a while until everybody was also present, a lot after Archie had left. Eventually, the final step to become a Serpent took place, having an opposite result over SP, getting him more inside himself. As he watched Jug walking towards him in the gauntlet, Sweet Pea realized he was wrong about hating Jughead. He landed the last punch on the Jones boy in anger because that was when he knew he liked Jug, but couldn't tell him. 

SP got out of jail to learn that Tall Boy wanted to merge the Serpents with the Ghoulies, that Jughead wouldn't allow it, that FP advised them to race the drug dealing gang for independence and that Serpents’ territory was on the line if they lost. That was way too much to process, specially since the race was happening hours from when he found out, but the only thing that stuck to his thoughts was the fact that Archie Andrews was Jughead’s choice of a co-pilot and not him. The ginger boy wasn’t a Serpent, not even a Southsider. In Sweets’ mind, Fangs or himself would be the clear choice for a race. He didn't peruse it to change Jughead’s mind on it since he didn't know about the boy’s driving abilities. However, if anything, he wasn't expecting Jug’s ex to be there. Seeing her made an internal volcano explode, but he hardly had time to think about it since the cops intervened and they had to bounce. 

Sweet had stood up for Jughead when Tall Boy was trying to undermine him and he thought that meant something, for the boy looked pleased to see they were on the same side. However, Betty Cooper entered the Whyte Wyrm for FP’s retirement party and SP couldn't believe his eyes. If he had been drinking, he could blame that, but Sweets was as sober as one can be and both Cooper girls were very much there - and it was clear Jughead and Betty were back together. For the rest of the night, all Sweets could do was stand at a secluded corner, silently watching things unfold before his eyes. By the end of the night, everything he cared about was that FP was back leading the Serpents. “Fuck those two”, he thought, until Toni told him Jughead broke up with his blonde Northsider girlfriend - again. 

Sweets is finding it harder to work past Jug’s first impressions of him than keeping his temper in check. Reckless, impulsive, violent, those are the main things attributed to Sweet Pea, and he doesn't mind it most of the time. However, there’s more to him. He’s loyal, protective, and selfless, traces he wants Jughead to see. If you break into SP’s outer layers, you find honesty is highly important to him, his sense of humor is impeccable and, behind his strength, there is vulnerability. It seems as if they are going on the right track, since Jug is asking for SP’s help (and other Serpents, but he’s leaving that part out of his thoughts.) rather than Archie’s. The Serpent stands tall among the rest of his “family” to back up Jughead on taking down the Snake Charmer. 

After dealing with Penny together, Juggie and him have been on better terms, hanging out at the Wyrm a lot more now that they have free time from school. They even went on a few Meals on Wheels runs together and Sweet Pea appreciated every second of it. As Serpents Christmas tradition is to give to others, New Years is about them enjoying themselves. And they have a lot to celebrate this year. Despite a few huge bumps on the way, the Serpents are all united and with new members. “Is Jugg... Jughead coming? I know he’s not big on parties.”, SP asks while hanging silver decorations on the spots Toni can’t reach. “Funny. He asked me the same about you.”, she replies, handing him another thread of the sparkling material. “What did you say?” He’s trying his best not to sound nervous or too interested in the answer. “Isn't is obvious? You almost live here.”, she states. “So, he’s coming?”, he insists. “Yes, he’s coming. Why do you care anyways, are you into him or something?”, Topaz jokes. “Oh my God. You are...” She widens her eyes in shock. “Shut it.” Sweets looks around to make sure no one was eavesdropping. “I ship it.” She smiles and walks away, carrying SP’s secret with her. 

Sweet Pea is the last guy to worry about his looks, though he knows he’s quite handsome, still he spends a good half hour staring at his small (messy) closet to find something to wear for the party. Serpents are usually seen in casual outfits with the snake embroidery in the back of their jackets or vests, but they all make an effort to look neat on New Year’s (Tall Boy even ties his hair). Pea slips on jeans without any holes in them and puts on his best flannel, buttoning it to the top. The boy considers a tie but can’t seem to get the knot right and gives up. Sweets tucks his dog tags inside his shirt and slides in his scorpion ring before putting on his black jeans jacket with the loop snake in the back. Instead of having his hair down like always he brushes it up in a kind of quiff. SP even sprays on some cologne, but regrets it once he starts sneezing from the smell. He walks to the Wyrm, since it’s not far from Sunnyside, not to mess up his hair with the helmet. 

Pea walks into the Whyte Wyrm and smiles at how unusually happy his big family is. While looking around, he spots Juggie, without his beanie, something that, now, has been more often than not. The boy is wearing a white S T-shirt and suspenders. A flannel hangs form his hip and flusters SP. “Hey, Sweet Pea.” Jughead calls him over to table he’s sharing with Fangs and Toni. “Aren't you supposed to wear white on New Year’s?”, Jug asks, looking at the bright red flannel and black everything else Sweets has on. “My boxers are white.” The tall Serpent’s palm sweat as he attempts at flirting and Juggie’s cheeks seem to match SP’s shirt color. He sits next to the Jones boy and Fogarty, with Topaz facing him. She raises her eyebrows and has a devilish smile. “Come one, Jug. Let’s do the next song.” The pink-haired girl pulls the boy to the edge of the stage. As they await for the previous song to end, she whispers something in his ear and Sweets just hopes it’s not about what she found out.

Toni and Jughead step on stage together as the melody for Life on Mars? begins. The Serpent girl sings the first verse and Fangs chants her on, pulling SP to the middle of the crowd so they can have a closer look. Jug takes over the second one and the boy’s voice is surprisingly on tune. Sweet Pea has never been much of a David Bowie kind of guy, but right now this is his favorite song. Both sing the chorus together. Something Sweets would not have guessed about Jug is him being a good singer. The Jones boy doesn't take his eyes off  Sweets as he delivers the words of the last verse. Since Bowie was a bisexual symbol, Pea guesses it was Toni who chose the song because she’s an outed bi. However, he can’t shake the feeling that she may have been trying to hint him that Jug is also on the lgbtq+ community. The tall Serpent offers to buy them a round of beer for the great show they put on, but Jughead doesn't drink, so they end up sharing a cherry cola. 

The night goes from singing to dancing. While Jug dances with Toni and a few other Serpents, Fogarty and Pea hang out at the bar counter. Fangs eyes don’t leave Topaz’s figure. “Fangs... I gotta tell you something.”, he says in his lowest voice possible. “Shoot.” The boy is still watching Toni dancing. “I like someone.” Sweets couldn't think of any other way to say it. “Yeah?” Fogarty switches his focus completely towards his friend. “He may not like me back, though.” Sweet Pea finds it hard to get the words out. It’s the first time he’s saying that out loud. Getting it out felt good, though. “I think you’ll never know if you don’t do something.” He looks towards Jughead. “How do you know?”, he’s quite perplexed. “Toni, man. She can’t hold anything in. Go get him.” Fangs pats his friends shoulder encouragingly. Sweet Pea nods and starts walking to the dance floor, coming back straight away. Fogarty looks confused, but just laughs at SP downing his first tequila shot of the night before heading towards Jug again, close but not actually touching him. The three swing to the beat of the song. Topaz wraps her arms around both boys (Sweet Pea with a lot of difficulty.) and start jumping to the rhythm. Sweets takes that to his advantage, slipping his hand on Jug’s waist, forming a circle. Fangs joins them as they all have the time of their lives. 

The countdown to the new year starts and the whole bar begins shouting the numbers. “10... 9... 8... 7... 6...” Sweet’s heart starts beating faster. “5... 4... 3... 2... 1...” They all raise their plastic champagne glasses and take a sip before kissing/hugging their significant others. Pea watches Toni jump on Fangs’ lap before turning around and accidentally bumping into Jughead. They don’t break eye contact. Sweets looks slightly down at Jug, who glances at his lips and any self control the tall Serpent had is now gone as he rests his right hand on Jughead’s cheek and places a quick peck on his lips before backing out, waiting for either approval or censure. He gets his answer in the form of a breathtaking kiss. The boys have to part their lips for air but both are unable to open their eyes. SP just rests his forehead on Jug’s and brushes his tattooed thumb over the boys lips. Both share a “let’s get out of here” look and leave the bar to make up for lost time. 

SP had girls pining over him since he was old enough to be desirable, but never really retributed it. He claimed it was because he liked to be praised and they all lost the appeal once they kissed. Now he knows it’s because he was looking for love in the wrong people as he watches Jughead fast asleep on his arm. He feels as if everything has finally fallen into place. All his anger and frustrations vanish and he’s left with warmth and kindness. Sweets’ lips are still a little swollen from all the kissing they did the previous night and his bare chest feels the heat from where Juggie’s palm is resting. 

[aion-rsa]

Godzilla vs. Kong: Where The MonsterVerse Should Go Next

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The following article contains Godzilla vs. Kong spoilers.

The future of the MonsterVerse is uncertain. If you had any doubt, just look at the lack of a post-credits scene in the latest installment, Godzilla vs. Kong. While Kong: Skull Island teased the coming storm of King Ghidorah and other kaiju, and Godzilla: King of the Monsters ended its actual credits sequence with the big ape waiting in the wings, there is a sense of closing out a chapter (if not the book) in the MonsterVerse’s Godzilla vs. Kong.

This is in large part because it is up in the air how Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures will proceed with Toho Co. Ltd., the creators and owners of Godzilla and his assorted monster friends. Under the previous contract, which concluded with this year’s monster mash-up, Toho was unable to produce any live-action Japanese Godzilla movies until after 2020, leaving room for Hollywood to ramp up to this week’s big fight. And while Toho got more creative control over the new movie, as well as 2019’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters, the company is keeping its cards close to the chest about what they’d like to see next.

“There might be something coming out from Japan, there might be something from the United States, there might be a collaboration,” said Akito Takahashi, head of Project Development at Toho, in a 2019 interview. “We’re unsure.”

They might be unsure, but we’re positively certain that we want to see more of the MonsterVerse come out of the West, including with more Toho input. Even if we’ve already seen most of Toho’s A-list stable—Godzilla, Ghidorah, Mothra, Rodan, and Mechagodzilla—few other than the Big G have had enough time to fully shine. There’s a whole weird world of gods and monsters worth exploring out there. So if the MonsterVerse does continue, here’s where it absolutely should go next.

Mothra Gets Her Own Movie

One of the absolute best elements in Godzilla: King of the Monsters was Mothra, the celestial goddess from Infant Island. Technically, the Mothra we saw in 2019 got roasted by Ghidorah, the evil space lizard who turned her into a lightning bug. However, any good kaiju fan will tell you there is always another Mothra egg.

Indeed, the 2019 film teased the discovery of one (hopefully on a South Pacific island) during its end credits. There is also the entirely wild mythology only hinted at in King of the Monsters. One of that film’s best new human characters was (by far) Ziyi Zhang as Dr. Ilene Chen. In addition to being a walking resource for Titan lore, the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon star gracefully took over the role of providing an Eastern perspective on the grandeur of these creatures from Ken Watanabe… while hinting at stranger elements of the universe.

Revealed to be the twin sister of fellow Monarch scientist Dr. Ling, Chen and her lineage of Mothra-obsessed siblings hints at a mystical side to these monsters that’s barely been touched upon. It’d be fascinating to see the MonsterVerse version of the Shobijin priestesses—twin fairies who protect and communicate with Mothra—fully explored, and for a Mothra film to dig deeper into kaiju mysticism. If the MonsterVerse is intent on presenting the Titans as “forces of nature,” then the metaphysical side of Mother Earth could not be better portrayed than by the glowing silk moth taking man to task.

Godzilla vs. Biollante

When we spoke with director Michael Dougherty in Japan a few years ago, he revealed that if he did another Godzilla movie, he would love to see the less famous Biollante do battle with the lizard.

“She’s one of the very few other female kaiju,” Dougherty said. “She’s interesting because she’s almost like this Frankenstein creature. She’s a combination of DNA from a scientist’s dead daughter, Godzilla, and a rose. It’s like Audrey on steroids.”

While Dougherty might not be Legendary and WB’s top pick for another Godzilla movie given King of the Monster’s poor box office performance—which is a shame in our opinion—he makes an excellent point: Biollante has one of the most unusual origins in Godzilla lore, and after a brief stint with Mechagodzilla, she could represent a more fully realized attempt by humanity to control or destroy the Titan threat. And on top of her imagery inviting a Gothic horror aesthetic, as realized by Toho in Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989), she also is obscure enough to provide American filmmakers with greater latitude when they reimagine her appearance and powers.

Finally, Godzilla facing a plant monster would allow themes of ecological preservation to be better explored. What does Zilla do when the beast challenging him for supremacy over the Earth is itself woven from the elements of nature? Bring it on.

Kong and the Journey to the Center of the Earth

The existence of an ancient lost civilization beneath the Earth’s surface is one of the most intriguing elements developed exclusively by the MonsterVerse. While more than one WB blockbuster has taken advantage of Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth entering the public domain, King of the Monsters and Godzilla vs. Kong elaborated on the idea in a creative way. More than just a lost world of prehistoric dinosaurs, there’s a whole civilization down there which predates our own! In the depths of the planet, Titans were once worshipped as gods with an entire city built in Godzilla’s honor, and a cavernous throne room devoted to King Kong. Rightfully so.

Let’s dig deep into those elements. While there were human characters trying to discover the Hollow Earth’s core in Godzilla vs. Kong, it was honestly window-dressing added to get us closer to everyone’s favorite lizard and primate trading blows. But an actual adventure movie set in the Earth’s core starring Kong? It’s basically combining the iconic King Kong movie from 1933 with Verne, and hopefully a solid dash of Indiana Jones. Explore why this civilization died and the old gods fell, and use it as an excuse to go wild with the type of dinosaur-like creatures Kong battles.

Read more

Movies

From Skull Island to Godzilla vs. Kong: A Complete MonsterVerse Timeline

By David Crow

Culture

Why King Kong Can Never Escape His Past

By David Crow

Admittedly, this idea shares some overlap with Kong: Skull Island, but by putting a mystery at its center—and hopefully creating some much more interesting human characters and kaiju foes than the 2017 movie’s red shirts and boring Skullcrawlers—it could go a long way in differentiating the flick. Think of how earlier King Kong movies can still tower over Skull Island.

Destoroyah vs. All Monsters

How do you top audience excitement for Godzilla vs. Kong? That’s a good question we don’t have an easy answer to. But we think if WB plays its cards right, the studio could build anticipation up over several films to a Destoroyah movie, and then give the H.R. Giger-inspired kaiju his due. He is, after all, the only giant monster to truly kill off Godzilla in one of the Toho films.

Appearing in the final film in the seven-movie Heisei saga, Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995), this winged nightmare murdered Godzilla’s son and entered in a mortal combat with the Big G. When the smoke cleared, both monsters were dead. Legendary is unlikely to repeat the exact story beats, since we more or less got the Death and Resurrection of Godzilla in King of the Monsters (plus the sight of a supercharged, red Godzilla from that ’95 film). But the idea of a mutated monstrosity that combines ancient Titan DNA with mankind’s pollution and devastation?

It’d act nicely as the culmination of a few films dealing with Mothra and Biollante. It also could be built up with the smaller, humanoid-sized monsters that combine to make the giant Destoroyah appearing over several films. Seeing horror movie sequences which wouldn’t be out of place in an Alien movie as mini-Destoroyahs attack and feed on human characters could in turn whet the appetite for the real Destoroyah’s big entrance. And Destoroyah is such a freak show that, like Destroy All Monsters and King of the Monsters, he could trigger the need for new team-ups. Go on, admit it: a full movie of Godzilla, Mothra, and King Kong working together like the Superfriends brings a smile to your face.

More Rick Stanton

The other new human character who was an absolute delight in Godzilla: King of the Monsters was Bradley Whitford’s Dr. Rick Stanton. Only there for comic relief? Sure. But Whitford and Dougherty played it so well that it’s the closest we’ll probably ever get to a live-action Rick Sanchez. As far as we’re concerned, he can be in one or all of the above movies.

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[renegadesrpg]

Dark Angel : Creation. Battle Plans Part 6

Sin: *With a nod at Sean I acknowledge he is correct and take my seat at the table. Now that we have method, we need means, so let us see what we resources we have available. Thoughtfully, I begin…*

Once the Inguz rune is removed the Horseman will immediately become aware of my location. In that instance I will begin to pull power from him through the open link and I believe that will cause him to attack. But as we surmise he will try to wear me down we can assume he will send in those he considers cannon fodder. How many are in this “fifth column” Bryn speaks of?

Zav: My estimate is near 300.

--growling a little as I set my jaw --  

All are fighters and completely loyal to the Horseman. These souls were bound for the Hells and he offered them an out by being his personal Brown Shirts. They don’t take the names the Fates send to us. We’ve given up even trying to direct them. Instead, they act as assassins and soul thieves, killing innocents that the Horseman has consigned to Lucifer.

Sin: *I feel my countenance grow as hard as my heart at this. There is no greater betrayal of our purpose. That the one to whom the Fates entrusted this responsibility has not only personally betrayed it, but has enlisted an entire battery of minions to fulfill his betrayal only heightens my resolve to end this. Coldly I ask*

There are thousands of reapers across the world. How many will be loyal to you and are capable of fighting?

Sean: Uneasily Bryn, Adrian and Zav all look at one another and then at me. Clearing my throat,

“Loyal to us beyond question? Of the 5000 reapers not part of his storm troopers? I’d say four thousand. Able to do more than defend themselves? A thousand. Capable of fighting against this crew? Maybe two hundred.

Sin: *I raised my eyebrow at Sean*

I thought you said you had initiated training for the recruits he brought in after I left.

Sean: Ouch. That stung, but dammit we did the best we could with what we were given.

“I said we put ‘em through boot camp and rode ‘em hard. But the majority of them weren’t capable of the mindset it takes to be a soldier, so the best we could do for them was make sure they could take care of themselves in a pinch until help could get there. For the most part, that’s been enough. The ones we can’t count on to be loyal to us are weak and indecisive. They should have never been recruited but after you the Horseman wasn’t interested in having reapers with strong ethics.  We’ve tried to keep them to creampuff assignments and in a mass casualty event they’re paired with ones we know we can trust. Look,” running my hand through my hair in frustration, “I know it sucks there’s that many that just don’t have the loyalty or ability in them, but hey /we/ didn’t pick ‘em. We just tried to get them into the best shape we could.”

 Zav: --Sean looks as frustrated as the rest of us feel. The truth is reapers shouldn’t have to be warriors, at least not all of them. The system was set up to comfort and assist souls in moving on, not fighting off asshole demons. Unfortunately, the Horseman has screwed with the plan so much that now reapers need to be able to fight. Maybe one day Sin can set that to rights, but I’m not betting on it. A little taste of power is intoxicating and Lucifer was fucking drunk on it. —

Sean’s right, Sin. The ones that we can count on learned as much as they were able. Some of it comes down to sheer physicality. They don’t have the muscle or athleticism or they just don’t have the cojones to do more than defend themselves. Some have the balls but not the ability. That leaves us with about 200 that have both.”

 Adrian: -- My lips set in a thin line. Failure wasn’t something Spartans dealt with well and it had irked me when we were given basically nothing to work with.—

We did what we could with what we had Sin. None of us have ever been happy about it but we held it together the best we could.

 Sin: *Elbows on the table, I tent my hands and rest my forehead against them for a moment. This is my fault and I am aware of it. I left them to do the best they could. Given the circumstances, I could not have done other without becoming as big of a monster as the Horseman had become, but I still will not excuse myself. Finally, I look up*

Indeed you did and I am sorry my friends. The responsibility for this state of affairs lies with me. I should have returned to you much sooner.

*Heaving a determined sigh, I focus on the situation as it stands.*  

Since we will not have superior numbers we must focus on giving ourselves other tactical advantages. The first should be terrain. And we need to keep mortal races away from this. There would be casualties among them and I will not re-enact the crime that has brought us to this place.

 Bryn: “We need more than the high ground. We need a place I can ward.” At their questioning looks I add, “I was Boudicca’s strategist for more than my magic back in the day. We kept the Romans not only at bay, but on the run for as long as we did because she let me select battlegrounds that my sisters and I could lay the traps in. If Boudicca had listened to me after Mags and Aeryn were killed and given me more time, the entire history of the UK and western Europe might have been re-written. And I’ve got some ideas here.”

Sin: *Interesting. Whereas I would have thought Adrian might be the strategist of this group, it seems our quick-thinking witch is taking point.*

Have you a specific location in mind, Bryn, or are you generalizing?

 Bryn: “Both. We need somewhere that has places I can put wards and traps without them being obvious. Once we agree on location, we can get specific about what kind of magick we need. And I have a place I mind that might work.”

Raising my hands above the table, I close my eyes and murmur “Callanish a ’nochdadh.” In an instant an image of a 13 enormous stones standing in a circle on a grassy plain hovers over the table.

“The Standing Stones of Callanish on the Isle of Lewis. It’s a place of power.” Raising my eyes to Sin’s, “Power I can use to reinforce wards, or traps. And power you can use if you need it. The center stone, the monolith here in the center is the reservoir. Just behind it is the tomb of a powerful druid priest. It’s his power that’s in the megalith.”

Sin: *tilting my head as I look at the image and thinking…*

Yes, I remember this place and the souls there. But there were two, as I recall. I took them to Elysia some 5000 years ago, give or take. Their mortal souls did not return to this plain. They ascended. I had wondered if beings of power took such things with them upon ascension, but it seems he, at least, did not.

Sean: I had been a druid priest as well as a warrior in my last life, and likely in all the lives I’d had before it. In that last life it had grown to a specific manifestation…empathy I could wield to help, to heal, or to harm. If when I’d died in that last life I’d ascended, it would have returned to the earth to eventually be given to another. Now, we would be the channel that funneled that priest’s power to another. But there’s no way to know who. Sin? It seemed likely, but the power itself would choose. 

Quietly…. “Druids take it with them from life to life until they ascend. We have no need of it on that plane. His power is there, sealed into the stone with his blood. But once we tap that, it’s loose and it will look for its next host.”

Sin: *looking sharply at Sean*

The power chooses? Would it choose one of our enemies, Sean? Does it seek a vacuum of power to fill or simply a host?

Sean: Shaking my head, “It will seek a host with characteristics similar to its last host. The priest ascended, which says there was no darkness in him, so this power will also be looking for a soul filled with light. To go to one with any darkness in it would weaken it, and it seeks to maintain its balance in the universe. That lets out both Death and the rogue reapers, but it doesn’t clue us in as to who it will go to once it’s free again.”

Sin: *slowly I nod my head, filing this information away for future analysis. Tilting my head I focus on the stone circle, analyzing its value in the type of battle we will fight* There are stones leading to the circle in lines from all four directions. Is there power there as well? 

Sean: I need to take a deep breath before I can go on. Bryn couldn’t have known, but this place is very personal to me. 

“I know Callanish very well. There is power in all the stones. See, when a high priest or priestess, a prophet or prophetess, died at least one of their circle would have volunteered as sacrifice so their blood could be used to seal spells into the surrounding stones to protect the high priest’s power from being stolen by the unworthy. We already understood that the life we were in wasn’t the last we were destined to live so it was seen as an honor. In this case, it was his wife. She wanted their souls to travel together. She was sacrificed in front of the monolith, her blood drained to seal the approach stones and then her body buried in a cairn below the ground just at the northeast edge, symbolically guarding the perimeter. It’s her power in the stones outside the circle.” 

Sin: *Intently, I gaze at Sean. There is more here…* If you knew of this place why was it Bryn brought it to us? You were a warrior as well as a druid priest. Why did you not think of this place?

Sean: And here’s the rub of it. My face sets in stone as immobile as the monolith at the circle’s center. There’s a long story behind this, but a simple answer is all I can give right now.

“Because I never thought of it as a place of power. I always thought of it as my parents’ grave.” 

#TBC

[mbtizone]

Eko Tunde (Lost): INFJ

Dominant Introverted Intuition [Ni]: Eko always believes that he has a mission or a purpose. When his instincts tell him there’s something he needs to do, Eko completely commits and devotes himself to whatever he feels he’s “meant” to do. He is a man of faith who has a strong understanding of symbolism and sees deeper meaning everywhere. When he tells Locke about the book he found on the other side of the island, he uses the story of Josiah’s secretary finding the Old Testament to draw a parallel. Eko’s faith is very important to him and he gets gut feelings about what he’s “supposed” to do (and his instincts are often correct). When Claire tells Eko about the statue of the Virgin Mary that Charlie carries around, Eko immediately wants to see it because he believes it could be the same ones that were on the plane his brother was on – and even though it was a big leap, he was right. When Charlie tells Eko about the dream he had where his mother and Claire tell him to “save the baby” while dressed like angels, which Eko interprets as a sign that the baby needs to be baptized. Eko believes that he is meant to build a church on the beach and works diligently day in and day out. He asks Charlie to help him, but he doesn’t tell him what it is they’re actually building. Then he believes his new destiny is to man the button in the hatch when Locke decides to stop pushing it. Eko believes this work is very important and takes it upon himself to be responsible for it. He strongly believes that everyone on the island will die if they don’t continue to push it, and does everything in his power to stop Locke from trying to sabotage his mission. Dreams are never just dreams to Eko. He always analyzes them (Ti) to decide what significance they have for him, and then acts accordingly. He knows he needs to find the question mark because of the dream he had, but he doesn’t even know what that is. When Locke wakes up, Eko immediately knows that Locke had been dreaming of Yemi, when there’s no way he could’ve possibly known that. Often, Eko is right to trust his instincts, but sometimes they can lead him astray (believing that the Smoke Monster disguised as Yemi was actually his brother). Eko instinctively tastes the dirt, comes to the realization that the ground has been salted, and reasons that a circle (target) was created to be seen from up above, all with no prior information whatsoever. After Eko watches the video implying that pushing the button in the hatch is just a psychological experiment, instead of deciding to stop (like Locke), he comes to the conclusion that they are being tested. The work they’re doing in the hatch is important and he believes in it with all his heart. They’re meant to do this!

Auxiliary Extroverted Feeling [Fe]: Understanding other people’s feelings seems to come easily for Eko. Even though he had only just met Jack, he knows anything he will say will just piss him off more, and so he opts to remain silent. He can tell when something is wrong with the people around him, and tries to get them to talk about what’s bothering them. Eko is sacrificial and puts himself in danger to help others. When his little brother is ordered to kill a man, Eko does it instead to spare him. He doesn’t even know Sawyer, yet he takes a big risk in order to get him back to his camp after he’s been wounded. Eko is comfortable with moral shades of gray, whereas his brother Yemi always saw everything as being either black or white. Eko feels that the life he was handed was out of his control, and he only did what he had to do survive (and to protect others), and doesn’t believe that to be a sin. Yemi, on the other hand, sees things as good or bad or right and wrong. Yes, smuggling drugs onto a missionary plane might be wrong, but if we get them out of the country, we keep our people safe from them. Yemi is adamantly against signing the papers that will allow Eko to do this, but Eko tries to get him to see the big picture. Think of all the lives you can save if you do one “bad” thing. Eko tries to get Yemi to see that good and evil aren’t always so easily distinguishable. Even though the “others” attacked Eko, he feels that he needs to be repent for killing them, and so, he demands to speak to “Henry Gale” in order to confess and seek forgiveness for his actions.

Tertiary Introverted Thinking [Ti]: It’s rare for Eko to think aloud. His logic is very personalized and internal, and he rarely shares his plans with those around him. He seeks their help, but ordinarily keeps most of what he’s doing to himself, revealing himself only if and when he chooses to. He needs Charlie to show him where the plane crashed because he recognized the Virgin Mary statues (which were originally found in the plane) and wished to investigate further, but he doesn’t tell Charlie that, and instead allows him to remain confused about what the purpose of their mission actually is. Eko is typically able to reach rational conclusions about things. He knows he can get in to see Henry Gale because Jack doesn’t want the rest of the camp to find out they have a man captured in the hatch, so he uses that as leverage to get into his cell to speak with him. Eko wants to understand and typically asks numerous questions for clarification when presented with information, allowing himself to really think things over before making a judgment.

Inferior Extroverted Sensing [Se]: Eko is keenly aware of his physical surroundings and uses all that he picks up on to form his judgments about people and events. He’s skilled at navigating his way through the jungle. When Eko is following his instincts, it can cause him to behave recklessly, putting himself in dangerous situations because he believes it is his “destiny,” which is what ultimately leads to his demise. He climbs a cliff because Locke had a dream that Yemi wanted him to follow him up there. Eko engages with his environment and uses it to gather information (tasting the soil). He is a gifted fighter and uses whatever is available to him to defeat his opponent. He’s action-oriented and typically jumps right in and starts doing things. Eko sometimes gets carried away in the moment without thinking of the consequences. He became a priest, taking over Yemi’s job to honor his brother after he was killed, but murdered the men who tried to attack him inside the church, which resulted in it being boarded up and condemned. In addition, all of his parishioners turned on him for committing such a heinous act, especially on sacred ground.

Enneagram: 1w9 5w6 2w1 Sp/Sx

Quotes:

Eko: We have to cut inland. Ana Lucia: What? Into the jungle? They said their people were on the beach. If we keep walking… Eko: The beach goes into a peninsula ahead. It may not be passable. Ana Lucia: May not? Eko: May not. Ana Lucia: You’re doing this to get the cowboy back faster, aren’t you? You would risk our lives to help him? Eko: It’s the only way I know. Ana Lucia: I liked you better when you weren’t talking.

Ana Lucia: Get back! Get back, both of you! Michael: Are you crazy? Libby: Ana. Ana Lucia: Now! Libby: Ana! Ana Lucia: [to Eko] We need to tie him up. Eko: I’m not tying him up. Ana Lucia: He tried to kill you. Eko: No.

Jack: Where are they? [Eko doesn’t answer] I said, where are they? Locke: Jack, it’s not his fault… Jack: Shannon’s dead! I’m not… [to Eko] You’re going to take me back out there, right now. Locke: This man isn’t the problem. He brought Sawyer back. Jack: Half-dead with a bullet hole in his shoulder, John! [to Eko] Are you going to talk to me or are you just going to sit there? Eko: Anything I say will only make you angry. So, yes, I will sit here.

Eko: Stop! Please. What do you want? Jack: Excuse me? Eko: Peace? Revenge? Justice? And you are going out with all these guns? What do you want? Jack: I want all of our people back here safely. Your friend murdered- Eko: Ana Lucia made a mistake. Jack: What did you say? Eko: Ana Lucia made a mistake. Jack: Ana Lucia. Eko: I will take you there. But only you, and no guns.

Eko: I’m going to go to the funeral. Ana Lucia: I don’t think I’m going to make it. Eko: I think most of them realize it was an accident, Ana.

Eko: Hello. I have something I think you should see. If you don’t mind, I will begin at the beginning. Long before Christ the king of Judah was a man named Josiah. Locke: Boy when you say beginning, you mean — beginning. Eko: At that time the temple where the people worshiped was in ruin. And so the people worshiped idols, false gods. And so the kingdom was in disarray. Josiah, since he was a good king, sent his secretary to the treasury and said: “We must rebuild the temple. Give all of the gold to the workers so that this will be done.” But when the secretary returned, he had no gold. And when Josiah asked why this was, the secretary replied, “We found a book.” Do you know this story? Locke: No, I’m afraid I don’t. Eko: What the secretary had found was an ancient book — the Book of Law. You may know it as the Old Testament. And it was with that ancient book, not with the gold, that Josiah rebuilt the temple. On the other side of the island we found a place much like this, and in this place we found a book. [Eko unwraps the book and pushes it toward Locke.] I believe what’s inside there will be of great value to you. [Locke opens the book. A square has been cut out, and inside is a piece of film. Locke takes it out and has a look at the strip. He sees frames with Marvin Candle.]

Locke: Voilà. What are the odds? Eko: The odds? Locke: Yeah. — Here, hold this down on the table there nice and flat. I mean, think about it. Somebody made this film. Someone else cut this piece out. We crash — two halves of the same plane fall in different parts of the island — you’re over there, I’m over here. And now, here’s the missing piece right back where it belongs. What are the odds? Eko: Don’t mistake coincidence for fate.

Charlie: How’d you know about the plane, man? It’s old, you know. It’s been out in the jungle for years. Of course, you would know that – you know everything. Eko: Why did you lie to the girl? Charlie: What? Eko: You told her you did not know what was inside the statue. Charlie: I wasn’t lying. Eko: Then what is the wrong idea? Charlie: What? Eko: When I showed you the broken pieces of plaster, you said you did not want her to get the wrong idea. What is the wrong idea? Charlie: I don’t have to tell you anything, man. You come traipsing across the island, and what, suddenly now you’re in charge? You want me to take you to your plane? You best start treating me with some respect. I’m not just some guy you can just… [Eko suddenly looks into the jungle and we see the smoke monster “fly” by in the distance. Charlie looks too late and doesn’t see it.] Charlie: What? What? Eko: Let’s go. Charlie: [under his breath] Yes, sir.

Eko: So I come to visit you for the first time in three years and you won’t hear my confession? You know, Monsignor would have said he failed to raise a proper Catholic boy. Yemi: Well, why waste your time confessing. It won’t help you. Eko: It won’t? Yemi: No, for confession to mean something you must have a penitent heart. Eko: You and your guilt, Yemi. I’ve only done what I needed to do to survive. How is that a sin? Yemi: You may live far from here, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t heard of who you are and what you have done. [Eko reaches in Yemi’s priest’s shirt and pulls out the cross (the one that Eko wore as a boy).] Eko: Have you forgotten how you got that cross, brother — the day they took me? Is what I did that day a sin? Or is it forgiven because it was you that was saved? Yemi: Why are you here, Eko? Eko: I have come to help you. I have some merchandise that I need to get out of the country. I would like to use one of your church relief flights to transport it. Yemi: Merchandise? You mean drugs. Eko: It is not my normal business, Yemi. We are moving the drugs out of Nigeria so that they cannot be used by our people. And the money — you’ll have all the money to buy your vaccine. God has given us this opportunity; we should not turn our back on it. Yemi: God did not bring you here, Eko. Your own greed did. I will always love you, but I will not help you. It’s good to see you again, brother.

Eko: Yemi, I understand that you live in a world where righteousness and evil seem very far apart, but that is not the real world. I am your brother and I would never do anything to hurt you, but my friends — if you do not do what I ask — they will burn this church to the ground. Is that worth less than the price of your name on a piece of paper? Think of the lives you will save.

Eko: Something wrong, Charlie? Charlie: Apart from me losing my mind? No, everything’s just peachy. Eko: Why would you say you are losing your mind? Charlie: How about the fact that I’ve been sleepwalking? Stealing babies from their cribs? Oh yeah, and then there’s the vivid dreams that make me feel like I’m completely awake until, of course, I wake up. Eko: What are your dreams about? Charlie: Variations on Aaron being in mortal peril — trapped in a piano, drifting out to sea, there’s the flying dove, and Claire and my mum dressed as angels telling me I need to save the baby. [Eko is silent] What? Eko: Have you ever considered that these dreams mean something? Charlie: Like what? Eko: What if you do need to save the baby?

Eko: Who is he? Jack: What? Eko: The man that you are keeping in the hatch. Jack: Did Locke tell you? Eko: Locke did not tell me anything. Who is he? I wish to speak to him. Jack: Speak to him about what? Eko: I wish to speak to him alone. Can you arrange this? Jack: Why should I do that? Eko: Because you wish to keep this a secret.

Eko: Are they treating you well? Henry Gale: Treating me well? I’m a prisoner. And I don’t know why, or for what, or… Eko: You are a prisoner because they are being careful. They are being careful because they believe you are lying. Henry Gale: Why would I lie? They think I’m one of these others — other what? Eko: Please, stop talking, Henry. The first night I spent on this island I was dragged into the jungle by two men. They never spoke a word to me, nor I to them. I killed these men — smashed in their head with a stone, felt their blood on my arms. I need you to know how sorry I am for this. I need you to know that I am back on the righteous path now. And that I regret my actions. I ask you for your forgiveness. Henry Gale: Why are you telling me this? Eko: Because I needed to tell someone.

Charlie: Hey, I noticed you were building something. I thought maybe you could use this — for whatever it is. Eko: That’s very thoughtful of you, Charlie. Why don’t you help me? Charlie: What are you making? Eko: [referring to a log] Hold that end. Charlie: Is it a Starbucks? Eko: Help me carry one of those logs, please. Charlie: Are you going to tell me? Eko: Not right now.

Bernard: Everybody on this island is building something. I’m trying to get us saved. Eko: People are saved in different ways, Bernard.

Locke: Are you seeing something I’m not? [Locke stops] Hey! I haven’t seen a single track or piece of sign since we left the Hatch. What the hell are you following? Eko: Where is the question mark? Locke: The what? Eko: The question mark, John. Where is it? Locke: You know what, you keep chasing after your own shadow; I’m going back. [Eko moves in front of him to stop him.] Eko: I know you do not want to show me, but you must. Locke: No, I don’t have to show you anything. Eko: Then I am sorry. [Eko suddenly head-butts Locke who instantly collapses.]

Locke: You hit me. Why did you…? Eko: Because you were being difficult. Locke: Are you insane? Eko: No. Locke: Ana Lucia, your friend, was just murdered and you… Eko: Ana wants me to help you, John. Locke: Help me do what? Eko: Find the question mark. Locke: You don’t even know what you’re talking about, do you? Eko: No, but you know what I am talking about, John, and that is all that matters. Locke: [pulling the map out of his pocket] Here, you want to find your damn question mark? Here, this is it right here. Here, take it. Take it because it’s nothing. It’s a memory. It’s ten seconds of nothing. Eko: [pointing on the map] This is your hatch, yes? Locke: It’s not my hatch. Eko: If the Swan is where we came from then we go that way. Locke: We shouldn’t even be out here. Ana Lucia would still be alive if I just told Jack that Henry attacked her. Eko: Now, she wants us to go here, John, together. She said this in my dream. Locke: Of course, a dream. Eko: Tell me, John, haven’t you ever followed a dream?

[We see Eko and Locke in the jungle. Eko is poking at the remains of the fire while Locke still sleeps.] Yemi: Eko. Eko: Yemi. Yemi: [shushing him] You’ll wake John. Come, follow me. Eko: [limpingly follows] Yemi. [We see Yemi climbing up the cliff where the plane was perched. Eko follows.] Eko: Yemi! Yemi. [At the top, Eko looks surprised. We see Yemi sitting in a wheelchair.] Yemi: Wake up, John. [We see Eko fall. Locke suddenly wakes up.] Eko: Are you alright, John? Locke: Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. Eko: You had a dream. [Locke nods] Was there a man? A priest? [Locke looks shocked/puzzled] The man that you saw was my brother. Locke: Your brother? Eko: This is why we needed to come together. This is how we are going to be led, and how we will know where to go next. Locke: But I don’t know where to go. Eko: Did he tell you anything? Locke: No, he, he… Eko: Nothing? Anything? Locke: It wasn’t even me. It was you. It didn’t — he wanted me to follow him. Eko: Follow him where? [Locke looks up the cliff] Wait here. [Eko starts for the cliff.] Locke: Eko, it was just a dream. It’s not safe. Eko!

[We see Eko tasting some dirt in the circle area.] Eko: It’s salty. Locke: What? Eko: The earth. It’s been salted so that nothing can grow. Locke: Why would anyone wanna salt — there’s nothing here. Eko: I believe they made a circle — a target — so that this place can be seen from up above. Locke: They? What place? Eko: The place that this plane fell upon, John. [Eko searches the ground near the plane. He brushes away dirt and uncovers something metallic.] Eko: John! Will you help me with this? [They push the plane out of the way and uncover a large set of doors. Locke tries to open the latches, but can’t.] Eko: Wait. [Eko uses the axe to loosen the latches and he starts to open the doors.] Locke: Eko, may I? Eko: Please, be my guest. [Eko and Locke lift the doors up together. They stare down into a shaft much like the shaft into the Swan hatch.]

[We see Eko gathering papers from a table.] Locke: What are you doing? Eko: I’m taking this back with us. Locke: Why? Eko: Because they may be important. Locke: Important? I’m sorry, weren’t you just watching the same thing I was? Eko: Yes, John. And I believe the work you have been doing is more important now than ever. Locke: What work? Eko: Pushing the button. Locke: That’s not work. That’s a joke — rats in a maze with no cheese. Eko: It is work, John. We are being tested. Locke: Tested? Eko: The reason to do it — push the button — is not because we are told to do so in a film. Locke: Oh — well, then what is the reason, Mr. Eko? Eko: We do it because we believe we are meant to. Isn’t that the reason you pushed it, John? Locke: I was never meant to do anything! Every single second of my pathetic little life is as useless as that button! You think it’s important? You think it’s necessary? It’s nothing. It’s nothing. It’s meaningless. And who are you to tell me that it’s not?

Eko: This cross was worn by my brother, Yemi. Yemi was a great man, a priest, a man of God. And because I betrayed him he was shot and died. He was placed on a plane which took off from an airstrip in Nigeria half a world from here. Then, the plane that I was on crashed on this island. And somehow, here, I found my brother again. I found him in the same plane that took off from Nigeria. In the same plane that lies above us now — that has concealed this place. And I took this cross from around Yemi’s neck and put it back on mine, just as it was on the day I first took another man’s life. So let me ask you — how can you say this is meaningless? I believe the work being done in the Hatch is more important than anything. If you will not continue to push the button, John, I will.

Eko: Hello. Michael: I didn’t hear you come in, man. Eko: I left my shoes outside. They were muddy. Michael: Did you find him? Henry? Eko: No. Michael: I hear you’re a priest. Eko: Yes. Michael: I guess you believe in hell, then. Eko: [helping Michael clean the blood] For a brief time I served in a small parish in England. Every Sunday after Mass, I would see a young boy waiting in the back of the church. And then one day, the boy confessed to me that he had beaten his dog to death with a shovel. He said that the dog had bitten his baby sister on the cheek; and he needed to protect her. And he wanted to know whether he would go to hell for this. I told him that God would understand — that he would be forgiven, as long as he was sorry. But the boy did not care about forgiveness. He was only afraid that if he did go to hell — that dog would be there waiting for him.

[We see Eko walking in the Hatch. He sees his cross pulling from his chest toward as he walks by the magnet area. We hear the alarm start to beep. Eko goes to the computer room and enters the Numbers. Charlie enters.] Charlie: So, you wake up in the middle of the night; you grab your Jesus stick; you race off into the jungle. You don’t call; you don’t write? Eko: I’m sorry. I had work to do. Charlie: Right, yeah. Eko: Charlie, would you do me a favor? I was hoping you could bring my things from the beach here. Charlie: What for? You moving in here? Fancy yourself a little bachelor pad? Eko: Yes. I’m moving in here. Charlie: Well, what about the church? You said we were supposed to be building it together, man. Eko: I am supposed to do something different now. Charlie: What am I supposed to do? Eko: Bring me my things. Charlie: Bring your own things. Eko: Charlie, please. Charlie: You better leg it, mate. Clock’s ticking.

Eko: Hello, John. Where have you been? Locke: I’ve been thinking. Eko: About what? Locke: That in a minute that computer’s going to start beeping, and when it does you’re going to let it go. You’re going to let it run down to zero, past zero. And you’re not going to push the button. Eko: But I am going to push the button. Why wouldn’t I? Locke: Because you don’t want to be a slave. Eko: I am a slave to nothing. Locke: You’re a slave to that [pointing to the timer clock], just like I was. So I’m going to tell you again—don’t push it. Eko: Do not tell me what I can do. [Eko starts entering the Numbers. Locke grabs his stick and tries to smash the computer but Eko stops him and they struggle.] Locke: You cannot push that button. [Eko knocks Locke to the ground, pushes the button and starts leading Locke out of the Hatch.] Locke: No, it’s not real. We’re only puppets—puppets on strings. As long as we push it, we’ll never be free. Eko: [pushing him out of the Hatch] Well, you’re free now, John. Do not come back. Locke: No.

Eko: Charlie, do you know how they got the Hatch door open? Charlie: No, but if you hum it, I could probably play it. Eko: How did they open it—the door that says “quarantine”? Charlie: They blew it up, why? Eko: Charlie, I need your help. Charlie: Oh, now I’m back in your good graces, Father? Eko: Charlie, John has locked me out of the Hatch. And I believe he is doing this because he is going to stop pushing that button. And, Charlie, I am absolutely certain that if he is successful, in 90 minutes everyone on this island will die. Charlie: Alright, I’m in. I’m in. Eko: Thank you. Come, come quickly.

Charlie: Hey, what if John’s right. What if it’s just some colossal joke? You know, it’s just some old computer connected to nothing? Maybe it’s just a bunch of wires? [Eko suddenly pounces on Charlie and shoves him up against a wall. He rips his belt off, and throws it at the magnet wall where it sticks.] Eko: Is that a joke? Charlie: I’ll see myself out. [Eko goes back to the dynamite. Charlie grabs his belt from the wall.] Eko: John, this is your last time to end this. Open the door, and I will forgive you. Locke: Forgive me for what? [Eko gets ready to light the fuse.] Charlie: Hey, hey, Eko. Wait. Just wait a second. I don’t think it’s a good idea, Eko. [Eko lights the fuse] We’re in a very confined area. [Eko pushes himself up against a wall. Charlie starts running.] Charlie: Oh, bollocks. [There’s a huge explosion and a fire ball that chases Charlie to the end of the hall.]

[Eko and Yemi are sitting on a pew in the church. The nun is standing in front of them. A woman exits the confessional.] Nun: Alright Eko. Go. [Eko doesn’t move.] Nun: Did you hear me? Go! Confess that you have stolen. Eko: Yemi was hungry. Nun: That is not an excuse. You have sinned, Eko! Hunger does not matter. Now go. Ask God for forgiveness. [Eko stands and walks toward the confessional and then turns back.] Confess!

Emeka: Hello, Father. I hear you have a shipment of vaccine for sale. [Laughs] If you thought you could do this without me knowing… you don’t know who I am. [Emeka walks up close to Eko and puts a machete to Eko’s neck.] Emeka: You know, you’re lucky Father, I’m a superstitious man. I don’t relish taking the life of a holy man. That is why today, I’m only going to cut off your hands. [The two men grab Eko and pull his hands out and down to the pulpit, binding them. Emeka raises the machete to cut Eko’s hands. Eko spins and fights, taking the machete away from Emeka and knocking the two men to the ground. He slices through the neck of one man and cuts the arm of the other man at the elbow. Emeka tries to grab Eko, and Eko knocks him to the floor. Emeka gets back up to his knees as Eko raises the machete over his head with both hands.] Emeka: No! Don’t! Please! No! No! Eko: You do not know who I am! [Eko does not show mercy. He slices down, killing Emeka, and then walks out of the front doors of the church. Amina and her son Daniel, as well as many other people, see Eko standing on the front porch of the church with the blood stained machete in his hand. The villagers react in horror. Eko, in shock, drops the machete.]

Eko: Yemi! [Yemi turns around and heads out through the jungle.] Eko: Wait! Yemi! [Eko goes after Yemi, who has disappeared.] Eko: Yemi! You say you want to hear my confession! Why? Why now, eh? Show yourself! Where are you! Where! [Yemi appears across from Eko in a field of waist-high plants with red flowers. Eko walks over to him.] Yemi: Are you ready, Eko? Eko: Yes. I am ready, Yemi. [Eko pulls out the cross and raises it. Yemi reaches out to caress it but does not take it.] Eko: I ask for no forgiveness, Father. For I have not sinned. I have only done what I needed to do to survive. [Yemi lets his hand fall from the cross and Eko lowers it.] Eko: A small boy once asked me if I was a bad man. If I could answer him now, I would tell him that… when I was a young boy, I killed a man to save my brother’s life. I am not sorry for this. I am proud of this. [Eko drops to his knees in front of Yemi and spreads his arms out.] Eko: I did not ask for the life that I was given. But it was given, nonetheless. And with it… I did my best. [Yemi stares down into Eko’s eyes. He looks angry.] Yemi: [Almost in disgust] You speak to me as if I were your brother. [Eko cringes back from him, scared and angry.] Eko: Who are you? [Yemi turns without answering, and walks away toward the jungle tree line. Eko stands.] Eko: [Angrily] Who are you!? Who are you!? [Eko follows Yemi into the jungle.] Eko: Who are you?

Eko: You have a large quantity of heroin in a country that has no poppies and no market for its sale. Your drugs are of no value here, so you must get them out. The borders are all guarded by the military so you must fly. But as I’m sure you are aware the only private planes currently allowed into the air are either U.N. aid or the Catholic missionaries. And so you have come to me for a favor. I will buy your heroin — for 50.

Eko Tunde (Lost): INFJ was originally published on MBTI Zone

[mrswearword]

In “honor” of this video’s premiere at the VMAs, let me go open season on this petty bitchfest.

The lead single from sssssssssinger/ssssssssssssssongwriter/SSSSSSSSNEK joke Taylor Swift’s upcoming album Reputation. Let’s get this out of the way right now. All of this “beef” with Katy Perry over backup dancers is some misguided PR stunt to combat the media attention in pitting female artists against one another. Or at least it better be because if “Swish Swish” was indeed a diss track against Swift and “Look What You Made Me Do” is indeed the response song, they’re both petty, childish, inept excuses for women in the music industry.

Especially ol’ SNEK Wrangler herself, Swift if the best she can do in this petty pissing contest is an immature chorus of “Look what you made me do”. Yeah, apparently at some point she was considered a sharp lyricist. Time flies when you’re so full of shit, the toilet is suing you for copyright infringement.

“Petulant utterance no one above the age of 13 should use” at least in production terms is legitimate pop ground Swift is experimenting with; having her music sound as juvenile and as near psychotic for no reason as apparently, she is over a bunch of fucking backup dancers that you can replace is weirdly fitting or “on brand”. The first few lines read as “I don’t like your little games/Don’t like your tilted stage/The role you made me play; as the fool/no I don’t like you”. She actually sings “No, I don’t like you.” Being blunt is one thing but what the hell made her think this was acceptable as a lyric? Again, she has apparently been considered as a great lyricist among her peers cough, BULLSHIT, cough cough. One line in particular which had two major fandoms in Kanye stans and Little Monsters think this song [or this line] was about Kanye or Gaga was “I don’t like your tilted stage”. Leave it to human Twitter stan, Zachary Campbell to point out that Katy [who this song is about, release date of Reputation be damned] had tilted stagework for her Superbowl Halftime performance. Reexamine the lyric video for “I don’t like your little games” and “don’t” is a knight or a black horse or in context…a “Dark Horse”. What could potentially give away the fact that this was a PR stunt gone awry or at least should give it away is the lyric “The role you had me play; of the fool” with emphasis on “The role you had me play”. It’s more than likely that Taylor is trying and failing miserably at making a larger point as a woman in the music industry, specifically with women being pitted against each other in the music industry. Perhaps, she and Katy are in on the whole thing and this manufactured beef was supposed to teach us all that pitting artist against artist over backup dancers is pointless and that blah blah look at the lyrics for these two and see if they actually had the ability to make this a larger picture about women in the industry.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, Swift continues to petulantly write out “I don’t like your perfect crime/How you laugh when you lie/you said the gun was mine; isn’t cool”. To Swift, all I ask is what perfect crime did Katy commit, if all this feuding boils down to is you looking petty over expendable tour personnel? If the worst she ever did was refer to you as “the Regina George in sheep’s clothing” on Twitter, why the hell have you actively come out taking verbal swipes at her years later in a song for your upcoming release which will more than likely be a mediocre at best album? The remaining lyrics here are probably vanilla, trite and vague jabs at the court of public opinion or something of the sort.

Then, the lyrical pyrite from Swift’s amygdala controlled pen gets worse. The pre-chorus reads “But I got smarter/I got harder/in the nick of time/Honey, I rose up from the dead/I do it all the time/I got a list of names/and yours is in red, underlined/I check it once/then I check it twice…ooh” cracks knuckles oh boy, is there a lot wrong with how these lyrics present themselves from someone more pissed at some other singer for using backup dancers instead of say; Kim Kartrashian or Kanye West for the Snapchat incident no matter how much of a two-faced bitch she ended up coming across. First, let’s take a look at “I got smarter/I got harder/in the nick of time” which only makes sense when you consider her putting her catalog of 6-9 actual good songs and dozens of other middling shit back on Spotify the day Katy Perry’s album Witness was released. Yeah, Swift was smarter in releasing “Look What You Made Me Do” the same day Katy’s video for Swish Swish was released. All these moves made “in the nick of time” were apparently to spite Katy again, for using backup dancers. Hey Taylor, want to spite Katy Perry of all people with minimal effort? Show her pictures of your Grammy awards and MOVE ON.

Second, there’s the line of “Honey, I rose up from the dead/I do it all the time”. The only death she went through was well after 1989 had wrapped up and Kim Kartrashian’s Snapchat videos of Kanye calling her about the “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex” line in “Famous” and her trying to weasel her way out of saying it’s OK to use but then be all pretentious Grammy speech that means nothing given the circumstances. Coming back from that, months later after relatively keeping her mouth shut about a lot of things isn’t that frequent for her. Alas, here she is acting like a fucking phoenix from the ashes of losing out on acclaim for her album and era all because of Snapchat videos. Keep in mind, she still won the Album of the Year Grammy for 1989 in spite of SNEKgate. Third, “I got a list of names/and yours is in red, underlined”; bitch, who the fuck are you fooling acting like you’re The Bride from Kill Bill about to kill Vernita Green or O’Ren Ishii? Have several seats. The other line not dissected still sucks but what’s next is the petulant as fuck chorus.

“Look What You Made Me Do/Look What You Made Me Do/Look What You Just Made Me Do, Look What You Just Made Me…ooh” is already a poorly written chorus but probably just sanitized enough for Swift because she couldn’t sell “you got me so fucked up” or anything that could be considered well written in this mood of hers. Then, there’s the second set of lyrics which are less directed at Perry and more sounding like vague-posting on Facebook [or “vague-booking”] about someone who did her wrong. Well, at least after the contradictory lyric “I don’t like your kingdom keys/they once belonged to me”. So, if they were your keys to your kingdom, how did she get them but you still hate them…oh wait, it’s a shit lyric so who cares. Then, the vague-booking lyrics kick in; “You asked me for a place to sleep/locked me out/and threw a feast”. Two words to solve this problem; SPARE KEYS. What proceeds to be sung next is all this “My karma’s gonna run over your dogma” bumper sticker bullshit which begs the question…you’re really choosing to be this petty to someone and it’s apparently not a publicity stunt? Over backup dancers? REALLY?!

The bridge for this song further drives this manufactured tiff over the edge when she histrionically sings “I don’t trust nobody and nobody trusts me/I’ll be the actress starring in your bad dreams” four times in a row [someone please tell me where the hell the alleged lyrical genius of Taylor Swift is if she can’t deliver lyrics better than a double negative and a high fallutin’ way of saying nightmare] before delivering a spoken word declaration so wannabe teenage angst ridden, Lorde should sue her for plagiarism. “I’m sorry, the old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now. Why? Oh, ‘cause she’s dead.”

What else is that spoken word portion supposed to prove other than that aggression delivered by Taylor Swift reads as girl drama over nothing. Hell, the “oh, ‘cause she’s dead” bit sounds like her pulling that from her ass in the middle of recording it. “I need to explain why old Taylor isn’t coming to the phone…” ��Taylor, we’re recording this” “…OH ‘CAUSE SHE’S DEAD.” “Fuck it, we’ll keep that in anyway.”

Overall, Taylor Swift’s latest stunt is a disgraceful, vindictive, bitchy effort which smears the reputation of every female songwriter past and present and upcoming if they’re dumb enough to listen to this and get songwriting inspiration. Then again, this is the same manic lunatic dumb enough to pull her catalog from Spotify when streaming was starting to count in music sales all in the name of “artist representation”. This is the same publicity craving stunt queen who once used her fans to improve upon her “can do no wrong” image in the name of Christmas present reaction videos on YouTube. This is the same person who takes after Lena Dunham’s interpretation of feminism which apparently means “anyone who doesn’t like what I do must clearly not be a feminist.”

The video itself? Empty gloss, self-deprecating humor that only worked on “Shake it Off” and Taylor acting like her videos have that many memorable looks. A 1/10 just like the song itself.

[53nk41]

The rules of the Hunt (Part 1/?)

I couldn’t sleep last night and just had random ideas about the adventures of a certain grumpy bounty hunter from the times of her wandering around the Rift.

1618 words, but it’s not done yet B3c

Timeline and place is 4E 202, Skyrim.

The Bee and The Barb is probably the friendliest it gets in Riften. And that's a lot to say, given that it's almost always filled to the brim with the most annoying, snobish and racist folk in the Rift. Not to mention the innkeeper herself will most probably cut off your fingers if you even dare touch something without paying first.

Yet, Ferryn persisted. He eyed the whole room, clearly searching for a specific table, with a specific someone. And of course, in the corner of the inn, right near the window, there they were. They being her, a woman with a loose fur hood shielding her away from everyone's gaze, comfortably leaning against a chair. A little nervous, but he nodded to himself and picked up the pace towards the table. As he grabbed the chair, Ferryn cautiously looked around the room, making sure no one is watching a little too much and sat down. Their eyes met and he gulped down the last bit of his nervosity.

The woman reached out with her right hand but stopped herself in the middle of the act, and instead offered her left hand for a handshake instead. Not soon after they shook hands she pulled down her hood like it was nothing, revealing a smug smile on her face. Ferryn here was dealing with a dark elf, which shouldn't surprise him as much as it did.

"Quite far away from Windhelm, aren't we?" he jokingly proposed as he accepted a mug of ale from Keerava without even looking at the argonian. The dunmer leaned back and laughed "Your assumption that i am a refugee wounds me, oh sir." a brief moment of silence followed as she suddenly leaned forward and faced him properly, gaining more of a serious posture. "I've known Skyrim for much longer than that." she proclaimed and raised her eyebrows confidently.  "Why, excuse my manners then!" the man returned the hearty laughter, taking a sip from the mug.

"Llerani Nevethys is the name."

"I am honored to meet you, lady Nevethys. Mine would be Ferryn Fyreblood, just a small no one from Whiterun."

"Well, then it is i who is honored. You too have traveled quite the way."

Llerani answered and finished the few last drops in her wine goblet. "In that case, i must ask..." she put aside the goblet and their eyes met once more as she slowly leaned closer, supporting her chin with both of her curled up hands. "Why me, then?" She may have finished her sentence, but it didn't say much. However, she led his eyes to the man sitting on the bench on the other side of the room and waited for him to make the connection, still with her smug smile forming on her lips.

There sat Marcurio. A man well known in Riften, and for good reasons. Most mages choose to forever pursue the knowledge of the arcane, to forever better themselves. But Marcurio has already reached the skills of an elite mage, honing them only effectively in battle. His advanced magicks also cost way more than any ordinary mercenary would ever dare ask for. So why didn't Ferryn come for the services of this well experienced man, Llerani wondered.

The nord too leaned forward and lowered his voice. "Because i really need this done."

As they stared at each other in this moment of seriousness, some sense of uncertainty formed on the nord's face. He was clearly examining her face, as if something was off. Llera's ashy skin was perhaps too pale for his likings, and the lack of blue hues was uncommon. But the eyes, the eyes worried him the most. Surely he knew of the range that Dunmeri eye colorations can go to, so why did the striking, fiery orange frighten him so much?

Llerani, realizing this, sharply pulled away and straightened her posture.

"My services go for even higher than his." she raised a brow, expecting the man to surprisedly argue the price.

"I am aware." he however, completely calmly, insisted. This amused the dunmer greatly and the sly smirk quickly returned to her face. She made herself comfortable in the chair again, taking out her knife and playing with it casually, not even looking at him anymore.

"So who or what am i going after?" Llera asked, still playing with the dagger, patiently awaiting the contract's details.

"They're... two targets." the man gulped. "Farilda, my daughter. We used to visit this one solitary temple up in the mountains, on the borders with Morrowind. Back when the fields of the Rift still bloomed. There we would pay homage to Talos.." Ferryn was staring out the window, getting teary-eyed and his voice cracking.

"To the point, please." Llerani stabbed the knife into the table – strongly enough to get him to snap out of his melancholic nonsense, but gently enough to not seem threatening.. too much.

"Over the years, she changed. Too much. The church has been abandoned for years, but.. she... she's.. practicing her... witchcraft there. And.. it needs to end." finally he managed to get it out of his chest, frowning miserably into the window still. Ferryn then let out a sigh and looked back at the elf. "She and her atrocity of a husband. A vampire."

The way he said it and the way he stared at her, he needn't say more. Llerani knew what was needed from her, and with a quick move of her hand she sheathed her knife again. "My my, have you picked the best bounty hunter for this task, then." she said rather confidently and entwined the fingers of her hands together, staring into his eyes once more, more focused than ever. "Well mister Fyreblood, here are the rules of the Hunt then." the smirk was gone and now she seemed to pierce him with her cold stare.

"First, you do not question my origin." she made sure to pause after this one, watching Ferryn carefully, awaiting an unwanted reaction. When there was none, she continued. "Second, you do not question my ways." "Third... you pay up front." maybe a little of her cheeky smile returned after saying this, taking pride in demanding so much from him already. When she stayed quiet too long after this one, Ferryn safely assumed the three rules were announced to him and there would be no more, so he looked down upon his lap and rummaged through his travel rucksack. After a moment of searching, he brought up a fat coin pouch and rested it in front of her on the table. Llera hungrily eyed it, then looked back at him and leaned away from him, but still maintaining eye contact.

"Fourth. You do not need to see the bodies."

Ferryn gasped slightly, but noticeably nonetheless. Was it because he was annoyed with his own inadequacy, the fact that he interrupted this obviously highly respected mercenary and made himself seem impolite and rude? Or was it because the implications were too difficult to bear.

Yet, the man recollected himself and nodded her way. Llera chose to ignore the few drops of sweat rolling down his temples, and reached down under the table. "Good, then." she replied and laid her crossbow in front of him. Up until now it was resting under the table they shared, but the awe in his eyes proved that he did not notice. Or was it fear?

Next to her weapon, she laid out few bolts and their respective head types.

"I'm sure you're a wealthy man, with no worries of money. So i propose some additional services to you." she said so sensually while she was examining the nails on her right hand, not even paying attention to Ferryn. Her voice was so enticing, and invited him to accept whatever it was she was offering. "Do you want it to be over with quickly? Or perhaps.. they should go slowly and... painfully? Maybe you don't even want them dead, maybe i can just cripple them. Forever or just for a while. My good sir, you get to pick all this, but the rest is up to me." as she ended that sentence, she raised her gaze to him and lifted her brows inquisitively, watching him be speechless. The nord was processing all the information just given to him, thinking about all the possibilities and implications that were coming out of this. It seemed like he just could not decide. Yet the drops on his forehead were multiplying and slowly but surely rolling down his face. It was clear that it was this moment in which he realized he'd been dealing with a monster all along.

But he liked it. The best kind of person suited for the job.

Ferryn swallowed yet once more and babbled out "T-the slow one for the vampire, and the quick one for my Farilda."

The expression on Llerani's face shifted from amused to mildly concerned, perhaps some sort of empathy forced her to feel somewhat sorry for what this man was going through. Still, she took great joy from doing this. 

"The layered steel and smoothed barb, then." she said to herself and grabbed all her laid out bolts, putting them back in her quiver. Then, without hesitating, she reached for the heavy sack of coins and hid it in one of her pockets as she got up from the table. 

"I will contact you via courier when the deed is done." Llera nodded at him, strapped her crossbow across her chest, left few coins on Keerava's counter and hastily walked out of the inn. Ferryn did not even finish his ale, paid, and left soon after.

[boots-the-skull]

(Yes its inspired by Natsu for character pose here)

Here is a short story for my alternate Boots for this monday. This is the big event that sent him on his adventures. The attack on the mountain:

The wind was bitter cold, and the sensation of the constant breeze ran across his skin and a shiver danced over his spine. However, such a chill had become common to the man, his mind not focused on his comfort but the massive beast glaring back into his eyes. His body overflowed with a constant stream of perspiration, and his breath, though held back as much as his lungs could allow, burned with a constriction of his exhaustion. As for his opponent: the monster of scaly white merely grinned as a mist of frozen air leaked from its nostrils. Its head rose, and his massive claws piled the snow back--just as Boots had predicted. He closed his eyes for but a moment to pick up the boiling pressure bubbling within its throat… then leaped with all his might to the sky. Instantly a breath of frost sprung from its mouth, just barely passing under his cloak. However, the boy’s reaction was to quick, for as the monster tried to swing its massive jaw to the sky, his armored boot had crashed down over its skull--a final thrust of all his energy slamming down into its eye.

    The creature screamed out with the power of an avalanche as Boots was thrown to the nearest pile of snow. Instantly the beast turned to eye down the teen with its remaining eye and roared as its claws charged out to his face. His hand shot up in fright, and his mind immediately lost all train of thought. But just before he had come to meet the eventual fate of those around him, the monster fell limp, an earth shattering quake slid just centimeters from Boots’s nose. He laid, speechless in the snow for a time as just above the now motionless beast a golden scaled creature floated--a cone of flame tearing from his roar.

    From across the field of black and snow, another cry had returned the coming dragon. This one filled with terror and death. Boots felt all of his energy draining as he tried to even stand: his hand shooting to his side as a spike of pain knocked him back to the ground. He was left to sit and watched as another monster, this one of pure black scales like the night, charge out at the lone Golden one. Their crash alone could have toppled the mountain, and their roars appeared to echo through time.

    Boots soon found his body thrown yet again, this time from just the aftermath gust of the two creatures engagement, tossed back. He let out a cry of agony when his projection was ended with a thud against the wall of a burning home. “Boots!” A voice came from nearby; though, Boots was unable to spot the man due to his darkening vision. “Boots, thank the All-Maker you’re alright! Can you stand?!”

    “I’m---” Boots coughed out, “I’m fine! Just get out there! He could use all the help he can get!” He did his best to gesture to the intense skymesh just meters away.

    “Are you insane!?” Through his blurred vision Boots could see the man stumble back, “We don’t stand a chance against that.. That thing!”

    “Then help fight the others!” Boots shouted, “We---” He fell to his knee after once again trying to stand.

    “We’re just students!” The other cried, “Come on! We need to leave. They can handle themselves!”

    “Get off of me!” Boots tossed his hands away, crushing his teeth together as he firmly took his stand. “If you want to run fine! But I’m no coward! There is no Honor in running away!”

    “What’s wrong with--” The other was suddenly interrupted by the roar of the black beast. Both were forced to fling their hands over their ears as they could only watch its mighty claws crash down on its Golden adversary. The impact sent the Dragon flying down into the rocky earth with a crash--this one sending all debris in the area flying out in all directions. The two teens were just barely out of the force’s range as the gust nearly blew them to their feet. However, Boots managed to hold himself steady, his hand stretching to assist in the other’s balance.

    “We have to help him!”

    “How!?” The boy hesitated at even the thought.

    “Just help the others!” Boots shouted back, “I’ll stay here and see what I can do.” The man didn’t take long to dash away, Boots shaking his head with a sigh before returning his gaze to the black beast and its rider… A knight in equally as black armor. The two merely remand floating above the body of the Golden Dragon still attempting to recover, watching. Boots swallowed with a heavy breath watching the three. He could feel his heart pounding, but refused to let feeling get to his limbs. “Get away from him!” Finally he mustered his energy to lead a charge, leaping into the air.

    The Black monster simply ignored his cries--Boots fist falling down to crash at its tail’s scales… only to be shot back from its hardness. His hand throbbed as he shot back to the ground, the beast finally looking his direction with pure enjoyment. All Boots could do was watch as the teeth, flowing with a strange black mist, came ever closer to his body. The time seemed to slow and he felt his fear finally overtake him with a drawn out scream. “Back away from him!!!” The shout suddenly exploded out from under as the Golden claws of the fallen creature slammed into the coming jaw: the impact again sending the boy flying away into a nearby building. Boots felt his insides slam across his rib cage as his vision completely darkened and all he could was lie on the frozen earth listening to the constant exchange of blows. And for all to suddenly all go quite aside from a lingering whistle of the cold winter breeze.

    His head pounded with the might of an earthquake, but even still, he had to turn his head to view the battle. The swirls of white, black and blue blended together for a time and his hand stretched out in longing before eventually the colors mixed to shapes and shapes to objects. However, what he came to find was only the remnants of the Golden Dragon’s bloodied body… Every inch of his body acked, and rushing to crawl to the body only intensified the pain, but his body had begun to act without thought.

    His vision had come to be fully restored by the time he had made his way beside the beast. He could see its scared side faintly bellow and fall with the minor echo of his breath. “Don’t fret my child…” The creatures deep voice shot Boot’s eyes up to his own. He could see the agnony it took just to speak in his eyes, but Boots himself couldn’t muster his own words. “It was destined I’d pass from this life…” It continued, “Whether it be here or later it makes no difference.”

    “B-but--” Paul looked around at the rubble and the eerie silence beside the two, “What of this!? What was that thing! And Why!?”

    “Questioned not worth asking.” Its breath came softly, “It is best too sometimes let what has come to pass be. And let what we can’t understand not crowd your thoughts.” Its eyes closed for a moment as a great swell of air sucked flowed into its mouth. “It was I who brought this upon the mountain. Don’t let my mistakes bring an end to you as well. I see now my so called just war was merely an excuse to let my own hatred grow within.”

    “What?” Boots stepped back.

    “Revenge is a nasty thing Boots…” He returned, “When looked at from your own perspective it’s hard to spot the evil stain it leaves in our hearts. I only wish I could have seen my own faults before it had come to engulf so many…”

    Boots felt breathless, confused. Utter shock and a strange tingle within flooded in his mind and it only gained as he turned to look back at the rubble. “But… I don’t understand. What are you saying?”

    “My apologies, young one. I wish I could I explain everything to you, but my time is running thin. If you will not hear our a dying man’s words please at least take a final request…”

Boots took a minute to register, “Please, your not making any sense. Your not suppose to die like this!!!” He screamed, falling again to his knees as his fist pounded the dirt. “You.. you raised me!? Where do I go from here if you pass!?”

A slow consumption of the air followed a slow and hesitant sigh, “Leave this place Boots… My legacy is a dead one. And one only tainted by my own ambition. Don’t allow yourself to be caught in a never ending chase of revenge. Honor my death by living your own life.”

    “Revenge!? What are you--”

    “Do not shout,” Goldscale interrupted. “And please cry not. Heed my wisdom and leave me. Please I wish not to die without redeeming at least one of my children!”

    “Redeem? What are you talking about! You have to get up! That… that thing is still out there! Please!” Boots’ tears fell, as did the slow fading breath of the beast. “Please!” He repeated, reaching out. “This can’t be the end…”

    It was at his mourning the horrid and evil filled roar echoed out over the mountain’s side. Boots looked up to the setting sun, eyes filled with pure hatred to each passing of the black monster’s cry. His nails could hardly be felt digging into his palm, nor could he notice the droplets of blood falling from his forehead. He could only focus on the distant figure of black.

    “I’ll Kill you!” He screamed to the direction of the monster with a charge. He couldn’t set eyes on the ruins around, nor the numerous other skirmishes around as he continued to rush forward with the cry in his heart.

Only to once again be immediately halted.

Not from some tremendous force, or attack, but a lone cry of a girl. A familiar cry. Once sitting right before him in the claws of the black creature. “Clover!!!” But it was to late. The empty hand of the creature had already sent his enraged body flying through another arrangement of buildings as he watched zoom away with the girl in hand. “Nooo!!!” His hand, with the last remenese of his strength, reached out before he once again faded to the darkness… Though, this time it would not pass so quickly. And when it did… he found only himself left along the dead ruins. Lost once again.