#i figure the current ending isn't the worst for it as is so sending this lil thing out to the world
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vividviolence · 1 month ago
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Alright after having played the entire campaign & indulged in a bit of the postgame, here's my current rankings for every stage & boss in antonblast! via this tierlist right here
My thoughts on each individual stage will be under the cut, ordered from favorites to least favorites :]
The Levels...
I feel like Pinball Mire and Mad Mall are overall fine levels dragged down by a single really annoying gimmick or two. This is to say that the pinball is the single worst transformation in the game and I found the time limits & trash goblins to be a fuckin' chore.
Bomb Candy Mines and Cinnamon Springs really only have the crime of not being as interesting as later stages. They're largely good & fun to go back to, but I'd easily pick something like Mysterious Glasshouse due to their environments not being as cool to me.
Devilled Gardens is a really fun stage thematically but having to sit through Moonits' dialouge every single time I replay the stage kinda kills a lot of its replay value, & while I think the timer mech is a really really fucking cool setpiece it's pretty boring mechanically.
Boiler City is a really solid introduction to the game! Not much more to say, outside of the bombastic chase sequence at the end it doesn't really seek to blow your balls off too hard- which is good imo. it makes a strong first impression & does what it seeks to do well.
Same can largely be said about Crimson Factory, but it gets to be slightly higher up because it has damn good music and my favorite paul location in the game.
Outside of the grindrail sections The Mysterious Glasshouse is an overall solid stage. It maybe goes on for a bit too long, but each mechanic it introduces is used well enough that I'll give it a pass :]
Slowroast Sewer has some of my favorite mechanics out of any stage. The water, the sewer shark, the rat enemy, all of these are fun to play around & master.
I dunno if I'm in the minority but I fuckin' love replaying Hell Manor. I LOVE when games bring back every previous mechanic and force you to use em in new ways, and Hell Manor exceeds at that with flying colors!
Big Bath. Probably the single most unique stage in the entire game, still insane to me that they had the balls to just actually send you to non-euclidean poolrooms hell. I also love that while it's clear the stage isn't trying too hard to take itself seriously, it also isn't too much of an explicit parody either. The weird fucked up geometry is played pretty straight, and really the only comedic elements are The Duck(s) and the fakeout at the end.
And finally, for my favorite Antonblast level, Concrete Jungle!!!! I love Concrete Jungle so fucking much. The music, the enemies, the gimmicks, the stage concept, all of these come together to make the most solid gameplay experience in the entire game for me. It's the absolute platonic ideal of what an Antonblast stage should be imo...
Shit I still have to talk about the bosses.
Okay fuck I spent so much time talking about each individual stage that I'm just gonna shoot each boss rq. h
Brawlbuster does a fine job as an introductory boss, but outside of that he really doesn't have much going for him. Hey, at least his animations & design are cool! I respect him but do not feel much for him.
Probably unpopular opinion but outside of the third phase I found Ring a Ding boring. Didn't really dig his first phase track & I think the fact that he's literally just a massive bell with eyes is kinda lame for what's meant to be the penultimate boss of the game. Third phase was sick as hell though I'll give him that!
I like maulbuster :] unfortunately the way her fight changes your ui was really really confusing and I had to spend several attempts just figuring out how I was supposed to damage her. there was a short period where I legitimately thought I had to attack the bullets instead of dodge them! It was confusing! Once you get a handle on things the fight's fun & pretty easy though
I don't have much to say about smallbuster other then she's cute & her fight is fun :]
I love Freako Dragon. Big pachinko ball dragon... honestly high contendor for my favorite design in the whole game. Really his fight would be higher if it was just easier to control anton during the second phase, that's like the one thing I don't like about it.
Tallbuster is my favorite of the bossbusters. I should probably swap him and freako but I think he deserves to be in the top 3 :] anyways his weakness is very clearly conveyed, his attacks aren't too too hard to dodge, and really he just lacks any glaring flaws imo. He's like THE antonblast boss to me.
I'm not fucking talking about every phase of satan but it's a really damn good ending to the game. first phase busts your balls appropriately well & the following phases are all compoundingly intense, but not really in an overbearing way. it's good boss yes yes
Jewel Ghoul fucking rules. 10/10 design, 10/10 theme, 10/10 attack patterns, he's very deserving of the placement of best antonblast boss to me.
Anyways wow that's all. I don't have a way to end this. I'm tired. lol
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the-silver-chronicles · 2 months ago
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WIP Wednesday
Tagged by @imogenkol
Tagging @inafieldofdaisies @voidika @cloudofbutterflies92 @josephseedismyfather @direwombat @noodlecupcakes @socially-awkward-skeleton @adelaidedrubman @raresvtm @derelictheretic @cassietrn @aceghosts @davrinsgriffons @shallow-gravy @strangefable @statichvm @carlosoliveiraa @g0dspeeed @wrathfulrook @starsandskies @ladyoriza @la-grosse-patate @thewanderer-000 @omen-speaker @alypink @shellibisshe @josephslittledeputy @skoll-sun-eater @afarcryfrommymain @strafethesesinners @turbo-virgins @florbelles @minilev @justasmolbard @softtidesworld @yokobai and @seedsplease + anyone else who want to join.
Three new WIPs for The Silver Chronicles. Guess what? They're another set of AUs. Because I have too many ideas to explore that just can't fit in the main story of Silva's Hope and Old Dusk (aka canon Deputy Silva's story). The first two also introduce two new OCs that can't appear in the main story, while the last one is my take on the Omegaverse. You can read below the cut:
First AU is what I've abridged as "Vengeful!Silva AU"; essentially, the gist of it is that Paul becomes doubtful of his own ability as a parental figure after the Enforcer's first assault on the Minas, and worried for Sylvester's safety, decides she needs to leave the Archipiélagos, out of Adam's reach (as opposed to the main story where the attack resulted in Paul only doubling down in his role as a father to Sylvester and training her to defend herself should the worst come to pass). Sylvester is less than pleased as Elsa is still under Adam's grasp, in addition to the fact the young teenager just got accustomed to the Tumultite community, but Paul promises to save Elsa and reunite with Sylvester once the revolt is over. A coven of witches sail to the Archipiélagos, Paul gives them Sylvester, and they sail to regroup with their fellow sisters in Montana (eventually leading Sylvester and the coven to Hope County). Sylvester is a fellow coven member for many of her adolescence, and though she deeply misses her former community and family, she becomes accustomed to the witches strange practices, especially when she attempts to fill the absence of a parental figure (that both Adam and Paul left) with the Head Coven Priestess, Lillith. However, as Sylvester grows up, Lillith becomes distant to her for undisclosed reasons before ultimately sending Sylvester away to Eden's Gate in a form of a treaty between the Project and Coven. Sylvester does not handle this well, but she accepts it as she doesn't really have a choice in the matter. Almost a woman now, Sylvester joins Eden's Gate. The reason Joseph takes her in is because the Voice lied about how "she was a gift to him, a second chance to be a father to a daughter" (in truth the Voice would rather have Silva dead, but it wasn't going to fumble the opportunity to have Sylvester under its surveillance and likely manipulation), and well, for Joseph whatever the Voice says must be passed. While Sylvester isn't a fan of Eden's Gate' strict rules and doesn't necessarily feel like she belongs, she gives it a chance, and quickly attaches herself to Joseph when he offered parental affection (thanks to Adam, Paul and now Lillith all giving her up, Sylvester developed abandonment issues here). She likely doesn't develop a strong bond nor interact with John and Jacob (nor Faith!Lana) as much (especially while they're busy establishing the Project). Note that timeline-wise, this is the early years of the Project; likely year one, so Bliss and Faith!Rachel aren't around yet and likely Joseph here would have Sylvester be an unofficial and not yet renamed, "Faith", even if there is a current Faith in the form of Lana. Until Lana is killed to vacate the role for Sylvester... which doesn't end up happening as Sylvester unfortunately witnessed the murder scene happen. Sylvester takes whatever she can and leaves; the Project, the county, the state, everything. Until she gets to a state and county far, far, FAR away from Joseph in a new city with a new life and a new name; that being, Silva.
Joseph is... heartbroken over Sylvester's disappearance, while Jacob and John are worried that wherever she is, she'll report them. The Voice, however, tells Joseph it'll handle this... by influencing the world to coordinate a domino effect that results in an abandoned military mill to activate one ICBM under the city Silva is residing in, resulting in the city to collapse and a lot of casualties and destruction. When news reaches Montana, the Voice confirms that Silva's been dealt with and plays it off as "a sign" the Collapse is coming and uses it to urge Joseph to urge his followers "to prep faster for the Reaping". Years later, Joseph and his family await for his fated arrest, and the "Hell that Follows the Whitehorse". What a shock it is that it turns out to be Silva, who survived the Voice's most heinous assassination attempt yet. Although scarred from the experience of surviving a disaster and crawling her way through the physical representation of hell, she's never been more motivated to go after Joseph, under the (reasonable) belief that it was Joseph who set up her demise, and she is really determined in ensuring Joseph suffers. Anyway, that's the gist of the story. The snippet below is a wounded Silva being cornered by Terry and some other of John's men who recognize who she is. They're about to transport Silva, when two unlikely saviors appear out of nowhere (one being the introduction of Margarett, former kickass Prophet Hunter, and now a very cranky physically-augmented one-armed old woman, while the other is Azriel, who Silva bumped into earlier). Enjoy: [CW: Minor description of graphic violence/gore and nameless Peggie death]
Terry sneered down at her, almost repulsed by her words, even if their newest drug slurred her words strangely.
Silva could not blame his reaction; all he knew was that she, a traitor, had returned to unjustly take Joseph away from them and bring about the Garden's destruction without cause.
For all he knew, she was saying nothing more than baseless accusations, especially with how their drug disallowed her from speaking deceptions. She could not fault him for that.
She could only critique him for his blindness to perpetuating another's misdeeds and other's suffering.
"Call in an envoy so we can take this Sinner back to John," Terry ordered one of his fellow Peggies, "I'm sure he'll be ecstatic about marking our misguided sister with her sins."
Silva observed as one Peggie called into his radio while another passed Terry what seemed to be some kind of dart.
He replaced his revolved with a different type of pistol, and inserted the dart into it. Cocking the hammer back, Terry aimed it at Silva's leg, towards the exposed wound.
And now they'll take me to John. Although it wasn't part of her plan, she had anticipated she'd require to meet the region's herald sooner or later. She wondered if these captures will let her come face-to-face with Joseph again, but she couldn't be certain.
The heralds had their own methods of conversions, it seemed unlikely Joseph would be overseeing everything she'd be in, even with their history.
Huffing, knowing there was only one way to find out, the woman slackened her shoulders as she relaxed, closing her eyes as she awaited for Terry to sedate her.
She heard an unexpectedly loud bang, which immediately alarmed Silva. Opening her eyes, she noted Terry clutching his red-stained hand that had blood profusely bleeding from the hole in his palm. His dart gun had clattered off somewhere else.
The Peggies turned their attention towards the direction where the shot came from. Silva followed their gazes toward the greenhouse they had chased her through, the canister of their peculiar drug still knocked over and releasing the green mist in front of the entrance.
Although obscured, there clearly was a large figure making their way through the mist.
The peggies took aim with their rifles, shouting out to the approaching figure, until four more bullets were fired, hitting their weapons or limbs, disarming them.
Holding a strangely designed pistol, or perhaps a revolver, the figure stepped through the mist unaffected, revealing herself to be an aged woman, if freakishly tall and broad. She had to be at least a head-and-a-half taller than Silva's own biological father. Her grey auburn hair was wrapped into a messy bun, with strands of locks loosened near the forefront of her face.
Her skin was grey and wrinkled, but it was odd, almost unnatural in a way. She narrowed her only eye at the Peggies, lifting her upper chapped lip to compliment her scowl.
Scars adorned her face, large slashes across where her other eye used to be, the skin already healed over the socket. Unlike Silva's dysfunctional eye; although she could barely see through it, the blindspot was obvious, and burn scars similar to Jacob's own adorned that area.
The older woman wore a large ragged cloak over her broad form; concealing what she wore underneath, and most obvious to Silva was how it hid her other arm, to her blissed out confusion. She noted the woman wore dirt covered boots, and that a large staff-like weapon was strapped behind her back.
Her unexpected savior cocked the hammer back as she proceeded to throw it in the air to Silva's direction.
"For your quarter-to-six," her savior gruffly stated, reaching for the staff behind her as a Peggie brought out a bat and ran towards her. She effortlessly dodged the swing, and gave a swift kick to the Peggie's side as she removed the staff from her back and adjusted her grip when another Peggie ran up to her.
Silva's brows furrowed from her strange words, until she heard the resounding footsteps of three other guards of Eden's Gate Greenhouse somewhere behind her.
If we're going by the analogy of a clock, she's twelve, which makes me six, and that means... Silva swiftly spun to her right, and fired the pistol. It hit it's mark in a shocked Peggie's chest, stumbling back with his heart blown out, momentarily stunning his companions from the shock.
She cocked the hammer back to fire again, but only an empty click greeted her when pulling the trigger.
Huffing in annoyance, she took advantage of the Peggies stillness, and ran up to the closest one, despite the pain in her leg. One of the Peggie's, a woman, shook from her shock too late when her forehead met the large barrel, knocking her out cold.
Silva swung for her other companion, but the Peggie had enough senses to dodge the attack, and proceeded to kick her wounded leg.
A flash of pain erupted from her leg and she soon felt the butt of his rifle hit the back of her shoulder.
Crumbling down to the dirt floor, she turned over just for the Peggie's foot to pin her chest down, rifle aimed threateningly at her.
Not risking sudden movements, both Silva and the Peggie turned their attention towards the crowd once they heard an undignified scream.
Her ally had snapped the arm of one of Terry's guards in the wrong angle with an effective kick from her knee, before shoving him aside. Around her was one guard retching and groaning as he cradled his stomach, another whose face was against the wall with smears of red trailing down to her still, kneeling position, and her first attacker with the bat was steadily returning up.
Silva noted the pained groaning of the woman she dispatched earlier, much to her own chagrin at the fact.
Worse yet, the Peggie above her was aiming his rifle as his bigger target began effortlessly blocking the swinging hits of his companion's bat with her staff, waiting for an opening.
Silva tried to struggle underneath him but it didn't deter the Peggie.
Until-
"Hey!" a young voice shouted, breaking both Silva and the Peggie's concentration as they searched for it's owner, "Catch!"
A familiar weapon slid towards Silva; her retractable dagger, the one she lost earlier.
Swiftly swiping it, she stabbed it into the Peggie's Achilles tendon, earning a shout of pain above her before she sliced out of it, causing the Peggie to stumble off her. She didn't let him fall though, not yet, as she lunged forwards, embedding the blade into his stomach, and slashing outwards.
Leaving the Peggie to marvel at his own river of blood and entrails, Silva made her way over to his awaking companion. Just as the woman lifted her head, the last thing she witnessed was Silva's thrusting the blade down onto her forehead.
Silva retracted the blade, letting the corpse fall over. Glancing around, she spotted a familiar face; the child, or rather, the girl she had saved from Eden's Gate grasp, watching her in awe from the side of the admin building. Attaching the retracted dagger onto her belt where it belonged, she gave the girl a quizzical head tilt before a small smile tugged up, a giving the child a nod in gratitude.
The girl's blue eyes shined from the apparent praise and approval.
Silva turned to see how her ally was doing, and saw the older woman had kneed the bat-wielding Peggie in the shin, then the face; once, twice, a third relented his grip of his bat, before finishing him off with a knee to his neck, which left a crunch that made Silva's expression twitch and the Peggie's head in an odd angle.
The Peggie that had been hit in the stomach had gotten over his pain, and made his way to run a sneak attack from behind her ally with a knife.
Silva opened her mouth to warn her, but the Peggie gave himself away when he tried to stab into her heavily cloaked arm; or rather, the blade pierced through the rags and only hit her, which was likely covered in a tough garb underneath the shaggy cloak.
Her ally scrunched how face as she glanced back at whatever force failed to knock into her, only to harden her face with an unimpressed frown upon noting the Peggie.
"Nothing of importance there, I'm afraid," she informed the Peggie as she turned fully around to him.
With a good grip on her staff, she twirled it with one hand and hit him once more in the stomach, which he cradled. Then the knee, sending him to his knees. As he looked up, her ally thwacked him upwards with a spinning hit to the chin, before catching his throat with hooked end of the staff, sending him down to the ground as she pushed her staff further against his Adam's apple, compressing the cartilage.
Silva watched in fascination at the brutality of this woman; the strength she wield, the cunning she used, and the durability she had. Ensuring with all certainty that her enemies were dead. Though, Silva still didn't understand why she had saved her, nor any motives she had...
As the woman choked the life out of the gurgling Peggie, she apparently noticed something worth catching her attention.
"Bleeding Palm's getting away," the woman informed Silva. Cocking her head, she glanced around until she spotted Terry trying to start a van as quietly and quickly as possible, door wide open as he desperately tried to get the engine to sputter to life.
She hummed as the engine revved to life, and she made her way to her ally as she asked, "May I?"
Gesturing to the knife stuck in her protective grab, the woman shrugged as the Peggie below her slackened as he let out a weak noise and replied, "Not mine, so sure. He's not going to be using it."
Nodding she ripped the knife out of her ally just as Terry shut the van's driver door, and hit the peddle.
Silva walked to a spot that gave her clear sight of Terry's booking van, brought two fingers together to pinpoint a target, took aim and threw the blade at one of the van's back wheel's just as it turned, causing it to swerve into a small shed in-between the trees.
With Terry going nowhere, she turned her attention back to her approaching ally, done with the Peggie. Silva had half a mind to have her hand near the handle of her blade, just in case her ally had ulterior motives.
Looking up to the older woman, who she noted could be eight feet tall, maybe with a few inches too. Which made her less than three heads taller than Silva herself.
"Gracias. For the help," Silva stated first, and her ally made a short nod in return, until Silva asked, "Though I do have several queries for you."
Her savior snorted, and grunted, "Name's Margarett."
Straightforward, Silva noted, and responded, "I'm Silva."
"Oh, I know," Margarett informed the younger woman, "Saw your little rally at that little town nearby. Your whole speech of unity and freedom against that family of twats spilling blood in this county. Quite impressive, how you managed to lift the morale of the small folk there."
Silva raised a brow, retaining everything Margarett was saying, suspecting something more.
"You've certainly got talent of a leader," Margarett commented, "They believed every single word. Though if I may inquire; did you? Or is it just a convenient step closer to your actual goal?"
Silva stared into the taller woman's amber eyes, and gave a small smirk as a reply.
The second AU that diverges from the canon and plots of Far Cry 5 and Silva's Hope is what I like to call the Harbinger AU. The story here is that, instead of Ezekiel staying behind to fight off Enforcers while Silva, Elsa and Persephone manage to escape together (and then breaking out of jail to search for the trio of Omars around the world before reuniting with Silva 17 years after the Collapse of society in Old Dusk), Ezekiel escapes with the trio to America. Elsa doesn't die in her accident as Ezekiel is present to do the things she can't; like trying to figure out what's up with Eden's Gate while Silva and Persephone are none the wiser. Also Persephone is alive in this timeline because... well. You see, the divergence doesn't stop with Elsa's death, as during the year Elsa's accident does happen at the Horned Serpent Cave (in the main story at least), instead the incident is Silva going missing while making a grocery trip to Holland Valley, which she'd apparently never reached according to townsfolk Fall's End. Elsa and Ezekiel become the main caretakers of Persephone, and Silva is presumed dead. Paul never visit Hope because he doesn't discover that Silva is present there (therefore not leading him to go there to convince her to join his cult, get rebuked, kidnap her daughter to lure her on a global travel around corners of the globe, leading to Silva reuniting with Kamski, and then eventually leads to Paul, his Apostles and Persephone's deaths in the process). A couple of years later, on the night of Joseph's arrest, there is no deputy to fill the Hell role, despite the Voice promising there should be, leading to Whitehorse and Burke to cuff Joseph while Hudson waits outside and Pratt in the helicopter. Joseph is a little lost on how to consider this but improvises with what he has, interpreting it as either the Sheriff or the Marshal being the Muse. Surprisingly, they manage to lift off without the Peggies getting into the rotor... only for the tail to be blown off and leading to the crash; and Joseph meeting an old face in the form of Saint Matilda, a former Peggie he had exiled from the Project for doing inhumane experiments that even made Jacob cringe. She is one of this AUs primary antagonists (along with her monstrous creation known as the "Harbinger") in addition to the Prophet Hunters (five unique individuals physically augmented by Saint Matilda herself) sent by the Apostles to (a) retrieve the rogue Saint and her newest creation back into their waiting arms and (b) kill two birds with one stone by killing the local rival prophet in the area. Though that's not to say that Eden's Gate won't still be an obstacle in everyone's path, as they're the ones who have Matilda in custody. Elsa and Ezekiel prepare to help the Resistance fight any foe that as to protect Persephone. In the snippet below, you'll see her exile from Eden's Gate through dear beloved John's perspective, as he hears what will be her first of many crimes against nature. Enjoy below:
John joined Jacob and Faith upon the podium as Joseph began the sermon.
"My children, my family... I am pleased that you've gathered together for this morning," Joseph peered across the pews of the awestruck faces of their people, an admiration John also shared for his brother, "Though I wish this was under better circumstances."
That got their faithful's attention, as well as the attention of John and the rest of Joseph's siblings. John briefly wondered if Joseph had received another vision, and waited with bated breath with on the podium behind Joseph.
He found the reason to be more surprising than pressing.
"One of our own had strayed from the Project's mission," Joseph explains, looking solemnly, "She had abused her position and the trust we gave her. To desecrate the bodies of our own people, defile our Judges, and to taint the purity of our Angels."
John raised a brow, and his blue eyes briefly lingered on Faith; wondering if it was finally her time. He certainly wouldn't mind this one going, given how overstayed her welcome was.
Though she didn't look alarmed with worry, and Jacob didn't pay her any mind. To John's disappointment, Joseph unveiled a different name of the culprit.
"You may bring forth Sister Matilda," Joseph commanded in the room, and the doors opened to reveal Alexander and some of his Chosen dragging the white dressed woman to the front of the chapel.
They dropped her in front of Joseph, doing little to be gentle or considerate of their roughness.
The woman in question had been amongst the first members of the flock; not someone John interacted with on a daily notice, but a face he's seen pop up once or twice. He did note how she recently had been working under this iteration of Faith and a short while with Jacob... before his older brother requested, practically ordered, that she stay in Faith's region for reasons John wasn't privy to.
She was young, though not as young as their current Faith; John would say this Matilda was around her twenties. She had lengthy strawberry blonde hair, and greenish hazel in her eyes. Small nose, youthful cheeks, and a small frame to boot. She could have been a candidate to become a "Faith", though given current circumstances, perhaps it was a good thing she wasn't.
She gave small fleeting glances up to Joseph's face, her whole body shaking on her knees. Clearly afraid. Maybe ashamed, John pondered to himself, knowing how it felt to be under the Father's disappointed gaze.
He shook his head though; he made mistakes that he'd made up for. Whatever she has done, seems to be worse; perhaps even unforgivable.
He glanced to Jacob and Faith. His oldest brother seemed cautious while staring at Matilda, almost on edge. His eyes did not stray from Matilda, observing any and all movement. Faith, unsurprisingly, looked shocked at Matilda's presence, though she seemed more curious, like John himself.
Bringing his attention back to Joseph and their stray lamb, Joseph spoke, "Sister Matilda. Do you know why you've been brought here?"
Matilda visibly gulped, the woman petrified where she sat on the floor, giving a shaky and swift nod as her answer.
"F-for going against your-your authority... Father," she stuttered out through quivering lips, surprisingly audible for them all to hear.
"That is one cause for your presence here," Joseph acknowledged, calmly, and proceeded to reveal, "But it is also for your... acts of cruelty against God's creations, and those of whom gave up their doubt and fear to serve the Project. I have been informed you've also developed blueprints on changes to the Bliss' formula to make it more... hostile, towards any who seek solace in it."
Jacob sneered at the woman while Faith let slip an undignified expression before it hardened into a calm disappointment. Though John wanted to feel some satisfaction from Faith's slip of her mask, he was more focused on the fact their most efficient tool thus far had nearly been tampered with by the woman before them.
Staring down at the woman herself made it harder to belief she could have done those; the pitiful girl barely held herself together under Joseph's gaze.
"I... I just," Matilda softly sobbed out once more, trying to speak her words before they were lost to her forever, "I only... wanted to help."
John watched as Joseph tilted his head, quizzical of Matilda's words. Though John found himself uncertain by what Matilda said, he could not deny the pang to his own heart. He noted how Faith's expression softened at her words, and how Jacob stiffened with a frown. Not even the faithful could keep their scowls from faltering.
He couldn't help but feel pity for the woman, and found it terrifying by how easy it was for her to elicit such a reaction on them all. Although...
"And how, dear child, were your actions intended to help us?" Joseph asked, patient.
...her next words swiftly replaced that pity with disgust.
And lastly an Omergaverse AU centered around my Boa Lurking In The Bliss OTP (aka Silva x Faith). Enjoy this flash-forward snippet of Silva and Faith stuck in a bunker together at an inconvenient time:
She should have expected this. It was only inevitable that it would happen.
Being stuck in the same bunker as her was already displeasing enough for Silva. Being stuck in the same bunker while her disgruntled roommate's suffering cries and whimpers reverberate around their underground home?
Well, Silva couldn't deny how bad of an effect it was having on her own composure. She was usually stronger than this...
Once again breathing in slowly, she found herself not rejecting, like she should, the pleasant citrus scent of pineapples and lemons that escaped through the crack of the master bedroom door.
Though the guilt rumbled as she exhaled, knowing she shouldn't be anywhere near the other woman.
And yet, she thought as she placed an unoccupied gloved hand on the door, widening the opening more to glimpse inside, Here I am.
She remembered how neat the master bedroom had looked before it had been claimed by her impromptu bunk-mate. The sheets and blankets had held no wrinkles, the only number of pillows being two, and the floor was spotless, in addition to two nightstands; the right with a lamp, the left empty for anyone's use.
Now the two layer blankets were crumpled, along with extra blankets that her guest had stolen from Silva's bedroom and the linen cupboard, pillows from the lounge scattered around in a circle on the mattress, the lamp on the right nightstand was switched off, the blankets layered on top with a bunch of clothes strewn around the makeshift nest, and the floor from the looks of it.
A desperate attempt to find comfort in an alpha's smell, Silva figured. Or a beta's, intruded the thought, but Silva shook it away. Omegas don't seek out betas during heat, she reminded herself. Only alphas.
Regardless, though, either the light-brunette woman didn't find the scent she was searching for or whatever surviving scents of spice that lingered on those dresses were too faded from time to be a content substitute for the omega.
Overall, a very comfortable looking nest in her opinion, especially given their circumstances. Though the omega's scent was more enticing and stronger now that she entered the room.
Gripping on the handle, Silva stepped deeper inside the room. She needed to be quick about this, she didn't want to overstay.
She made her way to the left side of the nest, being careful to not step on any of the clothes; for her? Sentimentality? Silva didn't know, but it wasn't the point; she needed to reach the nightstand without disturbing the other woman. A quick glance over and she saw her omega "friend" was curled up in the blankets, still in that white dress, groaning in pain while mumbling prayers between hot breathes.
Why am I even trying to be considerate of her? she had to ask herself, Am I forgetting WHO this even is?
No, she hadn't. She knew exactly who the omega woman was. She had spent several months being forced to be acquainted to the woman, her brothers and their Project. She watched as she manipulated the Mariscal to murder Virgil. After all the harm and fallout she's caused, one would think Silva would have learned by now that Faith fucking Seed wasn't worth an ounce of her pity.
Then why am I doing this?
She placed down the kit full of essential first aid, cleaning supplies, a canteen of water, plus containers of foods she hoped Faith liked as much as Irene did. She couldn't find an answer to her question, and honestly didn't know where she could start.
With her task complete, and despite how nice it was in here, she turned to make a swift exit.
But she was stopped by a hand grip on her wrist, forcing Silva to stop.
"What are you doing here?" Faith grunted out, exhausted green eyes narrowed in confusion and suspicion of Silva's presence.
Mierda, she internally cursed. She closed her eyes to collect herself in the sweet aroma filled room, before taking a half glance back at Faith and answering, "I dropped off things you might need. Including some foods and water. To make your heat... bearable."
Faith had glanced to the kit on the nightstand before looking back at her, stunned by Silva's action.
Silva looked away from Faith, the fruitful scent emanating from the Seed sister stronger, and kept her grey eyes back to the open door. She needed to leave.
"I'll leave you to your privacy now-"
"No!" Faith rebuked, her other hand joining the iron grip on Silva's captured wrist, keeping the taller woman in place.
Silva peered back to Faith, a mistake once she was trapped by the desperate green eyes of the omega, "P-please don't go."
Silva felt a pang in her heart by Faith's soft murmur. She shook her ahead, attempting to refute the omega's request, "I can't stay Faith-"
The former deputy could feel how Faith's hands trembled on her arm, a sob croaking out as the young woman asked, "Don't go. Please... Your scent... it's calming. Please stay... don't leave me."
Silva could feel the very moment her self-restraint crumbled to pieces from Faith's words.
She was silent when she turned to face Faith. She was silent when she saw Faith's teary eyes and the desperateness written on her face. And she was silent when let out a soundless huff.
She gave a slow nod. "Okay," she affirmed.
She followed Faith's guidance as the latter pulled the former into her nest, and Silva was quick to accommodate to the nest and Faith's shorter size while the other woman nestled against Silva's body, taking in Silva's calming vanilla scent.
Silva cautiously embraced the other woman, feeling how the heat emanated from her body, and strong her pleasant scent was now that their bodies were so close.
Silva would have preferred if Faith snuggled into her from behind, but even the idea of that didn't sit well for her.
She sighed at her current predicament, bringing a comforting hand to gently run her gloved fingers through the herald's hair, while her other hand rubbed smoothing circles on Faith's back.
God, I'm comforting Faith Seed. She fucking dreaded the idea of Tracey ever hearing of this, or worse, the Sheriff. They'd surely blow a fuse.
She couldn't help but acknowledge a certain irony here. Not only had Joseph correctly predicted a "great fire that would cleanse the surface", but he'd been correct about her. Despite how hard she tried to prove him wrong.
Whether it was an alpha or an omega, with the Resistance or with the Seed's sister here and now, the only use she'd ever have is acting as their confidant, their mediator, their support. Nothing else.
"As is intended of a beta," Silva recalled his words, spoken many months prior. Before the Reaping and before the night of his arrest.
I really shouldn't have gone to that barbecue.
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starlightshadowsworld · 11 months ago
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Agency informant Izaya
During the Decay of Angels arc, Izaya becomes a vampire.
While Ranpo's bailing out the Agency, Izaya is doing damage control to their reputation.
Using facts and logic to dispell the allegations against them in the public eye.
He's been reunited with Atsushi and Kyouka and is helping them, Lucy and Ango with things on the Sky Casino.
And gets captured by Teruko and Tachihara after stalling for time to let the others escape.
Izaya figures out that Tachihara has changed alligances and hands him a drive thst doubles as a recording device. (It's a suprise tool that will help him later.)
Given Izaya is not technically not a member of the Agency, he's bought to Fukuchi for questioning.
Izaya has his own device like Tachihara's and uses it to record everything Fukuchi says during the meeting.
Fukuchi is intrigued by him, because he knows Izaya isn't just your run of the mill informant.
"It's werid, unlike the rest of the Agency we couldn't find anything on you. It's like you don't even exist."
"Funny, I could find everything on you."
Fukuchi chuckles and tells him while I couldn't find anything online, I've heard rumours out in the wild. About a man who uses humanity like puppets.
Izaya, caught off guard but counters that "werid, because the only puppeteer I see is the man before me."
Fukuchi does the classic we're not so different you and I.
"I'm trying to make humanity better than it ever could be, erase all war with just a price. You understand that, you will join me."
Izaya, laughs his arse off because no we ain't. *That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard you can't sacrifice lives for peace. There's not a toll to pay."
Fukuchi takes this... Not so well.
And they end up fighting.
Now Izaya can hold his own in a fight. But as the fight goes on, Fukuchi outmatches and overpowers him.
There's only so much you can dodge a sword that can't bend space and time. And Fukuchi is a soilder with countless surgeries to turn him into the peak of human condition.
Izaya is strong but he's not that strong. He got the information he required and that's what counts.
But he does still have an exist strategy... That's thwarted. And in a last ditch effort, Izaya uses his ability on Fukuchi.
Hoping to use the sudden flashback of memories to catch him off guard and give him an opening to escape.
It doesn't work. Instead Izaya's overwhelmed by the things he sees, the people Fukuchi's tortured, the sheer destruction and suffering.
Fukuchi doesn't bat an eye and stabs him, in multiple futures in multiple areas to keep Izaya from being able to look away or deactivite his ability.
"Funnily enough, I wasn't asking when I said you'd join me."
Izaya, even with all of this manages to press the send button to deliver it all to the Agency just before Bram bites him.
The outfit change is basically Izaya losing his current short coat and ending up with a trench coat (like he does in the Durarara Manga).
His skins grey, his eyes are black and red like the rest of the vampire. Theres also the fact Izaya can walk now, given the reason he couldn't was psychosomatic.
And he's currently mind controlled. With any atrophy from not walking for a very long time being fixed by vampire healing.
With Bram, Fukuchi found out Izaya's ability and decides to use him to gain information.
As he has complete control over Izaya's ability, Fukuchi is able to view the memories he sees.
Fyodor totally gloats over Izaya being turned to Dazai. And he's lucky Dazai and Chuuya are so good at being composed.
Because that's their friend and big brother... You'll pay for that.
The Agency take the news horribly too, Fukuchi is livid. Atsushi takes it the worst because Izaya got captured saving him and the others.
None of them want to fight him but they do end up having too.
When the ability wears off, Izaya collapses but Atsushi is there to catch him. He carries him and helps him back into his wheelchair.
And Izaya hugs him, comforts him that it's not Atsushi's fault but his own. He took a risk but it paid off.
"Were you scared?"
"Nope, you know why? Because I knew you were all gonna save me. And you did."
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savefrog · 4 months ago
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Hi! I shouldn't assume that being a longtime follower means I know you but I gotta unfollow anyone engaging in "vote blue no matter who" rhetoric and figured I'd say so on my way out. You have every right to do whatever w electoral politics and I agree there's a level of pragmatism to voting. But like, are you saying that about the USA Dems?? They're bombing Gaza to the point of genocide as we speak! Even if you're not proud of that fact, what would be the aim of such a vote? I doubt anyone of any party committing war crimes can be pushed by freely given votes, no?
You're welcome to unfollow. But essentially I'm entirely on the pragmatism end here.
Me saying vote blue in this case is not going "woohoo ok dems i love everything you do, do whatever!!!!"
it's a matter of "red quite LITERALLY wants to remove all ability to protest and say this shit is wrong".
see summary of Trump on shutting down the ability to protest
blue is not entirely clean on this matter either but i would take getting run over by a motorbike over getting run over by a truck.
I would like to preserve the ability to say the government sucks ass and while I totally get where people are coming from when they don't want to vote dem...I'd say that abstaining from voting to "send a message" is akin to complete silence in this current election climate especially considering the stakes, and there are a lot of other ways to get a message across that isn't passively allowing the literal white supremacist in - who by the way said BIDEN of all people was too soft on Palestine and that he wanted Israel to hurry up and "finish the job":
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source (It is also recorded on various other news sources)
Though frankly I agree with this quote here, from an article that is also critical of Harris and Biden:
“Trump would be the worst,” Asmaa Nimilaat, 50, said from a hospital where thousands of people are sheltering in Deir el-Balah, an area in central Gaza. “But any candidate that becomes president will not support Palestinians.”
The USA as an entire machine is so heavily invested in Israel it's hard to imagine a pro-palestinian president ever being elected. That is why I said the election is "picking your opponent".
The ideal situation is a complete rework of the US. As much as not voting FEELS like protest here...it is not going to do anything meaningful in this regard. It is indistinguishable from a non-vote from someone who couldn't get off work or was screwed out of an accessible voting location by red bullshit or just skipped out of apathy.
But we can at least not let the guy in whose ideal is to restructure the government to only allow fascist kiss ups in, heavily criminalize any opposing voices and militarize against them, has already set a new standard to allow the executive branch to do "What the fuck crime ever", and continue to use poc and lgbt in the US as a scapegoat and target of violence to radicalize his people. And then CONTINUE to protest and make pressure.
By all means I'd say no matter someone's plans for the actual voting day, TELL democractic nominees you're undecided and will not vote if they don't call for a ceasefire that lasts more than 10 minutes.
You can do whatever, but im personally not interested in a situation I see as letting conservatives take what is already bad and making it 3000 times worse and 80x less improvable and I guess I would encourage others if they can stomach it to make that same consideration rather than treat the election like a moral pageant. If they truly believe not voting will actually send a message, cool. But I want people to think really hard on whether it will. And then for the love of god don't stop at just voting.
If anything I encourage people to vote dem in state elections if only because there are dems right now trying to make ranked voting a thing, so that we can finally be free from having to vote dem at all and actually make it viable to pressure them in ballots!!!!
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pencil-peach · 1 year ago
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G Witch Onscreen Text: Episode 16
Part 17 of my onscreen text series where I transcribe and discuss the text that appears on monitors and screens in G Witch! And also talk about various other things. We've reached Episode 16: "Cycle of Sin."
<Click here to return to Episode 15 Or Click Here to go to the Masterpost!
But you wouldn't leave, right? You'll stay here, with me.
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Won't you?
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There's so much to love about Bel and Prospera's conversation here, even outside the Eri reveal. I love that Bel is the one who figured Prospera out first, because she knew her prior to the Vanadis incident, but she's still too much of a coward to stand against her.
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The utter cosmic tragedy that Eri died from the very thing the institute was trying to solve, and Prospera using GUND technology to save her in a way that ran completely counter to its ideals because there was no other option for her.
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The way Prospera knows EXACTLY what to say to make Bel crumble INSTANTLY like ugh. UGH.
I think a lot about what Prospera says to Bel at the end of this scene. "There will be no escape for you either." I always wonder what she means by that. Does she mean it in the sense of, "You won't escape from your sins either," or, "The Gundam's curse will consume you too," or maybe even, "When this is all over, you won't be spared." That last one's a bit of a stretch probably. I think Prospera sees Bel as just annoying at worst. But it's still food for thought.
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We see a collection of News coverage on the current conflicts from various broadcasting stations
Top Left: Station: Interplanetary News Network TERRORISM AT ASTICASSIA SCHOOL AUTHORITIES UNABLE TO MANAGE SITUATION - Asticassia School terror attack At least 12 dead, many injured. Chaos at Asticassia school after terror attack.
Top Right: Station: Cosmic MEDIA NEWS DAWN OF FOLD CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY - Dawn of Fold Terrorists put pressure on Space Assembly League. Anti Spacian terrorism on the rise.
(Not pictured): Station: EOP VIM JETURK ASSASSINATED BY DAWN OF FOLD TERRORISTS
Bottom Left: Station: All-Front News Network FEARS OF WAR AND TERRORISM RISE DUE TO EARTHIAN UNREST - Space Front economy suffers new blow from anti-Spacian terrorism. Rising anti-Spacian terrorism risks interplanetary-war
Bottom Right: Planetary News Broadcast 32 killed in anti-Spacian demonstration in North Africa - Teenage casualties as Spacian security forces clash with anti-Spacian group - Benerit group security MS open fire to break up anti-Spacian protests.
The Benerit group really is terrible, huh?
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When Miorine is finally able to use her phone, she sees that Suletta has in fact sent her 3 emails every day, just like she asked her to.
TEXT:
2 days ago I helped look after Tiko... I'm studying hard for...
Yesterday Good morning The petunia flowers... I've cleaned your room...
Today Good morning I did my best on the... I harvested three red [tomatoes]...
Suletta sends Miorine a "Good morning" email every morning, and then sends her updates and what else she does that day for the other 2 emails. I wouldn't be surprised if there was an, "I miss you" email or two in that batch.
Suletta also mentions Miorine's petunias in one of the emails
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It's pretty heavily overshadowed by the tomatoes, but Miorine is just a really prolific gardener in general, and the walls of the greenhouse's entrance are adorned primarily with petunias. It might just be her favorite flower. (Did you know that Petunias commonly symbolize anger and resentment? They can also symbolize finding comfort within another person.)
Oh, and just so it isn't left unsaid, unread emails sent by the Holder have a yellow '!' icon next to them. (5lan's unread email from Peil had a standard blue '!' icon.) They really will not let you forget who the Holder is at this school.
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It's probably important to make note of Lauda's attitude towards Miorine in this scene. He's fairly amicable.
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Even the caution tape is digital here man. Anyway, this most likely says: Access to training grounds is now prohibited due to declared state of emergency.
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In this scene, we see Secelia scrolling down what appears to be a social media platform for Asticassia. TEXT (Top to Bottom)
This is what happens when you let Earthians in the school! (8 Comments, 120 stars, 60 reposts)
We don't need Earthians at Asticassia (5 Comments, 216 stars, 38 reposts)
I can't bear to sit in an MS cockpit anymore (0 Comments, 83 stars, 13 reposts)
IMMA HEAD OUT!
(2 Comments, 146 stars, 75 reposts)
Earthians should go back to Earth (11 Comments, 263 stars, 94 reposts)
GUND-ARM Inc. must be responsible for this attack (7 Comments, 165 stars, 14 reposts)
IF only Mr. Guel were here (1 Comment, 32 stars, 19 reposts)
ASTICASSIA IS OVER
(6 Comments, 98 stars, ??? reposts)
Did the Mercurian Girl save us all? (??? Comments, ??? stars, ??? reposts)
In true Spacian fashion, the anti-Earthian posts are the ones that seem to be the most popular.
Funnily enough, the Guel post is really unpopular. I like to imagine that it was made by Felsi.
Usernames seem to be anonymous, likes are stars, and you can only seem to select from a handful of default icons.
Also, to be completely and totally honest, the fucking IMMA HEAD OUT post is nearly singlehandedly the entire reason I started this series. It was driving me up the wall and I never saw a single other person mention it and it was so funny to me that it was there that I needed to show it off just so more people would see it.
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Anyway, we see another broader shot of the site on Ojelo's tablet here, (that's why he makes that comment about everyone always seeing Earthians as suspicious, he's seeing it on the site) and it even looks like the NAME of it is written here but its fucking BLURRED FOR NO REASON WHY DO THEY HATE ME.
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When Jubeju's friends talk about how Gundams steal their pilot's lives, Suletta interjects by saying, "Our Gundam isn't like that," instead of outright denying that it's true as she did in the first season. It shows that she's come to accept that Gundams CAN kill their pilots after what she saw happen to Sophie, but she still believes that Aerial is an exception to that rule. (Which makes sense. She'd have no reason to believe otherwise at this point.)
Here's something fun about this scene that probably doesn't mean anything but I like it anyway.
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The last time Suletta and Miorine saw each other, Suletta shouted "やめなさい" (yamenasai, or "stop it") and then used her right hand to stop someone from hurting her.
When they reunite for the first time in this season, Miorine says "やめなさい" and then holds up her right hand to stop someone from hurting Suletta. Except the body count luckily does not increase this time.
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Season 2 makes HEAVY use of parallelism to season 1. Like, it is the go to literary device for this season. I could make a whole post discussing it this shit runs EXCEPTIONALLY DEEP.
In both seasons, in a scene with all the Earth House students, Chuchu says something to Miorine that surprises her, and we get a panning shot of all the students looking at her. But in season 2, all of the students are smiling at her, and while Suletta was standing closest to her in season 1's pan, in season 2's, she's the furthest away.
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This is also the first time Miorine smiles this season. Outside of the OP/ED, she smiles a single digit number of times for the entire rest of the season
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There's a lot I love about this scene. All the Earth House students being like, That's her MOM???? is really funny.
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AND WHATS UP WITH THIS. I HATE HER. I LITERALLY HATE HER. WITH HER STUPID ASS "Suletta no okaasan desu~!" LIKE FUCK YOUUUUUUUU FUCK YOU FUCK OFFFFFFF.
Anyway what's probably more important is that the fact that Prospera heard Suletta say wanted to take Miorine to the greenhouse but only showed up until after Miorine agreed, which means she was probably waiting outside the door. She wanted to let Miorine know that she was there.
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This goes a bit more into headcanon territory, but I think a lot about how in this scene, Eri stays deactivated until 5lan specifically asks, "Wasn't Number 4 able to use it?" and then after that goes out of her way to torture him. She could have just continued not turning on, but it's specifically when 5lan makes clear that he's NOT El4n that she activates and decides to give him the business. I think Eri didn't want to have to hurt El4n, because she knows Suletta still cares about him, even if he's been weird to her lately, but knowing that he's NOT the same guy means it's fair game to fry his fucking brains out. (My dark secret is that I have an Eri + El4n minor friendship headcanon. I'll talk more about it when we get to Quiet Zero.)
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Ah, well you see Suletta, I'm being reflected on the bright red ripe tomato, symbolizing how I am a fully realized individual confident in my ideals, (left) whereas you are being reflected on an unripe tomato with signs of Blossom End Rot, symbolizing how you have not yet truly learned what it means to live for your own sake and are simultaneously being slowly rotted out from the bottom by the grip your mother has on your life (right).
You ever think about how Prospera spent the last 3 episodes basically orchestrating this argument
First she tells Suletta that she did the right thing, only the two of them could have saved everybody, and that Miorine will understand. Then she tells Miorine that, yeah, she went too far, but won't you still be friends with her? (Specifically going out of her way to NOT convince Miorine that Suletta did the right thing) And then explicitly tells her she's using Suletta for her own ends. Then she shows up when Suletta and Miorine reunite, just to remind her that, yes, Suletta will quite literally do whatever I tell her. lol.
And afterwards when Miorine confronts her she is entirely unbothered. Without a beat she just says, "She's a good little girl isn't she~" like you knew this would happen. Ur so fucked up. I love you.
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I like that Prospera mentions Rajan here cause it means either she or Godoy had been following Miorine around at the Group Front. Fucking scary.
Hmm, this ended rather quick huh? I feel like I'm missing something... Ah well! See you next episode! It's a biiig favorite! (Man if this site goes down where am I gonna put all these posts...)
Click here to go Episode 17 Part 1 >> Click here for the Masterpost
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johannesviii · 1 year ago
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Top 10 Personal Favorite Hit Songs from 2023
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What a weird year for pop music, full of strange trends, confusing garbage and unexpected hits. Once again, even if the charts don’t always reflect it, music as a whole is currently very interesting to follow closely.
Disclaimers / Rules:
I’m using both the year-end top 100 lists from the US and from France while making these lists. There’s songs that charted in my country way higher than they did in the US, or even earlier or later, so that might get surprising at times.
No song that I already put on a previous list is elligible.
No old hit song that is re-charting due to a holiday or a trend is elligible either.
Of course there will probably be stuff in French somewhere on this post. We suck. I know. It’s my list. Deal with it.
My musical tastes have always been terrible.
I have sound-to-color synesthesia which justifies nothing but might explain why I have trouble describing some songs in other terms than visual ones.
A lot of bad stuff happened to me this year (several accidents in a row, and also my cat died) but some good stuff too, thank goodness. I only went to two concerts this year (Bloodywood and BMTH), but they were both absolutely amazing. Pretty sure the Bring Me The Horizon one was the best concert I ever went to, actually, and there's a lot of competition considering all the great ones I went to in 2022. I'm just sad 100 gecs had to cancel theirs, I was really looking forward to it. Oh well.
Let’s start with the good or interesting albums that came out in 2023, and oh my, that's a long list already.
Albums
Starting as usual with stuff that disappointed me: Depeche Mode's Memento Mori was... actually it was all right, but I miss the days when I could get excited about a new Depeche Mode album, I really do.
Pink Tape by Lil Uzi Vert was a giant fucking mess. There's some absolute bangers on it, and then you get to the next track and it's the worst thing you've ever heard. Which makes for an interesting listening experience, for sure, but one I'm in no hurry to repeat. At least it's never boring.
After the Magic by Parannoul isn't exactly my cup of tea, but you should definitely listen to it once, I think. It's something special. It might grow on me, though, because I only listened to it for the first time last month.
On the other hand, I listened to Scaring the hoes by Jpegmafia and Danny Brown a while ago, and while this one is definitely not my cup of tea, it's also a ton of fun and I don't feel like a single second of my time was wasted on it. You should listen to it for the samples alone, and just out of sheer curiosity if nothing else.
A kiss for the whole world by Enter Shikari is a weird beast, because the singles are absolutely incredible, but then the rest is a big pile of nothing (at least in my opinion). But the singles, man. I really don't know how to judge it as a whole, the quality is on a rollercoaster.
Kind of the same thing happened with Electric Sun by VNV Nation, one of my favorite bands of all times if not my favorite, if you recall. Some tracks completely floored me, the rest was meh. Oh well. Noire was so incredibly good that I can live with an average VNV album dropping after it.
Fanfare by Dorian Electra was full of absolute bangers but... I don't know, there's some of the madness of the previous record missing. And yes, I'm saying the album containing the minion line (you know the one) is more serious than My Agenda. Go figure. But it's still very good!
Two different friends told me to listen to 4D by Blank Banshee, so I did, obviously. Great electro album. Send tweet
I'm not entirely sure what to think of Atta by Sigur Rós. I cried several times while listening to it for the first time and it's a genuinely impressive series of tracks, but it's also so devastating I've only relistened to it twice since then.
I only discovered Svalbard a couple of years ago, and this year they dropped The weight of the mask, which might be even better than their previous album. It's mostly about depression and trying to fake normality while being depressed. Not a very pleasant topic, and yet this is full of energy and... hope? Everything sounds unbearably bright and between the screams, you feel like everything will be better eventually. Great stuff.
Speaking of depression, there's also No joy by Spanish Love Songs. If you recall their previous album was my album of the year a few lists ago. Their sound changed slightly, and at times it almost sounds like The Killers, but not in a bad way. There's a couple of tracks I don't like very much, but the writing is still on point, and some tracks are among my faves I put in the "unelligible songs" part.
Census Designated by Jane Remover, on the other hand, came out of nowhere just to kick me in the face. I don't even know what to say about that one. Go listen to it.
I found Gunship almost by accident a few months ago, and they immediately dropped a new album, called Unicorn. It's just a huge pile of great synthpop through and through - if you don't mind a couple of really stupid lines (godddd that third track is full of them). The other downside is that it's way too long (more than an hour), and if it was up to me, I'd remove at least four tracks from it. Unlike...
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...10000 gecs by, who else, 100 gecs. It's less than half an hour long and it's so fun and so varied in its sounds and so stupid while still being incredibly well produced. For the longest time I couldn't decide which one of the last five albums on this list was my favorite, and then I relistened to all of them in a row and felt compelled to play this one a second time after I was done. Definitely worth the wait.
Unelligible Songs
This is kind of a non-hits rec list of sorts, but you know the drill. I also have to mention that two songs from previous lists (The Magic Key by One-T and Dernière Danse by Kyo 2003 represents) recharted this year for some unfathomable reason.
Gonna start with my fave tracks on some of the albums I already mentioned. Because why not.
The only song I consider great on the Depeche Mode album was People are good which sounds like character development considering People are people also exists
Speaking of Depeche Mode, one band arguably out-depeche-moded them this year so let me introduce you to ††† (Crosses) with Ghost ride, Invisible hand and Holier
Lil Uzi Vert is next with Suicide doors and its deranged intro immediately followed by FUCK YOU, AND FUCK YOUR BITCH then Uzi following that by stating they're the Crow. Yes, really. Also there's Werewolf, literally a Bring Me The Horizon song with Lil Uzi Vert on it, and if I had a nickel every time that happened this year I'd have two nickels, which isn't much but-
Wait let me interrupt this list with another song called Werewolf which I've listened to WAY too much this year. It's the kind of song you listen to ironically at first but after the tenth time that happens you realise it's no longer ironic and you love it for real. Seeing Motionless In White live kinda helped, not gonna lie, but still
For Enter Shikari, we have A kiss for the whole world, Bloodshot, and especially [pls] set me on fire, which might be one of my most listened to tracks of 2023, actually
VNV Nation had Wait, Invictus, and Artifice, which are all absolute bangers in my opinion. Ronan is angry and we love to hear it
By the way this year Pink released an extremely VNV-like song called Trustfall and it's very good but also uncanny
Kylie Minogue is also doing something vaguely similar with Hold on to now but in a more mainstream normal way btw
And then for something completely different, we have Dorian Electra singing about obsessive fans on Symphony, fame on Wanna be a star, and most importantly writing anon hate and immediately deleting it on anon
Run is the first track of the Blank Banshee album I rec'd and it's only one minute long so listen to it maybe
Technically I can recommend Gold if you want some taste of the Sigur Rós album but you need to listen to the entire album to get the full crushing effect
Svalbard isn't going to lighten up the mood with How to Swim Down and Faking it
Neither is Spanish Long Songs with Clean-up crew, Marvel, Here you are and Lifers, the last one being notable for having what's possibly my fave bridge of the entire year, and all of them for being endlessly quotable. Stay alive out of spite everyone
Also not lightening up the mood is Jane Remover with Census Designated on the album also called Census Designated
But what's this? It's Gunship with a steel chair trying to punch some joy into this list with Holographic heart, Nuclear Date Night, Taste like venom and Monster in paradise!!
And the gecs with a second steel ch- wait no it's a plastic chair shaped like a frog. Anyway here's Dumbest girl alive and Hollywood baby, and both of them go wayyy harder than they have any rights to
ok that was a lot of songs already. Here's Everything goes on by Porter Robinson as a palate cleanser
Also the first reggaeton song to ever end on one of my playlists, Sci-fi by Tainy and Rauw Alejandro
Also I'm gonna put a gif here otherwise Tumblr won't let me post something with such a long uninterrupted list in it
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Ok back to the list of recs
Let's get the humiliation out of the way and say that this year I listened to Raining blood but it's super emo more than I ever listened to Raining blood in all my years combined
Oh yeah and Linkin Park released some old (finished and unfinished) tracks from the Meteora era and I'm kinda pissed off cause Lost missed the year end list. Fighting myself is excellent too, and if you want a really heartwrenching unfinished track, Resolution has a giant Chester-shaped hole where its chorus should be and the lyrics make it even worse. You're welcome
Possibly the most mainstream song on this entire rec list but I'm also pissed off Bad Idea right? by Olivia Rodrigo didn't chart enough to count for my top ten hit songs
I can offer you Eat the acid by Kesha if you want an awesome but mildly disturbing listening experience
For some electro/future pop here's Head over heels by Solitary Experiments
Wait there's also Bring the noise by Neuroticfish
Over is there if you need some Chvrches doing some Chvrching
Justice for Gladiator by Jann
Pointing at Even Jesus got the blues by Gabe Lee and saying I would listen to more country if it sounded half as good as that song, not like anyone cares
Holding on to nothing by Sierra. Send tweet
Northwind + Sky-colored dream by Strawberry Hospital and Parasite Heart is just seven minutes of cool pastel screams
And for an absolute goth banger everyone collectively decided to ignore here's Train to Harlem by Korine
I can't get enough of Nosebleeder by Lil Lotus and that's probably mildly embarrassing at my age but I've decided to stay mildly embarrassing forever
kisses by Slowdive if you want vibes and vibes only
Blood and sugar by Boys Like Girls if, like me, you want something that sounds exactly like The 1975
Choose your fighter by Ava Max if you want something that sounds exactly like Barbie Girl
I really wish I could explain what my feelings are every time I listen to The King by Anjimile but the only thing I'm sure about is that I'm feeling something a LOT and that it's terrifying
On a lighter note here's Mall rat by Durry, a very upbeat pop punk song about mall goth teenagers having fun and it's extremely good, listen to it immediately if you're having a bad day
And as some of you might have expected because of that previous gif, we're gonna finish with some Bring Me The Horizon, who have joined my list of favorite bands alarmingly quickly (that new album can't drop soon enough), and let's just say LosT and especially AmEN! were some of my absolute fave non-hit songs this year. Seriously. What the fuck was that.
And now, some elligible hits that didn't make the list.
Honorable Mentions
Tiki Taka (Vacra) - Afrobeats is the best thing that happened to the charts in recent years.
Shining Light (Aime Simone) - I wish I liked that artist more.
Unholy (Sam Smith & Kim Petras) - At first I didn't like this one, and then I headcanoned Kim Petras as a girl in a confessional and Sam Smith as the priest on the other side looking concerned but also weirdly into it, and suddenly it was a really funny song.
Dance the night away (Dua Lipa) - I'm pretty sure that's the song Chained to the Rhythm by Katy Perry is talking about
Casanova (Soolking) - This is a borderline guilty pleasure, and also it sounds like Magic System. Which is a bonus, by the way.
Calm Down (Rema) - Afrobeats is the best thing that happened to the charts in recent years 2: the sequel
Rush (Ayra Starr) - Afrobeats is the best thing that happened to the charts in recent years 3: the sequel to the sequel
Strangers (Kenya Grace) - Very good low-key track to play when you're driving at night
Bloody Mary (Lady Gaga) - What can I say. It's Lady Gaga. It's good.
I remember everything (Zach Bryan) - And for "songs that would be on the list if I had good taste-"
Going going gone (Luke Combs) - The last cut from the list. Great earworm, good writing.
THE ACTUAL TOP TEN LIST
This is a very solid list, actually. All of these things are still on some of my playlists to this day.
10 - Bad Habit (Steve Lacy)
US: #39 / FR: Not on the list
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This was the last cut from my 2022 top 10 and it was a painful one, so imagine my joy when I saw it was elligible for this year's list too! Welcome back, Steve Lacy, your little song is still an earworm and a half even after all this time.
9 - Cruel Summer (Taylor Swift)
US: #18 / FR: Not on the list
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I have no idea how a song that rhymes "oh woah oh" with "summer" can sound so good. Well played, madam. Well played.
8 - Star Walkin' (Lil Nas X)
US: Not on the list / FR: #67
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Not the best Lil Nas X song by a mile, and still quite good! It plays a lot at the gym for some reason. The hype is real, even after hearing it pretty much every hour on the hour. And despite that weird, weird line about his dad.
Very surprised it's not on the US year-end list, by the way.
7 - Vois sur ton chemin (Bennett)
US: Not on the list / FR: #69
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If you're creeped out by the AI-generated kids in the music video, I think that's kind of the point, which is why I can tolerate it for once.
Anyway, this is a remix of a choir song about lost kids, originally from a retro movie called Les Choristes which came out back when I was a teenager. And now it's been turned into a somewhat creepy techno remix of itself, and you know what's bad about that? Not a single thing actually. Play it again.
6 - Fast Car (covered by Luke Combs)
US: #8 / FR: Not on the list
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If you remember correctly, Fast Car was the number one song of the very first list I made in this series (1988). And since this cover is so similar to the original song, I considered making it non-elligible for this list. I counted it in the end but put it kinda low compared to the original. It's only fair.
5 - Anti-hero (Taylor Swift)
US: #4 / FR: Not on the list
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I was pretty indifferent to this one at the beginning of the year, but it slowly but surely grew on me. Everything has already been said about this song. So yeah, it's very good. I like it. It's on the list.
Moving on!
4 - Substitution (Purple Disco Machine x Kungs)
US: Not on the list / FR: #56
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Some songs just make you want to move every single time you hear them, without fail. The thing is, this one plays a LOT on the radio in public settings, so catch me dancing in the aisles of the local supermarket every time it's on. It's like some memetic SCP bullshit.
At this point, it should be possible to make a great playlist with all the best retro-sounding hits we got in the past five years or so - and yeah, put this one on it too, for sure.
3 - Miracle (Ellie Goulding, Calvin Harris)
US: Not on the list / FR: #51
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At some point this was my number one, and can you really blame me? An Ellie Goulding song with a drop that sounds exactly like a Robert Miles track? Really?
Then I realised I loved Robert Miles' tracks because of that dreamy piano/synth melody they all have, and that this song only had a drop/musical chorus that sounded like that, so something was missing. Oh well. Still a fantastic dance track, though.
2 - Escapism (Raye)
US: #48 / FR: Not on the list
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Welcome to the other side of most of The Weeknd songs, I guess, but that's also what makes this track so compelling. The intro sounds like anxiety, and even when the song gets more pleasant to listen to it just never goes completely away - just like in the lyrics, in fact. Well written, well produced, everything is on point and if I had better taste it would probably be number one on this list.
Alas, I am what I am.
1 - Just wanna rock (Lil Uzi Vert)
US: #28 / FR: Not on the list
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At some point, this was the third song on the list. Why shouldn't it be? It's so brainless compared to Escapism, and laughably short compared to Miracle. It's just a fragment of a song. It sounds like the intro of a track that will never start.
It's also by far my most replayed hit song on this entire top ten list and I can't justify that in any way. So yeah, putting anything else here felt like lying to myself. The fact it never really starts also means the hype never really ends. Going "daaaaaaaaaaaamn" along with Uzi's distorted vocals is so satisfying.
I just wanna rock, man. What a vibe. See you next year!
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dianight · 23 days ago
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Join me in the forcefem basement that adorns the fantasies of so many girls and indulge with me in this one, my very own.
As much as I enjoy that sort of fiction whether in doujins or silly posts, at the end of the day it's not realistic, as most fantasies are not. And this one won't be different. Because you see, in my hands I have a switch. Perhaps a button, a remote or a controller, whatever form you see most appropriate for it to have, that allows me to trans someone's gender. A click or push or press, and whoever I want will be now whatever gender I want.
Let us grab one of the worst men you'll ever meet, you know the one. Maybe there are several that come to mind, but today we are choosing only one. I recommend you pick the one you hate the most. Here, we throw him in the basement and we chain him to the radiator if that's your thing. And I'll let you press the button of course, you are the guest on this fantasy of ours. See how he now changes into a girl?
But not a magical change mind you, she gets to keep his current form but with that instinctual feeling, that knowledge (whether concious or not) that there is something wrong with the way her friends, family and society in general treats her, that the role assigned to him is not the right one. Because it isn't.
And here, in this utopic basement, let us help her realize the truth. Ignore all that shit about letting eggs figure it out for themselves and save her years of selfloathing, depression and alienation. Let us shower her with love and understanding. Let us explain to her what hrt is, how it works, how to acquire it and how administer it. Let us help her pick clothes that she likes (from this very convenient wardrobe that was here all along), grow her hair out and guide her into a better life.
Because at the end of the day being a woman is just simply better than being a man. You agree, I agree and she agrees. But not everything is perfect and we are not naive. So let us also get her some reading material on more serious matters. Let us make her understand how transphobia permeates society, that's why she felt so bad at the role assigned to her. Let us make her understand how misogyny shapes so much of what she sees on her day to day, how blind she was when she didn't know yet she was a woman. Let us prepare her as best as we can to navigate a world that would consider her lesser, show her how wrong that is and how she can love herself for who she truly is. And then.
You know what we do now? I'll let you do it, press it again. It's ok, you remember who she was, right? One of the worst men you'll ever meet. Press it. And look at him now: he now undertands what it is like to be a woman, what it's like to live as one, but he isn't one anymore. All sad and pathetic and crying and begging and pleading and worst of all, a man. We can go back upstairs, let's check what we can find to pass the time. Some board games or maybe some video games. Are you hungry? We can imagine a kitchen with a full fridge of anything you want and it will be there.
And after we spend a lo~ng time chilling and having fun, with the occasional scream coming from downstairs, we can go back to check on him. And look how miserable, a man now. Look how pitiful, having to remember the girl he isn't anymore. Look at his tears, you can hit him a bit if you want, just a slap or maybe a kick. Look at how he begs us to let him go back, laugh at him. Look at how he no longer has anything else to say, voice too cracked from screaming and wailing, his role now clear to him.
And you. Here you go. You know what it does. I'm going to go now. What you do with him is up to you, you can press it again or send him back like that. Or do whatever you want with him here, on this wonderful basement. My imagination doesn't go much further, now it's up to you.
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spaceless-vacuum · 2 years ago
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Ok so I read how if Zelda knows all about Link's yandere tendencies and how she's all for it, but what if they're both yanderes for Reader?
I have several small fics in progress that involve these ideas but I think that this is a really fun deal to play around with. Especially if the darling isn't that easy to get to. Having a Hylian darling who can easily be swooped away to share under the safety of the castle is really fun but I favorite ones where the darling isn't so easily taken. If you wanted me to talk about how the two of them interact with each other sharing a darling that’s cool as well but for now here's this.
So to start I love the idea of a darling who's royalty or a noble from a different nation. The dynamics of how the three would have to interact through the lens of civility and politics. God I love it so much. Link being praised for his skills and resting himself as a hero by taking care of problems around the kingdom. Using the praise he gets to curry favour so he can get closer to you.
What? Don't you want the hero to guard them? He's the best you've got might as well use him.
Zelda plays into this. He stays by your side and reports back to her while she gathers information and starts to formulate ideas for how to get you into her kingdom for a change. All they would need to keep you there is to extend a formal invitation, something to keep the two places together. Who could deny such a request made by such an impressive princess after all?
The hard part is figuring out how to keep you there. Messengers could only be stalled for so long and the lie of a troubled road delaying your return can only keep your nobles happy for so long. If you're just a noble from a small house then it's not a big deal. However for people who are higher up and have more sway things like this are a more delicate matter.
Yet her highness isn't just here for pleasantries. If the hero and princess have returned that can only mean one thing and that's possibly facing an inevitable collapse.
I can so see the two of them taking you to Hyrule a before the tragedy (Twilight realm, Ganon, calamity, or whatever else hit) and having you never return home because of it. Maybe they told you that either you died. Why would anyone come to look for you? The worst came to fruition and now that everyones done mourning they've all forgotten about you. Not a single soul is coming to your aid.
This would only work assuming they could keep you safe while the storm hits but I have a feeling that it wouldn't be too difficult for them to plan something out. If the castle isn't safe they can send you anywhere else and have you guarded by the greatest warriors. Just stay away from where the fires are and you'll be fine.
Not to just talk about royalty but imagine if you were part of a nation waging war against Hyrule or at least on their enemies list. Kidnapping is bad but if they're your enemy then it’s just ransom! Them placing a huge price on your head, and sending back a duplicate. They not only get to bleed your nobility's pockets dry as a way to make you repay the damages your country has done but it will also double as a way to keep you even after filling their end of the contract.
Zelda watching you plan and offer any help you can to the war effort. She's both challenged by you and in awe as you hold your ground as people talk over you and chatter about issues that don't currently need your attention. She waits patiently as you throw out excellent ideas only to have them all shut down. Meanwhile she's controlling several heads of states and making sure you're discredited and seen as someone who can't be trusted. She's placing evidence for after you leave to make sure even if you get back to your homeland it'll be in disgrace so there's no nowhere to run.
Taking the field in battle and having Link absolutely decimate you. You think you could handle yourself in a fight against a bunch of common soldiers only to be relentlessly targeted by the best Hyrule has to offer. Watching helplessly as he just won't stop chasing you into swathes of enemy soldiers. He’s rushing across the front lines and enemy fortifications just to make sure he can have his hands on you before you can rush away. Everyone is horrified and shocked as he just sweeps the floor with your people only to find you and drag you to a secluded spot where Zelda can pick him up.
Both of them pick you up and carry you away to Hyrule. Your whole life is flipped upside down. No you can't go outside because they don't need an enemy making plans and trying to sneak away. Yet that doesn't answer the questions as to why you're still here if they don't trust you.
Man this scratches an itch in my brain because of the tension of the reader not wanting to give up their country or homeland but also it's so hard when you're being swooned by these two gorgeous individuals, and by god they know it. They have access to everything they need to make you talk but they never seem to focus on that. Rather the interrogation in a large comfortable room with lots of snacks and refreshments is far too comfortable to hold any real threat. Sure Link is standing in the corner but he seems to be antsy. He looks away and blushes whenever you turn around to focus all your attention onto him so it can't be helped when you notice that it isn't so bad here.
Yet you can't relax because these are the hostile enemy! The bad guys! Yet this tea is really good.
Plus it's hard to ignore how bad it can be since they control everything now. Maybe this is all so they can drive you deeper into misery when they act on their inevitable betrayal. Even if they never tighten the rope too much there's so many complex layers to this idea and I adore it. Sadly the war is messy so they can't tell you anything about it. Which just means you need to lay a price on how far you're willing to go for them to tell you anything; which is a double edged sword because how can you know if any of it’s true!!
Gah the concept is so interesting to me!!!
I think that's it for now but come back at any time and I’ll rant to you more about these two.
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dreamcrow · 1 year ago
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I need some Hot Crow Takes on what was the worst example of Villain Decay throughout ToA. also on what Leonora Janeth uses in her hair
send me a meta prompt (currently closed); thank you for the ask!
the arcane and esoteric mysteries of janeth's haircare regimen are beyond my humble (straight-haired) supposings. but for the villain decay? oh, morgana, hands down. 
gunmar is spooky, but a bit of a ham. for most of trollhunters, he’s also relatively distant. bular is a lot closer, and much more of an immediate threat, but he’s always ultimately subordinate (either to stricklander or his father) and he does, in the end, get got by a teenager. angor is initially presented as terrifying, and rightly so, but even if he becomes sympathetic he’s always formidable; stricklander starts out pretty nefarious (especially if you think about some of the implications of e.g. feeding bular a human security guard) but is of course, in proper gdt fashion, domesticated by wuv. obviously i have niche side blorbo brain fungus re: the arcane order but it's hard to assess their actual "villain decay" without having to think about That Film. at any rate, i don't think they're actually the worst example in toa: despite a concept/design that fucks so absolutely severely, once they get on screen, they're not actually built up all that much (or...well). it takes them less than the space of an episode (22 minutes) to go from "dread, ancient terrors that even merlin is afraid of" to "merlin shooing away them, the green knight, and their evil floating skull castle with less effort than he usually spares to criticize douxie." but that's another post.
morgana, though. part of what made her such a compelling villain was how little arthur figured in trollhunters. the existence of merlin implies the existence of arthur, of course, but in trollhunters arthur isn't there at all. instead, we get the negative space of him: his right hand (merlin) and the anti-arthur (morgana). obviously this is partly her role in arthuriana proper, but it also strikes me as pretty deliberate here: merlin's liege vs. merlin's student (and that liege's sister); humanity's last best hope vs. the queen of the otherworld; the king under the mountain vs. the witch under arcadia. i was not very tuned into morgana when i first got into trollhunters, but looking back over the series for this ask, the parallels are so obvious. and so tight! i wouldn't be surprised if some of this was even deliberate.
and the thing is: trollhunters has enough space as a series that its antagonists don't really have to pull their punches. morgana was nasty in trollhunters. pale lady, baba yaga, eldritch queen, mother of monsters—holy shit, right? and she's creepy, too: all muttering whispers and dread ancient magic! she takes angor’s soul, and then his free will. she taunts stricklander while possessing the body of one of his students (while threatening the permanent exile of two more to the depression dimension), and then in the guise of the human he's in love with. speaking to her faithful children—who only exist through morally dubious, unpleasant processes, for which she is implied to be responsible—via institutional heirloom phonograph! she's so much more connected to the shadow realm, here, probably the most compelling justification for reading shadow magic as dangerous. she's the big bad behind angor and gunmar (while playing them both against each other). she absolutely feels evenly paired with merlin, and (rightly) kicks his ass through most of the battle of the eternal night. she's evil but charismatic and even despite all that still a little human: when she taunts jim for not knowing merlin used her hand for the amulet, it isn't without a shadow of what must have been an ancient hurt.
and then. wizards. jesus christ (tired ben affleck smoking dot jpg)
[ » read the rest of the essay on ao3 ]
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firendgold · 2 years ago
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If you're still doing the choose violence ask game: 2 (👀), 9, 10, 22 ?
I got such a rush from finally answering the first ask that I'm doing this for as long as people send me questions. So here we go again!
2. a compelling argument for why your fave would never top or bottom
anon, I'm at work. I'm seeing this at work. :'D
Okay, serious face. Albus Dumbledore is probably my fave if I have to choose between him and Harry on this blog. I just have to figure out why he would never...
Bottom. Albus would never, I'm sorry. He won't. He can't. Like, maybe when he was having his whirlwind summer romance with Gellert, he bottomed every single time they fucked because he was so in love and this was his equal and his partner and so what if he was a little rough and distant sometimes in the bedroom, and always wanted to top and tug his hair and hiss out orders? This was The Man The Universe Had Crafted For Him, and he would absolutely bottom for him every time... and then the summer of 1899 ends. And Ariana dies. And Aberforth breaks Albus' nose. And Gellert fucks off to go be a fascist.
And Albus, alone and heartbroken, resolves to never trust someone that completely again, never love someone that same way, and never let anyone get into a position of power over him where they might be able to use his knowledge and talents for ill. That means physically, emotionally, spiritually, psychologically... carnally. So he has sex with plenty of other people, and even falls in love with a few of them, but he is in control at all times. He never bottoms again.
That's all I've got for that one.
9. worst part of canon
So the first answer that came to mind is posted here, but for fairness' sake I'll try to come up with another worst thing. (That's not related to ships, because I'm trying really hard not to be THAT violent on the violence ask game.)
I think... that if That Woman was going to introduce international schools, students and characters in the middle book of the series, she should have done more with them than having them vanish after Goblet of Fire, only to come back for either fake romantic tension and one line of exposition about the Hitler allegory Dark Lord of the Before-Times (Krum, Deathly Hallows) or to be married off to a Weasley for an aesop of It's Not About His Looks Now That They're Jacked Up (Fleur, Half-Blood Prince). I'm not saying Fleur and Viktor HAD to be best buddies forever with Harry, but it is weird that they have this unique bond that no other young students have had with each other in hundreds of years, they even lost one of their fellow champions, Dumbledore gives this very moving speech about remaining connected and not letting darkness and prejudice sever new ties, and then... nothing. No side adventures in France or wherever Durmstrang is, no communication from either side, nothing.
Feels like a huge letdown in hindsight.
10. worst part of fanon
Oh, no. That's not fair. There's just so many.
If I had to consolidate what I currently don't like about the HP fandom/fanon into a few lines, I think I would say that I hate the pureblood/Dark side apologism. I do believe in nuance in characters. I do believe redemption and/or walking different paths is an important theme in Harry Potter, and I think it's fascinating to explore that with any and every character you can think of, even characters I may not personally like. But I really, really hate the way the fandom has taken that and twisted it into this idea that we were sold a lie at the start: that the British magical government was fine the way it was, and so was the society around it; that Dark magic Isn't All That Bad, Really, and there are actually Good and non-prejudiced things about a few rich bitches passing down their knowledge and secrets and slurs for generations within the Family, and keeping the Family "Pure" is cool actually, and none of this has any relation to real life ideas about miscegenation and classism and racism and eugenics, what are you talking about?
It's just so worrying. As a minority, when I see people on tumblr/twitter/AO3 gleefully agreeing that we need to eat the rich and fix society and eradicate all the horrid -isms and -archys ruining all our lives, then watch them turn around and write a 200k epic where Dumbledore was the evil one for locking the Horcrux books away and championing marginalized members of society, Hermione is just uppity for wanting to make necessary changes to the darker parts of magical society that That Woman was literally pointing out for a reason, and Tom Riddle is only bad because he took the good segregationist pureblood ideas and added murder to them... and when that fic gets thousands of comments agreeing with them full stop with no examination of any of that... it makes me anxious, at a minimum. The same thing is happening now with Grindelwald now that he's actually a figure on the screen and not just some dude mentioned a few times in the book series: same apologism, same justification of atrocities, same good-guy-blame-games, same blorbofication even.
On the one hand... fiction doesn't always directly reflect or affect reality. On the other... this unironic pro-pureblood meta is a pervasive concept that has popped up in thousands of fics written by thousands of fanfic writers. It's happened for years, and it keeps happening, and I see very few fans speaking out against it or even acknowledging it as a problem. So that makes me ask myself, who actually is willing and able to examine the injustices of our society and build a better imaginary society through the lens of HP fanfiction, and who's okay with the prejudice in the HP world as long as it's coming from the faves they're attracted to?
22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores
Happily, this is a harder question to answer because I've been finding so many like minds in the past 5 years who go feral over the same 20 HP scenes as I do. ^^ But give me a sec, I'll think of something.
...
Okay. Got it.
In order to answer this question, I have to go back to the first time I, young teenager, avid reader, recent reader of the HP series once book 5 was out, realized that Harry and Dumbledore had a much deeper relationship than just headmaster and student. The thing that made me latch on to them and project like crazy, basically.
It's the scene in Goblet of Fire chapter 36 where Harry has been rescued from Fake Moody and he's in Dumbledore's office with Dumbledore and Sirius. Dumbledore asks Harry to relay everything that happened to him once he touched the Portkey in the maze—and immediately Sirius tries to protect Harry from having to relive it now, so soon after it's happened. And then this scene happens.
Dumbledore stopped talking. He sat down opposite Harry, behind his desk. He was looking at Harry, who avoided his eyes. Dumbledore was going to question him. He was going to make Harry relive everything. “I need to know what happened after you touched the Portkey in the maze, Harry,” said Dumbledore. “We can leave that till morning, can’t we, Dumbledore?” said Sirius harshly. He had put a hand on Harry’s shoulder. “Let him have a sleep. Let him rest.” Harry felt a rush of gratitude toward Sirius, but Dumbledore took no notice of Sirius’s words. He leaned forward toward Harry. Very unwillingly, Harry raised his head and looked into those blue eyes. “If I thought I could help you,” Dumbledore said gently, “by putting you into an enchanted sleep and allowing you to postpone the moment when you would have to think about what has happened tonight, I would do it. But I know better. Numbing the pain for a while will make it worse when you finally feel it. You have shown bravery beyond anything I could have expected of you. I ask you to demonstrate your courage one more time. I ask you to tell us what happened.” The phoenix let out one soft, quavering note. It shivered in the air, and Harry felt as though a drop of hot liquid had slipped down his throat into his stomach, warming him, and strengthening him. He took a deep breath and began to tell them. As he spoke, visions of everything that had passed that night seemed to rise before his eyes; he saw the sparkling surface of the potion that had revived Voldemort; he saw the Death Eaters Apparating between the graves around them; he saw Cedric’s body, lying on the ground beside the cup. Once or twice, Sirius made a noise as though about to say something, his hand still tight on Harry’s shoulder, but Dumbledore raised his hand to stop him, and Harry was glad of this, because it was easier to keep going now he had started. It was even a relief; he felt almost as though something poisonous were being extracted from him. It was costing him every bit of determination he had to keep talking, yet he sensed that once he had finished, he would feel better.
This is one of the best scenes in the entire book, the entire series. It completely refutes the fanon Dumbledore who is often cold, cruel, inflexible and unrelenting in his quest for whatever the author wants him to be inflexible and cruel about at the time. It shows that Dumbledore, the real Albus Dumbledore, is one of the few people who understands what Harry needs and is able to provide it to him, even when others who also care for Harry would rather protect him or shield him from what he needs.
Kid me was particularly taken by how gentle Dumbledore is with Harry here. It made me look back and see how in some ways this scene, this closeness, is the culmination of all the times they've met and spoken before.
(You can imagine how painful it was reading Order of the Phoenix right after this.)
But yeah, that's probably one of my favorite scenes that other people ignore or haven't talked about/drawn/written about much. Which is ironic, because the scene right after that where Harry talks about Voldemort taking his blood and Dumbledore's eyes do the triumphant "lol Voldemort just fucked up" gleam is probably one of THE most talked-about scenes in the fandom (even though to this fucking day in 2023 people still don't realize what the gleam meant, when even That Woman has clarified what it meant in INTERVIEWS).
...And for me, safely at the end of the questions, that's all she wrote.
#fireandgoldposts#thanks for the ask!#choose violence ask game#Albus Dumbledore#not y'all making me put more gr*ndeld*re on this blog :') I forgive you tho#it's my own fault for having that headcanon. and to think I didn't think I'd be able to answer that question#I'm poking a real bear by finally talking about how much I hate the pureblood politics/pureblood supremacy/misunderstood bad guys trifecta#another thing that was perhaps interesting 20 years ago when people first started doing it but is now stale and infuriating#since it's now seen as fact and not fiction#the fiction of fiction even#I can't believe I didn't just write ''the worst part of fanon is every independent!Harry/manipulative!Dumbledore fanfic ever written#that's growth for me#oh god the worst part about no expanded roles for Fleur and Krum is that most fans only give Fleur an extended role#when they're SHIPPING HER WITH HARRY as some kind of ''ooh foreign beauty'' thing where he naturally resists her allure#and oh my god here comes the nausea again because flowerpot is another ship that's been done to death the very same way haphne/wolfstar has#and I love Krum/Hermione as much as the next person but fanon Krum is like NEVER allowed to move on from Hermione unless he's gay/bi#which is VERY rare to see. like please give me Harry/Krum fanfic recs if you have them#or Ron/Krum because that is so narratively satisfying#honorable mention for question 22 would probably go to the scene where Hermione and Ron try to get Harry to go to Dumbledore in year 5#after they find out what Umbridge is doing to him in detention and Harry just. CAN'T. properly explain why he doesn't want to go#but he's thinking about how Dumbledore has ''ignored him since last June'' and it's one of the few times we see him acknowledge that hurts#he mentions it several times throughout the book in his thoughts but that's one of the first times he refuses help from Albus#even though Albus would help him in a heartbeat oh my GOD it's been like 20 years since that book came out and I'm still feral about those#Goblet of Fire#Fleur Delacour#Viktor Krum#pureblood propaganda#and how much I am anti-that lmao#not fireandgold#oh my god having to reformat this every 3 hours because the bolds and italics won't stick is a fucking NIGHTMARE
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sodiumlamp · 1 year ago
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Picard
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I just did the math, and Star Trek: Picard is approximately 22.5 fucking grueling hours, so that made me kind of sad.
This episode tries. It doesn't quite succeed, but I see the effort and I appreciate it. I'd like to believe that this marks a turning of the corner, and the rest of this season will get better, but it's too late to redeem this series, which currently stands as one of the all-time worst shows I've ever seen.
With a lot of bad media, I will often see apologists offering up defenses like "It had some good ideas, but they were poorly executed." And I have watched TV shows where that simply isn't true. The ideas were bad and the execution was bad, so it was bad all around. Picard, on the other hand, actually does have some pretty great ideas. There's a lot of stuff that would totally work if only it were being done anywhere else but here. And that's actually more tragic, because Star Trek Picard is like this graveyard where good ideas go to die. And of course, they're buried alongside a ton of bad ideas, which the show also has.
All right, so in this episode, they're stuck in the gravity well of a nebula that isn't actually a nebula, and they've only got four hours left to live. The gang have hit rock bottom, but they slowly start to dig their way out, which is kind of uplifting to see. Riker admits to Picard that he was right about not wanting to fight the Shrike. Picard spends some QT with his new son Jack Crusher. Seven and Captain Shaw have to work together to flush out the Changeling saboteur. Beverly figures out that the nebula is actually some sort of alien womb, because it's sending out energy pulses at regular intervals, comparable to a human experiencing contractions during childbirth.
I mean, that last part is pretty ridiculous, but I'll allow it, because it's on-brand for Star Trek. Still... I'm beginning to wonder if anyone in Starfleet has ever seen an actual nebula before. It just seems like this thing turned out to be very different from a nebula, which makes me wonder why anyone thought it was a nebula in the first place.
Anyway, they finally come up with a plan to use the energy pulses from the space-womb to carry the ship back out before they all die. It mostly relies on this weird premise that's also on-brand for Star Trek: that all starships can magically be drained of their power, or absorb power like a sponge. In this case, Bev can predict the next wave, so once they're prepared they can just time it right and use the power of the wave to re-energize the ship. When they escape, they're treated to a swarm of alien squid creatures born from the "nebula".
So what's the problem? Well, two main issues here. First, even though there's a happy ending to this crisis, this episode gets really fucking dark. The crew morale is in the toilet. Riker confesses that he's in a profound depression from the death of his son, so he left his family to get back into space just to try and feel something. He tries recording a message for his family when he thinks they're all going to die, and when the others come to him with their escape plan, he's so despondent that he thinks it would be better to wait for a rescue, because at least that way the ship might still be intact and they could leave something behind. I don't know what the hell happened between Season 1 and this, but that's a pretty dark mindset he's in.
We also learn that Jack approached Picard years ago, without telling him who he was, and asked Picard if he ever considered having a family, and Picard replies that Starfleet was the only family he ever needed, which would have been an innocuous comment except he was saying it to his son without even realizing it, so that's really grim. Also, Jack has some spooky hallucinations near the end of the episode. I guess he really is his father's son, since Picard had the prophetic dreams in Season 1 and the Silent Hill jumpscare flashbacks in Season 2.
Oh, and there's a lot of body bags in this thing. It's kind of tough to appreciate the Titan surviving this mess when you see so many crewmen who definitely did not survive it.
Oh, and Captain Shaw is high on painkillers and he finally opens up about why he's such a giant douche: Turns out he was at Wolf 359, and he and 50 of his closest friends had to figure out which ten of them got to use the only functioning escape pod. Did anyone actually die at Wolf 359? The way I remember it, there were a lot of broken hulls and the Enterprise scanned for life signs and found none. But Sikso got out and Shaw got out. Shaw describes himself as a "dipshit from Chicago," and I gotta admit, ripping off Ben Sisko's origin story is a pretty dipshit move. I'm voluntarily subjecting myself to Star Trek: Picard, so I can't judge.
Oh, right, there were two issues with this episode, but there was so much dark stuff in this one that I got sidetracked.
The other issue is that they just sort of blew off the original problem that got them in trouble in the first place: The Shrike. On their way out of the "nebula" they almost run right into it, but Riker uses the tractor beam to snag an asteroid and fling it into the Shrike before it can attack. It's kind of cool that he got his groove back and managed to one-shot this enemy that had seemed unstoppable a few hours earlier, but it also undermines all the buildup we had with the Shrike in the previous two episodes.
The Shrike's captain looks like she's auditioning for the role of Oswald Cobblepot. She acts like a maniac, and her ship is supposed to be loaded with incredibly powerful weapons. When Titan falls into the gravity well of the "nebula" she cuts off her own hand, which then turns into a floating head and it orders her to pursue the Titan and recover Jack Crusher at all costs, and she reluctantly obeys. The Shrike sucks and she sucks as a villain, and Episodes 2 and 3 sucked, but I assumed they were going somewhere with all of this. Instead, Riker throws a rock at them and that seems to solve everything.
I mean, they didn't destroy the Shrike, so maybe it comes back to menace Picard later, but we spent three episodes on it and I'm not impressed at all. I'm certainly not looking forward to a rematch.
Worf isn't in this one, which is pretty disappointing, but it allowed the episode to focus on the A-plot, which was a good thing. Also we get a day off from Raffi's nonsense. Wait, that means we'll probably have to get double the Raffi in the next episode. Where the fuck is Geordi, anyway? They promised us the whole TNG crew would reunite for Season 3, and we can barely get more than three of them in a single place. At least Worf and Troi are in the show, though. Data's not around, but he's dead, so what's Geordi's excuse?
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prismatoxic · 1 year ago
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U don't need to respond to this bc I don't want to be the pebble to avalanche that starts this discussion but why are there so many fancops in the MGS fandom of all things, I feel like I'm always seeing truly deranged takes about fanworks
my overwhelming anxiety every time i get an unexpected message is going to give me a heart attack someday. this is not your fault and i welcome messages (please send me messages) but jesus christ the fancop trauma is REAL
a n y w a y
tbh i got an ask a while ago about how the mgs fandom is pretty chill, and in general it's an assessment i agree with! the anti population here isn't as bad as i've seen in my other fandoms (glances at persona)
like, believe me, i get it. why the fuck are they here. we got incest, we got underage, we got age gaps, we got sexual assault, we have Disrespecting Women Juice,
but antis will genuinely make a home for themselves wherever they please and figure out how to justify it afterwards. which is, imo, one of their worst features. they will bend over backwards until their backs break trying to justify why it's fine if they do it, actually.
and it's always worse in friends-to-lovers ships, or ships that can otherwise be read as "vanilla" or "tame". otasune, for example, is mild in concept, the sort of baby's-first-ship anyone can jump into the series with and go "oh, yeah, i can see it". i love otasune, it is my current hyperfocus ship and mgs otp, but regrettably it attracts the bastards on account of being easy to spin as "unproblematic."
as always, the best thing you can do is just block them and keep doing what you like. i've seen people swing really hard the opposite way and make their otps dead dove all the time forever, which is fine obviously, but it does ring a little hollow when it's just done in retaliation.
personally i like things both ways. i love fucked up otasune aus and cutesy fluffy vanilla bullshit. but, i mean, at the end of the day, you just gotta do whatever sparks joy and block the haters on sight, lmao.
sorry for the long answer, i guess i care about this!
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invisiblegarters · 1 year ago
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Be My Favorite Ep 11
Last Week: Pear was too decent for anyone in this show, Kwan finally figured out Not is the worst, Kawi and Pisaeng did the do.
This week: my frustration with tumblr is reaching a boiling point, I don't know why I'm even bothering with this when literally no one will even see it. But I truck on because at this point it's habit.
Joy.
Oh interesting, parent meeting about the kiddos. I wonder sometimes if the reason that PIsaeng and Pear were getting married in an alt timeline (at least one of them) is because of these two, but at least in the current one they both seem fairly willing to let their kids be.
And once again, Pear is way nicer than I would be. Mom was selfish. The end. I do get feeling trapped by a life you don't want, but did she not make the decision to be married and have a child? And then she made that child suffer so that she could go off and achieve her dreams, and then had the gall to thank her, to not apologize or appear to feel any remorse for just exiting her life.
But.
But it's probably better for Pear in the long run if she can let go of the bitterness. So for her sake, I'm glad.
Kwan just delete those pics and move on, babe. Not's not worth all this.
So I guess they were going for nerves last week. Clumsily done. So tired of the blushing maiden thing in general, honestly. Can we please retire it forever along with the crazy ex faen trope? Can we please, please, please stop sending the message that one person in the relationship has to be shy and reserved and scared of sex while the other pushes them forward? It's so fucking detrimental, and it just feeds into this idea that to be a "good" girl (or the bottom in BL, because it's always the bottom isn't it? sigh) you can't actually desire sex, can't want it, or you can want it but you also have to pretend not to because good girls don't (but I do). And I'm so so tired of it. SO tired. People have enough hang ups about sex all on their own without media reinforcing this bullshit.
Last week I said that I would hesitantly trust this show with an asexual storyline. I want to take that back now. My trust is revoked, you couldn't handle it properly, show. There's literally nothing wrong with being hesitant about sleeping with someone for the first time (or not wanting to sleep with anyone at all), but there's a way to do it and this show...did not.
Well that theory that the old man is future!Kawi is certainly looking more correct. How else would he know to show up and scold him.
I know how you can get rich, Kawi. Be Pisaeng's sugar baby.
Okay sir, hush your face about in-depth analysis. I am feeling very called out right now.
Yesss thank you dude. It's like with dad. Kawi couldn't prevent his death because he was always going to go. Dad's death is a fixed point. But what Kawi could do - what he finally did do - was fix his relationship with him. He opened up, he told his dad he loves him, he did the work.
Alrighty so we're flashbacking through the rest of college now? This is weird, especially after going through everything else so slowly (if they fast fowarded through a Not redemption I will throw the most massive fit (and for once be glad for this stupid shadowban, since then no one will see the massive tantrum)). If you've done all you meant to why are you not going back to the future (heh) Kawi?
Why is he still asking this question?
And now we're montaging through living together. This ep is turning into the Oprah of montages - and you get a montage! And you get a montage. This makes me more certain than ever that Pisaeng has been doing his own time traveling. The domesticity is cute though.
Pear and Kwan arrived to Christmas together! Still shipping it even though I know it won't come true. Sigh. At least Not isn't at the table. For a hot second I thought he was, that Pear was hugging him, and I almost lost it. But nope, it was Kawi lol. I was about to throw down with this show.
Do NOT test me show I am not in the mood.
Fifteenth time's the charm, eh, Pearmei? Granted it's not like you know that since you don't remember all the timelines, but still.
Me the second I see Pisaeng pulling out those pills: are they gonna kill him off? Would they do that?
Why is this where my brain goes? I mean, it was instant. Just, BOOM are they killing Pisaeng.
Ah, the good old wipe them down when they're sick trope. Good times.
"Do you think I'll die?" Pffft, me and Pisaeng are on the same wavelength. But also maybe don't tease Kawi like that the dude has several issues around his loved ones dying okay. Don't make him pull out that music box, Pisaeng.
HAHAHA is that the first grey hair oh noooo! Fun fact: my sis found her first one when she was like 22. She was not best pleased.
Oh no all this joking about Pisaeng dying but is it going to be Kawi instead? And why do I keep expecting death? People get ill, self.
Ugh, yes, the harsh realities of having no rights regarding the partner you've lived with for years - rights that would be given by default to a straight couple. God I hate it, but I'm happy to see this drum being banged. Because it should be.
Poor Pisaeng. So maybe he didn't travel in time before, but he sure as hell is going to now, because I think Kawi is actually going to die. Or Pisaeng is going to be so terrified of it happening that he can't help himself. But to change it or to make sure it never happens by cutting himself off from Kawi before it can? And then staying in the closet, going abroad, marrying Pear?
Because I truly think that he'd lock them all into a shitty future just to save Kawi's life.
Well at least he tells Kawi what happened.
Have to say, the end part saved this ep for me. I don't know if it's just that I'm already kind of pissed off (thanks tumblr!) or if this ep just started off rough, but I was not feeling it at the beginning. I really want to like this show all the way through. Please don't screw it up in the final hour. Please.
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izzy-b-hands · 2 years ago
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Lucius thinks maybe some gay sex will make Izzy better, or at least feel better? His theory needs proving, in other words, and what better way than to just literally test it by *checks papers* treating Izzy like a human being with feelings, treating him nicely, taking in interest in what he does (even if that is basically work and work alone usually), and finally treating him to a night out in a port with some shopping.
---
"You're cool if I fuck him?"
Pete nodded. "Not only that, but I want to make it a bet."
Lucius scoffed. "Are you doubting my skills?"
"Not you, I just mean that..." Pete hesitated and gestured towards Izzy. "He is... himself, ya know? Might not be an achievable thing."
"I don't believe that," Lucius said briskly. "I'm not only going to fuck him, but he might even be bearable as a person once I'm done."
--
"Can I help?"
Izzy frowned. "Why?"
Lucius picked up the nearby broom. "Why not? You always encourage us to do chores more often, so...here I am!"
Izzy nodded. "Broom is infested with spiders."
Lucius looked to his hand on the broom, eyes widening at the tiny black dots starting to crawl all over it.
"We should get a new one," Lucius smiled sheepishly and did his best not to drop the broom on Izzy as he shoved it away. As it was, he surely already shook off a spider or two in his direction on accident.
"You can let the captains know that," Izzy said.
They stood awkwardly for a moment.
"What did you come down here to do?" Lucius asked once the silence started to make his skin crawl. "I'd be happy to help."
"I don't think you would."
"You don't know that!"
Izzy shrugged. "Fine. You won't want to, but fine. Sick of arguing with the lot of you today."
He led Lucius further down the hall, into the jam room. There, a corner of the room had been reconfigured for his purposes.
"Oh," Lucius said as they sat in the corner. "These are a bunch of Ed's shirts."
"Aye."
"Are you...do you darn all his clothes for him?"
Izzy nodded, and picked up a purple crop top. "Thread is in the basket behind you."
He reached in and tossed Izzy a bundle of purple thread. "How often do you do this?"
"At least once a week. Used to be more, when he was with Jack more often. You can imagine how that went."
Lucius nodded and grimaced. "Does Ed know about this?"
"Presume so. That, or he doesn't care so long as his clothes show back up clean and fixed."
"I'm sure he cares," Lucius said. "He must wonder how his stuff keeps getting fixed up."
"He's got other things to worry about. That's part of what a first mate does, not that any of you would know that. Except maybe Olu. You take on everything else so your captain can concern himself with things that are actually important."
Lucius let the conversation die again. It was making him sad for Izzy, and that was a weird feeling he wasn't sure what to do with yet.
So they stayed silent. He helped grab Izzy new thread as he needed it, and folded the finished shirts as Izzy handed them over.
"Bored?"
Lucius shrugged. "Not really. Kind of nice, sitting away from everyone else for a bit."
Izzy stood with a soft groan, and retrieved the pile of shirts. "Planning to keep following me?"
"For now. If you don't mind."
"No stranger than anything else anyone's done on this godforsaken ship."
They traipsed back up and he followed Izzy to Ed and Stede's quarters.
Their captains were engaged in each other, though still clothed as they tangled on one of the new couches they'd stolen.
Lucius frowned when neither of them so much as looked up at their entering the room. They didn't say a word at Izzy putting away Ed's clothes for him. Not even a glance.
"That wasn't cool," Lucius muttered as they left. "He could have said thank you."
"Blackbeard doesn't need to thank me for doing my job," Izzy said.
"Yeah, I can't agree with that," Lucius said. "Let's get lunch and I'll explain."
"Unlike the rest of you," Izzy sighed. "I don't waste any of my time during the day with that."
"Literally all you've had is coffee," Lucius said. "You need food."
He took Izzy's hand and was pleasantly surprised when Izzy let himself be led towards the galley. Might have been out of shock, but he was going to take it as a win anyway.
--
They walked in, and the galley cleared out.
"Ah," Lucius started, but Izzy waved him off.
"That's normal. Understandable. Anyway, what do you want?"
"I can get my own food," Lucius sighed. "Turn off work mode for two minutes, and eat."
Izzy promptly got a cup of coffee, and sat at the table.
"I know you did that to irritate me, and I don't care," Lucius said with a smirk. "And I'll show you why."
He grabbed one of the few square plates they still had, and piled it full with the leftovers Roach had yet to put away: fresh hardtack that wasn't actually as hard as a rock yet, boiled chunks of potato, and sandwiches. He grabbed three of the latter; it wasn't subtle, but he didn't need subtle right now.
He sat across from Izzy, and popped a potato chunk into his mouth.
Izzy's eyes ran over the plate as he sipped his coffee. But he didn't say a word.
"Don't see you eat much at dinner either," Lucius said in between bites. "Or do you seriously survive on coffee alone?"
"I'll find something at night," Izzy replied. "Usually. Need something to do while on watch anyway."
"That's really unhealthy," Lucius said. "Besides, you must be hungry. I won't force you, but-"
He moved the plate to be more in the middle of the table. "Feel free. I won't tell if you don't."
He was still shocked when Izzy took a sandwich, quickly, as if he expected Lucius to try and take it away.
--
Over the rest of the day, they:
-brought Ed and Stede numerous cups of tea or coffee, with Izzy so oddly attuned to their usual general schedule that he just Knew when to motion towards the galley and then find the captains, who at least smiled at him each time. Lucius had been hoping for at least one thank you, though.
-Did more laundry. Not just repairing everyone's clothes, gathered from the various corners claimed as storage by each person, but washing them in an old wash bucket Lucius didn't even know they had below deck. The line to hang them went from one side of the jam room to the other, where the light could filter through from the deck above and help dry everything.
-Cleaned more than he thought was possible in one day. From swabbing the deck to watching Izzy scrub and chip away at the barnacles on the hull. He helped in bits and pieces, mostly handing Izzy whatever he asked for.
Finally, Izzy paused in front of his room. "Well. That's it, for now."
Lucius nodded. "Time for a break! You deserve it."
Izzy didn't seem to know what to do with that. "I guess? I usually stop long enough to nap before night's watch."
"You can't be assigned watch every night," Lucius chuckled. "Where's the chart Captain Stede put up?"
Izzy led him to it, a short distance as it was now tacked onto one of the walls in the closet Izzy had taken over as his room.
On it, everyone else's name had been scratched off.
"Did you do this?" Lucius asked. "Izzy..."
"I got sick and fucking tired of waking up and finding the deck empty," Izzy scowled. "No one in the crow's nest. Buttons is sometimes out there of course, but he's moonbathing then. So, yeah. I took it, crossed out everyone else, and I take watch every night now. At least it gets done then."
Lucius nodded. "I'm sorry. You shouldn't have had to do that."
"What?"
"You sleep a little, and I'll meet you tonight for watch, okay?"
He walked out with Izzy still muttering in confusion. He needed to talk with the captains.
--
"So, it's just. Really weird to me that no one noticed and addressed this earlier," Lucius concluded. "I mean, I hate some of the stuff that needs doing and I'm not exactly eager for it, but..."
"Let him do it then," Ed shrugged. "If it makes him happy."
Lucius scoffed. "That's it?"
"I think someone might be a little sweet on Izzy," Stede smiled. "That's kind of you, Lucius."
"What the fuck is going on here?" Lucius asked in shock. "I know you two can be bitchy, as can we all, but what the fuck?"
"Lucius!" Stede said sharply. "I could ask the same of you!"
"Maybe I just realized how much he does and how that's like...all he does, and if that was me I'd want help! Or a break, or at least some acknowledgement!"
"He's a first mate," Ed said gently. "He knew what that meant when he took the promotion."
"Wow," Lucius said. "So, what about chores makes him happiest, do you think?"
Ed blinked, and opened his mouth to speak.
"Because I think he couldn't tell me or you two what actually makes him happy, because he doesn't think about anything besides work and how to keep living off of mostly coffee. Did you know he usually skips lunch? I had to tease him with food until he finally broke down and ate something!" Lucius said sternly. "If you care about your first mate like you say, then that means caring about him beyond his ability to wash and rehem your shirts!"
He turned on his heel and walked away before they could get another word in. They could let that all marinate in their minds and figure out how they could be better. For once, they could do that part on their own.
--
"Brought you this," Lucius handed Izzy a wrapped sandwich. "Had Roach make it fresh before he went to bed."
"He did not agree to make me food this late," Izzy said, but he took the sandwich.
"I may have told him it was for me, but what he doesn't know won't hurt him."
The crew had taken to sleeping below deck, after a few squalls had taken them by surprise and soaked them to the skin. That meant an eerily silent and empty deck to traverse.
"You can eat," Lucius encouraged him gently. "I can help keep an eye out while you do."
Izzy looked at him, seemingly studying him. Then, he considered the sandwich in his hand.
"Alright."
They settled up in the crow's nest, so Lucius could easily see out, and Izzy could sit and relax while he ate.
"This is sort of nice," Lucius remarked as he watched the moonlight glimmer off the crest of each new wave. "Sandwich good?"
He looked, and had to laugh. The sandwich was gone, in the blink of an eye nearly.
"Did you taste it?"
Izzy nodded. "Thank you for that."
"Of course. Someone has to keep you from wasting away on us."
The tension that fell was a new one. An expected one, for Lucius, though he hadn't thought they'd get there in one day. Leave it to Izzy to surprise him with lingering glances and a hand creeping closer to his.
"You can go to bed, if you want."
Lucius frowned. There was the usual Izzy. "I'm good, actually. Unless you'd rather be alone."
He waited for the gruff command to fuck off, but it didn't come.
--
He didn't want to be smothering, so he let Izzy be for the next day or so. Checked in, brought him food, but otherwise let him get about his business. Ed and Stede seemed to be paying extra attention to that as well, and he didn't want to distract them from seeing that Izzy, for all his faults, did clearly care about all of them and the ship. If he didn't, why would he bother with all the work he did? He could just as easily have left and joined a different crew, a more traditional one.
But he didn't, and Lucius felt like that was important.
On Friday, he changed it up again.
"So, you know how Pete is happy to share me and have fun with everyone now and again," the words tumbled out. "And I thought maybe, since we're stopping at a port for the next night or two, I could take you out."
Izzy stared, and Lucius worried he'd actually broken him.
"Me? How much did everyone else bet you to do this?"
Lucius shook his head. Pete had never formally made his mentioned bet anyway. "No one bet me. No one is making me. I want to."
Izzy couldn't seem to look him in the eyes, but he nodded.
"That would be fine."
--
"I figure shopping, food, inn?"
Izzy nodded. "You told the captains we'd be gone?"
Lucius couldn't hold back a roll of the eyes. "Yes, Izzy. They know we'll be on land for tonight and at least part of tomorrow. It's all good."
"I just don't want them wondering why things aren't getting done, that's all. You can't tell me you'd want to listen to that whining if we'd get back and find them out of the loop, thinking we'd fucked off to who knew where."
"That's true," Lucius admitted. "Come on. I have an idea."
He knew very well that Izzy had nothing for clothes aside from what he wore. He'd watched him strip down to clean and hang them to dry for fuck's sake, sitting in nothing but his underclothes while he waited to be able to dress again.
"I know it isn't anything as fancy as Captain Stede wears, but I also know you like your leather anyway," Lucius said as he led Izzy into the shop. Its walls were mainly lined with leather clothing, but there were linen and cotton blouses too, all in black or dark navy or deep plum. Nothing bright or airy, but if that wasn't what Izzy wanted, then why bother with it?
"We can't afford this," Izzy said. "For either of us."
"When was the last time you got new clothes?"
Izzy glared and thought. "1709."
"That shirt has survived almost ten years?!"
Izzy looked down at his shirt. "It isn't that bad."
"I can see through parts of it!"
"It's usually warm anyway, that is a feature, not a fault!"
"Oh my god...my point is, you deserve something new! You can still wear that thing until it disintegrates into a fine dust, but at least you'll have another option!"
He expected Izzy to fight against being pulled into a dressing room, but he didn't. Nor did he fuss at Lucius coming in with him, calling out to the tailor what would need adjusting before they left.
To his delight and shock, Izzy left the shop in one entirely new outfit, and with an extra new shirt.
"See, not so bad, right?" Lucius asked as they dodged people walking the main path.
"Could we stop at the room?"
He nodded. "Of course! There's no rush to do anything else right away. We can go out later and get food, could even bring it back to the room with us for the night!"
There was tension again, but he wasn't entirely sure which kind now as they made their way to the dingy building that had the gall to call itself an inn.
"Hey, I know this was kind of a lot," Lucius said as they got inside the room. "And I sprung the shopping thing on you at random, I know. I just had heard about the shop and figured-"
Izzy damn near actually threw himself at him, with enough force to make Lucius stumble as he caught him.
The kiss was just as forceful, which he didn't mind. It wasn't anger behind it like some of Izzy's other actions. It was want and need and an urgency Lucius was more than familiar with himself.
"Is that a thank you?" he asked softly after Izzy broke the kiss.
Izzy looked stunned. "You aren't upset."
"No? Why would I be? Honestly, if you hadn't made a move tonight then I would have at least asked if you were interested or not."
Izzy still looked stuck, wheels turning in his head.
"Come here," Lucius pulled him towards the bed. "Be lazy with me. We'll go out and find food later."
He didn't expect Izzy would fall into it so quickly, without any grumbling. But he kicked off his shoes by Lucius', and tossed his new black leather vest to the floor, only to promptly pick it back up.
"Doesn't feel right, doing that," Izzy blushed. "It'll take enough abuse later as it is."
"You're cute," Lucius smiled. He meant it genuinely. It was adorable watching Izzy brush nonexistent dust off the vest before gently setting it over the chair in the corner of the room.
"I think you must have me confused with someone else," Izzy said.
"No, I don't," Lucius replied. "The bed is cold; come warm me up."
That he didn't have to ask twice.
Izzy climbed onto the bed and into his arms, and after a moment, relaxed there.
He melted into the lazy slow kisses Lucius gave him, kissing back with unexpected but welcomed wandering hands.
"Just take it off," Lucius teased after Izzy's hands lingered under his shirt for the third time in as many minutes. "Take yours off too, while you're at it."
Izzy sat up, tossed his shirt off, and waited for Lucius to do the same. Fingertips tapping, eyes wandering over Lucius.
"You can't wait, can you?" Lucius asked. "I'm not teasing. Just asking."
He finally pulled off and tossed his shirt away. "Come here."
He'd always figured Izzy was a better lay than he might have seemed. There was far too much passion (for his job, Ed) overall for it not to exist in the same capacity in bed.
Now, with Izzy in his lap kissing him breathless, it seemed he had proof. The start of some, at least.
A hand toyed at the waistband of his trousers. Izzy kissed him again, gently, before asking: "May I?"
"I appreciate the asking and you absolutely may," Lucius smiled. "I didn't know if fucking would be a step too far too fast-"
"We can play it by ear," Izzy said as he climbed off of Lucius so they could finish undressing. "If we don't want to do everything, we don't have to."
Lucius nodded and let himself stare.
It wasn't like he'd ever have said Izzy wasn't hot. He was; from the silver in his hair (that if he kept growing it, would be fun to tug and play with) to the hair that covered his chest and the strong muscles that were on show regularly if one followed Izzy around while he worked.
But that was while he'd still held more distaste for Izzy, more frustration. Now, knowing more of Izzy meant it was an active and warm attraction that left him dying to find a way to show it more.
He finished stripping, waited for Izzy to do the same, then walked to him. Kissed him hard once, before dropping to his knees to open his mouth and let his tongue loll out. He didn't want to leave any question about what he wanted next.
"Fuck," Izzy murmured, a hand reaching out to cup Lucius' face in his hand. "How does Pete get anything else done if you do this around him?"
"I figured you would say you knew exactly why he doesn't get more done now," Lucius teased. "I'm a horrible distraction."
"A distraction maybe," Izzy said, as Lucius leaned into his hand enough to press a kiss to it. "But not horrible."
"I almost think you like me."
"I think I might."
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magnusvale · 3 years ago
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I've seen a couple sad AU's where Ingo comes back as a ghost Pokemon, so I'm adding a slightly different one to the mix. This was originally going to be just an aesthetic piece, but my brain decided to go off the deep end and write something. I'm not normally a fanfic writer either, go figure. I might write drabbles in this from time to time too, feel free to play with it yourselves as well! Sorry if my writing isn't too great, I haven't done creative stuff in forever.
Ficlet below the cut.
Warning for major character death and injury (probably obvious by the premise, but just putting this here in case). Also SPOILERS for PLA.
“Child,” Arceus murmurs, as soft as the god could, “I cannot grant what you wish.”
Dawn glares at the creator god, fists clenched, trembling. The flute in her hands creaks precariously under the pressure. Her lips wobble as she attempts to hold in her composure.
“However, while I cannot restore a life that is lost, perhaps there is something that I can do for him.” “Please!” Dawn yells, barely holding onto hope. “He deserves better than this!”
“I will do what I can, child,” Arceus says, as soothingly as they can muster, “But first, I believe it is time to restore you to your correct place.”
“Wait!” Dawn yelps, gesturing wildly. “What are you going to-“ She is not even able to finish her thought as she disappears in a flash of light. As their chosen returns to her own time, Arceus turns to the horizon and considers the fate of the lost Warden. Perhaps there might be a way to reward the man for his service.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dawn dodges, breathless, as the god of Antimatter throws attack after attack. Volo’s ambush had truly caught her off guard, and though she had bested him in battle and Giratina in it’s first form, the second form barely gave her time to react. Most of her Pokémon fainted valiantly in battle already, her dearest Samurott barely hanging on. Cursing, Dawn dodges out of the way of another attack, forcing her out into the open.
A single unlucky moment, and her foot catches on an uneven patch on the floor, sending her sprawling. Panicked, she realizes that her partner is too far across the room to help. Giratina, making an bloodcurdling sound, launches several dark tendrils directly at her. Gasping, Dawn is unable to get to her feet to dodge, staring down the attack in horror as it zeroes in.
Suddenly her vision is blocked. Something warm and wet splatters across her face and clothes.
Ingo falls in front of her with a grunt, dropping to his side.
“Sorry I was so late, Lady Dawn,” he forces out, voice far too quiet for the normally boisterous man. Dawn whimpers softly, turning him to face her. His torso is punctured with multiple wounds from Giratina’s attack. Ingo softly laughs, blood on his lips.
“Looks like this line may be shutting down permanently,” he says sadly. Dawn shakes her head, refusing to accept it. He gently takes her hand from his shoulder, before coughing, splattering the ground below him with blood.
“You need to hurry,” he chokes out. “That Pokémon is definitely going to attach again soon. Please, Dawn.”
He pauses and squeezes her hand with the last of his strength.
“Please, save Hisui, and most importantly, save yourself.”
Ingo’s hand slips from Dawn, and his eyes slide shut.
Screaming, Dawn prays to the Almighty, and the Almighty answers her rage. Giratina does not last much longer.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Two hundred years later, a man trudges through the snow filled paths of Mount Coronet. His pure white coat sways in the gentle breeze. It is a clear day, but cold, not the worst weather for a climb up the blustery peak. Emmet, were he in a more coherent state of mind, would thank Elesa for giving him a winter version of his normal uniform coat. The soft, insulated lining was certainly making the trek much easier on him. However, Emmet was not currently in the state of mind to be thinking much of other people, or even of his own sorry state.
The Sinnoh Historical Research Society had given him directions to a certain location at the peak. Chandelure, loyal Pokémon that they were, gently lit the way for him as they move forward, providing him with a soft and gentle warmth. He keeps one hand on their glass, and they trill gently to comfort him.
Finally, Emmet reaches a cave hidden in one of the crevices of mountain. Next to the cave’s entrance, his target awaits, a stone monument softly covered in a layer of snow. Trembling, Emmet reaches a gloved hand to wipe the precipitation away from the inscription.
“Ingo
Warden of Sneasler
Your Heroic Sacrifice Was Not in Vain
All of Hisui is Thankful for your Courage”
The words echo in Emmet’s mind blankly, as if they refused to set in. Stumbling back, he collapses into a snow drift, unable to find the strength to get up. This was the final confirmation of his brother’s fate, the one thing he never wanted to hear. Emmet wants to scream, to rage against the heaven, but his voice dies in his throat and all he manages is a strangled sound. He feels unshed tears freeze in his eyes as he stares at the ground, as if wishing it to give him a better answer. Emmet spirals into a state of despair, and he almost misses the soft chime of alarm that Chandelure makes.
Looking up, Emmet sees a blue and purple flame softly burning in front of Ingo’s grave. As he watches, it coalesces into a familiar shape, the same as the loyal Pokémon that had accompanied him here. However…
“Strange,” Emmet thinks, half in a fugue stage,” I’ve never seen a Chandelure with silver eyes before.”
The strange Chandelure stares at him and his Chandelure for a moment, then suddenly bursts into a giant conflagration. Emmet yells and launches himself backwards automatically, Ingo’s and his Chandelure weaving between him and the blaze protectively. The flames are so bright that Emmet throws an arm across his face, protecting himself from the light and heat.
After a few moments, Emmet can feel the surge die down. As he moves his arm away from his face, he hears Chandelure make a loud cry of surprise. Worried, he looks immediately where the other Chandelure had been and has to choke back a cry of his own.
Instead of a Pokémon, a familiar, too familiar form is standing where the Chandelure had been.
“Ingo?” Emmet manages to croak out, before immediately dropping into a dead faint.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ingo was rather surprised to find himself back near Sneasler’s cave when he was fairly sure he had been dying of blood loss at the summit of Mount Coronet just a short while ago. He glances down, and realizes that not only are his feet not on the ground, he doesn’t even have feet. Starting to panic, he realizes that his new body looks strangely familiar, almost like a …
“Chandelure…” his mind supplies, and with that a flood of memories rushes through him. His past, his life in Unova, memories all flood through him, filling him with regret and sadness. All the people he had lost, his Pokémon partners, his beloved subway. And worst of all, his brother, his other half, his best friend! How could he have forgotten so much! Would he never see it again?
Suddenly, Ingo feels a rush of power through him. A strange divine energy fills him and he only has a moment to feel pain before it entirely overwhelms him. Distantly, he thinks he can hear the crackle of flames, but he can barely think straight at the moment.
Almost as quickly as the power enters, it leaves. Ingo crosses his arms tightly across his chest to try and control his shaking, then comes to a realization. He has arms! Glancing down he can see that he has legs again! Certainly, things are looking a bit up, although he is fairly certain that the fact that he was a Chandelure a few moments ago bodes ill for his current predicament.
“Ingo?” Ingo glances up in shock as he hears his name called, just in time to see his brother collapse into the snow.
“EMMET!” Ingo yells, rushing forward to pull his brother out of the snow drift. Emmet is out like a light, unresponsive to Ingo’s gentle shaking. Ingo gently lifts his brother into his arms and moves into the cave, where Lady Sneasler had once made her home. As he enters, a monument next to the door catches his eye, and he quickly reads the inscription that had been recently cleared off. A feeling of dread fills him as the words sink in, confirming his theory about him previously being a Chandelure.
Something trills near Ingo’s ear, nearly causing him to drop Emmet in surprise. Glancing over, he sees a very familiar Pokémon, and the corners of Ingo’s mouth quirk upwards in his form of a delighted smile.
“Chandelure, my beloved partner!” Ingo crows. Chandelure makes a happy noise, and gently bonks their face against his forehead in a gentle greeting. Ingo can’t believe that he had forgotten his most reliable Pokémon partner, the years of memory gently resettling in his mind with a feeling of warmth and comfort. Motioning with his head for Chandelure to follow, Ingo brings Emmet into the cave to get him out of the colder air.
Ingo briefly feels a moment of sadness entering the cave, which had obviously been long abandoned. None of his furnishings or any marks of Lady Sneasler’s presence remain, only an empty room. Sighing, Ingo places Emmet’s unconscious body on a ledge where Ingo used to sleep, and steps back into mountain area to grab branches from a nearby tree for firewood.
Reentering the cave, he places the branches in the center in the indentation where the firepit once stood. Ingo feels a soft rush of gratitude that his partner is there to help him make a fire, as this would be quite difficult without proper kindling or tools.
Ingo motions towards the branches.
“Chandelure, would you…” Ingo cuts off his request as fire jumps from his own hands and onto the gathered wood. Ingo and his partner Pokémon both stare at the newly crackling fire in silent shock.
Sighing, Ingo moves Emmet a bit closer to the flames to keep him warm. Chandelure hovers close by.
While his brother rests, Ingo gives himself a once over to try and figure out what has happened to himself. He goes to lift his hands to his face, and stops, staring at the strange marks across his wrists, that look almost like those around Chandelure’s mouth. His nails have turned dark, as if wearing black nail polish, and they look almost as though they’ve been filed to points. Finally lifting his hands to his face, he runs his fingers across the planes of his face. He sighs in relief as his visage feels the same as always. He runs his hands through his hair and finds the feeling strange, almost wispy, as if he’s trying to put his hands through a thick steam. Grabbing the end of the ponyta tail that he had grown while in Hisui, he notes worriedly that while the base looks fairly normal, the end has almost a wispy, flame like quality, and the silver appears to fade into a purple blue color.
Looking down, it’s clear that the most obvious change has occurred in his torso area. His chest appears to be covered in a glass like substance. Ingo nervously notes that his chest appears to be glowing from within, and much as he doesn’t want to consider the possibility, he doesn’t think the glass is some kind of covering. He taps his tapered fingernails against the glass gently, and he can definitely feel something, as if a vibration is occurring down to his very core. Ingo shudders, and Chandelure swoops closer, murmuring worriedly. Ingo softly rubs one of Chandelure’s swirls to comfort them, then realizes that a very similar swirl was decorating the edge of his clothing.
His coat had certainly changed since he last saw it. The stripes and tearing was gone, replaced by a dark purplish black, edged with glowing blue. Within the folds of his coat, he could see more glowing material, although it wasn’t immediately obvious when the coat was resting on the ground. The edges of the coat were decorated with swirls in a motif similar to his partner’s design.
Instead of his usual pants, he was wearing a different black set with multiple seams running down his legs. Whatever had changed his clothes had apparently forgotten to give him shoes, as he was currently barefoot, showing off his toes that now matched his fingernails. Around his ankles, a pair of small familiar flames hovered.
“Apparently we match now,” Ingo says distractedly to Chandelure, who gives the Pokémon version of a shrug.
There is only one conclusion to be made, as much as Ingo hates to make it. He had definitely died back on Mount Coronet, he had somehow come back as a ghost Pokémon, and something had given him the ability to take a mostly human form. The entire twisted logic process makes his head hurt.
Ingo doesn’t have much time to think on it, though, as Emmet begins to moan softly and rouse from unconsciousness. Panicking, Ingo tries to look for somewhere to hide, so that he wouldn’t immediately stress out his brother upon waking. With a sudden pop, Ingo vanishes from sight.
Emmet takes a moment to move himself into a sitting position, holding his head in his hands. Suddenly the memories of the moments before his dive into unconsciousness return, and he jumps to his feet, looking around frantically. He was sure he had seen his brother, was he just hallucinating?
“Ingo!?” Emmet yells, realizing that he is suddenly inside the cave with no idea how he got there. Chandelure suddenly drifts by his head, making a soft chiming sound that almost sounds like laughter. Emmet starts to wonder if he hit his head a little too hard and had made up some sort of bizarre dream regarding his brother in his grief, when an achingly familiar voice echoes through the cave.
“Emmet,” Ingo’s voice rings out, sounding strangely soft and muffled.
“I am Emmet!” Emmet yelps, looking around frantically, “You are Ingo, yes? Where are you?”
“That is an excellent question!” Ingo proclaims. Feelings rush through Emmet, relief, worry, sadness, confusion, and comfort at the familiar tone, as echoey and weird as it was sounding at the moment.
“Ingo! Come out now!” Emmet demands, searching.
“I AM TRYING—oof!” Suddenly Ingo pops out of nowhere and lands on top of his brother. Yelping, the two go down in a pile of tangled limbs. Attempting to get up, Emmet accidentally places his hand on his brother’s chest, and Ingo recoils backwards, crossing his arms.
“PLEASE DO NOT CROSS THE YELLOW LINE!” He bellows, bewildered. Emmet, equally as bewildered, stares at him.
“You are glowing,” he says, finally. Ingo nods.
“It feels strange to touch. I am not used to it yet,” he admits. Emmet stares at his brother’s new appearance, remembers the events before his appearance, and asks the question he really doesn’t want answered.
“Ingo, are you dead?” Ingo looks away before giving a barely perceptible nod. Emmet feels like he’s about to break down again when his brother continues to speak.
“Emmet, I’m so sorry,” Ingo says, loud voice quavering, “I never meant to leave you alone for so long! When I got pulled to Hisui, I lost my memories, and had no idea how to get back or even where back was!”
“I know,” Emmet says softly, fiddling with his gloves, “I read about you in Sinnoh’s historical records. That’s how I found…” Emmet swallows, then forces the word out, “Your grave.”
Ingo looks briefly distraught at the fact that he even has a grave. Seeing Emmet’s downturned face, barely holding it together, Ingo shoves aside his own grief at his predicament. He gently puts an arm around his brother’s shoulders, startling Emmet into making a small gasp.
“I know it’s far from ideal,” Ingo says, pulling Emmet closer, pushing their heads together, “But I’m pretty sure that I’m not going anywhere now. I know that I look horrible, but…”
“You’re staying?” Emmet asks, a small feeling of hope growing in his chest.
“As long as there’s a place for me,” Ingo agrees. Emmet flaps his hands a few times in joy, then gently puts his arms around Ingo’s neck, avoiding the glass for now. Chandelure gently swoops overhead a few times, trilling happily.
“Explaining this to Elesa is going to be weird,” Emmet comments, as the two brothers rise off the floor, and head out of the cave.
“Elesa,” Ingo repeats, the memories of the spirited woman finally returning. “I doubt she’d be fooled into thinking I’m trying a new style, right?” He asks slyly, holding back a laugh.
“Nope!” Emmet chirps, marching forwards gleefully. “She knows you too well! And the glowing gives it away!”
“Oh well,” Ingo finally gives in and laughs, “We can figure out what to tell people once we get home.”
As they leave the cave, Ingo glances back one more time, and says a small prayer of gratitude to his Lady for his time in Hisui. Although he has finally returned to his station, he feels a slight chill of melancholy at the thought of all those he had left in the past. He’s sure that he will have time to dwell on it later, but for now, he wants to celebrate his reunion with his most precious family. Rushing, he catches up to his brother, who has paused his trek down the mountain to wait for Ingo to catch up.
Emmet stares at him a moment, before pointing at his feet.
“You know you’re floating, right?” “WHAT?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“It’s really quite simple,” Arceus muses aloud, as they lounge on a bank of clouds in the Celestial Realm. Palkia rolls their eyes and Dialaga tunes out their divine parent. Mew rolls by somewhere in the background in an iridescent bubble, then immediately vanishes with a pop.
“The human’s soul had quite a strong attachment to the world, based on his love for both the land of Hisui and for his friends and family in the future,” Arceus continues, ignoring their uninterested audience. “Therefore, he remained. However, a human soul cannot be seen by most people. So we needed his soul to become something that people can see!”
Arceus lunged down from his perch, landing in front of Dialaga and startling them out of their daydreams.
“And what dead thing can people see all the time?” Arceus asks their time-wielding offspring.
“Ghost Pokémon?” Dialaga ventures, already knowing the answer.
“Ghost Pokémon! I convert the human’s soul to his favorite ghost type!” Arceus confirms, eagerly. They prance, off, leaving Dialaga to slump back down and return to their thoughts.
“Of course, unfortunately, ghost Pokémon aren’t particularly good at communicating with people, so I had to fix that. I’m sure that not being able to communicate would be quite distressing for the human’s family and to my chosen, of course. And if my chosen gets distressed, she’ll do that little lip wobbly thing. And nobody wants to see the lip wobble.”
Everyone present makes soft sounds of agreement. Nobody was safe from Dawn’s sad face.
“So, I simply force the Pokémon form into a human form, simple as can be. An elegant solution, if I do say so myself,” Arceus croons, smugly.
“And that’s just going to work?” Palka asks, somewhat perturbed.
“Certainly,” Arceus says assuredly. “The human is Ingo on the inside and Ingo on the outside. A Chandelure in the middle somewhere shouldn’t cause any major issues.”
“You sure about that, oh divine creator?” Dialaga asks, sighing.
“Either way, it’s not my problem anymore,” Arceus continues blithely. “All humans are in their correct time zone and mostly intact. They can handle it from here.”
Mew goes rolling past a second time at mach speeds, crashing through a cloudbank. Palkia sighs and decides it’s not worth arguing about.
How much trouble could one ghost human Pokémon hybrid cause anyway?
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signorin-anarchia · 2 years ago
Note
Make up title: For Love and Gold
Made up fic title ask game
Holaaa Nada! Thanks for asking 🥰
Ok this was giving me crack vibes since the beginning, and I was wondering if it was just my brain or me loving comedy (not bad for someone who's always written almost exclusively dark!fics).
Then I realized that "For love and gold" is actually the title with which one of my country's most famous comedy is known abroad: "L'armata Brancaleone", literally "Brancaleone Army" lol.
The movie's basically about this unhinged down-at-hell gang accomplishing various ridiculous feats, and if this doesn't give you LCDP vibes, don't know what.
So, basing on my instinct, I'll say:
LCDP, but it's the crackiest enemies to lovers rom-com AU:
Andrés & Martín are both thieves, both masterminds, both the bests in their own fields.
They would make a perfect match... If they weren't the worst rivals in the whole world.
It's not personal, not really, but in the end... It is.
Like the kids they are, they keep stealing one another toys:
Andrés has a plan to rob the Louvre? Martín would figure it out and actually do the thing on his own, just to add an unibrow to the Gioconda and send him a picture in order to give him a stroke.
Martín hacks an online bank security? Andrés would force his assistant Anibal to infiltrate the servers and drain the whole accounts, and then spend the whole pot to book all the tickets for the Engineering Fair.
It may sound hilarious, but Martín isn't having fun at all, so he decides to take totally down his rival by creating the most ambitious and astonishing plan, his poetry, his obra maestra: robbing the Bank of Spain.
But Andrés isn't as stupid as the whole ridiculous cocktail bar scene could tell, and thank to his secret sources (aka: Helsinki with a spyglass), he gains access to Martín's plans.
With the help of his still single - and probably virgin - brother, Andrés is determined to beat Martín to the punch and steal the gold with his own gang, which involves: Anibal, who lives on sending pishing mails to boomers ("pay, or I'll send your wife the video of what you do with your laptop"); Silene, who's the best attraction at funfairs when she does the death roll around a fiery ring riding her motorbike; and Mirko, for no particular reason just like it was for 5 seasons straight.
Martín has on his side Santiago, who needs money to finally pay his vasectomy, Daniel, who currently gets punched in the face for cash by people who need to vent anger, and Agata, because this fic really needs weird debates on sexism during a fucking robbery.
Despite the best conditions (?), Andrés & Martín are soulmates at heart, and unbeknownst to either one, they decide to enter in the bank on the exact same day.
After a kinda-spiderman meme situation, several arguments, various insults about eachother mothers and genital sizes, death threats, and a nervous breakdown (spoiler: Sergio), both sides need to face the hard truth: they're locked in a bank together, police outside is planning to kill them all, and best they can do is to team up.
But Martín is not going to give up his majestic plan because of a dude who uses a fork to eat a cake, so behind the scenes he's planning to give Andrés and his whole gang to the police and escape with the whole gold.
Unfortunately, Sergio - who's falling in love with the charming inspector leading the negotiations - has the very same idea, and while both gangs are forced not to argue to avoid losing face in front of the hostages, they're also secretly planning to betray each other.
If only sudden and frankly disturbing homoerotic feelings weren't popping in Andrés shrunken heart...
May I present you:
"For Love and Gold"
or - the crackiest rom-com you've ever had the displeasure to read.
Written by me for me - and a few other I guess :)
Featuring: a lot of drama, unnecessary slow burn, canon-typical inaccurate descriptions of how a robbery actually works, Martín being Martín, Andrés being Andrés, Arturito being Arturito, mentions of Rafael, gang war, Monica as an hostage again, and Raquel giving relationship advices on the police line.
LOL hope you enjoyed my delusions
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