#i am a FAN of marian

[violant-apologia]

An Appointment at the Parlour of Virtue

aka marian's homoerotic antagonistic extravaganza

words: ~1k

it's on ao3 or literally right here!

Marian stalks the Veilgarden streets, shifting in discomfort. She chafes against the aroma of spices, bristles at the discordant music and scowls at passing lovers. This is far from her usual haunt, as any onlooker would be well aware. It would perhaps undermine her authority were her crew to find her here: a captain so severe in this den of intemperance. Luckily, after so many recent brushes with watery demise, they’ll all have better things to do than tail their captain to this meeting.

The Parlour of Virtue is a large building for Veilgarden, where buildings often run squat or narrow. Its services are desired enough – and its clientele rich enough – to finance the grand facade. Speaking of the clientele, they look almost as out of place in Veilgarden as Marian. They loiter around the entrance, checking watches and tapping feet and clad in classy suits and frocks. Some have faces Marian remembers from the margins of Slowcake’s; the rest are masked. The Parlour caters to tastes expensive and eclectic – those wealthy enough to afford its premium services are also those least likely to want Doubt Street catching wind. Marian is not notable enough to go masked; besides, her face is already obscured with ragged bandages. The expressions on the unmasked faces as she skips the queue are ones of jealously, not recognition.

The inside of the Parlour is comfortably warm. More masked clients mill around the lobby or whisper to receptionists at polished wood desks. Marian is nodded through by stockinged women she recognises but couldn’t name. She climbs scarlet-carpeted stairs to the gallery of suites, doors numbered and, for the most part, occupied. As she follows the usual route, her attention drifts to the sounds behind the doors. Many are the typical affair for such an establishment, but as she traverses deeper into the building, the noises get odder. Recorded music and staccato tap-dance. A screaming argument. Chewing. The Parlour caters to all tastes.

Eventually Marian reaches the customary room and lets herself in. She takes a seat on the luxurious bed (shared by most rooms) and observes the neatly-folded pile of silks that lays on it (not shared by most rooms). Sinning Jenny is late. She is often late. But she always comes.

“You’re late,” Marian says as the door opens at almost ten minutes past the hour. “Again.”

“And I apologise again,” replies Jenny. Her cheeks are a little red and her breaths come heavily, fluttering the veil that hangs before her eyes. “I’m not as spry as I used to be. You’ll have to teach me your methods sometime.”

“Here’s an easy one: don’t work yourself to the bone on a hundred lost causes,” Marian replies.

“Ah, so you’d rather I didn’t make it here at all,” Jenny grins.

“Shut up,” Marian retorts, “and sit down. Lets get this over with.”

Jenny laughs (infuriatingly) and takes a seat on the bed next to Marian. She takes the silk bandages in her hands – seafoam blues, this time.

“Lovely colours,” she mutters to herself, “must remember to mention that to Ruth…” She lets the silks flow onto her lap. “Shall we get started?”

Wordlessly, Marian hold out her arm.

The process is painfully slow, and Jenny agonisingly gentle. She takes the right arm first – the one with skin beneath. She unwinds the ragged bandages like an expert. Marian doesn’t know whether Jenny has other tomb-colonist clients; nor does it concern her. The pair’s relationship is one of debt and repayment, nothing more.

Jenny works in silence – soon the old bandages are gone and Marian’s pale skin is left bare. Jenny takes one of the darker silks from the pile, secures it up the forearm, and begins to wrap. As she does so, her fingers graze Marian’s skin; Marian jerks her arm away.

“Watch it,” Marian spits, breaking the silence.

Sorry, Jenny mouths. Marian bristles. Despite the decade between them, Jenny still manages to make her feel like a child. It’s insulting.

“Done,” Jenny soon says. Indeed, the arm is covered. Marian flexes her fingers beneath the bandages: not too tight, not too loose, and the colours complement her old uniform well.

“Acceptable, ma’am?” Jenny asks with a smile. A coy twinkle plays beneath her veil.

Marian rolls her eye. The eye in question is still not visible, but she hopes Jenny gets the message anyway.

“Other arm?” Jenny offers. Marian shuffles over and Jenny moves to her left side. The bandages here are significantly more damaged, poked and pierced from within. Jenny barely has to work them before they fall away in scraps, revealing the mass of brambles beneath.

“Don’t prick yourself, princess.”

“I’ll be careful,” Jenny chuckles.

The process is even slower on this arm – the bandages have to both hide the vegetation and restrict its shape to that of a more traditional arm.  In her many visits here, Marian has noticed that Jenny gets more stressed – and more likely to make mistakes – when she works in silence. It is for this reason and no other that Marian clears her throat.

“I made it to Polythreme.”

“Oh!” Jenny says. “I’m glad you’re following those leads!”

Marian scoffs. “I couldn’t fairly come back here if I didn’t keep my end of the bargain, could I?”

Jenny laughs. “I suppose not. Anyway, did you find the surgeon? Did he help?”

“Yes,” Marian says, “and no.”

Jenny’s face falls. “I’m sorry, Marian.”

“Oh piss off,” Marian responds, “you don’t care a jot. You just want me out of your hair.”

“I’ll remind you that there’s no actual obligation for me to make these meetings.” Jenny pulls a bandage tight around the vine.

“You want me off your conscience, then.”

Jenny sighs. “I’m also not responsible for the Campaign. Is it so difficult to imagine that I just want the best for you?”

“Yes,” Marian responds. “You’ve made a whole business profiting off of devotion. Forgive me for guarding mine.”

“Do you mean the Parlour or the Church?” Jenny asks. “It doesn’t matter, you’re wrong either way.”

She fastens the final bandage and trails a finger over her work. Marian shivers. “It’s been fifteen years, Cook. Why do you think we do this?”

Jenny’s fingers drift to the final set of bandages. She takes the end of one  at the base of Marian’s neck.

“Guilt,” Marian mutters. “The Church did this to me.”

“I’m not the Church,” Jenny murmurs, beginning to unwrap. Her breath tickles the slivers of newly-exposed skin. “War’s over, soldier,” she breathes. “You’re safe now.”

“I—”

A rose petal flutters onto the sheets.

Marian jumps up, snatching the last silks from Jenny’s lap.

“I think it’s best if I do the last myself,” she stammers. “I’m more practised, and all, and you’re obviously not focused on quality.”

“Oh,” says Jenny, “perhaps I was wrong. We can return to a purely professional relationship, if you’d like?”

“I— no, I’d—” Marian struggles, “Aurgh!”

She storms out of the room. Light, infuriating laughter rings out behind her as she stamps down the hall. Then Jenny calls out.

“See you next month!”

[mydaylight]

Carrie Coon and Louisa Jacobson as BERTHA RUSSELL & MARIAN BROOK

1.04 "A Long Ladder" | 1.06 "Heads Have Rolled for Less"

THE GILDED AGE (2022- )

[laelior]

In the end, getting off Akuze alive comes down to math.

The equation is simple.

One broken distress beacon, shot through and shorted out by a random, panicked bullet. One shattered M-29 Grizzly, armor plates cracked and smoking with corrosive acid. One malfunctioning Kessler II with a single thermal charge left, blinking out glaring red warning lights. One blood-spattered medi-gel pack.

Three kilometers to the landing zone, where the only working radio on this fucking planet is.

Forty-nine dead marines, and two dying ones: Bethany Shepard and Marian Luo. Both are as close to death as they have been to each other since the day they met in basic training. Luo is closer, but only by meters not by miles.

Only one of them makes it out, minus the medi-gel pack and the pistol. 

Shepard has to live with it afterward.

Luo doesn’t.

[navree]

https://at.tumblr.com/alicoles/which-one-of-henry-viiis-wives-is-alicent/k8sabcwh80z0 👀I trust now to you and your history expertise

Ah, the Tudors, literally my first ever foray into getting weirdly obsessed with periods of history, this is a merger of two very intense interests lol.

Also I personally voted for Jane Seymour, even tho an argument could be made for Katherine Parr if I wanted to, because there definitely are similarities in story and in temperament (as fas as we can guess, considering we don't know that much about Jane which is why stannes who get so weird about her fucking INFURIATE me), and also because there's a recap blog that's been watching The Tudors that described Annabelle Wallis's Jane as essentially a woman married to an abusive man who is working really hard to toe the line and make sure that she never got on his bad side or said the wrong thing and just always kept her cool and her head, and that kind of description is giving me big Alicent energy.

[em-cosplay42]

So I know I am mainly marketing as cosplay blog, but didn´t post any cosplay for while..... So here have this Rework of my old Hawke (Dragon Age 2) that I made this year!!! First Hawke was made in 2015 so that was 7 years ago. And I loved that cosplay to gits because I made everything from scratch and  learned so much more about how to make stuff from recycled things. Since then I learned lot of new techniques and ways to make my cosplay better. I learned lot about shading and weathering armor parts and I absolutely got more comfortable with my work and met lot of people who support me, despite having not produce lot of new stuff during pandemic. So as good bye to 2022 I give you look at new version of mage fem Hawke from Dragon Age 2. The picture was taken by amazing @ hudektomas   on Instagram. So if you from Czech republic, or Slovakia.... I can recommend him as photographer with whom I am ALWAYS happy to work with

[toweroftickles]

Who are your favorite underrated ticklees? like characters you think should have more tickling art/fics about them?

Oh, now you’ve done it. You’ve unleashed a tangent. 😂 Buckle up, kids; this word-and-picture vomit is gonna take a while. All 30 slots gettin' used up on this one.

UNDERRATED LEES

Let’s start with Avatar. When the second movie came out I went through a bit of a phase…half the characters in it could go here. The whole Sully clan. The Na’vi are perfectly sculpted ‘lee material - their long bellies, the ribs, the feet - and NOBODY TAKES ADVANTAGE OF IT.

(Literally just think of all the tickle torture they get up to)

Moving on to anime, Studio Ghibli is packed with characters who deserve more tickle attention. My favorites have gotta be Ursula from Kiki’s Delivery Service (I really wanna see content with her, Kiki & Tombo together), Lisa from Ponyo, Fio Piccolo from Porco Rosso, and Young Kiriko from The Boy and the Heron.

(I could watch that gif of Ursula wiggling her toes for the rest of my life)

I'm also a fan of this girl Pipirika from Magi: Adventures of Sinbad. Not sure why. I don't even watch the show.

Then there’s Suki from the other Avatar. Less-popular character in a popular fandom. Crowded out by the rest of the Gaang.

Victoria and Mr. Mistoffelees from Cats 2019. SHUT UP I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU THINK 😖

VICTORIA IS SO PRETTY AND SWEET AND PURE AND THE WAY THEY NUZZLE EACH OTHER AND THIS WHOLE MOVIE IS TICKLE-CODED

I'M NOT A FURRY

Vi and Caitlyn from Arcane/League of Legends. That show (and this pairing) is massively popular online, they are insanely hot together, so WHY is no one making tk content except me? HMMM? These bitches are ticklish as hell and they deserve this.

It’s. Not. FAIR. I am so thirsty for CaitVi content in the leadup to Season 2 the inside of my mouth looks like the Atreides family is going to set up a base camp and harvest exotic spice from the back of my uvula.

Art3mis from Ready Player One. Book Twitter has seemingly made it their life’s mission to demonize Ernest Cline and anyone who loves the novel/movie, so fan content is already a little thin on the ground as it is. But she needs to be put in a tickle machine, stat.

Ben & Gwen Tennyson. OG series; none of that reboot horsehockey. They fight and antagonize each other so much I’m genuinely surprised there was never a tickle torture moment in the show.

From the Nintendo side of things, Imma go with two underappreciated gothic sorceress baddies (Veran from Zelda: Oracle of Ages and Medusa from Kid Icarus Uprising). I'm also very fond of the various "hot ninja lady" iterations of Impa, particularly her orange-and-black ensemble from Skyward Sword.

And both Wii Fit Trainers.

Red Savarin from the obscure Tail Concerto DS game Solatorobo: Red the Hunter. Never played it; he just looks insanely ticklish to me. You know, some characters you can just tell.

Still not a furry.

Let's see now, Disney/western animation...Kida, obviously. Robin Hood & Maid Marian, especially the latter. (I love her giggle so much.) Mowgli is more childhood wish-fulfillment on my part: that insane Jungle Book tickle scene messed me up, and each time my prepubescent self rewound the VHS tape, I played a game with my mind. I kept desperately believing/wishing that this time, it would be different: Baloo would get Mowgli back, or their tickle war would resume later. No such luck. It's about him & Baloo specifically.

The 2004 iteration of Batgirl is my favorite one. Plus she's got a great laugh. XD

The Spider-Verse movies continue to be a Tumblr phenomenon, and yet I have not found a SINGLE solitary tickle post about Rio Morales. Can you imagine how adorable she would be as a lee? ❤️ ((Ticklish moms + older women in general warrant more appreciation.))

I also made this here list a while back. This community can tend to neglect characters who are canonically ticklish, perhaps because the question has been answered already.

********************

WHEW. Got all that outta my system. XD If any of you are still alive and still reading this, anybody on this list that you agree deserves more tickling fanart/fics? Any thoughts on underrated lees of your own?

[emilythedog661-tf2]

My Favorite Ships as Cartoon Movies

This is just a little idea i had from seeing fan art here and there or if my favorite ships were princess movies, what movies they would be in

Bush Medicine (Medic/Sniper) - Snow White - I've seen pictures of Medic as Snow White with Sniper as the Prince/Hunter, Spy as the evil witch and the other including miss.pauling are the seven dwarfs, i love this idea from all the fan art i've seen from it and i am hoping someone writes a fanfic adaptation someday of this.

Robin Hood - This one feels like a obvious one but i never seen any Fanart of it, Sniper as Robin Hood, Heavy as Little John, the others as Robin Hood's men, Medic as the Lady Marian, Demoman as Prince John and Spy as Sir Hiss, i also love this idea and i also want a fanfic adaptation of this.

Helmet Party - Beauty and The Beast - This is based on Fanart i saw, Engineer as Belle, Engineer's Dad Fred as Maurice aka Belle's Dad, Soldier as The Beast, The others as the objects and BLU Scout as Gaston, I like this idea and i want to see more of it.

Flash Fire - Tangled - This one is what i made up so here goes, Pyro as Rapunzel, Scout as Flynn Rider, Spy as Mother Gothel, Engineer as the Queen and Soldier as the King (but in this, they are both kings and it's very gay, i love it), Demoman as the Twin Thieves (yes, both of them) , Sniper as Pascal and Heavy as Maximus, I hope you like it as i think it's cute, also, yes, Pyro does have long blonde hair coming out of the top of his mask.

That's all i can think of at the moment but if i think of more, i'll put it in a edit, i hope you like this and i'll see you all soon 😋

[liriostigre]

Hiiii ty for such a great uquiz!! Would it be possible to see the description of all the books you could get matched to? I’m curious what the vibes are for the rest!!

hi 🌷 here you go:

White Teeth by Zadie Smith: Excessive, maximalist and very ambitious multigenerational and multicultural epic novel that starts with the unlikely friendship between Archie Jones and Samad Iqbal. It explores themes of race, identity and the intersections of culture, heritage, and modernity. Clever and hilarious dialogue, very creative when it comes to language and style, unique and bold when it comes to narrative. Perhaps a flawed novel due to its ambition, but excellent nonetheless.

Despair by Vladimir Nabokov: Excellent writing; very ambitious and stylish. It is somewhat a twisted novel but you will find a lot of humor despite. The narrator speaks directly to the reader as he writes what he regards as his perfect crime. This novel is one of Nabokov's earliest works in which one can easily identify themes and literary devices that the author explored later in his most known works.

The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño: Brilliant and stunning novel about poets and poetry! Very dense and challenging; it requires patience from the reader. This novel is so infinitely dear to me that i can't even explain its brilliance, but i have to give you at least an idea of the plot so: The story is arranged in three parts and told from multiple points of view. It starts in Mexico City, in the 70s, and continues across decades and continents. It follows the adventures and misadventures of Arturo Belano and Ulises Lima—poets, drug dealers, wanderes, criminals. Now, about the themes, the writing, the style, the narration? Just absolutely perfect even at its most tedious, difficult and anticlimactic parts.

The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington: Unconventional, absurd, imaginative and exuberantly surreal apocalyptic fairytale quest. It follows 92 year old Marian who is sent off to a peculiar old-age home. If you aren't familiar with Leanora Carrington's art you should look at some of her paintings because this wonderful novel feels just like her surrealist paintings!

Mrs. Caliban by Rachel Ingalls: This novella tells the story of a love affair between a depressed suburban housewife and an amphibian creature who escaped a scientific research center. It might sound like a quirky fiction story but it actually deals with the most mundane and banal aspects of life and human relationships. Brilliantly written; neat and precise prose, wonderful storytelling. The author knew what she was doing and not a single word she wrote was wasted.

The Borrowers by Mary Norton: Delicately written little adventure about tiny people who live in the secret places of houses. I am enamored (obsessed!!) with miniatures—dollhouses, dioramas, fairies—so imagine how dear this book is to me.

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn: The murders of two girls bring reporter Camille Preaker back to her hometown. As she works to uncover the truth about those crimes, Camille finds herself forced to unravel the psychological puzzle of her own past. Very entertaining read. It has best seller written all over it (which might not be the biggest compliment lol but i mean for this genre so it is a compliment).

Rage by Sergio Bizzio: Claustrophobic, anxiety inducing, fast-paced psychological thriller that made me think of Bong Joon-ho's Parasite the whole 4 hours it took me to read it. I read it in it's original language, Spanish, and i particularly loved the dialogue; its idiosyncrasies and authenticity (tqm Argentina!)

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby: Rob, an obsessive music fan, reminisces his top five worst break ups to understand his most recent heartbreak. He is a very arrogant and cynical guy who defines his entire life through records, and because he is constantly interacting with music that almost exclusively deals with love—and a very idealistic version of it—he finds himself unsatisfied with the way his life has turned out.

[fictionadventurer]

Hello

3,8,9,13,14,15,18,20,21,22,26,30,33,39,41,44,45,46,48,52,55,58,60, for the ask game !

(I recognize that i may have asked too many questions.....partly as an excuse to get more book recs!)

Okay, let's do this!

3. How many books have you read (this year) so far?

According to Goodreads, 77, but that counts a lot of short stories, novellas, and in one case, a serial story where each part counts as a single book.

8. A book you've always wanted to read but never got a chance?

Lots, but lately I've been thinking about how I've never gotten around to reading A Canticle for Leibowitz, despite being recommended it years ago.

9. A book you're never, ever gonna read?

Harry Potter.

13. A genre you aren't a fan of in particular?

Horror.

14. A genre you love?

One I've recently started to define as vintage fiction--cozy books that are old enough to be classics, but aren't high-brow enough or famous enough to be considered classic literature.

15. A reading habit you could get "canceled" for?

Leaving so many books unfinished for no good reason.

18. Recommend a book to the person who sent you this ask.

Roverandom by J.R.R. Tolkien--a very fun fairy tale fantasy he wrote for his kids.

20. A book series you can't wait to read.

Once a Queen by Sarah Arthur feels like a fantasy book that should have a minimum of four other books already available for me to read, and the sequel can't come fast enough.

21. A book series you're never going to read.

A Court of Thorns and Roses

22. A celebrity's book rec that you loved?

Jo Walton enthusiastically recommended Desire by Una Silberrad and introduced me to a new favorite obscure author.

26. Your favourite reading position?

Sitting?

30. If you could have access to anybody's bookshelf, dead or alive, which person would you pick?

I am sticking Manalive on Steven Moffat's bookshelf so he will write the adaptation (and read the rest of Chesterton and become Catholic).

33. Do you annotate as you read or prefer not to?

Absolutely not. When I read a book, I want to read it with fresh eyes, as the person I am now, without the person that I was last time chattering in the margins.

39. Favourite book to movie/TV show adaptation?

The 1995 Sense and Sensibility is one of my favorite movies of all time.

41. If you could read the first draft of any one book, which book would you pick and why?

I'd like to read the original version of Black as Night by Regina Doman, which apparently had an entirely different plot before major rewrites.

44. Favourite book protagonist?

I can't pick one favorite! I'll just mention that Wilkie Collins has written some of my favorite female characters in Victorian fiction--Marian Halcombe in The Woman in White is one of my favorite characters ever, and I loved The Law and the Lady mostly because of how much I loved the narrator.

45. Favourite book villain?

One of the reasons Little Town on the Prairie is my favorite Little House books is because of how well Wilder presents Nellie Oleson and Miss Wilder as villains.

46. Favourite literary quote?

How am I supposed to pick one?

Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to go to Goodreads and find something that got highlighted in Kindle.

Okay, here's a quote I highlighted in Sylvia's Lovers by Elizabeth Gaskell that I had completely forgotten about.

He was just the kind of man that all his neighbours found fault with, and all his neighbours liked.

48. If you could be a part of any story you've read, which book would you pick?

I'm just going to live in the cottagecore atmosphere of your average Elizabeth Goudge book.

52. Do you like audiobooks? If yes, which is your favourite audiobook?

I adore audiobooks!

Probably the coolest one I've ever listened to was the full-cast audio recording of Fairest by Gail Carson Levine, because it takes place in a world where people often sing in their day-to-day lives, and this audio version has the characters sing all the songs!

As far as ones that are readily available, my favorite is the Jim Dale version of Around the World in 80 Days. That man's range of voices is astounding!

On Librivox, Vanity Fair (Version 2) has the best Librivox narrator I've ever heard. Most of the time, I'm just happy if the narrator pronounces everything correctly, with bonus points if they have a fitting accent. This woman was doing multiple accents!

55. If you could have any book related job in the world (librarian, editor, publisher, writer, etc), what job would you pick?

Writer.

58. A book that emotionally wrecked you?

I wept through large portions of In a Far-Off Land by Stephanie Landsem.

60. Talk about books! Anything you like, maybe share some more recs<3

I've just started Codename Edelweiss by Stephanie Landsem, and I'm excited to try another book by the author, because I've heard even more good things about this one.

[deadeyedaisy]

Tales of Destiny ~PROUST~ Forgotten Chronicle rough summary

I wasn't sure where else to post this, and Tumblr seemed like the one that would get the most use out of it.

So, I streamed my blind run through TODDC with Kio for the past several months. I ended up getting really into TOD from how much cleaner the presentation of the story and characters were over the PSX version, and was really frustrated that nobody had translated the drama CD, which had been hiding like 95% of Leon's characterization until the remake came along.

I kept a notepad of stuff to talk about during those streams. Sometimes it was off-topic things, sometimes it was little tangents about parts of the game that I thought of over the week until we'd play again. Sometimes it was summaries of supplemental material that was never localized. But most of the time, that material was translated by a fan.

Nobody has fully translated Proust. I wanted it to be translated. So I listened to it as hard as I could and summarized as best I could. The following are the unedited notes as I wrote them to be read during stream, rather than a direct translation or anything formal. I'm not good enough at Japanese to fully translate it. I'm so not good at Japanese that there's probably a lot of errors throughout this summary, too. I hope someone eventually comes along and gives us a full translation.

Also note that I'm not great at recognizing the voices of anyone that isn't the main cast of protagonists, so I probably mix up the antagonists or the generals' identities a lot.

--------------------------

So I went back through the drama cd, and I think I've got a few more little details. I could be wrong about a lot of this since there's no translation and I am really fucking bad at Japanese. But this should actually clear up a lot of misconceptions that we, or I had throughout this entire game. Foolish me for just believing everything TVTropes told me instead of trying to comb the drama cd myself.

(track 1-01 Thunder + track 1-03 Lullaby) Chris tried to escape with both children, but Hugo sent the goon squad after her?? and they managed to take Leon and mortally wound Chris. She drags herself back to the mansion to see Leon again and asks him not to hate Hugo, because this certainly isn't the same kind person she married. [I previously summarized it based on this post, which does a much better job of summarizing track 1-03: https://jeredu.tumblr.com/post/136918641610/so-after-the-horrible-sad-feels-from-the-emilio]

(track 1-02 History That Was Forgotten is just Leon saying the title of the CD)

(track 1-04 Yes, My Lady) Less than 2 years before the game starts. The girls in Leon's class aren't very good at dance lessons yet, so he complains to Marian that all the girls are stupid-- oh but not you Marian, it's only other girls that are dumb. lol I can't catch why Leon's mad at Hugo this time, but Marian sticks up for Hugo, since he's the one who pretty much discovered how useful Lens could be to further technology and make modern life easier, and has for the most part made it all affordable. She's also grateful that he hired her when she had nothing. Marian wants Leon to make friends with the girls because she's worried he'll be all alone. Leon says he's fine alone and that he'll only grow stronger, and to distract Marian, decides to teach her the dance he learned, calling her "my lady". At the end, he says he'll be fine as long as he has Marian. Hugo walks in on them and Leon quickly makes an excuse but Hugo just puts him down for hanging with the staff and tells him to get to sword practice. Leon seems excited for it. Leon whispers to Marian that they'll practice dancing again. Marian says she's looking forward to it, but when he leaves, she sadly mumbles that he's a pitiful child. (Not in a mean way)

(track 1-05 True) [Oops I didn't cover this one. It's just villainy anyway. Who listens to Proust to hear Mictlan-Hugo monologue?]

(track 1-06 Man of the Mask) I forgot about this detail and its MASSIVE importance. In the original, Leon and Hugo's relation wasn't known for a long time. In the remake, their relation is paraded around loudly. Hugo will not let anyone forget that Leon is his son, and Leon's motivation is to not be a nepo baby. But in the original, specifically in the drama CD, Hugo doesn't want their relation known. He doesn't want Leon around while he's doing business because it might reveal their relation. He reprimands him for coming home while he's doing business and tells him not to come home so often. Leon was actually excited to let him know of one of his missions' successes, on his 15th birthday no less. Chaltier tries to comfort Leon when he's basically told to gtfo, but Leon tells him he's not sad at all, and that he just wants to be acknowledged by someone as skilled as Hugo. His cadence is fairly fond as he says all this, but he's awfully insistent about it. Like thou-doth-protest-too-much insistent. Leon thinks he saw a masked man, but Chaltier says he doesn't sense anyone. They go on their way, but a filtered voice of Hugo calls Leon's name.

(track 1-07 Emilio) The following track makes it more clear that yes, he was actually very fucking upset about it. I already talked about this track since it was one of the only 2 tracks that were fully translated by someone else. Where Marian has a little private birthday party for him and he breaks down. With the added context of the previous track, the breakdown makes a bit more sense. He's just been told and brushed off again by Hugo even after so many smashing successes. Took it upon himself to put up a strong front in front of Chaltier. Then Marian does this gesture of kindness that I guess makes him feel like he's being treated like a child or mocked, and that's the last straw. Marian is of course calling him Emilio, and he refuses that name because Emilio is worthless, nobody needs Emilio, and he's all alone. He insists he's Leon Magnus, because he's at least useful as a tool for Hugo. Marian doesn't like him calling himself a tool. Says he's her precious Emilio. And Leon cries. [Previously summarized based on this post, which actually has a full translation!: https://jeredu.tumblr.com/post/136880537875/jeredu-spoilers-for-tales-of-destiny-for]

(track 1-08 Family) Next track takes place a year later and has Leon being the wunderkind beating everybody and being taken under Finley's wing. They've all got praise for him but are a little put off by him being so uptight. Late at night, Leon sneaks into Marian's room through her window because of the lecture he got about COMING HOME TOO OFTEN jfc. He's excited to tell Marian about officially working with the knights, and asks to dance with her. I think I skipped a bit. Leon only started trying to become a knight because Hugo told him to, so that he'd have a pawn within the castle to help further Oberon's goals. I think he moved out of the mansion after the last track to dedicate himself more fully to cementing his position there?? I'm probably wrong. But he's been a lot happier this way. Later that night, Chaltier tries to suggest that Leon just continues living like this and become a full fledged and honest knight instead of working for Hugo, because all of the generals seem to like him and are nice people. Buuuut Leon's already fallen asleep. Boo

(track 1-09 Nightmare) Next track has Leon and Finley talking and they think Greybaum's sus. They meet with Greybaum and Chal also thinks he's sus. That night, Leon has a nightmare where a man is telling him he can save Rutee. Except Leon doesn't know who Rutee is yet, or her name. The man is wearing a mask like the one from the mansion. It seems to be the real Hugo. He attacks Leon when he knocks his mask off I think?? and I guess Leon wakes up and is back at the mansion temporarily? I have no idea what's going on here but Hugo's not doing great and Leon rushes to his aid but Hugo basically tells him to gtfo his house again. I think real Hugo is fighting Mictlan, because Leon says something about Berserius. Belserius. Berselius. Fuck it. Scene change and Leon's at a tavern or something. The waitress fawns a bit, showing his good reputation has spread. Leon thinks about the nightmare and what the heck a Rutee is. Then he overhears some guy talking about a demonic lens hunter dude and the waitress is like oh nah you mean that girl Rutee? and Leon all but trips over himself to go aggressively interrogate the waitress. The guy she was talking to gets mad and tries to attack Leon and a fight starts. Finley shows up and slaps Leon and reprimands him and I think threatens him?? But Leon got the information he wanted out of the waitress.

(track 2-01 Masquerade) Next track. The villains talk stealing the Eye of Atamoni. A masquerade ball is held in Seinegald. Leon's all ready to be big bad security but Finley says he should blend in and dance. But he ain't got no fancy clothes! So Finley arranges to get him some fancy clothes. He's about to arrange for a partner too but Leon's like nah I got a girl for this and yoinks Marian up. She's worried she's not allowed to attend such a party, but Leon assures her she's part of the mission so it's fine. She tries to make excuses to not go but he shoots them all down. He sounds like he's having just oodles of fun on the carriage ride with her to the ball. He's laughing and smiling and it's just great. This moment is probably literally the happiest Leon will ever be in his entire life lol He… sneaks her in through the BACK DOOR and gets stopped by guards who ask who dis. And he says, "my partner" and they say they can't let randos in and he says NO SHE'S MY PARTNER and they say :/ that's not good enough bro, come on, and Marian takes his arm all suggestive like and says "What part of partner don't you understand ;)" and they let them in??? okay But Marian hasn't received her dress yet, so Leon's waiting for her to get dressed. And Chal teases him a bunch implying Leon's nervous to see her in her fancy dress. Leon tells him to shut up but Chal notes he's blushing really hard. But, Leon suddenly sees the masked man again, and this time Chal sees him too. Leon attacks but he disappears. He hears the voice and he's big mad 'cause he thinks he's being jerked around so he shouts a lot. Marian hears him shouting and rushes to him and real-Hugo goes whoops sorry about that I guess lmao and goes away. The ball gets into full swing and allll the girls are wowed by how pretty Leon's partner is. Marian says she feels awkward and Leon tells her she's beautiful, but she still doesn't think she should have come. He asks her to dance, she tries to make excuses not to, but he keeps asking, calling her "Lady" again like when they danced alone ;A; aaaa So they dance, and Leon is just so entranced and whispers that he wants to go far far away together to a place with only them, that's quiet and warm. He says something like he lost such a promised place inside of him a long time ago, but feels that it's also right there with her, and he's about to say something that MIGHT have been a confession, but they're interrupted by an attack and are separated. SO YEAH I'D SAY HIS FEELINGS FOR HER ARE PRETTY ROMANTIC. HOLY SHIT. I felt like I was listening to one of those listener-POV CDs where they do nothing but sweet-talk you, gosh. Whether his feelings are actually romantic or not, he's still just entirely fucking smitten with her. oh my god.

(track 2-02 Venomous Snake) Next track, I have no idea what's going on because I'm not familiar enough with all the villains' voices, but it's villain stuff. I think it's Greybaum mostly, and they're messing with King Isaac, the Phandaria King. And Greybaum is evil monologuing but Leon was hiding in the room and ambushes him. Hugo shows up before Leon can do any damage and something happens or is talked about, idk, villains get away. Leon's like what the fuck, dad, they tried to kill the king. Hugo says Isaac's spent too long in office and ain't doin his job right no more. So it's fiiine just let it go, besides, Graybaum's gonna be a useful tool. And the word "tool" sets Leon off 'cause it's always about tools with Hugo, and Hugo goes YEAH, A TOOL, A TOOL JUST LIKE YOU. I'VE BUILT HIM UP AND I'M TAKING ADVANTAGE OF HIM, JUST LIKE I DID TO YOUUUU. And he demands Leon apologize but Leon says no, he's done being Hugo's puppet, he's going to live for himself, he's not going to accept this shitty fate anymore, he's going to carve his own path and make a place for himself in Seinegald. And Hugo goes "Ohoho what silly thoughts Finley's put in your head. Sure, you could do all that, you could escape me no problem, you're good enough for it, but I wonder how Marian is doing~ Sure hope she's okay after getting separated from you. It's just such a scary world out there, you never know when or where such a fragile little thing like her could get got." So basically the ongoing threat on Marian's life has begun. It's not explicitly stated, but obviously the implication is that Leon could leave and take Marian with him, but Hugo will get to her one way or another. Then it's just 20 full seconds of Leon desperately calling and looking for Marian.

(track 2-03 Requiem) Next track, he finds Marian and clings to her and sobs in relief that she's okay. She says yeah it's okay I'm fine, but Leon just cries harder. Later after he's calmed down, he brings up that far away warm place he spoke about. He wonders where that could even be anymore. Probably somewhere further than the moon. He wonders if he can go there. Then it's very suddenly Finley's funeral. People are crying. The priest is praying. People are swearing vengeance. Hugo, Chaltier, and Finley's voice echo in Leon's head. Hugo coercing Leon into poisoning Finley. Chaltier asking him not to do it. Finley telling Leon they're alike in that they both lost their parents at birth. That he'd like for Leon to think of him as his father, because he thinks of Leon as his son, I think. Hugo reminding him where his place is, and that that's never going to change. Finley succumbing to the poison, in disbelief that it was Leon, and desperately asking why. Leon's sure he's never going to get to that place. Hugo and friends do some villain talk and make some snide remarks at Leon, and he just says it's fine. He's defeated at this point.

(track 2-04 Rutee) Next track has Leon on his way to Cresta to look for whoever Rutee is. Chaltier recognizes the name a little but doesn't remember. Rutee runs into him and runs away, but Chaltier recognizes Atwight on her back right away and they give chase. Rutee's giving gifts to the kids at the orphanage, is asked how she made the money for this and she's like "eehh I worked really hard :D" Chal finally remembers Rutee was the name Chris spoke of before she died and he's super excited that Leon's not all alone, that he still has his sister. But Leon just runs away. Chal's like what the fuck, where are you going, and Leon says it's been 15 years, so it doesn't matter, they're not family. Chal keeps trying to get him to go back to Rutee, insisting she must have been looking for her family for a long time, and that he should reach out to her. Leon admits that he's scared that Rutee won't accept him. Chal tells him that's stupid. Leon admits he's scared of Rutee also betraying him like Hugo did, and cries that he's truly all alone. The track ends.

(track 2-05 Flow of Fate) Next track, it's revealed Greybaum's theft of the Eye of Atamoni was actually not in the plan. He did that on his own and betrayed them. They plan for Leon to lead the investigation and gather the swordian users. Leon asks if Hugo knows who wields Atwight, and Hugo, like a fox, says mmmyessss. During Leon's first real meeting with Rutee, while she goes off on him, he's thinking to himself that he wishes he met her sooner, but he's too dirtied to face her for real by now. Chaltier insists to him that it's not too late, but Leon refuses. A bunch of scenes of Leon traveling with Stahn's group pass. Leon thinks about how Rutee has good friends and a home and family to return to, and feels even worse that he can't be happy for her. He hates himself for it, but he can't help it. Chaltier tells him he could become a part of her family. Leon says it'd be nice, since he's being shown such a warm place, but he can't escape his fate. More scenes pass, and Leon is moved by Stahn's resolve. He thinks maybe he was wrong about fate, because everyone is fighting. More scenes pass, and Leon is even moved by Batista and Greybaum, because they went against Hugo. Even if they couldn't win against their fates, they still tried. He's confused and doesn't know what to do, but Chaltier doesn't have answers for him. The only thing he knows he can do is protect Marian. The only reason he has to keep living is Marian.

It continues in the mines. Hugo and friends say they need to buy time to escape Stahn's group. He tells Leon to stall them as long as possible, and then detonate an explosive. Tells him exactly what will happen, down to the sea water flooding in. So Leon absolutely knows he's going to die if he agrees to do this. Leon asks to be alone with Marian, as his first and final request as Hugo's son. Marian observes that Leon doesn't want to go through with this. Leon says it's fine, he'll just do what he's told. He asks why Marian is here, why she's still a maid for Hugo. Marian answers it's because Hugo was trying to save the world, or whatever. She owes him a lot. So she'll do whatever she's told, too. Leon asks what'll happen if he dies. Marian says she'll probably never stop crying. Leon asks how much, for how long, because it's not possible to cry for him for her whole life. Says she'll probably cry for a bit, but eventually she'll meet someone he doesn't know, fall in love, get married, and have children, and she'll forget all about him, and then he'll truly be gone and not exist anymore. He'll disappear. Leon cries, really hard. He pulls himself together, apologizes, says she should go. She goes, but she calls after him that it was fun. That being with him was like a dream. He says quietly to himself that, yeah, it was like a dream to him, too. (The wording is different from the opening song! Important to note because the remake did a full on title drop in its climax. The opening song is 「夢であるように」, but the wording here is 「夢みたい」. But it's still probably a 100% intentional reference to the opening song.) [I cut off here because I previously summarized these two posts about the end of this track, which is an exchange with Chaltier: https://jeredu.tumblr.com/post/136997902840/i-dunno-if-its-possible-to-fall-in-love-with-a https://jeredu.tumblr.com/post/137057162215/checked-with-a-friend-who-knows-more-japanese-and]

[I yada-yada'd track 2-06 Father, Friend because I already summarized it previously based on this post: https://jeredu.tumblr.com/post/143045097730/i-finally-typed-up-a-summary-of-father-friend]

(track 2-07 -Epilogue- Yes, My Lady) In the final track, Rutee is visiting Marian. She asks Marian to live with her. Marian declines, saying she has to keep Emilio's room clean for him for when he comes back. Rutee says he's already gone, but Marian interrupts and asks Rutee to dance. She teaches her how to dance. She calls Rutee "My lady" like Leon did with her.

-----------------------------

May I just say, if Leon retained his character from the drama CD in the remake, he absolutely would have broken down crying after Stahn convinced him they could work together to save Marian. And maybe hugged him or held his outstretched hand with both of his. While crying. Drama CD Leon is a huge crybaby and I'm so here for him. I was disappointed he didn't get to cry through the remake.

And also that hot damn, Hikaru Midorikawa was allowed to emote SO MUCH MORE in the drama CD than in the entirety of the remake, not even counting all the crying he does.

[shellibisshe]

–oc tag game

tagged by @corvosattano @jackiesarch @marivenah @nuclearstorms @leviiackrman @nightbloodbix @chuckhansen and @queennymeria thank you all!

i think this has made it's rounds but tagging @loriane-elmuerto @jendoe @florbelles​ @unholymilf @denerims @risingsh0t @indorilnerevarine @lizzywizzy @ladysanjo @teamhawkeye @benwishaw @ghostfvcker and anyone else!

buckle up yall im going to get sappy. also super ungodly long post under the cut IM SAPPY

– favorite oc.

spencer clarke [the quarry]

i say it a lot but. she is me i am her. like actually, spencer has only been an oc for like a week and she has taken such a tight hold on my brain. I pour a lot of myself into my ocs, but i think spencer is the oc that has really gotten the most. she is the closest to a self insert i think out of all of them, she shares a lot of my behaviors and such. but she is just so fun for me to talk about (im sorry to lori and aj) and figuring her out has been such a blast.

amara owens [infamous: second son]

MISS AMARA CELESTE OWENS. I've had her for as long as i've had the fc5 clowns, or maybe even longer. Amara is an oc that makes me really happy. for a while, i never knew where i wanted to put her; i tried making her a multifandom oc but it just didn't feel right. then i played infamous: second son and it felt like everything just clicked with her. she's one of my most important ocs, no one else have i played the same game 6 times for.

marian ramos de-león [red dead redemption 2]

ms marian is also one of my oldest ocs, she's a little younger than the fc5 clowns, but she's also one of my favorites. she's another really fun character for me to think about. it was so fun to play the game and know exactly where she would be and what she would say. while i haven't done much with her canon or sadie au, making this new, spooky au for her was some of the most fun i've ever had with an oc. using concepts that i've always been a fan of but never really used has been so fun and it all clicks so well with marian

sylvie green [call of duty: modern warfare 2019]

my child whom i share custody of with lori. she has been one of my favorites for almost a year now, another one that has helped me figure out some stuff about myself, and like spencer she truly did grab onto my brain and has not let go. i never thought i'd make an oc for cod, let alone like,,,22 including side characters. half the fun has been getting to bounce ideas off of lori, and sylvie is absolutely one of those ideas. most things about her-- her name, her face, her backstory, even her ship-- are all lori's amazing ideas and i am so happy to have both of them in my life.

honorable mentions: elenore parker, hanan shepard, iseul jeong, corinne sorrell

– newest oc.

spencer clarke [the quarry]

like i said! i've only had spencer for like,,,4 days i think atp. but i love her a lot. with it being summer time here, i started thinking about the quarry again and jacob those that have been here u know i see a himbo i have to make a partner for them and decided it might be fun to make an oc for a horror game for a change! and i'm really happy i did.

jackie castillo [marvel]

more of lori's influence, seeing them talk about Asra and the rest of their marvel ocs made me want to make my own. Jackie is still a bit of a wip, but i love her all the same and i really do need to do some development on her.

blake liu [marvel]

my other marvel girlie. even more of lori's influence. Riri's roommate turned fellow kidnappee turned girlfriend. Asra's adopted daughter. Blake is so many things but everything clicks so well for her. another one i need to develop more, but i am so happy to have her as well.

thalia [assassin's creed: odyssey/origins]

thalia's some kind of phoenix-rising-from-the-ashes deal, but in a like, i scrapped one oc and made her. when i was overhauling Amara, i decided her assassin's creed au didn't really work, but i wanted an oc for odyssey so bad; so enter Thalia. she's one of my more stick in the mud characters but i still love her a lot.

honorable mentions: daphne palmer, silas kane, noah callaghan, andy kwan, rhea dawn

– oldest oc. (also; the favorites pt.2)

elenore parker [far cry 5]

you all knew she'd be here. the blueprint. the very first clown. the batshit insane queen herself. the reason i made this blog. Elle has been through a lot. and i've been through a lot at the same time. she's been there for me as a creative outlet through a lot of bullshit and i am so thankful for her. making her let me deal with some of my own trauma in a way. she's one of the only ocs that i shove into different ships and aus, and every one just works so well for her. she's gotten a bit of an overhaul recently and i'm even more happy with her now.

emily parker [far cry 5]

i can't talk about Elle without Emily. Emily is also a very self inserty character but she's also someone i wish i could be somehow. I don't lean on her as much as i lean on Elle, but i enjoy messing with her every time i do. she's an older oc, but there's still things that are up in the air about her namely if i will ever commit to shipping her with Wheaty.

margo seed [far cry 5]

Margaret Elizabeth Seed, the only oc i have argued with someone about. she was the very first ship kid, such a commanding presence; ever since making her it almost felt like she made herself if that made sense? another one that things just really clicked with; she's also my first aroace oc, and that has become very important to me. she stands on her own, she's another one that i want to be like when i grow up.

daniel seed [far cry 5]

the second ship kid. Daniel almost didn't exist, but i decided Margo could benefit from a narrative foil of sorts. he was a bit of a hassle, he was my first male oc and as such i couldn't land on a face claim for the longest time which was really frustrating for me. he and Margo are both such fun characters to write for, i love how i've managed to make them so similar and so different at the same time.

warren armstrong [far cry 5]

Warren was made at the same time, or close to the same time, as Daniel. he's the first oc that I have actually come up with a family for though, and that has become somewhat of a trend because of him. Warren took a second to really figure out, but he fits in so well with the twins and their shenanigans once i did. I don't talk about him nearly as much as i should, but he is also one of my favorites.

honorable mentions: fern solace, ashlee burrell, katherine boyer, judith burch, kennedy ryder, amara owens

– meanest oc.

ines cousland [dragon age origins]

I have a lot of violent or manipulative ocs (i think, at least), but none of them are on the level that Ines is. Ines walks around with a sort of chip on her shoulder about the world she lives in. she's composed and calculating and power hungry. she makes a lot of cruel and sort of impulsive decisions as a warden, but she is always one step ahead of those that challenge her. she knows she has enemies and she will stop at nothing to ruin their lives just for the fun of it. she's also incredibly ambitious as well; she wanted to be one of, if not the most, powerful people in Thedas, and she would stop at nothing to get herself there.

rhea dawn [fullmetal alchemist: brotherhood]

Rhea is not nearly as malicious as Ines is but she has her moments. she's not technically a villain, but she's also not really going out of her way to help the heroes either. she's never really had any second thoughts about her actions, she will take her own side before anyone else's. she knows she's one of the most powerful alchemists in the world, and if that inspires some fear then so be it.

levi choi [call of duty: modern warfare 2019]

he has to be here, but he's not really that mean compared to the two above. Levi's that friend that is always brutally honest, the one that you just want to fight sometimes because of it. he's not afraid to say what he thinks, he never writes a check that his ass can't cash, and you will hear about it if you piss him or his friends off.

honorable mentions: raina hawke, scott ryder, morgan brooks, noah callaghan, althea elowen, minerva siobhan, katherine boyer, shannon turner

– softest oc.

melanie vargas [the last of us]

Mel is another oc that got somewhat of an overhaul. when hbo tlou came out, i decided i didn't like the direction i went with her, so i scrapped it and started over. she turned out a lot softer this time, being reworked to be one of the friendliest faces of Jackson now. she is a bit more of a background character now because of her role in the universe, but i think that works out better for her.

amara owens [infamous: second son]

my favorite daughter here once again. Amara is one of the softer characters in the main cast of second son but that's not to say she's a pushover either. she would do anything for her friends, she would give anything to help a stranger. she's just one of those ocs that radiates a lot of positive energy and light.

kennedy ryder [mass effect: andromeda]

another one that's soft but is not a pushover. Kennedy would do anything to help anyone in need, but she will not let her kindness be taken advantage of by anyone. she's seen a lot, she's been through a lot, but she doesn't let it get to her. she's also the resident optimist of the gang, which can be a blessing and a curse.

nettie hayes [red dead redemption 2]

nettie, however, is too soft for her own good. maybe. she's the most optimistic oc of mine, always has her rose colored glasses on. in her mind, her world is a lot more idyllic than it is. she is a bit of a pushover as well; she can recognize when she's being screwed over but she won't do anything about it. she wears her heart on her sleeve and is probably the most sensitive of my ocs

honorable mentions: veris lavellan, bea morgan, daphne palmer, taylor ross, daniel seed

– most aloof/standofish oc.

arden [potion permit]

she's quiet, she keeps to herself, she doesn't say much. Arden's not like this because of something that's happened to her, i think you could say; moreso, it's her line of work that made her like this. Arden tries to not get attached because she knows most people she deals with will only be in her life a short period of time. most people, not all of them.

honorable mentions: rhea dawn, spencer clarke, thalia, katherine boyer, ines cousland, nadine hayek

– dumbest (affectionate) oc.

veris lavellan [dragon age: inquisition]

Veris Rila, my first inquisitor, one of the dimmest lightbulbs in my chandler but she still shines. she is the very definition of 'just trying her best.' she's smart in her own way, one that does not make sense to anyone but herself. she's also impulsive, almost out of spite at this point.

honorable mentions: daniel seed, margo seed, blythe trevelyan, silas kane

– smartest oc.

gwen khoury [uncharted]

Dr. Gwendolyn Mila Khoury, Ph.D. Gwen learns shit just for the fun of it honestly, and she will spout off if given the chance. she is incredibly, and sometimes annoyingly, curious. Gwen will pick up a new language or skill just to learn something new.

hanan shepard [mass effect]

another knowledge sponge, Hanan loves to learn about anything she can get her hands on. ship engineering, biotics, alien languages-- Hanan will find something new to learn whenever she can. and she will not hesitate to info dump on the nearest person.

andy kwan [tomb raider]

Andy! another incredibly bright mind. she's working on her masters in ecosystems ecology for much of the tomb raider shenanigans, and she uses these trips for her own personal research. she's not quite on the 'learning something new just for shits and gigs,' but that does not stop her from constantly taking in some knowledge somehow

honorable mentions: amara owens, ethan moreno, taylor ross, spencer clarke, emily parker, iseul jeong, daphne palmer, nadine hayek, alicia rossi, jules rossi, blake liu, arden

– oc you'd be friends with irl.

spencer clarke [the quarry]

we're ending where we started. i put spence in this category because i really do mean it when i said she is me. her behavior and personality is so similar to my own. she's another oc that is really someone i wish i could be like.

honorable mentions: daniel seed, taylor ross, ethan moreno, veris lavellan, blythe trevelyan, amara owens, blake liu, kennedy ryder, bea morgan

[briar-ffxiv]

LAST SONG: Devil With a Heart of Iron - Jonathan Young (Karlach fan song. Do recommend!)

CURRENTLY WATCHING: About to start Fallout on Amazon Prime!

THREE SHIPS: Karlach/Dammon (BG3), Beatin/Gairhard (FFXIV), Emily/Sandy (SDV)

FAVORITE COLOR: Blue! (my favourite is probably a nice deep turquoise blue)

CURRENTLY CONSUMING: Like food-wise? Leftover beef and broccoli for lunch!

FIRST SHIP: Oh, geez, the first I can remember is thinking Robin Hood and Maid Marian the foxes in the really old Disney's Robin Hood were very romantic and cute when I was little?

PLACE OF BIRTH: USA

CURRENT LOCATION: USA (Texas of all places, send help)

RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Been with the same person for well over a decade! (yes, I am very old)

LAST MOVIE: Pirahna 3D (it was on Tubi and I love a silly creature feature, don't judge!)

CURRENTLY WORKING ON: Getting back into writing. I particularly want to do some writing for Briar and maybe my SDV OC.

Tagged by: @sundered-souls - thank you!

Tagging: @valdiis @shieke @thefrostflower @adahlenan @oh-yeah-no @paintedscales & anyone else that wants to do it!

[feathered-serpents]

Why does m!fenhawke pisses you so much? You really hate the fact that your pixel boyfriend like other men don't you? Your weirdo

Okay, so I'm gonna make it very clear that I am aware, given the nature of this ask, that you don't actually care about my reasoning behind my (yes present!) bitterness towards M!FenHawke, and just want to #own me with a tumblr ask. But I have needed an excuse to talk about this so, thanks for providing it, even if it is on the wrong blog (right blog -> @high-dragon-bait for future complaints)

I'm not pissed off by M!FenHawke (for the most part.) Fenris' bisexuality is incredibly important to me. In my own canon, I have him marry a man years after my Hawke dies (his name is Lucien he's a short king and I love him). I am pissed off by M!Hawke. Just in general. Full stop

And yes, it is petty!

The Dragon Age fandom has a serious misogyny problem. No one likes to admit it, but my GOD is it bad. And before anyone tries it, I am talking solely about the fanbase, that is, the treatment of real people in the fandom. This is not about NPCs, and this is not about F/F ships, though this problem hurts both of those factors, I am SOLELY talking about the treatment of female or perceived female fans by the fandom.

It's bad

Like. It's bad

And this is reflected in the prevalence of M!Hawke. Not. Deliberately. I'm not saying anyone who posts M!Hawke content is deliberately shitting on female fans, that's insane, I am saying that the prevalent assumption of male Hawke is a symptom of the larger problem.

Now that's a lot of word jumble that could still be misconstrued so let me clarify what I mean. How many times have you seen a text post where Hawke is universally referred to as "he?" How many times have you seen a post that calls Hawke "Garrett" not like that posters OC, but like the canon name of the character? How many times have you seen Hawke's "canon" gender assumed male despite this being a game with a customizable protagonist that does not have a canon gender?

More times than you've seen Hawke is universally referred to as "she" or called "Marian" in the same manner. I promise you. Those posts exist, but they PALE in numbers to the previous posts

You don't see this with the other protagonists, the Inquisitor or The Warden. At least not as much, you will sometimes see the Warden referred to with a gendered pronoun (he/she), but not with the same ubiquity as you see male Hawke.

And obviously, obviously, OBVIOUSLY, it is hard to tell whether this is being done with the intent of the ubiquitous assumption or is just done by someone talking about their own canon. I cannot say I have magic eye lasers that let me see the poster's intent. I don't. I can say that I've seen much much more content of male Hawke over female Hawke. I can say I've seen female Hawke brushed aside or ignored in favor of male Hawke. I can say that I was harassed back in 2014 and saw other users around that time harassed for DARING to romance Fenris with a female Hawke DESPITE Fenris being canonically bisexual (Because otherwise he would not have been allowed in Kirkwall without a $10 fee)

All of that... is rooted in misogyny. I'm sorry. It just is. With a healthy dose of biphobia on the side. You can be uncomfortable with that and argue it all you want. It does not change that fact.

And this is not only seen with Hawke. By god it is not only seen with Hawke. Another prevalent example of Dragon Age fandom misogyny is the treatment of Solasmancers and Cullenmancers. Both of these are characters mostly popular with female fans, for obvious reasons, and they are also characters with some of the most VITRIOLIC hate you will find in the fandom. Now, obviously this isn't automatically rooted in misogyny. Both of these characters have extremely prevalent flaws and not liking them is perfectly understandable. I don't really like Cullen myself. But a lot of the hate for these characters, and the people who like them, is very targeted towards the fact that those fans are probably going to be women.

You'll see people who hate Solas say that he's just a "teenage girl teacher crush fantasy" or people who hate Cullen attack his fans for being "30-year-old sad moms." Those sound like somewhat catch-all insults but they ARE attacking the female-ness of the fan at their core. And that is BAD

Female protagonists are the ones most often called "boring" (F!Lavellan, F!Cousland), they are the ones most often ignored (F!Hawke), they are the ones most often ridiculed with their female-ness at the core of that ridicule before anything else. It's everywhere, and no one talks about it

And before you try it again, no, I am not talking about queer fans who just don't like m/f pairings. They are not wrong for that. If you are a queer fan who simply prefers same-sex pairings that is your business, it is the moment you are attacking fans, usually female fans, for playing a game the way they enjoy that it becomes an issue.

Because despite what Twitter told me when I tried to have this discussion there, misogynistic harassment is still not okay even if queer people are doing it.

So. That's why I like to reblog more pictures of female Hawke

[ouatsnark]

hi, idk if you’ve ever talked ab this but do you think that there’s anything regina could have done that would have properly classified her a hero and actually earn people’s forgiveness? this account has changed my perspective on things so much😭 could she really have gotten redemption with all the things that she’s done

Hello! Thank you for the question. I do not think I have ever dedicated an entire post to just this. You could probably piece together my thoughts on it if you dug through enough of my ramblings! But who wants to do that? So this should be fun.

I would honestly classify Regina as an anti-hero. She joined Team Hero to keep Henry and get her happy ending. We know this because we never see her express regret for the hurt she caused others. She only expresses sorrow for her own loss of a happy ending. And she admits she hates doing good in Season 5 finale. So her good deeds were self-serving.

In my humble opinion... The only way for a child abusing, mass murdering, rapist like Regina to achieve a complete redemption would be for her to sacrifice herself for the greater good without expecting anything in return. And she would have had to stay dead. There is just no coming back from the evils she committed. She did not deserve life let alone a happy ending when she’d robbed so many of theirs and never showed remorse for that.

Now the creators didn’t want to kill Regina off because she was popular (but not as popular as her rabid fans want to pretend she is) and I get that. But I think the writers could have gotten Regina a little closer to being a believable true hero if they'd:

1) shown that she’d had a true change of heart

That means facing her victims by showing empathy for the hurt she’s caused them. Her deciding to play hero with them is not that the same thing.

That means seeing Regina groveling for forgiveness instead of her victims groveling to her (like Emma over Marian etc etc). So a little less of portraying Regina as a victim when she isn’t and seeing more of Regina making things up to the real victims.

That means no more of Regina putting the other characters down and instead showing humility.

That means seeing Regina return the hearts she stole because she regrets what she’s done and needs to help her victims.

That means seeing Regina take responsibility for her actions instead of blaming everyone and everything else.

Which I think if she’d done all this then it would’ve been more believable to me that her victims would forgive her. But we never see any humility or regret from Regina that stems from what she’s done to others because again it’s always about her own happy ending or her pain.

2) addressed her abuse of Henry and the rape of Graham.

Seeing that Regina goes on to have a life with Henry and claims to be Emma’s friend, these two crimes needed to be addressed. The show sweeping Regina’s abuse of Henry under the rug like it never happened was infuriating and disgusting. As was her rape and murder of Graham. She needed to confess these things and face the consequences. But instead she just gets away with it and pals around with the heroes like none of it happened. The guilt of what she’d done would’ve been crushing her if she’d had a true change of heart. She can’t get a redemption if her most heinous crimes that effected the people she claims to care about are ignored.

So to sum up: I believe that the only path to a complete redemption for Regina was a sacrificial death. The only way for her to be properly classified as a true hero & it be believable that her victims would forgive her is if she’d shown true humility, regret, remorse and owned up to things she did to them vs having those crimes retconned or forgotten. But sadly Regina can’t even come close to a redemption because all of that is missing. It’s just not possible. Because what’s left? Only her doing good deeds to get her happy ending which isn’t much of anything at all.

Thank you again for the ask. And I am glad I can offer a different perspective on the show.

[soulbanished]

💖 i have a couple of names i go by, but you can call me mordacia or marian / marion !

💖 they / them or he / him, 20s, white, personal + self ship sideblog. i follow from a url starting with f.

💖 i don't exactly have a 'dni' but i'd prefer if only adults follow, and i don't want harry potter fans or people who self ship with minors [yes, even aged up] following me. otherwise feel free to talk to me any time, although i'm a little bit skittish and slow to respond sometimes

💖 my main f/o is kireek from phantasy star online! if i don’t already know you, please ask to follow if you share - i don't dislike sharing on principle, but i am very picky interacting with new people.

💖 i have a few others i may talk about from time to time here - generally i'm okay with sharing as long as you are, but i'm not comfortable sharing alhanalem. i doubt it will be an issue, but please do not follow if he is also your f/o.

alhanalem [final fantasy crystal chronicles: ring of fates]

magus [chrono trigger]

[mariusperkins]

Hello, so I have 0 understanding of the Gilded Age apart from your blog and sometimes things that show up on TikTok. The things I have seen on there make Mrs Russell seem abhorrent (there’s a bit where the daughter is crying to her dad because her mom banished a suitor?) and another where the mom fires a governess for letting her adult daughter go out and about. Are we meant to be rooting for the mom or the daughter, or both, and is the mom really a bad person?

Hello! Sorry this reply is about to get long -

I think there are a lot of reasons that people enjoy the gilded age as a show, whether you're a fan of period costumes, christine baranski, or just love to listen to nathan lane's little colonel sanders accent, but I would say that if you don't enjoy the russells or at least find them entertaining, then you would not enjoy the show - not that there's not stuff going on outside of them, but bertha russell especially is such a huge force the I think if you couldn't at least find her entertaining to watch then they show would be unbearable. It would be comparable to watching breaking bad but hating/not enjoying walter white - you could watch the show, and there would be other stuff for you, but you probably wouldn't enjoy the show as much who someone who tuned in to see whatever messed up, horrible thing walter white was scheming about that week.

I kind of loved bertha right from the start because I am a simple creature and so when the switch is flipped on for 'I like this character' I tend to kind of be ride or die for them and on their side no matter what they're doing, and this kind of tends to be especially true for me with "abhorrent" female characters (see also: every bitchy teen girl in a slasher movie that you're Supposed To Hate, clementine kesh, mary lou from hello mary lou: prom night 2, scarlett o'hara, (arguably) season 1 of teen wolf lydia martin, (extremely arguably) late seasons skylar white, to name just a few), characters I absolutely would not want to ever meet in real life but love to see what plan they're attempting to pull off in fiction or what terrible thing they're going to say next. So, obviously, since this is coming straight from the Bertha Russell Defense Squad, you should take all of this with a huge grain of salt.

With bertha it's like... it's the 1880s. She's working within a very strict set of rules - she can chose not to follow them, and we see plenty of characters that don't, but if she wants to get to the top of the very specific social structure as set out by the gilded age's version of mrs astor's new york, then she has to work with what's there.

At that time, most young women of their social class would have been expected to not leave the house unless they were accompanied by someone (even marian, a character who is a few years older and is socially "out", brings peggy with her if she wants to go somewhere), especially if they were not "out" to society yet, which gladys (bertha's daughter) was not when her governess gets fired. I believe gladys in s1 is supposed to be 17 or 18 - really on the line of it being appropriate for her to still have a governess (instead of a lady's maid who would accompany her on shopping trips/walks/etc) - and you definitely get the idea that bertha has been holding off gladys' coming out for longer than would be considered "normal" due to a combination of over-protectiveness/being controlling and waiting to hold such an event on a grand scale as a social power play. I think the show itself is kind of in two minds about whether bertha as "right" to hold back, she's obviously waiting until she can time it right to swing things in her favour socially regardless of what gladys actually wants, but bertha is right in that unless certain social things were in place she couldn't have "filled the ballroom" - if you moved into a new suburb, you'd probably hold off on your child's party until you were sure the other parents would let their kids come over for it.

But back to your question - the governess situation is maybe the simpler one and the one where I'm more like, I don't know that bertha is doing anything here that is so out of the ordinary for an 1880s socialite - certainly the only time we ever hear agnes van reijn, the russell's old money neighbour, say anything nice about bertha is when they see that gladys is accompanied out of the house with her governess. The governess that's supposed to be watching over her teenage daughter has been helping said teen daughter secretly meet with a man at a hotel (which gladys arranged specifically to meet with him away from her parents - now, obviously that is only happening because bertha is so controlling, but, still, that's kind of exactly the sort of behaviour you have a governess to stop, or at least warn you about). Bertha is cold about it, and it's absolutely coming from a horrible, controlling place, but it's exactly what would have been expected of her in that situation.

As for archie baldwin, the suitor bertha had banished, that's a little more of a grey area (although, again, it's not totally out of line with what real 1800s socialites were doing). Archie seems nice enough and essentially perfect on paper (old money family, stable career, likes gladys), but bertha of course wants more than just 'good on paper', she wants something she can rub in people's faces. From our more modern perspective gladys is also very young (she wasn't even "out" at that stage), although from what george says and from the ages of george and bertha and their children, we can assume george and bertha weren't all that much older than gladys when they got married.

BUT, and it is a very big but, when george and bertha got married they weren't high society and so could marry for love and not strategy. Frankly, that george goes along with the plan to send archie away (and even does quite a bit of orchestrating the "banishment" himself) is enough to convince me that he didn't think much of the young man or gladys' feelings towards him despite having a more emotionally close relationship with his daughter (although, maybe george's thoughts were along the line of 'bertha gets one free veto before she has to make a real argument against one of gladys' suitors').

Who's "side" should we be on then? I mean, that's up to you, whether you watch the show or not. The russell family is absolutely going to contain more than a few social and internal explosions in s3 with the set ups we're given at the end of s2. Personally I hope, as I always do when I watch the show, that bertha gets everything she wants.