#i just miss the world domination arc

[almondpiglet]

super five/claw stuff i did for practice

[messenger-of-babel]

Snake in the Garden

Summary: You know Wesker is bad for you, but you still can't pull away from him. (Albert Wesker x reader)

Word Count: 1.8K

Notes: I stayed up to make this, I got tumblr ON MY PHONE BROWSER since I’m away from my computer and fought someone’s Mac, so here is todays post, even though I’m back from a Halloween party and tireddd. It’s a few more resi ones to round out this last week, it’s crazy that we are nearly done with this month. Warnings: manipulation and reader isn’t explicitly female but I do use a reference of reader being like Eve but it’s not strictly a gender thing more like a role thing?? Anyways enjoy my work and I’ll tidy up the last few if I need when I’m back at my PC. Much love~!

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When you were a kid, you had always been taught by the orphanage directors to make good choices and stay out of trouble. The church next door took care of your lessons, teaching you values such as to be good and kind, and to resist temptation.

So how you ended up with Albert Wesker was completely beyond you.

Yet you couldn’t stay away, a moth to a flame. If your old church director could see you now, surely he would pull you aside and make you do bible study. But you were grown now, an adult who could make adult decisions. And Albert just so happened to be yours.

You were on the ship with him currently, while he plotted his domination of the world. You knew it was wrong, knew that his plan for the future was wrong. You weren’t very religious anymore ever since leaving the orphanage, but you couldn’t help the rhetoric that swirled around in your head.

He pretended to be a god, talked of a new age. He sat on this ship in safety as if it was an arc, while it was primed with enough virus to kill the rest of the world. Clad in his leather, gloves covering his hands and glasses over his eyes. He was the furthest thing from a god, apart from the power. But his power came to him unnaturally, a cold and eerie strength that made your skin crawl when he came close. 

He was the devil, if there was a narrative, but your heart couldn’t convince your mind of that. Every time you saw him your heart fluttered disgustingly in your chest, making your pulse race. When he stopped his work, the endless scanning of documents and monitor screens, he had such a charming smile that chased the words “I think we should break up” right out of your throat. It was the way that he pressed against your back to see what you were doing, the warmth from his chest that settled into your back and relaxed your muscles instinctually. The way that you missed how his breath hit the back of your neck and fanned against your cheek when he pulled away.

You couldn’t pull away, despite how badly you wanted to. You lay awake at night, tossing in the bed that’s big enough for the two of you yet always only occupied by one.  When you wake you’d try to leave, struggle against the invisible ropes that he had wound across your heart before tightening them the next day. 

“What are you up to?” You ask softly one night, wrapping your nightgown over you tighter. Your feet are clad only in thin slippers, making the chill from the ship seep into your feet. He has his back turned to you, monitors flickering with life while he stared leant forward, chin on his interlocked fingers. He hums slightly, chair spinning silently so he can look at you from the side.

“Working.”

Of course he was. He was always working, his newly enhanced body requiring very little rest. If he needed rest he would sleep in his chair, office door locked. However you still caught him in the rare occasion sliding into place next to you, arm curling around your stomach when he didn’t think you’d notice. 

“What are you working on?” You ask, padding to his side. You don’t know why you decided to seek him out on a restless night, normally trying to pry yourself as far away from him to escape your heart that ached so badly for him. 

“Nothing that you need to be concerned about, dear heart.” He murmurs, calculating with his gaze. “Why are you out of bed?”

You shrug. “Just couldn’t sleep.” You murmur. He hums, uncharacteristically warm. When you come to his side he snakes an arm around your waist, an action that makes alarm bells ring in your head but also makes your skin burn with excitement.

You hated the way that he had you around his little finger. You knew it, he knew it, and yet it was still a game that you both played day after day. You felt shame at the way he had trained you, starving you of affection then showering with so much that it made your heart clench. The way that your eyes would now follow him when he walked past you, to see if he would glance your way or pretend you didn’t exist. Just when you were getting run down, just when you thought that he had forgotten about you, he came back with sweet words and a softer touch.

 His fingers dug into your side, dimpling the flesh with the leather of his gloves. "You should go back to bed, Dear heart" he says, voice a low rumble. His breath fans past your ear, making you shiver. "You'll get cold if you stay out here for too long. We don't want you to get sick now, would we?"

Albert always had a habit of doing that. Soon after you had both started dating, a shotgun romance in itself, he had begun getting interested in your health. Taking a look at your medical records and doctors appointments soon morphed into him conducting them himself, stating that he didn't trust other doctors with something as precious as you. That morphed into him dictating what you could do and when you go could out, Wesker worrying that you could get sick, or hurt, or something would affect the delicate balance of your system.

Precious.

That was the word that he would use when he did give you the time of day, hands stroking over your skin with rough palms. Palms that had killed and executed and committed sins that would have God paling on his throne, suddenly ghosting over your skin like you were glass. He made you feel more fragile than you were, and some days you really did feel that way.

Some days you felt like you were getting sick, despite being healthy the day before. It would be the worrying of Wesker that put the seed of doubt into your mind, suddenly displaying a symptom that he had listed earlier that morning. As soon as he caught sight of it he'd send you to bed or keep you in one of the many rooms on the ship dedicated for you, always soft and comfortable and luxurious.

 It was a contrast to the bleak and military interior of the rest of the ship, a contrast of how he treated you. When you had his attention, you were royalty. When you didn't, it was like you were just another staff member.

Yet you still shake your head, half in response to him and half in shame that you let him toy with you like this, that there was a part of your heart that was so deeply in love it wanted to forget everything that he was doing. "I won't get sick," you mumble. "I'll go back to bed soon."

He raises his eyebrows above the frames of his glasses. "Are you now? What are you going to do in the meantime then?" he purrs, his voice a soft timbre that resonates through your bones. You shrug and the hand gripping your waist tightens.

"Can I stay with you?" you ask quietly. You didn't know yourself why you were seeking him out, only that your brain buzzed at the idea of staying with him a bit more, to have his eyes trained on you.

He sighs through his nose and shakes his head. "I'm afraid this work is too brash for you. Come, let's go back to bed." He pats your hip, and you look at him hesitantly.

"Both of us?" you ask softly, making him chuckle.

"Yes, both of us. I could use some time to lie down. I'll stay with you till you fall asleep if that is your concern.”

He slides you off of his lap, standing and pushing his chair back in. With a gloved hand on your back he guides you back to your bedroom. Your heart races and your head feels light at having him this close, like a drug coursing through your veins.

Your bedroom is dark, lit only by the lights from outside and a single lamp by the bed. Your sheets were tangled from the way that you had kicked them off, soft folds rippling down the side of the bed. When you crawl onto the surface, more excited to sleep than you had for ages, he bends and removes his shoes before dragging the sheets back onto the mattress.

You get situated in bed and turn the light off, sickened at yourself for getting this close to the man again. The man that wouldn't let you leave, wouldn't let you go ashore alone, who wouldn't trust you doing things you had done by yourself before meeting him. The man who had destroyed cities, taken lives, manipulated innocent people and was actively doing it still. But this was the same man who had wooed you with sweet words and false promises, who had approached you about your research into genetic structuring and played the part of a perfect crush. Tall, handsome, smart.

If the old sisters from the church could see you now, curled in the arms of a mass murderer with your heart content, you know they would be hanging their heads in shame. For following someone who was convinced that they were above mankind, but told you those words in a tone so honey coated you could have believed them to be truth.

You let those few tears you produce drip into the pillowcase, exhaling and closing your eyes. If this story was written in the Bible, you know that Albert would consider this place the arc, a safe haven in the destruction of the earth.

But you knew better.

You knew that this was the garden, with its soft beds and easy to fall into luxury, yet boxed in by high walls that were forbidden to cross. You were Eve, peaceful in the garden but curious of the world outside you. You wanted Albert to be Adam, the counterpart to Eve, but still you knew better.

Wesker was the snake that slunk down from the trees and whispered into your ear, soft and buttery sweet. Who told you honeyed words from lips that dripped with venom, eyes beady and always waiting for an opportunity to strike. You knew this, you knew better.

But every time you felt yourself recovering from the isolation of him he drew you right back, and you sank your teeth into that apple once again. You let his honeyed words wrap around your brain in a pleasant fog, completely unaware that he had sunk his fangs into your neck.

[iminyourbookshelf]

I'm going to yap a bit but I love Tubbo's rp and I love his beef with the feds, I missed that sm. It's just like, federation workers are supposed to 'perfect' and nothing is ever wrong. No one I supposed to find faults, but Tubbo does. He finds a small crack in the glass, Cucurcho wasn't the boss anymore (from what he knew) and he took a sledgehammer to it. The sarcasm and taunting works so well.

But now on his "came back wrong" arc I wouldn't be surprised if he used it on other players. Watching the stream rn he said "what, why did we STOP the world domination plan?? We started CARING?? Ha!"

I'm so excited to see how other players react

[gumnut-logic]

The child was wriggling and god he wished he would hold still.

The metal beneath Scott’s feet vibrated as another explosion ripped through the chemical plant behind him. He had no doubt it wouldn’t be long before the massive canister he was standing on became an equally massive explosion.

“Scott, are you planning on moving your ass anytime soon? I have only so much foam available in Two’s tanks and they are getting low. Get out, the whole place is going to blow.”

His brother had missed coffee o’clock this morning and was appropriately moody. “Doing my best, Virgil.” If this kid hadn’t climbed all the way up here, it wouldn’t be a problem.

“Do better! I don’t want a promotion.”

The kid was wriggling again as Scott hauled him towards the edge. “Hey, calm down, we are getting out of here.”

Doing his best to hold the boy still, he peered over the edge. No way down, and there was no way he wanted to go back inside this thing. Thunderbird One was on the far side of the complex. The metal beneath his feet rumbled. Time was running out.

A row of antiquated smoke stacks stood like soldiers along the edge of the plant. They would have to do. Mentally calculating his trajectory, he aimed his grapple gun and fired.

Just as the canister shuddered beneath him and began to swell.

“Scott! Get out of there!”

The gun registered a secure grip and, clutching the boy, he jumped.

And the world exploded.

He couldn’t help himself, he yelled, the boy in his arms screaming along with him. They pendulumed into a low arc, but the explosion behind them pushed them back up into the air only to slow reaching the maximum height of their swing.

As they rose, Scott was confronted with the fact that if he didn’t disengage the grapple, they were going to swing back into the explosion.

Time slowed.

A click of a button disengaged the grapple. For a moment they floated in the air.

The boy was still screaming, his arms wrapped around Scott’s neck in terror. Reaching around him, Scott grabbed a new grapple pack, slapped it into the gun just as they started to fall.

Aim.

Fire.

Hang on for dear life.

And they were swinging again.

Wind rushed past his helmet and once again, they were rising.

“Scott, what the hell are you doing?!”

“Need a little help…” And they were approaching maximum height again.

He disengaged the grapple, the line dropping loose behind them.

Another pack.

Another aim.

The last of the stacks. “Virgil, I need you!”

The grapple thunked solid and their swing began again. “Virgil!”

The roar of VTOL and Thunderbird Two shot past. For a moment he was faced with the prospect of colliding physically with his brother’s ‘bird, but she drifted off, just far enough.

They reached the full height of their swing and there were no more stacks.

But there was a Thunderbird.

Last grapple pack slapped in.

Aiming at the side of a big green barn.

The blessed thunk of a secured grapple and they were swinging again, but this time their fulcrum moved with them, taking their momentum and slowing them down.

Ever so carefully his brother’s ‘bird killed their velocity and, ever so carefully, lowered them to the ground.

The grit of gravel beneath his boots was the most wonderful sound. The boy in his arms wrestled free and scuttled away from him, obviously terrified the rescue operative would make him do that again.

Scott disengaged the grapple and threw the gun to the ground. As the chemical plant behind him continued its self destruction, the Commander of International Rescue took a moment to sit his butt in the dirt and try to get his heartbeat back under control.

That had been one hell of a ride.

“Scott, you okay?” Thunderbird Two was making a hasty landing not too far away and no doubt a worried brother would be jumping ship shortly

“I’m okay, Virg.”

“That was one hell of a move.”

“No kidding.” He drew in a breath. “Thanks for the save.”

“Anytime.” TB2’s VTOL cut out and folded beneath her fuselage giving the explosions behind him aural dominance. “Though next time, drop the Spiderman audition, I’m not sure my blood pressure is up to it.”

Scott sighed as the kid continued to back away bit by bit. “No promises, bro. No promises.”

-o-o-o-

[acornered]

i messaged on discord already but since your inbox is wilding today can i get your thoughts on the current state of sapphic affairs in hotd

ohhh hell yes you watched the ep didn't you! How does it feel to be so right about everything?? I was thinking of your transmasc Rhaenyra au the entire time she was talking about wishing she could be a man, and how being with Daemon partially fulfilled that longing.

Rhaenyra and Mysaria bonding over their lack of power and agency in a male-dominated world, the realization that Daemon was attractive to them in part because he was their access to power, and the moment where they realize that they are capable of having power and pleasure outside of him....GAHH. The buildup was so excellent and (aside from thinking wlw representation in the Thrones-verse was long overdue), I think the way this was done makes perfect narrative sense. Rhaenyra's arc has always been about overcoming the limitations of her sex in a patriarchal society-- she wants to travel the world on dragonback, participate in battles, rule Westeros, be openly sexual-- all things that, as a woman, society denies her access to. Daemon has allowed and encouraged her to pursue her "male" desires, so it makes sense that she would feel destabilized by the withdrawal of his support. Mysaria's arc parallels this in that her access to power is limited by her sex AND her station, which is why her relationship with Daemon was so important to her earlier in the story-- he was her access to security, to the political power to make a difference for disenfranchised children like herself. Her backstory isn't just tragic, it's intentional, and it makes perfect sense as the origin of her political goals and the driving force of her actions. When Rhaenyra said she was "half a soul", I guarantee Mysaria was feeling echoes of the same sentiment that she herself had towards Daemon back when they were together. And Rhaenyra and Mysaria become whole, not by clinging to Daemon's empty promises of power, but by trusting each other, supporting each other, making a bid for power and freedom together.

Anyway, Rhaenyra's vulnerability allows Mysaria to be vulnerable in turn, they recognize a similar wound in each other-- the wound of a world that has failed them because it is a world meant to empower men at the expense of women-- and recognition becomes comfort becomes attraction. The decision to make Rhaenyra go for the embrace first is excellent, and I'd be remiss not to point out that the only other person we see her seek/offer physical comfort to is Alicent. She and Alicent were two girls against a world of men, and she has never healed from the loss of that relationship. And there is a part of her that intuitively knows Mysaria is missing a relationship like that as well. Politically speaking there is a power imbalance between the two of them, but in that moment they are just two women sharing in the grief of womanhood. That is why I love the decision to have Rhaenyra hug her first-- because it demonstrates their relationship as one of comfort and solidarity that allows desire to flourish, as opposed to what they had with Daemon-- submitting to a mutual sexual desire in the hopes that something more intimate and stable would follow. I disagree with the takes that suggest either character is using the other, or taking advantage of the other's vulnerability here, because there is so much buildup of mutual recognition and non-sexual physical intimacy beforehand. Rhaenyra clearly moves only to offer comfort, and the escalation from hug to kiss happens naturally as both parties realize that intimacy and desire are supposed to follow mutual vulnerability, and not be a substitute for it. I'm hard pressed to think of a less gratuitous makeout scene, and while I'm here-- the way HOTD uses sex between characters with intent instead of just as set dressing is what sets it apart from GOT, and one of the reasons why I fell in love with it much more than the mainline series despite being a huge ASOIAF nerd.

As much as I hope we get to see more rhaesaria, I am happy with this moment as is, as a culmination of these characters' relationships with each other and with Daemon. TLDR, it feels correct to me and anyone who says otherwise is homophobic. They compliment each other so well I'm...I feel bad for Alicent tbh like this is what she could've had...

[dano-or-not]

@kitkatwafer Here you are :) ; I’m actually watching the series and am finishing the Cleanup Arc right now so a lot of this is fresh on my mind!

Ritsu wanted Mob to fear him, he wanted to be just like Mob, he wanted to use people, he wanted to not care about anything except power, he wanted to know that his safety was guaranteed through his ability to overpower Mob.

So then of course Mob loved and protected him no matter what, he became his own person and even made a friend who knew him as Ritsu, not “Mob’s brother”, and Mob as “Ritsu’s brother” when for most it’s the other way around. He started helping others and encouraging them, and started caring about other people (like worrying about Reigens safety during World Domination arc). And in the finale he lost to Mob and was safe and content.

And I wouldn’t be surprised if I even missed some things! Ritsu is a pretty cool character.

And while I’m thinking about it Ritsu probably got a lot out of World Domination arc. He helped Shou because Shou and Toichiro reminded him of how he perceived his relationship with Mob, expecting Shou to defeat his father. Except Shou didn’t and things turned out better that way, as well as showcasing Mob’s feelings about hurting even the worst of people.

[ghostofhallownest]

it’s 1am so this is more of a note to self than anything but:

Nimona isn’t human. She’s her own thing, and the movie refuses to explain where she came from or if others are like her (good). Nimona doesn’t want to find *her* people genetically, she wants to find her *people* in terms of found-family, something she’s always been denied for being different regardless of what species she seeks out

Ballister is an outcast well before he’s used to murder the queen, but for the majority of his life he’s able to carve out a place of belonging. he has institutional power and privilege in a way nimona doesnt, even when he’s seen as a queen-killing villain

Ballister’s character arc is about learning to challenge his internal biases and be a good friend and ally to Nimona, and despite himself also being a type of minority in this world, he never understands her from the lens of his own experiences; he has to mentally venture out from what he knows to meet her where she is. he doesn’t automatically understand who she is because he himself has experienced ostracization, he asks her (sometimes small-minded) questions and listens to her answers and learns---she understands what it is to abruptly lose the community you love, but he doesnt easily understand what it is to shapeshift, but he wants to---or at least, wants to understand her better. and that results in him defending her to his literal childhood best friend / partner.

this but community infighting + how tribalistically dividing the queer community, demanding that we split up into our own little pieces of the alphabet alienates us from each other just as surely as we’re alienated from the broader world. how you can be a minority or part of a marginalized group and suffer in your life for those things and still have privilege compared to others (and how you can bond together with those people and not resent your differences in experience, and have compassion for the parts that suck and work together to achieve world domination your goals)

idk, something about ballister explicitly having grown up hurt and othered no matter how hard he tried to make himself palatable, how ballister graduated top of his class by merit alone and he is still always going to be “the first crack in the wall,” (and being top in the class over the descendant of gloreth is another, and the queen declaring anyone can hold the sword henceforth is another, and so on); there is no world where ballister makes himself Good Enough to not be a threat, and even though nimona knows this, she backs him up and fights for him and hopes against her better judgment that the system can be changed and only walks when he refuses to have her back

and how this is still nimona’s movie and the point is how ballister may be a crack but she’s a fucking wrecking ball in the wall and she must be destroyed at any cost

something something abt respectability politics, yk?

anyway. this is just one thread im kinda absently picking at but fr im going to absorb this movie until it replaces blood in my veins and i can play it while holding a conversation without missing a beat. insane about it v excited to read the graphic novel (im aware it’s different)

[spopsalt]

Ik Rick and BoJack are random but I wanted to add on some well written characters :)

context for the character and list of some of their crimes under the cut!

Catra Applesauce Meow Meow

Definitely my most controversial pick for this list! Catra was an abused child soldier and abused her sister Adora, she was redeemed buttt her arc wasn't really...good. Her crimes: War crimes Abuse of power Corruption Reckless endangerment Psychological abuse Assault Terrorism Attempted regicide Attempted mass murder Attempted world domination Attempted cataclysm Conspiracy Mass destruction Abduction & kidnapping Unlawful imprisonment Brainwashing Theft Torture Treason Usurpation Coercion Stalking Mutilation Aiding and abetting Illegal use of weapons Espionage Crimes against peace Crimes against Etheria Altering reality (unintentional)

Next up my personal least favorite out of this list, Stolas!

Awww poor guy, forcing someone into having sex with you with holding what they need for their job over their head, his crimes took me a bit longer considering he's considered just a poor guy buttt here's a list I thought of from the top of my head: Child Neglect, Abuse of power (unsure if that's a crime) harrasment, r*pe

Next up Bojack the Horseman, Bojack the horse don't act like you don't know!

One of the more sympathetic ones, he's still an asshole but he does try to change and he is well written. He's egotistical and has a huge ego, we do get a positive implied outcome in the series finale, but it's still unclear. Here's a list of his crimes: Murder via inaction Assault Attempted murder Theft Drugging Breaking and entering Harassment Stalking Drug dealing and possession Driving under the influence Supplying alcohol to minors Corruption Sabotage Fraud Identity theft Trespassing Child endangerment Bullying Destruction of property Arson Sexual misconduct with a minor Psychological abuse

Next up my favorite, but still an awful person, Rick Sanchez!

Again, he's one of the more sympathetic ones given his past, and he is actively trying to change and does really love his grandson,the rest of his family and friends even sacrificing himself for his grandson but he is still a horrible person with a longgg list of crimes, also disclaimer ripped most of these from the villains wiki so if any info is missing or inaccurate that's why. List of crimes: Unethical experimentation Negligence Mass murder Mass genocide Mass enslavement Mass torture Mass mundicide Mass property damage Mass manslaughter Mass theoricideMass omnicide (heavily implied)Terrorism Treason Theft Trespassing Death threats Hijacking Assault and battery Psychological abuse Human trafficking Vandalism Regicide Arson Deicide Piracy Possession Hacking Kidnapping Blackmail Con artistry Drug dealing Mutilation Brainwashing Smuggling Corruption Defilement Heresy Vigilantism False imprisonment Jailbreak Sabotage Incrimination Reckless endangerment Indecent exposure Impersonation Cannibalism Aiding and abetting Disturbing the peace Child abuse Substance abuse Abuse of power Burglary War crimes Animal cruelty Forced transmutations Corpse desecrations Grand theft DUI Pollution Attempted infanticideIllicit dealings Weapons dealing Graverobbery Usurpation Public intoxication Child endangerment Evading arrest Perjury Illegal weapons development

[henrysglock]

How do you think the mind flayer will be handled in the final season of stranger things? Do you think it will be destroyed or just sealed away? Or maybe some secret third option? (CAN it even be killed???) Also, what do you think would happen to characters that are flayed if the mind flayer was destroyed while they were flayed/possessed by it?

How do you think the mind flayer will be handled in the final season of stranger things?

Secret third option: No one ever asked the Mindflayer what it's really doing all this for. They all just assumed world domination was the goal. But what if it's not?

TFS tells us that the Philadelphia experiment led to Captain Brenner coming back "changed", much the same way Henry was changed after encountering that scientist in the Nevada caves. Who's to say Captain Brenner didn't come back flayed?

Who's to say we haven't been holding a part of the Mindflayer hostage on our side this whole time?

Especially, then, with the emphasis on getting Henry to return to Nevada/return to the source...Did we ever stop to consider that maybe we just pissed the Mindflayer off by stealing its babies for experimentation and refusing to give them back? Especially if we consider the bit trapped in Russia as compared to NINA and the possibility of NINA running on a trapped piece of Mindflayer.

Everything that happened may have just been the Mindflayer pulling a Brenner move and doing everything in its power to get those missing parts of the hive back (like having El look for Henry and then sending Shepard to explore the UD/things spiraling into full-on war after that). It would even set up a nice nuanced triangle of parallels with Joyce doing everything in her power to get Will back—even to the point of saying she wants to kill those responsible.

Who's to say this isn't all the fault of the US government? Who's to say the Mindflayer isn't justified? We keep taking parts of it and experimenting on them or killing them rather than giving them back!

So no, I don't think the Mindflayer will be killed or forcibly sealed away. That never makes the problem go away, per prior seasons. They need to figure out what it keeps coming back for, because I think if they do then they can get it to go away peacefully.

what do you think would happen to characters that are flayed if the mind flayer was destroyed while they were flayed?

If they already have a proper brain system (like a human) I think they would be just fine.

Everyone assumes that they'd die, since you'd be "cutting the brain off from the body", but humans already have a fully autonomous individual brain system. We see Will (?) communicating through his possession. He's still in there. He wasn't erased. Why would we continue to assume a flayed person would die if cut off from the hive? They're only being cut off from the hive. We're not cutting their physical brain stem. Being cut off should only affect creatures solely powered by the hive mind—meaning the possessed person should go into remission/return to normal, since that part of the hive would be dormant.

On top of that, we're given no reason to believe that the Mindflayer is a 1:1 match with a mind flayer. For example, the democreatures seem to derive their consciousness from the Mindflayer. However, we haven't been given reason to believe that they die either. They just go dormant until the connection to the Mindflayer is restored, as per the Russia arc. Like putting a computer in "sleep" mode.

So why would humans, who can function autonomously, die (or even go into a coma, for that matter)? Would they not just wake up from their possession and be "normal" until the connection is restored and they're re-activated?

In short: They'd be just fine, the same way anyone with a dormant viral infection is. You carry the virus, but you're not sick.

[gallusrostromegalus]

AEIWAM question:

The Soul Society has the ability to interact with the human world physically, and wildly more firepower than pre-dead people have. Is there a particular reason the world of the dead hasn't pulled a colonialism or other form of resource extraction on the world of the living? Is there a reason the warlords on the fringes of the rukongai don't set up in the world of the living instead of the spirit world's most marginal land?

Why haven't the dead colonized the living? The dead have not pulled a colonialism on the living world because (and IIRC this is canon but it's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment) while Shinigami, Arrancar and other dead spirits CAN go hang out in the living world for brief periods of time, if forced to STAY in the living world, their superpowers rapidly degrade because the ambient spiritual energy in the living world is so low. That's why Rukia wasn't *immediately* suspicious when her powers weren't coming back after activating Ichigo's, and why the shinigami that visit Ichigo's school during the aarancar arc don't stay after the battle- they can't heal effectively. There's also the whole "Balance the total number of Souls between the living and spirit worlds" thing. I'm not sure what the dead having permanent residency in the world of the living would do to that balance, but it's probably Not Great.

Why aren't there fringe district warlords or other countries? Great news! THERE ARE. They're just not human. Hueco Mundo used to be the bulk of the West 80th disctrict, but then it got lightly dimension'd off by the noble houses after they stole the Soul King's bodyparts, and the partition between Hueco Mundo and Soul Society is made of the Soul King's toes. Heck, it's even got a capital city- Las Noches! Las Noches used to be drastically more populated before Barragan took over and murdered the shit out of everyone he could find, because there's a BIG difference between not being able to let go of the living world and actually resorting to cannibalism, and I think there used to be a TON of hollows like Dondochaka and Pesche who just subsist off the ambient Reishi and do whatever instead of eating people. The Eastern 80th district is the land of the Beastfolk- Spirits like kitsune and tanuki, the ghosts of ancient and venerated trees, the sort of thing that appear in Mononoke/Mushishi/Princess Mononoke etc. and the wolves that Komamura is descended from. They're not as organized as the hollows so they didn't get ghetto'd like Hueco Mundo, but neither is the Soul Society able to tangle with them,. See, the entire Court Guard System and Central 46 was founded SPECIFICALLY to end and prevent the warring clans that had dominated Soul Society for so long. So the Central 46 and yamamoto are very much erring on "Don't let any extant clan or district or whatever political org gain too much power, and for the love of god, don't start a war", so the East is heavily protected by the sanctions that keep any clan from raising an army to invade another clan (much smaller than what would be needed to invade the east), the fact that the gotei-13 recruits very nearly all spiritually powerful people away from joining that kind of force, and Yamamoto's personal connection to Komamura's wolf clan (Major spoilers for the fic but the upshot is that he will NEVER tresspass on Wolf land, and the shinigami are also forbidden from doing so) The North is uncolonized for roughly the same reason antartica is uncolonized- most of it is straight-up inhospitable to human life, or all but a handful of beasfolk and hollows. In fact, the only thing that "Lives" up there are Kami- Serious Kami, like The Firebird and other personifications of Major natural disasters or philosophical concepts. The ONLY reason to go to North 80 is if you want to pick a fight with a God, and why would you do THAT when one of them just moved into the court guards? (That isn't quite true, actually- there are quite a few humans living on the southern edge of the Zaraki District- but they live in isolated villages that change locations every few decades and don't appear in Soul Society census data. They don't pay taxes, but neither do they demand services. The court guard is aware of the tribes living up north, but so long as they don't start shit, the gotei-13 is willing to ignore them.) The South 80th district is... well, it's 95% ocean, for starters, and many of the lovely tropical islands in there are active volcanoes and/or hellmouths. There's quite a few humans living in South 80, but the overall population is even smaller than the tribes in North 80, and many of the islands are "Uninhabited". I use quotes because those volcanoes are the result of Hell cracking under the strain of not being able to pass souls through it fast enough, and making incursions into other dimensions. The Demons that live on the spirit world side of these cracks have no beef with soul society- if anything, they're very pleased with it!, but they're busy trying to prevent a dimensional collapse or mass prison break, and tend to chase off any curious humans, so the closest thing to a "real" government is the Dimensional Crack Stabilization Project Manager, and the Law of Hell is mostly OSHA.

Thank you, that was a very helpful question!

[godisasimp]

Let's talk about Honkai Impact 3rd for a bit, yeah ?

I need to let go of it, scream into the void, because I can't stay polite about it, I started being rude in community servers about it.

Greetings,

I am a +960 days long player of the game Honkai Impact 3rd, I started during the Theater of Domination story arc and more precisely, during the Phantom of the Theater patch and the release of the valkyrie Stygian NYX.

But more importantly, I am a very so very tired player that also happens to be frustrated and angry at the treatment, or mistreatement, of a game I once held so dear to my heart.

I discovered Honkai Impact 3rd half a year after Genshin Impact's launch through an ad playing the Befall cutscene and immediately fell in love with the character I would later discover is called "Herrscher of the Void".

I don't remember most of my early days, but one of the things I do remember is getting my first S-rank valkyrie... The one who made me discover that game : Herrscher of the Void.

And ever since then I've been playing daily rarely missing a day, let alone more than that. I was eager to progress and eager to get new valkyries.

But unfortunately things changed.

The hill that keeps going down.

It all started with the release of Elysian Realm chapter story arc, a side story about Mei's time in World Serpent, at least it seemed so. It was a cute, Visual Novel styled story about a group of heroes from the previous era, an era mentioned in Mangas and the story that was shrouded in mysteries ; a cool side story to finally show us how the previous era was, to accompany the new game mode.

The gamemode was, and still is, very fun to play, with a lot of unique builds and play styles, it was a refreshing experience to not get burned out of Abyss and Memorial Arena, it kept improving overtime adding more and more characters ; the only major negative thing I could say about it was when mihoyo "fixed" the Mobius Signets who, very early on, allowed players an infinitely increasing buffs and made reaching the integer limit (aka going in the negatives) doable and easy, and also allowed anyone to clear the floors regardless of gear and level.

The story bits we're cute and gave life to the otherwise empty lobby, as you could randomly trigger conversation between characters and it really felt like you were walking in on a conversation that had started while you weren't here.

The Mobius plotline was wonderfully done, it wasn't a secret that she was evil, she was upfront about it and while she mash have tried to look cute in front of Mei at first, she never kept the act for long merely using it as a way of annoying her. The subplot of all of that was Elysia, the character that spoke and helped the most often, she was hiding her past and acting as the underlying mystery one may not notice at first.

A mystery who's resolutions unfortunately started Honkai Impact 3rd's worst, and still ongoing, era.

I've already said my fair share of thoughts about Elysium Everlasting, but for the sake of the post, I shall once again repeat my thoughts.

Following in Kolosten footsteps (and maybe through the influence of Genshin Impact), not good ones, Elysium Everlasting was "open world", as "open world" as Honkai Impact 3rd could get, this was not a welcomed choice by most of the fanbase, as a mobile game Honkai Impact 3rd has always told it's story through a Visual Novel style of story telling with minimal amount of walking around for the players, the stages being mainly used to fight enemies and bosses in ; the only other "open worlds" were in the same named category, all fully optional and merely just mihoyo testing the concept. Elysium Everlasting was the 2nd main story "open world" and my experience with is was beyond terrible, at the time I was using a pre-made low end computer that could barely handle Elysium Everlasting's scene, I experienced lags, textures not loading at all, freezes and crashes all throughout my playthrough of the chapter, something that worsen with Moon Arc, this experience made me frustrated already but the writing didn't make it worth it.

Elysium Everlasting's story was the worst one mihoyo ever wrote, it was a complete 180° from Elysian Realm, the new characters introduced did not get the luxury of the bits and pieces of randomly triggered conversations to expend their characters and unfortunately felt flatter than the first half. And they also suffered from the poor writing of the part, but at least they had no previously established character that got ruined and destroyed, same couldn't be said about the previously introduced characters, and the one who suffered most from it : was Elysia.

- Elysia : From beloved to beloathed

I've talked a lot about this character but I shall detail my history and experience with her one last time.

I have in my head created two distinct versions of Elysia : Elysian Realm and Elysium Everlasting. Simply because her character is so different between the two halves it is almost like we have two Elysias.

I will talk about ER!Elysia first because she is the one I like ; in the first half of the arc Elysia was presented as a very friendly character, borderline too friendly, and suffocating and pushing boundaries to the extreme for her own sake, a character that claimed to just be a normal girl... And she was just that, a girl that was happy, sad and angry, a girl that had insecurities about her group and the distance between her and the others, a character that lied to get her way and stole just for her amusement, she was normal, she had flaws and character, characters around her felt all sorts of ways towards her. That was who is she was, a normal girl with a past she wouldn't talk about.

And I very much liked that character, coupled with a design I really liked and she quickly became a favorite of mine in the chapter.

But then she went through what could only describe as a character assassination when Elysium Everlasting began.

Elysia who was a character who was allowed to have flaws was stripped of them, who was allowed to feel things beyond happiness was stripped of that, she was stripped of everything until all that was left is a flawless, perfect and unhatable "character". She became a character not allowed to feel even an ounce of sadness, even while walking to her own execution and death, a character no one was allowed to dislike her, all characters that previously called her a "traitor" and showed dislike towards suddenly flipped on their head praising her. Including Mei who was weary and not so attached to her.

The Flamechasers became what can only be discribed as an Elysia worshipping cult, who's only purpose was to sing praises to Elysia and nothing else.

With my small talk about Elysia done, let's go back to the overall story.

The story now lacking a threat had to create one from thin air, one that wasn't hinted at previously and so the Herrscher of Corruption fell into the story. And not even it was free from joining the Elysia worshipping cult the entire arc was.

After deleting Elysia, the Herrscher of Corruption also became infatuated with Elysia and decided to become her and leave the Elysian Realm to spread the gospel, if I had to guess.

I will say that the Herrscher of Corruption was a fitting enemy, an entity who's power revolves around data, set free in a realm entirely made of data is sure to create a dangerous foe.

Yet, despite being deleted from the Elysian Realm, Elysia came back and was used as a Deus-ex-machima type of character to finally defeat the final enemy, the finale wasn't a group effort it was just Elysia.

And just like that, Elysia deleted the Elysian Realm after being brought back through the sacrifice of others, she sacrificed herself and unfortunately this changed Mei's character, from hating self sacrifices and joining the enemy's organization solely to stop Kiana from sacrificing herself, to a character who is fine with self sacrifices all of the sudden.

And that characterization of Mei is one of the reasons Moon Arc was so terrible.

As I mentioned earlier, Moon Arc was yet another "open world" but even worse as it was scaled up, the lags worsen, I could barely play the chapter as I kept freezing, and so the frustration of Elysium Everlasting not only kept going but increased and made my experience of what is the final chapter of the original trio's story absolutely horrendous. And just like Elysium Everlasting, the story did not make me struggling to even launch the chapter worth it and I was about to give up on multiple occasions.

Moon Arc was a mess of retcons awful decisions.

The reveal that the Will of Honkai was the AI Prometheus made no sense at all and was not hinted at throughout the story, the Will of Honkai was always a naturally shapeless and emotionless figure that never spoke and only answered through actions, it did not seek anything, even when taking the shape of whoever is communicating to it, it had no face, it was just Thing. Not human, not herrscher just a physical manifestation of the Honkai's will, as its name say. But then the reveal of it being Prometheus made no sense considering the previous actions the Will of Honkai, and suddenly makes everything illogical and weird, and makes us ask why Prometheus did what she did, such as protecting Sirin and answering Otto's questions.

Then came Misteln, the "Hare" of World Serpent, who supposedly existed after Cecilia died and during Bronya's mother pregnancy, which is an inconsistency that has yet to be cleared, as those two time do not lineup at all, another confusing part of her is her powers, which are stigmata related but she seems to be able to do whatever the writers need her to do.

Staying on World Serpent, Kevin and his plan made no sense and their overall actions, or lack thereof was weird, they were supposedly trying to stop the trio and yet they helped them, talked to them for hours, and Hare even helped Bronya reached the full potential of her Herrscher core ; the overall pacing of the story was slow and there was no sign of the supposed emergency the trio was against, it was like a walk in the parc, slow walking and taking the time to have exposure.

But the worst part of all of it, was the introduction of Ai Lambda Hyperion, she was introduced in an event, in that event the player, aka us, were a part of it, it was a cute event about repairing the game and saving Ai Lambda. It was all there was to it. Until she came into the main story and so did the player, so did we. And that ruined everything, now the entire Honkaiverse is supposedly real in our world ; it especially ruined the final fight against Kevin, instead of the trio pulling through and beating Kevin, we do which makes their victory underwhelming and not as earned as if they won on their own.

Part 1's story started of as a really good, with character interactions and good character development but slowly the interactions and development worsen and disappeared leaving only an empty husk of its former self. Part 1 had a lot of potential for an emotional ending, but all we got was a nothingburger ending where Kiana is just physically stuck on the Moon but everyone can still visit her, instead of a feeling of isolation as a consequence of her saving the world, there was nothing to worry about, everything was going to be happy go lucky as usual.

- Part 1.5 : a breath of fresh air that wouldn't last

This part, or half part, started off slow and uninteresting for me, but it was still refreshing to focus on a character often put on the sideline : Seele, it also brought back a character shown in the manga and a visual novel, Shigure Kira, which was unexpected but welcome, they were focusing on existing characters instead of creating new ones.

But the start and my interest in this part was slow, but then the character Vita was introduced, a mischievous and humorous character that is still mysterious, a very interesting character with a lot of personality.

The 2nd half of Salt Snow Holy City, was way better, we had an actual threat in the form of Sa and Vita, while also having a lot of interactions between characters that otherwise wouldn't interact a lot, especially Veliona and Sentience, those two were very fun to watch and listen.

And so was the arc with Moriarty and all the Vita's, my only problem with this entire half part was the reveal of Griseo, while it does make sense somewhat, and Su I was hoping they would let go of the Flamechasers all together and never bring them up, their arc was over and they were only characters in a separate side story, but they slowly became main characters.

The twist of Vita doing all she did to betray and eventually kill Sa just to gain the freedom she craved and could never get as a proxy was wonderfully done and a well deserved ending for such a character, and it felt deserved and earned, she used everyone to advance her plans forward, and only relied on the other characters help at the end, when the final blow needed to be dealt, Kiana had to do it for Vita, but other than that Vita is the one who made her plan, worked towards it for years and manipulated Sa ; it was her win, she deserved it.

All and all, this entire half part felt so refreshing and made me hopeful for the future of the story... But unfortunately this miracle was just that, a short lived miracle the last bit of good writing Honkai Impact 3rd had.

Part 2 has a rough start, introducing a lot of characters in quite a shot amount of time and so the early bit felt quite rushed, but it slowed down once all the characters were introduced and set in the story it was quite good, and the threat of Perception was well set and the conclusion felt right... Or what I thought was the conclusion.

The twist of everything being a simulation from Dreamseeker's perspective just ruined everything, all the efforts went to waste and the ending suddenly felt worthless, it was just one of countless simulations so it meant nothing, all the emotial weight this had was gone.

I do like the mystery of Senadina, to at least have a bigger mystery connecting everything somewhat, and Vita's return to the story is one I am very happy about, it almost made me believe in MiHoYo again but as always, these moments of brightness in the other wise dark place the story is at are nothing more than dimly lit candles just about to go out.

- Honkai Star Rail : the false collaboration

It all started with a miscellaneous announcement of a Honkai Impact 3rd collab with Honkai Star Rail, Hi3rd collabing with other MiHoYo games happened before and it was very good, so we would get a collab character and outfit and lovely and funny noncanon event to go with it, everything should have been nice, I was on the fence due to the very bad Promare collab but I was hopeful, it was a collaboration between coworkers, they couldn't mess this up. Except they did, the moment it was revealed that Sparkle and other Honkai Star Rail related things were not noncanon events but fully main story canon.

Sparkle's introduction just created a whole mess in the timeline, her arrival in the mars computer happens before Welt's and Void Archive's departure, years before A Post Honkai Odyssey happens, it introduces the Solar System as a, weirdly, unreachable (supposedly protected by the Cocoon of Finality) place for Aeons and yet Sparkle and a random Messenger found it, that Messenger also sparks a new power scaling debate as she qualified Kiana as a "emanator" like entity, the interaction was not hinted at all throughout Penacony or anything Sparkle related prior to the collab happening, so it all just feels like a last minute decision to connect the two games, that were already connected through Welt and Void Archive.

From my point of view, there is no collaboration between the two games, this entire "event" and announcements were just to announce that the games were officially and connected as happening in the same Universe ; unlike collab valkyries Sparkle is fully gacha, an S-rank with no free way of being obtained, all collab characters are SP and farmable so this is already a suspicious play on Mihoyo's, and due to this Sparkle will have banner reruns after her banner ends, unlike collab that are only available in their patch, her stigmatas will be craftable despite being themed around her... All these points lead to the only possible conclusion : Sparkle was never a collaboration valkyrie, she is just a normal and permanent part 2 valkyrie. So the whole "collab" thing can only be assumed to be a bait of some kind, a bait for a valkyrie that is mediocre at best. A bait to lure in more spenders. A bait for money.

And so we reached the current end for the story, a beautiful story that unfortunately went downhill and the few good moments only ever lead to further disappointment, for we saw what they were capable of writing and producing and yet we were just let down, we were letdown more and more for one simple reason : the fandom kept praising the story, I barely saw complaints anywhere outside of my circle of friends, despite it getting worse and so mihoyo got away with writing worse and worse and worse until now, where we are at a point where salvation and redemption are no longer an option.

The fandom will crucify people who dare criticize the story because in their eyes mihoyo employees are some kind of Godly writers, hating a part will get you harassed, saying you dislike a character, especially Elysia and anything surrounding her, will get you seen as a bad person, this fandom has built so many layers of toxic positivity that it actively damaged the product. Mihoyo are not the sole responsible for the mess that Honkai Impact 3rd is, we are also sharing that responsability, for never calling mihoyo out their bad story choices, because the fandom kept "crying at the heartfelt stories" and because someone saying they disliked a fandom favorite was something worth getting bullied for, we like to call out other mihoyo games' fanbases toxic but we are no different, we are just as toxic if not more.

You may have noticed how I started to leave out details more and more as we progressed, simple answer I just skipped the story, because it was burning me out, going through long yet boring and non consequential stories was making want to stop playing, and so while I previously held the story above the gameplay and PvE aspect of the game, in current time that order has switched, and i skip story after reading summaries from CN to prioritize gameplay.

I also did not talk about events at all, and again it's really simple : the events, especially Captainverse, are really charming and well written, which is a very odd contrast to the main story, i focus more on those than the main story and find myself enjoying them even more ; this was a post to mostly complain and since I had nothing to complain about the events' writing I simply never mentioned them.

At least this whole thing is just my view of the whole thing, my view of the fandom, my view and opinion. And I just wanted it out of my chest.

I may add a portion about the character design, but this problem has mostly dissappeared since Part 2 began, so I don't feel the need to talk about it in details anymore, mihoyo moved on from that and so shall I.

[jaymber]

Alternative Final Arc: There should've been 3 factions!

So, I've finished season 7 and ooof, that season is a toughie. There's some stuff I loved, some stuff I hated, but mostly... choices that made me go "huh?" and "they would never do that!" and "since when?" and "is there a scene missing for it to make sense?".

So, I thought it over and realized I'd have a LOT more fun watching the season if it wasn't All for One vs. One for All, but a three factions war between Peace, Anarchy/Liberation and World Domination.

I totally based this idea around my other "well let's change canon" ideas, with Shigaraki leaving the last war early and LOV keeping AFO away from their leader, and Hawks' questioning of the status quo after hearing what Endeavor did behind closed doors during his entire hero carreer.

Here's the schema, with explanations underneath the cut.

Biggest change

So, the main difference between the canon timeline and the one I made up is that Tomura doesn't become a mindless puppet, mostly cause LOV won't allow it. I want them to become his new family that keeps him anchored, no matter if it's because of the power of love or shared hatred. There's still a connection between AFO and Tomura, and despite the latter's body & quirks not being complete, he manages to keep him at bay as long as they don't get too close to one another. He's pissed to realize he's been used and wants revenge WHILE still willing to destroy the world. AFO becomes just one more thing that has to go with the old world.

LOV still breaks into Tartarus, but to free Stain this time. AFO manages to take over Tomura's body and frees himself as well. Mr. Compress (Tomura left the last battlefield before the rest of the gang arrived on Machia's back here) marbleizes his leader when Spinner realizes that's not Tomura right now and they gtfo.

So, while Deku trains (the Dark Deku Arc was meh so, let's just make it a montaaage! Montage 🎶), it's a cat and mouse play between AFO and Tomura. LOV is used to run around Japan with barely any food or sleep, so they're tenacious.

So the final arc starts with:

- AFO sending his forces made of Nomus, Machia and jailbreakers to capture Tomura, while keeping an eye on Deku in case there's an opportunity to steal One for All;

- Deku learning to use all his quirks in hopes to stop AFO, until the Heroes realizes AFO and LOV don't work together and focusing their attention on the latter, since the group should be easier to take care of;

- LOV being their natural chaotic selves and just running around not to get caught, aided by the PLF, waiting for the two other factions to fight each other before finishing them off... expect none of them can follow the plan.

Izuku's side

Starting with the good guys, I wouldn't change much from the story. The plan to separate the bad guys is awesome and the hiccups along the way keep things interesting. Izuku would still want to save Tenko, but from himself/Tomura this time and stop his need for destruction without ending his life. He wants to keep the peace, like All Might wanted before him, even if that means leaving the system corrupted for some time. Peace before equity in a way, which, yeah, suits his character.

I will however REFUSE TO ACCEPT that Inasa teams up with Endeavor! Don't tell me this man didn't watch Dabi's revelation and gloated about "being right all along", c'mon!

Also, listen... Let's keep Bakugo's death impactful here. No magical ninja technique we never heard about. It's super sad cause he had finally realized he had to stop being so lame, but war's a b- after all.

League of Villains' side

Basically, I want true chaos out there, and not just "I pretended to be dead/incapacitated but sikes!" plotwists and I feel adding LOV as its own faction would achieve that, mostly cause I've been missing their dynamic this season. Gimme back the found family of weirdos already!

I see them as the most unstable team. Not because they don't care about each other (boring 🙄), but because they're unstable people fighting for a vague cause. Apart from Mr. Compress who does as he's told, which is mostly protecting the faction, they should be all over the place.

And yeah, even their reasoning for fighting should be all over the place. Shigaraki just wants to destroy everything, but Stain wants a world with more justice. It's pure anarchy, no one knows if something will be built after they tear Japan down, but they still want to make a change. They've got nothing to lose but each other, after all.

They're not even sure who their leader is. I love the idea of Tenko still being within Tomura, the person he would've been if AFO hadn't taken him in. Tomura, raised to destroy and Tenko, who just wants human connection. I think if he's rid of AFO sooner, he'd go with both names during the fight, since he's both (so even if Star tries New Order on him, not knowing AFO isn't there, it still wouldn't work). Well, he'd go with either Shigaraki (allies) or Tenko (close allies). Tenko would still stop himself from using decay at times. I love when that quirk is unreliable!

Stain wouldn't attack, or at least try to kill, anyone he sees as a true hero, and Spinner might chose to follow his lead at any moment. Shigaraki has become a friend to him by now, not his leader. And sometimes your friends make super dumb decisions 🤷

Tōya and Himiko are unstable in the same way. They will listen to Tomura's orders... until a certain point. Himiko still resents Hawks for Jin's death and might attack him at any moment no matter which faction he's in (I'll explain later).

As for Tōya, he's just as volatile. Tomura might promise him he can personally end Endeavor once the war's over, but Tōya will obsessively fight him and Shōto if their paths meet, even if that means leaving AFO get to Tomura, or the heroes stop his leader.

In this timeline, Tōya didn't get to do his little dance (sorry, king 😔). They leave the previous war before it happens in canon. He just releases the video. Despite Endeavor wanting to make amends for what he's done, he persuades himself Dabi is lying just to hurt him and the credibility of pro-heroes. We know the commission lie to the civilians to keep them from questioning their decisions, the pro-heroes would go with the story that Dabi made it all up so Endeavor can stay #1 hero until peace is reestablished. It's not a "let's pretend it never happened 'cause Endie said he was sorry 🥺" but a "even though Endeavor is sorry, and even if Dabi says the truth, the heroes need the support of the civilians rn, no matter what." I would've liked that kind of reasoning better then 🤷 well he's sorry so 🤷.

Even though Tomura just wants to destroy it all, teaming up with Stain and the Liberation Front means many hope something else will be built from the ashes, a better society, so whatever horrible thing that happened to (almost) everyone in the faction never happens again. This is the reason why people like Hawks are tempted to join LOV's faction, they're tired of the status quo (especially with Endeavor still "in commands") and are optimistic that this revolution won't be total destruction, but the dawn of a new age.

All for One's side

I wouldn't change much either. The whole "I have so many plans in my mind I cannot fail" is interesting. I wasn't a big fan of him not dying out of nowhere, but with the explanation it makes sense, risking to rewind himself to death is bold though. I love it!

BUT! It feels weird to me that OTHER nations chose to join AFO's side and their no mention of the Japanese government in all this. Is there still an emperor is this universe? No one in the police force is like: "maybe if I join his side now, my family will be spared" ? What I mean is: let Japan be corrupted as well! Let the heroes' plans fail because they trusted everyone on their side to be as fearless as they are of AFO! Let "being a hero" mean more than using a quirk (or a quirked mecha-suit) to fight off bad guys!

The ones in-between

Again, I want chaos! BNHA keeps talking about the gray areas, so I want some people caught in-between factions.

- Kurogiri: Tomura isn't on AFO's side anymore, but Kurogiri still has the directive to protect him WHILE obeying to AFO. In this timeline, both AFO and LOV want to free him (AFO to control the nomu, Tomura to steal his quirk cause they know Kurogiri cannot be fully trusted). AFO gets the information on Kurogiri's location thanks to corrupted people, and breaks him free. He tries to send him to retrieve Tomura, but Kurogiri still wants to protect him and wrap him away from AFO. He's pretty much caught in between them both. I want Kurogiri's quirk to be almost overused by AFO commanding him and Kurogiri trying to protect LOV by switching their location.

-Hawks: Hawks didn't support Endeavor in this timeline and starts to see the similarities between himself and the members of LOV, finally realizing through their files and Endeavor's reveal that they could've been him if they had "better luck", he could've been one of them if one moment had turned out differently so many years ago. He stops wanting to be a hero as the word has lost its meaning after losing his idol. He relates to this wish for freedom and the possible better future with siding with LOV, but he's not so sure about fighting his former colleagues. He mostly protects everyone from AFO and his allies, while trying to maintain his double alliance. Buuut mostly, I want Himiko to just decide to fight him at some point, especially if Hawks has sided with them at that moment 😌

- Chiraki: I didn't like how Chiraki was brought back. It doesn't bring much to the story. It might be an unpopular opinion, but if Endeavor gets a redemption arc, what stops Chiraki from TRYING to get one? AFO uses Chiraki to toy with Tomura, giving him quirks, but Chiraki wants to make amends with his father and respect his rules to stay away from villainy. He might join the good guys to respect this wish. Let's just keep Eri away from all this, please.

Conclusion

Tbh, with this 3 factions idea, I wouldn't even mind the heroes winning and keeping the status quo for a while for the sake of peace, with slow gradual changes hinted in the final chapter. LOV would lose cause they're their usual chaotic selves missing a sense of direction, not because they "don't love each other the normal way". I wouldn't even mind them to not survive the war, if they can go out together, on their terms.

So yeah, anyway, really want to write this fix-it fic now from LOV's pov 😌

[dc-polls]

"That Really Happened?!" DC Comics Tournament Entry #34

Shvaughn/Sean

[ID: Cover of Legion of Super-Heroes #1 that says Young Romance. Shvaughn Erin cries into a handkerchief and says, "*choke* He spends so much time saving the world... When will he find time for me?" In the foreground Element Lad looks off into the distance. A narration box reads, "All my life, happiness eluded my grasp... and nothing I ever cared about lasted! Was this the way it had to be with Jan, too? The Elements of Heartbreak!" /END ID]

What Happened?

Shvaughn Erin was a member of the Science Police, the 30th-century cops who assisted (or hindered) the Legion of Super-Heroes. During the Paul Levitz/Keith Giffen run in the 1980s, she became romantically involved with Legionnaire Jan "Element Lad" Arrah. This upset some members of the Legion fan community who had a theory that Jan was gay. The character wasn't traditionally masculine, wore pink, and had curly blond hair (look, this just how gay coding worked in the 70s and 80s).

When Giffen and married couple Tom and Mary Bierbaum (who got their start in the Legion fan community) took over the title with 1989's vol. 4 (aka, the "Five Years Later" run), one of the things that Giffen wanted to do was kill off Shvaughn to establish Element Lad as gay. They were already using Jan's archenemy, the criminal Roxxas who years ago had genocided the rest of the his species, the matter-transmuting Trommites, as the villain for the first arc. Shvaughn was eventually spared this fate, but the writers still had to square the circle of why a "gay" character would be involved with a woman. Their solution? What if "she" was a "he?"

I'm going to try to explain the rest of this story in as sensitive a way as possible. This is a story that was written in 1992 by, as far as I know, three cishet people and your millage will vary (and as a cis person myself, I can't really speak to how well this holds up). I will generally be using she/her pronouns when the character is presenting as Shvaughn and he/him when presenting as Sean.

In Legion of Super-Heroes, vol. 4 #31, the Earth is recovering from the devastation of losing the moon due to the machinations of the alien Dominators who have infiltrated and subverted the planetary government (note also, the Dominators have an extremely problematic "yellow peril" design so there's a lot going on here). In the midst of this, Jan and Shvaughn meet for the first time in a while. Jan finds out that Shvaughn is going through withdrawal from not being able to obtain the drug Profem. She explains that she had been born male under the name Sean on a very conservative planet. While growing up, Sean developed a crush on Element Lad, who as a teenager was intergalactically famous as a member of the Legion. Thinking that the only way a boy like Jan would find him attractive, Sean started taking Profem, changed her name to Shvaughn, enrolled in the Science Police academy, and eventually became the liaison to the Legion. Now, without access to the drug, Shvaughn is reverting back to her more masculine appearance.

Jan takes all of this in, before telling his former lover that "anything we ever shared physically...it was in spite of the Profem, not because of it!" Shvaughn later runs into the teenage clone of Element Lad from the Dominator's Batch SW6 (we can't get into that right now), and in future appearances shows up fully presenting as masculine and going by Sean. The adult Element Lad goes into a coma and Sean is at his bedside.

Then the Legion gets rebooted in Zero Hour, all of the Legionnaires are teens again with new continuity, and Shvaughn (when she shows up at all) is back to presenting as female with no indication that she was ever Sean. Element Lad (unless I missed anything) is only given female love interests or sexual partners by later writers, or implied to be asexual with a spiritual bend.

While Shvaughn is far from the first female love interest who gets her storyline derailed to support a gay headcanon, it is surprising that it 1. happened in canon and 2. the solution was not to kill her off, but to reveal she is trans (ish?) so the character can detransition back to a man so that his love interest can be gay. What's really weird is that Giffen and the Bierbaums also made canon a romance between Light/Lightning Lass and Shrinking Violet, but never felt a need to invalidate their previous relationships with male partners, which maybe points towards the culture of the time's perceptions of male vs. female bisexuality.

--

Tournament polls will be posted after all entries are up. As always you can find all posts related to the tournament using #dc-polls-trh

[crimeronan]

i was about to send an ask like "hahaha half of the alt timelines for pl au are mostly just "what if More Grimwalkers" next one is camila walker. idfk" but.. im thinking about camila walker now.

au where belos got luz when she was a few years older and therefore she missed her mom and wanted to go home Extremely Bad. and belos somehow gets his way into the human realm and finds camila.

and he explains how luz was Chosen to be in the isles, and how she cant come home BUT camila can come with him. and uh camila Reacts Appropriately. by trying to Kill Him.

but belos was prepared for this. so he knocks her out. and she wakes up without a pinky finger on one hand, in her own bed.

and a few weeks later, he reintroduces Camila to luz. and even if luz is old enough to remember her mom, she isnt old enough to do the mental leaps it would take to realize whats wrong. shes still a kid.

so. belos tells the world the isles has brought them two humans.

(i know this makes me Part Of The Problem of all the more grimwalkers aus. but SSSHHH)

FJSJDJD. justice was just saying this as she drove me home, actually. "everyone keeps coming up with new grimwalker horror that i didn't even know was a possibility with grimwalker horror. because i'd never seen it done before"

this actually isn't the first time a grimwalker camila timeline has been posited. it IS a lot better than the one from a few months back, though. iirc that one was about camila fighting her way into the isles much Much sooner, but refusing to cooperate with belos, & belos straight-up killing her. and then creating a grimwalker of her for luz, who is Distraught.

love thinking about this. love camila Not Being Fucking Dead for it. and now if i can diverge a little....

i think Most of my owl house followers now have never read the dreamer trilogy by maggie stiefvater, which is my next biggest fandom by far. & also remains my favorite bookseries ever (despite some mild disappointment with certain arcs in the final book).

one of the main characters in that series had parents whose relationship was.... Not Very Functional. to put it mildly. and his mom eventually divorced his dad & abandoned the family. and his dad's response to this was to create a sweet, gentle, even-tempered stepford smiler clone of his bitch wife. with no agency. and have her raise his kids.

the problem is that this MC, alone of all of his siblings, remembers his real mom.

and knows that the mom who raised him was Wrong (TM).

and has been quite literally gaslit about this and told that he's an insane psycho cunt for his Entire Life.

also another one of the main characters (hennessy, of my blog description fame) has been essentially creating and sustaining and murdering grimwalkers of herself since she was ten. she & the main clone of herself are both main POV characters who have a Viciously codependent/messy relationship and battle for dominance over their shared identity.

so like. if anyone here has been Very Into all the grimwalker horror in this AU, and/or into all the psychological horror of luz and hunter's relationship, and would like to read some original fiction that features All Of That Shit..... WOW do i have a bookseries you'll enjoy.

[ahmobbu]

just read your tags on that post about Ekurei and wanted to say. yes thank you exactly lol dunno how so many people are missing the very blatant chemistry

like let’s think of ekurei narratively: you have two characters, one filled with self loathing and the other filled with ego.

the first time they met, dimple noticed right away that reigen was a fraud. reigen didn’t have to confess anything, lie about anything, it’s something dimple immediately knows.

reigen on the other hand only ever saw dimple as the stripped down version of his powered up self. dimple doesn’t have to talk himself up as a god bc reigen knows his own limits, he’s powerless. he can’t exorcise. hes not a threat.

so they have this sort of relationship after s1 where they kinda see each other for who they rlly are, but they don’t talk about it. well, they do, thru emotionally distant insults and eyerolls. they joke around and they don’t acknowledge it or they do but it’s the worst way possible. like take their convo in separation arc is pushing each other’s buttons in the most personal way oh, you’re not needed anymore. and oh, you’ll never achieve your dream. or they do but only in times of need, like reigen asking dimple to look after mob in world domination arc. an acknowledgment that he can’t be there for him, but he trusts that dimple will.

they’re both similar and different at the same time. they both yearn to be somebody, they both yearn to have genuine relationships. reigen thinks the only way to achieve this is by being helpful. dimple thinks it’s by being manipulative. but they’re both helpful and manipulative and they don’t wanna say they started caring abt mob bc they feel guilty (reigen) or they feel too proud (dimple). they both navigate their lives (or afterlife) thru pretense.

and that’s why the finale made them such a strong dynamic. its dimple, who is known for fleeing to save himself, putting himself in danger to help reigen stay alive for his confession. it’s reigen accepting help and acknowledging hes powerless against this side of mob. reigen, what are you going to do after this. i don’t know.

it’s them dropping the pretense in the epilogue. a spirit should have a purpose for existing, but dimple already fulfilled his. reigen is no longer a mentor, the role hes defined himself for 3 years. their lives are independent of each other. they don’t need each other. but they still stay together. why? bc they want to.

so, to answer your question, how are ppl missing all this? how are ppl not noticing this chemistry? this narratively sound pairing?

well. it’s bc dimple looks like a fart.

[wetcatspellcaster]

Hi miss Wetcat!

How do you picture Astarion's and Rose's relationship if Astarion's dream came true and he turned Rose into a vampire?

Hello, Ser Chunkymonkey,

it is.... bad.

In a more serious answer, I do see a glimmer of a better timeline in there. Rosalie is very lonely (lol see previous ask) and so having the excuse to remove her choice and morals from the equation entirely might in some ways be freeing. She could indulge in just being loved and looked after, etc., without moral complicity in the wider picture being an issue.

But in truth, that relies on the Ascendent never wanting anything more once he has her, and my characterisation of him doesn't accommodate that reading [for REDACTED reasons that will become clear in due course. For now, you simply hear 'Satisfied' from Hamilton playing in the far distance].

Once he has Rosalie, what does he want next? It's probably not another lover... is it the evil world domination plan? A smaller version of it, where they take over the Gate? Does he just want to be allowed to start killing people? Does he simply want her to be happier, so he wants to start turning her friends into spawn too, so she's not so lonely all the time? Whatever he desires next, requires Rosalie to compromise herself further, in a slow and steady descent into something increasingly unpleasant.

If what the Ascendent is trying to preserve is Rosalie 'as is' (or as she is in his mind, a paragon of virtue, etc.) then it is always going to end badly. In my version of this story, he doesn't want a 'we make each other worse' arc, necessarily (I think he'd take pride in it, if he made her worse it would be a victory, but then he'd just have a 'worse' version of her... so um... that doesn't go well for them either). He wants the moral compass and the perfect angel to redeem him, while making her like him so they're both suffering through the same experience together and he's no longer alone in it. What he wants is simply unfeasible and impossible for Rose to achieve.

As such, I do think that the Ascendency and Consort timeline ends in complete and utter tragedy. Either Rosalie kills herself, kills him, kills them both...

idk, maybe there's a fun sapphic reading in there where her and Hemlock conspire together to overthrow the Ascendent somehow. They might be clever enough to achieve that together. But there's no version of events where Ascended!Astarion gets what he wants, and then never tries to push his luck a second, third, fourth, fifth time...