#i mean we love him unconditionally but he still committed a murder

[dragonfly1302]

I love how everyone conveniently forgot that Terry killed Ibis

[lostsyren]

interesting 🤔

https://x.com/obxinfo/status/1864381797376905325

Gonna use this ask to springboard into the entire interview!!

Ohhh rafesofia Bonnie and Clyde typa beat?? Insane. I don’t think this necessarily means she’d be this badass, femme fatale, crime girl, which most people are assuming. I think what Fiona probably saw in their dynamic was the ride or die kind of relationship�� like Sofia is with her mannnn, she doesn’t care about his grisly rumours and murderous ties– she loves him!!!

Oh so the writers really didn’t help her out with the character :/ ugh they should just let Fiona write rafe and Sofia’s scenes because she’s asking the important questions here. And this is just testament to what a great actress Fiona is– throughout the whole interview you can tell how much effort and love she put into Sofia (which made up for the lack of it from the showrunners/wrtiers) and I think that’s the reason sofia is so captivating to me! And her playing across Drew is sooo perfect because he has that same ethos for Rafe’s characterisation.

Flirty, coquettish Sofia rip😞I definitely see this in her scenes in s3– like both Rafe and Sofia were exuding charm and flirtation in the party scene and in the morning after scene. But they depart from that massively in s4. Ig it makes sense– Sofia is just a hookup in s3. It’s like both Rafe and Sofia are play acting different roles (rafe being this playboy, suave guy and Sofia being this playful, teasing flirt). But when their bond grows in s4, where they’re in this committed, long term relationship, they become more honest. Rafe is vulnerable, he asks her for help, for advice, he’s sweet, he’s caring. And Sofia forgoes the fabricated confidence of someone pretending to be a kook. She doesn’t need to flirt, she’s got rafe locked down. Hence her “softheartedness” shines through.

And I think it’s so sad that Fiona clocks the fandom– like if Sofia was this provocative and seductive character she’d get sm more hate. People hate to see a confident woman smh. But I’m happy with the Sofia we got too– I think there’s elements of her playful nature there still, but a soft sadness too (which makes sense cuz she’s with rafe– things were for sure not going to be flirty and fun all the time)

Again ride or die Sofia!!! Like that intense love and protectiveness she has over him conveys this “ferocious” spirit. When she scolds her dad for suggesting betrayal, her sticking by him at the party, calming him down– she defends and encourages him. (Which adds to why his comments about her being a hookup and a pogue cut so deep to her– he didn’t defend her when the time came, he lacked that ferocious protectiveness that she gave him in abundance)

YESSS ive said it before– Sofia loves him unconditionally. It’s pure, it’s sweet. She falls for this fairytale romance. Rafe sweeping her up from her dead end job, letting her into his mansion, showering her with love (we see how physical and touchy they are). And I don’t think it’s in the kind of gold-digger esque way– that because he’s rich she’s acting so loved up. I think she looks past his kook exterior rather than luxuriate in it.

Which leads me to my point that, I think Sofia relates to Rafe, she sees herself in him. Like Fiona says, “she’s someone who is kind of on her own…floating between worlds and not quite fitting in anywhere”. Rafe also first that description. We see him change dramatically and drastically across the seasons, flitting between different boundaries. One second he’s with Barry down at the Cut, then he’s off parading himself on Figure 8. He has a different face for everybody– one for the kooks, one for his family, one for Ward, another for Barry. But where Sofia “trusts the people around her and their ability to do well” Rafe does not. His heart is hardened, he’s suspicious, he’s on defence. Both Rafe and Sofia are self-preserving, it just manifests in different ways.

[matan4il]

Daily update post:

This morning, 15 minutes after the break in fighting was supposed to begin, Hamas fired two rocket barrages into southern Israel. This is what we mean when we say that Hamas has broken every ceasefire ever. The only reason why this didn't lead to the hostage deal falling apart, is because Israel chose to "contain" Hamas' violent rocket attack. But remember this when we explain why we can't accept Hamas' existence anymore.

Israel confirmed that the 13 hostages being released have arrived in Egypt, and there are already Israelis there, taking care of them. IDK when we'll get their names, and images of them safe back in Israel, but as you can imagine, everyone here is holding its breath for that. Still, their well being comes first, they're being taken to a hospital first, to see their families, and only then (and based on whatever they prefer) will there be anything more public. There will not be interviews, however, 'coz something they say might risk the other groups of hostages meant to be released in the upcoming days.

Hamas is also releasing some of the Thai nationals they've kidnapped (I heard 12 of the 23 taken hostage), which are being let go of unconditionally. Before anyone tries to make out this shows Hamas is humane, I'll just point out that Hamas terrorists murdered at least 33 Thais on Oct 7.

Some of my fave commentators recently on what's going on here since Hamas' massacre aren't Jewish, or even Israeli. Here's a few of their tweets:

Regarding the last one, I just wanna say that most Israelis will continue to trust most Arabs. That's just how we have always lived, despite the on going terror attacks. The day after Oct 7, I mentioned that I went to my hospital treatment. The guard there is an Arab guy. He carries a gun. I couldn't help but think about it. And then I did what I always do, I thanked him for his work (being a guard is difficult), and wished him a good day. He smiled big and wished me the same. He's lovely. What Hamas did on Oct 7 is not his fault. But the mistrust of survivors, and some of those who care about them, is also very human and understandable, as much as I'll continue to call on everyone not to generalize about Arabs, or any group.

Especially when some of Hamas' victims are themselves Arabs. Here's a young Israeli Muslim Bedouin woman, who has been speaking up on behalf of her friend, 17 years old Aisha al Ziadna, who was kidnapped by Hamas on Oct 7.

A Sky News reporter was particularly shameful the other day. She tried to use Israel's willingness to release 3 convicted terrorist per just 1 innocent civilian hostage to vilify Israel. Here's the reply she got:

Just a reminder, once again, that when you listen to western media, which is supposed to be objective, these are often their info sources on this conflict:

Speaking of lack of objectivity, an Israeli newspaper found out that the International Criminal Court has appointed a Danish lawyer to investigate the Israel-Hamas war, and it's a man (I'm not sure I'm transcribing his name from Hebrew correctly, but it should be something like Andreas Laursen) who has worked in the past for a Palestinian "human rights organization" which has been outlawed in 2021 for having ties to terrorist organizations, who was involved in 2018 in trying to make the case that Israel had committed war crimes, who has lived in the Palestinian city of Ramallah, and who is married to a Palestinian woman. This Israeli newspaper has contacted the ICC, asking why the person appointed to this investigation isn't someone who would at least appear to be unbiased. The answer was (I'm translating from the Hebrew article): "We maintain confidentiality about anything that pertains to specific subjects that are related to our employees. Every personal decision made by the head prosecutor fits the policy and relevant procedures that oversee the court's human resources matters."

Because there are still people denying the Hamas rapes:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by כאן חדשות (@kan_news)

I've spoken before about Liel, and how long it took to identify her body, but this tweet kind of broke me all over again.

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

[aita-blorbos]

AITA for killing my wife, along with committing or being responsible for several other crimes, and then blaming it on my brother?

The title makes it sound worse than it really is.

A bit of background. My (40M) wife (39F) berated me constantly, compared me to my brother and insinuated she'd rather be with him, etc. It was a huge hit to my self esteem at the time, and she'd been doing it for years. A few days before the murder itself, I had found out that my high school bully (40M) had sex with her in high school. I had also heard from my brother (38M) that she was extremely unhappy in the marriage, shortly before I punched him in the face.

All of these elements made the following incident much more intense for me. Me and my wife had a washing machine that sounded off, so I had attempted to fix it. She found me in the basement doing this, and the washing machine refused to work and malfunctioned after I had done this. She accused me of "ruining" her washing machine, and started to berate me once again, and I JUST couldn't take it anymore, you know? So, in the heat of the moment, I struck her with a hammer. I really didn't mean to, but before I could take everything back, she was already dead with a massive head wound.

Before this, I had interacted with a guy (40s? M, I'll call him L) in the hospital waiting room, where I had told him about my high school bully (who broke my nose shortly after the conversation we had). He ended up killing my former bully, which I was really not expecting. After I killed my wife, I called him to come help me hide the body. Before he could do this, however, a cop came to my house and found my wife dead in the basement. L suddenly arrived in my house and killed the cop. I panicked after this and had no idea what to do, so I smacked my head into the wall and feigned that it was a robbery gone wrong and I was the only survivor.

Several cops were suspicious of this. I stayed at my brother's place for a few, and everything he did just irked me. The cops were on my tail, and the pressure was getting to be too much as they were slowly closing in on me and L' s crimes (which he had done a lot of before and after he met me). I placed a picture of my wife along with the murder weapon in his secret cupboard (which was also filled with guns) and then put a gun in his son (9M)'s backpack so that his house could be searched to find the fake evidence. He did end up being convicted and the case was solved.

It's now a year after the fact, and I have a new wife who is nothing like my former one. She's sweet, and kind, and loves me unconditionally. I haven't heard of L being convicted of any crimes in the year that passed either, so I'm pretty sure everything is alright now. I still feel a lot of guilt about the incident, and even though I feel pretty justified about it all, it's one of those things you can't quite get over, you know?

[telperinquaar]

I mean this in good faith and sincerity.

Nobody was defending or justifying his actions. I believe I actually said that he was the kind of person that the phrase "cool motive, still murder" applied to. Everyone I had seen reblogging your post was saying that he was a villain while also being a victim. Reading your statements, I was lead to believe that you were saying that he couldn't be both.

You can understand why a character is the way they are and agree that they're a villain. Darth Vader, as Anakin, was groomed by Emperor Palpatine, which is why he becomes a villain. That doesn't excuse his villainous actions, but it explains why he did them.

Michael Langdon from American Horror story was a victim of abuse, later growing up to become the Antichrist and literally destroying the world. Inexcusable, but it's important that we see the actions that led him there.

Personally, I think it's incredibly important that villains in media are humanized; it allows us to view the monsters of the world in a safe way, and understand that the real bad guys of the world aren't going to be comic-book mustache-twirlers. They are going to be people that you might sympathize with. People that you know, and might even like. People that you might even love.

And conversely, there are people who love him despite everything he does, simply because... he's not real. You can love a character--even a villainous one--unconditionally because he's not real. I can love Homelander despite the fact that he represents fascism and white supremacy and still be against these things in real life. Why? Because I know that Homelander isn't real.

This fandom has more "x reader" fanfics than any other fandom I've been in, and I think it's because all of these characters, no matter how awful they are, are tragic. People ignore the crimes they've committed because they want to save and help these people that are obviously in pain, even though if the character were real, they wouldn't give the fic writer the time of day.

I'm not really sure what I'm trying to accomplish here. I guess I'm just trying to explain where the Homelander Defense Squad comes from, and why nobody is trying to justify his actions. They're just trying to explain their sympathies towards a victim of horrific abuse.

Hello 😄

So my other blog is Hom3landr and that’s where I do all my posting for The Boys fandom. I do blorbo post about Homelander a lot and my fics lean on the softer side so my blog may not be your bag which is fine. But you’re always welcome to pop in and chat about him and The Boys in general.

I don’t necessarily think analyzing his character a certain way is defending him as when it comes down to it, this is all just one big fictional playground. Which I think is why hackles got raised since a lot of the fandom does interpret his character in more of a tragic light based on how they watched the show. There’s nothing inherently wrong with “blorbofying” a villain as the characters themselves have no bearing irl so there’s no harm in having a lil fun.

But I also think you’re within your right to form your own opinions. As long as we respect each other’s takes on the character even if we don’t agree then we can all be fans of this asshole together.

Hello :)

Can you tag me to your blog?

Anyway, it is alright to analyze and understanding a certain character and like them, like why the character is like that and how they ended like this.

But my take was because I saw some fans defending Homelander and justifying his bad actions, and yes a villain can be a victim at the same time, I hope you get what I mean, because almost no one here is trying to understand what I'm trying to say they only want to convince me the otherwise 🤷🏻‍♀️

Like I said we can love bad or good characters but we shouldn't ignore their bad actions and flaws.

And thank you for your respectful ask :)

[hokusu]

So many unsavory takes and outrage out there, so here is my take on why I think for the most part, the ending fits and Attack on Titan ended well. It's not perfect, but it fits. There’s so much to say that I can’t fit in one post, but I want to talk about Eren in SNK. One of the things I love about SNK is that while it takes place in a fictional world, the difficult subjects--prejudice, war, and how cruel the world can be--has always felt realistic. And to the very end, it lives up to this. That the world isn't black and white, it's not about the clearly defined "heroes" or "villains", it's that everyone is very much truly human. For me, I can’t disagree more that Eren doesn’t feel like “Eren”. Eren, from beginning to end has been through and through who he's always been. This is the boy from day 1, who isn't afraid to take away the freedom of those who want to take his. This is the boy who always fought to keep moving forward and he did, until the very end. He’s never been “traditional” heroic and he’s never been afraid to do the unthinkable (it is also one of the reasons I love most about him). And while Eren had been under the guise of this stoic character who kept pushing forward even through the cruelest fates and even committing genocide, I'm thankful we got to see his humanity come out one last time. I'm not an Eren/Mikasa shipper as I have previously stated, but honestly I'm not even bothered by the scene in 139 where Eren declares he doesn't want her to think about anyone else or to forget him, for ten years at least--I think this scene is very much up to interpretation whether he loves her platonically or romantically and that's up to however anyone wants to interpret this.

But putting that aside, for me, the importance and interpretation of this scene isn't his "declaration of love" or how that confession seemed out of place, but that it's about how we finally truly see Eren again and what he wants. That he wants to live, he wants to be with them, and he doesn't want to be forgotten. His "declaration" of not wanting her to think of someone else, to me is really just him saying Mikasa’s name in context, but really implying for all of them (the people important to him). That he wants to be with Mikasa, with everyone. And this wishful outburst to not be forgotten, to not be replaced by "Mikasa finding another man" is simply the nineteen-year old Eren's desperation to live. He's so very human here and he wants to live. It's easily one of the most heartbreaking scenes in the manga, seeing the “selfish” side of him finally come out again. Because above all of Eren playing the martyr so that the people most important to him can have a chance to live, above him knowing undeniably that can't ever be forgiven, he still doesn't want to die (especially, not alone, forgotten in a few years time). What he's doing is completely unforgivable, but it's not forgiveness that matters here, it's about his sacrifices, about the lengths he's willing to go, his desperation and how he unconditionally loves his friends/his people more than anything in the world.

Eren’s been alone for so long like Armin said and this whole time, even though he's talked to all of them in paths, he's erased their memories temporarily. He is alone, even up to his last moments. Eren is truly the most tragic character, but as SNK always shows, the world is impossibly cruel but there is and always will be, glimpses of beauty (beauty that is their friendship, beauty in them remembering him despite his unforgivable sins, beauty in Eren's love for the people important to him, beauty for the world’s ability to move on--that life truly goes on).

I also want to say that clearly to me, nowhere in this chapter or the characters (including Eren), was genocide ever justified/glorified, etc. just because Armin thanks Eren for "being a mass murderer". Armin clearly states that what Eren did was an "error", but Eren's made that choice, Armin isn't thanking him for committing genocide, he's thanking him for loving them so dearly that he'll sacrifice himself so that they can have even a shot at peace. Even if it's not solving everything. And for those who are saying "then what was even the point of the rumbling" -- the point is that, Eren ended the cycle of Titans and disarmed the world from retaliating for a long time, which gave Paradis a chance of survival. As long as Titans exist and Eldians can turn into Titans, they will forever be seen as monsters. Now with Titans vanquished from this world, they finally have the chance to be seen as humans. Different/divided humans, still, yes (as humans have always been), but the chance of convincing the world, of establishing peace is that much more likely now that they're on even grounds and they aren’t Titans, that calling them monsters isn’t an excuse anymore. And I feel like this ending, where they have a world without Titans but that the war never really ends, that the prejudice between nations and fighting between humans will always exist, is painfully realistic. It's the same way in the real world, where conflict between humans will always exist and that isn't just going to "go away", but with Titans gone from this world, their ability to work for peace is actually a possibility. For me, SNK was always a masterpiece before it even reached the last chapter, so nothing that happened would ruin that for me, but endings are important and do leave a lasting impression. So I'm actually so happy that 139 felt right. It felt real, it stayed true to the themes it's always held and it ended as the kind of story it's always been--That the world is cruel, that there is no real "enemies" when you can see both sides of the story, but that there is still beauty.

Anyways, sorry this is all over the place, it’s so hard to put to words all the pieces of this story and how much it means. But yes, there were scenes I wanted to see (Eren's talk with all of the 104ths, Levi's thoughts, Ymir's pov, etc.) and other questions answered, but I also feel like it tied up enough to be an end. It's not perfect, as nothing ever is and no end can ever satisfy everyone, but I'm happy with the way it ended because it felt right. It’s bittersweet, it’s tragic, it’s realistic and I love this story so much. From beginning to end.

Thank you Isayama, for this masterpiece that will stick with me forever, for the story of a lifetime and sharing this world with us. And thank you to everyone who I have ever befriended because of this beautiful world. <3

[peppermintbee]

OMORI has poor writing (Part 1)

OMORI stans, just block the #omori hate tag now because I’m going to use it to vent my frustrations with this game. If you love this game, I am not going to try to convince you otherwise. I am glad you enjoyed it so much. I am glad it means a lot to you. I’m not here to take that away from you. I honestly wish I felt the same way!

However, if you are like me and finished the game feeling disappointed, underwhelmed, and maybe a little frustrated, then I am here to say you are not alone. OMORI--while having the right set pieces for an interesting game--is a narrative mess.

I’m splitting this into two posts. This first post is about problems with the plot. The second is about problems with the message/moral. 

(Note: I use “OMORI” in all-caps for the game title, and “Omori” in title case for the character name.)

Spoilers and criticism below.

Part 1: Plot Writing Lies

There’s a book by Brian McDonald called Invisible Ink which is about how to write a compelling story (you can read this great book online for free here). There’s an explanation of the writing “lie” that I find myself frequently thinking of. A “lie” in this context does not mean something is literally untrue, it means something FEELS untrue, unrealistic, improbable, or unlikely. For example, if a character gets shot in the leg but manages to do parkour, this is a “lie” since it seems unrealistic for that to happen. If a character witnesses their beloved parent’s death and shrugs it off, it’s a “lie” because that reaction seems highly unlikely.

In OMORI, the plot is held together by multiple little lies that--try as I might--I just couldn’t bring myself to believe.

1. Sunny’s friends care about him, and vice versa

A major theme of the game is how friendship can overcome any obstacle. Friendship gets Sunny over his fear of heights, spiders, and water. Friendship is what Sunny remembers before the final boss fight, and allows him to face his guilt and defeat it (and prevent him from committing suicide). With the photobook and dialogue you are reminded over and over and over and over and over again that Sunny’s friends love him unconditionally.

However, I just couldn’t bring myself to believe it. The childhood memories are cute but shallow, boiling down to simply hanging out and eating treats. Plus, Kel and Aubrey fight constantly, with Aubrey even physically hitting Kel when he steps out of line. Hero and Mari behave more like babysitters than true friends to the younger kids. 

But at least the other kids interact with each other. Sunny, on the other hand, showed nearly no affection or consideration towards his friends. He floats through the memories like a ghost--he could have been completely absent from all the photos and it would have made little difference. I was ready to accept this as Sunny being an unreliable narrator and not thinking he was a good enough for his friends, but this never contradicted. Instead we are given even more memories where Sunny just silently exists there being “cute.”

[Sunny enriching the lives of his friends by LARPING as a cat.]

Because of the lack of meaningful interactions between them, there was nothing in the game that made me think that these 12-15 year olds would have a strong enough bond that would survive 3-4 years of no contact after finding their friend hanged. In fact, that discovery only drove them farther apart. The only person who I could believe actually had a close bond was Basil, who almost literally filled that trope of being the friend who would help you bury a body (or in this case, help Sunny cover up the accidental manslaughter).

The writing fix for this would be simple: instead of showing us the same boring birthday and beach scenes over again, give the kids memories of overcoming some age-appropriate adversity together: heartbreak over an unrequited crush, anxiety over homework, sports injury, lost dogs, divorced parents, running away from home, bullying, etc. Set a precedent of the friends supporting each other through good times AND bad times. Without such backstory, Sunny’s friendships allegedly giving him the courage to overcome his guilt feels like a lie.

2. Sunny abandoning Basil in the bathroom scene

One of the most confusing moments in the game was Sunny’s negligence when Basil has his first breakdown in his bathroom. This part of the game is player-controlled, which is a strange writing decision because all you can do is click on Basil and various bathroom amenities over and over which completely saps the urgency out of the scene. When you try to leave, Basil begs Sunny to stay, but (due to a lack of player options) Sunny walks out without a word. With no option to talk to him OR get help for him, it makes Sunny seem exceptionally cruel to Basil. In fact, I was starting to wonder if the game was setting up for some sort of twist that Sunny DIDN’T care about his friends, which would fix some of the confusion in point #1. However, as we know, that is not the case. Therefore, Sunny’s negligence/apathy towards Basil’s pain feels like a lie.

The writing fix would be to make it MORE clear that Sunny is intentionally running away from Basil. Make it a cutscene, or, give a false choice such as “Leave Basil? Yes / Yes”. After Sunny leaves, Kel should make some remark about Sunny looking odd, “You look sort of shaken up, is there something you want to tell me?” then hit it home with Sunny shaking his head. This would make it more clear that Sunny is intentionally hiding Basil’s state, as opposed to just being a bad friend. As it stands, it just felt like a writing mistake.

3. Basil and Sunny working together to stage Mari’s death as a suicide

This is the plot hole that I see the most complaints over, but it’s so big I have to address it. Accidentally pushing Mari down the stairs I understand, but the rest is too absurd. Below are some of the “lies” that the writing tries to get away with:

That Sunny and Basil wouldn’t just claim she slipped and fell.

That either boy would even come up with this sick plan.

That they wouldn’t back out of this idea during the multi-step process (carrying her downstairs, outside, getting the jump rope, tying a noose, putting it around her neck, stringing her up, hiding the evidence... This is a series of multiple decisions, not one quick accident like the initial push.)

That it’s not the image of Mari’s death that traumatized Sunny, but the image of what they chose to do to her body that traumatized them. I understand the image of Mari hanging is more dramatic, but they literally did it themselves so why is that more haunting than Sunny killing her?

That Mari’s true cause of death wouldn’t be immediately obvious to the parents, the police, the friends, EVERYONE. (I’ve seen fans try to get rid of this plot hole by hypothesizing that the parents knew and covered it up, but the evidence of this is circumstantial at best. The father saying, “You’re not my son,” is unreliable since it happens in Sunny’s headspace. Divorce is common after the death of a child, and, at the very least, Sunny’s mom doesn’t show any evidence of knowing what happened. The way it is written, only Sunny and Basil know the truth.)

The ridiculousness of this twist is so extreme that it completely broke any immersion I had left. Frankly, the reveal that the happy, loveable Mari committed suicide is a far heavier and more realistic twist than a crazy murder-cover-up story is.

Additionally, it seems like Basil was only written into this scene in order to make Sunny the true victim of what happened. After all, Sunny may have pushed her, but it was Basil who came up with the demented cover up. (This is apparent from just the photos but the datamined Truth Album confirms it.) By having Basil come up with the plan, the game splits the guilt between the two of them to make the kids easier to sympathize with. It’s problematic because if Basil was not in the scene, there would be no way to justify what Sunny did to Mari. So why is what they did easier to accept when they worked together?

Fixing the writing lie: Sunny lies and says that Mari slipped. Remove Basil from the scene, and instead have Sunny confide in Basil which forces Basil to become a co-conspirator and burdens him with the terrible truth.

4. Sunny’s friends forgiving him and Basil for what they did to Mari

Last but not least, the story heavily implies that Hero, Kel, and Aubrey will forgive Basil and Sunny for what they did to Mari. I found this to be almost as unbelievable as the staged-suicide stunt.

It feels like a lie since the group’s friendship is never established as anything beyond shallow hang outs from 3+ years ago (see point #1).

It feels like a lie because this is hot off the heels of Aubrey being so distraught over Mari and the following fall out that in the last three days she 1.) attacked Sunny and Kel with a nail bat TWICE, 2.) Stole Basil’s photobook, and 3.) Shoved Basil in the lake. This trauma is still very fresh for her.

It feels like a lie because the complexity of the staged-suicide is so extreme, one would be hard pressed to forgive ANYONE for doing that, be it friend, foe, parent, sibling, lover, etc.

I’ve seen fans argue that the ending is not about forgiveness, it’s about telling the truth, and I want to believe that. Really. If the ending was about Sunny starting his redemption arc by telling the truth no matter what the consequences are, that would be a meaningful lesson. But the writing does not support that. The ending headspace segments are focused on assuring Sunny that his friends will support/forgive him no matter what. To do this, the game shows us the shallow photobook memories (again) to show how much they allegedly care about each other. Then, when fighting Omori, Sunny remembers these quotes from his friends, which directly correlate to their unconditional support:

KEL: Friends... Friends are supposed to be there for each other.

AUBREY: I hope you can find some peace... or you know... some happiness.

HERO: We made the mistake of leaving each other when we needed each other the most. This time... we’ll stay together.

BASIL: Maybe one day... things can go back to the way they were before.

The really direct evidence that this ending is about getting forgiveness is this quote from Basil in Sunny’s headspace:

[BASIL: “AUBREY, KEL and HERO are good friends. You have to trust that they’ll forgive us.”]

This is one of the last scenes before Sunny tells his friends the truth, proving that obtaining forgiveness from his FRIENDS is in fact the leading motivation for Sunny’s actions.

Fixing this writing lie is easy. Instead, adjust the writing to be about telling the truth, not about how much the friends will still love Sunny. Have headspace Basil say, “Even if they don’t forgive us, Aubrey, Kel, and Hero deserve to know the truth. It’s the only way to make things right... or close to it.”

Conclusion

OMORI is undeniably a cute game with a strong visual identity, and has a premise that could make for a very compelling experience. However, the sloppy plot and weak character writing cause the potential of this game to be squandered. There are other issues as well that I chose not to cover for the sake of time, such as the poor pacing of the dragged out dungeons and the bizarre, unrealistic behavior of characters in the “real” world. 

However, there are a few more glaring problems with OMORI that I have to address: In part 2 of my critique, I break down what may be the biggest problem with OMORI’s writing: the message.

[ Link to Part 2: OMORI’s Message is Mishandled and Distasteful ]

[nevertheless-moving]

Suicidal Misunderstanding Part VI - Star Wars Time Travel AU

Part I - - - - -  Part II - - - - - Part III - - - - - Part IV - - - - - Part V 

Anakin watched Obi-Wan through the stalks for several minutes. He could see him kneeling at the base of the waterfall, occasionally glancing around, as if searching for someone. Just when he was about to break and interrupt him, Obi-Wan stood and walked over. They sat together on the low bench, surrounded by the carefully cultivated colored fungi. 

“Obi-Wan...maybe we should talk about what’s going on with you. Whatever it is, I’m here for you.” Anakin offered hesitantly.

Obi-Wan tensed, hands clenching in his lap. 

“No.” 

“Master Windu and Bant both seemed to think this isn’t a drug thing. Please, let-”

“That wasn’t what I was saying no to.” 

Obi-Wan stood and began threading a path through the mushrooms, careful not to step on any of the smaller ones. Anakin was forced to follow directly in his footsteps, not wanting to risk damaging something Obi-Wan clearly seemed to care about, but wishing he could look at his Master’s face.

“Did I ever tell you about Bruck Chun?” Obi-Wan asked.

“No. Who’s Bruck?” Anakin responded with deliberate patience.

“He was an old crechemate of mine, quite gifted, though he had a temper. There have been times you remind me of him. We were rivals.” They were approaching the end of the alcove, a large stone overhang throwing them in to shadow.

“Were?”

“He died. When we were twelve.”

When they reached the rock face, Obi-Wan started climbing straight up. Anakin followed. Several clicks above the floor, Obi-Wan squeezed his way into a narrow crack, invisible from the floor below. Anakin followed. They awkwardly shuffled along the passage until Obi-Wan suddenly dropped out of sight. Anakin followed.

They landed in a hidden alcove. It was half lit by sunlight filtering in from cracks above, and half lit by the glow of mushrooms and crystals tenaciously embedded in the rock face around.

“Oh.” Anakin said softly. “Is this where you go when you visit the fountains to meditate?”

“No, I hadn’t been here in years.” Obi-Wan answered wistfully. “I started getting too big, didn’t want to damage the passageway too much. I figured some other younglings would stumble upon it someday like I did. I’m sorry. I avoided this room for the first year or two of your padawanship. By the time I even thought to share it, you had already grown so big...”

He sat down, legs stretched out in front. Anakin sat next to him, mirroring his position.

“I’m glad you’re sharing it with me now.” Anakin smiled reassuringly, but Obi-Wan was staring ahead blankly.  

The young knight swallowed nervously. “Did you...come here with Bruck?”

Obi-Wan let out a snort. “Gods, no! I hid here from him. Before we were rivals, he bullied me relentlessly.”

“And...this is the guy you said I remind you of?” Was he being insulted?

“At times. Math lessons, saber practice, none of that ever came easy to me. But you and him...you never even needed to study. And you do have a vicious streak, Anakin.”

Rather than try to argue in vain against the slight hurt, Anakin just asked, “How did he die?”

Obi-Wan closed his eyes. “He fell.” 

Anakin jerked in surprise, “Wait, you mean-”

“We were fighting at the top of the waterfall- it- he had nearly killed Bant. He was angry that we both had been chosen by Masters, and Xanatos used that to manipulate him into helping with an attack on the temple. Bruck was lashing out. He was a better swordsmen, but his anger made him unbalanced. I knocked him back. And he fell. I’ve forgotten a lot of details about him as a person, but I still remember his body at the bottom of the falls.”

"That’s...awful. I’m sorry.” Anakin said helplessly. He had known the bare basics of Xanatos’s fall, but clearly not the full story.

Obi-Wan sighed, leaning slightly to press their shoulders together. Anakin scootched over to try and provide a little extra silent comfort.

“I thought I had learned to live with my guilt over my part in what happened to him, but I suppose recent events have torn open old scars, so to speak.”

Anakin held his breath, Obi-Wan didn’t add anything else. 

“Obi-Wan” he tried to nudge gently. 

“Hmm?”

Anakin lost his patience, jumping up. “Master, please!” He half yelled, looming over his Master. A flash of fear crossed Obi-Wan’s expression as he looked up, which immediately halted the fit of rage. 

He knelt down penitently, “I’m sorry, Obi-Wan, I shouldn’t have yelled, but please, let me help. I won’t get mad like that again, I swear. Whatever you need, I’m here for you.”

“You’re not.” Obi-Wan whispered, expression blank. He shuddered all over, fists clenching tightly.

“You’re NOT here for me!” Obi-Wan shouted, suddenly offended. “How can you POSSIBLY claim to be there for anyone after what you-” Obi-Wan seemed to choke on the words. He let out a strangled cry and pulled his knees up to his chest. Tears welled, but he didn’t seem to notice.

Anakin stared wide-eyed, cold all over. “This...this is about something I did. I don’t understand. You... told me a few hours that I’m dear to you, what...what could I have done since then to make you...I don’t understand.”

“You know what you did.” Obi-Wan let out. “And the fact that learning about it didn’t stop me from caring about you doesn’t help, it just makes the heartbreak a thousand times more painful.”

Anakin racked his brain wildly. This couldn’t be about his marriage with Padme, right? He told him this morning that he didn’t mind the sneaking off. There was only one screw-up big enough that could possibly warrant this severe a reaction, and only two people alive knew about that, both sworn to secrecy.

“The younglings,” Obi-Wan whispered. “You - you didn’t even spare the younglings.” Obi-wan looked gutted, terrified. 

Anakin felt like he had been dropped in ice water. This was- this was his worst fear- that Obi-Wan would learn about his darkest failing as a Jedi and be ashamed of him, angry at him, would abandon him. He had already made his judgement. How could he have even learned about about the Tuskens?

“Padme-” he breathed out. “Padme told-”

“No!” Obi-Wan denied desperately, lurching forward. “Padme would never betray you! I would never betray you! We both love you, Anakin. Please, some part of you must know that! You must!”

His master seemed frantic, fingernails digging painfully into Anakin’s arm.

“You love me?” Anakin asked brokenly, heart cracked open.

Obi-Wan let go of Anakin to curl in on himself again. He seemed very small. It hurt to look at.

“I think its safe to say at this point that there’s nothing you could, no betrayal or atrocity you could commit that would make me stop loving you. Despite what you’ve done, you’re my brother, my son- of course I love you. The fact that I led you to doubt my love for you might be my greatest failing, though there are so many its hard to really say.” Obi-Wan sounded utterly defeated.

Anakin’s heart was pounding. This was a nightmare and a childhood dream. Obi-Wan loved him unconditionally, but he knew about his slaughter of the Tusken's and was ashamed. This couldn’t be real. He can’t know.

“Palpatine-” Anakin tried to ask.

Obi-Wan growled. “I do not need to talk about how that power-hungry liar systematically worked to tear us apart. I want to know why you would-” he cut himself off again.

Palpatine told Obi-Wan- that was more than he could even begin to process.

"I’m sorry, Master. I’m so sorry for failing you.” The words came desperately tumbling out, “I was just- I was so angry about my mom’s death and-”

“Your mother’s death? You killed innocent children for the sake of your Mother?! I don’t- how could anyone possibly rationalize-” Obi-Wan hissed out, truly angry for the first time that day. He took a deep breath and pulled himself upright.

“Your mother’s death was a terrible tragedy and I will forever regret my role in it. I should have tried harder to free her, for her own sake. I was so afraid that if I pushed for permission with the council they would think I was failing you, and they would take you from me. I made- so many decisions out of attachment, out of fear of losing you, and in the end I hurt you so badly you couldn’t trust me. You didn’t trust me with the truth of your visions, so I gave you bad advice born of misunderstanding, and your mother died horribly. I- I can see how you would blame the Jedi for that, even if its not rational. I certainly understand why you would blame me for that, why you would hate me because of her death.”

Obi-Wan scrubbed at his face mercilessly, practically tearing skin in his haste to wipe away snot and tears.

“But why, if you were getting revenge, would you kill the children and not me?” “Why couldn’t you just kill me and be satisfied?” He finally looked straight at Anakin, asking like it was a real question.

Anakin was horrified. After a few false starts he finally choked out, “Master, I love you. I told you, you’re the closest thing I have to a father. You’re the last person I could ever kill.”

“The last person you could ever kill,” Obi-Wan echoed back, looking pained.

“Please, Master, tell me how to fix this. I want to make things right. How can I fix things?” Anakin begged.

“That’s not a fair question. You can’t unmurder people. You can’t put them back together like a- an engine or a droid- ”

“There has to be something I can do to make you forgive me!” Anakin said desperately. “You can’t just tell me you love me and then say I’m an irredeemable monster!”

“Well that’s an entirely different matter, though no less cruel to think about.”

He leaned into Anakin’s side once more, the press providing a hint of warmth even in the unshakable cold. “Anakin, it isn’t very rational or fair of me, but it wouldn’t really take that much to get me to forgive you. Kriff, if you just acted sorry for what you had done.” Obi-Wan sighed.

“If you told me that you regretted the lives you took and swore you were going to stop murdering, force help me, I’d probably take you back in an instant. All I ever wanted was to help you be the best version of yourself.”

“I’m sorry.” Anakin said immediately. “I’m so, so sorry for what I did. I lost control of myself because I was scared, and angry, and suffering and, and then I was so scared that you would hate me that I pretended it was ok, and I told myself that they deserved to die, but how could children ever deserve to die and please Master I’ll throw away my lightsaber just please, please don’t leave me, I need you, please-” and the rest of the words dissolved into large, ugly sobs.

Obi-Wan keened and pulled Anakin into his lap like he was a child again. Anakin scrabbled at his cloak, desperately trying to hold on. The terrible chill that had been haunting him slowly started to fade away as he was rocked back and forth. 

After a minute, Anakin got enough of a hold on himself to consider trying to stop blubbering like a crecheling on his Master’s robes. But he quickly realized that Obi-Wan was also crying, so instead threw his arms around the older man and let himself go.

An uncertain amount of time passed before they both slowed from heaving sobs, to dry hiccups, to quiet whimpers. Eventually they ended up laying in a heap, boneless but for their hold on each other. And finally, the cavern was more or less silent.

Anakin felt physically lighter, mind clear like he had just completed an extremely successful meditation session.

Without a word, they slowly shifted so they were leaning on the wall instead of sprawled on the ground. Obi-Wan pulled his robe off, first using it to wipe his face, then tenderly cleaning his Padwan’s. 

Anakin just chuckled. 

Obi-Wan threw the robe so it covered the two of them, which was a little gross, but that only made Anakin snort giddily. 

They sat there peacefully for sometime. The shadows from above started shifting, and Obi-Wan sighed, “I really should go eat something.”

Anakin sighed back at him in agreement. They both stretched in the small space, joints popping.

“Do you need to walk through the rest of the gardens first?” Anakin asked.

“No,” Obi-Wan replied, tenderly fussing with his kid’s hair and robes so they looked presentable. “This was...more than I could have hoped for.”

Anakin beamed, giving Obi-Wan one last quick hug before gesturing upwards. “Time to get back to the real world?” he joked with a hint of regret.

“Time to get back to the real world.” Obi-Wan repeated heavily.

Part VII

[littlefreya]

FREYA!!! It’s missing August x Ingvild o’clock. So here’s my questions: are there any headcannon as you have about them that you didn’t include but when you’re we’re thinking they up you knew it was a thing? Also, anything we the readers didn’t pick up on that you wish we had? I know writers will often put something in their story and hope people make the connections but it doesn’t always happen. Basically, tell me everything about this destructive duo.

My heart! I’m so attached to my murder babies so whenever someone asks me about them I am a shivering mess. There is a lot I decided to keep out of the story and used hints instead because I wanted people to sort of feel it on their own and interpret it the way they want. I hate feeding my readers with a spoon, but since the story has ended I’m excited to discuss and bring up these little August and Ingvild related headcanons. 

And if anyone has questions about this story or Lines in the Sand don’t feel like you’re bothering! Send me an Ask :D

So heavy Way To Hell spoilers for those who haven’t read.

*Kind reminder, no permission is given for copying my work or my ideas and claiming it as your own*  🖤

August’s choking kink and how it's deeply rooted in his PTSD Every time August has sex with someone (saves Lacey in his flashback) he gets off from choking them, it’s something that he can’t do without. He does that with Ingvild twice; right before reaching his climax. He can’t control himself with it, it’s embedded in his subconscious.

It’s also mentioned by a woman he used to date (Sydney) when Ingvild investigates her about their sex lives.

“He… he..he choked me,” she answers in a trembling voice, her lower lip quivering, her eyes becoming glassy, much to Ingvild’s delight. “He was hurting me, he was too rough like he enjoyed my pain and he never stopped.”

It started after August murdered Lacey by choking her to death. He is traumatised by it, and while August has always been a rough lover who enjoys inflicting pain, the choking part is actually him replaying that incident in his mind in order to reclaim it. 

I don’t think he is completely over his trauma in the end of the story, he does get over Lacey after falling for Ingvild and in the third sex scenes it doesn’t mention that he chokes and the scene itself is soft, but I think he will always be traumatised. Ingvild doesn’t mind, she is fully devoted and enjoys the power he has over her, so she’s the perfect partner for him in that sense.  

Why did August revive Ingvild after killing her from the first place? August killed Ingvild in the beginning of the story by letting her drown in icy water. He tells himself it doesn’t matter if she dies tonight, that she’s just another dead girl (meaning, like Lacey) but then he goes out of his way to both rescue and nurture her back to health. 

That’s messed up even for August.

Well, August had three chances to kill Ingvild and he couldn’t go with it because again, after Lacey he was full of regret and suffering from PTSD, he couldn’t bring himself to kill another woman. In a twisted way, he believed that saving Ingvild at the lake will undo what he did.  

Ingvild cries when having an orgasm. Some people cry during climax, it’s not so uncommon since orgasm can cause an intense release of emotions. I didn’t explain it in the story but it’s bluntly mentioned that when Ingvild comes she bursts into tears. 

Having never felt anything in her life, she was suddenly feeling everything she held back for years surface, so it wasn’t about sadness or losing her virginity, it was about experiencing everything for the first time. 

August’s dad was an asshole and his mom was very submissive. August’s dad is briefly mentioned. He was killed during an accident while working for the CIA which completely destroyed August’s mom. The way I imagine it, his father was very old fashioned in the worse way and an overbearing dad who treats his son like soldier. August wasn’t allowed to cry and he probably got a beating here and there

His mom never did anything to protect him, being very submissive to his father.   

August never visits his mom after she is being committed to a mental health care centre. A lot of people asked me about it during the story, if August ever went to seek his mom. He didn’t. 

August feels betrayed by his mom, she neglected him. She might still be alive but he pretty much estranged himself from her.  

Sloane was responsible for his father’s death. I didn’t want to put it in there because it was too much, and Lacey was enough of a good reason for August to completely flip. But basically Sloane, who was his father’s partner in the day, made an error that led to his death. It was covered up and August was supposed to find out about it later but I never mentioned it because I felt like the Lacey chapter was perfect the way it was.

Ingvild’s parents  - did Liam tell the truth? Sadly yes, Ingvild is an unwanted pregnancy which was a result of rape. Her mother never came looking for her and Liam lied to Ingvild that both her parents are dead because he needed her to stay sharp, knowing that if she will seek out her mom it will upset her. 

Liam’s face-claim is Mads Mikkelsen’s I don’t know why, but I kept imagining Mads when I wrote him in the first chapter. 🤣 He is not Norwegian like Ingvild, he is also from Denmark but lived in Norway to supervise Ingvild. 

Does August succeed in turning Ingvild into a princess? Baby steps, Ingvild is very practical. August takes joy in dressing her up and spoiling her which she grows to love since that type of care and affection is very new to her and August makes her feel delicate. 

When I started writing the story I planned to have her as someone who is crueler than August and that he was the only person who sees her a sweet princess instead. But quickly she started writing herself and even if she might be cold on the surface she is actually an innocent and vulnerable. 

Loki the dog! It was August idea to get them a puppy, mainly for Ingvild, he wanted her to have someone who loves her purely. August does love Ingvild and would kill or die for her, but it’s not pure, he loves her out of somewhat selfish reasons. He basically sees her as something that he deserves while Ingvild just loves him unconditionally and proved her willingness to die for him. 🥺

Still, August is head over hills for Ingvild, it was his idea to get the matching tattoos to symbolise their eternal union. They won’t get married like normal people do but August sees Ingvild as his wife. 

[the-chosen-anakin]

So, I'm kind of fascinated by how you're a Christian and an Anakin fan. Most people professing that religion on Tumblr and other places are Obi Wan or Mace Windu stans and HATE Anakin. I've even had people saying "how could you like a man who sold his soul to the Devil (being Palpatine)"? I mean I don't see a problem with being both myself, but how would you explain it to someone who challenged you on it.

First and foremost, part of being a Christian is about recognizing that you yourself deserve nothing but death and eternal damnation. The Bible says that all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God and that the wages of sin is death. It is only because of Yahweh’s Grace and Mercy in sending Jesus to take our punishment that we have an opportunity to avoid such a fate. Christians who condemn Anakin for “selling his soul to the devil” would do well to remember that they themselves once stood in the very place that he ended up in.

Secondly, being a Christian is about having unconditional Christ-like love and compassion for all mankind, even for those who have committed terrible atrocities like murder.

Now, would anyone dare to die for the sake of a wicked person? We can all understand if someone was willing to die for a truly noble person. But Christ proved God’s passionate love for us by dying in our place while we were still lost and ungodly! — Romans 5:7-8 TPT

Most would find it difficult (to say the least) to show mercy and love to a terrible individual (and I myself struggle with this, so I’m not exempting myself) but the thing about mercy, love, and compassion is that they have nothing to do with what a person deserves and everything to do with what they need.

I love Anakin and have compassion for him, not because he deserves it, but because he needs it, just the same as every human being on earth. He’s done terrible things, but when I allow myself to look at him deeper, what I see is a hurting, broken man who’s utterly lost his way and desperately needs rescue, which is exactly how Yahweh sees us.

To love Anakin unconditionally is arguably one of the most Christian/Christ-like things a person could do when it comes to liking Star Wars characters.

[andmayhem]

OKAY so here’s my LONG post of thoughts; arcane spoilers below:

I love jinx’s relationships in the show and I’ve seen a lot of people misinterpreting them, which I think is largely a result of the show giving us a very close look inside of her head. She gets a lot of POV focus. Jinx is not, however, a reliable narrator and what goes on inside her head is a very finite, subjective truth, not an objective one.

RE: Silco, who I think gets the worst of this. Everyone needs to stop trying to wholesome-ify my evil dad. Silco is an interesting character and I love the dynamic there but it also is terrible and unhealthy. Jinx is clingy and looking for someone who loves her after losing basically everyone who ever did (and by her own hand, no less) and she latches onto Silco very fast, and I think he does genuinely care about her, but that ‘us against the world’ ‘I’m the only person who loves and understands you’ shit is unhealthy for her and keeps her from forming other close relationships.

And I think he believes that stuff, too! I don’t think he’s being intentionally malicious with it. I think he sees a lot of himself in her and that projection makes him treat her in a way that is both caring, and exacerbates her existing trauma. Jinx wants to feel loved and not alone. Silco makes himself into the sole provider of those things, whether intentionally or not, by telling her that everyone else is out to get them. I mean, look at where she’s at before Vi shows up—it doesn’t seem like anyone else working for Silco actually likes her; Sevika’s actively hostile to her and a the mooks seem more afraid of her than anything else. She’s clinging to Silco and to her old friendships, which are simultaneously painful, haunting memories.

Silco’s also an enabler who encourages Jinx’s worst side. He’s evil. He encourages her to be evil because he wants her to be like him. Pretty simple.

AS FOR VI, who I think is getting the short end of the stick here: I think people forget that Vi, A.) Also has a lot of trauma. She lost her whole family and then went to prison, at age 17, for at least five years, where she regularly got the crap beaten out of her and spent a bunch of time in solitary, according to the show and her Council Archives notes. B.) Only just got out of Hell Prison like, two days ago. 

Vi keeps it together better than Jinx does, visually speaking, but she’s dealing with shit too. Now, on top of that, she’s also having to navigate the complex emotional issue of Jinx’s trauma and long-term manipulation, while knowing virtually nothing about her mental state. By the end of Act 3, all Vi knows is that she was acting weird when they last talked, that she’s working for Silco, and that she’s committed many acts of murder. (And Vi still goes to bat for her!)

So I think the criticism of “Vi loves Powder, not Jinx” is unfair. Powder and Jinx are the same person. I feel like Vi is probably aware of that, or at least knows that there’s no Alter Ego Countess Boochie Flagrante here. Her sister is her sister is her sister. Vi can absolutely love her unconditionally. You can love someone unconditionally without loving their mass murders, lol.

“Vi chose Caitlyn over her sister” also sort of an unfair judgement. Vi doesn’t want to murder Caitlyn, you know, the first person who was kind to her after 5+ years in prison, which is fair. Vi still offered to leave her behind for her sister. Like, she straight up said as much out loud. She’s not a liar, she would have done it. Silco was the one saying she was a liar. Are we gonna trust that guy’s judgement, here?

There’s a lot more I could say about Vi, but suffice to say it: her worst crime in Act 2-3 was that she made some poor choices of words, while trying to talk her sister down from MURDER, while also tied to a chair and having to grapple with the Main Villain right across from her. It’s not that she doesn’t love Jinx: Vi is a very straightforward person. She’s that way throughout the whole show. She wouldn’t say stuff like “Nothing will ever change [the fact that we’re sisters]” and “Please, [don’t hurt her], she’s my sister” at that point if she didn’t mean it.

Jinx just can’t see it that way. Because Jinx’s only model for unconditional love is Silco, who is a toxic person, and has been telling her for years that he’s the only person who truly cares about her. 

Oops! All Tragedy

[mcfreakin-bxtch]

Here

The Mandalorian x Reader

Warnings: Fluff, Some angst, A happy ending because I couldn’t bear giving them a sad one

Word Count: 1.7k+

A/N: After a million more years I finally finished it. Thank you to all who have been sticking with me and the story!

*Italics - Flashback

Out of Love // Lovely // Start Over

-

Din watched you from afar. 

Your smile radiated throughout the small little valley. He used to think it was the most beautiful thing in the world; your smile, your laughter, your eyes, your nose, your—he could go on and on. 

It’s not that he didn’t think any of that anymore, oh definitely not. He couldn’t imagine his life without you. 

But, there was his little girl. His little girl, with his hair and your eyes, grabbing a handful of flowers with small, grubby hands. The Child ran behind her, or as much as he could; he was having fun regardless. 

His little girl, who brought him nothing but happiness. Who gave him a whole new meaning to his life, who saved him from his own self destruction. The little human girl that Din would undoubtedly and unconditionally love for the rest of his days, and even after if that was a possibility; the one he would give up everything for. 

So yeah, you used to be on the very, very top of that list of beautiful things he’d seen in his lifetime. That was before she came along. And when he first laid eyes on your daughter, his daughter, he couldn’t stop crying after getting over the initial shock that this beautiful baby girl was a part of him. It amazed him that someone like him, hard, vicious, quiet, and dangerous, could create something so precious and small. 

Din, however, never planned for any of this. He never prepared himself for a family. For a quiet, settled life in a nice little valley. For you. Even watching his small but perfect family ahead of him, he still couldn’t fathom that fact that this was his. At first, it just didn’t seem… right. 

“Din?”

Cara thought she was going to have to grab Mando and shake him. Slap him even, if it woke him up from his anxiety induced trance. You stood there, swollen belly and a fury of emotions; shock, a double take, comprehension, grief, acceptance, then anger. Pure anger that even had the ex trooper scared. 

“Y-Y/N.” Din breathed. It felt—good, saying your name like that again without the pain punching him in the gut. The guilt, yes that was still there of course. But you were there, standing in front of him, carrying his child and looking like you were absolutely ready to murder him. It kinda made him feel whole again. 

“Cara,” you said with a calmness that made Cara shiver. “Can you please leave us alone for a minute?”

Din was rightfully terrified. You may have been heavily pregnant, but he knew without a doubt that you would and could destroy him. 

You were seething in your silent rage. He could sense it. And because of that, he didn’t dare say another word until you did. 

“Why?” You said calmly; a hidden storm waiting to explode with devastating rage.

That one word, so simple and short, was enough to make him shudder out a breath, so filled with unshed tears and a heartache so strong that it was going to kill him.  

“I had t—”

“Don’t,” you snarled, your voice layered with the tears streaming down your cheeks. “Don’t you dare say that, Din. You didn’t have to, you wanted to.”

His heart broke all over again. He made the love of his life, his rock, his world, believe that he—he didn’t want her. You truly believed him when he said it, and he knew it was no one’s fault but his own, but hearing it from you was a whole nother thing on its own. It made it feel even more real, a sin he couldn’t cleanse. 

“So tell me,” you continued when he didn’t speak. “Tell me why you’re here. If you didn’t want me, or…” she gulped, furiously wiping away the tears, not that it did much good. “Or love me anymore. Why are you here?” Then realization dawned on you. “Cara.”

“She brought me here. I didn’t know…” That probably wasn’t the best thing to say, but it was the truth. 

Your face hardened and your eyes became colder. “How long are you staying?”

He shrugged his shoulders. He couldn’t find the words he wanted to say, the words that crippled him and ate away at him. The words he wanted to say to you. 

You laughed humorlessly, all the while cradling your bump. Din couldn’t stop staring at it, and at the same time he had a hard time looking at it too. 

“Fine. Just… just leave me alone, Din.” You said and started to walk away. 

It’s like time slowed down and his life flashed before his eyes. His heart pounded with a vengeance and everything just… stopped. 

And he couldn’t do it. Not anymore, and not this time. He let you go before, practically threw you out, and this had to be a chance, right? His second chance at redemption. Not just for leaving you, but for everything bad thing he had ever done in his life; every life he’d ever taken, every bad decision he ever made, it was all screaming at him, taunting him. 

“Stop!” He shouted. 

You halted right in your steps, stiff and back turned towards him. You didn’t turn around, only tilted your head to the side to let him know you were listening. 

“And why should I Din? You made it perfectly clear last time—”

“I’m sorry.” He stopped you. “I’m so fucking sorry for hurting you. I’m sorry for leaving you, for not being there for you. I’m sorry that I thought of myself, I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you…” He could’ve kept going if you didn’t interrupt him. 

“Didn’t tell me what?” You demanded, now facing him. 

Your eyes held so much in them. Blurred and red from your tears but still just as breathtaking, especially in the sun. Din couldn’t take his eyes away from them, despite the fact that you couldn’t see, and took a step forward. When you didn’t flinch or step back, he took another, and another and another until your stomach barely touched him. 

“I—there knew your name.” He finally said. “Quarries, dangerous people. And I couldn’t bear the thought of losing you. Before, well it wasn’t as strong before—kriff you know what I mean, right?   Along the lines I… I fell in love with you and I never stopped. I’m weak. I’ve become so weak in my desperation to—to save you, that I just…”

He didn’t know how to finish it. He hoped that you could understand what he was saying to you. He hoped that you could see beyond his helmet, his armor, like he was so convinced you could do. He hoped that you could forgive him. It didn’t have to be now, but he hoped. 

You didn’t waver, only looked him over with hard eyes. He let you assess him, even growing increasingly nervous under the cover of the unknown. Your jaw clenched and you bounced on your heel; Din immediately recognized this as you breaking. 

“Din,” you suddenly whispered. “I can’t… if you have no plans at all, of staying and fully committing to this child.” You shook your head, biting down on your lip to keep yourself from sobbing. Sobbing at the image of Din walking away from you again, the man you gave practically everything to, the one who opened himself up to you—it was a sight you couldn’t stand, but you would do anything for your baby, and you would not let anyone, not even the Mandalorian, hurt him or her in any way. 

Din nodded. “I know.” He took a deep breath. “This is all… very new to me. I can’t say I’ll be a great father, or a—a lover.”

“Stay,” you said. “I—I’m not going to entirely forgive you right away, and there’s gonna be a lot of moments where I’m going to be very pissed off at you, and they’re going to come randomly. There’s going to be moments where I may not trust you to the fullest extent. We’re going to have to really work at this if we want it to work. Understand?”

He nodded to the point of giving himself a little headache under the weight of the helmet; the joy of another chance overweighed the uncomfortableness. “Yes. Thank you.”

You gave him a final stare and hard nod before saying, “Alright then, tin can.”

You smiled then, small but fuck. It was perfect. A whole new light of hope that he could touch. Speaking of—

“M-may I?” He asked nervously. 

It took you a moment to register what he meant, but when it clicked your face relaxed and warmed up. “Yes.”

It felt so… he couldn’t describe it. You were like an foreign object to him—no, it was the baby growing inside of you. His baby. He wasn’t sure on how to touch you, or how he was supposed to eventually hold this special creature. Din was going to try his fucking damnest to make it work. 

He recalled that memory with a fond smile. It brought him to this moment. Now, without the familiar weight of the Creed on him, he took a deep inhale of fresh, sweet air and exhaled with a tilt of his lip. 

“Din?” You said again.

Din blinked down at you lazily, smiling in his haze. “Yes, cyar’ika?”

You wrapped your arms around his waist with a lopsided smile and squinted eyes; there wrinkles around them now, and you were just as beautiful as the day he met you. His own wrapped around yours, holding you tightly to him.

“I think there’s a storm coming.” You mumbled into the crook of his neck, lips barely brushing against the juncture of it but still giving him shivers. “We gotta get the kids inside soon.”

“Hmm.”

You looked up at him curiously. “Hey,” you whispered. “Where’d you go?”

The laughter of his children continued to echo. It used to bring nothing to him other than an occasional longing for something more than the life he had. But now, it was so much more and he had you to thank. It all started with you. 

“No where’s.” He whispered back. “I’m right here.”

Tags: @scarlett-berserker​, @justlovetoreadfics​, @lil-baby27​, @mando-vibes​, @beepbeepyabitch, @that-void-witch​, @im-the-music-whore​, @certifiedhunter​, @softpedropascal​, @domino-oh-damn​​, @okaydacre​, @lemongrove​, @appreciating-chase-brody, @iwontforgettheapplepie, @mybabyboytony​, @olyamoriarty, @pcrushinnerd​, @elusive-ivory​, @dizzydazed​, @bluejeancntrygrl​, @dadzawas-eyebags​, @moonstruck-witchy @our-mrlangdon, @parody-the-emi​, @evalynanne​, @purplewaterbird​, @vikingqueen28​, @tedpicklez​, @blunt-cake-yes​, @agoldin​, @lustriix​, @readsalot73​, @kateb013​, @eupphoriaaa​, @imalovernotahater​, @everything-lost-and-unsaid​, @dlmafa1, @hoodedbirdie​, @drunkenliterary, @fioccodineveautunnale​​, @fangirlfree​, @mrsparknuts​, @amarvelousmandalorian​, @ironheart-hanako​, @bunniotomia​, @thisisthe-way, @sando-rann, @meganoid1997​, @adikaofmandalore​, @cahooter​, @charliepeaceout, @dreamgirl-67, @phoenixhalliwell​, @acrylics-and-sunshine​, @sunkissed-winter​, @oloreaa​, @equalstrashflavoredtrash​, @dyn-djarin​

[mapleandgingeroatmeal]

CR2E76-Refjorged

HOLY SHIT THIS EPISODE HAD EVERYTHING. WHERE DO I EVEN START?? This is gonna be a long one for sure.

The spontaneous Mead Pong game was so fun. I love how they all just went for that, and Caleb getting a perfect shot only when nobody was watching? Priceless.

They haven’t really done a heist w/ Caduceus. have they? Unless you count boarding that one ship, but I don’t think you can since that wasn’t a stealth thing. It’s weird, but that detail felt like almost a mark of how far the Nein have come already

I’m sure people have written a lot about this (I’d love meta recs if anyone has ‘em), but that makes me think about what may have changed about the m9′s path if Molly had stayed alive. Clay has been such a huge force in pushing the nein to do good in the world, and although he has plenty of his own issues, I think the fact that he believes in everyone’s ability to be good people has really had a huge impact. This may be a Hot Take, maybe I’ll regret this cause idk what Molly fans are like, but I really don’t think the group would have made nearly as much moral and emotional progress w out Caduceus. They would probably be at least a lot closer to crossing over that line into Bad People.

THE BREAD. This is another famous joke that I new existed, but had no context or knowledge for. I was so excited when I heard it come up! Caleb and polymorph is such a delightful combo. The dumb brain really lets him escape his misery I think, and he had such a gleeful face and relaxed posture for that whole scene.

“Last time we did this, you put a sword to my throat”. Whatta callback! Despite how much everything has changed, Fjord and Caleb still have this interesting intensity to their relationship. The moment when they start a mysterious blood ritual and Caleb’s accent confrontation come to mind. I hope we get more in the future about how these two interact in a more casual setting, tbh, because at this point I have a hard time pinning down their dynamic. The trust is definitely there now, and all the Nein obviously love each other, but in many ways it feels almost delicate? Like in the scene from this ep, I think both of them probably reflect on that day thinking they were in the right, even if they’ve moved on. Interesting stuff!

The reactions when Nott murdered that guard were so priceless. Little moments like that are kinda sobering reminders of how broken she is. Since probably the moment that Veth killed that Goblin leader with a vile of acid, she’s led a life that seems to have been very much kill-or-be-killed. Empire people aren’t taught to see Goblins as much more than kill-on-sight monsters, and in a self-defense situation Nott is so small that she would really have only one chance before getting overpowered. It’s upsetting and definitely bad, but I think it makes a lot of sense that her first instinct when panicked is to go for the throat.

Caduceus is truly such a dummy and I love him for it. The man knows two things: Death and People. Nothing else. Strategy? Never heard of her. High-stakes stealth mission with an important decision to make? “it’s always nice to see my friends :)”. 

Whats in the book they stole! We didn’t find out for the entire episode if I’m not mistaken! Caleb just gave to Fjord with some cryptic comments! Wtf kind of book isn’t useful/ interesting to Caleb? This is going to drive me insane.

The pack-rat elf lady wearing Reani’s crown finally was v sweet. She was a character that Matt seemed to hint at a lot of depth for. I wonder if we’ll ever get back to Uthadorn? I’d like to see her again

The dusts are also a bunch of npcs that I kinda wish we’d gotten more time with! The way that Matt had the whole family and their personalities mapped out makes me feel like there was a lot that didn’t get explored there. Clay has a tendency to minimize his own priorities and as much as it’s a neat character choice, I wish it didn’t mean that we see less of the neat stuff around his arc!

Fjord’s dream sequence had me tearing up. Matt’s writing is just so emotionally intelligent and deep. The specification that the Wild Mother can ease the pain but the wound will always be there? That hit me so goddamn hard. I love this character. 

If I think too much about what this sword-collecting arc means for Fjord I’m gonna start crying again. Here’s a guy that grew up unloved, with nobody that ever cared enough to give him anything. He was so recently convinced that the Nein only cared about him while he was useful. And what happens once he looses all utility to the group? They give him magic weapons, and circle around to protect him, and face down a fucking ancient white dragon, all just to get him a gift from the Wild Mother. What does that feel like to a man who’s never ever had a family before? Can he even really recognize the kind of devotion the m9 just displayed? I hope once he has a quiet moment he can do some reflection and appreciate how much he is just unconditionally supported now. I want him to understand that he is loved.

Beau and Reani! I did remember right! They are adorable and everyone’s reaction at the table was priceless. That moment had a neat meta-level feel to it w/ the addition of Mica as a guest character. I could tell she was feeling out if this was a role-play boundary or not, just like Reani was feeling out if Beau was interested. Beau going in for the kiss out of nowhere was also Marisha signaling “yes please bang my hot gay monk”. A perfect ending for a wonderful character!

Jester and Caduceus almost judgy convo was actually fascinating to me, because it kinda highlighted one of my favorite things about Beau in that she breaks the norms arounf sexualy agency that you usually see with female charecters. She’s an action movie protag, casually banging hot ladies and hiring sex workers, and she’s celebrated for it like you would celebrate that behavior in james bond! I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a female character that does that before.

I could talk about Caleb and Nott’s conversation here for fucking hours, and I think I’m gonna actually do a whole separate post about it so this doesn’t get too long. Why is every interaction they have just the most poignant beautiful incredible moment ever committed to film?  What did the world do to deserve this? Nothing. We do not deserve them. 

Fjord getting his powers back and celebrating and the callback to Nott turning into a tiny Fjord and Eldritch Blaaaaaaayyyst returning and being wrapped up in seaweed and awkwardly objectified by Jester and Caduceus big goofy grin and all of it was such a joyful, hopeful note to end on! More than ever the Nein are feeling like a family, with all the wonderful messy things that entails, and I couldn’t be happier about it. I’m going to go watch Nott and Caleb and cry again.

[b-witchered]

Eeeeeeeeeee! I love tgia SO MUCH❤️ Any chance of more Renfri and Renfri&Yennefer? 🥺 The parallels on chapter 11 were f***ing amazing. (Thank you for writing the alive!Renfri we all deserved)

Renfri and Yennefer definitely get more scenes together! However, I do fear I’m setting up some of my readers for failure oops. Renfri/Yennefer as a couple isn’t going to happen within the scope of tgia for a few reasons

PUTTING THIS UNDER THE CUT, plus a little tgia snippet from the next chapter, because i have never been accused of being concise in my life

Honestly? They might have slept together at some point when Geralt and Yennefer were on the outs. They’re both very attractive individuals, danger and almost dying clearly gets Yennefer fired up, and Renfri has been known to make questionable sexual choices when it comes to Very Dangerous Individuals. So their relationship probably does include some flirting, some pushing of boundaries, some erotic subtext where Renfri has at least once put her sword under Yennefer’s chin and tilted it up

But when it comes to an actual relationship, Renfri at least is smart enough to put her foot down. They’re fine as rivals-friends-frenemies, but Renfri has some serious trust issues. Especially with mages. Especially with brotherhood mages. Yennefer knows Stregobor. She might not like him, but they belong to the same order. 

And then there’s the big thing between them: Yennefer wants kids. She wants, desperately, to be a mother. This is tied into her whole desperation for unconditional love thing she has going on. Renfri? Does not want kids. Absolutely against them. If she somehow gave birth tomorrow, that kid would be either adopted out or in Jaskier’s care quicker than you could say “curse of the black sun”. It’s not even that Renfri doesn’t like kids. She’d be a great weird-aunt-who-gives-an-8-year-old-a-real-sword-as-a-present. But Renfri does not want to be responsible for a child’s life and health and safety.

There are other little things. I love comparing and contrasting Renfri and Yennefer in tgia honestly because it’s so much fun? Yennefer was born a peasant and clings desperately to the power and prestige her magic affords her. Renfri was born a princess and cast it aside with pride so that she could be as unladylike as she pleased. Both of them knowing that power means sacrifice. It’s a gilded cage to be sure, but it’s still a cage. Yennefer was willing to make the sacrifices and change herself to gain power while Renfri ran. Granted, Renfri ran for many reasons but let’s be real, tgia!Renfri wouldn’t have stuck around to be married off and shuffled away to a quiet corner of the kingdom, out of sight out of mind. 

Renfri was a princess, but her father was a King with male heirs. No matter what parallels I draw, her situation was vastly different from Princess Pavetta, sole heir of Queen Calanthe. And even then, even then with circumstances giving her great importance and a parent in power who should have been sympathetic to her plight, Pavetta was still a pawn on a board who was expected to marry a man she did not love for a political match and then become a background trophy. But even so, Pavetta would always have been Queen and the keeper of her bloodline, and so retained at least some power. Until she produced an heir of course, after which she would have become... less important to keep alive.

Renfri on the other hand? After Jaskier’s birth, she’s a spare. Jaskier is the male heir, and so he got to leapfrog over Renfri in the inheritance. Renfri is officially a bargaining chip, one that doesn’t even have to be compromised with because she is not going to be running the country. As best she could maybe hope to strike a political match with a prince and become a queen of somewhere not her homeland, with little power and easily replaceable. But Stregobor claimed Renfri had internal mutations, ones that might make her sterile, and so as a bride she would be... undesirable to say the least, except perhaps as a bride to a widower who already had heirs to follow him and needed no more. Perhaps to a second son who needed a bride but whose family tree needed no new branches. Which means she would likely be married off to a man, possibly very much her senior, probably not a King but perhaps a Lord (or lord’s son) currently in the king’s favor. This choice would have been made for her, and she would have been expected to accept her new position with grace.

Yennefer’s father sold her away as well. Yennefer’s father struck a financial deal. Renfri’s father’s deal would have been political in nature, likely. Yennefer was bargained away to the brotherhood, Renfri would have been bargained away to a man. 

(me, loudly: what about the implications of a mage organization comprised of all genders being called the brotherhood.)

Renfri and Yennefer each have. A lot of issues. A lot of these issues would make then incompatible for a longterm relationship. Renfri needs someone she can feel safe with, and that someone is never going to be a brotherhood mage, even if it could even be a mage at all. Yennefer needs someone who loves her unconditionally, who places her first, always. She needs to be someone’s first priority. That doesn’t necessarily have to be a romantic relationship mind you, but either way that person can’t be Renfri. For Renfri, her first priority is Jaskier. Always. Just like Jaskier’s first priority will always be Renfri. 

(He loves Geralt, he does, but if Geralt was his first priority then he would have told him about his sister long ago. Geralt is important to him, and he would move heaven and earth for the Witcher, but his sister is the only family he dares to claim and he defeated death itself in her name.)

Yennefer and Renfri both have serious control issues as well. Yennefer has literally mind controlled Geralt before, has manipulated him, and keeps him on his toes. She has this need to be in control, and for the most part Geralt is fine with following where she leads, and that makes her feel safe with Geralt. Up to and until she finds out that Geralt’s wish might be the reason why she loves him, and then all of a sudden it isn’t her in control, it’s some untamable uncontrollable magic, and she absolutely flips her lid. She’s furious! She feels betrayed! All this time she thought she was in control, but then she finds out that Geralt tied their fates together or whatever. 

(Thankfully, this isn’t an issue in tgia, but Yennefer also doesn’t exactly love Geralt in tgia so much as she loves being loved. Their major conflict in tgia is probably going to be about children, honestly, because Geralt sure as fuck doesn’t want any.) 

Renfri? Also would very much need to be in control of a relation. Maybe especially the sexual aspects of it considering her trauma involving that. She’s pretty, and that hasn’t done her any favors. She bristles under restrictions and has broken the door of every cage people have tried to shove her into, including death though she had a little bit of help from Jaskier breaking out of that one. She’s protective, and secretive, and has trust issues a mile wide. She never even tells people her name. Every piece of personal information is carefully controlled. And who can blame her for her trust issues a mile wide? She was assaulted when she was fifteen. At least one man she willingly lay with literally murdered her the morning after (thanks Geralt). Renfri has issues with intimacy.

So yes, while I love throwing them in scenes together and I love their snarky terrible friendship where Yennefer proposes they do something terribly dangerous and Renfri is like “...i mean i GUESS i’ll go.” unless she has a prior commitment OR it conflicts with her primary motivation of protecting Jaskier (getting too close to Geralt threatens this purpose), they won’t be getting together in the scope of the fic

which i hope people won’t be too disappointed by oof

sorry for writing you a whole essay about Renfri and Yennefer when you probably did not want it lmao, as you can see this has been pressing on my mind and tumbled about more than a little bit. 

(honestly though if Pavetta hadn’t been married to Duny and hopelessly in love with him, I might have shipped her and Renfri tbh. They had plenty in common, Pavetta had magic and would have been powerful enough to defend herself but wasn’t a brotherhood mage, they got along well and had inside jokes, the only thing standing in the way of that ship (besides Duny and. you know. the whole death thing) is that Renfri wouldn’t be too keen on becoming a queen/having to deal with shithead nobles again and the whole issue of Stregobor. But Renfri is a princess of a royal bloodline, was raised to be royalty with knowledge of court customs, and is a trained and blooded warrior. Let’s be real, Calanthe would have loved Renfri as a daughter-in-law. Renfri is exactly the ruthless sort of heir Calanthe would adore. There would be the issue of an heir of course, but as long as Pavetta was the one pregnant it wouldn’t be a big deal because Pav’s the one with the important bloodline to carry on.)

ANYWAY you have been very patient with me so here is a tiny Yennefer and Renfri snippet from the next chapter - 

As soon as they’re alone, Renfri turns to Yennefer. “I’m going to kill you for this. One day. Sleep with one eye open, Witch.”

“Come now,” Yennefer teases, “It can’t have been that bad.”

“I genuinely can’t tell if he’s criminally stupid or just ignoring the obvious.” Renfri hisses, “I’m carrying a sword. What kind of handmaiden beheads a bandit?”

“A very loyal one.” Yennefer offers, but she’s trying way too hard to keep a straight face and Renfri can see the smile she’s doing her damnest to contain. 

“You’re lucky I didn’t kill him in his sleep the fourth time he started extolling your virtues for taking an ‘unpolished peasant’ under your wing.” 

That makes Yennefer break face and give a most unladylike snort that she covers with one dainty hand. “You know,” She says, laughter still in her voice, “I wouldn’t need him if you just agreed to go with me.”

“If this is you trying to annoy me into going on an adventure with you, the answer is no.” Renfri immediately states. “Need I mention the last time you talked me into going monster hunting for you? There was a fucking manticore nest, Yennefer.”

“You enjoyed yourself, admit it.” Yennefer smiles with a flip of her hair.

Renfri presses her hand together and then presses them to her lips like she’s about to start praying for Yennefer to get some sense in her empty, empty head. “You are literally insane. You know that right? Stark raving mad.”

[malyen0retsev]

Don't you love redemption arcs though? I would have thought a Kylo Ren redemption arc would've been your THING

Yup I’m a massive sucker for redemption arcs, I’ve always made that clear (I present to you my undying love for Theon Greyjoy). And yes, the whole point of a redemption arc is that a character starts in a place where you’re like “Hell no I do not want redemption for this character.” That’s all true.

The thing is though, Kylo Ren has showed zero remorse for his actions. He doesn’t deserve a redemption arc because there’s no solid explanation behind why he behaves the way he does. He grew up in a loving home. Leia and Han loved him. Even when he became a mass murdering neo-Nazi, their primary concern was still “We want our son home.” They sent him to Luke out of love. 

I’ll briefly touch on Theon because he’s my baby, but Theon Greyjoy in GoT/ASOIAF is fundamentally different because he doesn’t have that. He comes from a background that is quite explicitly unloving. He is treated as a negotiating tool first, a person second - and he was a child when that came into play. His entire character is based around his struggle with loyalty to his family, who have rejected and hurt him, versus his loyalty to his wards, who yes have cared for him but have still treated him like an outsider to be wary of and never treat like family. Theon’s actions throughout the series make sense. I can’t excuse his actions, but I can explain them. And not only that, but Theon goes through a disgusting level of personal torture and shows real, genuine remorse for what he did to the Starks. He saves Sansa’s life in the show, and in the books he saves the life of Jeyne who was ‘simply’ a servant in the Stark household. In the show, he dies protecting Bran. Theon has a redemption arc that makes sense. The key to a decent redemption arc is a character who firstly you have empathy for the situations that have made them behave that way, and secondly show genuine remorse for their actions and do their fucking upmost to undo the damage. That’s why I love Theon so much. 

Kylo Ren though? As I’ve already said, there’s not a solid enough explanation for why he behaves how he does. He was surrounded by love, unconditionally. He would have grown up hearing about the atrocities Anakin committed but also why Anakin did what he did and that Anakin felt genuine remorse for the damage he had caused right at the end. Yet he decides to then go and ‘continue’ the work his grandfather did?! What?!

We’re onto film 3 now and I still see not enough remorse for his actions. He killed his own father in cold blood. He wasn’t able to kill his mother, admittedly, which is a nugget there, but that’s... it. He has still been responsible for the death of so so many people, and doesn’t show remorse for it. He tortured and abused Rey, and shows no remorse for it. He attacked Finn, Rey’s closest friend, and shows no remorse for it. The end of TLJ shows that Kylo Ren is absolutely hell bent on this path, and TLJ was him trying to get Rey on his path, and Rey trying to reach out to bring him to the light and ultimately she accepted she could not do it so walked away. 

We may have a ‘whilst dying he shows remorse’ scene. But the groundwork and background is not there for Kylo Ren to have a redemption arc. Because proper redemption arcs take time. There isn’t the capacity for one in a single film. And at this stage, he hasn’t shown any signs that he deserves one either. Yes, I’m a sucker for redemption arcs. But that actually means I’m extremely pernickety about what counts as a decent one and what just counts as unjustifiable garbage.

[nighttime-tea-party]

Can you tell us a little bit about what would've happened with lolita au Sebastian and Ciel if the Undertaker hadn't caught them? You said you think about it a lot.

Hooo boy yes, I do think about it a lot. So much so actually that I could write a whole sequel in an AU to this AU. The problem is, I feel like I would sabotage my own ending if I wrote a companion fanfic. People never really like sequels, do they? And I do think that the ending to Ciel is the Right ending.

That Being Said,

Here’s what I’d do with a sort-of sequel in an AU where Sebastian would get away with it, you’ve opened Pandora’s Box and there’s a whole lot of stuff coming out of it now. Read at own risk of having the Ciel ending ruined:

Undertaker still confronts Sebastian, they brawl and Ciel steps in with his deadly letter opener, however, when UT is writhing on the floor, holding on to the dear life that he’s bound to lose anyway, the film containing the incriminating photos slips out of his pocket and Ciel takes it, hopefully leaving no further evidence to prosecute Sebastian.

Sebastian doesn’t believe in his luck and turns himself in for the murder he claims he’s committed, then writes the confession the same way we know it. When Agni learns that it was actually Ciel who killed UT to save Sebastian from being killed, he isn’t as convinced that it’s better to keep the authorities from finding out that Ciel did it, as he is in my “canonverse”, and he helps the boy to get someone to listen to his turn of events, so he won’t be sentenced. Maybe that’s because Ciel’s enthusiasm to prove Sebastian’s innocence isn’t limited by the fear of exposing his sexual offences.

Nobody posing a threat to Sebastian will see the confession that’s just been finished by the time it’s clear that there’s a good chance both Sebastian and Ciel will be exempt from any punishment, and in the end, Sebastian comes home again, gives the whole piece of writing directly to Ciel instead because he still wants him to know everything, and Ciel, well… he gets to explain his feelings to living, breathing Sebastian after all.

They start a diary together where they document recent events: one of them keeps the book for a while and recapitulates recent events to the other, then hands it back for the other one to write in, so this would be the form this story would be written in (see, that’s how much I think about it, send help pls)

Ciel continues to go to school with Sieglinde, they’re good friends and rumour at school has it they’re secretly a couple, but she keeps trying to press it out of Ciel that he’s actually gay, which he’s not quite sure he is but of course he can’t tell her he’s not interested in any girls because he’s in an illegal relationship with his stepfather.

He does tell her that, though, when he’s graduated from high school and leaves for Europe with Sebastian and he knows she can’t do anything about it anymore. And it feels liberating to tell someone from this position of power.

Ciel gets accepted into Oxford, just like in the original fic, but this time, he actually plans to graduate. Sebastian gets a job there as a professor, perhaps by blackmailing one of the people in power, but they don’t live together and do their best not to let anyone realise they know each other, much less are in a homosexual relationship since it’s the 1950s and this time, their relationship has the potential to not only have Sebastian but also Ciel imprisoned (or suffer electro shock therapy instead)(that’s a topic I never addressed in the fanfic because it’s actually terrible what homosexuals had to endure back then and I did not want to compare it to the problematic nature of Sebastian’s and Ciel’s relationship). Ciel takes on the surname Phantomhive again, so nobody will get the idea that they’re related either. Of course, despite all of that, they still meet regularly off-campus, and Ciel will write a thesis under Sebastian’s guidance, so they can be seen on campus without raising any suspicions.

Sebastian still loves Ciel unconditionally, feels very secure in their relationship, and encourages him to get to know university student life with all its social aspects, which means he isn’t even really jealous when some guy’s gaydar points towards Ciel and Ciel makes a show of flirting back for Sebastian.

Ciel thinks a lot about what it means that he’s really not a child anymore but Sebastian still loves him and is obviously also still very sexually attracted to him, and speculates on whether he has “healed” Sebastian from his perversions, and what made him that way in the first place, but Sebastian very soberly insists that he’s not healed, he’s just completely occupied with being in love with and desiring Ciel despite him being an adult now. It’s a topic that never really lets go of Ciel and he’s secretly a little relieved that they have no children/minors in their little world anymore (an so is Sebastian).

After years of adventures and misadventures at uni, Ciel graduates in the late 1950s and the two leave the UK for good and move into Sebastian’s inherited flat, which they have to clean of years of cobweb and dust and they refurbish and refurnish their new old home. Since in France, homosexuality hasn’t been criminalised since the late 18th century, and they both have reached a point where they have hardly any fucks left to give about what people might think of them, they don’t hide their relationship anymore, and Sebastian gets in touch again with old literary acquaintances to introduce Ciel as his beautiful and gifted partner, and in this circle of people, nobody really takes offence at that, someone references French author Colette’s bisexuality (mostly because I’ve recently watched the film about her starring Keira Knightley, I will admit that).

Ciel and Sebastian are happy with their life in Paris, they somehow manage to live off their writing and occasional other jobs like guest lectures. The 50s end, it’s the 60s now… I haven’t really thought much beyond that but everything always turns out for the best and Sebastian lives long enough to keep Ciel company for a long time. In all these years, they never stop writing their shared diaries.

Wow, thanks for asking, it felt great to share this for once. Also makes me wanna write it all even more… but luckily, I’m well-occupied with #wanderlust and my other hobbies and obligations, so it’s not like I have time to do that anytime soon anyway. Also, now everyone already knows what happens anyway, so even less reason to write it.