#i was pointing it out to my sister Terra like its a reference to them

[camellia-salazar]

Hearing "Stand clear of the closing doors, please." when I was watching Annie (2014) got my AJR loving ass to get all hyped up all because I heard the same damn voice saying the same damn thing from their "Making of Bang" video.

[vacantgodling]

Happy Storyteller Saturday!

What is the afterlife like in your WIP? (are there ghosts? Do you know what happens after someone dies? Any fun lore? Whatever you want to yell about!)

hi! happy sts <3 thanks so much for your question!

i can answer this both for tcol & paramour so i'll do both.

here's a full explanation of paramour's religion here for some extra context!

there isn't like a "confirmed" afterlife like how there is one in tcol, however in the main religion of galeré (the country paramour takes place in) there is an idea that one day the vat of darkness will eventually over take the savior (or the son by traditionalists) and evil will repopulate the world fully. only those who have died and been judged to be true and just by the judge will be able to travel with the shepherd (or the father for traditionalists) to the new planet that he will make for humans. very similar to the chrisitian idea of armageddon and going to be one with god or whatever.

in tcol there is no such thing as a suffering afterlife. when all beings die, they return to cerullius which is essentially heaven, to be with IIARAN and IISIDIA. however the only way that you will be able to access cerullius if you're a terranean is through a proper burial, so those who aren't buried are essentially ghosts and are "doomed" to wander throughout the world for the rest of ??. there is a way to escape this fate and that is through the minor goddess The Lady of the Mists.

tl;dr The Lady of the Mists used to be a terranean princess pre-478 named princess pinella dia (and was one of the elder sisters of mitică the nomad or the first king of lathsbury proper) and during the journey from eros to ubwyn or what's now called the city of sorrows, she and many others perished during a land bridge collapse. because their bodies were unable to be buried, their spirits were the first (essentially) to be doomed to wander terrae however, pinella was offered a choice by the deity of medicine (among other things) YUTARA and was venerated to become a minor deity and a servant of theirs who guides to cerullius spirits who weren't buried and its only through her guidance that they can reach cerullius. here's an excerpt that kind of explains it (featuring my beloved lath who is a guardian at this point).

*also as an aside, all deities should be referred to when speaking of them in all caps--but when i write about them in character, as in them speaking amongst themselves in lore pieces, i write their names with the standard capitalization. this is bc they aren't above one another tm. just thought i should mention that lol.

Yutara stepped forward, snow melting under their sandaled feet. They continued until they stopped in front of the form of the weeping spirit, and crouched, until they were eye level.

“Why do you cry, child?” Yutara’s voice was melodic but calming, and at its soothing tones, the spirit’s cries began to slow.

“I have been forgotten here…” The ghost’s voice, in comparison to her loud cries, was soft. In it, a harrowed memory that would rustle the most stale of dead leaves, and it warbled out of her timidly. “Though I have not been dead for long my kin have all moved on without me. There is no one left to search for my bones, no one will bother to bury me. I am all alone here… it is so cold.”

“You know,” Yutara hummed, tunelessly. They began to swirl a vial in their hand, the light dazzling and drawing the eye of the ghost. As she stared, Yutara continued. “There will be many other people who will die such as you. Be it by accident, or on purpose, in sickness, or in health, and there will be no one to remember them.” 

“It’s horrible.” The ghost whispered, turning her gaze away. “No one deserves to live such an afterlife.”

When the ghost looked up once more at Yutara, Lath caught a glimpse of her gaze. Her eyes were slowly beginning to return to their original brown. “I would seek to remember them. Even if there is no one to mourn them, I shall.”

“How will you do so, child?” Yutara asked gently. “When your form is tied to your scattered remains?” 

“I will find a way to leave here.” The brown was returning even stronger now, a grey hue now mixing into the irises like ash. “I will venture beyond this wretched place, and I will go onto the world. Where there may be cities, there will be ruin. Where there are people, there are those forgotten. Every dog, every child, every person who surrenders to their rest with no one to properly attend them, I will attend. I will heal their spirits, so their next life will be happier. I will walk among the shadows of the fallen, and I will cradle them when they fall.”

Perhaps, as was the way of the gods, Yutara knew this all along. 

“Then I will grant you, my child, a gift. A wondrous one, that should aid you in all that you seek.” Yutara turned the vial of starlight over to the spirit and the spirit reached for it hesitantly, unsure if she could touch it. But when she cupped her hands around it, instead of phasing through, the vial rested weightily in her palms. “Should you truly desire this, then drink three sips from that vial. Any more, and you will be sent away to Cerullius. Any less, and nothing shall happen at all. Think carefully, my child, for once you drink from my cup, there is no turning back.”

Despite, Yutara’s words of advice, the spirit was already tilting her head back to accept the starlight. One, two, three sips Lath counted, and suddenly, the spirit’s form was enveloped in brightness.

When the light faded, no longer did there stand a pitiful ghost, weeping over her scattered remains. In her place stood a tall, ethereal woman. Her eyes were fully grey, and still barefoot, yet dressed in a long, draping dress she was adorned with a crown of white and silver flowers which Lath knew would never wilt. 

Yutara stood, tucking the vial back into their robes, and though their face was still covered, Lath could sense their satisfaction at the spirit’s choice. It was now that Lath finally spoke.

“What should we call you, fair Pinella? For now you are a goddess of your own right and stature.” 

“No longer shall I be Princess Pinella. They shall call me The Lady of the Mists, for wherever I shall go, fog should adorn my feet. It will be a blanket for my steps, and deliver to me the corpses which I will mourn.” And as she said it, it was so, as a thick, rolling mist began to coil from the soles of her feet and gather about her skirts. It wafted from the underside of her hair, and as she stretched her fingers out, so too did the fog unfurl from her thin fingers.

“My Lady,” Lath acknowledged, with the bow of his head. “Where shall you go?” This time when she spoke, she looked up at Lath, and the compassion in her eyes was overflowing. It took the form of tears that began to streak down her face. “Lath I… I am unsure. But I am happy. Happy that I finally have a sense of purpose.” She then turned to Yutara, curtseying deeply.

“Thank you, most high one. You are unbelievably kind.” However, Yutara tutted, gently, and lifted her head with gloved fingers. “There is no need to bow to me, my child. For you are now an extension of me. I am honored to have such a compassionate young goddess to serve those whom I cannot save.”

“And I will gladly, most high one.”

tbh i could rant about the historical characters of tcol like all fucking day but i'll stop here for now! thank you so much <3

[anemoarchonhoe]

Alright I warned you that I have a lot of them lol.

Also, I am new to tumblr, I have no idea how to put a quote under my name like I have seen others have, so I would appreciate it if you could tell me how because even after over 20 years on this planet I am still borderline tech illiterate lol.

Anyways, here we go with brainrots, also I am not that big a fan of Impostor Aus but I am very fond of the cult and soft aus.

Imagine the reader using their powers to make clones so they can spend time with everyone at once. The more touch starved characters have a small group all around them pampering them to the point they are blushing messes. Meanwhile Childe is being...well Childe...no further elaboration needed on that part lol.

A soft SAGAU or CultAu where the reader is a narrator of stories like Lovecraft and other authors. Upon arriving in Treyvat the reader the acolytes beg the reader to tell them their stories again. I know someone is doing a storyteller fic or au but I am not sure if it is like this.

A Cult Au where the reader was kept prisoner in a well ala the Ring by a village loyal to Celestia and not them. The Traveler finds them starved to the point of being a near skeleton and decide to...discipline the village while their companions tend to their creator.

A cult or Soft SAGAU where the creator has come from a grim dark world and not our world, something like Terra from Arknights or the Worm verse and has to adjust to a world where everything is not out to kill them.

A Cult or soft SAGAU where the reader has either been living on their own in the woods or is poor and lives in a run down and crumbling house without knowing who they are or anyone being able to find them. When they are found they show everyone their crumbling house with pride while everyone gapes with horror at what their god has been living in.

Soft Au where the reader gives everyone head pats. That is it, they just give every character they see a headpat be they Signora or QiQi.

Cult or Soft AU where the reader has a twin. One has a soulmate bond with all of the of age male characters and the other having a similar bond with all of the of age women in the game. I picture them being sisters with one having a reverse harem and the other having a yuri harem.

A Soft or cult where the reader is very short and rides on the shoulders of a giant Mitachurl everywhere they go. Imagine the looks on the gate guards faces when they see a Mitachurl the size of a small house clad in full armor holding an axe as big as it is tall with their God sitting on its shoulder or on it's head.

Venti decides to be a troll and takes the creator flying in his divine form, making sure the other archons see him as he does so. He is going to start another war at this rate.

A cult or soft au where the reader arrives in Treyvat crippled with a broken leg or such, and everyone is running around like a chicken with their heads cut off at the fact that their god is hurt and they don't know how it happened.

A cult or soft Au where the reader resurrects the dead like Makoto, Guizhong, and Vanessa to help everyone they love so much. Haishan is ressurected as well and demands a rematch from Beidou.

Soft Au where the reader becomes the relationship advice expert of Treyvat.

Cult Au or soft Au where the reader is a history fan and after making a reference to one of the World Wars decides to tell everyone about said wars. Meanwhile, everyone is listening in with horror at the sheer scale and insanity of the wars of the world their creator had been on. After all is said and done they are tackled in a group hug by everyone who wants to make sure they are okay.

Earth is a death world by Treyvat standards and everyone gets more and more horrified the more they learn about how screwed up our world is.

Imagine everyone's faces when the reader decides to bring back some of the extinct species from earth on an island or something. Venti takes one look at a Pterodactyl and wants to ride one. Ei sees a a baby Psittacosaurus and decides then and there and promptly begins to cuddle the creature. Zhongli has a brief staring match with a T-Rex, the two share a nod and go on their ways. Meanwhile Childe sees a Saber Tooth Tiger and decides that it is his new kitty.

A Doctor Stone level genius reader who proceeds to help modernize Treyvat.

I am going to call this here so that it does not end up as long as one of my Ao3 stories. Sorry about how much there is lol. I hope you like them. I have fallen so far down this rabbit hole I am dining with the Mad Hatter in Wonderland.

I hope my lil tutorial is helpful!! I'm only using mobile so if you're using a PC, idk if it'd be different-. By the way, you can also press the background button (seen in the second pic) to edit your blog profile's bg color, while the accent one are for the letters' colors iirc:

HOLY FUCK I LOVE ALL OF YOUR IDEAS SHDJDKFL. I'm also more into soft au of the cult because I'm more well-versed with writing fluffy mushy stuff than the dark stuff that's common in impostor au.

By the way...

*squints at the small reader riding a mitachurl's shoulder*

How did you get in my Ruin Bird series' draft? LMAO JUST KIDDING, but my idea was close to your own, but in my fic idea, they're instead riding on a Ruin Guard, Abyss Lumine style, and everyone thinks they're akin to a bird, hence why they're commonly known as the "Ruin Bird" (sorry for the spoilers).

I'm going to pick my absolute favorites:

The AU where the Reader came from a grim dark world. The one I'm most familiar with is the world of Little Nightmares. Like, imagine how scary that world is. The acolytes are horrified to hear of all that you'd experienced, once you trusted them enough to act more amicably and lower your guard down around them. So that's why you never flinched when Teyvat's monsters appeared before. Looking at Albedo's detailed sketch of the monsters that you've seen and killed as you described them in vivid detail, the hilichurls, slimes, rifthounds, and other abyss creatures look like cute pets.

The one where reader got leg injury, I-- 😭😭 They're definitely going to pamper you so hard. They will gather all the famous doctors in Teyvat in order to cure you or at the very least, make it better even if just a bit.

READER RESURRECTING THE DEAD. Resurrect Teppei and give him the divine gaze and favor he so desperately craved!!! Revive the Nameless Bard and let him see the flying birds and the clear blue sky!!! Travel the world with him as he sings with Venti while playing the lyre!! 😭😭😭 They both deserve it!!

THE HISTORY GEEK READER SJDKDNDN OMG!!! I can't add anything more to that because it's already perfect. I love it so much *chef's kiss* Good food.

The dinosaur au!!! Aaah, imagine Reader riding those herbivore dinosaurs with the long necks??? It's a very good time for them, but very inconvenient for their worshippers, because some of said dinos tried to eat them because they looked tasty.

The genius Reader one where they help modernize Teyvat. They praise Wangshu Inn for having the first elevator, and they proceed to introduce the escalator-. Reader introducing energy conversion: like anemo energy and hydro energy being converted to electro and electro being used to light up lamps instead of whatever they got going on like how do they even light the streets? Do they got candles inside or some sort of pyro stone??

[magicalshitposts]

Hyrule Pride Week 2021

Day 1 - Gender Neutral

(TW: slight swearing, slight transphobia (not under the cut))

Maybe it was a bold guess, but from the second the two royal researchers met the knight, they knew. Robbie called it instinct, Purah called it seeing Link flinch a little every time anybody referred to them as a term that did not fit.

It was the first time Robbie and Purah had met the champions (Bar the  and Purah’s sister of course), so like the man normally does for both him and his boss, he talked pronouns.

They went in a line, starting with the researchers,

“I’m a cis male, go by he/him.” Robbie clicked his fingers in the direction of Purah.

“Oh, you guys can call me whatever, but I lean more to she/her! Revali?”

“This is ridiculous, I’m a man.” The bird spoke, rather harshly.

“Doesn’t answer the question feathers.” Robbie clicked his tounge, waiting for the Rito champion to say something different before Purah jumped in.

“And with an attitude like that darlin’, you’ll be ‘a man’ standing outside while the grownups work”

Robbie smiled proudly, goddess he was lucky to have a best friend like her.

Everyone looked expectantly towards him, so Revali had no choice but to soften up, “I guess that means he/him, yes?”

Mipha was next, she smiled widely, “I use she and her pronouns!”

“Urbosa, I don’t quite uh… get it.” Daruk looked to the other person in the group who might be as lost as him. She was about to answer when she saw the researchers jump at the chance to educate.

“Go on then.” She grinned towards them, “She/her please, by the way.”

“Thank you Chief.” Purah winked to be met with scolding looks by her sister, “So Daruk, pronouns are a set of words that a person -Terrako beeped- or thing uses to be referred to as. So, there are two types of pronouns, pronouns and neopronouns, and there are two type of people who use them, cisgender people and Trans folk.”

Robbie jumped in to continue, “The difference between Cis and Trans is this, I go by he/him and I was born a guy, that means I’m cisgender and I use pronouns that were assigned to me at birth, if you take my apprentice as an example one of them is Trans, means she was born male but was just a girl trapped inside a male’s body. She was born using he/him pronouns, but found out she was she/her instead.”

Purah went on to talk about neopronouns, “Lets take Terrako – She picked the little guardian up and placed it on the table – Terra? Do you like to be called him?” A small movement of the top part of its body signified a no. “What about her?” The same thing. “So when people refer to you, you like to be called it?” A happy flurry of beeps exploded from it. Purah looked back to Daruk, “Right so, Terrako uses what we call neopronouns, it uses it/its which isn’t ‘officially’ seen in the Hylian language as a pronoun, but their Terrako.”

There was a small silence as Daruk put the pieces of information together in his head, “I… think I get it.”

Robbie gave an understanding look to the Goron chief, “Hey it doesn’t matter if you don’t get it right away, the fact your trying is great.”

Daruk’s eyes crinkled under the smile he had on his face, “Thank you Robbie. So I am a cisgender man who uses he/him pronouns?” Daruk looked around expectantly for feedback.

“Perfect Daruk, well done!” Purah grinned, moving on the next champions.

“Are you kidding?” Impa spoke coldly when eyes landed on her, “You’re my sister and my nuisance, you know my pronouns.” Robbie grinned slightly, time to be even more of a nuisance.

“Tough luck sweetheart, I asked, so cough up. Pronouns?”

“You are the bane of my existence.”

“So what do you not know them? Hey if not that’s fine, everyone has to find themselves out at some point!”

“Oh my goddess, stop it!” Frustration was rising in Impa.

“Stop what? Wait you’re not being like the bird are you, think you’re ‘too good’ for pronouns, eh?”

“Robbie. Fucking stop it.” Impa looked up to the researcher, fire flooding her eye.

With an awkward lean back to Purah, Robbie whispered, “found her limit.”

Purah rolled her eyes, god was she unfortunate to have a best friend like him.

“This lil’ munchkin goes by she/her, for those of you who don’t know her.” Purah put her arms around Impa’s shoulders pushing her back next to the princess.

“Your highness-“

“Are you being serious?” Impa interrupted her sister, “The princess is clearly-“

“Impa. Please don’t. It’s my place to speak on my identity.” Zelda stood straight, preparing to talk. “I am a woman and my pronouns are she/her.”

“Thanks Princess.” Robbie winked kindly towards her then turned his head to the last one, “And you, buckaroo.”

“Oh Link goes by he/him”

Alarm bells, the smallest of signals, Robbie and Purah knew something was off. Maybe Link winced their face on purpose for them to notice, most likely it was just a natural reaction.

“Can’t they tell us?” Purah asked looking towards Link and seeing their face immediately soften in confusion.

“Link is mute, he can’t speak.” The princess stated, looking sombrely towards them.

“Oh, well I know sign language, if they could sign it to us?” Purah looked towards Link with a kind encouraging expression. They lifted their hands, hesitant on what to sign. They were scared.

“Purah,” Robbie stood behind her, hands on her arms, “Maybe we should just trust the princess.”

Purah saw the relief in Link face as she said, “Yeah you’re right. Sorry your highness.”

 The meeting was over before it started. With Robbie discussing the Devine Beasts with their pilots and Purah talking about the Sheikah towers the meeting felt like a blip in a long day. Time goes fast when the researchers talk about what they love. The Champions had been gone for a while now. The workday was over and Robbie and Purah sat in their apartment above the lab. Loud music playing and a beer in their hands.

A knock at the door.

“Come in!” Purah shouted, not bothering to move. If it was a guest, they were uninvited.

Link opened the door and coughed slightly to get the residents attention. They waved when the two people looked at them.

“Link, right? Come on in.” Purah waved her arm to usher Link closer, “What can we do you for Linky?”

Link smiled ever so slightly at the nickname. They brought their hand up and signed ‘How did you know?’

Purah and Robbie smiled at the knight. 

“About the whole pronoun thing?” He asked.

Link nodded.

“I don’t know man- Robbie quickly caught himself- pal, the Princess said you go by he/him and you flinched. Me and Pu have had to deal with questioning and closets before so we really just kinda realised.” Robbie shugged towards the knight, smiling, “So you’re trans? She/her or?”

‘Non-binary. You guessed right the first time.’ They signed all to apprehensively.

“Well your safe with us Hylian.” Robbie winked.

“And if you want us to call you he/him around the other champions until you’re ready we most certainly can.” Purah added, tapping on the seat beside her. Link sat down.

“We’ll wait on you Buckaroo.” Robbie got up to get another can, “For now though, wanna drink?”

[ko-chan-the-blueberry-donut]

Fate’s Divergence Chapter 4

@the-bagel-queen

@astraskylark

@theanxiety-tm

@terra-mations

@deyinger

Thank you all for so much support for this story! I’m glad people are enjoying it so far!

Disclaimer: I don’t own Dragon Prince

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

Callum tossed and turned, restless, in his bed. His eyes drifted to the moon, its glow reminding him of the elf girl’s white hair. He wondered what she was doing right now. Was she sleeping soundly? Was she restless just like him?

He hoped she was comfortable. He remembered his first night as a prince in the palace. He was super jumpy—constantly startling at any shadows in his new room. Everything was so foreign to him…

He sat up, a realization dawning on him. He had at least his mother when he first came here to help him settle into sleep while she didn’t appear to have anyone. His mother and the king didn’t mention she had any family. Was she an orphan?

Callum rose out of bed, his mind trying to uncover the mystery of the elf girl. He remembered how his family said Xadia couldn’t help her—was she upset Xadia kicked her out because she helped humans with the Titan’s heart?

“She must be lonely…” Callum whispered to himself, grabbing some stuffed animals to take with him to give her. “I’ll give her some of my toys to make her feel more at home!” He concluded quietly, smiling at his great idea.

He surveyed each toy critically, making sure to grab the dragon stuffed animal as well as tons of other animals. He hoped these made her happy. They were gifts from his mother and auntie. Hopefully, she didn’t think him too babyish for having them.

“It should be fine. Girls usually like stuffed animals…” Callum tried to reassure himself, remembering Claudia proudly showing off to him her own collection of stuffed toys. With that assertion, Callum crept out of his room, struggling with all his stuffed animals in his arms, and snuck down the hallways to where he remembered was the elf’s room. Luckily there were no guards patrolling down his hallway yet or else they definitely would notice a small boy almost drowned in stuffed animals. Arms overflowing with the plushies, he felt he dropped some before finally getting to his destination.

Arriving at her door, Callum silently opened it, sneaking inside. As soon as he opened the door, however, he could hear crying. Alarmed, Callum hurried inside the elf’s room, closing the door behind him so no one would catch him.

There she was on the bed, curling into a ball and sobbing her heart out. Callum’s heart squeezed uncomfortably at the scene. The moonlight washed over her like a pretty glow, highlighting her snow-white hair, horns, and pink pale skin. Seeing her, Callum was reminded of the beautiful princess with long hair trapped in her tower waiting for someone to come see her.

Dropping the toys, he scurried over to her side and laid a hand on her shoulder, not reserved at all in touching her.

The elf seemed to have finally realized she wasn’t alone for as soon as he touched her, she jolted and gazed up at him. Callum retracted his hand hurriedly, not wanting to scare her, and held up his hands in surrender.

“Hi!” he said, nervous and waving awkwardly. What should he say? He knew she didn’t speak Common and he didn’t speak Elvish. “Um! Don’t cry! I’m not gonna hurt you!”

Her eyes lit up in recognition, and she backed away a bit from him, scared.

“Hurt?” her eyes were alarmed and Callum rushed to reassure her.

“No! No hurt! I come in peace!” he tried to convey. He hoped she knew some more words.

“No… hurt?” this time, the elf furrowed her brow in confusion, trying to grasp what he was saying. He detected her voice had a strange accent.

“Right! No hurt! Just here to help!” Callum smiled reassuring her. He hurried to where the toys were discarded and brought them to her. “Here! I brought these to help you feel better!” Callum excitedly showed her his toys.

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

Rayla blinked, not expecting the human child to show her what she presumed to be his toys. Her hand reached out tentatively, the boy watching her with an encouraging smile. She paused.

“No hurt?” Rayla checked again, her suspicious eyes finding his, ready to detect any sort of lie. The boy nodded.

“No hurt.” He assured her again. He climbed onto the bed, getting closer to her, before showing her his toys again. “No hurt.” He repeated.

Rayla studied him, and found he was not lying. The boy was not there to hurt her. She traced his features with her violet eyes, remembering him with her kidnappers. It seemed he was their offspring.

What did this mean? Was he not aware she was going to be executed? And yet, his presence here, the fact that her door wasn’t locked like she thought, her kidnappers being gentle with her… all signs were pointing to possibly another reason she was here.

But… the titan’s heart! She saw it. Why else would these humans keep an elf if it wasn’t for Dark Magic? She remembered Runaan’s stories. How humans only wanted power and nothing else. They were heartless and cruel.

So why was a human child sharing his toys with her?

Rayla reached out a hand again, hesitantly petting the soft fabric. The boy’s smile grew in happiness, and he handed her the dragon plush.

“I know you can’t go home to Xadia, but this guy will always protect you! He’s like your Dragon King, right?” the boy asked. Rayla furrowed her brow, trying to pinpoint words she recognized, and found he was referring to her king. She gazed down at the stuffed toy, and sure enough, he did resemble her king.

“Amin aran…” Rayla mumbled in mourning, touching the stuffed toy. Tears shined in her eyes, and the boy began to panic.

“Oh no! He wasn’t supposed to make you cry! Do you want another toy?” the boy asked, but Rayla couldn’t understand him. She clutched the dragon toy tight to her chest, shaking her head. She wished someone knew Elvish so she could talk to someone. She appreciated the boy’s efforts, but it wasn’t the same as Runaan or Ethari or her parents.

However, the boy surprised her again when he crawled over and hugged her to his small frame.

“No hurt!” the boy repeated. He gestured to the stuffed toy and himself. “No hurt. You’re safe here.”

Rayla sniffled. It seemed he was trying to comfort her. She didn’t understand why. She didn’t understand humans at all. She was tired and scared. The boy held her close as she cried, clutching the stuffed dragon between them.

Somehow, his embrace made her feel less alone.

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

Sarai had risen early. She was accustomed to this since having Ezran, for he needed feeding in the early hours. Harrow was dressing for the day, preparing for today’s event of Viren’s spell. Both he and Sarai were solemn, knowing what the kingdom of Duran lost in order for them all to be saved.

“We will meet the delegates of Duran first before performing the spell.” Harrow told her. He gazed down at the memento the queens have given him to deliver to their daughter. “We need to pay respects.”

“I agree. If it wasn’t for them buying us some time, we wouldn’t have made it.” Sarai was also thinking about little Aanya. She couldn’t imagine how Aanya would grow up now, without the love of her mothers.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the doors.

“King Harrow! Queen Sarai!” the guard called. Harrow went to open the doors. The guard was huffing, as if he had run all the way to their chambers.

“What is it?” Harrow asked. The guard gave them a frantic look.

“Prince Callum is not in his bed, Your Highnesses!” the guard informed them. Sarai and Harrow immediately went to follow the guard.

“Where could he be? He usually doesn’t wake this soon after sunrise.” Sarai carried Ezran with her, clutching him close, as if afraid some unseen force would take him as well.

“Don’t worry, Sarai. We’ll find him.” Harrow reassured her. He gave a determined look at the guard. “Search everywhere! If he was taken, they couldn’t have gone far.”

Soon Amaya was called to join in the search, as well as some other soldiers. The more time passed, the more they worried something could’ve happened to Callum. It isn’t like him to leave his room and not come to the royal bedchambers if he had woken early.

Passing through a hallway, Amaya noticed some stuffed animals on the floor. She recognized them as Callum’s immediately. Curious, she followed the trail of more stuffed toys before she arrived at a bedroom door.

Amaya gently opened the door, peaking inside, her eyes critically taking in the surroundings before landing on the large bed in the middle of the room, the gentle glow of the morning sun shining on the occupants in the bed. The sight that greeted her made her eyes soften. She waved to a guard passing by to get the king and queen. Soon, her sister and her husband were rushing down the hall.

“Is he hurt?” Sarai fretted. Amaya smirked.

It seems your boy is getting his flirting started early. Amaya said. She held open the door. Look inside.

Sarai, Harrow, and a few guards peaked in, and sure enough, Callum was safe and sound, and he was cuddling the elf girl to him in his slumber. The elf girl allowed Callum to snuggle her, clutching his stuffed dragon Sarai had given him close. Everyone felt their hearts warm at the scene.

“We were so concerned with giving the elf privacy we didn’t think to check here at all.” Harrow whispered. Sarai gave him a smile.

“We certainly are silly.” Sarai agreed. She, Harrow, and Amaya made their way into the room, dismissing the guards. Sarai went towards Callum, caressing his cheek. “Callum, sweetheart, it’s time to wake up.”

“’m comfy…” Callum groggily protested, bringing the elf girl closer. Harrow, Sarai, and Amaya had to contain their giggles. However, it was Ezran who decided there was enough quiet.

Baby Ezran gave a loud shout, wanting to join his brother on the bed, and Callum and the elf girl sprung up, disoriented and startled. Callum wouldn’t let go of the elf girl, trying to protect her, before he realized it was just his family. Sighing in relief, he eased his grip off of the elf girl and smiled sleepily.

“Hi mom!” Callum yawned. He then became more aware and gave them a quizzical look. “Did something happen? Why is everyone here?”

Ezran, seeing his big brother awake, held out his arms from Sarai’s hold to indicate he wanted to be with him. Sarai gave both her boys a fond smile.

“Nothing’s wrong, sweetie. We just didn’t know where you were.” Sarai reassured him.

“Oh, I was with Moonlily!” Callum simply said, standing on the bed and going to give Ezran a kiss. The three adults were confused.

“Moonlily?” Harrow parroted.

“Yeah! We don’t know her name yet and she reminds me of those pretty flowers I saw in a book about Xadia once, so I am going to call her my Moonlily!” Callum told them happily, gesturing to the elf who was watching them warily from the bed. He turned back to the elf, grasping her hands, pulling her to stand on the bed too. “Moonlily! Come here!”

“Boy works fast.” Harrow teased Sarai, who rolled her eyes, but she was also smiling.

As for the elf, she eyed them with distrust, which Callum noticed, and he rushed to soothe her.

“No hurt you!” Callum told the elf. The elf girl gave him a skeptical look.

“No… hurt.” She said, doubtful. Callum turned to the adults.

“I think she thinks we’re going to hurt her. I found her crying last night and she seemed really sad.” Callum frowned at them. “We’re not going to, right?” he began to panic, thinking he put his Moonlily in danger.

“No, sweetheart! Of course not.” Sarai immediately reassured Callum.

“She’s our guest here, Callum. No harm will come to her as long as I am king.” Harrow promised. Callum sighed in relief.

“That’s good. I don’t know how to tell her she’s safe.” Callum appeared sad. “It hurts when she cries.”

Harrow, Amaya, and Saria exchanged looks before glancing towards the elf who was watching them with suspicion. Sarai put Ezran down on the bed, and the elf watched fascinated at the baby human boy crawling to her. She knelt down on the covers, reaching out a hand shyly.

Ezran didn’t waste time and clutched some of her small fingers with his even smaller ones. He giggled happily at the feel of her skin, and the elf couldn’t help but smile nervously.

“Vedui' ai Edan” the elf said. Sarai couldn’t help but give a smile at the wonderful scene.

“Little one,” Sarai called, making the elf glance at her. “We won’t hurt you. Please don’t be afraid.” She reached a hand out and ruffled Ezran’s hair, who gave a shout of delight.

The elf examined her critically, and the three adults made sure to appear non-threatening as possible. The elf chanced a look at Callum and Ezran again, appearing pensive about whether or not to trust them.

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

Rayla observed the adults in the room, weighing their words—or the ones she did know—in her head. It appeared they too, were not trying to hurt her.

If they meant her no harm, then why did they take her from Xadia? Rayla was frustrated. She wanted answers, but it was clear with the language barrier she wasn’t going to get them.

It was clear to her they were in Xadia now to get a magma titan’s heart, but for what? And why? If she knew these things, she could find it easier to determine motives, to judge for herself if she was truly out of harm’s way or not.

Rayla couldn’t help but chance a look at the human boy and his baby brother. They gave her happy smiles in return. The boy really didn’t think his family was going to hurt her.

For now, she would have to believe in him.

She turned to the three adults watching her curiously, and got up, picking up the baby human and handing him to her kidnapper.

“No hurt?” Rayla checked again, looking for any deception.

“No, little one.” The woman said, smiling gently, taking the baby into her arms. “No hurt.”

Rayla sighed in relief, nearly collapsing on the bed. It wasn’t all the answers or everything she needed to know, but it was knowledge that was comforting all the same.

For Rayla, that was all that mattered for now.  

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

There’s chapter 4! I hope people enjoyed the Callum and Rayla interactions!

Translations:

Amin aran = My king

Vedui' ai Edan = greetings small human

[revengerevisited]

Maddie rambles about Kingdom Hearts: Dark Road

Let’s just get this outta the way: Xehanort is my least favorite character in Kingdom Hearts. Now there are certainly more boring and underdeveloped characters but as far as evil deeds go, it doesn’t matter how ‘cute’ or ‘relatable’ Nomura tries to make Xehanort. I will never forget that he tore Ven’s heart in half, tortured Vanitas for four years, killed his own best friend, possessed Terra’s body for a decade, possessed Riku’s body as Ansem, unleashed Heartless on the worlds resulting in countless deaths, manipulated Organization XIII for years, and experimented on Kairi as a child and eventually murdered her in front of her best friends. Any attempt to make me sympathize with him just ain’t gonna work.

Also, I’m not taking any of these ‘Character X is secretly Character Y’ theories too seriously until they actually happen. Yes, it can be fun to speculate that Bragi or Odin is secretly Luxu or the Master of Masters, or that Brain is Eraqus’s ancestor, or that Demyx is the MoM, or that Ava or Vor is Kairi’s grandma, or whatever other theories are out there. But until there’s conclusive evidence that’s all they are, speculations and theories.

On that note, I don’t know why Xehanort is having dreams about the KHUX Player’s adventures but I don’t think it’s because Xehanort is the Player’s Nobody or a reincarnation of the Player. Reincarnation has never been a concept present in the KH series, and honestly it just sounds like bad fanfiction. Plus, if Xehanort does turn out to be the Player, then I feel bad for everyone who spent a lot of time creating their own unique character only to have it be replaced by the generic default Player in KHDR’s opening cutscene and then re-replaced by Xehanort of all people. Perhaps Xehanort simply has a unique, unexplained power to see into the past like Namine’s memory manipulation or Terra’s precognition.

Either way, this past-sight just makes it harder and harder for me to believe that Xehanort wanted to learn about the Keyblade War in BBS, since it seems he already knew all he needs to know. Xemnas knows that Luxord, Marluxia, Demyx, and Larxene are from the past, young Xehanort lives in Scala ad Caelum which was built over the ruins of Daybreak Town complete with a huge machine explaining Daybreak Town’s demise, Eraqus talks about the Book of Prophecies like it’s common knowledge, the list goes on. Also, I don’t like the implication that Xehanort chose Ventus as his vessel and later as material for the X-Blade only because he knows him from the Player’s dreams. Then again, if his dreams of the Keyblade War end before the Player meets Ven and Lauriam, then Xehanort wouldn’t know about them and would instead be more familiar with Skuld and Ephemer.

I will say that one thing I do like is Xehanort comparing himself to a starfish laying on the beach, both for the humorous imagery and also just a bit of that islander backstory flavor. Xehanort being the outsider of his friends group and not telling the whole truth of how he ended up in Scala is also an interesting Kairi parallel, although him being found unconscious in the middle of a city is kinda overused. I do like that the surrounding cities around Scala are all uninhabited, since trying to wrap my mind around these huge mountain-sized cities with potentially millions of people in them was a little too much for my brain to handle.

I do however find it quite bizarre that it’s taken some worlds so long to recover from the Keyblade War. Not only that, but apparently people just appear out of thin air once their world is restored. Like, how? It just feels weird and uncomfortable, almost like these people only exist for the protagonist and audience’s amusement rather than being independent living beings in their own right. I dunno, there’s just something deeply unsettling about those implications. It also makes me wonder how long ago the Keyblade War was, if places like Agrabah still aren’t finished only 75-ish years before KH1. The characters refer to it as a legend, so it must’ve happened a long time ago, right? Some fans think it’s only been 100 years since the Keyblade War, but that would be like the equivalent of calling World War 1 a legend.

The worlds all being on different timescales is also extremely headache-inducing, both as analyst and a fanfic writer trying to keep track of the plot. Couple that with time travel and the whole thing just falls apart. Of course, if each world runs at a different time, then perhaps this is why Xehanort looks so much older than Eraqus, or rather why Eraqus looks so relatively young when he’s supposed to be 80-ish years old. And if that’s the case, then do any of the characters’ ages really matter? I’ve already proven that their ages have been retconned before. Also, this renders timecodes such as ‘75 years later’ and ‘one year later’ from Re:Mind and other parts of the series completely meaningless. The timeline is broken.

Anyway, I’m not sure how much Norse Mythology will play into the story, but all the new characters have Norse names with two that stand out the most. The first is Master Odin, named after a Norse god who sacrificed one of his own eyes for knowledge, which is an interesting parallel to the MoM. The second is Baldr, the as of yet unseen seventh student who has a missing sister, because evidently Nomura likes recycling his previous plots before they’ve even finished. In Norse Mythology, Baldr is the god of light whose death kickstarts the events of Ragnarok. How this’ll be relevant in KHDR remains to be seen, but after seeing those four gravestones in the timeskip/flashforward, I can’t imagine this ending well for anyone not named Eraqus or Xehanort. 

Now, as funny as I find it that the new characters have all been killed off this quickly, I’m not entirely convinced that those are Urd, Hermod, Bragi, and Vor’s graves. They could actually be the graves of the missing upperclassmen, if some of them turn up dead. Speaking of the upperclassmen, I would hope that Yen Sid is one of them, but I have a feeling he won’t be allowed to show up simply because of Disney’s stranglehold on its own IP. It’s pretty sad and ironic seeing as this series used to be all about Disney, but I assume that’s why Nomura is straying further and further from the brand.

About the four new student characters, I don’t have any particular attachment to any of them, beyond Vor’s name being hilariously unfortunate. I find it a bit eye-rolling that fans continuously snub Kairi but will instantly latch onto any new characters like Yozora and these four despite barely knowing anything about them. It doesn’t help that, and please correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems that any of the four who you choose to be in your trio will have the exact same dialogue in cutscenes no matter who you pick, meaning that these new characters don’t even get much of a chance to develop their own personalities because all of their dialogue has to be generic and bland enough to fit all four of them.

Young Eraqus is probably the best character so far, simply because he’s the only one with any personality. Granted his supposed cowardice has yet to be seen, but it’s mentioned so often that I assume it’s gonna be an important plot point later. However, I’m finding it hard to relate young Eraqus with his adult counterpart seeing as their personalities are just so different. I’m aware there’s a 65-ish year gap between this Eraqus and older Eraqus, but there better be some major character development to explain this, especially since even standing in front of his presumed classmate’s graves he still seems fairly chipper.

On that note, as humorous as ‘Tardy Fleetfoot’ is, just like with Xehanort, don’t think I’ve forgotten that this guy caused Terra’s insecurity and self-doubt with his overzealous anti-darkness stance, probably heavily influenced Aqua’s black-and-white anti-darkness keyblade-first-ask-questions-later thinking, was also probably the one who told her to lie to Ventus about always living with them, and attempted to straight up kill Ven and Terra. Eraqus’s actions aren’t as bad as Xehanort’s, but they certainly aren’t acceptable in any capacity.

Something odd I noticed is that Eraqus knows what the Heartless are called, and even the difference between Pureblood and Emblem Heartless-- well, part of the difference; I’m assuming he doesn’t know that future Xehanort created them. But anyway, my point is that Aqua doesn’t know what the Heartless are called until Mickey tells her in BBS 0.2. Before that she simply calls them ‘dwellers of darkness’, and even mistakes one for an Unversed. Does this mean Eraqus never taught his students about the Heartless? Why? Perhaps after his classmates died, he decided to shelter his own students from the worlds, hence why their Mark of Mastery was so simple? I’m just guessing at this point. Of course, there’s still no real explanation as for why the Emblem Heartless are here in the past. My best theory is that someone used the Book of Prophecies to summon them... somehow. It really just seems like an excuse to gloss over the corner Nomura wrote himself into with the whole ‘Emblem Heartless were made by Ansem’ thing, but we’ll see.

Honestly this whole series is just one big endless death-spiral of constant retcons and nonsensical plot twists and at this point I’m just exhausted. My view on KH has become one of mild and morbid curiosity, rather than expecting anything truly great. Is that cynical? Yes, but I’ve watched other once-great series (Star Wars, Voltron) worsen over time to the point that they just fizzle out and die, and I’m afraid it’s the same deal with Kingdom Hearts. I don’t think I’ve truly enjoyed a KH game since BBS, and if the series just continues down the path of introducing bland new characters every time Nomura gets bored rather than developing the already established ones, I don’t know how long I can stay interested. The Dark Seeker Saga is over and he really needs to let Xehanort go.

To end this on a positive note, I am tentatively hopeful about Melody of Memory. The gameplay looks cute and fun and the story looks like it will have more development for Kairi and her backstory, which is something I’ve been wanting for a while now. Focusing on the original cast is definitely a step in the right direction, and I hope this series can keep moving forwards rather than backwards.

[bigskydreaming]

You know... i haven't read the original teen titans but i saw the cartoon, i remember i thought dick and beast boy should have a close relationship, as brothers or something like that, but never happened in the show, it was like that in the comics?

Hmm, yes and no? I mean, there have definitely been times in the comics where Gar and Dick were pretty close, particularly in the NTT era where the core team was Dick, Raven, Vic, Gar, Kory and Donna. But I wouldn’t necessarily describe them as ever having been….like, they were never the closest of the bunch, for lack of a better phrasing? It wasn’t like they didn’t like each other, trust each other, or have one on one moments with varying degrees of emotional weight. Its more just like…..of the various team members, neither of them are like….the ones I would immediately associate with the other as having an especially close bond. Rather than just you know, being good friends and teammates.

I think the key thing is, both Dick and Gar at various points in the comics and different adaptations have very similar light-hearted and even goofy mannerisms and behaviors at times…..so it seems pretty natural for them to gravitate towards each other and be best friends or particularly brotherly. And I mean, its not hard to headcanon a time or place in which they do kinda sync up their prankster/jokester personalities and just goof off together.

But, that said……for most of the time period they were teammates, Dick was team leader and like….overall….more characterized as being pretty serious and feeling the weight of responsibility during that period in DC history. So as a result, I think they never quite matched up while on the team together, as like….as natural a fit as they might have been at other points in their lives.

I’ll always default to viewing Gar’s best bud/platonic soulmate/would totally be boyfriends if DC weren’t COWARDS, ahem, where was I…oh yeah, for me, that will pretty much always be Vic (Cyborg). During most of their time as NTT, Vic and Gar were like Dick and Roy often are in the comics, or like Dick and Wally were in the Young Justice cartoon.

Whereas Dick during the same periods typically spent most of his time with either Kory, as they were dating most of that period, or with Donna, as she was his oldest friend among that lineup, or with Joey, as the writers tended to put a particular emphasis on Dick and Joey growing close due to the existing rivalry and issues between Dick and Slade.

Which is also where another particular wrinkle comes in…..due to the time dilation effect that is later readers reading issues that took place over a period of months and years, like…in a pretty condensed period of time or just off of wiki summaries or in adaptations…..this tends to create kind of a skewed impression of how big a deal or how little a deal various story elements were…at the time.

What I mean by that is….pretty much everyone knows the general story of the Judas contract, and how Terra was secretly a mole for Slade the whole time and betrayed the team. But reading that in hindsight and in greatly condensed time frames doesn’t always capture the extent of how much the effects of the Judas Contract lingered at the time, if that makes sense?

And the thing was (at least in my impression from reading those comics and the years of aftermath as a kid)……the Judas Contract, for all that its upheld as a hugely iconic Titans story, isn’t often regarded as having as big of an impact as it did on the various characters involved. At the time of that story, like…..it was the Teen Titans version of the Dark Phoenix storyline. It was HUGE. The idea of a team member that readers had followed and rooted for over a period of years, just as the characters had related to her as a friend, a comrade in arms, someone they trusted with their life….turning out to have never cared about any of them all along, like, had gleefully plotted and planned for their deaths the whole time? That was pretty much unprecedented in superhero comics, at least to that degree.

So as much as thirty plus years later we tend to regard it and refer to it as an iconic, but singular story…..back then, it was a narrative well that was constantly being dipped into or referred back to or just kinda…hanging over everything like a constant presence.

Like, I talk a lot about how Dick was affected by his estrangement from Bruce at the time, his insecurities about not being adopted and being replaced by Jason, etc…as well as the responsibilities of leadership. But IMO its equally true that on top of all of that, a lot of how serious and driven he was during the NTT era and aftermath….like, it traces directly back to the Judas Contract. Because Terra’s betrayal was just…..none of the Titans of the time had ever really experienced anything quite like it, with the exception of Kory due to her past with her sister. And for Dick….a huge part of why Slade has always been viewed as Dick’s archnemesis in particular, rather than the Titans as a whole, even though Slade initially targeted all of them….

Like, that’s because Dick MADE Slade HIS archnemesis in particular. All the Titans were targeted, impacted by Slade’s actions and plans….but Dick made it personal between him and Slade in specific, because for Dick, it WAS personal. In his eyes, it was HIS team that Terra had infiltrated. It was HIS responsibility as team leader, to vet each member, to be sure that every one of them COULD trust the others to have their back. 

Dick, I think, has always viewed the Judas Contract as his failure in particular (and I also think a large part of that has to do with him feeling that if he’d somehow maybe have given Terra more of a reason NOT to betray them, she might have sided with them instead of Slade….but that’s the danger of hindsight and not an expectation anyone could reasonably have - not that I think that’s ever stopped Dick from having it for himself).

And again, something that I’ve always felt deserves more focus in regards to Dick and Slade’s dynamic, is I think Dick has always been crucially aware that Slade only knows all the Batfam’s identities…because he knew Dick’s first. And he only ever knew Dick’s identity….because he got it from Terra, his mole. After Dick gave it to her, along with the rest of the Titans. Entrusting her with it, and by extension, everyone in connection with him.

But anyway, my point with that whole tangent is like….the Judas Contract was life-changing for all the Titans of the time, and Dick and Gar felt those changes more strongly than probably any of the others….given that Gar was her best friend on the team (or so he thought), and off-and-on love interest, and Dick was the team leader and felt responsible for them having been infiltrated and betrayed to that degree in the first place. It was hugely impacting on both of them as despite how they conduct themselves a lot of the time….you could very plainly see how both of them became more withdrawn, less trusting in the aftermath of it….because all the Titans got burned by Terra’s betrayal, but none moreso than Dick and Gar in specific.

And I think part of the fallout of all that is that ever since the Judas Contract, there was always this….awkwardness between Dick and Gar. It was never really a thing where either of them blamed the other for what happened with Terra, I don’t think - more just them both having a mutual awareness of how much what happened with Terra was constantly in the background of their minds, if that makes sense? 

Like, the ghost of what happened there was kinda just always there in between them, even if it wasn’t actually either of their fault. Ever since then, Dick was always just slightly more reluctant to be the first one to Gar’s side when he was in trouble, not because he didn’t WANT to be, but because like…he kinda felt like it shouldn’t be him, or something like that. And Gar was always just a little more….cutting in his jokes to or about Dick, even though he almost always felt bad afterward, it was like an instinct, a kneejerk reaction. Like he blamed Dick even while knowing Dick wasn’t really to blame, and Dick wasn’t ever going to call him on it because Dick felt he SHOULD be blamed, and so it was just….messy. 

So the end result is Gar and Dick were never like, each other’s first go-to guy, but also just, they were never as close after the Judas Contract as they were before it. And you always got this sense that they were both kinda aware of that, but neither really knew what to do about it, because the thing was, it was never either of their faults, so there wasn’t really anything that COULD be done about it. They were just the two closest to the damage the Judas Contract did to the team as a whole, so inevitably, their relationship was what caught the biggest fallout from the blast radius of that storyline, and ended up like, the biggest collateral damage to it.

[tessatechaitea]

Team Titans #23

Redwing must have been furious when she didn't make the Birds of Prey roster.

The good news is that I'm almost done reading all of the Team Titans comic books I own. The gooder news is that I'm almost done reading all of the New Titans comic books I own! The most goodest news of all is that I'm still alive somehow. Although that's only good news in the sense that, by being alive, I can appreciate being alive. The news that I were dead would be just fine with me as well because I wouldn't have to hear it. The good news about the bad news of my death is that none of you would hear of it either! You'd all just believe that I got bored of writing comic book reviews and went off to live on a beautiful tropic island full of kittens. After I finish reading Team Titans and New Titans, I'll have to dig out another old series to reread. I'm excited to find out what it will be! I was on Twitter earlier and was perplexed by this person's response to a Tom King tweet. If a smarter reader than me could explain what he meant, I'd truly appreciate it!

My current theories: 1. He's just a Trumpist and knows Tom King isn't a white supremacist asshole so he simply assumes this tweet is somehow mocking Trump. 2. The Tweet didn't delve inside the mind of the protagonist thus relying too much on the reader using their own mind to form conclusions of the protagonist's intent, making it a 'difficult' read. 3. The person replying probably just responds this way to all of Tom King's tweets because Batman isn't punching enough villains these days.

This issue begins with Jensen practicing some of his beat poetry.

Snap! Snap! Snap!

Snap! Snap! Snap!

Snap! Snap! Snap!

Audience nods smartly while puffing nonchalantly on long cigarettes.

Redwing has transformed into a woman with the head of a bird and huge talons on her hands. If any of these Team Titans had a romantic interest in her, they'd probably be thinking, "Did her anus, vagina, and urethra just merge into a cloaca?" But apparently none of them do have that kind of interest because none of them are currently throwing up the way I am after having that thought. But now I'm also thinking of Hawkman and Hawkwoman's sex talk. "Let's kiss cloacae, baby!" While everybody tries to pretend Redwing is still the same person she's always been (except grosser), Chimera reminds the Team Titans that other totally-not-monsters-just-because-they-look-like-human/animal-hybrid creatures are trying to kill them. For some reason, Redwing attacks the other Team Titans. Maybe she's just trying to get them to admit that they all think she's a monster now. If that was her plan, it works because Lapidus is all, "If you're intent on proving you're as much a monster inside as well as out, then you'll have to go through me!" Idiot! You're not supposed to say she looks like a monster to her face! You're supposed to act more like her brother Prester Jon and avoid eye contact and tugging at the inside of your shirt collar and mumbling things like, "Yikes!" At least that allows you to deny your true feelings when she confronts you about why you're acting so weird.

Me at prom.

Sometimes I completely understand that I'm reviewing comic books that never wanted me as an audience. I don't care what young person is infatuated with what other young person, or how much bullshit drama one member of the team can create for no reason at all. If I was, I would be a fan of the Legion of Super-heroes. So if I hate this comic book with such passion that I've certainly spontaneously created at least five kidney stones within me, it really shouldn't reflect on the comic book at all. I'm sure somebody cares that Killowat has a crush on Mirage but he's also a racist piece of shit. I'm sure somebody cares that Terra has littered the Troy Family Farm with stone dildos because Changeling won't fuck her. I'm sure somebody cares that Prestor Jon has an issue with his sister because she doesn't look as human as she used to (while it's okay for him to look like Stretch Armstrong). But that someone is not me. I don't think it ever was me. Half the comic books I own were purchased because of simple momentum. I bought the first issue and felt compelled to buy the second issue and, well, fuck it? Why not just keep buying them no matter how terrible they were?! I know that doesn't say anything positive about my decision making but then I've also never claimed to be good at making decisions. The fact that I read every comic book of The New 52 for six or seven years proves that! Prester Jon refers to Qurac as "hell on Earth" which Chimera has opinions on.

"Hell! What a western concept! But, I mean, you're right and I'm going to go along with that characterization so I don't even know why I pointed that out!" I didn't say she had strong opinions on it.

Chimera mentions that she last met the Team Titans in Team Titans Annual #1. Fuck! I didn't review that issue! I'm sure I own it but it might be stored with all of the Bloodlines Annuals. Well, I guess I can review it whenever I find it during my reread of all of my thousands of comic books from the last forty years!

It's true that I never expected Peter David's Aquaman but I certainly wasn't waiting for it.

Prester Jon tries to discover what caused Redwing's transformation (as well as that of the human/animal hybrids outside) while a young Quraci girl looks at Redwing and cries. I think it's supposed to be touching how the little girl can't communicate but she can feel emotions. Although it would be better if she could communicate because, for some reason, she knows the entire backstory as to how and why people became mutant animal monsters. Something about how aliens crashed in the desert and Circe saw they could be used to make human/animal hybrids but some of the aliens died in the desert and when Cheshire nuked Qurac, the aliens were atomized and everybody breathed in cremated alien space DNA. It's totally the kind of thing a little girl would know all about. Chimera shows Killowat and Terra that the Americans have come to Qurac to save the oil and not the people. That sets off Killowat's Angry Right Wing Logic Centers.

Oh? Is criticizing America's foreign policy of protecting investments considered politically correct? Although doesn't this anger and argument seem tame from a 2019 perspective?

Anybody who begins an argument with "I refuse to believe" is a person with whom I immediately stop arguing. It's a great opening tactic because I appreciate your desire to not waste my time by immediately revealing that you won't be listening to facts and evidence. Also, "I refuse to believe America would rape a country of its resources at the expense of saving the people" may as well be a declaration that you spent most of your time in history class yelling, "Nyah nyah nyah nyah! I can't hear you!" Not that America's public educational system was particularly great at exposing America's imperialistic abuse! There's definitely a reason right wing thinkers believe college educations turn people into leftists. Because it does! Leftists are just rational people who aren't viewing the world through the lens of preconceived opinions! College educations are less about broad generalizations and more about trying to put history in as much context as possible. Patriots are often as blind as people of faith. One of the conditions of being faithful is to not question your faith. It's right there in the word! So any examination of your faith is questioning that which you shouldn't question. Being a patriot is the exact same thing. If you question our government, you're against our government. There's no belief in trying to improve our government because it's an acceptance of flaws in the United States. Of course now that's simply become a way to not ever question anything a Republican does because obviously everything any Democrat does is completely wrong. It's believing in tribe over anything else. I am not a Democrat because I believe whatever the fuck every Democrat believes. Hell, I'm not even technically a Democrat! I am liberal, sure. But I don't support any idea or belief from what would be considered my tribe. And neither are a lot of liberals which is why you have trouble with Democratic voter turnout. Every Republican nominee is practically interchangeable. As long as they spout the handful of talking points important to the accepted base (2nd amendment, anti-abortion, Christian values, white supremacy...I mean states rights!), they'll do. But Democrats have the constant fight over whether a candidate will lose voters if they move left away from center while hardly ever acknowledging how many votes they'll gain as they move left. I've always said they should abandon all those assholes at the center. If you're only voting Democrat because you support their social views but don't want higher taxes maybe you're actually a Republican. Because if the Democratic party moves further left and you abandon it because of taxes to side with the gun toting fetuses who support locking up refugees on our southern border, who the fuck wants you at that party anyway?! Back to the comic book, the Team Titans speculate that the cremated alien DNA has combined with the tainted oil in Qurac and the metagenes in certain individuals to transform them into monsters. So now they've got to destroy all of America's profits by making sure the oil isn't sold all over the world. Killowat is all, "I can't believe we're going to save the world at the risk of America's profits!" I mean, he doesn't say that explicitly. But I can read between his racist and xenophobic lines.

Finally an argument that wins him over!

Look, I get being resistant to truth! Whenever I brush my teeth, I can't help thinking about the Barney song where they mime brushing with huge toothbrushes and sing, "While I'm brushing my teeth and having so much fun, I never let the water run!" And then I just let the water run! I know, I know. I'm a fucking monster! Terra and Killowat solve the problem by putting the contaminated oil back into the ground. That seems scientifically sound enough that I won't bother questioning it like a college-educated leftist. But Killowat assures Chimera that she hasn't won the argument even though her argument was simply, "Maybe you should question your government sometimes, idiot." Meanwhile the animal people attack the other Titans upstairs. The Titans can't kill them because they were once people (although I guess if they had always been sentient monster people, it would have been okay to kill them? Sometimes I'm not entirely sure of comic book superhero rules). They solve their problem by sending them into a Fairy Land via one of Chimera's portals. She was hesitant to do it earlier because she didn't know if what transformed them was catching. But now that Prester Jon somehow did science and figured out what happened, everybody agrees it's okay to banish them to a world where they'll never see their loved ones again and nobody will work out how to save them and they'll probably just turn on each other when they get hungry. Superman throwing every villain into the Phantom Zone has left a terrible example for young heroes to follow!

Oh the 90s! When every time anybody said anything, you had to wait a few seconds to see whether or not they really believed what they just said!

Later Killowat acts like a total jerk. But he acts like a different kind of total jerk than he usually acts like. So after he's done, he says, "Whoa! What just happened?! Is that shadowy person on the ground hiding behind the tree controlling me?! And who might it be?! ZERO HOUR!" Team Titans #23 Rating: B-. They sure used to pack a lot of story and words into comic books, didn't they?! And for only $1.95! That's two dollars less than the crappy comics DC puts out today that have four less pages and far less story every month! And it's three dollars less than Marvel books! No wonder Marvel is more popular. People probably look at the price and think, "Whoa! I'm getting a whole dollar more quality out of this comic book than that stupid DC comic book!" It also might help that Marvel doesn't mind having synopses of the story to help new readers or old readers whose memories aren't that great anymore. DC refuses to do the same, instead relying on the writer wasting two or three pages of actual story where characters think about what happened in the previous issue. A lot of DC books suck in collected formats!

[mst3kproject]

K11: Humanoid Woman – Part II

According to Wikipedia, the Humanoid Woman cut of this movie removed what was considered to be ‘Soviet Propaganda’.  I find myself skeptical.  If you removed all the Soviet propaganda from this movie there’d be no movie left.

When I reviewed The Stone Flower, one of Aleksandr Ptushko’s non-MST3K movies, I remarked that it was very Soviet in its concern with class.  The Ptushko movies that did end up on the Satellite of Love had similar undertones, what with Sadko stripping the nobles of their wealth to redistribute it among the poor, and the leaderless paradise that is the society of Kalevala.  Per Aspera ad Astra doesn’t explore ideas of class and property the way Sadko or The Stone Flower did, but it’s very Soviet nonetheless.  It provides us with a rather fascinating and sometimes hilarious view into how people in the USSR saw westerners.

I seriously doubt any of the many American movies about communists as soul-less machines ever made it past the Iron Curtain, at least not before Glastnost, but Per Aspera ad Astra comes across as an answer to them nonetheless.  One of the major themes of the film is the importance of emotions, particularly compassion, which is presented as an integral part of the human (Soviet) psyche.  When Niya is first found, some sort of scientific council debates what to do with her.  Sergei offers to take her home with him.  Dr. Ivanova argues that she should be locked up, because she is dangerous, but Sergei finds this unacceptable.  As a sentient being she should not be kept in a cage, and as the last of her kind he fears she will die of loneliness.  His home is the perfect place to open her up, to allow her to recover her traumatic memories in a safe and supportive environment.

When we meet the multi-generational Lebedev family, they turn out to be a close and caring little community.  They’re a far cry from Beulah’s brainwashed minions or the music-less, humour-less followers of the Perfect Order.  These are warm, loving human beings – even the actual robot has a certain amount of personality to him, despite his refrigerator-like appearance. Furthermore, this compassion and warmth are gender-neutral.  It is Sergei who feels for Niya’s loneliness and takes her home with him, and his son Stepan who comes to love her like a sister and is sorry to leave her at the end.  The spaceship crew on Dessa run out and dance in the rain when they succeed in cleaning up a patch of the planet, laughing and singing like fools.  Emotion in this world is human, not male or female.

Contrast this with the portrayal of the Dessans, the movie’s capitalists.  Their world is barren and lifeless, and the people are slaves to corporate interests that care only about profit.  The destruction of their planet has rendered profit itself pretty much meaningless – what can you buy when there’s nothing there? Characters like Turanchox the gas mask tycoon pursue it anyway, considering money to be its own reward. Ordinary Dessans resent having to buy their very survival but feel powerless to do anything about it – and they don’t trust the humans to help because of the propaganda fed them by their corporate overlords.  Turanchox actively works against the survival of his planet, because he’d rather be rich and dead than broke and alive (amusingly enough, Turanchox is a rich ugly man who makes weird faces when he talks – the Donald Trump School of Movie Villainy is a truly global phenomenon!).

There’s a notable gender bias in the Dessan society, too – all the Dessans whose faces we see are male.  This is never commented upon but it does contrast with the prominence of women among the humans.  It also contrasts with Niya’s little family of clones.  Their creator made an equal number of males and females, whom Niya refers to as her brothers and sisters.  The purified world he imagined was an egalitarian one, too.

If the first half of the film is telling a western audience that communists are not the emotionless drones we imagine them to be, then the second half is telling us what we look like to them: soul-less slaves to work and profit, incapable of even going out in the sun without permission from our evil overlords.  Which, uh… I kind of want to be insulted, but honestly, the last couple of years it’s been hard to argue with that.

Another way in which the movie seems to be an answer to western propaganda is in its use of the idea of mind control.  This is something a lot of highly-placed people the US worried about in the 60s and 70s, and tried to come up with ways to counter.  Evidently the Soviets had some concerns, too, because both sides in Per Aspera ad Astra attempt to use mind control – and intriguingly, both fail.  The control circuit in Niya’s brain allows various people to control her actions at various times, but never to a wholly successful conclusion.

After discovering the control circuit, Dr. Ivanova uses it to spy on Niya and to keep her from hurting Selena, who has said some unkind things to her.  Technically, this works: Niya is unable to harm the other woman.  However, Niya herself is so distraught by the experience of being taken over by an outside force that she attempts suicide.  Later, when the humans ship she has stowed away on comes near the Dessan vessel where Niya was found, an automatic device on board calls her back, and she teleports there only to nearly die of exposure to vacuum. Finally, on Dessa itself, Turanchox tries to use the device to force her to set off a bomb.  She is able to break free of his control and resist him.  The ultimate lesson of all this seems to be that mind control is not how you go about changing the world.  People will not change unless they want to change.

Other parts of Per Aspera ad Astra suggest that Soviets in the 70s and 80s saw westerners as victims in a very similar way to how we saw them – at least, there are striking correspondences between the presentation here of the Dessans and how, say, It Conquered the World saw Beulah’s victims.  The Dessans whose faces we do not see wear masks – gas masks when they’re outdoors, but creepy Michael-Myers-y face masks even when they’re inside.  This is useful to the plot, as it allows the bad guys to act without identifying themselves to witnesses, but it also speaks to a lack of individuality. Just as Beulah’s slaves lose all personality and the people of Planet Terra all agree on everything, the people of Dessa all look alike, all slaves to a bigger system with no concept of themselves as anything but cogs in it.

Also in both cases, the opposing point of view is considered a disease.  In Stranded in Space, Benedict explicitly talked about Stryker in those terms.  In Per Aspera ad Astra, Dr. Ivanova tells Niya that the Dessans are ill, that their minds are asleep.  The difference is that where Benedict believed that Stryker had to be locked up or killed (just as Peter Graves did for those in Beulah’s thrall), Ivanova insists that the Dessans can be cured.  She says that the Earthlings must wake them up, make them see the truth.  We have to cure them, not hate them.  This is probably the thing that most makes me think this film feels like an answer to American cold war movies.  You think we need to die, it seems to say, while we only want to help you.

Both Graves and the characters in Stranded in Space spoke of the idea of bloody revolution with fear and contempt.  Revolution is an important part of communist ideology and since the story presents the necessity of some kind of revolution on Dessa, one might expect Niya and the humans to lead one.  Yet the movie, through its characters, speaks up against it instead.  Niya talks at one point about saving the planet by force, taking only the healthiest of the children and letting the ill and the old die to make way for a new world, but one of her crew-mates chides her for it, telling her that nobody wants a world stained with blood.

There’s a lot of stuff here I agree with, albeit in a qualified way. Unregulated capitalism does give free reign to assholes and allow a lot of environmental destruction, but the USSR was not exactly a bastion of green economy, either, so there’s an unpleasant hypocrisy to the whole theme. Nor is anything I’ve discussed above remotely subtle.  There’s something about preachy and condescending movies that just pisses me off, even when I do agree with them.  I liked District 9 as a movie.  Avatar was very pretty.  Yet both of them just make me want to grind my teeth because they’re the film equivalent of those facebook memes that say “share if you’re a decent human, ignore if you’re a Nazi!”

It is possible to tell these stories in a way that isn’t patronizing.  Wall-E did it, and maybe Russian version of Per Aspera ad Astra did so, too – maybe the English translation just wasn’t very good.  I’m filing this one under the same ‘very interesting but not something I’d watch for its own sake’ heading as First Spaceship on Venus.

[chartreuseblood]

Lucy

“Wait, wait, wait. Who was that little girl who was in there for most of that?”

The Vulcan finally lifted his eyes from the cave floor to look at this young, blue-eyed Kirk. His dark eyebrows were furrowed and his expression was riddled with questions about everything from the mind meld, even if he only verbally expressed one.

Spock began to recall with a light of fondness what specific memories he was referring to and could not conceal his soft smile.

“My granddaughter.”

They were in the middle of a game of chess. 

Both men had been simultaneously sipping their mugs of tea as Jim strategically planned his upcoming move. Spock had made to point out that Jim’s reading glasses were still on, in which he got the reply that he knew Spock enjoyed him in the glasses, of which there was always a tinge of warmth that could not be relinquished. 

The chess piece was just barely touching the board when the PADD sat on the kitchen island buzzed a message notification. Jim laid the piece down and rose, careful not to shake the table, making his way to see what was said, only after pressing a hasty kiss to his husband’s temple. 

L.H.MCCOY: Jim, I think you ought to see to this... The girls have some big news and they want you two to hear it, too. 

 The girls. ‘The girls’ always referred to Saavik and Joanna. After the initial mentorship, Jim and Spock felt as though Saavik was a daughter to them and took her in as so, which she gladly accepted. There was a mutual feeling of love at first sight when the women first met, no matter how much they continuously seem to get under each other’s skin. Bones had always been somewhat of a brother and became even more so when the daughters married. 

Spock had already read the emotion and thoughts through the bond as Jim mentally read the message so he knew what was being beckoned as they made eye contact. He huffed getting up from the comfort of his favorite dining chair, only to get comfortable again moments later, sat between Jim’s hip and the sofa’s armrest with his legs across Jim’s lap. His arm curled across Jim’s shoulders and began running his fingers repeatedly through tight ringlets as Jim turned on the large screen viewer above their mantle. 

It took a minute and a few uncounted rings for the girls to pick up. As usual, there was some bickering already heard on their line and hardly ceased by time the connection stabilized. 

“Sa-mekh, you are being as grossly affectionate as always.” was the first remark, coming from Saavik and being directed at Spock. Had he been fully human, he would have retorted in a comment but instead lifting an eyebrow before getting an idea. He turned Jim’s head towards his own and initiated a deeply passionate kiss, to be even more ‘gross’.

“Disgusting...” Joanna scoffed, watching the tender happening before her. She and her wife were mentally in mutual agreement that they were dirty old men. 

“You sound more and more like your father each day, Jo.” Kirk chuckled after the make-out session cut short. Spock’s head then laid between his jawline and shoulder, intertwining their fingers in the shared lap. 

As Joanna shook her head, he continued, “Bones said you two had something important to tell us.” At this, Joanna returned her composure and shared a sympathetic look with Saavik. 

“Yes,” The half-Vulcan woman started, looking down at their desk and picking something up, “We are, as humans put it, ‘expecting’.” Her delivery was blunt as her attention was turned to gauge reactions. 

“Oh.” was all Jim could softly manage to say. Previously, Spock’s head had been resting and his eyes closed but the earth-shattering news caused him to pick it up and stare with knitted eyebrows. 

“Who is carrying?” He inquired blatantly, receiving a nervous smile from Joanna in response. 

“Du s’frei the tehvars, a’ri?” His voice was unwavering, nearly cold, as he spoke in native tongue, concealing a portion of the conversation. [You understand the dangers, correct?]

“Ah, ah, veling, sa-mekh. Olozhikaik? Ri, hi a aitlun.” At least Saavik understood what risk they were running and that their wish was not inherently logical. With that, Spock nodded his approval. [Yes, yes, of course, father. Logical? No, but a desire.] 

Joanna and Jim were still deserted among what was just exchanged but the Vulcans seemed pleased with themselves, which one could only hope for. 

When he found it appropriate, Jim set congratulations in order on both his and his husband’s behalfs. Surprisingly, Saavik actually let a small smile slip and she grasped Joanna’s hand graciously. All four agreed on keeping the older two up-to-date on how everything was blowing over. 

After the call was ended, Jim looked to Spock lovingly.

“This should shape up to be interesting.”

“It shall indeed be fascinating.”

Six months later, they transported cross-country for the small baby shower. When Jim had mentioned they were invited, Spock began extensive research into the human ritual and was calculating both efficiency and cost for their intended gift. Practicality and logical were key. 

Jim had to talk him out of a Sehlat cub and they compromised on a futuristic mobile. It projected onto the ceiling and presented stars and solar systems. Being as it were, Spock, of course, reprogrammed one of its settings to include Vulcan and its twin suns as an accoutrement. He revised the accuracy of the Terra diagram and its accompanying sister planets and stars, as well.

Jim was quite proud and assured him it would be well appreciated. It was no doubt thought of outside of the box. Mobiles were still typical, even well into the 23rd century, but not as this one was fitted. 

The couple were dozed off together the entire ride over to the apartment, Jim’s head on Spock’s shoulder and Spock’s own head resting on Jim’s forehead. You know how old men do. When they arrived, they spent a few minutes stretching before making their way to the front door. 

Saavik was the one to answered the door and directed them to the living area, flour dusted on her forehead. Spock wiped it off for her, not unlike a mother hen, before she turned on her heel to return to her current task. In the living room, Joanna was comfortably reclined in her leather recliner and the elder McCoy sat across from her on the sofa. 

The pair were greeted with a warm welcome. To Joanna’s convenience, she wasn’t expected to get up as Jim simply patted her hands rested on her stomach and Spock offered a ta’al. Bones, unexpectedly, got up to hug them and Spock actually allowed it for once. Saavik joined them a few minutes later, sitting on Joanna’s armrest and connecting a possessive hand to the swollen stomach that was almost awkward on that thin frame. 

“So just a little get-together?” Jim asked as his husband got comfortable beside him. 

“Yes, since someone insists it would keep my stress level down.” Joanna answered, narrowing her eyes at her father. 

“You know I’m right, missy.” He hissed in return.

“Christine says everything is fine.” 

“By human standards, yes. But you have to be more careful with half-breeds.” The other two half-breeds in the room shot him equally-matched glares. 

“Alright, alright, no need for a cat-fight. I was only wondering.” The tension only died slightly at Jim’s resolution. Spock only relaxed more at his husband’s touch. All could agree that there was truth in McCoy’s statement but his wording was what had everyone at his throat. 

The silence was awkward and unbroken until Saavik’s audible flinch and the uproar of Joanna laughing. The older men of the room weren’t quite sure what just happened before their eyes but it was enough to send Joanna into a wave of laughter tears and Saavik a dazed confusion. 

“Apparently the baby is also mad at you too, Dad.” Jo choked out, struggling to breath after laughing so hard. She had to remove her glasses to wipe her eyes and a wave of blonde fell in her face as she did. 

“She kicked really hard and that’s why Saav got so startled.” She explained finally, replacing her glasses on her nose.

“She?” Bones inquired, eyebrow slightly raised. It was almost an ancient mimic of Spock, which was scary in itself. 

“I neglected to mention that, didn’t I?” Joanna murmured, looking to Saavik who was nodding, “We found out the sex at the last ultrasound a few days ago.” 

“A little girl... I’ll be damned.” Leonard chuckled, leaning back in his spot. 

“Pay up, Bones.” Kirk directed at him, motioning at him as if he had the physical credits. They had drunkenly taken a gamble about a month earlier and somehow remembered it.

“Over my dead body.”

“You’re a dirty bastard, you cheat.” 

***

After a little while, they were preparing to sit and try the fruit tart concoction Saavik had slaved over when Joanna caught Kirk’s eyes level with her stomach.

“You can feel it if you’d like.” She said quietly, earning his eyes adverting upwards and blush threatening to reach his cheeks. 

“May I?” She was already offering but he wanted to solidify it by being polite. She nodded and his aged hand gingerly reached out to search for a kicking foot. It was a luxury he had missed out on with David before he was born and something bypassed by a lack of biological children among himself and Spock. In spite of these thoughts, he still warmly smiled at the feeling of a kick. 

Spock was observing the feat quietly at Kirk’s side. It was far beyond anything he’d had seen and though it appeared odd, he could lightly feel the significance, especially if he stretched across the bond to see Jim’s thoughts. It was when Joanna’s eyes met his in an offering manner that he unintentionally shuddered.

However, he still accepted the invitation as Kirk retreated to take his seat at the table once more. He barely had two fingers lightly touching the area before he flinched, even more so than Saavik had earlier. Everyone was slightly baffled but he was the most bewildered. Not even he knew why that happened. 

“I... apologize... for my reaction.” He mumbled, trying to compose himself. His finger tips almost felt singed and apparently there was a warm feeling on the other end as well. 

“Well, I’m not sure if this is a good thing or not, but she seems to have settled down.” Joanna seemed pleasantly surprised, if not somewhat joyed. It did mean a break on the inside on her abdomen. Spock was still stiff and tensed, not sure what exactly he had caused. 

“Dare I say you’re a magic man?” His husband laughed.

A little over three months passed until their next visit which would be more important. They were staying a few days before and after Joanna was due to help create a comfortable environment along with Bones.  

Barely a day and a half in, the little bun decided it was done cooking and wanted out. Thankfully, nobody panicked as they were all prepared. The nearest hospital had already been on call about all of this and were not alarmed at the sudden urgency.

They even flew in Dr. M’Benga, who they somehow still let practice medicine despite being as old of a bastard as Kirk and McCoy. The delivery was scheduled to be via cesarean section to ensure the safety of mother and child, and though M’Benga wouldn’t be performing it himself, he was still there to advise in the procedure. 

It was surprising they let Saavik stay in the room despite all of her pacing. The soon-to-be grandfathers were all sat quietly, watching whatever motion they could see from the glass window separating them from the surgery room. 

Soon, Saavik’s ears flicked and she ceased pacing at a first cry. Bones and Jim stood when they could faintly her it and all watched the child being fully lifted up. The human males were over come with joy and Saavik expressed the same feeling in her own way. 

While Spock arguably felt the same, it was hard to discern it out of the wave of emotion that crashed into him, turning his stomach nauseous and sending him searching for a restroom in case it followed through. Jim noticed his absence in seconds without the aid of the bond and went to find him. 

He had stumbled into the nearest restroom and there they sat, on the floor, waiting to see if anything would actually come up, Jim’s hand rubbing circles on Spock’s lower back. When no bile came burning up, they both sighed and looked to each other. 

“I’m sorry, Jim. I did not expect my... erratic behavior. Simply too many emotions flourished at once and I could not suppress them.” His tone was laden with guilt but Jim just took his face in hand, kissing all over it. He only stopped when Spock relaxed beneath him and even then, it was hard to stop. 

Finally, they got to their feet and began to make their way to the room where Joanna was taken after the operation was complete. Kirk walked in first and Spock was beginning to apologize behind him when he realized why his husband was in a dead-stop before him and everyone silent. 

There was a sort of majesty and awe in the first moments of a mother holding a child against her chest. Most did it with a bare chest for maximum skin contact and this was the case here. Saavik’s gaze was deeply in love and as proud as Kirk and the elder McCoy. As for Spock... He would not know for a while what he felt in that moment.

Nonetheless, it was a pleasant emotion, surely.

***

The few more days spent in the hospital than necessary was forwarded by McCoy’s warranted concern. It was top priority that the three quarters emotion of a baby was healthy and her mother was as well. 

Jim and Spock were only a call away until Bones told them everything was set and everyone met at the apartment. Saavik was the one wielding the baby, who was fully awake and staring at everyone with eyes whose color was not too dissimilar to Kirk’s. Despite having parents on the thinner side, the little one already had a small bit of weight to her. Or maybe it was just the density carried over by her genes. 

The baby -- Lucille (in which Jim made the joke “Little Richard or The Beatles?” which definitely showed his age) -- was interested in everyone and their fingers, despite being days old, though that may have once again been due to the green blooded heritage. However, the person who fascinated her the most was Spock; when she wasn’t distracted, Lucy’s attention was always on him and was constantly trying to grasp for him. 

He caught onto the pleas but willfully ignored them, not running the risk of, well, just about anything. From the previous outbursts to the possibility he could drop her or she’d hit one of his sensitive areas, he was not ready to take a chance. To his relief, everyone allowed it for a while. 

She was passed around by the other four and cooed at or swaddled in their arms. She only fussed a bit when she began to hunger, in which she was swept up by Joanna to be fed and peppered in kisses. She scowled with her little face for a moment as her soft cheeks were kissed but it didn’t matter as she was sleepy seconds after. 

Small eyes began to close gently until Jo started to sit back down, causing her to stir. Lucy sprung up a fit and turned to Spock, who was sat across the table, staring with teary eyes. It was not unusual that an eyebrow raised but it was a shock when he finally held out his hand to her, which she placed her tiny one into. At her continued squirming, Joanna gently passed her over for Spock to hold.

The only one not catching flies while gaping in awe was Jim, heart swollen with love as always. Spock began to rise to get comfortable on the sofa, but not without tenderly kissing his husband’s forehead. Everyone was still taking the moment in when he plopped down on the cushion, folding his legs as if he were going to meditate, perfectly cradling a smiling baby at his chest.

Knowing that it would take silence for Lucy to fall asleep, Saavik was the one who beckoned everyone to the porch for tea. Meanwhile, Spock only had to sit there before Lucy was dead asleep in the crook of his arm. He wasn’t sure when exactly he fell asleep himself. 

After a while, Joanna had come in to pry her daughter from his grasp to set her in a proper crib. She had thought her approach was gentle enough but Lucy was starting to fuss, in turn leading Spock to begin to stir. Everyone had a clear view from the porch and watched as she backed up to leave them at rest. The baby stilled and the lack of motion and noise caused Spock to relax once more.

It was in that moment everyone knew they’d be inseparable.

And, it held true that her Sa’mekh’al was always her favorite. It was true that Grandpa [Jim] was the most kind-hearted and Papa [McCoy] the funniest, but Sa’mekh’al was -- well, himself.

Just like Ko-mekh, he was a hybrid, but in his case, even more cast out based on his blood. Being Vulcan and Romulan was one thing, but they were more interrelated than being Vulcan and Human. Not to mention, he greatly understood the difficulty in keeping a human side under wrap. 

He taught her how to raise an eyebrow and the basics of the Vulcan language from a young age, both of which Saavik huffed at, having her daughter be articulate in native tongue while battling with their eyebrows. He also talked at length about science and his adventures. Occasionally, Lucy asked what it was like to be married and bonded to a t’hy’la. Whenever she asked, she could see the love swelling behind his eyes as he began to ramble on and on about Jim. 

Another stark similarity between them was the lack of childhood friends. It was understandably difficult to find other pointed-ear children in Boston. Spock would tell her that San Francisco was a melting pot and whenever she would be able to visit, she could likely find at least someone. It was a nice thought but she was content just confiding in him, even if they were always nearly five thousand kilometers between them. 

Upon Jim’s untimely death, he was able to, in return, seek comfort in her and her mothers. Anyone with half a brain could see the pain and grief he felt, but after all of the stories she heard growing up, Lucy knew it ran much deeper than what could been seen. 

She was the one who gifted him the holo of one of Jim’s last recordings and hung it on a chain. It would be the one he’d wear for years to come. That was the first time she ever saw him cry... no, not just cry... sob. 

To say the least, he was basically a reliable father figure in the place of a lack of a father. He taught her how to be a functional young woman, beyond what her parents taught her daily. They were almost as joined at the hip as Spock was to Jim.

“Spock?” 

The elder finally opened his eyes, taking notice of the wet tears frosting over on his cheeks. The young Kirk was looking at him with concern, biting his already busted lip. 

He had hoped the blue eyes would read the pain, grief, and lone feeling hidden behind his own but reminded himself that this was not his Jim. No, his younger self was who was to belong to him and have his pain read. 

“I apologize, I was entranced by recalling fond memories.” It was much too often he found himself apologizing to one Jim or another. 

“It’s alright...” The way this came out of this Jim’s mouth was too close to his t’hy’la’s for comfort. However, it had seemed the bank in his tear-ducts had already run dry and it was no use to double over and ponder, risking relapse. Considering his options, he sighed.

“If I were to explain what I was re-examining, will you make a promise not to inform my younger self from this timeline? If my calculations are correct, they will occur in good time on this plane as well.” 

Kirk nodded with a weary smile, making himself comfortable. 

[spellbounding-slytherin]

So, talking about my Novels a bit more....

Hey there its Vira!

Thought I would talk about my novels a bit more, just so you guys know what you all would be getting into.

So, lets talk about Novel 1.

The Rings of Gallilea: Sworn to Rebirth

(Aka: TROG/ TROGSTR)

So here are the main plot points of the novel:

It is the sacred duty of the Celestial Trinity (the Sun, Moon and Earth) to protect the life in their solar system from outside alien threats

An imperial speciest race known as the Cantillians dub Humans inferior to them, thus sparking a war between them the Celestial Trinity.

The nine planets ally themselves with the Celestial Trinity to protect themselves from a God-destroying weapon created by the Cantillians known as the Catalyst.

The Rings of Gallilea are formed in an attempt to protect the solar system.

The goddess of the moon utilizes their influence on humanity to create a re-birthing curse. As long as humanity shares legends of the gods they will not die.

During a battle with the Cantillian emperor (known as the Serpent) Earth is hit by the Catalyst, destroying his physical form.

One-by one the Rings of Gallilea and the Celestial Trinity fall.

Eventually it is only Mercury The god of knowledge, Moon, the goddess of magic and Pluto rhw God of Alchemy left

In order to save humanity, Moon forces Mercury to give her an "unforgettable" curse so she will retain her memories as a goddess.

Moon uses what is left of her magical power to trap the Cantillian emperor in a diffrent dimension, before she is killed.

Moon falls to earth taking on the form of a human infant.

She is found by the son of a former cult leader and raised moon aware of her godly identity.

Out of gratitude, moon grants her new father figure the "Power of The North Star" and shares a magical bond with him

Their mission now, is to locate the fallen Gods and prepare them for the fight against the looming Cantillian threat.

In summary:

The Rings of Gallilea is a magical Sifi adventure, with sub themes of romance, and drama. The message of The Rings of Gallilea is self-sacrifice, defying fate, humility and mercy along with second chances.

Lets meet our cast!

Luna Abyss- our female lead, Luna is the Goddess of the moon and Magic. Before what Luna refers to as "The Fall" she was regal, elegant and refined. Growing up on earth with her drunkard guardian Victor, and running from government officials who seem to pick up on Luna's signals wherever she goes changed her quite a bit. Luna uses her twin blades Artemis and Frigga to fight off the Cantillian forces sent by recon forces. Luna likes dancing to loud music at ungodly hours, getting fast food at midnight, dogs, and exploring places she probably shouldn't.

Terra Greenwood- Our male lead, Terra is the God of Earth, Nature and humanity. Terra grew up with his Grandma after his dad walked out on his drug-addicted mother. Terra is a member of the Apache Indians, and lives on a reservation in Greenville New Mexico. Terra, despite struggling with depression and minor anger issues, dreams of living a normal life. Getting a good education, a well paying job, taking his grandma and moving far away from Greenville....that Is until Luna shows up. Terra fights with his magic spear Gia, and can command Earth and Nature on a whim. While his abilities are still weak, with some training there is no doubt that Terra can return to his former Glory. Terra enjoys driving his old pickup truck down town, while listening to the hard rock radio station, helping his grandma take care of her garden, and hanging out with his best friends Mitchel and John.

Stella Brighton- our rich mean girl archetype. Stella is the goddess of the Sun. Stella grew up in her mother's mansion sheltered away from the middle and lower class, until one day she forms an unlikely friendship with Terra. An Unlikely friendship turns into an unlikely crush and an unlikely romance. That is until Stella's hopes and dreams are crushed when she discovers her mother and Stepfather have planned an arranged marriage for her. Stella breaks off her relationship with Terra and keeps her head held-high. Stella fights with her fiery bow, Apollo, and can spark a wildfire wherever she pleases. Stella enjoys shopping, traveling, taking selfies, and flaunting her status as Student Council President.

Mitchel James- the Nerd boy archetype, Mitchel is the God of Mercury, Knowledge and Communication (arguably revenge as well) As a young lad, Mitchel idolized his dad, who was in the military. Oftentimes it would be him and his mom while his dad was on deployment. Mitchel took a liking to computer science and technology, because thanks to that he was able to keep in touch with his dad even when he was far away. When Mitchel was 8 years old his dad died in active duty, and it wasn’t long until his mom took to a Sugar Baby lifestyle to try and provide for Mitchel without having to get a job. Mitchel is bullied at school for being the scrawny nerd boy, and takes revenge on his bullies by hacking into their computers and leaking their search history. After Luna rolls into town Mitchel's world is flipped upside down. Suddenly he isn’t armed with just brain-power but physical power. Mitchel fights in a way that is unique to the Rings of Gallilea. Mitchel can create Angels to fight as champions for him. He also uses a Chackram named Athena. Mitchel enjoys hacking into local security cameras to see whats up around town, exploring the dark web, arguing with radical political activists on-line.

John Kingsman- The play-boy Archetype, John is the God of Jupiter Kings, and lightning. John lives what is arguably the best life of anyone in the rings. His parents breed police dogs. Meaning his house is always full of puppies. John's dad is a former military officer, and both him and his mom are current police force members. John is the baby in his family, but is held to high standards. Be home before 7, get good grades, and take care of the dogs. John fights with his Claymore Sword, Odin, along with special abilities like lighting and psychological manipulation. John, obviously enjoys taking the dogs for walks, playing basketball, and going to the shooting range with his mom.

Hotaru Kawaguchi- The goth archetype, and Goddess of Saturn, Time and Death. Hotaru's parents immigrated to the United States after the death of Hotaru's older brother, Hikaru. They came here to give the intellectually gifted Hotaru better opportunities as she grew older. To help support her, the family opened a restaurant in the down town area that quickly became one of the most popular spots in town. Hotaru never really got over Hikaru's death, and took comfort in the macabre. Over summer, Hotaru picks up a second job to earn enough money to afford her dream car, working in an occult shop. She also finds herself involved in an unlikely summer romance. Aside from being able to freeze time and communicate with the dead, Hotaru fights with her staff, Hades, that can transform into a scythe. Hotaru loves books and quite sunny spaces, she likes painting, meditation, watching Elvira specials, and helping her mother and father learn better English.

Aries Vailakis- the Jock archetype, God of Mars and war. Just like Stella he too grew up with rich parents. His family comes a from proud Greek heritage, and own a chain of Mediterranean style restaurants. Aries is a star member of the football team, and is expected to take over the family business when he gets out of college. Most people think there isn't much to Aries other than food and football, sometimes Aries thinks that too. But being a competitive teenage god, can lead to some intense shenanigans. Especially when family, love and blackmail are involved. Aries fights with some seriously thick brass knuckles that spit fire. His brass knuckles can also transform into a large shield, Neiro. Aries likes cooking, working out, watching horror movies with his S/O, and very secretly likes looking at minimalist homes in the Greek countryside in homeowner's magazines.

June Smith, the flip Archetype, Goddess of Venus beauty, seduction and battle. June's mom divorced her dad to be with another man when she was young. Years later June would find out she died of cancer without telling her or her father. Needless to say June had a rough start in life. Given that her dad was the high school principal, she couldn't even act out and punch some nerd in the face. In the day light June masquerades as the nerdy turtleneck loving teacher's pet kinda girl. At night June flips ditching her turtle neck for something low cut and preferably leather. Sneaking out under the ruse of sleep or studying, June slips out to hang out on the edge of town with the local biker gang known as the Black Cat Bikers. Junes got the best of both worlds, her dad wrapped around her finger, and her legs wrapped around the back of her boys bikes. June fights with the sword Atalanta, and can change into any weapon June sees fit. June can also manipulate peoples hormones, making them fall for her or anyone. June will never admit it, but she likes wearing pink fluffy sweaters, she also loves getting fucking drunk, going out to see drag shows, sleeping in until noon, and playing with makeup.

Serena Paisley- The hippy archetype- Serena is the Goddess of Neptune, the ocean and family. Serena is the younger twin sister of Heath. Serena grew up close to her mother, who was somewhat of helicopter parent. Serena’s mother owns a brewing company, and is heavily involved in the Greenvile political scene. growing up in a spotlight Serena wanted to use her spotlight to encourage others to do good, and can often be found doing charity work. One big secret Serena has, is that she is a big fan of smoking weed. being a politicians daughter was a stressful job after all. Serena, can command any body of water and has great people skills. Her very loyal weapon is her trident, Namaka. Serena’s hobbies include Yoga, smoking weed, collecting crystals, playing the pan-flute, and thrift store shopping. 

Heath Paisley- The rich boy archetype- Heath is the God of Uranus, Ice, Snow and Vengeance. Heath, is the polar opposite of his sister. He grew up chasing the affections of his long-distance father, who is an actor in Hollywood. Heath has a cold demeanor, and takes a some-what sadistic pleasure in controlling others. He is the student council president at the private school he and Serena attend, Hayden Heights Academy. Heath is secretly insecure about his sexuality, and is in denial about being attracted to men. Heath spends a majority of his time covering for his sisters ‘distasteful shenanigans” in student council meetings, or following in the footsteps of his politician mother. Heath has the power to control Ice, and cold temperatures, he can also force criminals to admit their deeds.Heath fights with twin sickles Poli’Ahu and Endymion.His hobbies include: casual business luncheons, bossing his underclassmen around, and he secretly likes it when his S/O leans over his shoulder while he is trying to work. 

Romeo Barns- The rebel archetype- Romeo is the God of Pluto, Alchemy, and Transformation. Romeo has always felt like a social outcast, specifically because he discovered his godly powers at a young age. Romeo lives with his overly preachy preacher uncle, who believes in only one good god above. Romeo, being a sarcastic little shit, decides he needs to be everything his uncle isn't. Romeo sells weed for the Black Cat Biker Gang, his true "Family". Which is how a filthy little grunge rat like him became friends with Serena Paisley. Roemo's godly body grows organic blade-like structures which he can use to defend himself. His clawed-gauntlets, Thanatos and Cerberus add an extra punch. In his spare time Romeo can be seen around town riding his motorcycle. At night he is out spraying unique and vulgar messages on billboards. At school he likes to read the "boring unpopular books" like Catcher in The Rye and Lord of The Flies, and strumming along to his favorite songs on his base guitar

And thats just novel number 1! I'll make a second post about novel number 2 since this is already a quite lengthy post.

Let me know what you guys think, and if you wanna see more.

See ya later

- Vira!

[mushroom-cartel]

I’ve come up with a list of disjointed headcanons because I’m having an existential crisis over Roxas and Ventus being different people/the same person and KH3′s looming presence is scaring me.

The headcanons are written for an AU based on the initial premise of the “Cranky Old We’ve-seen-some-serious-shit-you-would-never-understand People” trio, but blown way out of proportion.

This post can be considered Part 2 to the one linked above.

Expect some wild dumb thoughts also being thrown in…

KHX, KHUX and Pre-BbS:

The era of small, angsty children going through mid-life crises and not appreciating Disney because Lux collecting is insane.

Strelitzia. Dead.

The Keyblade War.

Mass memory wipe commences.

Amnesia galore and Union X is formed.

Problem with that though is that the new leader all have to bear the burden of retaining everyone’s memories of life before and what happened during the War.

They’re just kids.

Bless them.

Aren’t Ephemer, Skuld, Ventus, Brain and Lauriam Keyblade Masters by default because of this?

I mean, there’s no one around to tell them if they’re still ordinary Keyblade wielders or not, but now that they’re Union leaders, it would make sense for the five of them to perform a mock Mark of Mastery exams in the Keyblade Graveyard.

Just to feel like its all official and the end of the worlds wasn’t upon them or something.

Ventus should be allowed to laugh at Terra and Aqua in BbS.

AKA, the reason why Ventus doesn’t have Starlight in BbS but probably does like every other NPC in KHUX.

Because the Mark of Mastery back in the old days granted you a new Keyblade.

You remember the Masters of Masters having the Gazing Eye in each of his apprentices’ Keyblades?

Apparently, he also forged their Keyblades from their hearts.

Well there you go. 

While five kids doing the same to each other is a chaotic mess, it’s still in the realm of possibility.

Just stick your hand in a heart and viola!

An entirely new Keyblade.

For reference, go look up Gatchaman Crowds’s NOTE.

The Keyblade version of Graceful Dahlia is formed via this method?

All those weird plot points Nomura makes.

Out of the five new leaders, Ventus is undoubtedly the youngest and has the least experience when it comes to leadership. He doesn’t understand why he was chosen in the first place anyways when he can’t even stand for himself.

He has issues.

But he wants to be helpful.

Shift Pride is introduced to Union X and Lauriam starts to go looking for his sister, asking for Elrena’s aid in his endeavours. Every possible lead they follow winds up a dead end and they have to start their searches all over again. In this AU, Lauriam doesn’t confide in the others about his sister’s disappearance because he believes too much in the power of friendship. It’s during this time that Lauriam starts neglecting his duties as a Union leader, and Ventus, being the nice kid he is and all, covers for him and does the workload of two grown-ups. 

This arrangement goes on for quite a while, so much so that Ventus loses it.

He goes ham on Lauriam’s ass because it’s not fair; they all lost important people and things before and during the War, what matters now is what they can do to preserve the memories.

“Why are you so intent on chasing a ghost of the past?”

“She’s my sister, you wouldn’t understand!”

Laurium and Ventus get into a fight, which ended up with Laurium losing his heart and Elrena following him shortly after because she stepped in the way of his Keyblade to stop him from doing the same to Ventus.

Guys, Elrena just wants everybody to be happy.

She used to be sunshine and rainbows.

AKA, the story of how child soldiers became Nobodies.

AKA, a method of leaving the Realm of Sleep, or in this case, the dream within a dream, the alternate reality which Union X formed.

In his guilt, Ventus exiled himself from Daybreak Town.

Like, he just up and left the second layer and went back to the dream world where the Keyblade War took place.

And then he destroyed his Chirithy, basically an intimate part of his soul since he started sleeping. Soon he jumped off a cliff and BAM.

AKA, a method of leaving this particular part of the Realm of Sleep, which was fabricated by the Masters of Masters.

Ventus enters Reality, where times are different and years have passed.

Surprise, surprise, though, the first layer of dreams was very real (despite everything they’ve been told) and lots of children died.

The people of Daybreak Town were the SURVIVORS of the War, the Foretellers were more senior Keyblade wielders, and MoM being the guy to put them all to sleep.

So the War in KHX was technically the second of its kind.

The War (the player has flashbacks of) in KHUX is the first.

Memory alteration magic for the win here.

HE’S IN THE FUTURE.

PANIC.

Confusion.

He’s alone for a period of time, in which he starts to adopt a backhanded grip in the hopes of utilising Wayward Wind’s blunt edge because he’s scared of doing the same to anyone else like he did to Lauriam.

Stabbing and hitting becomes guarding and slashing.

And then Xehanort showed up

To screw things up.

Heart-splitting action occurred some time later.

As did Vanitas. 

Sora’s healing time also happens and Ventus forgets about Daybreak Town for like a second.

Actually, more than a decade.

Daybreak what now?

“TERRA! AQUA!”

Post-KH(ish) and Early-358/2:

Roxas doesn’t remember his first six days because he was having flashbacks of the War through his connection with Sora and Ventus.

Xemnas is scared that he’s remembering Sora.

Marluxia nearly cried foul when the boy was inducted.

Larxene wanted nothing to do with him.

Why?

Since the two lost their hearts in a fake realm of sleep, their memories are a bit scrambled. So what they remember of their Sombodies is in correlation to strong emotions.

You know.

Like that time they died.

OR THE KEYBLADE WAR.

Still, Marluxia needs power and Roxas seems familiar.

And Larxene?

She just wants to have a good time.

See what makes him tick, what makes him different, what makes him Roxas and not Ventus.

She’s bitter and jaded. A few years of being nothing can do that to some people.

Don’t expect her to pat Roxas on the head mockingly.

Okay, she does but that was only a one time thing.

It’s accidental, but she ends up forming some sort of amicable acquaintanceship with the boy.

She hasn’t had proper friends since…

.… Since what?

Ah, it doesn’t matter.

On the other hand, Roxas is weirded out by the fact that Marluxia and Larxene seem so familiar despite not having any memories of his Somebody’s life.

When he looks at them, he feels nothing but regret and the urge to profusely apologise for something he doesn’t know about.

He’s paranoid, guys.

Wait, what?

Day 11.

“You’re going on a reconnaissance mission with Number XII.”

“But, Saïx, she’s going to kill me!”

“Not a concern of mine unless it hinders your ability to collect hearts.”

AKA, the beginnings of a proper adventure with “Accidental Murder” and “Friends Should Not Fight (Even If I Die)”.

Note to self: Marluxia’s crack code name is “Death by Sister Complex”.

It’s a grand adventure.

One that includes flying saucers, a grand amount of explosions and lighting raining down from the sky and roasted acorns.

Just like old times, in Larxene’s mind.

Seriously, what were the Foretellers thinking when they sent children to go collect Lux?

Oh, just casually go defeat huge Heartless, no biggie.

What was that about a war?

Roxas learns survival skills like a madman.

A friendship is formed?

Day 22 and sea-salt ice cream like normal before RTC.

Pre-CoM(ish) and During:

Roxas is still being paranoid, even with less people occupying the Castle That Never Was.

At least Larxene and Marluxia isn’t around to give him the heebie-jeebies.

He thinks.

Paranoid to the point that he doesn’t even interact with Xion as much as he did in canon and Xion doesn’t get a face (from him or Axel) because he’s scared that someone might try to use him as scapegoat.

Plans go awry because initiating social interaction isn’t in her programming. Xemnas almost throws himself off his throne.

Meanwhile, Marluxia’s just doing his own things in Castle Oblivion and unintentionally makes Naminé give Sora memories of Strelitzia.

Also, thanks to his tenure as Union leader, he does in fact have power over memories to a certain degree, how else would the War be wiped out from the Dandelions’ minds?

He teaches Naminé things.

But memories of Strelitzia only means one thing. Lauriam.

And Lauriam’s… nice. Very different to Marluxia in some ways.

“Who the hell is this?”

“Lauriam.”

“YOU.”

“Who?”

“Strelitzia?”

“WHERE DID YOU HEAR THAT?”

Confrontations within Castle Oblivion are disorderly.

In this AU, the goal is not to cause a coup, but rather, it’s to make others (coughxemnascough) think twice about forming Kingdom Hearts. 

Stop trying.

It’s not gonna work, old man.

Not knowing that he’s in the process of leading a group to stop another war from breaking out is Marluxia’s mood.

Larxene low-key just wants to burn Castle Oblivion to the ground because she can feel Ventus’s ghostly presence withing in the walls, even after how many years its been since she lost her heart and forgot some things. A few millenniums? She knows it’s familiar but she can’t put her finger on the feeling. Maybe it’s just her excitement acting up, high voltage running through her body making her think there’s something not quite there here.

If they did actually succeed in finding the Chamber of Waking, Larxene’s reaction to Ventus’s body living without a heart would be, “Oh, great! I was right, there’s a damn ghost in this place!!” 

A lighting show inside a half-dead world is great.

Larxene finds it ironic that she’s dying to a Keyblade for the second time and just laughs, instead having a “I’m fading” moment like all the other Nobodies.

Sora is confused.

Larxene. Gone.

“It was great while it lasted.”

Yes, Ventus is asleep here still, but he’s currently wrangling with Roxas’s acute trauma in sleep land.

Roxas’s coma is key.

Because he remembers being Sora AND Ventus and he’s so confused because he:

a). Saved a whole bunch of kids like himself from serve trauma.

b). Saved a whole bunch of worlds from being taken over by the darkness.

c). He’s lost himself at least twice in wherever he is.

He’s walking through a version of Daybreak Town before everything in KHX and KHUX. 

“When the worlds were bathed in light” sort of Daybreak Town.

Half-awake and half-asleep.

The real incarnation, present day where the legacies of Ephemer, Skuld and Brain are lived and breathed by Daybreak Town.

Also, Ephemer, Skuld and Brain is another friendship trio that forms in this AU. 

This is important.

They lost Lauriam and Ventus in one fell swoop and what do you do when you lose your friends?

You became stronger by strengthening the bond that remain and forge new ones.

In Union X’s case, they soon abolished the old Union system and formed a meager with what was left.

Competing amongst themselves to collect the most Lux becomes a thing of the past.

The people who didn’t agree with this change were free to leave Daybreak Town (the dream within the dream) and establish connections with the outside and Reality, moving from the Realm of Sleep and into the Realm of Light or Darknes, but they still regarded Daybreak Town as home, so now and then they’d send themselves to sleep.

AKA, how Luxu got to the outside world by blending in. 

AKA, the ability to put something in the universe to sleep forever is exclusive to the old people for once.

Those that remained slowly regained their memories, and despite all the aftereffects of the War(s) on the population of Keyblade wielders, these people and the ones who left still interacted with one another.

Which basically means, if the leavers found any potential across the worlds, they’d send those who could possibly wield a Keyblade into a deep sleep to be trained in Daybreak Town; while they might age mentally, they’ll stay physically the same.

AKA, a better option for immortality. 

Luxu’s around for a bit.

He passes on No Name at some point after this.

Their comatose bodies are sent to Scala Ad Caelum for safekeeping, where they are to remain for all eternity unless they chose to leave Daybreak Town themselves.

And because of this, Scala Ad Caelum is abundant with darkness and light, ensuring that it stays between the two Realms.

I guess Scala Ad Caelum is a world formed from the hearts of the participants of the Keyblade War.

Their hearts didn’t become part of Kingdom Hearts?

Scala Ad Caelum is the original base of most, if not all, Keyblade-related activities.

Scala Ad Caelum is home to many; light and darkness guide those whose dwell on this world.

Daybreak Town 2.0?

Somewhere in the realms between it exists.

Many years later, Xehanort and Eraqus became the apprentices of a Keyblade Master descended from a person who left Daybreak Town all those years, who acted as one of the guardians to all the sleeping hearts.

Yen Sid is trained by a wandering Dandelion descendant.

Back in the old days, being a Keyblade wielder meant you went to sleep, guarded Scala Ad Caelum or you got found by a stranger who took a particular shine to you.

After Lauriam “died” and Ventus left, Ephemer, Skuld and Brain realise for once that they’re just children.

Two of their friends are gone for eternity.

Back to Roxas, he’s just… tripping out. Majorly. 

What’s with all these grey cats surrounding him and bawling their eyes out right next to his ear?

They’re going off the rails, saying things about calling the Grand Masters over to the plaza he awoke in, calling him a name unfamiliar to his memory.

Then there’s a corridor of darkness and light opening right before the poor boy and the trio that steps out are who he assumes to be the Grand Masters.

They look barely older than him, maybe by a year or two but no more than that.

“Ventus?” the girl whispers, taking a knee to meet him at eye level. “It’s been years, how…?”

“Please, Skuld. We could’ve never known if he left in the first place. He might’ve actually run off to another dream and accidentally opened up a corridor here. Don’t overwhelm him with questions,” says one of the boys, tilting back his head slightly to stare at Roxas from under the brim of his hat.

“I wasn’t about to, Brain! Eh, Ephemer, back me up here… Ephemer? Something wrong?”

“It’s Ventus for sure, but… His heart… I can’t sense it.”

During Days 23 to 50, Sora goes through Castle Oblivion and Axel does the dirty.

When Larxene and Marluxia cease to exist, it begins the process of reforming as their Somebodies.

They’re how old by now?

Their Heartless are long gone.

Which means that while their bodies end up in Scala Ad Caelum, their hearts awaken in Daybreak Town, just as Sora is put to sleep by Naminé—meaning they just missed Roxas returning to Reality.

Did I forget to mention Xion is still a puppet?

Late-358/2: 

“All my friends are dead to me.”

After awakening, Roxas immediately begins to distrust the Organization. He’s beyond paranoid by this point.

He’s suspicious of Axel especially, considering that the members who perished at Castle Oblivion weren’t exactly pushovers.

He thinks he’s done this before; maybe Ventus did too?

The Grand Masters weren’t exactly transparent on what Ventus did, but Roxas knew better than to question it when he saw the way they acted guarded around him.

He has a “contemplating on running away from home to find answers” phase. Like all good Nobodies do at some point in their meaningless existences.

Seeing as Xion doesn’t have any problems following the orders of anybody, he enlists her help to investigate. 

She gets a face.

Finally.

Jokes on Roxas because Sora’s memory is questionable.

IT’S STRELITZIA’S FACE.

[ I just realised Marluxia and Larxene aren’t around by this point. ]

[ That’s a shame. ]

The change affects everyone’s sight. Yes, even Saïx and Xigbar aren’t safe.

She retains the colour of her hair, but it is noticeably longer than what it appeared to be initially.

No one knows whose face Xion has and no amount of programming can change it.

Xemnas is tired of kids not following the plan.

A wild Riku Ansem appears.

And he’s just as confused by Xion as the rest of the Organization.

“DiZ, it looks like no one Sora’s ever met.”

“Perhaps it took its face from another source.”

“What—those other drawing of Naminé’s? How can that be?”

“Not everything needs a sound explaination. No matter, regardless of the puppet’s state, you need to capture it as it will be necessary for our plans to move ahead.”

Despite Riku’s Ansem’s skepticism, Xion having Strelitzia’s face is on Naminé’s part.

Because Marluxia was half the asshole he was in canon and memory magic is very potent in the hands of a capable student.

Going through Marluxia’s head and finding a girl of unknown origins was very good blackmail material.

She drew creepy renditions of his old life.

And then she shoved a copy of Lauriam’s memories into Sora’s heart when she put him to sleep to reconnect his chain of memories.

Why?

Because she could.

And she wanted to flip the bird on Marluxia in the case that he didn’t die and would have to fight Sora again.

[ Oh, jeez, this AU’s version of Sora will be so weird in KH3′s setting because of that one trailer showing us Marluxia’s return. ]

Naminé the Witch of Memories for the win.

The wonder duo of Roxas and Xion eventually allow Axel into their circle of conspiracies. However, there are cutthroat rules about how and what he can do to help.

The days go.

Kill Heartless, collect hearts, lie to Xemnas, eat sea-salt ice cream.

Just the usual shebang.

Traitor!Xion is a thing now: desperate to discover her origins, instead of being forcefully taken and convinced, Xion willingly walks right up to DiZ and Ansem’s doorstep.

Yes, even though she and Roxas are friends, it should also serve as a remainder that their relationship isn’t as close in canon, here they both halfly trust one another because they know the Organization has more sinister plans for them. 

They need another pair of eyes to look out for their backs.

Their partnership is just them using each other for personal gains.

Axel is completely on a different loop.

He has no idea what’s going on in his friends’ heads.

They were planning on offing Axel but resisted the urge.

Xion learns exactly who and what she is.

DiZ finding the opportunity to do so, puts her to sleep and forces Naminé to rewire her memories; making it seem like to Xion that the Organization stole her (Sora’s) memories and DiZ is trying to help her get them back from Roxas.

“Destroy the boy.”

“Okay, DiZ.”

Naminé takes the time to stick a copy of Lauriam’s memories of Strelitzia in Xion too. For good measure, she reasons to herself. 

Roxas’s final battle is technically against “Mystery Girl”.

An unholy amalgamation between Xion’s last form and Marluxia’s own.

Her memory went out of wack.

There’s flower petals everywhere when she lands a blow on Roxas while they fight above Twilight Town.

Prologue-KH2:

Making munny is exhausting.

The normal stuff happens, except:

a). Naminé to anybody she can get her hands on, “You get a copy of someone’s memories and you get a copy of someone’s memories! Everyone gets a copy of someone’s memories!!”

b). Axel buys a crate of sea-salt and throws it down from atop the clock tower, wanting to test the limitations of digital data and human injury on Day 2.

“Accidental Murder” evolves into “Natural Disaster of a Murderer”.

When Roxas thinks Axel died, he shrugged it off.

People come back from the dead all the time.

Stop starting fires, DiZ.

Ansem Riku questions his morals.

Everything should be back to normal when Sora wakes up, right?

Unknown Point(s):

“Lauriam?”

“Ah, my old friends. How long has it been since we last talked like civilised people?”

The three Grand Masters laugh. “Far too long.”

“Hey, Marluxia, where—”

“Who’s this?”

“Why, might I introduce to you my dear friend Elrena?”

“You may.”   

In other news, Ventus is a time traveller, Lauriam served his time, Elrena didn’t ask for this and Kingdom Hearts is bad news.

I might add some more headcanons after KH3 blasts a hole somewhere in my ship and becomes safe to talk about.

[blakes-seven-or-so-blog]

S2 E2: Shadow

On a very fancy 70′s era chandelier space station, a modern art enthusiast extorts a couple of sickly junkies who he uses for odd jobs like robbery and murder. He's a complete prick and likes to hear them beg for his hallucinogenic jello balls. The mafia is alive and well in the 28th century and still goes by an Italian name - Terra Nostra (a riff on Cosa Nostra), but they dress like Directoire bureaucrats. Turns out one of the junkies, Bek - probably no relation to the musician or the other musician - just said no and is only pretending to be a sickly junkie, and proceeds to rob the mobster when he holds out on them. They make plans to escape from the mafia-infested hive of scum and villainy along with (from what I gather, their little brother) Peety. Hanna looks too stoned to remember the gate number.

Blake is still being a fingersucking space pirate, and Avon has gone full Jiffy Pop. Vila is cosplaying Luke Skywalker, and Jenna found another gorgeous rock star chiton. Cally's lovely dress has a cape. Gan has moved on from early renaissance cleric to hairy-chested Tudor bard.

Vila is drooling over what he calls the Satellite of Sin; it's Space Las Vegas openly run by the mafia, who Blake intends to work with 'use'. Gan and Avon both disapprove of doing business with mafia because they're sane. Gan stands up to Blake’s weak semantic justifications and I'm so proud of him. Their mafia contact is the jerk who just got robbed; Jenna almost smuggled contraband for him once before finding out that he was a wiseguy and the contraband was evil jello. Vila is heartbroken when he finds out he's not getting to go to Vegas.

Hanna was too stoned to remember the gate number, and Peety is modeling a body bag made of a space blanket. I don't think he's going to retain much body heat with that, but maybe they've improved space blankets in the future. Bek thinks he OD'ed but no, he just died because DRUGS KILL. So does the space mafia, who have come for the doomed fake junkie.

Vila finally points out that Blake is a ‘fluffy-cheeked amateur’ and says he's led a sheltered life, because it’s true. Blake might have been a political rabble-rouser but he was never a real criminal until the mutiny on the London. He tries to use his powers of reason and adorableness to sway Cally but the miserable alien isn't having any.

How could you resist that face? HOW?! It strains my credulity.

Zen is a sarcastic jerk to Vila so he turns the drunken bees on. Orac isn't interested and Vila threatens to switch him off and throw away the key. And then Orac says something incredibly ominous: 'Soon, that will be no longer a problem'. ᵒʰˢʰᶦᵗ

Avon loves money, we get it Avon. Blake snaps his fingers for the pouch and Avon is so thoroughly disgusted with his hammy brojefe.

I laughed for five minutes.

The mafia insist on offering Blake & Co. refreshments, at gunpoint. Zen really hates Orac and manages to throw shade by haughtily referring to him as 'the one called Orac' like he's too good for that smarmy little pissant. Then the drunken bees take over and OHSHITOHSHITOHSHIT. Vila snuck away to reenact Leaving Las Vegas. Cally wants a souvenir, but whereas most would be satisfied with a shot glass that reads ‘I survived the SOS!’, she requests some dental jewelry.

Avon and Gan are imprisoned with Bek and his stoned sister in what appears to be a large shopping bag, which Gan doubts even Vila could break out of. I guess paper bag tech has improved in the 28th century, too. Bek makes fun of Gan’s stealth capabilities.

Cally takes the entire chandelier hostage in return for her friends. Everyone needs a friend like her. They make their getaway while rudely declining to take the junkies along. Then Blake changes his mind because Vila is kicking and he needs their expertise.

Aboard the Liberator, no one can find Orac, even though Gan tried calling his name. Avon issues an unnecessarily sick burn and really, Gan, just punch him.

Blake wants to go threaten the mafia because bargaining with them backfired so well. Both Gan and Avon again tell him he’s being outrageously reckless, but he ignores them. Cally has a bad feeling and then the drunken bees get angry and Orac traps Cally in a tesseract. It reminds me of when the Mara trapped Tegan in the Dark Places of the Inside on Deva Loka.

Zen analyzes the hallucinogenic jello and says it’s made of sentient, telepathic, motile, and apparently goth cactus. Peyote has evolved in the future. Zen tries to tell Blake something else about the jello, but Blake has this infuriating habit of disregarding the sensible things his friends try to tell him. He says if they control the Spice Shadow, they control the universe Terra Nostra. So off they go to a desert planet to get eaten by giant worms I guess.

Vila finds a catatonic Cally next to Orac, who says she’s insane, probably from being chased into a hypercube by angry bees. Blake shrugs it off as ‘alien problems’, and Avon enigmatically says “she’s more human than I am”. Vila is flippant about it but Avon and Cally are close, and his statement is both insightful and a little heartwrenching.

Avon insists that Orac can’t be to blame because it’s just a computer, despite the fact that he thinks Zen is ‘just a computer’ too, yet has turned against them several times. They’re sure no one knows they’re heading to Arrakis. The mafia are well aware they’re heading to Arrakis because the jello balls are spiked with a 'not exactly radioactive’ signal. The art enthusiast’s enforcer has moved up in the gangster world by choking his former boss with mustard.

R.I.F. (rest in French’s) Largo, you prick.

Blake, Jenna, and Avon have all joined in on the Luke Skywalker cosplay now because it turns out they’re headed to Tatooine. Or Kalgash, because it has enough suns (2) that there is no night. Blake is also being a right jerk to everyone and Gan has just about had enough. According to Bek, Arrakis Tatooine Kalgash Zondar looks harmless, like a cheese pizza. Obviously he hasn’t seen that scene in Casino where Nicky goes on about pre-digging holes in the desert. This planet is probably riddled with shallow graves.

On the toasty surface they discover some whispering frisbees, the source of the hallucinogenic jello. Jenna mocks Blake’s impossible-to-count crew collection. I mean, in this episode alone, it goes from Blake’s 8 to (briefly) Blake’s 10. How many, Blake? How many?!

Unbeknownst to the other seven or so, Orac is busy emotionally abusing Cally. Only it’s not Orac, it’s The Darkness, which has possessed Orac. It makes her run and teleports her to the toasty planet where she promptly loses her teleport bracelet again. She runs until she passes out and a herd of whispering frisbee slowly dogpile her, which is... utterly adorable.

On the Liberator, they discuss what being alone means for an Auronar. Orac zaps Vila and gets even more sinister, but they still don’t suspect he’s turned to the Dark Side until he tries to crash the ship and electrocutes Hanna. Blake’s seven-or-so is down to nine now. I think. Maybe eight? I don’t know.

Cally is tripping so hard, and has lots of new friends. So many warm fuzzies.

So to speak.

She, like other Auronar, gains mental, emotional, and psychic strength from the warmth of companionship. With her frisbee friends, she is able to just psychically unplug Orac. Then she wakes up miraculously not burnt to a crisp from falling asleep in the suns.

Everything is fine without possessed Orac, except for poor dead Hanna. Thirty years later I still don’t quite understand the exposition offered but that’s okay, I’ll chalk it up to unfathomable eldritch shenanigans. Avon’s solution to Orac’s little evil susceptibility problem is to wire a bomb into him. Seems perfectly rational.

Bek is outraged that he can’t get any justice, but Blake and Avon reveal what they discovered on Arrakis: the Spice Is The Worm. Er, wait... The Federation Is the Terra Nostra. So they’ll just keep fighting the Feds as usual and call it justice. After all, the seven-or-so of them might be the sum total of the Good Guys.

Avon is disdainful of the pet frisbee in its own litterbox, and if Cally hadn’t said ‘Mine’, he would have thrown it in the trash instead of setting it back down. Blake is going to leave Bek on Space City, which he was trying to escape from, and come back in three years when Bek’s ninja training is complete.

Imagine Bek in three years, waiting for Blake to show up... :`(

Blake verifies that there are SEVEN, so I guess Bek and Orac don’t count now. Instead of firing on the evil jello planet himself, he offers his vigilante-in-training the opportunity to deal some reckless collateral damage.

Damage report:

- Peety and Hanna

- the slimy mobster Largo

- the gunship Cally blew up

- the evil jello production base which Blake & Co. sabotaged, along with several guards, the staff, and countless critically endangered sentient cactus

This is one of my favorite episodes. When I first saw it, I had a tiny knife named 'Bek' that a boyfriend had given me, and was excited when it turned out to also be the name of a cool character on my favorite new show. I love the costumes and makeup, and Cally makes friends with sentient telepathic cactus. As for those moon disks, I wonder how they move. Two possibilities: they move themselves using telekinetic locomotion, or - they undulate the base of their disk in the same way as gastropods or earthworms.

This episode also marks the initiation of Vila’s substance abuse problem. Bek said it was a powerful and dangerous drug, from which Vila never fully recovers.

I’ve heard Cally referred to as the conscience of the Liberator, but it was Gan first. Gan strongly disapproves of engaging in immoral or unethical means to an end, and he tells Blake off a couple of times for it. In the past he has supported Blake unquestioningly, but he is neither slow-witted nor blindly loyal.

Next: Weapon

[littlemisssquiggles]

RWBY Musings #16: In honour of the next episode of RWBY Volume 5 taking us back to Raven and the Branwen Tribe, I leave the fandom with this curious question to ponder on.

Do you think it’s possible for the Maiden powers to ever reject a host?

This is something that I’ve been curious about in regards to the Maiden powers. So far, this question has been proven false considering that Cinder did successfully manage to acquire the Fall Maiden powers despite taking it by force from its past user after killing her.

Nevertheless, since not a lot is known about how the succession of the Maiden powers work, this leaves a lot of leeway and opportunities left for speculation. Personally, I wonder if there is a specific trait or rule to one gaining the Maiden powers. I know there’s the one where the power can be passed on to a person who the past Maiden was close to or at least was in their thoughts last before passing on. But is there more to it than that? I ask this cause up until this point, this particular knowledge of the Maiden powers succession has been working in the villain’s favour so far.

The evil baddies want the Magic of the Maidens to attain the relics. Fine. Just hunt them all down one by one, kill them and just make sure that one of your female lackeys are standing ripped and ready to take it. 

I found it interesting the way how Cinder used a particular kind of Grimm (one that resembled a spider if my memory serves correctly) to steal the Fall Maiden, Amber’s power or at least some of it. It makes me wonder if it wasn’t for the fact that Cinder had successfully retrieved a portion of Amber’s power forcing the rest of it to go to her, would it have been possible for the power to reject her.

Is it possible for the Maiden’s magic to reject its user, thus destroying or at least physically impairing the unworthy ones in the process? 

I ask this because I’m curious to see just how Salem and her forces plan on taking the remaining Maiden powers; not just to see their methods but mostly to see who is going to be the vessel to harbour such a high potency of magic. As shown in the World of Remnant tale about the Old Hermit Wizard and the First Four Maidens, it is possible for one person to harbour all the powers of the maidens or at least it seems like it.

Before blessing the powers to the first maiden candidates, Ozpin hosted most of the magic in his own body. That means it should be possible for one person to carry the Maiden powers, right?

So, is Salem planning on turning Cinder into this Avatar version of the Four Maidens where instead of separate Maidens, it just all of their magic within one body with the individual being the master of them all? If Salem’s ultimate objective is to turn Cinder into the; I’m just gonna refer to it as the Avatar Maiden, Master of all Four Seasons so that she can have someone who can access the power of the relics under her control then that’d actually be a fascinating addition to the story and would certainly add more intimidation to Cinder’s character and role in the series.

However, herein lies one potential underlying flaw. Cinder herself. This is why I ask the question of if the Maiden magic can reject a user. What if...Cinder and the gang attempt to take the Spring Maiden’s power by force, the same way they did with Fall. The interesting countering twist this time is that the power ends up full on rejecting whoever is forced to be its next successor. Amongst the villain ranks, this could be either Emerald or Cinder.

Either way, what if...Team CMEW attempt the steal the Spring Maiden’s power and it fails completely. In order for the Spring Maiden power to be obtained, this would disappointingly mean losing Vernal. 

This is sad for me because I quite like Vernal. Don’t know much more about her character as yet but I’d like to. I certainly like her character design and the interest to learn of her story and see her fleshed out is there.

She’d have to get in line behind Oscar Pine but I genuinely want to know more about Vernal beyond her Maiden title. I’m praying this time around viewers do get to actually know the current Spring Maiden before her so-called inevitable fate to die for her powers. I’m definitely hoping it’s not gonna be a running gag where the Maidens are only there to be axed off immediately and since we never got to learn about Amber beyond the fact that Lionheart said she was inexperienced as a Maiden, I hope that we do get to learn a bit more about Vernal.

If she is to survive, let her last for at least another season and even be instrumental in the potential Victory for Haven.

I’d like to see Vernal and Yang somehow bond like sisters too or at least have a friendship or respectful comradery. They both share close relations with Raven that could be presumed as mother-daughter. As I made mention in my ♦last musing, I pegged Vernal to have a somewhat child-parent relationship with Raven.

The concept of her also having a romantic bond to Raven is still on the table though. After all, we don’t know how old Vernal was when she became a Maiden nor how much time she’s been in the Branwen Tribe since she was taken in.

We don’t even know how old Vernal is now. Since the RWBY models for female characters are ambiguous when it comes to guessing a characters true age, I’m going to assume that Vernal could possibly be in her early twenties (19-22).

She definitely strikes me as being over or at least the age of eighteen. Either way, she’s legal...I guess. So if the CRWBY did go in that direction for their relationship, I guess I can see it happening, perhaps.

Y’know like Slade/Deathstroke and Terra from DC Teen Titans: The Judas Contract only less...fucked up messy.  Or a better example Batman and Batgirl in some versions of the story where they were actual a couple despite the age difference and the fact that some fans have always mostly viewed Batman as a mentor character to Batgirl (I’m looking at you The Killing Joke).

I’m neither saying that this is true nor am I saying that I ship it (I more favour the mother-daughter relationship for Vernal and Raven better). I’m just saying it’s possible  Ruling out all the cards here guys.

There is no doubt in my mind that of all the bandits in the Branwen Tribe, Vernal is closest to Raven. She seems to be one of her most trusted allies. Maybe even her second in command. She certainly has the authority as evidenced in Chapter 3 of Volume 5.

But if Vernal is sadly to be taken down, I hope her sacrifice would not be in vain. As a matter of fact, if the CRWBY writers do intend on not allowing Vernal to last another season, I’d like to see two things happen.

Firstly, let her go out like a badass. If a full-on brawl between Maidens is to occur in the next episode or at any point in the future, I can definitely see Vernal having the upper hand, not just because she has Raven and the entire Branwen Tribe on her side but mostly because she has had way more time and experience mastering the use of her powers than Cinder (which I imagine would be a pleasant shocker to our one-eyed Fall Maiden).

But if for some reason, Cinder does overpower Vernal or use some sneaky underhanded tactic to force her to submit to her powers being stolen, this brings me to my second want.

In a surprising twist of events, let the Spring Maiden power go to Raven. I can see this being a huge possibility because of what Qrow informed Team RNJR back in Volume 4. According to Qrow, the Maiden power will go to whoever was closest to a Maiden or was in their thoughts last upon their deaths. If Raven and Vernal are indeed close, it would make sense that her powers would go to her.

I would very much love to see this happen because not only would it be a great way to integrate Raven into the main cast with the chance to develop her side of the story beyond the title that she’s the proclaimed bad mother to Yang, but it would be a huge metaphorical middle finger to Salem and her forces.

You thought you could just saunter into the Branwen Tribe, kick everyone’s asses, disrespect their leader and steal the Spring Maiden’s power? Well jokes on you. Spring chose a bird to be the next Maiden.

Spring would chose Raven and I would not be shocked if this is something Raven has prepared for beforehand. Unless it’s a twist within a twist that Raven wasn’t expecting for Vernal to die nor for her to become so attached to the young girl.

Making Raven the new Spring Maiden succeeding Vernal would be great because it would mean she’ll have to be protected by the main team. She’ll probably wish to run away but I can imagine Qrow convincing her to stay where she can be protected which would add for some glorious Branwen Siblings conflict and resolution.

It would give Raven and opportunity to grow close to Yang since she’ll have to protect her now; healing that wound with time.

It would also mean a very awkward reunion with Ozpin, finally cracking open that delightful can of worms that is their past history together.

It can also open the door for an example where a Maiden successor did not want her power and responsibility. Yes Vernal ran away but initially she did accept her role as the Spring Maiden.

If Raven is forced to be the new Spring Maiden without knowing that Vernal had already chosen her a long time ago, it would be funny because then Raven would be like Ozpin. Cursed with powers and responsibilities that she was forced to receive (the Spring Maiden powers) because she failed to stop something in the past (the Death of Vernal) and now she’ll have no choice but to live with that curse; the only freedom being in death.

And even then, she can’t bring herself to accept death because if she died, how else was she going to get vengeance and justice for her fallen comrade.  

But that’s just a hunch. Who knows what’s to come for the remainder of this volume, much less the rest of RWBY.

I’m not even sure how tomorrow’s episode will play off.

Beyond my continuing aspiration and episodic campaign for Oscar to get more screen-time and development as HIMSELF AND NOT OZCAR (seriously it’s been THREE BLOODY episodes now. COME ON CRWBY! GIVE BEST FARM BOI SOME DEVELOPMENT WHILE THE SEASON IS STILL YOUNG) I don’t know what to expect from Chapter 9 other than it focusing on Raven’s group for most of it. However, I still stand by my hunch from last time that I want Raven to be captured by Cinder and her posse and used as leverage to lure out, not just the Spring Maiden but also the Mistral Team.

I also still stand by my previous hunch that in the event of Raven being abducted, she’d make sure to send Vernal safely to Mistrel into the arms of Qrow. I want a rescue mission to save Raven because this would prompt Yang having to save her mother which would be a lovely parallel to what Raven told Qrow in Volume 4.

Raven told Qrow that her promise was to save and/or protect Yang once. That was her deal. She’d continue to watch over her from afar but would only intervene to protect her life once which she already did way back in Volume 3 against Neo. If Raven needs to be saved, I can definitely see Yang dealing her mother the same hand. She saved her once and now it’s Yang’s turn to save her once, that way they’d be even.  

Yang would probably save Raven and then totally revert back to hating or at least not liking her guts afterwards but at least Raven would be safe and might even be proud of and respect her daughter and her strength afterwards.

It’s funny though. Yang probably figures she needed her mom in her life to make her strong, failing to realize the true meaning behind why her mother left. I wonder what kind of person Yang would’ve been if Raven was more present in her life.

I’d imagine it would’ve gone like that one alternate reality episode of Grey’s Anatomy where Meredith dreamt how her life would’ve gone if her mother had been happy and it turned out to be not as great as she expected.

Maybe Yang would’ve been a power-hungry huntress obsessed more with strength than compassion if she was raised by Raven. Tai Yang did say that Yang possessed some of her mother’s qualities so if Raven had decided to take Yang and raise her in the Branwen Tribe rather than leave her behind with her father, not only would Yang have possibly turned out more like Raven but she would’ve never had her close relationship with her sister Ruby.

We’ve seen how great of an influence Yang is on Ruby’s life and how deep their sisterly/family bond goes. We’ve seen how devoted Yang is to her family, particularly her little sister. If Raven had raised her, Yang might not have been who she is now. Maybe it’s for that very reason Raven why left her behind.

She didn’t want to raise another version of herself, thriving on the same things that drove her down a rather grim path. Raven didn’t want Yang to become more susceptible to making the same mistakes Raven made and are still paying the price for.

While Episode 6 of Volume 5 made it seem as if Raven thinks very little of Tai Yang, that doesn’t change the fact that once upon a time, she did believe he possessed certain good qualities.

Good qualities that she not only fell in love with him for but also wished for him to instil in their daughter.

Sure Raven left for her own reasons but, why would she leave Yang with Tai if she didn’t think she would be better off with him? Yes, Yang eventually had to take the reins and help raise Ruby after Summer left and Tai became somewhat distant with work but before all that happened, Yang was admittedly in better hands. She was in a family among people who loved her and cared for her and valued things like trust, empathy and compassion with strength being secondary; values I don’t think are a core aspect of the culture in the Branwen Tribe. Doesn’t seem that way to me. Call her a bad mom as much as you want but, Raven doesn’t strike me as the type to just abandon Yang with her father if she didn’t think he was good enough or trustworthy. 

After all, if that’s the case then why is he still one of her very few close bonds even after all these years of separation?

Maybe that was Raven’s intention all along.

But, what do I know? I’m just a fan with some musings. Dunno what’s to come in the story tomorrow but like always, I’m uber excited.

That being said, see you all in RWBY Volume 5: Chapter 9!

~LittleMissSquiggles (2017)

[toolatetofall]

You mentioned writing requests? Would you mind writing a little something about Alec and the kids star gazing, like from the memory we see of him with the kids looking through the telescope? It was so cute (even if it only lasted a second) and I feel like that's where the kids' love for exploration ignited.

You got it, Nony!! Hopefully this is what you had in mind. Fair warning, I don’t have a lot of experience with telescopes, and I’m not sure how powerful they’d be 150+ years in the future. 

This is set just before they move to the Citadel in 2169, in one of their last nights on Earth. (I know the codex says they were born on the citadel, but Alec didn’t get the job as an attache until the late 2160s and Scott says he was born on Earth at one point) No spoilers!

“Its my turn! Stop hogging it!” Scott whines, pulling his sister away from the telescope. She resists, pushing her hand against the face.

“No! I’m not- OW!” Sara starts screaming as Scott grabs onto one of her pigtails and pulls, prompting their parents to both run back outside onto the apartment’s tiny balcony. Step inside for 2 minutes and of course it all goes to shit.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Ellen huffs, untangling Sara’s hair from Scott’s grip as Alec kneels down, holding them apart. “Scottie, we don’t pull hair. You know better.”

Scott sniffs. They’re both starting to cry now. “But Sara was hogging it! I want to see too!” 

“Then we use our words,” their mother scolds before turning her attention to her daughter. “Let Scott have a turn, okay?”

“Not faaaaaaiiiir….” Sara pouts and turns to her father, hugging him tight; an obvious ploy to get him to take her side.

He doesn’t take the bait. Alec scoops her up then gestures for Scott to step up to the telescope, even as Sara starts to protest, sniveling into his shirt. Scott  does as instructed, and leans to peer in. 

By their previous request, Alec had found the Charon relay, a faint blue light against the dark shadow of Pluto. It’s one of their favorites to find. 

Scott’s mouth falls open in an expression of excited awe. “We’re going to go see just like daddy?” He was referring to the move to the Citadel next week. Alec and Ellen had worried the kids wouldn’t want to leave Earth, (they had never been off world), but they were excited. 

“That’s right, sunshine,” Ellen smiles, stroking his hair. “We’ll have our own little adventure.”

Sara looks up at her dad now, tears forgotten. “Can we see home from here?”

“Not exactly,” he says, squinting up at the sky. After a moment, he points. “But see that star?” Sara and Scott follow his finger and nod. “That’s Boltzmann.” He’s fairly sure anyway. “The Citadel is in the same system.” 

“Can you find it with the telescope?” Scott asks, bouncing on his toes, stepping back to give his dad room. Alec steps forward, and programmed in the coordinates with his omnitool. There was a pause as the telescope swivels towards the new coordinates then refocus, and Scott pushes forward again, pressing his eyes to the scope. “OH WOW!” He cheers, bouncing on his toes. “I can see it!”

“Can NOT,” Sara hollers, scrambling out of her father’s arms to try to push Scott aside to see for herself. 

“Sara, don’t push please.” Ellen rolls her eyes, then glances at Alec, a fond smile on her face.

The twins fuss over the telescope for a few minutes before their attention is diverted again. “Daddy, daddy, what’s that star?” 

Alec follows Sara’s pudgy finger, and pauses in thought. “That’s Asgard. That’s Terra Nova’s star.”

“I wanna go there!” Sara exclaims as Scott points to another star. 

“What about that one?”

He stares at it, before shrugging and admitting, “I’m not sure.”

Scott’s smile grows wider. “I wanna go there!”

“Me too!” Sara hollers. “I wanna go everywhere!”

“Me first!”

“No way!” 

Alec and Ellen laugh as the kids bickers, talking about the places they go, the things they’ll discover. 

They are their father’s children. 

[cho-sekiei]

terra-bunny mentioned you in a post: @nomadsky this is a reply to your post but it got...

@ nomadsky this is a reply to your post but it got long so I’m putting it here; hope you don’t mind. There might be some canon I’m missing here but do we know that Ignis was on a general gifted program, or was he picked out individually? If there’s no canon to say otherwise I suspect it’s the latter. Regis knows that Noctis is the Chosen One and that he is unlikely ever to rule in the same way that Regis did. This is probably why Noctis doesn’t behave in a particularly prince-ly manner - the poor boy clearly suffers from social anxiety (and probably depression too) and given that Regis knows he has limited time it seems fairer just to let him…be happy, rather than force him to be something that doesn’t come naturally to him. Regis also knows that Noctis is the last remaining Lucis Caelum (except Ardyn but he’s not relevant here) so the line of kings ends with him. Regis would probably like to make sure that there is someone prepared to be a ruler in his line’s absence. So he found the most gifted person of a suitable age that he could, and had him pushed hard.

I don't mind. ^ ^

Now, it's difficult with FFXV to keep track of what is coming from where and most of what we know about the past of the main characters is so ill-defined, you can choose to believe pretty much what you like, really. So I'm not pretending I'm right on all this. It's just how I, personally, interpret it.

What we have from the official FFXV website says: 'Ignis was raised alongside Prince Noctis to be adviser to the heir apparent. An intensive education instilled in him the resourcefulness and composure required for the role.' The wiki also says: 'He received a special education for gifted children to work as a staff officer for Noctis and acts as the understanding consultant for him.'

Unfortunately, they don't give a reference for that. What I understand from this is that he was hand-picked to be Noct's adviser from a pool of children who had all been selected to be part of a larger program aimed at recruiting talented children and educating them as staff officers who would go on to serve the royal house from a young age.

What has always struck me - particularly watching the flashbacks in Brotherhood - is how all the other chocobros have been allowed a childhood. Yes, Noctis was sullen and moody at school, but he was a teenager and he didn't have an easy life; Prompto was bullied but he was looking after puppies and making friends; even Gladio who, of course, was training early on to be Noct's Shield, was spending a lot of time running around the palace playing hide and seek with Noct and his sister, and he grows up with his family. What do we see of Ignis? We see him in a page uniform standing alongside Noctis as a very small child, we see him serving him and the Council as a teenager and a young man. We see no care or concern at any point for who he is, including when he's a vulnerable child in need of support and affection. He's taken from his family - it's canon his province of origin is far away - and made to work.

You can argue that he was brilliant and Regis knew Noctis would need someone like him and that it justifies doing all this to him and pushing him to his limits. Ethically, I have a major problem with this approach because 'the end justifies the means' can be used to excuse pretty much anything. It's on par with the 'I was just following orders' bullshit.

When you start resorting to questionable practices to fight your enemies, I start to question whether you truly are the good guys. You have to draw the line somewhere. Child labour and emotional abuse are way past the line for me.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to be all moralising. This is my take on the canon I've seen, and interpreted differently, of course, it could be perfectly acceptable. But in my mind, Lucis is a kingdom with what seems to be a fairly absolute ruler, and the whole ring / magical barrier thing, while it protects the king's subjects, is also very much keeping them hostage and unable to contest the authority of the monarch.

I just find it interesting that we're seeing everything in this story through the eyes of the royal family and its retainers. History is told by the victors and we only get their version (Lucis wins in the end). And I always wonder if maybe the whole struggle is not so black and white, in particular considering the existence of revolutionaries in the Kingsglaive movie. Yes, they're being used by Niflheim - without their knowing, but who is to say they don't have very legitimate reasons behind their actions? Monarchy is by definition a repressive system.

Just some food for thoughts. ^___^