#ideally someone assasinates both of them

[sereniv]

god...i understand, obviously, people not wanting to vote for biden because of the genocide. i was in the same boat, and had voted uncommited thinking that was the official last vote. stupidly, i thought i had successfully not voted for biden

and of course then i learned about project 2025 and im glad i have a second chance but

why did i, or anyone else who doesnt want to vote, think trump is going to do regarding the genocide?

trump hates not only palestinians but arabs in general- dont you think its likely that he would aid more, that he would kill more, that whoevers left do you really think hes going to allow anyone to live?

This isnt about whos the lesser evil the are both evil fascist people

But what are people thinking? They dont vote for biden and then what?

because in reality, if trump is elected that likely will be the last year we are able to vote and that is not an exaggeration anymore

[justynw123]

Malcolm X is a tribute film dedicated to one of the most controversial civil rights leaders of the modern day. The film was created on November 18, 1992 and directed by Spike Lee who also played a role within the film while Denzel Washington played the lead role of Malcolm X. The film was distributed by the Warner Brothers company and Spike Lee aided in the role of creating the screenplay and producing. The shots of the film were nostalgic and gritty while the garments worn were tailored suits and dresses appropriate to the times. Camera shots went from full color with a dark gradient to black and white shots in order to symbolize famous pictures taken of Malcolm X during his lifetime.

The film begins in 1925 Nebraska, a state where the Ku Klux Klan had major influence over both white and black citizens and terrorized those who fought for a racial equality. While poverty, racism and oppression of Black people was frequent in America a movement to unite black peoples across the globe began as well. Marcus Garvey along with leaders of African countries such as Emperor Haile Selassie the third of Ethiopia came together in several unions to create the Pan Africanism movement. An idea that promoted black people across the globe to go back to Africa and build equity while current African citizens fought for independence from colonizers. Pan Africanism is the movement that heavily inspired the Civil Rights movement and its leaders. The film Malcolm X starts in 1925 and follows the life of Malcolm X until his death on February 21, 1965.

Within Malcolm X there are several messages, one of the most important being to grow from the mistakes of the past while making conscious decisions to better the future of the community while educating oneself. Depending on the circumstance of someone's life and the hardship they've experienced a person may succumb to crime or other devious acts to survive. Yet because someone does something bad it doesn't make them a bad individual. Rather being able to be conscious of the self worth and self love of being black and use information readily available to evolve. Just as Malcolm did after attending Mekka, he was able to recant some of his previous ideals on not being able to unify with other people after worshiping with different races.

An initial scene within the film is the burning of Malcolm X’s childhood home, almost killing his entire family while members of the Klan observed in matching white hoods and torches on horseback. Afterward due to the death of his father and loss of his mother Malcolm turns to a life of crime later being arrested. In prison due to his parents background of Garveyism and influences within the prison Malcolm dropped his last name for X and joined the Nation of Islam becoming the influential leader everyone remembers today. It is believed that the Nation of Islam as well as the FBI had a hand in planning the assasination of Malcolm X for his views on segregation and self defense.

[madness-dragons]

AND NOW, SOMEONE I COMPLETELY NEGLECTED TO MENTION IN THE FIRST INTRODUCTORY POST!

SAY HULLO TO THE SHERIFF, AND RUNNERS AS A SPECIES!

Runners are often seen as a materialistic, weak, pompous bunch. Native to the same island as basilisks and vultures, they've evolved with a heavy focus on flight and, as their name implies, running- as such, they have hollow bones and small, compact bodies. Not ideal for combat at all! So, how do these tiny treegoers settle disputes amongst eachother?

Typically, they race eachother! In the air or on the ground- it's quicker and cleaner than a brawl, and usually far more enjoyable to them. And if that doesn't work, there's always feathers- runners come in the full spectrum of colors, and perhaps even some we can't see! With these feathers, they can make some purdy vibrant displays, useful both for warding off threats and for decision making.

Of course, all things in evolution can be costly. And this pacifist course has rendered them easy prey on their island home... As food sources decline rapidly with the shrinking territory, runners hardly stand a chance in the way of self defense. Most, if not all by now, have chosen to migrate away in droves, integrating almost completely into society. Very few still exist in the wild- and if they do, they won't for long!

So, what the hell's any of that mean for Sheriff?

I'M SO GLAD YOU ASKED, DISEMBODIED VOICE IN MY HEAD!!!

Not all dragons in Nexus City were kidnapped by Phobos or his brainwashed workers. As a matter of fact, modern day, plenty of dragons come to the city on their own accord in an attempt to make a name for themselves! It's sort of spiraled out of Phobos's control- not that he cares much, at this point.

Sheriff is one of those dragons- sick of his species being seen as a joke, he's determined to either make it big in the city or die trying. (Well, maybe he wouldn't go that far...)

He began as a humble mattress salesman- which caught the eye of Jeb, head of the Industrial District. The two became fast friends- which seemed great for Sheriff's reputation, for a while, anyways.

Even without his full memories intact, Jeb has suspected for a while now that Phobos is entirely unfit to lead, and that whatever he's doing needs to come to a stop quickly before all of dragonkind feels the consequences. Taking advantage of Sheriff's eagerness to be involved and known, he offered to have him be a major part of an assasination plot- it's certainly one way to make a name for yourself!

However, for whatever reason, the plan fell through- Jeb managed to escape with his reputation and position as head of a district intact, while Sheriff took the brunt of the blame and was placed on flight arrest. (Thankfully, the plan was never discovered to be an assassination attempt- had Phobos known, he'd certainly be a lot worse off....)

Even though all they did was ground him, Sheriff's definitely less than pleased about what happened... The two haven't spoken since. Flight is a huge part of runner culture, and without it, he doesn't quite know what to do with himself- his business suffered a blow too, knowing it's headed by a criminal. Perhaps he'll find eventual freedom when the Status Quo makes it's rounds through the City- they are there to liberate, after all!

[moonctzeny]

Cygnus

pairing: royal!ten  x fem!reader x villain!doyoung

genre: angst, smutty elements but not anything too much

word count: 4,8k

warnings: ‘forced’ marriage, mentions of death, blood, stabbing (not too descriptive I promise), manipulation

summary: “When your father, the king, gets brutally assasinated in his royal quarters, you realise how big of a threat the opposing Indigo kingdom really is. In order to further protect both your kingdoms, prince Ten proposes a unification by proposing to you. Amidst your duty as his queen and your inappropriate meetups with your royal advisor, Doyoung, you’re not sure where your heart really belongs”

a/n: This fic has a lot of referencing of the past. Just to clarify: if a part is written in the past tense and is inside the separators, it’s y/n recounting past events

requested by/written for my dear French Anon ❤️❤️ I hope you like it 🥰

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The starry night spreads like a veil over the kingdom. Your kingdom, ever since your head was adorned with a veil of your own. The moonlight, pale and bright, illuminates all the stories of the night. From the mothers that kiss their children goodnight, praying that the impending war doesn’t find them in their adolescence, to the whispering silhouettes of the King’s traitors, plotting with the opposing kingdom to overrule his reign.

Like the weeping willows of your royal garden, you sit alone in the dance hall’s balcony, gazing at the sky’s unknown that always felt so comfortable to you. How dull and drab you must look, even in the ornate gown you were in, amidst all the decorations and joyous music of your wedding’s one year anniversary. Maids, peasants, guards- they all congratulated you on your happy marriage, wishing the queen a long life of prosperity. Even Sirius, the prettiest diamond in the sky, seemed to shine like a spotlight for tonight’s celebration.

“y/n? It’s time for our royal dance.”

You recognized the silky voice to be that of the King’s, your longest companion other than the stars. In spite of all of your misery, Ten, the man you swore to hold in weakness and in health, till death do you part, was someone you valued deeply.

You first met the prince in your early teens, travelling to his neighboring kingdom with your father. He was still a young boy, bothered with the blemishes on his face and excited to play with the snow covering the windowsills of his room. The only person who could relate with the insecurities and troubles of an heir like yourself.

“Why are the peasants hungry while we throw away most of our food?”

"Why does the Indigo kingdom want to declare war on us when we both have enough wealth to live on?"

 "Do you think that when we grow up, we will become just like our parents?"

The prince was thoughtful and gentle, a pacifist in the wrong position. Talented in the arts, in dance, in anything that is as beautiful as he is.  

His beloved subjects do not know it, but the nickname Ten, was given to him by you. 

It was probably the third time you met the prince, excited to spend time with your only friend just a day before your 15th birthday. He had been bugging you over what you wanted from him as a present, the beautiful jewelry and dresses his father gifted you seeming too impersonal to him. You shook off his offers, insisting that him being there with you, in your castle’s terrace, was more than enough. 

You were gazing at your beloved stars and he was gazing at you, rambling on and on about the celestial objects in the sky.

“And what star is this?”, he asked curiously, eyes reflecting the constellations and sparkling in the night. Chittaphon, unlike the countless teachers insisting astronomy for a princess was useless, was endlessly entertained by your knowledge and always thirsty to learn more. His finger was pointing at Deneb, one of the brightest stars of the night sky.

“This star is part of a greater ten-star constellation, Cygnus”

“Cygnus?”

“It means swan in greek”, you explained and he squinted his eyes cutely, trying to find the resemblance to the bird.

“According to greek mythology, Phaethon, the son of Helios the sun god, demanded to ride his father’s sun chariot for a day. Unfortunately, he 

was unable to control the reins, forcing Zeus to destroy the chariot with a thunderbolt, with Phaethon drowning in the river Eridanus where it fell. Phaethon's lover, Cygnus, dived into the river for days on end to collect Phaethon's bones, in order to give him a proper burial. The gods were so touched by Cygnus's devotion and deep grief, that they turned him into a swan and placed him among the stars.”

Chittaphon, intrigued by the story, stopped plucking out the roots of the grass you were sitting on, and decided to lay his head comfortably on your lap. His hair looked so pretty that you couldn’t help but run your fingers through its softness, the intimacy making your heart skip a beat.

“That is my greatest fear”

You were so lost in your contentment that you’d almost miss his whispered confession. Placing your hands on his cheeks carefully, you turn his face so that he looks at you, and it takes everything in you not to lean down and kiss his pout away.

“Hm?”

“What if, when I finally take the reins of my father’s kingdom, I end up ‘drowning’ as well? What if I’m too weak to control them and someone stronger than me decides to destroy me?”

With a sigh, you look back up to the sky. As an only child and therefore sole heiress, the worry of leading a kingdom was the main cause of your night scares as well. You were just teenagers, still figuring out yourselves, but Chittaphon wasn’t some ditzy child. He didn’t care about the lushes and gold, he wasn’t power hungry. His idealism and ethos were admirable, and you felt safe knowing that when the time comes, he would be your ally.

“You’ll make a great king one day”

He smiles up at you, his happiness lighting up the night sky. He always shone the brightest.

“You really mean that?”

“I do. And if you don’t, I promise to collect your bones and bury you properly”

He laughed heartily at your joke, and you continued to braid his locks, counting the freckles on his face until your heartbeats synced with the other.

You just laid there, thinking the prince had fallen asleep in your arms, when he spoke again.

“I don’t know how, but one day I’ll gift you those ten stars. And it will be the best birthday present you’ll ever receive”

That’s how you got through adolescence, holding on to Ten’s promise, and dreaming of whatever life might offer you. And life seemed to be gentle on you, up until a couple of years ago. Up until the incident.

Ten takes your hand in his, rubbing your knuckles tenderly with his thumb, and leads you to the dance hall. The skin is scabbed and rough from you compulsively scrubbing it every time you take a bath. You’d watch the water endlessly run through your fingers, yet no amount of soap could flush the memory of the deep red of your father’s blood staining them.

It was a Friday like any other, a walk in the royal gardens at 6 and then your waltz dance class at 7. You replayed the new choreography over and over in your head, drunk in your instructor’s praises and wanting to show off. Skipping the steps of the stairwell leading up to the king’s room, you wish you had taken a jacket with you. Goosebumps started appearing on your arms, both from the cool night breeze and something else you couldn’t quite put your finger on.

Your father was the reason you started waltz lessons. “One day you’re going to marry a man to queendom and you’ll better be able to keep up with me on our father-daughter dance”. You’d just giggle and tell him you had plenty of time till that day, you were just stepping on your twenties, no reason to step on a dancefloor too! But alas, one dance recital from Ten and your father was sold on the idea of getting you to take some lessons. You chuckled to yourself. Come to think of it, your father just really loved Ten.

You reach the heavy door of his suite, opened by just a slice. While there was light coming from the room, illuminating the hallway you were standing at, there was no one guarding it. You found it a little strange that the guard’s huge frame didn’t block your way from your father like he like always did, yet you were happy. Your father always acted colder to you around him.

“Dad, dad, look what I learned toda-“

The sight of his cold, lifeless body brought you to your knees. The cause of death was obvious, with the dagger shoved deep inside his guts, but if you asked anyone in the kingdom, they’d tell you he died from a bad heart. He loved heavy food, and alcohol, the meals suited to a king. No one other than a select few could know that the king was assassinated in his own bedroom.

But that was not your only secret.

You don’t know how, but Ten has managed to finally drag you in the middle of the dance hall. Your shoes clack against the marbled floors and the music brings you momentarily back to the now that you want to escape so badly. The music sounds familiar, you think, and you stay still for a second, trying to identify the song.

Your king brings you closer, one hand steady on your waist, the other keeping your fingers intertwined. He hums to the tune and looks at you with those eyes, those dark eyes that always hold a certain sadness in them. And when he starts to lead, it finally hits you that this is the song you got engaged to.

It was Ten’s idea, actually. With the rumours of a murder travelling to the neighboring kingdoms, including the Indigo kingdom making statements of invasive strategies against you, a form of alliance was clearly needed to be made. 

He showed up to the royal conference room, all dressed up and holding a bouquet of red roses. You could hear his heart thumping as he approached you, his hands sweaty and clammy when he held yours.

“My queen, there is no denying our kingdoms are in a crisis”. His familiar voice was comforting to you, yet the words seemed too formal to be leaving Ten’s mouth. “The Indigo kingdom has indirectly declared war on you. They are powerful, especially with the weapons they possess. And their men are notorious to be ruthless and as cold as ice.”

You gulped visibly, your mouth getting dry at the thought of your people getting as violently killed as your father. Looking at any place possible other than his eyes, you wondered why he took the time to pay you a visit, just to point out the things that you were already more than worried about.

“My kingdom has great soldiers, skilled and apt in martial arts, yet they miss one thing, one thing that your peaceful kingdom can offer mine. Your servants love you, my queen, and they are willing to do anything for you”. He stops and takes a breath, handing you the bouquet he had been holding in his other hand. “I know I would”

The sweet scent that hits your nose matches his sentiment, yet the glossiness in his eyes -that you finally picked up the courage to face- told you things would get bitter soon.

“Are you suggesting we form an alliance for the war? Our kingdoms might be on good terms now, yet our predecessors used to be enemies for hundreds of years. There is still a lot of mistrust weaved in the hearts of the people.”

“I know”, he said, his voice breaking lightly. A thorn from the bouquet pricked your skin as you saw him fall down on one knee, a drop of blood falling from your finger as a teardrop stained your face. “That’s why I am asking for your hand in marriage. Let our kingdoms become one”

You were the one who said ‘I do’, yet the decision was already taken for you. Your whole life, in fact, was painted right in front of your eyes, hues of marsala reds and hunter greens. Hues like the ones Ten put on his palette almost every night before you go to sleep.

You and Ten had never slept together. He insisted that it was never his intention when marrying you, and he’d completely respect your boundaries. You’d be lying to yourself if you said you hadn’t had a thought of laying with him, as you helped him remove the drying paint off his fingers every night. You couldn’t ignore the twitch of your sensitivity as he saw you changing into your silk robe and nightgown, nor the heat of your face when he called you beautiful. His pretty voice was made for begging and teasing and singing out moans. With his flexibility and core strength, you could only imagine what he’d be like in the bedroom. Just the image of his feline eyes looking up at you from between your thighs sent chills down your spine.

That being said, you always felt a bit annoyed by his chivalry as he slipped through to the guest room to spend the night. Through his proposal, he had ridden you of the chance to choose your other half, doomed you to endless nights of loneliness and a cold half of the bed. He should’ve at least taken responsibility.

Not even the guards could know that the two of you didn’t share a bed, the alliance holding on the thin thread of facade you played out for everyone. Sweet kisses in the breakfast room, fake smiles and the silent mourning of your freedom. But that wasn’t your only secret.

You see a hand tapping lightly the velvet shoulderpads of the King’s suit, causing you to halt your dancing. A man, about half a head taller than Ten, successfully steals his attention from you.

“My king, may I steal the lovely queen for a dance?”

Kim Doyoung.

Tall, nice-mannered, lethally handsome. Your father’s trustiest advisor ever since he turned 18 and one of the most respected men in the castle. If the king is the jungle’s lion, then Doyoung surely is a jaguar, attacking his enemies unexpectedly, emerging from their blind spot. He is also your secret.

Kim was the one who found you crying over your fathers body, notifying the knights of the murder since you had no voice to scream for help. He offered you a shoulder to lean on during your grief, while helping you manage the kingdom in your inexperience. It was inevitable to come closer to the man you spent countless hours with at the royal meetings, who you wined and dined with daily, who led you through your duties and made everything make a little bit more sense.

The attraction you felt for him however, well, that was on you. 

It started one night, warm like this one, when the diplomatic settlements with a new kingdom took way too long to figure out, and the pair of you were stuck in his personal office at the early hours of the morning. 

Your hair was a frizzy mess, eyebags darkening the thin skin of your under eyes and all you could focus on was the ink slowly spilling from the metal tip of your pen. And Doyoung, though hardworking and diligent as always, showed the signs of exhaustion as well, stretching his neck from side to side to release the tension.

A crack from his joints grabbed your attention, or rather his skin that was glowing in the limelight. 

He was wearing a beautiful silk shirt, the fabric matching his rich stature and highlighting the delicate lines of his body. His collarbones, sharp like him, peeked from the buttons he had been unfastening, one by one, all the while keeping his eyes on yours.

Your mind wandered under his stare that did nothing short of stealing all oxygen from your lungs. Every slither of your bare skin that landed on it was starting to burn up, and you assumed that’s what his touch must feel like as well. You imagined unbuttoning the rest of his shirt yourself, giving his shoulders a little massage to help him relax. You’d run your hands down this torso, marking it lightly with your fingernails, until you felt that little line of hair right over his pelvis.

The thought is too sinful, so you return to the document in front of you, yet all of your concentration dissolves when the advisor suddenly places the back of his hand against your forehead. His touch is cool and refreshing against your hot skin, yet the proximity only raised the temperature of your body more.

“My queen, you look exhausted. Have you been sleeping properly since the… incident?”

You wince at the memory and shove it down your subconscious again, shaking your head as if the dark thoughts would just brush off of you.

“Not really. I keep tossing and turning. I lay on my bed and I just feel so- so lonely.”

Immediately realising how suggestive your words sound you put your hand over your lips, but Doyoung removes them, taking your raised hand in his and kissing the top.

“My duty as your advisor is to rid you of your worries, my queen. Apparently, I’m not doing a good job, so tell me”. You let your eyes fall on his plush lips, holding your breath as his sweet talk leaves them. He mouths the next words against your wrist, and you can feel every movement of his mouth against your sensitive skin. “What can I do to relieve your stress?”

You can’t stop staring at the smoothness of the junction of his neck so you leave a light layer of your lipstick on it, the pink hue against his pale skin reeling you back to reality.

“Advisor, this is not right”, you try to excuse, “I cannot allow myself to take advantage of your duties like that”

Your eyes stay glued on his neck, and you watch as his Adam’s apple bobs in a chuckle. He guides your hand, that is still in his grasp, and boldy places it over his thigh, your pinky finger grazing against a hardness that is most definitely his-

“Can’t you see what you do to me? What does a man have to do to be yours for the night?”

And that’s how he ended up tangled in your sheets every night, sneaking in your room silently so that the guards don’t notice him. 

“It’s been one year, huh?”

You smell the citrusy after notes of wine in his breath, his lips slightly stained by the liquid. He looks just as addictive as the alcohol he consumed tonight, covered in the silk fabric that he loves so much.

“Have you been drinking again?”

“What else am I supposed to do when I see my queen dancing with that bastard?”

“That bastard is your king, yet you talk so lowly of him”

“And that king is your husband, but you were moaning my name on your wedding night”

You had changed into a white nightgown, the ivory dress discarded on your bathroom’s floor. The beads that were delicately weaved into the wedding gown sure were heavy, but that was not the reason you felt so suffocated in it. You had to sit there for hours, resenting everyone who made a toast for the husband and wife. The celebrations seemed endless, the wine abundant, their laughs maniacal. Your wedding ceremony was the image of luxury and opulence, yet you felt so poor.

Your feet led you to his room on their own, swollen and cut from all the dancing in heels. When Doyoung saw you, angry and choked up with all the injustice you felt, he offered to do what he was the best at. Distract you with his touches, his wet kisses, his sweet nothings. 

A pang of guilt ran through you the moment your back hit the wall, his body trapping you between the cold surface and the overwhelming heat of his body. You wondered if Ten was still sleeping in your newlyweds’ suite, if he was pretending that he dozed off, what he was thinking. You knew you were selfish for only thinking about your feelings, as if you were the only one forced into this marriage. But then Doyoung’s fingers danced on the hem of your dress, and your mind would go blank with lust.

“This is wrong”, you said out loud, a statement directed mostly at yourself rather than Doyoung.

“You coming here?”

“This. I shouldn’t have allowed myself to come this close to you”

“Divorce him”

You blinked back at him a couple times, trying to register what came so nonchalantly out of his mouth.

“Out of all people, advisor, you know exactly why I can’t”

His hand slid upwards, following the heat of your core, yet his fingers never touched where you needed him most. Small indentations were formed on the softness of your thighs, caused by his rings, and you wished the marks would stay forever. The shirt he wore as his sleepwear was oversized on his small frame, the iris tattooed on his shoulder peeking out from the fabric, as if it flowered on his skin.

“Out of all people, my queen, you know I can give you so much more than him”

As if knowing you’d argue with him, he started to nibble the skin on the middle of your neck, forcing your voice to bubble out muffled and weary.

“But advisor-“

“Say my name”

He let the pad of his finger fick your clit, and you moan “Doyoung” out, the name addictive on the tip of your tongue. So you say it again.

“Doyoung, I need you”

You felt his grin clearly against your skin, you wetness dripping on his fingers and covering his rings. His next words came out with a gravelly sound:

“I might hurt you, my queen”

Your whole life was laid out in front of you, from the wedding ring that weighted down your finger, to you laying on your royal deathbed, looking back at a lifetime that was never really yours. A linear progression to unhappiness, but you hated straight lines. 

“I want it to hurt”

Doyoung brings your body closer to yours, perhaps way closer than the etiquette allows, his hand on your lower waist sliding as near to your ass so as not to raise suspicion. He dips his head forward in a way that makes you think he’d leave a tipsy and careless kiss on your lips, but he whispers in your ear instead.

“Why haven’t you left him already?” The question is bold, especially between all these people, especially in the celebration of the wedding he asks you to break off. “I thought you said you’re mine”

“I am, but-“, your head moves towards the king’s direction, whose eyes are boring holes through the pair of you. You feel so small under his stare, suddenly feeling dirty. 

“He doesn’t even love you” 

There is a weird feeling bubbling in your stomach when you finally make eye contact with Ten, all his forms in which you’ve seen him through the years running in your mind. The innocent boy who became your best friend, the uncertain teenager who became your first love. The empathetic king, the mourning friend. The dependable spouse.

“But you do”, Doyoung concludes incredulously, his right eyebrow raised. It’s as if he tied together the pieces of a big jigsaw puzzle, the disappointment and anger and determination all trying to fit in his handsome features.

A hand draws your body away from Doyoung quite aggressively, and you quickly realise it’s Ten who has caught up with you. He intertwines your fingers together, pulling you into your previous dancing position but something is different this time.

“Times up. My wife’s too precious of a gem to let go of for longer”

Doyoung scoffs lightly, but hides it with a small bow to his king, leaving the two of you alone like he was asked. The tension between you and Ten is so thick it felt like all the lies you’ve told your kingdoms liquified into a thick substance that’s suffocating you now. His fingers are digging in your hips, in a possessive manner that’s a first for him, and he takes a deep breath before speaking.

“Do you ever think of me when you’re having sex with him?” 

The question catches you so off guard that you ungraciously step on his feet, wobbling on your heels until he helps you find your balance. 

“Why would you ask that?”

Now, you weren’t trying to play clueless, you know Ten is smart. You see the way he studies you and Doyoung, how he catches your secret glances, the electric touches. He surely has figured out where you sneak off every night and whose cologne you reek off the next morning. What you don’t understand, is where all his dislike for your advisor stems from.

Ten just chuckles bitterly, letting a puff through his nose, with a face of almost disgust when he looks at you.

“I don’t understand why I feel this way. I don’t understand why I care about you when you’re plotting with him against me. Why I feel jealous every time I see his filthy hands on you, or why I still think you deserve better.”

Plotting against him?

You’re left with a mouth gaped open, his harsh words both hurting you and confusing you as his voice gets even more strict than before.

“I thought maybe if I asked you to marry me you’d slowly distance yourself from him. I thought that maybe, just maybe, you reciprocate a handful of all the things I feel for you. But you still stay by his side, hanging from his every word”, he says it all in one breath and his eyes are watery when he addresses you again. “How can you sleep soundly next to me when you’re fucking the man that killed your father?”

A buzzing sound rings in your ears and you realise that you’re one breath away from falling apart.

And just like that, everything makes sense.

Why Doyoung was the first to find your father’s body, why the assasination seemed like an inside job. His sudden romantic interest in you and his pleas to have him as your king instead.

The indigo flower that decorated his body.

Ten shakes you a little, worried now at your sudden stiffness and the loss of blood from your face. He didn’t expect this reaction from you, didn’t expect to see your body shake with anger like this. You seem even more shocked than he was when he found out about Doyoung’s true nature, but, aren’t you the advisor’s accomplice in the plot of his overruling? 

“Wait, all this time- you didn’t know?”

Ten’s eyes widen as his body jerks forward, and you barely manage to catch him in your arms. A woman’s shriek resonates in the dance hall; the musicians halt their playing with a scratchy sound of the strings that stretch out of tune. And then you see the blood, staining the marble floor under Ten in small drops. You also see Doyoung emerging from behind him, with a maniacal look on his face, and a dagger in his hands. 

All hell breaks loose. The unarmed guests scream in fear, urging outside the dance hall in flocks. Glasses of wine shatter on the floor, women leave their heels behind in their hastiness to save themselves. You see the knights running in your direction, creating a shield of protection for you and the king, yet you notice that not all of them have gathered around you. A good part of them stand next to Doyoung, his face distorted in a mischievous grin. The extent of the betrayal in your kingdom shocks you, but when the first knight launches forward with his sword, you know you need to get Ten out of there immediately.

Throwing Ten’s arm over your shoulder, you drag him with difficulty all the way to the balcony, desperately trying to mute out the shrill sound of swords clashing in the process. You manage to bring him to safety, laying him down carefully in the same spot he found you in before, his head on your lap. After unbuttoning his shirt, you inspect the stab under his ribcage, and you swallow a scream at the sight of the deep wound. The most you can do is rip a big piece of cloth from your skirt, tying it up tightly around his waist, and wait until the fight is over. 

You see clear drops falling on his face that is turning sickly pale and you realise you’re crying. Holding his face between your hands, you get reminded of those days you went starseeing, of those moments of absolute peace with him that you wished would last forever. His body is cold and the cloth is turning burgundy, but he has the most tranquil smile on his face as he looks up at you. 

“Stay with me, please”, you sob over his rigid body, hugging it tightly as if his existence will just slip right through your fingers. “Live with me, and I’ll gift you all the stars in the sky”

[leonardhoee]

Ikevamp Guys as Villains

Warnings: Mass Murder, Gore...

Tagging: @aurora-morning @delicateikemenmemes @writer-akihiko @nafeary

Napoleon

Napoleon would be a royal dictator. He is the leader of a corrupt, authoritarian regime, hellbent on conquering the world. Think Hela (Thor: Ragnarok or The Darkling (Shadow and Bone). He controls people with his massive armies, and believes he is the only rightful ruler in this world. He believes that the world should be remade in his image so it can be restored to its former glory. He craves power and he will stop at nothing to get it. His armies are tools that swore their lives and souls to his cause. He feels no remorse in sacrificing them for his greater good. The only thing that would satisfy him now, is seeing the world crushed under the heel of his boot.

Leonardo

Leo as a villain would be like Iron Man gone bad. He does what he does simply out of curiosity he wants to see if it would even work. Cyberterrorism is just a tool for him. He would make modifications to his own body so that his eyes can see x-Ray, night vision, and other people’s biological information, and his brain is directly connected to the internet. He would create an entire army of robots like Ultron (Marvel) or Terminators. He hacks into government servers and international television broadcasts. He takes over entire governments simply by sitting in his lab controlling his army from a tablet. He can destroy anything connected to the internet with a flick of his finger. He wouldn’t even have to get up out of his chair. His plans would be so well thought out that no one would realize what happened until they’ve already lost.

Dazai

Dazai would be unhinged and reckless. He’d completely detach himself from human emotions and commit as many insane heinous crimes as possible till he does something bad enough that he would get killed for it. He creates an alternate persona for himself like the Joker or Hisoka (HxH), and at that point he has buried his emotions so well that he fails to differentiate between his persona and his true self. He may not actively acknowledge it but his true goal is to just go out in a blaze. It doesn’t matter how many lives it costs to do so.

Jean

Jean would be walking a fine line between villain and antihero. His main motivation is wiping out the people he considers evil, to make the world a “better place”. However, he would take it to a point of mass murder. There would be major battles breaking out between the people that support him and the people that believe what he is doing is evil. He believes he is bringing divine justice upon those who deserve it and thinks this is the way to atone for his past sins. Sound familiar? Jean would be Kira (Death Note). He is also similar to The Hood (Arrow). He has no mercy and he will not hesitate to kill.

Comte

Comte is rich enough to buy world leaders. He is the puppet master behind every single nation of the world. No one suspects him, however he slowly takes over countries one by one. He would also run some kind of underground mafia operation that’s involved in pretty much every kind of trade there is. He gets his money from so many sources that even if one is cut off, he is still rich enough to maintain his control over politicians and famous businessmen. Comte is the leader of the secret societies that the world’s richest people are involved in. The world answers to him and you would never even know. (Similar to Kingpin (Marvel) and the Court of Owls (DC)

Sebastian

Sebastian was adopted by Comte after ran away from his family. When he was young, hs saw firsthand how cruel the world can really be. He wholeheartedly believes the world is better off being run by Comte, and has pledged complete loyalty to him. He is Comte’s right hand man and he runs most of their underground mafia operations. He is incredibly versatile and does whatever Comte needs from him. Acting as a proxy? Assasinating a world leader? Leading a heist? Sebastian can do it all. His ideals have been so skewed growing up with Comte, that he sees himself as an extension of Comte’s power. Nothing more. He is a loyal weapon to be used by his boss.

Vincent

Vincent would release his emotions and would be unable to handle it mentally. He would be a serial killer who escaped from an asylum after losing his mind. He would kidnap his victims and slowly bleed them out as he paints with their blood. His specialty is carving designs into his victims after they have bled out and died. He leaves a sunflower at every crime scene and each new murder is just his latest artistic masterpiece left for the world to see. One way or another his art will be remembered, and it will cause the whole world to feel as much as he does.

Theo

Theo is driven by rage. Rage towards the world, towards the way he and Vincent were treated. His strength and anger would translate into him having an incredibly powerful monstrous form. His only goal is destruction. He wants to tear apart the society that allows people to get hurt like he did. He would be similar to Venom (Marvel), Abomination (Marvel), or Eren (Attack on Titan). Blinded by rage, he looses sight of his original goal and devoted himself to destroying everything he sees. It doesn’t matter who gets killed, they’re just collateral damage.

Isaac

Isaac can be two different types of villains all in one. On one hand, he’s a mad scientist who happened to discover a chemical combination that can be weaponized. However his insatiable bloodlust drives him to weaponize his discovery for himself. He wants people to know fear like he does (think Scarecrow (Batman). I can see him laying with Leonardo and helping upgrade his robot army with that chemical. On the other hand, when he lets himself give in to that bloodlust, he won’t stop unless he is stopped by someone else (like ripper Stefan from Vampire Diaries). He rips apart his victims like a wild animal. His crime scenes are covered in blood with dismembered body parts.

Mozart

Mozart would be an assassin for hire. He’s like a ghost. There have been stories about him but no one truly knows who he is. He works in the shadows and kills efficiently and without hesitation. One of his specialties is creating various sound waves that can kill his target. For those type of kills he doesn’t even need to leave his base, he can simply hack their device and cause it to play that frequency. Comte has hired him before to carry out certain kills he couldn’t do himself because of his position. Mozart is extremely devoted to his job will kill anyone who gets in the way of him and his target.

Arthur

Arthur would be a mix between Moriarty and Kilgrave (Jessica Jones). He would have some kind of mind controlling ability that allows him to create loyal puppets for his elaborate schemes. He loves playing games with the people suspecting him and he leads them in circles with their investigations. Sometimes he will even offer to personally help investigate cases he is responsible for, just to lead them into dead ends and plant fake clues. Every crime of his is a masterpiece with countless layers going into it. He does not see the people involved as humans. They’re just his pawns in his game of chess. Arthur just wants to see how far he can go before he finds a worthy opponent that can solve his cases.

Shakespeare

Shakespeare would be a theatrical serial killer who later escalates to mass murder. He would start out by abducting people he believes to “fit the role” he has planned for them. He would then kill them, replicating famous death scenes from plays and movies he admired (or his own plays). Each crime scene would be perfectly set up with lighting, makeup, and costuming. This would escalate later on to him and his troupe taking massive groups of people hostage, forcing them to read lines and act out various gruesome plays. When someone dies in the play, the actors have to murder each other. If they refuse, Shakespeare murders them both out of rage and brings in new people to replace them. He will not stop until he creates his perfect play.

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

HASO “The Best Outcome.”

Just wrapping up a few loose ends from the past few months stories. I hope you all like it. And feel free to give me some ideas on what you want to see, or who you want to see more of. I will try to do my best :) 

Breaking News tonight from the Apollo 11 memorial landing site as Admiral Adam Vr and Captains Warren Richarards and Mary Chavez were rescued  from the Pacific Ocean following a journey that was supposed to be historical, turned harrowing. Amy Grey comes to us this morning with the story.

Thank you Julie, it was only a week ago here on the historic Cape Canaveral launch site, that the reconstructed Saturn V rocket was launched by the UNSC International Space and Aeronautics Division on the two thousand and fifty first anniversary of the original Apollo 11 mission. On board The reconstructed rocket were astronauts Fleet Admiral Adam Vir head of the UNSC deep space exploration division, Captain Warren Richards five year veteran and historical aeronautics expert, and Mary Chavez six year shuttle pilot veteran, and communications specialist. 

The reconstructed Saturn V rocket took off thirty minutes behind schedule at 10:03 GMTJuly 16 after delays attributed to engineering standbys. However, reports by UNSC investigation early this morning indicate that the delays were called for by engineering head Jade Clein who noticed something strange during her final checks of the Saturn V recreated rocket. In an interview early today, flight director, Aaliyah Seif of the Apollo re-creation mission informed outlets that there was evidence of attempted tampering on the hull of the Saturn V rocket. The tampering case in the shape of these small silver tape strips covering loosened bolts along one of the Saturn V side panels. Engineers stated that the tape was not heat resistant and would have burned off in time to rattle the bolts loose and, likely, cause a devastating spin that would destroy the rocket.

While this attempted tampering was thwarted, the mission would only become more dire. A sudden and shocking report by Mericanda News 5 showed an uncut image of an unknown alien hybrid woman claiming that the UN President had ordered th attempted assassination of Admiral Vir, in conjuncton with an audio recording by Admiral Colter Massie, Head of the Galactic intelligence division an known isolationist, that admitted to the attempted assasination of Admiral Vir, and the acquisition of twenty thunderhawks which were used to harry the Satern V on it’s way to the moon. Admiral Kelly, long time friend of Admiral Vir, corroborated the story, saying she caught General Massie just after he ordered the deployment of the twenty thunderhawks. During their conversion he attempted to kill her before being detained by two members of Admiral Vir’s crew, and was later seen being escorted into custody by Military Police.

Indeed footage has been captured from the hull of the Saturn V showing approximately twenty thunderhawks attempting to destroy the rocket while Rundi remote piloted drones and an unknown group of what appear to be racing jets, fought back to delay the attack while word was sent to the UNSC to deploy F-90 darkfire pilots to assist. This all after communications between Houston and the rocket were sabotaged shortly after leaving orbit. The  F-90 darkfire pilots were able to arrive on time to rescue the rocket, though a hole was reportedly torn in the hull sucking Admiral Vir out into space, though he was later recovered and returned to his ship without any injuries. Patch teams were then able to repair the torn hull and the astronauts completed their mission landing to crowds on the moon and returning to earth on time on time landing in the Pacific ocean only nine miles away from the waiting ship.

All three astronauts were recovered and are reported to be in good health. 

The investigation into the UN president’s involvement is still ongoing at this time, however preliminary reports from the Global Bureau of Investigation suggest evidence is both staggering and damning to the current UN president, who earlier today, attempted to cut all ties to the sabotage efforts saying she was framed. Political experts report that, even assuming her innocence, she will likely not last to the end of her term.

International News Network was able to interview Admiral Vir shortly after his landing while still on board the rescuing ship UNSS Victory.

Here is what the Admiral had to say.

“I find it…. Really very disheartening that someone we all trusted, and someone that we all should have looked up to could do something like this. It really is a heinous demonstration of what political corruption can lead people to do.”

“And how do you feel, personally about all of this.”

“Personally, I…. well to be honest I am hurt and appalled. Not to mention that I fear for the safety of my family and my friends. Every day I wonder if my involvement with them is going to get someone I love killed…. The thought haunts me, but I hope after all of this is over I… and all of us can breathe a little easier.”

“Were you scared?”

“I don’t think that even needs to be a question. Of course I was scared, getting sucked out of your spaceship isn’t ideal.”

“What do you hope will happen now?”

“I hope that justice can be upheld  to those who deserve it.”

“What do you have to say to the UN president.”

…

“I have nothing to say. Wouldn’t want to waste the air.

****

What followed would be one of the largest scandals in recent political history. At some point an unknown number of classified government documents was leaked onto the internet, and after that it was all over for the Presidency. Thousands of enterprising humans, and aliens alike, viewed the documents to discover all the underhanded and dirty things which had been going on in the UN governmental body over the past few years. Forensic accounting experts (mostly Tesrtaki) uncovered plenty of fiscal tampering  which shed light on plenty of isolationist related projects and bank accounts. There was even evidence that they had something to do with the original assassination attempt against Admiral Vir so many months ago. The drama had even managed to capture the attention of Rundi political experts and Vrul computer science geniuses, and together they unearthed a world of unfathomable, but not unexpected corruption. The process to remove the UN president from office was probably one of the fastest movements of human government ever seen by UN congressional leaders, who were likely trying their very best tro distance themselves from association with the president, who despite not being the only one involved, had become the political scapegoat for everyone else that had a supposed link with isolationism.

Even the VP fell under suspicion and was watched closely for the rest of his term.

Admiral Massie and the UN President were placed under arrest and set up for court dates in the nearing future, though everyone saw a long and arduous litigation process ahead. Even Ramirez’s family had filed for damages against the government after the news came to light confirming that their son had been shot as collateral in one of the UN presidents plans to assassinate Admiral Vir. They settled out of court to the tune of an unknown, but impressive sum of money.

No one really knew how much, but a couple months later Ramirez’s younger sister was seen training at one of the most prestigious olympic academies on earth.

Ramirez himself was suddenly able to afford housing on the moon in a condo just next door to his best friend, though no one else inquired further.

The Rundi chairwoman came forward with her own investigation admitting to being suspicious for a long time though she feared accusations without proper proof. Admiral Vir was seen having lunch with her not so many months after the events took place, suggesting that the trust between the two of them had not been completely dissolved. With much of the isolationist element gone from government, public policy began to lean heavily towards integration with the alliance. The occasional isolationist demonstration or protest was held, but none of them managed to gain traction.

Admiral Vir was finding himself more important than ever, though it was to his chagrin that his ship was grounded for the intervening months while the investigation continued.

No one was entirely sure what the future held.

***

Admiral Vir stepped into Admiral Kelly’s office. The last time he had actually visited her here had been over a few years ago before his promotion to captain of the Harbinger. It seemed so distant now, and he never expected to walk into her office with a star on his shoulder. She stood as he entered, and the two of them shook hands, ignoring all the stuffy formalities that usually come with the meeting of two military officers.

The wall behind her was decorated with a myriad of metals and awards she had received over her career, and he couldn't help but note the slight tinge of grey he could see forming in her hair. He knew that feeling, he was going prematurely white much to his chagrin. She stood and the two of them shook hands.

“Vir.”

“Kelly.”

She motioned him to sit and he sat sighing lightly as he had been on his feet all day consulting with political figures and other members of the UNSC.

“A strange couple months wouldn’t you say.”

“Tell me about it.”{

Kelly reached under her desk and withdrew an amber bottle which she placed between them, “I always forget; Do you drink?”

“On occasion.”

“Well consider this an occasion.” She said popping off the top and pouring two glasses for them. She handed his across the desk and he leaned back in his seat cupping the cool glass in both hands.

She swirled the amber liquid around in her glass, “So what are your plans after all this.”

He took a sip of water warmed by the burning liquid, “Hoping things will go back to normal and I can go back to traveling the galaxy.”

Kelly grunted, “A simple man with simple motivations.”

He laughed , “Sometimes I think a stupid man with simple motivations.”

She chuckled then grew serious, “A lot of people make the mistake of assuming simple people don’[t have the intelligence to match. Some people assume that trusting means gullible means dumb. Just because we are trusting and expect others to do the right thing is not necessarily a fault. I believe there is a kind of beauty in assuming the fundamental goodness of humanity.”

\Admiral Vir shook his head, “How can you after seeing what we have seen.”

“How can you not?” She shrugged, “We always knew that politicians were corrupt, but think about everything else we have seen.”

Admiral Vir nodded slowly, “The enthusiasm for the Apollo 11 recreation mission, the people who flew up to help us. All of those people who went digging through years of information just to uncover the truth.”

SHe raised her glass, “Precisely. Goodness in humanity is all around us, but we tend to overlook the good in favor of the bad.” She placed her hat on the desk and sighed, “It is up to good people to keep their goodness going even when it might seem easier to give into the bad. I I have and will always believe in the fundamental good of humanity. Some may call it naeve, or even stupid. Others have said I have a romanticized view of a species that is fundamentally broken.” She turned her head to look out the window a contemplative expression on her face before turning back to look at Adam.

“You understand me, I think.”

He nodded slowly.

“People need to be believed in. You tell someone for long enough that they are fundamentally bad at their core and they will begin to believe you. For thousands of years pessimists have gotten it into our heads that we are no better than animals, worse even since animals don’t fight in wars. But I believe that is wrong, I have seen people, I have met people, and I have interacted with people who prove to me that humanity cannot just be fundamentally bad or else these people wouldn’t exist.” She tapped her nails against the glass, “I think it is easier to corrupt purity than wash away a stain,”

He listened quietly as she continued.

“Humans are born good, Adam, and life stains us. We aren’t born stained while some of us are wiped clean. “ She shook her head, “Doesn't make sense to me.” She caught him with a look pinning him to the spot with her intense stare, “People like you convince me of this every day.”

“Me….”

She held up a hand. “Adam Vir, I am convinced that the best outcome this universe ever had, was when a happy go lucky science fiction freak was lucky enough to be the first man to meet aliens. Any other way things would have gone horribly wrong.” She leaned across her desk, “The universe needs men and women like you, and not only that but the universe needs people who are going to support men and women like you.” She sat back, “Which is why I have made a decision.”

He raised an eyebrow in curiosity not entirely sure where this could be going.

She smiled, “I have decided to run for President.”

He nearly spit his mouthful of expensive scotch onto the table but managed to choke it mostly down.

Eyes wide he set his glass down, “Are you serious.”

She smiled, “Seriously serious.”

“Well shit, you have my vote for sure.” He raised his glass to her, “I couldn’t think of a better outcome.”

[iconfusionwastaken]

The Raining Flashback Scene & The General

Just finished watching a let's play again & read the TvTropes page for this game, & oh boy am I gonna talk about this game.

I wanted to talk about this 1 scene in Dust: An Elysian Tail & some of my own headcanons.

Note that this post contains late game spoilers, please don't read it if you wanna go in the game as blind as you can.

CWs are under the cut, but you know what to expect if you've played this game.

CWs for: Mentions of child death, murder, genocide, & a pic depicting a child corpse.

These moments will be in bold, let me know if I need to add more CWs or bold anything else.

TL:DR: Jin & Cassius are people 1st & foremost, they aren't innocence & strength incarnate respectively. Jin confronted Cassius because he wanted to avenge his parent w/ what little power he had. Cassius, much more skilled, struck him down, but didn't instantly kill him. What if Cassius in a moment of kindness held & comforted the boy as he died, but he put his guard down & Jin used that to land a killing blow? That explains how

What's interesting is that Jin is said to be an innocent soul but he died killing somebody. Cassius is said to be powerful & heartless, but he died comforting someone he was bringing to death.

Gaius--under the belief Dust was his friend Cassius--kindly gave Dust space & left him to his own devices until the very end. A rare act of kindness for the man who helped carry out a genocide.

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

We've all seen the flashback of right before Jin & Cassius's final moments, we see them both jump at eachother, but never the aftermath, we just know they both died. There's speculation on what this aftermath is, & what people on TvTropes had to say got me thinking.

There's the reason both Jin & Cassius's souls were used to form Dust, not only did they both die at the same time, but they would always be in conflict w/ eachother because of the differences in their ideals, preventing Dust from ever leaning to far into 1 side.

Jin's soul is said to be 1 of innocence, while Cassius's soul is said to be 1 of power. Of course, they're both people at the end of the day, they're not incarnations of these traits, nor will they do everything they do be in the name of innocence or power.

When Cassius killed Jin & Ginger's parents, Jin decided to avenge his parents in a violent manner, even if he didn't have the strength to overpower Cassius.

Cassius of course won, he's 1 of Falana's most skilled warriors, what could a kid do against him? Cassius did say he didn't like killing kids, but he made the concious choice to do it anyways.

This fight was against Jin from the very start, so how could the kid kill the assassin?

Enter the game's cover artwork

I want to specifically focus on how the man that looks like Dust is holding a limp body that's likely dead. This never happens in the game, but you know who looks like Dust & wears an outfit like that? Cassius, & others before me suggested that it's him holding Jin's dying body in the cover.

I wanna bring this to your attention again:

Cassius claimed to dislike the idea of killing young people, especially children

Cassius couldn't have just lost to a teenager who wasn't as skilled as him in fight

The cover art implying Cassius held Jin's body as he died

Elder Gray Eyes said Cassius's pride & arrogance got him killed, but maybe it's more than that

Cassius is still a person, & people can feel a range of emotions, even guilt, or sympathy

What if Cassius comforted a dying Jin as the boy passed, didn't guard himself or worry about Jin trying to do anything anymore, & just focussing on being kind to the boy he attacked moments before.

Jin, however still had strength, & Cassius had his guard down, the assasin wasn't focussing on using his strength to keep himself safe. Jin could finally overpower him.

Jin could fatally strike Cassius & so now they would both die, but Jin could finally get the vengence he seeked.

You know what makes this interesting? Jin who's meant to serve as the caring side of Dust chose to get a blade, chose to confront Cassius & try to defeat him, only to be struck down, but once he got an opening, he killed Cassius.

Cassius meanwhile, meant to be the powerful side of Dust, decided to be kind for once, let his guard down, & comfort Jin as he died, only for it to end w/ his death.

Jin died after making a choice of power, Cassius died after making a choice of kindness. One might expect it to be the other way around, but it isn't.

If you pay attention though, Jin made 2 decisions, Cassius made 1.

Jin's 1st decision of power was confronting Cassius & his 2nd choice was killing the assassin while his guard was done. IDK what to make of this though.

You're all probably wondering why I mentioned General Gaius in the title & where he comes into this.

Well, Gaius's demise is arguably the result of his own kindness to Dust, like how Cassius fell thanks to being kind to Jin. Yes, Gaius was under the belief Dust was Cassius, even when Dust did things Cassius would never do, but I think my point still stands.

Gaius could've ordered that Dust immedietly be brought to him, that his soldiers confront him, but he nor his army never intervened w/ Dust's journey until Zeplich village & the final battle.

Gaius gave Dust personal space like a good friend. Gaius is undeniably a bad person, but for someone he cared for, he showed mercy & he paid the price.

Gaius & Cassius--who canonically worked towards a complete genocide--both died because some of their last actions were acts of kindness.

They let their guard down & thus paid the price for all their sins.

[croc-odette]

i love ds9 and here are some episode premises that i wish had happened

DND EPISODE: already talked about this but a dungeons and dragons holosuite episode. jake is the overly prepared DM obviously, nog, ziyal, and alexander are players. nog’s player is clearly his idea of sisko, a lawful good paladin; ziyal plays as a cardassian rogue (played by dukat, but clearly based in personality on kira); alexander plays a mage who is kind-of worf kind-of jadzia and keeps switching between them through the game). there’s an NPC version that’s clearly also based on sisko at one point, but from jake’s point of view knowing him as his dad to compare how differently jake and nog, a cadet, see him.

as the game progresses, it becomes clear that the Big Bad is based on a combo of dukat/winn (corrupt government/religious figure). ziyal struggles with the classic DND question of ‘just because i would do this, does that mean my character would?’ except she’s realizing that her dad wouldn’t do any of the selfless things she wants her character to do. alexander keeps trying to solve shit through weird cantrips or puzzle solving instead of fighting and jake is like ‘it’s not deep it’s just a cave bat please roll initiative’. bashir and garak show up as like, the old couple from the princess bride and everyone has to be like ‘jake they’re not dating in real life this rpf shit is kind of inappropriate’ and he’s like ‘wait what? i thought they were dating’. miles is an NPC and dies. nog thinks jake’s-sisko-npc is too silly and disrespectful and jake is like ‘he’s MY dad’ and they have to take a break to argue about it and jake is like ‘your dad is cool too’. nog’s character changes to lawful good paladin rom. actually this whole game is ‘arguing about dads’ time now that i think about it, which jake is not really equipped to jump in on since he has a normal cool dad who he basically just thinks is embarrassing because he’s the ~messiah~ or some goofy bullshit. ends with them calling it a day after the final boss battle and then jake and nog privately talking about whether or not they can trust ziyal if she has to choose between ds9 and dukat, which was an ulterior motive of the game. ziyal is clearly clearly rattled by what the game made her realize and goes to see kira, who she doesn’t tell about the game but who still gives her a hug, and ziyal realizes that kira’s her hero (and like, her mom). alexander tells worf and dax about the game and dax thinks it sounds fun as hell and asks alexander if they can come next time, and worf is like ‘....... only if i can be a blood mage’. nog and jake go home and tell their dads they love them. 

shit i blacked out

PRANK WAR EPISODE: escalating series of pranks starting with jadzia putting hair dye in bashir’s shampoo and ending with the space station accidentally going into a meltdown self destruct scenario. garak is torn between helping jadzia and quark, who are clearly the better pranksters, or helping julian and odo, who suck at pranks but are his lunch friends. everyone has to tell garak that he’s way too intense about ‘pranks’ which are actually just really dangerous booby traps he puts in people’s quarters. sisko ends the episode by grounding everyone; no holosuites for a month!! yes even dax

GREAT RACE EPISODE: there’s some kind of macguffin resource on a planet (a klingon escape pod with a survivor with crucial intelligence information?), but they can’t teleport directly to it. a vorta and jem h’dar team and a ds9 team beam down on opposite sides of its location and are both racing to get there first, having to macgyver together vehicles and tools on the way. lots of excellent outdoor on-location settings and comparison of the jem h’dar/vorta dynamic and the ds9 federation dynamic. ends with the jem h’dar almost winning but turning on the vorta at the last few yards, and sisko’s team beams out as the jem h’dar chant victory. no i refuse to think this is same plot as ‘the ship’ or whatever

KASIDY EPISODE: set earlier in kasidy/sisko’s relationship, kasidy agrees to go with jadzia as a third-party observer to negotiations with a nearby bajoran colony over a trade agreement with the federation. jadzia and kasidy bond over gossiping about sisko on the way, but once they get there kasidy disagrees with the starfleet’s contract during negotiations which causes tensions, and recommends that the bajorans reject it. she and jadzia get into an argument about starfleet and its ideals, and why kasidy chose to be an independent captain rather than a starfleet captain, and how that doesn’t make her lesser than starfleet captains. jadzia realizes that kasidy is right and petitions superiors for a new contract, which kasidy approves of. they go home tenser then when they left, but when sisko asks jadzia what she thinks of kasidy, she very seriously says that she has incredible compassion, intelligence, and integrity, and that she doesn’t need or want jadzia’s approval. but has it anyway

MUSICAL EPISODE: someone already outlined a great musical ep where lwaxana comes in with a betazoid cold and it makes everyone burst into song in another text post and like 100% cosigned

SHAKESPEARE EP: holosuite shenanigans; every character is suddenly stuck as someone from a different shakespeare play. garak is an enthusiastically combative beatrice, kira is cordelia, worf is hamlet, jadzia is a very amused katerina, julian is puck, miles is duncan (”i get MURDERED?”), odo is benvolio and kind of bummed he’s not romeo, etc. i actually don’t know any shakespeare play that well but i think it could be neat. julian is the only fucking person on ds9 who actually knows any of it well enough to figure out what’s going on, except for sisko who doesn’t really care for shakespeare but generally knows about the plays (maybe a good opportunity to talk about the racism in most ‘classic Earth’ pop culture that star trek tends to uphold without criticism). i don’t know shit about the 40 plays that shakespeare wrote about british kings but i could see sisko ending up in that kind of intense role and refusing to play into it, as do the rest of the characters who refuse to fulfill their respective roles and instead find another way to end the program.

KLINGON OPERA EPISODE: goodddddddd can we see some klingon opera, mac. i’ve been dying to see some klingon opera. premise is they believe that someone is assassinating ambassadors and so they tag along with a andorian ambassador who loves opera to see if they can figure out who the assassin is, however the andorian plays it down as over-worrying and that they should use it as an excuse to enjoy themselves. worf and jadzia go and have a lovey dovey time, sisko and kasidy go and have a lovey dovey time watching worf and jadzia get super into the opera together. julian is asked to go in case there’s poison used or first aid needed, and miles is like ‘the last time i went undercover i came home with trauma and someone’s cat so no thanks i hate klingon opera’ and after some increasingly overt passive aggressive implications that julian should take HIM, julian asks garak to go with him. bonus points if for some reason they are wearing the stupid tuxedos from doctor bashir i presume. a lot of loud arguing about the opera which almost gets them kicked out. at the end of the first act, one of the actors DOES try to kill the andorian but jadzia jumps in front of the phaser beam (cue worf being very concerned and annoyed that she could have gotten killed, jadzia being very smug and pleased with herself, her head in his lap, in a pose mirroring an earlier couple in the opera). julian feels like he would have noticed if he hadn’t been distracted by garak, and when it turns out the andorian ambassador has sensitive info about cardassia’s civilian government, julian accuses garak of intentionally trying to distract him to make sure the andorian actually died, which turns into a huge argument (ideally in a very opulent klingon opera house bathroom). during the argument, julian realizes that garak was trying to hint to him that something about the assassination attempt was off; he pieces together aloud that the andorian and the actor must have been in league together, to fake the andorian’s assassination so they could not be tried for profiteering by illegally selling weapons to the cardassian central control during bajoran occupation, which they are currently under investigation for. the other ambassador assasinations were planned by the andorian to cover their tracks. the andorian is arrested, as is the actor. at the ballroom afterparty, sisko and kasidy, in a good mood that everything worked out, agree to join in on traditional klingon dancing. worf and jadzia take a peaceful walk through the gardens and worf recites some really lovely klingon poetry about how sometimes it’s NOT a good day to die if someone loves you, that none of us fucking understand without looking it up. julian and garak talk on the balcony, and julian posits that garak is loyal to cardassia, but which part of it? garak answers, very close and meaningfully looking at julian, ‘like most things... it’s complicated.’

i was about to say ‘fake wedding episode’ but literally LITERALLY that was the shotgun wedding lwaxana/odo ep. i love star trek

KEIKO BOTANIST EPISODE: kira accompanies keiko to bajor to help find a medicinal plant that was thought to be wiped out during the occupation but might still exist in a remote mountain region based on local reports. a nice episode where we learn more about bajor and see how bajorans are coping and healing. over a campfire, kira thanks keiko for accepting her into their family. keiko tells kira that she was really intimidated by her when they first met, and then realized she’s one of the most loving people she knows. just a nice episode, maybe some mild nature survival conflict, but ends on a hopeful note of them finding the plant. miles beams down with the kids to have a picnic with keiko and kira, and kira’s happy to see children playing carelessly on bajor again.

JAKE AND ZIYAL EPISODE: everyone thinks jake and ziyal are dating because they’ve been hanging out. julian’s an idiot and mentions to sisko ‘must be hard, huh’ and sisko’s like ‘WHAT must be hard’ and julian’s like oh my god were we not supposed to talk to him about this. jake and ziyal aren’t dating but as soon as sisko tries to talk to jake about it jake is like ‘i’m not but actually maybe i SHOULD ask her out’ and sisko is like fuck. okay no that’s fine. this is more of a B-plot but basically give jake and ziyal age-appropriate love interests they’re both RIGHT there

[kendrixtermina]

Cindered shadows Reaction

tl;dr - Fodlan is a crapsack world and I want to strangle Rhea (or break Amyr on her again). Yuri is a very good contrast to the others and a cool addition to the ‘verse  for all that he is basically Joker XD

I took live notes while playing

One thing to take note of here is the house leader’s “canonical” classes (Fortress Knight/Warrior, Hero/Paladin, Assasin/Wyvern ride, though some of those assume the budding talents to be unlocked already) as well as just more of a look into what their dynamic is when they’re together - as such well-contrasting characters I always thought it was a shame that they didn’t interact more so I’m glad for this

 Edelgard is always somewhat standoffish/ closed off and generally the ‘logical’, least personable one, Claude is surface-level friends with both. Dimitri would like to think they are full-on BFF, calls Claude “my friend”, defends him etc. Claude’s friendship with Edelgard is very banter-driven, but there (the bit where she says “wow this trap could have been your idea” and hes flattered). Of course both of these carry over into their post-timeskip interactions especially when they part on good terms (Dimitri always does, and Edelgard easily can part with him on good terms, but Claude, though he doesn’t like the thought of them dying,  wouldn’t take risks on either them) - and of course it’s Claude who proposes the feast after the mock battle where they all eat together. Edelgard and Dimitri were never friendly (at least not during the academy), but at this point they’re civil. 

Claudes Dialogues are BRILLIANT like he really shines in this one (Edelgard probably gets the least exposure but all of this is set before the reveal, so she has to keep her cards close to her chest - Or maybe there just cant ever be enough Edelgard for me lets be honest)

First impression of the Ashen Wolves is that they’re all very dramatic with a lot of bluster (Hapi being the contrasting exception but over-the-top in concept) - they have really been the Kings of their own little world, having a lot of free reign underground, accountable to few and throwing down for the heck of it

So it’s Yuri Leclerc and he was adopted by a Kingdom noble, the same Gwendal and Lonato served  and who dies if Arianrhod is blasted, but it seems like unlike wish Ashe who was taken into the family this was just a temporary gig for him

That makes him a commoner, which by itself is a big difference from the other three. Dimitri is and always was the crown prince whereas Edelgard suddenly ascended the sucession list due to tragedy and Claude has a much doubted claim on both sides of the border

I suspected he was going to be from the kingdom as we already had the Alliance, the Empire and the token Foreigner accounted for - also ‘Yuri’ is a slavic name like ‘Dimitri’ - though being adopted he isn’t necessarily from there

(Later we learn that he was in fact born in a village in the Kingdom)

Also liked the callback to count Gloucester’s sheming and how he had Balthus spy on Claude

They do go through some work to flesh out Abyss and make it feel lived in as a sort of society. 

Just look at that very very makeshift classroom. Few down there were getting any sort of education before Aelfric set this up

They do something clever here where Balthus tells you part of why he’s wanted, prompting the question of everyone else’s stories

This idea of a wretched hive beneath the Church reminds me of Amsterdam where the big church was in the prostitutes’ quarter and they actually had flourishing trade agreements going on

But as a hiding place for outcasts it shows us all the uglyness about fodlan and how much persecution/ need for change there really is (Really wants me to play Crimson Flower again. Or Verdant Wind.)

There’s people “chewed up by the Nobility”

Duscurians and Almyrans

Many in the church want the place “purged”, Rhea wouldnt go so far but is at the very least unsympathetic

Tons of Banned Books (is this where Seteth puuts them?) Claude and Linhardt have a field day over it

That poor woman (probably Dagdan since she talks of a war) who was persecuted for believing in other religions (which was a thing under Rhea - I’ve been saying it, Shamir and Cyril are “allowed” because they work for Rhea which to her is the same as believing, both are “working for her family/ for us instead of against us” because Sothis is not just her god but someone she knows personally)

Yuri and his trouble are a sort of quasi-police or keeping order, reporting to Aelfric. As his second in command Yuri is a sort of “prince” and already lead his own bandit troupe, or perhaps more a chieftain than a prince, he’s a leader, an authority but not an inherited one but 100% selfmade, he comes from nothing - People call him “boss”,

One wonders if he already dressed in this noncomforming manner before comming to the abyss

He is very very self-reliant, decides and opines for himself, gives Byleth backtalk, very much a natural leader who owns his influence entirely to that natural-leader ness 

Byleth asks very good, very direct questions 

Hilda, Linny and Ashe are here because of their connection to the Abyss characters and the information they can provide - Ashe knows Yuri, Linny knows his book lore, Hilda heard rumors from Holst...

Here we get to appreciate why Claude keeps Hilda around she knows all the gossip, all the ‘local’ information that Claude doesn’t have, she’s an excellent info source

Lets appreciate that it was those three specifically because they were slacking off

Ppl say there the church scorns them pretty much I like how they’re no longer even pretending that the church is nice

The four MCs, meanwhile, might all have ended up here in a different life; If El had escaped the experiments she could’ve been like Hapi, Claude was already an outcast, Jeralt fled with Byleth as a refuge(or could have been sent there as a mercenary to torment the locals and then decided to stay there instead), maybe not young!Dimitri, but timesskip Dimitri was outright a vagabond and says in his lecture questions that he travelled many places and temporarily lived in slums he didn’t go full murdery until a few years in, as Gilbert recounts

AU where they all grew up  or met in the Abyss is what im saying, and the four MCs and Yuri team up. The slitherers still stir up war, perhaps Duke Aegir or Arundel made themselves Emperor etc. 

Characteristically, Dimitri really likes the idea of a secret haven for the outcasts (see all his dialogues about “acceptance” and general ‘help-the-orphans’ thing) - but also characteristically he’s a bit of a tool for the status quo- “Claude don’t be rude this guy is giving out charity~” but the issues Dimtri the issues they shouldn’t need to hide anyways and this is why I prefer the ‘revolutionary’ routes (CF and VW) - though to his credit Dimitri does do charity and stop ppl being poor when he’s king. 

Claude is absolutely having a field day, this is right in the way of his “Political program” - “What you’re helping the poor and downtrodden by barely tolerating them in a sunless hole where they have to hope the church doesn’t decide to purge them” They basically live in ever present danger

Bit sad that they had Edelgard “tied up” catching up with Constanze rather than stating a reaction to the abyss as a whole though it’s probably very deliberate that she keeps her cards close to her chest - As constance asks “What is the princess doing here?” - investigating that’s what. She mostly asks questions or voices conclusions - shes certainly also investigating for her own purposes

But of course Dimitri and Ashe, pure as always, immediately want to help the locals

Edelgard meanwhile is thinking strategy, talking of capturing and interrogating the enemy

Of Yuri ppl tell you both that he’s a real scoundrel/ “our scoundrel” - he loooks out for them so they obey him, “when I say jump they jump” - a Mafia leader of sorts. He’s like Claude in the ‘motivating ppl through taking care of their interest’ parts but claude’s alliances are looser and no one does “jump” like Yuri projects authority, its not quite the honor loyalty Dimitri inspired because he “pays”, Edelgard projects authority but it’s loyalty to the cause more than personal loyalty, and she’s an ideologue and inspires the same in her followers theres no “pay” from Edelgard. She warns you that you might die and that’s it. She is the same herself. 

I think Yuri would die for another the way that Claude and Edelgard would not, like when Aelfric got his mom putting her in danger was never an option. I don’t think you could pressure Edelgard with a hostage, she’d just be like “Hostage-kun, I won’t let your death be in vain” and then tell their captors to screw themselves. 

He has things in common with all the others - he has a certain honor and a people-driven leadership style like Dimitri (rather than ideals-driven like Edelgard, Claude and Seteth) - though unlike Dimitri his honor is only for the “in” group, he cares about protecting his turf, his people... and nothing else. Thus he doesn’t fit into the revolutionary (Edelgard, Claude) vs restorer (Dimitri, Seteth) dichotomy because he’s not concerned with the system as a whole - he doesn’t like it or have faith in it, but he will absolutely work with it when it suits his aims (such as when he makes his own alliance with the church behind Aelfric’s back, or just working with Aelfric in the first place)

This alliance is probably also supposed to give a reason why the Wolves would sttick with the church later (though Hapi’s non CF supports talk alot about reforming the crap institution that it is) even though they mostly have reason to dislike them

Like Edelgard he is calculating and ruthless more than Dimitri or Claude. (He laughts at peeps who fell in his trap) But you couldn’t see Yuri sacrificing an ally like Edelgard does (like with Dimitri the people come before the plan) and Yuri often markedly does NOT tell allies what they’re getting into while El makes a big point of telling everyone the risks and allowing them the chance to step out

In a way he’s Claude with a edge but without the big vision. Yuri is the most small-picture, Claude the most big-picture of the lords

They also have a different relationship with trust - some describe Yuri as “devoted to his own but too trusting” , he says it’s a choice... but he is never really fooled, just pretending to be, he solves a great part of his plot on his own. 

Like Claude and Seteth he prefers to play it safe/ know he can win (though Claude and Yuri arent against calculated risks) whereas Edelgard and Dimitri will do what they think is right with no guarantee of victory and don’t care much if it kills them or their followers

Otherwise tho they have a lot in common and are fast friends XD Yuri makes some great observations “Wow look at you three trying to suss out each other’s motivations must be exhausted”

“Doesnt take a title to have an agenda“ - Yuri and Claude are really... a “takes one to know one” situation

Claude tells us they generally get along tho (”Any misunderstanding might spark a war... ”... yeah)

Likewise, Yuri immediately gets that Claude’s friendliness is esentially “maintaining neutrality” more than actual allegiance

Yuri also seems relatively forward in romantic matters which is unlike the others lol

Remember how I was frantic for Claude/Linhardt or Claude/Hubert friendship content? Here’s another great team that ought to have interacted more, I could even see them working romantically assuming that Claude would be so inclined. 

Hapi/Sylvain, too! Because they’re both cynics

But despite her cynism Hapi is also characterized as considerate

Yuri likes board games! hes in the board game squad with Hubert, Claude, Sylvain and Edelgard. The Board Game squad is incidentally the Best Characters club

 He’s not big picture and only develops something like that toward the end of his support chain (to fight poverty)

So in a sense his style and the hole in it is more like Byleth’s own - he learnt practical leadership in the field and applies it for those he likes. He’s more self-directed

aaand more undercover fun

It seems that both the slitherers and Alferic were after the Chalice at the same time - the Death Knight’s presence hints at it, Metodey’s confirms it. So far I’d assumed he was one of Edelgard’s loyalists like Ladislava but it seems he works directly for Arundel, Edelgard is not too friendly with him and accuses him of “Disrespecting her house” 

Since Aegir was in power during the Bridgid and Dagda war, the slitherers could definitely have had something to do with how Constance’s family was treated, if they were onto her secret - I don’t see how Aelfric could have done it

Bold of El to order Jeritza away in broad daylight. At this point she’s probably come to accept that no orders are gonna keep him from Fiting PPl where he can, especially her she is a very tough opponent

I trusted Aelfric until he spoke. The voice is... its not a good guy voice. Same with how the eyes are drawn

then he called people “his flock”

“They are charitable only when it suits them”

“they have eyes and ears everywhere”

Yeah. I’ve always said that Rhea is like one of those millionaires who give their pocket change to charity but then support policies that keep people poor. Hopefully no one will keep arguing that she cares about the poor or the disenfranchised. 

“Her grace thinks its a nuisance”- This tells us alot. Alfric had to convince Rhea to give half a rats ass about the poor but still speaks of her with honorifics. That’s the crack in his soul right there

I also love how Yuri protests whenever anyone - the church etc make plans for him, hes very self-governed

Hapi, Lysithea, El and Byleth should have a “victims of human experimentation” support group

Alternatively, Cursed People support group with Hapi, Marianne, Bernadetta and Dimitri

I like the C supports with Byleth and Balthus as well as Hapi because they tell us not just about them but about Byleth - Both adress Byleth’s go-with-the-flow tendencies and lack of own direction, though Byleth makes clear that by this point they actually like the professor gig

“I could see this person just about anywhere”...in a bad way. Oh but Hapi you too can be recruited to all routes XD No she’s right. By-By is being used and she should tell them. 

MORE PARENTS LORE I rejoiced so much and this was such a cool thing to adress here

At first it seems that Rhea was also after the chalice but turns out she had written it off and the one pursuing it within the church was Aelfric

But you all do catch the implication that she did this all before and “great tragedy” resulted? Right? You get what that means?

For once she actually noticed a mole though Aelfric likely wasn’t subtle

It results in a zombie dragon because she meant to revive a dragon not a human

By now people should really be used to Rhea handing out legendary treasure to byleth

there are friendly reminders of the western church purge still going on

I like how constance smells a spy right away

Also the contrast between Hapi’s jaded “Lets just give them the thing so they leave us in peace” (Yes, Lapis Lazuli) and Constance’s “We can’t let them have the artifact! theyre bad” - Constance might be shrill but she’s a person of action

The sunlight thing is a tad over the top/unrealistic but it’s not per se the cliched split personality thing, more like going outside brings out the bad memories after hiding away underground for so long (she tells mercedes as much) while she otherwise covers it with bluster. Her parents and older brother were killed and her hometown destroyed, after all. She is still basically talking the same overdramatic/ formal way

Perhaps two sides of nobility like the pride but also the demure good breeding n shit, there is some forced quality to the bluster even indoors

But ultimately she’s pretty hard working and determined underneath

At one point Hilda says something like, “You sure that we should interfere? I don’t want to make anything worse it might be better to stay out” - This right here is why you can’t get CF Hilda

Further Hilda facts: She had countless suitors and knows her way around “magical doo daads” and fortune telling

Having her mildly superstitious is of course a fun contrast to claude

“Compared to you even Hubert looks like a spring chicken” lol

I was going “Linny I love you” the whole time

Speaking of love... The moment I decided I loved Yuri is when I learned why he was expulsed - because the church sent him to kill someone he knew and rather than be upset, or thing how he might change society to prevent it or draw other conclusions from it... He refused on the spot and fough church ppl. That’s when I saw how he fits with the other characters. What the contrast was.

Yuri is one of those rare types who would never give the full voltage in the milgram experiment

Because see? That ties back so well into the themes

One of the main scenes that contrasts the house leaders is their reaction over having to fight Lonato. They all sympathize to a degree, but none acts against it. Claude and Edelgard show their dislike of the church and want to stop crap like this, but right there right then, they play along for the sake of their plans. (Claude’s plan at this point still involves stealing relics)

Dimitri is the closest to Yuri in that he immediately regrets it massively and says they should have found another way (in part because he is against the notion of “sacrifices for the plan”) but this realization comes to him only after all is done because ultimately he follows authority/ sees some good in it and the status quo

Yuri,  meanwhile, flat out refused. Yeah he also killed whoever the knight escord was but he refused

Also let this sink in: Yuri was slated for execution because he refused to kill someone he knew. This is what might have happened to Ashe, Sylvain etc. if they had refused to fight Lonato or Miklan. 

Aelfric arranged for him to fight someone he knew but that’s all he did, the rest is the result of normal church policy and then begged for pardon (meaning the normal policy would be to kill him) The mission might have gone to a different house, but the church constantly makes ppl fight ppl they know. You realize just how easily all our beloved characters could have ended up just like Yuri?!

I loved how, when offered info about their parents, Byleth immediately seeks it out with no delay

“Never discard a wild hunch lol��� Claude I love you Linhard I love you

Generally we see Dimitri being the local people person and catching onto details about people’s emotions and dispositions , while Edelgard is like, “Investigate this, investigate that” (i love that about her), and Claude is the oddball/curveball and follows his intuition. Yuri goes on instinct, Seteth, if I had to say, on experience perhaps, certainly caution. 

So she doesn’t even recognize Dimitri. She did say that “she can’t say the name” so she probably never learned that her little friend was the prince. Can ppl stop acting like she snubbed Dimitri or like she has any reason to treat him like a brother?

I don’t think he pieced it together until the ball, and she only realized either during the parlay (AM) or some time before their final confrontation (She distinctly knows by the time she killed him)

Another poignant moment is when she basically didn’t trst Aelfric and only started considering that he might be good by the time Team Slither showed up. Yeah she’s not trusting and would have zero base assumptions that any church ppl are good

By the time she learns about the Nuvelle crest she’s so done like, “Are there any MORE conspiracies I should be aware of?” And indeed there are

Aelfric is sort of a consequence of Rhea’s coverup certainly not an 1D villain. He started doubting her after the coverup began semi thinking for himself and at first this led him to try and make the abyss less chaotic and speak in their favor before Rhea, but then when Sitri’s body fell into his hands he was just too tempted

And UGH remember when I said that for all that im not a Rhea fan, i don’t thnk the human experimentation was so bad because she didn’t harm anyone and it seems like the homunculi lived out normal lives? yeah i take that back

Even if Sitri wasn’t healthy enough to travel she didn’t need to be completely isolated exept for trusted church peeps

This would have happened to Byleth. You see how this would have happened to Byleth? Completely isolated and controlled?

Oh Jeralt jeralt baby you were so right to flee with Byleth so right

Worse because Rhea was a parental figure

Also she kept creating more homunculi though they turn out frail and basically live miserable lives

and the first attempt with the chalice probably did kill ppl

sitting with the corpse all the time is creepy too

doest that mean Byleth won’t rot either?

So she was a book worm - Jeralt did say she was brainy

It did start as a mentor crush, much like Byleth’s own relationship might

I love how Edelgard is all subtly concerned after Yuris fake attack

I wonder how that apology line was phrased in Japanese, “useless” seems a bit harsh given that Edelgard generally seems to love her father, but there is no denying that he lost control of his empire and that as a result villains wrecked havock all over it so there’s nothing better she can say there excuses wont help constances situation

Like this must be very hard for her

Constance’s support definitely confirms that it was the Seven Families/ ie the PM and Arundel who did this to her (also lol at the concept that she basically wants to make Byleth her very own Hubert or Gilbert)

Edelgard is saddled with all this stuff from the previous administration - I mean so is Dimitri with the instability, the recent anexation of Duscur and part of Sreng... but she gets confronted with it more, iDK if it’s common knowledge who’s really in charge

Because Yuri is concerned with his turf, not the world, it makes sense that “his” route would be the sidestory. I kind of wanted a part 2 in the sense that I like this cast and want more of him as a main character but I also get why there isn’t one... because he wins no matter what. Lucky seven! He’s the one who can’t lose (except if you dont do the sidestory I guess) ”He works with whoever’s in power to maintain his own, just like when he made the deal with Rhea. He gets all three house leaders and Byleth to promise that they will look out for the Abyss so his bases are covered no matter who wins.

- even so he basically solved his own problem and Byleth’s presence just kinda gave him the opportunity . Well, one defining factor is that they trust Byleth exactly because they don’t “seem like a typical church funky

Still since Rhea tells us the backstory here what use is the silver snow ending? I suppose she doesn’t mention the homunculus/ “I created you” bit but the lack of decay and the transplanting heart bits do sort of hint at it

Certainly a contrast tho, like in SS you learn the magicky parts us in CS you get way more about who mommy actually was as a person

Poor, Poor Byleth. This must be such a mindfrick for them. Like I had so many feels for By-By

It’s so weird to go back and have the Yuri & so present throughout the monastery,but  not know us yet

[nicnacsnonsense]

Okay first of all, how the hell did y’all not know that the Fire Nation knew about your invasion plans for the solar eclipse? You knew Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee had been waltzing around the Earth King’s palace disgused as Kyoshi Warriors, Katara saw them. How would you not assume they had probably heard about the invasion plans? And yes the plans changed somewhat after that, what with the conquering of Ba Sing Se, but you really don’t think they would be prepared for some sort of attack just in case?

And even if our good guys had no way of knowing the Fire Nation knew about their intentions, the more I think about it, the more the whole invasion plan strikes me as a dumb idea. First of all, let’s not overstate the advantage you have. The firebenders are going to lose their bending for eight minutes. That’s it. And yeah, sure that major in terms of helping Aang win a one-on-one with Ozai, but in terms of a battle that’s not much. Being without bending doesn’t suddenly render the entire army defenseless. They still have all their training in non-bending fighting, including soliders who were never benders in the first place and are used to fighting other people, including benders, without any firebending. Not to mention all the military tech the Fire Nation has.

Plus you have no control over that eight minute window; it’s going to happen when it happens, regardless of whether or not y’all are in position when it does. It’s not even that long a window in the first place. It might give an edge if you could time it to happen exactly when you want or if you were starting the attack simultaneously, but in this situation there’s no way to be sure how long it’s going to take you to fight to whatever place you want to be in to take full advantage of the eclipse.

And secondly, what are y’all even trying to achieve here? What, are you going to take the Fire Nation capital with your ragtag bunch of fighters? Even if you manage to pull that off, I promise you you aren’t going to be able to hold it for long. Not smack dab in the middle of the Fire Nation when you’ve taken none of the surrounding countryside, have no familiarity with the local geography or populace, and as stated don’t even have that many fighters.

But oh, we don’t have to hold it for long, just long enough to force a surrender. Okay, yeah sure, you force them to surrender, and they’ll sign your treaty and place nice, for about five minutes until the army comes swarming in to retake the palace. At which point they’ll tear up the treaty because they don’t have to keep agreements made at knifepoint, especially when you don’t have a knife anymore.

There’s a lot of talk about Aang needing to defeat the Fire Lord like that’s going to solve everything, which is dubious. Ozai is not a load-bearing boss; killing him doesn’t automatically win the war nor will it make everyone in the Fire Nation suddenly respect the Avatar’s authority of arbiter of justice again when he’s currently public enemy number one. Ozai’s got two heir who both want to see the war continue (well, Zuko doesn’t by this point, but the Gaang doesn’t know that), and there’s a whole government in place who can find someone to replace the Fire Lord should Azula and Zuko also be killed. Yeah, Aang does need to stop the Fire Lord, but that by itself isn’t going to achieve anything, and sending a bunch of soliders in to attack the Fire Nation capital is neither necessary nor helpful.

For my money, here’s what you do: all your soliders stay in the Earth Kingdom. You send them out to any and all major cities currently being held by the Fire Nation ASAP, Omashu and Ba Sing Se being the two obvious ones. The soliders should then work covertly with the local civilians, letting them know about the upcoming eclipse. You need to be super careful here to make sure the Fire Nation find out; ideally at least one solider sent to each city should be familiar with the area and reliably able to pick out trustworthy people to talk to. They should get as many volunteers as possible willing to fight during the eclipse, but more importantly is before the solar eclipse we need to do some serious sabotage. Like oh my goodness, I’m so sorry my roosterdog keeps howling all night long disturbing your sleep Mr. Fire Nation solider; I don’t know what’s gotten into him. And oh no, mildew got into the grain stores and I didn’t even realize and gave you all that bad bread that’s made you sick. And somehow the night before the eclipse a full third of the soliders in town got overserved and have all got terrible hangovers. Between all that and the advantage of the eclipse, hopefully the good guy soliders should be in a position to retake most of the major cities. That’s going to be very important in a minute.

Meanwhile the Gaang and a few spies or other covert operatives fly on Appa to the capital as quickly as they can while maintaining secrecy. The Gaang will then hang out and train and prepare at a discreet distance since they’re too recognizable for covert work. The spies will infiltrate the Fire Nation palace, getting the lay of the land and figuring out the plans for during the solar eclipse. When the eclipse hits, the spies will be responsible for capturing Azula and Zuko (assuming the two aren’t with Ozai at the time), freeing Iroh from prison, and escorting all three to wherever Ozai is. The Gaang will use the start of the eclipse to do a storming of the palace similar to what they did to talk to the Earth King in Ba Sing Se. once they reach Ozai, Aang will capture him and wait for the other three members of the royal family to appear. Once they’re all there Aang makes a speech about the war being bad, the importance of balance, etc., and then declare Iroh to be the new Fire Lord. He would then defer to Iroh as to the sentencing of the remaining three prisoners. Finally he would “introduce” Iroh to Sokka and Katara, son and daughter of the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe, Toph, daughter of the prominent Bei Fong family of the Earth Kingdom, and himself, the last remaining Air Nomad, here to discuss a treaty with the Fire Lord to end the war.

With this Aang has now replaced the Fire Lord with someone he can be relatively confident in trusting and who arguably has the strongest claim to the title of all four members of the royal family, meaning the citizens and nobility of the Fire Nation are more likely to accept him. Turning the other three over to Iroh for judgement lends legitimacy to Iroh’s position. He’s not a puppet for the Avatar; the Avatar gave him the title, then immediately stepped back and said, “your nation, your rules.” And introducing the four of them as essentially ambassadors for their nations both sets the tone for peace/ending the war and gives them a good reason for sticking around to make sure Iroh doesn’t get immediately assasinated by other government officials and Ozai put right back on the throne. And circling back to all those Earth Kingdom cities the soliders freed during the eclipse, that gives Iroh some additional solid backing for ending the war; it’s gone on too long and cost too much already and they can’t reasonably keep going after losing all that ground.

So this ended up being way longer than I expected, but apparently I have a lot of thoughts on the matter. And to be clear I’m not trying to put Sokka’s plan down, not totally. Given the objective of invading the Fire Nation capital and the assumption that the Fire Nation isn’t anticipating their attack, it’s a very good plan! I just feel that maybe those base premises should have be challenged.

[anastasiajones]

BIO

■ABOUT. ■

name: Anastasia Jones age: twenty-eight occupation: Receptionist at Sugar Rub & Assasin in Training gender: female sexuality: bisexual

■ HISTORY. ■

Anastasia grew up with her elder brother and parents in a small town outside of Washington DC. With two parents constantly drinking and abusing drugs, the upbringing of young Anastasia fell on the shoulders of her older brother. When he was eighteen and legal, he took his sister and moved into the big city, in order to protect her and shield her from the less than ideal home their parents had created. Lennon did not have to fight the court, as his parents hardly noticed their children were missing. That was until they needed money, or we’re in a sentimental drunken state. At first, the siblings moved around a lot in town, as attaining a secure job was not proving to be an easy feat for an eighteen-year-old. Finally, Lennon was hired to work at the police station, and from there he worked his way up to the position of deputy. In truth, he worked very hard to move his sister out of their home, though he would never refresh her memory. Anastasia was molested by her parent’s drug dealer, and this was one of the main reasons her brother found the strength and determination to take his sister and leave their parents and their shared home town behind.  

However, when Anastasia was seventeen, her brother was abruptly hospitalized for severe internal bleedings he got in the field. It seemed that he had torn an old injury while chasing a criminal on the run, and as a result, he died in his hospital bed a day later. Since then Anastasia has been back and forth in the foster system. Despite having family in Washington, these were not considered when the young girl was to be cared for. It seemed Anastasia’s mother had had a falling out with her sister, and so the extended family would not affiliate themselves with the young girl. Through the year’s Ana had once or twice been introduced to her cousin Sebastian, though her brother did his best to keep them separate, on account of their cousin’s own dabbling in drugs.

Before landing a home with a great family, Ana spent about a year in different rough foster homes and she was eager to find a better kind of home. Though whilst placed with these families, Ana learned quickly that those wealthier couples were the ones that paid less attention to her. And so she adjusted her mood, personality, and clothing as best she could to be fostered by one. The Jones had always wanted a second child, another daughter, and so they welcomed her with open arms. Yet after several altercations with students and teachers at her prep school, they decided to send their newest addition to the family to a private boarding school just outside of New York City. Though despite hopes placed on her to do better in a different environment, she did not thrive as she should have. Her brother’s death hung over her like a dark cloud and the young girl started acting out, drinking heavily and falling in with the wrong crowds. There was a hole in her heart that no one could fill, and so she did her best to numb the pain with whatever and whomever she could.

■ WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON? ■

Finally, her school had had enough, and so they kicked her out, notifying her foster parents. And that was the last straw for Ana. She saw no point in vying to be someone that she was not. So she embraced the lifestyle completely. Through friends, she heard of the gangs and their illegal but lucrative activity, and within a year she was selling drugs for them, her lifestyle becoming her profession as she walked the streets of New York at all hours. It was during this time she found her knack for violence, feeding into her temper and the Royals took notice too. Within six months of joining, they were training her to become an assassin. In the beginning, her foster parents did their very best, hoping to bring the young girl back home. But she had heard her cousin was in New York City as well, and so she refused to leave, quite liking her new set up overseas. Ana’s parents were hippies, a bit too loose on the moral fronts and believing that your heart and spirit will tell you what to do. Despite her short six years in their household, this affected her personality and view of authority greatly. She was used to having fairly loose reigns, both before and after moving away, and though she respected her brother more than anyone while he was alive, she has always had an issue with rules and social conventions.

■ KEEP THIS AWAY FROM YOUR ENEMIES ■

Most days you will meet a moody, woman but also an emotional girl who has lost her closest family member and is still grieving. She feels her brothers loss very keenly still, and have yet to fully process her emotions. To dull the pain, she often turns to alcohol and other substance abuse. In turn, she has no shortage of flings, though no boy has yet pierced her walls enough to keep her attention or tempt her to give more than a hollow self. Because of her issues with rules, she will often do what feels natural to her, in spite of the people around her. Emotionally she very much needs friends and support, but you would have to put up with a lot to break through her walls and lies. She’d do anything not to talk about feelings that aren’t current or anything related to her brother. Because of her history of molestation, the year in foster care has only reinforced the memories of her earlier abuse. Several foster dads would force themselves on her or touch her when their wives or partners weren’t paying attention. This has made Ana more cold and harsh in away. While affiliated with the Royals after a while offered a position as a receptionist at Sugar Rub in order to cover up her criminal dealings, and agreed, even if she loathed to do too much honest work. Though she will appear confident and strong, really she is a mess. However, she will deny everyone the right or possibility to in any manner fix her or tell her she has to change.

■ RELATIONSHIPS. ■

■ Talora Borah: Since joining the Royals, Talora has been someone she become quite close with. She’s often someone she relies on when she needs support or a girlfriend to go drinking with.

■ Sarah Krongold: Sarah has taught her a lot since her arrival, though the woman holds herself so high that Ana sometimes feels small. She holds so much respect for the lead assassin, that the last thing she wants to do is disappoint her.

■ Jennifer Krongold: The Krongold daughter is similar to her mother in a few ways. Working close enough with Sarah she was able to see the strong resemblances. At first, she was a little frightened by Jennifer, before getting the chance to know her. Though she’s still very aware not to cross either of them.

■ CONNECTIONS. ■

■  Christopher Krongold > Boss

■  Lena Flores > Boss

■  Zahra Aguilar > Friend

■  Payton Fischer > Common Bartender

[mrslittletall]

For the bingo: may I suggest Simon with "Dragging Themselves Along The Ground"? He had to get to that hut in the Fishing Hamlet somehow lmao

Prompt:Dragging themselves along the ground

Fandom:BloodborneCharacters:Simon the Harrowed, The Good Hunter, Brador the Church AssassinWordCount: 2.022AO3-Link:https://archiveofourown.org/works/18718291/chapters/48553112

Summary:This is pretty much Simon’s questline written out.

(Author’snote: First, I am very sorry that it took me SO long to fulfill thisrequest. I really fell out of doing the bingo prompts and had toomany other stuff instead that I wanted to write. 

This pieceis pretty much Simon’s dialogue with the bits we don’t know filledin. Enjoy.

Warningfor Major Character Death.)

Blood vials have already been filled out, Madman’s Knowledge have already been requested/planned. Feel free to send me a prompt and a character for any unmarked prompt to fill out. I have been in a Healing Church mood though, so characters from there are preferred.Written for @badthingshappenbingo

Simon observed the Hunter who slowly had walked in the room, taking a look around. They didn’t look blood drunk for once. Once they noticed him they came over and stared at him with wide eyes, burning with thousand questions. Simon decided to give them a little explanation of the place they were in:

“You’re a hunter with your sanity, aren’t you? Must’ve taken a wrong turn then, eh? Well, we’re more alike than you think. This is the Hunter’s Nightmare, where hunters end up when drunk with blood.”

The Hunter listened with interest and once he had finished, they stared at him, clearly asking for more. Simon gave them his answer.

“You’ve seen them before. Aimless, wandering hunters, slavering like beasts.”

The Hunter nodded at this words, a sudden understanding in their eyes. Simon continued his explanation after they gestured for him to go on:

“This is what the poor fools have to look forward to. So, don’t be brash, turn back before it’s too late. Unless, you’ve something of an interest in nightmares?”

Now it was their turn. Simon waited with growing anticipation. After a good minute of waiting, the Hunter gave him their reply.

Nightmares are fascinating.

Looked like they hadn’t been fallen on their mouth like he first had thought. This had been the first words they spoke and it felt for him that it had been the last for now. But this…

Simon couldn’t help but grin under his bandaged face. How long had it been that not only a hunter that wasn’t blood drunk had entered the dream but also one that was keen on finding out its secrets? The deserved an answer. And… a warning:

“Ahh, yes, I see… You sense a secret within the Nightmare, and cannot bear to leave it be. As if the spirit of Byrgenwerth lives on within you!”

At the mention of the old college he noticed how the Hunter briefly tensed. He continued:

“Such inquisitive hunters will relish the Nightmare. But beware, secrets are secrets for a reason. And some do not wish to see them uncovered. Especially when the secrets are particularly unseemly… “

The Hunter gave him a long elaborate stare before waving to him and leaving to explore the nightmare. As soon as they were out of sight, Simon started to follow them in silence.

They were a skilled one, managing to plow through the myriads of beasts and drunk blood hunters as if it was a graceful dance. They entered the nightmare cathedral, clearly taken aback by the giant flaming cleric beast resting there, but overcame their fear and snatched the item it hold right out of its claw, then followed the path until they came to the part where Ludwig the Accursed usually roamed around.

It had been a spectacular battle. Halfway through the once Captain of the Church Hunters even managed to regain his humanity, thanks to the guiding moonlight. Once the Hunter had released him from his sorry state as an amalgamated monster the only thing left was his head. It even was still able to talk.

Simon expected the Hunter to give Ludwig the last blow, not let him live without a body and the knowledge of what he did.

They surprised him however. First, by not telling Ludwig the truth. And second, by letting his body lay where they found it.

Simon sneaked into the building and eyed the severed head of Ludwig with one half pity and one half disgust. This guy didn’t even knew what really had become of his church hunters.

…Maybe it was better that the Hunter had told him a sweet lie. Right now the head had fallen into some kind of uneasy sleep. Simon pulled out his weapon of choice, the bow blade and gave the head a quick ending.

Shortly after he had done this, the Hunter returned to the building, apparently having forgotten something and gave him a confsued look when they noticed that the head wasn’t moving anymore. Simon explained his reasoning to them.

“Oh, he’s well and truly gone, now. A tragic figure. But he will shame himself no longer. He died with his ideals untarnished. He was a true hero, and earnt that much, at least. Here, this is Ludwig’s guiding Light. The blinding thread, that lead, and mislead, that consummate hero. The poor brute.”

The Hunter didn’t say a single word. They just looked from the head to him and in their eyes there was this burning question, like if they wanted to ask “why?” For someone who barely talked, they were astonishingly expressive with their questions. Simon spoke:

“Do you know why the Hunters are drawn to this Nightmare? Because it sprouted from their very misdeeds. Things that some would rather keep secret. A pitiful tale of petty arrogance, really. High time someone exposed the whole charade.“

Now, now, go on ahead.

You seek nightmares, and the secrets within, do you not?”

The way to the research hall was open for the Hunter now. Simon sneaked in before them and awaited them right in front of the entracce after the giant elevator. They were getting close to uncover the real secret and he had to guide them on the right path.

Once the Hunter had peaked into the Research Hall, they came back to him, cocking their head, their gaze wanting answers. Simon told them the truth. The truth he once, in another life, had lived for himself.

“Oh, hello. Not a pretty sight, is it? The true face of the blood-worshipping, beast-purging Healing Church. But that’s not all. You seek the secrets field by the Nightmare, do you not?vThen here’s what you must do. Climb the Astral Clocktower, and kill Maria. She hides the real secret… “

The next part took the Hunter a good while. The Research Hall was huge, confusing and a majority of the patients were rather aggressive. Time and time again, they appeared back at the lamp, both the advantages and the curse of a dreaming hunter, brushing off their coat and ran back into the Research Hall.

Eventually some shifting was heard, the architecture of the Research Hall changed and Simon hid himself when the Hunter took care of the Living Failures who guarded the clocktower and then finally faced Lady Maria. This was a battle of the utmost grace as both hunters clashed at each other.

Lady Maria would have easily been able to win this round, but the Hunter was a dreamer and could come back to challenge her again and again. It was impressive to see how they got better at predicting her movements and eventually overcame her.

Finally, the way to the real secret was free. Simon snuck his way past the Hunter who seemed to stay for a while, maybe praying for the poor soul of Maria, and made his way into the Fishing Hamlet.

The uncovering of the secret was so close now, it was within his arm’s reach.

That was when he heard the tolling of the bell.

With an uneasy feeling he looked behind him, grabbing his bowblade. What appeared in front of his eyes wasn’t a happy sight. The church assassin. The one in the beast hide hood. The one normally locked in a cell below the Research Hall.

It became very apparent for Simon that he had become his mark.

Simon picked up the fight and managed to win but not without sustaining a few injuries on his own. This was fine, he had blood vials with him. He treated the injuries done to him with them and moved on. The uncovering of the secret was within his reach. He wouldn’t give up now.

But… the tolling of the bell didn’t cease.

The beast-hide assasin came back for another round. And he was a tough one. Even though Simon managed to banish him this time too, it cut his blood vial supplies in half.

He wouldn’t hold through much longer when he would come back again.

And he came back, again and again, each and every time Simon picked up the fight, banishing him until his very last blood vial had been used.

It barely had managed to cease the bleeding of the multiple wounds, his bones ached and a few of them felt broken. Would the assassin come back for him again, he would be done for.

Simon tried to get up from his kneeling position only for his legs to give out under him and he fell in the ground of the hamlet, water and and mud splattering from his impact. He hissed in pain as the mud mixed with salt water seeped into his open wounds.

Walking was out of the question.

What also was out of the question was staying here. He couldn’t die here. Not after he had come so far.

His legs had given up, but Simon’s arm still had enough strength to get him moving.

Slowly, very slowly, Simon started to work on his body along the ground, having to catch his breath every few inches. The muddy saltwater seeping into his wounds didn’t made the pain he already experienced any better. It felt like hours had passed before he even had made a few feet of the way.

He had made a botch of things. He had been found out. Even in the nightmare, the church had its ways to make sure that their secret kept been uncovered.

At least… at least, there still was the Hunter. They wanted to find out the secret too. Simon had to find them… or at least find a place where he could wait for them. He steeled his body and dragged himself along until his tired arms gave out and all strength left his body, his face falling in the mud.

If the Hunter also would have to deal with the assassin…?

As Simon pulled his body back up with great effort, he greatly regretted that he never had taken care of the assassin at his cell. He had a perfect key for this lock with him. But as someone who never had heard the bell’s tolling he always had been talking about, it hadn’t been of any use.

Until now.

He truly played the prize for his ignorance at this very moment.

The last few meters to the hut were a drag. He barely could even get his upper body up anymore. At his rate, Simon had to drag pretty much his whole body over the ground. When he had been covered in blood before, now he was covered in blood and mud and should he manage to survive this whole ordeal, he wasn’t too sure if he would survive the aftermath of the infection that would surely await him.

As he finally made it into the hut, he let his head fall down on the ground, gasping. Not a moment too soon. Not a moment too late. The Hunter had just entered the hut, coming near him with a concerned look. He gave them his final words as he pulled out the key and handed it to them:

“…Oh, you, I’m afraid, I’ve made a botch of things… …I can hear the bell, now……The beast-hide assassin, he’s after me……Again and again……It never ends……Please, I need you to do something… …This village is the true secret.Testament to the old sins……It feeds this Hunter’s Nightmare……Please, bring to an end to the horror……So our forefathers sinned?…We hunters cannot bear their weight forever……It isn’t fair, it just isn’t fair… “

After Simon had spoken his words, he could feel how the last ounce of strength left him. So he didn’t made it. He would die on this very ground of the hut. As his conscience faded, the hand that still had clutched the bowblade as he had himself dragging along fell on the ground, letting go of the weapon.

The last thing he saw was the Hunter picking it up and a kind of new found resolve in their eyes.

[zutaralesbian]

How would you put Villaneve together?

Well my ideal ending would be for them to get together and find some sort of balance between chaos and "normal". I reblogged a post of someone already explaining this but one of the most interesting things about Eve and Villanelle's relationship is they both crave what the other has but can't ever fully achieve it because of who they are as people. They're two sides of the same coin. Eve has a fascination with Villanelle's darkness and Villanelle loves the idea of being "normal". So it'd be neat if the show eventually ended with them finding a middle ground....where they can exist together in a life that isn't normal but is also stable. (Well, as stable as a dynamic like them could get anyway lol). Someone once brought up the idea of Villanelle going back to being an assasin and Eve being her handler and I think that could be possible.

HOWEVER, I acknowledge that a happy ending of any sorts isn't super likely lol. I won't be surprised if one or both of them dies in the end. And if that's the case, all I ask is that I get to see them physically hookup at least once. I will explode if this show ends and I never get to see them makeout.

[estrellaxpolar-blog]

Marth finally gets a meta

The best lord needs to break into this brand new blog 👀

I’ve been holding onto this draft for a looooooong long time, and out of laziness or nervousness of the acceptance of some of my headcanons, I didn’t finish.

But then I remembered characters flow so much better when I can interpret them the way I want (*cough* Ephraim) so without further ado...

(Keep in mind a lot, and I mean, a LOT of these are headcanons of mine over the years. I know I’m not stating facts from the games, anime, or manga themselves. They will, however, be the default for how Marth is interpreted on this blog)

Enjoy this mess, I never format these professionally.

His social anxiety and insecurity

How can we not start out with this? It was one of the most obvious things for me about his personality from the start; that his insecurity with himself went past just being humble, going as far as to deny his own skills and accomplishments. He says things like this plenty of times in Fire Emblem Heroes alone.

“I have come to see my own powerlessness. As but one, I cannot accomplish anything.”

“I found victory only because I had first found so many allies who shared my new sense of justice.”

“I can accomplish nothing on my own. It’s thanks to my friends I’ve come as far as I have.”

He doesn’t feel strong at all, I’d even like to think he’d avoid using the Falchion itself at first just because he feels he isn’t worthy. He’s not at all the same kind of person his father was.

Aside of having low self esteem, he also lives with the idea that one mistake could cost a lot. Hell, he even blames himself for the deaths of his friends, feeling that if he’d done more, that alone would have changed the fates.

“If I’m not dependable, everyone else will suffer for it.”

For someone that thinks so little of their own strength, it’s a bit hypocritical to pin all of his bad accomplishments on himself alone. It punched me in the gut when I thought about it more, but he does not like himself.

Marth disliked his father

One of the reasons he thinks so little of himself is because it’s all he’s heard of his father growing up. (PATHETIC WEAKLING) King Cornelius wanted his only son to be the kind of King he was, and went out of his way to try and mold Marth into his ideals. It very obviously didn’t work, and for a multitude of reasons that will be covered throughout this whole meta.

For starters, Marth knew from a very young age that Cornelius wasn’t the best example of a man. Marth and Elice’s mother was the Queen and his first wife, but Cornelius likely had many concubines as well, something common among Kings who prided themselves in their sheer strength and power. This raised even more tension growing up, watching the mothers of Marth’s half siblings pitting their children against each other, a lot like the how siblings in the Fates games were. Marth didn’t look up to his father from the very beginning because of this, and when worse examples followed, Marth frowned at the very idea of being a King someday. He was taught that they needed to kill, to come out on top and show no mercy or weakness.

Unfortunately, mercy and gentleness were something Marth had a lot of. Cornelius tried to break him out of it, but Marth didn’t even like to fake brutishness to get out from under the harsh thumb of his father. He wasn’t the kind of boy King Cornelius wanted him to be in the slightest, and Marth knew he wasn’t a boy at all.

Marth wants to transition

Marth’s self esteem hangs on a loose thread because he is dysphoric. And because he was the only son of a strict King, he had no freedom at all to be the woman he feels and sees he is.

His sister thankfully noticed this in him at a young age. She didn’t understand it completely, but she would sneak him in to little tea parties when they were small and let him wear her doll dresses. Marth looks up to his sister more than anyone else he’s known, guiltily admitting he’d rather be her. He grew so fond of wearing her crown even after she was rescued, and he was glad she let him keep it. It was subtle, but it at least let him feel a bit prettier.

None of them dared tell their father while he was still alive, yet even after he died and Marth assumed the throne of Altea, he still remained closeted, thinking that his transition would be selfish. He convinces himself he’s just being crazy, and the older he gets, the more he has to bury the idea of his true identity.

He’s not innocent to the core

Despite everything that he feels he lacks, he’s not weak willed in the slightest.

After his home country was taken and he was the sole survivor from defeat or capture in his family, he was furious. He wanted to take revenge for his country, abandoning some of his ideals to train vigorously even when that meant he would bulk up a little despite wanting to keep his slender figure.

“I, too, have seen losses, so I can empathize. After fleeing to safety, I swore to restore my homeland with the help of my comrades. It was Nyna who entrusted me with the Fire Emblem…and it strengthened my resolve to fight on. I no longer fought for vengeance… I fought for the people.”

It doesn’t last long, but after all of those years in exile, growing up around soldiers, he picked up a bit of dirty humor. Imagine getting “the talk” from the biggest block head in the military. Ceada was in the same boat (I like to thing growing up dirt mouthing with soldiers is why she’s so unfazed in this Niles support) and the two would constantly joke whenever they weren’t under the watchful eyes of nobles. Marth is later like this with his close friends, like Merric or Kris, as surprising as it is considering usually his calm and delicate way of speaking.

Marth’s noble actions and words are more or less a front, covering up a child that never got to be a child. He’s playful, albeit awkward around new faces, and doesn’t see himself growing out of that anytime soon. He never got to be a child when he was growing up, save for those few precious moments with his sister Elice, and enjoys spending quality time being an absolute dipshit any time he can to this day.

Marth is a fucking yandere

Not to say he’s the level of insane that Tharja is, or a stalker to a love interest, but he can lose his mind when someone he cares about is in danger.

He’s very critical of the lives of those close to him, as evidenced in some more heroes quotes:

“I cannot allow a single one of my friends to die. Together, you and I, with everyone else, will win this war.”

“I don’t want anyone to die. Surely you feel the same way.”

“As a friend, you are irreplaceable. I will protect you”

His sister also stresses to the Avatar in fe14 that Marth can’t let go of the deaths that occurred in the war of shadows, and knows he will do the same in the upcoming wars. She berates this kind of behavior, admitting he will always be childlike in his values because he believes he could save everyone.

And if you all know me, you know I’m going to take this hot piece of info and run with it.

Going back in time and raising the dead aren’t things that he’d say no to when I came to reviving loved ones. And we know how “well” that can turn out in fire emblem........

Without proper help and support, he could go batshit insane with the torment a friend in danger could bring.

Marth’s half siblings

Speaking of going insane with the death of loved ones, I’ve pictured the stakes being higher when Altea was taken. His entire family aside of Elice was killed, and that includes his half siblings.

While he had a distaste in the idea concubines, it doesn’t mean he didn’t grow fond of a few, espera their kids around his age. They were still family to him, save for the ones with power hungry mothers who would rather see he and Elice dead in order to give their kids a chance to the throne.

None ever dared plot an assasination on the King’s heavily monitored legitament children, but there were incidences between the ones of concubines that were highly favored. This would shake both Marth’s and Elice’s peace while growing up, breaking them inside entirely when they were all picked off during the siege of Altea.

[askdurianrider]

Now those jealous PARASITES got your channel terminated they'll be EBEGGING even harder than before without your voice of reason to keep them in check!! HEBO, JOEY, FL are all jealous. The vegan community will never move forward like it did with you in charge

1. FL bought bots. That is the only way to get an account down that has no strikes etc. The last year she was threatening me with it but I never believed she would stoop so low. She got obsessed with bots after we both had one put on our subscriber count by someone.

2. She supports norvegan, joey and all her  bullies who overtly hate me/tori. She spoke with hannah over the phone but she sided with them so they could character assasinate me because I told the truth about her botox after she lied. Look at her face in this video. Botoxed to the hilt! She injected for years in between her eyes above the nose. This photo proves that. She also did some sort of operation to make her eyes look bigger. She looks like a fucking jolibee cartoon now!

3. She constantly stalks me and gets her friends too harass Tori. Look at all the messages and troll comments she has sent Tori. I broke it up with her after she lied to be about her ‘friendship’ with robin. She lied to everyone about that but still thinks people are so dumb they forget.

4. She is obsessed with me and projects that by saying Im obsessed with her. The reality is I only stayed with her for the community. When she lied to my face about botox and money I really fell out of love for her. She hates herself in real life sadly. Robin is only with her because she pays his way and she still lies about that or avoids questions about it. Robin is a nice guy. Just a horny nofap dude looking for a free ride. I introduced them and would pace him for TT’s up the doi even after they were together. Strava proves it. So much for me being the ‘jealous type’.

Anyone who was at my festival last year can vouch for the above. The reason she doesnt do close up vids is because she wants to hide her face injections. 

5. She deleted me from 30 bad so she could sell more ebooks. This happened the a few days after she saw me put Tori in my youtube videos. SHE SO JEALOUS OF TORI!!!

6. She trademarked my teachings (read the RT4 ebook…I taught her all of that because when we met she was just a chubby gym girl stuck in a rut of eating disorders and in 30 grand of debt).

7. 100% Leanne ONLY makes youtube vids for the money. Look how much she ebegs DESPITE being literally a millionaire. 

8. I dont want her back EVER. We are simply not compatible as she became too fake and materialistic. (getting a boob job at age 21 and lying about having ‘chest wall defect’ should have been the red flag for me but I was naive) I would have liked to been friends and avoided this fight but she couldnt resist ripping into me at my own QA last year and getting people to upload it to youtube and get the war started but claim innocence.

9. All Ive ever done was be honest with her about everything but she used it against me by telling others about our private conversations with the intent to slander and destroy me. All she has done though is destroy her own career and following. She has NO friends left now other than a few social climbers and that is why nobody hangs out with her in person. She has ZERO interest engaging with her fans sadly and that is why she stays so private but acts so fake online.

10. She got her ex con brother peter ratcliffe who works for Coates or Fleet trucking couriers to try to hack my durianrider.com website. He succeeded by trying to sign in up to 100 times a day and then I was constantly locked out. I had to quit that site and start up another website that was more secure.

11. I can’t take legal action against her because she has fled from my lawyers. I dont know what else to do but keep telling the truth every day on social media till she leaves me alone or comes clean. Ideally both. 

This is the proof my channel was taken down by spam BOTS vs bullying like she lied about. 

Youtube has a serious security breach right now if a big channel like mine can get taken down by a $5 bot launched by some hacker.

Conclusion.

I never thought this would happen and I feel saddest for all the people out there who looked up to us as a power couple or even as parental figures.

Im also first to admit I made my mistakes in the relationship as did she but I was happy to forgive and forget and move on but find myself daily having to defend myself against the slander she puts out there herself or incites others too. 

Dont even get me started about poor Figsy…

[harlothane]

Apparently, I was tagged to talk about Theon a bit, thanks @bluetheon This is interesting, the fact that liking this particular character always seems to demand an explanation. Here’s the moment someone comes at me with a - sometimes accurate - list of his crimes and every morally ambigious thought that crossed his mind. And to that, I answer : okay, he misbehaves and he is a war criminal by our standards and modern laws. Yes. Absolutely.

Still, this is strange that I have to explain it, because I can name a couple of super popular characters-slash-war criminals. Hey, Roy Mustang, people. He’s more popular than both Scar, whose people were assasinated in a genocide that turned him into serial killer, and Edward Elric, the clever, brilliant hero with a heart of gold. I love Roy and his potential as a character, but let’s stop pretending hating Theon has anything to do with his crimes or even with him being a “grey character” - a screwed up moral compass never got in the way of Magneto or Light Yagami. 

This is about Theon being both the victim and the criminal. Those guys I mentioned, sometimes they are victims too (Magneto, hello) but they react in a way that doesn’t make people uncomfortable. They transform into awesome, badass villains thanks to their tragic backstories. It fits with our expectations. And anyway, that kind of super-villain doesn’t exist in real life so we can idealize them, it’s okay. (And gods, who doesn’t like Magneto?) 

But Theon, he is that abuse victim that doesn’t manage to inspire pity. He doesn’t want to. He goes against the narrative, in every way. He’s had that terrible childhood, an upbringing that fucked him up. He’s been despised in his own home for everything he is - a shy, somewhat feminine (at least not conforming to the ironborn ideal of masculinity) boy. And that boy fought back in all the wrong ways. He never resorted to cynism and became that ensemble dark horse we are familiar with. No, Theon is hopeful to a fault, he sees a bright future for him and Robb and he will rule the Islands someday soon. His mind is not wired right, it seems, because when fate throws punch after punch, he smiles back and cracks a joke. 

And I’m not going to lie : he is a strange character. One of the greatest too, because he doesn’t play by the rules we are used to, that’s all. He entertains illusions and he deceits himself. He wants to impress his father but takes Winterfell - a prize that costs so much to his people - on a whim, for glory and for the little boy hostage who dreamt of this home for so long. Pyke will never welcome him back (and does he want to ? this place is nothing to him now, it never was, it was just a dream) so he takes Winterfell, he grasps it to never let go.

Theon misbehaves, plays with the rules, he is both the scared boy and the ambitious young man and the charming friend to Robb Stark. Archetypes tend to reduce even the great character to one of these : the super-villain renounced to be the little boy. He abandoned him, threw that part of himself away. But not Theon. Who is letting Ramsay kill the two children ? Who is deceiving himself to the point he doesn’t acknowledge Ramsay’s ulterior motives ? Who is saying, sorry, screaming : “It’s better to be cruel than weak” ? Is it that well-dressed, smirking pirate, or is it the little boy, terrified of losing everything he has, the only accomplishment he ever got, his almost home - Winterfell ? 

Who jumps to a certain death, to save an innocent girl ?

To answer the question properly, I loved Theon from the start - I loved him because I couldn’t understand him like all the other characters. There was something terribly flawed within him, and I loved that enigma of a character. This doesn’t bother me to see so many readers/viewers hating him, since I recognize he is not a simple character to read. Here’s the thing : most people don’t hate him for rational reasons. Those who actively hate him do so because they can’t reconcile all the parts of his character. But that boy who smiled at all the wrong things ? He has blood on his hands and he’s betrayed a friend and he took so many wrong turns. That wasn’t written, he could have avoided that fate, had he reconciled the scared boy with the ambitious young man. But he couldn’t do that, not in the middle of a war, not in his position as a hostage - a status that meant living in perpetual fear. 

In the end, the boy wanted to be safe, a place to call home, a smile for gratitude. and the young man yearned for a crown, a prize, a family name to wear proudly. These desires may be at odds with one another and that’s where Theon’s suffering turns him desperate. He’s so lost but he never stops, not for one minute, he won’t rest until he has anything left to chase. The children who escaped. Winterfell. A crown. His pride. A name. He’s this broken, damaged, unyielding enigma, a closed book no one can read, no even his worst nightmare, Ramsay, who thinks he belongs to him now, no even himself but that doesn’t stop him from trying to understand. 

Let me tell you, if he were as weak as they say, he’d have let himself die. If he were as useless as they say, the writer would have let him die.

He is a fascinating character to observe, all these struggles and that pain and these messy desires... that’s the thing everyone should admit. Love, hatred, that doesn’t matter. He is so fascinating. A ghost now, refusing to dance for anyone else. A broken man, surviving against all odds, still breathing and struggling and joking at yet another captor. He is the product of the world GRRM created, one of the finest example of what war makes of us - not wild beasts, not monsters, but ghosts too eager to forgot our names when it suits us.

His story ends the moment he reconcilled these scattered parts of himself. The moment he remembers the meaning of his true name. Contrary to popular belief, this doesn’t happen in Dance. The gods are not done with him, and I am so, so glad about that.

Let’s hear ... @janiedean, @francisperfectionbonnefoy, @natsumi82