#if this makes no sense: actually yes it does <3 brainwashes you into believing that

[chryzure-archive]

ChrysiArchie rant you say…? 👀👀

YES, OKAY, SO.. this is a little bit of world-building / just general storyline stuff i’ve added, and i’m putting them in random bullet points, so if they don’t make sense… alas <//3 but i’ve been thinking abt them sooo hard even though i haven’t even gotten to archie in my reread yet (i think i’ll die when i see him again, fr!!!), SO:

on selene, it’s… semi-normal for you to take on a consort in a marriage. it happens a lot if it’s an arranged marriage (as is chrysi’s with her fiancé, who i have been thinking will be elias bloom for extra fury and helplessness :)), so in an attempt to find any hope in her future, chrysi chooses jacks to become her legal consort. obvi he jumps on this chance bc it’s THE only way for him to be with her, but okay. we move.

vaguely related to that… chrysi was technically “arranged” to marry azure waaaaay back before she’d even been shipped off to the pole. she was the executioner and he was some noble (forgive me, my world-building hasn’t gotten this far ;;; i was thinking w chryzure soulmate brain instead of writer-brain

anywayyy, azure dies :) and UGHHH, ophelia learns allll about chrysi and her tragic past through the engagement ring set azure gave chrysi :((( she didn’t mean to read the past in the objects, but she touched it and chrysi’s grief was so overwhelming that it dragged her into reliving chrysi’s pain over losing azure… and later going deeper into the rings’ memories to see how much azure truly loved chrysi. it kills me inside. it shocks ophelia, since chrysi seemed to give her heart so wholly to archie. lots of things going on there.

that follows up w a scene between chrysi and ophelia, where chrysi talks abt soulmates… and bc in the mirror visitor series, the population doesn’t believe in god anymore (…. except the god they talk of isn’t even god, it’s a woman named eulalia gonde, and her name has been mispronounced and warped into “god”. sorry, that’s a major spoiler, but we move, okay), chrysi goes on to say, “i don’t know if i believe in a god like the ancients did, but i do believe there was some higher divinity that made azure for me and i for him. everything about our love was ordained. i could believe in a god with him at my side.” SOBBING. IMAGINE BEING ARCHIE WALKING IN ON THAT AND FINDING OUT THAT CHRYSI HAD A WHOLE ENTIRE SOULMATE BEFORE SHE DEDICATED HERSELF TO ARCHIE AFTER AZURE’S DEATH. I’M GOING TO SCREAM AND CRY AND THROW UP.

also, vaguely related to that: on selene, i’ve decided that even though religion has moved away from the concept of a “god”, they do still have saints that they worship (esp since they’re such a dreamlike people, it makes sense to me??? but also i wanted jacks to still swear by using the saints’ names hehe)—and that chrysi, as the current executioner, has gained such a foothold in politics (on accident), that she’s on her way to becoming a saint. even jacks, when she takes him on as a consort (after she left archie and archie… kinda left her too, unintentionally), will whisper that she’s his saint alone and he doesn’t want to share her. also he calls her “saint chryseis” bc. i want to have some chrysijacks crumbs in this universe, okay.

since selene is highly inspired by venice as well, i figured the combination of the arts and religion being so deeply ingrained in the arts leads to a reasonable assumption that selene would still be more religious than the rest of the arks. …. yeah :)

….anyway, unrelated, archie shows up during chrysi’s engagement party. we’ve been over this. he doesn’t realize it’s chrysi’s engagement party at first though???? and when he sees chrysi walk up to elias bloom + he sees that she’s taken off all of her rings so elias bloom can put his singular stupid fucking trophy ring on chrysi’s finger, archie feels such a sense of horror that he doesn’t know how to explain.. then he realizes, oh, he loved how much chrysi was independent, even though it frightened him a little bit, how little he understood her… :((

elias bloom is the one that dies unexpectedly :) on that same night where chrysi’s washing the blood off her hands and archie shows up mid-hand wash and chrysi’s terrified and confused by her spotty memory :) both archie and jacks are thrilled chrysi’s no longer engaged to that bastard, but it’s pretty obvious that this doesn’t look good for proving her innocence.

anyway, also jumping to another point: chrysi never let archie use his ability of transparency on her bc she was frightened that if he did, he would feel her pain and realize that she was sick and dying. she didn’t want him to grieve her while she was still alive. well, jokes on her, bc archie’s also dying, but you know. whatever.

that said… their happy ending is him using his powers to create their own little communion of souls (pretentious, but it is kinda a romantic concept. i hate him) and they’re finally no longer hiding any secrets from each other + now they trust each other… they make me want to gnaw on drywall.

[transmascanakin]

For the varmitech bro au

1. Does Martin remember Chris? Does he know how he could've/should've looked like?

2. How brainwashed is Chris? How much does he actually believe?

3. Do the Kratt parents take any role in the au?

4. Can we get more Tortuga crew??? How does Martin deal with missions alone, how do the others react to him?

Ty for the ask anon ! Honestly some of these questions are things i originally wanted to include in the explanation post but ended up deleting because i didnt want to make it too lengthy so Im glad to talk about them now!

1. Martin doesnt remember Chris clearly, he has some blurry memories and flashes but its mostly the feelings he remembers if that makes sense. Like how he was close with Chris and loved him a lot, the feeling of fear everyone felt when Chris went missing and the despair when no one could give them closure, how lonely he felt after.

He doesnt really know what Chris could look like, maybe he likes to imagine, but you cant really get accurate answers like that. Also with cases like his you often see detectives constructing images of what the missing kids could look like now years later and I thought about Chris getting one of these done but he probably would only do that if he sorted through everything else because while Martin thinks his brother is alive, Chris firmly believes that he died a long time ago. He doesnt really think the image would be useful

2. Hes half brainwashed and half doesnt remember a lot of things naturally because of a traumatic reaction. What he has been told was that they have been through a traumatic accident (like a car crash) of some kind that damaged his brain temporarily and thats why he barely remembers anything from his early childhood and has some memories that never actually happened (the memories of the Kratt family) and he believes thats true because frankly, he has no reason not to. Maybe he questioned it when he was younger, but as an adult your childhood memories get really blurry (especially if youve been through something traumatic) so he kind of just accepted the car crash excuse to be true. He suspects there's something hes not being told but he doesn't even think of him being kidnapped as a possibility

3. A little, yes ! The reason Martin wanted his brothers case to be investigated again was actually because of how bad it affected his parents even after 20 years, which is just the sad reality of missing child cases. This part is unfortunately not that well developped yet, but maybe the Kratt brothers father fell really ill and Martin was worried hed have to pass away without knowing what happened to Chris, or maybe they got divorced after not being able to move on from the incident evem after all that time, ill have to think about it but whatever happened motivated Marin to contact detective Chris.

Either way I do have 2 scenes in my head that include atleast one of them ! The first one is where Chris and Martin go back to Martins childhood home to search the area again, and they briefly talk to mama Kratt who still lives here, and she takes one look at Chris with a mothers eye and thinks "wow he looks exactly like Chris" and although she doesnt believe its actually him she does think its some sign from the universe or idk something sentimental !! I just rhink itd be sweet of her. I also think itd be interesting from the pov of Chris because this is a maternal figure who treats him really nice and he just cant help but notice how different his mom is from Martins yk sad feelings...

Also Chris gets to reunite with his parents after everything goes down :)

4. Hell Yeah!!

Martins missions here are a bit more professional as he doesnt really have anyone to goof around with but he still has fun because he gets to gush about animals to the team.!! (He definitely wishes he had someone with him out in the field) Also i guess the villains are also interesting here because dealing with them alone causes confrontations to drag out, and they also become harder and more serious, especially with Zach as he got a big advantage with 'the crawler'. Aviva does jump in to help a lot but shes a bit limited because at this point she hasnt finished making her own cps yet (this might become relevant later i havent decided yet.)

In the last part I assume you were asking about how they feel about Chris, and they do meet a lot while Martin and Chris are working on the investigation, and Koki actually helps them a lot with her computer skills. The crew also grows pretty close to Chris, i mean he kinda just clicks with them, and he latches onto them a lot as he hasnt really had proper friends before. Like ever. Basically theyre just found family i love them. !!!

Sorry for making this so long haha I just love talking about this au... I hope these answers satisfied!

[asoulofatlantis]

XD I am laughing my ass off here. What a great reaction *lol* Tita was so in awe by the technologies used for Lapis that she was like "I need to take her apart to look at the tech" she surely didn't mean it in a bad way, but she scared the heck out of Lapis, so apparently Agate has to put a leash on her XD

Look, I want my class 7 to be back together as much as they want to reunite with Rean but this was just an ridiculously stupid move. First of all all 3 teams would have reunited at the tower eventually anyway. It would have been much more useful for all teams to remain the way they were until then and reunite at the tower, which was their meeting point anyway. Second, Reans team is by default the biggest and thus didn't need the extra support of Alisa, Towa, Machias and Sharon so damn badly. And third, breaking of into small team to reunite with whoever will put them at a disadvantage compared to staying in this big and thus stronger groupe. But... whatever.

OKAY I admit it does feel good to have all my class 7 ducks in a row again. But I still stand by that this was a stupid move...

Obviously... when would he ever not?

FOUR FULL CHAPTERS my boy! I waited for chapters for this reunion and NIS just fucked up the translation to make it even less impactful than it already was for your standards. Seriously.

Are you now? Well... I guess you have to with this man by your side XD

I am not sure why everyone is so tense about this fight. Look at what we have at our disposal. Thors united Class7 in all its glory, including the super maid as well as the complete SSS AND Liberls greatest bracers and their ZFC Maskot. Among our team are two freaking Gralsritter. We have 3 former Jeagers among us too. What the hell could go wrong with such a team?

I am lucky that I am playing on very easy, because I am pretty sure otherwise I would need to put my team together with their strengths, weaknesses and Crafts in mind, instead of making a full out shipping-team XD

You know what is really frustrating? With almost all the other character, their redemption never felt like they really did anything change for the better or change their mind about things... in fact, I believe even at the end Crow still thought he had the right to kill Osborne. Most of them were hiding behind sad pasts, the influence of the curse and some brainwashing here and there. Few actually truly admitted that they have been wrong. Yes, some of them admitted that they did horrible things, but often not with it looking like they truly and fully regret them. And most of the time their way back into the world of the nice guys was just because the nice guys wanted them there, or accepted them there for one good deed. Rufus is one of the characters you just want to see dead after everything he did, after all his betrayals and the backstabbing and even after he decided to take all the blame on himself and with that managed to keep Lechter and Claire free. So starting this game, you wish him the worst. But you can just not keep that up, because he does actually has the most realistic change of all and he actually truly works for his redemption and deals with his faults and weaknesses along the way. It sucks so much that you don't want to like him, but the game made it plainly impossible to still hate him as much as before. And it makes you feel bad for hating on him, while people like Crow simply get away with what is basically nothing in comparison and yet you still can't help but somehow like them.

Yeah and here is a big "FINALLY!" from me. It was about time.

Then maybe it is time to become a lover... but there is no sense in even thinking about going down this road even tho it is cleary right ahead of us, given how Rixia still seems to after Lloyd in Kuro. It sucks but... nothing can be done about it. This moment will have to be enough.

You know its bad when this happens...

He hasn't done anything particularly bad in Kuro so far, aside from a few jabs at the empire and stuff like that... but seeing his damned face makes me so angry!

I guess I make my way into the reverie corridor and that it will be it for me for today.

Now that I am done for today I have a few quick choice words on the translation of this game that I have mostly been holding back, but can not hold back any longer.

First of all: The Ebon-Defense-Force originates in the Ebon-Knight and thus, they should have pronounced it in the same way. Dieter Croise is not called DieEter and its weird that Elie says it wrong and Lloyd says it right.

ALSO I do not claim to be able to read Japanese (I wish I could) but there are immense differences in translation between the Spreadsheet and the NIS-Translation and while I was at first assuming that since the spreadsheet was done only by a fan and very fast at that, that that meant it was a very rough translation there are certain parts, multiple that is, were I did somewhat understand what was said and I can definitely confirm they made some unnecessary changes multiple times.

Just to name the ones that obviously are the strongest to me is that they immensely towned down Reans favoring Alisa thingy when mentioning the guys stuck in Crossbell or even when greeting them when Reunited. There have been multiple occasions throughout the game were I know for a fact that Rean has either only mentioned Alisa (like when he was meant to reach Crow and then said he can not reach Alisa - I checked the translation back then because it seemed weird to me he would only mention Alisa instead of Towa who is his colleague - he actually really just mention Alisa and not Towa and Machias) or kept saying stuff "Alisa and the others" when talking about them as well as the Reunion-scene were he said "Alisa. Everyone", where I didn't need to even read Japanese because it was voiced and he did indeed only say Alisas name, but in the Translation of NIS he said: "Hey, over here!" or something like that without mentioning any name at all.

There have been multiple other occasions where I know for a fact that the lines were altered sometimes extremly. Even in "The fallen Prince" we have multiple moments that were changed that pissed me off. The red constellation mentioning that Cedric was worth being under Shirleys watch was an important point in that Story, because it was necessary to see between the lines what exactly Shirley had to lose, if Cedric would fuck it up. Instead they only said that théy now understand why Shirley sees potential in him, but the meaning is simple not the same. This is not just me nitpicking. Just seeing the potential in Cedric isn't enough here, the red constellation has to accept the work and time and effort Shirley puts into that boy. Speaking of which... as endearingly cute that "our boy" was, that is definitely NOT what Shirley said. Who does this "our" even refer too? Her and Garrath? Are they raising him together or what? It would have been a different story if she would have said "Our princeyboy" instead but I know for a fact that she never used his nickname in that story either.

And all the changes are even worse than some of the changes made in CS4. Titas and Agates scenes have been altered a lot in CS4, going to the point were they didn't allow Agate to actually hint at Tita being the most important person to him. Or changing the conversation were Rean is asked if he things the feelings Agate has for Tita are just the feelings of a Guardian and he says he doesn't believe its just a guardian thing.

I do partly get why they felt the need to tone down Tita and Agate as a ship but I don't get the sudden need for toning down Rean and Alisa or anything that could hint to much at Shirley and Cedric. Nor do I understand how it comes that Lloyd voice actor pronounces Dieter right and Elies doesn't.

Its frustrating and I feel like next time I play with the Japanese voices again just to here all the times they fuckt up the translation so obviously.

[rose2jam]

Why It Was Practically Inevitable That Severus Snape Would Join A Cult, an essay by Rose Jam

So, let’s talk about Cults. Disclaimer: This is just information I’ve gathered over the years from my personal fascination with religious cults.  I’m in no way an expert or a psychologist or whatever.  This is just my personal understanding from the research I’ve done.

A cult is started when a wildly charismatic Leader feels like they have a purpose, a higher calling, or a mission to be fulfilled (or they could also just be an egomaniac). Maybe they really do feel like what makes them special comes directly from a higher power, be that God, or the Heir of Slytherin, but either way, this person has a pathological need to be worshiped, and they need followers in order to do that.  

So, how does one obtain Followers easily? By finding the misunderstood misfits of society, and promising them something.  The people who feel like no one else understands them, or their ideologies.  But this Leader?  This Leader GETS IT, MAN! The Leader understands them perfectly, vindicates them, and makes them promises along the way.  Like, if they stick with the Leader, then not only will they finally be understood, but they themselves will also be revered.  That they will rise above all of the others who have put them down for so long, and will come out on top as a superior being.  

Any of this sounding familiar?

Charles Manson preyed on young people in the middle of the hippie movement, mostly women, who were feeling lost, lonely, and in need of guidance, or in terms of the men he recruited, seeking power over others.  Not all of these people were poor or helpless; some of them came from middle class, or even rich homes and families.  Yes, some of them came from broken homes, but all of them felt “broken” themselves, in some way. So Manson used their desires to have a family to draw them in.  He then used LSD and other drugs to keep them under his control, and he created a manipulative environment where the members of his “family” felt they could never leave him, and if they didn’t follow his commands, something horrible would happen to them.  I’m not going to go into full detail on the Manson Family Murders, but if you’re personally interested, check out the Podcast “Cults” on Spotify.

So back to basics, this Leader draws in Followers with flowery promises of community, power, family, or whatever.  But once the Leader has that following, the terror will begin.  Cult Leaders are usually master manipulators, and have completely brainwashed their followers into believing the “us vs them” mentality, that the outside world is evil, that the outside world will only harm them, that the outside world would never understand what they’re doing on the inside.  And that the Leader is the only one who knows the truth, so they better stick with him.  Or maybe the Leader has gaslit his followers so completely, that they become dependent on him for everything, to the point where they don’t know how they would possibly function without the Leader.  Or, the Leader has created an environment that’s so hostile, that Followers are too afraid of what might happen to them if they tried to leave, or didn’t do what the Leader commanded.  Typically, it’s a combination of all of the above.  Destructive cults will either hurt others outside of their circle (The Manson Family, Sect of Nacozari), harm themselves (Heaven’s Gate, The Ant Hill Kids), or both (The People’s Temple, Aum Sinrikyo).  

Now that I’ve laid this foundation, I’m going to tell you why it was practically inevitable that Severus Snape would join a cult.

Snape’s childhood ultimately laid the foundation for the mental state he would be in when he decided to join the Death Eaters.  He grew up in an abusive household, where his father, the muggle, had his magical wife so thoroughly whipped, that she couldn’t (or chose not to) use magic to defend herself, or her son (1).  Eileen had obviously told Severus about magic, about Hogwarts, about what a wonderful place it was, and what a wonderful gift magic could be.  Severus also watched as Tobias beat the magic out of her.  (I know it’s debated whether Tobias actually physically abused his family, but he certainly verbally/mentally/emotionally abused them, so the term “beat” could be used figuratively as well).  I don’t think it’s unreasonable to believe that Severus developed an extreme hatred of muggles with “burn the witch” mentalities from a very young age because of this.

Enter Lily, perhaps the only other magical person in his life besides his mother up to this point. He sees her using magic out in the open, perhaps recklessly, for fun, and he sees an opportunity to make a friend (and, admittedly, to be smarter than someone about something for a while). He was so eager to tell her all about magic, because getting to learn magic, and go to Hogwarts, has possibly been the only thing keeping him going in his young life.  And now he’s made a friend, a real friend who doesn’t think he’s weird because he’s magical.  Unlike Petunia, yet another muggle who makes fun of him for being weird (2). And Lily actually seems to like him back.  For a kid who probably hasn’t received a lot of affection in his life, this is monumental.  This friendship is everything.  Why wouldn’t he love her?

So the time finally comes to go to Hogwarts.  Severus gets to escape his abusive household, and finally has an opportunity to embrace magic for the first time in his life.  But almost immediately, he’s met with a hic-up.  Specifically, James Potter and Sirius Black.  So Severus is no longer facing abuse exclusively from muggles who think he’s weird, but now he’s also getting it from other magical people who think he’s weird (3).  And this started on the fucking TRAIN before he even GOT to Hogwarts. You can’t tell me that wouldn’t sour a kids dream right off the fucking bat.  And then, when he finally gets there, he’s separated from his only friend, by being sorted into different houses (4).  What a way for a life-long dream to be thoroughly dashed in less than 24 hours.

Let’s look at Snape’s Hogwarts experience.  He’s a good student, and he pours himself into learning as much magic as possible, and at being the best he can possibly be, probably motivated by a desire to be better than what his Father thinks possible.  During this time, he is regularly bullied and abused by the Marauders. Sometime before his 5th year, the Incident at the Shrieking Shack took place.  It definitely sucks to have been so thoroughly fucking duped, and put into a life-threatening situation involving a goddamn werewolf (5).  But perhaps even worse than that, the salt in the wound, was that no one fucking did anything about it (6).  He saw Sirius and James and Remus get out of that situation without facing any sort of proper punishment (as in, they all still stayed at the school as opposed to being expelled like they DEFINITELY SHOULD HAVE BEEN (At least Sirius should have been)). Dumbledore was looking out for the Marauders, but no one was looking out for Severus.  On top of that, Severus isn’t allowed to TELL anyone about it, not even Lily.  So, he goes through what was possibly one of the most traumatic experiences of his life, and he can’t even tell anyone that it happened.

So, what sort of support system does Severus have during all this?  He has Lily, sure (who literally told him he should be GRATEFUL to James, one of his abusers).  But, what he really has, is Slytherin House (7). I’ll say it plainly: Severus was sorted into a house that was already full of existing cult members.  McGonagall says in Sorcerer’s Stone that “Your house will be like your family” (she at least says it in the movies, I’m too lazy to get up and reference my books rn lol).  So, Severus’ family, his support system, for 10 months out of every year, is a house that is already full to the brim with pureblood elitists with prejudiced ideals, who would absolutely vindicate Severus in his dislike for muggles.  As a kid first getting sorted into the house, it’s obviously not unreasonable to become friends with the people you’re literally living with.  His dorm mates became his family.  So, when his dorm mates started to become Death Eaters… This is headcanon, I fully admit, but like, fuck, Severus didn’t have a lot of friends, and was probably already drifting apart from Lily.  Do you really think he was going to tell the people he had to live with every single day, not to mention the only people that had been supporting him for years, to go fuck themselves for using Dark Magic?  Especially when he was probably feeling like he was on the verge of thinking that their rhetoric made some sense?

On to Snape’s Worst Memory (8).  At this point, he’s spent 5 years in Slytherin House, with fellow students who casually throw around the M word.  He gets attacked by James and Sirius, he’s practically defenseless, and then the girl who he’d considered his closest friend for so long… has to force herself not to smile when he’s thrown upside down and exposed to everyone on the grounds.  Sure, she was trying to defend him at first, but she also fucking nearly smiled at his humiliation, his pain, his abuse.  So he hurls the one word that he knows is going to cut the deepest, that will hopefully hurt her as badly as she has hurt him. And it works.

Severus had been beaten down his entire life.  By Muggles and Magic Folk alike.  And finally, he’s betrayed by Lily, his last lifeline to the light.  He betrayed her as well, of course.  But he did try to show remorse.  And she doesn’t forgive him (9), which was her prerogative, of course.  

So.  Who does he have left?

I’ve placed little (numbers) throughout my writing here.  Each of those numbers denote the specific events that led Severus to becoming an angry young man, who hates muggles, hates (some) magic folk, and resulted in him feeling weak, helpless, and desperate.  For what?  For power, for a family, for a community.  For a world where he is no longer the weird one.  For a world where he’s respected, strong.  For the world he thought he was going to be a part of, when he arrived at Hogwarts in his first year.

And it just so happens that this is the exact world that Voldemort is (allegedly) trying to create.

Severus Snape was angry, and vulnerable, and as such, he was practically the poster child for the type of person who would be susceptible to falling for a cult.  Maybe he was recruited by his friends in Slytherin House.  Maybe he was recruited directly.  Either way, charismatic Tom Riddle came along, understood how he felt, where he was coming from, told him he deserved better, and offered him all of the things he never had in his life.  And being at rock bottom, being the lowest of the low, to Severus it must have seemed like a miracle of an opportunity, or perhaps, like the only chance he had left.

Now, let me be extremely clear; everything I’ve written is not trying to EXCUSE Severus Snape for his actions.  There is always a point where personal responsibility must come into play.  Except for children born into cults or victims of kidnapping, nearly every person who has ever joined a cult has made the personal decision to join it. I’m just trying to express how unbelievably easy it is, for a Cult Leader to find people with damaged lives and low self-worth, to suck them in with promises of a fulfilling life and grandeur, and for those people to be easily swept up and brainwashed into believing that what they are doing is right.  (Or that what they are doing is required, because the alternative is more horrifying.)  

The type of people who joined the Death Eaters are the same type of people who joined Heaven’s Gate, or The People’s Temple, or yes, The Manson Family.  Now, I’m just going to say, from my own personal point of view, I do not vilify anyone who’s ever joined a destructive cult.  On the contrary, I feel sorry for them.  Because most people who join a cult, don’t necessarily do it signing up for the… end result of what happened to them.  Some of them totally do, like Heaven’s Gate. Most of them knew that the end result was going to be the “evacuation of their earthly vessel”.  But the people who joined the Manson Family, for instance, did not initially join it KNOWING how it was going to end.  They were part of the family long before Manson even came up with Helter Skelter, and by the time the Tate-LaBianca Murders took place, they were already too far gone to go against it.

I highly recommend anyone who’s interested in a humanizing view of former cult members, to read the essay “Leslie Van Houten: A Friendship” by John Waters. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/leslie-van-houten-a-frien_b_246953

Or, at the very least, listen to this 7 minute NPR interview with John Waters about the essay https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111585116

It’s the story of how notorious film maker John Waters, became friends with former Manson Girl, Leslie Van Houten, and about how she broke away from the cult after her conviction, how she’s spent the last 51 years of her life recovering from the psychotic influence of a maniac who’d promised her the world, and how even though she was convicted to life WITH a possibility of parole, it’s never been granted to her, despite the fact that she has done literally everything possible to try and atone for her crimes.

Maybe I’m just a bleeding heart.  I’m pretty much the only person I know who feels sorry for Leslie Van Houten and other cult members who were brainwashed, abused, and manipulated into doing a lot of the horrible things they’ve done.  But there are people in the world, who have committed FAR more heinous crimes than the Manson Family murders, and who are far less repentant than Leslie, but because those crimes weren’t as notorious, they get to walk free.

Addendum: When I first posted this, I had a few people point out to me that they had always associated Voldemort and the Death Eaters with Hitler and Nazi Germany.  This is a perfectly fair point, but one that I personally don’t jive with, and the reason is simply the numbers.   There were literally millions of people in the Nazi party during WW2.   Death Eaters don’t even reach triple digits, as far as I’m aware.  As I hinted at in this essay, I consider Voldemort and the Death Eaters to be MUCH closer to Charles Manson and the Manson Family.  The Manson Family 100% had Nazi ideology, of course. "Helter Skelter” was Charles Manson’s prediction that there was going to be a massive race war; one that the Whites were going to lose, and that he and his Pure White family would emerge from it in order to rule over the remaining Blacks.  Kinda... sounds like a Death Eater thing, huh?

Sorry.  Back to Snape.  There is a lot we don’t know about Severus’ actual time as a Death Eater. I think it can be reasonably assumed he’s never actually killed anyone before Dumbledore (In Prince’s Tale, Severus questions if his soul would be safe from killing Dumbledore, and Dumbledore implies that his soul would not be damaged by helping an old man avoid pain and humiliation.  This leads me to believe that Severus never committed any soul-damaging murders before this).  Beyond being a sneaky spy and delivering the prophecy to Voldemort, his time as a Death Eater is all up for conjecture.  

Severus does make one important deviation from the typical cult member mold, however.  In the end, he manages to break away from the cult.  The scales fall from his eyes.  In a figurative sense, the LSD has worn off.  What made him sober up, was the threat to his last lifeline to the light. The one good fucking thing he’d ever had in his miserable life.  He was brought back by genuine love.  Ya know, the ENTIRE MESSAGE OF THE HP SERIES. And not only did he leave the cult, but he then spent the rest of his life actively attempting to destroy it, and atone for the mistakes he’s made, in an effort to bring back the world he’d been excited for, as an 11-year-old kid, so full of hope.

[beepsparks]

(OUTDATED) MatB headcanons because YES

My silly little hcs for my au of Manny and the Beanstalk because I like it a lot, god is this post long, please note that I'm using fanon names because this is inspired by Ice Hell, which uses them

Manny:

Really wants to help his friends because of their financial situation which is why he attempts to steal from Paige and Tony in the first place

Has a night terrors problem, gets worse after his first encounter with Paige and Tony

Probably owns a teddy bear

Very gullible but also very quick to run

Scared of thunderstorms, how ironic

Give him a hug he needs it

Harry:

Works more around the house, caring for Manny and doing chores and cleaning, Robin sometimes helps

Slightly believes Manny when he tells him and Robin about Paige and Tony after his second encounter with them, comforts Manny nonetheless

Usually wears the coat and scarf because oddly, the air always feels cold to him

Was absolutely shocked when he saw the bodies of Paige and Tony on the ground, saw it before Robin

Robin:

Is currently looking for a job to make money

Doesn’t believe Manny when he tells him about Paige and Tony, thinks its just Manny’s nightmares

Wears a dress shirt and tie often

Was WAY MORE shocked than Harry seeing the bodies of Paige and Tony

Shrignold:

Part of a half-love-half-bean cult, usually indoctrinates via making new members eat specific magic beans that can brainwash

Originally had the intention of indoctrinating Manny, but Manny planted the beans instead

Unknown whether he knows what the beans do when planted or not

One of his eyes has a heart shape because he ate more beans then he should’ve, it’s not good for his health

Also unknown if he knows about Paige and Tony or not

Probably has a little fancy bow he does because I love him and he’d look cool doing it

Paige:

Usually argues and sometimes fights with Tony when there’s a human because they cannot share... food for the life of them

She’s got a lovely and scary evil laugh

Can actually purr because I said so let me have fun, usually purrs when given affection from Tony for once when they are both calm

Doesn’t happen too often but her and Tony sometimes will wholesomely cuddle

Originally met Tony randomly, they decided to stay with each other because they’ve never actually seen others of their same species before and of course they need interaction with others

Both her and Tony are a rare rumor because supposedly they both have stolen and killed for their gold, but very rarely and a long time ago

Her hunger for human flesh and blood is less strong than Tony’s because her senses are less sensitive than his

Since this au is based on Ice Hell, if her and Tony “die”, they’ll revive hours later

Makes very lovely art of course <3

Go on, boop her. She don’t bite.

Tony:

Easy to irritate, especially when he’s hungry

Also often fights and argues with Paige when there’s a human around

He’s got a threatening, lovely and scary evil laugh, the kind to remind you of a supervillain 

Can also purr, only does it when given affection by Paige

Senses are more sensitive than Paige’s, makes him hungrier for human flesh and blood than her, kinda feel bad though because sometimes he’ll get a bit overwhelmed with other things

Also originally met Paige randomly

Also enjoys wholesome cuddles, doesn’t say it though, him and Paige can and will also purr when cuddling, its adorable

Yeah. He has stolen and killed for gold with Paige before, the rumors are true.

Learned how to make clocks himself, usually through secretly observing humans

Go on, boop him. He don’t bite.

I enjoy this au a normal amount

[austajunk]

Please PLEASE go into detail about how protective he is over Chiaki!! I literally am begging to finally hear someone else actually acknowledge their friendship/relationship especially after having to deal with a pretty toxic anti-bi/pan Nagito rper I was on a server with for a good part of a year! (Sorry went kinda ranty but hopefully my anguish is understandable!)

Oh my lord, you’re giving me a chance to shine with my fixations?! I can’t thank you enough! Now, please understand that this is based on my perception of the series as I’ve played through the second game twice. I’m pretty good when it comes to being the person who has unpopular opinions and ships and I know claiming that Nagito is bi/pan/Demi is probably one of them. But honestly, it comes from the desire to see this boy get as much love as possible. Because he sure needs it.

Ultimately, Nagito’s sexuality is never canonly specified, so I think whether gay, bisexual, Pansexual, or what have you, we’re all well within our rights to just have fun and see what we want to in a really flawed and relatable character. And that’s what makes it interesting.

That being said, let’s talk about Nagito and Chiaki. Friendship or romantic, I don’t think you can deny that Chiaki is at least special to Nagito in some way.

Upon replaying the second game, I’ve realized how protective Nagito actually is towards Chiaki interestingly enough.

In chapter 2, she leaves to go question Fuyuhiko but Nagito stops her and tells her not to let Fuyuhiko get rough with her. Every time Chiaki’s skills help them advance, he deeply praises her. Even after he’s stopped praising all the others (which he does mostly after Chapter one, hinting he does not like some of them as actual people). But for some reason, especially during the trials, Nagito is quick to jump in and mention how wonderful Chiaki is and compliment her (only to be usually cut off by someone when he starts to ramble).

It should also be noted that Chiaki and Nagito both share an appreciation for games. Nagito seems to like more luck-based games for obvious reasons, but he also mentions that like Chiaki, he likes the Twilight Syndrome series. Both of them similarly state that they felt Monokuma was butchering a favorite game of theirs.

They also both have an odd way of trying to cheer Hajime up and joke with him, the examples shown coincidentally beside one another. Chiaki says she’s gonna look for a dirty book, throwing Hajime off and Nagito “jokingly” tells Hajime to lick his boots and now to him, but Hajime is extremely put off when he claims it was a joke. These oddballs get each other in the weirdest of ways is what I’m saying. They’re both incredibly antisocial, but their hearts are reaching the same place too when they try to make an effort.

In chapter 4, when Chiaki teams up with Nagito and Kazuichi, then leaves because they’re both being clingy, Nagito quickly follows and chases after her to make sure she’s okay. Then he chastised her for running off, looking deeply concerned. Even after his attitude change, he will answer her more directly and not ignore her. When she tells him to be quiet, he politely obeys... or maybe it’s because he’s deep in thought about her motives as he mentions he was watching the trial carefully to decide on who the traitor is.

I may just be mentioning this because they’re my OTP, but if you know about their school time together and pay attention to Nagito’s Hope versus Chiaki’s Hope, I think it’s fascinating.

Okay, now let’s head into Danganronpa 3 territory. Now this is the part where I am the most shaky as I’m still trying to determine what I take canon from this series. The thing is, a friend who got me into the series informed me that the production was way rushed and that Kodaka never wanted to do the anime in the first place. But! That being said, Chiaki and Nagito have some great moments in this and the anthology comics along with it, so let’s get into some stuff.

First of all, Nagito warmly mentions that Chiaki being their class rep makes her the true Hope of their class. And you can tell he’s serious because as he’s saying it, he’s doing that thing where he’s staring at his hand desperately like he wants eat it. You know the look.

Moving on, it’s clear that aside from Chisa, Chiaki is the only one to value and treasure Nagito. And this makes sense. In her own dying words, she loves her classmates. They are the world to her. All of them. And of course, she loves Nagito too with all her heart. As evidenced as she cradled him protectively in her arms while he’s injured. At first when Chiaki and the others are determined to stand up to Junko and get their teacher back, Nagito pleads with Chiaki not to. That his luck could not overcome them. He knows they can’t win in this situation and I do think he was actually trying to talk Chiaki out of it. But of course, when Chiaki pushes back and says she wants to go anyways, he literally can’t help himself when it comes to wanting to see Hope shine. So he agrees and praises her again because of course he does.

Until it all leads to the Pain Train with Despair coming out on top. Chiaki is brutally slaughtered and we see something new from Nagito. He breaks down crying. Tears are streaming madly down his face as a forced and twisted smile appears on his lips. He even beseeches Chiaki’s name. “You understand right? You know you’re a stepping stone for Hope!” “What has been done to Nanami is unforgivable...” Nagito’s already trying to cope. To rationalize something horrible that he just witnessed in his mind. He’s trying to protect himself as he’s utterly being destroyed and breaking down like all of his classmates. Chiaki’s death literally shatters his mind. It’s a pretty well done scene even if I’m not a big fan of the brainwashing stuff. Not to mention, the way he says “You understand right, Nanami?” As if he’s begging for her forgiveness as he falls apart. It’s so very very tragic. And of course, when being made apart of the Neo World Program, his desire to see Chiaki once more, just one more time like his classmates, brings her back to him(and the other classmates) in AI form.

Honestly... it’s pretty beautiful. Chiaki is apart of Nagito in some way and is imprinted into his mind and heart. He longed to see her as much as everyone else. This person, who doesn’t seek out relationships because his luck either gets them killed or he finds their Hope to be too weak, has a connection with Chiaki like that. This is literally a person who believes his life is just a stepping stone for better and more worthy people, someone who knows their existence is a formality at this point. And still, he does have connections. There are people capable of caring about him and loving him and Chiaki was one of those people. And he wanted to see her again in the Neo World Program. Like Chiaki said, it’s no less than miracle.

But alas, this is getting rather long, isn’t it? Well in the D3 anthology, Nagito also is concerned when Chiaki avoids eating because of her hyperfixation on gaming. Chiaki skipping out on self care?! Not cool, Chiaki. And so he challenges her to a game to make sure she’ll eat lunch. Fucking protective as hell. And yes yes, the anthology isn’t canon... but that’s the thing about Danganronpa. The series is over. Any additional info and stuff added to it is meant to enrich the experience for the fandom, so it’s canon to me. What’s the fandom gonna do? Whine at me and tell me it isn’t? That Nagito wouldn’t do these things when official anthologies and content that’s sold for Danganronpa tells me he would? So... yeah.

Ultimately, whether you ship them or not, I think this fandom is missing out on the Komanami side of things and how good their relationship is when you really observe it. :3

[lightdancer1]

In the other post you said that Ozai and Ursa regretted not wanting Azula, is the root of their regret the same? like, what leads up to this, some sense of possessiveness of having a part, even an unloved and unwanted one, taken from them by a man they both hate? happens when Azula starts to show that she is a firebending prodigy? When Zuko starts questioning about the sister he was going to have? Is it seeing the way Azulon treats Azula, like a weapon, a soldier? Do they talk about it ?

1) No, the roots are very different and characteristic to them. In Ursa's case it's genuine buyer's remorse as she basically was fine with the idea in theory and then when she gave birth to Azula she finally felt actual attachment to her child....only to never be allowed to hold her again after that first time.

With Ozai it's an Immortan Joe style "YOU TOOK MAH PROPERTAH!" reaction that would be semi-heartwarming in any context other than it being....Ozai.

2) When she starts showing her prodigy status Ozai and Ursa have two different types of panic mode that in this case is actually from the same root. Ozai has elements of PTSD from training with Azulon and has a bad flashback and a reaction that other people would interpret as empathy and which he doesn't understand for what it is. Ursa has that sudden dawning moment of horror that her worst nightmare is starting to come true and it's entirely her fault. This is when, unknown to Azulon, his own version of the Doomsday Clock starts ticking for him.

3) Zuko grows up knowing Azula is his sister but that he can't say it because Bad Things Will Happen If He DoesTM. He finds it deeply frustrating and then when he finds his sister 'gone native' in the Earth Kingdom it's what turns him into a more intense version of Season I Zuko. Zuko's view of things is that he's the hero rescuing his sister, who's become Kurtz from Heart of Darkness. As he sees it Azula gets a choice of brainwashings and he just wants his sister back but he's not remotely prepared for the actual reality that faces him and lashes out violently when it does.

4) Yes, it's a recurring theme on Ozai's side of the family and it makes Kiyi's role in the story hinge on a lot of things. In tune with how the ages of different people are played with in different AUs she's born two years after Azula, leaving her as seven when Azula vanishes and finding her Aunt Azula the Best. Person. Ever. She believes most sincerely that Azula really was murdered (even Zuko doesn't believe that but he's not sure exactly what did happen). And then after the murder she learns from an angry Zuko tired of the pretense that Azula was never her aunt, she was her big sister.

Azulon finally deciding "Well, all right then, nine's old enough" and wanting to repeat things with Kiyi is how he meets his fate in this AU and why Ursa doesn't go into exile. Because in this AU Ozai and Ursa actually take steps to shield their second daughter in a way they failed to do with the first.

Because they learned A lesson.

Ozai takes his presumed murder of Azula very badly, and has a lot of secret guilt about it all....and then one fine day the column striking for Omashu is repulsed and rumors speak of a flying one-eyed demon from the lowest parts of Yama's realm with scars on her face like lightning struck it. And then Ozai realizes Azula didn't die after all, and that she's the new Princess of Omashu. As to how Zuko, Kiyi, and Ursa take that, well......

[phoenixyfriend]

More "de-aged Taka and T7 end up in the Warring Clans Era as Founders' wards" AU

“That’s a thing?” you ask. The answer is yes.

Uh. Kind of. Deaging Team Seven for the sake of tossing them back in time for a Founder to adopt is pretty common, but I’m trash for Taka so this AU started with me brainstorming the asshole team.

I am falling more and more in love with the idea of Tobirama ending up with custody of Team Taka somehow. He’s a science dad, but like. Marginally more ethical than Orochimaru.

Everyone around them is like "This is a terrible idea and it's all going to end horribly" and he's just like "Ah, these are now my children."

I've read so many "Team Seven time-travels and is de-aged, get adopted by the Founders" or "a Founder time-travels forward and adopts Naruto, subsequently picking up the others" and they're good but I now want the same plot with an even more dysfunctional collection of... eldritch mishaps? The AO3 feel of "I want this fic I just read, again, but a step to the left so it feels fresh and new"

I'm considering the tent of tranquility idea (courtesy of @sloaners​) and I've come to the decision that Tobirama's... probably going to end up with Several Holes in it, and burns, and cuts, because Karin and Suigetsu never stop fighting, and if they're fighting, they're not paying attention to how soon Juugo's going to lose his grip on control.

"Hm. Tobirama?" "Anija." "Where did you get children?" "They showed up." "One of them looks like an Uchiha." "He does." "Two of them are trying to kill each other." "That's normal." "Are the Uchiha going to accuse us of stealing a clan child?" "Probably." "...Tobirama, did you steal these children?" "No."

(It's not kidnapping if they show up and break into your house first.)

(Also none of them are particularly pressed to ditch the Senju and find their clans. Maybe eventually. Not now.)

They’re assholes but Karin is, even at Supposedly Age Three, babbling at Tobirama about proper lab protocol and chemical reactions and isn’t that just the most adorable thing?

Very few people find Karin as adorable as Tobirama does, because Karin knows more ways to kill a person than most adult shinobi, because most adult shinobi don’t know about things like flesh-eating diseases and specialty poisons from the other side of the continent that can only be refined via chemical processes that won’t exist for another three decades.

Juugo is a sweetheart. Best child. Then he loses his mind but it’s okay, Sasuke is there. Do the Senju trust the clearly-Uchiha child to control the much larger five-year-old? No. But they don’t have any better ideas right now, so.

Tobirama: Hm, we should do something about that. Karin: Here’s a list of ideas and things that have already been tried. Tobirama: Thank you, small child. Where did you get this? Karin: ... Tobirama: Fair enough, let’s see what we can do.

Suigetsu is a little terror because not only is he a Massive Jerk but he also has better control over water than most adults. Mostly because he is water. It’s very hard to find him when he’s avoiding chores.

Karin clings to Mito sometimes because Family! and then Hashirama tries to tease Tobirama about being upset that one of his students/children has ditched him. Hashirama ends up moping in a corner because Tobirama snaps at him, unsurprisingly.

IDK if we have like any canon for Touka beyond skill with genjutsu, but going off of the fanon that she used a naginata, I’m going to say that Suigetsu keeps trying to challenge her to Blade Fights and she’s just like Neat, A Tiny Murder Machine.

Sasuke is very quiet for the most part and Dramatically Broods On Rooftops And In Trees and Hashirama is just like YES YOU REMIND ME OF MY BROTHER AND ALSO MY BEST FRIEND and Sasuke hides.

Sasuke does not need another Naruto, thank you.

Sasuke ends up hanging out with Mito, I think? Like yeah, sure, she’s an Uzumaki, but she’s chill and refined and calm and she has really good tea in stock. Sure he has to learn fuuinjutsu to have an excuse to hang out with her, but that’s fine. It’s interesting. Karin does it too, sometimes.

tbh that probably leaves Hashirama to hang out with Juugo? Juugo isn’t great at Excite but he is great at nature so I feel like Hashirama would be stars-in-eyes about Juugo talking to birds the way Hashirama talks to trees, and Hashirama just gets him a chicken coop like HERE. FRIENDS.

But back to the suspected child theft.

Hashirama is like “That is... clearly an Uchiha. They are going to find out, Tobirama! Someone is going to figure out we have--” “Sasuke, show him your other eye. Yeah, the one you cover.” “...” “Okay, go back to playing.” “...Tobirama.” “Yeah?” “That was a Rinnegan.” “You know those rumors that the only way to get a Rinnegan is to mix the Uchiha and Senju bloodlines?” “It’s true?” “No idea, Sasuke won’t tell me anything about his parents other than their names, and he’s three, but even the chance of it being true means we have an arguable claim.” “...that’s not going to be enough to convince the Uchiha.” “The theory is but one weapon of many in the upcoming battle of wits.” “Tobirama--” “Now if you’ll excuse me, Anija, I need to go make sure Suigetsu doesn’t flood the training grounds again.”

tbh I can’t remember who made the original comment in canon about the Rinnegan being achieved via Senju/Uchiha babies but it’s funny to use here so I’ll pretend it’s a common rumor that nobody actually believes

MEANWHILE WITH THE UCHIHA Madara found and took custody of Team Seven and company, mostly because they’re like... jounin-level despite being less than three feet tall.

It involves a lot of Madara going "I want My New Children to love me!" and being sorely disappointed by half of them. Poor fucker got stuck with Naruto, Sakura, Sai, Kakashi, Yamato, and Obito.

(KakaYamaObito are deaged by the time-travel to 10-13ish. The kids are deaged to 3-4. Everyone has memories to just after the fourth war or so.)

Karin sensed T7 and tagalong pretty much the second they popped out of Kamui, and told Sasuke, but he correctly guessed that Naruto would hunt him down eventually, and said they should enjoy the peace and quiet while they had it.

Sai pulls emotionless creepy smiles in an attempt to freak out Madara but since Madara's whole thing initially was "less children in war," he's... mostly just sad. Izuna wants to know who made his brother cry.

Madara makes a vaguely misogynistic comment that's typical for the period and Sakura just. Breaks his tibia.

Naruto is genuinely trying to treat Madara with the kind of respect a caretaker that Attempts To Care And Do Good By Them deserves, because Naruto is a good egg, but he's... three again. Which means he's a Hellion.

The literal toddlers (Naruto and Sakura are three-ish, Sai is four-ish) are, in fact, toddlers, so nobody really expects them to be able to do anything. Nobody bothers to test them beyond the basics of like. Can walk? Can talk? Can maybe hold knife? Like don’t get me wrong, they’re very competent toddlers, but their hands can barely wrap around a kunai. Their bodies are tiny. Their bones only just stopped being soft!

That said, the “tweens” (re: adults who got deaged but Less) have to get tested for their skills. Kakashi downplays himself to what he imagines a semi-competent eleven-year-old to be capable of. He thinks of, like, Neji maybe? Good, but not suspiciously good.

Obito enters an intangible state and refuses to participate. He has a Mangekyo. His body is half-Zetsu. Stop bothering him. He doesn’t want to do anything. They assign him babysitting duty for Team Seven since he can obviously defend pretty well, and Kakashi vouches for his abilities as a fighter.

Yamato decides to try to be just a little worse than Kakashi but at one point he panics and does Mokuton on instinct and now the entire Uchiha compound is screeching because did they just steal a Main Family Senju kid by accident?

Yamato: Should I tell them I was a science experiment? Kakashi: No.

Pranks galore! None of the other time-travelers even try to stop Naruto, except maybe Yamato.

Obito at the Uchiha compound is mostly "I don't want to participate" and then just uses Kamui to be intangible until people leave him alone. If it's not another time-traveler or Madara, he's not interested. He doesn't even care that much about Sai or Yamato, actually, so if it's not an original T7 member, he doesn't care, and if it's Madara, he's just here to make things Difficult.

The Kyuubi wanders up to the Uchiha compound one day and everyone's preparing for a battle, even Madara isn't confident that he can-- [BANG] "KURAMA!" [delighted squealing]

Naruto now has a pet. The entire clan is terrified. Kurama pokes his nose at Naruto's stomach and disappears into the memory of a seal.

Madara, frantically writing a letter to Hashirama "What do I do if my toddler is possessed?!?"

Hashirama: You have a toddler?!?!?! OMG you should organize playdates with Tobirama's kids! Madara: I'M GOING TO QUESTION THAT LATER, PLEASE HELP WITH THE POSSESSION THING

Kurama hunts down Naruto, and the Jinchuuriki situation is very much in the realm of "Dis Mine" Also a bit of "If I'm in the brat, there's at least one Mangekyo user in hearing distance who can and will risk his life to prevent brainwashing. (Kakashi. It’s Kakashi.)

Naruto: Kurama's one of my best friends! Every time traveler: Yeah, that tracks. Madara: [teakettle screeching]

Per @firebirdeternal​: I'm just loving the visual of Giant Nightmare Terror Kurama kneeling down and pressing his nose to Naruto's Smol Chubby Toddler self and closing his eyes while Naruto pets him and giggles and every single battle-ready Uchiha is just. "wat"

Everybody else: Cool so Madara adopted a witch Uchiha Elders: We need to be careful of this horrible creature The younger generation of Uchiha: Okay that was weirdly serene and adorable and frankly the brat is really likeable when he's not being adhd as hell I think this is actually pretty dope.

Madara really wants to be a Good Dad but he has no idea how he ended up being "a dad" in the first place. He just! He cares a lot about this random assortment of kids! Some of them are from prominent clans and there should be search parties for the Senju kid with the Mokuton, or the Hatake brat, or the Uzumaki that doesn't look Uzumaki but definitely feels Uzumaki.... and SURE the only Uchiha of the bunch is a stranger who hates him for no reason Madara can come up with, but! He wants to be a good authority figure!

At least the Uzumaki appreciates that he's trying.

Seriously, though, there are clan kids and nobody’s looking for them, what’s up with that?

Kakashi still has a prize copy of Icha Icha and nobody in the Uchiha compound does a thorough check of his reading material until like three months in.

He is blamed for Naruto developing the Oiroke, because where ELSE would a toddler get such ideas? (Yamato and Obito both tell him he brought this on himself.)

Naruto waits until a Big Important Meeting lets out, something about tithes or a merchant contract, and just pulls a Harem no Jutsu in front of the entire group of Elders And Main Family. First he does a Mass Shadow Clone, which makes everyone turn on Sharingan because Fancy New Techniques to steal! Sure, they were late on the shadow clones, but the kid is clearly gearing up for something! The something is Oiroke.

Anime Nosebleeds everywhere. Most of the elders were hit. Izuna was hit. Madara is not bleeding from the nose, but he is very upset about having semi-accidentally sharingan-memorized his weird adoptee’s Sexy Older Female Alter Ego. There is yelling.

Naruto’s like “Oh, I missed some!” and decides to try again with Reverse Harem no Jutsu because there are old ladies among the Elders, and maybe some straight women representing a guild, and maybe some gay guys he missed! Madara is still not bleeding. (He’s very demi and tbh Naruto only would have succeeded if he’d tried to use Hashirama’s face. Naruto does not know this. He just figures Madara is ace like Sasuke and that no variant is going to work.)

Izuna gets another nosebleed and is just like “Well, this is not how I planned on coming out as bi, but--” “Izuna, I literally do not care about you being bi as long as one of us has an heir at some point, I’m more upset about the fact that my child has been corrupted!”

Back in the Senju compound, there is... a lot of screaming, honestly, but every time Karin and Suigetsu start trying to kill each other again, Tobirama just shrugs and tells them not to break anything.

Very easy-going caretaker, really. He's got some very deadly toddlers in hand, but they're still just toddlers.

Sasuke: Yeah, I might want to go see my clan at some point. Suigetsu: Yeah, I might want to go see my clan at some point. Karin, clinging to Mito: Yeah, I want to go see my clan at some point. Juugo: Please never, ever take me to my clan. Ever. Please. I'll stay with Sasuke, thank you.

Naruto breaks out of the Uchiha compound the first time he enters Sage Mode, several months in (it took a while to get the privacy) because he feels Sasuke and lbr if Naruto knows where Sasuke is, nothing will stop him.

The Uchiha clansmen cannot catch the errant toddler. They fail to inform Madara until Naruto is already in Senju territory because nobody wanted to admit the toddler outmaneuvered them.

Naruto wasn’t sure how to get into the Senju Compound safely so he just goes full Kyuubi, bounds over the wall screaming SASUKEEEEE at the top of his lungs, and then shrinks back down to Tiny Brat size so he could hug his Bestest Friend Ever and cling like a limpet while Sasuke just sighs and stares at the wall.

Sakura ran after him.

Sai painted a bird and Yamato dragged Kakashi onto it to chase Naruto, because Kakashi is at a point of zen regarding Naruto's bullshit and fully trusts the kid to not die.

Obito refuses to look up from whatever he's doing and asks people why they think he cares.

“We told you to look after the toddlers!” “Why would you do that? Seems like poor planning on your part.”

Disappears when nobody's looking. Waits until the Ruckus at the Senju compound (where T7 has crashed in to tackle-hug Sasuke and Madara followed in and proceeded to get shouty, and nobody's dead or battling because they're too confused and also it's a comedy) has started to calm down, and then teleports in and demonstrates Mokuton just to make Madara's life harder when the Senju Elders start demanding answers.

His energy is very "I am here to make Madara's life harder" and Madara still doesn't know what he did wrong.

Madara: That brat has a Sharingan! Tobirama: Well THAT one has Mokuton! Obito: Yamato has it too. [angry teakettle noises]

Madara's first response to seeing Sasuke is to turn to Izuna and point aggressively at the toddler while making a tea-kettle noise "He looks just like you!" "He's four, he barely looks like anything!"

Naruto, tugging at Madara's hakama: You need to make a village with Hashirama so I can see Sasuke more often, cuz I don't wanna ditch you guys, but I gotta see Sasuke! He's my best friend! Madara, who is aware that he could fight this child but really doesn't want to, and also knows that a tantrum thrown by Naruto or Sasuke is capable of leveling mountains: Right, yes, we'll get right on that.

tbh Madara wants the village anyway but "The bijuu-whisperer said he wants it to happen" is a great way to push things forward.

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

#9: “Ladybug can't be akumatized because I said so!”

In the past three seasons of Miraculous Ladybug, Marinette has been through a lot. In addition to struggling to convey her feelings to Adrien, she has also fought several supervillains on a weekly basis, been subjected to all kinds of humiliation, and has had her friendships tested thanks to Lila's lies. Despite all of this stress, Marinette still hasn't akumatized, though she came close in the episode “Ladybug” (Hawkmoth was forced to abort his plan at the time). But because she was so close to becoming an Akuma, fans naturally wondered if this was only a taste of what was to come.

So someone on Twitter raised the question if Marinette would ever actually be akumatized. By this point, you can guess how Astruc responded.

As usual, despite being polite in the way this person phrased their tweet, Astruc acts like they're being ridiculous to even suggest something like that. And honestly, I'm surprised this tweet hasn't gotten more criticism from the Miraculous Ladybug fandom. Like, I think it's up there with the stuff he says about Chloe, it's that bad.

I mean, how can any writer say something like “That's a difference between an idea and a story” with a straight face? The difference between an idea and a story is that a story is simply an idea fully realized. That's it. This is like saying there's a difference between a recipe and an apple pie. One's still a page in a cookbook, the other is for dessert at Thanksgiving dinner because someone followed the recipe from said cookbook.

At the same time, Astruc barely explains why Marinette getting akumatized wouldn't work. What does he even mean when he says to think about when Hawkmoth talks to Marinette? Does he think she'll immediately hand over her Miraculous to him before going after Cat Noir? Does he think Cat Noir isn't able to stop Marinette should she get akumatized? What is he trying to say here? It's not like someone with a Miraculous can't be akumatized.

Someone brought up the fact that not only has Cat Noir been akumatized (As well as Carapace, Rena Rouge, and Queen Bee), but since the Rabbit Miraculous has the power of time travel, they really aren't bound by anything, especially since the whole plot of “Cat Blanc” was that Bunnix helped to undo the timeline where he was akumatized.

And what does Astruc say in response to this? You won't believe it. The lack of self-awareness is purely mind-blowing here.

Yes. He actually claims that his show isn't just spinning its wheels by doing the same thing over and over again. How can he think something like this, when he literally had two separate episodes in Season 3 that were about Marinette and Adrien figuring out each other's identities and then undoing that massive plot development by the end? Are you telling me that isn't deceptive?

Astruc, how can you, as a creator, say what can and can't be done? You can't tell me that not a single person thought the concept for Miraculous Ladybug was ridiculous. If someone did, it obviously didn't stop you from going ahead and making your show. For God's sake, a big part of what got people interested in Miraculous Ladybug in the first place was the concepts introduced in the show, like the Love Square and Hawkmoth's Akumas. There are a lot of fans who outright think the actual show is garbage, and consider several fan works to be far superior, like @miraculouscontent‘s LadyBugOut AU, or @zoe-oneesama​‘s Scarlet Lady comic. Do you know why they made those? Because they had an idea (both ironically based on the show's poor writing), thought about it, and converted it into a story.

But then again, I don't think I've ever heard of a TV show where the main hero was brainwashed to work for the villain while the other characters have to stop them—OH WAIT.

Yes, arguably one of the most iconic episodes in television history, “The Best of Both Worlds” from Star Trek: The Next Generation follows a similar premise to what Astruc thinks can never happen. In case you live under a rock and haven't seen Star Trek, this episode is about Captain Picard getting assimilated into the hive mind of the Borg, forcing Commander Riker and the rest of the crew on the Enterprise to step up to stop the Borg from using Picard's knowledge of Starfleet to assimilate Earth.

This episode is often considered by many Trekkies to be the pinnacle of the entire franchise in its 54 year run, and the drama of Picard being assimilated is one of the key reasons. Without the Enterprise's fearless leader, there's a level of uncertainty to the situation, best reflected in Riker's reluctance to take charge as the new captain. It was even more interesting to see the crew's struggle to choose between defeating the Borg or saving Picard. There's a reason why the cliffhanger at the end of the first part was so shocking, as it showed Riker's development and willingness to do whatever it takes to save the day, even if it means possibly killing Picard.

You're telling me we can't get anything like that with Cat Noir or any of the other heroes if Marinette gets akumatized?

Hell, there's also a lot of narrative possibilities that could come from Marinette dealing with the trauma of being Akumatized. She could mentally berate herself for letting this happen to her, claiming this shouldn't happen and how she almost got everyone killed while working for Hawkmoth.

You know, like what the episode after “The Best of Both Worlds” did with Picard emotionally venting to his brother.

How come that can't happen because of what Hawkmoth says to Marinette?

Oh, wait! I get it now! “The Best of Both Worlds” is an actual story, but thinking about Marinette getting akumatized is just an idea because it hasn't become an actual story yet. It all makes sense now!

Then in that case, I guess these are just ideas as well.

[the-courage-to-heal]

11 Warning Signs of Gaslighting:

Gaslighting is a manipulation tactic used to gain power. And it works too well.

Gaslighting is a tactic in which a person or entity, in order to gain more power, makes a victim question their reality. It works much better than you may think. Anyone is susceptible to gaslighting, and it is a common technique of abusers, dictators, narcissists, and cult leaders. It is done slowly, so the victim doesn't realize how much they've been brainwashed. For example, in the movie Gaslight (1944), a man manipulates his wife to the point where she thinks she is losing her mind.

In my book Gaslighting: Recognize Manipulative and Emotionally Abusive People - and Break Free  I detail how gaslighters typically use the following techniques:  

1. They tell blatant lies.

You know it's an outright lie. Yet they are telling you this lie with a straight face. Why are they so blatant? Because they're setting up a precedent. Once they tell you a huge lie, you're not sure if anything they say is true. Keeping you unsteady and off-kilter is the goal.

2. They deny they ever said something, even though you have proof.

You know they said they would do something; you know you heard it. But they out and out deny it. It makes you start questioning your reality—maybe they never said that thing. And the more they do this, the more you question your reality and start accepting theirs.

3. They use what is near and dear to you as ammunition.

They know how important your kids are to you, and they know how important your identity is to you. So those may be one of the first things they attack. If you have kids, they tell you that you should not have had those children. They will tell you'd be a worthy person if only you didn't have a long list of negative traits. They attack the foundation of your being.

4. They wear you down over time.

This is one of the insidious things about gaslighting—it is done gradually, over time. A lie here, a lie there, a snide comment every so often...and then it starts ramping up. Even the brightest, most self-aware people can be sucked into gaslighting—it is that effective. It's the "frog in the frying pan" analogy: The heat is turned up slowly, so the frog never realizes what's happening to it.

5. Their actions do not match their words.

When dealing with a person or entity that gaslights, look at what they are doing rather than what they are saying. What they are saying means nothing; it is just talk. What they are doing is the issue.

6. They throw in positive reinforcement to confuse you.

This person or entity that is cutting you down, telling you that you don't have value, is now praising you for something you did. This adds an additional sense of uneasiness. You think, "Well maybe they aren't so bad." Yes, they are. This is a calculated attempt to keep you off-kilter—and again, to question your reality. Also look at what you were praised for; it is probably something that served the gaslighter.

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7. They know confusion weakens people.

Gaslighters know that people like having a sense of stability and normalcy. Their goal is to uproot this and make you constantly question everything. And humans' natural tendency is to look to the person or entity that will help you feel more stable—and that happens to be the gaslighter.  

8. They project.

They are a drug user or a cheater, yet they are constantly accusing you of that. This is done so often that you start trying to defend yourself, and are distracted from the gaslighter's own behavior.

9. They try to align people against you.

Gaslighters are masters at manipulating and finding the people they know will stand by them no matter what—and they use these people against you. They will make comments such as, "This person knows that you're not right," or "This person knows you're useless too." Keep in mind it does not mean that these people actually said these things. A gaslighter is a constant liar. When the gaslighter uses this tactic it makes you feel like you don't know who to trust or turn to—and that leads you right back to the gaslighter. And that's exactly what they want: Isolation gives them more control.  

10. They tell you or others that you are crazy.

This is one of the most effective tools of the gaslighter, because it's dismissive. The gaslighter knows if they question your sanity, people will not believe you when you tell them the gaslighter is abusive or out-of-control. It's a master technique.  

11. They tell you everyone else is a liar.

By telling you that everyone else (your family, the media) is a liar, it again makes you question your reality. You've never known someone with the audacity to do this, so they must be telling the truth, right? No. It's a manipulation technique. It makes people turn to the gaslighter for the "correct" information—which isn't correct information at all.

The more you are aware of these techniques, the quicker you can identify them and avoid falling into the gaslighter's trap.  

[dominusfero]

I see you want to do a self-ship challenge and can't choose between David, Daniel, and Jasper. I dare you to do all three.

Okay.

1. 

David: His personality, his long arms perfect for hugging and his gorgeous smile

Daniel: His beautiful eyes, his talent at violin/fiddle, his charisma

Jasper: His humor (no doubt he’s a memer), he’s got the cuddliest bod, his sense of fashion (as horrible as it may be, it’s amazing to me)

2. 

David: My baking skills. I love baking and I’m betting David has a serious sweet-tooth. We always have too many cookies, cakes, brownies in the house.

Daniel: I have magic hands (not NSFW, I took massage classes). I always manage to melt the tension out of his back and neck muscles, and he becomes a puddle when I do his thighs and feet. He’s very tense.

Jasper: (Not revealing my gender but--) Jasper likes my body, but not in a creepy way. He likes every little minor thing about my body, from my own scars to the heart shaped birthmark on my inner thigh. Plus, he says I’m soft.

3.

Since we all live together, it’d be a bunch of different pets. Daniel gets his own pet rat called Snowflake, Jasper and I share a little Dasypeltis named Scramble, and David has a German Shepard that we call Kino.

4. Raised ranch with a pool, big veggie garden and a nice patio. Stuck between bordering on a forest for the animals or set in a giant field so Jasper and I can go ATVing.

5. Do I need to? David and Daniel are both adults, their voices won’t change. Jasper’s, however, is definitely deeper than it was as a child. My best guess is: he sounds exactly like Griffin McElroy.

6. Everyone assumes it’s David, but really, it’s Daniel. He’s only ever known the forced version of love due to the brainwashing, never genuine. The first time I hugged him and he hugged back, I ended up falling asleep because he wouldn’t let me go.

7. Also Daniel. Romantically, I think it’s rooted in potential abandonment issues / possessiveness but it’s never egregious. Any other kind, it’s the same reason why David gets jealous: absurd competitiveness. Can’t ever be the worst at something, otherwise it’s Tantrum Time. Fortunately, kisses make this go away.

8. 

David: Counting Stars by One Republic (country-ish vibe fits with his aesthetic)

Daniel: The whole of “Love Like You” by Rebecca Sugar

Jasper: Blackout by Breathe Carolina (Party vibes man)

9. Yes! Okay, so the guys change all the time but I’m usually in the middle (or close to it). Daniel is a clingy s.o.b. If he isn’t latched onto me, it’s either David or Jasper. I always end up in somebody’s arms, though. It’s really nice. Jasper’s chest hair tickles.

10. 

David: One jab in the ribs and he squirms and squeals like a child

Daniel: Dude has 0 resistance to the tickles. I do not understand.

Jasper: A fucking rock (pun intended). He feels nothing.

Me: Ehh...kinda? I don’t think so.

11.

David

12.

We’re thinking of somewhere either in southern Italy or, if we had to stay domestic, probably New Orleans, Louisiana for the cuisine and culture.

13.

David: Forest cottagecore wedding

Daniel: Believe it or not, he wants a fairytale theme complete with toadstool cupcakes, pastel colored lights and simple grassy vibes. He likes the fantasy aspect of it because it feels so freeing.

Jasper: He’s stuck between Star Wars and an 80s bowling alley theme.

Me: Beach wedding so I don’t have to wear fancy clothes. Just a white swimsuit so I can go swimming right after.

14. Yeah, but the amount changes depending on who you ask. David wants two: one boy, one girl. Daniel, coming from a rather large family, wants no less than four and prefers boys. Jasper says he’s cool with one, has his fingers crossed for a girl but says if we end up with a boy, that’s just as dope.

15.

Daniel is the poet, Jasper is the cheesy love song writer.

16.

I guess my affection comes out in my cooking, but I also just snuggle/cuddle the fuck outta my boys.

David, for sure, is grand gestures. Flowers sent to work, buying candy/snacks when you’ve had a bad day, etc.

Daniel is more subtle, like meticulously folding the laundry or organizing your messy ass desk so you can actually find shit or tuning the guitar.

Jasper shows his love through bad puns and lots of hugs.

17.

To David: On cheek, forehead, lips

From David: My nose because he thinks it’s funny

To Daniel: On the back of his neck because it makes him weak in the knees

From Daniel: Knuckles because he’s a gentleman

To Jasper: His tum is fun because it makes him laugh but his lips are so much better

From Jasper: Wherever he can get to, he does not discriminate

18.

Since there’s four of us, we cuddle in a big pile on our lovely, humongous bed. Or in a pile split between the couch and floor while watching TV or movies.

19.

David: If he’s near somewhere to sit, I grab him from behind and pull him down and force him either into my lap or on top of me. Then I hold him until he feels less crappy. Kisses are involved.

Daniel: I brew him a cup of his favorite tea, give him a kiss and shoulder rub.

Jasper: He’s easy. Sneak up on him and squish a whoopie cushion with a straight face. Or kick open the door to wherever he is after blasting the Monsters Inc. Opening Meme track.

Me: I don’t have too many bad days but I do, being around my boys is enough to fix my mood on its own. But for those days when it isn’t, my boys usually make me some kind of fix-it meal (that usually isn’t very good but I ain’t gonna say anything).

20.

David: Gardening, well, veggie gardening. We love hoe-ing around together.

Daniel: Drawing and writing together. Daniel writes poetry and I design covers and illustrations to go along with it.

Jasper: Video games and meme sharing / making

21.

David: He took me out to this nice little hidden oasis deep in the mountains of the forest and we gazed at the stars. He started talking about something relating to the area we were in, but I fell asleep on him. Literally, we were laying down and I was on his right side and fell asleep with my face in his chest.

Daniel: We binged a bunch of horror movies and spent the night laughing at the stupid ways people died (or let themselves be killed). It was fun!

Jasper: I whooped his ass in Mario Kart and then we played Minecraft. I accidentally (not really) blew up his house.

22.

Camp (I was working for Camp Corp. and was sent to relay marketing information and a potential budget for the coming year, as well as mockup any infrastructure changes that may need doing)

23.

Daniel, though I will cut a bitch if anyone hurts my boys in any way. Daniel will actively murder, though, so we try not to let that happen.

24. 

YES

I miss my boys so much! David cries a lot and it hurts me in every conceivable way.

Ask me a freebie, I’ll answer it!

[whatyoufish4]

Episode 3 - “Lamentis”

“Look, I can’t go backwards on a train.”

This might be my favorite of the three episodes thus far, and I’m slightly surprised to find myself typing that -- because in some ways, not a lot happens. If “Glorious Purpose” was a character deconstruction, and “The Variant” was all plot -- man, “Lamentis” is dialogue.

Like, there’s Loki and there’s Sylvie, and, yes, there’s a handful of other characters that get to talk (maybe less than a handful; maybe three, the woman in the trailer home and the two guards outside the train?) -- but for the most part, we are just following two characters as they try to find their way off of an apocalypse, and while there are a few minutes of fight scenes, it’s really pretty much ... talking.

And I *loved* it.

I’ve felt for awhile that this series feels more like a Doctor Who spin-off than a Marvel one (this is not a criticism, or even a complaint; I frickin’ adore Doctor Who). But there was a corner of my mind that couldn’t get over that this episode had been made even as I was watching it -- they were really going to let us slow down long enough to just let two characters talk?  Just have conversations, and open up a bit to each other, and try to figure out a way to work together and figure each other out?  And give us insights into who Loki is, on a fundamentally different level than we’ve ever seen before?  How is this being allowed?

I have been enjoying the TVA and Mobius (and Loki’s interactions with Mobius) to quite a ridiculous degree, and in “The Variant,” in particular, we start to see who Loki is when he’s not coming out of a place of emotional trauma and fascist brainwashing -- and that has been, y’know, overwhelmingly fantastic. But he’s still on something of the back foot over the course of “The Variant;” he’s clearly fond of Mobius, but he doesn’t entirely trust the TVA (well, neither do I), and he’s still coming from a place of trying to feel his way out, I think. “I’m ten steps ahead of you,” he tells Mobius, and while that might to some degree be a bluff -- I think it’s certainly fair to say that Loki is thinking ahead at least five, trying to figure out what’s going on and where he stands and what he can do about the cosmic bureaucracy he’s found himself in -- who may or may not want him dead, and who certainly want him locked in the role, the box, they’ve assigned him to.

But in “Lamentis,” we are seeing Loki not only dealing with a much more straightforward problem (that, therefore, doesn’t require half a dozen steps-ahead thinking, just a kind of we gotta recharge this thing and find a way outta here) ... but also kinda just, y’know, hanging out for a second.

And it’s, well -- it’s kind of ... glorious.

Loki’s tricks and schemes are part of his charm, and I love watching any Trickster character circling plans within plans. But being the god of Mischief means other things, too -- like having a sense of humor, like seeing the absurdity around you, like being assured in who you are, like having fun. Loki is sitting on a train and making jokes and casting spells and casting spells to make jokes, and going all Tenth Doctor while leading the train on a singalong even though they are traveling through an apocalypse, but he’s making friends and being the life of the party and raising spirits while doing it because that’s what a god of Mischief does. And I just couldn’t believe it, I couldn’t believe that we were getting to see Loki be exactly how I always imagined Loki to be when he isn’t spiraling into trauma-fueled hatred and heartbreak, when he isn’t even trying to figure out a scheme or what’s behind the curtain -- but when he’s simply able to be. And it was enchanting, purely captivating, for me. 

... and speaking of casting spells, let me real quick just say: MAAAAAGIIIIIC.

Look, I effing LOVE magic, okay. Fantasy is my first and still-best genre, and it was slim pickings for much of my life with finding on-screen fantasy that was, y’know, good. Fantasy that actually, like, shows the characters actually doing some actual damn magic already was even rarer, back in the day; even now, it can still be hard to find. (I didn’t watch “Game of Thrones,” but neither it -- nor the Lord of the Rings trilogy -- really had all that much magic going in it.)

So I was kind of hoping, in this series, that we might get to see Loki magick things up a bit -- but this episode exceeded my wildest expectations. From simple mini-transportations and conjuring/un-conjuring during his initial fights with Sylvie, to fireworks and quill-and-ink jokes to amuse and entertain, to blasting green magic out of his hands like a flippin’ anime character. He also stops a falling blast of concrete and ricochets it back in the other direction in the episode’s last few minutes, prompting me to speak for one of the only times in the entire episode (“Whoa, could you do that this entire time??”) -- but I was, of course, laughing and delighted.

(“But if Loki can blast green magic out of his hands and MOVE BLOCKS OF CONCRETE, how comes in all the movies he never --” Because he was a secondary character then and he’s the protagonist now, that’s why. He gets Protagonist Powers this time around, and I for one am just overjoyed to see them.)

Even without magic -- I also just (I can’t help it, that this is how far gone I am in my affection for this character) -- I also just enjoyed having Loki talk. Especially as he’s not talking about trauma, or scheming, or apocalypses. (I mean, I think all of those three things were actually all touched on, but they weren’t the focus.) I loved learning about him, y’know?  I loved hearing him say he can’t ride backwards on a train (SOLIDARITY). I loved hearing him talk about Frigga doing magic for him as a child, telling him that he could do the same one day, that he “could do anything.” I loved listening to him sing, loved how his face lit up, loved how gentle he was towards Sylvie in that moment. I loved his Tenth-Doctor-like (or is it Thor-like?) fumbling with his tea set, shedding crumbs and saucers onto the floor, all part of the fun.,

I loved -- and found deeply, touchingly important -- to hear him using four simple words, “A bit of both,” to proclaim himself the first clearly, openly, in-text queer character of the MCU. It was sweet and heartfelt and simple and natural and a truth, and let the character be seen, and it nearly made me cry.

I was mesmerized by this episode, just absolutely transfixed. I’ve watched it twice, and each time I forgot someone else was in the room with me; I am so far wrapped up in Loki and Sylvie and watching them finding their way with each other, seeing these new hints of who Loki is. And who Sylvie is, to a point, although I imagine we’ll know far more about her after Episode 4.

I adore Sylvie. I don’t know Sophia Di Martino from anything else, as far as I know (I’m so committed to avoiding spoilers and theories, I don’t even want to look up her IMDB page to see if I might know her from anything else), but she’s doing a phenomenal job.

Sylvie is fantastic. She’s brusque and hard-edged, but clever, but practical, but sense-of-humored, but with a streak of kindness (or at least something like it). Di Martino and Hiddleston work exceedingly well together; I loved watching them figuring each other out; I loved Loki’s surprise and fascination with finding out Sylvie knew the truth of her heritage from the beginning; I loved Sylvie teasing him with the compliment of Loki knowing “half-decent magic” that is, indeed, a true compliment. I loved Loki showing her magic and song to bring her a bit of light; I loved Sylvie accepting the kindness, and offering bits of kindness in return. I don’t want Hiddleston stepping out of the role, but I would watch Sylvie be the Agent of Asgard (“But never at the expense of the mission!”) if, I don’t know, an additional spin-off series would be put on the table.

(This is not gonna be a thing; I’m just saying.)

Loki presenting as female is something that’s deeply important to me, and I’m waiting to see where we go with Sylvie before getting any further into the character -- but, for now: Sylvie is, well, glorious, and I’m thankful for that.

For all that much of this was simply Loki and Sylvie figuring out where they stand (figuratively and literally), there were two moments that leapt out into something broader. The first is a pure character moment, and I think I missed it entirely my first time through the episode -- but once I caught it, it struck me and struck me hard. It’s in the final scene, when Loki and Sylvie are trying to make their way to the “Ark,” the enormous space shuttle taking off before the moon is destroyed by the oncoming planet. People are clamoring to get onto the ship, crying to get onto the ship, while officials are on the intercoms saying We’re at capacity, there’s no room, please return to your homes -- and Loki, standing on a slight rise and watching it all swirling around him, murmurs to himself, “They’re gonna let these people die.”

It hit me the moment I caught the line, but it took me some pondering before I realized why it felt so significant: this is the first time we’ve seen Loki react with empathy to people outside his own circle. He risks his life to save Asgard, but Asgard is his home, his people; he absolutely risks his life to save Jane, but Jane is a person loved by Loki’s brother. This is the first time I can think of where we see Loki look at people who are not his family or his people -- who have no connection to him -- and truly see them ... and yes, being upset that many people are about to die is kind of the lowest bar of Common Decency, I know that, I’m not saying give him a medal. But it is such a shift in what we’ve seen in him at his lowest -- seeing him care, seeing him empathize, seeing him stand with a crowd of mortals and not think They’ll be dead soon anyway or What is this to a god -- but rather, How can the ones in charge turn their back on this? (A pin in this for a moment.)

The second bit of shock, of course, is Sylvie dropping a bombshell of information that she doesn’t even realize is a bombshell: that the “employees” of the TVA are not people created by the Time Keepers, but are, instead, Variants themselves. I gasped aloud when Sylvie tells Loki (and us) this, and was as alarmed as Loki himself (“They don’t know that!”) -- partly because I, too, so much enjoy Casey and Ravonna and all the rest of the TVA agents (especially the Librarian Agent with that little broken bell <3). And Mobius -- who is trying to do a job, a duty, and who believes in what he is doing, in the goodness and worth of it. And who may be in trouble.

* * * * * I was chatting on the phone with my brother this weekend, and he asked me what I thought Loki’s goal is, in this series -- “What does Loki want?” is how he put it. I was surprised to find that I couldn’t immediately answer, and even more surprised when I thought it over for a bit and reflected on the fact that Loki tells us what he wants, multiple times: he wants to manipulate the TVA. He wants to overthrow the Time Keepers. He wants to seize the ultimate power – a power so strong, it can grant its employees Infinity Stones as paperweights. He tells us this, every episode. How could I forget that?

Well, because it’s become more complicated than that. “You don’t know what you want,” Sylvie snaps at Loki – and that’s been true for Loki for much of his journey. The irony right now is that I think Loki – who may have just come out of the events of Avengers 1, but who, unbeknownst to Mobius and TVA, saw his future playing out into love and acceptance from the family and people he thought he’d turned his back on – Loki, I suspect, is torn between what he knows he’s supposed to want (power, control, a throne), and what this new version of himself actually wants. A new version of himself -- not because he’s a Variant, but because he’s starting to choose to change ... even if the ultimate power in the universe says he cannot.

I don’t think Loki has any great love for the Time Keepers (nor should he), and I think his goal to peel back the curtain on the TVA and find out who and what the Time Keepers are is still very much what he’s working for. But I also think Loki has found himself in the curious position of wanting to coax Mobius into trying a jet ski, to suggest to Hunter B-15 that maybe they ought to start over, to wonder at a woman’s decision to wait on Lamentis-1 to die, to entertain a group of strangers on a train to lift their spirits (and his own), to feel the horror of the people trapped and forgotten while the Ark lifts off without them. To save Sylvie from being hit by falling rock not just because she’s part of his ticket off of this moon, but also because he simply wants to help her. There’s room in Loki to want these things, now, despite all his past trauma -- and that’s changing him, Variant or no, into a truer version of himself. A version that he’s choosing.

It has not escaped my notice that the phrase Glorious Purpose has been mentioned in every episode -- by Loki, announcing himself to a group of humans in Mongolia minding their own business; by Mobius, proclaiming it to be his own work and his duty to the TVA; as a bit of a biting challenge to Sylvie, comparing it to her rather grim (and still somewhat mysterious) mission.

... oh yeah, and this fourth time. In the first episode. Loki has been shown -- and told -- that he has been born “to cause pain and suffering and death. That’s how it is, that’s how it was, that’s how it will be. All so that others can achieve their best versions of themselves.”  He has just finished playing out the TVA’s video of his life -- and seen himself die at the hands of Thanos. And while he’s weeping, and laughing -- bitterly, painfully -- Hunter B-15 comes in and asks him, “What’s so funny?”

“Glorious Purpose,” he tells her, just before trying to escape. And to find a way out of the TVA, too.

Despite his understanding of the power of the Time Keepers -- who give Infinity Stones to their staff for paperweights (“Give me a break,” Loki tells Sylvie, speaking of the Time Keepers, “you can’t beat them.”) -- despite the bad odds, I think our Trickster is trying to find his way past the Time Keepers, and the Glorious Purpose they have insisted on laying out for him. Because Loki, as we know, doesn’t care to have his choices, or his Purpose, chosen for him. He might even have an idea that, even as a Variant -- he might have something more to be. Because becoming something more?  That’s kind of Loki’s whole deal -- even if the universe, or the Time Keepers (or his previous writers!) have tried to decree otherwise.

... Only Time, I suppose, will tell.

Episode 1: “Glorious Purpose”

Episode 2: “The Variant”

[zu-is-here]

Hi again 💜

Yesterday... wasn't exactly good, to be honest. I was utterly exhausted and very much on edge the whole day without any apparent reason, which in turn drained me even more. But I finally called my psychotherapist and made an appointment next week; hopefully, we will figure something out. Also I attended my Chinese classes after being absent for a few weeks, and it was tiring but good. Plus yesterday was the first day of Season of Assembly in Sky: Children of the Light, and this game is generally a place where I seek comfort and rest, but now I was very excited, too. By the way, you are one of two people who I should thank for bringing this game in my life, yet I'm pretty sure I've never mentioned it... So. Thank you very much. Sky has become a very important part of my life.

Well, the feeling is mutual 💞 Your art is one of those few things I feel deep connection with and always look forward to! As for my creations... Well, I might not like them much, but I believe that you (and quite a few others) do. It's still very frustrating that I have no idea what is fine already and what needs improvement, but since other people see something good in what I do, it's a little easier to continue even while being in the dark myself.

I believe TheGrinningKitten mentioned that people chose this ending, while initially she had in mind another, bitter-sweet one... I'm still sad that it turned out this way. I mean, it's still good, this ending also makes sense, but... As I said, it doesn't click. X-tra Dark Cream though? That's another story. It's okay that you can't find the connection yet, it's kind of impossible without knowing what exactly leads Cross and Dream from their encounter with Nightmare and Killer to the events of my little teaser. And let me tell you, there is a lot going on there. The Killing Kind is great for some part of it.

My memory is good when it comes to those who I hold dear to my heart, and you happen to be one of those people, so yes, I do remember quite a lot of things you said 💞

Story of Evil is actually a part of Seven Deadly Sins (as well as Gift from the Princess Who Brought Sleep!), and in turn Seven Deadly Sins are a part of Evillious Chronicles ✨ So yeah, those are my favourite! And I do know the other songs you attached, Mosaic Roll was actually one of the first songs by Vocaloids I've ever listened! It was years ago, such nostalgia...

A wahoo for you, that's exactly the motivation I think Nightmare would be driven by! Make everyone happy like Dream couldn't, and even more so, like no amount of golden apples ever could. That, and Nightmare is just smart enough to make this work. Plus the woman who supposedly brainwashed Margarita? Totally the man's voice from the black apples. See, all of this makes sense!

Wow, we are getting near the end at last.

I know I don't have to, and I'm very glad and flattered to hear you are waiting for any of my works 🌻 It is a pleasure and an honor to have such a dedicated reader that you are! But the whole point is that I want to write something special for you, for so many reasons that listing them would increase the length of this ask quite a bit. There is no rush, no pressure, it's just one more reason to continue writing. And that's good, don't you think? I certainly do.

Anyway. Take care! *hugs*

Hi anfie╰(*´︶`*)╯

Thank you for your reply! I'm very sorry to hear about it, hope you'll get better very soon (ówò) But it's great that you've resumed your Chinese classes! How was it? *^*

Speaking about Season of Assembly in scotl, that sounds great! Gotta check this wonderful game, haven't been there for a long time <3 and it's so nice to know that you find a game and a place to your liking! I'm very pleased (〃ω〃)

I feel you, I didn’t even know that ending was chosen by others, that's another matter. As for the songs, it's finally all interconnected! And everything falls into place (・∀・) Such an interesting parallel indeed... It does makes sense ;3;

Oh I do. ♡ Take care! *hugs*

P. S. Thank you for waiting! The correspondence with you is not just an ask-reply thing for me but like– a ceremony? I love the way you make everyday things special. ☆

[lesbiankoby]

1/Shuake thought: Akechi is unsympathetically selfish in the 3rd semester; he should just deal with (what he erroneously perceives as) being brought back to life and stop treating himself as more important than the rest of the world. No one else can peel back reality to see the underlying Awfulness, so it’s unfair for him to make Joker, who seems to care about other people, too, choose his pride/angst at the situation over everyone else’s happiness.

okay i am going to respond to this one + your elaborations first anyway UNDER THE READMORE i will add off mobile but the tldr of my response to this is that in the plot of semester 3 of persona 5: the royal, akechi is presented as correct, he is the moral authority of this decision

“woah”, you might say, akechi? the moral authority on anything? in this case, yes! p5r... does not make sense if akechi isn’t right, for one. sumire’s storyline and resolution paints what maruki did to her as, at best, a brittle shield, and at worse intensely cruel. as you wander through the world you find the cracks in maruki’s actualization: maruki fundamentally does not believe in effort or ambition, due to his trauma. his reality is a world without it. people just... give up. they pick the path of least resistance. it’s as stagnant and repressive as yaldobaoth’s world, though with better intentions!

and, you know, brainwashing people is presented as pretty fucked up and creepy in-universe as well as out of universe. maruki wholesale rewrites peoples personalities if he think they’re inconvenient, detrimental to themselves or others. it’s... paternalistic bastard behavior. maruki’s idea of what is best for people is more important then any true happiness to him! anyway.

goro is presented in many ways as maruki’s diametric opposite, more ways then i really want to get into— but his worldview of radical freedom (brought about because he refuses to be anyone’s puppet any longer, finally true to his own beliefs) i opposed to maruki’s ideology. akechi is also the true arbiter of the “ideal” bad ending: you have to tell akechi you’re a sellout both times to trigger the ending, not maruki.

ANYWAY. etc etc etc the story presents maruki and wrong and ultimately akechi as correct etc i think you’ve come across a sort of flawed assumption? which is that maruki is an oppressive god, and, “no more bad thoughts” (BAD AND CREEPY) would probably uh more likely then not destabilize reality entirely rather then stabilize it, and there’s certainly no canon basis to the idea this would “break” any cycle! the cognitive world and reality are intrinsically linked. as long as humans exist, there will be shadows and personas. you can’t get rid of it, or rather, getting rid of it would involve either killing off humanity or removing their imagination and aspirations... and maruki sending the sea of souls pouring down on the heads of a population that’s had its ambition drained out while he like, drives himself even more round the bend just sounds like a wildly bad idea.

and that’s not even bringing up the fact that it’s implied azatoth had enough agency to contact him, so who knows what the implications of THAT are.

anyway. akechi is right maruki is wrong and when i say “implied apocalypse scenario” i mean if anything the established lore implies the shadow problem would get like worse before all of reality buckles and snaps like wet tissue paper or whatever. maruki was not getting what he wanted out of that situation lol.

[artsy-hobbitses]

Starscream in this AU is just So GOOD. Legit, this man is the definition of Bicon. Though on the angsty side, does he ever bring up to Windblade that he had a crush on Soundwave before he got his hear torn into?

I GOT YOU SECOND MESSAGE FRIEND NO WORRIES Soundwave to Shockwave for purposes of this ask :’3

He does!

Mostly because she wanted openness after he roughed up a post-war Senator for insulting her/making some extremely Proteus insinuations (Which she thought was very much not like him because he’s usually more cerebral about this sort of thing).

They have a talk, he doesn’t say it outright, but she asks about it when it’s clear he’s been more deeply hurt over this situation beyond just being a friend of Shockwave’s and he admits that yes, he had feelings for Shockwave back then and a lot of rage and guilt over the situation. She doesn’t take it personally, they talk it through like adults (and she advices him to get some counselling because there is a lot of unresolved trauma from his pre-war and war days a and this is one of them)

What happened with Shockwave is also actually the reason why he was, initially anyway, so bitter and scathing of Optimus Prime, because they actually knew each other pre-war through Shockwave. Starscream didn’t trust the Senate/Proteus esp with the conspiracy surrounding Senator Sherma and Momus’ deaths, and Shockwave didn’t either but did not realise they would go as far as to mutilate and brainwash him as an example others to stay silent (He’s a fellow Senator for God’s sake) and Optimus was in Shockwave’s camp. Starscream did talk to Optimus in private about his suspicions concerning Proteus being a fucking maniac with no sense of humanity and begged him not to leave Shockwave’s side as their vanguard during that increasingly dangerous investigation and Optimus made the promise that he wouldn’t.

But when his men and some of Shockwave’s Outliers are at risk of death and Shockwave himself decides to surrender in return for their lives, Optimus makes the hard choice to let Shockwave do this in order to save more than thirty others between them (Shockwave tells him to keep the movement alive despite whatever happens to him, mirroring Terminus’ request to Megatron to forge ahead with the revolution without him if necesary, though Shockwave says “Remember me as I was” and a broken down Terminus determined that nothing stop his boy and what his boy believes in says “Don’t get attached, go on without me if necessary”).

Optimus does actually call on Starscream immediately after what happened (Starscream was doing aerial recon elsewhere on Shockwave’s request) and they try to hunt down Shockwave’s location together but the clues Optimus found led to dead end after dead end and an enraged Starscream (HE TOLD YOU TO NOT LEAVE THE SENATOR’S SIDE! YOU PROMISED! YOU WERE THERE YOU COULD HAVE DONE SOMETHING!! NOW WHO KNOWS WHAT THE HELL THEY COULD BE DOING TO HIM!!) leaves him to seek out Megatron’s help for a more decisive way of getting rid of Proteus.

He carries this anger for Optimus way into the war, though it does soften much later on post-war when he himself has matured a bit more because it was Shockwave’s decision at the end of the day, he knows why Optimus went with it even if it hurts, and he wasn’t there which honestly is where part of the anger came from—-his own guilt being projected onto Optimus because he didn’t know how to deal with his thoughts regarding the matter.

[lore-of-the-silvereyes-rwby]

You had me with your words but you lost me with your action

This section will relate to the main theme of Volume 7(Trust) and how it relates to Ironwood. Basically despite all of his talk about cooperation and trust he has always been the one that has both rejected and withheld the most of these 2 concepts. Now some of this can be related to his questionable upbringing and past violent experiences. But the core idea is that for all his talk and promises he has never once kept them or bothered to see the error of his ways. As stated before his actions have done more harm than good.

He demands that his subordinates follow his orders without question because he thinks he is right and will always be right.  And he never once afforded Ozpin that same loyalty, trust, or authority.  Since his debut in the show, he was constantly questioning Ozpin’s choices, even though HE was the subordinate to Ozpin.  Kinda hypocritical given his demand for it. He thought differently from Ozpin and could never accept Ozpin’s ways, nor listen to them.  He expected the council, Ozpin, his soldiers, and the main heroes to follow him without question and he truly, honestly believes he is right.  This is scary, especially when you compare him to Ozpin, but I will get to that in a moment.  The big point is that people who are so sure that they are right, even if they are dead wrong, are the scariest adversaries.  

What we have here is a narcissist with a superiority complex who can not accept that he is wrong. He was unbalanced since he came into the picture, and Ozpin knew it.  But here is where things get interesting.

Prior to the fall of beacon Ironwood condemns Ozpin’s choices for keeping things secret and not sharing with the world everything.  And, yes, Ironwood does the EXACT same thing after the fall of Beacon.  The difference here is in intention.  Ozpin’s purpose was to protect the people and ensure that as few people died as possible.  Ozpin’s choices were not based on control or the need to be RIGHT.  They were based on experience, a bit of fear, and concern for the people he needed to protect.  To Ozpin, sacrifice on a great scale was never an option.  He tried his best to make sure that the causalities were as limited as possible.  A difficult thing to do, given that hunters and huntresses were constantly fighting Grimm and such.  But  creating a mythos around the Maidens and eliminating Salem from history allowed him to save many many lives.  And I can guarantee that he attempted what Ironwood planned to do, at least on some levels, and met with staggering deaths.

Ironwood, however, is keeping secrets to keep control and out of fear.  He needs control, and he is frustrated that people do not agree with him automatically.  After the fall of Beacon, these traits became enhanced to an unbelievable level.  We see something else surface, though: Ironwood’s ability to manipulate people and be charismatic.  Ironwood is looking to survive: for himself( or his legacy that is Atlas).  He will manipulate others and sacrifice millions of people’s lives to protect himself (legacy), though he clings to his mantra of “it’s for the greater good.”  It will become the sign on the wall of the slave labor he creates. “For the Greater Good”.

Another thing you can do to really get an idea for the type of person Ironwood is, is by looking back to the round table discussions orchestrated by Ozpin versus Ironwood.  Ozpin was constant in listening to his people, sometimes taking ideas from them, and allowed them to question him–even yell at him.  He was patient and understood what they were trying to say.  He demonstrated this with Ironwood and Qrow the most.

You would never see that kind of discussion with Ironwood.  RWBY and co are new to the scene and it does throw him off.  You can tell he is trying not to pressure them too much because he knows they are not on his side yet. Hooking them up with the Ace-Corps and Winter was a move to help sway them more, a subtle kind of brainwashing tactic that never worked on them as he had hoped.

“You're a good person, James. You've always done what you think is best for the people, even against strong protest. It's admirable. But it's high time you stopped talking about trust and started showing it.”

—Glynda, to Ironwood in "Mountain Glenn"

“This is the right move, Ozpin. I promise, I will keep our people safe; you have to trust me.”

—Ironwood, to Ozpin

“Many have described these as uncertain times. And while that may be the case for the rest of the world, I can tell you what is certain: the Kingdom of Atlas will remain strong... and it will remain safe. That is my promise.”

—General Ironwood, reaffirming his promise to the people of Atlas over the Atlas Broadcast System

“I will sacrifice... whatever it takes... to stop her.”

—Ironwood, declaring his conviction to Watts

How many of these promises did he actually keep and how much trust did he give?

According to Jacques, Ironwood does not trust anybody but himself, something that Ironwood does not deny; instead, he believes that his methods are justified. This leads Ironwood to a more proactive yet headstrong approach to problems, attempting more preemptive measures, as opposed to Ozpin's more subtle, reactive and analytical methods.

Ironwood's heroism is because of his lack of trust - he has to do everything himself, no matter what, because he doesn't trust anyone else to do it.

He doesn't trust others because he thinks of himself as the hero, that only he can do things right, that everything that goes wrong is because people didn't listen to him.

Following Orders was also another theme of this volume, but it was hinted at back in V2 and other interactions between him and his subordinates.  This is a huge red flag when RWBY and co come to him in Volume 7. Ironwood has surrounded himself with Yes men, people who only follow orders and never once question them.  It is a dynamic theme throughout this volume, about controlling and crushing down your emotions to follow orders–or manage your semblance? Winter started alluding to this back in V3, which really set the stage for her and future Atlas soldiers.

Because of this Ironwood is often portrayed as the least worst character while in a company of other worst characters( or other Atlasians and antagonists to be specific)

For example Volume 4 chapter 2; Remembrance; we see Ironwood and Weiss after the fall with Jaques Schnee.

This is our first proper onscreen interaction with these characters that allows us to explore their new dynamic after beacon. From a visual standpoint we can sorta see Ironwood being somewhat humble after his failure at beacon but really he hasn’t changed from the arrogant warmonger that he is from his debut.(I’ll explain that later)

During his meeting with Jaques is where we get this misdirection of his character due to the exposition from their conversation. Ironwood talks about the dust(trade) embargo being necessary as to ease tensions with the other kingdoms due to Atlas being framed is an understandable and reasonable decision in comparison to Jaques argument being that it's costing him potential Millions of world currency to profit from. The meeting ends with Ironwood leaving before making a proposal to weiss which leads to this line of dialogue with her father;

“I suppose the council trusts him, for better or worse.”

—Jacques, in "Remembrance

“I trust him.”

—Weiss Schnee, responding to her father's bad faith

Just like that the fandom is being swayed to see Ironwood in a more positive light for 3 reasons

Because best girl Weiss trusts him

Because Jaques is a greedy a**hole(As well as other Atlaisans)

Because Ironwood sides with her against the rich(V4 ep.6)

But the question that must be asked here is why does Weiss trust Ironwood?

Prior to Volume 4 she has had little to no interaction with the General. Her only point of reference for his character is only whatever Winter has told her about him, the Military propaganda and her first scene with him when he chastised and disqualified  Yang and her team in Volume 3(potentially her first real and true friends by the way)

If we were to add in the factor of Ironwood's incompetence and failure at beacon, Weiss should really have no real reason to trust Ironwood who she should see as the reason why beacon fell since it was his army that he brought only to be used by the villains to kill her and her friends and destroy beacon. As well as the man who’s failure had led her back into the custody of her father.(Remember she went to Beacon to get away from his abuse) She should at least harbour some sense of Scorn or resentment for him.

The Only reason why she apparently doesn’t is because her father was in that scene. Who prior to his debut was hinted to be a greedy abusive bastard. So just like winter she sides with Ironwood simply to defy her father. The difference between her and winter though is that she doesn’t see him as a potential father figure that he may have presented himself as when he first met winter. Instead she sees him as someone she would prefer to be around instead of her father.

This is further explored during Volumes 5 & 6 where Ironwood was absent leaving her free to continue throwing shade at Jaques, Whitelty, etc. To reiterate Weiss is not pro Ironwood because she thinks he might be a good guy. She is pro Ironwood to spite and defy her abusive father.

We possibly covered what was going on in the mind of the ice queen during volume 4 that had allowed her mind(as well as us) to be swayed to favor Ironwood. Now we will cover how she ( and the audience) was wrong by relooking at Ironwoods character by the end of Volume 4( his last on scene appearance before his return in V7)

Since Ironwood was largely absent from Volumes 5 & 6 and only mentioned during those volumes we were left with our opinion of him  after V4 to hold us over till his return in V7. The problem however is that we only had 3 scenes and one mention of him during the whole of volume 4. So what are those 4 moments of Ironwood that you may ask? In order they are;

His first argument with Jaques where Weiss sides with him

Taiyang telling Yang that it was him who gifted her a new arm(For whatever reason?)

Ironwood siding and defending Weiss against the rich a##holes of Atlas

His second argument with Jaques while Weiss escapes, where he reaffirms his power to the greedy bastard

This is literally the entirety of Ironwood's impact on the story during volume 4. Not much if you were to think about it.  But if you did you would come to realise that all of it was a major red hearing for his character. For you see at the start of this volume we were led to believe that Ironwood had changed for the better after his failure at beacon, but in truth he didn’t.

To further explain let's look at the narrative symmetry of his arc during the volume. It starts with him arguing with Jaques and ends with an  argument with the same man with both arguments ending with Ironwood on top Winning the argument. The difference between the two is how Ironwood is portrayed. The first argument as stated before tricks us into believing that Ironwood has become humble and wiser after his failure. But the second shows us the truth. Ironwood hadn’t changed at all. Instead it shows us that he is still as blunt and arrogant as he was during Volumes 2 & 3.  To best explain let's look at the transcripts of the argument;

Weiss is soon creeping outside her father's study door when she hears a glass crash followed by the rising voice of James Ironwood. She crouches behind a cushioned chair against the wall.

Ironwood: You need to control yourself!

Jacques: You're talking to me about control? Do you even hear what you're saying?

Ironwood: I am basing everything on my reports from your daughter.

Jacques: A daughter you stole!

Weiss moves closer to the door to listen.

Ironwood: Oh, we are not getting into that again.

Jacques: Oh, yes, we have far more pressing matters to discuss, starting with your apparent lunacy!

Ironwood: Jacques!

The scene changes to an overhead view inside Jacques' study. He is seated at his desk while Ironwood has both hands on it, leaning over him from the other side.

Ironwood: (sighing heavily) Winter is one of my best. If she's telling me there's a threat in Mistral then I am not going to take that news lightly. She's been there for weeks, people are mobilizing, sudden spikes in weapons and Dust trades. Someone is about to make a play and I do not trust Leo to stop them.

From this first half of the scene we are only shown the middle and near end of the argument and we are left to interpret what led to this escalation of opinions. Prior to this we are swayed to believe that Ironwood is in the right while Jaques is in the wrong. But before we are shown the cause of the argument via its resolution, we get this interesting bash from Jaques claiming that Ironwood stole her from him(or to be accurate her family).

I find this interesting because we don’t exactly know why Winter would be so loyal to Ironwood to the point of saying that her life doesn’t matter in V7 and why she would be so against her family to the point that she makes no effort to see Weiss, and Whitely included and only bothering to be apart of weiss’s life only because she seems to be following the same path of defiance against their father. In other words she only chooses to interact with her sister only if she is rebelling against their father. If she is not, then WInter wants nothing to do with her.

Now who or what exactly would cause Winter to have this unhealthy mindset in regards to her own personal existence and relationships?

The answer being Ironwood.

If we were to consider Jaques words being serious than it is more than likely the truth. Ironwood did steal Winter, not just from her father but from the rest of her family. I don’t know what exactly Ironwood said or did to turn winter away from her family but it wasn’t out of the kindness of his heart. He did this  just to have a loyal subordinate with incredible power( her hereditary semblance) & status( her grandfather's legacy and accomplishments) just to give his power and status more legitimacy.

By doing so Ironwood had brainwashed Winter into believing that her family as well as herself is beyond redemption due to the actions of her father thus leading her to abandon them and only believing Ironwood can redeem her hence why she values her life so little and is willing to die for whatever Ironwoods says.

Now we move on to the next part of the first half where Ironwood doesn’t trust Leo to handle the situation in Mistral. He first starts this off by listing all of the things that obviously would be of concern in regards to potential riots and war. Understandable and reasonable to be ready for an attack. Especially for a paranoid military leader. But here’s the thing: this is a foreign affair that has to be resolved by the people over there. In other words, that is Leo's problem to resolve, not Ironwood’s. (Keep in mind this is Ironwood before he is told the truth about Leo.)

Lionheart who is also another member of Ozpin's inner circle like him is trusted with the safety of an entire kingdom. The difference between the 2 however is how leo seems to be a most trusted member of the group given how fondly Ozpin speaks of him to the point of giving him gifts as well as being trusted with full autonomy trust, and independence in comparison to the scorn and micromanagement Ironwood gets from Ozpin and the other members(Qrow Glynda, Theo, Etc).

In other words Ironwood should at least have some trust in Leo's abilities to handle the situation in Mistral before he learns of his betrayal. But instead he claims he doesn’t and says that he could handle the situation better. Remember this is before either we or Ironwood are shown that plot twist and betrayal. For all we know when Ironwood said that Leo may have been a decent guy.  This is just simply another example of Ironwood’s ego and need for control being shown but in a subtle way that we don’t even notice

We covered the first half now we will continue with the rest of the scene.

Weiss is listening outside.

Jacques: You've never trusted anyone other than yourself!

Ironwood: (shouting) And for good reason!

Weiss covers her mouth with her hand as she gasps at the sound of Ironwood slamming his fist onto the desk.

Ironwood: If Oz had just listened to me from the start...

Jacques: You need to get a grip.

Ironwood: That's exactly what I'm doing. Our people need protection. By this time next week, the Kingdom of Atlas will be officially closing its borders. No one in; no one out. Without the council's permission.

Jacques: You mean, without your permission?

Ironwood: And if that becomes the case, I would think you'd want to be on my good side.

Ironwood walks away from the desk, leaving Jacques to sigh and fold his hands.

Those first 3 lines help better clarify that despite all of the apparent good Ironwood did during the volume it exposes the truth that hasn’t changed and he is still the same narcissist authoritarian from Volumes 2 & 3. As well as a potential foreshadow of his nihilism as he ignores and rejects the fact that it was his fault beacon fell and instead chooses to continue blaming Ozpin; who if he had it his way with dealing with the events of volume 3 wouldn’t have been as disastrous as when Ironwood had his way. Simply put had Ozpin had his way continued;

Beacon possibly wouldn’t have fallen

A droid army wouldn’t have been used to frame an entire kingdom

Global communications would probably still be a thing

Fewer people would have died

Trade would still be a thing as well

The threat of another world war could have been avoided

Instead Ironwood pulled a power move against Ozpin, and it backfired immensely. Instead of learning from his mistake he chooses to blame others for his mistake  and fails to realize that he is doing more harm than good.

To continue with the rest of the scene where Ironwood tells Jaques that he will be closing the borders and that nobody can leave or enter without the council's approval leads to  Jaques pointing out that he really means with his permission, only for Ironwood to taunt jaques in a smug gloat to tell the greedy bastard that he has already won. The final line of that scene is probably the highlight of Ironwood’s ego being stroked as he (in his mind) has crushed and won against the last of his local opposition. It also shows us that Ironwood had amassed too much power and that it has further validated his mind into believing his own hype regardless of what the sane and reasonable characters are saying.

Now it is pretty clear Ironwood has a very toxic mindset and very manipulative personality, but why is it that after volume 4 we consider him to be a good guy till the events of V7 even though his last scene in V4 clearly shows that he is still the same as V2 & V3 Ironwood?

The reason being that his last scene was confronting Jaques Schnee who earlier had slapped his daughter in the face, revoked her inheritance, and was only presented as a corporate d##chebag. Because of this we the viewer would rather side with anyone that isn’t Jaques Schnee. But in that schnee we are tricked to side with a Paranoid Warmonger who had only a few good moments to make us believe he had changed for the better against a man who was presented as one of the most awful characters of this volume. But in truth they were both terrible when it came to morality and eventually we had to pick a side and we the audience chosen wrong(Jaques is still a villain no argument there but I think we would have no problem beating his @$$ vs getting destroyed if we challenged Ironwood on his bull$#17)

“His heart is in the right place. He's just... misguided.”

—Ozpin, about Ironwood in "Never Miss a Beat"

“Sometimes, I'm not even sure he has a heart.”

—Qrow, about Ironwood in "Never Miss a Beat"

Back in V2 and V3, Ironwood showed his ability to be both charismatic and manipulative. His subtlety in his manipulation is a statement to his rise to power.  He puts himself into the position of a Father Figure to lure in the people he wants.  It worked with Winter and the Ace-Ops, which is why they are his right-hand yes men. During Dance Dance, he was praising Ruby and fueling her admiration for him.  Even when team RWBY came to Atlas, all his actions were calculated to manipulate the team into trusting him.  Unfortunately, his actions never really lined up with his words, which was why the team was on edge.

“people only did wrong when at the moment the perceived benefits seemed to outweigh the costs.”

This is exactly what ironwood did.

To Ironwood, the world cannot be saved without Atlas(or to be accurate him). He truly believes he and Atlas are the key to victory against Salem. But Victory is not in a single person, group or in strength of power. Victory is only achieved by cooperation, teamwork and in unity.

(real quick i want to give credit to @rwby-etc for they're post that I used to help better summerize this section)

I am power I am due process I will smite