#in fact i think that all of the kids should lose their dragons since they keep their eyes

[kinslayersadvocate]

One day I will write a fic in which one of the four spoiled little monsters lost a limb or something and apologizes to Aemond after realizing how hard life becomes

[gerryrigged]

dicktim - La Beau Au Bois Dormant

idea gripping my tired brain by the throat about Tim being struck by some kind of sleeping beauty poison or spell and falling comatose.

Except the solution is not True Love's Kiss but sending someone inside his soul to battle the dragon that will manifest from his inner demons to keep him imprisoned, forever.

The highest chance for success necessitates sending in the one person that the sleeper trusts most - often their love, hence the poison/spell's reputation, but not always.

And almost everyone immediately turns to Dick, like in you go, Nightwing, what are you waiting for.

Which Dick. Doesn't know how to react to, because. God he would give anything to be that person for Tim again. But he knows that he broke something between them when he stripped away Robin.

They've moved past it, they're...fine. But Dick knows. It's not the same. They aren't the same.

He can't help Tim with this. Tim probably wouldn't even want him to try. And that kills him, but he won't sabotage Tim's only shot to wake up because of his own desperate wish to still be the one Tim turns to first. His north star.

There's a ticking-clock time limit before Tim won't be able to wake up at all. They don't have any time to lose.

He looks away from everyone's expectant, demanding stares.

"Call Superboy," he says, voice scraped raw from his throat. "Or Kid Flash. They'll get here in time."

He can't stand the disappointment on Bruce's face. It makes helpless anger boil hot and toxic in his belly. Bruce wasn't here for everything that happened. He doesn't know.

(Dick's never told him. How badly he fucked up.)

"Wait, not his boyfriend?'" Steph says, raised eyebrows and gesticulating at nowhere in particular and Dick's churning thoughts sputter and die into frozen blankness. Boyfriend?

Babs shakes her head on the Batcomputer's view screen.

"They're not at that level of trust yet. They haven't even been dating that long, Tim definitely hasn't told him about - " she twirls a finger, indicating all of them. Red Robin on the medical bed, cowl pushed down and cape pooled around him. The Cave, vaulting overhead. " - all of this. And he won't thank us for doing it for him."

Tim...has a boyfriend?

Wow. His little brother used to always want his advice on love. Life. Everything. If he doesn't trust Dick enough anymore to tell him even that much... Well. It just proves definitively that Dick isn't the right person for this job.

(It hurts like Dick's vital organs are being crushed in a massive fist.)

"Time is ticking," Jason Blood says quietly, looking down at the open face of his pocket watch. At his feet, a circle of lit candles awaits someone to sit down inside and sink into an enchanted meditation.

"Father, clearly it should be you," Damian says, tapping his foot rapidly. His arms are crossed tightly under his cape in a way that he probably means to come across as scornful, rather than apprehensive. "Or Pennyworth, even."

Bruce shakes his head, troubled. "No. I don't think so. Cassie...?"

"No," Cass responds calmly. "Not me." She seems untroubled by her own denial, even though she and Tim have been thick as thieves ever since she returned to Gotham.

She's looking at Dick. She hasn't looked away from Dick this whole time, or let go of Tim's hand, folded in hers protectively, over his heart.

"It's still you, big brother," she says. Gentle and direct and devastating. "Go. Bring him back."

Not so long ago, Tim trusted Dick to catch him when he fell.

Or, he was depressed and passively suicidal and telling Dick what he wanted to hear. Maybe he even believed it, after the fact.

In the end, it doesn't matter. He's Dick's brother. Dick will always, always be there to catch him, whether Tim trusts him to or not.

Dick goes.

He faces Tim, sinks into lotus inside the ring of flickering little flames, and closes his eyes, heart in his throat.

He opens his eyes. A vast, jagged bramble forest looms dark above him. Far in the distance, he can just make out a spindly tower piercing the sky, a flickering little light shining at the top.

He hacks his way through the biting brambles of Tim's resentments, leaving blood and sorrows dripping from the thorns in his wake.

He fights the sly, sinuous dragon of Tim's despair, singing with every breath that he can spare, so that Tim might hear him and know he's not alone.

He wishes he could remember happy songs, bright and lively songs - wishes he could be the light in the darkness that Tim deserves, that he looked up to and chased after and for some reason tried to model himself upon, even when he was already so very bright himself.

But any song is better than none to pierce the lonely vault of silence, so he sings of pain, of loss, of faith and faithlessness. Of holding on past the point of breaking. He sings of two hands open and outstretched, waiting to be clasped and held.

When his voice falters, when adamant scales break his sword and claws shatter his shield, he throws himself at the winged serpent, letting it coil about him and grappling it in turn. Fangs strike at him again and again, piercing flesh and armor both, before he winds his arms around its jaws and holds them shut.

It hisses through clenched teeth about failures, his and Tim's both. He holds its jaws shut, and sings of two ships tossed in a maelstrom, anchored to each other, weathering the storm.

It hisses, venom dripping from its furious curled lips, about abandonment and betrayal. He holds its jaws shut, and sings about two robins, flying with an olive branch held aloft between them.

It hisses to him of ice unending, frozen hearts, shattered trust. He holds its jaws shut, and sings about the steady radiating warmth of a hearth, of a hug, of a new dawn. Of new beginnings.

He rests his forehead on the dragon's growling snout, and sings, "Come home with me. Come home to me. Tim, I love you. Tim, Tim, Tim."

The beast shudders and shivers. And starts to break apart.

The crumbling wings buffet and beat at Dick even as they begin to crack and collapse. Dick lowers his head and holds on tighter.

The massive coiled tail squeezes around Dick convulsively, thrashing and withering. Dick's ribs crack, but he holds on tighter.

Scales etched with Tim's regrets flake off and fall away, like a tree shedding razor edged leaves in autumn. Dick closes his eyes as they kiss and cut his already tattered skin, but just holds on tighter.

Eventually, the violent disintegration comes to an end, and all goes still and quiet.

Save for a familiar shape shaking and weeping in Dick's arms.

Dick opens his eyes, blinking away sweat and blood just to be sure. But yes. It's him. Blue eyes reddened with tears, staring in horror at the ragged torn-up mess of his older brother, come to rescue him.

"Tim," Dick sighs, bones papier-mâché from relief. And exhaustion. "Timmy. Thank god."

"Dick," Tim cries out, gripping him tightly in distress. He lets go immediately at Dick's wince, and tries to pull away. "I'm sorry, I'm so fucking sorry, I'm - your wounds, we have to - "

Dick doesn't let him move an inch. "Shhhhhh," he breathes. "It's a dream, don't worry about it." Tim wriggles in protest at first, determinedly attempting to staunch some of the heavier bleeding, but Dick just holds him tighter. "Please, Timmy," he begs. "Please. Just let me."

Tim's breath hitches, then he wraps his arms around Dick just as hard as Dick is squeezing him, strong and anchoring. Dick's own breath shudders on the edge of a whine, and he buries his nose in Tim's hair.

-----

"Missed you," he whispers hoarsely, several minutes later.

Tim lifts his face from where he's been leaking a silent wet spot into Dick's collarbone.

"Missed you, too," he whispers back, as if they're sharing secrets and might be overheard.

Then Tim hesitates, before setting his mouth firmly. He meets Dick's gaze, and there's a fierce light in his still reddened eyes that transfixes Dick. He almost lost this. He almost lost Tim - so many times, more than he probably even knows about. He never wants to look away.

"And I love you, too, you know. That's never changed. It never will change." His brow is furrowed intently, gaze searching Dick's, like he can find and burn away any hint of doubt or disbelief.

"I know," Dick murmurs, warm down to his battered toes. Tim's alive. Tim's going to wake up, and keep living. Tim loves him, and forgives him, and still trusts him more than anyone else. "I do know. I - "

He releases one arm from its death grip, because he can no longer resist the urge to cup Tim's face, stroke a thumb across his cheek. Tim closes his eyes briefly as he covers Dick's hand with his, leaning into it, brows still drawn together. Like he's in pain, even though all the dings and scratches are on Dick, not him.

Dick's heart seizes.

He dips down, to the impossibly inviting bow of Tim's mouth, and kisses him. At Tim's small, quiet gasp, he gentles further, catching Tim's lips, pulling the full lower curve between his own in a soft tug. To his delight, Tim follows him, chasing his mouth, and they share the sweet cling and press, back and forth.

-----

Dick's wounds are somehow all still present upon waking. Magic, ugh, such a pain. The resulting frenzy of medical attention and getting bundled into another bed - too far away from Tim - like he's one foot through death's door isn't exactly fun, either.

(But still. Well worth it, for that first moment Tim's eyes flutter open and hazily lock on his. The world can keep spinning, now that Dick knows Tim is safe.)

As it turns out, Tim's recollection of what happened inside his own soul is equally hazy.

He remembers enough to melt bonelessly into Dick's chest when Dick sneaks over to share his bed, which dissolves the hard knot of worried tension in Dick's chest that he wouldn't remember anything, that he'd be back to subtle distance and awkward texts and not even feeling comfortable enough to share that he likes men, and Dick. Isn't sure he could have handled that.

So he ignores his aching ribs and multiple lacerations and puncture wounds and curls around Tim with his whole body, warmth and gratitude suffusing every aching muscle.

Tim...doesn't seem to remember the kiss. Which. Is a shame.

But Dick remembers it. Every moment is burned into him like the most intimate pyrography. That will have to be enough, until he can make it happen again.

(Tim's boyfriend doesn't stand a chance.)

[anjelicawrites]

do you really think aemond is innocent? yes he lost an eye but luke was defending his brother since aemond almost killed jace with a rock? he didnt cut out his eye on purpose. he purposefully claimed laenas dragon at her funeral when everyone was asleep, knowing it was her daughters birthright to at least attempt to claim it first, then he punched a little girl in the face

I think the answer needs to be broken down if few parts so, bear with me.

Vhagar. The moment Laena passed, anyone had the chance to try and claim her. She's not something Laena owned that she could pass down to her children, because dragons don't belong to anyone and there is no birthright to try and claim them before someone else. As crude as it is, it's a come first, first served kind of situation, not "my mom owned Vhagar, therefore I have the precedence here". Dragons can't be owned, nor inherited. They choose their rider, not the other way around. A rider survives the feat because the dragon chooses them, it's the dragon's choice that matters, not the fact that the late parent of the rider used to ride that dragon.

The fight. He was attacked by other four kids, that he would try to fight back and not just take it, it's normal, considering that he was being taught how to fight.

The rock. If he truly wanted to kill Jace, he wouldn't have stood there with the rock in his hand, he would have hit him, period. To me he was a way to try and scare the other kids away, otherwise he would have used it immediately.

The knife. The moment someone attacks another person with a weapon, and I underline attack, not stand with a potential weapon in his hand, they have to accept the fact that they might hurt/maim the other person. Luke went for the face, with a knife, accepting fully that he was escalating a fistfight into something bigger and uglier. He could have tackled Aemond to the ground and the whole situation wouldn't have had such a terrible conclusion. By bringing a knife in, he knew he was going to hurt him badly, wherever the blow would have landed.

Innocence. No one is innocent in the HOTD world, not even the children, because they are being poisoned with hate within the womb. The TV series did a huge disservice in dividing the camp between the "good" ones and the "bad" ones, because they're all shades of grey and no one is truly innocent.

One last thing: losing a limb, any limb, is a traumatic experience that should never be discounted. It causes the person chronic pain, body dismorphia and makes navigating a world that is made for people who are "healthy" a nightmare. It's a huge trauma that can never be justified.

[blacklegsanjiii]

I'm having so much thought about Ponyo!Sanji, that I need to tell them to you:

1. If Sabo was brought back to his brothers by Dragon, this would make Sanji and Reiju re-meet way sooner.

2. Since Reiju has powers relateds with venom/poison, I hc that she had a big interest in making poisons. Sanji probaly helped her and also know how to make some, would be funny he using this while hunting with the ASL.

3. Okay, I think you know about the Feral ASL hc right? And this makes sense since they lived in the jungle. But I want to say: Sanji lived only with his family on a hiden sea, he also should be feral naturally.

4. And by Feral, I mean catching fishs or even other animals who live in the water (maybe even little sharks) with his own hands, jumping in the water from high places (this would scare the shit out of the ASL and Makino) and things like that.

5. If Ace, Sabo and Luffy discovered about his water "powers", Sanji probaly would end up telling them from where he really is and the fact he isn't human, actually.

It's been so long since Blue!Sanji was brought up and I truly missed him. I'll go point by point with you.

1. Dragon bringing Sabo to Foosha, not even thinking Luffy will be there and Sabo has no memory so he couldn't tell Dragon and Reiju is the current Sabo wrangler so they run into Sanji, Luffy and Ace. Sabo has his memory coming back to him and Sanji and Reiju are crying at being reunited. Dragon explains who he is to Luffy who is very nonchalant about him because Dragon needs to listen to how cool Shanks is and thanks for bringing Sabo back weird guy.

2. Sanji uses what he remembers from Reiju and his dad about poisons and venoms and using it to hunt the big game they always do. It weirds Sabo out because he hasn't read about these but fuck it, it makes killing the bears and stuff that much easier and it's so good.

3/4. Sanji's mom is basically a god and his father is a "dead" prince and he was raised in the hidden blue. I definitely could see him coming up with a fish in his mouth and just eating it as his dad loses it. The kids have to be like otters using rocks to crack open shellfish. Sanji comes up with a shark at some point to eat and his brothers stare at him in awe. Sanji is just cooking it. Sanji is also just complaining about the small variety.

The four of them looking over a very high cliff with Makino and like Luffy's hat blows off and into the sea and Sanji without thinking dives off and everyone is screaming but then the light has to be tricking them because it looks like the sea is coming up to meet him as he holds onto Luffy's hat and falls into the sea. They rush to the beach and Sanji comes out of the water with the hat and apologizing if it's damaged at all as they all yell that they thought he died or something and Sanji is confused as Makino is checking him over for injuries. He starts doing it regularly and with higher cliffs or having his brothers throw him as hard as they can.

5. ASL finding Sanji one night playing with the water. He's standing on it and giggling to himself as he spins and the water flows with him and covers him. Then he sees ASL and freezes. They are staring at each other, unspeaking until Luffy rubbers Sanji to them and ASL start demanding to know what was going on and how can he do that? Sanji explains his parentage and being from the All Blue. His mother, a guardian is basically a goddess and he and his siblings are the future guardians of the All Blue.

Also imagine how that affects Ace and Sabo in the future? Like Ace meets Niji and is like "I know" and when Sabo regains his memory he finds Reiju and demands to see her manipulate water like Sanji. Also Luffy can't tell a lie to save his life so imagine someone in the Strawhat crew is like "God he's so inhuman with how long he can dive, he's like half fishman" and Luffy is like "well he's a god" and just leaves it at that. When someone approaches Sanji about it he just yells for Luffy and Luffy is like 'shit I'm in trouble!' and bolts.

[holocene-sims]

next // previous

august 16, 2021 11:00 p.m. grandma ong's house

there’s a strangeness to a quiet enclave in a bustling metropolis, unexpected in the same manner as grant and henry’s long, unbroken brotherhood. nothing about the baseline rustle of neighbors carrying in paper grocery sacks and kids kicking a soccer ball resembles the eternal merry-go-round of life–max-capacity subway cars, clueless and loud tourists, and locals who drift through their day–just down the road. and yet above this neighborhood–and the entire sprawling city–hangs a common thread, a bluish hazy night sky.

“that was wild,” henry says, suppressed laughter bursting forth from deep in his chest, “all day everyone’s defaulted to speaking english because, well, look at you, and you even had me fooled. i actually forgot you kind of speak basic korean."

“the inner machinations of my mind are an enigma.”

henry rolls his eyes dramatically but in the same split second, throws an arm around grant’s shoulders.

“i was afraid that soup was going to fly out of your mouth.” grant returns the gesture, though it requires him to lean down so as to not smother henry’s face instead. “too close for comfort.”

“well, in my defense, i was not expecting you to reply to my grandma asking me, “daehyun, i haven’t seen your friend since your wedding. how did you meet again?”

grant shrugs. “we met on a playground twenty-four years ago.”

“on my very first weekend as a resident of the semi-good ol’ US of A. in the opposite situation. i remember being so pissed that my parents made me go out to ‘make friends’ that weekend. not moving, mind you, but making friends. i guess they were psychics, though, because apparently, it didn’t bother you that i didn’t speak your language for at least a couple weeks.”

“people say i could talk to a wall.”

henry laughs again. “you could. you’re very chatty.”

“did it bother you that i wrote you some really, really, really shitty letters in korean in the early days based on online translations i found?”

“no, that was sweet.” no question about it–the joy in henry’s eyes is determined. “they were definitely horrendous, but it’s the thought that counted. you could do better now. oh, and i think i still have all those letters. i should. i did box them up when i moved out of my parents’ house.”

they were, all things considered, never very much alike, beyond the fact they both liked cats but weren’t allowed to have any. henry’s mom was allergic, but grant’s parents despised pets. otherwise, they were polar opposites. grant always liked math and science, wanted to work with airplanes, and preferred to spend his free time with others playing tabletop RPGs and computer games; henry always liked art and history, wanted to be a photographer, and preferred to be left alone to his vintage film camera and pottery. grant’s parents raged when he selected aviation over medicine; henry’s parents and grandparents, all artists, were delighted by his dreams of photography. moreover, grant selectively speaks his mind, while henry rarely minces words.

and still–

the shrill honk of a car off in the distance disturbs grant’s thoughts.

“you really could talk to a wall, but hey, why did you approach me on the swing set that day? you were already busy hanging out with your sisters. and your cousins. why me?”

and still, the two have fused into one. the world turned upside down; grant paints these days, henry has long been a willing dungeons and dragons player, and separation from one another is like losing half your body. if henry walked away now–ended this messy half-hug early–grant would turn to ash.

“well,” grant begins, drawing out the suspense with an exaggerated sigh, “first of all...”

[theladyofshalott1989]

Chapter 2 ("In Which the Uncles Play Nursemaid") of my Married!Sebastian and Damien one-shot collection has been dropped on AO3 (link above - would appreciate a kudo if you enjoy it here on Tumblr; please and thank you).

[ Read the full series on AO3 ] [ or Wattpad ] Summary: Sebastian and Damien give Ominis and Anne the night off. Sebastian is...uh...not having the time of his life. Good thing Damien is great with kids.

Word Count: 1254

Rating: Teen

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

Sebastian would much rather be fleeing from a vengeful dragon than engaged in his current task: attending to the care of children.

“Why is he still crying?” Sebastian moaned, clapping his hands to his ears for the umpteenth time this evening. It was barely past seven o’clock and yet here he and Damien were, one interminably long hour since arriving, still dealing with an infant screaming his lungs out. Said infant being Ominis and Anne’s son, Albert Sallow. 

Damien cradled Albert in his arms, rocking him back and forth as he paced the nursery, an infuriatingly calm look in his eyes. Admittedly, Damien’s long blond hair was out of its low bun and looking rather harried—not that he seemed bothered by it. He made a loud shushing noise, startling Sebastian entirely. In fact, Sebastian practically jumped out of his boots. He hoped that Damien’s response wasn’t intended for him, but seeing as Damien didn’t acknowledge Sebastian’s question, it was probably at least partially implied. 

Sebastian would have sighed if he wasn’t so tightly wound. They were lucky Leigh was so well-behaved. Currently, she was alone in her room playing with her dolls. At least that was what she had been doing the last time Sebastian had checked, ten-odd minutes or so ago. 

He debated going back in, shutting the door firmly behind him, and joining her in her play session. He could pretend her dolls were dueling to the death—you know, add a manly touch to the activity. At least it would be better than being in this horrible room, most likely losing his hearing. How did Ominis and Anne cope? Infants were confusing. And ever so loud. 

“We should have brought ear muffs,” Sebastian muttered under his breath. Damien, again, didn’t reply, but this time around it was probably because he couldn’t hear him, for Albert’s cries had somehow escalated. 

Damien’s eyes finally betrayed some alarm. “Do you think he needs another nappy change?” he shouted, lifting the boy in the air and—to Sebastian’s utter horror—shoving his nose perilously close to Albert’s bottom. He took a massive whiff and wrinkled his nose. 

“I don’t know,” Sebastian shouted back, adding, “but you’re absolutely not kissing me again tonight.” 

Damien rolled his eyes as he navigated over to the side of the room, presumably to change Albert’s nappy. Again. Against all the odds, there was a momentary break in screaming, which was fortuitous, since it meant Sebastian could hear a light pitter-pattering of feet near the door, which wasn’t closed but ajar. 

He peered out the doorway to find dark brown eyes staring back at him. Leigh was cradling her own baby—one of her dolls, of course—in her arms, looking entirely too calm and collected for a child who was forced to endure her infant brother’s loud protestations.

She goggled at Sebastian, not saying a word, but the implications were clear. Pick me up , those eyes said. Give me a cuddle , that—okay, fine —adorable pout pleaded. So Sebastian acquiesced. 

He scooped Leigh into his arms, hollered a brief ���I’ll be back!” at Damien, then toted Leigh to her room where he settled down in the rocking chair by her cot. She burrowed into his chest and, promptly, fell asleep. 

Erm. Okay. What was Sebastian supposed to do now? He was suddenly very aware of his breathing. Oh, and there was a crick in his neck that he couldn’t stretch at this precise moment. Should he breathe quieter? Surely Leigh wouldn’t wake up if he rolled his neck? Or, wait! Did he want her to wake up right now? If she didn’t, was he going to be stuck here all night? Would Damien come and fetch him to save him from his imprisonment? 

Against his better instincts, Sebastian took a deep breath to calm his racing heart. Leigh didn’t stir, so he willed himself to relax. Once a minute or so had passed, and Albert didn’t break out into more screaming from the other room, Sebastian came to the conclusion that this was actually quite nice. Leigh smelled like freshly laundered sheets and a hint of something sweet, perhaps baked goods? Or maybe milk? Did she still drink milk? Anywho, he couldn’t quite place her scent, but it was pleasant. 

Sebastian was about to close his eyes when Damien whisked into the room, infantless, a massive grin on his face. His smile widened when he spotted Sebastian in the rocking chair with Leigh.

Damien opened his mouth to speak, but Sebastian cut him off with a whispered, “Don’t start.”

“I wasn’t going to say anything,” Damien whispered back, holding his hands up in a placating manner. He looked as if he might be trying to hold back a laugh. 

"Save me," Sebastian implored, casting Damien a pitiful glance that conveyed his silent plea for assistance, as if to say, "Help me, I’m dying, though not in a literal sense."

Damien chuckled softly and bent down to lift Leigh into his arms. She squirmed slightly but stayed peacefully asleep. Pressing a kiss to the top of her head, Damien tenderly set her down in her cot. She yawned and curled into herself.

Pausing for the briefest moment, Damien gazed at Leigh with misty eyes before turning to face Sebastian, who had joined him by his side. He pressed a finger to his lips and clasped Sebastian's hand with his free one, leading him out of the room and gently closing the door behind them.

Once the door was shut, he visibly relaxed. “Al’s asleep too. I think he shrieked himself to exhaustion.”

Hand still firmly entrenched in Damien’s, Sebastian pulled him into the drawing room and seated him on the sofa. Sebastian situated himself in the armchair across from Damien. “You’re good with them,” he stated, matter-of-factly.

Damien’s cheeks flushed. "Hardly," he murmured, offering Sebastian a shy smile before grabbing a pillow, nestling it under his head, and laying back on the sofa, his eyes drifting shut. 

Sebastian and Damien had never broached the topic of children before. It didn't seem relevant, considering they didn't technically have the necessary biology—at least together—for it. Sebastian briefly pondered whether Damien regretted that fact. If so, he hoped that Leigh and Albert would be enough to make up for it. 

However, that was enough of that line of thinking. Sebastian stood up, grabbed a folded blanket from the armchair, and draped it over Damien, tucking him in. Eyes still closed, Damien sighed contentedly, snuggling deeper into the sofa. 

Damien had worked a double shift today at the shop since Albie was away visiting family, so it only made sense that he needed some shut eye. The timing of their minding the children wasn’t ideal, but Sebastian was grateful Damien had come along regardless. Come to think of it, Damien would never abandon him to such an arduous task. 

Even in his exhausted state, Sebastian found Damien a sight for sore eyes. It took all his strength to not reach out and brush a stray strand of hair from his eyes, to not plant a kiss to the gentle crease in his forehead, deepening as the years passed by, to not whisper sweet-nothings into his ear in the hopes that it would lead to something… more, earlier nose-to-nappy scenario forgotten for the time being. But he managed to restrain himself.

Sebastian’s stomach growled. "I'm famished,” he said quietly. “Shall I raid Anne and Ominis's kitchen for something to whip up for dinner?"

Damien replied with a snore, already lost in the land of sleep. Fair enough.

[circus4apsycho8]

𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚍𝚛𝚊𝚐𝚘𝚗, 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚍𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚕. | 𝚊𝚌𝚗𝚘𝚕𝚘𝚐𝚒𝚊 𝚡 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛 | 𝚌𝚑. 𝚟𝚒

𝚜𝚎𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢'𝚜 𝚜𝚞𝚖𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚢, 𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚜, 𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚖𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚝 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎.

“Hey kid. Come on in.”

You step aside, allowing Romeo to enter your home. Acnologia is out attending his classes for the day, leaving the house to yourself.

“Thanks,” he replies, stepping inside. You notice he’s tenser then normal, which doesn’t surprise you.

You gesture for him to have a seat at your dining room table. “Can I get you any snacks or drinks?”

“I think I’m okay for now, but thank you.”

You nod, sitting down across from him. “All right. So I know you heard Alexander’s real name.”

“Yeah…I’ve been thinking on it for a while.”

“I know you have. I’m here to tell you the facts, not change your mind about him,” you say. “I met him when we battled, as you know. Ever since we traveled together, I started noticing improvements in his character. Which…I understand why you’re hesitant to trust him. I was too at first, but as I got to know him, I realized that he’s just been too enveloped in his magic to see the good in Dragon Slayers.”

“I heard Natsu and Lucy talking to Makarov about his attack on Tenrou,” he notes, sighing heavily. “It’s just…hard for me to know that he’s the reason our guild mates went missing for seven years. And now he’s here. With you.”

“I understand that,” you say softly. “He’s proving to me that he’s getting better. He retained control while we were fighting the dragons, and he’s been working hard to improve his healing and character.”

“I see that now,” Romeo says, shifting his gaze to your face. “And I really think it’s just going to take me a little while to get over it.”

“It’s okay,” you say, smiling. “He knows what he did was wrong, and he’s trying to atone for it as best he can now.”

“I’ll try to give him a break. What do you mean by him trying to maintain control, by the way?”

“He has these…blackouts,” you answer, frowning as you recall that conversation. “He loses control of his magic and conscience self, and his inner dragon controls him while he’s passed out.”

“Oh,” he replies. “I see.”

“Yeah. Doesn’t excuse what he did, because he had to kill a lot of dragons to get to that point, but it does explain.”

“His magic is so powerful….” Romeo comments. “But he’s doing a lot of good now. He saved you, he’s been working on himself, he acknowledges he needs to change and has been getting better. So… ”

“He also joined Crime Sorcière,” you add. ��They’re going on their first mission with him this weekend, I believe.”

“Okay,” Romeo replies, smiling. You see his shoulders relax a little bit. “I still don’t think I can forgive him just yet, but…I’ll give him a chance.”

“And that’s all I ask,” you say with a smile.

“I feel a lot better about this now,” he confesses, standing up. You follow his motion, grinning as you ruffle his hair.

“I’m glad,” you state. “Are you doing okay, though? Not just physically…I know what you saw is hard to cope with.”

“Oh…yeah…” His smiles fades as he sighs. “I don’t know. I’ve been having nightmares ever since. But my dad is looking into therapy, so…”

“Good. It’ll help.”

“I hope so. It’s been hard for me to sleep lately.”

“I bet. But let me just say that you’re doing well. Just make sure you get the help you need, all right? And I’m always here if you want to talk.”

“Thank you,” he says, smiling as he comes to hug you. “I should get back to the guild now. But thanks for this, I needed it.”

“Anytime. Be safe, you hear?”

“Got it. See you later!”

With that, Romeo exits your home, leaving you with your thoughts.

Hmm. Maybe you should take a job? It’s not like you have much to do right now. Maybe you should wait for Acnologia to get home first and ask if he would want to come with you.

You look around, realizing that your house is a bit of a mess. Well, maybe some tidying wouldn’t hurt in the meantime. Mind set, you start straightening your house up.

After a while, you’re interrupted by a knock on your door. Hm, not Acnologia. So who?

Upon opening it, you find Jellal standing there.

“Hey,” you greet.

“Hello,” he replies. “Is Acnologia here?”

“Not yet, he’s still at his lecture for the day.”

“Ah, I see. Well, I have a question for you as well.”

“All right, come on in then.”

You step aside, gesturing for him to enter. He does so quickly and with elegance. Once more, you have a seat across from your guest.

“So, as you know, our first mission featuring Acnologia is coming up this weekend,” he starts. “We were wondering if you’d like to come with us?”

“What’s the mission?”

“We’ve caught wind of one of Zeref’s demons lurking in a small village near the northern coast. According to Ultear’s research, we think they’re planning to cause a large-scale massacre on the full moon occurring this Sunday.”

“Demons, huh? Why wait for a full moon?”

“There’s something different about this type,” Jellal replies, frowning. “I don’t know what, though. That’s why we thought we’d offer you to come with.”

“I’ll talk to Acnologia first before I decide. I wouldn’t mind joining, but I want to make sure he’s okay with it too. He’ll be home shortly.”

“Excellent. There is one more matter I wish to discuss…” he sighs, expression growing serious. “We are looking at defeating Zeref in the next year or so. We’re going to need all of the help we can get, and if we could enlist your help…”

“Of course,” you reply, straightening your posture. “Zeref has done enough damage. I’ll be glad to help stop his sorry ass.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” the bluenette replies.

The two of you talk for a bit longer before the sound of the doorknob rattling catches your attention. Moments later, Acnologia walks in.

“Hey!” you greet with a smile as you go to hug him. He grins, returning your embrace and pecking your cheek. “How was your day?”

“It went well enough. And yours?”

“Good,” you reply. “We have a visitor!”

“Ah, Jellal,” Acnologia releases you (much to your dismay) and walks over to the table, where you both sit down.

“Hello. How are you doing?”

“Well, thank you. How about yourself?”

“I’m fine, thank you. I have some matters to discuss with you about our upcoming mission.”

“I’m clear to go,” Acnologia answers, leaning back. “We’re leaving Friday, right?”

“Correct. We’re leaving early Friday morning. I’ll send you the details later on, but as of right now, that’s our plan.”

“Acno, do you mind if I tag along with you guys?”

“Of course not, love,” he replies with a small smile.

“Okay, I just wanted to ask.”

“Perfect. I’ll tell Ultear that you’ll be accompanying us as well.”

You nod, leaning back. “Sounds good.”

...

“This one?”

Acnologia frowns, studying the flash card in your hand. You giggle slightly upon seeing that the tip of his tongue is poking out between his lips, a confused expression on his face.

“Don’t make fun of me,” he growls playfully. “It’ll come to me in a second.”

After Jellal left, you decided to help Acnologia study for another exam. It’s been kind of successful, but you’re in the mood to mess with him for some reason.

“You can do it,” you encourage, a teasing smile on your lips. “...I think.”

“Shut up.”

“Make me.”

He goes silent for a moment, gazing piercing through you in the way that sends excited chills down your spine. Moments later, he lunges forward to grab your cheeks, pulling your face to his. He kisses you roughly, causing you to drop the flashcards so you can wrap your arms around his neck and deepen the kiss.

Seconds later, he pulls away with a smirk. “That seemed to work.”

“Whatever,” you reply with a grin. “Okay, back to studying!”

“I don’t feel like studying anymore.”

“Oh?”

“I want to do something else.”

“Like what?”

“You.”

You laugh, going to sit on his lap. He encircles you within his arms as he pulls you towards him. “That was bad.”

“Maybe so, but it’s true,” he mumbles, a soft smile on his lips as he gazes up to you. The two of you quietly stare at each other for a few heartbeats. “You’re so beautiful, you know that?”

“Acno...”  you mumble, smiling as your heart melts. “Thank you. You are too, though.”

“I could never compare to you,” he mumbles, raising one hand to brush against your cheek.

“Acno!” you whine, drawing out the last syllable of his name as you wiggle in his grasp. He only holds you tighter, grinning against the skin of your neck.

“What? Everything I’m saying is true.”

“Stars, you’re so sweet...” you mumble, resting your head against his shoulder. Mmm. You could stay like this forever.

“Not as sweet as you.”

“Dude!”

He chuckles. “It’s the truth.”

“Give yourself some credit too!”

“I don’t need that,” he says, smiling softly.

“You do need it, you’re just edgy,” you tease, booping his nose.

He scrunches his face. “Hmph.”

Another giggle escapes you as press a kiss to his cheek. “Are you excited about the job?”

“I am. It’s going to be my first official mission.”

“I think it’s going to be fun. Plus, we get to go with Crime Sorcière! I’ve heard such great things about their group!”

“Really?”

You nod. “They have such powerful wizards, like Jellal and Ultear. We can learn a lot from them!”

“That’s true. Do you know if the whole guild is coming?”

“I don’t think so. Angel and Meredy are in Crocus visiting Sabertooth, I think, and Racer and Hoteye are working on another mission.”

“So, it’ll be us, Jellal, Ultear, and…who else?”

“Cobra and Midnight,” you finish.

“And you haven’t met any of them besides Jellal?”

“Nope.”

“I see. Well, how about we get to bed, love? We have an early morning ahead of us.”

…

“Is this the spot?”

“Yes. We’re a bit early, so we still have a few minutes,” Acnologia answers as you glance around.

The early morning sky looms above the two of you, a soft breeze raising goosebumps on your skin. Despite the hour, you can’t help but feel like something is off about the town. You know you’re being watched.

By the looks of it, though, the demonic infestation haunting this town would not be a problem for much longer. Jellal’s letter had instructed the two of you to meet them at Hargeon Town at the listed time. From there, you all would initiate the search for the possessed townspeople. Hopefully that wouldn’t be a problem considering the nature of your magic.

After a few hours of traveling, the two of you managed to make it to Hargeon just in time. Beginning to grow anxious to hunt down Zeref’s demons, you step underneath a nearby streetlight in order to read the job description:

Location: Hargeon Town Task: eliminate demonic activity located near the 8-Island restaurant. Lethal force unauthorized unless facing life-or-death situation. Goal: eradicate all evil from villagers, who have been possessed by Zeref’s lower-level threats. I have a confirmed record of about a dozen, but that’s only the ones that have been seen. We need to exorcise the entities out without harming the villagers. If Erik and Acnologia cannot pick up their scent, we will have to find another way to figure out where they are hiding. Reward: up to 100k Jewel if done correctly. Additional Note: Stay aware in this area. This town is home to Yajima-san. We will need to work quickly as to not cross paths with him.

“How does Jellal get this kind of money?” you wonder, stowing the paper in a safe place.

“From what I heard, he and Ultear managed to negotiate a grant contract with an organization that specializes in criminal reformation,” answers your boyfriend as he runs a hand through his hair.

“Wow, that’s both impressive and clever,” you note, stepping closer towards him. It’s a little bit chilly out, and he seems to sense that as he slings an arm around your shoulders. The warmth from his body helps you stop shivering for the time being.

“Thanks,” you mumble, laying your head on his shoulder.

“Anything for you,” he says, pressing a kiss to your forehead. “Are you doing okay? You seem a bit restless.”

“I love hunting demons,” you admit, jitteriness overcoming you. “It’s my favorite type of job. Their presence here is overwhelming. I can tell they’re going to put up a decent fight considering they stem from Zeref’s magic.”

Acnologia nods. “I understand that.”

A few seconds later, Acnologia suddenly turns in the direction of the road, where you spot Jellal and the others walking towards you. The heavenly body magic is with a tall, dark-haired woman and two men – one, however, seems to be asleep on a floating carpet. Interesting.

You offer a brief wave in greeting as the two of you approach them.

“Good morning,” Jellal greets. “It looks like we’re all here. Excellent. First things first – this is Ultear, Midnight, and Cobra. This is Acnologia and…” he introduces you. “Acnologia is our new recruit and she is a Devil Slayer who agreed to help us fight Zeref.”

“A Devil Slayer? That’ll simplify this mission tenfold,” Cobra notes as he shakes hands with Acnologia. “Regardless, it’s nice to meet you both.”

“The pleasure is ours,” Acnologia replies as you shake Cobra’s hand.

“It is an honor to be working with you both,” Ultear adds with a small smile.

“Same here. I’ve heard amazing things about your magic,” you state.

Cobra lazily points a thumb towards Midnight. “That’s Midnight, but he’s always asleep. If he wakes up soon, I’ll force him to properly introduce himself.”

“Anyways, we should get started in the interest of time,” Jellal interjects.

You nod in agreement. “They already know we’re here.”

“How can you tell?” Cobra questions.

“They’re watching us. They cannot understand our words but they can sense our intention. They aren’t going down without a fight.”

“In that case, what’s our plan?” Jellal wonders.

“Leave the exorcism up to me. There are lots of them here, but we’ll need to subdue all of them if we’re to complete the job without harming the people. Exorcisms are dangerous for the vessel, so we need to get the demons as weakened as we possibly can.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Cobra states. “Where are we headed?”

“This way,” you answer, leading the group towards a clearing in the town. “A large portion of them are gathered just beyond the forest line.”

“Acnologia and Cobra. Can you guys smell them?” you question, spotting Midnight merely peeking one eye open.

“I’m picking up a weak trail,” Acnologia notes.

“Me too. It’s coming from the forest. I can hear them, too. They think they’re being sneaky.”

A twisted grin settles on your face as you ready yourself for battle. “Void Ray!”

Your furrowed stare spies figures emerging from the forest. A ball of dark magic gathers in the tips of your fingers before you send it spiraling out towards the group. The others leap into action, joining in on the attack.

“Dokuryū no Hōkō!” Cobra yells, sending a blast of poison towards their group.

“Invisible Scythe!” Midnight adds, causing ethereal blades to slice towards the demons.

As the demons fall from the first few attacks, Acnologia backs up. “Eternal Flare!”

Magic stars barrel down onto the fallen foes, eliciting the possessed humans to screech inhumanely before they rush towards your group. You can tell they’re all injured and suffering from Cobra’s poison, but the pain doesn’t seem to affect them.

Midnight suddenly steps in front of you and sweeps his right arm out to the side, causing an unseen force of magic to make the group fall.

You snap your fingers while chanting underneath your breath, causing a symbol in the shape of a pentagram to appear on the ground underneath the fallen bodies. There are five symbols in each space between the points of the star-like figure inside.

“Damn you,” one of the demons spits. “Our Emperor will kill you all!”

“Yeah, he’ll get them. There’s no need for us to worry,” another adds.

“Banish Demon,” you mumble, causing the magic circle to light up a dim purple as all of the demons inside the circle start writhing in an attempt to resist the powerful spell. Within moments, all the demons have been exorcised as the humans scream out in agony.

And then, the evil within them dissipates entirely. The pentagram fades and you smile, left with a bunch of confused humans.

“I thought you said they were gonna put up a fight,” Cobra jokes, glancing at you with a smirk.

You chuckle, shrugging. “It appears I was wrong.”

A wave of hushed murmurs catches your attention. You turn to see the townspeople nervously studying you and the others.

“Don’t worry, we’re not going to hurt you. The demons are gone. Are you all okay?” you ask, leaning down to help them each up.

“I feel weak...what happened?” one person asks. This one is a young woman of about twenty years or so. You’re glad this exorcism went well – the results of a bleaker outcome would have been horrific to say the least.

“You were possessed by some of Zeref’s lower-level demons,” Midnight answers, “but they should be gone for good now. If you’ll let us put an anti-possession symbol on you, then you shouldn’t get possessed ever again.”

“You’re feeling weak because of the poison I used. It’s a weaker one that just tires you out. It won’t actually hurt you, it just takes a bit of time to wear off.” Cobra explains next.

“Is anyone hurt?” you ask.

Acnologia goes around healing anyone who has an injury before you and the other five set about stamping anti-possession tattoos on their bodies.

“Um...aren’t they fugitives?” asks a man who is clearly shaken. “I feel like I’ve seen them on the Council’s most-wanted list.”

“They are, yes, but they’re trying to make up for their sins. They’re good people, trust me.”

“How do you know that?” a nearby woman asks you.

“Tell me something,” you say, catching Acnologia’s gaze as you step in front of the crowd. “My old mentor once asked me: ‘What is better: to be born good, or to overcome your evil nature through great effort?’ What do you all think?”

That question always gets people. The group falls silent.

“Well, in any case, we recommend that you keep a hefty supply of salt, iron, silver, and holy water handy just in case of a supernatural attack. In that case, your best bets are wizards from legal guilds,” Jellal adds. “We tend to drift about, so it’ll be quicker to alert the legal guilds.”

Ultear nods in response. “Additionally, we would greatly appreciate it if you all keep quiet about our involvement here.”

“Or just say that I was here,” you suggest.

After getting the rest of the villagers secured, you rejoin the group at the road.

“That took way less time and effort than I expected,” Cobra admits once you arrive. “We normally have such a hard time hunting those assholes down. But you knew exactly where they were and how to get rid of them. Did you even read an exorcism?”

You shake your head. “I created a spell that implanted the exorcism’s language into the magic in order to expedite exorcisms.”

“That’s clever,” Jellal notes as Acnologia steps beside you, looping an arm around your waist.

“I mean…if you guys are really set on fighting Zeref, I wouldn’t mind teaching you how to cast it,” you offer.

“We would greatly appreciate that,” Ultear says, smiling at you. “Though…we have another matter we’d like to discuss with you.”

“What’s up?”

“Well…as you were finishing up, Ultear and I decided to make you an offer. We’d like to formally offer you dual guildship with our guild.”

“Dual guildship? That exists?” you wonder.

Ultear nods in response. “It’s rare because it’s hard work, but has been done before. Your primary focus would still lie in Fairy Tail, of course, but you would still be considered a full member of Crime Sorcière at the same time.”

Your eyes widen slightly as you turn towards Acnologia. He chuckles softly, nodding at you. “Are you kidding? Of course, I’d love to be a part of this guild!”

“We are delighted to hear it!” Jellal says as a slight tingling sensation emanates from your skin. You realize it must be your new guild mark.

Cobra grins, patting your back a few times. “Hey, welcome to the team. Both of you.”

…

Two days pass, and you and Acnologia make it home without trouble. Jellal promised to keep in contact, and you’re hoping to hear back from him soon.

With Acnologia out taking his exam, you’re left home alone with a bit of time to pass. Laxus had invited you on a mission with the Thunder Legion, which you’d accepted since you didn’t have much else to do.

You quietly hum as you change into a fresh outfit, checking your appearance over in the mirror. Hopefully Acnologia would do well on his exam – he had been studying hard for it but still struggled with some of the material.

Once you’re ready, you dart to the living room, gathering the rest of your belongings before making your way to the guildhall.

Upon arrival, you’re greeted with the typical ruckus you’d grown used to. Laxus and the Thunder Legion are seated at the bar, speaking with Mirajane.

After weaving your way through your guildmates, you have a seat next to Evergreen, greeting the group.

“Hey guys,” you say, smiling at Mirajane.

“There you are,” Laxus replies. “Ready to head out?”

“Yeah,” you affirm, noting that the commotion has seemingly increased for some reason. Hm, someone must be unconscious now. You’re about to ask the white-haired bartender something, but the question dies in your throat as you see her expression.

She’s frowning, staring at something behind you. “Mira? What is i-?”

You’re cut off as someone harshly grabs the back of your neck, slamming your head down onto the counter. A grunt escapes you as the person snatches your wrists, yelling your name as your guildmates start shouting at whoever’s grabbing you.

“By order of the Magic Council, you are under arrest!”

[sarnai4]

Went Out For Some Milk

I think that Dagur and Hiccup have more in common than most people realize. An underrated example of this is how they both have parents who just plain abandoned them. To a certain extent, I understand Valka and Oswald. On a deeper level, I really can't get it at all. Here's why:

I get that Valka didn't willingly leave. She was taken by Cloudjumper. That's not her fault in the slightest. She was trying to protect her baby and was taken by a spooked dragon; however, why did she stay gone? She learned how to fly on dragons. Therefore, she had the means to return. The idea of her not being able to come back is gone. The realm with the dragons wasn't too far from Berk. She could ride a flying creature. The next suggestion is that it would've been unsafe. That's the one she used to explain it...but how? I'm genuinely curious if anyone has a reason because I can't think of it for the life of me. Just have Cloudjumper drop you off near Berk, swim to shore, and say you escaped. Or don't say that and try to gradually get the other Berkians to accept dragons. Heck, if she loved dragons so much and didn't want to ever be away, she could have flown to Berk and been like, "Hey, hubby, I'm a dragon rider now. Be cool with that and we can stay together." Stoick probably would've loved her enough to accept one of these. He loved her enough to accept that she made him a single dad for 20 years and wasn't even upset. It's also not fair to Hiccup that he grew up without a mom because she was too scared to be herself around the Berkians or risk losing her new freedom away from the island.

Oswald runs into the reverse of this. For him, I understand why he didn't return. The guy was shipwrecked on an island with dragons who didn't want anyone leaving. My issue with him is that he left in the first place. Why did he go? Why did he not tell anyone? Dagur never should've been able to convince the other Berserkers that he killed Oswald because the man should have told the others he was heading out. If he was going to a peace treaty signing, I'm sure he would've gone with more people. As a chief, it's irresponsible to not let his Vikings know where he'll be going or if he will since they might need his help. As a father, it's irresponsible to leave his son 50,000+ people to be in charge of without so much as a goodbye first. All he had to do was tell someone. An argument could be made that he told Dagur, but the question then becomes why on Earth would he do that and not tell anyone else? Mini Dagur isn't the person you give your location to so that he can be your emergency contact. If he even paid attention, he'd probably laugh at the idea of there being an emergency. Even still, I doubt that Oswald told him because Dagur seemed to really have no idea where he had gone. So, it's highly likely that Oswald just decided he had enough of being a chief and dad, then went to the great beyond.

I'm sure these are both unpopular opinions, but these parents really do bug me. What annoys me more is that I don't think either is shown to be anything other than loving despite that. It's unfair to their kids. I don't want the movie to tell me Valka is just the best mom ever and that they're going to be a happy family now that they found her. She could have returned to them years ago and we wouldn't have had that sad episode back when they were kids with poor Hiccup being desperate to find the one item his mom had given him since that was the only thing he had to remind him of her. I don't want to see a happy scene with Dagur reading about how much his dad loved him. Oswald should have proven it by not abandoning him, then in that same episode with the supposed happy moment, Dagur wouldn't have voiced his doubt that his dad did in fact love him. Just a little something that irks me, but I'm curious what everyone else thinks.

[just-sp-in-inginthevoid]

Hello hey hey. How was your day? Btw can you do a character ask for Shinichiro Sano. Since, he is my favourite character due to his complexity

Hi, my day has been fine for now (it's still early here) although my body hurts (for normal anatomical reasons dw) but it is what it is. Hope yours is going better than mine

Gosh, what a mood anon. What an absolute mood.

My first impression

Good model/mentor figure that positively influenced everyone he was around of. Here to fit his archetype more than to be an actual character - he's dead anyway - but he's the type of character I rarely love to know more about and grow to be more complex even if it really happens because creators love to keep mentors mysterious—

My impression now

*inhale* BOI.

I love Wakui's capacity to write realistic characters SO MUCH.

Original timeline was such a gift, I hold it very dearly in my heart. My favorite timeline potential-speaking; there's so many things we don't know about and can speculate on! Marvelous.

Anyway, back to Shinichiro. He is so real. I was so happy when he turned out to be explored like the other characters and to be actually flawed (not excusable lovable flaws like being bad with girls and in fight). He's one of the most interesting character and should be put under several microscopes and observed by several scientists.

He's, he's just... AAAAAHH. He's so good, his character is so good. I need him to get darker but at the same time I just want him happy.

His childhood was taken away from him and the fact that he turned to delinquency to cope (later on, encouraging at least a dozen of kids to do the same) should be talk about more.

He - unconsciously, unintentionally - gave the responsibility of his mental well-being to Mikey. I know they didn't help in the original timeline, but I hope he did go to therapies in the final one

Favorite thing about that character

Same thing as you anon; the complexityyyyy

I love subversion of expectation. I love when seemingly perfect characters who are idolized by everyone turn out not to be that perfect. How I accurately came up with the hypotheses he was the other Time Leaper. How the story wouldn't exist if it wasn't for him not being able to grieve Mikey - not being able to withstand losing his entire family.

He lost his dad, he was the one taking care of his mom until she passed too, had had to raise his siblings when he wasn't yet an adult, he couldn't handle losing his brother he raised as a son, he didn't know how to handle the Izana-situation, he didn't have a proper reaction to Sanzu's scars. The way he first learnt to deal with grief was to become a delinquent and form a gang. Don't get me started on what Black Dragon is IRL.

He tried. He'd tried everything for his loved-ones but he was also a teen, then a young adult, and you can't expect him to be able to handle it.

Also, the fact that no character will tell you about that or talk about Shinichiro without being biased because they all respect and idolize him I- The narrative doesn't want you to know about how he really was, because the characters that talk about him didn't know about it. The only way to catch a glimpse of it, to know more about it is Original timeline. And I think that's very neat tbh

+GNC king, slays in heels

Least favorite thing

Objectively, I love it, but subjectively the way he dealt with some situations... argh. He's not that good at knowing and understanding social clues. Could've handle the whole situation with Sanzu better, out of everything else.

Favorite line/scene

*proceeds to stuff all of the Original Timeline* There 👍.

Favorite interaction that character has with another

That. That right here. (for Mikey those two scenes are about only two months apart. But *we* know, why Shinichiro changed his mind)

A character that I wish that character would interact with more

Actually, I'm rather pleased with his interactions with other characters.

Another character from another fandom that reminds me of that character

For some reasons, Maria from Maria no Danzai. I think. I think they'd get along. I think Shinichiro would've done the same - or similar stuffs - if he had lost Mikey in a similar way Maria lost her son. I think we should be very glad Shinichiro didn't actually have a villain arc (not one we saw at least) because he would've gone very far into the darkness me think. Me think the curse is just Mikey turning how Shinichiro would've turned had Mikey not been around so me think Shinichiro has problems

A headcanon about that character

If he ever has a gun in his hands, he'd be way too good at firing it.

Actually struggles with empathy and figuring out other ppl's emotions & feelings. But he has sympathy and compassion so he balances it out. A friend introduced me to autistic Mikey HC, so naturally, my mind went to autistic Shinichiro. Ranting about it will probably take too long here tho

His nickname for Takeomi is 'Omin' (Takeomi doesn't really like it bc it sounds more and more childish with the 'n' as they grow up. Excepted for final timeline where Takeomi has learnt not to care about other people's opinions)

A song that reminds of that character

I've got a 52 (for now) songs-playlist (found in my pinned post) but have Bury Me Low by 8 Graves

An unpopular opinion about that character

Mikey isn't the reason he turned dark; Mikey is the reason he didn't turn dark

Favorite picture

LIL BEETLE SHINICHIRO.

!!!

[riddlebot]

DRAGON AGE: THE VEILGUARD - my thoughts and feelings after beating the game. obviously, spoilers for the whole thing. <3

so starting with pros, since i do have criticisms and i don't want it to immediately sound like i'm hating on the game when i genuinely had a great time playing it and there were a lot of things i liked, so i'll start with the good.

i loved all the companions. in every other DA game there are companions i love and companions i decidedly do NOT like. it was a nice refresher that i loved every single companion in DAV.

the way the locations were built were kind of fun! i am used to DAI's open world, and open world in general, so to me it kind of felt like every place i went was a different Destiny dungeon lol but also it was so cool to finally be in a city. i didn't really play DA2 that much so it's new for me, i'm use to opening up DAI and being lost in the wilderness wherever i go - everytime i ran across a roof top in dock town i felt like i was playing assassin's creed.

different endings! i like that there are different endings depending on how your inquisitor feels, how your rook comes to feel, and whether or not you do all of the memory quests. i liked the ending i chose, the "good" ending, in which we convince solas to use his own life force to keep the veil up to repent for all he has done. do i feel he DESERVES this ending? no. but it's what my inquisitor, and varric, would have wanted. despite how badly my rook wanted to knife him in the face, lmao.

it's pretty!! even though i have to play on dogshit graphics so the game can even run on my dinky pc, it's such a beautiful game and every area is so fun - the only place i hated going was dock town's catacombs and thats because i kept getting lost

i actually loved all the codex entries and learning about the companions through their notes to each other or their diary entries or their book club letters like that was so cute

seeing my inquisitor again idc i felt he was perfectly in character which i know was NOT everyone's personal feelings depending on how they played but my boy was good

even thought it made me devastated i'm glad all the questions i ever had thought to ask about dragon age lore were answered and also hilarious that they are quite literally all solas and mythal's fault this is another thing i think a particular group of people are pretty upset about but it was blowing my mind

also i think solas is such a well written villain like IDK when he trapped my rook in the fade at the end i was gasping for air and so angry and the fact we watched him make so many sacrifices and then justify them over and over and then to tell us like you should be proud of how far you come did you not expect to lose anyone i was floored. and then the fact he tries to trick us into bringing down the veil again after that had my rook SEETHINGGGGG i'm not kidding if it weren't for my angel inquisitor who loved solas that man woulda died bc my rook was not fucking around anymore at that point

criticisms:

combat. on one hand it's fun, and flashy, but on the other hand i think they peaked with DAI's combat - it is fucking impossible to be a ranged attacker in this game. your character is the only one with a health bar, for some reason, so enemies do not attack your companions AT ALL and just swarm you. i often felt like my companions were doing absolutely nothing while i was drowning in demons and darkspawn. i also have no idea how the combo moves work so maybe once i figure that out i'll feel differently but i kept getting so frustrated with it. in DAI, i take blackwall and can literally build his character into a tank that draws all enemy aggro so i can pick them off from the sidelines as he holds down the fort. give my companions back their health bars so i can attack an ogre from a distance please i am begging you.

companion personal quests. i do genuinely enjoy most of them - emmerich's in particular, the one where you crash his rivals party and watch his skeleton son pretend to be one of the party's servants to get information was so fun to me, as someone whose favorite mission in the entire series is wicked eyes and wicked hearts from dai. but a lot of them felt repetitive and unnecessary. why does davrin drag me to arlathan forest every 2 seconds to do nothing and why is that a quest and not just a cutscene i don't have to like, go do as a mission? it would have made more sense to me if it was just a cutscene and i didn't have to fast travel around for it.

i also think the sheer amount of "mini bosses" was kind of absurd. why does literally every single companion have a mini boss. the only ones that make sense are neve and lucanis, since it has to do with the venatori. but everyone else it kind of seemed like the writers had all these ideas and just. put them all in to fit as much as they could into the game.

i did like most of the armor i just wish i could have dyed it and also dyed my companions so we could all match

this is coming from a transman but when i found out fucking governer ivenci was nonbinary i screamed. this game is so woke and it's genuinely very cool to see in such a huge franchise but the fact they just randomly tacked on being trans to some npcs kills me it was so hilarious. in some cases, like taash, i'm like absolutely yes in your fucking face transphobes, or like MAEVARIS I LITERALLY SCRAEMED WITH JOY WHEN I FOUND OUT SHE WAS TRANS but why ivenci that wsa so random to me JFKLDASJFK;LASDJ they're like btw nonbinary people can also be evil. and you know what. fair.

final thoughts is that i do genuinely love the game, and i am curious to see if they make any changes in updates in the future but i won't hold my breath. i love the characters very much. also, as someone who played with a noncanon solas romanced inquisitor (my inquisitor is male, so he romanced solas in dai via mods) i hate the solavellan ending where they walk into the fade prison/home together and lavellan just leaves everyone they ever knew and loved behind for a man that is crazy work. my inquisitor went through fucking hell after trespasser personally, and he is over solas and i am going to make a rook for him to end up with because i think it'd be cute and he deserves it.

anyway thats all have a good day.

[saltminerising]

IDK if my previous ask sent but... bought tons of tickets for roundsey last night. done that before, won low value prizes before, no biggie. today, i am banned for multiaccounting ~5 years ago, but i am listed as winner of roundsey... did i win the crown which made me get investigated? i feel bad, its like i wasted a ks item for the community without thinking. i never got to see what i won myself.

We got a lot of asks on this while we were paused, so they're all in this one post so it's not trickling out over 4 days on your dashboard!

The wild levels of clownery that the user who won the KS Roundsey prize (Gilded Crown) was immediately frozen for being a multi. :’)

i've been playing for 5+ years and had a second account in my first year because i was a stupid kid and i severely regret that decision. seeing that g from light got banned because staff investigated their account after they won the gilded crown? abysmal... i'm never putting a single ticket into roundsey again.

once again wishing staff would plunder goods trapped in banned-with-no-chance-of-appeal accounts to raffle them off. it just seems so reasonable.

the winner of the gilded crown getting banned for multi-accounting because the win caused staff to take a close look at their account, oh my god

So g won the Kickstarter item in roundsey, gets their account reviewed by staff, and gets banned for confirmed multiaccounting from 5+ years ago. Big ol F for that gilded crown </3

Well. the Gilded Crown went to a now-locked account for multiaccounting. If staff doesn't re-raffle it I'm gonna riot and I don't even care all that much about KS apparel.

How come people who are OBVIOUSLY multi-ing will win Roundsey prizes again and again, but people who haven't touched side accounts in years will be banned?

the roundsey gilded crown went to an acc that got instantly locked by mods bc they multid in 2018

THis Gilded Crown debacle makes me want to stop participating in Roundsey altogether, if they're gonna investigate winners for possible multiing. I had a couple accounts simultaneously as a kid and almost a decade ago but staff is soooo fucking trigger-happy about multiing and I've been living in fear since that even though I've abandoned those accounts entirely, they're gonna Figure It Out and ban me. Not fucking worth the 5,000 treasure per week for 10 tickets, not fucking worth losing my account. Fuck that lmaoooo

so, uh, about that gilded crown from roundsey

I think I'm more salty about the people defending/pitying G from light even though they chose to cheat, than the fact that the Gilded Crown ended up going to a multi-accounter. 

how unfortunate that last weeks gilded crown roundsey winner got their account reviewed and banned by staff for multi (years ago apparently) after winning 😭 rip crown

Oh my god, the person who won the Gilded Crown got banned for multiaccounting before they could even log in to see it. Check dev tracker for the thread where people realized (page 7)

sooo an account made in 2022 getting banned for having funneled in 2017-2018... how does that happen

This is exactly why I've been against Roundsey being the only way to redistribute KS and Y1 items back into the game. It's a very good treasure sink, yes, but we need other ways to EARN the high-ticket items.

The gilded crown went to a multi (yet again) who immediately got banned lol

the ks crown got me a bit paranoid. if i were to win a big prize one day and got all of my account history checked by staff, i could only pray that ive never done a suspicious thing in their eyes throughout all those years

lmao at someone winning the roundsey gilded crown then immediately getting banned cus staff found signs of multiaccounting on the account (evidence in the roundsey frd thread)

I think instead of re-raffling the crown staff should log into that account, put the crown on the first dragon in the lair, and leave it there forever.

is anyone else kind of bummed about that roundseys winner getting banned for former multi accounting? like the obvious solution is 'just dont multi' but it's just not fun realising that even if you broke the rules years ago and stopped, theres no point saving up for bigger items like kickstarter stuff because that black mark is permanent and youll lose everything

So the guided crown was won but then the account was investigated and banned for multiacounting. So now the crown is forever on a locked account. Staff better re raffle it off. How many KS items are forever on banned accounts

Mfs can't even lie convincingly on why they get banned. Your account is from 2022, you couldn't have funneled stuff "back in 2017/2018". Hope they reraffle that damn crown and that people stop believing banned users on why they're (mostly) all innocent angels that made one mistake years ago without actual proof.

[kariachi]

Okay, I can’t promise that this will be a proper essay because words but let’s give this a shot-

The treatment of whers in the series is reflective of Anne’s own ableism.

Details! The defining traits of whers are as such-

A “stunted” equivalent to the dragons

Photophobic

Rough-skinned

Don’t bond as readily to humans as dragons

The first two are the relevant ones here, because they’re the ones that get brought up over, and over, and over again. They’re ‘uglies’, ‘wretched’, ‘stunted’, and photophobic.

And the immediate response when they hatched was that they should be killed.

“But Achi-!” The recommendation when they hatched was specifically stated to not be to find a place where they could be comfortably kept, and then later fuckers had to be talked into not having them killed as soon as Wind Blossom‘s control of the situation was removed. If you think Pol and Bay’s suggestion wasn’t to euthanize those hatchlings you’re kidding yourself.

And just, let’s take a moment to talk about how fucking stupid of an idea that would’ve been. Because it would have been monumentally stupid. Even setting aside that you have no idea what future use you could put them to (because gods know these people can’t take five minutes to consider that), they could be a vital aid in figuring how the dragons work genetically by looking at the differences between them! “Wind Blossom was egotistical wanting to keep the whers and make more dragons” Wind Blossom was the only one with a brain in her skull! Nobody could figure out Kitti’s handiwork, not entirely, and having the whers available allows for a different angle to look at and compare information from! They provide a portal into a better understanding of the dragonkin by looking at where the differences lie and being able to go “okay, these correlate to this”, which is invaluable when it comes to genetics! And keeping them alive allows for you to study the differences in growth patterns as well for an even deeper understanding. People refer to the whers as a cousin to dragons, but they aren’t, they’re a sister species, and damnit that’s valuable!

Okay, okay, I’m chill...

Why does this reflect Anne’s own ableism?

There’s plenty of reason, after all, for the colonists to be disappointed to get the whers. They don’t bond as readily and so at first probably appeared not to bond at all. Their proportions are wrong for flight. But those aren’t what people bring up about them, are they?

Sean’s not calling them Wind Blossom’s ‘loners’ after all.

One could get away with calling attention to their photophobia, since it would mean they can’t safely flame, but the fact that even by the time of Wind Blossom’s second clutch that’s the primary way of referring to them? Does not sit right coming from a writer who has dragons suiciding if they lose the ability to fly, and who partly wrote Dragon’s Kin. In the context of the first wher clutch that’s a visual disability, it’s literally caused by improperly formed eyes, and it’s at best rude to treat beings’ disabilities as their defining trait. Especially when they’re being referred to as such by people who actually shudder to think about them (hello Dr Bay, I see you).

Which brings us back around to their appearance. The thing that always seems to be the big topic, especially when they’re being compared to dragons, which is pretty much all the damn time. Wher proportions are different from dragon proportions, they’re smaller, stockier, longer proportionally according to my math, seem to be more rugged and angular in appearance, and are constantly referred to as ugly.

By pretty much everyone.

All the time.

And this is treated as one of if not the thing that makes them lesser than dragons, and therefor deserving of being mistreated, derided, nobody loves them, nobody cares, how dare you think a wher would be worth any effort or matter. They’re smaller and ‘ugly’ and can’t fly and so they’re treated as if they’re nothing.

Now, before we go any further, I need to explain why this is absolute bullshit.

‘Ugly’ has not stopped people as a whole from latching onto sweet babies once in all of history- and we know they’re sweet babies because we meet Kisk. They’re incredibly useful, can be kept in groups, very affectionate, fucking dragons that you can keep in your shed (every child’s dream), there is no way in hell that they would realistically be disdained to the degree they are in canon. ‘Ugly’ is subjective anyway, and can be overridden by the human pack bonding instinct. Fuck, there’s enough people who find ‘ugly’ dogs charming that there’s a whole annual competition to find the ugliest one and they have a fucking crowd cheering and fawning over them every year. Ugly can make things harder, but the near universal idea that the whers, who shouldn’t even be considered ugly after a few hundred years anymore than we treat a goat as an ugly sheep, are lesser creatures who don’t really matter in large part because of their appearance? Should not be so pervasive. It shouldn’t be extolled by even our heroes.

But then, whers aren’t judged on their own merits. They’re judged as dragons, ‘stunted’, ‘malformed’ dragons.

And here’s where we get into the treatment of whers as a reflection of ableism.

There is a pervasive belief out there that there is a ‘normal’ type of body, and that if your body does not reflect this then that means you are ugly, and bad, and lesser. This belief is behind a lot of fatphobia, the portrayal of people with disfigurements as villains in media, it plays into racism, and a shitload of ableism. It says that one’s body isn’t right, and that because of this they are inherently Other. No matter if you’re perfectly healthy or not, if you’re happy or not, good or not.

Let’s look at the whers again, shall we? They’re smaller than dragons, stockier, not the same proportions, more rugged and rough.

Sean can only describe them as ‘uglies’. Bay calls them ‘wretched’ and shudders in revulsion at the thought of them. They were by all accounts healthy at hatching and yet the immediate response by the experts present was that they should be killed. To want them alive is to invite disgust. When their sole defender is removed, their salvation comes in being able to make themselves useful to those that hate them, and even then they’re quickly cast aside. Derided and abused over and over and all while being treated as lesser than their ‘noble’, ‘beautiful’ siblings.

Their siblings who came out ‘right’.

“But Achi, Anne surely didn’t mean them as a reflection of the disabled!” I’m sure she didn’t, any more than every person who pits a disabled villain against able-bodied heroes means to send a message, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t reflect biases she may not have even realized she carried.

“But Achi, Anne had proper disabled characters who weren’t villains!” Yes, and how important were they? How important were their disabilities? We get a load of disabled characters in Dragonsdawn, not that you’ll remember that by the end of the story because it’s brought up maybe twice each and never has any sort’ve effect. We had a Master whose disability was mentioned but neither were ever of real focus. Multiple times we get openings for major characters to exhibit disabilities and they always miraculously have no ill effects. F’nor and Canth are disfigured and never again act as major characters. Camo’s father is encouraged to forget they’re related due to his disability. Nuella gets to be a major character, but her whole story feels like inspiration porn, like the McCaffreys wanted to prove they weren’t ableist despite being ableist. And that’s all ignoring that statement in Dragonsinger that dragons who can’t fly (aka: become disabled) commit suicide, which is one of those big fucking ableism red flags.

And whether they were meant to or not, the whers act as a nice little reflection of all this. Why do the people of Pern hold so little regard for whers? Because whers are, as a species, on level with disabled dragons, and the disabled hold little regard with our writers, same as queer people.

[abuddyforeveryseason]

It's the boys as D&D people. I'm not too happy with this drawing, but I worked hard on the character figures, so, here are them in detail:

This is Joe as a Human Paladin. There's some Saint Seiya style flair on his armor. His weapon of choice is a mace (or a Morning Star), because he won't use a sword. I know Clerics are the ones who aren't supposed to use swords, but I figured it'd make a better fit for him.

Besides, swords are boring.

Paul as a Tiefling Wizard. Self-explanatory.

Our favorite character Buddy as an Elven Ranger. Since I'd play a Ranger, and Buddy's my favorite character (and also your favorite character), he's gotta be a ranger too. Besides, I like the pointy ears coming out of his hair.

Lao as a Human Barbarian. As a no-nonsense guy, he'll play a no-nonsense character type. And the gameplay's usually pretty straightforward as well.

You know, Dungeons&Dragons fascinates me. I've only played it a handful of times, a lifetime ago, and never really enjoyed it.

The gameplay and the foundational notion of the game make no sense to me - A really complicated game with no winners or losers? If the goal of the game is just to have fun, why are there so many cheats and secrets? How can it be challenging if the DM gets to pick whatever he wants to put as obstacles? Why are the characters' skills dependent on dice rolls?

And it feels weird that a player controls a single character. It's a weird, obtuse rule that the player can do whatever he wants with the character, even if the needs of the party are something else. I get that it's a pretty obvious idea, but, during the game itself, all I can think is What The Hell Are We Doing? - why do I need to wait for the healer to choose to heal me if we all know that's the right choice? So the player can say the words? Or worse, so he can troll the party and refuse to, and everyone else has to accept it?

The world of the game is also really unpleasant to be in. Classes, Races and Alignments reduce characters to walking job applications, and they lose all uniqueness since they can be replaced by someone else with the same class, or even a similar build better suited for the adventure. Wouldn't it be fun if Aragorn died after a bad roll against an Orc, and was replaced by another ranger?

Not to mention the combinations can end up being really convoluted and make no sense. And it reduces each playing character to its usefulness to the game, which isn't too much fun.

So, yeah, I don't like D&D. In fact, you could even say I hate D&D. And that's not a word I use a lot. I mean, I hate a lot of stuff, but I don't talk about that too often.

But, since I hate it so much, I love stuff that's parodying, mocking, insulting or criticising tabletop RPGs. And even though a lot of those parodies come from a place of love, I still enjoy them, in a way I'd never enjoy playing the game.

It's a really weird thing. For a while there, I wondered if I should keep enjoying those parodies, or if in a weird way, they're not meant for me, so there's something wrong with me still reading or watching that sort of stuff.

But, well, life's too short. I'm old enough now to realize some stuff. That it's okay to watch the movie even if you haven't read the book. That refusing to listen to music that's not cool is the lamest thing you can do. That it's okay to stop reading a comic halfway through if you don't like it. And, that it's okay to see a show about people enjoying something you'll never enjoy.

Besides, I read a lot of Captain Tsubasa as a kid, and it's not like I'd ever set foot in a soccer field.

[gensnix]

I'm gonna combust if I don't get this out

Totk rant underneath

I know I did review and I put a small rant in it but I got more shit to say and yes I might be repeating things because I have the need to point shit out

The writing is bad a lot of characters I loved in botw have turned into stale biscuits

I can't take the fact that the game goes against its own lore multiple times

"to become a dragon is to lose oneself" K. why tf was Ganondorf still fighting us in dragon form.

Also Zelda knowing when to join the fight or the fact that she cries her memories into the ground and the fact that she's perfectly fine at the end. Zero repercussion

Link your arm is fucked beyond repair... jk lol it's fine

Everyone talks about the shrines and sheika towers but no one talks about the giant sheika pillars that surrounded Hyrule castle I miss them :(

Link would you please react to something besides food and horse points I know you can, especially in a place where you were completely alone

Nope I'm not accepting that the ancient hero is part Zonai cause 2 things. there were only two zonai left that I don't see Mineru having kids and wouldn't that mean that hero and princess would be related or why isn't it just the princess. That is NOT A ZONAI WTF IS THAT IT IT LOOKS NOTHING LIKE THE TAPESTRY mf got blue skin and clearly wearing boots in the pic and I know that Hyrule can be racist but if the zonai were sooo important why would they make him look like a hylian(gerudo?) it really just feels like they just put Zonai stuff everywhere without actually thinking

I like the idea that the three dragons were once Zonai and went through with swallowing secret stones but shouldn't they have three eyes? Idk that's just a nitpick In fact, who even made the secret stones we get no explanation why do they do that.

another nitpick I have is that they should not be speaking the same langue in the past. Zelda shouldn't be able to understand a word of what they're saying

If Zelda gets her light magic from Rauru and time from Sonia why in botw does the triforce appear when she seals Calamity Ganon Sonia is the one with a triforce tattoo and yet they don't even talk about the triforce once in this game and correct me if I'm wrong but don't Sonia and Rauru not know what the master sword is

This game is trying way to hard to convince me that the Zonai were good people. An entire race of good people doesn't die out like that. They also don't have robots that kill everything on site. or doors that drain the life out of people. Or not correct anyone when they are called gods. Or have mining facilities everywhere underground. Or have a gerudo cemetery near all their underground shit

I want this game to stop trying to be Ocarina of Time it's not working.

Why are the labyrinths different especially the one that had all the guardians down there. All of them are gone. Who even went there to get them was it Link. The Zonai researcher makes it seem their the first one to ever go there

I usually see this on twitter saying that the missing sheika tech was stated to be decommissioned in Purah's diaries. Except what the FUCK are you talking about like is it different in other languages or are twitter people just saw one person say it and decide to spread it around. Please ya gotta tell me I know how bad American Nintendo translates their games

also about the shrine of resurrection I see a lot of people say that the yiga took it down. but uh... the whole reason the yiga started is cause one of the old kings banded their tech shouldn't they y'know use some of it and at least fuse it in some designs I know they can

As much as I love them I don't think the yiga really fit in this since everything sheika related got pushed off a cliff

I love the depths but there really isn't much there Like I feel like there should be some sheika stuff down there all destroyed and stuff. cause a lot of chasms are where old sheika shrines were wouldn't it be cool to go down there and see an old sheika shrine in ruins

demon king??? Secret stone????

Idk why I seem to be the only one who wants to know where the actual thunder helm is. I looked high and low for it. I even wore the replica to see if I'd get a reaction and I did but it's only for the speech bubbles above the gerudo's heads Most of them being "that helm..." one being "I want a helm!" Even RIJU with the fucking "That helm..." GIRL WHERE IS THE ACTUAL ONE. This game makes me confused about which side quests are apparently actually canon. Did Link lose it?? Why would they react like that?

Yunobo I love you please please please use your shield why are you not using it

Yunobo why won't you question why Zelda gave you a mask that possessed you please my baby boy don't let people treat you like a doormat be mad you are allowed to be mad that you got possessed

I will never not be mad they sidelined Teba. I didn't spend all those years convincing my friends that Teba was a crazy bastard cause they don't talk to npc's like I do and then proven right in Age of Calamity for him to not even get a redesign. Hell, he's fucking bored as an elder and he doesn't say the injury he got while fighting Medoh was lethal he shouldn't be standing if it was. In botw his wife, best friend, and elder all talk about how Teba acts without thinking and has been like that since a child. Who are you what have you done to my crazy speaks his mind bastard. It's hard being one of so few Teba simps but hey at least I'm not a Sidon simp who had to go through with his marriage.

Saki didn't even want Tulin to be a warrior why is she so ok with him being a Sage

Once again cause this pisses me off the most. In her diary Zelda says that Link follows her everywhere in there attempt to rebuild Hyrule. Everyone and their mothers knows Zelda she's the princess. But they don't recognize Link..? Does she not talk about him to them. Strange since she was so happy to share about him with her ancestors. They should know him he carries the fucking master sword and is always with Zelda. Hell I believe that they live in the same house but I guess Link's not important to them. Even though he's the reason that Zelda was able to seal away the calamity away.

Why does all of Hyrule just accept she's the princess? You guys haven't served under a monarchy in 100 years. You guys are so skeptical of Link but not her... and you're not gonna question anything she does. Even if it seems evil cause yeah that was a plot point in game that was completely dropped. the evil zelda thing could have been great. Get people questioning shit but you know whatever I guess

I don't know how true it is but I saw someone on twitter say that botw and totk take place in different universes (not from the timeline who cares about that but from each other) as stated on an official Nintendo site, even showed a picture, but it was in Japanese so I wanted to try and find this website cause it's easy to be fooled but couldn't cause once again it's Japanese I can't understand Japanese and I don't remember where that tweet was. And at this point I am going to believe that proof or not cause what is this story I know Nintendo is gameplay over story but I have never been upset at a plot like this before.

[horizon-verizon]

Some have argued that Alicent was right or had a point by trying to depose Rhaenyra (before episode 8 happened) in that:

if we want to only look over the situation through the succession customs of the society, it was her right: she was protecting her own and her daughter’s dignity in not accepting Rhaenyra’s proposal to marry Helaena to Jacaerys in episode 6

that Rhaenyra still would have had to marry Jaecaerys to Baela to keep the Velayrons on her side -->and thus Rhaenyra would lose their support and the HelaenaxJace marriage would incite the Velayrons’ wrath or make them abandon Rhaenyra--making her proposal something that can either never truly happen or Rhaenyra a liar

from a purely practical perspective, marrying Helaena to Jacaerys would still invite danger to Alicent’s kids/grandkids in the event the lords all rebelled against Rhaenyra and/or killed Helaena/grandkids like how Robert killed Elia Martell and her kids w/Rhaegar

These claims and her actions directly contradict each other. 

After Viserys ignores her protests, if Alicent’s aim is to protect both her kids’ lives and their dignity, her only other option to do so (since some claim that nothing else would have minimized the risk) is to assassinate Rhaenyra. If she were to expose Rhaenyra and the boys, this would get her/them killed, banished, or utterly ruin their lives to the point that death is attractive. Ironically, she refuses to let the council do this very thing in episode 9, when the threat of Viserys is no longer there. Huh?! Why?! (See below)

After years of trying to expose Rhaenyra and her kids’ illegitimacy, this same character is then open to allowing Rhaenyra to become the next ruler/queen...just because Rhaenyra said that she saw how hard Alicent worked for Viserys’ comfort and happiness and apologized. 

But what is Rhaenyra apologizing for when Alicent has been the one to actively pursue another person?!

Then there is the fact that the show has failed to show us what exactly the peasants and the lords think about Rhaenyra and the Greens--who, where, how many think one way, another way, or another way. the lords especially, the ones who Otto had warned about and who would gather their vassals to fight....so Alicent’s fear and Otto’s warning ring in a void. There’s no feedback to prove or disprove his words. 

And we see later, in Fire and Blood, that Rhaenyra gets many lords to fight for her, the majority who made oaths to her on Viserys’ order--none were threatened by Daemon and most suggested Rhaenyra use her dragons. 

So by the show’s own writing and plot shift from Alicent’s earlier refusal to marry these two, we were expecting her after episode 8 to then marry them since she now accepts Rhaenyra’s claim and wants to be friends again at some point. (This is supported by the showrunner, Ryan Condal, himself)

If she forgives Rhaenyra, then she in the same breath is allowing the danger (Rhaenyra and the lords’ “assured” rebellion) to threaten her kids, by some fans’ and her own logic. Rhaenyra is not going to murder her own kids, give up the throne, nor kill herself after all. So why is Alicent suddenly so open to her at that point?

If we take the show at face value, it would mean that Alicent wasn’t actually concerned about Helaena’s “dignity”, but her own desire to have more control and authority. 

So if we were to argue that this is the same woman of all these years is just trying to protect her kids, none of it is true.

It also shows that despite her words about how the council, Viserys, and herself should all consider how their decisions will affect the “realm” and “subjects” (episodes 3, 6, and 9) her main motivation is not those things, but how she herself will be compensated with obedience and/or praise for following the gendered feudal code of conduct and rules.

But here are other reasons why I don’t agree with the claims for Alicent.

A) *EDIT 11/13/24* DISREGARD THIS POINT PLZ!!*END OF EDIT* ---Strategically speaking, Rhaenyra actually doesn’t have to marry Jacaerys to Baela, despite when the writers make her in episode 8. 

The Velayrons would still back her because she’s married to Daemon, who is the father of the Baela and Rhaena. At the ver y least Rhaenys would, and Corlys would follow unless the show decides to break this characterization for “men must rule in their best interests”🙄, ignoring how Rhaenys was the one to warn Corlys all this time & him admitting it in episode 10. Whether or not Daemon is just using Rhaneyra, the fact is that he will definitely support her to annihilate her enemies.

We see how much Rhaenys values and priorities her grandkids over everything else after the deaths of her own kids (Laenor and Laena). Whether in the book or show, Rhaneys would not let her own grandkids be exposed to Alicent’s/the Greens’ doings. If we were to consider Book!Rhaenys alone, even by herself, she will do what she feels like she must to protect them, because she has that strong of a backbone even if Corlys were to protest. Which in turn, draws Book!Corlys out and again, we end up with the Velayrons supporting Rhaenyra.

By the same patriarchal customs and those strategic considerations that make it difficult or risky for Alicent to think her kids safe, it would be Daemon who gets to decide what to do with his daughters’ futures--not the Velayrons. Even if Baela is taken as ward under Rhaenys in the show (which doesn’t happen in the book, ever). Baela’s last name is “Targaryen”, not Velaryon and, IF we go by how some fans see it, she is his favored daughter. Baela’s team black all the way, she canonically likes and favors Jaecerys. The Velaryons more than likely follow.

By the point of episode 6 (when Rhaenyra had brought up the proposal to Alicent/the council) and before the end of episode 7, Laenor was still officially alive and was in no danger. The Velayrons were assured to support Rhaenyra by then without her having to even mention and propose a marriage between Jace and Baela at any point because Laenor was already arranged to become the King Consort after Rhaenyra ascends. Just as Corlys wanted. If we argue that Baela and Jace had to be married to assure Velayron loyalty, we’re forgetting all of this.

Corlys, as we saw in episode 10, is one of the lords who swore an oath to Rhaenyra to protect her rights back when she was a child in the very first episode. Oath breaking is seriously taboo in Westeros. And Corlys already showed himself to care about his legacy and “names” above most else. Enough to ignore Show!Rhaenys for so long, marry his kids to Targayrens, and allow an illegitimate kid become the next head of his house. It’s ridiculous to suppose that the Velayrons wouldn’t back Rhaenyra just on this alone, regardless if she marries her kids to them. It would certainly make their allyship stronger, but Corlys wouldn’t just straight up abandon Rhaenyra. And this even happens before Laenor and Rhaenyra ever marry. (Which adds another layer of absurdity to Corlys wanting to back out in episode 10 after he wakes up.)

If the Velayrons were to try to abandon Rhaenyra and/or remain neutral despite their relation to Baela and Rhaena (which again, is impossible looking at their book and show characters), the Greens would still not consider them a potential ally because of their relation to these grandkids and there is literally nothing connecting them to the Velayrons even if those grandkids didn’t exist. They do not appear to have fostered any connection in the years after Alicent becomes Queen and gives birth up to episode 9. Which means the Greens would target or suspect the Velayrons, thus the Velayrons are actually forced to back Rhaneyra in that scenario anyway. 

Let’s run with the idea that Corlys only wants either a Velayron or Baela/Rhaena to be Queen/King Consort and only wants his blood to be in the highest position of status and privilege after the ruler themselves (Laenor would have been King Consort or Prince Consort; Baela would have been Queen Consort if Jacaerys became King). And that after Laenor’s death, he’s banking on Baela to become Queen Consort and he wants nothing less. I already mention the oath, but other than that Corlys can easily have his blood in the royal line by having either Baela or Rhaena marry Lucerys, which is already show canon--Lucerys is betrothed to Rhaena.

Lucerys was set to inherit Driftmark before he was ever born by the agreement Viserys and Corlys for Rhaneyra and Laenor in episode 5. And we saw in episode 7 that Corlys stubbornly kept Lucerys as his heir after Laenor. Through Lucerys, the Velayrons again would still support Rhaenyra.

B)  If the show were consistent, it would give us more of how Alicent demands conformity from her kids for the sake of their protection that we see twice in episode 6: Alicent hurting Aegon and Helaena not wanting anything to do with her.

C) There’s a huge difference between an “illegitimate” son who has never been revealed to be illegitimate so they are legtiimate bc legitimacy os not as factual as people think (Lucerys, etc.) and an illegitimate child who is then legitimized openly (Aegor and Brynden Rivers).

Truebornness and illegitimacy are concepts that are themselves unfair and unreal. They are concepts and devices of power, so that a lineage can exist, and lineages are important for the structure of a noble house’s identity. 

There is nothing inherently wrong with having parents who weren’t married, sleeping with someone before marriage or sleeping with someone outside of marriage when you and your spouse have wholeheartedly and consensually agred to an open marriage, or a marriage that covers for each other’s socially-deemed sexual activities. But this society makes it so so they can construct boundaries of power and resources, who deserves to inherit what.

In other words, their feudal, homophobic, patriarchal society is wrong--not Rhaenyra, or Laenor, or these boys.

Lucerys and his brothers all are only illegitimate if we bastardry is always biological and consistently the same through out history, which Willima the Conqueror and the Anstey case proves is not. And subscribe to the validity of a feudal system’s moral code and standards of chastity. We the audience knows their paternity and many in the court are aware. 

But let’s play the game here for a bit here. Lucrys and his brothers are in a very unique position.

Because Rhaenyra married Laenor before she had them, she has the advantage of using Laenor as a cover.  And this is important: both Corlys and Laenor themselves has never said anything and accepted them all as Velayrons, and Viserys went along with it. They also “cover” for political gain AND actual love for these boys.

These boys’ illegitimacy was never revealed at any point and they grew up with truebornness. They are not legitimized. They are labeled legitimate from birth. They have had privileges and inheritances put on them from birth or childhood. 

Remember: being a “whore” or a “slut”, legitimacy and bastardry, being a cuckold are all just social labels, social concepts, and sociopolitical tools  in an political game and dynamic meant to make certain noblemen keep their hereditary power or advance. They really only matter when the society makes their women’s bodies subject to a meaning that only makes sense to advance certain noblemen (straight-acting ones with trueborness).

In the case of a bastard that has been legitimized, from the jump, the bastard has lived as a bastard from the moment they are born and their public status ha always been bastardry. In this case, their noble father has the power to acknowledge them. 

But the King or Queen regnant must actively legitimize any bastard, which would then make them competition for the noblemen’s trueborn kids. Noblemen cannot legitimize their bastard kids--which is why it was Rhaenyra who had to legitimize Corlys’ grandsons Addam and Alyn.

And even after legitimization, bastards in Westeros still carry that stigma of being a born from lust and “weakness of the flesh”.

(And before someone says that this is unfair, the green kids are princes and the feudal system of inherited powers is itself unfair because of this idea of inherited power. We shouldn’t feel bad for these princes as if their status, position, and gender don’t already put them in coveted, privileged positions. If you think that the green boys deserve more than the V boys, you are using feudal values as your moral basis and that is ridiculous. There’s really nothing inherently wrong with having parents who aren’t married or sleeping around, no matter what historical period you’re coming from.)

Because of this unique scenario, the Velaryon boys have to be exposed a snot being Laenor’s sons AND declared as bastards to actually become bastards.

For that to happen either something or someone has to expose them in public with irrefutable evidence of the deception that the king can’t just cover or evade without losing something big. Or the king/heir/would-be King Consort (Laenor) themselves must admit it. Which will never happen.As we saw in the show, since the king himself doesn’t say anything, it’s not even enough to see how different the boys look from their official father. 

(And if you are one of those who use the kids’ bastardry as the reason for their undeserving or how unfair it is to the green boys, you are contradicting yourself when you say that customs matter and we should “respect” the culture and excuse it, because one of those customs and precedents is that the king’s word is law. Yet Alicent goes against that? Some of you may even state that Corlys and Layrs were traitors against Aegon II for assassinating him, yet you don’t think that Alicent was a traitor against Rhaenyra for this exact precedent/custom of “King’s word is law”?)

Vaemond doesn’t count as a person who brings “irrefutable evidence of the deception that the king can’t just cover or evade without losing something big” as he isn’t successful. And as the actor, Will Jonson, says in a post-episode interview, that wasn’t even his main goal, which was to be defiant in the face of death.

For Vaemond to have been successful, his callout had to make others take the risk to also have the V boys declared/admitted as bastards, but Vaemond’s death rather does nothing in the show. We don’t get clips of people being frustrated and there’s nothing another noble does to actively demand from the King. We don’t get shots of courtiers with plotting faces. So despite the actor for Vaemond saying that Vaemond knew that he was going to die and decided to speak the truth that everyone already knows....yes, everyone already knows, and yet the show doesn’t show us that the courtiers or other lords are willing to rebel against Rhaenyra so this moment was really for Vaemond than anything politically moving. We don’t even get to see resentment or stubbornness from any other individual courtier, so how are we expected to anticipate an independent rebellion? When Otto takes over the Keep after Viserys’ death, we see that the nobles felt forced to kneel and two still openly said they weren’t going to. And one of the kneelers tried to leave the castle. It’s hard to see rebellion inspired by Vaemond here.

Also, the lords were clearly more interested in having a daughter marry one of the boys as by even Borros Baratheon offering up his daughters to Luke in the canon...they all had years to plan and rebel and instead the one instance of us seeing one of these lords, he does this until Luke expressly refuses.

Alicent would have to be successful in forcing Viserys to announce them bastards. Which she never was. 

The show tries to set us up that Alicent and Rhaenyra had a very close friendship where they knew the other’s personalities and could predict how the other felt, etc.  

If we are supposed to view Alicent and Rhaenyra’s relationship as ever having been close and intimate and open, then the fact that Alicent turns on Rhaenyra and tries to depose her should have come across as the huge betrayal--even if she truly were just trying to protect her kids. Two things can be true at the same time without there being excuses or moral justifications. You can betray your friend and also do it to protect someone.

Taking the show at face value, Alicent should have known that Rhaenyra would not actually kill her siblings or just sit back and allow the lords to threaten them--even from the very beginning. Going by the personality we see in Rhaenyra even in her adulthood until the 10th episode where we see a characterization-contradiction (and before Lucerys’ death), we see a person who is not willing to do what others want of her. But taking the events of the 10th episode at face value, even then we see that she considered giving the throne up to Aegon for the prophecy. 

Yet Alicent, even in her youth, doesn’t feel this about Rhaenyra? Why? Because Otto said so, so that must be the way things are? Because she has been so conditioned into obedience and has no critical, independent thinking that she doubts her acclaimed best friend’s character? But in the show showed us them being together so lovey-dovey in the first episode and begin to reconcile in the 4th one when Rhaenyra comes back from her tour and they talk in the garden?!

She supposedly claims she’s attacking Rhaenyra to protect her own kids, but then the 8th episode shows her accepting Rhaenyra’s apology--that specifically includes Rhaenyra saying she hasn’t acknowledged Alicent’s “hard work” in “comforting” Viserys over the years as a dutiful Queen should--and Alicent finds this enough to believe Rhaenyra will be a good queen?! Or that she won;t kill her kids?! And expects the children she’s been telling she’s dangerous and will kill them and that she’s a whore undeserving of the throne to step away from the anger and hatred she herself stoked?! Doesn’t she realize that she’s making herself look so foolish by going back on her own claims to not just her kids and Otto but any green supporter at court?! And doesn’t this prove it was never about her kids but about her own pride and desire for power in her abused state?! Meanwhile back in episode 4, we’re given the impression through several scenes and dialouge that the reason Alicent decides to be against Rhaenyra is because she’s jealous of her sexual freedoms (their conversation in the outdoor event, the contrasting scenes b/t her+Viserys and Daemyra). What does this really have to do with Alicent “taking care“ of Viserys and overseeing the castle?! And again, for Alicent herself and her cognition/though processing capabilities in-world, how can she reconcile accepting Rhaenyra  & her own jealousy to herself?! It’s insulting to her and women, victims of sexual abuse or not but esp insulting to sexual abuse victims.

Apart from that, Alicent has never been proven to have been a true friend of Rhaenyra, so why should I feel anything about that page she supposedly sends to pacify Rhaenyra?! (the show’s refusal to include character developing scenes instead of jump cuts/show vs tell, not her necessarily being evil). 

Instead, I would feel like this is either Otto’s manipulation or Alicent herself is trying to just mollify Rhaenyra and take advantage of her (nonsensical) resulting nostalgia and regret for their friendship’s dissolution. 

Aside from that, looking at how they actually act and what the show presents to us, this is all absurd and we should not look at this show as following its own rules and lore.

Their relationship is not really proven to have ever been close, because we see them being opposites in personality but there’s never a scene where they ever truly realize they have similar goals or desires or help each other out against antagonizers, like in any good “opposites attract” element. 

All that the writers expect us to believe binds them together is that they are both girls with fathers who don’t see them properly as persons.....but this isn’t psychologically enough to make two people actually like each other or admire each other. there needs to be specifics in the face of such opposite personalities. Also, this is going to be a very common plight of every single noble girl in Westeros--having a less present dad--so what made Alicent special to Rhaenyra, and Rhaenyra to Alicent? At most, they’d realistically be casual acquaintances, not bosom pals. The fact that their dads are in close proximity with each other is not enough. And if their dads ordered them to get close, Rhaneyra--by her character shown---wouldn’t endure Alicent’s presence for long.

So how did they come together? The show refuses to show us a picture or two of them actually bonding before Aemma dies, since they supposedly became friends long before Aemma dies! We can’t use the “dead moms” idea to justify their finding common ground due to that.

In other words, the show contradicts itself concerning the nature of these two girls’ relationship and its past integrity while arguing for how “special” it is. 

So really, for us to really take Alicent’s reasoning seriously is that she was never friends with Rhaenyra in the first place. That she would be closer to her Book!character, who was twice Rhaenyra’s age when she married Viserys.

Which means that---no, Alicent doesn’t have MUCH points nor is she in the right and her TV character is not well written to make her in-world self a rational human being because:

she contradicts herself and her motivation has not real integrity

doesn’t act like a rational person 

doesn’t act psychologically realistic 

nor is she actually showing herself to be as altruistic and loving to her daughter nor her sons

[abigali1018]

My history with animation

Since I was very little art had a big impact in my life, I remember drawing all over my textbooks and attending as many art classes I could find. While other kids I knew told me they wanted to be doctors or teachers, my answer was always the same, I want to be an artist, I want to create something that will make people happy, I want to convey emotions, make them feel all sort of things, create a story, give life to something and join them on their journey. I remember loving cartoons, I found it so fascinating how a bunch of drawings could somehow move and talk to me, the possibilities of stories they could tell being endless, the smoothness in their movement, almost as if they were real, I found myself lost in all the different styles of drawing, the emotions portrayed in them and how they could make me feel those same emotions. If I had to pick my favorite animated things I think the list would be endless, but for the sake of not boring you here's my top three!

How to train your dragon (2010): I don't even think I have the words to explain the impact this movie had on my life, but I'll try to make it justice, I already knew of the concept of animation when I first watched the movie but it was the first animated movie to make me feel something, I remember being on the edge of my seat during the whole test drive sequence and falling in love with Toothless and Hiccup's friendship, the score is still one of my favorites from any movie and the world building and narrative still amaze me so much, the fact that the characters actually suffer for the consequences of their actions is great, Hiccup loses his leg for the sake of injuring Toothless in the beggining of the movie, they don't just gloss over that and I love it, what can I say, it's a great movie and you should watch it.

Omori (2020): I really like the concept of a super cute and innocent thing turning dark and twisted as you follow the story, and more when the style of the game itself is really childlike, I'm going to keep this spoiler free because i believe this game is one you should experience for yourself, but the complex storyline and character backgrounds are one of my favorite things from this game, also the animation sequences and playablity are one of my favorite from a lot of games I've played, I do believe this game is not for everyone because it does deal with a lot of heavy subjects like suicide and heavy dissociation, so a lot of people could find it trigger inducing, but the game does do a good job at dealing with these issues and doesn't give it a light headed context, the issues are there and are dealt with, but if you dont have any issues with these type of themes i think Omori is a must play game.

Shadows house (2021): I don't think I've been so invested in an anime in a long time, it may not have the best animation but I find the story so interesting, the opening is also one of my favorites and this anime earned a spot between my top 5 so fast it was actually impressive, the characters desing and backgrounds are so investing that since episode one you're gonna want to know all the context, but that's the thing, the story keeps this details from you and slowly reveals them when it's important, I just love the storytelling and general style of the show, it's a 10/10 anime for me and I'll never stop recommending it.