#it goes in line with her ability too; the desire to not be seen

[mekatrio]

interesting how much of kido's novel backstory was retconned... this is from novel 3. bc in novel 7, while kido's dad is a piece of shit, he isnt described to partake in any of these behaviors. and also, that kido and rin were in the dungeon when they died, not the bedroom.. hmm

[rayshippouuchiha]

For the YEET AU-

Bear with me now imma bout to take you on a ✨trip✨

So, the ship is Izuku/Shinsou right. But think about them first meeting.

Okay so Aizawa clearly set the standard for Izuku and his crushes. Now he has like a little check list for people that he forms a crush on ya know. 1) the person needs to be able to yeet him, 2) the person needs the dead inside, I hate life stare and 3) murder vibes

Previously, the people that potentially lined up were Uraraka and Todoroki.

Uraraka had the ability to give him distance with the yeet. She could send him miles🫡. Her murder vibes were on point as well! But she didn’t have the dead inside stare so she was out.

Todoroki had the dead inside stare and the murder vibes down pat, no practice needed. His ability and willingness to yote tho left much to be desired so he was out too.

Now Shinsou! Shinsou pops up at the sports festival with the under eye bags-murder vibes-I hate everyone in this room, and Izuku is immediately ✨awake and alert✨. No yeeting to be seen but Izuku is willing to teach the skill. After all Aizawa also did not know to yeet him at first either.

So while time goes by and things happen Izuku keeps the pretty purple haired murder boy in the back of his mind.

And then it happens! The joint class exercise!! Shinsou will be joining them!!! And he is using a capture weapon!!!! With the ability to yeet!!!!!

Izuku is enamored. Infatuated. Besotted!

He approaches Shinsou from behind, going to congratulate him, tell him he knew Shinsou could do it, wish him luck. He puts a hand on Shinsou’s shoulder about to open his mouth…and suddenly he is air born. Although the surprise of suddenly being yoted took him a second, Izuku could feel nothing but smug satisfaction. Shinsou was perfect!

Shinsou on the ground trying to explain to an exasperated Aizawa with his face in his hands: I didn’t mean to yeet him! My hands just did it!! It was INSTINCT!!! IT JUST HAPPENED!!!!

Oh oh this is perfect. Shinsou has no idea what he's just accidentally gotten himself into, Aizawa is dreading whatever bullshit chaos the gremlin is about to unleash, and Izuku is THRILLED

[meo-eiru]

MERU😭😭😭 i finally had a free moment to relax and the first thing i wanted to do was play hold your tongues and i've spent the last few hours pouring over how absolutely beautiful of a piece it is in storytelling and visuals. i genuinely have so much to gush over and idk where i should be doing it so into your inbox it goes. i apologise in advance, you also don't have to respond to this bc 1) i am aware it's gonna get vv long and 2) spoilers will definitely be mentioned

i hope sel knows what an absolute gem of a writer she is for executing all of this bc i am fucking gobsmacked by how well certain ideas and concepts were interwoven throughout the entire piece. maybe a lot of the things following are just my interpretations, but that's another thing i really really love — there's enough ambiguity in the prose to be able to infer it in so many different ways

first to the namesake of the game, ‘hold your tongues’ and the many connotations of tongues that are explored throughout; as symbols of liberation and entrapment that intermingle so so well. i feel like the game really delves into the struggles that women face in society, in relationships, just in general and i like how since it's done so through maelyn's own perspective, we're privy to a more complex and raw display of how deeply emotionally scarring it can be.

eric is a little bitch imo (i won't retract that statement ever) but the ever judgmental, taunting and superior tone he has as the ‘voice’ in maelyn's head speaks volumes of the character he possessed and the lasting impact it had on her. giving her dress to another man makes her ��unfaithful’, the fact that it's emphasised that these are only ‘remains’ of a dress too — bc eric left her with shreds, physically, mentally. 

if we take the dress to act as a metaphor for maelyn herself, he left her in shreds.

in response to this, maelyn bites her tongue, so hard that it bleeds. it's restraint, quite literally biting back your anger and the feeling of being wronged. grounding yourself again to the harsh reality of it all, and it brings her back to the present moment when starling points it out.

we see a similar occurrence later on when maelyn relays her tongue ‘longing for a taste, was to be kept down.' so again, she stops herself (and i think the wording here is particularly interesting, that it was to be kept, so intrinsically this too may also link to how women are commonly taught to be submissive and forced to fit to certain standards). 

in both contexts, the act of biting the tongue can be taken as a suppression of some sort of desire — the first is the desire to be mad, and the second is the desire of lust. both which women have been criticised for through the ages.

i also like to think that the tongue is a representation of freedom. starling is very much making wings to fly out of them, and taking them away from ppl has ‘forever deprived of their ability to lie’ (in which case lying = freedom, i won't expand on this too much bc it'll be another whole essay😭) so going back to maelyn, her biting hers can also be seen as her freedom being hurt, prevented.

another thing is, the line just before ‘he never ran out of tongues’, we can take this as starling never having his freedom threatened. and it poses further questions. is this because of his strength? is it because he has the ocean ‘wholly’? is it because he's a ‘man’?

on my first run through, one of the most prominent questions i came away w/ was what was it that attracted maelyn to starling? to the concept of these monsters of the sea that had surpassed human constraints that had her waiting out all those hours to catch a glimpse of one to begin with. what was it that kept her coming back? time and time again, day after day when she could've not gone back to that shore after leaving.

the text narrates a couple of things that i think contributed, there's a sense of warring humanity and animosity in the repetitive motifs of dirt and uncleanliness, in her noting that starling looked ‘half a man’ and that one half could've ‘consumed’ the other. maelyn has an envy that's touched upon frequently. does maelyn want to be closer to a monster so that no one can hurt her? or does she feel like a monster is all she can be now?

then there's a dynamic with power that was honestly done so well. again, my praise to sel for how well thought out it all was. that part where she put her hand into his guts and he made sounds he was ‘unable to control’, another when she tells him ‘cut’ and he does so without question — she recognises she holds the reins in that moment, acknowledges, ‘in control, I breathed.’ 

starling listens to her for the most part, it's a reoccuring theme. even when making his wings, he's following her instructions although it's made clear that he learns quick and is capable. perhaps this gives her comfortability.

but we see this turn on its head when things start to go left, starling begins to do as he pleases and maelyn is taken back into her trauma, back to feeling ‘disgusting’ and ‘unclean’, she even apologises and promises to do better.

leashes are mentioned a few times, maelyn first describes them as a sort of ‘necklace’ — perhaps this is tribute to the way a woman's submission is often beautified and normalised. the ‘leash’ starling puts on her in one of the ends is made of pearls, he keeps it in his mouth before this. could this be a reference to eric's sweet words that bound maelyn before he revealed himself? starling ties it somewhat loosely ‘so she could breathe’ yet that doesn't take away the fact that it's still there. it has a sort of your cage is not small, but that doesn't mean you're not locked in it kinda feel.

there's so much more i could say but i think ive alr said too much😭 i didnt even get to touch on the cuddle ending which was my favourite, or the symbolism of losing fingers, the significance of the numbers two, three and four to the story. I DIDN'T EVEN TALK MUCH ABT THE ART😭😭 MERU SORRY I GOT DISTRACTED BUT THE ART WAS PHENOMENAL❗️❗️❗️❗️

maelyn is super pretty and i love how her and starling contrast each other in design so nicely. starling's expressions were stellar ++ the bgs and cgs were beautiful (you're right, if you didn't clarify it i would think you were behind the chest one haha). also the body horror aspect was really brought to life with the visuals and ik it definitely mustn't have been easy drawing all those organs, thank you for your service meruuuu

i'll shut up here before i write another 3k, but both you and sel did such a great job w/ this. the two of you deserve a nice break to rest so pls make sure to take things easy and take care of yourselves!! drink water and sleep when you can, and know that you've made a masterpiece♥️

OH MY GOD THIS ASK IS MAKING ME GO FERAL

It's so well written??? You did such a good job picking up the details hidden behind their lines??? I fish you continued writing because I for sure did not want to finish it and please do send the other thoughts you had if you can, I love this so much

I'm sure @celerifleuri will too so I'll tag her

You already mentioned the spoilers at the start but I'll also note it down here for people who haven't played the game yet. I'm sure sel will do a much better job answering your story analyses but I'll also say you're completely right with most things you've said.

The story takes place in 1800s with dated gender roles we unfortunately can still relate to. Maelyn is a curious woman who wants to study and experiment, but is being held back by society and even people who she thought she could trust, but again Sel will do a better job explaining those.

I'll talk about the art a bit. One thing I really enjoyed that was kinda unintentional on my part was the use of night and day.

The story starts at night time, the first ever cg we get of Maelyn is her jumping down the cliff, with the moon's reflection on her left and the waves giving an illusion of wings as she looks up, in that very moment she is free.

On the other hand the first ever cg of Starling is day time. The sun is shining brightly from his left, almost blindingly, as he looks down. His hair covering the screen like spider webs.

To contrast these, it's night time in the wood ending. Just like the first cg of Maelyn, we can see the soft moonight shining upon them but not quite reaching Starling's face. Maelyn is alive.

Meanwhile in the bone ending, even though they are underwater we can tell it's day time, just like the first Starling cg. We get to see a glimpse of them through the seaweeds covering our view, the sunlight showering them gently. Starling is alive.

For the character designs too, a bit of a reverse but I'd say Maelyn resembles the sun, meanwhile Starling is like the moon.

They both share green eyes, although quite different shades. Maelyn has bright red hair that contrasts Starling's red tongue tail.

I also like that Maelyn's hair, albeit a bit loosely, is braided and kept tidy. Meanwhile Starling's hair is usually all over the place and quite messy.

[artist-issues]

THE END of the Hunger Games is flawless.

The ending paragraph of "The Hunger Games" is so perfect. It so totally wraps up the whole point and takeaway of the books, and every character's journey, and nails it.

First off, the paragraph's context is about what you teach your children. Children, who are seen as the most precious treasure any person can handle in the book--treasures that can be turned into weapons and used against the treasurers. Children, who can bring down corrupt authority or keep it in place. So first off, a paragraph that addresses how important teaching children is is the best context for this perfect paragraph.

Second, Katniss is specifically teaching them what? "how I survive," which is her entire being. She makes every decision based on survival. She volunteers for Prim and doesn't kill Peeta in the first Games and chooses not to be with Gale and chooses to play her part against Snow all because she can't survive in a world where the alternative outcomes happen. Plus, survival is what other characters base their decisions on, too. 13 doesn't nuke the Capitol because it might ruin humanity's chances at survival. Hunger is the central plot device used to give Katniss all her skills, because without food, you don't what? Survive. Even "love" in these books is only another tool for survival; it makes suffering worthwhile, and purpose visible, and loss surmountable, and nightmares endurable, for every character. Finnick, Peeta, Katniss, Katniss' mother, even Buttercup the cat. The point of the book's lesson is "how to survive."

Third, the thing that could ruin love and pleasure's usefulness as a tool for survival is fear. But specific fear--"I'm afraid it could be taken away." It's fear that something you love, which makes survival worthwhile, could be taken away, and with it goes survival itself. The whole Hunger Games demonstrate that--"you rebelled against us? Then we're showing you that we can take away your children, the things that make survival worthwhile." And you know what? That's the dividing line between Katniss and Snow. Both Katniss and Coryo have survival as their ultimate goal, and have fear of the things they love being taken from them. For Katniss, it's the good opinion of the people of 12, it's her life with her sister and mom, it's the freedom from owing anyone anything, it's food and the ability to feed herself. For Coryo? It's his family name and reputation, his cousin and grandmother, his legacy, and his ability to never return to the cannibalism of the war. The fear of losing those things that they love is what could drive them to take no pleasure in them. To be afraid forever--and with fear comes the never-enough desire for control. To hang on to those things long after you've forgotten to take pleasure in them. Katniss almost does this with marrying Peeta or running from 12 or even becoming the Mockingjay. She's so afraid of losing what she loves that she jumps through hoops to control hanging onto them: does what Snow says, then does what Gale says, then does what Coin says. Plays a part in each of their games, to try and control the outcome. Coryo actually does do this, and for a while, has enough power to make that control almost universal. All because of fear of the things that he used to take pleasure in being taken from him.

Fourth, the alternative to focusing on the fear and the very-real danger of losing everything--is "focusing on every act of goodness I've seen someone do." This is just faith. Because it's true that the world of Panem (and the world in general) is full of people who are so afraid of losing control over what they love that they kill children and mutate nature to keep up the game, the illusion that they're in control. What you love could be taken from you. The world's full of that. But. The world also has unconditional love in it. People like Peeta, who saw that Katniss would kill him for her own survival in the first Hunger Games, but still chose to sacrifice for her anyway. People like Finnick, who loses everything including his mind, his body, and the things he loves most, but still gives Katniss the only rope he's got that's holding him together, just because he sees she needs it. Focus on that truth, instead of the simultaneous-truth that the it could all be taken away, and you'll have faith, not fear. You'll give up control and just enjoy what goodness you can. And when you do that, nobody can take it from you--not in spirit. Just like nobody could take Peeta's love for Katniss from him.

Finally, "it's like a game." To make a set of rules for yourself, a set of responses to the darkness of the world like making a list of things to focus on exclusively, is a game. It is a type of control--but it's just control of your own thoughts. Carefully using the game so that, in the arena of your brain, the love-shaped tribute is victor over the fear-shaped tribute. So that that battle stays in your head, instead of breaking out into a war that destroys what made your life worth surviving in the first place. Controlling what is your responsibility to control, instead of playing God and trying to control what's not yours. Drawing a line between what's good and what's bad, and staying firmly on one side of it without justification for crossing it.

That's why The Hunger Games is so good. Not because it has interesting dystopian settings, or because Gale and Peeta are hot and the romantic tension of the love triangle lets us self-insert ourselves. (Like other, worse YA fiction.)

No, The Hunger Games is so good because every part of it, from the characters to the setting to the symbolism to the names to the pacing to the development to the mood to the twists in the narrative, is used to uphold that main point. The main point that's so succinctly, cleanly, beautifully made in the last paragraph of the book.

[motherstone]

Silas's true colors

Ok, y'see @chi-the-idiot and I have been losing our minds when we combined our observations about Silas, and I thought it's developed enough to be a meta post about him and his actual character.

He's not a good person. He's not even a "flawed" misunderstood type - nope, just straight up someone who genuinely doesn't have the wellbeing of others in mind.

Main Points

Silas has always been suspicious since Book 1

Leon has a miscommunication with Emily about Silas’s intentions.

He assumed that Silas passed away too soon to tell Emily his noble goals. Thing is, if that was truly Silas’s intention, he would’ve prioritized saying that on his deathbed, especially when he’s fully aware he’s going to bite the dust soon.

Except he didn’t.

From the get go, Silas first attempt to hook Emily into claiming the Amulet is that it grants power and authority - not the ability to help other people.

Indeed, Silas’s last laments weren’t even about his failure to help the Resistance, but rather his failure to achieve great power. When Emily makes it clear that she’s not interested in it, Silas makes a point to switch tactics, and this time properly nails Emily’s actual desire - an ability to return to a time she’s happier.

And then, proceeds to give the worst possible advice to Emily about stonekeeping - listening to the stone (Which we already know, it’s a horrible idea). And to add insult to injury, he wistfully wishes that he at the very least could partake in the Amulet’s blessings would apparently gift Emily with, but alas, the bell tolls.

What’s even more sinister is Silas’s last words to Emily’s valid question of “why me?” 

Silas already knows Emily won’t be able to reject the stone to begin with. It’s not a stretch that he manufactured or at the very least allowed the events to happen that would lead to such a situation.

From start to finish, this was a sales pitch. A trap. And Emily has so very little choice but to take the bait - all hook, line, and sinker.

2. Miskit’s design and potential purpose (All Chi's notes)

Chi brought it up to me about her suspicions about Miskit’s design.

Miskit’s design looks like a plushie - he’s small, cute, all round features unlike the harder edges of bots like Cogsley or Theodore.

For one, it’s quite unique and unusual, even among bots seen in the series. But especially when compared to the rest of the Charnon bots:

Put Miskit there and he sticks out like a sore thumb.

Oh, and also, he’s Silas’s apprentice and has all his knowledge stored in his memory banks. Which is. A very weird design choice. You’d think an adult like Silas would design a bot that matches him more - but Miskit looks out of place when put beside Silas.

Unless, Miskit wasn’t built for Silas’s sake.

But rather, for his successor, Chi noted. A child successor.

Miskit, standing next to Emily, looks like a perfect match. He was built to be her companion from the get go. Silas was never going to choose his son or Karen for the stone - he had the intention of an adult succeeding him to begin with. Miskit’s design, in context of the story, is meant to emotionally manipulate the successor, because Silas wanted someone malleable, someone who is yet to grow into their place and their sense of self, and who is more perfect for such a role than a child?

3. The Charnon bots and their reliance on Silas's stone.

I want you to take note of some things:

Emily’s stone fizzled out the same time Silas died, meaning his life force is connected to it.

2. Pink energy glows and crackles in the bots' eyes.

It goes unstated, but it’s clear that Silas uses his stone to power the house AND the bots. The lights and bots going out isn’t for dramatic effect nor the stone shutting down - it’s Silas’s will over the magic spell that keeps them up running fizzling out at the same time as his life does.

Signature pink energy crackling as they're restored back to life - they're powered by their very creator, and currently, their new master.

The house lives as long the stone does. It’s why Miskit is so panicked when Silas dies and is frantic on begging Emily to accept the stone - aside from being saddled with a massive duty out of nowhere, their lives quite literally depend on it. Sure enough, when Emily accepts the stone, they all come back to life. I’d bet my entire shoe collection (which comprises three shoes) that had Emily rejected the stone, they, along the house, would remain stone dead.

Sounds reasonable enough that Silas would use his stone to power them - it is a power source after all.

But the thing is - he doesn’t need to do it.

We don’t get further context later, but then we get to see other bots in the series and -

They all operate independently of a stonekeeper providing them power to function. We get that confirmation as early as book 2.

Meaning Silas built in the bots' dependence on him from their inception - they’re quite literally chained to Silas by life. It’s true that they’re loyal to him by choice, but that’s all the more convenient for Silas, as he makes it quite clear that he has no intention of letting them go if they wish to - either they serve him, or die.

In other words - SILAS HAS ALWAYS BEEN A TERRIBLE PERSON. I don’t know what the fuck Kazu was thinking trying to retcon him as a flawed hero, but it’s obvious he was never a good guy to begin with. He’s a power hungry, control freak who’s a slave to his desires - there’s not an ounce of decency nor noble intentions in this man.

[k4pp4-8]

In your future au is Darrel and the rest of the box bots still villains? And if so what's their drive to stay a villain? What they wanna accomplish and ect

OK SO in my future au most of the boxbots kind of abondoned villainy in order to pursue their personal interests.

Shannon became an actress and ended up hosting her own TV show. She started by playing props with her shapeshifting ability in plays but quickly got tired of not being in the spotlight.

Raymond started a solo music career and formed a band where he's the only member (like in canon his band is called "Ray and The Monds") He also did some collabs with drupe's fashion line.

Jethro followed his dream of becoming a dancer and eventually became a dancing instructor so he could help others also pursue their passion for dance.

Mikayla became an author and wrote many fantasy fiction novels, she often goes to conventions to meet fans and sign autographs.

Ernesto used to be an elementary school teacher (this time for real), but he ended up taking another job as a librarian.

Like in canon Fink becomes a popular pro gamer and a streamer.

The only ones who stayed in the villain business are Darrell and Boxman Jr. Darrell took over boxmore and unlike Boxman he doesn't care about attacking the plaza. His only employees are himself and Boxman Jr. So he's pretty much stuck with the worst minion ever.

I know that in canon Ernesto, Mikayla and Jethro inherit the company but that just makes absolutely no sense in my opinion.

Ernesto’s good at business and paperwork but he doesnt strike me as “boss material”. He’s too shy and gets stepped on so easily, i dont think he got what it takes to run a massive business, especially an evil one. Out of everyone in the family, Jethro is the only one who actually left Boxmore to pursue his own dream, so I just cannot imagine him wanting to keep working at Boxmore. He deserves to become a dancer!! PLus he’s the least evil of the boxbot! he doesn’t have an evil bolt in him and he doesn’t even do anything at boxmore. And finally from what I've seen, Mikayla could not care less about boxmore. Like I get that she doesn't do much in the show so we don't really get a good look at her personnality and desires, but there is absolutely nothing in the show that hints at her wanting or being able to run the company.

Darrell is the ONLY logical option for a Boxmore successor. He already does literally everything at boxmore (except paperwork cause that's ernesto's job). He knows how to build machines and robots and he's the only one we actually see do it.

And I think it would be the PERFECT way to show Boxman's character developpment. He would go from being furious at Darrell for stealing his company to willingly giving it to him. That gesture would mean alot to them since Boxman clearly does care about his company, so him trusting Darrell with it would show that he finally started thinking highly of his son.

I know that the ending was a little rushed but I hate that Ernesto, Mikayla and Jethro don't have an ending that fits their individual character. I think they deserve to have something that actually fits them instead of having an ending that feels like it was given to them because the creators couldn't think of something else

[commsroom]

i think there's something to be said about what exactly it means to be "non-human" in a story that is as much about humanity as wolf 359 is, where even the dear listeners are defined less by their own perspective and more by what they fail to understand and therefore reflect about the human perspective - to the point that they don't even have their own voices or faces or identities that aren't either given to them or taken from humans. they speak to humanity as a mirror.

even pryce and cutter are "very much humans" - pryce defined by her resentment of and desire to transcend its limitations, and cutter by his aspirations to redefine and create a "better" type of human - and find the idea that they might not be human laughable. it's interesting that they have distinctly transhumanist aspirations when their goal is the narrative opposite of common science fiction fears: that we will expand the definition of humanity so much that we'll lose whatever it is that makes us human. pryce and cutter's transhumanism narrows the definition of humanity to the worthy and the useful, as defined by them; "there will still be a humanity; it'll just be our humanity."

in direct opposition to that, i think it's meaningful that the show instead expands the definition of humanity in ways that include lovelace and hera, who in another show with different themes might be considered (in the descriptive, non-moralistic sense) non-human. i will always make a point of saying that personhood and humanity are two often-related but meaningfully distinct concepts, especially when talking about sci-fi and fantasy. i am talking about humanity.

the question of how hera identifies, and what social pressures influence that, is a complicated one. i've talked about it before and i will talk about again. what's important for the purposes of this post is that i think the show considers her fundamentally human. think about her role in shut up and listen - consider jacobi's lion example and the concept of different paradigms - that even things that are close to humans, comparatively speaking, understand the world in different ways. whatever differences hera may have from the others, it's primarily in experience, not fundamental understanding. she shares their emotions, their concerns, their values, their thought patterns. she has an appreciation for music, which the show considers a hallmark of humanity. she fits within the framework of humanity as the show defines and is, in her own words, left feeling "uneasy" about how difficult it might be to communicate with beings who don't. and it's significant that this takes place in shut up and listen, of all episodes, specifically because the way she is clearly and unambiguously included in the show's understanding of what it means to be human highlights the ways she and lovelace are othered by eiffel's careless comments that suggest otherwise.

(i don't want to get too into these details for this particular post, but it's worth noting that hera will refer to 'humans' as a category, often when she is upset and feeling isolated, but has never said that she 'isn't human' - she has never been upset that people are treating her 'too' human. i've seen it said about the line "you need to get it through your heads that what goes for you doesn't always go for me", but that's a frustration related to ability and safety, not identity. far more often, she will refer to herself in 'human' terms - referring idiomatically to experiences or body parts etc. that she doesn't literally have - and is upset primarily with comments referring to her status as an AI. it does not diminish how being an AI influences her perspective and experience, but again, so much of that is in terms of ability that it feels almost inseparable from a discussion about disability.)

lovelace's humanity and hera's humanity are so interlinked and directly paralleled in the text that i think it's impossible to really argue one of them is "not" human without making implications about the other. in desperate measures, lovelace tells kepler he's "not human" and he responds "you're hilarious. on a multitude of levels." later, defending lovelace against kepler's repeated dehumanization, hera very pointedly uses the phrase "that woman." in out of the loop, hera says she's never met anyone who "worked so hard at being inhuman" as jacobi, who says "what do you know about being human?" hera very emphatically responds, "i know plenty." later, defending hera against jacobi's repeated dehumanization, minkowski pointedly uses the phrase "that woman." with the care taken towards language and the way scenes and turns of phrase will parallel each other, that's not a coincidence. it might seem strange to have the "non-human" characters be the ones to express criticisms based on perceived "humanity" (something hera will do in other contexts as well - "we don't have funerals for animals" etc.) but in the broader context of the show, i think it's the point.

so, whether hera would ever call herself human, or be comfortable with that, is a complicated question for another time and depends on a lot of other factors. but wolf 359 is a show about humanity, it includes her within its definition of what it means to be human, and i wouldn't be comfortable definitively saying she's not human because of that. it can't be a neutral statement within the particular context of this show.

[phanfictioncatalogue]

Hey I was wondering if you have anything similar to “antisocialites watch a wilting flower” by throughtheirsnoses on ao3?? Or just any pretty long fic with the building/ progression of a romance?

Will always recommend her and she does fit the criteria 👇

Trust Me, I'm Broken Too (ao3) - natigail

Summary: The Lesters – the royal family of his homeland – was nothing like Dan thought they would be. Well, the King was just as horrible as he had heard but the King’s brother’s son, who was third in line for the throne, was nothing like Dan thought he’d be. Dan had been adrift for three years going from one “place of employment” to another, only his life was seen as worthless and he was more property than an employee. He had never imagined he’s end up as the property of Prince Philip.

The Prince had no intention of ever taking on a personal servant, which was a fancy name to disguise the fact a law essentially enslaved people. Phil often had to do things he didn’t want to or risk being removed from the succession to the crown. If that happened, who knew who his tyrant of an uncle would pick as a successor? When pressured into the choosing, he’d wanted to go for the most innocent, young girl, but hard brown eyes caught his attention instead.

That’s my absolute favorite fic in general, but here’s a few more long Slowburns I adore.

Believe in Me (ao3) - Elleberquist6

Summary: Dan Howell is living at home while he’s saving money for college, which isn’t easy since his parents don’t understand him. Unlike them, he loves dogs, is a vegetarian, has no interest in the family business, and he despises the supernatural. He struggles to accept things that are illogical, even though he is a kitsune. Kitsune are foxes whose powers involve the ability to cast illusions, but Dan just wants to be normal. Phil Lester has just moved to London, where he works as a dog walker. When his path crosses with Dan, Phil is eager to get to know him. Unfortunately, Phil soon finds that being friends with Dan is far more complicated than he could have imagined.

Bury Your Flame (ao3) - worriedpeach (skeletonflowers)

Summary: After receiving a dragon egg when his grandfather passed away, Phil is forced to ask for help from the local dragon tamer. As he soon finds out, Dan Howell is nothing he’s been expecting. Infuriating, ludicrous, and completely lacking respect, Dan is everything Phil hates. But Phil will do anything to make his grandfather proud, even if that means getting help from the local cluck.

Desires (ao3) - A_Million_Regrets

Summary: What would you do if you were suddenly hauled from your inauspicious life and dumped into an unforeseen catastrophe with your worst enemy?

Dan Howell and Phil Lester completely and utterly hate each other. They fight every time they meet, and all of their friends are tired of it. But one day, these two hot-headed, reckless men stumble through a secret passage in a mysterious old house and wake up on a strange island uninhabited by other intelligent life forms. They only have each other and no way to escape. Will they fight to death, or will they learn to trust each other in a world where no one else exists? Can they put aside their mutual hatred for each other to survive this misfortune?

First Impressions (Perhaps I Was Wrong) (ao3) - Ablissa

Summary: Phil Lester goes back to university for his third year, expecting to live in the dorms with his childhood best friend PJ. That's how it's been for the past years, after all. However, due to a mistake of some sort, he finds himself with a new roommate to spend the semester with.

Daniel Howell, three years his junior, has rich brown eyes, a laptop to hide them behind, and not more than two words to spare in Phil's direction. Phil is no fortune teller, but he foresees the upcoming months will be filled with a whole lot of awkward silence.

Unless, of course, Dan proves him wrong...

Could one little mistake lead to something entirely life-changing? Perhaps it could. After all, nearly everything changes when Phil meets Dan.

(TW) Head Down Low (ao3) - Rhensis

Summary: Dan isn’t right. He’s not like most of the others, he’s not genetically pure. He has no destined path, he has nothing going for him in life. He’ll be lucky to get himself a job in a fast food kitchen, and everyone looks down on him like he’s a piece of dirt stuck at the bottom of their shoe. Except one person: Phil Lester.

(TW) restless (ao3) - overwhelmedbysonder

Summary: Breathe. Just breathe.

In. Out. In. Out. In.

It’s not that I don’t try. I see my family, my friends, visiting with their faked smiles and forced laughter, desperately trying to pretend that things are fine, that nothing’s changed. I see them and I want to reach out, I want to look at them and smile and reassure them that I’m here and I’m fine and I’m here, but I can’t, I can’t, I can’t, I can’t.

Or, the one where Phil struggles with depression, PTSD and being mute, and Dan just wants to hug him.

The Colors in You (ao3) - Phandiction

Summary: Dan is a dragon with scales as black as a moonless night. Part of the Dark's, he’s not supposed to get along with the colorful Chrome dragons from the other side of the island. But after seeing a Chrome for the first time in person, he’s transfixed by the rainbow of colored scales and against his better judgement rescues the dragon from a group of Dark’s seeking to kill it. Now responsible for hiding and protecting the Chrome dragon named Phil until he’s recovered enough to return to his home, Dan questions the laws that's kept the two species from each other for centuries.

There You Were (Inside My Brain) (ao3) - parentaladvisorybullshitcontent

Summary: “So, like, you email that to me, right? The notes? Is that how this works?”

“Right,” Phil says. "Yeah, I email them to you.”

“That's great," Dan says. "So I'll see you tomorrow?”

“Yeah, I'll meet you outside the...”

But Dan doesn't stick around. He turns on his heel and escapes down the corridor, feeling like he might actually die of embarrassment.

In which Dan needs someone to take notes for him in lectures and he ends up with Phil. Now if only he could get past his own awkwardness and just talk to the guy...

(TW) Those Who Trust (ao3) - theshyauthor

Summary: Dan used to be a submissive and now he’s just a broken shell of a man.

I’ve never read the fic anon is talking about so anyone else has a more closely related fic, please drop it!

Thyme after Thyme (ao3) - chisomo

Summary: Dan Howell runs an apothecary shop in the heart of London, a city wrought with rising tensions between witches and normal humans. Dan tries to ignore the daily instances of prejudice towards his kind and keep his magical abilities a secret, but his life is irrevocably changed when a garden shop is opened next door by a certain sky-eyed young human.

-Rae

[return-to-twisted-wonderland]

Here's Azul's sister; Zafira Ashengrotto

💵 💵

Name: Zafira Ashengrotto

TWST From: Tamatoa from Moana

House: Octavinelle

Personality Traits: Zafira is highly self-absorbed, flamboyant, and obsessed with accumulating wealth and beautiful objects. She’s confident and loves being the center of attention, using her charm and wit to manipulate others into giving her what she wants. She has a sharp tongue, often making cutting remarks, and enjoys playing with her enemies before dealing the final blow. However, beneath her glittering exterior, Zafira struggles with the fear of being overlooked, which fuels her obsession with luxury and status.

Unique Magic: “Gleam of Greed”

Zafira’s magic revolves around her ability to summon and control various glittering objects that reflect light, often used to blind or dazzle her opponents. She can create illusions by turning the surroundings into a golden, jewel-encrusted version of reality, distracting and confusing her enemies. The more shiny objects she gathers, the stronger her illusions become, making them harder to break through. These illusions can also entrap her enemies, making them "prisoners" within a realm of riches, unable to focus on anything other than their own desires.

Weaknesses:

Dependence on Shiny Objects: Zafira's power is stronger when she has access to glittering or valuable objects. Without them, her magic becomes weaker.

Distraction: If her own greed is triggered or if she sees something more valuable than what she already possesses, she becomes distracted, making her magic harder to control.

Overuse: The more she uses her power, the more exhausted she becomes, particularly if she’s forced to maintain illusions for too long.

Appearance and Outfit

Physical Appearance: Zafira has long, flowing hair that is a bright shade of teal, echoing Azul's color scheme but more vibrant and eye-catching. Her eyes are a sharp blue color, and her skin is a soft shade of pale, with subtle scales on her shoulders and back, giving her a semi-exotic, almost aquatic look. She is also adorned with various jewel-like accessories, which shimmer like gemstones when she moves.

Octavinelle Uniform Modifications:

Shiny, Gem-Encrusted Details: Zafira’s uniform features intricate patterns resembling scales and pearls along the collar, cuffs, and hem, giving her a more extravagant and opulent look compared to Azul’s simpler attire.

Gold-Leafed Bustier: Instead of the usual plain vest, she wears a corset-style top with gold leaf accents that look like they’ve been crafted from actual precious metal, with gem-encrusted buttons.

Gloves and Shoes: Her gloves are long and gilded with sparkling diamonds and sapphires, extending past her elbows. Her shoes are high-heeled and adorned with gold buckles, reflecting her love for wealth.

Crown-Like Headpiece: Zafira wears a small crown-like headpiece embedded with colorful, jewel-toned gems to emphasize her self-proclaimed superiority and royalty over others.

Golden Lining: Her jacket and pants are lined with golden threads, glittering under the light, creating an unmistakable aura of wealth and luxury.

Personality: Zafira is driven by an overwhelming desire to be seen as the most powerful, most attractive, and most influential person in the room. She’s not shy about showing off her extravagant wealth and abilities and enjoys making others feel inferior. While she can be charming, her charm is often manipulative, and she’s quick to discard people once they’ve outlived their usefulness. Zafira loves to collect rare and shiny objects. She can often be found hoarding jewels or flaunting the latest extravagant fashion piece, treating them like treasures. She has an obsession with being “noticed” and often uses her magic to make her presence felt wherever she goes, whether it’s by dazzling others with illusions or by literally shining brighter than anyone else. She's also highly dramatic and thrives on attention, sometimes going so far as to create grandiose, theatrical displays to show off her power.

Azul's sister~

[blazingblorbos]

Okay Genshin 4.1 thoughts dump because if I don't compile my thoughts somewhere I will literally implode. Anyways, spoilers for the Fontaine Archon Quest so far (as of Chapter 4, the Version 4.1 update) under the Read More (a couple paragraphs under, but you catch my drift)

So. Something I have always absolutely adored about Genshin's storytelling is the way it goes about presenting its gods as "Human too"...

At first, it was seen painfully obvious through Ei and her incredibly human response to grief and trauma (a lot of people thought she was being unreasonable, and yeah for a ruler of an entire nation, closing yourself off to the outside world certainly seems - and is - irresponsible. And then... you consider how easily any other normal person would have done the same thing, if not worse, if they had lost nearly everyone they loved in quick succession, while also being personally responsible for a handful of those deaths).

And upon further reflection on the topic, you can see blatant traces of it present in every archon. And I don't just mean their trying to blend into/ further their understanding of humans, human society, and human nature.

I mean, Venti is kinda hedonistic and aloof; Zhongli wasn't always as wise and so intricately-versed in his knowledge about so many things - before the Archon War, he was more of a brute who preferred to solve things head-on (literally) as opposed to thinking things through; Nahida- oh don't even get me started on Nahida. Her self-doubt and insecurity as a result of facing constant beratement and feelings of inferiority to Rukkhadevata; her constant desire to learn more (both for her namesake as the God of Wisdom, to prove herself, and for her own curiosity's sake); her child-like nature (as a result of her research and human observation ofc!!! but still adorable none-the-less; I mean "dook-dook" !?! come on!)...

But now with Furina, oh. I think we've entered a BRAND NEW level and it's part of the reason why I absolutely love her so much.

In classic good-story-telling practice, Genshin achieves all of this through "show-not-tell" and it's world-class ability of characterizing its characters (IN MY OPINION ! I love them so much, okay?). And from the second I MET this girl to the very last line of 4.1's archon quest, it has been made painfully abundant to me that

Furina is just a child.

She has. NO IDEA what she's doing!!! Now, the underlying reasons for this have yet to be seen, and will most likely be tackled in the very next Archon Quest chapter, but if you'll allow me to speculate right now... Knowing that Egeria also conducted trials for citizens who broke the law (meaning she should have also been a God of Justice), I believe whole-heartedly that it was her who built the entire system Furina and Neuvillette are running right now. Meaning, I'm confident Furina has absolutely nothing to do with it. The ONLY (and I think I truly mean ONLY) thing Furina did in the time since she inherited the role was: change the perception of what justice and its deliverance should be into something a lot more akin to a dramatic play, only enacted for people's enjoyment.

Which includes her lack of knowledge on the Oratrice. Furina didn't create it. How could she? She's so utterly ignorant on what it is, how it works, and dare I say what it's truly even for.

The moment I read this statement I convinced myself that it had to have been the previous Hydro Archon. And while I concede that: looking back on the wording of this statement now, it seems like its existence would only be beneficial under someone like Furina's ruling… But, I'm willing to just chalk that up to "Egeria had great future-sight" (or something more along the lines of: she trusted the machine to help keep her in check so false charges were less likely; and it just so happens that its decision making is carrying the court system now under Furina’s rule).

Like many things related to Fontaine's history, it would seem, Egeria being solely responsible for the creation of all these staple facilities and aspects of the nation's inner workings would shed light on why Furina is so unknowing. She had nothing to do with it. And while I'm no envoy from Celestia, so I have no insight as to what the hell happens when a new Archon is born to fill in the void that was left, I think that whatever that process is (IF THERE EVEN IS ONE) went completely awry for Furina. She probably didn't even inherit the Gnosis - ever ! I'm thinking it's stuffed into the Oratrice somehow/somewhere. I'm thinking the "curse" Arlecchino sensed has something to do with that process of inheritance (or... lack thereof) going so wrong.

It’s obvious that Furina is running from something. Ignoring something. Distracting herself from the realities of the world with the “spectacle of the courtroom” (as Dain put it). And it’d be easy to just chalk it up to her being a little bitch with no deeper meaning but I don’t think that’s it.

Genshin doesn’t make it gods “just human”. They spend their time trying to prove that they’re “Human too”.

The underlying reasons for it have to lie in whatever happened when Furina was born. Cursed. Whether it was a curse to end up alone (as per the prophecy), or to never obtain the powers becoming of a god in this world... Whatever happened, it overwhelmed Furina to an unbearable degree, and naturally, like any Human would... she resorted to escapism. She found entertainment in the trials headed at the court room, realized she could make people like her by being this mascot of justice, and upon learning that it's only a matter of time before all of her subjects turn into puddles and she'll be left all alone… she decided to just- NOT think about it!! Who would?! That is a horrifying! revelation.

THAT is why she's so scared to fight - literally anyone!! She doesn’t have the power (and if she does she’s never had to use it).

THAT is why she’s turned out this way - a brat with very little humility, never knowing when to stop the act - because for centuries she’s lived in this little Lala-Land of a bubble denying the inevitable. A fate she was cursed with from the moment she inherited the title of “God”. She wasn’t really given powers, she wasn’t given dominion, and she most certainly hasn’t received instruction, or… ANY!?! HELP!! it seems, in understanding what it means to be an Archon (perhaps even in spite of those other perks she was “supposed” to receive.)

Born to be a god, yet being set up to suffer the loss of your entire people with almost no power to change it? That would fuck anyone up, even an Archon.

And it’s the way that they’ve shown how it’s fucked with Furina that blows my mind.

She’s so disconnected that Arle’s assassination attempt shocked her to her core. She’s a GOD!! Who would try to assassinate her (aside from the Fatui)!? She’s never had to even perceive the notion of being a target of something like that. Stack that on top of her general sense of helplessness in the greater context of what’s happening to her nation, and it makes sense that she broke down crying later that night... :(

Girlie just needs some help </3

[aromanticasterisms]

As anyone who has ever listened to me talk about Lightning Gods for 2 seconds knows, I personally am not too fond of the Thunder Legion backstory we got from it. Partially because I am a childhood friends Thunder Legion truther, but mostly because I didn’t agree with the characterization choice that had them decide to follow Laxus after…that.

But I understand why it is the way it is, and more than that, I can see now that it does a fairly decent job at using what little space and time there was available to tie into the main focus of the story of Lightning Gods. Namely, Laxus’s and the Thunder Legion’s views on strength, the trust that all of them have in each other, and how that manifests in different ways.

Let’s begin with an overview on the Thunder Legion’s obsession with strength and duty, where it came from, and how it has changed forms over time.

The backstory for the Thunder Legion proposed in Lightning Gods is this:

Freed, Bickslow, and Evergreen team up to take on a job, only to find when they get there that Laxus has already finished it on a whim. They exchange some harsh words, and not long after they descend into a fight. Laxus beats them easily, and the three of them are awed and frightened by his strength and power.

Laxus, meanwhile, surprises them by complimenting them […sort of] on being the strongest guild members he’s seen in a long time, in giving him a good fight.

This event is what inspires the three of them decide to band together to form the Thunder Legion—a team dedicated to watching Laxus’s back. It is also the event that sets up their mentality further down the line: physical and magic strength are the most desirable traits one can have, and by continuing to be strong and interesting, they are allowed to stand by Laxus’s side.

Cut to years later, when the most obvious culmination of the Thunder Legion’s obsession with strength takes place: the Battle of Fairy Tail.

The entire point of the game is to weed out the weak from the strong, to create a stronger guild for Laxus to inherit. On his orders, the Thunder Legion are utterly merciless to anyone they deem weaker than themselves.

At first, this seems like purely blind loyalty, but as time goes on, we get a glimpse that it might be more than that. Specifically, right after Evergreen’s loss, we see that the standing the Thunder Legion has with Laxus isn’t a whole lot more solid than the rest of the guild, right now.

The moment Evergreen is beaten by Erza, Laxus re-categorizes her in his mind from strong to weak, and is ready to discard her, saying that he doesn’t need her in his Fairy Tail.

Freed expresses that he or Bickslow should have gone instead—not that Evergreen is weak, not that they don’t need her, but that Erza is simply too strong, and they should have sent someone better suited to counter her.

He then tells Laxus that the game is over, the battle lost, and Laxus tells him that unless he is willing to do exactly as he says with no hesitation, Laxus doesn’t need him in his guild either.

After this exchange, we now know that the Thunder Legion are only standing beside Laxus because they are strong. If they are weak, if they falter in their duties, they will be abandoned, discarded, and replaced.

The three of them are beaten, the game is lost, and Laxus is exiled. They slowly begin to settle back into the guild, to reconnect and mend bridges. But that obsession with strength and duty that the Thunder Legion has cultivated has not completely gone away—merely changed forms.

After all, few of their guild mates can stop themselves from commenting on how ridiculously strongthe Thunder Legion are. Many of them saw their magical strength firsthand, so the three of them are desperate to prove that their abilities can be put to good use.

When it comes to fighting strength, their mindset is one of protecting their guild mates no matter the personal cost. For Freed and Bickslow, we tend to see this manifest outwardly, as continually attempting to sacrifice themselves for their loved ones. For Evergreen, we see this manifest more as an internal struggle, as blaming herself for not being strong enough, and thinking that her lack of ability is what causes others to be hurt.

When Freed is selected to take place in the S-Class trials, with Bickslow as his partner, the two of them are paired up against Lucy and Cana. They proceed to throw the fight in the girls’ favor, allowing them to move forward. Freed says he owes it to the two of them specifically, after what happened in the Battle of Fairy Tail.

Later, when Evergreen and Elfman are targeted by Rustyrose and defeated by him, Evergreen blames herself for not being strong enough, and says that if it weren’t for her, if Elfman had picked a different partner, he may have been able to succeed.

In the Key of the Starry Sky arc, Bickslow throws himself in the way of an attack to save Wendy, and even insists that she should abandon him and save herself—abandoning a comrade who is nothing more than dead weight is still a viable strategy in his eyes.

“Sometimes you gotta have the courage to leave your friends behind too!”

However, unlike Laxus [who I’ll talk about later], the Thunder Legion largely understands that there are different types of strength. Laxus judged himself and others using solely fighting strength as a metric, but the guild as a whole requires a more diverse skill set to deal with a range of day-to-day issues, which the Thunder Legion commit to their comrades with just as much enthusiasm.

Freed’s mission with Wendy is a good example of this. The Master—and Cana, of all people, who Freed feels he has a personal debt to—entrusts not only Wendy’s safety to him, but also her growth and development as a mage. He follows the rules set by them to the utmost of his abilities, even having a minor crisis when his two duties conflict, and he doesn’t know which course of action is the right one to take.

When there is a clear course of action, though, he’s quick to take it, utilizing his runes and his blade for all manner of things that have nothing to do with fighting.

At one point during the journey, Happy comments:

“That’s the Thunder Legion for you! Always there in a time of need!”

It’s clear that by this point, they have already established a reputation for being incredibly reliable and dependable, despite the fact that this is quite soon after the Battle of Fairy Tail, and the three of them rarely spent time in the guild hall beforehand.

These feelings of needing to be strong and useful so people keep them around linger on even past Fairy Tail’s disbanding, into Lightning Gods. The three of them are incredibly eager to be helpful to Laxus.

Evergreen reinforces this when they step up to destroy the Vesper Blockade Mirror for the first time:

“Let’s show them why you keep us around.”

She says this in tandem with Bickslow, who says Laxus won’t enjoy destroying an object. The three of them step forward to do work that, they assume, Laxus would find tedious or boring.

Not long after they figure out how to destroy the mirror, the priestess Weyse shows her true colors as a Zeref fanatic, and takes on the powers of the demon God of Nightfall.

The God of Nightfall is, quote:

“…a type of magic that shows people illusions of the doubts and fears…and traumas…they carry deep inside.”

To torment the Thunder Legion in the illusion, Weyse begins with this:

“Oh, you guys! As if he could rely on you! You call yourselves his bodyguards, but at the slightest threat you just bleat out for him. No wonder he gets hurt worst of all.”

This doesn’t seem to affect them at all, as all three’s responses are rather unimpressed.

“Yeesh. What terrible lines.” “I guess she’s trying to rattle us.”

This showcases their understanding of who Laxus is as a person. They’ve followed him for years now, so they’re well aware of what he’s capable of, and more importantly, what he’s like, and what he tends to do.

The Thunder Legion is incredibly confident in Laxus. They trust him more than perhaps anyone else, and want more than anything else to protect him and keep him safe.

However, they are also well aware that they cannot control his actions. Especially after the stunt he pulled just before Tartaros. He gets hurt worst of all because he tends to insist on doing things on his own, whether it’s to prove himself, to enjoy a fight more, or because he wants to keep everyone safe. When the people he cares about are in danger, he jumps in to help, and sometimes pushes himself to the point of self-destruction. This is a trait that many mages in Fairy Tail share, and the Thunder Legion understands this.

But they trust him, and they trust him to know his limits.

When he stops them from interfering in his fight against Maiden Quartet, they listen. Their trust manifests as standing back while Laxus fights and waiting for a cue, or helping to mitigate the damage his fight causes on their surroundings. Laxus knows that all he needs to do is ask for help, or offer an invitation, and the Thunder Legion will be right there beside him.

Freed knows this, and he rebuts Weyse like so:

“We trust each other. If Laxus is fighting on the front lines, we’ve only got to run in and support him!”

Of course, Weyse twists his words around and hits them where it hurts:

“So what you’re saying is, he steps up to fight because you’re too weak to do it yourselves.” “You’re his bodyguards, aren’t you? Right? But something terrible is bound to happen to your precious Laxus, the way you guard him.”

Laxus fights because they can’t. Because they’re incapable of it. The Thunder Legion is a burden to him, an inconvenience, and holding him back from his true potential. He doesn’t need them, and he knows it; soon enough, they will stop being useful, and Laxus will leave them behind.

That’s what hurts them, that’s what spurs them to fight and protect the illusion of Laxus with everything they have—not just the concept of being weak, but the idea of being unneeded and abandoned by the person they care for the most.

“Laxus always steps up to fight…because we’re so weak!” “Even though we go around callin’ ourselves his bodyguards!!” “We’re just holding Laxus back!”

Unbeknownst to the Thunder Legion, though, Laxus has been going through his own development during Lightning Gods—namely, discovering just what kind of strength he can bring to his family in order to make them feel safe and protected.

When Laxus and the Thunder Legion join Blue Pegasus, they are confronted with a very different guild experience, in terms of jobs and the people around them. Being a Blue Pegasus member requires a different set of skills and strengths than Fairy Tail members are used to, and Laxus specifically has a difficult time adjusting. But as he’s floundering, he can see the Thunder Legion fitting in with the guild and taking to their tasks with ease.

“I don’t know…but you three are doing great.” “But I just recall how…Fairy Tail was full of people who’d understand me, even just through our fists and fights.”

This is played somewhat for comedy, as the Thunder Legion find Laxus’s awkwardness endearing. But Laxus is genuinely having a hard time wrapping his head around the way the guild operates and adjusting to it. More than that, he’s utterly baffled by the idea that someone like Ichiya could be so respected and adored when he is, compared to Laxus and the Thunder Legion, not all that strong or powerful.

He mentions that they shouldn’t go to assist him—since the others respect him so much, he assumes Ichiya must be strong enough to save himself:

“But he’s actually super powerful despite how he acts, right? So just wait for him to come back on his own.”

What others might see as abandonment is Laxus’s idea of trust—putting faith in another person’s ability to handle themselves, and not insulting their strength by rushing in to rescue them.

But the members of Blue Pegasus quickly correct him, bringing up the many weaknesses that Ichiya has that make him vulnerable. Laxus wonders if there’s anything good about him at all, and how someone with so many weaknesses—that are apparently common knowledge—could be so idolized by everyone around them.

Despite his overall reluctance to engage with the situation, Laxus goes to rescue Ichiya, on the basis that they’re from the same guild, and anyone who messes with guild members is an enemy—not because he looks up to Ichiya, something he quite vehemently denies.

In the process of rescuing him, though, Ichiya himself takes a blow from Laxus meant for his captor, and tells Laxus not to fight, “out of respect for his gorgeous face”. Laxus takes this as an insult.

“Is this a joke?! Huh?! We came here to rescue you, because you’d been kidnapped. And now this? Was this some game to you? And you want me to respect your face? You think you can mess with me and I’m just gonna take it?”

In his mind, if Ichiya is so respected, he must have been strong enough to escape this entire time, and waited until the most inopportune moment to do so. He interfered with the rescue attempt, made light of Laxus’s attempt to help, and wasted his time.

However, Ichiya replies:

“This was no game. And no one is messing with you. Thank you for coming to my rescue.” “I honestly didn’t think you four would be the first ones here. Fighting on a joyous day like this…would hardly be the classy thing to do! Let’s go home and open up some champagne.”

Laxus seems surprised by this, and remains in thoughtful silence for a long while, even all the way back to the guild. Ichiya approaches him, and Laxus finally admits:

“So, look. I don’t get you at all. You don’t stand out as some powerful dude…but look how much they all worship you.”

Ichiya responds that it’s because he’s good-looking, much to the irritation of Laxus. However, the Trimen speak up once Ichiya leaves, saying that’s his true strength. The Thunder Legion take the word strength to mean the same kind of power they see in Laxus; an insurmountable might that puts one above other people. Hibiki corrects them:

“He may seem unreliable to you. But…when the moment calls for it, he’ll even use his body to defuse a crisis, even without magic…and isn’t that another kind of strength? That’s our Ichiya. We can feel safe with him.”

It’s not about physical or magical strength. It’s his strength of character that the members of Blue Pegasus are drawn to; they trust that he is the type of person to do everything in his power to keep conflict from breaking out, even if it means bringing harm to something he prides himself on quite highly.

This sticks with Laxus.

When he and the Thunder Legion head out to the village of Rugosa for the request put forth by the priestess Weyse, Laxus wonders to himself just what sort of strength he brings to his family.

After Weyse begs them to help, and speaks rather tearfully about not wanting to lose her home, Laxus is immediately swayed to get serious about her cause. He makes an effort to destroy the Vesper Blockade Mirror, and goes to great lengths to defeat Nasser, whom Laxus believes is trying to destroy his own home—something that Laxus takes very personally, because he [mistakenly] sees his past self in Nasser.

“So your mission is more important than your home? That thought process…makes my blood boil!!”

Nasser asks him why he’s risking his life for this. Says it seems foolish, since this is just another quest for him. Laxus flashes back to the Battle of Fairy Tail.

“I’ve tried to destroy my own family…my guild…before. I thought I was doing it for the guild’s own good. But now I see that was a stupid, immature idea. And I’m pretty sure you’re gonna regret this, too!”

After Nasser’s defeat, the Thunder Legion destroy the Vesper Blockade Mirror, just as Laxus trusted them to do. And the demon God of Nightfall’s true identity is revealed. Nasser shares his side of the story and laments his inexperience, stating that despite being seen by the villagers as an outsider, Rugosa village is his only true home.

Laxus is immediately swayed to his cause, and vows to destroy the God of Nightfall. Nasser reprimands him, saying that it’s too dangerous, but Laxus insists��

“But if we do nothing, your home is gonna get destroyed.” “Look, no apology is ever gonna be enough for what happened. So let me protect your village. I have to…!!”

Nasser relents, and asks for his assistance in defending his home. But not before telling him:

“You lose sight of all around you the moment something important to you is involved, like one’s home or guild.” “Viewed in another light, I suppose some might call you stubbornly honest.”

The two of them rush back to the village to confront the God of Nightfall. Laxus goes to destroy it, but is blocked by the Thunder Legion’s attacks. Weyse reveals that the three of them see Laxus as the God of Nightfall and vice versa—this is quickly reinforced by their words, shouting that they’ll protect Laxus no matter what as they’re attacking him.

Then, of course—Laxus hears what they think. That they’re too weak to stand beside him, they’re holding him back, they can’t even do an adequate job of protecting him.

After snapping them out of the spell with his magic, Laxus tells them exactly how he feels, how he said he felt even in the midst of his fight with Nasser: he trusts them.

“Don’t be stupid, Thunder Legion!” “It’s only because I can trust you to have my back…that I can run forward to fight!”

He doesn’t say, you’re strong enough to stand beside me.

Instead, he tells them, I am only this strong because you’re here. Because you have my back. I could not have done any of this without you. I have faith in your abilities. I can trust you.

To have his back, to look out for him, and more than that, to understand him, when it seems like no one else can.

The three of them gather themselves, and step up to watch Laxus’s back, to assist him in fighting the God of Nightfall.

“It’s alright. The three of us…we will not falter!!” “Strength…weakness…the form it takes doesn’t matter. The desire to protect the people we care about is still the same.”

The God of Nightfall is defeated. Nasser returns to the village, having lost his magical power. The Thunder Legion lament this loss, saying that losing such strength seems like a waste, but Laxus seems to understand—it was worth it, if it means Nasser gets to return to his home.

The four of them leave Rugosa village, talking about Weyse’s betrayal and how impressive Laxus was during their fight. And, finally, they tell him what it is that he wants to hear:

“But you confirmed something for us.” “Thanks to you…we can rely on you and feel safe.”

His dedication to doing what’s right, to protecting other people’s homes and family, led him back to the village when he could have easily left everyone to wait for the Council instead. His strength and quick thinking saved the Thunder Legion from the God of Nightfall’s spell. His stubborn honesty snapped them out of their fear of failing him, of being too weak, of being left behind.

At last, Laxus says that he thinks he’s figured out a little bit about the strength that makes Ichiya so adored.

[demongirlgarlicbread]

Thinking about touhou project is a strong candidate for universes beyond. It has:

A large cast of identifiable characters with flavorful abilities that span the entire color pie

A setting that meshes well with the aesthetics of modern magic, that being fantasy with a few modernish elements

A number of different groups and individuals jostling for influence and control, which can be loosely divided into "gods, humans/their protectors, monsters, outsiders" for the precon decks

A great deal of unique and interesting locales to use for card art

A very large and passionate fanbase to attract to magic

A rights holder that has said and shown multiple times he's open to other people using his intellectual property, meaning he would probably be open to striking a deal with WotC

My breakdown of potential decks ended up being very lengthy so. Here's a readmore.

I think I would make the gods focused deck Sultai. Kanako and Okina as intended commanders. The gods of gensokyo are forces of tradition and the old ways, wholly rooted in natural orders and the Way Things Are. And yet they strive for more faith, and progress. Kanako specifically. She's ambitious and hungry for power and influence. Using progress and modernization to attain it, even as she herself is a creature of faith and tradition.

Okina, meanwhile, is strongly Blue/Black, sitting in the shadows and steering things in her favor. She is a secret god, and a schemer. And in turn, she can control life energy and through it nature and the seasons. Black and green have been shown as the colors of the dispossessed as well, the cast off and the refused. Which fits her role as a god of outcasts and the ignored.

Junko as monoblack and Hecatia can be seen as Sultai too. It is admittedly more of a "Gods and Spirits" deck. Fairies fit in here too. Primarily green, with bits of blue and black.

The deck I think would be quite focused on the long game, closing out with flashy sorceries. Ramping as gathering faith, big mana spells as miracles. The kind of deck you could throw Emergent Ultimatum into and have it feel fitting.

The humans of Gensokyo I would place squarely in Naya. Reimu is very, very Naya. Go with the flow, keep order in Gensokyo, and pursue passion when she isn't needed. She has a temper, but is generally cheerful. Harmony defines her. She has ambition, but it's in spurts of desire that peter out quickly before she moves onto the next thing. Black and blue are not really part of her character.

As a partner commander I would go with Kasen. She's more active and moralizing, strongly white to Reimu's strongly green nature. Characters like Keine and Mokou fit neatly into Selesnya and monored respectively.

You could throw the buddhists, taoists, and celestials in as well. They'd be in line with Kasen, white tends to be religious, and they're not exactly malicious.

Mechanically I think it would be a go wide tokens deck. 1/1 humans, Kasen with 3/3 beasts. ETB effects and synergies, and some convoke. What you'd expect from Naya.

Monsters is obviously the native youkai of Gensokyo, and while Yukari would be fitting for the role, she is very much not Jund in character and presumed mechanics. I'll get to her later. Rather, I think the front and center commander would be Yuuka. She lives by her whims, she respects strength. She pokes and prods when she finds it amusing, and is physically quite strong. She's a youkai of the natural world, of life and growth. But in turn, the nature of youkai as a whole is solidly black. Black to the core. They are creatures of predation and fear, the thing that goes bump in the night and preys on humanity. They take as their desires demand, and seek to further themselves and fight amongst themselves for standing and prestige. Red and green is wild nature, red and black is passion and ambition, and green and black are the feast on the dead.

As a secondary commander, to represent the Animal Realm, I think Yuuma is the Jundiest of all three family leaders, a creature of instinct and consumption opportunism and greed. The tengu in turn are as black as black gets, with red sprinkled in here and there. Old hell's denizens fit in nicely here too.

It would presumably function as a beatdown deck. Ramp, sacrifice a few creatures for resources, develop a vicious board state and then swing hard enough to send your opponents over the fences. Gensokyo's youkai are held in check by custom and necessity, and if left to run rampant they would ravage the human population.

And now. The outsiders. This is I think is the loosest and most difficult category. There are a lot of forces at play in the world of touhou project, outside of Gensokyo proper. The moon, various denizens of the afterlife. Those who've come to influence Gensokyo but are not strictly native, or smoothly integrated. I deliberated a bit on how best to define them all. And they're disparate in their specific goals and their motives. But I realized. All of them seek or exert control, all of them plot and plan, all of them have ambition. The outsiders are best represented by Esper. As much as Yukari lives by her whims, and is a youkai's youkai, she is still an exemplar of a black and blue character who has reached the top, and keeps a stranglehold on power. She enforces harmony and control on Gensokyo, keeps tabs on everything, and uses tools like Reimu to deal with trouble. She's happy to sit in her corner and let others bumble through problems that always Work Out In The End. Returning to status quo.

While Hecatia is elsewhere, the bureaucracy of hell is very much Orzhov. The Lunarians are very strongly monowhite. Remilia is black and blue, and while her sister could be best represented by Rakdos, monoblack fits decently well. Patchy as blue, Meiling as white, Sakuya as blue/white. But finding a secondary commander is a different matter. So many candidates for the outsider deck don't match every bit of the shard.

But. Consider Zanmu. She's a charismatic and unifying figure. She's clever and ambitious, and described as intelligentsia. She's careful and considerate, and not prone to outbursts. And she seeks control of Gensokyo in its entirety for a greater good of peace, and only backs down from it after being convinced that Gensokyo would be better maintained by Reimu. She's perfect for the role, and she already has mind magic down pat with the ability to manipulate nothingness.

I think the outsiders deck would play nicely as control, taxes, and politics. Keep an eye on each opponent, and steer them into one another as you work towards your own winning position.

There are obviously kinks to work out. Edge cases, who's in what deck. How to manage non-legendary creatures when touhou is full up to the brim with named characters and has so little in the way of Generic Guy. But I think the bones are solid, and there's something here. Much, admittedly, to my chagrin.

[evemarielouis]

reid’s biggest problem with profiling isil is that he has no interest in knowing more. boy wonder only sees the surface in which she swims easily, calls it lake & is done with it. but there drowns his analysis, for one cannot read a book that has yet to be opened. the story hasn’t unfolded, fingers haven’t cornered the pages, lines haven’t been caressed in horror or in awe. only juno seems to have caught glimpses of her, but these too were watered down by lust & spit. cool girl, pretty girl, ditzy girl. she is a good time with a game face that never turns off. when they go out, she is with them, she gets them the good table & the right kind of cocktail. she introduces them to the barman, even though she’s been in the city for less time than most of them. and once the party is going & bonds are being weaved, one drunk confession at a time, they fail to notice that the girl is already long gone. ditzy girl, pretty girl, cool girl. already swallowed up by the crowd, buried between bodies of faceless companions. she is oh so fickle, barely a girl, so terrified of being bound that she can be seen gnawing at the rope holding them all together. calls it a hanged man’s rope, when truly it is only a necklace, one that most call family.

perhaps if reid had paid more attention to the whispers that have been going around the office, he would known that belonging to a family is of no interest for the girl who saw her mother murder each and every member of her cursed tribe. families are easy wounds to probe & she is not keen on repeating the process. oh, she remembers : even as a child, she understood that bodies were sacrificed at the altar of a wicked god and that her mother would blame her for it. rossi told hotch early on ; that girl is something else. he took it as a warning for her personality. in truth, it had and still has more to do with her abilities : it is that same shapeshifting trick that got her out of the village. visage bleeding from rock-inflicted wounds, “i’ll draw the devil’s mark on ya. ugly ugly daughter o’ mine.” walking across the soil that saw her bleed twice ; once as a girl & once as a corpse. there, the child attempted to make a promise ; found ungodly ways to keep it. child became woman and found that sex tastes like love if you keep it sweet & short. woman found that less personality means less affection, and so she became it ; cool girl, pretty girl, ditzy girl. never the one you’d imagine at the altar, never the one you’d find to symbolize home. oh, what terrible choices did she make, just so she wouldn’t suffer the same loss twice. but even that was not enough, for malborne’s body found its way to a casket and ishtar discovered that grief still tasted the same way as it did all these years ago : muddy & acrid. the lord god formed the man of dust from the ground & breathed into his nostrils the breath of life – ishtar throwed up all that dirt on her way out of the cemetery and vowed to never endure the same enchantment again.

perhaps if reid had paid more attention, he would have realized that she wants to replace him even less that he himself wants her to. all she desires is to get her hands on them so that she can learn the angles & curves of their beings. an easy way to learn how to make clay dolls of her memories, so that wherever she goes next she won’t have to go alone. it is difficult to be a living corpse. one must fill oneself to the rim with moments. only heavy memories keep you tethered – and ditzy girls aren’t the kind to get heavy.  

for the gift of her full attention, juno gets a toothy grin that curves around the pen. it is not rare for ishtar to suggest games ; riddles & dares that usually do not warrant any attention from the team. in quite the same manner as reid’s tangents, ishtar’s attempts at distraction tend to remain ignored. the few who play (penelope, derek, sometimes juno) usually get something for their gracious participation. be it files off their shoulders, gifts sent to their houses, or other gracious acts of service that remain anonymous, all is good as long as it gives them pleasure. her last deed was paying a month worth of penelope’s favorite treats & having them delivered to her house. the dare had been worth it : whatever she said in that phone got derek morgan so hot and bothered that he wasn't quick enough to avoid ishtar’s phone as she was taking pictures. with that kind of leverage on her phone, she was bound to get a few favours for the next month at least. so yes, ishtar was mischievous, but she was fair : and if juno was willing to play, then ishtar would make sure that there was something to win.

[walkineternity]

Not going to really speak about Ericka plot line cause I had similar issue, but I do want to talk about June:

For June specifically, I don’t think the message was the only way to be happy is through sex. Of course there are elderly people that are ace or celibate that lead perfectly happy and fulfilling lives. But the point of June’s story is that a lot of elderly people experience the opposite societal problem ace people experience. Lots of ace people feel pressured to have sex because that’s the “normal” thing to want or do. Of course this is wrong, but with elderly people, society says it’s “normal” for them to not have sex. It happens to a lot of people with disabilities too. When people hear about elderly people having sex, they respond with disgust and judgement, like the sons did in this episode.

They think elderly people or people with disabilities shouldn’t want or have sex. They don’t want to even think about it. It’s an extension of the dehumanization of elderly people. Their autonomy is something that is often overlooked, even with family members and care workers that should know better.

So yes of course she is over 80 years old and knows she is in her golden years. She wants the ability to choose the way she lives her final years. And she found something that makes her happy. Yes, that happened to be sex, but when she talks about how it makes her feel, it makes sense that she would want to keep feeling that way. And they picked sex to make this point about elderly people because like I said, most people don’t want to even think about them having sex.

Also I think her choosing to risk her life instead of getting a cure was not just ohhh yeah she should choose to die to keep having sex. Like I think it was more about how she felt entirely. This did include sex, but it also crucially included how much better mentally she felt. Yeah, sometimes things that make us happy can hurt us, but does that mean we shouldn’t have the right to choose it? I loved how the show didn’t shame her for having this desire, nor did it shame her for even having the disease in the first place. So often times there can be beauty in the terrible. My aunt has a brain tumour that might one day kill her. They can do surgery to remove it because that is too high risk (they did it years ago but it came back) now. Of course she would would rather not have the tumour. But she does like to find the good things it brings her. She is more creative. When she had it the first time, she learned to knit and made everyone a sweater. When it was gone, she didn’t knit again. She doesn’t regret the talent it gave her. I know this isn’t a 1:1, but I’m trying to make the point that the show is making with Oliver talking about what the disease gave her. Idk if I’m doing great with articulating any of that lol.

So yeah overall this episode was and was not about sex. I understand the frustration of media yet again placing importance of normalization of sex in society and how people should want or be having sex. Again, this is false ideas and shouldn’t be perpetuated. But I do want to explain June’s plot line to see that it goes way deeper than that and certainly not the message that should be taken away from her story. Again, because elderly people are desexualized and it’s seen as something very gross if they even express wanting to have sex. Even tho ace and elderly (and people with disabilities) have sort of opposite issue, the solution is the same. We should emphasize body autonomy and that the variety of the human experience is infinite. Valid sexual freedom needs to also include ace people, because it’s about the right to choose what to do, or do not, with your own body without fear of judgment or control.

Sorry for the really long piece, I just really passionate about people that are usually considered invisible by society (I’m including ace people in this!) because it’s a very personal issue to me and I can be too long winded about it.

-One character hasn't had sex in 3 years and it's treated like she just confessed she hadn't eaten food in 3 years.

-Another woman char would have rather died in a terrifying way than give up being artificially, uncontrollably horny, because apparently that's her only way of ever being happy.

I can't tell if I'm the only sane person on the planet or if the person that wrote this episode needs to be sprayed with a freezing hose? Tell me non-ace adults found that weird too?

[dilemmaontwolegs]

The Miracle - Ch.4

Morpheus (Dream of the Endless) x reader (no gender/pronouns mentioned)

Summary: You traipse to the Underworld to fulfil your bargain but nothing ever goes to plan so you improvise the best you can. Warnings: canon-typical magic, mentions of infertility treatment, reader injured WC: 3.5k

Ch.1 || Ch.2 || Ch.3 || Ch.4 || Ch.5 || Ch.6

“There was a reflection pool in the Silver City,” you murmured quietly as you sat beside Hope’s gilded cradle, Morpheus’ silent silhouette filling the doorway behind you listening intently. “Every moment I had to spare, I found myself drifting to the edge of that pool and peering in. Seven billion mortals begging, pleading, but there was one who always called to me.”

“Your mother.”

You looked over your shoulder as Dream stepped into the room and gave him a small nod. “She was a teacher, surrounded by the very thing she could never have. I had never seen strength like that and when her husband got sick…everything she had saved up for IVF was spent to save him. Not that it worked in the end. I didn’t want her to be left alone after what she sacrificed.”

You rose from the rocking chair and placed a soft kiss on Hope’s forehead, whispering, “You will never be alone.” 

Morpheus’ presence warmed your back as he shadowed you to the master suite, the door quietly clicking shut behind him. You could feel the question nipping at his tongue, a question he had asked too much over the last two days. 

“I’m fine,” you promised before he could voice his concern. “Everything is in motion.”

“It’s not too late to find an alternative. The crossing to the Underworld is arduous at best, but this time of year it will be particularly bad.” 

You took a seat at the edge of the bed, eyes drawn to the constellation of stars sparkling through the lining of the Lord’s robe. The glittering lights wore on your tired eyes, eyes that had been burning through tomes in the library since Desire had left. Morpheus was equally exhausted in his research, his days spent monitoring Hades’ dreams and learning his fears.

Kicking your shoes off, you tore the blankets back and fell atop the pillows. “The path is set, come what may it must be walked.”

Morpheus slipped between the black satin sheets like a wraith and pulled you into his arms. “Together.”

You swallowed the lump in your throat and remembered the promise you had made to Hope. “Together.”

The room was still as the moon bathed Morpheus in its milky light. His breathing had evened out a while ago but you hadn’t been able to look away from him. The uncertainty of what was to come gripped your chest in its talons with a whisper in your mind to remember this moment, remember the lines of his face and the colour of his thick lashes for it may be the last time. 

Betrayal. That’s what this was. Breaking one promise to keep another. Leaving without Morpheus and carrying the burden alone so that Hope never has to know that feeling. She deserved more than to become an orphan because of a deal you had made. No, you would walk this path without him. 

Dream’s leather pouch hung heavy at your side as you passed through the forgotten horn gate only to find a familiar figure waiting in the dust beyond. 

“I have come to call in my favour,” Death said by way of greeting. 

“Not to be ungrateful, but could it wait?” you asked as you curled your cloak closer to your body to hide the stolen sand. “I have an engagement.”

She looked pointedly at you as she placed a hand on her cocked her hip. “I know exactly what you are up to and I want to help. I request to join you.”

You almost stumbled in the sand of the beach and it took a second before you could summon the ability to speak to ask, “Why?”

Death shrugged nonchalantly but a look you knew well bled through her dark eyes, regret. “I have lost my brother once already and it was you who made him whole again. I don’t want to see him broken again, and losing you, it would break the fundamental part of him - the dreamer.”

“How did you know what I planned?”

“I didn’t,” she admitted, turning to look at the endless blanket of stars above the lapping shore. “I just hoped that you would find a way to leave him out of this. Is that selfish of me?”

“It’s not selfish to want to keep the people you love safe,” you said more to yourself. “I accept your favour.”

Death smiled and offered her arm, hooking it in yours as her wings erupted behind her. “Good, Charon is expecting us.”

To say her wings were black would be a gross understatement. They were an absolute absence of light, a void of all living matter, untouchable. They were everything and nothing and staring into them for too long would drive anyone into madness. You could feel the endlessness tugging at your mind already and clamped your eyes shut as she took to the skies.

“This is as far as I can fly,” Death said as she landed on a river bank. The grass that lined the bank swayed with a chilling breeze and the realm was almost completely silent. It was only the swishing of grass and a ripple of water that could be heard over your heartbeat. 

Spreading your own wings, you attempted to launch across the black waters but hit a barrier of air at its edge. A grunt of pain escaped as you were thrown back across the bank to land heavily on your ass. 

“Don’t even say it,” you warned as you stood up and saw her lips pressed tightly to hide the laugh threatening to erupt. “You Endless siblings just love to say I told you so.”

“Well I did,” she said with a little chuckle.

“You said you couldn’t fly, you didn’t say anything about me.”

Death opened her mouth to argue when a shiver passed over you both and a dark laugh drifted on the breeze. “Death. You brought a guest.”

Death turned to the small barge that had arrived in a mist, the prow breaching the bank, and she inclined her head to the cloaked man waiting. “Charon, it’s good to see you. May we?”

In answer, wood creaked and a ramp unfolded over the prow. Death inclined her head politely and led the way, the barge rocking with each step and you followed hesitantly behind. You foot had barely lifted from the ramp before it disappeared and Charon speared his long oar into the bank to push the boat from its shore. 

The perpetual twilight and the heavy mist that Charon steered towards left it difficult to keep track of your surroundings so you watched the river instead. It seemed alive as the barge sent ripples across its surface, the inky black liquid changing as it was disturbed. Leaning out, you cursed and scrambled back as you found lifeless eyes staring back. 

“The souls who tried to escape their fate,” Charon said with that dark laugh that would haunt you if you ever left this place. “They always think they can swim to shore, back to life. Fools.”

You could hear them then, their prayers breaking the surface as if your presence alone had called to them and offered atonement. It was a fight to push the voices back down and ignore their plight but you could not give them the peace they were praying for. 

“Shut up!” Charon barked and slapped his oar across the surface, the voices silenced in fear. “Blithering idiots, you brought this upon yourself.”

You schooled your face to neutrality despite the sick sense that his words were aimed directly at you and fought the urge to look at Death and see if she felt the same. 

“Any idea where I might find Narcissus these days?” Death asked with careless disregard, like she was commenting on the weather. 

Charon snorted and jutted his head upstream. “Where else? Enraptured by his reflection at the bank's edge.” The entrance to the Underworld rose out of the mist and the barge came to a stop at a small wooden jetty. “Fortune be with you.”

“Until next time.” Death smiled and stepped off the barge. You followed her and turned to thank the ferryman but the barge was gone, no ripple or wave to show its departure.

“Well, that wasn’t creepy at all.”

Death chortled, “Charon has an affinity for the theatrics. There could be worse habits to take up after a millenia ferrying souls across these waters.”

There was no path to follow along the river bank, there was only the worn path that led inland to the black stone palace you were hoping to avoid. Giving Death what you hoped was a reassuring smile, you began the trek along the Styx in search of Narcissus.

“Looking for someone?” 

You could have believed it was Narcissus that appeared before you when he brushed his hood back to reveal a handsome face, but the sword of bone hanging at his side and how Death stiffened beside you told you exactly who this was. 

Straightening your back and squaring your shoulders, you lifted your head and met his grey eyes. “Hello Hades.”

Hades cast his eyes over you and frowned before turning his attention to Death. “Did no one teach you any etiquette? It is rude to enter another’s domain and not pay your respects first.”

“Forgive us, we were merely taking a leisurely stroll along the river before coming to the palace. Our travels have made us weary,” Death said with a rueful smile.

“Let’s just cut the shit,” Hades growled as his eyes flared with a deadly flame. “You came here to steal from me.” An insidious chorus of growls rumbled behind you and you spun to see a three headed beast sitting on his haunches, snarling through their razor sharp teeth. “Cerberus.”

They fell silent at their masters command and you knew if he gave the word then those fangs would tear through you. 

“You can either follow me or Cerberus gets a new play toy, it’s up to you.” 

Hades strode into the copse of trees and the swish of an excited tail had you darting after him. One moment you were in a thicket of bushes and the next the palace towered over you, a clever little trick similar to Morpheus’. 

Faded lines scaled the black stone, as if thousands of vines had once grown over the walls but had since died and faded to oblivion, like everything else in the palace it seemed. Even inside where torches flickered, the twilight still reigned and the colours were a muted tone of what they should have been.

“Please, help me, take me back,” a man whimpered as you stepped into the antechamber of the palace. “Take me back.”

This was Narcissus. Not even the pain he was in could mar his beauty. Tortured eyes searched the black stone for any surface that could reveal his reflection but it devoured the light and gave nothing in return.

Hades sneered down at the man, poking him with a muddied boot before calling his hellhound to his side and scratching each head fondly. You could see his mind working, the contemplation as he wiped his hand to clear the drool that one of the heads had dribbled on him.

“For having the sheer balls to enter my domain and face me, I will grant you one soul,” Hades said before a slow taunting smile grew on his face that sent the hairs on your nape rising and your stomach plummeting. “But first I would like you to meet someone.”

Hades snapped his fingers and from the shadows a figure appeared, landing on his knees in the centre of the room beside Narcissus. Your breath froze in your lungs as you saw Morpheus chained to the floor. Your legs carried you without even thinking it but the closer you got, you realised he only looked like Morpheus. 

This resident of the Underworld had the same gravity defying dark hair, the same jawline lightly hidden by a short, shaped beard and the same eyes. It was the lips that were different, lips pulled back in a snarl as he fought against the restraints and his angry breaths through a nose that belonged to his mother.

“Oh my, Orpheus,” Death gasped from behind you. Pale blue eyes snapped to Death and she clutched her sigil hanging around her neck as if to ground herself. “It is you.”

“Narcissus, or Orpheus.” Hades chuckled. “The choice is yours. But, might I remind you that Orpheus has already failed once at leaving, I personally wouldn’t bet on the wrong horse twice.”

“You cannot keep him, he is not yours to claim,” you growled as you turned to Hades.

That smile widened and you felt a burning rage that begged you to rip it right off his face. “He is a demi-god of my pantheon. Son of Calliope.”

“No, he is more than a demi-god,” you shot back as you held your hand out to Orpheus, “he is a Child of the Endless, and he is my stepson. You will soon understand there is nothing I wouldn’t do for my family.” You pulled Orpheus to his feet, his height another trait from his father, and stood protectively in front of him. “How does your wife sleep during these long months apart? Time is a fickle thing in The Dreaming. An hour can feel like a lifetime, imagine how torturous six months could be.” 

Hades paled at the threat, his thumb immediately rubbing against the comfort of the wedding band he wore. “Persephone is no part of this.”

“She became part of this when you brought family into it.” Your wings erupted behind you and sliced through the chains at Orpheus’ hands.

“You’re an angel, bound by those do-gooder laws to control your power,” Hades laughed as he realised why you had felt different to your companion. “You cannot hurt us.”

“That’s where you are wrong,” you said with a taunting smirk that caused him pause. “I was an angel. Now I am Consort to the King of Dreams and free of the laws that kept you safe.”

Your hand buried into the pouch at your hip and grasped the cool grains of sand. Wind whipped around the room as you unfurled your fist and blew over the sand imbued with Dream’s power. Pressure built around the room as a tornado of those golden grains wrapped around Orpheus and he was swept from the realm.

“You cannot have them both,” Hades growled as the sand settled and Orpheus was gone. “You chose your soul.”

“Then how about an exchange for Narcissus,” you countered, tensing as his lips pursed to whistle a command to his hound. “Not a threat but a thank you, for letting us leave here unharmed.”

Hades gave the smallest of nods, the only indicator he was listening to what you had to say before choosing your fate. “I cannot break the bargain that keeps you from Persephone for half of the year but Morpheus can tether your dreams together. No more long winter nights alone in this dark keep.”

A tremor of power drifted on the breeze and you turned as if you could see him all the way across the land to the river you had crossed. Hades’ bone sword was drawn in an instant and Death inched closer to the door to block it if need be. 

You could feel Morpheus’ power slamming against the gates in tremendous waves and felt his quiet burning rage like smoke in your mouth. A king ready to wage war for his family. 

“Quickly, Hades. What is your decision?”

A flicker of fear was quickly buried as he turned those flaming pits of his eyes to you and nodded. The chains around Narcissus disappeared and Death scooped him from the floor, a small relieved smile gracing her lips. 

“Step one foot in my realm again and Cerberus will tear your throats out,” Hades growled, the sound echoed by his hellhound. 

You nodded as you covered Death’s back from an attack. “Fair enough. Sweet dream, Hades.”

Another, stronger blast of power levelled the first rows of trees before you stepped out and found Morpheus standing on the far side of the Styx. The power died out as he took a shuddering breath at the sight of you and you knew not all of that rage was aimed at Hades. 

“Where the hell is Charon?” Death asked as she looked up and down the river but found no trace of the ferryman, her eyes widening. “He isn’t going to come.”

That dark laugh gripped your throat but he stayed hidden, along with the safety of his barge. 

“Can we fly out?” 

“No, the barrier works both ways.”

Dream’s eyes snapped up as your plight reached his ears and the dark waters began to churn. White caps broke across the surface that was beginning to split, the water forming rough walls that revealed the silt river bed. 

Dream stepped forward, pushing out his power so that the path of his creation reached from bank to bank and his voice drew you closer. “Whatever you do, do not look back.”

Death, still carrying Narcissus cradled to her chest, stepped from the bank and grunted as her boots squished into the silt and mud. The wet sedimentary slipped into your own shoes with your first steps but you pushed through, following the tracks ahead toward your home beacon. 

The lifeless bodies in the water tried to reach you, their pleas drifting on the current, but you repeated Morpheus’ words in your head. Do not look back. Do not look-.

A snarl that could only belong to that fearsome three headed dog sounded behind you and it took all of your courage not to turn and face the threat. 

“Look at me,” Morpheus called softly, seductively. “Come to me, my love.”

His eyes glimmered like the north star, beckoning you closer as you heeded his call. You answered.

The muscles in your legs burned as you raced towards his outstretched hands, those barks and growls close on your heels. Hot breaths and sharp fangs snapped at your back and your wings flew out protectively, giving you a quick burst of wind to surge out of their reach. 

Death rushed past her brother to the banks that bordered on life and the land that Cerberus could not touch without the leash of his master. The relief of their safety was short lived as teeth tore into your wings and your knees buckled from the pain. Fire burned across your back and your stomach heaved at the crunch of bone and sinew being broken by those jaws. 

“No, no, no, no, no,” Morpheus screamed as he tried to break through the barrier, his power thrashing against it hard enough to shake the land beyond. “Get up.”

Another scream shredded your throat raw as fangs latched onto your other wing, twisting it to a sickly angle until it too snapped. Your body was numb as your feathers, once the colour of Morpheus’ eyes now saturated red, fell to the mud. 

“Get up,” Morpheus begged, his hand so close to reaching you. “Please, you have to get up.”

Everything felt heavy, too heavy, as you lifted your head and found tears shimmering in his eyes, twin silver tracks running down his cheeks. You hated seeing him cry, you hated to see him sad. 

You crawled, dragged yourself through the mud towards that hand you knew so intimately. The pain was unbearable with every movement and your wings tugged at the joint along your spine, the hounds refusing to release their chew toy.

“Almost there, just take my hand.” Morpheus’ voice broke as you reached for him but your muddy fingers slipped out of his grasp. 

The twilight was closing in, the grey hues fading to black as your vision tunnelled. He was all you could see, the pain written on his face as he desperately tried to break through the barrier. 

With a final scream, you threw yourself at him and felt the last resistance give. You tumbled into his arms and all strength failed you as the weight of your broken wings were lifted. You started to look, to see the beast that had ripped your wings from your back but Morpheus caught your face in his hands and shook his head. “Do not look back.”

He pulled you to his chest and held your face buried in his coat as one hand reached to your hip and into the stolen pouch. 

“Did…Orpheus…” You could hardly speak as your legs gave out and it was only Morpheus; strength that kept you upright.

“Yes,” Morpheus choked the answer to the question you failed to complete, “my son returned.”

Sand enveloped you, the darkness pulling you under as a distant sound of crashing waves silenced the hounds. 

“I’m sorry,” you whispered to the void you were slipping into, praying he heard. “I’m sorry.”

Click here for chapter five.

Tagging: @wt-fxck

[zero-buds]

Idk if maybe I'm interpreting Sophie wrong or if my take on thespian culture is just way off, but I firmly believe that Sophie/Lara is like, someone whose perspective and perception of theatre affects her ability to act as a thespian herself.

I think she could thrive on improv though. Like, she seems to be able to go through characters at alarming speeds but maybe wouldn't be able to actually add depth to the scenes her theater company might go through despite building the characters herself.

I'm a little bit wired on caffeine and its almost two in the morning so this analysis is not going to be the best but one thing I've learned about Sophie is that, her characters play a goal oriented role. Which she does quite frequently as I've recently remembered.

One of the main storytelling techniques for character writing and character immersion is to ask yourself what the goal for the character is by the end of the story.

Sophie uses this technique quite well in her grifts. Whether it's to get her foot in through a Steranko, fool some museum curator or other to hand her an artifact or art piece of extraordinary value, convince a few stockholders to tank a guys company so fast the buyout is worthless, or to erm... catch some mob guys.

Her characters goals coinside with her desires for the most part and its usually because of this she's able to act well for a grift.

Sophie Devereux is the world's greatest actress you've ever seen... when she's breaking the law.

The thing about the identity of Sophie Devereaux is that it's nowhere close to who she says she is. And the woman knows that. Tells Nate exactly that in season 2 episode 4.

Goes through a whole journey just to ground herself in who she is, but can't quite reach it until she realizes being Sophie Devereaux is not a means to an end. It can't be anymore.

Because there's depth and there's life that's complex and rooted by a family she never thought she could make until she does. And Sophie Devereaux becomes more than some character she built. It's a person that is the closest to her greatest and deepest desires and God, that probably scared her the most.

The thing about Sophie is, as great a liar that she is, she fails to successfully lie to herself. Acting is a bit like lying to yourself and if you can't believe in yourself then your acting will look fake to everyone else too. Immersion is as much an audience participation goal as it is the actor's purpose. There's no point in acting if you can't go and believe in the characters that you're playing are a little part of you too.

That's why Sophie is a horrible stage actress. She can't imagine these characters being a part of her. They're too different and maybe too sophisticated for her. It's only when she focuses on the grift that she's able to believe that the character she plays will be any good and the audience can follow along with her.

Grifting and acting are similar, but there's a line between the two in the case of intent. Intentions for acting is to simply immerse the audience in a fairytale without any goals other than to entertain and perform. Grifting is an art, yes, but it's still a trick to meet an end.

If Sophie thought she was only meant to entertain the stage and reach some intangible goal of being liked, then she wouldn't be able to make it.

Sophie doesn't care about being liked, not really. She cares more about doing what she likes without constraints. Acting has constraints. A sort of step by step follow up method that probably suffocates Sophie's creativity.

But yea, anyways, I have a lot to say about this but thats what I have so far.