#it was written in his life path for him to get betrayed a lot in this lifetime for him to learn these lessons and find his soul tribe

[astrolaurical]

Ik this might sound like an almost obvious question but what dose namjoon hope for in a relationship like what dose he look forward to (what aspect of a relationship dose he look forward to)?

Moon in 1st house: leaps headfirst into love and often makes hasty decisions.

Scorpio Pluto 12th House: man is INTENSE in love. He wants to know everything about you and can come on strong. So strong that it can actually push his lovers away.

Venus conjunct Jupiter: like we didn’t already know…. The man enjoys sex often

Venus trine saturn: loves courting the old fashioned way.

Libra mercury 10th house: a partner that continually stimulates Namjoon emotionally, physically, and spiritually is a REQUIREMENT. He is adamant about his growth and demands that his partner do the same.

Mercury Square Mars: absolute honesty. If something is unclear, he is gonna annoyingly dig until he gets to the bottom of it and understands.

Saturn in 3rd house: he is very gullible and easily deceived. He has been burned too many times in the past. It is very important that him and his partner both say exactly what they mean.

Moon square Saturn: he is a natural cynic so having someone who can regulate his emotions and help him find the positive in things is good for him

[wherewolf]

the responses i’ve seen to shiv’s ending seem very quick to write her off as just another sad victim of the cycle, which isn’t without truth BUT!!! that is not even remotely the summation of shiv’s story.

i don’t think she votes yes to “save kendall” or to try to finally set her brothers free. and i don’t think her main concern was that ken was becoming their dad. she absolutely noticed and didn’t love it, but that was not her motivation in betraying him. she was thinking about herself.

it’s tempting to make a martyr out of her as she is the only female child and we see her suffer the onslaught of misogyny that comes with that. but to make her into a saintlike figure who got beat takes away the power and intelligence behind her decision.

at this point she’s stuck between two non ideal choices, but she recognizes that they have accidentally made her the single most important player in the game. because while she can’t have the outcome she’d prefer, she has the power to decide the fates of everyone else. the written off lone woman now holds in her hands the fate of every man in her life.

so she thinks about the long term benefits of both options and realizes that one side leaves her completely without any leverage.

her brothers have proven to her multiple times in the last few days alone that they will cut her out and walk all over her the first chance they get. siding with them leaves her nothing to bargain with. she would just have to hope that ken would actually take care of her. and that level of vulnerability is not only unacceptable to her, it’s stupid. and shiv fuckin roy is not stupid.

so she thinks about the other side and about what she actually wants for her life. and against her better judgment, it’s becomes unfortunately clear that she wants tom. the way she wants him is not altogether loving or even good but it is necessary to her. she sees relationships as having winners and losers and she chose this man specifically so that she could be confident in her ability to win. except now he’s grown some balls and made himself unavailable to her.

she may not like the way her husband is evolving but she already placed her bets on him, so she’s sure as hell not losing to him now. there’s also a part of her that feels intrigued by this new man she’s married to. it’s interesting to have a sparring partner in him instead of having to looking for excitement outside of their marriage.

so for maybe the first time ever, she processes what tom has said to her and thinks about what he actually wants.

he needs her to prove that she cares. he needs to know that she is capable of sacrifice. if she can’t find it within herself to do this for him, then she will lose him, and by extension, she will lose.

siding with tom gives her the opportunity to once and for all make a grand-stand gesture of love, but more importantly, it creates leverage for her. never again will he be able to hold the moral high ground over her head. never again can he say she doesn’t love him. never again can he call her selfish or uncaring. above all, he can never betray her again, because she just removed all of his moral justification for turning on her. he doesn’t realize it yet, but she’s just taken back all the power in their relationship. just in a more subtle way than she’s used to operating.

and just like that, she has the ceo of a multi billion dollar company in her pocket, while situating herself as the only descendant of logan roy to still be playing the game, having removed her brothers from the equation permanently. she may still be far from the top but she’s creating a path for herself to climb.

so yes, she’ll let tom play king for a day, and she’ll have his baby and say “congratulations,” and play the gracious wife, but tomorrow is a new day with lots of room to maneuver. and when her husband puts out his hand, she’ll place her own on top. but she won’t grasp it because she doesn’t need to.

[ryuryuryuyurboat]

this christmas, i'll give you my heart

synopsis: make sure you don't give it away the very next day

genre: fluff, slight crack at the end

characters: wanderer x gn! reader

warnings: reader is referred to in 2nd pov, wanderer may be slightly ooc, written from wanderer's pov

a/n: WAAAAAH SORRY FOR THE WAIT @mhiieee but! this is my gift to you for @2023gisecretsanta event, i hope you like it ueueueue happy holidays <33 likes, reblogs and comments highly appreciated!!

©2023 ryuryuryuyurboat. do not repost, translate, plagiarise, or modify in any way, shape or form.

masterlist

the wanderer— or kunikuzushi, kabukimono, scaramouche, the balladeer, hat guy (if you will) — has been through a lot, to say the least: first discarded by his creator, his mother, and left to fend for himself; then convinced to have been betrayed by his own friend; and finally left broken-hearted by a broken promise that could probably not have been kept in the first place. it would be a massive understatement to say that he absolutely did not find it easy to warm up to anyone at all. 

but then you entered the scene. 

you, in all your glory, came barreling in like a snowstorm, broke down all his walls, lodged yourself firmly in his heart and refused to leave– or maybe it would be better to say you found yourself a place where his heart should be? what a pesky little insect you were.

he’d grumbled and lamented when you dragged him out to “get some fresh air”, muttering under his breath about how irritating it was that you wouldn’t leave him alone— and yet he felt himself biting back a small smile when he saw the child-like shine in your eyes as you admired the lights that lit up the way out of the city, your hand gently tugging his forward. hmph, so you dared to lead the way? how insolent.

he’d vehemently refused to join you in laying down on the ground, insisting that he was perfectly fine just where he was, and he’d rather not soil his clothes with the “pure white snow”— because if he carried you back home there’d be twice the amount of germs exchanged between your clothes. no thank you.

he watched as you shrugged, sat cross-legged on the snow-covered path, and put a palm out. he watched as the expression of wonder on your face turned into an expression of awe, pure bliss lighting up your face as you watched the snowflakes falling onto your hand. right into the palm of your hand, exactly where you had him. 

he finally allowed himself a small smile (hidden behind his large hat) at the sight of you reliving your childhood memories: running in the snow, making structures out of it, pouting when it melted too quickly before you could do anything. he silently swore, in his heart, that he’d try his best to keep that innocent side of yours so he could protect your precious smile– er, he meant keeping that smile on your face so he could avoid any ugly crying scenes…

he doesn’t know when or how, but somewhere along the way, with how you kept pushing yourself into his life, you’d started to fill the void in his chest, and he’d started looking forward to meetings with you, started to become dependent on that ticklish warmth that spread through all the way to his fingertips whenever you showed your face. huh. so maybe he did have a heart after all. or maybe he’d found one– in which case, he’d endeavour to keep it safe from all who wished for its downfall—

splat! a cold sensation trickles down his cheek, then his neck, and seeps into the fabric of his clothing. you’re standing in front of him, that innocent grin still on your face, and a bundle of snow in your hand.

oh.

…

nevermind. he only promised he’d protect you from other people, after all! time to teach the fool who dared cross him a lesson.

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[ultraericthered]

A tale of two "tragic downfall" villains.

Really think about this - the villain is someone who has suffered greatly in his life to the point of being a traumatized, fragile wreck of a person but is a close friend of the story's main protagonist and works alongside them for years until certain events make his hatred, pride, and need for power, control, and the loyalty of others grow and put him on a worse path, on which he betrays the protagonist and leaves them for dead, taking over his friend's group and making all of them follow him now, and when the protagonist returns to face him and get him to relinquish his control of the group, they have a fight to the finish where the villain proves once and for all that he is too far gone to see reason and beyond hope of redemption, so he ends up meeting a terrible, painful demise. Which one did I just describe?

And I don't want to tear either one of them down, since they're both phenomenally written villains who star in their own dark, tragic tales that were both very well executed. ....BUT, I have to go here: I believe there is one thing that one of them got down a lot better than the other one. And it ain't the damn dirty ape.

I am referring to the quality of pathos, which is derived from, for lack of a better word, humanizing the character. Matt Reeves has expressed very clearly that we are intended to feel pathos for Koba, and for his limited screentime in Rise of the Planet of the Apes and in the first act of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, we do. The poor bonobo was terribly abused, tortured, traumatized, and damaged by callous human scientists and has the physical scars to show it. Even after joining with Caesar and being allowed by him to personally kill his abuser, the deep hatred of humans and fear of what might happen to him and other apes should humans find some way of striking back at them remains with Koba for years; the one thing he ever learned from humans was hatred and nothing else, as Caesar puts it. But the deeper into Dawn we go and the worse Koba gets, the issue arises. Caesar and all these apes were family to Koba for a good many years, years lived in peace and relative happiness, with Caesar even likened to a brother to Koba. However, after a heated dispute with Caesar over his willingness to work with humans turns violent, Koba is beaten down and sees none of the other apes are on his side, he turns his thinking around to view any "weak" ape who'd side with or have leniency on humans to be no better than humans, and that he needs to secure the loyalty of the stronger apes (including Caesar's own son) by taking Caesar's life and framing the humans for it. So he goes for it. And keeps going. And going. And going. And in all this time he's being a villain, the whole second half of the movie, there's not a single moment where Koba ever feels conflicted over what he's doing, no visible traces of remorse nor any sign that he's internally pushing back against remorse because second-guessing himself and surrendering to feelings of shame would reflect weakness. After he's shot his "brother" and left him for dead, Koba is stuck playing the one note of being an evil, wrathful, deranged, murderous monster. There is no metaphorical dog he won't kick, no one he won't mow down in order to assert his dominance and satisfy his rage, and no limit to his blatant hypocrisy. And yes, it was the narrative intent to have Koba slide so far down the slippery slope that he becomes this twisted caricature of his former self who must be put down. But at the time he's condemned and dropped to his painful demise by the ape who was once his brother, there should be a tiny twinge of pity and sadness that it had to come to this....but I think most audiences just cheered when it happened, as there was nothing in Koba left to feel any pity towards.

For Simon, being the equilvalent to what Koba was in the second half of the film occurs only in Book Three's final episode, "The New Apex". In the episodes prior to it, throughout the course of Book Three, Simon is one of the main protagonists and has a wide range of facets and emotions to his characterization; we see moments of him and Grace having the sort of camraderie with each other that could only come from years spent together as friends that makes them both a bit easier to like despite their apalling actions, we get funny bits from him that endear him to us, we see him get sad, get frightened, get confused and unsure of the direction Grace is taking things in, hear about his personal interests, learn about his past trauma, see him vulnerable and interally torn up by conflict. When he works together with Tuba in the Color Clock Car, even sharing a laugh with her, figuring out she's colorblind, and learning more about the sad past with her deceased daughter that also shows him how much Hazel means to her, we can tell that all his views about "Nulls" and about the train are being challenged and he's starting to second-guess himself, to think that this "Null" might be so much more than he'd written her off as from the start, which would lead to guilt and shame over all the "Nulls" he'd mistreated and killed in the past...and so naturally, there's the internal pushback from Simon, because he not only cannot admit to being wrong, he cannot let himself be wrong: he has to be right all the time so that all the years on the train and in the Apex can mean and amount to something beneficial to him rather than having all been a sad waste that'd render him a pitiful, insignificant failure. So with all doubts dispelled from his mind and clear from his consicence, he deliberately and cold-bloodedly sends Tuba to her death, and feels proud to have done so. Things only spiral downward into further darkness and madness from there.

Simon finding out that Grace learned the truth about Hazel before he did and withheld it from him as a secret between herself and the "Null" is the tipping point for him. He snaps, turns against Grace and leaves her for dead, and like Koba, now feels there is no one in his life that he can trust to be on his side unless he were to force their loyal devotion to him through fearmongering and shows of dominance. And yet even in "The New Apex", even with Simon at his most irredeemably loathsome and psychotic, the writing allows for some pathos. When Grace saves Simon from falling off the train, he asks her why she did it. Grace responds "I don't know." Looking at Simon's face in the brief silence that follows, we can tell that deep down in his heart of hearts, he was hoping for Grace to give him a different answer. Something like "because I love you" or "because you're my dearest friend", or "becuse I didn't want to lose you", or "to make amends to you for everything" or even "because you're not the one who deserves to die; you were right about me, about everything." But instead, he hears a vague, ambiguous "I don't know", as it was just basic human decency from Grace and nothing deeper than that. And thus goes away whatever was left of Simon's mind and heart, as he kicks Grace off the train to her apparent death in an act that rescinds years of love and friendship built up with her, raises Simon's number higher than even Amelia's, and sends him into a complete mental breakdown as we see a surge of conflicting moods all over him. So then even if his grisly end that follows elicts some cheering from viewers (I certainly wouldn't blame them!), that tiny twinge of pity and sadness that it had to come to this is very much there by the time Simon is dust on the ground that Grace is sobbing over.

Two exceptional villains in two exceptional works, but only with Simon do I get the sense of a victimized and vulnerable not-all-bad person who tragically descended into becoming a mega asshole. With Koba, I just see a mega asshole.

[dingoat]

SOME ASKS. For 5: alone, betrayal, bound, break, failure, fear, guilt, secret (but NOT his SISTER). 8)

Wow this is all going behind a read more because holy cow there's a lot. Five. How. How did you come to be like this. You were never meant to survive the first act.

alone: How does your OC deal with loneliness? Have they ever been completely alone before? How do they act when there’s no one around to see them?

Historically, Five has been very good at being alone, considering that was his preferred way to exist for much of his life. He withdrew completely from wanting or needing anyone else after losing his sister, and managed to thrive on his own. And during those years of his life, pretty much every moment he spent in public was an act of some sort; every bit of charm, everything polite and formal and proper, whether in the office reporting to Keeper or the latest Sith meddling in Intel, whether out actively winning over the Kaas public as Lord Highbridge, or working in any one of his numerous other cover identities, every interaction he had was carefully considered, fabricated, manipulated. Who he was beyond these acts was irrelevant, though he would definitely make sure to seek complete solitude for a couple of explicit purposes; to express his grief, and to engage in his preferred methods of target practice.

Nowadays his life is a little more full, a little more complicated, and finding himself alone for reasons not of his design is very unpalatable. He'll do almost anything to keep his mind busy to avoid spiralling into unwelcome emotions.

betrayal: Has your OC ever been betrayed by someone they thought they could trust? Has your OC ever betrayed someone who trusted them?

I'll start with the latter because that's easy. Yes, absolutely, all the time, a lot ahahahaha. Taking advantage and betraying the trust of people around him quite literally made him the success he was, both as a celebrity and an Imperial agent. Almost everyone who's ever crossed his path has likely been betrayed by him in some way or another, though he's also been pretty good about covering his tracks and never taking the blame for the repercussions. He did an absolute number on Blakk, but eventually pushed things so far that his hubris definitely got the better of him and that might still come back to bite him further one of these days.

And for the former? I think it could be said that Thirteen's amazing vanishing act the night Ahuska got away was a distinct act of betrayal. Good thing Five is a master of denial and quite a pro at not asking questions he'd rather not have to face the answers to.

bound: Has your OC ever been imprisoned or captured? What happened? How did they get out? Did the experience leave any scars?

The thing about the early part of Five's life is that it was designed to be the setup for a man who had always succeeded, who had always won at everything he put his mind to. He was built as the villain of the piece, the big bad, and I didn't want a shred of humility about him. So, up to the point that he's actually been fully written, no, he's certainly never been captured against his will, though I wouldn't rule out instances of manufacturing a 'capture' as part of a cover scenario in his early Intel days.

However, since Five did not in fact die during the dramatic culmination of many plot points, and he's been given the chance to start seeing some new perspectives, explore new ideas for the future, and step aside for fresh villains to start stirring the pot, there's a lot of room for things to go wrong for him now. And of course, there's the whole five years in carbonite in store for him, which he will be broken out of and is absolutely going to mess him up just that little bit more.

break: What would cause your OC to break down completely? What do they look like when that happens? Has anyone ever seen them at their lowest?

Well, his childhood trauma definitely broke him, and when the people who were supposed to support him through it gave him effectively nothing, he vowed to never allow anyone to see him that low ever again. And he was pretty much able to hold himself to that vow until he lost his arm to Ahuska's Force rend, which definitely broke him for the short term. I'm still not over the absolutely graceful, beautiful way Thirteen handled him through that period of being quietly shut down in his hospital bed.

Five is also going through a bit of something right now, where events have lead him to start studying mental health, therapy and treatment options. What he's learning is definitely causing him to crumble, but at this stage all of his ugly crying has been very private.

Something that is absolutely going to make him snap, though, and completely break in the semi-fleshed-out kotfe era, is when he attempts to reach out to Thirteen after a string of disagreements, and Thirteen shuts him down and walks away. This is going to cause a very brutal regression of so much character development and it's gonna hurt.

failure: What’s your OC’s greatest failure? Have they been able to move past it? Does anyone else know about it?

Currently, Five's greatest failure is definitely his total, abysmal failure to contain and tame 'his' werewolf. Had he not been of such a gloriously egotistical, infallible, bigoted mindset, had he actually made more of an effort to understand his team emotionally and to see Ahuska as a person, things might have gone very very differently. She might have even wound up a willing member of his squad. But as it was, all of those unsavoury qualities caught up with him in one fell swoop, and all his team knows that he was unable to hold things together. However, thanks in large to the combined efforts of Crow, Ulfran and even Thirteen to keep the rest of the galaxy off Ahuska and Blakk's backs, they were able to completely cover for the incident and have both escapees officially recorded as dead; Blakk heroically so, and Ahuska as ultimately out of control.

Five was forced to step away from his obsession and turn his focus to other things, otherwise he would have to own up to the lie and admit to a far more grave failure than Imperial records would believe. And so he did, and it has been very, very good for him, and the other Ciphers under his command.

fear: What is your OC’s greatest fear? What do they do when confronted with it? Are they open with their fear, or do they hide it away?

Once upon a time, Five's greatest fear would probably have been something along the lines as dying as a nobody, being unremarkable and forgotten to time.

Now, though? I think losing Thirteen is probably what strikes very real terror into him. He wouldn't be open about it, not something so very deep and real to him, though he may elude to it in gestures and roundabout whispers, in little romantic comments that don't at all feel like an admission of fear in the context they're given.

When truly faced with it, though, as mentioned above- it breaks him.

In another context, say if Thirteen's life were threatened rather than Thirteen himself choosing to walk away, I can see Five going into overdrive. Cold, ruthless, violently protective, and not even thinking about resting until every hint of that threat was obliterated.

guilt: What is your OC guilty about? How do they handle their guilt? Do they try to avoid guilt, or do they accept it?

Ha, Five does not handle guilt well. Of course there's survivor's guilt with regard to his sister, which he handled by growing up into a monster of a human being. There's the guilt he feels over 'the flagpole incident' which he deals with by refusing to ever actually acknowledge it aloud but allows himself to be completely wrapped around Thirteen's little finger to make up for it.

More recently and very gravely though, he's feeling a very intense, unpleasant guilt over his failure to properly address and help Thirteen through his phobia and related traumas, the repercussions of which recently got dragged through Intel's internal justice system in a very ugly fashion. Five has actually taken very heavy, serious responsibility for it and is actively working at bettering himself, determined not to let indulgence and denial get the better of him and Thirteen again.

secret: What’s one secret your OC never wants anyone to know about them?

I want to say something about how deeply emotional he really is... but honestly, he adores Thirteen and actually does want Thirteen to know the full extent of how loved he is.

So, failing that.... hmm, there's at least one cover identity he enjoys that he never wants anybody to link to him.

He also definitely doesn't want anyone to know his usernames in certain spaces of the holonet.

He also absolutely definitely very much never ever ever wants anyone to find the folder of commissioned artwork he keeps on his personal computer hahaha.

[riverdale-retread]

Why is "Veronica's Husband" the best version of Jughead?

Ahhh a Jeronica ask!

Because of the way they're set up, Jughead and Veronica contain within themselves the thing that will heal the other from their childhood difficulties.

Jughead has a lot of pain from being abandoned, the not-first-choice, the not-wanted, the betrayed one who has to forgive, repeatedly. He aspires to be on the inside, to be in the good life, and that keeps not working because those are things you can't just break into on your own if you weren't born there. He has guts and creativity, so he will start down the path, but to sustain the long term effort, all of us need support and cheerleading and, if you're raised with relative deprivation, you will also need guidance. Jughead, having had to fend entirely for himself, as well as keeping his devastating solitariness to himself as a secret for so long, keeps saying "I'll figure it out, I always do" and that's kind of the key to why he keeps failing. He doesn't know how to ask for or receive help, because every time he tried to get that he got even more fucked over.

Veronica has resources, both personal and material, and most importantly, she loves investing those resources in people she loves. Veronica dreams big, believes big, and wants her people to all achieve big things. She's loyal, and once she decides to commit she commits. She's also a consummate networker, a bringer-together-of-people which a very underdeveloped skill for Jughead. Veronica loves being a part of a squad or a team of two, so you know, if you want to be the Veronica Lodge's husband she would keep goosing things along so that both boats can rise together.

The thing is - now that I've gotten this far - I actually think that Tabitha does this for Jughead quite a bit, without the careerist bent. Tabitha has ambitions but they aren't of the Get Yourself Written Up In Wall Beat Journal variety. She's stable, has a very strong loving influence in her grandfather but enough difficulties with her own parents that Jughead can feel identity and says herself that she's very attracted to underdogs. So that's why Jabitha works.

But the question was The Best version of Jughead, and yeah, Veronica would've gotten him there.

[dracomeir]

Here are all my current AUs. Any that are underlined are linked to their story on Ao3, and any without the underline haven't been written yet. Pairings/ratings are subject change as the story progresses. Long post ahead.

Rated M

Renegade Detective (Discontinued) | #fnf renegade detective BF x Pico Detective Pico, leader of the Special Crime Forces, broke up with an incubus called Boyfriend after being betrayed by him. Years later, his worsening mental health causes him to get an emotional support demon. That demon happens to be his ex-lover, and a journey through depression, and regaining trust commences.

Soul Bound Detective (Sequel to above) After becoming mentally stable, Pico helps Boyfriend become an arch demon while they try to solve a serial murder case.

The Musical Trail | #fnf the musical trail Gibbons x Otis, BF x GF x Pico Otis always thought Pico was a hero, but when his cousin turned against the family to become the leader of bandits, his world was turned upside down. As he journeys westward, he learns family is more than just blood, and must stop the ginger's criminal activities before it's too late for redemption. (Most characters are in their mid twenties - early thirties.)

Drowning in Ecstasy (On-going) | #fnf drowning in ecstasy BF x Pico, BF x GF Not really having a purpose in life, incubus Boyfriend and security guard Pico meet each other at BF's bar one day. They learn about each other's problems, and the- Just read the summary on Ao3. It's too long for here. lmao

Life is Fleeting (Sequel to above) | #fnf life is fleeting BF x Pico, BF x GF | Major Character Death Implied After 36 years have passed, the trio open up a café & bakery combo business. The café is open from 10 AM - 2 PM, and the bakery is open from 4 PM - 7 PM. Only people with reservations will be served during café hours, and people must order a week in advance for specialty baked goods. This is how the trio enjoys life as Pico nears the end of his.

The Arsonist's Garden | #the arsonist's garden Darnell x Pico Darnell is no ordinary alchemist. He happens to work for an order of assassins working to eliminate those in power, and push towards a future where slavery is illegal. Encountering a thief with ginger hair that seemed to occasionally shed tiny embers one night, he learns that this man is not only blind, but a runaway slave. He helps him avoid his former master, but there's more to this person that causes his somewhat peaceful life to turn into one on the run.

Rated 16+

Funkin' Adventures (Complete) GF x BF x Pico Uh... Fuck if I know, but a story totaling 347,522 words separated into multiple arcs for easier reading. This series is the first thing I've written after years of not writing, so the quality goes up, down, and all around.

Sanity's Embrace | #sanity's embrace Darnell x Pico With the death of his father, angel Darnell is given the crowned halo along with the king's final wish. His unorthodox way of ruling causes doubt to stir in the royal council, and his sanity is questioned as the path of blazing destruction tempts him everyday.

Odyssey of the Sea Pico x Darnell Pirate Captain Pico, and his first mate Nene stumble upon the underwater city Atlantis. After being caught attempting to steal an artifact, they are thrown into a water filled cell where they meet a mermaid called Darnell who was imprisoned for simply "playing" with fire.

FNF Soft: Detective's HeART (Complete) Toughie x Softie, Sven x Grace (Not focused on a lot) Detective Pico was tasked to solve a robbery at the Fairests' mansion, but ends up learning the parents aren't the charitable role models the city claims them to be.

FNF Soft: Investigator's HeART (Sequel to above) Despite being in prison, Benjamin's parents find a way to make Grace's parents frame Pico for a crime he didn't commit. With the ginger out of commission, it's up to private investigator Sven to clear his name, and put a stop to the Fairests manipulation for good.

FNF Soft: Dragon's HeART Toughie x Softie Pico was a dragon disguised as a human, and he worked as Prince Benjamin's personal guard. Another dragon pretending to be human called Cassandra severely injures the prince, causing the ginger to reveal his true form out of rage. The Fairests seized the opportunity to force him into servitude while keeping Benjamin in the dark of Pico's true nature as the kingdom's silencer.

Fall of Hell's Dynasty (Prequel/Sequel to Hell's Dynasty in Funkin' Adventures) GF x BF x Pico After devils destroyed the military school Pico, Darnell, and Nene were in, the trio end up serving the Dearest family. Quickly rising through the ranks, the "Mad" General Pico and his friends work together with Princess Girlfriend and a bard called Boyfriend to overthrow the shogunate, and free the humans from servitude.

King's Guard | #fnf king's guard BF x GF x Pico Assassin Pico and Prince Boyfriend were both pretending to be commoners when they first met, and end up falling in love after multiple encounters. Neither of them knew the other's true identity on the day Pico was tasked with assassinating the crown prince at a masquerade. After failing to protect his lover, the ginger was given a second chance at life by an archdemon called Girlfriend. Together they learn what truly happened the day he died, and find a way to free Boyfriend from his curse of silence.

Shot Through The Heart | #fnf shot through the heart GF x BF x Pico Pico was a spy tasked to become Girlfriend's bodyguard in order to gather intel on the Dearest family. He ends up falling in love with her, and betrays the organization as a result. Boyfriend, another spy thinking his lover was charmed by her, jumps in to save him from the demon's clutches, only to end up falling in love with her himself.

The Gods' Will GF x BF x Pico Pico was a general for the Greece military, and suffered defeat by the Romans after using himself as bait to allow his men to escape. He's forced to become a gladiator in order to prevent his friends from suffering a similar fate. Their safety was the only thing preventing him from escaping, and his win streak catches the eye of Emperor Girlfriend.

Guardians of Yggdrasil | #fnf guadians of yggdrasil BF x GF x Pico, Darnell x Pico, Darnell x Nene Pico was the champion of Fenrir, and he was feared by the village due to others thinking he will one day bring Ragnarok upon them. The wolf's rage was only kept at bay by a collar created by blacksmith Darnell, and this collar was named Fenrir's Chain as a result. Despite the ginger not doing anything bad, the villagers kept their distance. This causes the mostly silent man to stay at Yggdrasil for most of his time, and he ends up disappearing one day as a miasma envelopes the forest.

Funkin' Starlights | #funkin starlights Darnell x BF x Pico, GF x Nene After an tragedy caused by Cassandra on stage, idol Pico is unable to perform for years due to PTSD. His lovers and friends help him overcome his trauma while facing discrimination for what he is.

Rated 13+

Cyber Connection (Complete) | #cyber connection Pico x GF x BF After a century being offline, android Pico is awakened by Girlfriend. He doesn't remember anything though, and ends up learning what it means to be human as he regains his memories.

Soul Connection (Sequel to above) Pico x GF x BF, Darnell x Pico A month after the events of Cyber Connection, Darnell questions his own sexuality and gender as his past comes back to haunt him.

Chained By Fate (Complete) | #chained by fate Pico x BF Girlfriend decided it would be a great idea to send Pico and Boyfriend into another world for them to make up, maybe make out, and become lovers again.

Blind Guardian GF x BF x Pico Pico ends up with permanent blindness after being cursed by a devil, and his lovers help him readjust to life without sight.

Lone Wolf GF x Pico x BF Cursed with lycanthropy, Pico abandons herbalist Boyfriend out of fear of hurting him, and finds him again years later with a vampire called Girlfriend. Vampire vs werewolf shenanigans.

I Found A Cat In A Vending Machine & Now My Life Is In Chaos Darnell x Pico, Darnell x Nene Darnell finds a cat person in a vending machine one day, and it turns out to be his long lost friend Pico.

Judgement of Anubis idk pairings yet Something, something, Pico is a servant of Anubis, fuck if I know, Egyptian themed AU. (I thought about this for like a few minutes since it was an option for a path in Funkin' Adventures. My dice said medieval japan instead.)

[onehundredandeleventropicalfish]

(MAJOR COMIC SPOILERS ON THIS ONE)

i just. i love brief lives for a lot of reasons, it’s so beautifully written, and it’s funny and has good character moments

and it also has a fuck ton of really interesting parallels

and right now i’m thinking about “never had the sense to come in out of the rain”

like i’ve written a lot about desire and dream’s complicated relationship and i’m sure i will continue to, here and here for existing metas

but this is really what gets right down to it - desire is very aware of dream’s incredible ability to fuck himself over with very little provocation, and when it doesn’t matter, when there’s no real consequences, they love pushing him around just to see how far he’ll fall, because he’s annoying and it’s funny and maybe now he’ll take them seriously

but desire knows when to stop. and that’s what this entire volume is, it’s dream falling into every trap desire’s ever laid for him, except this time, none of them were desire’s fault

so like, this volume starts with what is, at that point, pretty much a purely humorous scene - dream standing barefoot outside in the rain for three weeks because his latest girlfriend left.

and, while merv is generally a bit overcritical of dream, and this is mostly complaining about the rain, merv catches it right then and there - dream’s problem is he doesn’t know how to let things go

and it’s that that drives this plot - dream accepts delirium’s offer to travel, not because he wants to find destruction, but because he’s hoping to meet with thessaly again

but he meets with desire before he does - and he asks desire, was this your fault? desire’s certainly messed with his love life in the past, this is one of their signature moves, but this time they’re not playing. they know delirium’s on a dangerous path and they tell delirium to stop and dream to stay out of it

which doesn’t work. and dream not being able to let his relationship go means he stumbles into an actual problem, which he can’t let go, which means he has to go to destruction to solve it, which means he has to talk to orpheus, who he can’t betray, which means he breaks the most important rule - endless can’t kill family.

and desire knew it was coming. knew something bad would happen if he kept down this road, it’s why they warned him away (and this isn't the only time desire's tried to keep dream off a dangerous path - they fixed everything in overture in secret, without ever asking for credit, bc they knew if they revealed themselves dream would immediately stop listening and go do something stupid, and if they didn't help dream at all he'd die and eventually so would everyone else)

(that plan worked. the second time, they don't have as much advance warning to come up with something clever, and their word alone has never been enough for dream)

but dream never did come in out of the rain, he just brought the rain with him, chasing that feeling as it snowballed.

and spilling family blood, that’s the other old trap of desire’s. they’ve tried to get him to break it before, but again, that was a game. those were times when they didn’t really think dream would lose. but it’s always been real to dream, so he doesn’t recognise the warning for what it is, and it means there’s nothing desire can do but watch their plan that they never wanted to succeed win. and that terrifies them

and the snowball keeps going. orpheus’ murder calls down the kindly ones on his head, who he tries to wait out, but he can’t let go of his promise to nuala, which means they get access to the dreaming

and he can’t let the dreaming go. was never the person who could leave, no matter how much he wanted to, couldn’t abandon his responsibilities. he had a hundred opportunities to stop, to back out, to say this wasn’t his problem and to save himself. but for all his siblings tried (and all of them tried, every single one of them has their moment where they try to get through to dream about escaping the trap he’s built for himself), dream doesn’t know how to let things go

and keeping that much weight tied around you, billions of years of it, compounding constantly without being able to stop or move on - that’ll drown anyone eventually

and their address at his funeral is so simple. but because of that one repeating line, it says so much

[starsofarda]

So I am now going off with the meta I promised to @tolkien-feels aka:

Has anyone ever written meta comparing Rivendell, Lothlorien and Mirkwood to Gondolin, Nargothrond and Doriath respectively? Because if nobody has, somebody definitely should

And yeah, I usually suck at essays, so please don't ask me to put this in essay form. I will do my very best to expose everything as best as my undiagnosed ADHD mind allows me :)

I would like to start by saying that being able to write meta about what I love and actually being read is something that does not happen to me usually and I am so happy, but I am already digressing.

Everything will be under cut, I apologise in advance if this has too many words, no one usually listens to me blabbering about my special interests.

I am now going to mention this other post, because of the very good points and keys in my analysis, thanks again to @tolkien-feels for the insight and the big galaxy brain <3

To be able to digest the whole thing I am going to pick up the elements for comparison two by two starting with Gondolin and Rivendell, then Lothlorien and Nargothrond and finally Mirkwood and Doriath.

GONDOLIN AND RIVENDELL

Elrond, heir of Turgon: I am going to go to this hidden valley and build a place of safety and lore, the last refuge if all else falls to ruin - @tolkien-feels

To be able to compare the two I think it is important to define what these places are, who lives/lived there and what they represent.

Gondolin was built during the First Age of the Middle Earth by Turgon, and whilst I am not going to dwell for long on its history, whose summary you can find here and in more detail in The Silmarillion, I am going to take into account that Turgon was an exiled elf. He saw the Light of the Trees and although originally he had been against, he followed Feanor and ultimately stayed behind due to "Fingon and Turgon were bold and fiery of heart, and loath to abandon any task to which they had put their hands until the bitter end, if bitter it must be".

Basically he had a whole lot of pride, which really does not surprise me all things considering.

But the thing is, even though you are fare from home and cannot/decide not to go back, you do get homesick - I know the feeling, I have constantly this feeling due to me having had to abandon my country to be able to live.

You still want to find something you can call home even in a foreign land and I think that Gondolin was exactly that for Turgon. A place of solace, where he could find familiarity in what he saw. Because at the very beginning he did not want to leave Valinor and stayed in Middle Earth out of pride.

Gondolin itself was not ever heavily armed, the defenses were relying mostly on the fact that it was hidden in a valley and that barely anyone knew about it outside the valley. So we can more or less safely say that Gondolin definitely was not mainly a place built by warriors, so when it fell it was indeed a tragedy.

And here we can talk about Elrond, Turgon's great-grandson. He is an Elf who has lost a lot of things and people in his life.

He lost his friends, he lost his home, he lost his family - Elros, his twin, decided to take the mortal path, as they are both only half-elves due to his father being the child of an Elf and a mortal (an Edain).

His father became the Polar Star - and I deeply suggest you listen to the Song of Earendil by Clamavi de Profundis because it is an Experience(C). Anyway, I am digressing, but I am also sure that when Bilbo made Elrond listen to the song he cried a lot. His wife Celebrian, daughter of Celeborn and Galadriel, was kidnapped and tortured by orcs and then left for the Immortal Lands and ultimately Arwen became a mortal.

Now I am sad for Elrond.

There is more, like Isildur betraying him and being very much nearly one of the Elves decimated in Eregion, Gil-Galad dying (?)*, but this is to make the point of "Elrond lost so much that he does not want anyone else to experience what he has passed through and therefore Rivendell is born as a Homely House, where you can find solace, knowledge and ultimately a place he can call home.

Huh. Not so different from Turgon - and Elrond surely knows about Turgon. Tolkien is always pointing out parentages and genealogic trees, I am 100% sure none of his characters is immune to the Genealogic Tree Explanation.

So, to be concise: a place to call home, full of knowledge, solace and house for all exiled and lost ones, full of memories, full of nostalgia and magnificent, a remembrance of past times. Tolkien loves doing parallelisms and I apologise because were it not for the post mentioned I would have overlooked it.

And due to these similar motives both Gondolin and Rivendell were born. If we are looking also at the geography even Rivendell appears to be sitting in a valley, although it seems a little better defended considering how much waste Elrond lays of the orcs following Thorin & co. in The Hobbit, so I consider this a lesson learned.

After all, aren't the new generations always a bit more savvy

And I am so sorry, but this analysis hit a bit too close to home for me and I have to go and scream for 15 years. And possibly call my dad.

Anyway, I am now back.

I am going to keep going on my analysis in a different post, once I have gathered again all the knowledge I have on the topic.

[eisforeidolon]

Tbh hellers and mooch side of the fandom destroy the fandom enjoyment, and they specifically destroyed castiel's character for me. Castiel was actually a nice character in the previous seasons and while in the later seasons he's become extremely annoying and unnecessary as a character, I still thought his role and relationship with Jack's character was great. His speech to dean reduced his character when you think of it from a romantic angle. Not only it makes no sense, but it is also unnecessary and has no bearing on the plot and story. Castiel's real ending and arc naturally would be about being a father to Jack, leading him to his path, and following him and teaching him how to be God, fixing Heaven as the father and son together. Because one of the struggles Castiel always showed was about him feeling guilty that he killed all those angels during the godstiel arc and made them fall bc of metatron's manipulation, so seeing him fix Heaven and help the angels and finally bringing a new order and peace to Heaven through helping Jack is actually a better fit for his character arc. Also his speech should have been directed to Jack, not to Dean tbh. Because all the parallels have been there, Dean's speech to Sam and leading his brother to have a new normal life shows their brotherly bond but also Dean has always been a 'father figure' to Sam so it makes sense perfectly in the narrative. Castiel giving a similar speech to Jack would have been more reasonable in terms of the narrative and for both Castiel and Jack's arcs.

Anyway I am sorry that I am rambling in here but it is just annoying how some fans (and mooch himself) can ruin so many things within the show and reduce the enjoyment level and characters' arcs just for a fanservice ship that was never meant to be there and was never actually written in the narrative in the first place.

Yeah, while I too was completely over the version of Castiel we were left with by the end of the show - especially the narrative insistently TELLING us that he was the Winchesters' bestie while SHOWING him repeatedly undermining them, betraying them, and generally getting in their way?

They really did have something going with him and Jack that made a decent amount of sense. Castiel was always going to be on the outside with the Winchesters. Because he wasn't mortal like they were and hadn't been through all they had together in the same way to the same degree, and because of their crazy mixed up codependent relationship that just didn't have room for anyone else to truly be on the inside. Jack was different, though. He was another outsider who could be more on Castiel's level in a number of ways, and a protégé who genuinely needed him and could give him purpose in others. In a way that being "the Winchesters' protector" wasn't working out for him - because they didn't need him to try and be the hero and the narrative beat us over the head with him needing to be needed in a way he just wasn't by them. It's what the show actually did with Castiel's ultimate ending anyway, having him help Jack rebuild heaven. So yeah, Castiel's final speech would have made so much more sense if it had been to - or even just about - Jack.

Instead, Misha and Berens chose to pander to a bunch of shippers who were never going to be happy with anything short of Dean and Castiel nonsensically hooking up for a HEA out of nowhere. Knowing it would get said shippers' hopes up when Castiel wouldn't be back. Under the conditions that Dean didn't reciprocate and Castiel's words were ambiguous enough to be equally interpretable as intense familial love. With zero apparent awareness of how much more dubious and stalker-y A LOT of Castiel's interactions with the Winchesters come across if you interpret his words as romantic. In short, they didn't care about what Castiel's story actually was, just fanservice - and fanservice that was doomed to fail at that.

[imakemywings]

Character asks… Idril and Maeglin? 👀

Character Ask Game

Idril

one aspect about them i love

Her practicality and intelligence! Idril is the only reason so many people from Gondolin survived Melkor's assault; without her having done such an ace job building the secret path and keeping it secret, Gondolin's populace might have been wiped out even before the Third Kinslaying.

one aspect i wish more people understood about them

I've seen such a variety of shitty takes about her relationship with Maeglin. Headcanons are all well and good but canonically Idril mistrusted him, but did not mistreat him, despite Maeglin's unwelcome feelings for her and I'm always 😒 when people act like she was somehow at fault for what he did.

one (or more) headcanon(s) i have about this character

Idril was an adult during the Darkening of Valinor and chose herself to come with her parents across the Helcaraxe

one character i love seeing them interact with

Turgon! I love their father/daughter relationship and I think they share a lot of common interests.

one character i wish they would interact with/interact with more

You've def made me more interested in what her relationship with Aredhel was like. Presumably they saw a lot of each other because they both lived in Gondolin for quite a while, but that doesn't necessarily mean she was especially close with Aredhel.

one (or more) headcanon(s) i have that involve them and one other character

She actually did try to foster a positive relationship with Maeglin when he was young, but as he got older and continued to press his romantic feelings they became more estranged

Maeglin

one aspect about them i love

You're really testing me here aren't you Heather? XD I think Maeglin's fall from grace actually interesting, because as I've mentioned before, Maeglin on the surface has almost everything he could want: he's safe in Gondolin, he has his own craft/practice, he's well-respected by the Gondolindrim and held in esteem, particularly after the Nirnaeth, he has the love and respect of his uncle the king and is on the king's council as an adult...and yet it's not enough. He cannot content himself with what he has, but obsesses over what he can't have, and so what might have been a happy story--his chapter in Silm ends on a very positive note ("thus all seemed well with the fortunes of Maeglin")--it ends up souring again because of his own actions.

one aspect i wish more people understood about them

He's a villain. Yes, he had a shitty childhood and that was hard. It in no way excuses his behavior as an adult. "Cool motive still murder" etc. etc. His difficult youth does not excuse his creep behavior towards Idril, his betrayal of the entire city and his cooperation with Melkor, or his effort to murder a child so he could better force Idril to marry him. He may be a villain intended to be sympathetic (Because don't we want his life to turn around when he gets to Gondolin? Aren't we rooting for him in his chapter?) but he's still a villain.

one (or more) headcanon(s) i have about this character

Maeglin is a really good liar.

one character i love seeing them interact with

Turgon honestly...they have such an interesting relationship to me and I've written about the canonical depiction of it before. It really seems to me like Turgon tries to take on a parental/mentorship role with the only child of his late beloved sister, but jury's out on whether Maeglin never trusted or appreciated Turgon in return, or if he did, but eventually chose to betray him anyway.

one character i wish they would interact with/interact with more

I can't really think of any? His relationships with Aredhel, Eol, Idril, and Turgon are the ones most interesting to me and he gets a lot of content with those relationships. I guess digging more into his relationship with Aredhel could be interesting, because I don't really imagine that one was totally smooth sailing either (although obviously much better than with Eol).

one (or more) headcanon(s) i have that involve them and one other character

Maeglin was not especially aggrieved by Eol's death. He was sad, ofc, because that was his dad, but he was also relieved, because Eol was threat to him. The guy tried to murder him. And even before that, it doesn't seem that Eol and Maeglin had a very positive relationship. That's not to say it was all bad, but I think the better part of Maeglin's grief for Eol's death was the death of the chance for his father to ever be a decent dad.

[archangelsunited]

How to Ruin a Secret Organization Snippet

This fic-https://archiveofourown.org/works/20990411/chapters/49915055- had a chapter written I forgotten about.

“Why is it,” Monty said as he pulled on his coat. “That everytime there is a death, there is also a Snicket.”

“You didn’t actually die, Monty.” Jacques was a bit put out thanks to the fact he had lost track of his niece and her siblings once again, not to mention Kit had yet to get back to him.

“Hm. What are you doing here by the way? Last I heard you were going rogue and betraying everything the organization stood for?”

“Yet, oddly enough, I am still the only one picking you up from the hospital.” Jacques pointed out. “Despite the fact there are three orphans in the wind again, because you couldn’t keep your damned ego in check.”

“Harsh words, Harsh words.” Monty said. “But true ones. They were excellent children and I do feel as if I have failed them.”

“That is because you did fail them.” Jacques felt a bit harsh saying it, but Monty was one of the few people Jacques felt actually had his head on straight in the most general sense.

There was a pause as Monty gave Jacques a long side-eye. “And what is castgaiting me accomplishing for you, hm? Helping you get up and after those orphans is it?” Monty started walking towards the door. Jacques sighed and followed him.

“I parked the taxi in the west parking lot.” Jacques said, pulling out his keys out. “I also am calling in on that favor I did for you after that time in Argentina.”

“Yes, because I am so eager and willing to help you at the moment.” Jacques gave Monty the side-eye. 

Monty sighed, regretting his life choices. He felt, well, ashamed, of how the Baudelaires left his care, thinking he was dead and being forced into the hands of Count Olaf. His arrogance had gotten him in trouble before, but now there were children in trouble. Being a part of VFD meant that children were generally in danger, sure- but there were Bertrand and Beatrice’s children. And-

Well never mind and.

“So what horrible deeds am I supposed to do for you?” Monty asked the rather furious, (curious) man walking beside him.

Jacques gestured for him to enter the cab before him. Monty shrugged into the front passenger door and Jacques let out a sigh of irritation. 

Jacques got into the cab, but didn’t start the car. Monty looked at him and shivered dramatically. Jacques rolled his eyes, before leaning back and turning to Monty. 

“VFD has lost its purpose.” 

Monty scoffed and turned to look out the window. “You sound like those damn fire-starters. “

“Really?” Jacques asked. “But am I?” 

Monty considered it. 

“No one who became a fire-starter started out saying they wanted to start fires, Jacques.” Monty said gently. “It all starts out very reasonable. Normal children, normal adults don’t go through what we go through without having a little bit of doubt. But letting that doubt fester, it leads to some paths worse than VFD could ever accomplish.”

Jacques thought about the best way to respond to that.

“I believe, at its heart, VFD was meant to do good, do you agree with that Monty?” 

“I believe we are still doing good.” Monty said. 

“What good things, Monty?” Jacques asked. 

“My reptile collection was increasing knowledge and information on some leading medicine and improving animal training.”

Jacques nodded. “Three people died for one of your frogs, Monty.”

“That was just some interdepartmental mix-ups.”

“The poison that came from that West African snake was used in seven assassination attempts, five of which succeeded- one of which was against me.”

Monty shifted slightly. “Our enemies got their hands on the research.”

“All of the assassination attempts were approved by a firefighter, but carried out by apprentices.”

Monty clenched his jaw. 

“The medicinal research-”

“Was dropped in favor of the fungus that pushed the Windershin kid over the edge. None of the research actually got to be used for any good purpose.”

Monty was growing red in the face now. 

“The animal training was-”

“Is used to spy on members of our own organization. The Quagmires, the Antwhistles, the Baudelaires, all because they did not want to comply perfectly with every member of the organization. Esme Squalor and Olaf, despite saying multiple times they were going to kill other members have no one watching or spying on their business.”

Monty grew red in the face and looked out the window. 

Jacques gentled his voice. “We were raised to want to do good, Monty. Do you think we are achieving it?”

Monty turned back to Jacques, “So what? Do you want to set yourself up as a god? You, with a sister you could

n’t keep safe and a dead brother, think you can take us into the promise land?” YOU, who have taken the dirtiest jobs and the worst placements in order to control members of the organization, want to tell me that we are being manipulated?”

“Monty-”

“Don’t Monty me. I am not going to sit here and pretend that your change of heart is a charitable act. All this information, why not bring it up before now? I have heard so many lectures on nobility from you, I can quote them in my head. Why is it the noble thing to rebel now? Why not do it earli-

Jacques exploded. 

“I WAS AFRAID, MONTY!” I WAS SCARED EVERYTHING I WORKED FOR ALL MY LIFE GAINED NOTHING BUT THE RUINATION OF MY FAMILY AND DOING ANYTHING ABOUT IT WOULD LEAD TO THIER DEATHS..”

Jacques took a few deep breaths before meeting Monty’s eyes.

“Just . Like. You. Are.”

Monty sniffed. “You Snickets, so dramatic. Take me home, and I will think about not turning you in.” 

Jacques snarled and turned the key to the ignition.

[seyaryminamoto]

I liked your entry for the last sokkla saturday of the year. Azula and Zuko’s relationship is very interesting and I also don’t like how people try to simplify it. There’s so much resentment between them and I don’t think they could ever get over it completely. Zuko has every reason to be wary of his sister. But it doesn’t mean he doesn’t care about her deep down. It would be hard for him to forgive her, but I think he would try anyway. Aang said that forgiveness is not easy, didn’t he?

I'm glad you enjoyed that entry, it flowed out of me quite smoothly, so it's one of my favorite stories this year even if it went as dark as it did. I definitely agree that Zuko and Azula being written as getting along seamlessly is something that often feels like a headscratcher to me, even in my most positive takes on their relationship there's always an edge, because their personalities feel inherently conflictive to me. Perfect cordiality sounds unlikely for those two, even in the best of circumstances.

But there's a few things you've said that are a little counterintuitive for me precisely because of the content of this entry x'D

You see... both Azula and Zuko had a lot less agency and control over their circumstances than they think they did (and than they think the other did, too). The toxicity of the Royal Family isn't something that happened overnight, there's very strong indications that Iroh and Ozai had a relationship that was very similar to Azula and Zuko's, with Iroh being the gifted and favored older sibling while Ozai was the sidelined younger one who went on a voyage to find the Avatar in an attempt to prove his worth to his father. They, in turn, were shaped by Azulon, whose personal life is a much bigger mystery but what needs to be said is that, in canon, Azulon was raised by the instigator of the Fire Nation's genocidal war. All of which is enough context to know that this is not a healthy family (which is true to basically every monarchy, to be fair), and that there's surely been many iterations of a cycle of abuse and toxicity across even more generations than the ones we know factually about.

Hence, my point when I say that neither Zuko nor Azula have that much control over the circumstances is the following: Zuko has plenty of things to hold against Azula... as does Azula against him. Try to make a list of all the reasons why you believe Zuko rightfully resents Azula... I assure you, there will be an equivalent list on Azula's side to resent Zuko, too. And that's the core of the problem in this cycle: clinging to the belief that ONE of them harmed the other and needs to apologize, make amends and earn forgiveness, basically spurs the one being blamed to resent the other one further. Because "why am I the one who has to apologize, when they did *insert all the elements of either sibling crime list here* to me?"

A lot of the things Azula and Zuko resent each other over, particularly in the show, are things that are not in either one's power. Azula resents Zuko for monopolizing Ursa's attention? It wasn't Zuko's responsibility that Ursa neglected her daughter. Zuko resents Azula for monopolizing Ozai's attention? It wasn't Azula's responsibility that Ozai neglected his son. Azula resents Zuko because Mai and Ty Lee betrayed her for him? That's not something Zuko instigated or spurred them to do, Mai and Ty Lee made that choice freely and Azula blames him for it (which specifically happens because Mai makes sure that Azula blames her brother upon saying her "I love him more than I fear you" line). Zuko resents Azula because Azula hunted him down for months, fought him violently on most occasions when they crossed paths, and tried to kill him once her breakdown was beginning? Yeah... this happens to be the same guy who spent more than half the show hunting down Aang with full awareness that, if he succeeded, Aang would either be Ozai's captive, or be outright murdered by Ozai, and the awareness of what his father would do to an innocent child is never shown to bother him. So one would think he'd be able to see that, while Azula is in a slightly less painful position than him, she's still forced to do Ozai's bidding at all costs. She didn't embark on this mission of her own volition or pleaded to be sent on it: Ozai sends her. Ozai raised her for the sake of becoming his perfect tool. Ozai, ultimately, is the one making Azula act as she does, having trained her into giving him her perfect obedience in exchange for his approval.

In short: neither Zuko nor Azula have as much agency and power in their circumstances as they think they do. They DO have those things in terms of how they go about fulfilling their respective missions, how they act while on the road, what they do with the people they have at their mercy, and so on. But Azula DOESN'T have control over the orders Ozai gives Azula. Zuko DOESN'T have control over how Mai and Ty Lee decide to respond to a given situation. They didn't have control over what either of their parents decided to do when raising them.

So, when we're told one of these characters needs to forgive the other... the question of why this character, and why not the other character, always comes to mind. Conversely, Azula needs to forgive Zuko? There's certainly things in the comics that I would LOVE to see Zuko apologize for. Just so, Zuko in the comics would be in his full rights to expect apologies from Azula, particularly over the events of S&S, where Azula is allegedly on her right mind and still commiting major crimes of terrorism against their nation. But see, if we just go on and on... the cycle never ends. It just doesn't stop. If we say only one of them is owed an apology, then it basically means we're holding the other character 100% responsible for a lot of things that objectively weren't their doing, and that the one character blames them for, quite unfairly. Validating Zuko's potential belief that Azula has purposefully harmed him and that he's owed an apology for all of it means invalidating the entire context of Azula's actions. Just so, validating Azula's potential belief that Zuko harmed her would do the same thing for him.

Hence, this is a cycle. As any cycle, left to run its course, it will never stop. And while mutual forgiveness would be my ideal outcome... I don't think it's going to happen without one very specific thing:

Mutual understanding.

True empathy is the answer to what Zuko and Azula need in order to reach a place of stability in their relationship. Zuko needs to understand what Azula went through in order to ever understand why she resents him the way she does. Azula needs to understand Zuko's hardships as well, in order to understand why he resents her the way he does. In both cases, the introspection would be certain to yield important results: maybe Zuko, to this day, feels like Azula took advantage of Ozai's favoritism. But once he looks at things from her point of view and realizes how sidelined she was by literally every other adult in her life, maybe Zuko would conclude that he, too, would have acted exactly as Azula did, had they been in opposite situations. On top of that, after Ozai is imprisoned and powerless, after Zuko has realized his father has done absolutely grueling and terrible things, Zuko should reasonably conclude that Ozai's favoritism of Azula was HARMFUL, ACTIVELY. It wasn't as direct and blunt as a burn to the face, no, but it would have done horrors to Azula's psyche and turned her into whatever Ozai wanted her to be. Hence, would he still resent her for taking up Ozai's attention when he finally realizes that Ozai's attention wasn't worth having in the first place?

Likewise, Azula would have to put herself in Zuko's shoes. His position of being constantly overlooked because someone else was always better than him would have surely driven her up the wall if she had experienced it in the flesh. She would have to come to terms with why Zuko feels he was not allowed to actually reach his full potential early on because every resource Ozai had at his disposal was devoted to Azula. She would have to also understand why Iroh and Ursa felt the need to shelter Zuko, even if I definitely think they're not blameless in not doing the same for Azula. Yet, I do think Azula could come to see why those two decided to devote themselves to Zuko, and how it was Ozai's actions that drove them to do so. It doesn't mean they couldn't have done better with her, but I don't think Azula would be incapable of recognizing that Zuko needed someone to help him stay afloat or he'd have been crushed by expectations and demands he could never satisfy, not out of serious incompetence, but because he was never given true opportunities she was given, and while there's no telling if he could have made as much from those opportunities as Azula did, I do think it's entirely logical for Azula to recognize common ground between them here... because most people don't give her a chance to prove she can be better than they assume she is, either. The persistent belief that she can't change, can't grow, can't do better... is exactly what Zuko was burdened with all his childhood.

... All this is to say...

I really don't think Zuko's willingness to forgive Azula was the crux of the story I wrote. The story itself was geared towards showing how Zuko's refusal to see Azula as anything but a monster has shaped him into a much darker person than he's willing to recognize he has become. It's a manner of trope, I suppose, for someone to be so scared and so mortified by a certain threat that they end up becoming soooo much worse than the threat itself in order to destroy it: that's how I was writing Zuko in this story. I wanted it to feel like he was still the child who cried about having nightmares where his sister was burning his toys... because he's basically acting like that, still. He's an adult who thinks his younger sister is constantly out to get him, no matter what the situation may be, and he can't lower his guard, ever.

His sister, living on the road, traversing Ba Sing Se sewers, taking on deadly missions that have resulted in countless severe injuries, in which she's constantly fighting to survive and to make sure her partner survives too. His sister, who hasn't had a luxurious Fire Nation Palace life in around 15 years by the time the story is wrapping up. His sister, who goes on a suicidal attempt to make amends for her past wrongdoings, under orders of her superiors, all be it to set her partner free from being bound to her forever, as well as to finally "do enough" to make up for everything she did wrong when she was a teenager.

This is the sister Zuko is still seeing as a monster.

In context, you'd say, of course he sees her that way because he doesn't know about all her choices and missions in detail, hence why Aang has to tell him about them directly. But the reason why Zuko DOESN'T know about any of this is because he's the one actively pushing against her and trying to take her as his prisoner at all costs. The growth Azula could have done in 15 years is meaningless to him... because he's still a frightened boy. He's an adult, yes, but when it comes to Azula, he continues to act like the frightened boy having nightmares about his sister that I mentioned above. That was the purpose of his panicked tirades when he witnesses her wedding to Sokka: even at that point, when he sees her doing no harm, being loved, finding peace somewhere faaaar away from him, his kneejerk reaction is to take her down at once (fortunately, he didn't act on it that time :'D).

And that's the thing about the whole forgiveness concept going on here: if we truly believe Zuko is in a position where he can choose whether or not to forgive Azula for her crimes and the terrible things she did to him, then it means that, if Zuko chooses NOT to forgive her, Zuko spends the rest of his life being that frightened boy I've mentioned so far. He lives in luxury and has all the glory Azula could have ever hoped for in her youth, he's the great leader of the Fire Nation, has an army at his disposal, all the respect from so many important leaders... and yet he becomes that frightened boy as soon as Azula is involved. None of his great achievements amount to anything because of how pathologically scared he is of his own sibling.

Is it an exaggeration on my part to write him and depict him that way? Probably. But, then again... this is effectively how a lot of people seem to think Zuko should act. They say so proudly. They don't even try to pretend that's not their opinion, there's even some who say Zuko has to EXECUTE his sister, no less. So I simply took that opinion, expanded it and created a story around it. And yep, this is a story built on the belief that Zuko is entitled not to forgive Azula regardless of her choices... which results in Zuko evolving into a person who has done absolutely nothing to deserve being forgiven by his sister.

Let's see: why would Azula want to forgive a brother who was going to lock her in an asylum she never wanted to return to, or in prison, without her bending? What reason does Azula have to forgive someone who started a manhunt for her, and because of whom she has to live under false identities, where her only "safe" harbor is the White Lotus? She and Sokka live as nomads, wandering the world, saving lives as best they can, isolated from everything they know on the most part... and they could do all that by choice too, if they wanted to. But in this case, they have no choice, and why? Because of Zuko's choices. Because of Zuko's manhunt. This is all they can do to survive because, if Azula is ever found by Zuko's troops, she's going to be dragged back to the Fire Nation and her sentence will be sure to be carried out at once (or, if captured by the Earth Kingdom, who do want her dead, she'll be executed for sure).

In a story with a Zuko like this one... why are we still talking about Zuko's forgiveness of his sister, when he's the one constantly and actively harming his sister over the course of the seven-eight years across which this story takes place? Shouldn't Zuko feel more remorse than her at this point? Hasn't Azula done MORE to fix their broken world while being isolated from her nation than Zuko did during his own banishment? She's actively saving people's lives under the White Lotus's orders, fighting the fights they direct her to, using her cleverness, strength and prowess for better purposes now... in short, she has redeemed herself without Zuko's involvement whatsoever. She has become a much better person than he ever knew she could be. What is there for him to forgive when his choices are wronging her so much more violently than she ever did him, especially in this setting?

The fandom's mentality about Zuko's forgiveness of Azula is why this story spawned:

To be blunt, I don't need Azula to be forgiven by Zuko.

I don't need Zuko to be forgiven by Azula.

I want the two of them to become better people, outright.

Often, that path leads them to being better siblings to each other. In this particular story, Zuko simply became worse while Azula became better, and their paths led them away from each other, potentially forever.

And while I wouldn't exactly advocate for Zuko and Azula to have nothing to do with each other again, at the same time, I don't see what Azula needs to do to earn forgiveness from someone who has treated her as Zuko has in this setting. She has become better by her own volition, to help fix a world she once helped break. Her actions speak loudly, and she's not taking upon doing all this just as some penitence to earn Zuko's goodwill: she's doing it out of having no choice, at first, eventually because she grows to believe this is the one way for her to live her life and prove herself worthy of the love that's growing between her and Sokka.

When your good actions and choices fundamentally come from a place of earning a reward for good behavior, it's very difficult for me to see it as anything other than selfishness, no matter how nice that choice may be. This is why I wrote Azula's journey as I did in this story, and why the concept of Zuko forgiving her feels out of place: everything she did as a White Lotus agent has been more than enough to prove she has changed, far more than Zuko did to earn his own forgiveness. In her case, she didn't come begging and pleading to be accepted... she found a kindred spirit who gave her a chance, and upon doing so, they became partners who worked together to continue healing a broken world. And upon reaching the end of the story... Azula is 100% ready to live her life without needing to worry about Zuko anymore. She's no longer going to be Fire Nation, she's completely turned away from her people, her bond with them is as good as dead after all those years of feeling that Zuko has isolated her away from that place, and while she could rightfully resent him for that, at the point at which the story is drawing to a cloes, all Azula wants is to live a peaceful life with the man she loves.

Thus, the question of "is she forgivable?" feels out of place after all this. The fact that Zuko feels entitled to put Azula through more hardships just so he, personally, can be 100% sure that she's good now and that she won't hurt him, says far worse things about him than it does about her, at this point. With everything Aang and Hakoda tell him, and Zuko's own final interaction with Azula... you get to see Zuko is starting to open his eyes to reality. He apologizes because he finally understands what his unwillingness to forgive has put Azula through... which then results in Azula extending an olive branch towards him, in turn, upon telling him he can come see her again if he wants to. Before the story begins, as you may recall, Azula turned herself in, she was expected to face trial and be sentenced for the things she did as the Kemurikage and all that nonsense. Her willingness to defer to Zuko's power was, in itself, a concession on her part... and there was no concession on Zuko's. His sentence was deliberately merciless out of fear. And that's why Azula has to run. That's why Azula has to put as much distance and as many shields as she can in order to survive Zuko's manhunt.

Once the story is ending, things are different precisely because Zuko concedes. Because he finally accepts that he's in no position to deny his sister her happiness, which she built without him, in which he has no part to play. This isn't about him. Her choices aren't about him. Her life isn't just about ruining his, unlike what a lot of what his more toxic fans seem to believe. And it's precisely when Zuko realizes that's the case that he finally starts to treat his sister as his sibling for the first time in forever. Because, instead of demanding that she repents and offers reparations for everything hurtful she ever did to him, or considering her too far gone for that... Zuko finally looks inwards and acknowledges his own mistakes. Just as Azula accepted her wrongdoings upon turning herself in before the story begins, Zuko finally accepted he was wrong to hunt her as he did.

Hence... mutual understanding leading into mutual forgiveness. Azula, after everything Zuko puts her through, could very well decide not to concede and tell her brother to get lost and never return to her new home: instead, she tells him to come by again if he wants to. He asks if he can bring his daughter, and Azula agrees with that idea. No, of course it's not easy for either of them, as that super tense and stiff dialogue should reveal... but they're making an effort to mend fences, even if it's not as successful as it could be if the bad blood between them hadn't reached the heights it did.

ANYWAY.

That was a very long explanation (as usual on my part), and why I just don't think this subject tends to be handled with the nuance it deserves. The more we press on that Zuko shouldn't forgive his sister, or that he's justified in not doing so, the more we encourage the idea that Zuko should spend the rest of his life fearing and hating her. Why would any Zuko fan hope that he spends all his life becoming a paranoid mess over his sibling's choices? Why not hope he finds peace and happiness, whether his sister is involved directly in it or not? A cordial, distant relationship could be possible if nothing else is, provided someone wants their bond to be healed. If, of course, the person actually THRIVES in the toxicity and wants to enjoy the messed up dynamics of two siblings constantly trying to kill each other... yeeeeeah that's not my problem and I'd happily keep that kind of story concept and headcanon very far away from me. But if we're actually talking about wanting Azula to redeem herself, and for Zuko and Azula's relationship to heal, even if we both agree that it would never become as wholesome as, say, Sokka and Katara on their best days, I don't think that the discussion should be about whether Zuko is entitled to resent Azula forever or not. He can very well do that if he wants to: but that means stopping Zuko from ever growing out of his many issues and the countless burdens that are dragging him down and keeping him from finding actual peace.

It's worth noting too, again, that Azula is not Ozai. The true culprit of the direct abuse both Azula and Zuko suffered is Ozai. He's the one with power over both siblings in their childhood and teenage years up until Zuko becomes Fire Lord. He's the one who actively poisoned their bond until it festered into the mess it currently is in canon. When we talk about Zuko's presumed forgiveness of Azula being a difficult thing... we're basically holding HER responsible for the damage Ozai's actions had on BOTH his children. This doesn't mean Zuko's feelings about Azula are 100% invalid... but it means that, if Zuko goes his whole life pretending Azula had more agency and power over their circumstances than she actually did, he's never going to understand her. And that is the feeling that ends up being fostered when we talk about how Zuko would be justified to never forgive his sister. Ultimately, it's only going to be harmful for Zuko to close the door on any potential reconciliation with her... and I really don't know how anyone who cares about his character would advocate that he should spend the rest of his life blindly resenting his sister and never growing out of being the frightened boy who allows his nightmares to determine how he interprets his reality.

[klqrambles]

This is an opportunity to infodump on whatever you wish

Thank you anon, for letting me infodump about Swag Age because I think it's a musical more people should watch even if you aren't Korean (although that'll also be hard because english translations are hard to come by). So! *cracks knuckles* here we go!

This takes place during the Joseon era of Korea which was when Korea was known as the Nation of Poetry. However, in this nation of poetry, poetry has been banned under threat of death/imprisonment for the past 15 years by the Poetry Minister.

Rebelling against this ban is the revolutionary poetry group Golbindang who wear masks to keep themselves anonymous and are fighting to prevent the complete loss of poetry. But we'll get back to them.

The protagonist of the story is an approximately 18 year old (according to an interview with one of the actors it's never explicitly stated) boy, named Hong Dan, practicing poetry and going around acting like a nobleman. However, this often gets him in hot water with the army (for the poetry) and his fellow townspeople (for the acting like a nobleman). But ultimately, this is also what captures the interest of a girl named Jin. She introduces him (after various shenanigans) to the rest of the Golbindang, which she's a part of! Golbindang is made up of Sibju (the leader), Ho Rosoi (the jokester), Kiseon (the jack of all trades), Sunsu (the guard), and Jin (the tactician). They're following the will of Hong Jamo and fighting for a fair and free world. Sibju then reveals that the Jamo that had raised Dan the past 15 years and died recently was Dan's father and had lied about Dan's orphan status to protect him from Jamo's status as a traitor. With this revelation and a final letter (written on a fan) Dan resolves to follow in his father's footsteps and bring about a fair and just Joseon.

But the Poetry Prime Minister, Song Hongkuk, has other ideas. He has the army threaten anyone who supports Golbindang in an attempt to find and capture the group. But this fails, and eventually the Emperor catches wind and decides to rehost the traditional Joseon Poetry Competition that had been banned 15 years ago. Through this, Golbindang (who took up the alias Suaegu to hide their identity) revealed the stories of the people. The Minister Song found them out really quickly, though, and had them captured. But then Jin's guard Lululala Jono (Jin's Minister Song's daughter btw. Most of Golbindang knew but this is when Dan finds out) frees them.

Dan originally refuses to go with the rest of Golbindang, having felt betrayed for not being told that Jin was actually Minister Song's daughter. But after seeing the atrocities of the army and a talk by Jin about how they aren't as different as they might originally have thought, and that leads to one final stand against Minister Song. With the rest of Golbindang's help he's able to get the Minister captured as a traitor and release the ban.

Summaries aside, there's a lot about this musical that has captured my brain, such as

the message against censorship

the message that people should be allowed to choose their own path in life and not one dictated by those in higher power

the message of equality for all

Hong Dan being a relatable character, often feeling like someone I could easily see myself being friends with

Jin being a strong female character whose arc is just as much about finding her own path in life and sticking to her own decisions as Dan's is.

there being no major plot of romance, and all romance that does exist is either the butt of a joke or someone's backstory

Golbindang being the true definition of found family where no one really falls into the stereotypical family structure: ie this is the dad, this is the mom, etc. Sibju (who is the only person who really fits the "dad" mold) is mostly just the leader due to his age and ties to Jamo (and likely cause he founded the group) and while he also often takes a disciplinary role, he is often just as much the person who needs to be disciplined by the others. If anything, everyone is the child and the only real differentiating factor is the fact some are older than others.

Minister Song feels like a realistic villain who took his perception that the world has gone soft and wants to right it by making Joseon a militaristic country...

the story as a whole just feels really relatable to a modern day audience despite it being set during the Joseon Dynasty because a lot of what the group is facing is what we face today.

So many in-jokes and puns are present, especially during the second half of the musical.

The songs are bangers, mixing the more modern style of hip-hop/pop music with old Korean instruments to create a very interesting soundscape

All of the characters are unique in their own ways and somehow still memorable and not in a way that is confusing

Here're the highlights (each video has 3 songs)

This is a video of the last two songs of the musical performed during a press call/rehersal

[ronniekins1238]

Peter Pettigrew Redemption

as much as I love marauders fics I feel like I always hate how peter's depicted. like no hate, I blame JKR for writing a character that's central to the plot and supposed to be part of a super smart tight knit friend group but is also written as dumb and cowardly and generally kind of a dick. but then fics kind of go along with this and I'm always left wondering why the marauders would have him as one of their closest friends. also usually he isn't very fleshed out and his main character trait is being awkward/hungry/jealous. it's pretty well established that becoming an animagus is incredibly difficult and I think it's very unlikely anyone who wasn't a very skilled wizard could have accomplished it at fifteen, even with help from friends. besides that it does take some stealth and skill (and lack of any morals) to be a double agent, betray your friends, and then kill twelve people with one spell. also honestly the marauders aren't depicted as the kindest or most inclusive friend group and I don't think they would include Peter in all their schemes if he wasn't contributing something both socially as well as with magic and ideas. anyways I think Peter kind of has to be smarter than the Hogwarts teachers believe him to be and must at least at one point believe in the marauder's ideals of revolution and loyalty and pranks.

that's all the real stuff I have to say but personally I think Peter is James best friend before Hogwarts and comes off as sky and meek but is actually the mind behind a lot of their pranks. I think he's bad at standardized tests doesn't like class so he doesn't participate, leading teachers to think he's stupid, but he excels at magic when he's not constrained by rules or in the spotlight of a classroom. I think as the years go on and first James and Sirius get closer, then Sirius and remus, and eventually James and lily, Peter starts to feel left out and (as a lot of fics express) that he doesn't fit in with his friends. Also in my head his home life is stressful (he has more financial struggles/family responsibilities/his family's political views don't align) and this leads him to have a different view on the war than his friends. obviously there's a big difference between feeling left out and having different views and being a monster who betrays your closest friends, but I think those are some of the seeds which lead him down a very dark path.

anyways I love love love the marauders and everyone who writes about them but this just bugs me

[quietbluejay]

Scars 6

me thinking about The Path of Heaven:

but yeah there's a huge difference between a society with a high mortality rate plus a steppe nomad warrior culture and industrial warfare i know it's slightly off-topic but I'm again reminded of Fate/Zero and the discussion between Kiritsugu and Saber on the topic of honour in warfare or well Kiritsugu ranting about it lol was going to write up my thoughts on that but that's a whole other series lmao

so the khan and his entourage go through there's a lot of skeletons, and also TS armour but also…

custodians and that's a tough pill to swallow

yeah it's one thing to think disparagingly about someone

annnd he hears buzzing on the wind

yep it's psycheneuein

back to our intreprid trio and the fancy map yesugei manages to yeet the daemon, the map is still going though

surprise! daemon was not yeeted successfully it goes RIGHT afte xa'ven yesugei manages to actually for real get rid of it after a short fight but…

i ended up getting attached to Henricos haha

once again someone ignored xa'ven's advice and now…

RIP Xa'ven

lmao Shiban at the lodge meeting

i cackled a little irl at that

torghun's a mood tfw you manage to get your friend to join a group watch of the thing you're super into and back to the psychneuein which i have apparently been misspelling all this time theyy are ghost psychneuein naturally, shooting them does nothing rip Maji who is getting brutally brainsucked by one the Khan manages to get one with his sword and it dramatically explodes explosive giant ghost brain-eating beetles

explosion causes the ground to crack under the Khan's weight down he goes into the depths…. meanwhile up on the surface, the psychneuein have the Scars surrounded, time for a last…stand…? surprise! they're all on fire! (the beetles i mean)

it's Arvida!!

come with me if you want to live (and see your khan again)

Yesugei: Xa'ven deserved better ;-; he did

…yeah meanwhile the khan is trapped underground in very hot, cramped tunnels oh, i think he maybe found the chamber where Magnus did the ritual ah the dust is stirring…a figure forms in a twist, it's Magnus over to Shiban, who has no clue who to trust re: the lodges since his commanding officer is in on it he's gonna go over Hasik's head so Henricos and Yesugei now get along what is Yesugei gonna find at Prospero…

and that's true for a lot of things in life

oh hi Ilya haven't seen you in a while she's noticing Suspicious Patterns in the movements between ships it's pretty clear to the reader this is the lodges making their move

uh oh Shiban goes to Jermulan with his concerns Jermulan is…dubious

jermulan basically slams the door on him so Shiban and Jochi are on their own here

it's a shard of Magnus and it's…very Magnus

the Khan is deeply suspicious of the likeness here Magnus makess a bit of a hash at explaining things, much to Jaghatai's annoyance

the spicy knife was the worst

but before anything else i will note that Magnus has better interactions with Jaghatai than like, just about anyone else so i don't think it's meant to be a onesided friendship i do think he was the closest of the other primarchs to Magnus, i'm getting that impression also lmao magnus: our sin was pride also magnus: this happened because we were just too perfect i know this is a shard and it's probably a different writers thing but it's funny to compare this magnus to the one in Betrayer Who Isn't Calling Them Gods

magnus has a surprising insight man magnus telling jaghatai there are only two paths really makes me wish he'd taken a third option it'd betray the theme tho... alas

okay we get a brief story about arvida it's interesting that he skips the bit about the world eaters being there though i'm not sure that short story was written before this book, tbf

it's interesting he doesn't get into it here over to Torghun he was a true believer the whole time but…

Shiban has caused them Problems lol time for Shiban to give a speech

it's a good speech!

parallel that with "we will make sure the Khagan makes the right choice"