#just very indecisive about the antagonist still

[saltpotion]

430 words today

[utilitycaster]

I like that the Raven Queen, who made the decision to take on an immense and (at least to her understanding at the time) unending responsibility is the one who calls Bells Hells out on their endless indecision.

It's been...interesting, shall we say, tracking this "party of NPCs," and tracking the fandom response throughout. The initial reception to "party of NPCs" was actually a rather cold one. This took place early in the campaign, prior to the Gnarlrock fight, and at the time a lot of people who shipped Imogen and Laudna were actually extremely resistant to the idea that Imogen was the "main character" of the campaign (as seen in the fallout from the gnarlrock fight, in which the bulk of attacks from the fandom were on Imogen). I've had complicated feelings on Taliesin's reads of this campaign specifically - he tends to have a very good understanding of his own characters that doesn't necessarily expand beyond them - but that phrase was indeed pretty valid. I think about the WBN interludes, in fact, in which the cast plays using NPC statblocks, and what a true party of NPCs for Bells Hells would look like, since it would be quite simple to draw up.

Allied NPCs in TTRPGs rarely act without guidance from the PCs. I've cast a critical eye in the past towards certain meta (particularly romantic in nature, regarding Yeza or Essek or Gilmore not making moves) for this reason, because while villains and antagonists move throughout the world generating obstacles, allies exist to be directed. They have their limits, of course; they have their own priorities and motivations and cannot be persuaded against their nature, but they can be guided at oblique angles from the GMs initial intent given enough work from the PCs. They're still people with thoughts and feelings and dreams, to an extent, but rarely do they make decisions that would conflict with those of the PCs.

That's the problem with a party of NPCs. NPCs take direction. They serve as support, but they're not in the driver's seat. And the Raven Queen has noticed.

The attitude within the fandom towards "Party of NPCs" became far more positive over time, and I wonder if it should have. People began to lean perhaps too heavily on how Bells Hells were people from nothing and nowhere, discarded. This is of course objectively false when comparing across parties (can we really say Imogen had a worse childhood than Vex? Chetney to Caleb? Even Ashton to Fjord?) but were it true, that in and of itself wouldn't be a problem. D&D backstories are often tear-stained and blood-soaked, full of unjust accusations, dead or neglectful parents, failure and regret. D&D is a game about coming from very little but a disproportionately good stat block for a commoner. It is unavoidably about amassing power. Starting off as a party of NPCs is fine. You should not still be a party of NPCs at the endgame.

I mentioned the gnarlrock, and I've mentioned an emphasis (or overemphasis) on this party's lack of agency and I think that remains the problem. Ludinus's villainy is rich, complex, and multifaceted, but a consistent element of it is his eternal false insistence that he - Martinet, founder and head of the Cerberus Assembly, Archmage - is just a little guy, chaff in the wind of the will of the gods, without free will of his own (he says, as he places his thread outside the reach of the Matron). That too is a theme in fandom discourse: free will and intent. Is Imogen justified in being angry at Laudna for breaking the rock if that wasn't Laudna's intent? (yes.) Is Orym on a quest of vengeance, with a death wish? (no, but if he were it wouldn't matter.) Was it wrong to pressure Fearne to take the shard instead of letting her make her own choices? (yes.)

Did any of you, perhaps in preschool or kindergarten, since that's about the age when this happens, have someone pull your hair and for adults to say "it's because they like you?" I find this is a good way to convey the importance, or unimportance, or intent. Because when your hair is being pulled, at least if that is the extent of the problem, it doesn't matter if it comes from the misguided affections of a four-year-old admirer who doesn't know how to use their words, or a six-year-old who just grabbed the most obvious material with which to test the limits of the safety scissors, or an eleven-year-old bully. Your hair is being pulled and you want it to stop. It doesn't matter if the person secretly likes you or if they want to hurt you; it matters that no matter the intent behind it, they are doing so. And if you reject the affections of your fellow preschool classmate because you think they might pull your hair, that's a fair consequence.

Bells Hells' indecision is some sort of cosmic hair pulling. They have reasons for faltering, and some of those reasons are understandable balking at an immense weight placed upon them and some of those reasons come from a deeply self-centered place in which their individual pain is used to blot out the suffering of countless others. But in the end, even that doesn't matter. Their histories don't matter. We don't need another series of introductions of where they come from and what they've done. We need people who can make decisions and who will act.

The Raven Queen seems to have been convinced they will. I'm not sure. But I think we are in agreement that inaction is, regardless of the intent behind it, no different than active harm. It would be irresponsible to continue to be a party of NPCs; if they truly are lost and forgotten fuck-ups, they have a responsibility (as the god of death once did) to abdicate and find a replacement.

[dragonbma]

What are some scrapped concepts from any of your AUs?

Oh boy I wish I had seen this ask sooner because I have SO MUCH to say. Can of worms has officially opened! The peak 2023 brainrot I had last year spawned countless (around 20) MC:SM AUs. Most of which were one-off ideas where I just wanted to design something without thinking too much about a story. Since then, I’ve whittled it down to a handful I still doodle and write for behind the scenes. (Listed below)

Scrapped design/plot concepts:

Starting off with my favorite AU, Possession!Vos had a plethora of designs before I decided I didn’t want his looks to change much and that just surviving the plot was deviation enough. He almost looked like this whenever Romeo was in control: (essentially Romeo’s side profile would manifest and obscure half of Vos’ face, mirroring whatever expression the other half had)

If I had to think of which AU had the most scrapped scenes, that award goes to the Drowned!Vos AU. The poor aftermath of that story was reworked so many times (mostly because I was indecisive just how antagonistic Romeo would be to the man he cursed to be a soggy zombie forever.) In the first draft, Romeo was so mad that Drowned failed to kill Jack that he completely abandoned him, but that since changed to the Admin being an ongoing antagonist who teleports over when Drowned is alone to belittle him. (Slight gore warning for this next bit.) In one of the more devious scrapped scenes, Romeo enchants his boots with Frost Walker and partially freezes Drowned solid before stomping his leg and breaking it off.

Oarfishposting, while also going through three name changes throughout its time (cod help me), also did a complete 180 in plot. It was almost a basic mad scientist plot where Romeo captured and experimented on any “losers” that couldn’t win his challenges. The adventure trio of course lost the temple, but since Sammy was too far gone and Jack got the hell out of there, Vos was all that was left. Oarfish!Vos was very close to resembling a Frankenstein amalgamation. Of course I am much happier with the final story because a world where everyone is half animal and there is a god trying to trap the rarer hybrids in temples is much more unique and fun to play with.

For the last scrapped plot point I’ll mention, there was a fun idea I was playing around with in the Fantasy Trio AU where instead of Mage!Vos getting turned to solid obsidian, he is instead trapped in a mirror dimension. The mechanics of the challenge were as follows: adventurers enter a large, circular room in the castle and are presented with a myriad of doors along the walls. The floor is a giant mirror which reflects everything above it… albeit slightly different. Anyone one who enters the room has a moving statue reflecting their actions; So long as the statues are not shattered, they can swap places with their statues to enter the mirror dimension. (Their statues would then exist in the real world until they swap back.) Doors in the main room have no knobs so Mage opts to swap places with his statue to start opening the doors in the mirror dimension which do have knobs. Most doors lead to nothing, but some spawn enemies. TLDR: They eventually find the boss of the room, a large drake with a key around its neck, but it headbutts Mage and shatters his statue, rendering him unable to swap places back to the real world after the drake is defeated.

Scrapped AUs:

One AU I scrapped entirely (because Jack doesn’t die from the mess cliff fall) was a Death Trio AU where once Jack re-enters the Sea Temple, he’s haunted by ghastly apparitions of his old friends and how they died until he too eventually meets his demise in the Underneath. Vos’ skin is entirely obsidian and he can cry lava. Sammy bears resemblance to the elder guardians, now sprouting fins, scales, and their one giant eye. Though he doesn’t actually die in game, Jack’s downfall would have been the mesa cliff he falls off if Jesse refuses to give Porkchop their swords. His dead form gets a desert face covering and he leaves a trail of sand he coughs up.

Mercraft: Fish Mode started out as an AU where all characters were merfolk, but I decided it would work better as just a drawing challenge instead of Mermay.

Some crossovers I really didn’t do much with were MC:SM x Flight Rising, Night at the Museum, Wings of Fire, Pokémon, and The Odyssey. Most of these were me wanting to design stuff so I’ll try to sum them up quick. The FR and WoF AUs were excuses for me to draw the cast as dragons. The NatM crossover spawned from a dream where I found a modded version of MC:SM where you play as Jesse, Petra, or Lukas (all night guards) and tended to the museum. Other characters were museum exhibits such as Gabriel being Teddy, Reuben being Rexy, and the Admins as the Egyptians; In all honesty I remember very little from the dream save for Romeo (Kahmunrah) shaking Vos (Jedediah) around in a brita filter. Pokémon AU spawned from me rewatching “Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea” and realizing there’s a character named Jack whose partner is a chatot. The main premise is the basic “everyone has a partner Pokémon” AU where the adventure trio visit the Sea Temple (guardians are huntails, elder guardians are gyarados, colossus are regice… and there’s also a type: null there for uhh plot reasons.) Lastly, I just love The Odyssey so making Jack, Vos, and Sammy > Eurylochus, Odysseus, and Polities was too good to pass up. Plus Polyphemus works perfectly as an elder guardian + Romeo as a very pissed Poseidon.

Main AUs: Vos Possession AU, Drowned!Vos AU, Oarfishposting, ‘Neath!Vos AU, Champion Vos AU, and most recently Admin Accomplice

Secondary/Hiatus AUs: TempleSwap, Fantasy Trio, Abyssal Symptoms, Chipped!Vos, Angel, and Sentry

Honorable mention to the one-off crack AUs that I scrapped immediately because they were just for giggles. Holepunched AU: the obsidian cage does not open when it falls and uh just lands on Vos. 💥 Rip. It was nicknamed Holepunched because Sammy’s ghost has a gaping hole in her chest from the guardian beam and Vos’ is just sliced in half. Feather Falling AU: Vos survives all those years on one heart, but ultimately takes fall damage when Jesse releases him. Funnily enough, that one was made on a whim where I was just trying to cause a friend psychic damage, but she did me one better by saying it would be worse if he didn’t poof upon hitting the floor, but only dissipated when Jack tried to hug him. :[

[half-hell]

WIP INTRODUCTION | HALF AN HEIR tag | characters | pinterest.

GENRE | low/modern fantasy, new adult/adult, lgbtq+ POV | likely dual character, but possibly multi character pov. third person, past tense. STATUS | planning. still in the process of character and world building, and ironing out the many kinks that 15 year old me left.

SUMMARY |

[placeholder summary until i can think of something eloquent to say.]

Kylen Emerson doesn't know just how powerful he is yet. being held captive and tortured by your (adopted) uncle for four and a half years will unsurprisingly take your attention away from figuring out important key facts about yourself. after escaping and going on the run, he unintentionally gathers a found family, who, ignoring Kylen's insistence that he can do it alone, tag along on his journey to take his uncle down and out, for good.

CHARACTERS |

[i am. very indecisive. so these names are subject to change at any time.]

+ Kylen Andreas Emerson - half demon, half [something]. 25, he/him, unlabelled; doesn't care to be labelled. + Luka Dominick Casey- human, hunter. 33, he/him, bisexual + poly. + Ezra [last name] - Kylen's love interest. werewolf. 26, he/him, gay. + Jamie 'Bram' Bramwyll - warlock. 42, he/him, pansexual + poly. + Ivahna - vampire. old, she/her, bisexual + poly. + Nix [last name]- warlock. 23, he/they, pansexual. + Alina [last name] - Ezra's cousin. alpha werewolf. 28, she/her, unlabelled; still figuring it out. + Kyrin Emerson - antagonist. demon. Kylen's (adopted) uncle. 50's, he/him, probably bisexual.

THEMES/TROPES | found family, grief, ptsd, sunshine x grumpy, enemies to friends, complicated family relationships, revenge, re/learning to trust others and yourself + more to be added.

WARNINGS | referenced past torture, implied/referenced child neglect, violence, blood, death, passive self harm, passively suicidal character + more to be added.

[velvet-vox]

Hey.

How are you?

Just wanted to tell you, dear @rad10active-ketchup , that I agree with you. This is in reference to an argument that we had a couple of months ago about this post you've made:

I kept thinking about Doll's death and just how sudden it was.

At the time, I was trying to cope with the best coping mechanism possible: accepting her death through the lenses of competent writing. The problem was, you brought up some valid points that challenged said coping mechanism with the possibility of a lack of care by the writers for what they were doing, so I responded with this analysis:

That's a lie

Now, I assume you don't really care about the whole thing anymore and are probably just thinking that I'm a total creep for writing this, and if that's the case, then I'll delete or rewrite this post immediately for providing you with uneasiness.

The thing that I'm trying to say though is... you were right.

I have an indecisive shifting view of Doll's death and how it was executed. At times, I was totally in agreement with this aspect of the story, and other times I was cursing Liam Vickers to all hell and back.

But now that the dust of episode 7 has settled, I can't help but think that Doll was just wasted potential in the end. This is going to age horribly if she were to come back in any way, shape or form, but as of right now her existence in the story feels like a cool plot device for action scenes and character development.

I admittedly wouldn't have thought much of Murder Drones if she didn't exist in the show, her personal conflict with the team just felt way more interesting and grounded than the eldritch, universal, still not as developed threat of Cyn and The Absolute Solver. I like N and can't imagine the show working without him, but his sister was still a very late part of his character development that needed to be addressed after the proper development and pacing, not being broadcast from minute one as "the big thing".

Problem is, I grew too attached to Doll throughout this time, and I feel like I finally learned why: She shares with me so many traits that I haven't seen represented anywhere else in fiction and it led me to identify myself with her to the point that when she died, it felt like part of me died too and she was merely the premonition of my future failure to overcome my flaws.

I was always on board with Doll dying; I just watched the first two seasons of Wakfu and learned how to write a tragic antagonist properly, believe it or not, I actually thought that V was going to be the one to kill her in the end since it looked like the most fitting end to her arc; but I digress now.

It just feels like Bradford Buzzard 2.0 for me: I spent so much time getting invested in a character that the writers never really cared about beyond the action spectacle.

That's a bloody shame, but I guess I shouldn't have been surprised.

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 9/19/2023

unknown flu-like-symptoms-but-not-the-flu-or-COVID problems

listening

no one particular thing has been stuck in my head so here are two short little things

new release Strike by La Femme is a delightful synthy one-minute sketch of a car chase in the pouring rain. spotify

Trumpet Sketches - Remastered by Janko Nilovic is a 1:40 doodle. when the organ hits... spotify

i have been following La Femme ever since i loved their credits song for As Above So Below, and the trumpet sketches are off the spotify recommended

-

reading

actually finished this book last tuesday, still reading berserk, but i don't have coherent berserk thoughts bc im still stuffing my entire elbow into my mouth and screaming about it.

The Stolen Coast, by Dwyer Murphy, has a lot of problems. the first problem is that the publisher bills it as a "noir jewel heist" novel when it is in fact a vibes novel about being sad and trapped in massachusetts. which, mood! but very much not what i or any other goodreads reviewer signed up for.

ABOUT THE STOLEN COAST Adrift in a sleepy coastal Massachusetts town, a man who ferries fugitives by day gets twisted up in a plot to pilfer diamonds in this Casablanca-infused heist novel.

Casablanca is a real fuckin goddamn reach. this is like saying Home Alone 2 and The Taking of Pelham 123 are similar bc they both have pivotal scenes in subways. when you are expecting a cool noir jewel heist and you get a vibes book, it feels very meandering and indecisive with exceptionally poor pacing and very light on the plot. dwyer knows how to put a sentence together, and there is a high degree of aesthetic polish, but i lived in mass and found myself filling in a lot of the vibes from lived experience. this is a book that expects you to already know *extremely* minute regional accent differences.

i often found myself more interested in the antagonist lawyer and his wife (who has a standing weekly appointment to fuck her bodyguard at the region's finest wedding destination hotel, and orders champage afterwards every week) than the protagonists of our story. the femme fatale loops all the way back around to manic pixie, which i didn't know was possible for a woman to do. as an example of the aesthetic polish but editorial disarray of the book, wherein we know so much about our protagonists but so little of it is relevant, i was convinced that "our main man Jack is a Harvard lawyer" was a long running gag for most of the book (a la "our good for nothing son is actually Very Important and just slumming it here") and was actually quite anxious to see if the actual lawyer would ferret him out, but no. jack is actually a real lawyer but it simply does not fucking matter.

there are a. number of happenings that mr murphy tries to pass off as luck and just like Ha Ha Things Just Break Like That Sometimes but it really just feels like acts of god. their planned heist breaks bad for them with no consequences and then breaks very well for them with very few consequences. this is not a long book. the actual heist felt like filling time.

it's a book that's very very good at capturing the New England depression and sense of stagnancy, for want of a nail etc, the bizarre little self-important snow globe everyone lives in, but everyone has such small ambitions. this is sort of the point of noir, that the rot never actually changes no matter what you do, but the protag is the perpetrator of the rot? this is largely a personal crisis that he’s choosing not to address. perhaps most unforgivably, for such a short book it dragged a whole fuck of a lot.

i have been betrayed by whoever did this npr book review

-

watching

Forty Guns (1957, dir Fuller). this is the most movie reviewer ass section ive written in a minute. this one is for sickos only. it is not an interesting movie by itself (choppy and kind of messy) but it is an interesting movie if you know the limitations of the genre and the hays code it's slamming up against.

there is simply So Much that happens in this movie (from the very good Criterion Collection essay):

While the story sounds rather tidy in summary, the plot of Forty Guns is rife with intrigue and action—juggling political corruption, theft, betrayal, an unwanted pregnancy, a serious maiming, three romances, four murders, and a suicide. 

there's some oddly dorky but endearing straight people visual and verbal double entendre. visually unique but does not stick its landing, and i don't know that i love the original ending as opposed to the studio ending either.

it gets a solid B on the "westerns i would let other people watch" list. not one of the top three movies to convince someone that some westerns are good actually, but a fun little weird offshoot of the genre.

why did i watch this: surely by seeing a post from another cowboyblogger? it was fairly recently added to my letterboxd watchlist, but the why of it i could not tell you

-

playing

im convinced theres a bug in the Court of Fontaine region in g/enshin bc i have been stuck at 97% for several weeks now. tick over to 100% godddamnit.

-

making

acquired all the stuff to dye a couch cover, have not actually dyed the couch cover, due to being down with some sort of sickness

[haedraulics]

Can I ask you a question? Do you have any unpopular aot opinions?

i'm not exactly sure if this is considered unpopular since i've seen my take reflected by more professional critics than me, but the ending of the mange is a huge disappointment. i'm not even one of those people who think isayama was coerced by the fans or his editors to compromise on his original vision, i think the ending as it is is more or less what he had planned for the entirety of the series, which is unfortunate because it's not very good.

i do think that isayama was feeling a lot of pressure and deserved many more breaks/hiatuses between chapter releases, but as it is the aot ending is an indecisive mess of storytelling. what bothers me the most about it at this point is the tone of disney-esque optimism in the final pages (before the additions) that is just unbelievably bizarre, considering the magnitude of eren's crime against humanity. the most charitable reading of the 104 is that they're just too stupid to comprehend what they lived through, but even that is probably too kind.

at the end of the day i think the ending suffers the most because isayama wanted it both ways: he wanted to depict the horrors of global genocide with as much lurid, brutal detail as he could (chapters 130 onward), but also retain sympathy for eren as a deeply flawed but ultimately good-willed protagonist. it doesn't really work. the rumbling is a product of eren's naivete as a character- it was not a necessary evil, and portraying it as such emboldens the worst parts of the aot fandom.

that's not even to say that his type of character has never been done well, in terms of 'guys who become genocidal because they experienced too much racism', characters like erik killmonger are much more effective because they garner sympathy while still being 100% unambiguous antagonists. and besides that, killmonger at least had a coherent ideology and plan of action. i mean, even if eren did annihilate the rest of the world, did his idea of freedom include reforming paradis' military dictatorship to ensure greater civil liberties for everyone on the island? what about freedom from labour exploitation? freedom from hunger? freedom of travel? freedom of press? does he actually give a shit about freedom, or is it just vibes to him? my guess is it's probably the latter, considering that he never changed much from his intelligence rating of 3/10.

but anyway, i'm sure this isn't that unpopular of an opinion for people who've read or watched more things beside shounen anime LMAO

[hanagoromo]

✿  ( if you wish ! )

FRIENDSHIP.     childhood friends  /  work buddies or coworkers  /  family friends  /  friends with benefits  /  smoking buddies  /  adventure buddies  /  fake friends  /  recently friends  /  party buddies  /  friendship of need  /  dying friendship  /  circumstantial friendship  /  partners in crime  /  old friendship  / [your muse] is the good influence  / [your muse] is the bad influence  / [my muse] is the good influence  / [my muse] is the bad influence  /  opposites attract  /  ride or die  /  frenemies  /  roommates or flatmates  /  penpals  /  exes to friends  /  enemies to friends  /  other

ROMANCE.     childhood sweethearts  / [your muse is mines] childhood crush  / [my muse is yours] childhood crush  /  exes  /  exes to lovers  /  forbidden lovers  /  highschool sweethearts  /  secret relationship  /  opposites attract  /  long distance  /  unrequited [from your muses side] /  unrequited [from my muses side] /  unrequited [from both sides] /  skinny love  /  friends to lovers  /  enemies to lovers  /  spurious relationship  /  power couple  /  newly entered  /  soulmates [ metaphorical ] /  soulmates  [ literal ] /  awkward  /  turning toxic  /  toxic love  /  cheating [on your muse] /  cheating [with your muse] /  other 

FAMILIAL.     siblings [half] /  siblings [step] / [ my muse] is an older sibling figure to your younger sibling figure  / [my muse] is a younger sibling figure to your older sibling figure muse  / [my muse] is a parental figure to yours  / [my muse] is a child figure to your muse  /  guardian figure  /  legal guardian  /  adoptive child  /  foster child  / [your muse] is taken under mines wing  / [my muse] is taken under yours wing  /  other

ANTAGONISTIC.     dangerous to each other  /  dangerous to others  /  unpredictable  /  rivals  /  petty  /  developing into sexual or romantic tension  /  based off family matters  /  based of off circumstance  /  based of professional matters  /  based off misunderstanding or lies  /  conflict of ideology  /  betrayal  /  hero - villain dynamic  /  enemies  /  fight club  /  friends turned enemies  /  lovers turned enemies  /  exes turned enemies  /  other

PRE - ESTABLISHED RELATIONSHIP MEME 2.0 answered for @enshijou. thoughts under the cut!

hi posi, of course, i would absolutely love to plot something out with ryoji!! i definitely think they would make sweet friends. they're very different, ryoji is extroverted and talkative while kanao is quiet and withdrawn, but it's cute to imagine him trying to flirt with her because it's ryoji and she just. looks at him like :) ??? so he gives up and tries to genuinely befriend her and she opens up over time.

i definitely think they could both positively impact each other. one of kanao's big obstacles early on is that she's incredibly indecisive on her own and depends on other people to tell her what to do / relies on a coin toss to make a decision. i think choice and fate are very relevant themes to ryoji's arc, so it would be interesting for them to explore together! kanao could also be a grounding presence for him since she's so patient and a good listener. it makes me smile thinking about ryoji being silly and eventually getting her to laugh.

as for enemies... i'm still torn between making kanao a member of sees or not in her p3 verse, so i think it would be dependent on that, but regardless she would harbor no ill feelings for him.

o_o;; idk why i wrote so much but.. yeah!

[oathbreakerapologist]

so what was ghost's relationship with the other dead three: gortash and ketheric like?

hey thanks for the question!!

Almost everything about Gortash pissed Ghost off. Even Gortash's appearance irritated him. Having spent decades in captivity with very little control over how he dressed, how he styled his hair, or how often he bathed, Ghost cannot stand to feel unkempt. He couldn't begin to understand why Gortash would choose to look disheveled on purpose, and every aspect of his appearance that reflected that choice—the deliberately haphazard shirt lacing, the neither long- nor short-enough haircut, the greasiness—Ghost took as a personal insult. As far as he was concerned, Gortash had the privilege of comporting himself any way that he wanted, and it was detestable that that was how he chose to look. On a personal level, Gortash disgusted him.

That being said, he still believed that alliance with Gortash (and Ketheric, of course, but more on him in a second) was the best way to achieve his desired end. So he tolerated Gortash, though for him, tolerance meant something like constantly testing how much bullshit Gortash would take from him. He made sure Gortash knew that every person for whom Gortash expressed even vague appreciation was in danger of a violent death if Gortash ever happened to piss Ghost off just a little bit more than usual, and he followed up on those threats often enough to show he meant business. He taunted Gortash mercilessly, physically intimidated him every chance he got, engineered compromising and uncomfortable situations for Gortash to find himself in, and generally made Gortash's life a living hell.

All in all, he was an absolute pain in the ass to work with, and were it not for the fact that they did need a Chosen of Bhaal, Ghost most certainly would have met a bad end fairly early on. He knew they needed a Chosen of Bhaal, so he knew he had job security—he just didn't expect them to use Orin in his stead. In my canon, Gortash slowly manipulated Orin into her betrayal of Ghost; Ghost had proven himself to be a dangerous, unstable, and essentially uncontrollable "ally", and Gortash (rightly or wrongly) judged Orin to be slightly less of a threat and significantly easier to keep in line. Accordingly, I think that by the time Gortash offers his partnership deal during the BG3 campaign, Orin had given him some very good reasons to rethink that judgement.

His relationship with Ketheric was less antagonistic for two reasons. Firstly, Ketheric's physical invulnerability meant he was under no significant personal danger from Ghost, and by the time Ghost was entangled in the plan, Ketheric had no one else left to lose, so Ghost had little to use against him, unlike Gortash and his web of political connections. But even more important than that was that Ghost never wanted to exploit Ketheric, because Ghost works very well with level-headed, unflappable authority figures like Ketheric. Ghost is perfectly happy to fall in line when he wants to, but it's extremely easy to make him stop wanting to fall in line. The moment an authority figure shows even a hint of uncertainty, insecurity, indecisiveness, or fear, Ghost will run roughshod over them. Ketheric never gave him a reason to do so.

Ketheric had Ghost's respect; I can't imagine that Ketheric particularly liked Ghost. Ghost is energetic, high-strung, expressive, eccentric, and frequently obscene. Frankly, I think Ketheric found him exhausting.

[bookcub]

Lizzie Bennet Diaries and Fire Island Character Comparisons (2/3)

Mr. Bingley

onto our mr. bingley's. honestly charlie is cute but boring and quite dumb, whereas bings naivety is explained as a lack of confidence in his judgment and too trusting of the people closest to him. charlie fell flat, despite his great chemistry with howie. bing was indecisive because he was searching for himself and wasn't able to trust his own judgment, giving him more depth. charlie felt rather shallow. and i totally judge him for having a vapid, racist boyfriend. i understood bing while i found most of charlies choices infuriating and dumbfounding. charlie is probably my biggest issue with the movie, character wise that is.

Mr. Collins

both mr collins were vastly different, lbd's collins being misguided and annoying but more sympathetic, like an energetic and overenthusiastic puppy. seeing charlotte handle him is rewarding, a working relationship that was imbalanced and becomes more functional is an interesting arc for both characters, helping enrich charlotte's story. fire island's mr collins (aka the *cringe* rice queen) is just horrible and he is there to show us howie isnt in a good place and leads to a beautifully heartbreaking scene between howie and noah. fi mr collins is there to emphasize the racism of the setting and dehumanizes both noah and howie, while lbd mr collins has more of an arc and more well meaning. he is acknowledging both lizzie and charlottes skills by his business proposal. their function is completely different, and deliver vastly different messages and interpretations of mr collins. therefore, it does not feel fair to compare them as they execution is so vastly different and meant to be interpreted in vastly different ways.

Mr. Wickham

both george and dex served their purpose of initial charm and eventual horribleness. the key differences were in their relationships with lydia and luke. i found the climax of dex's demise more satisfying because we saw will and noah confront him. it was a triumphant moment in the narrative and as a watcher. but the emotional weight of georges betrayal hit harder because there was more build up to the betrayal and the fall out of lydias relationship with him. seeing lydia fall in love with wickham and seeing him use and manipulate her. .. . watching lydia breakdown still wrecks me after all this time. but again, the web series had more time to develop the characters and relationships than the movie. ultimately, i prefer lbd's george as he had a few moments to show how he manipulated the narrative and because of his ultimate betrayal and horrific treatment of lydia. he is a charming and despicable villain, reminding viewers that abusers can be appear nice but actually be harmful and destructive.

Caroline Bingley

both cooper and caroline are a merging of caroline bingley and anne de bourgh from the book, which is very good meshing of characters. it wouldn't make as much sense to add in another character in either situation and also sheds light on their antagonistic motivations. cooper is much more one note than caroline, but again this is due to the time constraints of the story. cooper felt more consistent than caroline and we saw more of his actions of actively sabotaging charlie and howie's relationship. caroline wins out slightly for me but cooper fits his role perfectly in fire island.

Georgiana Darcy

unfortunately there was no gigi equivalent besides a mention in fire island, an acceptable change but it would have been nice to meet more of wills friends and see another close relationship of his. a notable change is how the wickam's character is displayed in lbd and fire island. in lbd, his actions are not revealed as lizzie is respecting gigi's privacy but does share how his relationship with darcy unfolded. in fire island, no information besides a vague warning about dex is given from will to noah. again, with more time (and series!) gigi from lbd is a clear winner to me, although i feel an additional character could have added to overcrowding in fire island

hopefully i will get to our mr. darcies and lizzys in the near future!!

[tiredassmage]

2, 42 for character of your choice!

Picking who to do 2 with should not have been nearly as difficult as it was. This was hard not because I didn't know the answer, but picking who to do it with, lol! And I'm indecisive, so have two for 2, lol.

> hard mode oc asks

2. What is/was your character's relationship with their mother like?

I rarely talk about my XIV ocs anymore (big F in the chat for a certain Imperial Agent taking up all my brain space), but Astor is probably the closest to his mother of my whole active gang. For a time, she lived and studied in the Sharlayan colony, before the Exodus and before she'd moved to Dravania to lead a quieter life with her husband and, eventually, their son.

Part of it is circumstance - Astor's father was a traveling trader and hunter, so he wasn't home too often or for too long, though they had their own reasonably good relationship.

To keep from babbling on too long, though, he was always closer with his mother and she's the one that, in his words, taught him most of what he knows. He respected her immensely, and they were friends just as much as a mother and son. He gets a lot of his values from her and also learned much of what he knew of magic at the beginning of his adventures from her, from foundations in Conjury to the Sharlayan arts of Astrologian. She fell ill and passed around Astor's 18th nameday - a loss he took hard. He spent an additional two years in Dravania maintaining the clinic he'd helped her run before finally heeding the call of adventure and a will to do a bit more good for others with his skills.

Tyr (because you know we can't not talk about him skfnlksdf) is on the exact opposite end of the spectrum. Whether it was his mother or his elder sister on Dromund Kaas that was ultimately more antagonistic, the jury's still out, but he hasn't really had contact with any of his family since joining Intelligence and that's mostly been a boon.

Part of it was that she barely tolerated that her husband had adopted an utter stranger of a child into their home and it certainly was not helped at all by the boy's utter lack of Force sensitivity. Their marriage was most certainly more a political power arrangement between a fairly successful officer and fairly successful Sith.

So, they never really had a mother-son dynamic so much as an Imperial and Sith. One of their few and far between semi-positive interactions was a time she permitted/put him through piano lessons in his youth. While fair enough at the time, it was never a stronger interest or skill and Tyr hasn't played since before he joined the military. (Raina doesn't let go of this nugget of information until she weasels out some short stories from him.)

42. Has your character ever had a parental figure who was not related to them?

So, Tyr's respect for both the Minister of Intelligence and Ardun Kothe aren't exactly secret anymore now that I've finally written some about it, but it is very important to me, lol.

Tyr can't help but respect the Minister for a quiet level of honesty, for looking him in the eye and sharing the learned experience that ideals don't survive Intelligence. He's weaving quiet warnings for Tyr to watch his step into mission orders almost from the beginning, so Tyr trusts that he does what he can to look out for him. Their final conversation before the hunt for the Black Codex is probably the most openly honest about it and struck me as the Minister recognizing Tyr's set of values and, yes, ideals even where Tyr might not have.

"I developed goals in place of ideals, and I found ways to achieve those goals. I hoped authority would help me effect change."

There's a just. Gut-punching recognition of himself in Tyr in this conversation that just. Wwwwww. I'm having emotions about it again. This is another one of those moments where someone else gives voice to something Tyr hasn't quite been able to say or describe to himself. And there's a lot of relief in being able to tell the Minister he's always respected him in final goodbyes. For what it's worth, despite their differences, despite everything that happened, Tyr looked up to him and what happened didn't quite manage to change his respect for the man.

And in Ardun, I think he sees some of the same things. It's especially important to him that Ardun looks after his team, his people. Tyr's an outsider as the defector, he wouldn't have begrudged an initial lack of trust there. Tyr ultimately respects that Ardun takes responsibility for what he puts him through. He values that Ardun listens to him and returns that respect on Corellia, enough to let Tyr bring him in on the Star Cabal.

Shit happens between both pairs. There's no way around that regardless of how much he respects them, but in a way, he can see mirrored strains in both relationships. Tyr sees two people who, ultimately, did their best for him in situations where their hands were tied. Not all of those choices made were perfect, but nothing ever is, and they're honest about it. And that's priceless to a Cipher that was maybe a bit farther in over his head than he ever planned or wanted to be in the politics and power plays of the Dark Council.

[eggrolls-and-fandoms]

#you cannot just say this and not share #begging

WELL IF YOU INSIST :3

AITA for not letting someone save her father even though it will hurt others?

I know how it sounds, but hear me out. There’s a lot of complicated context here and I won’t be able to share everything for safety reasons.

I have two best friends, K (17NB) and S (16F). The three of us are working on a very important project together that will save people’s lives. It’s our life’s purpose and very important to us! It’s on a very large scale too. If we don’t do this, many people will be hurt. We’ve worked very hard on this and are continuing to do so. In just a week, we’ll finally be finished!

But then something happened. My friends have a mutual friend of their own, N (16F). N is a lovely girl, but I don’t really know her that well and we aren’t close. It was of course never really and truly a problem until K told her something that jeopardized our entire project. I was really shocked at this behavior, because I thought they really would have seen the importance of our secrecy when so much is on the line, but they didn’t care! I’m not angry, it was just a very frustrating development. A couple days went past and I thought we’d worked past it, though. I’ve forgiven them.

N hadn’t done anything then, so I could learn to live with her knowing. But then the group started fighting. I can’t go into a lot of detail, just know that it was very messy and still is. And yesterday, N realized that if she ruined our project, she could save her father, and now won’t listen to any reason.

I understand, I really do. If you have a father, that must be horrible to go through. I can’t imagine losing one of my friends! Usually, I’d be all for saving her father. But this is different - saving her father’s life will take away other’s. Saving her father will kill people. So, for the greater good, I obviously can’t allow that to happen.

She is very angry with me for this. I expected K and at least S would be on my side, but they’re not! Not fully. K agrees with N, and I’m scared they’re going to go behind my back to ruin our project. As soon as they were able to, they called me selfish. Selfish! As if saving the world is selfish? As if letting one man die to save thousands of others is selfish? They have no idea the things I’ve sacrificed. We’ve all had to make sacrifices, and this is no different. N is the one being selfish, willing to put the whole world in jeopardy just for one unimportant person. I mean, he’s not even relevant to the prophecy! It’s not like we need him.

S was shockingly indecisive. Usually she’s very quick to pick a side, but this time she’s the one in the middle. I’m really glad that even if the true K doesn’t take their role seriously, she does. I feel bad for her, I do. Her and N are dating and this is really straining their relationship. Not to mention she’s starting to figure out something is wrong with K. That’s not really relevant here, just know that K’s true self is the one that’s been making all the decisions I’m talking about. I almost wish the other one did.

At least she isn’t too mad at me. She definitely is, saying she expected me to be more sympathetic, and that N is special and we have a duty to help her father. But she at least agrees with me on the risk it could cause to the world. She’s wary of doing it in case it really kickstarts the end. She’s constantly trying to find compromises, figure out ways to save N’s father and help the project simultaneously. I did not expect her to be in this role. I’m worried she’s planning something, though. I have no idea what. Everyone seems to be planning something in secret, lately, but I guess I don’t have the right to talk about that.

This has really been weighing on me. Usually I try to be the best person I can be. And right now that looks like letting N’s father die to save the world. But that’s the opposite of what I’m being told. I don’t know what I should do. Am I really the antagonist here?

Started writing an r/AITA post as Ralsei bcus funny and then it turned into a character study on his perspective and unreliable narration. You know how it is

[isagrimorie]

I love that Bell’s Hells looks, on the surface, a very chill group but actually it’s the group with a ticking time bomb and most likely to do a PvP.

But also, like on a twist that almost all of them could have been an evil / antagonist NPC in a different story.

They’re all Spooky NPC, even and especially Imogen, if she goes down the wrong path could be a Big Bad.

(Orym is a tricksy character, everyone in the cast seem to think Orym is also a ticking time bomb).

But by some quirk of circumstance, or personality aren’t evil, they all have darkness in them.

I’m really glad that Ashton called everyone out, and urged everyone to keep each other accountable.

Imogen’s very charming, and kind of frightening in her charm when she wants something done. Imogen’s buttery smooth: “I’d never do that to you, darlin’.” to FCG was actually scary.

I don’t blame FCG for going: “Oh I don’t like how you said that.”

Also, I don’t know if Imogen’s ready to be a leader.

Orym could be a leader but he doesn’t want to, Ashton could also be the group leader but he also doesn’t want the responsibility.

Chetney is too much of a lone wolf, he likes going to places by himself, and I still can’t pin down who he is.

Laudna is too much of a mess right now to do anything but try to get better.

Forget about Letters or Fearne.

Yu Saffiad wasn’t wrong when she called the group out on its indecisiveness.

But I have a feeling once this team finally gets its act together they would be a force to reckon with.*

(*Er, if they stop rolling so low that is, especially Marisha!— Throw your dice away or have them blessed by Ally Beardley or something!).

Right now though, they are facing off with things that at this moment seem like an impossible task for a group of Level 7s.

I have a feeling, they might not be the most important part of the Apogee Solstice where Keyleth and the Vox Machina might be dealing more with the god level events, Mighty Nein might handle the dangers brought on by institutions and empires, and it suddenly falls on the Bell’s Hells to be the B-Team in an event people don’t even know to worry about.

Like the Ring, such a tiny moment but with just as similarly devastating consequences.

(Oh also, Yu is still coming back before or immediately after the Apogee Solstice).

Or as Laura once said: “We’re fighting Delilah Briarwood at Level 7.”

[ordinaryschmuck]

Quick Thoughts On “Destined” from Ms. Marvel

This episode we learn more about the bangle and even find out who the villains are...and it says a lot about this series when I don’t care about any of it.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s still somewhat engaging. It’s even exciting in the last few minutes. But if you were to ask me what I’m more invested in when it comes to Ms. Marvel, it’d have to be the characters and the real struggles that they go through.

The stuff that has my attention is Bruno’s indecision of whether or not he should leave for school, Nakia’s anger at this clearly racist government agent who’s out for blood, and Amir’s anxiety over getting married and having very little money in his account. Even Kamala’s worries about being a good hero, while still leaning more toward the fantastical, is great to watch because it feels real. It almost makes me wish this wasn’t a superhero series and we could just watch these characters deal with these issues and learn to get through.

Unfortunately, Ms. Marvel is a superhero series and, as such, she has to fight super villains who could potentially do a lot of damage, which sounds a little too big for Kamala? At least, for the point that she’s in. This is a girl who couldn’t even fight her main antagonists because she’s not experienced enough to do some real damage. So to force her to fight against these extraordinarily dangerous people as her first gig as a superhero seems a bit too much.

“Well, would you rather have her fight a crime boss? That’s a bit cliche.”

Ok, maybe not that, but look at Spider-Man: Homecoming. That’s a movie that recognizes that Peter was still starting out as a superhero, so instead of giving him a threat like Green Goblin or Doc Ock, they threw him against the Vulture, a villain with a minimal goal but is still dangerous enough to be a threat. I haven’t read much Ms. Marvel comics aside from the first three issues, but I feel like there’s someone in her rouges gallery that could be a threat while not being too dangerous.

I don’t hate what they’re doing, but I feel like this is too big of an adventure for Kamala to deal with. I’m sure it’ll turn out alright, but I’ll be tuning in next time to see the characters deal with problems that anyone can deal with. Not necessarily to see Kamala defeat the bad guys...because this is Marvel and of course, she’ll defeat the bad guys.

[stuff-from-the-void-matron]

Laurel Wreaths & Animal Teeth (11)

(c!technoblade x fem!reader)

(people showed chapter 10 some nice love so here’s chapter 11. sorry it took so long to get out. I threw my back out and doing just about anything has been physical torture. but I’m starting to feel better so here’s hoping I’ll write more soon. but remember, please comment and reblog. they keep me motivated! <3)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Things settled down pretty well after the election. Almost unbelievably so. Wilbur pretty much completely disappeared afterwards. You felt worried and voiced your concerns with Niki, saying you hoped he wasn’t terribly upset he’d lost the election. You understand he no doubt felt incredibly attached to the title of president, and he may feel resentful of you for ‘stealing’ it from him. Niki smiled at you, glad you were being kinder about this than the other contestants would be in your shoes, but sighed and said,

“Yeah, he’ll probably be upset for a while. But I’m sure he’ll come around to accept you as the new president.”

You gave her a thankful smile, even if you didn’t quite believe her words. But then you paused and wondered if maybe, despite all your reservations about the brunet man, it was possible to smooth things over with him? Maybe all you needed to do was sit and have a talk with him. Perhaps he’d gone insane in the original timeline because both Schlatt and Quackity were… well, for lack of a nicer term, total dicks to him. They were openly antagonistic to the former president, banishing him and his younger brother from the very nation they fought and died for, which no doubt added to his crumbling mental state after L’manberg chose a new leader.

But maybe you could be different from Schlatt and Quackity. Honestly you had no desire to be cruel to Wilbur, though you would not put up with any of his BS, and honestly you hoped to have a neutral relationship with the man. So you decided right then that there was no harm in trying. Your smile brightened and you nodded and said to the blonde woman,

“You’re probably right, he just needs some time. Maybe after a few days he and I can have lunch and just talk. Clear the air between us. I’ve never been president before so I’m sure he’d be a great help in getting me better settled in!”

Niki was super glad you were being so chill about all of this. She knew you were the best choice for president. That’s probably why she’d voted for you. (yeah she’d heard your little speech and was really moved) But she’d never tell Wilbur that. He fully believed she’d voted for Coconut2020, and to be fair she had intended to until she was so moved by your speech. You had a way with words that just put the listener at ease.

“Yeah, I’m sure things will be alright,” Niki replied with a cheerful smile.

-0-

You settled into being president pretty well all things considered. There wasn’t as much work as you were expecting there to be for a president. But perhaps your only frame of reference (the US president) was a bit different than your current job (l’manberg president). L’manberg was super small actually. Especially compared to the United States. Hell, Punz’ house was almost as big as L’manberg if you remember right. 

You’re glad there wasn’t much presidential work to do at that moment. Because you wouldn’t have had time to juggle that work plus going back to your village and packing up some of your stuff in your ender chest before telling the villagers (and azo) what actually happened while you were gone. Which had been an ordeal in itself. You felt bad for just leaving to a new place so out of the blue. But you felt obligated to complete the role of president given to you. You’d feel less obligated if there was some other option you felt safe passing the torch to. Someone not a child. That left out every minor on this server and Wilbur. 

Part of you considered Fundy and Niki for the job but another part of you doubted if they’d be able to handle it. Honestly they shouldn’t have to either. It’s no secret that being president is one of the most stressful jobs a person can have. Being in charge of the safety and well-being of a group of people is enough to turn anyone’s hair grey. Even if the group was just like 10 or so people like L’manberg had. You remember seeing a post about pictures at the start and end of American presidents’ time in office. And each president looked at least a decade older in each after picture. Complete with wrinkles and grey hair. Those happened in FOUR years! Their jobs were so stressful that they aged 10+ years in only 4 years.

You were pulled from your thoughts by Tommy practically shouting “We’re here!!” as you all made it over the hill that led to your village. The first thing you saw was the towering bamboo wall around the perimeter of the place. You’d been so in your own head that you’d actually forgotten about the two boys on either side of you. They’d insisted they accompany you to your village as ‘presidential bodyguards’ despite the fact you said you would be fine. They’d practically demanded to go, to ensure the ‘new prez’ didn’t get attacked on the journey. Amused and touched that they cared, you’d finally relented and let them come along. You’d only be gone a short while anyways. At least that’s what you told yourself. 

It didn’t take long to pack up everything you wanted to take with you to L’manberg. You put all the nice gifts the villagers gave you (as well as a couple of the banners you made) and some of the stuff you made and packed it away into a shulker box you pulled from the Creative inventory before picking up said box and putting it inside your ender chest. Then you just picked that chest up and tucked it safely in your inventory and you were basically done. With packing anyways.. You still had to talk to the villagers and let them know you had to move away for a while. But you doubted they’d be heartbroken or anything. Maybe bummed out but they’d understand. It’s not like they’d be lost without you. They’d been living in this world long before you showed up and they’d probably be here long after you left.

Then you were ringing the village bell. And like every time you did the villagers all poked their heads out from wherever they were to see who rang it and what was going on. And when they saw you they brightened and hurried over to see what was happening. They gathered around you and the bell, murmuring curiously between themselves. You sighed and cleared your throat, gathering their attention to you before you hesitated, not entirely sure what to say. Should you explain the entire story from start to finish? No, probably not. That would take a while and you felt like they’d get bored fast. But just blurting out that you were leaving felt too abrupt and blunt. Though your indecision ended up not mattering because Tubbo finally lost patience with the silence and just let the metaphorical cat out of the bag in his usual laid back candid way.

“Are you gonna tell them you’re moving away?”

Oh that caught the villagers’ attention and suddenly you were surrounded by displeased grunts and hums, like surround sound stereos. You sighed and confirmed yes, you were. So with the news out there you started explaining what happened the day before, or at least a shortened version of it. You mentioned how you’d gone to support Tommy, placing a hand on his shoulder as you said this. Then you said how you’d sorta advised everyone to vote for who they felt would lead them smartly, and how you guess they took that as you entering the presidential ring.. And finally how you’d won the election by some points and how you’d not wanted to reject their trust so you’d accepted the job…

“Reader is our new president!!” Tommy practically shouted, clearly excited. 

Though from the disgruntled murmurs from the villagers they didn’t seem happy.. But you told them it would be okay. You’d come and visit them as often as you could while juggling your new job. But even with that promise they didn’t seem happy. Your shoulders slumped a bit and without thinking you said,

“I’m not happy about having to leave the village and move away either. But I made a promise to the people of L’manberg, one I intend to keep.” 

Despite not feeling the best about this you were determined to keep your word.

“Besides, it’s not like I can just pack up the village and move you all next to L’manberg!” you said with a flippant wave of your hand.

But the idea didn’t sound too bad to the villagers. They basically worshipped you as their guardian deity. So if loading up all their possessions and hauling them to a new place meant they got to stay within reach of their deity then so be it. They’d still be living in squalor if it hadn’t been for your kindness and generosity, so they wanted to follow you wherever you went. Be it sunny skies, harsh rain, freezing snow. 

So they all made excited grunts and you blinked at them, catching on to their train of thought pretty fast. You shook your head, missing the confused looks the two teen boys were shooting between you and the villagers, and said they couldn’t follow you to L’manberg. Hearing this made the boys’ eyebrows shoot up and they started asking if the villagers wanted to come live in L’manberg. You sighed and said they seemed to, yes, but it wasn’t viable because there was nowhere for them to live! Moving them all on a spur of the moment thing would be reckless. Not only would the journey be very hard on them and take quite a while but there’s also no homes available for them in L’manberg. 

“We could make some houses for them if they want to move to L’manberg!” Tubbo said with a little grin, not seeing the issue with them coming over.

You rubbed a hand down your face, careful not to jostle your mask too much. But then you sighed and finally caved in. 

“Okay, you can all move next to L’manberg,” you began, but before they could cheer you cut them off with, “BUT! They can’t leave today. I refuse to let them take the whole long journey to L’manberg just so they can be homeless when they get there.”

You said you and some others (who you would pay) would build a new village next door to L’manberg for them. And once it was complete you would come back and help ferry them all over safely. But you might have to take them over in small groups to avoid hostile mobs and stuff. Though despite all the risks the villagers seemed quite happy with everything. So you pulled out your notebook, the same one you’d used when you first showed up to the village actually, and made a note to start construction on a new village to either the North or East of L’manberg. Or whatever side had better building room. But now that that all was settled you bid the villagers goodbye, saying you’d start construction as soon as possible.

With that out of the way you decided to pay a visit to Azo. You missed the adorable little piglin and hoped she was doing okay. Your boys followed you into the Nether, asking what you needed from there so badly. That made you pause and realize they’d never officially met Azo! You smiled down at them and said you’d sort of taken up guardianship of a little piglin girl who lost her parents. You’d expected questions and some comments but got nothing but silence in return, which left you feeling a bit confused. But when you glanced over at the boys you saw Tubbo looking lost in thought and Tommy looking mildly upset. This caused you to stop short, which made them pause and look back at you. 

“What’s wrong?” you couldn’t help but ask.

But they both waved you off, Tubbo with a soft ‘what do you mean?’ and Tommy with an almost harsh sounding  ‘nothing’, both of which didn’t sound the least bit convincing. So you tilted your head to the side and in a firmer (but still gentle) tone you asked again what was wrong. Tommy’s nose scrunched up and he crossed his arms, adamantly saying nothing and asking if you all could hurry up and see ‘this kid’ since you had to hurry back to L’manberg. Tubbo tried to piggyback off Tommy, his smile attempting to be brighter as he agreed, saying he wanted to meet your ‘new kid’. That’s when it hit you..

“Are you two upset that I adopted a kid?”

Tommy wasn’t very subtle with his feelings, his loud “WHAT?! NO!” didn’t convince you of his supposed ‘uncaring’ regarding the situation. Tubbo however reacted slower than his friend, like he was processing what you’d asked before he gave a laugh that sounded too stilted to be genuine and denied being upset, saying that was ridiculous. Tommy actually started walking away, heading in the direction you three had followed when you were together here last time, with the goatish brunet watching him anxiously. But you called for him to stop and come back, maybe a touch sterner than you’d wanted. But when the blond came back to you he refused to look at you, just scowling down at his feet. You felt your heart ache at the sight and let out a calm breath.

You wrapped one arm around the blond’s shoulders and the other around his back, pulling him into a comforting hug. You laid your cheek on the top of his mop of hair, glancing down at Tubbo who was shifting between watching you both and glancing away nervously. Without much thought you removed the hand holding Tommy’s back and instead used it to carefully tug the brunet boy into the hug. They just stood there at first, still and awkward almost. But once Tubbo wrapped his arms around your hips and Tommy’s back his blond friend quickly caved and sunk into your warmth, wrapping his arms around you both tightly, like he was afraid you’d both disappear. 

You took a breath and gently began to rock the two back and forth, missing how Tommy’s eyes pricked with hot tears as he heard your steady heartbeat against his ear. After a couple minutes of just standing there relaxed into the hug you said quietly but with as much emotion as you could put into it,

“Tommy, Tubbo, please talk to me. I can do many things, but reading minds is not one of them.”

You felt your shirt become warm and you frowned and hugged them tighter,

“If something is bothering you two, if you’re sad or upset or angry then you need to tell me so I can maybe do something to make you feel better. I never wanna see either of you upset, so please… talk to me?”

The air around you three was unintentionally heavy, only the sound of fire crackling nearby broke up the silence. It was killing you to remain quiet but you didn’t want to push them to speak. That would just make them clam up and possibly push you away. So you waited, just holding and rocking them as you did. And your eyes brightened when your patience was rewarded.

“.... Why’d you have to go and get a kid?”

You half expected for Tommy to be the one to break the silence, he was always so against the quiet. But no, instead it had been Tubbo who finally buckled and voiced his thoughts. You couldn’t help but ask what he meant. And he sort of stuttered over his words, not sounding exactly sure what he wanted to say before he got his thoughts and mouth to cooperate.

“I thought you already-.. I mean you have us.. Why’d you-..”

If your heart could physically break like glass then you knew after hearing that it would be in a hundred pieces on the floor. You couldn’t help but pull them closer and bury your face between theirs, unknowingly letting out a softened keening sound. 

“I want you both to listen, just because I take another child under my wing doesn’t mean I no longer care about you two. I don’t think I could ever stop caring about you. You’re my boys, and I-....” here is where you hesitated, not wanting so sound weird but you continued,

“If you both want… I mean since neither of you have one to my knowledge… I’d happily be your mom.”

Shy isn’t exactly how you’d describe the two boys you’d begun to care for, but there was no other word accurate enough to describe how they agreed to your offer to be their mom. Tubbo gave an almost meek, “alright, sure” while holding onto your waist and Tommy gave a long-suffering sigh while trying to discreetly wipe his eyes and said, “I guess you’re cool enough to be my mum. Barely though.” That caused you to let out a loud guffaw, your grip on them loosening enough to where you could ruffle the blond’s hair.

“Ohhhhh, Big man himself thinks I’M cool? Very high praise~”

The heavy atmosphere lightened and your laughter had the two boys laughing too. But then a sly grin took over your face and you chuckled. The sound alerted the boys of your mischievous mood and they looked up when you started talking.

“Well, now that you’ve accepted me as your mom I’m legally obligated to do all sorts of ‘Mom Stuff’, I hope you realize that. Like making sure you both eat things besides bread and meat, make sure you sleep regularly, and do the spit thing when you’ve got dirt on your face.”

They gave you a look that was a mixture of confusion and mild disgust, and Tommy couldn’t help but blurt out,

“What the fuck do you mean by ‘spit thing’??”

Unbeknownst to him, he’d activated your Mom Trap Card and your grin grew into a smirk and you raised your hand, casually commenting that he seemed to have a bit of dirt on his cheek, and then you licked your thumb and moved it towards his face. He shrieked and practically threw himself backwards to avoid your spit covered finger. But you still had your arm around his shoulders so he didn’t get far. He rapidly screamed out a verbal blur of ‘nonononoNONONO!’ that had Tubbo nearly doubling over, howling with laughter.

Though his laughter abruptly cut off with a gasp when Tommy escaped your hold, causing you to turn your sights on him. He let out a noise that sounded suspiciously like the bleat of a goat before turning and running from you. You just cackled and chased after him, your longer legs giving you the advantage. You caught up with him before he knew it and lifted him in a backwards hug. Now it was Tommy’s turn to laugh at Tubbo.

But you did let him down, without cleaning his face, and smiled down at the pair and said sincerely,

“All joking aside… I think you two would make a cool pair of big brothers..”

Tommy took that and ran with it, saying of COURSE he would be! He was practically Tubbo’s big brother already! Which just caused Tubbo to argue with him that uh, NO, he was older than Tommy! So HE was the older brother out of the two of them, if anything! And oh boy that caused them both to go back and forth, arguing about who was the ‘older brother’ between them. Tubbo insisted it was him because he was born first but Tommy insisted it was him because he was taller. You just shook your head and led the bickering duo down the familiar path to Azo’s little ‘house’ you built her. And as you reached the open area you saw her outside the house playing with a couple other baby piglins. But when she looked up and saw you she squealed happily and all but sprinted over to you. You made sure to bend down and hold your hands out to catch her. 

She was so excited to see you again that she totally missed the two boys standing at your sides. At least until she heard them and then she stiffened and stared down at Tubbo from her place in your arms. Neither boy really knew what to say so you decided to intervene and put out introductions. You tapped her hand and smiled down at her, helping her worry ease a bit.

“Azo, I missed you! I want to introduce you to my sons! This,” you gestured to Tubbo, “is Tubbo. And this,” you turned your head and pointed to the blond on the other side, “is Tommy. They’re both very nice. And they wanted to meet you!”

You turned so you and Azo were both facing the boys and saw them smiling genuinely. Relief flooded you, thinking they were actually glad to meet the little piglin, unaware the smiles were more stemming from the fact you’d called them your sons so easily.

But you saw the wariness still on Azo’s face and worried she’d not like her new brothers. Suddenly you got a bright idea and your smile widened as you spoke up and said, 

“Hey, don’t you two have a gift for Azo? Maybe something yellow and shiny~?”

Tubbo’s mouth dropped down into an ‘o’ as he realized what you meant. Then he elbowed Tommy and then pulled open his inventory and started looking through it. Tommy glared at him, moving his arm away after getting jabbed, but then his eyebrows raised when he saw his best friend pull out a gold ingot from his inventory. Then he understood what you meant and hurried to look through his inventory as well. Thankfully he did have some gold ingots leftover from when he was crafting golden apples.

Azo perked up when she saw the gold ingot Tubbo had taken from his inventory. And when he offered it to her she couldn’t hold back the happy snort she let out as she joyfully accepted it. You giggled at how she admired the saffron colored bar. And when Tommy extended his own gold ingot you laughed when Azo’s little tail began to swish back and forth in glee as she took that one too. She looked so cute as she admired her new items. You rubbed her back and said,

“See? They’re pretty nice, right? Why don’t we go have something to eat? And we can hang out.”

The tiny piglin seemed more than happy with that plan and snorted happily. You carried her towards the house, her little friends having long since scurried off. The teens behind you followed your lead, joining you in the house. You sat Azo down and suggested she show off her toys to Tubbo and Tommy, which she started doing gladly. The two played with her while you brewed some tea and crafted some cookies. Chilled rosehip tea and shortbread cookies were on the menu and after it was all done you laid it out on the table before calling them over. The boys were all too happy for the chilly drink, the cold giving them reprieve from the heat of the Nether. But Azo was shocked by the cold, not having experienced something like this before. It took a bit of explanation to get her to give it a try, and despite how it made her shiver she seemed to really like it. And cookies were always popular. So the plate was emptied in a flash.

As you sat with the three, listening to Tommy brag to Azo about how ‘cool and tough’ he was and how he’s practically a hero in the Overworld while Tubbo interjected with contradictions, you felt yourself smile serenely; truly happy where you were right then.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

@lady-bee-fechin @kacchasu @putridjoy @lunawritesstories @galaxypankitty3030 @paradigmax @zachariethememerie @killmewithafanfic @trinity-1002107 @hufflepuff-demigod @truthdaze @exorcisms-with-elmo @redbloodtea @heythereimhaylz @olyink @jackalopedoodles @nikkineeky @artsimatsu @hufflepuff-demigod @corpiet @beepa99 @anxiousnarwhale @bananaaddictmilkshake @realitycanbeajerk @lostandsouciant @thegeekisheere @sparkling-gayyy @woman-soot @xxtwizztedxx @v10dw4lk3r

[itsclydebitches]

Hi, everyone! I’m taking this post seriously, I swear. Given everything that’s gone down on YouTube, Reddit, and here on Tumblr the last two days, I wanted to take a quick break from my “The Indecisive King” recap to comment on Twinns’ video. From what I’ve seen thus far, reactions have focused primarily on Twiins’ tone and the “Get over it” message, which is no surprise given that those topics have the most impact on the community at large. Putting forth an analysis that many others don’t agree with is just inevitable—especially for those of us who post fairly frequently—but responding to that disagreement in a deliberately insulting, dismissive manner is precisely the sort of behavior everyone in the RWBY fandom should be trying to work past, whether they’re critical of the show or not. Frankly, at this point I can’t say anything that others haven’t already explained more eloquently. I agree that any of us who can’t “get over” specific characters or plot points have no right to demand that others do the same. I also agree that “get over it” is an unproductive take for an ongoing webseries. Even putting aside both the need to look at the show as a whole and the fact that not everyone has been having these discussions for 2+ years (I often see new fans voicing “outdated” opinions), we’re still left with the racism and White Fang (supposedly) being a major part of the franchise. Blake is still relevant as a central character. As is Yang. As is Weiss. Adam’s impact extends far past his literal, living presence on screen. Or at least it should.

So I agree that telling fans to get over things we’re personally not interested in, assuming that any part of RWBY has a storytelling sell by date, and generally approaching online discussions with an antagonistic attitude are all things we should strive to avoid. I’ve spoken out against cancel culture in the past and I hope to emulate that perspective here: while I fully understand and support anyone who needs to just block and move on, I hope that as a community we can peacefully move past this, whatever that might look like.

That’s my “Gotta reference the major points” intro. As said though, this has already been covered extensively the last 48 hours. Rather, what I’d like to do here is to bypass the drama and look at the actual analysis Twiins has put out. I’m a fan who never particularly liked Adam, but I do understand others’ severe disappointment in his character because I’ve felt that for the characters I am invested in. These questions of if and when he changed—and potentially why—are questions I’m interested in by default, even if they’re applied to a character that’s far from a fave. So I’d like to add a few arguments into the “What’s up with Adam?” conversation.

And yes, I’m excruciatingly aware that a video about getting over Adam has reignited numerous debates about Adam. I’m just gonna set the irony aside for another day…

My thoughts are far from organized here, but something I wanted to begin with, that Twiins doesn’t include in her vid, is the implied age difference between Adam and Blake. We’ve established that he doesn’t have much of a character prior to appearing in Volume 3, but that’s not the same thing as having no character at all. I agree entirely that all we get are tiny bits and pieces, but audiences will inevitably latch onto those pieces to try and get a sense of the character prior to them becoming more relevant to the plot. It’s the writer’s responsibility to ensure that those details accurately represent the character (unless you’re tricking your audience) and the viewers following the logic of those implications isn’t the same thing as full-on headcanoning. If anything, the little we get of Adam pre-Volume 3 holds more weight than, say, any random thing a member of Team RWBY does in a given episode. That’s because we have the expectation that, as someone with very little screen time, everything Adam does and says is put there to make the most of his quick appearance. The character with 100 lines of dialogue can throw out 10 lines that don’t amount to much, or are even a bit OOC sounding, without raising an eyebrow because hey, we already know them so well. The character with 2 lines of dialogue had better make them count and no viewer expects to later hear, “Those lines, that very little you had to go on for years, are actually meaningless.”

So to get back to the point at hand, something as simple as the presumed difference in age carries weight for our understanding of Adam pre-Volume 3. I can only speak for myself, but hearing Blake call him a “mentor” combined with that gap implied a non-romantic relationship to me. I certainly don’t mean that a couple years gap is impossible, I’m only highlighting that Blake is 17 and Adam is in his early 20s. Adam is head of a civil rights movement and Blake, when she leaves, goes off to school. We understand now that Beacon is closer to a college than the normal, shonen high school, but the very early Volumes nevertheless capitalized on those tropes. The girls wear goofy pajamas, have food fights, put up boy band posters, are explicitly called “children” by Ozpin… paired next to the older, more sophisticated Adam out in the “real world,” yeah, Blake feels like a kid to me, actual ages notwithstanding. Add in her “mentor” comment and I more readily assume she was Adam’s partner in the platonic battle sense, rather than his girlfriend.

I’m also not persuaded by the moments that Twiins interprets as romantic. In examining the Black Trailer, she argues that they’re likely in a relationship because “They’re clearly comfortable around each other.” But by that logic, all of RWBYJNOR are in relationships with each other too. The familiarity needed to pull of something like a team attack is just a necessary part of having a partner in battle, perhaps even more necessary outside of the Kingdoms if we believe Blake’s comments about how dangerous it is. We could perhaps read something into Adam briefly carrying her, but that’s also not a move given solely to romantic couples. If Adam is dating Blake because he bridal carried her to safety in the middle of a fight, then Ruby is also dating Weiss.

I mean, the White Rose shippers would be thrilled, myself included, but that’s not the point of this post!

Other details that Twiins highlights likewise aren’t persuasive to me. The “sad piano music” that plays when Blake leaves is, imo, fitting for two long-time partners splitting in such a sudden, regretful manner. And yes, I can actually picture someone saying that a non-romantic partner is “very dear” to them. Give Penny the line, “Oh yes, I love Ruby. She is very dear to me!” and I wouldn’t bat an eye. Earlier, in reference to the train scene, Twiins argues that you don’t give that kind of emotional goodbye to someone who is “just your teacher,” but this line of thinking precludes the possibility of a relationship existing between “Teacher” and “Boyfriend.” Quite obviously, a plethora of relationships do exist. You can love someone without being in love with them and, more importantly for this conversation, not being in an established relationship. Do we really believe that no one else in the cast would give an emotional goodbye to their combat partners/friends accompanied by sad, heartfelt music? In Volume 8 we see Qrow cry-yelling his nieces’ names, Jaune crying over Penny, and Blake crying as Yang falls, but only one of those is presumed to be romantic. Love abounds in RWBY.

The rest of Blake’s speech here, from Volume 3’s “Destiny,” Twiins reads as referencing the abuse:

“I had someone very dear to me change. It wasn't in an instant, it was gradual—little choices that began to pile up. He told me not to worry. At first, they were accidents. Then it was self-defense. Before long, even I began to think he was right. This is all just... very familiar.”

The problem for me is that Blake is comparing Adam to Yang and here, the accusations against Yang has nothing to do with domestic abuse. If Blake had compared them during Volume 2 when Yang shoved her? Yeah, then we’d have a strong case for saying that Yang’s physical violence against Blake, something she would likely excuse as just her trying to snap Blake out of her funk, a meaningless mistake, feels “very familiar.” But Yang has been accused of using excessive force against an opponent—or an enemy within the bounds of the tournament. That doesn’t sound like a reference to Adam abusing Blake, but rather Adam taking violent action against humans; a political approach that says more about his rhetoric than it does his personal life. Indeed, we’ll see this exact scenario in the flashback of Adam’s short. Ghira says that, “There’s no need for violence” and then Adam immediately takes out the entire band of humans, finishing by killing one.

After the other White Fang members cheer at his “heroic” deeds, we cut to him and Blake post-mission where he says: “Blake, I’m sorry. I told you it was an accident.”

“At first, they were accidents.”

I think it’s pretty clear that Yang’s actions are making Blake think of how her partner’s civil rights approach turned deadly, not how her romantic partner used to physically harm or stalk her. Even the short doesn’t give us anything explicitly romantic between them. Again, if Blake putting her hand on Adam’s shoulder in an effort to comfort him is romantic, then Ruby is dating Jaune as well as Weiss.

Twiins is absolutely right that all these details could be read as romantic, but they also could just as easily be platonic. It’s when you combine them with additional details that they lean towards the latter for me. Like, for example, how everything else about Adam in Volumes 1-3 surrounds his civil rights obsession, giving no indication that there’s a Blake obsession to go along with it. Twiins dismisses the scenes with Cinder because they don’t mention Blake, saying that, “There is no character here.” But that’s working under the assumption that Adam’s character is, inherently, all about Blake. The fact that his early scenes aren’t about her is the very thing that works against the later, single-minded focus on Blake that he adopts, making it feel like it came out of nowhere. Those moments, though brief, still paint a picture of his character, one in which he is a leader of the White Fang, with enough power and influence to attract our villains, and—as others have already pointed out—someone who treats Blake as a side-mission at best. When told by his subordinates that they’ll find her he goes, “Forget it!” That is not a moment that sets up the kind of obsession we see later in the series. 

The best evidence I think Twiins gives for the relationship is the Beauty and the Beast allusion as well as pointing out that RWBY has a long history of making their villains abusive. In regards to the first point, however, Twiins herself acknowledges that Blake is meant to be Beauty and the Beast, simultaneously. Yes, Adam as Prince Adam is very much a thing too, but making Blake both characters warps the parallel from the start. More importantly, if we take the allusion at face value anyway, that implies that they would later become a couple, not that they were a couple in the past. Beauty and the Beast is the story of a cursed man who has grown violent in his isolation and needs to learn from Belle how to be kind again. There’s even a moment when Belle runs away from him in fear, only to be saved by the Beast and reconsider her feelings for him. If someone threw me back to the Volume 1-2 days and told me that this fairy tale was absolutely crucial to Blake and Adam’s future plot, then I’d go, “Okay, so Blake is likewise going to be saved by Adam at some point, reconsider her choice to leave, and over time teach him how to approach their movement in a less murder-y fashion.” The implication I wouldn’t pull is, “They were in a relationship before the story even started, an abusive one, and it’s only going to get worse moving forward.”

As for the abusive villains, yeah, it’s absolutely a trend. I’ve commented on it myself with a fair amount of frustration. The thing is though, no one is arguing that Adam isn’t abusive. They’re arguing that he unexpectedly became abusive in Volume 3. Twiins equates his other villainous acts, such as leaving the people on the train for dead, with abuse more broadly, but they’re not the same thing. Arguably all abusers are villains, but not all villains are abusers. That’s a particular type of villainy that, as discussed, Adam doesn’t display until the Beacon fight. So the criticism is asking why that suddenly showed up with, for many, little to no setup. 

Minutes before his death, Blake will yell at Adam for stalking her across Anima and I think fans are right to wonder where that kind of obsession came from when, previously, Adam was the man who told his men to forget her. Yes, all we had early on were clues, but what do those clues amount to? An older man whom Blake calls a mentor, who is singularly focused on his mission to free his people, and who treats getting Blake to re-join the cause as a potential bonus, not a priority. Given that, I can absolutely see why so many fans were thrown by the “Hello, my darling” and have argued that a version of Adam was erased to make room for that. It wasn’t a particularly detailed version, but it wasn’t non-existent either. Fans didn’t headcanon in the sense of blatantly ignoring major parts of the canon to come to their preferred conclusion, or simply make up something off the top of their heads. They had a show giving them scraps about a character for three years and rightly assumed that these scraps held meaning; that what little we got would eventually piece together into a character that felt consistent across the series. Instead, it felt like a very distinct swerve into a new characterization. If the abuse was written badly, which Twiins admits frequently that it was, that can—and I think does—include a lack of setup for the abuse at all. If we agree that RWBY is horrifically inconsistent in its writing, why is Adam the one time it’s supposedly not? Taking a character, giving them one personality, only to drop that and transplant a new one, is a standard RWBY move. As Twiins likewise points out, it often happens in the same scene. If RT can’t keep track of their characterization across a few minutes, it’s hard to say they kept Adam consistent between his early appearances and the Battle of Beacon. 

In the end, that swerve might not be so bad if RWBY had done something with it, but we lost the potential of that vague Volumes 1-3 Adam and likewise got a terribly written abuse plotline in its place. Twiins says that it “Doesn’t change anything” if Adam wasn’t conceived to be abusive from the start, but I think it changes a lot. Putting aside the fact that it potentially changes our understanding of him for the first three years of the show, fans are primarily mad because that focus on abuse left no room for the original civil rights narrative. RWBY wasn’t able to manage both and in choosing what can be read as the new and sudden characterization, everyone who was invested in Adam’s role as a freedom fighter lost out on that story. Normally yes, some part of me would agree that it’s solely the writer’s story to tell. So what if it didn’t go in the direction we wanted? It’s not our story. But in this particular case, RWBY was playing with themes mirroring real world concerns, deliberately capitalizing on the emotional investment of people seeing themselves and their struggle reflected in the faunus plotline. That’s more than just taking the story in a direction fans didn’t want, that’s trivializing a very personal and sensitive topic. You don’t just get to drop that like Ruby’s weapon obsession. Racism plotlines are not a cool personality quirk to forget about when you get bored writing it. Or if you do drop it, expect fans to still be angry about it years later. 

Ultimately, I don’t agree that Adam was an inherently boring character without having Blake to stalk. I think RWBY failed to write him in a compelling manner outside of those interactions—Twiins points out the huge failure that was Volume 5—but that’s not the same thing as the concepts themselves being worthless. That’s like saying Ruby, as a character in an action show, shouldn’t be a part of the war because look, all she did for that fight was sit in a mansion. The writers’ inability to execute these ideas well doesn’t mean the ideas themselves—Ruby being a part of the fight against Salem, Adam being a violent civil rights activist—are duds. This is a character who, in his final moments, reveals a SDC brand across his face. I know supplemental material says something about an accident, but we’re not talking about the supplemental material here. We’re talking about the webseries. So the webseries keeps this man’s face covered for six years and then finally reveals the brand of a title hero’s family logo, heavily implying (whether it’s intentional or not) that he was their slave. As Weiss fights a military official to get back into her own Kingdom and leverage her family’s wealth in this war, the minority character her family potentially enslaved for that wealth finally reveals his personal connection to the discrimination he’s been fighting since his introduction.

What’s not interesting about that? 

That’s the character we might have had if Adam had been more than just Blake’s stalker post-Volume 3; if he’d been allowed to be both. Even overlooking everything else I’ve discussed, that brand on its own obliterates the idea that Adam was only interesting because of his history with Blake. Or because fans supposedly only see him as some personal fantasy. I can assure you, nothing about Adam is my fantasy, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t aspects to his character—aspects that the Battle of Beacon arguably pushed to the side—which could have really benefited the story and been intriguing to watch unfold.