#manipulative scheming bloody BASTARD

[codenamesazanka]

About your AU on Shigaraki being saved by All Might and then becoming a Hero who openly advocates for reform and social change and opens a center focused on Villain rehabilitation, I was wondering if you had thought of Gran Torino’s role in all of this?

Like, does he approve? Did he try to stop Toshinori from retiring to help the boy? Does he have some kind of bond with Shigaraki or does he hate his guts old man style, like “stupid punk youngsters with their damned liberal ideas”?

And what about Deku? What does he think of his idol retiring? I can see him going stalker mode and finding out about the mysterious protege thanks to his fanboy abilities, honestly. That would be a good opportunity to have him research and consider Shigaraki’s views and the perspective of saving villains. I dunnow.

You made me realize I have forgotten about Gran Torino! Given his sorry nothing of a role in Act 3 and basically non-conclusion re: Shimura family or OFA shenanigans, I just forgot he's semi-important lol

But from my notes:

[2 months after the All Might-All For One fight, and capture of Shigaraki Tomura] Gran Torino and Nighteye and HPSC convince All Might to give up on Shigaraki Tomura (after first few meetings with the boy went badly); All Might reluctantly agrees

[Two months after that] All Might has a breakdown when back on the job—Every time he saved someone, he would see Shigaraki like a ghost in the background, angry and bloody and accusing, sometimes looking like Nana right before her death; sometimes looking like (headless) All For One right after his death. One day, All Might found that he couldn’t even smile; Ultimately decides to give up being Symbol of Peace to help Shigaraki

After lots of emotional conversations, Gran and Nighteye and HPSC sigh and says fine. All Might wants to help the brainwashed grandson of his beloved mentor by getting the kid out of Tartarus solitary, which anyone would grudgingly admit is pretty harsh for a 14 year old? Well, All Might did go through a near-death experience, he’s done so much, let him be a little sentimental.

Then Gran also gets involved a bit when Shigaraki's therapy tries to piece together what exactly happened to the Shimuras - mostly there to provide background on Nana and Kotarou, plus helping with the investigation via dusty medical records, preschool registration documents, hunting down neighbors and acquaintances to pry at their faint memories, etc.

But otherwise, I don't really have much a role for Gran Torino! It's All Might's relationship with Shigaraki that would of course be more of the focus; and then because I'm pretty fond of All Might/Nighteye, Nighteye also gets more cameos.

In canon, Gran Torino - who knows how much the Shimura family separation hurt Nana, who was literally there watching Kotarou cry as Nana gives him that last hug goodbye, who knows what a manipulative scheming bastard All For One is - still would say to (Nana's grandson and last living blood relative) Shigaraki's face that he's trampling over Shimura's memory and that his very existence hurts Toshinori (and everyone). What a guy! No, I don't think he would like Shigaraki Tomura in the AU either. Dislike Shigaraki from the moment he learns of the kid's existence. Even after Shigaraki's rehab, he'll prob see Shigaraki as a threat to all their peace.

I think any lessening of negative feelings about Shigaraki would depend entirely on how All Might is doing. Toshinori feels happier now that Shigaraki calls him (Toshinori) "uncle"? Hmph, well, if Toshinori is fine with it...

But you have allowed me think about what Gran Torino would think about Shigaraki's project. Thank you for that!

Gran is, after all, the first person in the manga to state that the age everyone is living in is one of "suppression"; and all his words and actions points to him being in favor of that, working in service of that, even if he does say of it "for better or worse." He's a Hero who sees killing as a form of salvation; he's an old-timer, having lived before All Might's era of peace and seen the chaos there; hell, he doesn't even care about being a Hero, instead simply taking advantage of using a Hero License as a way to use his quirk freely and legally.

I think he would be a guy that probably doesn't think much about Shigaraki's intents of reform. He can provide a good opposing ideology, or at least a countering voice. Question is whether he would do something about it, or just go bah, humbug and not care as long as he can collect his pension or whatever.

As for Deku. I also haven't thought about him much. In my notes, he still does become the next OFA wielder; but he only gets a mention in a dumb joke scene in the so-called "Iida Arc" of this AU (UA sending Stain Arc Iida to Shigaraki Tomura cuz they actually notice the kid needs help).

All Might, dialing Shigaraki week before internship week: Hello—

Shigaraki: No. *hangs up*

All Might, an old man who doesn't text, calling again: To—

Shigaraki: Give him to Gran or Nighteye. *hangs up*

All Might, calling again, all in one breath: It's-not-about-Young-Midoriya. Please.

But I have thought about how All Might's change would affect Deku, who would be about age 10 when All Might's announces the gradual retirement (without revealing his skeletal form) and start highlighting reform efforts. An impressionable age, whether it's from what All Might is doing or (more importantly), what the adults around him say about what All Might is doing.

Idk about stalker mode; Deku would still be collecting All Might merch tho; but it would be funny if he becomes a young All Might Stan and Defender (or, gravitates towards that crowd on tigtog or something) and that informs his future views on Villains.

(Gotta wonder... what's Stain doing throughout all this. I know I mention Stain Arc earlier, and I do think Stain would still be a serial killer <3, but would he change his targeted victim profiles? hmm)

Will say that Shigaraki is not All Might's protégé, and def not acknowledged or connected as such publicly. He's just a Hero that popped up one day, independently. Someone combing through records might see that All Might is a stakeholder for the rehab center, but so is Nedzu and other Heroes and organizations and names. As for on a personal level, Toshinori keeps his relationship with Tomura as private as he does anything else, so the knowledge of him having a 'nephew' is as well known as him having that giant torso wound—which is to say, not known at all.

Thanks for the ask! It was fun!!!!!! I'm really happy you read my idea and thought about it!!!!!! Hope I actually answered your questions!

[ultraericthered]

Redemption Or Nah? #2

Continued from here.

William James Moriarty - REDEMPTION POSSIBLE. While the anime version didn't get around to this, it's pretty much what the back half of the manga has been all about, after Sherlock saved him from offing himself and told him he didn't have to be the bad guy in the stories of others, that he could write his own story in a way that lets show and even evolves his true self, complete with earning his own happy ending. Liam always wanted to make a better world for others, but always believed himself too damned and wretched a soul to partake in that world himself due to how often he bloodied his hands in a life of crime. So can he ultimately break free of his chronic criminality and do good deeds for good purposes? I believe so!

Roswaal L Mathers - REDEMPTION POSSIBLE. He's an absolute bastard, but when you get down to it, he did all the shit he did out of love for his mentor and a belief that the best possible future for him was set in such a way where he'd need to bring it about via his manipulations of Emilia and Subaru or else his extended life of research, sorcery, and scheming would've had no greater purpose. As a mirror to Subaru's own history of stubborness, selfishness and entitlement in regards to his most loved ones, his care for Ram is sincere and he's done some genuine kindness to others, so while it'll take a good long while for him to grow, he does have the capacity.

Amon & Tarlok - REDEMPTION POSSIBLE. And this is one of the most tragic cases of this verdict, because canonically, neither brother truly believed themselves capable of changing, letting go of their past baggage and turning their lives around to atone for their sins. They feared their inner demons would consume them like they did their father Yakone, and they'd only perpetuate the cycle upon the next generation. So Tarrlok acted upon this cynical self-outlook by killing them both in that escape boat, and Noatak allowed him to do it. In AUs where they live on, redemption is feasible and entirely possible for them to achieve. But in canon, their cowardice doomed them.

Unalaq - NAH! This dude, on the other hand? He was willing, without any trace of internal conflict, to betray his own family and tribe, and sacrifice his humanity so that he alone would have the power to re-shape the world and usher in a new age of spiritual domination of humanity even from within planet-devastating darkness and chaos. When even your own kids don't mourn you, you're irredeemable.

Zaheer - SEMIDEMPTION PLAUSIBLE. He's lost everyone who mattered to him and is serving a life sentence, so he's not going to be able to do anything to redeem himself on the outside. However, we see that he can still traverse the Spirit World through meditations. Maybe in his remaining years, he'll see some spiritual growth and be able to do some charitable acts for others in the Spirit World. It's not guaranteed to happen, but the possibility of it is at least there.

Kuvira - REDEMPTION POSSIBLE. But this comes with a big asterik mark since while she ends up being sincerely repentent for her unjustifiable slide into fascism and the crimes committed, both personally and by proxy, she's taken prisoner, convicted in her trial, and will forevermore live under house arrest in a sector in Zaofu, so most avenues she has for the pursuit of redemption have closed off to her. Despite this, she's still not done growing as a person and not unable to do the most minimal of decent acts where she can, so even if it takes the remainder of her life, she can redeem her soul.

The Kiras - REDEMPTION POSSIBLE. Light Yagami, Misa Amane, Kiyomi Takada, Teru Mikami. Hell, even Minoru Tanaka, Light Turner, and Mia Sutton! All of them were potentially redeemable as people but exposure to the Death Note and the allure of the power it gave them put them on courses where they self-corrupted into far worse versions of themselves, with many iterations of Light Yagami in particular ending up far, far, far beyond hope of redemption. But different versions and AUs are plentiful, so there's room to explore what these characters would be if they either hadn't gone down those self-destructive paths or pulled away from them by choice. (The only Irredeemable Exception here is Higuchi. Screw that guy.)

Satoko Houjo - REDEMPTION POSSIBLE. Less so the Gou/Sotsu version pictured, as that anime went out of its way to make her seem beyond redemption, and the witch version of her "returning her to her humanity" after more or less getting off completely scot-free for everything was not a satisfying way to end things. Other iterations, especially the Gou/Meguri version, show her as a broken young girl overcome by a past trauma pileup, struggling with her sexuality and growing up, and fearing the future because she and the friends she loves so much will drift away from her, which drives her towards abusing her looper powers and being overcome by the witch within. Like most offenders in Higurashi, she is reachable and redeemable, capable of recognizing her own sins, repenting and doing better for herself and those she cares about in the face of uncertainty.

Gakuho Asano - SEMIDEMPTION PLAUSIBLE. The sendoff he got in canon strongly pointed in this direction. He never really apologized for going down the wrong path even when he was learning to adjust his methods to be less extreme and adapt to new circumstances, he continued to hold an imperialistic Darwinist view of his system, continued to employ unethical mental manipulation and torture tactics, and ultimately has to face the legal consequences of all the shit he'd done, including his school being shut down. But despite his lack of firm repentance and seeming inability to change his ways, he does show the capacity to learn and grow into a significantly less awful version of himself, due largely to getting back in touch with his old educator methods and the human decency he'd lost long ago.

Askeladd Olafson - NAH! Askeladd, for many years, was a self-interested, treacherous, murderous scumbag who knew he was a self-interested, treacherous, murderous scumbag, not always liking the person he is and the viking stuff he did, but not really believing he could turn away from it, thus making no effort to change. I don't think it's in his character to ever seriously enterain making such an effort. It could be a brief fantasy for him, but in the end, he'll always choose to stick to his current course and not reject his vices so long as they keep him well paid and propells him to where he wants to be in life. He knows there's no salvation for him in the end, bu he did care enough about Thorfinn and Canute to ensure it wasn't so for them.

Cyrus - REDEMPTION POSSIBLE. Not all versions of Cyrus would take the path towards redemption, and one in particular (the anime version) went straight for self-destruction without remorse. But as we've seen from him in Diamond and Pearl Adventure and Pokemon Adventures, and even a bit in Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon and Pokemon Masters EX, this tragic and misguided soul is still very salvageable. At the end of the day, all of his character defects and heinous actions were born of his desire to free himself of his own internal pain, better himself as an existence, and "fix" reality in the best way he sees fit so that all people can lead better lives and live up to their full potential without as much strife and suffering, so he's far from pure evil.

Lysandre - SEMIDEMPTION PLAUSIBLE. To contrast with Cyrus we have this guy, who also sees too much strife, misfortune, crime, wasting, warring and "filth" in the world that makes it "uglier" rather than the more beautiful world it has the potential to be. But unlike Cyrus, who blames faulty and incomplete living spirit, Lysandre discriminates against particular "fools" and "parasites" he blames for the state of things, and lets his unchecked anxiety and obsession drive him mentally unstable, harsh and cruel, going to extremes to address his problems no matter how many lives he has to take. To date, Lysandre has not been redeemed in any continuity, and US/UM and PokeMas EX show him less capable of it than Cyrus, at most being able to find semidemption: turning his psychotic rage and extreme methods towards stopping other baddies from doing harm, never really chaning even as he comes around to the side of good.

Bill Cipher - NAH! Just...read The Book Of Bill. When you get to the end, does this seem like someone who is capable of finally admitting to his faults, repenting his sins, maturing and doing better? To me, Bill seems like a lost cause, pathologically incapable of doing so.

The Joker - NAH! If any single version of Joker redeemed himself, Batman would be without his arch enemy, so that takes redemption off the table. Plus, at his worst he suffers the same deal as Bill.

Yami Bakura - NAH! He's a human soul that got completely drowned out and supplanted by a piece of a demonic dark god's soul, which went on to rediscover and embrace his true self, and sought to fulfill his desire to revive the dark god so that he could destroy the world! Once you are Zorc, forever are you Zorc. He ain't interested to seek redemption and being a better person. He relishes being a bastard.

Wilson Fisk - NAH! I've seen no incarnation of the Kingpin of Crime who ever showed the capacity or inclination to quit being the Kingpin of Crime. The evilness, greed, selfishness and brutality is ingrained too deep into him for him to ever sincerely turn over a new leaf.

Gabriel Agreste - REDEMPTION POSSIBLE. But with the caveat that it once again depends on the variant we're talking about. We've seen Gabriel become remorseful and turn herself back around out of love for his son in Ladybug & Cat Noir The Movie, and we've seen a variant of him that's a superhero in the Miraculous World Paris special. The route his manga incarnation would go down is anyone's guess right now. It's only the main series version of this guy who ended up completely beyond redemption even when he had the chance offered to him by Marinette. That version deserved worse.

Lila Rossi - REDEMPTION POSSIBLE. But again with a caveat: it applies only to Lila Rossi, the person she appeared to be before she got retconned into being just a put on persona by the mysterious villain who is now Chrysalis. For any version of Lila who's the real deal, growth and self betterment is an easy feasibility, even if she's not likely to totally shed her chaotic, amoral, and deceptive ways.

Chloe Bourgeois - REDEMPTION POSSIBLE. Yes, shockingly enough, teenage girls can mature, learn better, and do better well before they ought to be written off as lost causes, especially if the influences on them and what's at the heart of the vulnerabilities get addressed. Shame no one convinced Thomas Astruc of this, so we'll almost certainly never see any such thing with the main series. Let's hope there's still a fair chance for the movie version, at least!

XANA - SEMIDEMPTION PLAUSIBLE. As he was in the original show, there was nothing that could "fix" XANA and make him change his evil ways: he would stop at absolutely nothing to assert his dominance and destroy all life he felt was unworthy of living. In AU narratives, though, there's always a chance something could befall and overcome this computer program to take the corrupt, virus-like nature out of him and reprogram him so that his insticts, calculations and abilities are geared more towards good causes and protecting others. It'd not be a redemption he'd chose, but it'd be something.

Slappy the Dummy - NAH! Slappy is an Evil Incarnate sealed within a ventriloquist dummy, and I don't think I've seen a version of him that shows the capacity to be anything otherwise. He's too bad a guy.

Professor Pericles - NAH! We saw how this went down in canon: the only "good" Professor Pericles is one who inhabits a new reality where the Evil Entity that influenced his entire prior characteristics and motivations never existed. That's not "redemption", that's straight up being a different person than the person who'd existed before.

Dr. Regal - NAH! Again, we see in canon that he concsiously rejects any and all opportunity to re-evaluate his life choices, abandon his evil ways, and become a better person who does good for others. The only thing to ever turn him good was his father wiping his mind and erasing memories of all the years of his life since he embraced evil so that he begins anew with a clean slate heart and mind, which does not constitute him "redeeming himself" for his evil acts. In the anime and manga continuites he doesn't even get that forced reform, only doing even worse evil that ends up being his own undoing.

Iroha Nijiue & Syobai Hashimoto - SEMIDEMPTION PLAUSIBLE. And really only a "semidemption" entirely due to Iroha, who is already acting against the still evil remnants of Ultimate Despair and seems entirely capable of learning to do better once made to understand that she'd been thinking and acting in all the wrong ways in her ignorance and need for self preservation. On Syobai's end, I can't see him legitimately repenting and changing his greedy, selfish ways. He can be bribed into doing good, but the rightness or wrongness of anything he does doesn't really matter to him. He shows he can care about others like Iroha in his own way without actually caring for them, being able to walk away from anyone with no sense of attachment. He doesn't believe people can ever truly change their innate nature, so he's never going to work on changing his own.

Akito Sohma - SEMIDEMPTION PLAUSIBLE. This one's cheating since it's a canonical conclusion. Sort of like Kuvira, Akito ended up boxing herself into a situation where most avenues for pursuing redemption got permanently closed off for her. She can change her ways from the person she'd been, recognize how wrong those ways had been and how badly she hurt so many people, how inexcusable it all was and how she should be forever apologetic for it, and it won't ever be enough to undo or repair the damage she did as the abusive Sohma Family Head, let alone win over the forgiveness of most of her victims. So Akito knows that her priority is just being a better person, making better choices, forming relationships with others who she'd not harm, and living in atonement towards the Sohma family for her sins against them, doing right by them even if from a distance. Maybe it'll all amount to a redemption of her soul when it's her time to go, but it's a semidemption at most for the remainder of her life.

Enji Todoroki - SEMIDEMPTION PLAUSIBLE. Yeah, this is pretty much a rinse/repeat of what I just said about Akito. Enji realizes the person he'd been and things he did to his family were absolutely vile, monstrous and unjustifiable, and he hates himself for it. But for the sins he committed he's had to pay some very heavy tolls of penance and will continue to do so as he makes his efforts to atone for them, for the rest of his life. Redemption is his end goal, not his present.

Dewey Novak - NAH! Dewey curses the blood of his family line that he inherited, the very blood he spilt when he committed patricide while attempting the King’s Ritual, because the ritual’s failure and his family’s resulting fall into poverty led him to viewing the “sacrificial king” role of his family to be but a sham, and he came to resent the Scub Coral and the very planet itself for how it seemed to condemn him as unworthy, also being envious of his younger brother Holland for having been the preferred heir. So Dewey hoped to “purge” the inferior blood from his veins and take vengeance upon the Coral-controlled planet by erradicating all natural life on it and remaking the entire planet, and all of human civilization, into an everlasting extension of his legacy as the “true king” he’d become. He'd do that even if it meant the Scub Coral reaching the Limit Of Questions and the resulting erradication of natural life decimating the entire planet and mass poisoning humanity. It’s neither hatred nor a warped sense altruism that drives him the most, it’s all-consuming pride. He was very much not right, and is very much not redeemable.

Toffee the Lizard - NAH! The only way you get "good Toffee" is if circumstances diverged and he never got radicalized by Seth and his hateful crusade against Mewmans and the Butterfly royal family. Once he's on that path, his heart becomes hardened and his sense of purpose and ego eclipses his capacity to care for others or take ethics into consideration. His one redeeming feature was how he correctly recognized the danger posed by magic in the hands of the Butterfly regime and how unfair it was to monsters, but he threw that out the window when his actual plan to corrupt and end the magic for Mewni was constructed and enacted entirely around his bruised ego and desire for both personal revenge on Moon and the self benefit of his finger and full strength being restored to him, with him callously using, abusing, and risking life and limb of other monsters along the way and even intending on keeping the corrupted magic for himself while enabling the total destruction of Mewni. So Toffee ultimately goes down as what the fortune cookie said: "a great evil."

Rosemary Applefield - REDEMPTION POSSIBLE. She's only 13 years old in the series, all of her schemes come to naught in the end, none of her actions were too terrible to take back, and she voluntarily stepped down from the family and position she stole from Nadja when she came to the conclusion that unfairly usurping a princess life from someone else and in a family that's bogged down in boring, senseless ideas about blood-related birthright and heritage was not the key to happiness. Like I said with Chloe, teenage girls can mature, learn better, and do better well before they ought to be written off as lost causes, and like with Lila, this would happen with Rosemary not likely to totally shed her chaotic, amoral, and deceptive ways (in fact, we know she doesn't in the follow-up novel!)

Reiji Miyabi - SEMIDEMPTION PLAUSIBLE. I laid it out here. The dude's far too much of a self-absorbed, narcissitic and immature psychopath to ever change who he is as a person, but he's got just enough capacity to contemplate and see reason that he could very well re-adapt to circumstances and make life choices that don't rely upon losing himself in his past and fearing what the future may hold.

[typosandtea]

For whoever you’d like to answer for:

♔ — Does your muse believe people are innately good or innately bad? Why do they believe this?

♖ — Do people, in your muse’s opinion, ever really change? Do they believe themselves to be capable of changing?

♙ — How hypocritical is your muse? If they can be hypocritical, do they realise this about themselves? How do they reconcile with it?

♝ — Is your muse concerned about being remembered after they die? If so, do they have anything specific notions about what they want to be remembered for?

[Prompts]

@bokatan thanks for the ask Bo!! :D

Including Thorn on top of Murphy and Tango aha (Thorn is tango's timeline institute sole)

♔

Murphy:

She believes that everyone is good, even if they show it in their own weird ways. She tries her darnedest to see in it everyone, but some people make is so bloody difficult, she is so tired.. People being awful for the sake of it just doesn't compute to her at all, surely raiders only raid to provide for their gang? That the soldiers mean it when they say they are here to help? She is an idealist to the point of blinding herself to reality, and like many of her views she clings to this one for dear life, because she is terrified of what will happen if she lets go.. Levels of denial wider than the river here.

Tango:

Like a many things about Tango, the answer to this question depends on when you asked them. Mostly though: Everyone is inherently out for themselves and anyone who says different is lying, perhaps to themselves as well. Tango is a selfish bastard and didn't even believe in the concept of friends until they started hanging out with Preston. Had a bit of a crisis of "holy fuck hes not trying to trick me or use me? he's really that nice for no reason??". Is starting to believe that some people actually care about others not for what they can gain.. sometimes… Thinks like this as they are from a family of scavvers, scammers and swindlers.

Thorn:

Very similar to Tango, but not in a defensive way like they are. Thorn actually thinks in the way that Tango initially believes people do. Thorn is out here manipulating, scheming and backstabbing her way to where she wants to be, both pre- and post war. Thus she also believes anyone with any sense is like her, only fools trust. Learnt early on that truth and trust gets you nowhere in life, re-enforced by being a corrupt corporate lawyer prewar.

♖

Murphy:

She believes that everyone can change for the better (except herself) and shes made it her mission so far to bring out the good in the people around her.. she has seen how drastically people can change for the worse under exceptional circumstances, like what war and its aftermath does to people

Tango:

They want to believe that they can change but evidence suggests otherwise. Does not like some choices that they've made in the past and the consequences of those choices. has experienced so much physical and identity change over their sixty odd years that they are unrecognizable to all but themselves.. but they keep watching themselves make the same goddamn mistakes every new place they wander. so sick of their own bullshit this time WILL be different even if they have to drag themselves screaming the whole way. (nobody said that change will be easy)

Thorn:

No, people don't change. Sooner or later they will revert to their true ways like a spring snaps back into shape, its always a matter of time till people snap. And why would she want to change anyway? Shes made something of herself in circumstances that would have made her mother weep, twice now and centuries apart.

♙

Murphy:

see above. VEry, and in the most frustrating way of everyone can change for the better except me though I'm the worst person alive. doubly hypocritical in that she believes that she is the worst :tm: while also subconsciously holding the biases that she is better than many others.. That little hole she started to shove the unpleasant feelings into long ago is now a yawning chasm that she is far too terrified to venture into.. but she must, as we all must. and she knows this, though thinking about her many issues with herself beyond 'awful person' is rightly terrifying, what if she is awful after all? (introspection is not Murphy's strong suit, her thoughts do not reflect her actions at all)

Tango:

They may be a prideful lying asshole, but at least they are consistent about it. If you started to flip some of their behavior on them they would probably notice your intent and relize wow that is super frustrating.. and then struggle to change. They are selfish in that they spent a majority of their life either alone or with people who would've turned on each other to make a quick cap.. looking out for themselves is one of the only reason they've lived that long. genuinely doesn't realize that they are rude sometimes.. hypocritical about tech and tinkering in that if they care enough about you they'll likely judge you for your handiwork while you repair or just fix it themselves for you while judging you.. absolutely refuses any form of help especially about their armour though. Very hypocritical about personal space, do NOT touch the armour!! but will stand right beside/ behind you, look over your head, and just lean over you if you're in the way, heck even just pick you up if its convenient, all of which would be less of an issue if they weren't armored 100% of the time.

Thorn:

VERY. but in a 'the rules don't apply to me' kinda way. flirts, lies and murders her way through life. Using her own behavior against her will absolutely land you on her list.. Changes the rules and mission parameters for her own gain, and is slowly building the institute into how she wants it to be with those she thinks is loyal succeeding and those she distrusts or wants gone failing under her 'rules'…

♝

Murphy:

Has been through so much grief, even pre-war, that she would rather be forgotten than inflict that on anyone she loves.. doesn't want to be remembered, out of fear that she will be remembered as a monster or cause pain with her memory.

Tango:

Death is the end and it sucks when someone is gone, but so what? bitch about it? (← hasn't processed the death of a close friend that they killed many years ago, an event that forever altered how Tango sees themselves and those around them, (the bad ending), though at the time Tango was too much of a stubborn skeptic to admit to themselves that they were friends and not just longtime business partners out of mutually beneficial circumstances, is still in denial even though they are starting to realize that friends are in fact a thing). Refuses to think about death long enough to form an opinion of the matter. fair, considering that they have already sort of died..

Thorn:

Oh she WILL be remembered one way or another of that she is sure. doesn't care whether people admire or despise her, but for now in the shadows shes slowly moving the pieces to her benefit and will reveal her hand when the time is right..

[calvatier]

Lues!!! The evil bastard, but he's not the kind of evil that's unnecessary and over the top/"GRRRR I'll kill you because I feel like it"

also I think it's cute he's got his little makeup on, I bet he wakes up every morning and applies a fresh layer then smudges it out

Ramble:

he's more of a "girl wtf did you say to me, disrespect me one more time and you're gonna be sacrificed" aka he loves asserting his power and making examples out of it. He's more mental manipulation than hands on murder,,,like yes he will pretend to care for you so you get charmed into trusting him. This is in his cult setting where he has many followers and all that power.

I don't think Lues would be impulsive and fast with his schemes, he likes to drag things out and play the waiting game. He'll plant a little idea in your head and wait for you to make the decision that he knows you'll make. Aka he's a lil smartypants, he knows how to take advantage of people's ideas of him and his already established influence 😭 and this man can plan VERY far ahead, much like his master. His lessons as a follower of Zofagos have literally equipped him perfectly for this

now I think abt what situations he would genuinely get his hands bloody for,,,he's THE man of magic so why wouldn't he use his potent magic as a display of power ,,,but I dont think he'd kill his followers just to prove a point they already know,,,maybe towards those who commit treachery towards him but he would never kill his followers for no reason.

But also he does do ritualistic sacrifices to Zofagos using followers because above all things, Lues cares most about what Zofagos thinks of him the most. He will do ANYTHING to please his god, and I mean ANYTHHHINNNGG,,, he'll kill thousands of followers (he has done it bfr) if Zofagos asks him to,,Lues wants to gain the favour of his god so badly because he craves power so much, he knows he cant go against the literal god of dominion so he sucks up to Zofagos hoping that he gets a chance to even stand beside him when the time comes that zofagos rules over everyone (hypothetically)

[eclipsecrowned]

AND NOW FOR SOMEONE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT...

JOANNA LANNISTER. (tw for stalking, assault, incest, death)

personals dni.

Backstory: The eldest daughter of Ser Jason Lannister, Joanna was born into the wealth and privilege that other noblewomen could only dream of. Being the granddaughter of one Lord Paramount, niece to his successor, and in time bride to the most recent to hold the title, Joanna's name has long been worth its weight in gold. Despite her father being an unlanded knight, his name and her ambition carried her far.

Such machinations and good breeding brought her to the Red Keep, to dwell with Queen Rhaella as companion. There, she would serve alongside the Princess of Dorne, and met the two men that would gall her the most, the men by whom her life would be defined. The first of these was King Aerys himself, who coveted Joanna and pursued her with the bloody-minded focus of a hound set on a deer. The second was a cousin of Joanna's, Tywin Lannister, who became some other man when in her company.

Joanna eventually married Tywin, despite meddling on the part of Aerys. Afterwards, she departed the royal court and took up her role as the future Lady of Casterly Rock. Despite being the wife of a member of the Royal Council, Joanna kept her distance, seemingly contented with life at the Rock.She gave her husband twin children, Cersei and Jaime, the year before he ascended to become Lord in his own right. At some point, she caught her eldest children in a troubling situation and forcibly separated the two.

Joanna would die almost thirty years prior to canon events. The birth of her third child, Tyrion, proved too great a burden on her body. She is never seen properly in canon, save in a brief dream her eldest son has. However, she is mentioned infrequently by her husband, children, and other relatives, as well as the few surviving members of the last Targaryen court. In standard Martin fashion, her backstory and character are not wholly fleshed out, but her absence clearly has impact on what those who survived her became.

My Fanon:

Going to come out and set this one straight outright: I hate most secret Targ theories that are not written on the wall (Jon Snow, Aurane Waters, etc.) While I am content to let larger fandom/my followers debate among themselves if any of the core Lannisters are secret Aerys bastards, it's a narrative I'm not interested in pursuing via my Joanna. She has so little story or agency as is, and I disdain giving the former to her via her being assaulted by the husband of a close friend. All her children are Tywin's, and Aerys never got as far as he wanted. Please note, however, that this is not me saying that Aerys never hurt Joanna. Abuse can be so much more than physical.

My own take on the whole 'bedding' situation and Joanna being sent away after is actually very important to how I portray her, and it plays out thusly: Aerys got too handsy, Rhaella was made aware of that and realized that his obsession was escalating, she sent away one of her few remaining friends to spare Joanna what we the audience know Aerys to be capable of. However, in the rush of Tywin and Rhaella conspiring to send Joanna to the safety of the Rock, no one filled Joanna in on Rhaella's intentions. She believes she was punished by someone she trusted for Aerys' actions against her, and ends up with a simmering hatred for the Targaryen dynasty as a result.

The last interpretation of fanon events I will touch on is that my Joanna doesn't really mesh with popular fandom perception of her. She's not the sainted Token Good Lannister who could have saved her husband and children and thus the realm if she had only survived. She was harder in nature than that, and a coolly calculating expert manipulator, and either approved of or tacitly accepted Tywin's worst traits. That does not, however, mean that she falls to the other side of fandom that presents her as a poisonous scheming bitch in the same vein as her kin. There's a true thread of kindness in her, especially for victimized women and outcasts, she's a learned woman who eschews several in-universe prejudices, and she is quick to defend those who earn her loyalty at any cost. My Joanna is a deeply complicated woman with both vices and virtues.

Rohanne Webber was renowned for her red hair, and I headcanon the Presters are likewise ginger. By these power combined... My Joanna is only barely strawberry blonde, leaning heavily towards copper-colored locks than true Lannister gold. She's quite pale like most real world European redheads, too, which means that she freckles easily. And yes, she hates that. So much.

All three of her children get some aspect of her personality. Cersei gets that permissive, doting idea of motherhood from her mother, even if she might not fully remember it -- Joanna might not have always understood the twins, but they always got what they wanted from her within reason. Tyrion has her voracious appetite for knowledge and the written word, though she favored myths and poetry over his love for history. Jaime, unfortunately, got the coping mechanisms: You go away inside yourself. Whatever they make of your body, they cannot take your mind, so you seal yourself behind it like a locked door. This is not to say she's a carbon copy of any of them, just that maybe some things do come to nature over nurture.

In the afterlife, Joanna is raging against her entire family. Her husband's monstrosity towards other women after all she went through with Aerys. The twins for having done such a horrid, unforgivable thing with the bond they were given. The son she never knew choosing the path of least resistance over becoming something more than what he has endured. She does not smile upon any of these people. She has regrets.

A study in: Parents as People / Born in the Wrong Century / A half-painted portrait / Never speak ill of the dead / Female ambition / "Up on a pedestal or down on your knees, it's all a male fantasy." / Tears are a woman's weapon / The courts of women / "For hands of gold are always cold but a woman's hands are warm." / A secret history / The things we leave behind / Regicide / "Women have minds and souls as well as just hearts, and they’ve got ambition and talent as well as just beauty. And I’m sick of people saying that love is all a woman is fit for."

Verses/AUs:

Mainverse: Follows Joanna through her arrival in Kings Landing through her eventual demise. Canon-compliant save for the touches necessary for my interpretation of certain events canon treats as ambiguous. Beginning with Joanna's arrival as a maiden to serve Queen Rhaella and following her through adulthood, marriage, and motherhood. Potential triggering content abounds, at least where Aerys is concerned.

Survival: Follows Joanna through pre-AGOT events up to the most recent canon. Joanna survives the birth of Tyrion, though weakened and unable to have any more children. While this generally improves Tyrion's odds as a Lannister give his mother is in his corner, the rest of canon is a question mark to be defined by my partners and I in terms of divergences. Potential triggering content in any setting where Cersei and Jaime still follow through on whatever happened to make them like that.

A Lionesses Survival: Follows Joanna in a wholly fleshed out survival AU. Beginning shortly after her canonical time of death and ending some decades past the current 300 year of canon. Joanna being alive does not magically fix the timeline, but she and Tywin conspiring against Aerys and Rhaella and Joanna making amends does completely upend pretty much every event in book canon. Comes with extensive lore that I'm happy to flesh out to interested parties.

Plot bunnies/Calls to Adventure:

For older muses: Your character knew Joanna from her time in court, both the victories and the insults. Whether we play out their time together as courtiers under the Targaryens or pick up with your muse reaching out to the now Lady of the Rock after her tenure at court came to an end, there's ample opportunity to flesh out a dynamic and see where it went/goes.

For younger muses: Your character has some tie to Joanna's children, whether as friends, rivals, or lovers. Joanna, for her part, is going to dissect your muse verbally to see if they are worthy of the time and effort her child puts into this relationship. You want to have some part in the story of one of her kids? You go through Joanna first. Generally based in survival AUs.

For Lannister muses: Wife, mom, cousin, sister, Joanna is many things to the various Lannisters we meet. Give me any opportunity, canon-compliant or AU, to flesh out these dynamics. Let's give her some depth beyond 'everyone apparently liked her and she pegged Tywin.'

For Lannister loyal muses: Tywin might be ruled at home by his lady wife, but that lady wife also rules while her husband is away from home. Your muse needs something of their Lord, and Joanna is the one that handles negotiations. Your muse must win fair lady's favor in order to pursue their own aim, as nothing moves within the Rock without her knowledge and approval.

For 'Targs Negative' muses: The only good Targaryen king is a dead Targaryen king. Aerys is a brute and monster, who landed solidly on the madness side of the coin. Towards the end of her life and into her survival AUs, Joanna was conspiring to bring him down and instate his son as king with her husband as Hand and Regent. Join her whisper war rebellion in its early stages and see what can be done before Aerys goes too far into his madness.

Notes on this character:

I think I covered pretty much all my heavy canon/fandom divergences under the fanon panel of his post? But yeah, Joanna and Aerys never went all the way, all her kids are Tywin's, she's not some sainted innocent too good for this sinful earth idealized woman nor is she the totally stripped of character to be a strawman bitch that anti-Lannister readers want the family to be.

Given my own trigger, I'm liable to be very selective in the Tywins I write with. My main is written by my best friend Axem, who I trust and who understands and respects my boundaries. Not that I think other writers would do otherwise, just that I feel more comfortable at the outset with them compared to a stranger.

Definitely open to shipping her elsewhere than Tywin. Love me some AU potential. My one hard line is no, I'm not shipping her with Aerys. In any capacity. Even in AU. Feels synthetic feels bad on my brain.

[billiejean485]

... Did he -

Did he JUST D:<

[allegra-writes]

"The Aftermath" Part III

Armand x Daniel Molloy

NSFW

Warnings: Rough sex, dirty talk, a tiny crumb of daddy kink. Idk, this turned out cleaner and more angsty than expected

Disclaimer: I don't own any recognizable character, and for legal reasons I won't be accepting tips for this story or any story set in Anne Rice's Immortal Universe. Thank you!

MY MASTERLIST | SERIES MASTERLIST

Previously Next

“What the fu- GET OFF ME”

“I will not!” Armand had both of Daniel’s wrists gripped tightly, using the full weight of his body to pin Daniel’s to the floor, effectively trapping him, “If I have to physically restrain you to stop you from leaving me, so be it”

"You can't keep me here against my will!" Even as he said it, he wondered if, maybe, he could. Vampiric strength and all, he couldn't seem to make Armand budge. The more his maker pressed down on his wrists, the more Daniel understood just how much Armand had contained himself around him, the force he was using on Daniel would have shattered his bones to dust had he still been human.

"Then choose to stay!" Armand demanded, childlike and petulant, as if he truly couldn’t grasp why it had to be more complicated than that.

“It doesn’t work like that!”

“Then tell me how to make you want to stay! I’d do anything” He begged, and Daniel was able to hear the catch in his voice, feel the last thread of self-control Armand was desperately trying to hold onto. Daniel himself was feeling his own control slip. For all the power he could feel in his newly undead body, having the vampire -the other vampire, he was a fucking vampire too- so close, seeing the slow, faint pulse of blood pumping inside the bulging vein of his neck, was making him dizzy. Startled, Daniel realized he was hungry. “Anything you want me to do, I’ll do it. Anything you want me to say, I’ll say it”

Daniel shook his head in an attempt to clear it, to focus on what Armand was saying, but he took it as a refusal.

“You want me to apologize, for what little it would do? Fine, I will, even as it will not change anything. I am sorry. I am sorry for refusing to turn you when you asked me to, I am sorry for taking your memories of me and forcing you to live on. I am sorry for indulging Louis in his little schemes simply because the prospect of seeing you, of having you near again was too tempting to pass, I am sorry for not letting you die. I am sorry" Armand was practically screaming now, bloody tears streaming down his face, the mask of composure stripped away, "And the worst part is, I am not sorry at all. If I had the chance to turn back time, I would do it exactly the same, because I simply can't bear to even imagine a world where you don't exist anymore!"

Daniel cursed internally as he felt the words warm something up inside of him, melting his resolve, his righteous anger, away. Some forgotten, protective instinct inside himself, like a dormant agent that only Armand’s tears could activate. He had never been able to resist those tears, the bastard probably knew that. Even at his worst, at the height of his junky days and his mercurial, violent behavior, Daniel had always stopped short in his warpath of destruction to kiss those tears away. Armand, the puppet master, the play director, had to remember that.

Damned him. Damned the consummated actor, damn the manipulative bastard, damned the controlling freak. Damned his boyish face, so heart-rendering as it twisted in suffering. Damned his love. Damned the tears Daniel knew to be sincere.

“Damn you, Armand!” Daniel cursed, out loud this time, before crashing his mouth to his.

Damned himself. He had just damned himself, he could tell. There was no way an addict like him could get a taste of that and not become immediately hooked on it. The way Armand’s searing, silky lips felt against his own -hot with his blood- it was as if the link between their minds was there again, he could feel the kiss on his brain, the electric clarity of a thought, that's how pure it felt.

And then, Armand started kissing back, coaxing Daniel’s lips open with his own, his scorching, sultry tongue slipping inside his mouth, just a little bit, just enough for the tip to lick at the unbelievably sensitive interior surface of his upper lip, only to withdraw again, as Armand drew back, ending the kiss too soon, way too soon.

“Daniel,” There was concern in Armand’s voice, “you’re trembling”

“Feels good” Daniel mumbled. Understatement of the fucking century, but words were a little beyond his capacity at the moment. Something shifted in Armand’s eyes, the briefest spark of lust, pride, greediness, before settling on mischief.

“My firstborn… brand new and tender, a neonate” He whispered, almost in awe, before the mischievous look returned, “Everything must feel so different and overwhelming”

Daniel had no warning before Armand’s hand slid into his pants, making him cry out.

“Fuck, you’re evil!” There was probably a crack in the marble after Daniel threw his head back against it, but Armand didn’t mind, all of his attention on the newly fanged vampire as he closed his fingers around his length.

“And you, my beautiful boy, are mine” He whispered hot against Daniel’s neck, making shivers explode over his entire body, rippling and multiplying like the quiet waters of a fountain when a penny was dropped in it, “as you were always meant to be”

Before he could protest, say something inane and stupid that they both knew to be a lie, like how Daniel wasn’t his, the hand around his dick started moving, pumping slowly, the pressure carefully measured, barely there at all, but enough for Daniel to feel it, enough for speech to be an impossible feat for his mouth, busy as it was moaning.

“Do you like it, Daniel?” Armand’s devilish mouth was nipping at Daniel’s jaw, sucking at his earlobe, murmuring dirtily at his ear, “How even the smallest of frictions feels so intense on your cock? And that’s just my hand… imagine how my mouth would feel” He punctuated with a long, filthy lick at Daniel’s now hypersensitive neck, “How my cock would feel inside you… How yours would feel inside of me… I’ll never again feel cold to you, did you know that? Even if I don’t feed, you and I will be the same temperature. Can you imagine that? All that heat, all that exquisite pressure… we are so strong, Daniel, we have muscles humans don’t even realize they have, I could squeeze you just right, ride you until you came, and then just keep ridding you until you cried… You always did like it when I made you cry in bed, remember now, my Daniel?”

He did remember. Fuck, he remembered it all: The intricate patterns Armand would draw on his body with black ropes, tying him up tight and pretty just so he could spend hours torturing him, edging him with his hands and his tongue and his toys to the very brink of insanity, and then making him come over and over again until tears came to his eyes and he begged for mercy.

The devious vampire stopped the movement of his hand until Daniel opened his eyes to look at him in question, never once breaking eye contact as he licked his palm wet and sloppy, before wrapping the slick hand once again around Daniel’s cock, grip firmer this time, even as he kept the milking movements slow and measured.

“Do you want that, Daniel?” His personal devil asked, low and seductive, “Because I want it. I want to feel you inside me…”

Not fifteen minutes ago, Daniel had bragged about his self-control, the stoic discipline born out of a lifetime of self-denial, but there was only so much an ex-addict could take. It was one thing to wave a bottle of whiskey in the face of an alcoholic, it was a very different one to wet his lips with a few drops of Macallan 1926 and expect him to remain composed. And Armand was a fucking bottle of Isabella’s Islay. With a feral, animal snarl, he snapped, stunning Armand beyond reaction as he turned them around so he would be the one hovering over the older vampire. Daniel wasted no time with niceties, one hand holding Armand by the neck while the other frenziedly tore at shirts and pants and gloves until not a stitch of offending fabric was left to obscure the view of bronze skin and taut muscle. All the while, Armand smiled up at him beatifically, basking in Daniel’s fury, in the urgency and violence of his moves, parting his legs to make room for his crazed fledgling.

Daniel touched the pads of his index and middle finger to Armand’s plump bottom lip, slipping them inside the warm cavern of his mouth when he opened for him, pressing down on his tongue, letting him choke a little in his eagerness for sucking them, to taste them, to welcome any part of himself Daniel was willing to give into his body, whining as Daniel made to withdraw them before demanding,

“Bite”

He obeyed, eyes rolling back at the taste, but Daniel didn’t allow him to enjoy it for too long, quickly taking his fingers out of Armand’s mouth to briefly tease at his rim before shoving them inside, as deep as they would go, making his maker cry out.

There was little in the way of preparation, Daniel only managing to thrust and scissor his fingers inside Armand’s unholy, silky heat a couple of times before the demanding brat started begging,

“Now, Daniel, I want you now. I want to feel it, I want you to make it hurt!”

Daniel didn’t have to be told twice, letting go of Armand to lower his jeans and underwear just enough to free his dick and used his bloody hand to slick himself up before guiding his cock with Armand’s entrance and pushing in.

It was so immediately, devastatingly overwhelming that Daniel’s arms almost buckled, making him almost lose his balance. He managed to keep it together but barely, needing to hide his face in the crook of his maker’s neck to center himself again. Meanwhile Armand, as desperate and disheveled as Daniel had ever seen him, tried to wrap his legs around Daniel to push him down, to undulate his hips, anything to force more of Daniel inside himself, but one of Daniel’s strong hands splayed right below his navel was enough to pin him in place.

It was a power trip like no other. Of course they had switched before, inverting their usual roles of dominant and dominated, hardly anything could be found that they hadn’t tried in the heyday of their psychosexual games together. But it had always been make-believe, nothing but the flimsies illusion of control until Armand got impatient and flipped them over to ride Daniel as hard and as fast as he could without breaking his fragile human bones. Daniel had never held any real power over Armand… until now. Being able to keep his demonic lover in place with just one hand, forcing him to wait patiently, to take only what Daniel gave him, inch by agonizingly slow, unescapable inch, carving a place for himself inside this ancient, almost almighty monster that had haunted his dreams and nightmares for so long was exhilarating, to say the least.

By the time Daniel’s balls hit the supernaturally smooth skin of Armand’s buttcheeks, he was a sobbing, quivering mess under Daniel’s heavy, dead weight.

“Danny… Danny, please… I need… I need…”

“What do you need, baby? Tell Daddy what you need…” Daniel murmured, tone not-quite mocking. Armand whimpered, hands shaking as he clutched at Daniel’s wool-clad biceps, his shoulders, his hair, anywhere he could reach. Daniel kissed his blood-sweat damp curls, soothing.

“Don’t worry, baby, daddy’s gonna fuck you just the way you need it” Daniel rocked his hips a couple of times testing the give of Armand’s hole, splayed so snug around his cock, as much as his own resistance. He was acutely aware of every single one of his senses as they fired stimulus after stimulus at the speed of light. The only thing he could compare to how everything felt was that party down in Brooklyn so many years ago where he had tripped on LSD and ended up getting pounded within an inch of his life on the rooftop under a maroon sky. Both experiences had Armand at the center as his Polaris, the bright north star guiding him home, making sure he didn’t get lost in the whirlwind of sensation.

Proud of himself and sure he would not shoot his load as soon as he moved, Daniel pulled out. Not a couple of inches, not until just the tip remained inside, he pulled all the way out, just so he could slam right back in, muffling Armand’s cry with his kiss. Finding his purchase on Armand’s thick, athletic thigh, he hoisted it higher around his waist to deepen the angle of penetration and laid it in, setting a punishing, merciless rhythm that had Armand clawing at the back of his sweater, ripping the fabric to shreds.

“Daniel… My Daniel!”

“Yes, say my name baby… wanna hear you scream it… Fuck! You feel so fucking good…” Daniel almost asked, would have if he had found the words to do it, if it would always feel like that, every nerve on his body aflame, all of his newfound, insurmountable brainpower focused on one single point, the place his body sank into Armand’s over and over again. He could feel himself becoming this wild creature, this tameless animal with no higher reasoning, no other purpose but to have and take and possess the being under him, vampire instinct screaming at him, the voice of a revenant inside his own skull, telling him to mark his maker as his, to complete the ritual, to finish what Armand had started half a century before. Daniel felt his fangs descend, the drag of the dry bone almost sensual against his gums.

“Yes! My beloved, my fledgling, my Daniel… do it!” Armand clamored for it, exposing the enticing, endless curve of his neck, a lure impossible to resist. Daniel bit down.

Love. Cherishing, worshipful, all-encompassing love hit Daniel like a train as soon as Armand’s blood touched his tongue. He knew what it felt like, to have Armand inside his head, but that had never been a two-way street, even as the vampire had been more forthcoming inside the privacy of Daniel’s mind, his secrets had never been laid bare in front of Daniel like that.

Can you taste it, Daniel? Do you feel the sweet caress of the blood as it floods your insides? That searing, luxuriant gush of warmth as it flows incandescent from my veins to yours? I promise you, is just as orgasmic every time. There is nothing more intimate than holding a life between your arms and drink it up, no greater pleasure to our kind. Is it always going to be like this, you ask? Well, lover mine, my precious newborn, blood of my blood, sin of my sin, it won’t. In this big, wide earth, in this savage garden, no blood will ever taste as sweet, nothing will ever feel as good to you as I do. I am your maker, Daniel, nothing will ever satisfy you as I will.

A part of Daniel wanted to rebel, to protest, to push Armand away but it was useless. After all, he doubted any of his theatrics would be convincing, not after he came so hard at Armand’s words he could feel it overflowing his maker’s slight frame, leaking down his shaft, dripping on his balls. He parted from Armand’s neck, throwing his head back, overwhelmed by his very first swoon. And Armand, ruthless monster that he was, took advantage of his momentary helplessness to flip them over, straddling Daniel’s thighs so he could not escape.

“You did not think I was done with you so soon, did you, beloved?” He asked, the very image of depravity as he lazily stroked his leaking cock.

No. Daniel didn’t even dream of it…

To be continued...

[hp-mcd-fest]

💀Day 13 💀

Title: chamber of my bloody mind Author: @girl-with-goats Characters/pairing: Harry Potter/Tom Riddle Rating: E Word count/length: 9170 Warnings: MCD, Suicide, Blood, Psychological Torture, Psychological Game, Drowning, Toxic Relationship, Tom is a Manipulative Bastard Summary: Voldemort won the war. Harry Potter is held captive as one of Voldemort’s most valuable prisoners—he remains the last Horcrux, the key to the Dark Lord’s immortality. The prison he’s trapped in, isn’t, by any means, an ordinary one: it’s both a physical and a mental box. So, how does one escape such an intricate trap? Why—simply by dying. Chapters: 1 – Prompt: 128 - Voldemort wins AU, where Harry is the last horcrux and kept alive for that reason. At first Harry wants to survive, but eventually, after much desperate scheming to manage it, kills himself both because he can’t handle the world he lives in anymore and to make Voldemort mortal again.

[samclownchester]

Supernatural Rewatch 04x08

Wishful Thinking

(Next Episode | Masterlist | Previous Episode)

This entire episode is centered around the idea of wishes that go bad. I find it interesting because the brothers have this conversation where they argue that you aren’t supposed to get what you wish for:

DEAN You're not supposed to get what you want, man, not like this. Nobody is. … We are miserable. We never get what we want. In fact, we have to fight tooth and nail just to keep whatever it is we got. SAM But you know what? Maybe that's the whole point, Wes. DEAN Yeah, people are people 'cause they're miserable bastards, 'cause they never get what they really want. SAM Right, yeah, you get what you want, you get crazy.

Which I’m not sure what to make of in the grander scheme of the show, because sure, neither brother has ever really had the life they wanted, but at the same time they both make some pretty intense wishes come true (ie. I want my brother to not be dead.). I guess if I were to draw a conclusion about this I would say that the point is there is always a price. Sure, Dean got Sam back but he paid for it dearly. And now Sam is on his way to fulfilling his own wish, but that’s going to cost him too.

That brings us to an interesting fact about Sam that we learn in this episode: He doesn’t want a normal life anymore.

DEAN Come on, if you could wish yourself back, you know, before it all started... Think about it. You'd be some big yuppie lawyer with a nice car and a white picket fence. SAM Not what I'd wish for. DEAN Seriously? SAM It's too late to go back to our old lives, Dean. I'm not that guy anymore. DEAN All right, well, what, then? Hmm? What would Sammy wish for? SAM Lilith's head on a plate. Bloody.

Am I the only one getting Age of Ultron era Steve Rogers vibes?? (Funny how for both of them this attitude didn’t seem to stick.)

Dean reacts to this with a little bit of unease, because, just like in 4x04, he wants Sam to be his nerdy little brother. But that’s not who Sam is, or honestly ever really was. I think he never really disliked hunting (as we saw in the first couple of episodes, he’s a natural at it and falls back into it very easily). I think he wanted to get away because he hated being controlled, hated feeling like he couldn’t make his own choices. (Now, of course he’s being manipulated by Ruby but --) he at least feels like he’s made his own decision to hunt down Lilith. Just like in Season 1, he’s focused on an end goal, and just like in season 1, he’s not interested in going back to normal life, at least until that end goal is achieved.

Dean’s arc this episode is centered around finally telling Sam that he remembers Hell. We have a couple conversations between them that remind me of 2x02 and 2x04, when Sam was trying to get Dean to open up about John’s death. For example:

SAM The nightmares, the drinking. I'm with you 24/7. I know something's going on. DEAN Sam, please. SAM Uriel wasn't lying, but you are. You remember Hell, don't you? DEAN What do you want from me, huh? What? SAM The truth, Dean. I mean, I'm your brother. I, I just wish you'd talk to me.

Just further solidifying their roles, with Sam trying to be Dean’s emotional caretaker (all the while avoiding dealing with his own emotions.)

But when Dean finally admits that he does remember Hell, he refuses to go into detail saying:

DEAN How? Do you really think that a little heart-to-heart, some sharing and caring, is gonna change anything? Hmm? Somehow... heal me? I'm not talking about a bad day here….The things that I saw... there aren't words. There is no forgetting. There's no making it better. Because it is right here... [taps his head] forever. You wouldn't understand. And I could never make you understand. So I am sorry.

Which, sounds very similar to what Sam said in 4x04

SAM There's nothing more to say. I can't keep explaining myself to you. I can't make you understand…. Because this thing, this blood, it's not in you the way it's in me. It's just something I got to deal with.

Once again, clearly splitting them apart. They both have these dark and troubling experiences that they feel make them unworthy and broken. They feel isolated from everyone but especially from each other.

[ketsuekki]

THE BLOODY WRAITH: JAPAN’S S-RATE BLIGHT!

PROFILE.

NAME: Keumi, Minami // 毛海美波. ALIASES: The Bloody Wraith (alt: The Bloody Onryō, The Bloody Goryō), Leech Bitch. AGE: 25 (as of chapter 296) D.O.B: 22nd of May. BLOOD TYPE: AB negative. GENDER: Cis female. SEXUALITY: Closeted bisexual, heavy preference for women. NOTABLE CONDITIONS: Antisocial Personality Disorder, Sexual Sadism Disorder, Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, anemia (occasional, result of quirk overuse), dyslexia. APPEARANCE: Pallid skin tone. Thick, wavy and short green hair that reaches just past her shoulders. Green eyes with prominent dark circles beneath them. Abnormally sharp canines and two pairs of fangs; one pair beside her canines and one pair below them. Large (large!) breasts with a thin and lithe build. Little muscle. Arms and legs covered in self-harm scars. Has a thin, raised scar across her throat. 187cm tall and weighs 65kg. ETHNICITY: ½ Russian, ½ Japanese. NATIONALITY: Russian (formerly), Japanese. OCCUPATION: freelance photographer, yakuza head, terrorist. AFFILIATIONS: All For One, The League of Villains, Ketsueki-kai.

QUIRK.

Minami’s quirk is “Blood Pump”!! It is an Emitter-type power that has run in the Inoue clan’s ruling branch for over two hundred years, and allows the user to produce and control their own blood. Things such as volume, power and shape can all be changed to the user’s will --- but although the blood can be manipulated into various forms, movements or even pressurised streams, it should be noted they are unable to actually solidify it beyond the consistency of an average clot. 

This quirk uses the holder’s vitality as “fuel” to make and exert control over their blood and is extremely draining; its use must be efficient and tactical to prevent extreme exhaustion or, in some cases, death. Minami can use Blood Pump at her maximum output for roughly twelve minutes before falling into unconsciousness. The blood can not be controlled from more than ten metres away if it isn’t in contact with the user’s body. 

Unless it is being actively suppressed with a nullification quirk or the bearer has run out of stamina, this quirk can be used for the survival of otherwise fatal injuries by compensating for blood loss and, if there’s the skill for it, even ‘manually’ running one’s own circulatory system until proper treatment arrives.

Minami’s unique iteration of this quirk is the result of her parents’ powers combining, allowing others to receive a temporary powerup via consumption; since her blood is saturated with her life force, others can become energized and have their own quirk factors boosted from consuming it. The other quality she inherited from her father’s ability --- Ambrosia --- makes her blood adjust itself to be registered as delicious no matter the person tasting (or smelling) it. It has the potential to be addictive.

BIOGRAPHY.

Minami was born in the slums of Moscow alongside her identical twin Kiseki; their parents were Keumi Rui and Keumi Hanako (nee Inoue). Her childhood was a grim one; her ‘normal’ being outright neglect, left to fend herself and her older sister with zero care from their parents for as long as she could remember --- and, to be honest, she preferred to be her own carer when the alternative was her parent’s abusive teachings. The slightest mistake was punished with the most severe beating in their dingy little excuse of a home, a routine that would leave Minami distorted beyond salvaging for the rest of her life.

The girls had been instructed to hide their quirk the moment it awakened (three years old for Minami, seven for Kiseki). Their mother had run away from her family to elope with her husband, and their quirk was one that would give them away faster than hanging up a banner across their apartment building declaring their identities. The twins complied; Minami simply didn’t dare to disobey her parents, no matter how irrational their orders were, while Kiseki found a twisted satisfaction in the attention that came with being an outlier in a superpower dominated society. But, for all their filial piety, they were still human, and humans make mistakes.

While Minami was as violent as a child could come, she could only get so far with her body --- weak, frail and sickly --- before she began to desire to unleash her quirk to give way to even more absolute victories. Her blood practically boiled beneath her skin in every fight, and the innate desire to bleed grew and grew until she just couldn’t resist slicing herself open any longer. From age seven, she began training her quirk for combat in secret, practicing in alleyways and on drunks and vagabonds. Kiseki declined her offers to spar together, deeming it ‘not worth making her clothes dirty’. In the classroom, she was an absolute terror to both her teachers and her classmates, slowly but surely becoming a queen of bullies as she tormented anyone who slighted (which was any easy thing to achieve, considering a budding sociopath’s definition of ‘insult’ would bend over backwards to somehow place the blame on you) her and Kiseki. 

At age fifteen, Minami used her quirk on another student in her sister’s defence. Word spread of her quirk amongst the community, and she was forced to announce it officially on the quirk register… A register that was quickly brought to the attention of people who had been searching for any listing of a blood-based ability for years. They were rather rare, even now, after all. 

It didn’t take long for the Inoue, a yakuza clan in borderline retirement, to collect their lost daughters. It came as a shock to the twins, who had never once been informed of any family outside their little group of four. Minami and Kiseki were told their parents were forgiven for eloping, that they themselves were to return to Japan and take their proper place as members of the ruling branch. Their parents would remain in Russia as a reward, since they had gone to such lengths to escape there. Predictably, that was a lie: Hanako and Rui were killed before the twins’ plane left the ground.

Kiseki was soon bought by a rising Pro Hero for a quirk marriage. For the family, it was a perfect match; the pro wanted to build a lineage that would aid his prestige, and the Inoue wished to go legitimate, something having connections to a powerful, popular hero would aid... It didn’t go as planned. Refusing to succumb to the fate her own mother escaped, Kiseki rebelled against the arrangement as much as possible, acting out and threatening to tell the media all about the lucky hero’s teenage-purchasing, eugenicist schemes, displeasing her fiancée and her now face saving grandparents. Unchanged from their foregone glory days, the Inoue honour killed the elder twin for ‘disgracing the clan’. Minami was not told of this occurrence, seeing her touch trigger emotional stability but, after becoming suspicious of the sudden radio silence from her beloved sibling, she tortured her cousin into revealing the truth about both her sister and her parents. 

Predictably, Minami murdered the other members of the ruling family in a fit of rage, leaving herself the sole heir to the Inoue at only sixteen. She came to regret being blinded by red almost immediately --- seeing as she failed to get the name of the hero who had helped kill Kiseki before they all kicked the big one. For as much as she now hated them, Minami had to admit they were good, too good, at what they did. She didn’t have the faintest idea on how to track down Kiseki’s fiancée, and the lower branches of the Inoue, her adorable extended family, couldn’t make a dent in her grandparent’s cover ups either. So: Minami did the only logical thing she could think of --- she bribed the erasure of all records of her family’s quirks, anticipating future police investigations, and then proceeded to curb stomp her way through every single hero she could get her hands on, revealing her face to them just before they died to judge their reactions. If they were Kiseki’s fiancée, even the most twisted pro would flinch or… Or something, upon seeing the face of someone they killed, right..?

Her strategy was no better than trying to find a needle in a haystack, and she knew it… But she couldn’t just leave Kiseki’s vengeance unfulfilled. That was simply the kind of person she was; someone who wished to make the people she loved happy, no matter the cost. For the people who were kind to someone as burdensome, as terrible as her… She would show her love by dedicating her everything to them. Even if they were dead, even if it wouldn’t change what happened, Minami would make all those who hurt them pay for it.

At age eighteen, she was approached by a man called All For One (‘what kind of fucking weirdo has three words as a name?’). He claimed to have heard of her troubles through her cousins, and wished to help. Without asking for anything in exchange, he dug up the identity of Kiseki’s fiancée and watched as Minami finally fulfilled her life’s purpose --- and then swiftly swooped in to give her to give her a new role to play as soon as the euphoria faded and the realisation she was once again worthless began to settle in. Grateful and desperate to be used, All For One replaced Kiseki as the holder of her heart. Minami became his servant, first and foremost.

After graduation from high school, she began work as a freelance photographer for the fun of it (and to maintain a civilian persona, she would cry to her amused cousins), grew the Ketsueki-kai’s criminal activities for no reason other than to spite the ghosts of the former ruling family, and brought about whatever bloodshed All For One wished for. Of course, Minami never quite lost her taste for hero killing, and continued to destroy any hero, celebrity, politician or even villain that happened to irritate her. Some bastards needed a good humbling every now and then, right? Wouldn’t want those egos of theirs to kill them before she did! Anyone who posed an obstacle to the Ketsueki-kai met the same fate.

Minami is known to murder a target’s entire household before the target themselves. She won’t refrain from killing witnesses, either --- unless All For One orders her not to. By the present day, she’s built up quite a reputation as an S-rated villain, garnering rather fanatic fans who adore the nightmarish gore she leaves in her wake. Her personal villainy has no true goal --- she simply wishes to chase her desires, Cause Problems On Purpose and earn All For One’s praise. 

If she were to be arrested, Minami would be sent to Tartarus.

[rosalind-of-arden]

Sword and Pen Reread, chapter 8

I haven’t forgotten about these, really!

Dad Wolfe delayed the mission to let his kids rest and is still trying to get Glain to rest.

Jess says Morgan can make herself invisible, or close enough to it. Have we seen her do this?

Wolfe has gotten his hands on Anit’s tunnel maps. Here’s yet another instance of Wolfe, despite being a prickly bastard, showing some negotiation skills. He also contributed to negotiating passage from America to England, got the jewels from Jess’s mom, and dealt with the Welsh commander in Oxford. Am I missing any?

“’Ah. Of course. I hope...’ Wolfe stopped talking, which was unusual enough to make both Jess and Glain turn to look at him.” First, yes, lol, Wolfe does not usually do that. But also, he’s worried about Morgan. Probably both Morgan herself, and anyone close enough for her to drain.

It’s right after this awkward comment about Morgan that Wolfe reverses his position on Glain going. He’s reminded himself of the stakes, and of the fact that he’s already accepted Morgan’s risk-taking. Here’s where he accepts that he’s not going to be able to keep any of the kids safe. Morgan’s burning herself out using too much power, Jess is poisoned, Glain almost died, and Wolfe can’t protect any of them. And of course he leaves right after telling the kids to get ready. Wolfe can’t stand having feelings in front of the children.

Advantages for the new Library of being friendly with criminals: Wolfe’s got a whole network of informants courtesy of Anit.

Wolfe uses a special color for Zara sightings on his map. Jess isn’t the only one who has it in for Zara.

Is Wolfe the one to find out about the Greek fire facility? Timeline is unclear here. If so, there’s some good detective work.

30 High Garda Elites remaining. There were 500. That’s a pretty damn high casualty rate. Assuming we can trust Jess with numbers.

Ex-Archivist’s rule was “long, bloody, brutal.” How long, though, Jess? We want to know!

“You’re not wearing that Scholar’s robe.” Jess is apparently feeling familiar enough with Wolfe these days to critique his clothing choices.

“I want him to see the silk on my back, despite everything he’s tried to do to rip it away.” This is personal for Wolfe. But also, confirmation that his robe has emotional significance to him; it isn’t just a work uniform, but a symbol of his refusal to be destroyed by the Library.

Anit is wearing a ninja outfit? It’s “a style borrowed from countries farther east” in a shade of dark blue considered ideal for sneaking around in the dark.

Katja stays at Anit’s side. Can we say “bodyguard romance”? I am shipping these two and nobody can stop me.

Jess observes that Wolfe resembles a soldier more than a Scholar. 20 years of working closely with a certain soldier will do that.

Ambush time! Here’s another case of Wolfe thinking he knows what the Archivist will do, only to walk into a trap. But this time he went in with backup and expected the fight. He learns from his mistakes. 

But also, to a certain extent, this is evidence that Jess and Dario had a point way back in Ash and Quill when they were scheming together and thinking Wolfe and Santi had been part of the Library too long to fight it successfully. They’re dumbass boys, but they’re occasionally insightful dumbass boys.

Also, more Wolfe trauma going on in the background here. He needs to be able to predict the Archivist’s thinking because he needs to feel like he has some kind of power over the Archivist. If he could predict the Archivist’s moves, he could see himself as the smarter one. He may want to continue believing that there was mutual trust between them in the past. But what he’s getting is evidence that the Archivist can still manipulate him. That has to hurt.

[trillhouse-lh]

King Robert (Fantasyverse)

Okay so this one requires some explanation.

For the past few weeks /tlvg/ has been playing around with the sin kids in a fantasy AU. There is a lot to it, but the basic gist is that Lincoln is/was king and the boys are on their own quests to prove themselves worthy of the crown. Well, Lemy and Lyle are on their own quests... Bobby, being a half-blood, is ironically the bastard son of Lincoln and as such would only inherit the throne if both Lemy and Lyle were to perish. But that’s fine by him; Bobby has no desire to be king and is more than happy to join Lemy’s party in their quest.

So a recurring topic in the threads had been what may happen if Bobby WERE to become king. For whatever reason, common ideas seemed to be Bobby either being little more than a puppet king manipulated by Leia, or outright becoming evil himself. I disliked both of these and decided to take my own shot at it.

> Robert was no fool. He knew from the start that there would be those who opposed his rule. ‘Robert, the bastard king’ they called him. He was seen as weak, unfit for the crown. He paid these naysayers no mind… he would prove himself in time. > Of course, some were not content with mere words. > “The culprits, my lord.” Spoke the royal advisor Leia. The teenaged king glared down at the two young men before him. Haydn and Andrew… little more than lowly servants, and yet he knew them quite well. They had tormented him in his youth, and yet despite that he had been forgiving enough to allow them within his ranks. And how did they repay him? > With treason, of course. > Their plan had been simple: in the night, they would let in a small band of assassins through a hidden escape passage. But Robert had been prepared. No sooner had his would-be killers set foot within the castle proper than they had been ambushed by the royal guard. There had been no survivors, save for the two that had hatched this little scheme. And now they were on their knees before him with their hands tied behind their backs, flanked by two spear-wielding guards and glaring at him with no less venom than he did to them. > “I must say… even given my VERY low expectations, I’m almost disappointed in you two. Did you really think your little coup attempt would work?” He asked. The traitorous servants scoffed, looking away from him. “I know better than to assume loyalty from those that serve me. I have trusted subordinates stationed within even the lowliest positions within my court. They keep watch. They report to me and me alone. Did-”

> “Well, good for you,” Haydn scoffed. The king narrowed his eyes at the boy. “You’ve got friends in low places. No matter… a coward like you has no right to wear that crown. You may have stopped us, but we won’t be the last of it. More will come for you, mark my words.” > “Oh, I expect they will,” Robert replied calmly, “And I will be ready when they do. But first there is the immediate matter at hand…” He rose from his throne, descending the short stairs and approached the two men. “Treason is amongst the most severe of offenses. If you have anything to say in your defense, I suggest you do so… though I doubt it will make much of a difference.” > Haydn and Andrew exchanged a smirk. Despite the king’s posturing, they had no fear. This was Bobby, after all… a pathetic weakling, royal blood or not. > “Do your worst… Dobby.” Haydn hissed with a cocky sneer. > “Yeah, Dobby.” Andrew echoed, chuckling under his breath. “Do your worst.” > For a few moments, all was silent… Robert’s expression did not falter, and nor did he look away from the two. Finally, he pursed his lips, giving a small nod before glancing towards his advisor. > “What do you suggest, Leia?” > “A lifetime in the dungeons would be a fitting enough punishment, I think.” Robert averted his eyes, taking a moment to think before turning towards his traitors once more. They still wore smug grins upon their faces, expecting leniency for their crimes. > They would receive none. > “Take them to the gallows. Make an example of them,” He ordered, much to the horror of the two former servants. “And make sure you leave the bodies… their crow-eaten carcasses shall serve as a warning to those who would attempt the same.”

> Both Leia and the royal guards looked almost as shocked as the guilty pair themselves, and for a brief moment they even hesitated; but a sharp glare from the king snapped them from their stupor. > “Need I repeat myself?” > “N-no, my liege,” One of the guards stammered before he and his companion hoisted the boys to their feet. “Get moving, scum.” > “Y-you… DAMN you…!” Haydn shouted at the king as he returned to his throne, struggling as the guards dragged he and Andrew away. “This isn’t over, you bastard! You’re no king… you’re a PUPPET!” > “Hold.” The guards halted at their lord’s word. He had stopped midway to his throne, and turned to look at the two men… his expression stoic and impassive, yet somehow bearing a gaze colder than they had ever seen. He leaned forward until his face was mere inches from Haydn’s. “A puppet, am I?” He said quietly. “And yet… you will be the one dancing at the end of a rope this day. Away with them,” He ordered, waving his hand dismissively. “I expect them to be dealt with by nightfall.” > “Yes, my liege.” With that, King Robert merely watched impassively as the traitors were dragged away screaming, waiting until they had disappeared down the hall before glancing towards the guards stationed by the doors. > “Leave us… I wish to speak with my advisor in private.” He commanded; the guards did not hesitate to comply, and with that he and Leia were left alone in the throne room. He looked towards his half-sister, finding her staring at him in shock. “What?” He asked. “Do you not approve of my judgement?”

> “N-no, I… I’m just... surprised, my lord.” She said. “I only suggested leniency because I thought-” > “Because you thought me weak,” He finished, holding up his hand to silence her before she could protest. “And I do not blame you. I WAS weak, once… and through that weakness I found strength.” > “I-I see.” She bowed her head in respect. “For what it’s worth, I think you made the right decision.” Robert merely grunted in response, looking up at the massive portrait hung above the throne. It bore the glorious visage of the former king Lincoln and his sons, the princes of the kingdom… > ...The TWO princes of the kingdom, that is. Robert himself was nowhere in sight. > He sighed, shaking his head sadly. He was never meant to take the throne, nor had he wanted to… but when his brothers fell, he had no choice. Even now the memory of that day haunted his dreams; the image of Lemy’s bloodied face as he died in his arms was forever burnt into his mind, as were his parting words. > ‘The kingdom’s in good hands.’ > “My lord?” Leia’s voice snapped him from his daze. “You… wanted to speak with me?” > “Ah… yes, my apologies.” He muttered before heading to Leia’s side. There would be time for reminiscence later… there were more pressing matters at hand. “There’s something about this that bothers me. That passageway… it should only be known to a select few, correct?” > “That…” Leia tensed up, her mouth hanging slightly open for a brief moment before she regained her composure. “...That is correct, yes. It is likely that we have a traitor amongst your inner circle.” > “Hm.” Robert averted his eyes for a moment, his brow furrowing slightly. He shut his eyes and took a deep breath before looking at her again, wearing an expression somewhere between sorrow and rage. “WHY, Leia?” The young woman blinked in confusion.

> “I beg your…?” She gasped in mock indignation. “Y-you would dare accuse ME of-” > “As I said, Leia,” He snapped, “I have trusted subordinates in every station. EVERY station.” Leia looked flabbergasted, racking her brain for some sort of explanation… then, it clicked. > “...Gwen.” She hissed. Her brother smirked, giving a nod of confirmation. > “Gwen.” > “You promised you would make her your queen… why would she remain loyal to the one who broke her heart?!” > “A fabricated story, I’m afraid… clearly, it worked as intended.” Robert said. “She stepped down of her own volition, so that she may keep a closer eye on you. I assure you, we remain quite… close.” > “Damn you…” > “Now, answer my question. WHY?!” He barked, making the girl flinch. “I am your brother… the son of King Lincoln Loud, and the rightful heir to the throne. You swore a blood oath of loyalty to me. So why?!” Leia scowled at him, the malice evident behind her cold blue eyes. > “...A half-blood like you has no business in the throne room,” She spat. “This kingdom deserves a ruler WORTHY of it.” > “And I take it that would be you?” The king scoffed. > “Of course,” Leia huffed, puffing out her chest haughtily. “I deserve nothing less.” > “Our father never claimed you… you are no less a bastard than I.” Those words seemed to sting Leia somewhat, and she pursed her lips in irritation. > “...Maybe so, but a full-blood nonetheless.” She shot back. For a moment, neither said anything… the atmosphere between them was thick with tension. Finally Robert sighed, shaking his head in disappointment. > “I… never wanted to be king, Leia.” He said quietly. “I would give anything to be in your position, serving at Lemy’s side… the rightful heir to the throne. My brother. My FRIEND.” > “Too bad you let him die.”

> “I DID MY BEST!” Robert roared, the fury in his voice silencing Leia instantly. “I did everything I could to save him. But it wasn’t enough, and that day I swore in his name, in the name of ALL that fell that I would keep this kingdom safe. And those who would dare try to take this crown for the sake of pride or power are an threat not only to me, but to the kingdom. To MY people. And I cannot abide by that.” Leia’s eyes widened slightly, and she swallowed before speaking again. > “S-so… what, then…? Are you going to kill me?” She asked. Her brother frowned, his expression softening slightly; it took everything Leia had in her to suppress a smirk. “I know you… king or not, you’re still Bobby. Y-you’d… you’d never kill your own sister.” Robert’s face scrunched up in conflict. She was right… Bobby Loud would never harm one of his own, let alone kill them. He took a deep breath, then exhaled before shaking his head. > “No… I suppose not,” He said. Leia breathed a sigh of relief. > “I-I knew it. Deep down, you’ve still got that kind heart.” She said softly, before a wicked grin crossed her face. “...And that’s why you’re going to die.” She reached behind her back, drawing a concealed dagger from her robes before lunging for the unaware king. > ...Or so he seemed. Robert was ready for her… those years of adventuring had not been for nothing. He was more than just a wizard, now. He knew how to protect himself. He knew how to fight. And as Leia stabbed at him he caught her hand, barking out something in a language she didn’t understand; a moment later an intense, searing heat engulfed her hand, causing her to scream in agony. > Her forearm was horrifically burnt, looking as though it had been doused in oil and lit aflame, and her dagger had melted and fused with her gnarled flesh.

> “N-NO! LET-” Leia’s pleas were silenced by Robert clasping his hand tightly over her mouth. He stared at her with a cold, impassive gaze, even as her eyes filled with tears. She struggled in vain, unable to wrench herself free; this was not the grip of a mere spellcaster, nor of a weak, timid child. It was the grip of a man hardened by loss and pain. > “Let me make something very clear, Leia.” He said in a harsh tone. “Perhaps I was your brother, once. But now?” Leia’s heart plummeted into her stomach as she felt the heat radiating from his hand once more. Both his hand and the jeweled amulet on his chest began to glow, his gentle blue eyes reflecting the light in a piercing, red-hot glare. “I am your king.” > With that he shouted an incantation once more. In in instant Leia was incinerated, reduced to nothing more than a blackened skeleton; the king let go, letting it fall to the ground and turn to ash upon impact. He stared down at the pile for a moment before turning away, ascending the steps and sitting down upon his throne. > Finally, he let his composure slip. He buried his forehead in his palm, clutching at his hair as he forced back a cry of anger and despair. > Robert had known upon taking the throne that he would have to make hard decisions… decisions he knew for a fact that Lemy would never had made were he sitting in his place today. Lemy had always preached compassion and mercy, even against his foes. > To lead by the heart. > But Lyle had taught him a different lesson. To lead with a firm hand, to act without hesitation… to be willing to do what must be done. > To lead by the sword. > Perhaps the true answer lie somewhere in between. To grant mercy upon those who deserved it, and the fires of hell upon those who did not. To be both a savior and tyrant. To be compassionate, yet unwavering in one’s judgement. > To be king.

Greentext Masterpost

[asernolonger]

The Lost and Forsaken

Selenie wanted to scream to the heavens. Finding one of these rat bastards was bad enough, but two of them?! And of course, both of them were Overlords, and of bloody godsdamn fucking course, one of them was the founder of the Garlean Empire, and the other was the most irritating, manipulative piece of shite she’d ever had the displeasure of meeting. But, like before, with Emet, it seemed that she had the upper hand on the white-robed bastard. He seemed to have no idea that she was behind him, up in the air. 

Well, if it worked on Emet, why couldn’t it work on him? 

She quickly angled herself into a dive, not a proper Dragoon move necessarily, just a high-speed dive, spear drawn and ready, and pounced on him, pinning him to the ground beneath them both. In the next second, she used the hand that wasn’t holding her spear to grab both of his hands, and used that same arm to pin them to her body. She then pulled the rest of him up with her as she stood up, adding an extra layer of security by using her spear arm to pin him even harder to her body, and, as if all of that wasn’t enough, she pressed her spear close to his pale throat.

But even all of that wasn’t enough for the disgraced Dragoon. After she had a firm grip on him, she then launched skywards, and darted to the nearest high building she could find-one that, if he were to fall from it, would certainly kill a man and, at the very least, incapacitate him. She then landed on the roof of her chosen building, dangling his body over the edge.

“Hm, so not just that swiving whoreson Emet, but you too, eh? Do you remember me, you scheming bastard? And tell me, what could possibly drag the Emissary himself here? Can’t imagine this realm is anything you give a shite about, after all. Don’t lie to me, or I’ll let you fall. And, unlike how things were back on the Source, it’ll be much more difficult for you to come back from death, I’m sure of it.” She demanded, tone devious and confident, yet seething with barely-contained rage and contempt.

@emissaryinwhite

[moonlitgleek]

Reading your Robert ask, do you think Jaime can be redeemed or nay?

Talking about Jaime and redemption is like stepping on a landmine in fandom. Let’s do it.

Look, in theory, everyone can be redeemed as long as they are capable of changing. Jaime is capable of change; the person we met in AGoT is not the same one we left off in ADWD. So in the abstract sense, yes he could be redeemed but only if he takes measures to earn that redemption. But is Jaime taking those measures? The answer is a resounding no.

Oh sure he wants to regain his honor. He is not happy with who he has become and wants to change that but the thing that doesn’t often get discussed about this arc is that Jaime’s motivation is centered around him. He is not doing something because it’s the right thing to do or because he actually cares about these people, he’s doing it because he is struggling with his self-image and wishes to improve it. We see this in how he constructs narratives in his head, casts himself in it and merrily ignores the things that do not fit. Any action that Jaime takes in the Riverlands is done so that he can pat himself on the back for it and feel good about himself. Of course there is nothing inherently wrong in finding satisfaction in doing a moral thing, and most redemption arcs often start with a person feeling bad about themselves, but this is fundamentally what Jaime’s arc in AFFC is solely about – feeling good about himself. He willfully ignores the reality of the situation in the Riverlands, and of his own culpability in it, just because it does not fit with the image he wants to construct for himself. Does he try to make up for it, for any of it? Nope.

Yes, he sends Brienne after Sansa, and he tries to prevent additional bloodshed in the Riverrun siege, but even that is about how he feels about himself. He does not send Brienne after Sansa because he cares about Sansa or because he wants to make up for destroying her life, but because Sansa is his last chance for honor. That’s it, that’s his purpose. It’s a very self-centered view that he displays again and again in AFFC.He ends the Riverrun siege without bloodshed not because he gives a damn about these people’s lives, but because he wants to keep the illusion of keeping his vow to Catelyn that he has come to see as a symbol of regaining his honor. Not that I agree with praising him for ending the siege without bloodshed in the first place because I don’t understand why I should commend Jaime for it. I should praise him for…. not committing an additional crime? Is that what redemption is or how it’s earned? He is already validating the Red Wedding and rewarding its culprits but I guess people find it praise-worthy that he doesn’t murder his way into Riverrun to do it. Give the boy a gold star.

The reason Jaime resents that Edmure make him verbalize his threats is because Edmure denies him the illusion of being generous and honorable that Jaime has constructed in his head. Edmure is also forcing Jaime to face the fact that what he is trying to achieve in the Riverlands is not peace but subjugation built on a bloody crime. Jaime is willfully rationalizing his actions and deluding himself into thinking that what he is doing is honorable and that he is doing the right thing and restoring the king’s peace but we are not really meant to buy into his self-delusion, especially since GRRM makes sure to deconstruct those delusions.

Peace and justice, that’s what Jaime would like to think he is doing in the Riverlands, but is it really? Because here’s the justice that Jaime enforces:

No Wodes appeared, nor any of their smallfolk, though some outlaws had taken shelter in the root cellar beneath the second brother’s keep. One of them wore the ruins of a crimson cloak, but Jaime hanged him with the rest. It felt good. This was justice. Make a habit of it, Lannister, and one day men might call you Goldenhand after all. Goldenhand the Just.

Was it justice? The only indication we got to point to these people being outlaws is that….. they took shelter in an abandoned keep? Jaime reflects on the devastation in the Riverlands and on how “scarce a field remained unburnt, a town unsacked, a maiden undespoiled”. The lords and landed knights have abandoned their smallfolk, from old Ser Quincy who barred himself inside his castle and left his smallfolk to the mercy of Rorge and Biter in Saltpans to the Blackfish himself who stripped the land of resources before retreating to Riverrun. So were these people Jaime hanged outlaws, or simply starving and homeless people driven out of their homes by the war and taking refuge wherever they could? Does Jaime spare half a second to consider this?

And what about his oh-so-proud reaction to rescuing Pia? Oh he absolutely was in the right to punish her attempted rapist but like, all of the Mountain’s men have raped Pia. Repeatedly. And Jaime takes them on and adds them to his ranks - the men that he says of “about the best that could be said for Gregor’s men was that they were not quite as vile and violent a bunch as the Brave Companions.”, the men who are largely responsible for why the Riverlands are in such a bad shape, the men who were behind the Raping of the Riverlands, murderers and rapists and despicable human beings all. But Jaime is Goldenhand the Just for punishing one of them? What about the rest? Where’s the justice their victims are owed, or does Jaime get to pick and choose who gets justice and who doesn’t?

What about the victims of the Red Wedding? These people who were slaughtered treacherously while they were guests beneath the Freys’ roof. It’s really rich of Jaime to pat himself on the back for doing “justice” when he is rewarding a bunch of criminals. What grounds does Jaime Lannister have to claim that he is restoring the peace and meting out justice when he is refusing to enforce the law? When he is allowing and enabling the breakage of one of the oldest customs in Westeros that just happens to be essential to the health of the state? What Jaime is doing is the opposite of justice, and it’s no different than what Rhaegar Frey is advocating in White Harbor, just dressed up in gold.

And while Jaime is deluding himself into thinking himself Goldenhand the Just, we get this gem

If the Blackfish would not listen, he would have no choice but to break the vow he’d made to Catelyn Stark. The vow he’d sworn his king came first.

Where do I even being? At Jaime putting the responsibility of breaking his word to Catelyn on the Blackfish who refuses to bow to a violent illegitimate regime, or that Jaime is honestly deluding himself into believing that he is keeping his vows and thus is being “honorable” when he knows that Tommen has no right to his crown? The Lannisters organized a coup and killed everyone who dared speak against it, and Jaime can not even own up to it. He rationalizes the hell out of it to make himself feel like he is being honorable. But he isn’t. What he is doing is legitimizing a crime his family committed and pulling a PR stunt by calling it peace. Of course the only one who buys into said stunt is Jaime himself.

The most basic start for a character to earn redemption begins with owning up to and facing what they’ve done wrong, something that Jaime really has not done. Does Jaime regret his incestuous relationship with Cersei? Only insofar as he could hate her for lying to him and not being faithful to him but does he, at any point, own up or regret that he was one of the main pillars of a violent coup that sent the realm propelling into war? We’ve all argued extensively over the nature of his “peace tour” in the Riverlands and butted heads over whether his actions were honorable or not, but the fact is that Jaime is responsible for all of the shit that went down. The whole situation is of his own creation. Jaime sent the ball rolling when he chose to sleep with his sister, father bastards on her and help her usurp the crown. He committed treason and destabilized the realm by sleeping with his sister but the thing he regrets about it is trusting Cersei.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Jaime and I adore his arc. But one of things I love about it is how it forced me to examine my view of redemption arcs and how conditioned I was to consider an arc redemptive just because an asshole character started to be just a bit less of an asshole. Because I used to call Jaime’s arc redemption. But it’s not. Jaime is not seeking redemption, he’s searching for a new identity. The two things are not mutually exclusive, of course, but I’ve yet to see Jaime do anything to earn redemption. A couple of decent acts do not magically redeem someone, and the road to redemption can not lie in actively trying to emulate a notorious war criminal or upholding his legacy, which is what Jaime does in trying to prove he is Tywin’s kid.

Make no mistake, Jaime is still breaking his vows with his actions in the Riverlands, both his knightly vows that are based on protecting the innocent and defending the weak, and his vow to Catelyn to never take up arms against her family. Threatening to catapult Edmure’s baby if he does not surrender Riverrun goes against Jaime’s vow to Catelyn. Validating a grotesque crime like the Red Wedding by rewarding the people who took part in it goes against Jaime’s vows to Catelyn. Jaime’s obvious distaste for the Freys means nothing when he is enabling their rule. His verbal attack on Sybelle Spicer is hypocritical since his contempt is due to his own father’s scheming and manipulations. Gosh, are we supposed to applaud Jaime for detesting those people for something that his own father orchestrated when he is trying to follow in Tywin’s footsteps? Jaime does not reject Tywin’s methods, he follows and validates them, then despises those who aided Tywin so he could maintain a false moral superiority, even though Jaime’s actions in the Riverlands do nothing but compound Tywin’s crimes. There’s nothing honorable about pushing an illegitimate regime on the region, or in forcing a family to surrender their seat to the people who killed their kin by threatening to catapult a baby. Jaime behaving honorably in the Riverlands is an illusion, just like his “peace” is. His actions undermine the rule of the law, they make a mockery out of justice; what kind of redemption can ever be found in that?

[ben-j-man]

Secret War chapter 26

Link to chapter 1- http://ben-j-man.tumblr.com/post/180097372453/secret-war-chapter-1

We waited for more reinforcements to arrive as Verenth, Arlathan and the Hammer pulled out the Glaitis' sword pinning Brutis to the floor. Then began to take off his armour so the medicae could stem the blood flow once they'd arrived, everyone else was too hurt, too exhausted to do anything.

The place stunk of blood, of defecation. The familiar stench of the recently dead.

Darrance and I sat on the stairs watching on. I'd stopped crying but was forced to war with the exhaustion, my eyelids constantly wanted to close, and my head was a whirl with sickening dizziness.

Arlathan, holding Glaitis' still bloody blade, approached us, looking at me intently. "I'm sorry, Attelus," he said with surprising sympathy. "I know he was your friend and…"

"Yeah...Yeah, Jeurat was my friend," I interrupted, sadly. "But I'm not the one you should be talking to," I said this while indicating poor Torris with a tilt of the head.

Torris still curled up in a ball and hadn't made a sound since Garrakson's death.

Arlathan saw this immediately, nodded and turned to descend the stairs, but stopped and looked back at me. "He talked fondly of you," said Arlathan. "I could see you were true friends; I've lost more than a few comrades too, you know. Many friends...comrades from the precinct."

I inhaled sharply and looked down, remembering the many Magistratum marshals killed by Etuarq's daemons only a few short hours earlier.

"I'm sorry, Arlathan," I said.

Arlathan shook his head, "there's no need to apologise, kid. If it weren't for you, they would all be dead. I just wish, I just wish I'd have done more, y'know? Instead, like a weakling, I'd fainted and stayed that way through the entire conflict. I wish I had the guts you've got, if I did maybe I could've saved a few, maybe. Like you saved all of us."

I was shocked into silence, only able to gape idiotically as Arlathan started down the stairs again. Then someone began to laugh, a throaty, gasping, deep sound and it took me a second or two to realise it was Torris.

"So! So he's got you fooled too!" Torris gasped as he slowly, laboriously climbed to his feet.

"What?" said Arlathan and everyone else looked on in silence.

"I saw what you were doing!" yelled Torris with watery eyes. "I saw you were manipulating him! I saw it! Back in Vex's office, you said to him; 'you'll get your revenge' or something like that, and you smiled! Smiled as you frigging said it! I knew! I should've stopped you! I should've stopped him! But why? I don't understand. Why did you manipulate him, I don't understand, why?"

I swallowed, and my eyes widened as I remembered what the Mimic had told me in Taryst's bunker, that an apprentice in her organisation was never allowed to kill their master or invite their ire, or some eerie, scary shit like that. Did I sub-consciously manipulate Garrakson to kill her in my place? Did I?

Torris smiled but it held no warmth, it was the smile of someone who knew they were proven right but weren't happy about it. Not happy about it at all.

"I know that look, I know it well," he said. "You did manipulate him, you may not have known it then, but you did. You make me sick! I thought you were a friend, but no, you're just like all the others! Taryst! Edracian! That Glaitis woman! A manipulative, backstabbing bastard!"

With that he turned and left, clasping at his side.

"What the hell was that about?" asked Verenth.

"I didn't," I gasped. "I didn't mean to, I..I...I swear I didn't mean to..I!" I was starting shake and hyperventilate, had I manipulated my friend? Hell, my best friend! Did I get him killed? Did I?

"Calm down, Apprentice," said Darrance. "Just try to breathe."

I looked at him with watery vision, unable to reply through my gasps.

"Attelus!" yelled Arlathan. I was going to faint I don't know why people can't faint when hyperventilating. It didn't make sense! Then my vision started to blur, then blacken, then everything went completely dark.

Immediately, I found myself back in my backyard, sitting on the grass and almost jumped out of my skin as I saw Faleaseen towering over me, she still had her helmet off, and her long, dark red hair pulled into a topknot

"You have done well, Attelus Kaltos," she said. "Too bad I was unable to foresee Inquisitor Etuarq's deception. I am sorry."

I rubbed my eyes and blinked, I was 'Attelus Kaltos' now? And she was sorry? Had I somehow earnt some semblance of her respect?

Faleaseen smiled, genuinely and I had to admit it was a nice smile, so nice it made me flinch away.

"I am sorry for your losses; I truly am," she said as she knelt over me, so we were face to face and looked me in the eye. "

So many," I said as tears welled. "Elandria, I loved her, I loved her so much. Castella, she was like the sister I never had and Garrakson, was my friend, a terrific friend. Why? Faleaseen, why did they need to die?"

"I...I do not know," admitted Faleaseen hesitantly. "I know much, I have lived a long time Attelus Kaltos, even for an Eldar. But even I do not know everything, and now I know that because you have taught me something."

"What?" I croaked.

"That even though you humans live such short life spans and so many of you are so reprehensible we are, in the larger scheme of things, the same. We live, we love, we die, we make mistakes just like you. I have fought for so long for the future of my race, my people just as you have today. I have held such contempt for your race for so long; it was your kind that invaded my craftworld, that killed my people and forced us to flee and abandon our home. I had interacted with the most reprehensible of your people for so long now, using them as my agents so long that I had come to believe you were all like that, but after seeing what you have done, what you have managed to achieve."

She paused and looked away, admiring the view, "I will be honest with you. You were one of them, the reprehensible ones, in many ways you still are. You were selfish, cowardly, blinded into stupidity by your pathetic sentiment, but if you overcame that and started fighting for others. Maybe, just maybe the basest others of your kind can too. If there's hope for them, maybe there's hope for humanity as a whole and thus, maybe, hope for the Eldar as well. We also have vile, reprehensible people of us as well, The Dark Eldar of Commoragh. I tended to think of them as another race entirely, but they aren't, they are Eldar too, in fact even more so."

"Uhh, thanks?" I said, seeing quickly the Farseer's, perhaps unintentional, backhanded compliment.

She shrugged, "there is no need to thank me, Attelus Kaltos. I am just stating a fact."

She smiled again, "an irrefutable fact."

I smiled back.

She sighed, "while I am being honest with you, there is something else I must tell you. I wasn't going to tell you this for fear it might inspire you to be lax, to fight less hard, but now I see that you now fight for more than just yourself and knowing this might help you in the future."

"What is it?"

Faleaseen sighed again, "when I came to Omnartus and changed you. I didn't just enhance your strength, reflexes and bone structure beyond normal human capacity. I changed your very soul as well."

I raised a quizzical eyebrow.

"You are now, to your kind are a myth of a myth, what was once called a perpetual, or to put it more plainly, an immortal."

"What?"

"Do not get me wrong, you can still die," said Faleaseen. "But I have the ability to track down your soul in the warp and bring you back into the living. Regenerate you, no matter how you had died. You will also never age; you will stay this way for all eternity." I gaped,

"so I'm...Immortal?"

"Yes you are," she said. "Take that as you will, as a gift or as a curse, it's up to you."

I shook my head, unable to comprehend it, so decided to change the subject. "You said earlier because of my selfless actions before, that you'd changed your view on humanity," I said. "You say that though knowing that I'd manipulated Jeurat into killing Glaitis, he was my friend and I used him like Etuarq had used Edracian, like a puppet, how…"

She stopped me with a raised hand, "no you did not, Attelus Kaltos. You underestimate Jeurat Garrakson, as I had underestimated you. I think he knew or at least had an idea of what you were doing. His sacrifice was not because of your deception, it was you who told him what drove him to do it, of course, but that was nothing but the truth, well most of it. But what truly drove him was his love for Taryst and his friendship with the Olinthre human."

She smiled, "he also sacrificed himself to spare you, Torris and others from her rampage, as you had sacrificed yourself for the people of the Twilight bar. Your friend, Marcel Torris is just in mourning for his friend and longtime comrade, and I am sorry to say, is taking it out on you. He knows the real reason why the Garrakson human did it, and he will forgive, one day, eventually."

I sniffed.

"He also knew what is at stake, that you are much more capable than him at stopping Etuarq and his plans," she said. "He did this because you were open and honest with him, well, eventually, anyway. You had said something similar during your earlier meeting with Glaitis, Brutis and Arlathan, didn't you? You reprimanded them for all their 'secrets and lies.' Wise words that have now been proven correct. While I won't say that all secrets shouldn't be kept, not much in this galaxy is truly black and white. What you must do now is forgive yourself and fight on, determined to keep his sacrifice from being in vain, the same goes for Elandria, for Castella and Olinthre."

I smiled, "thank you, Faleaseen, thank you for telling me this. Did you read Garrakson's mind? How did you know this?"

She grinned and again I was forced to flinch away, "there is no need to thank me, Attelus. I am just stating what you already knew. And no, I didn't read his mind, this is just an educated guess. I should be the one thanking you, and I thank you by swearing that I will never manipulate you, I will never use psychic torture. I see you now as a human wise beyond his years. A human wiser than many of his kind ten times his age! Your opinion is valid, worth listening to and I wish you luck, but now I must leave. We will talk again, sooner or later. Goodbye."

"Goodbye," I said as the valley around began to fade into white.