#marcy is very stubborn and makes bad decisions

[duckapus]

The L-Factor

During an adventure involving Marcy's latest attempt to make Bob rejoin their clan, Luigi gets separated from the group by the machinations of Mr. L, who uses a specially designed Lag Switch to put him out-of-phase with the rest of the Universe and take his place using a disguise. Now Luigi has to figure out how to warn the others of the imposter and get himself back to normal, but how can he do that when he can't be seen, heard, or affect anything around himself?

[heart-stomper]

Exploring Each Temple’s Meaning

Intelligence and Humility

Marcy is super smart. She comments that she’s been roleplaying as ‘your standard Artificer Rogue’; Artificers being master inventors in DnD “CnC”. She enjoys suggesting improvements for Newtopia and was willing to learn a whole language just for a quest! But, she’s rarely one to jump start a plan. She likes playing support, and admires the strengths of others. Trying out different ideas is just fun for her.

During the First Temple, Marcy goes full Focused Marcy Mode. She blocks everything out when she’s solving puzzles, and doesn’t pay enough consideration to Anne and the Plantars. When the Flipwart challenge gets too dangerous and really is unwinnable, however, she realizes she has to surrender. She understands that her friends are more important than beating some temple.

In New Wartwood, we can see that Marcy has a serious desire to be liked by others. However, ‘getting’ relationships isn’t really her strong suit. If it can’t be solved like a puzzle, she tends to end up causing trouble. After almost sinking Wartwood, even though she did end up fixing things, she also fully acknowledges she made a mistake. She apologizes and assumes it’s ruined her chance at be friends.

Things tend to go wrong when Marcy blindly trusts that she can fix things with her intelligence without listening to her more humble side. 

Heart and Responsibility

Anne is a very caring girl who loves hanging out with others. When she first gets to Amphibia, she can’t bare staying cooped up in that dang basement. She becomes friends with the Plantars and the rest of Wartwood due to her willingness (and occasional unwillingness) to listen to others and her love of adventure. She even makes fast friends with a few Newtopians. She’s an earnest girl who only lies when she feels cornered. 

During the Second Temple, Anne is forced to make a lot of split second decisions. Her mind is always focused on trying to help others, even if it isn’t always the easiest or safest option. Arguably, some of her choices were totally reckless. But she can own up to it. When confronted about the music box, she admits that it was wrong of her to steal it. However, she also realizes that learning from her mistakes was what helped her grow as a person. She still tries to do right thing even if there will be times she messes up.

In the past, Anne would take on too much responsibility for her friends. She’d let Sasha have her things, took the fall when plans went awry, and was constantly keeping Marcy from accidentally hurting herself or making a mess. Any ideas Anne had would have to go through Sasha, and any argument would be diverted by Marcy. It clearly killed her confidence.

Things have gotten better now that Anne’s grown into someone who embraces her bravery. She’s gotten pretty good at standing up for herself while still leaving room to forgive. She puts in the effort to do right by people. And likes who she’s managed to become.

Strength and Persistence

Sasha is a very ambitious girl who cares about her friends more than anything else even if she struggles to accept it. She gets very defensive and hurt when people want to do things differently than she’s planned. AKA, she hates being ‘wrong’ and takes it super personally. She wants ‘everyone’ to succeed, and tends to frame everything as a competition. If the ‘team’ has ‘won’, they shouldn’t be upset with doing things her way. Put simply, if someone doesn’t think she should be in control, it just means she has to prove herself harder. 

During the Third Temple, we see Sasha is physically strong. But her strength also lies in her persistent dedication to accomplishing her goals, ‘her dreams’. Anne reminded her that she’s someone who refuses to back down no matter how difficult things get. Be it conquering Amphibia, getting her friends back, or beating some giant rock frog thing- Sasha won’t give up.

In Battle of the Bands, Sasha has a moment where she realizes doing things differently and being considerate of what her friends want isn’t so bad, and that sometimes, it’s even more fun than ‘winning’. But she also has Grime to consider now, and it’s not as if she suddenly doesn’t want to have fun with her friends and win.

Things tend to go wrong when Sasha’s persistence turns into stubbornness.

[ramblingguy54]

Anne & Sasha: Two Sides Of The Same Coin.

Amphibia’s latest episode demonstrates what makes these two important characters who they are as very interesting, yet flawed, people. Anne has overflowing compassion, yet can be selfish in her own right when doing morally questionable actions in Season 1. Although, what sets her apart from falling into a downward spiral is Anne’s willingness to own up for those decisions improving upon herself. She cares a lot about who gets put in danger from her mistakes. The Second Temple delves into Anne’s personality very nicely in explaining why this kid, underneath all her faults, is truly worth commending all around. Whenever the Plantar family has been in danger she’s never strayed away from putting her own life in jeopardy. Same goes for any of the civilians of Wartwood, too. It’s a big part of what makes her a lovable, flawed, and quite frankly awesome protagonist. What better way to challenge her nature as a character when confronted with the fact she stole that music box? Yes, Sasha manipulated her greatly and it is also to blame for why they’re all in this crazy situation. However, Anne also had a choice to walk away from it, but couldn’t find the courage to stand up for what she believed in, overall. Not believing in the power of her own convictions plays a part in it, just as much as her other two best friends egging her on to steal this mystically powerful artifact.

Those bad choices were mine and I’ll own them, but making them taught me it’s always better to do the right thing, so that’s what I did. Regardless of how much I didn’t want to.

This great quote here defines Anne’s morality down to the very letter. Anne may have her regrets about how she’s acted previously on many occasions, but they’re also an important part of why Boonchuy became a better person. Stealing the music box was very wrong, but in spite of this serious moral misjudgment Anne also became a better person. Anne grew more compassionate than ever before, learned to make stuff less about her own needs, helped others out even when they didn’t always return their kindness, and most importantly put her life on the line for a family she hadn’t known for very long in Season 1′s finale. In hindsight, one big mistake led into a series of events transforming her from a very selfish kid into this more mature, responsible, and highly reliable individual. Anne has become stronger in all of the right ways imaginable benefiting herself, best friends, and family, too.

Anne’s on a brighter road for a better future, but what of Sasha? We’ve known after Toadcatcher it’s highly apparent Sasha has been in a more fragile place of self-esteem. After that big emotionally charged battle Anne & Sasha had one has become better off in a sense, while the current latter has transitioned into a more vulnerable position. Sasha knows this for a fact despising it because she’s so used to being in control of everything around her life. To see a best friend stand up to her confidence and intensity shook Sasha’s perspective enough in clinging more than ever to not losing anyone or anything else. Barrel’s Warhammer shows strong consequences for Sasha’s unwavering stubbornness costing her more of what she cares about. Learning Anne & Marcy were working together bubbled up her lingering insecurities to surface level about the hand she’s been dealt, thus far. Sasha can be a compassionate person, much like Anne, which is unfortunately challenged by a bigger problem she faces consistently.

When it comes to the needs of others and herself which is more important? 

Percy & Braddock were very scared of taking up the task of getting this powerful weapon on what many of their kind have stated is a high risk of death mission. Sasha does have the heart to comfort them in their unease, but when it came down to the wire she couldn’t put their lives above her own goals. It continues to be Sasha’s greatest struggle that’s hard to watch, albeit making for darn good emotional investment, seeing the trials and tribulations she’ll continue to face. As long as she continues to ignore other’s importance in the matter, Sasha won’t be able to emotionally grow because the girl is so afraid of being challenged by anyone or anything. When you’ve got a mountain of bravado, status, and strength to uphold it becomes the very crux of what is claimed to be ironclad resolve. Sasha believed all would be fine and dandy completing this mission.

But see, that’s just it. None of it was. Though feeling remorseful, she disregarded the needs of friends and solider comrades putting their lives in serious danger. They told her to stop trying on obtaining this powerful weapon and retreat. Hell, even Grimes shouted to her this was getting too risky, as well. Sasha’s inconsideration paid a hefty price in losing more people she cared about. She already feels alone after becoming separated from Anne and knowing Marcy was currently by her side made Sasha feel worse than ever, throwing more fuel on the fire. Percy & Braddock choosing to leave at the end spells out a sad irony for Sasha. She wants to be in control of people and her own life, but the more Sasha fights back, the more it blows up in her face when all is said and done.

No, Sasha. You did it and I think me and Braddock are done with this. With all of it.

Anne & Sasha are very much two sides of the same coin. Both are very capable of compassionate remorse to their own friends, but when stacked up against their own goals Sasha has a hard time showing compromise. Anne was willing to endure freezing weather to save one of her family from a hungry creature. The girl was ready to brave an avalanche to save innocent lives. Sasha, on the other hand, threw two people lives to the way side and almost had them cut short just so she could obtain a powerful weapon to form an alliance. This was a great character study to show contrast behind what makes these two so alike, yet seemingly exact opposites in spite of how much these two value friendship. 

[magicandmayhcm]

Harper Nash Bio

so here’s a slightly extended biography for harper nash. 

tw: mentions of death

Harper is the 16-year-old daughter of Bobby and Marcy Nash. She was born on September 27 at 3:43 a.m. after Marcy was in labor for almost 24 hours. This would just be the first sign of how stubborn the oldest Nash child would be as she grew up. As a child, she was always very happy, but she could also throw the biggest tantrums if she didn’t get everything she wanted. It was a long, hard road for her to learn that she couldn’t always get what she wanted, and she never really did fully absorb that lesson. 

When she was 14, she was caught shoplifting from a high-end store. She was found with over $500 worth of items and was charged as a juvenile with grand larceny. She pled guilty and was sentenced to a year in juvenile hall. Only four months into her sentence, her mother and two younger siblings perished in a fire at their apartment building. She was released for their funeral and then came back. After two more months there, she was able to get her sentence commuted to parole for good behavior. She spent the next six months on house arrest, living with her father who was much different than the man she remembered as a child.

After her stint in juvie and the death of her family members, she became very withdrawn. She was never good at opening up to people, but it is even more so now. She tends to keep things to herself, even if it’s something she could use help with. She especially doesn’t open up to her father, for several reasons. One is that she blames him for not saving her mother and siblings from the fire. He was a fireman after all; why couldn’t he save his family from dying? She has never outright said this, but it is an underlying cause in her distant relationship with him. Another reason - a more significant reason - is that she knows she’s a disappointment to him. Of all the kids who managed to survive the incident, it was her. And the only reason she didn’t die in that fire as well was because she was away at juvie when it happened. It’s one thing she has never talked about but is unable to get out of her mind - the fact that she should have died there instead. That if she could take the place of one of her siblings and let them live, she would take their place in a heartbeat. And part of her thinks that her father would agree with that sentiment, which is why she never brings it up to him.

While she has calmed down a bit with her illegal activities, she is still partaking in activities that aren’t necessarily doing her any good. She learned her lesson when it came to stealing major items, but that doesn’t stop her from still giving herself a five-finger discount at certain stores or from sneaking money from Bobby’s - and sometimes even Athena’s - wallets. She is also notorious for skipping school, sneaking out of the house, partying and drinking, and smoking the occasional cigarette. 

When Bobby remarried Athena, Harper was not a fan of it. Part of her felt that Bobby was simply trying to replace the family he lost with this new one. A new wife, son, and daughter would take the place of Marcy, Bobby Jr., and Brooke. Because she feels this way, she has closed herself off from the new family, which has caused problems between her and them. She is very snooty and downright rude when interacting with Athena, does not get along with May at all, and the only reason she is nice to Harry is because he is young and reminds her of her little brother she lost. 

She wants to turn her life around - she really does - but she finds it hard because she doesn’t feel like there’s anyone for her to talk to about everything going on in her life. She sees her father doing better and doesn’t want to bring him back to the days where life was horrible, so instead of talking to anybody, she self-medicates with alcohol. She also has a bad habit of choosing the wrong crowd to hang out with, and they only influence her to make bad decisions more. She hopes to one day repair all the relationships she has destroyed and make her father proud, but she knows realistically, he’ll probably end up being disappointed in her for the rest of his life - the same way her mother died, disappointed in her oldest daughter.

[jebweaver]

Starvation.

 Sleep never came easy for Marcis-- not anymore.  His experiences with the bodily need in the past months could be described as ‘fitful’ at best, often awoken by his own thrashing and murmuring, blankets disheveled atop him and wrapped around his appendages. His skin, slicked with sweat. His breathing uneven, and ragged, set to match the fluttering of his heart. Most would be concerned with the developments, but Marcis-- Marcis was a stubborn, short-sighted man. It was an easy thing to do for someone like him, writing it off as nothing more than his past decisions catching up with a guilty mind, and gave his difficulty in slumbering as little weight as possible. 

One night, he awoke like he had for many days beforehand-- with an overwhelming swiftness and fright. This time his cabin’s roof was not what met with his eye-- instead, midnight darkness. Stars. The sudden realization that he was standing on his feet almost made him lose the balance he’d apparently held effortlessly up until his awakening.

Shock and confusion churned inside him as he attempted to shake slumber from his consciousness. To Marcis, it was an impossibility that he wasn’t still dreaming. A nightmare, that he’d wake from in the moment after something terrible visited him. He waited. That moment never came, and he was left with nothing. Quiet streets, a passing guard on horseback, who eyed the half-nude captain oddly as he meandered past. If this was a nightmare, it was a horribly mundane one, and the big-bad that would pop out to scare him awake seemed to be operating off of a different schedule than the one Marcis was held to. Five minutes had passed before he’d turned on heel and began the trek back to his ship, still not entirely sure of the angle of this experience. Perhaps it wasn’t a nightmare, after all -- a simple lucid dream, most likely. He instinctively lifted his hands to count his extended fingers when something crunched beneath his foot, and a jolt of pain caused him to rise off his aching appendage. An audible hiss echoed out as crimson dribbled down from the sole of his foot, lifted in examination and easy to eye by lamp-light. Glass on the stones below, shards lodged in calloused flesh.  It wasn’t a dream.

He’d heard of and seen people sleepwalking before, but he’d never been one to suffer. Not that he had any wherewithal to confirm it, but-- no-one had ever told him... 

                                                          _____

 Over the days following that first, terrifying experience he’d succumbed to three more bouts of sleepwalking. Succumbed. Efforts had been made to put a stop to his ‘problems’-- herbal sleep aids, locking of his cabin door... he’d even asked his right hand man and token navigator, a young man by the name of ‘Reacher’, to watch the door to make sure he didn’t wander off at some point in the night. Reacher nearly fell from his chair when Marcis sauntered back through the galley, and grew just as pale as his captain when they’d found the door to his cabin locked just as tight as it was when he’d put himself down just a few hours earlier. It was clear after that night that sleeping could no longer be a source of comfort for the man. His bed became an omen; silky sheets and plush, well-crafted pillows a reminder of something strange and unknown, rather than the safety and comfort it previously provided. The very idea of slumber stirred something terrible in his heart and mind. If his best efforts were for naught-- if his best, most trusted man couldn’t keep tabs on him while he slumbered... As far as Marcis was aware, he’d only aimlessly wandered in his sleep. The thought of his body doing something-- anything more than just that terrified him to his core.

It had gotten so discomforting and dreaded that he eventually made the conscious decision to go without. An attempt to leave himself so exhausted that his body simply wouldn’t have the fuel to explore and act without his knowing. A last ditch effort to put a stop to what plagued his mind during the waking hours, and a hopeful solution to his dilemma.

Going one day without sleep wasn’t unfamiliar, as he’d found the need to do so numerous times in his life up until then and it passed without any difficulty. Discomfort came with the second, however, and only mounted as the third swung around... and then the fourth. The fifth, sixth and seventh... Days became weeks. Weeks became months, and then his time spent awake simply became... irrelevant. 

Fatigue was there. It was always there. It made his mind fuzzy; things hard to recall in that familiar sort of way that most everyone experienced at some point or another. Trivial information he’d stretch to recall, lingering on the tip of his tongue but eluding the awareness to sound. His muscles ached with it-- made his arms and legs heavy, along with his eyelid. His casual movements became sluggish and sloth-like in the wake of such an overwhelming feeling of enervation. Even so, regardless of how tired he felt, how much his mind wandered and frayed at the ends... he refused to relent until his body would shut down on it’s own accord. He’d resigned himself to passing out wherever he stood, whenever the fateful moment would arrive. Much like that moment where he expected to awaken from his ‘lucid dream’ within the harbor, it never came.

Counting his waking hours became a fruitless endeavor, and days were becoming hard to distinguish one from another save for the events that occurred during them. Everyday life became one long day that slipped into one long night, only for the cycle to repeat itself without any real definite end or beginning. The thoughts that came with this bitter realization pushed him just a bit further into the spiral of despair he’d set into motion an indeterminable amount of time ago.

Each day made him jaded, and less hopeful that his plan was having any sort of affect on his condition.                                                          _____ Marcis didn’t understand. He wasn’t sure if that confusion could be attributed to his decaying faculties or if his state was just as much of a mystery to himself as it was to the few who he’d opened up to. How could a human being simply forgo the need for sleep? He’d become so enraptured in starving his body of needs and fuel that he’d even cut down on his meals. Each punctuation lacking day coming with less and less subsistence in form of caloric intake until he’d gone an uncountable amount of hours without food or water. He’d felt weaker, of course, and the constant hunger pains were there but still... his body wouldn’t give in upon itself. Everything he’d done to himself... everything he was subjecting himself to. He couldn’t wrap his head around it. How could this be happening? How could he be upright, and still drawing breath?

The fatigue that plagued him was growing to be less of an obstacle as time unraveled. Nothing more than a background condition that he was rapidly adapting to. When he needed to move, he could. The deftness and underlying strength of his actions surprised himself more than anyone else, save for maybe his crew who were explicitly aware of this strange, mysterious disease that tormented their captain. A mysterious disease that was rapidly changing their captain from the man that he used to be before. Before those lives he’d both willingly and unwillingly given. Before he’d lost his eye, and what shattered remains of humanity that he’d clung onto. Before his mistake, and before that terrible, godforsaken trade he’d agreed to.