#out of the chosen three he's easily the fucking worst and a kind of evil that can't really be understood as “fun” or “fantastical”

[forcedhesitation]

I'm actually still pretty disappointed about the changes that were made to implicate a canon relationship between gortash and the dark urge. you are given so much choice in this game! so it feels shitty that they took away your choice to interpret that dynamic how you'd like.

I had a dark urge campaign that I started and no longer will finish because I don't want that to sully my character's romance with wyll. it angers me enough how wyll is given barely any material for not just his story, but also his romance. like it's so unfair that rather than new material added to wyll's romance, all I was going to get was lines about how my character had a relationship with a fucking fascist. load of shit that is.

[monkeymindscream]

Before I say anything, let me just start off by saying thank you for requesting I not be harassed in your tags. Genuinely, that was good of you.

More to the matter at hand, however

The point of this post wasn't meant to critique the characters or their motivations (although lord knows I will since you've given me an excuse; you've got enough holes in your argument for me to see to the other side of), it was meant to call attention to the fact that there are intense, unignorable religious elements to this whole scene, which are clearly meant to be viewed favorably and as something triumphant. The fact that Dana had her villain be a religious fundamentalist, and (rightly) portrayed as wrong, makes this scene come across as misunderstanding its own core message at best, or projecting a definite air of "but it's okay when we do it!" at worst. Which, considering that devout catholic practitioners are infamous for those kinds of double-standards (historically speaking: they have a slew of "martyrs" because of how horribly they died, yet the Spanish Inquisition still happened), it all puts a bad taste in my mouth.

But okay, you wanna talk characters? Let's talk characters. One: How in the actual flying fuck would King's dad be able to definitively say what Philip's true internal motivations are? I'm not defending the fucker - what he did, especially from an outside perspective, was horrific. But King's dad doesn't know he was raised puritan and, by their standards and teachings, he actually is in the right. He doesn't know any of the abandonment issues he may have gone through when his brother left. Does any that excuse any of Philip's actions? Dear fucking lord no. But it's disgustingly arrogant to look at anyone and decide you know what their intentions are based on what they're outwardly projecting. King's dad is presented as being unquestionably in the right for making these assumptions.

Y'know who frequently makes snap-judgements like that? Doesn't bother to get to know people on an individual scale, just looks at certain behaviors and decides they're evil and beyond helping? Can you guess? Hmm...

Two: Nothing King's dad said called back to the start of Luz's journey in a way that reinforced that she and Philip "started out in a similar place." That's... I'm sorry, but that's reaching. He referenced the episode you're talking about by trying to make it seem like the show wasn't doing the Chosen One bullshit they professed they'd subvert ("choose yourself"), but just slapping that quote over what was happening doesn't change that that was exactly what they were doing. Luz didn't "choose herself," because nothing she'd done up until that point earned her the power she got to fight Philip. She didn't train hard to be able to meet Philip at his level, King's dad gave her that power. If anything, the show's villain was the one to "choose himself." And given the exact quote you provided ("that man doesn't care about anything except the need to be the hero of his own delusion") he's presented as being in the wrong for it.

And why did the Titan give Luz this power? Not through any particular skill that made her right for the task at hand, because she was there and she was, say it with me now, "a Good witch."

Three: There's a difference between "admitting you can make a mistake/are flawed" and "you could never be like that Evil Person." Because Luz was right in her concerns!! Wanting to defend the people you care about to the point of doing anything to achieve that (like killing someone, because justified or not that's still some heavy shit) is a slippery fucking slope! If left unchecked, that exact mindset ("I'm justified in killing others if it means protecting myself and the ones I love") could easily mutate into something just as bad as Philip's!

King's dad acts as though this isn't even a possibility for Luz, and she shouldn't bother worrying about it. BECAUSE SHE'S ~GOOD,~ UNLIKE THAT DIRTY ROTTEN PHILIP.

Which, also a very catholic mindset! "We're not like those sinners, because we follow The Lord. Everything we do is Good, because our intentions are Good, so we don't have to worry about silly things like going too far and hurting innocent people. If they got hurt, they must not have been innocent."

(Hm, y'know, it's strange, the above mindset reminds me of someone in the show, I just can't put my finger on who... I'm pretty sure they were decried as being wrong for it though, so it's strange that the protagonists are getting a pass...)

And four... yeah, you kind of proved how badly you missed my point with those last two paragraphs. I wasn't critiquing King's dad giving her powers as like... an in-universe kind of thing. I understand she was his only option, regardless of her relationship with King. I was critiquing the writers for having it be a thing at all. Because it's presented as obviously Luz gets a cool power-up. She the protagonist! She's the Good guy who's gonna defeat the eeevil villain! And I already talked about how throwing in the "choose yourself" line was bullshit in terms of the writing/themes.

Finally, the ridiculousness of the "non-believer in the goodness of magic" line was, again, the point. It was something I could quickly reference that set Philip apart from Luz and King's dad. Hating magic was something that, from Luz and King's dad's perspective, made Philip evil. Like how catholic fundamentalists will pick out things that set those who they discriminate against apart from them? Like being gay, since you brought it up? I was making a veiled comparison to emphasize how similar the situations were.

Look, I'm not trying to attack the characters themselves, if that's what you're getting so defensive over. I'm attacking the shitty decisions they made while writing this clusterfuck of a finale. Though, on that note, I'll take as many digs at Terrace as I like, thanks.

The Owl House has a whole scene where a deity-like figure assures the main character (who he's been omnisciently observing and has decided he likes because of her personal relationship to his son) that she is nothing like the main antagonist (who is a non-believer in him the goodness of magic), because unlike her the antagonist is unquestionably evil. The deity-like figure hand-waves her worries that outside factors could turn her into the same sort of monster as said antagonist, that their motives could be anything alike, and the need for really any introspection at all, because unlike him she is inherently Good. The deity-like figure then resurrects her from death because she is so holy Good and has done so right by his son.

Guess you can take the girl out of catholicism but you can't take the catholicism out of the girl, huh Dana?

[mercuryislove]

At this point, I just send my questions whenever 😩 anyway… tell us about evil Yixing! What kind of villain would he be? What brought him to this point? How would the story change if he swapped places with the primary antagonist?

I reckon at this point I also just answer your questions whenever ._. My excuse this time is that I have been plagued by a serious case of the tired sleepies and can't stop napping all day every day :c

I needed an excuse to put down like 1000 words to wax poetic about Yixing being evil so thank you for this lol

First of all he's already a bad guy in my dnd campaign (spoiler alert for the um two people that play with me that will never see this anyway). He's pretending to be sympathetic to the players and to everyone he meets but he's only in it for himself and I kind of want them to kill him at the end lol because he's the reason every horrible thing in the world in the uhhhhhhh 300 or so years has happened bc he's working every angle with everyone all the time because he wants everything so so so so so so bad and he doesn't care who he has to fuck over to get it (even if it's his own child!). Even so, he isn't even the Big Bad (Ciaran is lol), but boy does he aspire to be! BUT the similarities between the dnd version of him and the novel version of him are few and far between. He is still a horse girl and a manlet though lol

Anyway. Um. I think Yixing could easily be like. the worst fucking guy you know because of his, uh, influences as a child but he's spent basically every day of his life since he left home working AGAINST that fact, so he's kind-hearted to the point of everyone else's frustration. HOWEVER, since we're pretending that he's the worst person you know, I can say that his temper is shorter than anyone thinks, he always does his own dirty work, he likes to make examples out of people who cross him, he always get what he wants (and he wants everything), and he still finds a way to sleep well at night.

Bear with me for a moment lol I imagine he probably got very good at killing people effectively and realized “oh I can get paid for this” and became someone's little lap dog and happily murdered whoever needed murdering. But then he started to get a little greedy because he knew his boss got a bigger cut for doing nothing but negotiating while he stood by to scare people, and he was like “hang on. I can negotiate AND do the intimidating AND do the killing” so he offed his stupid boss one night and quickly realized he didn't know how to be a crime lord lol BUT he isn't stupid. He learned how to throw his weight around and how to move money and how to cheat others out of theirs and how to lie and manipulate without resorting first to violence. And then when you know all the right people, you start to hear rumors. People in positions of power all around the continent have their little whispers about how to live forever, because what's the point of having all the power if you don't get to keep it?? So he asked around and squeezed every drop of information he could out of every source he had but ultimately came up with nothing! What a waste. And then one day, a few years after he'd forgotten about the whole thing, someone turned up with a new piece of the puzzle. There was a woman who claimed to be nearly one thousand years old—chosen to live forever by the dying gods themselves—and she wanted to find the bitch that left her to rot for three hundred years and get her well-deserved payback. Like anyone, he thought she was fucking crazy until he tracked her down and slashed her throat himself. And he cut her into a thousand pieces a thousand times to figure out what made her tick, but it was harder than he expected to keep her dead long enough to learn anything useful. So the two of them struck a little bit of a deal: if he helped her track down the woman who cursed her to die innumerable deaths for three entire centuries, then she would show him what the gods had given her to keep her alive. And if he was lucky, she'd let him watch while she ripped it out of that fucker's chest herself. Of course, they were both playing each other. She intended to kill him the second he was no longer of use in her revenge plot, and he knew if she found her mark that he could sit back and watch them destroy each other completely, leaving him to take the spoils. What the woman failed to mention when they agreed to the deal was that there was another party. A man whose allegiances allegedly lay with the woman they were hunting down, but in reality he only cares about himself and just needed any excuse to make his true intentions known. And the three of them all want to kill the others where they stand. But they all pretend to get along well enough for the unspoken promise of the reward.

I have NO CLUE how that would end in that scenario by the way lol I mean. Yixing would absolutely get fucked over. He's not stupid but he's in way over his head there lol But he's mean as fuck and would put up a good fight! Wait. Would that make Anwei the protagonist in this scenario? Everybody wants to fuck her shit up and she's like. just trying to do her own thing and grow a nice garden or whatever.

A similar scenario I came up with a long time ago would be that he works for Sihla because he owes her a massive debt or something, and she's like “Listen. I need you to befriend these two horrible people who are trying to lay low and I want you to get close with them and learn every single thing you can about them so that I can show up and put them in the fucking ground for what they did to me.” And he does go do that and ingratiates himself into their world, and everything goes smoothly for a while because he's done this a million times and he never really feels that bad when Sihla makes the call to finish the job, because like... these people always fucking suck. They're always the worst people you know. The scum of the earth. But these two? Aren't so bad. And the more involved he gets, the more the guilt eats away at him, and he slowly figures out the truth of the situation and tries to double-cross her, but she's not STUPID and everything blows up in his face, etc etc etc. But in this scenario he isn't pure evil so much as like. apathetic, I guess? He doesn't think much about other people as long as he gets his job done.

Also ever since I made a post like six months ago about how if he in a present-day setting that he would be a motorcycle girl instead of a horse girl, specifically the kind of motorcycle girl who drives a Hayabusa, I've been plagued by visions of a very similar character who is a glorified hitman who speeds around on his bike bisexually while also beating people to death with his bare hands or occasionally a steel pipe. And that one IS something I'm planning on using in a project I've been cooking up lately (because of fucking course I am). He would basically be the former friend/mentor maybe that has been tasked with either capturing or killing the main character, who is on the run from... a lot of people for a lot of reasons. And he's like Mr X in Resident Evil 2 in that he constantly stalks her and is never more than a step or two behind because he knows all her tricks!!

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 272: (Directed by Michael Bay)

Previously on BnHA: The My Child Soldiers Academia arc finally started to live up to its name as Tokoyami became the first (but I assure you not the last) victim of traumatic mental scarring courtesy of Horikoshi’s sick games! So he and Dark Shadow showed up to stop Dabi from murdering Hawks and were all “please don’t kill our mentor.” Dabi was all “AH BUT YOUR MENTOR KILLED SOMEONE ELSE, AND ISN’T THAT JUST LIKE THE HEROES THOUGH, THEIR HANDS ARE SO STAINED WITH BLOOD” and then he tried to set both of them on fire several times in succession. Hawks was all “Tokoyami just run away while he’s in the middle of his five-hour sermon” and so they tried but Dabi followed them! But then Geten was all “ALL RIGHT EVERYONE... CHILL” and fucking froze everything for no discernible reason, and Tokoyami fled the building with an unconscious Hawks in tow as the battle raged on. The chapter then ended with Gigantomachia being all “I smell my master!” and standing up, hahaha oh fuck.

Today on BnHA: Well you guys are not going to believe this, but it turns out that Tomura waking up is actually a very bad thing. A “worst case scenario” if you will! Because, get this, he has a quirk that can destroy anything, which spreads from whatever he touches to fucking everything and everywhere else. Gosh, if only we’d known about this since like 35 chapters ago. If only we’d had a spy among the villains who could have warned us, and three entire months to plan our attack, and literally every single hero in Japan on call to help us when the time came. Anyway so you’re really going to be shocked by this I’m telling you, but it turns out that when a crazy powerful person who wants to destroy everything finally wakes up, he immediately starts destroying everything with his crazy power. So X-Less dies and Crust dies and everyone else runs, and meanwhile the kids, who are on the outskirts of the city finishing up the evacuation, stand there in shock as the plot rampages toward them ready to swallow them whole. The chapter ends with Deku powering up to FORTY-FIVE PERCENT YEAHHHHH, and oh shit. Finally we’re doing this.

I am not even remotely done with all the shit I’m supposed to be finishing up, but fuck it, I need a break and reading the new chapter is by far the funnest thing on my current to-do list, so!

OH SNAPS MY BOY HAS FINALLY OPENED HIS EYES

IT ONLY TOOK HIM... OKAY LOOK I’M NOT GOING TO GO BACK AND COUNT ALL OF THE CHAPTERS, BUT LET’S SAY... FIFTEEN. ...HUNDRED. CHAPTERS TO FINALLY SNAP TO IT AND COME JOIN THE PARTY. BUT IT WAS WORTH THE WAIT! PROBABLY. AHH LET’S JUST READ ON

-- ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohm --

[puts on glasses and unfolds map while poring through a mess of scribbles on post-it notes] -- hold up, if my calculations are correct, I’m pretty sure “somewhere a bit further from the hospital” is, in fact, where a certain THREE TROUBLE-PRONE DISASTERS ARE CURRENTLY HOLED UP. AHHH

can it really be true. are we finally rejoining our protagonist and his buddy cop friends after 97 years. how will everyone react to Deku reacting to Tomura waking up ahhhh

so Burnin’ is yelling at the civilians to let them know if they have any family or friends who need assistance evacuating

god I hate the fact that this is a fucking understatement

they’re not taking any chances after Kamino and Fukuoka huh. fool them once, shame on you. fool them twice, oh shit. but there will not be a third time! no one fucking destroys three cities in the span of six months on their watch, no sirree

(ETA: ...)

lol the kids are trying to get the elderly citizens on a bus to evacuate, but a lady is trying to give them candy and Kacchan and Ochako are of two different minds on whether or not to accept

Kacchan is absolutely right about Ochako’s motivations, but in her defense, who the fuck turns down free chocolate

IIDA!!

FUCKING CHRIST JAPAN IT’S 200 YEARS IN THE FUTURE AND YOU STILL HAVEN’T SWITCHED TO DIGITAL RECORD-KEEPING? WHY IS THIS THE MOST REALISTIC THING IN THE ENTIRE MANGA TO DATE. MY GOOD SIR, IIDA IS LYING THROUGH HIS TEETH, ALL RECORDS AND BUILDINGS ABSOLUTELY CAN AND WILL BE COMPLETELY OBLITERATED IN THE CARNAGE TO COME. I’M SORRY TO BE THE ONE TO INFORM YOU OF THIS, BUT DAMN IT SOMEONE HAS TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY

(ETA: I sure hope these poor bastards had good insurance.)

also. this man here who looks like Beaker from the Muppets, who presumably has the power of Doing Anything Those Wacky Flailing Inflatable Tube Men That You See Outside Of Car Dealerships Can Do. ...yes. that’s it. that’s an intentionally incomplete sentence with a subject but no predicate. I just feel like we should all sit and stare at him for a good thirty more seconds before continuing on with our lives

OH MY GOD

THEY’RE EVACUATING THE PETS TOO AHHHH. EXCUSE ME CERTAIN SOMEONES WHO THINK ALL HEROES ARE “DIRTY.” I SEE YOUR ARGUMENTS AND RAISE YOU THIS ONE SINGLE PANEL. YEAH THAT’S RIGHT. NOW WHAT DABI. AT A LOSS FOR WORDS I SEE. YOU JUST SIT AND PONDER THAT FOR A WHILE

is... this... a space shuttle man

is this literally just a man with a Boeing for a head. FUCKING QUIRKS THOUGH!!!!! ~*~wild~*~

OH MY GOD AND WE’RE BACK

time for some HORCRUX SHENANIGANS!! IS YOUR LIGHTNING BOLT SCAR BURNING DEKU. I CAN’T BELIEVE HE WHO MUST NOT BE NAMED IS BACK AHHHH

so now he’s slightly hunching forward with his hands pressed together and Todoroki is immediately sensing that something is wrong ahhhhh

(ETA from like 5 days later: I had that as “Tokoyami” instead of “Todoroki” for the better part of a solid week you guys. SHOUTO YOU WERE GONE FOR SO LONG I FORGOT YOUR FUCKING NAME whoop.)

here come dat angst. here comes Horikoshi’s hand beckoning the trio closer and welcoming them to the pain parade ahhh. from now on that’s how I’m ending all my sentences btw. it just seems right. ahhh

OH MY LORD OH MY

ladies and gentlemen, YOU WERE SAYING DEKU DIDN’T HAVE ENOUGH CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT LATELY? HE’S NOT INTERESTING ENOUGH AS A PROTAGONIST, IS HE? well maybe that’s because Horikoshi has been saving this one juiciest of plot nuggets for a rainy day precisely like this! BRING ON THAT CHOSEN ONE ANGST AHHHHH

anyway so yes it is indeed OFA speaking to him in the form of Lil Bro a.k.a. the first user

lol I’m trying to think of commentary but it’s difficult seeing as I’M ALREADY SCROLLING DOWN TO IMPATIENTLY READ THE NEXT PAGE

lmao the fuck

okay Princess Zelda. can you get any more flowery with those descriptions though. A TRANSCENDENT BEING. A SUPERLATIVE ENTITY. A SUBLIME, PREEMINENT ORGANISM. FREED FROM ITS SHACKLES. UNFETTERED BY ALL EARTHLY LIMITATIONS

OH MY GOD

it absolutely boggles my mind that this guy is somehow still alive. ??! how many chapters and panels has it been now. he’s like the goat in the t-rex pen in fucking Jurassic Park. WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO GET EATEN ALREADY

...

do you... want a blanket. ...?

(ETA: do you ever just. wake up and you’re like “ah shit it’s cold”, and then you destroy an entire city. mm.)

do you all suppose X-Less is fully aware that he’s about to die though? he hasn’t even moved. I imagine that sitting next to Tomura actually is much like sitting next to a giant t-rex. like he has to know there is no getting out of this alive. poor guy

damn Mic isn’t even looking back he’s just running back into the main room where all the rest of them are

wow this fight is still going on

I don’t know why, I just expected it to all magically be over all of a sudden now that we have bigger things to worry about. do you guys remember when we were all worried about the High End Noumus being the biggest threat. hahahahaha

(ETA: moment of silence for ALL OF THE FUCKING HIGH ENDS lmao. that did not go how I expected that plotline to go AT ALL, but at least we got the best fucking battle in the entire manga out of it.)

jesus CHRIST ENOUGH WITH THIS

WE GET IT TOMURA IS DANGEROUS AND SCARY AND EVIL AND AWAKE!!! JUST PLEASE GET TO IT ALREADY GOD I’M BEGGING YOU

FINALLY

goddammit. my reaction to this should have been much more “!!!” and “OH SHIT”, but he dragged it out so much that my initial reaction was one more of relief than horror. maybe it’s because of the way I read the chapters, constantly pausing to do commentary as I go along, but whenever a chapter has a ton of panels of people just staring into the distance awash with dread, it really stands out to me lol. there’s only so much I can write about that kind of thing. ah well at least we’re finally getting to the action

I genuinely can’t tell if Ujiko is frightened that he’s about to be disintegrated by Tomura’s quirk, or excited that Tomura is awake

maybe both lol. well don’t worry you’re not gonna die that easily, much as you would not catch me complaining if you did

thanks Gran

lol where was all this speed throughout the rest of this arc though. “we’re only competent when the plot necessitates it” huh. is that right

oh shit it’s destroying the rest of the lab

those are all of Ujiko’s collected quirks, right? someone please tell me if this is a good or a bad thing. on the one hand if they’re all destroyed it means Tomura can’t get them and Ujiko can’t make any more Noumus. but on the other hand this means they won’t ever be able to give them back to the original users (if any of them are even still alive). and also that’s a lot of evidence that’s being wiped out as well

oh shit they didn’t know about this?!

even after Deika City, you didn’t put two and two together?? even with all of Hawk’s intel?? what the hell did you think happened there?

well this explains why everyone was so la-dee-da-no-rush about capturing him though. well that’s on you guys. next time maybe don’t waste 20 minutes uselessly battling redshirt Noumus while Mirko has to do everything herself

anyway so I feel like people other than X-Less are almost certainly going to die here, and fuck. I’m not ready for any of this

AHH THE KIDS

BIT SLOW ON THE UPTAKE THERE KACCHAN LOL. FOR A MOMENT YOU HAD ME WORRIED THERE WAS SOMEHOW A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT THREAT APPROACHING FROM THE OTHER SIDE, BEFORE YOU TURNED AROUND TO LOOK WHERE THE OTHERS WERE LOOKING

ALSO JUST A FRIENDLY REMINDER THAT SHOUTO’S DAD IS IN THAT HOSPITAL, ALONG WITH THEIR TEACHER! HERE. COME. DAT. ANGST

LOOK AT THIS CONSPICUOUSLY INTACT BUILDING AS IT STANDS THERE ALL OMINOUSLY WITH THE NEARBY BIRDS AND CRITTERS FRANTICALLY FLYING AWAY

I want to see it crumble so bad. now this is the kind of foreboding cinematic disaster movie bullshit I can get into

FFFF WHY IS THIS PANEL SO HARD TO SEE

THERE’S TOO MUCH CHAOS AND TOO MANY PEOPLE LOST AMIDST ALL THESE SHATTERING AND FALLING TUBES, BUT I NEED TO MAKE SURE EVERYONE IS SAFE AHHH

...okay so I see Ryuukyuu in the top right, and I think that’s RockLockRock on her back. Thirteen is clearly there in the bottom center, but I don’t know who that is next to them. and then of course Gran and Mic on the left. and a bunch of others spread out in various other places, but... where the hell is Aizawa??

OH THANK GOD

FUCK YOU HORIKOSHI, I KNOW FULL WELL YOU’RE NOT JUST GOING TO KILL OFF THE WORLD’S PREEMINENT DAD STRAIGHT UP OUT OF THE BLUE HERE, AND YET I STILL FELT ANXIETY AT THIS LAST PANEL. HOW DID YOU EVEN

BITCH YOU BETTER LET THE FUCK GO BEFORE I --

!!!

oh my god I gasped in real life. stop making me fear for the lives of main characters!!

he. he --. crust. he. ...

I literally stopped reading and had to stop and cover my mouth with both of my hands I’m

silence. no screaming. no flailing. no freaking out. just silence

shit. rest in peace you old sedimentary bastard. respect to you for saving the father of my children in your last fleeting moments. I still have not the slightest idea how you rose through the ranks to somehow become the sixth fucking highest rated hero (HERO BILLBOARD CHART, IS EVERYTHING ALL RIGHT. ARE YOU FEELING OKAY), but you sure did go out with style though

also this may be tacky of me to point out during such an emotionally charged moment, but one second Aizawa is wearing his goggles like normal, and the next they’re suddenly pushed up onto his forehead so we can see the anguish in his bloodshot eyes. there was no reason to do that other than angst and we all know it. so yes Shouta you dramatic bitch, I am calling you out. why Horikoshi felt he had to add to your many accumulated traumas is beyond me. you don’t deserve this and I am so, so sorry

OH GOOD I WAS JUST ABOUT TO ASK WHERE THE FUCK ENDEAVOR WAS

seeing as we just went over this with Gran, I will take the high road here and won’t ask why you’re only this fast now and couldn’t have been this useful this ages ago back before Tomura woke up. oh wait does sarcastically saying I won’t bring it up count as bringing it up. well whatever. middle road, then

sob I’m getting flashbacks to the end of Return of the Jedi when they’re all frantically flying out of the Death Star as it explodes

friendly reminder that Ryuukyuu, clearly the fastest one here despite carrying like 20 people, was number 10 in the rankings for some unknown reason. again, r.i.p. Crust you well-meaning geriatric soul

also just a stray thought, I hope it’s clear now why it was so important to give Deku those additional quirks. at a minimum he needs Blackwhip and Float just so he doesn’t instantly die the moment he’s in Tomura’s general vicinity. sob I’ve joked so much about flying quirks and here they are becoming fucking prerequisites now

anyway so Ujiko is mourning the loss of his lab, which again, good riddance mostly. but r.i.p. that evidence though

(ETA: nah the “total loss” part is referring to how the heroes fucked up so soundly and thoroughly. anyway no one would blame Mic if he accidentally dropped Ujiko in the midst of all this chaos, I’m just saying. I guess they need any intel he could still provide now more than ever though.)

OH MY GOD!!

LAUNDRY HERO WASH?! THIS SUDSY BOI CAN ACTUALLY KICK ASS WHAAAAT

oh my god oh my god it’s still spreading??!

fuck fuck fuck at this rate it’ll reach the kids

(ETA: that happened really fast actually.)

-- oh FUCK NO you had better NOT FUCKING TOUCH FUCKING PIXIE BOB, I WILL MAIL MYSELF TO JAPAN PANDEMIC OR NO PANDEMIC. DO YOU NOT SEE THE SIGN THAT SAYS “OFF-LIMITS.” RESPECT THE SIGN

SOB SHE’S SO BADASS BUT IT LOOKS LIKE IT’S STILL DISINTEGRATING FUCCCCCK. FUCK MY LIFE, FUCK EVERYTHING

AHHHHH

I can’t tell if her earthbending was able to stop it or not?? god help us all if it didn’t, I’m not even sure what else could stop it at this point

SHUT UP UJIKO!!

they really did. only to fuck it up completely at the finish line. well, the man most singularly responsible for it is dead now, again r.i.p. Crust you useless old legend

lmao despite myself

“by a miracle, or maybe through sheer will” even he acknowledges that Tomura waking up was basically complete bullshit. yes blah blah yadda yadda got zapped by some exposed wires explanation science. because we all know that getting electrocuted will fix you right up when your heart has stopped and you have completely flatlined. you can definitely trust Horikoshi on this and there’s absolutely no need to google how defibrillators actually work

also is he somehow wearing a cape now. again by a miracle or maybe through sheer will

YESSSSSSS

(ETA: one has to wonder what Ujiko’s plan was, assuming this scheme had actually played out. were they just banking on Tomura not waking up cranky and disoriented and wanting to test out his power. his quirk doesn’t exactly distinguish friend from foe here I’m just saying.)

the part of me that goes all “ooh ahh” when all the buildings explode in Independence Day is singing inside. but never fear, the rest of me is appropriately horrified though. what was that Burnin’ was saying about the city becoming a large-scale battle zone? sob

also this page sure serves as a nice refresher for exactly why Tomura Waking Up Was Bad, which was inexplicably a topic of some debate in recent weeks. yes in spite of everything the villains are still the bad guys who’d have thought. almost as if the purpose of humanizing a character is to show that they’re human, not that they’re right

WHAT’S THIS NOW???

WELL I’LL BE. IT’S BEEN AN EVENTFUL THREE MONTHS, APPARENTLY!??

HOOAHHHHHHHH

IT’S A BIRD IT’S A PLANE IT’S A BADASS OH SHIIIIITTTTTT

finally finally finally!!!!!!

THE SHIT HAS HIT THE FAN, REPEAT, THE SHIT HAS HIT THE PROVERBIAL FAN. THE PLOT IS FINALLY HAPPENING, REPEAT, THE PLOT IS FINALLY FUCKING HAPPENING AHHHHHH

and there is no one coming to save them this time. no one to arrive at the last second and say “it’s all right now because I am here.” they have to save themselves. they have to save everyone. the training wheels are finally coming off. the safety net has been removed. after 272 chapters, the story has finally reached a point where these kids, these children, who in spite of all they’ve been through have been protected and shielded from the worst of it up till now, will finally have to be the ones to save the day all on their own

and they are not ready. but also maybe they kind of are??! but they definitely are not. and oh god oh god oh god, FINALLY WE’RE REALLY DOING THIS. TIME TO FIX THE MESS THOSE SILLY GROWN-UPS MADE, CHILDREN. YOU GOT THIS

[marril96]

Ain’t Nothing But a Number

Pairing: Rowena x reader

Summary: Dean’s unsolicited comment about your and Rowena’s relationship pushes you over the edge.

Editor: @miss-moon-guardian

*****

"Y/N, isn't…" Dean cleared his throat. Sucked in a breath, eyes roaming everywhere, far away from you. Then, in a moment of courage that made you freeze up for you knew — you knew, and, gods, you hated it. You hated it with your entire being — what was to come, they locked with yours, and he said, "Isn't she a bit too old for you?"

You supposed you shouldn't have been surprised. Dean had never been Rowena's biggest fan. He hadn't been yours, either — you being a witch, her protégé at that, didn't win you any favors. But still.

But still.

With Rowena's friendship with Sam, you thought the elder Winchester would be fonder of her. Just a tad. A teeny-tiny bit. That he would stop with the snide comments and start treating her — any, by extension, you — like a person.

Which he had, for a while, but now he was looking at her as if she'd just murdered an innocent person right in front of him and wiped her bloody hands on his shirt. All because you'd admitted to having recently started dating her.

Sam, for his part, had the decency to look uncomfortable by his brother's behavior. He'd reacted to the news well, breaking out a smile and congratulating you both. Heartily. Honestly. From the bottom of his heart.

Dean, on the other hand, had gone quiet.

If only he'd stayed quiet.

You'd learned a long time ago people who had nothing good to say had no qualms about saying it out loud and directly to your face. It was the same everywhere you went, with everyone you came across. Comments that, at first glance, came across as those of kindness, but the more you thought about them, you'd come to realize it was nothing but condescension masked as concern. Inappropriate, uncomfortable comments. Unacceptable. Out of line.

Comments about your relationship.

You were no fool; you knew what it looked like from the outside. An almost-four-hundred-year-old witch and a young girl. The witch who'd spent the majority of her life taking advantage of people, using them up until they were dry of whatever it was she needed and then tossing them aside like trash. Killing them without a shred of remorse. And now she was dating you.

Rowena had fully earned her reputation, a part of her still beaming with pride at her accomplishments, but it still wasn't okay. Neither of you needed advice, especially the unsolicited kind. No one knew what your relationship was like but the two of you. None of those people lived in your house, slept in your bed. What gave them the right to judge something they didn't — couldn't possibly — understand?

Worse than the comments were the looks that followed them. Pity. Doubt. Disgust. Minds no doubt imagining things — pictures — they had no right to think about. It always made you feel dirty, the way they would look at you; as if you were a child being taken advantage of by an older woman. A middle schooler seduced by her teacher, promised the world in exchange for intimacy.

That was all they saw. An old woman and a child. An abuser and a victim.

Not a single one of those busybodies stopped to consider your feelings and needs. Not a single one of them tried to look at you as you were — a woman, fully grown, capable of making her own decisions. A woman who'd chosen her path, who had fallen in love with one of the most powerful witches in the world and was lucky enough as to have her feelings returned. Who was raging — silently, inside herself — at every unwanted comment and sideways glance.

You glared at Dean with the intensity of a thousand suns, and it took willpower to push your bursting magic down, to restrain it for all it wanted was to roam free and destroy everything in its path. Destroy him for being just like everyone else despite everything he'd seen, everything he'd lived.

"Why the fuck do you care?" It came out harsher than it sounded in your head, but, gods, it felt good to say it, to let it out.

You were done keeping quiet.

You were done letting outsiders have an opinion about your relationship.

Dean flinched, startled by the outburst. He raised his hands in a placating manner. "I don't—"

"Why the fuck does anyone care?" you cut him off, face burning, magic churning in your blood. "Is there a sign on my forehead saying 'I Wanna Hear Your Opinions About My Relationship?'"

"Y/N—" Sam tried, to no avail. There were too many suppressed emotions. Too many words that begged to be left out, refusing to be silenced again.

"What is it with people who think I care about what they think? It's my relationship! I'm the one dating her!"

You were the one holding her when she needed comfort. You were the one making her laugh. The one kissing her just for the fun of it, because you felt like it, because you could — finally, after years of dreaming of it. The one holding her hand, playing with her hair, calling her cute names she would kill anyone else for daring to utter in her presence.

Rowena had chosen you, and you couldn't have been happier about it.

"I'm a grown woman!" you yelled. "Stop treating me like a fucking child! What I do is none of your business."

Who I fuck is none of your business.

You'd said the same to your family, and to all the friends who turned their noses up upon finding out about you and Rowena. You were an adult. They had a right to their opinions, and you had a right to not hear them. They didn't have to like your decision — all you asked was that they respect it.

If they cared — truly, genuinely cared — about you, they would.

Dean sighed. Gulped. Cleared his throat. "I wasn't—I didn't mean it like that."

No one ever meant it. Whatever it was they said, however uncomfortable they looked as the revelation of you and Rowena set in, they never meant it. Not a single word, spoken clearly, was ever as it sounded. No — you were exaggerating. You were making up drama where there wasn't any. Causing trouble because, well, you were young, too young to know better.

Too young to date a woman over three centuries your senior.

Right.

You shot Dean one of those looks that could kill if you wanted it to, stolen from Rowena. A glare so intense, you hoped it came across as intimidating as intended. "Then don't say it like that."

"I'm not gonna say anything anymore," he said, taking a swig of his beer.

"That's a first," Rowena quipped.

The hunter rolled his eyes.

Tension lifted from your shoulders. Muscles, taut and tight just a moment ago, free of the pressure. You breathed out in relief.

The worst had passed. The secret was out, words were exchanged, and now you could be at peace. You and Rowena no longer had to hide your linked hands. You no longer had to pull apart and pretend nothing had happened if someone were to walk in on an intimate moment.

You could be yourselves.

You could smile and laugh and be happy in this world rather than hide in its fringes.

The day passed in relative silence. As you and Rowena worked on research, flipping through dusty books and skimming words in faded ink, you caught the Winchesters sneaking a few glances, all averted the moment either of you looked up. It was more curiosity than disapproval; it wasn't always that their allies hooked up — and took it seriously, at that. It wasn't always that Rowena MacLeod, of all people, held someone's hand and laughed at their bad jokes.

It was new. It was weird. And, despite the initial shock, by the end of the day Dean seemed completely on board with it.

You were glad. Finally, you could breathe easily, without fearing judgment. Without fearing the next dirty look or wicked whispers the moment you turned your back.

Yes, Rowena was significantly older. No, she wasn't too old for you. She wasn't too evil, or too unreliable, or too cold-hearted to know what love, true love, was.

She was just perfect.

And you loved her for it.

*****

Tags: @werewolfbarbie @oswinthestrange @songofthecagedmoose @apurdyfulmind @getthesalt-sam @metallihca @salembitchtrials @jay-eris @hellsmother @elizabeth-effie @shadowgirl-vsb @rowenaswife @wonderifshelikesroses @xfireandsin @liddell-alien @hotdiggitydammit @lae-lae @darkhumorsblog @angel7376 @cherrypierowena @evil-regal-vampiress @hellbentredhead @angel-e-v-a @a-queen-and-her-throne @carryon-doctor-lock @fangirlxwritesx67 @theeasterbilby @midnight-lestrange @osterhagen @impala-1979​ @gracib16​

[firelxdykatara]

*sigh* why do people keep comparing r/eylo to zutara and putting them in the same group? Were they not paying attention to the show? Did they not see Zuko's evolution?

Honestly, I really don’t know.

Like, ok, superficially, I can almost kinda get it. Angry boy with a scar on his face and the girl who could kick his ass offering to heal him? Ok, fine. Even aesthetically, red and blue, tol and smol, fine. I can sorta see it. But the instant you dig even a little bit deeper, they just… aren’t the same at all???? Not even remotely????

And, ok, I’ll admit to some measure of bias, because I don’t ship reylo and I don’t like it as a ship, nor do I want it to happen in any way in canon, but like, part of the reason Zutara works so well is that it’s not a hero/villain ship. It’s enemies-to-lovers, for sure, but the vast majority of us ship it because of Zuko’s redemption arc.

Yeah, you’ll see ‘I’ll save you from the pirates’ UST jokes, and a lot of us started shipping it back in book 1, but it was obvious from the beginning that Zuko was going to get redeemed. He may have been a villain, but he was never the villain–he was narratively placed as the secondary protagonist (deuteragonist) of the show from his very first appearance. He was given his own narrative arc that had little to do with the main plotline of Aang’s journey, because while his own journey ran parallel to the gaang, it was separate and distinct because he was on his way to his own redemption even then.

Zuko Alone, in book 2, drove this home even further. You don’t give someone who isn’t the primary protagonist of the show an episode all to themselves (literally none of the gaang shows up for even a second) unless this is a character who’s meant to have just as much narrative significance as the main cast. Zuko was always going to join the gaang, and so much zutara meta and fanfic rests on how amazing and emotionally fulfilling their relationship development was, as friends, and that it would have made so much sense for their friendship to go even further.

Reylo doesn’t have any of that.

First of all, Kylo Ren is not Zuko–not even close. Kylo has far more agency in being dark than Zuko ever did. Ben Solo had loving parents and grew up in a supportive environment. His uncle ultimately made a mistake, sure, but a) we see three versions of that particular story: the sanitized version (luke), the demonized version (kylo), and the truth, and b) kylo already had the knights of ren all ready to go and slaughter a bunch of kids.

He was already dark. You don’t go and murderdeathkill a bunch of kids and people you’d ostensibly been raised with just because you saw your uncle standing over you with a lightsaber he clearly wasn’t going to actually use unless you were already making plans to do just that. You can blame as much of it as you want on Snoke and his influence, but that would be a little like blaming Palpatine for Anakin–yeah, he gets some of the blame for manipulating the situation, but Anakin’s still the one who made the choice to kill a temple full of children and choke out his own wife. Darth Vader may have, in the end, chosen to return to the light, but that doesn’t absolve him of the evils he chose to commit.

Kylo is, tragically, in the same narrative position as Darth Vader was in the original trilogy–and Vader couldn’t even bring himself to kill his son.  But Kylo chose to kill his father. And that, incidentally, is one of the places where Zuko and Kylo are essentially diametrically opposed. Zuko turned on Uncle Iroh, yes, but he didn’t cross a line from which there was no coming back–he didn’t kill him. He, in fact, kept going to see him, trying to figure out why the choice he’d made felt so wrong when it was supposed to be everything he’d always wanted. Meanwhile, Kylo murdered his own father because he was hoping to destroy that last link to his own humanity.

And he succeeded.

Furthermore, Rey is not Katara. I love them both, so much, but they are very different people, and different characters who fulfill different narrative spaces in their own stories. In Rey’s position, Katara would probably have killed Kylo in the throne room when he turned on her after killing Snoke. Or, placing Kylo in Zuko’s place in atla, if he’d killed Hakoda (remembering that Han was the only father figure rey’d ever known)? She would have destroyed him. No fucking mercy

Katara does not forgive easily. It took Zuko not only proving that he was on the side of good (which he did multiple times, one of which he even saved her father), but specifically proving to her that he cared for her and genuinely wanted to help–by helping her gain closure for her mother’s murder. She emotionally connected with Zuko in the crystal catacombs, sure, but when he turned on her she hated him and had no intention of turning back. (Even though, from Zuko’s perspective, it wasn’t a betrayal at all–he’d made no promises, and it was his sister offering him everything he’d ever wanted. As far as he was concerned, the only person he betrayed there was his uncle, which is why it took him so long to realize just why Katara hated him so much. And even then he needed her brother’s help to figure out how to fix it.)

On the other hand, Rey was ready, willing, even eager to believe that Kylo could be returned to the light side–could become Ben again. This after he’d done something utterly unforgiving right in front of her, and tried to kill her multiple times. (Notably, at no point during Zuko and Katara’s antagonistic relationship was Zuko actually trying to kill her. He was trying to capture Aang. The worst thing he did was burn down Suki’s village, and that was largely an accident, because he was trying to get to Aang to capture him–alive.) She wanted to believe there was good in him. Katara couldn’t have cared less, throughout the first two books–and then, when confronted with the fact that Zuko had suffered something to which she could relate, she connected with him… and he turned on her. (From her perspective, she’d just reached out and offered this boy a chance to prove he’d changed… and he threw it in her face. So yeah, she took it incredibly fucking personally.)

Even now, it’s possible that if Kylo comes at Rey with some ‘I’m really light now’ story, she’ll probably want to believe him. But even if Reylo happens (and I’ll stress that I really don’t think it’s going to, and if it does I’ll probably be bitterly disappointed, but what else is new) it won’t even remotely resemble Zutara because they are, at their core, incredibly different relationships. Katara didn’t start warming up to Zuko, after that book 2 betrayal, until after he’d proven himself again and again, and helped her begin to heal from the trauma she’d suffered as a child. Furthermore, Zuko was never that evil to begin with. He was being primed for a redemption arc from the start, and he never even came close to the sort of moral event horizon Kylo pole-vaulted over when he murdered a whole bunch of students in their beds and then killed his own father.

And here’s the thing a lot of these Zuko-lite redemption arcs don’t seem to understand–it’s not a one-size-fits-all storyline. You can’t just slap Zuko’s redemption arc on any old villain, because for a redemption to work, it needs to be tailored specifically to fit the villain in question. And most villains aren’t Zuko–he was a very special kind of ‘secondary protagonist who starts out bad and gets a little bit worse before he gets better and joins the good guys’, which most villains can’t hope to match. If you want to redeem someone who’s canonically done far more atrocious acts, their redemption has to encompass the fact that not only are they getting better, but they are actively atoning for the horrible things they’ve done.

Killian Jones, from Once Upon a Time, had a redemption arc which looked nothing like Zuko’s, because he wasn’t a villain like Zuko. His redemption involved not only coming to realize that he’d been doing bad things for a very long time in search of a vengeance which was, ultimately, not what he really wanted or needed, but also making amends to the people he’d hurt over his very long life (those he still could help, at least). (Interestingly enough, that same show had a great example of a horribly botched redemption, in which we were supposed to take it on faith that the character was Good Now even though she’d never once expressed either remorse for the evil she’d committed [which was a lot more evil than Killian ever had] or a desire to make amends to those she’d wronged. In fact, come the end of the show, she still had a vault full of stolen hearts she’d never so much as made an effort to return, even though many of their owners were, ostensibly, in the same town she’d created through one of her many acts of villainy. It was… kind of strange, to say the least, to see how they could get one villain’s redemption so right and another’s so horribly wrong.)

Anyway, tl;dr: the upshot of this all is, Kylo Ren is not Zuko–he’s not even close–and Rey is not Katara. Their relationships look nothing alike, and even if Kylo is redeemed, it’s not going to look anything like Zuko’s redemption–partly because Zuko was never that bad to begin with and Kylo would have much more for which to atone, partly because their narrative journeys are so very very different–and I have never understood the comparison beyond a very surface-level reading of their character aesthetics.

[mysterylover123]

BNHA Rewatch: Season 1 Episode 7 “Deku vs Kacchan”

 mysterylover123

Here. We. Go!

Backstory time. (I guess this episode is all about Deku and Kacchan, BTW, so no corner this time. Too much stuff would be in there). Deku recounts their past together. The phrasing is different in different translations. I like how honest Deku is about his rival’s character - how he’s not necessarily “good” or “evil”, but became kind of an asshole after developing his quirk. Also, cute!

More below the cut

Poor Iida, BTW. Saddled with the Worst Teammate Ever. (at least right now. Contrast point: JTA Bakugou)

Though Deku isn’t much better! Sure, get rid of Uraraka! it’s not like you’re fighting a powerful opponent or anything! Not like that Zero G couldn’t solve this problem easily! (You just really wanna mono y mono him, don’t you Deku?)

Deku being strategic! (Why isn’t Bakugou considered captured then and there? All Might said! Capture tape! Shouldn’t that have…oh never mind, who cares. Fight!) 

Here we have the explanation as to why Deku tells Kacchan about his quirk: Kacchan thinks Deku’s been lying to him. And the thing is, he…well, has. Not his whole life, but he has lied to his mom, and presumably via sin of omission, to everyone in his middle school (and UA), including Bakugou. Which Deku is fine with - for everyone else. Because it’s All Might’s secret, and it’s understandable, and Bakugou later reprimands him for telling even him. But that’s the thing. Deku doesn’t feel comfortable lying to Bakugou, and Bakugou alone. For some reason.

Yes, he has a good, rational explanation of why he didn’t work with Uraraka and let her go off to fight Iida. But he immediately undercuts it by reminding us that he does, in fact, wish to fight Kacchan himself. Again, why Filler!Deku is so scared of meeting Kacchan’s challenges head-on when he’s been fully committed to being his rival since Episode7/Chapter 9 is beyond me.

I kinda like how Bakugou has no Tragic Backstory or reason to be the way he is beyond being told his whole life that he’s better than everyone else. It’s such a perfect deconstruction of that Main Hero mindset - you see this same setup in so many other stories, where the Chosen One hero is told from a young age that he’s Destined for Greatness or whatever. And he’s always a perfect cinnamon roll. Instead of the kind of person that treatment would really create. Basically, someone like Bakugou.

More adorable/mean flashbacks. (It’s like watching South Park. They’re so mean but the art style is so cute!) I like how Deku, even LilDeku, doesn’t take shit from Kacchan. He talks back. And he never stops following him around.

Ah, the defining moments. Deku is declared Quirkless and therefore worthless (somebody hug him!) Then the creek incident. This scene is so cute, and it starts this big  visual motif throughout the series pertaining to these two: Deku’s outstretched hand. (one translation I heard of “The Day” translates the line right before they fight in the OP as “reach out and finally take my hand”, which is perfect). But yes, there is this long buildup for Bakugou to one day cast aside that pride, realize that Deku just wants to help him, and Take. That. Hand.

Iidaraka! This scene is so hilariously funny. If I wasn’t already in love with this series before, this moment  clinched it. Iida pretending to be a villain, complete with monologuing (I bet the dub was intentionally referencing The Incredibles there.) Cute Iichaco moment here, I love how he cracks her up. (Though Iida also makes the mistake of taking it too easy on her here. He doesn’t go for the knockout punch and loses for it. Thankfully a certain hothead does not make that same mistake in the sports festival.)

This freaked me out hard the first time I saw it. It’s such a hit. Like damn, how is Deku even alive now? The way it’s animated is so brutal! Though there is an explanation for the giant gauntlets and Bakugou’s quirk that makes a ton of sense here though; Hori even explained how his parents’ quirks made the power later on! It’s all so well thought out. 

So again, this also freaked me out the first time around. He looks fucking crazy (And I loooove crazy characters. Deku the Absolute Madman and Bakugou’s crazyface are a big part of why I watch this series). But later on this gets a callback when All Might is talking about Bakugou “smiling in the face of a wall”, compiled with his smile when facing Uraraka and All Might. So this puts Deku on the same level as those two, the only two opponents Bakugou truly respects. Well, well. :) 

BTW the second of the two manga chapters this episode is based on is called “Breaking Bakugou”. Just a funny bit of trivia. 

Uraraka’s main character flaw at this point, her general lackadaisacal attitude and lack of willingness to just jump in and take initiative, shows up in this arc, and she makes her first step towards overcoming it. She’s inspired by how much Deku wants to win to Go Plus Ultra. I think Uraraka is a character who tends to mold herself after the people around her (her parents, Deku, even Bakugou post Sports Fest briefly), hence why Toga is her Evil Counterpart. This is her flaw, that she doesn’t quite know who she is outside of copying others, and what she needs to overcome. 

We get some comedy as Bakugou gets jealous of Deku ignoring him again. Notice me you damn nerd! You idiot baka! 

Kirishima’s first impressions of Bakugou are all so terrible. It’s hilarious in hindsight since they end up BFFs, but he really thought Bakugou was a reckless asshole the first time around. Also Todoroki’s first line is talking about how Bakugou is smarter than he looks. So let’s enjoy some of my personal headcanon, namely that if Kiri has a crush on a member of Wonder Duo it’s actually Deku, and for Todoroki it’s actually Bakugou. Yes, the reverse of what everyone else thinks.

This fight is so damn brutal. Bakugou pays Deku back in kind for bodyslamming him. Of course, I loved that Deku was planning something that whole time (I knew, first time around, when his dialogue with Uraraka was muted, that he had a plan up his sleeve. And what a plan it is!). But still, watching him get beaten up this badly is hard to see.

Now the big buildup moment. Deku confesses the truth: He wants to beat Kacchan because he thinks Kacchan is amazing. Bakugou thinks Deku is looking down on him, which is such a weird way to twist Midoriya’s behavior - but makes sense if Bakugou, deep down, knows that Deku totally can. And Deku, he just wants to surpass him. As he puts it later on, his image of Victory. 

YOU SAY RUN. Drink! As an aside, All Might has a very interesting role in the whole Deku vs Kacchan thing. Not only is he the reason for their conflict (each idolize him/wanna be like him in different ways), he also perpetuates it willingly here by not stopping the fight. And he does so because he wants to support Deku. Which is interesting. All Might has some perception into Midoriya, and he comments here that this is the most pumped up he’s seen Deku. Bakugou brings that out in Midoriya, and that’s why All Might is, overall, rather supportive of them mending their friendship, ending up as Wonder Duo, the best heroes who Win and Rescue. Because Deku needs that  challenge in his life to amp him up. To keep him going. 

And now Deku’s plan. I’m not sure if the Entrance Exam bit counts, because at the time he didn’t know how badly his body would be effed up, but this time he does. So I’m calling it: The first instance of Absolute Madman Deku. My favorite Deku moments are always these bits, where he does something so crazy and brilliant and self-destructive that it shouldn’t work, but because he’s also clever, it totally does. And with Uraraka’s teamwork, the Hero Team wins! 

We end on a moment between Deku and Kacchan, where Deku (pulling the first of his true Crazy Eyes faces) tells Kacchan that he was not, in fact, looking down on him, and only holding back because he’d be hurt. And the anime adds, from the Manga, Kacchan looking kind of shocked about what he’s seeing, maybe even a little guilty/horrified by Deku hurting himself. What an ending!

So the first time around, after watching the first four eps day-by-day at work, I had a weekend where I binged through the rest of Season 1, so my first impressions of the rest of the season aren’t as clear to me as those first few episodes. In hindsight, I think this is one of the best episodes of Season 1, and one of the first that really started fleshing out these characters into the complex little tragic heroes they are today. It’s all just glimpses of the surface; little to indicate how much is really lying beneath. But it’s important, nonetheless, as an early indicator. 

Best Girl of the Episode: Mina Ashido!

Ranker: Favorite BNHA Fights (So Far)

10. Deku vs Kacchan 1

This is my favorite fight of S1. I love the strategy that Deku uses. 

9. Deku vs Muscular

So hard to watch. So much pain. The tears the joy. Everything.

8. Todoroki and Momo vs Aizawa

Momo needs more fights. But she and Todoroki make a great tag team.

7. Deku and Kacchan vs All Might

As do Wonder Duo. Fighting All Might is just cool. Character Development!

6. Deku vs Overhaul

Season 4 is going to be Lit.

5. Hero Killer Stain vs UA Students

Such a multilayered fight. Three great fighters  vs one unstoppable villain.

4. Uraraka vs Bakugou

Absolutely astounding. Full of surprises and emotional and cool.

3. Deku vs Todoroki

An absolute tearjerker and unbelievably brutal. Cannot watch without getting nervous.

2. Deku vs Kacchan Part 2

Partly the animation, which is so beautiful it should be in the Louvre. But also the fight itself. Of course. Strategy, emotion, Deku and Kacchan. 

Hon Mention: The Movie’s Class A and All Might vs Metal Villain, All Might vs Nomu, Todoroki vs Bakugou, all the Beta Sports Fest fights, Jiro and Koda vs Present mic, Tetsu and Kendo vs Mustard, Deku vs Gentle and La Brava, Endeavor vs high End.

1. All Might vs All for One

4 words. “Now it’s your turn.”

[blackcatanna]

First impressions of Hakuoki characters:

Hijikata: Sebastian from Black Butler realness. Is mean but in a reluctant way. Like a Mum who is in charge of discipline because her husband (Kondou) is incapable of laying down the law. I like him but I would like him more if the game wasn't sucking his dick so hard. He has good hair. Please don't kill me, Hijikata!

Okita: He is handsome (duh) but seems a bit too eager to kill his own men... Ugh, now he's making me thank him. His idea of humour is threatening to kill you. He's like an old cackling witch who was shunned by the world and is taking it out on anyone he has power over. I enjoy him but I find it hard to relate to someone who takes pleasure in tormenting the helpless. Big dom energy. Probably enjoyed tying you up a bit too much. I want to fight back but I have a feeling that there is no script for bratty Chizuru. :'(

Saito: The Chosen One. He is dangerous but also adorable. He saved mah life *swoons*. He is HELPFUL. He has beautiful impractical hair. He is CONCISE. He is POLITE. He just seems like a great person to have around... If he's on your side (R.I.P. Itou). Alas, we can never be wed, for he is already married to his sword... Or maybe it's Hijikata... Or Okita... Or tofu. He has a lot of commitments.

Harada: He has red hair. Me like red hair. I feel like all three of them are way too casual about my impending doom. Not getting friendly vibes here. However, it turns out that he's pretty great! A bit too chirpy for my liking, though. Because I'm a miserable bitch (goth), I guess. The baka trio are all more boisterous and outgoing than I would be comfortable being around but I like them on their own. Harada is my favourite, though. Definitely the Mum of the trio. I guess that makes him the cool aunty of the Shinsengumi? He has the best Kazama burns and I will always love him for that.

Heisuke: I wish that the others would stop treating him like a child. Maybe they would if he stopped taking their bait. He's the most openly friendly of the group and that means a lot when you're surrounded by new people (and are being held against your will). He looks like an angry wildcat. I like cats so that's fine, I guess.

Kazama: Ew. Can you tell that I don't like him? Fuck this wannabe nonce. Actually, no! Don't fuck him! That's what he wants! Just stab him real good. He cannot control his temper. I do not respect that. He is racist. He is too scared of rejection to court a girl and get consent. He is really handsome but he has the worst personality so I feel no attraction to him at all. Not even for a hate fuck. No. Go away.

Nagakura: Ah, the classic pervert! We love a slut! I kept forgetting who he was, though. Sorry. Clearly, he has hidden depths but I have yet to find out what those are. Is a little bit too violent. Needs to calm tf down. I don't really have much else to say about first impressions. At first, the baka trio were just loud, wacky background noise.

Sannan: Seems fine, I guess... Fairly reasonable. If he was such a sweet, fluffy bunny before his injury, why was everyone so scared of him? He has a pleasantly calm aura. However, he needs to work on his diplomacy. Demanding blood while brandishing a sword is extremely un-chill of him. I also enjoy wandering around eerily in the middle of the night so we have that in common. Definitely gives off sinister vibes.

Yamazaki: Ninja Nurse Mum! He is clever, selfless, dedicated and reliable! He deserves a better hairstyle XD Sorry Yamazaki! The rat tail is not a strong look but he probably has more important things to worry about like SAVING LIVES and coming up with new moves to shout out in combat. I am excited to do his route because he deserves all the happiness.

Iba: The most beautiful one. He's rich, good looking, friendly and has had a crush on you for years. He also rescues you from the Shinsengumi on numerous occasions to hang out and eat delicious desserts. He's very cute. Definitely too good to be true. Everyone has a dark side and it concerns me when someone locks theirs away so much. Or maybe he really is that 2D. Iba is so perfect that they had to give him the Demon Arm of Horniness because they didn't want to tarnish him with a human flaw. I would probably be obsessed with him if he was real but, as a character, I don't find him that interesting.

Sakamoto: I still have no idea who this man is. He creeps me out, though. I don't remember why, I just remember being creeped out when you first meet him. Maybe he should mind his own business.

Souma: Puppy? Who threw this poor guy to Harada and Nagakura? Wow, I finally have underlings. However, they are probably not here against their will. He looks scared so he must have some brains. I haven't played his route yet so I don't know much about him.

Nomura: Horny Puppy! This isn't really a first impression (except for in the sense that all of my impressions are initial because I haven't played much with him in yet) and is totally spoilery but there's a bit in Edo Blossoms where they're making fun of him for being terrible with women and how it'll take him ten years to figure them out. At the time, I thought, "Bit harsh, guys. He could very easily die tomorrow and then he'll never get any." AND THEN HE DID. Die, that is. Not get laid. R.I.P.

Kondou: Married to Hijikata. They have loads of terrible children. Fun Dad. Thinks that he's a cool Dad but there are no cool Dads. Everyone talks about how nice he is and how everyone loves him but it's hard to appreciate that when he's debating whether or not to feed you to Okita. Turns out, he is kind but very busy. Definitely a secret badass. Very secret. He gives off friendly bear vibes.

Inoue: Friendly Grandad who is way younger than he looks. Not datable so he is mostly in the background, just being kind, helpful and dependable. He is warm but calm and comforting to be around.

Shimada: Gruff undatable anime guy who is not a bishie and so his brave and heroic acts often go unnoticed.

Motoyama: Bless him for trying to be a wingman. Why is he so scared of the Shinsengumi? Scary poor people with swords? He is very good at his job. Needs to calm down with the winks and nudges.

Itou: This Bitch. He could be fabulous but he loses points for mocking the disabled. He's Regina George. Except he actually dies. Is very camp. Would be great to go shopping with him. Not necessarily gay but is the gay best friend you deserve, not the gay best friend you asked for. Is a bitch but also sometimes the only sane person in the room. He's not reading you, he's just being real with you because you're Shinsengumi Sisters.

Miki: Bitch by Association. "Darling." Doesn't seem totally evil, just trying to do his best by his brother. Relies on tough guy image. Doing his job but happens to be on team Bitch. Also, he is a handsome boi.

Takeda: Fabulous Cunt. Should be too beautiful to be such a disaster human and yet here we are. Starts off as a bit of a prick, ends up (spoilers) feasting on the flesh of innocents... Is that a glow up? He's a dirty cop. Nobody likes him X_X :'(

Shiranui: GUNS! SHOOTY SHOOTY! He has a lot of aggression and he channels it through his GUNS. He always looks somewhat maniacal. Needs to take a chill pill.

Amagiri: Infuriatingly calm enemy with infuriating facial hair. He seems pretty chill and not bloodthirsty so... Good? He punched Heisuke, though, so RAAAAAAAWR!!!!

Kodo: Worst Dad. Scalpels > kunai. Took a level in WTF while he was away (hopefully he wasn't always like that).

Kaoru: Why can't I dress like that? :'( Definitely evil.

Sen: Hey, don't tell me off for protecting you! Can we be best friends?! I'M SO STARVED OF FEMALE CONTACT!!! More of this queen, please. She is powerful, kind and she is honest! I wanted to run away with her while Saito and Heisuke were away :') But the game didn't let me :'(

Kimigiku: GOALS. Why can't I be disguised as a geisha (except for that one time) :'( GET THIS QUEEN A ROUTE. She is beauty she is grace. I wish that I looked more like a woman and less like a child. I want her to be my friend too. She can teach me her womanly arts!

Chizuru!: She's fine. Much less annoying than she could easily be. Too pure for this world. A fine example of woman (well, she looks like a child). Her disguise is useless. Pretends not to be thirsty but rushes past Itou to see shirtless men. HMMMMMMM.

[mst3kproject]

1111: Wizards of the Lost Kingdom 2

You know how Joel said the part of the movie that was ‘spilled’, the bit with David Carradine fighting the monster called the Protector, could have saved the whole film?  He lied. It’s just as dumb as the rest of the movie.  In fact, this whole film is so stupid and predictable that I’m going to have a very hard time filling two pages with my thoughts on it.  Apparently even Joel himself wished he’d found a different movie to use.

An age of darkness has fallen, and Caedmon of Nogg is the world’s last hope.  The ghost of his father, I think, or maybe Obi-Wan Kenobi, appears in a bucket of coffee and charges him with finding the Chosen One, whose pure heart will re-unite the Three Powers. The Chosen One is a skinny, hormone-suffused teenage boy named Tyor who works on a stick farm somewhere, and Caedmon trains him in wizardry while seeking out three powerful warriors: the Dark One of Eedok, Prince Ermine of Valdar, and Amathea of Fennir.  One by one, they defeat the evil wizards and gather the magical sword, chalice, and amulet that will bring peace to the world.

So, yeah, it’s less a ‘movie’ than it is a Dungeons and Dragons campaign, thrown together in five minutes after the original GM called from the side of the road with a flat tire.

It’s not at all apparent how this is a sequel to Wizards of the Lost Kingdom.  Not only are the storylines unconnected, the whole aesthetic is totally different. Where the first movie was all bright colours and friendly forest creatures, this one is brown and gray, starving peasants and grubby heroes.  It’s kind of the difference between Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and Game of Thrones, although infinitely worse than either.  Still, if there’s any sort of connection to be found, I should be able to figure it out. After all, one of my running gags on this blog is The Movies Are All Coming Together, in which I find connections between unrelated films to assemble them into a single, great, incomprehensible movie.

For starters, Wizards of the Lost Kingdom 2 is definitely a sequel to The Undead.  After Pendragon skooered Lydia the Witch, her insanity curse on Smolken wore off and he remembered he was actually Caedmon the Wizard.  He was forced to run off to this distant land to escape all the medieval punk kids wanting him to autograph their copies of Digger Smolken’s Rottenest Hits.  As for how this relates to Wizards of the Lost Kingdom, though? I don’t think this is a sequel at all. It’s actually a prequel.  See if you can follow me here:

Remember, Tyor was not supposed to kill Zarz… by running him through at the end, he gave in to evil.  So after a few years of putting up with Caedmon’s incompetence as a pupil, he got sick of him, turned him into a sparkly crab hat, and embraced the dark side. Meanwhile, Amathea was getting tired of Ermine’s philandering, so she and Tyor teamed up to kill him and seize the throne.  The Dark One’s restaurant went under after he was caught selling chicken that turned back into stone when you bit into it.  He tried to get money to pay off his small business loans by ditching Stripper Wife and wooing a wealthy cyclops so he could take her dowry and run.  To avoid his jilted bride’s vengeful brother, he went on the run and returned to using his real name, Kor.  Presto, you’ve got Wizards of the Lost Kingdom!

I have to take a break now.  My brain hurts.

This movie wants so badly to be epic.  The narration sounds like Achronus from Cave Dwellers telling us another story about Ator: and so, Cademon of Nogg set out across the land of Syn in search of the boy Tyor.  And yet, every time something happens that should be epic, it’s just people standing around.  The finale is a showdown between callow young Tyor and the two dark wizards Zarz and Donar, and they all just kind of mill around and bicker.  The fight between the Dark One and the Protector is much closer to being a climactic battle than this is, but it’s just more obvious fake swordplay and disappointment, and David Carradine looks downright embarrassed about it. I’m not convinced that scene was actually intended for this movie, by the way.  David Carradine made another stupid fantasy movie called The Warrior and the Sorceress, which I have not seen, and it might be from that.

One thing I can say for Wizards of the Lost Kingdom 2, though, is that the middle of the story has substantially more to do with the beginning and end than in its predecessor.  Caedmon is given his task, which is to find Tyor and then help him get the sword, amulet, and chalice so he can overthrow the evil wizards and unite the three kingdoms.  And the middle of the movie is spent doing exactly that.  This does divide the whole narrative into three separate plots that are only barely related to each other, and because of the limited running time all three of them feel truncated.  Tyor confronts Loki and turns him to stone and we’re like, that’s it?  He hears the voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi and pulls a knife on Freyja, who agrees to take him to the sword and… that’s it?  It feels like the movie ought to be twice as long as it is, except that we really wouldn’t want that.

In particular, the audience has no idea what the sword, the amulet, and the chalice really do.  The fact that Tyor is able to overcome the amulet’s supposedly supreme power with some nonsense words really deflates the whole enterprise.  The sword is supposed to be magical but all it gets used for is stabbing people.  The chalice shows the truth except that Zarz can make it lie?  And at the end Obi-Wan takes all three away instead of letting Ermine and Amathea use them to rule the three kingdoms?  The three artefacts could not be more obviously plot contrivances, even if they were just boxes with the word macguffin written on them.

The Protector beast really ought to have been set up earlier, too, if it were going to deserve a setpiece fight.  As it is, MST3K excised it with no plot consequences.  Why didn’t we get to see Zarz feeding people to it?

Wizards of the Lost Kingdom 2 is grittier and less silly than its predecessor, which does allow the actors to escape with some tatters of their dignity, but in a way this is itself a weakness.  The first movie kept me interested mostly by throwing random episodes of what the fuck at me.  This one plods through its plotline without any lion-centaur beasts or random tricksy mermaids, although the impossibly bad werewolf-versus-pigwoman fight did make me look twice.  At the same time, paradoxically enough, I think it’s fair to say that Wizards of the Lost Kingdom 2 also takes itself less seriously.  The first movie did have a full-on wizards’ battle at the end, even if it sucked.  The second one here has a whole lot of talking and Tyor turning the crystal ball into a roast chicken, which apparently incapacitates Zarz in some way but I’m damned if I know how.  The roast chickens in the movie are clearly the ones you get out of the little warmer at the grocery store deli.

You know what?  This movie should have ended with Tyor turning Zarz into a chicken!  That would have allowed Tyor to win without killing anyone, and given a purpose to the weird ‘chicken’ motif that keeps happening.  Why was I able to come up with that, and the movie wasn’t?  The writers seem to think that chickens are somehow inherently funny, when really everybody knows that’s only true when they’re trying to cross the street.

These are not movies that really lend themselves to analysis but I guess there’s kind of a hint of theme, in that the Dark One would rather live quietly, running his pub with his wife, and only goes out to fight when he’s forced to do so?  Although I’m not sure how we’re meant to interpret that.  Is it about the benefits of a peaceful lifestyle (insofar as stabbing people when they don’t tip qualifies as ‘peaceful’)?  Or are we supposed to think the Dark One should have gotten off his ass and answered the call of duty before it came to that?  Maybe the chicken thing was meant to suggest that even a coward can save the world?  I don’t know. I just work here.

So that’s my marathon of lame-ass wizard movies that made it to MST3K.  Of the three, I think the first Wizards of the Lost Kingdom was easily my favourite.  It was light and silly and it made no sense, but it kept me giggling, sometimes just out of sheer surprise.  And I guess that means Quest of the Delta Knights would come in second, because Wizards of the Lost Kingdom 2 was definitely the worst.  The other two movies at least looked like people were having a good time making them, while this one feels like it was probably as much a chore to be in as it is to watch.  Even Sid Haig as Donar looks like he’d rather be anywhere else, and considering some of the crap Sid Haig seemed to have been enjoying himself in, that’s really saying something.

All the monster fights in the world couldn’t have saved this one.  What it really needed was the Dark One fighting a giant chicken.

[absolutiions]

´   ･   .   ✶   ⧼    madchen   amick,   non   binary,   she   &   they   /   fucked   my   way   to   the   top   by   lana   del   rey   +   eyes   the   color   crimson   and   hands   stained   in   crimson,   too.   victim   of   the   underworld,   you   are   not.   you   came,   not   to   sit   silent   at   his   side   as   dutiful   wives   do,   but   to   whisper   in   his   ear.   pouted   lips   smeared   ruby   stoke   the   flames   of   his   darkest   impulses   and   his   deepest   desires.   you   are   the   conqueror.   you   are   the   queen.   and   may   god   have   mercy   upon   anyone   who   underestimates   this   :   because   you   will   not.    ⧽   ━━   don’t   look   now,   but   that’s   ATHENODORA.   the   TWO   THOUSAND,   FIVE   HUNDRED   &   TWENTY   TWO  (   varying   physical   )   year   old   GIFTED   VAMPIRE   has   been   here   in   seattle   for   three   minutes,   and   is   considered   a   member   of   the   VOLTURI.   they’ve   always   been   MACHIAVELLIAN   &   INDOMITABLE,   but   i   guess   this   town   just   brings   out   the   worst   in people   ;   apparently,   they’ve   been   way   more  INSOUCIANT   &   SUPERCILIOUS   than   usual.   it   wouldn’t   surprise   me   if   they   knew   what   was   going   on.   click   HERE   to   check   out   her   stats.

they   told   you   that   you   were   a   nobody,      so   you   became   the   QUEEN.   (   now   everybody   knows   your   name   )

SECTION ONE OF THREE : background / human era. trigger warnings for talk of pregnancy, death, abuse

born circa 502 bc, in a little village that has no lasting name nor impact in ancient greece. 

five of the children born to her parents survived to adulthood, and since she was the last one... it is almost like, her whole life, she has been suffering from younger child syndrome. who knew !

she very literally grew up in a diff time, so when i say she wasn’t rly close to any of her siblings, i don’t mean it in a like... horrible way. it’s not a reflection of character. they just didn’t have a tight sibling bond, though she loved them greatly. 

same w her parents. they were unexceptional people who lived unexceptional lives, and though she was grateful for, u know... their creation of her - they were not close. they did not, in laymans terms, have the lorelai and rory gilmore dynamic. 

her whole family were content to live their dismal lives, and... tho athenodora did not vibe, she, again - grew up in a diff time. of course she dreamt of more. of course she prayed to the gods for something better. but she was achingly aware of the fact that no such future would ever exist for her. such is life in 400 whatever bc, bumfuck, greece.

she was just barely eighteen when she was married to athanasios, to secure land, or smth, because those were the times. of course it was something like that. 

he was... fine, at first. a little small minded ( that wasn’t the ONLY thing that was small, haha ). he, like everyone, was content to live the same old life, and athenodora just... wasn’t. she had been raised on stories of grandeur, and her parents had thought she would settle for the regular - it should not have been a surprise that she didn’t want to, but gods, did she try.

she never loved him, she can safely say ; but she wished that she did. for a long while, athenodora thought it would be easier, and thought that she could do a lot worse. unfortunately... she cld not.

their lives were meant to follow a certain pattern. they had gotten married, and now he would work all day, make them money, tend their land. she would stay home. cook. clean. raise the children that they were sure to have. athenodora was capable of almost everything expected of her, except for the most important part - she couldn’t seem to give him children. not strong sons. not beautiful daughters. 

at first, he told her that it was fine. 

after a year or so, he still told her that it was fine, but she could see in his eyes that it wasn’t.

two years after this, he called her the ancient greek version of defective for the very first time - and things only got worse from there.

he had always been a perfectly fine husband, until he was not, and athenodora had always wanted to love him, until she did not. she prayed to the gods every morning and night, to give her what her husband so desired. to give her that which would make her life better, even if she knew it would not heal the wounds already caused.

sometimes the gods r not dicks. a miracle! she becomes pregnant, aged twenty four ( i kno it sounded like she was a crone but again please remember the times ). she always thought it was just what was best n only athanasios would care, but , wow... suddenly. she cares. she has never felt this level of love with anything, until now.

but, tragedy :// straight white men ( idk, i just feel like her husband was the root of all evil ) are not so easily satisfied. who wld have guessed he wld continue to be an abusive asshole even after his wife succeeded in getting pregnant? i bet i shocked u all. who wld have guessed that a huge part of his problem wld end up being that suddenly, athenodora clearly cares abt something - and it isn’t him. again. got you all!

over the course of her pregnancy, he becomes, for the first time, a real threat to her - or maybe, athenodora simply never took him seriously until there is another person to think of. either way, she TRULY fears him and what he’s capable of by the time she gives birth, and after he makes some passing remark abt their baby, she yeets the FUCK out of there in the middle of the night, eirene ( baby ) only a handful of days old. she takes what she can carry and nothing more, and she... makes it pretty far, thanks to the kindness of strangers. you love to see it.

she settles somewhere ( she considers to be ) far away, and she makes up a good story : her husband died in a war ( there were probably a lot of time, i dont know ) and she was widowed, left to care for their young daughter alone. i know. its really original. they didnt have tv shows back then to rip stories from though.

stays in a hovel on the edge of their village. think the shittiest home you’ve ever seen and then make it shittier. there are rumors about her being a witch, and she kind of appreciates them, because it keeps kids out of her yard. and shock of all shock : in spite of being... u know. a woman. and not very skilled. she finds a very hot ticket job - working for the very wealthy volturi family who live on the other ( opposite ) outside of town, but like, in a considerably better home, obviously. 

honestly, i don’t kno what the ancient greek equivalent of that secretary in new moon is, but that’s the vibe we’re going for, here. she’s like, a chambermaid or smth. and she makes a tidy little sum. doesn’t question her weirdo bosses that much. doesn’t know what anemia is because im p sure it wasnt discovered by then, but presumes they have it.

and maybe, just maybe, it’s the finesse of the century : or maybe, just maybe, it is destiny. in no time at all, she has caught the eye of the volturi’s most eligible bachelor(tm) : caius volturi. many another worker is made upset by this fact, as athenodora is very quickly alotted VERY special treatment as the apple of his eye, which includes, i don’t know... hand delivered baskets of pomegranates, a nicer home and in due time, the simple pleasures of the flesh.

so that’s pretty neat. and life’s pretty fine. she feels like an ancient greek sugar baby, and honestly, isn’t that all she’s ever deserved? she’s got some nice digs ( i don’t think she’d have called them that ) and a man who worships the ground she walks on and who spoils her with pretty things, and most importantly : she is taking care of her daughter, who i absolutely didn’t forget about. eirene is the literal light of athenodora’s life, and everybody knows it. if i say jean valjean and cosette vibes, can we all pretend we get it?

and then it goes to shit. as things do.

her daughter is fourteen years old, when her father finds them ; and she doesn’t know, she never knows, if he was seeking them out or whether it was all DUMB luck. regardless of it all, he is stood inside her home, his breath coming in angry half pants, and athenodora is convinced that this is it. that her end has come. that her freedom is over. she dies, she thinks, or she returns back to the house that was not her home with him. these are her options. 

she tells her daughter to leave. she stops him from following. when she is shoved and her head hits the table, she is aware of the option he has chosen for them more than all else - but the gods, or perhaps, just one - intervenes.

until this night, athenodora had never known the truth of the volturi. but when her beloved saves her from athanasios, she sees him for what he is. she UNDERSTANDS. and she isn’t frightened. she should be, for sure, she should be running as fast as she can - but all she can think in that moment is that she is free now in all the ways she has never been... and caius, her love, is something so much larger than this life. 

for the first time, the godhood that athenodora has always dreamt of is within her grasp. she makes him promise that once eirene comes of age, he will make her into the same creature that he IS. she makes him swear a solemn oath, and he who has been so infatuated by her for so long cannot argue.

four years. this is all it takes, and then eirene is eighteen - capable of standing upon her own two feet. athenodora leaves her everything - all the gifts she has ever been given, all the wealth accumulated, the home. everything she will not need, once she is gone. and she says a final goodbye.

caius turns her himself. the greatest gift he could ever give her.

and reborn, athenodora is MORE than everyone in her life could ever dream of being. she is the queen of the underworld, the goddess of death. she is all of this, and more. at his side, she finds GREATNESS. and once she had it, athenodora decided she would never again be without. 

SECTION TWO OF THREE : volturi era.

became cool. became powerful. very emma frost of her, rly 

didnt rly care for the rest of the coven outside of caius but sometimes u gotta hang w scrubs 

didyme dies sometime after her turning, and that kind of fucks everybody up

not so much her bc like i said she didnt rly care but... caius b frightened of losing her, i guess

kind of throws a spanner in the works 

she spends a lot of time ‘locked away’. not , like, literally ( bc that’s gross! ) but... caius takes over protective to the extreme

uses this time to harness her power and fuck

not always in that order

also spends a lot of time telling him he deserves to b leader

deserves to b the new aro

who needs powers?

not u, caius

go kick their ass baby i got ur flower-

( he doesn’t go kick their ass but man she wishes he wld )

she’s genuinely devoted to him, however, as much as it sometimes seems as if she’s using him as a means to an end

she DOES do that with a LOT of people, but caius... that’s her baby! her darling! her sweetie pie! fuck everybody else in this house caius, she respects YOU ! 

she jus wants to see him be the best there ever was, and he’s.... p... happy to giv her everything she wants, so their dynamic is actually p equal 

we love to see it

anyway lots of years happened and now she’s here

seattle sucks -athenodora’s official review

but she’s fucking SICK of aro’s shit and thinks her 2020 birthday wld be the best time for an official change of pace

obviously aro can read minds so he knows athenodora has high aspirations but he has learned his fucking lesson w killing ppls mates, i guess

lucky for her!

that’s all i got

hehe

SECTION THREE OF THREE : power.

athenodora is an ungifted vampire in twilight canon, but to that i say : fuck ya chicken strips. in equinox, she be special. her power is life force manipulation, in a pretty unique ( and dare i say ) way.

she was a forty two year old woman, when she was turned. she had lived a life, and she had the MARKS to show for it. but the very first time that she drank human blood from the vein, athenodora realized that she was not as unexceptional as she had always been lead to believe she was. vampires do not change. they’re frozen in time, like statues, portraits, photographs... and yet, before caius’ very eyes - athenodora did what no other vampire could. mere seconds passed, and suddenly ; she was stood before her beloved, decades younger. it lasted as long as her thirst was sated, with her age returning to her as her eyes darkened once more. and it happened all over again, when next she fed. 

over time, she’s come to understand it well enough. she has a particular love of younger humans ; those in their twenties, and thus, physical primes. she thinks that is, in part, down to her gift ; she seeks these out to drink from because when she feeds, she’s not simply drinking their blood, but also, their life force. she’s taking theirs to add to her own.

like many gifted vampires, she has spent time learning what she can of her gift, and learning whether there is some other way to apply it. it took almost two thousand years, but eventually - athenodora discovered that with a touch, her fingertips to their skin ( and a great deal of focus ), she could render another changed, also. it lasts for only a short amount of time - an hour, maybe a little longer, depending on how strong she is. but it works. and it makes her think that, in all her unlimited time : she might just be able to do even more. be a danger. manipulate life force in a way that can DESTROY. she’ll keep on working on that for as long as she lives. 

[dabble-writes]

Death’s Bride--(1)

| Prologue | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |

Pairing:

Namjoon/Reader

Summary:

You are a Seer. What is a Seer? A Seer is someone whose sixth sense is stronger than most people’s and can see Death. You did not want to be one, you just want to be normal—yet what happens when Death comes for you? No, not for you to die—for you to be his bride.

*Based on a novel I wrote before in Wattpad by the same title*

Tags:

Romance, Fantasy, Comedy, Fluff, a little angst

Warnings:

Death

CHAPTER 1: A DEADLY DEAL

Seers.

That’s what your grandmother calls people with a certain…gift.

Their sixth sense is more developed than an average person, so you can sense things like people’s auras or spirits or can predict something that may happen moments before it does.

You hated this so-called gift. It was annoying and burdensome, having that responsibility.  For you, it has always led to trouble. You just wanted to be a simple kid and lead a simple life.

The most annoying part, however, of being a Seer was seeing him.

Death.

You have only seen him a few times in your life, but he always left a chilling presence. His arrival always marked tragedy, the mood in the room instantly darkens as he stands there all tall and imposing. You could still remember the first time you have ever saw him.

You were just a child, not quite six, when your grandfather passed away. You heard a mysterious man with a dark aura arguing with your grandmother. You hid behind your mother’s skirts, for he looked very scary indeed. Your grandmother pleaded with him, begged him to spare her husband. He just looked at her with his cold, dark eyes and said nothing; it was like he was a statue. Not an hour had passed before your grandpa had a heart attack.

You could still hear her pleas to him, “Please save him.”, as he stood over the body, expressionless. You remembered wondering why your grandma was begging to an evil man. You later asked her who that man was.

“What man, honey?” Grandma asked, wiping a tear from her eyes.

“The evil man. The one you were begging to.”

Your grandma froze as her face grew pale, “Y-you can see Death?”

You nodded, “Who’s Death?”

She took hold of your arms and stared into your eyes, “Y/N, dear, listen to me and listen to me good. That man, the man you saw, his name is Death.”

“D-Death?”

“Yes, if you see him do not bother him. Do you hear me, y/n? Do not talk to Death.”

She looked very serious, so you nod.

“Promise me.”

“I promise, grandma.”

She then pulled you into a tight hug.

Since that eventful night, you saw Death all around the city; near car accidents, after a murder, at the hospital.

He never spoke to you once, nor you to him. You kept your grandmother’s promise, which was fine by you because you did not want to involve yourself with him. You just wished to live a normal, peaceful life.

A hand suddenly was in front of your face and you heard a voice, “Hello? Is anybody home?”

You shook yourself out of your thoughts and looked at your friend, Lisa, who was smiling at you.

“Yes, someone’s home and they are annoyed.” You answered flatly.

“Ah sorry, you were just spaced out for a second there.”

“Yeah, I’m thinking, which is more than I can say about you.”, You teased.

She gasped, “I think! I just don’t fantasize.”

“Well we better keep walking or someone’s going to take our seats.”

“You’re right. Come on, let’s go.”

She grabbed your hand and you rushed to the courtyard where you guys normally sat for lunch. Thankfully, no one had stolen your spots yet. You sat down and ate your lunch with Lisa. All was well. Everything was normal. Yet, at the same time, something was wrong.

You looked up and, to your dismay, saw Death.

And he was staring right at you.

Panicking, you quickly looked away and turned to Lisa.

“…with that project, huh?” She smiled at you and you weakly smiled back, trying to keep it together.

Why is he looking at me?

“…and the…are you even paying attention?”

“No, I am.” You lied and she didn’t buy it.

“You’re thinking of Jungkook again, aren’t you?” She accused you and you blushed.

“No I wasn’t!”

“I mean I can’t blame you, he is the golden boy of the campus.” Lisa said dreamily.

Normally, you would love to talk about how perfect Jungkook was, but you were sort of having a crisis with Death being here and staring at you.

Maybe it’s your turn.

You tried to shake the thought and sneaked a glance at Death.

He was gone.

Huh, you thought, maybe I imagined it…

You couldn’t stop thinking about how your eyes met though, his cold eyes looking like bottomless tombs; you shivered.

“Hey, are you ok?” Lisa asked, concerned.

“I’m fine.” You muttered, “Just a bit stressed for Calc today.”

“Tell me about it.” Lisa groaned.  

When you went home that afternoon, you ran to your grandma and asked her, “Has Death ever spoken to you?”

She paused her painting and looked at you in alarm, “Why the sudden question, y/n?”

“I…had a strange encounter with Death today.” You admit.

“What kind of strange encounter?” Your grandma looked more alarmed by the second and you bit your lip.

“Um…well he was kind of staring at me in lunch today?”

“Did he spoke to you?”

“No, he sort of disappeared after a while. What does this mean? Am I going to die?”

Your grandmother ran her hand through her hair, “No, this can’t be happening—”

“What’s wrong? Is something wrong?” You saw her panic and thought the worst.

I guess I am going to die.

“We Seers,” She said slowly, “have a prophecy that has been passed down for generations. The prophecy has something to do with Death choosing a bride among Seers every time the planets aligned—or some bullshit like that. It has never been confirmed and I never knew it was true—until he spoke to me.”

“Death spoke to you?”

“Yes. It was during a solar eclipse, I was around your age. Death spoke to me, said I was chosen to be his bride.”

“His bride?”

Whatever you expected, you didn’t expect this. Bride?

“Yes, I pleaded with him, said I was in love and planning on getting married. Surprisingly, he heard my pleas---but it came with a price.”

She closed her eyes and turned away from you.

“What was the price? Grandma, what’s going on?”

Your grandma turned back to you and you were surprised to find tears in her eyes, “I am so sorry, y/n.”

“Grandma, what was the price?” You had a feeling of dread in your stomach.

“I was young, foolish, and in love. So I agreed with his terms. I was not to be his bride…but the next Seer in my family will be.”

It took a second to process this and you couldn’t speak from the mix of emotions you were feeling. Betrayal being the prominent one.

“I’m so sorry, y/n.” Your grandma tried to wipe the tears from her eyes, “I didn’t mean to pull you into this. You can realize my horror when I found out that you were a Seer as well.”

“Does this mean I will die?” You ask quietly and she bit her lip.

“I don’t know, I’m sorry.”

“I just wanted a normal life.” You said, mostly to yourself, “How can my life end up so fucked?”

“Well Death hasn’t spoken to you yet, that’s a good sign. Maybe he’s only suspicious that you are a Seer. Try not to confirm his suspicions, ignore him if you can.”

“Do you think that would help?” 

“I don’t know,” she answered honestly, “but it’s the best chance we got. Please promise me you won’t speak to him.”

You doubt that will help, but your grandmother looked so desperate, “I promise. I’m going to go now, I need some time to think.”

She didn’t stop you as you walked past her, to the door. Your mind was in chaos as you walked to the playground near your house.

Death’s bride.

The very thought disgusted you, you wanted nothing to do with that…man. If he can even be called a man. You weren’t sure what he was.

You sat on the swings and looked at the familiar, worn playground; a place your grandmother brought you to a lot as a kid.

You felt betrayed by your grandmother, but knew you couldn’t stay mad at her. You loved her too much to stay mad at her for too long. You were still hurt though, that she sacrificed you. Though she didn’t know you or thought it would be you at the time, a voice reminded you. She was your only family. Her and your mother. You three only had each other.

Mom.

You wondered how to explain this to your mother, who was completely clueless about the whole ‘Seer’ thing, can you even explain it to her? You felt a wave of guilt and wondered what will happened to her when you’re gone.

You sighed as you kicked some gravel, still, this is some bullshit situation to be in. Why should I be his bride?

That’s right, you thought, why should I be his bride?

You decided then and there that you won’t give up without a fight. You weren’t some Victorian maiden easily swept off her feet by some man—you were better than that.

I will not die.

And with a newfound determination, you went back to your house. 

“…it’s such a shame he has a girlfriend. I heard he was seriously packing.” Lisa said dreamily and you sighed.

You loved Lisa and all, but sometimes she gets a bit boy crazy.

“Why are you sighing? You like Jungkook like the rest of us, so don’t act all high and mighty now.”

You laughed, “You’re right, but he doesn’t have to be all we talk about. Plus like you mentioned, he has a girlfriend. A serious one at that.”

Lisa pouted, “A girl can dream, right?”

You smiled, “She can certainly try.”

Your smile dropped though when you noticed that Death was here again. Staring at you again. Like some creep.

Honestly, his stalker-y behavior is starting to get annoying. Doesn’t he have more important things to be doing? Like taking souls, for example?

You decided to ignore him like what your grandma suggested and finish your lunch. You sneaked a look and saw that he wasn’t there.

Maybe you’re just getting paranoid, you reasoned with yourself as you got up to use the bathroom.

You passed Jungkook and his gang and couldn’t resist thinking how cute he looked with his doe eyes and huge grin.

Get a grip, y/n, he has a girlfriend. Don’t fall for a pretty face.

You entered the bathroom. After you came out of the stall, you washed your hands. The sound of the water splashing cut through the silence filled the bathroom. You looked up at the mirror and almost had a heart attack.

Death was right behind you staring at you through the mirror.

You froze, not knowing what to do, but slowly looked back down and continued to wash your hands.

The water continued to splash into the sink, really adding more suspense as none of spoke to the other. You could literally feel the pounding of your heart in your ears and you knew for sure Death could hear it.

Boom-boom, boom-boom.

You felt a cool breeze next to your ear and you tense up, your sixth sense tickling like crazy. Then, for the first time, you heard his voice.

“I know you can see me.” Death breathed into your ear, giving you goosebumps. His voice was deep and pleasant, like honey. If you weren’t careful, you can see yourself falling into it’s honey trap.

Instead, you kept a pokerface and reached for a paper towel.

“Ignoring me won’t help you.” He continued.

At that, you nearly ran out of the bathroom; the tension of the room was too thick.

I’mScrewedI’mScrewedI’mScrewed, you kept chanting to yourself like a mantra.

When you got safely to your class, you finally let out a huge breath you didn’t know you were keeping in.

Why did he had to be so creepy about it? This is a romance story, not horror.

You reached to your seat next to Lisa, who started to drone on about spring break. You were still shocked by the encounter so weren’t paying much attention.

She soon noticed your disinterest.

“Y/n, I know you hate going out but I refuse to let you stay at home and watch Netflix all spring break.”

“It’s a valid way to spend the time.” You said distractedly, looking around the room to check that Death didn’t follow you here.

“Are you looking for someone?”

You blush, “I-it’s nothing.”

Lisa smirked and nudged you, “Is it a boy?”

“No, I’m not looking for anyone.” You replied, but she didn’t seem to believe you.

This is the icing to the cake, you thought as you stared at the rain pouring down, Of course the day that I didn’t bring an umbrella.

Usually you were so good at predicting when it will rain, having a developed sixth sense and all, but you were so distracted with Death that you didn’t notice the signs. You inwardly cursed Death, another way he was ruining your life—it seemed like he was doing so well.

You sighed and pulled the hood over your head and zipped up your hoodie; guess I have to brave the elements then. You started to walk into the rain, resigned to your fate.

The rain wasn’t a drizzle or even a soft pitter patter, it was a downpour and unrelenting; you were soaked in a matter of seconds.

You were a few minutes in when you heard a familiar deep voice.

“Do you need an umbrella?”

You turn and are startled to see Death holding out an umbrella to you. Realizing your mistake by acknowledging him, you quickly turned around and walked away—

--but are stopped by Death appearing right in front of you.

“It was cute at first, but I think it’s time to stop the games, honey.”

You grit your teeth at the pet name and try to step around him—he steps with you, blocking your way again.

“Y/n, dear, please don’t make me lose my patience.”

You try to avoid him but he blocks you again.

This made you lose your patience.

“Can’t you just leave me alone?” You hiss.

He smirked, “Never, now take the umbrella, you’re going to catch a cold.”

You scoff and walk around him, successful this time and you are able to walk away.

“I’m already soaked, genius. Plus, I rather be sick than get help from the likes of you.”

“You can’t run away from me, y/n. You are after all my bride.”

“Bride my ass.” You called over your shoulder, “I don’t remember signing up for this.”

He pops in font of you again, to your frustration.

“Yes, but your grandmother gave her consent, and seeing she’s one of your guardians the contract is void.”

“But I am of age.” You narrowed your eyes at him, “I don’t need my guardian’s consent for anything.”

“It doesn’t matter, your petty laws here on earth are not the same as where I come from. Your grandmother made a promise to me, I came to collect.”

“I don’t care, I won’t marry you.” You say stubbornly.

He takes a step closer to you and you are suddenly struck with how tall he was.  He opens the umbrella, covers you with it, and with a snap of his fingers you were dry. Now that I see him up close, he is pretty handsome. You quickly shook your traitorous thoughts away, just because he’s cute doesn’t mean he can just waltz in and make me his bride.

“You will marry me, y/n, because I have nothing to lose while you have everything to lose.”

You narrowed your eyes at him, “Is that a threat? What do you mean by that?”

“You’ll figure it out,” He simply said and disappeared.

 How dare he blackmail me? He sure knows a way to woo a lady, you thought sarcastically. You then realized the sneaky little bastard snuck the umbrella into your hand when you weren’t paying attention.

You quickly cast it aside, not wanting to touch something that’s Death’s—it could be cursed.

You go home and saw your grandmother was painting. Your grandmother reads tarot cards and palms for a living, taking advantage of her sixth sense, but her true passion is painting. You saw her mixing the acrylics and putting delicate brushstrokes unto the canvas.

“Hey grandma, I’m home!” You called out and she snapped out of her artist trance to look at you and smiled.

“Y/n!” She then took in your wet state and frowned, “You walked home in the rain! You should have called, I would have picked you up.”

You shook your head, “I didn’t want to bother you, and knew you had a customer earlier.”

She quickly placed her brush into the water cup and made your way towards you, shaking her head, “Go change and take a shower right now, you’re going to catch a cold!”

“I’m fine—”

“That wasn’t a suggestion, it was order. Now go.” She ushered you out of her studio and you changed and took a bath, which you had to admit felt very nice.

You walked into the kitchen and saw that your grandma prepared some hot chocolate. You lit up and started to drink it.

“So how was your day, y/n?”

You froze thinking about Death and immediately said, “Fine, just fine. Same old.”

She noticed your hesitation, “Is it Death again?”

“I---”

“Y/n, I don’t think it’s safe for you to go out anymore. It seems silly, but I don’t want him to—”

“N-no, grandma, it wasn’t Death.” You lied, “I’m fine, really.”

“If you say so…”

“So where’s mom?” You asked, wanting to change the subject.

“Out doing groceries. Which reminds me, I have to go to the flower shop to get more flowers.”

“In this weather?” You asked.

“It’s not pouring anymore, it toned down a bit. Besides, how am I supposed to draw flowers without flowers?”

“I dunno, from your imagination? You’ve looked at a lot of flowers. Or maybe you can look at photos on the internet or something.”

Your grandma gave you a withering look, “Have I taught you nothing? It is not the same to draw from a picture than from an actual subject---if you do, your drawing will come out flat.”

You winced, now I stupidly unlocked her ‘artist lecturing mode’. It’s better just agree now with whatever she says.

“Okay, you’re right, grandma.”

“Well then, as long as you remember this time. I’ll be going now, take care.” She waved at you.

Suddenly, Death’s warning (well, more like threat) played out in your head and you panicked—what if he’s talking about your grandma?

“Wait--!” She turned around, “I’ll go with you.”

Your grandma gave you a confused look, “Now why would you do that? You hate shopping.”

“I-I just don’t want to be alone in this house.” You lied and she gave you a sympathetic smile.

“I know, you must be scared of Death. I would be too.”

You felt bad in lying to your grandma, but you had to make sure she is safe. You followed her out the door into her car.

“So grandma, do you have any idea what flower you’re going to buy?” You asked as you tried to ignore your sixth sense telling you this was a bad idea.

“No, of course not! I pick whichever drives my inspiration.” She answered, then said in a stage-whisper, “Or more like what my sixth sense tells me is the one.”

You sighed, that means this might take a while.

You arrived the flower shop, a quaint little shop that your grandma frequented. You were sure the reason this shop is still in business is because of her.

Your grandmother greeted the worker by name and started to go through the plants and flowers. You start to wander around aimlessly, waiting for your grandma to make a decision. You stared at the lilies--they had a wide selection here. 

You kept feeling anxious, but you tried to shake it off. Ever since you spoke to Death, your sixth sense was all over the place and you couldn’t really trust your instincts. Besides, you trusted your grandmother. If she didn’t feel anything, it’s probably nothing. Her sixth sense is better developed than yours after all.

“What do you think of my plant?” Your grandma went up to you, holding a potted plant.

“I thought you were getting a flower…?”, you asked as you walked out the door to the car.

“Yes, but this one called to me. And get this: it’s called Handsome Devil. Ironic, huh?” Grandmother laughed.

“Yes, we are rolling in irony.” You said, and she handed you the plant.

“Take this while I drive, will you?”

“Sure.” You said, and she started to drive.

“It’s Latin name is Viburnum, it’s going to be very fun to paint.”

You looked down at the plant on your lap and frowned.

Handsome Devil.

You looked up and saw a car coming towards you with screeching tires. Before you could react, your world went white, then black.

Beep… Beep… Beep.

Everything hurts.

That was your first thought as slowly opened your eyes. For a second you thought you died and went to heaven but realized that the white in front of you was the ceiling of a hospital.  

The beeping of your heart monitor grated your nerves and you wished you could turn it off.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

You looked around the room and your eyes landed unto a figure staring down at you.

You narrowed your eyes at him, “What happened?”, your voice sounded weaker than you would like.

He just gave me a sorrowful look and you repeated the question, “What happened?”

This time, it was a bit louder.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

You knew from the look on his face what happened, but you needed him to say it.

“Death, tell me what happened.” You said as tears started to stream down your cheeks to your ears.

“It was her time.” He said simply.

“Bullshit.” You said bitterly, “You caused this! This is low, even for you.”

You heard the beeping becoming faster, but you ignored it.

“I caused nothing. It was her time.”

“You did this so I can be your bride! You’re crazy, I will never do that.”

Death frowned at you, “I do admit it is very coincidental, but you are nowhere right.”

You continued to feel the hot tears fall down to your ears and neck and the burning sensation of your chest grew.

Beep.Beep.Beep.

“Please” You begged, “give me back my grandma.”

“I cannot change fate.” He simply answered, “Besides, you don’t want to be my bride. Why would I do favors for strangers?”

With that, he disappeared. Frustrated, you weakly throw a pillow to the spot where he stood and break down crying.

BEEPBEEPBEEP---

The nurses must have sensed your distress because they quickly fill the room and try to calm you down, but you couldn’t even hear them.

GRANDMA!

They put something in your IV to lull you back to sleep. Still, you could feel the hot tears flow down from the corner of your eyes.

You sat on your bed, hugging your pillow. You thought you would have run out of tears by now, but your body kept surprising you and the tears just kept coming.

It was miracle, they said, that you survived. It was a miracle you came out of the accident that killed your grandma with minor injuries. A fucking miracle.

You haven’t heard from Death since that fateful encounter, and you hope it will stay that way. But you knew that you weren’t that lucky.

You heard the door knock and you quickly wipe your tears.

“Y/N?”

You looked up and saw your mom at the doorway, her eyes red from crying. Yours probably was in the same state.

“What mom?” You asked and turned to look out the window, not knowing how to face her.

“I know it’s hard and you’ve been closer to your grandmother than me, but please let me help you. Sometimes pain is better shared.”

“Mom, I appreciate the effort, but I want to be alone right now,” You replied as you tried to keep your voice from crackling. You succeeded, sort of.

You were met by silence and you knew it was a dick move. You knew your mom was hurting too, but you’re too much in pain to comfort her. After a few minutes, you heard her leave the room and close the door behind her.

I miss her so much, you thought and a sudden wave of inspiration took over you. You slowly made your way to her studio so that you can   feel closer to her.

It was dark, no one came here since her death. You opened the curtains and light and memories flooded the room.

“What a nice painting! What is it, dearie?” Grandma asked, she smiled as she looked over my shoulder.

“It’s the flower.” You answered, pointing to the floor on the vase across the room.

Grandma chuckled, “You have a strong eye. Such unique colors for a flower.”

You grabbed a purple crayon, “I want to be just like grandma.”

She smiled, but the smile didn’t quite reach her eyes. She muttered something, something so low you didn’t think you caught it right.

“Child, pray you’re not just like me.”

You looked at the painting on the easel, forever unfinished.

The subject was resting not a few feet away, already dried up and withered, as if it knows that it’s painting will never be finished.

You touched the canvas, feeling the texture of the paint, and remembered when she tried to teach you how to paint.

“Don’t overthink it—just feel.”

You groaned as you put the paintbrush down, “Just admit it, I suck at this.”

“Hey,” She hugged me from behind, “Don’t beat yourself over it, it’s just paint.”

“I’m not good at anything though.” You said dramatically, it was the height of your teenage angst after all. “At least you can paint. I can’t even do that.”

You grandma turned your face towards her, “You’ll find your place in this world, y/n—”

You groaned, and she hushed you, “You will. Maybe not now, but later you will. And just know that I’ll always be proud of you,

This brought a fresh round of bittersweet tears as you reflected on how much she loved you.

And I loved her as much, you thought as you wiped your tears.

You hated funerals.

This one was no exception. As a Seer you can sense Death, smell his scent, bringing very unpleasant memories.

Seeing your grandma in a box and not up and about laughing…it was just wrong.

You felt a hand on your shoulder and looked up to your mom’s sad smile.

“She’s in a better place now,” your mom said.

Tears threatened to spill again as you grit your teeth.

“I-I need some air.” You told her and she gave you a nod.

“Don’t get lost, okay?”

You numbly nodded and went to the lobby of the funeral home, which was empty. You took a few deep breaths as you tried to control yourself.

“It’s a pretty good turnout, your grandmother was very loved.”

You didn’t even turn around. You knew who it was.  

“Are you happy now? Taking away the one I love the most?” You said numbly.

Death stayed silent and you turned around. He stood there stiffly, wearing his usual black suit, looking reflective.

“Your grandmother lived a great, long life, which is much more than a lot of souls. You should be thankful she lived that long.”

You glared at him, “It wasn’t long enough.”

He sighed, “You humans are so selfish sometimes. Have you ever wondered that maybe she’s happy dead?”

“How can one be happy dead?”

“Death isn’t such a horrible thing, y/n. She is ecstatic about seeing her husband and deceased family. The only thing she worries about is you.”

“Why would she talk to you?” You asked in disbelief, “Grandma doesn’t like you too much.”

“Everyone has to talk to me, I’m Death.”

There was a silence and you grew weary.

“Why are you here? Why did you come to her funeral?”

“You know why I’m here, y/n.”

“The answer is still no.”, you grit your teeth, angry he will bring this up during your grandmother’s funeral.

“This isn’t up for debate, you will be my bride. The only reason I haven’t dragged you with me is for your consideration.”

You looked at him in disbelief, “Well thanks for that, thanks for your consideration.”

“What if I say you can meet your grandmother?”

This caused you to pause.

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t you see? If you go to my Kingdom, you can see everyone who’s deceased. Including your precious grandmother.”

To have one more chance to see your grandmother one more time and maybe say a final goodbye would be something you would give anything for.

But would you give up your life? Your future?

“Why should I trust you?”

“Frankly you shouldn’t trust me, but that’s also besides the point. Let me put this plainly: I don’t want you to be my bride either. I, frankly, don’t give a damn. It’s just this stupid prophecy that binds our fates together. I have tried to find my way around it many times, but it always ends up with the same conclusion.”

“So you tried to oppose the prophecy?”

He sighed, “Yes, and it was all for naught. Whenever I will teleport it will bring me back to the bride. If not, the bride will magically appear in my kingdom.”

You grit your teeth, hating that you can’t hate him because he’s a victim of fate like you are. That doesn’t mean that you have to like the guy though.

“Death, I may be your bride, but don’t you think for a second I am going to love you. I’m not doing this for you or this stupid prophecy, but for my grandma.”

He smirked, “As long as you understand that I would not love you as well.”        

  A/N

Will update every Friday

[crimsonrevolt]

Congratulations Leah you’ve been accepted to Crimson Revolt as Aidan Avery

↳ please refer to our character checklist

We’re always so pleased to see our members taking up another muse as it means that you’re happy being a part of our little roleplay family! Just from reading your app we can already tell what a great addition to the dash Aidan is going to be and we’re so excited to see what you do with them. Each and every section of your app paints such a clear, fleshed out image of Aidan and we truly cannot wait to see how you choose to develop them and see the impact that they’ll have on everyone.

application beneath the cut ( tw: insert )

OUT OF CHARACTER

INTRODUCTION

Leah, 25, she/her, EST

ACTIVITY

Probably a six? I don’t know, I’ll let my current activity in the group speak for itself.

HOW DID YOU FIND US?

Taylor :)

WHAT HARRY POTTER CHARACTER DO YOU IDENTIFY WITH MOST?

I’m going to say Luna and leave it at that rather than include my rant from my first audition

ANYTHING ELSE?

Nope

IN CHARACTER

DESIRED CHARACTER

Aidan Aurelius Avery

Every child in the very family has had a first name starting with A for years. Some families have Christmas traditions or family heirlooms. The Avery family as A names. Maybe their middle name starting with an A might be a bit of overkill, but they don’t much mind. They actually quite like it. Aurelius may be a bit outdated, but Aidan has to admit—their name does have a certain ring to it.

FACE CLAIM

I’m definitely on board with keeping Avan

REASON FOR CHOSEN CHARACTER

Here’s the truth, I looked at applying for this group several months ago but wound up not going for it. At the time, Aidan was the first one to catch my eye. There’s something wonderful in those dark characters who just don’t give a shit about the things they do. When I came back around to audition this time and I saw Xen I had to grab him instead. But honestly, Aidan’s voice in my head has never gone away and they’re a damn persistent muse.

There’s something really enthralling about playing dark, twisted characters. There are those characters who are just dark and twisted but ultimately think they’re in the right or have the right viewpoints to justify what they’re doing or don’t realize that what they’re doing is wrong. But that’s not Aidan at all. They’re Slytherin in all the very worst ways. And honestly? They’re proud of it. Aidan is out for no one but Aidan and fuck everyone else. If it doesn’t help them and their goals—namely to be one of (ideally the) most power and influential people in the wizarding world. Even Voldemort and the Death Eaters are just a part of that plan. The Death Eaters are where the people they’d consider friends, sure, but it’s the most powerful and pure families out there. If anyone is going to be able to help them to greatness, it’s this group of people. Do they believe in Voldemort’s message? Sure. Do they believe in Voldemort? Honestly, Aiden isn’t sure he has what it takes to do what needs done to ensure total blood purity. And if Voldemort stumbles and Aidan is the one to step up and take is place? Then so be it

Aidan is dark and twisted and self-serving. They thrive from chaos and get off on the pain of others. They like watching people squirm knowing they’re the one with the power. They’ll wind up at the top one way or another. And some times that means playing along, being sweet and king—acting like the perfect friend and sweetheart and they can (somehow) manage to pull that off perfectly. They’re a master at doing anything to get exactly what they want and nothing less. They make it easy to fall for their charms and they can pull off the character well. But don’t ever be fooled—it is a character, a mask, nothing more. Aidan doesn’t have a genuinely good bone in their body. And they don’t do anything that doesn’t benefit themselves.

PREFERRED SHIPS // CHARACTER SEXUALITY // GENDER & PRONOUNS

Aidan is certainly pansexual. They care more about having a good time and fulfilling their own needs far more than what parts their partner has.

While Aidan certainly has a healthy sex drive, romance is far less so. They’re far too self-centered for that. Aidan isn’t aromantic exactly, but certainly along the gray-romantic scale. It’s just not one of their goals and not something that fits with their life right now. It might still happen, it may be possible Aidan has the capacity for love, but it’s just not in their plans right now. Sure, one day they’ll marry a fellow Pureblood, if only for the power and to keep the Avery family line going, but Aidan seriously doubts they’ll love the person they wed.

That being said, Aidan has a deep fascination with Bellatrix. She’s pure twisted evil and he loves it. They’ve always been a bit jealous of Rodolphus for being the one to marry her—they had hopes for a brief time that perhaps Andromeda would turn out to be more like her sister but that’s a flat joke and even Narcissa is spoken for now. It’s not a crush they have for Bellatrix really, not necessarily romantic in nature (not that they’d deny a chance with her if something ‘tragic’ were to befall Rodolphus), just a deep fascination with her as a person, a love of the idea of her and all she stands for.

When it comes to gender, Aidan is far prefers neutral prefers neutral pronouns. They can accept male pronouns upon occasion, but agendered pronouns just fit better. They feel right. And frankly they’ll only tolerate masculine pronouns from certain people and for so long.

CREATE ONE (OR MORE!) OF THE FOLLOWING FOR YOUR CHARACTER:

-AN AESTHETIC

Aidan’s Pinterest can be found here

-A MOCKBLOG

Mockblog for Aidan with a handful of posts can be found here

-A PLAYLIST

Playlist for Aidan can be found here

-A FEW HEADCANONS

Aidan’s birthday is October 27th, making him a Scorpio

Aiden doesn’t work currently—the Avery family has more than enough money to keep up with their lavish lifestyle. They’ll work eventually when something worth their time shows up. However, if you ask Aidan what their current employment is, they’ll simply respond that they’re and Unspeakable and there’s nothing more they can say about it. In function, they’re currently dedicating a large portion of their time to recruiting for the Death Eaters and making forward progress in blood purity.

Aidan really only has one goal in life: To be the most powerful person in the wizarding world. Now most people would take this to mean they want to have the most magical power and prowess. No, the magic capabilities don’t matter, Aidan wants the most power, the most control of anyone in the wizarding world. They have their eye on being the Minister some day. Which would be a start. But that isn’t nearly enough.

Coming from a long line of Slytherins, it’s little surprise that Aidan is able to speak Parseltongue, but they thrilled their parents with just how easily it came to them from a young age. Aidan’s very first word was Parseltongue, not English, and they’re just as fluent in the serpentine language as they are English. It’s not uncommon of them to grow bored or annoyed in a conversation with a human and start responding in Parseltongue.

Aidan has an enchanted flying motorcycle. They insist It’s better than Sirius’s which they call a cheap knock off.

Aidan’s wand is a 13-inch ebony wood want with a dragon heartstring core and a slight serpentine curve to it. They connected to the want almost immediately upon entering Ollivander’s wand shop.

Looking at their build—slim and lean—many people easily underestimate Aidan physically. During first year when they walked onto the Quidditch pitch and announced they were going out for beater, their fellow Slytherins quite literally laughed in their face. By the end of try outs, three students had numerous broken ribs and one had a broken nose. Needless to say, Aidan got their desired position and their teammates learned not to laugh at them.

As a master manipulator, excellent at reading people and getting them to bend to their desires even without magical aid, Aidan puts their skill to use helping the Death Eaters recruit new witches and wizards to join their ranks.

Of the Unforgiveable Curses, Avada Kedavra is actually by far their least favorite. It’s too kind and takes all the fun out of playing with one’s pray. Crucio ultimately beats out Imperio for a favorite spell as they find it far more entertaining to manipulate victims without the use of magic. Crucio does tend to have the unfortunate side effect of making the hexed rather useless after its use though.

The Avery family has a long history of being overwhelmingly Slytherin and rather embrace their serpentine past. Aidan has never been without at least one pet snake. They always found it quite unfair they couldn’t bring their familiars with them to Hogwarts—at least not if they played by the rules. But Aidan’s never been one to do that. Nearly every year they would sneak snakes on campus and then send them off with orders to go terrorize anyone they could find with even the slightest hint of ophidiophobia. Sure, it landed them in detention nearly every year but it was more than worth it. You won’t find anyone more comfortable round snakes than Aidan.

In addition to a strong Slytherin past, the Avery’s have also been tied to Voldemort for years. Aidan’s father has a friendship with Voldemort that dates back to their own days at Hogwarts and was one of the earliest Death Eaters. It’s a double-edged sword for Aidan. On one hand, being raised steeped in their ideals, Aidan is incredibly committed to the Death Eater agenda and has been a member for quite some time themselves. Aidan received their Dark Mark before their sixteenth birthday. They tout the family legacy of being some of the earliest members like a badge of honor. On the other hand, they’ve heard their father’s stories about little bullied Tom Riddle. For Aidan, Voldemort holds little of the dangerous mystique he does for most of the Death Eaters. While Aidan’s father would follow him blindly into anything, Aidan’s loyalty is far less faithful. They aren’t really positive that someone who isn’t Pureblood should—or even is capable—of leading this fight. Sure, he’s strong now, but Aidan’s waiting for him to faulter at some point. And if it’s Aidan that steps into the power vacuum it creates, they wouldn’t complain. But one way or another, they’re certainly not dying for their father’s schoolmate.

Aidan is quite literally a sociopath and their actions and reactions boarder on psychopathy. Aidan knows the things they do would often be considered ‘bad’ or that a ‘good person’ wouldn’t do them—but they’re not a good person and they don’t care. If someone is standing between Aidan and what they want, they will find a way to take you down. They don’t care the cost of their actions as long as they’re not the one paying. They are selfish and self-centered and care about little else than bettering their own position.

-CONNECTIONS

(All connections would be pending player approval of course, but would be a good jumping off point with Aidan)

Severus—It’s important to get one thing straight—Aidan does not consider Severus Snape a friend. That does not, however, keep them from acting like it. A sad, picked on Slytherin, Severus has potential to become a wonderous Death Eater—if, that is, Aidan can get them to fully turn their back on the likes of Lily Evans. Aidan has seen the potential for darkness since they were young and has always tried to drag it out of him. They pretend to be a friend. But only because he’s so easily manipulated to do their bidding and not due to any real connection between them.

Natalie—Aidan never much liked the idea of having a Hufflepuff in the Death Eater ranks. They are, by far, the weakest of the houses in their eyes. They were frustrated to say the least to see Natalie join the, especially when she keeps her alliance so quiet. However, there are benefits. She seems to want to become a better Death Eater and learn more about how to become more enthralled with them. It’s a unique opportunity to take someone like her and darken her. Aidan is serving as a mentor of sorts, drawing her further in and corrupting her in a way that will leave their undeniable fingerprint on her.

Sirius & Andromeda—They could have been good. They could have had power. They could have been part of a legacy. And they both walked away—for what exactly? Aidan has never understood. They can’t help but scoff and roll their eyes at the cousins. They could have had everything and they threw it away. The two traitorous Blacks are pathetic and yet another sign that the Black family isn’t as strong as everyone thinks. Sirius and Andromeda are failures who turned their backs on everything and it’s just sad. They’re worth nothing and Aidan likes to remind them of it.

Cassius & Augustus—Friend is a complicated term when it comes to someone like Aidan but were anyone to hold it when it comes to Aidan, it would be Cassius and Augustus. They’re both dark just the way Aidan is. Cassius is a Pureblood Slytherin just like themselves and has the physical violence to compliment Aidan’s dark mind. Augustus is a perfect sheep in wolves’ clothing that Aidan appreciates and can relate to. They both only bring out the worst (which Aidan considers the best) in Aidan and they do the same to the others.

IN CHARACTER QUESTIONNAIRE

The following section should be looked at like a survey for your character. Answer them in character and feel free to use gifs. Or, if you’d rather, answer them in third person or OOC without gifs. Answers do not have to be extremely lengthy.

♔ If you were able to invent one spell, potion, or charm, what would it do, what would you use it for or how would you use it? Feel free to name it:

“A more efficient and effective form of Legilimency. Sure, I suppose technically it already exists but it’s painful and obvious for the hexed and too complicated for the castor. A spell itself or perhaps just a potion to make Legilimency easier to cast and the hexed more pliable to the castor.” A devious smirk crosses their lips as they recline in the their chair, their pet snake twining through their fingers. “A stronger mind reading spell would mean more fun in playing with our victims. And if you can read someone’s mind, manipulating them becomes a snap and then Imperius is no longer needed. One less necessary Unforgivable Curse. Not that there’s anything wrong with them, but using a non-Unforgiveable means you’re less likely to get caught and even if you are, it’ll cary a lighter sentence, so really it’s a win all the way around.”

♔ You have to venture deep into the Forbidden Forest one night. Pick one other character and one object (muggle or magical), besides your wand, that you’d want with you:

“Well I don’t believe in playing by the rules, so I’m not just taking one person with me. It would be far more fun with both Cassius and Augustus. A trip through the forest with the two of them would be much more entertaining than choosing just one, so that’s who I’m taking,” they say with a shrug. “Besides, the more hands to gather up unicorn blood and centaur hooves for potions, the better. Taking just one would be cheating the whole world of something wonderful. And not that we would need to bring anything along with us but the only obvious answer is Salazar’s locket. No one really knows what powers it has or where it is, but if it comes from the original Slytherin, they have to be strong. And let’s be honest, needing to speak Parseltongue to use it won’t be an issue for me.”

♔ What kinds of decisions are the most difficult for you to make?

“Honestly?” they look bored as they twist a long strand of dark hair around their fingers, “any that don’t involve me. I just don’t really see the point. It’s unimportant at best, so I don’t see the sense in having any input much less making any sort of decision.”

♔ What is one thing you would never want said about you?

“That I’m weak or ignorant,” they say, eyes burning furiously even at the idea. “I’m neither, regardless of what other people may see. Neither should ever be said about me. But certainly not that I’m weak. I’m not weak and I never will be.”

REACTION TO LAST EVENT DROP

(I’m pulling from both the full July update and from the St. Mungo’s party with a few places I see Aidan fitting with them both)

Being from a well-off Pureblood Death Eater family and someone who values status, Aidan would definitely be in attendance at both the St. Mungo’s fundraiser and the engagement party. When it comes to the St. Mungo’s party at least, Aidan is certainly not above being the masked Death Eater who made off with the funds to cast doubt on Aversio. It’s definitely the kind of manipulative plot Aiden would come up with. And if it meant gaining more power in the organization, they would certainly go for it.

Another place I can definitely see Aidan getting their hands dirty would be trying to convince Gilderoy to join the Death Eaters. I think trying to bring in new members is a place where Aidan’s manipulative abilities would be put to good use by the Death Eaters there. Aidan would also definitely like to see someone with as big a name as Gilderoy Lockheart on their own side—not the Death Eaters’ side per say, but Aidan’s side. Who knows where that kind of influence could come in useful down the road.

Aidan would also definitely see the argument between the Black’s and Lestrange’s as a point of opportunity. It would be a chance to win over people on both sides of the argument and as a place for the Avery family (and thus themselves) to possibly step further into power if the divide goes any further. For now, they’d be planting casual seeds that they and their family are the right choice to lead. Meanwhile convincing those that support the Lestrange’s that they believe the Lestrange’s are right and those that support the Black’s that the Black’s are right, always laying the full field. (If they had to choose between the two families, frankly it would probably be the Blacks, even if Andromeda and Sirius are rater large let downs, the family as a whole is better.)

WRITING SAMPLE

(Forgive the godmodding please and thanks, only used for audition purposes)

“I’m just saying, I think you need to be focusing on yourself, your potential. You have so much of it. You don’t really want to look back and see you’ve wasted it all away, do you?” Aidan’s tone was the soft and warm of a sweet supportive friend. It made them want to vomit. Almost as much as the boy they were talking too.

Even now Severus Snape couldn’t seem to fully pull their eyes away from the red head who was being disturbingly cute with her boyfriend.

“You can do better. That’s all I’m saying.”

“Don’t-”

Before another word could come out, Aidan help up a hand, the candlelight of the Great Hall shining off their family ring. “I wasn’t insulting Lily. I know, I know, she’s perfect you’ve said it a hundred times. I’m just saying I don’t think she really sees you. She doesn’t see what you could be. And if she’s spending time with people like that,” Aidan sent a pointed look to the Gryffindor table, “then she’s not good enough for you. Find someone who appreciates you. Not someone who spends all their time with people who quite literally shove you around Sev. If she really respected you the way you think, she’d be spending her time with you.”

Here, Aidan leaned across the table and took the younger boy’s hands, giving them a gentle squeeze of reassurance. It was the kind of action Lily would have taken, something Severus would appreciate, so Aidan would too. “I just want someone who sees you. Really sees you. All your potential. All you can be. Someone who will actually love you. And I’m sorry to have to say it, but I just don’t know that Lily’s that for you. You deserve more, that’s all I’m saying Sev.”

A voice over their shoulder cleared their throat. “Come on Avery. You know how much of a twat McGonagall becomes when we’re late.”

The smirk on Aidan’s face became a bit more genuine when they heard Cassius’s voice. “Well you heard him. I’ve got to go. I’ll see you around Sev.” Aidan stood and walked away with Cassius and Augustus. The moment they were out of the younger boy’s sight, they shuddered. “Good lord, you couldn’t have come in any sooner? I think I’ve got to go bathe my entire being in bleach.”

“You don’t have to talk to him you know,” the simple statement from Augustus earned a shrug.

“I do if I want him to keep doing my potions homework. Only a third year and still manages that shit better than I do.” Aidan let out a long sigh. “Minor benefits I suppose. It’ll pay off eventually. At least if it can stop being so fully pussy-whipped by that Gryffindor bitch.”

“I was reading earlier about a potion that calls for ground centaur hoof. It’s supposed to hold a lot of power.”

Aidan cast Augustus a look. “What’ve I said about the Ravenclaw babbling Auggie? Keep it relevant.”

“The potion I found can render the poisoned fully immobile for up to twelve hours.”

“Ah, see, skip to the relevant parts.” Aidan smiled genuinely now. “Lucky for us, we’re going to right where there’s a large herd of them. Not that they’re likely to just give us a hoof but, we know how to get what we want, don’t we? Unlucky for them I suppose.”

[ruleandruinrpg]

FELIKS BAZIN

TWENTY-FOUR ❈ HUMAN ROYAL GUARD

Feliks was a child weaned on tales of morality and the threat of damnation, of the eternal struggle between good and evil and the vices of hedonism and the goodness of moderation. Many folk in the village were as severe and hell-fearing as his family, framed portraits of Ravkan Saints delicately hung above door frames and crisply made beds and stove tops sizzling with herring and quail. Be good, don’t hurt, don’t steal, don’t envy. Live as if to strive to achieve sainthood yourself. It was all Feliks heard, all he ever knew growing up, and for a time it was all he could be - reverential and reserved, conservative and well-mannered, the joy of the village and ignorant to what more there was he could be. But the purest creatures were notorious for being the easiest to taint, the most beautiful angels fell the hardest and farthest, and sometimes all it takes is a glimpse of a fallen comrade, the shock of death.

He enlisted into the First Army because it’s what children in his village did; saintly children either stayed to help their family or served Ravka’s king, and Feliks had grown tired of  plowing the same fields and repeating the same prayers and never living courageously enough to make mistakes. To fight among brothers and sisters to defeat the Fold, to free Ravka and open a path to the True Sea was not a saint’s story, or perhaps at least not the kind of saints his family revered, but it was a hero’s story, and he wanted it to make it his. He flourished and blossomed in the First Army, built bonds based on kinship and camaraderie and not on obligation for once in his life, praying to his bullets and his aim and not to his saints for the first time in his life. He tried his first glass of kvas in the army, kissed and fucked for the first time in the army, killed his first Fjerdan and Shu and happily became everything he’d been taught to loathe: an indulgent, selfish, killing machine who looked forward to his next battle as much as he did his next drink and fuck. 

The fall came at The Fold. He imagined his family would think that, for a life filled with sin and indulgence, it was fitting that he watch as the the soldiers he’d come to love more than his own family were torn apart by volcra before he himself was naught but another body laying beside them. It was a violent death for a violent man, and fitting was all he could ask for, had any right to ask for. And he would been fine, finally laid to rest having fulfilled what potential was realized, but there was a break in the darkness, a smokey voice cutting through the void and pulling him out just as he was ready for slumber. He remembers the crack of lightning and thunder as the night sky slowly ebbed back into view, clarity eclipsing shadows, colors once so very familiar now appearing alien, his body feeling too small and numb. Altan, the Darkling’s right hand, stood over him, a hauntingly smug grin toying at his lips, firm fingers smoothing over his cheeks, the flesh of his lips, as if to appraise a specimen. The knowledge was slowly imparted to him as an afterthought and mostly through the grapevine - the bloodletter had come across the wreckage, chosen a soldier at random and brought him back from the dead. All on a whim. All because he could, and all because he wanted to show that he could. Rumors abounded of the resurrected soldier, the man who was neither fully living nor dead, and hushed whispers and hisses followed him in his wake everywhere he went. No soldier wanted to fight by a monster’s side, and no person - Grisha or human, royalty or commoner, wanted to break bread with the undead. For if Grisha were looked down upon for being unnatural and practicing the Small Science, what could that possibly make him, a byproduct of their experimenting and magic? What awaited someone like him? Feliks was ultimately reassigned to be a royal guard, sentenced to dedicate his life not to his own whims and indulgences but to the likes of royalty; his mother would be proud.

Tragedies have always been fickle, befalling the good and the terrible and seemingly never anyone in between. Feliks was always the first to admit he fell into the latter, indulging his baser instincts and desires, committing only to his greed and avarice, laying waste to others, the earth, himself. His death had been well-deserved, but his resurrection was something he never asked for—for what awaits a monster? What sinister fate embraces a chimera of the living and the dead fashioned into a twisted trophy for another man to parade around? He barely remembers the life he had and loathes to think of what lies ahead, his wandering path obscured by smoke and strife. “Consider this your penance,” a voice rumbles into his ear. “Or consider this your purgatory. Makes no difference to me, and certainly not to you.”

CONNECTIONS

ALTAN YUL-SUHE:  The bloodletter who resurrected him. Feliks sees the man’s smug grin and the bare night sky with veins of lightning strewn through inky darkness behind him when he closes his eyes, and trembles with fury. As it is, Grisha and humans alike see him as Altan’s prized ( monstrous ) trophy, a living feat of power and prowess that the heartrender performed simply to show that he could. Stripped of his identity and given nothing in return, Feliks loathes the thought that this could be his punishment for living so recklessly. Loathes Altan. Loathes himself. Loathes what he’s become and loathes that death and its accompanying dignity was stolen from him.

VIKTOR LANTSOV & ARINA ZAKHAROV: A man who knows life and death isn’t meant to be like the living, isn’t meant to have friends, but Viktor and Arina might be the two who come the closest to ‘comrades’ as he’ll ever get. As vehemently as he despised his reassignment to Viktor’s protection, he had to admit the Lantsov son was not the worst he’s ever known. He could even admire the man’s need and ambition, and he imagines if they’d met before he’d died and the pretenses of their titles didn’t exist, they would have gotten along famously. Arina is odd and nothing if not persistent. They both have their own reputations that precede them, the oddity and the chimera, and she is one of the few who is not afraid to sit where he eats and launch into conversation as if it was the most natural thing in the world. She’s fascinated with him, he supposes, and her incessant nattering can get old, but at the very least she always respects his impatience, and it’s enough for him to feel the beginnings of guilt for his snappiness and humor her.

ISKRA RAEVSKY & INESSA RAZIN: Fellow royal guards and colleagues, all three of them are often in each other’s company due to the nature of their work. Feliks finds Iskra’s unrelenting loyalty towards the crown prince exasperating, and he’s sure she in turn is wary of his own cynicism towards his new assignment and his reputation before his death. It’s a delicate balance, staying professional despite their differences, and with her fieriness and his sarcasm, it’s not one easily maintained. Inessa gets along with Anastasia and acts as sweet as can be, but it’s clear there’s something sly lurking beneath what she’s allowed herself to shown on the surface, and Feliks isn’t entirely sure what to make of it. They’re a motley crew if he’s ever seen one, but he supposes motley suits him now. 

FELIKS IS PORTRAYED BY YOUNES KAHLAOUI & IS TAKEN BY MADS.

[ruffoverthinksthings]

Wow that is certainly an extensive overview. If you don't mind my asking. How did you decide with your endless analyzing?

Forstarters, I’m just going to scream in frustration at thevoid as all my extensive analysis and explanation of 15 minutesago (going all the way up to the start of Chad after giving examplesand justification for all of Ben) was accidentally erased bydisaster, and is unrecoverable:

AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!FUCK! FUCK! FUCKING FUCKITY FUUUUUUUUUCCCCCKKKK...!

Betternow~!

Anyway:

Myprocess involves me making my Logic and Critical Thinking professorsproud, showing them that I have used my tuition, all that schoolwork, and time spent in class for Great Good by overanalyzing a children’s series plagued by logical errors and giant holes.

Ittakes three simple steps:

Clearlydefining what exactly is a Vice or a Virtue, then

Deciding the exact criteria that would categorize an action or behaviour asone, which would be “Performing this Virtue despite a lack ofpersonal gain, doing good for goodness sake” or “Being guilty ofthis Vice despite the means and the motivation to avoid it, beingevil or cruel because it’s easier to you than being good.”, andthen

Takinga noteworthy action or scene, then asking extensive questions and analysisabout whether or not this would fit into said criteria

Forclarity, I have watched Descendants (the movie), all of Wicked World,and read the Isle of the Lost (novel).

Ihave NOT watched School of Secrets (Web Series, because of regionalrestrictions), or read School of Secrets (book series), or the Returnto the Isle of the Lost.

OntoBen and Chad, the first group/pair I will explain and justify theVices/Virtues of, seeing as they both have all across the board forone category, and none of the other

Ben,Objectively the Purest Cinnamon Roll in all of Auradon

Charity- Being Generous Towards Others

TheVK program stands out the most, as Ben has all manner of socialpressure to continue the contempt and the abuse that Auradon hassubjective the Islanders to; he has no personal experience that theVK’s can be good, is going on only by his ideals and his logicalinference that the children are innocent, and has EVERYTHING to loseif it goes awry.

Andyet he does it anyway, because that’s the Right thing to do.

Temperance- Being Controlled in Self

Ben does not get angry,offended, or even that bothered by the spell wearing off and Malcontinuing to assume he’s under her curse.

He’s so willing to letthe very justified betrayal and shock slide, and even his grand reveal to Malabout how the spell had been broken much earlier speaks bounds about hisself-control, knowing that getting angry and violent will do nothingbut make it worse.

Chastity- Being Unhindered by Worldly Desires

Ben has never been shown totake any particular pride or emphasis on material things, getting hisjoy and fulfillment from ruling his people justly and correcting theinjustices he sees in the world.

I’d assume about the mostexpensive thing he owns is his two crowns, which are largelyceremonial artifacts; his concerns about them is the authority andthe responsibility they represent, not how much they cost, or the value of the minerals and metals put into making them.

Diligence- Being Steadfast in Work

Tying in with the VK program,you can’t have passed this through Auradon’s legislative body andcoordinated all the numerous organizations to actually execute itwithout a lot of work, a lot of compromise, and a LOT of paperwork.

There’s the manner ofsecurity, of transportation, of education, of quelling the inevitablepublic outcry, of supporting the VK’s in their time in Auradon, andeven the olive branch extended to them by that (unfortunately)disastrous video-chat with their parents back on the Isle.

And even if he couldrightfully delegate someone else to do it for him, Ben goes up andout of his way to personally attend to their needs to the best of hisabilities.

Patience - Being Peaceful inGoal

The only time Ben is evershown as getting angry or violent is when Maleficent attacks, or onthe Tourney field where knocking the wind out of your opponents’lungs is not only allowed, it’s encouraged.

He has a strong belief inthat Violence may always be an option, but it’s almost never the answer,and he shows that, especially with his blatant rejection of Beast’sruling style of “stomp your feet and yell a lot until the peoplecomplaining bow their heads and leave from fear or exasperation.”

Kindness- Being Good towards All Life

Be you a VK or a member ofthe Sidekick League, shoved aside and forced to work for the benefitof your “betters” with no compensation for 20 years, Ben willshow you kindness, compassion, and a helluva lot of benefit of thedoubt.

He shows this in particularwith the pickpocket in a Wicked World episode, where he assumes theyhad bumped into them by accident and wasn’t trying to steal hiswallet.

Humility - Being Modest inSelf

Have you ever seen Benshowboating himself, of reminding people that “I’m the king!”like his highness Joffrey from Game of Thrones, of ever waggling hiseyebrows and vaguely threatening or showing off his position to otherpeople?

Ben knows actions speaklouder than words, and he’s so confident in his ability to be takenseriously and continue to be trusted that he doesn’t need to blowup or exaggerate himself in any way—you’ll just know he’s thatgood.

Chad,Objectively the Worst

Lust- Desirefor Pleasure

Goodnessgracious, where dowe start?

Chad is every bit the spoiledbrat that he’s portrayed as, concerned only with being able tocontinue coasting through life comfortably, where everyone loves him,he’s the greatest, and the problems that bug him like his homeworkcan be easily given to someone else, while he continues to rake inthe praise.

He’s been raised byCinderella and Prince Charming, has been shown nothing but love andsupport all of his life, and has been given every single advantageanyone could ever want to actually become a force of good, make areal, positive change in the world, save for being chosen by divinebeings as the Chosen One.

And yet he squanders it.

Gluttony- Desire for Excess

See above.

Chad has been shown to be theman who has it all, the ladies, the looks, the life, and yet he stillisn’t satisfied by that, as seen by his manipulating Evie intodoing his homework to lighten his already unburdened shoulders.

Greed- Desire for Things

See above, and the one abovethat.

I wouldn’t be surprised ifChad wasn’t shown advertising the latest ayGems or the fanciestgadgets and shiniest watches and jewelry from all of Auradon becauseDisney didn’t want to encourage kids to purchase items and luxurygoods they haven’t officially licensed, produced, or can collectroyalties over.

Sloth- Desire for Rest

See “Gluttony.”

Chad may not have it “allthere up there,” but he’s certainly capable of doing his ownhomework, making a token effort to actually care about his education,and it’s not like his parents or the society he’s in willdemonize him for failure.

If he passes on time, he’llbe a striking image of what a Prince should be, handsome, strong, andeducated.

If he gets held back, they’llforgive him as stumbling and needing some time to get back up asAuradon is that kind of coddling society that likes to think the bestof people, and rarely lets people take the necessary hard knocks andfails to get some Reality into their system.

Wrath- Desire for Harm

The infamous Family Day sceneis brought to mind, where Chad didn’t need to go so far as toinsult Evie (who by the way he had charmed into doing his bidding andhad shown kindness to, and is now blatantly showing that he had justused her!) and verbal abuse to the other VK’s…

… But oh, he went there.

Envy- Desire for Other’s Belonging

Not shown in the movie or any ofthe media exactly, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Chad ever threw afit whenever someone had something before him, or he wasn’t the onewearing the latest and hottest from all over Auradon, the latest hotgadget sweeping the nation, or the one sharing 100% authentic,highest quality chocolate imported straight from Arendelle.

Pride- Desire for Attention

Chad has all the makings of anarcissist, having an over-inflated opinion of himself, engaging inself-destructive and abusive behaviours all for the sake ofmaintaining his image of objectively being the greatest, thesmartest, the most popular, beloved by all, can’t fail anything,and will always be that way forever after.

If Narcissistic PersonalityDisorder isn’t the mental illness that best represents the Vice ofPride, then I don’t know what is.

Ask again for the others. I am willing to do them in batches, but if you want more extensive analysis as to why a specific character DOES NOT have a certain Vice or Virtue, or questioning my assignments, feel free to do so.

Just know that the latter two will be “one ask, one character.”

[stummervogel]

Guuuuurrrrl...

I’ve been making fun of Princess Of The Moon from day one but right now I’m just seriously pissed off and am gonna rant about it. I’ve played a lot of free mobile otome games and a lot of them had stupid plots, annoying characters and bland protagonists but this is the first time one of these games has made me want to approach the writers and scream at them. I’m not even sure if I still want to finish this game. I’m into some weird shit and willingly pick the sadistic characters usually but HOLY FUCK THIS IS TERRIBLE. I like a lot of questionable characters with bad personalities, I’m a yandere fan I love old school Diabolik Lovers. But the difference is that in all those other stories the narrative acknowledges that the characters are bad. They do fucked-up things but it’s never treated like they are in the right. In Princess Of The Moon, however, the characters are ruthless rapists who only care about themselves and use the protagonist as a tool to achieve their goals and the narrative, the other characters and even the player’s character ALL ACT LIKE THIS IS FINE. There isn’t even any romance at all, like, maybe I could file this under guilty pleasure masochistic smut but no. It’s very evident that the characters don’t care about the heroine and they have no chemistry whatsoever but she falls in love with them anyway and it’s treated like a romantic story.

Once again, bare in mind that I’m not easily offended and very tolerable towards casual sexism in dating sims but this game made me feel actually sick.

The game’s story starts with your character going to a foreign country called Crescent for some job. Some boring shit happens and she finds herself stranded on deserted streets at night, it’s raining and she’s lost her way. She decides to randomly enter the next best building and fortunately the doors aren’t locked for some reason, so she stumbles into a room full of good-looking young men.

The young men turn out to be the four princes of the country and their bodyguards knights, because everyone’s fashion sense and culture here got stuck in the middle ages somehow. They ask her name, she introduces herself and the first guy promptly tells her he’s going to have sex with her. Just like that. First I thought, “Ok, this is weird but I don’t mind if one character is a kinky little shit. It’s supposed to be kinda quirky, right?” Then things take an unexpectedly dark turn when this guy, called Alph, orders his knight to restrict the heroine so that he can have his way with her. WHICH HIS KNIGHT TOTALLY DOES. The incoming rape is only barely avoided when the other princes protest. So it turns out there’s a reason for all this, behold! According to legend, the four princes are to gather on this date and wait for the “Moon Princess” to come and pick one of them to be the next king. She will marry the chosen prince three (?) months later and when they say their vows the Moon Goddess will either bless or curse the country depending on wether the couple’s love is genuine. Crazy shit. Anyway, everyone believes that the heroine is said Moon Princess since she’s the one who showed up that time. And so you have to pick one of three guys (more to come, maybe?): The cocky narcissist Alph, the seductive Rudy or the mysterious Seraphino. There’s also Dean who’s established to be a bad guy right off the bat. Anyway, Rudy and Seraphino didn’t show much personality at all and since I’m a masochist anyway I went with Alph. I probably picked the worst possible character but I’ve heard from other people that the other characters are just as horrible.

Alph takes the heroine to his bedroom and once again forces himself upon her. When she struggles and tells him to GTFO he conceitedly says that any other girl would be ecstatic to get fucked by him. WTF. Once again his rape attempt his averted, this time by his butler Laurent who tells him it’s wrong to force someone to have sex against their will. I’m relieved to finally see a sane character in this bullshit story BUT THEN HE CONTINUES, SAYING ALPH HAS TO WAIT UNTIL THE NIGHT OF THE FULL MOON. It’s against the traditions to fuck the Moon Princess before a full moon, but after waiting a month it is totally fine to rape some poor random girl who was unfortunate enough to stumble into this group of lunatics.

Some time passes (time that you spent locked up in Alph’s secret room for rejecting him earlier) and you get introduced to Dean’s younger brother Cyril, a cute teenage sunshine. He invites you to a tea party but Alph is like, “Fuck no, he’s Dean’s brother and Dean is EVIL. He wants to be king so he’ll surely try to do something to you!” FUCK YOU, ALPH YOU RAPIST PIECE OF SHIT, WHAT COULD DEAN POSSIBLY DO THAT WOULD BE WORSE THAN WHAT YOU’RE DOING!? Oh yeah btw, after three months the Moon Princess can make up her mind and pick another prince as her husband/king if she’s unsatisfied with her first pick. And that would be cool if the game actually let you do that but no, you’re FATED to be in love with the guy you first pick. But anyway, doesn’t that mean that the worst Dean could do was to win her over? He’d just shoot himself in the leg if he tried to kill her or something. Alph finally agrees to let the heroine attend the party but only together with him and only if she does something for him first. Spoiler: It’s oral sex. Weirdly enough the heroine isn’t the one performing it; instead there’s a rather awkward scene of Alph eating her out that night. The tea party starts out all nice and fun but Alph is a huge party pooper and starts shit with Dean for no good reason. They somehow decide to settle their differences in a contest, and the winner gets to be the heroine’s partner at the next ball. Naturally, the heroine protests, pointing out that she isn’t just an object to be claimed as a prize. Alph tells her to STFU and she runs away, right into the arms of Alph’s knight Marius. After hearing why she’s so upset Marius tells her not to worry because Alph won’t lose to Dean. Um, THAT WASN’T THE POINT!? AT ALL!??? But the heroine feels a lot better for some reason.

Later Alph visits her in her room and is offended that she would still be angry at him. Not like the dickhead ever apologized or anything. He molests her some more and a bit later there’s a scene that made me want to vomit where Alph promises to Marius’ little brother that he’ll make many babies with the heroine so that the little boy can grow up to be a knight like his brother and protect the next generation of princes. That is the most fucked-up thing I have ever read.

And what do you know, it’s finally a full moon! Alph gets the heroine drunk (”So I heard you like wine? Here, I bought ALL this wine for you, aren’t I a nice guy?”), then strips her naked and just when she - barely conscious - realizes what’s going on he flat-out tells her that he made her drunk so she couldn’t fight back so much. In what would normally only be seen in a horror movie but is supposed to be romantic in the context of this game, he also adds that he made her drunk but not so drunk that she will pass out. He wants her to feel and remember everything he does to her.

And in all honesty, whatever happens in the chapters after this is kind of a blur because that really made me sick. Basically Alph gloats about raping the heroine, everyone else (including the heroine) acts like it’s nbd because she’s the Moon Princess and it’s her duty to fulfill the future king’s desires and then other characters openly tell her that they want to do the same to her and AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH MAKE IT STOP!

This is shit. This is pure and utter bullshit! Nobody should pay money for this game and quite frankly, I would love to tell the writers how fucking shit their sexist excuse of a “story” is. And punch them in the face. This is terrible, just terrible, I can’t, I fucking can’t!

[ruleandruinrpg]

FELIKS BAZIN

TWENTY-FOUR ❈ HUMAN ROYAL GUARD

Feliks was a child weaned on tales of morality and the threat of damnation, of the eternal struggle between good and evil and the vices of hedonism and the goodness of moderation. Many folk in the village were as severe and hell-fearing as his family, framed portraits of Ravkan Saints delicately hung above door frames and crisply made beds and stove tops sizzling with herring and quail. Be good, don’t hurt, don’t steal, don’t envy. Live as if to strive to achieve sainthood yourself. It was all Feliks heard, all he ever knew growing up, and for a time it was all he could be - reverential and reserved, conservative and well-mannered, the joy of the village and ignorant to what more there was he could be. But the purest creatures were notorious for being the easiest to taint, the most beautiful angels fell the hardest and farthest, and sometimes all it takes is a glimpse of a fallen comrade, the shock of death.

He enlisted into the First Army because it’s what children in his village did; saintly children either stayed to help their family or served Ravka’s king, and Feliks had grown tired of  plowing the same fields and repeating the same prayers and never living courageously enough to make mistakes. To fight among brothers and sisters to defeat the Fold, to free Ravka and open a path to the True Sea was not a saint’s story, or perhaps at least not the kind of saints his family revered, but it was a hero’s story, and he wanted it to make it his. He flourished and blossomed in the First Army, built bonds based on kinship and camaraderie and not on obligation for once in his life, praying to his bullets and his aim and not to his saints for the first time in his life. He tried his first glass of kvas in the army, kissed and fucked for the first time in the army, killed his first Fjerdan and Shu and happily became everything he’d been taught to loathe: an indulgent, selfish, killing machine who looked forward to his next battle as much as he did his next drink and fuck. 

The fall came at The Fold. He imagined his family would think that, for a life filled with sin and indulgence, it was fitting that he watch as the the soldiers he’d come to love more than his own family were torn apart by volcra before he himself was naught but another body laying beside them. It was a violent death for a violent man, and fitting was all he could ask for, had any right to ask for. And he would been fine, finally laid to rest having fulfilled what potential was realized, but there was a break in the darkness, a smokey voice cutting through the void and pulling him out just as he was ready for slumber. He remembers the crack of lightning and thunder as the night sky slowly ebbed back into view, clarity eclipsing shadows, colors once so very familiar now appearing alien, his body feeling too small and numb. Altan, the Darkling’s right hand, stood over him, a hauntingly smug grin toying at his lips, firm fingers smoothing over his cheeks, the flesh of his lips, as if to appraise a specimen. The knowledge was slowly imparted to him as an afterthought and mostly through the grapevine - the bloodletter had come across the wreckage, chosen a soldier at random and brought him back from the dead. All on a whim. All because he could, and all because he wanted to show that he could. Rumors abounded of the resurrected soldier, the man who was neither fully living nor dead, and hushed whispers and hisses followed him in his wake everywhere he went. No soldier wanted to fight by a monster’s side, and no person - Grisha or human, royalty or commoner, wanted to break bread with the undead. For if Grisha were looked down upon for being unnatural and practicing the Small Science, what could that possibly make him, a byproduct of their experimenting and magic? What awaited someone like him? Feliks was ultimately reassigned to be a royal guard, sentenced to dedicate his life not to his own whims and indulgences but to the likes of royalty; his mother would be proud.

Tragedies have always been fickle, befalling the good and the terrible and seemingly never anyone in between. Feliks was always the first to admit he fell into the latter, indulging his baser instincts and desires, committing only to his greed and avarice, laying waste to others, the earth, himself. His death had been well-deserved, but his resurrection was something he never asked for—for what awaits a monster? What sinister fate embraces a chimera of the living and the dead fashioned into a twisted trophy for another man to parade around? He barely remembers the life he had and loathes to think of what lies ahead, his wandering path obscured by smoke and strife. “Consider this your penance,” a voice rumbles into his ear. “Or consider this your purgatory. Makes no difference to me, and certainly not to you.”

CONNECTIONS

ALTAN YUL-SUHE:  The bloodletter who resurrected him. Feliks sees the man’s smug grin and the bare night sky with veins of lightning strewn through inky darkness behind him when he closes his eyes, and trembles with fury. As it is, Grisha and humans alike see him as Altan’s prized ( monstrous ) trophy, a living feat of power and prowess that the heartrender performed simply to show that he could. Stripped of his identity and given nothing in return, Feliks loathes the thought that this could be his punishment for living so recklessly. Loathes Altan. Loathes himself. Loathes what he’s become and loathes that death and its accompanying dignity was stolen from him.

VIKTOR LANTSOV & ARINA ZAKHAROV: A man who knows life and death isn’t meant to be like the living, isn’t meant to have friends, but Viktor and Arina might be the two who come the closest to ‘comrades’ as he’ll ever get. As vehemently as he despised his reassignment to Viktor’s protection, he had to admit the Lantsov son was not the worst he’s ever known. He could even admire the man’s need and ambition, and he imagines if they’d met before he’d died and the pretenses of their titles didn’t exist, they would have gotten along famously. Arina is odd and nothing if not persistent. They both have their own reputations that precede them, the oddity and the chimera, and she is one of the few who is not afraid to sit where he eats and launch into conversation as if it was the most natural thing in the world. She’s fascinated with him, he supposes, and her incessant nattering can get old, but at the very least she always respects his impatience, and it’s enough for him to feel the beginnings of guilt for his snappiness and humor her.

ISKRA RAEVSKY & INESSA RAZIN: Fellow royal guards and colleagues, all three of them are often in each other’s company due to the nature of their work. Feliks finds Iskra’s unrelenting loyalty towards the crown prince exasperating, and he’s sure she in turn is wary of his own cynicism towards his new assignment and his reputation before his death. It’s a delicate balance, staying professional despite their differences, and with her fieriness and his sarcasm, it’s not one easily maintained. Inessa gets along with Anastasia and acts as sweet as can be, but it’s clear there’s something sly lurking beneath what she’s allowed herself to shown on the surface, and Feliks isn’t entirely sure what to make of it. They’re a motley crew if he’s ever seen one, but he supposes motley suits him now. 

FELIKS IS PORTRAYED BY YOUNES KAHLAOUI & IS TAKEN BY MADS.