#post reveal interactions call to me like a siren

[mostmagical]

Chapters 1/1 (1,396 words) Rating: General Audiences Relationships: Emo Adrien Agreste/Emo Marinette Dupain-Cheng

Summary:

Spoilers for ML Paris Special. . . After meeting an alternate version of himself, Adrien decides to take the first steps towards making a new friend.

Takes place immediately after Paris Special!

Read on Ao3 or under the cut!!

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She was holding his hand.

She was holding his hand.

After so long of being at each others’ throats, of feeling lost and lonely, the warmth of her hand in his felt like a dream. Like being pulled out of the ocean after so long drowning. Even after passing through the portal into their own world, she held on, and Adrien had trouble focussing on anything else around him. Hesperia was saying something, talking about their next moves to take down the Supreme, but the words simply passed through one ear and out the other as all he could do was stare down at where their hands were connected.

Why… Why hadn’t she let go?

His heart pounded in his chest, faster than he could ever remember it beating before. The pretty bakery girl was holding his hand, like she wanted to, as if he was more than just a stranger on the street to her. And, well, he supposed he was, considering they had been working together for months, albeit without liking each other or knowing one another at all. It was all new sensations and feelings, rushing through his body in a way that made his head swirl.

“...but we can reconvene later,” Hesperia said, on the tailend of some conversation that Adrien had missed entirely. “I think we could all use a little rest.”

Toxinelle— No, Ladybug stuck out her other hand, shaking with Hesperia as the fingers in the hand she held with Adrien’s squeezed just ever so slightly. Maybe that had been in his imagination though. “I agree,” she said. “I hope we can continue to work well together to take down the Supreme.”

“The feeling is mutual, Ladybug,” Hesperia replied. “And you, Griffe– uh…”

Adrien smiled. “I’m still working on it.”

Hesperia smiled back. “I wish you good luck figuring that out.” The butterfly hero folded his hands behind his back, regarding the both of them over his glasses. “I’d offer to show you both out, but I think you’ll find it’s the same way you came in the first time,” he supplied, a lilting tune to his voice.

Ladybug smiled wryly. “Yeah, sorry about that,” she said. “We’ll be going now! Good bye!”

She slipped her fingers from his hand, Adrien already feeling colder, to sling her yoyo through the exit.

“See ya!” he bid to Hesperia before following right after her. She headed towards the bakery– now he knew why— and Adrien couldn’t stop himself from following along. So what if his house was in the opposite direction. He wanted to spend just a few more minutes with her, if he could manage it.

She dropped down onto the bakery roof, quietly releasing her transformation and leaving behind Marinette, the bakery girl.

Adrien’s heart skipped a beat again at the sight of her.

He dodged behind the chimney stack on the end of her rooftop, suddenly nervous. He wasn’t sure how she would react to him being there. Everything was so new and their relationship was so… He wasn’t sure what. It was different.

“I saw you following me, fleabag,” she said, startling him. “No use hiding.”

Lithely, he jumped from his spot, landing in a crouch in front of her. He looked up at her through his bangs, watching her expression for that same old disdain he was used to. There was none.

“What is it?” she asked.

Adrien straightened, searching for the right words in his head. To be honest, he wasn’t sure what he wanted at all. All he knew was that he had been drawn to her, like a thread he had to chase. Other Adrien’s words rang through his head, and sudden clarity filled his being.

He wanted to make friends.

He couldn’t miss his chance.

An excited grin twitching on his lips, he let his transformation fall to match her, putting them both on equal footing. Keeping things neutral had always worked for the two of them in the past.

Marinette raised her eyebrow at him, and suddenly he was struck by how big and blue her eyes were. He had never seen them up so close before. She was so pretty.

“Well, I was thinking,” he said nervously, all his earlier bravado draining out of him now that she was looking at him with those eyes, “since I don’t have any friends, and you don’t have any friends—that I know of!” He glanced at her face, worrying he might find a glare, but instead she continued to just look at him with wide eyes. He cleared his throat, pushing through the rest of his request as he scratched at his cheek. “Maybe, if you want, we could be friends? With each other?”

Her mouth twitched into a small smile. Adrien had never seen her smile before. He found that it suited her quite nicely. His heart did a funny little flip in his chest.

“Okay.”

His jaw dropped. “I– uh– Okay?” he sputtered.

Her smile spread wider. “Yeah.”

“Even though I’m a rich jerk?”

“I guess I can let that go,” she teased. “This time.”

Unbridled happiness— is this what that other Adrien felt? All she did was say ‘okay’ and it was as though the heavens had opened. He was warm, starting in his chest and spreading from the inside out, a euphoria he had never felt before.

“Besides,” she continued, giving a small shrug of her shoulders, “I think you’ve grown on me a little in all this time.”

The delight only grew. “You mean, I’ve cat your attention?”

She shook her head, a frown on her face, but the corners twitched again, as if she was trying to hide a smile. “And you’re going to lose it if you keep up with your awful puns.”

“My claw-ful puns?”

“Watch it, whiskers,” she said, but, for once, there was no bite to her tone.

“Aw,” he cooed, loving the way her nose scrunched up at the sound. “You don’t mean that, buggy.”

“‘Buggy’?” she questioned. “What happened to ‘cockroach’?”

“Well, I’m not going to call my friend a cockroach, now am I?” he said. “Why? You don’t like it? I can workshop some more names.”

She laughed, and, wow, what a wonderful sound that was. “Maybe after you figure out your new name.”

“No, no, no.” He wagged a finger. “This is important.” He proceeded to stalk around her, acting as though he was appraising her like an art piece with a hand to his chin. Actually, he supposed, she was an art piece, not that he’d ever told her. Maybe he should. “What about…” he drawled, lengthening his vowels, “Scarab?”

She wrinkled her nose. “No.”

He hummed. “Buginette.”

A scoff.

“Spotify.”

“You’re joking.”

Her deadpan told him all he needed to know. Adrien stopped his stalking, once again standing in front of her. It had to be personal, something to tell her how much she meant to him, how happy he was to finally have someone he could call a friend in his life. Something to connect them. An idea lit up his brain.

“My lady.”

He could be wrong, but he thought she might have stuttered a breath. A dusting of pink settled on her cheeks. Oh! Oh, that was a good reaction, wasn’t it?

“You like that?” he asked. “My lady?”

She swallowed, eyes cast away from his face and down on his shoes. Her arms crossed over her chest. “I suppose that might be acceptable.”

He smiled. “My lady,” he repeated, the words rolling off his tongue as if they were always meant to. He bowed dramatically, smiling when he heard her soft chuckle. “I’m glad we could settle this.”

She snorted. “If you’re supposed to be a prince, we have some work to do.”

“Maybe not a prince, but I’ll happily be your knight.”

“I’ll hold you to it.”

His smile was practically bursting at the seams, stretching his cheeks wide enough for a dull ache to settle in. “I’ll let you enjoy your day. Until next time, my lady.” He called his transformation back, readying himself to head home.

“Until next time, Adrien,” she replied, another soft smile gracing her features.

He leapt from her roof, darting away as his heart beat a staccato against his ribcage. Next time he saw her, he would be seeing his new friend.

A friend.

[hellhound5925]

While I’m wrapping up my next chapter of my Hunter fic, I’m going to leave you with this! Side note: that post a made a while ago about fucking up myself over something I wrote? This…this is that something….

One shot- Sargent Hunter

Tattoos (Part One)

Warnings: Idk if I have any at the moment. Part Two will be smut 😏 so I guess no minors 🤷‍♀️

Summary:

    Being a man who has a face tattoo for Makers sake, he was naturally drawn to them. The first time he really saw your tattoos, with the symbols covering one of your arms, he was drawn to you like a winged insect to a funeral pyre (Yes I used Sleep Token, Take me back to Eden lyrics...leave me alone).

This is going to take place during the time where the batch helps rebuild Pabu. It’s going to have two parts because I can’t wait for you all to read what I’ve got 😂 I hope you enjoy! Let me know your thoughts!

Pabu was typically quite beautiful this time of year...the sun, high in the sky which creates an ungodly heat that only the cool ocean water could provide relief from. Birds chirping above and moon-yos chasing one another along the rock walls. However, in the last few days, they had endured a sea surge that destroyed a significant amount of the lower levels. It was the first one more than three decades…

Those big brown eyes followed you everywhere you went as you helped the villagers clean up the mess. Eye brows raised slightly, a gentle smile tugging at the corner of his lips....he was mesmerized watching you, your kindness and compassion shining bright during such a dark time. Drawing him in like a moth to a flame.

He watched as the tattoos on your arm were peaking out from underneath the sleeve of your shirt, as you rolled it up to your elbow. Tracing them with his eyes, the ink would forever be ingrained in his mind. Haunting him while he slept. He wanted to know if you had more...he needed to...

“Why do you always stare at her like that?” Omega pulls him from his thoughts. “I wasn’t staring.” “Yes you were.” Huffing a sigh Hunter pretends to busy himself by moving the baskets of fish Wrecker caught. “You do seem a little distracted Sarge” He chimes in. Hunter cocks an eye brow, “We’ve got a lot to do before the end of the day.” “Copy that” the two say in unison.

Wrecker returns to fishing while he follows Omega with his eyes as she bounds off after you. She tugs at the back of your shirt causing it to lift ever so slightly, and could have sworn he saw the shadow of yet another tattoo. What could it be?

———

After spending half a day in the sun and feeling the effects of the heat, you and Omega had gone down to the shore for a swim. Hunter was always checking in, so it was only a matter of time before he made his way down. Sure enough he came and sat under a tree along the shore.

He watched as you interacted with Omega, the sweet sound of your laugher filled his ears. It was like a siren song, calling out to him and drawing him in. He tried to ignore it because after all, he was there to be a watchful eye not be distracted. Huffing out a sigh, he returned to his protective nature by scanning the area for threats and trusting that his senses would also alert him.

As you made your way out of the water towards him, he got a view of the tattoos that covered your arm. The way they crawled down your arm from your shoulder entangling in intricate designs as they made their way down to your wrist. The dark black ink, a beautiful contrast to your lighter sun kissed skin, glistened with water droplets as they rolled down your arm.

His eyes roamed your body as more of it emerged from the water. Revealing yet another tattoo. This one, on your ribs just below your right breast was the image of a wolf. The placement was just so, that it the wolf was running from your back towards the center of your core. The fierce animal quite the representation of the person whose skin was etched into.

By the time you were back on the shore, there was one final tattoo that sent him over the edge. As you approached him, he was unable to look away. Sheepishly you look down, turning your leg so he can get a better view.

“Do you like it? I got it a while ago but never had the chance to show you. I hope it’s okay?” You voice drowning out everything else, his senses were hyper focused on you.

The vibrant ink and indicator that it was newer than the others, sent a rush of sensual gratification through his veins. Placed on the outside of your calf was a skull that was identical to the ones the batch had hand painted on their armor so long ago, similar to the one that covered half of his own face.

At a complete loss for words, he nods his approval while shifting uncomfortably to conceal the arousal that was awakened by the sight of the ink in your skin. Finding himself slightly jealous of the intimacy it had with you. His eyes slowly make their way up your thigh to your core, stopping briefly at the tattoo on your ribs, before traipsing up your arm revising the ink he’s seen so many times, and meeting your gaze.

The realization of his eyes so intimately roaming your body, paints itself all over your face. Butterflies erupt from somewhere deep in your core. Biting your lip to contain the euphoric giggle that threatens to escape, you watch as his eyes flick down to them.

Omega interrupts the moment, “I’m going to head back up to the others.” Hunter answers without breaking eye contact, “see you back up there.” Out of the corner of your eye, you see her cock her head at you both before bounding off towards the stone stairs. You both stay there in silence, search one another’s gaze for the right words.

You are the one to break eye contact first, causing him to shift awkwardly as if he’s unsure of what to do. Standing up he finally speaks “I guess I uhhh…should go see what they’re up to.” Disappointment sinks from yours chest into your stomach like a heavy anchor as you watch him head up the stone steps, Omega had just a few moments ago. Sighing you decide it’s worth heading back to your place for a change of cloths.

Part Two here

Taglist (let me know if you want to be added): @lune-de-miel-au-paradis @cloneloverrrrr @idoubleswearimawriter @maybethatfanfictionwriter @techs-goggles9902

[northern-passage]

hi, i don’t mean this to be rude at all just genuinely wondering how you’re going to approach nsfw content with your nonbinary characters? i’m just curious since you’ve never revealed agab (which i totally respect that) and i’ve done the same with my own nb ROs.

i assume this is about nsfw art? i've done snippets for Clementine before, and i've always kept it vague for them (and same with Noel, since xe was gender-selectable at the time)

this is something i've thought about a lot and have talked to various people about since i've started tnp; i've always been pretty adamant about not discussing agab on the blog, and that's not going to change with this. i have a no nsfw policy almost entirely because of the way the IF community interacts with & talks about trans and nb characters, and while it has improved slightly in the last year, it's still not something i'm going to entertain. to be frank, i find people asking for agab/discussing agab in this context (anonymously on tumblr dot com), even about fictional characters, to be really weird and rude.

i don't really think it adds anything to announce a character's agab in that way, and personally for the stories i write i always want it to be something that comes up in-game between the player and the character, because it gives the character some agency and (this is entirely a personal opinion) as someone who is nb myself it makes me feel that, as an author, i am conveying to readers that this is not information you are Entitled to, not in real life and not even in fiction. you have to get to know this character, and even then, they are not required to share this very private thing with you. obviously i do understand the appeal in announcing if your characters are trans, and i understand it makes it easier for people who are looking for trans inclusive games to find them that way - this is just my personal opinion about it, and why i don't specify that kind of thing in my character descriptions or intro posts.

at this point, though, with the plans i have for the game and the sexual content i want to include, it's obvious that it's not exactly realistic of me to keep it vague. it's going to eventually come up in game, in the intimate scenes i have planned for everyone. i didn't expect that i would ever even be writing those kinds of scenes, which is also part of why i set that boundary about my nb characters to begin with (this game wasnt even 18+ at the start). but i've got more comfortable with that now, and it's something i'm actually looking forward to.

i've debated a lot about this, especially after i released the siren's call demo and posted art of Rome on that blog and immediately had people in my inbox misgendering them and calling them a man - it really frustrated me in particular that just giving the slightest bit of facial hair made people act like that... they aren't perfectly androgynous, and suddenly people felt comfortable disregarding their identity and straight up misgendering them.

however, i don't think the answer to that is to just remove all sex characteristics from my nb characters... that's silly and isn't actually addressing the problem (i'd argue it's making it worse) plus there's already a prevalent misconception when it comes to nb people and How they are expected to look and dress, with most people assuming certain things that directly harm the more vulnerable members of our community. nb people can look any way they want, and they're still nb. it's ridiculous to expect androgyny, and it's ridiculous to expect nb people to be "vague." but i also think it's ridiculous to expect Anyone to disclose personal, private information about themself, no matter how they present... and with Clementine and Noel being fictional characters, they can't really "decide" what they want for themselves.

sorry this has turned into a bit of a tangent, but basically my thoughts on all of this now is... it's Complicated. lmfao. i know a lot of people especially liked how i've handled Clementine up to this point, and i understand if people are disappointed with this potential change. i've also had a lot of people that have really liked my snippets and depictions of Merry - whereas with Clem i was always vague, i've been far more explicit with Merry.

i think, particularly with Merry, she has shared with the player that she is trans & potentially has already had an intimate encounter with the hunter. Lea, too, is very close with the hunter and they are both intimately familiar with each other, whether they like it or not. obviously we know Clem and Noel are trans as well, but the difference is that they have not disclosed certain things with the hunter like Lea and Merry have, if that makes sense. this is also why i preferred to keep things vague with those two specifically - again, i like giving that bit of agency to the characters, and we have a long way to go in-game before Clem or Noel are close enough to the hunter to want to share that information.

for the record i do think it's weird to treat it like some Big Deal that *gasp* Clem and Noel have genitalia! it's not something that needs an announcement. but i hope this at least explains my thinking & why i've done things the way i have up to this point, and why i've changed my mind slightly.

my plan now, with the nsfw art aspect, is that i may post an occasional tasteful nude of some of my characters on patreon. and that's it. it's not going to change how i do anything else, and this doesn't change anything about either Noel or Clem.

[ecliptsukki]

his delinquent phase ❧ kaoru sakurayashiki // cherry blossom

navigation | music

➣ genre: fluff

➣ warnings: adam’s existence 

➣ request: can i request a one shot where you’re cherrys s/o and like childhood best friends with joe and cherry and adam and you’re gushing over cherrys old bad boy look with piercings and everuthing and cherry one day goes to S with his piercings and hair the same way as before just to see you fawn over him skjfks

➣ a/n: this took me three times to type up because the first two times i did it, tumblr thought it would be funny to delete it. i’m not sure if i love how this came out, but it’s still better than my original plan. hopefully this was correct to what the anon requested. enjoy!

ps: i’m also going to be going on a trip for four days tomorrow, so i’m not sure if i’ll be able to post. i’ll definitely try to start working on my other requests!

You had known Joe, Cherry, and Adam ever since the four of you were in high school. Out of the three, you had met Joe, first, not soon before you met Cherry.

You were walking down the eventful streets of Okinawa, admiring the sights and getting accustomed with the area. You had moved to the city not too long ago and already were growing attached to the place. In your defense, the city was your perfect and desired location to live in. 

A gentle breeze blew through your hair, rustling the leaves of the green trees. You sighed at the feeling of the cool breeze tickling your warm skin. Not long after that breeze had gone, another, harsher breeze blew past you. You flinched at the abnormally sharp wind, snapping your head to the side, in its direction. You were met with honey red eyes and short, green locks, swaying. 

The male slips past you, stopping abruptly.

“Sorry about that,” he smiled, embarrassed, “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

You were in awe, seeing what the boy was standing on, and on alert because you had always been taught to be cautious around strangers, especially when you were walking alone. 

“Um, no. I’m alright, just shocked,” you shrugged, replying quietly.

Another harsh, but gentler than before, wind blows past you, revealing a pink-haired male. He had three piercings on his ear and one on his lip. Half of the boy’s face was hidden by his long bangs, allowing your focus to lock on his golden eye.

“Watch where you’re going,” he snaps at his green-haired friend. “Sorry about him,” he apologizes, giving you a polite smile.

All the sirens were going off in your head.

He has so many piercings! Is he a delinquent? Are both of them delinquents? If they are, I can’t fight them off on my own. What do I do?

“I’m Kaoru,” the bubblegum-haired male suddenly said, “This is Kojiro.”

Kojiro nodded at you, an embarrassed blush still grazing his cheeks. 

“Hey, aren’t you the new kid?” Kaoru asked, finding your puzzlingly familiar.

“Oh, that’s why I felt like I’ve met you before,” Kojiro spoke up, nodding his head when he realized who you were.

Awkwardly, you shyly respond, “Sorry, I can’t seem to remember seeing you guys at school. Are you in my class?”

Until dusk, the three of you talked, getting to know the each of you better. You were also able to befriend the boys you were so afraid of, becoming your first two friends in the city.

You met Adam in the dark of night, beside Cherry and Joe.

They had brought you along, one night, wanting to skate with you. You already knew the basics of skating, nothing more, nothing less. Therefore, as your closest, and only, friends, they wanted to get further acquainted with you in something they loved. 

“Who’s the sweet cheeks?” His hoodie-covered eyes left an eerie pressure on you, causing goosebumps to emerge from your skin.

“This is our close friend, Y/N L/N,” Cherry spoke up.

“She goes to school with us, and we wanted to bring her skating. Mind her tagging along?” Joe asks his hooded friend.

“Not at all, just as long as she can keep up,” he spoke in a cocky tone.

The pretentious attitude the unnamed face had was irking you in the wrong way. He seemed too mysterious for your liking. A third of the boy’s face was hidden in the shadow of his hoodie, leaving you only able to see the blue tips of his hair and his structured nose. 

He must’ve noticed your timid stare because he looks at you, under his hood, “Call me Adam.”

 Cherry and Joe look at you expectingly.

“Just call me sweet cheeks, for now,” you reply, distantly, not ready to let your guard down just yet.

You hear your two friends sigh, chuckling to each other.

“Don’t worry, she’ll warm up to you, soon,” Cherry told Adam, “We know firsthand how she is with meeting new people.”

You blush, remembering your first encounter with the pair.

Thinking back, you still regret letting your walls down and accepting Adam as a friend. Not a day goes by that Adam doesn’t linger in your mind, as much as you’d hate to admit. 

You despise that man with a passion. From your first interaction, you should’ve known that there was something off about the blue-haired male, but pondering on these frustrations now wouldn’t change anything. As much as you’d like to curse the man for hurting your friends’ and your feelings, you knew you had to move on.

You sat on the soft mattress of your shared bed, scrolling through old pictures stored on your phone. You saw pictures taken by Kaoru when you guys went on dates. Majority of the photos were candid, seeing as he always had told you that you were the “most photogenic woman” he had ever met.

You remember the day he had told you that. You also remember your laughed reply.

“Then you’ve got the whole world to explore, my love.”

Although, honestly, you thought Kaoru was quite the photogenic one himself. His gorgeous, sorted, pink hair matched with his golden eyes and perfect face never looked bad, not even at the crack of dawn or in the late of night. 

Speaking of which, you scrolled upon a photograph of Kaoru sitting all pretty with his piercings on display. Those piercings brought back many memories, humorous and lustful.

Ironically, the thing that brought you fear before now brings you yearning.

Honestly, once you had befriended Kaoru and came to trust him, the piercings no longer frightened you but instead, fascinated you. Those metal hoops further increased your attraction to the ponytailed man, leading you to the relationship you were in now.

Obviously, Kojiro played a big role in setting the two of you up together because both of you were completely oblivious to the other’s feelings. It got to the point that Adam almost had to step in and wack some sense into the both of you.

Anyways, ever since Kaoru had started working in the calligraphy business, he removed his piercings to maintain a professional image. You detested the idea, but you also knew that it was the best for his business. 

Now that you were looking back at photos of Kaoru as a teenager, you began to crave seeing him in those metal rings once more. You missed the “bad boy” look your boyfriend used to have, not that you didn’t appreciate how he looked now. It’s just that there’s a different vibe to his current and past aesthetics.

As you stalked through more pictures of teenage Kaoru, you were unaware of the very man you were thinking about watching you. He noticed the longing and craving in your gaze. Then, he caught a glimpse of what was being projected on your screen: it was him but in his teenage years. 

Suddenly, everything clicked for Kaoru, and he had the perfect plan in mind.

Something was off. Usually your boyfriend would insist on bringing you to “S” himself but not today. If anything, he was urging you to go with Kojiro.

“He’s been your friend for the same amount of time as I. You should take this time to your advantage and catch up,” was Kaoru’s excuse.

First of all, catch up on what? It’s not like you haven’t talked to Kojiro in months. Actually, you talked to him a day ago, at “S.” Secondly, what’s up with the sudden lenience and weak excuses?

Joe, who was also in on the plan, tried to help his friend out, making a feeble attempt to lure you with free food.

“I can get free food from you whenever I want,” you replied, squinting suspiciously at your friend.

“Not with that attitude, you can’t.” That pulled a raised brow from you and a regret-filled face from the muscular man.

Though you weren’t fully convinced that nothing was off, you still left with Joe, caving into their terrible attempts of covering up whatever they were hiding from you.

You had arrived at “S” with Joe for about ten minutes now, but there was still no sightings of your beloved, Cherry. Joe caught glimpse of your searching eyes and reassured you that he would be coming, be it later than usual.

Reki, Langa, and Miya had made their way over to you, sparking up a conversation with you, making you forget about the missing presence of a specific male. 

Miya was explaining the new training regiment and diet he was to use in order to advance his strength, leading you to worry for the small teenager. If he didn’t eat enough, it could become fatal to him. You didn’t understand why a child was being treated so harshly by his managers, forcing him to eat barely anything and train long hours of the day. 

You were concernedly asking Miya if he was feeling alright and offered him an energy bar you carried around in case of emergencies, which he gratefully accepted, when you heard the cheers of fangirls behind you. Knowing they weren’t meant for Joe, you turned around to meet the golden eyes you’d fallen in love with.

This time, there was something different. His face wasn’t hidden by his mask. You could see the pale skin of his cheeks and the pink of his lips. Besides the absence of the black cloth, you noticed metallic rings decorating your boyfriend’s lip and ears. Also, his hair wasn’t whipping behind him, as per usual, but laid low, drifting in the wind.

For a hot moment, you had thought you had finally lost it, but when you blinked your eyes, looking at Miya then back to Cherry, you realized you were still sane and your boyfriend still looked like he aged back into his high school days.

“Is that Cherry?” Miya asked from beside you.

You nodded, speechless.

You heard someone let out a loud laugh beside you, “Since when did he have piercings?”

Ignoring the redhead’s outburst, you were mesmerized by the Cherry you had been obsessing over a couple days ago. It felt like one extravagant dream that you didn’t want to wake up from. In your defense, as he stepped of his skateboard, coming to embrace you, he looked straight out of a fantasy. His skin was practically glowing, and his hair gently floated perfectly onto his shoulders.

“Hello, darling,” he spoke in a sultry voice, placing a soft kiss to your forehead as he held you in his muscular arms.

“K-Kao—” you quickly realize your soon-to-be mistake and fix it, “Cherry.”

His eyes shrink as he laughs, endearingly, admiring the flustered and confused look you were portraying.

“Is this why you and Joe were being so weird earlier today?” You asked, cheek pressed against his slim, toned chest.

“Indeed, my love. What do you think? Definitely brings back some memories of the old days,” he lifts your chin, forcing you to look him in the eyes.

“I love it. It’s perfect. You’re perfect,” you smile brightly, eyes lustrous. Pushing yourself up on your toes, you whisper into his ear, “You also look really hot.” You quickly pull away, turning a vibrant red.

“I think you broke her,” Joe told his friend, placing a heavy hand on the pink-nette’s shoulder.

After the supposed one occurrence surprise, you began to avidly ask him to wear his piercings, loving how attractive and domineering he looked in them. If he denied, you would ask him to, at least, tie his hair in the relaxed half up half down hairdo. He didn’t mind the different hairstyle as much as he did the piercings so it became a normal look for him. The only times he would willingly put on his piercings were when he was going to “S” or when the two of you were safe in the comfort of your own home, for research purposes.

[greatqueenanna]

Talking about the differences between Frozen and Frozen on Broadway

The Broadway Musical version of Frozen was always, not only a source of more Frozen content, but also a source of more detail into the Frozen universe as a whole. While is delves into a more soft canon, as it’s meant to be a mature remake of sorts, it does offer some interesting insights into the world and gives more detail about the character’s motivations.

Here, after I *finally* had the chance to watch the show, I will be comparing the major differences in the plot. I will lightly retell the events of both stories, giving an idea of how each is structured. Towards the end, I’ll give my thoughts on what changes I liked and didn’t like. Let me know your own thoughts and opinions on the changes, and let me know if I missed something important.  

The Accident

Film: The film starts with Frozen Heart, where Ice Harvesters are foretelling the events in the film. Then, Elsa hits Anna in the ball room while she is trying to stop her from jumping off a snow hill. Agnarr is the one with knowledge on what to do, looking up the location of the Trolls. The family go to the Valley of the Hidden Rock, where Grand Pabbie erases Anna’s memories. He then warns her that her magic is beautiful but dangerous, and that fear will be her enemy. During this time, Kristoff is there watching the entire scene go down and gets adopted by Bulda.

Broadway: Frozen Heart is removed, and replaced with Let the Sun Shine On, giving us insight into the royal family. Then, we hear another song as Elsa and Anna are playing with each other, A Little Bit of You. Later, Elsa hits Anna in their bedroom when she accidentally gets in the way of one of Elsa’s magic blasts. Their parents come into their room, and it is Iduna who has knowledge about the Trolls, who are called the Hidden Folk in this version. She issues a call, similar to that of the siren in Frozen 2, to call the Hidden Folk to the bedroom through the window. Grand Pabbie erases Anna’s memories, but then Elsa asks him to erase her powers as well. He tells her that this isn’t possible, and that fear will be her enemy.

The Parent’s Deaths

Film: Agnarr and Iduna leave (for Ahtohallan) when Elsa is 18, and Anna is 15. It is implies that Elsa ruled Arendelle from this point, until Elsa officially became queen at 21. Anna sings the last verse of Do You Want to Build a Snowman in the perspective of a grieving sister, seeking Elsa’s companionship. Elsa is on the other side of the door, grieving as well with her powers out of control. 

Broadway: Agnarr and Iduna leave when Elsa and Anna are still around the same age as when the accident happens. Elsa doesn’t rule at all, since she’s a child, and is instead guided by a regent. Anna sings the last verse of Do You Want to Build a Snowman with different lyrics, implied to be the the day before the coronation. Elsa is again on the other side of the door, but her unleashed powers are for her anxiety for the coronation.

The Coronation

Film: We briefly see an adult Kristoff buying carrots for Sven, and then we are also introduced to the Duke of Weselton talking about exploiting Arendelle for riches. Then, Anna wakes up and dresses herself, running around the castle until she runs into Hans. Hans and Anna have a short interaction, fumbling around in a boat, before she returns to the castle. During this time, Elsa is trying to practice for the coronation, already dressed in her coronation outfit. We then go the the church scene where Elsa almost reveals her powers. A lot of her reactions and emotions are told by her facial expressions and subtle actions. We then go to the introduction of the party scene, where Elsa is seen happy and relieved.

Broadway: We immediately begin with Anna waking up, this time being helped to get dressed by servants, a change also reflected in a lyric change for For the First Time in Forever. The scene has Anna running through the castle as well, but she has more interactions with servants and other guests. Elsa is not dressed in her coronation outfit when we see her, instead in a blue dress. Anna runs into Hans again, but the scene includes a song called Prince Hans of the Southern Isles and has a bit more sexual tension related comedy. This is also where we first meet Kristoff, as Anna and Hans fall into his cart instead of the boat. Later, during the Church scene and extending into the beginning of the party scene, Elsa actually has an inner monologue song to express her emotions instead, called Dangerous to Dream.

Climb to the Mountain

Film: As soon as Elsa leaves, she arrives on the top of the North Mountain that same night and sings Let it Go. Anna follows her but gets lost, traveling around for around a day before reaching Wandering Oaken’s Trading Post. This is where she first meets Kristoff, and then buys her new traveling outfit before bribing Kristoff to take her up the mountain, where he briefly sings Reindeers are Better than People. Later on, after traveling and being attacked by wolves, they group meets Olaf, who sings In Summer. We later see an update of what is happening in Arendelle, with Hans arguing with the duke before seeing Anna;s horse and deciding to go after her.

Thus, the order of events are as follows -

Elsa runs, as Anna decides to go after her.

Elsa reaches the North Mountain and sings Let it Go.

Anna travels around, reaching Oaken’s.

Anna meets Kristoff.

Anna and Kristoff argue about love.

They meet Olaf.

We get an update on Hans in Arendelle.

Broadway: There are a few major changes in the order of all of these scenes. Elsa is shown leaving, but actually doesn’t reach the North Mountain until around the second night of traveling, singing Let it Go as a closer for Act 1. Anna meets Kristoff (in which they have a duet What do you Know About Love and is given her own ice harvester outfit) and Olaf (who sings In Summer) before reaching Wandering Oaken’s Trading Post in Act II, where we hear another song called Hygge. This is when Anna purchases her iconic traveling outfit. We then see the update in Arendelle, with Hans arguing with the duke, however the citizens of Arendelle intervene and start to sing Prince Hans of the Southern Isles Reprise. He then sees Anna’s horse and then decides to go after her.

Thus, the order of events are as follows -

Elsa runs, as Anna decides to go after her.

Anna meets Kristoff.

Anna and Kristoff argue about love in song form.

They meet Olaf.

We get an update on Hans in Arendelle.

Elsa reaches the North Mountain and sings Let it Go.

Act II begins with them reaching Oaken’s.

*Note* In the ‘traveling’ versions of the Broadway musical, Hygge is sung before Prince Hans of the Southern Isles Reprise, and is not used as an opener for Act II.

Confrontations and Trolls

Film: Anna and the gang reach the Ice palace, where Anna talks to Elsa and the two sing For the First Time in Forever Reprise. The conversation eventually leads to Anna being accidentally struck by ice magic, where Elsa then summons Marshmallow to kick them out. The gang realize Anna’s predicament, and go to the Trolls to figure out what to do. The song Fixer Upper is sang, and then Pabbie tells them about an the act of true love. Later, during the Siege, Hans fights Marshmallow and eventually reaches Elsa fighting with the duke’s guards, eventually causing the chandelier to fall on her. He returns her to Arendelle, where they talk to each other. Then, Kristoff reaches Arendelle and delivers Anna.

Broadway: Again, some scenes are miked around in this version. Anna and the gang reach the Ice palace, where Anna talks to Elsa and the two sing For the First Time in Forever Reprise. The conversation eventually leads to Anna being struck by ice magic, however Marshmallow is not in this version as Anna is dragged out by Kristoff. The gang realize Anna’s predicament, and go to the Hidden Folk to figure out what to do. The song Fixer Upper is sang, and then Pabbie tells them about an the act of true love. Then, Kristoff reaches Arendelle and delivers Anna. Here, Kristoff sings a solo Reprise of What do you Know About Love, called Kristoff Lullaby. Later, during the Siege, Elsa sings Monster, now wearing pants, as Hans and the guards try to find her. He eventually finds her, but convinces her to go back without throwing a chandelier on her. they return her to Arendelle, where they talk to each other.

*Note* In the ‘traveling’ versions of the Broadway musical, For the First Time in Forever Reprise is replaced by a new song called I Can’t Lose You. This song is similar to FTFTIFR, but goes into more details on Anna and Elsa’s feelings about each other, their desires for their relationship, and their fears of losing one another.

The Ending

Film: Anna tells Hans about her situation, in which he turns and betrays her. He then announces to the dignitaries that he is charging Elsa with treason, and sentences her to death. Olaf arrives and tries to help Anna get to Kristoff, eventually leading to her seeing Hans try to kill Elsa. Anna sacrifices herself, leading to the act of true love and the great thaw. Vuelie is played in the background while Elsa thaws everything. Olaf is then stopped from melting by Elsa, Then, possibly a few days later, Anna and the gang are seen happily enjoying their new lives. No more songs are sung during the ending.

Broadway: Anna tells Hans about her situation, in which he turns and betrays her. Anna sings a song called True Love where she reflects on her choices and thoughts. Olaf arrives and tries to help Anna get to Kristoff, where she hears Hans announce that he is charging Elsa with treason. This scenes follow similarly to how they play out in the film, but is performed with a song called Colder by the Minute. Then Anna sacrifices herself, leading the the act of true love. Then, Olaf sings When Everything Falls Apart, as he is melting before Elsa saves him. Elsa then thaws everything, which is done with performance of a finale song, a Reprise of Let it Go.

*Note* When Everything Falls Apart is placed differently depending on the show. Sometimes, it’s after Finale/Let it go, and others its not present at all. 

*Note #2* Hans and Anna actually kiss in the Broadway version before the betrayal scene. They kiss after Love is an Open Door, which is dragged out for comedic purposes.

My Thoughts

~ Changes I Liked ~

I liked how they incorporated Iduna more in the beginning. I feel it balances the parent’s roles a bit better. However, given that the creators did not have the ideas for Frozen 2 while writing Frozen, it makes sense that they did  not include anything about Iduna’s heritage yet. 

I loved the inclusions of Dangerous to Dream and Monster. One of the criticisms of Frozen was how Elsa did not have enough screen time, and these songs really add to her character and clear up some of her thoughts and positions on different elements; like how she feels about Anna and having a more active role in wanting to stop the winter.

I really enjoyed actually having songs after Fixer Upper. Frozen ending it’s soundtrack so abruptly was always jarring in the film, and I think having songs like True Love and Finale/Let it Go really helps make the story feel complete and could’ve benefited the original film.

The Kristoff centered songs, What do You Know About Love and Kristoff Lullaby were welcome additions. While I feel that the film reflects very well about Kristoff’s feelings for Anna and a song like Kristoff Lullaby wasn’t really necessary, a song like What do You Know About Love would’ve really benefited the film. It would have not only given Kristoff a more proper song, but also help better set up Kristoff and Anna’s relationship.

HYGGE HYGGE HYGGE HYGGE HYGGE - HYGGE HYGGE HYGGE HYGGE HYGGE -  HYGGALY HYGGALY HYGGALY HYGGALY HYGGALY - I’m obsessed with this song, it’s the most hilarious thing I’ve ever heard haha.

I liked seeing A Little Bit of You for young Anna and Elsa. I would’ve loved in the film if we saw more time with them together, but I understand that given all the elements they had to cover and the limited time, they couldn’t fit too much in the childhood days.

~ Changes I Didn’t Like ~

The age change of the girls when the parents died was strange to me and how they changed Do You Want to Build a Snowman was jarring. I feel it lessens to impact of the song.

I wasn’t a big fan of the song Prince Hans of the Southern Isles. I don’t think the song is very memorable and I would’ve wanted Hans to have a more interesting song to be honest.

When Everything Falls Apart is a really ugly song in my opinion. It’s honestly the only Frozen song that I just really don’t like. I’m glad in some versions this song vanishes haha.

I feel the sudden change from For the First Time in Forever Reprise to I Can’t Lose You is a bit unnecessary. Not that I Can’t Lose You is a bad song - it’s a gorgeous song - I just feel like that For the First Time in Forever is fine and continues the idea of mirroring the songs from Act I into Act II that we see.

Making Hans and Anna kiss after Love is an Open Door lessens the impact of the betrayal scene in my opinion. In fact, a lot of the sexual humor between them was unnecessary. I understand it - it’s to help make the comedy more mature and show that Anna’s attraction to Hans is more physical than romantic. But I feel it wasn’t executed all that well.

Changing the Trolls was also unnecessary. I can see how they wanted to make the Trolls more mature, but just make their designs less cartoonish, not completely change them into a different creature entirely.

I prefer Frozen Heart to Let the Sun Shine On. Both songs are great, and I know that Let the Sun Shine On is a better Broadway opener, but I like the more mysterious elements of Frozen Heart. 

[overheardatthecontinental]

Worst Fears and Dreams Come True

Originally posted on tumblr over a year ago, I finally got around to uploading to AO3.

AO3 Link

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She was always stunning, John thought, watching as Helen kicked off her shoes. But there was something damn special about the way she lit up with her feet in the sand and the sun shining on her face. She glowed.

And it didn’t hurt that her sundress was cut high on her thighs or that the sleeve that slipped alluringly off her shoulder. Her dark hair twisted in the wind as John watched her from the deck of the cottage.

It was surreal. She was surreal.

He didn’t date. He didn’t do relationships or have one night stands with strangers. And he didn’t have any real friends, let alone ones with benefits. And he had never intended on it.

But Helen Kingston had captivated him from the moment he laid eyes on her. It wasn’t just that she was beautiful. John knew plenty of beautiful women. No, Helen Kingston was so much more than beautiful. It was her kindness that had piqued his interest and her genuine heart that had fucked with his head over and over.

He didn’t deserve her.

But there she was: dipping her toes into the water while he watched, sipping at his morning coffee.

It had only been two months but those two months had more meaning than the rest of his miserable life combined.

She turns back to look at the house, pushing her hair back over her shoulder.

Helen smiles up at John and crooks her finger.

How can he resist?

John sets down the coffee and walks down the steps to the beach. It was official. He was going to buy the damn cottage. It wasn’t for sale but that didn’t matter. He would call the man who was renting it and make an offer. It wouldn’t be turned down.

Anything to keep that smile on her face. She looked so relaxed, far away from work, far away from the city. She would never quit her job. She did too much good but he wouldn’t stop reminding her that the world was hers.

He crosses the beach down to the water in suit pants and a crisp white button down. He only had suits and clothes for working out. Helen teased him about it sometimes but, truthfully, John had never had the need for something casual before. He had never really been shopping outside of a tailor. Helen would love it, though. Taking him to the mall, finding sweaters and casual shirts for him to relax in. That was enough to make John almost want to interact with people.

“Hey you.” She says as he approaches, a small smile on her face.

John says nothing, stalking toward her in a way that had her licking her lips.

He reaches for her face and kisses her softly yet soundly. The waves crash on the shore, the wind stirring up the sand and their hair but nothing is as loud as his own heart beating.

Helen nips at his lower lip as he pulls away. "I love you."

"I love you too." John says, still in awe that the words flow so easily off his tongue. There is no one like her. "Here is the plan."

"What's the plan?" She rests her head on his chest, staring out at the sea. The sailboats on the horizon cut easily through the waters.

"You're going to quit your job."

"Am I?"

"You are." He can feel her smile. "I'm going to leave mine and you and I are going to run away."

She hums, "where to?"

"Somewhere warm. Thailand. Belize. Somewhere with white sand, clear blue waters. We'll burn all your clothes and you can live in a bikini."

Helen snorts, "oh no."

"Oh yes." John presses a kiss to the top of her head, "We'll get a quiet, private residence and no one will find us. We'll spend every day on the beach. We'll read and relax and make love."

"Just us."

"Just us. Forever."

Helen looks up, "That sounds wonderful."

It really did, John thought. But near impossible.

Helen stepped back and out of his arms, hand gliding down so that she can link their fingers together. "In the meantime, we have right now."

"That we do." John agrees, stepping with her as she starts to traverse across the beach.

She is so serene. The calm in his storm.

Helen Kingston- she is good and kind and pure and makes him want to be a better person. It's too late for redemption and he knows that, but she has accepted him with all his flaws. Her hand was intertwined with his despite knowing what he did with those hands when she was away. She slept in his arms every night. The monster wasn't under her bed… he was in it.

"You know I would never quit my job." Helen says conversationally.

"I know." It was part of what he loved about her- the dedication to the kids she worked with.

"Days like today make me want to."

John stops, spinning her in front of him so he can hold both her hands, facing her.

"Move in with me." Its neither an order nor a question. He's not sure what it is but it feels like a plea.

She smiles softly, "it's been two months, John. What happens when you get tired of me?"

"Never going to happen. If anything, this is insurance that you won't leave me."

She reaches up and runs a hand down his beard. "Why are you so sure I'm going to leave you?"

John feels unnaturally heavy. His stomach and heart sink because, damn him, he is not enough.

"Because you're smart. You're going to figure out that I'm no good. That you can do better."

"I don't want good. And I don't want better, John. I just want you."

Her eyes narrow suddenly, her lips parting and she starts to shout, “John, get--!”

Suddenly she is launched forward, crashing into him. Behind her, far from the shore, is a boat. A sniper rifle peaks out from the side and John throws both himself and Helen to the ground, rolling on top of her to cover her body with his.

Her eyes are wide, breathing frantic. A quick look down reveals his worst fear. Dark red blooms from her abdomen, staining her dress.

"Hey, hey," John places his hands on either side of her face as another shot fires just over their heads, "stay with me, baby!"

He is unarmed, save a small knife. They are sitting ducks in the sand and he can feel her blood soak through his shirt.

He takes her hands and places them over the wound, "keep pressure, okay? I'm going to get you out of here."

She nods shakily, her eyes so trusting even as her face contorts in pain. His arms wrap around her and he moves to his feet, swinging her up while still shielding her with his body.

The adrenaline is pumping through his system. He'd been in a thousand fights before but nothing had ever filled him with terror as moving across the beach, trying to run off center but still as quickly as possible to the cover of the brush.

He hears a motor and it sounds like the boat is driving away but he can't look. He can't risk slowing yet.

He jumps down into the brush, laying Helen behind a log within the reeds.

Looking up, the boat has disappeared. But that didn't guarantee they were alone.

The shot went through her abdomen. He rips his shirt off, not giving a damn about the buttons that fly in every direction as he rolls it and pushes it against her wound.

Her head lolls back. "Come on, Helen. Stay with me!"

John reaches into his pocket for his phone. He's never called 911 before. He's never needed to but he can't wait for the doc to drive from New York.

"911, what's your emergency?"

"Woman shot. It went through her abdomen. It was some kind of rifle, a few hundred feet out." He rattles off the address.

"J-John?" Helen's face is layered with sweat.

"I'm here, baby."

"Is the shooter still out there?" The operator asks.

"No. They rode off."

"The ambulance is on its way and police have been dispatched."

He does wait for her to finish, hanging up the call and dropping the phone to the ground.

"I'm cold." Helen whispers.

"I know, baby, I know. Help is coming."

"Always hurt this bad?" She says through grit teeth. "How do you do it?"

"Oh you know…" John keeps the pressure on the wound, trying not to let the fear in his heart reach his face. "Practice, practice, practice."

She tries to smile but the pain is overwhelming. Her eyes start to close.

"No, no, no. Helen!" He says her name sharply and her eyes open. "I need you to stay with me."

"Want to sleep." It's almost a sob and John fights the urge to match her.

"I know. But you gotta stay awake, baby. Gotta stay with me until help gets here."

Where were the damn sirens?

"Trying…" He sees her hands shaking on either side of her. The color has drained of her face and he doesn't know what to do.

"Tell me something."

"What?"

"Anything." She needs to stay conscious. "Tell me anything. Something you've never told me."

Helen nods and exhales shakily, "Okay. I fucking hate your convertible."

John blinks in surprise. Of all the things she could say… say wasn't exactly news but she had never admitted to it aloud.

"It's not safe. It's too flashy."

"What else?" He asks, a smile on his face.

" Its grossly cramped and there's no back seat to fuck in."

"Make you a deal. I'll get a new car if you let me buy you one too."

"John," she whimpers but keeps a brave face despite the pain, "I was just shot. This is coercion."

"That Chevrolet is going to fall apart on you."

"Be nice. Chevy is the great American car."

Her eyes start to flicker and John pats her cheek, "stay with me, Hel. I’ll buy you whatever shitty car you want.”

Her eyes close and John slaps her just a bit harder, heart clenching as he did.

"Bitch." She mutters, eyes opening as she trembled.

He could hear the sirens now. They were getting louder by the instant

"Come on, tell me something else."

"What you want to know?"

"Something new. Something I wouldn't guess this time."

She nods, "if I live,"

"You will."

She had to. There was no other alternative.

"I'm going to marry the fuck out of you, John Wick."

The last thing she saw, as the world went dark, was John's face agape in shock.

.

Helen had been rushed from the ambulance into surgery and John's only assurance had come from a paramedic promising him that the doctors would do all that they could. His hands shake. John couldn't remember a time in his life where his hands had shaken.

His stomach turns and it takes all his self-control not to lose the contents of his stomach in the nearby trash can.

He takes his cell out from his pocket. It is stained with her blood. Trying to ignore the way it feels under his fingertips, he dials a familiar pattern.

The ringing stops as the receiver is picked up. Before they can speak, John says, "Helen was shot."

Silence.

"Is she alive?" Marcus asks finally.

"In surgery."

More silence.

Marcus had told him, had warned him. John hadn't listened.

"Where was she shot?"

"Abdomen." He leans back in the chair, "it was meant for me."

"Well, I doubt anyone would go to shoot Helen for the fun of it."

John ignores the stinging remark. “I’m at the hospital now. Can you find out if anyone has a hit on me? I need to know where it’s coming from and I need to know who has been hired.”

“It isn’t open. I would have heard if it was. But I’ll head to the Continental. See if I can find out anything.” There is a moment of silence, “Aside from me, does anyone know about Helen? Winston? The Concierge or the Executor?”

“The Executor but he hasn’t met her.”

"Of course. You know, depending on who they sent, its very possible that half of the underworld knows about Helen by now."

Fuck, he wanted to vomit.

He had tried so hard to protect her. To keep her secret from his world. Marcus was right. He should have known better.

"Please, just do what you can."

"Just focus on her. I’ll take care of everything on this end.”

And Marcus is gone, the line dropped.

John sits down in a chair and watches the clock tick on and on.

.

She'll live, the doctor tells him and John breaths again. His heart stutters in relief as he receives the rundown of her procedure.

He barely listens, "I need to see her."

"Of course. She is, still, unconscious but I can take you back."

John nods and follows back to the recovery room. She is still pale but her vitals look good. He caresses her face lightly, her earlier words still echoing in his head.

His beautiful, crazy girl was lying in a hospital bed because his enemies found them.

He hadn’t protected her and she had taken a bullet meant for him.

Gladly, John would have taken it if it meant she did not lay in front of him.

John reaches for her hand. It is limp but warm and he holds it between his. Marcus had been right. There was no way to pull Helen into their world and still keep her safe. But he could not let her go, even if he wanted to.

.

Helen startles awake and blinks in the sharp white light of the hospital room.

“It’s okay. It’s okay.” John’s voice soothes, hand tightening in her own while his other reaches up and rests on her forehead. “You’re okay.”

She blinks again, “Hospital?”

“Yes.”

“Cool.”

John lets himself laugh, softly. His heart still heavy with the thought he came so close to losing her. But she was there. In front of him. Alive.

Helen looks him over. “Are you okay?”

“I think I’m supposed to be asking that question.”

Helen stays quiet, looking at him seriously.

“I’ve never been so afraid in my life.” He confesses, his hand sweeping back into her hair. “God, Helen…”

“I’m okay.” She whispers, squeezing his hand in hers. “I’m here.”

John releases the support on the bed and moves to sit on the edge, beside her. “Why didn’t you duck? Why didn’t you move when you saw the target?”

“It would have hit you.”

“One more wouldn’t have killed me.”

“It might’ve.”

“It might’ve killed you!” Did she not understand? He couldn’t yell at her, not while she was in a hospital bed but she had to understand. “My life doesn’t matter. I will gladly take a thousand bullets if it keeps you safe.”

“Your life matters to me, John.”

She had said ‘I love you’ fairly early on. He believed her every time she said it. He knew she cared, he knew he mattered but there was no one else who cared for him or about him as she did. All his faults lay at her feet and rather than step on him, she had knelt down and held him.

Nothing scared him more.

Except perhaps the words she had said in what very well could have been her last sentiment.

“It’s not worth yours.” He says finally, “If something happened to you, what would I be? You blow into my life and I don’t recognize the man I was two months ago. I don’t want to think about how empty I was before I found you. Before you, I was just a shell. What would you expect me to become if you died?”

Helen reaches up, her eyes so soft and open and so not like anything he was used to. She runs her hair up his beard and around back to his hair. “I would expect you to be the man I fell in love with.” She pulls his head and John obliges, bending forward to kiss her softly. Her lips are chapped from the anesthesia but neither care.

Only hours ago, he didn’t know if he would ever be able to kiss her again.

“I love you.” She says quietly, whispering against his lips. There’s a pause as Helen pulls back, just far enough to look at him. “And I meant what I said on the beach.”

John swallows, not meeting her eyes. “I can get a new car.”

“After that.”

He feels his lips twitch up softly, “The part about me being a bitch?”

“After that.” Helen smiles at him, “Although I won’t dispute that you’re a bitch sometimes.” She wraps her arm around his neck, wincing slightly at the way her body stretches, “When I get out of here, I am going to marry you, John Wick.”

John feels his hands shake. He’s not sure they’ve done that before. “Aren’t I supposed to ask you that?

“Our relationship is built off of me telling you what to do.” Helen flashes him a smile, “Besides, you were taking too long.”

“I have it on good authority you aren’t supposed to propose marriage after two months.”

“Nor are you supposed to propose moving in together but you did that this morning.”

“You still have an out, moving in with me. Once we’re married, you’re stuck with me forever.” And damn him, he’s considering it. She’s already dragged into his world. The wound in her stomach is proof enough of that but to put his ring on her finger, to put his name at the end of hers? “I won’t let you go.”

“I think I’ve established that I’m serious about you,” Helen tells him, eyes flicking down to her abdomen. “I have no intention of going anywhere. Aside from the courthouse.”

“You have to move in with me.” John feels a smile creep onto his face as he strokes her face.

“A given.”

“And I’m buying you a new car.”

Helen rolls her eyes, “Fine.”

“And a beach house.” It might be his best and only opportunity to negotiate.

“Now you’re pushing it.”

John surges forward and kisses her again. She’s here, in his arms. And she is going to be okay. Marcus had told him he was going to take care of it and John was going to let him. He had more important things to attend to, starting with his fiancée.

[davalynbaker]

Thirsty as F*ck [Season 1, Ep. 4]

Congratulations, you made it to the end of 2020. And in doing that, you’ve accomplished something that took a lot of willpower and strength to get through—Pat yourselves on the back. And get into this episode.

Now realizing that this entire decade seems to be strife with chaos, ignore that first paragraph. I was so ignorant. And oh, so naive.

This episode is written by Laura Kittrell and directed by Kevin Bray.

The episode opens with Lawrence jogging to “Conflict of a Man” by Erimaj. We get some great scenic shots of South LA that are beyond stunning. As he finishes his jog and heads back home, he passes the stained couch from the previous episode sitting on the curb. Surprisingly, no one has picked it up yet, and it’s there as a harsh but real reminder that their relationship has so much work that they have to accomplish. I’m not sure why they threw out the couch before they purchased another one, but he goes in, and there’s a broken lawn chair in its place. Inside, Issa is taking a shower, but she gets a glimpse of sweaty Lawrence from his jog that initiates awkward shower sex. Shout out to one of the many appearances of Jay Ellis’ little booty.

Whoever tried to sell us on the appeal of shower sex needs to atone for their sins.

Giving in, Issa and Lawrence go shopping for a new couch. You can see from their interactions - compared to the first episode. They are very much revisiting their honeymoon phase. While they are in post-let’s-work-it-out bliss, they watch a married couple fight about lotion dispensers.

Best line of the episode, a disgruntled wife says dryly to her husband: “I hate you.”

Later that day, Molly is on her date with super hot doc, Brandon Bell [Troy Fairbanks, if you watch Dear White People], and they’re having typical date conversations. It gets weird when Molly tells him that he needs to be considerate and let her know where he’s headed via text. We later learn that this is date three so there hasn’t been anything explicitly hinting at them being legitimate. They were still having a “get to know you” conversation, so needing to know someone’s whereabouts is strange, but Dr. Hottie definitely could have made that vocal, too. Anyway, Molly is just going through the dating process. It’s not that deep. Hot men come and go.

The next day she walks past a loud-ass Da Da, noting that “black people stay loud.”

It’s me. I’m black people.

On Issa’s end, she gets a surprise visit from Daniel at work. He is consistently overstepping his boundaries. Literal Kill Bill sirens go off in my head at the very notion of someone showing up at my job without announcement. He apologizes for what happened that night in the car. If you need me to refresh your memories, Issa kissed Daniel after “breaking up” with Lawrence, and she told Daniel she wasn’t sure if she was ready to pursue anything serious. Daniel immediately shuts that down and says that she would be nothing more than a booty call.

It was awkward. It was sad. You know the story.

Issa takes this moment to tell him that she’s back with Lawrence now, and they shuffle through the rest of their conversation in a series of strange little moments. Molly rightfully criticizes her for even entertaining the idea of flirting with Daniel, and Issa agrees, saying that she is now “Bloop-bloop”-ing with Lawrence. ***Bloop-blooping is signifying the elevation of them trying to work through their relationship.

Lawrence goes to work and gets assigned to a section he has no experience in by his boss. Also, something that was very triggering to hear, “You’re smart. You’ll catch on.” Being forced to take on other jobs you lack training on is so common that I knew there was a collective sigh when Lawrence’s boss said that to him. Of course, Lawrence can’t quit the job out of frustration because he needs the money! He’s been depending on Issa for too long. Sometimes, you just have to suck it up and become a corporate servant. And for Lawrence, who has spent well over a year being jobless because pride would not let him give in to a job, it’s pretty damn ironic that he’s now at a job doing every single thing he said he never would do. Welcome to adulthood.

As Freida and Issa bond after work, she suggests that Issa use Daniel for their kids’ career day. Issa texts Daniel instead of telling Freida that she isn’t comfortable doing that? Before I knew what was going to happen in the show, I knew what was going to happen in the show.

Does that make sense?

Molly is now on a date with Jidenna, and they bond over microaggressions and white folks at work. He cheers her up with a round of “black tax” jokes, then the two dance to “Girl,” and the romance begins to bloom between them.

After Issa’s after-work session and bonding with Freida (and her text to Daniel), she comes home to Lawrence, who asks her about work, but she casually forgets to mention that Daniel is coming to the career day they’ve planned for the kids. Alright, so Issa actively possesses guilt about Daniel. She hasn’t told Lawrence about the kiss, and now she’s purposely keeping secrets about Daniel from him. It is fascinating to witness Issa plant these seeds of being a dishonest spouse. What is the point of telling Lawrence you want to make it work when you’re still going to lie to him? Even worse, the next day, Lawrence is not telling Issa about Tasha. Is it common for couples to keep things like this from each other? I feel as though if it’s harmless, then mentioning them should not be an issue.

Nevertheless, Lawrence sits with Tasha and enjoys the praises she gives him up which. At this point, Issa is trying her best to help with his confidence, so I don’t know why he feels like he still needs to hold on to Tasha for this. Because let’s be honest, that’s the only reason he’s holding on to Tasha.

After Molly’s date with Jidenna, she tells her boss that she doesn’t feel comfortable talking to Da Da about her behavior. So the boss decides to do it. Molly later sees all the partners ganging up on Da Da in the conference room, and it’s not looking good. Molly’s conversation with Da Da earlier about assimilating to fit in with the white people has come full circle, but Molly feels more sympathetic than vindicated. Da Da is learning about corporate white folks the hard way. We’ve all been there.

It’s career day, and Daniel is sharing his garbage-ass beats with the kids. After some fun and conversations about his job, he tells the kids how amazing Issa is, and they joke that he has a crush on her. Kids have the best intuition, so they are picking up on the chemistry stirring between the two. After the successful career day, Daniel extends an invitation to a studio session, and Issa doesn’t say yes or no. Because why? She likes making bad decisions.

Now that her head is rightly all messed up about Daniel, she fantasizes about him in the staff mirror. As we all know, it’s her subconscious telling her about her lingering feelings for Daniel. They never really left, and she’s starting to lean in too closely to the chaos. Daniel mentioned earlier that he worked on some beats for Ty Dolla $ign, so of course, Ty Dolla $ign makes an appearance in this fantasy. Lawrence interjects, asking her what she’s doing, but it’s revealed to actually be Molly.

Being the voice of reason.

Again.

Her attempts to keep Issa grounded are not going well.

And to the surprise of no one, the kids at school find Issa’s “Broken Pussy” video and laugh about it. Millennials. I think the most realistic thing about this show is the many L’s Millennials take. Nothing has felt more relatable.

[darkpoisonouslove]

2020 in Words

After the total exhaustion and lack of motivation of the last few months, I have finally found the strength to review 2020. In terms of writing, that is. Otherwise, we ain’t touching that with a 100-foot pole. But anyway, let’s get to the actual good part of 2020 - the writing.

Word Count:

678, 105 words

And that isn’t actually all. I have started various things that 2021 caught still in progress so there are more words to be added to that number but I’ll count them towards whatever time frame I finish them in (I do not even dare assume that all of them will be finished this year).

A little over 1/7th of that word count was accomplished only in March when I wrote over 100k words. Wow, productivity where did you go? I know that the world is going to hell but do you mind coming back? I can use you. I have so many new ideas that I am really excited about but totally lack the energy to actually get to. Hope that will change in the next weeks because there is A Lot going on in my head that I am actually dying to share.

Fandoms:

Winx Club has totally taken over for me. I have barely written five works this year that are not about that show and I just don’t know what is happening anymore. I have so many thoughts and things to discuss and fix about it and I have a feeling that some upcoming events will only reinforce that position. But what truly matters is that it has truly made 2020 more bearable to be in the fandom and write fic. The interactions with other fans have been lovely which is totally worth the brain damage that some experiences over this show have inflicted.

Once Upon a Time lurked until about the half of the year but I can’t say that I have been actively interested in it. I just rewatched 4A for the Frozen Swan interactions and 4B for Cruella De Vil and that was pretty much all of it this year. I think it’s safe to say that at this point I have more or less moved on from the show and I do not expect a miraculous comeback to it. Which leaves my rewatch dangling over the chasm of uncertainty but I have projects I am far more interested in rn to be thinking about that.

I actually joined the Lucifer fandom this year, though I cannot say that I am active in it at all. It was nice to challenge myself with the small contribution I made to the fanworks in the fandom so I am putting it here because I am not done with watching the show even though I don’t think I have a good enough grasp on any of the characters in order to actually write them.

Ships:

Well, 2020 definitely delivered on that front. I have found myself piles of new ships to ship the hell out. Some I am more grateful about, others leave me slightly bitter over not knowing what to do with them but it certainly hasn’t been boring. Because this is my wrap-up and contemplation, I get to list them and maybe say a couple of words about some of them.

Griffin x Valtor - Not new but it was definitely the biggest part of that year.

Griffin x Valtor x Faragonda - New in the sense of me having written a fic about this now... and having several more ideas on my drives so... beware, future!

Griffin x Faragonda - Also not new but when the feelings catch up with me, they really mean it. Two major bursts of inspiration about them have left me with interesting results and I am looking forward to finding out where this goes.

Marion x Oritel - That was new. It was the first new ship of the year. I have more ideas about them but the muse has not visited lately. I am not giving up, though. Sometimes you gotta sail the ship even when there’s no wind.

Flora x Icy - That was definitely a surprise. I don’t know what happened but I do know that a goddamn look at Pinterest has brought on an entire epic about them (and the other Trix and Winx) so... thanks for that, Pinterest. I wish you could pin free time on Pinterest and go consume it later so that I would actually have the time to work on all of this.

Layla x Stella - Oh, yeah, baby! I have feelings and I really want to do at least an outline of what would be too long to actually write as a fic, especially since I have A Lot on my plate rn.

Griffin x Griselda - Well, that... happened. I have no idea where any of this is going, only that it is a major part of Griffin’s arc in my most major series so... I guess it’s headed somewhere. Just have to stay along for the ride.

Zarathustra x Griselda - So totally trashcankitty12′s fault... But I guess I am the one responsible for actually including it in already ongoing stories.

Ediltrude x DuFour - Okay, that one I totally roped myself into. Do I regret it? ... Maybe a little because it may need to remain just background thanks to everything else that I have going on.

Griffin x Marion - Almost forgot that which is a damn shame because it is one of my absolute most favorite ships.

Griffin x Valtor x Marion - Not gonna lie, this has been sneaking into some stray ideas too repetitively to be an accident. Will it ever exist outside of my head, though?

Samara x Erendor - I just wanted to make them more likable to me because they were my least favorite characters on the show. Worked too well and now I am in fic hell.

Bloom x Sky - I got ONE idea, okay? Too bad that I love it too much for my own good, especially considering that it is sort of a rewrite of the series. Like I didn’t have enough of those already.

There are more, actually, but we will be here all day if I have to list every stray idea that I have entertained so let’s just move on.

Stories:

Winx Club - 80 (4 unfinished and 3 that I have been dragging with me since 2019 for a total of 7/111 incomplete.)

OUAT - 3 (all finished but I have two collections that are still open from 2019 and 2018 respectively)

Lucifer - 1 (it was a one-shot but I am glad that I managed to write it at all)

Original works - 1 (poem that I came up with at 4am)

That makes a total of 85 written works this year which is honestly astounding! My brain has been harping on me about not being productive since June but I have actually gotten quite a lot of work done! (Fun fact - my total for 2019 was 58 stories, and for 2020 it is 85 XD. We’re gonna need some new numbers in 2021.)

First fic of the year - Gold and Purple (Griffin x Valtor AU inspired by a Bulgarian folk tale)

Last fic of the year - New Warmth to Weave in Your Garden of Shine (Samara x Erendor + New Year traditions and worldbuilding on Eraklyon)

Favorite writing moment - that has got to be coming up with a wild idea for my season  rewrite that I will not be spoiling now. It was also inspired by Bulgarian folklore and I am so excited to reveal it (because it is so fucking grand) but we will all have to be patient.\

Wildest writing experience - definitely the entirety of chapter 4 from A Home You Never Knew How to Have. Man, that was... a goddamn ride. In every sense of the word. I still haven’t reread that bitch after posting it even though I have opened it probably a hundred times.

I launched several series this year that will need a lot of work to be brought to completion. Naturally, my focus is not on finishing those but on starting new things. Because of course it is. So here’s a heads-up for another post that will be coming shortly with announcements of my ideas. I would like to call it a plan for 2021 but I fear that will be too presumptuous of me so I will say that it is my hope that those are things that are to be released this year but I will only lapel them as projects that I am looking forward to rather than “upcoming”.

Other Works:

This year actually bore a couple other forms of art so I am going to list my creations in other mediums below because they deserve the attention.

Aesthetics:

Icy

Darcy

Stormy

Marion

Ediltrude & Zarathustra

Siren AU:

Griffin

Ediltrude

Zarathustra

Icy

Darcy

Stormy

Magic-Swapped Transformations:

Griffin Winx

Ediltrude Winx

Zarathustra Winx

Griffin Chamrix

Ediltrude Chamrix

Zarathustra Chamrix

Griffin Enchantix

Ediltrude Enchantix

Zarathustra Enchantix

Videos:

Griffin/Valtor - The Devil I Know

Winx - Trouble

Marion x Oritel/Griffin x Valtor/Faragonda x Hagen - Savage

Bloom/Mitzi - Wicked

Samara - You Should See Me in a Crown

Bloom/Sky - Kerosene

Winx Rewatch:

I actually rewatched all 8 seasons of the show + the 3 movies and I have written out my thoughts on all of them. You can find them here:

Winx Club Season 1 4kids (Stream of Consciousness) (I am actually considering redoing this one because it wasn’t in-depth like the others are)

Winx Club Season 2 4kids Part 1 (Stream of Consciousness)

Winx Club Season 2 4kids Part 2 (Stream of Consciousness)

Winx Club Season 3 4kids Part 1 (Stream of Consciousness)

Winx Club Season 3 4kids Part 2 (Stream of Consciousness)

Winx Club: The Secret of the Lost Kingdom (Stream of Consciousness)

Winx Club Season 4 Part 1 (Stream of Consciousness)

Winx Club Season 4 Part 2 (Stream of Consciousness)

Winx Club: Magical Adventure (Stream of Consciousness)

Winx Club Season 5 Part 1 (Stream of Consciousness)

Winx Club Season 5 Part 2 (Stream of Consciousness)

Winx Club: Mystery of the Abyss (Stream of Consciousness)

Winx Club Season 6 Part 1 (Stream of Consciousness)

Winx Club Season 6 Part 2 (Stream of Consciousness)

Winx Club Season 7 Part 1 (Stream of Consciousness)

Winx Club Season 7 Part 2 (Stream of Consciousness)

Winx Club Season 8 Part 1 (Stream of Consciousness)

Winx Club Season 8 Part 2 (Stream of Consciousness)

Winx Club Special 1: Destiny of Bloom (Stream of Consciousness)

Winx Club Special 2: Revenge of the Trix (Stream of Consciousness)

Winx Club Special 3: The Battle for Magix (Stream of Consciousness)

Winx Club Special 4: The Shadow Phoenix (Stream of Consciousness)

I will not be writing any takeaways because I already talked about some of those in an ask and my brain is too fired at the moment to pull off some actual analysis and compose a proper conclusion. To be perfectly honest, I prefer not to think too much on 2020. It brought a lot of good things along with the bad but I still prefer not to look back on it if it isn’t necessary. I think it received enough of my energy already.

[dustedmagazine]

Dusted Mid-Year Exchange, Part 2: Positive No to Yves Tumour

Six Organs got a lot of mid-year love this time

Welcome back to part two of the Dusted Mid-Year Exchange, in which we tackle the second half of the alphabet. If you missed part one, with its lengthy description of what we’re doing here, you can read it here. Or just muddle through. Cheers.  

Positive No — Kyanite (Little Black Cloud)

Kyanite by Positive No

Who recommended it? Tobias Carroll

Did we review it? No.

Tim Clarke’s take:

Positive No braid tight bursts of guitars, bass and drums into upbeat yet agitated shapes. There’s a touch of Blonde Redhead’s Kazu Makino in Tracy Wilson’s vocal delivery, or My Bloody Valentine’s Belinda Butcher, especially on expansive opener “Elevator Up.” At just under half an hour, the urgent economy of Kyanite’s songwriting makes all the more sense when you learn that it’s the band’s final album, released on Valentine’s Day this year. As their parting gesture, nothing is wasted, everything invested. As one of the song titles says, “Get In, Get Out. Don’t Linger. Go On.”

 Raspberry Bulbs — Before the Age of Mirrors

Before The Age Of Mirrors by Raspberry Bulbs

Who picked it? Jonathan Shaw

Did we review it? Yes, Jonathan said, “Even in its heaviest metal moments, on ‘Reclaimed Church’ and excellent closing track ‘Given Over to History,’ the record’s punk vibe cuts and grins. It insists on a deadly aesthetic seriousness, and at the same time, it’s tugging the rug out from under its own feet.”

Jennifer Kelly’s take:

Raspberry Bulbs splices punk’s antic venom with metal’s storm and roar, shifting from one mode to the other inside individual tracks, sometimes measure to measure. Consider “Doggerel” which kicks off in a pogo-ing furor, rattling violently over rapid oi band rhythms, everything clipped and percussive, even the vocals, though hoarse and splintered. Midway through, a sirening guitar riff intercedes and the singing turns ominous and measured; all the sudden it’s metal. “Midnight Line” pulls the opposite trick, beginning in clanging, feedback-morphing guitar and larynx shredding howl, then introducing a punk rock palm-muted chug and anthemry. It’s a volatile mix, at times nearly playful, at others agonizingly heavy, at still others (the “Intervals” mostly) surprisingly lyrical.  I lean towards the punk-er tracks—"They’re After Me” and “Doggerel”— metal fans may feel otherwise.

 Stephen Riley — Friday the 13th (Steeplechase)

Who recommended it? Derek Taylor

Did we review it? Yes. Derek said, “Knuffke and Riley are a directly collaborative pairing now and their partnership politely demands many more dates like this one.”

Justin Cober-Lake's take:

Saxophonist Stephen Riley has put together a quartet with a singular idea of playing these classic tunes on Friday the 13th in relatively straightforward and spacious renditions. Their take on Eddie Vinson's “Four” has Riley and cornetist Kirk Knuffke trading long solos. The rhythm section does its job, but it's a horn players' record. The album comes alive most when Knuffke and Riley interact more immediately. On Oliver Nelson's “Hoe Down,” they reveal how great a partnership they have, initially matching each other on the main melody before spiraling off. “Round Midnight” could have been too obvious a choice, but the combo's personalized take on the standard works out. Everyone sounds at ease enough within the song that they take a few more risks, and the horn players supplement each other nicely with more harmonic considerations. The album ends with a trio of spirited numbers, and in each case Riley and Knuffke play off each other's solos with a sharpness that by now makes sense. Riley's listening to Monk and playing like Rollins (hence the title track) as he and his group find ways to make old bop sound new.

  Gil Scott-Heron and Makaya McCraven—We’re New Again, A Reimagining (XL Recordings)

Who recommended it? Jenny Kelly.

Did we review it? Yes. Arthur Krumins notes, “McCraven lays down a lush musical backdrop that allows Scott-Heron’s words to have emotional impact.”

Jonathan Shaw’s take:

The word “reimagine” has a sexy resonance, and for that reason, it’s often too casually used. But in the case of We’re New Again, the word is warranted. Drummer and producer Makaya McCraven doesn’t just remix Gil Scott-Heron’s final record, I’m New Here (2010); McCraven shuffles the track list, adds some relevant recordings of Scott-Heron’s voice, and creates entirely new arrangements, moods, and musical accompaniment for the earlier album’s songs. It’s ballsy — I’m New Here is justly recognized as a masterpiece, and it’s marked by a stylistic austerity. On that record, Scott-Heron sang and spoke and recited his poetry over minimalist beats, a strummed guitar, or his own piano playing. McCraven attentively reimagines the tunes, working with polyphonic, post-Bop ensembles; busy hip-hop soundscapes; gospel and funk quotations. Remarkably, none of the richness of Scott-Heron’s vocals and none of the complexity of his poetry get obscured. More often, McCraven inventively intensifies the impact of Scott-Heron’s songs. And the reordering and recontextualizing of the tracks reveals a different narrative, grounded in the resilience and the suffering of Scott-Heron’s upbringing and too-short life. You listen and you feel it. It’s a terrific record.

Six Organs of Admittance — Companion Rises (Drag City)

Companion Rises by Six Organs of Admittance

Who recommended it? Jennifer Kelly

Did we review it? Yes. Jenny said it’s “straight-down-the-middle Six Organs, not as loud and abrasive as the first Hexadic disc, not as reticently wisp-y as the older folk-derived records.”

Patrick Masterson’s take:

Back when Dusted was still a dot-com, we talked about making a site-specific canon for our 10th anniversary, a kind of “Dusted 500” field guide. There was a shared spreadsheet and talk of a benefit show and a mixtape comp and so on that never amounted to anything for myriad reasons, but I can promise you Ben Chasny would’ve figured into it somehow — and nearly a decade on from that, my promise stands. The latest (30th? Let’s call it 30th) Six Organs of Admittance record is a beautiful slow burner that shows why, all astral spirits and slow-rolling starlight guitar plucks that is, as Jenny rightly notes, a Six Organs line drive. My belief after numerous spins since early February — mostly in the mornings, for which this music also seems suitable accompaniment — is that, like the rest of Chasny’s oeuvre, it will appeal to anyone who likes guitars or reads this. On the off chance you stumbled in here or haven’t heard this record yet: Welcome. It’s always been this way.

Patrick Masterson

 Spanish Love Songs — Brave Faces Everyone (Pure Noise)

Brave Faces Everyone by Spanish Love Songs

Who recommended it? Ian Mathers

Did we review it? Yes. Ian said, “it’s more a record of solidarity and mutual support than it is anything more prescriptive.”

Patrick Masterson’s take:

L.A. quintet Spanish Love Songs occupy a very specific point on what I like to think of as the Bar Band Spectrum, where one end is a bottom-rung covers-only collective found in just about any weeknight dive pre-COVID playing for beer money out of boredom and modest ambition… and the other end is Bruce Springsteen. This band isn’t as ramshackle as, say, Ladyhawk, nor have they yet hit a glass ceiling à la the Constantines; they sound to me more like Beach Fossils or Single Mothers, where everything from their songwriting to their slightly glossy production suggests they’re as ready as they’ll ever be for arena life. And what a record to make the case, too: Brave Faces Everyone is the sound of Run for Covers Records growing up or early onset Gen Z realizing a glass of wine after everything is, in fact, a coping mechanism for adulthood in a profoundly uncaring world. It’s got a big, young heart to match its big, old sound. It says, loudly, that in the increasingly untethered reality of 2020, we are all losers forever — but there’s still a “best of it” to be made if you wanna and the bravest face is an optimistic one. I’ll rock with that (from the quarantined confines of home and the other side of another lousy livestream, of course).

Patrick Masterson

Squirrel Flower — I Was Born Swimming (Polyvinyl)

I Was Born Swimming by Squirrel Flower

Who picked it? Patrick Masterson

Did we review it? Nope.

Arthur Krumins’ take:

Making the most of a dour mood, Squirrel Flower squeezes disaffection from her vocal delivery. The instrumentation is reminiscent of a less noisy Built to Spill, or maybe Julie Doiron, and is effectively now a retro indie rock sound originally from the late 90s or early 2000s. The jamminess of some of the drawn out riffs feel both pretty and sad, and could be a good soundtrack to a rainy drive. The heaviness is well developed without being bogged down. The lyrics catch your attention with their plainspoken narration of conflict (“You slap me, I’ll slap you right back” she repeats in “Slapback”). A fitting album for looking your troubles head on while still being totally surrounded by them.

 Waterless Hills — The Great Mountain (Cardinal Fuzz)

Waterless Hills - 'The Great Mountain' by Waterless Hills

Who picked it? Bill Meyer

Did we review it? No.

Arthur Krumins’ take:

A dissonant flow that steadily increases in intensity starts this record, which is a live recorded improvisation. The combination of aching, modal violin by dbh with slightly overdriven cascading electric guitar by C Joynes makes for a feel reminiscent of “Venus in Furs” by the Velvet Underground. The percussion by Andrew Cheetham, a drum kit plug some extras like a hung Chinese gong, creates texture and mood. Sometimes there’s just a steady counting of time in the background, at other moments waves of cymbals crash and make a cacophonous emphasis as the music rises and falls. The overall effect of the jams is hypnotic, like getting absorbed in a swirling light show. The players’ sensitivity to the musical interplay of their instruments, combined with a masterful looseness, makes it a trip worth taking.

Well Yells — We Mirror the Dead (Self-released)

Who recommended it? Ian Mathers.

Did we review it? Yes. Ian Mathers notes, “tipping towards the slightly industrial/EBM side of the genre, We Mirror the Dead gains a kind of gloomy propulsion without losing any of the atmosphere or intensity of [the band’s] prior work.”

Jonathan Shaw’s take:

The Gothic is not famous for stylistic restraint, and neither are the various contemporary subgenres that have inherited goth music’s romance of dark interiors, painfully fraught feeling and highly stylized self-fashioning. A few recent acts have cut against the grain of those established maximalist textures: see the grim industrial rancor of Street Sects, and the more experimental, sample-based austerities of Wreck and Reference. Well Yells’ music feels similarly stripped down to a pulsing electronic essence. But the record is more interested in the strobing spaces of Clubland than in decrepit factory ruins, and the darkwave gloss of We Mirror the Dead presents a more conventional relation to goth’s sensations. At its best—as on album opener “Kill the King”—the music of Patrick Holbrook, sole member of Well Yells, snaps and glimmers with compelling dread and arch sophistication. Holbrook’s breathy tenor is a useful counterpoint; his vocals are vaguely reminiscent of the best of those other habitués of Clubland, the British New Romantics (remember Bronski Beat?). It’s good stuff, somehow simultaneously polished and dirty.

  Lucinda Williams—Good Souls Better Angels (Thirty Tigers/Highway 20 Records)

Who recommended it? Justin Cober-Lake

Did we review it? No.

Bill Meyer’s take: I haven’t listened much to Lucinda Williams; the one record I have by her, Sweet Old World, is 28 years old. The first thing that hit me when I listened to Good Souls Better Angels is what’s changed. Williams’ voice is much rougher, and she’s adjusted the music correspondingly, adding Hendrixian guitar flourishes to “Bone of Contention” and coarsening the domestic violence scenario “Wakin’ Up” with bad-trip electronics. The next is how pissed she sounds. Violent boyfriends are bad enough, but having a charmless sociopath for president is even worse. Fortunately, bile hasn’t overwhelmed her writing chops. Big-sounding roots rock isn’t really my thing these days, but if I feel the need to change that, Good Souls Better Angels is a good place to start.  

  Wire — Mind Hive (Pink Flag)

Who picked it? Andrew Forell

Did we review it? Yes, Andrew said, “Mind Hive is concise yet full of restless intelligence, musical ideas and willingness to push boundaries.”  

Derek Taylor’s take:

I tapped Wire late and left early. That truncated exposure lends a narrow vocabulary in describing their music contextually, pre- and post-reunions. This latest missive sounds alternately like what I remember and at least several zip codes removed with a heavy lean into synths. “Be Like Them” and “Primed and Ready” fall in the former category, while “Off the Beach” trades gangly ennui and menace for what almost resembles instrumental optimism until the lyrics stack dutifully into another ode to the disaffected and disconnected. “Oklahoma” feels inscrutably weird. “Hung” drops as the album’s extended, incremental, post-industrial dirge. There’s additional insulation sheathing this Wire, an inevitable adjunct of ascendancy to elder status, but the current foursome is still dependably conducting current.

 Yves Tumour — Heaven to a Tortured Mind (Warp)

Who recommend it? Patrick Masterson

Did we review it? No.

Ian Mathers’ take:

Listen to music for long enough and you might realize that most of the time when you hope any artist goes in any particular direction with their work, you’re bound to be disappointed. But every so often, maybe after a promising album that you just didn’t fully click with, an artist does exactly what you were hoping for and fully manifests all the potential promise you thought you glimpsed. Yves Tumor’s 2018 album Safe in the Hands of Love was admirable in many ways, but it was really only on crucial single “Noid” that all the combustible elements were really brought together into something that properly bangs. Well, Heaven to a Tortured Mind might not have as many showcases for the ambient/noise chops that Tumor definitely has, but it does consistently bang for 36 minutes of should-be alternate universe pop hits, from the brassy “Gospel for a New Century” to the floaty duet “Kerosene!” For anyone who loved “Noid” and then found more to respect than the viscerally love on Tumor’s last record, this is the record you were waiting for, and it is magnificent and ferocious.

[tomiyeee]

finished the story quests for bl3 (but barely any of the side missions yet) and i got...Opinions(tm)

(sorry if this doesn’t cut on mobile! also if you want to hide spoilers i’m tagging all my bl3 posts as “bl3 spoilers” so ny’all can blacklist it)

in no particular order:

i honestly wanted to give gearbox some slack and try my best to like this game bc i know people had probably unfairly high expectations for this game given all the build up, but they really just kept letting me down in everything but the graphics

said this before but overall, the characters are all Quite lackluster

^^ tyreen and troy included. adding the word "bitch" to every sentence does not automatically make it funnier

that being said, i super love their backstory + relationship with typhon/nekofeyo-whatever

the character designs are equally boring. moxxi was the only one who got a real improvement imo. lilith and maya are okay. rhys...i dont think i have to explain. lia...i dislike her hair; the black felt like it balanced out her design better and the white streak was interesting and cool but full white just looks bad tbh. zer0 feels less sleek and more bulky which doesnt fit him much. tina lost her pretty color palette and cute outfit. where are all the bright pretty color palettes in general???? there are other colors besides brown and black???? use them?????

ending of pre-sequel: “you will need all the vault hunters you can get” me: “ooh does that mean all the vh’s from previous games are back? i can’t wait to see everyone meet each other! :D” bl3: only nine of them come back, 3 of them die, the rest are involved in maybe one mission at most

boss fights. super. boring. and tedious. i mean this could be partly because i was playing on ps4 which made it extra not fun but if the only reason the fight is difficult is because they have a lot of health...it's not fun or challenging. i want fights like handsome jack with interesting mechanics. i want fights like angel with emotional impact. i want fights like the pre-sequel final boss that i forgot the name of with variation that isnt just "now they have an attack that shines bright lights in ur eyes, covers the whole arena, and can knock you down in one hit im looking at you traunt and killavolt". tyreens fight was the only one that i somewhat enjoyed because of this. all the others were just like "ughhhh again?"

im really enjoying melee amara playstyle. taking out badass enemies in four hits is my jam. this is just my fallout 4 playthrough all over again babey heck yea

typhon just wanted to be a good dad!!! he called tyreen starlight which is adorable!!! he did the best he could and tyreen hated him for it!!! i don’t blame either of them for that tbh, it makes sense from both their perspectives. tyreen definitely should have been more understanding, but she’s a dick so :/ (not saying this is a writing flaw, just a character flaw)

hammerlock needs higher standards in men but i really appreciate the undeniably in-your-face "fuck you" to all gamer dudes

i really. hate. how little the player character seems to matter in the story. in pre-sequel the vh's all had unique dialogue AND npcs would respond, sometimes even with character-specific lines. even when it was the same across vh's, it still felt like the npcs were interacting and speaking directly to them. the player character felt like a character of their own, rather than just a vessel for the player to do quests and kill enemies with or an errand runner for the important characters. i thought that was the direction they were going in with bl3 too but this just feels like bl2 only worse. there’s a separation again between you and the story and it feels like you’re just watching things happen. now ur not just a silent protagonist, but instead your a speaking protagonist who gets completely ignored. whats the point of including unique dialogue if it's not even acknowledged beyond an "uh-huh, moving on"?

sometimes the logic just feels kinda dumb. the twins killed/disabled maya and lilith in a heartbeat, they can literally disintegrate the most powerful beings in the universe, but the vault hunters? absolutely not. they must fight them for 40 minutes and then die.

after the fight with troy, no one even touched tyreen. there's no way they could have thought "yup she's definitely dead, no need to shoot her in the head or anything just to make sure. we didn't do anything to even hurt her, we just assumed." turns out she's 100% alive and gets up to start the apocalypse. who'da thunk! i know they wanted the end to seem more dramatic but it just seems stupid that they could have stopped tyreen like 5 missions earlier had they even the slightest bit of common sense.

lilith was one of the biggest threats to tyreen and troy's whole plan. of course they should leave her alive and simply steal her powers. let's kill the monk siren instead.

i know they didn't include this to give all players a fair experience instead of favoring sirens, but it kinda sucks playing a siren character and it's just completely ignored outside of ur action skill. tyreen and troy are sapping siren powers left and right, but they choose to leave you with yours. when you enter the eridian place with typhon tannis starts glowing because it has "something to do with sirens". what about the one standing right next to her? this applies to bl2 as well...jack i would willingly charge ur vault key for u pls why do u take lilith instead :'(

oh yeah speaking of tannis! i LOVE that she got angels powers. for some reason it just makes me really happy. maybe it's bc i think it's sweet that part of angel survived. maybe it's because it makes for cool fanart. maybe it's just cool. idk. also like that we got a solid explanation of what angel's powers were (influence over technology). i always thought her having control over it in bl2 might've been cuz it was hyperion tech and she had access to it same as she had access to the satellite from bl1. it wasn't super clear since it seemed like she could also materialize things like the ammo during her fight.

that also reminds me: all the dramatic reveals in this game felt kinda badly done.

the very first one with zer0/katagawa. like the whole time i was walking around looking for him i was trying to think why he might've turned/something must have happened to him or rhys. everyone was saying it was undeniably zer0. i finally meet him and take one look at his bright ass maliwan armor and its like. really. you couldnt have made it anymore obvious that thats not zer0. and then his helmet gets knocked off and surprise! it's not him. i totally didnt already figure that out with one glance 10 seconds ago. (maybe even earlier when you got glimpses of him around the building but i always missed it cuz i was looking at the fish tanks n shit)

also the tannis reveal. she was speaking to me in the same way that only known siren characters could. weird unexplained things were happening and seemed to be related to tannis. i wonder if she's a siren? surprise! she's a siren.

tyreen and troy knew about the great vault through some unknown means. typhon was talking about having a son and a daughter who he told stories about the great vault. typhon calls tyreen his daughter a while later and lilith acts surprised like honey ur a little slow, i figured that out several lines ago.

basically i'm not saying they were so obvious that i knew from the beginning of the game; i only figured them out a little before they were outright stated. but it was enough that it kinda ruined the effect and the characters acting surprised only when it was blatantly spelled out for them just made it annoying.

i feel like most of this is pretty negative, but i don’t mean that i hate the game and was miserable playing it. it was honestly okay...like i said i wanted to like it, but gearbox hates me specifically and killed/ruined all my faves just to spite me sooo...*waves hand back and forth in a sort of “ehhh” gesture*. i think my opinion on bl games from most to least fav would be: tftbl, bltps, bl2, bl3, and bl1. so it’s not the worst, but deeefinitely not one of my faves. i mean jack’s not in it (or if he is he doesn’t have a big role) so it’s already at a huge disadvantage. the ending was ok, it was all dramatic n stuff and it kinda makes sense i guess, but it was just about as okay as the rest of the game really. i don’t hate it but it’s not great either yknow?

[jayhartwinsterling]

Bandersnatch (Black Mirror) Megapost

Now loading... A *very* sizeable post with a lot to get through - here I am going to talk about the five “main” endings, the Easter eggs, why constructing a traditional flowchart for this game is technically a bit of a vain effort, how it’s probably best to link everything up in a guide - and the implications this story has regarding *us*.

Chapter 1: The Endings

So, we basically have five “main” endings. I say “main” because... well, we’ll get back to it on ending number five. 

Ending One Description: The first of which is what I call the “How It Was Meant To Go” - and getting this one is quite simple. All you need to do is accept the proposal Stefan’s given by the Boss to make Bandersnatch with a in-house team. Satpal shows up and then Colin tells Stefan as he’s leaving “Sorry mate, wrong path.” We then jump forward five months to find that Bandersnatch was rushed in production, cut down and done badly because of it being a team effort and it gets a 0/5 review.

We loop back around to that decision again but this time, Colin thinks he’s met Stefan before and Stefan knows the memory error with Colin’s game when it happens. And we come back to the decision. (Refusal again will give a similar scene btw where Stefan accepts and Colin tells him it was the wrong choice again - but Satpal doesn’t enter and we just... end. 

Ending One Analysis: So this first ending is rather simple. But the key to it for me lies rather simply in the fact that it can be done... without doing anything at all. If you left your remote/controller/mouse/finger wherever it is and don’t make any choices, this is where you end up. In essence, the universe just runs as it should and we don’t play god over Stefan’s life at all. I know it might be a little difficult to get what I’m on about here but consider that Stefan makes a remark to Dr. Haynes not too long after you take the refuse path, that he wanted to accept the offer and he doesn’t know what made him refuse. We did. This is more clearly pressed upon if you get to the point in your path where Stefan realises something is dictating his life and asks for a sign. We directly throw him a sign - if you’re super direct, that sign happens to be the most direct interaction we could possibly make with him. Telling him that he’s on Netflix in the 21st century for our entertainment and we’re controlling his life.

So, as I say, Ending One is where we don’t have an impact and thus things play out in the universe as they should. Bandersnatch is finished, it gets a 0/5 and Stefan resolves to try again. Ironically, if you just sit back and don’t take the option of making a choice (because, remember, us even making a choice is in itself a choice), though all the game does terribly - this is arguably the best outcome for Stefan. And all because we listened to the exact advice the trailer gave us with its music choice: “Relax. Don’t do it.”

Ending Two: If you go straight to Dr. Haynes (rather than going after Colin) and take your pills when you get home, you get what I call the “” ending. Stefan takes the pills, we jump forward five months to find that Bandersnatch got completed by Stefan but due to his pills, it comes across flat after the midway point and only gets a 2.5/5 rating.

Ending Two Analysis: Not a lot to say here - but it’s worth noting that the review dude on the TV mentions that if the creator had second chances, they should go back and do this game all over again but differently. Keep that in mind for later. It’s worth noting that if you take Stefan off the path that the universe was “meant” to take and then leave it to its own devices (and Stefan to his own choices) again, not making choices for him - then you’ll end up at this one. Almost as if the universe was trying to course correct itself...

Ending Three: “Stefan Jumps.” explanatory how we get here... We jump forward four months, and find that due to Stefan’s accidental death, the game seems to have been speedily finished by someone else.

Ending Three Analysis: We get no rating this time but TV review guy does say the game is bad. He also mentions that it seems abrupt, jarring, bleak, creepy... Almost a perfect way to describe the ending - since it then just ends.

Ending Four: “The P.A.C.S. Ending”. In this one, we unlock Stefan’s dad’s safe with the password “PAC” (obtained by crossing over paths from following Colin to visiting Dr. Haynes... we’ll come by to the implications of such things later.) and find to our surprise that Stefan’s entire life is part of a conspiratorial program, not only well documented but also manufactured with the trauma of his mother’s death being totally falsified. Dad wakes up, refuses to speak and in his rage, Stefan hits him with somethi--- Oh wait, it’s a dream. Just a dream... But then it goes off the rails, quickly plunging us into the choice where we give Stefan a sign that he’s being controlled. Instead of Netflix, we now have the choice of P.A.C.S. - taking that option leads Stefan to kill his dad with the ashtray in a rage about the apparent conspiracy. Stefan then picks up the phone to phone Dr. Haynes - and we have to enter her number. Entering it correctly means that Stefan outright says to Hayne’s receptionist that he’s killed his dad. As he’s burying his dad, we hear distinct sirens and then cut to a review of Bandersnatch. The game is given a 2/5 rating and we discover that Stefan has been charged with killing his dad and locked up in jail.

Ending Four Analysis: It’s safe to say that P.A.C.S. didn’t actually exist outside of Stefan’s head and it’s his life paralleling Jerome F Davies’ obsession with conspiracy theories and delusions. But... what nobody seems to be really talking about is - we did that. Again. Leaving aside all the choices up to and including the safe, we make the P.A.C.S. sign appear and fuel Stefan’s dream-induced paranoia. In this ending, we in a way become Stefan’s delusion. (Oh, and don’t be surprised if you didn’t get this ending with your choices, or only part of it - again we’re coming to all that...)

Ending Five: “Time Rewritten” - now I’ll be honest, I did all these endings in one straight through run. Which made for a REALLY messy time in both my head and the game. Particularly with Colin... But anyway, for this one, I had to make Stefan pick up the family photo after having followed Colin and heard him say that mirrors let you travel through time. Stefan then seems to head through a mirror in the bathroom back in time to when he was a kid. And discovers that his dad took the teddy away from Stefan and locked it away in his room. He wakes up, I take him through the Netflix sign again. [During this, I led into what I’ll be addressing in a minute as Ending Four-B.] And take Stefan back to the locked room, this time entering the password “TOY”. Stefan unlocks the safe and finds his teddy within... And then it takes an odd turn. Stefan turns to find a younger dad - and then suddenly he is a child again. The younger dad relents and lets young Stefan put the teddy back under his bed. After doing so, suddenly older Stefan is looking at young Stefan sleeping. We cut back to young Stefan on the day Mum leaves... This time, he finds the teddy but his Mum is still running late. She’s gonna have to catch the next train - the one that leads to her demise - and we have to make the decision for young Stefan on whether to go or not. Of course, yes is my choice here - for though it’s a tragedy, it’s the last of these paths to take - we get young Stefan and Mum on the train, cut to black, and then see that older Stefan has died in Dr. Haynes’ office. We then get shown a TV screen and the credits come rolling in, whether we like it or not. And there’s what seems almost a tune playing but we’ll get back to that because if you’re a ZX Spectrum fan like myself, you know where that’s headed.

Ending Five Analysis: Alright, now there’s debate to be had here. Did Stefan really walk through a mirror and change time, undoing his own existence in the present, rendering himself dead on the spot? Did he slip away into a divergent reality and leave his original one behind? Or did he, in reliving the trauma with Dr. Haynes, live too far into it and died? Well, my opinion is that the last of those three is true. (Although, this conclusion is a little shot in the foot for me personally because I never discussed the death of Stefan’s mum with Dr. Haynes ever. Unless you try to make the conclusion that the entirety of my personal run through this game even from Stefan getting up at the very start of it was all in his reliving). Time to come clean about something I’ve been hinting through this post. Delusions. Almost all of the endings involve delusions. But, you’ll have to wait until the end of this chapter before I bring all of that together.

Ending Four-B: “Cut!” - having taken Stefan down the Netflix path and into a fight with Dr. Haynes, I told him to jump through the window. He runs to the window but it doesn’t open - and then we hear something shout CUT! The view pulls out to reveal that Stefan is in a studio, and that - in a very meta move - all of this is just a production being made (for TV, for film... for Netflix?) and that trying to jump out of the window isn’t in the script. Stefan is then addressed as Mike and it seems to be the case that he has fallen a little too much into character. The studio assistant, worried with his insistence that he is Stefan, rushes off to find a medic. And that’s the end of that.

Ending Four-B Analysis: Firstly, I put this with Ending Four because it’s down a similar path, and once again we become Stefan... sorry, Mike’s delusion. And this led me to an interesting thought about this universe where we’ve taken control of a delusional actor - is the alternative for taking the Netflix sign, which is having the fight with Dr. Haynes (as “scripted”) and being dragged off just a part of this universe’s production? In that instance, is the delusional then our own that this world is a reality when - surprise, surprise, it’s a Netflix production (and presumably, in that universe, also a Black Mirror episode)? Secondly, as an aside, the only option presented to me after this ending for a rewind was “Get Rabbit From Dad”...

Well, there you go, five “main” endings (and a bit) and an awful lot for me to explain...

Except... Ending Six. What I Believe Is The True “Main” Ending.

So we lead Stefan back to the sign, give him the Diverging Paths sign (or call it Whitebear, if thus inclined.), make him kill Dad, and make him chop up the body. Then, the Boss and Colin discuss the fact that Stefan is late with his work - Colin convinces him to leave Stefan be for another day. And what happens here on, well, happens. It’s worth noting the reluctance and pain Stefan has carrying out the order we gave him to chop up his Dad. But then, it’s contrasted by the lack of emotion he shows in Dr. Haynes’ office. Perhaps he’s taken that JFD documentary to heart about believing that if all paths occur, and there is no free will - then why care? Why feel guilt on behalf of what seems to be destiny? And honestly, I can’t blame Stefan... Because he doesn’t have free will here, we’re throwing decisions at him and he’s along for the ride. We made him kill his dad. We made him chop him up. 

And herein lies our delusion. That in making these choices for him, we have a choice. Because we really don’t - we’re in a Bandersnatch of our own (if you’re a CYOA fan then you might’ve sensed this coming...) and honestly, we should’ve known from the start. We’re the ones that selected the option Black Mirror: Bandersnatch on Netflix and hit play, after all. Just as Stefan has pulled back from making an infinity of paths and left enough complexity to make it seem so. I mean, I’ll be blunt here even though I’ve yet to discuss it in depth in Chapter Two - technically, there is no way that any one human being is getting through every possible path/universe. To us, it may as well be infinite. And yet, it’s all just an illusion of free will.

Endings Two and Three all push us, the player, bluntly into going back into this warren of choices - to try again. Pushing us further on. Ending Four is more subtle, toying with us by giving us a tragic ending for Stefan so we feel inclined to go again and do better for him (and in my case, straight up offers up a path to Ending Five, and what seems a more hopeful ending until you get into it.) Ending One is even there if you decide to take the choice to not make any choices, to not interfere at all. Leaving the universe on course - but of course, this is our game and trap so it tells us not so subtly to try again as well.

And Ending Five leads us to ending with... A delusion. There’s the crux of the matter.

Ending One is our delusion that we can game the system by not getting involved.

Ending Two is Stefan’s (and our) delusion that if we play by the nicest choices and rules of life, it’s all going to turn out happily.

Ending Three is Stefan’s delusion (spurred on by the acid? by Colin’s way of thinking? by both?) that if infinite worlds are out there and free will is an illusion then what does it matter if he jumps?

Ending Four is where Stefan becomes delusional as a result of us and ends up locked up. We are the delusion. Four-B is where Stefan himself, as a person, is the delusion.

Ending Five is either the delusion of a man who relived his trauma too deeply or the delusion of us in thinking that when the paths were all clear and we had what seemed like a final end, that it would be happy. (Or none of the above, if you really want to go analysing this one differently.)

And Ending Six is our delusion. “And now, they’ve only got the illusion of free will but really, I decide the ending.”

In a few short seconds, we realise that we have been the Stefan of Charlie Brooker and co. - being led towards this ending that is out of our hands now. Despite all the paths and other endings you take, you’re likely to end up back here. 

And as Stefan says about how he thinks Bandersnatch led to a happy ending, and we see him in his room, with his computer - and walls covered in paths; trying to make sense of the maze he’s playing... well, I think you can piece together the parallels between him and us.

And then we’re landed with the fact that he’s kept his dad’s head. And the 5/5 review we’ve been looking for all game finally comes, but then it turns out even that comes at a price. We’ve driven Stefan insane, certainly - and we’ve tainted the happiness of a moment we were striving for. And there’s a final delusion for us - the delusion that whatever choices were out there for us to make, we could get an ending where everyone lives, Stefan is happy, the game gets 5/5 and all is well. But we can’t. No matter what Stefan does, he can’t divert from the path we choose and no matter what we do, we can’t divert from the path Charlie Brooker chose.

Colin’s daughter takes up the mantle of her father, inspired by having found Stefan’s work, just as Stefan was inspired by having found Jerome F Davies’. (She even has Jerome’s book as well!) And one more time, we fall into the meta hole as it’s revealed that she’s creating her game for TVs and smart devices under Netflix. Her game is the Bandersnatch we’re playing. 

As a parting shot, Charlie Brooker brings himself into the web the one we can without completely shattering what remains of the fourth wall. Pearl represents him, trapped in the same madness, trying to put this game together. We are given our final choice - and either way, it’s a moot choice. Both destroy Bandersnatch. Both cause the screen to cut out - did we just erase Bandersnatch? Does it matter, given that our choice or even abstaining meant nothing in the end?

And I suppose you have to feel sympathy for Charlie Brooker, because the pain Stefan felt and the pain we felt - he’s no stranger to it.

And we’re left with one question now that the game is gone: What about real life?

Chapter 2: Why A Flowchart Won’t Ever Cut It (Technically)

TO BE ADDED SOON

Chapter 3: So Many Easter Eggs

TO BE ADDED SOON

Chapter 4: The Best Way To Document Every Piece Of Bandersnatch

TO BE ADDED SOON

Chapter 5: Us

TO BE ADDED SOON

[themattress]

Rewatch: My Bride is a Mermaid Ep 25 - 26

Woah. Shit got real in these final two episodes!

Episode 25: The Family Game

The start of the episode reveals that Akeno and her superior have been getting their orders from Lord Yoshio Minamoto, a mer-noble who has a fearful grip on the mer-government and can use it for his own benefit...in this case, to break up Sun and Nagasumi so that he can take Sun for his bride. But because his government subordinates have failed to deliver, this spoiled frat boy is stepping in personally with a scheme to make sure he gets what he wants. 

Akeno is to seize on a moment of friction between Sun and Nagasumi to invite the whole Seto Gang to his palace, allegedly for a party full of important merpeople. That moment comes when a basic argument over Nagasumi putting his socks in the laundry while they’re inside-out escalates to the point where Nagsumi and Sun have to confront the fact that their engagement is based on coercion: it was the only way either of them could stay alive. This creates a new emotional distance between the two, especially when Nagasumi stubbornly refuses to apologize. And then....Sun and her family disappears from his life entirely.

While we know that it’s due to Yoshio’s invitation, Nagasumi doesn’t. The whole montage where he goes to various locations he and Sun have been together in the past only to find her absent now, culminating when he enters her empty room and breaks down crying, apologizing to Sun and begging her to come back...damn, that was powerful. The last two episodes already amped up the emotional sincerity, and these two just run with it, with the actual jokes being few and far between when compared to the drama, which intensifies once Yoshio’s so-called party is revealed to be a trap and all of the Setos are knocked out.

Kai and Lunar manage to find out what’s going on, with Lunar’s horrified reaction and her description of how many girls have gone missing while attending Yoshio’s “parties” selling the fear of the situation, while also being heartwarming in how her immediate response is “Sun is in danger!” and dashing off with Kai to mount a rescue. She loves her rival so much. And speaking of rivals who care, Kai doesn’t hesitate in seeking to include Nagasumi in the rescue mission, with his response to Nagasumi’s later vow to go out and get Sun back being “Those are the exact words I’ve been waiting to hear!” Like I said in the last post, Kai has truly grown into a more honorable person (as has Chimp, who is helping him as always).

And if all of that wasn’t heartwarming enough, Nagasumi’s vow only comes after he gets encouragement from Mawari, who tells him that he needs to be honest with his feelings and act upon them, to not give up on his true love. It is also hinted again that Mawari is well aware of the whole mermaid factor at play, but says nothing out of love and respect for everyone. Mawari Zenigata truly cannot have her praises sung loud enough, she is just that awesome.

The ending montage gets you ridiculously pumped to go straight into the next, and final, episode, with the music playing being the most epic the show has ever had as it plays over shots of every character in the show in their current positions. Let’s end this with a bang!

Episode 26: The Place You Go Home To 

Right off the bat, we’re ending it with several bangs, as Kai’s submarine must navigate a minefield set up to defend Yoshio’s undersea lair. The awesomeness kicks in immediately when Lunar uses her siren scream to decimate the mines, declaring “I’m the songstress of the Edomae! DON’T UNDERESTIMATE ME!” She, Kai and Nagasumi will stop at nothing to get Sun back, and their true love of her is contrasted perfectly by Yoshio’s repulsive lust. In the manga, Yoshio was a very different character and his desire for Sun had more to do with a religious factor and a hunger for power. But the anime version of him is the most vile kind of guy possible: a sociopathic frat boy who sees women as objects whom he mind-wipes with a magical artifact before having his way with them and grooming them into his loyal slaves. He is a misogynistic rapist and a person with power who gleefully abuses it, and it makes him the most loathsome character in the show without question. You really want to see him go down.

Once the heroes invade Yoshio’s lair, they are met with an army of guards who clash with the army of Mikawa Conglomerate workers Kai brought along. Lunar assists with her song of war, which again turns things into a bloodbath but one that Nagasumi can easily slip away from to reach Yoshio. Yoshio sends Akeno to face him, since her swordsman’s code says that she cannot disobey a mer-noble’s orders. But ever since she discovered the truth about how Yoshio “woos�� the women he lusts after and that he intends the same for Sun, Akeno has been struggling to keep to this code, and it only takes Nagasumi reminding her about the reason she first became a swordsman to get her to switch sides and fight alongside him.

Yoshio unleashes both his trio of giant pet eels and his entire fraternity, but then we get a sequence of awesomeness upon awesomeness as everyone comes in to get a badass moment. First it’s Gozaburo and the rest of the Seto Gang, a moment that concludes when Gozaburo knocks down an eel and, seeing the fierce determination Nagasumi has to save Sun, tells him “you’re a Seto now” and throws him a yakuza jacket as he urges him to go rescue his daughter. Then it’s Lunar, Kai and Chimp catching up, with Lunar using a siren scream to blow the frat away and an injured Kai (supported by his faithful Chimp) also urging Nagasumi to go save Sun. Then it’s an injured Akeno using the nature of the Morning Star blade to her advantage and having Ren (who is the one supporting Akeno because Ren is a fucking goddess among women) use her siren scream on it, which magnifies it enough to knock down another eel. And then it’s, out of nowhere, Papa fucking Edomae (still in the schoolgirl outfit because he’s grown comfy in it) dropping from the sky and taking out the last eel, then tag-teaming with his daughter to take on the reconvening frat. It’s just amazing, and it leads into the climax of the episode when Nagasumi finally reaches the room where Sun is being held and confronts Yoshio, who is ready to kill him with his superior merman strength.

Nagasumi stands no chance against Yoshio in a straight 1-on-1 fight, but he doesn’t care, all he cares about is snapping Sun out of her trance. Yoshio brags that nothing can accomplish that, but Nagasumi pours out all of his feelings for Sun, shouting how he loves her and can’t imagine ever living without her. This does it, and with her mind restored, Sun verbally eviscerates Yoshio for being the pathetic third-rate scum that he is. Full of misogynistic rage and toxic masculinity, Yoshio aims to shoot Sun dead, but Nagasumi takes the bullet. And yet he is unharmed, because just being with Sun, simply standing by her side as lovers and as equals, fills him with unlimited power - the Power of Love! With Sun now intentionally directing her love as energy to power Nagsumi up, Yoshio gets the beatdown he deserves.

As awesome as this is, I still have one minor quibble about translation issues in this scene. Sun’s altered catchphrase comes back to bite the show’s butt when Nagasumi tells Yoshio what it is that makes a real man - in Japanese, it’s ninkyo, aka chivalry, which is displayed on screen as text when he says this. But in the dub, it’s “Honor Among Thieves”. Huh!? So all real men must be thieves? Things get more absurd when Nagasumi gives Yoshio his final beatdown, the text of the Japanese title Seto No Hanayome appears with each punch for some reason, and I guess that reason got lost in translation because we instead get Yoshio screaming “My! Bride is! A! MERMAAAAAAAID!” to get the same effect of a title drop in this moment. There is no reason in context why he would say this, as he had already given up on Sun as a bride and had attempted to kill her, so it just ends up as a huge “WTF!?” moment.

Anyway, Yoshio is defeated and his true form is exposed: a lowly catfish. All of the fear he inspired and thus the power he had is instantaneously gone with this revelation, allowing Akeno’s superior to legally indict him for his crimes. Nagsumi finally apologizes to Sun for the argument and says that from now on he wants their engagement to be something they chose for themselves. And so, taking out the ring he got her in episode 2, he asks Sun if she’ll marry him. Of course Sun says “Yes”, and as the original ED credits song plays, they embrace.

There’s a gag scene before the credits of life returning to normal except for Nagasumi now insisting on remaining in “buff mode” which makes all the routine interactions with the other characters more ridiculous, but after the credits we get a still-frame of Sun and Nagasumi’s earlier embrace, so for all intents and purposes that’s the note this show ends on: two kids from two different worlds who, against all the many, many obstacles, found true love together.

There’s one more post about the series to go, but my experience of actually rewatching the show is over with. And let me tell you - it’s been a great revisiting that I do not at all regret.

[shauds-archived]

Can we get more Jay Eddie please???

Okay, so there was no word with this one, so I didn't know if it was a table request, or just a general " Will there be more of Jason and Eddie" thing. Just waited till I had something to post with it anyway.

Another add on to " Do Not Engage" Just Jay and Eddie hanging around and catching up, :).

They went for pancakes - smothered in syrup and cream - caught up a little - incredibly awkward with how little either of them were really willing to talk about - and there was no more physical violence involved which was more than could be said of most social interactions Jason tried to engage in. Not that he'd really expected much more violence on Eddie's end, Jason had been more concerned about himself with that, maybe with Spoiler, maybe any of the other costume run-around about Gotham wondering where she and Kid Devil had gone.

"Be back soon," Eddie said when it was over, with a grin that's cheeriness wasn't offset by either fangs it revealed, or the way it literally lit up his face in the alley behind the diner.

"Just go make sure they don't think I mugged you." Jason kept his tone casual was he waved them off.

"Technically, couldn't we kinda say we mugged you?" Spoiler said, pulling her face mask down now she'd finally finished clearing away the copious amounts of syrup she'd gotten on the fabric. "Attacked you in the Bowery and took your money?" She cocked her head at them.

"Don't you dare."Jason warned, but couldn't find the heat to put behind it.

She chuckled and patted his cheek. "See you 'round McHostage."

That was exactly the story she was going to tell, he knew it, and Eddie wasn't going to refute it.

"I'm not buying you pancakes again." Jason yelled at the fiery... portal? Eddie had opened.

She waved again, her hand slipping away the last of them he saw, and then they were gone. The alley was quiet, cold as Gotham always was on the cusp of another storm. Soon the background noise - cars, sirens, chatter and shouts - rushed in to fill the silence they'd left. It'd been nice while it lasted. Jason tugged up the collar of his jacket against the wind, tucked his hands into his pockets, and started on his way to his nearest heated safehouse.

He got to the end of the alleyway when the ring of fire appeared in front of him again and Eddie came stumbling out. Literally stumbling, he took one step and fell over.

"Gopher!" Jason caught him before he could hit the wet, grimy asphalt. "What the hell?"

"No one calls me tha' 'nymore." He slurred and looked up at Jason with half-lidded eyes, then turned away with and let Jason pull him back to his feet.

"What happened?" Jason asked, circling Eddie, looking him over for injuries.

"Said I'd be back soon." Eddie said, running his forearm over his eyes. "Stop that." He batted Jason's prodding hands away from his head. No obvious signs of concussion, but... "Just been teleporting all day." He planted a hand on his hip and gave Jason a thumbs up. "All good now."

"You sure?" Jason didn't move to far from Eddie, kept his arms out, ready to catch him again juts in case.

"They're my powers, Jayce, I know how to handle them." Eddie jabbed the thumb at his own chest. "So what're we..." He took a step out of the alley and tipped over.

Jason sighed deeply and thanked his paranoia that he hadn't been able to keep from wearing the heat resistant padding under his t-shirt.

000

"I swear you used to be smarter." Jason shook his head and kicked the fridge closed, then slid the glass of orange juice across the island to Eddie.

"Wasn't sure I'd find you again." Eddie took a big gulp of juice, and then a bite of toast

>

Jason ignored the sting he felt a at that, folded his arms and leaned against the counter where he would keep a close eye on Eddie. "I meant that recruitment drive bullshit." He'd seen some pretty messed up side effects of exhaustion over the years, some particularly nasty one from metas, it didn't hurt to be cautious. "You know what that sounds like, right?"

Eddie sank down a little on the on the chair Jason'd pulled over from the the living room. "It's not like that, a lot of kids need the Titans, and we're really short on members right now, so..."

If it were kids that needed the Titans, the Titans wouldn't need recruitment drives. It wouldn't have a higher turnover rate then the damn Justice League. Jason pressed a hand over the bridge of his nose and held back a sigh. This was an argument he'd had many times, one he'd never won, getting into a screaming match wasn't going to help anything. Eddie had survived getting his torn open, h could teleport, he'd be fine. Jason scooped up the empty glass and brought it back to the fridge for a refill.

"Not like anyone was was interested." Eddie shrugged and accepted the glass, brought it to his lips along with the toast, then stopped halfway through the motion. "Or... Hey, your technically still a Teen, right?"

Jason couldn't stop the laughter that broke out from his chest at that, at the very idea that he would ever so much as consider that, so much as be considered, ever. "Not a chance in this or any universe, K.D."

"Was worth a shot."

Eddie said, turning his nose up at Jason. He he popped the last piece of toast into his mouth. "And it's actually Red Devil now."

"Well, no one's ever accused you of being a coward." Jason took the plate to rinse the crumbs off it and heard the scraping of Eddie pushing his chair back from the ground. "And is R.D gonna pass out on me again?"

Eddie's chuckle was nervous. "Nah, R.D's good, just needed a boost. Man this is weird."

"Nah, I get attacked by demons every other night."

"I can't even tell of you're joking." Eddie said and hopped up to sit on the counter. "Guess it's not that weird anymore, but still, I just never thought, you were, you know."

"Yeah." Jason dried the plate and stacked it with the others. "I know." Jason wouldn't have believed it himself if someone had told him at fifteen that this was what he'd be. "I woulda told you, if I'd thought..." Jason pressed a hand against his eyes and huffed.

"M'not mad about that anymore." Eddie was swinging his legs, looking out the window at the stormy city. He was like something out of a B grade horror movie, just like he'd wanted when he'd been a kid, and he was still the most like what Jason remembered out of all of them. "Well I am, I guess, but not really at you."

"Thanks." Jason ducked his head and stepped around the island for the doorway. "So, we haven't tried to beat the crap out of each other yet, and I have no idea what we do now"

There was a thump of Eddie's feet hitting the floor and he was following after Jason. "I wanted to watch Ballistic: Ecks vs. Server the other night, and Amy kind of looked like she wanted to beat the crap out of me for it."

"You hate that movie."

"How do you remember that?"

"Hard to forget when you practically wrote me an essay on it."

000

Four odd years would be a long time for anyone. For people who lived like Jason and Eddie, who'd changed as much as they had in that time, it was pretty much an eternity. So much had happened, more than either could have guessed at and a lot that neither of them easily understood. So they talked.

They talked about Dan and Aunt Marla and the multiverse and the Titans. More about Eddie than about Jason, because whenever conversation turned to the older of the two, he'd find a way to steer it back around.

The movie played in the background, both of them paying more attention to each other and the bowl of popcorn between them than the screen. Eddie joked about how between the pancakes, the toast and now the popcorn, it seemed Jason was incapable of conversation that wasn't over food. Jason flipped him off and shoved a hand of popcorn in his mouth in lieu of a reply. Eddie brought up the swear jar he and Rose had made use of at the tower, when she'd still been there.

When the movie was over, they swapped it out for something equally bad and put it just loud enough to block out the sounds of the storm that made Gotham at daytime dark as twilight. And then they talked about Twilight and Eddie felt terrible about subjecting Jason to the horror.

"Can't believe you found the vampire hunter world and it's the old-timey one you wanted to stay in." By that point, Eddie was only half on the couch, having slid down lower and lower to the ground over the course of the night h had to look past his shoulder to see Jason. Or maybe not, it actually did sound a lot like 'Extra Credit History Assignments For Fun Jason.'

"Yeah." Jason had chuckled, only half awake himself and curled up in two thirds of the couch, Eddie suspected it had been a while since he'd slept at all. "Kyle got infected there." He linked his fingers and stretched his hands up and over his head. Eddie rolled his eyes and dragged the bowl of cold, and now too salty popcorn off the couch and onto his lap. " But can hunt vampire's here."

Eddie hummed in agreement and massaged his tired eyes, turned them lazily to the screen where a bunch off teenagers were shrieking very unconvincingly about a witch. "You wanna hunt a vampire?" Eddie slid still further off the couch, and this time Jason's legs uncurled a little to claim the space Eddie had vacated.

"No m'sleeping." Jason yawned and buried his face in the armrest, he looked a lot more comfortable than Eddie, who gave in and let himself fall the rest of the way to the ground. The carpet was soft too, well soft enough, Eddie didn't have the energy to get up and reclaim couch space. "Do it with the Titans."

"Titans don't hunt things." Eddie yawned too, great, he'd caught it from Jason and now he was going to fall asleep too. "We just kind of..." He flopped a hand in circles as the yawn winded down, "Get attacked by supervillains 'n stuff."

"So heroic." Jason scoffed, then he shifted so he was laying on his back, eyes on the ceiling, abruptly tense and nowhere near as comfortable as he'd been a moment ago. "Speaking of, you gonna be heading back soon?"

"No, I don't..." Eddie turned around, so he was kneeling, facing the couch and Jason. "I can hang a little longer."

"Ah." Jason nodded once, scrubbed a hand over his face before folding both arms behind his head and closing his eyes.

"Unless." Eddie bit down on his bottom lip, shifted his gaze quickly to the door and back, something heavy and cold settling on his shoulders. Jason hadn't expected Eddie to be back right after dropping Spoiler back at the tower, he knew that, and then, Eddie had been here for hours already, he knew he could be a little inept at telling when he'd worn out his welcome. "Did you want me to leave you alone?"

"No." Jason said, a deep line having appeared between his eyes and his lips set in a frown. "I wouldn't want you to go." He rolled his shoulders, a nervous gesture that didn't fit him "Just figured, you had thing's to do, n you'd wanna get back 'fore they knew you were..." He motioned at himself and then around at the apartment. "Y'know."

"I don't." Eddie tucked some strands of hair behind his ear and shifted away from the couch to keep the sudden spike in his body temperature from burning it up. "And I know you don't really thing I'd ditch you for such a dumb reason." He fixed his eyes on Jason and tried to smile, he was good at that. "I swear you used to be smarter."

Jason finally looked at Eddie, blinked owlishly at him with eyes so wide, Eddie might have thought it was funny if it hadn't made him turn every bit of the carpet he was touching to charcoal. Then Jason snorted and shook his head as he rolled off the couch. "I gotta fire-proof this apartment sometime."

"Yeah, that's a really, really good idea." Eddie winced and shifted away from the carpet he'd destroyed.

"Ima grab the fire-extinguisher, you get another movie going." Jason was gone from the room minutes after the sounds of him rifling through the kitchen came to an end.

The room was too dark to be sure, but when he came back in, Jason's eyes were suspiciously red. When he didn't bring it up, Eddie let himself pretend it was because his friend was short a couple hours too many of sleep.

They didn't do much more talking that night, but that was fine, there'd be plenty more time for catching up on others.

[jincherie]

RHAAAAAA. IM SO EXCITED 4 SIREN!JIN!!! UR SNEEP PEEP WAS SO G8. CANT W8. THIS IS EXACTLY THE KIND OF CELEBRATION JIN NEEDS 4 HIS BDAY. IM V EXCITED. CAN U FEEL MY EXCITEMENT?? WHAT ARE THESE FLOWERS HE HAS?? SIREN!JIN IS RADIATING SUCH BDE THAT EVEN THE LADY IN THE ELEVATOR CAN FEEL IT. DONT BLAME HER. I WAS FEELING IT THRU MY SCREEN. !!!!!!!!!! 💖🔥😋

GAH i know u sent this before I posted it but I hope it lived up to ur expectations!!!!! i was so happy to be writing jin again lmao!!! thank u so much for hyping it up and sending this babe!!! ily !!!! 💖💗💗💕💞❣️💝💓💖💕

sergentculotte said: Oh maaan… Thar siren!Seokjin was everything I needed! Funnily enough, I watched two mermaid movies tonight, the little mermaid (the new movie) and aquamarine, and then I got the notification that you posted, what a perfect addition to my great merfolk-y night! Thanks again for making me feel stuff with your words, xoxo 

UGH YES FCK we love mer-moods in this house!!! fuccc!!!!! thank u so much for reading baby I hope you enjoyed it !!! 💖💗 ugh its been so long since i watched other merfolk-y movies jhfbjbf

Anonymous said: hi, I just found your account because I was scrolling through bts imagines and I was reading a lullaby on canvas for a good 5 minutes (you write so well by the way and now I’m staying up to read your other stuff lol 💗💗) and the app crashed so when I put in bts imagines again it didn’t show up so it’s almost been an hour and I just found your account/ the story again and I had to follow just to make sure I wouldn’t lose your account

HAHA love an obligatory follow!! But I am so so glad you’re here and that you enjoyed lullaby on canvas, thank u so much for reading and sending this my love!!! 💖💗 I’m glad you liked it enough to look for it again :)

rinatemme said: Hello! “A lullaby on canvas” is one of those works that made me feel so happy to read, it has an amazing plot, the descriptions are wonderful and you can practically feel the atmosphere, taste it. Thank you for writing it

hey babe thank u so much for reading aloc and sending such a lovely message!! i’m so glad you like it and think those things, thank u so much!!! 💖💗

Anonymous said: oh my GOD YOUR NEW FIC IS SO! GOOD! WHAT! THE ! FUCK! Allsldksjaldlslaldldjsjjslslsj have an amazing day 💜💜💜💜💜

thank you so much!!! sob!!! you too my love!! thank u for reading and sending this !!! 💖💗💗💕

Anonymous said: hi babe!!! i finally had the time to read a lullaby on canva and T____T this was really freakin cute !!!! and the way jin calls yn flower…. perhaps i cried a little… i love ur writing sooo much ahhh 

nfhbfhjbfhgf god listen i am the biggest slut for a good pet name so i fnjhbfjhbf FFUCKKK i love it too!! sm !!! thank you so much for taking the time to read it, and then for sending his babe!! ily!! 💖

captainship97 said: So I read lullaby on canvas and I loved it! I do have a question though about a siren’s kiss. I’ve done a little research trying to see what mythology says about kissing a siren and didn’t find very much. So when you say that it was taking life force, was it just energy, or life span? If the reader were to continue to kiss Jin here and there would it be considered dangerous or something they can regenerate with sleep or something? Loved the story!!! 💜💜💜    

HAHAHAHA ok to be fair i pulled a lot of shit right out my ass but I wrote that in concurrence with the idea that sirens, at least in this au, ‘traditionally’ lured sailors etc to their demise as they feed on their souls/energy/essence. I figured a way that made sense for them to create a link and siphon the energy would be via kiss. In this sense, I guess they’re not that different from how I shape incubi in my fics LOL. to answer your question I’d say its more like energy! it can regenerate, but too much taken can be harmful. In this au, some sirens are especially greedy and drink it all in at once– they’re the ones that started the myths :3 

ALSO seokjin can control how much he takes, but he can’t stop the kiss from acting as a siren kiss– UNLESS the recipient is his bonded & mated, in which case his mate will be resistant. she can still give energy if she wants but its more a choice. So MC is all good in the end!! (also i’m glad you liked it!!! tysm for reading it and sending this!!! 💖💗)

Anonymous said: OKAY I have so many questions! First of all, seokjin x reader siren fic, I loved it! But also, is it a one-shot, because now I’m just, my mind is, I wasn’t ready. The picture? What is it? Why is the reader so moved by it? When did they meet? Did he move there after seeing her? Did he meet her after she moved to the apartment? How long has the longing been going on? Does he sing for her? because of her? Did he leave his life behind because of her? Just, amazing. no words, incredible, as always. 

it is a oneshot, unfortunately! and seokjin’s artworks aren’t of anything concrete, but a combination of colours, shapes and patterns that evoke feeling in the viewers. there is nothing recognisable within them, yet the contents call to the deepest parts of a person’s being and tug. It is especially potent if the person gazing upon the artwork is the one that he had in mind while making it, as MC found hehehehe. its a little bit magical :)

And they “met” a year or so prior, when Seokjin moved in to the apartment next to hers! Although, that wasn’t the first time he’d seen her...

And yes, when he sings at night it was always for/about her. Ugh our lovesick little siren, singing mournfully about his “impossible, unrequited love”.... over time the tune changed though, often his song reflected how he felt after an interaction he had with her during the day-- it was usually sad if he didn’t see her. And regarding the last question, he left because he wanted to explore and travel in part but perhaps.... also bc of her.... :3

anyway thank u so much for reading and expressing such interest, I love having the opportunity to expand my worlds a little more for you all! thank u babe! ily!

Anonymous said: ahh… i just dropped by to say how much i adore your work. i reread the recent siren!jin fic bc i wanted to do a mock-up story board for the reveal scene (one of my favourite ever parts!!) and i loved the way you wrote it so much, like the whole fic but also that scene in particular. your fics make me so flustered and i get hot cheeks and everything - and yet i find myself creeping back for more. *‘you cast a spell on me’ plays from the speakers* 

a m-mock up storyboard? OMO-- and gah I’m so glad you liked that scene! I love that scene too!! It’s one I had in my head from the moment I started brainstorming and planning it. Perhaps one day I will illustrate it as I imagined it but in the meantime.... ugh... i love it so much. i’m so so glad you liked aloc,, and even my other fics too! thank u for reading and for sending this in babe!!! ily!!! i hope u have a wonderful day!!!

[holydragon2808]

Addam, Rex and the Aegis (An In-Depth Comparison/Contrast)

Yep….It’s that time again for me to rant about the things I love the most. I was on the Xenoblade reddit after completing Torna the Golden Country last week. I had been anticipating this expansion release for quite some time and for the most part it did NOT disappoint. There will be massive spoilers for both the main game and the expansion so read at your own risk.

There was yet another one of those Addam vs Rex topics in relation to the Aegis (Pyra/Mythra) that I responded to on the Xenoblade Reddit page. There seems to be this IMO, rather skewed perception of both Addam and Rex’s accomplishments throughout the whole story. Generally people either think that the former was a complete failure and the latter a total success (based on the sole reasoning and hyper focus of one succeeding with the Aegis and one failing) which, once the entire story is put together, becomes ridiculous to be candid….. 

I wrote this post (as well as my response on Reddit) because I wanted to remind people that there’s more to both of their characters and their accomplishments for the entire world at large than JUST how they handled the Aegis. I’ve personally always believed that both succeeded and failed when it came to the Aegis (and Pyra/Mythra’s experiences with both Addam and Rex eventually led to Pyra/Mythra finding the closure and happiness they deserved in the ending of the base game). 

Addam may not have been able to do for Mythra/Pyra what Rex ultimately could as a driver, and “Torna The Golden Country” might have fallen on his watch, but we still cannot gloss over the fact that Addam DID save the entire world at large from Malos’s rampage back in the day by essentially giving life to Mythra. Had he not resonated with her, Rex and co, or anyone else between that 500 year gap and beyond would not have had a chance to do anything because the whole world would have ended centuries ago. 

Seriously folks, there’s a very damn good reason why Addam is still regarded as a hero 500 years later despite the heavy devastation left behind by the Aegis War. He also played a pretty vital role in getting Mythra in touch with her “humanity” underneath her course attitude back then which ultimately made it easier for Rex to bond with her. Not to mention that he put A LOT of specific measures in place to ensure Mythra/Pyra would be taken care of in the future, and to be frank, Rex owes a lot of his successes with the Aegis to Addam and what he and his allies sacrificed centuries ago.

Rex might have been able to accept Mythra/Pyra in a way that Addam ultimately did not, but it still doesn’t change the fact that Rex made a lot of dumb and reckless mistakes throughout his story and that his inexperience as a driver caused a LOT of problems for himself, Mythra/Pyra, and the rest of the party on more than one occasion…..

Yes, Rex played a very key part in finishing what Addam and his friends started 500 years ago and righting many of the wrongs that came about from the past. However, it’s made very clear both in the base game and TTGC, that Addam and his friends were the ones that ultimately gave the future generation that the Aegis returned to a fighting chance with their many sacrifices and hardships that they endured and I wanted to do a comparison/contrast between Addam and Rex as thoroughly and objectively as I could.

I posted a response on the topic in question here, but I’ll copy and paste what I said here on tumblr. It will be a post of very considerable length so be mindful of that too lol. Needless to say, if you haven’t completed both Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and Torna the Golden Country then don’t read any further. Massive spoilers abound here. Final warning.

As much as I liked Addam (I thought he was a very human character, flaws, virtues and all), I often felt like the DLC Torna the Golden Country glossed over his flaws as the driver of the Aegis (and since almost everyone thought so highly of him he was hardly called out on anything) because the expansion was too busy constantly calling Mythra out on all her short comings (to the point where it often felt like Monolith were laying it on a bit thick) which was a little unfair IMO (further reason why I wish that this DLC had been told from Mythra and Addam’s perspective instead of Lora and Jin. Don’t get me wrong, Jin and Lora’s story is truly gut wrenching and I did find Lora to be a good lead character but overall the DLC really doesn’t tell us anything more than what we already knew about them from the main game outside some extra interactions with that Gort guy). 

With that said though, it was cool to witness and experience some of the finer details surrounding the Jin/Lora/Haze dynamic such as who Lora was as a character, how the bond/affinity between her, Jin and Haze was ironically (and tragically since we know what will happen to all of them) not so different from the one Mythra/Pyra will later forge with Rex five centuries down the line (which was the very root of why Jin went down that dark path after Lora was killed, which we knew from the main game, but to actually witness said bond makes it all the more tragic), and how she basically redefined what the bond between drivers and blades could be for everyone back then both on and off the battlefield and more or less single-handedly invented what would later become a common staple for Blade/Driver combat (passing the weapon).

It’s also worth noting that the bond Lora had with both Jin and Haze five centuries ago was considered extremely rare. By the time Rex and co come into the picture, it’s truly heartwarming to see that sort of bond between drivers and blades much more common place. On another note, the mask that Jin wears… Lora made it for him (which is tragic in itself) but just what the hell sort of materials did Lora use for the thing to hold up for five centuries?

Anyway, it’s true that Mythra was definitely often too eager to use her OHKO move (the Artifice Siren), was immature, brash, and inexperienced (and those faults played a part in Addam and Mythra’s resonance problems certainly. The DLC spent far too much time beating us over the head with that fact IMO so I’m going to focus more on Addam’s issues in this post just to be clear), but Addam’s fear was ALSO just as much a wrench in their bonding issues as it was justified (and just as bad a problem if not more so than Mythra’s recklessness and immaturity IMO) and I really wished Torna had expanded on that fact a lot more considering he was always holding Mythra back from using her power period out of fear rather than trying to compromise a bit and help her find more creative and less destructive ways to utilize it (you know, like a real driver is supposed to do….?). 

Seriously, there’s a fine line between wise caution and crippling fear. If a person lets fear hold them back from NEVER using the power they’ve been granted then no matter how well meaning their caution is they shouldn’t be surprised when they can’t control it when it matters…..It’s sadly no surprise that Addam couldn’t control Mythra in the finale of TTGC when everything went sideways because he never actually did anything to better himself as her driver.

He was too busy trying to be her “with great power becomes great responsibility” parent (though to be fair that role was quite necessary to an extent) which, while definitely playing a huge part in bringing out her dormant “humanity” underneath her attitude, somewhere along the way, he forgot, (or didn’t realize the importance of him conquering his fear until it was too late) that Mythra ultimately wasn’t his daughter but his blade and the Aegis at that. To put this in perspective, it’s worth noting that 500 years later, it wasn’t until Rex proved himself to Mythra (and Pyra) as their true driver that they finally stopped with their suicidal plans and revealed their true self and their power to him despite both of them having grown very fond of Rex beforehand. 

With that said, Mythra was fond of Addam as well. At the very least she respected him enough to stay loyal to him and put up with being belittled and insulted by everyone around her in direct contrast to Malos who took the first opportunity he had to rid himself of Amalthus despite both Aegises being tainted and/or corrupted by their drivers during this time period. Mythra was corrupted because of Addam’s fears and insecurities and Malos because of Amalthus’s despair and hatred. It’s unfortunate that Addam never could realize the full ramifications of his fears and how those fears tainted his resonance with Mythra from the outset until it was too late. The whole tragedy of Torna is just further proof of how crucial a strong resonance/bond of true acceptance really is to a blade. It’s ultimately the most important bond a driver can forge with his or her blade. That applies to the Aegis most of all.

In other words, Addam still needed to actually man up, move past his fear and become the true driver of the Aegis, and view Mythra as an equal and ultimately prioritize learning how to accept that side of her rather than either (subconsciously) viewing her as an in-born dangerous monster in the making just because she was an Aegis and/or merely treating her like a “kid” simply because that was easier for him to accept (and it was pretty clear she didn’t appreciate that anyway and thought it was somewhat patronizing despite Addam’s good intentions “What the hell is with that tone? Where do you get off acting all parental?”). Hey, all immaturity and recklessness aside, Mythra’s real father was the creator of the world, and yet she’s was stuck with a driver/human that kept inadvertently talking down to her like he knew everything and couldn’t/wouldn’t accept her true self, so in a way her frustration/annoyance was somewhat justified honestly IMO. 

In TTGC, shortly after Hugo leaves the party for a bit after arriving at the Aletta Garrison and right after the party cleared the bridge of those Gogol monsters, Addam told Mythra to her face (and in front of everyone) that he’s apprehensive about facing Malos because she needs more training and needs to be mindful of her power, which was admittedly fair to a certain degree. The problem was it was coming from a place where Addam didn’t think he himself had much to improve while believing that Mythra had everything to improve which wasn’t completely fair or true. Never once did he admit directly to her his own issues of fear or tried to work on conquering them too (and either didn’t seem to understand or didn’t want to admit that him “not being man enough” was a much bigger problem than he wanted to believe and that he wasn’t 100% prepared to fight Malos either. And given what he admitted outright to Lora a few scenes prior about his fears, I’m inclined to go with the latter interpretation). 

Honestly, I can’t be the only one who found it ironic (and sadly a bit hypocritical of him to be frank) that Addam was supposed to be the prince of a nation that prided itself on treating blades and titans as equal partners and friends and forging true bonds with them…..and yet he couldn’t extend that courtesy to his OWN blade and properly bond with her? As the driver of the Aegis that was even more damning. It didn’t help matters that the expansion all but confirmed that Addam kept Mythra apart from not just his militia, but from his own family out of fear of her potential wrath (Mythra had to directly ask what’s so special about Aletta once the party first arrived, indicating that Mythra had never even seen the place until that moment). 

Addam and Mythra had been together for a year prior to meeting Lora and Jin so there’s a few more unfortunate implications and further mention of the huge lack of trust between them as driver and blade…..It wasn’t completely fair of them (the party) back then to belittle Mythra for her initial “lack of compassion” towards humanity when Addam was the one who kept her apart from humans prior to meeting Lora/Jin/Haze. Even though Addam stated that she’s the one that “purposely kept herself apart,” it’s not like Addam helped matters with all of that either (again at least not until Lora/Jin/Haze came into the picture). So…what did they expect? It’s not like Mythra was even a blade from Alrest anyway but rather stolen directly from Elysium. HOW could she have known any better prior to having the opportunity to forge her OWN connections and bonds with others?

He and everyone else around him instead just kept constantly calling Mythra out on and putting her down about her problems and her power which would have been fine if it hadn’t happened to the point where it seemed like none of them had any real faith in her (from her point of view) and (unintentionally) making her feel like a dangerous outcast, regardless of what they might have meant or intended or how much of said treatment Mythra might have brought on herself. Never mind the fact that regardless of what Addam and Co might have believed back then, they were against a rogue Aegis at full power and in complete control over said power. 

The only thing that could/would possibly turn the tide completely in their favor against one rogue Aegis at full power and in complete control of said power was the other Aegis fighting on their side at full power and in complete control of said power. And when I say ”completely in their favor” I mean the party achieving victory against Malos without 1) the cost of Mythra losing herself in rage and her sinking the Tornan Titan to the cloud sea bed, 2) Team Hugo’s tragic sacrifice to save the rest of the party from the combination of Mythra’s attack the Tornan core’s explosion, and 3) Milton’s untimely murder at the hands of Malos. All of that isn’t even getting into what Amalthus ends up doing after the battle to Team Lora and the surviving Tornan refugees that evacuated to Spessia….

With that said, without Mythra (the other Aegis) and her full power (and complete control over it), they were all essentially screwed against Malos. Needless to say that the party members’ overall fearful and constant negative attitudes about her power and/or shooting her down whenever she tried to use her Aegis power or even mentioned using it throughout the campaign because they just assumed she’d destroy everything (and consequently both Addam and Mythra never had the opportunity to learn how to properly control her powers or for him to learn to accept that side of herself) and constantly (even if unintentionally) reinforcing the belief that she was just a reckless and dangerous “simpleton” super weapon came back to bite them all in the ass hard come the final battle against Malos and every other tragic event that took place afterwards (self-fulfilling prophecy if I ever saw one. More on this point later). 

However, as Rex and Mythra/Pyra will demonstrate five centuries later (once Rex gets a serious reality check and a clue or two about what he’s truly involved himself in with her that is), with a proper and strong driver/blade bond, with genuine trust between driver and blade unclouded by fears and doubts, an Aegis using their full power wouldn’t automatically equate to destroying everyone and everything (just like practically any other blade in this story), something that Addam might have been able to realize eventually for himself had he not tainted their resonance from the outset with his fears and negative preconceived notions about Aegises that he never bothered to try and reconcile or that no one thought important enough to call him out on (despite the implication that a few characters within the party picked up on some of his resonance issues or even outright knew about them in Lora’s case) because everyone (both in the party and out) treated him like a near flawless hero who could do no wrong. 

Seriously, the 100% adoration rating trope got deconstructed with a vengeance here in a way or at the very least explored in a harsher and more realistic way with Addam as a character along with the humble prince archetype. When people think that highly of a person in general, they are far less likely to see any real flaws in a person and thus far less likely to call a person out when it could benefit them. 

Unlike Rex with his issues of inexperience and naivety that he was constantly called on and eventually forced to confront and overcome, Addam’s (subconscious) views of Aegises and his fears of Mythra were never truly challenged in any significant way that would have forced him to change his perspective or his actions until during and after Torna’s destruction by Mythra’s hand (again, because everyone either thought too highly of him to note any real flaws or because they shared in his views about the power).

And simply being a “humble prince” who would prefer to (and often finds any excuse to) run away and live like a farmer rather than tend to his royal duties actually doesn’t automatically entitle a person to a peaceful farm life surrounded by his close friends and family, especially when he’s either given or forced into opportunities of heroism and greatness that would help him achieve his desired peaceful outcome (in the most ideal way of everyone close to him surviving and his nation not being doomed to destruction), and yet instead choose to not properly seize those opportunities simply because he won’t get over himself. 

Addam was (understandably) so hyper focused on achieving his dream of a peaceful farm life existence with his family that in the end all he thought about was himself and thus, despite treating Mythra with compassion in the face of his fear of her, he still wasn’t properly taking care of her and acknowledging her true nature as a blade/Aegis by truly connecting with her as a driver. That’s not even getting into how he outright shied away from politics and ruling his nation out of fear even before Mythra came into his life. 

It’s a very similar issue/pattern that Rex will find himself in and Jin will actually call him out on 500 years later at the end of chapter six in XBC2 (because Rex was (understandably) so hyper focused on doggedly pursuing his dream of reaching Elysium that he was naively ignoring everything else around him including properly understanding Pyra/Mythra): “Look at the state of you. You hadn’t even noticed. Your own blade has been wounded so deeply, and all you can think of is yourself. You awakened the Aegis, I thought that…you might have been different. But you’re just a fool. A pitiful, childish fool.”

Not to say that Addam should not have tried to pursue a life of peace with his family after defeating Malos in any capacity (I’d never declare that), but it was incredibly short-sighted and somewhat arrogant of him to assume that he’d be able to completely remove himself from the world’s troubles since he was the driver of the Aegis even if he had managed to elude the Tornan throne. Living the life of a hermit in the sticks completely removed from it all as he wanted likely wasn’t going to happen after the fight against Malos even if Torna’s tragic fate had been averted. 

In Torna, Addam was depicted as the popular and warm hearted prince of his nation with the majority of his people preferring him to be the next in line towards ascending the Tornan throne over his far less popular uncle (Prince Zetter). The ONLY reason Addam was not was because he’s fourth in line to the throne while Prince Zetter was first in line. 

However, Addam didn’t want to rule. He didn’t care about power and he was ultimately afraid of the man he might become should he ascend the throne. He didn’t want the pressure of ruling. He didn’t want power or to be in the spotlight in any way. All he wanted was the freedom to live his life in peace with his wife and soon to be born child away from politics, away from heroism and glory.

Definitely not bad or unreasonable desires in and of themselves for sure, and again, in ANY other story, he surely would have been the relatable, noble, humble, down-to-earth prince who just wanted to be free of it all and would have probably been “rewarded” with the chance to live in peace with his family after achieving victory against a great world threatening force (again, Addam did still save the whole world despite everything else).

Instead, that very attitude of doggedly pursuing his desire for farm life completely removed from it all at the expense of EVERYTHING else happening around him in his life (including his status as an Aegis driver, that in itself a life long commitment to “heroism” in his case whether he knew and/or wanted it or not), combined with his deep insecurities and fears, sadly only served as the root cause of all his issues both as a prince of his nation and the driver of the Aegis, as well as contributing to his ultimate failure at saving and helping either one. He (understandably) didn’t want the throne so he often discouraged people from talking about him ascending it mainly because he was afraid of what sort of person he could potentially become while ruling. 

Never mind the fact, that regardless of what he wanted, he might have been forced to accept the responsibility of the throne due to popular vote alone (as well as the King himself constantly saying and declaring that Addam was far more fit to rule despite it being Prince Zetter’s birthright). Also, by being the driver of the Aegis, he would have been forced in the spotlight no matter what. He could/would have been forced to play the role of hero for longer than just stopping Malos had things played out differently. 

I seriously doubt that even if Torna had been spared and everyone made it out alive that Amalthus (and others in Indol like him) was just going to stand idle. He was going to use those flawed blade eaters and those flesh eaters for something surely, and he probably still would have eventually murdered his way towards becoming Praetor….Given that Amalthus was already a scheming monster even back then, he definitely would have taken the opportunity to retrieve and/or kill Mythra even if everything had turned out fine for Torna and the party.

The bottom line was Addam was a prince of Torna, meaning he had responsibilities that he may not have been able to completely avoid regardless of how frightened he might have been about ruling his nation or how much he longed for a peaceful existence completely and utterly removed from politics and heroism after defeating Malos. 

Sadly though, he held himself back from fully embracing those responsibilities (largely out of fear) even before everything went to hell and even well before he brought Mythra into his life. And by the time he sealed Mythra/Pyra away, he had lost the majority of the people loyal to him (the Addamites as well as Team Lora) to Amalthus’s awful attack on Spessia where they had evacuated after Torna fell, and only the Counter-Addamites were left in power in Tantal. 

So, even if he had gone back to Tantal, I’m not sure if he would have been able to do much and his presence probably would have caused even more conflict and war, probably being the reason why he “chose not to return” to Tantal after everything had happened. Well, and it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to assume he was ashamed that his weakness with Mythra doomed Torna to its tragic fate and couldn’t bare to face his people because of it. 

Addam’s weaknesses as Mythra’s driver, the subsequent tragedies, and her eventual sealing, combined with his inaction with politics regarding the Tornan throne throughout his campaign and his eventual disappearance from the world and history after the Aegis War, sadly only left a power vacuum. And Amalthus (along with Addam’s other opposition in Prince Zetter and the other Counter-Addamites) were all too ready to take FULL advantage of it. 

Though to be fair, despite the power vacuum left behind, Addam sealing Mythra/Pyra away did effectively keep her out of Amalthus’s clutches until a time came where someone truly worthy of her would awaken her again (considering Amalthus’s status as a master driver and what we saw in the base game, he would have been able to control her eventually too).

Even so, Addam still fell into a similar pattern with being Mythra’s driver. He saw what Malos could do prior to even resonating with Mythra and thus he was (understandably) afraid of the wrath that he could potentially bring down upon the world (see the unfortunate pattern?), and thus closed his heart and mind from learning about the true nature of her powers. 

Mythra’s true Aegis power (from what we eventually see in the base game with Rex and Pneuma), can only be described as “All Creation” or reality manipulation, i.e, “The power to manifest what you imagine”. Addam thought that Mythra’s powers could only cause destruction based solely on what he saw from Malos so he held himself (and by extension her) back from using those powers out of fear. If he only had a more open heart and mind towards her, he would have realized that her power could have been quite literally whatever he wanted it to be (something that’s implied he realized during Mythra’s rampage in their final battle against Malos, but again, it was too late at that point). 

He forgot that Mythra, even if she was another Aegis, was still her OWN person and being an Aegis didn’t automatically mean she was just going to run wild like Malos eventually did. Nor should Addam have constantly compared himself to Amalthus. He and Amalthus were two different people and drivers and just because Amalthus lost control of Malos didn’t automatically mean that Addam would lose control of Mythra.

As unintentional as it might have been on his end, Addam had no faith or confidence in himself as the driver of the Aegis and thus no faith or confidence in Mythra as his blade. Never once during his time as her active driver did he truly consider that his negative thoughts of him being too afraid to properly use Mythra’s power would taint her perspective on herself as well through his resonance with her. Never once thought that, rather than saving people from her potential wrath by opting to not use her true powers in any capacity that he was instead completely preventing himself from truly connecting with Mythra and learning about her. 

And once he finally did get a clue on all of that, it was far too late for him to fix his issues with her. And even though Addam saw Mythra more or less as a surrogate daughter or “kid” of sorts, that otherwise heartwarming bond was fundamentally undermined by his fear of her, and it kept him from truly accepting her as both an individual and the Aegis, as well as kept him from seeing and respecting Mythra as an equal partner, friend and comrade in the same vein he saw Minoth, Team Lora and Team Hugo. 

Addam’s desire for a peaceful life and being a father was perfectly fine. Subconsciously imposing the “daughter” identity onto Mythra through his resonance with her to the point of outright rejecting her true nature (Pneuma) as an all powerful blade/Aegis (as in the daughter of the Architect himself) out of fear? Yeah…not so much and he paid a HUGE price for that. 

The world didn’t need an all powerful blade with a “childish” mentality to save it even if Addam (understandably) longed for fatherhood himself over being a hero. The world needed the Aegis in her truest form (Pneuma). And the world needed a driver for her that was actually willing to accept and use that power to not just stop Malos, but to also guide humanity towards a brighter future (again, all things he realized far too late and outright mentions in the final message he entrusted to Pyra).

While the surrogate parenting or mentoring (or whatever) from Addam was necessary to a certain degree (since again his desire for fatherhood combined with his intense fears of Aegises is implied to have completely messed up his resonance with the green Aegis core from the very beginning), again, ultimately, Mythra didn’t need a “father” figure in him (nor did she really want that deep down as I pointed out earlier). 

She wanted and needed a driver. A TRUE driver. She was expected to be the light of hope for humanity in their darkest hour 500 years ago. However, as Rex will later eventually see and understand once he comes along 500 years later, Addam had failed to truly understand (again until it was far too late for Torna) that Mythra needed someone to be HER light of hope before she could bring hope to everyone else. Again there’s a reason why 500 years later that it wasn’t until Rex proved himself to her as her true driver (i.e., her true emotional anchor) that her true power and nature was ever revealed to him.

Addam was always either too afraid or too hesitant to step up when and where it mattered the most sadly despite his potential for greatness and heroism whether it be with possibly ruling his nation or being the driver of the Aegis. He spent far too much time in his own head stewing in negative hypotheticals (i.e. worrying about the potential consequences of his actions) and that hindered his ability to step up and act when necessary. 

And again, a lot of the fears he carried plus the lack of acceptance in all facets of his royal upbringing were his own personal problems and flaws that he never reconciled even before he became Mythra’s driver. Not helping matters is that Mythra represented literally everything in his life he wanted no part of (heroism, royal duties, notoriety, no peace and quiet, basically his life wouldn’t be his own in a way, etc).

Addam being hindered by the “potential” consequences of his actions was definitely one of the major differences between him and Rex despite a lot of other similarities. And in the end, all it amounted to was Addam fundamentally having the opportunities to do great things with both his country (and by extension the world) and his blade, but failing to truly capitalize on them.

By not (subconsciously) fully committing himself to the role as driver of the Aegis, and by not fully seizing the opportunity to guide his nation and the world towards salvation and prosperity when he had the chance (again being too (understandably) hyper focused on achieving his dream of a peaceful farm life with his family completely and utterly removed from everyone and everything), he instead, unwittingly played a part in causing irreparable damage to his nation (and the world for 500 years until Rex and co come along) in spite of achieving victory against Malos. That’s not even getting into the (near) irreparable emotional damage that Mythra (and Pyra) suffered and carried alone for 500 years as a result of his incompetence and fear as her driver. And well….because of all of that….the rest was tragic history….

Not helping matters is that Addam resonated with Mythra in a time period before the “core cleansing” (Amalthus hadn’t yet become Praetor and hadn’t yet started tampering/abusing his master driver powers and stealing data from core crystals) and the whole “passing the weapon” battle style, something that deepened the connection between driver and blade both on and off the battlefield was still a new concept for most other drivers and blades in this time period (including Addam himself) prior to meeting Lora/Jin/Haze. 

Despite how wrong Amalthus was for later doing so (because he was starving the world of Titans for people to live on and hurting other blades to suit his own twisted idea of salvation), the core cleansing DID increase the pool of potential drivers by a much larger margin by the time Rex and co are involved, meaning that there were far more drivers around that could offer tips and other useful information about drivers and blades and their connections with each other. 

However, in Torna’s time period, people everywhere had to rely on the natural pool of potential drivers (which was stated to be naturally very low and exactly why we only see a very small handful of drivers and blades around in Torna’s time period outside the main party). As a consequence, the synergy/affinity/bond/connection between drivers and blades at large wasn’t near as developed as it would become centuries later. As I mentioned before Lora’s type of bond she forged with both Jin and Haze was considered extremely rare back then. 

So, in other words, there were very few people back then outside the party who could have offered a second opinion or perspective. I have to wonder how different things might have been for Torna 500 years ago had there been a “Vandam” type character outside the party that could have helped both Addam and Mythra get over themselves with all of his “Power depends on the heart of it’s wielder” and “If we don’t use our power because we’re scared of it, we’re done for” flavor of wisdom…

It’s all even more tragic in a way considering that some time during the interim between TTGC and XBC2, during her long slumber Mythra must have thought of ways to become more creative, strategical, refined and precise in the use of her powers on her own considering her introduction to the base game party and how she guides Rex against Malos and Akhos. 

Not to mention Mythra/Pyra was often the one taking charge and leading the base game party out of trouble and/or coming up with the battle strategies and/or insights on where to go or what to do next. The second encounter against Brighid and Morag as well as the first boss fight against Mikhail and Patroka were a couple prime examples of many, showing that she indeed had the capacity to learn in that regard. It could have very well been possible in Addam’s time had he just not been so afraid of her power and encouraged her a bit more when it came to using it. 

Don’t get me wrong, Addam was completely justified in worrying about Mythra becoming the next Malos, and she flat out says that she has no interest in the fate of humans, the world or its future on more than one occasion to be fair. Those are words from her that Rex never hears keep in mind by the time he comes into her life, so Rex has even less cause to be wary of her.

And as I mentioned earlier, Addam seemed less interested in getting to understand Mythra’s powers, her feelings and bringing out her full potential and getting to understand what it truly meant to be the driver of the Aegis and shouldering that burden, or even trying to understand what an “Aegis” truly was because of that very fear and more interested in just stopping Malos so he can work the fields in peace (and given the fact that he’s married and expecting a child no one could truly blame him for that), which while good for him (and again perfectly understandable), that still would have left a divine and all powerful being like Mythra wholly unfulfilled which she alludes to in a rather chilling moment between them when she and Addam were in Indol together after she asks him what they were going to do after defeating Malos “Well that [going home and working the land was Addam’s response] might be good enough for you. But some others might….not be…too pleased with that….” 

While definitely unintentional on his end (Addam was a kind hearted man and I’m 100% positive he more than likely intended for her to be a part of his family along with Milton. Well, after defeating Malos anyway), the fact that he seemed overall more interested in merely using her to defeat Malos so he and his family could live in peace and ultimately less interested in becoming the driver that Mythra needed and deserved (at least until it was far too late for it to matter to him, to her or to the rest of the Tornans and their Titan/Nation), there was this sort of unintentional, but still rather unfortunate implication lingering between them that Mythra was only a means to an end for him. He was unintentionally relegating her existence to little more than a super weapon against Malos with nothing really concretely planned to do with her after that regardless of how much he genuinely wanted what was best for her like a father would have in a sense (again, totally 100% unintentional on his end but still somewhat there sadly).

That crippling fear again also definitely played a huge part in that rather disastrous resonance issue between them when Mythra totally snapped after Malos killed Milton. It’s pretty tragically ironic to note that the scenario that Addam feared the most and was trying desperately to prevent throughout the DLC (Mythra losing control of her power and basically becoming the next Malos in a sense) came about ultimately (on his part in their resonance issues anyway) not because Mythra was “inexperienced” or “careless” like he half expected because before Malos did the unthinkable and killed Milton, she was completely on board with the idea of taking down Malos together alongside her friends at that point and had come to value the ties of friendship she forged with all of them and had matured greatly as well as becoming far closer to the more tempered Mythra that we’d eventually see in the base game five centuries later. She had changed for the better, but Addam had not.

Sadly, the disastrous situation came about (again on his part in their resonance issues) because he himself never did anything to try to overcome his fear (despite acknowledging the fear to Lora in an early cutscene) and strengthening his resonance with Mythra.  

Even with all of that said, his fear of the Aegis wrath in general was justified sadly because Malos at full power was already on the rampage sowing death and destruction long before Addam resonated with Mythra so that understandably didn’t help with the fear at all (and sort of subconsciously colored his perception of Aegises in general in the negative from the very beginning unfortunately but understandably). 

However, Torna The Golden Country did also show that for all intent and purposes, Addam actually did possess the purity and strength of heart and character to potentially wield the true power of the Aegis (the “aptitude” to quote the base game) because face it, if he didn’t hold the potential in itself to do so he would not have been able to resonate with Pueuma’s core crystal period. 

Not to mention that he was far more experienced as a driver than Rex, but tragically, that crippling fear held him back from ever realizing his potential for both him and Mythra and things sadly got really FUBAR in the final hours of the expansion as a result. Though of course not all of it was his fault for sure. Circumstances just weren’t on Addam’s side. Mythra definitely was a loose cannon in this DLC for certain particularly in the beginning which didn’t do the best of jobs reassuring him, and Malos, the other Aegis was making a terrifyingly destructive ass of himself, in addition to giving Addam a clear, tangible reminder of who and what Mythra could become if he didn’t exercise the upmost caution. Let’s not forget that Addam was a prince of his nation and already had hundreds of people’s lives dependent on him and his actions with or without being the driver of the Aegis (but becoming so certainly amplified his already large list of responsibilities). 

Anybody would be hesitant in the above scenario, and it’s a scenario that Rex was never subjected to thanks in large part to Addam and the heroes of the past) but his fear does play a pretty huge part in why things go to hell for him and Mythra ultimately…Like he said…. sadly in the end, no matter how anyone looks at it, he just “wasn’t man enough” and unfortunately (but still understandably) he ultimately paid the tragic price (said price being losing everything important to him) of being only half committed to the role of “Driver of the Aegis”.

Even Jin, for all his respect for Addam back in the day could tell that he was ultimately not meant to be Mythra’s true driver and that Addam’s bond with her lacked…something. And no I don’t mean “romance” or anything like that. A driver and blade don’t always have to be romantically linked to have a strong bond and resonance. Romance certainly helps to be sure, but it’s not an outright requirement. Hugo’s bond with both Aegeaon and Brighid in the Torna expansion as well as Nia and Dromarch from the base game are two examples of many. Rather, Addam and Mythra lacked a genuine sense of trust, faith, understanding and affinity with each other as driver and blade even though they got along well enough otherwise. And this is before everything goes to hell. 

Lora and Jin (after the latter overhears the conversation Lora had with Addam earlier in the expansion about his fears and he gets to know Mythra better) see Addam’s issues with fear and that his resonance with Mythra was lacking because of it (and seeing that it wasn’t so simple a problem as Mythra merely being “careless” or hard to deal with as it appeared on the surface. Partially, but not completely). The problem was neither one seemed to think it important enough (or their place) to note to Addam directly prior to the final battle. 

Nor was Addam ever forced to confront the full ramifications of said fears and how they tainted his resonance with Mythra until it was far too late. Lora thinks Addam will figure it out with time (never mind the fact that time wasn’t exactly a luxury they had and it’s not like that wasn’t obvious) and Jin flat out went meta and said to Mythra that he honestly believed that the bond she had been searching for (”A driver and blade are one in body and soul”) ultimately wouldn’t be found in Addam but with another driver well into the future (which is probably why he didn’t bother to note anything to Addam himself). 

Though to be completely fair, just like Addam had ample reason to fear the true power of the Aegis, Rex had plenty of reasons and completely differing circumstances from Addam that worked in his favor that led him to ultimately being able to accept Mythra/Pyra. 

Despite that though, Rex does still start off with a true lack of understanding of Pyra and Mythra’s feelings and their true burden, as well as the knowledge of the ends and outs of being a driver period, (let alone the driver of the Aegis) before shit hit the fan for him too. Because let’s face it. He was more or less an immature, inexperienced, clueless and reckless idiot for roughly seven chapters before he finally got it together (something he himself notes at the end of said chapter). And just because Rex did ultimately help Pyra and Mythra by accepting them doesn’t mean he didn’t fail a lot before it happened (and even somewhat after the fact). 

Seriously, I get tired of these Rex vs Addam topics that frame Rex as a complete success in every way (as if the boy never failed in any capacity, or as if his successes took place solely in a vacuum of his own skills. Yeah hardly) and framing Addam as a total failure in every way just because the former succeeded with Mythra/Pyra. 

Again, that is a very distorted picture of both their accomplishments for the world as a whole to say the least…Never mind the fact that Addam’s actions five centuries ago kept the entire world from completely ending and gave the future generation a fighting chance, as well as his time with Mythra also had a humanizing factor on her which gave her the experience, clarity and perspective for a blade necessary to counterbalance Rex’s inexperience, naivety and recklessness as a driver.

I’m honestly not trying to take away from Rex’s long list of accomplishments or his eventual character growth (hence the coming of age story), but rather to remind people that the boy actually DID fail at times and that there’s more to his story than just his success with the Aegis. (Not trying to shit on Rex but the boy WAS dumb from time to time….just saying).

Anyway case in point for Rex’s failures, his character flaws, and him just ultimately being a child that’s “stumbling his way forward” (at least for a good stretch of the story): 

Chapter 1 (Encounters) 

He gets himself killed by Jin because of his childish naiveté. He didn’t take the time to investigate the job and his employers. All he heard when he accepted the job was “200,000 gold in total” and common sense just flew right out the window. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is…and he would have remained dead had Pyra not brought him back out of the kindness of her heart…..

Well that and she was initially just using him to get to Elysium to die herself. Yeah, it’s complicated I guess and this encounter with her shows that Rex is far too naive and trusting for his own good (hell, being too trusting already got the boy killed). Seriously, Pyra and Mythra are subtle as sin when it comes to manipulation and lying by omission, particularly with Rex and this side of their characters will show up again in the final chapter…..

But to be fair, this particular encounter does also put Rex in a better position to bond much more deeply with Pyra (and later Mythra too) because it sets her up as his savior that he’s indebted to rather than a potentially scary world destroying Aegis as the latter was the case for Addam. 

However, let’s not forget the fact that had it not been for Azurda’s daring rescue (which almost cost him his life btw), Rex, Pyra, Nia and Dromarch would have been screwed. And to be frank, this sort of starts a trend for the first five or so chapters of Rex getting bailed out of dealing with his issues of driver inexperience and naivety by some sort of plot contrivance instead of his own skills…

Chapter 2 (Aptitude) 

He and Nia were outmatched by a solo Brighid, and when the enemy captured Nia in one of those ether suppressing nets Rex didn’t want to run and leave her behind. That’s kind on his end but at the same time it also shows a few of his character flaws (immaturity and not knowing when to withdraw from the battlefield and realizing that sometimes a person really can’t save someone) and childish nature working against him. 

Thanks to Rex’s inability to let go, he almost missed his chance to escape and would have been captured as well had (soon-to-be-new-party-member) Tora, (who was trying to snipe the soldiers because he thinks they’re bullies) not missed his target and hit the water pipe that Brighid was standing under, and the water (rather conveniently) weakened Brighid, giving Pyra and Rex a lucky opening to retreat.

And later he and the party were practically useless against Morag and Brighid together and Rex and co have to destroy a whole water tower JUST TO GET THE HELL AWAY FROM THEM. Though, to be completely fair, the way Rex and the team destroyed the water tower was an impressive display of teamwork and timing (and did a good job of showing that Rex did indeed have the capacity to think on his feet as well as his “good instincts” that Brighid notes). 

However, we find out a bit later that little stunt caused A LOT of problems for both him and the common folks. Bandits attacked and ransacked the village of Cordell, one of the only few places left in Gormott that had accessible water, which led Rhys to stealing Roc’s core crystal in an attempt to avenge his now lost home and family not to mention that a lot of the town folks’ livelihoods depended on that water tower and Rex screwed them over by toppling it (though Rex does help little Rhys and his friends find their start as salvagers, enabling them to earn their livings).

Chapter 3 (Our Own War) 

The idea to take an airship straight to the World Tree to get to Elysium….(sigh)…..come on Rex, if it was that easy then the World Tree would be far more accessible to practically anyone with a ship (and Elysium would have been discovered a long time ago). The fact that everyone went along with that idea was pretty egregious…I would have expected at least Nia to call him on that one…not to mention thanks to crashing the ship that Umon let him borrow, it really put Umon out on a limb when it came to his airship business for the majority of the game and made him a depressed suicidal wreck (though to be fair, Rex and Co can later do a series of quests and Merc missions to help Umon get back on track).

Let’s not forget his first encounter against Vandam showed his complete inexperience as a driver (not listening to Pyra telling him to wait because she can’t transfer power that fast) despite having the Aegis on his side and how his bullheadedness there would have gotten him killed had Vandam actually been serious and not the kind man he was. Not to mention that while he does learn and embrace some life long lessons that Vandam passes along to him, Rex still immaturely brushes off Vandam’s warnings about the true burden of being the driver of the Aegis. Vandam rightfully points out that “the whole world is gonna try and scalp you. You realize that?” and that Rex sharing a life force with Pyra is a bigger problem than Rex understands. 

All Rex can respond with are his typical empty platitudes about banding together and that he’ll protect Pyra no matter what and “That’s just how the chips fell. It is what it is” regarding the “sharing their life force” thing. Those are all kind and admirable things to declare for one so young definitely, and I applaud anyone able to smile in the face of adversity don’t get me wrong, but Rex is still so incredibly green at being a driver period and so hopelessly naive about the world and life in general at this point in the narrative that he doesn’t have the power, skill or mature perspective necessary to understand the burden of being the Aegis driver. 

Nor can Rex erase everyone’s (valid) increasing concerns and doubts about some random kid salvager with no obvious driver skill somehow being the Aegis’s driver. Rex is being pretty naive now and will grow somewhat arrogant and complacent once Mythra awakens due to her immense power, “feeling like he can do anything”, but he will pay a very hard price later for brushing off Vandam’s concerns (that hard price taking place towards the end of chapter six and the majority of chapter seven but we’ll get to all of that soon).

Anyway, that’s not to mention Rex’s sheer uselessness and incompetence against Akhos and Malos a bit later contributes to causing the death of his mentor and friend Vandam. And even when it’s clear that he’s outmatched, Rex still goes charging in like an idiot twice. And by the way the first time he doesn’t have the excuse of being in a grief stricken rage because Vandam is still alive the first time. 

Even so, thanks to Rex’s idiotic and reckless behavior, he ends up forcing Vandam to rush in to try and save his ass after he rushes ahead without thinking, charging at Akhos as he starts prattling on about using Obrona’s abilities to disrupt the ether flow in the area with Rex screaming “You’re bluffing!” at Akhos like a cocky and reckless dumbass (sorry I couldn’t resist lol I love Mythra so much. Hey at least she didn’t call Rex one even if admittedly it would have been somewhat justified lol), and the second time Rex rushes off without a plan when it’s clear he’s outmatched is after Malos killed Vandam (when he should have listened to Vandam mere moments prior and fled the battlefield). 

So, I’ll say it plain: it’s pretty clear that it was only thanks to Mythra’s awakening that Rex survived this battle at all considering all he did prior to this point (for pretty much the whole chapter with every fight he was in including this current one) was rush ahead recklessly with no plan of action combined with a rather wasteful use of blade artes. Yeah….if Mythra hadn’t stepped in soon, him charging in like an idiot would have gotten himself killed a second time. 

Despite him and the party not really knowing and understanding the full weight of Mythra’s anger at being brought back (and how her lashing out was less directed at him and more her just being utterly frightened at being back in the real world and just reacting very poorly) her harsh words to him about his incompetence and him not possessing the maturity to know when to hold back and withdraw and learning to accept his own limitations as just one person in the world (something that Addam will also later call him out on) and blindly rushing the enemy weren’t without merit which he even admits and notably, to give Rex some credit, from this point on he doesn’t just go charging his enemies blindly anymore. 

It doesn’t really help that Rex’s only defense to Mythra calling him on his immaturity and recklessness is “I couldn’t hand you over to them. I wanted to keep you safe”. Sure, that line from him sort of stopped Mythra’s rant, (and it’s clear she feels guilty about taking her frustrations out on Rex at the moment and wasn’t expecting the concern from him), but it still didn’t negate her main point at all. Now, his intentions may have been noble, but the bottom line was that sometimes if a person is outmatched in battle then they’re just outmatched. Period. And that sometimes fleeing the battlefield IS the proper way to ensure the safety of one’s friends/comrades in arms especially when given an opening to do so. 

And before anyone tries to say “well there’s no guarantee that Rex and Co. would have escaped anyway”, well maybe and maybe not but that’s not really the point here to be candid. The fact that Rex didn’t even attempt to do so when Vandam clearly gave him an opening only further highlighted both his immaturity and recklessness, as well as the fact that Rex wasn’t quite ready to do what it took to not only “fight his own war” but to also win it (i.e accept that sacrifices are sometimes inevitable during a war and learn to respect that choice when another person willingly decides to make that personal sacrifice for the greater good). 

And merely charging forward in a blind rage regardless only just further endangered the team and those around him and was just foolish and immature (and frankly, just spitting on Vandam’s sacrifice) and would have cost more lives in the long run (something Mythra is ALL TOO AWARE OF given what happened to her 500 years ago against Malos). So, as far as I was concerned, it was about time someone really called him out on his stupidity of charging into a battle blindly and/or losing his head and wasting blade artes when provoked (again, from this point onwards he stops all of that) so he could start developing beyond that crap…

However, to be fair, this whole first encounter with Mythra’s awakening sets her up as a savior and protector to Rex (and the rest of the party), and since she used her powers (that she apparently loathes for very valid reasons not immediately obvious to the party at the moment) to ultimately protect and save them all from certain death, they’re all more than willing to learn about her along with Pyra and they accept Mythra into the group wholeheartedly despite her abrasiveness and her “pretty crazy” powers, something she more than likely wasn’t expecting given all the insults and bullying she suffered in the past.

This becomes more obvious a bit later when the party is in Mor Ardain in the next chapter. Mythra does have a nice bonding moment with Nia and Poppi in the hot springs with Nia trusting her with a very important secret of hers no less, and Rex declares shortly after (once he teases her a bit about her “touchiness” lol) that he wants to get to know about her too just like he does Pyra. 

Though again, as Rex outright admits when Pyra tries to apologize for Mythra’s behavior, her harsh words towards him weren’t exactly without merit and he takes it as tough love and ultimately learns something from the whole experience (and is willing to accept his culpability in Vandam’s death). He outright THANKS Pyra/Mythra for “Protecting everyone” with her powers (a very significant gesture even if Rex isn’t fully aware of just how much so at this point) and declares that “Her powers are incredible. I could feel the truth behind the legends”, implying that he’s hoping that he has the opportunity see more of what Pyra and Mythra are capable of in the future. Also, he is actually encouraging them to use their power when it’s necessary and wholeheartedly believes that her power is the power “to keep others safe and smiling” (again very significant).

The only thing Rex admonished Pyra/Mythra for was their constant apologizing for using those powers at all. A stark, but very much needed and welcomed, (if unexpected from Pyra/Mythra’s perspective), contrast to everyone around her 500 years ago (especially her driver back then) constantly implying and declaring how dangerous her powers were and that she’d only cause “too many casualties and too much destruction” if she used them in any capacity whatsoever.

Chapter 4 (Aegis) 

He’s pretty helpless against Rosa story wise (Pyra’s not strong enough to make a dent in her and Mythra’s power doesn’t work that well in the tight indoor space they were in lest she bring the entire building down around them) and it’s only thanks to Poppi’s new mode that they won that battle. 

Not to mention that he has to be saved by Morag and Brighid when Mikhail and Patroka show up and even then, Mythra was the one who ultimately defeated them (by killing off their blades). Then he’s bailed out again (after Patroka snaps and is about to unleash hell) by Haze/Fan La Norne’s ability to restrict blades (which forces Mikhail and Patroka to retreat) and she does kind of show up out of nowhere from Rex’s point of view.

Chapter 5 (Masters and Slaves) 

He and the team fail to defeat Jin despite Haze’s ability to restrict his powers which resulted in Haze’s/Fan La Norne’s death. Not to mention that it takes Amalthus and Indol stepping in to prevent Mor Ardain and Uraya from going into all out war (Jin and the rest of Torna had set the two countries against each other). The whole reason Rex and co went to Temperantia was to try and stop the fighting between the two nations before it started. They took too long fighting off Jin and that titan weapon and again had Indol not stepped in there would have been a meaningless war between Uraya and Mor Ardain. 

It’s also worth noting that when Amalthus calls the meeting of the world leaders and the ceasefire between Mor Ardain and Uraya, that Rex, despite being Mythra’s driver, isn’t deemed important or experienced enough to stand beside her during the meeting to testify about Malos and Torna. It’s actually implied that had he attended the meeting, Mythra, Zeke, and Morag’s credibility would have been questioned if not outright compromised.

Chapter 6 (Wounds) 

Do I even need to go into how Jin utterly humiliated Rex and the party here and took Pyra/Mythra away? Not to mention that this chapter does a very good job of showing that even with the power of the Aegis on his side, and despite some improvements in his driver capabilities, Rex still really doesn’t know what he’s doing and up until this point he’s just been beam spamming Pyra and Mythra’s abilities (and that’s just been enough to keep him alive up until this point thanks in large part to Mythra and her power/experience) and not really understanding what it truly means to be driver and blade (as he said in chapter 5 he’s just “stumbling his way forward”). 

As Jin points out to him, despite the heavy wounds Pyra/Mythra had, Rex didn’t even notice and all he was thinking about in the moment was himself (and to be blunt, Jin had a valid point on Rex being a “pitiful, childish fool” at this point in the story). At the moment, he’s on a similar path as Addam was when it came to the Aegis in a way (on the path to failure with her because he can’t or won’t get over himself). 

In Addam’s case he was too focused on stopping Malos and not truly understanding and realizing that there was much more to being the driver of the Aegis than just merely stopping another Aegis’s destructive rampage and that he needed to work on conquering his fear so he could truly bond with Mythra (and get out of his own head about said fears and worrying about what MIGHT happen with Mythra instead of focusing on what WAS happening with her, i.e., she was remaining loyal to him, indicating that she had more faith in him than he ultimately did in her). Not to mention that regardless of his desire to take up farming and settle down with his family well removed from everything, his troubles in his kingdom as well as his status as the Aegis’s driver would have all but prevented that. And sadly he didn’t realize his short-sighted mistakes until everything had already gone to hell around him (right after Torna’s destruction). 

Rex, in comparison at this point, is too focused on trying to get to Elysium so he can “find the answers they’re all looking for” and merely trying to pay Pyra and Mythra back for their kindness of bringing him back from the dead by fulfilling their request to be escorted to Elysium. He’s naively believing that everything will just somehow work out for everyone once they arrive, (and not realizing that there’s much more to being an Aegis’s driver than just an escort mission) and just ultimately not understanding what it means to be driver and blade and what he’s truly involved himself in by being the driver of the Aegis. 

Similarly to how Addam didn’t understand how his fears messed everything up for him and Mythra from the beginning (and were steadily doing so throughout his campaign with her until it was too late), Rex is not realizing just how detrimental both his inexperience and his ignorance (of “Aegises”) really is to Pyra and Mythra and not truly understanding the immense guilt, loss, and sacrifice they’ve carried over the centuries, and not truly understanding what it means to carry those burdens with her. 

Seriously, being completely ignorant of everything (Rex) can be just as bad as being too fearful and unprepared to act when and where it matters most (Addam). And regardless of whichever the lack of understanding is stemming from (fear or inexperience from Addam and Rex respectively), at this point, it still amounts to the same thing for the Aegis: That Pyra and Mythra aren’t truly being understood and accepted for who and what they are. That they’re being held back and feeling alienated by their drivers (unintentional as it may have been in both cases) and feeling like they have no real place in the world. 

None of that is even getting into Rex’s lack of knowledge about being a driver period since this is the same chapter he even finds out how blade weapons work and we’re over halfway through the game at this point and his driver inexperience is still serving as a serious issue and hindrance. 

To be perfectly candid, prior to me as the player experiencing just how badly the party was going to lose here, I was wondering “Okay….so just what sort of plot contrivance is going to bail Rex out of dealing with his issues of inexperience, immaturity and naivety THIS time?”. I mean let’s recap, chapter 1) Pyra sacrificing half her life and Azurda’s rescue, chapter 2) Tora with his boom biter, chapter 3) Mythra’s awakening, chapter 4) Haze/Fan La Norne coming out of nowhere with her blade restricting powers, chapter 5) Indol and Amalthus stepping in to prevent war between Uraya and Mor Ardain……Yeah.

But to my surprise there was nothing bailing him out this time and of course, because Rex is so inexperienced with being a driver period (much less the driver of the Aegis) the expected thing happens: He’s finally forced to confront head on the full ramifications of essentially being a light hearted kid (and somewhat cocky kid as well because of Mythra’s power until it didn’t work here. As Rex said “No….Mythra’s attack didn’t…..”) playing at hero with an all powerful blade but with he himself possessing little to no driver skill and understanding. 

In other words, he straight up loses both the battle and Pyra/Mythra and he has nothing but his own shortcomings and inexperience to blame for it. He even says at the beginning of the next chapter that “When I became the driver of the Aegis. Her driver. I felt like I could do anything. But I was just kidding myself” indicating that his ego received a massive boost until reality hit him hard here (which would probably go a long way towards explaining a lot of Rex’s earlier recklessness in previous chapters prior to this moment). Yeah….having an all powerful weapon/blade at one’s disposal actually doesn’t make a person invincible, especially when said person is lacking in skill, experience and understanding. Who knew?

Well that and to be completely fair, given the title of the next chapter (”The Fear She Carries”), as well as what we saw her do to Malos back in TTGC in their final battle and the immense power she generated out of rage, it’s also heavily implied that Mythra was holding back A LOT of her power to avoid a repeat of Torna because there’s NO way Jin would have stood a chance against Mythra otherwise (let alone her true Pneuma form which is proven in the next chapter) even in his full flesh eater form.

Chapter 7 (The Fear She Carries) 

Now don’t get me wrong, Rex’s despair at losing so thoroughly to Jin (and losing Pyra/Mythra to the enemy as a result) was very justified. However, it still doesn’t change the fact that had it not been for the party talking him out of giving up he would have straight up left for Argentum like a little kid just because things were getting too tough for him. It’s just further reason why I personally believe that had Rex as he is in the base game had been in Addam’s place 500 years ago, his inexperience as a driver would have been far more damaging and would have doomed the world. (More on this point a bit later). 

That’s not getting into the fact that ultimately Rex was partially responsible for putting Pyra/Mythra in that position in the first place (by them giving him half her life force because he got himself killed back in chapter one), and his inexperience at being a driver cost him the battle with Jin, which forced Pyra/Mythra to surrender themselves to the enemy (as well as not yet understanding the full weight of being the Aegis’s driver due to said inexperience) and was more or less spitting on all the sacrifices they made for him by even entertaining the notion of leaving them behind without even trying to rescue them (basically taking Pyra/Mythra and the gift of life they gave him for granted) which both Nia and Brighid waste no time calling him out on given what the latter overheard between Pyra and Corinne back in Fonsett Village.

The full weight of the responsibility as the “driver of the Aegis” (along with all the hardships and fears that come along with that role) and what Vandam tried to warn Rex about back in chapter three is only just now beginning to truly sink in for him (that “Rex, you’re the driver of the Aegis. The whole world is gonna try and scalp you. You realize that? How are you gonna live when you’ve got everyone gunning for you? Be easier to run. All you’ve gotta do is ditch that girl.”). 

And now Rex has to confront (and ultimately conquer) a similar fear that Addam struggled with all throughout his campaign with the Aegis (and that Addam ultimately failed to conquer): the fear of ultimately not being up to the task and possibly, unwittingly, causing irreparable harm to the people he cares about and the world. Only now Rex has the additional weight of retrieving her from the enemy that completely handed him his ass a mere two days ago….

As I said before, Rex immaturely brushed off Vandam’s warnings back in chapter three with his typical optimistic nonchalance and empty naive platitudes of “I’ll protect her” and “We can make it together”, and now he’s paying the price for his complacency and arrogance born of naïveté. 

With Pyra/Mythra effectively stolen from him directly under his watch (despite declaring that he’d protect her), he’s now forced to see that blind optimism alone is not going to be enough for him to achieve success in his quest towards Elysium or being Pyra/Mythra’s true driver. Nor does merely having that power make him a completely invincible hero and he now has only two choices before him:

 1) He can either continue to internalize those self-doubts and negative feelings and shy away from the responsibility as Pyra/Mythra’s driver out of fear and distance himself from her like Addam did throughout his campaign (and after the Aegis War). Notably, this is actually exactly what Rex initially starts doing in the beginning of this chapter after waking up from his two day coma trying to head for Argentum after losing her. 

2) Or Rex can choose to face himself and those self-doubts and fears head-on, do what even Addam himself could not, and truly rise to the challenge of being the driver of the Aegis before it really is too late for her and the rest of the world. 

Thankfully, unlike Addam and Mythra’s old friends and allies from the past who shared in Addam’s fearful concerns about Mythra and her power (not without reason though admittedly) and unwittingly reinforced those fears and (unintentionally) pushed Addam toward the first option (with disastrous consequences), Rex and Pyra/Mythra’s friends in this time, (along with the King of Tantal outright revealing the third sword and it’s speculated location, renewing the party’s hope with the mention of Pyra/Mythra’s greater power existing in their obvious time of need), they all (not so gently) outright shove Rex toward the latter choice and help him realize that now is not the time to shy away from that duty or his dream of traveling to Elysium alongside the Aegis, and that it’s hardships and defeats like this one where a person can truly have the opportunity to see and reach their full capabilities and potential. 

However, the game still doesn’t shy away from calling Rex out on his inexperience, as several characters throughout the XBC2 story even prior to this moment (both in the party and out) have noted how “green” Rex is as a driver, and were understandably worried that his inexperience as a driver would cause the Aegis to either 1) lose control of her power just like she did in the past, and considering she brought the world’s most powerful titan down (Torna) in a matter of minutes if not in a few hours 500 years ago in a fit of pique with her full power that not even “the great hero Addam” could control….well yeah, or 2) the Aegis would fall into the wrong hands. Reality finally kicked in for the plot regarding Rex and his inexperience. The latter outcome happened and now it’s all come to a head.

King Eulogimenos of Tantal said it best: “Now Rex, you were defeated by Jin. Doubtless, that man is a powerful warrior. But even so, can this be right? Can the Aegis herself truly be outmatched by a single opposing blade? Would it not make more sense to presume…that you lost because you have yet to unlock the true power of the Aegis?

And later after trekking to the end of the Spirit Crucible Elpys, while admittedly a victory in itself (and his salvager training does indeed come in handy with helping him deal with the “hard to breathe” conditions of the place that hinder most of the rest of the party), he still would have gotten overwhelmed by Addam’s Phantasms (long before they acknowledged Rex as “the one”) had Nia not revealed her flesh eater status to the party and saved him. Though to be fair, the fact that Nia had finally grown comfortable enough to reveal her true nature to him and the party was due in large part to Rex himself. 

Not to mention that while Rex is the one that rouses them (and that is his victory of course. Not saying it isn’t), it still doesn’t change the fact that he and the party were just mere seconds shy of being completely doomed against Jin and Malos at the end of the chapter (whom which the latter had just regained ALL of his Aegis abilities and from what we saw in TTGC, that’s not a good thing….) had Pyra/Mythra not woken up when they did in their “true” form…Because as Mythra will say to Rex in chapter 8, she and Pyra made a choice as well to continue on and “not to live in fear”. 

Had Rex not finally gotten his shit together in time, they might have not chosen to accept him as their driver or chosen to live on period as I noted near the beginning of the post about just how crucial a strong driver/blade bond really is to a blade. Despite that though, it was ultimately still Addam who told Rex what to do in order to help Pyra/Mythra. We can’t just selectively ignore that fact either. 

It is also worth noting that the Aegis herself was almost disposed of permanently, and history was mere seconds shy of tragically repeating itself in an even worse way when it comes to Pyra/Mythra and them having issues with their drivers not getting it together and causing them and the world to suffer because of it thanks to Rex’s immaturity and him stumbling forward without a damn clue for well over half the game.

Despite all of what I said, I’m not blind to Rex’s successes here in this chapter (just not blind to his failures along with his successes). Of course, to give Rex his due, he does acknowledge most, if not all of what I just said on his own in this chapter, and rather maturely and calmly readies himself to face Malos and Jin despite what the former bastard just did to Pyra/Mythra rather than just blindly charging forward like a fool. A stark contrast to how he acted when Vandam was killed (even Malos respects this newfound maturity in Rex enough to note it) and as a result he holds his own pretty well against Jin with some pretty impressive swordsmanship as he’s trying to rouse Pyra/Mythra to come back. 

And in the moment when Rex reaches out to Pyra and Mythra and they’re willing to answer his call by baring their whole being to him mind, body, and soul, (showing that they now don’t just view Rex as a very loving and kind hearted but ultimately a naive and inexperienced boy that stumbled into both their power and their many, many issues (to put it mildly), but now a young man who could and would accept all of who and what they are without fail), it finally and truly feels like he’s legitimately EARNED the right to be the Aegis’s driver (fitting, as this is Pyra and Mythra’s “one true” sword form) instead of just stumbling into the power by complete chance and/or recklessness and stupidity (Dying his way to becoming Pyra’s driver in the beginning due to his childish naiveté/his sheer idiocy and immaturity in chapter three forcing Mythra to come back into play to save his ass). And in light of TTGC, a lot of specific quotes that Rex says to them in his speech stand out so much more now such as “We’ll find out together! We’ll find your place in this world!” and “I won’t let the world burn a second time”. 

This is also just as much a victory for Pyra/Mythra as it is for Rex. In the moment where they accept Rex as their true driver, it really feels like they’re both FINALLY able to start moving forward and look to the future thanks to having someone to truly live for, and gaining a new hope for a future they can safely be a part of to be sure. And it’s not just them feeling and receiving a sense of true attachment and acceptance towards/from Rex, but towards/from everyone else in the party as well. To be honest, these are bonds of true acceptance and love Pyra and Mythra have never truly felt for anyone or received in turn from anyone since being stolen away from their home (courtesy of Amalthus) all those centuries ago. 

Not to say that Mythra didn’t grow to eventually cherish her first group of friends by the end of their journey together. Notably, during her final battle against Malos 500 years ago, she sees visions of her current friends first before the future visions of Rex. So she certainly did. However, in this new generation, it truly feels more like Pyra/Mythra have a place and acceptance in the world with Rex and co in a way that honestly wasn’t really there for them with their first group of allies 500 years ago. 

I think Jin said it best 500 years ago “Your real affinity lies somewhere in the future, not in the time we’re in now”. Sure, he was talking about Mythra’s true driver affinity, but I think that sentiment could also extend to the newfound group of friends/family she’s a part of now. 

To me, Rex being chosen as the salvager to find Pyra/Mythra was a mere technicality in being the start to setting everything right after what happened in Torna’s time period. No. THIS moment here was truly the beginning of the end of the “500 year long curse” , the first real visible crack in the tragic cycle, as far as I was concerned.

And to give Addam some credit too, this is the chapter in which we find out that he was the one who founded Fonsett Village five centuries ago. What if Addam hadn’t done that? Rex’s biological mother and father would have had nowhere to find refuge for him (both of his parents were fatally wounded in some unknown tragedy and Rex was barely two years old at that point). Rex would have died long before the story began. So, Addam indirectly saved his life. Just something else to consider. 

Not to mention that Hero’s Rest/Fonsett Village itself was founded on the dream that Addam always held for himself but could never truly achieve: A carefree village well removed from the woes of society and politics where the people there all love and support each other. The game makes a point of saying that only someone from this sort of village in general could become the true driver of the Aegis. Growing up removed from the harsher realities of the world gave Rex (and others from the village) a very unique flavor of optimism and hope for the future not found in other settlements and titans (things that both Morag and Zeke note).  

And again, Addam was ultimately the one who guided Rex in helping the Aegis rediscover and reconnect with her “true” self. With his final words of wisdom to Rex in the Elpys (”When you take on the weight of all the fear she carries, then you will be her true driver”), and trusting that Rex will be able to achieve what he could not, Addam’s spirit is finally able to find peace and move on from the past after being bound to the world for 500 years, and I’d say that Addam and Mythra’s story has come full circle now with Mythra/Pyra finally finding what they were looking for and with Addam finally able to truly help and support her without fear (as he admits he should have done in the first place).

Chapter 8 (World Tree) 

Rex does get a break here at least and to be fair he’s matured quite a bit from the inexperienced and reckless kid he was from the start. And it’s nice to see him and Mythra bonding and him able to finally get her to open up to him considering the bulk of the “ship tease” has centered around the Pyra persona. If I recall correctly, this point (and beyond) is where the player may start receiving a post battle quote between Azurda and Mythra with her admitting that “her spirit is all the warmer thanks to him [Rex]” after he asks her if she thinks Rex is shaping up to be a good driver for her or not. Though despite all of that, some of the aforementioned inexperience driver problems still exist for him which leads me into….

Chapter 9 (Rain) 

Even if Rex has unlocked the master driver program….Amalthus’s level of experience and mastery with the same power puts Rex to shame to be honest even considering the Amp towers/half of Haze’s core crystal that Amalthus was using. Just a case of reality ensues. Rex might have unlocked Pneuma’s true powers, but there’s a huge difference in merely unlocking that power and truly mastering it. All Rex can really do with the master driver program is borrow blades from the other party members, and to be fair he’s still a decent fighter with or without that power so that helps a bit. 

Still nowhere near what Amalthus demonstrates overall (bonding, or I guess stealing in his case) with other blades in addition to: erasing blade memories, stealing data from their Core Crystals, creating Blade Eaters, as well as the “core cleansing” that Amalthus does earlier in chapter 5. Of course, Rex wouldn’t abuse the power like that even if he had full mastery, but it still doesn’t change the fact that ultimately Amalthus’s experience with the master driver program is more developed than his by far. 

Though to be completely fair, he, Mythra and Poppi do succeed in destroying the Amp towers Amalthus was using to control the other titans. However, even later when the party faces Amalthus in battle, even with Pyra/Mythra’s true power, Rex still gets overwhelmed (thanks again to the whole “sharing their life force” issue after Mythra takes an attack that was meant for Jin) and ultimately Jin is the one that saves the day there at the cost of his life (though he goes out with a smile at least and it is nice to see Jin and Mythra patch things up in a sense before his heroic sacrifice after all the pain and resentment between them especially in light of TTGC). 

Chapter 10 (An Thus, Boy Met Girl) 

Finally making it to Elysium to find it a barren wasteland devoid of life. Not to say that that in itself was Rex’s fault (hardly) but it did show that ultimately Rex was putting far too much of his faith in a childish pipe dream to save the world with no clear alternatives should said dream prove to be the total opposite of the reality. The dream world of Elysium was a good one, the reality as we all saw….not so much. And this was something Nia called him out on as early as chapter two but he never stopped to even consider the possibility. 

And furthermore, what if Elysium hadn’t been the barren wasteland we found but instead a bountiful land already inhabited by people living their own lives? I personally don’t think those people would have been happy with foreigners assuming they could just move in on their territory. Rex could have been responsible for starting a whole different war on that front so his initial plan to travel to Elysium to save the world was doomed to fall apart one way or another…..

That’s not even getting into how Klaus/The Architect basically ripped into Rex’s deepest insecurities about the harsh reality of Elysium and his own short comings and it takes Pyra literally just telling her father to stop torturing Rex and the party (they were all going through their own separate tests independent of the one we as the player experienced with Rex) before things really got out of hand. Nothing Rex himself did during those moments disproved or challenged those insecurities. 

Though of course to give Rex his due credit, the Architect himself does decide to no longer remain passive and unresponsive to the troubles of his created world (Alrest) thanks to Rex being who he is and seeing the bond Rex has forged with his daughter (Pyra/Mythra) and that definitely gives the party an edge against Malos in the final battle. And considering Malos has linked up with the ultimate Artifice Aion at this point….well….yeah. Not to mention that had he not met Rex and saw the bond he forged with Pyra/Mythra, the Architect would have just sat by while the entire world was destroyed (and would probably have not granted humanity the “last gift” of the current titans joining together to create enough land for humans to settle on. A new “Elysium” of sorts).

Despite all of that though, Rex still hasn’t quite learned that his constant whining about not wanting to leave people behind, while definitely kind on his end, is still ultimately a problem (and in some cases have left him and the party wide open to the enemy when in a battle or dire situation that forces them to retreat) with his rather long tirade with Mythra/Pyra getting ready to sacrifice themselves before Zeke literally says “How long do you plan on being a baby?”.

Not helping matters is the fact that Pyra/Mythra had to essentially manipulate the entire situation prior to this moment in such a way that would ultimately force Rex to let them go rather than him coming to the conclusion on his own that as much as he hated it, there was nothing he could do to help Pyra/Mythra at that point. Seriously, they can read the boy like a book and show that they’re willing to manipulate a situation to override Rex’s immature stubbornness if need be.

To Rex’s credit though, he eventually does man up here and move on but the cutscene to get to that point was a rather unnecessarily long one because this lesson should have stuck at least a bit better considering what happened with Vandam way back in chapter three….Now don’t mistake that. I’m not in any way saying that Rex didn’t have a right to be upset that the girl he loved was more or less preparing to sacrifice herself (hardly). I’m just merely pointing out that his inability to let go of people in itself (trying to save everyone is admirable but ultimately just not feasible at times) and learn to accept that life is sometimes about sacrifice (harsh but true) has been a recurring flaw in his character and has often caused him and the party a lot of issues that could have been avoided.

Hell, by the time the ending scenes came about with Rex, I was actually glad the game didn’t follow through completely with Pyra/Mythra’s sacrifice…..I was like “damn just throw this kid a bone already”…Hey, I’m just pointing out that Rex failed just as much as he succeeded really. Him accepting Pyra and Mythra doesn’t just all of a sudden negate all of his failures, his character flaws, and his often sheer stupidity and immaturity IMO for well over half the game. 

Nor does his success with Pyra and Mythra somehow negate how Rex’s childish and naive nature often proved to be, yes his greatest strength. That childish innocence being the very factor that helped him save Pyra/Mythra from themselves which in turn led to a lot of other positive changes for the world and ultimately the breaking of the “500 year long curse”). 

However, at times it also served as his greatest weakness (his complete inexperience as a driver and his inability to see his own limitations and accept that sometimes life is about sacrifice especially when he’s the driver of the Aegis often caused him and the party a lot of issues), even with us as the players knowing the full weight of how Addam’s fear held him back from doing what Rex did when it came to the Aegis. 

Also worth noting that I see a lot of is that it isn’t fair to constantly call out Addam on every failure that he made (even if admittedly said failures did lead to a lot of unfortunate events and devastation for both Mythra and the world) without acknowledging his accomplishments and truly appreciating the fact that he did prevent the entire world from burning 500 years ago and how he stepped up for the Aegis after the fact to at least ensure that Mythra and Pyra (and by extension the whole world) would eventually be saved (which again, gave the future generation a fighting chance thanks to Addam and his friends and their sacrifices). 

Sadly again though, Mythra losing her head in rage and blowing up Torna was his rather unfortunate reality check on how damaging his preconceived fears were for his resonance with her which obviously (and unfortunately) didn’t afford him time to make things right to prevent the devastation she caused….Even so, Addam surely devoted himself to Mythra after the fact despite sealing her away (for 500 years even after his death no less) to try and make up for not being the driver she needed him to be during his time with her.

By contrast, it isn’t fair to completely gloss over and/or ignore Rex’s often sheer stupidity and his failures even if he did manage to save Pyra and Mythra from themselves by accepting them and even if admittedly, that was a major first step in setting right everything that had gone wrong in the past. He even acknowledges himself how clueless, immature, inexperienced, happy-go-lucky and reckless he had been for over half the game at the end of chapter seven and just how damaging that really was for Pyra and Mythra because he wasn’t truly understanding their plight and their despair/fear (though to be completely fair, Pyra and Mythra went out of their way to explicitly hide it all from him until it came to a head but still…). 

Not to mention that his complete inexperience as a driver, nearly cost him and the world Pyra and Mythra (i.e. the Aegis on the side of humanity was almost killed off for real. The one person who could possibly match Malos was almost disposed of permanently. That would have spelled doom for the entire world with absolutely NO hope for any sort of comeback). And his inexperience was an issue that Rex really wasn’t forced to confront head on in any significant way until the XBC2 plot stopped bailing him out of trouble which I noted at the end of chapter six and gave him a serious reality check and he was just lucky enough to have been afforded the time to fix his problems after the fact.

Anyway, another point to consider with Rex and his acceptance of Pyra/Mythra is that when we make it to Leftheria in the main game for the first time (chapter five with Haze/Fan La Norne), it’s clear that Rex (and several other kids from Fonsett Village because the small settlement couldn’t afford it) didn’t have a formal education. 

Instead, he started salvaging (basically joining the workforce) when he was barely 10 years old to support Fonsett (he’s 15 in the main story so he’s been doing it already for 5 years). Also, Azurda, his father figure, clearly did not mention hardly anything about Addam or the “Aegis” to him. Which later we find out the reason for that being because Rex himself (or anyone else for that matter) would have to find out if they were truly worthy of that power on their own without Azurda’s input as a crutch. Azurda was also personally responsible for guarding both the village and the sword so of course he wouldn’t bring any of that up in casual dialogue, so Rex is even less aware of the “Aegis” and the destructive part she played in history than most. Rex’s first encounter against Morag back in chapter two made his lack of formal education clear as well.

Another very important detail to note is that Rex never bore witness to just how destructive and/or out of control both Mythra and Malos could be beforehand unlike Addam since both were underpowered for different reasons in his time. Not to mention that Malos doesn’t get his power back in full in the base game until, rather conveniently, Rex unlocks Pyra/Mythra’s true power by accepting her, so that too played a part in Rex not being afraid of her. Not to mention every time Pyra/Mythra got an upgrade to their powers throughout XBC2, it was ALWAYS framed in a positive light for Rex and his friends (and saved all their asses on more than one occasion).

But as I said in another reddit topic, credit where it’s due. Maybe Addam wasn’t meant to be Mythra’s true driver, even so, it still doesn’t change the fact that at least Addam was able to impart some much needed guidance, the value of teamwork, social skills, and a sense of restraint in Mythra. And let’s be honest, the man had the patience of a saint when it came to dealing with her especially in the beginning. The fact that they’d been together for one year before meeting Jin and Lora implies that she was probably even worse before then. He would have been a good father for his children for sure. And that’s coming from someone who was a fan of Mythra long before Torna the Golden Country came out lol. 

In all seriousness though, she’s far less abrasive and much easier to get along with in general by the time Rex comes along and far more mentally mature and aware of her destructive power and the harm she could bring to the world if left unchecked. Five hundred years later people would be rather hard pressed to call her an inexperienced and foolish “kid” or “simpleton” with too much power, arrogance and lack of control in the party. 

She’s now a shell shocked veteran, easily the most experienced in the base game party with the mentality of with great power comes great responsibility. Though to be fair, it takes her a bit to truly get to the point of “great power, great responsibility” because of her fear and guilt over the past, but she’s still definitely far more cautious in her use of her power which is what Addam was ultimately trying to achieve with Mythra during his time with her even if his fear caused him to go way overboard with that particular lesson.

It’s rather interesting to note the shift in the dynamics here. In Torna, Mythra was the inexperienced and reckless (but still all powerful) Aegis blade to Addam’s experienced driver (who harbored fears and self doubts and kept them from Mythra), while five centuries later, she (and Pyra) are now the experienced and all powerful Aegis blade to Rex’s completely inexperienced and reckless driver (with them now harboring all the fears, self doubts with added suicidal tendencies and keeping them from Rex). 

And to be candid, it’s a very good thing that Mythra isn’t as gung-ho, or immature, reckless and inexperienced as she was back in her Torna days given how ignorant of blades, inexperienced at being a driver, reckless, immature, and naive Rex is for a good chunk of his story. That could have and more than likely would have spelled a very bad combination given some of Rex’s dumber calls and decisions I noted earlier to say the least. She literally goes from preferring to constantly spam Siren’s Sacred Arrows on everything and being gratingly arrogant/prideful about her power to five centuries later berating Rex for waking her up because “I didn’t want to come back! I left EVERYTHING to her [Pyra] so I’d never have to use this power again!” 

Let’s not forget that she’s now constantly analyzing the structural integrity of buildings and whatnot to avoid needless collateral damage when using her power and is much more strategical, graceful, precise and refined in the use of her power than she was in her Torna days. She also has far more compassion for the world and life in general (though I’d say this part is a bit debatable. She was far more caring than she let on in her Torna days, but five centuries later she’s much better at expressing it externally). Then there’s the having three levels in girl talk instead of just one, (girl power woo! Lol) showing how much more sociable she’s become (interesting to note that the “Pyra” side doesn’t have girl talk despite being arguably more sociable). Not to mention cooking no longer being one of her field skills lol, showing that she did take some of her former allies/friends (admittedly fair to a point) assessments of her flaws to heart in a much healthier way independent of her Pyra persona even if it definitely hurt Mythra to hear them back then. (no offense to Pyra of course but given how and why she was “created….”). 

A lot of people love to bring up the fact that Rex ultimately could control Pyra/Mythra’s full power and Addam couldn’t (which admittedly is fair and true). But even so, it’s not like Mythra’s time with Addam and her old friends played absolutely NO part in the person Mythra becomes 500 years later (for better or for worse) making her much easier for Rex to bond with ultimately. Basically, her time with Addam and co. helped bring out the dormant “humanity” within her for lack of a better word.

And as I mentioned before, throughout XBC2, every time Pyra/Mythra got an upgrade to their power, it was viewed or framed in a very positive light (no pun intended lol) that saved the party on more than one occasion. So, while Rex and Co. certainly respected and acknowledged her power, they didn’t outright fear her like everyone around her did five hundred years ago since they’ve all come to know and generally love both sides on a personal level throughout the story, nor did they automatically begin warily assuming and expecting Pyra/Mythra to be just like Malos (or in danger of becoming like him) simply because they were/are both Aegises once the party was made aware of Malos being another Aegis. 

In other words, Pyra and Mythra have a much stronger and positive (if unexpected from their point of view) support network overall when it comes to their power and abilities than Mythra ever did five centuries prior, (something that was surely needed given all we witnessed in TTGC), but more importantly, they all respect and admire them as individuals too. 

Again, the ONLY positive side effect of Amalthus’s core cleansing is that it increased the pool of potential drivers by a MUCH larger margin compared to Torna’s time period. So, the extremely rare bond that Lora had with Jin and Haze is MUCH more common now, meaning that there are more humans out there that can see blades as their own individuals in a way that wasn’t completely there 500 years ago.

It certainly helps that Mythra is now more or less a living relic and legend with a lot of people around her in this generation being both intrigued and honored to have the chance to see what she’s truly capable of after hearing about all the “heroic tales” of Addam and his blade saving the world five centuries ago, something that Morag directly mentions to Pyra/Mythra in chapter five. Whether those “stories” are 100% historically accurate or not is another matter entirely though but still….

Not to mention, that there were several moments throughout the main plot and a few H2Hs that showed Rex himself desired strength and power to protect his rather long list of people in his life and often lamented his own weakness and was frustrated with himself for his inability to save and protect the people he cared about (particularly with the deaths of Vandam and Haze/Fan La Norne). 

These are Rex’s words in chapter five after Jin (mercy) killed Haze/Fan La Norne (poor girl….) “I don’t get it. I’m meant to be a driver now. I have a blade of my own. But I couldn’t do anything. Fan…. NOTHING’s changed. I’m just as weak as I’ve always been!” I mean really….is it any small wonder that he’d be all too eager to utilize immense power when the opportunity is presented to him? Like he said in chapter seven against Jin after having finally unlocked Pyra/Mythra’s true power: “I don’t get it. But I’m not complaining! THIS is what I’ve been searching for!”

Let’s not forget that Rex was more or less put in a position to devote himself to Pyra and Mythra more fully than Addam had ever been. Both sides of the green Aegis core crystal are introduced to Rex saving his life. That’s a very crucial difference between Rex and Addam’s circumstances with the Aegis. 

In Addam’s case, however, he was introduced to Malos’s rather sadistic glee with eradicating humanity from the face of the world, along with said Aegis Malos having all the power required to do so and then some, and then only resonated with Mythra, whom by all accounts had the same frightening world destroying powers, when Prince Zetter failed to do so, indicating that Addam never truly wanted the role to start with if he could have helped it or at the very least Addam would have been fine with someone else taking the role of “Driver of the Aegis”. 

Anyway, the fact that they saved his life was more than enough for Rex to devote himself more fully to the Aegis. Rex was indebted to Pyra and Mythra because they were his saviors. And even though I criticized his inexperience earlier, (and the fact remains that it caused a lot of problems for both himself and everyone around him for a good chunk of the story), the fact that he didn’t know anything about being a driver, much less the driver of the Aegis, (and was still more or less thrown into the fray regardless), and that they were all sharing a life force, that very inexperience put him in the position to both want and be required to learn about what it meant to be a driver and by extension learn more about Pyra and Mythra on a personal level just for the three of them to stay alive. 

Rex often declared that “He was going to be the driver that Pyra and Mythra deserve” and eventually that becomes his number one goal in life as he even declares to both of them in chapter seven that going to Elysium would mean absolutely nothing to him if Pyra and Mythra weren’t by his side (keep in mind that traveling to Elysium was Rex’s biggest dream even before Pyra and Mythra came into his life). Also, unlike Addam, as I said before Rex wasn’t born of royalty and didn’t have too many obligations to others. He was an orphaned child who chose to take up salvaging to support Fonsett Village true, but to also find some way to Elysium which, as I mentioned earlier, was in alignment with Pyra and Mythra even if they weren’t being entirely honest with him on why they wanted to go there themselves.

By stark contrast, Addam, who in the end, wasn’t really trying to be a hero (despite possessing the potential in itself for great heroism) and wanted nothing more than to live his days in peace as a hermit with his family, resonated with Mythra in her “original” and “destructive” form first after having already witnessed one rogue and all-powerful-and all-too-happy-to-kill-and-destroy-everyone-and-everything Aegis at full might (Malos) on the rampage even before resonating with her. 

And then Addam only resonated with her because again 1) it was the only way to stop Malos who had already sunk one Titan (Coeia) to the cloud sea bed and was hell bent on sinking the rest of the world and also because 2) Prince Zetter had failed to bond with her core crystal before Addam tried to himself). Let’s not forget that Mythra being a blank slate, misanthropic, arrogant and immature loose cannon (all the while possessing the same world destroying powers Malos had) at this point in the story didn’t exactly help either. Couple those facts with Addam being an adult and more aware of the world around him with age giving people in general more wariness, and that sadly but understandably left a fearful and alarming first impression of the Aegises in general on him which was all but impossible to reconcile. 

Not to mention the “Pyra” persona didn’t show up until literally the end of the expansion and he was only with this side of the Aegis for a short time but sadly only after everything had already gone to hell for him and Mythra at this point so it didn’t matter either way. And let’s not forget the fact that “Pyra” was only “constructed” from the very depths of Mythra’s immense guilt and despair, which Addam was partially (if unintentionally) responsible for because he couldn’t/wouldn’t accept her and didn’t step up to be the driver she needed probably didn’t help much if at all either. 

Then of course there was the fact that “Pyra” in and of herself sadly was “created” as an obvious counter to all the insults/bullying Mythra received about her abrasiveness, lack of compassion, arrogance, bad cooking, recklessness, etc., indicating that Mythra’s own self-esteem was damaged a long time ago deep down, and the final battle against Malos, plus all the trauma she endured during said battle and right after (Poor Team Hugo, Poor Tornan Titan and Poor, Poor, Milton….) just shattered it completely. 

Seriously, the “butt-monkey” and “friend that nobody likes” tropes got explored in a more realistic approach with Mythra as a character. No one in real life would be able to put up with that sort of treatment from the people around them without either separating themselves from the people constantly belittling them for the sake of their own self-esteem, or staying, putting up with it, and eventually suffering some lasting emotional scars…Yeah, just guess which one of the two happens to Mythra…..

Anyway, considering that one Aegis was already running amok it’s no real surprise that he (and the rest of her allies back then) often admonished Mythra for using that power period out of fear rather than trying to help her come up with more creative and less harmful ways to utilize it. Again, there’s a big difference between wise caution and crippling fear, and sadly but again understandably, Addam comes to later realize, admit, and ultimately regret that he was more the latter with her as a driver than the former despite his good intentions. 

And again, it’s also worth noting that in contrast to the base game, in TTGC every time Mythra tried to use her Aegis power or even mentioned using it, it was ALWAYS framed in a negative and/or reckless light. Examples being her not listening to Addam when he told her to stop when the party was in a ruined Torigoth and nearly killing Brighid upon their first encounter, and Addam (and the party) often discouraging her from using her power period because to him (and the others) there would be “too many casualties and/or too much destruction”. He even says to Lora at one point “When we first met we could have burnt you to pieces. But we avoided that thanks to Jin”. 

It takes Lora literally pointing out to him that all recklessness aside (because Mythra was admittedly out of line when she fired Siren on Brighid and didn’t stop when Addam ordered her to), Mythra was still in fact actually NOT going all out when she was using her power (if she was, I imagine she would have left Torigoth in the same state Malos left the city of Feltley in with that giant ass crater). 

And, Mythra desiring to utilize said power she has in SOME capacity in and of itself wasn’t exactly wrong or reckless nor does her using said power immediately have to equate to “I want to destroy everyone and everything”, (or rather in Addam’s mind): “I will destroy everyone and everything if I use her power in any capacity” simply because another Aegis chose to follow that path (something again Rex and Mythra will prove together 500 years later) and it wasn’t completely fair for Addam to keep subconsciously imposing that upon Mythra just because she was an Aegis. 

It was an early sign in the expansion that for all her immaturity and arrogance, Mythra was actually not quite as “careless” and “lacking in restraint” with her power at this point as he and everyone else kept claiming (if anything, some of it was in Addam’s own head) and that she cared far more than she let on about making sure she didn’t become like Malos. 

It’s too bad Addam didn’t take the moment to realize that his crippling fear and his (subconscious) lack of faith in her is what was ultimately holding him back from “not being completely in control of Mythra’s power”. Okay, to be fair, he did realize that he “just wasn’t man enough” at the time, but the problem was that he never was really thrown into a situation or crisis moment (or called out on hardly anything because as Aegaeon pointed out “He’s far too esteemed for his own good”) that would have forced him to realize just how crucial it was for him to man up and become both the driver that Mythra needed him to be and the driver that he possessed the potential to become (even the year he had with Mythra prior to meeting Jin and Lora was implied to have been rather uneventful on that front) until she, and the rest of Torna for that matter, blew up in his face during the final battle against Malos. And of course, as I mentioned before, by then it was far too late for him to rectify his resonance issues with her. 

But again, given the very specific and deliberate measures Addam took for Mythra/Pyra to ensure their eventual salvation (and the world’s salvation as well), he surely stepped up after the fact even if it was too late for him and Torna. With that said, I honestly have no doubt in my mind that if Addam could have gotten a far less harrowing reality check moment that would have forced his hand (similarly to how Rex got his reality check in losing so thoroughly to Jin in the base game, but he still had precious time to make things right because again, neither Aegis was at full power reaping havoc and destruction in the wake of his failures) Addam could have and would have lived up to the potential that the core crystal saw within him….

That’s not even getting into the fact that by the time we FINALLY make it to a point in TTGC where it would make sense for Mythra to go all out without being spoken down to about it (the final fight against Malos)….naturally she doesn’t because of a combination of both the implication that Addam’s fears tainted their resonance from the outset causing her to subconsciously hold herself back because she fears her own power, and the constant belittling she’s put up with about using her power at all (and also she’s become more mindful of her power at this point due to character development to be fair but still….) which causes Malos to goad her into going all out (simply because he wanted a good fight) by attacking the Tornan capital and killing Milton….then she DOES finally let loose and go all out…but…she’s totally out of control in rage and sinking the Tornan Titan to the cloud sea and inadvertently killing Hugo, Brighid and Aegaeon….and still couldn’t save poor Milton either way…..and Mikhail blamed her for not keeping her promise of protecting Milton after she convinced him to stay behind at the Tornan capital which only reinforced her perception of everything being her fault…I mean of course she’s not exactly completely blameless considering the fact that technically her power ultimately sank the Tornan Titan and killed Team Hugo but still…..Even so, honestly, the poor girl just could NOT catch a break in any way back then…

And again, as another stark contrast to Rex, Addam was a married man (whom which his wife was pregnant) and he had already had many adventures even before resonating with Mythra and was getting ready to settle down for the rest of his life with his wife and soon to be born child. Not to mention that Addam was born into royalty with a long, long, long list of duties and responsibilities that he only wished to be free of anyway so he could live with his family in peace. 

So, in his case, as bad and unfortunate as it might sound for Mythra, being the driver of the Aegis from his perspective was just yet another burden on his list that he didn’t really want to bare (subconsciously) but took up the mantle of hero anyway for the greater good of his people and the world in the hopes that he could settle down, be left alone and just be with his family afterwards. 

Again though, that’s not to say that Addam didn’t have the purity of heart and/or character to bring out Mythra’s full potential (as I said before, if he never possessed the potential in itself, I imagine his attempt to resonate with Mythra would have ended like it did with Prince Zetter when he tried) or that he wasn’t willing to lay down his life for his people. He surely possessed the potential and he outright stated (and proved by facing down Malos) that he would absolutely lay down his life for his country and its future if that’s what it took. 

However, when it came to truly accepting Mythra, the very thing required to both access and control her true power (which again he realized far too late), well….there were several factors working against him unfortunately when one compares his circumstances to Rex’s: 

  1) Being handicapped by his royal upbringing, and trying too hard to save everyone. He wanted to save his militia, his family, his people, and the whole world from the wrath (and fearing the wrath) that he could potentially bring down upon them by potentially losing control of Mythra that he lost sight of his own limitations as just one person in the world. And again as a result, he closed his heart and mind towards Mythra and her power out of fear, (both consciously and subconsciously), often hesitating to use that power in any capacity if he could help it. That is to say again, trying to save everyone is admirable but ultimately just not feasible no matter the circumstances. 

As a result, he further crippled his already dwindling ability to accept Mythra for what she was, subconsciously rejecting her from the beginning (which she in turn sadly rejected him when she started conjuring her true sword and abilities). And again, which is exactly why Addam tells Rex five centuries later after Rex goes on and on and on about the long list of people in his life he wants to protect that “It’s not necessary to protect everything. There IS a limit to what one man can do”. 

2) Dealing with Mythra’s rather poor and misanthropic attitude. That alone, coupled with his fear of the Aegis wrath in general spelled a pretty bad mixture for disaster and eventual tragedy too. But again, her attitude would not have been as bad as it was had Addam put more effort into treating her less like a dangerous weapon to be kept apart from everyone, and instead more like a true comrade and friend and gave her the opportunity to meet people and forge her OWN connections with them prior to meeting Lora, Jin, and Haze. As I mentioned earlier, the implications of Mythra having to ask about Aletta when the party first arrived there and what’s so special about the place, coupled with knowing that Addam and Mythra had been together for a year prior to meeting Lora, Jin and Haze are rather unfortunate (i.e. He kept her away from his wife and friends back home out of fear). 

3) His main desire for his life was NOT to constantly play in the role of “hero” as I pointed out earlier (and of course, being Mythra’s driver would have all but forced him to stay in that role). She literally represented everything in his life that he was ultimately trying to distance himself from so the lack of acceptance ran much deeper than just his fear (subconsciously). With all of that in mind, the bottom line is that again compared to Rex, Addam never truly had an honest/fair/clear opportunity to live up to his potential as the true driver of the Aegis. 

Addam’s failures, fears, (and lack of acceptance of both Mythra and in nearly every facet of his life as a member of royalty) instead ended up tragically becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy (because again, he brought his fears and doubts into their resonance, corrupting it from the very beginning) due to less him being unworthy or incapable of being the Aegis’s true driver in itself (again, as I’ve noted countless times already, he definitely possessed the aptitude) and more because of the unfortunate circumstances with which he resonated with her (and not really being driven or challenged to truly understand how damaging his fears were to their resonance nor to actually try to conquer said fears until it was too late). And again, given that he tells Rex five centuries later that he has to accept her heavily implies that Addam had become all too aware of where he went wrong with Mythra far too late….

Anyway, with all the above in mind, I’m honestly not sure if Rex could have handled blank slate and loose cannon Mythra to more compassionate and aware of herself Mythra the way Addam did with the tough love and sort of “experienced driver/warrior and adult” parenting here and there because 1) Rex is still a child himself still trying to find his own place in the world and wholly inexperienced in how blades work or being a driver period for a good chunk of his story. Not to mention that 2) Rex would more than likely not have had the experience and skill necessary to survive back then against a fully powered Aegis from the outset (as we see in chapter one where Rex was getting overwhelmed against Malos who wasn’t even fully powered and would have died again had Azurda not come out of nowhere to the rescue and that’s not even getting into chapter six where Jin utterly humiliated him). 

I guess, to be blunt, the world five hundred years ago just didn’t need an inexperienced salvager/driver child stumbling his way forward in a really long coming of age story (in comparison to TTGC I mean) to lead the charge against Malos, who again, back then was at full might and out there sinking Titans to the cloud sea bed. The bottom line is that the world back then just wasn’t going to wait around for Rex to gain the experience necessary to stand against such a foe like it did in XBC2 (admit it, things WERE pretty convenient for Rex in a way they never really were for Addam). The world five hundred years ago needed experienced warriors/drivers/blades who could get things done against such a threat in SOME capacity as quickly as possible (i.e. Addam and his allies) before the entire world was annihilated. I’m saying this because there was some speculation in another Reddit topic on whether or not Rex could have “humanized” Mythra faster than Addam and accepted her back then. 

My view on that personally is absolutely not, because again, Rex probably would not have survived long enough to have gotten the chance to do so. Had Rex gone against Malos (as Malos was in his Torna days at full power) at the start of the XBC2 story….Full powered Aegis vs Inexperienced green driver……yeah….let’s just say the base game would have been MUCH shorter so I’m personally really not seeing how his inexperience wouldn’t have been far more damaging for the sake of the world had he been in Addam’s place five centuries ago….

Then there’s Addam sealing the third sword in the Spirit Crucible Elpys as a test of worthiness (and a clear death trap for the greedy if I ever saw one) and that played a part in discovering who was meant to be Pyra/Mythra’s true driver, also founding Fonsett Village which would later become Rex’s home, (or Hero’s Rest at the time rather), getting Azurda to guard the village and the sword, and sealing Pyra/Mythra away so no one unworthy would ever abuse her power or hurt her again. 

Though again, he did plainly say in his last message he left with Pyra after he sealed her that the seal was not for eternity and that he hoped someone worthy would awaken her so humanity could live alongside the Aegis because “She is our hope”.

Considering the devastation she caused that he bore witness to during the war, not to mention the fact that she sank his entire home and kingdom and killed Emperor Hugo, his best friend (though of course that was all unintentional it still doesn’t change the fact that it happened by her hand), coming from him, that means something, and says quite a lot about his character honestly despite how he failed as a driver with Mythra and shows exactly why, in a similar vein to Rex, the green Aegis’s core crystal saw Addam as someone worthy to wield the true Aegis power even if he ultimately failed to live up to said potential. 

The moment right after Malos’s defeat 500 years ago where Addam left his best friend’s dead body lying on the ground and still embraced Mythra upon her exiting her siren was a truly powerful moment. It’s clear he understood exactly where he went wrong, the self-fulfilling prophecy aspect of it, what he lacked for her as a driver the entire time (acceptance), everything….but again, it was too late. But the moment does show that not only did Addam truly care about her despite his fears, but was also willing to own up to his part in the tragic turn of events that led to Torna’s downfall instead of solely blaming Mythra like a lot of others in his position might have opted to do (and frankly, what he and the party had been unintentionally guilty of doing with all their fears, insults, negative assumptions and bullying up until that point).

So in one sense, Addam really was every bit the pure hearted hero the legends claimed and it shows that he did see Mythra as a sort of surrogate daughter and cared for her as such despite everything that happened between them and it’s clear by his expression during the credits of TTGC, and in how he somberly and shamefully turns and walks off as the ship that Pyra/Mythra are now sleeping on sinks to the cloud sea bed, that he was overall not happy with sealing her away or with knowing that ultimately he proved himself unworthy of her as a driver and that all the deaths and devastation might have been prevented had HE not been so afraid to truly USE Mythra’s power while he was her active driver. 

Notably, he realized that just because he failed to step up and control her power and didn’t have the faith in her or himself that he should have had beforehand doesn’t mean that he believed that no one else could or would succeed someday or that her power couldn’t be utilized as a positive force for the world. 

It’s just a real shame that Addam never had the opportunity to find this faith/revelation/acceptance in Mythra and/or himself during the time when they were actually together…if he had I imagine they could have accomplished a lot of good things during his day and “Torna the Golden Country” might actually still exist in Rex’s time. The whole situation between Addam and Mythra was just tragic and it’s honestly not that hard for me personally to picture an alternate reality in which Addam could have conquered his fears and stepped up to the role as the true driver of the Aegis, or could have had a better chance  to eventually understand her had he bonded with her under different circumstances. 

Though as I said near the beginning of this post, credit where it’s due: It may not have happened in the most ideal JRPG happy ending way, but Addam DID save the world at large from Malos’s wrath back in his day. Had he not resonated with Mythra (essentially brought life to her) and fought the good fight back then (because as he said “The powers-that-be bicker among themselves, ignoring the larger danger”), and rallied good people and allies to aid him in his cause, the entire world would have ended long before Rex’s time for certain. 

Again, for all of Addam’s faults and how he screwed up with Mythra (as her driver anyway), we can’t just selectively ignore and/or gloss over that bold fact considering what the alternative could have been and it IS worth praising him for which the base game does even 500 years after the fact despite the devastation left behind by the battle. He might have failed Torna and Mythra in his time, but Addam certainly put forth several steps and made many sacrifices to ensure that both Mythra and the future would be saved even if he ultimately would not be around to witness it.

Personally, considering the poor man lived and died with the regret of knowing he failed Mythra and Torna (and still couldn’t pass on after death for 500 years in an attempt to atone by helping Mythra/Pyra find their true driver) I’d say that Addam more than made up for his mistakes and his failures when it came to being Mythra’s driver and the man was hardly a coward despite his fear of the Aegis’s power (hell, he still took on another Aegis at full might despite that. I’d say that a prince who’s willing to do that and more for his people is far from a coward but that’s just me).

So, I guess by seeing how both Addam and Rex succeeded and failed when it came to Mythra/Pyra, I’m able to better appreciate both their roles in helping her achieve her wish and purpose of being humanity’s hope and use her abilities and powers to their full potential (without her sinking a Titan to complete ruin the second time) as well as her eventually realizing that she’s not a horrible monster just for being born with immense power (Vandam said it best: “Power depends on the heart of its wielder”), Pyra/Mythra also gains a sense of peace, salvation and happiness in the end. And it would not have been possible without both Addam and Rex (for better or for worse) resonating with the Aegis in different moments in time and circumstance.

[parf-fan]

2018 in-house shows posted!

Once more, no mention on their facebook page or in their emails, but I suppose that’s what I’m here for.  If you go to PARF’s website, you’ll find that the list of in-house shows has at last been updated for this season.  I took the liberty of copy-pasting it all here nonetheless.

King’s Court King Henry and Queen Catherine host the visiting king and queen of France. Never before have so many monarchs gathered upon a Mt. Hope stage! Will the Master of Revels, Sir Walter Roderick Kensington, be up to the task of entertaining four royals? Join them at the Endgame stage, and watch the saga of the Field of Cloth of Gold commence!

(I am so pleased that they specifically mentioned the question of whether Sir Walter will be able to cope with four monarchs.)

Human Chess King Henry and King Francis, in the spirit of friendly competition, have agreed to match wits in a game of Human Chess. All the denizens of Mt. Hope, from lowly peasants to noble knights, will take the board as members of the kings’ armies. But as the ring of steel fills their ears, and the thrill of battle heats their blood, will the contest stay friendly for long?

(I didn’t read the above description, for it undoubtedly contains what would count as spoilers to me.)

Ultimate Joust

As the sun sets upon Bosworth Field, four knights will meet in mounted combat, as a crowd of thousands looks on. Come and cheer for your favorite knight; thrill to the pounding hooves and the clash of steed and steel. Join the royal court and all the villagers of the Shire, in the epic Ultimate Joust that has made Mt. Hope famous.

(I didn’t read the above description, for it undoubtedly contains what would count as spoilers to me.)

Finale in Song

As the festival day draws to a close, the town gathers for a final celebration of song, dance, and laughter. Join King Henry and Queen Catherine, along with King Francis and Queen Claude of France, and the entire town of Mt. Hope, in a village event that reveals the very heart of the Shire.

(I didn’t read the above description, for it undoubtedly contains what would count as spoilers to me.)

Grand MacGuffin Melee Good Master MacGuffin has not had much luck with his establishment. It seems like every new business venture he tries always winds up in a massive brawl. But this time, he has decided to attract a fancier sort of clientele. Come attend the grand opening of MacGuffin’s Gallerie of Fine Arte. With such a high-class aspiration, what could possibly go wrong?

(I’d finished reading this before I registered that it was for a show I consider storyline, and therefore didn’t want spoilers for.  That said, this can only end well.)

Disasterpiece Theatre The Master of Revels, Sir Walter Roderick Kensington, has assembled the shire's best performers (who had nothing else going on at the time) to delight our guests with a masterpiece on the stage. They present a different modern story with a 16th century twist every weekend; and of course when Sir Walter tries to get something done-- anything that can go wrong will go wrong. It will truly be a Disasterpiece!

(As soon as I’d read the title and the fact that the description starts with naming Sir Walter, I was already dying with laughter.  I am so glad that character and his particular style of overwroughtness managed to become so iconic.  This promises to be fantastic.  I predict that they will definitely adapt Mean Girls, if nothing else.  I also vote for an adaptation of Newsies.  Les Mis would be great, but I dunno that that counts as “modern”, and it’s also a little long, ya kno?)

Bloody Best Attend the tale of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, He Who Would be King of Scotland. ‘Tis forty minutes of brutal combat, murder most foul, and disturbingly comic violence. And blood. There will be blood.

(B l o o d y B e s t i s t h e S c o t t i s h P l a y.  Which should be interesting, because the entirety of the grounds count as a theatre, and it’s only safe to name the play if it’s in the script.  So what if someone tries to interact with the performers regarding the contents of Bloody Best after the show is over?  Would improvised interaction be close enough to keep them safe?  Or will it call down the curse if they are forced to utter it in that circumstance?  And if the latter is true, will they then be able to get to the edge of the grounds / the gate into the performer-only area [that is, leave the theatre] in time to be able to perform the ritual to lift the curse?  Most importantly, am I cruel enough to put this to the test?)

The Sirens The pirate crew of the Relentless Contessa is out for blood and gold...on any other normal day, but today, they are taking a break to demonstrate their fierce musicality, daring boldness, and filthy pirate jests!

(THE SIRENS ARE PYRATES THIS TIME AT LAST FINALLY YESYESYES I HAVE BEEN WANTING THIS FOR YEEEEAAAARRRRS!!!) (No Bloody Shame [THE BLOODY SHAME!] though. I’m sad.)

The Rakish Rogues What happens when two French Nobles and two English Nobles are employed by Their Majesties to entertain the masses? They don't know either! Watch these charming nobles sing revelrous songs and regale you with rowdy vulgarities.

(After years of the Rogues being in some of the more lightweight outfits, their day of reckoning has finally come.  Boys, welcome to the excessively  heatstroke-laden life of a noble.)

The Irish Revels The three Eugenia Sisters, proprietors of The Wild Rose Inn, are celebrating the return of their father by reassembling the family band. Join them for rousing Irish folk music and quirky family values.

(THE IRISH REVELS ARE RETURNING THE IRISH REVELS ARE RETURNING THE IRISH REVELS ARE RETUUUURNIIIIINNNNNG!!!!!) (Yo, the MacGuffin Stables and Tavern has competition!)

Friday Knights Come see our Improv Track perform feats of mental, verbal, and physical agility for your entertainment! Presented in 2 acts, the first half is a competition of comedy as 2 teams face off against each other in "Whose Line..." style improv games hoping to earn the laughs and love of our audience judges. Then, after the intermission, both teams come together to perform a completely improvised musical based on the audience's suggestion!

(Quite pleased this is back.  Rest assured I shall actually attend this time.)

Neighborhoods Kings and Queens are great and all, but what do the average citizens of Mount Hope do on a festival day? Seek out these interactive stories that you can get involved in all over the shire to find out! Provide your expert opinion at a Town Hall Meeting; help track and arrest a wanted thief (or help the thief escape!). Get involved in the happenings of Mount Hope and influence the lives of its inhabitants at these scenarios found not on stages, but in the neighborhoods all around the shire.

(So.... literally exactly what it’s always been.  It’s just listed here this time.)

Music with Their Majesties Take a break with Their Majesties, as they demonstrate Their musical merits and host the best of entertainment from the realm.

(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Robin Hood You think you know the story of Robin Hood? You've probably never heard it like our Apprentice of Revels and her rag-tag team are going to tell it to you.

(........ Apprentice of Revels?  There’s a Apprentice of Revels now?  Sir Walter has a hecking apprentice this year!  I’m like really really hyped about this character’s existence.  For some reason, my mom is convinced this role is gonna be played by Katie Markey.)

Finale Dumb Show Have you missed every Plot Show during the Faire day? Did you not even know there WAS a plot? Arrive to the Globe Stage 15 minutes before Finale In Song to catch up on what happened in the silliest way possible!

(I am left with a deep-seated happiness over the Dumbshow’s return.  But they wrote it wrong.  I have it from the actors, it is oNE WORD!)

The Legend of One-Eyed Willy The Cabin Boy of the "Relentless Contessa" has been tasked with finding more members for the ship's Pirate Crew. Come join his crew, and witness the tale of the most feared pirate to ever sail the seven seas! Presented by The Mount Hope Players!

(was One-Eyed Willy aboard the original Bloody Shame [THE BLOODY SHAME!]?  That wold be a good reason to fear them.)

King's Cavalry Join the Master of Revels and The Lady Mayor for some literal horse-play on the chessboard directly before our Human Chess match! Bring your nipperkins so that they may join the King's Royal Mounted Cavalry!

(Everybody who, like me, attends King’s Cavalry because they went to Chess early to secure good seats, Y’ALL BETTER FUCKIN’ CLAP AND CHEER FOR THOSE KIDS, I SWEAR!)

King Arthur: The Legend of Murray Everyone knows that King Arthur was the Wizard Merlin's greatest apprentice, but did you know Merlin had another apprentice after Arthur? Come experience the tale of Merlin's OTHER apprentice: Murray!

(I’m gonna have to figure out how to make this fit with the canon of BBC’s Merlin, friggin’ fantastic.)

Is... is there no Tournament Joust this year then, or....