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wontmindd · 11 months ago

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No Derogatory Nicknames | sinner!Adam x fem!sinner!Reader

PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3

pairing. sinner!Adam x fem!sinner!Reader

plot. You're the one and only member of the Royal Family's official army, and you were given the first, vital mission in your lifetime as a bodyguard. Surveilling the First Man on Earth, Adam. Reincarnated in Hell. You and Adam agree on two things: you can't stand each other, and you would never sleep together.

word count. 3.3k

tags. Hazbin Hotel ep8 spoilers!, enemies to lovers, Adam reincarnated as a sinner in Hell.

tw! cursing, Adam being Adam, mentions of sex

part. 1/3

The Royal Family’s official army was a millennium-old institution, skillfully trained through the years to protect Lucifer’s family from potential threats. Except that the army has lost its prestige a long time ago, and you’re the last unit left. You joined the army a short time after your death. It was princess Charlie Morningstar who guided you towards that decision, after finding you lost and scared, wandering around Pentagram City. The infernal princess didn’t specify that the army was dismantled hundreds of year prior, and that it was just an excuse to convince Lucifer to give you hospitality in one of their mansion’s rooms. In the end, the King accepted to make you a bodyguard. You went through trainings, trials, impossible challenges. All of that to…guard Lucifer’s rubber ducks. Boredom wasn’t ignorable. So when Lucifer asked you if you could take on a really serious mission, you accepted immediately. And your task really was important.

Guarding Adam, the First Man on Earth. Reincarnated in Hell.

After wandering for days around Pentagram City, just like you did, he asked the Hotel for help. E promised that he would change. Charlie, being Charlie, couldn’t deny him a chance. But Lucifer didn’t trust him, and accepted his permanence at the Hotel only at the condition that you would be guarding him. And that’s how you arrived at the Hazbin Hotel, how you met Charlie’s friend and especially…Adam. You immediately regretted the rubber ducks. Adam accepted in turn the idea of being watched, but he detested it and didn’t hesitate to let you know. He was as old as the Earth but as immature as if he was born yesterday. Arrogant, hot-headed, presumptuous. He made your job impossible, but he was clever enough to not show it too much to still stay at the Hotel. You were the opposite of patient and dealing with him was troubling. Talking back to him corresponded to a reaction. For example he never spared himself from letting you know how much he did NOT want to sleep with you, because of how much he found you insufferable.

“I have other priorities, instead of being approached by your teeny-tiny thing” you said.

“Hey! You can only dream of having a taste of the original dick!” Adam said, pointing a finger to your face.

And Adam hated when you followed him around town, with your angelic spear always clenched in your fist. He would always mumble insults under his breath, to which you responded with the same medicine. For example when you accompanied him to the few music shops in the city to fix his electric guitar that he would always break out of frustration of being here.

“I’m here only because Lucifer asked me, ‘cause otherwise I would have already called Nifty to repeat the job” you hissed between your teeth, sticking your spear towards his face.

Adam would hunch forward in an attempt to intimidate you “Oh yeah, go get her, so you can show your Hell Daddy how efficient of a bodyguard you are!”.

And you couldn’t do nothing more than sighing, squeezing the spear in your fist because you knew that Adam was right and you couldn’t do anything about it. You always looked forward to nighttime so that you two could separate and go to your respective rooms in the Hotel. Even the guests were relieved, because your bickering was daily and their ears were filled with your insults thrown left and right. Adam, although he was the one who knocked on the Hotel’s door, wasn’t too fond on participating in its activities. He didn’t get the benefit of Charlie’s exercises, and that anguished him because it seemed like the road back to Heaven was far away. Even there, your duty was to encourage him in participating. And your patience with the First Man was running out, so you had to do so by growling between your teeth to be proactive.

“I get it, bitch” he would whisper, enough to be heard from you but not by Charlie. And then he would improvise some sort of low effort answer barely sufficient to make Charlie happy.

You started to get the feeling that some of Charlie’s exercises were specifically aimed at making you and Adam get along. You had your confirmation when once Charlie called only you and Adam, letting you sit together on the couch. Adam’s fists were clenching in correspondence with his knees.

“What are we doing?” he asked.

You crossed your arms on your chest, cocking an eyebrow. Charlie laughed nervously, feeling a growing tension.

“Uhm…see this as a sort of…couple therapy!”

You and Adam, in tandem, erupted in a disgusted groan. His new wings, now turned black, ruffled and pointed upwards in a synced motion with yours.

“WE’RE NOT A COUPLE!” you two shouted in unison.

“I know, but you’re always together and…”

“WE DIDN’T CHOOSE IT!”

Charlie agitated both her hands “But you need to stand by each other, and I would like for you to do so without fighting every time! There must be something you get along in, right?”

You protruded forward “The only thing we agree on is that we would much rather die for eternity than being close to each other”.

Adam raised his arms to emphasize your words “Exactly, I would rather be stabbed again by your filthy janitor than sleep with a pain in the ass like her”

“What did you just say?!”.

Charlie, seeing you two jump towards each other to fight, threw herself between you both to avoid it.

You couldn’t sleep that night. With your head plunged in your pillow, you smothered screams of frustration. Adam, Adam and again Adam. He fluttered in your head with hammering insistence, tormenting you even in moments of relax. Why was he always traveling in your head? Why did you keep visualizing his dumb fucking face when he insulted you in the most disparate ways? Fuck, he knew how to get on your nerves even in dreams.

———

“Adam!” Charlie stops the fallen angel in the Hotel kitchen. He was filling his bowl with milk and cereals.

“Yeah, brat?” he replied.

Charlie sighed “What did we say about nicknames?”

Adam rolls his eyes, bringing a spoonful of cereals to his mouth.

“No ferogafory nifnames” he slurs, his cheeks full.

“Exactly!” Charlie claps her hands “anyway, I need you to do me a favor. You should go grocery shopping for the Hotel”.

Adam raises a brow “Groceries? What am I, a-“

He interrupts himself when his eyes meet yours behind Charlie’s shoulder. Where did you come from? In any case, your gaze is as furious as always. He’s pretty sure that he never saw you peaceful in all his permanence in Hell. Your fuming look is enough to make him desist, so he sighs.

“Alright. And I suppose that Mrs. Spear-Up-My-Ass is going to come with me”.

“Of course (Y/N) will go with you, you’ll shop together” and Charlie adds a hopeful grin.

“How fortun-OH”.

Without noticing, you appear on Adam’s side, a reassuring look on your face but reserved only to Charlie.

“Don’t worry Charlie, I’ll keep an eye on him”.

“Can you not stick your shitty angelic spear in my fucking cereals?!” Adam cusses.

Nervously, Charlie smiles “Of course (Y/N), but I’m pretty positive that Adam won’t cause any trouble”.

You shrug your shoulders “I dunno, I don’t expect much from a dirtbag of his caliber”.

Adam drops the spoon in the bowl of milk, cereals spilling out of it and one of them hitting your cheek

“What, you old hag?!” he screams.

“Old, me?! You’re literally as old as the Earth!”

Charlie puts her hands in her head, desperate “Just go shopping for fucks sake!”.

Half an hour later you and Adam are walking down the streets of Pentagam City. He was bragging about the time he broke the record of bras thrown on stage during a gig he performed in Heaven. Now that you think about it, Adam played in a band when he was up in the skies. And he has an electric guitar that you always accompanied him to fix. By the way, you never stopped to ask yourself what kind of music he listened to, or what genre he played. That’s because you never thought there was something worth to know about Adam. You turn around to look at him in the eyes. When he talked nonstop, without insulting you, his face was more relaxed and in a certain sense a bit more pleasurable to look at. Two big, curled horns sprouted on his head when he reincarnated, you grabbed them so many times while fighting.

“And what did you play with your band-“

“We’re here”.

You stop. You look at Adam, you didn’t realize that you reached your destination. Maybe you’ll pick up the conversation later, maybe not. Why would you want to know more about the Exterminator? You shove a hand in your pants pocket and you take the list Charlie prepared. You put it in Adam’s hand, and you turn around.

“C’mon, go inside”.

Adam frowns, puzzled.

“Wait, you’re not going with me?”.

Adam plants himself in front of you, trying to read your face. He wants to know if you’re making fun of him or something like that. But he only finds embarrassment, as you try to avoid his analysis.

“Do you need me to hold your hand or you can handle it on your own?”.

For a second, Adam’s eyes widen, then a sly smirk crosses his face.

“You wanna hold my haaaa-“

“No” you stop him “and that’s why I’m telling you to go alone”.

Adam shrugs, he looks amused.

“Okay, I’ll treasure this opportunity to get away as far as I can from you”.

And so Adam goes. You realize that all the time you tried to avoid his eyes, your face was burning. You didn’t want him to see even a drop of trust in your eyes, not even the tiniest amount sufficient to let him go grocery shopping. So you stay still outside the supermarket, your angelic spear hidden between your wings to not catch passerby’s attention. Time goes by, and soon Adam will finish. But Adam doesn’t come back. You decide to wait a little more. Then you hear sounds of shouting inside the supermarket, an argument between two men. A carousel of possible scenarios displays in your mind. Adam who calls the cashier a bitch, Adam who yells to the staff because they’re out of ribs. You immediately dash inside, almost smashing through the automatic glass door. You follow the sound of screams, and you find Adam. It’s just not the scenario you had predicted. Adam has his hands raised in front of a bull-like demon, who has a fist directed towards him.

“I recognize you, you know? You’re that shithead from the Extermination”

Adam, visibly pissed off, still keeps his palms open “Hey asshole, I don’t know what you’re talking about”.

It’s when the other demon jumps onwards to attack Adam that you throw yourself between them, your spear pointed towards the bull.

“Don’t fucking touch him!” you yell.

Your chest rises and lowers wildly with every breath. You can’t see it, but Adam’s eyes are incredulous. He looks at his own chest, your free arm is pressed against it, pushing him back in protection. Your teeth are gritted, your horns grown exponentially. His cheek tickles because one of your wings is brushing against it with ruffled feathers, and his skin starts to warm up because your hair caught fire. Adam saw you enraged so many times, usually because of him, but never like this. In the end, the demon gives up, taking a step back from your tended spear. He grunts and takes his leave, fists still clenched but not a menace anymore. You finally relax, the fire in your hair suffocates, your wings recollect themselves and your horns shrink back to their original size.

“Ehm…what the fuck happened?” Adam asks, trying to find your eyes. You run away from them as always.

“Don’t ask questions”

“I thought you were supposed to protect others from me, not me from others”

You press your lips in a thin line, and walk towards the checkout with the shopping bags Adam dropped.

“It’s not like I can leave you moribund on the floor of a supermarket with the possibility of you respawning somewhere else in Hell where I can’t supervise you. Let’s get back to the Hotel now”.

Adam follows behind you, and you know he’s smirking. He steals one of the shopping bags from your hand, and takes your side.

“Well, what were you about to ask me outside? You wanted to know about my band in Heaven?”.

Back to the Hotel, you’re welcomed by a wide smile from Charlie. Just seeing you two walking close without fighting signs on your bodies means a lot to her.

“Sooooo, how did it go?” she asks, sliding in front of you.

You and Adam exchange a quick glance, then you shrug “He almost got jumped”.

“Oh c’mon!” Adam exclaims, raising his arms in protest.

“Why so?” Charlie asks.

“A total asshole almost recognized me” Adam says.

“It’s not a secret that you reside at the Hotel, and someone might not like you” Charlie adds.

“I don’t like him-“ you convene.

“We know, (Y/N)!” Charlie sighs “and because there are sinners like you who, rightfully so, don’t like Adam, we need you to be close to him. Even because we can’t risk Adam using his powers, it could be trouble”.

You stop to reflect, meanwhile Adam puts the grocery bags on the kitchen counter without saying a word. Now that you think about it, Adam didn’t use his powers. When he reappeared in Hell, although with less capacity, he still kept a great power. He was prohibited from using it at the Hazbin Hotel, but anyone would have used them in a situation like the one that unfolded at the supermarket. But Adam didn’t do nothing. He just raised his hands, limiting himself to only cuss at the potential aggressor, and then you intervened. Did he internalize a Hotel lesson?

“No, Adam didn’t use his powers. We gotta give him credit for that” you say.

Adam freezes as he opens the fridge to organize the groceries. You can’t see him, but he’s delicately blushing.

“That’s awesome!” Charlie chirps, happily “It’s a great step forward, Adam!”.

“Mh yeah whatever” Adam brushes it off.

“And you Adam, did you see any quality in (Y/N) that you previously ignored?” Charlie asks, full of hope.

Adam looks at you. You press your lips together and for a moment you hold each other’s gazes. You feel yourself palpitating, and it bothers you.

“She was cool I guess. Cool-ish. And she got interested in my band. But that’s natural, all bitches are interested in my band”.

“Adam, nicknames!”.

Adam raises his shoulders “If (Y/N) doesn’t mind, I’ll go to my room”.

“Me too” you assert.

You wave at all the guests in the lobby, Angel Dust has a weirdly wide smile on his face, almost amused. You go up the stairs, following behind Adam. His arms fall on his side.

“You wanna follow me to my bed?!” he says.

“I’m going to my own room which happens to be next to yours, asshole!”

“Yeah yeah, it’s more likely for Mr. Deer over there to cross the Pearly Gates than me letting you have a piece of this” Adam replies, pointing both fingers down to his groin.

“I don’t even want it!”.

Downstairs, Angel Dust looks at everyone with insistence. Husk is confused, Alastor simply disinterested, and Cherri Bomb appears to already know what the spider demon is about to say.

“Is it me or I sense a certain sexual tension?” he finally says.

Vaggie, Husk and Charlie sigh in resignation. Alastor decides that it’s time for him to get up and leave. Cherri Bomb, on her part, chuckles.

“Yeah I think it’s only you” she says.

“If you sense sexual tension between them I think you got a serious problem, Angel” Vaggie says.

Angel bursts out laughing, throwing himself back on the couch and crossing his numerous arms behind his neck “I bet good money that those two will end up going at it within a week”.

Before they could realize it, all of them were already placing a good amount of money on bets. All pointing towards a no. Angel Dust is the only one convinced of his vision. That between the Royal Guard and the First Man, climbing up the stairs next to each other with annoyance, there could be something that keeps you close in a different way.

———

Adam stops in front of his bedroom’s door. He opens it, and you walk towards the door next to it which is the one for your room. But Adam clears his throat, staring at an indefinite point in front of him.

“Uhm…can you come here a sec?”.

You raise a confused eyebrow, and you cautiously walk towards him. You should be holding your angelic spear, but you left it aside. You stand behind him, and Adam turns around to face you.

“Yeah?” you question.

Adam looks at you, and you raise your chin to hold up his golden eyes. This time you see the flushed red on his cheeks, and his embarrassed expression.

“Well…thanks for today…I guess? This is how Lucifer’s brat wants me to talk to you, right?”.

Your eyes widen in surprise, and your hands start to fidget. It’s not difficult to look at Adam when he’s being like this.

“Yeah, I don’t know, whatever. Don’t expect things to change” you reply.

Adam scowls, and moves closer to you.

“Of course not, you’re still a world-class pain in the ass”.

“And you’re still a fucking jerk”.

Your foreheads are almost touching, you can feel his breath on your face. You notice it too late. Why aren’t you backing up? Shouldn’t that be easy? Your heart is racing again.

“And you’re still a bi-“

“Hey” you interrupt “Charlie said…”.

Too close now. As always. You and Adam have always been close. In a different way. And you always wanted to leave. But not even Adam is moving and his gaze softens. He’s looking at you intently, he’s burning and doesn’t know what to do and at the same time he seems convinced on something.

“I know” he says, with half a tone “nicknames should not be um…”.

He stumbles on his own words, you’re now chest to chest, and you try to help him out “Nicknames shouldn’t be de…” you have trouble too.

“Deroga…tory…” he mumbles.

You lean in. And without premeditation, there’s a kiss. Strong, desperate. Your lips intertwined, your hands in his hair and grazing his horns, and his own hand placed on your waist. He doesn’t need to pull you closer, you already were. You don’t have time to breathe, your kisses are too persistent. A couple of moans escape you both, out of confusion and satisfaction. Now your arguments all look like a joke, because it’s obvious that the sexual tension Angel Dust envisioned is an undeniable reality. Despite spending months repeating that it was something that would never happen. And here you are, clinging to one another, making out. And it feels good.

When you separate you meet his eyes. You expect something terrible. Disgust, or that he stays true to his word and strays away. But you don’t see any of that. Only disbelief, and a sort of epiphany that encourages him to encapsulate the nape of your neck with a hand.

“Shit” he says.

“Shit” you convene.

And then you throw yourselves against each other’s lips again, and Adam drags you inside his room. You let yourself be taken away, and you shut the door close with a kick.

#hazbin hotel #reader insert #hazbin hotel adam #adam x reader #adam #hazbin hotel x reader #hazbin hotel adam x reader #enemies to lovers #sinner!adam #hazbin hotel fanfiction #adam hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel adam fanfiction #writers on tumblr #vivziepop

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traceytonight · 3 months ago

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Tracey rambles about Tron Ares again

Tron Ares fills me with so much dread, each passing day is like a countdown to the death of a franchise I care so much about.

The producer, title & main character, is literally Joker Morbius alleged pedophile since the early 2000s himself Jared Leto. That alone ruins the movie for me, and yet every following bullet point makes everything about and around it so much worse.

-Premise is explicitly "What if the Grid came to the real world".

NO, the interesting part of the series is THE GRID, where all of the deeply meditative commentary about our world and visually interesting splendor is supposed to be! Yes we had the lingering plot thread of Quorra coming to our world, however;

-Nothing directly tied to Tron Legacy is specifically being followed up

So no seeing where Sam Flynn could have taken Encom, no Quorra adjusting to our world, No Edward Dillinger Jr scheming with the resurrected MCP; But most disrespectfully of all, they didn't even bother to get Bruce Boxleitnter back, THE GUY WHO PLAYS TRON (and Alan Bradly & Rinzler). The one guy who actively loved this series and campaigned for a Third Tron film for over a decade, and previously Tron Legacy for even longer. But you know who they are bringing back?

-Kevin Flynn is back

THE GUY WHO FUCKING DIED IN THE LAST MOVIE. Undermining the noble sacrifice that was integral to the core themes of the film.

And just today we got this:

This is so far from an advancement design wise of the Light Cycle from either film. None of the simple shape language of the original. None of the sleek visual melding of human & technology of Legacy. While the light cycle was always cool for being a futuristic video game-ass motorcycle, its was just one of the multitude of visual elements that served the thematic purposes of Tron flawlessly.

Meanwhile, this not only physically separates the driver from the cycle, they further emphasize it through all the little gaps where there were none on either prior design. They so easily could've had the red line on Ares connect into the obviously aligned part of the bike.

Even if this is meant to show the separation of the programs from the grid for some thematic element we're unaware of at the moment, we're already going to be getting a lot of that considering the movie takes place in an average ass city.

Also, to be truly nitpicky, it looks really uncomfortable to sit in & I don't like all the added greebles.

To circle back around, what I really hate about the cast, besides the obvious one, is that there are a lot of actors who I think will work extremely well in the world of Tron. Greta Lee, Gillian Anderson, Evan Peters? Inspired casting choices.

Meanwhile production wise we're literally taking David Fincher's collaborator trifecta. Jeff Cronenweth (Cinematographer), Tyler Nelson (Editor), and Trent Reznor (Composer, backed up by Nine Inch Nails) all worked on The Social Network, another one of my favorite films. Jeff is literally the son of Blade Runner's cinematographer, Nelson was co-editor on The Batman, a film with incredible pacing thanks to their hardwork, and while I'm not the most familiar with Reznor's full body of work, I've sincerely liked everything I've heard and think in conjunction with Jeff & Tyler he will make something fantastic and fitting for the tone of this film.

However, the screenplay is done by the writer of Harry Potter & the Cursed Child, and is being handled by the director of Pirates of the Caribbean 5. Choices that feel at odds with the prestige praise I was just handing out a paragraph ago.

Theres so many good elements that are eclipsed by its central glaring protagonist, seeming lack of the interesting setting/designs or integral thematic elements that I look for in Tron, and lack of expectation regarding the choice of director & writers.

Because my two greatest fears are not about if the movie is awful and destroys the franchise as I'm expecting it could, it's either:

What if the movie is genuinely good? Well acted and performed, somehow actually has the same level of philosophical inquiry that Legacy & Identity have? How am I gonna face that reality with the enormous horrific issue starring in it?

What if the movie is bad in everyway that I think it will be, but does financially and/or critically better than the first two? The franchise is not killed again, but revives and bases everything going forward around this awful outlier in the series?

Unless this movie fails so horrifically that Disney wants to scrub it from existence, as they tend to do, the future of any Tron media will undeniably be forced to cohere itself to the existence of Ares.

If you want something that actually expands on the musings and universe of Tron, play Tron Identity. A game so lovingly crafted for fans of those elements of Tron as a connected series. And I know this factually, as the writer of the game itself (who also created Thomas Was Alone) watched my twitch stream of it and confirmed my ramblings about the deep seeded lore and intent of design of the TREES that appear in the game. Only one example of the incredible attention to detail the game delivers on. Plus its also getting a sequel that unlike Ares, I'm awaiting with bated breath.

#Tron #Tron legacy #Tron Ares #Tron Identity #Im so sorry I needed to get this out of my head lol

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placeholdercornerworks · 4 months ago

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In a fit of inspiration at @searivermountain 's , @idanit 's and @a-case-of-the-ace 's AU posts about Jeeves and Wooster living in their respective countries, here are my two (albeit rough and unpolished two cents) about Jeeves and Wooster if they were living in the Kindgom of Italy.

I'm rewinding the actual OG setting by a decade or so as such, we're talking of the turn of the century here, 1898-1912.

First, a few setting points:

• I imagined them living in Turin, initially this was because it tied well with other plot points (Such as chuffy owning his seaside vacation houses(?) on the coast of Liguria and still being able to put Rocky "abroad" in France). Historically you could explain it by saying his parents moved there shortly after the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861 because they saw it as a reason of prestige, perhaps some aunts followed suit, so on so forth.

• To elaborate on Rocky, the equivalent of them going to America in S3 of the show would be Bertie residing in Monaco and Jeeves doesn't get sent to scout New York for Rocky's aunt, but rather Montecarlo.

• To move back to Turin, while gents clubs similar to the drones did exist in Italy at the time, it would have been much likely for them to meet at a cafe since many known groups in Italy organized in such way (e.g Varied well known turn-of-century writers often ruinited at the Giubbe Rosse in Rome and the "Macchiaioli" artists often reunited at the Caffè Michelangelo in Florence)

• The Ganymede however would have operated in a way closer to that of gents club.

• Bertie, such as his standing commands, is gonna get promptly shipped to study law at the University of Turin cause I swear it's lowkey a recurrent fact with many of the wealthier authors I studied, it was "the thing" much.

Now, before I get onto miscellaneous trivia and ramblings and such, my two thoughts on their alternative names.

• The direct italianization of Reginald is Rinaldo, which I'd be keen on keeping (alternatively Raimondo has practically the same etymology and derivation), for surname, upon learning that Jeeves derives from Genevieve, which was the patron of Paris, I've decided to give him the surname Parisi, for the sake of the assonance.

• For Bertie on the other hand, the direct italianization of Betram is fucking Beltramo and I am in fact not keeping that so to remain on something similar sounding, he's Bernando now cause calling his Alberto keep the Bertie bit feels weird. As for surname, I'm similarly going of assonance, but with his original surname and as such I'm calling him Vistarini.

And now, miscellaneous trivia, lo and behold!

• Newts, or more specifically, a specie of newts known as the Italian Crested Newt, is more of a thing in central to southern Italy, so Gussy hereby has a thing for eels here in Italy, which were more common in bodies of water in the North.

• Bertie being interested in aviation!!! It was very much the next new thing so he'd often muse to Jeeves about his curiousity towards the inner workings of this jolly contraptions, tried to operate a plane once, crashes it in 50m, but if you were to ask Jeeves he'll succesfully find the right guy with the right plane to give him a ride to give Bertie aerial photos of the city he's much excited about.

• Jeeves seemingly knows every literature known to man and he's ready to counter-prove or counter-quote a statement with an appropriate literary quote. This is more instinctive musing but I feel like Bertie would often make paragons to the plays of Alfieri and Goldoni, or alternatively, Latin stuff and he'd surely have studied it majorly in uni.

• Additionally I think it would be highly funny to have Jeeves and Bertie discuss Parini, il giorno specifically.

• God blast d'Annunzio also cause Tuppy would 100% be keen on comparing is love-unfilled existence to the banes of a d'Annunzio protag, he thinks himself the next embodiment of Andrea Sperelli and Bertie is just "Heh, silly Tuppy"

• This applies generally but lots of theatre going involved, they have stayed over in Milan before to catch premieres at The Scala and one of this baboons surely said they were gonna find themselves a girl like Eleonora Duse

• The cast of the drones routinely gets dragged in honor fencing duels over this or that offence or this or that woman and Bertie is frequently dragged in under the excuse "Oh, come on, the other party has never seen me before, you can go in my stead!", he miserably fucking fails and on the other hand this is another venture in which jeeves excels

#jeeves and wooster #reginald jeeves #bertie wooster #jeeves #italian au

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ernand-0 · 3 months ago

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Thoughts on BNHA Movie 4 You're Next

If I had to summarise this movie, I would say "It's the Yakuza Arc done with a bigger budget"

I am not saying that I dislike the Shie Hassaikai arc. I much prefer Overhaul over Dark Might as a Villain.

Just saying that the movie plot is about a crazy man, with a quirk that can reassemble matter, who took over the crime family of his father figure by force; and is exploiting an innocent orphan girl's quirk to benefit his crime family. And by the 3rd act of the movie, turns himself into a giant monster using his quirk.

If I haven't spoiled things so far, I will start from now on:

The movie starts by showing Valdo Gollini (Dark Might) watching the Kamino fight inside his "Stalker room".

It then transitions to Giulio making tea in the middle of a destroyed city.

We then change focus to Class 1-A who is chasing after villains who stole a truck of food. The 3 villains have the quirks of: merging himself with vehicles and becoming a Pixar Cars, A human Rubber Ball, and Throwing explosive sharp boomerangs.

The class split into 3 groups: Izuku, Katsuki, and Shoto seem to be the "leaders" of each group.

We are then thrown into the main plot of the movie. izuku's group receives a new apprehension quest. The villain can eat anything with the mouth on his chest.

But when Izuku arrives, the VIllain looks different from his mugshot, he has extra mouths growing from his back, and he has Anna with him.

When Izuku tries to rescue Anna, she moves away, preventing him from touching her. But his hand glances at her finger and Izuku sees roses blooming everywhere around him before a shock of pain causes him to fall.

After a fight, we see Giulio trying to kill Anna. She is saved due to a time bubble created by one of the antagonists.

We then move to the meeting with the main antagonists.

This is the Gollini Family, one of the largest criminal groups in Europe. Valdo Gollini is the current head of the family after he killed his Father. Valdo has a weak Ego, his father told him that he would never be the head of the family due to his inability to gain respect from others. Valdo thinks that using his power to cause fear is how he gains respect and adoration. That is how he thinks All Might is respected, by floundering his massive power to subdue others through fear he gains respect. So he tries to become the new All Might to prove that point.

Here is where I think Overhaul was done better. Kai never wanted to take over the Shie Hassaikai, he felt obligated to repay a debt he felt he owed the old Boss. He wanted to give back the prestige and power that the Yakuza had in the old days. The Boss never wanted that, so Kai took on his own hands to make that happen, thinking the Boss would thank him when his plan was completed.

Something that I noticed too, is that Valdo's quirk, Alchemy, does not work on living things. He can turn objects into other objects; he uses gold coins as his main attack. After he is defeated for the first time, we can see that his "All Might face" is more like an All Might costume.

Regarding Izuku, I quite liked his portrayal here. Especially his deconstruction of two of the enemy's quirks: He figured out how to deal with Paulo's quirk. A dome of quirk nullification with a safe zone around him.

As the story progresses we learn that Giulio is Anna's butler. He was hired by her father to suppress her quirk when it goes out of control. Anna's quirk is of the type that is always active, anyone who touches her gets affected. She can temporarily boost someone's quirk to go over their limits. Like Trigger. But it only works on those who are compatible with it. Anyone who is incompatible suffers a seizure and falls unconscious. Another problem is that Anna's quirk is exponentially growing, like Eri's rewind. It stocked up on energy and needs to be released, otherwise, it can cause Anna immense pain.

One day, the Gollini Family finds out about Anna, attacks her house, kills her entire family, and kidnaps her.

That left Giulio injured, he lost his right arm (where his quirk activation resided), his left leg, and his right eye.

Giulio made a promise to Anna to keep her quirk under control, and now due to him losing his quirk, he tasked himself with killing Anna. That is quite bitter. But he sees no other option.

Then we have Izuku giving him hope that there is always a way and that he will stop Giulio from killing Anna because he saw how sad Giulio looked when he was ready to kill her.

We also got our 3rd Mind control quirk. Deborah Gollini's quirk is called Dream, she can cause someone to enter a dream world when they look into her eyes, and have their physical body do whatever she wants. The way to free the people is to hurt Kamile.

Most of the 1-A got under the Dream effects, so here are some of their dreams that we saw.

Shoto wanted a Happy Family

Shoji wanted a Happy Childhood

The movie ends with Anna's quirk going out of control, causing a wake of Quirk Boost, which leads Valdo to turn into a giant Monster and Giulio to let his quirk manifest on his left hand. Giulio uses his quirk on Anna and suppresses it permanently.

My final thoughts are that this is a really nice movie, the premise was quite the same as the Yakuza arc, but I still found it enjoyable. I feel the best part is Giulio and Anna, and their relationship. We also got to see all of 1-A in this movie, and they do have a good share of the screen time.

Also, we got a clear map of where UA is in Japan

#bnha spoilers #bnha #you're next #mha spoilers #mha movie #bnha you're next #anime #mha you're next #izuku midoriya #giulio gandini #dark might #mha #shoto todoroki

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zahri-melitor · 3 months ago

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Recent Reads:

Barda (2024): I am always interested in judging what they do and don't put into the young adult stories. I thought this was a solid adaption of Barda's backstory and the Furies, to my mind. I'm not across all the versions, but it felt true to what I was hoping to see in the story, which included Barda's positioning both in terms of what it's like to grow up in Apokolips but also the harm she has done as leader of the Female Furies and complicity in torture.

I enjoyed it! It's worth seeking out.

Batman: One Bad Day - The Riddler: well this sure was a comic written by Tom King and drawn by Mitch Gerads. Even if I had not looked at the title page I could have told you that from the specific way their collaboration lays out a comic.

It's a very Tom King prestige comic, with all that that implies. This one isn't openly hung up on the military. (His prestige work tends to be his best work. Don't fight me on this)

This is not even near my favourite conception of Eddie, though it's also not at the bottom either. Definitely trying to lean into him as a threat. It doesn't, however, show him having fun with his puzzles, and I think at the heart of all the best Riddler depictions he needs to be both cocksure and personally entertained by what he's doing. Even (especially) when it's particularly dark.

(if you want favourite characterisations, Cliff Chiang's Catwoman: The Lonely City and the way Paul Dini writes him, particularly in 'Tec #845 are highlights)

Batman: One Bad Day - Two-Face: Mariko Tamaki did a good job here. I particularly think she has a solid grasp on Steph's character, because she had Steph argue with Bruce over Harvey and whether he's worth redemption and second chances.

"I hate it when villains aren't just villains. Maybe it's not fair to the Dents of the world, but I like to think it protects me from the creeps."

Steph's whole thesis here is that they shouldn't be making an extra effort for Harvey, just because he was Bruce's friend, because villains are villains and they can't and won't change, and even when they do, they'll ultimately backslide. It's a very conservative view of criminalisation, and it's one Steph's had since her creation by Dixon, and which makes a lot of sense given her background and her problems with her father.

Bruce and Steph then have a fight over "Harvey isn't Arthur". What makes the fight particularly interesting to me is that Steph's arguing that if Harvey was committed to changing we would see it, and she hasn't, while Bruce still believes that Harvey can change and is trying to, because he's seen Harvey work on it. While Steph has absolutely no trust or belief in her father. And they're talking past each other here while having a conversation.

It's some great character work. Because Bruce at his core is fundamentally committed to rehabilitation and hoping that everyone can be saved. While Steph, for extremely good canonical reasons, thinks that criminals remain criminals, and that if they want to stop being criminals they have to show the work for people to trust them; because she was betrayed while growing up.

(The actual plot of this story was good too. But people like to say that Steph doesn't have any good characterisation post Flashpoint, and I'm here to point wildly at things like this and Tynion's 'Tec run and ask what their issues are, because this is another extremely solid congruent-with-pre-War Games-Steph story)

Batman: One Bad Day - The Penguin: I could definitely tell this was a John Ridley story. I think part of my discomfort with this was that it wanted to be canonical and non-canonical at the same time. It's very clearly set in approximately the 2022 present for Bat comics (Renee Montoya is Commissioner, Oswald has recently been kicked out of Gotham)...but it's also very much an alternate history, where instead of pretending to be dead, he's been replaced by "The Umbrella Man" who has stolen Ozzie's life. It's rather like a rerun of the Emperor Penguin plot except for the fact that The Umbrella Man is a random black man (yes, thanks Ridley) who points out a bunch of class disparity issues to Penguin.

It's just a very odd plot choice to run for an specific oneshot at this point in the storyline, because completely separately we are in the process of doing "Oswald vs his children who have killed all their siblings to inherit the Iceberg" in main continuity. Get a second Penguin plot please.

Mostly this is a parable about accepting who you are and not being a bully, or the Penguin will rip out your throat. Or something. It worked, it was just...really obvious nobody knows what to do with a Penguin plot. Just do mafia and black market stuff!

Batman: One Bad Day - Mr Freeze: I don't recognise Gerry Duggan? He's apparently done about 2000 Marvel comics and a whole 8 DC ones. Oh! But he wrote Arkham Manor! Oh my gosh so many things suddenly make sense, including the fact that the motif of this comic was Victor making snow angels.

I loved Arkham Manor and particularly the way Victor was characterised in it, even though that characterisation wasn't exactly standard Mr Freeze (it was comedy Mr Freeze). What we got this time was hmmmm a very self-absorbed Victor, where the plot specifically removed some of the pathos of Victor's devotion to Nora by showcasing a number of ways he was overly obsessed to the point of harming Nora before she passed away. It wasn't quite the direction of depth into Freeze we've seen other stories go recently, but it definitely committed to him being potentially quite harmless if you frame things around Nora in the right way to get him to focus how you want him to.

I have to say though, I don't think Duggan has a particularly good grasp on Bruce or even Dick. There were a bunch of moments where Bruce calls a completely random street thug an "irredeemable villain" and that "he belongs in the deepest hole we can throw him in". I'm sorry, did I pick up a Bruce Wayne comic or a Jason Todd one? Because uhhhh that's not standard Bruce personality. Alfred was even snarking at Bruce about how "Forgive me gentlemen, I must be suffering from a senior moment. I thought Master Bruce just said he though a criminal could change."

YES! YES HE DOES THINK THAT! THAT'S BATMAN'S WHOLE THING! HE BELIEVES HE CAN SAVE EVERYONE! HE BELIEVES THAT THEY CAN CHANGE! We literally just had the Two-Face story two titles before this be all about how Bruce is overcommitted to believing that Harvey can recover and trying to help him!

Okay poor Bruce characterisation aside, this was a fairly fun Year 4 setting for the story, and it was the requisite Christmas episode, which I did also appreciate as thematic for release date and chosen villain. Tiny Dick is highly amusing in how he thinks he might be about to get to drive the Batmobile for the first time...and then the autopilot engages. He really wants to drive and comments on how he doesn't have his learners yet (and 7ish years down the track he can end up amused and irritated that TIM got his learners at 14)

I assume Duggan got given a slot on the strength of his Marvel work, and that's fine, except...the off characterisation makes it pretty clear he doesn't have a particularly good or current grasp on at least one of the two main characters of the title. Which is just slightly important for a special high profile series on Batman and His Villains. And I'm saying that as someone who liked Arkham Manor, but enjoyed it for being a quirky offbeat, tonally dissonant story in the middle of the unending angst that was Batman Eternal.

Everyone else in this set has big set piece previous stories involving the characters to point to as why they got picked. Duggan seems to have scraped through on "Big in Marvel, has written one of the few focused on Victor Fries stories in the last decade".

#z canon read throughs #recent reads

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maxwell-grant · 3 months ago

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So now that the series is over and your (really great btw) analysis of the final episode is out, I have to ask: is this where you thought it would be going? Did you expect them to adapt the "Penguin runs for mayor" arc? Personally, I have to admit, I didn't. I expected him to end this as kingpin, ruler of the underworld, at the proverbial tip of the iceberg - but I didn't expect the mayor arc to come in, and so soon.

(This imo also really shows why this series was necessary - because how else could they have justified having Penguin as the comedic relief minor mobster lieutenant in the first movie and as the political puppetteer gunning for the position of bird-king of Gotham in the second, going from an affable minor career criminal that (albeit with a lot of effort) maybe still could have been saved and led to a less harmful route, to a pure unlimited void and personification of the human capabitlity for selfish greed, lust for power and corruption that killed his own heart and soul, if not by thrusting us into a whole tv show about it? In Gotham the festering wound of coldhearted capitalism gets to be its own guy in an appropriately designed outfit.)

(Spoilers for The Penguin)

Yes yes yes, extremely second that second paragraph, "In Gotham the festering wound of coldhearted capitalism gets to be its own guy in an appropriately designed outfit",

Honestly, that this would end with the beginning of his political career was just about the only thing I expected and accurately called from early on, purely because it was always the show's mandate that he rises to power and that was one of the big Penguin Trademark Plots that the movie hadn't covered or gestured to - and with the total absence of Harvey Dent, the other major Batman villain who tends to go into politics/mayoral campaigns, it was easy to deduce that they were saving it for Oz. I think there were some things that I called as it was trucking along but before all of that, up until Episode 1, I think I was pretty wildly wrong about how this would actually be like, what form it would take.

I was pretty wrong about Victor and his fate, I was very wrong about Francis, I was COLOSSALLY OFF THE MARK about Sofia, holy shit, I thought early on that she was just gonna be like, someone trying to preserve the legacy (which is what she's usually done in previous versions) that Oz wants to burn down, or that she was just going to be the generic Prestige TV Crime Show protagonist this needed to sell Oz as a freakish weirdo by contrast, I was so fucking wrong about her and I'm so glad I was. l I think there was even a time I was very hesitant as to whether this would even be good, can you imagine.

They very much telegraphed from the start that this was gonna be about his rise to power, that he was gonna become Da Nu Kingpeen of Gotham and rise above where he stands in the movie. And he technically does do all of that, but also, it was very much not how I expected it to go. Like I said, he got the smallest possible measure of what he wanted, and at the highest conceivable cost.

The whole trajectory in our show showcases that Oz, by the end, really becomes a version of the kingpin. Not Carmine level – he has a penthouse but he’s around Crown Point in the east side of Gotham. He’s not in the wealthiest part. And then within that just making sure that we’re aligning all of Gotham City, the world, the stress of the city properly to launch into the film. - Lauren LeFranc

It's less that he rose to the top of the underworld, and more so that he dragged and broke the entire Gotham underworld down to his level. His war with Sofia destroyed all successors to the Falcone throne, the entire Maroni family, and all the gang leaders who fought over their scraps, along with Crown Point, just as he hitched a ride to Step 1 of an entirely new game of power that automatically puts him above everyone who's left in his old battleground warring with each other. He is still a far cry from having anywhere near the kind of money and power and influence and prestige that Carmine Falcone had, but he's already begun to ruin everything with only a fraction of all of that, and he won't stop clawing for more.

As LeFranc said, his penthouse and rooms are under construction because he himself is under construction, and we see now that it's less that he's rising and moving up in the world, and more so that he's dragging all of Gotham beneath him so he can drown it and be automatically on top of it. I had no idea things were gonna so catastrophically terrible and scary and ominous, and that The Penguin's foretold rise to potential mayor would be depicted as such a horrible prospect. All of this is just the shit he's done as a "bargain basememt hustler".

Unlike what I expected from the description of the show, this was not a competition, this was not a race to the top, or even just a race to see who gets the best seats on the Titanic sinking ship of mob crime in Gotham - this was never something that could be won, it could only ever mutate into something worse. This was a horrorshow with a clear as day statement of how we're all gonna fucking die because of this guy who is incapable of changing or growing, but will only push the city down further and further if nobody stops him. And as much as I expected Oz to change and develop and even grow more vicious and powerful over the course of the show, I don't think anyone was prepared for where this was going, for the extent that this wildly recontextualized everything he was in the movie, and where this would leave us for the next one.

#replies tag #dc comics #the penguin #the penguin hbo #colin farrell #lauren lefranc

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queenvhagar · 7 months ago

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honestly I think the show runners are being genuinely stupid right now cuz a part of the reason got season 8 was a disaster was of course due to no proper buildup and bad writing but I honestly think it was the marketing and all the press tours of the actors like they all genuinely made it seem like daenerys wasn’t a very flawed individual and alot of scenes that should’ve been presented as oh that’s actually a very dark thing she’s doing we’re instead turned into girl boss moments. The majority of the audience wasn’t mentally prepared for the turn cuz in-universe practically no one had realistic reactions to her and called her out. This especially backfired cuz alot of people that were watching the show were not reading the books and making theories. ( like dude at the very least your actors shouldn’t be so horrified and shocked like forget following the marvel way of keeping scripts secret for months just follow the Alan Rickman snape thing and let them know so they perform accordingly )

Now instead of learning from that they want the love dany got before season 8 from the audience but it’s like now you know how this ends for rhaenyra this is not a secret but again alot of the audience watching this probably hasn’t read the books so you have to lay down the groundwork otherwise you’re going to end up in the same position once again cuz the book-blind audience will only see that oh rhaenyra has been making all the right decisions why is she also turning ‘mad’.

They should be thinking longterm right now and how to make sure the prestige of the show remains even after it’s over but that won’t happen if again you are purifying these characters and fundamentally changing who they are but still want the same plot beats to happen.

at this point I can’t easily picture the outrage for rhaenyra taking an evil turn later on and how the show runners are sabotaging her

I do hope they aren't planning on downplaying Rhaenyra's mad queen arc, because that would completely ruin her character (though what we've seen from this season so far, there's little hope of a book-accurate Rhaenyra arc happening).

How it's going now I can almost see it being the threat of Aemond and Vhagar and stories of their devastation in the Riverlands being the reason people rise up against the dragons and Targaryens as a whole (instead of it being Rhaenyra's paranoia and cruelty, as well as Helaena's death, that causes the people of King's Landing to turn against Rhaenyra, kill the dragons, and drive her out of the city). The way Aemond has treated the smallfolk so far, how he will in future episodes, according to the leaks, and this episode's highlighting of all the sheep being sent to Vhagar despite the lack of food in King's Landing, along with the smallfolk apparently loving Rhaenyra and the Blacks despite them causing the blockade and Meleys murdering hundreds... it seems to be conveniently setting up the blame of the fall of the dynasty to go towards the Greens completely.

I wouldn't be surprised if Rhaenyra continues to be absolved of wrongdoing... although it would clearly be a much more interesting show if the writing would start allowing Rhaenyra her fire and exploring her superiority complex and the impact it has on how she rules and others view her.

If they continue to present her as some flawless girlboss and somehow also want to include the mad queen arc though... they'll be in for a rough ride.

#asks

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atiny-for-life · 1 year ago

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Ateez's Full Storyline Explained - Part 20

( MAJOR LORE UPDATES - I'm really excited!)

Masterlist

Will - The World Ep. Fin Diary Entries:

The Intro provides us with a bit of backstory to the setting of 'Crazy Form':

The city is currently mid-Revolution: the people who left the system (now classified as Sense Offenders) are actively fighting against the ones still trapped within - tensions are mighty high to say the least.

Graffiti proclaiming "Wake up" and "Be free" covers the city walls, though it has been hidden by the suppressors under concealment screens (this is something we get to see in the MV).

Fed up with the Black Pirates' activities, the government is no longer satisfied with just denouncing them as a terrorist group and asking for them to be turned in - they now deem anyone who joins their cause to be a co-conspirator. Simply put: If you're caught inducing emotions in anyone, you'll be executed on the spot. You won't even be taken to the Disposal Site.

We cut to a scene right in the center of the city square where Guardians pull up in their cars and approach the display erected there for one clear purpose. A rope is lowered and pulled, hands are dusted off and the Guardians take off again. Words are no longer needed. They leave behind, hanging below the display, the corpses of multiple captured and executed Sense Offenders. A warning to all who dare to resist: the next one could be you.

Unbeknownst to them, it has the opposite effect. Tears and sobs fill the air, cries of sadness and anger. The loss of innocent life reinforced what they already knew: it can't go on like this. Their deaths won't be in vain. The system can be changed.

The aftermath of the raid on Prestige Academy had spread by word of mouth, getting past all attempts at censorship, and showed them a path of resistance.

We now rejoin Ateez and Black Pirates right after the Prestige Academy raid where Seonghwa had left with the leader of Thunder.

The boy's brother, exhausted from crying, is sleeping in the corner while the remaining Ateez members are freaking out over Seonghwa's disappearance. Though luckily, he isn't gone for long and rolls up to the bunker shortly after.

Hongjoong immediately pounces on him and is like: "Tell me you didn't run off with that girl because she looked like the 'Be Free' girl like Yeosang suggested." And Seonghwa's like: "It's not like that."

He pulls out an unfamiliar map and explains it was provided by the girl as the leader of Thunder, the students' version of the Black Pirates, aka fellow revolutionists.

They'd put a tracker on the boy before he was captured and believe he's being taken to the Disposal Site which is the place the map is of.

Still doubtful, Hongjoong questions the girl's and Thunder's motives - why not join the Black Pirates? Why act behind their backs? - but Seonghwa reassures him: as the elite of the elite, Thunder has access to information that can lead them directly to Z.

We now get more background information about the Z-World and Strictland's main oppressor 'Z' in particular (which has me personally very excited because we're tying in some more old plot threads; side note: the Glossary has been updated accordingly):

He's the Z-World's leader of Sciensalvar. However, unlike in the A-World, where this organization was founded in 1999, is still rather small and lead by Henry Jo (see Fever Epilogue Diary Version), this Sciensalvar is a pseudo-religious scientific organization spearheaded by 'Z'. They're behind the creation of the AI simulation for the 'best solution', aka the answer to their question of "What do I need to do to gain absolute, unchallengeable power?" To which the self-learning AI answered: get rid of all human emotions. With this knowledge, they created a political party under the catchphrase: "The pursuit of a peaceful world without religious conflict and terror through emotional control." Said party grew in size until they were powerful enough to pass the 'Emotional Regulation Act' which lead to the solidification of the class system to the point where 'defective' people are now being 'disposed of'. However, as they have not yet achieved total control, Z and his political subordinates stay exclusively in Z's hideout near the city center where only the elites reside. They never leave the building, only the elitest of the elites ever get to enter and once they exit, they remain under strict surveillance by the Android Guardians to prevent the spread of insider knowledge. Android Guardians, who are collectively referred to as the Imperial Watch, are the only ones allowed to freely come and ago since they're not human and thus immune to being corrupted by emotions if captured and interrogated.

The Black Pirates have never been able to obtain the precise location of Z's hideout despite past efforts to catch a hold of suspects who they then coaxed into spilling by utilizing their breakers to surface long suppressed emotions.

Working with Thunder, despite the risk, thus now seems like their best shot at finally eliminating the hideout and securing a massive leap forward in the revolution.

We cut to Z's office where the Prestige Academy principal was just executed by the Head Guardian of the Imperial Watch.

A new order is given by Z: "Now that we've set the bait, the Black Pirates will go to the Disposal Site to save the child. Take care that no mistakes like this are repeated at the Disposal Site. Or you'll be the one replaced this time."

With a troop of 100 Android Guardians, the Head Guardian enters the Disposal Site alongside a slew of blue butterflies who spread out among the workers with red, marred skin from the furnaces.

The Head Guardian refers to them as the 'Red Humans' who are 'so hideous' they 'resemble goblins more than people'.

The troop marches after a butterfly fluttering down a hallway toward the cells where the to-be-disposed-of people are kept - humans who've been classified as physically disabled or harboring feelings.

They appear enchanted by the sight of the butterfly, unlike the Guardians who took no note of them, which leaves this singular one to continue onward past the cells toward a boiling furnace filled with the remains of the disposed. 'Red Humans' are stirring the remains in the incinerator as the butterfly rises up past the executioner platform.

Upon closer inspection, the butterfly can be identified as an animatronic containing a camera.

The next entry informs us that it's Yeosang who's in charge of the tiny delicate butterfly drone and here, to me, everything regarding these blue little critters finally falls into place (which is why Part 5 - Deja Vu and Part 15 - Answer have now been updated accordingly):

Back in Deja Vu, Yeosang took note of the blue butterflies fluttering around Strictland and how they're so common and, despite their beauty, get fully ignored by the unfeeling Android Guardians. As a result, he studies their appearance and anatomy, creates a 3D rendering (which we catch a glimpse of in Deja Vu and its appearance is similar to the one of the pirate ship hologram we got to see in Crazy Form, leading me to believe this is their usual modus operandi when they develop tech). By the time Answer rolls around, the 3D model has been turned into a fully functional animatronic with a built-in camera - a drone. This explains why the butterfly in Answer looks more artificial than the one in Deja Vu - it's not organic, it's a delicate little machine. A spy gadget.

Moving on to Ateez who are parked outside in their van: they're utilizing the beautiful little butterfly drone to compare the map to what they're seeing.

Deeming it all good enough, they strap in and Mingi crashes through the gates. They storm inside, trap the workers with their burnt skin in side-rooms and split into two groups - one in charge of freeing the imprisoned, the other in charge of warding off the guards.

The first group was left with the Cromer since they'd need to transport all the imprisoned to the Black Pirates' Bunker as fast as possible, which left the others at a significant disadvantage in their fight against the Guardians, even with the weapons provided by Left Eye.

They quickly get overpowered and Hongjoong is left on the ground with a gun pointed straight at his head. Jongho is left to call for back-up.

Back at the hideout, however, things are also going south - a fellow pirate bursts through the doors and informs them their location had been leaked to the Guardians. He barely gets to finish his warning before a beam saber cuts down his back and leaves him coughing up blood before he drops dead.

Wooyoung's thoughts are racing as he questions how their location could've possibly gotten out before Mingi looks to Seonghwa: "Please tell me you didn't share the location of the bunker with the Thunder girl".

Seonghwa, previously extremely sure of where the girl's loyalties lie, begins to doubt.

Meanwhile at the Disposal Site, a scream rings out - the Prestige Academy boy's.

The Guardian still aiming at Hongjoong's head offers an ultimatum: "Tell the members with the Cromer to come over here. I'll give you 10 minutes. Or this kid- well, you know what'll happen."

The timer is set. Hongjoong relays the information to the four members at the bunker.

Unable to leave the bunker fully unprotected however, the four try to fight off the Android Guardians before they depart, only to be struck down. Left on the ground. Spitting up blood. Seonghwa. Mingi. Wooyoung. San. Four down.

At the same time, at the Disposal Site, the remaining four are dragged along the ground to the execution area.

All eight of them think about how much happened to them since they entered the Z World - how much it felt like fate. They realized how powerful music and performance can be, how it can stir emotions in other people, how it's powerful enough to be used as a weapon against oppressive forces in this world. It allowed them to feel emotions they'd almost forgotten about and gave them a goal to achieve. They'd been happy here. And now they might die here.

But just then: a zap. And a Guardian hit the ground in the bunker.

People wearing "ridiculous masks" (according to Wooyoung) and armed with modified electro shockers flooded the bunker and began to take down the Guardians before helping the four Ateez members to their feet.

With their identity hidden behind their masks and voice modifiers, they promise to take everyone to safety and ask the four to come back once they're done at the Disposal Site. Their leader also hands a note to Seonghwa.

With no other option, the four take off with the Cromer's help, though the boy's brother manages to leap on them quickly enough to be taken along.

They make it just in time and use the Cromer to zip across the room, disposing of the Guardians' weapons by throwing them in the incinerator, but the one clutching the boy is quick to raise the kid by his throat and threaten to toss him feet-first in after them.

Momentarily defeated, Ateez get tied up with rope, but the boy's brother, who'd remained hidden nearby, manages to slide a jackknife he'd been keeping in his pocket to Yunho. One by one, the knife gets handed around as they free themselves.

Meanwhile, the boy begins to talk to the Guardian who'd dropped him back to the ground - it's revealed he'd been working alongside them all along to obtain the location of the Black Pirates' bunker.

When the boy had first found out about his older brother's break, he'd fled Prestige Academy and posted a message on Black Link (the system set up by Left Eye in Movement Diary Version: The Revolution which pings the Black Pirates when a citizen's chip fails so they can reach out and contact them) after failing to find the Black Pirates and their bunker.

With no one to help him, he hid out at the Disposal Site in hopes of finding a way to safe his brother once he was dragged there by the Android Guardians.

While still there, he received a message from his brother, asking him why he hadn't come home last night. Relieved, he returned home and discovered a message from the Black Pirates who disclosed a rough location of their bunker and offered to help him if he still needed it, though they'd have to clear him first over their security system.

However, after seeing the reality and experiencing the horrors of the Disposal Site, the boy chose to return to Prestige Academy instead and beg for mercy for both himself and his brother.

The Guardians agreed but requested the exact location of the Black Pirates' bunker in return.

Upon hearing this, Ateez felt betrayed which the boy's brother openly voices. He tells his brother that, after experiencing emotions, he can't go back and pushes him to leave the wrong side and rejoin them while there's still time to make things right.

Yeosang manages to trip one of the Guardians with his newly freed legs which gives the boy a chance to take his brother's offered hand, but just before they can make contact, the Head Guardian grabs the brother by the collar and throws him off the execution platform down to the incinerator.

The members threw off their ropes and pushed the Head Guardian into the incinerator while the boy jumps after his brother and Mingi activates the Cromer.

Mingi catches the gaze of the boy's brother as his legs slip into the incinerator. His eyes close. Mingi grabs the boy's arm before he could share the same fate. The boy screams.

Newly traumatized, Mingi drops the boy in a safe place and rejoins his members who're actively fighting the Guardians and makes quick work of them by tossing them in the furnace one by one.

The boy breaks down in tears.

Only the Head Guardian was left. But unlike all the others, he was suddenly tackled from the back by the boy who was rushing at full speed and dragging them both toward the incinerator.

Hongjoong's hand shot forward, grabbing the boy's arm who mouthed "I'm sorry" right before the Head Guardian's weight dragged them over the edge and out of Hongjoong's hold.

Hongjoong had no choice but to sit by as they disappeared into the incinerator below.

The distant sound of an explosion. "I know how you feel but... We need to get out of here first. The bomb's about to go off," Seonghwa reminds Hongjoong.

San takes them away with the Cromer right before the blue butterflies spread throughout the building flash red and explode, collapsing the Disposal Site.

While all this was going down, the masked people who'd helped at the Bunker were revealed to be Thunder and the note handed to Seonghwa was revealed to be a map.

By the time the Disposal Site went down, Thunder managed to pack all the prisoners into a big bus and take them past all the security barricades into the city center thanks to their high ranking elite status.

Thunder's main base has a garden. It consists of trees and flowers bearing the names of the two brothers and all the fallen Black Pirate members lost in the battle.

Dressed in black, Ateez, the Black Pirates, and the Thunder members bow to the dead as fireflies circle over their heads. "I will not let your sacrifices be in vain. I promise." Yeosang's words echo everyone's thoughts.

The fireflies ascend above them as if they were carrying their wishes to the stars. They watch them rise for a long time.

The village is located in a forest away from all government surveillance. A small haven. Thunder's leader is showing Seonghwa around as she tells him her story:

She met the Grimes siblings in this place and when she heard them sing, she realized that something valuable had been taken from humanity. Taken by Z. Reminder: the Grimes siblings are the ones who first helped Ateez when they landed in the Z-World (see: Fever Part 2 Diary Entries). At that time, she was already recognized for her talents at Prestige Academy and put in the position of Thunder's leader. As a skilled actress, she managed to continue on undetected, even while she silently planned find a way to rise high enough to meet Z - an opportunity very few ever got. By using her status at the Academy, she managed to prevent students from getting taken to the Disposal Site: spewing empty threats instead of reporting them as 'defective'. Her time there also allowed her to carefully approach others who had awoken thanks to the Grimes siblings. Together, they held a funeral for them after their souls were taken (see: Fever Epilogue Diary Entries). They heard stories of the Black Pirates and Ateez but, as a smaller group, needed to be more careful and couldn't reach out to them.

Her story gives Seonghwa hope that there are more groups out there fighting for their cause.

When he voices the thought, the girl feels the same hope for the future.

After the raid at Prestige Academy, the school is shut down and repurposed while students are transferred to other schools in the area based on their performance.

Thanks to a heart rate controlling device provided by Left Eye, the girl passes the emotional detection checks and manages to excel in her studies and is deemed the superior candidate among all students - she earns the position of Z's protocol manager. A position which will take her to Z's hideout.

They take her to the city center and into the underground parking lot by the central bank's building. From there, she's guided through corridors until they reach Z's office.

Inside, he's already waiting for her and immediately addresses how closely she'd been paying attention to her surroundings the entire way there - from the car ride all the way up to now. As if she were curious. "Curiosity is also an emotion. Curiosity is dangerous, you know."

Ever the perfect student and actress, she replies with "What is 'Curiosity'?" and offers her chip to be checked - a chip that has been modified by her to switch on and off on her comment to avoid detection at school.

She passes the final test and is hired on the spot.

#ateez #ateez lore #hongjoong #seonghwa #yunho #yeosang #san #mingi #wooyoung #jongho #will - the world ep fin #the world series

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jellyfishdoodler · 1 month ago

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One of my DnD characters- Reed Quarium! He's a human wizard in a fantastical Lovecraftian steampunk world setting, campaign run by my friend irl (please quit college and come back I miss my boy and the plot was just getting good /J)

Reed is a very intelligent young man who lets that get to his head way too much. He's cocky and a little arrogant, but damn he is actually smart. His family invented the at-home aquarium and has been making bank ever since installing elaborate tanks- as well as doing some deep sea exploration and research for new species of ocean critters. And his older brother is the head priest of a temple he was divinely told to build. So Reed comes from a family of self-made prestige and has a LOT to live up to. So he begged to go to the largest school in the big city to learn everything he could about magic.

He developed a method of distilling magic/ spellslots into a compressed form- which can be stored in glass marbles to be used for later. They are very expensive in resources and time and VERY DIFFICULT TO MAKE, but it allows him to have extra prepared and ready to use spells in his literal back pocket. On top of that, he's a tinkerer by nature and loves fiddling with mechanics and clockwork. Eventually making a small-dog-sized floating clockwork goldfish to be his familiar and best friend (this boy LOVES his pet goldfish and couldn't let him go, okay?)

I can't get too much into his backstory because spoilers for the other players (I see you lol)- but what I can say is that at the start of the campaign, he was introduced with no immediate memory of how he got into this situation- while being pinned down by guards and being stripped of his supplies and spell book. With one marble cracked between his teeth, he literally spits a spell at the police and manages to flee- bumping into one of the party members and using a scroll to turn himself into a goldfish. The member was shocked suddenly holding a fishbowl as the remaining guard asks where he is, and gets misdirected. From there the party meet and get stuck with each other, Reed finds out he's missing a gap of about 5 years of memory, and they're off on an adventure trying to uncover some devious cult shit!

#my art #dnd #I love this bastard I want to throw him in the microwave and watch him explode /aff #OC Reed Quarium

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nintendowife · 3 months ago

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I completed Cupid Parasite on Nintendo Switch about a week ago. It was an enjoyable game with a good dose of humor and surprising twists. It took me 75 hours to finish all content available.

The game starts with our pink-haired protagonist, goddess Cupid having an argument with her dad, the god of war. Cupid wants to convince Mars that gods are not superior to humans. To prove her point, she runs away from the world of gods, into the world of humans. There in the city of Los York Cupid leads a life of a regular human being, keeping her true identity a secret and working in a marriage agency to matchmake people. Cupid (alias "Lynette Mirror") is tasked to get five infamously hopeless clients, the "Parasite 5" married. Will she be able to make couples fall in love without using the divine powers of Cupid's bow? Will she be able to score a promotion as a top bridal advisor to prove humans are just as good at matchmaking as gods?

The "Parasite 5" are the five love interests in the game that all have their own faults and quirks. "Lovelorn Parasite" is still hopelessly in love with a woman from his past. "Glamor Parasite" only acknowledges the existence of people who pass his high standards for beauty. "Obsessed Parasite" is fixated on mythology and infodumps on any poor soul coming to vicinity. "Prestige Parasite" is a workaholic concerned on his status and thinks romance is irrational and unnecessary. "Thieving Parasite" chases after women who are already in a relationship, causing heartbreaks and conflicts. So it seems Lynette's task of getting these guys married might really prove to be a challenge. There's a secret route with one more love interest in addition to the five mentioned above.

The game had events that made me and my husband laugh out loud, sometimes even so hard we had tears in our eyes. Surprising, absurd situations and silly antics galore. The writing in general was pretty good and entertaining. I especially enjoyed references to real life brands, people and places that were replaced with clever word play versions - coffee shop Star★Bacchus was probably my favorite. Localization was great with few errors or typos. The story had some minor inconsistencies but nothing that bothered me too much. The tone was very slice-of-life sprinkled with fantasy and mythology. I liked how some routes referred to something that had happened in an earlier route and a little light bulb above my head turned on when I went "ohhh, so that's what it was!".

Story routes have multiple possible endings, even the common route. In a typical otome game fashion the story branches based on player's choices. This determines which character's route you end up on and which ending you get. No worries if you usually avoid bad endings in fear of something unimaginably terrible happening: here the "bad" ends aren't tragic and might be something like Lynette becoming a business partner with a love interest. You should get the best experience by following a recommended play order for the routes: Ryuki / Shelby / Gill -> Raul -> Allan -> Secret route.

My personal favorite routes were Allan and Secret guy - I liked the characters, story and lore here the most. Raul's route had a nice plot reveal and a hefty amount of humor. One of his bad ends was sure something I did not expect! Those satanic oysters at it again! Shelby's route gets a special mention for hilarious events and I liked him as a character too.

One of the most enjoyable aspects to me was the art style. The character art and design is by Yuuya, the artist behind games like Café Enchanté, 9 R.I.P. and Hanaemu Kare to & bloom. Definitely one of my favorite artists in the otome industry and I have no complaints on their work here either. Each of the characters have nice details, expressions that reflect their personality and multiple outfits for different occasions.

There's a decent amount of CGs to unlock and some bare skin to ogle. The character sprites are slightly animated with eyes blinking and mouths moving when they talk.

The UI in menus looked pretty wild and confusing and the bright colors attacked my retinas. While the garish colors were slightly off-putting at first, I grew accustomed to the visual style quickly and it started feeling like an inseparable part of the whimsical atmosphere of the game.

Audio was another highlight. The soundtrack caught my attention right away in the screen where the protagonist can be named. The main characters have their own theme songs and music overall was probably the best I've heard in otome games so far. Usually music just blends in the background but here it was quite memorable and distinct. Voice acting is done by seasoned professionals and some of it might charm your pants off. Knowing there's a character voiced by the voice talent of Piofiore's Yang was one good reason for me to pick up the game. It's a real shame the protagonist is not voiced as it's weird when even side characters speak and Lynette has no audible reaction to anything. My favorite voice performances in the game belong to the secret route love interest, Allan and Minerva.

I also want to mention there are some features available to make things easier and to customize things to your preferences. You can select the dialogue font from a few options, dialogue window opacity and text speed can be adjusted, audio volume can be adjusted per character, etc. There's the usual "read skip" feature where you can skip dialogue and have it stop when you reach new dialogue you haven't seen before. Via flowchart you can skip straight to any chapter you've finished earlier and you can also keep track of which endings you've achieved.

I have a couple of small complaints about the game's technical side. The read skip feature was somewhat slow even at its highest speed due to it "getting stuck" momentarily during scene transitions. I'd prefer a "skip to next choice" feature. The UI also responded sluggishly at times when I wanted to open a menu, which was a bit annoying. On non-technical side, I guess my only complaints are that not all the love interests were to my tastes and that the protagonist did not have a voice. I also had trouble figuring out how to get to a specific route which was time consuming, and inconveniently I had to consult a guide at times.

Overall I really liked "CupiPara" and I noticed my husband was very interested in watching what happens in the game too. "Thank you, fellow human" and "Chiii!" are kind of our inside jokes now. If you're looking for a lighthearted story with comedy, romance and even some steamy moments (sexy times, they do the devil's tango, no pants dance, etc.), look no further. There's a cute mascot creature to help the protagonist too! It's best to go in without knowing too much about it - unfortunately I saw some spoilers myself before playing.

#cupid parasite #otome game #visual novel #nintendo switch

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elejah-verse · 1 year ago

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_elejah au

Love is in the Air

_tvd fanfic_Part 1

a/n: this is a light-hearted, romantic little story.

New Orleans

"I am all packed" Elijah said to his sister Rebekah on the phone.

"Why Rome?" the blonde asked.

"I just had this idea for my next book. And I need to go there to get the feel of the city, do some research at the archives." Elijah said.

"So, it's going to be another murder mystery with historical background?!" Rebekah stated.

"Burning Wings was such a great success and now they want me to write a sequel," Elijah said, "and a couple of nights ago I had a dream that kind of set this idea in my head to put the plot in Rome."

"Well, I hope it will not all be work- after your divorce you have done nothing but work."

"I plan to take time off and enjoy the city. Stefan is gone with Valerie to visit his brother and his wife Rosalie in Amesterdam and I got his apartment for a whole month." Elijah explained.

Rebekah sighed a little as her brother mentioned her ex-boyfriend Stefan Salvatore.

"I am sorry, I shouldn't have mentioned him."

"It's ok. I just- it will always be hard cuz- you know - I messed ut up and now- ok- right. When is your flight?" Rebekah asked.

"Tomorrow morning. I will call you when I get there." Elijah replied.

"All right. Have a great time. And try not to just work." Rebekah said and with a little bye and Elijah's promise that he will also take time to enjoy his holiday, they hung up.

Pressing the search button, the latest articles with the news popped up. And the picture of the woman he had met ten years ago as he visited his sister, who was studying in the prestige old private Mystic Falls College for liberal arts, now stared at him.

His eyes smiled seeing the photo, which was clearly from one of her premieres as she was a famous actress.

And then he saw the article headline.

Elena Gilbert rumored to be secretly engaged to Mason Wood.

Elijah sighed a little and not reading further, swiped the page off and went to a subject he was interested in.

In Florence, Italy

Elena walked in her hotel room followed by her personal assistant and manager, Jo Parker.

"Thank God today was the last day of the shoot. Can you please reschedule everything for at least a week?!" Elena said."I am so going away and I don't want to know about anything. Please."

"All right. So, what shall I book you? Bali?"

"No. I already made my own arrangements." Elena said.

"What? I didn't want to ask - but - are you seeing Mason again?" Jo asked.

"No. Well, we hooked up again- and that's all" Elena replied waving away with an insignificant huff.

"Right. Do you want me to say something about the non-engagement? It's all over the internet"

"No. Just leave it. It will blow over. Especially when they soon see him with Erin." Elena explained.

"Erin Lindsay? Seriously?" Jo now asked.

"A couple of days after our hook up I saw him with her all lovey at the same hotel." Elena said followed by a little sigh.

"Oh, sweety - you still thought that -"

"Yeah- I kind of thought that maybe the hook up would be - but things were over with us ages ago- I don't know why I thought that there - and I am not even in love with him really - anyway, enough of it."

"Where are you going?" the manager asked.

"Rome." Elena replied.

"Rome?" Jo was surprised.

"Yes. And I am going incognito. I got Francesca's keys to her apartment. I need to get away from everything and everyone. Take a week off- maybe two." Elena replied.

"Ok. I have something for you to read. Liv is still negotiating to get the rights to do a movie, but it's nearly in the bag and Tristan is very interested in producing this," Jo now got a book out of her bag, adding,"it's a historical thriller and you would be playing Angel, she is a 15th century librarian, who investigates a murder involving an ancient curse. The book was No.1 everywhere!"

Elena took the book and looked at it, muttering,"Elijah Smith?" and then turned the book around. The face on the back now made her heart jump.

"Interested? The book is really good - there are so many twists and turns - I could not put it down till I finished it. There is a very ambiguous cliffhanger at the end - and apparently there is going to be Burning Wings 2- Elena?"

"Ha? What?" Elena now snapped out of her momentary daze.

"Interested?"

"Yeah" Elena said breathing in a gulp.

Jo smiled a little, gathering why Elena got a tad bit taken in.

"He is such an eye-candy, right?"

"Yeah" Elena said and put the book down on the table.

"What's up?"

"Nothing," Elena replied, "ahm- I want to go shower and I think I will hit the bed."

"All right. I will see you at breakfast? Shall I rent- a- car for you?"

"Yes, please. Thanks, Jo. Sorry, I am just so wasted."- Elena now said rubbing her neck a bit.

"I know. Don't worry. Ok. See you in the morning." Jo said and then taking her bag from the chair left the actress's room.

As the door clicked on the way out, Elena now shot a look at the book, flashing back to the past.

Flashback

Ten years back

"May I?" Elijah asked politely for the seat on the bench.

"Yes" Elena said removing the books so the man could sit down.

"Maybe it appears odd that I want to sit here though the other bench over there is empty, but it's too exposed on the sun and it's such a great shade here under this oak" Elijah said as he sat down.

"Yeah- it's crazy hot today," Elena replied,"and it's only May"

Elijah's eyes now descended on one of the books - "Roman Tragedy", and then a guide book on Rome. "Ah, Rome - such a great city."

Elena now swayed her look from her book she was reading.

"Have you been there?"

"Yes, last summer. With my sister Rebekah and my brother Kol." Elijah replied.

"Rebekah is your sister?"

"Yes. I am here to meet her. And she specificly said - to be at the White Oak Tree. She is running late. You know her?" Elijah explained.

"We are in the play together." Elena replied.

"Oh, really? She didn't say anything about it. Is she any good?"

Elena nodded a little.

"Not that great, ha?"

"She is, and she could be excellent, but she seems not to care that much. Ok, I shouldn't saybanything really."

"Oh, you're ok. She is my sister and I love her, but I know what she is like. She excels only at things she really is passionate about, and if she is not - well, she can be superficial."

"Yeah" Elena slipped.

"She wants to be a designer, she told me and I saw some of her designs - and they are amazing. Her show is the evening. But I guess, you know that?!" Elena said.

"Yes, that's why I am here." Elijah now said.

He then saw Rebekah approaching and he stood up. And just before he went to his sister, he turned to the brunette, introducing himself, "I'm Elijah."

"I'm Elena." the woman said.

_to be continued

#elejah #elena gilbert #elijah mikaelson #alternative universe #tvd au #elena and elijah #tvd imagines #fanfiction #part 1 #love is in the air #book cover designed by me #aka elijah smith

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alolanlan · 1 year ago

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ideas for a mdzs ATLA au

- the Lan as the air nomads except instead of a flowy, go-wherever lifestyle, they have rules to keep them “tethered to the earth”. the lan forehead ribbons work in the same way, with them only releasing their earthly tie to the one who they can trust to bring them back - spouse and family. the colors would swap to the typical cloud recesses colors instead of yellow, orange, and dark red.

- the Nie and Jin taking up the earth kingdom. ba sing se could be where the jins have walled themselves in to protect themselves from the war, while the rest can be nie territory.

- the Jiang as the water tribe except instead of replacing the north and south pole tribes, they replace the swampbenders. so yk how the tribes at the poles are seen as the main waterbending groups while swampbenders are seen as a subculture hidden away in the earth kingdom? yeah, switch the status of the groups. the Jiang sect can live in Lotus Pier and have the combined prestige as the canon north and south waterbending tribes and while there are waterbending tribes at the poles, they’re isolated and closed off from the rest of the world (intentionally; im thinking baoshan sanren is the leader of the southern water tribe in this au).

- the Wen as the Fire Nation, obv. that’s pretty much all I have to say.

- Cangse Sanren was the last avatar. Baoshan Sanren took her in to the Southern Water Tribe after finding Cangse living on the streets of an earth kingdom port city. Cangse Sanren was trained in waterbending first, then traveled around the world to master other forms of bending. She’s taught airbending by the Lans, earthbending by the Nie, and learns waterbending by the Jiangs (and falls in love with a nonbender Jiang sect servant, Wei Changze, in the process).

- Wei Wuxian is born a waterbender. When his parents die in a hunt for a resentful spirit, he grows up on the streets. He’s eventually found and taken in by the Jiang sect to teach him waterbending.

- Jiang Yanli is a nonbender and Jiang Cheng is a waterbender. Instead of becoming a whip, Zidian could send an electric charge thru the water and make his water whip extra dangerous?? idk if that would work scientifically but it would be neat

- Lan Wangji and Lan Xichen are airbenders that channel their bending thru musical instruments

- Nie Mingjue is the general of the earthbending army and he sends Nie Huaisang to the island of Kyoshi to keep him safe, unaware he’d become a Kyoshi Warrior (i think they’d make an exception for him gender wise??)

- Wen Qing is a nonbender in the Wen sect that found a new way of healing that focuses on chi points, similar to how waterbending healing works but using acupuncture needles instead. Wen Ning is a rather weak firebender but his aim with a bow and arrow is amazing

- the Jin are either a clan of metalbenders or nonbenders. Jin Zixuan and Meng Yao would both be nonbenders i think.

- anyway, onto the plot.

- the cloud recesses arc is pretty much the same except everyone is there to learn more about airbending culture and spirituality and see how it can be applied to their own bending.

- just like in mdzs canon, the Wen end up attacking the Lan sect first and it’s devastating. not to the point of total genocide like in atla canon, but a shit ton of people die. Lan Xichen flees with ancient airbending scrolls and Lan Wangji is captured at the temple he’d been defending.

- Xuanwu of slaughter is a rlly angry spirit creature kept prisoner in a cave, wangxian once again defeat it

- Lotus Pier is burned but there are more survivors considering they have waterbending to put out the fires. Jiang Fengmian and Yu Ziyuan are both killed in direct combat with the Wens and Jiang Cheng gets his bending taken away by Wen Zhuliu (a bloodbender like Amon in tlok that can block people’s bending abilities).

- Wen Qing and Wen Ning help the Yunmeng sibs escape Lotus Pier but there’s nothing anyone can do to help him. Wen Qing puts him in a medically induced coma to keep him from putting strain on his injuries but then she and her brother have to go, leaving Jiang Yanli and Wei Wuxian. When they hear Wen Chao is hunting them down, Wei Wuxian takes off to lead them away but is running on fumes to the point where he gets captured. Jiang Yanli, meanwhile, takes her brother to the Golden Carp Tower in Ba Sing Se, where her connections allow them to take refuge.

- He’s thrown in the Burial Mounds, a place where resentful spirits roam freely, devouring anyone who dares step foot in their territory. He spends a few days hiding for his life before he’s discovered by a spirit.

- the spirit looks deep into his heart and sees that all he truly desires is to help Jiang Cheng and everyone else. the spirit takes pity on him and makes an offer: it will teach him the bending technique needed to help his brother, but in return he has to gift the spirit his ability to waterbend normally. he accepts and the spirit teaches him bloodbending.

- through the spirit’s teachings, Wei Wuxian is able to master the art of bloodbending (Wen Zhuliu is a bloodbender already, but he’s no master). The cost, however, is high - bloodbending deteriorates the bender’s mind, body, and spirit and if he’s not careful it will consume him.

- three months after being thrown in, he leaves the Burial Mounds. first thing he does is find Jiang Cheng in Ba Sing Se and use his bloodbending to unblock his waterbending. he leaves before Jiang Cheng wakes up or Jiang Yanli spots him and the return of JC’s bending is seen as a miracle.

- Anyway. Sunshot Campaign happens!! Wei Wuxian is a BAMF that controls the blood in recently dead bodies to create a zombie army! Lan Wangji is Concerned but also uncomfortably turned on! Meng Yao goes undercover and kills Wen Ruohan!

- to be continued. probably

#mdzs #mdzs au #mdzs fanfic idea #atla au #bloodbender wei wuxian #waterbender jiang cheng #airbender lan wangji #mdzs atla au

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montanamp3 · 20 days ago

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each thing beloved: the citations

since i can't use the notes on etb due to [SPOILERS] i thought it would be fun to add my notes here as a separate post! i have lots and lots to yap about for this fic because i love research and i love singlit and i love being annoying so strap in

direct references

the lmm epigraph is from the genius annotations for hurricane. i also quoted this npr interview from 2020

baby you can drive my car is from claire tham's (EXTREMELY FIRE) 1990 short story collection fascist rock

reid tang's we are slowly dismantling merit bureaucracies is from the singaporean section of divining dante, a collection of poetry from around the world released for the 700th anniversary of dante's death. another really fun poem from divining dante that i ended up not including was dante digestif singapura by joshua ip

(an: reid tang worked with hahnji jang on a play??? apparently??? let's all hold space for this fact for a moment)

also featured: city hall by yvonne koh in qlrs, kampong bahru 1975 by wong may in poetry.sg

vibe-related references

virginia's character is inspired by lots of female asian-american writers from the late 70s/early 80s like marilyn chin and maxine hong kingston. but as is probably evident the historical inspiration for her was largely wong may!!

for people who may not be familiar - wong may is a singapore-raised writer who moved to the us for her mfa at the university of iowa in 1966. while in the us, she published her experimental poetry collection a bad girl's book of animals, which wasn't available in singapore until very very recently and was in fact actually called obscure by the straits times once lol. she published a few more books (which of now are still unavailable in singapore) and then disappeared to ireland

i think one of the biggest references for this fic was the essay looking for wong may by jennifer chang and (somewhat, my memory of it is Not Great) tse hao guang's introduction to the epigram press reprinting of a bad girl's book of animals which was imo suspiciously passive-aggressive towards ms chang

this is mostly in the sense of ms wong's preoccupation with exile and homelessness ever since being forced to give up her singaporean citizenship + ms chang's view that she's a part of asian american history compared with mr tse's view that She Never Said She Was What Are You Talking About + her whole Famously Offline Impenetrable Art Hermit vibe that comes through from both mr tse and ms changs writing about her. all of these people are still alive so i really really hope they never google their names

(an: i actually started writing this for the tse hao guang publishing grant before it got about 4k words over the given limit lol. i think that might have been for the best)

huxley secondary school is from secondary the musical! in this fic i think of it as being one of those older neighbourhood schools that used to be the kind that people with caldecott money would plausibly send their kids to in the 1970s but as more schools have popped up it's slowly lost its prestige (basically read: cj/nj, sorry njcers). this probably is not very accurate to secondary the musical where i think it has the vibes of a new but relatively unfancy neighbourhood school

the plot structure of this is pretty obviously inspired by i saw the tv glow (2024) see: bleachers scene, apologies, the colour pink, conformity to the system portrayed as a slow death, obsession and reflection of the self in a piece of media etc etc. as has been pointed out by smarter people than me this fic is about immigration in the subjunctive but it's About immigration in the same way that i saw the tv glow is About burying yourself alive to escape a suburbia nightmare dimension created by a guy shaped like a moon. which i legally cannot expand upon please draw your own conclusions

what i can say though is that unlike isttvg the metaphor is complicated by the fact that sg is not in fact a fake suburbia nightmare dimension but a real country lived in by real people which is capable of change and progress. i know i'm probably beating you guys over the head with The Point here but i don't think di is concerned with emigration from singapore so much as she is concerned with emigration from her body and whether it's possible to do so while retaining her singaporeanness. by which i mean in 2020 the online pink dot event included a suggestion to put a pink light in your house. by which i mean that the ghost story comp is because yes both of these stories are looking at immigration from opposite sides of the event but also maybe they are looking at something else from opposite sides of the decision.

but mostly it was basically just me watching ghost story and going This Would Eat If It Was Singaporean

i don't know if it ended up eating

maybe it just nibbled

with thanks to

(also. did you know that the singer who covered anthems for a seventeen year old girl in the isttvg soundtrack is singaporean?? the more you know!!)

A: for betaing, situationship advice and help with the narratively satisfying truck

M and E: for being fellow Havers of Complicated Emotions About Ghosts And Also Gender And Also I Saw The TV Glow

that one pillar in lecture theatre 24: for letting me write this while i should be listening to class

#etb #phd in yapology

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flurglhinge · 1 month ago

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President Dragon wants more gold, by Tom Scocca https://www.indignity.net/president-dragon-wants-more-gold/ Pratchett's slapstick British satire is not the stuff that somber dragons-and-sex prestige television, or swoony dragons-and-sex romantic-fantasy bestseller franchises, are built on. But Guards! Guards! was prescient in other ways. It's the story of how the threadbare, drunken Night Watch of the city of Ankh-Morpork responds to an attempt to overthrow the government. The scheme is to replace the city's existing corrupt, dictatorial yet pluralistic administrator with an outright monarch by manufacturing a crisis: the Supreme Grand Master of a secret mystical society plots to magically summon a dragon, plague the city with it, and then stage the dragon's defeat at the hands of an assigned hero, who will then by acclamation become a puppet king.

Early on, the Secret Grand Master contemplates his complaining, bumbling underlings:

What a shower, he told himself. A bunch of incompetents no other secret society would touch with a ten-foot Sceptre of Authority. The sort to dislocate their fingers with even the simplest secret handshake.

But incompetents with possibilities, nevertheless. Let the other societies take the skilled, the hopefuls, the ambitious, the self-confident. He'd take the whining resentful ones, the ones with a bellyful of spite and bile, the ones who knew they could make it big if only they'd been given the chance. Give him the ones in which the floods of venom and vindictiveness were dammed up behind thin walls of ineptitude and low-grade paranoia.

This book was published the year Stephen Miller turned 4 years old. Elise Stefanik was 5. Steven Cheung was 7. Kash Patel and Pete Hegseth were 9.

The summoning magic, powered by the rage of embittered mediocrities, works. The crisis unfolds as planned, the government falls—and then the dragon reappears, turns on its summoners, incinerates the would-be king, and seizes the crown itself. At this point, the public, prepared for a coronation anyway, embraces the dragon as its new ruler:

"The way I see it," said one of the revellers, halfway through a huge greasy lump of half-raw meat, "a dragon as a king mightn't be a bad idea. When you think it through, is what I mean."

"It definitely looked very gracious," said the woman to his right, as if testing the idea. "Sort of, well, sleek. Nice and smart. Not scruffy. Takes a bit of a pride in itself." She glared at some of the younger revellers further down the table. "The trouble with people today is they don't take pride in themselves."

"And there's foreign policy of course," said a third, helping himself to a rib. "When you come to think about it."

"What d'you mean?"

"Diplomacy," said the rib-eater, flatly...

"I mean let's say the ambassador from Klatch comes along, you know how arrogant that lot are, suppose he says, we want this, we want that, we want the other thing. Well," he said, beaming at them, "what we say is, shut your face unless you want to go home in a jar."

They tried out this idea for mental fit. It had that certain something.

Here is a clip of a Fox News panelist explaining that demanding to buy Greenland is actually a longstanding American tradition—"Back in 1867, Democratic President Harry Truman tried to buy Greenland"—and that the autonomous territory of the sovereign nation of Denmark, a founding member of NATO, "has a lot of minerals, very important for our country."

As the dragon king settles in, the human official forced to speak for the monarch summons civic leaders to the palace to inform them of their responsibility to bring treasure to their new ruler's hoard, and to discuss with them "the matter of...the king's...diet." ("The age is immaterial. Marital status is, of course, of importance. And social class. Something to do with flavor, I believe.")

They avoided one another's faces, for fear of what they might see mirrored there. Each man thought: one of the others is bound to say something soon, some protest, and then I'll murmur agreement, not actually say anything, I'm not as stupid as that, but definitely murmur very firmly, so the others will be in no doubt that I thoroughly disapprove, because at a time like this it behooves all decent men to nearly stand up and be almost heard...

But no one said anything. The cowards, each man thought.

#discworld #us politics #politics #in general

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