#probably just Killing Everyone regardless of alignment

[skxrbrand]

I wonder what he was doing during the end times....

[spinchip]

Bloat

(Warnings: disrespectful discussion of self harm/suicide by a side character. murder. Lots of death.)

They're here about a series of murders. Nya doesn't know why they dragged the ninja out to this nothing town with its stone castle and still water lake, with its missing persons and their empty spaces. The ninja aren't detectives, even if Zane likes to pretend. With twelve people missing, Zane keeps his fedora at home and approaches this delicately. Nya wishes he'd put on that stupid hat.

She's also not sure why she keeps slipping up and saying murder when it's really just missing persons, officially. Eight men, four women, varying ages. All different kinds of backgrounds vanished without a trace.

The ocean mourned each dead fish, every shrimp swallowed alive, but it didn't interfere. Nya struggles to find the point to this. Everyone is somber and cold in the rainy afternoon fog. Jay tries and fails to speak to her several times, slinking away with his tail between his legs each time. She could have been nicer, less blunt, when she ended things. The river does not apologize to the stone it shaves to dust. Her thoughts still feel disjointed and off. The lake's surface is so serene it's mirrored, reflecting gray clouds and dark nights.

The first two victims were teenage boys who snuck out to buy cigarettes. They were supposed to meet a mutual friend but failed to show up. The living boy is distraught, a mess, consumed by guilt and grief and fear for his friends. Kai takes Nya by the upper arm and hauls her away from the group when she says something uncouth, insensitive, cruel. The ocean had no use for manners.

She dreams of drowning in a bathtub, but she doesn't struggle. She simply sinks under cold water, closes her eyes, and-

She wakes up vomiting brackish water over the edge of her bed and doesn't tell anyone.

The seventh victim is hardly considered a victim at all. She'd tried to kill herself three weeks before she went missing, and the rude cop with the badly trimmed beard scoffs at her inclusion in the list. Probably snuck off to the woods, he sneers, finished slitting up her wrists. Nothing to do with these other cases, just lumped in there to do it.

But her mother said she'd changed her mind. What is the significance in wanting to live when death will come for you regardless? She thinks about that girl the most, and hopes she found peace.

Nya feels more aligned with the blood under her skin than the rest of her body. Flow. Liquid. It rushes through her veins like whitewater rapids.

She dreams of inky blackness, encased by water. She wakes up vomiting water again, but Zane is sitting by her bedside with a bucket and paper towel. His eyes are cold despite how he tries to hide it. They're always cold, now.

Bad dream? He asks, reserved. It's a trap but she doesn't know how.

Go back to bed She says instead, rolling over and ignoring him for the rest of the night. He doesn't leave. She doesn't fall back asleep.

Cole gets her to eat even when bread and eggs taste like salt water and seaweed. She hates the taste of the water from the tap. The lake is covered by a thin layer of mist and it smells old and stagnant. Settled water, too much of it.

Charles, the older man who tends to the castle grounds, tells her it's a man-made lake. Put together by the previous lord and lady of the land, dug out by workers paid pennies. He worked on it when he was just a boy. He doesn't say much, and he doesn't do much around the castle. Old and feeble, his mind has gone spoiled. He looks at Nya like she's inhuman.

The last victim was the lord's son, Albert. He's the only one whose name they learn immediately, the police placing his file on top of all of the others and ranking him at priority number one. It's time to do something now that the lord's son is missing.

He'll have my head, Lord Vonnet will, if I don't return his son safely The lord's royal guard dabs his sweaty forehead with a damp towel.

You poor bastard, Nya says before she can think, get your affairs in order.

Lloyd is the one to drag her out of the room looking mortified. Zane follows him out and they exchange a handful of quiet words that Nya can't hear behind the raging waves crashing in her ears. Zane takes her out to the lake.

They are all dead he says simply.

Since before we even set foot in town she confirms.

They are in the lake.

She closes her eyes and sees still, black water. At the very bottom.

The wind blows a sour smell off the surface of the lake. It might have been beautiful, once. When it was fresh and the water was clear and blue. Before it was filled with rot.

I do not know who did it he confesses I keep having bad dreams.

I dream I'm drowning she offers.

I dream I am throwing bodies in the lake he gives back.

She stares at the horizon I feel nothing. Isn't that awful.

He shrugs the ocean does not care to investigate every whale fall.

Interesting choice of words. Whale fall. There are no fish in this lake, it's all man-made she looks at him with dull eyes you think something is eating

When I toss them in the lake i Am certain they will never be found

You're not bothered by this either

He shrugs again, an entirely human act for a man whose eyes are so detached, an Emperor does not care to investigate the death of every subject

She stands and ties her hair into a bun, I'll draw them up, can you make them float?

She doesn't bother waiting for an answer, sinking her awareness down down down to the bottom of the lake. She focuses on the vaguely human shaped masses in the water, cupping them and hauling them to the surface where she lets them go and returns to the bottom. She's so powerful now she doesn't need to step foot into the water to raise up the bodies. She begins to find cow and deer carcasses alongside men and women. She finds bones. She finds old jewelry and clothes.

Finally, she finds the animal.

It was given the name stronsay by the whales and sea lions up north, where these things are typically found. Giant sea serpents, rare in the ocean- non-existent in freshwater lakes. Especially never found in man-made ones like this, too barren to support life. It was juvenile, small, and had not yet shed its baby skin. It was not thriving in this fresh water, but it would have lived until it was too big to move in this thing.

Zanes frozen the bodies of the dead and dragged them ashore.

The lord's son is one of the dead, his body in a poor state. When the rest of the ninja and the police come, after they thaw out his body, they find a leather-bound journal where he talks about the pet he hatched from an egg he found in the cold waters on his last holiday. He wrote extensively about how hungry it was, and exactly how he fed it.

He couldn’t keep up with its appetite, Nya says, staring down at his wet, bloated body.

Icarus Zane mutters at her side.

What will become of the beast? The mustaches policeman asks.

We shall slaughter it! The Lady of the land wails, And stick its head on a pike!

It will be safely and humanely relocated Nya corrects her cooly, Do not allow anyone near the lake before it is moved. Unless you don't like them.

Nya Kai warns.

Later, while Lloyd oversees the beasts removal and the others are likewise occupied, Zane asks do you think we are like them?

Dead?

Changed forever. Call it rot, putrefaction, trauma- altered and, ultimately, lost He murmurs.

I would prefer to just be dead she says without thinking, a thrum of shock at the admission the first tangible emotion she's had in days. She remembers the seventh victim. She'd changed her mind.

Zane grins and it's all teeth, a baring of bone.

Where does that leave us, if we are changed? She looks away, staring out at the lake.

Alone He says simply.

We have each other, don’t we? You understand me. I understand you.

We do He looks at her and she looks at him.

The kiss tastes like saltwater and blood. She kisses him again.

[danauschaewon]

my thoughts on dimension 20: fantasy high junior year ep 19 ragenarok Discourse™

⚠️ spoilers! ⚠️

from a watsonian perspective, the bad kids don't know of any way to cure a rage star. if any of the characters were stressed enough sufficiently to be angry (rage token), porter seems to be able to immediately control you so even not directly being controlled by a rage star seems to put you under ankarna's domain. there's no reasonable watsonian expectation for them to believe the ratgrinders could be redeemed, notwithstanding whether teenagers would show other teenagers who hate them that grace.

additionally, the Discourse™ seems to forget that there's ultimately a choice between following porter or not. lucy frostblade's sacrifice was extremely poignant because she chose to die rather than go against what she believed in. buddy dawn's immediate switch perfectly aligns with how religious fanatics believe/claim to believe whatever is convenient for them without any internal consistency. that doesn't mean that they weren't groomed by porter but there's really no ground for some of the moral absolutism I've been seeing here.

that also leads to something that I haven't seen people discussing; kipperlily and oisin straight up murdered buddy (their own party member, who they secretly treated as a pawn the whole time) by slitting his throat to try and keep the bad kids from being revived??? it's implied they also killed lucy and covered it up for so long that she is almost beyond reviving just so she couldn't snitch on them?? even if you liked the ratgrinders, they're much more ruthless than bad kids are, even if you take riz and fabian's comments into account. also, if the entire school was in fabian's house, they essentially tried to kill all 500 other students in their school + jawbone to beat a magical loophole to ascend porter.

and the obvious being: if you are fighting to end the world (remember they did bring down fig and gorgug, even if they are uncoordinated in pvp), don't be surprised when people fight you to save the world.

from the doyleist perspective, others have already pointed out that dnd is a combat focused game. if you fail a persuasion/intimidation/deception roll, regardless of what makes more sense for the story or the themes or your character, you probably have to fight to the death. this isn't a story written with a single overarching vision from one mind, it's real people being filmed in real time playing a game designed around roleplay AND combat. combat is gonna happen.

secondly, this is a world where powerful individuals have the ability to directly control the universe (magic). "might makes right" is a terrible moral system but that's also how reality works (laws are only (as strong as) their enforcement system, the police are an occupying army, etc).

human beings are social beings and our intelligence/creativity allows us to imagine a world where no individual or socioeconomic group can use might to make right. but our imagination also is limited by our own inconsistencies, ignorance, socialisation, habits, etc. and most importantly, our stories about the world mustn't confuse us from how the world actually is. not everyone can be redeemed, even if you want them to be.

if you want the world to change in a certain way, you have to gather enough strength to change it. the more it deviates from the status quo, the more strength you need. that's not just martial or economic power, there is social power that can be influenced by a collective moral or intellectual sense. however, those with the power to directly eliminate your existence will need to be sufficiently worried about consequences to not use that power (e.g. american police know they face no consequences for executing black people in cold blood, that's why they actually do kill instead of simply want to kill like other non-police racists).

if the ratgrinders want to kill the bad kids and ascend porter to godhood, they have to actually have to develop their skills to do so. that's why they exp levelled, they tried taking advantage of the last stand, one of them sent their grandma to kill the entire school at one kid's 18th birthday party. and correspondingly, if you don't want your 18th birthday party to end with your death + your entire school's deaths + the ascension of your teachers as the new god of rage, you gotta kill some grandmas and poorly coordinated exp levellers.

[l0t4n]

WHAT IF THEY WERE. WALTER WHITE

a/n I have many wips and I am struggling to finish any of them so you get this for now. Also keep in mind I never actually finished the show and I didn't like it anyways I just think the idea is funny. Posting as a buffer for everyone who did not follow for nsfw bc I'm posting it 2nite regardless watch out

Contains TW drugs, references to violence. What it says. Would they do the shit Walter White did in Breaking Bad? The brothers + dateables. Gn mc mentioned once

LUCIFER

-Yeah.

-He would do absolutely all of it step by step, word for word

-Maybe he would not be as mean as Walter is, but he would absolutely give that “I AM. The danger, Skylar” speech

-Just to MC instead

-And Mammon is Jesse

MAMMON

-I think in his head he would like to think he would/could

-Definitely fucking can't though

-Doesn't understand the chemistry even if someone guided him, would definitely fuck up really bad

-Would be in it for the money, would brag about how he'd make an excellent drug kingpin, is lying

-The moment he needs to shoot someone he's running away

LEVIATHAN

-Not a chance bro

-The closest he would get would be filling in the role of Gale

-Even then, that's a stretch

-It's too scary :(( what if all the drug mules think he's cringe

-Yeah sure he did all those illegal things but the police probably wouldn't care so much if he was cooler

-Absolutely not suited for the meth-making lifestyle

SATAN

-Wouldn't do it if it was his life on the line. Would only do it to get back at someone else

-Ruining Lucifer’s reputation by selling illicit substances out of the HoL

-Probably the most suitable for drug manufacturing. Not anything else though

-Would be the most likely to be despised by everyone else in the distribution chain

-It's a high-stress environment and he takes out his anger on all of them

ASMODEUS

-Personal protective equipment is ugly and the meth business is a thankless one. There is no possibility for him to gain fame and attention doing that unless he also wants to go to prison

-Probably finds it kind of gross and messy too

-There are a number of illegal activities that are far better suited for a demon like him and he knows it

BEELZEBUB

-Eats the meth

-The end

BELPHEGOR

-Perhaps unsurprisingly, would likely have both the intelligence and personality to make it work

-But the meth-making process takes forever, and there are so many points where you can accidentally die, so I think he knows better

-Would accidentally fall asleep and melt his skin off his body

-Also has virtually no reason to do it in the first place; isn't hurting for cash like Mammon and doesn't really care about his reputation like Lucifer

DIAVOLO

-Would have trouble grasping the severity of drug manufacturing and dealing

-Might only get into the scheme if coaxed by the promise of friendship

-I do not put it above him to realize that it is also illegal, however

-Albeit he has had his moments of considering himself above the law, which, if anyone is, it's him, so maybe not

-Will bail the moment someone yells at him or pulls a gun on him, whatever happens first

BARBATOS

-Gus

-His moral alignment and motivations are too vague. Either his moral compass is too strong or he would be the best drug kingpin the devildom has ever seen. Maybe both at the same time

-Would get suitably angry if anyone else got involved though

-Money laundering pro. If nothing else is true I know this is canon

SIMEON

-Oh good heavens

-Deary me

-Maybe with his skills in baking he would do well, but you'd need to lie to him about what you're making

-Shocked and appalled when he finds out

-Most everyone else is nice to him though

SOLOMON

-Probably makes illicit substances for his funny evil wizard experiments

-Since it's a form of cooking though the batches always end up terrible

-Meth that makes all your bones turn to jelly and kills you in five days

-Since he is far removed from human matters of mortality and injury, he probably thinks it's funny

-Evil ass

[dracoxmalereader]

Draco x Male Reader Headcanons Pt. 3

Summary: After you and Draco's rocky fifth year, this last part is centered around how your relationship evolves around him being a death eater and all that entails. Including the aftermath because I simply cannot contain myself. <3

The cover looks so much angstier than these are I promise.

Part 1 | Part 2

Word Count: 847

When Lucius starts dragging Draco down the death eater path he starts distancing himself from you.

He quits quidditch, too.

So there's no real way to know for sure when/where you'll be able to catch him.

I just KNOW this boy was doing everything he could to try and worm his way out of becoming a death eater.

Especially if you're not pureblood.

But, alas, he's made one regardless, tasked with killing Dumbledore.

At that point he'd try and do everything in his power to convince you to become a death eater with him.

He's just so afraid of losing you,

and he wants to keep you safe ❗

Even if you're not pureblood, he vows to find a way to fake it.

Offering to forge documents, vouch for you in trial, swear on his life that you and your family are pureblood to anybody that asks.

He doesn't want you or any of said family to end up being casualties in the war, but he can't stomach breaking up with you or having you not in his life.

You refuse to align yourself with Voldemort, and break up with him yourself to keep you and your family safe instead.

Even then you're still so reassuring,

Because you know he has no choice,

But you can't do what he's asking you to, even if you know it might be easier.

Many "I'll always love you no matter what"s before you part ways.

Probably one of the first times Draco lets himself cry in front of someone.

You go with your family to hide out through the duration of the war.

You keep your eyes all over the news as it's all going down though,

Just like Ron while they were finding the Horcruxes.

24/7 sat by the radio hoping everyone will be okay.

When the war is done and Voldemort is gone,

Draco shows up to your new place that you and your family moved to to get away from Voldemort's reign,

With Narcissa and everything.

Begs for forgiveness.

And how could you not take him back?

Much hugs and affection right there and then,

Right in front of his mom and he doesn't even care.

She wasn't even shocked when Draco told her you two were together,

Because lets be real, you two were so obvious you may as well have plastered it on the front page of the Daily Prophet.

She been knew.

They have your family move into the manor with them,

Narcissa loves having the company.

Makes the place so much more lively.

No Lucius obviously he's rotting in Azkaban as he should

Time skip any amount of time it probably isn't a very hard choice to make,

You both need to get away from magic for a while if you're gonna do any getting over the war.

So you end up getting a place together in the muggle world for a much needed break.

And you guys go visit the manor for holidays to see your folks.

Cue many fish-out-of-water scenario's of Draco adjusting to the very unfamiliar lifestyle of a working-class muggle citizen.

Because I imagine you already know the ropes, especially so if you're not pureblood.

He definitely tries to make grilled cheese in a toaster but doesn't put foil on it and just gets cheese all in your toaster.

Not because he thought it'd be cool, but because he genuinely didn't know how grilled cheeses are supposed to be made.

You talk him into going to all kinds of therapy to deal with his issues after the war,

It takes him a long time to let go of the guilt he feels for all of it,

some of it he never will let go of,

But your guys' quality of life skyrockets regardless.

You're both way happier.

The less impact the war has over him, the more you can see his personality shine through, too.

He starts teasing you again albeit lovingly.

He probably gets lippy with his manager at work and loses at least one job because of it.

Fast forward a bunch of years,

You two are definitely married and have a dog and cat together.

The wedding was full of tears from both sides of the family.

Narcissa cried enough for every Malfoy that didn't attend combined.

"How's it feel to officially be a Malfoy, hm?" he says, fully aware that he cried while planning the wedding because he didn't know whether he wanted to take your last name or for you to take his.

"How's it feel to officially be a L/N?" you say, because you guys hyphenated your last names.

He turns bright red every time he's reminded that he is, in fact, a L/N.

He's just so happy to be sharing a name with you, honestly.

You guys live happily ever after <3

Whether that means eventually becoming homeowners in the muggle world or going back to the wizarding world, getting more pets or acquiring children.

Whatever happens you two are just happy to be doing it together.

Can you guys tell I want to explode Lucius with my mind? He's like my second least favorite character after Umbridge.

As always lmk if there's typos I missed while proofreading pls <3 I have a silly goofy little wedding planning drabble planned for later today. Unless I fall asleep, then I'll post it tomorrow.

[qcomicsy]

Things about Peter Parker that warms my heart:

- He wakes up at Mary Jane's side everyday.

- He probably took many naps with Torch when they lived together.

- He definitely had/has a portifolio fill with photos of Spider-Man and random moments in new york, specially with the citizens;

- He canonically keeps photos of Gwen, the coffee bean gang and MJ with him;

- He's low profile and has to constantly update his knowledge about cyber security;

- He really enjoys the moments he gets to just sit and talk with the random team-up of the month;

- He used to wake up to the smell of aunt May's coffee;

- He's constantly under the effect of caffeine;

- He has a tired baby face. Meaning he always had a babyface, but the older he gets the more tired he looks and he hates it because the babyface it's still there. It's the John Mulaney effect of "Oh that tall child look terrible!";

- He looks like your random STEM nerdy guy, it gets him bitches and he has no idea of that;

- His best friend (torch) is pan so theres a huge probability that he attended pride as Peter Parker once or twice;

- He and others superheros always keep an eye at pride and others protests to make sure everyone it's safe;

- He doesn't trust cops, but tries to believe it must be good people out there (sweet poor summer child);

- His nature and nurture is kind and he fucking hates it. He's always like "Can't I let it go just this time? And no. He can't;

- Everyone loves him, he's just that guy. A lot people hate his guts because he's also that guy.

- Big brown doe eyes *sight*;

- Has no idea about how pretty he is, has a certa idea about how hot he is;

- "Yes my wife is hotter than me, yes I'm aware about how much cooler she is too but *I* got the funny bone in this relationship";

- Is unsufferable;

- cries at queer weddings;

- cries a lot how much a middle age man can cry, fuck he was supposed to stop that at highschool goddamit-

- Hate's men with passion will get annoying about how much he hates men;

- Easily makes friendship with woman, is the "I'll awkwardly wait them in front of the woman's bathroom" type of guy vibes;

- Bad dad jokes since he was fourteen;

- Was hated in highschool, slighted less hated in college, very well liked by his work colleges;

- "I don't have anxiety I don't have money to afford have anxiety I am currently undiagnosing myself as we speak";

- Hating men will not stopping him from flirting with them what? what are you homophobic or something???

- "Wdym my hair is a mess I just- *checks mirror* oh FOR FUCK SAKE-"

- He is that guy:

- That's him and Johnny and he is SO MAD about it;

- And he and johnny are that tiktok meme where those two friends are always on eachother instagram because they always take photos together.

- That's him and Deadpool when they finally got better at being friends with eachother:

Deadpool does takes pictures of him but they always end up being like that (hehateshimsomuch):

- That's how he knows deadpool is in new york because he sends him aligned with "this u" meme

- He also does that when they're text arguing "wade i WILL fuckig kill you";

- misspell when angry, misspell when sad, misspell regardless.

[elendsessor]

i genuinely love the qadištu both conceptually and how they play a part in vengeance but it can’t be understated how good of a faction they are franchise-wise, or at least with mainline.

most conflicts stemming from the classic smt formula isn’t just luci v god but also the dangers of placing complete and utter faith in one person/group aka cult like mentalities. while it definitely holds up and likely always will, the fact that it only goes back to the same luci v god conflict is genuinely wasted opportunity.

only real deviations came from nocturne, strange journey, and base 5/vengeance. yes in 3 and 5 that’s still technically going on in the background, but it’s not the main focus.

nocturne was a fight between ideologies that aren’t strictly aligned to the law/neutral/chaos thing. they’re flexible, hence the existence of reasons. this is probably still the best alignment system only because of that freedom and how every outcome is heavily flawed and extreme. however, this might also be due to how nocturne structures its plot aka in a parable not in a traditional storytelling way.

5’s canon of creation was also relatively flexible, plus that conflict is technically already over and done with. god is dead, lucifer won, only reason angels are involved is because they want to uphold the original order since that’s all they knew how to do. abdiel only went fucjing insane because she was living in denial. there are still technically factions but by the end with all the nahobino stuff, it was more a fight between pairs than a fight between factions.

strange journey until the third half was about the earth dying due to its inhabitants aka humanity constantly harming it, with the demons being a force of nature. unfortunately it does devolve back into the same old same old but the remnants are still there.

i think the important thing to keep in mind is the lack of a true big bad. regardless of how bad an option seems, you’re allowed to pick that side for one reason or another. 4 apocalypse was the first real instance of a definitive bad group.

the qadištu are a bit of an expansion of the divine powers in that sense. both are operating separately from the main conflict. what makes them so different is not just goals in a plot sense but execution.

the divine powers is another group that preys off people by having them put too much faith in them (and later “flynn”). they’re fulfilling this messiah complex. while they ultimately get their stupid cosmic egg, krishna and friends never truly win since he gets killed off before making a new universe.

in comparison, the qadištu not only succeed, but their means of getting what they need is a lot more fitting. they didn’t need blind faith.

with how the usual faction conflict works, they do prey upon the need for a leader like i explained, but the solution is at least a bit more simple: don’t. yeah easier said than done. however, it’s still something that can be fallen back on. broken away from.

for the qadištu to gather magatsuhi, they prey upon emotions. after all, that’s what magatsuhi comes from. it’s easier to scare people, and the solution isn’t “don’t get scared.” humans are naturally emotional. you’re in a subway and some stripper and her fucked up dog start killing everyone around you. you get kidnapped then get asked the simple question about what you don’t like about yourself then some weird lady eats that part of you—even might straight up eat you in your entirety based on the answer. everyone starts getting strangely ill out of nowhere and are in constant pain. of course you’d feel strongly about this stuff.

demons in mythology often prey upon human weakness, yes, but this does go beyond faith. it goes into basic emotions that we all recognize as negative/sinful but naturally partake in, which is why demons are often the seducers (especially female ones due to the sin of lust). we can recognize being lazy as bad, but we all end up getting lazy at some point. the issue comes from how often we decide to be lazy, or having those emotions like pride and wrath get out of control. in that sense, the qadištu are significantly more powerful and more compelling than “don’t trust cults.”

they’re constantly three steps ahead throughout the entire plot as a result, and that’s what makes them so threatening. you can’t win.

their goal was to summon tiamat, and even if aogami lived, they already had so much magatsuhi and caused so much suffering to the people of tokyo it wouldn’t truly matter. everything’s fucked beyond belief. you also can’t truly side with them, especially since that just means you die and there’d be no more game.

the final act of vengeance is the aftermath of failure, hence the vengeance part.

i’d love to see more factions in the series take up these sort of roles instead of the usual cult manipulates the masses role. it’s really interesting and feels like a natural evolution of the formula.

[elftwink]

just saw a mildly irritating post that talked about seeing takes about how sdv is actually bourgeoisie or whatever (am not reblogging because the rest of the post was honestly kind of unrelated and i want to talk about this sdv claim w/o derailing the rest of it) as if that take popped out of the void when i know for a fact that that take specifically is a response to the much more common "stardew valley is actually a leftist anti-capitalist utopia" type takes, a thing that is even less true about stardew valley than claiming it's bourgeoisie

like. the double standard of making completely detached from reality statements about how left-wing the ideals of stardew are, and then claiming people making the opposite take are armchair activists like... you don't think claiming that you play sdv because it fits totally with your leftist values (rather than that you play it because it's cute and fun or any other thing you are probably actually choosing to play it based on) is a form of armchair activism? isnt it more weird to need everything in your life to perfectly align to your politics, not in the sense that you select your pastimes based on those politics, but that you select them based on non-political criteria & then insist to everyone that Actually This Is Based On My Politics even when we can all plainly see that it's not???

stardew valley is a little farming sim. whether you like to play it or not says nothing about your irl politics. but literally just by looking at what you do in the game, which is produce things so you can sell them to make more things, you guys cannot seriously be claiming THIS is your anti-capitalist utopia and get weirdly mad and project this sense of armchair activism onto people who point out that it just literally isn't. sdv is a lot of things, but anti-capitalist is so totally not one. and i have no interest in explaining the intricacies of how the sdv farmer could be capitalist when they throw joja out of town, because frankly i have seen other posts about that and i have yet to see anyone involved in arguing for #sdvleftistutopia demonstrate any understanding of like. well like even the most basic understanding of class dynamics or that the word bourgeoisie has a specific meaning that is distinct from 'rich person' or 'ceo of corporation'.

also everyone takes it wayyyy personal like saying that sdv isn't anti-capitalist somehow translates to saying anyone who plays sdv and is anti-capitalist is actually a FAKE LEFTIST BETRAYING THEIR VALUES which is just not what anyone is saying ever and acting like they are kills the conversation dead. the conversation that YOU STARTED by claiming sdv was leftist or whatever

inb4 anyone gets on my ass about letting people do what they want, i LOVE stardew valley. i have played more than 1000 hours of stardew valley. if pointing out that sdv is capitalist makes you shit your pants then actually i kind of think you are a fake fan. what was all this about the spreadsheets to maximize efficiency. just like think for even 20 seconds about what you do in the game and how it may actually clash with your irl politics and hope for the world and ultimately imo that will make you a much better leftist than insisting that everything you do is actually already leftist simply because it makes you feel nice and cozy. niceness and coziness are not correlated in any way with 'correct' politics and the sooner you internalize that without viewing it as an attack on the things in your life that are nice and cozy the less we will have to have stupid conversations like this

also last thought it's totally your prerogative to turn off your brain and not think about politics while gaming but if that's your position then don't get on tumblr dot com to claim these things are leftist (how would you know, your brain was off) and also when people kept their brains on (regardless of what their conclusion was about the internal politics of sdv, or for that matter any media) and are trying to talk about it to each other, don't annoyedly get on your high horse about how actually you shouldn't have to turn your brain on. you don't have to. stop talking to me about it if you won't though.

[vivulapom]

III - Soriss-Eleven Exclusive Super Interview Series

i love her . morally dubious women <3

Disclaimer: Soriss-Eleven is an independent journalism agency, and is not affiliated with, legally or otherwise, any interviewees.

-------------------------------------------------

INTERVIEWER: “---ay. We’re rolling. State your identity and abilities, please.” [The camera refocuses a few times, before stabilizing on a masked woman in a black outfit with neon red accents, resembling leather biker gear. She wears a mask that covers her entire face, but leaves her wavy black hair exposed, flowing around her shoulders. Her voice is slightly altered due to the mask.]

REDLINE: “I’m Redline. I go fast.”

INT: “..ookay. Care to elaborate?”

REDLINE: “Not really.”

INT: “..... okay? Umm.. well, what does being a super mean to you?”

REDLINE: “It’s about.. having control. You have the power, literally, to change what happens to you and how. What happens to other people, and how.”

INT: “So.. what happens when you don’t — have control? When someone is more powerful than you?”

REDLINE: “Then you have the ability to.. keep going. There’s a lot more to being a super than just power; you have the capacity, but you also need the experience and — and knowledge, to do it right. Any notable super is probably going to be strong, but more than that, they’re going to be smart.”

INT: “Okay. Do you see yourself as more of a hero or a villain?”

REDLINE: “Well. I think ultimately, both of those words are pretty meaningless, because there’s nothing objective about them. Everyone’s a hero to some people and a villain to some others. You could try to.. make some metric, based on how many lives they’ve saved, or something, but that’s very far from a measure of morality. Everyone’s got their own goals, and sometimes they align, and sometimes they don’t.” She shrugs.

INT: “Do you think that the general.. perception, of most supers, in terms of whether or not they’re a hero or villain, is accurate?”

REDLINE: “Hard to say. I’m a biased party myself, in the sense that I don’t think I’m nearly as malicious as everyone makes me out to be, but, I mean, almost any other super would answer exactly the same. Mostly… I don’t even really think that the public idea of who a super is really matters — at least to the super. They’re going to keep doing.. whatever they’re doing, regardless of whether or not.. regardless of however people think of them.”

INT: “Is there something that you think all supers should be using their powers for?”

REDLINE: “..mmmm, no. Not really. Like I said, people are free to do their own thing, and being a super just.. exacerbates that.”

INT: “If super regulation could be realistically enforced, would you be in favor?”

REDLINE: “No. Obviously.”

INT: “Not even for preventing.. mass destruction or murder?”

REDLINE: “How are you going to forcibly prevent one thing and then not another? You can’t just say that mass murder is the only non-acceptable thing. Then if you define mass murder, as, like, the death of 5,000 people, then what happens when a super causes the death of 4.999 people? 4,998? 4,500? The line will keep getting redrawn, until you’re at the level where you’re applying intra-civilian laws to supers.”

INT: “And is that a bad thing? Holding powerful people to the standards of the majority?”

REDLINE: “Not necessarily.” She shrugs. “On some level, it makes sense. It’s just that.. I mean, you can speculate about it, and you can try, but nobody will ever be able to do anything about it. Apply those standards, I mean, especially when powerful supers are involved. Expecting to.. apply those standards with the same rate of consistency as intra-civilian matters is just.. unrealistic.”

INT: “To conclude, do you have any words to anyone who might be watching? Anyone unsure of their place in the world?”

REDLINE: She shrugs. “You can take control. If there’s no place for you, then make your own. Also, kill your parents if they’re fucking cunts, and —” [The video ends abruptly.] 

[gwyns]

Elain: “I’m not a child to be fought over.”

And E/riel’s really think that Elain would be impressed with Azriel hurting or Lucien, regardless if she wants the mating bond or not. She doesn’t like violence. Even if she doesn’t like Lucien she wouldn’t wish death or malicious intent upon him. She would probably roll her eyes and mutter “pathetic males” and even be a little uncomfortable.

Elain: “You do not decide what I can and cannot do.”

And Azriel was against Elain helping with the Dread Trove. A real mate would be supportive and encouraging. Sure, they can be a little worried and cautious, but they always support their mate. Good example would be Feysand when Feyre went to get the ring from the Weaver, Nessian when Cassian let Nesta continue with the Blood Rite, and Rowaelin for multiple reasons.

this is what i don't get, many readers claim we know nothing about elain when that is very untrue? we know less than other characters, sure, but we can get a pretty good grasp on her as a person and in acosf she told us what she wants to do and how not to treat her. that's huge and yet almost everyone ignores it, azriel, antis, even her "stans". the last ones are the worst, they claim they want her to have a choice but when she explicitly tells us what she wants and is shot down by their favorite bat, it's somehow romantic and he knows best. like no! she knows what's best for her, just because it doesn't align with your fantasies doesn't mean you can gaslight me into thinking they'd ever be right for each other

that too! rhys straight up threw feyre to the weaver and that bitch is crazy!!! we know how she killed ianthe and you know what rhys was doing when feyre got out? lounging in a tree. yes, he cares for feyre but he also knew the importance of her being able to defend herself or get herself out of situations like that. same with cassian, he even acknowledged that if he were to interfere with the rite, nesta would be pissed at him and no matter how worried he was, he wouldn't take that from her. this is "mate-like" behavior, not what azriel is doing with elain

[brandwhorestarscream]

Please info dump about this new au I'm curious

EEEEEEEEEE ok!! 🥰🥰

Uhhhh some CWs before we start, tho. This is gonna delve into some hella unethical shit. Vast moral crimes against cybertronian kind. This coild probably be labeled as DD. Read at your own volition, my apologies to the traumatized 😊

So, first and foremost, I'm picturing this in like. A mash up of Aligned and IDW. A much darker feel right off the bat

The war is over and the autobots were victorious. They've got decepticon high command is custody, currently held in stasis for everyone's safety. Optimus is already stretched thin governing his armies and making important decisions about resettling Cybertron. Buildongs will have to be torn down and rebuilt, temporary residence for anyone returning, locating energon wells, getting the senate back up and running, etc. He doesn't have time to properly think about what to do with the cons. Their people are so few, less than 10% of the original population still lives. Execution is not something he wants to entertain. Wasting even a single spark after they've just grasped their peace will not set a good precedent for the future they're building.

But his autobots are anxious. Yeah, even the really dangerous ones like Megatron and Starscream and even Soundwave aren't a threat while they're frozen in cryosleep, but there's the worry that rebel decepticons will try to break them out. That the war will resume when their enemies cannot accept defeat. He needs to make a decision on what to do with them, if not killing them, and the solution presents itself in the form of a brand new project dreamed up by the bots:

The Repopulation Project

There are so few of them, and many frame types are teetering on the edge of extinction. Seekers, for example, lost an estimsted 95% of their total population in the famous bombing of Vos. Now there's less than a thousand of them left. They're critically endangered, and will go extinct if something isn't done.

The Repop Project is proposed in a very sweet, flowery way: the decepticons can be rehabilitated into polite society, and they'll be helping bolster the numbers of Cybertron's citizens. The new generation of war frames will be born in an autobot controlled world, and raised correctly so they don't turn into bloodthirsty monsters like their parents. Up against the wall and with no other options, Optimus offers the captive cons an ultimatum: agree to be absorbed into the repop, or execution

In order to evade being put to death, Megatron agrees, of course planning to start another uprising as soon as physically possible.

...unfortunately for him, the autobots (without going through Prime. Looking at you, Prowl >.>) have him mnemosurgeried and shadowplayed. Same with Starscream and Soundwave, regardless of what they want or chose. Seekers, as we discussed, are critically endangered, and Starscream is the last remaining member of the Vosian royal family. He still has a lot of sway over the entire seeker population, and they'll assumably follow his lead and sign themselves over the program. Soundwave is capable of hosting symbiotes and he's even rarer than Starscream--there's only one other left in Blaster. The two of them are the last of their kind, they need to reproduce asap.

On official documents the repopulation project encampments are called Rehab Facilities and Nurseries, because that sounds way better from a legal perspective than a baby mill populated by prisoners of war.

Decepticons are divided up into their frame types and shipped off to different locations, each either installed with coding so they can't fight back, or having their memories and negative feelings removed to make them more complicit. Regardless, thanks to them, there's a baby boom and the population peaks sharply. The high quality sparklings are taken from their parents (kiddos that are born with blue optics and civilian frames) to be raised by autobot families that want to adopt them. Poor quality bitties (i.e. infrared optics and ones with their carrier's warframe type) are sent to specific nursery facilities meant to raise them

Now, Cybertron's society is basically being built up from scratch, but there is a solid foundation. There's a lot of old culture, and a lot of the autobots came from priveleged places and want their home to look comfortably similar to how it was before the decepticon uprising. So, the senate is reinstated. The original 13 seats are filled by anyone who could run a convincing campaign and win enough votes. Optimus oversees the council as the Prime, but leaves any and all decisions left up to a majority vote. That's fair, he thinks. This is democracy, he thinks. He doesn't want to be a monarch. Whatever the people widely decide on is how it should be.

That opens up the door to a lot of fuckery. In the original proposal it was written that after X amount of time, the cons in the repop project could be placed on probation and eventually be reacclimated intk society. That's one of the first things to go: the new senate stacks up a bunch of requirements, like having to pass a psych eval, taking citizenship tests, publicly declaring their separation from their faction, and even having to undergo mnemosurgery, just to make sure they aren't harboring any thoughts of revolution. It's borderline impossible for anyone to meet all of the requirements, and even if they did, they just keep pushing the time requirements back more and more. The hope is that, eventually, their bodies will start to wear down from being forced to pop out sparkling after sparkling, and they'll die in hospice before they can be released.

It only gets worse from there. More and more restrictions are put into place, until eventually all of the undesirables of Cybertron are held in these facilities, out of sight, out of mind, while the vast majority of autobots start regaining the lives they lived before the war

Now... this isn't ideal at all, but Optimus only sees what they choose to show him. The facilities he visits are glistening and clean, all of the carriers held within them seem happy looking after their shared groups of bitties, and the sparklings are healthy. Running around and playing, laughing and drinking good fuel. He can accept this

Unfortunately, feeding and caring for them isn't cheap. Energon is still being rationed because, surprise surprise, mining is backbreaking work that most civilian frames aren't capable of doing very efficiently.

They can't just kill all of them, so the senate decides why not outsource the war frame sparklings? Using the adults is out of the question, they're wicked decepticons, we can't have them wandering outside of their facilities! So it falls to the repopulation project's first generation of children to pick up the slack. Once they hit the youngling stage they're already bigger than most civilians, and they're only war frames. What's the harm in a little child labor? Look, see, the kids are happy to do it, serving their community that wouldn’t even need serving if their evil parents had just stayed in their place and hadn't ripped Cybertron apart

So, war frame sparklings are now being dragged out of their facilities to be put to work in the mines beneath the charred remnants of the southern cities, under what used to be the decepticon capital and strongholds. All of it is scheduled to be torn down and razed to make room for new living quarters for the returning autobots.

It just gets slowly worse from there. As the years tick by, Optimus loses more and more power, and by the time several generations have past and the senate is just as corrupt as it was before, it's too late. All of the original decepticons have died out, leaving behind children that were forbidden from being educated about the war. They're kept in the dark, kept away from society, in their isolated encampments so no one has to see them. No one on the senate will hear their Prime's words, as they have no need to obey him. After all, he declared at the very beginning that he was not to be a soverign ruler. That no Prime could be a monarch. That the senate's decisions were what mattered, as they were chosen representatives of the people. He can't do anything.

The matrix is demanding to be released; it has chosen a new host, evidently, though if it's because he's just too old to fight anymore or if it's because it has deemed him a failure, he can't decide. The new Prime is a young mech barely into his adult body, a fiery red and yellow kid that matches neither of his parents, and at the ceremony to pass on the torch OP mournfully wonders where he was born. Who he was born to. Who he could have become.

When Rodimus comes to power the repopulation project is way past the point of necessity. There's plenty of war frames, plenty of all frames, on Cybertron. What were originally rehab facilities have twisted over millions of years, and have been completely reformatted into an entirely new, sinister system.

War frames are so very, very rarely seen in public. There are no war frame cities anymore. 90% of their population lives specifically within the specialized facilites that have warped into farms. Farms that mass produce and cultivate heavy duty workers for mining, to be bodyguards for the elite, to become gladiator pit fighters, and as cheap, tradable slave labor to be used wherever they are needed until they die. There are other, high quality farms that use warframes to produce a number of commodities that have become necessities in this new society: there are some that raise and harvest sparklings for their vital and non-vital organs when they become of age, some that are meant to be living bloodbags so their robust internal defense systems can be bestowed upon the general public, and to later have their bodies melted down and used in a number of projects. They use the living metal and special polymers to make high quality replacement limbs and to build hyper-useful drones, primarily. There's even farms that specifically breed and raise particularly pretty frame types as, essentially, mail-order brides for the wealthy and powerful to purchase.

It's become a horrible, miserable dystopian nightmare. Half of their people have become nothing but livestock, and Optimus doesn't even recognize his home anymore

...

And there's the basic backstory! The actual plot takes places on future Cybertron, and I would love to talk about it if any of ya'll are curious ^-^

[simplegenius042]

Character Alignment

From left to right going top to bottom.

Archangel Metatron (Wings And Horns) -> The Archangel of Life who had been tasked with preserving the Soulmate System and bringing Xiang & Jezebel Ba'al in for disrupting the system.

Leviticus (The UnTitledverse) - A lawyer of the Time Court, had a disdain towards Timekeeper but ultimately upholds honor and goodwill above all else.

Joaquin Cobalt (The UnTitledverse) - A young adolescent who got lost in the Multiverse before rising up to become a leading and respected member of the Omniscient Rule.

Ezekiel (The Silver Chronicles) - A surviving Tumultite member, decades later (especially after the nukes drop in 2019) becomes Thomas Rush's Captain of Security.

Benny the Révolutionnaire (The UnTitledverse) - The seventh-borne Eldritch, was made to assist Zachariah at Fate's Table, however was exiled to the Void. Not that it stopped him.

Silva Omar (The Silver Chronicles) - The Junior Deputy of Hope County, Silva has fought to protect plenty of loved ones from the likes of the Congregation of Adam's Guard, the Apostles of Zachariah, the Project at Eden's Gate and 17 years after the bombs drop in Montana, the Highwaymen.

Ortega "Ore" Brantley (A Radioactive Calamity Of Love, Bombs & Gore) - A human-Displacement hybrid (a result of a tryst between Responder Tiffany Brantley and a Displacement called Arcane Urias in 2105), Ore has lived through the Wasteland for a long while and is on a mission to kill his father Urias after the latter killed his friends. He's also Ress' older brother.

Gavin Turquoise (The Silver Chronicles) - A vigilante-turned-lawyer, after he took down the organization behind the Dark Web, he adopted a child named Schrödinger and began a feud with Eden's Gate because he didn't like their vibe (the murder and kidnapping were a bonus he could use against them in court).

Timekeeper (The UnTitledverse) - A Time Lord droid created to overlook Time and utilize the Time Watch. Wishes to change the corruption he's noticed bleed inside the Time Bureau Authority.

Haoyu Anabuki (Life, Despair & Monsters) - A human-Displacement hybrid and the half-sibling of Monika, wishes to just hang out with their sister but gets dragged into being a good person.

H.O.S.T (The Time Guard volumes) - The warden of the Time Prism (a prison sub-dimension in Time), he joined the Time Guard on their adventures. He is unprepared for their unorthodox illegalities.

Icarus Galatos & Hatsukami Hinode & Xavier Tulip & Hatter (Life, Despair & Monsters) - Hatter and his human Avatars, while not feeling beholden to the law, do their best to help it any way they can.

Kamski Neon (The Silver Chronicles) - While he does care for Silva, he doesn't not care for everyone else, and believes anything is fair game when dealing with Prophets and their cults, regardless of right or wrong and even if Silva is hurt in the process (however he will not live with himself if she died).

Mordecai Callaghan (The UnTitledverse) - Also known as "The Huntsman", Mordecai only commits amoral acts (like bounty hunting) and immoral acts (like child trafficking) to survive and to earn his freedom from Madame Callaghan and C.Y.P.R.U.S.

Maddilyn Darling (The UnTitledverse) - An outlaw apart of the Van Der Linde Gang, Maddilyn follows Dutch closely. However this does change later in 1899.

Ernesto Stallone (The Silver Chronicles) - An Enforcer Courser Guard (pretty much a senior Enforcer who has Adam's permission to leave the Archipiélagos and scout out other lands... or hunt down escapees and deserters) of the Congregation of Adam's Guard, Ernesto is not beholden to the darker aspects of Adam's laws but does believe Adam's word that the world outside the Archipiélagos are nothing but sinful. Probably the most amoral Enforcer but the least immoral one.

Jeremiah (The UnTitledverse) - A Time Agent who honestly doesn't give a fuck about the law, and just most fucks around and finds out. Jeremiah is apart of Khronos' corruption though.

Father Adam Omar (The Silver Chronicles) - Adam is delusional and fucking horrible. He is the worst part of this hedonist.

Jester (The UnTitledverse) - This guy is a scamming dealmaker who will screw over whoever is not the winning side.

Grimes the Cruel (The Silver Chronicles) - Leader of the Deserters of the Holy Triad, Grimes is nothing more than a bloodthirsty and warmongering killer who follows a twisted version of what was an honorable code.

Zachariah the Orchestrator (The UnTitledverse) - The second-borne Eldritch and the Hand at Fate's Table, Zachariah has a disdainful view on humanity and wishes to control and punish them for their existence.

Edward Carmine (The UnTitledverse) - A petty industrialist and robotics expert, he craves power over everyone and believes himself to be the superior human. Edward also cannot let go of a grudge, going to insane lengths to settle the score (even if it puts his own life in danger).

Arcane Urias (A Radioactive Calamity Of Love, Bombs & Gore) - Urias is a Displacement and the founder of the Occult, he has no desire to understand morality and only pursues his own goals to satisfy his power hunger.

Crawford Klaus (The UnTitledverse & The Silver Chronicles) - Klaus is the CEO of a pharmaceutical company that has drugged an entire town in England and sells multiple overpriced medication and drugs to less than moral people. He also fucks over anyone he doesn't like... such as the ICA.

The Paragon of Extinction (Original Works) - A first-generation Old Kin, who was around during the Extermination Purge Wars. It is the ultimate act of evil and is constantly reborn and reincarnated in many worlds and once it manifests consciousness in the reincarnated body, it gains its power back and proceeds to do everything in its power to cause total extinction in the world. Killing it does nothing... it will simply reincarnate in another world and do it again because that is what its purpose is.

[rarepears]

Lanbari ask. What if Kyouya 'Created' a new cultivation method? So now in xianxia land, there's also Flames now. I once read a fic where the mystery mom of LWJ and LXC was a Wen. We could use that here, having that fire connection with the Wens be "connected" to this nifty new power Lanbari made. Which makes everyone lose their minds. Lanbari, as ever, is a Cloud. LXC could be a Sky, a Rain or a Rainy Sky. LWJ could be a Lightning. WWX is definitely a Sun. 'Activating' the dead that he controls gives them a huge boost. MY is probably a Mist. Lanbari let's that slide since Chrome showed that not all Mists are bad. NHS is probably a Mist, too. NMJ could be a Sun or a Lightning. JWY as a Storm, JYL as a Rain.

Lanbari, having learned from his previous life that just because someone is a Sky doesn't mean they're the best person to lead. (Timoteo, Iemitsu, (sorry) Tsuna) So he'll make it so his brother doesn't have to worry too much about his people. He'll lead with gentle suggestions on how somethings would be beneficial to the Sect (I HC all Skies have Intuition) from LXC for optimum efficiency. Actually, LXC probably tells MY who gets the stamp of approval from Lanbari. Either way, his Sky brother doesn't have to deal with too much Empathy like Tsuna did while in a leadership position and won't kill off his Empathy like Nono and Iemitsu just to try and lead well.

Although being a Lan probably makes it difficult to make bonds, with all the strictly enforced social rules, so Lanbari is hunting for prospective Gaurdians for his omnivorous twin. Which was another reason for MY being handed off to LXC at first. Lanbari wanted to see if there was potential there. (There definitely was and now Lanbari has a future in law.) NMJ was a fight friend and was introduced to LXC (Little brother is introducing me to his friends! How sweet!) and bonds him, too. At this point, Lanbari worries that any other intros might lead to a harem for his brother so he tries to find others that are already spoken for. I can't think of any off the top of my head since I've never actually read the source and only fanfic of MDZS. Anyways!

You could also add some Humor to it. After introducing LXC, MY and NMJ, other Lans might think hes a good matchmaker so they try to ask Lanbari with help finding their soulmate, too. In response, Lanbari throws them at someone to get their idiotic babble away from him. It turns out, they're soulmates. Way to go, Lanbari! Now he's harassed by (idiots) people determined to go through a beating from Lanbari to get a soulmate.

You could link the future leaders of the cultivation world together early, leading to a solid foundation for them all to fall back on when/if the Wens attack. Also, imagine the Wens trying to storm the Lan Sect. For Angst, Lanbari could be on a nighthunt far away so it still happens, maybe with less casualties since he'd probably beef up the defenses. For Fix-It, he'd be present and kick the Wens asses.

 Personally, my headcanon is that mafia heads are all skies because of tradition. Skies don't make good heads and they don't have to be the head; it's just that skies are so charismatic that it ended up becoming tradition.

So... MDZS doesn't have that tradition. No one can protest about a cloud becoming sect leader instead of a sky. In fact, MDZS values talent more than necessarily firstborn becoming sect leader - otherwise Jiang Yanli could have been sect leader... probably. (Didn't the Gusu Lan had a female leader at one point? That means it's not impossible for the great sects to have female leaders. Add in the the maternal tradition of Madam Yu, it's possible! But Jiang Yanli was sickly and weak in cultivation talent.)

Anyways, Hibari as the head. I don't feel like he even listened to Tsuna - their goals just happened to align, so it's good that he's official head as he would go do his own thing regardless. Lan Xichen would have no hope of controlling Hibari's actions, just hope to mitigate the damage, if he were head instead.

Lan Xichen would serve as the Hibari-translator, softening Hibari's words into something more gentle, more politically correct. It helps that Hibari is very abrupt with his words and doesn't provide clarifying details, so Lan Xichen can twist Hibari's words a bit. You know, from "clean this mess up" to Lan Xichen now instructing the disciples to clear the debris, to contact the craftsmen, to arrange for the shop keepers to be compensated for their damaged goods, and so forth.

So that particular command is all fine and well. But when Hibari points at Jin Guangshan and says "trash"... time for Lan Xichen to sing a song about how Hibari TOTALLY meant something else. Like how Jin Guangshan should do something about the trash in his sect like all the immoral cultivators who have been disobeying rules - oh did you know that I had to stop so and so from stealing goods from a merchant's shop?

I do love the thought of Hibari hunting for good guardians for his brother. He's obviously his twin's cloud. Lan Wangji feels like a rain; plus rain can sound like music.

This frees up the lightning spot for Nie Mingjue - he willing to absorb the Wen's damage to protect his sect. He doesn't seem very... nurturing; he's more sturdy like an anchor for a ship.

Hibari doesn't exactly have to look very hard for guardians; he just lets the guardian candidates come to Gusu Lan for Lan Qiren's lessons and inspects each individual one by one. The first test is Hibari beating the potential candidates up. The guardians should be very sturdy and skilled at fighting of course!

(Meng Yao is the exception because he's the pencil pusher.)

Hibari the matchmaker! That's a hilarious thought!

Just imagine him beating up two cultivators and having them thrown into the same jail cell.. and then three years later, Hibari receives a wedding invitation to the two's wedding. He's being invited as the "matchmaker" of the couple. I guess that makes Hibari a more violent cupid?

As a cloud who's terribly possessive of his territory, Hibari would not allow himself to travel so far that he would not be at Gusu Lan for years - the Sunshot Campaign took years. If anything, Hibari hears rumors about what a strong fighting Wen Ruohan is, so he goes to Qishen Wen for a fight...

Wen Ruohan loses. Badly. Hibari is disappointed and he leaves the city, Wen Ruohan knocked out for the count.

Wen Qing uses this amazing opportunity to poison Wen Ruohan with no one the wiser; Wen Ruohan slips into a coma and never wakes up. Wen Qing blames Hibari for using poison or something something nefarious that resulted in none of her healing techniques working.

Considering that Hibari used his cloud flames in this fight and it was visible, people believe Wen Qing's claims. Hibari's fearsome reputation just went up by ten million points, but as someone who doesn't pay attention to rumors, he doesn't know about Wen Qing's claims.

Even Gusu Lan believes in Wen Qing's claims that it was Hibari's attacks that slowly killed Wen Ruohan to death.

[gffa]

Su'cuy! I really appreciate how thorough and well thought-out your theories and opinions about Star Wars are, I know that you are pro-Jedi, so I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. I love the Jedi both individually and as a whole, but I've always thought that the Jedi Council's approach to certain issues throughout the Prequels seemed a bit... questionable. Here are some examples of what I mean:

1. The way they handled Anakin joining the Order seems harsh to me. I've always thought that if Anakin had been able to keep in contact with Shmi through the beginning of his padawanship, he could've slowly grown apart from her, (rather than being somewhat unceremoniously torn away from her) and that would have helped enormously with his 'attachment' issues. I get that the Jedi only operate within the Republic's jurisdiction, so they couldn't have gone to Tatooine and overthrown the Hutts and free all the slaves like Ani wanted them to, but if everything Qui-Gon did was legal, then there's no way they couldn't at the very least send a Jedi to check up on Shmi. So why didn't they?

2. Obi-Wan clearly knew beforehand about Anakin's feelings for Padme and his issues with following the Jedi Code, so why on earth did anyone think it was a good idea to send him alone with Padme to a resort??

3. (Oh look another one dealing with Anakin's Issues) Pretending for a moment that killing a Jedi really was the best way to handle the events of the Deception arc, why Obi-Wan? Just... why?? He's not trained for undercover missions, he's a councilmember and a High General so he has a lot of responsibilities, many of which can't just be handed off to other people, and his padawan is Anakin "I'm Mentally Unstable and Everyone Knows It" Skywalker. There's no way in all nine Corellian hells that Obi-Wan was the best candidate for the job.

I'll stop here, because otherwise this ask will probably just turn into a rant

I will re-iterate the fact that I love the Jedi Order, and if there's important information I'm missing here, or perspectives I haven't considered, than I would love to know what they are because I don't like how poorly these instances reflect on Jedi like Yoda and Mace and Plo. TYSM for taking the time to read this ridiculously long ask, and please know that if you reply it will blow my mind because I may or may not look up to you as a learned Star Wars scholar that I am lucky to share in a fandom with

Ret'urcye mhi,

Ashara

Hi! Thank you for the very kind comments and, oh, you flatter me far too much, I am but a single nerd on the internet who enjoys flailing about Star Wars, hardly a scholar or anything. 😂 But you are still very nice to say so and I hope that I can live up to the good faith you've extended! Ultimately, a lot of this stuff comes down to differences in interpretation, so when I talk confidently about my views, of course I do think I’m right (😂), but if you disagree, eh, that’s no bother to me, because you’ve been nothing but sweet about it and that’s fine.  (And I say this both as a way to set the tone, but also as a way to clarify that, just because I talk in firm statements, that doesn’t mean I think there’s no room for anyone else’s views or just simply to disagree with me and that’s valid.  As long as we treat each other kindly, we’re good!) With the Jedi Council’s treatment of Anakin, I think it’s important to establish what “attachment” is first, because it’s not “caring about others”, it’s specifically more in alignment with Buddhism (as Buddhism is the heaviest influence in the Jedi’s philosophy), it’s about not clinging and grasping onto someone so hard that your fear of losing them outweighs your ability to be reasonable.  It’s about not loving them for your sake, regardless of what’s best for them or what would make them happy, because you can’t live without them.  It’s about not burning down the galaxy because you’re afraid to live without them. In Star Wars Archives 1999-2005, George Lucas says:  “[Jedi Knights] do not grow attachments, because attachment is a path to the dark side. You can love people, but you can’t want to possess them. They’re not yours. Accept that they have a fate. Even those you love most are going to die. You can’t do anything about that. Protect them with your lightsaber, but if they die they were going to die, there’s nothing you can do. All you can do is accept that fact.” That’s what attachment is within Star Wars, it’s a path to the dark side, that’s just how the worldbuilding within the narrative works.  Whatever we think of that on a writing level, within the narrative itself, attachment actually is a thing to be overcome. And it’s the very heart of Anakin Skywalker’s story, that attachment led to his fall, so when I talk about how the Jedi are trying to nudge him away from that path, it’s an important motivation because it’s absolutely what led to Anakin’s fall and they were working to prevent the source of it.  Like, he doesn’t become Darth Vader because he was separated from his mom, he becomes Darth Vader because he can’t let go of things, that distinction is the center of his story.  And if GL had meant differently, that guy is not subtle, he would have said so.  Instead, he says: “He turns into Darth Vader because he gets attached to things. He can’t let go of his mother; he can’t let go of his girlfriend. He can’t let go of things. It makes you greedy. And when you are greedy, you are on the path to the Dark Side, because you fear you’re going to lose things, that you’re not going to have the power you need.” - George Lucas, Time Magazine, 2002 Which you are probably aware of and I don’t mean to come across as lecturing, but I chose to go over it again for a reason, in that it’s important to remember that the Jedi aren’t just saying, “No contact with your bio-family!  That’s attachment!”, but instead that the worldbuilding that comes with what “attachment” means in Star Wars is illustrating what the Jedi’s goal is--work towards being able to let go when it’s time.  Protect people, love them, but accept that you can’t stop death from happening. 1.  So, with that in mind, what evidence do we have that Anakin wasn’t allowed to contact Shmi?  Yes, Tatooine Ghost (which was written in 2003, before Revenge of the Sith even existed) said so, but it’s very tricky to rely on Legends material because GL has repeatedly expressed that the books weren’t part of his worldbuilding, that he wasn’t involved with them, that they should just go do whatever as long as it was an interesting story.  (And, like, it’s fair to also dismiss current Lucasfilm canon materials, because they’re not from the primary source, either.  Everyone draws their own sandbox lines!)  What, within the movies or TV, said Anakin wasn’t allowed to contact his mother? I’m not making any definitive statements either way, I think it might be reasonable to speculate that the Jedi felt Anakin was relying too heavily on his attachments (as GL has been very clear that this is a major issue for Anakin all his life), that he wasn’t working towards letting go in a healthy way, so they may have tried to put some distance there to make it easier for him, which I think was the point the Jedi were making in Dooku: Jedi Lost when Dooku did the same with his sister.  I think it may be reasonable to point to Heir of the Jedi  showed a Jedi Knight that was in contact with his family and there were no issues there.  I think it’s fair to point out that the Jedi weren’t exactly stopping anyone from keeping connections to their birth worlds (the various cultural clothing Jedi wore, the statues they prayed to, etc.), so I don’t see why they would forbid Anakin from keeping contact with her or, as Skywalker: A Family At War pointed out, he could still feel her in the galaxy, so he knew she was okay, and yet he was still leaning into that attachment to her.  I think it’s fair to point out that the Jedi were fine with letting people leave, spoke warmly of them afterwards, even would accept them back if they wanted (Obi-Wan & Anakin, s7 of TCW where Yoda asked if Ahsoka was coming back yet), which doesn’t seem to jive with the idea that they felt you had to only ever be in contact with Jedi.  None of that seems in line with the idea that they wanted to cut Jedi off and would punish anyone for contacting someone outside the Jedi Order, unless there was a very specific reason for it. Ultimately, we don’t have enough about that time period from the movies or TCW to say for sure what happened or didn’t happen, whether he had contact with her or not, or the reasons and specific context behind it. 2.  Obi-Wan totally did object to sending Anakin alone with Padme, though!  😂  He said Anakin wasn’t ready for it, that his emotions around Padme made him confused and he wasn’t going to be able to protect her, but Mace very kindly and warmly said, “Obi-Wan, you must have faith that he will choose the right path.” And Mace is absolutely right.  I mean, yes, Obi-Wan was probably right to be concerned, but the bigger point is:  Anakin was 19 years old, he was an adult, he’d been a Jedi for 10 years at this point.  You have to eventually trust people to make their own decisions, to walk the right path on their own, and Anakin had the training and wisdom (or should have) to make that choice for himself. Sending him on a mission to escort Padme, even knowing that it would be a temptation for him, was one they had to let Anakin decide for himself how to navigate it.  If he was tempted into breaking his vows at this point, then no amount of holding him back or hand-holding him was going to make a difference. 3.  The real answer is the most unsatisfying one:  Because Obi-Wan Kenobi is a major character and therefore he was the most fun to write on that arc and to give the show drama.  I fully believe that the primary driving force behind choosing Obi-Wan for it wasn’t based on in-universe worldbuilding, but “Who would provide the most interesting, fun story to tell?” and they wanted to use it as a way to show Anakin’s growing distrust with the Jedi Order. But if we’re going to look at it from the Watsonian perspective rather than the Doylist one, I assume it’s because Obi-Wan was really good at his job, like, that guy was really good at everything he needed to be doing on that job.  And the Jedi Council were apparently on the side of telling Anakin ahead of time, it was Obi-Wan who said not to tell him, and I think it fits very well with what Obi-Wan and the Jedi have been trying to teach Anakin--that sometimes shit happens and you have to be able to face it and make peace with it.  They have to have faith that he’s going to choose the right path. Like, a driving reason (via word of god commentary) that Yoda assigned Ahsoka to Anakin as a Padawan (other than that they were a good match) is because eventually he would have to let her go, he would have to let her be Knighted and no longer interacting with her in the same way.  The Jedi were trying to provide paths for Anakin to face his attachment issues, and while I don’t think the “Deception” instance was very nice (and I do think it was a mistake and Obi-Wan was wrong to not tell Anakin, but also not totally wrong because Anakin absolutely was shit at keeping secrets and the Chancellor’s life was on the line in this mission, as far as the Jedi knew), it was meant in the vein of, “Someday, you’re going to lose people, Anakin, you have to accept that that’s going to happen.” and it’s not that I think Obi-Wan planned it as a test, but that he chose to listen to Mace’s wisdom and have faith that Anakin would choose the right path. As I see it, in the big picture of “What happened to Anakin Skywalker?  Why did he become Darth Vader?” the answer GL gave was: “When you start to care about yourself and the things that you own and the things that you have and you’re greedy and you want things all the time and you don’t want to give them up because you’re afraid to give them up, you turn to the dark side.  And that’s what happened to Anakin.” --George Lucas Q&A: Field Museum, Chicago 5/8/2010 Anakin’s fall was about his attachment to people, that’s entirely what was happening in ROTS, where his turn towards Palpatine was a justification for wanting to hold onto Padme, where the big confrontation with Obi-Wan starts because Anakin didn’t care about what she wanted or her horror at what he was doing or her choice to back away from him, he literally choked her in anger and screamed at Obi-Wan:

“YOU WILL NOT TAKE HER FROM ME!” Anakin doesn’t want to protect her, he wants to keep her, wants her to not be taken from him, like she’s something to be possessed, not because she made her own choices or because anyone else was actually trying to do so, but because he himself and his fears already did that. And that’s exactly what GL has always said was Anakin’s problem. His attachment to her, his inability to accept that she might have a fate that he couldn’t control, drove him to this.  He absolutely should have tried to protect her, to love her, to fight to help her, that’s what the Jedi do--like, that’s the whole reason they became soldiers in the war, because they were fighting to help people! But you have to accept that sometimes things are beyond your control and all you can do is work to accept that, that’s how the Force and the worldbuilding and narrative of Star Wars works.  And that’s what the Jedi were trying to help Anakin with, to prevent his attachment tendencies from getting out of control--but, at a certain point, they had given him the training and they had to trust him to make the right choices, whether that was as a Jedi or on a different path. (And I’ve always liked the quote from the A New Hope anthology, “Master & Apprentice”, where Obi-Wan says:  “Anakin became a Jedi Knight.  He served valiantly in the Clone Wars.  His fall to darkness was more his choice than anyone else’s failure.  Yes, I bear some responsibility–and perhaps you do, too–but Anakin had the training and wisdom to choose a better path.  He did not.”)

[simplepotatofarmer]

technoblade: a takedown pt. 2

(not clickbait) (okay maybe a little)

aka i go over every argument people make against c!techno one by one and determine whether they’re valid, false, or a mixture of both. i rewatched every single stream/video, including those on his alt channel, so i could approach this with the most information possible. i’ll be breaking this up into parts because there’s just too much otherwise. all about the characters unless stated.

techno has a victim complex - false

this is one of the first takes i saw in fandom and it’s always baffled me.

a victim complex is when someone holds the constant belief that they’re a victim, that everything is being done to specifically hurt them, and that no one else feels as much pain as they do, if they acknowledge that other people are hurt at all. that’s the clinical usage. (i know this, on a personal level, because my grandmother was told by two psychologists that she had a victim complex. she left both of them, saying they were trying to paint her as a bad person.)

techno has never shown a constant belief he’s a victim. in fact, he often shrugs off a lot of the things that’s happened to him - when talking to quackity about the execution, he says ‘yeah, that’s fair’ when quackity points out what techno did. 

when techno had his ‘dang, the whole world is against me’ moment, it was in a moment when there were wanted posters for him, propaganda against him. he’s valid in feeling that way and that feeling didn’t even last for long. 

expressing his hurt at tommy’s betrayal (and whether or not you believe it’s a betrayal, techno thought of it as such. i’ll address that in another point.) doesn’t mean he has a victim complex. techno felt hurt. there is a difference between feeling hurt in a messy situation where both parties felt pain and having a victim complex. or being angry at an unfair execution in which your friend is also hurt.

this isn’t a constant thing that techno does, either. he struggles with expressing himself despite being an emotional person. his paranoia that someone will try to kill him is not unfounded and also not something that he brings up constantly. and it’s the constant part that really takes away from the idea that techno has a victim complex. this isn’t his world view. he doesn’t think everything is done to hurt him. he doesn’t believe everyone’s actions are targeted at him. and that is the key components for a victim complex. 

techno killed the bees in new l’manberg on doomsday - ehhhhhh mostly false 

now, i’m not going to say that the bees wouldn’t have been killed regardless. they probably would have.

but the idea techno did it on purpose (which is bizarrely a take i have seen) just isn’t true. 

like, it sucks. bees are my favorite. but take it up with philza minecraft. techno might have given phil the wither skulls but he didn’t tell him to summon them on top of the bee house. 

techno should have been more upfront with tommy: valid

first and foremost, i want to state that techno did tell tommy what he intended. he told tommy that he could ‘sit it out’ when he destroyed l’manberg. he was upfront with tommy but he never truly pushed the issue and he should have. one of techno’s biggest flaws is his lack of communication skills. 

techno betrayed tommy by teaming up with dream: complicated but mostly false

this one is difficult because tommy did feel as if techno had betrayed him and i don’t want to discount what he feels; tommy is valid in his feelings, they’re real.

so the question here is, are they objectively true? did techno betray tommy? 

the simple answer is ‘no’.

techno teamed up with dream after tommy had left him for tubbo. (which i always feel like i have to clarify i think was the obvious outcome and i don’t blame tommy for that.) at that point in time, tommy had already broken their alliance. techno had no obligation to tommy at all. the partnership that they had was based on the two of them not being aligned with new l’manberg. once tommy went back to tubbo and sided with new l’manberg, techno was no longer on his side. there was no betrayal in that. 

the other point that’s often brought up is that teaming with dream, specifically, was a betrayal because of what dream did to tommy. 

there’s two issues with this: first, techno himself said dream is not his enemy. he said this after tommy had moved in with him in his ‘becoming incredibly rich’ stream. techno was only opposed to dream because he was teamed up with tommy. he had no personal grudge with dream. second, while techno certainly knew that tommy was afraid of dream and that dream had done something, he didn’t know the details. yes, the way tommy was acting probably should have been a clue - and probably would be for anyone else - but techno is notoriously bad with people.

now, tommy was certainly hurt by techno teaming up with dream and that’s the reason i don’t list this point as completely false. 

techno has never apologized for what he’s done: mostly true 

but not valid.

the words ‘i’m sorry’ have certainly been uttered by techno and specifically to tubbo before he killed him during the red festival. he has apologized and later explained himself to tubbo, who accepted that reasoning. 

apologies, much like forgiveness, are not owed. they can be deserved, they can be the right thing to do, but it’s not something that a person is required to do. not even to become a good person.

the best indicator of that is changed behavior and techno has changed since doomsday. he’s acknowledged that he hurt people, despite not apologizing, and changed his tactics.

techno has never considered that he could be wrong or reflected on what he’s done: false

if you haven’t watched techno’s pov completely, i can understand why you would think this is the case. 

but techno has reflected on what he’s done. he’s even admitted that not only is he not the best example of anarchism but that he’s not the best person. 

he tells niki that he’s been a bad example and that he’s trying to change that because he wants to lead through example. and this is an important conversation because she’s the first person he seeks out. he knows she’s been affected by what’s happened and by what he’s done.

in the turtle stream, he tells phil that he’s ‘trying to be a better person’. 

this is a point that i see used against techno often and, like the point above, is one of the ones that frustrates me the most. because, again, it is understandable but upon watching techno’s pov, you can see that it isn’t accurate. not only has techno reflected on his past actions, he’s come to the conclusion that he was wrong. his tactics were wrong and he has said as much, has demonstrated that he understands that and is working to change. 

he still believes in his ideals, he still believes that government is inherently corrupt and - this is conjecture - i have no doubts that he wouldn’t resort to violence against a government, in the same way he used violence to help take down the eggpire. violence isn’t inherently cruel. it’s a tool, one that techno used to wield without thought (or because he believed it was the only way he would be heard) but now it’s one that has been tempered. if techno is a weapon, he used to be a crude one and saw that instead of cutting out the rotten bits, he was leaving a jagged scar and changed. 

that doesn’t mean he won’t use violence again, it doesn’t mean that he won’t backslide or that someone won’t be hurt, but it does mean the idea he has never reflected on what he’s done is incorrect. 

techno reflected on what he’s done and realized he was wrong, not about his beliefs, not about anarchy or even violence as a whole, but his tactics. 

if you read this far, thank you. i know last time i said i would be tackling the butcher army but that has been requiring a lot of vod watching from other perspectives to be able to speak on it accurately. and adding it to this would honestly make this post disgustingly long (part one was almost 2k words, rip)

[oloreaa]

Hi guys after @revenge-of-the-shit posted about the Chinese Star Wars novel I just want all of you to quickly to imagine a Wuxia/Xianxia but in the galaxy far far away, featuring:

Long panning landscape shots and big emphasis on like, woods and clouds

Someone flying over a bamboo grove (or similar flora) underneath a full moon/several moons

Bare-fisted warrior monk fighting against several assassins at once and winning

The sassy action girl cracking one-liners and deflecting blaster shots

The arrogant Kung-Fu prodigy that turns out to be nice

Some Elder saying things that sound crazy and incomprehensible and getting brushed off but it's actually Relevant To The Plot

Fans. A lot of fans.

Wispy hair trailing everywhere even when there is no wind and they're inside a room with no windows

Tragic sworn brothers who end up fighting, possibly trying to kill the other (why does this sound similar to RotS........)

Some homoeroticsm

Spitting blood once you get slightly injured/cough/get sick/get told bad news/a breeze passes and it's probably really random and weirdly graphic for no reason

Some evil chancellor but a really nice emperor that the main cast supports and tries to save

Kneeling in extreme weather to show contemplation or regret, please have someone add a sad song to this scene

A lot of deep conversations on a rooftop in the middle of the night while gazing into the other's eyes... if one of the characters is a Rodian, for example, that would be the point where the other poetically compares their eyes to stars...

Let's add some Manly Tears to everything, the hero starts crying dramatically the second someone dies, regardless of the moral alignment because ~Empathy~

Please let's have some ambiguous cross dressing where someone has to hide their gender and then having to disguise themselves as their original gender and then having to hide their real one AGAIN and it makes your head spin but fuck it if it's not funny as fuck (bonus if the species is super androgynous already, double bonus if is obvious as HELL)

More homoeroticsm but this time make it even more obvious aka lightsaber fights that are more flirting than actually fighting

Instant death by swallowing poison

Rooftop fighting under moonlight AGAIN because its FUN

A cliff scene because every Wuxia has a scene where someone flies off a cliff, falls off a cliff, jumps off a cliff, gets pushed off a cliff, you get the point; additionally, everyone magically survives the cliff fall

~peach blossom forest~

Also, if you wanna be really dramatic in the foreshadowing: ~plum blossom forest~

If there is no body of water (like, lake, river, hot springs, hot springs(tm), pools with some aquatic flowers then what are we even doing

Again: fans. The flashier the better

Anyways give me a Wuxia Star Wars show because they're fun and I want some representation🥰