#related to him and his story and the like. arrested development that came from being unable to escape that man's evil clutches

[thewingedwolf]

it is funny that the new menendez show has started people on the “are they making erik gay/is erik menendez gay” thing as if his sexuality wasn’t a key part of the hoopla surrounding the trial bc it was the 90s and the idea that erik menendez was ~turned gay~ by sexual abuse or was secretly like some sort of gay freak and that’s why he murdered his parents, was way more digestible to the general public than the reality that being sexually abused by both his parents for his entire life might have massively impacted the way he views sex and relationships

[fatkish]

I found this post you made and idk how old it is but it was about writing stories to heal inner child to give readers someone who stepped up for them as a kid since they didn’t have someone… idk if ur still taking requests for that, but if you are, any chance you could write smthing related to saving a kid from sex trafficking? Specifically where it was perpetuated by the parents if that makes sense?? Idk. I want Aizawa to come get me outta there lol(I’m okay now). Maybe he was undercover or smthing for a bigger operation and came in contact with.. that. Thanks for reading my whole request ^^;;

Aizawa x SA Victim Child Reader

TRIGGER WARNING: please be aware that the following content contains allusions to rape, the sexual exploitation and abuse of minors as well as unwanted sexual advances. Please be warned

Aizawa goes undercover disguised as a potential buyer for an illegal quirk boosting drug that the reader’s parents are selling and finds readers parents offering reader to buyers as well.

Reader is 12 and still hasn’t developed a quirk yet. They are a late bloomer and their parents decided that their kid needed to ‘help out the family’ since they haven’t developed a quirk

Reader is forced to take lessons on ‘dancing’ in order to entertain the clients. The reader’s parents have made them believe that they are not worth saving and that heroes will treat them like a villain because what they’re doing is wrong and because their parents are ‘evil’

Aizawa was back in his underground days and came upon the house acting as a corrupt hero. He had found an actual corrupt hero who used the drugs and knew about the kid. Aizawa followed the hero and was talking to the parents when they offered the reader to him.

Aizawa, not believing this, actually went to the room and paid the parents before going in alone.

The reader’s parents don’t really care how long people are along with the reader, as long as they pay them good money. The father’s quirk allows him to distort electrical circuits and signals rendering any device that investigators might use to capture evidence of their deeds, to be useless.

Once alone with the reader, Aizawa was revolted by the way the reader was sexualized by their own parents. He talked to the reader and it took some convincing but he eventually gave the reader a phone that they could use to gather evidence from the inside.

After Aizawa left, because there wasn’t anything he could do at that exact moment that wouldn’t make things worse for the reader, he informed the police as well as the other heroes he was working with about the situation and within the next three days, they had all the information they needed in order to get a search warrant and arrest the parents

Aizawa was the one who was in charge of the kid. It was during the raid that the reader’s quirk finally manifested.

Their quirk allows them to build up and store massive amounts of electrical energy and basically turn their body into electrical energy as well as manipulate it. The reader can travel through electrical circuits like landline phones and computers. They can create a force field of electrical energy that fries anything within it as well as control electricity and shape it.

The reader was being ‘used’ by a rather violent man who was being far rougher than anyone had ever been before. It was during all the stress and anxiety that the reader finally had enough. When Aizawa busted the door down he saw the man had been electrocuted to death and had electrical burns all over him.

Aizawa realizes the severity of the situation and instead of using his quirk he decided to have the reader try to control their ability themselves. Aizawa gently removed his goggles and slowly approached the hyperventilating child. He gently talked to them, speaking in a soft voice, he told them that it was over. That their parents have been arrested and that they will never have to deal with this kind of treatment ever again.

The reader obviously wasn’t comfortable with touching others and Aizawa understood that. Aizawa had given the reader the space they needed and made sure to always be within the reader’s sight and also made sure that anyone who had to be near the reader, followed the reader’s directions.

If they didn’t want to be touched, Aizawa made sure they wouldn’t be. If the reader was uncomfortable, Aizawa made sure that whatever was causing it was dealt with. For the first time ever, the reader actually saw and believed that someone was willing to protect them and after a few months the reader was finally comfortable with sleeping in the same room as Aizawa.

The doctors and nurses were worried about the reader since they refused to be touched and would use their quirk to defend themselves. It was only after Aizawa was able to gain the reader’s trust that the doctors had Aizawa be their proxy and do the tests needed. With every test that Aizawa had to do, he would explain in detail what he would be doing, why he was doing it and made sure that the reader felt comfortable and safe, making sure that they understood that they had to give consent before anything would be done.

Eventually a therapist and counselor where provided to the reader to help them deal with the trauma from their experiences. The reader wouldn’t really talk to anyone besides Aizawa

Seeing this the courts as well as the reader’s doctors suggested that Aizawa become the reader’s legal guardian

Aizawa adopted the reader and had Hizashi introduce himself to the reader. After that, the two of them decided to take the reader shopping since this was more of Hizashi’s area of expertise rather than Aizawa’s. They bought clothes for the reader, toys, books, electronics, snacks, toiletries, bedding, furniture, etc.

Once they got to Aizawa’s house, they helped the reader get everything inside and showed the reader their own rood with an attached bathroom. The reader even had a lock on their door that they could control from their side. Aizawa even helped the reader instal one of those chain locks on their door

It took a lot of time but eventually the reader began to trust Hizashi too. Eventually one day the reader had fallen asleep on the couch next to Aizawa. Aizawa was so touched and smiled softly. He made himself, as well as the reader, a promise, he would do whatever it took to keep them safe and make sure that they were happy and felt loved and cared for

(I hope this helps you and that you enjoyed this. I hope that your inner child finds some peace with this and that this helps them heal.)

[ncisfranchise-source]

“Maybe he didn’t have a good time, but I had a good time,” NCIS: Hawai’i star Alex Tarrant says of his character, Kai, in the next episode.

“Operation Red Rabbit,” airing on April 1, sees Sam (LL Cool J) recruit Kai to be his wingman—in training. As you can see in TV Insider’s exclusive sneak peek above, Sam’s taking it seriously. Kai’s … trying to recover. Also in the episode, when the fiancée of a vanished naval officer seeks the help of NCIS, the team reveals his secrets go much deeper than she suspected.

Below, Tarrant previews Kai and Sam’s dynamic and teases what’s ahead.

Talk about the training that Sam’s putting in Kai through and their dynamic, because I really do like it.

Alex Tarrant: The Devil Dash is coming up, and I believe that Kai mentions something about missing the days of the intense grueling training that they went through while they were in the Marines. And because of that, they took a little trip down memory lane. Todd’s character, Sam Hanna, can definitely keep up, but Kai’s definitely struggling this episode.

Talk about work with LL COOL J on that.

It was our first time really getting to properly work together. He’s an amazing guy, extremely professional. There’s a big reason why he’s lasted inside this industry for so long. He’s a legend in all senses, and I just feel so grateful to be working with him. I’m learning a lot from him as I go, especially about how to better hold myself as a person within this industry.

Why does Kai put himself through all this training and go along with everything Sam says—even the food?

Sam, it’s interesting. His life is in parallel with his character. A lot of us on set look up to him as an actor. And I guess Kai definitely looks up to Sam Hanna in terms of what he’s gone through with NCIS and his awesome stories that he tells, and he’s become a legend within that NCIS department. And so I think Kai’s just really wanting to impress him—and I think he’s really paying for it.

CBS

Kai is in a relationship now with Camille (Peyton List). Is that something that’s going to last? How is Kai feeling about that?

We’ll see. It’s a really interesting relationship, something that I feel like was only able to develop within the really odd circumstances of being in a war zone and being trapped together. And I guess through that—I always think about this. We meet a lot of people at our best, but sometimes the journey with someone lasts longer when we meet each other at the worst of times, and so I think that’s a really interesting thing that’s going on between those two.

How much more are we going to see of that?

I hope more.

Are we going to see her again?

So far she hasn’t been back for Season 3, but there’s always potential in later seasons, if we’re lucky enough.

I have to say something I enjoyed is the Kai and Kate (Tori Anderson) friendship we got in the premiere and Lucy’s (Yasmine Al-Bustami) reaction to that. Are we going to see more of that friendship this season?

Yeah, I hope so. There’s definitely more potential for that, for those relationships to grow. But so far, they’ve definitely kept it about business and they’re definitely sharing the relationships between how Sam Hanna relates to each and every character, and I think that’s really, really important. But hopefully along the way we get to strengthen and expand on that relationship between Kai and Whistler.

NCIS: LA‘s Daniela Ruah came in to direct an upcoming episode. Talk about working with her as a director?

Daniela’s fantastic. She’s an actor’s director. She’s been through it. It’s really amazing watching her do the action because she knows it herself. We’ve done three seasons trying to figure out what it is to arrest someone and keep an eye out on everything else that’s going on. But when I see Daniela do it and talk us through it and walk us through it, it just comes so naturally to her, and I can’t wait for that day where it becomes natural for me.

What can you preview about that episode?

We go into the forest and search for a killer who is slowly picking off members of this elite Marine team.

[garfieldsladybird]

Netflix show called ‘how to sell drugs online (fast)’

It is based on a true story…. I wonder if like everything else also goes with the true story but I don’t think it does show yeah. I think only the main character is based on the guy in the true story.

either way, I just wanted to make some notes because why not? it’s a really good story and hella interesting!

this cuz it’s interesting to me. so this new show I’ve been watching, it’s called ‘how to sell drugs online (fast)’ but it’s actually like a real thing. in the show this 17 year old kid and best friend set up a whole Website to sell drugs, it was called mydrugs but in real life in the actual story that it’s based on the kid named the website Shiny Flakes in 2013. in the real story, max, he set it up all alone and had a very successful business, they said it was the biggest darknet related seizure ever! he was arrested for selling approx. 4.1 million euros worth of drugs from his childhood bedroom. that is 4.6 million US dollars.

How he was caught; he made a few in real life mistakes. He didn’t use the correct postage on one of his packages, so the package didn’t return to sender and just stayed at the mailing station ig until it was open and drugs were discovered. another mistake he made was using the same mailing stations. and it happened many times, so the police started analyzing data from several mailing centers and kept the stations under surveillance. until they soon figured out it was him. he was only 20 at the time but it was in Germany so he got charged as a minor and he got seven years. he heard there was a show with him and he just showed up to the production, he showed the crew somethings about what he did but they were all okay with him being there. 

There is actually his own documentary out of himself that I need to watch. I’m super interested on his story. Like why did he do this? How, and why did he start this? Want made you do what you did? was he just curious? Has he done any drugs? where did he get the drugs? And where did he has money go? because the police still haven’t found it.

He said he hasn’t done any of his own product, which is like the main role of being a drug dealer is what they say so yeah. but he has a mental condition which people believed to be autism so he has been taking pills for that for 10 years+. they say he isn’t really emotional developed in his court thing when giving him his years. he has said he’s very proud of his work and what he’s done, he doesn’t feel any remorse or guilt for selling drugs, for being a source of were people got addicted to his stuff, he said that they would just go and get it from a different place- so at least they were doing it from a safe place maybe?

now what happens in the show is that this couple were dating but the girl went to the US for a year, did some partying did some drugs came back and thought she wanted some other stuff and he wasn’t anything that she wanted. he noticed what she was doing meaning drugs and it seems like she was trying to get with the drug dealer in school and so he decided to get drugs for her. These were all meth kinda drugs so yeah which is the stuff that she was doing. He gives her a few but then she’s like this chemist and tested them with something which made them turned into a different color and turns out it had really bad reactions to taking it, so it was just bad. 

she tells him, he goes and gets more for her but she doesn’t want them so he makes the website and starts to sell them, and to also get money for her, and money in general i bet. He does this with his best friend and the best friend is like the techy so he makes the website and everything. but it just turns into a whole shit show between them and yeah. I’m not at the end yet but it just keeps going downhill.

in the show they make it seem like the actor that’s playing the guy is the real druglord guy. Like they have interviewing scenes where it seems like he’s talking about what happened which led me to think that they re-acted everything that happened but no.

Either way it’s still a good show and has great plot. I wonder where they got the whole show idea though because they made the documentary about max afterwards where the Director really put a lot of work into getting all the sides, the police, the lawyers, doctors, and then interviewed Max while also doing some re-acting scenes. That’s all from what I’ve been reading in interviews but yeah. I don’t know if the plot of the show is true but it’s such a good show! I wouldn’t say it’s like top 10 but out of the spontaneous random shows that I decide to watch it’s there in my top 20 lmao

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

“ALWAYS PLAYED THE MAN, SAYS BOB COOK,” Orangeville Sun. November 3, 1927, pg. 1, col. 2. ---- Many People Think He is the Victim of Circumstances – An Affectionate Parting with His Family. --- Ten years in penitentiary to endure. Thirty lashes to be suffered. Bob Cook, of Orangeville, more or less notorious, refuses to believe that he has done anything that has merited any such punishment. And those who know him best, who have known him, through good and ill report for many years, are sympathetic.

The life of Bob Cook, traced through from his early days, is a story of a boy going wrong and being hounded forever after. The hand of Bob Cook was not always against every man, but in the last twenty years, apparently, all influence has been withheld where it could benefit him. The common acceptance that he was a ne’er-do-well was due doubtless to his own behaviour, but the chief opportunities put in the way of Bob’s career to have been in escaping from Orangeville jail.

Bob Cook was born in Amaranth, near Orangeville, 48 years ago, when his mother was at the age of 29. There were two brothers older and one sister who died. There is a younger sister, a widow, and a brother. The parents were farmers, eminently respectable an good-living people. Today they have retired from the farm and live in Orangeville, the father confined by age and weakness to the red brink cottage, the mother in her 77th year, still active on her feet but in the sere and yellow leaf of age.

All Right at First In schooling Bob was given a public school education in and around Orangeville and was brought up in the Presbyterian faith. There is no one in the vicinity, people who have known him all his live, who remember him as a boy and who knew him as different from others.

I knew him as a boy, related Sheriff Endacott, and as I remember him there was nothing bad about him then, He started out when he was a young man. I believe, to work on the farm and at threshing especially. In those days at least threshing was a hard life, and it bred hard men. Bob was probably influenced to some extent by his early life, and it bred hard men. Bob was probably influenced to some extent by his early life at this kind of work. He had to fight his way and stand up against the best. He was equal to the best. He left school when he was some twelve years old and started working around on the farm. He developed a strong physique and the name of a doughty fighter.

A young man who has known Bob for years said the other day: Bob Cook would be at times just the same as anybody else. I used to live right beside the Cooks and have known him for years. I have driven beside him many times. There were spells, however, when his temper would become terrible. It affected him like fits. One these occasions he was a terrible man. It was not due to his war service, because I knew him before the war, years before.

Always Fought Arrest One of the occasions which this burst of temper was almost sure to develop was when a police officer appeared in sight, with or without a warrant for Bob’s arrest. His badness, if one might call it that, was not directed with intent against his fellow man. He early become, however, determined that he would never be arrested. His first serious trouble with the police was some twenty years ago, when he got into a fight in Grand Valley. As a result of this he was arrested and walked out of the jail with the bars, mailing them back from Orangeville. Following this he was nearly arrested on several occasions but always escaped. Show me your warrant, was always Bob’s demand, and when none was produced he refused to surrender. It was not so much the spirit of a criminal as of a bravado, a reckless adventurous youth, which roused the hand of a law-abiding community against him. In a fight leading to his arrest in 1909 came his first severe sentence, when in the scuffle he slashed Constable Halbert across the wrist. A two-year term followed.

On one occasion when he came in Orangeville he was told in his own words that Chief Marshall and his gang are after you, armed with revolvers. I got a couple of revolvers myself and said All right, I’ll see if I can get justice. When I saw them coming, I asked for the warrant. Chief Marshall produced one and I tore it up without reading it and he never grabbed it back or tried to save it at all.

Not Alone to Blame Shortly before the war Bob Cook was given a seven-year term for sheep stealing, of which he served three years and then enlisted to serve in the Great War.

Speaking of the sheep stealing, Cook said: 

They never gave me a chance. I was not the one to blame, not the chief one, at any rate. A man named Drinkwater induced me into that trouble after I refused on several occasions to have anything to do with it. Finally I agreed to drive the wagon for them. He did all the sheep stealing, got the money, and I got the seven years.

The penitentiary is no place for Bob Cook, and thirty lashes will not help him now, remarked a police officer to the Telegram. Bob is seized with periods when he is not normal and at other times he is as normal as anyone in town. It is an institution for such cases which should receive him. They have none in this country, though they have them in the United States for just such cases. The victim of a circumstance which might have been averted had opportunities been opened as often as the jail door, was no slacker when the lines of khaki were draining Canada’s manhood to the front.

To remain in Canada week after week was no form of soldiering that appealed to Robert Cook. He enlisted with a Wellington battalion. He complained one day of rawness from heavy underclothing and was promptly ordered out on a route march. A fight with his officer followed and Bob left the battalion.

Wanted to Get There He went to Calgary and enlisted there. The Wellington battalion had no chance of going to the front for a considerable time. Neither had the new battalion he had joined. When he found this out he changed into a suit of civies, went over and enlisted with the 45th Battalion, which was leaving the same week. Bob was over in France, at the firing line, wounded, and back in Canada before his Wellington battalion officer was out of the country. When he was on the way a companion read in the paper that Bob Cook had deserted. He was so incensed that he almost gave himself away when the companion in khaki remarked, There’s another deserter gone to the United States.

I was transferred to the 1st C. M. R. battalion and was at the Somme in 1916. I was recommended for the D. C. M., but shortly afterwards I was wounded and there weren’t enough D. C. M.’s to go around. Captain Caswell of Calgary, wrote me a letter of appreciation for my services. He said. Never mind about the D. C. M. and they’ll never get it. And you earned it.

When fighting at Regina Trench in the Battle of the Somme in the fall of 1916, Bob was wounded by a shell burst. His right hand was mangled, he was hit in the cheek and ear and had several body wounds. He was invalided back to Canada and receives a pension of $45 a month.

Tried to Start Right Sitting in the jail corridor, his face was drawn and covered with a two days’ growth of beard. His sandy hair is showing signs of the mingling grey beneath. His features, well-marked, were once good-looking.

I tried to make four new starts in life, he said, with tears in his eyes. I saved up $430 in the war at $1.10 a day and I was done out of that. I started trucking and I couldn’t make it go. I went out West and came back once more with a stake and bought a little farm. They all said I was crazy and I guess they were right. It was largely swamp land and no good. Now that is all shot.

I wanted to marry Etta, he said, referring to the charge against him, and they told me her that our children were abnormal. They said I was too old for her, yet when a Peaches Browning case comes up where a millionaire is involved it is a wonderful thing. A sixty year old millionaire is different from a 48 year old man like myself.

Mother’s Distress Mrs. Cook, despite her 77 years, is still active and talked in sorrow of the boy who had once been her hope and who service in the Great War still bought to her a thrill of pride.

He was a good boy if they had left him alone. He fought for them overseas and was wounded. Had it not been for his splendid constitution he never would have pulled through, the doctor told me, she said. He was brought up in his church, the Presbyterian Church, and went to his school. He has not let us want whenever we needed it. Many is the time he has bought things to us and helped us. Cannot anything be done? Can no one help him?

[happilylovingchaos]

Post-ep Thoughts:

*: for plot points that might need suspension of disbelief

“I’m so fired.” On-nose, I like it. (What? It’s called levity)

Conflict of interest is probably gonna be one of those plot points where you have to suspend your disbelief— for instance, no way would Grace be allowed to take point on a call involving Judd. *

Oh god, Judd…

That’s some weird advice to give, making grand gestures. Also was this what TK talked about later, with the guy hanging off the tower? (“Y’know, I once rescued a window washer from the 44th floor of the Chrysler building.”)

I thought that Owen said, “Gotta love NY” but the Hulu captions say “God, I love NY”. ???

Honolulu’s Chinatown is probably up there with New York’s Chinatown in terms of apartment rent costs— but TK lucked out in his living situation. His unit looks nice, for how little it’s been shown. (And… I wonder if his OD would have happened the morning or so after he met with Alex?)

Side note on this: “Were you trying to kill yourself?” (From how TK acts later in the series, I think… yes but also no? I get some passive suicidal ideation from that previous OD).

Not that anyone cares much after 4 years, but looked up the actor who played that character— he’s Harrison Grant.

Now I get why some of y’all fanfic writers present Alex as low-grade ass. He was really just used as an inciting incident.

I don’t say much about Mateo, but I had no idea his character shared an actor in common until after. Also, I really wish I had your tenacity when it came to the JLPT, man.

Boy, I wonder if the ep director/ creators asked Liv to portray Michelle with a troubled vibe? I mean, I’ve heard that some fandom members think her character is not all there, or shallow… IMO it is kind of a unexpected but welcome play against her more pure-/ ethereal-/ wise- esque character types. (But, as much as I respect the missing-sister issue and grief, Michelle… you are really not helping your own case with that guy’s neighbors.)

With the benefit of hindsight, I think I see why some of you guys were caught off-guard with the Blakes being mentioned again in season 4– I did get the feeling that Carlos’ scene with Michelle was something you had to read between the lines to find context for. (Plus, aside from the interaction that shows he’s been her arresting officer long enough for both of them to treat it like routine, and his calling her constant searching “a rut”… maybe he did try, too, to look for Iris until the non-leads piled up too much for him. What is certain is that another party had a role in the disappearance but to what end, unclear.)

Related to the portrayal type: Michelle does have a soothing presence when she and her team have to treat patients. So… character is like

Marjan might need an agent at this point?? I wonder how long she’s been Firefox, or if she’s been allowed to film on calls.*

Paul sounds like he could be a Hero of Another Story, with the commendations he received, his gender identity, and how he dealt with the mean streets before joining Chicago FD.

TSP (Time Skip Passing): I’d guess it takes much longer IRL (edit: RFMarch mentions at least 1 year) to rebuild a damaged/ nonexistent firehouse, let alone assemble a new team. Since the old 126 hadn’t been touched for 6 months but presumably already most of the main appliances and furniture were functional… okay, that’s six months grievance + hiring processes of the new team + construction time + extra factors.

I’m using TSP for my own reference to figure out how much time passes between plot developments in this show. Note: I’m going with my gut and wits on this, so just know this is not a reliable thing. If you don’t agree with this, then that’s okay.

Adjusting to fit, I’m assuming the show’s timeline starts sometime in August 2018 (factory explosion around then in Austin, with Strands’ arrival occurring in March 2019 give or take a few days). 38 weeks + 6 weeks max hiring + expedited firehouse rebuild of 6-12 months (~52 weeks or 364 days)… and. Came out to 96 weeks.🤨🤔Pretty sure the showrunners aren’t gonna confirm, I just wanted to start somewhere.

I think Jim Parrack didn’t get enough mention for his acting. He plays off of Rob Lowe’s dead seriousness and goofy side so well, that their interactions really felt like a budding friendship (with Michelle? Let’s just say… she’s not as demure as she appears).

Emergency Notes:

Nice call forward to 4x15, but GOOD LORD. You men should just sell those peppers and stick to Tabasco from now on if you’re so set on vitriolically resolving your issues.

The logistics of the car accident aside, I’m just really grateful that that baby seat saved the baby’s life.

Episode 1x01 Pilot Discussion Thread

Please feel free to use the comment thread and tags of this post throughout the week as a place to liveblog while watching the episode, discuss with friends, post your metas and thoughts etc. Anything you’d like to discuss while watching the episode is welcome!!

Please reblog this post for visibility!!

[noona96n]

Beyond Evil characters as the major arcana

Han Juwon | 0 - The Fool 

He’s literally a dumbass, like boi accused my man Dongsik of multiple murders T^T 

But on a more serious note, in upright position, The Fool can mean beginning, innocence, free-spiritedness, idealism, adventure. All the good and beautiful things in life that are experienced by a ‘newborn’ / a fledging is symbolized by The Fool. And is Juwon not all of that?? Did Beyond Evil not started by Juwon starting a sting operation? Is it not his adventure? Is he not living by an idealistic set of morals and principles that he tries his very best to uphold even in the worst of times? He basically begged to be arrested for his sting operation and forcing a victim and mtfckn setup the scene for the arrest of his own father. He is the embodiment of The Fool. 

In reverse, The Fool represents recklessness, inconsideration, dumbassery. It can also mean to be taken advantage of, to be naive and gullible and foolish. And, uh, Juwon. Just- recklessly starting the sting operation, accusing Dongsik and barging into his basement and pointing a gun to his head and jabbing his chest, naively thinking that the world is black and white only to have the rug pulled from under him. 

The major arcana is considered as The Fool’s journey in life… so The Fool can either be placed at the beginning (= starting a journey) or the end after The World (21) (= an adventure just came to an end, time to go on another one). I actually wanted to do a Beyond Evil-Major Arcana thing bcs i feel like the drama is a study in Juwon’s character development (or hero’s journey tbh… the phases Juwon went thru throughout the drama isn’t dissimilar from the hero’s journey way of storytelling). And that the character(s) I think fits The World is the ending of Juwon’s foolishness and naivety, the one who completes his story and ends the Beyond Evil story. 

Lee Dongsik | 1 - The Magician 

Dongsik walks a fine line between policeman and criminal w/ the way he moved Minjungie’s fingers and took her and Lee Geumhwa’s phones… with the way he tried to incarcerate himself, with the way he’s more than willing to break the law to achieve justice. And that’s what The Magician is… an inbetween of magic and mortal, of heaven and earth.

He’s willful, smart and resourceful, and so, so good at his job. But he’s also full of trickery and deception, more than willing to manipulate the police, the evidence, the circumstances for his own gain. Juwon fell into his trap many times. 

Also, in The Fool’s journey, The Magician is the first being that The Fools encounter… whatever tool The Fool chooses from The Magician’s table (pentacle, sword, coin, wand) will help him through his time and maybe even indicates what kind of adventure he’s going on… So, if The Fool is the adventure, then The Magician is the one leading us down the road.

Even though I place him as The Magician, I think Dongsik can be represented by A LOT of other tarots… as himself or in relation to Juwon. I think he could also be: 

2 The High Priestess = Dongsik is smart and intuitive and he knows everything, he holds the answer to everything Juwon wants to know. But he’s sneaky and secretive and confusing… he held all the cards but messed w/ Juwon constantly, he hid who he really is, hid his intention. His actions didn’t always align w/ his true intention and he continuously sowed doubts into everyone’s minds. 

7 The Chariot = the way Dongsik has continues to live on in spite of all the tremendous loses and unfairness pitted against him… the way he’s determined to catch Kang Jinmook in the act even if it means breaking the law, the way he’s so focused on bringing justice to Yuyeon and putting her to rest. But also, the way he just… got lost and gave up on life after what happened to Sangyeob. And also, Dongsik was the one turning Juwon’s life upside down… he was the person who made Juwon lose control and question everything. 

8 The Strength = i think Dongsik is the reason why Juwon becomes compassionate and confident in his ethics and profession. By wanting to save Dongsik from further hurt, Juwon also mustered the courage and bravery to stand up to his father and take him down. I’m not saying Juwon’s moral won’t hold up on his own, I’m saying Dongsik gave him that inner strength to arrest his father because he had wronged Dongsik so terribly. He gave him conviction. Dongsik was also the person who shook Juwon’s foundation and made Juwon doubt everything. 

12 The Hanged Man = Dongsik’s literally the definition of The Hanged Man with his enormous capacity of love and compassion and kindness and the alarming lack of self-preservation. 

20 Judgment = Dongsik was literally the reason why Juwon went to Manyang… so yeah, quite obvious there. But in a more emotional context, I like to think that Dongsik was the reckoning in Juwon’s life… the rebirth, the only forgiveness that mattered, the promise of a new beginning. But I also think that he might’ve instilled some degree of self-loathing into Juwon as well, esp if Juwon had the time to sit down and reflect on his past actions toward Dongsik. 

21 The World = there’s always an emptiness within him bcs of what happened to his family and how his twin was never given closure, how he wasn’t given closure. But, at the end of it all, he managed to give himself closure… to his sister and family and all of Kang Jinmook’s victims as well. He closed the cycle. He can move on with life now, he can be at peace now. He’s also the culmination of Juwon’s hero’s journey and the closure to a dark and tumultuous period of Juwon’s life. The one who soothed Juwon’s doubt and instilled a sense of clarity into him and sent him on another adventure: repent by helping the lost ones and their families. He is The World just as much as Yuyeon is. 

Dongsik is The World to Juwon.

Dongsik is the only person I couldn’t place in one single tarot. (Can u tell how much of a simp I am for him? I love him and his poetic suffering so much.) 

JWDS

6 The Lovers = this card is about unity and harmony, about balances and choices. But, in reverse, it means bad decisions, disharmony, chaos. Well, I don’t really need to explain, do I? 

10 The Wheel of Fortune = Dongsik is literally the turning point in Juwon’s life… and vice versa. Resisting each other is impossible. 

13 Death = the end of a cycle, transition, metamorphosis… Dongsik is able to move into a new, more beautiful chapter of his life because of Juwon and Juwon extracting himself from under Han Gihwan’s heels and becoming someone who’s softer and kinder and more considerate because of Dongsik. Juwon also went through an internal transformation because of Dongsik. 

Do Haewon | 3 - The Empress 

She’s a mother who’s suffocating her child… she loves Jeongje so much she’s willing to ruin his life if it means she can keep him ‘safe’... she’s just so- idk 

I think she sees Jeongje as an extension of herself but not in the way Han Gihwan sees Juwon as a self-extension to gain glory for himself, I think Do Haewon sees Jeongje as a literal part of herself. Not sth to use but sth to love and protect like oneself. 

Kang Jinmook | 4 - The Emperor 

This is the card of fatherhood but also the card of tyranny. Kang Jinmook was a literal serial killer… he was obsessed w/ Hyemi, obsessed w/ killing her. And he’s so controlling of Minjung too. 

Kwon Hyuk | 5 - The Hierophant 

He’s Juwon’s tutor. No, seriously, he’s Juwon’s tutor, educator, the one who gave Juwon the info he needed and that’s what The Hierophant is. Also, he’s the middleman who’s been keeping the peace in the Han household for ages. He is The Hierophant. 

Also also, my man conformed, conformed, conformed… until he didn’t anymore… until he thought for himself and rebelled which yas. And it’s literally so funny that in career context, a reversed Hierophant means peer pressure and bureaucratic suffocation and Hyuk was literally choking on the pressure Han Gihwan put on him. 

Oh Jihwa and Nam Sangbae | 11 - Justice 

It’s a no-brainer for Jihwa tbh… she’s a straight-laced police officer who's all about fairness and accountability and consequences and integrity and JUSTICE. She has never wavered in her fight for justice. She’s so admirable and I am in awe of her. 

The chief… Well, he made mistakes in the past but they were honest mistakes… he owned up to it and apologized and tried to amend things by taking care of Dongsik in his own ways. He caused an injustice and he continued to pay retributions… he tried to right his wrongs until his moment of death. 

Han Gihwan | 15 - The Devil 

Mtfck is so obsessed w/ power and so goddamn controling 

The fact that he has zero compassion for anyone, not even his own son… he only gives a fck about himself

Park Jeongje and Lee Changjin | 16 - The Tower 

My least favorite card in the major arcana… sorry? I just think it’s the most evil card ever… it has the most unsettling illustration in every deck… a tower splitting and catching fire while thunder and lightning kick up a fuss everywhere. It’s just so… chaotic and so insecure and disastrous and traumatic. In reverse, it literally means averting a disaster but only in the sense of delaying the inevitable.

I fckn hate this card and I’m sorry to Jeongje but he is The Tower thru and thru. 

Lee Changjin is The Tower bcs he's the mtfck who's a part of the whole clusterfck… helped cover up for Han Gihwan only to have him thrown jail later. And he just gives me anxiety in general, so… 

Yoo Jaeyi | 17 - The Star

She is The Star to Minjungie's moon and Jihoonie's Sun… the youthful inspiration for Minjungie and Jihoonie.

She's the twinkling hope in the sky that kept on believing in her mom and searching for her… even thru hopelessness and despondent, she still managed to kept her spirit up and let go of despair. 

Even when she thought Kang Jinmook was going to kill her she still kept a somewhat positive outlook and believed that Dongsik would avenge her. 

She's had loses but she also endured. She had suffered so beautifully. She's The Star to me. 

Kang Minjung | 18 - The Moon 

I’m not saying that Minjungie’s life is a lie but I associate her life with lies… but mb that’s bcs I think of her in conjunction w/ Kang Jinmook… i mean, she wasn’t his child and we were literally introduced to Minjungie thru lies… she went out partying instead of studying like she was supposed to. 

Anyway, it's Minjungie who lifted the veil of deception off of Kang Jinmook… like, she’s the revealer of truth… anddd she was the first to fully embrace the fact that she wasn’t Kang Jinmook’s child… she was no longer going to live in this farce 

Also, her fear… her being buried alive... the way her breathing can be heard when Dongsik wrecked that yard looking for her 

also, i think like she's really full of love and emotions, mischievous, child-like emotions, and i associate those w/ The Moon

Oh Jihoon | 19 - The Sun 

His smile, his softness, his kindness, his compassion. He's not the glaring summer Sun but the soft one in spring that glows rather than burns. 

He’s just so full of joy and spirit, ya know? Such a sweet character, so easy to love. 

But also, he can scourge the earth and burn everything in his path with his recklessness and anger as well.

Lee Yuyeon  | 21 - The World 

Yuyeon has always been The World to me… to Dongsik… and to Juwon too, in a sense. 

She was the reason why Dongsik has been living half a life but she was also the reason why Dongsik was able to move on. The truth of her death also closed a chapter of Juwon and Jeongje’s life. 

She holds all the cards. She's the full circle. She’s the beginning and the end. 

PS. im an amateur tarot enthusiast, i went w/ vibes and my own interpretations more than anything else

wholehearted thanks to frog-san for encouraging this nonsense ✩

[spiritsonic]

Hey there! I was wondering, do you have any concepts/concept art or storylines for gotf that you never ended up using? If so may we see? :)

Sure! There's a handful of things Okida and I have brainstormed at one time or another that I can confidently say won't happen now. Gonna put it under the cut so the post isn't super long!

Black Knight

The main one is a second Storybook Series adventure, this time focusing on Black Knight. We had a good time thinking about the changes to the setting post-game. Our version was more SatAM themed, putting "Robotnik" in the role of an invading Roman general, and "Sally" as a renegade Guinevere leading a Robin Hood-esque band fighting back from Sherwood Forest. There would have been a focus on Silver playing Galahad's role and needing to go on the Seige Perilous. Sonic and Metal were along for the ride too, but due to some magic rules bullshitting Sonic didn't get alive'd again, but instead played a haunted sword alongside Metal as a shield, both wielded by Silver.

(I would have it be known that I came up with this BEFORE Pokemon's sixth gen came out, thus Honedge didn't exist yet. Nintendo, I expect my royalty check in the mail any day now.)

Long story short, while coming up with the setting was fun the story quickly got VERY big and didn't offer a ton of opportunity for character or plot advancement so in the interest of time we decided to not do it.

GOTF Marine

While figuring out all the New Chaotix stuff, we considered adding Marine to the cast. She would have been a friend of Blaze's who was obsessed with conspiracy theories, especially relating to aliens and GUN. She was very pushy and wild, and kind of a technical/hacker genius sort, and of course like her game counterpart she would have been terrified of ghosts. In this earlier version the parents' secrets were kept longer, so the kids ended up doing an investigation on their own, I think.

(I would have it be known that I came up with this BEFORE Sonic Boom or Steven Universe had come out, so Sticks and Peridot didn't exist yet. Cartoon Network, SEGA, I expect my royalty checks in the mail any day now.)

We didn't have anything in mind for her beyond that initial arc though, and Sicily ended up filling the role of paranoid techie person so she never made it in. A bit of a bummer, she would have been fun to write.

Tarnish

Tarnish was the name of Anti-Silver from Moebius, and was considered for a much longer version of the Moebius arc. He would have been the last surviving disciple of Antique's cult, her warped protege. You already know what he would have looked like, the outfit Silver wears during the story was originally intended for Tarnish. the big difference is that when he was a child, Antique had his arms amputated so he'd be forced to develop his psychokinesis faster. So he had big weird psi-arms.

(This isn't actually a picture of Tarnish, I can't find one in my files, but you can see I re-used the arm idea here)

While cool and spooky, Tarnish really boiled down to a miniboss for the gang to fight before reaching Antique, and since Okida and I were getting really tired of being stuck on Moebius we decided to just get back home ASAP. If I ever do a "director's cut" of GOTF in prose form, I'd probably put him back in and expand on Antique's whole deal.

That one time I wrote a GOTF screenplay in college

Ok so in my first screenwriting class in community college, I in my infinite hubris decided to write an alternate version of GOTF that would be more tied to the Archie-verse. I think I was around 17? It starts off as a pretty straight redo/update of Issue 1, then the story veers off as the Zone Cops bust in, here to arrest the boys and destroy the dimension for being a fan AU disrupting the balance of the multiverse. Unfortunately, the class wrapped before I got past the very beginning of act 2... but what's there isn't that bad? It's not perfect, but does a better job explaining the premise and doing things in an exciting way. I have it saved as a PDF, if people want I could put it up on my Patreon.

The absolute worst part was when we did a table read in class. Listening to a random dudebro do a "haha you're too slow!" Sonic impression while reading GOTF Sonic's Traumatic Backstory Monologue... truly exquisite suffering. The teacher loved it, he wanted to submit my script to a college screenwriting competition.

----

Anyway, that's some scrapped GOTF stuff. There's probably more, but these are the ones that came to my mind right now!

[little-mad]

Downsides of Thievery Pt. 8

~ Previous Part ~ Next Part ~

Maybe after all the shit Gavin had experienced ever since he’d been dragged from his prison cell back on Earth, he should have been used to giant related weirdness. He’d been held in a fist, toted around in a cage, and pinned down to the ground by a massive hand. In theory, riding around in Rael’s hand wasn’t that much stranger in comparison. And yet, Gavin felt unimaginably uncomfortable with his current position.

It wasn’t really that Gavin felt he was in any particular danger. Weirdly enough, he actually believed Rael’s claim that he would be careful. No, he wouldn’t say he was necessarily afraid. What he was feeling had more to do with the fact that he was almost surrounded on all sides by one single person. He was sitting on Rael’s palm, with the alteon’s chest behind him and his other hand directly in front of him. Not to mention the fact that the guy’s head loomed far above, able to look down at the person in his hand whenever he wanted. Long story short, Gavin felt smothered. And what was weirder than being smothered? Being smothered by the same person who had so far expressed nothing but distaste and disinterest in him since their first meeting.

“I guess it's an improvement from threatening to crush me,” Gavin thought to himself. He supposed this was preferable. The problem was, he didn’t know how to respond to this kind of behavior. Gavin was an expert at reacting to people not liking him much. Even if he knew Rael did like him, he might have some idea of what to do and what to say. However, Gavin couldn’t make heads or tails of how the big guy felt!

“Uh, I guess I should thank you for saving me,” Gavin finally said, breaking the silence that had developed ever since they’d departed from the stream. He fidgeted, trying not to think about the fact that the thing he was sitting on was literally alive. “Maybe this would seem less weird if I’d ever ridden a horse before…”

Rael didn’t take his eyes off the path in front of him aside from shooting a quick glance down at his passenger. “I was just doing my job,” he stated.

Maybe Gavin was getting ahead of himself thinking he’d made any progress with Rael. Maybe the guy really was just doing his job, and any increased kindness Gavin had detected was just an extension of his job.

As pathetic as it undoubtedly was, Gavin didn’t want to believe Rael really didn’t give a rat’s ass about him. He was completely alone in this dimension, cut off from anyone and everyone who had given at least half a shit about him. And so maybe Gavin was desperate to find someone he could imagine was on his side. He wanted a friend, and Rael was quite literally his only option. “God, I need to snap out of it! I’m supposed to be a hardened criminal damn it!”

Gavin craned his neck to look up at Rael’s face. “Well, I gotta admit, you were pretty badass back there.” It was very uncommon for Gavin to root for any type of law enforcement, for obvious reasons, but for once he was on the side of authority. How ironic was it that he, a thief who had been undone by his own greed, had almost been abducted in order to satisfy someone else’s greed? Fate really was a funny thing, huh?

A perplexed expression crossed over Rael’s face. “Badass? That’s intended as some form of compliment, correct?”

Gavin had to stifle a chuckle. He kind of forgot the alteon only had a very vague knowledge of human slang. He suddenly felt like he was holding a conversation with Spock, Rael even had the pointy ears to match. “Yeah...it sort of means you were impressively tough,” Gavin explained.

Rael gave a small nod of understanding. “I see, well...thank you I suppose.” The little note of awkwardness in his voice was enough to cause Gavin to break out in a grin. Rael sounded like a person and not some giant robot of formality and meanness.

Unwilling to let the break in Rael’s facade go to waste, Gavin initiated his mouth’s blab feature. “You know, next to that Kaydin guy, you’re like a saint,” he started, not even realizing he was now reclining back in Rael’s palm. “I’d pick hanging out with you over him anyday.”

With a light scoff, Rael rolled his eyes. “Being preferable over a brigand like that man is not as high of praise as you seem to think it is,” he said, though his tone was lacking in any real bite.

Gavin snickered. “I guess so, but to be fair I’ve only ever met three alteons.” None of them had made an especially great impression though, so he was beginning to think a part of alteon culture was just being naturally shitty at introductions. Of course, Gavin couldn’t really judge, he wouldn’t say he was all that great at first impression either.

“I’m surprised you weren’t more taken with the ruffians, considering you’re both criminals and all,” Rael replied, a nearly imperceptible smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth.

“Hey, not all criminals get along. That is a very common misconception,” Gavin stated matter-of-factly.

Rael snorted. Gavin was surprised someone like him could even make such a casual sound. “How very educational you are,” he said, sending another brief glance down at the human in his hands.

Gavin could hardly believe what was happening. He was actually taking part in back and forth banter with Rael, the guy who had seemed like an impenetrable stone wall of crankiness. If Gavin closed his eyes and ignored the feeling of flesh beneath him, he could almost imagine he was talking to a human and not an eighty foot colossus.

-

Rael had no idea what the hell he was doing. It was almost as if he’d been possessed or something, because he never would have imagined himself engaging in repartee with a human of all people. And yet somehow, it felt so natural and effortless. Rael would never consider himself a particularly talkative person, but with Gavin carrying the bulk of the conversation, it was easy to keep banter going.

Honestly, Rael wasn’t even sure what had triggered the change in his own behavior. Perhaps seeing the human’s life threatened by another alteon had had some kind of mirror effect. It was possible that witnessing the fear Kaydin inflicted upon Gavin had given Rael a new perspective on his own threatening behaviors.

Kaydin had obviously been the villain in the scenario. Did that mean Rael was the villain in his previous interactions with Gavin? He was a member of the Imperial Guard, he was supposed to be a hero--but it was becoming increasingly clear that he hadn’t been acting as such.

“I do not get paid enough to do this much self reflection on the job,” Rael thought sourly. This whole situation would be a lot simpler if he could just keep on ignoring Gavin and disregarding his feelings. It was a shame his conscience had gotten so loud all of a sudden.

“It is kind of flattering that I’m apparently so valuable that that guy was about ready to risk it all to get his hands on me,” Gavin said. Rael looked down to see a playful smirk on the little guy’s lips.

While Gavin had obviously been intending to be humorous, Rael couldn’t help but frown slightly. It was troubling how desperate Kaydin had been to get a hold of a human. What was even more troubling, was that Rael knew the desperation was sensible. Gavin would fetch a hefty sum on the black market, and Rael could only imagine the sort of things one might want to buy a human for. After the encounter with Kaydin and his partner, Rael wouldn’t be assured of Gavin’s safety until they were within the palace walls.

“You’re currently the only human in this realm, that makes you something of a rarity,” Rael told Gavin.

Most alteons had never seen a human in real life before, and unless things changed drastically, most never would. Typically, only those close to the Emperor were able to even catch a glimpse, hence why it was something of a status symbol. Of course, Rael had never really seen it that way himself.

“I guess I should feel honored,” Gavin quipped. “Although, the fact that I’m a prisoner kind of ruins things.” Rael fought the urge to twitch as he felt the human reposition himself on his palm. He still couldn’t believe such a tiny body could hold such a large personality.

“Perhaps crime doesn’t pay quite as much as you thought,” Rael retorted. He still found it stunning that the little guy he was currently holding in his hand had managed to rob an alteon.

Gavin scoffed. “Hey, it paid just fine until I took the diplomat job.” That caught Rael’s attention. He had been under the impression that Gavin had stolen the ring from the diplomat for himself, likely with the intention of selling it. However, the way Gavin had phrased it made it seem as though he had done it at someone else’s request.

“Wait, someone hired you to steal that ring?” Rael inquired, his gaze jumping back and forth from looking ahead and looking down at Gavin.

A dry laugh came from the human as he leaned back on his hands. “Like I ever would’ve thought of stealing from an alteon myself,” he said sarcastically. “Obviously someone hired me to do it.”

Rael’s eyebrows shot up. So Gavin had just been doing someone else’s dirty work? What he’d done had still been illegal, but still, wasn’t the one who had employed him the one truly in the wrong? “You took the fall for the one who hired you?”

Gavin gave a shrug. “Not exactly, but I didn’t know the real name of the guy who gave me the job, so there was no point even bothering to tell the cops.” He said it so nonchalantly. Did he not realize he might not be in the situation he was in, being escorted to the Emperor by an alteon, had his employer been identified and arrested?

“You don’t seem to care all that much,” Rael noted.

“I chose to take the job when I didn’t have to, blaming it on someone else isn’t gonna help anything,” Gavin replied. Rael was stunned by how...mature he was being. Initially, Gavin had struck him as nothing more than an honorless thief, devoid of any sense of responsibility. And yet here he was, accepting culpability for his own actions even when there was a perfect scapegoat right there for him to blame.

“Will wonders never cease,” Rael breathed.

“What?” Gavin called up. Rael had forgotten how sensitive to even the quietest noises human ears were.

“Nothing, don’t worry about it.”

[mcheang]

The girl squad overhear Adrien and Marinette talking/arguing about Lila; they learn that Adrien knew Lila was lying and told Marinette to take the high road. When Adrien again says that the lies aren't hurting anyone, the girls confront him and explain just how the lies could hurt them. They also learn about Lila harassing Adrien and threatening Marinette. Bonus: Chloe redemption and having her care about Adrien as a friend.

Friends stand up for each other

Post Ikari Gozen. This is a draft.

While bonding with each other, Kagami and Marinette relate about their familial akumatizations. Marinette told about Weredad, Befana and Bakerix. Kagami talked about her mother and her own experiences.

Marinette: did I mention I’m sorry.

Kagami: do not be upset. You were nervous. Besides, you didn’t mean to, unlike that Lila girl.

Marinette: you know Lila?

Kagami: not exactly. I was busy practising one afternoon, then all of a sudden a random number sends me a picture of a stranger kissing Adrien.

Marinette startled. “Wait, if you never met Lila, how did she get your number?”

Kagami: Adrien thinks she must have copied off his contacts list.

Marinette: that is so wrong

Kagami: indeed

Marinette: lying is one thing, but this is downright harassment and invasion of privacy.

Kagami: lying?

Marinette: Lila likes to make herself sound grander than she really is. Apparently she’s Ladybug’s best friend.

Having met Ladybug, Kagami raised her brows skeptically. “With how Ladybug values her privacy, I’m surprised anyone believes that claim.”

Marinette sighed. “My friend Alya runs the Ladyblog. She gets very excited over any rumor about Ladybug.”

Kagami: like thinking Chloé was Ladybug despite being saved by her from Stoneheart?

Marinette: it is so nice to finally meet someone who does their research.

Kagami: I developed an interest after my own akumatization. But back to this liar, why haven’t you exposed her?

Marinette: I tried to. But she puts on this sweet front and people think I’m just jealous about Adrien.

Kagami: if they could see us now, they might change their minds.

Marinette: I doubt it. Things have gone too far. And the only other witness who believes me is Adrien, and he wants to take the high road and let Lila’s lies crumble on their own.

Kagami frowned. “He told me as much when I asked him what he was going to do about her.”

Marinette: be honest with me, do you wish we didn’t have to take the high road.

Kagami: the question is, would we be taking it if it didn’t involve Adrien.

Marinette snorted. “Alya would scramble to bring the truth to light asap. Rose would want to warn everyone so nobody gets their hopes crushed. And Alix already has her brother coming up with fantastical ideas, she doesn’t need someone else to do it in school too.”

Kagami: then we have our answer.

Marinette stopped. Kagami followed suit.

Marinette: we do, don’t we.

Kagami: It’s a shame that, based on what you’ve said, people would say we’re jealous.

Marinette: so how do we prove we’re not?

Kagami: I need a chance to improve my planning skills (especially since she ruined Ladybug’s first plan) and this is an excellent way to bond.

Marinette grinned.

The next day, the girls in class were astonished to see Marinette and Adrien arguing in the distance.

Lila hasn’t arrived yet. (Tikki may have locked her in her bedroom.)

Curious, Alya led the group to spy on their endgame. They were just around the corner, out of sight, but able to hear everything.

“...too long and her influence is only growing stronger.”

“She’s done nothing serious yet.”

“Are we supposed to wait until something bad really happens before Lila’s exposed?“ This again? The girls barely hid their groans. On a side note, how did Marinette convince Adrien to join her team?

“We’ll stop her before she goes too far,” Adrien assured Marinette.

“Really? Like how you stopped her from taking Kagami’s phone number? Lila’s already convinced Mylene to let her join in on her fundraiser. What if she steals the funds?”

“Relax. Lila’s not going to do anything that daring. She’ll probably just flake as usual.” Wow. Adrien really thinks bad of Lila now. What did Marinette say to him?

“Adrien, we’re talking about a girl who loves to get what she wants. Do you honestly think Lila will be satisfied with a simple no show. She’ll insist she handle the funds to make up for her absence.”

“We don’t have any proof she’s a thief. Ok, she’s a liar. But who doesn’t lie?”

“Adrien…I saw her steal your dad’s book.”

“What?!” Adrien’s outcry expressed what the girls were thinking.

“How do you think I know she’s a liar. I saw Ladybug confront her right after I saw her dump a book in the bin.“

Pause.

“Do you honestly think she won’t stoop so low as to steal Mylene’s funds if she didn’t even care that you were under house arrest?”

Silence before Adrien struggled to say, “She didn’t mean for me to get pulled out of school.”

“Oh come on!” This time the outburst came from Alix, one of the first to recover.

Adrien and Marinette turned around. Adrien paled. “Were you girls eavesdropping?”

Alya glared at him, “Why so upset? It’s not like we’re hurting anybody.”

Adrien cringed from the mocking tone.

Rose looked tearfully at Marinette. “All this time, you were trying to protect us, weren’t you? And we only accused you of being jealous.”

“You’ve finally seen the light. Hallelujah!”

Adrien: you girls aren’t going to tell anybody else, right?

They stared at him in disbelief. “Of course we are. Duh.”

“But then Lila won’t have any friends in our class!”

Alya scoffed. “Like I’m letting Nino listen to anymore of her garbage.”

Mylene nodded furiously. “Ivan and I trusted her!”

Alix: I have to tell Nathaniel. It’s what friends do. Oh, and Kim, too I suppose.

Rose: And Kim will tell Max, who will tell Markov.

Juleka: That leaves Chloe and Sabrina…but they don’t like anyone else but you, Adrien.

Adrien stammered. “It’s mean of you to do that.”

Alix laughed. “Oh, we’re mean? How about you? Did you care to tell Alya her blog credibility is being ruined?”

Mylene: Did you think to warn us that Lila might always be absent at our volunteer parties.

Marinette: Did you consider Kagami’s feelings when you told her you would do nothing to scold Lila for upsetting her.

Adrien looked down, unable to find an answer.

A sharp voice barked out. “Get back, you peasants!”

Chloe had arrived. “Need I remind you Adrikins is still new to having more than one friend. His only real teachers are cartoons with their happily ever afters. While I don’t really care if Lila steals and brags about falsehoods, I care if she does that to you, Adrikins. Dupain-Cheng told me about the photo and asked me to talk sense into you!”

Chloe was plan B. Marinette had asked Kagami to share the photo. Chloe was outraged. She saw that it was a forced kiss, and learned from Kagami how Lila was basically a snoop.

Adrien: Chloe, what do you mean exactly?

Chloe: I don’t care about exposing that liar…much…let’s wait for a slow day before we bring out the popcorn. What I care is that she’s sexually harassing you. i see her constantly moving into your personal space as you lean back. i saw her force that kiss on you so can have a souvenir you never agreed to. Now I hear she’s been snooping around your room, instead of actually studying. Adrikins, I love you, I know what our parents can be like, but that doesn’t mean you should let everybody walk all over you like that.

The girls pause as they take in what Chloe has been saying. Lila has been sexually harassing Adrien.

Adrien croaked out, “What should I do?” He wasn’t asking Chloe. He was asking everybody.

Marinette softened. “If you can’t say no yet, then ask for help. Tell Nino and the guys how Lila’s been bothering you. They’re your friends. If you can’t tell any of us your troubles, then who? Friends are here for each other, no matter what.”

Adrien nodded slowly. While he didn’t like being a tattletale, he also admitted he wanted Lila as far from him as possible. And if Lila was wrong, then he should tattle then? Right?

Alya: as for exposing Lila…

Chloe: we are not doing any exposing until we get a slow day.

Alix: When is a school day not a slow day?

Sabrina: When we learn to expect an akuma at least once a week.

Alya: There was an akuma 4 days ago.

Juleka: There should be one soon, then.

Mylene: How about 2 days after the next akuma attack? That gives us enough time to research, time for the akuma excitement to die down, and time before the next akuma shows up.

Chloe scowled: fine.

Alya: I’ll get right on it!

After that, Lila was irritated that whenever she tried to approach Adrien, someone would block her path, asking for help or stories or whatever. And Mylene had kicked her out of her charity after deciding that Lila was so busy, she didn’t want to interfere with her work with Ali. Ugh. Maybe Lila could convince Mylene to let her handle the cheques later. And the girls didn’t seem to want to hang out with her anymore. Before they always invited her out, but now they claim they’ve accepted her busy schedule. When Lila claimed to be free, someone asked her to help them with some chore.

After the debut of Monsieur Rat, Lila was called to the Principal’s Office. When she came back, she was accompanied by Mrs Rossi and Damocles.

Damocles: Class, I believe Miss Rossi here has something she would like to say.

Lila gritted her teeth as she forced out the words: “Ladybug is not my Best Friend. I don’t know Prince Ali. Jagged never had a kitten….”

The list went on, so many were her lies. While Ms Bustier gasped in betrayal, the girls were secretly munching on candy. Except for Chloe who was openly savouring her honeyed popcorn. Lila glared at her, suspicious of her involvement. Damocles coughed but said nothing. The boys were shocked and angry. It was one thing to unknowingly sexually harass Adrien, it was another to take advantage of their trust.

Mrs Rossi: As of now, my daughter will be heading to a convent school. The nuns there are known for being alert to their students’ activities, and are used to liars. It will also be far enough away that Hawkmoth can’t akumatize my daughter, who apparently thinks I would not be interested to know she has been akumatized who knows how many times!”

Lila: I told you it was only 2 times!

Mrs Rossi: akumas are newsworthy information! (Ok, how she missed out on the heroes defeating the villains is beyond me. For a diplomat, she is ridiculously oblivious about Paris.)

Alya: then who cast that illusion of Ladybug on Heroes Day? Lila was certainly around to be akumatized.

Lila gaped at Alya, who showed no surprise at her exposure. was she behind this?

Chloe gave a wave. “Bye bye, Lie-la”

After this, the girls were insistent Adrien learn to expose any wrongdoings or he is only enabling the bully. Chloé was more of the opinion he should learn to stand up to his father. Nino was on Chloé’s side for once.

[warm-like-autumn]

Little Witch academia theories

Since now there's the possibility of an upcoming Lwa season I thought it was the perfect time to share this theory I've had for a long time, along with what I think the upcoming season could be about, possible episode ideas and… maybe future villains. And as I’m rewatching this show , I developed this theory that I had for a long time and even came up with ideas for the new season and what it could be about.Let's speculate!!

My main theory is about Croix Meridies and how she could possibly be related to the Hanbridge family.

This might be me over analysing things, but after seeing someone on Tumblr point out to how similar Andrew and Croix's eyes are, I believe they are connected in some way, but the creators didn't have time to develop on that. Especially in how in ep 24, there was put a strong emphasis on both of their eyes. In a scene that was supposed to parallel their reactions.Especially in a show like Lwa, where all the important characters have unique eye shapes that match their personality, having two important characters have the same eye shape and the same eye color raises some questions.

And this is not the only evidence I have to Croix being related to the Hanbridge family. In episode 19, Andrew even states that him and Diana are sort of related. And now on to the Paul Hanbridge part, it would be weird for a man who claims to dislike magic so much to be related to witches. So, what if his wife was a witch, because I think there's a reason we never saw Andrew's mother, and even though we don't see all of the characters parents and flashback moments in this show, Andrew's backstory seems to be pretty important and his father is always present throughout the story.

And for a father that is so strict it raises some questions that his mother is absent. So what if his mother is… dead, and what if her death had to do something with witchcraft, possibly being a reason why Paul hates witchcraft and forced his son to have the same opinions , thinking magic is a dead practice, and his hatred seems too personal to be political in the first place.

Another interesting factor is how Paul's hatred for witches seems to be different from Blackwell's hatred for witches. Whereas Paul's reasons are more justified since he hates the art, not the artist and thinks magic and witches are outdated and have no place in the modern age, Blackwell holds this opinion out of pure bigotry.

And as much as he hates witches, Paul still tries to keep a good relation with them, even if trying to "keep his enemies in debt"

as he says in ep 6 and he seems to have had a good relation with witches and Luna Nova for a long time. So something must have happened along the way for him to hate witches and that something may involve… his wife. What if witches or witchcraft were involved in his wife's death.

And this gets us to the important part of the theory, Croix and how she could possibly be Paul's daughter. What if Andrew isn't the only child Paul has, and this theory is plausible since Croix is around 28 years old,(she graduated in 2007, the anime takes place somewhere around 2017)

and Paul seems to be around his middle or late 50s, basically old enough to be her father. Another piece of evidence I have to that is how there not anything known about Croix's past before she joined Luna Nova, and despite her achievements and the fact that she was described as a "magic prodigy" she was also described as timid and reserved during high-school days, and back then she wasn't as confident and over the top villainous as she is today, her stance being much more distant and reserved, compared to Chariot, who was much more extroverted, even a bit of a show of, always surrounded by people.

She seemed as if she was hiding from something… or someone. What if Croix ran away from home in order to pursue witchcraft, since Paul could have been just as strict about witchcraft to her as he is to Andrew.

And it would make Andrew and Paul's connection to the Chariot and Croix storyline deeper and better, since even the magic shop owner was more relevant to the plot than those two at this point, and they acted as spectators in the second half of the story. Another interesting factor is how Paul constantly says that magic is dead ,obsolete and not necessarily in modern times, while Croix's main motivation is to prove that this exact thing is wrong and that magic is still useful by fusing it with science. And think about it for a second, the damage Croix's monsters did, how Croix fueling the protests for her experiments almost sparked into ww3, all of these things affect the government, which Paul is a part of. Her villain plan might have also been a revenge plan at her father, for being an awful parental figure.

On top of that, neither Andrew or Paul ever directly interacted with Croix or even saw her, and all of the important characters saw Croix and interacted with her, except those two. And at the end of episode 25, right after Croix was arrested and left the scene, Andrew appeared, almost as if the creators didn't want the two characters to interact just yet.

And knowing that Andrew and Diana are cousins, this would also make Croix be part of the Cavendish family, Meridies being possibly a fake name she took to distance herself from both of the well known powerful families. Andrew and Diana often parallel each other in the show, and Croix and her relationship to Chariot is also supposed to be a foil to Akko and her relationship with Diana. Therefore Andrew and Croix were supposed to be a foil to each other, Croix kind of showing Andrew what can happen if he quietly held a grudge against his father and not standing up to him at the right time for two long until he eventually could snap and do the same thing as Croix. Her story of being misunderstood,missguided, filled with jealousy could serve as a cautionary tail.

And Croix being Paul’s daughter would also make sense given her overambitious personality and her constant need of validation from others , including Profesor Woodward and desire to be on top.All of these factors could have easily shaped her into the sort of person that despite having good intentions doesn't have the best ways of achieving them , often putting others in danger to do so.Her being Paul’s daughter would also make sense of why she is jealous of Chariot , since Chariot not only has the shiny rod , but also support from others and appreciation .

A reason my theory could work is how Andrew was originally supposed to be Akko’s love interest , but the creator of the show , Yoh Yoshinari scrapped that sconcept at the request of staff and voice actor , he ended up making Akko a “girl who’s not interested in boys” , so Andrew needed a new purpose in the story , and maybe him discovering Croix is his sister and potentially also becoming a wizard could be those purposes , since they already been kinda set up.

But this theory also raises some questions .How did Andrew’s mother die?Is Andrew a wizard?Did he know he had an older sister? These could be interesting themes to explore in the potential upcoming season .Other things that would be cool to see in this potential season what happened after the missile, Croix redemption arc, my theory becoming cannon and Croix and Chariot having to deal with the mistakes they made, how Akko feels about all of these, and more stuff with the nine new witches, are they considered like superheroes, are they famous now??

Now , onto what the upcoming season could potentially be about :

- As I stated in my theory , Croix and Andrew having to deal with the fact that they are siblings

-Croix redemption arc , maybe more development with her relationship with Ursula/Chariot

-Maybe another episode focused on nightfall , maybe Akko using a spell to make the Nightfall characters real for Lotte’s birthday.

-More flashbacks about Chariot and Croix’s years as Luna Nova students

-Lore behind the golden age of magic and the nine new witches

-New villains

-Return of the shiny rod , but in a unique way

-Maybe the stories could deal with Arthurian Mythos via Appleton Academy

-Male Wizards , maybe more episodes with Andrew and Frank

-More action scenes and serious moments

-The preparation for the spring festival mentioned at the end of episode 25

-More references to other pieces of media (maybe more kingsman , marvel and star wars references as well…)

I should go in depth with some of these aspects :

1.For example , even after episode 25 showed everyone cheering for the 7 witches,they were happy and cheering because otherwise the missile would have killed everyone.They now are happy that they are saved by the witches , and possibly entering a new age of magic , but what if somehow , it is discover that it was because of Croix’s magic that the missile attack almost happened in the first place.How would they react knowing a single witch was capable of such a feast.Especially how would the politicians react.Because at the end of episode 25,Paul was willing to learn more about Andrew’s opinions about witchcraft and even be open to it .But maybe after he finds out the truth about the missile attack,his hatred for witchcraft is even more reinforced , maybe ruining all the progress Andrew has been trying to make in teaching his father about magic ,for him to hate it even more now.Maybe it would even push him to become a villain in the show.

2.Another idea for a villain in the upcoming season I theorize about is Daryl , Diana’s aunt , even though she was kinda redeemed by the end of the season , she is a strange figure , possibly using dark magic , maybe after Diana became head of the Cavendish family , Daryl does not agree with some of Diana’s ways of improving the Cavendish family title and returns to villany , maybe serving as a possible introduction to dark magic (Like she literally can go through walls and has a snake as a pet AND HER EYES GLOW RED)

3.After rewatching episode 17 (Amanda O’Neill and the holy grail) I came up with this silly idea for a plotline , what if that episode wasn't just about an epic fight scene and showing us Croix’s first experiment test , but set up something even more interesting.Even if the title of the episode is a reference to “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” , in the Arturian legend of the holy grail it is Galahad the knight who is chosen to find the Holy Grail. Galahad, in both the Lancelot-Grail cycle and in Malory's retelling, is exalted above all the other knights: he is the one worthy enough to have the Holy Grail revealed to him and to be taken into Heaven , so Galahad is the one to have found the holy grail.And for a first test , Croix’s monster worked quite well , and we also know in Lwa , spirits and ghosts exist and they tend to attach themselves to objects.And if Croix’s pixels were in the grail before Louis broke it , why didn't they start working yet.My theory is that Galahad’s ghost was attached to the Holy Grail and the cubes only powered the ghost up , making it able to separate form the grail ,but decided to stay still until Louis broke the grail , pissing the ghost of Galahad off and thus punishing Louis by possessing a nearby knight armor along with Blackwell himself, combining both into a violent berserker.After Amanda destroyed the armor she could’ve weakened the ghost of Galahad , thus everything instantly went back to normal , but what if the ghost started regaining strength , adjusting to life not being attached to the grail , but planning to stroke again , to punish Louis and the other students of Appleton for ruining the reputation of the school with their hatred for witches .Appleton academy could possibly have lore connected to Arthurian legend to it , with how much they hold the importance of tradition , duels , and gentleman like behaviour , almost knight-like.Maybe the next season could have a plotline that involves stopping the Ghost of Galahad.

4.Last but not least , even after the shiny rod vanished in episode 25 , i think there is a way for it to return without ruining the impact it had in the show. There are seven words of arcturus , and seven of the Luna Nova students are part of the nine new witches , right ?So since the rod became a constellation at the end of the show , seven of those stars could be the seven words , so what if each of the seven words materializes as weapon of their own on earth and each of the seven witches(Akko ,Diana, Lotte,Sucy, Amanda , Constanze , Jasminka) get one of the seven words that became weapons .Because even if the rod disappeared , it came to Akko’s help in a different way , since even if the quest to bringing a new age of magic is far from complete.

[jade-marie]

no way those 8 episodes would have done anything to advance anything

They wouldn’t have done anything! Just like the five episodes from the backend of S3 wouldn’t have done anything! I don’t understand how people still eat this bullshit up. Jenna and Bill are quite literally incapable of telling a good story. They aren’t good writers, objectively speaking. They basically open up a bunch of random plot lines and then don’t finish them, they just drop them halfway through.

Examples:

Dean cheating on Beth. His cheating was not the catalyst for the robbery in S1. His financial negligence was. You could remove the cheating completely and the story would remain the same. Then he cheated again, with Gayle, and once again - nothing came of it. In the end, Dean was the one who left Beth. 

The shooting - Rio was shot three times and left for dead, this should have been a hugely important point of conflict for them to the very end. That is not something you just get over. It was mentioned a total of two times by Rio after it happened. There were never consequences for Beth, Rio didn’t have any scars, and he apparently just got over it without so much as an apology or a confrontation.

Boland bubbles - gone within like two episodes and never spoken of again

Fake cancer - This was one of the biggest storylines they were building in the first season and it was completely dropped for no reason

Annies dreams of being an EMT (you could also include her GED in this) - Annie took her GED with the sole intention of becoming an EMT, she found something that could further her life, something she could be good at, and wanted to pursue it. She passed her GED this season, but nothing came of it. I don’t even think the word EMT was mentioned in s4.

Annie and Kevin was really pointless because she ended up going to jail anyway. The entire therapy storyline, also pointless because she jumped right into the situation with Kevin.

The MLM storyline was a complete waste of fucking time. They didn’t need to add that in in order to create a catalyst for Dean leaving Beth. He was literally arrested because of her, that was more than enough. Instead they were wasted half the season on another pointless storyline.

The entire hitman plot, waste of fucking time. It didn’t build to anything. Beth had Rio kill Fitzpatrick but there was no fallout. Beth had literally spent an entire season trying to murder him after already trying to murder him in 2.13. This should have been the catalyst for major conflict, a huge confrontation about all the shit they had done to each other, instead it was swept under the rug. 

The Secret Service catching the girls was pointless because none of them actually faced consequences because of it. Dean was arrested, but the entire plot was nonsensical and they didn’t need to add in an entire new plotline for that to happen. The dealership was raided at the end of season 2 and they could’ve literally had Dean arrested from that. Once again, we had an entire season (almost 2) focused on a storyline that didn’t really amount to anything. Yeah, Nick got arrested but the Secret Service didn’t need to catch the girls for that. They could’ve compiled the evidence and sent it to the FBI or the Secret Service (like they did to Rio) without actually having been caught themselves. In the end, we’re supposed to believe that the Secret Service would just fuck off and leave Beth to run her criminal empire. Pays to be white, I guess.

Rio‘s family and his blood relation to Nick was absolutely inconsequential. Meeting his family didn’t change Beth’s opinion of him. Being related to Nick didn’t impact the direction of the storyline because they never truly fleshed that out. We don’t even know whether it was brother or cousin. Nick could’ve been anyone. He was just presented as an oppressive force in Rio‘s life, but it didn’t matter that they were related. 

Rio being arrested in 4.07 amounted to nothing. Apparently this was to prove that a councilman has magical powers to spring him from jail, but they never really circled back to it and there were no consequences.

I could carry on but I think you get the point. Essentially, you could take any of these storylines out and the direction of the plot wouldn’t change because they don’t mean anything. Instead of focusing on keeping storylines strong and truly developing their characters, they give us bullshit. These idiots couldn’t write a good story if you paid them, oh wait - they literally get paid for this and they still can’t do it right🤣

[youngbounty]

The Problem with Apollo’s Backstories

It’s very rare I see this. So far, I’ve only seen two posts on Tumblr about this, but I’ve noticed a few posts that make mention about Phoenix Wright having no backstory. Now, whether they were made as a joke to not be taken seriously or not is something I cannot confirm. That being said, it did bring up something that does come up often: the problem with Apollo Justice having too many backstories. The thing is, Phoenix Wright has just as many backstories as Apollo, yet no one seems to make mention of it or perhaps are not aware. It made me question how this is possible. Certainly, if Apollo’s three backstories stick out like a sore thumb, wouldn’t Phoenix Wright’s three backstories stick out too? Shouldn’t Phoenix also have the same amount of complainers about having too many backstories?

I am a true believer that there is no such thing as a bad idea, but bad execution. I think Phoenix’s backstories are an example of Apollo’s backstories done correctly. To understand this, I’m going to go over each of Apollo’s and Phoenix’s three backstories, and explain where Phoenix got it right where Apollo did not.

With Apollo’s first backstory in the game Apollo Justice, where Apollo is introduced as the main protagonist of this game, we find out that he used to work for Kristoph Gavin at the Gavin Law Offices before finding out he murdered Shadi Smith. Later on, we find out his bracelet matches Thalassa Gramarye’s in her picture, proving that they are mother and son. Through Zak, we find out that Thalassa was once married to a different man before he passed away, believing that her first born had died with him. This draws the connection between Apollo Justice and Trucy Wright as being half brother and sister. And… that’s it. This information does not effect Apollo, since we don’t know his life outside of this during the time of the game’s release, and he does not know that Trucy is his half sister. This backstory does draw a connection between the two long lost siblings, but without any knowledge to create a reaction, it feels empty and shallow. It wasn’t until the two follow-up games that we get more of Apollo’s character and development that fans of the game began to care enough to demand the two half siblings discover their long lost relationship they are not aware of.

For Phoenix Wright, his backstory is the all-knowing class trial back in his elementary school. On one school day, Phoenix Wright was accused of stealing lunch money from a student, due to being sick and being dismissed from school that day, leaving him without an alibi. This lead to a class trial where everyone, including the teachers, shamed him, even though Phoenix claimed it wasn’t him, then crying over the humiliation and shaming. Just when Phoenix was about to forcibly apologize to this student, the student stands up and makes the claim that, since no proof was given that Phoenix had taken the money, he is innocent until proven guilty. A second student also defends him, leading to the teacher deciding to pay for the lunch money that was stolen. From that moment on, Phoenix became friends with the two students that stood up for him: Miles Edgeworth whose money was stolen and Larry Butz who was the second student to stand up for him.

The first thing that makes Phoenix’s backstory different is it creates a motivation and relatability. This backstory tells the story of what motivated Phoenix Wright to become a Defense Attorney. He had befriended the two boys that stood up for him when he was accused of theft at school. One of those friends grew up to become the Demon Prosecutor, Miles Edgeworth, who is known for falsifying and withholding evidence. When Phoenix tried to contact him, he would not answer. So, Phoenix Wright became a Defense Attorney both to meet with him and save him. With this, comes with relatability. Phoenix is someone longing for the friend he once lost, something most of us can relate to – if you’ve ever had a childhood friend, whose friendship broke apart over time. This creates motivation for Phoenix and the players to wish for Miles Edgeworth to return back to being Phoenix’s friend again. With Apollo, on the other hand, his first backstory doesn’t give us anything to relate or motivate us to want him and Trucy to discover their real mother or relation. The mention about Apollo’s biological father does come up, but not until Dual Destinies and Spirit of Justice, which I will get into later. Because of how shallow and empty this backstory feels, it’s no longer Apollo was called a Gary-Sue when the Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney first came out.

The second backstory for Apollo finally gives us something concrete. In this second backstory, Apollo had grown up with Clay Terran in a boarding school. We get a flashback of Clay crying because someone in his family died (I can’t remember who. Comment if you know). Apollo cheers him up with his “I’M FINE!” speech. This became a motto for him and Clay. From this backstory, we finally find out that Apollo had grown in a boarding school during his youth with Clay. We finally get a motivation and relatability from Apollo Justice to make us care and cheer for him. There’s just one problem… what does this have anything to do with Apollo’s connection to the Gramarye and his relation to Trucy? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. That’s where Phoenix’s second backstory differs.

For Phoenix Wright, his second backstory tells that he began studying at Ivy University to study on law and art. From there, he met a beautiful lady named Dahlia Hawthorn at the library inside the courthouse. She gave him a heart-shaped bottle as a token of their love and they hit it off. Having dated Dahlia for nine months, he began showing off his little gift to all his friends at the university, even when Dahlia asked him to give it back. Just then, Phoenix came across Dahlia’s ex boyfriend named Doug Swallow, who met with him to warn him that Dahlia was not who he thinks she is. Angry, Phoenix pushes him, then finds him dead not long afterwards. He is arrested for murder, defended by Mia Fey – who is an already established character, in the tutorial first case of the third game of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. Through Mia’s defense, Phoenix realized that not only did Dahlia’s gift turn out to be evidence used to poison Mia’s boyfriend, but Dahlia had also tried to poison him with his cold medication and was the one responsible for Doug’s murder.

Just like with Apollo’s second backstory and Phoenix’s first, this creates relatability and motivation. It creates a motivation for why Phoenix was angry at Miles Edgeworth during the second game, why he trusts Mia so strongly and why he would go to Hazakura Temple, once he sees someone that looks like Dahlia. This also reveals one of Phoenix’s major flaws as someone that considers betrayal and murder by poison inexcusable actions, much like how Apollo’s second backstory reveals how and why Clay’s death pushes him to distrust his colleagues. Unfortunately, what Apollo’s second backstory does not show is any connection to the first. With Phoenix’s second backstory, it connects back to the first and second game. It explains how Phoenix met an already established character, explains why Phoenix was cross with Edgeworth in the second game and follows where the first backstory left off with wanting to become a Defense Attorney to meet with Miles Edgeworth. Aside from Apollo growing up in a Boarding School, confirming that he is an orphan, and why he always shouts “I’M FINE!” we get no connection or follow-up from the first backstory. There’s no connection to his former boss, Trucy or the Gramarye’s. Thus, Apollo’s second backstory feels like a separate story from the first, whereas Phoenix’s second backstory feels like a follow-up to the first.

Apollo’s third backstory is that Apollo’s father, Jove Justice, came to the Kingdom of Khura’in to play music inside Durke’s home. One day, a fire arose and Jove Justice was assumingly murdered. Dhurke had miraculously saved Jove’s infant son in the nick of time before the rest of his residence was burned, hiding in the mountains with his eldest son, Nahyuta. From there, Dhurke had raised Nahyuta and Apollo in the mountain as their father, watching them grow up. Unfortunately, because of the laws in the kingdom where Defense Attorneys were prisoned with any client declared Guilty and Dhurke being an outlaw, he sent Apollo to the United States. From there, Apollo never saw or heard from Dhurke or Nahyuta again, believing all his life that Dhurke had abandoned him.

Again, like the second backstory, this gives us relatability and motivation. Leaving any family is something all of us feel saddened about. It also follows up with the relatability of Phoenix’s first backstory of being close with someone, only to grow apart from them with age. But, again, there is no connection between this backstory or the other two. What does this backstory have anything to do with Apollo’s connection with the Gramarye, relation to Trucy, friendship with Clay, growing up in a boarding school as a youth or his reasons for saying “I’M FINE!” all the time? NOTHING! There’s not a single callback to any of these, not even to reoccurring characters from the fourth or fifth game. Nothing on Kristoph Gavin, the Space Center, nothing. There is mention of Jove Justice being Apollo’s biological father, but do we get anything on Thalassa or the Gramarye’s? Even a tiny bit? Nope! Any connection with Jove Justice and the Gramarye’s to explain how he may’ve met the daughter of the famous Magnify Gramarye and they may’ve fallen in love? Nope! Again, I get nothing. It’s sad, because the story could’ve also added Thalassa into the mix as being Jove’s singing partner, a subtle picture of her and explaining why she might be so talented in singing. The fact that the second case does involve the Gramarye, I think, is a missed opportunity to draw a connection to Apollo’s third and first backstory.

For Phoenix Wright, his third backstory is in Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, believe it or not. This backstory takes place during the seven years between the third and fourth game. Phoenix Wright was defending Zak Gramarye for the murder of Magnify Gramarye. During this trial, he presents forged evidence unknowingly, which Klavier Gavin reveals to be forged via the surprising Witness. From there, Phoenix is disbarred from law and his client Zak disappears from site. Trucy, who is Zak’s daughter, is left behind and Phoenix cannot find any living relatives, thus decides to adopt her as his own daughter. From here, he turns his law offices into a Talent Agency for his new daughter and takes the job as a piano/poker player. He befriends the only Bar Associate that voted him to be innocent, Kristoph Gavin, who had used his friendship to stalk and watch him.

Again, this creates relatability and motivation as someone losing their job for unfair reasons, entering fatherhood and being manipulated by fake friends. This also is a great follow-up to the trilogy itself and confirming everything that’s already established canon such as Phoenix considering poison and betrayal to be inexcusable, which is what Kristoph does. It establishes the relationship and connection with Trucy and even Apollo. Even as weak as Apollo’s backstory is, it is enough to give Phoenix a strong motivation to take him in as a student. With how strong this third backstory to Phoenix is and its connection to the trilogy as a whole, it makes me wonder why he wasn’t the protagonist of this story. Though, it does conclude what this third backstory does so well that all of Apollo’s backstories do not do: continue where the previous left off.

With every backstory Phoenix gets, it always continues where the previous left off. They connect well like a puzzle. Each piece matches well and never feels separate. With each new backstory, it continues where the previous left off. The second backstory continues where the first and second game left off and the third backstory continues where the trilogy left off. With Apollo’s three backstory, they feel so disconnected, it’s like trying to fit three unmatching pieces together, while ignoring the rest of the 197 puzzle pieces. Sure, the third backstory might’ve mentioned Jove Justice as Apollo’s biological father, but we don’t know anything about Jove or Thalassa, their relationship, how they met or anything. Was Thalassa the lead singer when Jove played, like she is as Lamoure? I don’t know. Even Apollo growing up at a Boarding School or how he went there is never explained in the third backstory. Did Dhurke send Apollo there and pay for his classes? I don’t know.

In conclusion, Apollo’s problem with his backstories are not that there are too many, but that they do not connect. Backstories must fit together in order to work. There has to be a cause and effect. Phoenix Wright has full backstories that have always connected perfectly like puzzle pieces. He has one of the strongest established backstories in Ace Attorney, alongside Miles Edgeworth, who technically has four backstories. That just goes to show you can’t have too many backstories. Although, you can have botched up backstories that do not match up that makes it feel like there are too many backstories.

What are your thoughts on this? Feel free to comment, whether you agree or disagree. I might make a follow-up to this to explain how Apollo’s three backstories could be fixed to where they feel complete. It really depends.

[kojinnie]

Zeke’s Work & Life in Modern!au

The childhood, back story, job/career and workplace antics of AOT characters in modern life. A series of modern!au Attack on Titan headcanon.

Disclaimer: inaccuracies in the description of mentioned jobs may occur, as my knowledge of the industries is limited.

The Vets (Part I) .::. Zeke Yeager (Part II) .::. My Masterlist

Reiner & Berthold (Part III)  [COMING SOON]

Warriors and 104th Cadets [COMING SOON] 

zeke!

Ok ok here’s the deal. He was born rich ok? I’m not just talking about dad’s-a-doctor kind of rich, but old money type of rich 

He had everything but a warm family. Mum died early, Dad remarried and had another kid which he loved more. Zeke went on to live with his grandparents upstate

Never really had parents figure in his life, the grandparents were just spoiling him left and right without actually “raising” him

Went to posh boarding school with other posh little kids who go to Polynesia for summer holiday with their private jets. He never really got along well with these kids, though

At certain age, he got bored of living life in the easy mode and started acting up for attention

Started smoking weed at the dorm, got suspended - parents donated money

Burnt down common room from a stupid prank he did, on the verge of getting expelled - parents donated more money. His expulsion got overruled, but he eventually got sick of being saved by his parents’ money

Ended up running away for a month to live with some biker dudes off the interstate highway, where he learned to sell weed (lol)

Parents didn’t report to police because they “didn’t want to create a commotion out of adolescent’s common ruckus”; instead they hired private detective to find where Zeke was (lol #2)

Zeke finally came to term with his parents, dropped out of the posh boarding school and re-enrolled at a public school on his own request, where he pretended to have a “boring accountant” dad; His friends not knowing that his Dad not only a physician but also inherited a whole ass accounting firm 

With his newly-learned “entrepreneur” skill, he quickly rose to fame as the school dealer

Got arrested by the police, once again bailed out by his parents. Where his friends finally learned who Zeke’s parents was 

ok this is getting tiring

He unfortunately succumbed to depression during his late-teenage years. Dropped out of the public school and got home-schooled for his SAT year

Zeke was born a genius, so he didn’t really have any problem scoring great on his SAT. He took a gap year where he traveled abroad aka rich kid culture

Nobody really knew where was he during his trip abroad (not like anybody cared to begin with, sadly), but he came home with newly acquired skills and passion. He came to be very handy with computers, where he (sort of) mastered the programming language just in a year

Got back home for uni at a prestigious school, where he majored in Computer Science. He kept it lowkey throughout his time there, where he ironically grew to hate the privileged kids who seemed to dominate most of the peers he was in. He thought he was better and smarter than the rest of them (he was), and that he liked to obsessively convince himself that he wasn’t just “one of those rich kids who got in because daddy was rich” 

Zeke was the type to skip classes here and there to smoke weed at his apartment, and yet managed to get the highest score still

He was popular because he was an awfully good-looking genius, but he didn’t really care. I doubt he even had any serious girlfriend during these years because he was just so sick of people. He got one friend he hung around with, though. A junior to be exact, whom he sort of ‘adopted’ for looking sad all the time (aka Reiner | read more on Pt. II - coming soon!)

This was the time where he started to develop the prototype of a payment gateway software with Reiner. The software made it big and got acquired by a huge financial service firm

The achievement really bounced Zeke back, he became outgoing and had a lot of vision for his business. Until he found out that the purchase decision of his software was influenced and lobbied by his Dad, who had a close relation with the firm who bought his software

Enraged upon learning this fact, he relinquished all of the share he had from selling the software, and went to build his own tech start-up company, with Reiner acting as CEO and him as CTO

Make no mistake, Zeke’s an asshole at work. He knows how good he was, and it gave him a free-pass to do whatever he wanted to, often at the expense of the company

He was one of those jerks who pretended to be some broke ass hippie who smelled like weed all the time, but donned Richard Mille watch around

His infamous line at work whenever someone pitches an idea which does not suit his liking was: “Yeah, that sounds stupid.” or “Yeah whatever, I own the company.”

He re-invested the company’s funding to a whole lot of shady ventures, until he was rebuked by the investors and was forced to step down from any managerial role. He was given two choices, to step down or be sued for embezzlement (the legal proceeding was supposed to be led by the notorious white-collar crime attorney, Erwin Smith - read here). This put a lot of strain to Reiner, who was still an active CEO at that time

The truth about Zeke’s embezzlement was discovered by a talented Forensic Accountant, Levi Ackerman (read here)

The company went public, and Zeke was pushed out of the picture entirely. He still kept a considerable amount of the company’s share, so he was still filthy rich without doing nothing

He tried to establish couple of other companies, which did not even make it to early stage of funding, due to potential investors’ distrust

His friendship with Reiner, the only friend he ever had, never did recover after he was kicked out of his own company

A/N: Ok. So at first, I was planning to only make four parts for all AoT main characters, but I had so much fun writing this that it got very detailed and complicated! I am planning to make an expansive universe out of this HC series and I hope you’re on board with me! Enjoy!

[ninjastormhawkkat]

Another Wordgirl Au: Morally Gray Wordgirl

Morally Gray Wordgirl au

I don’t know if anyone else in the Wordgirl fandom thought about this at one point. A what-if I thought one day was what would have happened if Steven became Dr. Two Brains before Becky became Wordgirl? Such as what if Steven became Two Brains when Becky just came to earth as a baby? This is where the au begins

In this au, Becky is adopted by Dr. Two Brains. After Becky and Bob crash land on earth, Bob carries Becky around for a bit and enters the city. This is around the time Steven first becomes Two Brains. Bob, while carrying Becky, runs into Two Brains. At this point, Bob has no idea that Two Brains is a villain. Two Brains has cheese with him and Bob is hungry. Two Brains awkwardly hands some of his cheese to Bob. Two Brains may be a villain now but he is not heartless to not offer someone that is hungry food. Bob eats the cheese while Two Brains holds Becky. Two Brains is nervous at first because some random monkey just gave him a baby to hold😟. When Becky looks at Two Brains, she curiously calls him daddy. She is just a little kid who think that this new man holding her is her parent now. Two Brains heart just melts😍after hearing her call him daddy and looking into her innocent, alien, eyes. He immediately begins to dote on her as a dad would, ex. baby talk and cooing. Bob watches the interaction between Two Brains and Becky and decides that Two Brains would be a great person to stay with and raise Becky. He later regrets his decision.😓😆Here is an outline for how this au would go:

1. Becky still becomes Wordgirl. Bob tries to implement heroic morals into Becky during the time she is being raised by a villain. Becky wants to become a hero because she does not want to see the lives of innocent civilians hurt. However, since Dr. Two Brains also implemented villainous ideals into Becky growing up, her moral values are kind of mixed in her actions as a hero.

2. Becky is more sympathetic towards villains. Ex. When Chuck and Butcher claim to be innocent after being framed by Amazing Rope Guy, she immediately believes them and tries to figure out another angle of who really committed those crimes.

3. She isn’t as upset as when the spotlight is turned off her such as when Tiny Big came onto the scene or when Granny May became bingo champion. She is still upset, but Becky is not as focused on the limelight as canon. She, from Huggy’s teachings, believes that a superhero’s true reward comes from protecting the citizens and just helping when needed to prevent or avenge the cruelest of injustices. Wordgirl will accept gifts or keys to the city out of politeness. She uses the limelight to give the people of Fair City comfort and assurance that she is still there to protect them. Becky views heroism as a job more than a pleasure. It is basically, “You get good results based on how hard and well you do the work, not just what others say.” mentality.

4. That being said, Becky will not take a passive stance and try hard to prove her innocence if the citizens suddenly began to take advantage of her heroism or if they turn on her such as with the evil duplicate or when Granny May framed her for crimes. As I said earlier, Becky in this au views heroism as a job she enjoys and doesn't take impolite backlash, constructive criticism yes. Basically she just becomes done when residents of Fair City act like morons who think they know better. (I have always had a problem when a majority of the residents in Fair City act like gullible idiots. It always irks me how they will turn on Wordgirl easily and not often give a proper apology when they realize they were wrong. Sometimes, to me, it seems the villains have better appreciation for Wordgirl than the citizens. I am not including all citizens, just seems like a majority do this.) (Okay rant over.) Becky will be like, “if you guys don’t want me anymore then good luck.” She will intervene again just to keep the city from going into complete chaos. She still cares about the safety of the citizens, she just does not like it when they abandon their trust in her for no good reason. She is not even mad at the villains who cause this. They didn’t force the citizens to dislike Wordgirl, that was their choice.

5. Becky will not often take her dad to jail. She loves her dad and does not like the idea of him not being home (the warehouse; Becky’s living conditions their are like my version of the Becky Boxleitner au, just somewhat better due to her living their all her life.) She also does not like the idea of having to fight him, but has to in order to keep up appearances and not let anyone get suspicious and start suspecting her identity. That being said, she will let Two Brains escape after stoping the crimes depending on the severity. If Two Brains just steals cheese from the grocery store, she may often ignore it (its just cheese and it can easily be replenished). For crimes such as stealing money or turning artwork into cheese, Becky will stop her dad, but later act like he got away (if police are not around. “Two Brains Quartet” still happens because police are there.). Becky may do this sometimes for other villains depending on her or their mood. Citizens and Villains believe that Dr. Two Brains is an extremely tough villain to catch which raises his credibility as Fair City’s #1 villain when Wordgirl does this. Captain Huggy Face is not happy when Wordgirl let’s her dad go, but he deals with it because she cares about her dad. Becky does stand her ground if her dad, and the other villains, do something dangerous that affects the lives of the citizens. Incidents such as the plot to mind control all the city with bunny buttons and the cheesteroid do get Two Brains arrested. (Becky is like, “Sorry dad, but I can’t let you threaten the lives of innocent civilians.”) Since this happens rarely, Becky usually stays at her friends houses until her dad leaves prison. She has a visitor clearance and does visits with her dad when she can. (Still brings him cheese.) Not much interaction with the Botsford family unless they were a focus in episodes.

6. Becky is more aware of when villains act deceitful. (She was raised by one herself.) She pretends to be tricked to let their guard down before turning the tables on them. (She can be tricky and deceitful herself when she wants to be.)

The police force are more competent in this au than in canon. They were able to capture most villains, with exception to Two Brains and other major villains, before Wordgirl came onto the scene. The city was similar to Gotham before Batman showed up. It was fine, but crime rates were still high. The episode “The Wrong Side of the Law” happens differently than canon. Wordgirl is civil and polite to the police, but does really like law enforcement or fully trusts them due to her upbringing by a super villain. (Two Brains taught her she can respect law enforcement because they are capable of doing a good job, it does not mean she has to like them or follow the rules all the time. I sorta think that the villains have some respect for D.A. Sally Botsford because of how she is good at her job.)

Now on to “Normal” girl Becky. Becky is still referred to as Becky Boxleitner. (Dr. Two Brains did not want kids ignoring or making fun of Becky with a last name like Brains, or something mouse related. He wanted people to know and treat his daughter as herself, not just who she is related to. Two Brains also wanted to give Becky some protection so random people wouldn’t bother her because of his actions. So he just gave her his old human name.) Becky is similar to her canon character with a few changes.

1. Becky will empathize with someone if they are feeling upset and hurt. But if they are doing something dumb and stupid, or anything that is concerning to her, she will be upfront and honest with that person (not complete brutal honesty but something like “Please don’t do something stupid, I care about you and your health.”). She isn’t mean, but she is forward and won’t bother to hide feelings if hiding your emotions will only make the situation worse. 

2. Both Becky and Wordgirl are sassy like her dad.

3. She is still passionate about words and respects her teachers and main authority figures.

4. Becky is more clever about excuses.

5. She enjoys science more as well as literature. Becky has top grades in her class. (Next to Tobey). She enjoys science fairs and is a bit better at creating workable, and visually acceptable, inventions.

6. Becky likes puns (Two Brains) and knows every fact about cheese as well as every fact about words (again Two Brains’ fault). 

7. Becky is still a fan of Pretty Princess, but has ponies, books, and science stuff in her room. She is a bit more tomboyish than canon.  

Becky is still friends with Violet in this au. I always viewed Violet’s mom as an open-minded nature women, based on Violet’s character and where they live. She is easily accepting of Becky and Dr. Two Brains despite Two Brains life as a villain. Becky is also forward early on how some of Violet’s traditions make her uncomfortable so there is no issue in the series. 

Becky is more a fan of words and science in this au. She and Violet have fun mixing art and science. Becky does not take art classes, but rather is part of after-school science and reading clubs. (She takes science club with Tobey and reading club with Violet.)

Becky is also friends with Tobey in this au. I have nothing against Scoops’ character. I was just more fond of his character development in the episodes during and after he learns Becky’s identity, plus a few before the reveal. (In the early seasons, it seemed that Scoops would do anything for a big story, even as exposing Wordgirl’s identity as Becky. I was upset in that Vocab Bee episode because Scoops did not seem to consider Becky’s input or feeling when he found strong evidence that Becky was Wordgirl. To me it seemed unfair that Becky had to throw her chances at a competition she was having fun in just to protect her identity because of Scoops’ actions and attitude.) Tobey met Becky when they were between 5 and 6. Tobey just lost his dad (up to interpretation on how) and was just lonely. Kids would make fun of Tobey’s nerd-side and some other mean reasons, or they would ignore him. Becky sympathized with Tobey because most kids, not Violet, would avoid her because of her dad. (They would not dare bully her for fear of how Dr. Two Brains would react.) Tobey and Becky easily began to get along and overtime became friends. Claire McCallister was worried about her son hanging out with the child of a villain. But quickly after seeing how Becky was a good kid plus Two Brains being a good dad despite his status, and that her son was happy with friends, she let her worries slide. Claire, Dr. Two Brains, and Violet’s mom, have made an unofficial single parents support group between the three of them. In this au, Tobey does not become a villain, but still builds robots. (I already have a new villain that takes canon Tobey’s role.) Becky and Tobey are silently crushing on each other. Tobey does suspect Becky is Wordgirl, but respects her secret identity and will wait for her to tell him (or a reveal). (Still cares for her anyway.)

Scoops parents are friendly but are strong law-abiding citizens so they avoid Two Brains and Becky. Scoops in this au is nice, but is more concerned on news stories. He originally talks to Becky in hopes of getting an interview with her dad. Scoops is trying not to be inconsiderate, but he is sorta using Becky as a way to get to her dad. Becky deals with this stuff from other reporters and fans of her dad. Neither Dr. Two Brains and Becky like this attention. (Two Brains likes being in the news and in magazines, but he doesn’t like people using his daughter to get to him. Becky is the most important person in his life with cheese being second.) Becky shuts Scoops down after his first few initial attempts. Scoops is disappointed, but he apologizes and doesn’t bother her anymore. Becky is civil and polite to Scoops in this series, but that is about it. There is no crush. (I don’t know if I will keep the Violet x Scoops ship in this au or change it.)  

I really like this au along with a few other aus I made up which include an Alliance Swap au. I am going to expand more on this au and the characters later.  

[hellsbellschime]

I was wondering if you could do an analysis on Sansas and Daenerys interactions in 8x02?

Totes, because I think it’s an extremely interesting character interplay that needed more development and that was either actually rife with subtext and just written really poorly or it was just dumb. But while I wish there had been more development for literally everything in season 8, I think that the dynamic between Dany and Sansa needed far more room to breathe and grow given that their incredibly brief relationship is one of the main catalysts for the climax of the story. 

Jaime’s whole “trial” scene is one that I really wish we had been able to see the lead up to, because while the drama of starting off the episode with it is certainly compelling, I’d honestly really like to know how everyone even got to that point in the first place. Like, Dany is furious that Cersei has betrayed her and lied to her about her intentions... except how exactly does that square up to someone who came to a truce with their enemy and then immediately arrests them and puts them on trial when they actually follow through on their end of the bargain?

However, looking beyond that there is not just Dany vs. Sansa, it’s kind of Dany vs. Team Stark. Dany lays out all of the reasons why Jaime deserves to be punished and Sansa actually completely agrees with her and says she completely understands how she feels, but then Brienne speaks in Jaime’s defense and Sansa immediately agrees that Jaime should stay. Now as viewers we understand what Sansa is doing here, but I think that Dany does not. I think that this may be a sort of crucial moment for what happens later, because someone who is unfamiliar with Sansa but sees that she is popular among the Northerners might come to the easiest conclusion, which is that Sansa is easily manipulated, weak willed, or likes to agree with people and thus everyone kind of likes her even though she’s the type of person who shouldn’t really be seen as important or authoritative. 

But when Dany kind of ropes Jon into it I think it’s even more interesting, and once again could be an implication that she doesn’t understand people who put the interests of others before themselves. Because way back when Melisandre told Dany to invite Jon to Dragonstone, Tyrion tries to sell her on it by explaining that the Lannisters have treated the Starks even worse than they theoretically treated her, so they have even more reason to want to see their downfall. So I think she inquires about Jon’s thoughts expecting her to agree with him, because quite frankly it’s just not in her wheel house to put the needs of others before her own. But he winds up agreeing to let him stay, and she feels peer pressured into acquiescing when she really doesn’t want to. That really puts her on the back foot and makes her extremely uncomfortable because it’s something she never does, and it’s basically taking her whole fantasy of conquering Westeros and destroying her enemies and basically forces her to give it up for the sake of maintaining her own mystique. 

So she’s super pissed and Jorah talks her down, and while once again the show cuts away from shit that we actually need to see, it’s fair to assume that he said something along the lines of Sansa is Regina George and you’re currently Janis Ian, so you need to go talk to her and charm her into liking you and the rest of the Northerners will fall in line. So, Dany follows his advice and tries to actually talk to Sansa and to get her to see her as the Enlightened Despot she imagines herself to be. 

Frankly, the conversation between Sansa and Dany is extremely weird and vapid on the surface, but I think it makes sense within a certain context. Namely, that Sansa and Dany both have very clear preconceived notions about each other, however Sansa’s assumptions are generally correct while Dany’s assumptions are completely incorrect. 

Obviously at this point, Sansa isn’t being fooled by charm, and Dany unfortunately reveals herself to Sansa in completely unintentional ways that she doesn’t realize are actually really hurting Sansa’s perception of her. Dany is here to conquer Westeros and force the North into submission, and maybe I’m overestimating Sansa’s political genius here, but what I find extremely interesting is that Dany asks Sansa why they’re at odds with each other but she doesn’t answer. She waits for Dany to answer, and Dany’s answer frankly gives Sansa an enormous political and manipulative advantage by letting her know that she assumes Sansa would not like an invader with dragons and an army the size of a city because she’s jealous that Dany has her brother’s attention. 

And yes, of course, Sansa loves Jon and is likely extremely concerned, but I just cannot believe that Sansa is being genuine in this conversation. This is the woman who had to convince Jon to accept the inevitability of their baby brother dying because focusing on saving him was an existential threat to their family and the North. I cannot believe that she would have more issues with the potential safety and manipulation of her brother who was a king, Lord Commander, and survived with wildlings beyond the wall than she would over Rickon. Not to mention, the notion that at this very moment when the North is on the brink of destruction and everyone is facing down the apocalypse, but somehow Sansa is concerned about the person that Jon may or may not be smashing, is an incredibly condescending and childish assumption to make about her. 

However, Dany does seem to make that assumption. Dany’s whole impression of Sansa seems to initially be that she’s just a catty and frivolous girl, and she seems to think that assuring Sansa that her super cute new crush is the one who really has her wrapped around his finger is enough to reassure her that everything’s fine and that that’s enough for Sansa to accept Dany as queen. 

But then Sansa quickly flips the script and asks about Northern independence, which I honestly think was a mistake on her part. Dany initially saw Sansa just like Cersei and Joffrey and Tyrion and the Tyrells and every other person saw her, as just a superficial idiot who can be easily managed and bent to someone else’s will. I understand why Sansa would never want to play that game again, but it also left her in an enormously advantageous position, and letting Dany know that she was actually very politically minded was not the right move at that moment. But of course, because this is the season of constantly interrupted interesting conversations, as soon as the discussion turns political it’s interrupted. 

Now, what I think is very interesting about Dany is her desire to essentially acquire special people. She wants Tyrion, the “most brilliant man in the kingdoms”, to be her hand. She knows he’s exceptional, and she wants to basically own him. And she goes through the same thing with Jon. She perceives her feelings towards him as love, but I think she really knows nothing about him and just thinks that he’s extraordinary enough to be worthy of her and therefore they must be in love with each other. Dany sees herself as a person unlike any other, with no equal in existence or history, so when people fawn all over her or give her unquestioned loyalty it’s nothing more than what she expects, but when literally anyone seems to care about or respect someone more than they do her, she doesn’t understand it and often sees it as some kind of a betrayal. 

So when Theon shows up to fight for the Starks, she doesn’t necessarily seem mad, but she is clearly baffled, especially because she has already categorized Sansa as someone not special. If she thought Sansa were special or important enough to warrant her attention, Jorah wouldn’t have had to tell her to go try to be friends. But when Theon arrives and asks Sansa to fight for her, she doesn’t get it because in her mind Sansa is not worthy of that kind of devotion because she’s too ordinary, and the fact that someone is prioritizing Sansa over her right in front of her face really puts her off. And what seemingly makes this interchange dangerous is that Dany’s reaction to seeing this doesn’t seem to be a desire to actually understand where it stems from, but seems to result in the immediate conclusion that Sansa herself must be stopped (which is an idea that Dany toyed with in the season premiere as well, but I think it only solidified that idea for her further).

But I think that Sansa and Theon’s interaction here is obviously fascinating as well, both in relation to Dany and in general. Honestly, that kind of raw emotion and vulnerability is something that people in GoT rarely display around one another, and I can’t even think of another instance of Dany actually witnessing two people who genuinely love each other emotionally connect in that way. That’s not generally a way that she feels about a lot of people, and in her world, she is always the center of attention. So even if there are people in her orbit who love each other, she never really sees that. I actually think Emilia’s expression captures that perfectly as well, she both seems put off but unsure of how to react and borderline unsure of WTF it is that she’s actually seeing, because again, it’s pretty abnormal to see people be that emotionally open in public anyway and because it’s something that Dany is completely unaccustomed to seeing when it’s not directed towards her. 

And of course, for Sansa and Theon as a pair, it’s extremely heartwarming and emotional to see how deeply they care for one another, and it’s even more touching to realize how powerfully they have had to repress their own emotions for so long and that they have now gotten to the point where they’re so completely unashamed and completely lacking in self consciousness that they’re willing to be that raw no matter who’s looking. 

Overall, despite the massive flaws of season 8, I do have to say that the scenes between Dany and Sansa are some of my favorite and I wish we had gotten so much more out of them. I actually think the performance chemistry between Emilia and Sophie is better than nearly every other character that Dany was introduced to late in the game, and I think it was a huge mistake to not explore that more and to not fully clarify that these two literal queens are not bickering over a boy’s attention.